ABC News(WASHINGTON) -- President Donald Trump's position on gun control, particularly regarding assault rifles, has appeared to shift over the years.



Trump in 2000 said he took a middle ground, supporting a ban on assault weapons though generally opposing gun control.



Trump in 2015, however, was dismissive of calls to regulate assault rifles which, he said, are common semi-automatic weapons popular with many Americans.



Now in the wake of the Feb. 14 massacre in Florida that killed 17 high school students and teachers, the nation is again focused on the question of gun control generally and, specifically, of regulating semi-automatic rifles such as the AR-15 allegedly used by the shooting suspe at Stoneman Douglas High School.



Students from the high school who have overnight become outspoken activists for gun control have specifically called on President Trump as well as other elected officials to listen to their concerns and enact gun restrictions.



So where does Trump stand?



Supportive of the US assault weapons ban in 2000



In a page-long explanation of his stance on guns in his book, "The America We Deserve," published in 2000, Trump offered a very generalized summary of Democratic and Republican positions on gun control, characterizing each as extreme.



"Democrats want to confiscate all guns, which is a dumb idea because only the law-abiding citizens would turn in their guns and the bad guys would be the only ones left armed. The Republicans walk to NRA line and refuse even limited restrictions," he wrote.



By contrast, he cast his stance as something of a middle ground.



"I generally oppose gun control, but I support the ban on assault weapons and I also support a slightly longer waiting period to purchase a gun," he wrote.



At the time, the U.S. had a ban on semi-automatic rifles under a law known as the assault weapons ban that took effect in 1994 and expired in 2004.



15 years later, a different view



In his 2015 book "Crippled America," Trump appears to have changed his position.



"Opponents of gun rights often use a lot of scary descriptive phrases when proposing legislative action against various types of weapons. Ban 'assault weapons' they say, or 'military-style weapons,' or 'high-capacity magazines,'" he wrote. "Those all do sound a little ominous, until you understand what they are actually talking about are common, popular semiautomatic rifles and standard magazines that are owned and used by tens of millions of Americans."



In "Crippled America," Trump argues that background checks on prospective gun buyers "accomplished very little" and merely brought "more government regulation into the situation."



Trump cited Project Exile, a crime-reduction program started in Richmond, Virginia, in the late 1990s, which sought to reduce firearms-related offenses by increasing the penalties on felons caught carrying guns. As a presidential candidate, Trump reiterated his support for this program.



'A very big Second Amendment person'



Trump wrote in his 2015 book that he "owns guns. Fortunately, I have never had to use."



According to public records, he got a concealed weapons permit in 2010, which he referred to in an interview with Outdoor Life magazine in early 2016, calling himself "a very big Second Amendment person."



Since his election, Trump has become the first president since Ronald Reagan to address the NRA while in office.



As president, he has also taken action that may make it easier for some people to get guns, including people with mental illness.



On Feb. 28, 2017, Trump signed H.J. Res. 40, effectively ending a Social Security Administration requirement that the names of people who receive mental health benefits be entered into a database used by the FBI for background checks on prospective buyers of firearms.



The requirement, which had yet to go into effect when Trump ended it, would have added the names of an estimated 75,000 individuals with mental illness to the database, according to the administration of former President Obama. These individuals would have been notified by the Social Security Administration of possible restrictions on their buying firearms, but would have had the opportunity to go through an appeal process.



Since ending the requirement, Trump has pointed to mental health issues as a root cause of a mass shooting in Sutherland Springs, Texas, where 26 people were killed in a church. He has also suggested that mental illness may have been a factor in the massacre at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, last week.

Copyright  2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.The best bang for your buck! This option enables you to purchase online 24/7 access and receive the Sunday, Tuesday & Thursday print edition at no additional cost * Print edition only available in our carrier delivery area. Allow up to 72 hours for delivery of your print edition to begin. Print edition not available for Day Pass option.Roland Patel Matthews, MP for North Leeward, known for its marijuana cultivation, articulated the NDPs position with respect to the decriminalization of marijuana.

The New Democratic Party (NDP) is in support of decriminalizing small amounts of marijuana for recreational use.





Parliamentary Representative for North Leeward, Roland Matthews said, during the NDPs analysis of the 2018 Budget, that the party was in support of the proposed medical marijuana industry  as long as the local farmers are an integral part of the trade.





But in giving support to the medical marijuana industry, Matthews chided the governments decision not to look favourably on the issue of decriminalizing small quantities of marijuana.





Minister of Finance, Camillo Gonsalves in his 2018 Budget address, said that, while there may be the call to "free up the weed, the government was not currently prepared to do so.





"Unregulated consumption of recreational marijuana poses a number of risks and challenges that we do not currently have the data on which to make informed decisions, or the capacity to manage effectively, he said.

He further cited the views held by some on the issue of the recreational use of marijuana, and the fact that marijuana remained illegal in other countries within the region to which Vincentian marijuana is exported.





Therefore, it would be irresponsible to sanction the flooding of regional markets with a product that remained illegal in those markets.





But Matthews maintained the view that legislation could be enacted to decriminalize the herb in small quantities.





He referred to Antigua and Barbuda where legislators recently passed a Bill to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana, and quoted that countrys Prime Minister, Gaston Browne, who said that the use of marijuana had become a part of the Antiguan culture.

Matthews argued that it was the same here in St Vincent and the Grenadines, especially among the Rastafarian community.





Marijuana was being smoked in almost every area of the country, he said, however the effects of the misuse of the herb was not as adverse as the abuse of cocaine, heroin or even alcohol.

"So why not? Is he (Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves) waiting for election?

"We are spreading the word that the NDP is in full support of the recreational use of marijuana. When they come with that, tell them they are following suit, Matthews said. (DD)Arnhim Eustace, the NDP Shadow Minister of Finance and Economic Development, said 2018 Budget was predicated on a lie.





"Seriously, we did not have a budget; all we had there was a pack of crap!





The words of former Leader of the Opposition, Arnhim Eustace during the New Democratic Partys analysis of the 2018 Budget on Monday.





According to Eustace, former Minister of Finance and Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves had indicated during his 2008 Budget Address, that St Vincent and the Grenadines was on the cusp of an economic take-off.

However, from 2009 to 2016, this country recorded an average growth in the economy of .2 percent, Eustace said , and declared, "We have no economy.





And the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in its report indicated that a 2 percent growth in the economy can be expected this year.





But Eustace pointed out that this prediction was made, based on conditions such as whether or not the capital projects, like the international airport or the proposed geo-thermal project, work.

"Today you are not going to get that, so we will continue this small growth that you have been having all these years, Eustace said.





They were proud to state that there was a surplus in the current account, but during the NDP administration, surpluses ran as high as EC$35 million, Eustace recalled.





He accused the government of providing false figures in its capital and other receipts, saying that due to a lack of funding, they were unable to do any of their proposed projects, which resulted in the lack of creation of jobs.





"They are living a lie, and they know its a lie, Eustace said.





Public Debt





Eustace said that he was concerned about the public debt.





At the end of the 17 years in office under the NDP, the national debt amounted to EC$565 million. Under the present administration, the national debt had now reached EC$1.685 billion, Eustace remarked.

"That means Ralph added EC$1.2 billion in his 17 years.





Even with the US$81 million debt forgiveness from the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, the former opposition leader said that the level of debt to the GDP ratio was still far more than the recommended 60 percent.





With the debt forgiveness, the debt to GDP ratio was expected to dip down to 77 percent, the lowest it has been in years, according to Finance Minister Camillo Gonsalves.





Tax relief





Eustace addressed the tax relief initiatives announced by the government, which were expected to result in the government collecting EC$12 million less in revenue.





However, according to Eustace, it was announced that government was going to be taking steps to collect outstanding amounts of revenue owed in taxes, beginning with offering a three-month amnesty so that those owing can use the period to make arrangements for payment of outstanding amounts.

Gonsalves further noted that provisions were made in the budget for the hiring of three bailiffs to assist in the process.





But Eustace said that the government did not indicate the amount they expected to collect.

"There is some concern as to how much money they will collect during the amnesty, Eustace told those gathered.



The five-member VINLEC team currently in Dominica assiting with the restoration of electrical power in that hurricane-ravaged Caribbean partner.

St. Vincent Electricity Services Limited (VINLEC) is again assisting the people of the Commonwealth of Dominica by providing technical support to the Dominica Electricity Services Limited (DOMLEC).





The islands electricity supply was severely disrupted following the passage of Hurricane Maria, last September.





A team of five from the Transmission and Distribution Department left the island on Sunday, February 11th for Dominica to help with the restoration of electricity. This team is being led by Mr. Rodney Duncan (Line Supervisor, Construction and Maintenance) and will work with staff from DOMLEC to rebuild the network and restore electricity to sections of the island. The other members are Mr. Mowai Latham, Mr. Lamont Sterling, Mr. Kemmael Jacobs and Mr. Kemoul Harry.





VINLECs initial response to Dominica was part of an initiative where regional utilities provide assistance to countries that are impacted by natural disasters immediately after the incident.





VINLECs decision to reach out at this time, comes in light of the developments on the island where a number of customers remain without power. VINLEC acknowledges that electricity supply is critical, as many essential services (water, gas, communications) and infrastructures depend on its continuity for their smooth functioning. In addition, the way of life of the citizens is altered without electricity supply.





During the 2017 Hurricane season, VINLEC provided technical assistance to Anguilla and the British Virgin Islands after their systems were damaged by the passage of hurricanes. (Submitted)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.With the end of the ISIS war, Iraq is on the path of reconstruction and economic resurrection that calls for sustained investment to the tune of over $900 billion within the next decade, said an industry expert.



Iraq plans to focus on the oil and gas downstream value chain as well as minerals value chain, construction and infrastructure industries, healthcare, energy, tourism and financial services sectors to move the GDP growth rate by 10 per cent annually within the next decade, added Ali Mirmohammad, senior consultant  Iraq with growth partnership company Frost & Sullivan.



Mirmohammad was commenting on a new report titled Assessment of Industry Sector Opportunities in Iraq from Frost & Sullivan.



The report provides a broad overview of the current status of these high priority sectors, apart from providing a brief peek into addressable opportunity areas.



According to the report, Iraq requires $30 billion of foreign direct investment (FDI) per year to achieve its reformation and stabilisation goals within the next 10 years.



With a population of over 38 million, Iraq remains an attractive consumer market with a potential of over $40 billion.



Bridged between Asia, Middle East and African economies and strategically placed at the mouth of Europe, Iraq possesses immense locational advantage as a nation with opportunities that stand to be untapped. The country benefits from immense natural wealth in the form of its huge reserves of natural resources. Having been brutally battered first by the Gulf war and more recently by the ISIS conflict, Iraq is just emerging from the destruction and strategizing the rebuilding of the country to position itself as a regional super power.



Even as the nations re-building opportunity proves to be humungous and unique, investors and businesses alike are in need of business intelligence in understanding the right mode of entry, the most rewarding business model and business opportunity. Iraq possesses one of the largest oil reserves in the world making it a highly attractive business opportunity. As the country also focuses on diversification initiatives, opportunities unfurl in sectors such as construction, infrastructure, healthcare, transportation, energy and telecom which are being positioned as high priority development sectors.  TradeArabia News ServiceThree projects in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region - Bahrain World Trade Centre 1, Rose Rayhaan by Rotana in Dubai (UAE) and Beirut Terraces (Lebanon) - are among the finalist projects from around the world to be honoured at the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat's (CTBUH) first annual Tall + Urban Innovation Conference.



The event, which is being held at Chicago from May 30 to 31, will see owner/developers and design teams of 45 finalist projects compete in front of an international audience and live juries for winning distinctions across eight categories.



In addition, the winners in each regional category will be judged for the single title of 2018 Best Tall Building Worldwide, said a statement from the CTBUH.



Incorporating what was previously known as the CTBUH Annual Awards Event, the CTBUH 2018 Tall + Urban Innovation Conference will explore and celebrate the very best in innovative tall buildings, urban spaces, building technologies, and construction practices from around the world.



Following the finalist project presentations, distinguished juries will deliberate and select winners in each category, which will be announced at a ceremony on the second day of the conference.



The main jury is responsible for selecting the Best Tall Building Regional Finalists and Winners, as well as the overall worldwide Winner.



The jury comprises awards jury chair Karl Fender, the director at Fender Katsalidis Architects; Mohammed Alabbar, the chairman of Emaar Properties; Kamil Merican, the chief executive of GDP Architects; CTBUH chairman Steve Watts, partner at alinea consulting; and CTBUH executive director Antony Wood.



"These finalists truly represent the pinnacle of excellence in the field of tall buildings," remarked Fender.



"Being recognised by the worlds premier authority on tall buildings is a great honour, and the opportunity to showcase these quality projects to a global audience helps drive innovation across all disciplines in our industry," he added.



The finalists for the Tall + Urban Innovation Conference Awards in the Best Tall Building: Americas are:

*150 N. Riverside, Chicago

*35xv, New York City

*American Copper Building, New York City

*Gaia Building, Quito



The finalists for the Best Tall Building: Asia & Australasia are:

*Chaoyang Park Plaza, Beijing

*Huangshan Mountain Village, Huangshan

*International Towers Sydney, Sydney

*Lotte World Tower, Seoul

*Marina One, Singapore

*Oasia Hotel Downtown, Singapore

*Poly International Plaza, Singapore

*Tencent Seafront Towers, Shenzhen

*Ping An Finance Center, Shenzhen

Best Tall Building: Europe

*Angel Court, London

*Canaletto, London

*The Silo, Copenhagen

*Tribunal de Paris, Paris

*Upper West, Berlin



The finalists for the Best Tall Building: Middle East & Africa are:

*Azrieli Sarona, Tel Aviv

*Beirut Terraces, Beirut

*Rothschild Tower, Tel Aviv

*Zeitz MOCAA, Cape Town



The finalists for the Urban Habitat Award are:

*Greatwall Complex, Wuhan

*International Towers Sydney, Sydney

*National September 11 Memorial, New York City

*Oasia Hotel Downtown, Singapore

*Soho Fuxing Plaza, Shanghai

*SkyPark, Hong Kong



The finalists for the Construction Award are:

*461 Dean Street, New York City

*Ping An Finance Center, Shenzhen

*56 Leonard Street, New York City

*The EY Centre, Sydney

*111 Main, Salt Lake City



The finalists for the Innovation Award are:

*Hickory Building Systems

*3D Printed Building

*Tallwood House Timber Construction

*MULTI

*Cast Connex High Integrity Blocks

*Hi-Res CFD for Wind Loading Tall Buildings

*Hummingbird  Tuned Damper

*A New Research-based Tower Typology



The finalists for the 10-Year Award are:

*Shanghai World Financial Center, Shanghai

*Bahrain World Trade Center 1, Bahrain

*Manitoba Hydro Place, Winnipeg

*Hegau Tower, Singen

*San Francisco Federal Building, San Francisco

*Manchester Civil Justice Center, Manchester

*Lumiere, Sydney

*Rose Rayhaan by Rotana, Dubai



Hosted at the Radisson Blu Aqua, located in the base of the famous Aqua Tower in Chicago  itself a Finalist for the Best Tall Building Americas award in 2010  the conference will include not only an awards ceremony, but also a dinner, a VIP networking reception, and presentations from some of the most distinguished names in the tall building industry.



Part of our mission at CTBUH is to investigate and highlight the cutting-edge in sustainable urbanism in order to promote a better urban future, and this years finalists exemplify the worlds foremost examples in this regard, remarked Wood.



Registration for the 2018 Tall + Urban Innovation Conference is now open at tallinnovation2018.com,he added.-TradeArabia News ServiceAluminium Bahrain (Alba) has announced the appointment of Dr Abdulla Habib Ahmed as the acting chief operations officer (COO) with immediate effect.



Dr Ahmed joined Alba in 1995 as a trainee engineer. During the last 22 years, he has held various supervisory and management roles in Alba -- superintendent Reduction Line (2002); R&D manager (2009); Reduction Lines manager (2011); customers technical support manager (2013); director of Reduction Lines and Services (2015) and director of Reduction Line 6 Start-up (2017).



Albas chief executive officer Tim Murray, said: At Alba, we believe that the key to our success is to develop and promote our people from within the Company then harness their true potential.



Abdulla has more than 20 years of diversified operations experience in Alba and showed great mettle during the Line 5 Recovery situation. His appointment as the acting COO of Alba comes at a notable time as we progress on the Line 6 Expansion Project and I am confident the Executive team will greatly benefit with Abdulla in the new position.



Dr Ahmed attained PhD. degree in Chemical Engineering - Aluminium Smelting from University of New South Wales (UNSW), Australia in June 2016. He has an MBA from French Arabian School/ESSEC in addition to B.Sc.in Chemical Engineering.  TradeArabia News ServiceUAEs Ministry of Education has signed an agreement with of the Swiss Science Center, Technorama, to establish a centre for science in the UAE.



The memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed by Marwan Al Sawaleh, Undersecretary for Academic Affairs at the Ministry of Education and Thorsten Kunnemann, director of Technorama, reported Emirates news agency Wam.



Signed on the 4th day of the National Science, Technology and Innovation (NSTI) Festival, the MoU comes within the ministry's efforts to develop students' scientific and knowledge skills under its strategy to develop the learning process.



The MoU stipulates collaboration between Technorama and the Ministry of Education to utilise personnel, knowledge and expertise in establishing a sci-hub in the UAE and other STEM education initiatives.



Launched on February 15 by the Ministry of Education as part of the UAE Innovation Month, at Dubai Festival Arena, the NSTI features initiatives, activities and programmes that will run till 19th February, 2018.



The 4th day of the Festival was filled with inspiring sessions, energetic activities, thrilling competitions and valuable edutainment.Saudi Arabian Military Industries (Sami), a wholly-owned Public Investment Fund (PIF) company, revealed its inaugural participation at the Armed Forces Exhibition for Diversity of Requirements and Capabilities (AFED), being held in Saudi Arabia.



Sami participated as a strategic partner of the event, which will take place from February 26 to March 3, at the Riyadh International Convention & Exhibition Center.



Sami provides a range of military products and services that currently span four ?business divisions, namely aeronautics, land systems, weapons and missiles, and defence electronics, and has already signed several agreements within its first year of operations with internationally renowned defence companies, including Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, and General Dynamics, in order to support its development and growth.



AFED 2018 is being held under the patronage of King Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Prime Minister and Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and the directives of HRH Prince Mohammed Bin Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Crown Prince, First Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defense, and chairman of the Council of Economic and Development Affairs.



Dr Andreas Schwer, chief executive officer, Sami, said: Saudi Arabia is one of the top five countries in the world in terms of military spends, and the establishment of Sami was an ambitious yet highly critical step as part of the countrys strategy to localise and globalise its military manufacturing industry.



We aim to achieve this goal by building strong local capabilities in the military industries field, internalising global trends and developments, combining the latest technologies with the best national talent, increasing exports, and bringing foreign investment into the kingdoms military industries sector, he added.



We believe that event will offer the right opportunity to not just understand the kingdoms military manufacturing requirements, but also to meet with various like-minded organizations and defence companies from across the world, he said.



We anticipate that our participation will open up doors to several collaboration discussions and future long-term partnerships, laying the cornerstone for us to enable the achievement of the Saudi Vision 2030 by localising 50 per cent of government military spending, and become one of the top 25 military ?industries companies in the world, Schwer concluded.



With a strategic framework in place, Sami aims to contribute around SR14 billion ($3.73 billion) ?directly to Saudi Arabias gross domestic product (GDP)?, increase the value of national exports by about SR5 billion ($1.33 billion), invest over SR6 billion ($1.59 billion) ?for ?research and development, and create over 40,000 direct ?jobs locally, by the year 2030.



Sami also works on increasing local content and building a sustainable and thriving military industries sector in Saudi Arabia were the main reasons behind establishing Sami. AFED 2018 is a high-level event bringing together key industry stakeholders in the military field.



The exhibition stand leverages technological innovations to highlight the companys genesis, strategic vision, operational competencies and capabilities, and product and service portfolio, it stated.  TradeArabia News ServiceKonica Minolta Business Solutions Middle East, a leader in office equipment and workflow business solutions, has signed a channel partnership agreement with CBK Soft, a subsidiary of leading information management solution provider InfoFort.



The partnership will benefit both companies to offer technical expertise in workflow and document management for their regional customers, said a statement.



The GCC business automation market is growing at a fast pace and is projected to expand further as regional economies now look towards building Smart Cities based on digital transformation, it said.



In order to keep up with the fast-expanding digital marketplace, Konica Minolta has expanded its scope and integrated its widely used multi-functional office products with InfoForts enVision document management technology, it added.



Through this integration, customers in the Middle East will now be able to manage digital content including storage, access and sharing information digitally. In addition, users will be able to benefit from advanced capabilities such as automation, workflow, e-forms, scan-to-process, alongside flexible integration provided on cloud or on-premise, said a statement.



Kazuo Kobayashi, managing director, Konica Minolta, said: With digital transformation changing every aspect of todays business, our customers are keen to embrace new integrated workflow technologies that will support the bi - directional development between paper and digital.



Abed Shaheen, CEO, InfoFort, said: Seamless integration and flow between hardware and content management technologies has become critical in todays business environment.



Our partnership with Konica Minolta addresses this demand and is a step forward in delivering efficient and productive services that will help speed up digital transformation, he added.  TradeArabia News ServiceAramex, a leading global provider of comprehensive logistics and transportation solutions, recently announced the launch of its brand new Shop & Ship (S&S) affiliate and partner programmes.



The new addition to its innovative and hugely successful S&S service comes shortly after the global launch of the S&S Flex membership, said a statement.



The affiliate programme is available to all audiences, including businesses, individuals, publishers, bloggers and influencers, and across all of the more than fifty markets in which S&S operates.



A quick three-step online sign-up process provides users with the opportunity to earn commission by hosting S&S banner advertisements on their online platforms. The new offering aims to further expand Aramexs online community presence, and increase the visibility of S&S across its markets, it said.



The partners programme is aimed at all e-commerce businesses. It allows any online merchant to integrate with S&S Checkout to fulfil locally and ship globally. Enabling a company to introduce S&S members seamlessly onto their e-commerce platform at checkout, it added.



The result is that businesses are able to deliver domestic packages to any of Aramexs 24 S&S hubs around the world with Aramex taking care of international shipping to the customer.



Hassan Mikail, chief e-commerce officer, Aramex, said: We are pleased to have launched the new services, both are very unique and standout from other affiliate programmes.



These initiatives further highlight our efforts to bring the benefits of S&S to as many people as possible. Online merchants who partner with us benefit from direct-to-consumer marketing, zero cost and zero challenges for international logistics, plus world-class customer service support, he added.



Shop & Ship is an online last-mile delivery service from Aramex that makes global shopping happen. The innovative service enables hundreds of thousands of consumers around the world to receive purchased goods from online stores in the US, the UK, and more than 20 other countries - quickly and at affordable rates. The service is available in over 50 countries worldwide.  TradeArabia News ServiceBahrain-based Ahmed Mansoor Al Aali Group said its structural and mechanical division (AMD-SMD) marked a major construction milestone last week by delivering the first potshell equipment for Aluminium Bahrain's (Alba) Potline 6 expansion project.



Under a contract from International Bechtel Company (Bechtel), the engineering, procurement, and construction management (EPCM) contractor for the project, AMA-SMD is manufacturing and supplying core packages for potline equipment for the Potline 6 expansion.



The Bahraini group is manufacturing 427 pot shells (each weighing 44 tonnes) for the project, the first of which was delivered on February 12, said the company in a statement.



In addition, AMA Group along with its partner Alucor (UAE) is manufacturing 424 cathode ring busbars (each weighing 47 tonnes), the first of which was delivered on February 14.



The AMA-Alucor joint venture company is also executing the potline mechanical installation package at site, it added.



The Alba project involves supplying of pot-shells and cathode ring busbars, stretching a total of 2.6 km length of the potline, remarked Haresh Patel, the general manager of AMA-SMD.



This major smelter equipment is among the largest ever manufactured in the aluminium smelting Industry, he added.



The design of the potshells are based on DX+ Ultra technology from Dubal-Emirates Global Aluminum (Ega) supplied to Alba for the Line 6 expansion project, which enables the Bahraini firm to be the largest aluminum smelter in the world.



Already some 50,000 tonnes of aluminium, steel and stainless-steel equipment have been produced at AMA facility in the past one year. Of this, some quantity has been stored at its factory and seaside storage facility in the Askar area of Bahrain, ready for delivery.



This AMA facility is one of the largest manufacturing facility of its kind in the region.



We are looking to complete the project ahead of schedule, stated Patel.



The Alba Potline 6 expansion is the ninth aluminium smelter project awarded to AMA and its group companies by the global aluminium industry, and the seventh consecutive project from Bechtel Corporation.-TradeArabia News ServiceSoftware AG has appointed Sanjay Brahmawar as the new chief executive officer of Software AG for five years as of August 1, 2018.



Brahmawar succeeds Karl-Heinz Streibich, who will step down after more than 14 years at the top at Software AG as he has reached the recommended age limit.



"In the last 14 years, Software AG, under the leadership of Karl-Heinz Streibich, has made the biggest transformation in its nearly 50-year history. By establishing the companys global digitalization business, Karl-Heinz Streibich has successfully built a second robust business division  to the benefit of the companys extensive customer base and to the benefit of our 4,600 employees worldwide. This achievement deserves our utmost gratitude and respect, said Andreas Bereczky, chairman of the Supervisory Board of Software AG.



"Looking forward, we are very happy to have found Sanjay Brahmawar, a proven expert in the international IT business, who will ensure that Software AG continues to play a leading role in shaping the dynamic and competitive digitalization market with short innovation cycles.



With Sanjay Brahmawar, Software AG has won a top manager who has been very successful in the technology sector for more than 18 years. During this time, he has impressively demonstrated how to combine technological know-how with entrepreneurial vision in various management positions. His tasks at Software AG will be to extend the companys global technology leadership, together with the successful management team, and gain further market share in the promising fields of the Digitalization, Industry 4.0 and Artificial Intelligence, continued Bereczky.



"With Sanjay Brahmawar, Software AG is excellently positioned to further expand our strong position as a pioneer of digital transformation and to implement innovative digitalization projects together with our customers, partners and employees," said Karl-Heinz Streibich, chairman of the Board of Software AG.

Brahmawar is currently General Manager Global Revenue of IBM Watson Internet of Things at Munich, Germany. There, he is responsible for global software sales with a focus on data analysis and artificial intelligence.



Previously, he served as general manager at IBM Consulting Services in London, where he was responsible for the business in the European industrial sector (oil and gas, automotive, aerospace, electronics and engineering).  TradeArabia News ServiceHuawei showcased more agile, more intelligent, more connected solutions designed to shape the future of smart and safe cities at the recently concluded Bitex 2018, a top ICT show in Bahrain.



Dr Ebrhim Janahi, CEO of Tamkeen alongside Bitex Management visited Huawei Booth on the first day of Bitex exhibition, for a first-hand look at Huaweis solutions for smart cities, safe cities, smart hospitality, cloud data centers, and agile network.



John Lu Yuedong, CEO of Huawei Bahrain accepted the Exclusive Digital Transformation Partner award on behalf of Huawei from Bahrains Minister of Transportation and Telecommunications, Kamal Bin Ahmed Mohammed.



Lu said, Huawei started its operations in Bahrain in 2004 and shifted its Middle East Regional office to Bahrain in 2009. As the Kingdom strengthens its position as an ICT hub, we are proud to contribute to building the infrastructure in Bahrain that is propelling the overall digital transformation throughout the Middle East. Bitex is the countrys largest gathering of ICT experts and our participation as the exclusive Digital Transformation Partner is a testament to our passion and dedication to building an ecosystem of collaboration and co-innovation in order to empower businesses to stay relevant in the digital economy.



Aimed at improving the effectiveness of law enforcement and ensuring a safe society for citizens and visitors alike, Huaweis end-to-end public safety solutions developed in partnership with global security specialists were a key attraction at the show.



Attendees at Bitex experienced how Huaweis Smart City solutions use new ICT to sense, analyze, and converge data from city management systems and enable intelligent response to governance, livelihood, and business needs. Huawei also showcased its Agile POL for hospitality, new construction and smart buildings projects, which enables a full-cloud network that is agile, intelligent, open, and secure.  TradeArabia News ServiceSixty per cent of respondents to a survey in Saudi Arabia and UAE respondents expressed increasing concern about data protection and data privacy compliance, a report said.



Sixty per cent of respondents to a survey in Saudi Arabia and UAE respondents expressed increasing concern about data protection and data privacy compliance, and 82 per cent still do not have a plan in place to comply with the EU legislation, a report said.



With less than four months to go until the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into force on 25 May 2018, data privacy and protection is top of mind for business leaders in the GCC, added the third biennial EY Global Forensic Data Analytics Survey.



The EUs GDPR will require all businesses to strengthen the protection of personal data of all EU citizens in 28 member states.



The survey analyzes the legal, compliance and fraud risks global companies face and the use of forensic data analytics (FDA) to manage them.



FDA, which is the collection and analysis of all types of data with the objective to manage legal, compliance and fraud risks, can be used to better monitor, prevent, and predict anomalies in business activities and transactions.



Respondents expressed a strong belief in the value of FDA ;100 per cent of the respondents in UAE and Saudi Arabia who use FDA towards regulatory compliance agree that it has been effective.



Charles De Chermont, EY Mena Fraud Investigation & Dispute Services leader, said: The introduction of GDPR and data protection and data privacy laws are major compliance challenges for all organizations, including those in the Mena region. Companies that embrace a GDPR-compliant approach with their FDA efforts can gain a competitive edge over those that choose to avoid FDA due to the cost of compliance and regulatory concerns.



Increased adoption of FDA to manage risks



In Saudi Arabia and UAE, companies are looking at a variety of FDA techniques such as risk scoring and aggregation techniques, user behavioural analytics and social medial analytics to manage their risk. The adoption rate for emerging technologies in the UAE and Saudi Arabia is high; 53 per cent of companies are already using or likely to adopt robotic process automation compared with the global average of 39 per cent.



The majority of organizations in the UAE and Saudi Arabia are making significant investments in emerging technologies to help them mitigate cyber risks and attacks. Compared to global adoption rates, the region is in a strong position when it comes to using data analytics to detect potential anomalies and risks, although this tends to be more on an ad-hoc basis where only 33 per cent of respondents versus 50 per cent globally had implemented continuous monitoring solutions, said Paul Marsters, executive director, EY Mena Fraud Investigation & Dispute Services.



Overall, the report highlights how increased adoption of, and spending on advanced FDA technologies, needs to be matched with greater investment in skilled resources. A vast majority of Saudi Arabia and UAE respondents believe that the full potential of FDA is reliant on investments in the right technology and sources, implemented by subject matter experts.



Without the right people managing the technology, the real value of FDA cant be used to manage risk, said De Chermont.



While its encouraging to see that investment in advanced FDA is increasing, companies need to hire the right talent such as data science and IT professionals and compliance and risk experts who are responsible for designing and reviewing the results of the analytics. Along with the right technology and integrated data sources, only then will companies be able to successfully manage their risk profile effectively.  TradeArabia News ServiceHuawei, a leading global ICT solutions provider, recently emphasised the importance of all industries to work together and go beyond traditional boundaries to achieve fully-connected, intelligent world.



Huawei made the statements during a media and analysis briefing held ahead of the Mobile World Congress 2018, which will take place from February 26 to March 1, in Barcelona, Spain.



The media and analysis briefing highlighted Huaweis views on emerging trends in the context of its latest product launches, with a particular emphasis on 5G, said a statement.



At the upcoming event, Huawei will launch over 20 new products, showcase the results of its cooperation with over 300 partners, host five forums, and engage in many other activities to share its practices and exchange views with the industry, it said.



Huawei believes that the 4th Industrial Revolution  where ICT networks are the foundation and AI is the enabler  is bringing us to an intelligent world where all things will sense, be connected, and intelligent resulting in a digital transformation market worth $23 trillion.



However, progress should be made by all stakeholders in the areas of capabilities, connections, business, experience, and partnerships to tackle the traditional obstacles and shape a better future.



With the intense amount of focus and investment across the Middle East into ICT capabilities  empowered and encouraged by regional governments vision agendas  Huaweis developments will likely contribute significantly to the regions development of Smart City infrastructure and the total enablement of the Internet of Things.



Ryan Ding, executive director of the board and president of Huawei Carrier BG, said: This year is going to be an exciting one for our company at the event.



We will focus on ICT infrastructure and smart devices to provide a plot of 'rich soil' for the development of information, automation, and intelligence technologies. In this 'soil', partners can grow their content, applications, and cloud, he said.



Before entering the intelligent world, we are still faced with many challenges. To achieve sustainable business growth, we need to keep moving beyond existing constraints and boundaries, first internally and then externally, he added.



Ding called on all industries to go beyond the boundaries in the areas of capabilities, connections, business, experience, and partnerships and together shape a better future.



In 2018, Huawei will invest CNY5billion ($788.40 million) in R&D for 5G, and launch a full range of commercial 5G equipment, including wireless access networks, bearer networks, core networks, and devices. Additionally, Huawei will drive the large-scale commercial deployment of NB-IoT networks around the world, and increase the number of NB-IoT connections to over 100 million.



Many of these 5G offerings will be on full display in Barcelona, showcasing Huaweis ability to enable all-online data, operations automation, and intelligent decision-making. They will help carriers deliver a real-time, on-demand, all-online, DIY, and Social (Roads) experience through their internal O&M processes.



Externally, these solutions enable carriers to build a 360-degree customer experience assurance system across all channels, all processes, all services, and the entire lifecycle, it stated.  TradeArabia News ServiceA holistic view of the energy sector is driving innovation at Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa), said its top official on day three of the sixth World Government Summit (WGS 2018) in Dubai, UAE.



Dewas holistic approach to utilities management focuses on three main themes  a commitment to more clean energy, water desalination through solar power, and disruption by digitization, stated Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, the managing director and chief executive of Dewa while speaking at a session titled How Innovation Is Shaping the Future.



This approach is helping anticipate and shape the future of energy, and create an innovative model of future utilities in line with the UAEs development objectives, he added.



Al Tayer elaborated on these objectives that include an ambitious plant for clean energy to meet 75 per cent of Dubais energy needs by 2050. Currently, 4,200 MW are generated from solar energy, primarily solar panels.



He also highlighted Dewas world record in terms of electricity spending, from 3.3 to 2.6 minutes per capita, and the pumped storage station project being built in Hatta, which will have a storage capacity of 250MW.



Lauding Dubai as a global model for clean energy and green economy, Al Tayer said it embraces the Fourth Industrial Revolution and disruptive technologies, such as the Internet of Things, blockchain, drones and artificial intelligence.



A short video rounded off the presentation, highlighting Dewas objectives and ambitions.



"I am here to forecast the future of the energy sector through the Dewa experience and share with you our success story, achieved through our commitment to the guidance and insights we have received from our wise leadership, which has proven to be a leading example to be followed in all countries of the world," he added.



Al Tayer said Dewa was working to achieve the objectives of the UAE Centennial 2071 and Vision 2021, and its holistic view was comprehensive.



"With our initiatives, we can drive production of clean energy, reduction in carbon usage and also reduction in costs. The focus on solar power and energy storage is very important, especially in this region," he added.-TradeArabia News ServiceDubai-based airline Emirates has announced its plan to launch a new daily service from Dubai to Auckland via the island of Bali, Indonesia, starting from June 14.



The new service will offer global travellers a total of three daily services to New Zealand, complementing Emirates existing non-stop daily service between Dubai and Auckland and its current daily A380 service between Dubai and Christchurch via Sydney. Travellers will also enjoy a choice of three daily services between Dubai to Bali in the summer, as the new flight adds to Emirates two existing daily services which are currently operated by a Boeing 777 300-ER in a two-class configuration.



Emirates new Dubai-Bali-Auckland flight will provide the only year-round non-stop daily service between Auckland and Bali, giving passengers an opportunity to visit and/or stopover in one of the most popular islands in Indonesia. The airline will operate a 777-300ER on the route, offering 8 seats in First, 42 seats in Business and 304 seats in Economy class, as well as 20 tonnes of belly-hold cargo capacity.



Sir Tim Clark, president Emirates Airline, said: Were pleased to introduce additional capacity to serve the strong demand for travel to Bali, and to Auckland. We are confident that our year-round service between Auckland and Bali will be well received by our customers, not only in New Zealand and Indonesia, but also from our global network particularly from markets like the UK, Europe and the Middle East.



With its spectacular mountains and picturesque beaches, Bali is considered to be a world leading tourist destination, welcoming more than 4.5 million foreign tourist arrivals in 2016, including over 40,500 New Zealanders. Emirates new service will add to Balis global connectivity, further stimulating the islands economic and tourism growth.



Flight details and connections to Emirates global network and beyond



Apart from the opportunity for a stopover in Bali, the new service will provide excellent connections to/from London and other major European cities. The southbound flight, EK 450, will depart Dubai at 06:55, arriving at Denpasar (Bali) at 20:20 local time, before flying on to Auckland at 22:00, arriving in New Zealands biggest city at 10:00, the following day



Northbound, the new service will depart Auckland as flight EK 451 at the convenient time of 12:40, arriving in Denpasar at 17:55 local time. It will depart Denpasar at 19:50, arriving in Dubai just after midnight at 00:45, connecting to flights to many of the points beyond on the extensive Emirates and flydubai partnership network.  TradeArabia News ServiceAir Arabia, the Middle East and North Africas first and largest low-cost carrier (LCC), has announced plans to launch flights to Grozny, capital of the Chechen Republic in Russia, beginning on April 20.



Air Arabias Russia network, which recently increased by launching flights to Sheremetyevo International Airport - adding a second route for travel to the Russian capital - has been extended to include the city of Grozny from April 2018.



The Grozny flight will operate three times a week, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, departing Sharjah International Airport (SHJ) at 13:00 hours and arriving at Grozny International Airport at 16:10 hours local time. The return flight will depart Grozny at 17:15 hours, landing in Sharjah at 19:50 hours local time.



Adel Al Ali, group chief executive officer of Air Arabia, said: Expanding our Russia network, to include the new state capital of Grozny, forms an important part of Air Arabias ongoing commitment to our passengers to access affordable and unique holiday destinations. This new flight option will offer passengers the opportunity to explore Grozny and experience the rich history and culture of this exciting city, at great value. The new route adds to our existing network in Russia, which already includes Moscow.



Located on the banks of the Sunzha River, Grozny has a rich and diverse, history and is home to the Akhmad Kadyrov Mosque, one of the most lavish in the world. Completed in 2008, it is locally known as the Heart of Chechnya and is by far the largest mosque in Russia.



Air Arabia, currently operates flights to 140 routes across the globe from five hubs located in the Middle East and North Africa. - TradeArabia News ServiceBy Siddhant Mohan, TwoCircles.net

Akhilesh Yadav, national president of Samajwadi Party and former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, has decided to field Praveen Kumar Nishad, the son of Nishad Partys president Sanjay Nishad, from Gorakhpur in upcoming by-polls.

Holding a press conference on Sunday afternoon, Akhilesh Yadav also announced a coalition with the Nishad Party and Peace Party. Both these parties have substantial influence over the politics of eastern Uttar Pradesh.

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Holding a rally in Varanasi couple of weeks back, Akhilesh Yadav made the intent clear that for the upcoming elections, Samajwadi Party will shake hands with smaller groups of Uttar Pradesh in order to defeat Bharatiya Janata Party.

Praveen Nishad will contest from Gorakhpur under the symbol of Samajwadi Party. At the press conference held on Sunday, Sanjay Nishad said, Muslims and Nishads have a similar kind of diseases, so the cure to those should also be similar.

Gorakhpur parliamentary seat, along with Phoolpur, became vacant during last year when Yogi Adityanath and Keshav Prasad Maurya resigned from their respective constituencies to take positions in the state government.

The Samajwadi Party has not announced its candidate from Phoolpur yet, but by fielding and backing Nishad Party from Gorakhpur, Akhilesh has given thought to the election equation in the region.

Earlier in 2004, Samajwadi Party fielded Jamuna Nishad from Gorakhpur who gave a tough fight to Yogi Adityanath in the election. Yogi Adityanath won the same election by a mere margin of 5,000 votes.

Nishad community, especially in Gorakhpur region, has been critical of Yogi Adityanath. Recently, the community surrounded Gorakshanath temple claiming that it belonged to them.

Akhilesh Yadav lashed out at the current BJP government for spreading hatred in the state, and said, We all know who was responsible for the recent riots happened in Kasganj district.

NISHAD  acronym of Nirbal Indian Shoshit Humara Aam Dal  is a political set up which has always influenced voters coming from Other Backward Castes. Communities with the surname Kewat, Manjhi, Bind, Mallah and related others have a strong inclination towards the Nishad Party.

In 2014 elections, both Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party fielded candidates from Nishad community. While Rajmati Nishad, MP candidate of SP, gained 21.75% votes, BSP candidate Ram Bhual Nishad could only get 16.95% of the total vote share of the region.

Many experts are also willing to look at the possibility of candidate status of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). If BSP fields a Nishad candidate this time, the vote split will surface again. However, the time spent by BSP to announce to candidate seems unrealistic as Tuesday is the last day for the candidates to fill the nomination. Many speculate that BSP is not willing to announce the candidate to avoid division of votes.

Moreover, the candidates declared by BJP and Congress imply towards the same equation as that of 2014 elections. Both BJP and Congress have fielded upper-caste Brahmin candidates, almost neglecting Nishad and Muslim candidates of the region. Congress declared Surhita Chatterjee Karim, a nursing home owner in Gorakhpur, who also contested Mayor election in 2012 and managed to get more than 80,000 votes. Dr Karim is a well-known name in Gorakhpur, and Congress is seemingly eye on Brahmin as well as Muslim votes  which are abundant in several localities of the district  by fielding her.

However, many think that Congress has ditched the idea of secular coalition with SP and other groups by fielding its own candidate. Samajwadi Party and Congress both landed in a coalition in 2017 state assembly elections in order to defeat BJP. The SP has openly called for an anti-BJP coalition, a call to which Congress apparently paid no heed.

Following the same line as that of Congress, BJP has fielded Upendra Dutt Shukla as their candidate from Gorakhpur. If sources to be believed, Yogi Adityanath wanted to have Yogi Kamalnath  the priest at Gorakshanath Temple as the candidate, but BJP put pressure on the name of the someone from inside the party.

Seeing the development on every front, Manoj Kumar Singh, a Gorakhpur-based senior journalist said, The equation is most likely to that of 2014. But there is not any wave of that sort. So I believe that even if BJP wins the vote margin will be very less.

Commenting on the absence of BSP, Singh said, If BSP does not field any candidate, it will be a difficult decision for the voters of Schedule Castes. Because we have witnessed that whenever BSP has fallen off the ladder, the Dalit votes have shifted towards BJP making the equation more interesting.By TwoCirles.net Staff Reporter

Jammu and Rawalkot: In a joint petition, over 130 eminent citizens of the divided State of Jammu and Kashmir have urged Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Pakistans Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi to resume ceasefire along the Line of Control and begin the process of dialogue to resolve the Kashmir issue by including all the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

This initiative is led by two civil society activists across the LoC; Anuradha Bhasin, Executive Editor, daily Kashmir Times, and Ershad Mahmud, Executive Director, Center for Peace, Development, and Reforms from Pakistan.

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The petition has already gained momentum and people are coming together in significant numbers to encourage this initiative. It so far has got signatures from various senior political leaders, poets, authors, journalists, civil society activists, former civil servants, ex-diplomats and army personnel, as well as people from the academia.

The petition pronounces that if current tension at the borders is allowed to prolong, it will jeopardise the stability of the region and might escalate into an all-out war. Besides, the skirmishes at the LoC augment the sufferings of the people residing not just near the border areas but eventually for the entire population of the erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir State.

It also raises concern and anxiety regarding the mushrooming growth of radical elements and warmongers in India and Pakistan who exploit the situation on LoC to promote hatred between the two countries. The petition claims that the ongoing spate of violence would sanction the warmongers on both sides. It also urges the political leadership in New Delhi and Islamabad to impress upon their respective militaries for bringing an immediate end to this continuum of shelling and firing.

The organizers stated that the petition would be soon online for further signatures and support. According to Indian official data, there were 347 ceasefire violations in 2013; 583 in 2014; 405 in 2015; and 449 in 2016. Pakistans official data accuses India of 464 ceasefire violations in 2013; 315 in 2014; 248 in 2015; and 382 in 2016. But 2017 saw a manifold increase in the number of ceasefire violations if both countries data is taken into account.

On December 19, the government informed the lower house of the Indian parliament that Pakistan had violated the ceasefire along the line of control 811 times. Pakistan countered the accusations, putting the number of Indian ceasefire violations at 1,300 for the year.

According to statistics by Ministry of Defense, 192 violations took place this year until January 29, killing eight civilians and injuring 58.Zunheboto (Nagaland), (IANS): The ruling Naga Peoples Front (NPF) on Monday called upon the states people to choose between preserving the Naga identity and money in the February 27 Nagaland Assembly polls.

We should not let money power and false promises overpower our faith and our identity of being Nagas, NPF President Shrhozelie Liezietsu said while addressing a NPF rally.

Attacking the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP)-BJP pre-poll alliance, Liezietsu said the alliance had nothing to woo the Naga voters with but only money and called upon the voters to take the right decision.

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In Nagaland, the church has seen the dangers posed by fringe elements to Naga society and are taking remedial measures, he said and called upon the public to abide by the suggestions of the Nagaland Baptist Church Council (NBCC) and the Nagaland Christian Revival Church (NCRC).

The former Chief Minister claimed that the NPF alone would secure an absolute majority and protect the Naga people and their way of life.

The NPF President also asserted that the party accords top priority to the resolution of the long pending Naga issues, and that the NPF had always supported the Naga cause in the past.TCN News

Aligarh: School of Education, Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) under the scheme of Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya Mission on Teachers and Training (PMMMMTT), Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) started short-term courses for Madrasa teachers on Environmental Education and How to Teach Effectivelyat the Department of Education, AMU.

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These courses, which were started on February 18 will conclude on February 23.

Chief-guest of the inaugural function, Prof Akbar Husain (Officiating Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences) said that since Madrasas are a bridge in religious and modern education, it is the onus of Madrasa teachers to focus on the personality development of students in the best of religious and modern ways. He also launched the School of Education website.

Prof Nabi Ahmad delineated the importance of linking Madrasa and modern education.

Prof M Parvez (Chairperson, Department of Education) welcomed the delegates, while Prof Sajid Jamal (Project Coordinator) explained the programmes purpose.

Dr M Abid Siddiqui proposed the vote of thanks. Dr M Shakir conducted the programme which had participations of over 65 teachers.About Me

I am an urban/commercial district revitalization and transportation/mobility advocate and consultant and a principal in BicyclePASS, a bicycle facilities systems integration firm, based in Washington, DC. Urban economic competitiveness is dependent on efficient transit and mixed use, compact places. Therefore, I end up writing mostly about mobility and urban design. While I am based in and write about Washington, DC issues, I try to write so that "universal lessons" are evident in the entries.

View my complete profileCopyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.

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Registration Number: 130349 Registration Number: 130349A year and a half ago, speaking on the prospects of Azerbaijan's accession to the EAEU, President Ilham Aliyev said that Baku is pretty satisfied with its current state, both economic and political. "Another thing is that the world is changing. There are new threats, new challenges, we see how everything is burning, new potential sources of risks appear. In these conditions, a lot of things depend on close cooperation with traditional partners. Today the format of our economic cooperation with the EAEU members, and even political cooperation, is quite strong. Of course, we need motivation to follow the path of integration," Azerbaijani leader said.

As Eurasia Review writes in an article "Azerbaijan In EAEU: Is It Possible?  OpEd", since January 1, 2018, Russia has assumed the presidency of the Eurasian Economic Union. In this regard, Russian President Vladimir Putin invited the CIS countries to become EAEU observers. Some experts suppose that Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Azerbaijan may be observers.

The EAEU is not just an economic integration. It also ensures security of borders and supports overcoming new threats. This integration is a solution to the food security problem, issues of markets, and investments near neighbors, friends, and fellows. The common past brought together the peoples of the CIS countries.

About two years ago on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Elmar Mammadyarov said that Azerbaijan did not deny the possibility of its accession to the Eurasian Economic Union membership. It was the time when the idea of Azerbaijans EAEU accession was mostly relevant. However, some political factors seriously complicate this issue. They are established by the hostile nature of the Armenian-Azerbaijani relations and the negative attitude of the Armenian authorities and public to any format of cooperation between Azerbaijan and the EAEU. Therefore, many experts consider such rapprochement extremely unlikely at this stage. However, an economic factor makes this rapprochement possible. It is the policy of Azerbaijan to diversify the national economy due to the price volatility in the energy market that makes up the bulk of the states revenues. That is why the successful multi-vector development of Azerbaijan faced a number of barriers in the field of foreign policy and foreign economy. It is possible to overcome the barriers through uniting or closer cooperation with geo-economic blocks and economic integration.

Besides, another important factor is the increased criticism from Western countries and international pro-Western organizations towards Azerbaijan. Under these conditions, it is quite natural for Baku to strengthen relations with Moscow, which can also make Azerbaijans accession to the EAEU more likely. Moreover, Turkey has recently expressed its desire to cooperate with the Eurasian Economic Union. Turkey is the main guideline for the foreign policy of Azerbaijan. Therefore, if Ankara gets closer to the Union, similar steps in this direction can be expected from Baku. It is also important that such cooperation would greatly facilitate the Eurasian integration to the East. The EAEU initiated negotiations on free trade zone (FTZ, FTZ+) with countries such as Iran, Pakistan, and India. And Azerbaijan can play a key role in this issue, as it is a strategically important transport hub in the region. At the last Putin-Aliyev-Rouhani meeting in Tehran, the parties once again stressed the importance of such format of negotiations.

The issue of Eurasian integration of Azerbaijan is in a complex position. A serious embarrassment is the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which has a negative impact on the further development of relations between Azerbaijan and the Eurasian Economic Union. The Azerbaijan-EAEC rapprochement is possible through the CIS FTZ or on the basis of bilateral and multilateral ties between Baku and the EAEU members.The ISIS terrorist group has claimed responsibility for the attack on a church in Kizlyar in the Russian republic of Dagestan, according to SITE Intelligence Group.

ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack through the ISIS-affiliated Amaq media wing and in a statement that circulated on social media, but provided no evidence to support the claim, CNN reported.

A shooter opened fire at a church on Sunday, killing five people and wounding two others, authorities said, according to state media. Police responded, traded fire with the shooter and killed him, the authorities said. Two officers were injured in the gunfight.Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the Turkish Stream gas pipeline project is to improve opportunities for Balkan countries to receive Russian gas.

"We and the Turks seek to improve opportunities for Balkan countries to receive Russian gas. Our the Turkish Stream project has been actively implemented," the top diplomat said in an interview with Serbias Beta news agency.

Lavrov also noted the readiness to take any decisions on the Turkish Stream, taking into account the interests of Balkan countries and the European Union, RIA Novosti reports.

The Turkish Stream gas pipeline stipulates laying two stretches with a capacity of 15.75 billion cubic meters a year each. The two pipes will be laid in parallel along the seabed of the Black Sea. One stretch is intended for natural gas deliveries to Turkish consumers and the other will supply Russian natural gas to South and Southeast Europe.

A senior analyst of 'Uralsib Capital', Alexei Kokin, speaking to Vestnik Kavkaza, noted that the Turkish Stream project will allow the Balkans to avoid gas delivery risks. "The Balkan countries, in particular Bulgaria and Greece, receive Russian gas now through Ukraine. And I think Sergei Lavrov primarily spoke about improving the reliability of supplies to these countries to avoid incidents with a gas supply restriction, like it happened 10 years ago due to the conflict with Ukraine on the issue of transit," he said.

At the same time, the expert drew attention to the policy of the EU, which may outweigh the economic benefits from reliable gas supplies through the Turkish Stream. "The issue is so much politicized that it is even difficult to talk about the prospects for the construction of the Turkish Stream in the Balkans. The countries understand that the security and stability of supplies will increase if this pipeline is built around the potential zones of conflict and disputes. But it is still unclear whether they are ready to pay for this reliability. Balkan direction of Turkish Stream will be realized only if the governments of the countries are confident that they need it," Alexei Kokin stressed.

An associate professor of the Graduate School of Corporate Management of RANEPA, Ivan Kapitonov, agreed with Kokin. "The Balkans are interested in the Turkish Stream, since any country, through whose territory a gas or oil pipeline passes, receives a transit fee - it is a direct, material benefit from the project. In addition, the diversification of export routes conducted by Russia serves primarily to the needs of the European Union, increasing the EU's ability to receive fuel on different routes. Thus, energy security is increasing both in the EU as a whole and in the Balkan Peninsula in particular," he explained.

"We do not know exactly how the political situation in Europe will develop further, but for the time being the probability of building this branch of the pipeline is high. As for the issue of financing, it is the subject of further discussions. Eventually, Gazprom also may help the Balkans with this project," Ivan Kapitonov concluded.Russia condemns remarks that Israel should be wiped off the map, the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

"We have stated many times that we wont accept the statements that Israel, as a Zionist state, should be destroyed and wiped off the map. I believe this is an absolutely wrong way to advance ones own interests," Lavrov stressed at the opening of the Valdai International Discussion Clubs conference "Russia in the Middle East: Playing on All Fields."

The top minister also believes that solving any regional problems should not be viewed through the prism of a conflict with Iran, TASS reported.Israel could act against Iran in Syria itself, not just its allies in the Middle East, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

"Israel will not allow the regime to put a noose of terror around our neck. We will act if necessary not just against Irans proxies but against Iran itself," Netanyahu said in his first address to the annual Munich Security Conference.

He stressed that as the ISIS militant group has lost ground, Iran and its allies were surging into territory, "trying to establish this continuous empire surrounding the Middle East from the south in Yemen but also trying to create a land bridge from Iran to Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Gaza," Reuters reported.Russia's NOVATEK signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Saudi Aramco, the Saudi Arabian National Oil Company.

According to the MOU, the parties agreed to collaborate internationally on natural gas projects, including LNG supplies, development of LNG markets, gas exploration and production projects, as well as research and technology development.

"We see a wide array of exciting and mutually beneficial energy opportunities to cooperate with Saudi Arabia. Our company owns one of the world's largest high-quality, low-cost conventional gas reserve base and has gained unique and valuable experience of developing LNG-projects in the Russian Arctic area," NOVATEK's chairman of management board Leonid Mikhelson said.

According to him, NOVATEK's strategy envisages rapidly growing our LNG production and attracting international partners. "We welcome the interest of such a globally important company as Saudi Aramco to jointly collaborate with us in gas markets," the chairman of management board stressed.OPEC Secretary-General Mohammad Barkindo said that the organization registered 133% compliance with agreed output reduction targets in January across all participating OPEC and non-OPEC countries.

According to Barkindo, compliance last year stood at 107% and that OPEC and non-OPEC producers would hold a technical meeting in June, Reuters reported.

Sberbank CIB analyst Valery Nesterov, speaking with a correspondent of Vestnik Kavkaza, noted that regular reports of OPEC+ deal participants are not just about fulfilling a deal, but about its substantial over-fulfilling are part of the information confrontation of too positive US statistics in the struggle for the sentiment of traders.

"It's a desire to show that the oil output cut deal is all right, since there is a real information war, including with US shale oil producers. OPEC, in partnership with Russia, is protecting from the growing production of oil and gas in the US, as it will have more influence on prices in the future. In this case, there is an opportunity to show the unity of the deal participants, their fidelity to their obligations, which helps support prices. Current price volatility shows that verbal interventions play a big role in the oil market," he pointed out.

In the course of time, they will have to increase a positive nature of statements. "In three weeks there will be a new statement from Mohammed Barkindo. I would link today's statement to the new forecasts released by the US Energy Ministry, which were disturbing for the world market, in particular, for OPEC. Now OPEC+ should show a cohesion,it's not about an additional output cuts, because no one wants to lose markets - that is why they will continue to make such statements," Valery Nesterov expects.The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, was stunned by the attack in Kizlyar and demanded the most thorough investigation of the incident, Patriarchs spokesman, priest Aleksandr Volkov, wrote on Telegram.

"The Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church considers this monstrous crime, committed on the eve of the Great Lent, a provocation aimed at instigating confrontation between Orthodoxs and Muslims, who have been coexisting peacefully for ages in the Caucasus," the spokesman wrote.

Dagestans Muslim Spiritual Authority has called the shooting a "tragedy," saying that it condemns all manifestations of violence. "We express our most sincere condolences to the relatives of those who were killed or injured," the Muftiyat said in a statement.It said the perpetrator was an adherent of Wahhabism, a hardline interpretation of Islam, RT reported.The man who carried out a shooting attack on a Kizlyar Orthodox church in Russia's Dagestan was identified as Khalil Khalilov, 22, ISIS terrorist group member, coming from the Tarumovsky District of Dagestan.

On Sunday, an armed man opened gunfire at people leaving an Orthodox church in Kizlyar, killing five and wounding four people, including police and National Guard officers. The gunman was shot dead by the police while trying to flee the scene.

Four people remain hospitalized, the chief doctor of a local hospital Kazanfar Kurbanov said. "The victims remain in the same condition, two women are seriously injured, and they are in intensive care. A police officer and a Rosgvardiya fighter are in moderately severe condition," TASS cited Kurbanov as saying.

The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, was "stunned" by the attack in Kizlyar and demanded the most thorough investigation of the incident, Patriarchs spokesman, priest Aleksandr Volkov, said.



"The Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church considers this monstrous crime, committed on the eve of the Great Lent, a provocation aimed at instigating confrontation between Orthodoxs and Muslims, who have been coexisting peacefully for ages in the Caucasus," the spokesman wrote on Telegram page.



Dagestans Muslim Spiritual Authority has called the shooting a "tragedy," saying that it condemns all manifestations of violence. "We express our most sincere condolences to the relatives of those who were killed or injured," the Muftiyat said in a statement.

Russian Presidential Envoy to the North Caucasus Federal District Oleg Belaventsev said that those behind the shooting attack will receive the punishment they deserve.

"Law enforcement agencies will take comprehensive measures to establish those behind this horrific and cynical crime. The crimes masterminds, as well as its perpetrators and their accomplices, will receive the punishment they deserve," he said.

"It is impossible to justify this action and I would like to point out that no destructive forces, no matter what ideas they hide behind and what guise they take, will succeed in creating discord between followers of different religions in the North Caucasus," Belaventsev stressed.

The envoy offered condolences to the families and friends of the victims. "I wish a speedy recovery to those wounded. Assistance will be provided to the families of the killed and wounded," he added.

The head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov also conveyed his condolences to the families of the victims. He also said that the attacker has no connection to Islam.

"One can say with certainty that the bandit and his patrons, in case he had any, do not have any direct or indirect connection to Islam. The North Caucasus has always been a region of close cooperation and mutual understanding between Muslims and Christians. So today, it is our duty to deter assaults on our heritage that instigators and Russias enemies may make," Kadyrov wrote on Telegram.

According to him, it is important to find out who encouraged the shooter to carry out the attack. "Those linked to him deserve to be severely punished," Kadyrov stressed.

Irans Foreign Ministry has condemned the shooting incident in Russias Dagestan region. "The killing of innocent worshipers in holy places... is the mark of groups who would do anything to spread fear and hatred throughout the world," PressTV cited Irans Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi as sayingRussian Presidential Envoy to the North Caucasus Federal District Oleg Belaventsev said that those behind the shooting attack on an Orthodox Church in the town of Kizlyar in Russia's Dagestan will receive the punishment they deserve.

"Law enforcement agencies will take comprehensive measures to establish those behind this horrific and cynical crime. The crimes masterminds, as well as its perpetrators and their accomplices, will receive the punishment they deserve," TASS cited him as saying.

"It is impossible to justify this action and I would like to point out that no destructive forces, no matter what ideas they hide behind and what guise they take, will succeed in creating discord between followers of different religions in the North Caucasus," Belaventsev stressed.

The envoy offered condolences to the families and friends of the victims. "I wish a speedy recovery to those wounded. Assistance will be provided to the families of the killed and wounded," he added.

On February 18, an armed man opened gunfire at people leaving an Orthodox church in Kizlyar, killing five and wounding four people, including police and National Guard officers. The gunman was shot dead by the police while trying to flee the scene.Washington is evaluating additional Russian individuals for possible sanctioning, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in an interview with CBS.

"Weve taken steps that have already prevented a number of Russian military sales as a result of the legislation. And we are evaluating additional individuals for possible sanctioning," Tillerson said when asked if the US planned to implement the sanctions that the US Congress wanted to see put on Moscow.

The United States was expected to announce an expanded Russian sanctions list on January 29. The US administration eventually informed the Congress about the measures it was taking to prevent other countries from maintaining military cooperation with Russia.

A senior US Department of State official said on the occasion that January 29 "was not a deadline to impose sanctions, it was actually a start date."Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Iran is concerned about a "new wave" of foreign intervention in Syria led by the US after the defeat of ISIS.

Speaking on the sidelines of the conference of the international discussion club Valdai, he accused the US of trying to capture Syrian territory by making use of proxies.

"It is clear that the Americans are engaged in activities in Syria through a pre-calculated policy, trying to occupy parts of the Syrian territory," the Iran Project cited Zarif as saying.HCM CITY  After focusing on exporting large volumes of unprocessed goods for a long time, more and more Vietnamese companies are now turning to export of processed and value-added products and improving their quality to penetrate global markets.

According to experts, this is a needed move if "made in Viet Nam" products are to find a place in the global distribution and value chains.

After more than a decade of being the worlds largest processor and exporter of cashew nuts, the Viet Nam Cashew Association said it is time for the sector to change its export strategy to penetrate deeper into the global value chain.

This is why the sector has decided to reduce the import of raw cashew this year though it can result in lower exports, the association chairman, Nguyen uc Thanh, said.

"We have researched and shifted our investment for the moment to produce more highly processed products such as salt-roasted cashew, cashew snacks, cashew milk, and other products for export to add more value.

Le Thi Thanh Lam, deputy general director of Saigon Food, said her company invested in a modern production chain to produce more high-quality and value-added products for selling internationally.

This yea,r it would focus on processing seafood using a modern production chain and exporting salmon sushi, crab sushi, sea bass kirimi, horsehead fish kirimi, basa fish fillet, shrimp sushi and other products to Japan, she said.

This will be a stepping stone for the company to expand to other markets.

Many businesses are also focusing on expanding cultivation of organic products to capitalise on the global trend.

Nguyen Lam Vien, chairman of Vinamit JSC, said the company has tied up with farmers to grow coconut, jackfruit and banana on a large scale without using chemicals.

Organic certificates would open the door wide for Vietnamese farm produce to enter North America, Japan and the EU - markets that have stringent requirements in terms of products nutritional value, safety and environment-friendliness, he said.

Tran Van Linh, chairman of Thuan Phuoc Seafood and Trading Corporation, said: A number of Vietnamese shrimp processors have invested in producing value-added products, heralding a new export age.

Last year, his company had earned US$91 million from shrimp exports compared to $75 million in 2016, he said.

Export volumes were up only 5 per cent last year, but thanks to an increase in the export of value-added products, which accounted for 90 per cent of the exports, export revenues were up significantly.

The story that the Viet Nam Nutrition Food JSC (Nutifood) has signed a contract with Delori Foods International to export its PediaPlus dissolved milk powder for malnourished children to the US, the first time Viet Nams milk powder will enter such a demanding market, has brought new hope and confidence to firms in the food sector.

Tran Thanh Hai, chairman of Nutifood, said the product has been exported to the Philippines, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and China.

When the product penetrated the US market, the companys brand prestige skyrocketed since it had met the tough quality requirements of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), he said.

A firm foothold in the US market would give the company the leverage to export to other markets, he added.

According to John Beckley from Dover Brook Associates -- a Process Authority recognised by the FDA and with over 28 years of experience in assisting major food and pharmaceutical manufacturers and suppliers with engineering design and compliance with FDA guidelines -- said Vietnamese businesses have the potential and a great opportunity to export to the US market, especially farm produce and food products.

But for that they need to contact FDA-designated organisations to learn about its regulations, he said.

Untie difficulties

Tran Thanh Hai, deputy director of the Ministry of Industry and Trades Import-Export Department, said last year the country surpassed expectations by earning US$214 billion from exports.

But Vietnamese companies only contributed 30 per cent of the amount, with foreign-invested firms accounting for the rest, he said.

The major constraint for domestic enterprises is their inability to access markets, with many still not familiar with the way of doing international business, he said.

Many are unprofessional in most things from management to marketing their products, he said.

As a result, they have not even capitalised on the opportunities that have fallen on their lap because of free trade agreements, he said.

This year, his ministry would continue reforming administrative procedures and removing hurdles faced by enterprises, he promised.  VNSLAO CAI  Up to 1,560 tonnes of dragon fruit got customs clearance for export to China via the Lao Cai international border gate on February 17-18 - the first two days of Lunar New Year.

Nguyen Quyet Chien, head of the Lao Cai international border gate customs office, said Anh Loc, Bao An and Tan HungThinh companies loaded the fruits in 32 vans heading to China.

The fruits were sourced from orchards in the south-central province of Binh Thuan and the Mekong Delta provinces of Soc Trang and Vinh Long.

Last year too, hundreds of thousands of dragon fruit were shipped to China via Lao Cai international border gate.  VNSLONDON  French designer Roland Mouret launched his latest collection in London on Sunday, aligning with the #MeToo movement in a parade celebrating femininity, independence and sensuality.

In the subterranean concrete lobby of the National Theatre, the London-based designer hosted buyers, journalists, bloggers, fashionistas and other Fashion Week VIPs to highlight his 2018 autumn-winter collection.

Models paraded between the ranks of guests following a labyrinthine route set to retro music.

Velvet corduroy dresses were worn with transparent tops; soft ties appeared nonchalantly tied around the neck; and lace socks were paired with sandals.

Mouret was eager to play with contrasts to explore concepts of femininity -- and his abiding mantra "...we all dress to undress".

In red and black, in pale pink or midnight blue, his models subtly revealed garters and low-cut necklines.

"Roland Mouret proves that there is practicality in femininity, and femininity is a womans greatest power," read the collections accompanying notes.

Mouret told AFP he deliberately chose fabrics reminiscent of the 70s -- "still the highlight of womens liberation" -- for his latest designs as he incorporated the current climate into the collection.

Bow silhouette

Spanish fashion house Delpozo, a defector from New York Fashion Week, also highlighted its latest offerings on Sunday with a slow and romantic show in the cosy setting of Londons Royal Institute of British Architects.

The location was an hommage of sorts to creative director Josep Fonts past life as an architect.

For his 2018 autumn-winter collection, the Catalan drew inspiration from French cubist artist Ines Longevial.

Font found the works "radiate a harmonious femininity in shape and colour" and sought to incorporate their "simple lines and curvy silhouettes with luminous hues" into his designs.

Pink provides the basis for the collection, while ivory, camel, canary yellow, chalk blue and navy blue feature too.

Shorts are cut wide, skirts long, and the coats hang down to mid-thigh.

Shirts are studded with polka dots, ankle boots are sequined and dresses feature floral patterns.

Meanwhile the designer has styled two types of belts: an "iconic bow silhouette" and another more "organic and floral" offering inspired by lily pads.

"Artisanship of leather at its most delicate expression," proclaims the collections literature.  AFPHUNG YEN  General Secretary of the Communist Party of Viet Nam Central Committee Nguyen Phu Trong extended the best wishes to officials and people of Hung Yen while visiting the northern province on Monday (February 19) - the fourth day of the Lunar New Year.

Reporting on Hung Yens achievements, Secretary of the provincial Party Committee o Tien Sy said last year, the province collected VN1.2 trillion (US$52.86 million) for the State budget, 13 per cent higher than the set target. The industry made up 51 per cent of the local economic structure when Hung Yen was striving to become an industrial province in the near future.



Hung Yen attracted 255 investment projects in 2017, equivalent to the total number recorded in the previous three years, he said, adding that it paid due attention to the building of the Party and political system, and stepped up the communications, mass mobilisation, examination work, and attraction of young intellectuals to localities.



Applauding Hung Yens performances, General Secretary Trong said he can see the reform and development of the province whenever he visits the province.



He offered Tet greetings and expressed his hope that the Party organisation, administration and people of Hung Yen will maintain solidarity and bring into play local traditions as well as accomplishments and experience so as to build a developed and wealthy province.



The same day, the Party leader and a large number of local residents attended a ceremony in Hien Nam Ward of Hung Yen City to launch the tree planting festival.



The tree planting festival was initiated by late President Ho Chi Minh in the spring of 1960. Since then, it has become a cultural practice in every spring with a view to improving the environment and greening the country.



In Hung Yen, the tree planting festival is an annual activity which has received warm response from local people. In 2017, 620,300 trees were planted across the province, including more than 590,000 longan, lychee, orange, grapefruit and tangerine trees.



The spring tree planting movement has helped encourage agricultural restructuring and gear local agriculture towards large-scale crop production, thereby greatly contributing to the provinces socio-economic development.



The same day, Party General Secretary Trong laid a wreath at the statue of late Party General Secretary Nguyen Van Linh, who made significant contributions to the countrys revolution and reform, in Hien Nam Ward of Hung Yen City.



He also visited and extended Tet greetings to workers of the Hung Long II Garment Joint Stock Company in Lam Son Ward of Hung Yen City.  VNSWASHINGTON  Students who survived a mass shooting at their Florida school on Sunday (February 18) announced plans to march on Washington in a bid to "shame" politicians into reforming laws that make firearms readily available.

The "March for our Lives" will take place on March 24, with sister rallies planned across the country, a group of students told ABC News "This Week."

They pledged to make Wednesdays slaughter in Parkland, Florida a turning point in Americas deadlocked debate on gun control.

Nikolas Cruz, 19, a troubled former student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, confessed to killing 17 people with a legally-purchased AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, the latest such atrocity in a country with more than 30,000 gun-related deaths annually.

Among the students announcing the march was Emma Gonzalez, who captured worldwide attention with a powerful speech in which she assailed President Donald Trump over the multi-million-dollar support his campaign received from the gun lobby.

She vowed Stoneman Douglas would be "the last mass shooting."

On Sunday, Gonzalez, 18, urged politicians to join a conversation about gun control - citing Trump as well as his fellow Republicans Florida Senator Marco Rubio and Governor Rick Scott.

"We want to give them the opportunity to be on the right side of this," she said, as she and her four classmates called on students nationwide to help push the message.

Trump will host a "listening session" with high school students and teachers on Wednesday, the White House said in a statement, though it did not specify who would attend the event.

Singling out the links between politicians and the powerful National Rifle Association, fellow student Cameron Kasky said any politician "who is taking money from the NRA is responsible for events like this."

"This isnt about the GOP," he said, referring to the Republican Party. "This isnt about the Democrats."

The NRA, a traditional ally of the Republicans who currently control Congress and the White House, defends a literal view of the US Constitutions 2nd Amendment which promises a right "to keep and bear arms."

Even after last Octobers killing of 58 people by a gunman in Las Vegas who amassed 47 firearms to commit the worst mass shooting in recent US history, legislators accomplished nothing in the way of tighter controls.

Accusing the NRA of "fostering and promoting this gun culture," Kasky said the students seek "a new normal where theres a badge of shame on any politician whos accepting money from the NRA."

THEY WANT ACTION

"People keep asking us, what about the Stoneman Douglas shooting is going to be different, because this has happened before and change hasnt come?" said Kasky.

"This is it," he continued. "We are going to be marching together as students begging for our lives."

The students did not indicate how many people they expected to join their rallies. But their aims won support from Florida Democratic Congressman Ted Deutch, who said they can make a difference.

"After what they saw, the worst things imaginable, theyre not going to just sit back and take it," he told "This Week." "All Ive heard all week is how frustrated people are with rhetoric. They want action."

Florida Republican Congressman Carlos Curbelo, speaking on the same programme, said he is working towards bipartisan solutions that could prevent similar tragedies.

"There are a lot of Republicans who are prepared to support reasonable, common-sense gun safety laws," he said.

Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff said that although Republicans have faced a bigger hurdle in making gun control a priority, "its been a challenge in the Democratic Party as well."

Speaking on CNNs "State of the Union," Schiff asked, "How much more of this are we gonna to take? How many more shootings?"

Congress has to get "off its backside" to "stare down the NRA and do the right thing," he said.

The student survivors calls for change "should matter," said Mark Kelly, a retired astronaut whose wife, former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, was shot and wounded by a deranged gunman.

He said on "Fox News Sunday" that the student activists "are going to vote on this issue probably for the rest of their lives and theyre going to encourage others to do that as well."

Speaking on CNNs "State of the Union," Schiff asked, "How much more of this are we gonna to take? How many more shootings?"

Congress has to get "off its backside" to "stare down the NRA and do the right thing," he said.

The student survivors calls for change "should matter," said Mark Kelly, a retired astronaut whose wife, former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, was shot and wounded by a deranged gunman.

He said on "Fox News Sunday" that the student activists "are going to vote on this issue probably for the rest of their lives and theyre going to encourage others to do that as well."

But conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh, speaking on the same show, said neither legislation nor marches are the answer.

"Its not the fault of the NRA," he said, calling for concealed weapons to be allowed in schools. "If we are really serious about protecting the kids, we need a mechanism to be defensive."  AFPThe Grumman OV-1 Mohawk is too brutish to ever be called beautiful, but it has enormous charisma, and as such, it is surprising that so few are active on the air show circuit. Despite its vital role in battlefield surveillance, the Mohawk served in relative obscurity, and this may well account for its anonymity in the public eye. Dr. Joseph Masessa is working to change that though. He has owned and operated OV-1C 68-15958 from his base in New Jersey for almost a decade now. When describing his Grumman Mohawks history in conversation with WarbirdsNews, Masessa noted that the aircraft was delivered to the US Army as an OV-1C model in 1969. Sometime in 1982, in preparation to be sent to Israel, it was converted to an OV-1D in Stuart, FL. The conversion put new electrical systems, wiring, new longer wings, and new, upgraded, more powerful Lycoming T53-L-701 engines. The Mohawks didnt wind up going to Israel however, and the aircraft served as an OV-1D Mohawk sensor and mission trainer at Edwards AFB and Fort Huachuca. Mohawks served from Vietnam to Desert Storm and left the Army in 1992 and finally the ANG in 1996. Our particular aircraft left the Army for private ownership in 1991.

While never having served in the military himself, many of Joe Masessas close family members did, and recognizing their service has been important to him for much of his life, and this is in part why he acquired the OV-1. A few years ago, Masessa was looking for a way to both engage the public more closely with the Mohawk, and also to help tell the stories of those who have served and sacrificed for the nation. As a result, he decided to turn his OV-1 into a literal flying monument by placing on its skin the names of all 1,636 U.S. servicemen still listed at the time as being Missing In Action from the Vietnam War.

Julie-Cristie Neal, one of Mohawk Air Shows team members, came up with the idea for this powerful tribute and described the process for WarbirdsNews as follows I told Joe he needed to do something really big, meaningful and unique. I started researching Vietnam, and thats when it hit me. There needed to be a special dedication for the men who never came back from Vietnam. The POW/MIA men who paid the ultimate price for our freedom. And I was heartbroken to know how many still hadnt been returned home. Their remains just lost and families with no closure. Those brave and dedicated men and their families needed something special just for them. This hit close to home as my father served in the Army Air Corps during WWII. He came home, but he easily couldve been one of the many that didnt Joe was on board with the idea, but we were all skeptical about how we were going to fit all of those names on that airplane, and who was going to do it. The names were printed out, and every letter with negative space, like os and ds, etc had to be weeded out by hand!!! What a huge job! I spent about 6 hours on that job and Larry and Brandon finished the rest of them. Those guys put a lot of hours into that. Then, the flying monument was born. Im so thankful to be a part of it. Its a symbol of patriotism, thankfulness and remembrance of all of the men and women who fight for our freedom in the armed forces.

So now at an air show, when Masessa isnt performing his aerobatic routine in the Mohawk, his aircraft becomes a focal point for visitors on the ground. Witnessing such a sea of names reminds those who view them of the enduring anguish, even five decades later, that so many family members and friends of the missing still bear. Many people who might otherwise pass by the Mohawk at an air show now stop to ask about the names and from there a discussion begins.

From time-to-time, the military is able to repatriate and identify the remains of a lost serviceman from the Vietnam War. When Masessa learns their identity, he places a small American flag beside the letters of their name to let the public know they are no longer missing. You can see one of those American flags beside the name of one just man, Rodney L. Griffin in the image below. His name stands out amidst the ink of so many others who still have no known grave, and reminds us again of the human toll wrought by a war, even half a century later.

On May 2nd, 1970, Sergeant Rodney L. Griffin was riding with several fellow soldiers from the 2nd Battalion of the 34th Armored Regiment of the 25th Infantry Division in a UH-1H Iroquois helicopter en route to Fire Support Base Katum in South Vietnam, close to the Cambodian border. Bad weather forced the helicopter to divert, and they ended up in Cambodian airspace where they took heavy incoming fire, which forced the helicopter down in Kampong Cham Province, Cambodia. All eight men aboard survived the emergency landing; four of them aircrew, and four infantry. The men tried to escape, and a firefight ensued in which three of them died at the scene: Maj. Dale W. Richardson, Staff Sgt. Bunyan D. Price Jr., and Sgt. Rodney L. Griffin. Four of the survivors became prisoners of war, although a fifth managed to escape and make it back to friendly lines a couple of days later. Sadly two of the POWs did not survive captivity, although their bodies were repatriated soon after the war.

When Masassa learned of the discovery and identification of Griffins remains, he placed an American flag decal besides his name on the Mohawk. He did the same for Richardson and Price, who were found at the same time. Griffin was positively identified from DNA samples provided by his brothers, Bill and Darryl. One can only imagine how they and Griffins widow, Donna, must have felt upon finally finding some measure of closure. The same must also be true for the families of Richardson and Price. This is the reason why the U.S. militarys efforts through the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) is so valuable. Under their auspices, a hundred or so missing US servicemen and women are identified each year, although the majority of these date from WWII and the Korea War where so many more personnel were lost without trace. But for the DPAA to continue their efforts, they need the public to support the budget for their mission, which is expensive work. As an example of the dedication and resources required for the recovery of just Richardson, Price and Griffin alone, U.S. military forensic teams visited the site of the soldiers last stand in Cambodia numerous times over a period of two decades before making their discovery in February 2012. It took a further three years to positively identify the three men. Masessas Mohawk, with its many hundred names tattooed to its sides, plays a role in keeping that mission in the public eye, and promoting its relevance. Joe Masessa and his team are worthy of justifiable praise for their efforts in keeping alive the names and stories of the missing. And also for keeping alive the forgotten legacy of the Mohawk. Long may they fly

If any of our readers wish to see the Mohawk, or talk with Joe Masessa, the OV-1 is already scheduled for several air shows this season. The following is their present published list, although they will surely add more events as 2018 unfolds. Be sure to stop by the Mohawk and say hello

Apr. 7-8: Thunder In the Valley  Columbus, GA

Apr. 10-13: Sun n Fun International Fly-In & Expo  Lakeland, FL

Apr. 14-15: Tuscaloosa Regional Airshow  Tuscaloosa, AL

Apr. 21-22: Wings Over Columbus  Columbus AFB  Columbus, MS

Apr. 28-29: Wings Over Myrtle Beach Air Show  Myrtle Beach, SC

May 5-6: Power in the Pines  Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst  nr. Wrightstown, NJ

May 19: Anderson Airshow  Anderson, SC

WarbirdsNews wishes to thank Joe Masessa, Kevin McNulty, Andy Hill and Julie-Cristie Neale for their contributions to this article. 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Nov 09 (9) Nov 08 (9) Nov 07 (12) Nov 06 (8) Nov 05 (4) Oct 29 (1) Oct 01 (1) Jul 29 (1) May 11 (1) Jul 11 (1)Haiti's president said on Friday that sexual misconduct by staff of British charity Oxfam was only the tip of an "iceberg" and called for investigations into Doctors Without Borders and other aid organizations which came to the country after its 2010 earthquake.

"The Oxfam case is the visible part of the iceberg," President Jovenel Moise said in a phone interview with Reuters Friday. "It is not only Oxfam, there are other NGOs (non-governmental organizations) in the same situation, but they hide the information internally."

The scandal has already shaken the aid sector, with Britain and the European Union reviewing Oxfams funding.

Oxfam, one of the world's biggest disaster relief charities, apologized this week for unspecified sexual misconduct uncovered in a 2011 internal investigation.

"There should be an investigation into other organizations that have been working here since 2010," said Moise. "For example, Doctors Without Borders had to repatriate about 17 people for misconduct which was not explained," he added.

"We call on the Belgian and UK government to assume their responsibility, and we call on the whole international community to help make sure those guilty of such misconduct are punished, whether they are Belgian or of another nationality," Moise said. "The dignity of the Haitian people has been trampled on."The FARC is trying to convey its message of democracy, dignity and decent life to the people.

The renewed initiative for a peaceful and decent Colombia is facing fatal hurdles as assassinations and assaults are being unleashed against the Revolutionary Alternative Force of the Commons, FARC, the political party formed by the former guerrilla leaders and activists.

Blood of progressive activists is being spilled by the ultra-rightist forces in the land with immense possibilities.

The FARC is trying to convey its message of democracy, dignity and decent life to the people. The party is carrying on its participation in the electoral process although it was recently compelled to suspend its election campaign in the face of increasing violence.

FARC announced its leader, Rodrigo Londono, popularly known as Timo as short for his nom de guerre 'Timochenko,' as a candidate for the coming presidential election.

In late January, Timo launched the With the Force of the Common campaign. The speech outlined the existing politics and the FARCs vision for a new Colombia. Its not only a significant message on behalf of the exploited in the country, but also an indicator to other exploited peoples in other lands.

It indicated the message to be conveyed to the poor and exploited instead of getting bogged down into a sectarian trench  concerned only with a particular community or sect.

Overwhelmed by concern only for a sect or a community makes the community more vulnerable as that group isolates itself from the people. Timo addressed the broader constituency  the people, the poor, the marginalized, the victims of inequality and exploitation. His message was against the exploiters, the rich, the privileged.

The FARC leader sketched a context in his speech: "Dirty propaganda is being carried out against those defending the poorest and the forgotten. Our country occupies second place in the ladder of inequality between the rich and the poor in our continent. In addition to poverty and misery here is a situation full with dangers and evils."

"Armed gangs, drug, trafficking, paramilitarism, forced displacement and all types of violence are here. Communities are threatened by unemployment. Irresponsible mining is threatening the environment. The state enriches the elites, the privileged of always, the owners of the greatest fortunes. Big capital, banks, large landowners and the mafias increase their fortune daily."

He described the state machine and dominant politics of the powerful: "Here is the control exercised by politicians of deceit and lies. A corrupt ruling machine has been built up. Here is a market of favors. Here are the corrupt parties."

"They plunged politics deeper into the mud of rot. Only 40 percent of Colombians participate in politics, that is, only four out of 10 compatriots decide the future of all the rest. We know many of them sell their votes, or change it for small favors. It is urgent that 60 percent of absentees make presence and be respected."

Timo presented further facts: "Millions of Colombians lack minimum possibilities of getting ahead. The peasants migrate to the cities swelling misery while the large agro-industrial export projects multiply profit. The profiteers blame the poor: The fault is in the poors laziness.

A voice of hope resounded as he said: "Its a collective struggle for survival, for a dignified life. We are an immense stream of women and men dreaming a better future."

He vowed to break the present logic in politics that enriches oneself with the peoples money.

The FARC arrives to inaugurate a new way of politics that puts people at the center of the state.

The FARC leader reminded: We obtained the right to make politics with full guarantees of our life and freedom. Despite the guarantee, persecution does not stop. He cited murder of more than 50 and imprisonment of more than 500 of his comrades.

The former guerrilla leader added: Only by liberating the state from the hands of the elites can the poor have a future. Colombia needs a new policy that puts emphasis on the working people, on their dignity, on their economic, social, political and cultural rehabilitation.

He stated: Our party does not present a magic formula of salvation. We propose a general awakening, in the sense that changing things is possible. Politics will be transformed into a noble activity, when ordinary Colombians will be its real protagonists.

He explained: If we do not get engaged with politics, we will always be dominated by the minority that deals with it. We offer ourselves for organization and unity of the people. We are the Colombians who left everything to fight for the people. We risk everything, even life, to change the reality in peoples favor.

The FARC leader said: There is no peace with hunger; we are going to fight it. Every Colombian has the right to a dignified life, and a Vital Income of Existence; and we will guarantee it. No Colombians work go unrecognized. Domestic work will be recognized with economic retribution. This invisible and silent work of so many mothers deserves a payment.

He said: We do not want a country of hatreds and resentments. We want a reconciled country, which debates in a civilized way. To achieve this, we will make effort to practice science, art and culture. Sport and recreation are rights, not luxuries. Efforts will be made to materialize this.

He said: Enough of the death strolls. The people need health centers, housing, schools, power, roads and other transportation systems, water system. These require a great national effort, in which the armed forces can contribute. Health, a vital right, is not a business for private capital. The class that governs Colombia has converted health care into a business of private capital. Education should be public and free.

The FARC leader said: We stand for a government that will represent the interests of the poor, will work for them without any truce; equitable redistribution of the product of national labor; fighting corruption; obtaining the resources that the poor require to live with dignity;

never allowing the state to serve the richest; an effective change from war and violence to a state of peace, reconciliation and social justice that ends the murderous hand in politics; and opposing traditional politics.

The revolutionary leader said: Colombia requires a true democracy. May the voice of those below, those poor people who have never been counted, never been heard and never been allowed to decide their future, that their clamor for social justice be echoed, that their defense of their rights as women, as sexual diversity, for water and healthy environment, be taken care of and remedied.

He cited Colombias great poet Carlos Castro Saavedras dream of villages, where lives shine brighter than weapons, where freedom enters homes with bread, with beautiful letter, where the people meet, where we can say: we have a homeland.

But, the forces of exploitation and privilege are intensifying their assaults.

The FARC National Political Council said on Jan. 27 in Bogota that the FARC is against all forms of violence. FARC was born out of the countrys greatest effort to obtain peace. The party defends peace.

But the question that haunts us is, Shall the blood-thirsty rightists allow people to participate in political process?

Note: Londono's speech has been edited and recast without distorting his message. Farooque Chowdhury writes from Dhaka.Feb 19, 2018 | By Tess

A new exhibition at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta is highlighting the work of Joris Laarman, a Dutch designer known for his forward-thinking and experimental 3D printed pieces. The exhibition, entitled Joris Laarman Lab: Design in the Digital Age, opened its doors yesterday, February 18, and will run until May 13, 2018.

Laarman, whose work weve covered on countless occasions, is easily one of the most accomplished and recognized designers in the 3D design and 3D printing worlds. In 2014, he pioneered the use of additive manufacturing to produce the worlds first "crowd fabricated" 3D printed chair, made up of 3D printed puzzle pieces.

The prolific artist is also behind the design of the much-anticipated 3D printed steel bridge which is to be installed in Amsterdam. The 3D printed bridge project, which is being carried out by Amsterdam-based robotic additive manufacturing firm MX3D, has been underway for some time. The ambitious companys most recent update stated that the intricately designed metal bridge was one-third printed and would likely be complete by June 2018.

Visitors to Atlantas High Museum of Art will be able to see a variety of Laarmans work, including his Makerchairs", a series of 12 3D printed, crowd-fabricated chairs; his Dragon Bench, which was 3D printed in collaboration with MX3D; as well as various other experimental makes, videos, and sketches by the Dutch designer.

The exhibition, which also passed through New York City at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, will reflect on and celebrate Laarmans uncanny ability to blend new technologies such as 3D printing with functional, artistic design.

Sarah Schleuning, curator of decorative arts and design at the High Museum, commented: Laarman and his Lab are design pioneers and idea detonators. Laarmans intellectual, thoughtful and collaborative approach to design propels him to explore new means and methods for creating, resulting in a remarkably innovative and beautiful body of work.

In 2015, Laarman opened his first major solo exhibition at the Groninger Museum in the Netherlands.

Posted in 3D Design

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Feb 19, 2018 | By Benedict

Crowdfunding, through platforms like Kickstarter and Indiegogo, has allowed 3D printing startups to get their 3D printer onto the market (for better or worse!) without third-party investment. These are the five biggest 3D printing crowdfunding campaigns ever, featuring Formlabs, Tiko, and others.

5. Snapmaker metal 3D printer

Completed: April 2017

Target: $50,000

Raised: $2,277,182

Snapmaker is the latest addition to the crowdfunding hall of fame, with its all-in-one workshop offering 3D printing, laser engraving, and CNC carving technology.

Some backers are still awaiting their machine, and there has been some confusion over the strength of laser included with it.

4. Solido3D OLO smartphone 3D printer

Completed: April 2016

Target: $80,000

Raised: $2,321,811

A sign of where the industry is headed? The OLO smartphone 3D printer uses a phone screen as a tiny curing device for liquid 3D printing resins. The kit was available for just $99 during a highly successful Kickstarter campaign.

In a promotional push, ONO gave its first completed kits to five backers, but the jury is still out on this one. Most backers are yet to receive their 3D printer.

3. Formlabs Form 1

Completed: October 2012

Target: $100,000

Raised: $2,945,885

Even during the heady days of 2012, $100,000 seemed like a lot to ask from Kickstarter backers. Not so: consumers everywhere wanted a piece of the desktop Stereolithography (SLA) action, helping Massachusetts-based Formlabs raise almost three million dollars for the Formlabs Form 1.

Formlabs Form 2 impressed users even more, and the company has now branched out into Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) and other technologies. A resounding success.

2. Tiko 3D printer

Completed: April 2015

Target: $100,000

Raised: $2,950,874

You probably know what happened here. This delta-style Tiko FDM 3D printer became the second most successful crowdfunded 3D printer of all time in 2015, promising advanced features for just $179.

From there, things went south. The company bit off more than it could chew, and backers were left out of pocket with no 3D printer. Many experts predicted the companys demise all along, criticizing its business model.

1. M3D Micro

Completed: May 2014

Target: $50,000

Raised: $3,401,361

An inspiration to thousands of 3D printing startups, Maryland-based M3D, LLC virtually broke the system with its $199 Micro 3D printer. Aimed at beginners, the FDM printer weighed just 1 kg and reached its funding goal in just 10 minutes.

Today, M3D continues to use crowdfunding platforms: $487,000 was enough to get the ball rolling for its M3D Pro 3D printer, which was officially released at a price point of $749 alongside the $299 Micro+ 3D printer last year.

Honorable mention: 3Doodler

Completed: March 2013

Target: $30,000

Raised $2,344,134

Not a 3D printer but still within the realm of 3D printing, WobbleWorks phenomenally successful 3Doodler 3D printing pen raised over two million dollars via Kickstarter. Its probably the least controversial product of the lot!

Check out our list of the best 3D printing pens for more.

Posted in 3D Printer

Maybe you also like:









Renato T. wrote at 3/30/2019 11:11:41 AM:"I'm one of the backers of OLO/ONO 3D Printer, and NO ONE (except the lucky five that have a non-working 3D printer), I'll repeat, NO ONE receive the 3D printer yet." Right, i never received the printer and there are almo 3 years that i'm waiting.Renato T. wrote at 3/30/2019 11:10:03 AM:"I'm one of the backers of OLO/ONO 3D Printer, and NO ONE (except the lucky five that have a non-working 3D printer), I'll repeat, NO ONE receive the 3D printer yet." Right, i never received the printer and there are almo 3 years that i'm waiting.Maarten Visser wrote at 4/26/2018 1:32:37 PM:If your definition of "succesfull" means grabbing a lot of money and not delivering a 3d printer you really should include the Peachy printer kickstarter too.EdG wrote at 2/22/2018 5:28:33 PM:I'm a backer of a SnapMaker. Great little printer. I bought the 3n1 heads for laser and CNC and I'm really happy with the results out of it. A friend of mine backed both the ONO and TIKO. Needless to say, he's received nothing for his backing so he's a bit salty by the whole Kickstarter process.Ize wrote at 2/21/2018 12:04:56 PM:Your definition of successful is a a little bit interesting;-(Corey wrote at 2/19/2018 10:15:03 PM:Personally, I would not consider Kickstarter 3d printer campaigns a success when users have not received their printers yet.OFR wrote at 2/19/2018 2:50:29 PM:I'm one of the backers of OLO/ONO 3D Printer, and NO ONE (except the lucky five that have a non-working 3D printer), I'll repeat, NO ONE receive the 3D printer yet.



by Leanne Ogasawara

When I was a young, I don't remember why, but I scribbled a poem by Osip Mandelstam on a piece of thick, mauve-color Nepalese mulberry paper. And as I wrote it, I thought to myself, "This is a poem to cross a desert with."

Depriving me of sea, of a space to run and a space to fly,

And giving my footsteps the brace of a forced land,

What have you gained? The calculation dazzles

But you cannot seize the movements of my lips, their silent sound.

Osip Mandelstam 1935

I carried this poem around in my wallet for twenty-five yearslike an amulet. Looking back, I can only wonder what in the world drew me to it when I was still so young and free-spiritedBut in fact, this poem of Russian gulag captivity gave me strength during times of hardship; for contained within those few short lines is a beautiful testament to the great strength that our inner lives have to sustain us

Fast forward twenty-five years when a forty-five year old woman scrawled one line from another poem on the back of that same mauve-color piece of mulberry paper. This time it was the famous line from Tao Yuanming's poem, Plucking chrysanthemums by the eastern fence:



A world away in spirit from Mandelstam's poem perhaps. As the poem sums up perfectly the serenity achieved by a life of cultivation at the end of the hero's journey.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Drinking Wine (#5)Tao Yuanming

Ive built my house where others dwell

And yet there is no clamor of carriages and horses

You ask me how this is possible (And so I say):

When the heart is far, one is transported

I pluck chrysanthemums under the eastern fence

And serenely I gaze at the southern mountains

At dusk, the mountain air is good

Flocks of flying birds are returning home

In this, there is a great truth

But wanting to explain it, I forget the words (my trans

That line has become a perfect touchstone for the next part of my life; another poem to cross a desert with.

All this about deserts.

The truth is, if I were really to cross a desert, I would most probably prefer to take a novelnot a poem.

I'm curious, do you have one book that you would happily re-read over and over until the end of time?

I had thought I had a definite answer for myself. My novel of a lifetime has always been The Brothers Karamazov. This changed in an eye-blink when I finally began Don Quixote. Like Karamazov, the Quixote is chock full of philosophical questions that would engage a reader endlessly. And what the Quixote may be lacking in religious truths, it more than makes up for in humor. And indeed, don't we want to keep laughing? The countless droll and surprising images in the book can become like little poems that a reader can carry around with them in their pocket and bring out whenever they want to smile or giggle, or to just plain fall on the floor laughing! I love el Quixote and was not surprised one bit to hear that it is one of the most requested book by the inmates at Guantanamo. (That, according to Quixote scholar Roberto Gonzalez Echevarria).

As is well known, the great Borges was deeply passionate about the Quixote and returned to the work over and over again in stories, essays, and poems throughout his life. In particular, Borges loved Cervantes' literary devices that worked to undermine literary truth (and notions of absolute truth in general it could be said); indeed, the works of both Borges and Cervantes could be characterized by a playful questioning of something Karl Popper called the myth of the framework. Better explored by Martin Heidegger and Thomas Kuhn, the idea being that what we see as "the world" is no more than a shared cultural, linguistic and ideological framework by which we interpret things. This framework informs and indeed decides not only how we interpret experiences but frames perception itself.

This is to say, we are all enchanted.

Imprisoned in our preconceived notion such that not only are our judgements being compromised but our sensory perceptions themselves are suspect. Thus, Thomas Kuhn famously illuminated this by examining scientific paradigms, coming up with the concept of incommensurability. We know we are in the gripe of a linguistic, cultural or ideological framework when we come up against concepts that simply do not translate (for example, mass and gravitation do not perfectly translate from classical to quantum mechanical schemes; or in Heideggerean terms, saints and sinners no longer show up for us today as meaningfulany more than the ancient Greek concept of a hero would seem a sensible option for a man today). Humans assign meaning and interpret not only the world around them, but their understanding of being itself, so that being is intrinsically embedded within all the shared social and cultural practices by which we have been socialized and through which we understand the world around us (l'existence precede l'essence). So fundamental, it is often unconscious to us as well like the air we breathe. Foucault used Heidegger's concept of the clearing to explore what he called the episteme. This was always Foucault's primary interest: to try and grasp the a priori network or grid of meaning that we map onto the world.

My Don Quixote professor called this grid of meaning the "rules of the world."

I love that expression.

Cervantes gives us a fiction. But he also always gives us the rules, says the dear professor.

And, it is in the recognition that reality is a cultural construct and that all narratives have rules by which we canin this recognition take a stand. [the existential stand].

++

Just amazing that Cervantes was exploring something so modern over four hundred years ago!

But Cervantes was not any ordinary writer! Indeed, has any writer had as adventurous a life as Cervantes?

First of all, he was at the legendary Battle of Lepanto. Yes, you heard me right. And there, by all accounts, he was very heroic. Hit three times by harquebus fire, he was struck twice in the chest and once in the left hand. Luckily, his armor deflected the chest wounds, but his left hand was permanently damaged during the battle. His maimed hand earned him the nickname, "El Manco de Lepanto." His heroic service that day got him several letters of commendation; one being from "his serene highness" Don Juan himself. Unfortunately, these letters were on his person when he was captured by the dreaded Barbary pirates and taken to Algiers. . His new master, believing him to be a man of great value because of these letters, set an exorbitant ransom, prolonging his captivity to five hopeless years.

I wonder whether returning home, he struggled with resuming normal life. I had trouble readjusting to life in the US after my decades abroad. It can be very hard coming home because things that you once thought as being "obvious" or "natural," no longer feel that way and you find yourself questioning everything. Cervantes does this in the novel by pitting all manner of preconceived notions and narratives against each othereven calling into question the act of storytelling itself. Is Don Quixote mad or is the world mad? Are all those notions held by people in various times and places somehow "real" or are we all not bewitched like actors playing parts in a wondrous play? One of the most eye-opening techniques that Cervantes uses to highlight the role of narratives in our lives is his use of interruptions. I was surprised by how modern they feel the way chapters and situations simply trail off, and all the interpolated talesnot to mention the way the main story is abruptly paused by a complete novella plopped into the middle of the first book! Just as a reader is being lulled into a certain worldview, Cervantes adroitly yanks the rug from beneath our feet! As if to say,

See how good I am at this? But be wary, dear reader, for this too is only another narrative and you shouldn't be too trusting. Step back and take a stand on everything!

Maria Antonia Garces is one of my intellectual heroes, and she wrote a book about Cervantes' years in captivity in Algiers. Evoking Freud, she discusses the way that in some people trauma is actually bypassed in the mind: it is not experienced directly and instead is registered in the psyche as a kind of memory of the event that patients or survivors return to again and again, neurotically trying to process what happened to them. Of course, many people have traditionally processed traumatic events by revisiting them in art  and Cervantes indeed seems to return again and again to issues of captivity and broken narratives. For what is trauma but a deep interruption? Falling through the cracks of one's own life is how I used to put it until I read Maria Antonia Garces' book. For trauma is an interruption of life, like a broken thread (el roto hilo de mi historia). And Cervantes himself uses the language of tying up the broken thread in his telling tales. As a former captive of Columbian guerrillas, Maria Antonia Garces is very compelling.

Writing this two days after the Florida school shooting on Valentine's Day, I was thinking of this very sobering article by Umair Hacque that was shared widely, including at 3 Quarks Daily. Echoing another friend of 3 Quarks, Anis Shivani, who also has written about the futility of trying to repair a situation that has deteriorated this badly, Hacque gives real reasons for despair. It is starting to feel like a complete societal collapse, since we are not even protecting or doing right by our own children (we are the most dangerous wealthy country to be a child ). Umair Hacque ends his piece by suggesting that,

We need a whole new language  and a new way of seeing  to even begin to make sense of it.

I agree!

Both Descartes and Cervantes were interested in the notion of being "bewitched." In this state of slumber we do not question the world, instead accepting that what we know as real is truth and cannot be replaced with an alternative, better, saner world. The rules of our problematic world are built into the very language we use to talk about it, trapping us unless we break out of our own narrative prisons. As Amitav Ghosh tells us concerning climate change, we cannot tell the story of how to make a better world using a language that was built word by word on the framework upon which the problems are built. Interruptions can begin to distance us from the current narrative.

Humor and playfulness can also be very effective. As can be immersing oneself in a different language or culture to help see the world with new eyes. I might have mentioned the sabbath movement here. Spearheaded by Columbia Theological Seminar professor Walter Brueggmann and inspired by the Jewish sabbath, it is a movement to set aside one day where you interrupt the current model of human beings as producers and consumers (I think this is what Heidegger would say we are bewitched by) and try to do things in a different way. It is an effort to step out of the Matrix. In our house the aim is to not work or be consumers; and to just play for an entire day every Sunday. Our day usually involves cocktails at lunch and a homemade dinner with candles and listening to music we try to avoid computers and cell phones and resist all the things we have become. No amazon, no streaming, no heavy-duty industrial food. It is enlightening to realize how hard it is to do this. In fact, when I see how challenging it is for me to live in a simpler way (the way I lived thirty years ago), I realize how much I have drunk the Koolaid.

One of my presumably non-religious friends on Facebook shared this article about the Anglican church encouraging Lent be used to step out of our current mindless use of plastics. He said this:

This looks like a neat example of how religion might do what it does best and encourage virtuous behaviors among its members and perhaps model that behavior for society at large. Ive always thought that Lent has such potential for critiquing our consumer societyand here is an environmental twist. Maybe we should all try itreligious or not. Check out the Lent calendar link in the article. It is very cool.

It is very cool! Many traditional calendars have these kinds of feast and fast days and also days of abstinence. They are very helpful in attempting to combat 24/7 consumerism, where everyday is Christmas. In any case, it's harder than it looks from here. I can say, it was orders of magnitude easier in Japan (where the average citizen has 1/4 the carbon impact that the average American has, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists). And with this in mind, I think Cervantes is right that interruptions can be the first step to taking a stand in life; for as Einstein might have said: We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.

Or better

"You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.

++

Much gratitude to Nicolas Wey Gomez for teaching me so much about the Quixote. !

Maria Antonia Garces' Cervantes in Algiers: A Captive's Tale

My Goodreads review of A Captive's Tale is here.

For more, see my: A Poem to Cross a Desert With &

ARE WE DERANGED? (GLOBAL WARMING PART 2)

Also, if you are interested in the Quixote, please see my (and the Puppy-Librarian Senor Borges') Don Quixote Diaries

What to Give up for Lent? Plastics! Lenten Calendarby Ashutosh Jogalekar

The crossing of disciplinary boundaries in science has brought with it a peculiar and ironic contradiction. On one hand, fields like computational biology, medical informatics and nuclear astrophysics have encouraged cross-pollination between disciplines and required the biologist to learn programming, the computer scientist to learn biology and the doctor to know statistics. On the other hand, increasing specialization has actually shored up the silos between these territories because each territory has become so dense with its own facts and ideas.

We are now supposed to be generalists, but we are generalists only in a collective sense. In an organization like a biotechnology company for instance, while the organization itself chugs along on the track of interdisciplinary understanding across departments like chemistry, biophysics and clinical investigations, the effort required for understanding all the nuts and bolts of each discipline has meant that individual scientists now have neither the time nor the inclination to actually drill down into whatever their colleagues are doing. They appreciate the importance of various fields of inquiry, but only as reservoirs into which they pipe their results, which then get piped into other reservoirs. In a metaphor evoked in a different context  the collective alienation that technology has brought upon us  by the philosopher Sherry Turkle, we are alone together.

The need to bridge disciplinary boundaries without getting tangled in the web of your own specialization has raised new challenges for education. How do we train the men and women who will stake out new frontiers tomorrow in the study of the brain, the early universe, gender studies or artificial intelligence? As old-fashioned as it sounds, to me the solution seems to go back to the age-old tradition of a classical liberal education which lays emphasis more on general thinking and skills rather than merely the acquisition of diverse specialized knowledge and techniques. In my ideal scenario, this education would emphasize a good grounding in mathematics, philosophy (including philosophy of science), basic computational thinking and statistics and literature as primary goals, with an appreciation of the rudiments of evolution and psychology or neuroscience as preferred secondary goals.

This kind of thinking was on my mind as I happened to read a piece on education and training written by a man who was generally known to have thought-provoking ideas on a variety of subjects. If there was one distinguishing characteristic in Albert Einstein, it was the quality of rebellion.

In his early days Einstein rebelled against the rigid education and rules of the German Gymnasium system. In his young and middle years he rebelled against the traditional scientific wisdom of the day, leading to his revolutionary contributions to relativity and quantum theory. In his old age he rebelled against both an increasingly jingoistic world as well as against the mainstream scientific establishment.

Not surprisingly, then, Einstein had some original and bold thoughts on what an education should be like. He held forth on some of these in an address on October 15, 1931 delivered at the State University of New York at Albany. 1931 was a good year to discuss these issues. The US stock market had crashed two years before, leading to the Great Depression and mass unemployment. And while Hitler had not become chancellor and dictator yet, he would do so only two years later; the rise of fascism in Europe was already evident.

Some of these issues must have been on Einsteins mind as he first emphasized what he had already learnt from his own bitter Gymnasium experience, the erosion of individuality in the face of a system of mass education, similar to what was happening to the erosion of individuality in the face of authoritarian ideas.

Sometimes one sees in the school simply the instrument for transferring a certain maximum quantity of knowledge to the growing generation. But thats not right. Knowledge is dead; the school, however, serves the living. It should develop in the young individuals those equalities and capabilities which are of value for the welfare of the commonwealth. But that does not mean that individuality should be destroyed and the individual becomes a mere tool of the community, like a bee or an ant. For a community of standardized individuals without personal originality and personal aims would be a poor community without possibilities for development. On the contrary, the aim must be the training of independently thinking and acting individuals, who, however, see in the service of the community their highest life problemTo me the worst thing seems to be for a school principally to work with methods of fear, force, and artificial authority. Such treatment destroys the sound sentiments, the sincerity, and the self-confidence of the pupil. It produces the submissive subject. It is not so hard to keep the school free from the worst of all evils. Give into the power of the teacher the fewest possible coercive measures, so that the only source of the pupils respect for the teacher is the human and intellectual qualities of the latter.

Einstein also talks about what we can learn from Darwins theory. In 1931 eugenics was still quite popular, and Darwins ideas were seen even by many social progressives as essentially advocating the ruthless culling of inferior individuals and the perpetuation of superior ones. Where Einstein came from, this kind of thinking was on flagrant display right on the doorstep, even if it hadnt already morphed into the unspeakable horror that it did a decade later. Einstein clearly rejects this warlike philosophy and encourages cooperation over competition. Both cooperation and competition are important for human progress, but the times clearly demanded that one not forget the former.

Darwins theory of the struggle for existence and the selectivity connected with it has by many people been cited as authorization of the encouragement of the spirit of competition. Some people also in such a way have tried to prove pseudo-scientifically the necessity of the destructive economic struggle of competition between individuals. But this is wrong, because man owes his strength in the struggle for existence to the fact that he is a socially living animal. As little as a battle between single ants of an ant hill is essential for survival, just so little is this the case with the individual members of a human communityTherefore, one should guard against preaching to the young man success in the customary sense as the aim of life. For a successful man is he who receives a great deal from his fellow men, usually incomparably more than corresponds to his service to them. The value of a man, however, should be seen in what he gives and not what he is able to receive.

In other words, with malice toward none, with charity toward all.

And what about the teachers themselves? What kinds of characters need to populate the kind of school which imparts a liberal and charitable education? Certainly not the benevolent dictators that filled up German schools in Einsteins time or which still hold court in many schools across the world which emphasize personal authority over actual teaching.

What can be done that this spirit be gained in the school? For this there is just as little a universal remedy as there is for an individual to remain well. But there are certain necessary conditions which can be met. First, teachers should grow up in such schools. Second, the teacher should be given extensive liberty in the selection of the material to be taught and the methods of teaching employed by him. For it is true also of him that pleasure in the shaping of his work is killed by force and exterior pressure.

If Einsteins words have indeed been accurately transcribed, it is interesting to hear him use the words grow up rather than just grow applied to teachers. I have myself come across stentorian autocrats who inadvertently reminded students that their charges were in fact the adults in the room. They definitely need to grow up. Flexibility in the selection of the teaching material is a different matter. To do this its not just important to offer as many electives as possible, but its more important to give teachers a wide berth within their own classes rather than constantly being required to subscribe to a strictly defined curriculum. Some of the best teachers I had were ones who spent most of their time on material other than what was required. They might wax philosophical about the bigger picture, they might tell us stories from the history of science, and one of them even took us out for walks where the topics of discussion consisted of everything except what he was supposed to teach. It is this kind of flexibility in teaching that imparts the most enriching experience, but its important for the institution to support it.

What about the distinction between natural science and the humanities? Germany already had a fine tradition in imparting a classical education steeped in Latin and Greek, mathematics and natural science, so not surprisingly Einstein was on the right side of the debate when it came to acquiring a balanced education.

If a young man has trained his muscles and physical endurance by gymnastics and walking, then he will later be fitted for every physical work. This is also analogous to the training of the mental and the exercising of the mental and manual skill. Thus the wit was not wrong who defined education in this way: Education is that which remains, if one has forgotten everything he has learned in school. For this reason I am not at all anxious to take sides in the struggle between the followers of the classical philologic-historical education and the education more devoted to natural science.

The icing on this cake really is Einsteins views on the emphasis on general ability rather than specialized knowledge, a distinction which is more important than ever in our age of narrow specialization.

I want to oppose the idea that the school has to teach directly that special knowledge and those accomplishments which one has to use later directly in life. The demands of life are much too manifold to let such a specialized training in school appear possible. Apart from that, it seems to me, moreover, objectionable to treat the individual like a dead tool. The school should always have as its aim that the young man leave it as a harmonious personality, not as a specialist. This in my opinion is true in a certain sense even for technical schools, whose students will devote themselves to a quite definite profession. The development of general ability for independent thinking and judgement should always be placed foremost, not the acquisition of special knowledge. If a person masters the fundamentals of his subject and has learned to think and work independently, he will surely find his way and besides will better be able to adapt himself to progress and changes than the person whose training principally consists in the acquiring the detailed knowledge.

One might argue that its the failure to let young people leave college as harmonious personalities rather than problem-solvers that leads to a nation of technocrats and operational specialists of the kind that got the United States in the morass of Vietnam, for instance. A purely problem-solving outlook might enable a young person to get a job sooner and solve narrowly defined problems, but it will not lead them to look at the big picture and truly contribute to a productive and progressive society.

I find Einsteins words relevant today because the world of 2018 in some sense resembles the world of 1931. Just like it did because of the Great Depression then, mass unemployment because of artificial intelligence and automation is a problem looming on the short horizon. Just like it had in 1931, authoritarian thinking seems to have taken root in many of the worlds governments. The specialization of disciplines has led colleges and universities to increasingly specialize their own curricula, so that it is now possible for many students to get through college without acquiring even the rudiments of a liberal arts education. C. P. Snows Two Cultures paradoxically have become more entrenched, even as the Internet presumably promised to break down barriers between them. Meanwhile, political dialogue and people's very world-views across the political spectrum have gotten so polarized on college campuses that certain ideas are now being rejected as biased, not based on their own merits but on some of their human associations.

These problems are all challenging and require serious thinking and intervention. There are no easy solutions to them, but based on Einsteins words, our best bet would be to inculcate a generation of men and women and institutional structures that promote flexible thinking, dialogue and cooperation, and an open mind. We owe at least that much to ourselves as a supposedly enlightened species.by Max Sirak

John Perry Barlow (JPB for short) died earlier this month.

And, in honor of his passing, but more in remembrance of his life, I want to dedicate my little sliver of cyberspace, a realm he was passionate about, to highlight three pieces of his writing and thought. First, a political document; second, a code of conduct; and lastly some lyrics.

A Child Of Boundless (Digital) Seas

JPB was a pioneer of an open, free-range internet. He, along with others, founded The Electric Frontier Foundation (EFF) (here), a "nonprofit defending digital privacy, free speech, and innovation" in 1990. He literally wrote the Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace (here) in 1996.

For those who don't want to read it, it is what it says it is. It begins with, "Governments of the Industrial World, you weary giants of flesh and steel, I come from Cyberspace, the new home of the Mind. On behalf of the future, I ask you of the past to leave us alone."

The Declaration goes on to lay out the foundational premise of what the internet should be. A "global social space" independent of past tyrannies and a natural emergence of human creativity to serve as a self-regulating web of communication free from commercial enterprise and regulation.

Idealistic? Sure. Naive? Quite possibly. But don't those two usually walk, arm-in-arm, like sunshine and daydreams?

An Estimated Prophet of Adulthood



While EFF and the Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace are quite possibly his most notable technological accomplishments, JPB was polymath. At the ripe age of 30, while working on some artistic pursuits (more later), he penned a list of 25 Principles of Adult Behavior (here).

Some of my favorites are

2) Don't badmouth: Assign responsibility, not blame. Say nothing of another you wouldn't say to him.

It's as if he foresaw the anonymous hate culture of internet trolls

8) Laugh at yourself frequently.

If you can't laugh at yourself, I'm not sure you should be allowed to laugh at anyone else.

10) Never forget that, no matter how certain, you might be wrong.

Like Leonard Mlodinow says in his book The Drunkards Walk, " no finite number of partial proofs will ever add up to a certainty" Given the multiverse and our limited vantage of it, have we anything other than "partial proofs?" And, if that is in fact the best we can ever do, how wise is our certainty?

15) Avoid the pursuit of happiness. Seek to define your mission and pursue that.

Sage advice. "Happiness," much like "success," isn't a target to aim at, but more a wonderful traveling companion you meet on the way to getting where you need to go.

25) Endure.

Life isn't always full of fireworks, calliopes, and clowns. Sometimes it sucks. A lot. And in those dark hallows of life, it's important to carry on and keep moving even when it hurts.

As easy as it would be to effuse the virtue and wisdom of all 25 Principles  it would be doing JPB, and his impact on my life a disservice. Not because they aren't worthy and wise or because the world would likely be a better place if everyone adopted them, but because there's a better gift John Perry Barlow left us.

The music he helped create.

The Grateful Dead

Talk to any Dead fan and most of what you hear is, "Jerry, Jerry, Jerry, Jerry. Hunter. Jerry, Jerry, Jerry."

For the uninitiated, this translates into Jerry Garcia, the bands enigmatic, paternal frontman with the sweet, off-key voice and soul-walloping guitar licks, being lauded as the darkstar at the center of the Grateful-verse. "Hunter" is a quick nod to Jerry's song-writing buddy, Robert Hunter, who wrote the words Jerry sang.

Lost in this all too common (and reductionist) refrain, are the contributions of Bob Weir and his song-writing partner, John Perry Barlow, to the compendium of Grateful Dead songs.

(The best way for a non-Dead fan to get a sense of what I'm talking about is to watch the Family Guy clip below. It's about the Beatles.The patronizing tone Paul takes with Ringo? Yeah. That's about what you can expect when you talk to a Dead fan about the merits of "Bobby" songs.)

But guess what, I'm going to stand here, free and unfettered, on my cyberspace soapbox and tell you this  Lost Sailer>Saint of Circumstance  is my favorite Grateful Dead suite. (By "suite" I mean two songs which flow into one another without a break in between).

It's better than China>Rider. Or Scarlett>Fire.

Lost>Saint

Like listening to any recorded music, headphones are the best. It's near impossible to beat the emersion earbuds or the like affords. Bonus points if you can find yourself a comfy chair and time to close your eyes while you listen.

For those who don't get down on music, but would like to follow along at home, the lyrics are in italics. My own inner dialogue, inspired by the mood of the music, appears in quotations marks.

(Lost Sailor begins mournfully in despair and confusion. Slowly the atmosphere lightens and gives way to a whimsy before finally settling into the optimism and possibility of Saint of Circumstance.)

"Lost Sailor"

Compass card is spinning

Helm is swinging to and fro

Ooh, where's the dog star?

Ooh, where's the moon?

You're a lost sailor

You've been too long at sea

"Wanna know what sucks? This. I don't know where I am. I don't know where I'm going or how I got here. All I do know is I'm lost. I'm so over this"

Some days the gales are howling

Some days the sea is still as glass

Ooh, reef the mainsail

Ooh, lash the mast

You're a lost sailor

You've been too long at sea

"And here I am. Stuck. At the mercy of the elements, floating along. Yeah, sure. I respond and survive, but is that really living?"

Now the shore lights beckon

Yeah there's a price for being free

"I see everyone around me, all their choices, all their comfortable lives, and I'm jealous. I want that. Why did I think I could Fleetwood Mac this and Go My Own Way?"

Yeah the sea birds cry

There's a ghost wind blowing

It's calling you to that misty swirling sea

Till the chains of your dreams are broken

No place in this world you can be

"All those romantic notions I had about adventure? Yeah. They were fantasies. Because the reality of my choices ain't what it's cracked up to be. Everything I thought was wrong. I miss home.'''

You're a lost sailor

You've been too long at sea

Now the shore lights beckon

Yeah there's a price for being free

"Hello my old friend, Regret. Oh, and who's that with you? Crippling doubt? Welcome aboard."

Drifting yeah drifting

Yeah drifting and dreaming

"Sigh."

Cause there's a place you've never been

Maybe a face you've never seen now

You can hear her calling on the wind

Drifting and dreaming

Go on and drift your life away

Drifting and dreaming

Drifting and dreaming

Cause there's a place you've never been

Maybe a place you've never seen now

Drifting and dreaming

Yes I'm going on a dream

Maybe going on a dream

Maybe going on a feeling

"Butbutwait. What was that? I thought I heard something. What if this is a test? What if everything I've ever wanted is ahead and waiting for me? I mean, I think if I listen hard enough, if I squint my ears, I can hear a voice"

"Saint of Circumstance"

This must be heaven

Tonight I crossed the line

You must be the angel

I thought I might never find

Was it you I heard singin'

While I was chasin' dreams?

Driven by the wind

Like the dust that blows around

And the rain fallin' down

"Oh my God. YES! This. Here. The voice. The whispers. It was you."

But I never know,

(Sure don't know)

Never know

Never know

(Sure don't know)

"Right? I'm not making this all up, am I? This is what I wanted, wasn't it? Shut up, Max. Go to sleep. Stop trying to ruin a good thing."

This must be heaven

Cause here's where the rainbow ends

At last it's the real thing

Or close enough to pretend

When the wind blows

When the night's about to fall

I can hear the siren's call

It's a certain sort of sound

In the rain fallin' down

Rain fallin down

Rain fallin' down

Rain fallin' down

"Being here with you is what I was searching for. Yeah. Totally. 100%. But then  why am I laying awake with a head full of questions while you sleep so soundly and breathe so easy? Is this right?"

Holes in what's left of my reason

Holes in the knees of my blues,

Odd against me been increasin'

But I'll pull through

"I.I don't know. I thought this was exactly what I wanted. But, nowI don't know. It's just like what happened last time. And the time before that. Is the deck is stacked against me? Seems so. Oh, well. Nothing left to do but smile, smile, smile"

Never could read no road map

And I don't know what the weather might do

But hear that witch wind whinin'

See that dog star shinin'

I'e got a feeling there's no time to lose

No time to lose!

"Yes. This bed is cozy and warm. But what am I waiting for? I know I won't be able to shake the feeling inside, growing. It's time to go. Embrace the possibilities. Get back to Mystery."

Maybe goin' on a feelin' maybe goin' on a dream

Maybe goin' on a feelin'

"Yes. This is crazy. I am crazy. I am willfully leaving behind all I was sure I wanted in the name of feelings and fantasies."

Well I never know

(Sure don't know)

Never know

Never know

(Sure don't know)

"Yep."

Well its been heaven

But even rainbows end

Now my sails are fillin'

And the wind's so willin'

That I'm good as gone again

"It's been fun. This. You. Everything. It was all I wanted. But, now I want different things. Things that aren't here. Things that are out there."

I'm still walkin', so I'm sure I can dance

Just a saint of circumstance

Just a tiger in a trance

In the rain falling down

"I'm healthy. I'm on this side of the dirt. That's all I really need, I guess. Time to see what's next and make the best of it."

Rain fallin' down

Rain fallin' down

Rain fallin' down

"Oh, right. This again. Feels good, don't it?"

Well I never know just don't know, just don't know

"Nope. I don't. But it's that not-knowing and it's inherent potential which pulls me."

Sure don't know

What I'm going for

But I'm gonna go for it

For sure

Maybe goin' on a feelin'

Maybe goin' of a dream

Maybe goin' on a feelin'

"You know what? I feel good about this"

***

As a man who's heard the call of adventure, wrestled doubt, laid many a lonely night awake, chased dreams, followed hunches and hopes in the fantasy of finding, fought against feelings and tried to wish them away, all the while remaining somehow hopeful in the brighter days and calmer seas aheadthere have been moments when JPB spoke to my soul.

John Perry Barlow  thank you  for letting the words be yours and sharing them with us.

May your music never stops.

Rest in peace.

***

Max helps other people write their books. You can learn more here

***

Photo Credits

JPB  By Joi  https://www.flickr.com/photos/joi/835394449/sizes/o/in/photostream/, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=24313087by Mathangi Krishnamurthy

I am currently obsessed with Jordan Peterson and his videos instructing men on ways in which to be men. He goes on to inform us that in his experience, so many are men petrified by women and specifically by the specter of being dismissed by them, and how men need to fix themselves because they are probably being rejected for "real" reasons. Peterson is currently a popular figure on the internet, and in many ways, defies glib categorization. See, for example, Slavoz Zizek's as ever quick take on why Peterson captures something in popular imagination.

But my obsession with him has to do with my own interests in the ways in which gender is produced in the world, as an either oreither, it is a binary  or as fluid one that can be placed along many combinations of body, desire and soul on a world-wide, gender-wide spectrum. At a recent conference organized by QueerAbad in Ahmedabad, India, author of Sexualness, social anthropologist and activist Akshay Khanna spoke about rites of passage in academia in terms of being able to speak about gender and gender fluidity. Rightly invoking Judith Butler, and questioning the seeming need to always begin all such conversations, even in Indian academia, with her seminal work, he emphasized the need to find local language, affect, and feeling, to be able to describe forms of gendered imagination.

In teaching Butler to undergraduatesmany of them often being exposed for the first time to feminist theoryI sometimes conduct an exercise bringing props such as wigs, face paint, and make-up to class, encouraging participants to experiment and play with their appearances. Many do so. As they pose and prance, I also gently suggest that they take a walk around the building and premises of one of the premier technology and science institutions in India, going as far as they dare, before returning to the safe space that is class. I sometimes daydream about appearing in class, teaching in zoot suit, suspenders, and gelled hair, but am never quite able to find similar enough courage to play. We also speak about Aravanis or Thirunangais, the community of transgender women specific to Tamil Nadu, where I teach, and the ways in which their appearance, both as an act and a phenomenon may invoke a whole set of feelings and affects in their heteronormative audiences. We agree collectively, that yes, we perform gender; we nod agreeably that gender has solidified in us over years of performative rendition; and we silently hope that our experiments in class may lead us to be more fluid in our daily lives.

And yet, over five years of teaching Butler, identity theory, and gender performativity, I am interested more than ever in the resurgence, and arguably, the never-ever-gone-ness of the unspoken norm of the gender binary, and the investment that discourses have in making them real. Here, I use real not in the sense of a "constructed" real, but in the sense of belief, inhabitation and feeling. I am, hence, obsessed with Jordan Peterson.

In one of his talks, he declares, "Men use the image of female perfection to motivate themselves", and that what "modern women" do not understand is that "to the extent that men are not corrupted by rejection", they are doing all that they can. He goes on to expand upon his argument to say, "I don't know if women understand how paralyzing they are, especially to young men." In a parallel video, self-identified, former feminist documentary filmmaker Cassie Jaye, speaks of her experience in creating a documentary called "The Red Pill", chronicling the voices of Men's Rights Activists and the ways in which they feel disenfranchised in the world. In this talk, she posits that perhaps the question we are not allowed to ask in gender debates is as to "Who is standing up for the good-hearted, honorable man?", and further suggests that we need to invite "all voices to the table", and then we can "heal inside out". She also shares her experience of being vilified for highlighting men's rights as even rights in the world. The video is interesting in multiple ways for both the increasing prominence of the questions it raises, but also, I would argue, for the many and conflicting ways in which it produces an equivalence that is not yet existent, and for setting aside questions of context, intersectionality and power.

Now, how does one not find these discourses seductive? In the world of heteronormative, romantic, monogamy, men-women relations seem to be under constant jeopardy. In everyday conversations around dating, love, romance, relationships, breakdowns, hook-ups, marriage, child-rearing, and sexuality, structures, rules, and direction seem to be paramount, while discussions around the margins produce radical intellect and everyday struggle. Perhaps, what I have just written is merely a truism around which the possibility of revolution is always organized. And yet, in my own thinking about gender, I struggle with how to hold them together, in tension, rather than in opposition. My own research is interested in biomedicine, genetics, and its location of gender in bodies identified as possessing Disorders of Sex Development. I investigate the ways in which new and nascent genetic diagnostic technologies in urban Indian engage with, produce, and assign sex. And I'm interested in how to imagine a body that is neither wholly biological nor entirely social, but one which slips back and forth between different kinds of praxis. Even celebrity therapist Esther Perel, seeking an androgynous approach to love and "mating", still cautions us that the body needs to be restored to its rightful place in discussions about couples and eroticism.

Perhaps, this is what I suspect in the hullaballoo around Peterson and the righteousness of rights; the seeming given-ness of bodies. And perhaps this is what perturbs me in teaching Butler; the seeming limitlessness of the body. So then, what does one do with gender and indeed, with gender politics? As Elizabeth Wilson rightly asks in Gut Feminism, and here she speaks about feminist politics and biology, and I would ask the same about gender politics, body, and daily life  what if they are unbearably destructive? How do we teach gender as also a capacity for destruction as much as resurrection?

These are not only acts of imagination, but acts of courage. And courage is no ordinary goal. It requires both presence and openness, and these are goals for self, as much as for the world. Working with compassion and kindness for what is, as well as what might be, also requires a firm and unflinching attention to power and privilege of all kinds. These are acts of un-gendering and re-gendering, that I would argue, are what will unmake the ways in which we have rendered the world a constant, relentless object of fixability.Asian Activities Report for July 4, 2011 includes: Northern Iron Limited (ASX:NFE) has signed a five-year contract with Tata Steel (BOM:500470) for the supply of iron ore concentrate; Raisama Limited (ASX:RAI) and Monitor Energy Limited (ASX:MHL) have doubled the extent of the known mineralisation at Kashkasu II in the Kyrgyz Republic; Enterprise Metals Limited (ASX:ENT) has identified significant uranium anomalism on the margin of Lake Wooleen; Zenith Minerals Limited (ASX:ZNC) has located two new zones of high grade manganese at its 100% owned Earaheedy Project tenements.

Maricunga Lithium Brine Project First Lithium Carbonate Samples Produced

Sydney, Feb 19, 2018 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Lithium Power International Limited ( ASX:LPI ) ( OTCMKTS:LTHHF ) ("LPI" or "the Company") is pleased to advise that the first lithium carbonate sample has been produced from Maricunga brine for the Maricunga Joint Venture company (MSB) using the optimised process being developed by experienced process company GEA of Germany.Highlights- Highly experienced process company GEA has produced the first samples of lithium carbonate from Maricunga brine- Initial sample has a purity of 99.4% lithium carbonate and very low cation concentrations, consistent with production of battery grade lithium carbonate with specifications similar to those produced in Chile by Albemarle and SQM- The Maricunga project is one of less than half a dozen pre-production brine projects with lithium carbonate samples produced and has the highest lithium grade of these projects- WorleyParsons is well advanced with the Definitive Feasibility Study- The environmental impact assessment for the project is progressing towards submission in the 1st quarter 2018Peter Ehren Principal Process Consultant to the Maricunga Project (MSc. Raw Materials Technology, MAusIMM CP under JORC and QP under NI43-101) commented:"Minera Salar Blanco (MSB) has produced its first lithium carbonate sample from Salar de Maricunga brine at GEA facilities in Germany. The brine was concentrated at the pilot plant solar evaporation ponds at the Maricunga site for almost 12 months, and subsequently treated at the GEA lab in Duisburg, Germany, to purify it and precipitate lithium carbonate suitable for battery grade specification similar to those produced in Chile by Albemarle and SQM. The process route is based on conventional technology and comes with the know how to be able to scale up to commercial production. The purity of the product is above 99.4% (see Table 1 in link below)."Lithium Power International's Chief Executive Officer, Martin Holland and Minera Salar Blanco's Chief Executive Officer, Cristobal Garcia-Huidobro, jointly commented:"We are very pleased with this news, as it's a major milestone on our route to become one of a select few lithium carbonate producers, and demonstrates the value of our project. Now we are able to produce a value added, refined product which we believe meets cathode manufacturers' rigorous material specifications.Our environmental impact study is nearing completion and we look forward to updating shareholders with additional development advances regarding this significant lithiumproject over the coming months."About the GEA companyGEA is a major global process engineering company with headquarters in Dusseldorf, Germany which employs 17,000 people globally and specializes in design and production of equipment for the chemical, pharma, environmental and food industries. GEA has been operating a pilot plant in their facilities for the Maricunga JV since 3Q17, when they began working to optimise the lithium carbonate extraction process. This work will be ongoing during the Definitive Feasibility Study that the joint venture is undertaking during 2018. Optimisation of the lithium extraction and potassium production aims to establish the lowest cost for the process, with the highest possible lithium recovery.The company is still waiting for the final results for chloride, sulfate, insoluble material and loss of ignition (LOI). Optimization for lower impurities such as calcium will continue, a process which is considered to be easily achievable.Environmental impact assessment progressIn parallel with the Definitive Feasibility Study and optimisation of the process the Maricunga JV is advancing with the project environmental impact assessment, to complete this and submit it to government agencies during 1Q18. The study includes quarterly monitoring of flora, fauna, air, soil and water, in addition to detailed non-seasonal assessments of other aspects of the project. Work is being undertaken by Tier-1 environmental consultancy MWH, who have extensive experience with projects in Region III of Chile, where the project is located.Maricunga JV BackgroundThe Maricunga JV is 50%-owned by LPI. The project is regarded as one of the highest quality pre-production lithium brine project globally, with a very high grade and strong flow rates. The company released a Preliminary Economic Assessment for the project on the 4 January 2018, which confirmed strong economic returns for production of 20,000t/a of lithium carbonate (LCE), with production of 74,000t/a of potassium chloride (KCl) from year 3 of the project operations.To view tables and figures, please visit:About Lithium Power International Ltd

Lithium Power International Limited (ASX:LPI) is a pure-play lithium explorer and developer, focusing on developing and fast-tracking to production the high-grade Maricunga lithium brine project in Chile.

LPI has a well-known performing technical team with the experience to take the Maricunga project all the way through the development stages to production.

The regions that LPI is currently focused on are:

1. Maricunga JV (Chile) - Located within the "Lithium Triangle", Maricunga is Chile's highest grade and most advanced lithium project outside the Salar de Atacama. The project lies 170 km northeast of Copiapo and 250 km from the port of Caldera.

2. Pilbara (Western Australia) - LPI has three granted exploration tenements covering 203 km2 in the Pilbara region of northern Western Australia. The largest granted exploration tenement is the Pilgangoora tenement which is 2-3 km west of the Pilbara Minerals (ASX:PLS) and Altura Mining (ASX:AJM) lithium deposits.

3. Greenbushes (Western Australia) - LPI has two granted exploration tenements covering 400 km2 in the Greenbushes area of southern Western Australia. The tenements are adjacent to the world's largest hard rock lithium mine owned and operated by Tianqi/Talison.

4. Centenario (Argentina) - Through its Argentinian subsidiary, Lithium Power holds a total of seven granted tenements in the Centenario lithium brine salar within the Salta province of the Puna Plateau. In total, the seven granted tenements cover an area of 68.46 km2.

With the exception of the Maricunga JV, all tenements are 100% owned by LPI or LPSA (including rights to the Centenario tenements).

United States / Canada Joint Certification Program DD2345

Sydney, Feb 19, 2018 AEST (ABN Newswire) - DroneShield Ltd ( ASX:DRO ) ( OTCMKTS:DRSHF ) ("DroneShield" or the "Company") is pleased to advise that the United States Defense Logistics Agency, the logistics combat support agency of the United States Department of Defense, has certified DroneShield's subsidiary DroneShield LLC under the United States / Canada Joint Certification Program DD2345 (militarily critical technical data agreement). With this certification, DroneShield LLC has established eligibility to access unclassified export-controlled technical data of the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) and Canada's Department of National Defence (DND).- United States Defense Logistics Agency has certified DroneShield LLC under the United States / Canada Joint Certification Program DD2345 (militarily critical technical data agreement).- Establishes eligibility to access unclassified military technical data belonging to the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) and Canada's Department of National Defence (DND).DroneShield LLC's certification under this program is part of its participation in the U.S. DOD and Canadian DND procurement processes.This announcement follows the recent award to the Company of a NATO Stock Number for its DroneGun MKII product.About DroneShield Ltd

DroneShield Ltd (ASX:DRO) (OTCMKTS:DRSHF) is an Australian publicly listed company with its head office in Sydney and teams in the US and UK. We specialise in RF sensing, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, Sensor Fusion, Electronic Warfare, Rapid Prototyping and MIL-SPEC manufacturing.

Our capabilities are used to protect Military, Government, Law Enforcement, Critical Infrastructure, Commercial and VIPs throughout the world.

Through our team of primarily Australian based engineers - we offer customers bespoke solutions and off-the-shelf products designed to suit a variety of terrestrial, maritime or airborne platforms.

DroneShield is proudly exporting Australian capability to customers throughout the world and supporting Australia's defence, national security and other organisations protect people, critical infrastructure and vital assets.

.

55,000m New Discovery and Resource Growth Drilling Program Commenced

Perth, Feb 19, 2018 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Intermin Resources Limited ( ASX:IRC ) ("Intermin" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the commencement of a major discovery and Resource expansion drill program at its 100%-owned gold projects in the Kalgoorlie region of Western Australia (see Figure 2 in link below).HIGHLIGHTS- 55,000m drill program commenced in the Kalgoorlie region targeting new discoveries and resource growth- Key aspects of the fully funded $4m program include:o Program split approximately 50% on new discovery and 50% on resource growtho Focus on three core project areas: Teal, Anthill and Blister Damo Resource expansion drilling at Teal, Jacques Find, Peyes Farm and Anthill testing extensions along strike and at depth outside current resource envelopeso New discovery drilling at Blister Dam, Teal, Fire Ant and Anthill Extended targeting high grade open cut and underground orebodies (see Note below)o RC and diamond drilling to test beyond the limits of historic drilling- RC drilling underway at the Jacques Find discovery with first results expected early in the June Quarter 2018 (see Note below)Commenting on the start of the major drilling program, Intermin Managing Director Mr Jon Price said:"With the significant free cash flow that has been generated from our first mining project at Teal, our focus now turns to exploration success as we kick off the largest drill program in Intermin's history"."New discovery drilling comprises roughly half of the fully funded $4 million program with priority walk up targets on the prolific Zuleika Shear and Bardoc Tectonic Zone. The Western Australian goldfields is a world class gold producing region with significant discoveries still being made through modern systematic exploration and investment in deeper drilling. We look forward to the first drilling results and adding our own chapter to the rich mining history of the Western Australian Goldfields."OverviewDuring the last three months, the Company has compiled and reviewed a large geological database comprising geochemical, geophysical and historic drilling datasets in order to prioritise targets for drill testing. Extensive field reconnaissance investigations were undertaken during 2017 to confirm these targets and finalise the design of the 2018 drill program.A summary of the program is shown in link below.AnthillAt the Anthill gold project located 45km northwest of Kalgoorlie (see Figure 2 & 3 in link below), a total of 46 holes were completed for 6,509m in 2017 and all results have been released (ASX announcement 24 October 2017). A maiden JORC 2012 Mineral Resource is now being compiled for release in the current March Quarter 2018.The geology is dominated by a variolitic basalt with lesser amounts of porphyry and ultramafic being observed. At least two mineralised trends are evident and add some complexity at Anthill. The gold mineralisation is pervasive and occurs in a number of settings, the most important being a quartz stockwork or thin veins with carbonate-sericite-silica-sulphide alteration. Some of the gold is free gold and is easily panned in RC chips.The key to advancing Anthill to development is to delineate further, high grade resources along strike and at depth. Intermin will focus on extending the Anthill oxide area and undertake a deep drilling program to follow up the encouraging 2017 results. As with similar projects in the region, Anthill has the potential to develop into a large tonnage, medium grade open cut followed by decline development to access the higher grades in the fresh rock below the base of oxidation.New target generation studies and initial field work has now been completed in the Anthill project area and new discovery drilling will test for repeats of the Anthill orebody. Drill testing will commence on the Fire Ant prospect and targets to the east, west and north of the Anthill project (see Figure 3 in link below).RC and diamond drilling at Anthill is planned to commence in the June Quarter.Blister DamSince September 2017, Intermin has been actively exploring the Blister Dam project located 54km northwest of Kalgoorlie (see Figure 2 & 4 in link below). This region, northwest of the Kundana Goldfield, has a similar geological setting to the large open cut and underground deposits including Frog's Leg, Raleigh, Millennium and Bullant.An Induced Polarisation ("IP") survey, geological mapping, rock chip sampling and 46 reverse circulation ("RC") holes for 4,180m were completed in 2017 to test multiple priority targets. A total of nine out of the 21 individual targets at Blister Dam were drilled to the end of 2017. The remaining targets will be drilled in 2018 as part of the 14,000m program.Several targets occur on the well-known Zuleika Shear, where historic drill holes have intersected two distinct gold mineralisation styles; thin high grade quartz veins and shear zones hosting broad widths (>40m) of disseminated low grade gold.The second trend, south and subparallel to the Zuleika Shear, appears to be located near an ultramafic contact. This trend continues southeast towards the Carbine - Paradigm deposits held by Northern Star Resources Limited. Some small workings are present in this southern zone (see Figure 4 in link below) and a recent rock chip sample of the quartz vein returned 6.0g/t Au. Historical drilling beneath this old shaft also recorded an encouraging 9m @ 3.43g/t Au.In addition the Company has been awarded $60,000 in WA Government Exploration Incentive Scheme co-funding ("EIS") to RC drill test recently defined induced polarisation (IP) targets at Blister Dam (see Figure 3 in link below). The 2D dipole-dipole IP survey was completed in October 2017 and comprised about 98 line kilometres. The IP results highlighted a number of small to moderate level conductor anomalies (10 - 20mV/V) and several potential (untested) fault zones.Teal / Jacques Find / Peyes FarmAt the Teal gold project located 11km northwest of Kalgoorlie (see Figure 2 & 5 in link below), a total of 32 holes were completed for 3,024m at the Teal south, Jacques Find, Peyes Farm and Yolande prospects in 2017. Excellent high grade results were returned in the majority of holes drilled in both oxide and primary mineralisation as announced to the ASX on 18 September 2017 and 15 and 29 November 2017 (see Figure 5 in link below).The geology is dominated by Black Flag sediments (felsic volcanics and sediments) with lesser amounts of porphyry and intermediate volcanics. Fresh rock gold is typically associated with quartz and sulphides. Faulting has displaced and pinched out some of the mineralisation. Currently Jacques Find is about 400m long and is open to the north and south and at depth. These extensions are priority drilling targets.Several new, untested, exploration targets have recently been generated within a 1km of radius of Teal, Jacques Find and Peyes Farm. The new discovery targets will be drilled in the current March Quarter. On completion, Jacques Find will then be drilled to 200m depth across its entire 400m strike length (stage 1 ~6,000m) to extend resources in this area. If the deep drill hole RC results are positive and of a tenor suitable for underground mining, Intermin then plans to systematically diamond drill Jacques Find to 500m depth in the September quarter (stage 2 ~8,000m).Given the success of the Teal open cut, where the supergene and transitional ore have been mined and processed through conventional processing plants, the Company is targeting additional supergene oxide and transitional material at Jacques Find, Teal extended and Peyes Farm to add to the production pipeline.Primary mineralisation at depth exhibits semi-refractory properties and optimal recoveries are achieved through ultra-fine grinding, pressure oxidation or roasting. Deeper drilling is targeting high grade extensions to known mineralisation to grow the resource to sufficient scale to enable commercial discussions to commence on potential third party processing at existing nearby processing plants or sale of concentrate to potential offtake partners. (see Note below)Regional ProjectsIntermin has several other project areas that will be drilled during the latter half of the year. A total of 7,000m has been allocated. These include:- West Kalgoorlie including Janet Ivy South = follow up drilling to recent intercepts of 3m @ 4.87g/t Au and 2m @ 3.32g/t Au- Black Flag, Yarmony, Area 54, Kanowna North, Broads Dam, Windanya and New MexicoNote: See Forward Looking Statement on Page 6To view figures, please visit:About Horizon Minerals Limited

Horizon Minerals Limited (ASX:HRZ) is a gold exploration and mining company focussed on the Kalgoorlie and Menzies areas of Western Australia which are host to some of Australia's richest gold deposits. The Company is developing a mining pipeline of projects to generate cash and self-fund aggressive exploration, mine developments and further acquisitions. The Teal gold mine has been recently completed.

Horizon is aiming to significantly grow its JORC-Compliant Mineral Resources, complete definitive feasibility studies on core high grade open cut and underground projects and build a sustainable development pipeline.

Horizon has a number of joint ventures in place across multiple commodities and regions of Australia providing exposure to Vanadium, Copper, PGE's, Gold and Nickel/Cobalt. Our quality joint venture partners are earning in to our project areas by spending over $20 million over 5 years enabling focus on the gold business while maintaining upside leverage.Here's a look at Venezuela, an OPEC member state that has the largest proven reserves of oil in the coalition.

About Venezuela:

(from the CIA World Factbook)

Area: 912,050 sq km, about two times the size of California

Coups and attempted coups Elections and campaigns Elias Jaua Energy and utilities Henrique Capriles Radonski Hugo Chavez Latin America Nicolas Maduro Oil and gas industry Politics Referendums South America Unrest, conflicts and war Venezuela Business and industry sectors Government and public administration Political Figures - Intl Government bodies and offices Mayors Fast Facts Business, economy and trade Banking, finance and investments Commodity markets Energy commodities Financial markets and investing Oil prices Civil unrest Protests and demonstrations Embargoes and sanctions International relations International relations and national security International trade International trade law Nontariff barriers Trade and development Trade regulation and policy US federal government White House Economic policy Economy and economic indicators Caracas Legislative bodies Voters and voting North America United States Military Continents and regions The Americas Election fraud Election results Political corruption Arrests Crime, law enforcement and corrections Criminal law Law and legal system Law enforcement

Population: 31,304,016 (July 2017 est.)

Median age: 28.3 years old

Capital: Caracas

Ethnic Groups: Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Arab, German, African and indigenous groups

Religion: Roman Catholic 96%, Protestant 2%, other 2%

GDP (purchasing power parity): $389.4 billion (2017 est.)

GDP per capita: $12,400 (2017 est.)

Unemployment: 26.4.5% (2017 est.)

Other Facts :

Venezuela is located on the northern coast of South America, sharing a border with Colombia, Brazil and Guyana.

The country's formal name is the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

Venezuela has proven oil reserves of approximately 302.81 billion barrels.

Despite being one of the world's top oil-producing countries, more than 30% of Venezuelans live below the poverty line as of 2015.

Timeline :

1520s - First settlement by Spanish explorers.

July 5, 1811 - Venezuela declares its independence from Spain, leading to more than ten years of war for independence.

1821 - The Spanish Army is defeated and Venezuela becomes part of the Republic of Gran Colombia.

1829 - Venezuela breaks away from Gran Colombia to become an independent republic.

1958 - After decades of political instability and military rule, a coup leads to democratic reforms that culminate with a presidential election. Romulo Betancourt is elected president.

February 1992 - A coup led by Hugo Chavez is defeated. Chavez spends two years in prison before the charges against him are dropped.

December 1998 - Chavez is elected president.

1999 - Chavez introduces a new constitution that extends his term and strengthens the executive branch while reducing the influence of National Assembly. Voters approve of the changes via a referendum.

July 30, 2000 - Chavez is re-elected.

April 2002 - Chavez is briefly ousted during a coup. He returns to power after two days of violent clashes.

December 2, 2002 - A national strike begins to protest against Chavez. The strike lasts more than two months and affects oil prices worldwide.

February 2, 2003 - Opposition leaders launch a petition drive, collecting signatures endorsing several demands including the immediate removal of Chavez.

June 3, 2004 - The National Electoral Council announces that the opposition has collected enough valid signatures to call for a referendum against Chavez.

August 15, 2004 - Initial results in the recall referendum show about 59% of Venezuelans voted to keep Chavez in office. The next day, observers led by former US President Jimmy Carter announce that they found no fraud in the recall election.

December 3, 2006 - Chavez wins re-election.

February 15, 2009 - A constitutional referendum passes allowing Chavez to run for another term in 2012.

May 24, 2011 - The United States imposes sanctions against seven companies, including the state-run oil company, for supporting Iran in the energy sector.

May 2012 - Chavez, battling cancer, appoints 10 people to a commission called the Council of State. The move prompts speculation about who will succeed him.

October 7, 2012 - Chavez is re-elected.

March 5, 2013 - Chavez dies of cancer at the age of 58. Vice President Nicolas Maduro becomes the interim president.

April 14, 2013 - Maduro narrowly wins the presidential election, with 50.8% of the vote, defeating opposition candidate Henrique Capriles.

September 30, 2013 - Maduro announces on state-run TV that he is expelling three US diplomats. He claims they were involved in acts to destabilize the country.

February 12, 2014 - Protests are held as the economy sputters and crime increases. Some demonstrations turn violent. At least three protestors die amid the unrest.

February 18, 2014 - Opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez is arrested. He is charged with conspiracy and murder in connection with the demonstrations. He is later convicted and sentenced to more than 13 years in prison.

December 18, 2014 - The Venezuela Defense of Human Rights and Civil Society Act is signed into law by US President Barack Obama. The measure directs the United States to impose sanctions against Venezuelan officials who engage in human rights abuses.

February 20, 2015 - The mayor of Caracas is arrested and accused of being involved in a plot to overthrow the government. The opposition says the mayor's arrest is an attempt to divert attention from the country's economic woes.

March 9, 2015 - Obama issues an executive order meant to address the human rights crisis in Venezuela, with sanctions against seven individuals.

December 6, 2015 - Venezuela's opposition party wins the majority of seats in elections to the National Assembly, a repudiation of Maduro. It is the first major shift in power in the legislative branch since Chavez took office in 1999.

January 15, 2016 - Maduro declares a state of "economic emergency." The country's economic issues are rooted in falling oil prices, plummeting currency rates, power struggles within the government, the looming possibility of default and ongoing food shortages.

March 4, 2016 - Obama renews sanctions against Venezuela, declaring that the situation hasn't improved since his last executive order.

March 9, 2016 - In response to the sanctions, Maduro announces he's recalling Maximilien Arvelaiz, Venezuela's top diplomat in Washington.

August 1, 2016 - The government certifies a petition to begin the process of recalling Maduro. A top election official calls for an investigation into irregularities on the signature list.

October 2016 - The recall referendum to oust Maduro is halted amid allegations of voter fraud. Opposition lawmakers meet for a special session to discuss the possibility of impeaching Maduro. Pro-government protestors break into the assembly hall to disrupt the meeting.

March 29, 2017 - The Supreme Court strips the National Assembly of power. Opposition leaders say that the move is comparable to a coup. After several days of protests, the court reverses its ruling.

April 7, 2017 - Capriles announces via tweet that the government has barred him from holding public office for 15 years.

April 17, 2017 - Maduro orders armed forces into the streets following weeks of deadly, anti-government protests.

April 20-21, 2017 - At least 13 people are killed in a single 24-hour period as protests continue.

May 1, 2017 - Maduro announces that he has signed an executive order paving the way for changes in the constitution that will reshape the legislature and redefine his executive powers.

June 27, 2017 - A stolen police helicopter, allegedly piloted by an officer from Venezuela's investigative police force, circles around several high-profile buildings in Caracas, including the Ministry of the Interior and the Supreme Court. Photos show an occupant holding a banner that says, "Article 350 libertad," referring to an article in the Venezuelan constitution that allows citizens to oppose the government should it subvert democratic principles.

July 5, 2017 - On the anniversary of the county's independence, Maduro supporters storm the National Assembly and attack opposition lawmakers. At least seven legislative employees and five lawmakers are injured.

July 16, 2017 - Nearly 7.2 million voters participate in a non-binding referendum organized by the country's opposition parties. More than 98% of voters reject Maduro's proposed constitutional changes. The government condemns the referendum as illegal and calls for a July 30 vote to elect a special assembly to rewrite the 1999 constitution.

July 26, 2017 - Steve Mnuchin, the Treasury Secretary for US President Donald Trump, announces sanctions on 13 government and military officials tied to Maduro. Mexico and Colombia follow with sanctions on the same individuals.

July 30, 2017 - An election is held to replace the National Assembly with a new pro-Maduro legislative body called the National Constituent Assembly. Amid clashes between police and protestors, at least six people are killed. Although Maduro claims victory, opposition leaders say the vote is fraudulent.

July 31, 2017 - Mnuchin announces that all of Maduro's assets that are subject to US jurisdiction will be frozen and all US citizens are barred from dealing with him.

August 2, 2017 - The CEO of the company that provided technology for the July 30 election says there is a discrepancy of at least one million votes. A spokesman for the government's election council denies that any manipulation took place. During an interview with CNN en Espanol, the attorney general says she has initiated an investigation into potential voter fraud.

August 5, 2017 - The Constituent Assembly holds its first session and issues its first order of business: firing the attorney general who is investigating allegations of voter fraud. A Maduro ally is sworn in as the interim attorney general.

September 24, 2017 - The Trump administration announces new travel restrictions on certain foreigners in eight countries, including Venezuela.

February 8, 2018 - A prosecutor from the International Criminal Court says a preliminary investigation will examine allegations of excessive force and other abuses by the government during anti-regime protests dating back to 2017.

May 20, 2018 - During an election denounced by opposition leaders and the international community, Maduro wins another six-year term. Voter turnout falls to 46%, down from an 80% participation rate in 2013.

August 4, 2018 - Several drones armed with explosives fly towards Maduro in an apparent assassination attempt during a military parade. The next day, the interior minister announces that six people have been arrested in connection with the attack. Maduro is not injured.

August 18, 2018 - Peru and Ecuador announce new restrictions on migration, as Venezuelans try to flee to neighboring countries. A mob of Brazilians destroys a migrant camp and several Venezuelans are attacked after a shop in a border city is robbed, according to Brazil's state news service.

August 20, 2018 - A new currency is issued to jumpstart the economy amid a warning from the International Monetary Fund that the inflation rate could hit one million percent by the end of the year.

September 8, 2018 - A report is published in the New York Times detailing secret meetings between US officials and Venezuelan military officers planning a coup against Maduro. CNN confirms the report, which describes a series of meetings over the course of a year. Ultimately, the US government decided not to back the coup.As investigators track the gun purchases of Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz, dozens of students and staff from the site of the massacre will board buses late Tuesday, bound for Florida's state capital.

In Tallahassee, they hope to talk to legislators about school safety and gun control on Wednesday, determined to ensure that the deaths of their 17 classmates and teachers last week at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, bring about change.

School walkouts and a march are scheduled in the coming weeks and a CNN town hall with victims' classmates, parents and the community is set for Wednesday in Sunrise, Florida.

"They can change the world, and we can only go with them," Darren Levine, a Stoneman Douglas High teacher, said of the school's students at an anti-violence rally in Delray Beach, Florida -- one of at least three across the country on Monday.

Hours earlier Monday, Cruz made a brief appearance in court for a procedural matter.

A law enforcement source briefed on the investigation told CNN that Cruz had obtained at least 10 firearms, all of them rifles. Investigators are trying to track the purchases, which Cruz appears to have made in the past year or so, the source said.

Cruz bought two weapons from Gun World of South Florida in Deerfield Beach, said Kim Waltuch, the store's CEO. She would not provide details on the types of guns he purchased or on the time frame, but said the sales followed normal protocol for Florida firearms purchases.

Meanwhile, one of Cruz's victims, Anthony Borges, 15, continued his recovery. He's one of four patients who remain hospitalized after Wednesday's massacre in Parkland. He was shot five times, according to the Broward County Sheriff's Office.

On Sunday, the teen remained in a bed, his face swollen and his body tethered to IV and oxygen tubes.

"Fortunately, he is recovering -- but has a long road ahead with more surgeries needed," according to a Broward County Sheriff's Office Facebook post.

Anthony helped protect his classmates, closing and locking a door to a classroom, according to a verified GoFundMe account that, as of late Monday morning, had raised more than $275,000 late Monday. As Anthony blocked the door, Cruz fired through it, hitting Anthony in the back and in both legs, shattering his thigh bone, according to the account's description.

These are the victims of the Florida school shooting

Latest developments

Rallies against gun violence in California, Florida and Washington, D.C.: The names of victims were read out loud at a rally in Delray Beach. In Los Angeles, protesters, including many young children gathered in Pershing Park, chanted "throw them out," referring to politicians who support the National Rifle Association. "Apparently when a school shooting happens, it's just another day in America and nobody cares," said Sophie Peterson, a student. "Students and teachers are dying and that is not OK." In Washington, teen demonstrators lay on the ground in front of the White House in solidarity with the 17 victims. Others carried flags and posters.

Details on shooters' behavior: A 2016 Florida Department of Children and Families report says that after a breakup with a girlfriend, Cruz began cutting his arms. He also announced plans to buy a gun, put racial slurs and hate symbols on his backpack and suffered from depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and autism, the report said. Despite Cruz's behavior, the report concluded the "final level of risk is low."

Cubs star speaks out: Marjory Stoneman Douglas alum and Chicago Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo said during a news conference that he had visited kids in the hospital after the shooting. He also issued a call for change, saying, "No one right now feels comfortable on a daily basis sending their kid to school not knowing if they're going to see them again."

Host family saw no clues: Kim and James Snead, who took in Cruz after his adoptive mother died in November, tell ABC's "Good Morning America" that Cruz was polite and "seemed normal." Despite reports of what authorities say was a disturbing social media footprint, James Snead said, "We knew he had one Instagram account. ... The other ones he had, we had no idea about."

Funerals scheduled for this week: Among those being laid to rest this week are Alaina Petty, 14, and Luke Hoyer, 15, whose services were held Monday morning, and Cara Loughran, 14, whose service is Tuesday. Cara's aunt, Lindsay Fontana, said on Facebook the day after the shooting that her niece was an "excellent student" who loved the beach. Alaina's family described her as a "vibrant and determined young woman" who volunteered in cleanup and rebuilding efforts after Hurricane Irma.

Remembering the victims: Vigils were held Monday for the Parkland shooting victims in nearby Miramar and Coral Springs, Florida.

Alleged school threats elsewhere: A 14-year-old Norfolk, Virginia, middle school student was the latest person to be arrested Monday for threatening to harm classmates, according to Norfolk police. The student faces a felony charge and is accused of making threats of death or bodily injury to a person or persons on school property, police said. Since the massacre in Parkland, there have been at least a dozen reports of other incidents involving a threat to a school or a weapon on campus throughout the country. In some of these events, the schools have closed or gone into lockdown.

Students mobilize

In the aftermath of the shooting, many students who survived the bloodshed say they can no longer endure inaction on the issue of gun control. Just days after surviving the ninth-deadliest shooting in modern US history, several students have given powerful speeches and compelling TV interviews, voicing their desire to break the loop of massacres.

Some have gone on social media, vocal about what they experienced and what action they want to see from those in power. They're demanding that state and federal lawmakers step up and do something.

They're also coming for the NRA and any politician who takes money from the powerful gun lobby. The NRA did not return CNN's call seeking comment.

"My message for the people in office is: You're either with us or against us. We are losing our lives while the adults are playing around," said junior Cameron Kasky, announcing a March 24 demonstration in Washington.

They plan to converge at the nation's capital next month and have asked supporters who can't make it to stage marches in their own communities, according to a mission statement for March For Our Lives.

How to help victims of the Florida school shooting

Marjory Stoneman Douglas remains closed through Wednesday, and officials said they hope to reopen the doors by week's end. It's not clear when students will return.

The school district has also proposed tearing down the building where the shooting happened, Parkland Mayor Christine Hunschofsky said.

Trump tweet angers students

Students who survived the shooting laid into President Donald Trump after he seemed to blame the FBI's failure to follow up on a report about the school shooter on the agency's attention and resources on the Russia investigation.

On Saturday, Trump tweeted, "Very sad that the FBI missed all of the many signals sent out by the Florida school shooter. This is not acceptable. They are spending too much time trying to prove Russian collusion with the Trump campaign - there is no collusion. Get back to the basics and make us all proud!"

The President's tweet caused considerable outrage online, including among apparent survivors of the shooting. One wrote: "Oh my god. 17 OF MY CLASSMATES AND FRIENDS ARE GONE AND YOU HAVE THE AUDACITY TO MAKE THIS ABOUT RUSSIA???!! HAVE A DAMN HEART. You can keep all of your fake and meaningless 'thoughts and prayers'."

As the investigation continues, a review has been ordered by Attorney General Jeff Sessions into how a tip to the FBI about Cruz was missed and how the agency responds to indications of potential violence.

The FBI failed to act on a January 5 tip about "Cruz's gun ownership, desire to kill people, erratic behavior and disturbing social media posts, as well as the potential of him conducting a school shooting," the agency said.

The proper protocols weren't followed and the FBI's Miami office was not notified, the agency said.

A video blogger also said he warned the FBI in September about a possible school shooting threat from a YouTube user with the same name as Cruz. The FBI did not find information to identify the person, said Robert Lasky, FBI special agent in charge of the Miami division.

Report: Cruz cut himself after breakup, had 'hate signs' on backpack

CNN obtained a 2016 report from the Florida Department of Children and Families that said Cruz engaged in self-destructive behavior after a breakup with a girlfriend.

DCF spoke with the teen's now-deceased mother, Lynda Cruz, who told them he suffered from depression, ADHD and autism. After the breakup, she said, he began cutting his arms and posting it to Snapchat. Previously, Cruz had put a Nazi symbol on his backpack, and "had hate signs on a book bag, stating, 'I hate n*****s,'" according to the report.

"(Lynda Cruz) stated (Nikolas) started cutting only after (Nikolas) and the girl broke up. She stated that there has never been any issues with other races or issues with racism in the family or (Nikolas)," the report states. "She stated that she even asked (Nikolas) why would he draw something like that and (he) claimed not knowing what it was."

The DCF report ultimately found that the "final level of risk is low" because Cruz was residing with his mother, receiving in-home mental health services and attending school.

In a statement Monday, DCF Secretary Mike Carroll said the agency "is absolutely heartbroken and disgusted by last week's tragedy."

"Once we learned that the shooter had involvement with the agency in 2016, we immediately began the process of asking a court to release these records detailing DCF's only involvement with this person. We also conducted a thorough review to confirm that all processes and procedures were followed. In these investigations, DCF relies on the expertise of mental health professionals and law enforcement and these records show that DCF took the steps to involve these partners in investigating this alleged abuse. Cruz was receiving mental health services before, during, and after our investigation was closed, he was living with his mother, and attending school," Carroll's statement said.

Cruz, who is facing charges of premeditated murder, is willing to plead guilty to avoid the death penalty, according to the public defender's office representing him.

State Attorney Michael J. Satz said Saturday this "certainly is the type of case the death penalty was designed for," but now is the time "to let the families grieve and bury their children and loved ones."

Cruz was being held without bond in Broward County. He wore a red jumpsuit, with his wrists shackled to his waist, when he appeared in court Monday for a hearing on the sealing of certain documents in the case. Cruz didn't speak publicly, answering only his public defender's questions, and looked down for most of the hearing.

Another court had sealed documents pertaining to the defense team's "access to their own client's person," Judge Elizabeth Scherer said, adding that she saw no reason prosecutors would oppose the move. Future such motions will be handled by her court, she said.BALTIMORE (AP) - A Republican running for a Maryland legislative seat raffled off an AR-15 assault weapon at a Saturday night fundraiser, only days after the same type of weapon was used to kill 17 people at a Florida high school.

The Baltimore Sun reported that about 15 people held a peaceful vigil outside, reading off the names of the 17 victims, as well as others killed in mass shootings, before the fundraiser for sheriff's deputy Aaron Penman.

The Facebook posting for Penman's event said gun winners would have to complete background checks.

Democrat Allison Berkowitz, also running to represent House District 7, took a turn sharing the stories of shooting victims over a megaphone. She said "we just want things to be safer for all of our children."

___

Information from: The Baltimore Sun, http://www.baltimoresun.com

(Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)Beneath Biblical Prophet's Tomb

This inscription was found during excavations at Nineveh on the back of a fallen "lamassu," a deity with a human's head and the body of a lion or bull. It reads (in translation): "The palace of Ashurbanipal, great king, mighty king, king of the world, king of Assyria, son of Esarhaddon, king of Assyria, descendant of Sennacherib, king of Assyria." ( Stevan Beverly) Deep inside looters' tunnels dug beneath the Tomb of Jonah in the ancient Iraq city of Nineveh, archaeologists have uncovered 2,700-year-old inscriptions that describe the rule of an Assyrian king named Esarhaddon.

The seven inscriptions were discovered in four tunnels beneath the biblical prophet's tomb, which is a shrine that's sacred to both Christians and Muslims. The shrine was blown up by the Islamic State group (also called ISIS or Daesh) during its occupation of Nineveh from June 2014 until January 2017.

ISIS or ISIS-backed looters apparently dug the tunnels to look for archaeological treasures from the Assyrian kings in what is today Iraq, Ali Y. Al-Juboori, director of the Assyrian Studies Centre at the University of Mosul, wrote in a recent issue of the journal Iraq. [In Photos: Ancient City Discovered in Iraq]

Deciphering inscriptions

One inscription, in translation, reads: "The palace of Esarhaddon, strong king, king of the world, king of Assyria, governor of Babylon, king of Sumer and Akkad, king of the kings of lower Egypt, upper Egypt and Kush [an ancient kingdom located south of Egypt in Nubia]."

Kush leaders at one point ruled Egypt, according to ancient inscriptions found at other archaeological sites. Those inscriptions also say that Esarhaddon defeated the Kush rulers and chose new rulers to govern Egypt.

Another inscription found under the Tomb of Jonah says that Esarhaddon "reconstructed the temple of the god Assur [the chief god of the Assyrians]," rebuilt the ancient cities of Babylon and Esagil, and "renewed the statues of the great gods."

The inscriptions also tell of Esarhaddon's family history, saying that he is the son of Sennacherib [reign 704--681 B.C.] and a descendent of Sargon II (reign 721--705 B.C.), who was also "king of the world, king of Assyria."

Seven inscriptions were found in looters' tunnels dug beneath the destroyed tomb of Jonah (one of the tunnels is shown here). ( Eleanor Robson)

More inscriptions

Al-Juboori also translated four other inscriptions found at Nineveh, near the Nergal Gate (Nergal was the Assyrian god of war), between 1987 and 1992 by an archaeological team from Iraq's Inspectorate of Antiquities. Conflicts in the area made it difficult for the team to publish their discoveries at the time.

The inscriptions date to the reign of King Sennacherib, and they all say this king "had the inner wall and outer wall of Nineveh built anew and raised as high as mountains."

Archaeologists found several inscriptions near the Tomb of Jonah during the 1987-1992 excavations. One of them was written on a prism-shaped clay object and discusses Esarhaddon's many military conquests, including Cilicia (located on the southern coast of what is now Turkey). The transcribed inscription calls Esarhaddon "the one who treads on the necks of the people of Cilicia."

Esarhaddon claims in the inscription that "I surrounded, conquered, plundered, demolished, destroyed and burned with fire twenty-one of their cities together with small cities in their environs. ..." The inscription also discusses his conquest of Sidon (located in modern-day Lebanon), claiming that Esarhaddon's army tore down the city's walls and threw them into the Mediterranean Sea.

The remains of ancient inscriptions from other sites that ISIS tried to loot and destroy have also been found. After the ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud was recaptured in November 2017, the surviving inscriptions include one describing a monkey colony that once flourished at Nimrud.GSSA FlyUs has further expanded its European network with the acquisition of Global Cargo Management (CGM).

CGM, which will eventually be rebranded as FlyUs, is headquartered in Munich and has a branch office in Frankfurt.

It joins the growing Netherlands-headquartered companys international network and extends the FlyUs global reach to 17 countries.

"We are delighted to welcome Global Cargo Management into the FlyUs group because their proactive attitude perfectly complements our strong presence in many other locations," said FlyUs founder and managing director, Carlo de Haas.

"Germany is a very important air cargo hub in Europe and our entry into this market in our own right is a major step forward.

"The Munich and Frankfurt offices will provide us with important platforms from which we can build our business across the country while the expertise of the team will reinforce our presence and provide customers with continuity of service," he added.

FlyUs was founded in 2004 and currently operates across Europe, US, Mexico and Central America offering tailored cargo GSA representation to a host of carriers.

Read more GSSA news

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The UK has lifted a ban on airfreight being transported directly from Bangladesh, but there is still work to be done before exports can resume.

Late last week, British high commissioner in Bangladesh Alison Blake and Bangladesh civil aviation and tourism minister AKM Shahjahan Kamal told local reporters that the UK had lifted the ban, which had been in place since March 2016 because of concerns that cargo was not properly being screened.

I am delighted to confirm that the temporary suspension on direct air cargo between Bangladesh and the UK has been lifted, following significant progress made in meeting a number of important security conditions, Blake told local reporters.

We will keep monitoring the security system of Shahjalal International Airport as it is a continued work to keep aviation safe so that our people and the cargo continue to flow."

The UKs Department for Transport added: "Following ongoing co-operation with the government of Bangladesh on the standards of aviation security at Dhaka International Airport, the Department [for] Transport has removed the interim restrictions suspending the carriage of cargo on direct flights from Dhaka to the UK.

"The UK government will continue to work with the government of Bangladesh to support ongoing improvement in standards for all aspects of aviation security."

It is understood that Bangladesh will need to undergo three joint safety assessments per year.

The move was welcomed by Bangladesh Freight Forwarders Association director Nurul Amin, who is also managing director of Tower Freight Logistics.

However, he pointed out that Biman Bangladesh Airlines, which is the main airline offering direct UK-Bangladesh services, and the export cargo warehouse still need to gain the European Unions third-country regulated agent certification before it could offer cargo services to the UK.

It is understood that certain areas of the warehouse have been approved and the certificate is in the process of being issued.

The news will no doubt come as a relief to forwarders and exporters that have been subject to pay extra surcharges to have cargo screened in a third country before being transported to the UK. It has also lengthened transport times.

They will also be hopeful the move could lead other countries that have placed a ban on direct exports from Bangladesh to lift their bans.

The country is also the EUs list of high risk countries, meaning all exports from the country must be screened by x-ray machines and also using explosive detection systems  either an explosive detection dog unit (EDD) or an explosive detection system (EDS).

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The coming of the Toyota-Mazda plant to Huntsville's patch in Limestone County has reignited the push for a bridge over Alabama 20.

The Decatur Daily is reporting that Decatur officials are talking again about a bridge - a project that became stalled in litigation over a proposed Bass Pro Shops.

Toyota-Mazda's plant, projected to open in 2021, is only four miles from the site of the former Bass Pro site, as well as Polaris and Bocar, the paper is reporting.

The building of a bridge across Alabama 20 was proposed about a decade ago, when Bass Pro first considered the property.

Dewayne Hellums, head of the Metropolitan Planning Organization, said the average daily traffic count on Alabama 20 in 2016 was 32,000. That's when the most recent traffic data is available.

The bridge projected in 2014 would have cost about $12 million, with Decatur paying $4 million and the Alabama Department of Transportation paying the rest. It would be located just east of Apple Lane Farms, and would provide access to undeveloped acreage south of Alabama 20 and to Bibb-Garrett Road north of Alabama 20.

"We're in a different era today," Wally Terry, director of development for Decatur, told the paper. "Now we're in an era where the traffic and the demands that are going to be placed on (the south) side of the river to serve the new plants and to develop that property dictate that we move forward."

Read the story here.A series of threats have been lodged by students across Alabama in the days since a 19-year-old gunman killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. last week.

AL.com file photo

Shades Valley High School

The Irondale Police Department confirmed Sunday that it is investigating a rumored threat of violence against Shades Valley High School.

Det. Sgt. Michael Mangina said that on Saturday parents provided police with copies of messages discussing a rumor that someone has threatened to shoot up the school on Tuesday.

"We were made aware of the rumor yesterday and we're working with the school to ensure everyone's safe," Mangina told AL.com Sunday. "From what I understand, it started on social media and it's hard to say, but I guess it has something to do maybe with the shooting in Florida. Perhaps a rumor gets started and it spreads. It's kind of at the forefront of people's minds at the moment."

Irondale Police have yet to decide how to handle the rumored threat, Mangina said.

"School is closed tomorrow for the holiday, and as far as I know school is going to be open on Tuesday," he said. "We aren't sure what we're going to do right now, but we already have two officers assigned to the school."

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Bessemer City High School

Police say they are investigating after someone reportedly threatened to "shoot up'' Bessemer City High School.

Bessemer Police Chief Mike Roper said his department received information Sunday after a parent reported that a student was supposedly overheard making the threat. Roper said police are in the early stages of the investigation and have yet to confirm the threat or identified the student who reportedly made the threat.

Roper said two of his police officers work at the school full-time every day, but that the school will have an increased police presence Monday as a precaution.

"We take any threat seriously,'' Roper said. "You're disrupting lives."

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AL.com file photo

Springville High School

A Springville High School student has been arrested and charged with making a terrorist threat, St. Clair County Assistant Sheriff Billy Murray said Sunday.

Murray said the charge against the student - whose name has not been released - will be handled in juvenile court because of the student's age.

St. Clair Sheriff's Office Lt. Freddie Turrentine told AL.com Sunday afternoon that the office did not yet have any further information about the incident.

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Dothan High School

A 15-year-old Dothan High School student was arrested and jailed Friday after other students told school officials he threatened to "shoot up the school," Dothan police said.

On Thursday, Dothan High students reported the threats against the school to school officials.

School staff notified the school resource officer, who took the student to the Dothan Police Department for questioning, police said.

He was later charged with making a terrorist threat, police said.

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East Limestone High School

Two students from East Limestone High School were jailed Friday after they made terrorist threats against the school on social media, according to the Limestone County Sheriff's Office.

Sheriff's spokesman Stephen Young said the threats were made against East Limestone High School. He did not say what the students threatened to do. Both students were arrested at the school and taken into sheriff's office custody.

Karen Tucker, director of technology and public relations at Limestone County Schools, said she could only confirm one of the arrests, but said the student was arrested at the school Friday morning without incident.

She said the threatening comment was, "I'm going to blow up the school."

Other students saw the threat and immediately reported it to the school administrator, she said.

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AL.com file photo

Baldwin County Schools

A Daphne student was suspended on Friday after he reportedly called 911 to report what he believed to be a threat of gun violence at school.

The student's mother posted on Facebook Friday to say that after her son called 911, police responded by surrounding a school bus. At school, the boy was later taken out of class, made to write a statement and was suspended.

"Suspended," the mother wrote in her Facebook post. "For doing what he thought was right. We are as bewildered as anyone reading this."

The mother said Baldwin County School Superintendent Eddie Tyler planned going to review the matter on Monday. Earlier in the day, Tyler had sent out a statement say that the school system's safety protocols would be reviewed after a stolen gun was found at Fairhope Middle School on Thursday.

Tyler then said that the incident in Daphne occurred after a student made a "flippant remark" and that police activity that followed resulted in "needless panic and chaos." He urged students and parents to follow proper communication channels when reporting concerns, such as to a teacher, administrator or school resource officer.

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AL.com file photo

Leeds High School

A student from Leeds High School will not be returning to school after threatening earlier this month to "shoot up the prom," Leeds City Schools Superintendent John Moore said Friday in a Facebook post.

After the comment, Leeds High School staff contacted the Leeds Police Department, the post said. The student was later charged with a "Class III offense," he said in the social media post.

"The student will not be back on campus and certainly will not be at the prom," Moore said in the post. "The student has denied that he intends to harm anyone, but in this environment, we must take even a hint of a threat very seriously."

Moore said there will be multiple armed police officers at prom, which is scheduled for next month

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AL.com file photo

Susan Moore High School

A Susan Moore High School student was charged with making a terrorist threat Friday after he told a school employee Thursday he was going to shoot up the school on Friday, Blount County Sheriff's Operations Manager Tim Kent said.

The employee reported the threat to the school student resource officer, who took the student to his guardians.

The officer went to the juvenile probation office Friday and signed a petition on the charges, Kent said.

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Fairhope Police Department

Fairhope Middle School

A Fairhope Middle School student was taken into police custody Thursday afternoon when he was found in possession of this stolen .380 pistol while at school.

He was charged with possession of a deadly weapon on school grounds and possession of stolen property.

Police became aware that the student had the firearm when another student reported seeing a gun at the school, according to Baldwin County Schools officials.

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Foley Middle School

An 8th grader at Foley Middle School was arrested Tuesday after making a terrorist threat.

The child said that he would "shoot up the school before the end of the school year," according to school officials, who added that the school was not in any imminent danger. Parents were informed of the incident immediately.

Don't EditIf you often travel across state lines and have a sharp eye, you may have spotted a marble sign greeting travelers with, "Alabama Welcomes You."

The signs look more like monuments than the standard roadside fare. I got interested in them when Sweetums and I took a photo of one in 2015. Since then I have identified seven surviving signs but I haven't been able to learn much about them. I know only they were erected by the Alabama Department of Transportation in 1942, when it was known as the State Highway Department of Alabama.

(oocities.com)

The signs are etched with the names "Frank M. Dixon - Governor," and "Chris J. Sherlock - Director.." Dixon was governor from 1939-1943 and Sherlock was the director of the Highway Department. They also say, "Alabama Welcomes You, the Union's 22nd State 1819, Dec. 14."

I called to ask the DOT if anyone knows more about the signs but it seems no other information is available. Do you know anything about these signs, or do you know of any that aren't listed below? Email me at kkazek@al.com.

The sign above is located past Abernathy at the Alabama-Georgia border, but I am not sure on which highway.

UPDATE: Readers notified me of eighth, ninth and tenth signs, one on U.S. Highway 45 at the Alabama-Mississippi line near Yellow Pine, and the other on Highway 90 near Seminole at the Alabama-Florida line. Photos added at the end of the slideshow.

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(YoSam/Waymarking.com)

A full view of the marker at the Alabama-Georgia border.

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(oocities.com)

Marker on U.S. Highway 82 at the Alabama-Mississippi line.

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(HuntsvilleRewound.com)

Marker on U.S. Highway 72 on the Alabama-Mississippi border near Margerum.

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(HuntsvilleRewound.com)

Marker on Old Highway 31 on the Alabama-Tennessee border in Ardmore.

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(Huntsville Rewound.com)

Another view of the Ardmore marker.

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(HuntsvilleRewound.com)

Marker on U.S. Highway 72 on the Tennessee-Alabama border near Bridgeport.

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(PetenDot/Waymarking.com)

Another view of the Bridgeport sign.

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(Wil Elrick)

Marker on U.S. Highway 411 at the Alabama-Georgia line in Cherokee County and near Cave Spring, Ga.

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(xptwo/Waymarking.com)

Marker on U.S. Highway 231 on the Alabama-Florida line near Madrid.

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(Rodney McDonald/Google Maps)

UPDATE: Readers notified me of this sign on U.S. Highway 45 at the Alabama-Mississippi line near Yellow Pine.

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(Google Maps)

UPDATE: This blurry photo from Goggle Maps shows a modified welcome sign. The columns have been removed and the top set on the base. It is located on U.S. Highway 90 near Seminole on the Alabama-Florida line. This monument is actually more than a mile from the state line, likely because of the swampy roadside conditions at the line.

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(Derwin Dubose)

UPDATE: Derwin Dubose sent this photo of the marker at the welcome center on Interstate 10 at the Mississippi state line.Alabama has a wide variety of specialty license plates you can purchase for a little extra cash. You can show your school pride or your veteran status, sport a Saturn V rocket to support the U.S. Space & Rocket Center or just say, God Bless America.

But how do those specialty tags get out there? Are there new ones this year? How do you add a tag to benefit your organization or cause? Look here for some answers and see the new tags seeking approval this year, the tags added most recently and the Top 3 specialty tags.

State of Alabama

Habitat for Humanity

Habitat for Humanity chapters in cities across Alabama have been working hard since July 1, 2017 to get the 1,000 pre-commitments the state requires to make these specialty tags. It's called pre-commitment, and there are two levels to reach before the state will make your tag. Class 1 tags are "generic" in design and require the lower commitment number of 250. Class 2 tags have a unique design by the organization. More ink, more work, more commitments. So far, Habitat has 865 commitments for its tag and until June 30 to get the rest. At this state website, you'll see the tags up for pre-commitment now and have the opportunity to sign up.

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State of Alabama

Prostate cancer research

This tag sponsored by the Mike Slive Foundation for Prostate Cancer Research. It needs 1,000 commitments to purchase before the state will order it. So far, it has 10. Read more about the foundation and its fight here.

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State of Alabama

Colon Cancer Awareness

This tag supports a monthly support group, scholarship program and various efforts to spread awareness at community events. The sponsoring organization for this tag, Rumpshaker, Inc. has a sense of humor, as its name indicates. More evidence is the tag's, well, tagline: "Get Behind A Cure!"

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State of Alabama

Big Brothers, Big Sisters

"The net proceeds will be used for marketing, advertising, volunteer recruitment efforts, client recruitment efforts throughout the state," the organization says, "as well as staff training so we may provide an even higher quality of service to children facing adversity throughout our state." This tag has 2 commitments and until June 30 this year to get 248 more.

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State of Alabama

Georgia Tech

The sponsoring Georgia Tech Alumni Association says this tag is available to all supporters of the university and all of the proceeds of the tag will go to the State of Alabama's General Fund. The tag has seven commitments, needs 243 more and has until Dec. 31 to get them.

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State of Alabama

Rural Health

"The net proceeds will be used to support health career camps for rural/underserved middle and high school students throughout Alabama," There is one commitment and 999 needed by the end of the day on June 30, 2018.

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State of Alabama

Alabama Shakespeare Festival

The Alabama Shakespeare Festival is asking all of its supporters to buy this tag to help fund the festival's educational activities. As of Friday, it had 12 commitments, needs 990 more and has until Dec. 31 to get them.

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State of Alabama

Together We Can Stop Gun Violence

Proceeds from this tag will go to this non-profit's scholarship fund. The and foundation and fund wer set up to honor a 20-year-old student shot while an innocent bystander. Read more about it here. The tag has 7 commitments now and needs 1,000 by Dec. 31.

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State of Alabama

Helen Keller Foundation for Research and Education

"The proceeds from this tag will be used to provide, promote and fund eye research, education and related services for the benefit of the scientific and medical community and the general public," the foundation says. The tag needs 1,000 commitments by June 30 but has none now. Read more about the foundation here.

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State of Alabama

Home Builders Association of Alabama

Some organizations do succeed in getting their commitments, and the Home Builders Association of Alabama is one of most-recent tag approvals by the state. "The net proceeds will be used for educational initiatives related to the home building industry and associated trade education," the organization says. This tag hit the 250 commitment requirement and is now available. Click here to see all of Alabama's specialty tags.

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State of Alabama

Alabama Treasure Forest

This tag became available in June of 2017 and is also one of the latest added to Alabama's specialty tag list. The annual tag fee of $55 is divided with $50 "distributed to education outreach and promotion of the value produced by family-owned forest land in Alabama" and $5 going to the state's General Fund.

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State of Alabama

Distinguished Flying Cross

Alabama residents who have received the Distinguished Service Cross are eligible to display this tag, and a new design for it became available in January 2018. The net revenue for each tag - $25 - goes to the Alabama Veterans Assistance Fund in the State Treasury.

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State of Alabama

King's Home

The King's Home specialty plate became available in September 2017 and is one of the most-recent specialty tags added by the state. The net proceeds for this tag are used to provide housing and care for abused women and children.

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State of Alabama

Mending Kids Hearts

Sponsored by Children's Hospital of Alabama, this specialty tag became available in June of 2017 and is one of the most-recent specialty tags added by the state. Proceeds from this tag go to the care of patients with heart defects, training physicians and research.

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State of Alabama

K9's for Vets

This tag sponsored by The 1st Foundation became available in August of 2017 and is one of the most-recent specialty tags added by the state. Proceeds from this tag will go to helping vets with PTSD and helping to unite K9 soldiers with good homes.

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State of Alabama

1. God Bless America

What is the No. 1 requested specialty tag in Alabama? It's "God Bless America," and it isn't even close. The latest records show 1, 128, 074 "God Bless America" tags in the state. That's in a state with a total population of 4.8 million people with almost 1 million of those under 18.

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State of Alabama

2. University of Alabama

The latest numbers show 110,260 UA tags when all three campuses are counted together, making UA tags No. 2 on the state's popularity list. Of those tags, 106, 287 feature the Tuscaloosa campus. What's Auburn's total? It's 70,257.

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State of Alabama

3. Disabled Veteran

Alabama's third-most requested tag is for a "disabled veteran." State figures show 76,371 people have either the "standard" or "disability" tags in this category. All veterans with service-connected disabilities can obtain one of these tags. The "disability" category is shorthand for "Disability Access Parking Privileges," a smaller category that requires an application.Police say they are investigating after someone reportedly made a threat to "shoot up'' Bessemer City High School.

The reported threat is the latest in a growing number of similar incidents at Alabama schools, and elsewhere, following last week's massacre at Florida's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland.

Bessemer Police Chief Mike Roper said his department received information late Sunday afternoon after a parent reported that a student was supposedly overheard making the threat. Roper said they are in the early stages of the investigation and have not confirmed the threat or identified the student who reportedly made the threat.

Though many schools are closed Monday for President's Day, Bessemer's high school is in session as a makeup day. Roper said he has two officers at the school full-time every day, but will have an increased presence Monday as a precaution.

"We take any threat seriously,'' Roper said. "You're disrupting lives."

The chief said if they can verify the threat and identify the student, he or she will be charged with making a terroristic threat.

Earlier Sunday, Irondale police said they also are investigating a rumored threat of violence against Shades Valley High School. Det. Sgt. Michael Mangina said parents provided police with copies of messages discussing a rumor that someone has threatened to shoot up the school on Tuesday.

"We were made aware of the rumor yesterday and we're working with the school to ensure everyone's safe," Mangina said. "From what I understand, it started on social media and it's hard to say, but I guess it has something to do maybe with the shooting in Florida. Perhaps a rumor gets started and it spreads. It's kind of at the forefront of people's minds at the moment."

Also Sunday, St. Clair County Assistant Sheriff Billy Murray said a Springville High School student has been arrested and charged with making a terrorist threat. Murray said the case will be handled in juvenile court because of the student's age. Few details were released.

Last week, students in Jefferson, Blount, Limestone, Houston and Baldwin counties were arrested following threats of school shootings.Roy Hobbs, a former anchor for ABC 33/40, has died, according to Fox 5, the Atlanta television station where he worked from 1997-2003.

Hobbs died at his home in West Palm Beach, the station reported.

"Hobbs came to Atlanta from Boston," the report stated. "After leaving FOX 5, Hobbs worked at television stations in Kansas City, Birmingham and Rehoboth Beach, Delaware."

In 2010, Hobbs, then the 33/40 weekend anchor, was arrested on drug charges when Birmingham police found him in possession of crack-cocaine and a crack pipe.

"I was trying to commit suicide," Hobbs later said. "I was trying to take the coward's way out. I was too cowardly to get a gun to blow my brains out."

"Live each day as if it's the last and love to the fullest. I had it backwards and that seemingly small juxtaposition of 2 ideas has cost me dearly. So I reflect on what is, what was and what could have been," Hobbs posted on Facebook in January for his 64th birthday.Taylor Hicks (Courtesy photo)

Alabama native Taylor Hicks will perform at the grand opening celebration of the Birmingham Intermodal Facility downtown.

The American Idol winner will be joined by a few surprise guests at the event set for 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 23, according to the Birmingham Jefferson County Transit Authority. The event will also feature food and tours of the new facility.

The celebration will take place at 1801 Morris Ave. The transportation hub stretches three blocks along Morris Avenue between 17th and 19th streets.

"We wanted a facility that would make the community proud," BJCTA Executive Director Barbara Murdock said.

The three-block Birmingham Intermodal Facility is located along Morris Avenue between 17th and 19th streets. A nearly 300 space parking lot for travelers, which is not completed yet, will be located between 16th and 17th streets.

MAX Transit's downtown central station and Olivia's Transit Cafe located next door opened over the summer.

The newest section of the facility to open, includes the Amtrak station, which opened Jan. 30, and Greyhound, which will begin operating Feb. 21. BJCTA Administrative offices and a police substation are also located there.

"We are thrilled to continue providing service to the local community through our new location in the Birmingham Intermodal facility," said Emma Gray, Regional Manager of Customer Experience, Greyhound Lines, Inc. "Our thanks goes out to the Birmingham Jefferson County Transit Authority for including us on this project."

Morris Avenue in front of the Intermodal Facility is also open.The U.S. Navy has picked five shipbuilders to advance to the next round of its future frigate program, including Mobile-based Austal USA and Mississippi's Huntington Ingalls Industries.

The program is a huge prize: The Navy plans to buy 20 ships in what it has termed the FFG(X) program, which denotes an experimental guided-missile frigate. According to a recent defense-industry report, officials anticipate paying nearly a billion dollars per ship.

To some extent, the frigates are envisioned as a successor to the Littoral Combat Ships. Austal builds one version of the LCS, an aluminum trimaran, in Mobile; Lockheed Martin builds a second version, a steel monohull, at Fincantieri Marinette Marine shipyards in Wisconsin.

Initially, the Navy seemed inclined to base its frigate on a beefed-up version of one of those two ships, but in 2017 it opened the program up to other contenders. Interested shipbuilders were asked to submit a proven "parent design" and to describe how it could be adapted to meet FFG(X) program requirements.

The five finalists each get a $15 million contract for design work. According to industry site defensenews.com, options allow the contracts to increase to $22 million, and the design work must be finished by June 2019.

Austal's frigate design is closely based on its existing LCS. Austal USA President Craig Perciavalle has said that the Austal LCS has the capacity for the additional weaponry and other systems a frigate will be required to carry, so adding them to the design wouldn't dramatically change a production process that's already up and running.

Austal currently has enough LCS contracts to keep it delivering two of the ships per year through 2021. Winning the frigate contract would provide work for the company's 4,000 employees past that last LCS. (The shipyard also builds a transport catamaran for the Navy.)

Austal USA is excited to announce that we have been awarded a $15 million contract by the U.S. Navy for Guided Missile Frigate (FFG(X)) conceptual design. pic.twitter.com/TvAmIcHfqP  Austal USA (@Austal_USA) February 19, 2018

Lockheed Martin has taken a similar tack, offering an upgunned version of its LCS. According to a report by the U.S. Naval Institute News, the Freedom-based frigate will have "much in common" with a version of the Freedom class that the company is building for the Royal Saudi Navy. It would be built in Wisconsin.

According to the USNI News, the other three contenders announced Friday are:

Fincantieri Marinette Marine, which is offering a design based on the multi-mission European frigate it builds for the Italian Navy. The American version would be built in Wisconsin.

General Dynamics Bath Iron Works has proposed a ship based on the European F100 frigate built by its Spanish partner Navantia. Versions of the ship are used by Spain, Australia and Norway. The American version would be built in Bath, Maine.

Huntington Ingalls' design is based on the National Security Cutter it builds for the U.S. Coast Guard in Pascagoula.

If the program stays on schedule, in 2019 the Navy will pick a winner and in 2020 it'll award the first contract.Rep. Patricia Todd, D-Birmingham (Julie Bennett/jbennett@al.com)

A bill that would reduce the penalty for marijuana possession in Alabama is scheduled for consideration on Wednesday by both the House and Senate judiciary committees.

Rep. Patricia Todd, D-Birmingham, and Sen. Dick Brewbaker, R-Montgomery, are the bill sponsors. Todd has tried with similar bills for several years to reduce the penalties for marijuana possession. She believes opposition has faded and is optimistic the bill will pass.

"I haven't talked to one person who is against it," Todd said.

Brewbaker, R-Montgomery, said the bill is intended to keep young people from being saddled with serious criminal records for personal use of pot.

"No one is talking about legalizing possession of marijuana," Brewbaker said. "But I haven't talked to anybody who thinks hanging felonies on college kids is a great idea because that follows them around for the rest of their lives."

Current law says possession of marijuana for personal use is a Class A misdemeanor, which can carry a jail sentence of up to a year and a fine of up to $6,000.

A second offense of possession for personal use is a Class D felony. A Class D conviction can carry a sentence of up to five years, but at least part of that time has to be under community supervision. Most Class D offenders are recommended for probation or community corrections, rather than prison.

The Todd and Brewbaker bills add a a lower tier.

Possession of one ounce or less would be a violation -- considered less serious than a misdemeanor -- and would be punishable only by a fine not to exceed $250. That penalty would apply to both a first and a second offense. A third offense would be a violation punishable by a fine of up to $500.

Brewbaker said he's working with the Alabama District Attorneys' Association on some possible changes to the bill.

"If I don't get the DAs' support, the bill is not going to move forward," Brewbaker said.

Sen. Cam Ward, R-Alabaster, who chairs the Judiciary Committee, said that in practice prosecutors generally seek probation, pretrial diversion, drug court or other alternate penalties for marijuana possession offenders. Ward said that helps make the case for changing the law. But he expects the bill to have opposition and is not sure it will win committee approval.

"People are scared during an election year that they're going to get called soft on crime," Ward said. "If you argue the merits of his bill, it makes sense."

Todd said the deadly problem of opioid addiction is demanding the attention of law enforcement.

"We need all the resources we have to deal with that and not with a little bit of weed," Todd said.

Todd said she believes the time has come for the bill to pass.

"This is not as bad as alcohol," Todd said. "We don't want people to use. But it costs the state a lot of money to enforce the possession law."

Tuesday will be the 13th day of the legislative session out of a possible 30 days.

Ward said the Senate is expected to consider the General Fund budget on Tuesday.

Updated at 4:53 p.m. to say the House Judiciary Committee is scheduled to consider Rep. Todd's bill on Wednesday. Updated at 5:31 p.m. with new information throughout. Corrected at 3:58 p.m. on February 20 to say that a second offense of possession for personal use is a Class D felony. Edited at 4:42 p.m. to add penalty for a Class D felony.

U.S. Rep. Bradley Byrne followed the lead of President Donald Trump on the recent Florida school shooting, saying Monday that the government's immediate focus should be on why the FBI bobbled a potential warning.

Byrne stopped just short of hanging full responsibility for the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on the FBI. "That's not to say that that would have necessarily prevented it, but it certainly would have given us an opportunity to prevent it," said of the Bureau's handling of a tip. "And by not following their own protocols the FBI put us all in a very bad situation."

Byrne said that any call for gun control would require careful scrutiny to see if proposals were germane to the situation and legally viable. But he repeatedly said that immediate "oversight" of the FBI was required.

A 19-year-old former student killed 19 people at the school in Lakeland, Fla., on Wednesday. The FBI later reported that it had received a tip Cruz had talked about wanting to attack a school, but did not follow up.

Republican Florida Gov. Rick Scott has called for the resignation of FBI Director Christopher Wray, who has said an investigation is under way. Attorney Jeff Sessions has ordered a review as well.

Trump went farther, alleging on Twitter that the FBI had mishandled the tip because it was too wrapped up in an investigation of Russian election meddling that has bedeviled his administration. "Very sad that the FBI missed all of the many signals sent out by the Florida school shooter," he wrote in tweet sent late Saturday. "They are spending too much time trying to prove Russian collusion with the Trump campaign - there is no collusion."

Byrne didn't touch on the Russian angle. But he stressed that the main concern at hand was the "major failure by the FBI."

"They did not follow up on it and follow their own protocols," he said Monday, speaking to media after an unrelated corporate event. "So the first thing we've got to do is provide the oversight to determine why the FBI dropped the ball."

Aside from that aspect of the Douglas High shooting, Byrne said any other response required time for careful consideration.

"We need to make sure that we're doing a lot better with regard to not just providing mental health services to people with mental illness but to make sure we're sharing information about them," he said. "Because we have different parts of government that know different things about people with these sorts of issues, but I don't know that we're sharing them as much as we should be sharing them."

"We know there's been a pullback by a lot of states including Alabama," Byrne said. "We need to make sure the federal government is doing as much as we can for taking care of people who are mentally ill."

The suspect being held for the shootings allegedly used an AR-15 rifle, which he had purchased legally despite a history of treatment for mental illness. The incident has focused attention on the AR-15, a design that originally was developed for military service and which is closely related to the M16 used by the U.S. military since the Vietnam era, but which also is beloved by a legion of civilian enthusiasts.

"I know that there are going to be some proposals about guns. I'm waiting to see what those proposals are," Byrne said. "We've had proposals before. Frankly I haven't seen any proposals in the past that would have kept the prior incidents from happening. So I'm looking for somebody to show me something that's going to keep these incidents from happening. But first and foremost is oversight of the FBI. I mean, they dropped the ball, by their own admission. And that's just not acceptable."

Byrne said the Bureau's mishandling of a tip could even be a disincentive for potential tipsters in the future.

Without going into specifics, Byrne indicated he might be willing to consider measures limiting the age at which a person could purchase an AR-15, or tightening the threshold at which mental health treatment could affect one's ability to purchase a gun. "I have never been for an outright ban on the AR-15," he said.

"It's always very tempting after one of these incidents to want to jump at something right away," he said. "I think it's very important that we take our time and understand exactly what happened, how it happened, where the holes were in our system, and then you can more rationally approach and make sure that you've got legislation or whatever needs to happen to fill that gap."

Some have floated the possibility of arming teachers. Byrne said he sees that as a state decision, and said "I don't want the federal government to do anything about that."

He added that as a former state school board member, it was a topic he'd encountered before. "There are some teachers I think could be appropriately armed if they have the training and feel comfortable doing it," he said.The principal of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School - the site of last week's slaying of 17 people by a lone gunman - has released an emotional video saying that his "heart is broken" but vowing support for survivors.

"We lost 17 lives on Valentine's Day. That's supposed to be the international day of love," Principal Ty Thompson said. "We're going to take the love that we got lost on Wednesday and we're going to spread that over the next days, weeks, months and maybe even years."

Nikolas Cruz, a former Douglas student, killed three teachers and 14 students on Feb. 14. Cruz was arrested about an hour after the shootings and now faces 17 counts of murder.

Cruz has allegedly confessed to the shootings.

Thompson said while his heart is breaking, he thanked first responders, families, students and the community for their outpouring of support. He also vowed to continue to offer as much help as possible for the students.

"I promise you I will hug each and every one of you, as many times as you need, and I will hold you as long as you need me to, for all 3,300 of you, and your families," Thompson said as he became emotional. "And we will get through this together.

"Our community is strong. Our students are strong. We will persevere in these trying times."

You can see the video below.A petition posted to the White House's "We the People" site is calling for a military burial with full honors for a student killed during last week's massacre at a Florida High school.

Peter Wang, 15, was one of 17 people killed by a lone gunman last Wednesday at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Wang was a member of the school's JROTC, or U.S. Army Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps.

The petition notes Wang "was last seen in uniform, holding doors open and thus allowing other students, teachers, and staff to flee to safety. Wang was killed in the process. His selfless and heroic actions have led to the survival of dozens in the area.

"Wang died a hero, and deserves to be treated as such, and deserves a full honors military burial."

The petition, created Friday by someone with the initials "C.K.," has more than 17,500 signatures with a goal of 100,000 names. If it meets that goal by March 18, the petition is guaranteed an official White House response, according to the website.

Wang's funeral is set for Tuesday in Coral Springs, Florida.It's Presidents Day, the time set aside to honor the people who have led our country.

The official national holiday honors George Washington, the country's first president. Other states include other presidents in their commemorations - most notably Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president, who guided the country through the difficult days of the Civil War and the battle between the North and the South.

But don't look at Alabama to honor Lincoln. Instead of Presidents Day being for Washington and Lincoln, the day here is officially set aside to honor Washington and Thomas Jefferson, the country's third president.

Since 1968, most states have opted to observe some form of presidential holiday, but exactly what is celebrated varies from state to state. Nine states observe Washington birthday alone on the third Monday of February; 24 states observe Presidents Day generally; nine states don't observe any form of the holiday.

Only Alabama officially sets aside the day to honor Washington and Jefferson.

Jefferson, a Virginian, was the third U.S. president and principal author of the Declaration of Independence. While a revered president, Lincoln led the Union during its war against Alabama and the rest of the Confederacy, apparently resulting in a holiday snub.

To make the Washington/Jefferson combo even stranger, Jefferson's birthday isn't until April 13. Washington was born on February 22, 1732; Lincoln's birthday is Feb. 12, 1809.

No state that was part of the Confederacy mentions Lincoln by name as part of its Presidents Day holiday. South Carolina celebrates Washington's Birthday/Presidents Day; Mississippi, Georgia and Virginia commemorate George Washington Day; no holiday is observed in Florida, North Carolina or Louisiana; and Texas and Tennessee have Presidents Day.

Arkansas celebrates George Washington/Daisy Gaston Bates Day. An Arkansas native, Bates was a civil rights activist who played a central role in the integration of Little Rock's Center High School in 1957.Standing outside the elementary school he attended, Tuscaloosa Mayor and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Walt Maddox detailed his state lottery proposal that he said would generate $300 million in revenue for education.

"I am 45 years old, and my entire life we have been 45th, 46th, 47th and higher in everything that matters, including education," Maddox said of the state outside of Northington Elementary School, where he was among the first class of Kindergarteners to attend the school and his mother taught for 24 years.

Dubbed the Alabama Education Lottery, the plan would fund college scholarships, provide workforce development opportunities, fund statewide universal pre-K and buoy underperforming schools, Maddox said. He called the initiatives the "four cornerstones" of his proposal.

"This plan will have a transformative effect on the future of Alabama," he. "We can do this type of investment -- $300 million-plus dollars - without raising a single dime of taxes."

If elected, Maddox said one of his first acts would be to call an executive session of the legislature to consider a constitutional amendment to allow the lottery. If such a measure passes, voters would decide the lottery's fate.

Maddox said the scholarship and workforce development component of the plan would prepare students for careers.

"We know that the coming jobs war is here, and we must have Alabama students ready to compete," he said.

Maddox said the lottery proceeds would also be used to expand the state's pre-K program to include every child by 2024. Currently about 70 percent of children don't have access to the program.

Underperforming schools would benefit from the lottery, according to Maddox, by being able to apply for "community innovation grants" that would give wraparound support, such as public health or counseling, to the whole feeder system.

"We can't ask any more of our educators," he said. "It is time as a state we address these problems from the very beginning."

Maddox said the $300 million projection was a low estimate based on an academic study.

"As mayor I've had one of the most conservative budgets in Alabama, and so I can assure you as governor that's not going to change," he said. "We are going to be fiscally responsible."

Maddox's major primary rival, former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Sue Bell Cobb, also has a plan to institute a lottery to fund education.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Scott Dawson on Monday panned such proposals, arguing they prey on the poor and is not a surefire way to bring in revenue.The purpose of this emergency is not to protect the constitutional order but to silence the voices calling for change.

Last Friday, the Ethiopian government declared a six-month nationwide state of emergency, invoking a grave threat to the constitutional order. The emergency, the second in less than a year, was announced a day after the resignation of Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, in what he described as a bid to smooth the path for political reform.

The emergency, which is expected to be ratified by parliament in the coming days, provides the government with new, sweeping powers, from restrictions on freedom of assembly and free expression to the deployment of combat-ready troops in civilian centres, particularly cities and towns seen as the hotbed of the protests of the last three years.

The Ethiopian constitution authorises the Council of Ministers to decree a state of emergency, which would allow the government to suspend basic rights and freedoms, under very specific conditions. The fundamental condition that must be met before the imposition of such an emergency is the existence of a situation amounting to a breakdown of law and order which endangers the Constitutional order and which cannot be controlled by the regular law enforcement agencies. When public emergencies of such magnitude exist, the government not only has the right, but also the duty to suspend the constitution to restore the constitutional order in which citizens rights will be fully respected.

However, despite facing a crisis of unprecedented magnitude, the current situation in Ethiopia does not meet the very high threshold required by the constitution for the imposition of a state of emergency. Just a day before the government declared the emergency, even the governments chief spokesperson, Negeri Lencho, told the Voice Of Africa: There will be no other state of emergency. There are no grounds for it.



At the moment, however grave the political situation in the country may be, there is no imminent threat to the vital interests of the state, legitimising the declaration of a state of emergency. Consequently, this emergency, like the one before it, has less to do with protecting the constitutional order than reproducing and legitimising violence aimed at the elimination of political adversaries.

As Italian political theorist Georgia Agamben explains in his 2005 book, State of Exception, an emergency of this kind is a sort of legal civil war that allows for the physical elimination not only of political adversaries but of entire categories of citizens who for some reason cannot be integrated into the political system.

The emergency-ethnicity nexus

The state of emergency has always been the working paradigm of the Ethiopian government. Since coming to power in 1991, the Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) coalition ruled with an iron fist, blurring the distinction between normalcy, where normal constitutional norms apply, and emergency, where exceptional situations justify the use of extraordinary power.

An important feature of Ethiopias state of emergency is the intersection between emergency powers and ethnic identity, in which emergency powers are used by the ruling elites to maintain their social and ethnic privilege. While repression structured around ethnic inequality and violence has long been the defining feature of the state, the new state of emergency adds a distinctive, and more dangerous, dimension to this problem.

This emergency will serve as a legal and political masquerade behind which TPLF's domination, with all its menacing ideological complexities, will continue to function not only to repress the population into submission, but also to drive a wedge between the country's various ethnic groups.

Former prime minister and chairman of the Tigrayan Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF) Meles Zenawi was in firm control of the state machinery and institutions until his death in 2012. To this day, Tigrayan ruling elites, which represent about 6 percent of the countrys population, dominate the countrys political, economic, and security sectors. The Oromos and Amharas, the two largest ethnic groups that make up about 65 percent of the countrys population, and that are represented by the Oromo Peoples Democratic Organization (OPDO) and the Amhara National Democratic Movement (ANDM), on the other hand, have practically been subordinated.

The protests that gripped the country for the last three years, and were used as a justification for the state of emergency, were the direct result of this undue influence enjoyed by Tigrayan elites, and the violent architecture of repression that is being used to sustain and consolidate this influence.

Consequently, in this diverse nation of over 80 ethnic groups, where political parties are predominantly organised along ethnic lines, and ethnic identity serves as the basic principle of political competition, a state of emergency cannot be seen independently of the ongoing ethnicity-based repression.

This emergency will serve as a legal and political masquerade behind which TPLFs domination, with all its menacing ideological complexities, will continue to function not only to repress the population into submission, but also to drive a wedge between the countrys various ethnic groups.

This state of emergency is not a security measure designed to protect the constitutional order; it is a hostile act intended to punish those voices calling for change. Although announced as a nationwide emergency, the Oromo and the Amhara regions, the hotbeds of the protests, would be affected the most.

Succession

Desalegns resignation as prime minister was not unexpected. Installed as a compromise candidate following the death of Meles Zenawi, the architect behind Ethiopias political economy, Desalegn pursued Zenawis policies to the letter.

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Although his assent to power allowed other coalition partners to carve out space for manoeuvre, history will remember him as the inconsequential leader who served as an enabler of the status quo. His resignation comes at a time when the country needed a new direction and a new beginning.

While it is clear that TPLF would use the emergency to control the succession process, it is not clear to what extent the emergency would have a bearing on who the next prime minister of Ethiopia will be.

However, it is widely suggested that the next leader of the EPRDF and prime minister will be from OPDO, the party that governs the largest region in the country and contributes the largest number of seats to the ruling coalition in parliament.

Lemma Megersa, chairperson of the OPDO and president of the Oromia Regional state, and Dr Abiye Ahmed, deputy chairperson of the OPDO, are frontrunners for the position, according to party insiders and analysts.

Megersa, a charismatic, well-spoken, and transformational leader able to entice people across nationalist divides, made a bold and positive case for Ethiopia, arguing that Ethiopian-ness is addictive and that Oromo are the quintessential Ethiopians who protected the integrity and sovereignty of the Ethiopian state with their blood. An Oromo nationalist, Megersa successfully articulated the notion that Oromo nationalism is not the anti-thesis of Ethiopian nationalism, and that being an Oromo and Ethiopian are not two mutually exclusive identities, but rather should be seen as mutually reinforcing imperatives.

However, it is Ahmed, the technocratic, verstile, and ambitious operator of the OPDO that is most likely to be crowned as the next Prime Minister of Ethiopia.

Resistance

TPLFs militarisation of political life and its ruinous flirtation with violence will not go unchallenged. The party faces resistance not only from the general populace but also from within its own, organisational terrains, the OPDO and ANDM, the two critical coalition partners responsible for running the two most populous regions. Activists are calling upon the OPDO and ANDM to reject the state of emergency when it is tabled before parliament for ratification.

Even if the state of emergency is ratified by parliament, there is no reason to believe that further violence would stabilise the country. It bears noting that the Oromo protests turned into a nationwide movement of people once the government resorted to violence and killed hundreds of protesters in a matter of a month. The government, which already enjoys unlimited extra-constitutional power, cannot hope to silence or suppress demands for equality and freedom through more repression. As the US Embassy in Addis Ababa noted in a strongly worded statement, the answer is greater freedom, not less.

Greater freedom means addressing the systemic and structural inequities at the core of the political order, and pursuing the public policy objectives of widening the democratic space and fostering national consensus set out by the party, under a new and visionary leadership.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial stance.What does the killing of an Indigenous man, and the acquittal of his killer, say about Canadas anti-racist credentials?

Myths can be as powerful as they are pernicious.

John F Kennedy, a reckless president who behaved dangerously in private and public, appeared to understand this, not only perhaps about his true character, but about the true character of America.

The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie  deliberate, contrived, and dishonest  but the myth  persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic, Kennedy told Yale University students in a commencement address on June 11, 1962. Too often, we hold fast to the cliches of our forebears  We enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.

I was recently reminded of Kennedys rare moment of sincerity when Canada and its peoples were confronted, once more, with the powerful and pernicious myths still fixed in the minds of Canadians and outsiders alike, about a profoundly troubled nation and its defamatory past, present and  unless the repugnant truth is finally acknowledged  future.

The prevailing, comforting opinion, promoted by a coterie of observers unencumbered by the discomfort of thought, is that Canada is an oasis of harmony, tolerance and tranquillity, particularly when compared with the spigot of ignorance, hate and violence that defines Donald Trumps America.

That risible myth about the true character of Canada was punctured in the raw, revealing aftermath of the acquittal in a Saskatchewan courtroom earlier this month of a white farmer by an all-white jury, in the shooting death of a 22-year-old indigenous man, Colten Boushie.

In an instant, the halting verdict made plain what Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus duplicitous stunts, tweets and carefully calibrated photo ops attempt, in part, to camouflage: Canadians are largely unrepentant settlers on native land who have, historically and systematically, employed every legal means conceivable, and deemed necessary, to continue to colonise, marginalise, stigmatise, demonise and brutalise indigenous peoples as forgettable, expendable, disposable commodities.

What happened to Colten Boushie, a member of the Red Pheasant First Nation, and his grieving family inside and outside a monochromatic, Canadian-made courtroom is further, unassailable evidence of this, by now, well-established fact.

Here are the other instructive facts: The white farmer said he feared that Boushie, along with four confederates who ventured onto his property in August 2016 for help with a flat tire, was going to rob him. So, he and his son armed themselves before challenging the interlopers, who had been swimming and drinking.

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The farmer said, in the ensuing confrontation, he accidentally shot Boushie  who was sitting in the drivers seat of a parked vehicle  with a semi-automatic weapon in the back of the head, after firing two warning shots.

Boushies family says, from the outset, police treated them not only with suspicion and contempt, but as perpetrators, not victims.

Still, the farmer was charged with second-degree murder. Later, the defence successfully excluded five visibly indigenous people from sitting on the jury, ensuring the white farmers fate would be decided by his all-white peers.

After deliberating for little over 15 hours, the all-white jury found the white farmer not guilty, even rejecting the option of convicting him of manslaughter.

Freed, the white farmer ran from the courtroom, trailed in hurried, near-frantic order by the white jury that had just exonerated him.

Meanwhile, yet another indigenous man was dead, treated, yet again, by the white settlers justice system as a forgettable, expendable, disposable commodity, rather than a human being with hopes, dreams, flaws and a loving family that mourns his accidental death, and tries, yet again, to remedy the injustice visited upon them.

Its the same white settlers justice system that treated thousands of indigenous children, forced into barbaric, white, Christian assimilation mills  euphemistically known as residential schools  as forgettable, expendable and disposable commodities.

Its the same white settlers justice system that has, for generations, viewed thousands of disappeared and murdered indigenous girls and women as forgettable, expendable and disposable commodities.

Its the same white settlers justice system that incarcerates indigenous people at rates 10 times higher than the rate of non-indigenous people, rendering them, in effect, forgettable, expendable and disposable commodities.

And its the same white settlers justice system that ultimately believed Colten Boushie to be a forgettable, expendable, and disposable commodity, since it judged a white farmers belongings more valuable than a young, indigenous mans life.

While many Canadians rallied to the Boushie familys side, too many other Canadians sided with the inherently racist nature of the white settlers judicial system, insisting that Colten got what he deserved on a farm that summers day almost two years ago, and in a Battleford court almost two weeks ago.

Indeed, one member of the police force that investigated Boushies killing allegedly wrote precisely that on a private Facebook group used by Canadian police officers.

The anonymous RCMP officer, who reportedly polices a First Nations community in western Canada, shared the following with brother and sister police: Too bad the kid died but he got what he deserved  Crimes were committed and a jury found the man not guilty of protecting his home and family. It should be sending a message to the criminal element that this crap is not going to be tolerated and if you value your life then stay away from what isnt yours.

Remember, since the RCMP officer apparently forgot, Colten Boushie was the victim, not the perpetrator.

In the face of a torrent of this kind of ugly, but unsurprising, vitriol, Boushies family met Trudeau in Ottawa last week, urging him to enact recommendations made years ago by a judicial inquiry to reform how juries are selected, and to address the racism endemic throughout the police and courts. In return, Trudeau pledged belatedly to make concrete changes.

The inexorable problem is that Trudeau and his predecessors have made scores of soothing-sounding promises, only to renege on those supposedly iron-clad commitments to indigenous peoples when it was politically expedient to do so. So, in the end, Canadian politicians have considered indigenous peoples forgettable, expendable, and disposable, too.

Stripped of all the polite embroidery, white settlers have lied too often to indigenous peoples to be believed.

But Canadians have also lied to themselves  habitually. They have lied about their concern for indigenous people. They have lied about listening to indigenous people. They have lied about making amends to indigenous people. They have lied about righting the litany of wrongs they have exacted on indigenous people. They have lied about reconciliation with indigenous people.

Canadians prefer, instead, to cling to the smug, exculpatory myths about the good, decent Canadian. They prefer that myth to remain undisturbed by the truth.

Well, the truth about how Canadians regard indigenous people is apparent for the world to see.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial stance.Italian airline carrier Meridiana changed its name to Air Italy with the backing of its new shareholder, Qatar Airways.

Italian airline Meridiana changed its name to Air Italy with the backing of Qatar Airways, its new shareholder, aiming to become Italys flagship carrier as UAE-backed Alitalia undergoes bankruptcy proceedings.

Expansion plan

Re-branded as Air Italy, Meridian unveiled a new restructuring plan to make of Air Italy a sustainable airline alternative for the people of Italy, as Qatar Airways CEO Akbar al-Baker said on Monday at a press conference in Milan.

Air Italy will achieve global scale in both fleet and network expansion  We will show that we are the star, added al-Baker.

Over the next three years, 20 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft will be added to Air Italys fleet, the first of which arrives in April 2018.

Qatar Airways will lease five of its Airbus A330-200 aircraft to Air Italy at market prices, al-Baker said.

Beginning from May 2018, Air Italy will add new domestic routes from Milan, while new long-haul destinations to New York, Miami, and Bangkok will be opened by the end of the year.

Meridianas chairman said: Air Italy has an ambition to reach a goal of transporting 10 million passengers per year by 2022 travelling to, from and via Italy. We expect more than 8 million of these to use Milan Malpensa airport.

50 new aircrafts, 10 million passengers by 2020 and 50 destinations by the end of this year. #Meridiana thanks to #QatarAirways investments becomes today #AirItaly, a new airline company that will be the pride of #Italy in the world  pic.twitter.com/veiwenEaWJ  Italy in Qatar (@ItalyinQatar) February 19, 2018

Alitalia bankruptcy

Alitalia, Italys flagship carrier, started bankruptcy proceedings last year for the second time in a decade, after saying it will no longer invest in the faltering airline.

Earlier this month, Italian Minister Carlo Calenda said that the situation regarding Alitalia will not be resolved before Italys general election on March 4.

The commissioners (of Alitalia) have confirmed to me that they do not think they can conclude things before March 4 as those interested in Alitalia want to wait for the elections, Calenda said.

Alitalia has been in extraordinary administration since a restructuring plan was rejected last year and the government is in the process of finding a buyer.

In 2014, Abu Dhabi-based Etihad airlines acquired a 49 percent stake in Alitalia.Turkish foreign minister made remarks in response to reports that Syrian forces will fight alongside YPG against Turkey.

The Turkish foreign minister has said that Syrian forces cannot stop its armys advances in Afrin, in response to reports that the Syrian regime forces will fight alongside Kurdish YPG fighters in the border town.

Speaking at a press conference in the Jordanian capital, Amman, Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Monday that Turkey welcomed the entry of Syrian forces into Afrin if it was to confront fighters belonging to the Kurdish Peoples Protection Units (YPG).

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If so, there is no problem. However, if they are entering [Afrin] to protect YPG/PKK, nobody can stop the Turkish army, he added, referring to the armed Syrian Kurdish group YPG, which controls Afrin, and banned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) active in Turkey.

Ankara considers the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), active in Syria, and its armed wing YPG, to be terrorist groups with ties to the PKK, which has waged a bloody armed rebellion for decades in southeast Turkey.

The PKK has been designated a terrorist group by the United States, the European Union and Turkey.

We have always expressed our support for Syrias territorial integrity  We are one of the countries with the utmost support for it, Cavusoglu said.

The YPG fighters claimed earlier in the day that they had reached a deal to allow regime troops to enter Afrin in the northwestern part of the border town.

Assad forces to back YPG

Nuri Mahmoud, a spokesman for the YPG, told Al Jazeera earlier on Monday that they are calling on the Syrian government forces to preserve a united Syria, in a development that could mean regime forces might directly confront Turkish troops in the region.

Turkey and the Free Syrian Army (FSA)  an Ankara-backed armed Syrian opposition group  launched an air and ground operation into Afrin last month to push the US-backed YPG fighters out and create a buffer zone on its southern border.

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Syrian soldiers havent yet arrived. We are calling on the Syrian army to protect Afrin, because wed love to preserve a unified Syria, Mahmoud told Al Jazeera.

We are saying this because the international community continues to address the Syrian leadership as sovereign and we call on this authority to protect its territory.

He added that Syrian government forces are expected to arrive within two days.

The PYD/YPG has come to control large swaths of northern Syria, including Afrin, in the course of the Syrian war as it led the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) umbrella organisation in the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group.

US support for the SDF has infuriated Turkey and created the ongoing diplomatic crisis between the two NATO allies.

This latest development highlights the complex battlefield of northern Syria, which hosts a large number of actors, including the PYD/YPG, the Syrian government, rebel factions, Turkey, the US and Russia.

Syrian state news agency SANA also carried a report saying pro-government forces will arrive in Afrin within a few hours to support its peoples stand against the Turkish regimes attack on the area and its people.

A few hours after the SANA report, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke on the phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin and discussed the latest developments in Afrin, according to the Anadolu news agency.

They also discussed their efforts to set up new observation posts in Idlib in northern Syria, Anadolu said.

The posts are part of a joint Turkish, Russian and Iranian agreement to set up de-escalation zones in four areas in the region. Turkish forces have already established six observation posts in Idlib to monitor any fighting.Israel to export $15bn worth of natural gas to Egypt over 10-year period.

Israeli company Delek Drilling has announced it will supply Egypt with $15bn worth of natural gas in the biggest export deal to date for Israels natural gas industry.

Egyptian company Dolphinus will buy 64 billion cubic metres of natural gas from Delek Drilling and its US partner Noble during a 10-year period, a statement released on Monday said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the historic agreement.

This will bring billions into the countrys coffers, he said in a statement.

Netanyahu said the deal would strengthen [Israels] security, our economy, and also strengthen our regional relationships.

Yossi Abu, CEO of Delek Drilling, said the agreement would establish Egypts status as a regional energy centre.

Pending pipelines

The companies have yet to determine what route the natural gas from Israels Mediterranean Tamar and Leviathan fields will flow to Egypt. Deleks statement said various possibilities exist, including the use of the EMG pipeline.

Running from al-Arish in North Sinai, Egypt to Ashkelon, Israel, the EMG pipeline formerly transported natural gas from Egypt, which has its own reserves, to Israel under a 20-year contract signed in 2005.

The deal collapsed in 2012, however, after the pipeline was repeatedly attacked. The Hosni Mubarak-era agreement was unpopular with critics who argued the Jewish state did not pay enough for the gas.

Israel discovered its Tamar and Leviathan gas fields in 2009 and 2010, respectively, and has since made efforts to become an exporter itself. In September 2016, Israeli and Jordanian firms signed a $10bn gas deal over 15 years.

Egypt was the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel in 1979.ISIL claims responsibility for an attack that killed more than two dozen fighters in Iraqs Kirkuk province.

More than two dozen members of a pro-government militia in Iraq have been killed after being ambushed by disguised Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) fighters.

Twenty-seven members of Hashd al-Shaabi, or the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), were killed after clashes broke out late Sunday in Hawija, a town in Iraqs oil-rich Kirkuk province, the militia said in a statement on Monday.

ISIL  also known as ISIS  claimed responsibility for the attack and said 30 people had been killed in the ambush, local media reported.

It was the deadliest attack against PMF fighters since October when pro-government forces retook Hawija from ISIL.

The killings raise questions about the continued presence of ISIL fighters in Iraq after Baghdad declared victory in its fight against the armed group in December.





The PMF, an Iran-backed paramilitary group aligned with the Iraqi government in its battle against ISIL, said the attackers had been wearing Iraqi army fatigues and were manning a fake checkpoint.

PMF soldiers were conducting security operations around Hawija at the time of the attack, the militia said.

A senior police officer in the province, who asked not to be named, told AFP news agency most of the bodies had been beheaded.

Iraq recaptured vast expanses of territory from ISIL fighters last year, including the major cities of Mosul, Ramadi and Fallujah.

Last week, international donors pledged $30bn to help the Iraqi government rebuild the country in the aftermath of the four-year battle against ISIL.

Homes, schools and hospitals across Iraq have been destroyed in the fighting, and the country is struggling to rebuild its shattered infrastructure and economy.



An advocacy group has filed a lawsuit alleging that police broke protocol by working with a far-right organisation.

Federal prosecutors and the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) in Washington, DC, colluded with far-right groups in cases against anti-Trump protesters, a recently filed lawsuit alleges.

Filed by the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund (PCJF) last week, the lawsuit against DC Mayor Muriel Bowser and Karl Racine in the US Attorneys office seeks information about the relationship between the prosecutors and police and right-wing political groups.

The police here are really serving the political goals of these far-right organisations, Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, executive director and constitutional rights lawyer at PCJF, told Al Jazeera.

We are seeing a pattern of this taking place around the country, she said.

While there have always been members of police departments who have acted out in abusive and racist behaviour against the civilian population, were now seeing it at an institutional level.

The lawsuit refers to prosecutors introduction of doctored video into evidence during the trial of six defendants who were facing decades behind bars for their alleged participation in a rally against President Donald Trumps inauguration.

Those defendants were found not guilty in December 2017, but there was widespread criticism of the evidence provided by Project Veritas, a right-wing NGO known for targeting leftists and anti-fascists.

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The defendants were part of a group of more than 230 people who were arrested and charged with a slew of felonies owing to their alleged participation in the rally.

Last month, the US Attorneys Office in Washington, DC, dropped charges against 129 of the 188 people who were still on trial, saying that it intended to focus on charges against 59 defendants instead.

Completely discredited

To date, despite multiple inquiries, the DC MPD is withholding and refusing to make public information that would shed light on the nature and extent of the relationship between the DC MPD, its officers, and private political non-governmental entities from whom it accepts information to be used against those entities political opponents, the lawsuit states.

It accuses the District of Columbia of unlawfully denying a request to provide information the PCJF sought in a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) filed in November 2017. The MPD has refused to respond to the request, according to PCJF.

The DC MPD and its officers have worked with and received information from private, politically motivated, right-wing organisations including Project Veritas and Oath Keepers to be used against the political opponents of those organisations, the lawsuit continues.

Police fire pepper spray on protesters during a demonstration after Trumps inauguration [File: John Minchillo/AP Photo]

It goes on to inquire about police working with the Oath Keepers, a pro-Trump militia group that has been involved in violent demonstrations against anti-fascists and anti-racists.

When you have far-right political organisations that are acting in pursuit of their own political goals, which include acting against their political opponents, the police are really acting in their service when they work with them, Verheyden-Hilliard said.

Contacted by Al Jazeera, the MPD declined to comment on the lawsuit.

The same week the PCJF filed the FOIA, Project Veritas was exposed by the Washington Post for attempting to plant a false story in the newspaper.

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The Post reported that a woman employed by Project Veritas claimed that Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore had impregnated a woman as a teenager.

Verheyden-Hilliard described Project Veritas as a completed discredited group.

She argued that police collusion with the organisation was part of a targeted crackdown on social justice advocates, anti-fascists and environmental activists in the US.

A key piece evidence against me and other J20 defendants is a video that comes from Project Veritas. A group known to pal around with nazis & in Nov was caught trying to undermine the credibility of allegations against Roy Moore of sexual assault https://t.co/nvyP3q69eZ pic.twitter.com/svDE1JTZMJ  Youre only punk once (@dpetrohilos) February 14, 2018

The lawsuit came a week after court documents demonstrated that police investigating a violent neo-Nazi rally worked with white supremacists to identify counterprotesters.

Police emboldened the Nazis

The documents, filed earlier this month, accuse police of attempting to conceal the identity of a white supremacist.

Yvette Felarca, whose legal name is Yvonne, is one of three anti-fascist activists who were charged over their alleged involvement in the counter-demonstration against a June 2016 neo-Nazi rally organised by the Traditionalist Worker Party (TWP) and Golden State Skinheads in Sacramento, California.

Felarca is an organiser with By Any Means Necessary (BAMN), a hardline civil rights organisation.

During that rally, confrontations broke out between the two sides, and several people were stabbed.

White supremacist William Scott Planer, who was detained in Colorado Springs after putting an anti-Jewish sticker on a local synagogue, was also charged for his alleged involvement in the rally.

Attorneys representing Felarca, who was stabbed in the arm and beaten on the head during the confrontations, filed a motion to dismiss the charges.

The motion to dismiss claims that Felarcas constitutional rights were violated and provides evidence of collusion between the neo-Nazi groups and the California Highway Patrol (CHP).

Felarcas attorneys say they obtained evidence of CHP investigators working with TWP, a group that advocates a white ethnostate and is part of the alt-right.

The alt-right is a loosely knit coalition of white supremacists, white nationalists and neo-Nazis.

In a phone call with TWP member Doug McCormack, an organiser of the June 2016 rally, CHP investigator Donovan Ayres promised to suggest redacting his name for his safety.

Im gonna suggest that we hold that or redact your name or something  uh  until this thing gets resolved, Ayres said, according to court documents.

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Yeah, Id appreciate it, McCormack replied, going on to claim anti-fascists were trying to cause serious problems for people by finding out where people are working and calling the bosses.

In his report, Aryes noted that McCormack was one of the several neo-Nazi demonstrators who had brought a knife to the protest.

In a response to the defendants motion to dismiss, the prosecutors said the allegations were inaccurate or fabricated.

Shanta Driver, Felarcas lead lawyer and national chair of BAMN, accused CHP and Sacramento District Attorney of cover-up and collusion with Nazis.

There is a direct path from the threat of murder by fascist TWP members in Sacramento and the murder of Heather Heyer in Charlottesville, she told Al Jazeera by email.

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Police and prosecutors have repeatedly targeted anti-fascist demonstrators for arrests and charges. This policy of collusion has emboldened the fascists to escalate their violent attacks.

Describing CHP and the DA as arrogant and accustomed to meeting no resistance, Driver argued that the case is a textbook witch-hunt of anti-racists.

Long, sordid history

David Ponton, an assistant professor and historian at the University of South Florida, said there is a long, sordid history of cooperation between white supremacist groups and police departments that stretches back to the end of slavery in the 19th century.

[It] really becomes clearest to me after Reconstruction ends in 1877, and the relationship between the two has been sustained into the 21st century  and despite professionalisation efforts that were meant to make police departments more accountable (to themselves, mostly, but sometimes to the public), he told Al Jazeera.

Ponton explained that the relationship is rooted in a broader American culture to which police officers are not immune, that tends to not recognise white supremacy as such until an attack is egregious enough  [for example], the Charleston church shooting  to upend our colour-blind sensibility.

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In 1916, police and public officials looked on as a mob lynched Jesse Washington, an African American teenager who had been convicted of murdering a white woman in Robinson, Texas.

The police stood by as a crowd castrated Washington, cut off his fingers and left him hanging over a bonfire.

In Tulsa, Oklahoma, riots broke out between African Americans and white residents when rumours of a potential lynching spread throughout town after Dick Rowland, a 19-year-old black man, was arrested on suspicion of raping a white woman in 1921.

When a group of African Americans showed up at the police station to prevent the potential lynching, confrontations erupted. Two days of violence ensued, with police officers allegedly joining white mobs in their rampages.

Dozens of people died, most of them African Americans. The National Guard was eventually deployed, and thousands of black residents were rounded up and detained.

Similar incidents took place throughout the 20th century, particularly during the civil rights era (1954-1968).

More recently, an April 2015 Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) Counter-terrorism Policy Guide, which was obtained by The Intercept last year, noted that militia extremists, white supremacist extremists and sovereign citizen extremists often have identified active links to law enforcement officers.

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In June 2017, a member of a right-wing militia group assisted police officers as they arrested an anti-fascist protester at an alt-right gathering, The Guardian reported at the time.

The PCJFs Verheyden-Hilliard described the pattern as clear evidence of US police aligning itself with far-right groups and corporate entities, citing the arrest of indigenous protesters in Standing Rock, North Dakota.

The Trump administration has given a green light to legitimise these right-wing organisations and serve their interests as well as those of corporations, she concluded.

It represents a clear signal that, as we have a resurgent social justice and anti-fascist movement against white supremacists and industries destroying the environment, you have at the same time police collaborating with [the far right] and corporate entities, such as fossil fuel.

Editors note: An earlier version of this article misstated William Scott Planers name.Heavy rains caused the collapse of a huge rubbish dump, burying homes and killing at least 17, officials say.

At least 17 people have been killed in Mozambique after a rubbish dump collapsed on nearby houses amid fears others may be buried under the mountain of rubbish.

Heavy rainfall triggered the collapse at the Hulene dump in the capital Maputo at around 3am local time (1:00 GMT) on Monday, burying five homes.

A number of other people may be trapped under the rubbish, said Leonilde Pelembe, a spokesman for the National Public Safety Service.

The information we received from local authorities is that the number of people living in those houses exceeds the number of deaths recorded, so work is still ongoing to see if there are any other deaths, Pelembe said.

Prior to the collapse, authorities had asked residents to leave the illegally built houses in the impoverished area of the capital, Reuters news agency reported.

Rubbish at the dump had reached the height of a three-story building, according to Portuguese news agency Lusa.

People regularly visit the dump, the largest of its kind in Maputo, in search of food or items to sell.

Nearly 55 percent of Mozambiques population  about 14 million people  live in poverty, according to the United Nations Development Programme.

Maria Huo, a resident, told reporters that authorities had failed to manage rubbish levels at the dump safely. Her son was injured and her home partially destroyed in the rubbish slide.

Its been more than 10 years that the dump should have been closed because its full, but they still continue to pile trash on the trash. The consequence is this, Teresa Mangue, a neighbourhood leader, told AFP news agency.

Maputo City Council will open a temporary refuge centre to accommodate survivors of the collapse, Radio Mozambique reported.Internal inquiry report from 2011 also reveals charitys former Haiti director admitted to using prostitutes.

Three men, who worked for the Oxfam Haiti team and are accused of sexual misconduct in the country, physically threatened a witness during an internal investigation into the allegations, UK-based charity Oxfam said.

The aid organisation released the findings of its 2011 internal inquiry into allegations of sexual misconduct of its staff in Haiti on Monday.

It said it wanted to be as transparent as possible as the scandal involving the charity deepens.

The report  with most of the names and identifying characteristics redacted  said that the sexual misconduct included hiring prostitutes and bringing them to the accommodations funded by the British charity, as well as downloading pornographic and illegal material on the companys computers.

Admitted to using prostitutes

Oxfam began the probe after it received an email in July 2011, alerting the charity to sexual exploitation, fraud, negligence and nepotism in Haiti, the report said.

As a result, seven Oxfam employees left the organisation.

Four staff members were fired and three others, including former country director Roland van Hauwermeiren, were allowed to resign over the allegations, the report revealed.

During the interview, the CD [country director] admitted to using prostitutes in his OGB [Oxfam Great Britain] residence, the report said.

Last week, Hauwermieren denied paying prostitutes for sex, according to Belgian media.

The report also concluded that the inquiry found no substantial evidence of fraud, nepotism or hiring underage sex workers, although it cannot be ruled out that any of the prostitutes were underage.

The charity said it had passed the names of the seven men accused of sexual misconduct to relevant authorities and shared an unredacted version of the report with the Haitian ambassador in London.

Oxfam was in Haiti for a relief operation after a quake in 2010 [Andres Martinez Casares/Reuters]

The release of the investigation comes more than a week after reports surfaced that Oxfam employees paid sex workers while on an aid mission following Haitis devastating 2010 earthquake.

Last week, Penny Lawrence, the charitys deputy chief executive, resigned over the reports, saying she was ashamed of the former Oxfam staff members behaviour.

The UK government has demanded Oxfam hand over any information concerning staff members involvement in the scandals to their respective governments, as none of the aid workers found guilty of sexual misconduct in Haiti were British nationals.

Oxfam has unveiled an action plan to tackle sexual harassment and abuse, and agreed not to bid for any more state funds until reforms were in place.

The measures we put in place as a result of the investigation mean that the case would be handled differently today, but it is clear that there is much more to be done, said Winnie Byanyima, Oxfam Internationals executive director, in a statement published on the organisations website on Monday.

The action we are now taking, including an independent review of our culture and practices by womens rights leaders, will help ensure abuse is rooted out of Oxfam and help us become more effective in our mission to help create lasting solutions to poverty.

Following the reports of the allegations, Haitis minister of planning and external cooperation, told CNN that he will not hesitate to revoke Oxfams right to operate in Haiti.

In its statement on Monday, Oxfam said it is meeting with the government of Haiti to apologise for its mistakes and discuss what more it can do.Some 160 Palestinians, who were stranded in Cairos airport for nearly two weeks after being denied entry to the Gaza Strip, are being allowed to return to the enclave.

The Palestinian embassy in Egypt announced on Monday that the Rafah border crossing would be opened that day to allow the Palestinians to return to the Gaza Strip.

One traveller, who wished to remain anonymous, confirmed to Al Jazeera that the group had been put on buses and taken out of the airport.

The group was stranded in Cairo airport for 13 days after Egypt suddenly closed the border crossing.

Egypt had previously said it would temporarily open the Rafah crossing on February 7 for three days, but closed it two days later, on February 9.

According to human rights groups and some travellers, the group experienced horrible conditions  without access to proper food, a shower or mattresses to sleep on  while stuck at the airport.

People were exhausted

The group was returning to the Gaza Strip, bordering Egypt, last week when Egyptian security forces told them the border crossing was suddenly closed and demanded that they return to the countries from which they came, they told Al Jazeera.

We refused because there were people who had completed their studies abroad and were going back home, and others who were abroad for medical care and were also returning, the same traveller told Al Jazeera.

People were just exhausted. We were mentally prepared to return home, the man said, explaining that they were stopped at Balouza checkpoint in Sinai, several kilometres from the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza.

He said the group underwent six hours of interrogation and humiliation before being asked to return to Cairo airport.

Animals would not be able to live here

The Gaza Strip  home to some two million Palestinians  does not have an airport and has been under an Israeli land, sea and air blockade for over a decade.

Israel controls Gazas airspace and territorial waters, as well as two of the three border crossing points. The third  Rafah  is controlled by Egypt and is rarely opened.

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For the majority of Palestinians who wish to travel, study or seek medical care abroad, they must cross into Egypt before being able to take a flight to their destination.

When the group was forced back to Cairo airport, an envoy from the Palestinian embassy threatened them, according to the traveller who spoke to Al Jazeera.

He told us that we either agree to be peacefully detained in this hall with our dignity intact or that hell bring security forces to detain us with force, the man said.

Since we are the weaker link, we agreed to go into this hall at our own will. More than 70 percent of us are women  many of whom are pregnant  as well as children, sick and elderly people, he added.

The man also told Al Jazeera that the conditions inside the hall were appalling, and explained that the group has been sleeping on the floor and metal chairs for the past 12 days. The hall, he said, only had two bathrooms.

One hundred and sixty people without a shower for 12 days, he said.

The bathrooms have no soap. It is catastrophic. Animals would not be able to live here.

Many in the group reportedly contracted skin diseases, and one man was left untreated after experiencing heart issues.

Sovereign Egyptian decision

On Sunday, the Palestinian embassy in Cairo released a statement late saying that the group was brought back to Cairo airport based on a request from Egyptian security forces.

The embassy said it was providing full services and care to the group, as well as offering food, drink, blankets, items for child care, and medical care.

It added that it has spared no effort in working with Egyptian authorities to get the group out of the airport, adding that it is working on issuing visas for students so they could return to the countries they were studying in.

These are sovereign Egyptian decisions that the embassy is considerate of.

This is shameful

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Several human rights groups condemned the situation that the stranded travellers had to endure.

The Arab Organisation for Human Rights in the UK had called on the Palestinian embassy to carry out its duties and pressure Egyptian authorities to allow [the group] to return to the Gaza Strip or secure temporary accommodation until the crossing is reopened.

The organisation calls on the Egyptian authorities to comply with international law and to allow those stuck to return.

The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor said, hundreds of other Palestinian citizens are still stranded and held on the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing  unable to enter Gaza or return to Egypt.

The Palestinian ambassador in Cairo was not immediately available for comment.

We are extremely exhausted. I called the Palestinian ambassador and told him you have two options: we will call on the Israelis to release us from here or you do something, the traveller who spoke to Al Jazeera said.

This is shameful. It is shameful for us to say we have a country or a government. It is shameful for us to say we have a country when they cannot even get 160 people out.

With reporting from Hosam Salem in Gaza.Rally outside the White House comes amid a growing protest movement calling for stricter gun control laws in the US.

Dozens of young people and their families have taken their demands for stricter gun control laws to the White House, less than a week after a school shooting killed 17 people in the US state of Florida.

About 50 protesters held signs that read, Enough is Enough and Change gun laws or change Congress, at a protest in Washington DC on Monday.

The rally comes amid a growing movement calling on US President Donald Trump and other lawmakers to strengthen US gun laws in the wake of one of the deadliest school shootings in the countrys history.

At least 17 people were killed when a gunman opened fire on students and teachers at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Wednesday.

Al Jazeeras Alan Fisher, reporting from Washington, said the protesters were reading out the names of victims of school shootings that have taken place in the US since 1999.

They are here because they say enough is enough and there now comes a point where children in schools have to be protected and if that means changing the gun laws, thats whats going to have to happen, Fisher said.

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Trump under pressure

Trump and other US officials have also been under pressure to sever ties to the National Rifle Association (NRA), a powerful gun lobby group that has been blamed for the unwillingness of US lawmakers to pass gun control legislation.

NRA: Stop killing our kids! read one sign at the rally on Monday.

While the president sent his condolences to the victims of the Florida attack, he has largely avoided talking about changes to US gun laws.

In a statement on Monday, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the president is supportive of efforts to improve the federal background check system for gun purchases, however.

About 300 school shootings have taken place across the US since 2013, gun control advocacy group Newtown estimates.

The protesters, Fisher reported, have decided that they want to talk about it and they want politicians to talk about it and they want there to be some sort of action.

Students have emerged at the forefront of the calls for gun control, threatening to hold mass walk-outs to get the government to take action. Nationwide protests are also being organised on March 24.Adelmo Cervi, 74, has become a leading voice against the rise of far-right populist parties in Italy.

Via Aemilia, Italy  Church bells echo throughout a cemetery as 74-year-old Adelmo Cervi walks to the monument dedicated to his late father and six uncles.

I only come here when there are official ceremonies, he tells Al Jazeera. I dont believe in cemeteries. If I want to speak to them, I look at their photos and remember their story.

Nearly 75 years ago, on the morning of December 28, 1943, Italian soldiers dragged the seven Cervi brothers, among them Adelmos father, Aldo, from the jail cells where they had been held for more than a month.

They led them to the outskirts of Reggio Emilia, and a firing squad shot them.

The Cervi brothers were anti-fascists who had led the local peasant resistance to Benito Mussolinis rule.

They had been arrested a month earlier after fascist forces surrounded their farmhouse, firing a salvo of bullets and forcing the men to surrender.

They were not given a proper burial until October 1945, five months after the last vestiges of Italian fascism were toppled.

With thousands of locals following their flagged-draped coffins, their father Alcide uttered a sentence that became ingrained into the national consciousness: After one harvest there comes another.

Adelmo Cervi lost his father and six uncles when he was just four months old [Patrick Strickland/Al Jazeera]

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Only four months old at the time of their murder, Adelmo, now with a head of gray hair and an unkempt beard, cannot remember his father or his uncles.

Yet, his life has been sculpted by their legacy of resistance to authoritarianism and fascism, he says.

Adelmo has spent decades keeping their memory alive.

In recent years, he has also been a leading voice against the rise of neo-fascist parties as a surge in far-right activity grips Italy.

Far right on the rise

Parties such as the self-described fascist group CasaPound and its neo-fascist counterpart Forza Nuova have rallied in cities across the country, putting a special emphasis on running candidates in local and regional elections.

With more than 400,000 refugees and migrants arriving in Italy since 2014, far-right groups have exploited the humanitarian crisis to widen their support base and push for nativist and anti-migrant programmes.

Immigration has become a central election issue, and CasaPound plans to run candidates in national elections on March 4.

The growth of CasaPound, a party which openly praises Mussolinis legacy and clenched nine percent of the vote in the Ostia district of Rome last November, has fed anxiety among critics and anti-fascist activists.

Last month, more than 5,000 CasaPound supporters assembled in central Rome, marching through the capital in neatly organised, military-like fashion.

Paramedics treat an injured person that was shot in Macerate [EPA]

Forza Nuova, founded two decades ago, will also put its candidates on several ballots. Its base has since grown to some 20,000 followers over the years.

On February 3, a far-right assailant opened fire on a group of African migrants in Macerata, a small city in central Italy. At least six people were injured.

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It marked the 142nd attack by neo-fascist groups since 2014, according to Infoantifa Ecn, an anti-fascist site that monitors far-right violence.

A former candidate for the League (also known as the Northern League), an anti-immigrant populist party headed by Matteo Silvini, was subsequently arrested for the shooting.

A week later, several thousand anti-fascists and anti-racists stormed the streets to rally against the rise of the far right.

If we give them [the far right] space today, then they will grow and grow in the future, Cervi argues.

It would be a tragedy for all of the people who died to bring democracy to this country.

Bandits and criminals

That tragedy is deeply personal for people like Cervi, who was raised by his grandfather, Alcide, and mother after his fathers murder.

Alcide, known to many in Italy as Papa Cervi, had been a conservative Catholic until he found himself imprisoned by fascist authorities. During his time in jail in the early 1930s, he became a communist and follower of militant anti-fascism.

After his release, Alcide instilled anti-fascist values in his children, who grew up to fight against Mussolinis rule.

From 1938 onwards, in their modest farmhouse, they printed and distributed anti-Mussolini propaganda and harboured anti-fascist fighters and dissident intellectuals.

In July 1943, townspeople heard news on the radio that Mussolini had been dismissed and arrested, and flocked to the square to celebrate. The Cervis joined the festivities and passed out a celebratory pasta dish to locals.

Yet, fascism had not entirely collapsed.

Two months later, Mussolini was rescued by allied German forces. Adolf Hitler had plans to arrest the king and restore Mussolinis rule over the war-ravaged country.

Mussolini subsequently declared the Italian Social Republic, effectively a Nazi satellite state, in the German-occupied parts of the country.

The Cervi brothers retreated to the mountains near Reggio and set up partisan units to fight fascist forces and their German backers.

Aldo Cervi, Adelmos father, was killed along with his six brothers in 1943 [Patrick Strickland/Al Jazeera]

On November 24, 1943, as the brothers visited home, fascist forces surrounded the Cervi familys farm and opened fire. It was considered a place for bandits and criminals, Adelmo explains.

They surrendered and were held for more than a month before they were shot by a firing squad on the outskirts of the town.

It was all very hard on my grandmother, Adelmo says.

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Aside from losing her children, the house was burned down, he recounts of fascists setting the farmhouse ablaze in 1944.

They not only killed my father and my uncles  they killed by grandmother  she died of a broken heart shortly after.

Almost a year and a half later, on April 25, 1945, the National Liberation Committee of Northern Italy announced that it had taken control of the remaining swaths of the country and issued death sentences for the entirety of the fascist leadership.

Three days later, Mussolini was shot dead by partisans in Giulino, a small village in northern Italy.

Main push was dignity

While his family grew into a national symbol of resistance, Adelmo says they continued to live an impoverished life. He dropped out of school before graduating to help his grandfather on their farm.

His earliest memories are of his grandfather recounting the tale of his father and uncles when he was four or five years old.

I remember my grandfather having people over and telling people the story of my father and uncles, he says. People always talk about the factory workers, but no one talks about the peasants.

Alcide Cervi addresses the Italian Communist Party congress in 1956 [Emilio Ronchini/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images]

The Cervi Institute, on the outskirts of Via Aemilia, was created to honour the familys memory and promote democratic values.

It is next to the familys farmhouse, which was eventually turned into a museum.

For Albertina Soliani, president of the Cervi Institute, the seven brothers represent the often-overlooked role of rural communities in the resistance to Mussolinis rule.

The main push was dignity, she tells Al Jazeera, sitting in the institutes library.

To understand the resistance, we have to understand how fascism was born: It came from the conservative people who were rich and obtained power.

Explaining that the resistance came in all forms, in the rural areas and up in the mountains and comprised Italians and foreigners, she adds: It wasnt just the intellectuals and the bourgeoisie [in the cities].

In the rural world, people fought for peace and solidarity. Their aspirations were to be independent  And they gave dignity to the rural [Italians].

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In the years following Italys liberation, the Cervi brothers story became part of the national mythology of anti-fascism and democracy.

Politicians regularly visited the farmhouse to pay homage to the family, and the Cervi brothers story was immortalised in films, books, poetry and songs.

When Alcide died in 1970, an estimated 200,000 people came to mourn his passing.

Its not only the story of this family  its the story of the people, Soliana concludes.

Heavy price for fighting fascism

With groups like CasaPound and Forza Nuova on the rise, Adelmo has become increasingly active in anti-fascist projects and education initiatives in recent years.

He speaks at demonstrations, public schools, universities and in debates.

In addition to advocating the rights of refugees and migrants, he also tracks down young people who are involved in far-right groups to warn them of the dangers to democracy.

The older generation, he says, should educate the young to prevent the conditions that lay the foundation for the far right.

Many of the kids in the younger generation dont know the history and dont understand the dangers of what happened, he says. Ive met many teachers that dont understand this part of our history.

For his part, Cervi tries to stress the role of capitalism as a seed for fascism and its contemporary currents.

Without an effective alternative to the far right, Adelmo fears for the fate of future generations.

These new movements, of course, use populism and claim they are against capitalism, he says.

Against this backdrop, he laments the failure of the institutional left in addressing the growing inequity and socioeconomic problems working-class Italians endure.

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These new fascist groups run in elections, but they shouldnt be allowed to run in the elections, he says.

After the sacrifices made by people like my family, groups like Forza Nuova and CasaPound should not be allowed to exist.

Pounding his fist on the library table in the Cervi Institute, he insists: We need to listen to the needs of the people because my father and uncles  like others  paid a very heavy price for fighting fascism.

Adelmo concludes: If we allow them to continue, we cant cry afterwards.Russia-Trump probe: Fallout continues over indictment

As the political fallout continues over the indictment of a group of Russians accused of meddling in the 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump fired off several tweets rejecting accusations his campaign colluded with Moscow.Syrias brides searching for love online

As conditions in Syria worsen, women are connecting with their future partners online.Turkey says reports Syrian army will aid Kurdish YPG in Afrin are false, adding such a move will be a major disaster.

Turkeys deputy prime minister has dismissed as false media reports that Syrian government forces were poised to enter a Kurdish enclave in Syrias Afrin.

Bekir Bozdag, however, warned any move by Syrian soldiers to help the Kurdish Peoples Protection Units, or YPG, repel a Turkish offensive in northwestern Syria would be a major disaster for the region.

Turkey will continue its air and ground offensive against the YPG with determination until the last terrorist is rendered ineffective, Bozdag told reporters after a weekly cabinet meeting on Monday.

He was responding to a report by the Syrian state-run SANA news agency earlier in the day that said pro-government forces would enter Afrin within a few hours to support its peoples stand against Turkish regimes attack.

The report by SANA raised fears of a potential clash between Turkish troops and Syrian forces, which are backed by Russia and Iran.

SANA said the planned deployment followed an agreement between the Syrian government and the YPG.

But a spokesman for the YPG denied agreeing on a deal with Damascus.





There is no agreement. There is only a call from us for the Syrian army to come in and protect the borders, Nouri Mahmoud told Reuters news agency late on Monday.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assads troops pulled out of most of northern Syria in 2012, as nationwide protests against his rule spiralled into a civil war.

The YPG, part of the US-backed umbrella organisation Syrian Democratic Forces, gained control of large swathes of territory in northern Syria during the course of an offensive against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS).

US support for the YPG has infuriated Turkey as it considers the group a terrorist organisation. Ankara sees YPG as part of the banned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has waged a decades-long bloody rebellion against the Turkish state in southeastern parts of the country.

On January 20, Turkey opened a new front in the long-running Syrian war when it launched a major offensive to expel YPG fighters from Afrin.

Mevlut Cavusoglu, Turkeys foreign minister, speaking at a news conference in Amman, Jordan, said his country would hit back if Assads forces intervened in Afrin to help the YPG.

If the regime is entering to protect the YPG, then no one can stop us, stop Turkey or the Turkish soldiers, he said.

Turkeys state-run Anadolu news agency on Monday reported President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held telephone conversations with his Russian and Iranian counterparts about the latest developments in Afrin.

Russias stand could determine how the conflict plays out, said Kamran Matin, a lecturer at the Sussex University in the United Kingdom.

A lot depends on the details of this agreement [between the Syrian government and the Kurds] and whether or not Russia is on board, he told Al Jazeera.

If Russia is indeed supporting this deployment, that means it would act in defence of its ally in case of an attack by Turkish forces on Syrian forces in Afrin. Or more easily, it can close the airspace for the Turkish air force to operate, which would make any military operation by Turkey very difficult because it is the superior air force that has given them the edge in Afrin.

The foreign ministers of Turkey, Iran and Russia are set to meet in Istanbul, Turkeys largest city, on March 14.Ukraine: Thousands demand return of Saakashvili

Thousands of supporters of the deported former Georgian leader Mikheil Saakashvili have marched through the streets of Kiev, demanding his return.Death toll includes 20 children in Syrian government attack on besieged enclave of Eastern Ghouta, war monitor says.

At least 77 civilians have been killed near Damascus in less than 24 hours of heavy bombardment by Syrian government forces as they prepare a ground operation to recapture the opposition-held enclave, a war monitor group said.

Air raids and artillery fired on Eastern Ghouta  a suburb of the Syrian capital  have killed at least 20 children since Sunday, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported.

Some 300 people have been wounded during the attacks, according to the monitor.

The heavy shelling targeted mainly all residential areas in Eastern Ghouta, Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the SOHR, told dpa news agency.

Government forces are preparing to launch a major ground assault on Eastern Ghouta following the heavy bombardment, which began on Sunday, SOHR said.





Government planes are shooting everything that moves inside the residential areas, a local doctor told dpa.

Our hospitals are overcrowded with wounded. We are running out of anaesthetics and other essential medications, he said.

Activists put the number of dead at 68. Each minute between 20-30 shells are falling on the residential areas, especially in Hammouriyeh and Sabka, Mazen al-Shami was quoted as saying from the enclave.

The main opposition National Coalition, which is based in Turkey, denounced the war of extermination in Eastern Ghouta as well as the international silence.

In a statement, it also accused Syrias ally, Russia, of seeking to bury the political process for a solution to the conflict.

Eastern Ghouta, the last remaining rebel-held area near Damascus, has been under siege by government forces since 2013. It is home to about 400,000 people.

An international aid convoy was able to deliver much-needed food and medical supplies to the enclave on February 14.

#OnTheGround in #Syria. Finally a cross line convoy into #EasternGhouta with enough @WFP provided food for over 7000 civilians for a month. We need much more such convoys. Fighting has to stop to deliver much needed aid to all civilians in need. https://t.co/VyVouG2LlG  Jakob Kern (@JakobKern1961) February 14, 2018

However, the convoys deliveries reached only 2.6 percent of the estimated 272,500 people in need of humanitarian aid, according to Ali al-Zatari, the UNs humanitarian coordinator in Syria.

The Syrian government and its allies  including Russia, Iran and Turkey  classified Eastern Ghouta as a de-escalation zone in an apparent bid to lessen fighting in the area last year.

Syrias other de-escalation zones include parts of the northeastern province of Idlib, areas in northern Homs province, and rebel-controlled territory in the south near the border with Jordan.

Despite the agreement, nearly 200 people were killed in Eastern Ghouta and in Idlib within a four-day period earlier this month.

Hundreds of thousands of people have died in fighting during Syrias seven-year civil war, and millions have fled the country.From mishandling the pandemic to its overreliance on commodities, leaders are being challenged by parties on the left.Crowds of people poured in Saturday morning to the newly renovated Tower Road Library, greeted by large windows that welcomed in natural reading light and the smell of fresh paint.

The Tower Road branch of the Alachua County Library district reopened after nearly a year of renovations. About 200 people came to the ribbon-cutting grand opening at the facility located on Southwest 75th Street.

The renovation had a budget of $2.68 million, which the county allocated over many years, but $87,000 wasnt used, said Shaney Livingston, the Alachua County library director. The Florida Department of States division of library services had granted $500,000.

The Friends of the Library donated $32,000 for the creation of the Quiet Reading room and a small bronze statue, Livingston said. The Alachua County Library District Foundation funded the Teen Spaces and Snuggle Up rooms by donating $60,000.

About 8,500 square feet was added to the library for a total of 23,500 square feet, said the Alachua County Library District spokesperson Nickie Kortus. Other renovations include three study rooms and a new space for kitchen demonstrations.

The library opened in 1992, and this renovation served to better fit the changing needs of the diverse surrounding community, she said.

Tower Road serves a very diverse population both in economic and educational backgrounds, she said. Its really important for the library to figure out those needs.

Mary Searle, 71, of Gainesville, said she was so excited for the reopening that she couldnt sleep.

Ive been keeping tabs on the construction for awhile now, but Im just thrilled to see it, she said.

Tower Road Library

Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe NowUF College Democrats hosted the third and final Student Government debate before elections Tuesday.

Moderators from the political group asked the president and vice president candidates questions before all nine candidates on three tickets answered questions submitted by audience members Friday night in Little Hall. Here are the main issues addressed during the debate:

In light of the recent school shooting in Parkland, what will you do to ensure the safety of students on campus?

All three presidential candidates emphasized a need for gun reform. Impact Party candidate Ian Green, Inspire Partys Revel Lubin and Janae Moodie, from Challenge Party, said they would lobby in Tallahassee and Washington, D.C., for students.

Moodie said she was disheartened by the time it has taken UF administration to respond to the tragedy with a memorial event.

Lubin said the law enforcement on campus, such as Gainesville Police and University Police, makes him feel safer.

Ive never felt unsafe on campus as it relates to gun or any other type of violence, he said.

What distinguishes you as a candidate from the others?

Green said he loves UF and has done tangible work, including increasing student jobs and making student codes understandable.

Theres no one that bleeds more orange and blue than I do, he said. Thats for sure.

Moodie said she is a woman and an ally to those who need it. She said she keeps herself educated on diversity.

I know what its like to want an ally in a situation where I felt oppressed or I didnt feel respected because of one of my specific identities, she said.

Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now

Lubin said his story is unique. He was orphaned at a young age, and his sister took care of him, he said.

I could have gone down such a dark path, but there was people who came into my life, he said.

All three parties throw around sexual assault as a buzzword, but what is your partys plan for dealing with this issue?

Moodie, Green and Alyssa Bethencourt said their parties support an online program called Callisto, which would improve the process of reporting a sexual assault and identify repeat offenders. Bethencourt said the party wanted to make rape kits more available and implement a week of awareness.

Chase Werther told Impact candidates to address their platform, which doesnt name Callisto.

Just because its not on our platform doesnt mean its not something we arent interested in getting done, Green responded.

Would you give up your salary if you won?

Green said David Enriquez and Stefan Sanguyo wouldnt give up their salaries. He said he would use the money deposited into his bank account for a youth program in his hometown, Marietta, Georgia.

Shayli Patel would give up 50 percent of her salary, while Moodie and Werther are still looking into it, Werther said.

Lubin said his ticket hasnt discussed giving up their salaries, but he wouldnt be able to afford to lose his salary.

Contact Meryl Kornfield at mkornfield@alligator.org. Follow her on Twitter at @merylkornfield.In the midst of political parties campaigning and students rushing to class, 17 white balloons hovered over it all on Turlington Plaza on Friday afternoon.

One for each of the lives lost in the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida on Wednesday.

What started as a small crowd grew to about 50 people as passersby stopped to join in the vigil organized by the Challenge Party. UF students who had graduated from Marjory Stoneman Douglas spoke about the strength of their community in Parkland and some of the lives lost. Counselors from the UF Counseling & Wellness Center were available at the event for students who needed to talk.

I thought that something like this needed to happen, but when you come here and you see how devastated people are, you realize that people need it so much more than you think, said Anthony Rojas, the Challenge Party president.

Although the organizers had originally planned for Century Tower to chime 17 times in remembrance of the victims, Rojas received an email this morning denying the request, stating that the bells would be rung at a UF-sponsored vigil Wednesday, he said.

I was very upset by it, he said. I think if these bells have to ring four or five times, 17 times, I think its for a great cause just to remember those victims.

After pre-planned speakers, Rojas opened the floor to anyone who felt compelled to speak. Some students begged for political action, others for the spread of kindness. As alumni of the high school recalled the familiar halls they used to walk, attendees dressed in Douglas apparel choked back tears. UF President Kent Fuchs said 283 UF students graduated from Douglas.

The Broward Education Foundation has a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for the victims and their families. It is Broward County Public School's official fundraiser.

Janae Moodie, candidate for Student Body President, closed the vigil with a prayer.

I pray for the families that will never get to say I love you physically one more time, she said.

Several other vigils were held over the next week. There were two candlelight vigils Friday night at 9 p.m., one on Turlington Plaza and the other on Plaza of the Americas. On Saturday, Gainesville residents held a vigil on the steps of City Hall at 7:30 p.m., and on Wednesday, there will be a UF-sponsored vigil on Plaza of the Americas at 7 p.m.

Abigail Shank, a UF political science sophomore, attended Fridays vigil to show her support for the Parkland community. One of her close friends is a Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School alumna, and she has seen the importance of reaching out in the aftermath of tragedy.

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I think if I can be there and be a supporter and just show solidarity with everyone affected, I think thats the least that I can do, the 19-year-old said.

Shank didnt realize just how much the tragedy had affected the UF community until she watched the crowd grow at the vigil.

Its crazy how widespread the effect is, she said, and that this one person can cause so many people  that he doesnt even know and wont ever probably be able to fathom  so much pain and hurt.

Contact Jessica Giles at jgiles@alligator.org. Follow her on Twitter at @jessica_giles_.

Matan Ozery, a 22-year-old UF alumnus and Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School graduate speaks about his experience at Stoneman Douglas High at the UF Remembers Douglas Vigil held on the Plaza of the Americas, in which 40 people attended Friday night. Youre not alone in that school. Youre not alone in that community, he said.Shayli Patel

After her parents fled from Uganda and political oppression in the 1970s, Shayli Patel has worked every day to make them proud.

Theyve always taught me to do the best I can, Patel said. My mom and dad taught me  whatever I wanted to do, do it with 110 percent.

The first time Patel heard about SG was through her older sister, Ishani. By the time Shayli Patel came to UF, she knew she wanted to get involved.

She told me UF was an amazing place and I had to put myself out there to find a community, said Patel, who is running for vice president with Challenge Party.

The UF economics junior ran with Access Party in Spring 2016 for a sophomore Senate seat and lost. In Summer 2016, she served in a replacement seat for Summer C and became the Minority Party Leader.

Patel has been involved with the Indian Student Association, Gatorship, the Office of Asian Pacific Islander American Affairs and has been a resident assistant.

The first time Patel remembers standing up for something she believed in, it cost her a close friend. She was shocked to see her best friend making Islamophobic comments on Facebook the summer after her freshman year in high school, but she argued back.

I take risks in putting myself out there and fighting for what I believe in, Patel said.

Former Access Party President Praveen Varanasi met her in 2016 when the two were campaigning.

He said he remembers seeing Patel drenched from rain but still standing outside trying to talk to students, walking them to class with her umbrella.

Varanasi said Patel taught him how to be a better leader.

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I think that Shayli leads through compassion, she leads through love, she leads because she wants the best in people, not because she wants people to view her as the best, he said.

David Enriquez

David Enriquez went from living in a shack in Buena Vista, Cuba, to meeting former President Barack Obama in the White House when he was about 17.

My American Dream was becoming true, the UF philosophy junior said.

The Cuban immigrant said hed never forget when his mother told him theyd won the Cuban lottery to go to America. It was a bittersweet adventure for him when he hopped on the plane. He remembers looking out, only 6 years old, feeling his stomach sink.

I was struggling with the very difficult truth that no immigrant really wants to leave their shores, he said.

On July 4, 2003, he landed on American soil.

I proudly call it my independence day, Enriquez said. I thought the fireworks were for me.

Enriquez has served as the chief of staff to current Student Body Vice President Mario Agosto and is the vice president of programming in the Hispanic Student Association. Hes now running for vice president with Impact Party.

With the political oppression Enriquez and his family experienced in Cuba, he said he learned about the responsibility to help others.

For me, public service is not a pastime, its my career choice, Enriquez said.

Enriquezs mentor, Stephen Sessums, said Enriquezs interests in religion, politics and philosophy grew since the moment they met, about seven years ago when he volunteered to be his mentor through the Hillsborough Education Foundation.

He was quite ambitious to make his mark and contribute to make the world a better place, the 83-year-old said. Even though he was a leader, he was shy. But if you were to describe David, you wouldnt describe him as shy today.

Bijal Desai

At 7 years old, Bijal Desai was held at gunpoint, forced to watch his father and uncle get assaulted.

Desai was sitting in his grandfathers Indian spice shop, Fargo Trading, in Cape Town, South Africa, around closing time. Then, about six men walked in pretending to buy an item, drew their guns and demanded money. His uncle and father were beaten, he said.

Earlier in 2003, his cousin and dad were held hostage in his cousins soda factory, Double O, where they were demanded of anything of value.

The two attacks inspired Desais family to move to the U.S. in the summer of 2004.

Desai said he had a difficult time adjusting. On his first day in the third grade, he asked for a rubber and was given a detention. In Cape Town, a rubber meant an eraser.

In 2012, Desai received protected status through Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA.

One of the reasons Im running is because Im publicly able to express that Im a DACA student because I have that much confidence that Ill be safe, he said. But I want to use any power I have to make sure I can be an advocate for people in the same situation that I am.

Desai founded the Gator Civitan Club, a service organization. He was also president for Volunteers for International Student Affairs at UF. He is now running as Inspire Partys Student Body vice presidential candidate.

Desais roommate, Nihir Patel, 21, met Desai in the Indian Student Associations freshman leadership experience.

Hes been so welcoming, kind and caring, Patel said.

Patel said hes learned a lot about dedication and planning from Desai. Patel, a UF computer science junior, said last spring when Desai was studying for the LSAT, hed get up at 4 a.m. to study for his exam.

Hes always got his eyes two weeks, a month, two months ahead, he said.

Contact Christina Morales at cmorales@alligator.org. Follow her on Twitter at @Christina_M18.

Correction: This article has been updated to reflect that Shayli Patels father and mother came to the U.S. in the 1980s from England and Canada, respectively. Her parents left Uganda in the 1970s.The Mexican government must look into reciprocal sanctions it can take against the United States if it is included in action resulting from that countrys Section 232 investigation into steel imports, national steel association Canacero has said.





If [Mexico] is included in measures [resulting from the Section 232 investigation], we are obligated as a country to respond immediately with equivalent measures against imports from the USA, the association said on Sunday February 18.US Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross said that his government is considering measures including tariffs and quotas , following his departments Section 232 investigations into alleged national security issues related to steel imports.The alternatives recommended to the US government by the Commerce Department are a global tariff or quota on steel imports, or tariffs on a set of 12 countries.The options of global tariffs or quotas suggested by the department do not contain exemptions for Canada and Mexico, the US trading partners in the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta).Canacero warned that any measures taken by the US could affect Nafta renegotiations.Mexico should not be included in any [measures arising] from the Section 232 investigation. ... It does not represent any risk to US national security, because our industry does not receive subsidies and it is not a part of the global excess production capacity, the organization said.Last year, the US had a steel trade surplus of $3.4 billion with Mexico, while the total value of US steel exports to Mexico reached $9.8 billion in the same period, according to Canacero figures.China has called the findings of the US Commerce Department's Section 232 investigations baseless and warned that it will take necessary measures to safeguard its rights should the final decision on aluminium and steel import tariffs affect its interests.

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross on Friday February 16 recommended a series of tariffs and/or quotas in addition to existing duties in place on aluminium and steel imports following the departments Section 232 investigations into the effect of imports on national security.



The findings of the US investigation are baseless and are totally inconsistent with facts, Wang Hejun, chief of the Trade Remedy and Investigation Bureau, which operates under Chinas Ministry of Commerce (MOC), said in a statement on February 17.



Most of the steel and aluminium products imported by the United States are low-end civilian products, and stakeholders  including those in the European Union, Canada, Russia, China, South Africa, South Korea and Vietnam - have proved during the investigations that their exports to the US have not hurt that country's national security, Wang said.



In the findings, the US secretary had outlined three potential measures aimed at limiting steel and aluminium imports on national security grounds: a blanket tariff, targeted tariffs and quotas, or blanket quotas. President Donald Trump is required to make a decision on the recommendations by April 19.



The US has imposed several countermeasures against most imported steel and aluminum products and already provided excessive protection to domestic products, and hence should not recklessly impose more restrictive measures on national security grounds, Wang said.



The scope of national security is very wide and its lack of a unified definition can easily lead to abuse. If countries follow the example of the US, it will have a serious impact on international trade order, he added.



With the recent years of sluggish global economic recovery and difficulties of the steel and aluminum industries in various countries, all nations should cooperate to explore solutions instead of taking trade restrictions unilaterally, Wang said.



China urges the US to exercise restraint in using trade protection tools and comply with multilateral trade rules to contribute positively to international economic and trade order, he said.



If the final decision of the US affects China's interests, China will definitely take the necessary measures to safeguard its legitimate rights.



Aluminium prices surged after the release of the US Commerce Department recommendations, with aluminium premiums in the US expected to rise with the introduction of import tariffs. American Metal Markets assessment of the P1020 premium has been on the rise since before Ross delivered his recommendations to the White House last month. The latest assessment, at 13-13.5 cents per lb, marks an upswing of more than 40% since the start of the year.



The London Metal Exchange three-month aluminium price had rallied 2% to a two-week high of $2,208 per tonne at close of trading on February 16, with spreads moving into a significant backwardation, after news broke that the US Department of Commerce had advised President Trump on tariffs on aluminium and steel.





Posted on: February 19, 2018 4:31 PM

An organisation that campaigns for an end to rules that prevents asylum seekers in Ireland cooking their own food has found a new home in Dublins Christ Church Cathedral. Christ Church was designated as Irelands first Cathedral of Sanctuary at a launch dinner on Friday to mark Our Tables new home. Under Irelands Direct Provision system, asylum seekers are not allowed to work or cook and are forced to eat food prepared at set times on an industrial scale by companies profiting from the system, Our Table said. An Our Table cafe will operate at the cathedral every Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

I am delighted with both the initiative and the compassion shown within the city of Dublin, Dr Michael Jackson, the Archbishop of Dublin, said. As a city we now have a University of Sanctuary (Dublin City University) and a Cathedral of Sanctuary (Christ Church). Both are places of welcome with a strong sense of community, local and international.

Under the Direct Provision system, adult asylum seekers are not allowed to work and are given just 19.10 Euros (approximately 16.92 GBP) per week; with just 15.60 per child. This cruel and unnecessary system needs to end, but in the meantime, Our Table is advocating for the rights of people in Direct Provision to cook for themselves and their families, the organisation said on its website. Banned from cooking in their rooms, some people secretly cook in toilets just to prepare something they want to eat. People living in Direct Provision report being hungry at night or being presented with low quality or culturally inappropriate food.

At the Our Table cafe, founder Ellie Kisyombe and her team of staff and volunteers will prepare and serve fantastic food as well as spark change through conversation about Direct Provision, a spokeswoman for the united dioceses of Dublin & Glendalough said. Sharing food with others is one of the most human things in the world. So much of our cultures revolve around the preparation, sharing and ritual of food. However, in Direct Provision, people are denied the chance to cook and share food in the ways that matter to them.

Our Table is trying to change that along with campaigning for the right to work. It started when Ellie along with other women came together to cook their favourite recipes, taste each others food and learn about each others culture.

Kisyombe arrived in Ireland from Malawi eight years ago and was placed on Direct Provision. At the launch dinner on Friday, she spoke of the loneliness and anger experienced by the 5,000 people living in Direct Provision. If you dont like something, change it. If you cant change it, change your attitude, she said. We dont want to kill our dreams. We do everything to carry our hope. This is reality and this is me. This is real for over 5,000 people [in Direct Provision] who have found a home in Ireland. We cant call it home but it is home and we will call it home, she stated.

Asylum seekers living under Irelands Direct Provision system enjoy a meal at the new home for the Our Table cafe in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, at a launch event on Friday, alongside church and civic dignitaries.

Photo: United dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough

The Dean of Christ Church, Dermot Dunne, said that the cathedrals spirituality was balanced by its social concern. Our Christian witness seeks to embrace the issues of our times and engage with the social problems of our wider community, he said. It is a natural yet extraordinary departure for our community to engage with the Our Table project. I am very pleased that we continue to engage with the Direct Provision issue and endeavor to bring the issues to an audience that would not be aware of or engaged with those who live in Direct Provision.

I couldnt think of a better way of sharing experiences than sitting down together and sharing food.Posted on: February 19, 2018 12:04 PM

Anglican provinces around the world have responded positively to Pope Francis call for an ecumenical day of prayer and fasting for peace, with a particular focus on South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Pope made his call during his traditional Angelus address to crowds in St Peters Square in the Vatican on Sunday 4 February. The call was endorsed that week by a number of senior Anglicans, including the acting primate of the Anglican Church of South Sudan, chair of the Anglican Consultative Council, the secretary general of the Anglican Communion, and the deputy director of the Anglican Centre in Rome.

In the days that followed, a number of other senior Anglicans around the world responded to the Popes call, including Archbishop Masimango Katanda Zacharie, the Primate of Province de LEglise Anglicane Du Congo  the Anglican Church of Congo. Archbishop Masimango  expressed his happiness at the Popes initiative and told the Anglican Communion News Service that the bishops in the province would be encouraging their churches to take part.

The Revd Bernard Bisoke, provincial youth co-ordinator, is involved in peace-building efforts in the region. He said that there had been an increase in tensions in the Ituri province over the past three weeks, particularly in the Bunia area; and explained that the disputes are based on long-running tensions between the Hema and Lendu peoples. The Lendu is the people who love to cultivate and the Hema is the pastoral people who love to keep cattle, he said.

The disputes centre around the competing needs: Hema want to use open land to graze their cattle; while the Lendu want to use more land to grow crops.

Since 1999 up to 2003, we had tribal fighting between Hema and Lendu which was the worse one and which even brought some foreign soldiers to help from each side. . . Even now people are still live with trauma because of that war.

When we hear that 60 people are killed in Blukwa by the Lendu , many people remember what happened [during the war], raising more trauma among Gods people. Many people have run away from their villages to look for the peaceful place like here in Bunia and Uganda.

Here in Bunia, we have people who do not have relatives, they are there in the hospital , they are sleeping in the veranda, without any mattress or blanket; and they are sleeping on the ground .

Imagine some of the children who are there without blanket then they are sleeping down. They do not have water.

More than 32,000 displaced people have arrived in Bunia seeking shelter  some 13,000 of them are seeking refuge in the hospital.

Bisoke said that the needs of the internally displaced people include the need for water, fire wood, blankets and mattresses, clothes for children, food and a place to stay.

In his call for Friday to be set aside as a day of prayer and fasting, Pope Francis said: As on other similar occasions, I also invite non-Catholic and non-Christian brothers and sisters to participate in this initiative in the ways they consider most appropriate, but all together.

Supporting the call, the Archbishop of Cape Town, the Primate of Southern Africa, Thabo Makgoba, said: After Sudan became independent in 1956, it suffered decades of civil war. Just over six years ago, South Sudan broke away from the north amid great hopes that at last it would find peace. But a little over two years later, South Sudan suffered a new outbreak of civil war and it has not known true peace since.

Under pressure from their neighbours, the opposing sides began new peace talks earlier this month, but at present they stand adjourned for an undetermined period.

The Democratic Republic of Congo has also not known permanent peace, in their case for the past 20 years. Armed rebel groups proliferate in the east. More than four million people are displaced from their homes. The President has served his two terms but has delayed a new election for two years. A former United Nations humanitarian chief, Jan Egeland, said a few days ago that right now the country faces one of the worst crises on earth, yet no one seems to care.

He has written a prayer (see foot of this article) which he is urging Anglicans in Southern Africa to use on Friday and during services on Sunday.

In New Zealand, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Wellington, Cardinal John Dew, joined with one of the Primates of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia, Archbishop Philip Richardson, in a joint message urging people to pray.

We strongly encourage Catholics and Anglicans throughout Aotearoa New Zealand to join with others around the world in this growing movement of concern, they said. There are so many needs across Gods world that it is easy to become overwhelmed or to become immune to the cries of the suffering.

To draw our own focus and the attention of the world to two places of great need is worthy of our time and our solidarity.

The Anglican Primate of Canada, Archbishop Fred Hiltz, said he was whole-heartedly joining the growing number of church leaders responding to the Popes call. Moved by the Holy Fathers invitation, I looked ahead to the texts appointed for reading at the eucharist that day [Ezekiel 34:21-28, Psalm 130 and Matthew 5:20-26], he said.

The prophet Ezekiel speaks of Gods desire that we turn from the wickedness of the ways in which humans commit such abominable crimes against one another. He calls us to re-set our hearts toward doing what is right and just in the sight of God. The psalmist sings of his trust in the Lords plenteous redemption, and kindness. In the gospel of the day, we hear Jesus teaching on reconciliation and how we go about that work, however hard it may be however long it may take.

The peoples of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan have suffered through the horrors of war for so many years. They know so much death and are acquainted with so much grief. Communities have been destroyed and family life shattered. So many of their children know nothing but war. So many, in fact are orphaned by its carnage.

He called on people to fast as an act of solidarity with those who suffer so much deprivation through war and those whose poverty is incomprehensible and said: let us pray for those who work for reconciliation and peace  that their ranks be swelled and their strategies embraced. May the peoples for whom they labour finally know a peace that is just and lasting, a peace in which they and their children can live in hope of better times, in full accord with the will of God.

A prayer by Archbishop Thabo Makgoba

Loving God, Prince of Peace, we pray today for our sisters and brothers in South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo;

We pray for the victims and survivors of violence in those nations,

We pray for refugees who have fled to neighbouring countries, and for the millions of people crowded into camps for displaced people,

We pray for their politicians, that they will learn how to become servant leaders, dedicated to the interests of their people.

Lord Jesus, you are our hope,

Our faith in you grounds us in hope,

It gives us certainty that peace can be made,

It strengthens our resolve that peace must be made,

And hope helps us to triumph over all.

We pray that the people of the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan,

Will focus on the hope that you inspire,

Hold one anothers hands,

Look upon one another, eyeball to eyeball,

And resolve to build united, peaceful nations.

This we pray in your precious name,

AmenBELGRADE - Shooting is set to begin at the start of March on a film about the 1999 NATO bombing in Serbia, at about a hundred locations across the Balkans, including Serbia, Kosovo, Montenegro, and Republika Srpska (the Serbian-majority entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina).

The documentary will look at the consequences of the bombing as well as the environmental disasters that came as a result.

Belgrade daily Alo said the film will be translated into eight languages and will premiere in Serbia on March 24, 2019, the 20th anniversary of the start of the allied bombing.

It will also be screened in other countries, including those belonging to NATO.

Alo said American actor Johnny Depp and Russian filmmaker and actor Nikita Mikhalkov are slated to appear in the film.

After international negotiations failed, NATO decided to bomb Serbia in 1999 to force strongman Slobodan Milosevic to pull Serbian troops out of Kosovo and end the policy of repression and ethnic cleansing against the Albanian people.

ISTANBUL - Turkish authorities have stopped 4,047 migrants and refugees over the past week who were trying to illegally cross the border with the European Union or illegally enter the country, according to the Turkish Foreign Ministry.

It said 258 of the migrants were stopped at sea, and 120 suspected human traffickers were also stopped during the same period of time.

Since March 2016, when Turkey reached an agreement with the EU on migrants, the number of migrants and refugees from Turkey who have reached the EU (above all Greece) has dropped significantly from its peak of thousands per day to an average of a few dozen.

ANSAmed - Tomorrow's events in the Mediterranean

(ANSAmed) - ROME, FEBRUARY 19 - These are some of the main events scheduled for tomorrow in the Euro-Mediterranean area: TUNIS - International Convention on Mediterranean Studies on the theme 'Reading the Sea and Myths in Mediterranean Cultures'.



ROME - Grand Mosque, 5pm. Conference on ''Morocco's Approach to Deradicalization'', held by Ahmad Abbadi, head of the Mohammadia League of Scholars on the deconstruction of extremist discourse.



NEW YORK - UN Security Council meeting on the Middle East, with Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas.



First Italy-Albania trade mission kicks off in Tirana Organised by Confindustria-ICE, 178 companies seeking business

(ANSAmed) - ROME, FEBRUARY 19 - The first Italy-Albania trade mission kicked off in Tirana on Sunday, with a total of over 346 participants including 178 companies, 14 industrial associations and three banks.



On Monday the mission will hold its Italy-Albania Business Forum, with the participation of Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama.



The mission was organised by Italian employers' group Confindustria, the Italian Foreign Trade Agency (ICE), the Italian Banking Association (ABI), the Alliance of Cooperatives, the Conference of Regions and Autonomous Provinces, the Italian Business Network, and the Italian Union of Chambers of Commerce (Unioncamere), and is being promoted by the Italian Industry Ministry and the Italian Foreign Ministry.



The mission's objective is to increase the already well-established economic cooperation between the two countries and to expand business and investment opportunities for Italian businesses with a focus on three sectors in particular: agrobusiness, energy and infrastructure.



The mission is being led by Industry Ministry Undersecretary Ivan Scalfarotto with the participation of the Italian Ambassador to Albania Alberto Cutillo, Confindustria President Vincenzo Boccia and ICE President Michele Scannavini.



According to the Albanian Institute of Statistics, trade between the two countries totaled two billion euros in the first 10 months of 2017.



It said Italy is Albania's top trade and investment partner, with the presence of over 2,662 businesses either 100% Italian owned or with mixed ownership, bringing technological and production competencies.



Despite feeling the effects of the global economic downturn and in particular the eurozone crisis, Albania has managed to keep a solid level of real GDP, up 3.4% in 2016, with estimates for 2017 predicting a 3.7% increase. The country has a positive economic outlook in the mid-term future as well, with estimates predicting an average annual growth of 3.7% for the period of 2018-2022, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) based on International Monetary Fund (IMF) figures, and offers interesting opportunities for Italian businesses.(ANSAmed).



BEIRUT - The Damascus government has reached an agreement with the Syrian PKK to provide government military support in the Kurdish enclave of Afrin, which has been under attack by Turkish forces and local allied militias since January 20, according to "high-level Kurdish-Syrian sources" cited by the BBC in Arabic on Monday.

Rumours had been swirling for days on Iranian and pro-Syrian government media of a possible agreement between the Syrian PKK and the Damascus government.

In recent days, Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faysal Miqdad said Syria considers Afrin an integral part of the country and it won't give up a centimetre of its terrority.

According to Kurdish sources, Syrian government forces will enter the district of Afrin "in the coming days".

The enclave is surrounded by the Turkish border to the north and west and by the Syrian zone to the south which is de facto controlled by Turkish forces.

Syrian government forces can intervene coming from the eastern corridor of Tell Rifat, which connects Aleppo to Afrin.

Film on NATO bombing in Serbia to begin shooting in March Johnny Depp, Nikita Mikhalkov possibly to be involved

(ANSAmed) - BELGRADE, FEBRUARY 19 - Shooting is set to begin at the start of March on a film about the 1999 NATO bombing in Serbia, at about a hundred locations across the Balkans, including Serbia, Kosovo, Montenegro, and Republika Srpska (the Serbian-majority entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina).



The documentary will look at the consequences of the bombing as well as the environmental disasters that came as a result.



Belgrade daily Alo said the film will be translated into eight languages and will premiere in Serbia on March 24, 2019, the 20th anniversary of the start of the allied bombing.



It will also be screened in other countries, including those belonging to NATO.



Alo said American actor Johnny Depp and Russian filmmaker and actor Nikita Mikhalkov are slated to appear in the film.



After international negotiations failed, NATO decided to bomb Serbia in 1999 to force strongman Slobodan Milosevic to pull Serbian troops out of Kosovo and end the policy of repression and ethnic cleansing against the Albanian people.(ANSAmed).



Syrian airstrikes on Ghouta kill at least 35 in 24 hours Govt-run news agency says mortars hit Damascus

(ANSAmed) - BEIRUT, FEBRUARY 19 - At least 35 civilians have been killed in the past 24 hours by Syrian government airstrikes and shelling on the Ghouta region east of Damascus, besieged by the regime and controlled by the opposition, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said on Monday.



Local Civil Defense sources say that the most intense bombing during the day was on Saqba, Jisrin and Shayfuniye, in the besieged area in which the UN has said at least 200,000 civilians are in urgent need of humanitarian aid. There are almost 400,000 people in Eastern Ghouta, the largest opposition stronghold left near the capital, according to the UN.



It has been besieged since 2013.



State-run news agency SANA reported that mortars were launched during the day at Damascus by armed groups in the besieged area and that they had injured an unspecified number of people. (ANSAmed).



Syrian pro-govt forces to enter Afrin 'in coming hours' Ankara says it will react if pro-Assad forces defend Kurds

(ANSAmed) - BEIRUT, FEBRUARY 19 - Syrian pro-government forces are set to enter the Kurdish enclave of Afrin "in the coming hours", according to Syrian state television.



The broadcaster confirmed that an agreement was reached between the Syrian government and the main Kurdish-Syrian militias for control of the Kurdish enclave that has been the target of a Turkish military offensive since January 20. The agreement could push Turkey to pull its forces out of the area and end its air and ground offensive.



Syrian government media confirmed that auxiliary pro-regime militias are headed to Afrin to support "locals' resistance" against "Turkish aggression".



This was the government media's first official statement regarding government forces' involvement alongside the local wing of the Kurdish PKK against the Turkish offensive.



On Monday morning, Kurdish-Syrian military sources cited by the BBC said they had reached an agreement with Damascus on government intervention in the Kurdish enclave.



Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusgolu provided Turkey's first statement following the news of the imminent entry of pro-Assad forces into Afrin. "No one can stop Turkish forces if the Syrian regime enters Afrin to protect the YPG," Cavusgolu said, referring to what Turkey considers the Syrian offshoot of the PKK.



"If the regime enters Afrin to eliminate the YPG, there's no problem," he said.(ANSAmed).



Turkish authorities stop 4,000 migrants in a week '258 intercepted at sea, 120 suspected traffickers arrested'

(ANSAmed) - ISTANBUL, FEBRUARY 19 - Turkish authorities have stopped 4,047 migrants and refugees over the past week who were trying to illegally cross the border with the European Union or illegally enter the country, according to the Turkish Foreign Ministry.



It said 258 of the migrants were stopped at sea, and 120 suspected human traffickers were also stopped during the same period of time.



Since March 2016, when Turkey reached an agreement with the EU on migrants, the number of migrants and refugees from Turkey who have reached the EU (above all Greece) has dropped significantly from its peak of thousands per day to an average of a few dozen.(ANSAmed).



ANSAmed - Today's events in the Mediterranean

(ANSAmed) - ROME, FEBRUARY 19 - These are some of the main events scheduled for today in the Euro-Mediterranean area: TUNIS - International Convention on Mediterranean Studies on the theme 'Reading the Sea and Myths in Mediterranean Cultures' (until 20/2).



BRUSSELS - EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini will be meeting with Nasr al-Hariri, the leader of the Syrian opposition's High Negotiations Committee (HNC). (ANSAmed).



Erdogan to visit 4 African nations to step up relations Algeria, Mauritania, Senegal and Mali from 26/2

(ANSAmed) - ISTANBUL, FEBRUARY 19 - Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan will on February 26 begin a five-day diplomatic tour that will take him to Algeria, Mauritania, Senegal and Mali. According to sources at the Turkish presidency's office, the visits aim to strengthen diplomatic and trade relations, as well as reiterate the country's commitment against the African network of schools linked to Fethullah Gulen, allegedly behind the July 2016 coup attempt. Over the past two years, Erdogan has visited African several times, a continent in which over the part decade Turkey has significantly increased its trade and with which it has stepped up cooperation in the diplomatic and military fields. Erdogan had in recent weeks postponed a trip to Latin America, where he was to have gone immediately after his visit to Rome, in order to more closely follow the evolution of the Turkish military operation against the YPG in the Syrian Kurdish enclave Afrin. (ANSAmed).



ISTANBUL - Turkey will continue advancing towards Afrin with determination, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reportedly told his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin during a phone call on Monday, according to sources at the president's office quoted by Hurriyet.

If pro-Assad forces support the YPG militias, Erdogan reportedly added, ''there will be consequences''. Putin was said to have replied that he was not at the moment in a position to confirm any agreement between the Kurdish militias and Damascus, which was announced during the day on Syrian state TV.



The Kremlin reportedly nevertheless said that it ''understood'' Turkey's concerns about its border security.TEL AVIV - The Israeli company Delek-Kiduhim announced Monday that it had signed a 15-billion-dollar agreement with Egypt's Dolfinos for natural gas exports from the Leviathan and Tamar gas fields located off the Israeli coast.



Reports were from the economic daily Globes. The Noble Energy company will take part in the supply as well, for a ten-year period. Israeli prime minister Benyamin Netanyahu called the agreement ''historic'', saying that ''we will receive billions that will be invested in education, healthcare and the social wellbeing of Israeli citizens''.



He added that the agreement would ''strengthen our security, our economy and our regional relations. First and foremost, it will strengthen Israeli citizens. This is a day of celebration''.NEW YORK - Britain, the United States and France have called for the UN Security Council to condemn Iran for failing to stop its ballistic missiles from getting into the hands of Yemen's Houthi group.



They also want it to commit to take action over sanctions violations, according to a draft resolution. The resolution would renew sanctions on Yemen for a year and enable the Security Council to impose targeted sanctions for any activity linked to the use of ballistic missiles in the country.



The Trump Administration has been pushing for Iran to be held responsible for months.Thank you for reading!

Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading.Yamaha Music Australia's new headquarters in South Melbourne is a homage to their company's culture, values and history.

Yamaha Music as a brand provides creativity and inspiration to musicians. With their new office, Yamaha Music's management and staff deserves the same.

The final space offers each employee an aspirational workplace, creative spaces and encouraging them to perform at their best.

Our design vision for Yamahas new head office is based on merging the strong Yamaha culture, collaboration and performances with influences from Japanese design language. For employees, the aim of the design is to reinforce the Yamaha culture and workplace collaboration. This is evident in the central kitchen/breakout areas surrounding the central atrium and staircase, where people from different departments, professions, will spend time (accidentally or planned) together to foster work-related and personal communication.

The strong historical culture and story is evident in the entrance area, which is the centre piece for this space. Envisaging a subtle natural timber beautiful reception desk, inspired by the guitar pick. The entire reception, cafe like kitchen is open, inviting and warm for guests and staff to enjoy, chat, work and constantly be inspired.

The display area, showcasing the beautiful Yamaha instruments, treating each piece like a sculpture in a gallery. With intricate glass displays, gallery-spotlighting and even background subtle music that demonstrates the essence of Yamaha instruments. The seating is comfortable as a waiting area, but also for reading books, as a breakout for staff and even offers a fireplace, to provide a warm and casual feel.

The main guest areas, Symphony and Sonata will be treated with elegance, offering a natural and open feel, easily transforming the space into a large performance hall and theatre. With a natural flow from entrance, to gallery/reception/cafe area, guests flow into the magical performance areas.

In certain areas through out the the space, green walls, mini atriums and tambour units with plants help invigorate staff with a sense of freshness and inspiration. Each workstation is also timber, with a solid return, transposing the zen-like Japanese culture and design language to each person in the company.We had the Attacca String Quartet in residence here this past week. Started things off with a 2-hour seminar on composer-performer collaborations, featuring performances of three Caroline Shaw quartets: Entracte, Valencia and Blueprint. That evening, the quartet recorded three student compositions:

Alicia Bachorik: Tango

Tyson Davis: String Quartet No. 1

Nicholas Karr: The Flaw in Trying

The plan was for the quartet to choose one of these works to perform for a concert culminating their residency. In the end, they graciously decided all three deserved the honor, so our three students got professional premieres.

At the end of their seminar, I asked them if they had any final words of wisdom to the performers and composers gathered. Cellist Andrew Yee didnt hesitate. Kindness, was the one word he had for everyone assembled. We understand how terrifying it can be for composers to present their work to performers, and how terrifying it can be to play for the composer. Kindness, understanding, on both sides, is always beneficial.

Their decision to premiere all three student pieces gave those students a huge boost on so many levels. It was definitely a clear indication that the Attacca String Quartet was willing to walk the walk, not only advocating kindness but also making it a central part of their professional practice.by

Some months ago I received an email from an exemplar of inquisitive musicianship: the pianist Kirill Gerstein, whom I had never met. (We mutually know a peerless Hungarian musical pedagogue: Ferenc Rados.)

Gerstein had recorded a Gershwin album and wanted to know if I were interested in writing a note for it.

I was more than interested. Not only do I believe in George Gershwin; I believe we are embarking on a Gershwin Moment.

That is: modernism has departed, and so (sooner or later) will the Standard Narrative for American classical music that we learned from Aaron Copland, Virgil Thomson, and Leonard Bernstein. The Standard Narrative penalized both Gershwin and Charles Ives as gifted dilettantes. Roy Harris was the great white hope. No one today would put Harris ahead of Gershwin or Ives.

Commensurate with the Gershwin Moment is the demise of the high/low bifurcation of American music, which after World War I insured that American classical music would stay white. Gerstein is a classical pianist with a jazz degree (from the Berklee College of Music). Like Gershwin, he doesnt bifurcate. In fact, his new recorded performances of Rhapsody in Blue and the Concerto in F abound with flourishes of clairvoyant improvisation.

Heres a teaser. And here (below) is my album note:

KIRILL GERSTEIN and the GERSHWIN MOMENT

Historically, the concert music of George Gershwin has more impressed foreign-born than American-born classical musicians. And outsiders to the American experience, generally, have appreciated aspects of American music more taken for granted at home. The classic instance is Antonin Dvorak, who resided in New York City and Iowa between 1892 to 1895. The most famous and controversial of all his recorded utterances, reported in the New York Herald, prophesied that the future music of this country must be founded upon what are called the Negro melodies. The spirituals of the American South had struck Dvorak as an epiphany, music that suits itself to any mood or purpose. If Brahms had quoted Hungarian dance tunes, if Dvorak himself drew instruction from Bohemian song and dance, American composers could fashion a great and noble school of music by mining the African-American motherlode.

So steeped in plantation song is the plaintive Largo of Dvoraks New World Symphony that it was turned into a beloved synthetic spiritual: Goin Home. Much less famous is the American Suite Dvorak composed a year later, in 1894; comprising a series of New World snapshots, it marks a further, ingenious appropriation of minstrel and plantation song. This was also the year of the G-flat Humoresque  music so American most Americans assume an American wrote it. Another Dvorak Humoresque, in F major, begins with a bluesy tune Gershwin might have composed three decades later. Serendipitously, it was the G-flat Humoresque, wafting down from Maxie Rosenzweigs Brooklyn flat, that first inspired Gershwin to become a composer.

The immediate influence of Dvoraks prophecy was great. It was a former Dvorak student, William Arms Fisher, who turned the Largo into Goin Home. Dvoraks New York amanuensis, Harry Burleigh, transformed Deep River into a grave concert song sung the world over by Marian Anderson and Paul Robe son. Via the machinations of Burleigh and Fisher, the once celebrated black British composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor also signed onto Dvoraks project.

But Dvoraks New World aspirations did not resonate with the American modernists who came next. They favored a shiny new aesthetic purged of the past. Dvorak had written of Negro melodies: they are pathetic, tender, passionate, melancholy, solemn, religious, bold, merry, gay or what you will. Aaron Copland disagreed; From the composers viewpoint, he wrote, jazz had only two expressions: the well-known blues mood, and the wild, abandoned, almost hysterical and grotesque mood so dear to the youth of all ages. Any serious composer, he added, would quickly become aware of these severe limitations. Of Mr. Gershwins jazz, Copland said: Gershwin is serious up to a point. My idea was to intensify [jazz] . . . to use it cubistically  to make it more exciting than ordinary jazz.

And so, during his short lifetime, George Gershwin  heir to Dvoraks prophecy  was a shunned outsider to American classical music. The influential American music narratives written by Copland and Virgil Thomson simply omitted him. Americas leading journalistic apostle of musical modernism, Paul Rosenfeld, rebuked him as a dilettante. Who today would endorse Rosenfelds insistence that Coplands jazz-influenced Piano Concerto of 1927 was an improvement on Gershwins hash derivative, that Gershwin disclosed a weakness of spirit, possibly as a consequence that the new world attracted the less stable types?

The Gershwin threat, and the jazz threat of which it was a part, were symptoms of a youthful musical high culture borrowed from Europe  and hence obsessed with pedigree. With the singular exception of the New York Philharmonic, American orchestras for decades segregated the Rhapsody in Blue, the Concerto in F, and An American in Paris as pops fare. The Boston Symphony first gave these works on subscription in 1997, 2005, and 2005, respectively. The Chicago Symphony waited until 2000 for all three. The Metropolitan Opera first gave Porgy and Bess in 1985.

It was of course in the realm of popular music that Dvoraks prophecy came true. More than in Europe, American music after World War I was bifurcated between classical and popular  a bifurcation that was also, to a degree remarkable and disturbing, a split between white and black. The Oklahoma-born Roy Harris was even called a white hope in the unfulfilled interwar quest for the Great American Symphony. In retrospect, what American music needed was not another Copland or Harris, but a mighty interloper to rescue American classical music from itself. But George Gershwin died at the age of 38 in 1937.

Olin Downes summarized in The New York Times: His value may have been exaggerated He never passed a certain point as a serious composer. As ever, Americas European-born conductors, composers, and instrumentalists thought differently. Otto Klemperer led his own, dirge-like transcription of Gershwins Second Prelude at the Hollywood Bowl Gershwin Memorial Concert. Arnold Schonberg eulogized Gershwin as a great composer. Jascha Heifetz, who had hoped for a Gershwin Violin Concerto, said: We should be ashamed that we did not appreciate this man more when he was in our midst. Other Europeans speaking up for Gershwin included Maurice Ravel and Dmitri Shostakovich  composers of great reputation with nothing to lose.

As a student at the Special Music School for gifted children in Voronezh, Russia, Kirill Gerstein was from a very early age infatuated with jazz, which he knew from his parents extensive record collection. At fourteen, he met Gary Burton in St. Petersburg, leading to a scholarship to study jazz piano at Bostons Berklee College of Music. A famous American piano pedagogue said to me, Berklee??? And what would you be studying there? When I meekly answered Jazz, he looked away and said, I have no further questions. Gerstein adds: At that time, Berklee was mainly non-classical. But in fact, some of the best classical analysis courses Ive ever had were at Berklee. And now theyve merged with the Boston Conservatory. They offer a comprehensive unified curriculum  from classical to jazz, Baroque to bluegrass, film music to hip-hop. Which bodes well for music education thats stylistically fluid and unconstrained by artificial barriers.

Berklee could only have fortified Gersteins mission to pursue a classical music career that would integrate his passion for spontaneous musical expression. When he performs the Schumann Piano Concerto, he does not improvise. But his reading bristles with spur-of-the-moment inspiration: a piquant voicing, a rhythmic eruption. Sonically, he works in shifting watercolors versus solidified oils. It is Gershwins Concerto in F, however, that becomes a full-scale playground for Gersteins dual schooling.

In fact, Gershwins legacy seems more protean than ever. No one any longer questions his pedigree. And he remains a singularly malleable and promiscuous stylist. With the exception of J. S. Bach, no other concert composer produced music susceptible to such a bewildering range of readings. Gershwin himself, overseeing the premiere of Porgy and Bess, made it very clear that John Bubbles could sing It Aint Necessarily So in his way; there was no Gershwin way.

The music on the present Gerstein disc is a further case in point. There does not even exist a remotely definitive edition of the Rhapsody in Blue  its instrumentation, its duration remain variable. There are two orchestrations, both by Ferde Grofe  one for the Paul Whiteman Band, the other for symphony orchestra (Gershwin afterward did his own orchestrating). Gershwins own two recordings, with different musical contents, are lean and driving. Oscar Levant, the pianist most closely associated with Gershwin, adopted meatier sonorities. Leonard Bernsteins well-known reading proposed a Slavic expansiveness. It bears mentioning that Rhapsody in Blue was a 1930s sensation in Soviet Russia, and that its big tune strikingly resembles the love theme from Tchaikovskys Romeo and Juliet. The Concerto in F, historically, has been a specialty of French pianists.

All these artists, Gershwin included, played Gershwin by the book. Gerstein does not. He adds embellishments of many kinds. For the Concertos slow movement, he interpolates a cadenza. I asked him about all this. He said:

The performances on the CD are culled from four consecutive concerts in St. Louis  and what I played was different every time. My intention is to strike a delicate balance  not too classical, not too jazzy. The jazzing up of Gershwin can easily be overdone. I think there is a fine proportion thats implicit. As for the pieces themselves, I think theyre more masterly than is often perceived. In the Concerto in F, the orchestration is Stravinsky-like in its precision and transparency. This is often overlooked. And its even more the case for Rhapsody in Blue in the Whiteman band version that weve used  its chamber music. The more time you invest in rehearsal and refinement, the more impressive these masterpieces appear. Ive played Rhapsody in Blue since maybe 2006. It took me some time to find my way  its such a volatile stylistic blend, second by second.

There are moments where hes alluding to jazz and interrupts to say: I know Rachmaninoff, I can do that. I can do Tchaikovsky, no problem. Its a piece thats naturally playful. The Concerto in F I first played in 2012. Since then, the improvised interpolations have expanded a bit. Im not trying for historical accuracy in interpretation. Here Im simply responding to the stylistic threads.

In sum: Gershwin was a premature harbinger of musical synergies we now take for granted. And American music is today verging on a Gershwin Moment long overdue. In thr world of American musicology, music historians are suddenly flocking to Gershwin in droves; a Gershwin critical edition was initiated in 2013 at the University of Michigan. In the world of American orchestras and opera companies, Gershwin is at long last a ubiquitous mainstream participant. A mere decade before Kirill Gerstein arrived in Boston, fledgling virtuosos were typically counselled not to acquire the Gershwin concerto lest it tarnish their image. No young pianist would today be so advised.

If the old Gershwin was an inspired dilettante, the new Gershwin is versatile, protean, universal. The old Gershwin was impure, in limbo, betwixt and between. The new Gershwin is wholesome, ecumenical. For Kirill Gerstein  a voracious learner  Gershwin is both a fulfillment and a beginning. What about those Dvorak Humoresques? Stay tuned.Nasscom has signed an MoU with the Union ministry of electronics and IT for strengthening re-skilling initiatives.

It was remotely launc-hed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi from New Delhi on Monday after addressing the delegates of WCIT-2018 thro-ugh video conference.

Hyderabad: As part of the IT industrys attempts to reskill Indians in the emerging technologies, IT industry body Nasscom launched an online training platform FutureSkills.

It was remotely launc-hed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi from New Delhi on Monday after addressing the delegates of WCIT-2018 thro-ugh video conference.

The platform aims to reskill existing employees, and potential employees and students of the IT industry to enable them to adapt themselves to the fast-changing technological landscape in the world.

According to Nasscom president R Chandrash-ekhar, the platform aims to skill and upskill two million professionals and skill another two million potential empl-oyees and students over the next few years.

It will offer training in eight emerging technologies such as artificial Intelligence, virtual reality, Internet of Things, big data analytics, 3D printing, cloud computing, social and mobile, and robotic process automation.

Nasscom has signed an MoU with the Union ministry of electronics and IT for strengthening re-skilling initiatives.

Addressing the media after signing of an MoU, Union IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said said Digital India means digital transformation of India. My government has started efforts to take BPOs to smaller cities to reduce migration. Now BPOs are functioning in Patna, Kohima, Agartala and even in Srinagar, he said.Alia Bhatt is currently shooting for Ayan Mukerji's 'Brahmastra' in Bulgaria with Ranbir Kapoor.

Mumbai: Alia Bhatt is currently shooting for Ayan Mukerji's 'Brahmastra' in Bulgaria with Ranbir Kapoor and the other cast.

The 'Highway' actress recently took to Instagram and shared a picture of herself with a black cat and captioned it, " ...  ". Alia is seen standing amidst a snowy background with the cat beside her.

Interestingly, Alia has a cute pet cat named Edward. She shares many pictures with her furball on social media. No wonder Alia loves cats so much!

Speaking of 'Brahmastra', there's a great excitement about the film for its superhero plot. Touted as Dharma Production's most ambitious project, the film will have a trilogy. Recently, director Ayan Mukerji expressed his excitement for the film saying that he hopes it becomes "the biggest success of his career.

'Brahmastra', also co-stars Amitabh Bachchan in a pivotal role and has been produced by Karan Johar. It is scheduled to release on August 15.

Alia will soon be seen in Meghna Gulzar's 'Raazi' that is being produced by Karan Johar and Junglee Pictures. The film which stars Vicky Kaushal in male lead is slated to release on 11 May 2018. She has also begun shooting for Zoya Akhtar's 'Gully Boy' opposite Ranveer Singh.Having started off her career in Jai Ho with Salman Khan, Daisy Shah is all set to work with the actor again in Race 3.

Having started off her career in Jai Ho with Salman Khan, Daisy Shah is all set to work with the actor again in Race 3. But quiz her on the movie clashing with Fanne Khan, and she seems unfazed.

The actress explains that the Anil Kapoor factor  common in both Race 3 and Fanne Khan  will work like a charm for both the movies.

We have Anil in our film, and so does Fanne Khan. So, its a win-win situation. I would want both films to do good business, she smiles.

Daisy, meanwhile, is quite kicked about working on the action sequences in Race 3. I am particularly excited to do action, because actresses dont get to hit punches, she says. And Race 3 is a film where even actresses get that chance. So, Im looking forward to that.

She goes on to add that the schedules are quite on track currently. We just came back from Bangkok, and the shoot was great. I think were about 30 per cent done with the film, and theres more to come. Our next schedule is in Abu Dhabi, and Im looking forward to it, Daisy reveals.The movie, chronicling a grieving mother's campaign for justice, won several awards at the emotionally charged ceremony.

British-Irish filmmaker Martin McDonagh (L), producer Peter Czernin (2L), US actor Sam Rockwell, and British producer Graham Broadbent (R) pose with citation reader US actress Frances McDormand (2R) after receiving the award for Best Film for 'Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri'. (Photo: AFP)

London: Crime drama 'Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri' captured five British Bafta film awards on Sunday, including best film, topping an emotionally charged ceremony that featured fashion and rhetoric in support of the fight against sexual harassment sweeping Hollywood.

The movie, chronicling a grieving mother's campaign for justice, won for original screenplay and outstanding British film, while Frances McDormand bagged best actress and Sam Rockwell best supporting actor prizes.

'The Shape of Water', the most heavily nominated film of the night with 12 nods, came away with only three awards, including best director for Guillermo Del Toro, while 'Darkest Hour' claimed two prizes, including for Gary Oldman as best actor.

With Hollywood still reeling from the fallout of the Harvey Weinstein scandal, the resulting anti-sexual harassment campaigns were reflected in the mood of the evening.

"Our film is a hopeful one in lots of ways but its also an angry one," Martin McDonagh, writer and director of 'Three Billboards', said in his acceptance speech.

"And as we've seen this year, sometimes anger is the only way to get people to listen and to change, so were thrilled that Bafta has recognised this."

Stars arrived at London's Royal Albert Hall predominantly dressed in black in solidarity with the #MeToo and 'Time's Up' campaigns, mirroring other recent American red carpets including last month's Golden Globes.

Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Lawrence and Kristin Scott Thomas were among the stars who wore black.

British royals avoid making overtly political statements or gestures, so there was little surprise when the Duchess of Cambridge chose to wear a dark green dress, by British designer Jenny Packham, as she accompanied husband Prince William, president of Bafta, to the ceremony.

Jane Lush, chair of Bafta, opened the evening soberly telling the star-studded audience it was important to acknowledge a "difficult" past year, and noted efforts to tackle gender inequality.

"Brave revelations have followed brave revelations of bullying and sexual harassment, and which to all our shame has been hidden in plain sight for decades," she said.

"This is a moment in history, it should be a watershed, a catalyst for lasting change."

Host Joanna Lumley, a British film and TV star, also praised the gender equality movement as a continuation of the work of the Suffragettes a century ago.

She hailed the "determination to eradicate the abuse of women the world over" as she took to the stage.

Meanwhile, in an open letter published before the awards, almost 200 British and Irish stars backed a new fund to help women facing sexual harassment and abuse at work.

It echoes a similar initiative launched in Hollywood last month, and was kick-started with a USD 1.4 million donation from actress and activist Emma Watson.

Choices at the Baftas, which fall between the Globes and the Oscars, often mirror those of the American heavyweights.

'The Shape of Water', a story of love between a mute cleaning woman and a mystery merman-like creature, led the pack just as it has across the Atlantic, where it has topped the list of Oscar nominations with 13 nods, including for best picture.

As well as director del Toro's award for direction, composer Alexandre Desplat collected the original music award, his third BAFTA win, and the film also won best production design.

Allison Janney won best supporting actress for her role as the mother of controversial figure skater Tonya Harding in biopic 'I, Tonya.'

"I loved doing this crazy part and finding her humanity, that's what I try and do in all roles," she said backstage.

Gary Oldman's turn as Churchill in 'Darkest Hour' has so far won him a Golden Globe, a Bafta and the chance of an Oscar on March 4.

He paid tribute to the wartime British leader, saying: "In those dark, uncertain days in 1940, he held the line for honour, for integrity and freedom for his nation and the world, so I thank you, Sir Winston."

Accepting her best actress accolade, McDormand, who chose not to wear black, quoted her on-screen character who has "a little trouble with compliance".

"But I want you to know I stand in full solidarity with my sisters tonight in black," she added.

Here's the complete list of winners:

Outstanding British film

Darkest Hour

The Death of Stalin

Gods Own Country

Lady Macbeth

Paddington 2

Winner: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

EE Rising Star award (voted for by the public)

Winner: Daniel Kaluuya

Florence Pugh

Josh OConnor

Tessa Thompson

Timothee Chalamet

Best original music

Blade Runner 2049

Darkest Hour

Dunkirk

Phantom Thread

Winner: The Shape of Water

Best make up & hair

Blade Runner 2049

Winner: Darkest Hour

I, Tonya

Victoria & Abdul

Wonder

Best costume design

Beauty and the Beast

Darkest Hour

I, Tonya

Winner: Phantom Thread

The Shape of Water

Best animated film

Winner: Coco

Loving Vincent

My Life as a Courgette

Best editing

Winner: Baby Driver

Blade Runner 2049

Dunkirk

The Shape of Water

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Best documentary

City of Ghosts

Winner: I Am Not Your Negro

Icarus

An Inconvenient Sequel

Jane

Outstanding British contribution to cinema

National Film and Television School

Best British short animation

Have Heart

Mamoon

Winner: Poles Apart

Best British short film

Aamir

Winner: Cowboy Dave

A Drowning Man

Work

Wren Boys

Best film not in the English language

Elle

First They Killed My Father

Winner: The Handmaiden

Loveless

The Salesman

Best adapted screenplay

Winner: Call Me by Your Name

The Death of Stalin

Film Stars Dont Die in Liverpool

Mollys Game

Paddington 2

Best supporting actor

Christopher Plummer, All the Money in the World

Hugh Grant, Paddington 2

Winner: Sam Rockwell, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Willem Dafoe, The Florida Project

Woody Harrelson, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Best production design

Beauty and the Beast

Blade Runner 2049

Darkest Hour

Dunkirk

Winner: The Shape of Water

Best special visual effects

Winner: Blade Runner 2049

Dunkirk

The Shape of Water

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

War for the Planet of the Apes

Outstanding debut by a British writer, director or producer

The Ghoul  Gareth Tunley (writer/director/producer), Jack Healy Guttman & Tom Meeten (producers)

Winner: I Am Not a Witch  Rungano Nyoni (writer/director), Emily Morgan (producer)

Jawbone  Johnny Harris (writer/producer), Thomas Napper (director)

Kingdom of Us  Lucy Cohen (director)

Lady Macbeth  Alice Birch (writer), William Oldroyd (director), Fodhla Cronin OReilly (producer)

Best supporting actress

Winner: Allison Janney, I, Tonya

Kristin Scott Thomas, Darkest Hour

Laurie Metcalf, Lady Bird

Lesley Manville, Phantom Thread

Octavia Spencer, The Shape of Water

Best sound

Baby Driver

Blade Runner 2049

Winner: Dunkirk

The Shape of Water

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Best original screenplay

Get Out

I, Tonya

Lady Bird

The Shape of Water

Winner: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Best cinematography

Winner: Blade Runner 2049

Darkest Hour

Dunkirk

The Shape of Water

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Best actor

Daniel Day-Lewis, Phantom Thread

Daniel Kaluuya, Get Out

Winner: Gary Oldman, Darkest Hour

Jamie Bell, Film Stars Dont Die in Liverpool

Timothee Chalamet, Call Me by Your Name

Best actress

Annette Bening, Film Stars Dont Die in Liverpool

Winner: Frances McDormand, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Margot Robbie, I, Tonya

Sally Hawkins, The Shape of Water

Saoirse Ronan, Lady Bird

Best director

Denis Villeneuve, Blade Runner 2049

Luca Guadagnino, Call Me by Your Name

Christopher Nolan, Dunkirk

Winner: Guillermo Del Toro, The Shape of Water

Martin McDonagh, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Best film

Call Me by Your Name

Darkest Hour

Dunkirk

The Shape of Water

Winner: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Bafta fellowship

Ridley ScottOn Sunday soon after the incident, Bangalore District Youth Congress General Secretary, Nalapad was expelled from the party.

Bengaluru: Karnataka's Congress MLA NA Haris's son Mohammed Haris Nalapad surrendered on Monday after being booked for allegedly thrashing and threatening a man in a pub in Bengaluru's UB City.

Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers staged a protest against Haris outside city's Cubbon Park.

On Sunday soon after the incident, Bangalore District Youth Congress General Secretary, Nalapad was expelled from the party after the incident.

Also read: B'luru: FIR against Son of MLA, youth Cong chief for thrashing man

According to reports, the victim was having dinner at a high-end restaurant in UB City when Mohammad Nalapad and his friends walked in at 11:30 pm.

The group reportedly told the victim, who had a plaster on one of his legs, to "sit properly".

After a heated exchange of words, Nalapad and his friends allegedly attacked the victim. The victim was then rushed to the nearby Mallya Hospital for treatment, but the group reportedly followed him there and threatened him.Congress says fraudsters linked to highest echelons of govt.

New Delhi: Political slugfest over Nirav Modi continued on Sunday with the Congress alleging fraudsters were linked to the highest echelons of the BJP-led NDA. The Congress challenged the government to bring out a white paper on the banking system which it said had witnessed scams involving over Rs 61,000 crore in the last five years. Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said, Bank frauds are tumbling out of the closet faster than you can say Jack Robinson.

Referring to the Rs 11,400-crore scam in which billionaire jeweler Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi allegedly acquired fraudulent letters of undertaking (LoUs) from state-owned Punjab National Bank (PNB), Mr Tewari added while the Modi-Choksi tango was still going on, reports had emerged about another banking fraud.

Vikram Kothari, the owner of Rotomac pens, owes Rs 800 crore to a consortium of Indian banks and was now untraceable, he said. The Congress further demanded that BJP-led NDA should direct all banks to publish and declare the name of fraudsters and details related to NPAs ( non-performing assets). The total NPAs of all public and private banks were worth Rs 8,36,782 crore as of September, 2017.

It is hilarious that PNB, where this scam happened, won the vigilant award for 2016-17, Mr Tewari said, adding that this scam raised important question about the lack of transparency in the government. Blaming the current government for NPAs, Mr Tewari said, Data released by the RBI show that Rs 61,260 crore banking frauds have taken place in the last five years, and out of these five years, the BJP-led NDA has been in power for four years. The linkages between these alleged fraudsters and the highest echelons of the BJP raise some very serious questions about the health of the Indian economy.

Since the alleged Nirav Modi scam of LoUs has broken, the Congress has been attacking the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The party alleged that the government sleeps while the defaulters run abroad not to return back.The BJP has made an election promise to send Christians to Jerusalem on a free trip, if elected to power, causing a virutal unrest in Nagaland.

Guwahati: The saffron surge in the two poll-bound Northeastern states  Nagaland and Meghalaya  has not gone down well as some Christian voters with some Christian organisations pulling in leaders from all over the country to launch a counter attack to stop the BJP from coming to power.

If Christian leaders from Kerala have been called to campaign in Meghalaya, which is going to polls on February 27, the Nagaland Baptist Church Council has already warned the community against what the council called the Hindutva invasion.

It is significant that Nagalands population is overwhelmingly Christian, over 90 per cent. There are Catholics, some from the Christian Revival, and Assembly of God, while the most powerful group is the Baptists, with accounts for close to 75 per cent of the population.

According to the Nagaland Baptist Church Council, the state has 1,615 Baptist churches, with services held in different tribal languages apart from English.

Christian leaders campaigning in the Northeastern states include two-time Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy, senior legislator K.C. Joseph, Lok Sabha member Anto Antony and MLA Dominic Presentation.

The problem intensified after BJP entered into an electoral understanding with newly floated National Democratic Progressive Party led by three-time chief minister Neiphu Rio in Nagaland. The BJP has made an election promise to send Christians to Jerusalem on a free trip.. We plan to send groups of senior Christian citizens to Jerusalem if our party comes to power, said Nagaland BJP spokesperson James Vizo.

The Congress, seeking a revival in the Christian-dominated state, has promised subsidy for the trip. The Holy Land package is believed to have created unrest among the Christian organisations, which was more visible in an open letter of the Nagaland Baptist Church Council warning voters against Hindutva forces.

In the open letter to the presidents of all political parties contesting the Nagaland election, the council alleged worst persecution of minority communities from 2015 to 2017.

Christians in poll-bound Meghalaya are also upset with the ruling BJP-led NDA government. The Christian communities, especially from Baptist community in Garo Hills, are upset with the central government for rejecting the visa of the Baptist World Alliance chief Paul Msiza to attend a four-day celebration of 150 years of Christianity in Garo Hills region, vice-president of Asia Pacific Baptist Federation, Bijoy Sangma said.

General secretary of Baptist Convention, Janang R. Sangma, said.This is not the only case, many of our foreign friends have been denied visa in the last three years despite the fact that they have been coming here on earlier occasions.

The Garo Baptist Convention, a Christian denomination in Meghalaya, has over 2.6 lakh baptised adults, according to the Church census in 2013.

Though, security sources described it an administrative decision, the Meghalaya Pradesh Congress Committee has dragged it into its elections campaign.

This matter cannot be seen in isolation as that of just a visa denial. It very well exposes the mind-set of the present dispensation, the BJP and their masters in Nagpur, Congress MP Vincent H Pala told reporters in Shillong.Usha and Rashi had gone missing since Saturday evening. Their bodies with injury marks were found in a nullah around 10.30 am on Sunday.

Usha Kamble, 52 and Rashi, 1, mother and daughter of local journalist Ravikant Kamble, who worked for a local daily, were missing since Saturday evening. (Photo: Facebook | Ravikant Kamble)

Nagpur: The bodies of the mother and daughter of a local journalist were found in a nullah in the city on Sunday, and 12 hours after the crime was committed Nagpur police said it had solved the murder.

Usha Kamble, 52 and Rashi, 1, mother and daughter of local journalist Ravikant Kamble, who worked for a local daily, were missing since Saturday evening, police said.

"Usha and Rashi had gone missing since last evening. Their bodies with injury marks were found in a nullah in Bahadura area around 10.30 am today," a police officer said earlier.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Nilesh Bharne told news agency PTI that Usha Kamble had a money-lending business.

"Ms Usha along with her grand-daughter went to a jewellery shop near her house around 5.30 pm yesterday. Her husband tried calling her when they didn't return for quite some time, but her mobile phone was switched off. Around 10 pm her son informed police when he returned from his work," Bharne said.

Joint Commissioner of Police Shivaji Bodkhe later told PTI that Ganesh Rambaran Shahu (26), a resident of Pawanputra Nagar area in Nagpur, was arrested in the case, adding that the victim and Shahu had fought over chit fund money on Saturday evening at the latter's house.

In the course of the altercation, the woman fell from the stairs, after which Shahu slit her throat, Bodkhe said.

He added that the toddler, who was with Kamble at the time, was killed by Shahu to stop her wails. "He later put the bodies in a sack and disposed it off in a nullah," Bodkhe said. Further investigations were underway, he said.Rajasthan Congress president Sachin Pilot described the announcement as the victory of people, Cong party and medias struggle.

In the state assembly, Rajasthan Chief minister Vasundhara Raje made the announcement of withdrawing gag law that aimed to protect corrupt public servants. (Photo: File)

Jaipur: Rajasthan government has withdrawn draconian bill that aimed to protect corrupt public servants. Chief minister Vasundhara Raje made the announcement in the state assembly on Monday.

The Criminal Laws (Rajasthan Amendment) Bill, 2017 was tabled in the previous session in October to replace an ordinance promulgated on September 7 under which prior sanction from an authority was required before an investigation into an offence committed by a public official could commence. However, as the move by the Vasundhara Raje government drew widespread criticism from various quarters, the bill was referred to select committee of the house.

Also Read: Amid protests, Rajasthan 'gag order' sent to select committee for review

We allowed the ordinance to lapse and the act didnt come into force therefore any talk of black law was misplaced. Yet, if it all boils down to withdrawing the concerned bill, then the government is withdrawing it, Raje said.

State Congress president Sachin Pilot has described the announcement victory of people, Congress party and medias struggle. He however, said withdrawing the bill was not enough rather the chief minister must initiate investigation into corruption charges against her ministers and stop from protecting corrupt.

The CM had brought this black law to institutionalise corruption and despite strong criticism the government was hell bent on implementing this act by referring it to select committee. However, the defeat in recent by-polls and constant pressure from the Congress forced the CM to withdraw it, said Pilot who had challenged the bill in the Rajasthan High Court.

What was in the gag law:

The bill sought to stop courts from taking up complaints against ministers, lawmakers and officials without the government's approval.

It gave the government six months to decide if a court should order an inquiry into a private complaint against a minister, lawmaker or an official.

The most controversial clause was to impose ban on the media from disclosing the identity of the judge or any public servant facing allegations, unless the government has vetted the case. Journalists can be sentenced to two years in jail for violating the rule.Justin Trudeau was also not present at the airport to receive Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he visited Canada in 2016.

New Delhi: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his family, who arrived in India on Saturday, are on their first state visit. Trudeau is in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state - Gujarat, on Monday.

However, Modi was markedly absent from receiving his Canadian counterpart unlike the visits of other world leaders like Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2014, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2017 and Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in January, 2018. Modi also held a grand roadshow in Gujarat, welcoming the leaders and accompanying them during their stay in his home state.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is instead visiting Karnataka, which will go to polls in a few months.

Also read: Trudeau visits Sabarmati Ashram, calls it 'beautiful place of peace, truth

Modi, whose foreign policy is marked by an emphasis on forming a personal bond with world leaders and who is known to have walked (or driven) the extra mile to personally receive them during their visit to India, gave his Canadian counterpart Trudeau a massive snub by sending a junior minister to receive him.

When Trudeau landed in New Delhi on Saturday night, he was welcomed by Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmer's Welfare Gajendra S Shekhawat.

The scenario was not good at Agra in Uttar Pradesh on Sunday where Trudeau and his family went to see the iconic Taj Mahal either. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was not available to receive the visiting prime minister.

Also read: Trudeau, family visit Taj Mahal; to hold talks with Modi on Feb 23

It can be recalled that when Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Canada in 2016, Trudeau was absent from the airport to receive him. Sources justify that Modi did not exactly break any protocol by refusing to receive the Canadian PM at the Delhi airport this time around.

Narendra Modi who is active on Twitter also did not post any welcome tweet so far, a courtesy he normally reserves for all the visiting dignitaries after he became the Prime Minister of India in 2014.

Now all eyes are set on Trudeau's visit to Punjab on Wednesday. However, there are no clear indications so far whether or not Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh will host the visiting prime minister in the holy city of Amritsar when the dignitaries will go to the Golden Temple.

CM Amarinder Singh's annoyance with the Canadian government is apparent.

Amarinder had publicly refused to meet Canada's first Sikh Defence Minister, Harjit Singh Sajjan, who was born in Punjab's Hoshiarpur district, when he visited the state in April 2017. No minister or senior officer of the Punjab government either went to welcome Sajjan or even accompany him during the visit.

Amarinder had accused Sajjan and other ministers of Punjabi origin in the Trudeau government of links to radical elements demanding a separate Sikh state of Khalistan. Amarinder made it clear that he "would not meet any Khalistani sympathisers".

The question that arises now is whether, a wary India, is downgrading Justin Trudeau because of his government's support to pro-Khalistan elements among the Sikhs in the Canadian society. As things stand, India's uneasiness is not unfounded.

Also read: Trudeau arrives in India, aims at enhancing business ties

When Justin Trudeau was elected Canada's Prime Minister in 2015, he inducted four Indian faces - all Sikhs - in his multi-cultural Cabinet. In a first, the plum portfolio of Canada's Defence Minister was given to a Sikh, Harjit Singh Sajjan.

It soon emerged that some of the Trudeau's colleagues in the Canadian Cabinet allegedly had ties with Khalistan supporters. Trudeau himself attended a Khalsa Day event in Toronto where Khalistan flags and the portrait of former Khalistani militant leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale were displayed.

The Ontario Assembly, dominated by Trudeau's Liberal Party, passed a resolution in 2017 condemning the "genocide" of Sikhs in India in 1984.

Also in 2017, Canada's High Commissioner to India had to apologise after India reacted sharply when a former CRPF officer was initially denied entry at Vancouver airport on the grounds that he had served a government that engaged in "terrorism, systematic or gross human rights violations, or genocide".

However, according to a report in NDTV, top government sources have strongly dismissed speculation, mostly in the Canadian media, that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's absence is a snub for Justin Trudeau amid India's concerns over Sikh radicalism in Canada and support for a separate Khalistan state.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi need not accompany a visiting dignitary everywhere, said sources; he was not present even when Iranian President Hassan Rouhani visited Hyderabad on Friday.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will meet with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday for bilateral talks in New Delhi.Sushmita Dev claimed the BJP will not win a single seat in Meghalaya, and its similar promise of free sanitary napkins will not happen.

All India Congress Committee Mahila president Sushmita Dev on Sunday said the party will provide free sanitary napkins to women in Meghalaya if voted to power in upcoming elections. (Photo: representational | file)

Shillong: All India Congress Committee Mahila president Sushmita Dev on Sunday said the party will provide free sanitary napkins to women in Meghalaya if voted to power in the February 27 Assembly elections.

Dev said she had urged the Centre and the finance minister to exempt GST on sanitary napkins.

"If the price is subsidised, it becomes a product that is affordable in the rural market, so private companies take it there," she said.

Dev claimed the BJP will not win a single seat in Meghalaya, and its similar promise of free sanitary napkins will not happen.

She accused the BJP of not being serious about the security of women.

"After the (2012) Nirbhaya case, we changed a lot of laws, but the recent NCRB data shows crime against women has still gone up," she said, adding that 60 per cent of the Nirbhaya fund was lying "unused".

Dev also took a jibe at Union Minister Smriti Irani who campaigned in Shillong on sunday.

"We need to ask a lot of questions on the leaders of the BJP who are coming to Meghalaya and talking about the security of women," she added.Nirav Modi's CFO Ravi Gupta has been called for interrogation in Mumbai.

A senior employee of the jeweller's Firestar International Company, Vipul Ambani, was probed on Sunday along with other officials. (Photo: PTI)

New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), on Monday, summoned Nirav Modi's Chief Financial Officer to investigate a Rs 11,400 crore Punjab National bank (PNB) fraud case to benefit the billionaire jeweller to stars in India and abroad.

Ravi Gupta, Nirav Modis Chief Financial Officer (CFO) has been called for interrogation in Mumbai.

Another top official of the billionaire jewellers Firestar International Company, Vipul Ambani, was already probed on Sunday along with other officials.

Also read: Shares of Gitanjali Gems continue to fall for 4th session; down 10 per cent

The CBI has also interrogated 11 officials of PNB with regard to the scam involving fake Letters of Undertaking (LoU) put out by ex-bank officials to help Nirav Modi, his uncle Mehul Choksi - who heads Gitanjali Jewels - and others get credit from banks outside the country.

The probe agency is known to have sealed PNB's Brady House branch in Mumbai, where the scam occurred.The Punjab chief minister would be the first major leader to meet the visiting prime minister Justin Trudeau.

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had earlier refused to meet Trudeau, claiming the Canadian Prime Minister's cabinet members were connected and supported the formation of Khalistan. (Photo: File/PTI)

Mumbai: Ending rumours of uncertainty over his meeting with Justin Trudeau, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Monday said he is looking forward to meeting the Canadian Prime Minister when he arrives in Amritsar on Wednesday.

Look forward to meeting Canadian Prime Minister @JustinTrudeau in Amritsar on Wednesday. Im hopeful that this meeting will help strengthen the close Indo-Canadian business ties as well as the deep-rooted people-to-people relations between our two countries.  Capt.Amarinder Singh (@capt_amarinder) February 19, 2018

The Punjab chief minister would be the first major leader to meet the visiting prime minister Justin Trudeau. The Canadian Prime Minister, who arrived in India on Saturday evening, was received by MoS Agriculture Gajendra Singh at the Delhi airport.

The statement by the Punjab CM holds significance amid speculation that Trudeau will not meet with him, since he has publicly denounced members of Trudeaus cabinet for allegedly being connected to the Khalistani separatist movement. Previously, Amarinder Singh had called Canadian Defence Minister Harjit Singh Sajjan as a Khalistani sympathiser, during the latters visit to India in April, 2017.

Also read: No personal welcome, no tweet: Is Modi snubbing Trudeau?

While announcing that the meet would take place, the Punjab Chief Minister said he is hopeful that the meeting will help strengthen the close Indo-Canadian business ties as well as the deep-rooted people-to-people relations between our two countries.

According to reports, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had already issued instructions to the state administration to roll out the red carpet for the visiting dignitarys February 21 visit but was awaiting permission from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to hold a structured meeting.

Trudeau had arrived in India on Saturday evening on a week-long visit. He is accompanied by his wife Sophie Gregoire Trudeau and three children -- Hadrien, Ella-Grace Margaret and Xavier James Trudeau - besides prominent members of his cabinet.

Also read: Trudeau visits Sabarmati Ashram, calls it 'beautiful place of peace, truth

The 46-year-old Canadian Prime Minister is scheduled to visit the Golden Temple in Amritsar, the holiest shrine of the Sikhs. Sikhs account for less than 1.5 per cent of Canada's population.After Cong MLA Alpesh Thakore, Hardik Patel is another Guj leader who has said he would play an active role in Madhya Pradesh politics.

Without naming the BJP, Patidar leader Hardik Patel said, 'Some people call the divisive politics of Hindus and Muslims as nationalism.' (Photo: File)

Bhopal: Patidar quota agitation leader Hardik Patel on Monday said that he would campaign against the ruling BJP in the coming Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.

After OBC leader and newly-elected Congress MLA Alpesh Thakore, Patel is another leader from Gujarat who has said he would play an active role in Madhya Pradesh politics.

Thakore, earlier this week, had said he would unite OBCs in the state against the ruling party.

"I will be active in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, and campaign against the ruling BJP. I will visit MP many times. If someone has a problem with that, let them try and stop me," Patel said, speaking to reporters in Bhopal.

He was here to attend a program organised by the Patidar community.

"I don't care if someone doesn't like my visits to Madhya Pradesh. I will continue to talk about farmers, employment to the youth and good education here. Attempts were made to stop me from coming to Madhya Pradesh. I was told don't go there, or cases would be filed against you. They say my arrival would divide the society. Some people say you are coming to spread casteism. If talking about farmers and the youth is casteism....I wanted to do it," he said.

Without naming the BJP, Patel further said, "Some people call the divisive politics of Hindus and Muslims as nationalism."

In a potshot at Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Patel said, "Mama (as Chouhan is called) makes lofty promises. But this Mama is a taker and not a giver. Corruption in Madhya Pradesh goes on very silently.

The Vyapam scam occurred in the state. Farmers were killed in police firing in Mandsaur. The government here doesn't talk about the implementation of Swaminathan report (on farm reforms), and the state even failed to provide 27 per cent reservations to OBCs despite the Supreme Court's directives," he said.

He hasn't been involved in the electoral politics as he is still 24 years old and can not contest elections yet, Patel said.

In reply to a question about his meeting with Congress president Rahul Gandhi, Patel said, "I am meeting an Indian, not a terrorist."

Asked about the Punjab National Bank scam, the Patidar leader said, "The BJP had promised to provide Rs 15 lakh to every citizen by bringing back black money. But with Nirav Modi and Vijay Mallya and their ilk fleeing the country with the country's money, it appears that people are supposed to give them Rs 15 lakh from one's own account."In first event of its kind in Delhi, both parties try to reach out to Marathas.

New Delhi: Politics over Hindutva icon and legendary Maratha ruler Chhatrapati Shivjai Maharaj picked up steam in the nations capital with BJP and Congress heavyweights paying tribute to Indias greatest warrior on his birth anniversary on Monday. President Ram Nath Kovind, vice-president M. Venkaiah Naidu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi paid tribute to the great Maratha warrior. A grand event was also organised for the first time in New Delhi to mark the occasion. This was seen as an effort by the ruling BJP to send a signal to its core votebank and also to woo the powerful Marathas, who are now demanding reservations in Maharashtra, a state now under BJP-Shiv Sena rule.

Mr Kovind, who participated in the event organised by the descendant of the Maratha king and BJP Rajya Sabha MP Sambhaji Raje Chhatrapati, described Shivaji as a system builder. Mr Kovind said Shivaji Maharajs lessons on social democracy were relevant even today and that he is famous not just for his exemlpary valour and judiciousness but also for his generosity for all sections of society. Mr Chhatrapati demanded Shivaji Maharajs birth anniversary be celebrated as a national festival.

Mr Modi tweeted Jai Shivaji (hail Shivaji), and also posted a video clip of his earlier speech on Shivaji Maharaj, where the PM had asked people to emulate the deeds of the Maratha warrior.

Saying the Hindu king was one of Indias greatest royal warriors, Mr Naidu hailed him for his valour, warfare strategies, administrative skills, progressive outlook and respect for women. His legendary acts of bravery will continue to inspire every Indian, the vice-president said as he paid his respects to Shivaji on Twitter.

Mr Gandhi paid his tribute through a message in Marathi on the social networking site. My salutes to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj who realised the concept of peoples state, giving out a message of unity and harmony, the Congress president said.

Amid the energetic beating of the traditional war drum, it was a sea of saffron at the IGNCA complex, with men and women sporting saffron turbans  the colour of Shivajis flag  as vocal cries of Jai Shivaji, Jai Bhawani vented the air in a telling eulogy at the event to mark the birth anniversary of the Maratha ruler. Earlier, a grand procession was taken out from the Maharashtra Sadan via Rajpath to the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts lawns. Artists, including those performing the Maharashtrian martial art Mardani khel, performed all through the procession.

Calling him one of the countrys most inspiring figures, who had united people rising above caste and religion, Mr Kovind said: Very few figures have contributed so much and so decisively to Indian history as Shivaji and that too within a short life span of just 50 years... His fight was not for riches but for self-rule (swaraj)... both Hindus and Muslims fought for him under the same flag.

Top military officials, including Army Chief Gen. Bipin Rawat and Navy Chief Adm. Sunil Lanba, were present on the occasion. On the soldierly prowess of the Maratha warrior, the President said it should be studied how he had managed to conquer huge armies with just a small band of men.

On being presented with a large-sized portrait of the 17th century warrior, the President said he had always felt the need for such a portrait at Rashtrapati Bhavan, and now that need too has been met.The probe agency suspects that the three were aware of the fraud but did not take measures to stop it.

PNB officers arrested by the CBI on Monday included Bechhu Tiwari, chief manager incharge of forex department, Yashwant Joshi, manager of forex department, and Praful Sawant, officer export.

New Delhi/Mumbai: As multiple investigating agency launched simultaneous action in the PNB fraud, the CBI on Monday arrested three more officials of Punjab National Banks Brady House branch in Mumbai as part of its investigation into the alleged Rs 11,400 crore scam allegedly involving billionaire diamantaire Nirav Modi and others. The total number of arrests in the case now stands at six. The agency also grilled four senior executives of Nirav Modis company.

PNB officers arrested by the CBI on Monday included Bechhu Tiwari, chief manager incharge of forex department, Yashwant Joshi, manager of forex department, and Praful Sawant, officer export. The probe agency suspects that the three were aware of the fraud but did not take measures to stop it.

The agency on Saturday had arrested three persons, including the banks retired deputy manager Gokulchand Shetty, suspended single window operator Manoj Kharat and Hemant Bhat, the authorised signatory of the Nirav Modi group, in connection with the case.

As part of the multi-agency action in the case, the ED on Monday seized jewellery worth Rs 22 crore following searches at Nirav Modis flat in the posh Samudra Mahal apartments in upmarket Worli in south Mumbai and 38 other locations. The income-tax department attached seven properties of the Gitanjali group and its promoter Mehul Choksi, uncle of Nirav Modi, in Mumbai.

In a related development, Central Vigilance Commissioner K.V. Chowdary met senior officials of PNB and the finance ministry for a briefing by bank officials and action taken by them in the matter. This is not something that can be discussed in public, he told reporters when asked about the meeting.

The government has also ordered the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO)  a specialised unit to probe white collar crimes  to probe around 110 companies and 10 limited liability partnership entities related to Nirav Modi and Choksi, sources said.

On Monday, the CBI also questioned Vipul Ambani, president (finance) of Nirav Modis Firestar Diamond, its chief financial officer Ravi Gupta, and executives Saurabh Sharma and Subhash Parab.

Sharing details on the accused arrested on Monday, CBI sources said, Mr Tiwary, who was arrested on Monday, was responsible for supervising the work of now-retired Mr Shetty and he had full knowledge of the activities of Mr Shetty.

Mr Joshi was responsible for supervising Mr Shetty and ensure daily reports of Swift entries and he had full knowledge of the activities of the latter but took no action.

Banks across the world use Swift, or Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications, a messaging network for securely transmitting information and instructions for all financial transactions through a standardized system of codes.

CBI sources said that Mr Sawant was responsible for checking the Swift messages daily and preparing the report of the PNBs branch.

The agency sleuths decided to arrest the three when they gave conflicting answers during questioning, sources said.

Fearing the likelihood of sabotage to the data in the PNBs Brady House branch, CBI had briefly sealed the premises late on Sunday. The step was taken after rummaging through the documents and records. The seal was removed on Monday after a team of CBI investigators landed there around noon.

Investigators are also questioning several bank officials who were posted at the branch during the period when 143 letters of undertaking (LOUs) were issued by the PNB.

Meanwhile, the ED conducted searches at more than 39 locations across India, including 10 in Mumbai and seized valuables worth Rs 22 crore in the multi-crore money laundering case.

The ED is now in the process of ascertaining the market value of the seized items with the help of valuers from other banks. The value of seized items, including diamond-studded jewellery and other ornaments, is expected to be around Rs 5,100 crore.

The intricate details pertaining to the properties where the raids were conducted will come from income-tax department, said a senior ED officer.

Seeking to address concerns of other banks, PNB said that it will honour all its bonafide commitments under the LoUs and foreign letters of credit (FLCs) in connection the Rs 11,400 crore fraud case. We will honour all our bonafide commitments under LoUs and FLCs as per law of the land and as per specific existing guidelines of regulator i.e. RBI on LOUs and FLCs, said PNB.Victim was raped at a hotel on Feb 7 after being served a cold drink laced with a sedative. One of accused's accomplices made the video.

The victim lodged a complaint on Friday after which Mehtab was arrested on Sunday. She has also named three other persons in the complaint. (Representational Image)

Ghaziabad: A man was arrested in Ghaziabad for allegedly raping an under-graduate girl and making a video of the act with the help of his accomplice, police said.

The victim lodged a complaint on Friday after which Mehtab was arrested on Sunday. She has also named three other persons in the complaint, they said.

She was raped at a hotel on February 7 after being served a cold drink laced with a sedative. One of Mehtab's accomplices made the video, SHO, Sihani Gate, Vinod Kumar Pandey.

The victim also alleged that Mehtab had threatened her that if she did not marry him by changing her religion, he would post the video online, the officer said.

On February 15, Mehtab snatched her mobile and threw her out from a moving auto. The next day she lodged a complaint, the SHO said.

The matter is being probed, the officer said.The video grab also caught Mr Mishra bathing some students of the school and even scrubbing their feet.

Bhopal: There can perhaps be no cheaper and better promotional exercise than this. A BJP MP from Madhya Pradesh visits a school in his constituency and then suddenly enters the toilet which he finds clogged.

As his personal camera follows him, he inserts his bare hands inside the toilet without any hesitation to clear the soils stuck in the pit.

During a recent visit to a school in Rewas Khajuha village, Rewa Janardan Misra learnt that the students havent been able to use the schools toilet as it was clogged. The MP immediately rolled up his sleeves, sat on his haunches and began clearing the blockage with his bare hands. He then uploads the video of his cleanliness drive on his Twitter account, drawing media attention.

The video released on Twitter showed Mr Mishra dipping his bare hands into the toilet to unclog it of the soils stuck inside despite being pleaded by people, not seen in the clip, to stop doing this.

Mr Mishra was then seen in the clip flushing water into the toilet to check if it started functioning.

The video grab also caught Mr Mishra bathing some students of the school and even scrubbing their feet.

Apparently to project himself as a die-hard supporter of Prime Minister Narendra Modis pet programme, Swachchh Bharat Abhiyan, he was seen in the video clip clipping grown finger nails of the students and giving them sermons on hygiene.A few days ago, Delhi Congress president Ajay Maken and Dikshit addressed their first joint press conference after the 2015 drubbing.

New Delhi: Veteran Congress leader Sheila Dikshit has said that she will always stand by her party even though the top leadership ignored her for a long time and denied her any big role in electoral campaigns.

The three-time former Delhi chief minister said she was named the partys star campaigner in elections that came after the 2013 Assembly polls, but was not given any big responsibility for canvassing and that she never complained.

I do what I am told. I belong to Congress and the Congress is my party. I can do anything for Congress. They ignored me for years but I never complained, the 79-year-old leader added.

A few days ago, Delhi Congress president Ajay Maken and Ms Dikshit addressed their first joint press conference after the 2015 drubbing.

Before this press conference, Mr Maken came to my house three or four times, requesting me to join the media briefing, she said.

There is no dilemma in my mind. We have to work for the Congress. I dont have personal issues with anyone. I went there to do something good for the party and the results were good too. But when elections were held they did not call me, Ms Dikshit said.

She said the party leaders need to understand that we are fighting the Opposition. They have to understand that our enemy is not Congress. Our enemy is the Opposition. The day theyll understand this thing, everything will be all right, Ms Dikshit said.

Recently, former Delhi Congress chief Arvinder Singh Lovely rejoined the party months after he quit to join the BJP. Mr Lovely is believed to be a close aide of Ms Dikshit.

When she was asked about the AAP government in Delhi, Ms Dikshit said, Either you will see their advertisements or youll see them talking about their work. But the ground reality is very different.

The party did not fulfill its promise of providing free water and cheaper electricity to Delhis citizens. Arvind Kejriwal has been exposed, she said.U.S. District Judge Carolyn Ellsworth also ordered he pay $600.

LAS VEGAS: A 66-year-old Las Vegas man who reported his car had been stolen after arranging to have it destroyed has been sentenced to one to three years in prison for insurance fraud.

Daniel Harris was convicted earlier of filing false claims with American Bankers Insurance and Hartford Insurance.

Harris reported in 2015 that his 2008 PT Cruiser had been burglarized by a thief who made off with a laptop computer, an Apple iPod Touch and dozens of compact discs. Nearly a year later, he claimed the car had been stolen.

U.S. District Judge Carolyn Ellsworth also ordered Harris to pay $600 in restitution to Hartford for rental expenses and $750 to the state for investigative costs.

Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt says it should serve as a warning to others theyll be prosecuted if they try to dupe insurance companies.Accused fled from police custody while coming out of hospital OPD.

In the aftermath of this daring escape, the capital has been put on high alert and vigil at border areas has been tightened. (Representational image)

New Delhi: An alleged criminal escaped from police custody after reportedly throwing chilli powder at three police personnel in a government hospital in Central Delhi on Monday.

The incident took place when Sandeep Dhillon While coming out from the outpatient department, Sandeep reportedly threw red chilli powder in the eyes of the policemen and escaped. The cops also opened fire in an attempt to nab the criminal but the latter fled, said the police.

Sandeep was arrested in 2015 on the charges of committing murder and assault. He was brought to Maulana Azad Medical College (MAMC) for a dental check-up after being referred from the doctors of Mandoli Jail, where he was lodged for the past two years.

Four men, suspected to be Neeraj Bawana gang members, reportedly threw chilli powder at three cops and took away Sandeep, while he leaving the hospital after his medical examination.

The accused first threw chilli powder at the three policemen from the Third Battalion of the Delhi armed police. The policemen opened fire at them, but they fled along with the prisoner, convicted in a murder case. In light of this act, the police personnel escorting the undertrial have been suspended, said a senior police officer.

In the aftermath of this daring escape, the capital has been put on high alert and vigil at border areas has been tightened.

Confirming the incident, DCP (Third Battalion) D.K.S. Singh said, Undertrial prisoner Sanjay alias Dhillu was convicted in a murder case and since the has been serving time in Mandoli Jail. He had visited the OPD of Maulana Azad Institute of Dental Sciences for treatment on February 9 and was advised to visit again on February 19. On Monday, he was brought to the hospital under the supervision of assistant sub inspector Braj Mohan, assistant SI Naresh Pal, and head constable Yogendra in a vehicle provided by jail authorities.

When Sandeep, along with the police guard, was coming out of the hospital after consulting the doctor at 11.20 am, his associates threw chilli powder at the police personnel and managed to free Sanjay from police custody. The police party fired four rounds, but they managed to escape, he added.

A senior police officer said, At MAMC, while Braj Mohan and Yogendra took Dhillon to the doctor, Naresh Pal waited in the vehicle parked outside. Around 11.30 am, when the two cops stepped out of the hospital building and were heading towards the police vehicle, four men appeared on two motorcycles and threw chilli powder on Mohan and Yogendra.They had booked an OLA cab (WB19G2029) driven by Sujay Gharami (21), a resident of Tollygunge.

Kolkata: An engineering student was killed while four persons, including three fellows of the victim, were injured in a road accident on EM Bypass on Sunday morning. The four students of the Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology (IIEST) were travelling in an app-cab from the Shibpur campus in Howrah to appear at an examination for higher studies in Rajarhat.

They had booked an OLA cab (WB19G2029) driven by Sujay Gharami (21), a resident of Tollygunge. At around 6.50 am the cab, on its way to Chingrihata crossing at a high speed, lost control while passing through Moila Khal Bridge over a small canal near Metropolitan bus-stop in Pragati Maidan area.

It hit the road divider leaving its driver and four passengers: Sayantan Biswas (21), Sudan Pandey (22), Subhadeep Pradhan (24) and Mohammed Parvez (20) critically injured. They were rushed to Calcutta National Medical College and Hospital (CNMCH) where Sujay was admitted with head injuries. Others were referred to Medica Superspeciality Hospital.

With facial injuries Sayantan, from Krishnanagar in Nadia, died there. Sudan, with right knee and waist line injuries; Subhadeep with knee injuries and Parvez with minor injuries are undergoing treatment. While Sudan is from Ban-kura Town, Subhadeep is from Egra in West Midna-pore with Parvez being from Nalhati in Birbhum. The police impounded the damaged cab. A case has been initiated on rash driving charge.

Sayantans family, however, alleged of medical negligence in his treatment at CNMCH. His father Dr Sujit Biswas claimed that his son was referred without any treatment. It was inhuman that my son was referred elsewhere without being given any resuscitation, stabilisation and any life-support. Those, if they were doctors, who referred him, it would have been better had they not been in medical studies.

He said, They can do many harmful incidents. Its not only parents lost their son, the youth lost his life also. It can happen to others. Rejecting his allegations CNMCH medical superintendent Pitbaran Chakraborty reasoned that Sayantan was treated before his family chose to shift him to another hospital by signing a bond. Three hours after the accident, a man was knocked down by a motorcycle on Ambedkar Bridge on EM Bypass.

Bibhuti Ojha (60) from Jhargram was crossing the road at around 10.30 am when the two-wheeler dashed him. He was declared brought dead at CNMCH. Rwichik Patitundi (18) and Sawli Kanjilal (17), who were travelling in the motorbike, were injured also.

In another accident involving an app-cab, the driver of Uber cab was run over by a truck in Hastings. Pitambar Yadav (35) was found lying beside his cab on AJC Bose Road ramp of Vidyasagar Setu near RCTC at around 1.30 am. He was declared brought dead at SSKM Hospital.Mahindra also announced a Rs 1,700 crore film-centric tourism venture at suburban Goregaon.

MUMBAI: Some of the industrialists and business honchos from the constellation present at Magnetic Maharashtra on Sund-ay made a few announcements for the city and also offered suggestions on improving its business friendliness. Ratan Tata, former chairman of Tata Sons, said the present scenario for industries to invest in Maharashtra is excellent while Anand Mahindra, chairman of the Mahindra Group, warned that Mumbai is a vibrant city but a double-edged sword if not managed properly.

Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries Ltd, announced that his company was going to invest Rs 60,000 crore for an integrated industrial corridor near Mumbai. Richard Branson, chairman Virgin Hyperloop One, has signed a MoU with Maharashtra to start a hyperloop  a proposed mode of passenger and freight transportation, first used to describe an open-source vactrain design released by a joint team from Tesla and SpaceX  between Mumbai and Pune. The hyperloop will reduce the distance and commuters can reach their destination in 15-20 minutes. It can carry 150 million passengers per year with a speed of 1,000 km per hour. It can make India a pioneer in global hyperloop transport and help reduce accidents, Mr Branson said.

Recalling that the Tata Group was set up in Maharashtra first, Mr Tata urged investors to come here. A few years back the situation was different. Industrial growth surpassed the states ability to provide infrastructure. Now the situation has changed and this place is vibrant again. It is well connected with roads and air services. The future of Maharashtra is a very rosy one, said the noted industrialist, investor and philanthropist.

Mr Mahindra, on the other hand, said that Mumbai should be managed properly. Maharashtra has two poles of strength: rural areas and Mumbai. The CM initiated to transform 1000 villages into model villages. Mr CM, also tell us about your vision for Mumbai. Mumbai is a commercially exciting place and a jewel. But its a double-edged sword and if mismanaged, it will lead to investors turning away, he said.

Mr Mahindra also announced a Rs 1,700 crore film-centric tourism venture at suburban Goregaon.16-metre-wide foot over-bridge will ease rush at Parel.

Mumbai: The Central Railway (CR) on Sunday installed nine girders for the new 16-metre wide foot-over- bridge (FOB) at Parel station. The CR observed a mega block between Kalyan and Thane stations on Sunday in order to complete the girder work launch of brand new Foot Over Bridge at Parel. The mega block was between 8.30am and 3.30 pm. The south-bound (Up) fast line was completely blocked. According to officials, Parel station records footfall of around 1.5 lakh commuters on a daily basis, while the Elphinstone Road station sees around 2 lakh commuters daily.

The Parel power and traffic block for girder installation was completed successfully and normal services on Up and Down fast line started at 3.23 pm, well before the schedule time of the block, which was supposed to be till 4.30 pm. The construction organisation of CR did an excellent work, said Sunil Udasi, chief PRO of CR. The girders were laid to the eastern end of the Parel station between platform number 3 and 4. The block was supposed to stay till eight hours, but the work got done fast. According to CR, the fast line services were diverted to Up slow lines between Matunga and Byculla stations during the block.

During the block, all Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT)-bound express trains including Deccan Queen, Sewagram Express, Sahyadri Express, Panchwati express, Sinhagad express etc were diverted to Up slow corridors during the block and hence these trains were 15-20 minutes late.

The block was initially decided for the Kalyan-Thane Up slow line services, but it was cancelled on Sunday. Also, the mega block on the Harbour line was cancelled.

Earlier, this month, the army completed the work of 12-metre wide FOB at Elphinstone Road station. The army was called to construct the FOB after 23 people lost their lives in the stampede at the Elphinstone Road station FOB on September 29, 2017. The new FOB is 240-feet long and 12-metre wide. It is made of high carbonate steel. The FOB was installed to service the increasing number of commuters as the station serves commuters from both the CR and Western Railways.The retired deputy branch managers statement has brought the role of the then branch manager under the scanner.

Mumbai: The retired deputy branch manager of Punjab National Bank (PNB), arrested for aiding and abetting diamond businessman Nirav Modi, claimed during his custodial interrogation that issuance of fraudulent Letter of Undertakings (LOUs) was a regular affair in the bank. He added that several officers in the past had also issued fraudulent LOUs. The retired deputy branch managers statement has brought the role of the then branch manager under the scanner.

However, the accused former deputy manager Gokulnath Shetty has not revealed any names to the investigators, CBI officials said.

The probe has also revealed that the conniving officer also issued foreign letter of credit (FLC) by entering smaller amounts in the trade finance module of the Core Banking System (CBS) to generate a reference number.

After the reference number was generated, Shetty and Manoj Kharat, a single window operator from the same Brady House branch in south Mumbai, would then send a swift message to the overseas bank branches of Axis Bank and Allahabad Bank in Hong Kong to raise funds.

However, subsequently, they would send a modified swift message with exorbitant and highly inflated amounts under the same reference numbers to the banks without making any change in the trade finance module of CBS.

We are currently verifying the roles of at least half a dozen bank employees who allegedly colluded with the accused employees. The fraudulent practices could not have gone unnoticed by the branch manager either. His role is also being verified, said a CBI officer, who is privy to the investigation.Modi also said that infrastructure projects worth Rs 10 lakh crore are already in progress in India.

Mumbai: Claiming his government is working hard towards completing projects in a time-bound manner, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that the Navi Mumbai airport would be completed on time. The earlier government had the habit of latakana, atakana and bhatakana, (to keep hanging, thwarting and misleading), but my government is committed to keeping its word, said Mr Modi in Navi Mumbai on Sunday.

He was speaking after laying the foundation stone of Navi Mumbai International Airport and dedicating the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trusts (JNPT) 4th phase to the nation.

Taking a potshot at former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, Mr Modi claimed, A greenfield airport with such huge capacity is something completely new for India. Nothing of this sort has happened in 70 years in the state. We heard our PM talking about 21st century in the 1980s. But there was only talk. Nothing happened in the aviation sector. Had he done work in this sector, today we would not have faced such hardships. The PM said the aviation sector has grown under his government.

After 60 years, India has 450 private or government planes. But only last year, companies booked 900 planes. You can imagine the growth of the sector," said Mr Modi.

Mr Modi also claimed that he first came to learn about the Navi Mumbai airport project after the PRAGATI model for infrastructure projects was initiated. This was first talked about in 1997 when the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government was in power. I keep holding PRAGATI meetings with Cabinet secretaries of all states. This is happening now, said Mr Modi. He also said that infrastructure projects worth Rs 10 lakh crore are already in progress in India.

Talking about the fourth phase of JNPT, Mr Modi said, This project has been completed within the deadline. This shows our commitment. If we want to rule the world market, we will have to improve our porting capacity. We have almost 5,000 kilometres coastline. The Sagar Mala project aims to explore possibilities in this sector. The Prime Minister also spoke about his governments ambitious plans to explore the possibility of 100 waterways in the country.

Praising the Maharashtra government and chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, Mr Modi said, By 2022, you can imagine how the city and the region will be changed completely. There will be metro, Nhava Sheva Trans Harbour Link, Navi Mumbai airport and sea transport projects, and this will change the face of the city, which hasnt happened in the last 40 years, said Mr Modi.

Shivaji Statue

PM Modi also claimed that Shivaji's statue in Arabian Sea would be completed by 2022. His mentioning the project was the reply to the opposition's criticism over the delay of the project. PM Modi also saluted the Maratha emperor at the start of his speech. Tomorrow is Shivajis birth anniversary. It is great moment for me to be in the district where Shivaji had his capital a day before his birth anniversary. He was a king who had realised the power of sea and thats he built so many sea forts in this region, said Mr Modi.On Sunday evening, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also visited the hospital to meet his former Cabinet colleague.

Mumbai: Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu met Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar, who is recuperating from pancreatitis, at Lilavati Hospital, Bandra on Monday. The hospital has denied media reports that Mr Parrikar had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

On Sunday evening, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also visited the hospital to meet his former Cabinet colleague. The vice-president of Lilavati Hospital, Ajaykumar Pande, issued statement denying the rumours and stating that Mr Parrikar was responding well to treatment. It has been brought to our notice, various malicious and misleading reports/rumours are floating around in the electronic/print media with regards to the health of Hon. Chief Minister of Goa (sic), the statement read.

Despite the statement, some reports suggested that Mr Parrikar is suffering from a serious ailment the visits by Mr Modi and Mr Naidu only fuelled the speculation. In fact, the statement by Michael Lobo, deputy speaker and BJP legislator from Goa on Monday that, if the need arises, Mr Parrikar might be shifted to the US has only strengthened speculation.

Meanwhile, in light of reports of Mr Parrikar suffering from pancreatic cancer, senior BJP leader Sunil Desai from Goa has lodged a complaint with the Ponda police on Monday stating that false news about the health of Mr Parrikar was being wrongly attributed to him.

Similarly, CMO of Goa issued a statement, Its a case of mild pancreatitis. The CM is doing well . He is likely to be discharged in a day or two.The members threatened the activists saying that like the author of the book had been murdered, the activists would be murdered too.

The members threatened the activists saying that like the author of the book had been murdered, the activists would be murdered too. (Photo:PTI)

Pune: Four Bajrang Dal members have been arrested and 50 others booked for beating activists who were distributing comrade Govind Pansares book Shivaji Kon Hota at a school in Pune.

The members threatened the activists saying that like the author of the book had been murdered, the activists would be murdered too.

The activists beat up Sharad Pokharkar, org-aniser and coordinator of the Maratha Kranti Morcha, Sambhaji Brig-ade; and his colleagues, Ganesh Bangar and Amol Shelar.

Mr Pokharkar said, We decided to distribute copies of the book Shivaji Kon Hota at Bhairavnath Vidyalaya, on February 17. Howe-ver, the principal of the school was warned not to hold the programme.

On February 18, I received a call from an anonymous caller who wanted to meet me so I invited him to my home. The caller and Rohit Dhumane visited me the same day and started asking why I had distributed the book, before I could explain, they started beating me and my friends. Later, they took me outside where over 50 Bajrang Dal members beat us. They said that the author of the book had been killed and they would kill me too.

Bandopant Ghatage, police inspector, Manc-har, Pune rural police, said, We have booked over 50 unknown people and four known members of Bajarang Dal after a FIR by Mr Pokharkar.The heavy turnout in the byelection was a clue as is the problem of having too many winners in the PML(N) camp.

Allow yourself a little irritation. Forget hate or love for a minute. Whether you love him or hate him or will vote for him to the end of eternity or never in a million years, forget that.

Allow yourself to be a little irritated with Imran. Because, by God, is he annoying. The Lodhran loss could be a blip or it could be confirmation of what many have long suspected  that Imran cant win, doesnt know how to win.

Thats fine. Many have lusted after power, few have achieved it. Imran has over-promised and under-delivered for so long now that a definitive defeat the next time round wouldnt be such a big deal.

At this point, Imran winning may be the bigger surprise. But even in defeat, an impact can be had. So you dont get to be in government or Parliament in large numbers, but theres still a chance to shape the governance agenda or the national discourse.

Kinda like the PPP did with the south-Punjab-province gamble. Knowing it was heading for a walloping in the last election, the PPP tried the ethnic card: vote for us and well give you your own province.

It was all kinds of stupid. Two Punjab provinces would have doubled Punjabs share in the Senate and representation in the CCI, ECP, NFC and sundry federal bodies. It would have given Punjab two high courts, possibly funnelling more Punjab judges to the SC.

If the smaller provinces think they have a bad deal of it right now, two Punjab provinces would have been a whole other headache. But the PPP was desperate, the Seraiki vote was its only chance in Punjab and an election had to be fought.

It did cause a change of sorts, though. Alarmed by the possibility of their prized possession being split and concerned that the separatist genie may be difficult to put back in the bottle, the PML(N) began to take south Punjab seriously.

A decent electoral haul from south Punjab followed and the past four years have been spent pouring money into the region. South Punjab isnt and will never be Lahore, but the political distance between Lahore and south Punjab has shrunk.

The heavy turnout in the byelection was a clue as is the problem of having too many winners in the PML(N) camp. Having too many winners in the same constituency fighting for the same ticket can be a problem, but it's a better problem than having no winners.

So back to Imran. Imagine he disappears and the PTI implodes. Poof, gone, suddenly, all of it. What would the contribution left behind be, to national politics, to what other parties do, to how the system behaves?

Thats whats so irritating about Imran. You cant think of anything.

Its all the more frustrating because of how far hes come. From a party of one hes dragged the PTI all the way to becoming the second largest party in the country. Even now, hes still got a realistic shot at power in a few months. But theres nothing. Nothing durable that the PTI has contributed, by design or accident, to the national game.

Sure, Imran has made anti-corruption his signature message, but by narrowly focusing on Nawaz, and occasionally Zardari, he hasnt moved the needle on systemic corruption.

Its true that Imran has been crude and the PTI got a jump on the social media game with a mocking, ugly tone. But tales of what BB suffered at the hands of the IJI and the PML(N) before the Sharifs became holier-than-thou are hardly forgotten. And the universality of social media ugliness suggests its less the PTI and more the medium that has unleashed wretchedness globally.

Up and down and through the PTI agenda you can sift and search and theres nothing really that Imran has added to politics here. Theres nothing even that Imran has forced the PML(N) to change tack on.

Unless Nawaz barnstorming the country like Imran is considered a change. Given the success Nawaz seems to be having with it, if you were the PTI youd probably rather that Nawaz hadnt taken to matching jalsa for jalsa.

Electoral reforms were the great possibility. But once it became clear that the PML(N) wasnt about to be ousted, Imran lost interest in electoral reforms. In the end, the electoral reforms package was overshadowed by the Nawaz-as-party-president clause and the repulsive character who arrived in Faizabad.

So vote for PTI or dont vote for PTI, love Imran or hate Imran. But also allow yourself a little irritation. Because for all the noise Imran has made, for all the votes hes won, for all the disruption hes caused, hes managed to achieve virtually nothing.

He doesnt seem to know how to win nor has he forced, directly or indirectly, deliberately or unwittingly, positive change in anyone else or the system itself. Its annoying, irritating and exhausting.

By arrangement with DawnAs a major victim of cross-border terrorism and the accompanying scourge of terror financing, India is a member state of the Paris-based secretariat.

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an inter-governmental body comprising 35 nations and two regional organisations (European Union and Gulf Cooperation Council), was set up to set standards and promote effective implementation of legal, regulatory and operational measures for combating money-laundering, terror financing and other related threats to the integrity of the international financial system. Initially set up to counter the menace of international money-laundering, it has expanded its scope to incorporate efforts to combat terror financing.

As a major victim of cross-border terrorism and the accompanying scourge of terror financing, India is a member state of the Paris-based secretariat. While FATF findings are in the realm of recommendations, it sets the sovereign standards on the required transparencies and measures for handling the terror-financing infrastructure. A definitive outcome of the FATF workings is the dynamic black and gray list of countries that are designated non-cooperative in the global fight against money-laundering and terror financing.

Pakistan was put in the gray list in February 2012 and remained there for the next three years. It was taken out from the watchlist only after it showed certain concrete steps to address the issue. In 2015, Pakistans then finance minister Ishaq Dar aggressively made a case with corrective initiatives and actions taken to address the twin menace of money-laundering and curbing terror financing. It showcased its intent and will on the matter with the National Action Plan  this followed the deadly Peshawar school attack, when the unacknowledged consequences of playing with terror ricocheted on the country. Besides speedy trials, capital punishment and sanctioning military actions against terror organisations, it had sought a clampdown on the sophistry of terror financing, fronts for terrormonies and disallowing the chicanery of different names for terror organisations. Over a period of time, the patented Pakistani instinct of a dual approach, when it came to the differential slotting of Pakistan facing terror groups (such as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan), as opposed to India facing ones (Hafiz Saeeds Lashkar-e-Tayyaba or Jamaat-ud-Dawa) or Afghan facing ones (Haqqani Network), set in seamlessly.

The benign charade of allowing terror outfits to merrily change names to avoid official action is the worst kept secret in Pakistan  as when Hafiz Saeed dreaded Lashkar-e-Tayyaba became JuD , and later when the heat increased it got renamed once again, to Tehreek Azadi Jammu and Kashmir! In June 2014, the United States declared Jamaat-ud-Dawa as an affiliate of Lashkar-e-Tayyaba. Similarly, the group behind the attacks in Uri and Pathankot, Jaish-e-Mohammed, changed its name to Khuddam-ul-Islam! The officially sanctified and overt running of the uber-puritanical seminaries by these groups and the routine fund collection drives have not gone unnoticed. More so, as the Afghan-facing groups, that have received protection and cover from the ISI (like India-facing groups), have directly hit US interests, assets and lives in Afghanistan. As an Afghan diplomat in the US tweeted after the deadly attack that had Pakistani-beneficence written all over it: The night vision goggles found with Taliban attackers in Maiwands ANA base were military-grade goggles (not sold to the public) procured by Pakistan Army from a British company and supplied to the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba in Kashmir and Taliban in Afghanistan. Lashkar-e-Tayyaba is an international terrorist organization.

The exact same sentiment was echoed by Indias defence minister on the incontrovertible support afforded by Pakistan in the wake of the Sunjwan camp attack: Definitely evidence will be given, as always, to Pakistan. And yes, Pakistan, in spite of us giving dossiers after dossiers, has not taken any action. On the contrary, we find people who were directly responsible for the Mumbai terror attacks and many others are still free and happily roaming in Pakistan.

The chorus for punitive action against Islamabads deceitfulness is growing internationally, and the United States, Britain, France and Germany have jointly proposed a motion to put Pakistan under a global terror financing watchlist once again. With the impending plenary session of FATF to be held in Paris from February 21 to 23, the humiliating threat of getting blacklisted once more is very real for Pakistan. The ignominy of getting proposed by four countries jointly is unique and a first-time-ever. It points towards the gravity of accusations on Pakistans patent behaviour.

As expected, Pakistan has been consistently brazen and is trying to pint a finger at New Delhi, accusing it of pulling strings from behind the scenes, even though diplomats at the US embassy in Islamabad have bluntly refuted this by saying absolutely not!

While Pakistan is working feverishly with China, the GCC countries, Turkey and even Russia in a bid to muster the numbers against the gray list possibilities, its domestic nervousness is displayed by a flurry of political and administrative activities to complete the few outstanding actions. Pakistan President Mamnoon Hussain passed a sudden ordinance to amend the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 which seeks to ban all those individuals or groups that get designated as terrorists by the United Nations. Almost immediately, the action of seizing moveable and immoveable assets of Hafiz Saeeds ensued, with the government taking over the seminaries, offices and other facilities, besides confiscating donation boxes. The and Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation, which are a charity cover for Hafiz Saeeds LeT, the group behind the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, had earlier led the US to place a $10 million bounty on Hafiz Saeeds arrest. However, Pakistan had stayed smug and complicit in allowing him a free run. Former Pakistan

dictator Pervez Musharraf had infamously called himself the biggest supporter of both Hafiz Saeed and his JuD!

But with several countries calling the Pakistani bluff on its terror record, its interior minister Ahsan Iqbals recent statement  no country in the world has made as many sacrifices and as much contribution towards fighting terrorism [as Pakistan] in the last years  falls short of credibility. The Damocles sword hangs over the Pakistani government as the chickens come home to roost over Pakistans hypocritical stand on terror.The enemy can compel the less advanced nation to do what it wants, without much violence.

The last major war between two states was fought 15 years ago. Saddam Hussein was defeated by George W. Bush in 2003 in a one-sided engagement (I am referring here to the initial invasion and not the occupation). The Iraqis had not received modern equipment for many years, and their outdated tanks and fighter jets were no match for American military power. Though both sides went to war with almost equal numbers of soldiers, about 350,000 each, the American casualties were 1/10th that of the Iraqi side, because their equipment was much better.

The military hardware that nations spend so much money on usually is used to buy equipment for war between nations, meaning tanks, ships and planes. For example, Indias defence budget this year includes over `1 lakh crore for such hardware alone. It has become very obvious to most experts of military strategy that this is materiel that is almost certainly never going to be used except for things like our Republic Day parade. The next modern war between two major nations will be as different from the Iraq war of 2003 as the Iraq war was from the Battle of Plassey in 1757. To understand this we need to ask ourselves what war actually is. A war between states happens when one side is convinced it can compel the other side through force to do what it wants.

However, getting the other side to do something can also happen without violence at all. The intelligence agencies of the United States have said that Russia meddled with the American presidential election of 2016. Vladimir Putin wanted Hillary Clinton to lose and Donald Trump to win. There is also the accusation that Mr Trump may have colluded with the Russians in this meddling. This is still being investigated but what is not in doubt is that Mr Putin and his spies meddled and influenced the American election, perhaps decisively.

On Friday, February 16, Mr Trumps justice department charged 13 Russians, most from a group called Internet Research Agency in St Petersburg, Russia. They set up social media accounts on a virtual private network that made it appear that these accounts were being operated from America while they were actually in Russia. The Americans believe that these accounts, on which Mr Putin spent less than `2 crore, helped decide the election in Mr Trumps favour. Why did Russia want Mr Trump to win? Because Ms Clinton would have used sanctions and other means of limiting Russias influence in the world. Without going to war against America, Mr Putin got what he wanted.

I am writing this because of what the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sanghs chief Mohan Bhagwat has said about war. Mr Bhagwat said that the RSS could mobilise in three days a force that it could send to the border, though, according to him, the Indian Army would take six months to do the same thing. This was attacked as being anti-Army but I am not going there. My concern is: what does Mr Bhagwat think his militia will do once it is at the border? Does he think, perhaps because of having seen some documentaries of the 1962 war, that the Chinese will come rushing down the mountains with rifles in their hands? And if so what does Mr Bhagwat imagine his Sangh followers will do that will protect Mother India?

The RSS shakhas drill the cadre regularly with some physical activity and singing of patriotic songs. This is not the sort of training that is useful even for a war fought 100 years ago, forget today. Modern military drill training for infantry is about 400 years old and has evolved over the centuries. It is in 2018, in the era of guided missiles, totally useless.

In a war against a modern nation, our vulnerability will arise not from a lack of volunteers to fight  the Indian Army is one of the largest in the world  or from a lack of equipment, meaning not enough tanks or planes. It will be a vulnerability from a lack of technology, which is usually fatal. An advanced nation will focus on disabling the enemys communications. A shutting down of the Internet will cripple any modern nation today in a way that Iraq could not have been in 2003. The banking system would collapse, and bring the nation to its knees in hours. Internal communications would become so chaotic as to produce panic and disorder. Even purely militarily, just the attack on communications from the outside would defang a nation. For example, the reliance on global positioning systems, which are controlled by the Americans, for aeroplanes and missiles will make them vulnerable, if not useless. Having millions of individuals prepared to martyr themselves will not be of much help. The enemy can compel the less advanced nation to do what it wants, without much violence. This is the way of warfare today, and if this has not been understood it is not because of a want of information, it is because of ignorance.

I thought I should write about this because we should be aware that this is the quality of thinking that informs the RSS, and its products, including our Prime Minister. It is very primitive and simplistic. It may be burning with patriotism and one doesnt doubt the intent. It is the quality that is alarming.Gregory Kyle Seerden, 32, an honoured navy SEAL who served in Iraq and Afghanistan will spend 27 years in prison.

Gregory Seerdens public defender has stated that the Navy SEAL himself had been abused as a child and has cited injuries and trauma during service as possible reasons for his instability. (Representational Image)

Gregory Kyle Seerden, 32, an honoured navy SEAL who served in Iraq and Afghanistan will spend 27 years in prison for several accounts of sexual abuse and for admitting to sexually abusing a 5-year-old family member.

According to the Washington Post, Norfolk federal court sentenced Seerden to almost the maximum sentence, which is 30 years.

Tracy Doherty-McCormick, in her first public statement since becoming acting US attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia said, "Gregory Seerden victimized a childAs this prosecution makes clear, the United States will seek to hold accountable anyone who sexually exploits our most vulnerable citizens."

In January 2017 a female acquaintance accused him of sexual assault at a naval base after a night out. Seerden who was stationed in San Diego was in Virgina with his family at the time for holidays.

Following the accusations, Navy investigators went through Seerdens phone where they discovered that the officer was in possession of child pornography.

A detailed forensic investigation further revealed objectionable videos, including four in which Seerden himself was seen sexually abusing a 5-year-old family member in her sleep. Seerden was sleeping in the same room as his victim and recorded the act just a day before the alleged assault.

Earlier, investigations carried out by the Navy unearthed that Seerden had abused another family member in San Diego, 2014 when she was 7. The investigations were dropped as the mother was reluctant to pursue the case. However, in 2017 again, the case was reopened after his arrest.

Seerdens public defender has stated that the Navy SEAL himself had been abused as a child and has cited injuries and trauma during service as possible reasons for his instability.

Seerdens mother, in a letter to the court wrote, "After some rough times in his adolescent period, Kyle enlisted in the Navy. When he came back from Afghanistan he was hurting inside but still trying to be himselfSome of his friends were lost and others severely injured and it seemed to really impact him. However, it was his experience in Iraq that I believe really changed him."

Seerden will pay an additional USD 10,000 fine and serve 25 years of supervised release, over and above his sentence.The attack carried out by a 22 year-old. Faithful targeted at the end of the Maslenitsa festival. Dagestan is a Muslim majority republic. In 2015 ISIS created the "Caucasian province" of the fundamentalist group.

Moscow (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Five women have been killed in an attack by militants of the Islamic State in Russia. Yesterday afternoon, at the end of the Sunday service, an attacker armed with a shotgun opened fire on the faithful coming out of the Orthodox Church of Kizlyar, in the predominantly Islamic Caucasian Republic of Dagestan. The spokesman of the Orthodox Patriarch Kirill condemned the attack, calling it a "monstrous crime" that aims to "provoke conflict between Orthodox Christians and Muslims" in the North Caucasus.

Pavel, a local priest, told the RBK agency the moment of the attack: " We had finished the mass and were beginning to leave the church. A bearded man ran towards the church shouting 'Allahu Akbar' (God is greatest) and killed four people". Another five people were injured in the attack, including a policeman and a national guard soldier. The terrorist, identified as Khalil Khalilov, 22 and resident in the republic, was "eliminated" by the police.

The gesture was claimed by the ISIS fundamentalists, who published the news on Telegram, an online messaging platform, and then also on Amaq, the official communication organ of the Caliphate. The militant acted during the celebrations of the Maslenitsa, an Orthodox festival held in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine in the week preceding Lent.

The Republic of Dagestan, bordering Chechnya, is one of the poorest and most troubled regions of Russia. Numerous rebels fled to Syria to join the militants of the Islamic State. In 2015 ISIS announced that it had created a "Caucasian province" of its fundamentalist group in the region.by Sumon Corraya

Christian tribal organisations organised a protest in the capital, but police prevented them from doing so in front of the National Museum to censor the fact that soldiers raped two sisters.

Dhaka (AsiaNews)  About a hundred ethnic Garo Christians have protested in Dhaka. They complain that they are the victims of attacks designed to "steal our land".

The demonstration took place on Saturday and was organised by Bangladesh Garo Chattro Shangothan (Bagachas) and student associations.

"We want these criminals arrested, Bagachas president Alik Mree told AsiaNews. If the police do not act, we will organise an even bigger demonstration next week."

In Bangladesh, a predominantly Muslim country where Bengalis are the ethnic majority, members of minorities are frequently the victims of attacks and land grabs.

The latest incident took place on 13 February in Vatara, a district in the capital Dhaka, when 30 people attacked a Christian Garo family of five and robbed their home.

Three people were injured in the violence. One of them, Rita Rema, filed a complaint against Shima Begum, Shorifa Islam and the other assailants. "They wanted to rob us of our land and of our store," she said.

The protest brought to light another case of violence against minorities. On January 22nd, two ethnic Marma Hindu sisters aged 19 and 14 were raped by soldiers. The sex crime took place in their home in Rangamati, Chittagong District.

This is why "the military prevented us from demonstrating in front of the National Museum in the Shahbagh area, Alik Mree said. They did not want to know about the rape of the two girls. "

Rita Rema thinks that "those who wanted to seize our land are planning to attack us again. As long as the police does not arrest anyone, criminals will continue to threaten us."

"How long will we be persecuted in this country? she laments. We want answers from the government. We spend days in fear. We want security."The two countries agree on trading palm oil, coffee and tea for Russian fighter jets. Forced by international sanctions, Russia seeks new markets, whilst Indonesia wants to develop the bilateral partnership in tourism, education, energy, technology and aviation.

Jakarta (AsiaNews/Agencies) - The Indonesian government has signed an agreement to buy 11 Sukhoi Su-35 fighter planes (pictured) from Russia.

The contract, signed by both countries' representatives in Jakarta last week (14 February), is worth a total US.14 billion, Indonesia defence ministry spokesman Totok Sugiharto said.

"Two units of Sukhoi jets will be delivered in August 2018," he told the media. Another six will be delivered 18 months after the contract comes into effect, and the final three a further five months later.

The deal involving Russian-made jets for the Indonesia Air Force comes after two years of protracted negotiations, which Indonesian Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu announced on 26 July 2017.

A few days after the minister's statement, Indonesian state trading company PT Perusahaan Perdagangan Indonesia and Russian state conglomerate Rostec signed a preliminary deal to trade the planes for commodities like palm oil and coffee.

Indonesias Trade Ministry added that it wanted to capitalise on international sanctions against Russia over its annexation of the Crimea.

In fact, Trade Minister Enggartiasto Lukita said that sanctions could be good news for his country, since they were forcing Russia to look for new markets.

Indonesia, which had a US$ 411 million trade surplus with Russia in 2016, wants to expand its partnership in a number of sectors, including tourism, education, energy, technology and aviation.The organisations mission is to strengthen coexistence between different groups and create the bases for solidarity between different faiths. To reach this goal, it has developed a Building Resilience and Reconciliation programme for children and educators, which offers a guide for peace and reconciliation for those affected by war in Syria.

Tokyo (AsiaNews)  The 35th Niwano Peace Prize has been awarded to Lebanons Adyan Foundation.

Founded in 2006 by five people  Fadi Daou, Nayla Tabbara, Mireille Matar, Tony Sawma, and Samah Halwany  with different professional and religious (Christian and Muslim) backgrounds, the Foundations mission is to strengthen coexistence between different groups and create contexts and platforms for solidarity between different faiths.

Unity in diversity is Aydans greatest asset. In particular, the organisation has developed the Building Resilience and Reconciliation programme for children and educators, which offers a guide to peace and reconciliation for those affected by war in Syria.

This programme was qualified by the United Nations Special envoy for global education, Gordon Brown, as the real antidote to Islamic State group.

The Niwano Peace Foundation wishes to commend and support Adyans continued service to global peace-building by awarding it the 35th Niwano Peace Prize.

In 2016, a decade after its foundation, Adyan had more than 3,000 members with some 35,000 direct beneficiaries in 29 countries, and exerts great influence in Lebanon, the Middle East and beyond.

The award ceremony will take place in Tokyo, Japan, on 9 May. In addition to an award certificate, Adyan Foundations representatives will receive a medal and twenty million yen.

The nomination process involves about 600 people and organisations, representing 125 countries and many religions, asked to propose candidates.

Nominations are screened by the Niwano Peace Prize International Selection Committee, set up in May 2003 on the twentieth anniversary of the Niwano Peace Prize.

The Committee includes ten religious leaders from various parts of the world, all involved in movements for peace and inter-faith cooperation.

The Niwano Peace Foundation was established in 1978 to contribute to world peace and enhance a culture of peace.

It promotes research and other activities based on a religious spirit and serves the cause of peace in fields such as education, science, religion and philosophy.

The award is named after Nikkyo Niwano, the founder and first president of the Buddhist organisation Rissho Kosei-kai.by Nirmala Carvalho

The Indian nun has a long experience with the Archdiocese of Mumbai. In 2016 Card Gracias chose her as a member of the expert group for child protection. In India, abuses occur in schools and even in orphanages, she notes.

Mumbai (AsiaNews)  Pope Francis has chosen Sister Arina Gonsalves, an Indian nun, to help the Catholic Church protect children and prevent violence against them.

Sister Arina belongs to the congregation of the Religious of Jesus and Mary (RJM), and has a long history of personal involvement with the Archdiocese of Mumbai to protect children.

"I am very honoured for this appointment, she told AsiaNews. It is a great privilege for me to serve and contribute to the universal Church from India."

When her appointment was announced on Saturday, Card Oswald Gracias, archbishop of Mumbai and newly elected president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI) Latin rite, reacted positively.

"I am very happy with the choice of Sister Arina, he said. This way we will have an Indian voice with great experience helping the universal Church. She has been at our side for years and thanks to her experience she will be able to make a notable contribution to the Church."

The Archdiocese of Mumbai set up a Committee for the Protection of Minors in 2016 with the aim of raising awareness about the Protection of Children from the Sexual Offenses Act of 2012, and the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act of 2013.

For Sr Arina, her mission "is to prevent [violence] and protect vulnerable children and adults by raising their awareness. The Catholic Church really wants to help children and we must do everything possible to protect minors.

Sadly, In Indian newspapers we read about child abuse in schools and even in orphanages. We must do everything to protect them."

The nun noted that Card Gracias, who now heads the CBCI, in 2016 " issued guidelines to combat sexual harassment. All this will help the Church's mission to protect children and vulnerable adults."

Sister Arina is among the nine new members of the 16-member Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. Card Sean O'Malley OFM has been confirmed as its chair.

In addition to the Indian nun, the new members include: Prof Benyam Dawit Mezmur (Ethiopia), Hon Neville Owen (Australia), Ms Sinalelea Fe'ao (Tonga), Prof Myriam Wijlens (Netherlands), Prof Ernesto Caffo (Italy), Sr Jane Bertelsen FMDM (UK), Ms Teresa Kettelkamp (US), and Mr Nelson Giovanelli Rosendo Dos Santos (Brazil).

The seven returning members are: Dr Gabriel Dy-Liacco (Philippines), H.E. Mgr Luis Manuel Ali Herrera (Colombia), Fr Hans Zollner SJ (Germany), Prof Hanna Suchocka (Poland), Sr Kayula Lesa RSC (Zambia), Sr Hermenegild Makoro CPS (South Africa), and Mgr Robert Oliver (US).by Stefano Caprio*

The Vaticans latest openings to China resemble the path traced by the old Ostpolitik of Card. Agostino Casaroli. Then as now, the Holy Sees moves have provoked and provoke disagreements, criticism and charges of forgetting the persecuted Church and human rights violations. Casaroli himself had doubts about his effectiveness, although he was eager to implement the dimension of dialogue, rediscovered with the Second Vatican Council. Part One.

Rome (AsiaNews) - In recent months, and perhaps in recent years, the Holy Sees renunciatory and radically negationist approach in its "foreign policy" is prompting more and more questions and perplexities. At times it recalls the Vatican Ostpolitik of the last century, which saw the Church compromising with the most adverse regimes, from Hitler's Nazism to the Soviet Union of Stalin and Chruscev. Even today the Vatican is launching itself headlong into reckless openings and generic acquiescence, of which the most resounding seems to be the possible agreement on the nominations of bishops with post-modern communist China. It had not even bent to this in the Casaroli era.

In reality, the new Catholic partnership with the Russia of Vladimir Putin and Patriarch Kirill, with whom Francis met in the surreal scenario of the Havana airport on February 12, 2016, is no less radical. Unconditional support for Russian politics, which has so greatly scandalized the Ukrainian Greek Catholics, who are in perpetual conflict with Moscow, has naturally integrated itself with the desire of the Russians to regain a lost geo-political centrality, to the detriment of the Vaticans self-denial.

The analogies between the current Vatican policy and last centurys Ostpolitik are noteworthy, but at best partial and perhaps somewhat inconclusive. The Holy See, beginning with the papacy of John XXIII and the Second Vatican Council, decided to renounce a great deal to save a little, but above all to save the future. Today this renunciation seems to be not so much the means, as the aim: to open oneself to an unpredictable future, without assigning a pre-established role to the Church. When it was decided to leave the unbending Cardinals Mindzenty and Slipyj in the confinement of the US embassy or the Ukrainian convent in Rome, and to gloss over the persecutions of Christians to promote the signing of the Helsinki Treaty, the diplomats led by Agostino Casaroli worked to leave Church a space for survival, and perhaps push totalitarian regimes like the Soviet one to reform and abandon conflict with faith and Western civilization.

Post-council and the dialogue

The new season opened by the Second Vatican Council pushed the Catholic Church to dialogue with the Orthodox world and in particular with the Russian Church. Thanks to the Popes John XXIII and Paul VI, to the Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras, to the Russian metropolitan Nikodim and to the Dutch cardinal Willebrands, who led the Secretariat (later Pontifical Council) for the Unity of Christians for 20 years, there was an unrepeatable opening "Season of dialogue". The seal was reached on December 7, 1965, at the conclusion of the Council, with the mutual cancellation of the anathemas between the Catholic and Orthodox Church.

The leadership of the Soviet Union seemed to lukewarmly support these openings, hoping to obtain benefits for their own purposes, and the Russian Orthodox succeeded in forming a group of "dialogue specialists" who coagulated around the charismatic and energetic figure of Metropolitan Nikodim and to his closest collaborators, including the emerging and very young rector of the St. Petersburg Academy Kirill (Gundjaev), the current patriarch of Moscow.

Meanwhile, thanks to the overcoming of strong tensions, at the international level a convergence was created on perspectives of peace and drawing closer of those powers engaged in the "Cold War", linked to the personalities of Presidents Kennedy and Chruchesev and Pope Roncalli: exploiting the propaganda rather than the substance of this convergence, the Soviet leaders launched the slogan of the "struggle for peace" as the great aim of their foreign policy action, and in this sense the international contacts of representatives of the Moscow Patriarchate seemed to offer effective support to the propaganda itself.

This policy of "detente" was also favored by the initiative of some personalities like that of Giorgio La Pira, a Christian Democrat politician then mayor of Florence, a fervent Catholic dedicated to the poor, who personally wrote several letters to Chruscev.

On 25 November 1961, also thanks to the diplomatic efforts of La Pira, a telegram of greetings was sent by Chruchesev for the Pope's 80th birthday. On 7 March 1963 Aleksej Adzubej, son of Chruscev and director of Izvestija, visited Pope John with his wife Rada, daughter of the PCUS secretary. Paul VI then met Soviet Foreign Minister Andrej Gromyko at the United Nations (October 4, 1965), and then met him again when Gromyko accompanied Soviet President Nikolai Podgornyj on a visit to the Vatican in February 1967, November 1970, February 1974 and June 1975.

The Ostpolitik of Card. Casaroli

Seizing the opportunity offered by international political openings in those years, Vatican diplomacy essentially aligned itself with the line of the European Ostpolitik launched by the German chancellor Willy Brandt. The great interpreter of this phase was Cardinal Agostino Casaroli, as a simple official and later a leader of Vatican diplomacy, who led the Holy See in opening a dialogue with the atheist regimes of Eastern Europe throughout the transition from the post-council until the gorbachevian perestroika. In 1963 he participated in the United Nations Conference on Consular Relations in Vienna, signing the relevant convention on behalf of the Holy See. Departing from Vienna, he made, at the Pope's behest, two trips to Budapest and Prague to resume contacts with the communist governments that had been interrupted for years. On 4 July 1967 he was appointed secretary of the Congregation for Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs, which the following year, in 1968, will assume the new name of the Council for Public Affairs of the Church. On the 16th he was ordained bishop by Paul VI in the Vatican Basilica. In 1971 he went to Moscow for the first time. In July 1979 he was created cardinal by John Paul II and appointed Secretary of State. In 1988 he participated in the celebrations for the Millennium of the Baptism of Rus', where he met Mikhail Gorbachev. On December 1, 1990 he resigned, and died in 1998.

Achille Silvestrini was one of his closest collaborators since the early days and who later became cardinal and today Prefect emeritus of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches. He describes the approach and hopes with which he gave life to the new Vatican policy of those years: It is a fact that for all the years of the Ostpolitik there was a close and pressing confrontation in the Church, moved by the dramatic question that periodically emerged. This confrontation was played not on the trench positions to which the Church was obliged, but on the level of ecclesial 'political' options ... The challenge was whether it would benefit the Church more to counter communism with a resistance to the bitter end, or if this resistance , firm in the principles, admitted limited agreements on possible and honest things. It was debated whether the negotiation could create breathing space for religious life or whether this would only be an illusion exploited by regimes to lend themselves prestige without lasting results for the Church". Casaroli himself found himself interpreting, with all the ductility of an excellent diplomat and the sincere faith of a great man of the Church, the directives of three popes, very different in temperament, but united in their trust in the "dialogue of charity", "and untiring in their dedication to the" martyrdom of patience ". Educated in the solid realism of the ecclesiastical tradition, he was already questioning the first openings of John XXIII: "Illusion? Or if it is founded, although tenuous, the hope of new possibilities for the Church? What, precisely, was going through the soul of a pontiff in which, at the end of a long life, the natural optimism, the almost incorrigible trust in the fundamental goodness of man seemed to unite in an almost prophetic vision that surpassed, without excluding or depreciating them, the rational analyzes of experience and diplomacy? "(quotations taken from Casaroli Agostino, Il martirio della pazienza. La Santa Sede e i paesi comunisti (1963-89), Turin 2000).

(End of Part One)

* Professor of History and Russian Culture at the Pontifical Oriental Institute of Romeby John

Catholics of the unofficial Church complain that the "imminent" agreement between Rome and Beijing on the appointment of bishops forgets all the persecutions that the Christian communities are subject to. A criticism also to Msgr. Giuseppe Wei Jingyi, who - according to the author - is "underground in name but not in nature. The repentant bishops show "repentance" only in private, but continue government policy in public.

Beijing (AsiaNews) - The news of an "imminent" agreement between China and the Holy See on how to appoint bishops is arousing tensions, debates and the taking of positions among the official and unofficial Chinese Catholics (underground). Above all, the campaign in favor of signing the agreement that some media have undertaken to convince the world the benefits of a deal and perhaps even to convince China, which so far has not expressed itself, is being targeted. Several speeches criticize the fact that this campaign has silenced the voice of the unofficial Church. The following article, received from AsiaNews, is from an underground Catholic of China, known to us, who signs with the pseudonym "John".

"Beware of false prohpets, who come to you in sheeps clothing, but underneath are ravenous wolves. By their fruits you will know them, Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Just so, every good tree bears good fruit and a rotten tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit nor can a rotten tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. So by their fruits you will know them" (Matthew 7, 15-19).

Before starting, I wanted to mention this biblical passage to remember what is happening or is about to happen. We know nothing, but it seems in a single evening, the mass media are transforming or are making "a package" of the underground Church [that is they are packaging an image to be used - ed.].

Reading the article China, the underground bishop: we will follow the Pope, because we trust the Lord", I would like to thank the author because he put quotation marks on "underground" to describe this Chinese bishop of Qiqihar [this is Msgr. Giuseppe Wei Jingyi, interviewed by Vatican Insider, on February 16th last]. All this is really ridiculous: this so-called underground bishop is actually an official bishop who wants to represent the underground Church and claims to be an authoritative voice. The bishop asks his friends in Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan to set aside the pretense to speak in his place. If this is true, I would like to ask: who should represent the voice of the underground Church? Whose voice should that be? Based on what? What is the core of our Catholic faith? Who can represent the interest of the Chinese faithful?

This " underground" bishop, " on my own behalf and on behalf of the community entrusted by God to my pastoral care, I want to solemnly declare: regardless how the relations between China and the Vatican will go, we will wholly obey to the decision of the Pope and the Holy See, whatever it may be. And we will not question it either". In addition, he cites the passage of the prodigal son, "when the son repents, and asks to return to his father, may there be any reason for the father to refuse forgiveness? On the contrary, the father had been waiting a long time for his return".

It seems that all the bishops of the Patriotic Church are already repentant, but is such "repentance" public or private? If they continue to make non-transparent and non-public choices, but only private and hidden, then how can we believe that this repentance is truly faithful? The bishop of Qiqihar uses the passage of the adulterous woman, but the Lord also tells us that the condition of forgiveness is not to sin anymore. Instead, the bishops of the Patriotic Church still work in the Patriotic Association and how can they be justified?

Regarding the agreement between China and the Holy See, the bishop goes on to say that " You must always trust each other a little bit to reach an agreement. If there were not some mutual trust, there would not even be a chance to speak, and there would never be any agreement". I would like to know where this trust comes from?

The new regulations on religions in China are well known (entered into force on February 1, 2018): it turns out from different sources that so many clandestine churches are banned and sanctioned.

There are diverse examples of the lack of religious freedom in China: the case of Father Peter Wei Heping, a good and faithful priest, who died in mysterious circumstances that were officially decreed as suicide; the campaign against crosses in Zhejiang in 2015 and the demolition of churches in many other regions; the disappearance [in the hands of the police] of the bishop James Su Zhimin, whose whereabouts is still unknown.

We would like to know what happens in the Vatican. Do Card. Parolin and the other "optimists" want to put all the Chinese faithful in a large cage? Perhaps they need a bigger cage, because the current one is too small to contain 12 million faithful.

This agreement between China and the Vatican was born in secrecy and no priest or faithful has been directly or indirectly involved. So, how can we believe that this agreement is favorable to the Chinese Catholic Church?Solutions bhimra.amandeep Level 1 (Contributor)

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Cadburys Caramilk recalled





Cadbury has recalled its popular Caramilk chocolate after small pieces of plastic were found in some blocks.

Caramilk is a recent flavour return for Cadbury with some searching supermarkets for the caramelised white chocolate last sold in Australia over 20 years ago.

Cadbury has recalled Caramilk 190g blocks with best before dates 0f 17/01/2019 and 21/01/2019. The decision to recall came after a limited number of Caramilk blocks were found with small flexible pieces of plastic because of a fault in the manufacturing process.

Our analysis of samples received to date has determined that this product does not appear to pose a serious health or food safety risk, but a recall has been initiated to prevent the risk of minor injury, Cadbury said in its recall notice.

Some consumers have taken to Cadburys Facebook page saying they are willing to take the risk of eating the chocolate as fans of the limited-edition flavour.

Consumers can return affected blocks to their place of purchase for a full refund. No proof of purchase is required for the refund.

Related articlesConsumer advocates question Aldis Special Buys





Aldis Special Buys advertising practice will be scrutinised on an up-and-coming episode of ABCs The Checkout.

In an episode scheduled for this week, Aldis Special Buys will be criticised with the television show accusing Aldi of bait advertising and subsequently violating Australian Consumer Law.

Every Wednesday and Saturday Aldi releases new Special Buys which are often traditionally pricey items sold at low prices by Aldi. Special Buys in the past have included BBQs, vacuums, school shoes, rocking chairs and large childrens toy cars. The items are usually advertised through Aldi catalogues.

Shoppers often line up out the front of Aldi stores prior to opening on Wednesdays and Saturday mornings to purchase Special Buys as Aldi so they can secure a Special Buy.

There has however been a number of recorded incidents of Aldi quickly running out of Special Buy products.

In September 2017, Aldi for example advertised large childrens toy cars but according to consumer advocacy group CHOICE, only had two cars at each store.

CHOICE also reported that during December 2017 Aldi was selling Dyson vacuum cleaners as a Special Buy item but shoppers took to social media saying each Aldi store only had one or two in stock.

The Checkout episode will accuse Aldi of engaging in bait and switch advertising  a practice where a retailer will offer a product for cheap in hopes that the consumer will instead purchase other items when they cannot get the product.

In examining the issue separately, CHOICE reported the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) website says bait advertising is not misleading if businesses are upfront, highly visible and clear and specific about the product on sale being in short supply or only on sale for a limited time.

Aldis catalogues include fine print that state that Special Buy stocks are limited and vary between stores.

The fine print also apologises if stock sells out because of unexpected demand despite Aldis careful planning.

In response to news that Aldis Special Buys will be scrutinised on The Checkout, an Aldi Australia spokesperson said Special Buys is a unique retail model.

Driving demand and disappointing customers by nut supplying enough stock is categorically not part of our business model, Aldi Australias spokesperson said.

We are a retailer and we are in the business of selling as many products as we can.

On occasions, our products are in high demand and sell-out faster than anticipated. In our business, this is not a win. We would always prefer to correctly balance the demand with the supply of stock and we consistently strive to achieve this balance.

Related articleMy partner is applying for the 820 and 801 partner visa.

He was previously in Australia on a work and travel visa, however he left 2 months after he was supposed to. When going through the airport, customs told him he would be excluded from entering the country again for 2 years. This was in January 2014, so its been 2 years since his exclusion ran out..Im just wondering if anyone has experience with this and will it effect his application at all?Screenshot via NICB.

Five people with ties to the Aryan Brotherhood gang were arrested on multiple charges, including auto theft, following a raid of an alleged chop shop in San Jacinto County, Texas, according to reports.

At the scene, authorities found 11 stolen vehicles in various stages of being dismantled. The National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) assisted authorities in identifying the vehicles.

The Feb. 2 raid happened just before dawn and was conducted by the Liberty County Precinct 6 Constable's Office, the Montgomery County Auto Theft Task Force and the San Jacinto County Sheriff's Office, according to a report in the Houston Chronicle.

In a video report, NICB notes that the group may have already had buyers for the car parts in the U.S. or overseas. Expensive parts continue to drive car thefts as criminals steal cars and trucks to strip them and sell the parts on the black market.

During the chop shop raid, investigators also found three firearms and numerous amounts of narcotics including marijuana, methamphetamine, heroin and oxycontin, reports the Houston Chronicle.

The five people charged include Matthew Follis, 38, Alexandria Holloway, 26, Shain Whitmire, 38, Everitt McAdams, 34, and Shasta Cole, 33. Follis and Holloway each are charged with nine counts of theft of vehicle and two additional counts for possession of controlled substance and felon in possession of a firearm. Whitmire is charged with two counts of vehicle theft while McAdams and Cole each face one count of possession of a controlled substance.

Learn more about the chop shop raid in this Fraud Files video from NICB.You have permission to edit this article.

Edit Close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.Austin Dillon put the No. 3 back in victory lane in the Daytona 500.

Dillon drove the iconic car number made famous by Dale Earnhardt to the win 17 years to the day the Hall of Famer was killed in an accident on the final lap of the Daytona 500. The win also comes during the 20th anniversary celebration of Earnhardt's only victory in "The Great American Race."

Dillon wasn't a factor in his Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet until the final lap in overtime when he got a push from Darrell "Bubba" Wallace Jr. that helped him get to leader Aric Almirola. Dillon spun Almirola then whizzed on by to give Childress, his grandfather, an iconic victory in that beloved No. 3.

"My grandfather has done everything for me and everybody knows it," Dillon said. "There's a lot of pressure on me to perform because I've had a little bit of everything. But I like that pressure, the same with the No. 3, there's a lot of pressure behind it, but I'm willing to take it and go with it.

As for the aggressive move that wrecked Almirola? Dillon was doing what has to be done to win at Daytona.

"We just had a run and I stayed on the gas. It's what it is when you're at Daytona," he said. "It is so awesome to take the 3 car back to victory lane, 20 years ago. This one's for Dale Earnhardt Senior and all those Senior fans. I love you guys. We're going to keep kicking butt the rest of the year."

Wallace, the first black driver in the Daytona 500 field since 1969, finished second in a 1-2 finish for Chevrolet and Childress' engine program.

Denny Hamlin, the 2016 winner, finished third in a Toyota.

Ryan Blaney, who led a race-high 118 laps, faded to seventh after giving the win away in regulation. He wrecked Kurt Busch, the defending race winner, trying to reclaim his lead and the contact damaged Blaney's Ford.This Presidents Day, the city of St. Petersburg plans to celebrate former President Barack Obama by announcing that it will rename the main library in his honor.

St. Pete to rename library after Barack Obama

Name change comes with extensive renovations

The name change will come with extensive renovations to the 54-year-old building located at 3745 9th Ave. North.

The intention here isn't just to name the library the former president, said St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman. It's also to create within the library a special place that doesn't exist in any of our other libraries ,where you can read books on all of our presidents.

The project will include renovations inside the library, and even adding a cafe in the back overlooking Jargensen Lake.

The plan still must get city council approval, and funding would come out of the Penny for Pinellas initiative that voters passed last November, but the Mayor Kriseman is optimistic that in the next several years Americas 44th President and the city of St. Petersburg will forever be connected.

To be able to be inspired by and see this name outside this library every day said Kriseman. We think its pretty special.

City leaders will hold a news conference Monday at 11 a.m. in front of the main library to formally announce the project.A therapy dog is relieving academic stress at Oak Grove Elementary in Tampa.

Merlin is monthly visitor at Oak Grove Elementary

Student anxiety, aggressive behavior has decreased, teacher says

Goal is to help stress levels go down, grades go up

Each month, Merlin visits the school on the 6300 block of North Armenia Avenue.

The dog is there to help students who need extra support.

"If I'm mad and I touch him, he calms me down," fifth-grader Tony Corbett said after playing with Merlin.

Teacher Anna Gibbs said she has seen a decrease in anxiety and aggressive behaviors in her classroom since Merlin started coming to the school.

"It empowers them (the students) to have some sort of control in their lives," Gibbs said. "And Merlin can also be scared, so when they're watching Merlin overcome his fears, they can return relate it to their own lives and say, 'Oh I'm scared, Merlin can overcome this, so I can overcome my fear,'" Gibbs said.

Merlin started visiting Oak Grove's fourth and fifth-graders at the beginning of the school year.

Gibbs said she has seen stress levels go down and student scores go up because of Merlin's visits.

"They're able to focus when they're stress levels are down," Gibbs said. "They're able to focus more on their school work and have more academic achievement when they are less stressed and less anxious."

The 14-year old victim in a drive-by shooting in Pasco County has died.

The shooter is also still on the loose.

Christian Robinson died at Saint Josephs Childrens Hospital in Tampa on Saturday night.

His family, including his sister Vanessa Robinson, gathered there to say good-bye.

Were heartbroken. Its hard, Robinson said.

She said they grew up as best friends, and now she wants to know why her brother was taken so soon.

We want answers. We want justice for Christian. He didnt deserve this. He was only 14, Robinson said.

The Pasco County Sheriffs Office released video from Ridge Crest Drive where the shooting happened on Wednesday. Someone in a black Mazda with no hubcaps fired multiple rounds into another car.

The bullets grazed one person and hit Christian in the head.

So far no one has come forward.

I would like answers, said friend Adrian Garcia. ... for this person to confess. Hes like my little brother. Hes only 14. I love the kid. He was there for me, and I was there for him. We were real close.

Christian was shot Wednesday. The family says doctors did everything they could but they pronounced him dead on Saturday night.

Pasco County Sheriff's Office is asking for anyone with any information on the shooting or the suspect's car to please come forward.During her now famous speech at the 2018 Golden Globes, Oprah Winfrey referenced the story of Recy Taylor, a woman who in 1944 was the victim of a horrific crime.

The story came as quite a surprise to the pastor and parishioners at First Missionary Baptist Church in Winter Haven, as it turned out they knew Recy Taylor very well, but never knew that part of her story.

Fellow church members knew her as Recy Martin

Taylor's family came to church to honor her on 1st Sunday of Black History Month



Taylor's story told in "At the Dark End of the Street," published in 2010



The book "At the Dark End of the Street," published in 2010, details how Taylor, walking home from church one night in Abbeville, Alabama, was taken at gunpoint by a group of six white men, gang-raped, and left tied up by the side of the road. Though the NAACP and an investigator named Rosa Parks sought justice for Taylor, the men were never prosecuted.

Taylor's family said they themselves didnt know Taylor had gone through such trauma until "At the Dark End of the Street" was published.

If you didnt know it happened to her, you never wouldve known because she would always be jolly, happy, smiling, Taylors niece, Rose Gunter said.

Taylors great-granddaughter, Aisha Walker, said she couldnt believe it when she heard the details.

When I found out I was very upset," Walker said. "I was crying. I called her and I said why didnt you tell us? Why didnt you speak about it?"

"She just said it was something you never talked about, but she always wanted everybody to know she wasnt a liar and she was telling the truth," Walker continued. "Thats what hurt her the most, how they tried to portray her."



The family said they also didnt know Taylor lived with Rosa Parks for a while when the NAACP got involved in her case and sent Parks to investigate.

She lived with Rosa Parks for a few months, like six months or so. She took her into hiding, granddaughter Joyce Owens said.

She stayed with Rosa Parks for a while, because Rosa was coming to their house there in Abbeville, but the police threatened Rosa," Gunter explained. "So she had to leave, because they even threw her, pushed her off the porch down and told her not to come back."



After years of living with fear of retaliation in Alabama, Taylor moved to Florida, near her only daughter and her two grandkids. That daughter and one of her granddaughters died in a car crash not long after Taylor moved to Winter Haven.

Taylor raised her granddaughter and eventually her great-granddaughter. She worked in the citrus industry picking fruit before starting a job at the Jewitt School as a janitor.

In 2013, Taylor moved back to Alabama to be closer to family. She died Dec. 28, 2017 at the age of 97.

Honoring Recy Taylor

Members of Taylor's family came to First Missionary Baptist Church in Winter Haven the first Sunday of Black History Month to honor her.

Church members said they consider it a blessing to have sat next to a woman whose story made history, now that they know the story. But like his congregation, First Missionary Baptist Church Pastor Clifton Dollison said he was surprised when he heard Oprah's speech.

What threw many of us is that the Taylor last name, and not Martin, because many here knew her as 'Recy Martin,'" Dollison said. "So once that was made clear, it was like, everybody here was like, 'Thats who that was!' So a lot of people were quite surprised to say the least."



Myrtle Williams said she had no idea about this story when she first met Taylor at the Winter Haven church back in the '60s. However, she said it told a lot about who Taylor was.

Well, the one thing that I think they really should know is that to have been treated like that and to overcome and move in life like she did, having lost a daughter in an accident, you cant say nothing but she had to believe in God, Williams said.GET OUR NEW APP Our new Spectrum News app is the most convenient way to get the stories that matter to you. Download it here.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.BILD: Mr Stoltenberg, the German Minister of Defence, Ursula von der Leyen, is being discussed as your potential successor. Would Ms von der Leyen be a good Secretary General of NATO?

Jens Stoltenberg: Ursula von der Leyen is a great Defence Minister and a great political leader and I really appreciate the cooperation with her. I think it is a bit too early to speculate about my successor because I have almost three more years to go

BILD: Would you welcome it if Ms von der Leyen remained Minister of Defence in Angela Merkels next cabinet?

Stoltenberg: Its not for me to appoint ministers in NATO Allied countries. But I appreciate very much to work with her. I appreciate working closely with her.

Munich Security Conference Wolfgang Ischinger  EU fails when it comes to foreign policy The Munich Security Conference begins on Friday. BILD spoke to Ambassador Wolfgang Ischinger, chairman of the Munich Security Conference.

BILD: In Syria, the US and Turkey oppose each other with their different interests. Is there a threat of a military conflict between NATO partners?

Stoltenberg: We have to make sure that Turkey and the United States work together. We urge Turkey and the United States to address this issue on the bilateral level and I welcome the close contact between Turkey and the United States especially over the last days. Turkey is a key Ally in the fight against ISIS. Turkey, the United States and all NATO Allies have been working closely together in the fight against ISIS.

Auch Interessant



BILD: The US accuse Russia of having stationed medium range ballistic missiles in Europe. Is Putin violating the international INF nuclear treaty?

Stoltenberg: The United States is part of the INF Treaty, and the United States has determined that Russia is in violation of the treaty, by developing and by flight testing a new intermediate range cruise missile. We see that Russia is modernising its nuclear forces and they are also exercising with nuclear forces more and more. We must avoid a new arms race in Europe. This is of great concern for all NATO Allies. Therefore I call on Russia to comply with the INF Treaty in a transparent and verifiable way.

BILD: What if Russia does not comply with your appeal?

Stoltenberg: The INF Treaty is a cornerstone of European security. It has abolished a whole category of weapons, all nuclear intermediate weapons, or missiles. This has been crucial for several decades of peace in Europe. Its not in Russias interest either to have a new arms race.

BILD: After all the bad news about the German army: is Germany still capable of fulfilling its NATO commitments?

Stoltenberg: I expect that all NATO Allies step up and invest more in defence. When tensions go down, like after the end of the Cold War, it is natural to reduce defence spending. But when tensions go up, we have to invest more. However, the current threat situation has changed. We are living in very dangerous times. Germany has stopped the cuts and Germany has started to increase its defence expenditures. That is a good start, but we need more.

BILD:  and spend two percent of the GDP on defence?

Stoltenberg: What we said was we will stop the cuts and gradually increase defence spending and move towards the aim of two percent of the GDP. Germany was part of that decision, just like all the other Allies. And Germany has started to increase.

BILD: With PESCO, Europe is building up its own defence structure. Is PESCO competing with NATO?

Stoltenberg: No. I even welcome the fact that the Europeans want to cooperate more in their defence efforts. This will strengthen the European pillar within NATO. However, PESCO cannot replace NATO. After Brexit, 80 percent of the defence expenditures within the NATO Alliance will come from non-EU Allies. The EU efforts on defence are no alternative to NATO.

PS: Sind Sie bei Facebook? Werden Sie Fan von BILD.de-Politik!19 February 2018

Dr Charlott Repschlager By

Appeared in BioNews 938

Researchers successfully used inactivated induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) to elicit an immune response against different cancers in mice.

The team at Stanford University confirmed that iPSCs from mice and humans have similar expression levels of antigens to those found in different cancers.

Previous cancer vaccines have had limited success because only one antigen has generally been targeted, results have initially been promising but then resistance develops as cancer cells without the target antigen proliferate. The idea that stem cells and cancer cells have similar antigen profiles is not new and has the advantage that several known and unknown antigens can be presented to the immune system at the same time, allowing for a more effective immune response.

Studies have established that embryonic stem cells can protect mice from transplanted tumour but using inactivated iPSCs as an immunotherapy against cancer has the advantage that while embryonic stem cell rely on the availability of embryonic tissue and therefore have ethical and feasibility issues, iPSCs can be derived from adult cells.

'What surprised us most was the effectiveness of the iPSC vaccine in re-activating the immune system to target cancer,' said Dr Joseph Wu, lead author of the study. 'This approach may have clinical potential to prevent tumour recurrence or target distant metastases.'

The group used iPSCs created from mouse fibroblasts, in addition to an immune-boosting bacterial DNA fragment, to vaccinate mice before transplanting them with either breast, skin or lung cancer. While the control animals developed considerable tumours, the treated mice presented with smaller tumours or with tumour regression. These results highlight a potential prophylactic application of the vaccine, for example in the elderly or other groups who are prone to the development of cancers.

To confirm that the immune response is specific to cancer, the researchers transferred T cells from vaccinated animals into non-vaccinated animals with breast cancer and found that the tumours in the non-vaccinated animals also showed signs of regression. This approach did not work in mice with skin cancer, however, it was found to prevent regrowth of skin tumours after partial surgery, indicating a possible usefulness in real life skin cancer scenarios.

While the scientists note that there were no signs of an autoimmune reaction or other serious adverse effects, they caution that this therapeutic approach is far from being proven in humans. Professor Daniel Davis, Professor of Immunology at the University of Manchester, who was not involved in the study, added: 'As the authors say themselves, we have no idea if something like this could work in humans. If it does, this type of cancer treatment is most likely to be useful in combination with other therapies. In the meantime, as scientists often quip, this is good news for mice.'Increased investments in 10 vaccines administered in low- and middle-income countries over a 15-year period could avert up to 36-million deaths and 24-million cases of medical impoverishment.

Photo: Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health

The largest share of deaths averted by vaccines was in the lowest income quintile.

All vaccines led to an important reduction in the number of cases of medical impoverishment.

According to a new study led by researchers from Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, vaccines have enormous impact not just on health, but on keeping people out of poverty.The researchers developed a mathematical model to estimate the impact of distributing 10 vaccinesmeasles, hepatitis B, human papillomavirus, yellow fever, Hemophilus influenzaetype b, Streptococcus pneumoniae, rotavirus, rubella, Neisseria meningitidis serogroup A, and Japanese encephalitis in 41 low- and middle-income countries from 20162030.They found that the poorest households would likely receive the most benefit from increased access to vaccines, as they are at higher risk, are limited in their use of health care, and consequently are more vulnerable to vaccine-preventable diseases.Vaccines prevent not only diseases but also impoverishment. This is why it is so important that everyone, especially the poor, have timely access to high quality vaccines, said first author Angela Chang, who was a doctoral candidate at Harvard Chan School when the research was completed and is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, University of Washington.This study explicitly points at how investing in vaccines in low- and middle-income countries can have a broad health and economic impact, said Stephane Verguet, assistant professor of global health. Policy makers should look at targeted vaccine programmes as powerful mechanisms for improving health equity and reducing poverty.This company article has been removed.Natalie Mills was struggling financially when she embarked on her first entrepreneurship endeavour. Since then, Mills has gone on to create Crystal Creations, a bespoke range of quality jewellery, and is now on the verge of launching in the US.

Going abroad

In five years, Crystal Creations has become an established brand in female jewellery, watches and accessories. The jewellery line is available in Edgars stores and Mills went on to launch three boutique stores in the Mall of Africa, Clear Water Mall and Mall of the South - and a franchise network is in the pipeline.I think its normal for people to be attracted to outwardly beautiful things, but crystals remind us that true beauty, strength and vitality all start from the inside, and then resonate outwards. I hope that my jewellery will remind women that although we can see beauty around us, we should also be able to feel and appreciate the beauty that is inside each one of us, says Mills.Mills never let her lack of tertiary education or formal qualifications hold her back from being an entrepreneur whose business drive is balanced by her commitment to female empowerment and giving back to her community.Being an entrepreneur means you have to be resourceful with what you currently have  skills, drive, ambition, mentors, passion, attitude, faith and all that good stuff. Its about doing what you can, with what you have, where you are, says Mills.From a young age, Mills dreamed of making it in one of the toughest and biggest markets in the world - the United States.The US is the worlds largest market, and I wanted to test my capabilities and ideas against some of the most prolific entrepreneurs and business people in the world. In 2015, I went across to the US to exhibit the Crystal Creations brand and product range and test the market reception for our offering. It was an eye-opening and life-changing experience and I knew that if I wanted to make it in the US, I would need to focus there, she says.With the South African operations of Crystal Creations in the hands of a local team, Mills and her family moved to Texas in an effort to enter the competitive market.The one thing that really surprised me about the US is how supportive the people are of each other  in business they take networking to a whole new level. I was expecting to have a tough time as a foreigner and that finding my feet would be difficult as an outsider. But it was exactly the opposite. I have been incredibly fortunate to meet dynamic business people who have encouraged and supported my ideas. The real breakthrough came when my brand and designs were identified by key US executives and brand experts as having international appeal."It was during the executive development meetings that I had in the US that my message and vision for the business was shared and encouraged by the most incredible fashion brand names. The next phase of my business dream was born, and the Crystal Creations brand I created in South Africa is now well on its way to being reinvented in the US market under my personal brand as Natalie Mills.Crystal Creations is a South African homegrown brand, we are of international appeal and standards. I am so proud of the fact that we have made it to be showcased and featured amongst high profile jewellery brands internationally. Crystal Creations was created by a South African woman, in the South of Johannesburg, and I am exceptionally proud of my roots, and even more excited about where those roots will take me on a global stage.In keeping up with its standard for retail innovation and interactive shopping as the new normal, the third instalment of Now Showing has launched with a +Space Man pop-up store.

ALC Menswear

Male grooming

Designer line-up

Downstairs at local design collaboration The Spaces Now Showing building  situated at 109 Waterkant Street  garments and accessories by local design icons Amanda Laird-Cherry and Leigh Schubert will be joined by Sober and Fluidity who have designed collections unique to Now Showing, whilst upstairs has been transformed to a pop-up shopping thrill.The pop-up shop effectively provides an extension to South African Menswear Week, held from 8 to 11 February as part of a bi-annual highlight on the Cape Townian fashion calendar. It is showcasing the latest collections of top local menswear designers, such as ALC Man, Maxivive, Issa Leo, Kim Gush, Ara Kani, Rosey & Vittori, Woodstock Laundry and Unknown Union.It is all about placing menswear in Cape Town under the magnifying glass whilst designers get dedicated additional exposure, and shoppers can interact with quality cuts and designs during a fun night out, says Neil Roake, owner of The Space.From March, Psycho Barber will be offering sharp cuts and trims whilst shoppers can chill with a collection of hot beverages  golden lattes, chaga mushroom hot chocolate or hibiscus teas  or a complimentary bar service from Psych Bar, served to their barber chair with a cut-throat shave or a beard trim.Mens grooming brands Prossado, the London Grooming Company and cult Aussie brand Evo are the offerings in the shop.The Space Man pop-up is open for 6-8 weeks, before upstairs morphs into another themed, interactive shopping experience. 22 Feb - Amanda Laird Cherry (ALC Menswear) 1 March - Zeitgeist & Kim Gush 8 March - Leaf Letlhare 15 March - Issa Leo 22 March - (To be announced) 29 March - Woodstock Laundry 5 April - Rosey & Vittori 12 April - Unknown Union 19 April - Ara KaniThe Department of Mineral Resources has dismissed its Mpumalanga regional manager, Aubrey Tshivhandekano, at the gates of the Koornfontein colliery, owned by the Gupta-linked Tegata Resources, as he was about to issue the mine a notice for non-compliance with its mining rights.

National Union of Mineworkers' (NUM) spokesperson Livhuwani Mammburu said the union was furious at Tshivhandekano's dismissal on Thursday for standing up for workers' rights at the mine where salaries were either late or partially paid.The letter of dismissal handed to Tshivhandekano by department officials was signed by the department's director-general, Thabo Mokoena, on the instruction of Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane, and was designed to stop the issuance of the notice, which could close the colliery, he said.It is understood that Tshivhandekano had also recently visited the controversial Optimum colliery owned by Tegeta, where a similar notice was being prepared for non-compliance with its mining licence.Members of the NUM were present at a recent meeting between Tshivhandekano and a senior Tegeta manager at a heated meeting at Optimum in which a threat was made by the Tegeta official to contact Zwane to prevent the notice being issued.The dismissal was confirmed by a departmental source, who said the letter accused Tshivhandekano of sharing log-in details with a colleague.This follows a protracted period of suspensions and disciplinary processes brought against Tshivhandekano in what the NUM called a process of harassment and efforts to remove "progressive" department officials who worked to improve employees' conditions and "especially those dealing with Gupta companies for not adhering to the labour and mining laws of the country", Mammburu said.Tshivhandekano is one of three regional heads who applied to the Labour Court to stop a forced relocation to another regional office by the department. The move was seen as a way to put in more pliable regional managers who would give Gupta-linked companies an easier time in Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal, where they were trying to buy further coal assets."We really are not happy with this situation and we want President Ramaphosa to dismiss Zwane and his director-general," he said.Tshivhandekano is understood to be seeking urgent legal redress to overturn his dismissal.With a national state of disaster having been declared in three provinces, newly elected President Cyril Ramaphosa has appealed to the nation to continue to intensify efforts to use water wisely.

Latest data

Ramaphosa made the appeal during his inaugural State of the Nation Address (SONA) as president of the republic on Friday, 16 February, in Parliament.The country remains gripped by one of the most devastating droughts in a century, which has severely impacted our economy, social services and agricultural production.The drought situation in the Western Cape, Eastern Cape and Northern Cape has been elevated to a national state of disaster. This gives national government the authority to manage and coordinate our response nationally with support from all provinces.This will ensure that we also heighten integrated measures to support the provinces that are hardest hit. We are looking at activating the necessary extraordinary measures permitted under the legislation, said Ramaphosa.With SONA being held in Cape Town due to the location of Parliament, the new president used the platform to commend the people of Cape Town and the rest of the Western Cape for diligently observing water saving measures. Level 6b water restrictions have been in effect from 1 February, which require all residents to drop their daily use to 50 litres per person per day or less.The latest data from the City of Cape Town indicates that dam storage level is at 24.9%, reflecting a weekly decrease of -0.6%.Earlier this month, water and sanitation minister Nomvula Mokonyane said interventions such as the bulk infrastructure projects and daily monitoring of dam levels could see Day Zero pushed back this year. These efforts have borne fruit, as the predicted Day Zero date has now been extended to 4 June from 11 May 2018.The delay in Day Zero - the day that taps will run dry for residents - has been attributed to the continued decline in agricultural usage and Capetonians reducing their water usage.The Agricultural Business Chamber of South Africa (Agbiz) welcomed the State of the Nation Address by President Cyril Ramaphosa and the general thrust if his SONA's focus on revitalising the economy and the commitment to root out corruption.

However, the indicated policy of expropriation without compensation of property to effect radical land reform remains an issue of major concern to Agbiz. To address growing uncertainty and disillusionment in the land reform space, the government needs to engage business on the issue of property rights as a matter of urgency. All the good intentions in the SONA will be in vain if property rights are not dealt with within the ambit and context of the current Constitution of South Africa, Dr John Purchase, CEO of Agbiz, said today.A further interesting call by Ramaphosa was for financial institutions to partner with government in mobilising resources to accelerate the land redistribution programme as increased investment is required in the sector. Agbiz, together with the Banking Association South Africa (BASA,) developed such a commercial model for accelerated land reform more than two years ago. Despite repeated efforts by Agbiz and BASA to implement this co-financing model, adopted in principle by the Minister and the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform (DRDLR), nothing came of the private sector initiative.Agbiz welcomes the focus on ensuring greater coherence and consistency in the implementation of economic policy and the envisaged establishment of a Presidential Economic Advisory Council comprising appointments from business, labour, civil society and academia. Perhaps the president should also consider the establishment of a Presidential Working Group for Agriculture, as functioned successfully under the auspices of President Thabo Mbeki during his term as president of South Africa," Purchase added.Clearly there are various good and commendable intentions indicated in the SONA by President Ramaphosa. However, it will be the actions that will determine whether the new administration has the ability to turn South Africa around from the disastrous path former President Jacob Zuma embarked on, said Purchase.Agri-services specialist Kaap Agri - which has a strong retail offering - expects prolonged drought conditions in certain farming areas of the Western Cape to slow earnings growth in the first half of the financial year to end September 2018.

Deyan Georgiev via 123RF

Speaking at Kaap Agri's annual general meeting in Malmesbury on Thursday, CEO Sean Walsh expected growth to slow to single-digit gains in the first half. He noted the drought in the Western Cape - where Kaap Agri has its roots - was the most severe in the past 10 years. "Farmers are under pressure and cutting back on spending on their farms," said Walsh.He said that Kaap Agri's businesses were feeling the most pressure in rural areas. "In the country areas, the entire business community is related to the health of the farmers." However, he pointed out that sales in Kaap Agri's urban stores were growing at a sprightly 20% a year - mitigating the effect of the drought.Walsh was still hopeful of a strong outcome for the full year. "If circumstances return to normal we think it's still possible for Kaap Agri to produce double-digit growth for the full financial year." He said the company would only be in a position to provide more accurate full-year growth guidance around July.Asked to quantify the effect of the drought on the bottom line, Walsh said expected compound annual growth rates of about 15% would be tempered by between 5% and 6%. "We would get growth of 9%-10%, meaning the drought would take away roughly a third of our growth rate. That's a third of our growth rate - and not a third of our earnings," he said.Walsh also indicated that in first-quarter trading, Kaap Agri's retail segment, which includes the Agrimark stores, convenience stores, liquor stores and building supplies, for the first time contributed more than the traditional agri-services segment. Although agri-services (irrigation and grain storage) represented 44% of turnover, the segment accounted for only 33% of trading profit. Retail only accounted for 20% of turnover but represented a chunky 34% of trading profit.Walsh reiterated that Kaap Agri was on "a very acquisitive strategy in the retail fuel space".He said shareholders could expect the portion of capital expenditure earmarked for acquisitions to increase, but said that strict feasibility criteria needed to be met before any deals were struck.Following the observance of National Epilepsy Week this past week (12-18 February), as well as International Epilepsy Day (12 February), it's time to take a closer look at the condition that affects one out of every 100 South Africans and explore the issues around disclosure.

Are South Africans legally required to disclose their epilepsy status?

What are the benefits of disclosure?

What are the benefits of non-disclosure?

How can employers accommodate persons with epilepsy?

What are some important factors to consider to ensure all employees, including those with epilepsy, are accommodated in the work space?

According to Justene Smith, a disability expert at equity solutions company, Progression, epilepsy may be classified as disability in terms of the Employment Equity Act if it substantially limits a persons entry into or advancement in employment or if it substantially impacts on a persons ability to perform the inherent functions related to their role. While disclosing ones condition can empower the person to explore their reasonable accommodation need with their employer, it may also have negative consequences for the person with epilepsy. This depends largely on the attitude of management at their workplace.According to the Employment Equity Act, South Africans are not legally required to disclose a disability such as epilepsy. Even though employees may be asked to complete the standard Employment Equity Declaration Form (EEA1 form), which is used to confirm the employees race, gender, nationality and disability status, they are not compelled to disclose a disability as this is considered to be voluntary.Smith says if employers know about a condition such as epilepsy, they can ensure the person is integrated into the workplace successfully. It also affords employers the opportunity to make important decisions about what conditions are most suitable for the person with epilepsy."It also affords employers the opportunity to have a discussion with the individual to establish potential risks and barrier so that Reasonable Accommodation and Health and Safety can be considered and measures can be implement where required to the benefit of the employee and employer alike.In a construction environment there may be physical requirements that could pose risk for a person with epilepsy, for example if staff work at height up ladders, on scaffolding or operate heavy machinery. It is important to remember that if valid risk has been identified it is fair to conclude that this may not be a safe environment for a person who has disclosed epilepsy to be working.By disclosing their condition, people with epilepsy are well positioned to create awareness about epilepsy and provide others with insight on what to be aware of and what needs to be done in the event of a seizure, adds Smith.Smith points out that many South Africans are not educated about epilepsy. Employers may view the appointment of someone with epilepsy as a risk and they may decide not to employ the job-seeker in the first place.Knowledge of an epilepsy condition might create an uncomfortable situation for the person who has disclosed his or her condition. Employers or colleagues may think they need to treat the person differently.While they may think they are being helpful, they are actually creating an uncomfortable situation for the person with epilepsy, says Smith.It is however also very important to consider the number of people with epilepsy in South Africa and encourage workplaces, staff and also communities to accept this more openly as the judgement element is generally ill-informed.Knowing how to accommodate someone with epilepsy is dependent on understanding what known triggers can cause a seizure.Smith says if a persons epilepsy is triggered by sudden loud noises, they would need to be placed in a relatively quiet office. Alternatively, if heat or extreme temperatures are a trigger, they would need to be placed in an environment that has an air conditioner or adequate ventilation systems.She adds that employers need to made aware that people who access medication through government services only receive 30 days worth of medication at a time. This means the next appointment issued to the employee for the collection of the medication may fall on a week day and could result in a days absence from work.Because of this, we generally recommend that individuals who make use of government services to manage their health appropriately are given one day of health management leave per month as part of their reasonable accommodation, she says.Of course, this leave needs to be validated with either a doctors letter or a stamped letter from the clinic, confirming the individuals attendance.Every organisation needs to make sure that they have appropriate health and safety measures in place, including a qualified first-aider.Often, when I inform employers or HR staff that people will not always disclose their epilepsy, their responses are similar: 'What am I meant to do if the person has a seizure at work?'. This is where the organisations health and safety policy comes into play, says Smith. It is important to note that no one is obligated to disclose that they have a condition such as epilepsy. Thus, having a first aider on site who will provide support should an injury or emergency occur should be a priority for any organisation. Standard first aid provides some basic tools and measures for managing a person who may be experiencing a seizure. However, further emergency medical intervention should be sought immediately.Conducting risk assessments is also important. Employers need to determine what areas present risks, such as working on ladders, scaffolding or at heights. This would help them determining suitable roles and work environments where a person with a disability would be safe and well accommodated at work, concludes Smith.The Gauteng Provincial Government has published the Draft Fifteenth Amendment of the Gauteng Road Traffic Regulations for public comment.

The regulations were published in the Gauteng Provincial Gazette on 1 February 2018. Interested parties are now invited to make comments on the regulations on or before 8 March 2018.Treasury Regulation section 7.1.3, states the Accounting Officer of an institution must review annually all fees, charges or the rates, scales or tariffs of fees when finalising the budget.In support of this, Section 25(1) (g) and (h) of the Gauteng Road Traffic Act, 1997 (Act 10 of 1997) provides for the MEC to make regulations with regard to adjustments of fees pertaining to certain road traffic management transactions. In line with this section, the MEC has effected amendments to the Gauteng Road Traffic Regulation every financial year.A recommendation of fee increase of 7.7% (CPI + 2%) is made for implementation by the Provincial Treasury for financial year 2018/19.Comments can be sent to:Office of the Director:Policy, Legislation, Research and Knowledge Management Life Centre Building - 25th Floor, 45 Commissioner Street JohannesburgTel no: (011) 355 7140Mobile: (082) 788 8889Email address: az.vog.gnetuag@stnemmoccilbuptrdgThe prospect of nations running out of water has become more pronounced due to recurrent droughts and climate change. Water shortages are essentially the 'new normal', and they pose a serious risk to the valuable tourism sector.

A risk to tourism we cannot afford

Exciting times for tourism

...we need to strike a balance between tourism, the environment and sustainable resource management...

We still have a good story to tell

#SaveLikeALocal, save tourism

Now, more than ever, citizens in our cities and towns need to realise that, contrary to popular perception, tourism does not clog up services and neither is it a preserve for the rich. Available evidence confirms, beyond any doubt, that tourism is essential for economic growth.According to StatsSA, one in 22 employed people in South Africa work in the tourism industry, representing 4.5% of the total workforce in our country. Thereleased last year by former president Kgalema Motlanthe, indicates that 1.4 million people are employed in the tourism industry, with one in seven people relying on the sector for their livelihood. These statistics demonstrate why tourism is such an integral part of our economy, acts as a key driver of income generation and creates opportunities for jobs and entrepreneurship.It is, therefore, no wonder that Water Crisis and Day Zero elicit feelings of fear, not only among citizens but also with visitors and investors. The reach and immediacy of social media ensure that potential visitors to our country become anxious about the prospect of visiting our beautiful country. People who were planning to visit South Africa to enjoy the beauty of our tourist attractions may reconsider and consider other destinations instead.Travellers sympathetic to our plight might reason that their visit may worsen the water crisis, and as a sign of support will choose not to visit. But these decisions have both short and long-term negative consequences on the tourism sector, which usually take time and money to fix. This is a risk that we simply cannot afford as a country.South Africas tourism industry is still recovering from the disastrous visa regulations debacle, which, according to South Africa Tourism Service Association (SATSA), resulted in an estimated R7.5bn loss to the tourism economy. Make no mistake, these regulations, coupled with the superfluous unabridged birth certificate requirement, will continue to hurt our tourism industry if we dont implement measures such as electronic visas that will make it easier and safer for tourists to apply.According to figures released by the Western Cape Investment and Trade Promotion Agency (Wesgro), the impact of tourists to the Western Cape on the provinces water resources in high season is about 1%, and the economic impact on opportunities for employment is far greater.Our tourism sector has entered a very exciting period. At several iconic attractions dotted across the countrys various regions, record visitor numbers were recorded.I can confirm that there has been an uptick in activity since my appointment to this exciting portfolio of tourism a few years ago. Were working on exciting projects and agreements to strengthen our tourism initiatives. This involves the development of tourism-related infrastructure that will drive demand and make business sense.It is common knowledge that South Africa is not only a holiday destination but also a world-class event and business destination. As a result of a deliberate Business Events Strategy, South Africa continues to welcome approximately one million delegates annually to conferences and exhibitions.SA Tourism confirms that South Africa remains a popular destination for business travellers who spend on average three times more than their leisure equivalents. In most instances, these business travellers end up crossing over into leisure travel through tours before or after their business activities and through return trips. This sector alone contributes over R115bn to the GDP of our country while the entire tourism industry contributes more than R412bn to the GDP.We must ensure that tourists continue to visit our region and that events and conferences go ahead.Amidst all the bad news relating to Zumas state capture nightmare, corruption at the SABC, SAA, Eskom, and Transnet  in Tourism, we still have a good story to tell.Right now, tourism is one of the best performing sectors in our countrys economy. We have a strong competitive advantage in tourism with global growth in outbound tourism and our favourable exchange rate, presenting us with a magnificent window of opportunity.In particular, the Western Cape in is one of the worlds leading tourism destinations. This is as a result of a focused approach to growing tourism through facilitating a flow of private sector investment in the hospitality sector. Here again, the figures provided reveal that tourism supports more than 300,000 jobs and contributes about R40bn to the provincial economy.For all these milestones, one thing has become quite evident to me: our tourism sector is a vibrant one, thanks in no small part to its people, who have shown commitment to making this industry grow.That is why we need to continue to welcome visitors and to implore on them to join residents in saving water while having the best experience possible during their stay. In an effort to encourage water saving, Cape Town Tourism launched the #SaveLikeALocal campaign with the backing of the travel and hospitality sector.If we encourage tourism during these tough times and highlight the many awesome attractions that exist, particularly the towns and destinations in rural areas with fewer water constraints, and the many guest houses and B&Bs, hotels and conferencing venues in our cities that are water-saving and re-use proficient, we can continue to stimulate growth throughout the entire province and country. We need to do everything to save water so as to save tourism.This will demonstrate our collective resolve that the Western Cape is open for business while at the same time being mindful of our constrained supply of water.It would be a massive mistake to lose our tourist income, as it will impact on the entire tourism value chain. Tourism growth potential does not just happen  we have to work together to make it happen. In my view, an important lesson to learn from this occurrence is the necessity to ensure that the tourism sector becomes much more resilient.To achieve this, we need to strike a balance between tourism, the environment and sustainable resource management. To this end, we are already seeing great initiatives by accommodation establishments in terms of water saving and energy creation. If we could get more tourism-linked establishments to do the same, the impact on our water conservation efforts and the environments could be notable. Perhaps a national approach from the tourism authorities to incentivise such measures by working with the sector would go a long way.In an age where hashtags have become a way to communicate a challenge or ask a question in a simple and tweetable way, I thought that the impact of tourism for our future as a country and opening our country for all to experience and share along with the lifeblood of water is essentially linked to #SaveWaterSaveTourism.Respect and a thousand thank you's to every single soul involved in Littlegig 2018 festival. Apart from the online hype, I had no real expectations, which is always the best way to have them surpassed and Littlegig does, anticipating and catering to every need of the time-strapped, experience-seeking, digital junkie in need of a festive weekender and who isn't?

Dont have time to get all the camping gear together for a weekend away?

Dont have time to get a makeover before leaving town?

Starving from that early rush out of town?

Feel like a drink, a boogie, a chill?

Been meaning to put a face to the feed of every cool foodie, blogger, stylist and fashionista in Cape Town?

Run out of ciggies, sunblock, lozenges, plasters, hairbands, headache 'middels', or feel like a sweetie?

Want to feel like a VIP at a private party?

Want to go next year?

Arrive at Littlegig to see extensively illuminated and secured campsite, with approximately 1,000 pre-erected tents, mobile showers and eco-water stations, already-inflated mattresses or glamped up beds and complimentary Ballantines. Check.There cant be a lot of places on earth where you can get hair and makeup by top stylists, while sipping complimentary chilled bubbly from the Krone bar, under a forest canopy. Check.Wander over to the permanent foodie stations serving all day and night. Feel like a coffee, open-fired mielies, ribbetjies, popcorn, crystal spring rolls, wild mushroom kebabs, double fried hot chips with toppings, pancakes, ice lollies, Tiffin box-style vegetarian or butter chicken curries with Jasmine rice and puffy popadums - even at 3am? Up for artisanal food and wine pairing and a morning-after breakfast buffet to share at the long tables in forest dining or chill out areas? Check.Be amazed at the fine wines or whatever you fancy from the bar, served by friendly baristas and copious ice to accompany serenades by live musicians, entertainers and DJs, surrounded by fashion, floral art and communal lounges set on a lake with lifeguards or at a variety of dance floors, bars and a secret after party? Check.Strike up a conversation with whomever you happen to be sitting next to in the above forest dining, chill out or behammocked areas, decorated with kilometres of fairy lights, velvet upholstered and bolstered furniture for your express comfort and delight, and you are guaranteed to be inspired and make new friends. Anyone for a glass of rose, G&T, scotch on the rocks, tequila, craft beer, chai tea? A celery bedecked breakfast blood Mary for those that partied too hard? Dont mind if I do. Check.The FREESHOP will gladly hand over whatever you need, its included in the ticket price. Check.Unlike many events, everyone is a VIP at Littlegig. All the above is accessible to everyone at the festival, making you feel, well, downright spoiled rotten. Viva the democratisation of hospitality and fun. Check.Book your tickets soonest, as ticket numbers are limited to around 1,500 lucky folk.Facebook: @LittlegigSA Instagram: @littlegigfestiv Twitter: @littlegigfestiv #Littlegig18LONDON, UK - US ride-hailing app Uber on Friday announced new safety features for its service in Britain, as it appeals against the withdrawal of its licence in London.

The service, which has around 40,000 drivers in London, lost its licence over its reporting of serious criminal offences and its criminal-record checks for drivers but is allowed to operate in the capital pending the appeal which is set to be heard later this year.Uber will now "pro-actively" make reports of serious incidents related to a trip to the police, rather than encouraging individuals to contact authorities themselves, according to a statement on its website.From next month, passengers will also receive the driver's licence number in their booking confirmation, meaning passengers can more easily raise issues with the relevant licensing authority.The app has already capped the number of hours its drivers can work in Britain in a bid to increase safety after heavy criticism of its business practices and will set up a 24/7 telephone helpline for riders and drivers."We're determined to change the way we do business, so we'll carry on listening and plan to make other improvements over the coming months," it said.London's transport authority said in September that it would not renew the ride-hailing company's licence, with the appeal due to be heard in May or June.Grid Worldwide at the Design Indaba 2018

The world does not need another brand - it is for this reason that Grid Worldwide; South Africa's top ranked brand specialist agency continues to find value in attending the Design Indaba that has been in the agency activity calendar for 10 years. The forum is an all-round inspirational space that gives a perspective on the design and overall creative economy and how it can disrupt normal ways of doing things to change the world for the better.

For the Grid team, it is also an opportunity to pull back from the daily activities in the agency to look at the bigger picture, recharge for the year ahead and get the the team members (ranging from client service to the creative) to soak in the world of creativity outside of the norm.



Impactful creativity changes realities. We live in a world where anything can be shared in seconds. Why not use creativity to inspire, inform, entertain and above all, make it meaningful, says Nathan Reddy; Chief Creative Officer and Founder of Grid Worldwide.



The Design Indabas philosophy of A better world through creativity links intimately with Grids assertion that everything the team does needs to be meaningful #makeitmeansomething, as such Grid has over the years been DIs creative partner.



2018 is no different as Grid prepares to draw inspiration from the various speakers that will be at the conference, share ideas with like-minded people attending and revel in other activities that the festival has to offer.



Isuzu Motors has announced the official launch of its business operations in South Africa.

Initial focus

The Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber (NMBBC) congratulated the company on the opening and unveiling of its Struandale plant in Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape. This launch is in line with Nelson Mandela Bays stated intent of positioning itself as Africas automotive manufacturing hub. The Business Chamber acknowledges that the investment confirms Isuzus confidence in the city as an investment location, said Nomkhita Mona, CEO of the Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber.The president and representative director of Isuzu Motors of Japan Masanori Katayama said: "This is the first commercial and light commercial vehicle manufacturing operation outside of Japan in which we have acquired a 100% ownership. We are represented in 30 countries outside of Japan and successfully operate 47 manufacturing plants in these countries with joint venture partners."Our decision with regards to South Africa demonstrates the confidence we have in this market and also is indicative of our longer-term view that South Africa will serve as an important base for our future growth on the African continent," said Katayama.Also speaking at the launch event, Isuzu Motors South Africa CEO and MD Michael Sacke said that the company's initial focus would be to fully consolidate its operations while laying the foundation for the company's future success. "Our short-term focus is on implementing our transitional plans, ensuring the sustainability of our operations, further strengthening our product portfolio and relocating the truck operations from Kempston Road to the Struandale plant," he said.He said that in the medium term the company would need to plan for the successful launch of future products, implement measures to increase its domestic market share and increase its exports into sub-Saharan Africa markets.The policy environment will focus on ensuring that South Africa accounts for 1% of global vehicle production volumes by 2035. Development and empowerment of black-owned business for inclusive growth as well as increasing local content are the main agenda points for future planning. We remain encouraged by some of the packages and incentives created by government for the automotive industry that will create a cascading effect of wealth creation for downstream businesses and communities. As the Business Chamber, we encourage our big businesses to engage in linkages with the smaller businesses in the region.Commenting on increased production levels, transformation and localisation, Mona said she wanted the Bays automotive economy to lead, innovate and disrupt in these critical areas. One of the major issues for existing investors is an environment characterised by ease of doing business. The Business Chamber will continue to lobby to ensure that the necessary environment and provisions are made for our auto manufacturers.The Isuzu investment is a much-needed response to mitigate the General Motors South Africa disinvestment which would have been a big blow for the citys unemployment rate. We are encouraged by the fact that Isuzu would absorb most of these jobs, she said.The Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr Rob Davies, said: "With its ability to link throughout the economy, the government has identified the automotive industry as a key growth sector. The auto industry is important to the future of manufacturing in this country and whatever emerges in the future will be based on a significant level of support for it going forward. The sector contributes 7.5% of South Africa's Gross Domestic Product and employs about 113,000 people directly. It is key to ensuring greater economic growth."The Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality is on a mission to reduce water and electricity losses through a partnership with the SA Revenue Protection Association (Sarpa).

The metro is mulling over ways to stop illegal electricity connections, hoping to update its bylaws to allow the prosecution of offenders.Water and electricity losses were the subject of a debate at an infrastructure and engineering committee meeting last week. Water and electricity revenue losses were highlighted as areas of concern by the auditor-general in his report for the 2016-17 financial year.According to the municipality's mid-term report, presented to the council last month, the metro lost 45% of its water supply in the five months to November. It also lost R172m worth of electricity from July to December.The report highlighted that the losses were a result of aging infrastructure and meter tampering. In an attempt to curb electricity losses, the metro had hired Amat, but the contract ended in June. Committee chairman Masixole Zinto said it was important that revenue loss be addressed."It is a problem when we don't monitor our own assets and revenue," Zinto said."We were hit very hard by the auditor-general and national Treasury on water and electricity losses."Presenting a possible solution to the committee, Sarpa technical advisor Rens Bindeman said Nelson Mandela Bay was faced with an electricity theft syndicate operating from prison."There are syndicates that are tampering [with connections] and doing illegal connections on a full time basis", Bindeman said."They can move into your area overnight and cause huge havoc."We are trying to get them to go to other places or scare them away completely, because to stop them is impossible."Bindeman said the metro needed to undergo an auditing process, before establishing a unit to deal with revenue loss. He further urged the municipality to hire experts to deal with the bigger commercial users."This can be stopped. Revenue protection and losses is not a one-time exercise, it's a long term relationship - with all the departments and all the people - to get a real belief that you can bring the losses on utilities down," Bindeman said."You have to look at who could pay, who does not want to pay and those who cannot afford to pay."During a debate on another report on electricity losses, councilors called for the metro's bylaw on electricity losses to be updated. DA councillor Andre van der Westhuizen asked why the electricity loss bylaw had not been updated to allow prosecutions."Our electricity losses are way too high - and we need a plan of action to address it," he said.There had been a commitment that the bylaw would be updated, Van der Westhuizen said. Municipal official and former acting executive director Peter Nielson said the bylaw would be changed after the department received the mandate by the committee. Despite this, Nielson said the bylaw did not need to be changed - what was needed was the political support to litigate."Our philosophy is you tamper three times, we charge you and remove your service cable."We have never had political support to litigate," Nielson said.A proposal to update the bylaw had nevertheless been submitted.While the City of Cape Town is using apps, Twitter campaigns and Mmusi Maimane's bucket delegation skills to remind South Africans to save water, the nation's Department of Water and Sanitation is taking a - ahem - different approach.

Splash, Department of Water and Sanitation mascot.  screenshot, @DWS_RSA via Twitter.





Day Zero is when this guy murders everyone. pic.twitter.com/LrIo9GeO2Y

 Rob Van Vuuren (@RobVanVuuren) February 16, 2018





So is the message use less water or that mascot will kill you?

 Bobby Lawson (@Asukaforever92) February 16, 2018









@shelleymorton16 thats just going to give kids nightmares. And some adults #wtf

 Darren R Morton (@BathurstOrBust) February 15, 2018









What the fuck?

 Alejandro (@chini_06_) February 16, 2018



Splash  the #SaveWater mascot composed of a water droplet shaped head, no neck, a green-and-gold suit, and a creepy crotch hashtag  was revealed to the world this week at the DWSs #SaveWater ambassador campaign launch. The #SaveWater ambassador programme is a multi-sectoral initiative that includes a wide array of partners including Miss Earth SA, Operation SA, Tsogo Sun to ensure that Department works collaboratively with stakeholders to find solutions to the challenge of water scarcity, the DWS writes on Twitter.And while thats a splendid initiative, could they maybe have worked a bit harder on making Splash less terrifying?Even Springbok forward Eben Etzebeth looks a bit shaken.Thanks to comedian Rob van Vuuren  and a retweet from columnist Tom Eaton  Splash began trending Friday afternoon just hours before #Sona2018. Day Zero is when this guy murders everyone, van Vuuren tweets.And others too were ready to cower beneath their beds.While Cape Towns latest campaign trick of helicopter-drawn #DefeatDayZero banners does seem like wasteful expenditure, at least its a whole lot less terrifying than good ol Splash over here.Kenya has admitted that it has been losing tourists to Tanzania in recent years.

KarineL8 via pixabay

Growing number of foreign tourists

Speaking on Kenya's Citizen television, the country's Tourism and Wildlife minister, Najib Balala, voiced concern about the state of hotels in the country, saying that lack of adequate world-class hotels in Kenya had made Tanzania a better proposition for tourists in East Africa. "The reason why Tanzania did better than us in 2017 is that their hotels are brand new and modern while our hotels are 40 years old," he said.Balala noted that while the number of tourist arrivals in Kenya increased from 1,342,899 in 2016 to 1,474,671 in 2017, the country had the potential of attracting many more tourists if hotel infrastructure and customer service were improved."The biggest challenge that we have as an industry is security. Our porous border with Somalia is also a concern for our visitors. However the situation is normalising," he said."People are not just coming because they want a hotel bed around them. They want activities around their vacation. They want to feel the experience. They don't want to come to the airport and be harassed by an immigration officer or a taxi driver or go to a hotel with substandard service."Balala said Kenya targeted to attract 2.5 million tourists annually by 2022, adding that the government had engaged hoteliers and agreed on the standards needed to attain the goal.The number of foreign tourists visiting Tanzania has been increasing steadily since breaking the once-elusive one million-mark for the first time in 2012. According to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, there were 1,137,182 tourist arrivals in 2015, and the number rose to 1,284,279 in 2016, which translated into a 12.9% jump.Tourism earned Tanzania $2.3bn (Sh5 trillion) last year, up from $2bn (Sh4.4 trillion) in 2016. Earnings in 2015 were $1.9bn (Sh4.18 trillion).International tourist arrivals worldwide grew by 6% in the first four months of 2017 compared to the same period the previous year, with business confidence reaching its highest levels in a decade, according to the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO). Sustained growth in most major destinations and a steady rebound in others drove results. Destinations worldwide received 369 million international tourists (overnight visitors) in the first four months of 2017, 21 million more than in the same months of 2016, according to the UNWTO World Tourism Barometer.International arrivals reported by destinations around the world were positive overall, with very few exceptions. Most of 2016's strong performers maintained momentum, while destinations that struggled in previous years continued to rebound in the first part of 2017.The Committee to Protect Journalists called on Ethiopian authorities to drop an incitement charge against Zone 9 blogger Atnafu Berhane.

 Lukasz Stefanskivia 123RF

Prosecutors told a court on February 14 they planned to drop the charge, but the process was delayed by a paperwork error, Atnafu told CPJ. He added that a judge said today that the case against him will continue if prosecutors fail to present the updated paperwork to the court on February 23.Also on February 14, prosecutors announced they had dropped incitement charges against two other Zone 9 bloggers, Befekadu Hailu and Natnail Feleke, according to reports . The charges were dropped the same week that authorities released jailed journalists Eskinder Nega and Woubshet Taye.CPJ is aware of at least one journalist, Elias Gebru , still facing a charge of incitement . Elias is due in court on April 3, a local journalist, who asked not to be named, told CPJ.Ethiopian authorities should end the legal case against Atnafu Berhane without delay, so that he can join Befekadu Hailu and Natnail Feleke in being free to report without the burden of fighting criminal charges linked to his work, said CPJ Africa program coordinator Angela Quintal from New York.Authorities should also drop the charge against Elias Gebru and amend the countrys laws so that a free and diverse press can flourish.*Members of the Zone 9 blogging collective were recipients of CPJs International Press Freedom Award in 2015.Like most of eastern Congo, Beni is largely a no-mans land, ruled by a shifting collection of armed groups, some of which may receive support from the government in Kinshasa, while others enjoy clandestine assistance from neighboring Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi, and other sources. Some groups try to defend the local population against attacks by other groups and some harbor larger political goals. Many combatants survive amid the lawlessness by extortion and plunder, and some migrate from one group to another for purposes of espionage, switching loyalties, or for mercenary reasons. This chaotic picture makes it unlikely that anyone, including most of the participants themselves, entirely understands the conflict.

Ahead of his first state visit to Africa in March, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson should rethink Washingtons longstanding support for some of Africas more tyrannical regimes, particularly those of Yoweri Museveni of Uganda and Paul Kagame of Rwanda, whose security forces continue to prey on their vast, mineral-rich neighbor Congo.

Beneath Congos soil lies an estimated (at 2011 prices) $24 trillion in natural resources, including rich supplies of oil, gold, diamonds, the coltan used in computer chips, the cobalt and nickel used in jet engines and car batteries, the copper for bathroom pipes, the uranium for bombs and power plants, the iron for nearly everything. This wealth is the source of untold suffering. Today, more Congolese are displaced from their homes than Iraqis, Yemenis, or Rohingyas. Yet their miseries are all but invisible, in part because the identities and aims of Congos myriad combatants are mystified by layers of rumor and misinformation, which serve the interests of those profiting from the mayhem.

Some of Congos worst violence has occurred in Beni, an oil- and gold-rich territory in eastern Congo that has long served as a smuggling hub for natural resources into Uganda and Rwanda, and from there, to world markets. Since 2014, nearly a thousand civilians have been murdered in Beni, and hundreds of thousands have fled their farms and villages. Neither the UNs 20,000-person peacekeeping force, MONUSCO, nor the Congolese army have been able to stem this violence or even adequately explain it.

Please see New York Review

https://mail.google.com/mail/mu/mp/882/#cv/Inbox/161ae25d606376afAllimadi

I was given five minutes to speak at the #ProudAfricans Rally to Repudiate Donald Trump's racism and to build Pan-African alliances, at the United Nations on February 15. Below is my presentation.

Greetings Sisters and Brothers. Thank you all for coming. We are? Proud Africans. We are? Proud Africans.

Demonization. Demonization has always gone hand in hand with exploitation, colonization and even genocide of Africans, correct?

Donald Trump knows that Africa is not a collection of shithole countries. How do I know this? Because in September, when he met with African presidents at the United Nations what did he say? He said 'my rich friends are making money in Africa.' So he knows that Africa is collectively the richest collection of countries or continent in the world, is that not correct? So when he's demonizing Africa he's doing something that has always been the case. You demonize a people when you want to exploit them, when you want to abuse them, is that not correct?

Today, Africa continues to sustain and build the wealth that we see in the United States and in Europe. How is that? Africa provides the raw resources that fuels the companies -- the sister is right for Asia as well-- Africa builds the factories in the United States, in Europe and in China today.

If it was not for Africa's wealth, we would not see all these buildings we see here today. We would not see that Trump World Tower today. Africa's wealth, the wealth (labor) of enslaved Africans built the United States; it built the economic foundation that allowed industrialization. While they were building it on the plantations they were referred to as savages right? And yet they were building the wealth in the United States. Thomas Jefferson, a founding father of the Republic, wrote in "Notes On The State of Virginia" that Africans were inferior compared to Whites. Yet at the same time he was fathering children with African women, is that not correct?

Demonization in Haiti -- Haitians abused, enduring the worst torture in the world. Enslaved Africans in Haiti, they used to pack dynamite into their anus and then light it up. And yet the Haitians were the ones referred to as savages while the French who were committing these acts of barbarity were the ones who were supposedly civilized. It did not stop Haitian from fighting and defeating Napoleon's mighty army. The Haitian Revolution of 1804, let's salute brothers and sisters from Haiti.

Demonization in Africa. Demonization was used to colonize Africa. The Europeans claimed they were in Africa to civilize Africans, right? How do you civilize when you are killing 10 million people in Congo? How do you civilize when you are exterminating the Herero in what is today Namibia at the same time extracting the riches from Africa? What kind of civilization is that?

That was just an excuse to rationalize the exploitation of Africa. It was called the "White Man's Burden." No, it was Africa's Burden to build the world.

Joseph Conrad wrote "Heart of Darkness." Africa is described up today in the 21st century as the Dark Continent. Joseph Conrad's book is read by millions of students allover the world --"Heart of Darkness." We are all familiar with that book right? Chinua Achebe said Joseph Conrad was a thoroughgoing racist. I agree with brother Chinua Achebe.

What do we need to do from here Sisters and Brothers? We need to go to the final 'P' in the series of 'P's. 'P' for protest, 'P' for policy, 'P' for power. It means we really have to rekindle the spirit of Pan-Africanism that helped to liberate Africa. It was Marcus Garvey who inspired Kwame Nkrumah. It was people like W.E.B. Du Bois that inspired us. C.L.R. James, Walter Rodney, Malcolm X, Kwame Ture, Brothers from here inspiring Brothers and Sisters in Africa. Michael Manley; the list is endless. You have to excuse me and I apologize if I forget any--I just don't have enough time to list all the great Pan-Africans. The message is that we have to broaden and deepen our alliances. If we speak collectively, we can help end the abuse of Africans here, in Haiti and on the continent.

So if we take one message from here today, it is Pan-African unity. Let's all come together and build a bigger alliance for the bigger march which is going to be in Washington, D.C., on May 25th, African Liberation Day. When we take it to Donald Trump's doorsteps.

Thank you Sisters and Brothers.

Long live Africa. One Africa, united.

PR Newswire

LONDON, February 19, 2018

LONDON, February 19, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

The St Kitts and Nevis Citizenship by Investment (CBI) Programme has released a final reminder to those interested in investing in second citizenship under the temporarily reduced investment module - the Hurricane Relief Fund - scheduled to end on 30 March 2018.

Established after a challenging hurricane season, the Hurricane Relief Fund has been a popular temporary option for prospective citizens around the world, who wish to invest in the world's oldest economic citizenship programme.

With a booming tourism sector, the Federated island-nation in the Caribbean is enjoying unprecedented economic growth, and prestigious hotel brands are collaborating to "meet the increased demand for luxury travel offerings" - a comment shared today by Global Brand Leader for The Ritz-Carlton, Lisa Holladay.

Offering all the unique benefits for which the Programme is known, except with a lower investment threshold, has allowed individuals and their families around the world to partake in the country's reputed Platinum Standard product, while securing a future of greater mobility, safety and wealth.

The St Kitts and Nevis CBI Programme received wide acclaim for their approach, receiving the honour of World's Most Innovative Investment Immigration Programme at the Global Citizen Awards Ceremony in Russia, shortly after the fund was announced.

Noting the price of USD150,000 for a family of four, CEO of the CBI Unit, Les Khan says, "we encourage individuals and families to take the opportunity to invest at a lower threshold for a product that is uncompromised in its quality."

Thinking of larger families, the Government has also made allowances for applications of more than four persons at USD25,000 per additional dependant, regardless of age.

Unique benefits of the Programme include:

- Visa-free access and visa-free on arrival to over 150 countries and territories worldwide

- The world's strongest due diligence processes, as ranked by Financial Times' CBI Index

- 60 days guaranteed citizenship with the Accelerated Application Process (AAP)

- No requirement to reside in St Kitts and Nevis

- Complete discretion and privacy throughout the application process and citizenship

- A low tax regime, with zero taxes on worldwide income, capital gains and inheritance

- Strong investment opportunities in a growing economy

For more information on St Kitts and Nevis' unique temporary offer, please visit the Government's official website.

Issued from London on behalf of Government of St Kitts and Nevis

SOURCE Government of St Kitts and NevisSenior executive at Botswana Telecommunications Corporation, Anthony Masunga has expressed disappointment over governments extremely low budget for the ICT sector in the coming financial year.

Finance and Economic Development minister, Kenneth Matambo has proposed a development budget of P461 million for the ICT sector. The development of an ICT backbone infrastructure is necessary for equitable and affordable access to broadband connectivity. It also provides an opportunity for reliable high-speed networks, which support e-government service and innovation among businesses, said Matambo in the 2018/9 budget speech recently.

The treasury minister said the funds will be used to among others improve government ICT infrastructure, expand data network as well as installing ICT infrastructure in secondary schools. This (budget) is far too small, said a downbeat Masunga making a comment from the floor at the FNB Botswana Budget review. He added that, even at BTC Limited, they cannot operate in any financial year with that amount of funds. He is right. For the year to March 2017, the groups various operating expenses associated with administration, costs of selling and distribution and other expenses passed the P700 million mark. BTCL is a listed and privatised parastatal which is owned 51 percent by government and the rest by private investors. The company also own BeMobile, a mobile telecommunications company which competes with Orange and Mascom Wireless. The BTCL top man made it clear that, the sector needs to have an expanded budget especially that ICT is an enabler of business activities. Speaking at the same event, Botswana Innovation Hub director for Marketing and ICT, Tshepo Tsheko said they have allocated P12 million to support young innovators in the sector. BIH is owned by government. Tsheko said technology drives global economy and it was high time government invested more on science, technology and engineering to position Botswana economically. Government ICT policy and e-government strategy is also going on at a snails pace, said Masunga. Last year, Sunday Standard newspaper reported that, two years after parliament allocated P150 Million to the Ministry of State President to finance the development of e- government, the ministry has not started the project and the money has not being accounted for. More than 30 civil servants who were employed for the project have since been retrenched because government says there is no money to pay them. The government is also refusing to sign a tender agreement with a Canadian company that was contracted for the project and no reasons are being advanced.There is need for government to reduce undue political influence in the appointments of boards and the senior executive officers of parastatals especially in sensitive sectors such as energy, a consultant has proposed.

David Mompati, the Managing Director of Duiker Energy made the suggestion during a panel discussion under the topic, Thinking beyond the Fence  Growing Agriculture to feed the world and Fuelling our future: Sustainable and Profitable PPPs (Private Public Partnerships) Avenues. Investors need certainty, said Mompati adding that, (investors) do not need a situation where if political leadership changes, the new ones will sing a totally different hymn. Mompati is a seasonedenergy expert who has worked for companies such as Tlou Energy and CIC Energy.

Speaking at the event which was organised by First National Bank Botswana (FNBB), Mompati said it was even more important for sector regulators such as Botswana Energy Regulatory Authority (BERA) to be devoid of political influence, given the critical role it plays in the economy. As things stand, the board and the executive of BERA are appointed by cabinet on recommendation from the responsible minister, in this case minister Advocate Sadique Kebonang. For growth, the sector needs to be regulated by independent minded men and women of integrity who are not clouded by political influences. BERA became operational last year. It was established to regulate the energy and petroleum sector. BERA is currently under the leadership of Rose Seretse, as the Chief Executive Officer. Seretse was not at the seminar to respond to some of the suggestions made by Mompati, despite being invited as a panellist. She had an emergency meeting, said an FNBB official.

Reached for comment by Botswana Guardian last week, Kebonang, who is minister for Minerals Resources, Green Technology and Energy Security, said there is nothing wrong with the status quo. He brushed aside any suggestions that boards and executives will also be clouded in their judgment since they are appointed by politicians of the governing party. In the case of BERA, where he is responsible for appointing the board of directors and CEO, Kebonang said in the event that any player(s) in the energy sector is aggrieved by whatever the regulators decision, they do not come to the minister but to a court of law. BERA is responsible for regulating the energy sector which includes companies providing petroleum products power generation, distribution and transmission, among others. The sectors total assets run into billions of Pula. Speaking at the same event, FNBB Economic Research Manager, Moatlhodi Sebabole said the ideal situation will be to have regulators who enable the private sector to thrive.Direct BPO this week outlined its strategic intent in the multi-million pula Business Processing Outsourcing (BPO) industry, indicating they are ready to rattle the status quo with their innovative services. Direct BPO is a subsidiary of Mascom Wireless, a telecommunications company which traces its origins in Portugal. The Managing Director of the company, Asnath Breseno, said, what will separate them from existing players will be their ability to offer not only call centre services but integrated back-up solutions which will also use popular social media platforms which are a hit with the youth.

According to Direct BPO boss, this has not been the case. We decided to set up the business since we have realised there are a lot of opportunities which remain untapped, said Breseno, who until his appointment was Mascoms Chief Customer Management Officer.

In a matter of weeks, the company will be able to provide call centre services, email,

social media, back office support, among others to companies interested in outsourcing the above services. Direct BPO which was registered in the third quarter of last year will be open to do business with all sectors of the economy such as insurance, financial services, transport utilities, agriculture, and tourism, among others.

There are also opportunities in the public sector, said a confident Breseno. Meanwhile, a player in the market, who refused to be named, said the domestic market is very small, and the company will have to go an extra mile to convince the market that they are the best.

Look, all these big companies have their own call centres and it is very difficult to convince them to outsource such services. Guys have been talking to government about the importance of BPO but nothing has really come out, said the player who runs a call centre company in Gaborone. BPO is a subset of outsourcing that involves contracting the operations and responsibilities for a particular business process to a third-party service provider.

Even before they can roll out a red carpet to prospective customers Direct BPO looks set to secure Mascom as their first client. About 400 employees mostly youth, will be employed by the company in the coming months. Some of them are already being trained ahead of official opening. Speaking to Botswana Guardian, Breseno said the sector by its nature requires a lot of people on the ground, especially call centre agents. Other services which the company will be offering include setting up call centres services for companies that do not need to outsource such services. We have all the technical know-how, she boasted. Both Breseno and Mascom Chief Executive, Jose Couceiro said it is still early days to state how much the new unit will contribute to the group. The move by Mascom to open Direct BPO is seen as a strategic plan to diversify away from the cutthroat mobile telecommunications sector which also has players such as beMobile and Orange Botswana.

The Mascom Chief Executive was not in a position to state how much they have used to set up the company save to say a lot of start-up capital will be used for training. Direct BPO is already aiming high. Once settled, the company will expand in Botswana, the region and internationally.

The African market has opportunities but other countries such as South Africa, Kenya and Egypt have already made their presence felt in the sector, noted Breseno.New KFC owner, Bradlymores has been approved by the Competition Authority to take over the business with conditions to continue sourcing supplies from local producers and assisting local companies to meet accredited standards for the international restaurant. Bradlymore a joint venture company between Vivo Energy and Baobab Khulisani South Africa acquired KFC Botswana from the liquidator, Nigel Dixon-Warren.

Competition Authority stated that the acquisition does not result in substantial lessoning of competition or endanger the continuity of the services offered in the market for quick-service or fast food restaurants. In a statement, Competition Authority Chief Executive, Tebelelo Pule said the Authority took cognisance of the commitment by the merging parties in their intention to continue sourcing from local supplies approved by YUM. The Authority further takes note of the commitment by Bradleymores to develop a robust supply chain that is aimed at ensuring that local suppliers are capacitated to enable them to meet the supply requirements set by YUM ... adhering to the franchisors quality standards. reads the statement.

The authority also set a condition that the company should not retrench any employees of the target entities as a result of the acquisition for a period of three years from the implementation date.

Pule highlighted that in order for the Authority to properly monitor compliance with the conditions, the Authority shall require Bradleymores to annually (for a period of three years from the implementation date) submit to the Competition Authority, a detailed report indicating any changes to its employment records in the country and the reasons thereof as well as a list of its existing and new locally based suppliers (including the type of inputs they supply).

Meanwhile in 2015 local poultry farmers raised concerns over KFC Botswana pointing out that the company is not supporting local chicken farmers as it gets most of its products from South Africa. The chicken farmers appealed to the new owners to come up with a policy that will at least help them to supply the fried chicken outlet with some of the stock. However, it was revealed that KFCs requirements on slaughtering and handling of the chickens have to meet some of the stringiest rules in place, including transportation from the abattoir to the restaurants.

The KFC Botswana portfolio, which consists of 12 restaurants, was placed under liquidation in June last year after the company failed to service its debts and creditors. Vivo Energy through its network of Shell-branded retail service stations in Botswana is a marketer of various oil products including retail fuels, commercial fuels and lubricants. On the other hand, Baobab Khulisani, a South African KFC franchisee operates 11 stores in South Africa.

Bradlymores is a limited liability company incorporated in accordance with the laws of the Republic of Botswana. It is a special purpose vehicle that was set up for purposes of the proposed transaction and, as such, is not involved in any form of activity.

KFC Botswana business was operated through three wholly owned subsidiaries of VPB Propco (Pty) Ltd which include Greenax (Pty) Ltd (Greenax), QSR (Pty) Ltd (QSR) and Boitumelo Dijo (Pty) Ltd. These subsidiaries operate 12 KFC franchises in Botswana situated in the following areas: six in South-East district; two in North-East district; and one in each of Southern (Kanye), Kweneng district (Molepolole), Ngamiland district (Maun), and Chobe district (Kasane).The Botswana Congress Party (BCP) has roped in former teacher and BOSETU active member Carter Hikuama to represent them in Ngami constituency.

Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) will be looking to former Member of Parliament for the area Jacob Nkate or the incumbent MP Thato Kwerepe.

Speaking to Botswana Guardian Hikuama said he was approached by a good number of people in the constituency to stand for political office after realising that he is a good leader as shown by various leadership positions he held whilst at the teaching fraternity.

Hikuama finally kissed chalk and the blackboard goodbye on the 31 of January 2018 to concentrate on his new career. In 2009 Taolo Habano of BCP won the constituency only to be floored by Kwerepe in 2014 who won by a difference of 48 votes. Kwerepe managed 7063 votes whilst Habano secured 7015 votes and Kebinang Cosmos Moenga of Umbrella for Democratic Change trailed with only 802 votes.

Hikuama strongly believes that he poses qualities of a good leader based on the numerous positions he held before.

These were obtained since joining the teaching fraternity in 1996 - Regional Chairperson in various regions including Maun, Francistown, Tutume and in 2008 he contested for the vice presidency of BOSETU only to be defeated by Tebogo Sebogodi.

Following his loss, he became a labour relations committee member of BOSETU until he resigned recently. Asked whether he will run unopposed, Hikuama said that whatever system is adopted, he is fully prepared to face any opponent since his people highly regard him, hence their decision to plead with him to represent them.

Efforts to solicit a comment from the BCP spokesperson Dithapelo Keorapetse on whether Hikuama will stand unopposed hit a snag at press time as his mobile phone was unavailable.Former Botswana high court judge, Oagile Key Dingake - the first African to be appointed judge of Papua New Guinea  took his oath of office last week Wednesday.

Desceiing the feeling to Botswana Guardian in a telephone interview Dingake said he felt the enormity, gravity and importance of the task ahead of him weigh heavily on his shoulder as he walked down the aisle to take his oath.

Dingake said it has been a phenomenal journey to the land of the unexpected and mystery. Some call it the Jewel of the Pacific. Papua New Guinea, PNG for short is a travellers delight in many respects. It has breathtaking and pristine beaches outside Port Mosby, the capital city. It lies on the eastern half of the second largest island in the world, and shares a border with Indonesia.

As a former colony of Britain, PNG and Botswana share a common legal heritage, but Dingake says the country does things a little more differently than Botswana. For instance, during the opening of the legal year Judges Parade March commences a kilometre or so away from the court house or venue for the community to have a sense of involvement.

The swearing in of a judge is a big thing. The Chief Justice (CJ), under a police escort, leads a convoy of Judges to the offices of the head of state called Governor General where an oath is administered. In Botswana it is taken before the CJ and is often a very low key affair involving CJ, the Judge and CJs assistant!

As I walked towards the Governor General to take my oath of office, I felt the enormity; gravity and importance of the task ahead of me weigh heavily on my shoulder. The idea that ngwana wa Dingake le Ngwakwana ko Mosalakwane, in Bobonong, Botswana, in Africa, could be called to the Pacific to come dispense justice made me wish my parents were here with me.

My dad used to think Robben Island in South Africa where his son, Michael Kitso Dingake, was incarcerated by the Boers for political activities in the fight for freedom, was the farthest his son could go. As I recall he blamed education for all this and for his son believing to be even clever than makgoa and at times having the neck to scold them. To imagine that his last born was in this island far away from anything would have knocked him unconscious.

I was accompanied by my wife when I took the oath of office. I was flanked by the CJ on my right as required by the traditions here, as Judges looked on. After my swearing in the CJ and I sat down with the press to take questions about the occasion

The CJ announced that because of my experience I have been assigned to deal specifically with all claims by and against the state only. The Attorney General and Minister of Justice in a statement said my recruitment was timely as the PNG is in the process of establishing the Human Rights Commission.

Dingake says he went through orientation training the next day on how they run their courts and what immediately blew his mind is that PNG judges on the main operate paperless Court proceedings. There is no need to walk into Court with a file with papers flying in all directions as files are electronic and the judges have to run with it as such. The electronic case management system also monitors the performance of Judges.

A whole new world just unfolded in front of my eyes that I hope I will one day plough back to my native country.

Any regrets?

My greatest regret as I stood up there in the office of the Governor General, to take oath to uphold, defend and protect the Constitution of PNG, with cameras and smart phones clicking away to record this historic and glorious moment, was that I was not wearing a Botswana tie and badge.

But it is not all lost. Another ceremony is on its way. Its scheduled for the 2nd of March 2018. On this day the CJ and other Judges will hold an open Court hearing to welcome me and other new judges. He will deliver a speech and the new judges will also commit publicly. On this day I will make good my default. Otherwise history will not forgive me.

The press has been running headlines on my appointment and swearing. One of the leading newspapers called Nation ran a headline saying African Judge to handle cases involving State. It has been a roller coaster of a pilgrimage to mine law in the belly of the Pacific. It has been a phenomenal journey to the land of the unexpected and mystery. Some call it the jewel of the Pacific.Whether at the state luncheon, Parliament or meeting with Zimbabweans in the Diaspora, Zimbabwean President Emerson Mnangagwa emerged as a man all out to reconcile his country and rebuild the economy.

He confidently told his audience that with the assistance of Botswana, SADC, African Union and the entire world, Zimbabwe will go back to normalcy. He believes that there is no place better than home and is looking forward to receiving back home many of his country men and women- together with their spouses- who live in Botswana.

When addressing parliament on Monday during his first state visit, Mnangagwa expressed his appreciation for the hospitality and opportunities that Botswana has extended to Zimbabweans over the years. It was also his first address to a full session of parliament in a foreign land since he became president last November.

 I know that in your various constituencies, you host many Zimbabweans. I wish to express my appreciation for the hospitality, opportunities you have extended to my country men and women. It is in this spirit of togetherness and Ubuntu that you have opened your doors to my countrymen and women during the time of their need. These noble deeds will be forever etched in our hearts and minds.

Extending an invitation to his fellow country men and women to return home, he said that as their economy prospects improve, We shall be expecting and receiving them back home, many of them in the company of their Tswana spouses.

My government will continue to work tirelessly to create a peaceful and stable political and social economic environment which will enable us to move forward as a prosperous nation that will afford each and every one of us an opportunity to realise our full potential. As we pursue objectives I shall count on your solidarity and goodwill.

Reaffirm friendship

Mnangagwa said he came to Botswana to reaffirm an old enduring special friendship that Zimbabwe and Botswana share. Of course all relationships have their ups and downs, however, we have worked together to overcome some of these challenges. I am here to herald the present and gaze with optimism into the future. Needless to say Parliamentarians are a pivotal part of democracy. Each nation gives life to democracy in its own way and in line with its constitution.

More often than not, governments that respect the will of their own people are more prosperous, stable and successful. Parliaments now represent informed societies especially with advent of internet riding on social media platforms which are opening new doors for improved dialogue between citizens and their elected representatives.

Elections 2018

Mnangagwa told parliament that preparations for the elections have been going on smoothly with more than 5 million eligible voters already registered by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission. Our elections will be guided by the SADC and AU principles and guidelines. SADC and AU member states are always welcome to observe our elections, he said.

My government thrust is the economic growth engagement with countries and international organisations we had misunderstandings with before as well as consolidating long standing friendships like with Botswana. My administration is working hard to attract foreign direct investment in order to revive and grow our economy.

In that regard we have been working on improving the investment climate in Zimbabwe. We have amended the Indigenisation and Empowerment Act which now limits the 51- 49 percent shareholding structure to only two minerals that is platinum and diamonds because we are still crafting our policy around those two minerals.Botswana Congress Party (BCP) is adamant that the director of DISS, Isaac Kgosi should be prosecuted over the P250m that they say he has corruptly withdrawn from the National Petroleum Fund (NPF).

BCP president, Dumelang Saleshando said this when addressing a press conference adding the money was withdrawn corruptly and unlawfully. He highlighted that NPF has regulations set by National Assembly therefore there is no how DISS Director could simply do a memo demanding for the money.

Any official who purpose to bend the law of parliament or rewrite the laws should be punished for trying to do that, said Saleshando reiterating that Kgosi committed a criminal offence by acting corruptly when he transferred the funds.

He said that they even propose that the fraud be escalated but the funds be rather used for military or surveillance equipment. He labelled Kgosi as a criminal minded officer of government and emphasised that some of this corruption has received maximum protection under President Ian Khama.

Saleshando further said that in order to fix this issue, they are going to approach UDC and propose that they must be a player, and specifically get an order directing that the funds be transferred back to the Petroleum Fund.

He said that it is important to assure Batswana that the funds that were expropriated illegally will go back to where they should be. On the other hand, he stated that UDC has to also find out why Kgosi has not been prosecuted to date while investigations on his corruption allegations have been completed more than a year ago.

He explained that DCEC has long done its part and sent back the file to DPP. Saleshando said that it is about time they get answers because they do not want situations whereby DPP end up deciding that they no longer want to pursue the case and they be blamed for having also been relaxed without asking about it.

He also said that if they cannot get the answer as to why Kgosi has not been prosecuted, and otherwise it is time to do something for the nation.

He said it would be better to have to ask willing partners to consider taking the private prosecution route and make sure that fairness and justice prevail in this matter.

Nonetheless, Saleshando has applauded DCEC on this issue, saying that most of them have condemned it for many years, as they believed that it only focuses on small fish.

They need applause because in this particular instance they have moved swiftly although there are some missing names which also need to come out to also answer for their deeds, he said.Primary school dropouts figures are slowly moving up, as the primary school beginners intakes increase too, Statistics Botswana has revealed.

The countrys data authoritys latest Primary School Statistics Brief released this week indicate significant rates of drop out and non-completion of primary school is attributed mainly to ill-health, inability to pay school fees and truancy - a problem or situation of children being absent from school regularly without permission.

Anna Majelantle, Statistician General has bemoaned that many children are leaving primary school without acquiring the most basic skills. The data collected from schools through the 2015 annual school census, which forms SBs latest report indicate that pupils abandon school at different standards before they could complete the full course of primary education.

According to the report there was 2,567 drop-outs in 2015 across the country.

The total dropout rate was 0.6 percent in 2013, 0.7 percent in 2014 and increased to 0.8 percent in 2015, said Majelantle in the report.

Johannes Tshukudu the President of the Botswana Teachers Union (BTU) said government, teachers and parents should work together to address the alarming growth of dropouts.

Tshukudu said primary school drop-outs challenge has both short-term and long-term bearing on both socio and economic situation of the country.

He pointed out that the syndrome is attributed to poor socio and economic status of families and homes breaking down, leading to limited economic and social support which then force children to look for alternative means of survival and abandon school.

BTU is concerned that though government makes efforts to address this situation through social relief nets, gaps still exist.

Government interventions are not adequate and constant. They cannot sustain these children (dropouts) to stay in schools. As a result learners are becoming rebellious and bully and eventually leave school, Tshukudu said.

Tshukudu said school drop outs later haunt communities social setting and even economic activities. We cannot talk of FDI when we have increase of youth dropouts. The after effects is scarce FDI, no investors will invest where there is high rate of crime.

We need to assist each other, majority of criminals are school drop outs that abandoned school at various levels and satisfy their needs through stealing, he said. Tshukudu also said politicians must also reassess their political stance in terms of public education to deal with issues of dropouts.

According to SB statistics, Gantsi continues to lead the districts on the number of primary school drop outs, though the trend shows a drop compared to previous years.

Gantsi had been slightly decreasing but it still had the highest dropout rates across all regions since 2012 being; 6.7 percent in 2012, 3.5 percent in 2013, 3.8 percent in 2014 and 4.4 percent in 2015, reads part of the report indicating that in the South East region dropouts had been decreasing since 2012 from 0.4 percent to 0.1 percent in 2015.

Out of the 2567 dropouts recorded in 2015, 1805 or 70.3 percent were due to truancy, reads part of the report adding that the prevalence of truancy by sex shows that 74.3 percent of males dropped due to truancy compared to 62.6 percent for females.

Majelantle notes that a significant number of both sexes also dropped due to ill-health and inability to pay school fees. Citing Basarwa as the most affected community by dropouts, Tshukudu said introduction of education to this minority community has divorced them from their type of lifestyle.

Government should introduce temporary structures within Basarwa communities, so that they do not completely divorce the students from their traditional lifestyle but gradually expose them to learning, Tshukudu said.

Majelantle implored that policies to improve school progression and reduce the numbers of children dropping out of school are critical if Universal Primary Education (UPE) is to be achieved.

Children are starting primary school in greater numbers than ever before but dropout rates are significant and lead to low levels of primary school completion in many countries, said Majelantle.

Meanwhile Tshukudu highlighted that several countries in the southern Africa bloc are facing the same challenge citing that Mozambique school dropout can be attributed to political instability, Malawi economic issues, same with Zimbabwe and Namibia dealing with minority groups with cultures yet to accept education as a way of life.Dikarabo Ramadubu

BG reporter

President Lieutenant General Ian Khama who continues to receive a shot in the arm as Batswana increase his cattle herd will certainly pursue his long time passion of farming on full time basis when he retires from office on April 1, BG News has established.

Khamas parents the late Sir Seretse and Lady Ruth Khama were cattle barons and farmers of repute in different places around the country.

Seretse had farms in Boteti, Ngwato, Kweneng, Tswapong where he kept livestock and ploughed. The farms were inherited by his children who have since leased, sold or kept some.

BG News has reliably learnt that, Ian Khama has continued his multipurpose farming up to this stage, but decided to give priority to the civil service.

Khama has personal farms in Taukome near Serowe where he has high breed cattle, goats and sheep. He currently has a horticultural farm as well as ploughing field in the Tswapong area and has won many prices in profit making activities like bee-hiving. Some have been asking questions on what will Khama who has been turned into one of the biggest cattle barons in the country do with his large cattle herd and small livestock presents that he continues to receive as he bids the nation farewell given that he does not have land or farm to rear them.

Some said that he is likely to apply for land to make a farm and rear his livestock. Speaking to BG News, Senior Private Secretary, Brigadier George Tlhalerwa stated that Khama has many options which include buying, leasing or applying for land where he can do his farming business.

Tlhalerwa said that Khamas parents had farming land and farms in some of the areas such as Boteti- Kweneng and Tswapong. As a family they are still doing farming in some of these places. He has farms in areas such as Taukome where he has livestock. It must also be remembered that he has horticultural and bee keeping farms that enable him to win many prices in competition.

Brigadier Tlhalerwa said so far President Khama has not yet indicated where he is going to apply for the land and has since requested his many friends who have the means to host his livestock.

He has not yet decided on his master plan. But, knowing him, he is going to rear them. But he may get rid of some purely for management purposes as well as for environmental purposes.

As I speak to you, the President has not indicated where he would like to have his farm, but he is considering many options including buying private farms, leasing and applying for land, said Tlhalerwa.

It is expected Khama will get more cattle of high breed from the three Serowe constituencies and Gantsi which he is expected to visit. The arrangement is that Khama who doubles as President and Kgosikgolo of Bamangwato will visit the three Serowe constituencies before concluding at the man Kgotla at a later stage.

So far, all the constituencies that he visited have contributed cattle and small lives stock, save for the Lerala constituency who gave him a tractor, trailer and farming implements worth over P400.000.00. The Lerala constituents opted for the route after consultation in a Kgotla meeting where it was agreed that since they do not have many cattle unlike in other constituencies, then they must contribute money to buy him farming machinery.

A representational photo.

NEW DELHI (PTI): Chandrayaan-2, the lunar mission under which the ISRO will for the first time attempt to land a rover on the moon's south pole, will be launched in April, Jitendra Singh, in-charge of the Department of Space has said.



The rover of India's second lunar mission, costing nearly Rs 800 crore, will be made to land near the yet-unexplored south pole, ISRO's newly-appointed chairman K Sivan said last Friday.



"India is going to launch Chandrayaan-2 in April. It is under Chandrayaan-1 mission that the ISRO spotted water on the moon. Chandrayaan-2 is a further extension of the project and it is as good as landing a man on the moon," Singh told reporters here.



Chandrayaan-2 will be ISRO's first inter-planetary mission to land a rover on any celestial body.



Sivan noted that the window to launch the mission is between April and November this year.



"The targeted date is April. In case we miss the April date, we will launch it in November," Sivan added.



Citing the reason behind landing the rover near the south pole, Sivan said it is a "very tricky area" with rocks formed a million years ago.



"It has very old rocks. This could possibly help us understand the origin of universe," he said.



Another reason, he cited, behind landing the rover near the south pole was that the area has not been explored by other missions. "Most of the lunar missions in the past have explored the area around the equator of the moon," Sivan added.

The author begins this deeply researched assessment of the first phase of the Indian national movement, the 30th in the Peoples History of India series, by refuting the popular claim that India was ruled by foreigners for 1,000 years, a reference that clubs the Mughals with the British. There was actually no foreign rule over India before the British conquest, he writes, and quotes Adam Smith to underline the deleterious impact of British rule.

Dear Reader,

Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance.

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Digital EditorDear Reader,

Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance.

We, however, have a request.



As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed.



Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard.



Digital EditorDespite policy the lingering uncertainties, the Mahindra Group on Monday announced a fresh Rs 9 billion investment in electric vehicles (EVs) over the next four years, which should ramp up its first installed capacity to 5,000 units a month.

"We have already invested Rs 6 billion in EVs over the past five-six years and have announced decided to invest Rs 4 billion in Karnataka and Rs 5 billion in Maharashtra over the next four-five years. This will be used for capacity, technology and products," managing director Pawan Goenka told reporters.

"We are not waiting for any policy to move forward. To be a pioneer, you have to create the road and we have to move forward," he said on the sidelines of the ongoing Maharashtra investor summit.

Goenka, however, said there is a need for the prevailing subsidies on EVs to continue for longer to ensure growth of this industry. Once it touches a critical mass of say 2units a month, which he expects by 2022, it will be on an equal footing with the conventional internal combustion engine-based vehicles, he said.

At present, Mahindra has a capacity of 400 units a month, which will go up to 1,500, including three-wheelers by this September, he said, adding by next December they should be capable of rolling out 4,000 units.

The current investment plan aims to take the capacity to 5,000 units a month and is based on certain assumptions like the subsidies continuing, Goenka said.

He said the company will be doing all parts of the EV play, except batteries, which require greater volumes for local manufacturing and so they will have to be imported.

Goenka said at the current demand for EVs is so low at under 300 units a month, but said he is confident of better days and that the additional investments as "leap of faith".

In what has been termed as a volte-face by the government, Union roads minister Nitin Gadkari had last week said there was no need for a separate policy on EVs. The minister had earlier said that such a move was in the works.

Following this, an industry lobby is reportedly meeting Union heavy industries minister Anant Geete and Niti Aayog chief executive, Amitabh Kant.

Goenka, however, said there has not been any "u-turn" by the government, as there are already beneficial moves like differentiated GST treatment and EV policies by states like Maharashtra which is "enough to get the industry going".

He was, however, not so supportive of government's earlier plan of turning 100 per cent electric by 2030, terming it is "too ambitious" and said there is a need to "walk more before we start running".

The auto industry veteran said we should be satisfied even if we achieve 30 per cent EV share by 2030, and enlisted global adoption experiences to buttress his point.

EVs contribute for only 0.04 per cent of the domestic car market now compared to 2 per cent in China and 32 per cent in Norway, he said, adding both these countries had invested massively over the past decade to achieve these numbers.

Pointing out that lack of charging stations is the biggest impediment for EV-makers and said we should be first focusing on the metros having troubles around pollution before taking it nationally.

Transport aggregators, including bus transport utilities, radio taxi operators like Uber and Ola, will be the first ones to adopt EVs, Goenka said.

He, however, termed the EV space as a big opportunity and asked everybody to focus on it because of the advantages of zero pollution and zero fuel imports.

He also sought to placate the concerns of auto ancillaries, saying the industry will continue to grow at 4-5 per cent even in the decade to the 2030s which will give such companies sufficient business.

Meanwhile, addressing the summit, Tata Power executive director Ashish Khanna said technology has not changed so much on the solar front, which may justify "grid parity" that is seen in new bidding at rates as low as Rs 2.45 per unit.Sajjan Jindal led JSW Energy announced on Monday that it has signed a pact with Maharashtra for setting up a manufacturing unit for Electric Vehicles (EV) and Energy Storage Systems in the state.

"In addition to the earlier MoU with the Government of Gujarat with respect to EV manufacturing and associated businesses, the company has now entered into another MoU with the Government of Maharashtra for setting up facilities for the manufacturing of EV and Energy Storage Systems in the state of Maharashtra, subject to receipt of internal corporate approvals," the company said in a BSE filing.

In August last year, the company had unveiled its plans to foray into the EVs and energy storage segments saying it will invest up to Rs 40 billion in the project over the next three years.

The company had planned to roll out its first by 2020. It is looking at states like Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh for this venture. It intends to have 60 per cent localised manufacturing.Mobile wallet Oxigen Services is in talks with investment funds in the United Kingdom to raise about $70 million.

In the past year, the company saw a lot of changes in the business model after it planned to move away from expanding its mobile wallet alone. The company is now creating more use-cases for its platform so that it can showcase these to investors. We are in talks with a few investors in the UK to raise around $70 million, said Ankur Saxena, vice-chairman and CEO, Oxigen Group. We are now getting into corporate expense management, making ...Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday said that a person's political lineage is not a guarantee of success, contending that citizens can infer whether one's approach is genuine or an attempt to live up to lofty familial expectation.

Given that he is the son of former prime minister of Canada, Pierre Trudeau, the Canadian PM was asked his thoughts on dynastic politics at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad.



"Any comments about how a man looks isn't even an eyelash worth of the systemic discrimination women face. As a man in business and politics, I had lots of advantage but I didn't go near discrimination, sexism, superficiality and judgement that women go through daily," ANI quoted Trudeau as saying.

Trudeau admitted to having a "certain level of advantage" as "people had seen the values (he) was raised within deciding whether to vote for (him) or not."

"Citizens are not fools. Citizens can tell whether someone is genuine in their approach or just trying to live up to some lofty familial expectation. For me, all my life I focused on how I could best make a difference. I decided early on much to my father's pleasure that I wouldn't go anywhere near politics, because for one thing, I knew more than anyone else what kind of a difficult impact it has on one's kids, so it wasn't an automatic choice for me," he added.

In support of his argument, Trudeau added that before every example of a successful scion of a famous or successful politician, "there are a whole lot of others who are not successful."

The Canadian Prime Minister also stressed that his decision to venture into politics was genuine and not linked to his father, and added that his political lineage drew as much scepticism as it helped him.



The question comes with heavy undertones for India as the newly elected President of opposition Congress Party, Rahul Gandhi has been a subject of much debate and criticism owing to his political lineage.

Trudeau, along with his family, is on a week-long visit to India.



The visit is an opportunity for Trudeau to connect with the Indian leaders in government and business, promote empowerment of women and girls, and strengthen Canada and India's close economic ties.The Central Bureau of Investigation arrested three more employees of Punjab National Bank in a $1.77 billion fraud case, a CBI official said on Monday. The three arrests include two managers of the forex department, Bachhu Tiwari and Yashwant Joshi and one officer, Praful Sawant, responsible for checking SWIFT messages, the official said. Last week, the police arrested three people, including two employees of PNB, as part of an investigation into the country's biggest-ever bank scam.Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday visited Lilavati Hospital here to enquire about the health of Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar who is undergoing treatment for a pancreatic ailment.

"Modi was in the hospital for 15 minutes in the evening," a BJP source said.

"The prime minister was accompanied by Union minister Nitin Gadkari and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis," the source told PTI.

Earlier, the hospital authorities said Parrikar is "responding well to treatment".

"It has been brought to our notice (that) various malicious and misleading reports/rumours are floating around in the electronic/print media with regards to his health," a hospital statement read.





Mumbai's Lilavati Hospital and Research Centre issues statement rejecting rumours on Goa CM Manohar Parrikars health. pic.twitter.com/QJCpFUkhI9  ANI (@ANI) February 18, 2018

Modi's visit to the hospital came on a day Goa Legislative Assembly Speaker Pramod Sawant met Governor Mridula Sinha in Panaji to discuss the situation in view of Parrikar's ill-health.

The budget session of the Goa Assembly begins on Monday.The murder of the mother and daughter of a journalist in Nagpur has been solved by the local police, which on Monday said that it has solved the killing 12 hours after the crime was committed. Usha Kamble (50) and one-year-old Risha were killed on Saturday evening and their bodies were put in a gunny bag and thrown into a nullah at Bhadura in Dighori, in Nagpur, at around 11 in the night, police said.

Kamble and Rashi, mother and daughter of local scribe Ravikant Kamble, were missing since Saturday evening, police added. How and why the crime was committed Joint Commissioner ...With the Punjab Bank fraud case still dominating headlines, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered an FIR against Rotomac Pen promoter Vikram Kothari on the basis of a complaint from Bank of Baroda for allegedly swindling over Rs 8 billion (Rs 800 crore), officials said in New Delhi on Monday.

The agency started searching his residence and offices in Kanpur from early in the morning, they said.

There were no arrests in the case yet, CBI spokesperson Abhishek Dayal categorically said.

He said Kothari, his wife and his son are being examined by the CBI, which is conducting the searches.

This is the second major financial scam to break out after the sensational Rs 114-billion fraud allegedly committed by billionaire jewellery designer Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi, who is a promoter of Gitanjali group of companies. Both fled the country before the Punjab Bank realised the depth of the alleged crime.The government was at work on Sunday, watching every move the investigative agencies were taking in the Punjab National Bank scam.

Top officials of key economic ministries, Reserve Bank of India and Punjab National Bank, besides some other banks, have been on an alert 24X7 ever since the scam broke a few days ago, and the holiday was the last thing on anybodys mind on Sunday. The government is very serious about the matter and is in a hurry to get to the bottom of it all, a source told Business Standard. As to why Prime Minister Narendra Modi or, for ...What is included and excluded when calculating the total turnover of Rs 2 million to obtain registration?

The law prescribes that a supplier of goods or services having an annual aggregate turnover not exceeding Rs 2 million (on an all-India basis) during a financial year is required to obtain registration. For specified north-eastern states, this threshold limit is Rs 1 million.

Aggregate turnover under GST law includes the value of all taxable, exempt and zero-rated supplies (include exports and supplies to Special Economic Zones). For example, if a supplier is engaged in the supply of taxable goods worth Rs 1.1 million from Delhi and supplies exempt services from Haryana having a value of Rs 1 million, the aggregate turnover of the supplier shall be computed as Rs 2.1 million. Accordingly, he shall be liable to obtain registration.

The aggregate turnover does not include inward supplies on which tax is required to be paid by the recipient under reverse charge mechanism. The aggregate turnover also does not include the central tax, state tax/union territory tax or integrated tax.

Is there any mechanism under the GST law for amending the registration certificate?

If there is any change in any of the particulars furnished in the application for registration, a person is required to file an amendment application online on the GST portal within 15 days.

Upon submission of the amendment application, the proper officer may approve or reject amendments in the registration particulars within 15 working days from the date of receipt of the application for amendment. Permission of the proper officer for making amendments will be required for amendments in core fields of information, whereas for the other fields, the certificate of registration will stand amended upon submission of application on the GST common portal.

A company had undertaken an inter-state transaction on which IGST should have been discharged. However, at the time of the transaction, the company inadvertently considered the transaction as intra-state and deposited CGST and SGST. Can it adjust the CGST and SGST deposited inadvertently with the IGST payable against the transaction?

Amit Bhagat

Under the GST law, there is no provision allowing a person to adjust CGST and SGST deposited inadvertently against a transaction liable to IGST.

However, there is a specific provision under the GST law which allows a supplier to claim a refund of central tax and state tax paid on a transaction inadvertently considering it to be an intra-state transaction, though the transaction actually qualifies as an inter-state transaction. For this purpose, an application in the prescribed form is required to be filed specifically stating the details of such transaction.

The provision above specifically provides that no interest shall be payable due to delay in payment of IGST, if CGST and SGST had already been deposited earlier considering the transaction as an intra-state supply.

A landlord, based in Haryana, has given out properties on rent in Delhi and Mumbai. Where should the landlord register himself?

A person having an annual aggregate turnover not exceeding Rs 2 million on an all-India basis is not required to obtain GST registration. In case of renting of immovable property, the government through its tweet has clarified that registration shall be required only in the state from where the services are supplied. We understand that the landlord is based out of Haryana and does not have any presence in Delhi or Mumbai. It can be, therefore, contended that he is supplying inter-state services from Haryana. The landlord, hence, should be required to obtain registration in Haryana only.

The writer is tax partner, PwC India. Aditya Khanna, associate director, PwC contributed to this column. The views expressed are the experts own. Send your queries to yourmoney@bsmail.inThe Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday sealed the Brady House Branch of the Punjab National Bank (PNB) as multiple probe agencies continued with their probe into the Rs 115.15-billion (Rs 11,515 crore) fraud, according to officials.

The CBI pasted an official notice outside the branch in Fort -- the bank's flagship lending window in Mumbai and its second largest national outlet.

All have been barred from opening or entering inside this branch without prior permission of the CBI or the CBI Special Court or the CBI Competent Authority.

Accordingly, all operations at the Brady House Branch came to a grinding halt and several bewildered staffers were seen waiting outside it for further orders from their bosses.

CBI official comes out of the Brady House branch of the Punjab National Bank (PNB) which had been sealed earlier in Mumbai | Photo: Kamlesh Pednekar

The action came two days after the Special CBI Court in Mumbai remanded to police custody till March 3 three accused in the PNB fraud, including two former staffers.

The accused include retired PNB deputy manager Gokulnath Shetty, single-window operator Manoj Kharat, and authorised signatory of the prime accused Nirav Modi's group companies, Hemant Bhatt.

The three were the very first arrests to be made in the sensational case so far by the CBI from different parts of Mumbai and Raigad. More arrests were expected soon, officials have indicated.



Besides these, the CBI earlier named 10 other directors and officials as accused in the scam, which has created a nationwide furore.

They are: Krishnan Sangameshwaran, Nazura Yashjaney, Gopal Das Bhatia, Aniyath Shivraman, Dhanesh Vrajlal Sheth, Jyoti Bharat Vora, Anil Umesh Haldipur, Chandrakant Kanu Karkare, Pankhuri Abhijeet Varange and Mihir Bhaskar Joshi.

The prime accused, diamond trader Nirav Modi, and other associates fled the country in early January before the massive PNB fraud came to light.



The multi-pronged action by the CBI, Enforcement Directorate, and others comes five days after PNB admitted to unearthing a fraud of Rs 115.15 billion (Rs 11,515 crore) involving Modi's companies and certain other accounts in the Brady House Branch.

The fraud, which includes money-laundering among others, concerns the Firestar Diamonds group in which the CBI last week booked Modi, his wife Ami, brother Nishal Modi and their uncle Mehul Choksi.Hard on the heels of the Nirav Modi fraud case, which has shaken public trust in state-owned banks, the Banks Board Bureau (BBB), set up by the government as a makeover platform for these banks, will effectively close down in March. The term of BBB Chairman Vinod Rai (pictured), who was tasked with advising the government on enforcing a code of conduct and ethics for managerial personnel in these banks, will expire at the end of March.

It is unlikely the government will look for a successor to Rai, sources familiar with the developments said. The BBB has not been ...The Congress on Monday termed preposterous and irresponsible the suggestion that public sector banks (PSBs) should be privatised in light of the problem of non-performing assets (NPAs) and the Rs 114-billion bank fraud. Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said the party will oppose any move to privatise nationalised banks with all the force at its command. You are unable to deal with the NPAs and banking fraud and you say the entire banking system be privatised.

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Digital EditorPunjab National Bank (PNB) said on Sunday it would honour all bona fide commitments made in the form of letters of undertakings (LoUs) to foreign branches of Indian

PNB clarifies that we will honour all our bonafide commitments under LoUs and foreign letters of credit (FLCs) as per the law of the land and directions of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the Delhi-based bank, hit by a Rs 114 billion scam, said.

The statement comes a day after the Indian Banks Association held a meeting in Mumbai to reconcile claims related to the fraudulent LoUs issued by the two PNB employees, on behalf of a group of companies belonging to Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi.

Senior PNB executives said the latest statement came after the RBI told PNB to announce publicly that it would pay its liabilities to other The RBI has told us to issue a statement but not in the form of an advertisement, the executive added.

The RBI, on Friday, denied reports it had issued instructions to PNB to meet its commitments under LoUs to other

A junior-level branch official at PNB had unauthorisedly and fraudulently issued LoUs on behalf of some firms belonging to the Nirav Modi group, such as Solar Exports, Stellar Diamonds, and Diamonds R Us, for availing of buyers credit in overseas branches of Indian banks.

A similar modus operandi was used by the same branch official in companies belonging to Gitanjali Gems, which is promoted by Mehul Choksi.

At the time of issuing an FLC for a smaller amount by the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT), the transaction was routed through the core banking system (CBS) system. Subsequently, amendments were made in these FLCs by enhancing the amount of FLC and transmitted through SWIFT without routing the increased amount through CBS.

The PNB had disputed in its complaint to the RBI and investigative agencies that other banks flouted RBI norms on importing pearls and are equally responsible in the fraud.

The affected banks, including Allahabad Bank, have said that PNB is liable for all the fraudulent transactions because the latter issued the LoU. PNB, on the other hand, said foreign branches of Indian banks did not raise an alarm.

Other banks involved in the alleged scam include the Frankfurt and Mauritius branches of State Bank of India, the Bahrain branch of Canara Bank, the Antwerp branch of Bank of India, and the Hong Kong branches of Axis Bank and Allahabad Bank.

Over 150 fraudulent LoUs, worth over Rs 114 billion, were issued by PNB to other banks. The bank has claimed the alleged scam has been going on since 2011.Documents accessed by Business Standard show that some of Hong Kong based entities to whom more than $45 million was paid in a span of less than a week in February on the behest of Nirav Modi with the connivance of rogue Punjab National Bank officials have owners spread across the globe from Surat in India to Taipei in Taiwan to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and to Hong Kong.

While much has been said about Nirav Modi and his business associate Mehul Choksi in the multi-billion dollar Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case, there is little clarity on some of the entities to ...A total of 80 political prisoners of Sudan, arrested during protests against rising food prices, have been released.

This was confirmed by Sudan's presidential assistant Abdul Rahman Alsadig Alamahdi on Sunday evening.

Addressing a press conference at Kober prison in country's capital Khartoum, Alamahdi said that the presidency has ordered the release of all political detainees in the country, and added the remaining would be released when their procedures are finished.

"As we announced today, with the release of all political detainees, we do believe that this is a declaration of a new political era in our country, an era of freedoms and human rights," he was quoted as saying by Anadolu Agency.

Over 300 opposition activists were arrested last month as government cracked the whip on protestors, the opposition claimed.

Earlier, the U.S embassy in Sudan stated that the hundreds of political leaders, activists and civilians were being kept in detention under inhumane conditions by the authorities

Sudanese authorities have adopted strict measures to curb protests and anti-government demonstrations tha spread across Sudan since January, over the hike in food prices.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Union Minister for Ayush, Shripad Yesso Naik, on Sunday attended the two-day Natural Food Festival in Hyderabad.

Dr C Laxma Reddy, Minister for Health, Telangana was also present at the event that was oraganised by the Institute of Naturopathy, Pune.

While addressing the valedictory of the event, the Ayush Minister said that in Naturopathy, the concept of food was considered as an important factor to attend wellness and better health.

"I am glad that Institute of Naturopathy, Pune has organised the two-day Natural food festival in Hyderabad. Ministry of Ayush is committed to providing sustainable health care to the citizens of India. In Naturopathy and Yoga the concept of the food is regarded as an essential component in achieving the wellness and health," said Shripad Naik

"In the present scenario when we are fighting against lifestyle diseases like obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and others, the awareness of the right choice of the food, it's cooking method has become very relevant. Naturopathy is the traditional system of healing health on time," added Naik.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The High Court of Bangladesh on Monday directed concerned trial courts to finish the case proceedings by August 31, against 139 undertrial prisoners, lodged in 68 jails across the country for more than seven years.

On failing to finish the cases by due date, the lower courts will have to submit the reports on the progress of the trial proceedings to the Supreme Court monitoring committee.

The High Court ordered the respective investigation officers (IOs) to ensure the presence of the witnesses to the lower courts for settling the cases, and also directed government authorities to take departmental actions against the IOs failing to discharge this duty.

The HC also directed the deputy commissioners and superintendents of police across the country to provide necessary assistance in finishing the trial proceedings.

The order was issued on a suo moto (voluntary) move by the HC bench of Justices M Enayetur Rahim and Shahidul Karim, on the prayer of Supreme Court Legal Aid Committee panel lawyer Advocate Kumar Debul Dey.

The committee prepared the case details of the 139 undertrial prisoners accused of various crimes including murder, after examining dockets of cases against a total of 256 prisoners who are in jails for more than seven years.

On November 19 last year, the Supreme Court Legal Aid Committee sent a letter to the jail authorities seeking a list of the undertrial prisoners, following which a list of 256 undertrial prisoners was submitted on December 31.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Nigeria has ordered its military to capture the leader of terrorist organisation Boko Haram "dead or alive".

According to the local media reports, Nigeria's Army Chief Tukur Buratai ordered the troops on Sunday to capture Abubakar Shekau, dead or alive, who is both the spiritual head and supreme commander of the terror group.

"We must move across to wherever this criminal, Shekau, is and catch him red-handed. I want you to get him," the army chief charged the troops in Camp Zairo, previously the largest camp of Boko Haram in the northern state of Borno.

On Thursday, a bounty of USD 8,310 was announced on Shekau's head.

According to a report by the Adamawa State chapter of Muslim Council, up to 5,247 Muslims have been killed in the Boko Haram violence in seven local government areas of Adamawa town in northern Nigeria between 2013 and 2017.

The Boko Haram insurgency began in 2009 when the militants staged an armed rebellion against the government of Nigeria.

Suicide attacks carried out by the insurgent group have claimed more than 20,000 lives and displaced at least two million people, according to Nigerian vice-president Yemi Osinbajo.

Also, the group has carried out mass abductions, including the kidnapping of 276 schoolgirls from Chibok in April 2014.

The group is also active in the neighbouring countries of Cameroon, Chad, and Niger.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Rotomac Pens owner Vikram Kothari's lawyer Sharad Kumar Birla on Monday rejected reports of fraud committed by his client, adding that it was a case of loan default.

"My client had borrowed a sum of Rs. 800 crore as loan for business purpose. The ongoing case involves no fraud; it is a case of loan default. I am yet to be given complete details of the matter at present," Birla told reporters here.

On Sunday, reports surfaced that Kothari was allegedly 'missing' from Kanpur in possession of a bank loan worth Rs. 837 crore.

Kothari had taken a loan worth Rs. 352 crore from the Kanpur branch of Allahabad Bank and Rs. 485 crore from three other banks, namely Bank of Baroda, Indian Overseas Bank, and Union Bank of India.

Earlier, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed a case against Kothari and others, and carried out raids in his residence here and three other locations.

Furthermore, Kothari, along with his wife and son were interrogated by the CBI.

Meanwhile, Kothari on February 16 had said that he would not run away from the country and had not done anything wrong.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Two Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M) workers were arrested on Monday in connection with the murder of a 30-year-old Youth Congress worker in Kerala's Kannur on February 13.

The arrested accused will be produced before the court today.

On Sunday, Kerala police arrested eight people in connection with the murder of Youth Congress leader M Suhaib.

M. Suhaib was hacked to death at Thyroor in the Kannur district of Kerala.

In recent times, numbers of Congress workers were hacked to death in Kerala.

The Congress party has been accusing the CPI (M) for the death of its party workers.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu on Monday raised the issues of 'beef ban' in the country, saying one can eat beef if he wants, but why to have a festival for the same.

"You want to eat beef, then eat. Why Festival? Similarly, a 'Kiss Festival', if you wish to kiss why do you need a festival or anyone's permission for it," Naidu said, while addressing a gathering at Platinum Jubilee Celebrations of R.A. Poddar College of Commerce.

Further hitting out at Parliament attack convict Muhammad Afzal Guru, Naidu said "Then you have Afzal Guru. People are chanting his name. What is happening? He tried to explode our parliament".

On February 8, an alert advisory had been issued in Jammu and Kashmir in the wake of the death anniversaries of Parliament attack convict Muhammad Afzal Guru and Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) founder Maqbool Bhat.

The advisory comes after the JKLF announced to stage a protest against the hanging of Afzal Guru and Maqbool Bhat on February 9 and February 11.

Guru and Bhat were hanged and buried inside New Delhi's Tihar Jail on February 9, 2013 and February 11, 1984 respectively.

Naidu talking about beef festival could be directed to the reports of July 2017 when students of IIT-Madras held a beef festival inside the campus to protest against the cattle slaughter ban.

In the past too, Naidu had addressed the beef issue; while stressing on how food is an individual's choice he said that he is a strict non-vegetarian and nobody told him to what to eat or what not.Ericsson's former VP and global Human Resources (HR) Head, Priyanka Anand on Monday has been appointed as the company Vice President and Head of HR for Market Area South East Asia, Oceania and India (MOAI).

As part of her new role, Priyanka will be responsible for leading the HR function across markets like India, Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, Philippines and Bangladesh amongst others.

"Ericsson is a knowledge-based company with people being our core asset. To maintain our leading position we have to attract, develop and retain top talent. I am confident that Priyanka with her rich experience will make a significant contribution to our people strategy and processes," said Nunzio Mirtillo, Head of MOAI at Ericsson.

Priyanka presently leads an HR team of 60 resources, spread across more than 10 countries, driving HR strategy across different countries within the Market Area. She collaborates with Leaders in developing and implementing benchmark HR practices.

Priyanka has been the Vice President and Head, HR Global Operations at Ericsson between April 2014 and January 2018. Between July 2010 and April 2014, she was Vice President and Head of HR at Ericsson Global Services, where she was pivotal in the growth of the organisation from its establishment in India to creating an employee base of 15000.

"This opportunity to interface and work with HR teams and stakeholders from different nationalities will go a long way towards building the best in class HR strategy within the market area. My main focus will be towards enhancing Ericsson winning culture while further developing and retaining world-class talent," she said.

Prior to joining Ericsson, Priyanka worked with Colt Technologies, Manpower and STG.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Several European nations are reportedly keen to restrict China's economic-centric geopolitical advance via the multi-billion dollar One Belt One Road (OBOR) initiative over concerns about Beijing attempting a takeover of sorts of the region.

According to an article written by a Pakistan based independent journalist and analyst for the China Policy Institute, Germany, France and Italy are already preventing what they see as a "proverbial Chinese takeover" of Europe, raising fears this could lead to a break-up of the European Union in the not too distant future.

Most European countries, according to Salman Rafi Sheikh are reportedly looking at the experience in Southeast Asia, where Chinese investment and aid has resulted in "neutering the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Cambodia and The Philippines".

OBOR also known as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is failing to gain any traction in Europe, according to Sheikh.

He says that concerns in European capitals are majorly over the considerable ambiguity and secrecy that surround Chinese projects. There is also a view that several Chinese initiatives in Asia have failed to result in the much espoused 'win-win' claim for recipient countries made by Beijing. Several nations are said to be in deep debt to Chinese bankers.

Sheikh adds, "Eleven countries in the "16+1" are EU members, and there is a concern that the attempt to bilateralise relations in this framework could affect the internal cohesion of the EU and risk divisions among members that compete for Chinese attention."

Germany, he says, is promoting the need for a legislation to prevent a draining of technology and know-how, and it being replaced by Chinese items. This legislation is currently in the draft stage. French President Emmanuel Macron has said that China's new Silk Roads can't be a project that benefits Beijing alone.

According to Sheikh, if this proposed legislation becomes law, EU member countries would be able to prohibit China from investing in an unbridled way, and also make Beijing to compulsorily share investment-related information with each EU member and the European Commission.

China's focus on Eastern Europe is also a matter of concern to countries in that region. It is now being acknowledged that a great deal of Chinese investment is coming into eastern Europe in terms of infrastructure development, but a significant portion of this is reportedly being reserved for acquisitions, largely because prices for acquisitions are lower and concessions for Chinese investments are high.

There are fears among leading EU countries that if suitable counter measures are not taken, there could exist a case for Chinese hegemonism, which in economic terms would mean a massive trade imbalance between China and the central and eastern European countries.

"Chinese loans are, as can be expected of financial loans anywhere in the world, to serve as Chinese footsteps in Europe through which Beijing will seek to build its influence. This is worrying for countries like Germany because it would ultimately allow China to use its presence in Eastern Europe to reach Western Europe and the EU at large," Sheikh claims in his article.

Secondly, there is a belief that a significant Chinese presence and capital would allow the EU periphery countries to put pressure on Brussels and thus frustrate the EU's bid to develop a common policy vis-a-vis China.

Germany has been calling on Beijing to respect the concept of "one Europe".

Not having a common policy towards China, could eventually result in China succeeding in dividing Europe.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Five students were killed and 29 others were injured in a road mishap in Kolhapur district of western Maharashtra on Monday.

The accident took place when a truck carrying the students overturned after an unidentified vehicle dashed against it at Nagaon Phata on Pune-Bangalore Highway on Monday.

The deceased are yet to be identified while the injured have been rushed to a local hospital for immediate treatment.

Police rushed to the spot on immediate information.

A case has been registered and further details are awaited.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Google India on Monday announced that via its digital payments app, Tez, users can pay their bills within minutes, without any transaction charges.

Starting with support for more than 80 billers, including national and state electricity providers, gas, water, DTH and mobile postpaid bills and recharge. The new bill pay feature will include major utilities like Reliance Energy, BSES and DishTV, and in total will cover all states and major metros in India.

For recurring bill payments, Tez will send users you a timely notification when their bill arrives, and users will be able to check whether they have paid a bill by simply tapping the biller's name on their Tez home screen.

It will enable users to view all past payments grouped by bill, as well as manage bills from multiple accounts. Built to support Bharat BillPay system, for most utilities Tez will also let users get an alert when a new bill comes in.

"Today, we are adding a specially designed bill pay experience in Tez which will enable users to make a wide range of bill payments including electricity, water, gas, DTH, and insurance from the app. We hope that users will like the simplicity and time saving with the new bill pay experience on Tez," said Diana Layfield, VP, Payments and Commerce, Next Billion Users.

Customers will see different billers depending on their city and region, and users can also search for them by name. Once users have located their biller, they need to enter the number associated with their account to link it to Tez and give it an easy name to remember.

Once users have linked their account, for most utility bills Tez will automatically fetch any available bills. Users need to just tap on New Payment and then pay bills.

Built on the Indian government-supported Unified Payments Interface (UPI), Tez is a simple and secure mobile app for digital payments, built with the goal of making digital payments as easy as using cash.

Tez's Cash Mode securely sends money from person to person with just a few taps. By pressing and holding the Cash Mode buttons at the same time, two people using Tez are able to make a secure transaction in seconds without needing to share private details like phone numbers or account numbers. This happens through Google's proprietary Audio QR (AQR) ultrasound technology. Recipients receive the amount deposited to their bank account instantly.

Tez syncs with the contact list in users' phones, in accordance with their privacy settings. This way, users can start a transaction just by searching for a friend's name or phone number. Once a contact is on Tez, users do not have to add beneficiaries or enter bank account number and IFSC codes. If the other person is not on Tez or in the phone contact list, then users can still pay them with their bank account number or UPI ID. Transaction history with each person is grouped together like a conversation, thus making it easier to find a particular transaction.

Tez is accepted by businesses that accept UPI. It works with over 50 UPI-enabled banks, so that money stays in users' bank accounts until they need to use it. Tez users continue to earn interest from their banks and have their deposits backed by bank security guarantees. Currently, there are no charges for transactions done on Tez.

The app is backed by multiple security levels, including dedicated security systems offered by Indian banks, the NPCI, and the Tez Shield - Google's suite of security features, including a machine-learning-based fraud detection engine, device level protection, including a Google PIN, and no sharing of phone numbers or bank account numbers via Cash Mode.

The platform works on the vast majority of smartphones on both Android and iOS, in English and Hindi. The Android version is available in additional Indian languages such as Bengali, Tamil, Marathi, Telugu, Kannada, and Gujarati.A 23-year-old girl allegedly committed suicide by hanging herself in her hostel room here on Sunday.

The victim, who has been identified as B Haneesha, was an MBA 2nd year student of Siva Sivani Institute of Management, Kompally.

"Today a 23-year-old MBA 2nd year student committed suicide by hanging herself to a ceiling fan in her college hostel room," Inspector of Petbasheerabad police station told ANI.

The reason behind the suicide is yet to be ascertained.

As of now, the body has been sent for an autopsy and a case has been registered under section 174 of Code of Criminal Procedure.

An investigation is underway.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A special task force of the Indian Army and the Indonesian Army on Monday began sixth Garuda Shakti exercise here.

The joint drill from February 19 to March 4 aims to build experience sharing in counter-terrorism operations, close quarter combat and other areas of special operations.

According to Indian Ambassador to Indonesia Pradeep Kumar Rawat, who also attended the ceremony, the joint exercise will deepen trust and cooperation between the two armies.

Indonesian Defence Minister General (Retd.) Ryamizard Ryacudu, who visited New Delhi earlier last month, renewed his nation's commitment to deepening defence and security exchange with India, which is Indonesia's closest maritime neighbour.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Canberra [Australia], Feb 19 (ANI): In a bid to counter China's spreading influence, the United States, India, Australia, and Japan are in talks to establish a joint regional infrastructure scheme as an alternative to Beijing's multibillion-dollar Belt and Road initiative or One Belt One Road (OBOR) Initiative, the Australian Financial Review reported on Monday, citing a senior U.S. official.

The unnamed official was quoted as saying that the plan involving the four regional partners was still "nascent" and "won't be ripe enough to be announced' during Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's visit to the United States later this week.

The official said, however, that the project was on the agenda for Turnbull's talks with U.S. President Donald Trump during that trip and was being seriously discussed. The source added that the preferred terminology was to call the plan an "alternative" to China's Belt and Road Initiative, rather than a "rival."

"No one is saying China should not build infrastructure," the official said, and added, "China might build a port which, on its own is not economically viable. We could make it economically viable by building a road or rail line linking that port."

Representatives for Turnbull, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and Trade Minister Steven Ciobo did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

First mentioned during a speech by Chinese President Xi Jinping to university students in Kazakhstan in 2013, China's OBOR plan is a vehicle for the Asian country to take a greater role on the international stage by funding and building global transport and trade links in more than 60 countries.

Xi has heavily promoted the initiative, inviting world leaders to Beijing last May for an inaugural summit at which he pledged 124 billion USD in funding for the plan, and enshrining it into the ruling Communist Party's constitution in October.

Local Chinese governments, as well as state and private firms, have rushed to offer support by investing overseas and making loans.

In January, Beijing outlined its ambitions to extend the initiative to the Arctic by developing shipping lanes opened up by global warming, forming a "Polar Silk Road".

The United States, Japan, India and Australia have recently revived four-way talks to deepen security cooperation and coordinate alternatives for regional infrastructure financing to that offered by China.

The so-called Quad to discuss and cooperate on security first met as an initiative a decade ago - much to the annoyance of China, which saw it as an attempt by regional democracies to contain its advances. The quartet held talks in Manila on the sidelines of the November ASEAN and East Asia Summits.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The importance of has spiked multiple fold in the recent past, with its impact visible across all sectors, be it tourism, finance or even transport. It, therefore, comes as no surprise that cities like Finland capital Helsinki have chosen to mould themselves into or as as ambassadors of digital tourism services.

In 2017, the City of Helsinki had signed an agreement with China-based Tencent Holdings to serve as an intelligent tourism model for Chinese outbound tourism. Since then, both parties have been working closely to develop a destination mini program that offers travel information.

As per a report that appeared on Travel Daily Asia, the two parties last week launched the WeChat Helsinki mini program, as part of the city's Chinese New Year celebrations, which would offer Helsinki travel information in Chinese to almost one billion WeChat users.

While the move is much appreciated in the shift to digitisation of tourism, it may be noted that this marks Helsinki's entry into the vast Asian market, thereby cementing itself as the key transit point for Chinese tourists travelling between Asia and Europe.

While this is Tencent's first project, the Finnish capital aims to further work with the Chinese internet major to further develop the application.

Furthermore, being a pioneer in open data resources, Helsinki envisions an application that provides users with comprehensive, professional and real-time information and services.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Palestinre authorities on Monday said that the coastal conclave of Rafah was under missile attack from Israeli warplanes.

The Israeli Army also confirmed that they had hit Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip after Palestinians had fired a rocket into southern Israel.

The Israeli Army, according to GeoTV, said "fighter jets targeted underground infrastructure in the southern Gaza Strip, in response to the projectile that was launched at Israel earlier."

No casualties were reported in either incident.

The strikes followed fierce exchanges over the weekend in which Israeli ground forces killed two Palestinian teenagers in the enclave in cross-border fire.

Warplanes also pounded 18 Hamas facilities in two waves of air strikes, according to the Israeli military.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Kerala Haj Committee on Monday filed a plea challenging the Centre's guidelines in Haj pilgrim selection.

The three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra, along with Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud, was hearing the plea filed by the Kerala Haj Committee.

The Supreme Court has asked the Centre to file a reply as to what are the states and their quota status with respect to giving quota to Haj pilgrims.

The matter would come up for hearing on February 21.

Earlier in January, the Union government scrapped the Haj subsidy for pilgrims as the fund will instead be used for the empowerment of minorities from this year.

Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said that the Haj subsidy funds will now be used for the education of girls and women of the minority community.

However, there is an exception to the rules for the poor and people over 70 years of age.

Naqvi also stated that Muslim women in India have been allowed to travel for Haj without a 'Mehram', or a male guardian.

A bilateral agreement was signed in connection with Haj 2018, during the meeting between Naqvi and Saudi Arabia's Haj and Umrah Minister Muhammad Benten.

Naqvi met with Dr Benten at his office in Mecca on January 14 for signing the annual Haj agreement.

A total of 1,70,000 Indian pilgrims are expected to travel for Haj in 2018.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Letstrack, one of the leading and unique GPS tracking company in India has recently joined hands with SMILE Foundation, an NGO working for the welfare of underprivileged children, by donating to support poor children and families. As part of the tie up, Letstrack aims to fund at least 1 lakh days of to socially and economically deprived children to lead a quality life.

Considering as an important asset in any individual's life, Letstrack has undertaken this initiative to bring a social change in the disadvantaged section of society. With this insight, Letstrack will donate a part of their sales in a way to contribute towards the Mission Education programme of SMILE Foundation. It not only provides support for education but also focuses on the nutrition and healthcare of children.

Commenting on the initiative, Mr Vikram Kumar CEO, Letstrack, said, "We are extremely proud to form a long term partnership with SMILE Foundation. It is an overwhelming feeling to contribute in improving the life of people in need. Letstrack believes in strong family culture and thus, endeavours to provide a priceless service to people in the world by giving them a sense of safety with our products and services. I feel it is our responsibility to provide underprivileged children an opportunity and future security that they can get with education.

The whole perception of tracking with Letstrack is that they can bring more comfort, security and productivity. That feeling echoes their partnership with SMILE. Every single time a device is sold they will be contributing to the education of India's most underprivileged children.

Joieta Rajput, Senior Manager- Corporate Partnerships, SMILE Foundation, said, "Letstrack has joined hands with Smile Foundation and lent their valuable support to the crucial cause of education for less privileged children across India. Under the Cause Related Marketing campaign, part proceeds from the sale of Letstrack GPS tracking device would go towards the Mission Education programme of Smile Foundation which will support the education, nutrition and healthcare of children. Smile Foundation heartily acknowledges the significant contribution, and hopes that we spread many more smiles together!"

Vikram adds, "We feel strongly that donating money is only the start of what helping others really means. We are extremely proud to be forming a long term partnership with SMILE and can't wait to be more hands on over the years whilst endeavouring to set the best examples in our practises and our way of life."

Letstrack has a varied family of sophisticated GPS tracking solutions ensures the safety of family and friends. Its products are combined with powerful yet intuitive Apps and Web platforms to ensure everybody can benefit.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Macmillan Publishers India Pvt. Ltd. added yet another feather to its cap by bagging the 'Best K-12 Publisher of the Year' award at the prestigious 8th Indian Awards 2018 for its unrivalled contribution towards India's educational objectives.

The award was conferred by the Indian Congress at the event held in New Delhi, in the presence of noted luminaries like Dr. Jawahar Surisetii - Advisor to Government of India and a TED Speaker; Dr. Avinash Panwar - Director, Centre for Electronic Governance, Govt. of Rajasthan; Sonia Shrivastava - Head, Vodafone Foundation; OP Choudhary - Collector, Raipur and Abu Imran - Director, Higher

The jury took into consideration the success of Macmillan's excellent K-12 learning resources - English Ferry, Hop Skip and Jump and Fusion being some of them. The integrated learning approach in Macmillan's textbooks, along with engaging digital resources was also lauded.

Yash Mehta - Director Schools, Rajesh Pasari - Director, Finance and Operations and Vandana Rellan Juneja - Associate Director - Marketing, Macmillan accepted this award on behalf of MPIPL.

Macmillan, having a hefty list of accolades associated with its name, is the preferred partner of choice for leading educational institutions in India be it for content, training or assessment. It has always remained true to its values by being quality champions, proactive partners and industry pioneers.

Today, Macmillan is partnering with more than 15,000 schools and reaching over 10 million learners. Customized Learning solutions in print and digital format, provided by Macmillan, empower leading schools chain on their journey of achieving academic excellence.

"Far from being providers of only content to schools, Macmillan dives deep into the ecosystem to engage with academicians to find real solutions to issues emerging out of the changing social and technological milieu and provide comprehensive resources, not just for the classroom, but for all stakeholders in this landscape," said Yash Mehta, Director - Schools

On the reason for being selected as Best K-12 Education Publisher of the year, Rajesh Pasari, Director - Finance and Operations, remarked, "Macmillan Education is a juggernaut powered by technology and analytics, providing state of the art digital resources for both teachers and students - in the process becoming the first choice of educational institutions.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Merck Foundation, a non-profit organization and a subsidiary of Merck KGaA Germany, and Uganda Ministry of Health continue their commitment towards childless women Through 'Merck More Than a Mother' campaign in the heart of Africa.

Merck Foundation evaluated the social and economic impact of 'Merck More Than a Mother' on childless women in Uganda and encouraged them to continue leading an independent and happier life.

In 2016, Merck Foundation in partnership with Uganda Ministry of Health had started 'Merck More Than a Mother' Campaign In the country with the aim to raise awareness about infertility prevention and management, build fertility care capacity and break the stigma around infertile women. They established various income generating projects to support infertile women across the country with the aim of empowering them socially and economically. The set by Merck Foundation has benefitted over 800 women across Uganda.

"The childless women groups we created in each village are doing a great job. I remember last year they had no purpose in life, no respect from their community and no source of income. Today they have a bank account and a steady monthly income; now they are much happier and stronger," said Rasha Kelej, CEO Merck Foundation.

"For me, it's essential to frequently visit 'Merck More Than a Mother' heroines across Africa to influence their transformation. The base of change in these villages is remarkable, and with our efforts and passion this change will be sustainable," she added.

"The journey that Merck Foundation has started is a very special journey that has touched the lives of women who have been forgotten in the communities. It has touched not only women but also the lives of men who have been mistreating their women thinking that infertility is an issue of women, not know that 50% infertility is due to the malefactor. I want to thank Merck Foundation for thinking about these women," said Sarah Opendi, Minister of State of Health, Uganda.

"I feel grateful and honored to be a part of the joy and happiness of these amazing women, who suffered the infertility stigma all their lives. I am glad that the efforts of 'Merck More Than a Mother' paid off. Now, these women are independent and getting the respect and support they deserved from the community," said Kelej.

About 'Merck More Than a Mother' campaign; in many cultures, childless women suffer discrimination, stigma, and ostracism. Their inability to have children results in great isolation, disinheritance, and assaults. 'Merck More Than a Mother' empowers such women through the access to information, health, change of mindsets and economic empowerment.

Merck Foundation provided for more than 40 candidates, three months to six months clinical and practical training for fertility Specialists and embryologists in more than 15 countries across Africa and Asia.

Merck Foundation is making history in many African countries where they never had fertility specialists or training facilities before 'Merck More Than a Mother' intervention to train the first Fertility specialists such as; in Sierra Leone, Liberia, The Gambia, Niger, Chad, and Guinea.

Merck Foundation plan supported the establishment of the first public IVF in Ethiopia through providing the clinical and practical training necessary for their staff. Merck Foundation also plans to support the establishment of the first public IVF in Tanzania soon.

Over 1,200 infertile women in Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, Ghana, Tanzania, CAR, Ethiopia, Liberia, Tanzania, Niger, The Gambia and Cote D'Ivoire who can no longer be treated have been empowered socially and economically to lead independent and happier lives through "Empowering Berna".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Special Director General, anti-Naxal operations, D.M. Awasthi on Monday said that more than 20 Naxals were killed in an encounter which took place yesterday in Chhattisgarh's Sukma district.

Speaking to ANI, DG Awasthi said that the security forces gave a befitting reply to the Naxals during the encounter which lasted for around 5 hours.

"For more than 5 hours, our forces endured heavy firing from Naxals in which two of our soldiers died. We also gave a befitting reply to their attack. More than 20 Naxals were killed in the firing," he said.

Two assistant constables and a civilian were killed in an encounter with Naxals in Sukma district.

Heavy exchange of fire between the troops of a 202nd battalion of the Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) and Naxals took place near Elarmadgu village which falls under the purview of Bhejji police station.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday said that the killing of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) candidate Jonathone N Marak portrays utter chaos and lawlessness in Meghalaya.

Addressing a public rally in East Garo Hills, the Home Minister grieved the death of Jonathone N Sangma, NCP candidate for Williamnagar seat, and said his gruesome murder was the outcome of the Congress government's failure on the law and order front.

"The attack on the NCP candidate is a testimony that Meghalaya Chief Minister Mukul Sangma has failed to provide security to the citizens of the state", Singh said.

Benjamin Marak, an eyewitness to the incident, who was in a separate car behind said the miscreants could have been lying in wait for his convoy.

"It was an ambush, a pre-planned strike," he said, recounting how the bomb ripped into the SUV, carrying the NCP candidate as it reached Samanda.

East Garo Hills Deputy Commissioner Ramkumar Singh said a policeman named Samin Hassan (30) was killed along with Jonathone N Sangma.

Two others killed on the spot were identified as Cribinath D Shira (35) and Baichung Ch Momin (40), a former member of the Garo Liberation Army (GNLA).

Three injured in the ill-fated vehicle were sent to the Guwahati Medical College Hospital who are said to be in critical condition.

The injured has been identified as Silman N Sangma (45), Nur Abdul Miah, PSO, and Behensing Marak (57).

"No militant organisation or anyone else has claimed responsibility for the attack. Apart from finding the miscreants, we are investigating some posters of threat to voters supporting Sangma at Samanda, Damagre, Nengkhra and other areas," the Deputy Commissioner added.

He said they had gone to Sawilgre village under Samanda block in East Garo Hills to allay the fear that the electorates should not bow down to the diktats served by the militants.

However, while returning an IED explosion blew off the vehicle.

Meghalaya state president of NCP Saleng Sangma has urged the government to institute an enquiry into the incident.

"It will be too early to say who will replace the candidate", he said.

Sitting legislator and Congress candidate and Meghalaya Education Minister Deborah Marak termed the incident as very unfortunate and expressed her condolence to the bereaved family.

She condemned the attack and sought for a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the incident.

Meghalaya's Chief Electoral Officer Frederick Roy Kharkongor said the Election Commission has been sounded for deployment of more forces in the western half of Meghalaya comprising the Garo Hills and encompassing 24 of the state's 60 assembly seats.

He added that polling in Williamnagar, where the slain NCP candidate was pitted against eight others has been deferred.

"The next date of polling will be announced in due course", Kharkongor stated.

"We had a meeting with top police officials and agreed more companies of central paramilitary forces are required in the Garo Hills for fair and fear-free elections," he informed.

Senior Meghalaya Police officials said the needle of suspicion was on members of the banned Garo Liberation Army (GNLA).

A peace procession was taken out in the town and the market remained shut for today as a mark of protest against the attack.

The market will also remain close as a mark of mourning tomorrow.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli has appealed to foreign countries to help in making his government's new development goals a grand success.

Addressing the nation on the occasion of the 68th Democracy Day of Nepal, Oli declared it the start of a new era of development, and called for proportional rather than absolute development

.

"We (Nepali citizens) have arrived to this point of time overcoming various obstacles and averting adverse situations, defeating the then absolute rulers. The time which we have gained now is not possible through absolute development and it also hinders the timely constitution we have adopted. I hereby make an announcement of the great campaign which always will serve the relative development with drafting of relative polices which will bring happiness and prosperity over the face of people," he said.

"In order to make it successful, I also appeal all the native, well wishers and the foreign countries to come participate and help in this move," he said in an address at the Army Officers ground in Tundikhel.

The day was marked with a parade by army and police personnel.

Nepal sandwiched in between India and China has been facing political instability and Maoist insurgency for long. Democracy was established in 2007.

By Binod Prasad Adhikari

.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The National Planning Commission (NPC) of Nepal has urged the government to interrogate China Three Gorges International Corporation over the construction of the Paschim (West) Seti Hydro Power Project.

The meeting of the NPC, which commenced on Sunday, made the decision of seeking clarification from the company with a time period of 90 days regarding the construction of 750 MW hydropower plants.

"We have suggested the government to interrogate the company whether it will be able to complete the project or not. What has been the problem to expedite the construction along with the terms and conditions which the company wants to put forward," the Vice President of the National Planning Commission of Nepal Swarnim Wagle said.

"The decision over the breaking of the contract with the company will be decided after the formal think over by the commission after it receives the reply from the company with the time duration of three months," Wagle added.

The China Three Gorges Company, which has been delaying the construction over its dissatisfaction over the PPA, has been threatening to walk out of the construction.

The hydropower project, which is expected to be completed in an investment of 1.60 billion Nepali rupees, will have 65 percent investments from the CTGC, 25 percent from the National Electricity Authority (NEA) and the 10 percent investments from the locals as share, as per the plans made before.

The plan also has the provision that the company can sell off its 14 percent of its 65 percent share to the Nepali investors. But the CTGC has been showing dissatisfaction over the rate of purchasing the electricity per unit. Previously it had asked the NEA to review the rate but got a negative response.

If completed, the project can produce 3.33 billion units of electricity on yearly basis, the probability study of the project has shown.

The project covers the area of Doti, Dadeldhura, Baitadi, and Bajhang districts of Far Western Development Region of Nepal.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)With the successful holding of elections for local bodies, provincial parliament, central parliament and the Upper House, the first federal parliamentary meeting of Nepal has been fixed for March 5.

A statement from the office of President Bidhya Devi Bhandari said on Monday that the meeting of the federal parliament would take place on March 5 from 4 p.m. local time.

"As of today's date 2074, Falgun 7 (19th Feb. 2018), Monday President Bidhya Devi Bhandari upon receiving the recommendation from the Prime Minister as per the Article 93 (1) has called for the federal parliamentary meeting on 2074, 21st of Falgun (2018, 5th March) for 4 PM to commence at the International Convention Center, New Baneshwor," Kul Prasad Chudal, spokesperson for the Office of the President of Nepal said.

It is the first time that Nepal is holding it's federal parliamentary meeting, a step towards the implementation of the constitution which was adopted in 2015 with wide spread protest and the bloodshed over the Southern Plain of the Himalayan Nation.

Nepal which is practicing a new form of governance held the election for the House of Representatives on November 26 and December 7. About 275 members have been elected to the federal parliament.

By Binod Prasad Adhikari

.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Nepali Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli on Monday asked the International community to help to make the new development goals a grand success.

While addressing the nation on the 68th Democracy Day, the very first Prime Minister of Nepal after the adaptation of the federal governance, stressed on proportional development, ruling out absolute development as a hindrance for constitutional implementation.

"We have arrived at this point by overcoming various obstacles, averting adverse situations and defeating the then absolute rulers. The time which we have gained now is not possible through absolute development and hinders the constitution we have adopted," the Prime Minister asserted.

"I appeal all native, well-wishers and the foreign countries to come participate and help in the development move (of Nepal)," Oli said.

Security forces and police personnel marked the day with a public march in Tundikhel on Monday.

Nepal, sandwiched in between India and China, has long gone through political instability, which was marred by Maoist insurgency for over a decade.

India, with whom Nepal shares a commonality in every mode of daily life, has helped the Himalayan nation in the time of difficulties.

The Democracy established in Nepal in 2007 was also the result of Indian mediation, marking the end to absolute Rana rule.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has blamed "media witch hunt" for the new investigation announced by the Police, amid the already existing corruption allegations against him.

According to CNN, Netanyahu said in a statement, "The media witch hunt continues with all its might. After the air came out of Case 1000 and Case 2000 and after it became clear that there is absolutely no air in Case 3000, the media put tremendous pressure to inflate another balloon -- [Case] 4000. Also from this [case], all the air will come out."

Locally referred to as Case 4000, Israeli Police announced investigation into Israeli telecommunications firm Bezeq working, with the Israel Securities Authority and Lahav 433, a police unit specializing in corruption investigations.

Netanyahu's name has not been named among suspects.

Several suspects have been arrested in the case, following investigations that openly began in June 2017.

Without naming anyone, a statement issued by the Police at the conclusion of investigation in November said that the investigation had involved senior employees at telecommunications firm Bezeq, cable company Yes, and state employees

Maintaining his innocence in the case, Netanyahu said in his statement, "All of the decisions that were made relating to Bezeq were made in consideration of professional committees and experts."

The Israeli Prime Minister is already mired in several charges and allegations, with the police even recommending that he be indicted on charges of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust.

The police said that there was enough evidence to prosecute him on allegations that he had accepted lavish gifts from wealthy businessmen and also tried to negotiate a corrupt deal with a newspaper publisher.

Netanyahu is accused of accepting bribes worth one million Iranian shekels.

The first probe against the Prime Minister focused on claims that he and his family illegally accepted extravagant gifts including champagne and cigars from Arnon Milchan, an Israeli Hollywood producer, and James Packer, an Australian millionaire.

It is believed that to return the favour, Netanyahu allegedly helped to pass legislation that would benefit Milchan's businesses and also tried to get him a visa to the United States.

The Prime Minister admitted to taking the above-mentioned gifts but claimed that they were presents between friends and had nothing to do with any political favours.

It is also believed that Netanyahu offered a corrupt deal to Arnon Mozes, the publisher of Yedioth Ahronoth, one of Israel's largest newspapers.

Netanyahu allegedly said that he would restrict the circulation of Israel Hayom, a free sheet newspaper which had eaten into Yedioth Ahronoth's market share.

In return, the Prime Minister allegedly wanted more favourable coverage.

The final decision on whether or not to bring charges against Netanyahu, lies with Israeli attorney general Avichai Mandelblit.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Bihar Minister Krishna Nandan Prasad Verma on Monday appreciated the move by the State School Examination Board barring students from entering exam halls with shoes and socks.

Defending the decision, Verma said that the decision has been taken to save time spent on checking to prevent cheating.

Verma's statement comes a day after the Bihar School Examination Board had ordered the students to wear slippers to appear in the exams.

"It would be time consuming to make students take off their socks and shoes to conduct a check that is why such a decision was taken. The system is already in practice. Exams being held in a fair manner," Verma told ANI.

Yesterday, the Bihar School Examination Board said that students sitting for the board examinations shall not wear shoes and socks during the examination.

A circular was published by the Bihar School Examination Board, stating that the candidates attending the annual Secondary Examination "have to wear slipper in place of shoes and stocking on the exam day".

Bihar School Examination Board's President confirmed the reports and said, "Today, instructions have been circulated that no student is to wear shoes and socks while appearing for different competitive examinations organised in Bihar"

He added that this rule will also be implemented in the annual Secondary Examinations.

The instructions have been issued to all district officers, candidates and parents in this regard.

The board examinations in Bihar start from February 21.

The new rule comes after, 985 students were expelled on Saturday for cheating during the intermediate examination conducted by the Bihar School Examination Board.

A total of 25 people were caught writing the exam on behalf of another candidate.

Rampant mass cheating in Bihar hits headlines every year.

In 2015, the Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry sought a report from Bihar government over reports of cheating during board exams in the state.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) founder and leader Altaf Hussain alleged that his party leader Professor Hassan Zafar Arif was "assassinated" while in custody of security forces of Pakistan.

Addressing a condolence reverence held in memory of the 'slain' professor here, Hussain claimed that Pakistan's military forces, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and paramilitary rangers had "murdered him in custody."

Paying his tributes to Professor Arif, Hussain said, "It was his ideology to consider the masses as slaves, and not as free people if they are forced to live as per the instructions of the state. He had dedicated his entire life for the noble cause of freeing the common man from the clutches of tyranny. Even though he was jailed frequently, he did not quit his mission. His blood would give rise to a revolution; it won't go in vain."

Furthermore, Hussain shed light on the importance given by Professor Arif to advocating equality among the different classes of society while hailing him as a "true and resolute Marxist and rights activist."

"Professor Arif always supported the fact that nobody had a choice to be a Muslim, Hindu or Christian by birth. It was their upbringing that instilled a sense of faith and religion in them. He always urged that all religions preach peace, tranquility and equality and respect to humanity, and disliked any kind of division on the basis of cast, creed or culture," he said.

"Pakistan had declared Ahmedis as an infidel (Non-Muslim), but aren't they also humans? Their genocide is a crime against humanity, as is that of Christian, Hindu, Sikh community members," Hussain added.

Enlightening the gathering on Professor Arif's struggle against the extrajudicial killings of Mohajirs, Hussain said the former's attempts were constantly subdued by the forces of tyranny, but he continued to fight for their rights.

"Professor Arif started his struggle for the rights of Mohajirs but the forces of tyranny imposed a ban on him, on his speech and sealed his house and offices. Yet, he continued to fight, not just for this community, but for all oppressed sections f society, including Sindhi, Baloch, Pakhtoon, Seraikis, Hazarwalla, Gilgiti, Baltistani and so on," said Hussain.

Professor Arif was found dead in his car in Karachi's Ilyas Goth area on January 14, a day after his abduction.

Police, military intelligence and military establishment had cited cardiac arrest as the reason for his demise.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)An accountability court of Pakistan has summoned Wajid Zia, head of the Panamagate Joint Investigation Team (JIT) with original records on February 22, in connection with London-based Avenfield properties case against former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his family.

The court summoned Zia on the request of National Accountability Bureau's (NAB) prosecutor, who said that the original records would be required during statements of two foreign witnesses- Robert W Radley, the principal at the Radley Forensic Document Laboratory and Akhtar Raja, the principal at the Quist Solicitors.

Both witnesses could not attend trial earlier this month, as the prosecution said they were in United Kingdom and could not come to Pakistan due to security reasons and 'heavy engagements.'

The court also directed the former prime minister, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law Captain (R) Safdar to be present during the hearing.

This will be the first time Wajid Zia and Sharif will be present in the same court together.

Sharif, his sons Hasan and Hussain, daughter Maryam, son-in-law Capt (retd) Mohammad Safdar and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar are facing multiple corruption references in the accountability court.

The Pakistan Supreme Court had, on July 28, disqualified Sharif from holding the office of the prime minister and asked the National Accountability Bureau to file references against the Sharif family in connection with corruption cases against them.

On the orders of the country's Supreme Court, a JIT was formed last year to probe the allegations on the Sharif family.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Monday fired yet another salvo at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, asserting that he has "robbed India".

Taking to Twitter, Gandhi through a poem said that first it was Lalit Modi then Vijay Mallya and now Nirav Modi, who have eloped the country.

He alleged that the whole scenario depicts as to whose side the Prime Minister is on and ended with a hashtag saying, "Modi robs India". This is what he tweeted:

   

    

  ' ,   '     ?



        

     

   #ModiRobsIndia  Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) 19 February 2018

Gandhi's statements come in the wake of Punjab Bank fraud case, involving businessmen Nirav Deepak Modi and Mehul Chinubhai Choksi.

The PNB has lodged two financial fraud complaints of Rs. 114 billion and Rs 2.8 billion against Nirav Modi, his family members and Mehul Choksi, owner of Gitanjali Gems.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a formal case charging four- Nirav Modi, his wife Ami, brother Nishal and Mehul Choksi- on January 31 over Rs. 280 crore fraud.

The agency has filed the case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on the basis of an FIR registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The PNB detected the scam in which jeweller Nirav Modi acquired fraudulent letters of undertaking from one of its branches for overseas credit from other Indian lenders.

The scam started in 2011 and was detected in the third week of January this year, after which the PNB officials filed a complaint with the CBI on January 31.

Meanwhile, raids are being conducted in multiple locations in connection with the case.Advocate Vijay Aggarwal to be the lawyer for accused jeweller Nirav Modi in connection with Punjab National Bank fraud case.

It is to be noted that Aggarwal is the same lawyer who had represented a number of 'high-profile' accused persons in the 2G spectrum case.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of External Affairs on Friday suspended the validity of the passports of businessmen Nirav Deepak Modi and Mehul Chinubhai Choksi with immediate effect on the advice of the Enforcement Directorate in the wake of both being involved in a Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case.

The PNB has lodged two financial fraud complaints of Rs 114 billion (Rs 11,400 crore) and Rs 2.8 billion (Rs 280 crore) against Nirav Modi, his family members and Mehul Choksi, owner of Gitanjali Gems.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a formal case charging four- Nirav Modi, his wife Ami, brother Nishal and Mehul Choksi- on January 31 over Rs 2.8 billion (Rs 280 crore) fraud.

The agency has filed the case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on the basis of an FIR registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The PNB detected the scam in which jeweller Nirav Modi acquired fraudulent letters of undertaking from one of its branches for overseas credit from other Indian lenders.

The scam started in 2011 and was detected in the third week of January this year, after which the PNB officials filed a complaint with the CBI on January 31.A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court on Monday demanding a Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe in the ongoing Punjab Bank (PNB) fraud.

PNB detected the scam last week, wherein noted jewellery designer Nirav Modi acquired fraudulent letters of undertaking from one of its branches for overseas credit from other Indian lenders.

The state-owned lender lodged two financial fraud complaints of Rs. 11400 crore and Rs 280 crore against Nirav Modi, his family members and Mehul Choksi, owner of Gitanjali Gems.

Furthermore, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) sealed the bank's MCB Brady House branch in Mumbai earlier today as part of the ongoing investigation.

Raids are also being carried out presently by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a Gitanjali Gems outlet in Pune's Pacific Mall, a Nakshatra showroom in Kolkata's Salt Lake area and other locations.

On a related note, Advocate Vijay Aggarwal who had represented a number of 'high-profile' accused persons in the 2G spectrum case will be the lawyer for accused jeweller Nirav Modi.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Priyanka Anand, on Monday, was appointed as the vice president and head of human resources for Ericsson in market area south-east Asia, Oceania, and India (MOAI).

As part of her new role, Priyanka will be responsible for leading the HR function across markets like India, Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, Philippines and Bangladesh amongst others.

Priyanka brings with her more than 19 years of experience in HR, out of which she has spent over seven years at Ericsson.

"Ericsson is a knowledge-based company with people being our core asset. To maintain our leading position we have to attract, develop and retain top talent. I am confident that Priyanka with her rich experience will make a significant contribution to our people strategy and processes," said head of MOAI at Ericsson, Nunzio Mirtillo.

Priyanka leads an HR team of 60 resources spread across more than 10 countries, driving HR strategy across different countries within the market area.

She collaborates with leaders in developing and implementing benchmark HR practices that inspire employees to achieve outstanding results.

"This opportunity to interface and work with HR teams and stakeholders from different nationalities will go a long way towards building the best in class HR strategy within the market area. My main focus will be towards enhancing Ericsson winning culture while further developing and retaining world-class talent," said Priyanka Anand.

Priyanka has been the VP and head, HR Global Operations at Ericsson between April 2014 to January 2018.

Between July 2010 and April 2014, Priyanka was VP and head of HR at Ericsson Global Services, where she was pivotal in the growth of the organization from its establishment in India to creating an employee base of 15,000.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Gilgit Baltistan Youth Alliance on Monday organised a massive protest outside the Karachi Press Club for the release of the president of Gilgit Baltistan Supreme Appellate Court Advocate, Ehsan Ali and other jailed political activists including Baba Jan.

The protesters gathered outside the Karachi Press Club and raised slogans against the government, demanding the immediate release of all the political activists.

Addressing the gathering, the speakers leading the protest said that they would continue to pressurise the government to release the jailed activists and to end human right abuses in the region.

"People fighting for the basic human rights of the people in Gilgit Baltistan were declared traitors and are being harassed. We stand united with the political activists who have been detained, "said a protestor.

Ali was arrested on February 12 from his home in Gilgit for allegedly sharing a controversial post on social media.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amrinder Singh will meet Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday.

Confirming the same, the Chief Minister in a tweet said, "Look forward to meeting Canadian Prime Minister @JustinTrudeau in Amritsar on Wednesday."

"I am hopeful that this meeting will help strengthen the close Indo-Canadian business ties as well as the deep-rooted people-to-people relations between our two countries," he added.

The Congress leader earlier refused to meet Trudeau, claiming the Canadian Prime Minister's cabinet members were connected and supported the formation of Khalistan, a separate Sikh state movement.

Amarinder Singh in April last year during Canadian Defence Minister Harjit Singh Sajjan's visit to India called the Canadian MP a 'Khalistani sympathiser'.

The Punjab Chief Minister felt Sajjan was advocating for the formation of Khalistan.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The perpetrator of the deadly shooting at a church in Russia's Kizlyar town in Dagestan, has been identified as a 22-year-old resident of the region, Khalil Khalilov.

"The killed shooter was identified as Khalil Khalilov, 22, a resident of Rassvet village of Dagestan's Tarumovsky District," a statement by Kizlyar's administration stated.

Khalilov opened fire on people leaving a church service, on Sunday, killing five people.

He was then killed in retaliatory firing.

The motive behind the shooting is however yet to be ascertained.

According to Russian news agency TASS, Head of Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov has said that the accused has no connection to Islam.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)At least five people died in a shooting incident at a church in Russia's Dagestan region.

A gunman on Sunday opened fire on people leaving a church service.

According to Russian news agency TASS, the incident occurred outside a church in the town of Kizlyar.

"Four people were killed. The shooter was shot dead," the agency quoted Kizlyar's mayor Alexander Shuvalov as saying.

The motive behind the shooting is yet to be ascertained.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Syrian pro-government forces on Monday arrived in Afrin area to support local Kurdish militants, who are fighting Turkish troops in the region.

According to Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA), the arrival of popular forces will strengthen the locals' resilience and resistance against the Turkish attack, which targets infrastructure, public and private properties, and economic and services establishments.

The Turkish government has been waging war on Kurdish militants in Afrin for almost a month, using various types of weapons and shells, including the internationally-banned chlorine gas, killing and injuring hundreds of civilians and destroying infrastructure, properties, and historical landmarks.

SANA reported that a minor girl was killed and eight others were injured in the assault by the Turkish troops.

Turkey on Monday said it would hit the pro-government troops if deployed to Afrin. The warning followed Syrian state media's announcement of the pro-government forces' entry to the Kurdish-controlled enclave of Afrin "within hours".

The official SANA news agency said the forces would "bolster" local forces in confronting Turkish "aggression".

The agreement may prompt Turkey to pull out and end a month-long air and ground offensive that aims to oust the People's Protection Units (YPG) from Afrin. Ankara considers the YPG a "terrorist group" linked to its own Kurdish insurgency within Turkey's borders.

Defence Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said, "If the regime is entering to protect the YPG, then no one can stop us, stop Turkey or the Turkish soldiers."

The minister added that Ankara had no problem if Syrian government forces entered Afrin to clear the area of YPG.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Turkish troops used artillery shells to pound villages in Afrin.

"The popular forces joining the resistance against Turkish occupation in Afrin comes in the framework of supporting residents as well as defending Syria and its sovereignty," SANA said.

Referring to Turkish-backed Syrian insurgents, SANA added the deployment aimed to "frustrate attempts by (Turkish President Recep Tayyip) Erdogan's regime and its mercenaries of terrorist organisations to occupy the area".

The Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), backed by its armed wing People's Protection Units (YPG), has dominated the Kurdish areas of northern Syria since 2012.

Turkey is trying to oust the YPG from Afrin because it says the group is an extension of the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has fought for Kurdish autonomy in Turkey for three decades.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Every Punjabi who remembers his history and knew of Punjab as one unit, extending mightily from the borders of North West Frontier Province (NWFP) to Delhi is today a saddened person.

The pride of Punjab and Punjabis the great Punjab National Bank is the butt of whatsapp jokes in India. As a Punjabi Indian who was born in Rawalpindi now in Pakistan, I feel absolutely distressed and hurt as to what scamsters and corrupt politicians of India have done to this great institution. One wonders what Indira Gandhi who nationalised this Bank among others to make her government survive in 1969 would have thought of her actions today.

Punjab National Bank was launched by the leaders of the Swadeshi movement, long before even Mahatma Gandhi appeared on the scene of the Indian independence movement. The bank was founded in 1894 by Indian leaders and Indian capital. Notable among the founders were Sardar Dayal Singh Majithia, Lala Harkishen Lal, Lala Lal Chand and Lala Dholan Das. It was their conviction that if India had to grow and progress when independence came, it should have its own institutions, more so financial institutions. It was with such noble intentions that the bank was founded.

Lala Lajpat Rai, the great freedom fighter of Punjab was actively associated with the administration of the bank in the early years. He was the first to open an account with the PNB in its first office opposite Arya Samaj Mandir in Anarkali in Lahore. Lalaji's younger brother joined the bank as a manager. Imagine the people who banked with the PNB included this actual 'Punjab Kesari' Lala Lajpat Rai and then later Jawahar Lal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Mahatma Gandhi and poignently also the Jallianwala Bagh Committee.

Lala Lajpat Rai was part of the famous trinity of India's Freedom Movement - Lal-Bal-Pal.Lala Lajpat Rai, Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Bipin Chandra Pal. These belonged to a generation of leaders who while fighting for independence would simultaneously think of creating institutions that would make India economically free as well.

Punjab National Bank was truly India's first National and swadeshi Bank, though an earlier Bank - Oudh Commercial Bank was established in 1881 and folded in 1958. PNB opened its first branch on 12th April 1895 in Lahore, west Punjab. In the next five years, it expanded to Sindh and NWFP.

Punjab National Bank made Punjab prosper through its services and later opened branches in others parts of India including Burma. It managed its affairs diligently. Punjabis were proud of their Bank. It was Punjab's Bank.

Lala Yodh Raj took over the command of the Bank in 1943, a moment of turbulent times for India. Large numbers of Punjabis were fighting in World War II. The freedom movement was going through difficult times, controlled and managed as it was by then by Indian National Congress, which had all its leaders in jails at that time having foolishly given up the control of Provinces where it had been elected to run the governments.

World War II ended in 1945 and India was ready for independence from colonial rule but the British did not want a united India as it did not fit in their scheme of things for the subcontinent. And there was Mohammed Ali Jinnah who was not ready to accept anything other than a separate country for Muslims.

It was evident that Punjab would bear the brunt of Partition and Lala Yodh Raj had to plan for the bank, for its future and the role it was to play in supporting the community that would be losing all that they owned and have to restart in life.

Punjabi Hindus and Sikhs had always had controlled the economy of Punjab that existed in unified India or were the dominant actors in it. They were then the largest account holders. The bank virtually belonged to them. The bank too had prospered with the support it received from its loyal Punjabi account holders.

Lala Yodh Raj realising the troubles ahead which a good management should do, in a masterstroke of his foresight and management, shifted the head office of the bank from West Punjab which was to go to Pakistan to Underhill Road in Delhi in June 1947, just months before the partition. Lahore had gone to Pakistan as he had suspected it would do. What a smart stroke of management! He had also moved the bulk of the funds of the PNB to India.

In those tumultuous weeks after partition PNB had to close 92 branches in West Pakistan that constituted 33 per cent of its total number of branches in undivided India. 40 percent of its deposits had vanished. Yet the managers remained undaunted as the task of helping in nation building and supporting the community was at hand.

Lala Yodh Raj was a highly revered figure among the Punjabis of that time, coming as he did from the long line of devoted Lalas and became more so when he assured the hundreds of thousands of account holders who migrated to India telling them that their money in the bank was safe. The migrants who came in from West Punjab were repaid their deposits based upon whatever evidence they could produce.

Had Lala Yodh Raj had not shifted the head office and its funds to India, Punjab National Bank could well have been Pakistan's biggest bank! The fact is Pakistan had no when the country was divided.

The control by Punjabis on their bank, which had now shifted to Delhi was not to last for long. Post-independence, a new style of functioning took over. The love and ownership of a community over an entity was gone.

Dalmias managed to buy the shares of the great Bank from the markets and suddenly in 1953, the bank was gone from Punjabi hands into the hands of Dalmias and Jains. Lala Yodh Raj left and Shiriyans Prasad Jain took control of the PNB.

The bank lost its character that was so unique to it. The nationalisation of by Mrs Indira Gandhi on the midnight of 19th July 1969 changed the way banking was done in India. Mrs Indira Gandhi's government was dependent on the support of communists and left-wingers and this was one step that was part of that agenda. The banks, including the PNB, became a plaything in the hands of politicians who used its finances to enrich themselves and their cronies.

The hurt that Punjabis feel today in seeing the PNB reduced to shambles is something that cannot be described in words. We have witnessed the pride and contribution of the bank in nation-building. We have also been mute witnesses to the plunder of generation upon generation of leaders who used its resources to line their pockets. This is not what Lala Lajpat Rai dreamt of when he and other Punjabis set up the PNB.

Since its inception in 1895, the PNB has been a people's bank. No longer. It has become a hunting ground of scamsters and we only have our corrupt politicians to blame who encouraged charlatons to loot honest taxpayers' money."A beautiful place of peace, humility and truth, that is as needed today as it ever was," read the Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's words of praise for the Gandhi Ashram at Sabarmati, which he visited on Monday, along with his family.

The other family membes also signed the visitor's book.

Trudeau, his wife Sophie and children Xavier, Hadrien and Ella-Grace adorned Indian ethnic clothes on their visit to the century-old ashram, which was the residence of Mahatma Gandhi during the freedom struggle.

On Sunday, Trudeau and family had visited the iconic Taj Mahal in Agra and a wildlife sanctuary in Mathura.

The Canadian Prime Minister who landed in New Delhi on Saturdy, is also scheduled to visit Amritsar, Ahmedabad, and Mumbai.

The visit will provide an opportunity for Trudeau to connect with the Indian leaders in government and business, promote empowerment of women and girls, and strengthen Canada and India's close economic ties.

The Indian and Canadian sides will reaffirm the close friendship between the two countries and discuss ways to further deepen bilateral cooperation.

Trudeau will also participate in several business roundtables to promote further trade and investment between Canada and India.

Canada will work closely with the Indian leaders to advance their economic opportunities in both countries respectively.Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday visited the Akshardham Temple in Gandhinagar, along with his family.

Earlier in the day, the family visited the Gandhi Ashram at Sabarmati where he wrote in the visitors' book that it was "a beautiful place of peace, humility and truth, that is as needed today as it ever was."

Trudeau, his wife Sophie and children Xavier, Hadrien and Ella-Grace adorned Indian ethnic clothes on both the visits.

On Sunday, Trudeau and family had visited the iconic Taj Mahal in Agra and a wildlife sanctuary in Mathura.

The Canadian Prime Minister who landed in New Delhi on Saturday is also scheduled to visit Amritsar, Ahmedabad, and Mumbai.

The visit will provide an opportunity for Trudeau to connect with the Indian leaders in government and business, promote empowerment of women and girls, and strengthen Canada and India's close economic ties.

The Indian and Canadian sides will reaffirm the close friendship between the two countries and discuss ways to further deepen bilateral cooperation.

Trudeau will also participate in several business roundtables to promote further trade and investment between Canada and India.

Canada will work closely with the Indian leaders to advance their economic opportunities in both countries respectively.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The United States President Donald Trump's son, Jr, is coming to India with business and foreign policy in mind.

The executive vice-director of Trump Organisation is scheduled to arrive in India on his maiden visit on Tuesday.

During the week-long trip, Jr. will not only endorse his luxurious residential project-Trump Towers, but he is scheduled to deliver a speech on foreign policy in India.

Trump Jr. will meet with Indian investors and business leaders in Kolkata, Mumbai, Pune and Gurgaon respectively, The Washington Post reported.

The eldest son of has already advertised himself prior to his visit.

Full-page advertisements in Indian newspapers on Monday invited prospective investors to buy into the Trump Organisation's project in Gurgaon to join Donald Trump Jr at a dinner later this week.

"Trump has arrived. Have you?" read the advertisement, inviting buyers to book their apartments in Trump Towers by Wednesday "for a conversation and dinner" with Trump Jr on Friday. An advertisement in newspapers on Sunday read, "Trump is here. Are you invited?"

Trump Jr. will also deliver his maiden speech in India where he will speak on "Reshaping Indo-Pacific Ties: The New Era of Cooperation" at a global business summit on Friday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who will also be present, will speak at the summit on the topic of "Preparing India for the Future."

In the US, some experts have pointed out the conflict of interests during Donald Trump Jr.'s India visit.

"The planned speech by Trump Jr. has renewed conflict of interest concerns, with some questioning why the US President's son will be lecturing on foreign policy while simultaneously trying to hawk his family business's lavish new condominiums," The Washington Post reported.

" that the Trump Organisation would be offering buyers in the Trump Tower the chance to meet the president's son sparked criticism of potential conflict of interest, and the fact that Trump Jr. will be giving a foreign policy speech while on a private business trip complicates the matter further", The Washington Post quoted ethics expert as saying.

Trump Jr. will also visit Kolkata, where the construction of a project with 137 luxury units will begin soon.

Talking about his trip earlier this month, Trump Jr. said, "India is such an incredible country and our brand has enjoyed tremendous success in the region for many years. This trip is a celebration of all we have achieved, including the launch of the Trump developments in Kolkata and Delhi which have been underway for many months."

According to business partners in India, many units in the Trump Towers are selling about 30 percent per square foot higher than the current market rates. Trump Jr.'s visit to India is expected to reinforce the trend.

India is Trump Organisation's biggest international market, with four real estate projects underway in Mumbai, Pune, Kolkata, and Gurgaon.

Trump Jr.'s visit to India comes after his sister, Ivanka, visited Hyderabad in November last year to attend the Global Entrepreneurship Summit.United States President Donald Trump took a swipe at media mega-celebrity Oprah Winfrey following her appearance in CBS' show, '60 Minutes', where she led a panel discussion with voters from Michigan state.

Taking to Twitter, the US President said the questions posed by the "very insecure Oprah Winfrey" were biased and slanted.

Just watched a very insecure Oprah Winfrey, who at one point I knew very well, interview a panel of people on 60 Minutes. The questions were biased and slanted, the facts incorrect. Hope Oprah runs so she can be exposed and defeated just like all of the others!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 19, 2018

Winfrey questioned seven Michigan voters who voted for Trump and seven who voted against him.

Trump's mocking remark about hoping for Winfrey to run for President comes in light of the fact that anti-Trump voices have continually called for her to run for President in 2020.

Admiration and praises poured in for her especially after her powerful speech at the recent Golden Globes Awards.Two bombs were found in front of the main gate of a Government school in Paraiya in Bihar's Gaya district on Monday.

More details are awaited.

The incident comes days after two live bombs were detected near Mahabodhi temple in Bodhgaya.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had earlier assured that those found guilty of planting bombs in Bodh Gaya "would not be spared".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan announced on Monday that his ministry's headquarters at Indira Paryavaran Bhavan will now be plastic-free.

The decision was announced during a function, where India and United Nations signed a document declaring India as the Global Host of World Day, 2018.

Indira Paryavaran Bhavan is the first government building in the capital, with net zero energy green. The state of the art building has emphasis on conservation of natural areas and trees to reduce adverse environmental impact, providing adequate natural light, shaded landscaped areas to reduce ambient temperature and maximise energy saving system.

The document declaring India as the global host was signed by Secretary C.K. Mishra and Erik Solheim, U.N. Under Secretary General and Executive Director of UN The theme of this year's environment day observance is 'Beat Plastic Pollution'.

In his address, Dr. Harsh Vardhan said, plastic is one of the serious menaces and we should handle it.

"It is the beginning of the end of plastic menace," declared Dr.Vardhan.

He said, it will not be just a symbolic celebration of yet another UN day; but a mission. The Minister said, protection of environment is in the DNA of India, inherited from our ancestors to live in harmony with nature and animal kingdom.

Solheim said, India's leadership on this matter is critical and expressed his happiness, New Delhi has taken it upon itself to be the global host of World Environment Day this year.

"Plastic pollution is a huge environmental and health issue for the planet," lamented the UN official. "It is a health issue for ourselves, because when big plastics degrade into small pieces, it gets into the ocean. Small plastic particles are eaten by fish. We eat fish and the plastic gets into our body. So plastic pollution is a huge environment and health issue."

Minister of State for Environment, Forest & Climate Change Dr Mahesh Sharma, speaking on the occasion, said protection of environment is the call of the day; it is the call of humanity; for the whole world and especially when we talk of India.

"As a doctor, I understand the predicament, that pure air in Delhi and several other smart cities would be scarce not too far, if we don't mitigate the causes of pollution," said Dr. Sharma.

Environment Secretary C.K. Mishra in his opening remarks said, protection of environment is not a symbolic gesture for India; it is a commitment towards sustainable development.

"Respect for nature is an integral part of Indian thinking. So, for Indian society it is not something that is coming from outside, it comes from within and I guess that makes a world of difference to how you position your commitment to the cause," said Mr. Mishra.

Earlier, Dr. Harsh Vardhan launched the first electric charging facility in any UN office in India at its Lodhi Road offices.

Dr. Vardhan later travelled in electric cars from Indian headquarters of the United Nations to the office of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, accompanied by Dr Mahesh Sharma, Mr. C.K. Mishra and Mr. Erik Solheim.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)United States Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Sunday said that he did the right thing to recuse himself from the Justice Department's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election.

"I believe I did the right thing, the only thing I could do. I participated in this campaign, and as such, under the explicit regulations of the Department of Justice, no one can participate in an investigation of a campaign in which they were an active participant," Sessions said on Fox News' 'Sunday Morning Futures.'

"You can't ask other members of the department to follow the law and follow the rules if the attorney general himself refuses to do so," he added.

Last year, Sessions recused himself from the Justice Department's investigation.

It had emerged that Sessions spoke twice with the Russian ambassador to the United States during former's presidential campaign.

Sessions did not mention either meeting, during his confirmation hearings when he said he knew of no contacts between Trump surrogates and Russians.

The probe grew out of the FBI's Russia investigation after Trump fired FBI director James Comey and Sessions recused himself from the investigation.

Russia has denied meddling in the election campaign and Trump 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.)Dr. Masoud Karbasian, Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance of the Islamic Republic of Iran, said that enforcement of the double taxation avoidance agreement and extension of preferential tariff would give a fillip to trade and investment between Iran and India.

Dr. Karbasian was addressing an interactive meeting with Indian and Iranian business leaders, organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India.

The Iranian Minister said his country has always been a reliable and safe provider of petroleum and natural gas to Indian oil companies and expressed confidence that the Trilateral Transit and Transport Agreement between Iran, India and Afghanistan will give a fillip to Iran-India trade and investment.

He said that the OECD had projected a positive outlook for the Iranian economy which is targeted to grow at 8% this year. Due to Iran's capacity to create a knowledge economy owing to its young and skilled workforce, education and scientific talent of global standards, the private sector from both sides need to intensify their collaboration reap mutual benefits.

On the occasion, FICCI and Iran Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (ICCIMA) signed an MoU to further strengthen economic relations by expanding and deepening commercial, trade and investment cooperation.

Mr. Gholam Hossein Shafei President, ICCIMA, in his remarks, underlined the need for elimination of discriminatory trade tariffs and banking irritants to lay the foundation of sustainable economic and business relations between the two countries. He urged Indian business to take advantage of the investment opportunities that Chabahar port will throw up.

Mr. V. S.

Sahney, Senior National Executive Member, FICCI and Chairman, Sun Group, pointed out that Chabahar Port, 72 kms. west of Pakistan's Gwadar Port, held immense strategic and economic significance for India, which has already spent US$ 100 million to construct a 218 km-long road from Delaram in western Afghanisatn to Zaranj on the Iran-Afghan border to link up with Chabahar. India, he said, would have to use the Chabahar project as a lynchpin to integrate it with its larger connectivity project - the International North South Transport Corridor.

Ms. Ambika Sharma, Director General, International, FICCI, stated that FICCI was engaged in exploring new avenues for enhancing two-way business relations. FICCI, she said, could partner with Iran in the area of people-to-people contact and trade and commerce. She emphasised that transit and connectivity, infrastructure, oil and gas, petrochemicals, steel and machinery and agriculture were the primary areas for cooperation.

In terms of the MoU, FICCI and ICCIMA will exchange information on economic and commercial matters which will enhance co-operation between Indian and Iran enterprises, in particular, about products and industrial processes, offers and requests for joint ventures and identification of possible partners.

The MoU was signed by Ms. Ambika Sharma on behalf of FICCI and Mr. Mohammad Reza Karbasi, Vice President, International Affairs, ICCIMA.

Both organisations will support activities such as seminars, conference, business meeting in India and Iran, respectively. The two organizations will also facilitate exchange of eminent scholars and business professionals.

The MoU envisages that as a trade promotion exercise, both organisations will support trade delegations and coordinate the programme for the visiting delegations in India and Iran.

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Fortis Healthcare was up 1.53% to Rs 139.60 at 14:09 IST on BSE after UBS Principal Capital Asia purchased bulk shares of the company on Friday, 16 February 2018.

Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 359.33 points or 1.06% at 33,651.43. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index dropped 1.62%, underperforming the Sensex.

On the BSE, 31.98 lakh shares were traded on the counter so far as against average daily volumes of 17.05 lakh shares in the past one quarter. The stock had hit a high of Rs 143.20 and a low of Rs 131.30 so far during the day. The stock had hit a record high of Rs 230.90 on 3 May 2017 and a 52-week low of Rs 106.65 on 6 February 2018.

The stock had outperformed the market over the past one month till 16 February 2018, sliding 1.93% compared with the Sensex's 2.19% fall. The stock had also outperformed the market over the past one quarter, advancing 5.08% as against the Sensex's 2.73% rise. The scrip had, however, underperformed the market over the past one year, sliding 30.89% as against the Sensex's 20.17% rise.

The mid-cap company has equity capital of Rs 518.65 crore. Face value per share is Rs 10.

ECL Finance sold 29.10 lakh shares of Fortis Healthcare at Rs 130.01 apiece in a bulk deal on the BSE on Friday, 16 February 2018. It offloaded 1.04 crore shares at Rs 136.25 apiece in a bulk deal on the NSE on 16 February 2018. On the same day, IDBI Trusteeship Services sold 77.78 lakh shares at Rs 134.91 per share on the NSE. UBS Principal Capital Asia bought 38.18 lakh shares at Rs 134.91 per share on the NSE.

In a fresh development, Fortis Healthcare disclosed to the exchanges on Saturday, 17 February 2018 that it has received a communication from Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) dated 16 February 2018, confirming that an investigation has been instituted by SEBI in the matter of the company. SEBI has asked to furnish information and documents as mentioned therein by 26 February 2018. The company is in process of collating the said information and will be sharing the same with SEBI in due course, it added. The financial implication/compensation/penalty and quantum of claims has not been referred in the aforesaid letter and hence cannot be ascertained, Fortis added.

The Supreme Court (SC) on 15 February 2018 paved the way for the sale of the shares pledged to lenders by former board members Malvinder and Shivinder Singh. It had blocked the sale of all Fortis Healthcare shares owned by Fortis Healthcare Holding (FHHPL) on 31 August 2017 on a petition by Japanese drug maker Daiichi Sankyo to prevent the Singhs from diluting the value of assets. The Singhs had approached the SC for permission to appeal a judgment of the Delhi High Court (HC) in January allowing Daiichi Sankyo to enforce the Rs 3500-crore arbitration award. The apex court clarified that the status of the shares encumbered on or before that date do not have to be maintained. FHHPL held 34.33% stake end December 2017. Of this, 98.22% equity was pledged or otherwise encumbered.

Shares of Fortis Healthcare dropped 4.31% to settle at Rs 137.50 on Friday, 16 February 2018 after the SC order.

Fortis Healthcare's board on 13 February 2018 had accepted the resignation of the Singh brothers from 8 February 2018. As an interim measure, a management committee has been constituted to oversee the functioning from a strategic and operational guidance perspective.

Meanwhile, as per media reports, the auditors of Fortis Healthcare, Deloitte Haskins & Sells Llp, have refused to sign the accounts for Q2 of FY 2018 results amid suspicion of misappropriation of funds by the Singh brothers. The Singh brothers were alleged to have siphoned at least Rs 500 crore without board approval about a year ago. The funds were reported on the balance sheet of Fortis Healthcare as cash and cash equivalents, but the money was routed and placed under the control of the Singhs at the time.

In a clarification to the stock exchanges, Fortis Healthcare said that Fortis Hospitals, a wholly owned subsidiary of Fortis Healthcare, has deployed funds in secured short-term investments with companies in normal course of treasury operations. These entities as of the quarter ended 31 December 2017 had become part of the promoter group due to a shareholding change in those entities. Subsequently, the same loans were recognized as related-party transactions in compliance with necessary regulatory requirements. These loans of Rs 473 crore are adequately secured and the repayment has since commenced.

Fortis Healthcare's consolidated net profit fell 10.5% to Rs 22.61 crore on 3.2% rise in net sales to Rs 1156.61 crore in Q1 June 2017 over Q1 June 2016.

Fortis Healthcare is a leading integrated healthcare delivery service provider in India. The healthcare verticals of the company primarily comprise hospitals, diagnostics and day care specialty facilities.

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)GVK Power and Infrastructure rose 1.12% to Rs 18.05 at 11:23 IST on BSE after the Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid foundation stone for Navi Mumbai International Airport site.

The announcement was made on Sunday, 18 February 2018.

Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 186.56 points, or 0.55% to 33,824.20.

On the BSE, 8.25 lakh shares were traded in the counter so far compared with average daily volumes of 10.60 lakh shares in the past one quarter. The stock had hit a high of Rs 18.70 and a low of Rs 17.85 so far during the day. The stock hit a 52-week high of Rs 27.85 on 16 January 2018. The stock hit a 52-week low of Rs 5.05 on 25 May 2017.

The stock had underperformed the market over the past 30 days till 16 February 2018, falling 22.73% compared with 3.54% fall in the Sensex. The scrip had outperformed the market in past one quarter, rising 10.53% as against Sensex's 2% rise. The scrip had also outperformed the market in past one year, rising 166.02% as against Sensex's 19.47% rise.

The small-cap company has equity capital of Rs 157.92 crore. Face value per share is Re 1.

GVK Power and Infrastructure (GVKPIL) announced that Prme Minister Narendra Modi performed the ground breaking ceremony and unveiled the foundation stone plaque for the Navi Mumbai International Airport at a function held at the site in the presence of other dignitaries including Ch. Vidyasagar Rao, Governor of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis, Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister of Road Transport & Highways, Shipping and Water Resources and P. Ashok Gajapathi Raju, Union Minister for Civil Aviation.

On 8 January 2018, GVKPIL announced signing of the concession agreement for the Navi Mumbai International Airport project. The concession agreement was signed through the creation of a special purpose vehicle viz., Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIAL) with CIDCO, the nodal authority of the Government of Maharashtra for implementation of this project. GVKPIL through its subsidiary, Mumbai International Airport (MIAL) holds 74% equity shares of NMIAL while CIDCO holds the balance 26%. The initial concession period is 30 years from the appointed date which is extendable for a further 10 years.

GVKPlL's subsidiary, MIAL, was declared the successful bidder in February 2017 for the Navi Mumbai International Airport project and had received the Letter of Award from CIDCO on 25 October 2017.

GVK Power & Infrastructure reported net profit of Rs 10.94 crore in Q3 December 2017 as against net loss of Rs 0.71 crore in Q3 December 2016. Net sales declined 56.04% to Rs 3.13 crore in Q3 December 2017 over Q3 December 2016.

GVK is a leading Indian conglomerate with diversified interests across various sectors including energy, resources, airports, transportation, hospitality and life sciences.

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)India and Iran signed an Agreement for the Avoidance of Double Taxation (DTAA) and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with respect to taxes on income.

The Agreement is on similar lines as entered into by India with other countries. The Agreement will stimulate flow of investment, technology and personnel from India to Iran& vice versa, and will prevent double taxation.

The Agreement will provide for exchange of information between the two Contracting Parties as per latest International Standards. It will improve transparency in tax matters and will help curb tax evasion and tax avoidance.

The Agreement also meets treaty related minimum standards under G-20 OECD Base Erosion & Profit Shifting (BEPS) Project, in which India participated on an equal footing.

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Kwality advanced 4.13% to Rs 88.20 at 13:41 IST on BSE after the company said its board at a meeting held today, 19 February 2018, approved conversion of convertible warrants.

The announcement was made during market hours today, 19 February 2018.

Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 409.17 points or 1.2% at 33,601.59. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index tumbled 1.75%, underperforming the Sensex.

On the BSE, 5.65 lakh shares were traded on the counter so far as against average daily volumes of 3.01 lakh shares in the past one quarter. The stock had hit a high of Rs 90.25 and a low of Rs 84.10 so far during the day. The stock had hit a 52-week high of Rs 169.05 on 20 April 2017 and a 52-week low of Rs 82.45 on 16 February 2018.

The stock had underperformed the market over the past one month till 16 February 2018, sliding 18.83% compared with the Sensex's 2.19% fall. The stock had also underperformed the market over the past one quarter, declining 16.8% as against the Sensex's 2.73% rise. The scrip had also underperformed the market over the past one year, declining 40.85% as against the Sensex's 20.17% rise.

The small-cap company has equity capital of Rs crore. Face value per share is Rs

Kwality's board approved conversion of one convertible warrant into 21.69 lakh shares at a price of Rs 115.22 per share aggregating to Rs 25 crore, allotted to Bennett, Coleman & Co. The board also approved conversion of one compulsorily convertible debenture (CCD) into 12.15 lakh equity shares at a price of Rs 115.22 per share aggregating to Rs 14 crore, allotted to HT Media.

Kwality's net profit fell 53.6% to Rs 20.94 crore on 12% growth in net sales to Rs 1773.27 crore in Q3 December 2017 over Q3 December 2016.

Kwality is engaged in processing, manufacturing and trading of milk, milk products and dairy products.

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)S. No.

Name of MoUs/Agreements

Description of MoU/ Agreement

Indian side

Iranian side

1.

Agreement for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with respect to taxes on Income.

To avoid burden of double taxation between the two countries in order to promote flow of investment and services.

Smt. Sushma Swaraj,External Affairs Minister

Dr. Masoud Karbasian, Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance

2.

MoU on Exemption from Visa requirement for holders of Diplomatic Passports.

Waiver of requirement of visa for the travel of diplomatic passport holders in each country.

Smt. Sushma Swaraj,External Affairs Minister

Dr. Mohammad Javad Zarif, Minister of Foreign Affairs

3.

Exchange of Instrument of Ratification of Extradition Treaty.

It brings into effect the Extradition Treaty signed between India and Iran in 2008.

Smt. Sushma Swaraj,External Affairs Minister

Dr. Mohammad Javad Zarif, Minister of Foreign Affairs

4.

Lease Contract for ShahidBeheshti Port- Phase 1 of Chabahar during Interim Period between Port and Maritime Organization (PMO), Iran and India Ports Global Limited (IPGL).

Leasing of a part of the area of the multipurpose and container Terminal for a term of one and half solar year (18 months) to take over operation of existing port facilities.

Shri Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Shipping

Dr. Abbas Akhundi, Minister of Road and Urban Development

5.

MoU on Cooperation in the field of Traditional Systems of Medicine.

To develop and strengthen cooperation in traditional systems of medicine including regulation of teaching, practice, drugs and drugless therapies; facilitating supply of all medicine materials and documents; exchange of experts for training of practitioners, paramedics, scientists, teaching professionals and students and accommodating them in institutions for research, educational and training programmes; mutual recognition of pharmacopoeias and formularies; setting up of academic chairs; provision of scholarships; recognition of traditional preparations on reciprocity basis; permission to practice on reciprocity basis.

Shri Vijay Gokhale, Foreign Secretary

H.E. Gholamreza Ansari, Ambassador of Iran

6.

MoU on the establishment of an Expert Group on Trade Remedy Measures to promote cooperation in areas of mutual interest.

It aims to establish a framework of cooperation in the area of Trade Remedial Measures viz. anti-dumping and counterveiling duty.

Smt. Rita Teotia, Secretary (Commerce)

Dr. Mohammad Khazaei, Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance

7.

MoU on Cooperation in the field of Agriculture and Allied Sectors.

Bilateral cooperation in the field of agriculture and allied sector including joint activities, programmes,exchange of information and personnel; cooperation in the field of agricultural crops, agricultural extension, horticulture, machinery, post harvest technology, plant quarantine measures, credit and cooperation, soil conservation, seed technology, livestock improvement, dairy development.

Shri S K Pattanayak, Secretary (Agriculture)

Dr. Mohammad Khazaei, Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance

8.

MoU on Cooperation in the field of Health and Medicine.

To establish comprehensive inter-ministerial and inter-institutional cooperation between two sides including pooling of technical, scientific, financial and human resources; upgrading the quality and reach of human, material and infrastructural resources in healthcare, medical education, research and training; exchanging experience in training of medical doctors and other health professionals; assistance in development of human resources and setting up of health care facilities; regulation of pharmaceuticals, medical devices and cosmetics and exchange of information thereon; cooperation in medical research; cooperating in public health, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and international health.

Shri Vijay Gokhale, Foreign Secretary

H.E. Gholamreza Ansari, Ambassador of Iran

9.

MoU on Postal Cooperation.

Cooperation between the two postal agencies including exchange of experience, knowledge and technology in e-commerce/logistics services; cooperation on philately; establishment of working group of experts; feasibility studies on using air and surface transit capacities of both countries.

Shree Anant Narayan Nanda, Secretary (Post)

H.E. Gholamreza Ansari, Ambassador of Iran



Following MoUs between trade bodies have also been signed on the sidelines of the visit:





(1). MoU between EEPC India and Trade Promotion Organization of Iran.(2). MoU between Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) and Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (ICCIMA).(3). MoU between the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) and the Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines & Agriculture (ICCIMA).(4). MoU between PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI) and Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (ICCIMA)

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Punjab National Bank fell 8% to Rs 115.60 at 14:08 IST on BSE, extending recent losses triggered by the bank detecting a $1771.69 million fraud at a single branch in Mumbai.

Punjab National Bank (PNB) made the announcement before trading hours on 14 February 2018. Shares of PNB fell 9.81% to settle at Rs 145.80 on 14 February 2018. The stock has fallen 28.49% in four trading sessions from its close of Rs 161.65 on 12 February 2018. The domestic stock market was shut on 13 February 2018, on account of Mahashivratri.

Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 355.28 points, or 1.04% to 33,655.48.

On the BSE, 77.33 lakh shares were traded in the counter so far compared with average daily volumes of 19.32 lakh shares in the past one quarter. The stock had hit a high of Rs 123.40 so far during the day. The stock had hit a low of Rs 113.60 so far during the day, which is also a 52-week low for the counter. The stock hit a 52-week high of Rs 231.60 on 26 October 2017.

The stock had underperformed the market over the past 30 days till 16 February 2018, falling 26.35% compared with 3.54% fall in the Sensex. The scrip had also underperformed the market in past one quarter, falling 34.11% as against Sensex's 2% rise. The scrip had also underperformed the market in past one year, falling 10.38% as against Sensex's 19.47% rise.

The large-cap bank has equity capital of Rs 485.12 crore. Face value per share is Rs 2.

PNB announced before trading hours on 14 February 2018, that it detected some fraudulent and unauthorised transactions (messages) in one of its branch in Mumbai for the benefit of a few select account holders with their apparent connivance. Based on these transactions, other banks appear to have advanced money to these customers abroad. In the bank these transactions are contingent in nature and liability arising out of these on the bank shall be decided based on the law and genuineness of underlying transactions. The quantum of such transactions is $1771.69 million (approximately). The matter is already referred to law enforcement agencies to examine and book the culprits as per law of the land. The bank said it is committed to clean and transparent banking.

PNB clarified after market hours on 15 February 2018, that on 16 January 2018, the partnership firm of Nirav Modi group approached PNB branch at Brady House, Mumbai and presented a set of import documents with a request to allow buyers' credit for making payment to the overseas suppliers. Since there was no sanctioned limit in the name of the above firms, the branch officials requested the firms to furnish at least 100% cash margin for issuing Letter of Undertaking (LOU) for raising buyer's credit. On denial, the firms contested that they have been availing such transactions since past several years.

On scrutiny, it was observed that earlier issuance of letter of undertakings (LOU) had been made by the branch officials through SWIFT (The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication) without obtaining approval of the competent authority, necessary applications from importer, documents of import, legal documentation with bank and also without making entries in bank's trade finance module of CBS system.

A series of meetings were held with representatives of Nirav Modi group and Gitanjali group at Delhi and Mumbai to impress upon them to pay the amount. They were also directed to provide all necessary documents as per law to ensure that the imports are bonafide trade transactions.

Upon confirming the first maturity of LOUs liabilities on 25 January 2018 as fraudulently credit against the bank, an FMR-1 (fraud report format of RBI) was submitted to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 29 January 2018 amounting to $44.22 million, equivalent to Rs 280.70 crore (related to 3 group firms of Nirav Modi).

On 29 January 2018, a criminal complaint for registration of FIR against accused persons including the maker & checker employees of the bank for offence of cheating of fraud was filed with Joint Director (Policy), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and same stands registered on 31 January 2018.

On 12 February 2018, based on investigation report, total fraud of Rs 11394.02 crore in case of unauthorized issuance of letters of undertakings, foreign letter of credits and inland letter of guarantees in the group accounts of Nirav Modi Group and Gitanjali Group and in the account of Chandri Paper & Allied Products was reported to RBI. On 13 February 2018, an FIR was filed with CBI against above 2 groups and Chandri Paper & Allied Products. On 13 February 2018, PNB filed a complaint to the Enforcement Directorate.

PNB said its liability is contingent only. The liability shall be decided based on the law of land.

Punjab National Bank's net profit rose 11.1% to Rs 230.11 crore on 8% increase in total income to Rs 15257.50 crore in Q3 December 2017 over Q3 December 2016.

Government of India held 57.03% stake in PNB as per the shareholding pattern as on 31 December 2017.

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)In reference to fraud in Punjab National Bank

UCO Bank announced that in the normal course of trade business, the Bank's Hong Kong branch has been negotiating export documents against Letters of Credit issued through authenticated SWIFT message by 'Punjab National Bank', after receiving acceptance through authenticated SWIFT message. The applicants for these Letters of Credit includes few of the Corporate Clients associated with the incident of recent fraud happened in Punjab National Bank.

The outstanding exposure involved in the transactions is approximately USD 411.82 Million and the Bank is fully confident to receive the payment from Punjab National Bank.

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)UK-India research projects on 'Water Quality Research' and 'Energy Demand Reduction in Built Environment' were launched today by Dr V K Saraswat, Member, National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog, Professor Ashutosh Sharma, Secretary, Department of Science and Technology (DST) India and Daniel Shah, Director, Research Councils UK (RCUK) India.

The 'Water Quality Research' programme has eight projects and 'Energy Demand Reduction in Built Environment' programme has four projects, with a total joint investment of up to 15 million. These projects aim to deliver mutual benefits and research solutions not only to the UK and India but also to address shared global sustainable development goals - clean water and clean energy.

Dr Saraswat, Professor Sharma and Mr Shah commended the true partnership in high-quality, high-impact research between the two nations and their research communities, and wished them success. They released joint catalogues highlighting the potential impact of these projects.

DST - The UK's Natural Research Council (NERC) and Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) on Water Quality Research

DST - Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) programme on Energy Demand Reduction in Built

A dossier highlighting India's national efforts in Building Energy Efficiency comprising details of 30 projects was also released on the occasion.

The ceremony was preceded by an initiation meeting of the 'Water Quality Research' projects, providing an opportunity for lead researchers to present their work, understand how they can work together to deliver a coherent programme and identify any research gaps or potential overlaps. A similar initiation event is planned for 'Energy Demand Reduction in Built Environment' projects on 20th February 2018.

This meeting brought together senior Indian government officials, funding partners (DST, NERC and EPSRC with support from RCUK India), and scientists both from the UK and India.

Sir Dominic Asquith KCMG, British High Commissioner to India said, Access to clean water and efficient energy are crucial to the well-being and prosperity of every nation. I congratulate the UK-India research teams leading these projects. Another great example of how the UK and India's research partnership is a global force for good.

Dr V K Saraswat, Member of National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog, highlighted thrust of the Government on Sustainable Development through synergistic efforts and greater inter-ministerial coordination.

The ambitious targets and missions for renewable energy and energy efficiency for meeting ever increasing needs of the country is an illustration of governments' commitment. The success achieved in LED programme can be replicated in building sector with scientific inputs.

Research on water quality is extremely critical for our national missions on Ganga rejuvenation and Swachha Bharat. Highlighting the new initiatives for cleaner fuels such as methanol and desalination, he stressed upon the need to leverage global experience and collaborative endeavour to accelerate the innovations in the very important domains of water and clean energy and lauded the efforts of EPSRC, NERC, DST and all participants of these programmes

Professor Ashutosh Sharma, Secretary, Department of Science and Technology, said, Department of Science and Technology accords high priority to development of cost effective and friendly technological solutions for clean energy, clean water and clean air. The global research fraternity has to play a pivotal role in making these pursuits successful and we intend to pursue these objectives both through our national and collaborative endeavours. Sustained India and UK research collaboration in all domains, especially clean technologies has scaled greater heights and is a valuable instrument to bring best brains together for addressing societal challenges.

Daniel Shah, Director Research Councils UK (RCUK) India said, This India-UK water quality programme, supported jointly by the Department of Science and Technology in India, and NERC, EPSRC and ESRC in the UK, aims to equip local communities, policymakers, regulators and businesses with the information and solutions they need to secure the provision of clean water, rejuvenate rivers and restore ecosystems. These eight collaborative research projects should bring benefits to both people and the environment, and we are delighted that the programme is being launched today.

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)To provide affordable yet quality healthcare to patients from the lower strata of society, Samsung India and the Tamil Nadu government on Monday launched 15 "Samsung Smart Healthcare" centres in the state.

Chief Minister K. Palaniswami formally launched the centres by inaugurating one such centre at the government hospital at Edappadi in Salem district.

"Our government is working towards creating better medical facilities for the public and this collaboration with Samsung for the Smart Healthcare programme will go a long way in fulfilling that vision," Palaniswami said in a statement.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between Samsung India and the State Department of Medical, Health and Family Welfare in November last year.

As part of the MoU, Samsung will provide advanced and innovative healthcare equipment such as digital ultrasound and digital x-ray machines manufactured by the company along with LED TVs, air conditioners and refrigerators to selected government hospitals.

"Through this collaboration, we aspire to provide many more people in the state and its adjoining areas easy access to advanced healthcare facilities. Samsung Smart Healthcare combines good infrastructure, latest technology and the best available medical expertise," added Deepak Bhardwaj, Vice President, CSR, Samsung India.

"Samsung Smart Healthcare" programme aims to support the government's efforts to benefit communities with limited access to quality healthcare across primary, secondary and tertiary levels.

So far, over 3.5 lakh patients from the economically and socially-deprived sections of the society have been benefited at these centres across India, the company said.

--IANS

sku/na/bg

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Rabat, Feb 19 (IANS/MAP) The 24th Casablanca's International Book Fair has closed with a record attendance of 520,000 visitors, an increase of about 50.72 oer cent compared to the previous year.

Held from February 8, Morocco's flagship book fair also brought together over 700 exhibitors representing 45 countries, according to a statement from the Moroccan Ministry of Culture and Communication.

These exhibitors showcased more than 125,000 books, 52 per cent of them published in the last three years.

Egypt was this year's guest of honour and was represented by an official delegation, led by the Egyptian Culture Minister and composed of several writers, creators and representatives of academic and research institutions.

In addition to book exhibition, the fair was marked by the organisation of 791 cultural events including seminars, meetings and signing ceremonies as well as workshops to encourage children to read.

--IANS/MAP

soni/bg

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Actress Priya Prakash Varrier, who stole the heart of the nation with her cute antics in a song of an upcoming Malyalam movie, on Monday moved the Supreme Court seeking quashing of the FIRs against her and the director of the film for hurting religious sentiments of Muslims.

The actress, film director Omar Lulu and others sought an ex-parte stay on the FIR and police complaints, and also appropriate orders restraining other states from registering such FIRs.

Some Muslim activists had lodged an FIR against the team of "Oru Adaar Love" in Hyderabad under Section 295A (hurting religious sentiments) of the Indian Penal Code on February 14.

A group in Maharashtra's Aurangabad also filed a police complaint against Varrier and Lulu on the same grounds.

On Monday, Varrier's counsel Pallavi Pratap told the apex court that the criminal complaints instituted by "various fringe groups" are based on a "distorted and incorrect interpretation of the song".

"The claims that it hurts the religious sentiments of the Muslim community are without any basis," it said.

Stressing that an amount of Rs 1.5 crore has been spent on the movie, the plea said "such flimsy and baseless complaints and FIRs cause nothing but hindrance in freedom of speech".

The contentious scene where Varrier winks at a boy features the Mappila lyrics -- a traditional Muslim song from the Malabar region of Kerala -- that celebrate the love between Prophet Mohammed and his first wife Khadija.

The complainants have primarily objected to the use of Mappila as background music in the flirting scene.

However, the petition said it was "hard to fathom" that a song which has been in existence "for the past 40 years... was cherished by the Muslim community in Kerala is now being treated as an insult... it cannot suddenly offend the religious sentiment of the Muslim community".

The plea said that the fringe elements have "misunderstood" the lyrics of the song.

"Filing of criminal complaints and registration of FIRs by the police in multiple states on the basis of complaints by fringe elements... has adversely affected the petitioners' right to life, liberty and freedom of expression.

"...the legality of the content of the film and the certification on the same can only be dealt with under law by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC)," it said.

Citing the apex court's order on November 16, 2017 that a film or a drama or a novel or a book is a creation of art, the plea said these complaints were contrary to the order.

The Supreme Court has observed earlier that an artist has freedom to express himself and a thought-provoking film "should never mean that it has to be didactic or in any way puritanical".

--IANS

pk-mg/mak/him/vd

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Ending uncertainty over the issue, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said on Monday that he was all set to meet Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during the latter's visit to Amritsar on Wednesday.

Amarinder Singh tweeted on Monday that he was looking forward to the "one-on-one" meeting with the Canadian Prime Minister.

Trudeau is arriving in Amritsar on Wednesday and will offer prayers at the Golden Temple complex, where the holiest of Sikh shrines 'Harmandir Sahib' is located.

The visit is of political and social significance in Canada as that country has a substantial Indian diaspora, majority of them being from Punjab.

"Look forward to take Punjab's close business as well as people-to-people relations with Canada to the next level, with a one-to-one meeting with visiting Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Amritsar on Wednesday," Amarinder Singh said.

The Chief Minister, who has already issued instructions to the state administration to roll out the red carpet for the visiting dignitary's visit, said on Monday that he looked forward to the meeting.

"Look forward to meeting Canadian Prime Minister @JustinTrudeau in Amritsar on Wednesday. I'm hopeful that this meeting will help strengthen the close Indo-Canadian business ties as well as the deep-rooted people-to-people relations between our two countries," he posted.

There was uncertainty over Amarinder Singh's meeting with Trudeau as the Punjab Chief Minister had last year courted controversy when he had refused to meet Canadian Defence Minister Harjit Singh Sajjan, the first Sikh Defence Minister of a western country, during a visit to Punjab in April last year.

Amarinder Singh had gone public to label Sajjan and other ministers of Indian origin in the Trudeau government as "Khalistani sympathizers".

In a change of tone now, Amarinder Singh expressed the hope that his meeting with Trudeau would help strengthen the bilateral relations in context of the diaspora.

While trade and business will be the key focus area of the meeting, the two leaders are also expected to discuss steps to intensify the close relations between the people of the two countries, according to a spokesperson of the Chief Minister's Office (CMO).

Punjab has deep roots with Canada, where a large Punjabi community is settled, and has always striven to strengthen the connect, Amarinder Singh said and expressed appreciation for Trudeau's efforts in this direction.

Citing Trudeau's apology two years ago in the Canadian parliament for the 1914 Komagata Maru incident, in which hundreds of Sikh, Muslim and Hindu passengers in a ship were denied entry to Canada and forced to return to India, where they met a violent fate, he said it was a gesture that underlined the depth of the relations between the two countries, which Wednesday's meeting would help in consolidating further.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)West Bengal CID on Friday arrested one more state police officer in relation with the extortion case in West Midnapore district's Daspur taking the tally of total arrests to five, a senior CID official said.

The CID sleuths have previously arrested three police officers including an Inspector and a two Sub-Inspectors in this case while a caretaker of an apartment in south Kolkata has also been held.

"CID team has arrested sub-Inspector Pradeep Rath, who was named in the FIR in Daspur case. Rath was presently posted as the officer in-charge of West Midnapore district's Belda police station," Deputy Inspector General, CID, Nishad Parvez said in a release.

"The arrested was made observing all legal formalities. He would be produced to the court tomorrow (Tuesday)," he said.

During the incident, Das, known to be a close aid of former West Midnapore police chief Bharati Ghosh, worked as the officer in-charge of Daspur police station, where the extortion took place.

The CID raids started following a case of extortion and criminal conspiracy was lodged in West Midnapore district's Daspur on February 1 after gold trader named Chandan Majhi complained against some police officers in the district thought to be close to former SP Ghosh.

The sleuths had earlier seized more than Rs. 2.4 crore in cash, several important government documents and an array of sealed liquor bottles while raiding a number of flats in an apartment in Kolkata's Madurdaha, suspected to be owned by Ghosh while large amount of unaccounted cash was also seized from the house of several police officers named in the FIR.

Police officer named Rajsekhar Pain, who also worked under former SP Ghosh was arrested by the CID in relation to misappropriation of Rs 45 lakh from a local businessman.

Ghosh, once a favourite of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, reportedly fell from grace and sought voluntary retirement after being transferred to a less significant post as commandant of the State Armed Police's Third Battalion. Her application was accepted.

CID issued arrest warrant against her February 10 on the charges of alleged extortion and criminal conspiracy and sent teams outside the state to look for her.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Bombay Lawyers Association (BLA) on Monday urged the Supreme Court to direct the Maharashtra government to make its position clear through an affidavit vis-a-vis an independent probe into Judge B.M. Loya's death in 2014.

Judge Loya was presiding over a Special CBI court conducting the trial in the staged shootout killing of Sohrabuddin Sheikh and his aide Tusliram Prajapati.

"I don't know why the court is reluctant to issue notice and ask the state (Maharashtra) to make its stand (clear) on affidavit," senior counsel Dushyant Dave told a bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud while pointing out that the procedure being followed by it was flawed.

As Dave defended the role of his client BLA, the bench said: "We have not questioned the bona fides of the Bombay Lawyers Association."

"We give (the matter) the highest amount of seriousness. We treat it as a cause," the court said, adding that it did not care what was being said outside and it would do its duty if anything raised suspicions.

Dave said that the four judges who have given statements that Judge Loya met a natural end be asked to do so on sworn affidavits.

Describing the procedure followed by the top court while hearing a public interest litigation that seeks an independent probe into Judge Loya's death on December 1, 2014, as an "unhealthy practice", Dave said: " If a person is holding a high position, his words have to be accepted. This is not the way, this is not the law."

Responding to the Maharashtra government's contention attributing "motives" to everything starting with an article in Caravan magazine and PILs filed thereafter, the senior counsel said the petitioner did not have "political motives" or "personal interest" in the matter.

"This cause is not political," Dave said after the Maharashtra counsel said all this was because of a man "who is seen behind everything", apparently referring to Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah.

Maharashtra government's counsel Mukul Rohatgi said the Caravan article appeared after the dismissal of a plea that challenged the discharge of Amit Shah in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh staged shootout case.

"After the discharge of somebody (Amit Shah) in 2015, a petition was filed in the Supreme Court (challenging the discharge) which was dismissed. Then this article was published in Caravan deliberately.

"The article appeared in November 2017. Why did the petitions filed after the article appeared? The article was preceded by the dismissal (of appeal)"

A former bureaucrat and social activist Harsh Mander had challenged the discharge of Shah by a trial court and the same was dismissed on August 1, 2016.

Dave told the apex court on Monday that while the court was seized of the matter, a statutory body (Bar Council of India) is issuing a notice to him on his alleged role in the Judge Loya matter.

"In respect of an ongoing matter before the Supreme Court, a notice is being issued by a statutory body," he said and urged the court to take judicial notice of the development.

Senior counsel Pallav Sisodia, appearing for another PIL petitioner and Maharashtra-based journalist Bandhuraj Sambhaji Lone, said Dave was trying to bring pressure on him to withdraw from the case. He referred to an article written by Dave, pointing fingers at him.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The PNB scam rocked the Chhattisgarh Assembly on Monday as Congress legislators shouted slogans against billionaire jeweller Nirav Modi who is accused of cheating the state-run bank of over Rs 11,300 crore.

When some MLAs trooped near the Speaker's podium, Speaker Gaurishankar Agrawal suspended 30 of the opposition legislators for the day but they continued to protest.

They also protested against the government's invitation to miner Rio Tinto, who they accused of having ties with Nirav Modi, to invest in the state.

Congress' Bhupesh Baghel said: "This company is already black-listed... This is a joint venture of Rio Tinto and Nirav Modi.

"In 2004, Rio Tinto was allowed to survey the state. Now, the firm is being invited again in the name of investment in the state."

The Congress moved an adjournment motion that normal business be suspended to discuss the issue. Agrawal rejected it calling it an "imaginary issue".

The House was adjourned for five minutes.

But the protests continued soon after the House met again. The Speaker then suspended the 30 legislators till 7 p.m.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The CBI on Monday raided several locations in Kanpur in connection with a Rs 800 crore loan default by the Rotomac Pen company's chief Vikram Kothari, an official said.

Kothari is the chairman and MD at the Kanpur-based Rotomac Global Private Limited.

Coming close on the heels of the Rs 11,515 crore Punjab National Bank's fraud, the Rotomac case that surfaced late Sunday fanned speculations that Kothari too, might try and flee the country.

Kothari's Mall Road office in Kanpur was found shut since last week.

The Central Bureau of Investigation's raid which was going on in three locations in Kanpur followed a complaint received from the Bank of Baroda.

"Kothari, his wife and son are being questioned in Kanpur," a CBI official told IANS.

A case was also filed against the chairman on Sunday night, the official added.

Kothari had taken loans worth Rs 800 crore from the Allahabad Bank, Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Indian Overseas Bank and the Union Bank of India.

--IANS

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(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) on Monday called upon the state's people to choose between preserving the Naga identity and money in the February 27 Nagaland Assembly polls.

"We should not let money power and false promises overpower our faith and our identity of being Nagas," NPF President Shrhozelie Liezietsu said while addressing a NPF rally.

Attacking the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP)-BJP pre-poll alliance, Liezietsu said the alliance had nothing to woo the Naga voters with but only money and called upon the voters to take the right decision.

"In Nagaland, the church has seen the dangers posed by fringe elements to Naga society and are taking remedial measures," he said and called upon the public to abide by the suggestions of the Nagaland Baptist Church Council (NBCC) and the Nagaland Christian Revival Church (NCRC).

The former Chief Minister claimed that the NPF alone would secure an absolute majority and protect the Naga people and their way of life.

The NPF President also asserted that the party accords top priority to the resolution of the long pending Naga issues, and that the NPF had always supported the Naga cause in the past.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Three pieces of an elephant tusk were seized in West Bengal's Siliguri by DRI officials and two persons arrested, an official said on Monday.

The elephant tusk was carried from Assam to Siliguri for smuggling out to Nepal, said the official of Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI).

"Based on specific intelligence input that an elephant tusk would be carried from Assam to Siliguri on a private bus for smuggling to Nepal, officers of DRI intercepted the vehicle in the Mallaguri area in the early Thursday," a statement said.

The tusk, weighing 12.41 kg, has a total length of 0.86 metre and a girth of 0.36 metre and it was cut into three pieces for ease of packaging and transportation, the DRI official said.

"The two drivers of the vehicle confessed to carrying the elephant tusk at the behest of one person, a resident of Kolkata, for smuggling into Nepal," it said.

"The elephant tusk was seized and the two drivers - Saiful Islam, 45, from Assam's Dejoo and Santosh Pradhan, 35, of Siliguri were arrested for smuggling of wildlife parts," the DRI said.

Preliminary investigations revealed that the elephant was poached in the forested areas of Arunachal Pradesh or Assam 5-6 months ago, it said.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Noting that recapitalisation of state-run banks over the last decade has had little impact on improving their health, industry chamber Ficci on Monday called for their privatisation in the interest of creating "a dynamic banking sector" in the country.

The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry's (Ficci) demand follows another industry body Assocham's call on Sunday for the government to surrender its majority control of public sector banks (PSBs) in the light of the massive over Rs 11,300 crore ($1.8 billion) scam allegedly involving jeweller Nirav Modi that has hit state-run Punjab National Bank.

"Ficci recommends privatisation of PSBs. Recapitalisation in the last 11 years has had limited impact in improving the health of public sector banks," the industry body said in a release here.

"The public sector banks, which constitute almost 70 per cent of the Indian banking system, are saddled with burgeoning stressed assets."

"The government has already injected over Rs 2.6 lakh crore in the PSBs through recapitalisation in the last 11 years, which has had limited impact in improving the health of public sector banks thus far," Ficci President Rashesh Shah said in a statement.

"Recapitalisation alone is not a permanent solution and will not be effective unless the inherent issues related to governance, productivity, risk management, talent, customer service, among others, are resolved," he said.

"Given the continuous pressure on the government finances on account of the weak performance of the banks, privatisation would reduce the drain on the exchequer and the money saved could be used for developmental schemes and programmes," he added.

Besides the Rs 1.45 lakh crore earmarked for recapitalisation during the ongoing and the next fiscal, PSBs have received around Rs 1.15 lakh crore equity between 2010-11 and 2016-17. During the same period, PSB profits amounted to Rs 1.8 lakh crore.

Most government-owned banks reported combined losses during the last two fiscals on account of the provisioning made for their massive accumulated non-performing assets (NPAs), or bad loans.

The accumulated NPAs in the Indian banking system have crossed a staggering Rs 8 lakh crore, with PSBs themselves accounting for over Rs 7 lakh crore of bad loans.

The Centre has embarked on a two-pronged strategy in this regard. On the one hand, it has brought in the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code which provides for a time-bound insolvency resolution process. The Reserve Bank of India has already identified 12 accounts adding up to 25 per cent of the NPAs for insolvency proceedings.

On the other hand, the Union Cabinet, in October, approved a Rs 2.11 lakh crore recapitalisation plan for PSBs.

Meanwhile, Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) Arvind Subramanian has also advocated more private participation in public sector banks.

Speaking at an event in Chennai on Saturday, Subramanian said while the government was going for recapitalisation of PSBs, the scrutiny, monitoring and disciplined deployment must be ensured only through greater private participation in banks.

According to him, there should be less public lending to the private sector and the mode to achieve that is to have higher private participation in the banking sector.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Germany will significantly increase the number of its armed forces personnel participating in NATO exercises on the military alliance's "Eastern frontier", media reports on Monday said.

Around 12,000 German soldiers will participate in such exercises in 2018, according to a schedule drawn up by the Ministry of Defense, Xinhua reported.

The figure marks a three-fold increase compared to 2017, resulting in total costs estimated at $111.4 million. The single largest upcoming NATO maneuver, "Trident Juncture", will be carried out in the fall and mobilize between 30,000 and 40,000 soldiers in total. Around 8,000 Germans will participate in this exercise.

The news comes only a few days after Wolfgang Ischinger, chairman of the annual Munich Security Conference (MSC), warned against a heightened risk of a military confrontation between the United States and Russia.

However, the newspaper "Rheinische Post" reported that inadequate equipment could still hamper German efforts to "play a greater role" in the international security landscape. Among others, there reportedly was a lack of protective clothing, tents and functioning tanks.

The Ministry of Defence rejected such claims on Monday, emphasizing that a thorough investigation of the needs of the armed forces would be conducted before their deployment to ensure full operational readiness.

The acting minister of defense, Ursula von der Leyen (CDU), has repeatedly expressed a desire to increase German defense spending from currently 1.26 per cent of annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP), to 2 per cent as envisioned by NATO.

German military officials defended the exercises published on Monday as a response to growing fears in Eastern European states, such as Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia and Poland, of a potential Russian invasion.

The 2018 maneuvers, with foreboding titles such as "Saber Strike", "Flaming Thunder" and "Iron Wolf", are officially intended as deterrence against Russia and will complement a general build-up of NATO's permanent troop presence in Eastern Europe which is already underway.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)In a first hint that the company was not scaling down its operations in the country, Gionee India on Monday announced to extend its "Smile Squad" campaign till February 28 where people can buy its smartphones at attractive discounts.

The campaign, commenced on December 10 till January 31, also offers customers, existing and new, a chance to win prizes such as couple trips to Thailand and motorbikes.

"In the light of the recent customs duty hike where brands are getting ready to increase the prices, Gionee is offering its products at steal-away price points," the company said in a statement.

Earlier this month, the company confirmed its restructuring plans for India.

Reacting to an IANS report that financial woes in China may hit Gionee's India operations, David Chang, Global Sales Director, Gionee India, said that the brand is here to stay.

"We are in the process of restructuring our India team and executing a completely different business model for the brand in the market very soon," Chang had told IANS.

The company had 2.2 per cent share in the Indian smartphone market for 2017, according to Counterpoint Research.

The last device Gionee brought to India was selfie-centric "S10 Lite" for Rs 15,999 on December 22.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Shares of Gitanjali Gems extended losses for the fourth consecutive session on Monday -- plunging almost 10 per cent to its lower circuit level at Rs 33.80 per scrip.

The shares continued the plunge a day after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted search operations in six franchise-based outlets located in four malls in Kolkata in connection with $1.8 billion banking fraud case.

Shares of PNB, too, declined by 8 per cent to trade at Rs 115.60 per share after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday sealed the Brady House Branch of the bank as multiple probe agencies continued with their probe into the multi-crore fraud.

The shares of the two companies started to decline following the country's second largest state-run bank PNB's declaration of unearthing a fraud of Rs 11,515 crore involving diamantaire Nirav Modi.

The fraud, which included money-laundering among others, concerned the Firestar Diamonds group in which the CBI booked Modi, his wife Ami, brother Nishal Modi and uncle and business partner Mehul Choksi -- who promotes the luxury jewellery brand Gitanjali Gems.

Last week, the ED launched a nationwide raid on the offices, showrooms and workshops of Nirav Modi. The CBI registered an FIR against the Gitanjali Group of companies based on a complaint registered by the PNB.

On Sunday, the ED conducted searches at over 45 more locations in 15 cities across India in connection with the scam.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Two weeks after a government minister called domestic tourists "scum of the earth", Goa Governor Mridula Sinha on Monday said Goans believe in the philosophy of 'Atithi Devo Bhava'.

"'Atithi Devo Bhava' has always been the attitude of Goa and Goans. Goa is one of the famous tourist destinations. Tourism industry contributes a major portion in the state income. The total tourists' arrival in Goa is more than four times of the population of Goa," Sinha said on the first day of the budget session of the Goa legislative assembly.

"My government's priority is to provide quality infrastructure and promote tourism sector in all spheres of the State. The Union Ministry for Tourism has sanctioned nearly Rs 200 crore under Swadesh Darshan, a scheme for upgrading basic amenities and tourist-friendly infrastructure along the coastal circuit of the State," she said.

Sinha's comment came two weeks after Goa's Agriculture minister Vijai Sardesai called more than six million domestic tourists annually landing in Goa as "scum of the earth".

After being criticised for his comment, Sardesai subsequently said that he was only referring to a small chunk of the tourist population.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)After the self-immolation by Dalit activist Bhanubhai Vankar, the Gujarat government on Monday came out with a written undertaking to all Dalit families -- so far denied possession of land in the state -- on its physical possession.

According to the undertaking, all families who had been allotted land on paper would be given actual possession within six months.

The 60-year-old Dalit activist had set himself afire on Thursday inside the Patan Collector's office compound over the state's alleged failure to regularise land tilled by landless labourers in Dudhka village. He succumbed to burn injuries late on Friday in an Ahmedabad hospital.

Vankar's family finally accepted his mortal remains after the government gave in to all their demands, with hundreds of Dalits joining the funeral procession to pay homage to him in Unjha town in north Gujarat.

Vankar's death sparked off statewide protests as Dalit activist and newly elected independent MLA Jignesh Mevani took the lead.

Mevani and nearly 100 others were detained on Saturday while staging protests in Ahmedabad.

Vankar's family had earlier refused to accept the body till the government agreed to its charter of demands.

While the authorities earlier claimed that all issues had been settled, the infuriated Vankar family and Dalit activists said it was not the case.

The Vijay Rupani government also agreed to appoint a special investigation team to look into the circumstances leading to Vankar's suicide.

The land case, for which Vankar died, will be resolved in three days and the Revenue Department will issue the necessary orders shortly, a government note to the family said.

The government also agreed to suspend police officials and employees concerned for negligence and dereliction of duty in preventing Vankar from immolating himself.

In a gesture of sympathy, it was agreed to transfer Vankar's son Bhargav Mevua and his wife, both government servants, to places of choice near their home.

The family's demand for a posthumous award for Bhanubhai Vankar will also be considered, the government undertaking assured.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)With an aim to see a 300 per cent jump in its sales, homegrown electronics brand Mivi on Monday said it will start manufacturing its products in the country in the next two-four years.

"By 2019, we aim to go offline and in the next 2-4 years, we plan to start manufacturing in India. Last year, we clocked more than 300 per cent revenue through the online model and now we are projecting a 300 per cent jump in sales for next year," Viswanadh Kandula, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Mivi, told IANS.

Hyderabad-based Mivi offers products like headphones, bluetooth earphones, power banks, cables, chargers, custom and designer cases and tempered glass, etc.

According to Kandula, Mivi did a business worth Rs 8 crore in 2017.

"Currently, we are at a revenue of Rs 2.5 to 3 crore per month and aiming to clock over Rs 30 crore by the end of the financial year 2018," he said.

Nearly 70 per cent of Mivi's sale comes through e-commerce platforms like Amazon, Flipkart and Paytm.

The company started the e-commerce business on its own website in August 2017 and it has been growing consistently month on month.

Established in 2015 by husband-wife duo, Viswanadh Kandula and Midhula Devabhaktuni, the company aimed to fulfil the need of high-quality electronic gadgets at affordable prices in the Indian market.

"After an eight-year stint in the US, we returned to India in 2015 to start our own venture, Seminole Tech, under the Mivi brand," Devabhaktuni, Mivi's Chief Marketing Officer and Co-Founder, told IANS.

She said that Mivi was created with a vision to redefine the electronics market and be the 'Go-to' brand for our consumers through quality and technology differentiation at a value-plus price.

"Last year, we rolled-out a range of products in the audio category like Mivi Saxo bluetooth headsets and Mivi Thunder Beats wireless Bluetooth earphones," she added.

Devabhaktuni said that Mivi's most popular product of 2017 was its "ThunderBeats Bluetooth Earphone" and this year, the company is planning to diversify the portfolio in the audio category, which will include bluetooth speakers, soundbars, DJ speakers and even foray into wearables in the next two years.

"By the end of 2018, 50 per cent of our portfolio will be an audio-based category. Presently, our entire business is online and e-commerce exclusive. We sell through our own site mivi.in as well as e-commerce sites like Amazon, Flipkart and PayTM," she added.

Asked about marketing plans and budget for each platform in 2018, the duo said that they are planning to assign 25 per cent of their revenue for online marketing and promotional spends, 40 per cent for premium ads promotion on third party e-commerce platforms and five per cent on offline marketing.

"Our digital marketing efforts will primarily focus on social media like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and will also be running several campaigns on Google Ads and YouTube," Kandula said.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The bilateral trade between Canada and India which is currently at 10 billion Canadian dollars (US $7.97 billion) is set to grow in the coming years as there is a "lot of potential" for it, a Canadian Minister said here on Monday.

According to Amarjeet Sohi, Canadian Minister of Infrastructure and Communities, the North American country offers opportunities to Indian companies to work with Canadian firms and invest in Canada.

"The bilateral trade has increased significantly... We see lot of potential to grow bilateral trade," said Sohi.

There are close to 1,000 Canadian companies doing business in India while more than 200 firms of Indian origin are doing business in Canada, he told reporters at an interactive session on India-Canada trade relations organised by the Indian Chamber of Commerce here.

"We will be investing close to 180 billion Canadian dollars over the next 10 years for creating new infrastructure in public transportation system, trade and transportation corridors, airports, ports, oil and gas, mining and natural resources and many others and this will provide a huge opportunity for Canadian and Indian companies. Canada is open to business," Sohi said.

Close to 10 billion Canadian dollars were invested by Canadian pension funds in the infrastructure sector in India, he said.

"We will make sure more Canadian companies are able to invest in India and Indian companies too can invest in Canada," Sohi said, adding that there is a huge potential for improving bilateral cooperation in the agriculture sector.

The number of Indian students in Canada has been increasing over the last two years and more than 150,000 students of Indian origin are currently studying in Canada, he said.

Sohi said India is the greatest source of immigrants for Canada and close to 1.5 million people of Indian origin have made Canada their home.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Indian and Indonesian armies on Monday began the sixth edition of their annual military exercises in the West Java province of the archipelago country.

The opening ceremony of the two-week Garuda Shakti military drill between the Special Forces of the Indian Army and the Indonesian Army was held at Bandung.

The exercises will include experience sharing in counter-terrorism operations, close quarter combat, and other areas of special operations, an official statement said.

"This joint exercise between Indian and Indonesian Special Forces highlights the increasing trust and cooperation between the two armies."

Indian Ambassador to Indonesia Pradeep Kumar Rawat attended the opening ceremony along with Indonesian military officers.

Indonesia Defence Minister General Ryamizard Ryacudu visited India last month for the Biennial Defence Ministers Dialogue in New Delhi.

The two sides renewed their commitment to deepen defence and security exchanges.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)India will host the World Day 2018, Union Minister Harsh Vardhan and United Nations Program chief Erik Solheim said on Monday.

The theme for the World Environment Day-2018, held every year on June 5, is "Beat Plastic Pollution". Canada hosted the event in 2017.

Calling the announcement the "beginning of the end of plastic", Harsh Vardhan said the ministry will take the lead in discouraging the use of plastic.

"For India, World Environment Day 2018 is not a symbolic celebration but a mission," the Minister said, adding that environmental issues are not merely technical but real moral issues.

Voicing concern over the oceans being polluted due to plastic, Erik Solheim said that plastic pollution is a huge environment and health issue.

"When big plastics degrade into small pieces, it gets into the ocean. Small plastic particles are eaten by fish. We eat fish and the plastic gets into our body. So plastic pollution is a huge environment and health issue," Erik Solheim said.

Meanwhile, Harsh Vardhan also launched the first electric charging facility at the Lodhi Road UN office -- the first ever in a UN office in India .

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Relatives of 66 people who were on board a plane that crashed in central Iran are desperately waiting for any news as rescue teams began a second day of search for the wreckage.

The Aseman Airlines passenger plane was travelling from Tehran to the southwestern city of Yasuj when it came down in the Zagros mountains on Sunday.

Rescue teams resumed their operations on Monday and continued the search for the ill-fated plane, Fars news agency said.

Emergency workers said dense fog, high winds and heavy snow hampered search and rescue operations. A relative improvement in weather conditions on Monday allowed helicopters to fly over the extremely mountainous area which features some 100 peaks, Press TV reported.

Twenty six teams of mountain climbers were scouring valleys, slopes and ridges in the hope of finding the debris.

The crashed plane was 25 years old, Iran's civil aviation organisation said.

Sixty passengers, two security guards, two flight attendants, the pilot and co-pilot were on board.

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani in a statement said the incident brought "great grief and sorrow".

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also expressed "deep sympathy" for the relatives of those on board, saying the accident "saddened the hearts".

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)An Iraqi court on Monday sentenced a Turkish woman to death and 10 other foreign women to life imprisonment for joining the Islamic State (IS) militant group.

"The Central Criminal Court issued a death penalty by hanging for a female Turkish citizen and issued 10 verdicts of life sentences for other females from different nationalities," a spokesman for Iraq's Supreme Judicial Council said.

All the sentences are preliminary and subject to review by the Court of Cassation, spokesman Abdul Sattar al-Biraqdar was quoted as saying by Xinhua news agency.

In January, the court sentenced a German woman to death for joining the extremist group and providing it logistical support that helped the group to commit their criminal acts.

She was also convicted of complicity in attacking the Iraqi security forces.

Thousands of IS fighters and supporters from various nationalities had joined the IS group when it took control of large swathes of land in Iraq and neighbouring Syria.

But after the Iraqi forces defeated the group in Iraq, hundreds of IS loyalists were killed or captured, while many others were still at large.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Israeli warplanes attacked an underground infrastructure in the Gaza Strip on Monday hours after a rocket was launched at Israel from Palestinian territory, the military said.

The fighting marked the third consecutive day of exchanges of fire, reports Efe news.

"A short while ago, in response to the rocket that was launched at Israel earlier today (Monday), IAF (Israeli Air Force) fighter jets targeted underground infrastructure in the southern Gaza Strip," the Israeli Defence Forces said in a statement.

The airstrikes were in response to a projectile that fell on the Israeli territory of Sha'ar HaNegev Regional Council without causing damage.

Although no one has yet claimed responsibility for the projectile's launch, the Israeli military blamed the Hamas.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Actress Jennifer Lawrence was branded "rude" after she appeared to make a jibe at Joanna Lumley, the host of the 71st British Academy Film Awards, organised by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA).

Lumley, who hosted the ceremony for the first time after Stephen Fry, introduced Lawrence as the "hottest Actress on the planet" to which Lawrence said "it's a bit too much", reports express.co.uk.

Starting the ceremony, the 71-year-old said: "Right let's start giving out some of those beautiful BAFTAs shall we?

"And we start with the award for Outstanding British Film and who better to kick the whole evening off than the hottest actress on the planet. Soon to be seen in 'Red Sparrow', it's the ravishing Jennifer Lawrence."

The "Silver Linings Playbook" actress then walked onto the stage in a floor-length black frock, which had sheer white sleeves.

Taking to the podium, the actress placed the award on the stand before turning to Lumley and laughing.

"Hi," she said to the audience, adding: "That was a bit much but thank you Joanna."

Lumley could be seen looking off to the side of the stage as Lawrence giggled and continued to present the gong.

Viewers were quick to pick up on the awkward exchange and rushed to Twitter to comment on the star's remark.

"Jennifer Lawrence that sounded rude and rather ungrateful," one viewer wrote.

Another added: "You don't tell Joanna Lumley what's atoo much' ...sweetie."

A third viewer posted: "Very ungracious reply Jennifer Lawrence just gave to Joanna Lumley, could have just said 'Thank you' and left it at that.."

The ceremony took place at the Royal Albert Hall.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The opposition in Jharkhand on Monday demanded that Chief Secretary Rajbala Verma, who is set to superannuate on February 28, should not be given the extension as she has been named in several graft cases.

There have been speculations that the Raghubar Das government is planning to extend the service of Chief Secretary for three months.

"The Chief Secretary is facing serious allegations. There are three such allegations against her. She should not be given extension under any circumstances," Pradeep Balmuchu, a Congress Rajya Sabha MP, told reporters here on Monday.

The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) has also demanded that the Chief Secretary should be removed from her post and appropriate action should be taken against her.

"The bank defaulters are escaping. The Chief Secretary of Jharkhand is facing serious charges in fodder scam... What kind of honesty is prevailing in the government -- both at Centre and state," said Supriyo Bhattacharya, JMM General Secretary.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), since 2003, had sent 17 reminders to Verma regarding her role as Deputy Commissioner (DC) of West Singhbhum in a fodder scam.

There are allegations that Rajabala Verma "did not act as a DC" as crores of rupees were fraudulently withdrawn from the treasury. She did not respond to the CBI notice.

When the issue was highlighted by the media in December 2017, the opposition parties demanded removal of Rajbala Verma from the post of Chief Secretary.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)With crimes against women a feature in the developed as well as developing world, there is a pressing need for more female presence in the bench and bar than just a token few faces to ensure proper consideration and justice to the victims, says a prominent British woman jurist.

"Courts hear matters of rape, domestic violence, harassment from (the perspective of) male experience... and the victims are shamed and blamed.

"There is a prevailing perception that these women are not good enough or have brought the trouble on themselves," says Baroness Helena Kennedy, a Queen's Counsel, and a human rights law, civil liberty and constitutional expert who has been involved in many high-profile criminal cases -- including those with a terror element -- for over three decades.

The eminent lawyer has written about this aspect in "Eve was Framed: Women and British Justice" (1993) which argues that women taking recourse to law face judges' prejudices, jurors' misconceptions, labyrinthine court procedures and media influence. She said this was due to the fact that women were not represented adequately in the institution.

"There is a lack of women.. it was only recently (in October 2017) that the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom got its second woman judge (Jill Black) while a woman was elected its President (Brenda Marjorie Hale).

"Women lawyers are also less. Most chambers don't even have a single woman member and after the law requiring that they must have one at least, they have complied with it -- to have just one," Baroness Kennedy, who was here for a literary festival, told IANS in an interview. She noted that the situation was similar in India.

She also stressed that just one or two appointments wouldn't make a difference for these women get isolated, and it is also seen that the women selected or promoted are those "whom men feel comfortable with, women who are not difficult".

"The system makes tweaks to help itself... the system is itself the problem, since its run mostly by men.

"We don't need just one or two women... a critical mass must be reached, a quantum leap is needed," said Kennedy, who has also written and broadcast on a wide range of issues, from medical negligence to terrorism to the rights of women and children.

She also contended that women also suffer in crimes against them with even police don't seeing them as "serious crimes" while a woman who walks out of an abusive or violent relationship is at the same or even more risk.

And domestic violence is not limited to tradition-bound societies in the developing world but also crops up in many parts of the developed world, including Britain.

Kennedy, who is also on the board of the prestigious Booker Prize, recalled that once they were holding an event in Spain where the topic of domestic violence came up.

While many Spanish women confessed to having faced it or knowing someone who had, they were surprised to know it was a problem in Britain too. "They didn't think it happened in England too," she said.

She also noted the Harvey Weinstein scandal in Hollywood and the Jimmy Savile scandal earlier in her own country, where the DJ, television and radio personality faced multitudes of complaints after his death in 2011, had also "opened up the problems of abuse at the workplace" and this was also due to the lack of women in top positions.

"These are more vile as women are more powerless, very vulnerable... There are only a few women in top positions, say Sheryl Sandberg of Facebook, but there is no women among the billionaires," she said.

But Kennedy said that she was hopeful that the future would be different.

"Women are increasingly going into higher education... they are not standing for lower status, they are more confident, more expressive. It is also needed that good men call out against it... there are already men who treat women as equals in workplaces.

"It won't happen overnight... but will, with cumulative effect, become a tsunami," she said.

(Vikas Datta can be contacted at vikas.d@ians.in)

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Karnataka's regional party lawmaker and popular farmer leader K.S. Puttannaiah has passed away. He was 69, an official said on Monday.

Puttannaiah died on Sunday night at Mandya, about 100km from here.

"Puttannaiah breathed his last at 10.55 p.m. on Sunday night in a state-run hospital at Mandya after a cardiac arrest," the district official told IANS.

Puttannaiah was a lawmaker of the Sarvodaya Karnataka Party (SKP) from the Melkote Assembly segment in the old Mysuru region since May 2013.

"Puttannaiah was rushed to the hospital last evening after he complained of chest pain while watching a kabaddi game at a stadium in the town," the official said.

The regional outfit (SKP), merged in March last year with Swaraj India, floated by former Aam Aadmi Party rebel leader Yogendra Yadav in New Delhi.

Puttannaiah's death came two days after the Supreme Court on Friday delivered the final verdict in favour of Karnataka in the inter-state Cauvery river water sharing dispute with neighbouring Tamil Nadu.

Puttannaiah was the sole farmers' leader in the state Assembly after getting elected for the first time from the Pandavapura segment in the same district in the 1994 election though he lost in the 1999, 2004 and 2008 elections.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and leaders of other political parties and farmers' associations mourned Puttanaiah's sudden demise.

"Puttannaiah's death had come as a shock. The state's farmers' movement has lost a prominent leader," said Siddaramaiah in a statement here, adding that he was saddened by the loss of his friend.

In a tweet, Congress state unit President G. Parameshwara said: "Puttannaiah was a proud farmer, activist and an outstanding leader. He contributed a lot to the state's agriculture growth. He was an affable person. Saddened by his sudden demise. Condolences to his family."

Saying Puttannaiah was a charismatic leader, Yogendra Yadav tweeted that "the farmers movements all over the country would miss this rare bridge between farmers' struggles of the previous and current generation".

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Karnataka Congress legislator N.A. Haris' son and expelled state Youth Congress leader Mohammed Nalapad surrendered a day after he was booked on Sunday in an assault case, police said on Monday.

"Nalapad surrendered to us at the Cubbon Park police station where a case was booked against him for allegedly assaulting and severely injuring a youth in a cab on Saturday night," police sub-inspector K. Suresh told IANS.

Nalapad, whose whereabouts were unknown for the last 36 hours, came to the police station in the city centre along with a lawyer to record his statement and seek bail when produced in a court later in the day.

"We have recorded his statement and took his biometrics for producing him in a court and seek his custody to investigate the case, as an attempt to murder charge has been added to the FIR (first information report) in view of the severe injuries and loss of blood the victim (Vidvat) suffered," said Suresh.

The ruling Congress on Sunday expelled Nalapad, 24, from the party's primary membership for 6 years. He was also sacked as the state Youth Congress general secretary after the assault complaint was filed.

Nalapad and his friends allegedly bashed up Vidvat, 24, at Fergy Cafe in the upscale UB City Mall following a verbal spat over a trivial issue.

"Vidvat was having dinner with his friend Praveen, when Nalapad objected to him placing his fractured leg on a chair. When Vidvat told Nalapad to mind his business, the latter, who was at the adjacent table, became angry and beat him up with his friends," Circe Inspector Vijaya Hadagalli told IANS.

City Police Commissioner T. Suneel Kumar suspended Hadagalli for not registering the case against Nalapad earlier and failing to trace or nab him.

Haris represents the Shantinagar assembly segment in city central.

There was high drama at the police station where about 500 activists of the opposition BJP and Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) assembled and clashed with Congress workers over the incident.

"We had to resort to caning them to disperse them as their demonstration was blocking the busy arterial road and causing a traffic snarl," added Suresh.

Earlier in the day, Haris told reporters at his residence that he had advised his son through his friends to surrender to avoid a non-bailable warrant being issued by a local court against him for evading arrest by the police.

"I did not know where my son was since Sunday, as he switched off his mobile after I scolded him for assaulting an innocent victim," asserted Haris.

Meanwhile, the ruling party's state president G. Parameshwara enquired about Vidvat's condition and assured him that the state government would bear his treatment expenses.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton on Monday defied the Times's Up protest at the 71st British Academy Film Awards, organised by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), by wearing a green dress, instead of black worn by the celebrities attending the ceremony.

Film stars and directors made the one-colour statement to show support for the fight against sexual harassment against women, however, only the ribbon around Middleton's Jenny Packham dress was black, reports dailymail.co.uk.

The dress code followed by BAFTA ceremony was to show solidarity with the American Golden Globes held last month.

Middleton wore an empire line dress in a deep shade of green, which was complemented by an emerald necklace and earrings.

Perhaps in a subtle nod to the movement, she accessorised her attire with a black bow above her bump, matching her shoes and clutch handbag.

Before the ceremony, it was not made clear whether Middleton would wear an all-black outfit, with experts pointing out that royals only wear black at funerals, so supporting the cause would be a breach of protocol.

Middleton and Prince William, who is the president of BAFTA, will meet with representatives including BAFTA Chief Executive Amanda Berry, and watch the star-studded ceremony from the front row, which takes place at the Royal Albert Hall.

William will also be presenting the Fellowship award -- the ceremony's highest accolade -- to director Ridley Scott.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Norway's Havard Lorentzen broke an Olympic record to take gold in the men's 500m speed skating at the PyeongChang Winter Games on Monday.

Lorentzen's time of 34.41 seconds beat the previous record, set by Casey Fitzrandolph in Salt Lake City in 2002, by just 0.01 seconds, reports Efe.

Local favourite Cha Min Kyu followed in second, just 0.01 seconds behind Lorentzen, while China's Gao Tingyu came in third place with a time of 34.65.

Having dominated most other speed skating events at these Games, the Netherlands' participants in the men's 500m will be disappointed by failing to book a place on the podium, with the highest-placed Dutch skater being Ronald Mulder in seventh.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Maharashtra government on Monday cleared the decks for India's first individual aircraft maker Captain Amol Yadav to set up an indigenous factory for manufacturing 20-seater aircraft in Palghar in a Rs 35,000 crore project, an official said.

Yadav created waves in February 2016, when he constructed a small airplane on his building terrace and displayed it at the 'Make In India' mega-event in Mumbai.

The Devendra Fadnavis government signed a MoU with Yadav's Thrust Aircraft Pvt Ltd, India, to set up the plant to build small aircraft and develop Palghar as a new aviation hub.

The government had already announced that the company of the 41-year-old Deputy Chief Pilot with Jet Airways, would be allotted around 155 acres of land in Palghar, around 100 km from Mumbai, to implement the project as part of the 'Make In India' initiative.

The ambitious Memorandum of Understanding agreement was inked in the presence of Chief Minister Fadnavis and Yadav's company during the ongoing 'Magnetic Maharashtra: Convergence 2018' global investors' conclave, which was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 18.

The milestone achievement for Yadav comes exactly 90 days after the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) registered his home-built small six-seater aircraft, which was painstakingly built over six years on the terrace of his building in Kandivali suburb, from 2011.

On November 20, 2017, Fadnavis met and formally handed over the DGCA certificate to Yadav, entitling him to undertake field and aerial tests on the rooftop built airplane.

At the 'Make In India' mega-event in Mumbai in 2016, Yadav had displayed the aircraft for the first time attracting admiration from the visitors and dignitaries alike, including Civil Aviation Minister P. Ashok Gajapathi Raju and Fadnavis.

Yadav explained that the terrace of his three-BHK apartment is spread around 1,600 sq.ft and served as the cradle for India's first individual effort at creating a full-fledged, airworthy aircraft from 2011.

He was inspired after witnessing aviation buffs in the US buying old airplanes and remodelling them into customised six or twelve-seaters.

Named as 'VT-NMD', for 'Narendra Modi Devendra', Yadav's six-seater aircraft can soar upto 13,000 feet, climbing at 1,500-feet per minute, achieve top speeds of 185 knots with a range of 2,000 km, or a flying distance of Mumbai-New Delhi.

On Friday, President Ram Nath Kovind had invited Yadav, his wife Yogita, brother and parents to Rashtrapati Bhavan for a courtesy meeting.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Maldives' parliamentary committee on national security passed a resolution on Monday to extend the ongoing state of Emergency by an additional 15 days.

The development came after President Abdulla Yameen earlier in the day requested the Parliament to extend the Emergency, which was first declared on February 5 for 15 days.

Parliament was convened for a special session to debate the resolution before the initial period of Emergency expires on Tuesday, en.mihaaru.com reported.

The National Security Committee reviewed the resolution behind closed doors. It was passed with six members of the ruling coalition -- Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) and Maldives Development Alliance (MDA) -- voting in favour, while two lawmakers of the main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) voted against it.

The resolution was forwarded to the committee for review with the votes of 38 lawmakers. Opposition lawmakers boycotted the "special" sitting.

The opposition lawmakers later stated that "to pass the state of Emergency declaration from the Parliament there should be 43 members participating in the vote as per Constitution. A vote taken without them would be invalid".

However, the members of the parliamentary committee after approving the resolution revealed that they had amended it to lift the suspension of constitutional articles that curtailed the powers of the Parliament and judiciary.

Yameen had declared the state of Emergency soon after the Supreme Court issued an order on February 1 to release nine high-profile political prisoners, including exiled leader Mohamed Nasheed and reinstate unseated legislators.

The ruling was, however, rescinded shortly after the announcement of Emergency.

In his letter to the Parliament, Yameen had stated that the Supreme Court had overreached its judicial mandate despite the separation of powers, which would compromise the independence and sovereignty of the nation.

The President said he believed that the top court's actions had shaken the constitutional framework of the Maldives.

While the committee has passed the 15-day extension to the state of Emergency, it can only be enforced after Parliament's approval.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Maldives President Abdulla Yameen on Monday requested Parliament to extend the state of emergency for a further 15 days amid the ongoing political crisis.

Parliament, which was convened for a special session, was now discussing the President's request and will soon take a vote among legislators, reports Xinhua news agency.

A decision will be announced soon.

Yameen had declared a 15-day state of emergency on February 5, after a surprise Supreme Court ruling ordering the release of nine opposition leaders including self-exiled former President Mohamed Nasheed.

The Supreme Court ruling was, however, rescinded shortly after the announcement of the state of emergency.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A court here on Monday sentenced a man to death for raping and murdering a six-year-old girl, and for also killing his own mother.

Special Judge P. Velumurgan of Mahila Court, Chengalpet, pronounced the death sentence and also awarded P. Daswant a jail term of 46 years on separate counts, ensuring he never walks out of prison alive.

"It is death by hanging," said the judge leading to cheers from people outside the court.

On February 16 last year, Daswant raped the minor at his flat in Mangadu near Porur on the outskirts of Chennai, and then suffocated her to death. He stuffed her body in a bag and and burnt it at a desolated place on a highway.

Though he was soon arrested in connection with the girl's murder, he obtained bail in September 2017 after police failed to file the chargesheet within the stipulated period of 90 days.

After coming out on bail in September last year, Daswant was living with his parents.

On December 2, the body of his mother S. Sarla was found in a pool of blood and Daswant was suspected of the crime. He was arrested from Mumbai, where he had fled, on December 6.

In less than three months, the fast-track court came out with the verdict against Daswant, who has accepted his crime.

Reacting to the verdict, the girl's father said he was satisfied. "I wanted nothing less than death for the monster," he told the media.

"When I started pursuing the case, I was advised against it as courts take a long time. But I am happy it got over," he said.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Noted Marathi actress Chinmayee Surve-Raghavan faced an obscene situation when a man came out of a car and masturbated in front of her on Monday and complained to police, who managed to trace and apprehend the perpetrator within a few hours.

According to the complaint filed by Chinmayee's husband and veteran actor Sumeet Raghavan with Vile Parle police and the Mumbai Traffic Police, she was walking in Vile Parle when the incident took place.

Raghavan also tweeted about the incident and sought help to trace the culprit who was in a white BMW, whose last four registration digits were 1985.

"The driver wearing a grey safari who had parked near the Parle Tilak Vidyalaya School in Vile Parle east got off his car and started masturbating in front of my wife. Before she could slap him, he escaped. She could note down just the last four digits," he posted on Facebook and Twitter.

Raghavan added that the person needed to be found as there are schoolgirls in that area and he must have done this to them as well.

After scanning the footage from CCTV in the locality and based on the number of the vehicle, police moved swiftly to trace the culprit within hours.

"Yes, we have detained the 42-year old driver of the vehicle, identified as Jivan Choudhary and further investigations are underway," Vile Parle police chief, Senior Police Inspector Laxman Chawan told IANS.

Raghavan is an actor since the past 35 years with several teleserials and Marathi and Hindi films to his credit, while Chinmayee is also an acclaimed Marathi stage, teleserial and film actress.

Shortly after the incident was highlighted, social media came out in support of the popular actor-couple, while police plan to charge Choudhury under the Indian Penal Code.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Congress-led Meghalaya government on Monday came in for criticism from leaders of various political parties, including Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, over the killing of NCP leader Jonathone N. Sangma and others.

Rajnath Singh, who is also a senior BJP leader, said the incident indicated "utter chaos and lawlessness" in the northeastern state while Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Vijaj Raj said it was a "political murder".

On Sunday night, the NCP candidate along with two supporters -- former Garo National Liberation Army rebel leader Nikam Ch Momin and Cribinath D.Shira -- and bodyguard Shamin Hassan were killed in an improvised explosive device blast in the East Garo Hills district.

"The fatal attack on the NCP candidate is a testimony that the Mukul Sangma government has failed to provide security to Meghalaya residents," the Union Minister said while canvassing for support for BJP candidates Thomas Sangma, Ricky Marak and Santosh R. Marak.

In Shillong, several political leaders expressed shock over the killing and flayed the Congress government for its "failure" to ensure security to all candidates.

The NCP and the United Democratic Party (UDP) demanded a probe by a national agency into the killing.

"The state's Congress government has failed miserably to protect the life of Marak. The government is not taking the security of candidates seriously. We condemn the killing. The National Investigation Agency should probe the killing of the NCP candidate," UDP chief Donkupar Roy told journalists here.

The Hill State People's Democratic Party supremo Ardent Miller Basaiawmoit demanded a thorough investigation and said the killing had created a "fear psychosis" among the the state's people in general and those in Williamnagar in particular.

"The BJP is extremely concerned over violence, specially in the Garo Hills. This is unacceptable. It is an indication of total collapse of law and order under the Congress government," BJP leader Nalin Kohli told journalists.

Condemning the incident, the Congress state unit said violence can never be an answer to any problem.

The ruling party appealed to the Meghalaya people to remain alert and not allow 'divisive forces' to take advantage of the situation and foment trouble and violence in the name of caste, creed, religion and language.

National People's Party chief Conrad K. Sangma said: "The attack is an assault on democracy and freedom of Meghalaya's people. We will not be cowed down by fear and intimidation. We resolve to continue our fight against violence in all forms and work for peace and development to lift our state from fear and oppression."

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Under new scheme "Mission Buniyaad", mentors will be appointed to check the learning outcomes of schools run by the Delhi government and the municipal corporations of Delhi (MCDs), Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said on Monday.

One mentor will take care of five schools and will train their teachers on enhancing readability of children of classes 3 to 5 in MCD schools and in classes 6 to 8 in Delhi government schools, he said.

Sisodia, who also holds the portfolio in the Arvind Kejriwal government, said that "Mission Buniyaad", designed on the lines of Delhi government's "Chunauti" scheme, was launched after two rounds of meetings with MCDs, the Delhi Cantonment Board and the New Delhi Municipal Council.

The National Achievement Survey (NAS) has shown that the entire country, including Delhi, has a "crisis of learning" in schools, he noted, adding that almost half of the students in Delhi, among other states, were below the "age appropriate level" in reading and in basic mathematics and "this big gap has to be bridged with a collective approach".

"In the secondary schools run by the Delhi government, various programmes we initiated have improved reading ability by about 20 per cent.

"However, children in primary schools that are under the MCDs are not able to read and thereafter when they study in secondary schools they find it difficult to cope up with the advanced levels," he added.

"What is the benefit of teaching when they can't even read their books," he asked.

MCDs that run primary schools in will raise a cadre of teachers who will drive the programme, in a manner similar to the Mentor Teacher Program run in Delhi government schools.

Sisodia said that under the new scheme, teaching coordinators or learning outcomes coordinators would be trained by the state government.

All officials of the Education Department will run the campaign in mission mode for three months from April to June.

"In the days to come, children will undergo a reading level assessment based on which they will be enrolled in specialised Mission Buniyaad classes in their schools," Sisodia said, underlining that the government would need the parents' support in making the scheme successful.

"I appeal to them to keep an eye on the performance of their kids.

"For children who are not able to read, I request all parents to cancel their vacation plans during summer holidays and send their children to school for remedial classes.

"I appeal to parents of children to support the Delhi government and MCDs in this campaign in the interest of their children's future," he added.

--IANS

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(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Pakistan's Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif will leave for a four-day official visit to Russia on Monday.

He is visiting the country at the invitation of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, the Foreign Office said.

During the visit, Asif will hold bilateral negotiations with his Russian counterpart.

The two dignitaries will exchange views on important issues facing the region and the world, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, who is being treated at Mumbai's Lilavati Hospital for a pancreas-related ailment, can be shifted to the US for further treatment, "if need be", Deputy Speaker and BJP MLA Michael Lobo said on Monday.

"We want him. We will do everything we can. He could be taken to the US if need be," Lobo told reporters at the state assembly complex on Monday.

Parrikar was rushed to Lilavati Hospital on February 15 for treatment of "mild pancreatitis". On Saturday, the CMO denied reports that Parrikar underwent a surgery, claiming that his health was improving.

A statement issued by the hospital on Sunday said that Parrikar was responding well to treatment and dismissed rumours of all adverse health reports.

BJP worker Sunil Desai has filed a complaint at the Ponda police station against unknown persons for circulating "false news" on two occasions on February 17 and 19.

"This is to bring to your kind notice, that some people are circulating false news about our Chief Minister's health and misguiding the people in my name," Desai said.

Messages circulating on social on the above mentioned two dates, expressed fears about the worst for the Chief Minister's health. But the reports were promptly denied by both BJP leaders and the Chief Minister's Office.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The $1.8 billion fraud-hit Punjab National Bank (PNB) on Monday said it would honour all "bonafide commitments" under Letter of Undertakings (LoU) and Foreign Letters of Credit (FLC) as per the law.

"PNB clarifies that we will honour all our bonafide commitments under LoUs and FLCs as per law of the land and as per specific existing guidelines of regulator i.e. RBI on LOUs and FLCs," the company said on its website.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday denied having sent any instruction to Punjab National Bank (PNB), which detected a $1.8 billion fraud, to meet its commitments under the Letter of Undertaking (LOU) to other banks.

"There have been reports in the media that in the wake of fraud involving a sum of $1.77 billion that has surfaced in PNB, the RBI has directed PNB to meet its commitments under the LOU to other banks. RBI denies having given any such instructions," the RBI said in a statement.

"The fraud in PNB is a case of operational risk arising on account of delinquent behaviour by one or more employees of the bank and failure of internal contr"ls," the apex bank had said.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Poland's Foreign Minister on Monday demanded an explanation from Israeli authorities on how someone was able to deface the gates outside the Polish consulate in Tel Aviv with crudely-drawn swastikas and slurs.

"The Israeli government is responsible for the security of our institutions in that country," said Jacek Czaputowicz, Poland's top diplomat and member of the right-wing populist Law and Justice Party (PiS).

The graffiti daubed on the exterior parameter of the consulate appeared amid high tension between the two nations following Warsaw's recent decision to pass a legislation making it illegal to implicate Poland in the events of the Holocaust, Efe news reported.

At least 6 million people, mainly Jews, were killed in the genocide by the Nazis during World War II.

Along with the swastikas, the graffiti equated Poland to "murderers" and dubbed the consulate building "Polish s**t".

Israeli police said they had opened an investigation into the incident.

Critics of the so-called Holocaust bill, which also outlaws the term "Polish death camps" in reference to the notorious extermination camps like Auschwitz-Birkenau, operated by the Nazis during their occupation of Poland, have denounced it as a bid to whitewash history.

Both Israel and the US have urged Warsaw to reconsider the legislation.

However, tensions were further escalated on Saturday when, speaking at the Munich Security Conference, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki suggested there were also Jewish perpetrators in the Holocaust, prompting immediate outrage from his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Polish government hastened to put together an explanatory statement in a bid to allay fears that its leader was in any way denying the Holocaust.

It is estimated that as many as 3 million Polish Jews were murdered during the Nazi German occupation of the country, while some 2 million non-Jewish Poles were also killed.

Several historians, however, documented several instances of Polish collaboration with the Nazi occupiers during the war.

These range from accounts of individuals revealing the location of Jewish hideouts to the Nazis to murder and direct involvement in the genocide of the country's Jewish population.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Taking cognizance of social media reports that Dalit students of a government school in Kullu district were segregated at a live telecast of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's programme last week, the Himachal Pradesh government on Monday ordered an inquiry into an incident

The 'Pariksha Par Charcha' event, which was held in New Delhi on Friday, was telecast across the country.

"I have taken cognizance of reports on the social media and ordered a magisterial inquiry. This morning a team comprising officials of police, and Social Welfare Departments was set up and asked to visit the school," Kullu Deputy Commissioner Yunus Khan told IANS over phone.

He said since the school is located in the interiors of the district, the team was likely to return to district headquarters Kullu on Tuesday and would summit the report.

Khan also said school headmaster Rajan Bhardwaj has been relieved from duty.

"Disciplinary action has already been initiated against the headmaster and if required, criminal liability will be fixed against him," he added.

A handwritten anonymous complaint purportedly written by students is in circulation on social media which says the gram panchayat of Chestha made arrangements for students to watch Modi's programme at the school management committee president's house.

The students said a teacher forced them to sit at a place outside the room used for keeping horses. A television was placed there.

In their complaint, they also alleged that they faced "caste discrimination" during midday meals in the school.

The Deputy Commissioner said he has not received any complaint either from a student or a parent.

To students from across the country, Modi turned teacher on February 16, giving them lessons on how to tackle exams and on how to succeed.

He addressed the students in person and also about "10 crore students and teachers and parents" nationally through various media.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje on Monday told the assembly that the government was not proceeding with much-criticised "Criminal Laws (Rajasthan Amendment) Bill, 2017" which was termed a "black law" and a "gag" order.

The bill was tabled in last Assembly session in October to replace an ordinance promulgated on September 7. Under it, a prior sanction from an authority was required before making an investigation into an offence committed by a public officia. As the government faced widespread criticism, the bill was referred to a select committee of the house.

"We have allowed the ordinance to lapse. As the act didn't come into force, therefore any talk of a 'black law' is misplaced," he said, adding that the government is withdrawing it.

The decision has been welcomed by all sectors of the society. Congress' state unit President Sachin Pilot, who had challenged the measure in the high court, welcomed the announcement.

Akhil Rajasthan Rajya Karamachari Sanyukt Sangharsh Samiti co-convener Gajendra Singh Rathore also welcomed the development, terming it a victory of people, democracy and media.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Contrary to Goa Assembly Deputy Speaker Michael Lobo's statement that ailing Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar could be shifted to the US for treatment if required, South Goa MP Narendra Savoikar said on Monday that news on his treatment abroad were "false and baseless".

"Parrikar is admitted at the Lilavati Hospital in Mumbai and is responding to treatment. He is being treated by the best of medical experts and as per the information his condition is stable. Further, news that he is being flown to the US for further treatment is totally false and baseless," the MP said.

Earlier in the day, Lobo -- a BJP MLA -- had said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had authorised for shifting of Parrikar to the US for further treatment, if needed.

Parrikar was rushed to the Mumbai hospital on February 15 following stomach pain and was, according to the Chief Minister's Office, diagnosed for inflamed pancreas.

"Everything is finally in God's hands. But the PM said that whatever needs to be done, if he needs to be taken out of India to the US, should be done," Lobo told reporters at the Assembly complex.

Modi, during a daylong official visit to Mumbai on Sunday, visited the Mumbai hospital to meet his former Cabinet colleague and enquired about his health.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Robbers decamped with cash and jewelry worth crores of rupees after breaking into locker in a bank here early of Monday, police said.

The robbers broke 32 lockers in the strong room of the Union Bank branch in Pashupati Nagar of Naubasta, said a police official, adding police was on lookout for the criminals who were still at large.

Account holders Umakant and transporter Ashutosh Gupta told police that they had some cash and jewellery worth Rs one crore in their lockers. Many other bank customers have also lodged similar complaints. The UP Police's Special Task Force (STF) has been assigned the case and a team has begun probe into the crime.

A forensic team has taken finger prints and other evidence from the bank. Police officials privy to the probe informed that the robbers broke into the bank from the wall in an adjacent vacant plot.

Bank manager Pranav Srivastava told police that the CCTVs and the DVR have been damaged and that the lockers were broken with the help of a gas cutter.

Bank customers staged a demonstration outside the bank and demanded that their money and jewellery be recovered at the earliest. The Kanpur SSP has suspended Naubasta SHO Akhilesh Jaiswal.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Thieves took away jewellery and valuables worth nearly Rs 1 crore from a historic Shiva Temple in Haryana's Panchkula district, police said on Monday.

The theft took place in Saketri on the intervening night of February 18-19. The entire theft was caught on CCTV.

"The thieves broke open locks of the temple and took away gold and silver jewellery and valuables," a priest at the temple said.

The Haryana Police is investigating the matter.

The temple, located around 10 km from here, attracts hundreds of devotees daily. Thousands of people offered prayers at the temple on the occasion of Mahashivratri on February 13-14.

The temple had received lakhs of rupees in cash as offering which had been deposited in the bank only two days back, the priests told the police.

However, the valuables of the temple and offerings made after had remained in the temple complex.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)In a breakthrough, scientists from the US and Japan have transferred human stem cells into sheep embryos, an advance that may pave the way for growing transplant organs inside animals.

The hybrid embryos containing both human and sheep cells were created in an early step toward growing human organs in farm animals before transplanting them into patients, The Financial Times reported.

The new finding paves way for genetically tailoring the organs to be compatible with the immune system of the patient receiving them, thus removing the possibility of rejection, the report said.

Using stem cell and genomic editing technologies, human stem cells were successfully transferred into early sheep embryos, producing embryos for which about one in every 100,000 cells were human.

These chimeras -- a term adopted from Greek mythology -- were only allowed to develop for 28 days, the researchers said while presenting the results at the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Texas.

The experiment began with Hiro Nakauchi, from the University of Tokyo, who grew a mouse with a rat pancreas and a rat with a mouse pancreas.

When cells from the rat-grown mouse pancreas were transplanted into a diabetic mouse, they made enough insulin to cure the condition without being rejected.

Mice and rats are different types of rodents with the former having thin slightly hairy tails, while rats have thicker hairless scaly tails.

"The next step was to move into large animals," Nakauchi said. Since this was prohibited in Japan, he moved to the Stanford University in the US.

Nakauchi's rodent work has demonstrated that you can "grow organs in a different species and cure a disease without [suppressing the immune system]," added co-researcher Pablo Ross, Professor at from the University of California, Davis.

"We are working together to translate the technology into humans, to solve the terrible shortage of organs for transplantation. In the US, 20 people die every day because they cannot get the organs they need," Ross explained.

The novel approach helps to produce animal embryos that are genetically incapable of growing a particular organ.

Then the embryos are injected with human stem cells. The overall proportion of human cells in the chimeric embryo may be small but, as it develops in the womb, the human cells fill the gap and produce the missing organ that the animal's own genes cannot create, the report said.

If the technology is able to grow human organs inside other species, organ transplants can become a possibility beyond critical conditions.

While it may take many years to develop chimeric transplant technology to the stage where it could be used safely on patient, "things are moving fast," Ross said.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Shares of Gitanjali Gems extended losses for the fourth consecutive session on Monday -- plunging almost 10 per cent to its lower circuit level at Rs 33.80 per scrip -- while those of Punjab National Bank (PNB) slipped over 7 per cent.

On a closing basis, PNB's scrips fell by Rs 9.25 per share, or 7.36 per cent, to Rs 116.40 on the BSE.

The stocks of jewellery company Geetanjali Gems continued the plunge a day after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted search operations in six franchise-based outlets located in four malls in Kolkata in connection with $1.8 billion banking fraud case.

Following the unravelling of the multi-crore PNB fraud, two senior officials of Gitanjali Gems -- Chandrakant Karkare and Pankhuri Warange -- resigned from the company, according to a regulatory filing with the stock exchanges on Monday.

Shares of PNB, too, declined after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday sealed the Brady House Branch of the bank as multiple probe agencies continued with their probe into the multi-crore fraud.

The shares of the two companies started to decline following the country's second largest state-run bank PNB's declaration of unearthing a fraud of Rs 11,300 crore involving diamantaire Nirav Modi.

The fraud, which included money-laundering among others, concerned the Firestar Diamonds group in which the CBI booked Modi, his wife Ami, brother Nishal Modi and uncle and business partner Mehul Choksi -- who promotes the luxury jewellery brand Gitanjali Gems.

Last week, the ED launched a nationwide raid on the offices, showrooms and workshops of Nirav Modi. The CBI registered an FIR against the Gitanjali Group of companies based on a complaint registered by the PNB.

On Sunday, the ED conducted searches at over 45 more locations in 15 cities across India in connection with the scam.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) leader and Goa PWD Minister Sudin Dhavalikar, member of the ruling coalition, has been chosen the leader of the House in the absence of Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar.

Parrikar is currently being treated in a Mumbai hospital for a pancreas-related ailment.

In view of the medical condition of the Chief Minister, the 33-day budget session of the Goa legislative assembly has been curtailed to four days, even as the Congress has protested against the shortening of the session.

"Dhavalikar has been chosen as the leader of the House in absence of Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar. BJP MLA Francis D'Souza has been chosen the leader of the BJP MLAs in the assembly," state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Vinay Tendulkar told reporters in Panaji.

The decision to curtail the duration of the budget session, was taken at a business advisory committee meeting on Monday.

"The decision to curtail the session was taken by the business advisory committee of the House in view of the health of the Chief Minister," Deputy Speaker Michael Lobo told reporters.

The Congress, however, said this amounts to derailment of public interest.

"It is incorrect to curtail the session. It is not the first time such a situation has arisen. Governments always run on alternative options," Congress spokesperson Girish Chodankar said.

"We have full sympathies and concern for health of Manohar Parrikar and sending good, healthy vibes for a speedy recovery," he added.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A transgender student of Panjab University (PU), Dhananjay Chauhan, has been invited by the Canadian authorities to have dinner with the visiting Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in New Delhi, a University official said here.

Dhananjay is the first transgender student of the Department of Human Rights and Duties at Panjab University, Chandigarh.

The invitation had been extended by Nadir Patel, High Commissioner for Canada to India. The dinner will be held in Delhi on February 22.

"Dhananjay has been working hard to alleviate the plight of transgenders and is also a founder of NGO, Saksham Trust," Swarnjit Kaur, Coordinator, Centre for Human Rights and Duties (U.I.E.A.S.S), PU said here on Monday.

"This is not Dhananjay's singular achievement. Dhananjay's association with the Centre dates back to approximately two years prior to her admission to the Masters programme in 2016," Kaur said.

"At that time, the students interacted with her as a President of Saksham Trust involved in rights of transgender community. After being on the rolls of the Centre, Dhananjay was invited to Netherlands in 2016 in the month of August to participate in an international meet on rights of transgender people," Kaur said.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Over 92 per cent of Tripura's 2,536,589 voters cast their votes in Sunday's peaceful elections in 59 of the 60 Assembly seats, setting a new record in the electoral history of India, an official said here on Monday.

In the 2013 and 2008 Assembly polls, Tripura registered 92 per cent and 91 per cent voting respectively.

"The final vote tally is around 90 per cent (89.8) but taking into account the postal ballots, the total percentage is a little over 92 per cent," an Election Department official said.

He said around 50,000 polling and security personnel on election duty cast their votes through postal ballot.

The official said a huge number of voters were still queued up at 10 p.m. on Sunday at around 100 of the 3,174 polling stations set up across the state.

"At the Malay Sardar Para polling station in Kalyanpur constituency in western Tripura's Khowai district, people cast their ballots till 12.45 a.m.," the official added.

He said had scores of VVPATs (Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trails) and EVMs (Electronic Voting Machines) not faced technical hitches, the polling percentage would have been more.

Chief Electoral Officer Sriram Taranikanti late Sunday night said that 191 (6 per cent) VVPATs and 89 (5 per cent) EVMs malfunctioned across the state.

Ruling Left Front convenor Bijan Dhar said EVMs faced technical glitches in around 520 polling stations and demanded a probe.

"The Election Commission put up specially modified EVMs attached with VVPATs at all 3,174 polling stations. We replaced or rectified faulty EVMs-VVPATs and voting resumed in those polling stations afterwards," the Election Department official added.

A total of 292 candidates, including 23 women and many independents, are in the fray. Counting of votes will take place on March 3.

Balloting was held in 59 of the 60 Assembly constituencies. Polling was deferred to March 12 in Charilam (Reserved-Tribal) seat due to the death of sitting MLA and Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) candidate Ramendra Narayan Debbarma.Punjab National Bank in an FIR filed with the Central Bureau of Investigation submitted that its in-house investigation had not found any role of chartered accountants, the statutory auditors and empanelled valuers in the alleged scam. That would be music to the ears of the five statutory auditors of the New Delhi-headquartered bank. However, it remains unanswered as to why multiple levels of audit failed to raise an alarm in the system.

Liability for the fraud



On the question of liability, legal experts are unanimous that the issue is loaded against Punjab National Bank. Lawyers say the general principle is that a banker is bound to honour a Letter of Credit, standby letters of credit performance, bond and bank guarantees on face value. The exceptions to this norm arise only when there is a fraud. However, a fraud by the bank or an employee of the bank is not an exception and cannot be a reason for disputing its liability, says Sawant Singh, partner, Phoenix Legal. Jayesh H, senior partner and Saurabh Sharma, senior associate, Juris Corp, point out that if it is established that banks officials were involved in this fraud, then Punjab National Bank may be held liable, applying principle of vicarious liability.

This principle has been upheld in multiple judgments of the Supreme Court and various high courts in the country, says Kannan Rahul, partner, Trilegal. Legal experts say the bank could attempt to dispute its liability by claiming that the beneficiary was hand-in-glove with the delinquent employees. There is also a question of other banks not doing due-diligence on meeting statutory RBI guidelines while issuing Letter of Credit to the beneficiary against Letter of Understanding.

Accoriding to Ramesh K Vaidyanathan, managing partner, Advaya Legal, the other banks were entitled to rely on the Letter of Understanding issued by Punjab National Bank.

They may invite action from the RBI under the central banks supervisory capacity over the banks for failure to follow norms. However, this does not disentitle them from being paid by Punjab National Bank, he says.

Role of auditors



Auditors say it is difficult to capture such fraudulent transactions in the statutory audit process.

Yes, there were clear gaps in the entire internal controls, which include audit processes, says Rakesh Nangia, managing partner, Nangia & Co. What makes the task more difficult for the auditors is that the scam was conducted in collusion with several employees. There is a failure in the complete chain of responsibility matrix and could not have continued without collusion, he says.

According to Reshmi Khurana, managing director, Kroll India, the scam relates to fraudulent transactions in relation to one client. Such frauds can only be captured if auditors, whether internal or statutory auditors, monitor high-value or unusual transactions on a routine basis, she says.

Amarjit Chopra, former president of Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, points out that it is difficult for auditors to identify such fraudulent transactions largely because they were carried out bypassing the core banking system. The technology auditors of the bank need to be asked how come two technical systems, SWIFT and the core banking system, do not talk to each other. It is a case of system failure, he concedes.

For Vishesh C Chandiok, CEO, Grant Thornton India, the biggest take away from the scam is the need to take a step back and think how the pillars of oversight  board, internal audit, audit, regulatory  can be collectively strengthened.

One has to fight the urge to blame someone or respond with additional regulations, he says.YSR Congress President Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy last Monday had a meeting with party leaders, including MPs, at the end of the 85th day of his Pad Yatra, to decide the course of action in their fight against the injustice allegedly meted out to Andhra Pradesh by the Centre.

The Centre, they say, has not kept promises made to the state at the time of its bifurcation in 2014. A standard narrative used by the states only opposition party that representation in the assembly and Parliament is that Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has failed to get the Centre to honour its ...78.56 per cent of over 25,73,000 lakh voters exercised their franchise for the Assembly polls on Sundayin Tripura, where the BJP is trying to dislodge the Left Front after an unbroken 25-year stint in power, officials said.

The polling for 59 seats of the 60-member Assembly was peaceful with thousands of central paramilitary forces fanning across the northeastern state.

There were reports of malfunctioning of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) at some polling stations which were rectified.

Polling could not be held in the Charilam constituency due to the death of CPI(M) candidate Ramendra Narayan Deb Barma last week. The constituency will go to polls on March 12.

The Election Commission said in New Delhi the updated polling percentage was complied from 41 of the 59 constituencies.

In the last Assembly elections, the voter turnout was recorded at 91.82 per cent, while in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, it was 84.32 per cent, Deputy Election Commissioner Sudip Jain told reporters in the capital.

He said two crude bombs were detected and disposed of by security personnel.

The voter turnout is likely to rise as queues were seen at polling stations even at 9 pm. The voting was to conclude at 4 pm.

Under the electoral laws, voters standing in queue at the scheduled time for voting to conclude are allowed to exercise their franchise.

Additional CEO Tapas Roy said in Agartala initially there were problems with several EVM machines which were fixed.

Earlier in the day, Chief Electoral Officer Sriram Taranikanti had said voting was delayed in some polling booths of West Tripura, Khowai and Unakoti districts as officials could not properly connect the EVMs. Technicians were rushed in to these placed and EVMs set right.

The BJP, hitherto an "also ran" in the border state, has emerged as the key challenger to the CPI(M)-led Left Front, which has remained unvanquished in the last five Assembly elections.

Manik Sarkar, one of the most enduring icons of the CPI(M), has helmed the state for the last four terms.

The Congress, which has been marginalised in Tripura, was last in power between February 1988 and March 1993. It is contesting 59 seats and had not fielded candidate for Kakrabon constituency.

The BJP, which has been rapidly expanding its footprint in the northeast, with the party already in power in Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh, has forged an alliance with Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT), an anti-Left party.

The BJP has fielded candidates in 51 places, while its ally is contesting the remaining nine seats.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah spearheaded the BJP-IPFT challenge in one of the last bastions of the Left.

Sarkar, known for leading a frugal life and the considered the "poorest" of chief ministers in the country, almost single-handedly tried to defend his 'Red fort' against the saffron challenge.

Inspector General of Police (Law and Order) K V Srijesh said the voting was "incident free" and no violence was reported from anywhere.

While 300 companies of central armed forces were deployed, besides the state police, the BSF kept heightened vigil along the 856-km-long India-Bangladesh border in Tripura.

Director General of Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) R K Pachnanda was appointed special observer to coordinate with all security forces deployed for the election.

Manik Sarkar cast his vote in Ramnagar constituency here, while Biplab Deb, the state BJP chief, pressed the EVM button in R K Pur seat in Gomati district.

Tripura Congress president Birajit Sinha cast his vote at Kailashahar in Unakoti district.A 14-year-old Dalit girl was allegedly abducted and gangraped in a village under Atarra police station area here, the police said today. The girl had gone out on Saturday night to attend nature's call when two youth allegedly abducted and raped her in an animal shed in the village, SHO Durgvijay Singh said. According to a complaint lodged by the victim's mother, the girl was found in an unconscious state the next morning, the police official said. On the basis of the complaint, one of the accused has been taken into police custody and was being questioned, the SHO said, adding the girl has been sent for medical examination.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Eight foreign citizens, including two Americans and two Ukrainians, have been arrested in Serbia on suspicion that they tried to photograph and enter military facilities without authorization, officials said today.

State TV said the US and Ukrainian citizens allegedly tried to take shots of the military security headquarters in downtown Belgrade with a drone. The report did not identify them or give details, saying only that the Ukrainians are women and that they are all in police custody.

Announcing the arrest of eight foreigners, Serbian Defense Minister Aleksandar Vulin said he does not want to prejudge the case that is under investigation, but added: "It is not a coincidence that such a large number of foreign citizens tried to bust into premises controlled by the Army of Serbia."



Another American was arrested in Serbia earlier this month for possession of an unmarked gun. Pro-government media alleged that he was a former Navy SEAL and had planned the assassination of unidentified Serbian officials.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic on Sunday mentioned the arrest of a "group" of foreigners, but added that their case is "nothing especially serious."



There is a mounting anti-Western media campaign in Serbia, which formally wants to join the European Union but is experiencing increasing pro-Russian propaganda.

Meanwhile, Serbian authorities have threatened Philippe Bertinchamps, a Belgrade-based Belgian freelance reporter, with expulsion for an alleged breach of "public order and national security.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

A five-day ceasework by lawyers of the Calcutta High Court began today to press for appointment to vacant posts of judges in the court where the working strength has dwindled to 30 against a sanctioned strength of 72.

The corridors of the sprawling high court building bore a deserted look as the lawyers stayed away even as the judges sat in the court in the morning.

Petitions were called for hearing in the almost vacant court rooms, but with no lawyer appearing for any of the parties the judges later rose to go to their chambers.

Some litigants, who had not got information regarding the strike, came to the court in the morning as their petitions were scheduled for hearing today.

Finding that the lawyers were not attending court, the litigants, many of whom had come from distant districts, went back.

Out of the present strength of 30 sitting judges, two judges on rotation are permanently at the Andaman and Nicobar Circuit Bench of the high court.

"The High Court Bar Association has taken a resolution to go for the five-day strike from February 19 to 23 as several communications to the Centre and other forms of agitation like sit-in demonstration and rallies could not secure appointment of judges to the high court," association president Uttam Majumdar said.

"We have faxed copies of the resolution for the five-day strike demanding immediate filling up of vacant posts of judges to the President, Prime Minister, Chief Justice of India and the Union Law Minister," Majumdar said.

The bar association has also demanded immediate appointment of a permanent chief justice to the high court, which has been functioning with acting chief justices for a long time.

He claimed that the cease work was totally successful owing to the empathy of both the lawyers and litigants for the cause and that attempts from some quarters to sabotage the agitation have failed miserably.

The Trinamool Congress Legal Cell had earlier said that it was opposed to any strike as it would lead to more delay for the litigants and also affect lawyers as well as the judiciary.

There were 2,22,648 cases pending before the Calcutta High Court as on December 31, 2017, according to the available official data.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.): The five men found dead in an irrigation tank in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh hail from Salem district in Tamil Nadu and police have been directed to probe the incident, Chief Minister K Palaniswami said today.

In an official release in Chennai, he said he was aggrieved to hear of the death of five persons, hailing from Adhiyanoor village in Salem district.

The deceased were identified were Karuppannan, Jayaraj, Chinna Paiyan, C Murugesan and A Murugesan, the release said.

Extending condolences to the bereaved family members, Palaniswami said suitable arrangements would be made to transport the bodies to their home towns.

The Chief Minister said he had issued orders to probe the incident and added that a special team,headed by an Inspector, would be sent to RIMS hospital Cuddappah, were the bodies have been kept for the autopsy.

Palaniswami also announced that Rs three lakh would be given to each of the families of the deceased as 'special relief' from the Chief Minister's Relief Fund, considering their weak economic background.

Police in Coimbatore said the five were part of 170 people who were taken by some agents for casual work in Karnataka but landed in Andhra Pradesh.

The bodies of the five persons in a decomposed state were found floating in the tank at Vontimitta village, about 120 km from Tirupati, indicating they might have died at least a couple days ago, they said.

A pall of gloom hung over the village after about the death of the five persons.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)People in China ate rice as far back as 7,400 years ago, researchers said, citing new archaeological discoveries. Three carbonised rice grains have been identified at the Gaomiao relics site in a village near Hongjiang in the country's central Hunan province. The grains were discovered in a stratum that dates back as early as 7,400 years ago, and a starch granule were also found on the millstone from the same time, said He Gang, a researcher with the Hunan Institute of Archaeology. "Rice had become a major food source for local residents. We believe it is the earliest rice cultural remains known in western Hunan," he told the state-run Xinhua agency. The Gaomiao relics site was found in 1986. Three archaeological excavations were carried out in 1991, 2004 and 2005. A large amount of freshwater snails, shells, bones of dozens of animals including deer, pigs, cattle, bears, elephants and rhinoceros were excavated along with China's oldest white pottery, decorated with the patterns of phoenix and eight-pointed stars, the report added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Heavy Syrian bombardment killed at least 77 civilians in rebel-held Eastern Ghouta, a war monitor said, as regime forces appeared to prepare for an imminent ground assault.

Yesterday's escalation came as pro-government forces were also expected to enter the northern Kurdish-controlled enclave of Afrin, to take a stand against a month-old Turkish assault there.

Held by rebels since 2012, Eastern Ghouta is the last opposition pocket around Damascus and President Bashar al-Assad has dispatched reinforcements there in an apparent concerted effort to retake it.

A barrage of air strikes, rocket fire and artillery slammed into several towns across Eastern Ghouta yesterday.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 20 children were among 77 civilians killed in the assault, while around 300 other people were wounded.

"The regime is bombing Eastern Ghouta to pave the way for a ground offensive," said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman.

The main opposition National Coalition, which is based in Turkey, denounced the "war of extermination" in Eastern Ghouta as well as the "international silence".

In a statement, it also accused regime ally Russia of seeking to "bury the political process" for a solution to the conflict.

Residents of Hammuriyeh could be seen rushing indoors in panic as soon as they heard the sound of airplanes.

Alaa al-Din, a 23-year-old Syrian in Hammuriyeh, said civilians were afraid of a potential government offensive.

"Ghoutas fate is unknown. Weve got nothing but Gods mercy and hiding out in our basements," he told AFP. "Theres no alternative."



Shelling also hit the town of Douma, where an AFP correspondent saw five toddlers brought to a hospital, covered in dust and wailing uncontrollably.

The hospital was full of distraught civilians: one father slapped his forehead after finding his two dead children, another erupted into tears as he discovered the body of his newborn on a purple sheet next to a pool of blood.

Eastern Ghouta is held by two main Islamist factions, while jihadists control small pockets including one directly adjacent to the capital.

The Observatory and Syrian daily newspaper Al-Watan had said negotiations were under way for the evacuation of jihadists from Eastern Ghouta.

But escalating military pressure indicate that the regime would opt for a ground assault instead of talks, the monitor said.

Government troops carried out a relentless five-day bombing campaign earlier this month that killed around 250 civilians in the enclave and wounded hundreds.

Around the same time, the monitor said, the regime began dispatching military reinforcements to Eastern Ghouta.

After days of relative calm, the government sent more than 260 rockets sailing onto Eastern Ghouta on Sunday.

Those rockets, as well as artillery fire and air strikes, killed 17 civilians, said the Observatory.

The regime is keen to regain control of Eastern Ghouta to halt the deadly salvo of rockets and mortars that rebels fire on Damascus.

About half a dozen rockets hit the capital Sunday night, AFP correspondents said. State agency SANA reported that one person was killed.

More than 20 civilians have been killed by rebel fire this month alone in regime-held Damascus.

All was quiet in the capital yesterday but since rumours of an imminent assault on Eastern Ghouta started spreading, people living close to the rebel enclave started packing their bags.

Jawad al-Obros, 30, said he was looking to move to a hotel in the western sector of the city to escape his home in an east Damascus neighbourhood that has been regularly hit by rockets from Ghouta.

"Were tired of this situation. It seems that there's no solution but a full-blown military one," he told AFP.

More than 340,000 people have been killed since Syria's conflict erupted in 2011 with protests against Assad's government.

It has since evolved into a war that has carved up the country into rival zones of influence among the regime, rebels, jihadists and Kurdish forces.

The Kurdish Peoples Protection Units (YPG) control the northwestern region of Afrin, target of a month-old assault by the Turkish army and allied Syrian rebels.

Turkey sees the YPG as a "terror" group linked to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), outlawed by Ankara, and wants to clear it from its southern border.

The YPG has controlled Afrin since 2012, when Syrian troops withdrew from it and other Kurdish-majority areas.

Syrian state media said yesterday that pro-regime forces were preparing to enter the area to "join the resistance against the Turkish aggression".

Turkey warned against any bid by the Syrian regime to help the YPG.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke on the phone with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and, according to Turkish media, told him any support from Damascus to the YPG in Afrin "will have consequences" for the regime.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Prime Minister Narendra Modi said today saints and seers have always served the Indian society and made a positive difference to it. He said the strength of Indian society lay in its ability to change with times. "Many people believe that in our country there is greater religious temperament than social temperament. This perception is not correct. "Even today we have such a great tradition of saints making relentless efforts....whether it is towards providing health, education or de-addiction," he told a gathering here at the famous Jain pilgrimage centre. He was speaking after inaugurating the newly carved 630 steps at Vindhyagiri Hill where the statue of Lord Gommateshwara Bahubali stands. The steps have been carved by the Archaeological Survey of India. He also inaugurated a 50-bed Bahubali General Hospital. Modi said the strength of Indian society lay in the fact that it "always changed with the times and adapted well to new contexts". He said seers and saints showed people the right path when evil practices plagued society and took the form of religious beliefs. Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala, Union ministers Sadananda Gowda, Ananth Kumar and Piyush Goyal were present at the event. Noting that "Mahamastakabhisheka" (head anointment ceremony) of Lord Bahubali, observed once every 12 years, resembled the 'Kumbh Mela', Modi said seers, saints and thinkers converged here and pondered over the direction the society needed to take over the next 12 years. Modi referred to his government's 'Ayushman Bharat Yojana' that would provide quality and affordable healthcare to nearly 50 crore people. "It is our duty to provide good quality and affordable healthcare to the poor," he said, adding it was the biggest scheme of its kind in the world. A grand 'mahamastakabhisheka' ceremony was performed here on February 17 marked by a montage of traditional rituals, spiritual ecstasy and visual splendour. Observed once every 12 years in the Jain Dharmic cycle, the veneration ceremony this year was the 88th in the series that commenced in the year 981 AD. The majestic 57-feet statue of Lord Bahubali, carved out of a single piece of rock, is said to be the world's tallest monolith. The statue stands as testimony to 'tyaga' (renunciation) and conveys the message of 'ahimsa' (non-violence) that embodies the Jain way of life. The statue was commissioned by Chavundaraya, minister and commander of the Ganga dynasty in 981 AD.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Shah Karim Al Hussaini, the Aga Khan, will arrive here tomorrow on a 11-day visit, during which he will hold talks with Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said today.

During his stay from February 20 to March 2, the Aga Khan, will also meet President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

He is visiting India on invitation of the vice president.

The Aga Khan is the the founder and chairman of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), and is the 49th hereditary Imam (Spiritual Leader) of the Shia Imami Ismaili Muslims.

Sunder Nursery, a 90-acre park near Humayuns Tomb here, will be inaugurated by Naidu in the presence of the Aga Khan on February 21, the MEA said in a statement.

The park, a part of the Nizamuddin Urban Renewal Initiative, is a partnership between the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, Aga Khan Foundation, Central Public Works Department, South Delhi Municipal Corporation and Archaeological Survey of India.

In addition to these engagements, the Aga Khan will be visiting Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Mumbai, where AKDN is involved in various development projects.

Hussaini was conferred Padma Vibhushan by the then president Pranab Mukherjee for his contributions to social development in India during his previous visit to the country in 2015.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said today his country and Kosovo could one day have a single president as a "symbol of national unity" between Tirana and Pristina.

In a remark certain to anger Belgrade, Rama noted that the two neighbours, both predominantly ethnic Albanian, already share diplomatic missions around the world, adding: "Why not a single president, as a symbol of national unity?"



Rama was addressing Kosovos parliament to mark the 10th anniversary of the countrys unilateral declaration of independence from Serbia, a move recognised by more than 110 countries, though not by Belgrade or Moscow.

Serbia has repeatedly accused Tirana of wanting to build a "Greater Albania", an aspiration it denies.

Efforts to normalise ties between Belgrade and Pristina, begun in 2011, have stalled.

Rama said he saw a future in which "Albanians and Serbians will co-exist... like two countries with good neighbourly relations that are an integral part of the European Union."



The 1998-99 Kosovo war, the last of the conflicts that broke up Yugoslavia, claimed more than 13,000 lives including more than 11,000 ethnic Albanians of Kosovo.

The conflict ended after a three-month NATO air campaign that forced Serbs out of Kosovo and put it under UN protection.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Catching DMK on the wrong foot, ruling AIADMK today convened an all party meet on February 22 here to discuss the follow up action post the Supreme Court's verdict on the Cauvery issue.

"Tamil Nadu government will immediately take steps on the issue after consulting and getting the views of leaders of all parties," an official release here said.

The announcement comes a day after DMK said it has decided to convene an all-party meet on the Cauvery issue, accusing the party of not heeding to its demand for such an exercise.

Apparently caught off guard, DMK said it would participate in the meeting and announced cancellation of the meeting convened by it.

DMK working president M K Stalin welcomed the announcement of the all-party meeting and said his party would participate in the meet and give constructive suggestions to the government on the issue.

He also said that representatives of farmers associations should be invited for the meet as their opinion on the issue was crucial.

"A proposed all party meeting called by the DMK in this regard now stands cancelled," he said.

Before the government announced the meet, DMK had said it would convene an all party meeting as the ruling AIADMK was not paying heed to Stalin's demand to do so.

Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam said Stalin had announced the all-party meet after 'somehow coming to know' that the government had decided to elicit the views of all parties on the issue.

The ruling AIADMK's decision to hold an all party meet is a marked departure from the stand of late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on similar matters.

Though DMK has all along sought such meetings on key issues like Cauvery, Jayalalithaa had not acceded to it.

The all party meeting on Cauvery comes after a gap of several years. A similar meet was held during the previous DMK regime when M Karunandihi was the Chief Minister.

Yesterday, Palaniswami had said the Tamil Nadu government would go through the Supreme Court verdict, which reduced the quantum of Cauvery water for the state, and consult legal experts on going for an appeal.

"As far as the appeal is concerned, the Tamil Nadu government will take action after going through the verdict and consulting legal experts," he said in response to reporters' queries at Salem.

He said that though the Apex court's decision to reduce the quantum of water to Tamil Nadu from the inter-state river was disappointing, certain other rulings of the court, such as no state could claim ownership to rivers,were welcome.

The Supreme Court had on February 16 directed the Karnataka government to release 177.25 tmcft of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu, reducing the quantum specified by the tribunal in 2007.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Actors Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux last met up on Valentines Day, one day before publicly announcing their split. Theroux flew to LA from New York to spend the evening with Aniston, reported People magazine. "They saw each other late at night on Valentines Day in L A. They decided together that they would make the announcement the next day. Justin flew on a private jet to L A to see Jen one last time," a source said. The former couple were unsure about when to announce the breakup news, with the "Friends" star hoping to continue to keep the matter private. "Jen didn't want to announce it for as long as possible, because she wanted to avoid the media attention," the source added. The duo's decision to split comes just days after Aniston's 49th birthday, which she and Theroux spent apart. The pair announced their split after seven years together and two and a half years of marriage.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu today brushed aside the YSR Congress' demand that the TDP move a no-confidence motion against the Narendra Modi government over the special category status issue, saying the BJP enjoys "full majority".

The main opposition YSR Congress and the Jana Sena wanted the TDP, a constituent of the NDA, to move the no-trust motion demanding that the Centre grant the special category status to Andhra Pradesh.

YSRC president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy even announced that his party would move the no-trust motion if the TDP did not do so.

"Does he (Jagan) have head and tail? If you move a no-confidence motion, they (BJP) have majority. It will be defeated and you can't talk anything for six months on the issue," Naidu told reporters at the Polavaram project site this afternoon.

"First there should be a debate...We have to muster support...Injustice was done (to AP) right inside Parliament...now we are demanding justice from the same Parliament," he said.

"When our Minister (Y S Chowdary) demanded in Parliament that justice be done to the state, they (YSRC) demanded his dismissal (citing rules and procedures). Now they are talking about no-confidence," the TDP chief said.

Naidu said Reddy's demand was aimed at cornering the TDP on the special category status issue.

"We are also part of India. When I say that, they (YSRC) say we will run away by resigning (from Parliament) or moving a no-confidence motion (sic).

"Without understanding that and Parliamentary procedures and traditions, he (Reddy) wants to show he took an upper hand and cornered TDP and government. What is that you cornered? People are watching everything," Naidu said.

The chief minister said his government would take the lead to secure the rights of Andhra Pradesh from the Centre.

"Let them come with us and cooperate. But they are asking us to follow them. Who are they? What's their history?" he questioned.

The ties between the BJP and TDP came under severe strain recently after the southern party alleged meagre allocations to AP projects in the Union Budget 2018-19.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)An attack by Pakistan's notorious Border Action Team (BAT) was repulsed by the Army which killed a heavily-armed terrorist and grievously injured two others along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district, a senior official said today. Three soldiers were also injured in the gunfight, an official said. The BAT team, comprising Pakistani regulars and terrorists, tried to sneak in from across the LoC in Gulpur area of Khari Karmarasector last evening under cover of heavy shelling but the alert troops foiled their nefarious designs, Jammu-based Army PRO Lt Col Devender Anand said. A huge quantity of arms and ammunition along with a Pakistani flag was recovered from the slain terrorist whose body was recovered during the search and sanitisation operation, he said. "We will be offering to hand over the body of the armed intruder to the Pakistan Army," the official added. Three soldiers were injured in the gunbattle and were evacuated to military hospital for specialized treatment, said an official, who did not want to be named. Sharing details of the incident, Lt Col Anand said yesterday evening at about 1715 hours, the Pakistan Army initiated unprovoked and indiscriminate firing from small arms, automatics and mortars engaging the troops deployed at forward posts on the LoC. Our troops responded with retaliatory fire in equal measure. The alert troops noticed some movement and immediately engaged the group with effective fire and there was immediate retaliation from the armed intruders, the Army PRO said. The covering fire from Pakistan Army posts, meanwhile, continued unabated, he added. In the firefight, an armed intruder was killed and at least two others sustained grievous injuries and were seen retreating towards a Pakistani post, the official said. The subsequent search and sanitisation operation resulted in the recovery of one body in combat fatigues along with three live RPG grenades, four disposable rocket launchers, two IKOM radio sets, an AK Magazine, two Molotov cocktails, four UBGL grenades, seven hand grenades, a PIKA belt fired and a mobile phone, the PRO said. Three back packs, amedical satchel and a Pakistani national flag were also recovered from the scene of the gunfight, he added. The modus operandi adopted by the Pakistan Army and their sponsored and supported terrorists in this instance is similar to the attempts made in the recent past in incidents like the one at Keri and Gambir along the LoC and Sunjuwan in Jammu, he said. Lt Col Anand said the Pakistan regular Army provided cover fire and abetted operations by non state actors who were used as dispensable cannon fodder. "The heavy recovery of weapons like disposable RLs, Rocket propelled grenades (RPG) and incendiary ammunition clearly indicates implicit support of the Pakistan Army to target and cause casualties while maintaining a degree of deniability," he said. After the Sanjuwan incident, in which three terrorists and seven others including six soldiers were killed, on February 10, Pakistan has refused to accept the bodies of its citizens, he said. However, we will be offering to hand over the body of the armed intruder killed yesterday to the Pak Army," he said. Pakistan continues in its nefarious designs of supporting and abetting infiltration across the LoC contrary to their stated position about water tight arrangements along LoC to check terrorist movement", the Army official said. The statement by Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff yesterday at the Munich Conference in Paris that there were no safe havens for terrorists in Pakistan has proven to be hollow, he said. Pakistan was supporting terrorism in a systematic manner with the complete support of its army, he added. Pakistan has repeatedly failed to respect and fulfil its Ceasefire Violation Agreement and the January 2004 commitment on not allowing its soil or territory to be used for terrorism against India, he said. Lt Col Anand said it was clear that Pakistan was never interested in bringing peace and stability to J&K. They have been vitiating the atmosphere both along the LoC and in the hinterland, he said. The Jammu-based white knight corps is keeping a strict and constant vigil across the LoC and all the security forces are prepared to thwart any nefarious designs of Pakistan sponsored terrorists, he said. Meanwhile, a junior commissioned officer (JCO) was injured in an accidental mine blast in a forward area in Mankote sub-sector yesterday.The officer accidentally stepped over a landmine, which was washed away, causing an explosion, resulting in injuries to him, an official said on the condition of anonymity.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Assam Governor Prof Jagdish Mukhi today said the state government is pushing for development of infrastructure facilities and increasing trade ties with ASEAN countries.

"The Central as well as the state government are pushing for development of infrastructure facilities, giving top priority to road, air, river and digital connectivity," Mukhi told reporters here.

ASEAN countries are not more than one-hour-thirty minutes from Guwahati, and these countries' consulates here will lead to a "lot of trade and commerce with them", he said.

The road to Thailand through Myanmar will be completed by the year end for boosting trade and tourism with ASEAN nations, Mukhi said.

The Governor added that all houses in Guwahati will get water connection and sewerage system by 2020.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The colour of protest is black and the 2018 Baftas reiterated the show of solidarity in Hollywood's watershed moment against sexual abuse and harassment, a trend which began with Golden Globes. Celebrities such as Lupita Nyong'o, Angelina Jolie and Jennifer Lawrence appeared on the red carpet of the 71st British Academy Film Awards. "Black Panther" star Nyong'o was dressed in an Elie Saab and Jolie opted for her usual thigh-slit, off-the-shoulder black velvet gown by Ralph and Russo. The actor-director graced the red carpet along with her guest, "First They Killed My Father", writer and human rights activist Loung Ung. The movie is based on Ung's memoir. Lawrence chose a dazzling Dior dress, a new arrival from the runway from their Spring 2018 couture show. "Lady Bird" director Greta Gerwig wore a Jonathan Cohen dress as she turned up at the event. Actor Gemma Arterton, who played a female activist in the West End show about the 1968 Ford sewing machinists' strike, was accompanied by former sewing machine operators Eileen Pullen and Gwen Davis. Pullen and Davis were among the 187 women, who were a part of the strike. Arterton chose a black Alberta Ferretti gown for her red carpet appearance. Naomie Harris was joined on the red carpet by activist-writer Afua Hirsch. Andrea Riseborough appeared in a long black dress with a satin skirt, lace bodice and a dash of bright purple. She was one of the Hollywood stars who brought an activist as her guest to highlight importance of the Time's Up movement. Riseborough's date was Phyll Opoku-Gyimah, a British activist working on race relations. Actor Gemma Chan was joined by gender activist Laura Bates, who works against sexual harassment. Saoirse Ronan was one of the highlights at the event as she stepped out in a black dress which featured a section of feathered fringe before developing into a sheer skirt. Helena Bonham Carter wore Vivienne Westwood. Salma Hayek went with a sleek long-sleeved black floral gown by Gucci. But Best Actress winner Frances McDormand and Israeli model Hofit Golan were among a few who did not choose black as the sartorial hue. Wearing a long-sleeved, print-heavy dress, McDormand pointed out to her choice of dressing - what was not lost on many, in her acceptance speech. "I have a little trouble with compliance. But I want you to know that I stand in full solidarity with my sisters tonight in black," she said. Golan wore a long silver gown with a black belt to the event. Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton received mild criticism for choosing an emerald green Jenny Packham attire as she defied the call to wear black as part of the fight against sexual abuse and harassment. Celebs also wore white roses at the Grammys earlier this month to acknowledge a message of peace inherent with a warning, rejecting injustice towards women. At the upcoming Brit Awards, personalities will be given white rose pins to show support for Time's Up.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.): Bollywood superstar Salman Khan's Being Human Clothing operating as the retail division of The Mandhana Industries has forayed in Tamil Nadu market by setting up of its first company outlet store in Chennai.

The Being Human Clothing store is spread across 1,322 square foot in the newly opened outlet Palladium Mall at Velacherry.

"We are proud to announce our maiden exclusive store in Chennai at luxe mall Palladium. This will be our fourth addition in the South Indian market", The Mandhana Retail Ventures Ltd., CEO, Manish Mandhana said.

In the Southern market, the company currently has stores in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kochi. "By next month we will be opening a store in Coimbatore", he told PTI.

On expansion plans, he said the company would have opened 15 new outlets before the end of current financial year across the country.

The company has exclusive stores in 45 cities across the country and also retailed through shop-in-shops, distributor networks and in online portals.

Being Human was launched by Salman Khan in 2012 and was globally licensed by The Mandhana Retail Ventures Ltd. It has footprint in over 15 countries with over 600 point of sale,he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Bhutanese Foreign Minister Lyonpo Damcho Dorji will arrive here tomorrow on a three-day visit during which both sides are expected to discuss a range of key issues including ways to further boost strategic cooperation.

His visit here comes a fortnight after Army Chief General Bipin Rawat, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval travelled to Bhutan.

Dorji will hold extensive talks with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj besides meeting a number of other leaders, official sources said.

All bilateral issues of mutual interest will be discussed during Dorji's visit, said a source.

Earlier this month, Gen. Rawat, Doval and Gokhale had quietly travelled to Bhutan during which they held extensive talks with the top brass of the Bhutanese government on the situation in Doklam, authoritative government sources had told PTI.

The sources said the two sides had deliberated on China's increasing military posturing and infrastructure development in the key Doklam plateau. The visit took place between February 6 and 7.

The visit by Gen. Rawat, Doval and Gokhale was the first such high-level trip from India to Bhutan after the Doklam standoff and it was kept under wraps by the Bhutanese and Indian sides.

Troops of India and China were locked in a 73-day-long standoff in Doklam from June 16 last year after the Indian side stopped the building of a road in the disputed Doklam tri-junction by the Chinese Army. Bhutan and China have a dispute over Doklam. The face-off ended on August 28.

As a close friend and neighbour, Bhutan enjoys diplomatic and military support from India.

China and Bhutan are engaged in talks over the resolution of the dispute in the area.

Army sources said China has been keeping its troops in north Doklam and significantly ramping up its infrastructure in the area.

In November last, the King of Bhutan, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, had visited India.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Litigants face harrowing time in Bihar, with over 16 lakh cases pending in subordinate judiciary due to a whopping 45 per cent vacancies of judicial officers.

The situation is no better in the Patna High Court, where 1,45,110 cases are pending in the absence of sufficient strength of judges.

As on February 17, 2018, a total of 16,74,883 cases are pending across the district courts of Bihar while 1,45,110 cases are waiting for adjudication in the Patna High Court, according to National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) website.

Of the total number of pending cases at Patna High Court, 16.54 per cent cases have been pending for over 10 years while 30.12 per cent of the cases are lying pending for less than two years.

The delay in filling up judicial vacancies is a major reason behind the pending cases, Bihar's Advocate General Lalit Kishore said.

Though some speedy disposal of cases are witnessed both in the High Court as well district courts of Bihar, but the pendency of cases for years remained a problem.

The total number of pending cases in subordinate courts of Bihar has come down to 16,74,883 (as on February 17, 2018) from 21,39,380 cases a year ago (as on March 31, 2017), e Supreme Court quarterly magazine said.

A total of 33,481 cases were filed in the subordinate courts of the state in January 2018 of which 26,111 cases were disposed of, the NJDG website said.

Whereas, 10,488 cases were filed in the Patna High Court last month, 9,809 cases were disposed of, it said.

Despite less working strength of judiciary, the judges have done a tremendous job in disposing cases especially Patna High Court judges including its Chief Justice who are holding courts even on Saturday to clear the backlog.

"If one sees the total outcome of the disposal rate during the last six months, the disposal rate is very satisfactory," Kishore said.

At present, The Patna High Court has 32 judges against the sanctioned strength of 53 as on February 1,2018.

The situation in the lower courts vis-a-vis vacancies of judicial officers is more alarming as vacancies stood at around 45 per cent.

As on January 31, 2018, there were 1,828 sanctioned posts of judicial officers in the trial courts of the state against which 1,000 judicial officers are working, a Patna High Court official said.

The Bihar Public Service Commission has sent the names of 191 judicial officers to Patna High Court for appointment.

These officers will join soon, he said and around 100 judicial officers of Additional District and Sessions (ADJ) rank judges will also join shortly, he said.

To reduce the backlog of cases especially those which are pending for over 10 years, Union Law and Justice Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had in August last suggested appointment of facilitation officers to fast track the disposal of such cases.

When asked about the appointment of the facilitation officers, state Advocate General Lalit Kishore, who is also the chairman of Bihar State Bar Council, said "I do not have any idea about it.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and Union minister Smriti Irani are set to address public meetings in the Bijepur assembly constituency tomorrow, three days before the campaigning for the February 24 by-polls draws to a close. Patnaik will be holding a 6km roadshow from Barpali to Kumbhari village for BJD candidate Rita Sahu, sources in the ruling party said. The roadshow will pass through Dhirpur, the native place of BJP contestant from the seat, Ashok Panigrahi, he said. "The ruling party is already ahead of its rivals in Bijepur. The chief minister's campaign will ensure that party candidate Rita Sahu wins the poll with a big margin," BJD spokesman Debashis Samantray said. The CM, who will be here for two days, will visit all the gram panchayats in the Bijepur segment, he added. The Union textile, information and broadcasting minister, on the other hand, will hit the trail for Panigrahi in Barpali town, a saffron party member said, adding that she will address three public meetings tomorrow. The BJP leaders are optimistic that Irani's campaign will boost the chances of the party in the constituency, he said. Taking a dig at the Union minister, the ruling party's leader, Pradeep Maharathy, today said, "Nobody in Odisha knows Smriti Irani." Maharathy, who is also the panchayati raj minister in the state, asserted that that he would resign from the council of ministers if the BJD gets defeated in the by-poll. BJP spokesperson Pitamber Acharya said that the ruling party is afraid of Smiti Irani, who is a "good speaker". Several Union ministers, including Santosh Gangwar, Swadhi Niranjana, Dharmendra Pradhan and Jual Oram, have visited the assembly constituency over the past weeks to campaign for Panigrahi. Union Minister of State for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Giriraj Singh, who was in the constituency today, said the ruling party has not created enough employment opportunities for the youths of Odisha. The bypoll was necessitated following the death of Congress MLA Subal Sahu in August last year. The ruling party's candidate, Rita Sahu, is the wife of the deceased MLA. The Congress, which had been holding the seat for three consecutive terms since 2004, is also trying its best to retain the seat. Congress nominee Pranaya Sahu had been campaigning in Bijepur, accompanied by Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Prasad Harichandan, senior leader Narasingha Mishra, former and Union minister Srikant Jena.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A ruling BJP lawmaker and 27 other people have been booked under various charges, including rioting and criminal conspiracy, following a fracas over a land dispute in Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh, police said today. Kamlesh Paswan, the sitting MP from Bansgaon constituency, and others were booked last night in connection with the dispute in Rustampur area, Praveen Kumar Singh, who is holding the additional charge as circle officer of Cantonment police station area, said. "One of the parties (involved) in the dispute in a police complaint stated that the other side demolished an under-construction boundary wall at around 1.30pm yesterday, allegedly at the behest of Paswan," Singh said. The officer, however, added that Paswan was "not directly involved". "Allegations have been levelled against him (by one party) of giving patronage (to the other). Paswan's involvement in the case is subject to investigation." But Senior Superintendent of Police Satyarth Aniruddh Pankaj said they have evidence that associates of Paswan demolished the wall. "A case against MP Kamlesh Paswan and others has been registered with Cantonment police station under various sections of the IPC," Pankaj said. When contacted, the two-time MP denied the charges. "I was not present at the spot and I am not involved in this issue. It is all fake charges levelled against me. Yesterday evening, I met the SSP regarding the land, that some people are trying to grab it. I don't know how my name figured in the FIR. I am shocked and I will take up the matter forward," Paswan said. Paswan and the 27 other people have been booked under various sections of the IPC, including 147 (rioting), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 120B (criminal conspiracy).

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.): City-based CADD Centre Training Services, part of the CADD Centre Group has planned to launch courseware in regional languages in the coming months.

The training institute after launching Hindi courseware on CAD (Computer Aided Design) last month has unveiled Tamil courseware aimed at benefitting students in the State.

"The need for CAD skills is growing exponentially in India. As India's largest CAD training institute, we have taken responsibility to develop courseware in regional languages," CADD Centre, Managing Director, S Karaiadiselvan said.

The newly launched Tamil courseware for AutoCAD Primer, an introductory AutoCAD training programme, is targeted at students of higher secondary and engineering colleges.

CADD Centre has planned to launch the courseware in four regional languages during the coming months, he said.

With the launch of Tamil courseware, students training at CADD Centre in Tamil Nadu would have an option to learn in Tamil as medium of instruction.

Minister for Tamil Official Language and Tamil Culture, K Pandiarajan formally launched the courseware at an event here.

The Hindi version of the courseware was launched by Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar last month.

CADD Centre trains over 1.50 lakh students in engineering design every year through its 500 training centres, the release added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A Cambodian court has dropped pornography charges against nine of the 10 foreigners arrested last month at a pool party in the tourist town of Siem Reap, an official said today.

The group was detained for around two weeks on charges of producing pornographic materials to promote the event at a private villa in the city flanking Cambodias famous Angkor Wat temple ruins.

Police, who broke up the party on January 25, initially accused the foreigners of "singing and dancing pornographically".

"The court has dropped charges against the nine foreigners released on bail. Only one British national will face trial," court spokesman Yin Srang told AFP, declining to elaborate.

Their lawyer Ouch Sopheaktra said the Briton was held because he was accused of renting the villa and organising the pool party.

All 10 defendants -- five Britons, two Canadians, a Norwegian, a New Zealander and a Dutch national -- had denied the allegations, saying that they were wearing "sexy" clothing but had not produced pornography, according to their lawyer.

While Cambodia teems with foreign tourists and boasts a rowdy nightlife, the Buddhist country is often strict when protecting local traditions or heritage sites.

Authorities banned skimpy clothing inside the Angkor Wat complex in 2016 and have previously arrested and deported foreigners for taking racy photos among the ruins, which are considered sacred.

But the location of past violations has been inside the ancient city, not in the adjoining town of Siem Reap, a popular party hub with bars catering to foreign tourists.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau today wound up his one-day visit to Gujarat with a meeting with Chief Minister Vijay Rupani at the city airport before his departure today evening.

The two leaders discussed various aspects of Gujarat-Canada relationship, said an official release.

Chief minister Rupani invited the Canadian PM to the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit, 2019, with his country's delegation, as Canada is the partner country of the mega biennial event, it said.

Trudeau invited Rupani to visit Canada ahead of the Summit, said the release, adding that the CM accepted the invitation.

The two had detailed discussions about increasing cooperation in various sectors such as education, industries, start-ups and innovation, said the release.

Rupani also invited Canadian firms to set up operations in Gujarat.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Tyre manufacturers' body ATMA today said shortage of carbon black, a key ingredient for tyre manufacturing, in the domestic market has led to unplanned shutdown of factories.

In a representation to Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Automotive Tyre Manufacturers Association (ATMA) asked the government to allow domestic tyre makers duty free import of the raw material to the extent of existing gap between demand and supply in order to enable them continue with their planned production. According to ATMA, tyre industry is left with no other choice but to import carbon black to meet domestic deficit, but a steep anti-dumping duty amounting to approximately 40 per cent of the import price is proving to be prohibitive.

Some of the ATMA member companies are severely affected by the shortage of carbon black and capacity utilisation levels have come down," ATMA Convener Supply Chain & Resources Group and MRF VP Materials, Mohan Kurian said in a statement.

He further said:"Now production planning is being tweaked to match with the availability of carbon black and thereby potential production is not getting fully achieved. A mismatch of in-capacity addition by domestic carbon black industry in comparison to growing demand from the domestic tyre industry and increased exports of the raw material have led to domestic deficit, ATMA claimed.

The industry body said in 2017-18, domestic carbon black production stood at 8.4 lakh tonne, while actual consumption was at 9 lakh tonne and exports were at 1.2 lakh tonne. Import of the raw material stood at 96,000 tonne. In 2016-17, domestic carbon black production was at 8.1 lakh tonne, with a similar amount of consumption, while exports were at 1.14 lakh tonne and imports stood at 84,000 tonne. China is the single largest producer of carbon black in the world accounting for about 40 per cent of global production but a steep anti-dumping duty has been imposed on import of the raw material from the country, ATMA added. ATMA said it has asked the government to allow tyre companies to import carbon black on a duty free basis to the extent of the existing gap between demand and supply to enable the domestic tyre industry continue with its planned production. "Anti-Dumping Duty (ADD) applicable on carbon black imports from China needs to be waived till such time the domestic availability improves," it said. At the same time, export of carbon black from India needs to be regulated by way of fixing a minimum (higher) export price and / or quantitative restriction, ATMA added. Kurian said there was an urgent need to work out sustainable ways of improving raw material availability for the tyre industry. "Domestic tyre industry is anticipating good growth in tyre demand after a prolonged period of overall slowdown. It becomes imperative to improve the carbon black availability situation urgently, he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The CBI today arrested three more Punjab National Bank (PNB) officials after intense grilling during the day in connection with Rs 11,384 crore scam involving billionaire jewellery merchants Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi, officials said.

The agency also started searches late this evening at group offices of Nirav Modi at Peninsula Business Park in lower Parel, Mumbai.

The total number of arrests by the CBI has risen to five -- four PNB officials and a retired employee of the bank -- after today's development.

Manoj Kharat, a Single Window Operator at PNB, and the retired employee Gokulnath Shetty were arrested earlier.

Bechhu Tiwari, the then chief manager in the Forex department; Yashwant Joshi, Scale II Manager in the Forex department; and Praful Sawant, Scale-I officer handling the exports section were arrested by the agency this evening, officials said



The agency has started searches at their residences located in Navi Mumbai, Andheri and Dombivilli, they said.

Tiwari was responsible for supervising Shetty, believed to be main accused along with Modi and Choksi.

He had to ensure the entry of authorised SWIFT messages. The agency has alleged that he had "full knowledge" of the activities of Shetty, officials said.

Joshi is also a senior officer in the vertical in which Shetty was working. He had to ensure daily reports of SWIFT and the Core Banking Solution System of the bank, but despite knowing Shetty's activities, he took no action, officials said.

Sawant is a Scale-I officer in the export section and is responsible for checking daily SWIFT messages and report. They were being questioned by the agency since morning, officials said.

Over Rs 11,384 crore worth of Letter of Understanding and Letters of Credit were issued by the bank in favour of billionaire jewellers Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi through SWIFT messages with only limited number worth smaller sums being entered in the core banking solutions system.

Shetty and Kharat allegedly sent messages of these LoUs and LCs using an international messaging system for banking systems called SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication) which is used to pass instructions among banks globally to transfer funds.

But these messages were not routinely updated in the Core Banking Solutions system of the bank which takes care of daily business.

It is estimated that millions of messages are sent daily using the SWIFT technology globally wherein every member bank can send or receive messages of financial transactions to another bank worldwide.

The CBI is also questioning four senior executives of Nirav Modi's company Fire Star Diamond, including its President (Finance) Vipul Ambani and Chief Financial Officer Ravi Gupta, officials said today.

Ambani had been holding the position for over three years. It is believed he was aware of the financial transactions carried out by the company of the jeweller-businessman, who fled the country before PNB reported the Rs 11,400-crore fraud, the officials said.

He is understood to be a relative of late industrialist Dhirubhai Ambani.

Saurabh Sharma, a senior executive in the finance department of the company, and manager Subhash Parab are also being quizzed.

The CBI confronted them with documents related to Letter of Understandings from the PNB, they said.

The agency had intensified its searches last evening at the branch where the alleged fraudulent transactions took place.

A CBI spokesperson said here today that the branch was briefly sealed early this morning to prevent any "possible tampering".

He said the seal and the notice were removed during the day.

"The PNB Branch was secured with a seal briefly during the wee hours so as to prevent any inadvertent or unauthorised opening by concerned PNB staff. Today the seal and notice at the branch premises were removed," he said.

He said it was a time-bound security measure to prevent possible tampering which did not affect the regular business at the branch since today is a local holiday in Maharashtra for Shivaji Jayanti.

The CBI yesterday started a search operation at the Brady Road branch in Mumbai of PNB, which is at the centre of the colossal banking fraud involving billionaire jewellers Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi.

CBI officials said the agency is still questioning arrested bank officials Shetty, who has retired, and Kharat, the Single Window Operator of the bank and Hemant Bhat, the authorised signatory of Nirav Modi's company.

Besides other officials of PNB are also being questioned, to find out more about the money trail and the depth of the alleged scam involving thousands of documents and digital records.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A magistrate's court in Indore today registered a cheque bounce case against Madhya Pradesh minister Surendra Patwa.

Judicial Magistrate M P Namdeo ordered registration of a case against Patwa under the Negotiable Instruments Act after examining the documents submitted by a local firm, Harish Traders, which had approached the court.

The court also issued a summons to Patwa, asking him to appear on May 7 and make his submissions.

Complainant's lawyer Sanjay Tiwari said that Patwa, in his capacity as the head of a Hindu Undivided Family (HUF), had borrowed Rs 10 lakh from Harish Traders for his family business, but he defaulted on repayment.

Later, he gave a cheque of Rs 10 lakh, which bounced as there were insufficient funds in the bank account, and he didn't pay up even after repeated notices, the lawyer said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Chinese authorities have demanded "severe punishment" for a man who allegedly stole the thumb of a precious Terracotta warrior statue loaned for display at a prominent museum in the US, Chinese state media reported.

Last week, Michael Rohana, 24, was charged with theft and concealment of a major artwork, and later released on bail.

The 2,000-year-old statue, worth some USD 4.5 million, is one of 10 on loan to the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia.

The Terracotta Army is one of China's most important archaeological finds.

According to court documents, Rohana was attending an Ugly Sweater Party at the Franklin Institute on December 21 when he made his way into the Terracotta Warriors exhibit, which was then closed.

Rohana used a mobile phone as a flashlight and took a selfie with one of the warriors, China's state-run Xinhua agency quoted the FBI as saying.

He then put his hand on the left hand of the statue and appeared to break something off from it. He pocketed the item and left the museum.

Museum staff noticed the missing thumb on January 8 and the FBI later traced it to Rohana.

Surveillance video and credit-card information established that Rohana had attended the party with five friends from Delaware, authorities said.

He later admitted that he had kept the thumb in a desk drawer.

The director of the Shaanxi Cultural Heritage Promotion Centre, the government-run organisation which loaned the statues out, "strongly condemned" the Franklin Institute for being "careless" with the statues, CCTV reported today.

"We ask that the US severely punish the perpetrator. We have lodged a serious protest with them," said Wu Haiyun.

Wu said the centre would be sending two experts to the US to assess the damage and repair the statue with the recovered thumb. There would be a claim for compensation, he added.

The 10 statues currently on display at the Franklin Institute are part of an army of 8,000 life-size clay warriors which make up the Terracotta Army.

The statues were built by the Chinese emperor Qin Shi Huang, who died in 210 BCE, and who believed they would protect him in the afterlife.

They were discovered in China's Xi'an city in 1974 by a group of Chinese farmers. The museum of the Terracotta Army in Xi'an is now a world famous tourist attraction.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Another petition has been filed in the Kerala High Court, seeking registration of a criminal case against the head of Syro-Malabar Church, Cardinal George Alanchery, over alleged irregularities in land deals involving the church, causing huge loss to his archdioceses. When the petition came up before Justice Kemal Pasha today, he directed the state government to inform the court of its views on the same. The matter would be heard on February 22. Alancherry, Major Archbishop of the Syro Malabar Church, claimed that the land belonged to the dioceses and a third party cannot complain against loss in the sale of private property. The Cardinal cannot be charged with breach of trust, his counsel submitted. Petitioner Shine Varghese said the property belonged to a trust. This is the second petition against the Cardinal which has come up before the court. The court had last week issued notice to the Cardinal and three others on a petition seeking a police probe into alleged irregularities in the land deals involving the Ernakulam-Angamaly archdiocese. TheSyro-Malabar Church has over 30 dioceses in the country and four outside-- in the US, Canada, Australia and Britain--serving over 5 million faithful.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Ministry today said the 'clean air campaign' in Delhi had shown a "qualitative" impact on air quality in the first week and that nearly 2,000 'challans', amounting to over Rs 50 crore, were issued for pollution-related violations.

This campaign was launched jointly by Union Minister Harsh Vardhan and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on February 10.

Seventy teams comprising officers of the Ministry, Delhi government, Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) and municipal corporations made an initial visit to their respective areas on February 10.

The day-long visits started from February 12 except on February 11 which was a Sunday.

The teams have so far reported 4,347 cases of violation and issued challans in 1,892 cases, amounting to Rs 54 crore, the ministry said in a statement.

It said the data collated by the CPCB show that air quality which was in the very poor category at the beginning of the campaign, remained at moderate level from February 12-15 and at poor level on February 16, 17 and 18.

There has also been a noticeable reduction in levels of pollution, particularly in comparison to the level on the same day in 2017.

There were no moderate days of air quality last year. Even on February 16, 17, 18 this year, there has been a reduction in pollution levels, the statement said.

According to System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR), the campaign resulted in a significant reduction in the level of air pollution vis--vis the business as usual scenario.

The lessons learnt from the campaign will be used to further strengthen the activities related to mitigation of pollution, besides addressing knowledge gaps on the basis of wide-ranging consultations held during this period with all stakeholders, the ministry said.

The Clean Air Campaign will continue till February 23.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Congress today stepped up its protests against the ruling CPI(M) over the recent killing of its party functionary in Kannur, even as the ruling comunist party in Kerala maintained that it has no connection with the incident.

State Youth Congress President Deen Kuriakose launched an indefinite 'Satyagraha' stir in front of the secretariat here seeking a thorough probe into the killing of Shuhaib, the Mattanur block Youth Congress secretary, in Kannur on February 13.

Leader of Opposition in the assembly Ramesh Chennithala, who was present on the occasion, demanded an impartial inquiry into the killing and asked the state government to bring all the accused to book.

Slamming the ruling CPI(M), Chennithala said both "red and saffron terror" have to be opposed with the same intensity.

He alleged that the "silence" of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and other CPI(M) leaders has led to the current situation.

In Kannur, Congress leader and former Lok Sabha MP K Sudhakaran started a 48-hour fast in front of the district collectorate demanding the arrest of all those behind the killing.

Sudhakaran also sought the intervention of CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury to bring the culprits to justice.

In a letter to Yechury, he alleged that Vijayan, asthe chief minister of the state, had "failed" to perform constitutional duties.

"Vijayan is functioning as a party secretary even after becoming the CM," Sudhakaran said.

Reacting to it, CPI(M) State Secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said the party has no connection with the killing of the Youth Congress leader.

In a face book post, Balakrishnan said that his party would take stern action against any worker found behind the crime.

Meanwhile, Kerala DGP Loknath Behra said a Special Investigation Team led by I G Mahipal Yadav would investigate the murder of Shuhaib.

Two persons, said to be CPI(M) workers, were arrested after they surrendered before the police yesterday in connection with the case.

Shuhaib was attacked by assailants when he was at a tea shop in Mattanur with two other party members.

In a related development, the state government, in an effort to end the alleged political killings, has called a peace meeting at Kannur on February 21.

State Minister for Law A K Balan would attend the meet, a release from Chief Minister's Office said here.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Congress today complained to the Election Commission alleging discrepancies in the voters list in Madhya Pradesh ahead of bye-elections in the state. A delegation of Congress leaders handed over a memorandum to the poll panel urging it to take steps for ensuring free and fair elections. The delegation that included senior Congress leaders Mohan Prakash, Randeep Surjewala, RPN Singh and Satyavrat Chaturvedi also alleged misuse of official machinery by the BJP Government in Madhya Pradesh. After the meeting, Surjewala said ahead of bypolls to two assembly seats in Madhya Pradesh, "a desperate BJP is murdering democracy" and alleged that there were "massive" discrepancies in the voter list. The Congress leaders also handed over what they claimed was "proof" in this regard and demanded immediate action from the Election Commission.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)BJP state president Ashok Parnami today accused state Congress chief Sachin Pilot and AICC general secretary Ashok Gehlot for "delay" in taking plight of Beawar LPG cylinder blast victims and aggrieved family members. Nineteen people were killed in an LPG cylinder blast during a wedding function on Friday night in Beawar town of Ajmer district. "Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje met the families in Beawar and also directed officials to take relief measures, but Pilot and Gehlot could not find time to meet the victims and bereaved families," Parnami said at a press meeting today. He also asked the Opposition to shed its "negative attitude" to everything that the state government does. "BJP has won various elections in past and accepts its debacle in recent bypolls result. The government is sensitive and working for the development of the state. The always negative approach of the Opposition does not suit the role. They need to shed their negative attitude," Parnami said. Replying to a question on PNB multi-crore scam, Parnami said the accused involved in the scam will not be spared and the Congress should introspect before levelling allegations against the government, he said. Cornered over a recent order on transfers in education department, he clarified that transfers of teachers will be made as per the policy. Recently, the state education department sent out a letter to BJP MLAs and district presidents of the party, asking them to send recommendations for favourable transfers of their relatives who work in the department.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Rajasthan government will amend Indian Penal Code (IPC) for stricter punishment for offenders in cases related to crime against women, Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje said today.

Replying to a debate on the state budget 2018-19



presented by her in the Legislative Assembly, she expressed concern over crime against women and



said the government had decided to amend IPC formaking provisions for stricter punishment, even upto death penalty for the guilty in heinous cases likerape with minors.

Raje also announced Rs 1,500 monthly pension to



leprosy patients, increase in the honorarium of



home guards, new recruitment of 2,500 home



guards, creation of 6,000 posts of police head constables to enhance chances of promotion of constables having minimum 18 years service.

She also announced 'Bhamashah techno hub' and



'Bhamashah fund' to push start-ups and new policy for gravel mining.

Raje said the important announcement in the budget was of the loan waiver of up to Rs. 50,000 to small and marginal farmers which sent "shock waves to opposition Congress".

She alleged that the Congress was "responsible"



for the present condition of farmers.

"The party ruled for 50 years but did not take care of the farmers", she alleged.

Raje said the farmers debt-relief commission for settlement of crop loan was, announced in the budget, will be given statutory status and a bill will be introduced in the House in this regard.

The setting up of the commission will be a historic move, the chief minister said.

She said the government's borrowings were for assets creation and for execution of public welfare schemes, and structural changes in budget has benefitted the state.

Raje said the government presented budget one month ahead of the schedule so that the various schemes announced could be allocated to departments on time.

She held responsible the Congress for present gravel crisis and said it was a "wrong policy" pursued by the former Congress government by issuing an Letter of Intent (LoI) in November 2013, just five days before code of conduct came into force for Assembly elections "which raises doubt on its intention".

Raje said the government has now decided to "decentralise the gravel mining".

On reports in a section of media that she had said there was "no guarantee to fulfill the budget announcements at a press conference after the budget presentation on February 12", Raje said her comments were "misreported".

"What I had said was that there is no guarantee except our normal conduct. Do not compare us with the Congress as we do what we say," she told the House.

Raje claimed that the 90 per cent of the budget announcements of the previous years have been realised and 85 per cent of election promises fulfilled by the government.

Prior to the chief minister, Speaker Kailash Meghwal had asked the leader of opposition Rameshwar Dudi to speak in the debate on the budget but the opposition created ruckus over levelling of allegations against Dudi by the Parliamentary Affairs minister Rajendra Rathore and others of being "involved in betting".

Dudi wanted to speak on the allegations but when the ruling party legislators did not allow him, the Congress members stormed to the well of the House. Later, the speaker asked the chief minister to give her reply on the budget.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Family members of Dalit activist Bhanubhai Vankar today took possession of his body after the Gujarat government gave a written assurance to accept their demands, including allotment of land to Dalits. Vankar, 62, had set himself ablaze outside the Patan Collector's office on February 15 seeking allotment of land to a Dalit family. He died of burn injuries at a private hospital in Ahmedabad the next day. The body was taken to Vankar's hometown Unjha in Mehasana district, where his last rites will be performed later today, Subodh Parmar of the Dalit Adhikar Manch said. "Possession of land already allocated to Dalit community members will be handed over in the next six months," reads the letter signed by Gandhinagar District Collector Satish Patel and Superintendent of Police Virendra Yadav. As per the letter, a copy of which was accessed by PTI, a Special Investigation Team will be formed to probe the circumstances which led to Vankar's death. Dalit leaders and community members have been protesting since Friday, when Vankar died. Yesterday, protesters had blocked roads and held rallies in several parts of Gujarat, including capital Gandhinagar, Ahmedabad, and Patan in Mehsana district against the failure of authorities concerned to prevent suicide by Vankar on Friday, police had said. Dalit leader and Independent MLA Jignesh Mevani, and more than 70 others were also detained by police yesterday. Though the state government had announced that it will accept the key demands of Vankar's family, including allotment of land to Dalits, Mevani had sought that the government issue a circular conceding the demands. Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel had announced the constitution of a judicial commission under a retired high court judge or to form an SIT to investigate Vankar's death. Patel had also said that a member of the family of the deceased will be given a government job.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Delhi government today launched an 'anti-smog gun campaign' to settle the dust on PWD's roads, despite the device having little effect in containing the particulates' level the first time it was used.

The 'anti-smog gun' sprays atomised water (tiny droplets of water) up to a height of 50 metres, creating artificial mist, which is in turn expected to stick to air-borne pollutants and bring them to the ground.

The campaign has been launched as part of the ongoing 15-day 'Clean Air for Delhi campaign' organised by the Delhi government and Union Ministry to create awareness about the activities which lead to air pollution in city.

This is the second time the AAP government has sprayed water from the anti-smog gun, which, when used in December last year, had very little effect in containing the level of particulates which kept rising by the hour.

Minister Imran Hussain, who flagged off the campaign at the Delhi Secretariat, said the anti-smog gun would be used for the next few days on different roads of the Public Works Department (PWD) in consultation with traffic police.

"The anti-smog gun will be used for spraying on road- side vegetation also. This process is likely to reduce the contribution of particulate matter which settles on the vegetation due to road re-suspension and windblown dust," the minister said.

He said the Delhi government was exploring various ways and means to reduce air pollution in the national capital, adding that the use of anti-smog gun was one of such steps.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Delhi government today announced the launch of "Mission Buniyaad" for improving learning skills of children studying in state and municipal-run schools.

The announcement was made by Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia here, days after the National Achievement Survey (NAS) showed that the entire country, including Delhi, was facing a crisis of learning in schools.

Under the programme which will run from April to June for Class 3 to 5 in MCD and Class 6 to 8 in government's schools, children will undergo a reading level assessment based on which they will be enrolled in specialised "Mission Buniyaad" classes.

"For children who are not able to read, I request all parents to cancel their vacation plans during summer holidays and send their children to school for remedial classes. I appeal to parents of children to support the Delhi government and MCDs in this campaign in the interest of their children's future," Sisodia said in a press conference here.

He said that the entire program will run from classes 3 to 5 in municipal schools and in classes 6 to 8 in government-run schools.

Officials of the department will run the campaign in "mission mode" for three months from April to June this year, Sisodia said.

Sisodia, who also holds the portfolio, said that the programme is being designed on the lines of Delhi government's 'Chunauti scheme', after two rounds of meetings with MCDs, the Delhi Cantonment Board and the NDMC.

"The NAS survey demonstrates that close to half of all children in our schools are not able to read their grade level textbooks. In the secondary schools run by the Delhi government, various programs we initiated have improved reading ability by about 20%.

"However, children in primary schools that are under the MCDs are not able to read and thereafter when they study in secondary schools they find it difficult to cope up with the advanced levels," he said.

The deputy chief minister said it was in the interest of the children of Delhi that the efforts made by the government be extended to MCD schools as well.

"The municipal bodies that run primary schools in the city will raise a cadre of teachers who will drive the program, in a manner similar to the Mentor Teacher Program run in Delhi government schools. One teacher will take care of five schools and will train teachers of these five schools on enhancing readability of children," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Punjab Police today claimed to have seized demonetized currency worth Rs 1.05 crore from two residents of Haryana's Fatehabad. The demonetized currency was recovered from the possession of Ravinder and Kapil , during a checking at Landran-Kharar road in Mohali, Superintendent of Police, Mohali, H S Atwal, said. A case under relevant sections of the IPC has been registered against them, he said. The Income Tax department and Enforcement Directorate have been apprised of the recovery of the demonetized currency for further investigation. Police said a case was already registered against Ravinder in connection with a robbery bid at a private bank in Jaipur.

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Digital EditorThe Bombay High Court has directed the Maharashtra government to take immediate steps for constituting the State Advisory Board for effective implementation of provisions of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016. A division bench of justices N H Patil and N W Sambre directed the government to file a report by March 16 on what progress it has made on the issue. It was hearing a PIL by NGOs 'All India Handicapped' and 'Rashtriya Apang Vikas Mahasangh' on the issue of providing facilities and amenities to the differently-abled persons. The petitioners' lawyers informed the bench last week that the Supreme Court had in December 2017 directed all state governments and Union territories to immediately set up advisory board within three months. However, the Maharashtra government has till date not complied with the apex court order, the high court was told. Additional government pleader G W Mattos told the HC that the state government has taken necessary steps towards finalisation of the scheme and that various ministries are involved in getting information for framing the scheme. "We direct the State to take urgent necessary steps to constitute the State Advisory Board within six weeks," the court said. The bench has posted the petitions for further hearing on March 16 by when the government will have to file a report on what progress it has made on the issue. The apex court had in its December 2017 order said it was every state government's duty to constitute an advisory board and in-turn provide proper and safe access to roads, transport, buildings and public places to differently-abled persons so that they could enjoy a meaningful life and contribute to the progress of the nation.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The disqualified Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs today told the Delhi High Court that their disqualification as legislators will not arise till it is proved that they were getting pecuniary benefits by holding the posts of parliamentary secretary.

"Disqualification will not arise, unless it is proved that we are getting any pecuniary benefits out of our posts," a bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Chander Shekhar was told by counsel for some of the disqualified AAP leaders.

Senior advocate K V Viswanathan, appearing for some of the AAP MLAs, argued that no pecuniary benefit was received by these lawmakers who were appointed as parliamentary secretaries, and the EC did not consider vital materials while arriving at its decision recommending their disqualification.

"The Election Commission (EC) did not consider the aspect of what benefits they had derived while ruling that they held offices of profit," the senior counsel submitted.

He said the poll panel's order needs to be set aside as there were more than one reason to do so.

The MLAs made their submissions during the nearly three-hour long hearing of their pleas challenging their disqualification for holding offices of profit.

They denied having received any remuneration, monetary benefit or perks, including official vehicles, in their capacity as parliamentary secretaries. The MLA's counsel also denied that they had access to the files of the ministers.

The arguments on behalf of the MLAs, which remained inconclusive, will resume tomorrow.

Earlier, the MLAs had claimed that they were held guilty of holding office of profit by the EC without giving them an opportunity to explain their stand.

The high court had on January 24 refused to stay the Centre's notification disqualifying the MLAs, but restrained the EC from taking any "precipitate measures" such as announcing dates for by polls to fill the vacancies.

The EC had recommended the disqualification of 20 AAP MLAs on January 19. The President had accepted the EC's opinion the very next day.

The 20 disqualified MLAs include Adarsh Shastri (Dwarka), Alka Lamba (Chandni Chowk), Anil Bajpai (Gandhi Nagar), Avtar Singh (Kalkaji), Kailash Gahlot (Najafgarh) -- who is also a minister, Madan Lal (Kasturba Nagar), Manoj Kumar (Kondli), Naresh Yadav (Mehrauli), Nitin Tyagi (Laxmi Nagar), Praveen Kumar (Jangpura).

The others are Rajesh Gupta (Wazirpur), Rajesh Rishi (Janakpuri), Sanjeev Jha (Burari), Sarita Singh (Rohtas Nagar), Som Dutt (Sadar Bazar), Sharad Kumar (Narela), Shiv Charan Goel (Moti Nagar), Sukhbir Singh (Mundka), Vijendar Garg (Rajinder Nagar) and Jarnail Singh (Tilak Nagar).

The Delhi High Court had on September 8, 2016, set aside their appointment as parliamentary secretaries on the grounds that they were appointed without the concurrence of the Lieutenant Governor.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The DMK has decided to convene an "all-party meeting" on the Cauvery issue in which actor Kamal Haasan, who will launch his party this week, has agreed to attend, party working president M K Stalin has said.

The DMK took the decision as the AIADMK government was not paying heed to its demand of holding an all-party meeting in the wake of the Supreme Court reducing the quantum of water from Cauvery river to the state, he told reporters here on Sunday night.

"As an opposition party, we have decided to convene an all-party meeting and will invite the AIADMK which is the ruling party... we will also invite the BJP," Stalin said, without mentioning the date of the proposed meeting.

"Not only that... I have invited Kamal Haasan, who is going to launch his party on February 21. He has assured us about his participation," he added.

To a query on actors Haasan and Rajinikanth's political foray, the DMK working president said anyone can enter

The Supreme Court had on February 16 directed the Karnataka government to release 177.25 tmcft of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu, reducing the quantum specified by the tribunal in 2007.

The DMK has accused the state government of inept handling of the case in the apex court.The Supreme Court, which is seized of a petition seeking re-investigation into the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, was on Monday told that there were some crucial documents procured from the US's Library of Congress which showed evidence of a "larger conspiracy" behind the killing of the Father of the Nation.

A bench comprising Justices S A Bobde and L Nageswara Rao said such material has to be brought before it along with an application.

Mumbai-based Dr Pankaj Phadnis, a trustee of charitable trust Abhinav Bharat who has filed a petition in this regard, told the bench that the documents, which he had received from the US, contained material which are "banned" by the government here.

He said he has also got a letter from a US-based attorney who has said that forensic evidence could be obtained in the case.

"We will see this. It seems attractive but we will see whether it can be done," the bench told him after he referred to the letter by an attorney regarding the admissibility of evidence in courts in New York.

The bench said that now with technology, it was possible to get the forensic evidence but it would see whether the case was required to be re-investigated. At the outset, the bench told Phadnis and senior advocate Amarender Sharan, who is assisting the court as an amicus curiae in the matter, that it would hear arguments in the matter on a 'non-miscellaneous day'.

Phadnis, who appeared in person in the case, told the bench that he had returned from New York and got documents related to the case from the Library of Congress.

"This (documents) shows evidence of larger conspiracy in Mahatma Gandhi's assassination. Government of India has banned this. I have got these documents from the USA. I have also filed a petition in the Bombay High Court to lift the ban," he told the bench while seeking to place on record the documents which were in a sealed cover.

However, the apex court asked him to file the material along with an application to produce the documents on record. "If you want to produce something in the court, you tell us what it is, why it was not produced in court earlier and what is its bearing in your case," the bench said.

The petitioner said if he opened the seal of the documents, it might be an offence since the government has banned these documents in India. The bench asked him to file the documents with an application and posted the matter for hearing on March 6.

The top court had earlier asked him to satisfy it on the aspects of delay and his locus to raise the issue, while making it clear that it would only go by law and not the stature of the person involved in the case. Phadnis has sought re-opening of investigation on several grounds claiming it was one of the biggest cover-ups in the history.

The amicus had filed a report in the court saying there was no need to re-investigate Mahatma's assassination case as the conspiracy behind the murder and identity of assailant Nathuram Vinayak Godse who had fired the bullets have already been duly established.

However, the petitioner had later claimed in his affidavit that the alleged conspirators were hanged even before the murder trial had attained legal finality from the top court. Gandhi was shot dead at point blank range in New Delhi on January 30, 1948 by Godse, a right-wing advocate of Hindu nationalism.

The assassination case had led to the conviction and execution of Nathuram Vinayak Godse and Narayan Apte on November 15, 1949. The petitioner has questioned the 'three bullet theory' relied upon by various courts to hold conviction of Godse and Apte, who were hanged, and Vinayak Damodar Savarkar who was given benefit of doubt due to lack of evidence.

Phadnis has challenged the decision of the Bombay High Court which on June 6, 2016 had dismissed his plea on two grounds -- firstly, that the findings of fact have been recorded by the competent court and confirmed right up to the apex court, and secondly, the Kapur Commission has submitted its report and made observations in 1969, while the present petition has been filed 46 years later.US President's son Jr, who is in India on a business trip, will hold a closed-door meeting with top industrialists in the capital on Wednesday.

The luncheon meeting at Birla House will be hosted by Congress leader Milind Deora and business leaders Deepak Parekh and Shobhana Bhartiya, sources said.

Jr will attend another high-profile closed-door business event in Mumbai, which will be hosted by the Bombay Club.

While only 20 top business leaders have been invited, sources have confirmed that Sunil Bharti Mittal will be in attendance.

Rest of the names on the list are protected due to security reasons. Also, no political leaders from Delhi are on the list.The Meghalaya election office today sought 10 more companies of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) for the troubled Garo Hills region of the north-eastern state after Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) candidate Jonathone N Sangma was killed in an IED blast last night.

The NCP demanded that the probe into the killing of its Williamnagar candidate be handed over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

Sangma and three others were killed in an improvised explosive device (IED) blast triggered by militants in the Samanda area of East Garo Hills district last night. Three others, who were critically injured in the attack, are being treated in Guwahati.

The 60-member Meghalaya Assembly is scheduled to go to the polls on February 27.

Polling for the Williamnagar Assembly seat has been countermanded as per the Representation of the People Act, District Election Officer R Kumar said.

''We have sought the deployment of 10 more companies of CAPFs in areas sensitive to armed militant activities,'' Meghalaya's Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) F R Kharkongor told PTI.

The Ministry of Home Affairs had approved the deployment of 100 companies of CAPFs in poll-bound Meghalaya and these forces have arrived in the state in batches.

The CEO said of the 3,083 polling stations in the north-eastern state, 536 were categorised as "vulnerable", 444 as "critical", 67 as "vulnerable and critical" and the rest were normal.

Kharkongor admitted that "quite a number'' of polling stations in East Garo Hills district, where the attack took place last night, were vulnerable to militant activities.

State Director General of Police S B Singh has proceeded to the Garo Hills to review the security situation in the area and intensify the combing operations in the vulnerable pockets.

A deputy inspector general-level officer will be stationed at Williamnagar to supervise the ongoing operations against the militants, state political department commissioner and secretary said in a statement.

''The district deputy commissioners and superintendents of police have been advised to review and properly assess the security requirements of all the candidates and the intelligence machinery has also been geared up so that such incidents can be prevented,'' the statement read.

''The case related to the murder (of Sangma) should be handed over to the NIA,'' state NCP working president Vijay Raj told reporters here.

He added that a complaint was also lodged with the CEO, demanding adequate security to all the candidates of the NCP, which had fielded 21 nominees, including Sangma, for the February 27 polls.

Chief Minister Mukul Sangma, who was the first to confirm the killing of the NCP candidate, had tweeted last night saying the perpetrators of the crime will be brought to book.

Echoing the NCP, the BJP also claimed that the law-and-order situation in Congress-ruled Meghalaya had failed and sought an increased deployment of the central security forces so that the vulnerable segments of voters were protected from any threat.

''The BJP notes with great concern the unprecedented and first in the history of the state's electoral the blatant use of violence to eliminate a political leader,'' the party's national spokesperson, Nalin Kohli, told reporters here.

Meghalaya Congress president Celestine Lyngdoh and working president Vincent Pala, in a joint statement here, said, ''We vehemently condemn the dastardly act, resulting in the death of NCP candidate Jonathone Sangma from Williamnagar and three other persons accompanying him.

The Congress believed that violence could never be the answer to any problem and that participating in the democratic process was the only solution if one wanted to serve and work for the growth and development of society and the state, they added.

''The attack is an assault on democracy and freedom of the people of Meghalaya," National People's Party (NPP) president Conrad K Sangma said in a statement.

Other parties too condemned the killing.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Swedish telecom gear firm Ericsson has appointed Priyanka Anand as vice-president and head of human resources for South East Asia, Oceania and India. "As part of her new role, Priyanka is responsible for leading the HR function across markets like India, Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, Philippines and Bangladesh amongst others," the company said in a statement. Based in India, Priyanka will be a part of the market area leadership team and will report to Nunzio Mirtillo , Head of the Market Area South East Asia, Oceania and India (MOAI). Priyanka has been the Vice President and Head, HR Global Operations at Ericsson between April 2014 to January 2018. Between July 2010 and April 2014, Priyanka was Vice President and Head of HR at Ericsson Global Services.

*** Web portal offers maths, English worksheets for grade 1-6



A web portal, grade1to6, has been launched that offers worksheets for teachers and students of grade 1 to 6 to strengthen their basics and fundamentals in mathematics and English. "The portal offers more than 6,000 worksheets and covers curriculum of Common Core US, the national curriculum of the UK and Singapore, The International Baccalaureate (IB) Primary Years Programme, ICSE, and CBSE," the founder and CEO of grade1to6, Balaji V, said. The portal aims to provide a clear and sound understanding of the subject and encourage children to practice more and polish their skills, the CEO said. "We are also working on a model to provide content writing services for school websites and social media platforms," he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Excess levels of calcium in brain cells may lead to the formation of toxic clusters that are the hallmark of Parkinson's disease, according to a study. Researchers led by the University of Cambridge in the UK found that calcium can mediate the interaction between small membranous structures inside nerve endings, which are important for neuronal signalling in the brain, and alpha-synuclein, the protein associated with Parkinson's disease. Excess levels of either calcium or alpha-synuclein may be what starts the chain reaction that leads to the death of brain cells. The findings, published in the journal Nature Communications, represent another step towards understanding how and why people develop Parkinson's. Parkinson's disease is one of a number of neurodegenerative diseases caused when naturally occurring proteins fold into the wrong shape and stick together with other proteins, eventually forming thin filament-like structures called amyloid fibrils. These amyloid deposits of aggregated alpha-synuclein, also known as Lewy bodies, are the sign of Parkinson's disease. It has not been clear until now what alpha-synuclein actually does in the cell. It is implicated in various processes, such as the smooth flow of chemical signals in the brain and the movement of molecules in and out of nerve endings, but exactly how it behaves is unclear. "Alpha-synuclein is a very small protein with very little structure, and it needs to interact with other proteins or structures in order to become functional, which has made it difficult to study," said Gabriele Kaminski Schierle from Cambridge. Thanks to super-resolution microscopy techniques, it is now possible to look inside cells to observe the behaviour of alpha-synuclein. Researchers isolated synaptic vesicles, part of the nerve cells that store the neurotransmitters which send signals from one nerve cell to another. In neurons, calcium plays a role in the release of neurotransmitters. They observed that when calcium levels in the nerve cell increase, such as upon neuronal signalling, the alpha-synuclein binds to synaptic vesicles at multiple points causing the vesicles to come together. This may indicate that the normal role of alpha-synuclein is to help the chemical transmission of information across nerve cells. "This is the first time we have seen that calcium influences the way alpha-synuclein interacts with synaptic vesicles," said Janin Lautenschlger from Cambridge. "We think that alpha-synuclein is almost like a calcium sensor. In the presence of calcium, it changes its structure and how it interacts with its environment, which is likely very important for its normal function," said Lautenschlger. "There is a fine balance of calcium and alpha-synuclein in the cell, and when there is too much of one or the other, the balance is tipped and aggregation begins, leading to Parkinson's disease," said Amberley Stephens, from Cambridge. Understanding the role of alpha-synuclein in physiological or pathological processes may aid in the development of new treatments for Parkinson's disease. One possibility is that drug candidates developed to block calcium, for use in heart disease for instance, might also have potential against Parkinson's disease.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A fire gutted a textiles market in Haitis capital, less than a week after a blaze partially destroyed a historic market, underscoring authorities failure to ensure public safety. Officials in Port-au-Prince sent in the few fire trucks available to fight the blaze. They were reinforced by private water tankers and police and UN vehicles outfitted with water cannons, normally used for crowd control. The capitals mayor voiced regret at authorities poor capacity to protect people in Haiti, the most impoverished nation in the Americas. "Its the weakness of the state, communities, the weakness of Haiti. This fire could have been avoided but the equipment is not there," Mayor Youri Chevry said. "Its our fault, all of us. "We have a problem and we have to manage our priorities," he stressed. Dozens of vendors sat by helpless. One woman fretted that her children only had her to support them, and that losing her wares meant shed never be able to repay a small loan she took out to start her business. It was not immediately known what started the blaze. Last Tuesday, a fire destroyed one of two halls at the 19th century Iron Market in Port-au-Prince. Damage for the building was estimated at between $5 and 7 million, without including the value of destroyed goods.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Following are the western region highlights for 1700 hrs.

BOM 6 GJ-TRUDEAU



Gandhinagar: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his family offer prayers at the Swaminarayan Akshardham temple here and visits the Sabarmati Ashram as part of their day-long visit to Gujarat.

BOM 7 MH-PARRIKAR-NAIDU



Mumbai: Vice President Venkaiah Naidu visits the Lilavati Hospital to enquire about the health of Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar who is undergoing treatment for a pancreatic ailment.

BOM 3 GJ-DALIT



Ahmedabad: Family members of Dalit activist Bhanubhai Vankar take possession of his body on a written assutance by the Gujarat government to accept their demands, including allotment of land to dalits.

BOM 8 GA-PARRIKAR-SESSION



Panaji: The Budget session of the Goa Legislative Assembly to be curtailed to four days owing to the illness of Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar who is undergoing treatment at a Mumbai hospital.

BOM 1 MH-ACCIDENT



Mumbai: At least five students die and more than 29 hurt in a road mishap in Kolhapur district of western Maharashtra.

BES 4 MP-LEADER-MOLESTATION



Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh police books a BJP leader for allegedly molesting an acid attack survivor.

LGB 2 MH-HC-DISABILITIES ACT



Mumbai: The Bombay High Court directs the Maharashtra government to take immediate steps for constituting the State Advisory Board for effective implementation of provisions of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016.

BCM 12 BIZ-MH-SUMMIT-FADNAVIS



Mumbai: Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis says Maharashtra needs to grow at a 15.4 per cent per annum and focus more on the services sector to become a USD 1-trillion economy by 2025.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Former Uttar Pradesh chief minister N D Tiwari was on Monday shifted to the intensive care unit (ICU) of a private hospital after his condition became "critical" due to fever and blood pressure dropping to a "dangerously low level", his aide said.

The doctors attending him at Max Super Speciality Hospital have said that the next 48 to 72 hours would be "extremely crucial" for the 92-year-old politician, he added.

Around 12 noon, Tiwari contracted fever due to an infection and his heart rate became irregular with blood-pressure dropping to "dangerously low levels", the aide said.

"He was immediately rushed to the ICU in a critical condition," he added.

The team of doctors led by Dr J D Mukherjee (Neurologist) and Dr Sumit Sethi (Cardiologist) are looking after Tiwari.

They have sought various tests related to the heart and brain, the reports of which are awaited.

"The doctors told his son Rohit Shekhar Tiwari that the next 48 to 72 hours will be extremely crucial for Tiwari," the aide said.

Tiwari was admitted to the Max Super Speciality Hospital after he suffered a massive brain-stroke in September last year.

In November, he was shifted out of the ICU as his condition showed improvement.Freedom of speech needed some regulation to protect the rights of others, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu said today, adding that while dissent was acceptable, "disintegration" was not. He also said that of the 700-odd universities in the country, only few "have some problems", while the rest were peaceful. Speaking at a platinum jubilee celebration event of the R A Podar College of Commerce and Economics here, Naidu said, "There is freedom of speech, but it needs some regulations to protect the rights of others as well." "Dissent is agreeable, but disintegration cannot be allowed of the country. This should be understood by one and all. Disintegration, no country can accept. "There are some things that make me worry...There are 740 universities in the country. Out of those, 730 are very peaceful. Only a few universities have some problems. They were in the for unnecessary controversies," he added, without naming any institution. "Somewhere, a university organised a beef festival. If you want to eat, you can eat, but why organise a festival in the college and hurt the sentiments of others? There were some students, who even praised terrorist Afzal Guru," Naidu said. In an apparent reference to the slogans advocating India's disintegration, which were allegedly shouted at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in Delhi, the vice-president said the talk of disintegration had come against the backdrop of "one of our neighbours aiding, abetting, funding and training terrorists and sending (them) here". "I need not explain the dangers of terror to the people of Mumbai, who have gone through 26/11 (terror attacks)," he said. India is one of the fastest growing economies with a predominantly young population and the World Bank as well as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have predicted that it will be the third largest economy in the world in seven years, Naidu pointed out. At the same time, after 70 years of independence, 25 per cent of the population was still below the poverty line and an equal percentage of people could not read or write, he said. "There is also social discrimination in our country, based on caste and gender. We have created these artificial barriers. Caste had come (into being) on account of professions. Now, the professions are changing. People are becoming knowledgeable and doing businesses which were not done earlier. The king is now replaced by a prime minister, through a democratic process," the vice president said. "Go to the Puranas and Vedas, where (you will find that) women were treated equally (to men)," he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Top actor Kamal Haasan, who is all set to launch his political innings on February 21, today expressed confidence that he would succeed with his Dravidian brand of politics.

"You will know when I make it a success," he told reporters when asked about the presence of Dravidian parties in Tamil Nadu and how he could succeed with the same ideology.

The top actor has time and again expressed his appreciation of the Dravidian ideology.

Last month, he had batted for unity among Southern states under the "Dravidian" tag to leverage ties with the Centre.

"It (Dravidian) is our identity, and it will give the southern states a leverage with the Centre," the actor had said.

The Chief Ministers of all southern states --Kerala, Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh-- were all 'Dravidians,' and there was no need to stake claim that only Tamilian was 'Dravidian.'



When the Dravidian identity is "celebrated" across South India, it would lead to a united "chorus" that would reach New Delhi, he had said.

Meanwhile, continuing with his meeting of leaders ahead of the launch of his poltical party, Haasan today visited DMDK chief Vijayakanth.

He said he visited Vijayakanth since he was senior to him in politics. "He greeted me and expressed his happiness for coming to politics," he said.

Yesterday, the veteran actor had visited DMK President M Karunanidhi and superstar Rajinikanth, saying he waas calling on those "whom I like" before the formal launch of his party on February 21.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Madras High Courttoday directed the Tamil Nadu government to pay due compensation to the families of three manual scavengers who died while cleaning a septic tank at a hotel in Kancheepuram district last week.

The first bench of Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice Abdul Quddhose gave the direction when A Narayanan, representing Change India NGO, made a mention of the death of three persons while performing manual scavenging at the hotel in Sriperumbudur, 50 km from here, on February 14.

To this the bench said, "They must be compensated immediately."



Requesting the bench to take up the public interest litigation (PIL) with regard to manual scavenging, Narayanan submitted that despite awareness being created about the social evil, the employment of manual scavengers continued.

On his part, the government counsel submitted that already two persons were arrested in connection with the incident and more arrests are likely to be made.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Kerala High Court today set aside the appointment of Babu Sebastain as the vice chancellor of the Mahatma Gandhi University holding that he lacked requisite qualifications required for the post.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Antony Dominic and justice Dama Sheshadri Naidu found that Sebastian was not qualified to be the vice chancellor as he lacked the requisite qualifications prescribed for the post as stipulated by the University Grants Commission.

The court gave the order on a public interest litigation by one Prem Kumar challenging the appointment.

As per the requirement, 10 years teaching experience and professorship, besides research experience was required for the appointment.

Sebastian was only an associate professor in an aided college.

The qualification considered for his appointment was his 10-and-a-half years experience in the state institute of technology.

The court found that it cannot be considered as a qualification for the appointment of Vice Chancellor.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A division bench of the Delhi High Court today referred to a larger bench questions pertaining to the arrest of an accused in a money laundering case.

The issue concerns two provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) relating to the power to arrest a person and the need to supply the grounds of arrest to him under section 19 and whether the offence is cognisable or non-cognisable under section 45.

A bench of Justices S Muralidhar and I S Mehta said it did not concur with the view taken by another division bench of the high court on section 19 of the PMLA.

The bench said it has a view different from the other bench which interpreted section 19 in the case of businessman Moin Akhtar Qureshi and Vakamulla Chandrashekhar holding that the phrase 'as soon as may be' in the provision implies that the grounds of arrest need not be supplied at the time of arrest and the failure to do so would not render the arrest illegal.

"Consistent with judicial discipline, since this bench is of the view that the decisions of the coordinate bench of this court in Moin Akhtar Qureshi vs Union of India (supra) and Vakamulla Chandrashekhar vs Enforcement Directorate (supra) require reconsideration, it refers to a larger Bench, the following questions for consideration...," the bench of Justice Muralidhar and Mehta said.

Regarding section 45 of the Act, the bench said the other bench had come to an opposite conclusion holding that, notwithstanding the 2005 amendment to the provision, there is no positive indication in it that the offences under the PMLA had become non-cognisable.

It said the matter be placed before the Acting Chief Justice for being referred to a larger bench to answer the five questions including that after the amendment in section 45 of the PMLA with effect from July 1, 2005, are the offences under the Act cognisable or non-cognisable.

One of the questions posed by the bench was whether a person arrested under section 19(1) (power of arrest) of PMLA has to be furnished a copy of the grounds of arrest and if so, should they be furnished soon enough to enable the person arrested to apply for bail or to oppose the application for remand and what are the consequences of the failure to do so.

"Notwithstanding that the remand of the person arrested is under the orders of a competent court under the PMLA, will a writ of habeas corpus still be maintainable if the initial arrest is itself shown to be unlawful?



"In the context of the above questions, do the decisions of the division bench of this Court in Vakamulla Chandrashekhar vs Enforcement Directorate (supra) Moin Akhtar Qureshi v. Union of India (supra) require reconsideration," it asked.

A habeas corpus plea is a petition which is filed to ensure that a person under arrest is brought before a court which will determine whether the detention is legal.

However, the bench headed by Justice Muralidhar said it was unable to subscribe to the view of the other bench on the interpretation of section 19 and said it appeared to this court that there can ordinarily be nothing secret, qua the detenu, about his own grounds of arrest.

It was of the view that the interpretation placed on section 19 (1) PMLA by the other division bench in Qureshi's matter does not appear to be consistent with the constitutional requirement as spelt out in Articles 21 and 22 of the Constitution and, therefore requires reconsideration.

The issue cropped up before the bench when it was deciding a habaeus corpus plea and challenge to the arrest by the director of a Gujarat-based pharma firm in a money laundering case related to a Rs 5,000-crore bank fraud case.

Rajbhushan Omprakash Dixit, a director of Sterling Biotech Ltd, was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on January 25 in the case and was currently in judicial custody.

The high court had termed Dixit's arrest as illegal and granted him bail during the pendency of the writ petition.

ED has also arrested a former director of Andhra Bank, Anup Prakash Garg and a Delhi-based businessman Gagan Dhawan. While Garg is currently in judicial custody, Dhawan was granted bail in January 4. All three were arrested under the PMLA.

They were named as accused in the cases by the ED and the CBI. The ED had registered a money laundering case after taking cognisance of a CBI FIR.

The CBI had booked Sterling Biotech, its directors Rajbhushan, Chetan Jayantilal Sandesara, Dipti Chetan Sandesara, Nitin Jayantilal Sandesara and Vilas Joshi, chartered accountant Hemant Hathi, Garg and some unidentified persons in connection with the bank fraud case.

It had alleged that the company had taken loans of over Rs 5,000 crore from a consortium led by Andhra Bank which had turned into non-performing assets.

The FIR had also alleged that the total pending dues of the group companies were Rs 5,383 crore as on December 31, 2016.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)T T V Dhinakaran, leader of the AIADMK (Amma) faction, today told the Delhi High Court that he needed a temporary name and symbol for his group to interact with the electorate in the eventuality of elections to local bodies or any other polls held before his claim to the party's symbol is decided. The contention on behalf of Dhinakaran was made before Justice Rekha Palli who reserved judgement on his application seeking temporary allocation of the 'pressure cooker' symbol to his faction which also includes V K Sasikala. The Sasikala-Dhinakaran faction has also given a list of three names -- All India Amma Anna Dhravidar Munnetra Kazhagam, MGR Amma Dravidar Munnetra Kazhagam and MGR Amma Dhravidar Kazhagam -- seeking that one of them be temporarily allotted to them. The court has already heard the arguments on behalf of the Election Commission (EC) and the AIADMK faction of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister E K Palaniswami and his deputy O Panneerselvam, who have opposed the plea for interim relief. During the day's proceedings, senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for the Sasikala-Dhinakaran faction, told the court that it, as well as the EC, had the power to grant them the interim relief. The Palaniswami-Panneerselvam faction and EC had earlier argued that the high court cannot grant any such interim order. The Sasikala-Dhinakaran faction also contended that if it was granted a temporary name and symbol, no prejudice would be caused to the other side as they already have a name - AIADMK - and a symbol - 'two leaves' - and therefore, they have "no locus" to oppose the plea for interim relief. It has argued that not granting them a temporary name or symbol, to enable it to "associate" and interact with the people and engage in political activities, would result in denial of a level-playing field to it. It's lawyers also said there was no need to wait for the announcement of an election to grant a name and symbol to the faction as by then it would be too late and "irreversible damage" would have already been done to its political prospects. "We should not be hounded out. We also enjoy the support of some members of the state legislative assembly and some Members of Parliament," Sibal argued. The EC and the Palaniswami-Panneerselvam faction had earlier argued that there was no urgency for grant of any temporary relief to the Sasikala-Dhinakaran faction as no elections have been announced till date. The application for using a suitable name and symbol was moved in Sasikala-Dhinakaran faction's main petitions challenging the poll panel's November 23, 2017 decision holding the Palaniswami-Panneerselvam faction as the real AIADMK and allotting them the 'two-leaves' symbol. They application has sought the allocation of a suitable name and symbol only till the pendency of the main petition, claiming that otherwise the EC might declare it as a separate party. Dhinakaran had won the bye-elections held in Radha Krishnan Nagar Assembly constituency in December last year under the 'pressure cooker' symbol with a margin of over 40,000 votes. On December 4 last year, the high court had declined to grant any interim relief to V K Sasikala-Dhinakaran faction of the AIADMK by dismissing their plea to use the 'hat' symbol in the by-poll to the R K Nagar assembly constituency. The court had left the decision to the Returning Officer who had allotted the 'pressure cooker' symbol to Dhinakaran for the by-poll held on December 21, 2017. The 'hat' symbol was given to the Sasikala-Dhinakaran group by the EC in March 2017 after it froze the use of the 'two-leaves' symbol to which the group led by Palaniswami and Panneerselvam had also laid claim. The Palaniswami-Panneerselvam faction had at the same time been granted the 'electric pole' symbol. However, on November 23, 2017, the poll panel had ruled in favour of Palaniswami-Panneerselvam faction by allotting the 'two-leaves' symbol to them. The symbol issue has been lingering since April in the aftermath of the announcement of by-poll to Radha Krishnan Nagar constituency in Tamil Nadu following the death of AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa in December 2016. Earlier, rival factions led by Sasikala and Panneerselvam had staked claim over the symbol. Palaniswami was then in the Sasikala camp. Later, a large number of legislators led by Palaniswami revolted against Sasikala.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Former promoters of India's Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd were directed by the Delhi High Court on Monday to maintain status quo on the assets they have disclosed during Japanese pharma major Daiichi Sankyos case to enforce a Rs 3.5 billion international arbitral award against them.

The court restrained the former Ranbaxy promoters and brothers, Malvinder Singh and Shivinder Singh, and 12 others from selling or transferring their shares or any movable or immovable property till February 26, the next date of hearing, as disclosed by them before the high court earlier.

They have disclosed their assets to the court in sealed covers on two occasions in December 2016 and March 2017 during the pendency of Daiichi's plea seeking enforcement of the 2016 arbitral award passed by a Singapore tribunal against the Singh brothers.

"Respondents to maintain status quo with regard to their assets disclosed as on December 2, 2016, and March 14, 2017, in their affidavits till the next date of hearing, February 26," Justice Jayant Nath said.

The court also directed the brothers and 12 others, including their family members and companies, to come up with a plan on how they seek to deposit the amount of Rs 3.5 billion.

A tribunal in Singapore had passed the award in favour of Daiichi holding that the Singh brothers had concealed information that the Indian company was facing a probe by the US Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Justice while selling its shares.

The high court on January 31 had upheld the international arbitral award passed in the favour of Daiichi and paved the way for enforcement of the 2016 tribunal award against the brothers who had sold their shares in Ranbaxy to Daiichi in 2008 for Rs 9.57 billion.

Sun Pharmaceuticals Ltd had later acquired the company from Daiichi. It had however said that the award was not enforceable against five minors, who were also shareholders in Ranbaxy, saying they cannot be held guilty of having perpetrated a fraud either themselves or through an agent.

Daiichi had moved the high court seeking direction to the brothers to take steps towards paying its Rs 3.5 billion arbitration award, including depositing the amount. It has also urged the court to attach their assets, which may be used to recover the award.

During the day's hearing, senior advocates Arvind Nigam and P V Kapur, appearing for Daiichi, claimed that they do not have faith over the brothers as they have siphoned off a large amount of money and sought that the court should freeze their assets at least till the next date of hearing.

Singhs' lawyer sought a short adjournment as the main counsel was not available and told the court that they would come up with a plan for the next hearing.

The court said, "you have to give a plan and strategy as to how you will go about it. You should deposit some amount of money. As the amount is large, one can give you some liberty, but you have to give a plan."



On February 16, the Supreme Court had dismissed Singh brothers' appeal against the high court verdict upholding the international arbitral award, saying it was not inclined to interfere with it.

Daiichi, in its fresh application in the high court, has said that it has started the process of enforcing the award against the Singhs and other respondents, excluding the brother's children, who are minors.

Daiichi had approached the high court in 2016 to seek the enforcement of a Rs 2.5 billion Singapore arbitral award passed in April 2016, along with an additional claim of interest and lawyers' fees incurred in connection with the proceedings.

The tribunal's award had come after the Japanese company invoked arbitration clause against Singhs alleging that they concealed important information while selling Ranbaxy in 2008.

Daiichi had entered into a settlement agreement with the US Department of Justice, agreeing to pay USD 500 million penalty to resolve potential, civil and criminal liability.

The company had then sold its stake in Ranbaxy to Sun Pharmaceuticals for Rs 22.6 billion in 2015. Singhs' counsel had argued the award granted consequential damages which were beyond the jurisdiction of the arbitral tribunal and the award cannot be enforced under the provision of the Arbitration Act.

They had alleged that Daiichi was fully aware of all facts and still chose to retain the Ranbaxy shares, instead of terminating the agreement and returning them.

Regarding the award amount, the court said it was clearly within the domain of the arbitral tribunal to assess damages.

The Delhi Debts Recovery Tribunal (DRT) has recently restrained Malvinder Singh, the co-owner of Fortis Healthcare, from selling a posh property in Lutyen's Delhi and some other assets in a bank loan default case.Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jairam Thakur today met Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and sought setting up of a "Himachal Regiment" in the Army.

Thakur said the creation of such a regiment would help recognise the gallant services of soldiers from the state in the defence forces, noting that more than 1,200 personnel laid down their lives and 1,100 were conferred gallantry awards, including four Param Vir Chakras.

During his meeting with the defence minister, the chief minister said the armed forces were the most preferred career choice for Himachal Pradesh's youth, but the recruitment quota for the state had been reduced after the implementation of the RMP (Recruitable Male Population) concept.

He urged the minister for increasing the same, according to a state government statement.

The chief minister also sought the development of the Kangra airport for airforce, saying it could serve as an alternative to the Pathankot airport.

He said it would require acquisition of additional 571 acre land, the cost of which would need to be met by the Defence Ministry.

He also asked for an assurance that civilian flights would continue to operate from the airport even after its development as a defence asset.

The chief minister requested for the ministry's support in shifting war equipment to Dharamshala's War Memorial which was constructed as a tribute to brave martyrs.

He also urged for taking forward the case of Manali-Leh railway line which is strategically important to the nation from the defence point of view.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Hyderabad police have sent a notice to the director of the upcoming Malayalam film "Oru Adaar Love", seeking his reply in a case lodged against him for 'hurting religious sentiments'.

Some local persons had lodged a complaint that lyrics of the song 'Manikya Malaraya poovi' in the Omar Lulu-directed film hurt the sentiments of Muslims.

Police registered a case against Omar Lulu on February 14 under section 295A of the IPC (hurting religious sentiments).

Two days ago, a notice was issued to the director under section 160 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, seeking his reply within 15 days, a police officer said.

Under the section, a police officer can call a person for questioning with regard to a case under investigation.

"As part of the investigation, a notice has been sent to the director seeking his reply," Assistant Commissioner of Police (Falaknuma division) Syed Fayaz told PTI today.

A clip from the song, featuring Priya Prakash Varrier, has gone viral on social media.

Police had earlier said they would also consult Muslim clerics for the purpose of probe.

On February 15, city-based Islamic seminary Jamia Nizamiahad issued a 'fatwa', demanding that government remove the song, following a complaint alleging that it hurt Muslim sentiments.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Frances McDormand continued her award season triumph by bagging her first Bafta for her role of an angry mother in "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" and as she took to the stage to accept the trophy, she won over the audience with her sassy speech. McDormand, who bucked the trend of black gowns, which has become synonymous with protests against sexual harassment, pointed to her long-sleeved, print-heavy dress and said, "I have a little trouble with compliance. But I want you to know that I stand in full solidarity with my sisters tonight in black." "I appreciate a well-organised act of civil disobedience, and I am thrilled that activists all over the world have been inspired by the set decoration of the Three Billboards in Martins film. Let it be a part of positive discourse," she added referring to the protests after the deadly shooting at a high school in the US recently. The 60-year-old actor, who is a strong contender at the Oscars next month where she is vying for her second Best Actress trophy, has already won Golden Globe and SAG awards for her performance in the Martin McDonagh-directed movie about a disgruntled mother fighting for the justice for her raped and murdered teenage daughter. She is also one of the few actors to have the Triple Crown of Acting -- Oscar for "Fargo", a Tony Award for "Good People" and an Emmy Award for "Olive Kitteridge". Praising the studios for shepherding two women-led films -- "Three Billboards and Guillermo del Toro's "The Shape of Water", the actor said these films are not only entertaining but they also "encourage a longer and broader cultural conversation". McDormand had the audience in splits while talking about her beginning as an actor in the drama school. "When I was a young actor in drama school, I was told that I was not naturally gifted and I'll have to work at it. And so I did," she said as she thanked directors -- the Coen Brothers, Wes Anderson and McDonagh for helping her realise "my hidden potential".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Adoption of digital technology for better governance has always been central to the Indian government's policy and the country is committed to carrying out reforms in health sector by using it, Union Health Minister J P Nadda said today. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has great potential in improving delivery of healthcare services, he said and stressed on building digital health ecosystem in partnership with private healthcare providers, academia, industry, patient groups and regulatory bodies. Nadda was addressing the Global Digital Health Partnership Summit, at Canberra in Australia. Improving health service delivery, compliance of people towards health and care, engaging citizens in partnering with government for planning and management of health services delivery and improving governance are four areas where India has implemented digital technology in healthcare," the minister said. He informed the gathering that his ministry has rolled out large scale IT systems in different areas of healthcare ecosystem such as integrated health surveillance program, public health management, hospital information system and tele-medicine, among others. "Such initiatives include systems for obtaining reliable information and near real-time data for policymaking, ensuring efficient program and service delivery," Nadda said. About Indias National Health Portal, the minister said, Total users of the portal till date are over 2.6 million and over 2.2 million calls were made by citizens till date. Content of the portal is currently available in six Indian languages." Providing the website's content in six more languages is being planned, he said. Nadda said Hospital Information System is being implemented for automation of hospital processes to achieve better efficiency and service delivery in public health facilities up to community health centre level. The health minister reiterated the government's commitment in creating integrated digital health platform and enabling creation of electronic health record for 1.3 billion people of India. We wish to enable hospitals and health service providers to do so by giving them free software systems and data storage facilities. In addition, we wish to use big data analytics to prioritise our interventions and become proactive in solving healthcare challenges of our citizen, Nadda said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Indian-American lawmaker Raja Krishnamoorthi has formed a bipartisan Congressional Solar Caucus to advance issues relating to the renewable energy and solar technology production sectors.

Krishnamoorthi, a Democrat, co-funded the Congressional Caucus along with Republican Ralph Norman of South Carolina.

A Congressional Caucus comprises a group of members of the US Congress that meets to pursue common legislative objectives.

"The Solar Caucus will work on a bipartisan basis to find common ground to tackle issues facing solar business and communities," said Delhi-born Krishnamoorthi, a Member of the US House of Representatives from Illinois's 8th district.

As the former president of a solar firm in the Chicago suburbs, he is the first Member of Congress to come from the solar industry.

The Caucus will raise awareness for how policymakers, business leaders and academic experts can work together to foster jobs, growth and America's leadership in the solar industry, Krishnamoorthi said.

Norman said that the solar industry, a major leader in economic growth, is booming across the country and providing quality jobs.

"We will focus on how the industry, as a whole, can continue to create jobs, increase investments and strengthen American competitiveness," he said.

Norman joined his father's property and construction business right after college to help it grow into one of South Carolina's most successful commercial real estate developers.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A group of Indian lawmakers today met Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Tokyo as part of ongoing efforts to strengthen maritime security cooperation, improving connectivity in the Indo-Pacific region between the two nations, an official statement said.

The Indian delegation comprised leaders cutting across party lines, including Baijayant Jay Panda (BJD), Bharatendra Singh (BJP), Vivek Tankha (Congress), P D Rai (Sikkim Democratic front) and Jaydev Galla (Telugu Desam Party), it said.

These talks are significant in evolving relationship between our countries through enhancing maritime security cooperation, improving connectivity in the wider Indo-Pacific region, and strengthening cooperation with ASEAN, Panda, who is leading the delegation, was quoted as saying in a statement.

The delegation, which arrived in Tokyo yesterday, will be in Japan till February 25 where it is scheduled to meet with various high-ranking officers, ambassadors and thought leaders of the country.

Last year, there were several ministerial-level visits between the two countries which included Japans Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Hiroshige Seko visiting India.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharam, who was then the Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Commerce and Industry had visited Japan.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and the then NITI Aayog vice chairman Arvind Panagariya had been on official visits to Japan in 2017.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Iranian rescue teams resumed their search today for a passenger plane that disappeared high in the Zagros mountains the previous day with 66 people onboard, local media reported.

State television said the weather had improved after blizzard conditions hampered search efforts Sunday, and that helicopters were now able to take part in the hunt for Aseman Airlines flight EP3704.

The authorities had called off the rescue effort overnight as heavy snow and rain made it impossible to work.

The ATR-72 twin-engine plane, in service for 25 years, left the capitals Mehrabad airport at around 8:00 am (0430 GMT) on Sunday and was heading towards the city of Yasuj, some 500 kilometres to the south.

It is thought to have crashed on the Dena mountain of Irans southwestern Zagros range, but one official said there could be as many as 100 peaks to search in the vast and remote area.

"The visibility in the defined search area is not very good and there is turbulence, so these safety concerns must be taken into account," Morteza Dehghan of the Civil Aviation Organisation told state television. "Despite all these conditions, both land and air teams are active. As soon as permission is given, drones will be used as well."



Around 100 mountaineer rescue workers were deployed today, state television said.

Frances air safety agency BEA said it would take part in the investigation led by Britains Air Accidents Investigation Branch.

"Three investigators and our technical advisers will go to the site," a BEA spokesman told AFP.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)An Iraqi court has sentenced a German teenager to six years in jail for membership of the Islamic State group and illegal entry into the country, a judicial source said today.

The source told AFP that the girl, aged 17, was on Sunday handed a five-year term for belonging to IS and one year in prison for crossing illegally into Iraq.

On January 21, a German woman of Moroccan origin was sentenced to death by hanging on charges of providing "logistical support and helping the terrorist group to carry out crimes".

The two Germans are among hundreds of foreign suspected jihadists held by Iraqi authorities, who in December announced the defeat of IS after a gruelling three-year battle.

According to media reports in Germany, the condemned woman, named Lamia K, had left Mannheim in August 2014. She was arrested by Iraqi forces during the final stages last July of the battle for the northern city of Mosul.

At least two other German women are being held in prison in Iraq, including the teenager Linda W., who had disappeared from home in the summer of 2016, shortly after converting to Islam.

The girl from Pulsnitz in Saxony, in a meeting with German journalists in Baghdad last summer, said she wanted to return to her family and regretted her actions.

In a separate case, a suspected French jihadist, who had been sentenced to seven months in prison for illegal entry, was on Monday ordered released and deported on the basis of time served.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)An Iraqi court ordered the release and deportation of a suspected French jihadist sentenced today to seven months in prison for entering the country illegally, saying she had already served her time.

Melina Bougedir, 27, was arrested last summer in former Islamic State group stronghold Mosul with her four children, three of whom have been repatriated to France.

Wearing a black dress and purple headscarf, she entered the courtroom holding her other child, a boy with blond hair.

Speaking in Arabic, she said that she had been a housewife in Mosul.

"I entered Syria with my French passport but Daesh (IS) took it from me. I stayed in Syria for four days and then came to Mosul with my husband and four children".

She said that her French husband Maximilien, whom she said had been a cook for IS, was killed as Iraqi forces battled to oust the jihadist group from Mosul, which was recaptured last July.

Asked her if she regretted what she did, she replied: "Yes".

Iraq in December declared victory against IS after a years-long battle to retake large swathes of territory the extremists had seized in 2014.

An Iraqi court last month condemned a German woman to death by hanging after finding her guilty of belonging to IS, the first such sentence in a case involving a European woman.

Soon afterwards, lawyers for Bougedir and another French woman awaiting trial in Iraq for allegedly joining IS wrote to French President Emmanuel Macron warning that they could face the death penalty.

Several dozen French citizens suspected of links to the jihadist group are believed to be in detention camps or prisons in Syria and Iraq.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said in Baghdad last week that suspected jihadists should be tried in the countries where they committed their "crimes", while reiterating Frances opposition to the death penalty.

Britain has also taken a firm stance against repatriation, as has Belgium which denied a request by one of its nationals to be sent home from Iraq in exchange for cooperating with the authorities.

Several hundred foreigners, both men and women, are thought to have been detained in Iraq for alleged links to IS.

In December, a Swedish man of Iraqi origin was among 38 people executed after being convicted of "terrorism".

And on Sunday an Iraqi court sentenced a Turkish woman to death and 11 other foreign widows to life in jail for belonging to IS, despite their pleas that they had been duped or forced by their husbands to join them in Iraq.

A total of 509 foreign women, including 300 Turks, are being held in Iraq with 813 children, according to a security source.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)An Israeli energy company today announced a USD 15 billion deal to supply natural gas to Egypt, in the largest export agreement to date for Israel's nascent natural gas industry.

Delek Drilling and its US partner, Noble Energy, signed a deal to sell a total of 64 billion cubic meters of gas over a 10-year period to Egyptian company Dolphinus Holdings.

Yossi Abu, chief executive of Delek Drilling, called the deal "great news" for both countries.

He said he expects most of the gas to be used for Egypt's domestic market, but predicted it could pave the way for wider cooperation and help turn Egypt into an export hub for Israeli gas.

"I think that the main thing is that Egypt is becoming the real gas hub of the region," he said.

Egypt was the first Arab country to make peace with Israel, in 1979, but past economic agreements have been controversial in Egypt, where support for the Palestinians runs high. There was no immediate comment from Egyptian officials.

The gas will be delivered from Israel's Tamar gas field, which is already operational, and the larger "Leviathan" field, which is set to go online in late 2019. The gas is expected to begin flowing late next year.

Several routes for shipping the gas are under consideration, with an existing pipeline between Jordan and Egypt a strong contender, Abu said. Israel already delivers gas to Jordan.

Israel has been developing natural gas fields off its Mediterranean coast for the past decade. In 2016, Delek and Noble signed Israel's first export agreement, reaching a USD 10 billion, 15-year deal to provide 45 billion cubic meters of gas to Jordan.

The gas deals reflect Israel's shared strategic interests with Jordan and Egypt, both of which are important US allies.

Israel maintains quiet security ties with both countries, particularly Egypt, which is battling an Islamic militant insurgency in its Sinai desert, near the Israeli border.

Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz called the deal a "very important milestone."



"It is the first time since the signing of the peace agreements with Egypt and Jordan that there are big, significant, serious export deals between Israel and the Arab world," he told Army Radio.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed what he called "the historic agreement," saying it would provide billions of dollars to state coffers as well.

Netanyahu said the deal validated his governments controversial 2016 agreement with the Delek consortium to develop Israel's gas fields.

Critics, including opposition lawmakers, complained it was skewed in favor of the companies. "This is a joyous day," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)An elderly couple who had sought the president's permission to be allowed to end their lives has decided they are going to die in a "dignified way" -- with the husband first strangling the wife, and then asking that he be hanged for the crime.

Iravati Lavate, 78, today said she had put the instructions in writing.

Lavate and her husband Narayan, 87, had written to President Ram Nath Kovind in December, seeking permission for euthanasia or mercy killing.

She said expecting that permission would not be given, they had decided on the plan and added that it would mean they would both get their death wish.

"Yes, I have written a letter, in Marathi, in the presence of two witnesses, stating that my husband had made a request for active euthanasia for both of us but, anticipating that the President of India would not listen to our plea, we have decided to end our lives in a dignified way," Iravati told PTI.

The couple lives in the Thakurdwar area of South Mumbai.

Iravati worked as a school principal while her husband was a supervisor at the Maharashtra State Transport Corporation.

The couple said they will wait till March 31 to hear from the president's office.

"'After March 31, you (the husband) can strangulate me. After that you will be given the death sentence for murdering me'," she said, quoting from the letter which she has handed over to her husband.

"We chose this option after our efforts to get permission for active euthanasia failed," she said.

The childless couple had said earlier that they wanted euthanasia together because they did not want a situation where one of them outlived the other, and was left "alone and helpless".

They chose not to have a child by mutual consent as they did not want to add to the population, Iravati said.

"Having children in the already over-populous country and the world would have been a social crime. We got all societal benefits, and now we do not have anything to offer to society except our organs, and we are willing to do that (donate the organs). We have approached the (government-run) J J Hospital for donating our organs," she said.

If the Indian Constitution gives people the right to live, it should also give them the right to die in a dignified way, the couple argues.

"I cannot hire contract killers or give them a 'supari' (contract) to kill me. Therefore, the only option left for us is that I kill my wife and hang under the law," said a smiling Narayan Lavate, who was earlier a Right to Information activist.

He has also been pressing for euthanasia, he said.

"I have been advocating euthanasia since 1987, but no government has responded to my plea. You know what happened to Aruna Shanbaug who died in a vegetative state after 42 years," he said.

Shanbaug, a hospital nurse whose brain was damaged when a ward boy assaulted and raped her, remained in a vegetative state for four decades before dying in her hospital bed. Some activists had moved court seeking passive euthanasia for her, which was not granted.

"We don't want to die with ailments. It's time we changed the law and allow euthanasia," he said.

Nitin Lavate, a relative, said friends and family members were trying to make the couple change their mind.

"We have been trying to persuade them not to take such a step. We are optimistic that uncle and aunt will not take such a drastic step," he said.

When asked whether he would really be able to strangle his much loved wife, Narayan said, "I can do that so that she doesn't have to die a painful death after a prolonged illness.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)At least 50 northern Tamil youth, including 11 former LTTE members, have been enlisted to serve the Sri Lanka Armys volunteer force, the military spokesman said today.

They will not be wearing the military uniforms but would be entitled to pension and other related benefits, military spokesman Brigadier Sumith Atapattu said, adding that they will be deployed for agricultural work carried out by the Army.

Among the recruits are 11 former LTTE members who had undergone rehabilitation.

At the end of the three-decade-old separatist war, around 11,000 LTTE cadres had turned themselves over to the Army.

The process of rehabilitation saw them learning life skills in addition to English language training.

Atapattu said there will be more Tamil youth recruited to the military in the near future.

The Tamil youth claimed discrimination in education and opportunities by the majority Sinhala community rule as a reason for them to demand a separate Tamil homeland in the north and east of the island.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Union Minister Jitendra Singh



today said "only a few people" were averse to normalisation of situation in Kashmir while the majority was keen to be part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led development journey in the country.

"There are some elements in Kashmir who do not want the situation to get normal otherwise the youth of valley has moved forwardOnly a few people, whose runs in the chaotic situation, are out to maintain this situation," the minister of state in the Prime Minister's Office told reporters on the sidelines of a function here.

He referred to the selection of 19 Kashmiri boys and girls for the IITs across the country and some more emerging as toppers in the IAS examination over the past couple of years.

"The youth of Kashmir and the common man on the streets of Srinagar have moved ahead and are keen to become the part of the development journey led by Modi," Singh said.

In response to a question about the recent spurt in terror attacks in the state, the Union minister said the militants were on the back foot as they were facing heat because of the anti-militancy operations by the security forces.

About Pakistan, he said it has been left isolated both diplomatically militarily for sponsoring terror activities.

Singh refused to comment on the repeated pleas by Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti pitching for dialogue with Pakistan and said, "I am not qualified to respond to that. It is for the Ministry of External Affairs, Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of Defence to decide.I am not privy to the inputs which qualify me to respond to whether we have talks (with Pakistan) or not.

On repeated ceasefire violations by Pakistan to push infiltrators into this state, he said, "The question is not what Pakistan is doing but the question is what we have to do. The response we are giving (to Pakistan) is not seen in last many years."



He said the Centre was "very supportive" to Jammu and Kashmir and "we have to get ready to seek investment and for that we have to attract investors with incentives".

"The support J&K is enjoying under the leadership of Modi has no match.

"We have to make the situation conducive so that the investors get attracted to invest here which will boost the local business besides providing an opportunity to youngsters to start their own businesses," he said.

When asked whether Article 370 of the constitution was a hurdle for the investors to move into the state, he quipped, "I do not want to get into that".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Indian Railways' decision to drop Malayalam as the medium of examination for the recruitment to Group D employees has evoked strong protest in Kerala with the government and opposition demanding the Centre's intervention.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan urged the Railways to immediately withdraw the decision to exclude Malayalam alone from the list of regional languages, while opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala sent a letter to Railway Minister Piyush Goyal in this regard.

In a Facebook post last night, Vijayan said the Railway's decision was a strong "injustice" to Malayalam, the mother tongue of Kerala, and 3.5 crore people of the southern state.

"Candidates from Kerala will be denied chances, when Malayalam is excluded. The Railway's decision was unjustified," he said.

The Chief Minister also wanted the immediate intervention of the Centre into the matter.

Chennithala, in his letter, said Malayalam was excluded from the list while natives of neighbouring Tamil Nadu and Karnataka were allowed to write the examination in their mother tongue.

The Railways' decision was 'discriminatory' and amounted to denying opportunity for Keralites to write the test in their mother tongue.

Kerala Lok Sabaha MP, M B Rajesh also recently sent a letter to Railway Minister protesting against the railway authority's decision.

(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 slammed the BJP for "boasting" about its new party office in Delhi and said a political party should be humble in its approach. She also wondered where did the funds to build such a huge office come from. "They (BJP) are boasting about inaugurating the world's largest party office. They should be ashamed of it. From where are they getting so much money? A political party should be humble in its approach and should not behave arrogantly," the Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo told a public meeting here. People did not prefer to see a political party sitting on crores of rupees, she said. With an area of over 1.70 lakh sq.ft, the new BJP headquarters in Delhi was bigger than the office of any other political party in the world, party president Amit Shah had said yesterday. The BJP was quick to hit back at Banerjee, saying it had not built the party office by siphoning off public money in the name of chit funds. "We have built the party office with our own funds. Our ministers did not siphon off public money in the name of chit funds," state BJP general secretary Sayantan Basu said. West Bengal was rocked by chit fund scams a few years back and the names of certain TMC leaders had also figured in those. Banerjee also accused the BJP-led central government of helping fraudsters swindle public money and alleged that a conspiracy was hatched in this regard ahead of demonetisation in November, 2016. It was "India's misfortune" that it was being ruled by a party like the BJP, she said. Referring to the alleged fraud at the Punjab National Bank (PNB), the chief minister said, "If you keep money in banks, it will be taken away. If you dig deeper, you will find out that not only PNB, but any other bank is also being looted. Who gave them (fraudsters) protection -- the government has to answer." Alleging that the "big bank fraud" was being planned "from the time of demonetisation", Banerjee said, "What was the central government doing all these days? Instead of giving speeches on television channels and lectures to others, they should act." The BJP-led NDA government had demonetised the old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes on November 8, 2016 in a bid to curb circulation of black money. Criticising the Centre over the proposed Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance (FRDI) Bill, Banerjee claimed that with the help of it, the BJP-led government would take away the depositors' money to bail out banks which were suffering due to huge debts taken by big business houses.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The disciplinary committee of the Delhi Medical Council (DMC) has decided to hear the Max hospital twin baby case early next month, a senior official said today. The case pertains to a baby boy being wrongly declared dead after his birth on November 30 by the upscale private hospital in Shalimar Bagh. The other twin, a girl, was still-born. The infant boy died a week later at a nursing home in Pitampura. "The case came up for hearing on February 16, but the complainant was not present. So, we have moved the date. We want all parties to be present when the hearing takes place," DMC Registrar Girish Tyagi told PTI. "We have sent the communication to the aggrieved family and most likely the hearing would take place in the first week of March," he said. On January 16, the case was put up before DMC's executive committee and then it was referred to the disciplinary committee. "Last week, representatives from Max Healthcare and, the doctors and nurses involved in the case, came, and a brief meeting was held. But the hearing would only happen when the complainant is also present," Tyagi said. In early January, the Delhi Police had said that it would proceed with its probe into the case only after receiving a reply from the DMC on whether there was medical negligence in the matter. "There have been reminders sent to the DMC to expedite its probe," a senior police official said. The DMC's executive committee has already formed an expert panel comprising paediatricians and gynaecologists that will prepare a report in the matter, the DMC official said. The council has already received replies from the nine doctors and two nurses of Max Hospital, Shalimar Bagh, who were issued notices in December for alleged medical negligence in connection with the case. The medical body had also sought a reply from the Max hospital and they have submitted it. The case was transferred to the Crime Branch on December 6, the day the new-born boy died at the nursing home in Pitampura, after battling for life for a week. An official, privy to the probe, said in the first week of January, 10 people, who were connected with the case were questioned.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Meghalaya's "bura buri" government run by the Congress had failed to address the health care concerns of the people, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said today, using the Garo term for "husband and wife" to refer to Chief Minister Mukul Sangma and his minister wife.

Addressing two rallies in the Congress bastion of the Garo Hills ahead of Assembly elections on February 27, Singh attacked the state government over a range of issues, including health care and law and order.

The Centre had raised the allocation of funds for the state fourfold since the Modi government came to power, but the state was still to see development, he said.

Rooting for the BJP in the north-east state, he said the party would make Meghalaya the "Scotland of the east" if elected to power, as it had tremendous potential for tourism.

At his rallies in Songsak in East Garo Hills and Tura in the West Garo Hill region, the minister said it was "painful" that the state's people had to go to Bangladesh for treatment.

The senior BJP leader, who started and ended his speeches with a few words in the local language, said his party would ensure proper health facilities throughout the state if it came to power.

"I have been told that patients from here were taken to Bangladesh for treatment on a 'charpoy' (cot). This is very painful," he said.

Taking on the Congress-led government, he said it was unfortunate that there was no health infrastructure despite the chief minister being a doctor.

Singh pointed out that the BJP government at the Centre had announced a health insurance scheme which would provide people with free treatment of up to Rs 5 lakh.

"The BJP will completely transform health care in the state if it comes to power," he said.

The party would convert the Shillong Hospital into a research institute and open a cancer hospital in the state, he said.

Referring to the law and order situation, the Union minister claimed there were 57 police stations, of which only 39 were active.

"How can you expect proper law and order in the state in such a scenario? Who is responsible?" he asked, claiming that if the BJP formed the government, it would resolve all law and order issues within three months.

State government employees, he added, were getting the 5th Pay Commission salaries but the BJP would put them on a par with other states.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The campaign for Mexicos July 1 presidential election began in earnest Sunday as the countrys top parties officially nominated their candidates, with all three front-runners trying to sell a message of change. It is still a wide-open race to succeed President Enrique Pena Nieto, who is deeply unpopular heading into the final stretch of his six-year term in a Mexico beset by endless corruption scandals and record levels of violent crime. The candidate to beat is Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, or AMLO, a fiery leftist who has tried to present a mellower image this time around, and who has taken a growing lead in the polls. In second place is Ricardo Anaya of the conservative National Action Party (PAN), a youthful ex-lawmaker whose bid to campaign as a fresh face has been hurt by allegations of corruption and strong-arming his way to his partys nomination. Rounding out the top three is respected former finance minister Jose Antonio Meade, standing for the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) -- a long-dominant force in Mexican whose popularity is now so low it tapped a non-party member to be its presidential candidate for the first time in its history. Lopez Obrador, a two-time presidential runner-up whose critics hate him as fervently as his supporters love him, promised sweeping change for Mexico as he accepted his Morena partys nomination. He vowed to overhaul public health and education, end the privatization of state resources and improve life for the poor. But -- sensitive to critics accusations of an authoritarian style -- he vowed that "nothing will be imposed from above."



"Im aware of my historic responsibility. I want to be remembered as a good president," he told cheering supporters in Mexico City, going for a presidential look in a dark suit and red tie. He vowed to be relentless fighting the graft festering in the Mexican political system. "Im stubborn. Its a well-known fact," he said. "With that same conviction, I will act as president... stubbornly, obstinately, persistently, bordering on craziness, to wipe out corruption." Anaya, 38, and Meade, 48, are fighting tooth and nail for the anti-AMLO vote, each hoping it will propel them to victory. Both have struck sometimes awkward alliances with smaller parties. Recent polls give Lopez Obrador just over 30 percent of the vote, with Anaya in the 20s and Meade in the teens -- enough for Lopez Obrador to win in Mexicos first-past-the-post system. Hes the clear choice for change, a former Mexico City mayor famous for railing against the countrys "mafia of power."



Encouraged by his strong numbers, Lopez Obrador, 64, has been trying to cultivate an aura of inevitability around his campaign. Anaya will run in a landmark alliance with the leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD). "Im not running for president of Mexico to keep on doing the same thing. ... I want to be president so I can make sure the dramatic change that our country needs is achieved," Anaya said after accepting his partys nod. "The big question in this kind of election is what kind of change we want, change looking toward the future or trapped in the past," he stressed. Meade tried to sound upbeat as he accepted the PRIs nomination at its national convention -- though two recent polls have him falling farther behind. "We can win!" said the former finance minister, who is highly respected in business circles but is struggling under the baggage of the PRI -- which has been hit by a string of corruption scandals that have landed seven of its ex-governors in jail. "Im doing it for Mexico and asking all of you to do it for Mexico as well," he said. Officially, the campaign does not open until March 30, but months of "pre-campaigning" have already laid bare Mexicos divisions. "This election is about those people who are desperate for change in Mexico... and are willing to try anything different, and those people who are genuinely worried about what change will bring," said Duncan Wood, director of the Wilson Centers Mexico Institute in Washington. The next president will inherit a lackluster economy, a political system rotting with corruption and a messy war on Mexicos powerful drug cartels that has left a trail of dead and missing in its wake.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Escalating his attack on Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on graft, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said new scams, corruption charges and fresh allegations were emerging under his rule "every day".

Taking the battle to Siddaramaiah's home turf at a rally here, Modi said he had earlier called his administration a "10 per cent government" but later came to know his information was not correct and it was much more.

In his second public rally in a fortnight in poll-bound Karnataka, Modi singled out corruption to attack Siddaramaiah and asked, "Do you want a commission government in Karnataka or mission government? Commission or mission?"



Recalling his Bengaluru remark that "it is a 10 per cent commission business," Modi said many people were angry with him, some even called him, some sent messages and others expressed their anguish...."they said my information was not correct.It was not 10 per cent,but more than that," he said.

"Every day, a new scam, new corruption, new allegation is being levelled against their one or the other leader, against one or the other minister or one or the other programme of the government, in one or the other part of Karnataka," Modi said.

He charged that central government funds under various schemes meant for the poor and middle class were not being properly utilised by the state.

"Their priority is political squabble,keeping Delhi(high command) happy, and send them whatever is needed to keep them happy. Their interest is only in it...keeping their party bosses happy so that their seats are safe."



Saying that no state can function like this, he said, "They don't care about the people and their feelings... Such governments, such leadership and personality will never strengthen democratic system."Taking a jibe at Siddaramaiah, Modi said "Mysuru is the land that spreads the message of social unity, Mysuru is the land of energy and youthfulness, Mysuru is a land that creates an atmosphere of harmony... but the person who was born from here should not have gone on the wrong path.""He is associated with such people that whatever Mysuru taught him, he completely forgot them on his way to Bengaluru, and is now taking entire Karnataka towards destruction."Modi also hit out at the Congress for spreading "lies repeatedly" and asked the people to question their record.

He said "ask those who come here, make speeches. For 50 years one family got an opportunity to rule. What is the reason that four crore families are still living the life of the 18 century?."



"They dont even feel a bit of shame or sadness. They think by lying, by lying repeatedly, lying wherever they go, by lying loudly, by many people lying, not one or two days but for months on end, the people of this country will believe."



"You are talking from a wrong place; the country can never believe you, the country will never accept your lies. You will have to answer...." he told the Congress.

Modi said the NDA government at the Centre wants to take the country forward at a faster pace, but Congress governments wherever they are, are working to stop the pace of the country. They work as 'bumps,' he said.

Modi said he has come to assure the people and see to it that the BJP government that would be formed in Karnataka would work with a mission. It would work towards changing the destiny of Karnataka, he said.

"The way the government is functioning in Karnataka and political developments are going on, you know thatbundles and bundles of notes were seized and they arenot ashamed of it."



"Diaries and what all were entered in it...

Karnataka needs to get rid of it or not?Those who destroyed Karnataka.." Modi said, apparently referring to the raids by Income Tax department on some ministers recently.

Modi also announced a six-lane 117 km Bengaluru-Mysuru national highway project at a cost of Rs 6,400 crore and a world class new satellite railway station at Mysuru at an investment of Rs 800 crore.

He dedicated to the nation an electrified railway line between Mysuru and Bengaluru and flagged off the Palace Queen Humsafar Express between Mysuru and Udaipur.

The train withonly AC features connects five states in western india,according to South Western Railway.

The electrification of the railway line between Bengaluruand Mysuru, costing Rs 220 crore, is expected to benefit25,000 passengers.

Assembly polls in Karnataka are due early this year.

The BJP is pulling all stops to unseat the Congress and return to power for the second time after its 2008-2013 rule that saw squabbling among its leaders and change of chief minister thrice.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Prime Minister Narendra Modi today lashed out at Karnataka's Siddaramaiah government over corruption, saying new scams and charges of graft were surfacing "every day" under its watch. Addressing a BJP rally here, Modi said after he levelled the "10 per cent commission" charge against the Siddaramaiah dispensation recently, he received many calls, with people disputing his information about the cut it received, and claiming it was much more. "I can understand the anger of the people of Karnataka," he said, and asked the gathering whether the state wanted a "commission or a mission government." Karnataka, he insisted, wanted a "mission government" and not a "commission government."



In a stinging attack on the Siddaramaiah government at a public rally in Karnataka on February 4, Modi had accused it of setting new records in corruption and said the countdown for its exit had begun.

"The Congress government is at the exit gate," Modi had said, while dubbing the Siddaramaiah dispensation a "10 per cent commission government."



In his second rally this month in poll-bound Karnataka, Modi said the Congress, wherever it was in power, it was acting like "bumps" in the path of speedy progress. He said the party only cared for power and not the aspirations of people.

"Every day a new scam, new corruption charges and new allegations are cropping up against their leader and ministers or those related to government schemes," Modi said, as he mounted a scathing attack on the government in the chief minister's home town of Mysuru.

Modi also accused the Congress of spreading "lies and repeated lies", and asked people to question the party over its rule of several decades.

"They (the Congress leaders) think that by telling lies, repeated lies, loudly and continuously spreading lies, not for a day but for months on end, wherever they go, the people will believe them....the country will never accept your lies."



Modi also announced a six-lane 117-km Bengaluru-Mysuru national highway project to be executed at a cost of Rs 6,400 crore and a world class new satellite railway station at Mysuru at an investment of Rs 800 crore.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Vice President Venkaiah Naidu today visited the Lilavati Hospital here to enquire about the health of Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar who is undergoing treatment for a pancreatic ailment.

Parrikar is at the hospital since February 15.

"Both the leaders spoke for about 10-15 minutes," a hospital source told PTI.

Naidu was briefed by the doctors about Parrikar's health, the source said.

Yesterday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the hospital to enquire about Parrikar's health.

The hospital authorities have said Parrikar is "responding well to the treatment".

"It has been brought to our notice (that) various malicious and misleading reports/rumours are floating around in the electronic/print media with regards to his health," a hospital statement issued yesterday read.

Modi's visit to the hospital had come on a day Goa Legislative Assembly Speaker Pramod Sawant met Governor Mridula Sinha in Panaji to discuss the situation in view of Parrikar's ill-health.

The budget session of the Goa Assembly began today.

The legislative wing of the Goa BJP, which met before the start of the Budget session of the Assembly today morning, chose senior leader Francis D'souza as the party's leader in the House in the absence of Parrikar.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Nepal's new Prime Minister K P Oli has said he wants to deepen ties with China to explore more options and get more leverage in his dealings with India "in keeping with the times".

Oli, widely regarded as pro-China, also said he wants to "update" relations with India "in keeping with the times" and favours a review of all special provisions of the Indo-Nepal relations, including the long-established practice of Nepalese soldiers serving India's armed forces.

"We have great connectivity with India and an open border. All that's fine and we'll increase connectivity even further, but we cant forget that we have two neighbours. We don't want to depend on one country or have one option," he told Hong Kong's South China Morning Post in an interview.

About how he plans to work out relations with India, Oli said, "we've always had excellent relations with India. There were some elements in the Indian establishment that caused some misunderstanding, but Indian leaders have assured us that there will be no interference in the future and we will respect each other's sovereign rights".

Oli, 65, who had also served as the country's prime minister from October 11, 2015 to August 3, 2016, was forced to resign following the political crisis in the Himalayan nation over the Madhesi issue.

Madhesis, mostly of Indian-origin had been demanding amendment of the new Constitution to address their concerns over representation in Parliament.

Before Oli's inauguration as the prime minister for the second time, External Affairs Sushma Swaraj had visited Nepal and met him and other Left leaders. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also spoke to Oli.

About Nepalese serving in the Indian Army, Oli said, This should be internally and mutually discussed and corrected, if necessary. We live in a new world, and Nepal is starting a new journey, we have to update whatever is considered outdated and bring it in line with the modern era."



Oli also said he would revive the China-backed USD 2.5 billion hydropower project which was scrapped by the previous government.

Expectations are high in China about Olis government as he signed the Transit Treaty with Beijing during his first stint as Prime Minister in 2015 to end dependence on India for his landlocked country to revive the Budhi Gandaki project.

The dam project was scrapped by the previous government headed by Sher Bahadur Deuba citing irregularities.

China has been investing heavily in Nepal, blunting India's influence in the Himalayan country.

Oli justified his decision to build the dam with Chinese company saying that "our petroleum usage has been increasing but we import all of it. We urgently need to develop hydropower to reduce our dependence on petroleum."



He sees infrastructure development as an important means to narrow the distance with China, whose physical remoteness compared with next-door India is a hindrance to deeper Sino-Nepal relations, the paper said.

He also spoke about improving rail and road network between Nepal and China through Tibet.

"Once China brings its rail network up to Shigatse and then Kyirong in Tibet, it should be easy to extend it to Nepal. Its lower altitude than Tibet, and the terrain is actually sloping all the way down from Kyirong.

"Apart from that, three roads are under construction connecting China and Nepal, which should be ready in a couple of years. If we can connect this railway network to our east-west rail project, it can revolutionise China-India trade, with Nepal in the middle," he said.

China aims to extend the Qinghai-Tibet railway to the Nepal border by 2020 and has expressed interest in extending it to Kathmandu. Kyirong in Tibet is about 25km from Nepals Rasuwagadhi border transit point, which is 50km from Kathmandu.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Nepal's first-ever federal parliamentary meeting will take place early next month, a crucial step towards the implementation of the new Constitution which was adopted in 2015.

The first session of the federal Parliament, made up of the House of Representatives (lower house) and National Assembly (upper house), will beheld on March 5 at the International Convention Centre in New Baneshwor, President Bidya Devi Bhandari's office said in a statement.

President Bhandari summoned the meeting as per Article 93 (1) of the Constitution on March 5. The meeting will be held at the Parliament Building situated at Nayabaneshwar, Kathmandu, it said.

She summoned the meeting on the recommendation of Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli, who was sworn in on February 15.

The federal parliament constitutes 275 members, of which 165 are elected directly under the first-past-the-post system while the remaining 110 through the proportional representation system.

The first parliament meeting will be held more than two months after the House of Representatives elections were held.

The election of the new President is scheduled for March 9.

In 2015, when Nepal adopted a new Constitution that split it into seven states, dozens of people were killed in ethnic clashes over territory and rights.

Following the adoption of the Constitution, the ethnic Madhesi group, mostly of Indian-origin, protested for months, saying they were not getting enough territory in one of the provinces and were also facing discrimination.

The polls are said to be a step forward in cementing democracy and providing political stability to Nepal, which has seen 10 prime ministers in as many years.

Oli, 65, had served as deputy prime minister during the then interim government led by Girija Prasad Koirala in 2006 after the successful conclusion of the second Peoples Movement.

Known for his pro-China stance, Oli heads a coalition between his Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist-Leninist), and the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) - which swept the general elections in December.

The elections were seen as the final step in Nepal's transition to a federal democracy following a decade-long civil war till 2006 that claimed more than 16,000 lives.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A group of independent candidates who fought the June 2017 General Election on an anti- platform today officially launched a political party that will tour the UK with its message to prevent Britains exit from the European Union (EU).

Renew, which launched its national campaign and candidate mobilisation programme in London on Monday, claims to have recruited over 1,000 supporters and more than 300 candidates from "outside the political system" all over the UK to stand in local and national elections on a "Rethink Brexit, Renew Britain" agenda.

"Renew has enjoyed overwhelming support for its centrist agenda and platform to address inequality from a position of strength as a full EU member," the party said in a statement.

"Renew aims to recruit 650 candidates to stand in every Parliamentary constituency in any future election and to campaign to Remain in the EU in any vote on the final deal," it notes.

The party's first major challenge will be to contest the local elections scheduled for May this year, with the next General Election due in 2022. Renew, founded by former financier Chris Coghlan who stood as an independent candidate from Battersea in south London in June 2017, describes its mission statement as reversing and restoring Britains influential position in Europe.

"The referendum was a wake-up call that we are a nation divided, with deep discontent at inequality. Leaving the EU will only make things worse. We should reconsider Brexit, now we know more," said Sandra Khadhouri, a former journalist and UN worker who is one of Renew's three "principals".

The other principals of the party include James Torrance, an accountant and marketing professional who has worked in India in the past, and James Clarke, a start-up strategy consultant. They both stood as "stop Brexit" independent candidates in the June 2017 general election in an attempt to reduce the vote-share of pro-Brexit candidates from key London constituencies.

"We are heading out all over the country to listen to what you think we can do to renew our towns, our politics, our economy, our opportunities, and make sure we all have more hope for Britain, the party said in reference to its plans for a "Listen to Britain" tour in the coming months.

A series of anti-Brexit campaigns have emerged in the UK in recent months, calling for a re-run of the EU membership referendum and putting pressure on MPs to oppose a Brexit agreement when it comes before Parliament later this year.

Best for Britain, backed by prominent Indian-origin anti-Brexit campaigner Gina Miller, and a new youth group called Our Future, Our Choice are among some of the others campaigning against Britains exit from the EU.

Renew says its UK-wide tour is aimed at addressing what it calls the root causes of the 2016 Brexit referendum, in which 52 per cent of the British public voted in favour of leaving the EU. It said it would also "look at better ways to manage immigration" one of the central issues that is believed to have led to a Vote Leave victory in the referendum.The NIA, which has been asked to probe the escape of dreaded LeT terrorist Mohammed Naveed Jhatt from a busy hospital in Srinagar, will investigate conspiracy angles, including how he got "favourable orders" from doctors and jail authorities, officials said.

Senior home ministry officials said that on the Centre's advice, the state has already shifted 25 terrorists, of which 16 are Pakistanis, to various jails outside the Kashmir Valley since the escape of 22-year-old Jhatt, a Pakistani who infiltrated into the valley in 2014.

The officials said the Investigation Agency probe will disclose the conspiracy angle and ascertain how such a dreaded terrorist managed to get favourable orders from jail authorities and doctors.

The home ministry has also asked the Jammu and Kashmir government to conduct a detailed inquiry and submit a report within 15 days on measures required for revamping security of jails in the state on the basis of inputs received from security agencies.

The NIA has already taken custody of five accused arrested in connection with Jhatt's escape from the SMHS hospital and are at present on remand for seven days since February 16. The five accused were nabbed by the Jammu and Kashmir police on February 8, two days after Jhatt alias Abu Hanzalla escaped from the hospital. Jhatt had managed to escape on February 6 after at least two other militants attacked a police escort team at the hospital, where he was brought in for treatment.

Two policemen -- head constable Mushtaq Ahmed and constable Babar Ahmed -- of the Jammu and Kashmir Police were killed by Jhatt and his accomplice during their escape. All the five accused -- Shakeel Ahmed Bhat, Tika Khan, Syed Tajamul Islam, Mohammed Shafi Wani and Jan Mohammed Ganai -- were charged with conspiring the escape of 22-year-old Jhatt.

All of them are residents of Pulwama in south Kashmir. According to the police, Bhat is believed to be one of the masterminds of the escape plan and his motorcycle was used in it. Khan, a resident of Pulwama, is alleged to have provided his car for further transportation of Jhatt out of the city, the police said. Jhatt is at present believed to be in the Pulwama area, they said. Shafi, who is from Narbal on the outskirts of Srinagar city, had posed as a patient to provide cover for the terrorists' escape.The Visva-Bharati university authorities will not allow shooting of any film in its campus which may have a contrarian view about Rabindranath Tagore, Officiating Vice Chancellor Prof Sabujkali Sen said.

Sen, who took over as Officiating VC earlier this month, said the Visva-Bharati would scan scripts to check whether that would go against the vision and ideals of Tagore, and hurt the sentiment of the people staying in the compound.

"During my tenure (as Officiating VC), shooting permission will not be allowed on Visva-Bharati compound for any film project having a contrarian view about Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore," Sen told PTI.

Tagore had set up Visva-Bharati in 1921 and it later became a central university.

"If I judge a personality by dissecting him and project one side of him, there is a possibility of making mistakes. If we see Tagore in totality, we will discover he cannot be dissected, his life cannot be dissected," she said.

Sen has been associated with the Visva-Bharati for over four decades since she came to the university in 1971.

The previous officiating VC had permitted a film and a part of its shooting has already taken place, she said adding that she would ensure such things do not recur for future film projects till she is at the helm.

Sen, however, did not name any film.

Her predecessor Prof Swapan Kumar Dutta had okayed the script of 'Nalini', a bilingual movie, after an experts panel set up by him went through the original script and sought some changes which were carried out, the film's director Ujjwal Chatterjee told PTI from Mumbai.

'Nalini' is a Marathi-Bengali film on the relationship between teenaged Rabindranath Tagore and Annapurna Turkhud. She was the daughter of a family friend, based in Maharashtra, who had taught him Western manners before his trip to the UK.

"I have the consent letter of the Visva-Bharati and we don't foresee any problem during future shoots. We are currently shooting in Maharashtra," Chatterjee said.

He said, "I am also a follower of Tagore's writings and ideas and we are aware about the sentiments involving Tagore and the sanctity of Visva-Bharati. We have also deleted one scene following the wishes of Visva-Bharati authorities."



A part of the shooting in the campus was done only after getting the go ahead from the Visva-Bharati authorities after waiting for over eight months, Chatterjee said.

The producers have also given an undertaking that there will be no deviation from the script that has been okayed by the authorities, the director said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Assam government today said it had not received any communication from the Centre on the Naga Framework Agreement and asserted that it would not accept the inclusion of the state's territory in the proposed Nagalim or Greater Nagaland. In a written reply to a query from Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) MLA Ramendra Narayan Kalita, state Parliamentary Affairs Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary informed the Assembly that the BJP government in the state had not received any official intimation or information from the Centre on the Naga Framework Agreement. Replying on behalf of Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, who is in charge of the home and border areas development departments, Patowary added that the state government had not contacted the Centre as there was no official communication on the issue. Asked about the state government's stand if any portion of Assam was included in the proposed Nagalim, he said, "The Assam government will not at all accept the inclusion of Assam's land in Nagalim." To a question on the framework agreement from Congress MLA Ajanta Neog, the minister said the Centre had not sought any suggestion from the state government in this regard. The Naga Framework Agreement was signed between the NSCN(IM) and the Centre in 2015 to solve the decades-long Naga political problem.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his entourage did not get accommodation at the iconic Hotel Lalitha Mahal Palace here as almost all rooms were booked for a wedding reception, its top official said today.

The district administration later made arrangements for them at another plush hotel in the city.

"An official from the deputy commissioner's office had visited us to book rooms for the prime minister and his staff, including security personnel, but we were not in a position to do so as most of the rooms were booked for a wedding reception," the hotel General Manager Joseph Mathias told PTI.

Modi's arrival here coincided with the wedding reception yesterday evening, Mathias said.

The three rooms that were available were not enough for them, he said.

"Considering security reasons, it was not advisable to book just three rooms for a big staff," he added.

However, the district administration made alternative arrangements. Modi was accommodated at Hotel Radisson Blu, where he stayed overnight and today.

There, too, the hotel management was said to have advised a businessman's family to reschedule the wedding reception, citing security issues, so that it concluded before the prime minister arrived.

Modi arrived here last night for engagements at Jain pilgrim centre Shravanabelagola in Hassan district. His itinerary also included a South Western Railway function here and a public rally organized by the BJP in the run-up to the Assembly polls in the state.today said that at least two Indian soldiers were killed when it destroyed an army post that was used to kill a minor across the Line of Control, a claim rejected by the Indian Army as "baseless".

Eight-year-old Ayan was killed in Jajot village due to fire allegedly by the Indian troops, said the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media wing of the

" troops neutralised Indian post which targeted a minor along LOC. Two Indian soldiers killed," it claimed.

In New Delhi, an Indian Army source rejected the Pakistan Army's claim as "baseless".Pakistani security forces today killed two Afghan-based Tehreek-e-Taliban suicide bombers who were planning to carry out an attack in the country's restive Bajaur agency bordering Afghanistan, the army said.

The terrorists entered Bajaur Agency via the Kagha Pass. They were tracked down by security forces and surrounded by a cordon near the Ghatki Kaga area, said a statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).

The militants were killed when they attempted to escape.

One of the militants opened fire at the personnel and was shot dead in retaliatory action, while another blew himself up.

Suicide jackets, anti-tank mines, magnetic mines, prepared remote-controlled Improvised Explosive Devices, remote-controlled receivers, detonators and communications equipment "bearing (an) Afghan mobile company's signature" were recovered from them, the statement said.

It said the security forces foiled a major terror bid in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and Islamabad.

The bodies of the militants were shifted to Headquarters Hospital in Khar.

The security has been tightened at all the entry and exit points to the area.

Bajaur is an agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan. It is the smallest of the agencies in FATA.

According to Ministry of States and Frontier Regions, FATA has been the country's worst hit region due to terrorist attacks in the last four years.

A total of 3,062 people have been killed in terrorists attacks in the region since 2013-14, the ministry said in a report.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Pakistani security forces today shot dead two suicide bombers who were planning to carry out an attack in the country's restive Bajaur agency bordering Afghanistan, officials said.

The militants were trying to enter Tehsil Gatki but were killed in the exchange of fire during a raid by the security personnel, officials said.

One of the militants opened fire at the personnel and was shot dead in retaliatory action, while another blew himself up, they said.

A huge cache of arms and explosives were seized from them, the officials added.

The bodies of the militants were moved to Headquarters Hospital in Khar.

The security has been tightened at all the entry and exit points to the area.

Bajaur is an agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan. It is the smallest of the agencies in FATA.

According to Ministry of States and Frontier Regions, FATA has been the country's worst hit region due to terrorist attacks in the last four years.

A total of 3,062 people have been killed in terrorists attacks in the region since 2013-14, the ministry said in a report.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Pakistans Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani today threatened Defence Minister Khurram Dastagir with 'contempt of parliament' proceedings after the minister refused to provide details of the 'unilateral decision to send Pakistani troops to Saudi Arabia for deployment.

The minister gave a policy statement in Senate, the upper house, days after the powerful army announced the decision to send troops to the Gulf Kingdom.

"Pakistani troops being dispatched to Saudi Arabia are only meant for imparting training to Saudi security personnel instead of entangling in Yemen war," he told the lawmakers.

He said that the over 1,000 contingent will be dispatched shortly as part of the decision.

Currently, around 1,600 Pakistani troops are on deputation in Saudi Arabia under a bilateral agreement.

The minister said Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has approved deputing additional Pakistani troops to Saudi Arabia for training and advisory purposes, which is a continuation of the on-going support.

He rejected the impression that by sending troops the government had violated April 2015 resolution by parliament which had asked the government to stay away from Yemen war.

However, the Senate Chairman 'rejected' Dastagir's briefing to the upper house after the minister said he could not divulge "operational details" of the deployment.

"Why don't we proceed against you and the prime minister over 'contempt of parliament'?" Rabbani asked.

He asked why the parliament was not informed by the minister and the prime minister since they knew about the decision to deploy the troops.

"The parliament found out (about the deployment) through a press release," Rabbani said. "The executive has itself rubbed parliament's nose in the dirt."



Rabbani asked the minister to provide all details about the deployment and offered in-camera session for the purpose and urged him "not to give us a lollipop" as "we are not children."



The minister refused to accept the offer and even refused to share the location where the troops will be deployed.

He told the Senate that the troops will not be deployed outside the Kingdom's territory, but Rabbani expressed a lack of confidence in his words, saying this information was already known.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Pakistani troops violated ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC) in Uri sector of Jammu and Kashmir, injuring three civilians, police said today.

"Pakistani troops resorted to unprovoked firing in Churanda in the Silikote area of Hajipeer sector of Uri," a police official said.

Three civilians sustained injuries in the firing, he said, adding that they were rushed to a hospital.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Ending long-standing uncertainty and speculation, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said today he would discuss business as well as people to people ties with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Amritsar on February 21, officials said.

"Look forward to meeting Canadian Prime Minister @JustinTrudeau in Amritsar on Wednesday. I'm hopeful that this meeting will help strengthen the close Indo-Canadian business ties as well as the deep-rooted people-to-people relations between our two countries," the chief minister tweeted.

The development came following uncertainty over whether the Canadian premier would hold a meeting with Amarinder Singh during his short visit to Amritsar on February 21.

Officials said that the chief minister would hold a meeting with the Canadian prime minister at a hotel in Amritsar after Trudeau pays obeisance at the Golden Temple.

Significantly, Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh had refused to meet Canadian Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan during the latter's visit to Punjab last year. Amarinder Singh had even accused Sajjan of being a "Khalistani sympathiser".

In 2016, when Amarinder Singh was the Punjab Congress chief, he had written a strongly-worded letter to the Canadian prime minister, lodging a protest on being denied permission for interaction with Punjabi NRIs in Canada in the run-up to the Punjab Assembly polls.

Amarinder Singh had called it a "gag order".

However, Amarinder Singh has now directed the state administration to roll out the red carpet for Trudeau.

While trade and business will be the key focus areas at the meeting, the two leaders are also expected to discuss steps to intensify the close relations between the people of the two countries, according to a spokesperson of the chief minister's office (CMO).

"Punjab has deep roots with Canada, where a large Punjabi community is settled, and has always striven to strengthen the connect," said Amarinder Singh.

He also referred to Trudeau's apology, two years ago, in the Canadian parliament over the 1914 Komagata Maru incident, in which hundreds of Sikh, Muslim and Hindu passengers in a ship were denied entry in to Canada and forced to return to India, where they met a violent fate.

At an AICC briefing in New Delhi, Congress leader Manish Tewari, however, pointed out that there was sensitive issues involved.

"There are sensitivities involved in Punjab. Some of those responsible for terror in Punjab are still finding solace in the country, which Trudeau heads," he told reporters.

Meanwhile, the opposition SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal is expected to welcome the Canadian prime minister at the Golden Temple.

"Sukhbir Badal will welcome the Canadian PM at the Golden Temple. He will honour Trudeau as party president of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)," said SAD spokesman and former minister Daljit Singh Cheema.

The Canadian premier is on a week-long visit to India accompanied by wife Sophie Gregoire Trudeau and three children -Ella-Grace, Xavier and Hadrien.

On February 21, Trudeau will pay obeisance at the Golden Temple, the holiest of Sikh shrines and is also expected to visit the partition museum, officials said.

Amritsar Deputy Commissioner and a senior district police officer will receive Trudeau at the airport on February 21, officials said.

The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) has planned special event in the honour of Trudeau when he visits the Golden Temple.

SGPC, an apex religious body of the Sikhs, will honour Trudeau by presenting him a Siropa (robe of honour), replica of the Golden Temple and a sword, an SGPC official said. PTI CHS VSD ADSAt an AICC briefing, party spokesperson Manish Tewari said while Trodeau is an honourable guest, but there are concerns on the issue of terror, particularly for Punjab.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) is monitoring the medical treatment being given to Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar at Mumbai's Lilavati Hospital, where he has been admitted since February 15, the Deputy Speaker of the state Assembly, Michael Lobo, said here today.

"The PMO is monitoring the treatment. He (Parrikar) is being given the best of the medical treatment and he is recovering," Lobo said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had visited Parrikar at the hospital yesterday during his Mumbai visit.

Parrikar was admitted to the Mumbai hospital after an initial check-up in Goa as he complained of stomach pains. According to the doctors at the Lilavati Hospital, he is suffering from pancreatitis.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Punjab National Bank fraud had been committed in connivance with both bank officials and politicians and was "a major blow" to the BJP-led NDA government's claim of corruption-free governance, Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy charged today.

"Main conspirator, diamond merchant Nirav Modi has connived with both the bank officials and politicians at the helm of affairs in committing the fraud," he told reporters here.

He said the more than Rs 11,000 crore fraud was "a major blow to the BJP governments avowed principle of corruption-free administration."



Narayansamy, who was here enroute to the Lord Muruga temple in nearby Tiruchendur, also said the non-performing assets of banks now stood at more than Rs six lakh crore as compared to about Rs 85,000 crore when UPA demitted office.

He accused the BJP-led central government of adopting step-motherly attitude in granting funds to non-BJP ruled states and union territories, including Puducherry.

He criticised Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit's review meetings with district officials directly.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Enforcement Directorate (ED) today searched the Mumbai residence of diamond merchant Nirav Modi as raids continued for the fifth day in connection with the agency's money laundering probe in the Rs 11,400-crore alleged fraud at the Punjab National Bank (PNB). Official sources said ED sleuths arrived at Modi's Samudra Mahal bungalow in Worli in south Mumbai and searched the premises. The central probe agency also conducted searches at 34 other locations in various cities, including Mumbai, Pune, Aurangabad, Thane, Kolkata, Delhi, Lucknow, Bengaluru and Surat, in connection with its probe. The agency has seized diamonds, gold jewellery and other precious stones worth Rs 5,694 crore till now in the case even as it has summoned Modi and his relative Mehul Choksi, the promoter of Gitanjali Gems, later this week. Sources said the ED was looking at collecting all the financial documents -- personal and official -- of Modi, Choksi and their businesses in order to take the probe forward. "A number of computer peripherals, hard drives and documents have been seized since the ED raids began on February 15. The seized items are being scrutinised," a senior official said. ED Director Karnal Singh has flown down to Mumbai today to review the anti-money laundering investigations, which are being conducted by a special team of the agency. The ED is also moving to attach at least two dozen immovable properties of Modi, Choksi and their concerns under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The ED and the Income Tax department have zeroed in on about 200 dummy or shell companies in India and abroad that were being used to route or receive funds as part of the alleged fraud. It is suspected that the shell firms were being used by the accused to launder money and create benami assets in the form of land, gold and precious stones, which is now being probed by the tax department. Modi, Choksi and others are being investigated by multiple probe agencies after it recently came to light, following a complaint by the PNB, that they allegedly cheated the nationalised bank to the tune of Rs 11,400 crore, with the purported involvement of a few employees of the bank. The CBI and the ED have registered two FIRs each in the case.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Enforcement Directorate today searched the Mumbai residence of diamond merchant Nirav Modi and seized assets worth Rs 57.16 billion as raids continued for the fifth day in connection with the agency's money laundering probe in the alleged Rs 114 billion Punjab National Bank fraud.

Official sources said ED sleuths searched Modi's flat in the Samudra Mahal apartments in Worli. The central probe agency also conducted searches at 38 other locations in several cities, including Mumbai, Pune, Aurangabad, Thane, Kolkata, Delhi, Jammu, Lucknow, Bengaluru and Surat. It seized fresh assets worth Rs 22 crore that include precious stones, cash and gold from the premises of Modi, his relative and business partner Mehul Choksi and others.

The agency has so far seized diamonds, gold jewellery and other precious stones worth Rs 57.16 billion in the case and summoned Modi and Choksi, the promoter of Gitanjali Gems, to appear before it on February 23 at its Mubai zonal office. ED sources said the agency is also talking to senior PNB officials to ascertain how Letters of Understanding (LoUs) are issued and other bank operations done. It also obtained information from the whistleblower in the case who had said he had raised flags against Choksis' loan in 2013. "We are looking at securing the proceeds of crime. The ED will probe how much illicit wealth was created by the accused in the alleged fraud," a senior official said. It has also sought PNB's audit reports since 2011 from the RBI, they said.

The sources said the ED was looking at collecting all financial documents -- personal and official -- of Modi, Choksi and their businesses to take the probe forward and attach properties in the coming days. "A number of computer peripherals, hard drives and documents have been seized since the ED raids began on February 15. The seized items are being scrutinised," another official said. ED Director Karnal Singh also flew down to Mumbai today to review the anti-money laundering investigations, which are being conducted by a special team of the agency.

The ED is also moving to attach at least two dozen immovable properties of Modi, Choksi and their concerns under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The ED and the Income Tax department have zeroed in on about 200 dummy or shell companies in India and abroad that were being used to route or receive funds as part of the alleged fraud.

It is suspected that the shell firms were being used by the accused to launder money and create benami assets in the form of land, gold and precious stones, which is now being probed by the tax department. Modi, Choksi and others are being investigated by multiple probe agencies after it recently came to light, following a complaint by the PNB, that they allegedly cheated the nationalised bank to the tune of Rs 114 billion, with the purported involvement of a few employees of the bank.

The CBI and the ED have registered two FIRs each to probe the case.Embroiled in a major fraud, state-owned PNB today assured all its customers that "enough arrangements" for their banking transactions without any inconvenience, and it has sufficient assets to meet any liability.

Replying to clarifications sought by stock exchanges, the Punjab National Bank (PNB) said: "Bank has enough assets to meet any liability which is decided as per law."



However, it added realisation of any specific asset would be decided at the time of need with the approval of board.

This followed media reports that the country's second largest bank was in process to monetise its fixed assets in the wake of Rs 11,400 crore fraud allegedly perpetrated by defaulter businessmen Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi.

On reports about law enforcement agencies sealing its MCB Brady House branch in Mumbai, PNB said it is under discussion with CBI to allow normal operation at the branch during business hours.

"However, the bank has Core Banking Solution through which any customer of bank can transact at any branch of his convenience. Bank has made enough arrangements to ensure no customer is put to any inconvenience," it said.

Regarding exchanges' query on a petition in the Supreme Court demanding Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe into the fraud, PNB said it is not aware of any such petition.

The bank's shares continued to tank for a fourth day in a row today.Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has pulled out his crusader's cape and gathered his anti-graft ammo once again. But this time he is firing his salvos not from the heart of Delhi, but from Twitter. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader, who came into riding a popular anti-corruption wave that first gathered momentum at India Gate, has been particularly vocal about the recent mega-crore-rupee scam involving businessman Nirav Modi and the Punjab Bank on the micro-blogging site.

In tweet after tweet in the last few days, he has taken on the ruling BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the issue. Of the nearly 35 tweets by the tax officer-turned-politician over three days last week, 24 posts were on the scam.

Most of them castigated the government for the fraud and the jewellers flight from India, while some referred to liquor baron Vijay Mallya, who has also fled the country. BJP govt shud give specific timelines by when will they bring Vijay Mallya and Neerav Modi back to India (sic).

PNB scam 2011   ,       cong       cong  



    cong            cong  ,                   cong       Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) February 17, 2018

By when will the money be recovered from them, he tweeted on February 16. Is it possible to believe that he or Vijay Mallya left the country without active connivance of BJP govt (sic), he said in another tweet. Most of his tweets and re-tweets -- from February 15-17 -- targeted the Central government but some directly referred to the prime minister, something Kejriwal has avoided doing since AAPs poor electoral performances last year.

BJP govt shud give specific timelines by when will they bring Vijay Mallya and Neerav Modi back to India. By when will the money be recovered from them?  Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) February 16, 2018

On February 15, when reports alleging that Nirav Modi and his uncle had committed a bank fraud of almost Rs 114 billion with the connivance of some PNB officials hogged the headlines, Kejriwal posted 18 tweets. Of these, 11 related to the scam and hit out at the government and the prime minister. A day later, he posted 11 tweets.

Would BJP confirm this? If true, what transpired in that meeting? https://t.co/QZWlgiNANF  Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) February 15, 2018

Of these 7 pertained to the scam and again took pot-shots at the BJP. His other tweets were mostly on the achievements of the Delhi government. But for a politician whose main plank has been his anti-graft battle, Kejriwals tweets do not surprise his colleagues. Our party originated from an andolan which was based on an anti-corruption movement, said Saurabh Bharadwaj, AAP chief spokesperson, Delhi unit.

Is it possible to believe that he or vijay mallya left the country without active connivance of BJP govt? https://t.co/6iMFf9VAkF  Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) February 15, 2018

He, however, disagreed with the view that Kejriwal had been subdued in his attacks in recent times. Some political observers believe that after a series of electoral reversals, the chief minister had been unusually quiet. When the Karni Sena was running amok protesting against 'Padmaavat', Arvind was very vocal about it. He took an aggressive stance during the MCD sealing issue.

And when a multi-crore-rupee scam takes place, then a chief minister is bound to speak up, Bharadwaj said. Kejriwal has lashed out at the government away from the cyber world, too. At a public function yesterday, he attacked the Centre over the scam and how Nirav Modi had left India. He also questioned the prime minister's silence on the issue. The chief minister also took to Twitter when Karni Sena supporters protesting against Sanjay Leela Bhansali's film attacked a school bus in Gurgaon and was vocal during the sealing drive by the MCDs.

But the bank fraud has evoked many more tweets from him than the other issues/ Besides Kejriwal, who has over 13 million followers on Twitter, the prime minister uses this social media platform for sending message to the people. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj also uses Twitter to address people's concerns that come under the purview of her ministry, while Congress president Rahul Gandhi mostly uses it for messages targeting the ruling party.Expelled DMK leader and former union minister M K Alagiri today took a dig at his nephew Udhayanidhi Stalin's political foray, saying was a 'gutter' and anybody can enter it.

He was responding to a question from reporters near here on recent comments of Udhayanidhi, son of DMK working President and Alagiri's younger brother M K Stalin, that he was already in



" is a gutter and anyone can enter politics," he said.

Alagiri, Madurai-based elder son of DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi, was expelled from the party in 2014 on charges anti-party activities, capping the sibbling rivalry in involving him and M K Stalin.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan today asked the Odisha government to request the Enforcement Directorate and the Income Tax Department for a probe into the cash seized in by-poll-bound Bijepur Assembly segment.

Pradhan said this referring to the BJD's allegation that the cash seized by police from Bijepur on Saturday night, was meant for electoral benefits of the BJP candidate.

The ruling BJD also claimed that the persons arrested in the cash recovery case, were VHP and BJP members.

"If the BJD claims that the cash seized by the police belongs to the BJP and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), the prime accused in this case would be none other than the BJD Rajya Sabha member, Prasanna Acharya.

"Everyone, including Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik knows the RSS background of Prasanna Acharya. Hence to cover-up the issue, the BJD has launched a vilification campaign against the BJP," Pradhan told reporters here.

Police had seized Rs 40.5 lakh from Padmapur area under the Bijepur assembly segment where by-poll is scheduled to be held on February 24. Two people have been arrested in connection with the cash recovery.

"As the BJD is in power in the state, let it ask the ED and the Income Tax Department through electronic mail within half-an-hour for an investigation into the case to unravel the truth," the Union minister said.

However, BJD spokesman P K Deb rejected Pradhan's allegation and said the saffron party was trying its best to "malign" the BJD as it knows that it would lose the Bijepur bypoll.

"The Union minister has demanded a probe into the case by the ED and Income Tax. The fact remains that both the ED and the Income Tax department are under the BJP-led government at the Centre. We accept his challenge. Let the ED and Income Tax officials probe into this case," Deb said.

Deb also said that the BJD will welcome a probe by any independent police agency.

Meanwhile, Prasanna Acharya said the BJD has already apprised the Election Commission of the incident and suggested that it can order an ED or Income Tax Department probe into it.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The government would not allow corrupt and terrorist activities under the guiseof privacy protection laws, Union IT and Communications Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said today.

The minister was replying to a query on the proposed Data (Privacy and Protection) Bill 2017 which grants a statutory Right to Privacy. It was reportedly put on hold after objections from intelligence agencies.

"On privacy, I have to say two things. Privacy cannot be the shield of the corrupt. And privacy cannot be the shield of a terrorist. Terrorists cannot say that don't raid my house because I have got the right of privacy. Privacy limitations also should be understood," Prasad said.

In a landmark judgement, the Supreme Court had last year declared Right to Privacy as a fundamental right.

Prasad said the government had appointed a committee under the chairmanship of former Supreme Court JusticeB N Srikrishna to study various issues related to data protection in the country and to make specific suggestions to the bill.

"Regarding the data protection law, I have set up a committee headed by justice Srikrishna, a former supreme court judge. They are having widest consultation with the stakeholders and very soon he will come with a report. After that we will go for legislation," he said at the presser held at the World Congress of Information Technology (WCIT) here.

The minister said the government aimed to make 60 million people digitally literate in the next two to three years and that "10 millionpeople have already met the norms".

"The aim of the Digital India is to bridge the digital gap and make technology more accessible, inclusive and affordable to the common people," the minister said.

There is a clear need to re-skill people and equip them for the new digital challenges, he said while observing that "disruptive technologies" create more jobs than they take away.

Prasad said the future skills platform had identified eight disruptive technologies which had zeroed in on 55 job roles that will impact individuals, companies and governments.

"NASSCOM and the Ministry of Information Technology (MEITY) have signed an MOU to collaboratively foster, cultivate and strengthen re-skilling initiatives," Prasad said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A transgender student of Punjab University (PU) here has been invited to a dinner with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Thursday in New Delhi.

Dhananjay Chauhan, a transgender student of Department of Human Rights and Duties, PU, has been invited by High Commissioner for Canada to India Nadir Patel to a dinner-reception celebrating Canada-India ties on the occasion of the visit of Justin Trudeau, on February 22 at the residence of the high commissioner of Canada, a PU release said.

Dhananjay, also a founder of Saksham Trust, an NGO, has been working to alleviate the plight of transgenders.

Earlier, Dhananjay was invited to Netherlands in 2016 to participate in an international meet on rights of transgender people.

Further, Dhananjay's frontal role in organising a 'Pride Walk' in the university campus in 2017 resulted in inviting a number of prominent personalities to the university including Consul General Canada Christopher Gibbins, the release added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will hold a meeting in Amritsar on February 21, officials said today ending long-standing uncertainty.

Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh is all set to take Punjab's close business as well as people-to-people relations with Canada to the next level, with a one-to-one meeting with visiting Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Amritsar on Wednesday, said an official spokesperson here.

"Look forward to meeting Canadian Prime Minister @JustinTrudeau in Amritsar on Wednesday. I'm hopeful that this meeting will help strengthen the close Indo-Canadian business ties as well as the deep-rooted people-to-people relations between our two countries," the chief minister tweeted.

The development came after there was an uncertainty over whether the Canadian premier would hold a meeting with Amarinder Singh during his short visit to Amritsar on February 21.

Officials said that the chief minister would hold a meeting with the Canadian prime minister at a hotel in Amritsar after Trudeau pays obeisance at the Golden Temple.

Significantly, Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh had refused to meet Canadian Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan during the latter's visit to Punjab last year. Amarinder Singh had even accused Sajjan of being a "Khalistani sympathiser".

In 2016, when Amarinder Singh was the Punjab Congress chief, he had written a strongly-worded letter to the Canadian prime minister, lodging a protest on being denied permission for interaction with Punjabi NRIs in Canada in the run-up to the Punjab Assembly polls.

Amarinder Singh had called it a "gag order".

Meanwhile, Amarinder Singh has now directed the state administration to roll out the red carpet for the visiting dignitary.

While trade and business will be the key focus areas at the meeting, the two leaders are also expected to discuss steps to intensify the close relations between the people of the two countries, according to a spokesperson of the chief minister's office (CMO).

"Punjab has deep roots with Canada, where a large Punjabi community is settled, and has always striven to strengthen the connect," said Amarinder Singh.

He also referred to Trudeau's apology, two years ago, in the Canadian parliament over the 1914 Komagata Maru incident, in which hundreds of Sikh, Muslim and Hindu passengers in a ship were denied entry in to Canada and forced to return to India, where they met a violent fate.

Meanwhile, the opposition SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal is expected to welcome the Canadian prime minister at the Golden Temple.

"Sukhbir Badal will welcome the Canadian PM at the Golden Temple. He will honour Trudeau as party president of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)," said SAD spokesman and former minister Daljit Singh Cheema.

The Canadian premier is on a week-long visit to India accompanied by wife Sophie Gregoire Trudeau and three children -Ella-Grace, Xavier and Hadrien.

On February 21, Trudeau will pay obeisance at the Golden Temple, the holiest of Sikh shrines and is also expected to visit the partition museum, officials said adding that he would land at the Amritsar airport in morning and would return to Delhi by 2 pm.

Amritsar Deputy Commissioner and a senior district police officer will receive Trudeau at the airport on February 21, officials said.

The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) has planned special event in the honour of Trudeau when he visits the Golden Temple.

SGPC, an apex religious body of the Sikhs, will honour Trudeau by presenting him a Siropa (robe of honour), replica of the Golden Temple and a sword, an SGPC official said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Congress today sharpened its attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, dubbing him "Maun Modi" (silent Modi) for his "continued silence" on issues critical to the country, and alleged that raids by agencies in the bank scam are a mere "eyewash" to befool the public.

Leading the attack was Congress President Rahul Gandhi, who fired yet another salvo at the prime minister over his "silence" on the multi-crore PNB bank fraud, asking where the "country's watchman" was when jeweller Nirav Modi fled the country like liquor baron Vijay Mallya.

Gandhi took the swipe at the prime minister for his refrain during poll rallies that he would act as a watchman for the country, and cited his "na khaoonga, na khaane doonga" (will neither do nor allow anyone to do corruption) statement.

The Congress chief said the entire country was keen to know the "secret behind his silence" and alleged that it screams out loudly where his loyalties were.

"First Lalit (Modi) and then (Vijay) Mallya, now Nirav (Modi) also fled the country. Where is the country's watchman who claimed 'Na khaoonga, na khaane doonga' (Will neither do nor allow anyone to do corruption)?



"The public is longing to know the reason of 'Saheb's' silence. His silence screams out loud who is he loyal to?" he asked in a tweet in Hindi.

The Congress on its official website also dubbed Modi as "Maun Modi", a term used by the BJP against former prime minister Manmohan Singh for his silence on various scams during the UPA Government.

Congres spokesperson Manish Tewari said government should tell who facilitated the escape of accused designer jeweller Nirav Modi and his partner Mehul Choksi, despite a court order declaring Choksi as an "absconder" and a proclaimed offender.

He said "fresh revelations" have come in the matter and the court of chief judicial magistrate had on August 4, 2017 declared Mehul Choksi, the managing director of Gitanjali Jewellery, and Vipul Chaitalia, the company's authorised signatory, as proclaimed offender and "absconding".

"How was this man allowed to leave the country? The question arises that how can a person who is a declared proclaimed offender and absconder by a court of law be allowed to leave the country and we would like to ask the NDA-BJP Government.

"We would like to ask the prime minister of India and the finance minister of India that who facilitated the exit of this man from the country despite the order of a competent court which brings us to certain other questions that we would like to ask," he told reporters.

The Congress asked on Twitter, "Is it too much to expect Maun Modi, who had promised to be the chowkidar of the nation, to speak one word on this systematic loot of the banking system?"



In an article headlined "Maun Modi: The Art of Silence", the Congress said the age-old proverb "Silence is golden" has caught the fancy of the "verbose" Prime Minister, while the nation ponders over the reasons behind his reticence.

"What could explain this? When the countrys biggest banking scam hit the airwaves, Narendra Modi was found passing on unsolicited tips to students on how to cope with exam stress, inaugurating the swanky new headquarters of BJP, and holding forth on Artificial Intelligence.

"It looks like the Chowkidar of the nations wealth has abdicated all responsibility, moral and otherwise," it said.

Tewari said Prime Minister Narendra Modi "speaks on everything, referring himself as 'Chowkidar' (watchman) of the country and its 'Pradhan Sevak' (servant).

"But we would like him to answer some questions on issues that are critical and the country is demanding answers," the Congress leader said.

Tewari demanded that the government issue a white paper on the health of the banking sector and a complete list of all NPAs of banks be published on their website to enable people who have invested money in these banks to know their fiscal health.

On the country-wide raids launched by various agencies in the bank scam case, he asked, "Who are they attempting to fool? This is an activity merely for the sake of activity for creating a smoke-screen for trying to give an illusion of action when the horses have already bolted."



"This activity is merely an eye-wash. It is for the benefit of cameras," he alleged.

Tewari demanded answers from the prime minister on Amit Shah's son's company, the Rafale price at which the aircraft were purchased, the purchase of stake by ONGC in Gujarat Petroleum Corporation and on the issue of death of Justice Loya, asking "why he has not answered questions of the



The Congress said "Whenever the PM speaks, it is either to dish out more rhetoric, or to badmouth the Congress Party, or to point towards the past and claim victimhood".

The opposition party also took out a video of Modi sleeping while scamsters like Mallya and Nirav Modi fled.

"Have you heard of this amazing scheme by the Modi Govt to create more billionaires?



"PM Modi has mastered the art of remaining silent while scam after scam hits the nation. He possibly believes that his silence will help distract the nation,"the party said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Congress today described as an "eyewash" the raids by agencies in the Rs 11,400-crore PNB bank fraud and said the prime minister and the finance minister should answer the country on how the scam happened and the accused escaped, instead of creating a "smoke-screen".

Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said the government should tell who facilitated the escape of accused designer jeweller Nirav Modi and his partner Mehul Choksi, despite a court order declaring Choksi as an "absconder" and a proclaimed offender.

He said "fresh revelations" have come in the matter and the court of chief judicial magistrate had on August 4, 2017 declared Mehul Choksi, the managing director of Gitanjali Jewellery, and Vipul Chaitalia, the company's authorised signatory, as proclaimed offender and "absconding".

"How was this man allowed to leave the country? The question arises that how can a person who is a declared proclaimed offender and absconder by a court of law be allowed to leave the country and we would like to ask the NDA-BJP Government.

"We would like to ask the prime minister of India and the finance minister of India that who facilitated the exit of this man from the country despite the order of a competent court which brings us to certain other questions that we would like to ask," he told reporters.

Tewari said Prime Minister Narendra Modi "speaks on everything , referring himself as 'Chowkidar' (watchman) of the country and its 'Pradhan Sevak' (servant).

"But we would like him to answer some questions on issues that are critical and the country is demanding answers," the Congress leader said.

Tewari demanded that the government should issue a white paper on the health of the banking sector and a complete list of all NPAs of banks should be published on their website to enable people who have invested money in these banks to know their fiscal health.

On the country-wide raids launched by various agencies in the bank scam case, he asked, "Who are they attempting to fool? This is an activity merely for the sake of activity for creating a smoke-screen for trying to give an illusion of action when the horses have already bolted."



He said if the government needed to act, it should have acted earlier when they had court orders declaring people as 'proclaimed offenders' and as 'absconders', and stopped them from fleeing the country.

"This activity is merely an eye-wash. It is for the benefit of cameras," he alleged.

Tewari demanded answers from the prime minister on Amit Shah's son's company, the Rafale price at which the aircraft were purchased, the purchase of stake by ONGC in Gujarat Petroleum Corporation and on the issue of death of Justice Loya, asking "why he has not answered questions of the



"Mr Prime Minister, what is the reason for the untimely death of #JusticeLoya? Everybody who is part of this discourse have raised questions. But till today, not a single question has been answered"Ex-CM of Gujarat Mr Modi had announced that GSPC had discovered oil and gas. But now when he is a prime minister, ONGC is buying out GSPC. What is the reason for this, if GSPC was making profit with its discovery?," he asked.

"Mr Prime Minister - when are you going to address a full-fledged no-holds bar press conference in India like your predecessors have done," he said, noting that he is the first prime minister of independent India who in the past 45 months of his tenure has not addressed a single event where he had questions from the media.

Replying to a query, he said, "We would like to ask the government what action has been taken in each and every case of bank fraud which has been reported by banks to RBI...there is a huge opaqueness in the system which this government has created over last four years.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje today announced withdrawal of a controversial Bill that sought to protect serving and former judges, magistrates and public servants from being investigated for on-duty action without government sanction.

The Criminal Laws (Rajasthan Amendment)Bill, 2017, which was tabled in the Assembly last year by state Home minister Gulab Chand Kataria, had invited sharp criticism and protest from the opposition, rights groups and others.

It also barred the media from reporting on accusations of such wrongdoings till the government sanctions a probe.

"We referred the Bill to the Select Committee, we allowed the ordinance to get lapsed and when it is not a law yet, then what should we withdraw? However, we are taking the Bill back from the Select Committee," Raje said in the House amid an uproar by members of the opposition.

The Bill was referred to the Select Committee in the Assembly's last session following an uproar by the Congress. BJP MLA Ghanshyam Tiwari had termed it "Kala Kanoon".

Theordinancewas promulgated by the Rajasthan government on September 6, 2017, and the Bill was introduced in the Assembly onOctober 23, 2017.

On October 24, amid sharp criticism from all corners, the Bill was referred to the Select Committee for review. The ordinance, after the Bill's introduction in the Assembly, was valid for a six-week period and it lapsed in December 2017.

The chief minister, during a debate on the state budget, also attacked the Congress for the Emergency imposed by the then prime minister Indira Gandhi.

The Emergency was a "black chapter" in the history of India and the Congress has sought no apology from the nation for it, said Raje, who also holds the finance portfolio.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Opposition Congress created an uproar in Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly today alleging that the state government has invited an associate company of Nirav Modi, an accused in Punjab National Bank scam, for investment in the state.

The Congress members also demanded resignation of Chief Minister Raman Singh on the issue. As many as 29 Congress MLAs were suspended after they trooped into the Wellof the House seeking a discussion on the issue.

Soon after the Question Hour, senior Congress MLAs, including party chief Bhupesh Baghel, Satyanarayan Sharma and Dhanendra Sahu, alleged that the chief minister and his officials, during a visit to Australia last month, had invited Australian mining major Rio Tinto for mining exploration in the state.

"Rio Tinto is an associate company of Nirav Modi's conglomerate and although the company had left the diamond project in Chhatarpur district of Madhya Pradesh midway in the past, it was invited for investment in the state," they claimed.

Congress members further accused the ruling BJP of looting the state in the name of investments in the industrial sector and sought a discussion on it by moving an adjournment motion notice.

Speaker Gaurishankar Agrawal rejected their demand saying the nature of the motion is superficial and it cannot be accepted.

The speaker said the adjournment motion should be on a fresh issue, which needs immediate attention of the government, following which Congress members started shouting slogans.

Due to the pandemonium, the House was adjourned for five minutes.

When the proceedings resumed, Baghel again sought a discussion on the topic accusing the government of trying to loot the natural resources of the state in the name of investments.

"The chief minister should answer why he had invited a company which had a bad track record. The CM should resign," Baghel said.

As the speaker took up the listed business for the day despite slogan-shouting by the Congress MLAs, agitated members rushed to the Well of the House and were automatically suspended as per the assembly rules.

Congress legislators sat on the floor of the Well and continued to raise slogans.

Announcing the suspension, the speaker named the Congress members and askedthem to go out of the House, following which they moved out.

Later, while talking to reporters on the Assembly premises, CM Raman Singh said Congress has been levelling "baseless and hypothetical charges" as they don't have any other issue left to raise in the House.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Monday said he was ready to move a no-confidence motion against the Narendra Modi government with the support of other parties to get "justice" for the southern state. However, he said such a move will be the "last resort".

Earlier in the day, Naidu had dismissed the demands made by the opposition YSR Congress and Jana Sena to consider bringing a no-trust motion. TDP sources had said Naidu, who heads the TDP, was planning to convene an all-party meeting soon to discuss ways to build pressure on the Centre to secure the state's "rightful" due.

Ties between the BJP and TDP came under severe strain after the southern party accused the Centre of making "insufficient" allocations for Andhra Pradesh in the Budget 2018-19. "But, a no-confidence motion should be the last resort. We will continue our fight for justice to AP. If that doesn't happen, we will muster support from other parties and move the no-trust motion," the Telugu Desam Party president announced at meeting of Madiga Reservation Porata Samiti in Vijayawada.

The TDP is a key constituent from south India in the BJP-led NDA dispensation. Naidu said protecting the interests of the state was of paramount importance for him. "The Centre did nothing for us in the last four years. As Chief Minister, I will not tolerate if injustice is done to people. Whether they (the Centre) will help us with a special category status or a special economic package is up to them," he said.

The main opposition YSR Congress and the Jana Sena wanted the TDP to move the no-confidence motion demanding that the Centre grant special category status to AP. While dismissing their demand, Naidu had said that the Modi government enjoys "full majority". YSRC president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy announced that his party would move the no-trust motion if the TDP did not do so.

"Does he (Jagan) have head and tail? If you move a no-confidence motion, they (BJP) have majority. It will be defeated and you can't talk anything for six months on the issue," the chief minister told reporters at the Polavaram project site this afternoon. "First there should be a debate...we have to muster support...Injustice was done (to AP) right inside Parliament..Now we are demanding justice from the same Parliament. When our Minister (Y S Chowdary) demanded in Parliament that justice be done to the state, they (YSRC) demanded his dismissal (citing rules and procedures). Now they are talking about no-confidence," he said.

Naidu had said that provisions of the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014, and the promises made by the then prime minister Manmohan Singh in the Rajya Sabha have not been implemented yet. "We are also part of India. When I say that, they (YSRC) say we will run away by resigning (from Parliament) or moving a no-confidence motion," Naidu said. He had accused Jagan of trying to gain an "upper hand" to corner the TDP on the special category status issue.

"Without understanding Parliamentary procedures and traditions, he (Jagan) wants to show he took an upper hand and cornered the TDP and the government. What is that you cornered? People are watching everything," he said. The chief minister said his government would take the lead to secure the state's rights from the Centre. "....Let them come with us and cooperate. But they are asking us to follow them. Who are they? What's their history," he questioned.

Following the protests by Andhra Pradesh MPs in Parliament, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said that a formula will soon be worked out to release funds under a special package to Andhra Pradesh. The MPs belonging to the TDP, YSR Congress and Congress had protested "non-implementation" of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, and demanded a financial package for the bifurcated state. Interestingly, the Andhra Pradesh unit of the BJP has suggested to its central leadership to break the bond, if required, with the TDP before the latter does so, a state minister said.The Akshaya Patra Foundation



is ready to serve millets - which has high nutritional value - under the midday meal programme if the government allocates the grains, its CEO Shridhar Venkat said. Currently, the NGO is feeding 1.6 million children every day under the midday meal programme in 12 states. Mostly, wheat and rice-based hot cooked meals are served. "We believe that children should get nutritious food, which has an impact on the lives of beneficiaries. So, we are serving millet-based food items on a pilot basis under the midday meal programme in some states," Venkat told PTI. Inclusion of millets like 'jowar', 'bajra' and 'ragi' as one of the components of the midday meal will help enhance the nutritional intake of primary school children, he said.

Venkat said Akshaya Patra is serving millet-based food items on a trial basis for three months in few schools in Bengaluru in partnership with state government and Hyderabad-based International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT). "We have done similar pilots in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana as well. If the government gives millets along with wheat and rice, we will be glad to implement millets as one of the components to the meal," he said. Already, millet-based recipes have been developed as per the regional palate of the children. For instance, a recipe for preparing 'Bisi bele bath' from millets is ready for Karnataka, he added. Besides millets, Akshaya Patra is serving fortified rice to 4 lakh children in Gujarat and Karnataka to ensure nutritious meals. It plans to serve fortified rice under the midday meal programme across the country. Currently, Akshaya Patra is reaching out to 1.5 per cent of India's school-going population. It plans to expand in Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Uttarakhand, NCR, Puducherry and many other places to reach out to 5 million children by 2020.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Ruling Congress MLA N A Haris' son Mohammed Nalapad Haris, who has been booked for allegedly assaulting a man at an upscale pub-cum-restaurant here, surrendered before the police amid high drama here today. Remaining elusive after the police booked him and his friends in the pub brawl case on Saturday night, Nalapad turned up at the Cubbon Park police station and surrendered, as the incident became a major political issue ahead of the upcoming Karnataka Assembly polls. "Mohammed Nalapad Haris has surrendered before us for assaulting Vidwat," a senior police official told PTI. As Nalapad surrendered, BJP and JD(S) activists gathered outside the police station and staged a protest, leading to friction with the supporters of the MLA, who had also assembled there. The MLA told reporters that he had advised his son to surrender before the police. The police booked Nalapad under IPC sections 341 (wrongful restraint), 506 (criminal intimidation), 143 and 144 (unlawful assembly), 146 and 147 (rioting), 326 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons) and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace). The police were on the hunt for Nalapad after the parents of Vidwat (24), a management graduate, had lodged a complaint against him and 10 of his friends. It was alleged that during the brawl, Vidwat was kicked, punched and his head smashed with a liquor bottle. Nalapad and his friends had also allegedly barged into the hospital, where Vidwat was admitted following the incident, and threatened him. Facing heat over accusations of not acting swiftly, top police officials had ordered Nalapad's arrest and a police inspector was suspended within minutes after the deadline set for his arrest expired last evening. As the incident had triggered a political backlash with the BJP and JD(S) accusing the state government of trying to protect Nalapad, who was the Bengaluru District Youth Congress general secretary, a red-faced Congress expelled him from the party for six years. Nalapad and his friends had allegedly beaten up Vidwat at the pub-cum-restaurant in UB City on February 7, after they felt offended over the latter extending his feet, cast in plaster, towards their table. Vidwat is currently undergoing treatment in a private hospital.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, Kiren Rijiju today rubbished opponents charge of BJP being "anti-Christian" in the state and said party was clear that interest of the majority Christian people have to be protected at all cost.

Addressing an election rally in poll-bound Nagaland, Rijiju hit at the rivals stating that since they have nothing to say against BJP they are saying we are "anti-Christian."



The allegations that the BJP party supports anti-Christian activities are completely baseless because BJP has been fighting to protect the interest of Christians in the state and also national level, Rijiju said while addressing a election campaign rally for BJP candidate under 17-Chizami A/C, Kevechutso Doulo at Chizami Town in Phek district today.

Our opponents have nothing to say about us as we have tackled corruption and other issues successfully unlike preceding governments, so they are now saying that we are antiChristian, he said.

BJP is contesting February 27 elections in Nagaland in alliance with NDPP (Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party) of Neiphiu Rio.

According to BJP Nagaland Media cell release, Rijiju, who is also the election in charge of North East region for BJP, said Our religion is very sacred, religion is above politics, religion is above everything and hence this has to be clearly understood.

The Union Minister promised that If during our reign, any church and Christians in the state are persecuted, I will leave



He asserted the constituency people that if the BJP is elected to power, then he will make sure that the constituency will get better roads, proper medical and telecom facilities.

Recognising the uniqueness of the Naga history, Rijiju categorically stated that this election will shape the future of Nagaland because BJP is very aware of the Naga political issue.

The BJP central government under the leadership of former Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the first national leader to acknowledge the Naga struggle that has been brewing for many decades, even prior to Indias independence.

This election will lead to long term solution for which all political parties want to ally with the BJP to solve the problem, he said.

Prior to this election, the BJP was never an important stakeholder of the Nagaland government but with things looking up and with the BJP-NDPP sure to lead the government in the state, the party will take this issue very seriously, he said.

Prime Minster Narendra Modi is very clear about the Naga struggle and has personally assured that it will be the BJPs moral duty to solve this problem during this tenure, he added.

During the day, the Union Minister also attended BJP election rally at 60-Pungro-Kiphire A/C and 59-Seyochung-Sitimi A/C, the BJP Nagaland Media cell added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Robbers struck at Manda village in Kalyan tehsil in the district two days ago, looting a family of valuables worth Rs 1.26 lakh, police said today.

No arrests have been made in the case yet.

Hemant Bhoir, the complainant in the case, told police that four unidentified men broke into his house around 4 on Saturday morning, and looted jewellery and other valuables at knife-point.

The robbers also burgled a neighbouring apartment, he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Robusta farms in India's Western Ghats offer "substantial" biodiversity benefits and support higher densities of several sensitive avian populations, a new study has found.

The study done by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), Princeton University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison appeared in the journal, Scientific Reports.

Though Arabica avian assemblages were more species rich, Robusta also offered substantial biodiversity benefits, and supported higher densities of several sensitive avian populations, it said.

The researchers led by WCS associate conservation scientist Krithi Karanth surveyed for bird diversity in coffee agro forests in India's Western Ghat region.

Previous research had demonstrated that shade-grown coffee (typically Arabica) can harbour substantial levels of biodiversity.

The study said that coffee production is globally shifting toward Robusta, which uses a more intensive full-sun agricultural system, which may pose deleterious impacts for forest wildlife.

"Although Arabica avian assemblages were more species rich, Robusta nevertheless offered substantial biodiversity benefits, and supported higher densities of several sensitive avian populations such as frugivores. In addition, farmers use less pesticides in the more disease resistant Robusta farmlands," the study said.

The authors found a total of 79 forest dependent species living in the coffee plantations they surveyed, including three IUCN Red-Listed species - Alexandrine Parakeet, Grey-Headed Bulbul and the Nilgiri Wood Pigeon.

The study has important implications as coffee production is a vital driver of landscape transformation. It shifts between different coffee bean species which are a major dimension of agro forestry trends.

"Coffee farms already play a complementary role to protected areas in a country like India where less than four percent of land is formally protected.

"Therefore, building partnerships with largely private individual and corporate land holders will provide much needed safe-passage and additional habitats for birds and other species," Karanth said.

Lead author Charlotte Chang, said that an encouraging result of the study is that coffee production in the Western Ghats, a global biodiversity hot spot, can be a win-win for birds and farmers.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A Sambhaji Brigade member was allegedly attacked by Bajrang Dal activists in Manchar taluka following a dispute over distribution of a book on Chhatrapati Shivaji penned by slain Communist leader Govind Pansare, police said today.

Four members of the Hindutva outfit have been arrested under the relevant sections of the IPC for allegedly assaulting Sharad Pokharkar (39).

Pokharkar, a member of the Sambhaji Brigade, Maratha Mahasangh and Jijau Pratishtan, distributes the book "Shivaji Kon Hota" (Who was Shivaji) in Manchar every year.

"This year, they organised a similar programme in a village school near Manchar but some villagers and Bajrang Dal activists took objection to the event as well as the title of the book. They forced the school headmaster to cancel the programme," a Manchar police station officer said.

He said the situation became tense after Pokharkar allegedly exchanged messages after cancellation of the programme.

"On Sunday evening, Pokharkar received a call from the Bajrang Dal members who sought to have a discussion over the book with the complainant. Some members of the Bajrang Dal then went to Pokharkar's flat in Manchar and started debating the book with him," he said.

The debate soon turned ugly and the Hindutva activists assaulted Pokharkar and his friend, the officer said.

He said by the time police reached the spot, the Hindutva activists had fled.

Pansare (82) was fired upon by unidentified assailants on February 16, 2015 in Kolhapur. He died on February 20 in a hospital in Mumbai.

Role of some right-wing activists is suspected behind his killing, which is being probed by the Maharashtra CID.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Supreme Court would hear on April 2 the Centre's plea seeking modification of one of its directions, which were part of its historic 2006 verdict on police reforms, recommending steps like a fixed two-year tenure for DGPs.

A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud also said it would hear other pleas, including those filed by former DGP Prakash Singh seeking contempt action against various states for alleged non-compliance of the 2006 verdict on police reforms.

Attorney General K K Venugopal, appearing for the Centre, said the direction that a state police chief (DGP) must have a fixed tenure of two years irrespective of their date of superannuation was needed to be modified as the IAS officers, who are appointed as the Chief Secretaries, may also seek similar relief.

Venugopal said the direction on fixed tenure of Directors General of Police (DGPs) was prone to misuse as the police officers, who are due to retire, may be appointed to such a post.

The bench also pointed out that the plea seeking review of the 2006 verdict had also been dismissed and in view of that, how could a plea for modification be entertained.

Lawyer Prashant Bhushan, appearing for Prakash Singh on whose PIL several directions were passed, submitted that the contempt and other applications seeking enforcement of the judgement were pending adjudication.

Earlier, the apex court, on September 8 last year, had agreed to hear a clutch of pleas claiming that its historic 2006 verdict on police reforms, recommending steps like fixed tenures for DGPs and SPs, has not yet been implemented by states and union territories.

BJP leader Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay had sought urgent hearing on his interim plea saying the directions passed by the 2006 verdict have not been implemented by authorities.

Upadhyay has also sought the implementation of the Model Police Bill, 2006, which was drafted by a panel headed by former Attorney General Soli Sorabjee.

The apex court, deciding the PIL filed by two former DGPs Prakash Singh and N K Singh in 2006, had given a slew of directions, including setting up of a state security commission to ensure that the government does not exercise unwarranted influence on the police.

It had said the appointment of DGPs and police officers should be merit-based and transparent and officers like DGPs and Superintendent of Police (SP) should have a minimum fixed tenure of two years.

The court had recommended separation of police functions of investigation and maintaining law and order.

It had ordered setting up of a Police Establishment Board to decide and make recommendations on transfers, postings, promotions and other service-related matters of police officers of and below the rank of DSPs.

It had also ordered setting up of a Police Complaints Authority in each state to look into complaints against officers of and above the rank of SP in cases of serious misconduct, including custodial death, grievous hurt or rape in police custody.

A National Security Commission needed to be set up at the union level to prepare a panel for selection and placement of chiefs of the Central Police Organisations with a minimum tenure of two years, the apex court had ordered.

Contempt pleas alleging non-implementation of these directions are still pending.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The government today ordered the SFIO to probe around 110 companies and 10 limited liability partnership entities related to diamantaire Nirav Modi and his business associate Mehul Choksi, according to sources.

Modi and Choksi have come under the scanner of multiple agencies in the wake of the nearly Rs 11,400 crore fraud disclosed by state-owned Punjab National Bank.

Sources said the corporate affairs ministry has ordered the SFIO to investigate around 110 companies, including some listed ones, and about 10 LLPs linked to Modi and Choksi.

The Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) mainly probes white collar crimes.

Multiple agencies, including the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate, are already probing the fraud, which was perpetrated by way of fraudulent Letter of Undertakings (LoUs).

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) will initiate a probe into alleged financial irregularities at Fortis Healthcare and Religare Enterprises, according to a senior official.

The corporate affairs ministry has been looking into the affairs of Fortis Healthcare and Religare Enterprises after recent reports that financial irregularities have emerged at the two companies.

A senior official at the ministry said that a SFIO probe has been ordered against the two companies.

The latest development comes against the backdrop of reports that the Fortis Healthcare's promoters -- Malvinder Singh and Shivinder Singh -- took at least USD 78 million out of the company without any board approval about a year ago.

A Religare spokesperson said the company has not received any communication, written or otherwise, from any government authority with regard to such a purported investigation.

"As such we have no knowledge of any investigation against the company," the spokesperson said in a statement.

A query sent to Fortis Healthcare remained unanswered.

The Singh brothers are promoters of both companies.

The SFIO, under the ministry, mainly probes white collar crimes.

Fortis Healthcare has also come under the lens of markets regulator Sebi, which launched an investigation into the alleged regulatory lapses.

On Saturday, Fortis informed the exchanges that Sebi, which has instituted an investigation, has sought information and documents by February 26.

Sebi Chairman Ajay Tyagi, on February 10, said that the regulator was examining the Fortis issue. "We also received a reference on Religare from somewhere I cannot disclose and it will be looked into," he had said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)'Shiv Jayanti' - the birth anniversary of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was today celebrated with fervour here.

Maharashtra Water Resources minister Girish Mahajan and mayor Ranjana Bhansi garlanded life size statues of the Maratha warrior king at several places, an official release said.

Processions were taken out by youths and followers of the King at different places in the city.

King Shivaji, known as the creator of the Maratha empire, was born on this day in 1630 at Shivneri Fort in Pune, as per the Maharashtra government.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Warrior king Chhatrapati Shivaji is one of the inspiring icons of the country who rose above the barriers of caste and religion and bound people together, President Ram Nath Kovind said today.

He said people are often awestruck by the several qualities which were packed in one person---an able general, an excellent administrator and a great statesman.

"He was a great warrior, who used guerrilla warfare tactics to defeat large armies of the enemy. Under his leadership, Hindus and Muslims used to fight under one flag and he was the first ruler to lay the foundation of a navy in the country. He is one of the inspiring icons of the country," he said.

The president was speaking at a function organised by Akhil Bhartiya Shivrajyabhishek Mahotsav Samiti (ABSMS) to commemorate the birth anniversary of the warrior king.

Chhatrapati Sambhaji, a descendant of Shivaji, is the patron of the ABSMS.

The event was attended by Army chief Gen Bipin Rawat and Navy chief Admiral Sunil Lanba.

Kovind said Shivaji was also a great statesman who conquered several forts without even fighting for it.

He said the warrior king rose above the barriers of caste and religion and played a role of binding people together and appointed soldiers and administrators based on their talent and ability.

The Maratha Light Infantry of the Indian Army was founded 250 years keeping in mind the traditions of Shivaji, the president added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A Sikh Uber driver was allegedly held at gunpoint by a passenger who said "I hate turban people" and asked racial questions regarding his nationality and his allegiance to the US, media reports said.

The sheriff's office in Illinois is investigating the assault on Gurjeet Singh, the Uber driver, who reported the incident to police on January 29, the Washington Post reported.

The advocacy organisation Sikh Coalition says that the passenger pointed a gun at the driver and said, "I hate turban people, I hate beard people", the report said.

After meeting with Rock Island County Sheriff Gerry Bustos on Wednesday the leaders of the organisation expressed frustration, that the passenger has not been arrested since the attack.

Bustos told the Post that he expects to charge the suspect with aggravated assault and perhaps further charges by weeks end after he receives information that the sheriff's office has requested from Uber through a search warrant, it said.

Investigators have interviewed the driver, the suspect and another passenger who was in the car, Bustos said.

He said that the driver picked up the two passengers together in Moline, Illinois and began to drive them toward their destination. The male passenger and the driver got into an argument, he said.

The argument was about where peoples loyalties lie. There was an argument over where people were from, he said.

The Sikh Coalition said that the male passenger started asking Singh, the driver, a series of questions: What is your status here? Which country do you belong to? Do you serve your country or do you serve our country?



Singh, a legal US resident who does not speak fluent English, said he serves the United States and India, because his parents live there. Then, Singh said, the passenger put a gun to his head and said he hated turban people, the report said.

Sikh men in America, repeatedly mistaken for Muslims because of their appearance, have been the victims of numerous hate crimes including a man murdered immediately after 9/11 by an assailant who said he thought his victim was Arab, and six members of a Sikh temple in Wisconsin killed in a mass shooting.

Also, a nationwide million-dollar campaign was launched by Sikhs in the US to spread awareness and address the collective misunderstanding over the minority community amid a spike in hate crimes against them in the country.

The We are Sikhs campaign was launched by the National Sikh Campaign (NSC), a non-profit organisation.Prime Minister Narendra Modi not receiving his Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau at the airport, a courtesy he extended to some world leaders in the past, has triggered speculation in Canada that it was a snub to him for the rising Sikh radicalism in that country.

However, government sources strongly rejected the speculation, insisting normal diplomatic protocol has been extended to Trudeau.

They also expressed surprise over the Canadian side preferring to schedule Trudeau's official engagements in Delhi at the fag end of the tour as against the normal practice of having bilateral meetings during the first part of such visits.

The sources said it is quite unusual for a visiting dignitary to slot important talks towards the end of a visit, besides setting aside little time for official engagements.

Trudeau will hold bilateral talks with Modi on Friday, a day before he wraps up his tour.

A section of the Canadian media has also talked about the Indian prime minister's absence during Trudeau's visit to Gujarat, Modi's home state.

"We have own set of parametres for measuring importance," an official said, while calling the criticism by Canadian media "unfounded".

The sources said there was no "substantive content" in Trudeau's programme in Gujarat for which the Prime Minister's presence was required.

Referring to Modi accompanying Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during the latter's visit to Gujarat in September last year, the sources said the visit was "very high" in content which included laying the foundation for India's first high-speed bullet train project besides other components.

Commentators in Canadian media highlighted that Union Minister of State for Agriculture Gajendra Shekhawat received Trudeau at the Delhi airport when he arrived on a 7-day India visit on Saturday evening and contrasted it against Modi himself receving several world leaders at the airport.

"On official state visits to India, PM Modi personally greets and welcomes the Israeli PM, UAE Crown Prince and US President. For PM Trudeau, he sends a low-ranking official. 'Canada is back'," tweeted Canadian author and columnist Candice Malcolm.

There were stories in Canadian media that said Trudeau's perceived support for Sikh separatists may be the reason for the "snub".

The Sikhs in Canada wield significant political clout and Trudeau's Cabinet has four Sikh members.

The sources said the prime minister received around five leaders at the airport during the last three-and-half years which included the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, US President Barack Obama, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, and Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan twice.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Minister of Information and Broadcasting Smriti Irani has urged organisers of an ongoing festival to help spread awareness among young filmmakers on Indian literature.

At the second edition of the three-day long Chitra Bharati Film festival here, the minister said she was grateful that the organisers sought to promote Indian culture and value through cinema.

Irani and Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar inaugurated the festival of short films, along with actor-politician Hema Malini, directors Priyadarshan and Madhur Bhandarkar and Bollywood star Arjun Rampal.

The festival, the first edition of which was held in Indore in 2016, was organised by a body called the Bharatiya Chitra Sadhana.

"The Bharatiya Chitra Sadhana is apparently a first effort at joining cinema with 'sadhana'. I am grateful that this initiative to promote Indian values and culture through cinema has been taken," Irani said.

The minister said just as there were "master classes" for directors and actors at the festival, there should be workshops for editors and those working on animation and special effects in its future editions.

"I also want this festival to make young filmmakers aware of our literature," Irani said in her address.

Calling cinema the mirror of society, Khattar said films could have both a positive and a negative influence on the young, and content should be created keeping this in mind.

"Films should be for everyone and cinema should be created in a way that the whole family can watch it together. This festival has taken this responsibility and I wish them luck," he added.

Filmmakers from across 22 states of the country submitted their entries for the festival.

The organisers received over 702 entries out of which 160 films were selected and will be screened at the Siri Fort auditorium till February 21.

Rampal, who has just wrapped a schedule of "Paltan", based on the 1962 India-China war, said to make a mark globally, Indian filmmakers needed to focus on their own stories rather than remaking Hollywood films.

"The Indian film industry is still trying hard to get through the Oscars and I believe the reason for that is the lack of original content. We are still busy copying the West. We as a country have so many stories to offer and we should start making films on them," he said.

Malini said Bollywood had promoted Indian music and culture abroad and such festivals would take these moves forward.

"I am happy that Chitra Bharati has taken this initiative to make people aware of Indian culture, customs and values through films. I completely endorse the idea that cinema should be made keeping in mind our country's honour," she said.

At the festival, filmmaker Subhash Ghai, writer of "Baahubali" K V Vijayendra Prasad and actor-politician Manoj Tiwari will conduct workshops for young talent.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The striking lawyers of Orissa High Court today decided to continue their ongoing ceasework till February 23 to protest the alleged ''inadequate'' number of judges in the court, High Court Bar Association sources said.

The Bar Association at a general body meeting here also decided to launch a hunger strike from tomorrow, not to file any fresh case and restrain their clients from conducting their own cases.

The Orissa High Court at present has 16 judges, including the chief justice, against a sanctioned strength of 27.

There has been no appointment of judges in the high court since May 2015 and over 1.72 lakh cases, including PILs, were pending here till December 2017, the Bar Association sources said.

The lawyers have been boycotting courts from February 12 to protest the non-filling of vacancies in the post of judges in the high court and the problems in listing important matters for hearing.

''As we understand that no concrete step has yet been taken to address our grievances, we have decided to continue our cease-work stir till February 23. We have also decided to toughen our stand by resorting to hunger strike from February 20 and shall not file any fresh case,'' the Bar Association secretary Satyabrata Mohanty said.

The petitioners will also be restrained from entering into court rooms to conduct their own cases, he said.

Mohanty said that lawyers of Cuttack city will also be urged to extend their support to the cause of the High Court Bar Association.

''All Bar Associations located in Cuttack city will be requested for passing appropriate resolutions in this regard,'' Mohanty said.

There are at least 14 other courts and tribunals, including permanent benches of Central Administrative Tribunal and State Administrative Tribunal in Cuttack city.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Noted Telugu film comedian Gundu Hanumantha Rao died early in the morning today at his residence here. He was 61.

Hanumantha Rao, who had been suffering from kidney ailment for sometime now and was undergoing dialysis treatment, is survived by a son, according to a family member.

Gundu Hanumantha Rao, born in Vijayawada, started his film career with "Aha Na Pellanta" in 1987 and acted in around 400 films such as "Rajendrudu Gajendrudu" and "Yamaleela".

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao expressed grief over the death of the actor.

The chief minister, according to an official release, said, "It is a great void created by Hanumantha Rao who contributed to the theatre, film and TV industries.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Kerala Police today rejected charges that the real culprits had not been booked in the killing of a Youth Congress functionary and claimed two CPI(M) workers were arrested on the basis of clear evidence about their involvement in the crime.

M V Akash and Rejin Raju have been arrested last night in connection with the killing of Shuhaib, the Mattanur block Youth Congress secretary in Kannur on February 13.

"The accused were flushed out from their hideouts and are involved in the crime", Northern Range DGP Rajesh Dewan told reporters in Kannur.

The arrests were made only after police was convinced that the two, who are CPI(M) workers, were involved in the crime, he said.

"It was not surrender... it is absolutely arrest from the spot", he said replying to a query if the two had surrendered.

The arrest was on the basis of clear evidence against them and the two, who are hardened criminals, have a direct role in the murder, the official claimed denying charges that "dummy accused" had been arrested while the real ones had escaped.

The real motive behind the murder, the role of those who have been taken into custody and various levels of conspiracy in the killing were all being investigated, he said.

"The police will arrest only the real culprits, no matter how much time it may take," he said.

The vehicle and weapons used during the crime had not yet been seized, he said, adding there was no political pressure on them. The investigation was on the right path, Dewan said.

CPI(M) state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan maintained that the party had nothing to do with the brutal incident. If party workers have any role, stringent action would be taken against them, he said.

Dewan said there was no pressure on his officers with regard to the case.

"We are only answerable to rule of law and laid down rules of the Constitution. There are more accused in the case who would be soon nabbed," he said, adding whether the murder was a spur of the moment action or previous enmity, would be known only after the investigation was over.

On the statement of the victim's father that police had not taken the family's statement, Dewan said the police had recorded his statement.

"The element of politics will come given that he (Shuhaib) is a Congress worker... they will make a hue and cry..that is understood", the police official said.

Meanwhile, the Congress today stepped up its pressure on the ruling CPI(M)-led LDF government by launching two protests in Kannur and Thiruvananthapuram seeking a thorough probe into the killing of Shuhaib.

While former MP and party leader K Sudhakaran began his 48 hour strike in front of the Kannur district collectorate, Youth Congress President Deen Kuriakose began an indefinite "satyagraha" in front of the Secretariat in the state capital.

Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala has demanded an impartial inquiry into the killing and asked the state government should bring all the accused to book.

Slamming the ruling CPI(M), Chennithala said both "red and saffron terror" have to be opposed with the same intensity.

He alleged that the "silence" of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and other CPI(M) leaders has led to the current situation.

Sudhakaran also sought the intervention of CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury to bring the culprits to justice.

In a letter to Yechury, he alleged that Vijayan, asthe Chief Minister had "failed" to perform constitutional duties.

"Vijayan is functioning as a party secretary even after becoming the Chief Minister", Sudhakaran said.

Meanwhile, Kerala DGP Loknath Behra said a Special Investigation Team led by I G Mahipal Yadav would investigate the killing of Shuhaib.

In a related development, the government, in an effort to end the alleged political killings, has called a peace meeting at Kannur on February 21.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)"Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" continued its golden run at this year's award season by winning five major trophies, including the Best Film and Best Actress for Frances McDormand, at the largely predictable Baftas.

Like every other award show this year, the red carpet of the 71st British Academy Film Awards was drowned in black, the colour of choice for celebrities standing in solidarity with the Time'sUp and #MeToo movements.

McDormand moved a step closer to her second Oscar trophy for Best Actress, by bagging her first Bafta for her performance in the Martin McDonagh-directed crime drama that revolves around an angry mother who goes to extremes to keep the investigation focused on her daughter's murder.

The actor, who has been dominating the stage with her witty speeches, once again had the audiences in splits as she declared her issues with "compliance" to explain her choice of a colourful gown instead of a black one.

"As Martin said I have a little trouble with compliance but I want you to know I stand in alliance with my sisters in black," she said. In her short and sassy address, the 60-year-old star also credited her directors for writing roles that showed her "hidden potential".

"When I was a young actor in drama school, I was told that I was not naturally gifted and I'll have to work at it. And so I did," she said. "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" was also recognised for Original Screenplay for McDonagh, Best British Film, and Best Supporting Actor for Sam Rockwell.

"Our film is a hopeful one in lots of ways but it's also an angry one, and as we've seen this year, sometimes anger is the only way to get people to listen and to change, so we're thrilled that Bafta has recognised this," McDonagh said as he accepted the award for Best Film.

Fantasy drama "The Shape of Water" earned Guillermo del Toro his maiden Bafta in the Best Director category. The filmmaker had won a Bafta for his 2007 Spanish film "Pan's Labyrinth" in the Best Film Not in the English Language segment. The director praised the English culture for inspiring him. He paid tributes to the legacy of Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger, Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel but singled out novelist Mary Shelly for special praise.

"... She gave voice to the voiceless and presence to the invisible, and she showed me that sometimes to talk about monsters, we need to fabricate monsters our own, and parables do that for us," he said while crediting the creator of tragic monster Victor Frankenstein.

The director's film, which chronicles a unique bond between a lab cleaning lady and a sea monster, bagged a total of three awards (including Original Music and Production Design) despite scoring 12 nods.

Gary Oldman won the Best Actor in a Leading Role award for playing former British PM Winston Churchill in the World War II drama, "Darkest Hour".

The actor remembered Churchill on his third Bafta victory, describing how the British statesman "in those dark uncertain days in 1940 held the line for honour, for integrity and freedom, for his nation".

The Joe Wright directorial also won the Bafta in the Make Up and Hair category. Daniel Kaluuya may have missed out on the Best Actor award but he won the EE Rising Star award for his performance in "Get Out". On his first Bafta win, the actor gave an emotional speech in which he thanked his mother and also expressed his gratitude to the British arts for funding artistes like him.

Alison Janney won her first Bafta for her portrayal of LaVona Fay Golden, the mother of disgraced figure skater, Tonya Harding, in the film "I, Tonya". In the run-up for the 2018 Academy Awards, the Baftas saw a pattern emerge with McDormand, Janney, Oldman and Rockwell winning in their respective nominated categories.

Prince William presented director Ridley Scottwith a Fellowship at the Baftas and the director jokingly chided the British Academy for its delay in honouring him.

"Big boys don't get upset and I'm quite upset right now. It's been 40 years in this business and this is the first time they've ever given me anything. So I'm not going to go quietly," he said as he launched into a long speech. Host for the evening, Joanna Lumley became the first female presenter at the Baftas as she took the baton from last season's emcee Stephen Fry.

This comes barely a month after actor Kristen Bell became the "First Lady" to present Screen Guild Awards. Lumley acknowledged the role of the suffragettes in the women's movement, especially in the post-Harvey Weinstein sex scandal expose.

"This ceremony is not just about the famous people. But anyway, let's have a look at the famous people here tonight," she said in her opening comments. The celebrities attending the Bafta Awards turned up at the red carpet of the event in black in solidarity with #TimesUp, except McDormand and Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton.

She courted some controversy with her green Jenny Packham dress, with a black sash underneath her bust, which accentuated her seven-month baby bump - a nod some recognised, while said it is forbidden for members of the royal family to react on political protests or movements. "Phantom Thread" bagged its sole Bafta in Best Costume segment, like "Coco" and "Call Me By Your Name" for Best Animation and Best Adapted Screenplay, respectively.

Christopher Nolan's "Dunkirk" also managed to score one Bafta in the Best Sound category. The award for Best Editing went to "Baby Driver". South Korean erotic psychological thriller "The Handmaiden" won the Bafta for Film Not in the English.

"Blade Runner 2049" won in two segments - Best Cinematography and Best Special Visual Effects. "Cowboy Dave" and "Poles Apart" won the Baftas for Best Short and Best Short Animation. While "I Am Not A Witch" was recognised as the Outstanding Debut by British Writer, Director or Producer, "I Am Not Your Negro" won award for Best Documentary.Continuing its winning streak, "Three Billboards Outside Missouri, Ebbing" won big at the Baftas as the critically-acclaimed crime drama earned five major awards at the ceremony, including Best Film and Best Actress for Francis McDormand. The movie about an angry mother who goes to extremes to keep the investigation focused on her daughter's murder was also recognised in the Best British Film category as the echo of Hollywood's #TimesUp movement against sexual harassment resonated at the Royal Albert Hall here. While director Martin McDonagh won the golden mask for Original Screenplay, Sam Rockwell received the Bafta for Best Supporting Actor in the movie.

"Our film is a hopeful one in lots of ways but it's also an angry one, and as we've seen this year, sometimes anger is the only way to get people to listen and to change, so we're thrilled that Bafta has recognised this," McDonagh said as he accepted the award for Best Film. In her rousing acceptance speech, McDormand registered her support to the wave of activism initiated by her film and thanked studios for "carefully shepherding Martin's films, Guillermo's (Del Toro) films, because not only are they entertaining, they encourage a longer and broader cultural conversation". The celebrities attending the Bafta Awards turned up at the red carpet of the event in black in solidarity with #TimesUp, except McDormand and Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton. Touching upon the glaring stand-out moment, the actor said, "Martin said I have a little trouble with compliance... But I want you to know that I stand in full solidarity with my sisters tonight in black." Middleton courted slight controversy as she appeared in a green Jenny Packham dress, with a black sash underneath her bust, which accentuated her seven-month baby bump - a nod some recognised. Some said it is forbidden for members of the royal family to register the comment in political protests or movements. Fantasy drama "The Shape of Water" earned Guillermo del Toro his maiden Bafta in the Best Director category. The filmmaker had won a Bafta for his 2007 Spanish film "Pan's Labyrinth" in the Best Film Not in the English Language segment. The movie, which chronicles a unique bond between a lab cleaning lady and a sea monster, managed to bag a total of three awards (including Original Music and Production Design) after scoring impressive 12 nods at the 71st British Academy Film Awards. Gary Oldman won the much-anticipated Best Actor in a Leading Role award for immortalising former British PM Winston Churchill in the World War II drama, "Darkest Hour".

The actor remembered Churchill on his third Bafta victory, describing how the British statesman "in those dark uncertain days in 1940 held the line for honour, for integrity and freedom, for his nation". The Joe Wright directorial also won the Bafta in the Make Up and Hair category. Daniel Kaluuya may have missed out on the Best Actor award but the actor won the EE Rising Star award for his performance in "Get Out". On his first Bafta win, the actor gave an emotional speech in which he thanked his mother and also expressed his gratitude to the British arts funding for helping "product of arts of funding" like him. "I feel so privileged to be in your guys' company... There's a countdown I wasn't supposed to say that but I've said it now," Kaluuya laughed then continued with a shout saying, "We break all the rules!" Veteran director Ridley Scott was honoured with a Fellowship at the British Academy Film Awards. Alison Janney also won her first Bafta for her portrayal of LaVona Fay Golden, the mother of disgraced figure skater, Tonya Harding in the film "I, Tonya". "Phantom Thread" bagged its sole Bafta in Best Costume segment, like "Coco" and "Call Me By Your Name" for Best Animation and Best Adapted Screenplay. Christopher Nolan's "Dunkirk" also managed to score one Bafta in the Best Sound category. The award for Best Editing went to "Baby Driver". South Korean erotic psychological thriller "The Handmaiden" won the Bafta for Film Not in the English. "Blade Runner 2049" won in two segments - Best Cinematography and Best Special Visual Effects. "Cowboy Dave" and "Poles Apart" won the Baftas for Best Short and Best Short Animation. While "I Am Not A Witch" was recognised as the Outstanding Debut by British Writer, Director or Producer, "I Am Not Your Negro" won award for Best Documentary.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Jokhang Temple, one of Tibet's holiest Buddhist temples which caught fire on



Saturday, has been reopened amid official media reports



today that the iconic monastery in Lhasa has not sufferedmuch damage.

The temple, considered to be the spiritual heart of



Tibetan Buddhism in the remote Himalayan region,



attracts thousands of pilgrims and tourists from home



and abroad.

An orderly crowd of pilgrims and tourists yesterday



lined up to visit the temple, state-run Xinhua



agency reported.

The fire broke out at 6:40 PM on Saturday and was



soon put out. No casualties have been reported.

There are no visible signs of fire except some water



marks in the main hall of the monastery, the report said.

The temple, renowned in Tibetan Buddhism, has a



history of more than 1,300 years and houses many



cultural treasures, including a life-sized statue of the



Sakyamuni Buddha when he was 12-year-old.

The Barkhor, a bustling market street near the



monastery, was reopened to the public after a temporary



closure following the fire.

The temple will remain closed from February 19 to



22, when its monks mark the New Year holiday.

The Tibetan New Year was celebrated on Friday, coinciding with the Spring Festival this year.

Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post



reported earlier that the fire had caused concerns about



likely damage it might have caused.

Internet users posted pictures and videos of the fire



on social media, showing flames shooting high in the air.

The extent of the damage was not immediately



unknown, the Post report said.

The oldest part of the temple was built more than



1,300 years ago and the whole structure was added to



UNESCO's World Heritage list in 2000 as part of the



Potala Palace, the official home of successive Dalai



Lamas.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)An impressive 89.8 per cent of the over 25.73 lakh electors came out to vote in yesterday's Tripura assembly elections, the Election Commission said here today. Yesterday, based on details made available by local poll authorities, the commission had put the figure at 76 per cent. A spokesperson said today that the "final figure" is 89.80 per cent. In the last Assembly elections, the voter turnout was recorded at 91.82 per cent, while in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, it was 84.32 per cent. The polling for 59 seats of the 60-member Assembly was held peacefully with thousands of central paramilitary forces fanning across the northeastern state. There were reports of malfunctioning of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) at some polling stations which were rectified. Polling could not be held in Charilam constituency due to the death of CPI(M) candidate Ramendra Narayan Deb Barma last week. The constituency will go to polls on March 12. The BJP, hitherto an "also ran" in the border state, has emerged as the key challenger to the CPI(M)-led Left Front, which has remained unvanquished in the last five Assembly elections. Manik Sarkar, one of the most enduring icons of the CPI(M), has led the state for the last four terms. The Congress, which has been marginalised in Tripura, was last in power between February 1988 and March 1993. It is contesting 59 seats and had not fielded candidate for Kakrabon constituency. The BJP, which has been rapidly expanding its footprint in the northeast, with the party already in power in Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh, has forged an alliance with Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT), an anti-Left party. The BJP has fielded candidates in 51 places, while its ally is contesting the remaining nine seats.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his family today offered prayers at the Swaminarayan Akshardham temple here and visited the Sabarmati Ashram as part of their day-long visit to Gujarat. The family travelled straight to Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad after arriving here this morning. Trudeau, accompanied by his wife Sophie and their three children, visited Hriday Kunj, the place where Mahatma Gandhi lived and from where he ran the non-violence movement. Dressed in traditional Indian clothes, they also tried their hand at Mahatma Gandhi's spinning wheel. Canada's first family also spent nearly half an hour at the Akshardham temple here and offered flowers to the deity. "What an extraordinary place of peace. Thank you for sharing with me, with my family, with the world," Trudeau wrote in the visitors' book at the temple. "In oneness. Shanti," wrote his wife Sophie Trudeau. They then walked through the exhibition hall where the life and times of the head of the BAPS Swaminarayan sect, Pramukh Swami Maharaj, is depicted in audio-visual presentations. On arrival, they were accorded a floral welcome by senior priests of the temple. The family, which posed for photographs, were given an overview of the temple, spread over an area of 23 acres here. Trudeau was invited to visit the Akshardham temple here during his visit to the Akshardham temple in Toronto in Canada, said BAPS media coordinator Vivek Jeevan Swami. "Trudeau visited Akshardham temple in Toronto on July 22 last year. There he remarked that the temple is an architectural masterpiece and embodies openness and peace. He was invited to visit the temple in Gandhinagar to which he graciously agreed," Swami Vivek said. Trudeau told priests at the temple that the "way forward" for mankind is peace and harmony, a priest accompanying the Canadian prime minister told reporters.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Turkey's foreign minister today warned against any intervention by Syrian pro-government forces alongside Kurdish militias in northern Syria, saying it would not prevent Ankara from continuing its month-old offensive.

Mevlut Cavusoglu was reacting to a report from Syrian state agency SANA saying pro-government forces were expected in the Afrin region to counter the Turkish offensive against the Kurdish Peoples Protection Units (YPG) militia.

"If the regime is entering (Afrin) to oust the PKK, YPG, there is no problem. But if they are entering to protect the YPG, then no one can stop us and Turkish soldiers," Cavusoglu said during a visit to Jordan.

"This is true for Afrin, Manbij and the east of the Euphrates River," Cavusoglu added at a joint conference in Amman with his Jordanian counterpart Ayman Safadi.

Turkey views the YPG as a terrorist offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), blacklisted by Ankara, the United States and the European Union.

On Monday, SANA said "popular forces will arrive in Afrin within a few hours to support its peoples stand against the Turkish regimes attack on the area and its people," citing its correspondent in Aleppo.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has previously threatened to expand the operation to include the YPG-held town of Manbij and other towns leading to the Iraqi border.

The Turkish army, backed by Syrian rebels, has been conducting a ground and air offensive against the region since January 20 to drive out the YPG.

Cavusoglu said the aim of the operation, dubbed "Olive Branch", was "clear" and aimed at "removing terrorists" from its southern border.

Damascus previously denounced Ankaras "aggression" in Afrin but had never explicitly said it would intervene before Monday.

Syria's Kurds have gradually implemented a self-rule model across much of the countrys north, including Afrin, since 2012.

Kurdish fighters and government troops have largely stayed away from each other since then, albeit short-lived clashes in the cities of Hasakeh and Qamishli.

Last week, YPG chief Sipan Hamo told reporters his forces would have "no problem" with Damascus intervening to help repel Turkeys assault.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A speeding truck today hit four pedestrians in south east Delhi's Pul Prahladpur area, killing two people and injuring one, police said.

Suman (22), her uncle Barrister Tiwari (44), her cousins Nitin and Amit were on their way to Nangloi after attending a birthday party when the accident occurred on Sunday afternoon, the police said today.

The four were walking towards Tughalqabad Metro station to catch a train. The truck came from behind and hit them.

Police received a call about the accident at around 3 pm. They rushed Suman, Barrister and Nitin to a nearby hospital where the doctors declared Suman and Barrister dead, the police said.

Suman was a teacher while her uncle was an engineer.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Two women, aged around 40, were found dead under mysterious circumstances at Nathamvilakku in the district here early today, police said.

The incident occurred around 2 AM today when the women, Azhagupandi and Priya were going (on foot) to a nearby Primary Health Care Centre to visit their friend, who was admitted for medical treatment, they said.

The patient's husband, who was waiting for the women at the Centre, went looking for them as they did not turn up for a long time.

He then found the duo lying dead with injuries, alongside the Chattrapatti highway, they added.

A case has been registered and investigation is on, police said.

In another incident, an 8-year-old girl was hacked to death by her father at Villur in the district, police said.

Murugan attacked his wife, Lakshmi and his daughter Irulayi with a sickle following an argument over a family dispute at their home last night, they said.

While his daughter died on the spot, the woman has been admitted to the government hospital in a serious condition.

A case has been registered and a hunt is on to nab the accused, who is absconding, police said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)A Cambridge University graduate who admitted 137 criminal offences involving online abuse, including encouraging the rape of a four-year-old boy, was sentenced today to 32 years in prison.

Matthew Falder, who dubbed himself "666devil" and "evilmind" online, blackmailed many of his 45 victims into sending "severe abuse images" of themselves, according to Britains National Crime Agency (NCA).

The images were defined as "hurtcore" by prosecutors.

"Hurtcore does what it says on the tin really -- its aim is to hurt the individual to their very core," NCA investigator Matthew Long said.

Falder, whose victims ranged from young children to people in their 30s, would pose as a woman and get his victims to send naked images. He would then manipulate them into sending increasingly depraved abuse images.

Judge Philip Parker described the 29-year-old as an "internet highwayman" who had a lust for controlling and tormenting victims.

"It is a tale of ever-increasing depravity," he said.

"The effects on the girls, women and men were devastating. The damage is ongoing for these individuals. It will never end," he said.

Falder, a geophysicist who was a postdoctoral researcher at Birmingham University in central England, admitted the charges at a court hearing in October, making him one of Britains most prolific sex offenders.

"In more than 30 years of law enforcement I have never come across an offender whose sole motivation was to inflict such profound anguish and pain," NCA senior investigating officer Matt Sutton said at the time.

"I have also never known such an extremely complex investigation with an offender who was technologically savvy and able to stay hidden in the darkest recesses of the dark web," he added.

The NCA set up a taskforce involving Australian, US and Europol investigators to catch Falder with support from Britains online spying agency GCHQ.Vice Admiral R B Pandit, Flag-Officer-Commanding, Western Fleet at Mumbai, today took over as the Commandant of Indian Naval Academy (INA) at Ezhimala in nearby Kannur district.

He replaces Vice Admiral S V Bhokare who handedover responsibilities as the Commandant of the academy to Vice Admiral Pandit, after a successful tenure of over 15 months, an INA release said.

Vice-Admiral Pandit is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy, Khadakvasala, Defence Services Staff College in Wellington, Tamil Nadu, the College of Naval Warfare, Mumbai and the Royal College of Defence Studies in London.

He has specialised in Anti Submarine Warfare and has commanded INS Nirghat, INS Vindhyagiri, INS Jalashwa and the 22nd Missile Vessel Squadron at Mumbai.

Pandit, who reached INA today was promoted to the rankof Vice Admiral and took over as the sixth Commandant of the INA.

Prior to this assignment, he had been the Naval Adviser at the High Commission of India at Islamabad, Pakistan.

He had also held important staff assignments such as ACNS (Foreign Cooperation and Intelligence) at IHQ MoD (Navy) and Chief of Staff, Southern Naval Command.

Bhokare, who leaves for Delhi to be posted at IHQ MoD(Navy), was accorded a warm send-off with the traditional "Pulling Out"ceremony, it said.

During the tenure of Vice Admiral S V Bhokare, who took over as the Commandant on October 20, 2016, the INA saw a marked transformation in infrastructure and training facilities.

Itwas during his tenure, INA also won the prestigious Bakshi Cup competition, held between all six major military academies including National Defence Academy (NDA) and Indian Military Academy (IMA), for the first time, the release added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The reported denial of visa to the president of a worldwide alliance of Baptist churches and organisations who was to visit Meghalaya earlier this month, may cost the BJP and its ally NPP in the February 27 Assembly polls, state Congress working president Vincent H Pala has said. The BJP and the National People's Party (NPP) are seeking to unseat the ruling Congress in Meghalaya, where Christians constitute nearly 75 per cent of its three million population. The BJP, which had failed to open its account in the 2013 polls, has this time fielded 47 candidates and set an ambitious target to win 40 seats in the 60-member house in Meghalaya, which is under Congress rule for past 10 years. The Centre had last week reportedly denied visa to Baptist Convention president Rev Paul Msiza. He was set to visit remote Rajasimila village in Meghalaya's East Garo Hills district to attend the 150th anniversary of the church there. Rev Msiza did not make it to the celebrations despite the last minute calls made to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj by Union Tourism Minister K J Alphons. NPP president and MP Conrad K Sangma, too, had shot off a letter to Swaraj. The BJP had issued clarifications on the issue. "How can we say that the BJP is inclusive and will stand for everybody in the country when there is such an incident (denial of visa to Rev Msiza). The sentiments of the church have been hurt deeply," a leader of the Catholic Church said on condition of anonymity. Rev Mzisa was to visit a "very important celebration of the Baptist Church and not to convert people", he said, adding that if there was any such "unfounded fear" there are government agencies to keep track of foreign visitors. BJP state chief Shibun Lyngdoh avoided making a direct statement on the issue. He only said: "People of Meghalaya want change. They are against the misrule of the Congress." Some other church leaders even questioned the authenticity of Conrad's letter as no official receipt by the MEA was 'seen'. Congress veteran Pala said that Rev Mzisa was kept under surveillance when he visited the Garo Hills in the state two years ago, following which he was found to have violated the visa guidelines and was blacklisted. Last month, Meghalaya's Catholic Church and Presbyterian Church, who have more than 15 lakh members, had declined the 'Swadesh Darshan scheme' packages launched by the Union tourism ministry for the churches in the state. The secretary of the Parish Pastoral Council of the Cathedral of Mary Help of Christians, B Nangbah, told PTI that such packages to the Church ahead of elections "may be read otherwise as indirectly trying to bring the church into electoral politics". The Mawkhar Presbyterian Church, a parent church of the Presbyterians in the state, too, announced that it is not a party to the decision taken by the tourism ministry and did not wish to avail the packages. The BJP campaign rallies in Meghalaya have been sparsely attended and even its president Amit Shah's rally here on Friday failed to draw a large crowd. The Congress is going all out to defend its turf and has taken to campaign against the BJP using all platforms, including the social media. Pala said the campaign this time is different from earlier times. "We are at war. We are working day and night this time because the other parties like the NPP and the BJP are also working." The Congress has put up candidates in all 60 seats while the NPP is contesting in only 53 seats.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu today questioned the rationale behind holding a "beef festival", saying one could eat beef if one wanted, but there was no need to organise a festival for it.

"You want to eat beef, then eat. Why (a) festival? Similarly, a 'kiss festival'. If you wish to kiss, why do you need a festival or anyone's permission for it," he said.

Speaking at the platinum jubilee celebrations of R A Podar College of Commerce here, Naidu also hit out at those who raised slogans in support of Parliament attack convict Muhammad Afzal Guru.

"Then you have Afzal Guru. People are chanting his name. What is happening? He tried to explode our Parliament," Naidu said.

In July 2017, the students of IIT-Madras had held a "beef festival" on the campus to protest against the cattle-slaughter ban.

Similarly, an advisory was issued in Jammu and Kashmir earlier this month in connection with the death anniversaries of Afzal Guru and Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) founder Maqbool Bhat.

Bhat and Guru were hanged and buried inside New Delhi's Tihar Jail on February 11, 1984 and on February 9, 2013 respectively.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The BJP today alleged the Congress government in Karnataka was aware of the wrong-doings of Mehul Choksi, a key accused in the PNB scam case, since 2015 and asked party President Rahul Gandhi and state Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to explain as to why they provided him "cover fire".

Citing media reports, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said the Karnataka government had submitted in courts in matters related to cases involving Choksi that he was a "habitual offender" and "wilful defaulter" and could even flee the country. The Karnataka government had said he should be investigated by the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate for the truth to come out, Patra said. The BJP leader added that the state government, however, never approached the CBI, the ED or any central agency and let the local police probe the matter. "Should not Rahul Gandhi, Siddaramaiah and the Congress answer as to why this cover fire was provided to Mehul Choksi all these years," Patra said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Budget session of the Goa Legislative Assembly, which began today, would last for only four days owing to the illness of Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, who was hospitalised in Mumbai. Speaker Pramod Sawant, who chaired a meeting of the Business Advisory Committee (BAC) this afternoon, after Governor Mridula Sinha addressed the House, said the Budget would be presented on February 22, the last day of the session. The session was supposed to continue till mid-March, but due to Parrikar's illness, the committee decided to cut it short, Sawant told reporters. "The BAC has decided to curtail the session to only four days. The Budget will be presented on February 22," he said. Senior minister and MGP leader Sudin Dhavalikar will deal with the questions and other business which Parrikar was supposed to handle. The Assembly would pass a vote-on-account for five months on the last day, while the Budget will be tabled now, but passed in the next session, Sawant said. "It is yet to be decided who will present the Budget as the chief minister might join the Assembly on Wednesday," the Speaker said. However, Dhavalikar told reporters that he had been asked to table the Budget. "The chief minister, through the Speaker, has empowered me to table the Budget on Thursday," he said and hastened to add, "Parrikar might come to the House on Wednesday." Leader of Opposition Chandrakant Kavlekar said the Congress has agreed to the curtailment of the session, but feels that the House should not be adjourned sine die. "The Speaker told us that there is a possibility of the chief minister returning soon. So the Congress Legislative Party suggested that the session should be discontinued temporarily and resumed after the chief minister arrives. We can hold (resume) the session till March 31," he said. The Congress leader said the session should not be postponed for another four months as there are several burning issues that are needed to be discussed. Parrikar was admitted to Mumbai's Lilavati Hospital on February 15 and is undergoing treatment for pancreatic ailment.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today said the next elections slated for December would be held in time and her government would not let ex-premier Khaleda Zia's BNP to upset the polls over her imprisonment on graft charges.

Zia, 72, was sentenced to five years in jail by a Dhaka court on February 8 on charges of corruption involving an orphanage named after her slain husband and military ruler Ziaur Rahman.

"What we could do if they want to abstain from the elections...the court has awarded her the imprisonment, we did not and (so) we cant withdraw it either, Hasina told reporters.

She said the case against Zia was lodged in 2008 by the past military-backed interim government and the independent Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) carried out its investigation.

The trial ran for long 10 years when she (she) exhausted all options to upset the process through filing over 80 writ petitions, getting the trial judges changed thrice expressing no confidence (on their neutrality) and got the hearing deferred for 109 times in the name of hearing preparedness, Hasina said.

The premier said the chief of the past interim government Fakhruddin Ahmed was a trusted bureaucrat of Zia.

Yet she was convicted of graft for embezzling money... such a crime draws punitive actions both from divinity and mundane court, Hasina said.

Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party had also boycotted the 2014 general election over the polls time interim government system. Demonstrations by Zias BNP and its Islamist allies in 2014 and 2015 had left nearly 500 people dead.

Zia, however, appears to be seeking to contest the next polls set for December this year.

Analysts feel that the BNP is now in a political wilderness after Zia's conviction, which is likely to disqualify her from contesting elections.

BNPs secretary general Mirza Falhrul islam Alamgir earlier this week told a protest rally that the party would not take part in polls without Zia.

But Hasina today said the elections would be held as per Constitution in time "no matter if or not BNP comes to the polls . . . it is their decision whether they will contest it. She said that the BNP by no means would be allowed to upset the polls resorting to violence.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)The Yogi Adityanath government has set an ambitious target of generating five lakh jobs every year, attracting Rs 5000 crore investment and increasing the arrival of foreign tourists by ten per cent in Uttar Pradesh's new tourism policy which was unveiled today.

The key aspect of ensuring the safety of women tourists, in a state where law and order is a major issue, also finds a prominent mention in the policy, which was released by UP's tourism minister Rita Bahuguna Joshi.

Another highlight is the plan to set up upto 50 heritage hotels in the country's largest state.

'The policy will be applicable for five years and has set a target of increasing by 15 per cent, domestic, and by 10 per cent foreign tourist arrivals.

The sector will generate five lakh direct or indirect jobs and attract an investment of Rs 5,000 crore per year," Joshi said.

The new policy targets attracting one lakh additional tourists to parks and wildlife sanctuaries in the state and also to convert ten heritage building to heritage hotels per year.

"The focus will be on promotion of eco-tourism. Efforts will be made to explore local entrepreneurship avenues through execution of fairs and festivals," Bahuguna said.

The tourism department will create a land bank for promoting tourism in the state, she added. "The new tourism policy will help make UP the most preferred tourism destination," Bahuguna claimed to add that emphasis will be on extending safety and security of all tourists, especially women.

"Investment opportunities would be offered within 20 km of all tourist sites of the ten tourism circuits including the Ramayana circuit, Krishna-Braj circuit, Buddhist circuit, Wildlife and Ecotourism circuit, Bundelkhand circuit, Mahabharata circuit, Shakti Peeth circuit, Aadhyatmik circuit, Sufi-Kabir circuit and Jain circuit," the minister added.By Jan Strupczewski and Francesco GuarascioBRUSSELS (Reuters) - Euro zone finance ministers on Monday chose Spanish Economy Minister Luis de Guindos to succeed European Central Bank Vice President Vitor Constancio in May, a move likely to boost the chances of a German becoming head of the ECB next year.The choice of a Southern European for vice president increases the likelihood that a northerner such as German Bundesbank governor Jens Weidmann could be elected to replace Mario Draghi as head of the ECB in 2019. This could influence the bank's ultra-loose monetary policy for the 19-country ...By Alessandra PrenticeKIEV (Reuters) - For the first time in Ukraine's history, U.S. anthracite is helping to keep the lights on and the heating going this winter following a deal that has also helped to warm Kiev's relations with President Donald Trump.The Ukrainian state-owned company that imported the coal told Reuters that the deal made commercial sense. But it was also politically expedient, according to a person involved in the talks on the agreement and power industry insiders.On Trump's side it provided much-needed orders for a coal-producing region of the United States which was a ...By Neha DasguptaNEW DELHI (Reuters) - Indian manufacturers of graphite electrodes used in electric arc furnaces are booming on the back of China's pollution crackdown, but soaring prices have set the companies on a collision course with government and steelmakers.In an unusual intervention, India's steel ministry is pushing for electrode makers to cut prices for smaller steelmakers after a 500 percent surge in domestic prices, sources told Reuters.The government has also signalled it may introduce an export tax, aiming to boost domestic supply. India's two manufacturers account for about a ...NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The Central Bureau of Investigation arrested three more employees of Punjab National Bank in a $1.77 billion fraud case, a CBI official said on Monday. The three arrests include two managers of the forex department and one officer responsible for checking swift messages, the official said.Last week, the police arrested three people, including two employees of PNB, as part of an investigation into the country's biggest-ever bank scam. (Reporting by Aditya Kalra. Editing by Jane Merriman)(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from ...And, like earlier, it is Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma who is opposing the most. A chunk of the industry is backing Sharma, and others are backing Facebook on whether the payments platform should be allowed to be rolled out in its current form. The opposition On Sunday, a host of tech industry insiders came out with their concerns on how WhatsApp was ...

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Digital EditorWASHINGTON (AP)  An ex-wife of former White House staff secretary Rob Porter says she has received a letter of apology from Sen. Orrin Hatch, the Utah Republican who defended his former aide from a vile attack after two ex-wives accused Porter of domestic abuse.

Porter resigned Feb. 7 after the accusations from Colbie Holderness and Jennie Willoughby became public, though he denied them.

Porter had been Hatchs chief of staff for three years. When the allegations first surfaced, Hatch defended Porter as kind and considerate towards all and referred to a vile attack and character assassins. After details of the alleged abuse came to light, Hatch said he was heartbroken, didnt know the details of Porters personal life, and called domestic violence abhorrent.

Holderness told The Associated Press in an email Sunday that she had received an apology letter from Hatch and that she appreciated it.

The Washington Posts Erik Wemple first reported that both Holderness and Willoughby had received letters of apology from Hatch.

Emails and calls for comment from Hatchs office and from Willoughby were not immediately returned to the AP.

President Donald Trump defended Porter after his departure from the White House and wished him well while not mentioning the ex-wives and their accusations. Trump later lamented via Twitter that lives are being shattered and destroyed by a mere allegation, which critics pointed to as further evidence that Trump downplayed violence against women.

The Porter episode also raised questions about how long White House officials knew about the allegations against him and what role they played in Porter failing to obtain a permanent security clearance.BILLINGS, Mont. (AP)  A year of upheaval at the U.S. Interior Department has seen dozens of senior staff members reassigned and key leadership positions left unfilled, rules considered burdensome to industry shelved, and a sweeping reorganization proposed for its 70,000 employees.

The evolving status quo at the agency responsible for more than 780,000 square miles (2 million square kilometers) of public lands, mostly in the American West, has led to praise from energy and mining companies and Republicans, who welcomed the departure from perceived heavy-handed regulation under President Barack Obama.

But the changes have drawn increasingly sharp criticism from conservationists, Democrats and some agency employees. Under President Donald Trump, the critics say, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has curbed outside input into how the land is used and elevated corporate interests above the duty to safeguard treasured sites.

The differing views illustrate longstanding tensions over the role of Americas public lands  an amalgam of pristine wilderness, recreational playgrounds and abundant energy reserves.

A year into his tenure, Zinke, a former U.S. Navy SEAL and Montana congressman, has emerged as the point person for the administrations goal of American energy dominance. Hes targeted regulations perceived to hamper development of oil, natural gas and coal beneath public lands primarily in the West and Alaska.

Hes also made plans to realign the agencys bureaucracy, trimming the equivalent of 4,600 jobs  about 7 percent of its workforce  and proposed a massive overhaul that would move decision-making out of Washington, D.C., relocating headquarters staff to Western states at a cost of $17.5 million.

The intent is to delegate more power to personnel in the field who oversee activities ranging from mining to livestock grazing to protecting endangered plants and animals.

Staffing reductions would be achieved through natural attrition and reclassifying some positions to lower pay grades as employees are moved outside the D.C. area, Zinke spokeswoman Heather Swift said Monday.

Zinkes actions have stirred dissent within and outside the agency  from his claim that one-third of Interior employees were disloyal to Trump to a proposal to allow more drilling off Americas coasts while carving out an exception for Florida at the request of Republican Gov. Rick Scott.

Along with Zinkes full-throated promotion of the Trump administrations new agenda came the transfer of at least 35 senior Interior employees. Among them was Matthew Allen, who was demoted from assistant director of communications at the agencys Bureau of Land Management.

Hes now in a new position, performing nonspecific duties in an Interior branch that oversees offshore drilling. Allen sued in December, challenging his reassignment as retaliation for his support of government transparency.

There appears to be a collective effort to suppress information being shared with the public, the press and the Congress, he said.

At the agencys highest levels, 11 leadership positions are vacant a year after Trump took office, including the directors of the Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Land Management and the National Park Service.

Panels such as the National Park System Advisory Board have languished, according to a letter submitted by board members who resigned last month. Board Chairman and former Alaska Gov. Tony Knowles, a Democrat, complained that requests to engage with Zinkes team were ignored and members were concerned stewardship and protection of the parks was being pushed aside.

When the Park Service in October proposed increasing entrance fees at 17 of the most highly visited parks  from Grand Canyon to Yellowstone and Zion  the board wasnt consulted, said Carolyn Finney, a University of Kentucky geography professor who was among those who resigned.

How do we make parks more accessible? Its cost, Finney said. She said the fee increase would hinder the ability of a more diverse and wider group of the public to visit the parks.

The boards charter expired in December after it collected comments from more than 100 experts on how parks should deal with climate change, increase visitor diversity and protect wildlife.

Zinkes associate deputy secretary, Todd Willens, called the resignations a political stunt because another meeting was planned and because the agency was working to renew the boards charter.

Similar action has been promised for idled advisory boards at the Bureau of Land Management. Under Trump, the charters for 22 state-level resource advisory councils  composed of local officials, representatives of business and environmental groups and others  expired in January.

Some expired months ago and at least 14 remained so as of Friday. Interior representatives did not respond to numerous requests for information on the status of the other councils.

The councils make recommendations on activities on public lands, such as whether off-road vehicles should be allowed in wildlife habitat or whether logging could help prevent wildfires.

Zinke suspended the panels for five months in May as part of a review of more than 200 boards and advisory committees. Some had not met in years. Congressional Democrats objected, saying the move would stifle non-governmental views on how U.S.-owned land is used.

Swift said it was common practice to periodically renew and refine the panels charters.

Oil and gas groups in particular have embraced the concept of change for an agency once seen as an obstacle to drilling. The withdrawal or cancellation of Obama-era rules on fracking and methane emissions from oil and gas exploration were positive first steps, they say.

Next comes getting Interior staff on board, said Kathleen Sgamma with the Western Energy Alliance, which promotes giving oil and gas companies access to federal lands.

U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva of Arizona, the House Natural Resources Committees ranking Democrat, said Zinkes actions have made it easier to pollute federal lands and waters while giving special interest groups more influence.

Hes in over his head, Grijalva said.



Follow Matthew Brown on Twitter at <a target=blank href=http://www.twitter.com/matthewbrownap>www.twitter.com/matthewbrownap</a> .AVALON, Calif. (AP)  Authorities say a buffalo has gored a man camping on Southern Californias Catalina Island.

Los Angeles County sheriffs officials say the man was sitting on a log Saturday evening and the buffalo was grazing nearby.

Sgt. Ray Ward says that when the buffalo came closer, the man tried to move away and thats when the animal charged.

Ward says the buffalo gored the mans left arm. He didnt know the extent of the injuries.

The <a target=blank href=https://www.ocregister.com/2018/02/17/man-gored-by-wild-buffalo-on-catalina-island/>Orange County Register</a> reports that the man was treated at the scene and then airlifted to a hospital on the mainland.

Buffalo are common and roam freely on the back side of Catalina Island, where there are campgrounds. Ward says its very rare for them to attack humans.MANILA, Philippines (AP)  The risks of a miscalculation and armed conflict have risen in the disputed South China Sea with a militarily stronger China now able to challenge the United States, which used to be the dominant power in the strategic waterway, the Philippine envoy to Beijing said Monday.

Ambassador Chito Sta. Romana said the balance of power was shifting with the two global powers vying for control of the waters, adding that the Philippines should not get entangled in the increasingly tense maritime rivalry.

China claims virtually the entire South China Sea, where the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei also have overlapping claims, and it has built seven mostly submerged reefs into islands that reportedly can be used as forward air naval bases and have been installed with a missile defense system.

The U.S. Navy has sailed warships on freedom of navigation operations near the artificial islands, which China has protested as U.S. intervention in an Asian conflict.

Whereas before the South China Sea was dominated by the U.S. 7th Fleet, now the Chinese navy is starting to challenge the dominance, Sto. Romana told a news forum in Manila. I think we will see a shift in the balance of power.

It is not the case that the South China Sea is now a Chinese lake, not at all, Sto. Romana said. Look at the U.S. aircraft carrier, its still going through the South China Sea, he added, referring to the USS Carl Vinson that recently patrolled the disputed waters and is currently on a visit to the Philippines.

He compared the two powers to elephants fighting and trampling on the grass and said, What we dont want is for us to be the grass.

Philippine President Rodrigo Dutertes policy of befriending China has worked, Sto. Romana said, citing Beijings decision to lift its blockade around Philippine-occupied Second Thomas Shoal, where the Philippine military can now freely send new supplies to Filipino marines guarding the disputed area.

China has also allowed Filipino fishermen into another disputed area, Scarborough Shoal, after Duterte visited Beijing and raised the issue with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Xi reportedly told Duterte, Give me a few days, Ill take care of this, Sto. Romana quoted Duterte as saying about the meeting with his Chinese counterpart a few months after he won the Philippine presidency in 2016.

Duterte said in a speech late Monday that Xi promised him that China wont build any structure on Scarborough and added that the Chinese leader should be trusted because hes a man of honor.

The president jokingly told an audience of mostly Chinese Filipino businessmen that the Philippines could solve its money problems by being turned into a province of wealthy China, though he erroneously referred to it as the Republic of China, which is Taiwans official name. China rejects any insinuation that Taiwan, which it considers a province, is an independent country.

China took control of uninhabited Scarborough Shoal off the northwestern Philipppines after a tense standoff in 2012.

In January, China accused the U.S. of trespassing when the guided missile destroyer USS Hopper sailed near Scarborough.

China has also relayed to Filipino officials its opposition to the Philippine militarys deployment of a Japanese-donated Beechcraft King Air patrol plane in late January to Scarborough, a Philippine official said on condition of anonymity because of a lack of authority to discuss the issue publicly.

U.S. President Donald Trumps administration has outlined a security strategy that emphasized countering Chinas rise and reinforcing the U.S. presence in the Indo-Pacific region, where Beijing and Washington have accused each other of stoking a dangerous military buildup and sought wider influence.

Washington has no claim in the South China Sea but has declared a peaceful resolution and freedom of navigation are in its national interest.

U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Tim Hawkins told The Associated Press on board the USS Carl Vinson on Saturday that the Navy has carried out routine patrols at sea and in the air in the region for 70 years to promote security and guarantee the unimpeded flow of trade and would continue to do so.

International law allows us to operate here, allows us to fly here, allows us to train here, allows us to sail here, and thats what were doing and were going to continue to do that, Hawkins said on the flight deck of the 95,000-ton warship brimming with F18 fighter jets and other combat aircraft.BEIRUT (AP)  Turkey warned the Syrian government Monday against entering the Kurdish-controlled enclave in northern Syria where a major Turkish military offensive is underway, saying it would hit back at the troops if their goal is to protect the Kurdish fighters.

The warning sets up a potential clash between Turkish troops and Syrian government forces backed by Russia and Iran, whose deployment would be a first step toward restoring President Bashar Assads presence along the border with Turkey.

The warning by the Turkish foreign minister came shortly after Syrian state media said pro-government forces would enter Afrin within hours to bolster local forces in confronting Turkeys aggression after reaching an agreement with the Kurdish militia known as the Peoples Protection Units, or YPG, which controls Afrin.

Details of the deal were not announced by either side, and Kurdish officials said talks were still underway. By nightfall, no troops had entered Afrin.

Assads troops have had no presence in Afrin since they pulled out of most of northern Syria in 2012, as nation-wide protests against Assad transformed into a civil war. A return to the area, where a potent mix of regional and international powers have boots on the ground, could further complicate the situation and lead to unwanted confrontations.

But depending on the details of the agreement, it may also serve to defuse the situation in Afrin, where Turkey has been struggling to achieve results in its now monthlong offensive to push back YPG fighters from its borders.

Ankara considers the YPG a terrorist group linked to the Kurdish insurgency within Turkeys borders. On Jan. 20, it launched a major air and ground offensive, pounding the enclave with airstrikes and artillery on a daily basis.

Turkeys foreign minister, speaking at a news conference in Amman, Jordan, said Turkey would have no problem if Syrian government forces were entering Afrin to clear the area from YPG fighters, but that it would strike back if it turns out the deployment was meant to shore up the Kurds against Turkey.

If the regime is entering to protect the YPG, then no one can stop us, stop Turkey or the Turkish soldiers, Mevlut Cavusoglu said.

Turkeys Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag later denied the Syrian state media reports, saying they were false and had not been confirmed by authorities. He added, however, that any move to protect the Kurdish fighters would be a disaster for the region.

Turkey has supported rebels fighting to overthrow Assad throughout the seven-year civil war, but in recent years has focused more on trying to contain the Kurds. Government troops deployed along its borders, at this point, may be more palatable for Ankara than the continued presence of the powerful YPG.

The group has received weapons and training from the U.S. for years and has been Washingtons main partner in the war against the Islamic State group in Syria.

It was not clear who, exactly, would enter Afrin. Syrias state-run news agency, SANA, said pro-government fighters known as popular forces would deploy to the area.

The popular forces joining the resistance against Turkish occupation in Afrin comes in the framework of supporting residents as well as defending Syria and its sovereignty, SANA said. It added that the deployment aims to frustrate attempts by Erdogans regime and its mercenaries of terrorist organizations to occupy the area, referring to Turkish-backed Syrian insurgents.

A Syrian Kurdish official told The Associated Press that the Syrian forces will enter Afrin from the Shiite villages of Nubul and Zahraa in Aleppo province.

The army will deploy in several border areas in coordination with the Peoples Protection Units and the Syrian Democratic Forces, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to reveal details of the agreement.

The army will set up military positions in the border area and the agreement is that the Syrian army and the YPG will defend Syria together, the official said.

The Syrian Democratic Forces are a U.S.-allied group led by the YPG that has won a series of major victories against the Islamic State group in Syria.

The Syrian government and Kurdish fighters have clashed on occasion, and Assad technically opposes the Kurds demands for autonomy. But they have also indirectly worked together in the past, and Turkey represents a common enemy.

Turkish officials said President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held a telephone conversation with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, during which the two discussed Turkeys military offensive in Afrin. The Turkish officials detailed the call on condition of anonymity in line with government regulations, and did not mention an agreement for government troops to enter Afrin.

Turkish troops and allied Syrian opposition fighters meanwhile continued to pound villages in the enclave with artillery, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and Syrias state media.

The Observatory said Mondays shelling by Turkish troops killed three people, including a child, and that others were wounded.

Elsewhere in Syria, government shelling of the rebel-held eastern suburbs of Damascus killed at least 30 people, according to opposition activists and paramedics.

The besieged region known as eastern Ghouta has been subjected to weekslong bombardment that has killed and wounded hundreds of people. Opposition activists say government forces have brought in reinforcements in preparation for a wide offensive on the last main rebel stronghold near the capital.

The Observatory said Mondays airstrikes and shelling killed 44 people. The Syrian Civil Defense, volunteer first responders known as the White Helmets, said 30 people were killed in eastern Ghouta.

Syrian state TV reported that rebels, in return, fired dozens of mortar rounds and rockets at Damascus, wounding eight people.



Associated Press writers Albert Aji in Damascus, Syria, Karin Laub in Amman, Jordan, and Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey, contributed to this report.MILAN (AP)  Video of a British model retracing her movements from a city studio where she was allegedly grabbed to a farmhouse where she was held for six days was played Monday at the trial in Italy of a Polish man charged in her kidnapping for ransom.

In the video, 20-year-old Chloe Ayling walks investigators into the supposed photographers studio in Milan where her agent had arranged a modeling job. She signaled to police a spot near a doorway where she said she was grabbed from behind.

Images showed Aylings suitcase, phone and clothing that were found by police investigating her disappearance last July.

According to prosecutors, Ayling was drugged at the studio, zipped inside a canvas bag and transported to a farmhouse near Turin, where she was held captive.

Only two suspects have been identified in the case. A 30-year-old Pole, Lukasz Herba, who was arrested after releasing Ayling at the British consulate in Milan, is being tried for the kidnapping. Italian prosecutors are seeking to try Herbas brother, who is in Britain.

Investigator Gianluca Simontacchi told the court that Ayling broke down in tears as they reached the farmhouse, and had to be calmed by her lawyer before being able to continue.

Inside the building, she pointed out a piece of furniture where she said she had been cuffed by her hands and feet overnight the first night. She then showed a bedroom, where she said later she shared a bed with her kidnapper; a photograph entered into evidence showed a blanket folded to create a boundary down the middle of the bed.

Finally, she showed investigators where she accompanied her kidnapper to buy food and a pair of sneakers in a nearby town before her release.

In court testimony, the grocery store owners son said that Herba had come to the store several times to buy fruit and vegetables, and that Ayling waited outside once.

A neighbor of the farmhouse where she was held testified that he had seen Ayling with Herba at least twice, and from a distance that it looked like they were a couple.

Aylings lawyer, Francesco Pesce, dismissed any notion that a video showing Ayling walking hand-in-hand with Herba shown at an earlier hearing cast any doubt on the kidnapping allegation.

She was holding hands with Mr. Herba but she looked, at least in my opinion, she looked frightened, quite scared, he said.

A police toxicologist testified that tests of Aylings hair indicated the presence of the drug ketamin, under the influence of which one remains conscious but disassociated from reality. Napolitano said there was a tiny hole on Aylings inner wrist consistent with an injection, but she said there was no way of knowing precisely when the drug had been administered.

It corresponds perfectly to the picture we have of Miss Ayling she said, showing a photograph of the model with her eyes half-closed, pupils dilated, that allegedly was circulated on the internet.

Herbas lawyer, Bozena Katia Kolakowska, said his client would testify at the next hearing, and that he is expected to say that the kidnapping was a ploy to give Aylings modeling career a boost.BAGHDAD (AP)  Islamic State militants ambushed a group of Iraqs Shiite-led paramilitary fighters, killing at least 27 more than two months after Baghdad declared victory over the extremist group, officials said Monday

The Popular Mobilization Forces, an umbrella group of mostly Shiite militias, said in a statement that the attack took place southwest of the northern city of Kirkuk, where the paramilitaries were conducting overnight raids.

The attackers were disguised in army uniforms and manning a fake checkpoint, the statement said, adding that ensuing clashes lasted for at least two hours and that some of the militants were killed while others fled the area.

Brig. Gen. Yahya Rasool, an Iraqi military spokesman, blamed IS sleeper cells and said Iraqi forces were searching the area to find the perpetrators.

IS claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement carried by its Aamaq news agency.

Karim al-Nouri, a PMF spokesman, described the attack as a heinous crime and called for greater scrutiny of Iraqis returning to areas liberated from IS. He said the attackers had taken advantage of heavy rains overnight.

Hadi al-Amiri, the leader of the Badr Brigade, one of the most prominent Shiite militias, vowed revenge.

Speaking at a military airfield in Baghdad where the bodies were being flown in, he called on security forces to be vigilant, saying the war against terrorism is not over yet.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadis office put out a statement expressing condolences to family members of those killed. It said it had issued orders to hunt down those responsible and other sleeper cells, and to investigate the incident and take any required steps.

At least 11 of the slain troops were from the southern city of Basra, where a three-day mourning period was declared.

Iraq declared victory over IS in December, after more than three years of heavy fighting. The group has been driven from all the territory it seized in the summer of 2014, but U.S. and Iraqi officials have said it is likely to continue launching insurgent-style attacks. Last month, IS launched back-to-back suicide bombings in central Baghdad, killing at least 38 people.



Associated Press writers Sinan Salaheddin in Baghdad and Maamoun Youssef in Cairo contributed to this report.GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP)  A Qatari envoy said Monday that both Israel and Gaza militants want to contain cross-border violence that has flared in recent days, as he detailed a new emergency fund to aid the blockaded territory.

Earlier Monday, Israels military struck what it said was an underground militant infrastructure site in Gaza in response to rocket fire. The military has struck various targets in Gaza in recent days and killed two Palestinians who tried to infiltrate Israel after a bomb on the border wounded four Israeli soldiers.

There were no reports of casualties from the latest strike.

We confirm through our relationship with the two sides that they are not interested in escalation or engaging in a confrontation that could ignite the entire region, the Qatari envoy, Mohammed al-Emadi, told reporters in Gaza City.

Al-Emadi, whose country maintains contacts with the Islamic militant group Hamas and has hosted its leaders, coordinates Qatars relief and reconstruction projects in Gaza. On Monday, he announced details of a $9 million emergency fund for addressing fuel and medicine shortages.

Gaza has been under an Israeli-Egyptian blockade since Hamas wrested control of the territory from the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority in 2007. A dispute over money and revenue collections has stalled a reconciliation deal between Hamas and President Mahmoud Abbas Fatah party, which Egypt brokered in October.

Abbas has since stepped up financial pressure on Gaza. Hamas says the cuts are endangering the functioning of Gaza hospitals.

The Qatari grant includes $2 million in medical supplies and $500,000 for fuel to power backup generators in Gazas public health centers, enough to keep them running for a month.

Trucks loaded with the supplies and decorated with Qatari flags and posters of the oil-rich sheikhdoms rulers could be seen outside Gaza Citys main Shifa hospital on Monday, where al-Emadi and U.N. officials spoke.

Hospital cleaning workers demonstrated their support during the ceremony, holding signs reading Thank you, Qatar. They have been on a strike for 10 days, demanding payment from the Hamas-run Health Ministry. Hamas and Abbas Palestinian Authority are locked in a dispute over who is responsible for paying them.

The Gaza border area has been generally quiet since a 50-day war between Israel and Hamas in 2014. But it has seen an increase in violence since President Donald Trumps announcement in December recognizing Jerusalem as Israels capital.MANILA, Philippines (AP)  Philippine police and army troops have arrested an Arab man they believe was a former commander of the Islamic State group along the Syria and Turkey border in a raid on a Manila apartment, where they found bomb-making materials and an IS-style flag, the national police chief said Monday.

Police Director General Ronald dela Rosa said Fehmi Lassoued, who is reportedly from Egypt, and his Filipina companion, Anabel Moncera Salipada, were arrested last week based on intelligence provided by foreign counterparts.

He said investigators were looking into possible links between the two suspects and local and foreign militant groups, and whether they were involved in any terrorist activity.

Dela Rosa said at a news conference that Lassoued has a fake Tunisian passport and may be a militant recruiter, but did not offer any evidence.

Clad in an orange detainee shirt, handcuffed and held on both sides by soldiers, Lassoued stood with his head often bowed in front of a table where bomb-making parts and other evidence were displayed at the news conference.

Salipada is from the southern town of Upi in Maguindanao province, where Muslim militants operate, according to her identity card.

Lassoued apparently entered the Philippines in July 2016 from Iran using a fake passport which Philippine immigration personnel failed to detect, dela Rosa said, adding that he traveled to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia and the Turkish city of Istanbul from 2016 to 2017.

Investigators were also trying to determine if Lassoued was involved in a siege by hundreds of Islamic State group-aligned militants on the southern Islamic city of Marawi last year, dela Rosa said. The five-month uprising left more than 1,100 combatants dead, mostly Muslim militants, and displaced hundreds of thousands of villagers before troops crushed it with ground assaults and airstrikes.

The Marawi siege, which was joined by several Indonesian, Malaysian and Arab militants, reinforced fears that the Islamic State group was gaining a foothold in Southeast Asia following battle setbacks in Syria and Iraq.VATICAN CITY (AP)  Pope Francis backed down Monday and accepted the resignation of Nigerian bishop who had been rejected for years by the priests of his diocese, setting a precedent that could have repercussions in Chile and elsewhere when papal authority is challenged.

The announcement came after Francis in June issued a harsh ultimatum to the priests of Nigerias southern Ahiara diocese, warning they would lose their jobs if they didnt obey him and accept Monsignor Peter Okpaleke as their bishop. Francis gave each priest 30 days to pledge their obedience.

The Vatican said Monday that 200 priests obeyed, but some still expressed problems in working with Okpaleke.

Pope Benedict XVI had appointed Okpaleke to Ahiara in 2012, but the local clergy rejected him. Ahiara is in the Mbaise region, and its faithful objected to the appointment of an outsider from the Anambra region to lead them. In protest, the Mbaise blocked access to the cathedral when Okpaleke was to be formally installed, and he was installed outside the diocese.

The Vaticans mission office said Monday the pope took the priests repentance into account in deciding not to sanction them for the grave damage they had inflicted on the church by rejecting Okpaleke. But the Vatican said it hoped in the future they will never again repeat such unreasonable actions opposing a bishop legitimately appointed by the Supreme Pontiff.

The case could affect another divisive bishop appointment, Chilean Bishop Juan Barros.

Ever since Francis appointed him bishop of Osorno, Chile, in 2015, Barros has been rejected by many faithful and priests. His opponents cite accusations by sexual abuse victims who say Barros witnessed and ignored their abuse by Chiles most notorious predator priest.

After Francis sparked an outcry during his recent trip to Chile by defending Barros, the pope did an about-face and sent in a Vatican investigator to take testimony about Barros behavior. The investigator, Archbishop Charles Scicluna, met with Barros main accuser on Saturday.

Many Vatican watchers had cited the Nigerian conflict in explaining Francis refusal to remove Barros. Barros had been named a bishop by St. John Paul II and confirmed by Benedict, making it difficult for Francis to sack him without compelling reason.

But Francis decision to accept the resignation of the Benedict-appointed Okpaleke due to popular opposition suggests he could do the same for Barros, who has already offered his resignation twice and had it rejected by Francis.| BY Lynchy |

CB Exclusive  CB can reveal that Atomic 212 executive creative director Jonas Lembke, who joined the agency in late 2016, has departed the agency.

It is believed Lembke is still in Sydney working on creative projects out of his own consultancy, The Innovation Chapel, which he first formed in Sweden four years ago.

CB understands the agency is now back to focussing on media rather than the broader creative offering of recent years.

Lembke has previously been creative director for Otto Stockholm, Craik Jones, Proximity London, Ogilvy Interactive, BBDO Proximity Nordics and The Innovation Chapel.





| BY Ricki Green |

Bonds has pushed further into the fashion space in its latest campaign via Leo Burnett Melbourne. It marks the launch of the new Bonds Originals underwear range.

For the Originals range, the brand has leveraged its heritage to create an iconic platform and carve a refreshed purpose for the brand moving forward.

Says Michelle Taylor, marketing manager, Bonds: The products are modern, Aussie designed essentials, and with the name Originals, this launch felt like the perfect time to bring back our original tagline, Gotta be Bonds, and breathe some new life into it.

The campaign pays homage to the all-too-familiar summer days when its so hot youve just got to lounge around in your undies.

Says Jason Williams, CCO, Leo Burnett: We wanted to take Bonds somewhere completely different to where theyve been playing, while anchoring them in their roots as an iconic Australian brand. Fashion with a bit of Aussie tongue in cheek. Fashion that doesnt take itself too seriously.

To do this, it took an Australian fashion director, photographer and a propeller plane full of crew to arguably the hottest place in the world  the middle of the outback. A remote location where the mercury gets so high, most of the residents have to live underground.

Directed by Gracie Otto, the film tells of a small desert town where its too hot for anyone to wear clothes, or do much at all. It was filmed in iconic Coober Pedy, where the only things more incredible than the landscape are the locals  who also happen to make an appearance throughout the spot in their Bonds.

The ads will appear across TV, outdoor, social and online from this week.

Client: Bonds

Head of Marketing: Emily Small

Marketing Manager: Michelle Taylor

Brand Manager: Kedda Ghazarian

Assistant Brand Manager: Taylah Johnson

Agency: Leo Burnett Melbourne

CCO: Jason Williams

Head of Copy: Sarah McGregor

Art Director: Lucy Logan

Copywriter: Holly Burgess

Senior Agency Producer: Eliza Malone

Print Producer: Kirstie Gadsden

Group Business Director: Amanda Nicoll

Account Director: Chloe Erftemeyer

Film Production: Playtime

Director: Gracie Otto

DOP: Stefan Duscio

Executive Producer: Oliver Lawrance

Producer: Tom Slater

Stylist: Karla Clarke

Hair & Makeup: Koh & Victoria Baron

Post Production: Alt.VFX

Editor: Simon Njoo

Edit House: ARC EDIT

Edit Assistant: Damien Magee

Editorial Producer: Olivia Carolan

Colourist: Edel Rafferty

Sound: Sam Hopgood  Bang Bang Studios

Music: Karl  Level Two

Track: Jazz Party  Rock n Roll Graveyard

Photography Production: M.A.P.

Photographer: Nicole Bentley| BY Ricki Green |

A regular blog by Damon Stapleton, chief creative officer of DDB New Zealand

You have to choose the move that feels right sometimes; thats what intuition is.  Magnus Carlsen. World Chess Champion. Grandmaster at the age of 13 and 148 days.

On January 17, 1977 Gary Gilmore (pictured left) was executed by firing squad for two murders he committed in Utah. His final words. Lets do it.

In 1988 Dan Wieden read these final words in a newspaper and said if we changed that to Just Do It, it would work perfectly for that little running shoe company we have as a client.

Nike. Just Do It. The most famous line in advertising came from a dying mans final words.

This campaign helped Nike increase its share of the North American sport-shoe business from 18% to 43%, (From $877 million to $9.2 billion in worldwide sales) from 1988 to 1998.

All because a great creative saw something. He saw the connection. For me that is what creativity is. How you connect things. Things, that often dont make sense.

This is what Steve Jobs had to say about the subject.

Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didnt really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while. Thats because they were able to connect experiences theyve had and synthesize new things.

I had stumbled on the Nike story and the Steve Jobs quote because I was putting a talk together about creativity. For me they show the power and the problem of intuition. The power is the gigantic leap it can make for a business. The problem is it is almost impossible to replicate. Just imagine a shoe company across town from Nike saying we want a Just Do It line. And their solution is to try and copy the process. So, they get all the last words from every prisoner executed in America. I think you can see how this is going to end in tears. Yet, this is often what happens in advertising.

This is the problem with being a creative. You dont always know how you did something. This makes you vulnerable, insecure and a little guilty. Because of this, most creatives I know on some level feel like a fraud. It is also why a great creative environment is so important. It allows creatives to play and most importantly try again.

I also watched a lot of other talks that were less interesting while I put my presentation together.

In many of these talks, given by so called marketing experts, there was a strange theme that ran through them all. They would talk about their process a lot. They would talk about how efficiently and quickly they got to ideas. Many of them had foolproof ways and methods to get to these ideas. Step 1 led to step 2. Flowchart. Many people vote on the idea. Everybody agrees on the idea. Many post-its. Everybody high fives because the process worked so well. But here is the kicker. And in my world, its a pretty big kicker.

The work was shit.

And I dont mean in a high-brow get off your high horse creative director way. I mean, in a generic, vanilla, bland, I have seen this a hundred times before kind of way.

I really found that strange. However, what I found even more strange was that nobody seemed to notice. The people at these conferences seemed far more interested in the process than the end result. The work didnt really seem to matter, as long as the process could be replicated.

My other thought was where does intuition fit into these processes? And perhaps, that is a stupid question. Intuition should never be inside a process, should it? An idea like Just Do It would not survive a 15 step process. You would lose the edges and end up with some drivel like Be all you can be. What nobody seems to be noticing is that a factory like process makes things very consistent but also very generic. Everything looks the same. Everything sounds the same.

In advertising not to be different is virtually suicidal.

This is a timeless quote from Bill Bernbach. It was made a long time ago. I believe it still holds true. And, I believe it is far more true than making generic work that looks and sounds like your competitor, putting it everywhere and hoping you get a massive return on your investment.

For creatives, the problem is and has always been that intuition, or that messy spark of inspiration is elusive and almost impossible to replicate.

The alternative is to create a smooth process that can be replicated and leads to something that often looks like everything else. This is a much bigger problem that is growing by the day.

A smooth process and a brilliant product are not the same thing. And despite what many say, one doesnt lead to the other. Great work needs a space for intuition.

No matter how many people try and turn creativity into a matrix, true creativity will always be the glitch in the matrix.

Thats just how it works.| BY Lynchy |

GoDaddy Inc., the worlds largest technology provider dedicated to small businesses, has launched its second national campaign  Flamin Hot Sauce, continuing to encourage Australians to start their own online business and show their ideas to the world.

The campaign, created by WiTH Collective, Sydney, features TV legend Ray Meagher telling the story of how Ray actor & entrepreneur turns his love for making hot sauce into an online business with his new website from GoDaddy. The campaign shows that building a website with GoDaddy is simple, even if youre not tech savvy  like Ray.

The campaign has kicked off with a 30-second TV commercial airing nationally, will be supported across multiple channels including out of home, radio, social, PR, digital and performance marketing channels. Flamin Hot Sauce is available for purchase from raysflaminhotsauce.com.au, while stocks last. Purchase price is $12 plus postage, with all proceeds from the sales of the hot sauce donated to charity.

We are excited to partner with Ray Meagher to inspire Aussies to take their ideas and businesses online. While Ray puts a lighthearted spin on the campaign, 60% of Australian small businesses still dont have a website because they believe they dont have the time, money or technical skills to do so, said Tara Commerford, GoDaddys Vice President and Managing Director for Australia and New Zealand.

The campaign serves as a timely reminder to small business owners and entrepreneurs that with tools such as GoDaddy Website Builder, they too can create a professional website in under an hour, delivering real value, added Commerford.

Agency: WiTH Collective, Sydney

Director: Ariel Martin

Production Company: Filmgraphics

Media: Wavemaker

Public Relations: The PR Group| BY Ricki Green |

Marmalade Melbourne is bolstering its leadership team with the promotion of Sarah Vincenzini to associate creative director.

Vincenzini has been a senior creative at Marmalade since 2014, where she has been working on brands such as Our Watch, Stroke Foundation, the Victorian Government, the Australian Government, Murray Goulburn, VicRoads and DFO.

Says John Akritidis, creative director and partner, Marmalade: Sarahs passion and tenacity along with her multi-faceted creativity has helped make Marmalades offering something to be proud of. We look forward to the next chapter in her contribution to the agency and our clients.

Says Vincenzini: Its lovely to be recognised by Victor, Lisa and John. Marmalade has a wonderful social justice backbone, a refreshing lack of ego, and a team of some of the smartest independent agency brains in the biz. Im looking forward to keeping on doing what I do, with my shiny new title.| BY Lynchy |

Medibank has today launched a new brand platform vis TBWA\Melbourne, challenging the notion of what better really means when it comes to health and health insurance.

To capture Australians varying opinions, Medibank has created the Medibank 100  involving ongoing conversations with a group of people from all walks of life, from those who swear by their health insurance, to those who dont want it. Voicing these unscripted opinions, the campaign publicly challenges what better health means in 2018 and the value of health insurance for people in a range of circumstances. The aim is to ultimately empower Australians to discover whether or not health insurance is better for their individual health needs.

The fully integrated campaign kicks off today with interactive tools, short and long-form video and written content, and a range of digital and broadcast executions.

In line with the launch, Medibank is directing customers to the campaign page  What is Better?  which houses the new People Like You interactive tool. The tool has been created in response to customer demand for increased transparency and visibility over procedure costs, and lets customers see the top procedures people within their demographic are most likely to require, and the financial breakdown for each including what out-of-pocket expenses are likely to be.

The campaign page also houses a range of supporting content which explains how the public and private systems differ for various conditions and procedures, as well as the benefits and considerations around the options.

Medibank Chief Customer Officer, David Koczkar, said: Were lucky to have one of the greatest healthcare systems in the world, which is underpinned by our universal public health sector and complemented by the robust private health sector  ensuring quality health options for all Australians. And while the private system does provide that extra level of choice and control, we understand that people may be considering whether health insurance is right for them and their family.

Through this campaign we acknowledge that health insurance is better for many, but it is not right for everybody  and thats okay. With this message, our People Like You tool and a host of helpful content, we aim to empower Australians with the right considerations and information so that they can navigate the healthcare system, and ultimately work out whether health insurance is better for them.

Medibank General Manager, Marketing, Fiona Le Brocq, said: This platform was borne from the insight that better health means something different for everyone, and one persons idea of better will be different to the next. Theres never been a more important time to challenge the industry norms and ask the difficult questions, and we look forward to continuing to address these head on as we build on this bold new platform.

TBWA\Melbourne

B.B.E

Carat| BY Ricki Green |

News Corp Australia unveils today, in print, the most significant, unifying national brand campaign via Big Red, across all 30 News Corp metro and regional publications.

Says Michael Miller, executive chairman of News Corp Australasia: This is an exciting time for our company, our brands and their evolution. The launch of our whole of company brand campaign is an opportunity to reignite our story, values and purpose, and to create an emotional connection which highlights our brands through the commitment: Were For You.

VIEW THE FIRST PRESS AD  National Brand Campaign Press DPS GCB Day 1.pdf

VIEW THE SECOND PRESS AD  National Brand Campaign Press DPS HS Day 1.pdf

This is the first time we have had one unified voice across all our metro and regional mastheads, and we are confident the message Were For You, will resonate with our readers, our subscribers, our advertising partners and the News Corp team.

Across the company, we believe in the quality of our multimedia products and our masthead brands. The investment were making in this brand campaign is testament to that, and an investment in our future.

Were For You is a statement of commitment  that News Corp Australia newspapers are for what matters to readers and their local communities. To launch the campaign, each editor has penned their own letter to their readers, featuring as page 2 and page 3 double-page print advertisements in all metro and regional mastheads today, and in the Sunday metro newspapers on 25 February.

Says Tony Phillips, chief marketing officer, News Corp Australia: Were For You is about getting people thinking and feeling. We want to deepen engagement and build an emotional connection with our brands, to give readers a true sense of belonging to their community, with the understanding that I read, therefore I know; I know therefore I belong.

Our metro, regional and community newspapers have a loyal following in the communities they serve, and we are looking to draw out a sense of collective pride in readers suburbs, towns, cities and states around the country. We want to reconnect with people. That is the essence of the Were For You brand campaign.

Each letter from the editor includes statements about what we stand for and what our readers can expect from us. It was a strategic decision to choose the power of print and the written word to convey such an important message.

Chris Dore, editor of The Daily Telegraph, wrote in his letter to readers: Our journalists and photographers from Macquarie St to Newcastle, Wollongong, Parramatta and everywhere in between live and breathe this place. Our greatest stories come from you. Inspired by you, for you.

Through The Daily Telegraph, the people of Sydney and NSW know we can make a difference, together. We are a newspaper at heart, yes. But we are so much more. We are part of the fabric of this state, and have been for 139 years. Were for NSW, Were for Sydney. Most importantly, Were for you.

Ben English, editor of the Gold Coast Bulletin wrote in his commitment to readers: Its not just about bringing you the breaking news. We also have a role in championing our community, to fight for justice and hold those who lead our city to account. Weve been the bodyguard of this city since 1885.

We will fight for safer streets and better schools, for the best healthcare for all of us. But above all we will listen to you.

The Were For You creative will be rolled out in prominent positions on News Corps digital platforms and the print ads will evolve over three weeks, focusing on different themes.

On Sunday, February 25, a new Were For You television commercial will be revealed, with a tailored version created for each states news brand.

There will be an outdoor advertising campaign across the transit network in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane as well as a radio and cinema campaign.

Says Phillips: As part of this investment, a targeted campaign will extend to our advertising trade audiences, as we integrate the brand campaign into all of our marketing activity to communicate our strengths, creativity, innovative products, and how we benefit brands.

Were For You, in the context of our advertising clients, is about communicating how we deliver targeted solutions  not just selling ads. We aim to solve customer problems, which often means bringing together the best of News Corp to achieve this.

We aim to create value for readers and advertisers, giving them reasons to purchase. This is why we will reiterate that were a trusted news source with first-class journalism delivered by experienced journalists. A place where advertisers get what they pay for and consumers believe what they read.

Client: News Corp Australia

Chief Marketing Officer: Tony Phillips

General Manager Metro & Regional Marketing: Bettina Brown

Head of Brand and Media Services: Louise Davis

Agency: Big Red| BY Ricki Green |

The AANA has today announced a major event The Media Challenge  A Year On, which will help deliver on the AANAs commitment to help advertisers build the capability that is necessary to pursue greater return and effectiveness from their media investments.

The Media Challenge  A Year On will build on the media forum convened by the AANA in March last year, which was recognized by the World Federation of Advertisers as a significant global leadership initiative to address media challenges, particularly in the digital space. The event will be presented in partnership with the CMO Advisory, PwC Australia, on March 21 in Sydney and March 26 in Melbourne.

This years event will focus on bringing the key themes tabled at the U.S. Association of National Advertisers (ANA) agenda-setting Media Conference, back to Australias advertisers. The ANA conference takes place on 28 February in Florida.

Says John Broome, CEO, AANA: Leading marketers from P&G, Ford, McDonalds, Target and J&J are scheduled to share how they are navigating the challenge of achieving media effectiveness and audience measurement. They will also share their thoughts on the future of data and analytics and how they are adapting to the changes in the TV and video landscape.

This event will provide great insight into how our US counterparts are navigating the ongoing complexity of the media agenda. Were delighted to be partnering with PwCs CMO Advisory, which will help capture the key themes from the U.S. conference.

Sunita Gloster, who recently joined PwCs CMO Advisory, will attend the ANA Media Conference and also host the Australian event on behalf of PwC.

Says Gloster: Last year, Marc Pritchard, P&Gs chief brand officer, tabled an industry-shaping four-point plan to address P&Gs media challenges in the face of declining growth and the need for greater accountability for media spend, the biggest single expense in the marketing budget.

Whilst tremendous progress has been made since Pritchards head fake warnings regarding non- compliance with media measurement standards, he promises to detail the key gaps that still exist and recommendations on how the industry can raise the bar so that, in his words, all the boats rise.

The ANA conference is now a landmark event in setting the marketing agenda globally and, together with the AANA, we look forward to bringing the key insights and learnings back for

discussion and action.

The Media Challenge a Year On is a free event to AANA Members.

Details:

Sydney Wednesday March 21 at 4pm

Melbourne Monday March 26 at 4pmSunday, February 18, 2018 at 5:26PM

Fans of Iron Man are in for a treat. Lego just unveiled at the New York Toy Fair a buildable set based on the Hulkbuster suit weve seen in 2015 movie Avengers: Age of Ultron. The Lego Marvel Super Heroes The Hulkbuster: Ultron Edition comes with 1,363 pieces, a punching jackhammer arm, a special Iron Man Mark 43 minifigure, a Lego light brick for its chest, and a platform for the figure to be placed on. Some of the special features for the Hulkbuster include a flip-up head, rotating torso, 12 glow-in-the-dark elements, and posable joints. It measures just over 9 inches high, 3 inches long, and 8 inches wide. This Lego set is going on sale in the US on March 3rd and will cost US$120 (around CA$150).

Source: CNETnews, latest-news

Canberra jail has become home to a band of hardcore criminals, gang members and murderers, raising concerns the facility is filling with offenders it was never designed to accommodate. After a series of bashings, a stabbing, escapes, the accidental release of a prisoner, drug overdoses and deaths, a prominent welfare advocate has questioned whether the Alexander Maconochie Centre's worst detainees should be transferred interstate to maximum security jail's in NSW. The idea was explored by a high-level cross-government jail committee last year, however, the ACT government says there are no plans to send inmates interstate to manage over-crowding at the jail. Instead, the government has expanded the Hume jail a number of times since it's opening as it battles to accommodate surging numbers of inmates behind bars. The jail is home to about 16 detainees (14 male, 2 female) who are serving sentences for murder. These killers include double killer Scott Alexander McDougall and axe murderer Marcus Rappel. About 40 inmates (37 male, 3 female), about 8.5 per cent of the prison population, are long-termers, serving sentences of more than 10 years. A number of prisoners have links to Canberra's three main bikie gangs, many have a history of violence, while others are career criminals who have spent much of their adult lives behind bars. Government figures show that the average daily number of prisoners locked up at the jail in 2016 was 445. This was an increase of 95 per cent since 2010, when the average daily number of prisoners was 228. Prisoner numbers reached an all-time high of 470 in May last year. Figures from mid-December show the AMC currently had about 468 prisoners and that number had since fallen. At that time, seventeen were classified maximum security, 365 medium security, and 86 were designated as minimum security inmates. ACT Correctives Services said offence type is one factor considered in a detainee's classification. Other factors included behaviour, relationships, employment, and participation in programs. Winnunga Nimmityjah Aboriginal Health Service chief executive Julie Tongs said the mix of classifications had compromised rehabilitation programs and jeopardised the jail's goal to be human rights compliant. "I see so many damaged people coming out of that place, when really they should be coming out in better condition than when they go in," Ms Tongs said. "Hardcore and violent criminals shouldn't be out there mixing with vulnerable people who are in there because of drug addiction or mental health. "They've gone to prison to do time because they've done the wrong thing on the outside, they don't need be punished again in prison." Ms Tongs said the authorities needed to start charging inmates who broke the law and consider moving troublesome prisoners to maximum security facilities interstate, such as Goulburn or Junee. Before the jail was built, the ACT had an arrangement with NSW whereby Canberra criminals were kept behind bars across the border. That agreement is still in place. Ms Tongs said interstate transfers would send a stronger message to inmates to either behave or face the consequences. "Those hardcore criminals should be in more secure prisons, like Goulburn, or somewhere like that. "If we truly want the jail to be what it was meant to be, then they need to have a look at it and start moving people out of there. "Are we just going to keep extending the prison? I don't think so." The justice directorate last year awarded a $275,000 contract to engineering consultants GHD to explore the case for further construction at the Hume jail. Fairfax reported that the latest Productivity Commission report on government services found the ACT prison system was the nation's most expensive, costing the territory government $436 per inmate per day, almost $160,000 per year, in 2016-17. The national average was $286 of recurrent spending per prisoner per day, or about $86,000 per year. NSW was the cheapest at $237 per day, or $85,000 annually. Despite the issues, corrections minister Shane Rattenbury said, "At this time, there are no plans in place to proactively send detainees to NSW and/or other participating jurisdictions as a population management measure. "The location of the AMC within the territory enables families and the local community to engage with detainees during their sentence, which can lead to improved rehabilitative outcomes - both during, and onwards, from a detainee's period of detention. "While the per-day costs vary across jurisdictions and have decreased in the Alexander Maconochie Centre in recent years, the ACT Government will continue to prioritise the welfare and ongoing rehabilitation of detainees at the AMC." Although the ACT government has ruled out sending prisoners interstate, the idea was discussed by a high-level cross-government committee in August last year. The Moss Review implementation committee was established in the wake of the Moss Review, which investigated policy failings in the lead-up to the death of inmate Steven Freeman in 2016. "Community members expressed concern that the mother of the two Indigenous men who were recently assaulted was not notified of their transfer to hospital," the committee's August minutes read. "Members discussed the feasibility of sending prisoners interstate, and the impact that this would have on taking Aboriginal people away from country." In February, the government announced an extra $17 million would be spent on additional health services and security inside the jail, including $8 million over the next two-and-a-half years to establish the Winnunga Nimmityjah model of care. Ms Tongs hoped the introduction of Winnunga Aboriginal Health and Community Services as a service provider in the jail might help improve the situation for prisoners. Winnunga started delivering services to female prisoners at the AMC, with moves to a full delivery of wellbeing services this year. Ms Tongs said Winnunga wanted to be inclusive in the jail and planned to offer services to all inmates eventually. The announcement came after the independent inquiry into the treatment in custody of Steven Freeman highlighted the need for improvements in a range of areas including cultural proficiency to more effectively manage the welfare of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander detainees. Ms Tongs said it would continue to be an independent entity but work in with the ACT government to complement the services to deliver better outcomes for Indigenous detainees. "It is groundbreaking to have an Aboriginal community controlled and managed organisation delivering health and wellbeing services within its own model of care to inmates in prison in this capacity," Ms Tongs said. "Winnunga delivering health and wellbeing services in the AMC and changing the way the system operates is the legacy of Steven Freeman, a young Aboriginal man who tragically died whilst in custody in the AMC in 2016. "There's a lot of work to be done, but if we do that work, I think we can make a difference."

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Canberra landlords and real estate agents are pocketing more than half of renters' bonds, either partially or in full, a figure slammed as "appalling". Renters in NSW, Queensland, South Australia and Victoria fare better according to respective state government data. According to ACT government figures in the 2015/16 financial year, only about 43 per cent of bonds were fully returned to ACT renters, with about 57 partially refunded or forfeited. Interstate that year, the number of rental bonds returned in full to tenants was about 55 per cent in NSW, about 64 per cent in Victoria, about 50 per cent in Queensland and about 50 per cent in South Australia. The following financial year, in the ACT, about 54 per cent of bonds were partially refunded or forfeited. Only about 46 per cent of bonds were returned to renters in full in 2016/17. "That is absolutely appalling," ACT Tenants Union executive officer Deb Pippen said. "It is not conceivable that more than half of tenancies are left with problems." Ms Pippen said Canberra landlords and agents were taking advantage of renters, who often gave in to unfair bond claims to make "the whole thing go away". Have you had trouble reclaiming your rental bond in Canberra? Contact finbar.omallon@fairfaxmedia.com.au. In the ACT in 2015/16, about 50 per cent of rental bonds were partially refunded, compared to about 26 per cent in Victoria, about 35 per cent in NSW, about 31 per cent in South Australia and about 32 per cent in Queensland. In the following financial year in the ACT about 48 per cent of bonds were partially refunded, compared to about 26 per cent in Victoria, about 29 per cent in South Australia and about 29 per cent in Queensland. NSW had not yet released its 2016/17 data. In both the 2015/16 and 2016/17 financial years, about three per cent of the total bonds refunded required a decision by the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal. In the 2015 / 16 financial year in NSW, about 1.6 per cent of the total rental bonds refunded required a tribunal decision, less than one per cent in Queensland, about six per cent in Victoria and about 5 per cent in South Australia. The following financial year in Queensland and Victoria, less than one per cent of total refunds and about six per cent of total refunds were the result of a tribunal decision, respectively. Even challenging in ACAT can be stacked against tenants. Feedback Ms Pippen had received from renters was they often felt pressured by ACAT mediators to compromise for a partial refund of their bond to avoid a tribunal hearing. "It's their [the tenants'] money and the landlord doesn't have any automatic right to it because they say they do," Ms Pippen said. She advised renters to not allow their landlords or agents to handle the bond claim but rather make an independent claim to ACT Rental Bonds. "They can actually download a form from the office of rental bonds ... lodge it with the office of rental bonds and lodge it without the landlord or agent's signature," Ms Pippen said. She said she often saw landlords or agents keep the bond when vacating tenants don't provide any further contacting details. The Canberra rental market is the third most expensive in Australia after Darwin and Sydney, with the median rental being $540 per week, compared to $435 nationally. According to a recent survey, one in three Australian renters have lost bond money at the end of their tenancy. The ACT government was contacted for comment. Equivalent data from Tasmania could not be obtained before deadline. Western Australia did not collect details on types of bond pay outs. The Northern Territory has no central, independent bond authority.

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ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr would be well advised to reconsider any possible push to further ease restrictions on billboards in the national capital if the results of a professional survey commissioned by The Green Institute are to be believed. According to the poll, carried out by Lonergan Research, more than half of the Canberrans who responded disliked billboard advertising. Almost 80 per cent believe Canberra's largely advertising billboard-free environment makes it a more pleasant space to live and almost 70 per cent believe such signage reduces the quality of public spaces. The poll is the latest salvo in a guerrilla war that has been simmering for more than a year following a surprise statement on billboards by Mr Barr on January 25 last year. The Chief Minister. to be fair, never said he was in favour of a billboard free-for-all. His concern was public signage regulations had become increasingly complex, exceptions had been allowed to creep in and individuals and organisations were exploiting loopholes. "The recent national conversation about (Australia Day) billboards and local concerns about the 2016 ACT election corflutes raised the issue of outdoor advertising in the community," he said at the time. "There are many examples of outdoor advertising - such as billboards on trucks, utes and motorbikes - and large banners draped from buildings that stretch the current regulations. It may be that establishing a small number of designated areas for such outdoor advertising might reduce the proliferation of questionable outdoor advertising material occurring across the city right now." The response was as swift as it was predictable. ACT Government Planning Committee chair and Greens MLA, Caroline Le Couteur, described Mr Barr's remarks as a "thought bubble" and said there was no community support for any relaxation of the restrictions. Ms Le Couteur oversaw the ACT Legislative Assembly's "Inquiry into Billboards" that wants signage codes, regulations and laws reviewed and updated by the end of 2019. All but six of the 166 submissions to the inquiry wanted fewer billboards, not more. An anti-billboard petition signed by almost 800 people had also been received. Ms Le Couteur, writing in this newspaper last November, said existing laws and regulations did not go far enough. "The community wants fewer, not more, signs," she said. "The ACT Government should explicitly ban billboards in the Territory Plan (just) as the Federal Government does in the parts of central Canberra that it controls. The ACT Government should... amend regulations in the Territory Plan to reduce the maximum size of advertising signs and close loopholes that allow billboards (including mobile signage) and other very large signs through backdoor provisions." Given the strength of community feeling, and that the main beneficiaries of any relaxation in controls would likely only be fast food companies and other national and multinational advertisers, there appears little case for more billboards in Canberra. While Mr Barr is correct in saying the situation has become unnecessarily complex, what he needs to act on is the community's desire to close existing loopholes to ensure Canberra remains beautiful and billboard free.

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A man who died after he was pepper sprayed, Tasered and held down by six police officers had escaped from a Sydney hospital where he was being held under mental health laws. The man, 30, lost consciousness and later died after he was restrained and handcuffed by police in Newtown on Sunday. Police are investigating the death, which Assistant Commissioner Mark Walton described as "unfortunately not the outcome anyone looks towards". The man had been arrested in a "violent confrontation" earlier in the day after being found "disorientated" and wandering through traffic in nearby Glebe at about 10.30am. He was arrested, physically restrained to an ambulance stretcher and chemically sedated before being taken to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital where he was held under the Mental Health Act. A few hours later he escaped from the hospital and was found nearby by police in Camperdown. Mr Walton said he was again "non-compliant and aggressive". The assistant commissioner said three officers originally attempted to arrest the man, who weighed 120 kilograms, with another three called to the scene during the struggle. "In the circumstances, the police have apparently determined it was appropriate to use those instruments to attempt to detain him," Mr Walton told reporters in Sydney on Monday. "Shortly after the man lost consciousness and stopped breathing." Police performed CPR on the man who was taken back to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital where he died. One witness, who did not want to be named, said she saw a man detained by officers as she drove past about 1.20pm. I saw it erupt. One minute it seemed like they were talking and then [the police] were in defence mode. Out of nowhere there were three police and they Tasered this man, and he fell to the ground. She said the man was lying flat on the ground with a police officer either side and one on top of him. One of the officers elbowed the man in the shoulder, she said. They were holding him with force. She saw numerous police cars racing towards the area moments later and said the road was blocked when she drove past again after 3pm. The whole road was closed off and there were police everywhere. The investigation will be independently reviewed and a report will be prepared for the coroner. A NSW Health spokeswoman said the man had been "calm and co-operative" most of the time he was in the emergency department. However, she said, he later grew agitated and tried to leave. "Despite verbal de-escalation attempts by security, nursing and medical staff, they were unable to prevent him from leaving the hospital," the spokeswoman said. "No staff were injured in the process." Emergency department staff are experienced in managing patients who present in a distressedstate and measures are taken to ensure patient and staff safety, as they were in this case. She said police had been called immediately after the man fled. "The patient was returned to RPAs emergency department by NSW Ambulance after suffering acardiac arrest and, sadly, he was unable to be revived." The spokeswoman said NSW Health would investigate the incident. "NSW Health extends sincere condelences to the mans family," she said. with AAPPhoto: DriveBC

UPDATE 8:20 p.m.

Highway 5 has just been reopened in both directions from Hope to Merritt.

However DriveBC says the highway is still experiencing heavy snowfall with poor visibility.

Travellers are advised to exercise caution and watch for narrowed lane widths and slow moving trucks over the Coquihalla Summit.

Travel is not recommended unless absolutely necessary.

Check DriveBC for current conditions.

7:00 p.m.

Highway 5 is still closed in both directions from Hope to Merritt.

DriveBC says the highway is not just closed for avalanche control but also because of poor conditions.

The highway is experiencing heavy snowfall and poor visibility.

Check DriveBC for current conditions

UPDATE 3:40 p.m.

Highway 5 is closed in both directions from Hope to Merritt for avalanche clean-up. Alternate routes Highway 8 and 1 or Highway 3. Estimated time of opening between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. Next update at 5 p.m.

UPDATE 1:53 p.m.

The Highway 5 closure and its expected opening time has been extended once again.

The Coquihalla is closed in both directions from Hope to Merritt for avalanche control and clean-up.

The new estimated time of opening is between 5:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m.

The next update is expected at 3:00 p.m.

10 A.M.

Highway 5 is still closed in both directions from Hope to Merritt for Avalanche Control and assessment.

The new estimated time of opening is between 1:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. Wednesday afternoon.

The next update from DriveBC is expected 12:00 p.m.

Photo: DriveBC

UPDATE 8:10 P.M.

Highway 5 is closed in both directions from Hope to Merritt for avalanche control and assessment.

The current estimated time of opening is between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Wednesday Feb. 19.

DriveBC says the next update will be available at 9 a.m. Wednesday.

Bob Gilowski of VSA Highway Maintenance, the company that services large portions of the highway, says the depth of the avalanche was between half a metre and a metre but nobody was hurt in the naturally occurring event.

He says more than 200 centimetres of snow has fallen on the Coquihalla's summit in just over one week.

The highway was closed for avalanche control for a four-hour period on Saturday morning as well.

Check DriveBC for updates.

Hwy. 1 was also closed Wednesday morning.

Send photos and video to [email protected]

-- With files from The Canadian Press

Photo: DriveBC

UPDATE 4:50 PM

The Coquihalla Highway between Hope and Merritt has been closed in both directions because of an avalanche hazard. There is no estimated time of re-opening. Highway 1 is closed in both directions from Hope to Lytton due to several motor vehicle crashes. Estimated time of re-opening is between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. Detour available on Highway 3.

UPDATE 4:15 P.M.

Highway 5 has reopened in the Box Canyon area, however, DriveBC has issued a Travel Advisory for the highway. Travel is not recommended on Highway 5 between Hope and Merritt due to limited visibility from heavy snowfall.

UPDATE 3:01 P.M.

Hwy. 1 will be closed in both directions 26 km west of Revelstoke to 9 km west of Revelstoke because of Avalanche Control from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. on Wed Feb 19.

UPDATE 2:22 P.M.

Hwy. 5 is closed northbound at the Box Canyon Chain-up Area because of an accident. The estimated time of opening is currently unavailable. An assessment is in progress.

Travellers are also advised that Hwy. 5 could be closed at any time and on short notice for the next 36-hours because of the avalanche risk.

As well, to safeguard road users, helicopter avalanche control has been tentatively scheduled, weather permitting for Feb 19 from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

The earlier Travel Advisory is also still in effect due to 'Limited Visibility with Heavy Snowfall from Hope to Merritt.'

Travel is not recommended. Check DriveBC for updates.

Photo: DriveBC Larson HillHwy 5 at Larson HIll, 36 km south of Merritt, looking north.

Update -- 11:30 a.m.

DriveBC has issued a travel advisory for the Coquihalla highway.

Heavy snowfall from Exit 202, the Portia Interchange to Merritt is causing limited visibility and travel is not recommended.

Motorists should not be fooled by the calm and sometimes clear conditions in the Central Okanagan today, there will be snow in the higher elevations.

DriveBC is reporting heavy snowfall to continue on the Coquihalla highway between Merritt and Hope today.

That is in line with what Environment Canada is forecasting  between 20 and 30 centimetres of snow over the next 24 hours and up to 40 centimetres over the Coquihalla summit.

The same conditions can be expected along Highway 3 from Hope to Princeton via the Allison Pass.Photo: Contributed

I have a few programs that I use all the time because Ive liked them for a long time. But Im always looking for alternatives.

What do you like? Heres the stuff Id have a hard time living without.

I throw everything in a giant shoebox and look for the thing I want later.

Really? Yes. And that giant shoebox is called Evernote.

To describe Evernote as note taking software is not doing it justice.

Save everything to Evernote, get it wherever you are on any connected device, and find stuff fast. Take pictures, save web pages, write down ideas, dictate a note, scan a document.

And, search for what you need.

Evernote runs on Windows, Mac, iPhone/iPad, Android phones/tablets and your stuff is always accessible in a web browser when you sign in with your Evernote user name and password.

Everything stays in sync. You can keep things private or share them.

I use Evernote all day long for a variety of things. At a customer, I might snap a photo of a Blue Screen of Death with my smart phone so I have all the information readily available to research.

When I park in a garage or large parking lot, I often take a picture of my car so I can find it later. I save technical information from websites.

Heck, I save recipes from websites! I save interesting thoughts for that novel Ill write someday.

I save snapshots of the cartridges in our printers so that next time I need ink I know what Im looking for. (Bonus tip: That works for wine labels, too.)

Some Evernote users take the shoebox approach. Others use a structured hierarchy of folders. You can use Evernote either way.

There are excellent Evernote tutorials available on YouTube. Heres one on getting started.

Heres a link to the Evernote YouTube Channel.

Evernote offers a free version and several tiers of paid versions.

These programs get me through the day

Besides Evernote, I use a few little programs that make my computing experience better.

Google Play Music Manager

Set your iTunes library free. Upload your music and stream it to any device. More here.

USB Disk Ejector

Ejects disks when Windows cant. Makes it easier even when Windows can. Lightweight and portable. More here.

VLC Media Player

Plays just about any video file, disc, or stream. Runs on Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS. Adware-free. Make sure to download from the official site; many programs purport to be VLC player but are not. Get it here.

Dropbox

A simple, secure way to share or synchronize files between your computers, phones, iPads, tablets. Free or paid versions. If you want to give it a try and scoop up some extra free space, use my referral link. (We both get some free space.) I use Dropbox countless times every day on my computers and phone.

Yankee Clipper 3

Simple, lightweight, feature-rich, ad-free Windows clipboard manager . I tried others and kept coming back to this one. Works on everything from Windows 7 to Windows 10. Get it here.

What utilities do you like? Email [email protected] with your recommendations (and links to them, please!) and Ill share them in a future column.

Do you need help with your computer? I'm here to help you and your home or business computer get along.Photo: The Canadian Press

The evidence against the Florida school shooting suspect is so overwhelming, the only question left for the courts if he is convicted is whether he will be sentenced to death or spend the rest of his life in prison.

The fate of 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz, who faces 17 counts of first-degree murder in the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High, will depend on his mental state and the wishes of the victims' families, which have a say in how the prosecution proceeds.

Broward County Public Defender Howard Finkelstein, whose office is representing Cruz, said there were so many warning signs that Cruz was mentally unstable and potentially violent that the death penalty might be going too far. Finkelstein said Cruz would likely plead guilty if prosecutors opt not to seek the death penalty.

"Because that's what this case is about. Not, did he do it? Not, should he go free? Should he live or should he die," Finkelstein said. "He will never see the light of day again, nor should he. But I know personally I am very upset and angry that we all failed to spot a problem and do anything as a result."

Michael J. Satz, the state attorney for Broward County, said Saturday in an email that, "This certainly is the type of case the death penalty was designed for." He called the slayings "absolutely horrific and tragic." However, he also said his office is working with law enforcement and will announce later what penalty it plans to seek.

The prosecution will likely take years. The sheriff's office said Cruz confessed, and they have his AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, ammunition clips and video from the school. The FBI also said Friday it had gotten a call from someone close to Cruz who expressed concern that he had "a desire to kill people" and "the potential" to conduct a school shooting.

FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a statement that the information was not properly investigated and promised to get to the bottom of it.

A major issue for the courts will be Cruz's mental state. Officials have said he underwent unspecified treatment at a mental facility but quit after his mother died in November. His father had died some years earlier. Without any living parents, he was taken in by a local family.

Cruz's attorney, Assistant Public Defender Melisa McNeill, told reporters after Cruz's initial court appearance that he had become unmoored from society and had no support network to lean on.

"When your brain is not fully developed, you don't know how to deal with these things," she said. "When you have the lack of impulse control that a 19-year-old has, that affects the behaviour you exhibit."

McNeill also said of Cruz: "He's sad, he's mournful, he's remorseful. He's just a broken human being."Photo: The Canadian Press

Rumbling Mount Sinabung on the Indonesian island of Sumatra shot billowing columns of ash more than 5,000 metres into the atmosphere and hot clouds down its slopes on Monday.

There were no fatalities or injuries from the morning eruption, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency said.

The volcano, one of three currently erupting in Indonesia, was dormant for four centuries before exploding in 2010, killing two people. Another eruption in 2014 killed 16 people, while seven died in a 2016 eruption.

Disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said hot ash clouds travelled as far as 4,900 metres southward.

The regional volcanic ash advisory centre in Darwin, Australia, issued a "red notice" to airlines.

Some 30,000 people have been forced to leave homes around the mountain in the past few years.

Mount Sinabung is among more than 120 active volcanoes in Indonesia, which is prone to seismic upheaval due to its location on the Pacific "Ring of Fire," an arc of volcanoes and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.Alanna Kelly

UPDATE 7:38 a.m.

In spite of bitter cold temperatures Monday morning, meteorologist Cindy Yu says we aren't in danger of setting any new records.

"The daily record low was set back in February of 1986, so that Feb. 19 we got down to -25.2 C," said Yu.

Still, with windchill and frostbite warnings issued for Kelowna Monday morning, wind chill got down to -28 C this morning, with a risk of frostbite.

Yu says to expect the cold temperatures to last all week. The good news is we won't be getting any more snow until possibly Friday.

ORIGINAL: 7:06 a.m.

Not only has old man winter put us on notice that he's not done with us yet, dumping between 10 and 25 centimetres of snow over the weekend, now it's freezing!

Environment Canada issued an extreme cold warning for parts of the province, especially along the B.C.-Alberta border near Yoho and Kootenay Parks.

A period of very cold wind chills is expected.

Environment Canada says very cold air with temperatures near -30 C combined with light winds is producing wind chill values near -35 C this morning. Wind chill values will moderate later this morning as temperatures rise.

You're advised to dress in layers you can remove if you get too warm. The outer layer should be wind resistant.

Frostbite can develop within minutes on exposed skin, especially with a wind chill.

Extreme cold warnings are issued when very cold temperatures or wind chill creates an elevated risk to health, such as frostbite and hypothermia.Photo: The Canadian Press

The British Columbia Civil Liberties Association says the federal government has announced it will appeal a B.C. court decision that finds indefinite solitary confinement is unconstitutional.

The ruling was handed down last month following a challenge by the association and the John Howard Society of Canada.

Association executive director Josh Paterson says he's shocked by the appeal because the federal Liberals pledged during the election campaign to end so-called administrative segregation.

He says the appeal shows they intend to fight to save a system that breaks the law and makes society less safe.

In his Jan. 17 decision, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Peter Leask found indefinite segregation undermines the safety and security of inmates, staff and the public.

The Crown argued the practice was reasonable and necessary, but the judge accepted the association's position that solitary confinement is cruel, inhumane and can lead to severe psychological trauma.

The ruling was suspended for 12 months to give the federal government time to draft new legislation, which Leask said must include strict time limits on segregation.

Following the decision, Paterson said the civil liberties association wrote to the federal ministers of Justice and Public Safety, seeking an end to further court action.

"Having won in court, we extended a hand to the government to work together to fix this problem to no avail. Despite us reaching out, to date, the federal government has given us no response other than filing this appeal," Paterson said in a news release.

At the time of the January judgement, Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said the federal government was reviewing it and "is committed to addressing the needs of the most vulnerable in the federal correctional system."

Caily DiPuma, the acting litigation director for the civil liberties association said prisoners continue to spend weeks, months and even years in small cells without human contact, and she called the federal appeal "another example of justice deferred" for the vulnerable and marginalized.

"We will not turn our backs to them, nor will Canadians. We will fight this appeal," she said in the association's statement.Photo: The Canadian Press

Oxfam workers suspected of sexual misconduct in Haiti intimidated and threatened a witness as the charity investigated the original claims, according to the organization's report on the internal inquiry.

The findings were part of a previously confidential report released by Oxfam on Monday as the charity responds to newspaper stories suggesting it covered up allegations that seven employees used prostitutes on the charity's property while working in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake that devastated the country.

"We are making this exceptional publication because we want to be as transparent as possible about the decisions we made during this particular investigation and in recognition of the breach of trust that has been caused," the charity said in a statement. "We are also meeting with the government of Haiti to apologize for our mistakes and discuss what more we can do, including for the women affected by these events."

Publication of the report comes as Oxfam seeks to move past the scandal after the British government on Friday suspended new funding to Oxfam's British affiliate. Oxfam Great Britain received 31.7 million pounds ($43.8 million) from the government in the 12 months through March 31, 2017, or about 8 per cent of its revenue.

Oxfam's report shows the investigation was triggered by an email alleging that staff members in Haiti had violated the organization's code of conduct by using prostitutes in Oxfam guesthouses and engaging in fraud, nepotism and negligence.

While the inquiry was still underway, the line manager of one of the suspects leaked a report to another member of staff.

"This resulted in 3 of the suspects ... physically threatening and intimidating one of the witnesses who had been referred to in the report," according to the final report. "This incident led to further charges of bullying and intimidation against these 3 members of staff."

Overall, Oxfam investigated allegations that seven members of staff used prostitutes on the charity's property. Two of the seven were also investigated for "sexual exploitation and abuse of employees," and two allegedly viewed pornography on Oxfam computers.

The director of operations in the country admitted using sex workers in his charity-funded accommodation but was given a "phased and dignified exit" as long as he fully co-operated with the investigation, Oxfam said in the report.

In total, seven staff members either resigned or were dismissed as a result of the investigation.

While the report confirms Oxfam's previous statements that allegations of workers having sex with minors weren't substantiated, it goes on to say that "it cannot be ruled out that any of the prostitutes were under-aged."

The report also suggests that Oxfam failed to heed some of the findings of its own investigation. Recent news reports have criticized the charity for allowing some of those involved in the Haiti allegations to move on to jobs with other aid agencies, and the report highlighted this as area of concern.

In a section on lessons learned from the Haiti scandal, Oxfam agency said it needed to embed "women's rights at the heart of what we do," and implement better procedures to stop disgraced workers from moving on to new posts in the aid industry.Photo: The Canadian Press

Adrian Crook hadn't always intended on raising his five kids in a three-bedroom condo in downtown Vancouver.

But skyrocketing real estate and rental markets across much of the country have some families choosing small spaces over suburban sprawl  and finding unexpected benefits.

Crook moved downtown from the suburbs following a divorce, craving the social connections that he says are more readily available in the city.

Now his family of six lives in a 1,000-square-foot condo in the heart of Vancouver, which Crook says allows them to live a healthier, more sustainable lifestyle and gives him more time with the kids, aged 5, 7, 9, 10 and 11.

Living small has required some creativity, including custom bunk beds in a room shared by the three boys, but he says it also allows the family to easily walk to parks, galleries and libraries and teaches the kids about diversity that they may not see in the suburbs.

"They get a much more fulsome impression of the world and the possibilities. And hopefully develop empathy in ways that they might not if everyone was the same as them," says the tech entrepreneur.

Crook, who is running in Vancouver's fall election, says people have a mistaken idea that kids need a lot of space.

"They really want you around and you to love them as much as possible, first and foremost," he says. "And then they want creative, flexible things to do. They want to be left to their imaginations as much as possible and not have you control their reality.

Canadians are increasingly shifting to smaller living. The number of people living in apartments taller than five stories went up more than 12 per cent between the 2011 and 2016 census, according to data from Statistics Canada.

The change was particularly noticeable in B.C. where the number of people living in single-detached homes dropped by 1.4 per cent, while the number of people living in apartments taller than five storeys went up by more than 23 per cent.

People outside of hot real estate markets are choosing to live small, too, including artist Shelley Vanderbyl, who lives with her husband and their three kids in a 950-square-foot home in Winnipeg.

Living small was never the plan, Vanderbyl says, but it's worked for the family, which includes a 15-month-old, a three-year-old and a six-year-old.

"My kids have always grown up in this space. It doesn't feel small to them. You sort of just get used to it," she says.

It also teaches children problem solving, creativity and conflict resolution, Vanderbyl adds.

"If you're angry at someone, you can't go somewhere and be away from them. You've got to sort it out. You just decide that you're going to get along," she says.Photo: The Canadian Press

A lawyer accused Oscar-winning Australian actor Geoffrey Rush in court Monday of touching an actress inappropriately on an Sydney stage three years ago while he was starring in a production of "King Lear."

Rush is suing Sydney's The Daily Telegraph newspaper in Federal Court for defamation over articles last year which alleged inappropriate behaviour and touching during the Sydney Theatre Company production in 2015.

The newspaper's lawyer, Tom Blackburn, told the court on Monday that Rush, now 66, touched an actress who has not been identified on five consecutive nights in the last week of the production in a way that he had not done before and that made her uncomfortable.

"She said stop  he didn't. He went on doing it. Our case is that that in itself is inappropriate," Blackburn told the court.

But Rush's lawyer, Richard McHugh, told the court the accusations were vague.

Blackburn is fighting Rush's request to have the newspaper's truth defence struck out.

Justice Michael Wigney delayed his decision on that request to a later date.

McHugh told the court that parts of the defence lacked specificity and did not detail Rush's alleged behaviour.

The inappropriate behaviour is alleged to have occurred when Rush and the actress were required to touch on stage, McHugh said.

"To this day, it's not clear what they're saying. Not just unclear, it's completely opaque," McHugh said.

The newspaper's lawyers have previously told the court that the articles did not allege Rush engaged in inappropriate behaviour of a sexual nature.

Blackburn said for the purposes of the defence it wasn't important where Rush touched the actress, but the fact she allegedly asked him to stop  and he didn't stop  made it inappropriate.

Rush, who was not in court on Monday, has denied behaving inappropriately.

Rush announced in December he was suing the newspaper over its reporting of the actress's complaint of what the theatre company described in a statement as "inappropriate behaviour."

The company said the complaint was made after the production closed. The actress had not wanted Rush informed of her complaint, the company said.

Rush has performed in the Sydney Theatre Company for 35 years. He won the 1997 best actor Academy Award for "Shine" and has three other Oscar nominations. He is perhaps best known as Captain Barbossa in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" films.Photo: The Canadian Press

Iranian search and rescue teams on Monday reached the site of a plane crash that authorities say killed all 65 people on board, Iran's Press TV reported.

The Aseman Airlines ATR-72, a twin-engine turboprop used for short-distance regional flying, went down on Sunday in foggy weather, crashing into Mount Dena in a remote area of southern Iran. The airliner said all on board Flight EP3704 were killed, including six crew members.

The crash of the aircraft, brought back into service only months ago after being grounded for seven years, was yet another fatal aviation disaster for Iran, which for years was barred from buying necessary airplane parts due to Western sanctions over its contested nuclear program.

Press TV said search teams reached the crash site before dawn on Monday. The station said the weather had improved, though it was still windy. The semi-official Tasnim news agency cited the military as saying Russia had helped locate the crash site. Russia and Iran are close military allies.

The TV broadcast footage of a helicopter joining the search and showed ambulances and rescue vehicles preparing to reach the site on Mount Dena. The site is reportedly at a height of 3,500 metres.

Other Iranian news outlets and officials did not confirm that the crash site had been reached. State radio said five helicopters and five drones are active in the search operation. Iran's semi-official ISNA news agency said that more than 150 climbers have joined the operation.

Transport Minister Abbas Akhoundi left Tehran on Monday to visit the site of the crash, state TV reported. Footage posted on independent news websites showed him in the cockpit of a plane taking part in the search. State TV quoted him as saying the cause of the crash was still "not clear."

Reza Jafarzadeh, a spokesman for Iran's Civil Aviation Organization, said a seven-member delegation from France is to arrive in Tehran on Monday to investigate the cause of the crash, the official IRNA news agency reported. Jafarzadeh said the delegation includes four officials from French-Italian aircraft manufacturer ATR.Student survivors of the deadly Florida school shooting who hope to become the face of a revived gun control movement are on a potential collision course with President Donald Trump.

Several of the students have criticized the president, whose election was strongly supported by the National Rifle Association and who ran on a platform opposing gun control. Trump spent the weekend at his estate in South Florida, only an hour's drive from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School where 17 people were fatally shot last week. His only mentions of the massacre came in tweets Saturday contending that the FBI was too focused on the Russia investigation to respond to warnings about the alleged shooter and mocking Democrats for failing to pass gun control.

"You're the president. You're supposed to bring this nation together, not divide us," said David Hogg, a 17-year-old student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in South Florida, speaking on NBC's "Meet the Press."

"How dare you," he added.

After more than a day of criticism from the students, the White House said the president would hold a "listening session" with unspecified students Wednesday and meet Thursday with state and local security officials.

Florida politicians, meanwhile, scrambled to produce legislation in response to the Feb. 14 attack that killed 17 people. Nikolas Cruz, a 19-year-old who had been expelled from the school, is being held without bail in the Broward County Jail, accused of 17 counts of first-degree murder.

In a TV interview, Republican Sen. Marco Rubio embraced a Democratic bill in the Florida legislature to allow courts to temporarily prevent people from having guns if they are determined to be a threat to themselves or others.

Gov. Rick Scott, also a Republican, attended a prayer vigil at the First Church Coral Springs, blocks from the shooting site. He is expected to announce a legislative package with GOP lawmakers this week.

Emma Gonzalez, another student survivor, gave an impassioned speech at a weekend rally with a stinging citation of the NRA's $30 million in expenditures on Trump's behalf in the presidential election. On Sunday she cited Trump, Rubio and Scott by name in a warning to politicians backed by the NRA.

"Now is the time to get on the right side of this, because this is not something that we are going to let sweep under the carpet," she said on "Meet the Press."

Seeking to increase pressure for gun control, the students plan to visit the state capitol in Tallahassee this week to demand immediate action. They are also calling for anti-gun violence demonstrations in Washington and other cities March 24.

Organizers behind the Women's March, an anti-Trump and female empowerment protest, called for a 17-minute, nationwide walkout by teachers and students on March 14.

Chris Grady, a 19-year-old senior at the Florida school, was one of several students at Sunday's rally near the campus. "The kids in Newtown were too young to understand what happened and were too young to have their own voice," Grady said, referring to the 20 first-graders killed in the 2012 Connecticut school shooting. "We want to be the voice for those kids and thousands of others."A video showing a violent incident on a Carnival Cruise Line has gone viral on social media.

Carnival Cruise Line has said "all aspects" of a series of incidents on a South Pacific cruise that was interrupted by brawls will be investigated, including the response of security personnel whom some passengers say made matters worse by using heavy-handed tactics.

The violence was apparently caused by a 23-member family, members of which threw punches at other passengers.

Some of the passengers said they locked themselves in cabins to escape three days of violence on the Carnival Legend, which arrived in its home port of Melbourne on Saturday, a day after a family was offloaded in an unscheduled stop in Eden, New South Wales in Australia.

Police said they were investigating the incident and the operator apologized for the "disruptive behavior" by the group that was removed from the cruise liner. One passenger told 9 News Australia the brawl was a "bloodbath."

Cellphone video footage purportedly of the brawl on Friday shows security guards fighting and trying to separate passengers amid shouting and kicking.

The Reuters news agency reported Monday that Carnival had released a brief statement, saying "all aspects including the security response" would be investigated. The statement did not provide a timeline for the company's investigation.

Videos posted online from inside the ship appear to show Carnival security personnel beating an individual on the ground and attempting to grab cell phones from other passengers as they recorded the events.

-with files from ReutersPhoto: BC Wine Institute

B.C. is challenging Alberta's ban on B.C. wines through the Canadian Free Trade Agreement.

Minister of Jobs, Trade and Technology Bruce Ralston announced the move Monday in support of the province's wine producers.

The challenge will be made through the CFTA dispute settlement process.

"B.C.'s wine industry is an important contributor to our economy, creating good jobs and other economic benefits," Ralston said in a press release. "We're standing by our wine producers and the communities that rely on this important industry by launching a formal trade dispute, and we are confident we will be successful."

It will be the first formal dispute to occur under the new CFTA.

"Alberta's actions threaten the livelihood of the families that have worked so hard to build B.C.'s world-class wine industry," Ralston said. "These actions are inconsistent with Alberta's obligations under the CFTA, and we will protect our reputation and the interests of British Columbians."

The province is also expanding opportunities for small and medium producers to get their products on B.C. liquor store shelves, and additional funding is being provided to market B.C. VQA wines to new international markets.Photo: BC SPCA

A Vancouver Island man has been sentenced to jail for fatally beating a four-month-old puppy.

The BC chapter of the SPCA says Robert Carolan of Duncan was handed a sentence of four months and is banned from owning animals for 10 years.

He has also been placed on probation for three years.

SPCA spokeswoman Marcie Moriarty says in a news release that necropsy results for the mixed-breed puppy show it had suffered blunt force trauma to its head and right rib.

Probable cause of death was listed as related to the rib injury, which stopped the puppy from fully inflating its lungs.

The SPCA's investigation found Carolan claimed the puppy accidentally drowned after he placed it in a bathtub and left the room, but the society says Carolan could not explain the dog's other significant injuries.

Moriarty says jail time was warranted in this case.

"It is heartbreaking to think of how much this poor puppy suffered and the terror he would have experienced before succumbing to his injuries," she says in the release.Photo: The Canadian Press Josh Paterson of the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association

The federal government is appealing a B.C. court decision that struck down Canada's law on indefinite solitary confinement, arguing it needs clarity on the issue from the courts.

The ruling was handed down last month following a constitutional challenge by British Columbia Civil Liberties Association and the John Howard Society of Canada.

The association's executive director, Josh Paterson, said the appeal is a surprise.

"We find it shocking that our federal government has chosen to appeal this decision when the government came into office on a promise to put an end to indefinite solitary confinement," he said in a news release.

Justice Peter Leask of the B.C. Supreme Court said in his Jan. 17 decision that indefinite segregation undermines the safety and security of inmates, staff and the public.

The Crown argued the practice was reasonable and necessary, but the judge accepted the association's position that solitary confinement is cruel, inhumane and can lead to severe psychological trauma.

The ruling was suspended for 12 months to give the federal government time to draft new legislation, which Leask said must include strict time limits on segregation.

Following the decision, Paterson said the civil liberties association wrote to the federal ministers of justice and public safety seeking an end to further court action.

"Having won in court, we extended a hand to the government to work together to fix this problem to no avail," he said. "Despite us reaching out, to date, the federal government has given us no response other than filing this appeal."

After Leask's judgment, Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said the government was reviewing it and was "committed to addressing the needs of the most vulnerable in the federal correctional system."

On Monday, Goodale's office said an appeal in the case is necessary as it examines the B.C. decision and a separate ruling from a court in Ontario.

The decision from Ontario Superior Court Justice Frank Marrocco released in December found administrative segregation longer than five days is unconstitutional, but the practice itself does not violate constitutional rights, even when applied to young inmates or the mentally ill.

"Given the (Canadian Civil Liberties Association) has filed a notice of appeal in Ontario it was only prudent for us to file a similar notice in B.C. as we begin to seek juridical clarity on the issue," Goodale's office said.

"In the meantime we have introduced new legislation ... to limit the use of administrative segregation and implement a system of independent oversight."Photo: RCMP Police image of 45-year-old Donald Kelly.

A murder victim found in a vehicle with gunshot wounds has been identified by police as a 45-year-old man from Burnaby.

Police are saying his death is a homicide and believe the murder was targeted.

Coquitlam RCMP received numerous calls of shots fired in the area of Sylvan Place and Riverview Crescent Friday night, just after 10 p.m.

Officers found Donald Kelly inside the vehicle. He was taken to hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries.

The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team is trying to determine Kellys activities leading up to the homicide.

Shortly after the gunshots were heard, police were notified about a burning dark-coloured sedan located about two kilometres away, on Mariner Way.

Investigators have determined that the burned vehicle was a 2018 grey Chrysler 300 and would like to speak with anyone that has information about it, said Cpl. Frank Jang.

Police said there is no evidence to link the death to other recent homicides or reported acts of violence.Voice of the People I find it hard to believe that the majority of Town employees will put their self-interest over the GREATER GOOD which is, the viability of the Town of Chesterton by not getting vaccinated. Our town tried to save money by self-insuring itself. We could be...

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...A person familiar with the deal said it was worth more than 200 million pounds ($280 million) over five years. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the financial terms are confidential."We are going to use that material as much as we can with all of our other business opportunities," said Jed Howbert, the city's group executive for Planning, Housing and Development. "We think the diversity of Detroit and the whole metro area is one of the most important assets we have in attracting companies."My family had just moved to Saudi Arabia, and it was the first time in my life that I was covered from head to toe in the white clothing required by female pilgrims. The first assault was by a man who was performing the tawwaf. Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims perform the tawwaf on any given day during the hajj. It is very crowded. But you can tell the difference between someone accidentally bumping into you in a crowd and a determined hand shoved onto your buttocks, refusing to budge, despite all your attempts to squirm free. The second assault happened during the ritual of kissing the black stone that sits at one corner of the Ka'aba. My mother and I waited with other women until the Saudi policeman in charge of regulating the gender lines (men and women are separated for this) motioned for the men to step back and for us to proceed. As I bent down to kiss the stone, the policeman fondled my breast.This cycle of injustice frustrates all of us, though we might disagree on what to do about it. Why do I call it a cycle of injustice? It is because innocent people  and good cops like Bauer  too often are its unjust victims.The robbers were all described as black men between 18 and 25 years old. In the most recent robbery, one was described as 5-foot-9 and the other 6-foot-1; in the Tuesday robbery, one was described as 6-foot-3 to 6-foot-4; in the Jan. 30 robbery, one was described as 6 feet tall and about 200 pounds, and the other was described as 5-foot-4 to 5-foot-6 and 150 to 170 pounds.Prosecutors said Morua, of the 3000 block of North Oketo Avenue, was found guilty of attempted murder for trying to run over a woman he knew with a vehicle and of aggravated battery for running over a male friend of the woman in February 2015. Morua was found not guilty of attempted murder charges for running over the man, prosecutors said.I love the stories of Pullman, mostly because they are so relevant today, Schneider said. One of the challenges we have is making visitors realize the relevance. This isnt just history. This isnt just something that happened 130 years ago. The labor story is as important as it was in the 1890s. The civil rights movement and the Pullman porters role in that, its a relevant topic we should be talking about. Immigration was a big part of the Pullman story, its so relevant to whats going on today.Steam rises from a coal-fired power plant on Nov. 5, 2017, near Bergheim, Germany. Global emissions of carbon dioxide are rising again after several years of remaining flat, putting nations' goals of curbing climate change at risk. (Sean Gallup / Getty Images)He really dedicated himself to learning the processes. Combined with a fine work ethic and a dedication  and he probably uncovered some skills that he didnt know he really had  he turned out to be an exceptional employee, in every sense of the word, Neumann said. It was a process that he learned, but he was very open to learning the field. And it was very challenging work and he was not a person who was afraid of challenges.Many foreign students have had to succeed in the highly competitive educational environments of their home countries, master English to gain admission to American colleges and universities through very selective screening processes, and then graduate from a completely different educational system. All of this clearly indicates that these students are among the best and the brightest in their countries. It is no surprise, then, that over time they become leaders in their countries in areas such as business, education and government.Theres no race on the Republican side in the 3rd District, but we hope voters send a message by ignoring the lone candidate on the ballot, Holocaust denier Arthur J. Jones of Lyons. He is a neo-Nazi and white supremacist whose vile campaign is a disgrace to the Republican Party. Hes unchallenged because the 3rd District is so solidly Democratic that no other Republicans were interested in the race. The Illinois GOP apparently didnt notice Jones was the sole candidate until it was too late to field another candidate, even a write-in. So Jones will be the nominee. Republicans, please dont legitimize his candidacy with your vote.He criticized his national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, who was speaking at a security conference in Germany and said that recent indictments from Special Counsel Robert Mueller against 13 Russian nationals and three Russian companies show that the evidence is now incontrovertible that Russia interfered in our election. Trump tweeted that McMcaster forgot to say that the results of the 2016 election were not impacted or changed by the Russians and that the only Collusion was between Russia and Crooked H, the DNC and the Dems.Now we know that the Supreme Court, with its Citizens United and subsequent rulings, actually abetted the out-of-control campaign spending. So will the court step up on the gerrymandering cases and save our democracy? Or will the justices let gerrymandering stand, and thereby doom the chance of anyone getting his or her vote fairly tallied? Our democracy is on the line.What do these look like in practice? Changing your behaviors means trying new approaches to how you go about meeting these chill bar dates. I might even go so far as to say do the exact opposite of what youve been doing. And see what happens. If you only meet women on Tinder, delete the app and start approaching women in person or ask to be set up by a friend. If you only meet women in bars, try the library or the ice cream parlor or the 24-hour White Castle. If youve been doing nothing, do EVERYTHING. Treat your romantic life like a science lab. Assess what works and what fails spectacularly. Make notes! Make spreadsheets. Or dont. (Spreadsheets are fun though.) And go from there. Have a ball with your experiments. Itll give you good stories, at the very least.Thousands of colleges across the country are welcoming both new and returning students back to campus for the fall semester. To coincide with the beginning of another school year, Stacker compiled a list of the best colleges in America using Niches 2021 rankings.Heading into trial, the case against Cichy appeared solid, given the other defendants admissions of guilt and the evidence, which also included cocaine confiscated from a drug dealer the men allegedly worked with and secretly taped audio recordings of discussions about the scheme, according to court documents and officials. And Cichy was later caught with some of the cash he was seen taking from the storage locker, officials have alleged.Richardella said she had been told by school bus officials that if the Illinois General Assembly were to approve a state law mandating such safety restraints that they would comply, but that it also likely would cause them to significantly raise their rates.Much of the confusion surrounding the holiday and its name has to do with the 1968 congressional Uniform Monday Holiday Act that would place all federal holidays on Monday and roll the celebration of Lincoln's and Washington's birthdays into one "Presidents Day," according to the Encyclopedia Britannica. When the act went into effect in 1971, the name change was rejected. But proximity to Lincoln's birthday and retailers use of Presidents Day in promoting sales led to its common usage.But the village returned to Commonwealth Edison in 2016, roughly four years after voters approved a referendum to be able to create the electrical aggregation program. The village did so because at the time, the aggregation program, which enabled village officials to negotiate the purchase of electricity from alternative suppliers on behalf of small businesses and residents, was no longer less costly than ComEd's rates, Czerwinski said."The last upgrade to the streetlighting system was in the early 1970s," Wielebnicki said. "There's a couple things we need to talk about when we consider upgrading or changing our lighting. Do we want to have more of that residential character with soft lighting? Or do we light it up like a main street? There are very different lighting systems and materials and costs."Included in the plan are proposals for a network of bike routes aimed at moving cyclists safely through the city and connecting them to already designated river trail routes in Des Plaines and Niles . With the routes would come route signs and wayfinding signs that not only lead bicyclists in the direction of a particular designation (Uptown, for example), but also let drivers know they can expect cyclists on the street, the bike plan said."As officers arrived at the residence, a male subject exited the front door and immediately reported that he had shot (the relative), telling officer that he was in the basement and he was not sure if he was breathing," Land said in a release.Because voters "supported us the first time around (and) we can show what we did with that money, we would hope they would still be behind us," Warne said.Ward prefaced her remarks by alluding to the scandal that's embroiled her boss, VA Secretary David Shulkin. A government watchdog investigation found "serious derelictions" by Shulkin and his staff relating to a 2017 trip to Europe. The VA paid more than $4,000 for Shulkin's wife to travel with her husband.If you're looking for somebody to tell you why the NRA has so much power, just ask Barack Obama. They sold over 100 million guns during his 8 years in office. The most guns sold in the history of the country, and the most new members in the NRA in the history. Thank a Democrat!Last year, all proposed construction projects were approved at the full amounts requested. That would have been the case this year, too, except a $75,000 request from the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center to help pay for a new parking lot was determined to be ineligible for CDBG funding, Haberstich said."They have to get to the point where they're saying, 'I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore,'" he said. "They have to get educated as to how unfair it is and how unsustainable it is. They must convince the Democrats to the error of their ways. It's unsustainable, it's driving taxes up and it's driving people out of the state."Jacoby said the working group is scheduled to meet again March 5, and may meet again thereafter. He said the meetings have been well attended, and thanked residents for the input he said they have provided. Residents will also be surveyed about their opinions the county ordinances, Jacoby added.City council approves premium pay for police officers, firefighters

Pueblo will use $1.1 million of its ARPA funds to give premium pay to police officers and firefighters who worked during the COVID-19 pandemic.Chinese historical play "Farewell my Concubine" performed by local Chinese artists was on stage in the U.S. city of Houston Saturday night.





Practicing for about a year, the artists wanted to pay tribute to the play writer and Nobel Literature Laurette Mo Yan who turned 63 years old on Saturday. It was also a special gift for Houston's Chinese community on the special occasion of the Chinese Lunar New Year.





There were four leading roles in the play, three of them were amateur actors. One of the actors Gao Yong told Xinhua that everyone participated in the drama play spared no efforts to present the show.





"The leading female actress had a serious road accident a few days ago and was still recovering. But she was not hesitate to be on stage," he said.





Fascinated by the play script at the first sight, director Zhu Anping said during the practice, he encouraged the actors to deliver the story according to their own interpretation.





"Farewell my Concubine" tells the story of Xiang Yu, the self-styled "Hegemon-King of Western Chu" who battled for the unification of China with Liu Bang, the eventual founder of the Han Dynasty some 2,200 years ago.



The Lunar New Year saw the start of a week-long festival in Myanmar celebrating Chinese film.

The new festival features four Chinese films that have been dubbed into the Myanmar language.

A Chinese Film Festival, which officially kicks off on Feb. 17 in Yangon, features four Chinese movies. [Photo/China Plus]

The films have been screened in cinemas in 11 different parts of the country, including Yangon, and the capital Naypyidaw.

One of the films is the critically acclaimed 2015 comedy-drama Go Away Mr. Tumor.

The film was an emotional rollercoaster for the audience, bringing both laughter and tears.

American tourist Cate Legate is in Myanmar for a one-month trip. She said, "This is a very new experience. I cried a lot. It was very touching and close to my heart. Pretty much when she got to the point of realization of what life was when the bag flew away and everything was very touching and soft and real. It really made me feel amazing."

Yangon resident Saw Kaung Myat Thu said the movie is different from Chinese films he had seen before, "Very good movie. Perfect. (That it's in the) Myanmar language makes things very exact (what they are) with translation, and lively. It gives various kinds of feelings, not only comedy, also drama."

The event was jointly organized by the Chinese embassy in Myanmar and the Myanmar Ministry of Information.

Chinese Ambassador Hong Liang said the film festival will become a regular event in the country, "Because we think this is a very effective platform to enhance our mutual understanding. Also I think it's a lot of fun for Myanmar friends here, especially during the Chinese New Year. I think these Chinese movies will give some happy hours to our Myanmar friends."

Myanmar's Minister of Information Pe Myint agreed, "When (they) see Chinese movies, Myanmar people will know Chinese people more deeply and what they are doing, and improve (our bilateral) relationship."

Besides Go Away Mr. Tumor, the other three Chinese movies screened in Myanmar are Xuan Zang, Kung Fu Yoga, and Detective Chinatown.Shanghai municipal government issued a notice Sunday afternoon on its official Wechat account, advising visitors against flocking to over-crowded tourist attractions.

The Oriental Pearl Radio and TV Tower, Shanghai Museum, and Madame Tussauds wax museum were among a number of tourist sites that had or were about to reach their maximum capacity Sunday afternoon, according to a real-time monitoring system launched by the municipal authorities.

Through the system based on big data analysis, tourists in Shanghai can keep an eye on the size of the crowds in more than 70 tourist attractions in the city and make sensible decisions to avoid the crowds during the holiday.

Shanghai received some 2.54 million visitors during the first four days of the week-long Chinese Lunar New Year holiday, according to Shanghai Municipal Tourism Administration.You are here: Travel

 Flash

Some 287 million tourists travelled in China during the first four days of the week-long Chinese Lunar New Year holiday, up 11.1 percent from the same period last year, new data showed Sunday.

Tourism revenue rose 11.6 percent to 352.7 billion yuan (55.61 billion U.S. dollars) in the four days, the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA) said.

On Sunday alone, some 73 million tourist trips were made across the country, up 15.3 percent, while tourism revenue rose 16.6 percent to 94.4 billion yuan.

Some 385 million tourists are expected to travel around China during the holiday spanning from Feb. 15 to 21, an increase of 12 percent, the CNTA forecast earlier this month.

China earned 5.4 trillion yuan from tourism in 2017, an increase of 15.1 percent. Flash





Shuang Qi Tour Pvt. Ltd, a tour agency dealing with Chinese tourists in Nepal, has been organizing a 15-day trip for 1,000 Chinese tourists in the country since last week.





A bulk arrival of Chinese tourists making trip to Nepal during Chinese Lunar New Year that began on Friday is big business opportunity for the tour company which organizes trips for around 6,000 tourists in a year.

During the New Year also known as Spring Festival, all of China goes on vacation either within the country or outside. A total of 6.5 million Chinese are expected to travel overseas during the week-long Spring Festival holiday, according to a report by China Tourism Academy and Ctrip.

Nepal, a next-door neighbor, is benefiting greatly from Chinese holidaymakers going abroad. "We have received very good flow of Chinese tourists for this Chinese New Year," Bishwesh Shrestha, managing director of Shuang Qi Tour, told Xinhua on Saturday.

Similar is the experience of Saathi Travel Agency, the first travel agency bringing Chinese tourists to Nepal. "We are organizing a trip for around 200 Chinese travelers during this week alone," Kishor Raj Pandey, chairman of Saathi Travel, told Xinhua on Saturday.

With the company organizing trip for around 300 Chinese travelers a month on other occasions, the number of Chinese visitors managed by the company in a week is a significant jump.

With inflow of Chinese tourists during the festival growing, Nepal's hotels are crowded with Chinese travelers.

Hotel Annapurna, a five-star hotel in Kathmandu, said that around 10 percent of hotel rooms are occupied by Chinese tourists currently, while on other occasions the rate is 3-4 percent.

"We have got very good booking from Chinese tourists until February end," said Atma Khanal, sales executive at the Hotel.

Travel agencies said that all the airlines conducting flight from China to Nepal have been almost fully booked for the next two weeks.

In order to show Nepal's hospitality to Chinese tourists, the Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) in coordination with Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal and Department of Immigration has made arrangement of distributing postcard written 'Happy New Year' in Chinese language to the Chinese visitors at the Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu.

"We have also arranged people who can speak Chinese language at the airport to ease the Chinese visitors," said Deepak Raj Joshi, chief executive officer of NTB.

Based on ongoing arrivals and booked seats in the airlines, the NTB expects arrivals of at least 30,000 Chinese tourists over the next two weeks.

This will be the major boost to Nepal tourism sector as Nepal expects at least 150,000 Chinese tourists by air in 2018, according to NTB. Nepal received a total of 104,664 Chinese tourists in 2017, according to Nepal's Department of Immigration. China is the second largest source market for Nepal's tourism sector.

Travel and tour operators said that Nepal could attract even more Chinese tourists during the Spring Festival if more flights are arranged between the two countries and more Chinese cities are connected with flights.

These Chinese airlines currently operate from Lhasa, Kunming, Chengdu and Guangzhou to Kathmandu but Chinese capital Beijing and major financial city Shanghai are still out of direct air connectivity with Nepal.

Joshi said they have also planned to make arrangement of chartered flights between various Chinese cities and Nepal.



 Flash

An orderly crowd of pilgrims and tourists lined up Sunday to visit the Jokhang Temple in Lhasa, capital of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, one day after part of the sacred monastery caught fire.

The fire broke out at 6:40 Saturday evening and was soon put out. No casualties have been reported.

There are no visible signs of the fire in the areas open to the public except for some water marks in the main hall of the monastery, according to Xinhua reporters at the scene on Sunday.

The temple is renowned in Tibetan Buddhism. It has a history of more than 1,300 years and houses many cultural treasures, including a life-sized statue of the Sakyamuni Buddha when he was 12 years old.

Many pilgrims were relieved after they saw the statue was unscathed by the fire. Some were so moved that they shed tears while kowtowing and praying before the statue.

"I felt greatly relieved after seeing the statue was undamaged," said Kelsang Metog, a pilgrim from Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in neighboring Sichuan Province.

The Barkhor, a bustling market street near the monastery, was reopened to the public Sunday morning after a temporary closure following the fire.

The Jokhang Temple will be closed from Feb. 19 to 22 as scheduled, when its monks mark the New Year holiday. The Tibetan New Year was celebrated Friday, coinciding with the Spring Festival this year. Flash

Bad weather hindered Iranian rescue teams' search for the wreckage of an Iranian passenger plane that crashed on Sunday in central Iran.

The searching operations in the Zagros mountains were slow due to the rain and strong wind, Mojtaba Khaledi, spokesman for Iran's emergency services, was quoted as saying by Press TV.

All people on board, including 60 passengers and six crew members, were killed in the crash, according to the Civil Aviation Organization of Iran.

The Iran Aseman Airlines plane took off from the capital at 08:00 a.m. local time (0430 GMT) and disappeared from the radar screen 50 minutes later, in an area that is about 14 miles (22.4 km) from its destination Yasuj city.

The ATR-72 aircraft, with the flight number 3704, has been in service for 25 years.

A total of 20 emergency teams were dispatched to the region as a result of the coordination among the crisis management agencies of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province and three adjacent provinces.

Dariush Karimi, the Red Crescent deputy of Isfahan Province, said bad weather condition and the rough mountainous geography of the area would hinder their search.

Besides, there would be snow fall later in the day, the Meteorological Organization of Isfahan Province said.

Following the incident, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani on Sunday offered their condolences to the families of victims.

Some Iranian officials suspected that the cause of the crash is that ATR-72 aircraft has not been designed for the altitudes with freezing weather condition, therefore the pilot had to fly lower before crashed into the mountain.

The height of the mountains in Zagros Range reaches almost 4,000 meters which in winter season is inappropriate for the passage of the ATR-72 plane.

Iranian aviation officials said the cause of the incident will be announced after the black box of the crashed plane is recovered.

Over the past decades, the Iranian air fleet has encountered a number of disastrous accidents due to the malfunction of aged planes.

Following the international nuclear deal in 2015, which resulted in the removal of western and UN sanctions against the Islamic republic, Iran has signed major deals with giant airplane manufacturers, including Boeing and Airbus, to renew its old air fleet.

In December 2016, Iran sealed a contract with Airbus to buy 100 aircraft worth over 18 billion U.S. dollars. Iran has received three Airbus commercial planes since the conclusion of the deal.

Meanwhile, Iran Air finalized another agreement with the U.S. aircraft manufacturer Boeing to purchase 80 commercial planes.

In April 2017, Iran signed a contract with the French-Italian ATR company to purchase 20 ATR 72-600 planes valued at 400 million dollars. Since then, Iran has received a total of eight ATR turboprop planes.You are here: World

 Flash





Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Sunday offered condolences to his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif over the crash of an Iranian passenger plane earlier in the day, in which all the 66 people aboard were killed.





In his message, Wang expressed deep condolences to the victims who lost life in the air tragedy and extended sincere sympathy towards their families.

An ATR-72 aircraft belonging to Iran Aseman Airlines on Sunday morning crashed in a foggy and mountainous region of southwestern Iran, killing all 66 people on board, Iran's Civil Aviation Organization said.

The twin-engine plane had disappeared from radar about 50 minutes after taking off from the capital city of Tehran, with 60 passengers and six crew members on board.

Due to rainy and misty conditions, rescue services couldn't reach the crash site in the Zagros Mountain Range and failed to locate the wreckage, state IRIB TV reported.



 Flash





At least six people were wounded Sunday in a bomb blast in downtown Baghdad, while the police arrested head of a criminal gang in Iraq's eastern province of Diyala, security source said.





The incident took place in the evening when a bomb detonated outside a massage center near Maysaloon Square in eastern Baghdad, wounding six people and damaging nearby buildings and shops, Captain Abdullah al-Hashimi from the Interior Ministry's operations office told Xinhua.

In a separate incident, Ali al-Daiyni, head of Diyala's provincial council, told Xinhua that a police force acted on intelligence reports and raided a safe house of a criminal gang and arrested their suspected leader, known as Amir (commander) of abduction.

The gang leader was wanted for involving in 38 kidnappings, murders, extortion and rape in various parts of the province, Daiyni said.

The incidents came despite dramatic decline in violent attacks in the country during the past few months, particularly after the Iraqi security forces dislodged the extremist Islamic State (IS) militants from all Iraqi areas.



An Orthodox Bishop in Russia expressed that he does not want the Russian people to vote for Vladimir Putin when he runs for reelection in March.

The statement was recorded in the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta. Surprisingly, the highly-charged church dissent was not due to political differences but because the Bishop believed that Vladimir Putin had been impious.

Bishop Yevtikhy Kurochkin, of Ishim, Siberia. On his personal page at VK, Russia's social media platform, Bishop Yevtikhy stated that he could no longer follow his desire to vote for Putin because of his blasphemous remarks on television.

Bishop Yevtikhy said:

"If the light that is in you is darkness, how great is your darkness!' are the words of Christ,

"And will I go against Christ to vote for darkness or advise anyone to do this? No, no and no!"

That these comments came from a high ranking religious leader is unprecedented in the Russian Federation and the fact that the statement was released on Russian social media made it even more notable.

The angry statement followed Putin's statement about the Soviet regime's adaptation of Christian ideas. In a state television show, Putin said:

"They put Lenin in the mausoleum. How does this differ from the relics of saints for Orthodox believers or Christians in general?" Putin said.

"When they tell me no, there is no such tradition in Christianity, how is there not? Go and look in Athens, there are the relics of saints there, and we have the relics of saints here too," he continued.

Putin appears set to the March reelection, though his contender Alexei Navalny is still moving to become a valid candidate for presidency of the Russian Federation.

Growing support for Navalny can be seen at the grassroots level. In December 2017, a total of 800 people gathered in Moscow to express their support of Alexei. Currently, Navalny I facing problems with running for presidency because of what he claims is a "politically-motivated" criminal conviction.Misael Diaz Paseiro, a Christian rights activist, was arrested last year on charges of "pre-criminal social dangerousness" by the Cuban government. He is a member of the Orlando Zapata Tamayo Civic Resistance Front.

Authorities forced their way into Misael's home where they confiscated two Bibles, crucifixes and rosaries. He was badly beaten by Cuba's political police on November 4, 2017.

Watchdog Christian Solidarity Worldwide reported that Misael was told by the police:

"Misael, in addition to being a counter-revolutionary, you are also a Christian," the police said.

"You should look at us, we are revolutionaries and we don't believe in your God. Our god is Fidel Castro."

Upon his arrest, Misael was reportedly denied basic rights in prison, including the right to see a priest and to have a Bible. Because of his mistreatment in prison, his wife Ariana LApez Roque went on a 19-day hunger strike.

According to CSW, Cuban authorities also prevented a pastor from visiting Misael's wife during her 19-day hunger strike. She only ended the hunger strike when she was assured that her husband's rights would be respected while he was in prison.

Mario Barroso, a Cuban pastor and rights activist told the Christian Post that it was not uncommon for people in Cuba to invoke the name of Fidel Castro.

"Invoking Fidel Castro in Cuba helps cover acts of corruption and even crimes. This proves that the followers of [Castro as a God] are not really so adept as Fidel himself but rather at the benefits that are covered by invoking him," Barroso said.

"Deep down they are imitating Fidel with this behavior since Fidel Castro was like that too: an opportunist, a blackmailer.

"So the believers in Fidel Castro act in the image and likeness of their god, Fidel. They are faithful followers of the evil example of their god."

The Cuban regime is oppressive toward people who subscribe to organized religion. Cuban Christians are especially vulnerable, as the government has launched a nationwide crackdown against churches and has either seized or demolished 1,400 church buildings. According to the government, the religious structures have not been registered and are therefore illegal.

The war of the Cuban state against religious institutions intensified palpably in 2017 and continues today in various guises. The seizure of Bibles and imprisonment of local pastors and rights activists are but two instances of the religious crackdown in Cuba. There have even been reports of Christians being dragged away as they arrive or leave church.In Tamil Nadu, India, parishioners of the Maknayeem Church are protesting to local officials after the police ruled that Pastor Gideon Periyaswamy's death was a suicide, despite physical evidence that he had been beaten prior to hanging.

UCA News reports that around 2,000 Christians blocked a busy road, demanding that four suspects be apprehended.

The British Pakistani Christian Association (BPCA) quotes a member of the congregation that had seen Pastor Gideon on the day he was strung up to the rafters of the church.

"This attack has terrified our church parishioners to their core, the death is a brutal murder of a devout Christian Pastor who was more vulnerable because he was alone and trusting of people. Pastor Gideon was well loved by all and we will all shed many tears for our lost brother," the source said.

"His murder has removed a dedicated, learned and very influential messenger for God from this earth, which is to the detriment of India as a nation.

"We will continue to attend church and will provide full support to our future pastor, but the gap left by Pastor Gideon is a huge one to fill. His death only makes us all more committed to the church the killers can't defeat God."

Wilson Chowdhry, chairman of the BPCA, stated that the local police had willfully ignored evidence of foul play.

"The current situation is a slow regression towards a similar type of anarchy to the one that has palpably consumed Pakistan. I pray that the Modi regime loses the next election permitting a more egalitarian government to correct the perilous trajectory that BJP are hurtling towards," Wilson said.

NGO Open Doors USA explained that because Christians are viewed as outsiders by Hindu radicals, they experience 'increased persecution.'

In related news, Christians in India are launching "prayer for martyrs" events in local churches to mark 10 years since the biggest massacre of believers in 300 years.

In 2008, some 6,000 homes were attacked by Hindus and a total of 100 Christians were killed.

Christian Persecution Update reports that the special prayer for persecuted Christians in India has been prepared in both English and Odiya, the state language of Odissa/Orissa, where the anti-Christian violence first took place 10 years ago.

The grisly attacks on Christians in India were so severe that a total of 56,000 Christians were left homeless after several months of violence.

The Christians at the site were accused of converting Hindus to Christianity. This charge is still being used today by hardliners who justify the ongoing violence against Christians.

Indian Christians have been pressuring the government to pursue justice in light of these attacks and so far, a total of 315 cases of violence that stretch back to August 2016 have been reopened.Members of the Catholic congregation and government forces have been clashing in the state of Congo, prompting Pope Francis to speak out against the Congo government.

The call for peace from the Pope came after at least six people were killed in the latest of what has become a string of violent clashes between civilian protesters and government-backed forces.

One particular clash that made global headlines is the attack at St. Michael's Church in central Kinshasa, the capital of Congo. One witness said that as they were praying soldiers and police entered the church compound and fired teargas.

Another witness said that people fell and first-aiders responded to fallen old women but the mass continued as usual.

In an address at St. Peter's Square, Pope Francis reminded everyone of the need to avoid any form of violence.

"Unfortunately, worrying news continues to arrive from the Democratic Republic of Congo," the Pope explained.

"I, therefore, renew my appeal that everyone make all efforts to avoid any form of violence. From its side, the Church wants nothing other than to contribute to peace and to the common good of society."

Catholic charity CAFOD explained what is happening in Congo:

"The current stalemate over elections, coupled with the economic downturn has angered people, who have gone on demonstrations across the country," the group reported.

"The Catholic Church has asked their faithful to come out in peaceful protests; and they have been joined by many other Christian denominations, and Muslims."

Bernard Kateta Balibuno, CAFOD's country representative, said that it might be too late if an international response is not forthcoming.

"The Church played a crucial role as mediator in negotiations that led to a December 31, 2016 agreement that DR Congo President Joseph Kabila will step down following elections to be held. The agreement brought the country back from the brink of renewed civil war," Bernard said.

"However, the honoring of this agreement has not prevailed; and today we fear that a powder keg, greater than at any other time in DR Congo, is about to ignite a resurgence of fear, anger, and insecurity, as the people face an uncertain 2018.

"The Church is doing all that it can, but if the international community doesn't react quickly, it will be too late." he continued.

In a related report, Pope Francis has announced that the first Friday of Lent would become a day of prayer and fasting for peace. This special day would be offered for the many on-going conflicts around the world, including the conflict in Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan.

The first Friday of Lent is February 23 and the invitation is extended to all the faithful in different parts of the world.

In an appeal for prayer, Pope Francis said that the Heavenly Father always listens to his children who cry out in pain and anguish. The Pope was alluding to the current streak of violence against peoples, but most especially Christians around the world who have been experiencing persecution because of their faith and beliefs.

He asks people to think: what can we do to make peace?

According to Pope Francis, while prayer can do a lot to help resolve conflicts, people are equipped to do more to actively stop the violence and conflicts. Each person, he says, can refuse violence, as victories that are accomplished through violence are false while those that are hard won through peaceful means will be for the good of all.In 2020, we were the church on our heels. A global pandemic shut down much of our world. But the church has been on the move since it was birthed; it will continue to be on the move until God makes all things new.Changing chairs after 25 years as lead pastor at the same church is so unusual that we never could have planned it.

Read as Single Page Page 1 of 2

Its Sunday evening as I write this blog post.

And Im feeling a huge flood of emotions.

Strong emotions are normal for pastors on Sunday afternoons, no matter how Sunday services went. But today is different for me.

Plus, there's the added quirk that Im writing this on a flight from California to Belfast, Northern Ireland.

First Ill tell you about the emotions, then why Shelley and I are flying to the UK.

Pastoral Transition Without A Moving Van

Just a few hours ago, Cornerstone Christian Fellowship did me the great honor of affirming my long-time assistant pastor, Gary Garcia as our new lead pastor.

After 25 years of serving in that position myself I will be changing chairs, but staying at the table, becoming Cornerstones teaching pastor.

This is a highly unusual move, which Ive written about previously in previous posts, with more to come. (Click here to read them.)

But, despite there being very little precedent for such a transition, it has gone extraordinarily smoothly. Today was an amazing celebration of Gods grace, filled with excitement for the future as we build on the blessings of our shared past.

Today was an amazing celebration of Gods grace, filled with anticipation for the future as we build on the blessings of our shared past.

I am so grateful to everyone at Cornerstone for what the Lord has already allowed us to do together. You have made it possible for us to seize this opportunity to transition without the always-dangerous pastoral gap.

Shelley and I will never be able to thank you enough for the opportunity to stay in our home church and participate in all the great things to come.

So many thanks go to the church leaders and members who have had such a humble, cooperative and celebrative spirit as weve walked through this together. And we are especially blessed to have Gary and Ami Garcia step into a new season of leadership at Cornerstone. We look forward to supporting you as you have supported us.

New Opportunities For Ministry

Second, why are we flying today?

Shelley and I are on our way to Northern Ireland, where Ill be speaking at three pastors conferences this week. After that, well take a long-overdue three-week vacation together.

Because of my growing list of conferences, this blog and my books, (including the brand-new Small Church Essentials, which was printed this week and will ship on March 6) there have been a lot of changes to our lives and schedules.

I want to take a moment to express my gratefulness for these blessings. So many people have encouraged and supported us in this call to encourage, resource and connect small church pastors as we serve Jesus together.In our increasingly polarized nation, elections are not just perceived to determine the direction of our nations policies but as a declaration of who is included and who is excluded. We cannot have a nation where half of the country wakes up the morning after an election feeling like they no longer have a place in their own country without severely fraying our social fabric.

At a time when politicians and party activists increasingly argue that their obligation is only, or primarily, to a subset of the American peopledefined by race, socioeconomic status, religion, ideology, or some other categorythe American people themselves must take extraordinary steps to force political actors to consider problems, concerns, and ideas that they would typically ignore.

A new year calls for a new kind of politics, and there is one radical idea as old as Scripture that might provide a way forward.

When the apostle Paul was writing to the Galatians, he was addressing a community that was in deep disunity. Paul had helped form the Galatians through his teachings, but they were straying from their foundational commitments. Sin, false teachers, and parochial motives and interests were creating, well, polarization. Pauls letter to the Galatians, then, represents an attempt to speak clarity into the conflict, and help the community reform around its foundations.

Into this polarized environment, Paul instructs them to do something radical, something completely contrary to everything polarization promotes: They ought to carry one anothers burdens; in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ (Gal. 6:2, CSB).

Pauls command shows no favoritism. His call is not to one group only, to those with power or without it, or even solely to the strong or the weak. Everyone together is part of a community as children of the same God, and therefore they ought to carry one anothers burdens.

A nation is a different sort of community, but it is a community all the same. The call to carry anothers burden is an extraordinary one, but these are extraordinary times. In our increasingly polarized nation, when many elected officials and their strategists believe they need to listen only to those who already agree with them, we must carry our neighbors burdens into politics with our own. We must ensure those we disagree with are heard as well.

The way the two major presidential campaigns operated in 2016 should not have been possible. It should not have been possible for Donald Trump to ignore the concerns of African Americans about his position on law enforcement issues. It should not have been possible for Hillary Clinton to ignore the concerns of conservative people of faith about religious freedom.

In the campaign process, candidates should be forced to respond to the core concerns and arguments of their critics, and if their answers are evasive, the candidates own supporters must demand better.

This change will not be prompted by political institutions like parties or advocacy groups (though the best advocacy groups will ensure their opposition is heard). Their role is to represent a specific set of interests or perspectives. Instead, it must come directly from voters who refuse to be wooed by the affirming half-truths and coddling of politicians.

On the issues of our day, we must not only ask ourselves whether our position is correct but also raise to the surface the question of why our neighbors are not yet convinced as well.

I can imagine some objections to this approach. Some might simply say it is naive to think political leaders and institutions would ever accommodate this kind of openness. But political parties and politicians often give voice to other sides of an argument and address them concretely when it benefits them or when their political survival requires it.

For instance, the Democratic platform in 2016 included language inviting both supporters and opponents of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement into the partyeven though passing TPP was a top foreign policy priority of President Obama. Elected officials on both sides of the aisle were forced to address real and perceived costs of trade deals like the TPP.

Others might also object that the admonition to carry one anothers burdens fails to acknowledge power dynamics. Some people have heavier burdens to carry. Is it just to ask the weak to concern themselves with the burdens of the strong? Is it unrealistic to expect the comfortable to worry about the ills of the afflicted?

These are serious questions that strike at some of our most sensitive divisions and strongly held ideologies. This is the quandary of burden-carrying: How can one be sure the favor will be returned? What if those willing to engage in this way are simply taken advantage of? Its the prisoners dilemma.

The state of our politics reflects the state of our souls.

The problem, of course, is that the very logic that would lead us to reject carrying one anothers burden is the cause of our intractable, self-interested politics. Yes, to carry anothers burden is a risk, but so is continuing to pursue a vision of politics that is solely about accumulating power.

Real, lasting progress on the issues closest to your heart, whatever they are, depends on the inclusion of those who disagree with you in the pursuit of change. This is not a call for relativism or for subsuming your conscience in order to advocate for what you think is wrong. It is a call for each of us to resist groupthink within our communities and to create cracks in our echo chambers.

In the communities that you can reach that others cannot, in the halls of power that you have access to that others do not, how can you carry others burdens with you? How can you ensure political opinions, ones you do not even agree with perhaps, are on the table for consideration?

The state of our politics reflects the state of our souls. It reflects what were willing to accept in the name of political victory. Opening up our narrow politics will not be easy, but its possible. The resources of hope make it possible.

And even today, some leaders are rejecting the soul-crushing nature of our politics and showing a different way. Someone like Ben Sasse, who serves as a United States senator and yet still insists that politics is not ultimate. Someone like Brittany Packnett, who advocates for change on some of the most intractable injustices of our time, and yet insists that political circumstances will not steal her joy.

Politics cannot just be a forum for self-expression and the pursuit of self-affirmation. We must carry one anothers burdens.KY Schools Discriminate Against Good News Clubs

Contact: Rachel Hamel, Corporate Communications Manager, Child Evangelism Fellowship , 636-456-4321 ext. 1177

FLORENCE, Ky., Feb. 19, 2018 / Christian Newswire / -- Liberty Counsel sent a demand letter on Friday, February 8, to the Boone County School District to provide equal access for use of school facilities, consistent with the district facilities use policy, for the Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF) after-school Good News Clubs for children K-5.

The district has altered evidence proving it was illegally discriminating against the Good News Club while allowing other non-profit organizations like Girls on the Run of Cincinnati (GOTR) to use facilities space. Now, administrators appear poised to cancel all 2018 Boone County Schools GOTR clubs, a local non-profit teaching character to girls through its running program, rather than simply extend equal treatment to the Good News Club.

On January 18, 2018, Liberty Counsel requested that the district respond to repeated inquiries from CEF seeking use of a room for Good News Club meetings after school, at Stephens Elementary and at Goodridge Elementary. Administrators at both schools first rejected, then ignored, the requests dating back to 2015. Discrimination against CEF continued in 2016 and 2017, while the district permitted GOTR to meet. Liberty Counsel provided hyperlinks to websites at both schools and additional evidence showing that GOTR is legally no different than the Good News Club.

In response, school administrators deleted an entire webpage description of GOTR at Stephens, and changed the name of "Girls on the Run" to "Running Club" at Goodridge, after which the district's attorneys responded to Liberty Counsel, claiming that "neither running club at Stephens or Goodridge Elementary has any affiliation with the non-profit organization, Girls on the Run."

"CEF and its sponsored Good News Clubs are entitled to equal treatment by Boone County Schools," said Mat Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel. "It is amazing that schools would destroy evidence and consider canceling Girls on the Run rather than comply with the First Amendment principle of equal treatment for the Good News Clubs. We will hold Boone County School District accountable for overt viewpoint discrimination if equal treatment is not provided," said Staver.Mission Group Committed to Lifting People Out of Grinding Poverty Injustice Addresses 'Complex Web' of Underlying Issues

To mark World Day of Social Justice, major Gospel for Asia report digs into roots of 'extreme poverty,' celebrates 'small steps' impact

WILLS POINT, Texas, Feb. 19, 2018 / Christian Newswire / -- While welcoming an international day of awareness that turns the global spotlight on complex issues keeping millions in grinding poverty, missionary organization GFA (Gospel for Asia, www.gfa.org ) is year-round striving to be a source of hope to those in extreme need.

Photo: Many children living in the slums of Asia start working at an early age due to severe financial constraints on their family, doing jobs like picking through trash. GFA-supported efforts provide educational opportunities for children and vocational training for families to help break the cycle of extreme poverty.

As politicians, economists, and activists mark the United Nations' annual World Day of Social Justice, Feb. 20, GFA is publishing a major report that both reveals the immense scale of the issue and how small actions can make a difference.

In the latest of a new series of in-depth articles addressing big social issues, GFA looks at the reasons why "extreme poverty remains unacceptably high," according to the World Bank, with parts of Asia among places where incomes for the poor are growing slower than average.

The report is intended to both give people cause as to the scale of the problem, but also inspire them to be part of the solution.

Millions in Asia live below the poverty line, notes the GFA report, "Seeking Justice and Defending Human Rights Wherever Poverty and Oppression Exist" ( www.gfa.org/special-report/seek-social-justice-defend-human-rights-from-poverty-oppression ), surviving on less than $1.90 a day. And millions across Asia barely manage to eke out a living because of "a complex web of factors," including social prejudice, gender discrimination, lack of education and more.

Their desperate circumstances force many families to send their children out to work rather than enrolling them in school--worldwide, there are almost 170 million child laborers--while others are trapped in modern-day slavery.

The results of inequality are not just economic, the report points out. Injustice leads to poor health and sexual exploitation of young girls, who because of gender inequality are the most vulnerable.

The GFA report notes how families are often exploited in brick and rug-weaving factories, and tea plantations. It tells of a father, freed along with his family by a justice organization, whose children were beaten with a pipe and verbally abused if they were caught playing when they were supposed to be working.

While other groups address some of the top-down issues that crush so many--cultural, industrial economic, political and religious--the GFA report details how it and other organizations are involved in grassroots efforts to lift them up.

Literacy programs that teach women to read improve their social standing, make them better equipped to take care of their families, and encourage them to want more education for their children to break the generational cycle of poverty.

Meanwhile, some 75,000 are children currently enrolled in over 600 GFA Bridge of Hope centers, where they are helped with their schooling and physical needs. More than 150,000 others have come through this program, which also provides food and medical checkups.

They include vocational training courses teach skills like fishing, welding and tailoring to equip men for better-paying work, and basic tool kits including items like axes, shovels, saws, and plows enable farmers to increase their productivity. GFA also provides sewing machine and rickshaws to families to help them gain a better financial footing.

Commenting on the "heartbreaking" report, GFA founder Dr. K.P. Yohannan said, "We believe that, as people created in the image of God, everyone has the right to be treated with dignity and honor. In helping people improve their working and living situations, we are able to demonstrate practically God's love and care for them and their families. There needs to be a pressing into the reality of what we are dealing with."

In a blog addressing the issue ( https://kpyohannan.org/2018/02/19/is-there-room-in-our-hearts-for-someone-whos-suffering/ ), Yohannan tells the story of Lalasa, a woman who was considering suicide because she was overwhelmed by debt, until she was befriended by a GFA-supported worker and given a cow as a source of income.

"I wonder when we hear stories like this if God is trying to help us understand more of his heart for the poor and downtrodden," he writes, noting how even small actions can make a big difference. "When we run into someone like Lalasa, whether in person or through some sort of media, do we really care what becomes of them? Do we realize the value God places on them?"

GFA (Gospel for Asia) has -- for more than 30 years -- provided humanitarian assistance and spiritual hope to millions across Asia, especially among those who have yet to hear the Good News. Last year, this included more than 75,000 sponsored children, free medical services for more than 180,000 people, 6,000 wells drilled, 11,000 water filters installed, Christmas presents for more than 400,000 needy families, and spiritual teaching available in 110 languages in 14 nations through radio ministry.We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on!

Go to form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CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Lucky Charms is adding a new marshmallow to its repertoire for the first time in a decade. Say hello to the magical unicorn.

As if you needed another reason to chow down on a bowl of the magically delicious cereal from your childhood.

"Our goal is to not only create a cereal that families and cereal fans will love and enjoy, but to inspire magical possibilities and help spark imagination and fun no matter what the age," Lucky Charms marketing manager Josh DeWitt said in release. "That's why, after 10 years, we decided to introduce a new charm with the help of the keepers of magic themselves kids. They spoke, and after hearing their love for the magical unicorn, we listened."

I'm so glad Lucky Charms released that new unicorn marshmallow to help bring us all together under the sugar rainbow as our world falls apart.  Aaron Gilbreath (@AaronGilbreath) February 19, 2018

After announcing earlier this month it was retiring the hourglass marshmallow, General Mills asked fans on social media to vote with an emoji of what they wanted as the new lucky charm. The result: a white, bright purple and blue marshmallow in the approximate shape of the legendary creature.

In addition the magical unicorn, Lucky Charms' marshmallow lineup now includes hearts, stars, horseshoes, clovers, blue moons, rainbows and red balloons. Just last month, Lucky Charms introduced a third variety of the cereal, Frosted Flakes Lucky Charms to join the original formula and Chocolate Lucky Charms.

Now if only General Mills would release version of the cereal with just marshmallows. (Does anybody actually eat the whole grain oats thingies?)

The magical unicorn Lucky Charms are available now in select stores with a full nationwide rollout in March.CLEVELAND, Ohio - To mark 20 years in business Willoughby Brewing Co. is going back in time.

The anchor along Willoughby's Erie Street has will be cooking up popular dishes from past menus and bringing former brewers to hoist a pint, remember the good times and toast the past.

Brewers who are scheduled to come back to Willoughby this week cover a who's who of Northeast Ohio suds royalty, including Chris Alltmont, now at Fat Head's Brewery. He was followed by David Sutula, who is at Royal Docks Brewing Co. After him came Jack Kephart, now at The Brew Kettle. He was followed by Larry Hazen, who works a block away from Willoughby at Brim Kitchen and Brewery.

Willoughby Brewing has grown from a brewpub that once was a cigar lounge that served lagers in brown bags to creating what has become a cult-classic ale among craft-beer drinkers.

Willoughby's roots

As you walk in to the pub tucked behind the strip of businesses, bars and restaurants on Erie Street, the train motif hits you immediately: Old photographs, signs, even an elevated track above diners. Classic rock - anything from Boston to Smashing Pumpkins - plays on a recent afternoon with the Winter Olympics on the many televisions scattered throughout the space.

"A couple of years ago they re-did the sewers here," said brewmaster Rick Seibt who, at seven years, is Willoughby's longest-tenured brewer. "You can still see the old tracks. This was an electric line. It ran until the '20s, I think. That's where the train motif came from."

The brewery was an old machine shop-trolley-car repair station. Sol, a neighboring restaurant, used to be the power station, he said.

Long after the train era faded, Willoughby opened as a cigar bar and lounge, with live music. Even now Seibt is reminded from an occasional customer recalling times spent relaxing on a couch and having a woman come up and light his cigar.

Seibt, wearing a Sin City Brewing Co. t-shirt and a hat with his own brewery's name on it, is an easy-going, goateed guy who saunters comfortably between brewhouse and bar. He has lived in Lake County his whole life. In 1998, two months after Willoughby Brewing opened, he moved to Mentor - "seven minutes away," he said.

"We'd come for $2.50 beers and Milano pizza," Seibt said.

A home brewer, Seibt had confidence and a willingness to learn. He got to know the brewers. He bought grains with them. On brew days, he would observe, soaking in what he saw.

In 2011, Jeremy Van Horn became a managing partner at Willoughby. Seibt, who worked in IT project management with Penton Media (he left in November after 27 years) crafted a 26-page presentation on what the future could be with him in the brewhouse. The rest is brewing history. Seibt learned, listened, and kept brewing, and now is as well-known as any brewer in Northeast Ohio.

"I had confidence in my knowledge and beer-making abilities, to do the right things. Jack was the guy who always helped me out. I've always been the kind of guy to immerse myself in something."

The ever-popular Peanut Butter Cup Coffee Porter garners awards and attention.

From brown bags to a special ale

"One of the things they did when they first opened," Seibt said, "they would serve Miller Lite and Bud Light, but in brown bags. Because it was an embarrassment to drink that beer in a brewery. (It was a way of saying) 'We know you're going to drink it, so here.' Some people got mad, they didn't get the joke."

What is not a joke is Peanut Butter Cup Coffee Porter.

"The Peanut Butter Cup Porter was really the one," Seibt said. "When I came here that beer had been done in various forms - sometimes a Porter, sometimes a Stout. When I said I was going to change everything up there were people who said 'Make it a Porter 'cause that's what everyone likes.' Today's version of it came out of that. It's an entirely different beer prior to my getting here. Larry deserves a lot of credit for that, because he experimented with those flavors."

Seibt refined the ale, and it took off. It garners attention on national beer lists. Its release date is circled on calendars. It has won awards. It spawned other ales at Willoughby, like Nut Smasher, an Imperial Stout. For a place that never really focused much on outside beer sales, the cult status Peanut Butter Cup has attained still makes Seibt smile.

"That's a cool thing to be thought of," he said.

The brewery's physical limitations are holding back increased production.

"If I could change anything I would add a few more tanks, be more flexible with our products like Nut Smasher," he said. "People ask why we don't make more. Because we couldn't make other beers."

When Seibt started Willoughby made 600 barrels annually. It now brews 1,000 barrels - 65 to 70 batches. He estimates the brewery has made about 100 different beers over the years, with each brewer doing something a little differently along the way.

While Peanut Butter Cup and Nut Smasher are sought-after beers, Seibt says he is "always proud of our Kolsch. It's a nice, clean German beer. That's my German background. The Kolsch is always near and dear to me. Any brewpub has to have an easy-drinking blonde ale, for those people who don't want to drink out of a paper bag."

Brewmaster Rick Seibt.

Seibt's journey

Seibt has come a long way from home brewer to respected commercial brewmaster. He put his degree in finance from Cleveland State in the background and concentrated on his job at Penton - and beer.

His initial go-to craft beers "were the triumvirate from Sierra Nevada - the Pale Ale, Porter and Stout. The Porter - I still have such sublime memories of that beer. It was done so well." Then in 1989, he discovered the then nascent Great Lakes Brewing Co. in Ohio City.

"I took a buddy," he said. "I said, 'Hey, there is a place that makes its own beer.' The always amiable Seibt struck up a conversation with the brewer at the time.

"He said 'You guys know you can make your own beer.' I went home, looked in the Yellow Pages, and sure enough there were home-brew shops." David Farkas, a friend and colleague who brewed, gave him some pointers, and before long he was making beer at home. Trips to European breweries would follow.

He and his non-beer-drinking wife Carol will celebrate 28 years of marriage this May. A month after they got married, Seibt made his first batch, in June 1990.

"She was so mad," he said. "She hated the smell of it. Now she loves it. We had a really old stove that came with the house. It had these huge burners, built tough but never sealed up. I had that first boil going. I thought she was going to wring my neck."

"What are you doing?" came Carol's initial cry. But over time, Seibt said, she grew to love the aroma, a distinctive bready smell. And, he said, "No one has been happier to be a part of what I was able to do here than her."

Willoughby Brewing Co. is on Erie Street.

Willoughby today

When Willoughby Brewing Co. was started, few craft breweries existed in Northeast Ohio. Great Lakes Brewing Co. - the state's first - was founded in 1988. Thirsty Dog Brewing Co. started as a brewpub in Canton in 1997. Rocky River Brewing Co. and Willoughby began operations in 1998. Today, there are around 400 breweries under the fold of the Ohio Craft Brewers Association.

Two employees who started when the doors opened at Willoughby Brewing work there now: Shelly Russo, banquet manager, and Kevanne Groves, a bartender.

That elevated train, Seibt said, runs on Tuesday nights, when Willoughby brings in a magician and face painters for kids.

"When the train is not working Shelly always gets yelled at," Seibt said.

Groves remembers a line night in and night out the first two years. And when the cigar theme went out, so did the centerpiece couch.

"It was several thousand dollars," she said. "That couch had stories to tell."

The spacious, 10,000-square foot place has a banquet room for 60 and is classified as a mid-sized brewpub. It's a comfortable fit, with colorful tables made of teak from Indonesia throughout the covered patio. Brewing equipment is in full view of customers. Willoughby has had a crowler machine longer than any local brewery, Seibt says. In fact, he occasionally helps fix others. (Crowlers are 32-ounce cans that you can have filled and sealed with draft beer to take home.) It has ingratiated itself not just with beer lovers but with its neighborhood.

"The whole city is like a giant family," said chef Ben David, who has been at Willoughby Brewing about a year.

"We go out and know all the bartenders," Seibt echoed. "It's a close-knit community - what their kids are doing, where they are going on vacation. It's like a 'Cheers'-like atmosphere."

Added Seibt: "Twenty years is a big deal for any restaurant. We've seen our share of ups and downs in the market. And Willoughby has changed a lot in those years. But people still look at Willoughby Brewing as the anchor for the Willoughby downtown scene."

Marking 20 years

Where: Willoughby Brewing Co. is at 4057 Erie St., Willoughby, 440-975-0202. It's at Erie Street and Mentor Avenue and is 20 miles from downtown Cleveland.

Food: To mark its 20th anniversary, Willoughby Brewing will offer five to 10 throwback menu specials like Amber Salmon, the original Spinach con Queso dip, potato cheddar ale soup and pizzas - Buffalo Chicken and Milano with pepperoni, sausage, mozzarella, provolone, shaved Parmesan and oregano.

Beers: Previous beers like Lost Nation Pale Ale, Wild Irish Red and Legislation Ale will be on tap. The latter refers to a Barleywine that Sutula and Seibt made when Ohio's alcohol limit in beer was raised from 6 percent to 12 percent in 2002. Wednesday, Feb. 21, the brewers' reunion will take place. Kephart is bringing an oak-aged Saison, and Sutula is making a Belgian beer.

Happy 20th!

A reunion of former staffers, managers, bartenders, servers and others will be Sunday, Feb. 25. Seibt is brewing root beer, which the brewery used to make. And there will be Willoughby Brewing trivia all week.FAIRVIEW PARK, Ohio - The search for the next Fairview Park City Schools treasurer continues, with the Board of Education recently naming Kimberly Sperling as interim treasurer until a permanent replacement is announced.

Former Treasurer Amy L. Hendricks resigned last month to become the new finance director in her hometown of Vermilion.

"Currently for our interim, we have purchased services from the Educational Service Center that contracts out different district employment personnel needs," Board of Education President Joe Shucofsky said. "Kim is someone who has a treasurer's certificate and has experience.

"We wanted somebody who could do some of the things we're already doing. Also, we have a really good treasurer's staff, so they do a bunch of the stuff already," he said.

The district also retained the services of Finding Leaders. The Independence-based executive search firm will be paid $7,900 to find the district's new treasurer.

"They specialize in doing this sort of thing for schools," Shucofsky said. "They have a special expertise in searching for treasurers. We actually used them before for treasurer searches, and most recently for the superintendent search when we hired Dr. Wagner."

Shucofsky said the timeline regarding naming a full-time treasurer includes a March 23 application deadline with Finding Leaders. Screening and the first round of interviews will take place a week later, with Board of Education candidate interviews scheduled for the week of April 9.

"The second round of interviews and a decision takes place the week of April 23," Shucofsky said. "We anticipate having a contract negotiated with the new treasurer by the end of April."

"We're in the process of identifying specifically what we want in that position," Shucofsky said. "We're looking for somebody that is going to be technologically savvy enough to do the kind of treasurer work we do here in the district.

"We are further advanced in terms of incorporating technology not only into the classroom, but into our administrative team and services, as well as the treasurer's office."

Specifically, Shucofsky noted expertise using newer software program Munis is required among all potential candidates.

"It's a really great program, but unfortunately there aren't a whole lot of treasurers that have experience working with it," Shucofsky said. "We're looking at somebody who is more experienced. We don't want someone who just got their treasurer's certificate, because of where we are and what we're doing including a facilities construction project, a renewal levy on the ballot and a lot of other things in the fire.

"We also want someone who is going to be a high-energy person, which they need to be to keep up with our superintendent, and who is engaged with the board and collaborates with the board."CLEVELAND, Ohio -- When Jen Trimpey saw a Facebook ad for Nurx, a San Francisco company offering prescription birth control through the mail, it looked like something that could solve several problems at once.

The Case Western Reserve University doctoral student wasn't happy with her current birth control pill. When she raised her concern with her primary care physician, he referred her to an ob/gyn. That meant waiting for another appointment that would need to be squeezed into her already-full days.

Instead Trimpey, 30, signed onto the Nurx app and answered questions about her health. She submitted a question about her current birth control pill, and the app's health care providers responded by recommending another brand.

A few days later, Trimpey found a three-month supply of pills in her mailbox. It cost her nothing; shipping was free and her insurance paid for the prescription.

"It was relatively pain-free for me," she said. "It was definitely really useful, really convenient, and it helped me a lot."

More women in Ohio can join Trimpey in sampling Nurx, a telemed startup that connects patients to contraception without an in-person doctor visit. Making access to birth control as easy as tapping a cellphone app could help lower the country's rate of unplanned pregnancies.

Nurx's founders are Hans Gangeskar, a former attorney and executive at the microbiome-sequencing startup uBiome, and Dr. Edvard Engesaeth. The men wanted to explore the growing field of telemedicine, and realized that birth control was a constant medical need for many people, according to a BuzzFeed News article. Nurx aims to make money by charging pharmacies and insurers to partner with the company in exchange for generating extra business, according to BuzzFeed.

After launching less than two years ago, Nurx is operating in 18 states and has plans to expand to the entire country, said Maryam Fikri, Nurx marketing associate.

"We're in high demand and struggling to meet demand," she said, while declining to state the number of people using the service. The free Nurx app is available for the iPhone, and an Android-friendly app is coming soon.

Nurx has received criticism from conservative groups in a few states that objected to the company offering the morning-after pill.

"We are unapologetic in our mission to provide women with easy access to necessary medicine," Fikri said.

The company has not faced similar problems so far in Ohio. "It's been pretty smooth. People are really excited about the app," Fikri said.

The company works with a network of local pharmacies, and offers free shipping and free online consultations, so a co-pay is the only out-of-pocket expense for patients with insurance.

Maven and Lemonaid are other companies that let women order contraception online and get it delivered to their home or a nearby pharmacy.

Women can get several types of birth control pills, as well as the birth control patch and ring through the Nurx app and website. The company also offers emergency contraception, such as the morning-after pill. Contraceptive implants and IUDs, which must be inserted into the body by a health provider, are not available through this service.

Is it safe to get a prescription over the Internet, without a physical exam? Dr. Kimberly Gecsi, of Case Western Reserve University, says yes.

"I think it's a great idea," Gecsi said about Nurx. "Anything that makes access to birth control more available, I love." Gecsi is an associate professor of reproductive biology at Case, and the ob/gyn residency program director at University Hospitals.

Gecsi pointed out that, by some estimates, 50 percent of pregnancies in the United States are unplanned, she said, blaming lack of access to medical care and insurance. About half of the counties in the United States don't have any ob/gyns, a fact that affects nearly 9.5 million Americans, according to a 2017 report by the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

Adriana Whelan, a nurse practitioner at Circle Health Services in Cleveland, thinks Nurx is a good option for healthy women in stable relationships, especially since it offers emergency contraception. The service would be even better if it referred customers to a nearby doctor if they want follow-up care, Whelan said. Circle Health is a community health center formerly known as the Free Medical Clinic of Greater Cleveland.

Mail-order contraception shouldn't replace an annual doctor visit, which are opportunities to screen patients for depression, sexually transmitted disease and other concerns, both doctors said.

Instead of answering a doctor's questions in person, Nurx users fill out an online questionnaire about their health, to find out if they are pregnant or breastfeeding, or if they have had headaches, stroke, heart attack, cancer, diabetes or other health problems.

The online questionnaire requires customers to enter their current blood pressure, which they can find out for free at many pharmacies.

The questions help Nurx's health providers determine which type of birth control is best. Patients with hypertension, diabetes, or a history of blood clots and stroke shouldn't be prescribed certain kinds of birth control pills, Whelan said.

Customers must upload a photograph of their photo ID and insurance card, along with a profile photo for comparison. This step verifies the customer's age, because laws regarding teenagers who seek birth control without parental permission consent vary by state. In Ohio, teens as young as 13 can be prescribed birth control confidentially, Whelan said.LAKEWOOD, Ohio - The crumbling state of brick and mortar locations is leading to innovative retail ideas at the grassroots level. For instance, newcomer clothing store Fetch & Co. is employing a creative way to keep overhead down while promoting local businesses on Detroit Avenue.

"We knew that we needed to supplement how money was coming in, so we decided to move forward with the pop-up shop concept," said Fetch & Co.'s Abbey Markiewitz, who along with Julia Gramenz is opening the business next month.

The pop-up retail concept is a storefront location at 15613 Detroit Ave., where various small businesses rotate in and out to sell their items.

"It's great for us because we're bringing in different local businesses to rent the place from us a couple of days during the week or for a weekend," Markiewitz said. "So it helps us, but also it helps them.

"If you're a stay-at-home mom who started a business, like us, you don't have to worry about how you're going to sell to people other than doing vendor events or selling online. This is going to help a lot of local businesses showcase their items to the city of Lakewood and to Cleveland in general."

Property owner Peter Spirollari, who also owns other buildings and rental properties around Northeast Ohio, said he was unfamiliar with the pop-up retail concept; however, it perfectly plays into his policy of promoting diverse small businesses.

"Sharing that location with other businesses, everyone promotes their own products," Spirollari said. "That's why I thought it would be perfect in there. I was absolutely impressed. I like people to shop locally, especially in Lakewood, which has a lot of foot traffic."

As far as promoting the concept to his other rental properties, Spirollari said he's going to take a wait-and-see approach.

Lakewood City Planner Katelyn Milius noted that Fetch & Co. is involved with the city's StartUp Lakewood program.

"This is a new, unique business model for our city," Milius said. "We're always excited to see small businesses testing new retail concepts here. Lakewood is the perfect community to support them."

City Planner Alex Harnocz added that the idea of an anchor with space for additional pop-up retail could lead to more growth.

"They will continue to bring energy to a block that has seen a lot of investment, especially from Nature's Oasis," Harnocz said.CLEVELAND, Ohio -- What's open on Presidents Day?

Stores, obviously, for their sales. Banks, schools and the post office will be closed.

Fun fact: the official federal holiday, which falls on the third Monday of February, is still officially called Washington's Birthday. (Even though the holiday never falls on his actual birthday, Feb. 22.)

The holiday was moved from Washington's actual birthday in 1971, and states began incorporating Abraham Lincoln into the celebration. The day is now commonly considered a celebration of all U.S. presidents, past and present.

Here's what's open and closed February 19:

Banks: Individual banks differ but most are closed

Libraries: Cleveland Public Library will be closed. Cuyahoga County Public Library is open. For independent libraries, please check their web sites.

Federal offices: Closed

County offices: Closed

State offices: Closed

Post offices: Closed

RTA: Regular weekday service

Schools: Closed. Some universities, such as Cleveland State, also closed.

Trash service and city hall operations: Trash pickup services and city hall services vary between communities. Contact your city hall to see what's happening.OLMSTED FALLS, Ohio - Taking a literal approach to a can-do attitude is what Olmsted Falls High School engineering teacher Mike Haydn is promoting with the inaugural Canstruction project.

Currently, his Engineering Design and Development students are celebrating National Engineers Week by working on three different can structures scheduled to be built Feb. 23 at Polaris Career Center.

"What we're doing is called Canstruction, different type of structures built from food cans," said Haydn, a Polaris Career Center employee. "Usually, it's done at the college level. It's a way for students in engineering to utilize their divine techniques to build structures.

"It brings awareness to two things: engineering and hunger. The ultimate end is that after we have these structures built, we give the cans to a local food bank, Christians in Action. Also, in the future, our hope is that I could have a couple of other schools involved to compete against us."

The Canstruction project finds seven students divided into three teams creating replicas of downtown Cleveland's Tower City and KeyBank buildings, as well as an American flag.

Structures for the competition must be completely self-supporting, with structural support (foam core, cardboard, plywood) not being load-bearing. The canned food can be joined using clear packaging tape, double-sided tape, duct tape, Velcro, fishing line, wire, rubber bands and zip straps.

Haydn said each project began with research about not only what structures the students wanted to build, but also a discussion with Christians in Action about the type of canned foods that are currently needed.

"After designing their creations, (the students) actually built 3D models of the images in the computer so they could figure out how many cans they needed and what the structure was going to look like," Haydn said. "They had to go through the whole process of designing and developing the structure.

"This also taught them how to do fundraising. The students went to different companies and showed them what they were doing. They had to do some legwork to figure out who would fund this."

The students ended up raising more than $1,900 through individual and corporate donations.

"I enjoyed doing this project," junior Krislynn said. "It's fun, and we're doing something good by helping others. I hope that more schools would start doing this. This project brought our class together to make a difference."

The Canstruction display is expected to remain up for two or three weeks. Timing-wise, Haydn said it made sense from a donation standpoint to schedule the project around National Engineers Week.

"Around Christmastime, you see a lot of people gathering food items for donation," Haydn said. "I thought having it in February was kind of a good thing, because now all of the hype to collect stuff for the poor has gone down.

"So we're just doing something at a different time, because hunger doesn't take a time out."COLUMBUS, Ohio - A pro-Second Amendment section of John Kasich's website was removed Sunday, after the Republican governor appeared on CNN and said reasonable gun control measures should be enacted following last week's deadly Florida school shooting.

JohnKasich.com, his political website that is separate from his governor's site, had previously contained text and photos illustrating how he opposed former President Barack Obama's gun control efforts and championing Ohio bills that he said removed burdensome restrictions for gun owners, according to screen shots captured by Ohio public radio journalist Karen Kasler.

That section had been scrubbed from the website by late Sunday afternoon.

Kasich adviser John Weaver said on Twitter that the former presidential candidate has new views.

.@JohnKasich is a supporter of the 2nd Amendment, but like many Americans - if not most - his views have evolved with the dramatic increase in school shootings & mass killings. We want our leaders to be unafraid to observe, listen & learn. We urge the "president" to follow suit.  John Weaver (@jwgop) February 18, 2018

On CNN's "State of the Union" Kasich appeared upset about the Parkland, Florida, school shooting in which 17 people were killed.

He said he talked to a friend who is a gun owner about semi-automatic weapons.

"What would you lose?" Kasich said on television. "Would you feel as though your Second Amendment rights would be eroded because you couldn't buy a God darn AR15? These are the things that have to be looked at, and action has to happen."

"If you're a strong Second Amendment person you need to slow down and take a look at reasonable things that can be done to answer these young people," he added.

Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students who survived the shooting have called for stricter gun laws.

Kasich also repeated a common theme about the dysfunction of Washington and said state and local governments could make background checks stricter and give increased attention to mental illness.

Kasich's new position is a departure from previous positions on guns.

Since becoming governor in 2011, he signed six pro-gun rights measures. Some of those bills were a combination of several measures that had been rolled into one during the legislative process. The laws he signed allowed guns in bars and restaurants, reduced the hours of training required for a concealed handgun license, enabled hunters to use noise suppressors and shielded from public and media access lists of concealed handgun licensees.

In November, he wrote an editorial for cleveland.com and appeared on national television about the need for all sides to come together and work on solutions.

As a congressman, Kasich's gun control record was mixed. He supported the assault weapons ban in 1994. But he also voted against the Brady Bill that required federal background checks for gun owners.

The National Rifle Association didn't endorse him in his 2010 run for governor. The organization endorsed him in 2014, when he ran for reelection.

But on Sunday, Jon Keeling, a spokesman in the governor's office, said Kasich has aseembled a group of "interested parties on both sides" to come up with proposals for gun safety.Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 1 anno fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili.

Market Research Future published at Half Cooked Research Report on "Global Alkyd Resin Market Research Report - Forecast to 2023" - Market Analysis, Scope, Stake, Progress, Trends and Forecast to 2023.

BASF SE (Germany), Arkema SA (France), Yuen Liang Industrial & Co., Ltd (Taiwan), Synthopol (Germany), Polynt Composites USA Inc. (US), OPC Polymers (US), Nuplex Industries Ltd. (US) ), Emerald Performance Materials (US), Regent (US), and Brenntag Specialties, Inc. (US) among others are prominent players at the forefront of competition in the Global Alkyd Resin Market and are profiled in MRFR Analysis.

Alkyd Resin Market - Overview

The Global Alkyd Resin Marketis expected to grow at moderate annual growth, driven by demand from industries like printing ink, architectural coatings, furniture coatings, automotive paints, industrial coatings and others. The alkyd resin manufacturers are increasingly shifting towards the Asia Pacific region in line with the shift of consumer demands in the paints & coating sectors. China is the largest contributor and accountant for nearly half of the global production of alkyd resin. Chinese and Chinese. Overall, the rate of Alkyd has become very high in the Asia Pacific region while the global consumption is expected to slow down, two to economic slowdown of many developing and developed countries. As a result of this, Alkyd Resin operating rates is expected to decline, leading to lower margins and pressure on the higher-cost producers.

Competitive Landscape

The report analyzes the degree of competition from the industry players as well as the industry growth and market scenario in India and the world. The Global Alkyd Resin Market is a growing stage, showing moderate results in terms of market value and overall volume. Alkyd resin market has witnessed healthy demand from end use industries such as pharmaceuticals textiles automobiles, paints, papers, soaps, detergents. Globally market for Alkyd Resin is a combination of growth and expansion through the adoption of partnerships, expansion and joint-venture strategies and product launch strategies.

Get Sample of Report @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/4925

Industry / Innovation / Related News:

December 2017 - BASF and SINOPEC planned to expand the production capacity of Neopentylglycol (NPG) at the state-ofthe-art Verbund site, BASF-YPC Co., Ltd., at 50-50 joint ventures in Nanjing, China. The plant was established in 2015 with an annual capacity of 40,000 metric tons. Following the expansion, the annual capacity is expected to be doubled to 80,000 metric tons. NPG is a unique polyalcohol offering superior performance in many end-use applications such as powder coatings, textiles and construction. It is mainly used as a building block in polyester resins for coatings, unsaturated polyester and alkyd resins, lubricants and plasticizers.

November 2017 - Royal DSM, a global science company active in health, nutrition and materials, announced to invest euro15 million for the expansion of its Coating Resins plant in Meppen, Germany. The facility is specialized in the production of liquid polyesters and other specialty resins. With this expansion, DSM Coating Resins reinforces its position in the BPA-free market.

October 2016 - French specialty chemicals major Arkema planned to invest USD 15 million (about Rs 100 crore) in India, on its existing resin platform in Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra. Arkema's manufacturing site in Navi Mumbai also produces alkyd, acrylic solutions and oil-free polyester resins, as well as reactive polyamide resins. The investment in upgrading the capabilities of the Indian production facility is part of the ongoing commitment to the same time supplying customers with the benefits of cutting edge technology, locally manufactured with strong technical support.

Alkyd Resin Market India

Indian Alkyd Resin Market is expected to grow. Globally, India ranks at significant level in the consumption of alkyd resin. Regionally, western India has been the dominant region contributing approx. 50% to the Gross Value Added (GVA) for the Alkyd Resin sector.

Several initiatives taken by the Government of India will support the growth of chemical industry in India. One of such an initiative is 'Make in India'. This initiative is expected to foster growth in the Indian Alkyd Resin market. Approval of the GST bill is another key reform which is expected to be lower than 10% to 10% and created to unified market across the country. The launch of the Single Window Interface for Facilitating Trade (SWIFT) by the government would help importers or exporters to file with the common integrated declaration, instead of 9 forms across 6 agencies.

Get Complete Report @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/alkyd-resin-market-4925

The R & D Investment and Facility of Indian companies looking to R & D as a key source of staying in the competitive environment of the Alkyd Resin market in India. The investment in R & D for Indian companies is expected to grow 2% of the total revenue. The industry is also observing increasing tie-ups with academia which will facilitate the technology applied research further.

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MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimal quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by Components, Applications, Logistics and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enabling our clients to see more important questions.

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Market Research Future published at Half Cooked Research Report on "Global Smart Polymers Market Research Report - Forecast to 2023" - Market Analysis, Scope, Stake, Progress, Trends and Forecast to 2023.

BASF SE (Germany), The Lubrizol Corporation (the US), Spintech LLC (the US), Akina, Inc. (the US), SMP Technologies Inc. (Japan), Evonik Industries AG (Germany), Reactive Surfaces Ltd (the US), Merck Group (Germany), NEI Corporation (the US) among others are prominent players at the forefront of competition in the Global Smart Polymers Market and are profiled in MRFR Analysis.

Smart Polymers Market - Overview

Smart polymers are able to modify their physical and chemical properties in response to the variation of environmental factors. Smart Polymer systems can be applied to pH, ionic strength, temperature, magnetic and electric fields. These smart polymers can behave in several ways by altering solubility, shape, color, light transmitting abilities, wettability, conductivity, and surface characteristics. The extension of response of such polymers can be controlled by the intensity of the applied stimuli.

Now a days, the demand for smart polymers is increasing in biotechnology and medicine, electrical & electronics and automotive. Smart polymers have been useful as drug delivery systems and in the biotechnological field for enzyme immobilization. Despite, coating medical devices with smart polymers may significantly widen their range of applications. Devices able to attract certain cells of the body or devices that should perform as membranes or artificial muscles take advantage of these smart materials. A surface grafted with Smart Polymers has been highlighted for its interfacial and wetting applications. For example, a smart surface with switchable could be used in tissue engineering and antimicrobial coatings. In addition to this, a smart polymer material responsive to light or temperature could also be used as a sensor for the Global Smart Polymer Market. Presently, smart polymers have been mainly emphasized for their potential applications in nanotechnology, nanoscience, and nanomedicine.

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Industry / Innovation / Related News:

February 2017 - A variety of stimuli-responsive polymers have been developed by researchers and used as actuators and / or artificial muscles, with the movement being driven by an external stimulus, such as electrical potential. Researchers highlighted actuators from liquid-crystal elastomers, dielectric elastomers, ionic polymers, and conducting polymers. Researchers also discussed recent examples of a variety of actuators. The mechanism of actuation is detailed for the following examples: in order to stimulate possible future research, and lead to new applications and advanced applications.

2017- Multi-functional nanoshuttles for targeted and on-demand delivery of therapeutic molecules and imaging to defined tissues and organs hold great potentials in personalized medicines, including precise early diagnosis, efficient prevention and therapy without toxicity. Yet, in spite of 25 years of research, there are still no such shuttles available. To this end, researchers have designed magnetic and gold nanoparticles (NP) -embedded silica nanoshuttles (MGNSs) with nanopores on their surface. Fluorescently labeled Doxorubicin (DOX), a cancer drug, was loaded into the MGNSs as a payload. DOX loaded MGNSs were encapsulated in heat and pH sensitive polymer (NIPAM-coMAA) to enable controlled release of the payload. Magnetically-guided transport of MGNSs was investigated in: (a) a capillary tube to simulate their delivery via blood vessels; and (b) porous hydrogels to simulate their transport in composite human tissues, including bone, cartilage, tendon, muscle and blood-brain barrier (BBB). The viscoelastic properties of hydrogels were examined by atomic force microscopy (AFM). Cellular uptake of DOXloaded MGNSs and the subsequent pH and temperature-mediated release were shown in differentiated human neurons derived from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) as well as epithelial HeLa cells. The presence of embedded iron and gold NPs in silica shells and polymer-coating are supported by SEM and TEM. Fluorescence spectroscopy and microscopy documented DOX loading in the MGNSs. Time-dependent transport of MGNSs guided by an external magnetic field. AFM results affirmed that the stiffness of the hydrogels model the rigidity range from the soft tissues to bone. pH and temperature-dependent drug release analysis showed responsive stimuli and gradual drug release. Cells' viability MTT assays showed that MGNSs are non-toxic. The cell death from the onset of the DOX release was observed in both neurons and epithelial cells. Therefore, scientists have development of smart nanoshuttles have significant translational potential for controlled delivery of theranostics' payloads and precisely guided transport in specified tissues and organs (for example, bone, cartilage, tendon, bone marrow, heart, lung, liver, kidney, and brain) for highly efficient personalized medicine applications. pH and temperature-dependent drug release analysis showed responsive stimuli and gradual drug release. Cells' viability MTT assays showed that MGNSs are non-toxic. The cell death from the onset of the DOX release was observed in both neurons and epithelial cells. Therefore, scientists have development of smart nanoshuttles have significant translational potential for controlled delivery of theranostics' payloads and precisely guided transport in specified tissues and organs (for example, bone, cartilage, tendon, bone marrow, heart, lung, liver, kidney, and brain) for highly efficient personalized medicine applications. pH and temperature-dependent drug release analysis showed responsive stimuli and gradual drug release. Cells' viability MTT assays showed that MGNSs are non-toxic. The cell death from the onset of the DOX release was observed in both neurons and epithelial cells. Therefore, scientists have development of smart nanoshuttles have significant translational potential for controlled delivery of theranostics' payloads and precisely guided transport in specified tissues and organs (for example, bone, cartilage, tendon, bone marrow, heart, lung, liver, kidney, and brain) for highly efficient personalized medicine applications. The cell death from the onset of the DOX release was observed in both neurons and epithelial cells. Therefore, scientists have development of smart nanoshuttles have significant translational potential for controlled delivery of theranostics' payloads and precisely guided transport in specified tissues and organs (for example, bone, cartilage, tendon, bone marrow, heart, lung, liver, kidney, and brain) for highly efficient personalized medicine applications. The cell death from the onset of the DOX release was observed in both neurons and epithelial cells. Therefore, scientists have development of smart nanoshuttles have significant translational potential for controlled delivery of theranostics' payloads and precisely guided transport in specified tissues and organs (for example, bone, cartilage, tendon, bone marrow, heart, lung, liver, kidney, and brain) for highly efficient personalized medicine applications.

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Smart Polymers Market - Regional Analysis

North America region accounted for the largest market in the Global Smart Polymer Market and expected to be dominated in the forecast period two to advancement in drug delivery, nanotechnology, nanoscience, and nanomedicine and penetration of end user industry in the region. Smart Polymer Market in North America The unique properties of smart polymers in pH, ionic strength, temperature, magnetic and electric fields, which makes it ideal in biotechnology and medicine, electrical & electronics region. North America is mainly occupied by the US being the largest consumer and manufacturer and exporter of Smart Polymer. Europe is the second largest market for Smart Polymer followed by North America.

Competitive Landscape

The MRFR studies the key developments adopted by the companies between 2011 and 2016. Players in this market adopted various strategies to expand their footprints and augment their market share. The key strategies followed by most companies in the Global Smart Polymer Market were agreements and collaborations, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and expansion. North American region in the North American region, the manufacturers in North America region.

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At the Research Market Future (MRFR), we provide our customers to unravel the complexity of our industries through our Cooked Research Reports (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous -Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.

MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimal quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by Components, Applications, Logistics and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enabling our clients to see more important questions.

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Market Research Future Published a Half Cooked Research Global Blow molding plastic Market Research Report Forecast to 2023  Market Analysis, Scope, Stake, Progress, Trends and Forecast up to 2023.

The Dow Company (U.S.), Exxon Mobil Corporation (U.S.), Magna International Inc (Canada)., IAC Group (Luxembourg), Berry Global Inc (U.S.)., Rutland Plastics Ltd (U.K)., Comar LLC (U.S.), Inpress Plastics Ltd (U.K)., The Plastic Forming Company (U.S.) and Agri Industrial Plastics Company (U.S.) among others are some of the prominent players at the forefront of competition in the Global Blow Molding Plastic Market and are profiled in MRFR Analysis.

Blow Molding Plastic Market  Market Overview

Blow Molding Plastic are a lucrative market and is expected to have a steady growth during the forecast years. Blow molding is a process of manufacturing hollow plastic parts. It includes heating of a thermoplastic resin and solidifying the molded plastic by cooling. The basic types of blow molding includes injection molding, extrusion molding, stretch blow molding and reheat and blow molding. The most common blow molded plastics are polyolefins, PVC and PET. The growing demand from the automotive and building and construction are some of the factors adding to the growth of the market.

The global market of Blow Molding Plastic is segmented on the basis of product type, technology, application and region. On the basis of the product type the market is segmented into HDPE, LDPE PE, PP, PVC, and PET. On the basis of application the market is segmented into food processing, construction, furniture & design, agriculture, automobile and others, whereas on the basis of technology the market is further bifurcated into extrusion, injection, stretch, and others. Extrusion injection molding is the dominant segment in terms of technology and is expected to show the same trend during the forecast years. The low cost of the technology finds its application in manufacturing of bottles and packaging of products. Among the product segment PE is expected to register the highest growth on account of major packaging applications of food and beverages and electrical and electronics among others. On the basis of application, packaging is the dominant segment and is expected to show the same trend during the forecast years. The growing packaging industry in the developing regions throughout the globe is the major factor for the growth of this segment.

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According to the analysis of MRFR, the major market forces and trends driving growth of the Global Blow Molding Plastic Market includes growth of packaging sector and the burgeoning growth in the automobile industry. Moreover, the increasing personal disposable income in the developing economies throughout the globe has augmented the construction activities especially in India and china which in turn is further expected to fuel the growth of the Global Blow Molding Plastic Market during the forecast period.

Blow Molding Plastic Market- Competitive Landscape

The Global Blow Molding Plastic Market is a highly lucrative market driven by flourishing growth in packaging and automobile industry, along with the propelling building and construction industry. The Dow Company (U.S.), Exxon Mobil Corporation (U.S.), Magna International Inc (Canada), IAC Group (Luxembourg), Berry Global Inc (U.S.)., Rutland Plastics Ltd (U.K)., Comar LLC (U.S.) among others are some of the major players operating in this market. Most of these market participants are adopting the expansion, product launch, and merger and acquisition tactics to strengthen their production capacities and market position. Taking account of these trends the global Blow molding plastic Market is projected to witness considerable competition over the forecast period of 2017-2023.

Asia pacific is expected to be the fastest growing region during the forecast years. The growing Globalization and Urbanization in the developing economies of the region. Moreover, the growing packaging industry in the region owing the growing demand for consumer goods is substantially contributing to the growth of the market. In addition, the development of the retail sector coupled with the increasing penetration of smart phones has made the availability of consumer goods easier.

Industry / Innovation / Related News:

14 November, 2017- Comar LLC has acquired Shore Plastic Technologies Inc. with a motive of beefing up. Comar LLC has also acquired Pro plas Technologies a company with a specialization in complex injection molding process and mold making. This move is expected to provide you with the best global forefront market.

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About Market Research Future:

At the Research Market Future (MRFR), we provide our customers to unravel the complexity of our industries through our Cooked Research Reports (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous -Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.

MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimal quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by Components, Applications, Logistics and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enabling our clients to see more important questions.

Contact:

Market Research Future

+1 646 845 9312

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Europe Residue Testing Market report gives the comprehensive outlook on Europe Residue Testing across the region with special emphasis on countries Germany, UK, France, Spain, Italy, Russia, Poland, Others. This report on Europe Residue Testing market gives historical, current, and future market sizes (US$ Mn) of residue type, technology, application and countries. This report studies Europe Residue Testing market dynamics elaborately to identify the current trends & drivers, future opportunities and possible challenges to the key stakeholders operating in the market. In addition, the market report includes regulatory scenario and competition analysis with vividly illustrated the competition dashboard to assess the market competition. Moreover, PBI analyzed Europe Residue Testing Market to better equip clients with possible investment opportunities across the regions (Regional Investment Hot-Spots) and market unmet needs (Opportunities).

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Europe Residue Testing Market:

Europe Residue Testing Market is projected to expand at a growth rate about 5.0% over the forecast period.

Adoption of ready-to-eat foods, stringent residue monitoring policies are expected to drive the Europe Residue Testing market.

Paradigm shift towards ready-to-eat foods, high use of veterinary drugs, stringent government regulations, frequent pesticide residue monitoring programs are expected to create lucrative opportunities over the forecast period. Focus shift towards Eastern Europe countries are enables create demand for residue testing. Residue test kit manufacturers expand their operations in Eastern Europe region owing to the improved economics, growing local production of GM free feed, better investment, climate change, and the arrival of green revolution, which are having positive impact on Eastern Europe residue testing market.

Heavy Metal Residue Testing Market is expected to account for 30% revenue share in Europe residue testing market and projected to grow over 6.0% CAGR over 2017 to 2023. High contamination of heavy metal especially arsenic (As) in France, Spain, and Italy is expected to create demand for Heavy metal residue testing.

In 2016, spectroscopy technology segment expected to account for 28% revenue share in Europe residue testing market and projected to grow at 8.0% CAGR over 2017 to 2023.

Meat & Poultry Residue Testing Market is projected to represent lucrative opportunities, due to increased veterinary drugs usage hormonal analogues for milk production, beta agonist for muscle development. Heavy metal contamination is trending in meat samples across the region. For instance, in accordance with European Food Safety Authority statistics, 2014, about 25 million cattle produced meat and dairy were tested in EU, 531 or 0.42%, samples were non-compliant. Heavy metal, especially copper (Cu) accounted for 210 non-compliant samples in bovines, followed by 71 resorcylic acid lactones. Out of 1, 35,000 porcine samples 0.28% or 378 samples were non-compliant, 210 samples are detected with copper (Cu) traces. Surge in heavy metal, antibiotics, mycotoxin contamination expected to unlock the potential of Europe residue testing market.

France and Spain both accounted for significant share in Europe Residue Testing market.

Germany Residue Testing Market is expanding at 6.0% CAGR from 2017 to 2023, due to high adoption of convenience foods in Germany, rising awareness of trace elements and hazards, government support to frequent residue monitoring plans.

France Residue Testing Market projected to accounts around US $250 million in 2016, expand at a significant CAGR from 2017 to 2023. Stringent government regulations, high amounts of heavy metal contamination, state-of-art technologies to detect residues from imports and domestic food ingredients are witnessed to foster demand for residue testing market.

Geographical expansions, collaboration, novel product launches are the major strategies adopted market players. For instance, in 2015, SGS established the local field research facilities in Hungary, Poland, and Bulgaria to focus on the regulatory trials (GLP and GEP) to develop pesticides and fertilizers. SGS accredited to provide regulatory trials to support residue, ecotox, environmental fate and efficacy field trials in Ukraine, and have received the equivalent in Turkey.

To view TOC of this report is available upon request @

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Competition Assessment

Key players profiles in the Europe Residue Testing market include, SGS SA, Intertek Group plc., Eurofins Scientific, Bureau veritas S.A., ALS Limited, Neogen Corporation, Idexx Laboratories, AsureQuality, Charm Sciences, Inc., Microbac Laboratories, Inc., Unisensor

Key Findings of the Report:

 Europe Residue Testing market is expanding approximately 5.0% CAGR over 2017 to 2023.

 UK Residue Testing Market is growing at 6.0% CAGR over forecast period.

 Based on Application, meat and poultry is expected to expand at significant CAGR over the forecast period.

 Based on Residue Type, Heavy metal, veterinary drugs segments are expected to create lucrative opportunities for residues testing over the forecast period.

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Key Features of the Report:

 The report provides granular level information about the market size, regional market share, historic market (2012-2016) and forecast (2017-2023)

 The report covers in-detail insights about the competitors overview, company share analysis, key market developments, and their key strategies

 The report outlines drivers, restraints, unmet needs, and trends that are currently affecting the market

 The report tracks recent innovations, key developments and startups details that are actively working in the market

 The report provides plethora of information about market entry strategies, regulatory framework and reimbursement scenario

 The report analyses the impact of socio-political environment through PESTLE Analysis and competition through Porters Five Force Analysis in addition to recent technology advancements and innovations in the market

Detailed Segmentation

By Residue Type

 Toxins

o Mycotoxin

o Others

 Pesticide Residues

o Insecticide

o Herbicide

o Fungicide

 Others

 Food Allergens

 Veterinary Drugs

 Heavy Metal

By Technology

 Immunoassay

 Spectroscopy

 Chromatography (LC, GC, HPLC)

 Others

By Application

 Dairy Products

 Fruits & vegetables

 Meat & poultry

 Cereals, grains & pulses

 Processed foods

 Functional Food Ingredients

 Nuts, Seeds & Spices

By Country

 Germany

 France

 UK

 Italy

 Spain

 Russia

 Poland

 Rest of Europe

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Middle East and Africa Gynaecological Devices Market: By Product (Surgical Devices (Endometrial Ablation Devices, Female Sterilization and Contraceptive Devices, Gynaecological Endoscopy Devices, Fluid Management Systems) Hand Instruments (Tenaculum, Vaginal Speculum, Curettes, Biopsy Forceps, Trocars, Others) Diagnostic Imaging Systems (Ultrasound, Mammography) By Application (Intrauterine Device Insertion, Vaginal and Abdominal Hysterectomy, Delivery Sets, Dilation and curettage sets, Laparotomy, Mastectomy, Vaginal Examination, Caesarean Sections) By End-User ( Super Speciality Hospitals, Gynaecology Clinics, Clinical Labs) By Country (Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Countries, Israel, South Africa, Rest of MEA)  Market Estimation, Dynamics, Regional Share, Trends, Competitor Analysis 2012 to 2016 and Forecast 2017 to 2023

Market Outline: The Middle East and Africa Gynaecological Devices Market

Gynaecology is a branch of science, which deals with maintenance of women health and diseases associated with reproductive system. Embryo scissors, hooks, ayres spatula, Oldhams perforator, cranioclast, upper long straight hemostatic forceps, budines cannula are used in various aspects of obstetric and gynecological surgeries.

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Market Dynamics: The Middle East and Africa Gynaecological Devices Market

Surge in prevalence of gynecological disorders in South Africa and other countries in Africa region, improving healthcare facilities, rising awareness are expected to create healthy growth opportunities over the forecast period. Furthermore, rising lifestyle-related diseases like obesity, smoking, multiple sex partners, growing acceptance of minimally invasive procedures, rise in healthcare expenditure are other factors which are expected to propel the growth of Middle East and Africa gynecological devices market. However, lack of awareness, delay in regulatory approvals enables hamper the growth of Middle East and Africa gynecological devices markets.

Country Analysis: The Middle East and Africa Gynaecological Devices Market

The Middle East and Africa Gynaecological Devices Market is segmented as Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Countries, Israel, South Africa, Rest of MEA. The Middle East and Africa Gynaecological Devices Market is experiencing growth due to growing awareness in public, rise in adoption of diagnostic tests, increase in incidence of gynaecological diseases.

To view TOC of this report is available upon request @

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Market Scope: The Middle East and Africa Gynaecological Devices Market

The Middle East and Africa Gynaecological Devices Market is classified on the basis of mode, technology, end user and geographical regions.

Based on Product, The Middle East and Africa Gynaecological Devices Market is segmented as

 Surgical Devices

 Endometrial Ablation Devices

 Female Sterilization And Contraceptive Devices

 Gynaecological Endoscopy Devices

 Fluid Management Systems

 Hand Instruments

 Biopsy Forceps

 Tenaculum

 Vaginal Speculum

 Trocars

 Curettes

 Diagnostic Imaging Systems

 Ultrasound

 Mammography

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https://www.precisionbusinessinsights.com/market-reports/middle-east-and-africa-gynaecological-devices-market/#ulp-c654SbFYO64MsOhu

Based on Application, The Middle East and Africa Gynaecological Devices Market is segmented as

 Intrauterine device insertion

 Vaginal and abdominal hysterectomy

 Delivery sets

 Dilation and curettage sets

 Laparotomy

 Mastectomy

 Vaginal examination

 Caesarean sections

Based on the End-user, The Middle East and Africa Gynaecological Devices Market is segmented as

 Super Specialty Hospitals

 Gynaecology clinic

 Clinical Labs

Market participants: The Middle East and Africa Gynaecological Devices Market

Some of the players in The Middle East and Africa Gynaecological Devices Market

 Boston Scientific Corporation (U.S.)

 Olympus Corporation (Japan)

 Johnson and Johnson (U.S.)

 KARL STORZ GmbH & Co. KG (Germany)

 Braun Melsungen AG (Germany)

 Cooper Surgical Inc. (U.S.)

 Richard Wolf GmbH (Germany)

 Medtronic Inc. (Ireland)

 Bayer AG (Germany)

 CooSklar Surgical Instruments (U.S.)

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Website @ https://www.precisionbusinessinsights.comLONDON, February 18, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Progressive Skin Care Company MuLondon Joins Stonewall in Their Fight for LGBT Rights MuLondon is proud to support Stonewall's campaign for equality for LGBT people everywhere. Based in London, MuLondon has been helping customers in the UK and the rest of the world to better skin since 2008. The independent skin care company does this naturally, through simple, yet effective cruelty-free, vegan formulas based on time-proven herbal ingredients. A Inclusivity is one of the building blocks of MuLondon. Partnering with Stonewall is a natural progression of the company's policy to support organisations that are aligned with its ethos. "I am incredibly excited that MuLondon now supports Stonewall, the biggest LGBT rights organisation in Europe. I have always admired their work and campaigning for equal rights for all. MuLondon is built on values that encompass inclusion, acceptance and diversity. We want to stand up for what's right and show the world what we believe in. As we grow, we would like to ensure that MuLondon remains an inclusive company that welcomes everyone, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity." - Boris Zatezic, Founder & CEO at MuLondon. "We are delighted that MuLondon has chosen to support Stonewall. Stonewall is committed to achieving acceptance for all LGBT people, both in the UK and abroad. Support from companies like MuLondon help us achieve that aim. Without our supporters' generosity, we would not be able to continue this fight. We are so grateful that MuLondon has decided to come out for LGBT people by supporting Stonewall." - Sophie Reindorp, Supporter Fundraising at Stonewall. By choosing to support Stonewall, MuLondon is trailblazing the movement of inclusive businesses who want a more just world around us. Social performance is crucial to MuLondon's dedication to doing business as a Certified B Corporation. This includes a triple bottom line: people, planet and profit. Joining forces with Stonewall is a key to encourage societal changes that MuLondon is passionate about. For more information about MuLondon, please visit http://www.MuLondon.com. About MuLondon MuLondon brings joy and balance with its award-winning skin care range from London, inspired by traditional herbalism. Pure natural essential oils and herbal extracts are used to divinely scent and gently preserve the certified organic ingredients. MuLondon products include such luxurious essences as 'Marigold, Frankincense & Myrrh' and 'Rose, Rosehip & Rosemary'. The range is certified organic by The Soil Association, cruelty-free by The Leaping Bunny and registered vegan by The Vegan Society. MuLondon is a member of 1% for the Planet and is a Certified B Corporation, while proudly supporting Stonewall. Contact: Boris Zatezic, Founder & CEO

Address: MuLondon, 64C Evelyn Street, London SE8 5DD, United Kingdom

Website: http://www.MuLondon.comA

Email: http://www.MuLondon.com/contact About StonewallA Stonewall is a lesbian, gay, bi and trans (LGBT) rights charity in the United Kingdom. Now the largest LGBT rights organisation in Europe, it was formed in 1989 by political activists, including Sir Ian McKellen, Lisa Power MBE and Lord Cashman. Stonewall mission: "We're here to let all lesbian, gay, bi and trans people, here and abroad, know they're not alone. We believe we're stronger united, so we partner with organisations that help us create real change for the better. We have laid deep foundations across Britain - in some of our greatest institutions - so our communities can continue to find ways to flourish, and individuals can reach their full potential. We're here to support those who can't yet be themselves. But our work is not finished yet. Not until everyone feels free to be who they are, wherever they are." Contact: Sophie Reindorp, Supporter Fundraising

Address: Stonewall, 192 St. John Street, London, EC1V 4JY, UK

Website: http://www.stonewall.org.uk

Phone : + 44-20-7593-1850

Supply and demand should ensure that we never run out of people to do the really key jobs. If there was a dire shortage of, say, potato chip flavor developers (don't panic, this is strictly theoretical), chip companies would make the salary and perks of the job more attractive, colleges would hype up the benefits of majoring in flavor science, and new blood would enter the field, bringing with them the caramel-and-Worcestershire-sauce-flavored Pringles we truly deserve. But reality is nowhere near that efficient, and we are running out of people for some especially vital jobs. For example ...

5 Old Programmers Are Dying Off ... And Taking Their Computer Languages With Them

As far as we're concerned, computers are magic. We don't know the technical details of what goes down when we order a book from Amazon or stream truly shocking amounts of pornography, and frankly, we don't want to. That's why we have computer programmers. They do all the important behind-the-scenes work that lets us take complicated technology for granted, and they give us someone to complain about when that technology fails and we can't stream Gilmore Girls on our toaster at three in the morning.

But there's a problem: An enormous amount of our financial data is stored on systems still running ancient programming. Roughly three trillion dollars a day runs through computers still operating on COBOL, a language that was developed in 1959. Everything from ATMs to credit card networks to mortgage payments rely on a system that makes calculator watches look like absurd science fiction. And the majority of people who know how to fix the many problems with COBOL are getting ready to meet their programmers.

It's not as simple as moving everything onto a more modern infrastructure. At this point, the financial system is so intertwined with its COBOL roots that it would be like trying to simultaneously replace all of your veins with fiber optics. A switchover is theoretically possible, but if something goes wrong, the financial data for millions of people could vanish.

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Since it would be impractical to make everyone temporarily withdraw all of their money until the problem is fixed, geriatric programmers are making good money running firms that specialize in COBOL. Meanwhile, the industry is rushing to train young programmers (and rehire the old guys they fired because they thought their skills were obsolete). Further compounding the problem is that programmers of the original COBOL systems rarely wrote handbooks, and deciphering someone else's computer code 40 years later is like trying to communicate an elaborate sexual fantasy via slide whistles.

And it's not only banking. NASA once desperately needed to find programmers who knew Fortran to communicate with their Voyager probes. These are by no means insurmountable problems, so don't panic and put all of your money in Dogecoins tomorrow. But it's kind of like suddenly discovering that we have to teach thousands of people Latin to prevent the English language book industry from collapsing.As more people leave Warren Jeffs, Short Creek talks of reconciliation.



Nate Carlisle



Salt Lake Tribune

February 19, 2018

For years, George Jessop was too angry with Wendell Nielsen to speak to him.But when Jessop was organizing the 2016 July Fourth celebration in Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., he made sure to call and invite Nielsen, who was once one of the top men in the polygamous Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.After the invitation, Nielsen had a question for Jessop. Should Nielsen try to move back into his house in Hildale?"He just wanted to know if people would accept him," Jessop said.More people continue to leave the FLDS and its imprisoned president, Warren Jeffs. When they do, questions of forgiveness are inherently wrapped in a logistical question: Who should get a home from the sect's old land trust?The United Effort Plan, or UEP, is a collection of homes and properties polygamists on the Utah-Arizona line donated to live in what Mormon fundamentalists call a United Order. Utah seized the trust in 2005. A board is trying to dissolve the UEP by giving away, or selling at low cost, homes in Hildale and Colorado City.According to court filings, the UEP board recently agreed to give deeds to two of the men convicted after the 2008 raid on the Yearning For Zion Ranch in Eldorado, Texas.Nielsen, who was convicted of bigamy in 2012, received the home that property records say he built in 1999  before he moved to Texas.And last month, the UEP notified a Salt Lake City judge it was giving a home to Michael George Emack, who in 2010 pleaded no contest to sexually assaulting a child. The victim was a 16-year-old girl who became Emack's plural wife in 2004. Emack was 53 at the time.Emack served seven years in a Texas prison. He was released in January 2017 and is on the sex offender registry in Arizona, where he has been living.Nielsen and Emack did not return messages from The Salt Lake Tribune sent to them through family. FLDS members have generally refused to accept property distributions from the UEP. Nielsen's and Emack's deeds appear to indicate they no longer follow Jeffs.There has been no noticeable outcry over the homes given to Nielsen, 77, and Emack. In interviews this week, some former Jeffs followers said the UEP was right to give the men their houses even if some hard feelings remain."I'm still doing my own reconciliation with hundreds of people," said Dowayne Barlow, another man who was part of Jeffs' inner circle and who has since testified in various legal proceedings targeting the FLDS and its followers. "And I think everybody that's coming out of this is objectively looking at this and saying, 'Look, we're all coming out of a bad spot  a tough spot. We all need allowance to reset.'"The distribution of homes in Hildale and Colorado City, collectively known as Short Creek, has been described as a way to entice people to leave Jeffs. Yet every time someone takes that opportunity to leave the sect and move into a UEP home, it creates one more person you may have to reconcile with, Jessop explained.Jessop points to Nielsen as an example. Nielsen at one point ranked just below Jeffs in the FLDS and stood by as Jeffs evicted perhaps hundreds of men he deemed unworthy.Nielsen "knew a lot of these people personally," Jessop said, "So he well knew they weren't criminals in any way as far as their relationship to God."Jeffs would then reassign the evicted men's wives and children to other men. Nielsen was a beneficiary. Records seized by Texas authorities showed he had 21 wives at one point.Still, Jessop said, the UEP was right to give Nielsen his house back. Nielsen, who had been living in eastern Utah's Uinta Basin at the time of that 2016 conversation, needs a home where his children and grandchildren can go when they stop following Jeffs, Jessop said."Just because I disagree with [people like Nielsen]," Jessop said, "doesn't mean they shouldn't get their home back."People booted from the FLDS or who left on their own are dubbed "apostates" and can receive shunning or abuse from those who remain. Isaac Wyler, whom Jeffs evicted along with 20 other men during a 2004 church service, has testified about how his home and property were vandalized and how FLDS members on the local police force wouldn't investigate. Wyler went on to work for the UEP after the state seized it.Wyler says homes for Nielsen, Emack and other longtime Jeffs followers help everyone become good neighbors again. Some of those former FLDS members sometimes apologize for how they harassed him and thank him for treating them professionally, he said."One guy called me," Wyler recalled, "and said, 'I want to apologize for some of the stuff that I did to you.' And I said, 'That's OK. Let's let bygones be bygones.' "For his conviction on three counts of bigamy, Nielsen was sentenced to 10 years in prison. He was paroled in 2013 and will remain on parole until 2022, according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.The UEP has a set of criteria to determine who receives a home. The criteria include contributions applicants made to the trust, their history with a particular home and what their need is now. Criminal history is not listed as a reason to exclude anyone, though the trust's bylaws, which were approved by a Utah judge after a state takeover in 2005, give the board latitude to consider applicants' circumstances. The board has made an effort to give houses to the people who paid to build or maintain them.Applications to the UEP and the board deliberations are private. But court and property records show the UEP board in the summer of 2016 elected to give Nielsen his 13,804-square-foot home with 25 bedrooms and 21 bathrooms.Washington County assessed the home at a value of $804,600, but Nielsen had to pay just $13,264  the cost of the 2 acres in Hildale where the house sits.In the case of Emack, he worked on UEP homes and properties all over Short Creek and was an "exceptional contributor" to the community, Barlow said. Emack was a licensed electrician in Utah before being sentenced to prison in Texas.Barlow, while not apologizing for or defending Emack's willingness to marry a teenager, also feels Emack became another Jeffs victim by believing in him."He was absolutely in a situation where he could be preyed upon by Warren because of his deep sense of loyalty," Barlow said.Barlow said he hasn't spoken to Emack since he returned to Utah, but Emack used to write to him from prison. Emack, Barlow said, would discuss his experiences there and his faith; there was little discussion of Jeffs."The whole focus was on the great principles of the gospel," Barlow said, "and loving our neighbors as ourselves."Emack is receiving a more modest Hildale home than Nielsen, according to court and assessor records: 7,452 square feet, 15 bedrooms and 15 bathrooms for $25,454  about a tenth the assessed value. Like Nielsen, he lived in and maintained the home before moving to Texas.If there is one group of people who Barlow, Jessop and Wyler believe should never receive homes from the UEP, it's the members of Jeffs' inner circle who have stayed loyal to him, especially his full brothers.The Jeffses were raised in Salt Lake County, not among the UEP homes in Short Creek. When they did move to Short Creek about the time of the new millennium, they used money and labor from the faithful to build their homes and continued using those assets to finance projects in Texas, South Dakota and elsewhere, Barlow said.Jeffs is serving a prison sentence in Texas of life plus 20 years for crimes related to sexually abusing two teenagers he married as plural wives.18 Subat 2018 Pazar, 13:35

The ruling has emerged in the trial in which seven defendants, six in pre-trial detention, stand charged of having prior knowledge of the 15 July coup attempt. At the hearing held by Istanbul Serious Crime Court No 26 in a building opposite the Silivri Penal Institution Campus, the detained defendants Nazl Ilcak, Ahmet Altan, Mehmet Altan, Fevzi Yazc, Yakup Simsek and Sukru Tugrul Ozsengul were sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment on the count of violation of the constitution.

The trial proceeded as follows:

Final comments were taken from the seven defendants, six of whom were in pre-trial detention, including journalists Ahmet Altan and Nazl Ilcak and academic Mehmet Altan. At the hearing held by Istanbul Serious Crime Court No 26 in a building opposite the Silivri Penal Institution Campus, the detained defendants Nazl Ilcak, Ahmet Altan, Mehmet Altan, Fevzi Yazc, Yakup Simsek and Sukru Tugrul Ozsengul were brought in. The non-detained defendant Tibet Murat Sanlman and the lawyers were also in attendance at the hearing. At the hearing which commenced at around 10 am, Presiding Judge Kemal Selcuk Yalcn asked the defendants for their final comments.

FINAL COMMENTS

The detained defendant Nazl Ilcak said, Court of Cassation and Constitutional Court case law show me to be innocent. The charges pressed against Mehmet Altan are similar to mine. Our situation has been held to be precedential under a Constitutional Court ruling. I wish for you to rule within the context of this case law and I ask to be acquitted.

I HAVE BEEN PROSECUTED HUNDREDS OF TIMES

Ahmet Altan, in turn, said, I have been prosecuted hundreds of times. I have been prosecuted in the military tutelages 28 February trials and the monstrosities named State Security Courts. I am before a court that is committing a constitutional crime for the first time. To the best of my knowledge, there has been no such thing in either Ottoman or Republican history. It will bode better for all to abandon this voyage through unlawful, illegal and unconstitutional acts.

THE RECOURSE OF ALL OF US IS UNIVERSAL LAW

Mehmet Altan then said, The Constitutional court has ruled that there were three counts of rights violation in the rationale that has kept me in prison for eighteen months thanks to the classification of secret evidence. Were the Supreme Court to try me I would be acquitted on three counts. The recourse of all of us is universal law. A rationale that conflicts with the Constitution kills the rule of law. The decision you are to pass over me will either benight the terrifying prospect at the verge of flouting the Constitution and turn it into a horror film or bring illumination with a sprinkling of hope. The other defendants also asked for their acquittal, attesting to their innocence. The Presiding Judge took a recess to announce the judgment.

JUDGMENT ANNOUNCED

Journalists Mehmet Altan, Ahmet Altan, Nazl Ilcak Fevzi Yazc, Sukru Tugrul Ozsengul and Yakup Simsek, charged with having prior knowledge of the 15 July coup attempt, were sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment on the count of the attempt through the use of force and violence to overthrow the order envisaged by the Constitution of the Republic of Turkey or to introduce another order in place of this order or to effectively implement this order. With no reduction made to these sentences, Tibet Murat Sanlman was acquitted. A member judge entered a dissenting opinion on the order extending Mehmet Altans detention.

DISSENTING OPINION FROM ONE JUDGE ON MEHMET ALTANS DETENTION

The judgment was passed unanimously apart from on Mehmet Altans detention. Member judge Recep Kurt entered a dissenting opinion on the extension of Mehmet Altans detention. Judge Kurt, in the opinion he entered into the record, made reference to the Constitutional Court ruling and stated that he was of the opinion Mehmet Altan should be released.iStock/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) -- Students from the Washington, D.C. area protested outside the White House Monday, calling for lawmakers to reform gun laws after the shooting at a high school in Parkland, Fla. last week.



"The most important thing is that the government knows that kids in our generation are getting involved with this issue," said Hollis Cutler, 17, a Washington, D.C.-area high school junior.



During the protest, organized by a group called Teens for Gun Reform, 17 students laid on the ground for three minutes in front of the White House to symbolize the 17 people killed last week and how long it takes to purchase a firearm, according to one of the student organizers, high school junior Eleanor Nuechterlein.



"My friend Whitney and I decided that we wanted to take action because politicians haven't done anything really since ten years ago. There's been so many school shootings since then and nothing's really been done and we wanted to intact change and because we're under 18, we can't vote," said Nuechterlein.



Last Friday, Nuechterlein, 16, and her classmate and friend, Whitney Bowen, 16, began organizing the White House protest and formed "Teens for Gun Reform" with the premise that it would be students speaking out for other students.



"We as teenagers want something to be done. It's not our parents, it's not adults. It's something that we truly believe needs to change," said Nuechterlein.



The student organizers felt that a protest was the best way to have their voices heard.



Students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where 17 people were shot and killed by a former student last week, have called for a national march on Washington, D.C. on March 24 to call on lawmakers to take action to prevent future mass shootings.



Nuechterlein said she would like to see background checks required for all gun sales. She said that the students weren't partisan, but rather asking lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to listen.



"Both political parties should come together and change something because at the end of the day there are kids in school that are worried about their safety and that's not okay," she said.



Congressman Don Beyer, D-Va., who joined the protest Monday, said he hoped these young people would "finally" give Congress the motivation it needs to address gun violence.



"When I was growing up, sometimes we had to hide under our desk in case there was a nuclear attack, but these guys have to hide under their desks all the time -- school shooting after school shooting," he said.



Beyer said he would like Congress to pass federal laws that allow families and law enforcement to put mentally ill people on the background check list, but acknowledged that it might not get done this year.



Protesters on Monday held signs that read "Protect Kids, Not Guns" and "How about our children's rights?" while someone read the names of a decade's worth of school shooting victims over a bullhorn.



The 17 students who laid on the ground - arms crossed on their chests and American flags across their bodies - were joined by what appeared to be nearly 100 other young people and supporters on the ground with them.



"I was sitting there and thinking about all of the families and all of the friends and all of the people who have been so hurt or killed by school shootings and the politicians are the voice of the people and we are the people," said Bowen about what went through her mind during the "lie-in."



After getting up, Bowen and Nuechterlein said they wanted people to recognize that there are young voices calling for change and although they aren't old enough to vote, "we are the ones in the classrooms" and "we're not okay with what's happening around us."



After most of the young people stood up, a crowd clashed with what appeared to be the lone counter-protester, who was holding a sign that read, "Many armed staff behind us here, why not schools." People yelled and circled around the counter-protester.



At one point a Secret Service officer stepped in and reminded people that everyone had the right to protest and not to touch each other.



Parker, 12, and Pepper, 11, Margulis, who attended the protest with their mom, said that they had camp friends that went to school in Florida and have been scared to go to school since they learned of the shooting last week.



"When I heard a sounds the day after - there was a loud noise in the cafeteria, because of the speakers - I honestly thought it was a gun shot, and people were scared, it was so scary," said Parker.



"I was just scared to go to school, thinking, 'could this happen to me?'" said Pepper.

Copyright  2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.Predictably, the first Tory to attack Boris Johnson's keynote speech on Brexit was Remoaner-in-chief Anna Soubry.

The former business minister voted to hold the referendum  but she has seemingly never come to terms with the result.

Soubry, who left the Tory Party under Mrs Thatcher in the Eighties, has always denied she then joined the Social Democratic Party (SDP), founded by former Labour Cabinet ministers.

But a copy of a document written in 1981 by Tim Cowell, the assistant director of youth at Tory HQ, has come into my hands. It says she did defect.

'Since the last meeting the most notable event has been the defection to the SDP by eight activists in the party,' he wrote. And Soubry's name is on the list.

Predictably, the first Tory to attack Boris Johnson's keynote speech on Brexit was Remoaner-in-chief Anna Soubry, writes Andrew Pierce

There is further corroboration in the book Conservative Radicalism: A Sociology Of Conservative Party Youth Structures And Libertarianism 1970-92 by the academic Tim Evans.

On page 25, he writes: 'The SDP soon attracted some Tory wets including some who left the Federation of Conservative Students.'

Anna Soubry  the first female Tory on the executive board of the National Union of Students  was named by Evans alongside Adair Turner, who went on to lead the EU-loving CBI.

Soubry tells me, however: 'I certainly left the Conservative Party and I believe the others did join [the SDP], but I did not.'

The plot thickens.

Soubry, who left the Tory Party under Mrs Thatcher in the Eighties, has always denied she then joined the Social Democratic Party (SDP), founded by former Labour Cabinet ministers. But a copy of a document written in 1981 by Tim Cowell, the assistant director of youth at Tory HQ, has come into my hands. It says she did defect, writes Andrew Pierce

The Valentine's Day message from Brexit Central? 'Roses are red, violets are blue, but they're subject to an 8.5 per cent tariff, while we're in the EU.'

Poor old Vince Cable. The Lib Dem leader has sent a letter to all party members boasting about his commitment to diversity.

'From the start of my leadership, I have made improving our party's diversity a key priority...,' it starts. Every letter was addressed to 'Dear John'.

Poor old Vince Cable. The Lib Dem leader has sent a letter to all party members boasting about his commitment to diversity, writes Andrew Pierce

Could the reason Labour's Brexit position changes by the week be that the party's spokesman, lawyer Sir Keir Starmer, is too busy making money?

Last month, he received 3,300 for six hours' work from Simons Muirhead & Burton solicitors.

The solicitors made a 5,000 donation to Starmer's office last summer. So is Starmer, the former director of public prosecutions, keeping his hand in legal practice, in case he fails to secure the Labour leadership after Comrade Corbyn?

Which wag in Boris Johnson's office thought it a good idea for him to make a speech praising Brexit at the HQ of the Policy Exchange think-tank?

The other tenants in the building are the Brexit-loathing Lib Dems  so just as Boris started to speak, they appeared waving banners.

Which wag in Boris Johnson's office thought it a good idea for him to make a speech praising Brexit at the HQ of the Policy Exchange think-tank? Asks Dominic Lawson

History was made in Parliament last week as Welsh was spoken in a debate for the first time.

The Welsh Grand Committee of MPs was the first to use translation facilities after a relaxation of rules banning anything but English.

Welsh Secretary Alun Cairns hailed the 'historic day', adding: 'I'm proud to be using the language I grew up speaking.'

Quote of the week: European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said: 'Some in the British political society are against the truth, pretending that I am a stupid, stubborn federalist, that I am in favour of a European superstate.

I am strictly against a European superstate.' This is the man who's been calling for an EU army, an EU finance minister, and compulsory euro membership for all EU states.

The Mother of Parliaments has a lot to answer for when it comes to plastic waste, according to Zac Goldsmith, the 43-year-old Tory MP for Richmond Park.

Goldsmith is backing a new national campaign calling for a Plastic Free Parliament. Zac fumes that each year two million 'plastic straws and stirrers, coffee cups and lids, condiment sachets, plastic cutlery and disposable plastic water bottles are all still used across the Palace of Westminster estate, all of which can be eliminated.'

They could do with eliminating some of the plastic MPs, too.Women are proving they are financially savvy when it comes to property investment, being twice as likely as men to buy their first homes within the next five years.

FEMAIL interviewed three female property owners to find out how they broke into the property market. They prove that owning a property under the age of 25 is achievable and share their tips for saving a house deposit.

Ali Hand, 24, property manager

Ali Hand, 24, bought a one-bedroom Mosman apartment on July 1, 2017. She was among the first to take advantage of the stamp duty exemptions for first-time home owners.

She is a property manager and says that being in the industry kept her up to date with the property market and stamp duty changes  aimed to alleviate the costs for first home owners.

Ali Hand, 24, and her mum, Ruth, celebrate the day she bought her one-bedroom Mosman apartment

Ali bought her one-bedroom apartment on July 1, 2017  being one of the first to take advantage of the governments first home-owner grant

What is the new first home owner grant? From July 1, 2017 first home buyers were eligible for new measures to help them enter the property market Abolish stamp duty on all homes up to $650,000  Saving up to $24,740 on a $650,000 home

Give stamp duty relief for homes up to $800,000

Provide a $10,000 grant for builders of new homes up to $750,000 and buyers of new homes up to $600,000 Source: NSW Government Advertisement

Ali gave up going out for dinners and cut back on her hair appointments to save up for her apartment

'When the new legislation for first home owners came through and they wiped out stamp duty  that was the main factor of buying a property because if they hadn't brought that in, I would've had to come up with an extra $25,000.'

Rather than getting stuck in the 'rent trap' Ali stayed at home with her parents for as long as she could.

'I didn't want to rent. I think if I had rented I would have never been able to save up. I work in real estate, so I have seen how people have struggled to own a property when they're renting,' she said.

Ali was keen to consider her living options and save when her parents intended to sell their home.

'I had to decide whether I wanted to rent or buy  so I decided to get my act together and buy something.'

She says that while her parents did help her a bit with the deposit, she saved up a lot on her own.

In order to save up, Ali said she would recommend staying with your parents for as long as possible to save money that would otherwise be spent on rent.

She also made a separate savings account which she didn't touch and put money aside in it regularly.

She said the most challenging part was making a few lifestyle changes.

'There are so many things that I used to do that I just stopped doing  like not going out for dinner and not getting my hair done as much as I used to. The luxuries I used to do I just stopped but it helped me in the long run,' she said.

Ali said she has still given up a lot of these luxuries while paying off her mortgage and strata levies.

Yet she is still really happy about owning her first property and so was everyone around her. She said: 'My parents were really proud. I dont know anyone my age who has bought a property so I guess everyone was really happy.'

Juliet Hardman, 29, auditor

Juliet Hardman, 29, bought her one-bedroom Greenwich apartment off-the-plan in 2012. Although she waited more than a year until her apartment was complete, it did have its perks.

'That first time when I came in when it was all empty and new  that's when the pride really came in,' she told FEMAIL.

Juliet said it was fun being able to customise elements and colour schemes.

Juliet Hardman, 29, bought her one-bedroom Greenwich apartment off-the-plan in 2012 and waited patiently for her property to be built

'I essentially bought off a model then waited a year for it to be built. You're literally buying your dream  it's incredible.

'It was the first time I'd really bought something without my parents help and worked up to this point. And just seeing it - the finished product was really nice,' she said.

After finishing the HSC, Juliet started a commerce degree, full-time work at Pricewaterhouse Coopers and saving for a house deposit - all at the age of 18.

'Being financially stable as an individual is always something that my parents always instilled in me especially as a female,' she said.

Investing in property was a no-brainer for Juliet. 'For me, property is tangible. You can see all your hard work in a product whereas shares are sort of magically floating around,' she said.

'Being financially stable as an individual is always something that my parents always instilled in me especially as a female,' Juliet said

As an auditor, Juliet is affected by independence rules meaning she can't own shares for any of the companies she works for. 'It's so unique to what I'm doing. For example, if I was starting work with a client I'd have to sell my shares no matter what the price is - they can say ''you just need to sell anyway''.'

She added: 'I didn't want to be put in the position where I wasn't able to make my own financial decisions - so investing in property was the best for me.'

Juliet said being 24 and writing up the cheque for her property was scary: 'That was the biggest cheque I think I've ever written in my life for that stamp duty.

'But I think you're going to be nervous no matter what and it's a risk so if you're not scared you're probably not doing it right.'

Westpac's head of women's markets, Felicity Duffy, said women are taking the reins when it comes to property and control of their financial futures.

Head of women's markets Felicity Duffy recommends female first-home buyers to 'broaden the net and look at areas you had not first considered'

'Traditionally, purchasing a home was something women did with a partner, yet changed perceptions on female independence coupled with women getting married later in life has meant they have the opportunity to establish themselves financially - independent of a relationship,' Ms Duffy said.

Female first home buyers in 2017 were twice as likely to consider buying an investment property - 22 per cent compared to 11 per cent - and also twice as likely as men to consider good investment potential in a home, according to the latest Westpac Home Ownership report.

'There has also been a dramatic increase of 16.5 per cent in the amount of women taking out home loans particularly in the 30-34 age group,' Ms Duffy said.

Felicity Duffy shared her top tips with FEMAIL on how you can buy your own property.

Felicity Duffy's top tips for women investing in property Take Control Be empowered to take control of your money and your financial future. It is important that you understand your money, spending trends and habits. Once you understand your finances, you will be more confident and in a better position to navigate the property market. Start saving now It's never too early to start saving. Even if buying a home isn't in the immediate future for you, it's worth setting money aside in a savings account on a regular basis to start saving for a deposit. Set a budget Before you commence your search for a new home, work out a realistic budget to understand what you can afford. Set up a budget spreadsheet to monitor your income minus your everyday expenses. This will be an indicator of how much you'll be able to commit to repayments. Factor in additional costs In addition to financing the purchase of a new home, it is important to factor in other expenses such as furniture or purchasing costs like stamp duty. On top of home loan repayments, consider utility costs like water, council rates as well as energy bills. Make a list and research what the expected cost of these items are. Factor in milestones Think about your life milestones, such as starting a new career or family and understand how these may affect you financially and your ability to repay a home loan. Do your research Whether you are looking to buy an investment property or renovate, its important you do your research on the different options available to you. See k advice and information Buying a property is for most people the biggest purchase they will ever make, so its important to seek expert advice. You can consider speaking with one of Westpacs female Home Finance Managers who can suggest a loan that is in line with your needs and lifestyle.

For first home buyers, Ms Duffy says it's best to 'broaden the net and look at areas you had not first considered to get your foot on the property ladder.'

Kylie Smith*, 24

FEMAIL spoke to Kylie Smith* - a government policy officer. The 24-year-old bought her Canberra flat in 2016 when she was 22 after renting for her first 18 months in the city.

She said the best thing about owning her own place is that 'it's all hers'. 'There is no tiptoeing around the space and I can decorate and change it as I like. Also I know that I can live there until I choose not to - as all renters know it can be stressful not knowing whether your lease will be extended - so it's nice having security,' she said.

Home sweet home: 'The best thing about owning my own place is that "it's all mine" - there is no tiptoeing around the space and I can decorate and change it as I like,' Kylie* said

Purchasing a home was something women did with a partner yet changed perceptions on female independence has meant women are overtaking men at buying property

She admitted it would have been a lot harder to save up in her hometown of Sydney.

'It's much more affordable here (in Canberra) than in Sydney. And it's also getting a lot more expensive so I'm glad I bought when I did. In Sydney I wouldn't have been able to buy as centrally.'

She said that buying her own property was always something she intended  first as a home while living in Canberra and then to keep as an investment when she eventually moves out of the nation's capital.

How did she save up for her house deposit?

Kylie* said she was determined to save as much as she could in her first year in Canberra since starting her new job in early 2016.

'I started thinking about it when I got my first full-time job and my plan was seeing how much I could save in the first year with the intention of buying sometime in the second year,' she said.

She cut the costs of transport altogether when she was saving up for her property. 'I don't think I caught a bus for my first year in Canberra - or maybe once,' she said.

'When I was renting, I made sure that my place was walking distance to work and the city which saved more than you would think - $4 a trip so close to $50 a week.'

Twice as many female first-home buyers as males (22 per cent versus 11 per cent) said they were considering buying an investment property in the next five years, according to the latest Westpac Home Ownership report

The first home buyer said she was a vegetarian which helped reduce her grocery spending. She also limited unnecessary costs like getting coffee out and finding the best phone plan deals. 'It's all the little things that add up,' she said.

And she set up a high interest savings account  in which she deposited a small amount of money each month. She recommended 'figuring out how to make money on the money your saving such as a high interest account, term deposit or whatever works for you.'

While paying for the house deposit was the most difficult part, she says paying off the mortgage is 'like paying rent.'

She also made sure to buy a place with two bedrooms so she had the option to rent out the second room.

*Name has been changedMeghan Markle declared that she would give up acting after becoming engaged to Prince Harry, but shes still thrilled by the smell of the greasepaint and the roar of the crowd.

This weekend, the former star of legal drama Suits took her fiance to see hip-hop musical Hamilton, which tells the story of Alexander Hamilton, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States.

A spokesman for the hit show at Londons Victoria Palace Theatre confirms the royal private visit, and a fellow audience member tells me: They seemed to love it and were applauding enthusiastically.

It was, however, too dark to record Harrys reaction to the scene in which his ancestor, George III, is mocked mercilessly. The English king (played by Michael Jibson, pictured) is portrayed as a puddingish, catty figure who stamps his foot on the floor cartoonishly, saying he is feeling blue at the loss of his colony.

Although George III is remembered mainly for losing both the American colonies and his sanity, he is said to be the monarch that Harrys father, Prince Charles, respects most.

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry went to see hip-hop musical Hamilton at Londons Victoria Palace Theatre

During a visit to a school in Londons Pimlico in 2012, Charles described the king as a good man who was simply misunderstood.

Previously, he told a television documentary that George  who, like him, loved the countryside and had a strong interest in architecture  was one of Britains most dutiful, cultured and misunderstood rulers.

George III led Britain through 60 years of enormous social upheaval, industrial revolution and terrible hardships inflicted by war with Napoleon, the Prince said in 2004. Yet history remembered him above all as the mad king or the king who lost America. This is a travesty.

Harry and Meghan are not thought to have paid for their tickets, which can cost up to 250 each.

The shows creator, Lin-Manuel Miranda, said last year that he was planning to put tickets aside for the couple, gushing of their potential visit: That would be an absolute treat  obviously it would be an honour for us.

A Kensington Palace spokesman declines to comment.

In one scene, the play mercilessly mocks Harry's ancestor, George III, who is remembered for losing the American colonies

Joan takes a swipe at marriage cynics

When Dame Joan Collins, 84, made half-Peruvian theatre manager Percy Gibson her fifth husband, she was asked about the difficulties of marrying a man 33 years her junior.

If he dies, he dies, she memorably quipped.

This weekend, the former Dynasty star used their 16th wedding anniversary to take a swipe at the cynics.

Sharing a snap from their 2002 reception at Claridges in Mayfair, Dame Joan remarked: And they said it wouldnt last . . .

She added of Percy, who wore a kilt on the big day: Happy 16th anniversary to the love of my life.

Dame Joan Collins, 84, just celebrated her 16th wedding anniversary with theatre manager Percy Gibson. She shared this photo (right) of the pair on their wedding day

Playing muscle-bound hunk King Menelaus in the BBCs new sex and sandals drama, Troy: Fall Of A City, was a bore for 37-year-old Irish actor Jonas Armstrong.

Theres an idea of how a king should look, and Menelaus has to be able to handle himself in battle, so it was necessary [to build up the muscles], he sighs. But by the end [of filming] I just wanted to smash up the gym.Olivia von Halle, 34, launched her luxury nightwear brand in 2011 with one style of silk pyjamas. Now, her firm turns over 4 million a year. She lives in West London with her husband, Hugo, and their two-year-old son.

In 2009, I was living in Shanghai with my husband after leaving my job in trend forecasting at The Future Laboratory in London.

While I loved the work, the job had been relentless and stressful. I was only 25, but I already felt burnt out. In my leaving speech I declared, with a smile, that I would never work for anyone again. Starting a business was on my mind  I wanted to be my own boss.

Olivia von Halle (pictured), 34, launched her luxury nightwear brand after being inspired whilst living in Shanghai

Shanghai is an incredibly fun city, so we were enjoying life. We had a wonderful apartment with a terrace where we hosted our friends after nights out.

It was there that I first became obsessed with the idea of silk pyjamas. I was partly inspired by Coco Chanel, who famously wore her lovers pyjamas on the beach in the Twenties. There was something subversive and empowering about that, which appealed to me.

It is inexpensive to have clothes made for you in Shanghai, so I asked a tailor to run up a pair of silk pyjamas to my design.

I would come home with friends, slip off my sky-high heels, slide into my pyjamas and make a round of gin and tonics. Id wear them with huge earrings, and it became my signature look.

On one evening out  sporting a pair of 5 in heels  I fell and broke my ankle. I decided to return to the UK and recover at my parents house wearing my Shanghai pyjamas, naturally.

When my friends dropped in to visit, they were more interested in my pyjamas than my ankle. By the time I returned to China, I had a list of 40 people who each wanted a pair.

That was my light bulb moment  I realised I had the makings of a great business. That was January 2010. By September 2011, I was ready to launch the brand at London Fashion Week.

I built the company to be the go-to place for sumptuous nightwear. Now, my pyjamas are sold in 120 stores  including my own, which I opened in Chelsea in 2016  in 26 countries. And all thanks to those fabulous Shanghai nights.Oscar-nominated actress and dancer Leslie Caron, 86, was picked, aged 17, by Gene Kelly to star in An American In Paris. Later, she appeared in Gigi and most recently she was in The Durrells In Corfu. She lives in London and has a son and daughter and three grandchildren.

Im a late feminist. I remember when I first heard there was something called womens lib. It was the late Fifties, and the Hollywood actress Jennifer Jones told me about it at dinner.

I thought she was crazy. I said to her: But women have a great deal of power in a subdued way.

And she said: Yes, in a subdued way, but they deserve to be equal. Just watch, its a big movement.

Leslie Caron (pictured), 86, revealed how she shaped her motto from challenges in her acting career

I was a submissive wife. My mother wanted me to have a career, but she would say: If you know more than a man, hide it.

When I was married to the theatre director Peter Hall it was a great love affair, but he wanted me to stay in the kitchen like his mother had.

I had to escape, but as I was a divorced woman, the headmistress of my childrens school wouldnt send me their reports. When I asked him, Peter was very courteous and sent them to me.

Though I became successful playing the poor little orphan in Hollywood, I knew I had to leave if I wanted to be an adult. When I returned to France, however, they thought I was an American star and I could never make the transition into French films.

I had roles in bad TV dramas, then, in my 60s, I stopped acting to open a hotel in Burgundy for nine years. It was successful, but I missed acting.

Five years ago, I moved back to London. I like the English fair play, the kindness. And its like Ive had a second wind in my career; my agent has so many great ideas.

People say I look young for my age. I eat properly  fish, fruit, three vegetables of different colours at every meal, yoghurt, sourdough bread  and do exercises in the park.

Im not the kind of person who would eat a cream cake at 4pm; I would not accept being fat. Being sick or out-of-shape is a problem I can do without  I appreciate life immensely.

My motto is: Never give up on yourself. You can always be useful.

I dont worry about death because I know Ive got a while to go  I always thought I would last a long time.With the property market soaring, a carpenter has insisted he may have found the answer to Australia's housing crisis.

Mark Atkins, from Sydney, has been running his own business - Van Go Fit Outs - where he transforms old buses and vans into permanent homes on wheels.

The 28-year-old - who works out of his workshop in Brookvale on the Northern Beaches - said a growing number of people are turning to him for refurbished vehicles in a bid to save money for a home deposit.

The humble homes come complete with water tanks, power, supplemented with solar panels, toilets, bathrooms, kitchens and a bedroom.

Mark Atkins (pictured), from Sydney, has been running his own business - Van Go Fit Outs - where he transforms old buses and vans into permanent homes on wheels

The 28-year-old said a growing number of people are turning to him for refurbished vehicles complete with bathrooms and kitchens in a bid to save money for a home deposit

'You can fill it with petrol once or twice a week and that's probably $100 - but it's better than $600 on rent that you don't actually own,' Mr Atkins told the Today show.

The idea to launch his own company sprung into mind after he converted his own van into a living space so he could go away on weekends to surf.

'I was a tradie and I had a van full of tools. I needed to have the surfboards for full weekend adventures so I decked out mine to go up and down the coast,' he said.

'I'd be in my wetsuit going surfing and people would stop me half way on my tracks and the surf will be good - but I would be taking them on tour around my van.

'After about eight months of that, I decided to start a little company. I went from making leisure vehicles for the weekend to a full bus conversions.'

The Sydney carpenter transforms old vans into permanent homes on wheels

To refurbish the interior of the vehicle, Mr Atkins said it could cost anywhere between $3,500 to a whopping $200,000

He said the refurbished vehicles were perfect for families who wanted to save money while travelling around Australia

To refurbish the interior of the vehicle, Mr Atkins said it could cost anywhere between $3,500 to a whopping $200,000.

'Depending on what people are into. We get the client's vision, we sit down with them and we draw it out, put pen to paper and bring it to life - and build their dream,' he said.

'We get them on their next adventure so I mean, it's all pretty crazy how it started but I'm loving every minute and everyday is sort of different so it's awesome.'

He said the refurbished vehicles were perfect for families who wanted to save money while travelling around Australia.

'Why not buy a vehicle that suits your needs? And go around the country and save money while you're doing it - it's a win-win I reckon,' Mr Atkins said.

He said the refurbished vehicles were perfect for families who wanted to save money while travelling around Australia

The 28-year-old - who works out of his workshop in Brookvale - said a growing number of people are turning to him for refurbished vehicles in a bid to save money for a home deposit

'Australia is your backyard so you can pretty much go and live and enjoy the whole of the country. Why not enjoy the coastline, the city or the country?'

Speaking to Domain, Mr Atkins said he couldn't keep up with demand - and now he's doing fit-outs full-time.

'I'm not getting much sleep at all. There are so many people who now want to save money by living in vans, I can't keep up,' he said.

'They're saving money on rent and can live in a much more flexible home while they're saving up for a deposit.'The Duchess of Cambridge broke ranks with her fellow Bafta attendees last night by not wearing a black dress in support of the Time's Up movement, but it seems that Kate may have been showing her solidarity in a subtle but significant way.

Pregnant Kate, 36, was criticised on social media for not wearing a black outfit, but significantly she teamed her dark green Jenny Packham gown with a dazzling emerald and diamond jewellery set.

Last month, stars arrived en masse at the Golden Globes dressed in black to support Hollywood's backlash against sexual harassment, with many also accessorising with emeralds because of the significance of the stone as a symbol of 'hope, renewal and growth'.

Debra Messing, Zoe Kravitz and Catherine Zeta Jones were just some of the stars who wore the precious stone which was a talisman of Alexander the Great and Aristotle, who identified emeralds as a symbol of victory.

Although the Royal Family is meant to avoid political statements, royal watchers have also interpreted the black sash on Kate's dress as well as her matching shoes and clutch as a subtle nod to her backing for the Time's Up movement.

Of course, the Duchess made sure to pull out all the stops for her red carpet appearance with experts estimating her jewellery set cost at least a million.

Stephanie Lee of London-based jewellers Ntinga told Femail: 'The Duchess of Cambridge wore a stunning Columbian Emerald and diamond suite made up of four approximately 20-25ct Emeralds surrounded by a what appears to be cluster of marquise and round cut diamonds in a triple row drop collar.

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The Duchess of Cambridge appeared to show her support for the Time's Up movement at last night's Baftas in a 1M emerald jewellery set. The stone is a symbol of hope, as well as victory and has been worn by multiple A-listers on the red carpet

Catherine Zeta Jones, 48, added an incredible pair of statement emerald earrings to her all-black ensemble, worn to show support for the Time's Up movement

Zoe Kravitz, 29, wore emeralds a symbol of hope, growth and renewal to this year's Golden Globes in support of Time's Up

'The matching earrings had been modified from a drop pair she had worn in 2014 to made a large cluster earring with an emerald set in the centre of diamonds and a matching cuff.

'We would have thought this suite would be valued within the seven figured price bracket.'

It was the most openly political Bafta night in its history, with all the female nominees urged to follow the example of last month's Golden Globes awards and wear all-black.

How much did Kate's emeralds cost? Sophie Lomax, Head of Design at 77diamonds.com said that Kate's emeralds are most likely of Colombian origin and are therefore of the finest quality and highest value. Earrings: Featuring approximately a 4ct emerald in each earring (8ct total) with a diamond surround. Retail of approximately: 280,000 Necklace: Featuring approximately 19cts of emeralds with a beautiful diamond set drop design. Retail of approx: 665,000 Bracelet: Featuring approximately 6cts of emeralds on a diamond set cuff. Retail of approx: 215,000 TOTAL: 1,160,000 Advertisement

Several actresses brought feminist activists as their guests, including prominent gay rights campaigners, trades unionists and two women who were involved in the equal pay protests at Dagenham in the 1960s.

Royal protocol dictates that family members should not make political statements and this is believed to be the reason behind the Duchess' decision to shy away from a black gown.

Some had speculated ahead of the event that she might choose a patterned black gown as a compromise.

Her decision to opt for a coloured gown instead meant that she risked sparking a backlash from commentators and supporters of the movement.

Some women turned to Twitter to voice their disappointment at Kate's decision.

Nikki Long wrote: 'Disappointed in Kate Middleton Duchess of Cambridge not wearing black to the Baftas. It's not a political thing. It's a woman thing!'

Bucking the trend: The Duchess of Cambridge chose not to wear black at last night's Bafta awards at the Royal Albert Hall

All eyes on the Duchess: Kate's outfit was a subtle nod to the movement, as in some lights her gown was as dark as black

Some Twitter users criticised the Duchess of Cambridge over her decision not to wear black. Others pointed to times when members of the Royal Family had taken a political stance

Where do emeralds originate? The first known emeralds were mined in Egypt in around 1500 BC. The birthstone for May gets its green colouring from chromium within the stone and the effect it has on constituent mineral beryl. Unlike diamonds they are graded by eye. If when examined by the naked eye an emerald appears free from material trapped while it was being formed it can be considered flawless. Emerald crystals, like all other naturally occurring gemstone crystals, grow one molecule at a time meaning it takes prolonged periods to create a quality gemstone. Emeralds being mined today are relics from the geologic events that took place hundreds of millions of years ago deep within the Earth's crust. They can be found from as far afield as Columbia to Afghanistan, Zimbabwe, Brazil and Canada, but Colombia is the world's biggest producer. Advertisement

Journalist Rachel McGrath tweeted: 'I know the Royals aren't supposed to get involved with 'protests' or anything  but would it really have been THAT bad for Kate Middleton to wear black??? I feel properly let down (didn't know I cared this much).'

Kensington Palace refused to comment on whether her black sash and bag were intended as a nod to the movement against gender inequality and sexual harassment, which has gained widespread support since the Harvey Weinstein sex scandal.

Meanwhile some pointed out that royals have previously waded in on royal issues, including the Duchess of Cornwall and her support of victims of domestic violence and Prince Charles' campaigning on the environment and climate change.

A Twitter user said: 'If her mother-in-law, The Duchess of Cornwall, can stand against sexual harassment openly and make a topic of it, then Kate can wear a black dress easily without raising any questions.'

But not everyone had it in for the Duchess.

One user going under the name of Stephie McStephface wrote: 'I think the Duchess of Cambridge's dress is a smart move. Not black, so in line with protocol, but dark enough to be a nod of support.'

Other supporters said that the dark shade of her dress meant she came as close as possible to joining the actresses who wore black on the red carpet.

Bucking the trend: The Duchess of Cambridge was the centre of attention, as she walked the red carpet

Making an entrance: All eyes were on the royal when she made her red carpet entrance

Others came to the Duchess' defence and pointed to the muted colour of her gown as being a subtle nod to the politically-charged dress code

The Duchess previously wore the stunning earrings during her official visit to New York in 2014, while pregnant with Princess Charlotte.

The earrings are adjustable and can either be worn as studs or drop earrings.

The emerald is said to inspire 'an ongoing search for meaning, justice, compassion, and harmony' according to the experts at Crystal Vaults.

The Duchess wore a large cluster earring with an emerald set in the centre of diamonds to the Baftas last night (left). In New York in 2014, she sported the same pair converted into drop earrings

The meaning took on an extra poignancy at the 75th Golden Globes, where stars stood in solidarity against abuse and gender inequality in the workplace, in the light of the shocking sexual harassment scandal that has gripped Hollywood over the last few months.

Catherine, 48, Zoe, 29, and Debra, 49, all choosing to wear completely black ensembles that they then accessorized with large emerald earrings and rings.

Each of the three women opted for jewelry by Lorraine Schwartz.

Halle Berry, meanwhile, opted for a slightly more subtle nod to the meaningful trend, adding an emerald ring to her hand - while also showing off some emerald-colored crystal earrings. The Oscar winner also wore all-black.

Halle Berry wore emeralds on her hand, while also donning a pair of emerald-colored crystal earrings from Swarovski

Will & Grace star Debra Messing, 49, who spoke out about gender pay inequality at the Golden Globes, wore matching emerald earrings and a ring, both by Lorraine Schwartz

Nominee Isabelle Huppert accessorized her glittering black dress with a pair of equally sparkly emerald and diamond earrings

WHAT IS THE 'TIME'S UP' MOVEMENT? The Time's Up initiative is a movement against sexual harrassment. It is backed by more than 300 women in Hollywood including Meryl Streep, Michelle Williams, Laura Dern and Oprah Winfrey. The group banded together to advocate for gender parity in executive ranks and provide legal defense aid of $13m (9m) for sexual harassment victims. It was set up at the start of the 2018 in response to a wave of sexual harassment allegations in the industry, particularly in relation to mogul Harvey Weinstein. The leaderless initiative includes a legal defense fund to help working-class women - like cleaners, nurses and workers at farms, factories, restaurants and hotels - protect themselves from sexual misconduct and the fallout from reporting it. Legislation to penalise companies that tolerate persistent harassment, and to discourage the use of nondisclosure agreements to silence victims. The Time's Up movement was founded as the next step to the #MeToo movement which saw women across the globe share their stories of sexual harassment. Source: New York Times, Time's Up Advertisement

Nominee Isabelle Huppert, who received a nod for her role in Elle, donned a pair of large emerald and diamond earrings, which paired beautifully with her bedazzled black dress.

In an open letter published yesterday before the awards, almost 200 British and Irish stars backed a new fund to help women facing sexual harassment and abuse at work.

It echoes a similar initiative launched in Hollywood last month, and was kick-started with a 1 million ($1.4 million) donation from actress and activist Emma Watson.A female passenger was spotted drying her knickers beneath an overhead air vent while on a flight to Moscow.

The unnamed woman, who was flying from Antalya, Turkey, to the Russian capital, was filmed holding her pants overhead during the flight.

Other passengers said she had not seemed embarrassed while drying her underwear on the Ural Airlines flight, and spent at least 20 minutes holding them up above her.

A female air passenger was filmed drying her knickers beneath the overhead air vent while on a flight to Moscow

The woman was said to have held the underwear above her head for 'at least 20 minutes'

One eyewitness described how shocked passengers on the flight had remained silent after spotting her unusual behaviour.

The passenger, who wished to remain anonymous, commented: 'Everybody was looking with interest and confusion, but everybody remained silent.'

A video of the woman drying her underwear filmed by a passenger has since been shared on social media in Russia, with some defending her actions.

In fact, one person suggested the pants may have belonged to the woman's child.

Other passengers said she had not seemed embarrassed while drying the pants on the flight

After the video was shared online, social media users suggested the underwear may have belonged to a child

The woman, posting under the name Alexandra, commented: 'Those [pants] arent an adult's. Looks like they belong to a kid.'

Another added: 'This is not the worst thing in the modern world'.

Meanwhile, one person quipped: 'Maybe the take off was sort of extreme, so now she has to dry those.'

Others meanwhile were less than impressed with her behaviour, suggesting it was definitely not the best way to dry her pants.A convicted paedophile teacher who served time in prison for sexual assaults on children in the '70s and '80s children has shockingly insisted that 'relationships' with students were normal and instigated by the youngsters themselves.

The man, referred to as 'James' appears in tonight's ITV Exposure documentary Boarding Schools: The Secret Shame, in which journalist Alex Renton exposes the shocking extent of sexual abuse that has gone on behind closed doors at some of Britain's most elite institutions.

Alex himself was sexually abused as an eight-year-old by his teacher at one of the country's top boarding schools, Ashdowne House in East Sussex - the former preparatory school of Boris Johnson, Viscount Linley and Damian Lewis.

His investigation reveals, via a Freedom of Information request, that since since 2012, 425 people have been accused of carrying out sexual attacks at UK boarding schools.

And in his interview with James, the convicted sex offender told Alex that he believes abuse is still going on today because it's a 'tradition' for teachers to be 'intimate' with pupils, which has become ingrained in the culture over 'generations'.

James said he was aware of unorthodox relationships between the teachers and the boys when he arrived at the unnamed boarding school where he used to work, but refused to address it as sexual abuse.

'At least two of my predecessors had been dismissed for intimacy with the boys shall we say,' he explained. 'And then after about the first year, I learned that the Deputy Headmaster was also intimately involved with a number of boys.'

Alex spoke with a convicted paedophile teacher 'James' who believes abuse is still going on because it is 'traditional'

Alex Renton aged 8yrs in Ashdown House Prep School uniform. Right, Alex Renton makes an emotional return to Ashdown House

An estimated one million people in Britain today went to boarding school and approximately 75,000 children still board today

He described the 'intimate relationships' as 'a simple case of a master literally falling in love with an attractive boy'.

And he even suggested that one of the boys he had abused 'instigated the actual intimacy'.

'He approached me one day and suggested I did something to him,' he said. 'Simple as that. And that is not unusual.'

Alex asked if he could reasonably expect a boy of 12 to give his consent, saying: How can one know that at that age?'

Good question,' James replied. 'A 12-year-old boy is just as capable of giving consent as any other age.

Alex Renton's experience of abuse at Ashdown House In the documentary, the journalist broke down in tears as he recalled, more than 40 years later, a particularly harrowing memory involving his maths and history teacher, Mr Keane, in his first year of the prep school. 'My memory of my sexual encounter with him is only once and it was in the classroom where he usually taught,' he said. 'I remember very clearly the physical feeling of being pressed up against his sort of hairy tweed jacket while he had an arm round me and his other hand was going straight down the front of my corduroy shorts. 'And I remember quite distinctly being given the fruit gum afterwards which I knew already was what you got if you submitted to this.' In 2013, a group of Alexs former Ashdown House schoolmates went to the police about a different teacher from later in the 70s, Martin Haigh, who'd taught science. In March last year, he was sentenced to 12 years in prison for indecent assault and gross indecency against four Ashdown House pupils in the 70s. Thomas Keane (centre) abused Alex Renton at Ashdown House in East Sussex where Martin Haigh also taught before being jailed for historic sex offences at the school Advertisement

He told Alex in the documentary that he too had been through the same experience as a child.

'I was sexually abused by not one master but by five when I was at prep school,' he said. 'It never did me any harm. They made my life so much more pleasant in various ways that I accepted it.

'I was getting something from them that I wasn't getting from my parents. Dinky toys, cigarette cards, whole sets. The love and affection which I was deprived of at home.'

He explained that when he went on to apply for a job as a teacher at a boarding school, no background checks were completed which according to James was 'normal'.

Journalist Alex Rentona was sexually abused as an eight-year-old by his teacher at one of the country's top boarding schools Ashdowne House

Police mugshot of Martin Haigh, who was sentenced to 12 years in prison in March 2017 for sexually abusing Ashdown House pupils in the 1970s. Right, school photo of Martin Haigh at the time he taught at Ashdown House

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REVEALS SCALE OF ABUSE AT UK BOARDING SCHOOLS ITV's Exposure made a Freedom of Information request to every police force in the UK and 24 responded. The results showed: Since 2012, 425 people have been accused of carrying out sexual attacks at UK boarding schools.

Not every force could provide further details but at least 160 people have been charged so far.

At least 171 of the total number were accused of historical abuse.

Since 2012 at least 125 people have been accused by children of recent sex attacks at boarding schools.

There are at least 31 ongoing investigations.

Just over half of the Forces responded so the total figure is likely to be far higher. Separately, Exposure made an FOI request to every local authority in England and Wales to establish how many school staff had been accused of sexual abuse of a pupil from boarding schools in their area between 2012 and 2017 - around three quarters responded. (Note that these dates refer to the year the alleged incident was reported, rather than when it took place). Since 2012, 404 allegations of sexual abuse were reported by boarding schools.

There were glaring differences in reporting figures  one council responsible for 19 boarding schools had received 60 complaints, another with 20, received just two.

Schools in the UK are still not legally obliged to tell the authorities. The figures relate to incidents which were reported to the local authority or its Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO). Schools should report any allegations of child sexual abuse by a staff member to the LADO but it's not legally mandatory to do so. Source: Freedom of Information, ITV Advertisement

Only 24 police forces responded to the Freedom of Information request, with figures showing that 425 people have been accused of sex attacks at UK boarding schools since 2012.

Figures also showed at least 160 people have so far been charged. Of those accused, more than 170 faced allegations of historical abuse, with 125 alleged to have attacked children recently. Police are investigating 31 cases.

Alex has created his own unique database of allegations created from huge personal correspondence he has received from victims of abuse since he began writing about his own experiences.

As well as speaking with survivors of abuse from his alma mater Ashdown House, he also meets with former pupils from Sherborne Preparatory School, Dorset; Lucton School, Herefordshire; and St Aubyns, East Sussex.

The programme looks at the schools who failed to take action against predatory paedophiles and who groomed and assaulted young boarders over and over again, sometimes getting away with it for decades.

Abuse survivor Phillip attended Lucton School in the seventies who was abused by his teacher and initially ignored by his headmaster

Alex met with Richard, a pupil at St Aubyns, who revealed that he was abused but nothing was officially done about it

All schools are expected to have sufficient safeguarding arrangements to prevent abuse are checked in regular inspections.

Exposure analysed the most recent inspection report for every boarding school in England. When it came to safeguarding, one in ten schools either failed to meet national standards, or else didn't meet the requirements needed to be given a rating of 'good'.

To find out what the industry is doing today to protect children, Alex Renton spoke to The Boarding Schools' Association, which represents 90 per cent of boarding schools

Robin Fletcher, the chief executive of Boarding Schools' Association, said: 'What I can say is that everyone who works in boarding today is professional, caring and doing everything they can to make safeguarding their number one priority.

SEXUAL ABUSE EXPOSED AT UK BOARDING SCHOOLS Some survivors of Sherborne Preparatory School, Dorset; Ashdown House, East Sussex; Lucton School, Herefordshire; and St Aubyns, East Sussex have all come forward to reveal their experience of sexual abuse. ASHDOWN HOUSE, EAST SUSSEX Journalist Alex Renton was a pupil at Ashdown House - the former preparatory school of Boris Johnson, Viscount Linley and Damian Lewis. He recalled a harrowing memory involving his maths and history teacher Mr Keane in his first year of the prep school for ITV documentary Exposure Boarding Schools: The Secret Shame. In 2013, a group of Alexs former Ashdown House schoolmates went to the police about a different teacher from later in the 70s, Martin Haigh whod taught science. In March last year, he was sentenced to 12 years in prison for indecent assault and gross indecency against four Ashdown House pupils in the 70s. Martin Haigh said in court that two pupils told parents and they complained to the man whod taken on some aspects of the running of the school, Clive Williams. The exterior of the Ashdown House where journalist Alex Renton attended as a boarding school pupil It was decided no further action would be taken, provided Haigh left at the end of term. Alex Renton has spoken to one of those two pupils, who confirmed Martin Haighs story  that his parents did complain to Clive Williams but added hed also spoken to Clive Williams himself about Haighs abuse. Because Martin Haigh was allowed to leave Ashdown House quietly, he simply found another teaching job at the state-run Chaucer School in Canterbury. Now former Chaucer pupils are going to the police, with yet more allegations of abuse by Haigh. Exposure contacted The Cothill Trust, an organisation which now owns Ashdown House. They said: 'These historic incidents, which occurred 25 years before the Trust took over the school, are deeply shocking, and are against everything we stand for'. They 'extend heartfelt sympathy to anyone involved'. Rentons former headmaster Billy Williamson is dead, but Clive Williams who later ran the school with him told Exposure he has 'the deepest sympathy' for victims. But he 'denies in the very strongest terms that any parent or pupils made any complaint about Mr Haighs abuse or that Mr Haigh himself admitted any abuse to him'. Robin Lindsay was the owner and headmaster of Sheborne Prep SHERBORNE PREPARATORY SCHOOL, DORSET At one of the countrys top prep schools Sheborne Preparatory School owner and headmaster, Robin Lindsay, abuse of pupils spanned three decades  from the 1970s until the end of the 1990s. Concerns over his behaviour became so extreme, the Department for Education held a tribunal in 1998. Its ruling called Lindsay a 'fixated paedophile', and he was barred from teaching. Just months from retiring anyway, he never faced police charges. Robin Lindsay died in 2016. Sherborne Preparatory School said they have 'sympathy for any victims' and said it 'takes the welfare of current and former pupils very seriously'. On their failure to take effective action against Lindsay, The Independent Association of Prep Schools simply said they are 'appalled by the events of the past'. Today the 'education, care and welfare of young people is their primary concern' and they 'demand the most exacting standards' of themselves and their schools. The exterior of Lucton School in Herefordshire where pupils experienced sexual abuse at the hand of one teacher in the seventies LUCTON SCHOOL, HEREFORDSHIRE Phillip Witcomb began Lucton School in Herefordshire aged 13, in 1975, and was abused by his housemaster, a man named David Panter. He recalled how the sexual abuse began in his first term when Panter would rape the boys when they took a shower. Phillip complained to the headmaster Keith Vivian but was ignored. As Phillip progressed in the school, years later becoming a school prefect, he learned that the abuse was still happening to the younger boys. He went back to Vivian who initially refused to acknowledge anything was happening, but eventually the headmaster finally listened. By the next day, Panter was gone. However, Panters teaching career continued in the state sector. ITVs Exposure tracked down the headmaster who employed him at his next school, he told us he would have received a reference from Lucton. In 2016 Panter was jailed for nine years for indecent assault and gross indecency against seven Lucton pupils. Lucton School told ITVs Exposure: 'Our sympathies are with any survivors of non-recent abuse, however allegations from that period cannot be answered' because the school closed in 1985, and a new school was later opened under a trust which was 'established as a new charity, a separate legal entity'. The headmaster, Keith Vivian went on to become a Vicar. He told ITVs Exposure he has 'no recollection of any complaint made by Philip', but does remember when prefects came to him, and says he 'asked Panter to leave the school premises immediately' and informed the schools governing body. 'At no time would he not have acted immediately on such accusations', but 'it was not a police matter at that time'. A number of men shared their complaints of abuse at St Aubyns school in the 1970s with Alex Renton for ITV's Exposure ST AUBYNS, EAST SUSSEX A number of men shared their complaints with journalist Alex Renton about a teacher called George Pilgrim, who taught at St Aubyns School in East Sussex in the 1970s. Pilgrim seemingly had no fear of getting caught. One day he was abusing 10-year-old Richard in the classroom, when headmaster William Gervis walked in. Richard, who spoke with Alex, said: 'The headmaster was furious absolutely furious. Ive never seen him like that I mean he was a strict severe headmaster but I was surprised, and Pilgrim turned into a little boy himself and he kind of walked off to his desk and cowered and made various excuses but it wasnt good enough. 'There was nothing asked there was no sort of attempt to find out if anything else had happened to me or anyone else. The school had such a lax feeble way of dealing with it.' Pilgrim moved on from St Aubyns to another private prep school. ITVs Exposure found that school and it confirmed hed arrived complete with a reference from St Aubyns. The headmaster from the school Pilgrim went on to teach at agreed to talk to Exposure anonymously, and confirmed that two months later they had to get fired him  because he was abusing children in the classroom. Pilgrim is dead now, and never faced police charges. St Aubyns closed in 2013. But The Cothill Trust, which owns the school told us it 'was under their stewardship for less than a year' but 'the historic allegations from the 1970s and 1990s are utterly deplorable.' Advertisement

'There's no doubt that there was a period where some people at some schools experienced some appalling abuse. And it's absolutely shocking. But in my experience, there isn't any school out there which doesn't want to listen to victims and, where it can, as quickly as possible, say sorry.'

Last year the BSA finally issued rules telling its members they must report any allegations of abuse, but say it's time for the government to make that law.

Robin: 'It's the only system which can properly work, because why would you not have a system where people are required to report abuse?

'So remove any doubt, remove any ambiguity, and let's have mandatory reporting. And that ultimately contributes to making children safer.'

An estimated one million people in Britain today went to boarding school and approximately 75,000 children still board today in around 480 state and independent UK boarding schools.

They are responsible for educating many politicians, judges and business leaders and 75 per cent of Britain's prime ministers.

Boarding Schools: The Secret Shame  Exposure airs tonight at 10.45pm on ITVSaira Khan has revealed how she was branded an 'ugly w***e' by a Muslim troll when she shared a raunchy picture to her Instagram account.

The Loose Women star, 47, who is also a Muslim, had posed topless but kept her chest hidden by a clever camera angle in a selfie to promote her skincare range.

But Saira, soon received unkind comments by a user called Babakor, who branded her 'ugly' and criticised her for posing near nude.

Saira, who is married to businessman Steve Hyde, shared the screenshots of his comment on Twitter in a bid to 'name and shame' him.

Saira Khan, 47, has been trolled by a Muslim Instagram user for posting this near nude selfie to her account

The TV presenter said she had spent Sunday relaxing and enjoying yoga before checking Instagram and finding Babakor's comment.

He had written: 'You are a f***ing ugly w***e. I mean it you are really ugly.'

After the troll deleted his comment she tweeted grabs of it on Twitter, encouraging her followers to check out his page.

Saira wrote: 'Name and shame time - after a very wholesome morning, doing meditation, yoga, I looked at my Instagram and saw this from a man who is practising Islam - check out his Instagram - he's a dude.'

The Loose Women presenter decided to 'name and shame' the Instagram user for calling an 'ugly w***e' on her selfie

She also fired back on Instagram, saying she was born with 'natural ugliness', but is happy that way

She had also replied to him directly on Instagram, sending him kiss and heart emojis.

She wrote: 'Yep, it's how I was born - natural ugliness - but I'm happy and a nice person.'

Saira has now been inundated with messages of support from her followers, with one calling the troll an 'awful human being'.

MailOnline has contacted representatives for Saira Khan and is awaiting comment.

The mum-of-two has previously been trolled on social media for being open about her religion

She was left with death threats for sharing a picture of herself in a bikini to protest against a Muslim preacher who said it was 'sinful' for Muslim women to pluck their eyebrows

Saira had previously been left death threats from extremist followers after she shared a picture of herself in a bikini.

The mum-of-two shared a photo of herself sunbathing on holiday alongside a caption blasting a female Muslim preacher who decreed it was 'sinful' for Muslim women to pluck their eyebrows. Ms Khan ended the ended the defiant post with the words: 'Here's my response - kiss my [bottom]'.

In response, an anonymous Instagram user posted a comment threatening the mother-of-two, writing: 'If you value your life keep the f*** out of Islam.'

Saira, who has previously publicly shamed social media users for criticising her religion, later called out the troll in a tweet and tagged the official Twitter account for the Metropolitan Police, urging them to 'check it out'.

In a since deleted comment, the troll wrote: 'If you value your life keep the f*** out of Islam.'

Saira quickly reported the comment to the Metropolitan Police on Twitter, saying she'd received a 'death threat'

The comment, which has since been removed from Instagram, read: 'Keep your f****** mouth shut! Your not a Muslim nor do you represent anything to do with Islam!!! Your white masters have given you what you desire as a sell out reporter!!! If you value your life keep the f*** out of Islam [sic].'

Saira shared a screenshot of the comment on Twitter, tagging the official Metropolitan Police account with a message urging officers to 'check it out'.

The Twitter post received further supportive messages from followers, with one writing: 'Disgusting. I hope this is followed through Saira. Don't let it get to you'.Jenna Bush Hager's daughters stole the spotlight when they turned the Today show studio into their own personal playground on Monday morning.

The mother-of-two, 36, explained that her two little ones, four-year-old Mila and two-year-old Poppy, didn't have school on President's Day, which is why she had brought them, and her husband, with her to the studio, where she has been filling in for Hoda Kotb while she is covering the Winter Olympics with her fellow NBC hosts.

At the start of the broadcast, both little girls were seen sitting with their father, Henry Hager, 39, in the audience, but as soon as their mother acknowledged their presence, they decided to make themselves a bit more visible and join her in front of the cameras.

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Company: Jenna Bush Hager's daughters Mila, four, and Poppy, two, stole the spotlight when they joined her on the Today show on Monday morning

Holiday: The co-host, 36, explained that her two little ones didn't have school on President's Day, which is why she brought them with her to the studio

'By the way, my kids are here today,' Jenna said during the show's fourth hour, which sees her broadcasting alongside Hoda's co-host Kathie Lee Gifford, who also remained behind in New York while the majority of the Today team traveled to PyeongChang, South Korea.

The audience responded by cheering while Jenna asked her daughter Mila: 'Are you raising your hands? Do you have something you want to say?'

It turned out Mila, who was sitting on her dad's lap, did have something to declare, and she stated for everyone to hear: 'Mama had a cat.'

Henry and the rest of the audience were slightly confused by the revelation, but Mila's sister Poppy took the moment as an opportunity to break away from her father and run up to the stage, before quickly climbing up onto her mother's lap.

She was soon joined by Mila, prompting a rather flustered looking Jenna to declare taking her daughters with her to work was 'a terrible idea'.

Audience: Both little girls were initially sitting with their father, Henry Hager, 39

Hi there! When their mom acknowledged their presence, they decided to come up to her on air, with Poppy leading the way

Declaration: When asked if she wanted to say something, Mila proclaimed: 'Mama had a cat.' She was later imitated by Poppy, and both sisters repeated the catchphrase with glee

Kathie Lee, however, delighted in the interaction and jokingly told Jenna: 'You know what? You deserve this.

'This is what your parents said you did your whole life growing up.'

The audience erupted in laughter while Kathie Lee wisely decided to remove glasses of liquor that were left on the table from a previous segment, taking them away from the little girls.

'I'm teaching my children so many important lessons, like booze on a Monday,' Jenna pointed out.

The mother then asked the audience, with her two daughters still at her side: 'Do any of you all ever feel like this, when you're trying to do work and you have two kids hanging on you?'

At this point, Poppy, borrowing Mila's catchphrase, chimed in to repeat: 'Mommy has a cat!'

Kathie Lee jumped at the chance to turn the sentence into a song, asking the audience to join in as she chanted: 'Mommy has a cat, Mommy has a cat, I didn't know that.'

Karma: Kathie Lee delighted in the interaction and jokingly told Jenna: 'You know what? You deserve this. This is what your parents said you did your whole life growing up'

It begs the question: Jenna declared she was sweating, then added: 'At least they chose to say "Mommy has a cat." What if they said something else?'

Parenting woes: The mom asked the audience whether they ever found themselves trying to do work while their little ones disrupted their schedule

Helping: Mila assisted personal trainer Will Weber, who dropped by to demonstrate some exercises, with his segment by climbing onto his back while he did push-ups

Meanwhile: Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb (pictured with figure skater Adam Rippon) are currently covering the Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea

The audience, naturally, joined in on the fun and clapped while repeating 'Mommy has a cat', while Poppy, visibly aware of the comical effect of the refrain, repeated it once more, quickly joined by her sister.

Jenna declared she was sweating, then added: 'At least they chose to say, "Mommy has a cat." What if they said something else?'

She then encouraged the girls to go back with their father, but while Mila did walk back towards Henry, Poppy apparently wanted to stay with her mother and extended her arms to go back onto her lap.

During the show, Mila helped personal trainer Will Weber, who dropped by to demonstrate some exercises, with his segment.

She was seen hopping onto the trainer's back while he completed a series of push-ups, making the moves harder than usual.

Another member of Jenna's family stepped in last week to provide the anchors with on-air material in the absence of the regular team.

Her mother Laura Bush, 71, paid a visit to her daughter on Tuesday morning, just in time to revisit some of her favorite romantic memories ahead of Valentine's Day.

The former first lady was in New York City to celebrate Valentine's Day with her grandchildren, Mila and Poppy.

Kathie Lee asked Laura to reminisce about several first times in her life, prompting Laura to open up about various memories ranging from touching to just plain funny.

Family time! Laura Bush paid a visit to her daughter on the Today show on Tuesday morning

Team: The former first lady joined Jenna and Kathie Lee during the show 's fourth hour, reminiscing about family memories

Laura reminisced about her first reaction when she found out she was going to have twins, back when she was pregnant with Jenna and Barbara.

'I was so thrilled to have twins,' she said. 'I had sort of pictured two babies and thought "Well, that's so greedy to want two at once." But I was an only child and I really wanted to have more than one child so that they'd have each other, and of course that's what really happened.'

Kathie Lee also asked Laura about the first time Jenna got grounded, joking it must have been one of many times the presidential daughter got in trouble.

'When Barbara and Jenna were born, their grandfather was already vice president,' Laura recounted. 'And one of the things they did as soon as they learned how to dial the phone was call the White House switchboard and prank-call the White House.'

Officials, naturally, figured out where the call was coming from, and Jenna and Barbara became so afraid they would get spanked for misbehaving they put hardcover boots in their pants for protection, Jenna said.

The former first lady also revealed she and Jenna sometimes shared bras, since Jenna has the same silhouette as her mother.

'She inherited the...' Laura said before gesturing in front of her chest as if to suggest large breasts.

Jenna shrieked: 'Mom!' while the audience burst out laughing, and she added: 'Remember when you taught me to love my body? Remember?'

The presidential daughter also revealed her mother had once asked her if she needed a new bra before telling her: 'Here's one of my minimizers.'

Conversation: Laura revealed she and Jenna used to trade bras. 'She inherited the...' Laura said before gesturing in front of her chest as if to suggest large breasts

Reaction: Jenna shrieked: 'Mom!' while the audience burst out laughing, and she added: 'Remember when you taught me to love my body? Remember?'

We're SO excited to have @JennaBushHager's daughters in the studio today! pic.twitter.com/TxkhgwkbtT  Kathie Lee and Hoda (@klgandhoda) February 19, 2018

As for the first time Laura spoiled her grandchildren, she said it happened in Maine, where the Bushes have their summer residence in Kennebunkport.

Laura couldn't resist giving ice cream to Mila even though the baby was just three months old and hadn't had food yetsomething Jenna, Mila's daughter, is still shocked by.

Since she will not be at home in Dallas, Texas, to spend February 14 with her husband, Laura revealed she has left him a sweet Valentine declaring her eternal love for himwhich Kathie Lee jokingly deemed 'so cheesy'.

Despite her kind attention, Laura doesn't believe George W. Bush, also 71, will return the favor.

'Needless to say, he did not leave me a Valentine,' she said, adding that the former president is 'not really' a romantic.

However, Jenna pointed out that George and Laura are no strangers to romantic gestures, since they got married just three months after meeting.

She also said that her father spoke in poetry or rhymes throughout the first year of his and Laura's marriage, with Laura saying he did so because 'he was just so nervous'.Lara Trump and her five-month-old son Luke enjoyed some fun in the sun at the president's Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach over the long weekend, taking full advantage of the chance to escape the cold weather in New York.

The 35-year-old's husband, Eric Trump, took to Instagram on Friday to share photos of her wearing a red bikini while playing in the pool with their baby boy, showing off her trim and toned postpartum figure to full effect while posing for the pictures.

In one photo, Lara is waist-deep in the water and lifting little Luke above her head as they splash around in the pool.

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Splish slash: Eric Trump, 34, took to Instagram ahead of President's Day weekend to share photos of his wife Lara, 35, and their son Luke at the pool at his family's Mar-a-Lago resort

Styling: Lara donned a bright red bikini while playing in the pool with their five-month-old son

Look of love: In one snapshot, Lara is giving Luke a kiss on the cheek while holding him in the water

Poolside: Luke donned tiny white sunglasses and a swim shirt while lounging on his dad's lap

Another photo shows Lara holding the tot in the pool while she gives him a sweet kiss on the cheek.

While Lara is wearing a red bikini and aviator sunglasses, her son is covered up in a light blue swim shirt and swim trunks.

Like his mom, he's sporting a tiny pair of shades to protect his eyes from the sun.

Eric, 34, also posted a snapshot of little Luke sitting on his legs while he is relaxing on a lounge chair by the pool.

When she wasn't swimming with her son, Lara was seen walking around the grounds of President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate.

The mother-of-one was photographed wearing a red bikini top, skimpy cotton shorts, and what appeared to be a red 'Make America Great Again' cap.

Out and about: Lara was seen walking around the grounds at Mar-a-Lago on Friday

Representing the family: The mother-of-one was photographed wearing a red bikini top, skimpy cotton shorts, and what appeared to be a red 'Make America Great Again' cap

On vacation: Lara wore her shorts slung low on her hips, and her hair was pulled back into a messy bun

Eric and Lara got an early start on the weekend and spent Thursday evening at Mar-a-Lago with their son.

The proud father shared a snapshot of Lara tucking Luke in that evening, writing: 'Baby Luke ready for bed! Sleep tight buddy - I love you!'

The couple was joined by Eric's father, who was also at Mar-a-Lago with his wife, Melania, for President's Day weekend.

During the trip, Lara headed to Loxahatchee Groves, Florida, to visit Big Dog Ranch Rescue, a shelter for homeless dogs.

The animal advocate took to Instagram on Sunday to post a snapshot of herself cuddling one of the shelter's pups.

Proud mom: On Sunday, Lara shared an Instagram Stories video of herself taking a stroll with Luke in a carrier on her chest

Family outing: Lara and Eric (far left) were seen walking with their dogs and Luke

Day out: Eric led the way, and Lara carried Luke on her chest as she followed her husband

Relaxed outfits: Lara donned a gray tank top and cotton shorts while Luke was sporting a bib

Tuckered out: Lara posted a snapshot of Luke napping in a Trump-Pence T-shirt on Monday morning

She is pictured wearing a casual black T-shirt, shorts, and flipflops for the outing. Her blonde hair is pulled back in a wet bun, and she is sporting a pair of aviators.

'So much fun today visiting @bigdogranchrescue and meeting their awesome pups!' she captioned the image.

'Thank you for all the incredible work you do, @bigdogranchrescue!!! Im proud to support you! #PuppyKisses #AdoptDontShop.'

The mom also shared an Instagram Stories video of herself walking around Mar-a-Lago while holding Luke in a carrier on her chest.

On Monday morning, she posted a snapshot of little Luke taking a nap in a gray Trump-Pence T-shirt and gray cargo shorts.

Look of love: Eric shared this photo of Lara tucking Luke in on Thursday evening

Big day: Lara shared a photo of her wide-eyed son Luke showing off his wild hair in honor of him turning five months old last Monday

Like twins: Eric posted a similar photo on Sunday evening (L), and many people commented that he has his grandpa Donald Trump's infamous hair (R)

Republican family: Lara and Eric took Luke to visit his grandfather, President Donald Trump, at the White House in December

Just a week ago, Lara and Eric were celebrating Luke turning five months old.

Lara shared an adorable Instagram photo of a wide-eyed Luke sitting on his dad's lap with his locks sticking straight up in the air.

'I know buddy, were as shocked as you! Happy 5 month birthday!' Lara captioned the cute image of her son, who was born on September 12.

Fans posted 'happy birthday' wishes in the comments section of the post, and many people noted that Luke is the spitting image of his grandpa Donald Trump.

'He has his Grandpa's hair!' one person wrote, while another added: 'He looks like his grandpa here!'While the Pantone Color Institute named Ultra Violet the color of the year, rainbows have been popping up all over the fall 2018 catwalks.

Burberry, Ashish and alice + olivia by Stacey Bendet are just a few labels to incorporate multi-toned striped designs into their collections.

Whether the use of color is to celebrate diversity or to make a fashion statement, one thing is certain, the fun trend is an instant mood booster.

Celebrate diversity: Christopher Bailey's last Burberry collection was a tribute to the LGBTQ community

Modern update: After 17 years with the British label, the designer re-imagined the brand's signature plaid print with rainbow hues

Christopher Bailey's last Burberry collection was a tribute to the LGBTQ community.

After 17 years with the British label, the designer re-imagined the brand's signature plaid print with rainbow hues.

The limited-edition rainbow pieces were available to shop immediately following the runway show, with all proceeds from the sales going to the Trevor Project, the Albert Kennedy Trust and ILGA  all organizations devoted to LGBTQ rights worldwide.

See now buy now: The limited-edition rainbow pieces were available to shop immediately following the runway show

Do good: Proceeds from the sales going to the Trevor Project, the Albert Kennedy Trust and ILGA  all organizations devoted to LGBTQ rights worldwide

'I'm so bored with everyone being obsessed with good taste and everything being perfect all the time,' Ashish designer, Ashish Gupta, told Vogue Japan.

A step ahead of the rest, Ashish is known for his over-the-top sequin kaleidoscope creations, and the India-born designer's fall 2018 offering was no different.

The collection he presented yesterday during London Fashion Week was a technicolor dream, with an equally colorful cast of models.

Sequin explosion: 'I'm so bored with everyone being obsessed with good taste and everything being perfect all the time,' Ashish designer, Ashish Gupta, told Vogue Japan

Trailblazer: A step ahead of the rest, Ashish is known for his explosively colorful creations, and the India-born designer's fall 2018 offering was no different

Celebrating diversity: The collection he presented yesterday during London Fashion Week was a technicolor dream, with an equally colorful cast of models

Rainbows were also seen at the alice + olivia by Stacey Bendet presentation in New York. 'I've always said that even through the darkest moments in fashion, clothes are supposed to uplift,' Stacey told FEMAIL.

Color effects mood. 'When you put on neon, youre like "my day just got a little better."

The Libertine show served as a quick pick-me-up for Fashion Week attendees.

'I am a maximalist. I am a maximalist in personality. I am a maximalist emotionally . . . its just what I am,' Libertines Johnson Hartig told vogue.com backstage before his show.

In these challenging times, the Los Angeles-based designer's energetic collection (including men's and women's) made you forget your troubles  at least through the duration of the show.

Rainbows were seen at the alice + olivia by Stacey Bendet presentation in New York as well. 'I've always said that even through the darkest moments in fashion, clothes are supposed to uplift,' Stacey told FEMAIL

Color effects mood. 'It's uplifting,' said Stacey. 'When you put on neon, youre like "my day just got a little better"

In these challenging times, Libertine's energetic collection (including men's and women's) made you forget your troubles  at least through the duration of the show

SHOP OVER THE RAINBOW FASHIONS:

Left: Magpie sequined jersey sweater by Mary Katrantzou, $1,320; net-a-porter.com. Right: Cotton Hoodie with Rainbow Logo by Re/Done, $295; stylebop.com

Left: Multi pom pom 130 fur sandals by Fendi, $1,000; farfetch.com. Right: Blaise Embellished Trapeze Skirt by alice + olivia by Stacey Bendet, $550; aliceandolivia.com

Metal Rainbow bracelet by High Cheeks, $79; wconcept.com

Faux fur coat in rainbow color by Alternative Youth, $198; bonanza.com

Left: Stella Plank Slide by Loeffler Randall, $195; loefflerrandall.com. Right: Rainbow Sporty Tube Socks by Topshop, $6; topshop.com

Left: Stars & Stripe Rainbow Cashmere Sweater In Navy by Orwell + Austen Cashmere, $310; wolfandbadger.com. Right: Pigeon striped ribbed cashmere sweater by Madeleine Thompson, $340; net-a-porter.com

Left: Shaker Stitch Hat with Fur Pom Pom by Quinn, $70; ahalife.com. Right: Jelly Backpack now $10.49; jcpenney.com



Hundreds of thousands of people are showing their support for a little girl after her artistic ambitions were momentarily dashed by her mother.

Emely Fuentes knows her little sister Marely wants to be an artist. So last week, the Orlando teen asked the younger girl to hand-paint a pair of her sneakers to personalize them for her. But the older sister's sweet gesture didn't have the intended effect.

After harsh words from the girls' mother regarding how the shoes came out, the little girl was left heartbroken  until Twitter users came out in full force to cheer her up.

Tough parenting: Marely Fuentes from Orlando was heartbroken when her mother disapproved of the painted design she did on these Vans sneakers

Permission: Her older sister Emely had asked her to personalize them

Supportive: Emely was delighted with the design, and was devastated for her sister

Emely shared the heartbreaking story on Twitter on Friday.

'I asked my little sister if she could paint my shoes because she wants to be an artist,' Emily explained

She left a pair of green Vans sneakers with her before she went out, and when she got home she saw the finished product  and a sad note.

'When I got home this was on my bed and now Im literally crying because I love them so much and it sucks how much your parents affect u when theyre not supportive,' she added.

A picture she attached shoes the pair of shoes, colorfully decorated with a colorblock rainbow design on the front. The note is less cheerful.

'Dear Emy, I'm sorry if you don't like them, I tried my best,' Marely wrote.

'Mom said she didn't like them and that broke my heart. I don't need you to break it more.

Go get 'em! Thousands on Twitter have encouraged Marely to keep up her art, including the official account for the Vans Warped Tour

Awesome: Patricia Arquette likes the shoes too and called them 'rad'

Setting the trends! She even inspired some artistic copycats

Ta-da! A woman named Hannah did her own version and shared the results

So flattered! The gesture certainly cheered the little girl up

More! Another Twitter user did a similar colorblock design on her own shoes

All over the world: This person who did a version sent 'love and support' from Venezuela

'Now that I see it I agree with her, you shouldn't have let me do that. I'm soo sorry,' she added, signing odd with a sad face.

While Emely was crushed to see her sister feeling so down  especially due to discouraging words from their own mother  both girls were soon cheered up.

Since the story was tweeted, it's been liked over a quarter of a million times, and thousands of Twitter users have shared words of praise, encouragement, and kindness.

'Omg tell her I think they are so cute and I want to send out a pair of shoes to you guys so she can paint them,' wrote one fan, asking for Emely's address.

'Me too!' wrote another  prompting over 100 other people to write that they, too, would like Marely to paint shoes. Many seemed to be bona fide offers, with promises to pay for art supplies, shipping, and even the artwork itself.

Several suggested that Vans should license the design as a limited-edition offering.

Popular: The original tweet has been liked a quarter of a million times

Personalized! A couple hundred people said they wanted to mail Marely shoes for her to paint

Amazing: Several promised to pay for art supplies and shipping to get their own pairs

Looks familiar... This Twitter user said Marely's work reminded her of work by Sonia Delaunay

Total pro: Another said her shoes were similar to work done by Guatemalan artist Alfred Jensen

Too cool: A popular YouTuber joined in to share support and ask for his own shoes

Nice, mom: Some shared how sad they were that the girls' mother was so unsupportive

Even actress Patricia Arquette chimed in, writing: 'She did a great job. Those shoes are rad.'

'Well tell Marely we think these are the coolest Vans we've seen,' wrote the official account for the Vans-sponsored Warped Tour. 'They put the custom Warped Tour vans we are designing to shame.'

Some people spoke up to say that Marely's work reminded them of established artists they liked, including Sonia Delaunay and Alfred Jensen.

She inspired some copycats, too. A North Carolina woman named Hannah shared a photo of her own green Vans sneakers, which she painted with a similar block design on the front.

'Dear Marely, I hope I got the technique right. These are some DOPE shoes! Keep up the good work!' she wrote.

All the love seems to have helped the little girl a lot. Emely said Marely 'couldnt believe that someone recreated her work,' writing: 'She was talking about this so much.'

Much better: Emely said Marely was feeling a lot better thanks to all the support

In awe! The sister were 'extremely overwhelmed' by the huge reaction

Still, Emely was sad that so many people seemed to relate and have parents who didn't support their dreams

A third woman from Venezuela did her own version on a pair of white sneakers, too.

'Marely herself said that all this encourages her a lot to make more art work,' Emely wrote. '[We] are extremely overwhelmed by the reaction to her shoes.

'Its amazing to know there is still so many kindhearted people in this world. Shes so happy with all of replies and is in the process of finishing the shoes. Ill keep yall updated. Thank you so much!

Later, she added: 'It makes me sad that many people can relate to feeling torn down by their parent/s. Its so easy because their opinion matters the most to us.

'I wish I could reply to all the comments but theres just so many, thanks again to everyone for making my little sister so happy!!!'President Trump's 11-year-old son Barron traveled to the airport in a car separate from his parents' Secret Service vehicle on Monday afternoon, as the family prepared to board Air Force One to return home after a long weekend in Mar-a-Lago.

The only child of the president and his wife Melania arrived at Palm Beach International Airport, in West Palm Beach, Florida, in a Secret Service vehicle separate to the one carrying his parents, who arrived on the tarmac just a few seconds before him.

After getting out of his own vehicle, Barron was then seen joining Donald and Melania as they prepared to board the plane, sporting a red long-sleeve shirt, khaki pants, and red New balance sneakers for the short trip back to Washington, D.C.

All together: Barron Trump was seen boarding Air Force One with his parents on Monday afternoon

Different rides: Barron traveled to the airport in a car separate from his parents' Secret Service vehicle

First son style: The 11-year-old donned a red long-sleeve shirt, khaki pants, and red New Balance sneakers for the flight back to Washington, D.C.

Father-son time: Barron's dad, President Donald Trump, waited for him at the top of the steps

Heading in: Barron's mother, First Lady Melania, was the first to step on to the aircraft at Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach, Florida

Footage of the first family's arrival at the air strip shows Trump's SUV arriving as part of a multi-car motorcade, which includes a white vehicle that is carrying his son.

The cars then pull up alongside Air Force One, where Donald and Melania make their way out of the SUV alongside several Secret Service agents. Meanwhile, Barron can be seen emerging from his vehicle, which has stopped a few feet back.

He is then escorted out of the car by a Secret Service agent who walks him over to join his parents, who are already making their way up the stairs leading to the presidential aircraft by the he joins them.

Barron appears to rush up the steps to join them, with the president pausing briefly at the top of the stairs to allow his son to catch up, while Melania makes her way inside the air craft.

Before stepping into the aircraft, Trump took a moment to wave to everyone below.

While Barron was in a cheerful red collared shirt, his mother Melania donned a somber black blazer, black skinny jeans, and Dior combat boots.

Falling behind: Barron trailed behind his parents as they made their way up the steps

Moment of affection: Trump put his hand on Melania's back as they walked up the steps together

One last goodbye: Trump gave a wave to the people below before the aircraft took off

Separate cars: The president and first lady arrived at the airport in a black SUV, while their son Barron was driven in a white SUV

Happy to be there: Trump waved through the window of the SUV when he arrived

Home: By the time they arrived home, Barron had added a thick red coat to his ensemble, while Melania had put on a warm hat

Watching: As Donald flashed a thumbs up to the cameras, Barron could be seen keeping a close eye on his father

The president, however, was a bit more dressed up, wearing a suit, a blue striped tie, and an American flag pin in his lapel for the trip home.

Upon their arrival at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, the family exited Air Force One together, with Barron emerging from the airplane directly behind his parents, before overtaking them as they paused for pictures and making his way straight down onto the tarmac.

There, the president paused again to flash a quick smile and a thumbs up to the waiting cameras, while Barron waited just a few feet away, having covered up his red shirt with a matching red quilted jacket.

It's unclear exactly when Barron met his parents in Mar-a-Lago, as his mother was seen boarding Air Force One by herself on Friday, before she and the president departed to Florida.

Upon their arrival in Florida, the first couple stopped at the Broward County Sheriff's Office and Broward Health North Hospital trauma center to visit with victims who were injured in the school shooting in Parkland on Wednesday.

They departed the hospital in the motorcade at 7:15 pm, according to a pool log by a New York Times reporter.

Barron wasn't the only Trump child who traveled to Florida to spend President's Day weekend with him in Florida.

Family: Barron's half-brother Donald Trump Jr. traveled to Mar-a-Lago with his wife Vanessa and their five children. They celebrated Donald Trump III's birthday at the resort on Sunday

Pool time: Eric Trump and his wife Lara were also at the estate with their five-month-old son Luke

Day out: Eric (far left) and Lara (far right) were seen walking around the estate on Saturday

Out and about: Tiffany Trump, the president's only child with his second ex-wife Marla Maples, was also at Mar-a-Lago for the long weekend

Fun in the sun: The 24-year-old law student was seen wearing an aqua strapless romper on Saturday

Missing out? Ivanka Trump, who didn't appear to be visiting Mar-a-Lago, was seen leaving her Washington, D.C. home with her husband Jared Kushner on Friday morning

Donald Trump Jr., 40, his wife Vanessa, 40, and their five children enjoyed some fun in the sun at Mar-Lago, where they celebrated Donald Trump III's ninth birthday on Sunday.

Donald Jr.'s younger brother Eric Trump, 34, stayed at the resort with his wife Lara, 35, and their five-month-old son Luke.

Tiffany Trump, the president's only child with his second ex-wife Marla Maples, was also at Mar-a-Lago for the weekend.

The 24-year-old law student at Georgetown University was seen wearing a strapless aqua romper while walking around her father's estate on Saturday afternoon.

The only one of Trump's children who appeared to be missing was his 36-year-old daughter Ivanka, who was seen leaving her Washington, D.C. home with her husband Jared Kushner on Friday morning.Tucked inside a small shop in Tokyo lies one very big challenge.

It weighs nearly 2.5 kilograms, costs AUD $114 and is filled with pork and chive.

This is the giant dumpling, and it has attracted challengers from all over the world.

The restaurant Kagurazaka Hanten first started its dumpling challenge more than 45 years ago.

Tokyo restaurant Kagurazaka Hanten serves up this massive gyoza (pictured), which weighs nearly 2.5kg

The owner hoped it would be the perfect way to attract more young people to the restaurant, which was in the middle of a busy student neighbourhood.

'We had a lot of people, especially students, around here and when they saw the challenge menu they really wanted to try it,' he told Only in Japan.

'In a group, the students get really pumped up. We thought that it would be a great reason for people to have a party here.'

And it clearly worked. The walls are now covered with the signatures of numerous Japanese celebrities who have tried the challenge - and often failed.

The dumpling, which costs AUD$114, is filled with pork and chive and is part of the restaurant's giant gyoza challenge

Kagurazaka Hanten first started the dumpling challenge more than 45 years ago to attract students to the restaurant

This dumpling challenge does have a few rules, insofar as people must order and pay for the ginormous dumpling two days in advance.

But if they finish the whole thing in an hour, the entire meal is free.

You can't leave the table or use the restroom during the time, or you forfeit the challenge.

The restaurant also reserves the right to stop you if it looks like you're on the verge of getting sick.

'Please remember that this challenging menu is just for fun! Just enjoy it and do not force yourself to eat it all please,' the friendly rule card reads.

The giant dumpling is free for anyone who can finish the entire thing in an hour or less

Customers can opt for a giant gyoza or 100 smaller dumplings to take part in the challenge

You can't leave the table or use the restroom during the time, or you forfeit the challenge

And if you don't finish the whole thing? No drama. The restaurant will happily pack your leftovers for takeaway.

If a giant gyoza doesn't sound appealing, there are a number of other challenges on the menu at Kagurazaka Hanten.

Brave customers can also attempt to finish 100 smaller dumplings, rather than one large one.

Or they can take on a giant plate of fried rice, or slurp through three giant bowls of ramen.

And if you don't finish the whole thing? No drama. The restaurant packs away all leftoversA baby girl born with half a heart and only expected to survive for a week is now thriving at 10-months-old after doctors built her a 'handmade heart' using another infant's valve.

Mother Amber Fullarton, 18, of Glasgow, Scotland, says she will be eternally grateful to the baby's brave parents - who currently remain anonymous - for donating their late child's organs and saving her daughter Macy's life.

'Doctors have essentially reconstructed Macy's heart with veins and a valve, donated by a family whose little one had passed,' said Amber. 'She has a handmade heart now.

'One day, I want to write to the donor family to tell them how thankful I am for what they did.'

A baby born with half a heart and only expected to survive for a week is now thriving at 10-months-old

Macy's first operation was eight hours long

Mother Amber Fullarton, 18, of Glasgow, Scotland, says she will be eternally grateful to the donor baby's brave parents

Macy's life hung in the balance, after she was born in April 2017 with hypoplastic left heart syndrome.

The condition means one of the heart's pumping chambers does not develop properly and the organ's mitral valve is either closed or abnormally small, essentially leaving sufferers with half a heart.

'We were offered a termination but said no'

But, having outlived her original gloomy prognosis, she is now a happy tot, meeting milestones and looking forward to her first birthday in April.

Amber, who is her daughter's full-time carer, added: 'We're so proud of how far she's come. She's an amazing little girl and smiles every single day.'

Enjoying a text book pregnancy at first, Amber and her partner Peter McInnes, 19, were excited about becoming parents.

Then, at her 20-week scan, medics realised a chamber of Macy's heart was not developing.

Referred to a cardiologist, the expectant parents were given the official hypoplastic left heart syndrome diagnosis.

Parents Amber and Peter are extremely proud of daughter Macy

Amber says Macy is always smiling and never complains

Her condition means one of the heart's pumping chambers does not develop properly

'It was horrible to hear,' recalled Amber. 'We were offered a termination but said no.

'We were told there's no real cause. It's not down to anything I did or didn't do  it's just one of those things that can happen out of the blue.'

After that, Amber was given weekly scans to monitor Macy's progress.

And on April 19 2017, 10 days before her due date, the baby arrived into the world weighing 5lb 5oz, following a natural delivery, at Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow.

'I got a quick cuddle before she was taken to the neonatal unit'

At birth, she was diagnosed with four more complex heart conditions - transposition of the great arteries, where two main blood vessels are switched over; atrial and ventricular septal defects, which are essentially holes in the walls separating chambers and tricuspid atresia, where a major valve is either missing or abnormally developed.

Amber continued: 'We were warned she'd be blue and weak, struggling to breathe. But she wasn't. She didn't look poorly at all.

'She was taken off straight away to have a line put in through her belly button to administer medication, that would help keep her heart valve open.

'After that, I got a quick cuddle before she was taken to the neonatal unit.'

When Macy was two days old, doctors brought Amber and Peter - who shares his daughter's around-the-clock care - into a side room and broke some difficult news.

Because her heart problems were so complex, Macy needed to be transferred to the more specialist Birmingham Children's Hospital for urgent surgery.

Amber feels positive about Macy's future

Amber was given weekly scans to monitor Macy's progress

After the first operation, Macy remained in hospital until June

The family stayed at a Ronald McDonald house during Macy's hospital stints

'The doctors told us if she didn't have the operation, she wouldn't make the end of the week. It was absolutely horrendous to hear,' said Amber.

On April 21, Macy was sent to Birmingham in an air ambulance, with her parents following closely behind on a separate flight.

In an eight hour operation, known as the Norwood procedure, surgeons reconstructed the heart and well as inserting a shunt to aid blood flow to the lungs.

'We are so proud of her'

After a tortuous wait, Amber finally saw her girl in intensive care as she came round.

'She looked really grey and bloated, due to fluid build-up. It was so hard to see  she looked like a different baby,' she said.

Post-operation, Macy remained in hospital until the end of June, when she was sent home to prepare for a second round of surgery.

The family suffered a slight set-back when, towards the end of 2017, she developed a blood clot in her leg, leaving her in agony.

But, thankfully, doctors managed to treat her with blood-thinning injections.

Strong enough for the next procedure at Birmingham Children's Hospital, by October, surgeons put in a larger stent to cater for her growing, also implanting the donor valve.

After a four-week recovery period, during which remarkable Macy went from strength to strength, she was allowed home once again in time for her first Christmas.

Macy's doctors have been astonished by her progress

A tweet about Macy by her aunt Demi received 20,000 likes and a flurry of congratulations from strangers

During both hospital stints, the family stayed in Ronald McDonald House charity accommodation and have praised them for stepping in when they most needed help.

Despite needing daily medication to keep her heart muscles relaxed and her blood thin enough to prevent further clotting, doctors are astonished by Macy's progress.

Earlier this month, her aunt, Demi McInnes, 17, expressed her pride at Macy's strength on Twitter, only to be met with a flurry of congratulations and 20,000 likes from strangers.

Now, Amber feels positive about the future and is sharing her story to give comfort to other parents of sick babies.

'We had a check-up in December and don't need another now until March, because Macy's doing so well,' she said.

'Even after everything she's been through, she always smiles and never complains.

'We are so proud of her.'Fascinating images reveal the 'bionic men' of World War One after pictures of war veterans given artificial limbs during the early 20th century have emerged.

The array of pictures show amputees with and without their artificial limbs as they struggle to come to terms with their disabilities.

Due to the industry being in its infancy, many veterans customised their limbs to suit their needs.

One of these veterans was James Hanger, one of the first amputees of the war, who is pictured with his patented 'Hanger Limb', which gave wearers greater functionality than the standard prosthetic of the time.

Workers can also be seen manufacturing prosthetics as they struggle to keep up with the increasing demand.

James Hanger, the man who invented the 'Hanger Limb', poses with his prosthetic in 1902

A double amputee poses for a picture with both of his artificial legs in 1919

A Senegalese amputee writing to thank the American Red Cross for his artificial arms in 1918

WHO WAS JAMES HANGER AND WHAT WAS THE 'HANGER LIMB'? James Hanger became the first amputee of the Civil War less than two days after enlisting on June 3 1861. A cannonball tore through his leg early on in the Battle of Philippi, resulting in him undergoing a life-saving amputation by Dr James D. Robinson. He said: 'In the twinkling of an eye, lifes fondest hopes seemed dead. I was the prey of despair. What could the world hold for a maimed, crippled man!' James Hanger with his prosthetic in 1902 After being kept as a prisoner of war until August, Mr Hanger returned to his home in Churchill, Virginia, where he locked himself away, making his family believe he was suffering from severe depression. Mr Hanger was, in fact, working on a prosthetic solution to his lost leg. Made from barrel staves, he first wore the 'Hanger Limb' in November 1861 as he walked down steps at his home. That same year, Mr Hanger was granted a US patent for his prosthetic innovation and was commissioned to develop artificial limbs for veterans. He said: 'Today I am thankful for what seemed then to me nothing but a blunder of fate, but which was to prove instead a great opportunity.' By the time of his death in June 1919, the J.E. Hanger Company had branches in Atlanta, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, London and Paris. Rather than wood, plastics and materials such as carbon fibre are used in prosthetic limbs today, which have made them stronger and lighter. Silicon and PVC also make artificial arms and legs more life like. Advertisement

Images capture life with artificial limbs

One image, taken in 1918, shows a Senegalese amputee writing to thank the American Red Cross for his artificial arms.

A picture taken the same year shows a Boy Scout assisting an amputee who lost both legs and came down to the Red Cross office to have artificial limbs fitted.

An additional image shows two soldiers waiting while their legs are fitted at the American Red Cross factory for artificial limbs at St. Maurice, with a boy sat between them whose leg was blown off by a hand grenade.

The images also show doctors demonstrating to patients how artificial limbs work, as well as prosthetic manufacturers working to make them more life like.

A double amputee poses for a picture with both of his artificial legs in 1919

American workmen made new limbs for British Tommies at the Roehampton hospital and workshops. The artificial limb expert, J.A. Swaine (right) shows the soldier the new leg which one of his assistants (left) demonstrates with his own artificial limb. Taken in 1918

Two soldiers waiting while their artificial legs are fitted at the American Red Cross factory for artificial limbs at St. Maurice. The boy's leg was blown off by a hand grenade. Taken in 1918

The American Red Cross artificial limb factory and shoe distributing station at Jassy, Romania. Veterans waiting in 1919 to be examined by the American artificial leg expert

Picture shows G.L. Burnette; commissioned by the J.E. Hanger artificial limb company in 1902

Other amputees who customised their prosthetics

As the prosthetics industry struggled to cope with the quantity of limbs required, Mr Hanger was not the only veteran to make bespoke limbs to better meet his requirements.

Samuel Decker, who is not pictured in the series of images, also customised his prosthetic by adding attachments that allowed him to carry out tasks without assistance.

Despite these advances, there was relatively little progress made between the end of the American Civil War and the First World War.

It was only shortly before the war that DW Dorrance invented the split hook hand; a device which became hugely popular with amputee labourers returning from the Western Front after WW1.

The prosthetics' attachment gave users the ability to grip objects, which the majority of earlier artificial limbs had been unable to do.

WW1 amputee is shown how to use his prosthetic from a fellow amputee teacher in 1919

With both his arms lost in battle, along with his right eye, this French soldier was fitted with artificial arms that allowed him to continue to work in the fields. Taken in 1918

Three amputees using artificial arms in New York in 1915

Louis Blin, who served as a monitor at a French school for the disabled. Taken in 1918

Two men work on covering an artificial limb to make it more life like. Taken in 1918

Boy Scout assisting an amputee who lost both legs and came down to the Red Cross office to have artificial limbs fitted. Picture taken in 1918

Modern prosthetics

As well as trauma, people can lose their limbs through cancer, birth defects or poorly-controlled diabetes.

These can sometimes be replaced with prosthetic versions, which vary according to the site of amputation and the patients' needs.

A 'cosmesis' is for cosmetic purposes rather than functionality. Plastics and pigments are matched to the patient's skin tone to create a lifelike appearance.

For functionality, an artificial hand may be attached to an amputee that consists of a pincer-like split hook that can be opened and closed to grip objects. This may be covered with a glove-like cloth to make it appear more lifelike.

Cables can be connected to prosthetics, for example from the artificial arm to a healthy shoulder, to allow movement.

Externally-powered limbs are controlled by motors, for instance a patient may use switches or toggles to move their artificial arm or leg.

More advanced methods include using muscles in the residual limb that the patient can still contract. These generate small electrical signals that can control limbs.

Lower-leg extremities are difficult to construct as they have to adapt to walking, sitting and standing.

Although all are expensive, artificial limbs containing electrical devices tend to be particularly pricey.

A factory worker manucfacturing an artificial leg for a WW1 victim. Taken in 1918

American Red Cross factory for the manufacture of artificial limbs at St. Maurice. Taken in 1918

Men making artificial legs in the J.E. Hangar shop, Washington, D.C. Taken in 1916College students often underestimate the distress their roommates and peers are feeling, new research suggests.

Reports of mental health issues have surged among teenagers and young adults, yet the new research suggests they are relatively oblivious to the struggles their peers face.

Researchers at New York University found that while students pick up on cues and changes in others' behaviors and moods when living in close quarters, they may fail to realize just how much their roommates are struggling.

The study authors urge that training students to know and pay attention to signs of mental health issues could lead to earlier diagnoses before young people reach their breaking points.

College roommates share close quarters, enabling them to pick up on changes in behavior and stress levels in on another, but they often underestimate each other's stress, the study found

Already in 2018, there have been eight shootings at schools in the US, heightening concerns that young people's mental health concerns go unnoticed for far too long.

After 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz killed 17 people at his former high school in Florida last week, stories of his alarming behavior and the emotional distress Cruz had faced seemed to emerge from every side.

Yet after he dropped out of therapy, no one surrounding Cruz saw how seriously his symptoms should have been taken.

The move from high school to the higher pressure, more independent environment of college can be an unprecedented challenge for students.

About one in five college students must face this challenge with the added stress of a diagnosable  but often undiagnosed  mental health condition, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

For 75 percent of people, the first episode of a mental health disorder occurs before the age of 24, meaning that college may be the prime time for such conditions to be caught.

'Although college is an exciting time, many students feel academic and social pressure, and this can lead to serious distress,' said lead study author Qi Xu, a doctoral student at New York University.

Among college students that do seek counselling, more than 41 percent report that they experience anxiety, and another 36 percent struggle with depression, and those numbers have been on the rise in recent years, according to the American Psychological Association.

More than 62 percent of college students that ultimately drop out do so due to mental health issues, and research has shown that many of these do not feel that they have access to the care they need on campus.

Most campuses offer resources like counselling as well as information on mental health and wellbeing and stress management, yet 34.2 percent of students that reported that their college was oblivious to what was going on, according to statistics published by Chadron State College.

For the study, published in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, the researchers quizzed 187 pairs of same-sex roommates about how stressed they were, and how stressed they thought their roommates were twice over the course of an academic year.

When a student's level of distress increased over time, their roommate tended to detect the change, but self-reported distress levels were consistently higher than roommates' assessments.

'Considering the nature of roommate relationships, roommates may be in a critical position to help and refer at-risk students although they do not necessarily have the same training and duty as [resident advisors],' wrote Xu and senior study author Dr Patrick Shrout.

'More universal training on how to identify and respond to the distress of peers might have the benefit of encouraging conversations among roommates about what actions each might take if he or she notices another experiencing extreme distress,' the study authors wrote.A new study found that women in groups are rated as more attractive than those alone.

Dubbed the 'cheerleader' effect, the research, from a team from Flinders University, Adelaide, showed a group can boost attractiveness, regardless of the individual's looks.

Furthermore, according to the researchers, it didn't matter where in a group you stand or how attractive others are.

A new study found that women shown in groups are rated as more attractive than those alone

'If you are looking to increase your own attractiveness, you could do so by appearing in a group, though you needn't worry where you appear,' the lead author, Daniel Carragher, said.

Better together

The possibility of the 'cheerleader effect' was established in an earlier study at University of California, in 2013.

The team from Australia wanted to see if their results could be reproduced.

In their study, 130 participants were told to rate pictures of female faces on a scale from zero per cent (very unattractive) to 100 per cent (very attractive).

The faces would appear alone as well as in groups.

'Faces were perceived to be significantly more attractive when they appeared in a group, compared to when those same faces were seen alone,' Carragher says, summing up the results of his study.

The position of faces in a group setting was also changed - but these did not seem to affect how highly a woman's attractiveness was rated.

British cosmetic surgeon Christopher Inglefield, who is the medical director of London Bridge Plastic Surgery & Aesthetic Clinic, said the research adds to the 'mystery' of attraction.

'We often strive to stand out from a crowd - but this research suggests we should be happy to be in a large group,' he said.

The golden ratio

'What's interesting about this research is that it reinforces the fact that the laws of attraction are often tricky to pin down and sometimes even defined by mathematical principals.

'The 15th Century Renaissance painter Leonardo da Vinci was one of the first to realise this when he famously wrote about the 'golden ratio', or the 'divine proportion'.

'In essence, the most attractive proportions in humans adhere to a special ratio which repeats itself in nature over and over again.

'Faces were perceived to be significantly more attractive when they appeared in a group, compared to when those same faces were seen alone,' lead author Carragher said

'If you happen to have those proportions, you can consider yourself attractive.

'Meanwhile lots of other recent studies have also sought to assess whether someone is 'mathematically beautiful' or not.

'For example, there's some evidence to suggest that the ideal size of a woman's mouth would be that the lower lip is 47 per cent larger than the top lip.

'Cosmetic practitioners can then use that data when applying simple lip filler injections.

'And last year American researchers analysed photographs of female models and concluded that if you've got a heart shaped face - where your cheekbones are exactly as wide as your eyebrows - you can also class yourself 'mathematically beautiful'.'There is no Harvard study that says a British children's television cartoon causes autism, despite what a social media post claims.

In fact, there's at least one peer-reviewed study that hints that a children's television show may help autistic kids.

The post on the newsely site, and others that have circulated in recent months, claims that a group of Harvard experts did a study that revealed Peppa Pig 'is one of the main causes of autism among children'.

The piece describes other complaints about the animated series and does not name the authors of the so-called study or where it was published.

Social media posts have claimed a Harvard study blamed Peppa Pig for autism

That's because it doesn't exist, autism experts said. The study could not be found on any database of scientific studies.

Three leading autism researchers called it false. The chairman of the Harvard psychology department said he knows of no such study.

'This is fake,' said autism researcher Dr. Matthew State, chairman of the psychiatry department at the University of California San Francisco and chairman of the scientific advisory board at the Autism Science Foundation.

State says it goes back to an old study by three economists - none from Harvard - that uses the Bureau of Labor Statistics' American Time Use Survey to find a vague link between autism, cable television watching and rates of rain and snow in the 1970s and 1980s.

That economics research paper, which isn't a full scientific study was ridiculed for 'bad association methodology,' State said.

'Bottom line is there is no credible scientific evidence that television watching increases the risk of autism.'

But when autism researcher Dr. Susan Hyman, a professor of behavioral pediatrics at the University of Rochester Medical Center, searched the scientific literature, she found one relevant study in the journal Behavior Analysis in Practice.

That 2017 study of only two autistic five-year-olds found that their behavior improved after watching the PBS children's show Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood. It's only two boys so that's not enough to make conclusions from.

So what does cause autism?

Scientists are still researching that with most - but not all - of the causes found so far being genetic. Other environmental causes include the age of the parents, State said.Walking down the high street with friends on Saturday, we heard an elderly gentleman at a cash machine shout: My card! Theyve taken my card!

He had put his credit card into the ATM, entered his pin number and was about to withdraw 100 when a man came up behind him and said The machine isnt working and cancelled the transaction.

Somehow in the commotion, the thief took the card out of the machine and pocketed it before the elderly gentleman knew what was going on.

Armed with the card, and the gentlemans pin number  which he had presumably read over his shoulder  the thief slipped off to plunder as much as he could from the account.

Dangers: Some fraudsters sit in wait to watch people enter their pin number at ATM machines

It was only when the thief had disappeared that the gentleman realised his card was gone.

He was visiting from France for the weekend, so the gentleman was left in a different city with no bank card, no sterling - just some euros in his pocket, no way of paying his hotel bill, and without the details of his bank in France.

Furthermore he knew that the thief was out there, no doubt at that very moment visiting ATMs to withdraw as much money as he could before the card was cancelled.

It was a race of the thief versus the gentleman  how much money would be taken out before the card was cancelled.

The gentleman was understandably flustered. My friend took out pounds to swap with his euros, so that at least he had some currency. Then we walked him to his hotel and phoned the police.

The police were kind, took down all the information and promised to do what they could. But they were not at all surprised to hear of the scam. Theyre seeing growing numbers of tricks, always evolving to catch people out.

They told us of another scam whereby a scruffy man will approach a tourist and hassle them.

Almost immediately after two more men will show up, claiming to be plain-clothes policemen. Theyll say something like Is this man bothering you?, or warn them that the scruffy man is trying to trick and rob them.

The policemen will say  quick, check your wallet to make sure hes not taken anything  then take the wallet themselves under the pretence of helping them to make sure everything is in order. The pretend police officers then hand back the wallet and it is only when they have walked off and disappeared around a corner that the tourist will realise most of their money is missing from it.

In another scam, a criminal will come up to their victim with a map asking for directions. Theyll put the map above their victims bag so that its out of sight. Then while the victim is kindly looking at the map to help out, the criminal will take the wallet or phone or whatever they can get their hands on.

It was frightening hearing all the clever tricks that criminals use. At This is Money we always write about the latest scams we hear about so that if they are tried out on you, you can spot and not fall for them.

But what it made me realise is that while this is great protection against fraudsters, there will be times when no matter how prepared you are, you can still fall for something.

So as well as being savvy to fraud, it can be as important to be prepared just in case you should fall prey.

Take for example this elderly gentleman.

The theft itself, while upsetting, would probably have made little financial damage to the gentleman. Since he reported the theft straight away, there is a good chance his bank would have refunded him the stolen money.

The real inconvenience came from things that with a little planning, the gentleman could have helped to mitigate.

Dangers: Despite our learned wariness, many people are still caught out making simple everyday transactions

He had no back-up card, so had no money for the rest of his trip until he returned to France the following afternoon. He had no money to pay his hotel bill, so was reliant on their goodwill to let him stay that night and pay the bill once he got back to France.

He didnt know the phone number of his bank so there was some delay while we worked out what it was. Furthermore, he knew that his bank branch would be shut due to a public holiday on the Monday for the next three days  leaving him without access to funds until then.

When he finally got through to his bank, he learned that thankfully the criminal had tried to withdraw 900 from his account, but had got the pin wrong so the card had been cancelled.

So how would you manage if you fell victim to a scam?

Would you have an alternative card to use? Would you know what to do and who to contact first?

Of course banks will not always just refund money taken by scammers  in fact they are increasingly resistant to doing so. But there are a few things you can do to make sure that if you are targeted you have a greater chance of getting your money back.

Dont give away your pin to anyone, no matter what excuse they give for needing it, or who they say they are.

Think twice before approving any transactions  if you do so your bank may argue it was your fault and deny you a refund.

And finally just take a deep breath. A common theme among scams is confusing the victim or making them flustered so they are less likely to think straight.Predatory turnaround firm Melrose is planning to offload one of its divisions as it ramps up its 7.4bn fight for engineer GKN.

Melrose is expected to confirm plans this week to sell Ergotron, part of US security and ventilation firm Nortek it bought in 2016, for around 1bn.

On the attack: Melrose is expected to confirm plans this week to sell Ergotron, part of US security and ventilation firm Nortek it bought in 2016

With proceeds expected to be handed back to investors, the sale of Ergotron would be seen as the latest charm offensive in an increasingly bitter battle to win over GKN shareholders.

Engineer GKN dates back 259 years and made cannonballs for the British Army during the Napoleonic Wars. It now makes parts for a number of military programmes, including fighter jets, as well as civilian car and plane manufacturers.

Amid rising concerns for national security implications on both sides of the Atlantic if Melroses GKN bid is successful, US and UK politicians are already scrutinising the deal and Prime Minister Theresa May has been called upon to intervene.

GKNs board has criticised the Melrose bid  which consists of 1.49 new Melrose shares and 81p in cash for each GKN share  as low price and high risk.Top move

Tesco UK chief executive Matt Davies, 47, is expected to be announced as the new chairman of online fashion firm N Brown.

He will leave the supermarket giant after its 3.7bn takeover of wholesaler Booker in April.

Moving on: Matt Davies will leave the supermarket giant after its 3.7bn takeover of wholesaler Booker in April

N Browns brands include JD Williams, Simply Be and Jacamo.

Bank results

Britains biggest banks will reveal annual figures this week after another eventful year for the sector, clouded once more by mis-selling scandals and past misdeeds.

Analysts suggest Royal Bank of Scotland will reveal a full-year loss of 592m, while Lloyds could see a 37 per cent surge in pre-tax profits to 5.8bn. Barclays is expected to post a healthy rise in profits to 4.7bn.

Look again

Vulture fund Alchemy Partners is believed to be considering buying into New Looks bonds as the fashion chain battles falling sales and the loss of insurance cover to some suppliers.

Hard cash

The owners of British Steel are planning to plough 100m into the firm in a major boost for British steelmaking. Private equity backers Greybull are in talks to raise fresh financing to invest in new coke ovens, upgrade existing mills and other improvements to its works in Scunthorpe and elsewhere.

No go

Long-term Yoox Net a Porter shareholder Robotti & Company, has said it plans to vote against Richemonts 2.5bn takeover offer.

Drug deal

Stage-three lung cancer treatment Imfinzi, by Astrazeneca, has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration.High Street mogul Sir Philip Green is considering selling all or part of his Arcadia Group empire to a rapidly expanding Chinese firm.

The 65-year-old billionaire is believed to be in talks with Chinese textiles giant Shandong Ruyi over the future of the group, which includes Topshop, Topman, Burton Menswear, Miss Selfridge and Dorothy Perkins, according to The Sunday Times.

Decision time: Sir Philip Green is believed to be in talks with Chinese textiles giant Shandong Ruyi

It comes as traditional High Street stores are struggling against the rise of online rivals.

The sale of the Arcadia, which has 2,800 stores and 26,000 employees globally, would mark the end of an era for the British retail industry and also lead to the probable retirement of Sir Philip after a controversial 50-year career.

Arcadia saw profits plunge 16pc in 2016 as it dealt with costs related to the collapse of High Street department store BHS, which Sir Philip sold for 1 to serial bankrupt Dominic Chappell the year before.

Sir Philip was unavailable for comment yesterday.Patrick O'Sullivan will join the board of Saga as chairman this May

Over-50s insurance and travel firm Saga has appointed former Old Mutual boss Patrick O'Sullivan to its board as it scrambles to recover from the collapse of Monarch airlines last year.

He will take over the role in May after the current chairman Andrew Goodsall retires and said he was pleased to be joining at a 'pivotal moment' for the company.

O'Sullivan has been a chairman at South African bank and insurance firm Old Mutual since 2010 and has also held a number of roles including vice-chairman of the board at Zurich Insurance during a 12-year stint at the group.

He will be paid 325,000 per year by Saga, but will not be entitled to any further compensation or benefits.

Senior independent director Orna NiChionna said the group was 'delighted' to have recruited O'Sullivan.

She said: 'He brings many years of highly relevant commercial and board experience, working with companies in the financial services and insurance sectors.

'His wisdom and leadership will be invaluable as we invest in growing the customer base to deliver profit growth across the business.'

The appointment follows a management shake-up announced in January, which was hot on the heels of its December profit warning.

In January it was announced that the director of tour operations Jeannette Linfoot had left the business, while Robin Shaw was appointed to the new role of chief executive of Saga Travel after a restructuring which will see tour and cruise operations combine.

The collapse of airline Monarch last year left Saga with a 2m hit to profits

As part of the reshuffle, Gary Duggan took over from Roger Ramsden as chief executive of Saga Services.

Ramsden was due to take up a new role within the group but this will now 'not be taken forward following the review', Saga said, adding that he will leave in the first quarter.

Its December profit warning came in the wake of the collapse of Monarch, which left Saga with a 2 million one-off hit to profits.

It warned profits will fall due to its struggle to attract new customers after 860,000 people saw their holiday's cancelled unexpectedly last year.

Saga said this would slow growth in underlying pre-tax profits to between 1 per cent and 2 per cent for the year to January 31, down from more than 5 per cent in the first half.

There was further gloom for the new financial year as the group added that a plan to invest an extra 10 million a year into attracting new customers, alongside other 'headwinds', would see underlying profits fall by around 5 per cent.The average asking price for a property in the UK kept creeping up this month and more sellers have put their properties on the market, figures from a leading property website suggest.

However, Rightmove added that its taking longer to sell homes.

Februarys monthly rise of 0.8 per cent means the average house asking price across the UK rose by 2,414 in just a month to just over 300,000. Compared to last year, prices rose by 1.5 per cent, up from a 1.1 per cent increase seen in January.

Rightmove said the figures suggested the market remained resilient, although this rate of growth was well below the 1.6 per cent monthly average at this time of year over the last ten years.

Prices rose in all regions between January and February, except for small fall in the South West

All regions saw price rises between January and February, except for a marginal fall in the South West, where prices dropped by 131, the website said.

Scotland saw the biggest monthly increase, with prices up 5.1 per cent, while the North East and Wales saw increases of 3.6 per cent and 3.5 per cent respectively.

Miles Shipside, Rightmove director, said: 'Whilst it is the norm for new sellers asking prices to be buoyant at the start of a new year, this first complete month in 2018 is seeing more pricing optimism than the comparable period in 2017.

'The political and economic uncertainty is out of sellers control, but they are in control of their asking prices, and in general they are not being overly ambitious or setting too high an asking price.'

Rightmove also noted that there were signs that sellers were slowly coming back to the market, with a modest 2 per cent increase in the number of properties for sale compared to last year.

However, stretched buyer affordability coupled with seasonal factors means its taking longer to sell a home across the country, although this varies greatly across regions.

On average, its taking 72 days to sell a home in the UK, up from 67 days last month but more or less the same amount of time as in January last year.

In London, it takes even more - 83 days. But there are some places where homes are being snapped up much quicker than the capital and the national average, Rightmove said.

Its taking longer to sell a home across the country, although this varies greatly across regions

Livingston in West Lothian, Scotland currently comes out on top, with homes there selling after just 17 days. Falkirk, in Stirlingshire, Scotland, was identified as the next biggest hotspot, with homes there taking 20 days to sell on average.

Rugby and Nuneaton in Warwickshire, Hitchin in Hertfordshire and Wellingborough in Northamptonshire are also hotspots, with properties in these places all taking 21 days to sell on average.

All these locations have seen asking prices rise in between 5 per cent and 9 per cent over the past year.

London, as usual, continues to show big differences across its boroughs. Some of the highest priced areas like Kensington continued to see prices slide (down by 1.9 per cent), while trendy areas like Hackney continued to see prices rise (second highest increase at 3.6 per cent).

The biggest decline in London was in Lambeth, where prices plummeted by 7.3 per cent, while Bexley saw the biggest increase at 4.2 per cent.

On average, asking prices across the capital rose by 4.4 per cent on a monthly basis, but they were down 1 per cent compared to last year.David Glasser, Weinstein Company's chief operating officer, was fired from his position. In a statement, the studio said its board 'has unanimously voted to terminate David Glasser for cause'

The board of the Weinstein Company has dismissed the beleaguered film studio's president and chief operating officer, David Glasser, less than a week after he was cited for failing to act on employee harassment complaints.

In a statement, the studio said its board 'has unanimously voted to terminate David Glasser for cause.'

A spokeswoman for the Weinstein Company was unavailable for immediate comment.

Glasser, 46, could not immediately be reached for comment.

On February 11, New York's Attorney General Eric Schneiderman sued the Weinstein Company and Harvey Weinstein alleging years of sexual misconduct by the movie producer.

The civil suit also accused executives of repeatedly failing to protect employees from Weinstein.

Weinstein, 65, was one of Hollywood's most influential men before more than 70 women accused him of sexual misconduct, including rape.

New York's Attorney General Eric Schneiderman sued the Weinstein Company and Harvey Weinstein alleging years of sexual misconduct

He has denied having non-consensual sex with anyone.

Schneiderman also said that Glasser, who supervised the company's human resources department and was in charge of handling dozens of complaints against Weinstein, should not benefit from any sale of the studio.

Schneiderman said Glasser at the time was in line to be chief executive.

The studio was in talks to sell itself to a group of investors led by former Obama administration official Maria Contreras-Sweet, who were hoping to buy the company for approximately $275million.

They would have assumed the company's $225million debt, the New York Times reported.

The deal would also demand that Bob Weinstein, Harvey's younger brother, leave the studio.

The civil suit also accused executives of repeatedly failing to protect employees from Weinstein. And while it doesn't mention Glasser by name, his title is listed

Schneiderman's lawsuit, however, put the deal negotiations on hold, said people familiar with the matter.

His lawsuit details that the company sale would have resulted in people reporting to some of the same managers who 'failed to investigate' Harvey Weinstein's conduct.

Responding to Schneiderman's lawsuit on February 11, Weinstein's attorney Ben Brafman said a fair investigation would prove that many of the allegations against his client were without merit.

Back in October, Glasser reportedly told staff: 'We are going to be OK.'

He had planned to leave the Weinstein Company in AUgust of 2015 but later announced he would stay for a new three-year contract.

He was commonly referred to being the third brother to the Weinsteins.

'Harvey and I sometimes don't even want to be brothers,' Bob Weinstein once said. 'I don't know why anyone would want to be another brother.'

'Should he (David Glasser) want it,' Bob Weinstein added, 'has become the third brother.'Swastikas have been drawn on Israel's Polish embassy after Poland's Prime Minister suggested there were 'Jewish perpetrators' of atrocities during the Second World War.

The words 'Polish' and 'murderer' were also scrawled in black marker on the entrance of the building in Tel Aviv in the wake of Mateusz Morawiecki's controversial remarks.

Poland sparked international criticism over its stance on the facts of the Holocaust when it passed a law imposing jail terms for suggesting the country was complicit in the deaths of millions of Jews during the war.

At the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, Morawiecki was asked by an Israeli reporter whether the reporter himself could be penalised for telling a story in Poland about his mother, who survived the Holocaust, and told him that some Poles had collaborated with the Gestapo.

In his answer, Morawiecki equated 'Jewish perpetrators' with Polish, Ukrainian, Russian and German perpetrators, drawing immediate criticism from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who called his words 'outrageous'.

Swastikas have been drawn on Israel's Polish embassy in Tel Aviv after Poland's Prime Minister suggested there were 'Jewish perpetrators' of atrocities during the Second World War

The words 'Polish' and 'murderer' were also scrawled in black marker on the entrance of the building in Tel Aviv in the wake of Mateusz Morawiecki's controversial remarks

Poland's government said Morawiecki's comments were not intended to deny the Holocaust or allege that Jewish victims bore responsibility for 'Nazi German-perpetrated genocide'.

At the Polish embassy in Tel Aviv on Sunday, swastikas and anti-Polish profanities were found drawn in marker pen on a gate and bulletin board. Police, who released photographs of the markings, opened an investigation.

Netanyahu spoke by telephone on Sunday with Morawiecki and rejected any comparison between Polish and Jewish actions during the Holocaust, a statement issued by the Israeli prime minister's office said.

'The aim of the Holocaust was to destroy the Jewish people and that every Jew, everywhere, was facing a death sentence,' it quoted Netanyahu as saying.

Netanyahu and his Polish counterpart agreed to continue to pursue a dialogue on the new law, and that teams from both sides would meet soon, the statement said.

The Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki is pictured during the Munich Security Conference where he made the comments

Some 3 million Jews who lived in pre-war Poland were murdered by the Nazis, accounting for about half of all Jews killed in the Holocaust.

Jews from across the continent were sent to be killed at death camps built and operated by Germans in occupied Poland -- home to Europe's biggest Jewish community at the time -- including Auschwitz, Treblinka, Belzec and Sobibor.

Thousands of Poles risked their lives to protect Jewish neighbours during the war. But research published since the fall of communism in 1989 showed that thousands also killed Jews or denounced those who hid them to the Nazi occupiers, challenging the national narrative that Poland was solely a victim.

According to figures from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, the Nazis, who invaded Poland in 1939, also killed at least 1.9 million non-Jewish Polish civilians.

'Attempts to equate the crimes of Nazi German perpetrators with the actions of their victims -- Jewish, Polish, Romani among others -- who struggled for survival should be met with resolute, outright condemnation,' the Polish government's statement also said. (Editing by Jeffrey Heller and Catherine Evans)A Queensland father had a slippery surprise when an eastern brown snake fell from his board shorts as he was getting his young son ready for the day.

The man picked up his board shorts when the venomous snake slipped out and slithered into the shower.

Local snake catcher Luke Huntley was called to the home in the small town of Eumundi on Queensland's Sunshine Coast.

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A Queensland father had a slippery surprise when an eastern brown snake fell from these pair of board shorts as he was getting his young son ready for the day. 'Thankfully the snake fell out of the shorts before the shorts were put on,' local snake catcher Luke Huntley said

'Apparently the husband had gone to put the board shorts on and this little brown snake dropped out of his shorts,' said Luke.

The snake was a juvenile, believed to be only about 15 cm long, but 'no less venomous than a six foot snake of the same species,' Luke told Yahoo 7.

'The amount it would inject would still be enough to kill you, just because of the potency of the venom.

'Never assume it's harmless, because often it can turn out to be venomous.

'But thankfully the snake fell out of the shorts before the shorts were put on,' the experienced snake catcher said.

The snake was a juvenile, believed to be only about 15 cm long. 'It's no less venomous than a six foot snake of the same species. The amount it would inject would still be enough to kill you, just because of the potency of the venom,' Luke said

The eastern brown snake is responsible for about 60 per cent of snake bite deaths in Australia. The adult snake can grow up to 2 metres in length.

Eumundi is a hot spot for eastern brown snakes, Luke said. He receives more calls to the north eastern part of the suburb than in any other area.

The snake, which became 'fired up', was caught safely in a protective black bag.

The snake, which became 'fired up', was caught safely in a protective black bag. 'He had a little nibble, but if I'd been grabbed with a big black bag I'd probably bite as well. He was just defending himself,' said Luke

'He had a little nibble, but if I'd been grabbed with a big black bag I'd probably bite as well. He was just defending himself,' said Luke.

'Lucky it did fall out because a bite from the worlds second most venomous snake would not end well!, someone said on Luke's Facebook page.

There are around 170 species of snakes in Australia and the eastern brown snake is one of the country's most venomous.

Successfully caught! Eumundi is a hot spot for eastern brown snakes, Luke said. He receives more calls to the north eastern part of the suburb than in any other area

Luke Huntley catches unwelcome intruders in the Noosa area

An adult eastern brown snake can grow up to 2 m long and is responsible for about 60 per cent of snake bite deaths in Australia. It is the worlds second most venomous snake (file photo)Eager theatre fans waiting in line outside the Star Casino are taking a different sort of gamble this morning with some of them queuing overnight to try and nab cheap tickets to the hottest show in town.

Just ask the people who have camped outside the Sydney Lyric Theatre at the Star Casino trying to buy $20 The Book Of Mormon tickets.

Some people arrived as early as noon on Sunday trying to secure the bargain tickets.

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People slept as they queued for $20 tickets to The Book Of Mormon which has won nine Tony awards

Fans lined up for cheap tickets to the Tony award musical since midday Sunday but after the line had 1000 fans in it they turned people away

The line goes all the way down the street and around the corner to the next block, according to The Today Show.

The tickets for the show are first come, first served and people were willing to sleep on concrete all night to get their hands on the cheap tickets.

Tickets are limited to two per person to avoid bulk buying and potential scalping issues.

When 1000 theatre fans were in line at 9am people were turned away to avoid waiting for a ticket as only 2000 were available.

Vanessa has been camped out since 7.30pm trying to get tickets to a show she has already seen twice in Melbourne.

Vanessa camped out since 7.30pm trying to get tickets to The Book Of Mormon for the third time

The Book Of Mormon has released $20 tickets to a preview performance on February 27

When asked why she wanted to see it again she replied: 'It was so good. I loved it so much. It was so funny.'

Despite being in the middle of Sydney some people were still asleep.

There were similar scenes in Melbourne last year when tickets went on sale for the same price with people queuing for 18 hours to score $20 tickets.

The Book Of Mormon is about two missionaries who travel to a Ugandan village.

The musical has won nine Tony awards including Best Musical.Five teenagers used a knife and a hammer to carjack a Mercedes Benz before crashing it and leading police on an 80km high speed pursuit.

The teens carjacked the Mercedes on Mulgowie Street in Sunnybank in southern Brisbane on Sunday afternoon, 9 News reported.

The five teenagers managed to pull the Mercedes driver over at 2pm Queensland time before threatening him with the knife and hammer before taking the Mercedes-Benz E400.

The five teens used a knife and a hammer to carjack a Mercedes E400 in Sunnybank, Queensland, on Sunday afternoon

Police were able to locate the vehicle two hours later, at 4.30pm, in Acacia Ridge just one suburb over.

The Mercedes had been dumped after the teens had crashed it into a parked car on a suburban street.

Police began a search for the offenders and the police helicopter was called in, the helicopter was able to spot two of the teen offenders escaping in yet another stolen car.

Police found the Mercedes one suburb away after it had crashed into a parked car before three teens took off in another car stolen earlier in the month, and lead an 80km police pursuit

The Mitsubishi Magna had been reported stolen on February 16, the offenders then took police on an 80km chase to a property in Darlington where the three teenagers were arrested by police.

All five offenders are now in police custody and face three charges of armed robbery and two charges for unlawful use of a motor vehicle.

Two offenders are 16-years-old, two are 17-years-old and the fifth is 18-years-oldTheresa May today slammed the 'horrific' behaviour of staff at Oxfam after a report revealed three men caught up in the Haiti scandal physically threatened witnesses.

The Prime Minister has demanded that charities spell out to ministers exactly what they are doing to protect the people they work with in the wake of the controversy.

Her tough words come after it emerged that Oxfam's 2011 investigation into the Haiti sex scandal concluded charities should be warned about 'problem staff'.

But the charity failed to act on the advice and several men accused of abuse were allowed to take up future posts in the aid sector.

Speaking to reporters on a school visit in London today, the PM said: 'In relation to the Oxfam issue, the behaviour that we've now discovered was horrific.'

Theresa May (pictured on a visit to a school in London today) slammed the 'horrific' behaviour of staff at Oxfam after a report revealed three men caught up in the Haiti scandal physically threatened witnesses.

Oxfam has been accused of a fresh cover-up after it finally released a report into the Haiti sex scandal but redacted the names of the aid workers involved, except former director in Haiti, Roland Van Hauwermeiren (pictured)

She added: 'It was far below the standards that we expect for the charities and the NGOs that we're working with.

Oxfam in numbers: How much money does the scandal-hit charity make each year and how is it spent? The charity's annual review provides a breakdown of income and spending for Oxfam GB each year. Here are the headline figures from the 2016/17 report. 408.6 million Oxfam's total income in 2016/17. The Government and public authorities provided 43% of the total, at 176 million, while donations and legacies made up the second largest proportion of the charity's income at 108 million. 303.5 million The amount Oxfam spent on charitable activities in 2016/17. 41% The percentage of Oxfam's funds that went on humanitarian spending in the last financial year, which the charity describes as saving and rebuilding lives after disasters. Development, described as helping 'communities and families lift themselves out of poverty', made up 38% of spending. 21% The remaining 21% was spent on support costs (10%), fundraising (8%) and campaigning and advocacy (3%). 31 The number of worldwide emergencies the charity responded to in 2016/17. 8.6 million The number of people hit by conflict and natural disaster for whom the charity provided emergency support during the last financial year. 5,083 The number of staff employed by Oxfam as of March 31 last year. 130,000 to 139,000 One member of staff earned between 130,000 and 139,000 in the year to March 31 2017, the highest bracket available. The figure could be made up of a number of things including salary, taxable benefits and other allowances; for example, the charity pays towards the cost of education for up to three children where suitable free schooling is not available. Advertisement

'And I understand there have been further revelations today which show that actually there was physical intimidation of witnesses.

'This is absolutely horrific.

This is exactly the problem that we see which means that all too often people don't feel able to come forward to report what has happened to them, the behaviour that they've been on the receiving end of.'

She added: 'I think what is important from a government point of view in dealing with these charities is we are demanding that these charities come forward in very short order and show us what their safeguarding, their protection arrangements are.

'We will not work with anybody who does not meet the high standards that we set and we believe are important.'

Her words, made on a visit to a school in west London this morning, reveals that the charity treated Mr van Hauwermeiren leniently to protect its reputation.

Last week, Mr van Hauwermeiren denied ever using prostitutes in Haiti.

But the report alleges that when an Oxfam team was sent to Haiti to investigate, Mr van Hauwermeiren confirmed that he had used prostitutes at the residence procured for him by the charity.

Oxfam allowed him to resign in a 'phased and dignified exit' if he agreed to help with the investigation. He left within a month.

The charity, which has nearly 10,000 staff working across more than 90 countries, released a redacted version of the report.

Oxfam said that it wanted to be 'as transparent as possible' about the decisions it made.

The names of the ten people who were investigated were redacted apart from that of Oxfam's director in Haiti, Roland van Hauwermeiren.

The charity is set to present the original, unedited report to the Haiti government on Monday and apologise for 'mistakes,

But MPs accused the organisation of hiding the truth, and urged it to end a crisis that has left its reputation in tatters.

The scandal only came to light ten days ago when a newspaper revealed details from the original investigation.

These included allegations that staff hosted parties with prostitutes wearing Oxfam T-shirts.

The investigation concluded that charities should be warned about 'problem staff'  only for several accused of abuse to successfully take up new posts in the aid sector.

Mr van Hauwermeiren became a senior figure in Bangladesh at Action Against Hunger, which claims Oxfam made no mention of his alleged conduct in 2011.

One former staff member was employed by Oxfam as a consultant in Ethiopia just months after being sacked, a move the charity said last week was a 'serious error'.

The 2011 report said there was 'more needed' to be done to stop 'problem staff' working for other charities

Roland Van Hauwermeiren was accused of using prostitutes in Haiti and Mikelange Gabo (pictured) said he had sex with her

Tory MP Andrew Bridgen said: 'Transparency is always the best disinfectant, and this is not transparency.

Oxfam have lost the public's trust, and actions such as this will not help to restore it.'

Among the alleged crimes uncovered by the charity's investigation were the use of pornography and the bullying and intimidation of witnesses to misconduct.

The charges against those involved also included fraud, negligence and nepotism. One man was accused of faking his CV.

When an initial report was leaked, three suspects were allegedly 'physically threatening and intimidating' towards a witness named in the document.

The report will put further pressure on Oxfam boss Mark Goldring, who was described as 'arrogant' yesterday by Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson.

The charity has already faced claims that it buried the report in 2011, in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake

She became the most senior politician yet to call for him to step down, after he said it was not as if aid workers had 'murdered babies in their cots'.

He also claimed that media reports were motivated by an 'anti-aid agenda' and critics were 'gunning' for the charity.

Miss Davidson said exploiting disaster victims represented 'the lowest circle of Hell'.

Last week, International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt said new Government funding for Oxfam had been stopped until its standards improved.

It received around 30million from the Government last year.

Donors are reported to be deserting the charity, while several celebrity patrons have either distanced themselves from the charity or withdrawn support.More than 40 of the country's top thinkers have launched a pro-Brexit campaign to fight the tide of Remain 'propaganda'.

Leading economists, lawyers, philosophers, historians and social scientists want to challenge the impression all academics oppose leaving the EU.

The group, which includes Remain voters, has criticised the contempt shown by those seeking to reverse the referendum result who regard large numbers of Leave supporters as 'unworthy of consideration'.

Trying to overturn that vote 'would outrage democratic sovereignty, cause dangerous and lasting dissension, and make the United Kingdom an international laughing stock', they said.

A new website, briefingsforbrexit.com, will challenge 'ludicrous' claims about the economic consequences of leaving.

It is the brainchild of two Cambridge academics, the historian Professor Robert Tombs and the economist Dr Graham Gudgin.

Other figures who have signed up to the project include former MI6 chief Sir Richard Dearlove, the Labour peer Lord Glasman, the Oxford law professor Dr Richard Ekins and Baroness Ruth Deech, the former chairman of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, The Sunday Times reported.

Dr Gudgin, an emeritus professor at the Judge Business School at the University of Cambridge, and Professor Tombs, emeritus professor of French history at Cambridge and the author of The English And Their History, both voted in favour of entering the Common Market in 1975, but backed Leave in the referendum, concerned about centralisation of powers in Brussels.

Professor Tombs said: 'To every crisis that comes along, the answer is always more centralisation, never less.'

Dr Gudgin said he came up with the idea for the website 'during one of those terribly pessimistic weeks. When Theresa May wasn't going to last until teatime and there was definitely going to be a second referendum.

'Together we thought, 'Gosh, we ought to be better organised than at the last referendum'.'

British Ambassador Sir Andrew Wood is one of the brains behind the new project

Cambridge Historian David Abulafia is another top-thinker taking part in the new website

He added: 'Nobody who appears on the BBC and says 'this is going to be a catastrophe' is ever asked what their view is based on.'

Professor Tombs said his motivation was the 'whole tide of propaganda about how awful everything was, how awful everything was going to be, and we didn't believe this.

'We realised quite a lot of other people didn't believe it either.' They criticised the contempt shown by many Remainers to those who voted Leave.

Professor Tombs said: 'Graham and I have working-class or lower middle-class backgrounds.

'I do feel you just can't write off a large part of the population as being unworthy of consideration.'

He said he voted Leave because he feared the EU would break up or become 'much more centralised,' adding: 'We've seen how that works in Italy and Greece: A political choice is defeated by sheer weight of economic pressure  if you do this, your currency or economy will collapse.

Dr Terri Apter is a former senior tutor of psychology at Newnham College, Cambridge

'I don't think that would last and I don't see how it could have a good end. I don't think we either want to be, or ought to be, a party to that.'

Professor Tombs said his research found that the narrative of the decline of post-imperial Britain in the mid-20th century  one of the driving forces behind the decision to join the EU  was a myth.

'I think, speaking as a historian and as a patriot, we were taken into the EU on a misunderstanding of our situation,' he said.

'It would have been better in the 1960s and 1970s to continue to ask for a free trade agreement.

'I don't think most people understood the full implications of what we were signing up to politically.'

Their analysis of British growth in per-capita GDP since 1952 showed it was better before we joined the bloc than after. Dr Gudgin said recent Government figures which purported to show huge falls in growth in most regions of the EU after Brexit were 'ludicrous'.

Pictured: Rory Maw, bursar at Magdalene College, Oxford

He led a team of academics who proved that the assumptions behind the Project Fear papers produced by the Treasury before the referendum were wrong, and failed to take account of the fact that Britain was almost the only EU state that had more trade outside the EU than inside.

He criticised its 'extreme assumptions' which led the Treasury to 'an exaggerated estimate of the impact of Brexit'.

The two academics said there was a rush of interest from other researchers after their project was conceived  but some Brexiteer academics were afraid to go public for fear it would hit their promotion prospects.

Many universities get a lot of money from the EU, leading to many academics taking a 'narrow, corporatist view'.

Dr Gudgin said: 'One of our contributors said he was told by a younger pro-Brexit colleague that his professor had told him that people who voted Brexit were the sort of people who sent his relatives to concentration camps.'

Professor Tombs added: 'I thought one thing we academics were paid to do was help explain things to people, but universities have become so simple-minded about this.'A gun safe was dumped before being set on fire at a South Victorian primary school on Monday morning.

An unidentified driver reversed into the car park of Mary Mackillop Primary School, in Narre Warren North, at around 2am, the Herald Sun reported.

The trespassers dumped the gun safe and set it alight with an unknown accelerant before fleeing the scene.

A gun safe was dumped and set alight in the car park of Mary Mackillop Primary School around 2am on Monday (stock photo)

Metropolitan Fire Brigade firefighters arrived shortly after to extinguish the flames.

The safe contained no firearms and was found to be completely empty except for some burnt clothing.

Victoria Police are currently investigating who was driving the car - and why they would want to burn a gun safe in a primary school car park.

Police are also trying to hunt down the owner of the safe.

Firefighters arrived on the scene to extinguish the flames, and discovered that the gun safe was empty apart from some burnt clothingWild surf is battering the New South Wales coastline, and authorities have warned dangerous surf conditions will only get worse in the wake of Tropical Cyclone Gita.

Authorities have issued warnings for dangerous swells, including waves up to four metres high along the NSW coastline.

Meteorologist Max Gonzalez told Daily Mail Australia the dangerous surf is a result of Tropical Cyclone Gita which hit Tonga last week.

Authorities have issued warnings for dangerous swells, including waves reaching three to four metres along the NSW and Queensland coastlines (The Gold Coast, on QLD's border with NSW, is pictured)

Mr Gonzalez warned waves would reach about two metres off the coast of Sydney on Monday, before picking up overnight.

Despite beaches along the state's coastline being closed over the weekend and lifesavers rescued about 150 people from dangerous surf at the weekend.

Surf Life Saving NSW Liam Howitt warned swimmers, surfers, and fishermen to steer clear of the water, particularly in the state's north.

'Northern New South Wales is expected to experience extremely strong conditions, with waves in excess of four metres as a result of the system pushing down from Queensland,' he said.

'So as a lifesaving community, we're certainly encouraging everyone to be extremely careful before heading out and not to overestimate their ability or underestimate the conditions.'

Surf Life Saving's Liam Howitt warned swimmers, surfers, and fishermen to steer clear of the water - but surfers have reveled in the chance to navigate the waves

Beaches along the state's coastline were closed, and remain closed as heavy swells and surf hit Australia's east coast in the wake of Tropical Cyclone Gita

A low pressure system (pictured in red) off Australia's east coast is causing huge swells

Meanwhile, a severe storm warning has been issued for parts of the south coast and the Snowy Mountains.

While the country escaped the worst of Tropical Cyclone Gita, Mr Gonzalez said Sydney might see some showers on Monday afternoon.

Temperatures will reach about 27C on Monday, before a cool change sets in and Sydney gets a reprieve from muggy and oppressive conditions.

Mr Gonzalez said Sydney weather would cool down on Tuesday and remain cool until hot weather returned in time for the weekend.

'There will be another round of heat for the weekend, with temperatures hitting 31C on Saturday and Sunday,' he said.

New South Wales has seen below average rainfall this month, recording only 38m, well below the 120m February average.

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Mr Gonzalez said the New South Wales and Queensland coastlines were feeling the effects of Tropical Cyclone Gita which hit Tonga last week

Meanwhile, the search for a swimmer has turned into a recovery operation.

The 22-year-old man went missing in rough surf off the NSW north coast on Saturday, after becoming caught in a rip at Nambucca.

Two days after he went missing, Surf Life Saving chief executive Steven Pearce said authorities were preparing for the worst.

'We are no longer looking at this as a rescue operation, more as a recovery operation,' he said.

Despite danger warnings and closed beaches, surfers were pictured riding the massive waves at the Gold Coast, in Queensland's south at the weekend

Around 250 kilometres south of Broome, Anna Plains Station felt the brunt of Tropical Cyclone Kelvin as roofs were knocked off, windows smashed and trees were uprooted

Meanwhile in Queensland, surf conditions are once again expected to close beaches.

Heavy easterly swells whipped up by tropical cyclone Gita resulted in several beaches on the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast being closed throughout the weekend.

Conditions are forecast to be similar on Monday with the Bureau of Meteorology predicting swells up to three to 3.5 metres along the entire southern coastal region.

The swell isn't forecast to ease until late on Monday night or early Tuesday in Queensland.

Lifeguards are encouraging beachgoers to stay out of the rough conditions after having to make a number of rescues over the weekend.

On Sunday a man in his 50s had to be rescued by the Westpac Lifesaver Helicopter at Jumpinpin bar on the Gold Coast.

The man fell off his jet ski in the dangerous conditions and spent significant time in the water before being rescued.

'Our key message at the moment for the safety of beachgoers and the safety of lifeguards is the encourage people to stay out of the water completely,' a Surf Lifesaving Queensland spokeswoman told AAP.

In other parts of the country, there are fears lives and homes could be lost in Western Australia's top end as the region cops a battering from flooding and destructive winds of up to 150 km/hr.

Residents are bracing for the worst as Tropical Cyclone Kelvin was upgraded to a category two and hit landfall in a remote part of the Kimberley region on Sunday morning.

A cyclone red alert is in place as of Sunday night for Bidyadanga to Sandfire in the Kimberley with all roads closed.

A cyclone red alert is current for Bidyadanga to Sandfire in the Kimberley with all roads closed

'There is a threat to lives and homes. You are in danger and need to act immediately,' Department of Fire and Emergency Services WA posted on Facebook.

There are reports of sheds being destroyed by the strong wind gusts, 9 News reports.

Heavy rainfall is likely to continue over the far west Kimberley and far east Pilbara.

'People in the West and North Kimberley Districts need to take action now as major flooding is expected over the coming days,' Department of Fire and Emergency Services WA posted.

It advised residents in the region to watch for changes in water levels so they are ready if you need to evacuate to pack a relocation kit and relocate equipment and livestock so they do not get caught in floodwaters.

Tropical Cyclone Kelvin was upgraded to a category two and hit landfall in a remote part of the Kimberley region on Sunday morning

Residents in the cyclone-hit region are advised to stay indoors

The cyclone threat for between Broome and Bidyadanga has passed but residents are warned to take care to avoid dangers caused by damage.

People are advised to not swim, fish in Roebuck Bay or Dampier Creek in Broome until further notice following heavy rainfall since Saturday.

Broome is now just 23 millimetres off recording its wettest year ever, after record rainfall last month.

Around 250 kilometres south of Broome, Anna Plains Station felt the brunt of the cyclone as roofs were knocked off, windows smashed and trees were uprooted.

Station owner David Stoate, who has 20,000 cattle on the property, estimates the damage to be about $150,000.

'The worst of it is gone for us but it's still quite windy,' he told AAP.

'I think the cattle probably coped with it better than us.

There are reports of sheds being destroyed by strong wind gusts of up to 150 km/hr

'People in the West and North Kimberley Districts need to take action now as major flooding is expected over the coming days,' Department of Fire and Emergency Services WA posted

Anna Plains Station owner David Stoate, who has 20,000 cattle on the property, estimates the damage to be about $150,000

In Bidyadanga Aboriginal community, residents have remained calm as conditions intensified.

'The wind has picked up quite a lot in the last half an hour so it's pretty full on at the moment,' Community CEO Tania Baxter told the ABC.

'Everyone's inside, we're all just prepared for it. We've all been waiting for it to happen for a few days now so I think everyone's ready for it.'

Further south, Bureau of Meteorology Western Australia issued a severe thunderstorm warning for Gascoyne, Goldfields and Central Wheat Belt districts including Kalgoorlie and Southern Cross.

Department of Fire and Emergency Services WA said the cyclone will gradually weaken on Sunday night or Monday morning as it continued to move inland.The number of Australians who have been on the dole for more than five years has doubled in the last half decade.

There are now a total of 116,682 long term working-age welfare recipients, up from 62,853 five years ago.

Queensland is seeing a similar trend, with the number of people receiving Newstart or Youth Allowance increasing from 10,269 to over 22,000.

Working-age welfare cost Australian taxpayers $31.8billion in 2017.

The number of Australians who have been on the dole for more than five years has doubled in the last half decade (stock image)

Increases in those receiving the dole long-term come as the total number of welfare recipients has decreased, The Courier Mail reported.

Social Services Minister Dan Tehan has been calling for cashless welfare cards to break the cycle of long term welfare dependency.

'The evidence shows that children born to welfare-dependent parents are more likely to become welfare dependent themselves,' he said.

'I visited Bundaberg recently and met with a community leaders and residents who were unanimous that they wanted the cashless debit card, because doing nothing was no longer an option.'

Poll Do you support the cashless welfare card? Yes No I don't know Do you support the cashless welfare card? Yes 350 votes

No 742 votes

I don't know 28 votes Now share your opinion





Bundaberg has Queensland's highest number of long term working-age dole recipients, and is a site for a potential cashless debit card trial.

Mr Tehan said 90 per cent of those living in the region aged under 25 and on the dole had parents who have been on welfare at some period during the past 15 years.

Keith Pitt, Federal Member for Hinkler, which includes the Bundaberg region, supports a cashless card.

The cashless card could prevent people from spending their welfare payments straight away, and could help break the cycle of dependency, he said.

Federal Shadow Minister for Families and Social Services Jenny Macklin said the onus was on the government to create more jobs.

'There are men and women who have simply given up on looking for work after years of trying, their lives diminished and their spirit broken. It's just not good enough,' she said.Stretching 450 miles from Switzerland to the Belgian coast, it passes the sites of some of the bloodiest clashes in history.

But experts hope a walkway along the route of the Western Front could serve as a 'beautiful' memorial to the First World War.

The route would be split into ten-mile stages, taking in the main centres of fighting, including Arras, Verdun and Ypres.

Experts hope a walkway along the route of the Western Front could serve as a 'beautiful' memorial to the First World War

Organisers of the cross-channel initiative want it to serve as a 'via sacra'  sacred way  in honour of the 17million war dead.

The inspiration for the campaign was a letter written by Alexander Gillespie, an officer who died at the Battle of Loos in 1915.

'It was sent to his former headmaster back in England and suggested that after the war the French and English governments should come together and create a via sacra,' said Rory Forsyth, who is head of the Western Front Way charity.

Organisers hope that the 450 mile walkway memorial will pass through Verdun, France (pictured: The ruins of Verdun in 1918)

In the letter Gillespie, a second lieutenant in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, wrote: 'When peace comes, our government might combine with the French government to make one long avenue between the lines from the Vosges to the sea.

'I would make a fine broad road in the 'No Man's Land' between the lines, with paths for pilgrims on foot, and plant trees for shade and fruit trees, so that the soil should not altogether be waste.'

Mr Forsyth said the charity had been careful not to make it a British-only project because the route is wholly in France and Belgium.

The Allied zig-zag trenches at Ypres in Belgium. The walkway route would be split into ten-mile stages, taking in the main centres of fighting, including Arras, Verdun and Ypres

'We've made real efforts to coordinate with their governments and we met the Belgian ambassador before Christmas,' he added.

Mr Forsyth said he also hoped to bypass any complications thrown up by Britain's departure from the European Union.

'This path would allow kids to take everything in and commemorate the First World War in their own time surrounded by beautiful and thoughtful scenery,' he said.

Gillespie's letter was found by Anthony Seldon, vice-chancellor of the University of Buckingham. Writing in the Sunday Times, Sir Anthony said: 'Imagine walking up over a hill in the late summer to see how close the battle lines were.'

The memorial route would run from Pfetterhouse on the Franco-Swiss border to Nieuwpoort on the Belgian coast.A cryptocurrency investor who claimed he'd be a millionaire by the end of 2018 has hit back at suggestions he is part of a pyramid scheme, despite seemingly admitting to it in a TV interview.

Stephen Lenoci, 34, and his best mate Daniel Colosi, 31, started out with only $5,000 in their cryptocurrency portfolio but quickly began making as much as $2,000 a day.

The pair invested in USI Tech, a company claiming to trade cryptocurrency on behalf of its members and guaranteeing small daily returns, as long as they recruit others.

But the company has been hit with 'cease and desist' orders by authorities in Canada and the U.S amid claims it is a pyramid or ponzi scheme - an illegal business model.

In an interview with 60 Minutes that aired on Sunday night, Mr Lenoci said 'you could call it (USI Tech) a pyramid scheme', only to back away from his claims when talking to Daily Mail Australia on Monday.

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Stephen Lenoci (left), a tradie-turned-cryptocurrency investor, has hit back at claims he is part of a pyramid scheme after appearing to admit as much in a 60 Minutes interview on Sunday

During his interview on 60 Minutes, the self-dubbed 'Bondi bitcoin brother' claimed he was not concerned by the overseas controversy surrounding the crypto company.

'I'm not worried... it goes both ways, they get into USI Tech and whoever they sign up under them they profit as well,' Mr Lenoci said.

'You could call it a pyramid scheme. I know what a pyramid scheme is.'

Despite the international cease and desist orders, USI Tech has not been regarded as a 'ponzi scheme' by Australian authorities. Pyramid schemes are illegal in Australia.

But despite being seemingly caught out during his TV interview, Mr Lenoci said he is not involved in a pyramid scheme and claims he will still go on to be a millionaire.

'It's not a pyramid scheme... the way USI Tech generates the income to pay anyone is essentially the more money that gets put in the more money they make,' he said.

'I'm confident with USI, all the challenges that have been put in front of them in the U.S with the cease and desist, they've been able to overcome.

'It's not the company that's causing the trouble, it's some of the members. I feel that people are talking negative about it because they've lost money in other areas.

Mr Lenoci and best mate Daniel Colosi (right) told last month how they expected to both have more than $1million in cryptocurrency before the end of 2018

The pair have invested money in USI Tech, an international company that is accused of being a pyramid scheme and which has received 'cease and desist' letters in some U.S states

'For me everything's on track, Bitcoin's going up, I'm going to make a lot of money of it this year - these people can't affect me.'

Authorities in Texas made the cease and desist order against USI Tech in December last year after evidence of securities fraud were discovered in the company.

A letter from the company's CEO to investors outlined plans to continue operation in the U.S and claimed 'USI-Tech never had a problem in the USA and Canada', instead authorities took issue with individual 'local distributors'.

The price of Bitcoin is currently worth close to AUD$13,000, after recently dropping to as low as AUD$7,000 follow a peak late last year of around AUD$28,000.

Earlier this year Mr Lenoci and his friend Mr Colosi spoke about their lavish lifestyles since first investing in cryptocurrency, revealing they had 10 bitcoin between them.

'I'd been watching cryptocurrency for a year-and-a-half. I was in a bad place but I had a millionaire friend who owned 1000 bitcoins at the time,' Mr Colosi said in January.

''It's not a pyramid scheme... for me everything's on track, Bitcoin's going up, I'm going to make a lot of money of it this year - these people can't affect me,' Mr Lenoci said on Monday

'I'm confident with USI, all the challenges that have been put in front of them in the U.S with the cease and desist, they've been able to overcome,' Mr Lenoci claimed on Monday

'I started out when it was about AUD$5,100 a few months ago and then it boomed up to where it is now.

'We put in a lot of work in the first few months, but I honestly didn't expect it to be like this.

'I have made seven bitcoins already and Stephen's made about three, it's incredible.'

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission outlines pyramid schemes to be 'illegal and very risky "get-rich-quick" schemes'.

The ACCC says 'big up-front costs' and claims that 'this is not a pyramid scheme' are common signs of a pyramid scheme.Ministers face a grilling in the Commons this week over the hostile 7.4billion takeover bid for engineering giant GKN.

Theresa May is under pressure to intervene amid mounting concern about the impact the buyout could have on industry and national security.

GKN, based in Redditch in Worcestershire, makes parts for the F-35 Anglo-American fighter jet, the Eurofighter Typhoon and the US's B-21 stealth bomber, as well as cars and aircraft around the world.

Its future has been thrown into doubt after the City turnaround group Melrose lodged a 7.4billion offer last month. GKN's board, led by American Anne Stevens, 69, is attempting to fight the deal.

GKN, based in Redditch in Worcestershire (pictured), makes parts for the F-35 Anglo-American fighter jet, the Eurofighter Typhoon and the US's B-21 stealth bomber, as well as cars and aircraft around the world

Last night it emerged that Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson is set to be questioned about the bid when he appears before the defence select committee on Wednesday.

Its chairman, Julian Lewis, said: 'The committee have had correspondence strongly against and in favour of the hostile takeover bid and I therefore wouldn't be surprised if the topic came up on Wednesday.'

A Whitehall source said: 'There is growing concern across Whitehall about the impact this aggressive takeover of GKN would have, especially the long-term defence and security implications it may have for the UK.'

The takeover already faces the prospect of wider investigations, with the business, energy and industrial strategy committee expected to scrutinise it further after initial questions were raised by chairman Rachel Reeves.

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategyis is understood to be monitoring the situation closely, and a senior civil servant has been appointed to examine the impact of a takeover.

The US's own committee on foreign investment will also have to examine any takeover, as will the authorities in France and Germany.

GKN dates back nearly 260 years, and made cannonballs for the British Army during the Napoleonic Wars.

It now has 6,000 employees in the UK among 58,000 worldwide. It is a key supplier to aerospace firms including Airbus, with bases in towns including Telford in Shropshire and Luton.

Its future has been thrown into doubt after the City turnaround group Melrose lodged a 7.4billion offer last month. GKN's board, led by American Anne Stevens, 69, is attempting to fight the deal. Pictured: GKN headquarters in Redditch

Melrose specialises in buying underperfoming firms and selling them on at a profit within three to five years.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable has urged the Government to block the bid for GKN, calling Melrose an 'utterly unsuitable owner'.

Speaking in the Commons earlier this month, the Prime Minister said: 'Of course the business department will be looking closely at, and has been following closely, the issue. I and the Government as a whole will always act in the UK national interest.'

Concern about a GKN takeover has also been raised in the US, where Congressman Neal Dunn has written to the committee on foreign investment urging it to block the bid.

He said: 'In addition to concerns over who may ultimately acquire GKN, Melrose's business strategy will undermine long-term investments in research and development and secure supply chains, which are critical to the major defence platforms GKN currently supplies.'

According to documents published by Melrose, any takeover would have to be considered by Germany's federal ministry of economic affairs and energy and the French ministry of economy.

Melrose is run by accountants Christopher Miller and David Roper and solicitor Simon Peckham, its chief executive.

They have said that they 'welcome any and all opportunities to explain to government why we believe a merger with GKN will create an industrial powerhouse of which the UK can be rightly proud'.

They added: 'Melrose builds businesses to long-term health and prosperity and has an impeccable pension track record.'The Government department responsible for the environment has just two electric cars in its fleet of 4,000 - mainly diesel - vehicles.

Figures also last night revealed that the majority of cars used by Government ministers are also diesels.

Despite urging councils to crack down on diesel drivers, 98 per cent of Michael Goves department Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs are diesel.

Following a parliamentary question from a senior MP, Defra also admitted having only nine ultra low emission vehicles - or plug in hybrids - to ferry officials around.

The huge fleet of cars is predominantly used by government backed bodies including the Environment Agency, Natural England, and the Forestry Commission, all of which are overseen by DEFRA. In total the Defra group, including these arms length government bodies, has around 22,000 staff.

The Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs has just two electrics cars in its fleet of 4,000 (stock photo)

Defra has pledged to ensure its car fleet it entirely petrol hybrid or pure electric by 2025 and says it will not buy any more diesel cars.

This summer the government announced Britain is to ban all new petrol and diesel cars and vans from 2040.

At the time environment secretary Mr Gove warned that Britain cant carry on with diesel and petrol cars because of the damage they are doing to peoples health and to the planet.

There is no alternative to embracing new technology, he said.

Labour MP Mary Creagh, who chairs the Environmental Audit Committee, lat night said: The Government wants people to switch to electric cars, so it should be leading from the front. These figures show just how far it has to go.

While James Thornton, chief executive of campaign group ClientEarth, said: There are illegal levels of air pollution across the country and the government has a legal and moral duty to tackle it. Cleaning up its fleet of vehicles is an ideal opportunity to lead by example but on this evidence it looks like ministers are once again stuck in the slow lane.

Other departments are also proving to be slow on the uptake including the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy which has no eco cars.

It comes as Government figures revealed that 49 of 84 ministerial vehicles are diesel-powered - including 17 Jaguar XJ, eight Land Rover Discovery, six Ford Galaxy and two Jaguar F Pace models.

Michael Gove's department has pledged to ensure its car fleet it entirely petrol hybrid or pure electric by 2025 and says it will not buy any more diesel cars

The numbers were released by the Government in response to a Freedom of Information request submitted by motoring magazine Car Dealer.

Car Dealer founder James Baggott said: When the Government has waged a war on diesel car buyers, quite incorrectly so, its staggering to learn that 58% of the fleet used by ministers - including the Chancellor, who has been leading the battle - are still diesel-powered.

Perhaps the Governments fleet buyers know what we all do, that diesel is often the right choice for a lot of buyers.

These mixed messages are damaging the car industry. Educating car buyers about choosing the right fuel for them must be at the forefront of ministers minds instead.

Former Top Gear presenter Quentin Willson said: When 49 out of the 84 cars used to chauffeur ministers are still diesel-powered, the Government isnt exactly practising what it preaches.

You cant pontificate on diesel car pollution and then be driven home in one. Why, out of those 84 cars, are only six electric?

Prime Minister Theresa May told the Commons in January last year that the Government Car Service is working to remove diesel vehicles from its fleet.

A Government spokesman said: These vehicles are being replaced as they become due for renewal with fit-for-purpose non-diesel alternatives that take into consideration operational requirements.Paul Nightingale, 40, groped constable Lisa Myers (pictured), 38, at their work meal out in Liverpool

A sex pest police inspector who faces paying a female colleague up to 25,000 for groping and harassing her was accused of drunkenly targeting four other women at a staff Christmas party.

Paul Nightingale, 40, had fronted a festive publicity campaign highlighting how his officers were 'incredibly busy' at that time of year dealing with the consequences of 'alcohol-fuelled antisocial behaviour'.

But the married father-of-two groped constable Lisa Myers, 38, at their works meal out during an escalating 12-month campaign of sexual harassment which culminated in sticking his hand down her top and fondling her breast as she sat at her desk.

As he faces giving her a hefty pay-out after a tribunal judge rejected his account that she had not made clear his attention was unwanted, it emerged he had been accused of rape while serving at his previous force.

The tribunal heard how three officers from British Transport Police branded Mr Nightingale a 'creep' during an internal investigation over his 'sleazy' behaviour at the December 2015 bash in Liverpool.

Mrs Myers told the tribunal how her boss groped her bottom at the event and said he would like sex with her in the back of a car.

A 24-year-old community support officer said a 'slurring and swaying' Mr Nightingale asked how old she was, groped her bottom and suggested that 'if she wanted to have sex with him she could' and that he could 'show her a thing or two that no other 24-year-old boy could'.

Nightingale, 40, had fronted a festive publicity campaign (pictured) highlighting how his officers were 'incredibly busy' at that time of year dealing with the consequences of 'alcohol-fuelled antisocial behaviour'

She told investigators from BTP's professional standards team that both she and Mrs Myers had considered him a 'creep'.

And the tribunal was shown a Facebook message that a male constable sent her during the party: 'Ha ha ha getting chatted up by the inspector!! Creep! Lol x'

The tribunal heard that he was also flirting with a colleague's wife and draping his arms over two other women who were not part of the group.

Seeing Mr Nightingale drunkenly flirting with so many different women at the party, a male constable commented that their boss 'should not be cheating as his wife was really attractive'.

Mr Nightingale also groped Mrs Myers on several other occasions, kissed her neck and once stuck his hand down her top and fondled her breasts 'with a vacant look in his eyes'.

He demanded massages, 'alone time', a 'birthday kiss' and sent her a text message reading: 'Nice a***'.

A hearing is due to take place today ((MON)) to decide how much compensation he must pay her after a tribunal upheld Mrs Myers' sexual harassment claim.

But the married father-of-two groped constable Lisa Myers (pictured), 38, at their works meal out during an escalating 12-month campaign of sexual harassment which culminated in sticking his hand down her top and fondling her breast as she sat at her desk

Employment judge Tobias Ryan said: 'His assertion that they were in a relationship and that she encouraged it were without doubt detrimental to her career and her reputation.'

He added that after being informally warned about his conduct 'he knew that his attentions were unwelcome but he believed he could win her round and he believed she would not complain'.

Speaking after the judgment, mother-of-two Mrs Myers said: 'I am very happy that my ordeal is over and that I have had a successful outcome.

'I hope this will give heart and encouragement to other women who have suffered sexual harassment so that they are able to obtain justice.

'But it has been emotional to have to go through a tribunal hearing and I am disappointed that the Police Federation represented Mr Nightingale.'

She added: 'I find it staggering that fees paid by other hardworking officers around the country are being used to fund this sort of case.

'I think serving officers will be outraged when they know what their fees are being used to pay for.'

At the time of the incidents Mr Nightingale was a sergeant but was acting in the role of inspector at based at Liverpool Lime Street station.

In a British Transport Police publicity campaign he said that Christmas was an 'incredibly busy' time for officers dealing with binge drinking party-goers.

Mrs Myers told last week's tribunal that Mr Nightingale started stroking her shoulders, neck and hair in the summer of 2015.

She said: 'On each occasion, I turned my chair around, told the respondent to stop and made it clear to him that his conduct was unacceptable.'

She did not formally complain as she was worried about the 'repercussions' of accusing a senior officer of harassment but did inform a colleague which resulted in Mr Nightingale being told she wasn't interested in him.

But at a Christmas party that year she said he was 'whispering into my ear throughout the meal and making sexual comments' before squeezing her bottom when the group went for a drink.

An internal investigation later found he had targeted up to four other women at the event including a PCSO who recalled 'his eyes were bloodshot, he was slurring his words and he was swaying'.

The following month after she had completed a first aid course she said Mr Nightingale 'threw himself on the floor and said: 'I need mouth to mouth resuscitation' leaving her feeling 'very uncomfortable and embarrassed'.

She said he stroked her neck and face again during a night shift in April 2016 then despite her saying 'No Paul' placed his hand inside her shirt and stroked the top of her breast.'

The following month she said Mr Nightingale cornered her in the mess room saying 'We haven't had any alone time for a while' before pressing his body against hers.

He later sent he a phone message about her 'Nice a***' and the next day approached her saying he wanted a 'birthday kiss'.

Mrs Myers finally made a formal complaint and was moved to a different office 20 miles away. As a result, she quit the force in disgust in January 2017 after 12 years of service.

She told the tribunal: 'I loved my job and it was a very sad and distressing occasion when I felt that I had to leave.'

She said his actions had 'ruined my career and blighted my life'.

It can now be revealed that he was accused of rape in 2002 by a female member of the public while he was a sergeant with Cambridgeshire Constabulary, based in Peterborough.

The force said yesterday that the allegation  which Mr Nightingale told investigators involved consensual sex with the woman while off duty  had been 'unsubstantiated'.

Mr Nightingale quit the British Transport Police before facing gross misconduct proceedings over Mrs Myers' claims.

Its report concluded he 'holds a high opinion of himself in respect of him being attractive to women' and displays 'inappropriate sexual behaviour' towards women when under the influence of alcohol.

The force later settled her tribunal claim against them for sex discrimination and victimisation for an undisclosed sum believed to be in the region of 50,000.

He is now branch manager of a DIY store having been added to a register of people ineligible to work for the police again.

His wife Rebecca, 34, who runs a cake design business and was crowned the best-dressed racegoer on Ladies' Day at the 2014 Grand National, is understood to be standing by him and accompanied him to the tribunal.

On Friday Judge Ryan concluded that while his actions before being warned over his conduct had not amounted to deliberate harassment, his behaviour thereafter 'created a hostile and degrading environment' and that he 'knew full well he was taking advantage'

Mrs Myers will be awarded compensation of up to 25,000 for injury to feelings and aggravated damages at a remedy hearing today.

Her lawyer Michael McDonough, of McDonough & Associates, said: 'BTP settled Lisa's claim to her satisfaction. Mr Nightingale was invited to be part of that settlement but refused and instead chose to put her through the ordeal of a five-day tribunal hearing.'More than a year after her shock loss of the US presidency, Hillary Clinton is heading Down Under to talk about her experiences during the the 2016 election and her life since Donald Trump became president.

The former First Lady and US Secretary of State, 70, will visit Australia and New Zealand in May as part of a tour recounting the campaign and stories from her New York Times bestseller, What Happened.

Entry to the tour starts at $195 and cost up to $495 for VIP tickets which include front of house tickets, access to a pre-event cocktail party and a copy of the book.

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Former US Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is heading Down Under to talk about her experiences during the 2016 election

The book was released in September and revealed intimate details of how the Democrat candidate coped with the unexpected succession of Donald Trump to the US Presidency.

'I had to fight back a wave of sadness that threatened to swallow me whole,' she writes at the beginning of the book.

'At every step, I felt I had let everyone down. Because I had.'

Despite its commercial success, opponents of the book claimed it was 'insufferable' and questioned why Clinton hadn't yet moved on from the loss.

Clinton (pictured left) was widely predicted to win the 2016 US Presidential Election but eventually lost to Republican nominee Donald Trump

In her book What Happened Clinton claimed Trump 'loomed behind her' during the Presidential debates in 2016

US Senator and 2008 presidential candidate John McCain said Clinton should 'shut up' and insisted she 'doesn't have anything better to do'.

The comments follows Clinton's admissions in the book that President Trump 'loomed behind her' during the Presidential debates in 2016.

'No matter where I walked, he followed me closely, staring at me, making faces. It was incredibly uncomfortable. He was literally breathing down my neck. My skin crawled,' she revealed in preview for the book.

The trip will be Clinton's first to Australia since 2012 and will again include a visit a close friend based in Adelaide.

The pair met at university in the United States and their last catch-up in Adelaide saw parts of the city placed on lock down as security officials escorted Clinton through the city to a secret meeting point.

A Night with Hillary will visit Auckland, Sydney and Melbourne and tickets start from $195

The tour will visit Auckland, Sydney and Melbourne and promises to give a candid account of her experiences during the tightly-contested election where she was the first female candidate from a major party.

Since leaving political office in 2012, Clinton has commanded up to $300,000 per speech with tickets for An Evening with Hillary starting at $195.

The tour kicks off in Auckland on May 7 followed by Melbourne on May 10 and a final show in Sydney on May 11.The morning dash to get a seat on the train could soon be over for some commuters.

Thats because seats on the countrys newest trains have been likened to concrete.

And passengers are even being encouraged to bring their own cushions on the Thameslink services.

Govia Thameslink defended their introduction by claiming seat designs are limited by fire safety standard. The seats on the UKs most expensive train carriage are covered with minimal padding and are less inclined than their predecessors.

Shelley Atlas, chairman of Brighton Line Commuters, said: It does seem like youre sitting on concrete. They are really hard due to the lack of padding.'

Most passengers will not have to suffer the painful seats as the new Tube-style trains were designed with fewer seats in each carriage to prevent overcrowding during rush hour.

The new Govia Thameslink trains (pictured) have seats that have been likened to concrete. By 2021 more than 7,000 rail carriages across the country are expected to have the seats

But commuters may have no choice but to sit down as the trains, which will be used by Govias Thameslink and Northern services, will travel from London all the way to Cambridge, Peterborough, Brighton and Bedford.

And by 2021 more than 7,000 rail carriages across the country are expected to have the seats.

Miss Atlas added: The problem is that these trains are going to be used for long journeys where people dont want to be standing and they are faced with sitting on these. And the uncomfortable seats could have serious repercussions for a commuters health.

Robin Lansman, a former president of the Institute of Osteopathy, advised passengers to bring their own cushions to combat the discomfort.

He said: Sitting on something thats hard can cut off circulation and give you cramps in the back of your legs.

Its going to have a cumulative effect on commuters over months and years.

Commuters have been encouraged to bring their own cushions for their journey to make it more comfortable

I see a number of patients with body fatigue from commuting. He added: Cushioning - even just a small one - can really help the tissues and nerves cope.

I have practices in both Maidenhead and Paddington at both ends of the line and patients have come in complaining about the effects of commuting. A spokesperson for Govia Thameslink said: The Class 700 trains are essential to the transformation we are making to meet passengers needs for dramatically greater capacity and frequency to and through central London.

Various seat designs were tested with passengers. The chosen design is the one that met all the safety and capacity requirements and offered the best comfort.

Padding in the seats is constrained by the latest fire standards, which are very strict on modern trains, and is also vandal resistant; this does give it a firmer feel.

The shape and size of the seats had to meet todays extremely strict crash-worthiness standards. Dr Lansman advised commuters to start taking their health seriously when travelling.

He said: Using a phone or laptop can also produce postural stiffness.

A laptop used on the lap is best avoided. And you should empty your bag and leave as much as you can at home.

Wearing the right footwear is also really crucial when youre rushing straight from work to get on the train.

I had one patient come in after quitting his commute and he looked ten years younger.An online prankster has been fined $1200 for jumping off a Brisbane bridge whilst tucking his arms to his sides and wriggling like a fish.

The 'silly salmon' prank landed the 23-year-old in the Brisbane Magistrates Court where he was charged with 'unregulated high risk behaviour'.

'I hope the judge gives me a follow on all my social media ... I'll do it again any day of the week - it's just a fine,' he told Daily Mail Australia.

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Luke Erwin, 23, was arrested and fined $1200 for jumping off the Goodwill Bridge in South Bank, Brisbane, at 12.30pm on January 9

The prank involved tucking his arms to his sides and wriggling like a fish

The prankster is often seen mocking police on his social media channels

Mr Erwin jumped off Brisbane's 15-metre-high Goodwill Bridge last month after a series of pranks including plunging two stories from a balcony into Bondi's iconic Icebergs pool late last year.

He was approached by police who confiscated his camera and SD card. The camera was returned but officers kept the footage on the SD card.

He and friend Jackson O'Doherty film each other jumping into water while pretending to be salmon, an idea that came about when the pair were 'having a bath together,' Mr Erwin told Daily Mail Australia.

Mr Erwin said he would pay the fine 'on a payment plan', telling the Courier Mail as he left the court.

Luke Erwin (centre) and his friend Jackson O'Doherty (left)

Mr Erwin plunged from the 15 metre high Brisbane bridge as his friend Jackson O'Doherty filmed the prank

Others were less impressed and took to social media.

'What a waste of tax payers money and police prosecutions time,' one person said. 'If he wants to risk the bull sharks in that river let him!' said another.

Mr Erwin also jumped from Sydney's Pyrmont Bridge.

Mr Erwin is filmed jumping from Sydney's Pyrmont Bridge. 'I think these are the three most scariest point of my life other than skydiving at this point,' he wrote on social media

Mr Erwin was approached by police who confiscated his camera and SD card. The camera was returned but officers kept the footage on the SD card

Late last year, Mr Erwin was filmed jumping into Bondi's Icebergs swimming pool in Sydney, as bathers looked on in shock.

He appeared hesitant about the distance from the balcony to the pool below, which was only two metres deep, but eventually climbed over the balcony.

Prankster Luke Erwin jumped off the balcony of Bondi's popular Icebergs into the pool just metres from other swimmersMost British firms support Brexit and believe it will boost the economy, a survey reveals.

Despite the doom-laden warnings of business groups such as the CBI, the poll shows that 53 per cent of UK companies believe leaving the European Union will be good for the nations prosperity.

The same proportion think it is in their firms best interests, the survey by FTI Consulting found.

A new poll shows that most British firms support Brexit and believe that leaving the European Union will in fact boost the UK's economy

When asked about their personal preference, nearly two-thirds of bosses said they would rather be out of the EU.

It is in sharp contrast to the views of campaigners at big business organisations, who loudly proclaim their opposition to major changes as we leave the bloc. The pro-Brussels Confederation of British Industry has warned of economic catastrophe unless we remain in the customs union.

It has said the country would be unable to strike valuable new trade deals and would be bound by rules over which it has not had any say.

FTI researchers said the results showed a gulf between the entrepreneurs who run businesses and the bureaucratic organisations that claim to represent them.

They said: When unshackled from their managerial responsibilities, company leaders are more relaxed about Brexit and  in fact  just want politicians to get on with it so that they can return to a stable business climate.

It is also interesting to note the differences here between those responding to our survey and the public interventions by business representative bodies.

The survey also reveals that businesses expect a deal to be done.

It is in sharp contrast to the views of some campaigners at big business organisations and the survey also reveals that a majority of French, German and Spanish firms think Brexit will be good for the EU

Three-quarters of UK companies believe they will get tariff-free access to the Continent. And 71 per cent of British finance firms expect to keep the valuable passporting rights allowing them to sell services to clients in other countries.

Surprisingly, 63 per cent of companies here expect free movement of people to continue too. This is despite ministers insisting there will be an end to unrestricted mass migration after we have left.

A majority of French, German and Spanish firms said Brexit will be good for the EU economy and the economy of their country. FTI surveyed 642 British companies, 632 German ones, 646 from France and 648 from Spain.

The CBI has received about 148,000 a year from the European Commission since 2015. Last December its head, Paul Drechsler, said leaving the customs union was the most serious issue any country in the world has ever had to face.A final Brexit deal could still be voted down by the European Parliament, triggering a crisis in British politics, its chief negotiator warned yesterday.

Guy Verhofstadt said if MEPs  or even British MPs  voted against whatever agreement is reached, the UK would fall into unknown territory.

He said such a situation might lead to a change in government and a new position of that government on Brexit.

In a provocative interview, EU Parliament chief negotiator Guy Verhofstadt warned that MEPs could vote down any final Brexit deal

In a provocative interview yesterday, the Belgian MEP also insisted Britain would have to accept that EU migrants who came here during the transition period would have the right to stay.

Ministers want the cut-off date to be March 29 next year, after which new arrivals would have to register.

Mr Verhofstadt also suggested Britains trade deal with the EU would not be finalised before we leave, but instead hammered out before the end of transition, likely to be the end of 2020.

Theresa May has previously insisted that trade arrangements must be formalised before Brexit on March 29.

Appearing on the BBCs Andrew Marr Show yesterday, Mr Verhofstadt was asked what would happen if the withdrawal deal was voted down. He said: There will be, I presume, a crisis in British politics. Maybe an election.

Maybe after that election, a new government and maybe a new position of that new government on Brexit. He criticised Mrs Mays proposal that EU citizens coming to the UK during the transition period should have different rights to those already in the country.

He said: Its not acceptable for us that rules will continue without change for financial services, for goods, for whatever other business, and only for the citizens, their situation will change. That is penalising citizens.

Mr Verhofstadt also warned that a vote against the Brexit deal could have potentially disastrous ramifications for the British government

Asked about the withdrawal agreement, he said: I think what is possible by the 29th of March of next year, if everybody agrees with it, the British Parliament, European Parliament, will be the withdrawal agreement. Inside that withdrawal agreement also an agreement on the transition.

The transition for example of two years, at the end of 2020 or the beginning of 2021. And the third thing that will be possible is an annex  a political declaration describing, more or less in detail, what the future relationship will be. And then we will use the transition period to clarify this political declaration in an international agreement.

However, the Prime Minister has said everything must be agreed in one go. Last year her spokesman said: Everyone has always been clear that we are looking to wrap all this up in one single go. Everything will be agreed at the same time.

Mr Verhofstadt ruled out so-called passporting arrangements, which allow businesses to sell financial services across Europe, being included in a deal. But he said it could cover services in some form.

He said: What will be in that part of the association agreement, we will see. Financial passports will not be there any more because thats the actual system.

You need to be part of the single market to have that. What we dont want is that with this whole agreement we establish a type of a financial centre that is competing with the Continent... by every time lowering taxes, lowering the type of rules so that we create a competitive disadvantage for the European financial services.Donald Trump and wife Melania were pictured getting cozy at a party at Mar-a-Lago Friday night despite rumors of a rift.

The First Lady was seen placing her hand on her husband's arm, while he reached for her leg. The pictures come after claims of an affair with Karen McDougal, an ex-Playboy Playmate.

The event was described by CNN's Kevin Liptak as a Studio 54-themed disco party in the ballroom at Mar-a-Lago.

Donald Trump and wife Melania were pictured getting cozy at an event at Mar-a-Lago Saturday night despite rumors of a rift

The First Lady was seen placing her hand on her husband's arm, while he reached for her leg. The pictures comes after claims of affairs with Karen McDougal, an ex-Playboy Playmate

It came just hours after the two visited the families and victims of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in hospital. The President and the First Lady were still wearing the same outfits.

'Please take note that the President did NOT dance,' Instagram user Sean Bianca wrote. 'He and the First Lady were there for a short time but neither was dancing around as one should have expected. Their mood was somber and they were there for a very short time.'

Trump took to Twitter late Friday night to post photos from the hospital and share a message about the most recent tragedy that shook the nation.

'Our entire Nation, w/one heavy heart, continues to pray for the victims & their families in Parkland, FL. To teachers, law enforcement, first responders & medical professionals who responded so bravely in the face of danger: We THANK YOU for your courage!,' he wrote.

While in the hospital, the president was seen grinning and giving the thumbs up as he stood alongside doctors, nurses, shooting victims and wife Melania.

Trump and First Lady Melania visited a hospital in Florida Friday night where victims from the shooting were being treated

Trump took to Twitter late Friday night to post photos from the hospital

'It's very sad something like that could happen but the job the doctors did, the nurses, the hospital... first responders, law enforcement, really incredible,' Trump told reporters

He was heard speaking to reporters outside of the hospital rooms about the impressive job the staff has done.

'The job they have done is incredible... and I want to congratulate you. Incredible job,' he was heard telling Broward Health North Hospital trauma surgeon, Dr. Igor Nichiporenko.

'It's very sad something like that could happen but the job the doctors did, the nurses, the hospital... first responders, law enforcement, really incredible,' he went on to say.

'The speed they got the victims over to the hospital was a record... in one case 20 minutes and in one case, 19 minutes.'

When one of the reporters questioned Trump about whether he thought America's gun policy needed to be changed, he walked away without response.

He later took to his Twitter page to gush about the visit.

'Melania and I met such incredible people last night in Broward County, Florida. Will never forget them, or the evening!,' he added.

President Trump and First Lady Melania reportedly departed the hospital in a motorcade around 7.15pm, according to a pool log by a New York Times reporter.

President Donald Trump is seen at Mar-a-lago Saturday night with David Brody, Jenna Browder and Ali Browder

Another Instagram user posted a photo of the president from the Orphans Promise charity event

Earlier in the day, Melania was seen boarding Air Force One by her herself before the pair departed to Florida amid affair claims.

On Saturday night, the president was seen smiling alongside two pretty blondes and giving another big thumbs to cameras while visiting his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida.

First Lady Melania was seemingly a no-show, at least for the photos, amid talk that Trump had another affair during their marriage. This time, with Karen McDougal, an ex-Playboy Playmate.

The Saturday engagement was an Orphans Promise charity event, according to one of the women's Instagram posts. She wrote: 'Tonight at #Maralago @realdonaldtrump @orphanspromise.'

Orphan's Promise is an organization that works to serve orphaned children and also creates opportunities for them and their families.

The President and House Speaker were seen watching over a wedding at Mar-a-Lago on Sunday

Women in simple yet elegant gold dresses stood underneath the archway in anticipation for the bride

President Donald Trump and and House Speaker Paul Ryan were seen watching over a wedding at the Mar-a-Lago on Sunday.

Trump was seen pointing during the wedding that featured a giant archway with white feathers and red accents.

Women in simple yet elegant gold dresses stood underneath the archway in anticipation for the bride.

The two were meeting Sunday afternoon to discuss Trump's legislative agenda and potentially talk about immigration.

Ryan and Trump have been working more closely with each other, as of late.Fewer than eight per cent of people who applied to the Army last year went on to become soldiers, it was reported last night.

The Army took on just 7,500 new recruits, even though it had received more than 100,000 applications.

Despite the high demand, recruits had to wait an average of 300 days between applying and joining the Army, according to the Sun.

Because of the long delays, many had withdrawn their application before the end of the 300 days.

The army took on just 7,500 new recruits last year despite receiving more than 100,000 applications. One of the recruitment adverts used this year showed soldiers comforting each other on the front line and ends with a soldier crying

It comes as the Army is currently 4,000 short of what it should be, with 78,000 troops.

Between March 2015 and March 2016, 8,600 signed up, while 10,626 left.

Between September 2016 and September 2017, 101,854 people tried to become a solider.

While 7,441 were taken on, 9,718 left.

Another recruitment advert showed a Muslim soldier taking time out of an exercise to pray. Recruits had to wait an average of 300 days between applying and joining the Army

Last night SAS veteran Andy McNab branded military recruitment 'absolute madness' and a 'faceless bureaucratic nightmare' as many were put off by delays in their applications.

Mr McNab told the Sun: 'How can you go from over 100,000 trying to join to less than 8,000 singing up defies belief.

'It's because the Army and Capita have turned recruitment into a faceless, bureaucratic nightmare.

'The Army is in a crisis  and it's not because no one wants in.'

It comes after MPs criticised the Armed Forces' 1.3billion recruitment strategy, claiming the Services are facing a 'manpower crisis'.

A third showed a woman deciding to join the military after working a normal civilian job. Because of the long delays many drop out before the recruitment process is finished

Another dealt with the question 'Can I be gay in the army?' and shows two men chatting at a bar before jumping to uniformed men in a warzone

They have demanded a review of the system  which was outsourced to private firm Capita in 2012 in a bid to boost numbers  as the Army, Navy and RAF remain below personnel targets.

The Ministry of Defence has already handed 752million to Capita  54million more than planned at this stage of a ten-year contract.

Recent attempts to recruit soldiers from different backgrounds have been condemned for neglecting those who traditionally join the Armed Forces.

With 78,000 troops, the Army is currently at its smallest size since 1815.

Cutting it down by 28,000 would make it the smallest it has been in 220 years and fall short of Germany's 60,000.

In recent years, the Army has failed to recruit enough soldiers to maintain the same number of troops.

Each year around a third of applicants are turned down because they are too old, do not have the right education or are not fit enough for active service.

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: 'The huge demand to join the Army is to be welcomed and our new recruitment campaign and fitness app means thousands of people are applying.

'We are working hard to speed up the process so recruits who meet our world class standards can start their training as soon as possible.'A KFC delivery system failure has left hundreds of branches without chicken.

Several closed over the weekend, while others have cut their opening hours or introduced a limited menu.

The food giant, which has more than 900 outlets, has recently switched its restaurant deliveries from Bidvest to a new partnership led by the German-owned DHL.

Several KFC branches were forced to close down over the weekend after a delivery system failure meant that they were left without chicken

Reports suggest the chaos centred on a DHL delivery hub in Rugby.

KFC said it first became aware of a problem in the software around a new computer ordering and delivery system on Friday. More than 80 per cent of its outlets are run by franchisees, who are together losing hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Outlets across north Wales were closed or warning that they had run out of popcorn chicken, mini fillets, and, in some locations, chicken on the bone. In the North East, KFC outlets in Darlington, the Tees Valley, County Durham and North Yorkshire reported that they had run out of some chicken products.

The same pattern was seen in parts of London, Kent, East Anglia, the Midlands and the south of England.

When DHL was chosen as the new delivery company, KFC supply chain director Jens Hentschel boasted: We want to deliver a new level of service to our restaurants and franchise partners.

And DHLs John Boulter had said: We intend to re-write the rulebook and create a stock management, distribution and reverse logistics model based on best practice.

In the North East, KFC outlets in Darlington, the Tees Valley, County Durham and North Yorkshire were affected, while branches in the West Midlands and London also ran out of chicken

The new regime is built around software developed by QSL, which is meant to ensure efficient delivery.

Customers vented their anger online, with one posting: @KFC_UKI what the cluck do you think youre playing at closing near enough every branch in Bristol because you ran out of chicken! In a jokey tweet, KFC posted: The chicken crossed the road, just not to our restaurants...

Officially, it told the Mail: We became aware of the issue on Friday. Although initially triggered by a software issue, due to the complexity of our supply chain (we deliver hundreds of items to our 900 restaurants), weve seen a knock-on effect to the wider implementation system.

Our teams are working flat out all hours to get us back up and running as soon as possible  but it is too early to say how long it will take to clear the backlog.

Meanwhile, DHL said: Due to operational issues, a number of deliveries in recent days have been incomplete or delayed. We are working with our partners to rectify the situation as a priority and apologise for any inconvenience.Savers have been conned out of half a million pounds a day after a surge in cybercriminals targeting pension pots, it emerged last night.

People with money saved for the future  including those who are able to access their pensions  are being tricked by 'clone' fraudsters, who impersonate the identities of legitimate companies.

Investigations into 'clone fraud' have almost doubled over the last year, according to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the City's chief watchdog.

It comes as official figures obtained by The Times reveal that nearly 200 million has been stolen over the past year by investment fraudsters.

However, it is thought that this figure could be highly underestimated as some victims are often too ashamed to report the crime.

Over the past year 157 attempts to clone companies were investigated by The City Watchdog, while 90 were probed in 2015.

The sums lost have exceeded 250,000 in some cases.

Over the past year 157 attempts to clone companies were investigated by The City Watchdog, while 90 were probed in 2015.

Vanguard Asset Management, Halifax and JO Hambro Capital Management are just some of the companies that have been cloned by the gangs.

Each targeted firm is likely to have tricked thousands of investors, by cold-calling them and promoting property, shares or other opportunities that do not exist.

According to the FCA, clone fraudsters use the name, address and registration number of companies to appear genuine.

Vanguard Asset Management, Halifax and JO Hambro Capital Management are just some of the companies that have been cloned by the gangs

They also provide the victims with their own address, phone number and website details.

Older savers have been targeted by fraudsters since pension freedoms introduced in 2015 allowed anybody over the age of 55 to gain access to their pension pots.

The clone fraudsters are hard to trace because they are often based outside of Britain, while their websites are almost always hosted abroad, according to the watchdog.

Tim Matthews, of the FCA, told The Times: 'Fraudsters use sophisticated methods to get hold of your cash  this can include cloning a legitimate firm.

'If you're buying a financial product such as a loan, insurance, investment or pension, only deal with an FCAauthorised firm.'Property developer Salim Mehajer has faced court charged with assaulting a Sydney television reporter after he allegedly slammed his car door on her.

The former Auburn deputy mayor has pleaded not guilty to the assault occasioning actual bodily harm of Channel 7 journalist Laura Banks on April 2 last year.

Mehajer, 31, appeared in the dock at Downing Centre Local Court on Monday. Police allege Banks was injured when Mehajer slammed the door of a Porche on her.

The incident took place outside Day Street police station where Mehajer had been taken early that morning after allegedly assaulting a taxi driver.

Property developer Salim Mehajer (right) has faced court charged with assaulting Sydney TV reporter Laura Banks (left) after he allegedly slammed his car door on her last April

Mehajer's barrister Phillip Boulten, SC, asked Banks if her actions, including telling a taxi driver of Mehajer's alleged assault, were designed to prolong the situation.

'It was pertinent to the story,' Banks replied, adding that she was more bemused than amused.

'Did you ever think about whether you had reached the point where your actions crossed the boundary between proper and improper?' Mr Boulton said.

'I don't believe they did,' Banks replied on Monday.

Ms Banks added that she believed Mehajer was acting in an 'almost suggestive' and 'flirtatious' manner prior to the incident, claiming he didn't appear to be threatened.

Mr Boulten grilled Banks on why she continually pursued Mehajer even though it was clear he did not want to comment.

'You just never know what you'll get with Mr Mehajer,' Banks said

Earlier on Monday, Banks told the court she had been standing in the doorway of the Porsche trying to ask Mehajer questions when the alleged assault occurred.

'Mr Mehajer abruptly shut the door,' she said.

'I was jammed in the door. My hand was bruised and also my back. I was squashed in the car.'

Her left hand caused her pain for an hour or two.

'But my back is still quite sore,' Banks said.

Earlier, Mehajer's barrister Phillip Boulten, SC, told magistrate Joanne Keogh the case would come down to what appeared in footage of the incident.

'You will almost certainly determine this case based on what you see on video tapes,' Mr Boulten said.

'Can you get that thing off my leg? Can you stop touching me?' Mehajer told Ms Banks as she pushed a microphone towards him, the court heard

Taking to the witness stand on Monday morning, Banks told the court she had been standing in the doorway of the Porsche trying to ask Mehajer questions when the alleged assault occurred

'There is no dispute she had an injured hand. No dispute about who was involved.'

The court was shown several videos of the incident taken by Channel 7 and Channel 9 cameramen.

Banks appears approaching Mehajer as he gets behind the wheel of a white Porsche with the door open.

'Watch it, watch it,' Mehajer warns. 'Watch it.

'Do you want to hop in the back seat?' Mehajer asks. 'Jump in, I'll have a little chat with ya. Just jump in.'

Mehajer then closes the door, catching Banks.

Earlier videos show her asking Mehajer questions while he waits for a lift.

'Did you assault the cab driver?' She says. 'Why did you assault the cab driver?

'Is this rock bottom, Salim? Could you not afford to pay for the taxi driver last night?

'Is that why you did what you did? A really bad day for you, hey?'

As Banks trails behind Mehajer he says: 'Why are you so attached to me? Have some respect.'

During some of the exchanges Banks is smiling and laughing. Before Mehajer left in the Porsche he had been in the back of a cab.

As Banks trails behind Mehajer he says: 'Why are you so attached to me? Have some respect.'

Banks is shown in one video telling the driver: 'He's accused of assaulting a taxi driver - how does that make you feel?'

The driver then said he would not take the fare.

While Mehajer is still in the back seat of the taxi Banks puts a microphone through the drivers seat.

The microphone becomes wedged against his leg.

'Can you get that thing off my leg?' Mehajer asks. 'Can you stop touching me?'Jeremy Corbyn, pictured here in the 1980s, has been accused of working for Soviet-back Czechoslovakia at the height of the Cold War

What could be more serious than the allegation that the possible future Prime Minister of Great Britain worked for Soviet-backed Czechoslovakia during the 1980s at the height of the Cold War?

This is the grievous charge made by former Czech spy Jan Sarkocy, who claims he met Jeremy Corbyn more than ten times between 1986 and 1989 while at the Czechoslovak embassy in London. He says that, as a young MP, Corbyn  codenamed Cob  was a Czech asset approved by the Russians.

It is perfectly possible that Sarkocy is a fantasist, or wishes to damage the Labour leader for some unknown reason. But there are separate Czech archival records, whose authenticity has not been challenged, of three meetings between Corbyn and Sarkocy during this period.

Moreover, the allegation has at least surface plausibility in view of Corbyns well-known anti-Americanism at this time, and his unfriendly attitude towards the British State, evinced by his association with members of the IRA during the troubles.

A number of newspapers including the Mail have been following up Sarkocys story, broken by the Sun last Thursday. Some have steered clear of it, notably the Leftist, Labour-supporting Guardian, which has so far not carried a single word. That is what one would expect.

Far more worrying is the way the all-powerful BBC has hitherto avoided Sarkocys allegations, which have been met with vehement denials by the Labour Party. If you relied on our public service broadcaster for your news, as about half the nation does, you wouldnt know anything about Cob.

I watch and listen to the news on BBC television and radio almost obsessively, and I have picked up only two fleeting references to the extremely grave charges against Mr Corbyn. All I can find on Aunties voluminous website is a tiny mention of a newspaper report.

The first broadcast allusion was a brief and jocular final item in the Press review on the Today programme last Thursday. During its three hours of airtime, Today did not look into the allegation, and at the time of writing has not done so. The second mention came yesterday on BBC1, when Andrew Marr on his eponymous show hurriedly cited a Sunday Telegraph article. This included a claim that Ken Livingstone, the former mayor of London, was a frequent visitor to the Czechoslovak embassy in the 1980s, and that the shadow Chancellor, John McDonnell, met a Soviet KGB agent several times.

Marr responded to the papers front page piece with the moral distaste of a vicar confronted by a pornographic magazine. He hastened to assure us that it had been comprehensively and absolutely denied by all the politicians concerned, and it does seem reading through it rather thin.

Jeremy Corbyn, pictured with Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams, has been accused of consorting with this countrys enemies while holding public office

There may have been other passing references, but it can be fairly stated that the BBC has done its utmost not to give this story wider circulation even though it contains the mind-boggling suggestion, of course unproven, that as a young MP Jeremy Corbyn betrayed his country.

Why has Auntie been so coy? I can think of two possible reasons. The first is that she was pilloried by the Corbynistas in 2015 for what they regarded as hostile reporting of their newly elected hero. Political editor Laura Kuenssberg became a particular hate figure for the trollers. So the Corporation is treading carefully.

Probably even more to the point, many news editors and political journalists at the Beeb regard Jeremy Corbyn with more favour than they did, not least, perhaps, because he appears increasingly opposed to the kind of hard Brexit they abominate.

Whatever the explanation, there is little doubt the Labour leader has been given a much softer ride than would have been accorded the Prime Minister if claims of undesirable political affiliations had emerged from her past.

Imagine  incredible thought  that a former spy who served South Africa under the apartheid regime stepped forward to allege he had more than ten friendly meetings with the young Theresa May in the 1980s. Imagine, too, that there were authentic records of three encounters having taken place. In such an eventuality, I suggest, the BBC would go ballistic, and repeat the allegations, however implausible, around the clock. I should add that although apartheid South Africa was a disgusting regime, it didnt pose a military threat to Britain  unlike Czechoslovakia and the Soviet bloc.

The BBCs refusal to report either the allegations against Corbyn, or the unequivocal denials of his aides, amounts to a dereliction of duty. It recalls the political bias it showed in the early Blair years until  following the manifest half-truths of the Iraq War  some even-handedness was restored.

The BBCs refusal to report either the allegations against Corbyn or the defences and denials from his camp amounts to a dereliction of duty

I remember how, before Peter Mandelson resigned from the Labour Cabinet in 2001 for the second time, the BBC was lamentably slow in giving airtime to the charges against him. After he was sacked, it treated him almost as a blameless martyr during an episode of Newsnight so one-sided that it was later obliged to apologise.

And the Beeb sat on its hands in 2001 while the Press (particularly this newspaper) investigated Cherie Blairs friendship with the convicted conman Peter Foster, who had helped her to buy two flats in Bristol at a discount.

Of course, the Corporation could even now be belatedly limbering into action, and may have despatched a reporter to Slovakia to interview Jan Sarkocy and make further investigations. We can only hope so.

But it isnt the first time it has looked the other way where Corbyn is concerned. In the weeks before last Junes election, it seemed deliberately to avoid reminding people of his discreditable past.

This includes asking two former IRA convicts to speak in the House of Commons a fortnight after the IRA had tried to blow up Margaret Thatcher, killing five people in the process; and, as recently as 2009, describing the Islamic terrorists of Hezbollah and Hamas as his friends.

Now the BBC turns a blind eye to a truly shocking allegation  that Jeremy Corbyn consorted with this countrys enemies while holding public office. It may be false. But if it is even partly true, the implications are appalling.

Will we ever find out what really happened? Not if the mighty broadcaster which controls so many of our airwaves has anything to do with it.A woman's naked body was found between rocks at a Perth beach at around 6am this morning.

Homicide detectives have arrived at Trigg beach and cordoned off the carpark as forensic officers investigate.

Forensic officers are at the scene armed with shovels following the discovery of the woman's body, according to ABC reporter Graeme Powell.

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Homicide detectives have cordoned off the carpark at Trigg beach after a woman's body was found earlier this morning

Daily Mail Australia talked to Sergeant Cockram from Perth police who confirmed that the woman's 'body was found by the rocks' at Trigg beach at 6am from a member of the public.

Sergeant Cockram could not confirm the exact location where the body was found.

She added: 'The woman's death has not yet been deemed as suspicious and police are investigating at the scene.'

Police officers and forensic officers are investigating at the scene and have not yet deemed the woman's death as suspicious

Neil Thompson from Surfing WA said 'he didn't see anything' this morning. 'I just loaded my car and went down to the beach,' he told Daily Mail Australia.

'Info from police here on the scene is that they are treating this as suspicious,' a Channel 9 reporter told 6PR.

He added: 'There is currently a crime scene here at the moment and there are still a lot of cars here as well in the carpark so  lots of people are wondering what is going on.'

Trigg beach remains closed while police continue their investigation.

Trigg is a suburb of Perth and is one of the most popular beaches in Western Australia among the surfing communityThe ABC has admitted 'issues' with 'accuracy and impartiality' of star Emma Alberici's reports after the Prime Minister made an unprecedented complaint.

Emma Alberici, the ABC's chief economics correspondent, published an article about corporate tax cuts on February 14, claiming one in five of Australia's largest companies paid no tax in the past three years.

The Prime Minister's office told Daily Mail Australia on Monday there were 'concerns' raised with the report.

Emma Alberici, the ABC's chief economics correspondent, published an article about corporate tax cuts on February 14

The office complained Ms Alberici's coverage was 'impartial', 'based on outdated figures' and 'confuses income with profit'.

'Alberici has a habit of including comments from and interviewing only people who agree with her how is this fair, objective reporting?' the complaint said, according to The Australian.

Communications Minister Mitch Fifield also took issue with Ms Alberici's social media usage.

He complained she 'liked and retweeted a politically partisan attack on the government by the Opposition Leader' Bill Shorten.

The complaints were two of many, with the ABC receiving letters from the Treasurer's office, Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce and Business Council of Australia chief executive Jennifer Westacott.

A spokesman for the ABC complaints-handling unit, Audience and Consumer Affairs said they were reviewing the letters.

'The reports were published at 5.30am on Wednesday, 14 February. ABC news director Gaven Morris flagged his concerns with his managers at about 7am,' the spokesman told Daily Mail Australia on Monday.

'By midday Editorial Policies had provided the advice there were issues with accuracy in the news report and impartiality in the analysis report.

The office complained Ms Alberici's (pictured) coverage was 'impartial', 'based on outdated figures' and 'confuses income with profit'

The ABC received complaints from the Prime Minister's office (Malcolm Turnbull right) and Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce (left)

'On that basis, ABC News decided to amend the news report and withdraw the analysis piece until it was clear whether it could be reworked and resubmitted.'

The ABC said the decision to review the article was made before the Prime Minister's office complained.

The story was taken down from the site on Thursday, before an amended version was republished on Friday.

With the amended article, the ABC said 'this story has been updated to provide further information and context'.

'ABC News stresses the analysis report was withdrawn from publication on the basis it did not comply with opinion guidelines for ABC journalists,' the spokesman said.

While the ABC admitted there were issues with the report, the spokesman defended Ms Alberici, a former host of Lateline

'ABC News acknowledges its subediting and publishing process in this case did not meet our standards. We have already implemented changes to strengthen these processes.'

While the ABC admitted there were issues with the report, the company defended Ms Alberici, a former host of Lateline.

'The ABC stands by its chief economics correspondent Emma Alberici, who makes a valuable contribution to the coverage of financial issues and national debate,' a spokesman said.

The ABC specifically denied Ms Alberici lifted quotes from the Labor party after she called the corporate tax cuts a 'giveaway' - a phrase the government claimed was taken from ALP talking points.Passengers on one of the world's longest flights are furious after being stranded at another airport and told they need to catch a bus to their destination.

Qantas flight QF7 from Sydney to Dallas is supposed to take 15 hours and 20 minutes, but almost 20 hours later hundreds of travellers are stuck in Houston.

The Airbus A380 was beginning its final descent when those on board were suddenly told of a 'weather event in Dallas', a passenger said.

Passengers on one of the world's longest flights are furious after being stranded at another airport and told they need to catch a bus to their destination (pictured are passengers getting off the plane)

Qantas flight QF7 from Sydney to Dallas is supposed to take 15 hours and 20 minutes, but almost 20 hours later hundreds of travellers are stuck in Houston (pictured are passengers waiting for their bags at Houston)

After briefly flying in a holding pattern the delay became a last-minute diversion and the plane landed at Houston instead.

'We were about 40 mins out and preparing to land when there was an announcement apologising for bad news,' the passenger said.

'We were told it was a "weather event" but we could see other airlines landing in Dallas without a problem, and the weather seemed fine.

'It was suspicious because the weather wasn't that bad. Competitors like American and Southwest were departing from Houston with no issues.'

However a Qantas spokesperson said only a small number of passengers will be taken to Dallas by bus, with the majority flying to other airports out of Houston.

The Airbus A380 was beginning its final descent when those on board were suddenly told of a 'weather event in Dallas', a passenger said (pictured are passengers getting off the plane)

Upon arrival passengers were given a series of unlikely and contradictory explanations for why they could not get off the plane.

First they were told there were nowhere for the plane to dock and then that there were no facilities to process Qantas passengers.

After four hours on the tarmac the exhausted passengers were finally able to enter the airport, only to be told they would have to catch a bus to Dallas.

'All of their explanations turned out to be wrong, and even their explanation for why we had to fly to Houston - they finally told us it was a fuel issue,' said a person on board.

Other passengers took to social media to vent their anger, asking why they were stuck inside the plane for so long.

'QF7 fail: 2 hrs late leaving Sydney, diverted to Houston, 4 hrs on tarmac, 1 hr customs, queues, now 3+ hr bus back to Dallas. Last 7 hours no food or water,' said one passenger.

Other passengers took to social media to vent their anger, asking why they were stuck inside the plane for so long (pictured above)

'QF7 landed OVER 3 hrs and 20 mins ago and we are still not allowed off! Unreal!' said one Twitter user.

'Now entering hour 3 waiting to deboard after 16 hours of flight time... any idea when we can get off this thing?' said another.

'I feel sorry for everyone who has connecting flights,' said another passenger.

'Understand safety is a priority but nothing better after a 15 hour flight then being diverted and sitting on the tarmac for 2.5 hours while they decide what to do.'

'At what point is it illegal to hold the passengers on QF7 on the plane?' asked somebody else.

Once off the plane passengers learned they would have to take a bus to Dallas, which staff told them would take three hours (pictured are passengers getting off the plane)

Once off the plane passengers learned they would have to take a bus to Dallas, which staff told them would take three hours.

'There is no way a bus can make it from Houston to Dallas that quickly,' a flyer said.

'It could take as long as four hours, why couldn't they just organise a flight?'

Despite the dramas, passengers said Qantas staff on the plane had been excellent, and passengers had dealt with the disruptions well.'

'The crew have been wonderful, there was nothing they could do either and they were fantastic the whole time,' a passenger said.

A Qantas spokesperson said only a small number of passengers will be taken to Dallas by bus, with the majority flying to other airports out of Houston.

'Those travelling to Dallas will receive meals and accommodation, and Qantas will be trying to minimise the impact of the delay, the spokesperson said.

'Due to low cloud in Dallas, we had to divert our Sydney-Dallas/Fort Worth flight to Houston,' the spokesperson said in a statement.

'Unfortunately when we landed in Houston, one of the A380's doors sustained minor damage from the aerobridge, which requires inspection by an engineer.

'The majority of customers on the flight have onward bookings from Dallas to other US destinations, so we have worked with our partner airlines to fly them to their final destinations directly from Houston.

'As it's currently late at night in Houston, we have also arranged hotel accommodation.

'For customers who do not have onward bookings from Dallas/Fort Worth, we have arranged buses to get them to Dallas, as this will be the fastest way to get them to their destination while engineers inspect the aircraft.

'We know that delays can be frustrating but the safety of our customers and crew is our first priority.

'We thank customers for their understanding as we worked to find the best way to get them on their way as quickly as possible.'Kevin Carswell captured the cheeky prank on video and uploaded the footage to YouTube on January 29

A father in North Carolina played a hilarious practical joke on his unsuspecting daughter, placing a stuffed raccoon inside his home.

Kevin Carswell captured the cheeky prank on video and uploaded the footage to YouTube on January 29.

The clip shows Carswell looking straight into the camera on his phone explaining his plan before it unfolds.

'So I got this little beauty back from the taxidermist today,' the former police officer from Raleigh says as he pans his camera-phone towards the preserved animal. 'Let's see if I can't have a little fun with it,' he adds.

The next scene shows Carswell placing the raccoon in the pantry and leaving a trail of potato chips for his daughter to stumble upon.

'It don't get much better than that,' Carswell quips with slight smile.

Moments later, Carswell's young daughter comes across the mess on the floor, perplexed about the circumstances that led to disorderly scene.

The clip shows Carswell looking straight into the camera on his phone explaining his plan before it unfolds. He then pans to the raccoon

The next scene shows Carswell placing the raccoon in the pantry and leaving a trail of potato chips for his daughter to stumble upon. His daughter seems perplexed

As Carswell asks his daughter to clean up the mess, she seems oblivious to the dead creature perched on a shelf just inches from her head

'What happened in here?' she asks incredulously. 'Oh, I don't know,' her father coyly responds.

'How did you not notice that a whole bag of chips was emptied onto the floor,' she says while giggling.

As Carswell asks his daughter to clean up the mess, she seems oblivious to the dead creature perched on a shelf just inches from her head.

After bringing her father two headache tablets from the pantry, she returns to the storage room, and he asks her to bring him a snack.

She lovingly obliges, and as she turns her head to get the treat, viewers see the teenage girl nearly jump off the floor, screeching as she flies out of the pantry.

'There's an animal in there, dad!' she yells as her father can be heard giggling background.

'Oh my god,' she bellows one last time, breathing heavily as the video comes to an end.

As she investigates the incident, viewers see the teenage girl nearly jump off the floor, screeching as she flies out of the pantryBilly Jack Haynes, 62, made his bombshell claims in videos released this week

A former professional wrestler has come forward to say he witnessed the unsolved 1987 murder of two teens, implicating local law enforcement and high elected officials in the crime.

Billy Jack Haynes, 62, made his bombshell claims in video statements and interviews released this week, speaking out about the murder of 17-year-old Kevin Ives and 16-year-old Don Henry.

'Now August 23, 1987, thirty years ago, I was on the railroad tracks in Alexander, Arkansas, and witnessed everything that happened to two young boys on the tracks,' Haynes said in a video he recorded in early December, KATV reported.

The death of the two boys was quickly called a suicide by the state medical examiner, who then revised his ruling and said they had accidentally passed out on the train tracks after smoking marijuana and were struck by a Union Pacific train around 4.30am near the Crooked Creek trestle.

At the insistence of the dead boys' families, a grand jury was impaneled and ruled the deaths a probable homicide, finding that they had been murdered and then placed on the tracks to hide evidence of the killings.

Now, Haynes alleges the murders were connected to a cocaine smuggling ring and far-reaching cover-up orchestrated by a 'criminal politician'.

Don Henry (left) Kevin Ives (right) were found dead on train tracks near Alexander, Arkansas on August 23, 1987

In 1987, Haynes (pictured) was a successful professional wrestler. He claims that he was also involved in the seedy underworld of cocaine trafficking

In 1987, Haynes was a successful professional wrestler. He claims that he was also involved in the seedy underworld of cocaine trafficking.

'I transported and trafficked large quantities of cocaine throughout the United States of America,' he said in a second video, which was made public as part of an appeal to raise funds for the investigation.

Haynes said he had contact with Barry Seal (above), a notorious drug dealer in Arkansas

Haynes said he bought his supply from Barry Seal, a Louisiana smuggler for the Medellin Cartel who later operated out of an airport in Mena, Arkansas.

'Barry Seal later introduced me to a politician drug dealer from Arkansas,' Haynes said. Seal was assassinated in 1986 after turning DEA informant.

'In August of 1987, I was contacted by the Arkansas criminal politician and was asked if I would provide muscle for an Arkansas drug drop,' Haynes said.

Haynes said he left Detroit, where he had been wrestling King Kong Bundy, and headed south.

Haynes says the politician wanted to make sure nothing was stolen from the drug drop by the state and local law enforcement officials he says were involved.

Meanwhile, on the night of August 22, Kevin and Don were last seen heading into the woods with a flashlight and a .22 rifle to 'spotlight' deer.

Haynes claims the boys stumbled across the smuggling operation as a plane dropped duffel bags of drugs near the train tracks, about 15 miles southwest of the state capital, Little Rock.

Haynes said he left Detroit, where he had been wrestling King Kong Bundy, and headed to Arkansas in August 1987 to provide security for a cocaine drop

Don Henry (left) Kevin Ives (right) were last seen heading into the woods with a flashlight and a .22 rifle to 'spotlight' deer on the night of August 22, 1987

The two bodies were found on this stretch of railroad track, about 15 miles southwest of Little Rock. A grand jury ruled that the boys were murdered before the train hit them

He said the two boys were caught by the lawmen involved and beaten to death. Although Haynes says he didn't participate in killing them, he admits to helping move the bodies onto the train tracks.

The train engineer that struck the boys said that they were lying motionless on the tracks, and made no attempt to avoid being hit.

Several of the law enforcement officials named in Haynes' confession went on to be arrested and convicted on unrelated drug charges, or were themselves murdered.

Linda Ives, Kevin's mother, sat next to Haynes throughout the first videotaped confession, which has not been publicly released in full.

She said she hopes some law enforcement agency, either local, state or federal, will want to watch Haynes' confession or bring him back to Arkansas for an interview.

Haynes has a history of making far-fetched claims in interviews, including that he believed WWE promoter Vince McMahon fathered the child of a now deceased wrestler, and that Steve Austin is ultimately responsible for the death of wrestling legend 'Rowdy' Roddy Piper.

However, he has previously discussed his role in drug trafficking from the 1980s in numerous interviews dating back to the early 2000s.

County and state law enforcement officials did not immediately respond to a message from DailyMail.com asking whether Haynes' claims would be investigated.Thomas the blind, bisexual goose has been laid to rest with a touching funeral involving bagpipes, a tiny coffin and a eulogy by the mayor.

Thomas, from Waimanu Lagoon in Waikanae, north of Wellington, spent years in a love triangle with two swans before he died in February aged 38.

Thomas was inseparable with a black male swan called Henry for 24 years, until a young female swan called Henrietta stole Henry's heart.

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He became a local celebrity for his complicated love life, shunning female geese for a black swan named Henry for 24 years

Kapiti Coast Mayor K Gurunathan even spoke at Thomas' funeral at Waimanu Lagoon in Waikanae, north of Wellington

Thomas became the third wheel, but it didn't break his close bond with Henry.

He even helped Henry and Henrietta raise their 68 cygnets.

He was pictured alongside the two swans and their hatchlings for six years.

His unusual relationships made him a local celebrity with many resident birdwatchers wiling away the day watching his romantic life unfold.

Thomas was buried next to Henry in a public ceremony on Monday, at the lagoon the birds called home.

Footage from the ceremony showed a bagpiper leading a procession of about 60 mourners.

Thomas was often seen playing uncle to the hatchlings in their nest alongside their parents

Thomas was carried in a tiny casket to the lagoon, where he was laid to rest on Monday

Footage from the ceremony showed a bagpiper leading a procession of about 60 mourners

Kapiti Coast Mayor K Gurunathan even spoke at Thomas' funeral.

Funeral attendee Sue Lusk said Thomas was an important member of the community, and his life should be celebrated.

'This was just very special, and it brought the community together, and it was a lovely story of good things,' she told Stuff.

A headstone will be added to the grave to help remember Thomas.

When a young swan named Henrietta stole his soulmate's heart, Thomas stuck around as a third wheel and helped raise their 68 cygnets over six years

Thomas is laid to rest next to his partner Henry, who died in 2009 aged 30

When Thomas' partner Henry died in 2009, aged of 30, Henrietta soon flew off with another swan.

This left Thomas all alone in his old age, and he was sometimes heard crying over his mate.

New female geese arrived and without his soulmate around Thomas finally fathered his own babies - only to have them stolen by another goose called George.

Thomas the beloved bisexual goose has died in a bird rehabilitation sanctuary aged 38

The elderly bird retired to the Wellington Bird Rehabilitation Trust in 2013 as health issues mounted and cataracts sent him blind.

'As well as making other blind bird friends to spend his days with Thomas helped foster a couple of broods of cygnets along the way,' the trust said.

'[That was] for nostalgic reasons and boy, did he do a good job.

'He lived for corn on the cob and if it wasn't there when we put him back into his house at night, he was not happy.'

Henry died in 2009 at the aged of 30 and Henrietta soon flew off with another swan, leaving Thomas all along in his old age, sometimes heard crying over his mate

The elderly bird retired to the Wellington Bird Rehabilitation Trust in 2013 as health issues mounted and cataracts sent him blind

An aging Thomas is fed by a staff member at the trust as he potters around the garden

The organisation, which looks after up to 400 birds a year, said Thomas proved there was 'life after sight' for elderly fowl.

'You were a true inspiration for the work we do and the things we are able to achieve for the animals in our care,' it said.

'He was such a special boy and a wonderful character. Thomas, our good friend, we miss you wholeheartedly but may you rest in peace.'Police are currently investigating claims from witnesses that a women was clipped by a car before being forced inside just before 7am on Sunday morning.

Witnesses said that the women, aged in her 20s, was walking along Torrens Road when she was clipped by a white vehicle before she was pushed inside by the male driver.

The vehicle was last seen heading toward the St Claire Residential area in Woodville, Adelaide.

Witnesses told police the young women was walking along the road before being clipped by the car and then dragged inside by an unidentified Caucasian male

Police are appealing for any witnesses to the incident which occurred on Sunday morning to contact police as there are concerns for the young women's well-being

The alleged assailant is being described as male, of Caucasian appearance, with a heavily tattooed right arm.

Police are extremely concerned about the well being of the young woman and have put out calls for either her or the male driver to come forward if possible, as well as any more witnesses to the incident.

If you or someone you know has any information on the incident please call the police assistance line on 131 444 or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.A woman who was voted Teacher of the Year at a Florida middle school has posted a Facebook message saying parents need to 'step up' when it comes to their children's behavior.

Kelly Guthrie Raley, 41, was named Eustis Middle School Teacher of the Year last month and has spoken out in a now-viral Facebook post following the mass shooting that killed 17 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

'Okay, I'll be the bad guy and say what no one else is brave enough to say, but wants to say,' Raley begins.

Kelly Guthrie Raley, 41, was named 'Teacher of the Year' at her Florida school

'Until we, as a country, are willing to get serious and talk about mental health issues, lack of available care for the mental health issues, lack of discipline in the home, horrendous lack of parental support when the schools are trying to control horrible behavior at school (oh no! Not MY KID. What did YOU do to cause my kid to react that way?), lack of moral values, and yes, I'll say it  violent video games that take away all sensitivity to ANY compassion for others' lives  as well as reality TV that makes it commonplace for people to constantly scream up in each others' faces and not value any other person but themselves, we will have a gun problem in school,' the sixth-grade language arts teacher wrote.

Raley said she is prepared to 'take all the criticism and attacks' for her opinion.

She states that despite being a teacher with two decades of experience, she still has to worry about an active-shooter situation on a daily basis.

The middle school teacher states how over the 20 years she has been teaching, she has seen an increase in violence and a lack of compassion among students.

Raley, who loves hunting and four-wheeling in her spare time mentions how she also grew up with guns in her home.

Raley has been recognized for her commentary following the tragic Florida shooting

'But you know what? My parents NEVER supported any bad behavior from me,' Raley says.

'I never dreamed of shooting anyone with his guns. I never dreamed of taking one!

'I was taught respect for human life, compassion, rules, common decency, and most of all, I was taught that until I moved out, my life and bedroom wasn't mine...it was theirs. And they were going to know what was happening because they loved me and wanted the best for me.'

She goes on to state how when she began teaching in 1998, she never had to worry about calling a student's parents and being sworn at.

Raley says she did not worry about public shaming because she was calling out a child's behavior.

Raley looks at how things have changed over 20 years. She says she great up in a house with guns because he dad was a soldier, pictured right, but never once dreamed of using them

'Parents, it's time to step up!' Raley urges. 'Be the parent that actually gives a cr**! Be the annoying mom that pries and knows what your kid is doing. STOP being their friend.

'They have enough 'friends' at school. Be their parent. Being the 'cool mom' means not a damn thing when either your kid is dead or your kid kills other people because they were allowed to have their space and privacy in YOUR HOME.'

Raley ends her post by stating how it was never about gun control.

'This was me, loving the crap out of people and wanting the best for them. This was about my school babies and knowing that God created each one for greatness, and just wanting them to reach their futures.'

Raley said the only thing she holds dearer than teaching students is her faith and family, and that her father, a military hero, and her mother, a retired school teacher, inspired her to be who she is today.

Raley loves her teaching and has this inspirational message on her classroom doorPresident Donald Trump has slammed Oprah Winfrey for what he calls a 'biased, incorrect' interview with voters.

'Just watched a very insecure Oprah Winfrey, who at one point I knew very well, interview a panel of people on 60 Minutes,' Trump tweeted late Sunday, hours after the episode aired.

On the CBS show, Winfrey quizzed seven Michigan voters who voted for Trump and seven who voted against him.

'The questions were biased and slanted, the facts incorrect. Hope Oprah runs so she can be exposed and defeated just like all of the others!' Trump wrote.

Winfrey's questions were wide-ranging but often pressured Trump's supporters to defend him.

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Winfrey sat down with 14 Michigan voters to get their thoughts on Trump's first year in office

Winfrey's questions were wide-ranging but often pressured Trump's supporters to defend him

'Okay, so polls are showing that respect for the United States is eroding around the world. Do you care what the world thinks of the United States?' Winfrey asked.

Poll Do you think Oprah was biased in her 60 Minutes interview of Michigan voters? Yes No Do you think Oprah was biased in her 60 Minutes interview of Michigan voters? Yes 7862 votes

No 3455 votes Now share your opinion





Winfrey's next question: 'There have been some members of Congress, including Republicans, questioning his stability and fitness for office. What do you think of that, and do you believe he has the temperament to be president?'

The questions sparked a spirited back-and-forth, with Trump's supporters and detractors both making their points.

Winfrey first spoke with the panel of voters in Grand Rapids, Michigan in August 2017, for a 60 Minutes episode that aired the following month.

The voters kept in touch with each other through a private Facebook group continuing to discuss national events and argue politics.

'Members from opposite sides of the divide actually became friends, organizing outings and talking every day in a private Facebook chat group,' Winfrey said in the introduction to the follow-up segment on Sunday. 'All of that made us want to go back.'

The voters from Grand Rapids have kept in touch after Winfrey first interviewed them last year

Winfrey's questions sparked a spirited back-and-forth, with Trump's supporters and detractors both making their points

Winfrey has been publicly floated as a presidential contender after her rousing speech in support of the 'Me Too' movement at the Golden Globes last month.

However she has repeatedly denied she has any desire to run, most recently speaking with 60 Minutes in an interview that aired on Valentine's Day.

Winfrey told 60 Minutes that she was 'stunned' that she suddenly was being named as someone who could run for the highest office in the land.

'I am actually humbled by the fact that people think I could be the leader of the free world, but it's just not in my spirit,' Winfrey said. 'It's not in my DNA.'

'I was just trying to give a good speech,' the talk show host said. 'I was looking for a way to express what was going on in this moment in terms of gender and class and race.'This is the moment a tiger snake had to be rescued out of a Carlton Draught beer can.

The venomous reptile from the Melbourne suburb was saved after it became stuck in the can.

Stewy 'the Snake Catcher' Gatt was called to Wyndham Vale in Victoria to rescue the serpent after it became trapped.

The tiger snake was rescued by professional handler Stewy 'The Snake Catcher' Gatt after it became stuck in the can

He used pliers to cut a hole in the Carlton can for the tiger snake to slither out.

The distressed reptile was quick to strike at Stewy, the can and even itself when it was partially released.

Wyndham Vale locals attempted to free the poisonous snake from the footpath on Black Forest Drive and McGrath Road but called the professional handler for back-up.

'If you come across a snake in a similar situation, the best thing to do, is to call a snake catcher immediately,' he wrote on Facebook.

Stewy Gatt has been handling snakes for ten years.

He told Daily Mail Australia it was not uncommon to find snakes in trouble like this.

'It does happen regularly to find snakes in different kinds of rubbish,' he said.

The tiger snake may have become stuck for three reasons according to the professional snake handler.

'It could have been because of the warmth of the can, it could have been attracted to the liquid or another reason is because it's a dark hole to hide in,' he said.

Stewy 'the Snake Catcher' used pliers to release the tiger snake from the Carlton can

Wyndham Vale is close to a swamp and is prone to tiger and brown snakes in the area.

Stewy said the situation with the snake was 'dangerous' and advises to call a professional if you see a snake in a position like this.

'Snakes get a bad rap, everyday we try and educate people that they are dangerous but they are dangerous if they are threatened,' he said.

The tiger snake was released today within five kilometres of where it was found.Disgraced property developer Salim Mehajer has claimed he felt 'cornered, bullied and harassed' by a media pack moments before he slammed a female TV reporter with a car door.

The former deputy mayor of Auburn council told the Downing Centre Local Court his run-in with a throng of waiting media outside a Sydney city police station in April last year was 'horrendous'.

'I didn't want to face the media,' Mehajer said on Monday, during the hearing into his altercation with Channel 7 reporter Laura Banks.

The 31-year-old has pleaded not guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm over his altercation with Ms Banks, 31, on April 2, 2017.

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Property developer Salim Mehajer (right) has faced court charged with assaulting Sydney TV reporter Laura Banks (left) after he allegedly slammed his car door on her last April

The incident took place outside Day Street police station where Mehajer had been taken early that morning after allegedly assaulting a taxi driver.

The court heard Mehajer had traded insults with Ms Banks, who teased him about his height, after he asked if the jewellery she was wearing was a ring or a key ring.

'It all happened very quickly and my only thought was to leave,' Mehajer said of the door slamming.

'As selfish as this may sound I wasn't aware of the extent of the impact.'

Mehajer said while he was smiling during the confrontations with media he was not enjoying himself.

'I just unfortunately smile inappropriately sometimes,' he said. 'It's just the character I am.'

Ms Banks denied she deliberately provoked Mehajer during their confrontation prior to the alleged assault.

She even suggested Mehajer had been flirting with her when he asked: 'Why are you attached to me?'

'It was almost suggestive, flirtatious,' Ms Banks told the court.

'He was suggestive in some of his comments. Asking me to get in the back of his car felt like that was suggestive and (had) innuendo behind it.'

Mehajer's barrister Phillip Boulten, SC, accused Ms Banks of goading Mehajer about his height.

'[She said]"Why have you got such high heels? Is it to make yourself look bigger or taller or something like that?" Mr Boulten said.

'This was deliberate goading of the accused.'

At an earlier point in one video Mehajer looks at jewellery on Ms Banks's hand and asks 'Is that a key ring or a ring? Who bought you that?'

Ms Banks (pictured) denied she deliberately provoked Mehajer during their confrontation prior to the alleged assault, claiming the disgraced property developer was almost 'flirting' with her

Mehajer told the court he felt cornered, bullied and harassed before the car door incident, but said he 'absolutely (did) not' mean to slam Ms Banks in the car door

Mehajer told the court he felt cornered, bullied and harassed before he got into a white Porsche to leave the scene.

Asked if he meant to slam Porsche's door on Ms Banks he said: 'Absolutely not'.

Ms Banks was shown on video asking Mehajer why he was wearing such high heels.

Mehajer responded 'to step over you'.

Mr Boulten asked Ms Banks if her actions, including telling a taxi driver of Mehajer's alleged assault of another cab driver, were designed to prolong the situation.

'It was pertinent to the story,' Ms Banks replied, adding that she was more bemused than amused.

'Did you ever think about whether you had reached the point where your actions crossed the boundary between proper and improper?' Mr Boulton said.

'I don't believe they did,' Ms Banks replied on Monday.

Mr Boulten grilled Ms Banks on why she continually pursued Mehajer even though it was clear he did not want to comment.

'You just never know what you'll get with Mr Mehajer,' Ms Banks said.

'Can you get that thing off my leg? Can you stop touching me?' Mehajer told Ms Banks as she pushed a microphone towards him, the court heard

Taking to the witness stand on Monday morning, Banks told the court she had been standing in the doorway of the Porsche trying to ask Mehajer questions when the alleged assault occurred

Earlier on Monday, Ms Banks told the court she had been standing in the doorway of the Porsche trying to ask Mehajer questions when the alleged assault occurred.

'Mr Mehajer abruptly shut the door,' she said.

'I was jammed in the door. My hand was bruised and also my back. I was squashed in the car.'

Her left hand caused her pain for an hour or two.

'But my back is still quite sore,' Ms Banks said.

In footage of the incident, Ms Banks appears approaching Mehajer as he gets behind the wheel of the Porsche with the door open.

'Watch it, watch it,' Mehajer warns. 'Watch it.

'Do you want to hop in the back seat? Jump in, I'll have a little chat with ya. Just jump in,' Mehajer said.

As Banks trails behind Mehajer he says: 'Why are you so attached to me? Have some respect.'

Mehajer then closes the door, catching Ms Banks.

Earlier videos show her asking Mehajer questions while he waits for a lift, including if he had hit 'rock bottom'.

While Mehajer was in the back seat of the taxi before the Porsche incident Ms Banks put a microphone through the drivers seat and it became wedged under his leg.

'Can you get that thing off my leg?' Mehajer asks. 'Can you stop touching me?'.

Magistrate Joanne Keogh will hand down her decision on Friday.The United States will continue its diplomatic efforts to settle the nuclear crisis on the Korean Peninsula until the 'first bomb drops', US State Secretary Rex Tillerson said in a rare interview on Sunday night.

'I'm gonna use all the time available to me, our diplomatic efforts will continue until that first bomb drops. My job is to never have a reason for the first bomb to drop. And we don't know precisely how much time is left on the clock,' Tillerson said in an interview with the CBS 60 Minutes.

'We're not using a carrot to convince them to talk,' Tillerson said. 'We're using large sticks. And that is what they need to understand.'

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says the U.S. is 'nervous' sbout North Korea striking the mainland with a nuclear missile but vows to bring them to the negotiating table

Washington is alarmed by Pyongyang's threats that its missiles could reach US soil, Tillerson noted.

'It does make us nervous. It also stiffens our resolve. That kind of a threat to the American people by a regime like this is not acceptable,' Tillerson underlined.

The alarming message came as the official pledged to do all he could to reach a peace resolution with the hermit kingdom before physical conflict breaks out.

Concerns that North Korea could launch a nuclear strike at the US have risen in recent months after the dictatorship announced it now had the ability to hit the American mainland.

Earlier on Sunday, US Senator Bob Corker said Tillerson has up to 10 months to resolve the nuclear crisis or otherwise the United States 'is going to be facing one of the greatest military decisions,' according to CBS.

Speaking with CBS 60 Minutes's Margaret Brennan, left, he admitted hes nervous

Tensions between the United States and North Korea have been mounting throughout 2017 as Pyongyang continued to conduct nuclear and ballistic missile tests, while Washington amassed troops and military assets in close proximity of North Korea and conducted military exercises.

Meanwhile, Tillerson said during the interview that the United States keeps its communication channels with North Korea 'open' in order to trace Pyongyang's readiness for talks on the settlement of nuclear crisis.

In a direct plea to Pyongyang on, Tillerson urged Kim Jong-un's regime to get in contact if he wanted to take part in talks with the US.

He said: 'My job as chief diplomat is to ensure that the North Koreans know we keep our channels open, I'm listening.'

'I'm not sending a lotta messages back 'cause there's nothing to say to them at this point. So I'm listening for North Korea to tell me they are ready to talk,' Tillerson said in the wide-ranging interview.

Tillerson said that he is the only person who knows when he'll be resigning as chief diplomat, despite being plagued by rumors that he and Trump's working relationship has disintegrated

In regards to how Washington is going to understand when Pyongyang is ready for the negotiations, the state secretary said the North Korea leadership 'will tell me.'

'We receive messages from them and I think it will be very explicit as to how we want to have that first conversation,' Tillerson told the broadcaster.

The White House has been pushing for North Korea to take steps to stop the development of nuclear warheads and intercontinental ballistic missiles.

During the interview, Tillerson spoke of his first meeting with Russia's President Vladimir Putin.

He knew Putin from his days as CEO of Exxon and had many meeting's with him when it came to negotiating deals over oil.

But according to Tillerson, the April 2017 meeting was not like the other times the pair had met.

'It was different,' he said, adding 'the only thing I said to him was "Mr. President, same man, different hat."'

Tillerson described the moment he met President Putin once again in his new role as Secretary of State. The pair met had many times prior when he was CEO of Exxon

'The dynamic changed because the issues were different,' Tillerson went on to say.

'What he is representing is different than what I now represent. And I said to him, "I now represent the American people." And I think it was important that that be said right up front. And he clearly got, I mean, he clearly understood that as well,' he noted.

And when asked whether he saw the Saturday Night Live skit poking fun at his relationship with the Russian president, he replied: 'I did. My kids pointed me to it I laughed out loud.'

When asked during the interview why so many embassies had yet to have U.S. Ambassadors appointed, Secretary Tillerson told CBS News there was 'no dismantling' and America's 'foreign policy objectives continue to be met.'

'Well, there's been no dismantling at all of the State Department,' Tillerson told Margaret Brennan.

She asked how he could explain the lack of ambassadors in 41 embassies, including South Korea, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey.

Tillerson refused to be drawn on whether he called Trump a 'moron' and said there were 'far more important questions' to be answered

'We've got terrific people, both foreign service officers, civil servants, that have stepped into those roles around the world.'

Brennan pointed out those were only on an interim basis, to which Tillerson replied: 'It is an interim basis. So clearly, it is not with the same kind of support that I wish everyone had. But our foreign policy objectives continue to be met.'

On why some of those embassies do not even have nominees, Tillerson said some were 'in the process.'

'It's not a question of people being... are neglecting the importance of it. It's just the nature of the process itself,' he added.

Multiple reports in recent months have indicated Tillerson has reduced staffing and put a freeze on hiring in other positions. In addition, a number of career State Department officials have left the agency.

Sixty per cent of top-ranking career diplomats have left the State Department and the number of people looking to join the Foreign Service has decreased.

When pushed to comment on the relationship he has with President Trump, including whether or not he called Trump a 'moron' last year, Tillerson refused to be drawn.

Tillerson has declined to give a direct answer on whether he leveled such an insult.

'I'm not going to dignify the question,' he told Brennan. 'We got so many bigger issues that we could be talking about. I'm not from this town. I understand this town likes to talk about a lot of things that are really not important.'

On how long he may remain in the role, Tillerson said that he is the only person who knows when he'll be resigning as chief diplomat, despite being plagued by rumors that he and President Trump's working relationship has disintegrated.

'I'm here to serve my country. I committed to this president. My word is my bond. I ride for this brand. That's why I'm here. And nothing anybody else says is going to change that,' he told 60 Minutes.

Tillerson didn't give speculation about tension between he and Trump 'much thought,' he said stressing that he and the president 'typically will try to talk every day.'

Tillerson shrugged off press coverage of the pair's public disagreements.

'The president communicates in his own style, his own way, his own words. And from time to time I will ask him, "Are you changing the policy?" Because if we are, obviously I need to know, and everyone needs to know,'' he said.

'And to finish the thought, that has never happened. Every time I've talked to him he says, "No, the policy hasn't changed." And I say let  then I'm good. That's all I need to know,' Tillerson added.Police have taken to social media in a bid to find three men who stole a display skeleton from a bustling mall in Adelaide late last year.

The brazen thiefs casually nabbed the fibreglass skeleton from a store inside Rundle Mall in November.

New CCTV footage shows one of the men boarding the bus with a Woolworths bag in one hand and the skeleton casually slung on his other arm.

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Police have released CCTV footage of the trio leaving Rundle mall with the stolen skeleton

One of the men boarding the bus slung the skeleton on his arm while clutching onto a Woolworths bag

Police had hoped to gain new leads by posting the footage to Facebook, but were instead met with a range of responses from internet trolls.

'Wonder if he paid for the skeleton's (sic) bus ride,' one man wrote.

'3 suspects, 1 skeleton - all of them completely gutless,' joked another.

'I wonder if the skeleton gets concession for having a disability,' added a third

The skeleton was originally on show at Rundle Mall Library for an Australian Orthopaedic Association exhibition.

'A group of burglars, disguised as council workers ... escaped with the replica fibreglass skeleton,' an Orthopaedic association spokesman told The Advertiser last November.One in three Australians could be unemployed within the next five years like the 1930s Great Depression, a leading American economist has warned.

Harry Dent fears a repeat of the 1929 stock market crash could hit Australia, unleashing the worst economic catastrophe in almost 90 years that saw millions of people with no savings or work living on the streets and queuing for food.

'That was the greatest crash in modern history. This is going to be on that level  and again, this is once in a lifetime and that is why people don't see it coming,' he told Daily Mail Australia on Monday.

'I see in the next two, three, even five years a period like the 1930s.'

Australia could endure a period of crippling economic depression similar to the 1930s, when one in three people were unemployed, an economist says

Economist Harry Dent (right) explains how the bubble bursting could throw Australia into its own Great Depression of poverty (left)

During the Great Depression one-third, or 32 per cent, of working age Australians were jobless in an era before there was a national unemployment benefit.

A repeat of that economic calamity would see a jobless rate that is almost six times higher than the present level of 5.5 per cent as business confidence fails to recover from a stock market wipe out.

With virtually every working Australian now having their savings tied up in shares as part of the nation's $2 trillion superannuation sector, a global equity market bubble could also leave many people with no wealth.

However, the financial expert said people who held their savings in cash would be poised to buy 'great financial assets' for a bargain as share prices crashed.

Dent said Australia's expensive real estate prices meant the big banks would be at great risk of collapse without a government bailout.

Dent said Australia's expensive real estate prices meant the big banks would be at great risk of collapse without a government bailout

'Australia has two problems. Its very high real estate prices which is going to affect consumer debts and banks,' he said.

China is also Australia's biggest trading partner, which means the local economy is particularly susceptible to any downturn in the Chinese economy.

'The fact that China is their biggest trading partner and I see China as being the biggest bubble to burst,' he said.

Mr Dent also claimed Australia had the second most overvalued share market in the world.

However, he said Australia's high net annual immigration rate - which at 1.6 per cent is significantly higher than the world average of 1.1 per cent - meant the nation would have a large working age population for future decades.

'Australia has such strong immigration both in quantity and quality and largely coming from Asia that they are one of the few developed countries in the world that have a larger millennial generation to follow and strong demographic growth for the future,' he said.

Harry Dent is currently touring Australia promoting his new book Zero Hour, and tickets can be bought online here.A 40-year-old man who 'succumbed' to a vulnerable 15-year-old girl's advances and had sex with her two times will spend the next two months behind bars.

John Aruba, 40, had only met the teenage girl a few months earlier when she 'begged' him to sleep with her after drinking at his Cairns home.

'No I can't  you're going to get me locked up,' he said to the girl, The Cairns Post reports.

'No it's ok, I won't f***ing dob you in,' she replied, the court heard.

The girl (stock image) had been drinking at his house when she started begging him to have sex with her. After initially refusing he agreed and then slept with her again one week later.

A week later the court heard the girl approached him again asking for sex. He asked her if it would be the last time and she agreed.

Aruba had been working away from his children and partner and was lonely when he slept with the young girl, The Cairns District Court heard.

'She started to flirt with him, he was lonely and he was very flattered,' said Defense barrister, Michael Dalton.

'When the complainant invited him to have sex with her he has succumbed. He feels guilty for succumbing and he's sorry,' he told the court.

Aruba also breached bail after contacting the girl, a move that was against his bail conditions, Pat Nevard, for Crown Prosecutions said.

He pleaded guilty to two counts each of unlawful carnal knowledge and indecent treatment of a child under 16.

Unlawful carnal knowledge, or sexual intercourse, has a maximum penalty of 14 years to life imprisonment. Indecent treatment of a child under 16 can carry a 20 year sentence.MI5 watched the London Bridge terror suspects load their van with a large holdall before leaving for their deadly attack, it has been alleged.

Intelligence officers reportedly watched the ringleader Khuram Butt, 27, and his two accomplices load a van on CCTV outside his flat in Barking, east London, just two hours before it was used as a battering ram.

But officers didn't order police to act because Butt had been downgraded as an MI5 priority and they didn't realise he was about to carry out an attack.

Intelligence officers reportedly watched the ringleader Khuram Butt, 27, and his two accomplices Rachid Redouane and Youssef Zaghba load a van on CCTV outside his flat in Barking, east London, just two hours before it was used as a battering ram

However on the day of the attack Butt was still the subject of a 'live investigation' according to a report by David Anderson QC, the government's former independent reviewer of terrorism legislation.

In practice, this meant a team from MI5 and Scotland Yard were secretly watching him at key locations such as his flat, informed sources told the Sunday Times.

Anderson appears to suggest this in his report: 'CCTV footage from Khuram Butt's home address on the evening of the attack showed footage of Butt getting into a van, hired earlier that day...two males accompanied him.'

Records of the vehicle's movements indicate that after leaving the flat in Barking, Butt and Rachid Redouane, 30, and Youssef Zaghba, 22, scouted Trafalgar Square and Oxford Street as possible targets, before striking at London Bridge.

Intelligence officers reportedly watched the terrorists load the white van outside Khuram Butt's east London flat before it was used as a deadly battering ram on London Bridge

The trio were shot by police after killing eight people in their rampage last summer

Report by the government's ex-independent reviewer of terrorism legislation A report by David Anderson QC suggested MI5 had watched the terrorists loading the van and heading to commit the attack. It said: 'CCTV footage from Khuram Butt's home address on the evening of the attack showed footage of Butt getting into a van, hired earlier that day...two males accompanied him.' On the day of the Butt was still the subject of a 'live investigation' meaning it was likely MI5 or Scotland Yard were secretly tracking his movements at key locations. Butt had been the subject of an MI5 priority investigation from mid-2015 but had been downgraded as he was no longer deemed a priority because MI5 thought he was more likely to travel to Iraq or Syria to join ISIS. Advertisement

The terrorists ploughed into pedestrians on the bridge before stabbing victims in nearby Borough Market with 12-inch ceramic knives on June 3 last year.

The attack lasted from 10.07 to 10.16pm when the attackers, who killed eight people in total, were shot dead by police at the scene.

Canadian Christine Archibald, 30, and Frenchmen Xavier Thomas, 45, died as a result of the van attack and Alexandre Pigeard, 26, Sara Zelenak, 21, Kirsty Boden, 28, Sebastien Belanger, 36, James McMullan, 32, and Ignacio Echeverria, 39, died as a result of the knife attack.

James Hodder, whose girlfriend Kirsty Boden was killed in the attack, vowed to hold MI5 and the police to account for any failings.

He told the Sunday Times: 'It's important the authorities know that society, including the victims' families, will hold them accountable for any errors.'

Butt, a former disciple of the jailed hate preacher Anjem Choudary, was the subject of an MI5 priority investigation from mid-2015, but Redouane and Zaghba had never been investigated by the agency.

Butt had been downgraded as he was no longer deemed a priority because MI5 thought he was more likely to travel to Iraq or Syria to join ISIS.

According to Mr Anderson's report: 'MI5 noted his continued extremist rhetoric but also uncertainty about whether he posed a threat to national security.'

(Top row left to right) Canadian Christine Archibald, James McMullan, Alexandre Pigeard, chef Sebastien Belanger and (bottom row left to right) Australian nurse Kirsty Boden, Australian Sara Zelenak, Xavier Thomas and Spanish banker Ignacio Echeverria died in the attack

Inquests into the attack will take place early next year at the Old Bailey.

A separate jury inquest will follow into the jihadis' deaths.

A pre-inquest hearing heard the killers had all taken large amounts of steroids before the attack.

The Home Office declined to comment further.Special Counsel Robert Mueller's indictment has claimed that a Russian campaign to meddle in the presidential election included efforts to suppress black voter turnout.

The shocking claim was buried on page 18 of the 37-page indictment issued on Thursday, as part of Mueller's ongoing probe into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

It names 13 Russian nationals as well as the Internet Research Agency, a notorious 'troll farm' that conducts online influence campaigns through bogus social media accounts. No Americans are named in the indictment as participating in the scheme.

The indictment claims that in the later half of 2016, the defendants 'began to encourage US minority groups not to vote in the 2016 US presidential election or to vote for a third-party US presidential candidate'.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller's (left) indictment has claimed that a Russian campaign to meddle in the presidential election included efforts to suppress black voter turnout

Mueller cites alleged Russian-controlled Instagram account 'Woke Blacks', which posted: '[A] particular hype and hatred fro Trump is misleading the people and forcing Blacks to vote Killary. We cannot resort to the lesser of two devils. Then we'd surely be better off without voting AT ALL.'

Another Russian-controlled account called 'Blacktivist' hosted a Russia-purchased sponsored post urging voters to support Green Party candidate Jill Stein, according to the indictment.

'Trust me, it's not a wasted vote,' the post read.

A third example targeted Muslim voters in the days before the election.

'American Muslims [are] boycotting elections today, most of the American Muslim voters refuse to vote for Hillary Clinton because she wants to continue the war on Muslims in the middle east and voted yes for invading Iraq,' the post from 'United Muslims of America' read.

An alleged Russian-controlled account called 'Blacktivist' hosted a Russia-purchased sponsored post urging voters to support Green Party candidate Jill Stein

Christopher Anders, deputy director of the ACLU's Washington Legislative Office, told ABC News that this alleged suppression of minority votes should be of grave concern to both American citizens and investigators.

'Buried literally in the middle of the indictment is a paragraph that should jar every American committed to the long fight for voting rights,' Anders wrote in a statement.

'The Russians allegedly masqueraded as African-American and American Muslim activists to urge minority voters to abstain from voting in the 2016 election or to vote for a third-party candidate.'

Anders urged both Mueller and Congress to investigate 'whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russian agents' in the alleged minority voter suppression scheme. 'Such actions, if proven, would be criminal,' he said.

The Mueller probe, authorized by Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein last May to investigate whether President Donald Trump's campaign had any links or coordination with the Russians, has yet to present any evidence of such a conspiracy.A champion poker player from Sydney's ritzy eastern suburbs has been charged over the death of a French UBEReats cyclist.

French national Julien Trameaux, 26, died late last year when his bike collided with a car at Double Bay.

Millionaire poker player Warwick Mirzikinian has been charged with dangerous driving occasioning death and negligent driving occasioning death, New South Wales police have confirmed.

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Champion poker player Warwick Mirzikinian has been charged with dangerous driving occasioning death

French national Julien Trameaux, 26, died late last year when his bike collided with a car at Double Bay

The 49-year-old Point Piper businessman, who lives near Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in Australia's most expensive residential suburb, was driving a Tesla electric car during the collision, which occurred shortly after 6pm on November 13.

Mirzikinian attended Rose Bay police station on Sunday and was issued with a future attendance notice to appear before a Downing Centre Local Court magistrate on April 18.

Mr Trameaux, who died at the scene of the crash at New South Head Road, had worked as an UBEREats delivery cyclist at night after finishing his day shifts as a labourer.

The wreckage of the bicycle Mr Trameaux was riding when he collided with a car in Double Bay

French national Julien Trameaux died on November 13 last year when his bike collided with a Tesla

Mr Mirzikinian's wife Kristy (pictured right) is a friend of PR queen Roxy Jacenko (pictured left)

Mr Trameaux died instantly during the crash at Sydney's Double Bay on November 13, 2017

Mr Mirzikinian (pictured with his wife Kristy), was allegedly driving when his car collided with a bicycle last year

Mr Mirzikinian is a renowned Australian poker player who has competed in a number high roller events.

He had been involved in the industry for almost 10 years and has amassed more than $640,000 in winnings.

Mr Mirzikinian has collected nearly $100,000 this year at events at Star Sydney, the Nine Network said.

He lives in a lavish four-bedroom home with his wife Kristy, who is a friend of PR queen Roxy Jacenko.

The death was the fifth cyclist fatality on NSW Roads in 2017, Transport NSW said.

Mr Mirzikinian's wife last year made headlines when a sinkhole the size of a backyard swimming pool opened up outside their Point Piper home, cutting power and interrupting personal training sessions.

'My personal trainer has come, my electricity is off and now I don't know what to do,' said Ms Mirzikinian in her blue gym gear and clutching a Mercedes-Benz umbrella.A volcanic eruption in Indonesia has sent colossal clouds of ash shooting five kilometres into the sky, and forced airlines to issue a 'red notice' as thousands of locals flee from searing gas.

Mount Sinabung on the island of Sumatra spewed huge plums of smoke after it erupted on Wednesday afternoon. Locals could only watch on as the smoke engulfed the sky.

Airlines have been issued a 'red notice', barring them from flying over parts of Indonesia because of the eruption.

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A volcanic eruption in Indonesia has sent colossal clouds of ash shooting five kilometres into the sky

Mount Sinabung on the island of Sumatra spewed huge plums of smoke after it erupted on Wednesday afternoon

Locals could only watch on as the smoke engulfed the sky

A red notice is issued when ash is in the atmosphere, and aircraft are not permitted to be in the airspace.

A Jetstar spokesman told Daily Mail Australia the eruption has not affected any of their flights. A Qantas spokeswoman said none of their flights had been affected either.

National disaster management agency spokesman Sutopo Nugroho said a plume of thick ash was sent five kilometres into the sky.

He said there were no casualties as a result of the eruption.

Incredible video footage showed the North Sumatra volcano erupting which caused dangerous ash rain to fall.

Indonesian officials said there are no casualties yet but residents nearby should watch out for lava.

The mountain which usually stands against a picturesque scene, has been at its highest alert level after its first eruption four years ago.

The suffocating ash travelled three miles from the volcano causing thousands to flee to avoid the dangerous ash rain

Airlines have been issued a 'red notice', barring them from flying over parts of Indonesia because of the eruption

A Jetstar spokesman told Daily Mail Australia the eruption has not affected any of their flights. A Qantas spokeswoman said none of their flights had been affected either

National disaster management agency spokesman Sutopo Nugroho said a plume of thick ash was sent five kilometres into the sky

The Indonesian National Disaster Mitigation Agency have warned against locals getting near the danger zone which is within three to seven-kilometres around Mount Sinabung's crater.

Authorities feared lava flows could cascade down the mountain and destroy homes, as has happened several times.

The volcano explodes so frequently, warning signs are permanently stationed around it warning against going near it.

Indonesian officials said there are no casualties yet but residents nearby should watch out for lava

A safe distance away from the colossal ash clouds, locals could only watch as Mount Sinabung in Indonesia erupted

Earlier this month, Mount Agung in Bali erupted and led to a huge evacuations of residents and disrupted flights

Earlier this year, another eruption rocked the area, blasting ash 4.2km into the air and causing pyroclastic flows many kilometres across surrounding countryside.

Ten people were killed in another eruption this year, with its death toll sitting at 20 in the past decade, including four high school students and their teacher on a school excursion.

Sinabung is located on the 'Ring of Fire', a volatile zone of seismic activity with hundreds of active volcanoes and 90 per cent of the world's earthquakes.An elderly woman has spent her weekend in hospital with a broken face and battered body after she was pushed from her mobility scooter by a group of four boys.

Vera Nottle, 77, suffered a fractured cheekbone, broken wrist and two broken ribs after she was set upon by the boys in Singleton, NSW, on Saturday morning.

She was rushed to John Hunter hospital after one of the boys allegedly pushed her onto the road, only to laugh and point at her before sprinting away.

Vimal Nottle said his mother was coming home from a grocery shop when she was set upon by the group of 'little grubs'.

Vera Nottle, 77, was pushed from her mobility scooter by four male youth on Saturday morning and was left with a fractured cheekbone, a broken wrist and two broken ribs

'She went to ALDI and did her shopping and then was on her home way. She was coming down the lane way because it's safer and away from cars,' he told the Daily Telegraph.

He said: She saw the kids riding their scooters and she moved to the side of the lane way. After they'd gone past, they came back again and pushed her out of her scooter and then tried to push the scooter on top of her.'

'These little grubs, they think it's funny and were laughing at her as they ran off,' he said.

Mrs Nottle was taken to the Singleton Hospital for treatment before being transferred to John Hunter Hospital before being released into the care of her family the following day.

Hunter Valley Duty Officer, Inspector Joanne Schultz, is asking the community for assistance.

'Understandably, this lady is distressed by the incident,' she said.

'Her family is extremely upset and we believe the Singleton community will be horrified to think this has happened in their town.

'Police are appalled by this report and are committed to finding those responsible.'

Mrs Nottle was treated at two hospitals for the multiple broken bones and fractures which she suffered

Police are 'keen' to talk to anyone who may have witnessed or has any information on the attack in Singleton, as the woman was released into the care of her family

Inspector Schultz said police were extremely keen to speak with any witnesses.

Police believe the four boys are aged around 12 to 14 years and would have been in the vicinity of Primrose Lane at the time on Saturday morning.

'Anyone with information about the incident is urged to call Singleton Police or Crime Stoppers,' she said.

You can contact the Singleton Police on 6578 7499 or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.Human bones were found in the Cape Cod peninsula in Massachusetts where the Whydah Gally ship went down in stormy seas in 1717. Researchers are working to determine if they belong to infamous pirate Samuel 'Black Sam' Bellamy (pictured)

Human bones recovered from a shipwreck may belong to the infamous pirate Samuel 'Black Sam' Bellamy.

Black Sam is regarded as the most successful pirate of all time, capturing more than 53 ships and plundering a loot of $130 million (adjusted for inflation) during his short career.

The ship he went down in, the Whydah Gally, reportedly held more than four and a half tonnes of gold and silver when he captured it in 1717.

Remains of the wreckage were found in the Cape Cod peninsula in Massachusetts, USA, where the Whydah sunk in stormy seas the same year.

Most of the crew were killed and the treasure on board sunk to the ocean floor.

But after the wreck was discovered in 1984, trinkets and human remains encased in a hardened mass of sand and stone were recovered.

Now the Whydah Pirate Museum in Yarmouth, Massachusetts, has enlisted forensic scientists to compare DNA from the bones to a sample given by one of Bellamy's living descendants.

It says it will also publicly display the bones for the first time and showcase what they believe to be Bellamy's pistol on Monday.

The Whydah was a state of the art ship built in 1715 in England. It weighed 300 tonnes, was 102 feet long and loaded with 18 cannons.

Marie Kesten Zahn, an archaeologist and education coordinator at the Whydah Pirate Museum in West Yarmouth, Massachusetts, probes the concretion surrounding a leg bone that was salvaged from the Whydah shipwreck off the coast of Wellfleet on Cape Cod (picture taken August 2017)

The Whydah (pictured) was a state of the art ship built in 1715 in England. It weighed 300 tonnes, was 102 feet long and loaded with 18 cannons

But at midnight on April 26, 1717 Bellamy and his crew were caught in a violent Nor'easter storm off the coast of Cape Cod.

Their beloved Whydah capsized and sunk, and more than 100 bodies were washed ashore in the days that followed.

Few of those on board survived, but crewman Thomas Davis was among them.

Much of what is known about Bellamy came from the Welsh carpenter's stories about him.

After the wreck was discovered in 1984, trinkets encased in a hardened mass of sand and stone were recovered (pictured is some of the gold found)

The top 10 richest pirates to set sail 1. Samuel 'Black Sam' Bellamy: $130 million 2. Sir Francis Drake: $115 million 3. Thomas Tew: $103 million 4. John Bowen: $40 million 5. Bartholomew 'Black Bart' Roberts: $32 million 6. Jean Fleury: $31.5 million 7. Thomas White: $16 million 8. John Halsey: $13 million 9. Harry Morgan: $13 million 10. Edward 'Blackbeard' Teach: $12.5 million Source: Forbes Advertisement

Black Sam was born in Devonshire, England, and joined the British navy in his late teens before pirating in the West Indies and elsewhere for little more than a year.

He is famous for being one of the original members of the Flying Gang pirates from the Post Spanish Succession Period and launched the careers of some of the most infamous pirates of all time.

Hugely successful at sea, his strategy was to use two ships: a larger one would be heavily armed and a smaller one would be used to block and capture targets.

And his personal tastes were expensive.

He liked flashy clothes - especially black coats - and usually carried four dueling pistols in his sash while marauding at sea.

His nickname Black Sam came from the fact he wore his black locks tied back in a ponytail rather than a powdered white wig.

The ship's bell (pictured) was also recovered from the wreckage

Also known as the Prince of Pirates, he was popular among women.

Tall, strong and with long dark hair, he was said to be well-mannered and tidy.

He left his wife and child in England to begin his new life at sea, sailing to the coast of Florida to look for sunken Spanish treasure.

On the way he stopped off in Eastham Harbor, Massachusetts, where he met local beauty Maria Hallett.

Though her parents liked Black Sam, they thought he was far too poor to go out with their daughter, who was just 15 at the time.

When he left Massachusetts with his friend Paulsgrave William, he promised to return as the respected captain of the greatest ship the world had ever seen.The family of a holidaymaker who died after collapsing in the Egyptian desert claimed doctors turned off his life support because a mix up with his travel insurance meant they could not pay for his care.

Adrian King, 39, had been on a fortnight break with a female friend to the Red Sea resort of Hurghada when he fell seriously ill on a camel tour.

He was rushed to hospital, where doctors diagnosed kidney failure.

Mr King fell into a coma and was put on a life support machine. He was initially given dialysis but medics later allegedly stopped treating Mr King after telling his friend, Nicola Wright, 34, that his insurance was invalid.

Adrian King was taken to The Egyptian Hospital, in Hurghada where he died. It emerged there were no detailed notes about Mr King's care for five days up to his death on May 29 last year

Andrew Haigh, senior coroner for South Staffordshire, revealed the Egyptian Hospital (pictured), in Hurghada, had refused to respond to his requests for information

It later transpired that Mr King had failed to declare he had been hospitalised with a bout of peritonitis - a bacterial infection of the stomach - two years earlier, which had nullified his cover.

Mr King's father, Charles Bumford, 59, told an inquest that they contacted the British consulate 50 times while his son was in hospital but no-one came to help.

Mr King's father told an inquest they contacted the British consulate 50 times but no-one came to help

'A man at the hospital stood in my son's room and told me 'the insurance is null and void - you pay now or I switch off the machines,' he said.

'I didn't have the 7,000 he was asking for at that time. As he walked out of the room he started switching things off.

'I cannot believe that the British Consulate cannot do more for a British citizen.

'They were contacted 50 times - we were just passed from pillar to post.'

Andrew Haigh, senior coroner for South Staffordshire, revealed the Egyptian Hospital, in Hurghada, had refused to respond to his requests for information.

It emerged there were no detailed notes about Mr King's care for five days up to his death on May 29 last year.

The inquest heard medics had written Mr King that suffered a cardiac arrest in their notes, but this was disputed by Nicola Wright.

Recording a narrative verdict, Mr Haigh said Mr King, who was unemployed, died as a result of kidney failure combined with his collapse, followed by limited medical treatment.

He said he would be sending a report to the Foreign Office, adding: 'There is the potential there could be further casualties.'

Stephan Kruper, an intensive care consultant at the Royal Stoke University Hospital, who was asked by the coroner to review Mr King's medical notes said they revealed he had a 'cardiac arrest' on May 24, but his family dispute that.

Mr King, 39, had been on a fortnight break with a female friend to the Red Sea resort of Hurghada when he fell seriously ill on a camel tour

Mr King and his friend flew to Hurghada (pictured) on May 15 last year and booked an organised quad bike and camel riding tour into the desert for three days later

Mr King fell into a coma and was put on a life support machine. He was initially given dialysis but medics later allegedly stopped treating Mr King after telling his friend that his insurance was invalid

WHY WAS ADRIAN KING'S INSURANCE VOID? Adrian King's insurance company told his family his insurance was void because he had failed to declare he had been in hospital in 2015 with peritonitis. Failure to disclose pre-existing medical conditions can result in the insurer refusing to pay out after a claim. If a holidaymaker fails to declare any pre-existing condition they are aware of, the insurer will seek to reject any claim on the basis of a breach of condition or warranty. Advertisement

Mr King's heartbroken mother, Elaine Huxley, 58, a shop worker from Stafford, said: 'We got a letter from the insurance company saying the policy was void because Adrian had failed to declare he had been in hospital in 2015 with peritonitis.

'It is sickening that doctors could stop treating him as a result of the insurance payment being stopped on a technicality.'

Miss Wright, 34, of Newcastle-Under-Lyme, Staffs, told the court that she and Mr King flew to Hurghada on May 15 last year and booked an organised quad bike and camel riding tour into the desert for three days later.

She said they were picked up from their hotel at 8.45am, but by midday Mr King was feeling unwell.

'It was baking hot,' she said. 'There was a tap at the shack and we were pouring water all over us to cool us down.

'That is when Adrian first said 'I don't feel very well, I feel sick, can you get a taxi?'

'There was no way you could get a car up there - we were in the desert.

The coroner said Mr King died as a result of kidney failure combined with his collapse, followed by limited medical treatment

'It was when he said 'I don't want to ride the camel' that I knew something wasn't right.'

Miss Wright said Mr King, of Stafford, fell unconscious and was taken in a van to the local hospital.

But she said they spoke little English.

'They did the second dialysis and then said that the insurance was voided,' she added.

'They never said he had a cardiac arrest or anything, they said it was stopping, because the funding was stopped.

'That's when they said they wouldn't do anymore dialysis and from there he passed away.

'I didn't trust the hospital, I didn't trust them at all. They were fraudulent.

'The insurance was paying for me to stay in a hotel right by the hospital but the man at the hospital said 'we can make you a room up here, tell the insurance company you are poorly with something they will definitely cover.'

'I didn't take it. Adrian smiled at me a few days in and the doctor saw that. He was improving, this is when they didn't know the insurance was voided.'

The coroner said no post mortem had been carried out because the Egyptian authorities were able to provide a cause of death.

A spokesman for the Egyptian Embassy, in London, said that the Egyptian Hospital had written off the 7,000 bill for Mr Kings medical care.

Mr King was admitted (to the Egyptian Hospital) on May 18 2017 having fallen ill during a safari trip, the spokesman said. He was immediately treated and necessary radiology tests performed. Following the tests, Mr King was diagnosed with liver failure and immediately put on life support.

Mr King suffered three heart attacks while in hospital. Despite the best efforts of the Egyptian Hospitals world-class medical team, Mr King died on May 29 2017 by a combination of the third cardiac arrest and his kidney and liver dysfunction.

Following Mr Kings death, the Egyptian Hospital contacted his travel insurance company regarding the costs of his treatment but were told that they would not cover his treatment. The British Embassy in Cairo also informed the Egyptian Hospital that they would not be covering costs for the medical treatment he received. The Egyptian Hospital has not pursued the outstanding 7,000 for the medical care since.A German teenager who ran away from home and joined ISIS has been jailed for six years in Iraq.

Linda Wenzel has been caged in the Iraqi capital Baghdad for her role as an Islamic Sharia law-enforcer with the terror group, which she joined at 15.

Wenzel, who last year sobbed on TV 'I have ruined my life,' could have faced the death penalty.

Jailed: Linda Wenzel, a 17-year-old from Germany, seen here being arrested in Mosul last year, has been jailed for six years

German media reported that a German embassy representative in Iraq was in court on Sunday to witness her sentencing.

She received five years for joining ISIS and one year for entering Iraq illegally.

Wenzel was found in the rubble of ISIS stronghold Mosul back in the summer of 2017.

Charges were laid against her and three other German women captured with her.

The schoolgirl fled to Turkey, then into Syria last year from her hometown of Pulsnitz in Eastern Germany after being groomed online by a Chechen ISIS fighter.

Sentenced: The teenager, pictured after her arrest, received five years for joining ISIS and one year for entering Iraq illegally

Wenzel married the Chechen man, who was later killed during the battle for Mosul.

Wenzel worked for the all-female Al-Khansaa brigade, a 'morality police force' made up of mainly foreign women Jihadists who patrolled the streets of captured ISIS territories such as Raqqa in Syria, and Mosul in Iraq.

They would enforce strict Sharia, and hand out beatings to women who violated the religious laws, such as not obeying dress codes or venturing outside on their own without a male family member.

Punished: Wenzel's first meeting with her mother after running away to join ISIS and being arrested took place at a police station in Baghdad

Wenzel burst into tears after her capture last year, and said she just wanted to come home.

She was later filmed with her mother Katharine, 48, in Baghdad.

She said she never fought for the terror group, lived in a variety of houses in Mosul and, after the death of her husband, 'barely left the house.'

It is understood Germany wants her to be allowed to serve her sentence in her homeland although no exchange-treaty with Iraq existsAn elephant caused a huge traffic jam after it stopped passing lorries to munch on sugar cane.

Cars came to a standstill after the giant animal wandered onto the busy motorway in Chachoengsao, Thailand.

The male elephant poked its trunk in passing lorries as it searched for the freshly collected crop.

He was there for two hours and stopped 12 different vehicles before making his way back to the jungle at around 5pm on Sunday evening.

Onlooker Arnie Banpho said: 'He was a big elephant so nobody was brave enough to get near him and push him back into the trees.

'Cars were driving very slowly passed him and there were big queues while they waited for him.'

Sweet-tooth! Cars came to a standstill after the giant animal wandered onto the busy motorway in Chachoengsao, Thailand in search of sugar cane

He stopped 12 different vehicles over his two-hour escapade on Sunday evening

Kovit Boonphanuk, Head of Wild Elephant Care at the Khao Ang Rue Nai mountains, said: 'The elephants in this area are friendly and never harm anyone. He only wanted some food.

'Truck drivers who use the road regularly are familiar with elephants and take extra care but this was an unusual occasion when the animal stopped many vehicles and would not leave.

'We would like to remind anyone who encounters elephants while in their vehicles to stay well back, do not use the car horn and do not shout at them.

'Let the elephants continue what they are doing, or they may become angry. Elephants often travel in herds and there may be others nearby.'Advertisement

This is the moment a Spanish matador was gored in the backside by a 1,000lb bull during a festival in Colombia.

Julian Lopez, known as 'El Juli', was starring in a bullfight at La Santamaria bullring in Bogota, Colombia on Sunday when the beast tossed him into the air.

The wounded animal then trampled on the Spaniard and thrust one of its horns into his backside.

Revenge: Pictured capture the moment a Spanish matador was gored in the backside by a 1,000lb bull during a festival in Colombia

Julian Lopez, known as 'El Juli', was starring in a bullfight at La Santamaria bullring in Bogota, Colombia on Sunday when the beast tossed him into the air

Attack: The wounded 1,000lb animal then trampled on the Spaniard and thrust one of its horns into his backside

Pictures show the 35-year-old taunting the enraged animal having already lanced it with Banderillas - harpoon-pointed 'little flags' hooked into its sides.

But moments before he was due to end the suffering bull's misery, the 485kg animal exacted some revenge.

Footage shows the bull catching El Juli with a horn before throwing him easily into the air before leaving him with a wound on his backside.

Inspection: Concerned colleagues rushed in to the bullring to distract the bull before checking El Juli's injury

Pictures show the 35-year-old taunting the enraged animal having already lanced it with Banderillas - harpoon-pointed 'little flags' hooked into its sides.

Colleagues rushed in to the bullring to distract the bull before checking El Juli's injury.

He was taken to hospital where he underwent a 'successful' operation on a wound measuring 15cm.

It is not the first time Lopez has been gored by a bull while taking part in the bloodthirsty sport.

In 2016, he was also gored in the buttocks during a fight in Seville, Spain.The teenage daughter of Barrie and Tony Drewitt-Barlow has spoken out about her quest to become a mother and donating her spare embryos to her fathers.

Saffron Drewitt-Barlow appeared alongside her fathers and boyfriend Scott Hutchison on Good Morning Britain today to discuss her plans to become a first-time mother through surrogacy.

She revealed how her plans angered her father Tony, who is currently undergoing surgery for throat cancer.

Saffron Drewitt-Barlow appeared alongside her fathers and boyfriend Scott Hutchison on Good Morning Britain

Barrie and Tony, self-made millionaires originally from Essex, made history as the first gay men in the UK to legally father children through surrogacy in 1999.

Their daughter will see the same fertility expert who made her and twin brother Aspen for Barrie and Tony, who she calls daddy and dad.

Saffron wants to contribute the embryos from the IVF process to her fathers, so they can expand their own family.

Miss Drewitt-Barlow admitted her fathers, who built up a 40million fortune via medical testing businesses, were 'deeply shocked' when she revealed her own plans to start a family with her boyfriend.

She said she and her father Tony, 53, who is seriously ill with complications following cancer, didn't speak for two days.

Miss Drewitt-Barlow said she 'always knew' she wanted to be a young mother but 'couldn't face' nine months of carrying her babies.

She told GMB: 'I've watched my parents go through four failed IVF attempts in the UK and it was hard to see my parents go through that.

'I want my parents to see my children in case anything does happen [to my dad], since he's ill.'

Saffron wants to contribute the embryos from the IVF process to her fathers, so they can expand their family

When asked what they thought of Saffron's plan, Barrie said: 'To be really honest when she first said that she wanted a baby we said, "that will be really nice in the future" - but she said right now.

'The we said absolutely if that's what you want, then go for it.

'She said she didn't want to carry it herself, she wanted a surrogate.

'But I'm like "you're a woman carry it yourself, that would be such a joyful thing for you."

'She's adamant she doesn't want to do it herself. I do think Saffron should try carrying it herself.'

Scott Hutchison, her boyfriend added: 'Saffron is my princess so I respect whatever route she wants to go down

The teenager said she would give her children to her fathers to raise as their grandchildren

Scott Hutchison, who used to be Barrie's personal assistant, admitted the arrangement was odd.

He and Miss Drewitt-Barlow have been dating for two years and plan to marry.

Mr Hutchison told GMB: 'Saffron is my princess so I respect whatever route she wants to go down.

'I'm down for for whatever she wants to do.'

Host Susanna Reid pointed out Saffron would be donating her own children to become 'her aunts and uncles'.

But the 18-year-old said they would continue to be her children, brought up by her fathers.

Saffron added: 'They are going to my kids brought up by my parents. They are my kids brought up by their grandparents.

'To be honest I've never really had to explain my family set up to many people.'A repeat drink driver has been spared his licence in a shock decision in a Queensland Court.

Welfare recipient Gavin Keith Stephens kept his licence despite being caught drink driving in the Mackay Magistrate's Court.

Magistrate Damian Dwyer was concerned he would never be able to get another job at his age of 62.

The driver was double the drink driving limit when he was pulled over for a random breath test in the morning late last year.

A man on welfare kept his licence in Queensland despite being twice the legal limit

The Daily Mercury reported the court heard Mr Stephens was drinking the previous night before hitting the wheel on his way to Mackay.

'You have no family and if I do take your licence off you It means you will have to go back to unemployment benefits,' he said.

'And at your age with your conditions you're not going to get another job.'

Gavin Stephens, 62, was stopped for a random breath test in Mackay, recording a reading of 0.108.

The magistrate reflected on the drivers poor traffic history including drink-driving in 2012 and other traffic offences in 2009, according to the Daily Mercury.

'Your history is terrible but to be fair to you it has improved substantially in a number of years.'

Mr Stephens recorded a 0.108 reading, regarded as serious, on December 30.

Gavin Stephens got behind the wheel after drinking the previous night. He faced the Mackay magistrates court (pictured).

Mr Stephens will now be driving with a 'restricted licence' which will enable him to drive buses or trucks between 2am and 7.30pm.

He received a conviction, $1400 fine and will not be able to obtain a full licence for 15 months.

In Queensland, a reading between 0.1 and 0.15 is regarded as a 'middle alcohol limit' punishable by up to six months jail and a $2,523 fine.Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau and his family donned traditional Indian dress for a visit to Ghandi's home during the third day of his week-long visit to the country.

Trudeau posed at the Gandhi Ashram in Ahmedabad, Gujarat - Indian prime minister Narendra Modi's home state - while wearing a long red shirt.

But once again Modi was not there to greet the leader of the world's second-biggest country, fuelling speculation he is being snubbed.

Trudeau also sat by as his wife, Sophie Gregoire, had a go at spinning cotton on a wheel at the ashram, which was home to Gandhi for 12 years.

Trudeau posed at the Gandhi Ashram in Ahmedabad, Gujarat - Indian prime minister Narendra Modi's home state - while wearing a long red shirt

Trudeau also sat by as his wife, Sophie Gregoire, had a go at spinning cotton on a wheel at Gandhi Ashram

But once again Modi was not there to greet the leader of the world's second-biggest country, fuelling speculation he is being snubbed

Trudeau and his family were pictured standing by a portrait of Mohandas Gandhi during their visit to the ashram

Sophie Gregoire Trudeau holds her son Hadrien during their visit to the Sabarmati Ashram or Mahatma Gandhi Ashram in Ahmadabad

Yesterday he toured the Taj Mahal with his wife and children.

The family was pictured larking around by the famous marble bench where Princess Diana once sat looking forlorn and alone in 1992, and where the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge returned in 2016.

Trudeau, his wife Sophie Gregoire and their three children posed for a family portrait before marvelling at the legendary marble monument frequently visited by foreign leaders.

It came after an apparent 'snub' at the start of his trip when the country's PM Narendra Modi failed to meet them at the airport and instead sent a junior agriculture minister.

Justin Trudeau, his wife Sophie Gregoire and his three children are pictured visiting the Taj Mahal at the start of a trip to India

Trudeau's children, from left: Xavier, 10, Hadrien, 3, and Ella-Grace, 9, joined their parents for a photoshoot on the famous bench

The family was pictured larking around on the bench where Princess Diana once looked lonely and forlorn near the end of her marriage to Prince Charles

Canadian PM Trudeau was visiting the Taj Mahal at the start of a visit to India in which he will aim to promote trade and investment with India

Sophie Gregoire (left) wore a colourful full-length blue dress as she posed for the pictures

Diana was pictured looking forlorn and alone on the bench as her marriage to Prince Charles crumbled

The picture of Diana sitting on her own became one of the iconic images of her relationship

Two years ago William and Kate marked happier times as they posed for pictures together on the marble bench

The image of Diana looking forlorn and alone on the bench as her marriage to Prince Charles crumbled became one of the iconic images of their failed relationship.

But two years ago William and Kate marked happier times as they posed for pictures together on the marble bench.

Trudeau will spend the week talking with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi about how they can boost their relationship.

But the arrival was a far cry from when former US President Barack Obama and the leaders of Israel and the UAE made the trip, with Modi patiently waiting for them on the tarmac.

The PM and his smiling family were in stark contrast to the lonely image of Princess Diana

The visit to the legendary marble monument in Agra came at the start of a week-long trip

The Trudeaus' daughter Ella Grace wore a long patterned skirt and was joined by her younger brother Hadrien in wearing a hat to keep out the sun

The family is flanked by security and other visitors as they admire the Taj Mahal

The Canadian PM is seen leading his family for a stroll around the gardens of the Taj Mahal

Trudeau and Modi will hold talks on civil nuclear cooperation, space, defence, energy and education.

Trade between Canada and India has doubled in the last decade to just over $8 billion in 2016, a figure which India's foreign ministry says 'does not reflect true potential'.

At Davos last month, while President Donald Trump supported new tariffs on imports, Trudeau and Modi came out forcefully against a drift toward protectionism in the global economy.

Canada is home to more than 1.2 million Indians - more than three percent of its population - with Sikh members of Trudeau's cabinet joining in the visit.

Trudeau and Modi will hold talks on civil nuclear cooperation, space, defence, energy and education

There was no sign of PM Modi on the red carpet when the Trudeaus touched down, with the family greeted instead by a junior minister

Former US President Barack Obama is greeted by Modi at a New Delhi airport in January 2015 (left), while Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu was warmly received by Modi last month

The delegation will walk a diplomatic tightrope in Punjab where Trudeau will visit the Golden Temple - the holiest site in Sikhism, and the scene of a bloody massacre of religious separatists in 1984.

After visiting Amritsar in Punjab on Wednesday, Trudeau will meet Modi and Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj in New Delhi following a welcome at the presidential palace and a wreath-laying at Mahatma Gandhi's memorial.

Modi visited Canada in 2015 and addressed a crowd of 10,000 from the Indian diaspora in Toronto.A string of bikie murders may lead to an outbreak of underworld revenge killings as police prepare for an increase in gang violence.

New South Wales Police Assistant Commissioner Mal Lanyon said they were focusing on stopping retaliation for recent bikie deaths.

The latest involved was former Comanchero kingpin Mahmoud 'Mick' Hawi, 37, who was shot by a masked gunman as he sat alone in his Mercedes SUV after a workout at Fitness First in Rockdale, Sydney on Thursday.

'One of the things that we will focus on... is ensuring we put sufficient resources out there to prevent any retribution that may occur as a result of his shooting,' Assistant Commissioner Lanyon told the Daily Telegraph.

A string of bikie murders may lead to an outbreak of underworld revenge killings as police prepare for an increase in gang violence. Pictured is Mick Hawi, who was killed on Thursday

Detective Superintendent Debbie Wallace, head of the NSW Gangs Squad, said bikies did not have loyalties.

'It may seem romantic to join some sort of brotherhood but if you want to leave it comes at a significant cost - personal, financial and physical,' she said.

Mick Hawi - shot outside a gym in his Mercedes, February 2018

Hawi's assassination came despite the Camanchero gang head keeping a low public profile.

Days earlier he had allegedly arranged to meet a so-called peacemaker because he knew a rival had put a bounty on his head - but the meeting never happened.

Police are probing six theories as to why Hawi was killed, with a police source saying 'the man had more enemies than I've had hot dinners'.

Ricky Ciano - decomposing body found in BMW, February 2017

Former Rebels motorcycle club enforcer Ricky Ciano's decomposing body was found in the back of his $130,000 BMW in February 2017 in the NSW Central Tablelands.

Ciano, 35, left the bikie gang in 2015 and was told he must remove any tattoos linking him to the Rebels

Former Rebels motorcycle club enforcer Ricky Ciano's decomposing body was found in the back of his $130,000 BMW in February 2017 in the NSW Central Tablelands (pictured with wife Rachel)

Ciano, 35, left the bikie gang in 2015 and was told he must remove any tattoos linking him to the Rebels.

Police are still investigating his death.

Michael Davey - killed due to gunshot wounds, March 2016

Michael Davey, 30, died from gunshot wounds in western Sydney in March 2016.

The heavily-tattooed Rebels bikie was known as the 'Prince of Penrith' and nicknamed 'Ruthless'.

Michael Davey, 30, died from gunshot wounds in western Sydney in March 2016

The heavily-tattooed Rebels bikie was known as the 'Prince of Penrith' and nicknamed 'Ruthless' (pictured with former girlfriend Sarah Gerrard)

Police were investigating if his death was caused by his own gang, as he reportedly had been looking to get out of the bikie fraternity.

Kemel Barakat - shot in his bed, March 2017

Former Commanchero bikie Kemel 'Blackie' Barakat, 29, was shot dead in his bed in March 2017 by a gunman who crept into his apartment in Mortlake, in Sydney's south, in the early hours of the morning.

Former Commanchero bikie Kemel 'Blackie' Barakat, 29, was shot dead in his bed in March by a gunman who crept into his apartment in Mortlake, in Sydney's south, in the early hours of the morning

Barakat was shot a 'large number of times', and his death had been linked to the Hells Angels

His wife Amanda found out her partner had been shot dead while she was holidaying in Thailand.

Barakat was shot a 'large number of times', and his death had been linked to the Hells Angels.

His assailant escaped and a burnt-out Mercedes was found in Belmore in the hours shortly after the execution-style slaying.

Adrian Buxton - gunned down outside his home, May 2016

Father-of-one Adrian Buxton was gunned down outside his home while taking out the bins in western Sydney in May 2016.

Father-of-one Adrian Buxton was gunned down outside his home while taking out the bins in western Sydney in May 2016

His wife and young son were inside the home at the time of the shooting.

Buxton was understood to be a member of the Nomads Outlaw Motorcycle Club.

Mark Easton - body found full of bullets dumped in bush - June 2016

The body of Rebels bikie member Mark Easter, 37, was dumped in remote bush off the Pacific Highway near Cowan, north of Sydney in June 2016.

Council workers found his body full of bullets, and with no effort made to hide it.The father of a teenager killed in a high-speed car chase in Melbourne has described how he is haunted by flashbacks of the charred remains of his "baby girl".

Ivana Clonaridis, 18, and her boyfriend Harley Churchill, 19, died on January 27, 2016 when their ute exploded in a fireball while drag racing along Western Ring Road.

The killer Adem Arpaci, then 21, who goaded them into the race was found guilty of killing the pair in February this year.

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Ivana Clonaridis, 18, and her boyfriend Harley Churchill, 19, died when their ute exploded in a fireball while drag racing along the Western Ring Road

Adem Arpaci, then 21, goaded them into the race and was found guilty of killing the pair in February this year

Their ute exploded on impact, killing the pair after Churchill lost control of the vehicle

The car they were illegally drag-racing in smashed through a guard rail on the EJ Whitten Bridge and plunged 15 meters off the freeway, bursting into flames on impact.

Witnesses claimed they saw two cars flying past before Mr Churchill, who had ice in his system and was driving at 182km/h, lost control of his blue Holden Ute.

Ignos Clonaridis on Monday told the court how he is still haunted by flashbacks of his daughters fiery death, two years after it happened.



'I spend many nights alone at the crash site trying to understand why,' he said in a victim impact statement.

'She was too young to die. She had so many dreams, so many plans and they were gone in a split second.'

Clonaridis and Churchill died after the car they were illegally drag-racing in smashed through a guard rail and plunged 15 meters off the freeway

It was also reveled that Arpaci had made a false statement to detectives in the days following saying he had not seen the crash

'I will never be the same again. My happiness died that night with my baby girl,'

Mr Clonaridis said that his relationship with his new wife had broken down and he had not been able to work because of his grief.

'I often have flashbacks of seeing my daughter's charred remains at the mortuary,' he said.

It was also revealed that Arpaci had made a false statement in the days following, telling investigators he was in the area but had not seen the crash.

A day later he admitted to detectives that he had been behind the wheel of the other car.

Defence lawyer Russ Hammill said that since the crash Arpaci had become a recluse

Defence lawyer Russ Hammill said that on the night Churchill had somewhat influenced Arpaci's behavior, a matter the crown acknowledged to be true.

Mr. Hammill also said that Arpaci had no other criminal convictions and was otherwise a young man of 'exemplary character.'

He also said that Arpaci had become a 'recluse' after the crash and was 'mentally decomposing.'

Arpaci will be sentenced on March 16 in the Victorian County Court.The Chinese seem to have a unique way in dealing with drivers who park their cars in the wrong places - move their vehicles to a rooftop.

Similar incidents have been observed across the country and the latest one occurred on Saturday.

One driver in Hubei Province was given a lesson on the first day of the Lunar Chinese New Year after workers at a bus garage used a crane to remove the troublesome car.

Get out of my way: Workers at a bus garage in China use a crane to move a car to a rooftop

A video has emerged on the social media which captured the bizarre scenes.

According to the footage, the incident occurred in the Huantong Bus Garage in Xishui County. It's understood that the silver car had been left in the bus garage without permission.

An onlooker can be heard saying in the video clip: 'This is what happens to people who park their cars in the wrong place.

'Who told them to park it at will, now the car got lifted to the rooftop and kept there.'

The bus garage has not responded to the matter.

There won't be a next time: An onlooker claimed the driver had left the car in the bus garage in Xishui County, Hubei Province, without permission and the car had been blocking the way

It appears the Chinese often use a crane, instead of a penalty ticket, to deal with unruly drivers.

Last August, a woman allegedly parked her car illegally in a residential block in Benxi city for 38 hours and refused to pay the fine to the residential estate. As a result, a property manager hired a crane and placed the vehicle on a roof.

In 2016, a garage owner in Qingdao city decided to punish those who park in front of his garage. The man used a forklift truck to place the cars on the roof of his garage.

A property manager in Benxi, China, moved a woman's car to the top of a security stationBritish foreign fighters who have been captured in Iraq and Syria could be brought back home to face a trial in cases where it is believed there is enough evidence to convict them, Whitehall sources revealed last night.

Officials are seeking legal advice from the Attorney General on whether the UK can successfully prosecute two members of the terror cell 'the Beatles', and other Britons being held.

Hostage-killers Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh are currently imprisoned by Kurdish militia in Syria after being captured as they tried to flee the country.

But it is believed they were stripped of their British citizenship because they were considered highly dangerous and yet the UK did not have enough evidence to prosecute them in the courts. It means the prospect of them being brought back is low.

Hostage-killers Alexanda Kotey (left) and El Shafee Elsheikh (right) are currently imprisoned by Kurdish militia in Syria after being captured as they tried to flee the country. They are unlikely to be brought back under the new guidance

Officials are seeking legal advice from the Attorney General Jeremy Wright (file image) on whether the UK can successfully prosecute two members of the terror cell 'the Beatles', and other Britons being held

However the CIA are understood to have led the hunt for the notorious group, who were involved in the execution of British aid workers and US citizens, and have amassed much of the evidence.

US agencies are currently wading through intelligence files, including those belonging to the UK, to decide whether to prosecute them in America.

Failing that, it is understood America would likely put pressure on the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces to transfer them to Iraq, where there is a legal system in place.

A further three Britons are thought to be being held by local forces either in Iraq or Syria, including Jack Letts, nicknamed 'Jihadi Jack', who maintains his innocence.

Officials are understood to be building a legal pathway to transfer jihadists captured in Iraq and Syria into the British justice system.

A senior Whitehall source told the Mail: 'The last thing any of us want is for us to get these people back and then for the court to throw the case out because they claim they were tortured or badly treated.'

There are concerns that the legal process in Syria is not compatible with British law and that once suspect extremists are flown into the UK the case against them will not hold up in the courts.

Ministers also fear there has not been enough evidence gathered on British foreign fighters on the ground and much of the intelligence gathered will inadmissible presenting a 'legal nightmare'.

A further three Britons are thought to be being held by local forces either in Iraq or Syria, including Jack Letts, nicknamed 'Jihadi Jack' (pictured), who maintains his innocence

A senior defence source said: 'It is a legal nightmare. There is no sympathy for these guys. It would be much easier for us if they were all dead.'

In the case of the Beatles, British intelligence is currently believed to be working closely with Kurdish militia to ensure the two men are being treated in accordance with international law.

There is a concern that if the men are tortured then a subsequent case against them could collapse.

Ministers have already blocked plans to fly back a further Briton being held in Iraq because they believed such a move would 'open the floodgates' and lead to him walking free on UK streets due to a lack of evidence.

At the Munich Security Conference yesterday, a member of the Syrian opposition noted that the Britons 'had a very high threshold' when it came to prosecuting its citizens.

Ministers are currently divided on whether they want to see British foreign fighters brought back to the UK, with several fearing that there is a risk they could walk free if they are flown home.

Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson has said he does not want the captured 'Beatles' to return to Britain for trial, but others want them to face justice wherever possible, even if that is the UK

Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson has said he does not want the captured 'Beatles' to return to Britain for trial, but others want them to face justice wherever possible, even if that is the UK.

Sources said that ultimately such a decision will depend on the will of those holding them captive, the intelligence available, what out of that can be presented to the courts, and legal advice.

The UK is increasingly using the power to strip Britons of their citizenship in cases where they are known to be dangerous, but the evidence would not stand up in the courts.

Diplomatic sources also acknowledged that the death penalty is legal in both Syria and Iraq, and that a prosecution in one of those countries could potentially lead to UK citizens being hanged.

A diplomatic source said: 'The preference would be for them to be returned to the UK, especially if they might face the death penalty abroad.'

The parents of murdered US citizen James Foley, who was executed by 'the Beatles', told the New York Times on Friday: 'The British government long ago rescinded their citizenship and seems to want nothing further to do with them.

'They should be brought to America to face our justice system.'

More than half of those detained in the battle against IS in Syria are foreign fighters from all over the world, including Europe, Russia, China and Arab nations.

The Syrian Kurdish militia holding them have formally asked foreign governments to take their nationals to be tried at home but have said 'no one wants to take them back or to try them'.A baby who was abused so viciously by his parents when he was just six weeks old that he had to have both legs amputated has been pictured for the first time.

Tony Smith, 46, and Jody Simpson, 24, were each sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment for what were described as 'a series of spiteful assaults' on their very young son which left him seconds from death with sepsis.

Shocking pictures have also revealed the squalor inside the flat in Maidstone, Kent, where Smith and Simpson abused their baby, also called Tony Smith.

They had denied causing or allowing serious physical harm to a child but were both unanimously found guilty less than an hour after a jury retired to consider verdicts.

Baby Tony Smith, who was abused so viciously by his parents when he was just six weeks old that he had to have both legs amputated, pictured in 2014

Tony Smith, 46, and 24-year-old Jody Simpson were each sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment for what were described as 'a series of spiteful assaults' on their very young son

Now pictures provided by the police and prosecution have revealed the terrible state of the one-bedroom flat in Maidstone, Kent, with dirty clothes piled all over the floor and rubbish piled into a child's cot.

In the pictures piles of unsorted clothes are seen covering the floor along with dirty laundry hanging up in the bathroom.

The couple were also convicted of child cruelty in relation to their delay in seeking medical help as their son deteriorated in November 2014.

They told police they had had to wait at their 11th-storey one-bedroom flat in Square Hill Road, Maidstone, for a plumber to fix their boiler.

Sentencing at Maidstone Crown Court Judge Philip Statman said he was not allowed to comment on the maximum sentence being 10 years.

Pictures have been released of the terrible squalor inside the one-bedroom apartment the couple stayed in at Square Hill Road in Maidstone

Shocking pictures of the conditions inside the flat where Tony Smith was abused have been released following his parents' sentencing

Rubbish is pictured piled inside a child's cot at the home in Maidstone where Tony Smith was abused by his parents

But he added: 'What I can say is this; I cannot envisage a worse case than the one I have had to deal with over the course of the last two weeks.

'Baby Tony was particularly vulnerable. Who can a child of 41 days turn to other than those who brought him into the world and are meant to love him unconditionally? That didn't happen in this particular case.'

Maidstone Crown Court in Kent heard that by the time the baby, also called Tony, was seen by doctors at 41 days old, he was seconds from death with septicaemia.

He was grey, frothing at the mouth and grunting, with a 'shockingly swollen' body and in multiple organ failure.

It was only 'aggressive' medical treatment from the GP, paramedics and staff at Pembury Hospital in Kent and then London's Evelina Children's Hospital which saved his life.

The court heard the horrific fractures to both the youngster's thighbones and lower legs, right ankle, left thumb and two bones in a big toe were revealed by subsequent x-rays.

Experts later concluded they would have been caused by yanking, pulling and twisting, with considerable force and up to 10 days before he was finally taken to his doctor.

Mother Jody Simpson, 24, and father also called Tony Smith, 46, denied causing or allowing serious physical harm to a child and cruelty but a jury took less than an hour to find them guilty

The dislocated fracture to the youngster's right lower leg and ankle may have even been inflicted by a swinging action.

He was in so much pain from this one injury alone that he showed signs of distress even when sedated in hospital.

Sadly, the septicaemia was so severe that Tony, who has since been adopted and given a new identity, has been left with life-changing injuries.

As well as having had both legs amputated, his hip joints are so damaged by infection that they may not be able to even bear the weight of prosthetic limbs.

But in spite of his horrific start in life and facing on-going medical treatment and disability, the court heard how the youngster, now aged three, is thriving with his new family.

Amid remarkable court scenes in which jurors, staff and even the judge were reduced to tears before erupting into applause for his new parents, prosecutor Heather Stangoe introduced two images on a TV screen of a beaming, bright-eyed little boy giving a thumbs-up to the camera.

She then told the court: 'Those injuries have had, and continue to have, a life-changing effect on Tony and his needs are exceptional.

Simpson (right) stared at the pictures of their son after the verdicts but Smith sat with his head bowed

'Such a special little boy deserves a special family. And the other part of this case is that I can tell you he does have a wonderful family.

'It is quite true to say he has just had the most wonderful impact on their life. He is a happy and delightful character in their family.

'They want you to know how happy, how really very happy he is. He has ended up in just the most wonderful place.'

Simpson showed little emotion in the dock but craned her neck to see the photographs of her son. Smith, who has previous convictions for possessing heroin and assault causing actual bodily harm, sat with his head bowed.

Little Tony's happy new home with adoptive parents revealed in impact statement Prosecutor Heather Stangoe revealed that Tony Smith had found a 'wonderful' new home. In her impact statement to the court she said Tony, who has had his name changed, had made a 'wonderful impact' on his new family. He is still affected by the horrific injuries but does not let it define him, the court heard. She said: 'He was in a pitiful state and despite being four months old by then weighed just 9lb 7oz, and that included the weight of two plaster casts he had on his legs. 'He was in a lot of pain. He was on morphine for the first few months and very strong antibiotics. 'Very sadly, he was emotionally completely shut down - glazed eyes and absolutely no expression on his face. 'His foster family took very special care of him and he went back to the Evelina hospital at least twice a week. 'He was often quite distressed, not least when doctors undressed him to examine him. 'He has had fairly intensive intervention with physiotherapy as well as speech and language therapy, his speech having been delayed by the amount of time he has spent in hospital.' 'Those injuries have had, and continue to have, a life-changing effect on Tony and his needs are exceptional,' she said. 'Such a special little boy deserves a special family, and the other part of this case is that I can tell you he does have a wonderful family. 'He is now part of a very happy family, with siblings, been adopted and had his name changed. 'It is quite true to say he has just had the most wonderful impact on their life. He is a happy and delightful character in their family.' 'They also wanted you to know that of course Tony is impacted about what happened, but it does not define who he is. 'They want you to know how happy, how really very happy he is. He has ended up in just the most wonderful place.' Advertisement

Jailing the pair yesterday, Judge Philip Statman said both were 'equally culpable' and had failed to protect their child, with Simpson putting her relationship with Smith before her son and showing no remorse.

He added that vigorous force would have been needed to inflict his fractures, and that any parent would have been immediately aware of such injuries.

Judge Statman said: 'It is an aggravating feature that there was prolonged suffering in relation to baby Tony prior to him being taken to the GP.

'It is of course the case that baby Tony was particularly vulnerable. Who can a child, a baby of 41 days, turn to other than those who have brought him into the world and are meant to love him unconditionally. That didn't happen.

'I cannot envisage a worse case than the one I have had to deal with over the course of the last two weeks.'

All seven women and five men on the jury returned for sentencing.

The offence of causing or allowing serious physical harm to a child carries a maximum sentence of 10 years when the child survives.

However, Miss Stangoe said it could not be said 'with any degree of certainty who caused and who allowed' harm to their son.

She added that although it was unknown whether the fractures were caused during one assault or on eight separate occasions, anyone caring for Tony would have been aware of the pain and distress he was in.

'The period he was not treated was far longer than the eight hours that they say they were aware that he needed help or assistance,' said Miss Stangoe.

'When one bears in mind his age of just 41 days, what might be seen as a relatively short time for an adult is considerably more serious in an infant.'

Tony was born to the first-time parents a healthy 7lb 7oz during a home birth on October 8, 2014.

Social services were involved as they were aware of Smith's long-standing heroin habit. Health visitors described them as being affectionate and caring with their son, and health visitors last called at their flat on November 6.

The court heard Simpson phoned her doctor on November 14 to say the baby had cold-like symptoms. She was advised to give him Calpol and take him to the surgery when his six-week check-up was due.

However, four days later he had deteriorated to such an extent that she finally took him to her GP.

He was in shock, with his eyes closed and lower limbs hard and swollen. Experts expressed surprise that an ambulance had not been called.

They also concluded that his fractures would have caused him significant pain and obvious signs of distress.

Smith denied hurting his son, describing himself as being 'over the moon' to be a father.

Simpson wept during cross-examination by Miss Stangoe when she agreed she 'took a risk' with her child's safety and failed her 'most important and principal' job to protect him

Simpson herself told police Smith was a 'brilliant' dad and the couple stayed together until being remanded in custody six months before their trial.

But in court she claimed Smith 'didn't know his own strength' and could be rough and heavy-handed when handling Tony.

She said she twice warned him to be more gentle when he gripped the baby too tight, raised him from the floor by his wrists, and lifted his legs by his ankles only to 'drop them down fast'.

Simpson admitted however she never saw Smith harm their baby, and denied inflicting the injuries herself.

The couple, now of Sydney Road, Whitstable, Kent, even claimed that despite his young age, Tony was 'active', able to push himself up on his arms and beginning to crawl.

But Simpson wept during cross-examination by Miss Stangoe when she agreed she 'took a risk' with her child's safety and failed her 'most important and principal' job to protect him.

She also admitted she still loved Smith.

At the start of their trial Miss Stangoe told the jury the prosecution did not have to prove who inflicted Tony's injuries, or whether it was one or both of them.

But she said whoever caused harm, the other failed to take reasonable steps to protect the baby from the risk of injury.

They then delayed seeking help because they knew how serious his injuries were.

'One or both of them had caused multiple fractures to this newborn baby and they must have realised he needed medical care,' added Miss Stangoe.

'They said they didn't go to the doctors sooner because they were waiting for a plumber to mend a broken boiler. The prosecution suggest their delay was because they knew the cause of his illness and severity of injuries.

'They were reluctant to seek medical help because they knew the truth.'

The pair were found guilty at Maidstone Crown Court (pictured) and were each sentenced to 10 years in prison yesterday

Judge Statman described the work of all those involved in treating and saving the youngster's life as 'utterly remarkable'.

'I cannot remember a case, and sadly I have had to do too many cases involving doctors coming to court, where the level of care has been higher than this one.

'I am tempted to say 'Thank goodness for the NHS' because you know that poor baby was within seconds of death when taken to the doctor's surgery.

'Every single member of the health service who has come to treat him deserves the utmost praise.'

But Judge Statman saved his greatest praise for Tony's adoptive family, which drew applause from the seven women and five men on the jury.

'It is utterly remarkable that we have in our community those who foster children and those who look after them particularly when they have a disability,' said the judge.

'That shows the most wonderful compassion and caring side to the community in which we live.

'Baby Tony's adopted family are absolute stars. That is the only thing I think I can say. Absolute stars.'

Passing sentence, Judge Statman said he could not be certain as to the precise role of each parent in the injuries suffered by Tony.

But he said: 'Whole neither of you can be sentenced as the perpetrator, both of you are to be sentenced for allowing the perpetrator to act as he or she did.'

The judge added that Tony's injuries, stretching from his hand to his ankle, and the subsequent sepsis had put him 'almost at the door of death', and had changed his life dramatically.

His ankle injury, resulting from a sudden twist and yanking motion, would have needed vigorous force, and he would have cried every time it was touched.

His finger fractures were considered unusual and would have required considerable force to inflict.

'He would have been in considerable pain following the inflicting of those injuries upon him,' said the judge.

'That overwhelming degree of harm inflicted in terms of his injuries by way of fracture and what occurred thereafter to him is something I have uppermost in my mind to consider.'

There was no evidence of Simpson suffering from postnatal depression or needing help to care for her son.

The judge added: 'In my judgment you put your relationship with Tony Smith before your care for your child and I well understand that whatever the sentence of this court, that will be impregnated on you for the rest of your life.

'You knew the difference between right and wrong.'

The court heard that it was Smith who told Simpson they had to wait for a plumber before taking their son to the doctor.

Judge Statman concluded he had also shown no remorse.

'You failed to protect your baby's needs. You traded them in in that regard.'

Ben Irwin, defending Smith, said he had had 'genuine hopes and dreams' when his son was born.

He added that events in Smith's own childhood 'had mirrored' what happened to Tony.

Mr Irwin said Smith had also been a target of violence while in custody.

John Barker, defending Simpson, said she had a genuine love for her son but was 'conflicted in a terrible way' in also loving Smith.

But his argument that she had saved Tony's life by taking him to the GP was dismissed by Judge Statman, who said 'even of the most charitable view' she could have dialled 999 on waking that morning and realising how ill he really was.

Baby Tony's adopted mum welcomed the sentence but said the family was more concerned with winning justice for their 'vibrant and confident' little boy.

The 50-year-old, who cannot be named in order to protect Tony's new identity, even went so far as to say she felt sorry for Simpson and Smith.

'It wasn't about the sentence but the accountability. That was more what I wanted for Tony,' she added.

'We are so lucky to have him. He is vibrant, so confident. He can go into any room and capture everybody.

'Everyone who comes across him absolutely falls in love with him within seconds, even without knowing his disability. He has just got that charisma.'

Of the family's decision to see justice for the youngster, she added: 'He also has so much fight and determination. He has fought so much and battled so much, I had to give him something in return.'

Detective Inspector Ian Wadey of Kent Police who lead the investigation said after the sentencing: 'This was a distressing case where injury and ill-health has been caused to a baby by those who should have been committed to his care and well-being, Jody Simpson and Tony Smith.

'This child will have to live with the effects for the rest of his life and the parents can spend time reflecting on their actions and neglect during their time in prison.

'I would like to thank the medical staff and experts who cared for the baby when he was admitted to hospital and who subsequently assisted us with this investigation.'

An NSPCC statement said: 'This is a shocking and desperately sad case.

'Simpson and Smith should have loved, protected, and kept their son safe from harm. Instead, they inflicted life-changing injuries on a defenceless baby and it is right that they are now behind bars as a consequence of their actions.

'Babies and young children are completely dependent on those who care for them and we all have a duty to look out for their welfare.

'Anyone concerned about a child is urged to contact the NSPCC Helpline on 0808 800 5000, while young people can call Childline on 0800 1111.'Jeremy Corbyn will today meet his top team to hammer out their Brexit position amid party in-fighting about what their policy should be.

The Labour leader had pledged to back Britain leaving the single market and customs union - which will allow the UK to regain control of its borders and strike deals globally.

But he is facing fierce opposition in his own party from Remain-backing MPs who are demanding the UK stay in the EU bodies.

Labour MP Stephen Kinnock yesterday demanded the party try to stop Brexit claiming our departure will hit tax revenues and harm the NHS.

And Emily Thornberry, Labour's shadow foreign secretary, hinted that Labour will change position to campaign for Britain to stay in the EU customs union.

Jeremy Corbyn (pictured at a rally in Scotland last Monday) will today meet his top team to hammer out their Brexit position amid party in-fighting about what their policy should be.

She told ITV's Peston on Sunday: 'We've got the national policy forum going on at the moment... so there will be a debate.'

She added: 'What we do is we accept the result of the referendum, we have to leave the European Union, if we're leaving the EU then we have to negotiate an ongoing relationship with the EU.

'We want to have, we've looked at it and we cannot see a way forward when it comes to Northern Ireland or to tariff free trade across Europe without us being in some form of customs union that probably looks very much like the customs union that there is at the moment, and that's our position on that.'

Labour's Brexit position has been shrouded in mystery ever since the historic referendum over 18 months ago.

Mr Corbyn and his key lieutenant shadow chancellor John McDonnell are both long-time Eurosceptics.

Emily Thornberry, Labour's shadow foreign secretary, (pictured yesterday with host Robert Peston) hinted that Labour will change position to campaign for Britain to stay in the EU customs union

And many of the party's working class voters in the Labour heartlands voted for Brexit.

But their MPs are overwhelmingly pro Remain and the influx of young Momentum activists who have signed up to the party are also anti Brexit.

And the Labour leader's office has been inundated by messages from 20,000 party members demanded a stronger say on the party's Brexit policy.

At a mystery location believed to be in London, Mr Corbyn and his shadow ministerial team will meet to thrash out the party's policy.

Theresa May has vowed to take Britain out of both the customs union and the single market.

She says Britain must be outside the customs union so it cans trike free trade deals with their countries around the world.

And it must be out of the single market so that free movement can end and immigration can come down.Danielle Prosser, 29, from Merthyr Tydfil, admitted two charges of wounding

A young mother who left a couple needing surgery after attacking them outside a nightclub with a four-inch stiletto heel has avoided jail.

Danielle Prosser, 29, took off her shoe and lunged at Sophie Rees and her boyfriend Matthew Lloyd outside the Koolers nightclub in Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales.

Ms Rees, 19, was knocked unconscious and doctors had to staple her scalp while Mr Lloyd, 20, needed surgery for a to a cheek wound.

A judge said their injuries were so severe the offences merited Prosser going to prison.

However the mother-of-three was let off with a suspended sentence because she was sorry for her 'moment of stupidity.'

The court heard there was 'banter' as revellers left the venue at 2am on August 6 last year, with drink and food being thrown.

Prosser, who has children aged 12, five and one, was filmed armed with the black stiletto and heard saying: 'You think it's funny do you?'

Prosecutor Lawrence Jones said: 'The stiletto shoe was used as a weapon outside the nightclub.

'Miss Rees was left unconscious and needed a CT scan in hospital where she spent the night.

'Her boyfriend needed oral surgery and treatment for an injury to his eye socket.'

Sophie Rees, 19, (left) was knocked unconscious and doctors had to staple her scalp while Matthew Lloyd, 20, (right) needed surgery for a to a cheek wound

Prosser, from Merthyr Tydfil, admitted two charges of wounding on August 6.

Judge Richard Twomlow told her: 'Your behaviour was disgraceful and unnecessary.

'These offences merit a prison sentence, you have never been in trouble before and this serves as a salutary lesson.

'You have shown genuine remorse for a few moments of real stupidity.'

Prosser was given 15 months jail for each of the charges but the judge suspended the sentence for 12 months.

Prosser was given 15 months jail for each of the charges but the judge suspended the sentence for 12 months

Ms Rees and Mr Lloyd (pictured) said they were left with scars following the attack outside a nightclub

Ms Rees was forced to quit her job while she recovered from her injuries, the court heard

She was ordered to do 100 hours' unpaid work and put on a curfew from 9pm to 7am.

Ms Rees was forced to quit her job while she recovered from her injuries, the court heard.

She said: 'Matthew and I still have scars from what happened - she deserved to go to jail.'ISIS has claimed responsibility for a gun rampage at an Orthodox church in Russia that left five women dead.

Khalil Khalilov screamed 'Allahu akbar' as he opened fire with a hunting rifle before he was shot dead by police in Kizlyar, a town in the mainly Muslim region of Dagestan.

Chilling footage shows the bearded 22-year-old attacker walking to the church on Sunday and a terrified woman fleeing the scene.

ISIS claimed one of its 'soldiers of Islam', who they referred to as Khalil Daghestan, carried out the attack using his gun to 'kill five of them and wound four others'.

Pictures show the body of Khalilov, who was dressed in military clothes and was carrying a hunting knife with Arabic inscriptions on the black sheath. Next to his corpse lay two of his victims, covered in a white shroud.

Chilling footage shows Khalil Khalilov walking to an Orthodox church in Kizlyar, southern Russia, before he shot five women dead on Sunday. Video also shows a terrified woman fleeing from the scene

Pictures show the body of Khalilov, who was dressed in military clothes and was carrying a hunting knife with inscriptions on the black sheath

Seen as a 'sleeper jihadist', Khalilov was not listed as a radical or rebel. But a video shows him making an oath of allegiance to ISIS speaking in Arabic (pictured)

ISIS has claimed responsibility for the gun rampage at the Orthodox church (pictured today) that left five women dead in Russia

Among those killed was a distinguished cardiologist Lyudmila Scherbakova, who was gunned down with her sister Vera Morgunova, a local community leader.

Both died at the scene, along with church-goers Nadezhda Terliyan and Irina Melkomova.

The fifth woman killed in the terrorist outrage was Vera Blinnikova, 60, who died during surgery after being shot in the chest.

The massacre was at an Orthodox Church in Kizlyar, a town in the restive mainly Muslim region of Dagestan in southern Russia.

Two more victims were gravely wounded in the attack, Nadezhda Kushnaryova, 69 and Natalia Pletukhina, 63.

Khalilov had no criminal record, and his name was not known to police and secret services.

Pictures emerged in local media showing Khalil Khalilov's body. He was carrying a black knife sheath with ISIS inscriptions

Today, flowers were left outside the church in the city of Kizlyar a day after local resident Khalil Khalilov opened fire at worshippers

Among those killed was a distinguished cardiologist Lyudmila Scherbakova (right), who was gunned down with her sister Vera Morgunova (left), a local community leader

The fifth woman killed in the terrorist outrage was Vera Blinnikova, 60, who died during surgery after being shot in the chest

Seen as a 'sleeper jihadist', he was not listed as a radical or rebel. But a video shows him making an oath of allegiance to ISIS speaking in Arabic.

'We had finished the mass and were beginning to leave the church. A bearded man ran towards the church shouting 'Allahu Akbar' ('God is greatest') and killed four people,' said Orthodox priest Father Pavel.

'He was carrying a rifle and a knife,' he added. It is believed he only used the gun in the attacks.

Hieromonch - or monk priest - Ioann Anisimov said: 'These were all good people.

'Two of the killed women were sisters, one a doctor well known to all people in Kizlyar, the other a community leader.

'She was very active in the church. One other woman was begging for money on the doorstep.

Two more victims were gravely wounded in the attack, Nadezhda Kushnaryova, 69 and Natalia Pletukhina (pictured), 63

Doctors examine a wounded man in hospital after the shooting in Kizlyar Dagestan, Russia

The massacre was at an Orthodox Church in Kizlyar, a town in the restive mainly Muslim region of Dagestan in southern Russia

'Another was a teacher all her life, and when she retired she became an active Christian, organising trips to holy places. I feel it just can't be happening to us here.

'Our churches are not guarded at all, nobody expected anything like this despite the fact that there were acts of terror both in Kizlyar and Makhachkala.

'But attempts on life of clergymen or church-goers  it just never happened.'

Vera Blinnikova's last posting on her social network was: 'Who are we if we don't forgive each other, if God forgives us all our sins?'

Head of the Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill said: 'They were coming out of the church after a Holy Service.

'The killing innocent people on the doorstep of the church is a horrible and cynical crime which cannot be justified.

'Only those whose hearts are full of Devil's anger and evil could have done it, those who do not possess the spirit of peace and love.'

Hieromonch - or monk priest - Ioann Anisimov said that all of the victims were 'good people'

His aide Father Alexander Volkov said the shooting on the eve of Orthodox lent was 'a provocation aimed at starting a counteraction between Orthodox and Muslim people who have lived in peace for centuries in the Caucasus'.

Dagestan, bordering Chechnya, is one of the poorest and most unstable regions of Russia.

Islamist rebels from the region, which lies immediately east of Chechnya, are known to have travelled to Syria to join ISIS.

In 2015, IS declared it had established a 'franchise' in the North Caucasus.

It has claimed a number of attacks on police in Dagestan in the last couple of years that have involved guns and explosives, as local security forces battle a simmering Islamist insurgency.

Sunday's shooting comes exactly one month before the March 18 presidential election that Vladimir Putin is almost guaranteed to win.Tactical police officers armed with assault rifles stormed a quiet street south of Melbourne on Monday afternoon after shots were fired at an apartment block.

Heavily-armed police wearing bullet proof vests were seen in numbers roaming Adelphi Boulevard in Point Cook just after 5.30pm.

Residents were told to lock their doors as police searched for a gunman, believed to have fired shots at an apartment block.

A man has been interviewed by police and another is on the run after the shooting.

Police and Special Operation Group were at the scene of the shooting on Adelphi Boulevard in Point Cook

Police spoke to a man at the scene but have not taken anyone in to custody, a spokesperson confirmed to Daily Mail Australia.

The two men were believed to know each other.

Both Police and the Special Operations Group were at the scene of the shooting.

No one was injured in the shooting, which is believed to be a targeted attack.

Police are searching for a weapon after shell casings were found at the scene.

Police are searching for a weapon after locating casings at the scene of the shooting

Local Debbie Richards told the Herald Sun that there 'was a shooting in one of the apartments in Soho Village precinct'

'The victim wasn't killed thankfully,' she said.

Eight police officers remain at the scene on Adelphi Boulevard.

Police have urged anyone with information about the shooting to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.US and Thai marines swallowed cobra blood straight from a severed snakes mouth during annual jungle survival training.

Cobra Gold is one of the largest military exercises in Asia attracting thousands of troops from the US, Thailand and South Korea.

The training, now in its 37th year, last for 10 days and trials include slurping snake blood, eating geckos and removing venom from scorpions and tarantulas.

A trial which consisted of drinking severed cobra blood and then grilling and eating the snakes took place today on a Thai navy base in Chonburi province.

US and Thai marines swallowed cobra blood straight from a severed snakes mouth during annual jungle survival training

Cobra Gold is one of the largest military exercises in Asia attracting thousands of troops from the US, Thailand and South Korea

Being stuck in a jungle is a real-life situation that the troops might be stuck in at some point in the future and the war drills prepare them for that.

The marines were also taught how to find water in jungle vines and identify edible plants by military trainers.

The boot camp in Thailands Chonburi province includes humanitarian components such as evacuation drills, as well as traditional military exercises such as an amphibious vehicle landing drill.

The training, now in its 37th year, last for 10 days and trials include slurping snake blood, eating geckos and removing venom from scorpions and tarantulas

Being stuck in a jungle is a real-life situation that the troops might be stuck in at some point in the future and the war drills prepare them for that by completing the trials

Some 11,075 troops from 29 countries including Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea and Singapore also participated in this year's drills.

Thai Sergeant Major Chaiwat Ladsin, who led the drill that also saw the marines take bites of a raw gecko, said: 'The key to survival is knowing what to eat.'

After the training US Sergeant Christopher Fiffie, said: 'Definitely my first time drinking snake blood... It's not something we do too often in America.'

He added: 'I think I'll be able to hold my own out there.'

This years attendance at the Cobra Gold exercise attracted double the amount of US personnel compared to last year.

A trial which consisted of drinking severed cobra blood and then grilling and eating the snakes took place today on a Thai navy base in Chonburi province

Some 11,075 troops from 29 countries including Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea and Singapore also participated in this year's drills

The 6,8000 marines in attendance were the latest sign of warming relations between the two allies.

A 2014 army coup in Thailand tested ties with Washington, which urged a return to democracy and scaled back military aid.

But the two countries have upped their engagement under US President Donald Trump, who has taken a softer stance on human rights issues and even embraced Thai junta chief Prayut Chan-O-Cha in the White House.

This years attendance at the Cobra Gold exercise attracted double the amount of US personnel compared to last year

The US is also keen to flex its military muscle in Asia amid tensions with North Korea over the pariah state's nuclear missile programme.

US embassy spokesman Stephane Castonguay said: 'The (attendance) numbers are reflective of the US commitment in the region.

'The focus of this exercise still remains humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, in addition to community relations projects.The Baftas turned the air blue last night with film clips featuring swearing and Sir Ridley Scott apologising to the Duke of Cambridge for a foul-mouthed speech.

The 80-year-old Alien and Gladiator director was speaking in length about his education, when he seemed to be distracted by an audience member.

Sir Ridley, who received the Bafta Fellowship, appeared to say: 'Are you bored s**t? Are you alright?'  before turning to Prince William apologetically.

Sir Ridley Scott appeared to be distracted by an audience member during the Baftas last night

Sir Ridley gives his speech as Joanna Lumley, Prince William and Sir Kenneth Branagh watch on

He also talked about filming on a 'cold North Durham beach' with a cast and crew of two people, saying: 'The actor's freezing his a*** off - err, sorry your Highness.'

However, a BBC spokesman told MailOnline today that he believed Sir Ridley actually said 'shuss' or made a similar utterance - adding: 'No one swore on stage last night.'

The coverage on BBC One also featured a variety of film excerpts with swearing, including The Riot Club, The Death of Stalin and The Florida Project.

The ceremony at the Royal Albert Hall in London, also attended by the Duchess of Cambridge, was broadcast with a one-hour delay from 9pm after the watershed.

It comes after Sue Perkins deliberately swore on stage while she presented last year's event so that BBC producers would have to cut it from their broadcast.

Prince William laughs as Sir Ridley apologises for his bad language during the speech

Sir Ridley, pictured (right) being presented with the Fellowship award by Prince William, joked that Bafta thought they would give him the prize before it was 'too late'

William and Sir Kenneth Branagh presented the award to Sir Ridley, who joked that Bafta thought they would give him the prize before it was 'too late'.

Who won what? 2018 Bafta winners in full Best film: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Leading actress: Frances McDormand - Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Leading actor: Gary Oldman - Darkest Hour

Supporting actress: Allison Janney - I, Tonya

Supporting actor: Sam Rockwell - Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Director: Guillermo del Toro - The Shape of Water

EE Rising Star award: Daniel Kaluuya

Outstanding British film: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Original screenplay: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri - Martin McDonagh

Adapted screenplay: Call Me By Your Name - James Ivory

Fellowship: Sir Ridley Scott

Cinematography: Blade Runner 2049 - Roger Deakins

Editing: Baby Driver - Jonathan Amos, Paul Machliss

Production design: The Shape Of Water - Paul Austerberry, Jeff Melvin, Shane Vieau

Documentary: I Am Not Your Negro - Raoul Peck

Animated film: Coco - Lee Unkrich, Darla K Anderson

Original music: The Shape Of Water - Alexandre Desplat

Sound: Dunkirk - Alex Gibson, Richard King, Gregg Landaker, Gary A Rizzo, Mark Weingarten

Costume design: Phantom Thread - Mark Bridges

Make-up and hair: Darkest Hour - David Malinowski, Ivana Primorac, Lucy Sibbick, Kazuhiro Tsuji

Special visual effects: Blade Runner 2049 - Richard R Hoover, Paul Lambert, Gerd Nefzer, John Nelson

British short animation: Poles Apart - Paloma Baeza, Ser En Low

British short film: Cowboy Dave - Colin O'Toole, Jonas Mortensen Advertisement

He said: 'It's been 40 years in this business and this is the first time they've ever given me anything, so I'm not going to go quietly.'

The filmmaker, who told the audience during his speech that he was losing his place, continued: 'I could never be an actor because I'd never remember the lines.

'Thank you Bafta for this Fellowship, it's a tremendous honour to join this list. I'm constantly reminded in press articles that I'm in the octogenarian club... that's not a discotheque.'

Sir Ridley praised teachers at his arts school in his youth for leading the way, and he provoked a cheer from the audience when he said: 'Teaching is the most important of all professions - you sort that you, and social problems will get sorted out.'

In his speech, Sir Ridley also praised the work of 'storytellers', such as Sir David Attenborough.

'The best example of storytellers' power is Blue Planet, probably the greatest commercial for our beautiful planet,' he said. 'We must not lose this beautiful gift we have, it's the only one we've got left.'

Sir Ridley thanked 'the talents I've worked with over all this time', as well as his children, his wife, the Duke of Cambridge and Bafta.

William told the audience that Sir Ridley;s films were amongst his own 'personal favourites' as he presented the filmmaker with the award.

He said: 'The recipient of this year's Fellowship - the highest honour the Academy can bestow - is a true cinema great. His films are amongst my own personal favourites.

'A director and producer whose work has engaged audiences for 40 years, and whose creativity continues to inspire the vital next generation of talent... please welcome to the stage, Sir Ridley Scott.'

While Sir Ridley's films include classics such as Blade Runner, Alien and Gladiator, the director's latest work suffered one major setback.

All The Money In The World had to be recast after its lead actor Kevin Spacey was accused of sexual assault, with Christopher Plummer stepping in to take his place.

Among the film clips featuring swearing was The Riot Club, featuring Josh O'Connor (left), who says: 'Hands up who did f*** all at the back'

Another clip with swearing was The Death of Stalin, with the phrase: 'Look at your f***ing face'

The Florida Project, including the line 'get the f*** out of here', was also broadcast in the show

The Fellowship award is the highest accolade given by Bafta to someone who has made an exceptional contribution to film, television, or video games.

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri was the biggest success at the event with five wins, while Gary Oldman was the only British star to take an acting award.

Martin McDonagh-directed film Three Billboards beat The Shape Of Water, which was nominated for 12 awards but only won three.

Naomie Harris, Tessa Thompson and Gemma Arterton were among the stars joined by activists campaigning against sexual harassment and gender inequality.

Host Joanna Lumley also praised the 'dogged determination' of the suffragettes, and the 'powerful' Time's Up movement.The taxi versus Uber debate has been raging since the controversial ride share firm arrived in Australia in 2012.

An undercover ride test in Brisbane has ended debate over which service offers a cheaper fare, but commuters may have to settle on a slower trip if they want to save money.

The test revealed the average Uber fare was $14.62 cheaper than a taxi, but consistently slower than that of its ride-sharing rival.

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David Wormsley, who has driven in Sydney for 35 years, told A Current Affair about his concerns

While it was cheaper to get a ride in an Uber, the cab was quicker on two of the three rides

Cabbies have long complained firms like Uber and their competition including Taxify and Ola share will leave the industry obsolete.

A report by A Current Affair on Monday night saw the program take out three rides across the Queensland capital and assess the state of the taxi industry.

Price differences ranged from $3.70 through to $29.83 more expensive in a taxi compared to Uber.

But while it was cheaper to get a ride in an Uber, the cab was quicker on two of the three rides.

On one ride however, the taxi cost a whopping $29.83 more even though it was 15 minutes quicker.

But the driver used a toll route without asking the passenger if they were happy too - coming in at $48.83 when the Uber fare was just $19.

Taxis wait near the new designated pick-up zone for Uber at Tullamarine Airport in Melbourne

Uber arrived in Australia in 2012 and cabbies say they are being threatened by the mobile app

Taxi drivers say they are facing a whole wave of challenges and a changing industry since Uber arrived.

David Wormsley, who has driven in Sydney for 35 years, told the program that his colleagues have to apply to be regulated and their vehicles checked.

He added: 'An Uber guy can just drive in any ordinary car and you don't know what he's driving.'

Another concern for cabbies in New South Wales is the introduction last year of a $1.10 levy per fare.

This is aiming to raise $8 million per year for the taxi industry.

Companies like Uber ask what the government is compensating for when there are a range of advantages taxi drivers have

Another concern for cabbies in New South Wales is the introduction last year of a $1.10 per fare

But for companies like Uber, they have asked what the government is compensating for when there are a range of advantages taxi drivers have over Uber drivers.

Henry Greenacre, head of Uber in Australia and New Zealand, explained on the episode taxis get the benefit of using taxi lanes, picking up in designated areas and a 'whole load of advantages'.

Victorian Parliament passed a new bill in 2017 to provide the first 'set of aligned rules for taxi and rideshare drivers'.

It is costing the government $494m to move over to the new system.

The changes are due to be implemented throughout 2018 and introduces a $1 per ride levy which is replacing the annual taxi licenses costing up to $23,000.A horse rider was 'millimetres' from death after her stallion kicked her 'square in the face'.

Becca Brown, 33, was riding her Dutch warmblood Gibson after eight weeks of rest when he bucked and kicked her with his metal-booted hoof.

The Royal Navy officer was taken to Gloucestershire Royal Hospital with a cracked skull, fractured cheek bones, eye sockets and smashed nose.

She had to undergo a seven-hour operation to rebuild the bridge of her nose and pin her broken eye sockets after the incident on February 4.

Her nose was so badly broken consultants compared it to 'sticking cornflakes together'.

The operation included taking a bone graft from her hip and using metal 'links' to hold her eye sockets together.

But just a fortnight later she is out of hospital and looking to ride Gibson again.

Becca Brown, 33, was riding her Dutch warmblood Gibson after eight weeks of rest when he bucked and kicked her with his metal-booted hoof

The 33-year-old was 'millimetres' from death after her stallion kicked her 'square in the face' (pictured riding Gibson)

Recalling the incident Ms Brown said: 'It was a totally normal Sunday. I was turning out my horse after a period of box rest and wasn't doing anything exceptional or dangerous.

'Gibson's a strong competition horse with a very active mind, so being on box rest in a 12 x 12 ft stable was frustrating and boring for him.

'He was a bit like a schoolchild when it's been wet play at school. It was like he'd had eight weeks of wet play and he was excited.

'We walked him to the field and he was jogging slightly but perfectly calm then we approached some muddy areas around fences.

'He hates the mud so we use a lunge rope to help but because it was muddy it was sucking my wellies from my feet. I was trying to cross the mud myself while holding on to Gibson then I just saw a hoof.

'He'd launched a few seconds before I was ready and he bucked and kicked out with joy, catching me square in the face.

Ms Brown had to undergo a seven-hour operation to rebuild the bridge of her nose and pin her broken eye sockets after the incident on February 4

'In terms of his weight and power, to put the kick into perspective, he is 610kg and as a show jumper, we've trained him specifically to have huge power in his hind legs. He can jump 1.3 metres without trying.

'This, and the fact he was wearing metal shoes, made the impact even worse.'

Ms Brown was conscious throughout as her trainer Sarah, who had accompanied her almost to the field, called an ambulance.

'I knew it was bad instantly,' she said. 'There was blood pouring out, I'd felt my nose go when he got me and my sight went almost instantly, because of the swelling.'

She added: 'I could still think and move. I managed to walk to the ambulance because they couldn't get the stretcher through the mud.'

Just two weeks after the accident Ms Brown is out of hospital and recovering at her parents' house

Her nose was so badly broken consultants compared it to 'sticking cornflakes together'

The 33-year-old was taken to the Gloucestershire Royal Hospital, where three-dimensional CT scans showed the extent of the damage.

She was stitched up and stabilised until it was possible to carry out the reconstructive surgery.

'They said there were millimetres in it. If the kick had done any more damage and the bone fragments had gone into my brain, I'd have died,' Ms Brown said.

Just two weeks after the accident Ms Brown is out of hospital and recovering at her parents' house.

She has had to take time off from her job in the Navy and put Gibson on to full livery while she is unable to ride.

'I'm a survivor', she said. 'I want to get better and help Gibson recover too so we can get back to competing.'A Docklands Light Railway station has been evacuated following an explosion under a train this morning.

Police officers attended Pontoon Dock station in east London to assist rail staff and passengers following a 'minor' explosion under a DLR carriage, which Transport for London said was caused by an electrical fault.

Terrified commuters initially feared a bomb had gone off following the loud bang and large police presence at the scene following the incident.

Two people are said to have suffered minor injuries as one passenger said people had been 'trampled' evacuating the train.

Police officers are currently at Pontoon Dock DLR station in east London assisting rail staff and passengers following a 'minor' explosion under a train

The line is now back up and running with minor delays after a period of no service on the DLR between Canning Town and Woolwich Arsenal, a line which includes Pontoon Dock, as well as the station for London City Airport.

A video posted on social media shows smoke coming out from underneath the train carriage while passengers watch on.

The explosion is believed to have been caused by an electrical fault.

Officers from British Transport Police were called at 11.04am this morning.

Mark Davis, TfL's interim general manager for the DLR, said: 'At around 11am our staff were alerted to reports of smoke on at DLR train at Pontoon Dock.

'The cause of the smoke was an electrical fault under one of the carriages, which resulted in a small fire that was quickly extinguished.

'Understandably this was a distressing incident for our customers, for which I give my sincere apologies. A comprehensive investigation into this incident is now underway.'

A BTP spokesman said: 'The train was evacuated and two people are believed to have sustained minor injuries as they left the train.'

The station is currently closed while rail staff resolve the issue and determine the exact cause of the explosion.

There is no service on the DLR between Canning Town and Woolwich Arsenal, a line which includes Pontoon Dock, as well as the station for London City Airport

One person wrote on Twitter: 'Was it a bomb?!'

Another passenger, Lindsey Prowse, wrote: 'Explosion on my train to Canning Town this morning. Fire, smoke and panic.

'A few women were injured after being trampled evacuating the train. DLR is saying it was a faulty train.'

Joe Hillard wrote: 'Explosion on the DLR at Pontoon Dock, well that was scary, I'm off safe hope everyone else is, stay safe London folk.'

And Dave Kerr said: 'Explosion on my train at Pontoon Dock. Drill? Real? No idea.'

London City Airport said on Twitter: 'Passengers please be aware there are currently problems on the DLR. Use TfL journey planner for alternative routes, including 474 bus from Canning Town.'

Terrified commuters initially feared a bomb had gone off following the loud bang and large police presence at the scene following the incidentThe sister of a British woman jailed for smuggling painkillers into Egypt has shared a picture, taken by customs, that she says proves her sibling didn't try to conceal the drugs.

Laura Plummer, 34, was arrested at the airport on October 9 last year when she flew into the Red Sea resort of Hurghada.

Ms Plummer, a shop worker from Hull, was sentenced to three years in prison for taking 290 Tramadol tablets into the country.

The sister of Laura Plummer (pictured), who has been jailed in Egypt, has shared a picture that she says proves her sister didn't try to hide the high-strength painkillers

Rachel Plummer shared this picture, taken by customs in Egypt after her sister's arrest, that shows Tramadol and Naproxen pills and five boxes, three of which are the same

Rachel Plummer says the image proves her sister didn't conceal the Tramadol in paracetamol boxes and hidden packets in her luggage

Her family have said that she was taking the painkiller, which is legal in the UK but banned in Egypt, for her Egyptian partner Omar, who suffers from severe back pain  and didn't know that what she was doing was illegal.

Her sister Rachel shared a picture on Facebook that shows the tablets on a table along with a passport and five boxes, three of which are the same, on Saturday - her sister's 34th birthday.

She told MailOnline the picture -  taken after Ms Plummer's arrest - shows Tramadol and Naproxen pills, which are legal in Egypt.

It proves her sister didn't conceal the Tramadol in paracetamol boxes and hidden packets in her luggage, she said.

Rachel Plummer shared this picture in her Facebook post to show her sister didn't try to conceal the Tramadol pills in paracetamol boxes

Ms Plummer's family have said that she was taking the painkiller, which is legal in the UK but banned in Egypt, for her Egyptian partner Omar (left, and right, with Ms Plummer)

'The picture is the photograph taken by Egyptian authorities,' Rachel wrote on Facebook.

'I am posting this picture for a reason, yes Laura had a lot of painkillers with her (not all illegal I may add) for the reason now everyone knows it was to be used for pain relief only!

'Not to be used to sell on as they claim, but anyway a rumour they were hidden in paracetamol boxes has angered me so much from the moment I heard it, so feel free to steal this photo and correct anyone you see saying this!'

Rachel Plummer (pictured right, with Laura, centre, and their sister Jayne, left) shared the photo on her sister's 34th birthday

Rachel added to MailOnline: 'She did not intentionally break the law, we don't deny that she hasn't broken the law but three years for possession of a drug that you didn't know was illegal in Egypt is too much.'

It comes after Ms Plummer and her family's hopes were raised last month after they understood she would be saved from serving the rest of her sentence following a pardon from President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.

But days later, the British embassy in Cairo informed Ms Plummer's mother that there had been a 'mistake.'Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin that Syria will face 'consequences' if it wades into Turkey's offensive in Afrin.

Erdogan told Putin that Turkey's military operation in the northern Syrian Kurdish enclave will continue as planned during a phone call between the two leaders.

The pair spoke amid reports that Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad's regime has agreed to support Kurdish fighters and that government forces would be entering Afrin 'within hours'.

Russia first intervened in Syria in 2015 by backing Assad with air strikes that targeted both ISIS and other jihadists as well as rebels fighting government troops.

Turkey, meanwhile, is attempting to clear the Kurdish People's Protection Units YPG from territory along its border. Ankara sees the group as a terrorist offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), blacklisted by the United States and the European Union.

Syrian state media said today that Assad's forces will 'bolster' local forces in confronting Turkish 'aggression'. This suggested the Syrian government and YPG militia had struck a deal aimed at repelling an ongoing Turkish offensive on the area.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin that Syria will face 'consequences' if it wades into Turkey's offensive in Afrin. There has been an ongoing Turkish offensive on the area (pictured) in recent weeks

The Syrian region of Afrin, which borders Turkey, is held by the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) and has faced a month-old assault by Ankara and allied Syrian rebels

This morning, Turkey's foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, warned that 'no-one can stop us' as he insisted that his country was ready to battle Assad's forces if necessary.

He said that 'if the regime is entering to protect the YPG, then no one can stop us, stop Turkey or the Turkish soldiers.'

'Popular forces will arrive in Afrin within a few hours to support its people's stand against the Turkish regime's attack on the area and its people,' Syrian state news agency SANA said, citing its correspondent in Aleppo.

SANA said the forces would 'join the resistance against the Turkish aggression'.

'This comes in the framework of supporting residents and defending the territorial unity and sovereignty of Syria,' the agency added.

The Syrian region of Afrin, which borders Turkey, is held by the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) and has faced a month-old assault by Ankara and allied Syrian rebels.

Turkey sees the YPG's presence on its southern border as a direct threat, and observers have noted it would be more comfortable with a regime force deployed there.

Mevlut Cavusoglu (pictured) warned that 'no-one can stop us' as it was announced that pro-Syrian government forces will begin entering the Kurdish enclave of Afrin 'within hours'

Turkish soldiers inspect a tunnel in the hunt for PKK members at the Burseya Mountain as part of 'Operation Olive Branch' launched in Syria's Afrin

The Afrin operation, dubbed 'Olive Branch,' has seen Ankara deploy ground troops and pound the region with air strikes and artillery fire.

YPG spokesman Birusk Hasakeh could not immediately confirm the deployment of regime-affiliated forces on Monday.

Syrian government forces withdrew from Kurdish-majority areas across the country's north in 2012, paving the way for Kurdish authorities to implement de facto self-rule.

But negotiations have been ongoing for a potential return of government-affiliated forces to the enclave, officials have said.

Heve Mustafa, the co-chair of Afrin's executive council, told AFP on Sunday that talks on the subject were ongoing.

'These talks are happening on the military level,' she said.

Last week, YPG chief Sipan Hamo told journalists his forces would have 'no problem' with Damascus intervening to help repel Turkey's assault.

'We don't have a problem with the entry of the Syrian army to defend Afrin and its border in the face of the Turkish occupation,' Hamo said.

Ankara sees the YPG as a 'terror' group and the Syrian arm of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has fought a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state. Pictured a Turkish strike on a suspected PKK headquarters

But Kurdish officials have remained vague on what kind of regime deployment they would accept in Afrin.

Mustafa's co-chair in Afrin, Othman Al-Sheikh Issa, told AFP last month that Damascus should intervene to stop Turkish warplanes flying overhead.

State media did not elaborate on the make-up of the 'popular forces' due to enter Afrin on Monday and made no mention of regular army troops being deployed.

Damascus has denounced Ankara's 'aggression' but until Monday had not explicitly said it would intervene.

Turkey and allied rebels launched the offensive on January 20 in a bid to clear the YPG from territory along the border.

The assault has brought to the surface the complex and competing interests of world powers embroiled in Syria's seven-year conflict.

Ankara sees the YPG as a 'terror' group and the Syrian arm of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has fought a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state.

The United States - Turkey's NATO ally - has allied with the YPG elsewhere in Syria, providing it with arms and other support to fight the Islamic State jihadist group.

Regime ally Russia had also directly supported the YPG in Afrin, training Kurdish forces there before withdrawing as Turkey announced its assault last month.The amount of Australians visiting Bali has dropped in the last year, as Chinese tourists continue to flock to the Indonesian island in huge numbers.

Figures from Bali's statistic agency reveal China had a 24 per cent share of visitors to the picturesque tourist destination compared to Australia's 19 per cent.

Chinese people visiting Bali spiked by a whopping 40 per cent, while Australia's visitors dropped by 4 per cent.

Australian tourists are pictured having a great time at the Potato Head Beach Club in Bali

Australian tourism numbers in Bali have declined but Bali is still a popular tourist destination (pictured above, Australian tourist enjoying the island's perfect weather)

The country with the biggest rise in Bali interest was India, which recorded a 45 per cent spike in visitors to Indonesia's paradise.

Americans are also increasingly taking an interest in Bali, with the country recording a 12 per cent spike in the number of visitors to take total tourism numbers to 191,000.

In total, Bali received nearly 5.7 million visitors in 2017, up from 4.9 million visitors in 2016.

The country has received negative publicity in the Australian media relating to volcano eruptions disrupting flights.

China had a 37 per cent spike in the number of tourists visiting the country, overtaking Australia

Back in 2010, just 648,000 people visited Bali, compared to the 1.1 million who holiday there today.

Head of Bali's Central Statistics Agency Adi Nugrhoho the labelled Australia the 'Kangaroo Country' in an interview with Antara.

'Although the amount of people from the Kangaroo Country to Bali was reduced, it is still ranked second most in supplying tourists to the island after China,' he said.

Australians in Bali this month have been singing the nations praises in social media posts.

'Thank you for showing the real beauty of Bali,' one user said in a message to Travel Guides.

'Its really good to show another perspective for those who havent been to Bali yet.'

Another user said: 'If youve ever been to Bali you know its one of the hardest places to ever leave. I came home and worked my butt off and now Im heading back there knowing that I dont have to come back if I dont want to.'

Americans tourist numbers in Bali have also spiked by 12 per cent as the nation becomes more popularThis is the hilarious moment a dog got VERY excited during his first day in a new home by humping his rescuer.

Mysti Boehler, from Waxahachie, Texas, shared a video of Rubble, a three-year-old dog humping Sofia Graham who works at StreetsToSheets Animal Rescue.

He moved into the shelter in Texas earlier that day, after his owner surrendered the dog to the rescue.

In the video the mutt jumps on Sofia, who is lying on the ground.

Sofia grabs the dog and twists him round in an attempt to stop the humping, but he simply continues from a different angle.

He then turns back around and tries to lick Sofia'a face.

Sofia finds the experience hilarious and along joins the gaggle of laughter with her colleagues off camera.

Sofia tries to stand up and walk off, twisting onto her back. But Rubble isn't having any of it and grabs on tighter as Sofia tries to drag herself away.

'Get off, get off' she laughs before eventually managing to fight the randy dog off and stand up.

This is the hilarious moment a dog got VERY excited during his first day in a new home by humping his rescuer

Mysti Boehler, from Waxahachie, Texas, shared a video of Rubble, a three-year-old dog humping Sofia Graham who works at StreetsToSheets Animal Rescue

Sofia finds the experience hilarious and along joins the gaggle of laughter with her colleagues off camera

Sofia tries to stand up and walk off, twisting onto her back. But Rubble isn't having any of it and grabs on tighter as Sofia tries to drag herself away

But still interested, the brown and white dog jumps back on Sofia.

Mysti Bohler, an animal rescuer at StreetsToSheets Animal Rescue in Waxahachie, Texas who posted the video said she had no idea Rubble would be humping the staff.

'Rubble has an amazing underbite and his bark sounds like someone is choking. He will be up for adoption soon' she said.A neighbour of Australian ISIS jihadist Khaled Sharrouf has taken a camera crew on a tour of a house when he kept Yazidi girls as prisoners.

Abdel Aziz Bin Khalafa lived next door to Sharrouf's compound in the Syrian city of Raqqa.

This house, now lying in ruins, was where the 36-year-old terrorist from western Sydney lived with his wife Tara Nettleton and their five children.

It has also been revealed Ms Nettleton, who died in 2016 from appendicitis, secretly helped the captured Yazidi girls escape and feared a reprisal from her jihadist husband, who she hoped would be killed so she could return to Australia.

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A neighbour of Australian ISIS jihadist Khaled Sharrouf has taken a camera crew on a tour of a house when he kept Yazidi girls as prisoners

The 36-year-old terrorist from western Sydney lived in the house with his wife Tara Nettleton (pictured, right, with her mother) and their five children

A Yazidi girl, who was imprisoned in the compound, said Sharrouf's wife Tara secretly gave her a mobile phone to help her escape and hated life in Syria.

The man who lived next door to them told the ABC's Four Corners program he hated Sharrouf and had been involved in scuffles with him.

'We never liked each other Sharrouf and I,' Mr Bin Khalafa said.

'Whenever he would step outside here, as soon as he'd see me, he'd carry his weapons and fire in the air as if he wanted to make a point, "I am here and I have weapons".'

Mr Bin Khalafa said the jihadist's children didn't speak Arabic and struggled with life in war-torn Syria.

Abdel Aziz Bin Khalafa, who lived next door to Sharrouf's compound in the Syrian city of Raqqa, said he hated his former neighbour

'They were chaotic, very chaotic,' he said. 'They hardly understood Arabic. It was very hard for them.'

The house had a shooting range and also doubled as a prison for Yazidi girls who had been captured in northern Iraq.

'He took them from their parents. What he did was extremely wrong,' Mr Bin Khalafa said.

'He left them here all imprisoned. He wouldn't even let them out in the courtyard.'

This is the compound where Yazidi girls captured in northern Iraq were held as prisoners

The Yazidi girls were kept inside and banned from even going into the courtyard, Mr Bin Khalafa said

A Yazidi girl, who was imprisoned in the compound, told the ABC Sharrouf's wife Tara secretly gave her a mobile phone to help her escape and hated life in Syria.

'His wife said she regretted going there. She said it's a miserable place,' she said.

'She couldn't show her kindness towards us in front of her husband.

'She said, "If my husband knew anything about what I'm doing for you he'd punish me."

'His wife prayed all day for her husband to be martyred so they could return home.'

Sharrouf made international news in August 2014 when his seven-year old son was pictured holding a severed head of a Syrian soldier

The jihadist was reportedly killed in by a drone strike in June 2015 but his death was not confirmed until August 2017

Sharrouf made international news in August 2014 when his seven-year old son was pictured holding a severed head of a Syrian soldier.

The jihadist was reportedly killed in by a drone strike in June 2015 but his death was not confirmed.

The ABC reported his death in August 2017, revealing an airstrike had also killed two of his sons.

His wife died in February 2016 following complications from appendicitis.The Florida school where gunman Nikolas Cruz unleashed a massacre last week will remain closed to students until Monday, February 26.

Teachers are expected to return to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Thursday or Friday, superintendent Robert Runcie told CNN.

Runcie said teachers would return to the school first to give them, and possibly students, a day or two come together and get counseling if they wish to, according to CBS Miami.

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Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School where a gunman unleashed a massacre, killing 17, is closed on Monday for President's Day and will not open until Thursday or Friday for teachers

Students will return to their school on Monday, according to superintendent Robert Runcie

But students and teachers will never again walk into the building where Cruz unleashed his bloodbath last Wednesday, Florida legislators said on Thursday.

They will help the school tear down building 12 and replace the site with a memorial to honor the victims and their families.

'This building has to come down,' said Republican Sen. Bill Galvano of Florida to the Miami Herald on Friday after visiting the school.

Principal Ty Thompson released an emotional video on Sunday, thanking people for their support, and vowing to be there for the victims and their families

Nikolas Cruz, 19, unleashed a massacre at the school, killing 14 students and three teachers

The school's Principal Ty Thompson released an emotional video on Sunday, thanking people for their support, and vowing to be there for the victims and their families.

'I promise you I will hug each and every one of you, as many times as you need, and I will hold you as long as you need me to, for all 3,300 of you, and your families, and we will get through this together,' he said.

President Trump will meet with the school's students and teachers on Wednesday to hold a listening session, according to a White House schedule. He will also meet with state and local officials to discuss school safety on Thursday.

The district is proposing a memorial on the site where building 12 stands now. The renovation is estimated to cost between $25million and $30million.

Officials are working on plans for the memorial and said they will reveal them to the public by the end of the weekend.

'Parents and students have resoundingly told me they can't go back into that building regardless of what we do,' Runcie told the Sun Sentinel.

'The other piece I heard is that that building will be used as evidence in any type of legal process that goes forward, so we won't be able to access the building for a while anyway.'

The building was 'for freshmen, predominantly,' according to Lynn University Professor Joe Melita, former executive director of the school district's Special Investigative Unit.

It held up to 900 students, and the school, and the district are over capacity, as the Parkland area is popular area for families with children.A petition is underway to award a hero ROTC student of the Parkland high school shooting with full military honors and burial.

Peter Wang, 15, died last Wednesday when gunman Nikolas Cruz opened fire on students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida.

Peter's cousin, who was inside the school at the time, said he last saw him holding the door open for other teenagers to flee.

He was wearing his ROTC uniform at the time and was shot in the head.

According to a neighbor who acted as a translator for his Mandarin-speaking parents, he was shot the most number of times by the gunman.

Now, his friends and others in the community are petitioning the White House.

Peter Wang, 15, was shot in the head as he held the door open for his classmates to flee last Wednesday at Marjory Stoneman Douglas school in Parkland, Florida

A petition is underway for Peter, whose dream was to attend West Point and later join the military, to receive full military honors and burial

They say he loved being a part of the cadets program and was proud to wear his uniform to school.

'His selfless and heroic actions have led to the survival of dozens in the area. Wang died a hero, and deserves to be treated as such, and deserves a full honors military burial,' the petition reads.

By Monday morning, it had received 25,000 signatures out of the 100,000 it needs.

Jesse Pan, Peter's neighbor, told DailyMail.com last week how his distraught parents had to rely on him for information because they speak so little English.

When they heard news of the shooting, they and other parents flocked to the school then to a Marriott hotel nearby where they were told to stay and wait for news.

Devastating photographs showed them surrounded by water bottles and pizza boxe with other worried parents in the background, unable to do anything but wait for information.

They later learned that Peter was among the dead.

Peter's cousin Aaron Chen (left) said was the 'best friend anyone could have'. Others have described him as 'so brave'

Peter was among 14 students killed. Three teachers also died in the shooting

'They are devastated. The medical examiner told them Peter got the most shots to his body,' Pan told DailyMail.com.

The boy's mother (pictured) and father speak little English and had to rely on a neighbor to translate for them while awaiting news last week after hearing about the shooting

He added that it was Peter's dream to attend West Point later and 'serve his country'.

Aaron Chen, Peter's teenage cousin, told The Miami Herald on Thursday: 'I don't want Peter just to be a victim.

'I want him to be remembered as the best brother, cousin, son and friend that anyone can ask for.'

He described through tears how Peter, who was a year younger than him, protected him from bullies when he first arrived in America as a six-year-old.

'Being the new kid sucks but imagine being the new kid that can't speak English. I would have died if it wasn't for Peter.

'He made sure I wasn't bullied at our first school. He protected me and I couldn't protect him during the shooting.

'Cruz shot Peter in the head whilst he was holding the door so that others could escape.'

Another cousin, Lin Chen, said Peter was 'so brave' and 'kind'.

'He is so brave. He is the person who is genuinely kind to everyone. He doesnt care about popularity. He always liked to cheer people up.

'He is like the big brother everyone wished they had,' she told The Sun Sentinel.

Peter's distraught parents are pictured waiting for news at the Marriott hotel where missing students' relatives were told to gather last week

The shooting has sparked a wave of planned protests and walkouts from angry students at the school and others who are demanding legislative change from Congress.

Together, students and teachers are planning a mass walk-out on April 20 which they hope will force change.

Seventeen people, including three teachers, died in the shooting and another 15 were injured.

Gunman Nikolas Cruz slaughtered them all with a legally purchased AR-15 which he was able to buy despite having a history of violence and questionable mental health.

He was so dangerous that he was not allowed to bring a book bag to school.

Cruz, 19, is now in custody and has been arraigned on 17 murder charges. He is an orphan whose adoptive mother died a year ago.

He too was a former member of the ROTC program and was considered a 'good shot' by classmates.A Texas teenage girl is believed to have set up her own father to be carjacked by two other teenagers on Friday night.

Montgomery County deputies say a 16-year-old black male and another white male carjacked Susan Mize, 17, and her father in their red Nissan at the intersection of Rayford Road and I45 in the town of Spring.

The two males held them at gunpoint and ordered them to drive home to give them more money, according to the Montgomery County Police Reporter.

At the house, the father ran inside, locked the door and called 911.

Susan Mize, 17 (pictured), was arrested on Saturday night after authorities say she set up her own father to be carjacked by two other teenagers on Friday night in Montgomery County, Texas

Montgomery County deputies say a 16-year-old black male and another white male carjacked Mize (pictured, Saturday) and her father in their red Nissan at the intersection of Rayford Road and I45 in the town of Spring

The two males let Mize go and fled in a red Nissan but the vehicle was soon spotted by law enforcement.

The two males led police on a chase until the car was abandoned near Riley Fuzzel Road and Aldine Westfield at which point the suspects took off into the woods.

Deputies said one of the males fired a gun, which sparked a manhunt.

The 16-year-old black male was captured by police on the 3500 block of Rayford Road and was transferred to the Montgomery County Juvenile Detention Center.

The white male, who is believed to have fired the gun, is yet to be captured.

The two males held them at gunpoint and ordered them to drive home to give them more money. At the house, the father ran inside, locked the door and called 911. The suspects let Mize go and fled in the vehicle (pictured) before abandoning it

The 16-year-old black male was captured by police and taken into custody (pictured), but the white male, who is believed to have fired the gun, is yet to be captured

The scene where Mize orchestrated the carjacking. She faces aggravated robbery charges and is being held on a $75,000 bond

On Saturday night, at the scene of where the carjacking took place, deputies arrested Mize and say she orchestrated the entire incident.

Mize was transported to the Montgomery County Jail where she is being held on a $75,000 bond while facing aggravated robbery charges.

DailyMail.com has reached out to the Montgomery County Sheriff's Department for further details regarding the crime.A girl from rural China has received a national award after looking after her family of five devotedly at the tender age of 13.

Wu Bangju, from poverty-stricken Guizhou Province, has to take care of her two elderly grandparents and two younger siblings after her parents moved to the city for work.

'Because my grandparents are old and my brother and sister are little, it's my duty to care for them,' Bangju told a local reporter while washing cabbage in a bowl.

Wu Bangju (pictured) looks after her elderly grandmother and two young siblings in rural China

The 13-year-old, who is a top pupil at school, washes clothes, boils water and cooks every day

Bangju is one of the nine million children in China who have been left behind by their migrant worker parents.

So called the 'left-behind' children, these boys and girls usually live with their grandparents or relatives, and only get to meet their parents, who work and live in the city, once a year.

The 13-year-old Bangju, her grandparents and her sister and brother live in a small village in Guizhou, one of the poorest provinces in China.

The girl walks to her school every day and after she comes home, she has to wash clothes, boil water and cook for the family of five, according to Chinese news site QQ.com, in a report citing China Central Television Station.

Bangju was named the 'most responsible child' by China Central Television Station in a national award ceremony in January, reported Sina.com.

Bangju's most cherished possession is a pair of shoes she's worn for eight years (pictured)

Bangju cooks at home while the wall behind her is filled with award certificates she has won

The Chinese public are especially touched after knowing that Bangju has worn the same pair of shoes every day for eight years.

Apparently, the pair of green trainers is Bangju's most treasured possession.

The report said when her grandmother bought the shoes for a five-year-old Bangju, she deliberately bought a large size - so that Bangju could wear them longer.

It's said that when Bangju first wore the shoes, they often slid off her feet because they were too big; however eight years on, the sneakers are almost too small for her.

As the pillar of her family, Bangju is also a top student in her middle school.

Footage shows her home is decorated by many award certificates she has worn. A fan of dancing, she is also a member of the school dancing team.

Speaking of her contribution to the family, a humble Bangju told China Central Television Station: 'I think I am not doing enough. I wish I could grow up faster, so I could help my grandparents do more housework.'

The family live in a cramped room where they use the same space for cooking and studying

The 13-year-old, pictured doing traditional dance, is a member of her school's dancing team

The fate of China's 'left-behind' children - and their family - has been in media spotlight in the past two month.

Among them, the most famous name is Wang Fuman. Eight-year-old Wang, from Yunnan Province, shot to fame after his hair became frozen following an hour-long walk to school on a harsh winter morning.

A picture of the boy and his icy hair became viral in China last month. Wang's father worked in the city and his mother abandoned him, his father and his elder sister.

In another case, a blind woman and her deaf husband are left to care for their 12 grandchildren in rural Hunan Province after all of their sons and their wives moved to the city.A week of open debate in the U.S. Senate failed to produce an immigration bill that a majority of lawmakers were willing to support, effectively bringing reform efforts to a standstill.

But the White House says it's not giving up on its fight for border wall funding and a list of other changes to legal and illegal immigration practices, including DACA, that the president has been demanding.

'We're going to stay on it,' Vice President Mike Pence said in an interview with Fox & Friends that aired on Monday morning.

A week of open debate in the U.S. Senate failed to produce an immigration bill that a majority of lawmakers were willing to support. 'We're going to stay on it,' Vice President Mike Pence said in an interview with Fox & Friends

The VP said, 'President Trump made a commitment to the American people that were going to build a wall. That means were going to have a physical barrier on our southern border.'

Senators left Washington on Thursday evening no closer to an agreement than they were four days prior when they were granted the free-wheeling discussion they had been clamoring for on the upper chamber's floor.

Legislators came close to passing a bipartisan measure to provide the $25 billion in funds for Trump's border barrier. It failed on a vote of 54-45 after the White House and Department of Homeland Security mounted a zealous opposition to instructions within the bill to make illegal immigrants who arrive after June of 2018 a priority for deportation.

The administration also objected to the way the bill defined the Dreamer population.

Officials said the measure would have greatly expanded upon the number of illegal immigrants who are currently covered by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program - even beyond the 1.8 million that were advertised.

The true population of amnesty recipients would have been upward of three million, an official told DailyMail.com, pointing to an assessment that was conducted by the Migration Policy Institute.

Trump favors a bill introduced by Sen. Chuck Grassely, an Iowa Republican who chairs the Senate's Judiciary Committee, that appropriates the money for his wall on the United States' border with Mexico, codifies DACA, alters family-based migration and eliminates a visa category for immigrants from less populated nations.

That legislation would have put current DACA recipients plus other qualified illegal immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children but did not apply for the protections when they were offered on a pathway to citizenship.

It could not muster enough bipartisan support to reach the Senate's 60-vote hurdle, either.

Democrats accused Trump of sabotaging immigration reform efforts on Thursday evening as senators left the Capitol empty-handed.

Grassley called it a 'sad day for many Americans and for many dreamers who would have had a rare pathway to citizenship' if his amendment had passed.

'Its unfortunate that so many of my colleagues, when given the chance to finally give citizenship to DACA kids, refused to do so,' he said.

Tthe White House says it's not giving up on its fight for border wall funding and a list of other changes to legal and illegal immigration practices, including DACA, that the president has been demanding

Trump in a weekend tweet accused Democrats of not wanting to find a permanent fix for the DACA program that is entangled in a court battle that has postponed its March 5 expiration.

Placing the blame for the stalemate squarely at the other party's feet on Friday, he said, 'Cannot believe how BADLY DACA recipients have been treated by the Democrats...totally abandoned!'

The president asserted that 'Republicans are still working hard' to arrive at a compromise, however.

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, who found himself under assault by the White House after he criticized Trump's top policy adviser for leading the president down a path that the South Carolinian said would not end with a deal, said in a Thursday statement that 'further politicization' of the issue would not be beneficial.

He also said, 'Looking ahead, I continue to believe there is a deal to be had on immigration that gives President Trump many of his priorities on the border and relief for the DACA-eligible population.'

On a tour of the U.S.-Mexico border on Friday, Pence told Fox & Friends that the administration was 'disappointed' with the failed Senate negotiations yet it and the president remain 'absolutely committed' to striking a deal that encases Trump's four pillars of immigration reform

On a tour of the U.S.-Mexico border on Friday, Pence said the administration was 'disappointed' with the failed Senate negotiations yet it and the president remain 'absolutely committed' to striking a deal that encases Trump's four pillars of immigration reform.

'Its absolutely imperative we do it and once that funding is provided, well make the decisions,' Pence said of the wall in an interview with Fox. 'And I guarantee you, this build or turn president will get that wall built faster than you can possibly imagine.'A dog owner has revealed how her beloved pet was mauled by a Staffordshire Bull Terrier as they enjoyed a stroll along the beach.

Chantelle Hole was walking her three-year-old French bulldog Ralph along Sandbanks beach in Poole, Dorset, when he was savaged by another dog.

The 27-year-old PR worker from London claims it took four people to wrestle with the dog and tear it off Ralph, who was unable to breathe as it clamped its jaws around him and tore the skin back from his neck.

Chantelle Hole was walking her three-year-old French bulldog Ralph along Sandbanks beach in Poole, Dorset, when he was savaged by another dog

Little Ralph was walking along the beach when the other dog clamped its jaws around him and bit him, leaving him with deep cuts

Ms Hole claims it took four people to wrestle with this dog and tear it off Ralph, who was unable to breathe as it clamped its jaws around him and tore the skin back from his neck

Ms Hole, who is dating London Scottish FC rugby player Ben Mosses, was walking along the Dorset shoreline - often billed as Britains Monte Carlo - with her parents.

Ralph pulled through after being taken to the vets but Ms Hole has now shared a Facebook post showing pictures of his injuries and a man she claims is the owner of the other dog, in a bid to appeal for information.

She told MailOnline: 'I always feel so safe when walking Ralph in Sandbanks as its always been home to me, so dont worry about letting him play with other dogs.

'He went to play with a Staffy, which as a breed we both adore as weve grown up with them.

'Out of the blue, the dog suddenly went for him and started mauling Ralph at the neck. I heard the other dog growling and it flipped Ralph on his back.

'He locked onto Ralphs neck and wouldnt let go for five minutes, it took me and four others to get the dog off Ralph.

'Ralph was making the most horrendous noises. It pulled the skin back from Ralph's neck and its owner just stood there, I think in shock.

'About 20 people just stood there looking. I picked Ralph up and put him in my gilet then the dog lunged at me.

'It was so terrifying - the stupid irresponsible owners didnt know what to do and the poor dog should have been muzzled and never let off the lead.

'The pictures talk for themselves - but dog walkers in the area please be so careful of this dog and watch out for his owner.'

Ms Hole is dating London Scottish FC rugby player Ben Mosses and the pair share Ralph

Ms Hole says she felt 'helpless' as four people tried to wrestle the dog off of her beloved pet

Ms Hole said Ralph is a friendly dog, and enjoys being around other dog

She added: 'I paid around 195 in vet's fees but it's not about the money.

'Dorset Police said they cannot do anything about a dog on dog attack, if no human was involved.

'However as the owner is not cooperating, and will not provide me with his address, the dog warden is unable to go round to visit him.

'He is not responding to my text messages and the dog warden cannot get through to him on the contact number he provided.

Three-year-old Ralph was taken to the vets where it cost 195 for emergency treatment

Ms Hole was walking along the Dorset shoreline - often billed as Britains Monte Carlo - with her parents and Ralph

'I feel a bit helpless. I feel like the police would be able to do much more in this occasion rather than the dog warden.

'The owner messaged me and saying he doesn't own the dog, he is just a third party intermediary, even though he was walking the dog on the day of attack.

'He said that the owner is his 'female associate' but neither of them are taking responsibility.'This is the moment an Aboriginal woman interrupted a cabinet minister on Q&A and told him he had no right to talk about indigenous issues because he's white.

Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg and shadow treasurer Chris Bowen were debating the idea of a constitutional referendum to create an indigenous voice to parliament when actress Shareena Clanton theatrically put her hands in the air.

'Can you stop? Im really sick of non-indigenous peoples making comments about non-indigenous Australia,' she told the ABC panel show in Sydney on Monday night.

This is the moment an angry Aboriginal woman on Q&A interrupted a cabinet minister and told him to stop talking about indigenous issues

'We want to be the voice because we are tired of non-indigenous Australia thinking that they know what is good for us and thinking that they can be the voice for Aboriginal Australia.

'So they should all learn to keep their mouths shut and start engaging Aboriginal Australia into the conversation.'

Ms Clanton became agitated when Mr Frydenberg, a Liberal MP, pointed out that Labor's indigenous former national president Warren Mundine had objected to the idea of an indigenous parliament as 'a solution looking for a problem'.

The thespian, who has appeared in Redfern Now and Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries on the ABC, pointed at Mr Frydenberg when he repeated Mr Mundine's name during her rant.

Shareena Clanton theatrically put her hands in the air as minister Josh Frydenberg and Labor frontbencher Chris Bowen were debating the idea of an indigenous voice to parliament

'Yourself included,' she said to the minister before continuing.

'We have spent 230 years, 230 years of not being included in this constitution.'

The 27-year-old actress argued the Queen, as Australia's head of state, still owned traditional lands, despite native title provisions that had given Aboriginal people control of their soil.

'We're still begging to protect sacred sites that are over 80,000 years old from mining companies, from gas companies,' she said, punctuating her sentences with theatrical pauses. 'We want to be the author of our own destinies.'

Chris Bowen looked on with a bemused expression as Ms Canton said she non-indigenous peoples needed to keep their mouths shut

Her passionate comments divided the studio audience, with footage showing many people in the Q&A crowd keeping still as others clapped.

Last year, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion and former attorney-general George Brandis rejected the Referendum Council's proposal for a referendum to establish an indigenous 'Voice to Parliament'.

The council wanted indigenous people to have a voice about legislation and policies, even though the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission was abolished in 2004 by the former Howard government over governance issues.Donald Trump Jr is heading to India this week, as the acting head of The Trump Organization attempts to woo potential buyers into purchasing units in its latest development.

That development is the Trump Towers Delhi, which will feature 254 apartments in two 47-story towers when it is complete in 2023, with prices ranging from $850,000 to $1.7 million per unit.

Don Jr. is flying in ahead of the project's groundbreaking ceremony, and buyers who commit to purchasing a unit this week have been promised a seat at a dinner with President Trump's oldest son according to The New York Times.

The trip is raising eyebrows among some however as President Trump has been working to strengthen ties with India, and Ivanka traveled to the country last year just as sales started on the units.

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Richie Rich: Donald Trump Jr (above in December leaving the Senate Intelligence Committee) will be in India this week in support of The Trump Organization's four projects in the country, with Secret Service by his side

Ambitious rendering: His main focus will be selling units at Trump Tower Delhi (above in rendering), which will feature 254 apartments in two 47-story towers when it is complete in 2023

Leaders in love: Some are questioning the trip in light of President Trump's very public adoration for India over the past year and close relationship with Prime Minister Modi (pair above in June)

President Trump's oldest son will be attending cocktail parties, dinners and meetings with local real estate developers during his week-long trip in support of the project.

He will also be a speaking at the Global Business Summit in new Delhi on Friday, alongside his father's good friend Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Despite that fact, Don Jr said in an interview he would not be interacting with government officials.

He will however be travelling with a taxpayer-funded Secret Service detail.

Trump Towers Delhi is not in fact in New Delhi, but rather the city of Guragon. It is one of four projects that The Trump Organization is currently involved with in the country.

Don Jr was previously in India back in 2014 with his father as they launched the Trump Mumbai.

That project is expected to be completed next year, and Don Jr will stop in the city again during his trip.

He will also visit the cities of Kolkata, where a new project is set to break ground, and Pune, the only project that has been completed of the four.

Daughter delegation: Ivanka Trump traveled to India in November (above with Prime Minister Modi) just before units became available for sale at the development, located outside New Delhi in the city of Guragon

Family ties: The Trump Organization put up no capital for any of the four projects, and instead receives a portion of sales for the usage of their name and services (President Trump and Don Jr with developer Abhishek Lodha of Lodha Group in 2014 promoting Trump Tower Mumbai ahead of its groundbreaking)

The Trump Organization has not put up any of the money towards the building of these new projects, and instead are lending their name and business acumen for a cut of the sales.

That payout is increased for units that sell above the market rate.

President Trump has shown a deep adoration for India and Prime Minister Modi, who he famously hugged outside the White House back last June.

At the same time he has come down hard on the country's neighbor and grteatest foe, Pakistan.

On New Year's he tweeted: 'The United States has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies & deceit, thinking of our leaders as fools. They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. No more!'Daniel Olley, 41, pleaded guilty to targeting two women in three counts of fraud

A serial conman who swindled more than 12,000 from a vulnerable mother he met while on day release from prison has been jailed again for five years.

Daniel Olley, 41, who previously used PlentyOfFish to con women, fleeced Daniella Evans after he met her while working for a charity which helps convicts get back into work.

Olley, who was serving a sentence for scamming another woman he met through the dating website, tricked Miss Evans into handing over cash for a van and rent payments.

And when their relationship broke down, former mechanic Olley began a relationship with another victim, Gill Osborne, who he conned out of 1,600.

The fraudster, who has a history of targeting vulnerable women, was jailed for five years at Snaresbrook Crown Court yesterday.

Judge Paul Southern told him: 'There can be no doubt at all these are offences of high culpability. There was significant planning based on your significant experience of having committed similar offences in the past.

'The fraudulent activity was over a sustained period of time in respect of two separate victims.'

The serial conman targeted 'vulnerable women' on dating website PlentyOfFish (file picture)

He added: 'The current offences are aggravated not just by that record of offending involving targeting of vulnerable women, but also by the fact that the current offending was on day release, having been employed by a company that seeks to provide employment to those about to leave prison to assist with their rehabilitation.'

Gareth Munday, prosecuting, said Olley, who has six convictions for 35 similar offences, first met Miss Evans in May 2015 while working for a charity which helps convicts.

He said: 'She was running a business which renovated and repaired furniture and he was working ostensibly for a delivery company that delivered furniture to her store.

'They started chatting and he befriended her. Her business would have profited from having a vehicle and a driver because she didn't have a means of transporting the furniture being renovated.

Mother scammed by Daniel Olley blasts probation services for 'handing him victims on a plate' A mother-of-two scammed by Daniel Olley while he was on day release has blasted the Prison Service for 'handing him victims on a plate'. Daniella Evans said she was close to suicide after Olley, 41, conned her out of nearly 12,000. In a victim impact statement, which she read to court yesterday, she said her life has 'fallen apart' since she became a victim. And speaking after the hearing she slammed the Prison Service for giving Olley the 'green light' to re-offend while on day release. Her impact statement said: 'I have realised what type of person he is and what he had been doing to me. My life has fallen apart. 'I have lost my property, my children were taken off me, I had to live on the street and know my children were not with me and could not be cared for by me. 'I lost two businesses I was in by becoming homeless.' The statement added: 'I feel I was abused at a vulnerable time of my life. 'I don't know how to rebuild and I'm unsure how I will trust anybody again. I suffer really badly with anxiety and have had depression.' 'I did become suicidal but I didn't take my own life due to my children. 'I did start self harming - this was when I realised I needed to get help. 'No child should have to lose out on their mum. I have borrowed money off my family and friends that I cannot afford to pay back. My debts are out of control. 'The loss of my kids was just unbearable but I have started to slowly rebuild and I have started a new business and it's taking off slowly. 'I have found a home to live in and I now get contact with my children.' Speaking outside court following Olley's sentence to five years in prison, she blamed the Prison Service for her becoming a victim. Olley was on day release when he befriended Miss Evans, who was not aware of his criminal past. She said: 'My problem more than anything is he was on day release from prison. 'If the Prison Service and rehabilitation did their job I wouldn't be here today. He was on day release from prison. They released him to reoffend. 'He destroyed my life, my children went without their mum. 'If the Prison Service rehabilitated properly and Probation monitored people then the police wouldn't have to keep doing this. 'There would be less victims of the same crime if the Probation and the Prison Service did more. 'My main problem is the fact I had a criminal in my home. I was a vulnerable person anyway. And the Prison Service and the Probation Service allowed it.' She said Olley went to her home after she bought furniture from a charity called Abacus, which works with offenders. Miss Evans said: 'The Prison Service and the Probation Service, they are accountable for this and I stand by that. 'Why would you possibly let somebody out on day release to work with vulnerable people? 'I bought furniture from Abacus and he was the delivery driver. He came in my house unattended. He should never have been unattended. You don't have a prisoner unattended in somebody's home. And if they are - you need to be warning those people. 'I didn't know anything.' She added: 'In my eyes the Probation Service is to rehabilitate and monitor offenders so they don't do it again. Not give them the tools and the victims. That's handed him victims on a plate - that's disgusting, that's appalling, something has to give. 'The Prison Service and the Probation Service gave him the green light. 'There is no way in the world somebody in day release from prison should be able to meet his victims and be able to do that and walk back into prison, get back on the prison bus and go back in. How is that possible?' Advertisement

'He offered his services to find a vehicle and drive it. He told her he was working as a mobile mechanic at the time so they could share a vehicle.'

But Miss Evans was not told about Olley's criminal past. The prosecutor added: 'At that time, unbeknownst to her, he was on day release from Standford Hill prison.

'The driving he was doing was for a charity associated with the prison, which employs people on day release and ex-offenders to get them back into work.

'He was taking advantage of that to set up his next criminal enterprise.

'She gave him 2,400 to purchase the vehicle, then more money to insure it, and then 800 to insure himself on it, and then some 3,000 to carry out further repairs upon it. That vehicle didn't exist.'

During that time Olley also began to form a relationship with Miss Evans, who was a victim of domestic abuse by a previous partner.

He told the mother-of-two, who was looking for stable accommodation where she could stay with her children, he would help find them a home together.

Mr Munday said: 'She was desperate and he knew she was desperate for a suitable address her children could come and visit her at.

'She gave him money, down-payments on rent and she borrowed money from her father for more down payments on rent when the property fell through.'

He added: 'Time and time again she would hire vehicles to move her property around. Time and time again he would fail to turn up at the property, fail to give her an address.'

Miss Evans spent around 8,700 on supposed rent and down-payments, the court heard. On one occasion she even transferred money to Olley's real partner.

The prosecutor said: 'It's right that Miss Evans put money for rent to an account in the name of Maria who she believed at the time was not related to or associated with this defendant. She accepts now it is more than likely she was his partner.'

The prosecutor said that when the relationship began to break down, Olley then met his next victim, Gill Osborne.

He said: 'As Miss Evans' relationship with Mr Olley deteriorated so he began the relationship with Miss Osborne.

'The way in which they described in their witness statements he began to effectively groom her is almost identical to the way he began a relationship with Miss Evans.

'He fixed her car and then began taking advantage of Miss Osborne. When her car stopped working, something she needed and he knew she needed, he offered to fix it because he was a mobile mechanic.

'He said he would be able to either get her car fixed and have a replacement whilst being fixed.'

In August 2017 Olley took her car, a Ford Fiesta, claiming he would have it repaired - but he sold it on August 8 for 600.

Mr Munday said the buyer, who was not aware of Olley's crime, then sold it for a 'fair market rate of 1,600.'

He said: 'The defendant has gone from being incarcerated for almost identical offences whilst on day release to Miss Evans, then from Miss Evans to Miss Osborne.

'He has six convictions for 35 offences - 16 of which are for fraud or kindred and 19 for theft and kindred offences.'

Judge Southern sentenced Olley to four years for the fraud against Miss Evans and one year for the fraud against Miss Osborne, to run consecutively.

He said: 'You have pleaded guilty to three counts of fraud, each involving the making of false representations to vulnerable women you targeted in order to extract from them money to be used for your own benefit.

'First you befriended Miss Daniella Evans, realising you had met her at a time she was particularly vulnerable, her relationship with the father of her children having recently broken down.

'You led her to believe a relationship would develop between you and you would live together at secure, suitable accommodation you would find for you both, where her children could visit.

'This was entirely untrue as at the time you were in a relationship with someone else.'

He added: 'You also pressured her to give you money to buy, repair and insure a van would would be used to assist her in a furniture renovation business she was running, but no such van existed - this also being a rouse to extract money from her.

'You targeted a second victim who you also perceived to be vulnerable and so a source of money to be taken from her.

'It's plain previous sentences within the range suggested by sentencing guidelines have failed to deter Mr Olley committing further offences.'

Earlier, Mr Munday told the court: 'He's 41 and has a number of previous convictions, most recently in the Crown Court at Ipswich.

'The commission of counts one and two were when he started offending on release from Standford Hill prison for the sentence of 44 months imposed at Ipswich in 2013. They were for similar offences.

'His antecedence demonstrates a man who befriends women who could be perceived to be vulnerable and then he takes money from them in increasing amounts.'

After the case, a Prison Service spokesman told MailOnline: 'The vast majority of offenders abide by their release conditions and very few commit serious further offences on licence.

'But we take any incidents that do occur extremely seriously, and each one is investigated fully to identify any lessons that could be learned.'A council has organised a transgender swimming night after hearing concerns from residents.

Darebin City Council in Melbourne is holding a 'Trans and Gender Diverse Swim Night' at the Reservoir Leisure Centre on February 24.

A Facebook event page claims it is 'Victoria's first ever trans and gender diverse swim night, providing indoor pools where trans and gender diverse people can exercise, socialise and feel safe'.

Darebin City Council in Melbourne is holding a 'Trans and Gender Diverse Swim Night' at the Reservoir Leisure Centre on February 24

Councillor Steph Amir tweeted a list of 'reasons why we need a trans-inclusive swim session, as told by trans and gender diverse people themselves'

'So come along to be part of something truly wonderful in a safe place amongst like-minded individuals.'

Darebin City Council caused controversy in 2017 when it decided to stop celebrating Australia Day.

Councillor Steph Amir tweeted a list of 'reasons why we need a trans-inclusive swim session, as told by trans and gender diverse people themselves'.

She said many transgender people didn't visit swimming pools and gyms 'out of fear'.

The swim night will be held during the pool's normal opening hours.

People keen on attending shared their enthusiasm for the event on the Facebook page

People keen on attending shared their enthusiasm for the event on the Facebook page.

'This is fantastic. I have been too scared to go swimming as my real female self,' one woman posted.

'Terribly scared actually. My swim suit has been collecting dust for two summers now. Thank you so much for this opportunity. Can't wait,' another added.A married rabbi has been arrested for allegedly paying an underage prostitute for sex, three years after he pleaded guilty to molesting a young boy at a Jewish camp.

Aryeh Goodman, 35, is accused of sleeping with the 17-year-old girl at a hotel near his home on February 1.

He turned himself in to police in East Brunswick, New Jersey, with his lawyer on February 6.

Two others, the girl's alleged pimps, were also arrested.

Goodman is married with children and ran a religious organization in East Brunswick offers classes for women and children.

In 2015, he pleaded guilty to molesting a boy under the age of 13 at a Jewish camp in 2001.

He was sentenced to between 11 and 23 months in jail and was told he must register as a sex offender.

Aryeh Goodman, 35 (pictured with his wife Ora and their children) was arrested on February 6 for allegedly sleeping with a 17-year-old prostitute at a hotel in East Brunswick, New Jersey

He was banned from working with children as a condition of that sentence.

Goodman did not respond to DailyMail.com's request for comment on Monday morning.

Gabriella Colon, 18, and Richard Ortiz, 35, of the Bronx, were also arrested as part of the operation according to the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office.

They are accused of human trafficking and child endangerment.

They allegedly supplied the girl to Goodman and other and up to 30 other men over a period of a month from January to February 2018.

Goodman (above with his wife and one of their children) was previously jailed for 11 months for molesting a boy who was under the age of 13 at a camp in 2001

Goodman was charged with one count of engaging in prostitution with a child and one count of endangering a child.

It is not clear if he was held in custody or if he was released on bond.

Ortiz and Colon were charged with 11 criminal counts including human trafficking, conspiracy to commit human trafficking, promoting prostitution of a child, conspiracy to promote prostitution of a child, endangering the welfare of a child, criminal restraint, and a number of child pornography offenses including the manufacturing, distribution and possession of pornography.

They are being held at the Middlesex County Adult Corrections Center.A California firefighters union has been slammed after offering an AR-15 as the main raffle prize at a benefit on Saturday evening.

The Cameron Park Firefighters Association was hosting their annual crab feed where they put a number of items up for auction.

Some attendees walked out after they saw the association was auctioning of an AR-15 rifle, the type of weapon allegedly used on Wednesday by Nikolas Cruz in the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, that left 17 dead.

The Cameron Park Firefighters Association in California has been slammed after offering an AR-15 as the main raffle prize at a benefit on Saturday evening (pictured)

Some attendees walked out after seeing that the weapon (pictured) being auctioned off was the same type of weapon allegedly used on Wednesday by Nikolas Cruz in the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, that left 17 dead

A spokesman said the winning bidder will still have to pass a background check before taking ownership of the weapon and added that these types of rifles are raffled off each year at the fundraiser, including the one above

According to El Dorado Hills resident Allison Merrill, who walked out: 'When we walked out, the flag was at half-mast in front of the community center (pictured) and it was just so striking how tone-deaf the whole event was'

El Dorado Hills resident Allison Merrill and several friends walked out of the event in protest, saying the timing was insensitive.

'When we walked out, the flag was at half-mast in front of the community center and it was just so striking how tone-deaf the whole event was,' she told the Sacramento Bee.

'We walk out and there's the flag at half-mast for all those kids.'

The annual fundraising event for the association includes a raffle and a silent auction, and donated guns have been up for raffle or bid in past years, officials said.

This year's event included the Faxon Firearms 'custom lightweight AR-15 rifle' with tickets priced at $40.

Nikolas Cruz, 19 (pictured) used the assault rifle to kill 17 and injure more than a dozen in a shooting last Wednesday at his old high school.

Many of the other items for raffle were much more standard prizes including wine, spa treatments and dinner gift cards, said Nancy Lugo, another resident who walked out.

'I was devastated. I felt ill. I felt I couldn't stay and support the event any longer' she told CBS Sacramento.

'It hadn't even been a week, the families were still grieving, and we are seeing that same type of weapon being offered as a prize.

The Cameron Park Fire Department is under contract with Cal Fire.

Deputy chief and spokesman for CalFire Scott McLane said the auction was planned before the carnage that took place at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

The gun was taken to a gun store for the 10-day waiting period and that the winning bidder will still have to pass a background check before taking ownership of the weapon, he said.

McLane added that these types of rifles are raffled off each year at this fundraiser. Two other semi-automatic guns also were part of this year's raffle.

Cruz was able to buy the weapon despite having a history of violence and questionable mental health. This photo, posted on Cruz's Instagram account, shows a weapon being held

Cruz is now in custody and has been arraigned on 17 first-degree murder charges (Pictured, students flee Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Wednesday as the shooting occurs)

A senior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School weeps in front of a cross and Star of David for shooting victim Meadow Pollack while a fellow classmate consoles her at a memorial by the school on Sunday

Nikolas Cruz used the assault rifle to kill 17 and injure more than a dozen in a shooting last Wednesday at his old high school.

He was able to buy the weapon despite having a history of violence and questionable mental health.

Authorities say that Cruz was so dangerous that he was not allowed to bring a book bag to school.

He is now in custody and has been arraigned on 17 first-degree murder charges.Deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce has branded the crisis surrounding his affair with a former staffer as a witch hunt.

The defiant leader of the Nationals gave an interview on his first day of leave on Monday saying he would not be quitting as potential new leadership candidates began to circle.

In another twist in the saga over his relationship with his now pregnant partner and former media adviser Vikki Campion, allies of Mr Joyce have accused the prime minister of leaking information to the press.

'People are starting to see this as a witch hunt. I'm not going anywhere, I never would,' Mr Joyce said in an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald.

'People are starting to see this as a witch hunt. I'm not going anywhere,' Barnaby Joyce said on Monday

Vikki Campion (pictured left) joined Barnaby Joyce's staff as a media adviser before the pair's relationship escalated

'People know enough about me to know that I'm hardly one to run away from a fight.'

He stressed his personal feeling that a meeting between party chiefs was not crucial to his future.

Mr Joyce reminded people it was not an official meeting of the party's top echelons and Nationals MPs were the ones to decide on who the leader of the party would be.

He has vowed to fight on despite the criticism and mounting pressure on him to quit amid the scandal engulfing the federal government.

'I've been in heaps of fights in my political life, this is another one,' he said.

'In any person's political career you aren't created by the times in your favour, you're tempered by the times of adversity. That's how politics works - you rise to deal with it.'

Sources inside the Nationals have now turned the focus on prime minister Malcolm Turnbull - accusing him of working in partnership with journalists by leaking stories.

Sources in the Nationals claimed recent stories about Barnaby Joyce had been leaked by Malcolm Turnbull's (pictured) office

Barnaby Joyce's work trips with his former adviser Vikki Campion cost taxpayers $28,408

It is claimed one of those stories appeared in Daily Telegraph alleging Mr Joyce had tried to steal a portfolio position from another minister during the reshuffle in December.

The importance of a telephone conference between leading party officials on Monday was also played down by the Nationals, the Herald reports.

The paper quoted sources from inside the party saying it was not surprising following the events of recent days and weeks that a catch-up had taken place.

It comes after it emerged his relationship with his younger former media adviser had cost taxpayers more than $28,000 for them to travel together for work.

Daily Mail Australia is not suggesting anything illegal took place and is not accusing Mr Joyce of misusing public funds.

However, the revelation about the 50-year-old Nationals leader's expenses came as a Newspoll survey showed two-thirds of voters wanted Mr Joyce to resign as Deputy Prime Minister as he prepared to take a week of leave.

She travelled extensively across Australia with her former boss, flying with him from Brisbane to Victoria (flight receipts pictured above)

In 2016 and 2017, the father-of-four's travel to events with his now pregnant 33-year-old former staffer Vikki Campion cost taxpayers $28,408 when she was on his payroll.

Daily Mail Australia has analysed expenses incurred by Mr Joyce between May 2016, when Ms Campion joined his election campaign as media adviser, to April 2017 when she quit as his adviser to work for Nationals minister Matt Canavan.

This publication isn't suggesting any misuse of funds and has examined the records from the Department of Finance and Defence, which operate VIP flights for ministers.

However, Mr Joyce's 24-year marriage to his estranged wife Natalie ended after Ms Campion had joined his office.

She travelled extensively across Australia with her former boss, flying with him from the Gold Coast to Melbourne, and several regional centres in between, during her year as a full-time staffer with the Deputy Prime Minister.

Mr Joyce and Ms Campion were photographed together in a bar at Glebe in Sydney's inner-west in February 2017, after flying down from Tamworth

EXPENSES TIMELINE 27 May 2016  Gold Coast/Tamworth: $11,000  VIP flight 17 June 2016  Glen Innes/Lismore: $1,334  VIP flight 17 June 2016  Lismore/Inverell: $1,334  VIP flight 25 August 2016 - Melbourne/Sydney: $1,135; Comcars: $346 5 October 2016  Orange/Narrandera: $562  VIP flight 5 October 2016  Narrandera/Deniliquin: $351  VIP flight 14 November 2016  Brisbane/East Sale: $8,740  VIP flight 14 November 2016 - East Sale/Melbourne: $2,300  VIP flight 23 February 2017 - Tamworth/Sydney: $356 flight; two night travel allowance: $442; Comcars: $73 25 February 2017 - Sydney/Tamworth: $356 flight; Comcar: $79 Sources: Department of Finance, Defence Advertisement

When Ms Campion first joined the Deputy PM's office in May 2016, she travelled with her boss on VIP flights to the New South Wales towns of Tamworth, Glen Innes, Armidale, Lismore, as Mr Joyce campaigned for the upcoming July election.

Three months later, in August 2016, the pair caught a flight from Sydney to Melbourne costing taxpayers $1,135 so they could attend an Australian Dairy Industry Symposium.

In October and November 2016, Mr Joyce and Ms Campion took four VIP trips together, costing almost $12,000, taking them across central-western NSW and to Brisbane and Melbourne.

In February last year, Mr Joyce was photographed with Ms Campion, a former Daily Telegraph journalist, drinking a bar at Glebe in Sydney's inner-west.

During that visit to the New South Wales capital, Mr Joyce claimed two nights of travel allowance worth $442, along with flights from Sydney to Tamworth each costing $356.

A Newspoll survey shows 65 per cent of voters want Mr Joyce to quit as Deputy Prime Minister

The Deputy Prime Minister also claimed $152 in Comcar travel.

The revelations came as a Newspoll survey of 1,632 voters, published in The Australian, showed 65 per cent of the electorate wanted Mr Joyce to quit as Deputy Prime Minister.

His relationship with Ms Campion has damaged the Turnbull Government's standing, with the Coalition's primary vote falling two points to 36 per cent, putting it one point behind Labor's.

The government now trails the Opposition 53 per cent to 47 per cent after preferences.

Daily Mail Australia contacted Mr Joyce's office for comment.Montrel T. Williams, 48, was found dead inside the home in Omaha on Saturday morning by police

A 14-year-old girl has been arrested over the shooting death of her father in their Nebraska home.

Montrel T. Williams, 48, was found dead inside the home in Omaha on Saturday morning by police.

The girl, who has not been named by authorities, was arrested and booked into the nearby Douglas County Youth Detention Center.

She is the believed to be the youngest girl suspected in a homicide in Omaha in recent years.

Williams' estranged wife LaDonna Mitchell Williams said he had been shot, the Omaha World Herald reports.

She would not confirm if the couple's daughter was involved.

'I dont want to get into that right now,' she said.

Officers had been called to the home to carry out a welfare check on Williams.

Williams' wife said he had moved into the rental home with their daughter two months ago.

Williams had moved into this rental home in Omaha, Nebraska with his 14-year-old daughter two months ago

He had been awaiting trial on a misdemeanor assault charge, according to court records.

Williams had served jail time in 1997 for being a felon in possession of a deadly weapon and third-degree assault.

'He loved his family and his friends,' he estranged wife said.

'He worked doing odd jobs around town.

'He enjoyed drawing, traveling, fishing and collecting model cars and airplanes. The old-school kind of cars.'Barnaby Joyce has been slammed for his 'family values' by comedian John Oliver on US national television in the wake of the Deputy Prime Minister's affair with a now-pregnant staffer.

On television show 'Last Week Tonight' the Deputy Prime Minister was made a laughing stock as Oliver mocked his 'incredible family values'.

'You may think that is hypocritical but reality, Joyce has such incredible family values that he can't restrict them to just one family,' he told a laughing audience.

Scroll down for video

Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce has such incredible family values that he can't restrict them to just one family, comedian John Oliver said

Mr Joyce (pictured right) is expecting a baby with his former media adviser Vikki Campion

Mr Joyce's affair with former staffer Vikki Campion was examined by the comedian who joked as he showed media clips from Australia.

'The Australian media has understandably jumped on this story like a Deputy Prime Minister with a wife and four children jumping on his 33-year-old former media adviser.'

Ms Campion's grey-bearded father even featured on the show and was likened to Santa Claus as they showed him saying that Mr Joyce should be 'roasting on a spit'.

'I think that might be the most Australian man who has ever lived,' Oliver said to fits of laughter.

'In Australia they don't actually have Santa Claus, they just have that guy coming down your chimney whether you've been bad or good and he just beats you with a newspaper.

Ms Campion is expecting a baby with the Deputy Prime Minister in April this year.

Ms Campion's father also featured on the show, being referred to as like a Santa Claus who comes down the chimney whether you've been bad or good

Referring to Australia's postal plebiscite, Oliver highlighted the hypocrisy of Joyce opposing same sex marriage.

'Joyce is a social conservative who opposed same sex marriage in their referendum last year because he believes in traditional family values,' he said.

The comedian wasn't just having a dig at Joyce however, he also used the story to attack Australians in general.

The media jumped on this story like a Deputy Prime Minister with a wife and four children jumping on his 33-year-old former media adviser (pictured), the comedian said

'70 per cent of Australia in uninhabitable because of desert and 30 per cent is uninhabitable because of Australians,' he said.

Oliver reminded the audience it was not the first time Joyce had featured on the program.

'We've talked about Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce before, you may remember he threatened to euthanize Johnny Depp's illegally impounded dogs pistol and boo.'Theresa May has called on Jeremy Corbyn to authorise the release of any 'Stasi file' held on him after he was accused of meeting Soviet-backed spies 30 years ago.

The Prime Minister said each MP had to be accountable for their actions when claims were levelled against them.

Labour has furiously denied the claims levelled against Mr Corbyn and other senior MPs since his name was found on archive files held by the Czech security services.

They revealed he was given the code name 'Cob' and ex-spy Jan Sarkocy has made a series of lurid allegations since the records first emerged publicly last week.

Labour sources have insisted Sarkocy has no credibility and nothing to back up his incendiary claims, branding them 'absurd' and a 'tissue of lies'.

Despite the denials Tory MPs have called for a full inquiry by the Foreign Affairs Select Committee into the allegations made.

Theresa May (pictured in Derby yesterday) has demanded Jeremy Corbyn be 'open and transparent' in response to allegations he and other Labour MPs met with Soviet-backed spies 30 years ago

Following their first meeting in Parliament in 1986, Mr Sarkocy wrote: 'He seems to be the right person for fulfilling the task and giving information.'

In a later memo, the spy said Mr Corbyn had 'an active supply of information on British intelligence services'.

And the chairman of the Commons foreign affairs committee last night suggested it would consider demands to summon Mr Corbyn to answer questions.

The Prime Minister addressed the issue for the first time today as she answered questions after a speech on education.

Mrs May said: 'It's for individual MP s to be accountable for the actions in their past.

'Where there are allegations of this sort they should be prepared to be open and transparent.'

Sarkocy's latest claim is that Labour MPs were paid up to 10,000 to meet Eastern Bloc agents during the Cold War.

He said at least 15 senior Labour figures had shared information with him in the late 1980s. Some pocketed between 1,000 and 10,000 per meeting but still wanted more, he alleged.

Labour MPs were paid up to 10,000 to meet Eastern Bloc agents during the Cold War, an ex-spy Jan Sarkocy (pictured) claimed

The former Czech spy, who met Mr Corbyn at the time, claimed the MPs 'wanted big bucks for giving us help'.

His latest comments prompted calls for an official probe into the allegations.

Mr Corbyn vehemently denies Mr Sarkocy's claim he was a paid informant of the Czech secret police.

It was also alleged that John McDonnell had met a KGB agent several times and Ken Livingstone had met representatives of the Czech regime, although there is no suggestion that either of these were paid.

Defence minister Tobias Ellwood wrote on Twitter: 'Corbyn (and others') meetings with the StB (the repressive Czechoslovak secret police & intelligence service) at the height of the Cold War ... raises serious questions about his loyalty to Britain that should be investigated.'

The Mail understands MPs are urging the Commons foreign affairs committee to consider the claims in its probe into the influence of foreign powers on elections.

Tory MP David Morris has written to the committee chairman Tom Tughendhat to formally ask for hearings.

Defence minister Tobias Ellwood wrote on Twitter: 'Corbyn (and others') meetings with the StB (the repressive Czechoslovak secret police & intelligence service) at the height of the Cold War ... raises serious questions about his loyalty to Britain that should be investigated.'

Mr Sarkocy, 64, who was not involved in organising or delivering the payments, described the MPs as 'great sources' to himself or colleagues in the KGB.

Speaking from his home in Bratislava, he has alleged that Mr Corbyn shared 'good information that we could use' with the Communist Czechoslovak regime.

The Labour figures have hit back at the claims, branding them 'absurd', 'ridiculous' and a 'tissue of lies'  and the party has dismissed Mr Sarkocy as a 'fantasist'.

Mr Sarkocy worked for the Statni Bezpecnost (StB) at Czechoslovakia's London embassy under the identity of a diplomat called Lieutenant Jan Dymic.

He was in Britain from 1986 to 1989 before being expelled and says there was 'no question' the Labour figures knew he was a spy.

The former Czech spy, who met Jeremy Corbyn (pictured) at the time, claimed the MPs 'wanted big bucks for giving us help'

It was claimed official records show only part of the picture and that he met Mr Corbyn  codenamed Agent Cob  'more than ten times'.

Mr Corbyn admits meeting Mr Sarkocy, but strenuously denies supplying information to a foreign power.

Yesterday an online petition was launched calling for the Labour leader to make public any files showing his link to Communist spy agencies.

More than 2,500 people had signed it last night.

It said Mr Corbyn 'has a duty to provide clarity over who he met, what information he handed over, and how deep the relationship was.'

Mr Sarkocy said the Islington North MP was a very 'smart and polite guy' and was a communist 'from the inside', following in the footsteps of his parents.

Yesterday, Mr McDonnell said the accusations against him were 'ludicrous' and 'lies'. Mr Livingstone said he had 'no recollection of meeting anyone from the Czech embassy' and said Mr Sarkocy's claims were 'a tissue of lies'.

Tom Watson, Labour deputy leader, attacked the Press, saying the claims were 'not worth the paper they're printed on'.

Shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry said the accusations were 'rubbish', telling ITV's Peston on Sunday: 'This is what the Tories were chucking at us last year, it got them nowhere.'Boris Johnson today compared a dead monkey's head to Labour backbenchers while on a tour of illegally-poached animals seized by Scotland Yard.

The Foreign Secretary made the odd slight as he inspected stuffed tigers, rhino horn and other rare specimens which were being illegally smuggled over the border.

Mr Johnson heard about the battle to crack down on the criminal trade amid high online demand for primates.

Officers told how collectors in the gruesome trade spent money buying severed monkey hands turned into trinkets and monkey skulls.

He was shown a trophy monkey head as he toured a room of seized goods and asked: 'What's this poor chap here? Faint air of a ... Labour backbencher.'

Boris Johnson inspected stuffed tigers, rhino horn and other rare specimens which were being illegally smuggled over the border while on a tour of illegally-poached animals seized by Scotland Yard today (pictured)

Boris Johnson compared a dead monkey's head (pictured) to a Labour backbencher while on the tour of seized animal trophies

Boris Johnson also inspected this rhino horn (pictured) while on the tour. The Tories are trying to cast themselves as the party of animal welfare and have vowed to crack down on the illegal trade in poached wild animals

He was shown a variety of wild animals which have been killed, stuffed and illegally traded which the Met's Wildlife Crime Unit have seized.

What controversial remarks has Boris Johnson made during his political career? Boris Johnson has got a reputation for using colourful language in with put-downs and his gaffes. Here are some of them: He won 1,000 in a competition for a limerick he wrote mocking Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan. It went: 'There was a young fellow from Ankara / Who was a terrific wan*erer / Till he sowed his wild oats / With the help of a goat / But he didn't even stop to thankera.' Comparing EU superstate to the Nazis 'Napoleon, Hitler, various people tried this out, and it ends tragically,' 'The EU is an attempt to do this by different methods. But fundamentally what is lacking is the eternal problem, which is that there is no underlying loyalty to the idea of Europe.' Suggesting Libya would be a great tourist destination when they 'clear the dead bodies' away. 'And they literally have a brilliant vision to turn Sirte, with the help of the municipality of Sirte, to turn it into the next Dubai. 'The only thing they've got to do is clear the dead bodies away and then they'll be there.' Mr Johnson risked igniting a diplomatic row in after he recited part of a colonial-era Rudyard Kipling poem in front of local dignitaries while on an official visit to Myanmar (formerly known as Burma). He was inside the Shwedagon Pagoda, a sacred Buddhist, when he started uttering the opening verse to The Road to Mandalay, including the line: 'The temple bells they say/ Come you back you English soldier.' Advertisement

The Tory minister condemned the 'criminal lowlifes' trading in illegal wildlife products after seeing a haul of tusks, stuffed big cats and monkey hands seized by police.

He said: 'When we think of the illegal wildlife trade, the slaughter of elephants, rhinos and other species teetering on the brink of extinction, we think of Africa, Asia and distant countries where some think this acceptable.

'We rarely associate this crime with our own shores. To say I was angry to see the haul of ivory, rhino horns, animal furs and other items in the gross menagerie of seized illegal animal products in London is an understatement.

'This is not just a crime taking place overseas. Criminal lowlifes operate right here in the UK and the Met Police and other forces are working to stop them in their tracks.

'Criminal gangs trafficking wildlife across UK borders will not be permitted to operate with impunity, but this requires a global effort, tackling both the supply and demand of this odious trade.'

He added: 'We will not let up our efforts to ensure that future generations can share our planet with rhinos and elephants and that the criminals who seek to harm them face justice.'

The Foreign Secretary also learned about a new technique for taking fingerprints from ivory using iron filings.

Mr Johnson was invited by officers to take his own fingerprint from a tusk to see how the technique worked, to which he joked: 'I don't want to get fitted up for this.'

Officers told Mr Johnson how the technique increased the chances of building a legal case against perpetrators.

His visit to the centre follows on from a recent visit to Asia where he viewed illegally trafficked ivory and pangolin scales seized by Thai customs.

The Government has pledged to do everything within its power to crack down on the illegal and barabaric trade.

In October, the UK will host an international conference on the illegal wildlife trade, bringing together global leaders to work to end wildlife crime.

The monkey trophy, which was singled out by Boris Johnson, had been illegally smuggled by criminals

The Foreign Secretary also learned about a new technique for taking fingerprints from ivory using iron filings (pictured, inspecting one)

Mr has got a reputation for using colourful language in with put-downs and his gaffes.

He sparked a diplomatic row after penning a limerick mockingly describing Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan having sex with a goat.

And he faced calls to be sacked after he suggested that Libya would be a great tourist destination once they have cleared away the dead bodies form the bloody civil war and terror attacks.

He said: 'And they literally have a brilliant vision to turn Sirte, with the help of the municipality of Sirte, to turn it into the next Dubai.

'The only thing they've got to do is clear the dead bodies away and then they'll be there.'Met Police Constable Michael Bouwers, 30, pictured outside Kingston Crown Court, pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting six women while at a police colleague's leaving do

A sex 'pest' policeman groped half a dozen women - including primary school staff at a Christmas party - after a six hour booze binge.

Met Police Constable Michael Bouwers, 30, pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting six women while at a police colleague's leaving do.

Father-of-three Bouwers repeatedly pinched the bottom of women at the bar and on the dancefloor, a court heard.

Bouwers, who was based with Sutton borough in south London, now faces the likelihood of being booted out of the force.

A number of Christmas parties were taking place at the plush Grange Bar and Restaurant in Wallington, Surrey, at the same time as the police event on December 16, 2016, Kingston Crown Court was told.

Bouwers had been drinking at the bar with colleagues since about 5.30pm that day while others at the event enjoyed a meal before hitting the dancefloor later.

Gino Connor, prosecuting, said: 'All the victims in this case are females, and they were all mature adults.

'Most, if not all of them, were in a relationship and some were in fact were mothers with children.'

Bouwers approached his first victim from behind while she was at the bar getting a drink and grabbed her right buttock.

Mr Connor said: 'She slapped his hand way and at the time she was wearing a dress, and she said she didn't think much of it.'

The second victim was a teaching assistant who was on the dancefloor with female colleagues, on their Christmas party.

Bouwers went up to her and 'tapped her lower bottom' before going away, and then returning and doing the same again.

Bouwers approached his first victim from behind while she was at the bar getting a drink and grabbed her right buttock. He is pictured left and right outside Kingston Crown Court

The prosecutor said: 'She describes his behaviour as annoying and put his hand on her left bottom cheek, and then put two hands on her bottom and she told him to stop.'

The victim told her husband after the event and said 'she didn't really speak over the weekend'.

The third victim was part of another group on the dancefloor when he went up to her and tried to dance with her before pinching her bottom two other times.

Mr Conner said: 'He was described as sly and didn't apologise.

'She said he was annoying and a pest.

'He returned later from the dancefloor, having been taken away by his colleagues and pinched her bottom again.'

Mr Conner added: 'When she realised the person who did this to her was a police officer, she said in her statement, it makes it worse and he was more than likely go an arrest people this type of offence.'

As Bouwers walked past the fourth victim on the dancefloor he put his left hand on her stomach and 'ran it down towards her crotch.'

The victim said she was 'shocked, but didn't say anything at the time'.

A number of Christmas parties were taking place at the plush Grange Bar and Restaurant (pictured) in Wallington, Surrey, at the same time as the police event on December 16, 2016, Kingston Crown Court was told

The fifth victim was another member of staff from the primary school and was also on the dancefloor with colleagues when she was approached by Bouwers.

She described him as 'a bit of a pest' and Bouwers gave 'full hand grab' of her bottom.

The sixth victim was a teacher at the school who again on the dancefloor had her bottom grabbed by Bouwers.

The prosecutor said: 'She was aware of the defendant bumping into people and said he appeared not to be aware of his personal space.'

He grabbed her bottom while she was dancing and approached a second time when he 'grabbed her around the waist from behind and one of his hands went towards her groin area'.

Mr Conner said: 'He pushed his groin area towards her, as he was pulled her towards him she told him to go away.

'In terms of the affect it has had on her, she feels as a result it has knocked her confidence.'

The court heard at the time of the offences, Bouwers was working from a Met Police office in Lambeth, south London, having previously been attached to Sutton borough.

Kevin Baumber, in mitigation, told the court his client was remorseful for what he had done, and at the time of the offices was very stressed and overworked.

Mr Baumber said: 'He was drinking so much because he was anxious and depressed for which he was not being treated for at the time.'

The court heard he has since been put on anti-drepressants and Mr Baumber argued his client was not 'chauvinistic,' as described in a pre sentence report, but a 'nuisance'.

Kingston Crown Court heard he has since been put on anti-drepressants and Mr Baumber argued his client was not 'chauvinistic,' as described in a pre sentence report, but a 'nuisance'

He said Baumber, who had been a police officer for four years, would more than likely be booted out of Met Police for gross misconduct.

Sentencing Baumnber, Judge Georgina Kent, said: 'During that evening you behaved in the most appalling way towards the those six victims by sexually assaulting each of them.'

She added: 'These are serious offences.

'These women should have been able to go out for an evening out, without expecting to be assaulted, they should have been safe in that space.

'Your behaviour that evening was aggravated but the fact you were clearly very very drunk and the offences took place at night.'

The judge said it was a 'patten of behaviour' on the night and he was persistent in his actions.

She said: 'You were a serving police officers.

'And you have let yourself down, your have let your family down and the service down by behaving that way on that night.'

Bouwers, of Sutton, was spared jail and given a community order after pleading guilty last month to six counts of sexual assault.

He was sentenced to a 100 day community order, 60 day rehabilitation activity requirement order, which must be completed over 12 months.

He must also sign the sex offenders register for five years.Donald Trump selected finalists in Miss Universe pageants based on his business ties or prospective ties with the woman's home country in order to further his own interests, former contestants claim.

Dashed beauty queens claim Trump, during his co-ownership of the organization from 1996 to 2015, would mingle among the women and would have his notes about them jotted down, according to a report by the New Yorker.

Trump would reportedly meet the women during rehearsals and the women who went on to the broadcast finals were from countries that he had interests in.

Preliminary judges tasked with selecting the finalists said they were shocked when their votes were tallied and some women who advanced to the final stage weren't selected by any of the judges.

And during Trump's nearly 20 years with Miss Universe, multiple pageants were hosted in cities where Trump had business ties and several finalists were from countries where ratings were consistently high, according to the New Yorker.

Donald Trump used the Miss Universe pageants to further business interests, former contests claimed. Pictured: Trump with Miss Venezuela who won the title in 2013 when the pageant was hosted in Russia

Shi Lim, Miss Singapore 2013 (left), said: 'The finalists were picked by Trump. He was really in charge. We called it the Trump card.' Kerrie Baylis (right), Miss Jamaica 2013, noted finalists were often from the countries 'Trump did business with, or wanted to do business with'

Trump co-owned the Miss Universe Organization from 1996 to 2015 until he sold his ownership to the WME-IMG talent agency for an unknown price after he announced his run for president.

Shi Lim, who competed as Miss Singapore in 2013, told the New Yorker: 'The finalists were picked by Trump. He was really in charge. We called it the Trump card.'

Adwoa Yamoah, who competed as Miss Canada in 2012, added: 'He made comments about every girl: "Ive been to that country." "Were building a Trump Tower there."

'It was clear the countries that he liked did well. He basically told us he picked nine of the top fifteen.'

Yamoah claimed that after Trump had spoken with a contestant he liked, he would whisper to Paula Shugart, the president of the Miss Universe Organization, who would write down his notes.

Kerrie Baylis, who was Miss Jamaica in 2013, noted that finalists were often from countries 'Trump did business with, or wanted to do business with.'

A 2013 preliminary judge said he was stunned when he read some of the names of the 15 women advancing to the final round because none of the judges said they voted for them.

He said: 'They told us not to share how we voted with each other, but we did anyway.

'I was shocked. I didnt know what had happened. I felt ridiculous.'

That year the finalists were women from Venezuela, Spain, Ecuador, Philippines, Brazil, Dominican Republic, Great Britain, India, Ukraine, United States, China, Costa Rica, Indonesia, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico and Switzerland.

During Trump's 19 years with Miss Universe, multiple pageants have been hosted in cities where Trump had business interests there. And several finalists are from countries where ratings are consistently high

A 2013 preliminary judge said he was stunned when he read some of the names of the 15 women advancing to the final round because none of the judges said they voted for them

Miss Universe 2013 was Gabriela Isler from Venezuela, a country that had a contestant in the finals 16 times under Trump's 19 years with Miss Universe.

Venezuela also donated $500,000 to Trump's inauguration fund, despite their economic turmoil, according to an April 2017 report from CNBC.

In 2013, Trump took the pageant to Moscow, Russia, and was considering the prospect of building a Trump Tower in the city.

Before his visit, Trump expressed his interest to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin and tweeted at him, saying: 'Do you think Putin will be going to The Miss Universe Pageant in November in Moscowif so, will he become my new best friend?'

His visit was also mentioned in the infamous Steele Dossier, a launching point for speculation there were links between Trump and Russia.

The reports of collusion eventually capitulated Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation.

The controversial report by ex-British spy Christopher Steele contains accusations that Trump had prostitutes take 'golden showers', or urinate, on a bed that President Barack Obama and Michelle slept in while they were visiting the country.

Steele also claimed that Russia had worked to discover Trump's 'personal obsessions and sexual perversion in order to obtain suitable 'kompromat', which could be used against him.

In 2013, Trump took the pageant to Moscow and was considering building a Trump Tower there. The visit also appeared in the infamous Steele Dossier, a launching point for speculation there were links between Trump and Russia and eventually capitulating Special counsel Robert Mueller's (right) Russia investigation

Trump chose Moscow as the site for the 2013 pageant. Before his visit, Trump tweeted: 'Do you think Putin will be going to The Miss Universe Pageant in November in Moscowif so, will he become my new best friend?'

The document, compiled by Steele from June to December 2016, also alleges that Russia had been 'cultivating, supporting and assisting Trump for at least 5 years.'

On Friday, Mueller rocked Washington when he filed criminal charges against 13 Russians and two Russian companies as part of his probe into foreign election interference in 2016.

Mueller's office said the defendants laid the groundwork for targeting U.S. elections in 2014  and that by mid-2016 they were actively 'supporting the presidential campaign of then-candidate Donald J. Trump ... and disparaging Hillary Clinton.'

According to Mueller's team, the plot began in 2014, shortly after Trump visited Russia in November 2013.

But U.S. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein told reporters that the Justice Department is not saying the Trump campaign was involved or had any knowledge of the plot.

And as Trump was leaving Washington for the weekend on Friday, he drove that point home on Twitter, writing: 'Russia started their anti-US campaign in 2014, long before I announced that I would run for President. The results of the election were not impacted. The Trump campaign did nothing wrong  no collusion!'A Metropolitan Police constable has appeared at a disciplinary hearing accused of taking a tin of biscuits belonging to a colleague.

Thomas Hooper is said to have taken the medium-sized two-tier tin of biscuits from a storage cupboard in May 2016 and then given a false account about it.

The hearing in London was that it was not just a matter of taking a tin of biscuits but whether his actions had amounted to a breach of professional standards.

Metropolitan Police constable Thomas Hooper is based at Scotland Yard's Kingston Operational Command Unit in South West London. Kingston police station is pictured

Charles Apthorp, representing Scotland Yard, said: 'The appropriate authority's perspective is that it is not the value of what was taken, it is what was done.

'It shows clear evidence of misappropriation of property. The officer was aware it belonged to someone else and the officer has taken it.'

Mr Apthorp said PC Hooper would have been aware this was not appropriate conduct and had shown a 'fundamental lack of integrity'.

PC Hooper took the biscuits, but was going to offer to share them out and also to offered to replace them, the tribunal heard.

The constable, who is based at Kingston Operational Command Unit in South West London, denies two allegations of breaching standards of professional behaviour.

He is also accused of applying for a fixed penalty notice to be cancelled.

It had been triggered when he was on duty and driving at 51mph in a 30mph zone while in a marked police transit van to Kingston station on May 3, 2016.

It is claimed the officer had been driving the van in response mode when there was no reason for it. It is alleged that PC Hooper later gave a false account of both incidents.

The hearing took place at the Empress State Building (above) in West Kensington, West London

The driving incident had happened as the police officer had been taking a male patient from a mental health unit to the station, according to PC Hooper's counsel, Ben Summers.

PC Hooper's account is that the air conditioning in the van was not working and the vehicle was not fit to be in use as the patient had been sick and turned it into a health hazard, the tribunal was told.

Panel chairman Naheed Asjad said the public would be concerned about the value of the complaint about the biscuits, which was looked into by other officers and is now being heard at a misconduct hearing.

She asked Sarah Blake, who was an inspector at the time: 'You have a sergeant and an inspector and a box of biscuits that have gone missing and the only thing you can come up with is to refer the matter to DPS (Directorate of Professional Standards)?'

Ms Blake replied that 'the option of going to the DPS was because of the gravity of the incident'. Ms Asjad pointed out that an offer had been made to replace the biscuits.

Ms Blake said: 'By that time the biscuits had been eaten and, in my mind, theft is theft. How was he going to put the biscuits back?'

The public hearing is taking place at the Empress State Building in West Kensington, West London.An 11-year-old girl who went missing from Florida has been found in a motel room in Georgia with a man accused of abducting her after they allegedly met online playing Minecraft.

Alice Amelia Johnson's parents reported her missing from their Orlando home about 9am Sunday after they went to wake her for church.

Florida's Orange County Sheriff's Office immediately issued an endangered runaway alert for the girl and started tracking her cell phone.

Her phone was eventually tracked to the Holiday Inn Express in Macon, Georgia on Sunday afternoon.

Alice Amelia Johnson, 11, was found in a Georgia Holiday Inn on Sunday with 24-year-old John Peter Byrns after she had been reported missing from her home in Florida earlier that day

The FBI and Georgia's Bibb County Sheriff's deputies were brought in to rescue Alice.

Authorities found her inside one of the hotel rooms with 24-year-old John Peter Byrns at about 5pm.

Byrns, of Hoffman Estates, Illinois, was arrested and is being held by the FBI.

Alice's father, Steve Johnson, told authorities he last saw his daughter on Saturday night when she went to bed.

Police are yet to reveal how Alice and Byrns came to be in contact, or if anything may have happened to her.

It is also not clear how Alice went to Georgia.

John Peter Byrns, 24, of Hoffman Estates, Illinois was arrested and is being held by the FBI after being found in the motel room with Alice Amelia Johnson.

Authorities tracked the girl's phone and it eventually pinged at the Holiday Inn Express in Macon, Georgia (above) on Sunday afternoon

Alice's father told WESH that they knew she had been playing Minecraft online with a person claiming to be a young woman from Illinois.

He said the pair had never met and he never thought Alice might have been in danger.

'This is someone that she's been communicating with online under the guise of being a female and basically has just pulled her into a trap, so to speak,' Johnson said.

'We felt like we were having oversight into her personal world... but there's always just that danger that you're not possibly, you know keeping a close enough eye.'

Alice's parents drove to Macon on Sunday night and were reunited with their daughter.The man behind Vladimir Putin's notorious 'troll factories' who has been indicted by the FBI for pumping out anti-Western propaganda was jailed in Siberia before the Soviet Union collapse and then became a billionaire thanks to the largesse of the Russian president, according to an investigation

Yevgeny Prigozhin, known as 'Putin's chef, a 56 year old restaurateur has been raking in astonishing sums from contracts with the Kremlin government.

Criminal charges were filed against 13 Russians and two Russian companies on Friday, as Special Counsel Robert Mueller's probe into foreign election interference in 2016 drew blood by announcing that a grand jury had accused them all of helping President Donald Trump and maligning Hillary Clinton.

According to the indictment Prigozhin led the effort.

The FBI claims he used his businesses, Concord Catering and Concord Management and Consulting, to fund the Internet Research Agency, known as the 'Kremlin Troll factory' which was the vehicle for the alleged interference.

Billionaire: Yevgeny Prigozhin, 56, known as 'Putin's chef, a 56 year old restaurateur has been raking in astonishing sums from contracts with the Kremlin. The man behind Putin's notorious 'troll factories,' he has now been indicted by the FBI for trying to influence the 2016 election in favor of Trump

At your service: Prigozhinm was the go-to caterer for official Kremlin events. Above, Prigozhin serves Putin in 2011

Team Putin: Yevgeny Prigozhin with his wife and daughter Polina, wearing a T-shirt with Putin's image

Prigozhin paid the salaries of the other 12 defendants who worked for the research company, it is alleged, through this financial backing, which prosecutors say started in 2014.

The businessman has been nicknamed 'Putin's Chef' because he owns restaurants favored by Putin as the venues for state dinners.

His first business venture was selling hot dogs and 'bribing' street kiosk owners in St Petersburg to sell them.

He is the brains behind two huge office blocks where he pays trolls to disseminate a deluge of pro-Putin propaganda in social media and web comments in Russian and English.

Many staunchly pro-Kremlin and anti-Western messages appearing on mainstream news sites and social media in Britain, the rest of Europe and the US are believed to come from his army of online propaganda warriors who are paid around $600 a month to sway opinion.

An investigation by anti-Putin campaigner Alexei Navalny and his so-called Corruption Fighting Fund revealed the extent of Prigozhin's business empire and his murky criminal past in the Soviet era.

'He has luxury property, a yacht and a private jet,' said Yale-educated lawyer and anti-corruption campaigner Navalny, 40, who issued pictures and footage to back his findings.

'And the reason for his success is simple - he is Putin's chef.

'Once in 2001 he personally waited on his table in a restaurant and was liked by him.'

Soon he emerged as 'something like a court jester' in the president's circle.

'Later he was in charge of organizing Putin's birthdays.'

According to the indictment Prigozhin led the effort to impact the 2016 election. This is Troll office in Olgino_Novaya Gazeta

Navalny claimed that Putin's troller-in-chief has been given privileged access to supply food to large swathes of the Russian state, including the army, schools in Moscow, the Emergencies Ministry, as well as organizing the catering for major state occasions.

State contracts were 'showered on him' making him a billionaire, claimed the lawyer.

Prigozhin also provided the food for recent birthday celebrations of Putin.

Navalny claimed there is evidence of a cartel and obtaining 'super profits' from state services, has demanded a probe by the FSB security service.

'The family has a private jet and uses it very often,' he said in an online video exposing Prigozhin's fortune and lifestyle.

Then there is a lavishly furnished yacht, called St Vitamin, some 121 feet long, and costing $6 million.

Prigozhin's glamorous daughter boasted on an open social media account how the vessel had 'six bedrooms, a dining room, a terrace, a kitchen, rooms for the staff, two decks and a terrace'.

When she wed, Polina held the ceremony in Konstantinovsky Palace - nicknamed Putin's Palace - an official residence of the president in St Petersburg originally build by Romanov royal family.

'The most difficult thing was to get millions of natural flowers,' she said, explaining how they cascaded from the palace's ceilings.

The family home - a St Petersburg estate which includes a home for him and his daughter - costs an estimated $105 million, said Navalny.

But he also owns a cliff-top estate at Gelenzhik on the Black Sea, where Putin is also rumored to have a palace.

Prigozhin's yacht - St Vitamin - has six bedrooms, a dining room, a terrace, a kitchen, rooms for the staff, two decks and a terrace

Service for 10 ! The opulent dining room inside the billionaire's St Vitamin yacht

A bedroom on St Vitamin - one of six on the 121-foot yacht

Yevgeny Prigozhin's private jet, with the same letters M-VITO as on a picture from daughter Polina's social media account

Prigozhin's son Pavel on board the family's private jet

Prigozhin classic Cadillac is one of the many toys purchased by the billionaire

The Prigozhin property is in a 'forest nature reserve where building is strictly forbidden'.

He claimed: 'Probably it is forbidden only for ordinary people - but not for Putin's chef.

'The piece of land is 10 acres. A house with a swimming pool is on the top of a small hill.

'The sea view is marvelous.'

Pictures from the open social media accounts of Prigozhin's children show the dacha paradise including his yacht.

'This is a true guy from nowhere,' he said.

'In 1979 he was even convicted for robbery.

'And two years later he was convicted again and that time it was a more serious article of the Criminal Code.

'In total, he spent nine years in jail.'

According to a 2005 report in a St Petersburg newspaper Versiya, he was convicted of offences including 'robbery, violent robbery (and) fraud'.

'It was probably not the best beginning of a successful life story.

'But when the Soviet Union collapsed, capitalism was installed and our Prigozhin went into business.'

Prigozin once admitted his first business venture involved hot dogs, and paying off the mafia to be allowed to sell them in street kiosks.

'We made mustard for hot-dog right in my home. We had to pay gangsters $100 (American dollars) per each kiosk,' he said.

'At first he was a director of a food shop, then he opened a restaurant.

'And it was his restaurant that gave him his golden moment, making him one of the richest men in Russia.'

In 2001 the Russian president came to dine.

The sea view from the billionaire's estate near Gelenzhik at the Black Sea coast

Prigozhin's $15 million estate near St Petersburg. He became a billionaire, according to an investigation of the man known as 'Putin's chef' by anti-Putin campaigner Alexei Navalny

His daughter Polina's estate next to his own near St Petersburg

Prigozhin's basketball court and helicopter launching pad near his estate

Prigozhin said later: 'Vladimir Putin saw that I don't mind personally serving royal people. They are my guests after all.'

The future propagandist 'was joking and skilfully bringing napkins - and he was noticed,' said Navalny.

'At first he made friends with Putin's driver, then with Putin's guard and finally he became something like the court jester.'

Prigozhin was 'a great story teller, a charming and joyful man'.

He began organising Putin's birthday parties in 2003, and arranged Dmitry Medvedev's inauguration as president in 2008.

Navaly told Russians: 'If your child goes to school in Moscow, you should know that Prigozhin makes money on every lunch of your child.

'Just imagine the enormous size of his profit.'

His success with state contracts led to him becoming a billionaire in his own right.

'Our chef gets an exclusive contract to supply food to the Russian army,' he said, claiming this was a $2.2 billion contract.

'Lots of money. But still not enough.

'Putin helps Prigozhin to feed the Emergencies Ministry (a $63 million contract).

'Such a flow of money. But every flow can become even bigger.

'Putin's chef then became a housing and utilities expert.

'Now he is in charge of supplying all army unit towns in the country. Enormous amounts, there are hundreds of these towns, maybe a thousand.

'I lived in one of them for many years.'

Prigozhin is also now in charge of the housing and repairs in these towns and even the cleaning, while also building new army facilities, notably on the border with Ukraine.

'Within the last five years, the person whose only dignity is the fact that he is Putin's chef and is quite close to him, has received governmental contracts worth more than 200 billion roubles ($3.5 billion).

'One important detail: in this same period, he also becomes a Putin's troll.

Prigozhin's daughter Polina has posted pictures on her social media boasting of the wealth of her family

The 2015 wedding of Polina took place in Konstantinovsky Palace in Strelna near St Petersburg_

Konstantinovsky Palace is nicknamed Putin's Palace - an official residence of the president

'He is exactly the one who owns two famous troll factories in St Petersburg, located in Olgino and on Savushkina Street.

'All those numerous pro-Putin comments are organised by Prigozhin's company.'

Navalny said he expected to be trolled for his revelations.

'I am sure that there will be their numerous dislikes to this video.

'This is the method, to make money on schoolchildren and soldiers and to spend it on pro-Putin comments.'

Navalny - who has voiced his ambition to one day succeed Putin as president - alleged: 'We have shown you just a small part, what the Corruption Fighting Fund could find in open sources.

'Probably this is enough to understand what it means - a success story in Putin's Russia.

'Unfortunately, almost always it means a story of robbing the budget, of making profits on people - schoolchildren and soldiers.

'And it is a story of haughty wealth, thrown into the faces of all Russian citizens.'

A spokesman for Concord Management and Consulting - the company linked to Progoshin said aspects of the Navalny report were 'not consistent with reality', and that the campaigner had misinterpeted the facts.

In particular, the company disputed without giving the correct figure the amount it had received in state contracts.

How the Russians meddled in the 2016 election A 37-page indictment released Feb. 16, 2018 by the U.S. Department of Justice accuses 13 Russians and 3 Russian companies of conspiring to compromise the most recent U.S. elections by running online campaigns disguised to look like home-grown activity. A federal grand jury charged that they: posed as both real and nonexistent Americans to operate social media pages and groups supporting Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders

worked to undermine support for Hillary Clinton and at leas two of Trump's Republican rivals

conducted 'information warfare' by stealing identities and buying ads on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter

created niche groups on Facebook to attract hundreds of thousands of Muslims, evangelical Christians, people associated with Black Lives Matter, and Americans from specific regions of the country

organized real-life political rallies to support Trump and oppose Clinton

created Twitter accounts with names meant to appear linked to the Republican Party (one had more than 100,000 followers)

used foreign bank accounts to route more than $1.25 million per month to the project from companies owned by a Russian oligarch close to Vladimir Putin

never reported the spending to the Federal Election Commission as campaign expenses

never registered as foreign agents with the Justice Department

bought space on computer servers based in America so all their Internet traffic would appear to be domestic Advertisement

'Lawyers who represent the interests of Yevgeny Prigozhin are now working at legal evaluation of the declarations made by Alexei Navalny and further legal moves are not excluded,' said the spokesman.

'At the same time we suppose that Yevgeny Prigozhin will not use his right to appeal to the court,' added the spokesman.

The 'troll factory' (Internet Research Agency) was founded that same year. Though Mikhail Bystrov was named as its owner and CEO, Russian journalists learned of Prigozhin's connection to it early on.

What specifically prompted him to do it or if anyone put him up to it remains unclear.

Prigozhin, 56, is known as Putin's chef because the Russian president favors his catering and takes foreign leaders to his restaurant

In its genesis, the factory's employees had one job - to post complimentary post on social media about Putin and the government and besmirch the names of their opponents.

When Prigozhin's association to the Internet Research Agency was revealed, he faced increased scrutiny from critics.

An article in 2015 highlighted how the factory worked and the conflict Prigozhin's relationship to Putin posed.

With the bad press about him growing, Prigozhin attempted in 2016 to have himself 'erased' from the internet. It coincided with the introduction of a new bill which gave an individual the right to be forgotten.

The law was pushed by Putin and states that websites must delete content such as news stories about an individual if it breaks the law, is false or is 'obsolete'.

To date, Prigozhin has filed 15 lawsuits against the Russian search engine Yandex which is uncensored.Two British Army soldiers appeared in court to deny being members of banned neo-Nazi group National Action.

Lance corporal Mikko Vehvilainen, 33, and Private Mark Barrett, 24, are accused of being a member of National Action, which is contrary to the Terrorism Act 2000.

Vehvilainen and a 23-year-old civilian, who cannot be named for legal reasons, both deny three other terror-related offences.

They are also charged with possessing documents useful for terrorism, publishing threatening material and distributing terror documents.

Lance Corporal Mikko Vehvilainen and Private Mark Barrett are accused of being part of banned neo-Nazi group National Action

Vehvilainen, appearing via videolink from HMP Belmarsh, and Barrett entered not guilty pleas regarding being members of National Action, which became the first right-wing group banned by the Government following the murder of MP Jo Cox in 2016.

Lance Corporal Vehvilainen, a serving member of the Royal Anglians who is originally from Finland but was previously based at the Wales HQ of the British Army in Brecon, allegedly posted comments on a website intending to stir up racial hatred.

He is also accused of possessing a copy of '2083: A European Declaration of Independence' by Anders Breivik between May 26 and September 5 last year.

Far-right terrorist and mass murderer Breivik, who wrote the name using the pen-name Andrew Berwick, is in jail for killing 77 people in Norway in 2011.

Father-of-two Barrett was previous based at the British Army's Dhekelia base in Cyprus,.

National Action was banned in December 2016 under the Terrorism Act 2000.

Two other soldiers had been arrested as part of the investigation by West Midlands Counter Terrorism Unit but were later released without charge.Wpc Yvonne Fletcher was shot dead during a demonstration outside the Libyan embassy in London in 1984

A judge has blocked an attempt to prosecute one of the men believed to be involved in the murder of WPC Yvonne Fletcher.

The High Court in London opposed a judicial review into the case of Colonel Gaddafi's former education chief, Dr Saleh Ibraham Mabrouk.

It will come as a bitter blow to the Police Federation and ex-officer John Murray, who stood alongside the young policewoman when she was shot outside the Libyan embassy in London in 1984.

They had opposed the Government's stance that charging Mabrouk, of Reading, Berkshire, with conspiracy to murder would breach national security.

At the High Court in London on Friday, Mrs Justice Lang ruled that there should not be a judicial review, leaving the Federation and Mr Murray with legal costs to pay, believed to be in the region of 40,000.

They had until today to appeal but will not do so, because losing would increase the burden they would have to pay in additional costs.

However, a defiant Mr Murray, who promised the dying Yvonne that he would hunt down her killer no matter how long it took, today insisted: 'We may have lost a battle but the war goes on.

Defiant Mr Murray (pictured in 2012), who promised the dying Yvonne that he would hunt down her killer no matter how long it took, today insisted: 'We may have lost a battle but the war goes on'

It will come as a bitter blow to the Police Federation and ex-officer John Murray, who stood alongside the young policewoman when she was shot outside the Libyan embassy in London in 1984 (pictured)

Harrowing footage of the protest in 1984 shows the moment WPC fletcher was shot and killed outside the Libyan embassy

A Metropolitan policewoman lays a wreath at the spot where Yvonne Fletcher was shot on the 30th anniversary of her death in 2014

Police form a guard of honour as as Yvonne Fletcher's body travels to Salisbury Cathedral for her funeral service

Despot Gaddafi supporter Mr Mabrouk was among Libyan diplomats and aides ordered out of the country following the shooting but he was allowed back in Britain years later, when he bought his detached home in the UK for cash. He is pictured outside his Reading home last year

'I don't yet know how to proceed but rest assured I won't be reneging on my pledge to Yvonne. The fight for justice for her goes on.

'I refuse to give up and will keep on plugging away for the truth until my own dying breath.'

He slammed the High Court ruling, claiming: 'We have evidence to put before a court but have been denied the right to do so.

'The Government once again is placing every legal obstacle they can to deny us.'

Despot Gaddafi supporter Mr Mabrouk was among Libyan diplomats and aides ordered out of the country following the shooting but he was allowed back in Britain years later, when he bought his detached home in the UK for cash.

Mr Murray, a 62 year-old insurance investigator who has had two broken marriages following his quest, once tried killing himself after seeing photographs of ex PM Tony Blair embracing Gaddafi after the North African ruler did trade deals with the UK but did not mention WPC Fletcher.Jewish and Muslim religious groups have called Iceland's proposed ban on circumcisions an attack on their freedoms.

The country is considering legislation that would make circumcisions for non-medical reasons illegal.

The draft law would impose a six-year jail term on anyone guilty of 'removing part or all of the [child's] sexual organs'.

Iceland is considering legislation that would ban circumcisions for non-medical reasons

But Jewish and Muslim leaders have condemned the bill and called it an attack on religion.

HOW CIRCUMCISIONS ARE PERFORMED For infants: The baby will be strapped down to avoid movement. Next, he will have either a topical anesthetic applied to the surface of the penis or have numbing agents injected into the penis or around its base. One of three different types of clamps or devices - the Gomco clamp, Mogen clamp or Plastibell device - is used to separate the glans from the foreskin and crush or cut a ring of skin from the penis. The clamps provide for an immediate procedure, while the Plastibell device stays attached for several days before falling off. Usually the baby will feel better within three to four days, but he can be taken home that same day. Appearance of the area improves within a week. For adults: Men can choose between receiving a general or a local anesthetic. A dorsal slit is usually made - a cut from the top of the skin - all the way down to the rounded border at the base of the glans. The foreskin is held away from the penis and carefully cut off. The remaining skin is then sutured around the glans. The entire process takes about 30 minutes, but patients are recommend from staying away form masturbation or intercourse for a few week to ensure the penis has completely healed. Advertisement

Iceland would be the first country in Europe to ban the procedure.

The country is thought to have roughly 250 Jewish citizens and around 1,500 Muslim citizens.

MP Silja Dogg Gunnarsdottir of the Progressive Party, who introduced the bill at the start of the month, said the bill stood up for children's rights, not freedom of belief.

The new bill would only grant men over 18 the choice to be circumcised.

Iceland passed a law in 2005 banning female genital mutilation, and supporters of this move have compared it to that law.

The Nordic Jewish Communities issued a statement which read: 'You are about to attack Judaism in a way that concerns Jews all over the world.'

Jewish campaign group Milah UK said there was not hard evidence to prove the procedure caused long-term negative impacts.

Imam Ahmad Seddeeq at the Islamic Cultural Centre of Iceland also criticised the move.

He said: 'It's part of our faith. It's something that touches our religion and I believe that this is a contravention [of] religious freedom.'

The latest bill says circumcision 'involves permanent interventions in a child's body that can cause severe pain'.

If it passes its first reading, the draft law will go to a committee stage before it can come into effect.

The World Health Organization estimated in 2009 that about one in three men globally is circumcised.An internet troll who threatened to stab an ex-MP after repeating unfounded claims that he was a paedophile and child rapist has been convicted of sending him malicious communications.

Declan Canning sent John Hemming a string of vile messages after losing a family court case in which the former Liberal Democrat MP and family rights campaigner had been assisting him.

In farcical scenes, the 28-year-old - who features in rap music videos on YouTube under the stage name Fibman - first sacked his solicitor and was then ejected from court after a series of outbursts and interruptions from the dock.

Declan Canning was led away from Birmingham Magistrates' Court in handcuffs by police

Canning (left) sent John Hemming (right) a string of vile messages after losing a family court case in which the former Lib Dem MP and family rights campaigner had been assisting him

Canning was then arrested outside the court room on unrelated matters and was led away from Birmingham Magistrates' Court in handcuffs.

He was convicted in his absence of sending Mr Hemming, 57, three threatening emails in the form of comments to the campaigner's online blog, with a view to causing 'distress or anxiety'.

Canning, of Shard End, Birmingham, will be sentenced at a later date. Mr Hemming was the MP for Yardley, south Birmingham, until he was unseated at the 2015 election.

Weeks later he was linked to unsubstantiated claims by suspected fantasist Esther Baker that she had been raped as a child at Cannock Chase, the Staffordshire beauty spot. Miss Baker strenuously denies claims she is a fantasist.

In court, Canning first sacked his solicitor and was then ejected from court after a series of outbursts and interruptions from the dock

The court heard on Friday that Canning branded Mr Hemming a 'dirty paedophile' who had 'raped Esther', in his first email last September.

It added: 'Your a conman and a paedophile. 'Watch your back....When I see you I am gonna cut you...go an help the child snatchers you f****** p****. I'll come to Alcester Rd (where Mr Hemming keeps an office) and stab you up.'

A second vile message which was sent from the same Gmail account the following week said: 'You fat paedophile, admit what you did to Esther and all those other girls before it's too late and you're dead in a ditch somewhere....It is over for you, you're a nonce...you raped little girls.'

The following month, Canning sent a third email to Mr Hemming's blog, which referenced the family court case. It added: 'Don't try to act like your helping people now you paedophile.

Canning was convicted in his absence of sending Mr Hemming three threatening emails in the form of comments to the campaigner's online blog, with a view to causing 'distress or anxiety'

'Go to hell you scumbag - you're not protected by parliament nomore.'

Mr Hemming passed copies of the emails - which were intercepted by him and were never published on his blog - to West Midlands Police, who emailed Canning inviting him to be interviewed at a police station. He was arrested in November after failing to attend.

The court heard Canning gave a 'no comment' interview, something magistrates' chairman Joyce Rothschild said she drew an 'adverse inference' from.

But before he was sacked midway through proceedings, Canning's solicitor, Stephen Masih, said the defendant denied sending the messages, claiming that his email account had been hacked after his laptop had been stolen.

Prosecutor Colin Charvill said police had no report of the laptop being reported stolen.

Canning, of Shard End, Birmingham, will be sentenced at a later date following his conviction

Outside court, Mr Hemming, a married father-of-five, said Miss Baker's allegations had led to a 'vigilante campaign' against him on social media and the internet from people such as Canning.

He added: 'I'm relieved that Canning has been convicted. These kind of malicious allegations cause untold stress.

Canning arrives at Birmingham Magistrates' Court to stand trial last Friday

'These threats worried my family - I had to take a stand against this man. I thank the police for investigating this matter thoroughly.

'But forces around the country need to come down hard on these people who populate social media and the internet making unfounded allegations.'

Miss Baker, now 34, waived her right to anonymity in a Sky TV interview about the alleged abuse she suffered between the age of six and 11.

She has since been given special status at the national child sex abuse inquiry, despite her claims - in which she said she was abused by VIPs while police officers stood guard - being unsubstantiated.

Mr Hemming was voluntarily interviewed under caution by Staffordshire Police, but not arrested, and made a formal allegation to police that Miss Baker had perverted the course of justice.

She categorically denies being a fantasist and making up her rape story.

Earlier this month, the Daily Mail revealed how she had been in social media contact with the man known as Nick, a suspected fantasist whose allegations triggered Scotland Yard's shambolic VIP child sex abuse inquiry.

In a further twist, he is now set to stand trial accused of committing child sex offences while officers on Operation Midland were treating him as a victim of abuse.

West Midlands Police said Canning had been released pending 'further investigation', after being arrested over a criminal damage allegation outside Birmingham Magistrates' Court on Friday.A married Uber driver who sexually assaulted a 16-year-old exchange student and told her This is England was jailed for 12 months today.

Shahid Qureshi, 42, molested the Japanese teenager less than a year after he was arrested for groping a woman in his car.

Qureshi had insisted his passengers sat in the front passenger seat before kissing and pawing them, Inner London Crown Court heard.

Prosecutor David Ryan said the Japanese schoolgirl was collected by Qureshi at Heathrow Airport on July 30 last year after flying to London to attend an English school.

A married Uber driver who sexually assaulted a 16-year-old exchange student and told her This is England was jailed for 12 months today

The school organised a taxi and she ended up being picked up at Heathrow by this defendant in the car park and he told her to sit in the front seat,' he said.

On the way he stopped at a petrol station and insisted that she take a drink and he also asked her for her WhatsApp account.

He carried on talking to her but she was tired and didnt understand what he was saying.

He extended his left palm out to her and asked her to put her hand on his palm, she refused but he insisted.

His hand closed around hers and he kissed the back of it, he then kissed her cheek and asked her to kiss his cheek.

She told him We dont do this in Japan, and he said, This is England, and asked her again, about three times.

She then got scared so she kissed him on the cheek very quickly and he told her that they were best friends and he would get her a well-paid job.

Qureshi continued to pester her for sex on WhatsApp after he dropped her off.

A complaint was made and he was arrested several weeks later.

Qureshi admitted being the driver but denied sexual assault.

Police enquiries revealed Qureshi had been arrested in December 2016 for a similar offence.

Qureshi continued to pester his teenage passenger for sex on WhatsApp after he dropped her off at Inner London Crown Court (pictured)

Mr Ryan said: In September 2016, the complainant was visiting her mother in hospital and ordered an Uber Pool at around eight in the evening.

She originally got in the rear passenger side and he explained to her she needed to get in the front as they were picking up two more passengers.

They were driving towards Brixton and then he said to her that she should go to a party with him.

He placed his hand on her right thigh, between knee and groin, before she brushed it away.

Qureshi has a previous conviction for harassment in 2011 when he kissed and grabbed a colleague while working as a health care professional.

He is married with four children and has lived in the country for 15 years.

Judge Freya Newbery said: Regrettably you havent really accepted what you have done.

I cannot regard these as offences as being over-friendly.

Qureshi, of Oakland Way, High Wycombe, denied but was convicted of two counts of sexual assault.

He hung his head as he was jailed for a total of 12 months.

His name will remain on the sex offenders register for 10 years.Australia has said Britain can join its trading group after Brexit - but only if the country leaves the EU's customs union.

Julie Bishop, the country's foreign minister, said they are 'very keen' to do a free trade deal with the UK after we quit the Brussels bloc.

She said they would be open to the UK joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership - the trade deal between Australia, which is nearly 9,500 miles away, Canada, Malaysia and other countries.

But she warned that it would only be possible if the UK left the customs union - the system of tariffs put on goods and services as they cross over borders.

Theresa May has promised to take Britain out of the EU's customs union as this is the only way Britain can negotiate free trade deals with other countries.

Julie Bishop, Australian foreign minister, said they are 'very keen' to do a free trade deal with the UK after we quit the Brussels bloc (fie pic)

But Labour has been far more ambiguous and yesterday hinted that it could changes ts policy and campaign to stay in it.

Speaking on a visit to London, Ms Bishop was quizzed about the possibility of the UK signing up to the trade deal.

She said: 'We would of course welcome interest from an economy the size of Britain's.'

She said a bilateral deal could only happen if Britain went ahead with its plans to leave the EU's customs union - a move opposed by British businesses.

'Australia is very keen to pursue a free trade agreement with the United Kingdom.

'I think that would be precluded if the United Kingdom were to rejoin the customs union.'

Leaving the customs union would leave Britain free to pursue its own bilateral trade deals.

But the EU has said that would make border checks between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic inevitable - a major obstacle in Brexit talks.

Theresa May (pictured today in Derby) has promised to take Britain out of the EU's customs union as this is the only way Britain can negotiate free trade deals with other countries

Bishop said Australia would want to secure rights for its citizens to work in Britain as part of any deal with Britain.

Jeremy Corbyn's top team is meeting his top team today to hammer out their Brexit position amid party in-fighting about what their policy should be.

The Labour leader had pledged to back Britain leaving the single market and customs union - which will allow the UK to regain control of its borders and strike deals globally.

But he is facing fierce opposition in his own party from Remain-backing MPs who are demanding the UK stay in the EU bodies.

Labour MP Stephen Kinnock yesterday demanded the party try to stop Brexit claiming our departure will hit tax revenues and harm the NHS.

And Emily Thornberry, Labour's shadow foreign secretary, hinted that Labour will change position to campaign for Britain to stay in the EU customs union.A United States Postal Service worker has been found fatally shot inside a mail truck along a busy highway.

Police found the worker's body inside the 18-wheeler government vehicle early Monday morning on Interstate 30 near Dallas, Texas.

The Dallas Police Department arrived on the scene at 2.30am after they received a call about the shooting.

Investigators said no arrests have been made and that they're trying to determine a motive in the shooting.

Scroll down for video

A United States Postal Service worker was found shot dead in their truck on Monday morning on a busy highway in Dallas

The worker was driving an 18-wheeler truck and it appeared that the vehicle hit a guardrail on the highway. Police are investigating if the victim was targeted

When police arrived, they found an 18-wheeler USPS truck that appeared to have crashed into the guardrail. The US Postal Service operates a large complex nearby in Dallas.

The driver died before help could arrive.

Officers are now investigating if the victim was targeted or was just at the wrong place at the wrong time.

The victim's name hasn't been released while the investigation continues.

The Dallas Police Department and the US Postal Inspection Service are investigating the shooting and asking anyone with information about incident contact Dallas police Detective Walton at 214-671-3632 or 214-701-8453.A far-right party has become the second biggest in Germany after Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union, a recent poll has found.

Alternative for Germany (AfD) surpassed Merkel's coalition partners, the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), for the first time in a national poll, an Insa survey for the daily Bild showed.

Some 16 per cent of Germans said they would vote AfD, while the SPD fell one percentage point to just 15.5 per cent.

Extremists on the rise: As AfD polled as Germany's second biggest party, Andre Poggenburg, head of AfD in German state of Saxony-Anhalt, referred to Turkish people as 'camel drivers'

Merkel's CDU/CSU bloc gained 2.5 percentage points to reach 32 per cent, the weekly poll showed on Monday.

Nearly five months after the national election, Germany is still without a federal government as the SPD consults its members before embarking on a re-run of their 'grand coalition' with Merkel.

The election saw the AfD win seats in parliament for the first time - a political earthquake that followed Merkel's 2015 decision to leave open German borders to more than 1 million migrants.

Leaders of the party have repeatedly made headlines with insulting remarks about Germany's immigrant community.

Just last week, Andre Poggenburg, the head of AfD in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, referred to Turkish people as 'camel drivers'.

Pleased: German Chancellor Angela Merkel's CDU/CSU bloc gained 2.5 percentage points to reach 32 per cent, and remains the biggest party in the country

Poggenburg made the derogatory comments during a party rally in Nentmannsdorf near Pirna, eastern Germany, where he also called immigrants with dual passports as 'homeless mob that we no longer want to have here'.

The increased support for CDU/CSU bloc comes as Merkel has put forward close ally Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer to take over as secretary general of the party.

The decision to entrust Kramp-Karrenbauer, also known by her acronym AKK, with bolstering the CDU after it lost ground in an election last year, is significant as some party members are starting to look ahead to a post-Merkel era.

Merkel, who was CDU secretary general before becoming chancellor, said Kramp-Karrenbauer, premier of the western state of Saarland, would bring 'a lot of weight' to the role in what she called 'difficult times, uncertain times'.

The chancellor has been under pressure from within the CDU to bring fresh faces into senior positions and to begin planning for her own succession. By promoting Kramp-Karrenbauer she achieves both, and moves an ally into a key role.

'We have known each other a long time and can rely on each other, even if we have our own views,' Merkel, 63, told a news conference with Kramp-Karrenbauer, 55.

Asked if she saw Kramp-Karrenbauer as a possible successor, Merkel replied: 'It is your privilege that you are always three laps ahead of others ... We have our hands full managing the business of the day.'

Though Merkel has said she is available as chancellor for four years, the succession debate has been supercharged by the inclusion of a clause in a coalition deal with the SPD that envisages a review of the next government's progress after two years to assess whether any changes to its mission are needed.

Mini Merkel: The Chancellor has put forward close ally Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer to take over as secretary general of the party

Kramp-Karrenbauer is expected to be voted into her new role at a Feb. 26 party congress. Her promotion is a setback to Jens Spahn, a 37-year-old arch-conservative long seen as a rising star in the CDU with an eye on the succession.

Outgoing secretary general Peter Tauber is giving up the role after a period of illness.

'Sometimes dubbed 'mini Merkel' by German media, Kramp-Karrenbauer is highly regarded in her party for winning an election in her region last year that buoyed the CDU's national standing ahead of the Sept. 24 federal vote.

By taking on the secretary general role, she will build up her network in the CDU, something she has had only limited ability to do as premier of Saarland, a state of just 1 million people that borders France. Merkel will remain CDU chairwoman.

She said she had decided to step down as Saarland premier and take up her new job in 'one of the most difficult political phases in the history of the German federal republic so far.'

Kramp-Karrenbauer commands respect in the party for her serious, factual approach to policymaking.

She impressed Merkel last month when, after a car crash, she continued work on coalition negotiations from her hospital bed.A film that re-enacts the massacre of 69 people on a Norwegian island by a far-right terrorist in real-time was met with stunned silence when it premiered at the Berlin Film Festival.

'U-July 22' is a retelling of the shootings on the island of Utoya by gunman Anders Breivik on July 22, 2011.

He was later convicted of terrorism and premeditated murder, and handed Norway's maximum sentence of 21 years in prison - which can be extended indefinitely.

Filmed in a single take, 72 minutes out of a total 90 are dedicated to the time it took Breivik to shoot dead 69 people  many of them teenagers - and injure a further 200 at a youth camp.

According to the Guardian, Monday's screening was met with absolute silence and many left the cinema in tears.

A film that re-enacts the massacre of 69 people on a Norwegian island in real-time was met with stunned silence when it premiered at the Berlin Film Festival. Above, a still from 'U-July 22'

The exact number of shots the gunman fired are replicated in the feature film, which was filmed on another island close to Utoya.

The film follows 'Kaja' - a fictional teenager - as she runs for her life through woods, along beaches and in the sea.

The audience sees her desperately searching for her younger sister, comforting a dying teenager and singing to herself as she cowers in fear against a cliff.

Shots ring out, but the gunman is only fleetingly visible, from a distance.

Director Erik Poppe had said his latest film is part of the healing process in the aftermath of one of Norway's most horrifying events.

Three survivors of the attack on members of a summer camp on Utoya in Norway at a press conference for the film on Monday

Director Erik Poppe (left) and actress Andrea Berntzen arrive for the screening of the film

Poppe said some had criticised his movie as coming too soon, but young survivors of the attack had told him he should not wait.

He sought the approval of survivors before allowing the film to be released, inviting them along with family and friends to private screenings around Norway.

'I would say that if it doesn't hurt to watch this movie then it's too late, so I would say for sure it's hard but it's also a part of the healing process,' Poppe said at a news conference.

'We decided to make fiction for ethical reasons so the parents, sisters and brothers don't need to see and think: Is that my sister or my brother? Is that my daughter?' he said, adding that psychologists had been on location to help actors and residents of the island where it was filmed.

Director Erik Poppe (centre, with the film's cast) had said his latest film is part of the healing process in the aftermath of one of Norway's most horrifying events

'Looking around Europe today, realising neo-fascism is growing day by day, we need to remember what took place out on that island, what right-wing extremism can look like.'

Ingrid Marie Vaag Endrerud, who was one of several survivors to advise filmmakers, added the film's story was one many Norwegians found impossible to tell.

'When I try to explain what I experienced, I am only able to tell it from a distance and that's where film and the art of film can tell a story another way that writing or speaking cannot,' the 24-year-old said.

Anders Breivik (pictured in 2016) shot dead 69 people on Utoya on July 22, 2011, after murdering eight people in a bomb attack in Oslo

'This is hate in its purest form and as society we have to stand against it.'

Andrea Berntzen, 19, who plays Kaja, said she remembers being scared at the news of the massacre when she was 12.

When she heard about the making of the film she initially felt it was too soon, but later changed her mind.

'Reading the script and learning that the focus would be on the youth, the teens on the island, rather the man who has been behind all of this was really important to me,' she said.

'U-July 22' is one of 19 films competing for the Golden and Silver Bears, which will be awarded on Saturday.London Mayor Sadiq Khan (file image) today called on Londoners to punish the Government over Brexit at May's local elections

London Mayor Sadiq Khan today called on Londoners to punish the Government over Brexit at May's local elections.

Labour's top elected politician said voters needed to 'send a message' about Theresa May's 'extreme' Brexit plans.

More than 1 million EU nationals living in London are eligible to vote in the local elections, unlike at last year's general election.

The Conservatives are braced for punishing losses at May's local elections, with Tory control of Westminster, Barnet and Wandsworth thought to be vulnerable.

Mr Khan told the Standard: 'We need to send the Tory Government a message that we don't want their chaotic extreme hard Brexit approach - before it's too late and the damage is irrevocably done.

'The clock is ticking - and while the Tories fight amongst themselves putting their narrow party interests first, the fate of jobs and growth for Londoners and people across the country hangs in the balance.

'This is our last chance to tell the Tories that we want a Brexit deal that works for us - including continued membership of the Single Market and Customs Union and access to talent that we so desperately need to succeed.

James Cleverly, the Conservative deputy chairman, urged people to use the election vote for better council services.

'All voters should be focused on who is going to provide the best local services at the best value for money,' he said.

Labour's top elected politician said voters needed to 'send a message' about Theresa May's (pictured today in Derby) 'extreme' Brexit plans

'As we see Momentum removing experienced local government leaders across London, voting Conservative is the best way to make sure you are getting quality services.'

Across England, local elections will be held on May 3 in all 32 London boroughs, 34 metropolitan boroughs, 74 district/borough councils and 17 unitary authorities.

The seats up for election were last contested in the 2014 local elections - just a year before the Tories won a surprise Commons majority.

Mrs May's Tories are defending 1,302 seats and control of 41 councils, while Mr Corbyn's Labour won 2,062 sears and 78 councils last time.

There are also mayoral races in Hackney, Lewisham, Tower Hamlets and Watford.This undated file photo provided by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice shows death row inmate Thomas Whitaker

The father of a Texas man who slaughtered his younger brother and mother will find out two days before his execution date whether the state will spare his life.

Kent Whitaker, the soul survivor of a deadly attack hatched by his son, is pushing the state to grant clemency to the condemned man.

But they have never spared a death row inmate solely at the formal request of the victim's family.

Thomas 'Bart' Whitaker is set to be put to death by lethal injection for masterminding a 2003 plot near Houston that left his mother Tricia, 51, and brother Keith, 19, dead and his father Kent with a bullet wound near his heart.

Mr Whitaker attended a 30-minute meeting chairman of the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles in Austin concerning whether his son would be able to serve life in prison rather than being executed.

Following the meeting he said: 'I am going to be thrown into a deeper grief at the hands of the state of Texas, in the name of justice.

Whitaker says his son has been a model inmate and has provided letters from death row prison guards to back him up.

Mr Whitaker attended a 30-minute meeting chairman of the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles in Austin concerning whether his son would be able to serve life in prison rather than being executed

Thomas set up the ambush that killed his mom and brother (right). His father survived the shooting and, after learning to forgive his son, is asking state officials for mercy

According to the clemency petition, Mr Whitaker, his relatives and his wife's family do not want Texas to execute Bart.

The panel's decision is due on Tuesday, two days before the execution. If it recommends commuting the death sentence to life in prison, Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, would make the final decision.

In a shocking clemency letter first seen on the American-Statesman, Mr Whitaker, 69, revealed he cannot bear to see the life of another loved one be taken from him.

'I have seen too much killing already... I don't want to see him executed right there in front of my eyes,' the lone father said, who is left with the horrific memory of his family who fell dead in front of his eyes.

'I know Tricia and Kevin would not want him to be executed. I can't imagine seeing the last living part of my family executed by the state, especially since all the victims didn't want that to happen in the first place,' he said, solemnly.

Thomas is scheduled to be executed for the crime on Feb. 22, but his father is making a last-ditch plea to spare his son's life

In the online clemency plea on behalf of Mr Whitaker, the board to Governor Greg Abbott detail his request for the lesser penalty of a lifelong sentence.

'This case in unique. Kent Whitaker was almost murdered during the same ambush that took the life of Kent's wife, Patricia, and son, Kevin.

'There is only one person on Earth who is intimate with the murderous attack, the lives and deaths of the other victims, and the life of Thomas Whitaker - Mr. Whitaker's father, Kent,' the powerful, 19 page letter first reads.

Only hours after this happy family photo was taken, the man on the left, Thomas Whitaker, had his brother Kevin (pictured on the right) murdered by one of his friends

Kent is pictured with his new wife above. The last sounds of his ex-wife and killer's mom, Tricia, were a series of weak, wet coughs as blood filled her lungs

'He speaks to clemency with a moral force and detail of experience that no district attorney or judge or anyone can possess.'

Kent suggests that his son (pictured) has turned his life around while in prison since the horrific murder nearly two decades ago

In the letter, Mr Whitaker makes a point to suggest that his son - who he often visited in prison - has turned his life around since the decades-old horrific murder.

The plea includes backup letters written by fellow inmates to Thomas - who said he greatly cares about the well-being of others.

Inmate Keith Milam said Thomas has a 'special affinity of helping guys with mental illness,' the clemency letter states.

His father believes Thomas also has a mental illness that was never formally diagnosed.

Faryion Wardrip added that Thomas is even one of the most liked inmates - who worked hard to better not only himself, but others around him.

'Thomas provides care packages to newly arrived inmates  a toothbrush, razor, coffee packets, chips  because commissary privileges take a while to set up,' Kent said, according to the Statesman.

'He encouraged at least two inmates to get their high school GED certificates,' he added.

Dad Kent, who published the book 'Murder by Family', credits his Christian faith for the forgiveness of his son

Thomas, who has a bachelor's degree and is currently working toward a master's, works to promote the importance of education.

The merciful father, who published his own book 'Murder by Family', credits his Christian faith for helping him to forgive his son, and is now asking the court to consider the same.

'Kent looked to God... He found the answer early in his tragedy, as he can explain to each member of this Board,' the letter goes on to say.

'While laying in his hospital bed, Kent considered whether he should slip into bitterness and despair. His faith rescued him from that fate.'

Damian Green condemned hard Brexiteers who refuse to accept evidence today.

The Prime Minister's disgraced former deputy denied there was a 'conspiracy' to thwart Brexit inside the Civil Service.

Mr Green, who resigned shortly before Christmas after making misleading claims about porn allegations against him, chaired most Brexit cabinet sub-committees in his old job.

He warned Brexiteer colleagues that if they believed Civil Servants were working against them instead of working rationally, they would end up pursuing 'faith based' policy.

Damian Green (file image) condemned hard Brexiteers who refuse to accept evidence today in his first interview since resigning in disgrace last year

Mr Green's claims are likely to enrage Brexiteer MPs and ministers suspicious of Government mandarins they believe to be firmly pro-Remain.

Leaked assessments on the economy impact of Brexit caused a major row last month. Brexit minister Steve Baker was forced to apologise to the Commons after suggesting Civil Servants were not being impartial.

Mr Green was interviewed for BBC Radio 4's Ministry of Leave programme that broadcasts tonight at 8pm.

He said: 'I do reject all the conspiracy theories that suggest there's some sort of plot inside the official machine to thwart the will of the people.

'There's a great problem of politicians who won't accept evidence.

'We can all argue about economic forecasts and none of them are 100 per cent accurate but you have to rely on them and if you reject evidence you don't like then you are likely to end up producing faith based policies.'

Brexit minister Steve Baker (file image) was forced to apologise to the Commons after suggesting Civil Servants were not being impartial

Mr Green added: 'If analysis is being produced then publish it. And frankly there will be a big political debate it.

'Let's have this argument in public, that's what democracies do.'

Cabinet Secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood (file image) runs the Civil Service and has defended his staff

Asked whether some of his former cabinet colleagues were resistant to the facts and evidence, he replied 'not so much former cabinet colleagues'.

But he added: 'I think there are politicians who would prefer not to have the evidence there.'

Best for Britain supporter and Labour MP Madeleine Moon said: 'I think I can safely say this is the first time I have totally agreed with Damian Green.

'It's sad to see that it takes, rightly, being sacked to voice an interest in the best interest of the country and its workers.

'It is vital that people have as much information as possible before we have the final vote.

'So much misinformation was around during the referendum campaign now is the time to clearly set out the consequences for staying or leaving.'A long-serving policewoman who quit the force after being repeatedly groped by a sex pest inspector has won over 70,000 in compensation.

Paul Nightingale, 40, has been ordered to pay Lisa Myers 21,960 for sexually harassing her over 12 months when they were working for British Transport Police in Liverpool.

Mrs Myers, 38, will receive another payout in the region of 50,000 after BTP settled her separate claim against them for sex discrimination and victimisation.

Policewoman Lisa Myers (pictured) has won a 70,000 payout following an employment tribunal

Judge Tobias Ryan announced the award at the end of a six-day employment tribunal hearing in Liverpool.

The award included 10,000 for injury to feelings and 8,000 in aggravated damages.

Mr Ryan said that Mr Nightingale could have offered Mrs Myers an unconditional apology but instead contested her sexual harassment claim, 'defending the indefensible'.

The judge rejected married father-of-two Mr Nightingale's claim that he thought the pair were embarking on an affair at their base at Liverpool Lime street station.

Mr Ryan said that Mr Nightingale 'knew full well he was taking advantage', adding: 'His assertion that they were in a relationship and that she encouraged it were without doubt detrimental to her career and her reputation.

'He knew that his attentions were unwelcome but he believed he could win her round and he believed she would not complain.'

Mr Nightingale had grabbed Mrs Myers' bottom, kissed her neck and once stuck his hand down her top and fondled her breasts 'with a vacant look in his eyes'.

He also demanded massages, 'alone time', a 'birthday kiss' and sent her a phone message saying 'Nice a***'.

He was accused of drunkenly targeting five women at a staff Christmas party - after warning the public against 'alcohol-fuelled antisocial behaviour' in a festive publicity campaign.

Mrs Myers was one of three BTP officers who branded married father-of-two Mr Nightingale a 'creep' over his 'sleazy' behaviour at the December 2015 bash, the tribunal heard.

Mrs Myers told how her boss fondled her bottom at the work party and said he would like sex with her in the back of a car.

A 24-year-old community support officer said a slurring and swaying Mr Nightingale asked how old she was, groped her bottom and suggested that 'if she wanted to have sex with him she could' and that he could 'show her a thing or two that no other 24-year-old boy could'.

At the time of the incidents Mr Nightingale was a sergeant but was acting in the role of inspector at BTP's base at Liverpool Lime Street station.

When Mrs Myers complained about Mr Nightingale in May 2016, she was moved to a different office 20 miles away. As a result, she quit the force in disgust in January 2017 after 12 years of service.

Married mother-of-two Mrs Myers today told the tribunal that Mr Nightingale's harassment had caused her 'extreme distress and anxiety'.

She said: 'I cannot adequately convey the distress having to continue these proceedings and contest Mr Nightingale's defence that I have lied and deliberately manufactured the allegations of sexual harassment.

'This distress was also vastly increased by the distress I could see that it caused my husband and the rest of my family.

'I am, however, pleased that my stand in looking for justice as a victim of sexual harassment has been vindicated even though it has been extremely distressing experience for me.

'I continued these proceeding in the hope that it may provide some encouragement and comfort to other women in and out of the police force who are suffering sexual harassment and of whom I am sure there are many and who may be given the courage to face up to the harasser.'

Speaking outside court, she added: 'I hope this will give heart and encouragement to other women who have suffered sexual harassment so that they are able to obtain justice.

'But it has been emotional to have to go through a tribunal hearing and I am disappointed that the Police Federation represented Mr Nightingale.

'I find it staggering that fees paid by other hard working officers around the country are being used to fund this sort of case.

'I think serving officers will be outraged when they know what their fees are being used to pay for.'

Her lawyer Michael McDonough, of McDonough & Associates, said: 'Our client never entered into these proceedings for financial gain. She wanted justice.

'We hope that this award will act as a deterrent to men sexually harassing women and encourage other women who are being harassed to come forward and obtain justice.'

Mrs Myers, who has suffered from depression since leaving the force, now volunteers at a rape crisis centre.

It has also emerged that Mr Nightingale was accused of rape in 2002 by a female member of the public while he was a sergeant with Cambridgeshire Constabulary, based in Peterborough.

He told BTP investigators that he had consensual sex with the woman while off duty.

A Cambridgeshire Constabulary spokesperson said: 'An allegation of rape was made. This was recorded as a public complaint and referred to professional standards.

'The then Police Complaints Authority were notified. Following investigation, the complaint was unsubstantiated. The PCA concurred with this decision.'

BTP confirmed Mr Nightingale resigned in January last year. He was due to face gross misconduct proceedings after investigators ruled he had a 'case to answer' - instead he was added to a register of people ineligible to work for the police.

He is now branch manager of a DIY store.Sacked Ukip leader Henry Bolton was spotted walking out in the rain with Jo Marney this morning just days after party members voted to remove him from the top job.

The pair were seen strolling together under a giant blue umbrella after she spent the night at his Folkestone apartment in Kent.

Although Mr Bolton, 54, lost a vote of confidence just two days ago he and Ms Marney seemed perfectly happy on their stroll through the foggy park.

Yesterday afternoon they were also spotted drinking red wine together at the Rose and Crown pub near Hyde Park.

Henry Bolton, 54, was spotted on a stroll through the park with former glamour model Jo Marney, 25, this morning

The pair were spotted together just two days after Mr Bolton was ousted as Ukip leader over their relationship. Ms Marney spent the night at his Folkestone apartment in Kent

Mr Bolton has repeatedly insisted that he had broken off his relationship with Ms Marney despite being spotted together in recent weeks

Witnesses told MailOnline the couple appeared to be very much still together - despite Mr Bolton insisting repeatedly he had broken off the relationship.

The couple spent more than an hour together at the central London bar, making little secret of their continuing affections.

Mr Bolton was sacked by party members disgusted that he had left his wife and children for the 25-year-old model.

The couple had repeatedly insisted the relationship was over after it emerged Ms Marney had sent a tirade of racist messages about Meghan Markle to a friend.

Sacked Ukip leader Henry Bolton was spotted out on the town with his ex-girlfriend Jo Marney yesterday (pictured) less than 24 hours after he was ousted over the relationship

Witnesses told MailOnline the couple appeared to be very much still together

Mr Bolton, 54, and Ms Marney were spotted drinking red wine together at the Rose and Crown pub (pictured) near Hyde Park

But they have been seen repeatedly together in recent weeks - with Mr Bolton even claiming the relationship had been under more scrutiny than any since Diana and Dodi al Fayed.

Two friends who bumped into Mr Bolton and Ms Marney this afternoon told MailOnline what they saw.

The first woman said: 'I went across the bar to go and buy a drink and I saw Jo Marney and Henry Bolton. They were stood at the bar, facing the rugby screen, watching that.

'They seemed really relaxed, smiling, kissing a little bit but not too much PDA. They were there for an hour, maybe an hour and a half, and then they left.

'It seemed as though they were very much together. They were turned in toward each, they were watching the screen together but they were mirroring each other's body language.'

The beleaguered Ukip chief had faced growing calls to quit after his ex girlfriend Jo Marney (who he is pictured with) was exposed for sending racist messages about Meghan Markle

Jo Marney declared her love for the ousted Ukip leader in a series of tweets sent after the result

Jo Marney tweeted shortly after the vote was announced to hint that she would resume her relationship with Henry Bolton now he is no longer Ukip leader

Her friend did not know who Ms Marney was when they first spotted the couple - but recognised her after seeing MailOnline coverage of the affair.

How long did Henry Bolton last as leader and what happened to spark his removal? September 2017: Henry Bolton is elected leader of Ukip in a shock election result. Few people had heard of him outside the party, but Nigel Farage had given the former Army officer his considerable backing. Christmas 2017: He leaves his wife Tatiana Smurova and their two young children to start a relationship with former glamour model Jo Marney. The affair sees him hit the headlines and plunge the crisis-prone party into fresh turmoil. January 2018: Racists texts sent by Ms Marney about Prince Harry's fiance Meghan Markle emerge in the press. In them she said the US actress would 'taint' the Royal Family by joining it. Late January 2018: The Ukip NEC call a meeting at which Mr Bolton's leadership is put to a confidence vote. Every member of the NEC apart from Mr Bolton votes against him - but he vows to carry on as leader. February 2018: Ukip members vote to oust Mr Bolton as leader at an extraordinary general meeting in Birmingham. But Mr Bolton comes out fighting - threatening to launch legal action against the party for how he has been treated. Advertisement

She said the pair were 'not hiding' and were both drinking red wine - though there was no sign of a bottle.

She said: 'I suppose I thought they were just a normal couple, the way they were behaving.

'They weren't hiding. They looked pretty happy to be honest I was facing them as we were eating. They kept moving in for kisses.

'She popped out for a cigarette for a few times and that's when I snuck up to the bar for a look at his face.

'They looked pretty happy and relaxed to be honest.'

The woman spotted Ms Marney first and recognised her from the deluge of news stories about the text messages she had sent.

She said she had been 'disgusted' by the messages sent about Grenfell Tower and Meghan Markle, Prince Harry's fiancee.

She added: 'So I recognised her face because she was the one facing us when I approached the bar.

'That's when I saw thought ''is that Henry?''. That's how I noticed them.'

The woman said she appreciated the difficulty the couple were in.

The Rose and Crown is a relatively obscure venue for central London, up a side street a few hundred metres from the bustling Hyde Park.

She said: 'I feel they were trying to go under the radar as much as they could. It seems as though its pressure from the party more than anything, and she's embarrassed at the messages.

'I believe they very much are still a couple or want to be anyway.'

Mr Bolton threatened to sue Ukip after being ousted as leader - as Ms Marney hinted they are back together.

Ms Marney, a former glamour model 30 years his junior, was exposed for sending racist texts about Meghan Markle

The former Army officer was toppled from the top job when party members decided to support a no confidence vote against him at a crunch meeting.

Speaking after the vote, Mr Bolton revealed he is considering launching legal action against against Ukip's NEC over the way he has been treated.

Meanwhile, Ms Marney sent a series of tweets declaring her love for the father-of-three and hinting that they will pick their relationship back up.

She wrote on Twitter: 'I love the bloke and that's that. UKIP leader or dustman.

'I may be many things but shallow isn't one of them. We've stood by each other throughout this and I will continue to do so.'

The former Army officer was toppled from the top job when party members decided to support a no confidence vote against him at a crunch meetingAdvertisement

Nikolas Cruz, the teenage gunman who slaughtered 17 people in a high school massacre last Wednesday, appeared in court on Monday.

The 19-year-old did not look up once as he sat at the defense table in a red prison jumpsuit.

It was a procedural hearing in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Cruz was joined by his sympathetic public defender Melissa McNeill who last week put her arm around his shoulder as he faced a judge. She described him as a 'broken person'.

The hearing was at the request of his defense and was to do with documents which the defense want to keep sealed.

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Gunman Nikolas Cruz appeared in court in Fort Lauderdale on Monday for a brief appearance during which a judge allowed his team to keep files sealed

Cruz did not look up at all and spoke only to his attorney, public defender Melissa McNeill, and another representative from the public defender's office

McNeill put her arm on Cruz's shoulder again on Monday, as he did last week at his first appearance before a judge

Judge Elizabeth Scherer granted their request and said the document was 'solely' to do with them having access to Cruz. She did not say what the files contained.

Cruz is being held in a maximum security prison on 17 counts of murder.

On Monday, he shuffled out of court with shackles around his waist and feet.

It was also revealed by CBS on Monday that the teenager has purchased seven rifles in the past year alone.

He used a legally purchased AR-15 to carry out the attack on Valentine's Day.

Cruz passed background checks in place in Florida despite the fact that police had been called to his home more than three dozen times.

While McNeill spoke to the judge, Cruz was comforted by British barrister Jodie Woodward who is volunteering at the Broward County Public Defender's Office on capital cases

A third, unidentified female member of Cruz's legal team spoke to him during the hearing but he kept his head down while she spoke to him

After the short hearing on Monday, Cruz shuffled out in his red prison jumpsuit. He was handcuffed and shackled

Judge Elizabeth Scherer granted their defense's request and said the document was 'solely' to do with them having access to Cruz

Cruz, who has been in custody since Wednesday, had small growth on his chin. It was revealed on Monday that he has bought seven rifles in the last year alone

The funeral of Alaina Petty, 14, was held on Monday at the same time as Cruz's hearing

One one of those visits, in September 2016 while his adoptive mother Lynda was still alive, officers discovered he had ADHD, was depressed and had cut his arms in a Snapchat video.

Despite his condition, he said he wanted to 'go out and buy a gun', according to officials familiar with the visit.

The Department of Family Services had been called to the house amid concern he was being neglected.

They closed their investigation six weeks after the visit, saying there was no cause for further concern and that he was receiving mental health help.

When his mother died in November this year, he went to live with one set of family friends with his younger brother.

Cruz moved out not long after and settled with the Snead family. They have since told of their shock and heartache and say that he showed no signs he was planning such a massacre.

As Cruz appeared in court in Fort Lauderdale, funerals for his victims continued near the school.

On Monday, 14-year-old Alaina Paige was laid to rest at a funeral at her Mormon church.

Grieving students brought pink flowers to the service and around 1,500 people were in attendance.

Among the mourners were children who brought stuffed animals for comfort.

The body of Alaina Petty is escorted out of the Church of the Jesus Christ Latter-day Saints on Monday in a coffin draped in an American flag. She was one of the 17 victims

As the gunman appeared in court, mourners continued to grieve in Coral Springs. Above, male youngsters attend the funeral of 14-year-old Alaina Petty on Monday. They carried pink and white flowers to the service

A student is comforted by an adult as she leaves the funeral for Alaina Petty in Coral Springs, Florida on Monday

The young mourner wore white for the occasion. She cried as she left the church after the emotional service

Hers was the most recent of 17 funerals which will take place as a result of Cruz's rampage.

In a statement released earlier in the week, Alaina's family said she 'served her community'.

She, like fellow victim Peter Wang, was a member of the JTROC cadets.

'Alaina loved to serve.

'She served her community through her participation in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas JROTC program and her countless hours of service as a volunteer for the Helping Hands program of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.'

The kind-hearted teenager also went to Florida last year to help with the clean-up after Hurricane Irma, her family said.

'Her selfless service brought peace and joy to those that had lost everything during the storm.

A young JROTC student is consoled outside the church. Alaina was in the training program and 'loved to serve', according to her family

Another young JROTC student is comforted outside the church (left) and two teenage girls console one another (right)

One mourner wore a white t-shirt which had the names of all 17 victims written in black marker on the back

Female students attend the funeral of Alaina Petty in Coral Springs, Florida, on Monday

A young boy is escorted in to the church ahead of the funeral on Monday

An American flag was carried into Alaina's funeral on Monday. The service was held at the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints. Petty was a JROTC

Mourners at the funeral of Alaina Petty in Coral Springs, Florida, on Monday

Mourners wore black and white for Alaina's funeral on Monday. Her family said she was a sweet girl who 'loved to serve'

An emotional woman arrives for the funeral of 14-year-old Alaina Petty on Monday, February 19

There was a large turnout of children, teenagers and adults for Alaina's funeral on Monday morning

'While we will not have the opportunity to watch her grow up and become the amazing woman we know she would become, we are keeping an eternal perspective.

'We are grateful for the knowledge that Alaina is a part of our eternal family and that we will reunite with her.

Luke Hoyer, 15, was also buried on Monday

'This knowledge and unabiding faith in our Heavenly Father's plan gives us comfort during this difficult time.'

Luke Hoyer's funeral was also taking place.

The 15-year-old's family eulogized him earlier in the week, telling The Sun Sentinel in an obituary that he was a boy of 'simple tastes'.

'He loved his family, his dogs and his friends.

'Luke didn't need to say much; just having him around made the room feel warm and welcoming.

'His smile and good nature will be greatly missed by those that knew and loved him. We will continue to feel his presence in our hearts and souls.

'He will always be our Lukey-Bear,' they said.

The funerals of Meadow Pollack and Alyssa Alhadeff were both buried on Friday.

Three adults were also killed.

They were Aaron Feis, 37, Scott Beigel, 35, and Chris Hixon, 49.

All three men died trying to protect students from Cruz's bullets. On Sunday, Beigel was buried by his fiancee.

Separate services were also held for Jaime Guttenberg, 14, and Alex Schachter, 14.

Mourners comforted one another outside the Church by the Glades in Coral Springs, Florida. His family asked for donations in his name to The Children of Broward County which raises money for neglected and abused children

The large congregation outside the Church by the Glades after Luke Hoyer's funeral on Monday

In Washington on Monday, protesters staged a lie in in front of the White House to call on stricter gun lawsLucas Belmonte, from Kent, has been jailed for a year in Dubai for credit card fraud

A British tourist has been jailed for a year in Dubai after being convicted of using a fake credit card to pay for a luxury holiday with his girlfriend.

The man - named as Lucas Belmonte - was given the sentence and fined 20,000 after having spent the past six weeks in a police cell having 'signed' a confession admitting to using the stolen card.

The 23-year-old, from Kent, had claimed he was given the credit card by a friend who told him he could use it to pay for his New Year stay at the five star Jumeirah Beach Hotel.

Belmonte was arrested and told at the Bur Dubai Police station if he signed a statement translated from Arabic his girlfriend would be allowed to leave and not face any charges.

He told the 'Detained in Dubai' organisation, who are campaigning for his release, that he had been given an inaccurate translation of what police had asked him to sign.

It wasn't until the following day when he was refused bail that he found out what he had signed.

His confession read: 'I knew the card was fake. I bought the card in the UK to use in Dubai and I knew it was illegal'

Belmonte maintains that he was given the card by a friend who has since refused to help out and make a statement to the Dubai police.

The 23-year-old (pictured with Wayne Rooney) claimed he was given the credit card by a friend who told him he could use it to pay for his New Year stay at the five star Jumeriah Beach hotel

The friend had allegedly told Belmonte it was his company credit card and could be used to pay for the trip

Belmonte now believes he was 'set up' by his friend who gave him a fake credit card.

Belmonte and his girlfriend, who his family are not identifying, had checked into the Sheraton Hotel on December 30th and used the card to pay for their room.

The pair were not happy with the hotel and moved to the luxury Jumeirah Beach Hotel where rooms cost up to 500 a night.

As they tried to check-in the hotel receptionist told them the credit card had been blocked.

Belmonte called his friend who had loaned him the card and was given the authorization number to complete the booking.

But he was arrested three days later by Dubai CID officers along with his girlfriend.

David Haigh, from the Detained in Dubai group, said Belmonte told them officers repeatedly asked him in Arabic where the fake card was.

Lucas says he was duped into signing a confession by police in Dubai

Belmonte said he was told to admit he was using a fake credit card and told by police 'you will both go to prison and we will make sure you do not see a judge for six months.'

Both Belmonte and his girlfriend were held overnight in a freezing police cell.

He claims he was given an inaccurate translation of the confession, which he signed, allowing the release of his girlfriend who flew home to Essex.

Belmonte was locked up in the Bur Dubai police station on January 4th where he remained until his court appearance on Monday when he was given a years jail sentence based on his confession.

His distraught mother Louise visited the United Arab Emirates embassy in London to appeal for his release.

She said her son had been duped by the friend who gave him the credit card.

Louise said: 'Within hours of knowing about the dispute Lucas and I paid the money to the hotels. I would like to appeal to the ruler of Dubai, to say to him I know he is a fair man and to ask him please look at my sons case and let him come home as he did with other Brits such as Jamie Harron and Billy Barclay who were unjustly detained.'

She added: 'I just want Luke to come home. He is very young, very frightened and in prison in a strange country he does not know. If he can be given a pardon by the country's ruler he can come home.

'This has been so stressful it has put me in hospital. I have managed to speak to him but it is just so hard.

'The first I knew was a call from Luke's girlfriend who said they had been arrested for fraud. She told me that the police said if Luke signed a document she would be able to go home.

'Luke signed the paper and she came home the next day, but it was days before I could talk with him.'

Lucas and his girlfriend were staying at the luxury Jumeirah Beach Hotel. As soon as his mother discovered what happened, she paid the money to the hotels

David Haigh, Joint Managing Partner at Stirling Haigh and Partner at Detained in Dubai, who has been in contact with Lucas's mother, said 'We have been supporting Lucas and his family since he was first detained in Dubai on his New Years holiday.

As we see all too often, Lucas was forced to sign a false confession under duress of threats to his girlfriend and physical abuse to himself. Lucas was then repeatedly denied bail on the basis of the false confession he was made to sign in Arabic and not given access to representation and without a translation available in English he was unable to defend himself. This has led to another wrongful conviction in the UAEs unjust legal system.

'One other point that Lucas's case highlights is the zeal with which International brands and law firms are willing to abuse and unfair trial process to benefit themselves and their clients. In this case with Lucas that company is American Express, whom we have and continue to approach to release Lucas.'

Haigh said it was not unusual for people to have been tricked into signing false confessions after being arrested in Dubai.

Radha Stirling, from Detained in Dubai, said: 'Many people who come to Detained in Dubai seeking help have been tricked into signing false confessions. Most people who are working in, or holidaying in Dubai and the Emirates don't speak Arabic, which is a well known fact amongst the police, yet they still force and coerce people into signing these documents.

'In 100% of these cases, the police deliberately tell the detainee whatever they want in order to get signatures on these confessions. A very high proportion of these cases involve forceful coercion. This is despite both Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which provide that 'no one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.' This includes force 'intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession'

'Regardless of whether an individual is considered guilty by Dubai police or not, they have the right to a fair trial unhindered by falsified evidence.'Mount Sinabung has erupted sending clouds of ash up to seven kilometres into the sky and resulted in airlines being banned from flying over some parts of Indonesia.

Despite no casualties being reported, locals residing around Mount Sinabung have been advised to stay away from the danger zone which is within three to seven kilometres around the volcanos crater.

Indonesian authorities have warned that lava could flow down the mountain and destroy homes as it has done during previous eruptions, but where is Mount Sinabung?

Mount Sinabung has erupted sending clouds of ash seven kilometres into the sky in Indonesia

Where is Mount Sinabung?

Also known as Gunung Sinabung, gunung being the Indonesian word for mountain, it is located in the Karo plateau of the Karo Regency, Sumatra in Indonesia.

The high number of volcanoes in Indonesia can be beneficial for those who live near them as lava flows can ensure that surrounding soil and land remain fertile for farming, but is the country with the biggest volcano threat to life.

Mount Sinabung is located in a volatile region referred to as the Ring of Fire in the Pacific basin. In this area, there are hundreds of active volcanoes and 90 percent of the worlds earthquakes occur in this zone.

The 25,000 mile Ring of Fire goes from South America and North America to Japan and New Zealand on the other side of the ocean.

Mount Sinabung is located in a region referred to as the Ring of Fire in the Pacific basin

What is a stratovolcano?

A stratovolcano, like Mount Sinabung, are also known as composite cones and are the most dangerous type of volcano because of their likelihood to erupt.

Most stratovolcanoes are located in the Pacific Ring of Fire and the cone structure is composed of lava and pyroclastic materials.

Pyroclastics are rocks that are ejected during a volcanic eruption and include ash, bombs and blocks, rather than a steady flow of thick lava.

After the eruption, rock is blown up into the air while ash will be spread out and can remain in the atmosphere for years.

Mount Sinabung eruption flight delays and cancellations

After Sumatras Mount Sinabung erupted, Indonesia raised flight warnings to the highest level after plumes of ash were sent more than seven kilometres into the air.

The ash cloud was seen to be heading in three different directions, according to the Bureau of Meteorology's Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre (VACC).

The Volcano Observatory Notice for Aviation (VONA) was also changed to red, the highest possible warning and revealed that the ash cloud had reached 23,872 feet.

After Sumatras Mount Sinabung erupted, Indonesia raised flight warnings to the highest level

While Qantas and Jetstar spokespeople said the eruption had not caused any disruption, operations at Kualanamu International Airport in Medan had seen delays as the volcanic ash had reached the airport only 75 km away.

Susi Air and AirAsia flights were forced to halt services and delay departures because of this reason.

When did Mount Sinabung last erupt?

In August 2010, Mount Sinabung erupted after a hiatus of hundreds of years and has been continuously active since September 2013.

Although activity started to increased from April 2017, the last fatal Mount Sinabung eruption was on May 22 in 2016 and killed at least seven people.

Indonesias last major eruption, Mount Agung in Bali in November 2017 saw an ash cloud rise up to four kilometres above the crater.

Officials claim that the explosion that left 6,000 tourists stranded resulted in a loss of $110 million in tourism and productivity.Meghan McCain shared a photo on Sunday, smiling wide with her father, John McCain, as the Arizona senator continues to fight brain cancer.

The two were pictured huddled close, seated side-by-side in two outdoor chairs on a patio, both grinning from ear to ear.

'Good morning coffee from Arizona!' the lawmaker's daughter tweeted with the sweet image.

'Thank you for all so much for the wonderful video messages! [heart emoji, American flag emoji, cactus emoji],' Meghan added to the post.

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Meghan McCain shared a photo on Sunday, smiling wide with her father, Arizona senator John McCain, from their home state

'Good morning coffee from Arizona!' the lawmaker's daughter tweeted with the sweet image

That last part about video messages was in reference to a tweet she had posted on Thursday, while on her way to their family ranch to spend time with her father.

The lawmaker, age 81, was diagnosed in July with stage 4 gliobastoma, which is a very aggressive form of brain cancer, and is known to spread quickly within the brain.

This revelation came just days after he had surgery on his skull to remove a blood clot above his eye.

The co-host of ABC's The View had asked her followers to send clips to inspire her father, as he continues his battle with brain cancer.

Meghan McCain's birthday featured a special visit from her father, Senator John McCain, on the October 23 episode of ABC's The View

The co-host of ABC's The View had asked her followers to send clips to inspire her father, as he continues his battle with brain cancer

'I am going home to Arizona this weekend to see my family and putting together some snapchats/videos from supporters to show my Dad,' she tweeted.

'If any of you want to send a (nice!) video message, I will share it with him! Please message on Twitter or my Instagram - have a great weekend! xo.'

On February 1, Meghan gave an update on her dad's medical condition while appearing as a guest on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

'He is in Sedona, Arizona, right now at our ranch doing physical therapy and he has amazing doctors and hes doing really well,' she said.

'He had a sort of rough time at Christmas,' Meghan said.

Actress Barret Swatek (second from right) posted a photo on her Instagram account in which she poses with Meghan McCain (second from left) and her groom, Ben Domenech (far right), at their wedding in Arizona on November 21

In December, the congressman from Arizona was hospitalized at Walter Reed Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, so he could receive treatment for side effects stemming from his cancer therapy.

His battle was cancer prompted a streamlined proposal and wedding for Meghan, who both get a ring and walked down the aisle in November, with her long-time partner and now husband, Ben Domenech.

'Everybody keeps asking me, "Howd you get engaged?" We were at Mayo Clinic, and my father had his scan, and we got engaged because we decided to sort of celebrate life and celebrate being alive,' she told People, at the time.

'Its not the most romantic story, but he is my partner.'

The engagement was announced on November 1, and the wedding was held on November 21 at the family compound in Arizona.

Soon after her speedy nuptials, came her dad's brief hospitalization in December. But Meghan shared his condition improved, quickly.

'Hes made this really crazy, amazing recovery which I guess I shouldnt be surprised at because he is so resilient in so many different ways,' she told Colbert.

'Hes a tough bastard.'

This came after her father was not present at President Donald Trump's State of the Union address in Washington, DC on January 30.

McCain has been one of the more vocal Republican sources of opposition to some of Trump's initiatives, over the past several months, including being the only GOP member to vote against appointment of a would-be Justice Department official who he said attempted to justify enhanced interrogation techniques.

'Hes doing well and I hope he comes back to Washington very soon,' Meghan told Colbert.

'Because I would like to see him go up against Trump a little more.'Frustrated Russians spray-painted snow with the name of Vladimir Putin's political rival in a bid to get council workers to clear it.

Moscow has seen a massive amount of snow in recent weeks and last week, the city was blanketed by its heaviest snowfall in 100 years.

But as authorities struggled to clear the streets, angry residents resorted to a tactic that some said saw quick results  painting the name of opposition leader Alexei Navalny in the snow.

Frustrated Russian residents spray-painted the name of opposition leader Alexei Navalny onto some snow in a bid to get it cleared

Residents shared pictures on social media, saying it prompted council workers to remove the graffiti in a matter of hours.

Mr Navalny, a critic of Mr Putin, is never named by state media in the county  and the Russian President famously refuses to use his name, instead referring to him as 'that person.'

Tatyana Grigoreva, who lives in Moscow's Nagorny district, said she was inspired by Mikhail Kozyrev's suggestion that residents write 'Navalny' on snow they wanted cleared, according to the BBC.

She posted pictures of the graffiti painted in the snow and shared video of cleaners sweeping it away.

However, Ms Grigoreva said workers in were just mixing up snow with their shovels so Mr Navalny's name couldn't be seen.

Another post on a Facebook group for residents said authorities took about four hours to take action.

Moscow has seen a massive amount of snow in recent weeks, with some reports saying that it was the heaviest snowfall the city has seen in 100 years

Mr Navalny has called for a boycott of Russia's election in March after he was barred from running against Mr Putin over a criminal conviction he says was politically motivated.

He is informally barred from appearing on state media and so relies on his own website and social media to spread his message, with posts drawing thousands onto the street across the country last month in support of his call for a 'voters' strike,' or boycott of the polls.

Last week, Russia's media watchdog blocked his website after he posted a video alleging a deputy prime minister enjoyed lavish hospitality from a billionaire tycoon.

And the clever idea seemed to have worked with residents taking to Facebook to confirm that council workers had removed the graffiti, and snow, in a matter of hours

State body Roskomnadzor has threatened to block any site distributing the video, including YouTube and Instagram, but both remain accessible in Russia.

Mr Navalny says the video appears to show the Russian leader's former top foreign policy adviser Sergei Prikhodko vacationing on the yacht of 50-year-old Oleg Deripaska, an aluminium magnate.Pervert Brian Leach (pictured) who imported a child-sized sex doll so it would fit in his wardrobe when his grandchildren visited his home has been jailed

A pervert who imported a child-sized sex doll so it would fit in his wardrobe when his grandchildren visited his home has been jailed.

Brian Leach ordered the toy online from China using money from a redundancy package, only for it to be intercepted by customs at Stansted Airport.

Police were alerted and when they raided his home in Maidstone, Kent, discovered almost 300 indecent child abuse images.

A court heard the 62-year-old claimed he had no sexual interest in children and simply bought the 'flat-chested' doll as a 'bed companion'.

But jailing him today for 28 weeks, Recorder David Jeremy QC said the doll was ordered to provide Leach 'an outlet' for his arousal from viewing such images.

Describing the purchase of the sex toy as 'complimentary' to the images, he added: 'There is an overlap in these offences as the images were designed to provide arousal and the doll was an outlet for that arousal.

'The gravimum of your offence is that the child-like doll you imported was intended to enable you to give effect to the sexual fantasies that the images of children were intended to arouse.'

Leach, of Whitmore Street, admitted importation of an indecent or obscene article, as well as three offences of making indecent photographs of children.

A total of 278 imaged were found, many on his computer hard drive having been deleted.

The court heard they covered all categories of seriousness and depicted girls as young as three to five being subjected to horrific sexual abuse.

Police raided his home on March 21 last year and when Leach was told the doll, costing more than 500 had been seized three months earlier, he replied he 'wondered' why it had not arrived.

Brian Leach ordered the toy online from China using money from a redundancy package, only for it to be intercepted by customs at Stansted Airport (pictured)

He was arrested and interviewed but prosecutor Trevor Wright told Maidstone Crown Court he was 'vague' as to the reason why he bought it.

Mr Wright added: 'He said he ordered the doll, or child sex toy, to be a companion for him.

'He said he did originally want an adult-sized one but that the child-sized one would fit in his wardrobe better.

'He said because his grandchildren aged four and five came to stay at weekends he wanted something he could get into his wardrobe and hide.'

Mr Wright added that Leach, a former NHS worker, also told police he decided to 'treat himself' with money from his redundancy package.

'He didn't choose any clothing and took time on the website choosing hair and eye colour, and paid over 500 for it.

'He was very vague and couldn't say for what reason he got it.

'He said it was flat-chested but wouldn't describe it as a child simply for that reason. He said his wife was flat-chested too.

'He denied having it for any sexual purpose and insisted it was simply a companion.'

Of the indecent images he downloaded, Leach told police they 'looked pretty' but had deleted most of them as he knew it was wrong.

However, Leach would then go back online and search for more, added the prosecutor.

The court heard that importation of an indecent or obscene article carries a maximum sentence of seven years.

Leach represented himself during the hearing. He said he was lonely and had low self-esteem following his marriage break-up and then moving back to Kent after living in Suffolk for 12 years.

He told the court he ordered the doll when he was drunk.

'I had not properly considered the impact of the size and shape of it, only that it could be stored easily,' added Leach.

'I hadn't realised this could be illegal. When it didn't arrive I wasn't bothered because when I was sober I had already regretted ordering it and was only annoyed at spending a lot of money on it.'

Leach was jailed today for 28 weeks at Maidstone Crown Court in Kent (pictured)

Leach also told the court he had 'stumbled' across child abuse images when browsing legal pornography.

'I should have steered away but stupidly let curiosity get the better of me,' he added.

He said that he had since sought help with child-protection charity, the Lucy Faithfull Foundation.

'I feel ashamed and disgusted with myself. My actions have made me feel physically sick when I think of my own family who love and trust me,' added Leach.

'I don't want to see any images like this again. I no longer feel desire to look at any pornography at all. I wish to keep it this way.'

On passing sentence, Recorder Jeremy said he had taken into account Leach's previous good character as well as the tragic deaths of two of his grandchildren.

An NSPCC spokewoman said: 'The importation of these grotesque dolls is an emerging problem. As a result, the NSPCC is calling on the government to close a legal loophole and make it a crime to create, distribute and possess 'child sex dolls'.

'There is no evidence that these items help potential abusers. In fact, there is a real risk that those who use them could become desensitised and go on to abuse children.

'Until this loophole is closed, online retailers who have these items available to purchase should immediately remove them from sale.'Barnaby Joyce's wife wants the embattled Deputy Prime Minister to keep his job, despite his affair with his now-pregnant former staffer.

Natalie Joyce has told friends she is worried that some in the Nationals party room are using the scandal to unseat her estranged husband and claim the leadership.

She made her first public appearance on Saturday since news of the affair broke, attending a boat birthday party of National Party donor, Kirsty Berger, on Sydney Harbour.

'It was a chance for her to relax with friends after what's been a terribly traumatic time for her,' a friend of Mrs Joyce told The Daily Telegraph.

'Everyone was right behind her. She's very resilient.'

Barnaby Joyce's wife Natalie wants the embattled Deputy Prime Minister to keep his job. She is pictured during her first her public appearance, enjoying a glass of pink champagne with political lobbyist Michael Kauter

Mrs Joyce is pictured right during the cruise birthday party on Sydney Harbour on Saturday

'Everyone was right behind her. She's very resilient,' a friend said of Mrs Joyce, pictured with Michael Kauter on Saturday

Mrs Joyce was pictured on the Tango super yacht enjoying a glass of pink champagne with political lobbyist Michael Kauter and his partner, David Gracey.

'Surprise! Kirsty Berger had absolutely NO idea!' Mr Kauter captioned a snap he posted on Instagram.

'Best birthday yet on Tango. Lesli Berger, what a super husband you are.'

In another photo, Mrs Joyce and Mr Kauter smiled at one another as the boat sailed passed the Sydney Opera House.

She was also seen below deck mingling with guests, including Sky News CEO Angelos Frangopoulos.

Meanwhile, the Nationals leader remained defiant on Monday and said he would not be quitting as potential new leadership candidates began to circle.

About a third of the Nationals party room have openly supported Mr Joyce, while six are locked against him and the rest have refused to comment, the paper reported.

'People are starting to see this as a witch hunt. I'm not going anywhere, I never would,' Mr Joyce told the Sydney Morning Herald.

BARNABY JOYCE ISN'T FOR TURNING: THE DEPUTY PM DEFIES CALLS TO STAND DOWN 'I've been in heaps of fights in my political life, this is another one, in any person's political career you aren't created by the times in your favour, you're tempered by the times of adversity. That's how politics works - you rise to deal with it' - Fairfax Media, Feb 20. 'I am humbled by the support in my electorate and in the community. People are starting to see this as a witch hunt. I'm not going anywhere, I never would.' - Fairfax Media, Feb 20. 'My colleagues support me. We have a job to do.' - Canberra doorstop, Feb 16. 'I am quite supported obviously by my electorate and my electorate is the catalyst for getting back to my job at the last by-election.' - Canberra doorstop, Feb 16. 'This has been a searing personal experience for Natalie, our daughters and for Vikki (Campion) - criticise me if you wish but please have some regard for them' - Statement, Feb 13. MALCOLM TURNBULL ON JOYCE'S FUTURE 'I don't know (if he still commands the support of the party room). He says he does and others have said he does, but these are all matters in the gift of the National Party room' - 3AW radio, Feb 19. 'Barnaby Joyce has my confidence as Deputy Prime Minister. He is the leader of the National Party' - Doorstop, Feb 16 'He has to consider his own position obviously' - Doorstop, Feb 15 Advertisement

Barnaby Joyce, 50, is in a relationship with his former media adviser Vikki Campion, 33

Natalie Joyce told friends she is worried that some in the Nationals party room are using the scandal to unseat her estranged husband and claim the leadership. The pair are pictured together last year

'People know enough about me to know that I'm hardly one to run away from a fight.'

Mr Joyce has vowed to fight on despite the criticism and mounting pressure on him to quit amid the scandal engulfing the federal government.

'I've been in heaps of fights in my political life, this is another one,' he said.

'In any person's political career you aren't created by the times in your favour, you're tempered by the times of adversity. That's how politics works - you rise to deal with it.'

The deputy prime minister, who's taken personal leave after his affair with Vikki Campion was made public, also played down a phone hook-up between Nationals officials on Monday afternoon.

Mr Joyce said it was not an official meeting, saying the leader of the Nationals is decided by party MPs.

Finance Minister Mathias Cormann, who will become acting prime minister on Wednesday when Malcolm Turnbull heads to the US, reiterated Mr Joyce's future is up to his colleagues.

But he said he was very confident Mr Joyce and Mr Turnbull will continue to do good work together, despite their sometimes 'robust relationship'.

'Barnaby's had a difficult week, there's no two ways about it,' he said.

'It's important no doubt for him and his family, but it's of course also important for the government, for us to get to the other side of this.'

Vikki Campion (pictured left) joined Barnaby Joyce's staff as a media adviser before the pair's relationship escalated

Sources in the Nationals claimed recent stories about Barnaby Joyce had been leaked by Malcolm Turnbull's (pictured) office

Senator Cormann left a voicemail message with the deputy prime minister in the last few days but said the pair haven't had a chance to talk.

Mr Joyce's NSW Nationals colleague Michael McCormack, who's been touted as a potential replacement, dodged multiple questions about the issue on Monday, refusing six times to explicitly back Mr Joyce's leadership.

'There is no challenge at the moment... he has the party's support,' the minister told Sky News.

He also missed five opportunities to rule out a challenge at next Monday's Nationals party room meeting in Canberra.

He later added: 'Of course I support Barnaby Joyce, he's our leader, he's been a very good leader.'

'People are starting to see this as a witch hunt. I'm not going anywhere,' Barnaby Joyce said on Monday

Mr Joyce and Ms Campion were photographed together in a bar at Glebe in Sydney's inner-west in February 2017, after flying down from Tamworth

Some sources inside the Nationals have turned the focus on Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull - accusing him of working in partnership with journalists by leaking stories.

It comes after it emerged his relationship with his younger former media adviser had cost taxpayers more than $28,000 for them to travel together for work.

Daily Mail Australia is not suggesting anything illegal took place and is not accusing Mr Joyce of misusing public funds.

However, the revelation about the 50-year-old Nationals leader's expenses came as a Newspoll survey showed two-thirds of voters wanted Mr Joyce to resign as Deputy Prime Minister as he prepared to take a week of leave.

A Newspoll survey shows 65 per cent of voters want Mr Joyce to quit as Deputy Prime Minister

Ms Campion travelled extensively across Australia with her former boss, flying with him from Brisbane to Victoria (flight receipts pictured above)

In 2016 and 2017, the father-of-four's travel to events with his now pregnant 33-year-old former staffer Vikki Campion cost taxpayers $28,408 when she was on his payroll.

Daily Mail Australia has analysed expenses incurred by Mr Joyce between May 2016, when Ms Campion joined his election campaign as media adviser, to April 2017 when she quit as his adviser to work for Nationals minister Matt Canavan.

EXPENSES TIMELINE 27 May 2016  Gold Coast/Tamworth: $11,000  VIP flight 17 June 2016  Glen Innes/Lismore: $1,334  VIP flight 17 June 2016  Lismore/Inverell: $1,334  VIP flight 25 August 2016 - Melbourne/Sydney: $1,135; Comcars: $346 5 October 2016  Orange/Narrandera: $562  VIP flight 5 October 2016  Narrandera/Deniliquin: $351  VIP flight 14 November 2016  Brisbane/East Sale: $8,740  VIP flight 14 November 2016 - East Sale/Melbourne: $2,300  VIP flight 23 February 2017 - Tamworth/Sydney: $356 flight; two night travel allowance: $442; Comcars: $73 25 February 2017 - Sydney/Tamworth: $356 flight; Comcar: $79 Sources: Department of Finance, Defence Advertisement

This publication isn't suggesting any misuse of funds and has examined the records from the Department of Finance and Defence, which operate VIP flights for ministers.

However, Mr Joyce's 24-year marriage to his estranged wife Natalie ended after Ms Campion had joined his office.

She travelled extensively across Australia with her former boss, flying with him from the Gold Coast to Melbourne, and several regional centres in between, during her year as a full-time staffer with the Deputy Prime Minister.

When Ms Campion first joined the Deputy PM's office in May 2016, she travelled with her boss on VIP flights to the New South Wales towns of Tamworth, Glen Innes, Armidale, Lismore, as Mr Joyce campaigned for the upcoming July election.

Three months later, in August 2016, the pair caught a flight from Sydney to Melbourne costing taxpayers $1,135 so they could attend an Australian Dairy Industry Symposium.

In October and November 2016, Mr Joyce and Ms Campion took four VIP trips together, costing almost $12,000, taking them across central-western NSW and to Brisbane and Melbourne.

In February last year, Mr Joyce was photographed with Ms Campion, a former Daily Telegraph journalist, drinking a bar at Glebe in Sydney's inner-west.

Mr Joyce's relationship with his younger former media adviser had cost taxpayers more than $28,000 for them to travel together for work

Mr Joyce's 24-year marriage to his estranged wife Natalie ended after Ms Campion had joined his office

During that visit to the New South Wales capital, Mr Joyce claimed two nights of travel allowance worth $442, along with flights from Sydney to Tamworth each costing $356.

The Deputy Prime Minister also claimed $152 in Comcar travel.

His relationship with Ms Campion has damaged the Turnbull Government's standing, with the Coalition's primary vote falling two points to 36 per cent, putting it one point behind Labor's.

The government now trails the Opposition 53 per cent to 47 per cent after preferences.

Daily Mail Australia contacted Mr Joyce's office for comment.As the young couple were married in 1901, the priest in the Galician church did not think anything was amiss.

But unbeknownst to the church leader, both the bride and groom were female - and were married in the only same sex ceremony to ever take place in the Spanish Catholic Church.

Marcela Gracia Ibeas and Elisa Sanchez Loriga - who played the part of Mario for their wedding day - spent the rest of their lives dodging punishment from the authorities.

Marcela Gracia Ibeas (left) and Elisa Sanchez Loriga (right) were wed in the Spanish Catholic Church's only same sex marriage ceremony in 1901

Elisa played the part of Mario for the wedding day, but after their nuptials the pair were forced to go on the run after their plan was outed by a Spanish newspaper

The infatuated couple met during teacher training in A Coruna, but Marcela's mother sent her daughter to Madrid due to fears over the women's relationship.

Despite their initial separation, Marcela and Elisa eventually began working at schools located close together, according to historian Narciso de Gabriel.

As part of their elaborate plan, Marcela announced she would be marrying her cousin, Mario, who was from London (to be played by Elisa). Mario was baptized, and then wed Marcela.

Veronica kisses Tiana in front of the municipal councellor Jorge Vergara (L) during their wedding, at Mollet del Valles near Barcelona, 22 July 2005. The couple is the first lesbian one to marry since the new legislation went into effect

The fishing port of A Coruna, where the two women completed their teacher training before their wedding in 1901

Their cunning plan was outed by a Galician newspaper, who printed their wedding photo and exposed their lie, forcing the women to move to Porto.

They then continued onto Buenos Aires, after they feared extradition from Portugal.

Marcela was reportedly pregnant by an unknown man when she was married, and gave birth to a daughter before they left Porto.

The story of the lesbian couple is set to be told by Isabel Coixet, who told the BBC: 'When I think about these two women and the courage it took for one of them to pretend to be a man, it was unbelievably brave

'I was fascinated the first time I heard about the story, which almost raised more questions than it has answers.

'We don't know what happened to them in the end, and how did they think they would get away with it?'Ben Bradley has deleted a tweet claiming Jeremy Corbyn 'sold British secrets to communist spies' after the Labour leader's lawyers contacted him to delete the 'libellous' post.

The Tory MP's tweet was a reference to accusations made by the Sun that Mr Corbyn met with a Czech diplomat who was a spy.

Replying to the Far Right Watch account earlier this afternoon, Mr Bradley tweeted: 'Corbyn sold British secrets to communist spies... get some perspective mate!! Your priorities are a bit awry!'

The Far Right Watch account had quote tweeted an earlier tweet by Mr Bradley claiming he congratulated a homophobe.

Tory MP Ben Bradley tweeted earlier today claiming Jeremy Corbyn 'sold British secrets to communist spies'. Guardian columnist Owen Jones suggested the Labour leader sue him

Mr Bradley's tweet was a reference to accusations made by the Sun that Mr Corbyn met with a Czech diplomat who was a spy (Pictured: Mr Bradley's official portrait)

Hours after the post, Guardian columnist Owen Jones tweeted a screengrab of the tweet with the caption: 'Sue him, @jeremycorbyn. This straight out libel is indefensible in a court of law, and an example has to be made.'

It has racked up 3,000 likes and more than 1,200 retweets.

A spokesman for the Labour leader said: 'Jeremy has instructed solicitors to contact Ben Bradley to delete his libellous tweet or face legal action.'

Several Twitter users have called for the tweet to be investigated by the Fake News Unit due to be set up by the Conservative government.

Labour MP David Lammy tweeted: 'Hello @theresa_may may I suggest that your promised Fake News Unit looks into the @Conservatives Party Vice Chair.'

Mr Bradley has not apologised to Mr Corbyn over the deleted tweet.

According to the Sun, Mr Corbyn met with Lt Jan Dymic, whose real name is Jan Sarkocy, several times.

Labour have acknowledged that Mr Corbyn met with Czechoslovakian diplomats but denied knowing the agent was a spy.A man has been charged over the stabbing of another man near Sydney's Kings Cross over the weekend.

An 18-year-old man was found with serious arm and leg injuries in the driveway of a Woolloomooloo home about 11.45pm on Sunday.

A 23-year-old man was arrested at an Ultimo apartment on Monday afternoon and charged with wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, and possessing a prohibited drug.

A 23-year-old man has been charged over the stabbing of another man near Sydney's Kings Cross on Sunday night (pictured is the teenager being treated at the scene)

An 18-year-old man was found with serious arm and leg injuries in the driveway of a Woolloomooloo home about 11.45pm (pictured is the scene)

He was refused bail and is due to appear in Central Local Court on Tuesday.

The teenager was treated at the scene before being taken to St Vincents Hospital where he remains in a stable condition.

Police searched the surrounding area after the attack and found a knife in nearby Harmer Street, which was seized for forensic examination.

The stabbing occurred a short distance from the Woolloomooloo Finger Wharf area, home to some of Sydney's most exclusive restaurants and boutique hotels.A high school teacher has been busted for allegedly having sex with a 15-year-old girl in his car but claims he thought she was 19.

Joseph Scott Harris, 57, was arrested after police found him in the car with the underage girl in Utah on Friday.

Authorities said they were called to investigate a suspicious car in West Haven, north of Salt Lake City, when they found the pair partially clothed inside the vehicle.

Joseph Scott Harris, a 57-year-old teacher at Logan High School (left in mugshot and right in school portrait), was arrested in Utah on Friday for having sex with a 15-year-old girl

During a police interview, the teenager admitted that she had met with Harris multiple times for sex since the beginning of the year.

Harris, who is a skilled and technical sciences teacher at Logan High School, told authorities he had met the girl online.

He said he thought she was 19 but admitted she looked young, according to his arrest report.

Harris has been teaching at Logan High for the past 30 years and has been suspended while the police investigation is carried out

Harris told police the pair had met three times for sex.

He has been charged with six counts of felony unlawful sexual activity with a minor.

The school district has suspended him while the police investigation is carried out.

He has been teaching at Logan High for the past 30 years.Privy Council documents released online show that the Queen had ordered new 50p coins to be designed to honour Paddington Bear.

According to the documents, Her Majesty has requested a batch of thousands of the coins to celebrate the literary character.

The coins would mark the 60th anniversary of the British stories.

The Queen has ordered a new batch of 50p coins showing Paddington Bear to mark the 60th anniversary of the stories

The documents also detailed what the potential coins would look like and what they would be made out of it.

Materials used to create them would include gold, silver and cupro-nickle.

While the pictures depicted on the new 50p coins will see the famous brown bear sitting in a suitcase at Paddington Station or waving a British flag outside Buckingham Palace.

The beloved bear has enjoyed a resurgence of popularity with two films about him since 2014, however it is unclear when and how many coins will be released of him

Those are the two designs that have been requested by the Palace.

It is unknown exactly how many of the the coins will be created, or when they will be released.

The beloved bear has experienced a revival in popularity recently, with two movies released starring him.

Paddington Bear author Michael Bond died last year, with stars such as Stephen Fry attending his funeral.

The potential new coins come hot on the heels of confirmation from the Royal Mint that they will release four new Beatrix Potter 50p coins which feature some of Britain's most-loved children's characters.

The news follows confirmation from the Royal Mint that four new Beatrix Potter-inspired coins will be released, after the launch of the 2016 collection in her honour

Peter Rabbit is one of four popular characters from the children's author's books to appear on the special coins.

He will join Flopsy Bunny  the mother of the captured rabbits - Mrs Tittlemouse and a helpful mouse from The Tailor Of Gloucester.

The four designs will be added to the mint's Beatrix Potter collection, first launched in 2016 to commemorate 150 years since her birth.Lucas Hernandez was reported missing on Saturday in Wichita, Kansas

The hunt for a missing five-year-old boy turned desperate on Monday as the search entered its third day.

Lucas Hernandez was reported missing from him home in Wichita, Kansas on Saturday by his 26-year-old stepmother.

The stepmother, who is not being named, told cops that she last saw the boy around 3pm, when she went to take a shower and then fell asleep.

When she woke up three hours later, Lucas was gone and the back door was open, she said.

Lucas lived at the home with his father and was enrolled at Beech Elementary School.

Police quickly jumped into action, using K9 units to search the home, surrounding neighborhood and a nearby park for clues. But they turned up empty handed.

Scroll down for video

The five-year-old boy was last seen by his stepmother around 3pm, in his bedroom at their home on South Edgemoor Street

When the stepmom woke up from a nap three hours later, she told police that the boy was gone and the back door open

No Amber Alert was issued for Lucas because police have found no evidence he was kidnapped

Locals questioned why an Amber Alert wasn't issued for the boy, but police say that's because there's no evidence he was kidnapped.

The FBI is working with local police to locate the boy.

Lucas is described as having brown hair and eyes. He is about four feet tall and weighs approximately 60 pounds.

He was last seen wearing a gray shirt with a bear on it, black sweatpants and white socks.

Kristin Edson, a cousin of the stepmom, told KWCH that Lucas' dad and stepmom are both distraught.

'Very distraught. Very upset. Devastated. I mean, can you imagine?' Edson said. 'They're just very distraught and worried about his safety. It's cold out. We don't know where he's at.'

Police searched the home, surrounding neighborhood and a nearby park for Lucas - to no avail

Relatives told a local newspaper on Sunday that they knew the family had been investigated by child protective services

But other relatives say they knew the family had issues.

Sally Rasmussen, Lucas' great aunt, and Jeannie Houchin, Lucas' great grandmother, told The Eagle on Sunday that they had concerns about the boy's welfare in the past.

Rasmussen said she contacted the Kansas Department for Children and Families last spring about the boy. Houchin said the agency confirmed it was investigating. They did not go into details about their concerns.

Anyone with information on the boy's disappearance is being asked to call 316-383-4661.Britain could be quids in as early as next year after plans to reopen the UK's only underground gold mine are poised to be given the green light.

Following years of wrangling, a Scottish mining company hoping to extract an estimated 200,000 ounces of gold in the village of Tyndrum has just received backing from its main key player.

The planning committee at Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park Authority is due to visit the site next week and it is believed they will finally give Scotgold Resources Ltd the go ahead.

Plans to reopen the UK's only underground gold mine are poised to be given the green light

A mining company in Scotland - hoping to extract an estimated 200,000 ounces of gold in the village of Tyndrum - has just received backing from its main key player

So far the company has received 3 million from shareholders towards the scheme but it will need to find a further 7 million from investors to get off the ground

Revised plans have made the huge Cononish Mine 'much more environmentally friendly', which is thought to have finally won over officials.

Richard Gray, Scotgold Resources' managing director, told the Oban Times: 'If we get permission, and we have every reason to expect that we will get it because we came back with a better scheme, it would create 63 direct jobs and we would be buying materials we need from local suppliers, boosting the local economy.

'We hope it won't be too long before we get a decision from the National Park Authority.'

Scotgold Resources has been producing precious metals above ground for 18 months (file photo: A Scottish gold nugget not from the mine)

Eco friendly: Revised plans have made the huge Cononish Mine 'much more environmentally friendly', which is thought to have finally won over officials

Scotgold Resources has been producing precious metals above ground for 18 months.

The company has processed 2,400 tonnes of ore stockpiled outside the mine entrance from the 1980s, but supply is now dwindling.

By reopening the mine, Scotgold Resources believe it will be able to tap into a whopping 560,000 tonnes of ore from an underground quarts vein carrying both gold and silver.

The planning committee at Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park Authority is due to visit the site next week and it is believed they will finally give Scotgold Resources Ltd the go ahead

2,400 tonnes of ore have been stockpiled outside the main entrance from the 1980s, but supply is now dwindling

Scotgold Resources believe it will be able to tap into a whopping 560,000 tonnes of ore from an underground quarts vein carrying both gold and silver

It is hoped it will attract both tourists and couples wanting niche Scottish gold wedding and engagement rings.

The company has so far received 3 million from shareholders towards the scheme but it will need to find a further 7 million from investors to get off the ground.

Among the adjustments, Scotgold Resources' updated plans propose that the mining operations will be phased in over 17 years instead of 10.

The mine is the UK's only underground gold mine, and is located in Tyndrum, Scotland

Updated plans by Scotgold Resources' propose that the mining operations will be phased in over 17 years instead of 10

In November 2015, Scotgold raised almost 46,000 by auctioning off 10 gold coins to collectors and enthusiasts

A spokesman for the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority said: 'A planning application was received from Scotgold on the August 10, 2017, for its revised mine proposal at Cononish gold mine at Tyndrum.

'This is being considered according to the National Park Authority's standard planning procedures.'

In November 2015, Scotgold raised almost 46,000 by auctioning off 10 gold coins to collectors and enthusiasts.

The coins were all embossed with a stag's head and weighed one ounce.

Graham Donaldson, from Christchurch in Dorset bagged one for 21,003.3p.

He said he was going to 'look at it, stroke it and put it in a safe place'.Daytime telly and Theresa May are an odd combination. One grimaces and tacks, the other zooms from doe-eyed concern to pingy frivolity.

Rice pudding and Tabasco, marshmallow with herring: such dishes may not be soulmates yet there can be curiosity value in seeing them together. Yesterday Mrs May appeared on ITVs This Morning. She forsook the burdens of the Downing Street vicarage for Phillip and Hollys spangled fishbowl.

She was interviewed between a showbiz gossip slot  the Baftas and Cheryl Coles love life  and a segment on household products. Thank you, Prime Minister. Coming up next: loo cleaners. Weve got some gorgeous guests today! cried Phillip or Holly at the top-of-the-show (as we daytime veterans say).

Theresa May appeared on ITV's This Morning show where she answered questions from Philip Schofield on her new plans to review university fees

It being Chinese new year, fashions Gok Wan was in the kitchen with his no-less insistent brother, a chef. Georgia Toffolo, celebrity person, was interviewed about her spots. We were told how brave she was.

Financial adviser Martin Lewis  hairy chest, dicey make-up  yacked on about credit cards. Peculiar man, Lewis. He kept shouting. It was not altogether clear whether Holly Willoughby liked him.

Into this merry mish-mash of a Middle Britain Monday morning waddled our cautious Prime Minister. Presumably she had been through make-up and the green room like everyone else. Small-talk rapids. Usually, anyway. They may yesterday have found themselves becalmed.

Theresa May be late, Philip Schofield told viewers, ho ho, when the PMs arrival was delayed. He added: Its her first time on the sofa!

On the Graham Norton show that could sound filthy. On This Morning it was innocent, embracing, designed to make the First Lord of the Treasury one of the gang (though she later said she had appeared on the show when Home Secretary).

She perched on the celebrated sofa in an etiquette-school manner, knees together. When David Cameron and Tony Blair did daytime telly, they would manspread to radiate nonchalance. Mrs May, more polite and less of an actress, could have been awaiting the dentist.

While on the show, the Prime Minister said that university was not for everyone

She began by talking about how there was going to be a year-long review of university fees. Holly tried valiantly to look interested. Phillip was less fussed. Have ya got the money? he snapped. Mrs May pulled a face as if to tell him to improve his manners.

University was not for everyone, she said. The ITV duo wondered if you needed a college education to become PM. John Major didnt go to university, said Mrs May.

That was the only one she could think of but nor did Churchill. Or James Callaghan (he could not afford the fees). Or, cough, Jeremy Corbyn.

After a hesitant start Mrs May was relaxing a little. By the usual standards of This Morning, it has to be said, she remained starchy, even when describing the plight of a constituent who had suffered poor mental health.

Daytime telly demands total emotive fluency and brisk repartee. She was handed a rubber wristband to signify opposition to bullying. She could have said Ill wave that at my ministers next time they gang up on Boris in Cabinet. But she did not.

Are you enjoying the job? blurted Phillip Schofield. Yes, she said too quickly. A fib? Schofield: Are you sure? Mrs May: Yes. I just get on and do it. Its worthwhile, actually. Schofield said she must hate headlines which said she was beleaguered and hanging on by a thread.

The Prime Minster was also asked if she was enjoying her job, to which she replied yes, although host Schofield asked if she was sure

Mrs May said she was on her constituency doorsteps on Saturday and couldnt give a hoot about headlines. Im just doing the job and Im going to jolly well get on and do it.

Finally, Schofield asked do you ever switch off? (his viewers possibly were by now). Did she ever kick off her shoes and order a takeaway? Mrs May did one of those silent laughs, almost devoid of mirth.

They did not come back to her after the break. But I have seen her do worse.A Chick-fil-A lover in Georgia pretended to be a federal enforcement officer in hopes to get a discount at the chicken joint.

A judge in Marietta charged Tara Marie Solem on two felony counts of impersonating an officer on Thursday after she tried to fool workers at the chain restaurant last summer in Marietta.

Solem initially had tried to trick a drive-thru employee, who didn't fall for her tale, according to the arrest warrant.

Then, she made her way into the restaurant to talk up her fake career in law enforcement to the managers.

Tara Marie Solem is the Georgia woman who posed as a federal enforcement officer in attempt to get a Chick-fil-A discount

Police in Marietta have newly charged Tara Marie Solem on two felony counts of impersonating an officer after she tried to fool workers at the chain restaurant last summer in Marietta

When the managers inquired further, Solem whipped out a fake badge, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.

Solem is pictured in her mugshot above. She was jailed with a bond of $6,500

She also claimed during the desperate incident that she was an 'undercover' agent.

Solem said that 'for them asking her to be in uniform would blow her cover and possible [sic] get her killed,' the warrant said.

The penny-pinching Solem went so far as to complain to corporate when her plan fell through.

She reportedly told the individual in corporate her name was 'Agent Solem,' according to the newspaper.

But the story became even more sketchy when the woman charged her story and claimed she worked at the Georgia Bureau of Investigations.

An officer at the bureau later confirmed there was no record of Solem.

Solem was put behind bars on $6,500 bond and ordered to never return to the Chick-fil-A location.

A few months prior to the incident, Solem posted a Facebook cover photo which read: 'I may appear harmless... but inside, I'm completely badass.'Outspoken former senator Jacqui Lambie has slammed Barnaby Joyce, saying he overshadowed parliament with his personal life.

Ms Lambie spoke out while campaigning in Launceston for next month's Tasmanian state election.

She had stern words for Mr Joyce over his affair with his now-pregnant former staffer Vikki Campion, before moving on to criticise Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

Outspoken former senator Jacqui Lambie (pictured) has slammed Barnaby Joyce, saying he overshadowed parliament with his personal life

Ms Lambie spoke out while campaigning in Launceston for next month's Tasmanian state election (pictured is Barnaby Joyce)

She had stern words for Mr Joyce (pictured, right) over his affair with his now-pregnant former staffer Vikki Campion (pictured, left), before moving on to criticise Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull

'I got out when it was turning into 50 Shades of Parly,' she said in a reference to her own exit from the Senate last year while speaking to The Sydney Morning Herald.

'Barnaby should have gone to the backbench about 10 days ago. Where is his integrity?

'He has overshadowed parliament with his own bloody personal life. That's it. Out. He could have bloody shut it down if he went.'

Next she turned her attention to Mr Turnbull, saying he has made the situation worse with his 'gibbering' and said he should have taken action instead of talking.

'I got out when it was turning into 50 Shades of Parly,' Ms Lambie (pictured, centre) said in a reference to her own exit from the Senate last year

Next she turned her attention to Mr Turnbull (pictured, left, with wife Lucy), saying he has made the situation worse with his 'gibbering' and said he should have taken action instead of talking

Mr Turnbull should have ended the scandal by telling Mr Joyce to go to the backbench, she said.

Ms Lambie also took aim at Nationals MP George Christensen, who was condemned for posting a photo of himself holding a gun on Facebook.

Calling Mr Christensen an 'idiot', she questioned his maturity and his party's stance on firearms while saying she condemns gun violence.

Ms Lambie, who hopes to regain a place in the Senate, is running 12 Jacqui Lambie Network candidates in the March 3 election.

Ms Lambie also took aim at Nationals MP George Christensen, who was condemned for posting a photo of himself holding a gun on Facebook (pictured)

She is fending off a scandal of her own in the form of a legal dispute with her former chief-of-staff Rob Messenger.

The newly-formed party are hoping to hold the balance of power in Tasmanian, and have policies falling on both sides of the political spectrum.

The Jacqui Lambie Network supports increasing spending on education and health and backs Labor's anti-Pokies policies in the state.

On law and order the party maintains a tougher stance, and in the past Ms Lambie has supported burqa bans, compared the Greens to Islamic State and called for the reintroduction of the death penalty.A house fire that killed three people including two young children was deliberately lit, police have confirmed.

Fire crews were called to the blaze after it broke out at the home in Bonner, Canberra's north, about 8.45am on Monday.

The family home is now the the scene of a crime, as police investigate the deliberately lit fire.

Neighbours said a woman in her 40s lived at the Peter Coppin Street address with two primary school aged children, a boy and a girl.

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Fire crews were called to the blaze (pictured) after it broke out at the home in Bonner, Canberra's north, about 8.45am on Monday

Police have confirmed a house fire that killed three people including two young children was deliberately lit. Three pumpers, breathing apparatus support and two commanders were at the scene, ACT Fire and Rescue said

When fire crews were called to the home on Monday, they initially found no one inside.

After a second search of the house, the bodies of a woman and two children were tragically discovered.

The deceased woman and children are yet to be identified.

No arrests have been made.

Fire crews fought to contain the blaze at the house in Canberra in the capital's northern suburbs

Neighbour Rachael Collins said the fire took hold of the home quickly.

'My husband left for work at 8.30am, there was no sign of smoke, nothing... I left at 17 minutes to nine and it was up in smoke,' she told the Canberra Times.

'I could see it coming out of the roof. So within a 13-minute period that house had gone from being nothing to being in flames.'

Another neighbour said they never saw the woman or children who lived at the home.

'They kept to themselves. There was never a lot of activity around the house,' they told the ABC.

'I didn't really know who lived there. Didn't even know that there were kids there.

'Around here, the kids were always playing, you always see the kids out on the street. But there, that house... very very little activity.'

One neighbour, who confirmed the family kept to themselves, said she couldn't believe the tragedy happened so close to home.

'Very terrible honestly, last night I couldn't sleep. I couldn't believe that the children died on fire,' she told Nine News.

But despite an initial search of the property, it was ruled no people were inside and there were no casualties

Questions remain about how the bodies were not discovered earlier.

An ACT Policing spokesman declined to comment further on how they were missed first time around when asked by Daily Mail Australia.

They also said they were unable to confirm details of the identities and ages of the three people who died.

A spokesman for ACT Policing said: 'The investigation into a suspicious fire which occurred at a residence in Bonner this morning (Monday) remains ongoing.

'Around 8.45am, ACT Policing and ACT Fire and Rescue responded to reports of smoke appearing from the roof of a residence in Peter Coppin Street, Bonner.

'Following a structural assessment, a full search has now been conducted and three people were located deceased inside the residence.'

Detectives are now appealing for witnesses and have urged people with information to come forward

Detectives are now appealing for witnesses and have urged people with information to come forward.

'A crime scene will remain in place while ACT Policing's Criminal Investigations conduct further inquiries,' police said.

'At this time the identities of the deceased persons have not been confirmed.

'A report will be prepared for the coroner.'

ACT Fire and Rescue said earlier in a statement it had 'conducted a primary search of the building and confirmed there is no one inside'.

The spokesman added: 'Crews arrived to find a home well alight. Three pumpers, breathing apparatus support and two commanders are on scene.'

Anyone who may have seen the incident or witnessed anything which can help the investigation is asked to call CrimeStoppers on 1800 333 000 or via the Crime Stoppers ACT website quoting reference 6235814. Information can be given anonymously.A police search of a home in Southern California didn't just turn up illegal drugs - it also a revealed an illegal taxidermied mountain lion.

The warrant to search the house was executed on the 100 block of Grizzly Road in Lake Arrowhead, California over the weekend. Lake Arrowhead is located about 80 miles east of Los Angeles.

According to a news release put out by the Twin Peaks Sheriff's Station, the warrant was for illegal possession of a protected animal carcass. When authorities searched the house, they found the preserved mountain lion perched above the fireplace. The mountain lion was in the custody of 55-year-old Mark Kirk, the news release said. Kirk was also found to possess four grams of crystal meth during the search. Kirk was arrested for the offenses.

Mark Kirk, 55, was arrested after a search warrant revealed him to be in possession of meth and an mountain lion's carcass (above) - mountain lion carcasses are illegal to possess in California

While at the house, police contacted other people familiar with the property. One of the people contacted was 27-year-old Skylar Martinez, who was found to be under the influence of a controlled substance - he was also arrested.

Possession of the carcass of a mountain lion is illegal under California state law.

Kirk and Martinez were both taken into police custody without incident and transported into the sheriff's office's detention center.

Following the search, the authorities took possession of the mountain lion carcass - it'll be used as evidence in the case against Kirk.Jan Sarkocy (pictured) kept a note from his meetings with the now Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn

A Cold War spy told his bosses that Jeremy Corbyn had a good supply of information, secret papers reveal.

Jan Sarkocy, who was a Czech agent, documented his meetings with the Labour leader, which began in November 1986.

After an encounter at a social event in Parliament, he wrote a briefing note to his superiors under the heading: 'Jeremy Corbyn: connecting with contact.' It describes how the then Labour backbencher was very well informed about those involved in 'anti-communist agencies'.

The letter concluded: 'He seems to be the right person for fulfilling the task and giving information.' In a dossier on his contacts, Mr Sarkocy gave Mr Corbyn the codename 'COB'.

The dossier said: 'Corbyn, Labour MP of the House of Commons of the British Parliament, contact initiated 25.11.1986.

'Followed up to the degree of RS (person of interest). He has an active supply of information on British intelligence services.'

In his memos Mr Sarkocy said he had an 'important' meeting with Mr Corbyn  who says the claims are 'a ridiculous smear and entirely false'  outside the Commons as well as another liaison at the MP's office in north London.

He said it was 'helpful to enrich our relations and confidences'. One letter described Mr Corbyn as 'mellow' but 'explosive' whenever the issue of human rights came up.

A note from 1987 cryptically suggested 'contacting' Mr Corbyn with the aim 'to obtain a possible motive'. The letter also warned: 'Let's approach carefully as Labour MPs are also under control of the British intelligence service.'

The documents indicate Mr Corbyn did not know he was meeting a spy and was not being paid for any information.

This contradicts claims by Mr Sarkocy that the MP was a paid informant, an allegation emphatically denied by Mr Corbyn. Mr Sarkocy worked for the Statni Bezpecnost, Czech secret police, at the country's London embassy. He was in Britain from 1986 to 1989 before being expelled. He says there was 'no question' that Labour figures knew he was a spy.

Jeremy Corbyn (pictured) was very well informed about those involved in 'anti-communist agencies', according to the secret papers

In a dossier on his contacts, Mr Sarkocy gave Mr Corbyn (pictured in 1998) the codename 'COB'

Translators said Mr Sarkocy's letters and memos to his handlers back in Prague were written in tangled bureaucratic language, which made them difficult to read even for native Czech speakers.

Svetlana Ptacnikova, director of the Czech security forces archive, said the fact that Mr Corbyn had been mentioned in the documents suggested that he had some 'questions to answer'.

But she also told the BBC: 'Mr Corbyn was not a secret collaborator working for the Czechoslovakian intelligence service.

'The files we have on him are kept in a folder starting with the identification number one. Secret collaborators were allocated with folders that started with the number four.

'If he had been successfully recruited as in informant, then his person of interest file would have been closed and a new folder would have been opened and that would have started with the number four.'

Asked if the way files were numbered suggested that Mr Corbyn was never anything other than a person of interest, a potential collaborator but not an informant, she replied: 'This is exactly what we believed.

Mr Corbyn started talking to Cold War spy, Mr Sarkocy, in November 1986, according to the papers

'The abbreviation 'RS' used in front of his file number translates as a prospective contact.

'Then above that was 'RT', but not even that meant that the person had agreed to collaborate, so he stayed in that basic category.

'And in fact he is still described as that, a person of interest, in the final report issued by the agent shortly before he was expelled.'

A spokesman for Mr Corbyn has said: 'Jeremy was neither an agent, asset, informer nor collaborator with Czechoslovak intelligence. These claims are a ridiculous smear and entirely false.

'The former Czechoslovak agent Jan Sarkocy's account of his meeting with Jeremy was false 30 years ago, is false now and has no credibility whatsoever. His story has more plot holes in it than a bad James Bond movie.'

The first of Mr Sarkocy's letters was signed under the name Jan Dymcic, his diplomatic alias.

In it, he requested 1 in expenses to cover the cost of the Tube trip to meet Mr Corbyn.

Labour MPs were paid up to 10,000 to meet Eastern Bloc agents during the Cold War, an ex-spy claimed.

Jan Sarkocy said at least 15 senior Labour figures had shared information with him in the late 1980s. Some pocketed between 1,000 and 10,000 per meeting but still wanted more, he alleged.

The former Czech spy, who met Jeremy Corbyn at the time, claimed the MPs wanted big bucks for giving us help.

His latest comments prompted calls for an official probe into the allegations.

Mr Corbyn vehemently denies Mr Sarkocys claim he was a paid informant of the Czech secret police.

It was also alleged that John McDonnell had met a KGB agent several times and Ken Livingstone had met representatives of the Czech regime, although there is no suggestion that either of these were paid.A 23-year-old was charged with hiring another man to murder his parents early Sunday, police have said.

Joshua Miceli and Michael Targo were arrested in connection to the attack of a couple living in the Chicago suburb of Glen Ellyn early Sunday morning.

The attack occurred when a man entered the couple's home at around 2.50am and bludgeoned them with a hammer.

The man was quickly tracked down at a nearby business and later identified as 18-year-old Targo, the Dupage County sheriff's office told the Chicago Tribune on Monday.

Joshua Miceli (left), 23, and Michael Targo (right) were arrested in connection to the attack of a couple living in the Chicago suburb of Glen Ellyn early Sunday morning

Targo was allegedly hired by the couple's son, Josh Miceli, to murder his parents.

Miceli allegedly confessed to hiring Targo in an interview with police, authorities told the Tribune.

The parents, who have not been named, both sustained serious injuries but are are stable. Sgt Robert Harris said the mother was still in the hospital as of Monday afternoon.

The attack occurred when a man entered the couple's home at around 2.50am and bludgeoned them with a hammer. Targo was allegedly hired by the couple's son, Josh Miceli, to murder his parents

Both young men were arrested and charged with two counts of attempted first-degree murder. Miceli is also facing an additional two counts of solicitation of murder. Miceli is seen in two photos from Facebook

Investigators say that Targo accepted an officer from Miceli which said the teen would be paid after the parents were killed.

Investigators say that Targo (pictured) accepted an officer from Miceli which said the teen would be paid after the parents were killed

Both young men were arrested and charged with two counts of attempted first-degree murder.

Miceli is also facing an additional two counts of solicitation of murder.

They are being held without bail after an appearance in court Monday to set bond. Both are scheduled to appear in court for a second time on March 12.

It's not clear if either man has legal representation.

In a news release Monday, Under Sheriff Frank Bibbiano credited the department for making the arrests and apprehending the suspects.

'I would like to praise our deputies for quickly apprehending these dangerous criminals and the investigators who were able to put the pieces together so swiftly,' Bibbiano said.

'Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims of this heinous crime and we hope for their speedy recovery.'The president of Adams State University has been placed on leave after she dressed up as an overweight, bucktoothed plumber for Halloween.

Beverlee McClure's 'offensive' costume, which included a fat suit belly, fake teeth and yellow glasses, sparked outrage on the Alamosa campus, in Colorado, after photos began circulating.

It appears to have been the final straw for McClure, who became the president's first female president in 2015, who has also been accused of bulling faculty and staff, and failing to stem declining student enrollment, the Denver Post reports.

Beverlee McClure (pictured right, and left in the 'offensive' costume last year) has been placed on leave

Last week she was placed on leave by the school's board of trustees.

'It just showed her contempt for the working people in the community in Alamosa, which is very blue-collar and working class,' said former faculty member Danny Ledonne of her costume.

'But that is McClure. She cultivated this campus culture of bullying and backstabbing, and anyone who didn't agree with her or her group were thrown under the bus.'

Trustees would only say that McClure had been placed on leave because 'the priorities of the current board are no longer congruent with the priorities of the president, and the parties are therefore working to accomplish a mutually agreeable resolution.'

McClure's 'offensive' costume, which included a fat suit belly, fake teeth and yellow glasses, sparked outrage on the Alamosa campus, in Colorado, after photos began circulating

McClure, as the 'plumber' was pictured posing next to an 'inmate' at the Halloween party last year

Dr. Matt Nehring has taken over as temporary president in the meantime.

McClure was hired for her business acumen but has been criticized by her coworkers for what they say is her abrasive and dismissive attitude.

A current faculty member, who would not give their name for fear McClure would seek revenge, said that the president was renowned as a bully.

'Her people skills are awful because she is vindictive, hyper-sensitive to criticism, and just plain mean. She mocks people less fortunate than herself, like a waitperson with a stutter,' they said.

McClure, who is paid $205,000 a year, insists her critics are simply sexist and accused Ledonne of cyberbully her last year.

McClure, who became the president's first female president in 2015, who has also been accused of bulling faculty and staff, and failing to stem declining student enrollment

She claimed in a statement he was leading an 'internet mob' and called for tougher laws on cyberbullies. McClure also banned Ledonne, who taught in the school's mass communication program from 2011-15 and ran video production business, Emberwild Productions, from the campus.

In response, he set up a webpage, Watching Adams, which provided news coverage on the university and criticized McClure for her poor management skills.

Referring to his blog, McClure later accused Ledonne of 'terrorism against me and the previous president,'

The ACLU sued the university on his behalf and in 2016, Ledonne's campus ban was lifted and he was awarded $100,000 to settle the lawsuit. She refused to issue an apology.Ken Livingstone (pictured) has admitted meeting a KGB spy posing as a journalist

Ken Livingstone last night admitted meeting a KGB spy posing as a journalist for a number of interviews in the 1980s  who even organised for him to go on a ten-day trip to Russia.

The former mayor of London said secret agents from the Soviet Union and its satellite states wanted to 'sound out' what he and ally Jeremy Corbyn would do if they ended up in power.

Mr Livingstone said 'from the moment' he met the man posing as a Pravda journalist in September 1987, he suspected he was a KGB officer.

'If he had asked me to do anything, I mean I would have said no,' said Mr Livingstone. But he maintained contact, including visiting him at his London home, and went on a trip organised by him to Russia where he was shown around by a KGB guide.

Mr Livingstone, who was a Labour MP alongside Mr Corbyn at the time, said the Communist agents even 'feared we were too left-wing'.

He told the Daily Mail: 'When I got elected to Labour's NEC (National Executive Committee) in 1987, suddenly there was all this stuff about how I might be leader of the party one day.

'I think in talking to me or to Jeremy they were just sounding out what we might be like if we ended up in a major position.'

The veteran left-winger rejected allegations made at the weekend that he visited the Czechoslovakian embassy in London in the 1980s as 'all b******s'.

A Channel 4 Dispatches documentary showed Mr Livingstone swigging the drink at 10am

But he said he did visit the Soviet Union embassy in London, where a diplomat told him: 'We were very worried when you became leader of the GLC (Greater London Council in 1981) because of all the rumours you were a Trotskyist.'

Some years later, he said he was approached by a man called Yuri Sagadak, who it emerged was a KGB colonel.

He said: 'He was interviewing me quite a lot, he organised a visit for me to Russia. I suspected he was a spy from the moment he appeared, but it only came out when Thatcher threw him out in 1989.'

Asked why he kept meeting a man who he suspected to be KGB, Mr Livingstone said: 'He basically turned up to interview me for his paper, I think I even once wrote an article for him.

'You just deal with who comes. I think that what these people were doing was trying to suss out what we were.'

The former mayor of London (pictured) said the Communist agents even 'feared we were too left-wing'

He said of the Russia trip: 'It was very interesting, [but] it was endless bloody meetings. I think they were just collecting data about what we were all like, and they would have feared we were too left-wing.'

Jan Sarkocy, the Czechoslovakian spy who met Mr Corbyn in Parliament in 1986, claimed Mr Livingstone was a 'good boy' who visited his country's embassy in London where he drank whisky.

Mr Livingstone yesterday branded Mr Sarkocy a 'Czech nutter'. At the weekend, Mr Livingstone had claimed it was untrue because 'whisky is not my drink of choice, it's brandy'.

He added that secret agents from the Soviet Union and its satellite states wanted to 'sound out' what he and ally Jeremy Corbyn (pictured) would do if they ended up in power

However, Mr Livingstone admitted drinking whisky while London mayor at a morning meeting at City Hall in 2007.

A Channel 4 Dispatches documentary showed Mr Livingstone swigging the drink at 10am.

After the meeting ended, an undercover reporter asked: 'You must be punch drunk after that?' Mr Livingstone responded: 'It's the whisky that keeps me going, otherwise I just cough.'

When the documentary aired in 2008, Mr Livingstone said: 'The only way I can get through talking for two and a half hours with a severe cough or bronchitis is to use alcohol as an anaesthetic.'The Roman 'gate to hell' in Turkey's ancient city of Hierapolis was long thought to be an entrance to the underworld.

Romans used the gate to stage sacrificial rituals in which castrated priests would walk through the entrance with healthy bulls.

The bulls would die during the ritual, but the priests would return unscathed - and now scientists think they know why.

Experts believe that a quirk of geology and the temple's layout may explain the mysterious phenomenon.

Deadly levels of carbon dioxide were uncovered at ground level which sacrificial animals could not escape, but did not affect their masters.

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Roman priests who survived religious journeys through a deadly 'gate to hell' may have had a helping hand from their height, new research has found. This image shows a digital reconstruction of the site, which was discovered by a team of archaeologists from Italy in 2013

Researchers at the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany measured carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations in the arena of the ancient city of Hierapolis.

The city is in a particularly active region in terms of geology, with thermal springs and rifts deep under the city causing mists to pour out of the ground.

The 'gate to hell' from which these mists issued forth was built directly into the walls of the arena.

Experts found that levels of the potentially deadly gas contained in these vapours were lower during the day, when the sun's rays would cause them to dissipate.

Throughout the night, these clouds form into a lake of CO2 at the base of the enclosed arena.

Levels were particularly high at dawn, when concentrations 15 inches (40 cm) above the arena floor reach 35 per cent.

This would be more than enough to cause animals and people to choke to death but humans, by virtue of their height can hold their heads above the lethal levels of the gas.

Volcano biologist Hardy Pfanz, who led the research, said: 'They knew that the deadly breath of [the mythical hellhound] Kerberos only reached a certain maximum height.'

The ancient city of Hierapolis was founded around 190BC by the Greek King of Pergamum, Eumenes II, and was taken over by the Romans in 133BC.

Researchers at the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany measured carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations in the arena of the ancient city of Hierapolis. This image shows the site as it appears today

Experts found that levels of the potentially deadly gas contained in these vapours were lower during the day, when the sun's rays would cause them to dissipate. This 3D reconstruction of the Plutonium at Hierapolis shows the The Gate to Hell in the rear wall, below the stone seating

Levels were particularly high at dawn, when concentrations 15 inches (40 cm) above the arena floor reach 35 per cent. This image shows steps next to the temple from where people were believed to watch the sacred rites

HOW WAS THE ROMAN 'GATE TO HELL' DISCOVERED? Archaeologists believe that a large statue found at the site, previously believed to depict Apollo, is actually of Hades, Greek god of the underworld Archaeologists reported in 2013 that they had discovered the 'Gates of Hell', a mythical portal to the underworld in Greek and Roman legend. The site, in the ancient Phrygian city of Hierapolis, now Pamukkale in southwestern Turkey, closely matched historical descriptions of what was known as Ploutonion in Greek and Plutonium in Latin In its heyday, a small temple with traditional Greco-Roman pillars was said to have stood next to wall with steps leading down to a cave doorway filled with foul and noxious gasses. Describing the site, the Greek geographer Strabo, who lived from around 63 BC to 24 AD, said: 'This space is full of a vapour so misty and dense that one can scarcely see the ground. 'Any animal that passes inside meets instant death. I threw in sparrows and they immediately breathed their last and fell.' A team led by Italian Archaeologist Francesco D'Andria, professor of classic archaeology at the University of Salento, discovered what they believe to be the ruins of the site. Mr D'Andria said he and his team managed to pinpoint the location by reconstructing the route of a thermal spring. Among the ruins the archaeologists found a cave with Ionic semi columns upon which were inscriptions with dedications to the gods of the underworld, including Pluto, also known as Hades. Researchers saw several birds die as they tried to get close to the warm opening, instantly killed by carbon dioxide fumes. Advertisement

Under Roman rule the city flourished. There were temples, a theatre and people flocked to bathe in the hot springs which were believed to have healing properties.

The site remained fully functional until the 4th century AD and became an important pilgrimage destination for the last pagan intellectuals.

Historians believe the site was sacked by Christians in the 6th century AD, with several earthquakes adding to the damage.

Today Pamukkale is well known for the stunning white travertine terraces which are the result of the hot springs.

This would be more than enough to cause animals and people to choke to death, but humans can raise their heads above the level oft the gases. A previous study found that birds which flew too close to the opening were killed by the carbon dioxide fumes (circled)

Among the ruins archaeologists who discovered the site found a cave with Ionic semi columns upon which were inscriptions with dedications to the gods of the underworld, including Pluto, also known as Hades

Today Pamukkale is well known for the stunning white travertine terraces which are the result of the hot springs (pictured)

The ancient Greek historian Strabo visited the Plutonium, named for Pluto, god of the underworld, at Hierapolis around 2,000 years ago.

He noted that the priests were able to place their heads into the gate to hell without suffering any ill effects.

Strabo believed their status as eunuchs caused this immunity

The full findings of their research were published in the journal Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences.Sir Richard Branson is set to bring a superfast hyperloop transport system to India.

The billionaire's Virgin Hyperloop One will test its technology in the country over the next few years ahead of launching a commercial system by 2021.

The hyperloop system will take passengers from Punes city centre to Navi Mumbai International Airport in 25 minutes, cutting three hours from the current journey time.

Once complete, the Hyperloop will make 150 million passenger trips every year.

Sir Richard Branson has likened the possible impact of the project to the introduction of steam trains in 20th century.

The system could theoretically reach speeds of up to 670mph (1,078km/h) with no turbulence. The fastest recorded speed using Hyperloop so far is 220mph (350km/h).

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Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Hyperloop One is planning to build a rapid transportation link in India that would allow people to travel from Pune to Mumbai in just 25 minutes

The hyperloop route will link central Pune, the new Navi Mumbai International Airport and Mumbai in 25 minutes, connecting 26 million people

The deal between Virgin Hyperloop One and Indian state of Maharashtra was annouced on Sunday.

Construction will begin with an operational demonstration track which will be finished in two to three years.

This will serve as a platform for testing, certifying, and regulating the system for commercial operations.

The second phase will target the complete construction of the full Pune-Mumbai route in five to seven years.

The deal was signed as part of Branson's visit to the Magnetic Maharashtra Convergence 2018 in Mumbai.

WHAT IS THE HYPERLOOP? Hyperloop is a proposed method of travel that would transport people at roughly 700mph between distant locations. It was unveiled by Elon Musk in 2013, who at the time said it could take passengers the 380 miles (610km) from LA to San Francisco in 30 minutes - half the time it takes a plane. It is essentially a long tube that has had the air removed to create a vacuum. For safety reasons, Hyperloop tunnels need escape hatches in case of fire. The tube is suspended off the ground to protect against weather and earthquakes. There are now a number of firms vying to bring the technology to life, including Elon Musk himself, Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, and Virgin Hyperloop One. As several firms vie to create the first operational Hyperloop, Elon Musks vision of a radical transport system that could ferry passengers above land at 760 miles per hour continues to inch closer to reality Advertisement

Richard Branson signed an agreement in Mumbai on Sunday as part of the city's 2018 Magnetic Maharashtra event (pictured) for a hyperloop framework to run from Mumbia to Pune

Virgin Hyperloop One made history in December 2017, after setting a new speed record with its futuristic travel system. Virgin Group Founder Branson signed an agreement in Mumbai on Sunday for a hyperloop framework to begin developing the route

Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Hyperloop One is planning to build a rapid transportation link in India that would allow people to travel from Pune to Mumbai in just 25 minutes

The billionaire said Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis, attended the Framework Agreement signing for the project.

'I believe Virgin Hyperloop One could have the same impact upon India in the 21st century as trains did in the 20th century,' Sir Richard said in a statement.

'The Pune-Mumbai route is an ideal first corridor as part of a national hyperloop network that could dramatically reduce travel times between Indias major cities to as little as two hours.

Pictured is the DevLoop test track in Nevada, where Virgin Hyperloop One carries out its high-speed testing

An investment of 37 million ($50 million) was made by Caspian Venture Capital and DP World in November, bringing the total financing raised by Virgin Hyperloop One to 220 million ($295 million) since it was founded in 2014. Pictured is one of the firm's hyperloop pods

This image released by Hyperloop One shows the first prototype of Hyperloop One Pod on July 12, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada

'Virgin Hyperloop One can help India become a global transportation pioneer and forge a new world-changing industry.'

Virgin Hyperloop One is working on transport pods that levitate using magnets in low-pressure tubes to transport people and goods at high-speeds.

The firm is working toward a goal of three production systems in service by 2021, according to its website.

According to Virgin Hyperloop One, the new proposed route in India will save more than 90 million hours of travel time, and provide citizens with greater opportunities for social and economic mobility, the firm said.

Virgin Group Founder Richard Branson (pictured) signed an agreement in Mumbai on Sunday for a hyperloop framework to begin developing the route between Mumbai and Pune

Pictured is the DevLoop test track in Nevada in December 2017, where Virgin Hyperloop One carries out its high-speed testing

The route could lead to $55 billion (39.2 billion) in socio-economic benefits over 30 years of operation, according to an initial pre-feasibility study by Virgin Hyperloop One.

These benefits include time savings, emissions and accident reduction, operational cost savings and more.

At the moment, the Hyperloop One system is being tested at a 1.8 mile (3 km) full-scale and full speed enclosed prototype in the desert in North Las Vegas in Nevada.

Virgin claims that the 100 per cent electric hyperloop system, set to service a route between Pune and Mumbai in India, will ease severe expressway congestion and could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 150,000 tons annually

Virgin Hyperloop One's new hyperloop route will link central Pune, the new Navi Mumbai International Airport and Mumbai in 25 minutes, connecting 26 million people

Virgin claims that the 100 per cent electric hyperloop system will ease severe expressway congestion and could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 150,000 tons annually.

'With Virgin Hyperloop One, we can create a sustainable infrastructure that will enhance the State of Maharashtra's competitiveness and attract new investment and businesses,' said the Chief Minister of Maharashtra Devendra Fadnavis.

'The Pune-Mumbai hyperloop route will be an economic catalyst for the region and create tens of thousands of jobs for Indias world-class manufacturing, construction, service, and IT sectors and aligns with Make in India initiatives.'

The 'DevLoop' project, short for 'development Hyperloop', is testing both track and pod systems of Virgin Hyperloop One's rapid transportation system in north Las Vegas, Nevada

Virgin Hyperloop One made history in December of 2017, after setting a new speed record with its futuristic travel system. The firm completed a third phase test, where its Hyperloop pod was able to reach dizzying speeds of 240mph (387 km/hour)

The project will commence with a six-month in-depth feasibility study, followed by a procurement stage to determine the public-private partnership structure.

Following the procurement stage, the construction of the hyperloop will take place in two phases as mentioned.

Future projects could also extend the route to link central Pune with the New Pune International Airport and Jawaharlal Nehru Port in Mumbai with Pune's industrial economic zones.Neanderthal art is not known for being impressive.

Unlike Homo sapiens, our ancient cousins were unable to draw recognisable images of animals or people.

Now, new research claims this lack of artistic ability was closely related to Neanderthals' inferior hunting skills.

Both drawing and hunting requires hand-eye coordination, which Neanderthals lacked - a fact that scientists say may have led to their extinction.

Replica of a drawing of lions painted in the Chauvet Cave, France. Art in the cave was created by early modern humans. Neanderthals never demonstrated the ability to draw recognizable images unlike early modern humans, who created vivid renderings of animals and figures

Neanderthals existed mainly in Eurasia between 120,000 and 35,000 years ago and used thrusting spears at close range to kill horses, reindeer, bison, and other large game that had not developed an innate wariness of humans.

Meanwhile, early humans hunted dangerous prey using throwing spears in sub-Saharan Africa for more than 500,000 years.

Professor Richard Coss, a psychologist and artist at the University of California, believes that as animals caught onto early Homo sapiens hunting tactics in Africa, our ancestors had to move away from thrusting spears into prey and start throwing spears instead.

The theory that Neanderthals practised art is based on small number of examples, such as one found in the back of Gorhams Cave, Gibraltar

Researchers think the artistic differences between Neanderthals and early modern humans may be down to the way they hunt, and it could explains why humans became smarter than Neanderthals. Pictured is a model of a Neanderthal male in his twenties

This made hunters better at visualisation.

As a result, they developed a bigger parietal cortex - the area in the brain that integrates visual input and motor skills.

This meant that they could also make art about hunting, which acted as a type of practice for our ancestors, because drawing developed their hand-eye coordination.

Coss, who taught drawing classes early in his academic career, used photos and film to study the stroke of charcoal drawings and engravings of animals made by humans 28,000 to 32,000 years ago in the Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc Cave in southern France.

WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT HUMANKIND'S JOURNEY OUT OF AFRICA? The traditional view The traditional 'Out of Africa' model suggests that modern humans evolved in Africa and then left in a single wave around 60,000 years ago. The model often holds once modern humans left the continent, a brief period of interbreeding with Neanderthals occurred. This explains why individuals of European and Asian heritage today still have ancient human DNA. There are many theories as to what drove the downfall of the Neanderthals. Experts have suggested that early humans may have carried tropical diseases with them from Africa that wiped out their ape-like cousins. Others claim that plummeting temperatures due to climate change wiped out the Neanderthals. The predominant theory is that early humans killed off the Neanderthal through competition for food and habitat. How the story is changing in light of new research Recent findings suggest that the 'Out of Africa' theory does not tell the full story of our ancestors. Instead, multiple, smaller movements of humans out of Africa beginning 120,000 years ago were then followed by a major migration 60,000 years ago. Most of our DNA is made up of this latter group, but the earlier migrations, also known as 'dispersals', are still evident. This explains recent studies of early human remains which have been found in the far reaches of Asia dating back further than 60,000 years. For example, H. sapiens remains have been found at multiple sites in southern and central China that have been dated to between 70,000 and 120,000 years ago. Other recent finds show that modern humans reached Southeast Asia and Australia prior to 60,000 years ago. Based on these studies, humans could not have come in a single wave from Africa around this time, studies have found. Instead, the origin of man suggests that modern humans developed in multiple regions around the world. The theory claims that groups of a pre-human ancestors made their way out of Africa and spread across parts of Europe and the Middle East. From here the species developed into modern humans in several places at once. The argument is by a new analysis of a 260,000-year-old skull found in Dali County in China's Shaanxi Province. The skull suggests that early humans migrated to Asia, where they evolved modern human traits and then moved back to Africa. Advertisement

'Since the act of drawing enhances observational skills, perhaps these drawings were useful for conceptualizing hunts, evaluating game attentiveness, selecting vulnerable body areas as targets, and fostering group cohesiveness via spiritual ceremonies,' Coss writes.

The advent of drawing may have set the stage for cultural changes, Coss said.

'There are enormous social implications in this ability to share mental images with group members.'

Neanderthals, whose ancestors left Africa for Eurasia before modern human ancestors, used thrusting spears at close range to kill bison and other large game that had not developed a wariness of humans

'Neanderthals could mentally visualize previously seen animals from working memory, but they were unable to translate those mental images effectively into the coordinated hand-movement patterns required for drawing,' Coss writes.

The theory that Neanderthals practised art is based on small number of examples, such as one found in the back of Gorhams Cave, Gibraltar.

The research was published in the journal Evolutionary Studies in Imaginative Culture.

A Neanderthal brain (left) appears more elongated than the present-day Homo sapiens (right) brain, which is 'rounder and less overhanging'. Homo sapiens had a bigger parietal cortex - the area in the brain that integrates visual input and motor skillsStunning rock art on the Chilean coast has revealed how ancient hunter gatherers in the area used harpoons and rafts to hunt marine animals.

The cave paintings date back to 1,500-years ago, and depict the slaughter of a variety of creatures, including whales, sea lions, swordfish and sharks.

The pictographs, painted in iron-oxide, comprise of hundreds of hunting scenes and portray a complex marine hunter-gatherer society.

Archaeological evidence suggests that the society living in El Medano - a valley in between the ocean and the desert - specialised in hunting marine creatures.

Their sophisticated fishing and hunting technology included fish-hooks made from shell, bone, cactus spines and copper, and rafts made of sea lion skin.

Izcuna hunting scenes. The most commonly painted motif are large fish silhouettes, while other common motifs include hunting scenes with rafts and weapons. The ancient cave paintings date back to 1,500-years ago, and depict hunting scenes painted in iron-oxide

The paintings were discovered at a new site in El Medano, on the Atacama Desert coast in northern Chile, with the findings published in the journal Antiquity.

'I think the most significant discovery is the relationship between these human groups and these marine animals, understanding how they were captured and technical developments,' Benjamin Ballester, a researcher with the Prehistoric Ethnology Team at the University Pantheon-Sorbonne in Paris and the lead author of the study, told the MailOnline.

Rock art was first found in El Medano in 1918, and for thousands of years only the local Paposo people knew of it.

'In hunting scenes, prey is always represented as oversized (averaging 3.9 times bigger) compared to rafts and their crew,' Benjamin Ballester, the lead author of the study, wrote. 'This style intentionally places the prey as the protagonist, as evidenced by the detailed, meticulous depictions of the anatomy and physiology of the animals'

The cave paintings depicting hunting scenes are located at a newly discovered site called Izcuna, a few miles north of El Medano, Chile

The latest study focuses on a newly discovered sit called Izcuna, a few miles north of El Medano.

The pre-hispanic inhabitants of this coastline used strokes of intense red colour to create images of whales, swordfish, marlin, squid, sea lion, turtles and sharks.

While some are hunting scenes, others depict rafts with seafarers and harpoon lines.

According to the researchers, the paintings are based on the everyday experiences of those inhabitants.

Archaeological evidence suggests that the society living in El Medano at the time specialised in marine resource exploitation, and its sophisticated fishing and hunting technology.

This allowed the inhabitants of this area to be productive, creating permanent residential camps located near water springs and on natural jetties, from which small groups could explore large territories.

According to the researchers behind the study, the paintings are based on the everyday experiences of those inhabitants. Archaeological evidence suggests that the society living in El Medano at the time specialised in marine resource exploitation

Around 45 miles (75 km) north of Taltal, the El Medano ravine is home to one of the most remarkable rock art deposits in the South American Pacific watershed

According to the researchers, 328 paintings were found in the Izcuna ravine on 24 blocks of rock.

Although dense fog (called camanchaca) has bought moisture which has faded some of the paintings, enough of it has been preserved to date it in comparison to other El Medino art.

The most commonly painted motif are large fish silhouettes, while other common motifs include hunting scenes with rafts and weapons.

Archaeological remains related to hunting activities: AB) complete harpoon; CD) rolled harpoon lines ; E) composite oar fragment - arrows indicate billet position; F) oar fragments; G) float outline from a raft made of sea lion skin; H) detail of the cactus spine and cotton zig-zag seam; I) float fragment with a spine seam from a raft made of sea lion skin

While terrestrial animals such as turtles were represented in the paintings, marine animals were rarely shown.

'In hunting scenes, prey is always represented as oversized (averaging 3.9 times bigger) compared to rafts and their crew,' Ballester wrote in his study.

'This style intentionally places the prey as the protagonist, as evidenced by the detailed, meticulous depictions of the anatomy and physiology of the animals.

'This is contrasted by the simple, undetailed human drawings created using lineal strokes.

Sea lion skin raft with two seafarers, illustrated by Alcides D'Orbigny in Cobija, 1830. The rafts comprised two large cylindrical floating sections made of sea lion skin, which when tied together measured almost 3 metres (9.8 feet) in length

'Detail here is limited to the occasional seafarers headdress, represented by two lateral protuberances.'

During previous excavations, archaeologists found makeshift harpoons dating back to 7,000 years ago.

'The rock art offers clues concerning hunting strategies, such as labour organisation, hunting roles, the number of harpoon lines involved in the hunt, animal movement during the chase, the position of attack and the perspectives of painters,' Ballester wrote.

General view of the coastal mountain range (Left) and the Izcuna ravine (Right) where the rock art was found, in El Medano on the Atacama Desert coast of Chile

'They also contain a huge corpus of information concerning the cultural knowledge of animal anatomy, physiology and behaviouressentially, their interspecies relationships.

'For unknown reasons, the pictographs usually represent successfully accomplished hunting scenes, once the animal is harpooned.

'Thus, they most often represent success in the hunt, rather than the process of hunting.'Old age could soon be old news, according to a leading futurologist who claims people born after 1970 could live forever.

He predicts that by the year 2050, humans could outlive the constraints of the physical body.

Genetic engineering could be used to extend the body's life expectancy, by reducing or reversing the ageing of cells.

Advances in AI could lead to android bodies for humans to live in after their own flesh and blood frames have ceased to function.

And virtual reality worlds could be created for people to upload their consciousness into once their bodies have failed.

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Old age could soon be old news, according to a leading futurologist who claims people born after 1970 could live forever. He predicts that by the year 2050, humans could outlive the constraints of the physical body

The claims were made by Dr Ian Pearson, an engineer and inventor from Ipswich who lectures on the future of our daily lives, according to The Sun.

The holy grail for genetic engineering, human immortality, has long been a fascination for many, he says.

'There are quite a lot of people interested in living forever,' Dr Pearson told The Sun.

'There always has been, but the difference now is tech is improving so quickly, lots of people believe they can actually do it.'

Dr Pearson says that anyone alive today who survives until 2050 may never have to face death.

He added: 'By 2050, it will only really be for the rich and famous.

'Most people on middle-class incomes and reasonable working-class incomes can probably afford this in the 2060s. So anyone 90 or under by 2060.

'If you were born sometime in 1970 onwards, that would make you 48 this year.

'So anybody under 50 has got a good chance of it, and anyone under 40 almost definitely will have access to this.'

Dr Pearson claims that there are a number of promising avenues that could allow people to skirt death.

The claims were made by Dr Ian Pearson (pictured), an engineer and inventor from Ipswich who lectures on the future of our daily lives - from work to leisure. He believes that in just over three decades humans will be able to survive forever

One involves using genetic engineering to renew or build new body parts.

Lab grown tissues and organs are successfully being grown for use in transplants to reduce the need for human donors and decrease organ rejections.

Cells age naturally and become less resilient and start failing but with certain techniques some people believe ageing can be reversed.

Dr Pearson says: 'No one wants to live forever at 95 years old, but if you could rejuvenate the body to 29 or 30, you might want to do that.'

Although improving the human body is a possibility, there are many complications associated with undoing ageing.

Dr Pearson says that sex dolls (pictured) are starting to look quite human-like and that after another 30 years of development and they'll be extremely life-like and could form the foundation for android bodies humans live in after 'death'

A more likely avenue is that we abandon our failing bodies as we age and move into an artificial shell.

'A long time before we get to fix our bodies and rejuvenate it every time we feel like, we'll be able to link our minds to the machine world so well, we'll effectively be living in the cloud,' Dr Pearson said.

Last week, an exhibition at the World Government Summit in Dubai showcased HIBA (Hybrid Intelligence Biometric Avatar).

HIBA was the result of several studies and concluded that humans would be joined through a 'collective AI consciousness'.

This international network will allow us to ditch speech and communicate using nothing but thoughts by 2050.

The Netflix series Altered Carbon (pictured) explores similar idea, with people escaping death by storing their mind, consciousness and memories in a computer chip called a 'stack' implanted in their spinal column

Dr Pearson took this idea one step further and claimed that we will not only be linked by a computer system in 2050, we will be living inside an android shell when we do.

Human consciousnesses will be uploaded to online servers, and we will able to use any android body to inhabit the real world.

One indicator of progress in this area is the current state of sex dolls, Dr Pearson says, which are looking more human-like with each new generation

In another three decades, they could be extremely lifelike.

Dr Pearson compares using such android bodies as homes for our consciousness to hiring a car.

Rather than travelling to Australia to visit the Sydney opera house, you could download your mind into an android body in the country.

HOW CAN HUMANS BECOME IMMORTAL? Humans have long been fascinated by the idea of immortality and have been pursuing it for centuries. Ancient Greek alchemists once tried to find a 'Philosopher's Stone' to obtain immortality, but were unsuccessful. In recent decades, the average life expectancy in many countries has increased drastically and now most, healthy individuals in the UK can expect a life duration of about 80 years. With the rapid development of technology and an increasing scientific understanding of the flaws of the human body, some people to believe that immortality is closer now than it has ever been before. In the late 20th Century, an idea called cryonics was founded - the ability to bring someone back to life after death. Now, futurologists think that humans will be able to live forever thanks to a combination of tech advances. There are now three schools of thought for how people will be able to endure permanently. Option one: Body regeneration Scientists have already managed to grow chemicals, tissues and organs in the lab and as technology advances in this field. Combined with 3D printing and reversing the ageing of cells, our bodies may last longer than ever before. Option two: Robotic body replacements Robots are becoming better and more human-like all the time, and we may be able to upload a human consciousness into an android in the future. Option three: A virtual world Virtual reality and Augmented reality have started to blur the lines between the tangible and the artificial. Human consciousness could potentially exist completely independently of a body in a computer simulation. Advertisement

The Netflix series Altered Carbon explores similar idea, with people escaping death by storing their mind, consciousness and memories in a computer chip called a 'stack' implanted in their spinal column.

This in-tact stack can be taken out of a dead person and implanted into a new body, known as a 'skin'.

A similar process would be involved with the robotic bodies he envisages.

The cost of this immortality in a machine will initially be very high, with only the rich being able to afford it in 2050.

Soon after, by 2060, it should be more attainable for middle and working-class individuals.

One final possibility is that consciousness could exist in a completely virtual world. In the film Transcendence (pictured) the character played by Johnny Depp uploads his consciousness onto a computer

By 2070 people in poor countries on modest incomes will be able to afford it, he says, giving the chance of digital immortality.

It could even be provided on the NHS.

One final possibility is that consciousness could exist in a completely virtual world.

This would open up the possibility of exploring every conceivable fantasy, travelling anywhere in the world at any point in history.

He believes humans could also link their consciousness to that of others in a giant hive mind.

This could offer humans of the future unlimited intelligence and let them exist in multiple places at once.The Irish Navy is set to get its hand on a boat that is impossible to capsize.

Dubbed the 'Thunder Child', incredible footage shows the search and rescue vessel - with passengers inside - being pushed over in the water by a crane.

The crane pulls the boat 180 degrees before allowing the 54 knots (62 mph/100 km/h) vessel to bounce back into an upright position.

The 'Thunder Child' is the creation of Safehaven Marine in County Cork, Ireland.

Frank Kowalksi, managing director of Safehaven Marine, told MailOnline that keeping the boat upright required several tweaks to its design.

'It is a combination of three factors: A very low centre of gravity, the buoyancy of the cabin and the cabin must also be completely water tight,' he said.

'The area of the cabin must contain enough air to keep the vessel afloat and it is important no water gets into the cabin.'

He added that the air inlets close automatically to stop water being let in.

The Thunder Child boat is manufactured in County Cork, Ireland. Also known as the XSV 17, the boat can hold up to ten people and is a robust, sea-faring vessel designed to tackle rough weather to reach people in distress quickly

The developers of the boat used a crane to pull the boat over to 120 degrees. This is the point where it loses its stability and will roll over to be upside down - it capsizes. The boat automatically turns itself back upright

Much like in racing cars, the lower the centre of gravity, the more stable a boat becomes.

Whilst this makes it much harder for the Thunder Child to flip over initially, it also helps return the vessel the right way up.

When underwater, the low centre of gravity shifts to the very top of the boat, making it unstable and capable of flipping back upright.

Incredible footage of the boat in action shows a crew, including managing director,Mr Frank Kowalksi (pictured left), inside the boat as it is pulled over before it rolls back to the correct orientation

Mr Kowalksi said: 'We have made about 130 boats in the last 20 years and they are used in 26 countries and territories.

'They are used by coastguards, lifeguards and Port Authorities as high speed rescue vehicles across the world.'

The boat is pulled by a crane to the tipping point and then rotates through complete inversion at 180 degrees (pictured) before the clever engineering tricks allow the boat to correct and go back the right way up

Thunder Child set a world-record for circumnavigating Ireland and is powered by two 9.2 litre engines that each produce 1,000 horsepower. The boat is designed as a high-speed search and recovery vessel

To test the self-righting ability of the boat, the developers used a crane to pull the boat over to 180 degrees while on water.

Once upside down, the video shows the boat automatically rolling back to the correct, upright position.

In the first run, the boat was empty and on the second run, a small team, including Mr Kowalksi, were filmed inside.

There are three key engineering properties to allow for self-righting of the boat. 1) it must have a very low centre of gravity 2) the buoyancy of the cabin must be enough to keep the whole boat afloat 3) the cabin must be completely water tight and not have a single breach

HOW DO BOATS FLOAT? Boats can weigh several tons, and in the case of the 'Symphony of the seas' (the biggest cruise liner in history) even weigh over 200,000 tons. Keeping them on top of the water surface and stopping them from sinking to the sea floor is 'buoyancy'. Buoyancy is the word that refers to a floating object and how it works. When an object is placed in water, it displaces a certain amount of the liquid. The general rule of thumb is that if an object weighs less than the weight of the water it displaces, it will float. The surface area of a boat's hull is therefore the key to staying afloat, not the weight itself. Advertisement

Also known as the XSV 17, the 'Thunder Child' can hold up to ten people and is designed to tackle rough weather in pursuit of stranded sea-goers.

It is powered by two turbocharged, 12.9 litre engines that produce 1,000 horsepower each and the vehicle can reach speeds of up to 54 knots (62 mph/100 km/h).

These engines powered the Thunder Child to a new world record time for circumnavigating Ireland via Rockall in 2017.A 1,000-year-old tooth has provided genetic evidence that the first natives to meet Columbus in the New World have living descendants in the Caribbean.

DNA from the Taino people, who were thought to have been wiped out after Europeans arrived in the Bahamas in 1492, has been found in modern-day Puerto Ricans.

The new research provides the first concrete proof that indigenous ancestry in the Caribbean has survived to the present day.

Previously, it was thought the 'handsome' Taino people were wiped out shortly after Christopher Columbus arrived in the Caribbean.

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The Taino people spread north from South America (one) to a number of island across the Caribbean (two). After Christopher Columbus arrived in the 15th Century (four), it was assumed they were wiped out, but a new study (three) suggests their ancestry lives on (five)

The tooth used in the new study was found on the island of Eleuthera in the Bahamas, and marks the first complete ancient human genome from the Caribbean.

It belonged to a Taino woman who lived sometime between the 8th and 10th centuries, at least 500 years before Columbus's arrival.

Comparing the ancient genes to those of contemporary Puerto Ricans, scientists found they were more closely related to the ancient Taino than any other indigenous group in the Americas.

However, the researchers, from Cambridge and Copenhagen Universities, argue that this characteristic is unlikely to be exclusive to Puerto Ricans alone.

When Columbus arrived in the New World the 15th Century, he described the Taino as a generous people.

'They will give all that they do possess for anything that is given to them, exchanging things even for bits of broken crockery,' he noted upon meeting them in the Bahamas in 1492.

'They were very well built, with very handsome bodies and very good faces....They do not carry arms or know them....They should be good servants.'

A 1,000-year-old tooth found in a cave the island of Eleuthera in the Bahamas has provided genetic evidence that the first natives to meet Columbus in the New World have living descendants in the Caribbean today. Pictured is part of a skull found at the cave

The new research finally provides concrete proof that indigenous ancestry in the Caribbean has survived to the present day. Previously it was thought that the Taino people were wiped out shortly after Columbus arrived (artist's impression) in the New World in 1492

WHO WERE THE TAINO PEOPLE? The Taino were an indigenous American people who were among the first to feel the impact of European colonisation after Columbus arrived in the New World in 1492. They lived in dense, well-organised communities across the Caribbean, and were known for their expert farming and generosity. The group had origins in South America among the Arawak tribes of the vast Orinoco River Delta in eastern Venezuela. They gradually spread across the Antilles in waves of voyages, and began settling in the Caribbean around 400 BC. Mingling with groups already established in the region, they formed communities on the island of Hispaniola, Jamaica, eastern Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and the Bahamas. They cultivated maize, sweet potatoes, beans, yuca and other crops for food, medicine and even weaponry - Spanish chroniclers wrote that the Taino developed pepper gas for warfare. When Columbus arrived in the 15th Century, he described them as a generous people. 'They will give all that they do possess for anything that is given to them, exchanging things even for bits of broken crockery,' he noted upon meeting them in the Bahamas in 1492. 'They were very well built, with very handsome bodies and very good faces....They do not carry arms or know them....They should be good servants.' Few of the Taino were left a half-century later, wiped out by European disease and the slave trade, and it was thought for centuries they had gone extinct. Advertisement

Few of the Taino were left a half-century later, wiped out by European disease and the slave trade, and it was thought for centuries they had gone extinct.

The new findings are likely to be significant for people who have long claimed indigenous Taino heritage.

While historians, archaeologists and descendant communities had claimed the Taino weren't extinct for decades, until now they lacked clear genetic evidence to support their case.

Lead author Dr Hannes Schroeder, from the University of Copenhagen, said: 'It's a fascinating finding.

'Many history books will tell you that the indigenous population of the Caribbean was all but wiped out, but people who self-identify as Taino have always argued for continuity.

'Now we know they were right all along: There has been some form of genetic continuity in the Caribbean.'

Study co-author Professor Eske Willerslev, from the, University of Cambridge, said: 'It has always been clear that people in the Caribbean have Native American ancestry, but because the region has such a complex history of migration, it was difficult to prove whether this was specifically indigenous to the Caribbean, until now.'

The tooth used in the new study was found in Preachers Cave (pictured) on Eleuthera, and marks the first complete ancient human genome from the Caribbean. It belonged to a Taino woman who lived sometime between the 8th and 10th centuries

The researchers were also able to trace the genetic origins of the Taino people.

They showed that they were most closely related to Arawakan-speaking groups who live in parts of northern South America today.

This suggests that the origins of at least some the people who migrated to the Caribbean can be traced back to the Amazon and Orinoco Basins, where the Arawakan languages developed.

The Caribbean was one of the last parts of the Americas to be populated by humans starting around 8,000 years ago.

The researchers were also able to trace the genetic origins of the Taino people. They showed that they were most closely related to Arawakan-speaking groups who live in parts of northern South America today. Pictured are scientists during excavations at Preachers Cave

By the time of European colonisation, the islands were a complex patchwork of different societies and cultures.

The 'Taino' culture was dominant in the Greater, and parts of the Lesser Antilles, as well as the Bahamas, where the people were known as Lucayans.

To trace the genetic origins of the Lucayans the researchers compared the ancient Bahamian genome with previously published genome-wide datasets for over 40 present-day indigenous groups from the Americas.

In addition, they looked for traces of indigenous Caribbean ancestry in present-day populations by comparing the ancient genome with those of 104 contemporary Puerto Ricans included in the 1000 Genomes Project.

The 10-15 per cent of Native American ancestry in this group was shown to be closely related to the ancient Bahamian genome.

Although indigenous Caribbean communities were island-based, the researchers found very little genomic evidence of isolation or inbreeding in the ancient genome.

This reinforces earlier genetic research, which suggests that early human communities developed surprisingly extensive social networks.

Professor Corinne Hofman from Leiden University and PI of the NEXUS1492 project, said: 'Archaeological evidence has always suggested that large numbers of people who settled the Caribbean originated in South America, and that they maintained social networks that extended far beyond the local scale.

'Historically, it has been difficult to back this up with ancient DNA because of poor preservation, but this study demonstrates that it is possible to obtain ancient genomes from the Caribbean and that opens up fascinating new possibilities for research.'Apple's mighty iPhone had a chunk bitten out of its reputation, after losing in a computer power test to a 12.99 ($18) IT education aid.

In a David versus Goliath battle, the BBC's Micro:bit beat the Siri-enabled smartphone in a race between eight computers from the last 75 years.

Each device was given 15 seconds to generate as many numbers as possible from the Fibonacci sequence, where each number is the sum of the previous two.

The low-spec teaching tool, given to schoolchildren for free, came out on top while the iPhone languished second to last.

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Apple's mighty iPhone had a chunk bitten out of its reputation, after losing in a computer power test to a 12.99 ($18) IT education aid. The BBC Micro:bit processed more than 8,000 figures in the Fibonacci sequence in 15 seconds

The BBC Micro:bit is held by a young participant (middle) in the digital race that took place at Bletchley Park. The free device, developed by the BBC in 2015, won the competition against several older devices as well as an iPhone 6 using Siri

The Grand Digital competition was hosted at The National Museum of Computing at Bletchley Park in Buckinghamshire.

The BBC Mirco:bit chip, a handheld motherboard around half the size of a credit-card, churned out over 8,000 numbers in sequence in the time allotted.

An iPhone 6, using Siri to demonstrate advances in computing, generated just four numbers.

Speaking to MailOnline about the result Sinead Rocks, the BBC's director for education, said: 'We are delighted that the BBC Micro:bit has performed so well and is now helping children in the UK and across dozens of countries worldwide to code and create.'

The Micro:bit is a reincarnation of a series of PCs developed in the 1980s by the BBC to promote computer literacy.

Released in 2015, they are 70 times smaller and 18 times faster than their predecessors and are an attempt to battle the shortage of technological expertise in the UK.

During the contest, the Micro:bit churned out an incredible 8,843 numbers in the mathematical sequence.

The competition required participating machines to calculate as many numbers in the Fibonacci sequence as possible. The iPhone was using Siri (pictured, right) and came second to last

In the first race of its kind, technology from eight different decades were brought together at Bletchley Park to see how far technology had come in recent years by having mathematical race

Other devices were a PC running Windows 98 which placed second with 1,477 numbers and the original BBC Micro from 1981 came third with 70.

Fourth place went to an Apple II from 1977, which scored 35, whilst the PDP-8 from 1965 came fifth with 16.

The Facit calculator came sixth with seven, the iPhone using siri came seventh with four and the 1951 Witch came last with three.

The Apple II (left) from 1977 scored 35 and the BBC micro from scored 1980 came third overall with 80 numbers

WITCH (left), from 1951 came in dead last, only managing to complete three calculation in the time frame of 15 seconds. The PDP-8 (right) from 1965 came fifth with 16 numbers - still beating Siri on iPhone

During World War II, Bletchley Park was home to Alan Turing who cracked the 'Enigma-code' used by Nazi-Germany to pass on information.

The race honoured Fibonacci, the twelfth-century Italian mathematician regarded as the most talented Western mathematician of the Middle Ages.

Fibonacci's sequence starts with 0 and 1 and progresses by adding the two numbers preceding it, ie 0 1 1 2 3 5 8 13 21 and so on.

Kevin Murrell, trustee of The National Museum of Computing, said: 'This is the first time that machines from so many decades of computing have raced together.

'I suspect this was the first of many Grand Digitals as we have many other original working computers, skilfully restored by our Museum volunteers, that could enter the race to demonstrate the advance of computing.'

The winner of the competition was the BBC Micro:bit churned out an incredible 8843 numbers in the mathematical sequence, the PC with Windows 98 came next with 1477 and the original BBC Micro from 1981 came third with 70

The iPhone 6 languished second to last, generating just four numbers in the sequence. This image shows CEO Tim Cook at the launch of the iPhone 6 on September 9, 2015Twitter trolls are exploiting a new Apple bug to crash your iPhone.

The bug, uncovered on Friday, means a keyboard character from the Indian language Telugu can shut down applications as soon as it shows up in a text field.

Now some Twitter users are inserting the 'text bomb' character into their usernames in the hope it will show up on iPhone users' timelines and crash their app or device.

Scroll down for video

Twitter trolls are exploiting a new Apple bug to crash your iPhone. The bug, uncovered on Friday, means a keyboard character (pictured) from the Indian language Telugu can shut down applications as soon as it shows up in a text field

Users of the social media site have tweeted their frustrations over the new trend.

@PumpMyBags tweeted: 'my crypto twitter feed keeps crashing the app so obviosuly ppl r just spamming that indian character that crashes ios apps ; touche crypto twitter'.

Some have tweeted out advice to help those hit by the attacks avoid further crashes.

@TristenHeath wrote: 'You need to log into Twitter on a non Apple product, and find whoever posted it and then block them. That will stop the crashing'.

The bug affects all of Apple's devices and almost all versions of its current iOS operating systems.

Opening a message containing the character is enough to crash iOS Springboard, the system app which manages the device's home screen.

Some Twitter users have taken to the social media site to bemoan the hack, while others have posted advice on how to avoid the glitch

The only operating system safe from the bug is iOS 11.3, which is currently only available to a small number of users as it is tested before a broader release.

Since it surfaced last week, Apple has acknowledged the issue and says it is working to fix it.

Apple gadgets running iOS 11.2.5 or macOS, are susceptible to the bug, which disables access to iMessages.

Other popular messaging apps like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Outlook for iOS, and Gmail, are also cut off.

The bug affects all of Apple's devices and almost all versions of its current iOS operating systems. Opening a message containing the character is enough to crash iOS Springboard, the system app which manages the device's home screen (stock image)

News of the bug emerged after reports in Italian blog Mobile World and has since been widely replicated, with numerous confirmations posted online.

The character is from the Telugu language, a Dravidian language spoken in India by about 70 million people, roughly five per cent of the country's population.

As apps try and fail to load the character, users can get trapped in an endless loop of crashes.

The only way to escape this cycle is to get someone else to message you and delete the thread containing the malicious message.

Writing on Mobile World last week, blogger Giuseppe Tripodi said: 'The error we are talking about presents an Indian character that, if received or simply pasted in a text field, can lead to freeze of applications or crashes of the entire operating system.

'If the character is displayed within an application, the app in question will crash and will continue to close each time you try to start it.

'The situation gets worse if someone sends you the symbol and iOS tries to show it in a notification.

'In this case, the entire Springboard will be blocked.

'If this happens, wait and hope that the Springboard will restart properly, because if you force a reboot of the device, it will bootloop.'The race to build a high-speed Hyperloop transport system is heating up.

Washington DCs Department of Transportation has issued a permit to Elon Musks Boring Company that will allow the firm to begin digging within a designated area in the district.

While the permit is so far considered to be early and vague, the firm says the site could one day be used as a station in the larger network, according to the Washington Post.

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Washington DCs Department of Transportation has issued a permit to Elon Musks Boring Company that will allow the firm to begin digging within a designated area in the district. The Boring Company's tunnel digging machine is pictured

The permit comes just months after Elon Musk claimed he had received verbal government approval to build a Hyperloop connecting New York to Washington, with stops in Philadelphia and Baltimore.

And, this month, DC Mayor Muriel E Bowser visited the tunneling firm in California to get a first-hand look at what the Boring Company is all about.

With permission from the DC government, the Boring Company can now do work within an abandoned parking lot at 53 New York Avenue NE, near the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, according to The Post.

Musk has also received support from the White House Office of American Innovation, which is headed by White House aide and President Trumps son-in-law, Jared Kushner, the Post notes.

The firm already had backing from the state of Maryland, after it was revealed this past October that the administration had granted Elon Musk permission to begin tunneling beneath Baltimore.

At the time, Maryland governor Larry Hogan revealed on Twitter that the administration supports the construction of a line that would connect Baltimore City to D.C, and said he thinks the Hyperloop is coming to Maryland.

Elon Musk has revealed a plan to build an underground tunnel to transport passengers between New York and Washington DC in just 29 minutes

The state has issued a conditional utility permit for the project, allowing the firm to dig a 10.3 mile tunnel under part of the Baltimore-Washington Parkway, according to LA Times.

Musk first revealed his plan for a system that could ferry passengers from NY to DC in just 29 minutes back in July, when he tweeted that hed been given verbal government approval for the underground tunnel.

At the time, he said it will run via Philadelphia and Baltimore, and use his Hyperloop technology.

If completed, it would become the world's longest tunnel.

With Maryland's approval, the CEO secured permission for the first section of the system.

There will undoubtedly be many other hurdles before the tunnel comes to life, including environmental reviews and obtaining approval from other administrations.

But, Governor Hogans support marks the first step in the process.

Our administration is proud to support The Boring Company to bring rapid electric transportation to MD  connecting Baltimore City to DC, the Maryland governor tweeted.

And, in a video accompanying a second post, in which he wrote, Get Hyped, the governor can be heard responding to a question about the Boring Companys Hyperloop, saying, I think its coming to Maryland, and its going to go from Baltimore to Washington, so get ready.

Maryland has issued a conditional utility permit for the project, allowing the firm to dig a 10.3 mile tunnel under part of the Baltimore-Washington Parkway, according to LA Times

WHAT IS THE HYPERLOOP? Hyperloop is a proposed method of travel that would transport people at roughly 700mph between distant locations. It was unveiled by Elon Musk in 2013, who at the time said it could take passengers the 380 miles (610km) from LA to San Francisco in 30 minutes - half the time it takes a plane. It is essentially a long tube that has had the air removed to create a vacuum. For safety reasons, Hyperloop tunnels need escape hatches in case of fire. The tube is suspended off the ground to protect against weather and earthquakes. There are now a number of firms vying to bring the technology to life, including Elon Musk himself, Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, and Virgin Hyperloop One. As several firms vie to create the first operational Hyperloop, Elon Musks vision of a radical transport system that could ferry passengers above land at 760 miles per hour continues to inch closer to reality Advertisement

The governor also shared photos of himself alongside SpaceX and Boring Company execs, at the site where the tunneling is set to begin.

The system, which will begin with two 35-mile tubes between Baltimore and Washington, will be treated like a utility, officials told the LA Times, and will largely run beneath existing state highways.

While it remains unclear what other steps have been taken ahead of the digging, officials say it will be done in an environmentally sound and safe fashion, LA Times reports.

If the plan comes to life, Musk's East Coast Hyperloop tunnel would be far longer than the current record holder, the Gotthard Base Tunnel, a railway line that runs through the Swiss Alps and opened in 2016, measuring 35.5 miles.The Assyrian Empire was a complex Mesopotamian civilisation dating from 2,500 BC to around 600 BC.

Mesopotamia, an area of ancient Asia, was where people first gathered in large cities, created governments, and learned to write.

Alongside other Mesopotamian groups like ancient Babylon and the Sumerian cities, the Assyrian Empire was one of the earliest civilisations in history.

As its height, the empire stretched from Egypt up through what is now Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and into Turkey.

As its height, the Assyrian Empire (red) stretched from Egypt up through what is now Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and into Turkey

Turkey's Kultepe district was home to a settlement of the Old Assyrian Empire from the 21st to 18th centuries BC.

Over 1,000 cuneiform tablets were found in the area in 1925, revealing a rich and complex cultural heritage.

Much of our knowledge of early human societies comes from stone tablets such as these, leading some scholars to label Mesopotamia 'the place where history began'.The Prophet Yunis is widely regarded as the Islamic version of the prophet perhaps more commonly referred to in the Bible as Jonah.

Jonah was famously swallowed by a whale or a fish, depending on the literature, and his Islamic narrative has some similarities as well as substantial differences to the Hebrew Bible story.

The Quran describes Jonah as a righteous preacher of the message of God but a messenger who, one day, fled from his mission because of its overwhelming difficulty.

The Quran says that Jonah made it onto a ship but, because of the powerfully stormy weather, the men aboard the ship suggested casting lots to throw off the individual responsible.

The Prophet Yunis is widely regarded as the Islamic version of the prophet perhaps more commonly referred to in the Bible as Jonah

When the lots were cast three times and Jonah's name came out each time, he was thrown into the open ocean that night.

A gigantic fish came and swallowed him, and Jonah remained in the belly of the fish repenting and glorifying God.

The Christian version of the story goes that a huge storm arises and the sailors, realising it is no ordinary storm, discover Jonah is to blame.

Jonah admits this and tells them if he is thrown overboard, the storm will cease.

The sailors try to dump as much cargo as possible before giving up, but feel forced to throw him overboard, at which point the sea calms.

The sailors then offer sacrifices to God.

Jonah is miraculously saved by being swallowed by a large fish in whose belly he spends three days and three nights.

While in the great fish, Jonah prays to God in his affliction and commits to thanksgiving and to paying what he has vowed.

God commands the fish to spew Jonah out.In 2017, researchers from Southwest University in Chongqing, China conducted an MRI study which found that only children have different brains which make them both more creative and less agreeable.

They have extra grey matter in the supramarginal gyrus, part of the brain thought to help only children come up with new ideas and think out of the box.

They might be able to thank the extra time on their own, thinking independently, as an only child.

However, only children also have less grey matter in the medial prefrontal cortex, which governs agreeableness.

The extra attention they get from their parents and grandparents could make them worse at getting along with others, behaving selfishly and with less empathy for others.

The researchers examined 270 college students, scanning their brains and giving them personality tests. Half of them had siblings, while the other half did not.

The researchers said there was a clear rise in creativity, and a clear fall in agreeableness, among those who grew up alone. They also found corresponding changes in brain structure.With just 24 or 48 hours to play with on your trip to Venice, it can be all too easy to hare off into the city, swerving through streets and bypassing what could be the holy grail of hidden gems, just to tick another must-do off the list. Slow down a little, though, and youll find that the square you stopped in to read your map has a lot more to offer than first meets the eye. Venices squares, or campi  a term once prevalent throughout Italy but now replaced with piazza everywhere except Venice  are the beating hearts of the city, if you go at the right time, and can offer quiet moments of respite surrounded by trees, scenes of Sunday mass, bustling weekly markets, and night-time revellers waiting to share their insider secrets with you.

Enjoy our list of the campis in Venice that you just can't miss

Campo Santa Margherita

If youve heard of any of the campi in Venice, its probably this triangular-shaped space in Dorsoduro, thanks to the lively market that infiltrates it in the day. But, for a real taste of authentic city life, come back after dark. Its brimming with restaurants and bars that spring to life in the evening and serve huge slices of pizza for a couple of euros and margaritas for 5  which goes a way to explaining the swarms of university students. Squeeze onto one of the benches to watch the man with the guitar  theres always one  with a Campari and soda in hand.

Campo Madonna dellOrto

Its the terracotta pavement, put together in a herringbone pattern, that makes this lesser-known campi in the sestiere of Cannaregio so special  traditionally Venices squares were open grassland, but most are paved with stone now. The Madonna dell'Orto church, which was built in the 14th century, towers above, and is well worth looking inside. The apse is decorated with paintings by Jacobo Robusti, who is buried here, and the organ over the entrance is one of the most powerful in Venice.

Campo San Barnaba

Harrison Ford is largely responsible for putting Campo San Barnaba, and more specifically the church situated in it, on the map. In the film, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, San Barnabas impressive Neo-Classical exterior serves as the outside of a library where Fords character discovers a secret passage ending in catacombs teeming with rats. In reality, its filled with designs for Leonardo da Vincis machines. The square itself is quite small and closely bordered by the canal, and is a good starting and stopping point if youre planning a gondola ride.

San Trovaso

Home to a famous boatyard or squero where the citys famed gondolas are built and repaired, San Trovaso boasts a sense of drama, which is probably why it has been used as a stage for several Biennal Theatre shows. Its really beautiful  picture old bricks and wooden sheds, a steep stone ramp, and the ripple of water just beyond, teeming with boats that started life here on the dry land.

Campo della Pescaria

Venice is renowned for its fresh seafood, and the very best of it can be found at Campo della Pescaria in San Polo. The infamous fish market takes place in a huge ominous building held up by large columns with giant fish heads shooting out of them, and youll have to get there early to beat the restaurant owners and in-the-know locals to the exotic-looking sea creatures and just-caught fish. This square is all about the fish market, so if youre not a fan of the smell or sight, or are looking for a quiet spot to relax, this isnt it.

Campo SantAponal

Campo SantAponal has enjoyed many a transformation over the years. The small alleys that lead to it once made up Venices red-light area, and the church has been a poorhouse, prison, mill, and art gallery. Today, this is the square to visit for your fill of delis and food shops, as well as sweet book stores selling old Italian classics alongside the latest bestsellers, and a music shop. Theres an easy, intelligent feel to this campi, so be sure to stop by on busy days for respite from the crowds.

Venetian streets often seem overrun with tourists, but campis are much calmer

Campo San Polo

The largest campi in Venice can be found in San Polo and was once upon a time dedicated to grazing animals and agriculture, until it was paved in the 15th century and became the stage for bullfights, masquerade balls, and mass sermons. Today, its used for big events such as Venice Film Festival screenings and summer food markets.

Campo San Francesco della Vigna

Authentic Venetian beauty awaits at Campo San Francesco della Vigna in Castello. Its a residential area, so expect children playing and women airing out heavily patterned rugs in the street, as well as the home of a tranquil Franciscan monetary complete with movie-worthy cloisters, and a church with a vineyard. If you get the chance, go inside to get the best view of the square and waterways beyond.Spending a week or two on the Costa Brava? Its well worth taking a day out to explore the sights of Barcelona. Less than a two-hour drive from the beach resorts of Costa Brava, the cosmopolitan Catalonian capital makes an ideal day trip. See Gaudis famous La Sagrada Familia, enjoy an authentic tapas lunch on Las Ramblas, or pick up some tasty treats in La Boqueria, before heading back to your beach resort. Check out our useful guide full of tips and tricks for a successful day trip to Barcelona.

While you'll get in your share of gorgeous beach views at the Costa brava, it's also worth exploring the many sights in Barcelona while you're there

How to get there?

By car

One of the quickest and easiest ways to get to Barcelona from the Costa Brava is to hire a car. It takes around one hour and 45 minutes to drive into the centre of the city. Parking is plentiful, although not always cheap. There are a number of car hire options in the Costa Brava, including leading international brands Sixt, Hertz, Avis, Europcar and Enterprise.

You can pick up a car on arrival at Girona-Costa Brava Airport, or if you'll only use it for a day or two, most Costa Brava resorts, like Lloret de Mar, Tossa de Mar and Torrent also have local car hire options, like Olimpia Rent-A-Car and Alvi Rent-A-Car. If youre travelling with a larger group, you might want to consider hiring a minibus for the day. There are several minibus rental services available, most of which come with a driver.

By train

If you dont want the hassle of driving and parking in a big city, then why not take the train? From your Costa Brava resort, you can hop on a local bus to Blanes, on the southern fringes of the Costa Brava. Blanes mainline station has direct services into Barcelona Placa de Catalunya station. The service is operated by Barcelona Cercanias (RENFE) and prices can be as little as 3 to 6 each way. Trains are generally every half hour and it takes around 90 minutes to reach Barcelona.

By bus

There are several buses which run direct services into the city from the different beach resorts along the Costa Brava, including a service from Lloret de Mar. Most of the services run only during the summer months and the average journey time takes around one hour and 45 minutes.

There are several buses which run direct services from the Costa Brava to Barcelona

Getting around Barcelona

Barcelona is an easy city to explore and many of the main sights are within walking distance of each other. It also has an extensive metro and bus network, so if you plan to explore the city extensively, it's worth buying a T-Dia ticket which will allow you to travel freely on buses and the metro all day.

Barcelonas top sights

Known as Spains largest building site, the famously unfinished Roman Cathedral, La Sagrada Familia is Antoni Gaudis most iconic work. To get the best out of it, book a guided tour of the cathedral, then climb to the top of one of the towers for sweeping views of the city.

Its also worth spending an hour or so at Museu Picasso on Carrer Montcada. This vast modern museum houses one of the most extensive collections of work in the world by the famed 20th century Spanish artist.

After some culture, grab lunch in the buzzy La Boqueria, a huge undercover food market just off Las Ramblas, which has 100 or so food stalls, plus traditional tapas bars and wine stands.

In the afternoon, take a stroll around another of Gaudis famous legacies. Located in north Barcelona, the enchanting Parc Guell  which is also home to the Gaudi Museum  is crammed with the famed architects tiled buildings and sculptures.

Before returning back to your beach resort in Costa Brava, head to the city's vibrant main vein, the lively Las Ramblas, for a jug of sangria and watch the world wander by.

The magical Parc Guell is also home to the Gaudi Museum

Tips for getting the most out of a day trip to Barcelona

Like any major city, its all too easy to spend your day getting lost in the winding lanes and alleyways of an inner city. If you only have a few hours to explore, then having a loose itinerary is key. Dont try and overload your day, just pick a few key sights and leave plenty of time to enjoy leisurely lunch or drinks and tapas on Las Ramblas.

If possible, book advance tickets for attractions such as La Sagrada Familia and Museu Picasso, which will avoid lengthy queues. Its also worth doing some pre-trip research and pencil in a good restaurant or two to save time searching for somewhere to eat. Remember, a little bit of research prior to your day trip can save endless time and fuss.Spread across 100 small islands, the water-logged Italian city of Venice is one of Europes most iconic destinations. Famous for the Grand Canal, St Marks Square and the dazzling Palazzo Ducale, Venice is simply stacked with charm and makes an ideal weekend culture trip or as a base for a longer holiday. Although Venice is a popular city break destination all year round, each season has a different appeal. Check out our guide to choosing the best time to visit.

Choose the perfect time to head to the Floating City with our helpful guide

Winter  best for experiencing authentic Venice

To see the city at its most authentic, i.e. without hordes of camera-snapping tourists, visit in winter when the misty canals, grand piazzas and ornate Venetian palazzos are as atmospheric as they come. Winter is when the locals reclaim their city. Catch a show at La Fenice, the Venice opera house, which has an extensive winter programme, hunker down with a hot chocolate in one of the many charming pasticceries which line an empty St Marks Square, or make full use of the blissfully quiet museums and galleries.

The downside is, of course, the weather. Cool, grey days and icy drizzle are generally the norm in this coastal city, although it is a treat to see the odd flurry of snow falling enigmatically over the Grand Canal. Come January and February, you may catch the odd day which sees laser-blue skies and a crisp frost on the spires which lifts the soul.

Its worth remembering that winter is low season in Venice and many of the main tourist restaurants and shops may be closed between November and January, however, all the main museums, galleries and attractions do stay open and experience fewer crowds.

Time it right and your trip could coincide with the Venice Carnival, a two-week Mardi Gras-style fiesta in February. The most popular event in the Venetian calendar, the city blazes with colour, life and music. It does get very busy and accommodation is rather pricy, and usually booked up months in advance.

Spring  best for enjoying quieter attractions

In spring, the miserable weather starts to ease off a little and the city sees an increase in visitors who descend for romantic weekend breaks. Easter is one of the busiest holidays in Venice and the best accommodation and restaurants do get booked up far in advance. After Easter, the crowds thin out and it becomes a particularly nice time to explore the citys museums, palazzos and art galleries. Theres an increased chance of blue skies and sunshine, and as the year rolls on the opportunities to eat and drink al fresco increases.

May is regarded as the nicest month to visit Venice. All the shops, bars and restaurants have reopened after the fallow winter months and theres a real buzz to the city. The sun makes an appearance most days and its often warm enough to eat outside the many restaurants, trattorias and bars dotted around the Grand Canal and St Marks Square.

Summer  best for guaranteed sunshine

In the summer, Venice can be overpowered by visitors and the narrow streets and waterways can get uncomfortably busy. The sun shines most days, rain is rare and temperatures can reach a sticky 28-30 degrees. Heatwaves are not uncommon, especially in late July and August. The hot weather heats up the canals giving this cramped, water-logged city a pungent and not altogether pleasant fragrance. It also attracts more mosquitos, which are rife in August and September.

August can often be a bit of an anomaly, despite being the height of the tourist season, it does have its quiet moments. The majority of Italians take their holiday in August and local businesses often close down, even in tourist-heavy cities like Venice. The absence of locals is remarkably noticeable which affects the charm and ambience of the city.

The Grand Canal on a beautiful sunny summer's day

Autumn  best for culture vultures

Come September, the Venetians are back in situ and normal service resumes. The city joyously welcomes the esteemed Venice Film Festival, which is now in its 75th year, with most screenings and events held in Lido di Venezia. The weather is a mixed bag with hot, sunny days, cooler nights and the odd rain shower or two. In October, the crowds lessen further as Venetians start to take back their city, and it becomes easier to book accommodation, get tickets for art exhibitions and bag tables at the citys most prized restaurants. The weather is cooler still and while it may not be possible to eat al fresco anymore, its the perfect time to hunker down with a robust vino rosso in a cosy candle-lit trattoria.Cava is a sparkling wine produced, more or less, exclusively in Catalonia. Along with being an important part of many Spanish celebrations, its also widely available in many bars in Barcelona. Heres our pick of some of the best places in and around the city to try this local speciality.

Nothing beats celebrating with a refreshing glass of cava

Can Paixano

Founded in 1969, this traditional tapas bar is famed as one of the most fun places in the city to try Cava. Usually crowded with both locals and tourists, along with the various types of inexpensive Cava and local wines, Can Paixano also offers sample tapas such as croquettes, peppers and cheeses, as well as various types of sandwiches. Its standing-room only  not the place to try to go for a three-course dinner  and very little English is spoken. If you find some Cava you like, you can buy it in the onsite shop and arrange to get it delivered to your accommodation. The bar is open MondaySaturday 09002230.

Metro: Barceloneta

El Xampanyet

Named after the Catalan word for sparkling wine and owned by the same family since the 1930s, El Xampanyet is an old-school bar near the Picasso Museum. It serves its house Cava in litre bottles or by the glass. Tapas such as home-cured anchovies, asparagus, tortilla and dried ham are well-priced and on display at the bar. Theres traditional decor with bottles behind the bar and ceramic tiles on the walls. The bar is open TuesdaySaturday 11000000.

Metro: Jaume I

Lanscape with vineyards in Vilafranca del Penedes, Catalonia

La Vinya del Senyor

Set on a square by Basilica de Santa Maria del Mar, the walls of this specialist wine bar are lined with more than 300 wines, as well as several types of cava. The bar inside is small, but theres also an upstairs room and usually a few tables outside. The wine list focuses on good, rather than cheap wine and cava  though there is something for every budget  and theres also a good selection of traditional tapas. Youll need to get there early to get a table outside  on Saturdays you can watch wedding parties come and go from the church. The bar is open every day from 12000000.

Metro: Jaume I

El Rincon de Cava

For cava at under one euro a glass, and from around 4 a bottle, this is the place to come. The simple bar also serves a good range of modestly priced tapas, such as salami, cheese, patatas bravas, stuffed peppers and albondigas (traditional meatballs). If youre not sure what you want, you can even order a half portion. The walls are covered with pictures of happy customers and the emphasis is on cheap and cheerful cava rather than luxury brands. Even so, there are still a few options to choose from according to your budget and taste, including cava Rosado (pink cava).

Metro: Paral-lel

Vila Viniteca

A shop with a tasting area rather than a true bar, this is a great place to see (and taste) one of the largest selections of cava in the city. Vila Viniteca was set up in 1932, and three generations on, is still run by the same family. Cava prices range from affordable to eye-watering and you can also enjoy some wine and cheese while you make your selection  theres also an upmarket deli section. The shop is open MondaySaturday 08302030.

Metro: Jaume I

Alta Alella

Alta Alella is the closest Cava cellar to Barcelona, around a 35-minute drive from the city centre and just two kilometres from the coast, this family run business welcomes visitors for tours and tastings. The vineyard dates back to the 19th century, and is now entirely organic, producing several types of Cava. You can follow a one-and-a-half-hour tour in English or book a cut-down 45-minute presentation aimed at those who are more interested in simply tasting and buying wine and Cava than learning about the process.

To get there: Take a train to El Masnou (line R1) then number 646 or 690 bus

Cavas Freixenet

With 18 wineries on three continents, Freixenet is one of the largest wine producers in Catalonia, as well as perhaps one of the best-known Cava producers. Its Catalonia winery is a 45-minute train ride from Placa Catalunya and offers tours which include tastings and a train ride through the cellars every day of the week. There are even special family tours with grape juice for kids, and you can also combine your visit with one to a chocolate factory. Booking in advance is advisable and various Cava-tasting events including parings with chocolate, cheese and even flowers can be arranged for small groups. Price: Adults 12, children aged nine17 8.50, eight-year-olds and under visit for free.

Getting there: Train from Placa Catalunya to Sant Sadurni dAnolaUnited is the most punctual US airline, recent figures have shown.

The carrier took the top spot after the latest US government rankings showed its flights arrived at their destinations on schedule 84.6 per cent of the time.

Coming bottom of the rankings was JetBlue Airways, which saw just 74.1 per cent of its flights reach their destination on time.

New figures have revealed that United Airlines is the most punctual US airline

The rankings appear in the U.S. Department of Transportations February 2018 Air Travel Consumer Report, which looked at punctuality for December 2017.

The report looks at the 12 biggest airlines in the US and breaks out separately the regional carriers that fly under the brands of their major partners.

For the report, a flight is classed as being on time so long as it arrives no more than 14 minutes behind schedule.

United finished top of the punctuality table despite only finishing fifth the previous month.

Delta Air Lines has dropped from first to second in the rankings following bad weather and a serious power outage at its Atlanta hub in December

It overtook Delta Air Lines, which had dropped to second in the table with 83.5 per cent of its flights arriving on time.

However, during December, Delta was hit by two major disruptions at its hub in Atlanta in the form of an unusual snowstorm and a serious power outage.

The two biggest climbers up the table were both Alaska Airlines and merger partner Virgin America, which finished third and fourth.

The previous month they had been the two-lowest ranked airlines for punctuality.

Coming bottom of the rankings is JetBlue Airways which saw just 74.1 per cent of its flights reach their destination on time

Making up the top five was American Airlines, which landed 82 per cent of its services on time.

It was followed by Hawaiian Airlines (80.8 per cent), Spirit Airlines (80.4 per cent), Southwest Airlines (79.1 per cent), Skywest Airlines (76.5 per cent) and ExpressJet (76.4 per cent).

Frontier Airlines came in 11th, just beating JetBlue, as its services landed on time on 75.8 per cent of occasions.

MailOnline Travel has contacted JetBlue and Frontier Airlines for comment.If you've ever dreamed of getting paid to travel, then this job posting with Disney might help you fulfil that ambition.

The company is currently looking for a youth activities counselor to travel on board its luxury cruise ships, with destinations including Mexico, the California coast, Barcelona and a private island in the Bahamas.

Although it might seem like the ultimate job, the posting stipulates that candidates must be 'able to work a seven-day, 70-to-84-hour week with limited time off'.

Disney is currently looking for a youth activities counselor to travel on board its luxury cruise ships

Other basic requirements include a minimum of two years experience working in a fast-paced recreational environment with children and a fluency in Spanish or Portuguese is preferred.

And candidates must be willing to share a cabin and can expect to be tested for alcohol consumption.

Despite the long hours and intense work environment, other youth activity counsellors say they love the gig.

In a video made to reveal more about the job offer, three Disney employees share their insights into the role.

Nicole, who originally hails from Canada, explains: 'The job is really great I have a background working with kids in summer camps.

'I wanted a job that gave me an interesting experience.'

Nicole says that a typical day can vary wildly, with some days starting at 8:30am and others starting at 1pm to 3pm.

The Disney job opening was posted on December 20 2017 and remains open

Edson, from Brazil, is equally enthusiastic about his job and says that 'being a counsellor is just one of the most amazing experiences'.

Meanwhile, Sheree underscores the need for being able to deal with full-on days.

The smiling American says: 'Were just playing all day long for about ten hours. It takes a lot of energy!'

The Disney job opening was posted on December 20, 2017, and remains open.

Main responsibilities include looking after children - aged three to 17 - participating in youth activities programs on board the boat.

This could involve anything from organising group games to cleaning floors and prepping food trays.

According to careers site glassdoor.co.uk, Disney youth activities counselors can earn up to $1,504 a month with their living expenses covered while at sea.

MailOnline Travel has contacted Disney but is still awaiting a comment.Daters around the world say that the English accent is the sexiest with those looking for love finding it more attractive than the sound of French, a new survey has revealed.

But despite the dialect winning the hearts of most people around the world, it is Parisians who are having the most sex and people in Tokyo going on the most dates.

The results were revealed in a global study by Timeout.com, which questioned 15,000 residents across 32 cities worldwide about their dating habits.

Was Meghan Markle won over by Prince Harry's English accent? A study by Time Out revealed that it's considered the sexiest

And it revealed that 17 per cent of those questioned said they were unable to resist the dulcet tones of an English person - much like Meghan Markle, it would seem.

The French accent came second with 13 per cent followed by the Italian accent with 11 per cent.

Fourth was the Irish accent (nine per cent) and making up the top five was the Spanish accent (seven per cent).

The Scottish accent came in sixth (six per cent) followed by Australian (five per cent) and American (four per cent).

Completing the top ten were the Brazilian and Japanese accents.

It is people in Paris who appear to be having the most sex with 86 per cent of people in the French capital saying hooking up is easy and most making love once every 11 days on average

The study also looked at dating habits to find out which cities were the best for hooking up.

And it found that people in Tokyo are going on the most dates, with residents in the city going on 25 dates a year - or one every fortnight.

However, it is people in Paris who appear to be having the most sex with 86 per cent of people in the French capital saying hooking up is easy and most making love once every 11 days on average.

But it's those living in Tel Aviv who are most likely to get lucky on the first date, with 61 per cent saying they would have sex on the same day they meet a potential partner.

WHAT ARE THE WORLD'S SEXIEST ACCENTS? 1. English (17 per cent) 2. French (13 per cent) 3. Italian (11 per cent) 4. Irish (nine per cent) 5. Spanish (seven per cent) 6. Scottish (six per cent) 7. Australian (five per cent) 8. American (four per cent) 9. Brazilian (three per cent) 10. Japanese (two per cent) Source: Timeout.com Advertisement

In the Swiss city of Zurich, a third of residents there say they have had a threesome, with more people there than any other city open to having sex with more than one person.

While the results showed that Mexico City is the hotspot for those up for an affair, with two in five admitting to having been unfaithful to a partner.

Meanwhile Moscow is the most blase city when it comes to PDAs with a quarter of residents in the Russian capital saying they aren't bothered by those kissing on public transport.

However, the study also showed that those looking for old-fashioned romance should head to Berlin as people there rarely use dating apps, don't generally date more than one person at a time and are the least likely to 'ghost' people (ignore them rather than letting them down with a message).

While in the Portuguese city of Porto, only 35 per cent of daters admit to looking up their match online before meeting them.

Dubai is the city where it's hardest to find a match with half of respondents there saying it is really difficult or virtually impossible to find love.

And people living in the US capital of Washington DC use dating apps the most, with 25 per cent of people there using an app on a weekly basis.

Other US cities where apps are used a lot include Boston and New York.

James Manning, city life editor of Time Out, said: 'Our survey gives us an entertaining inside look at how city-dwellers around the world are living and loving in 2018.

'Time Out has been inspiring and enabling people to make the most of the city since 1968, and if we can help shed a bit of light on the quest for romance along the way, so much the better.

The study found that people in Tokyo are going on the most dates, with residents in the city going on 25 dates a year - or one every fortnight

'The Time Out City Life Index shows that no one knows cities like we do  whether or not you find the English accent irresistible or where it's easy to find a love match.'

Meanwhile for people in the UK, the Irish accent was unanimously voted as the sexiest followed by the Manchester twang.

Manchester came in as the easiest city in the UK to get lucky, with 84 per cent thinking it is a breeze. The result is that they have the most sex in the UK - 28.3 times a year.

Mancunians also seem to have a bit of a wild side with two thirds having had a one night stand, 22 per cent having had a threesome and almost a quarter having sent saucy pictures of themselves to someone they haven't met yet.

But daters in Edinburgh are the most likely in the UK to ghost someone, with 31 per cent admitting to having done so.

In comparison to loved-up Manchester just 26 per cent of Londoners think it is easy to find love (compared to 53 per cent in Manchester).

But they really try hard, with 42 per cent revealing they have had a workplace romance, 34 per cent dating several people at once and 2.4 being the average number of dates a Londoner will wait before getting down to business (compared to a global average of 2.7).

And here is a number from the capital to think about: 2.1 per cent of married Londoners admitted to using a dating app in the last week.It has been one of the most controversial seasons of Married At First Sight yet, with married couples 'cheating' on one another and bickering over personality clashes.

But nothing could prepare viewers for the latest bombshell, with a magazine claiming one of the brides was actually more intrigued by relationship expert John Aiken than her groom.

According to a source for NW magazine the mysterious bride 'kept requesting one-on-one sessions with him.'

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Guess who! Magazine claims one of the Married At First Sight brides was more interested in relationship expert John Aiken than her groom... and kept requesting 'one-on-one' time

But who could it be?

The audience likely wouldn't blame Tracey Jewel for wanting out of her marriage given the explosive commitment ceremony on Sunday.

Her partner, 'alpha male' Dean Wells, finally came clean about his secret meet ups with Instagram model co-star Davina Rankin.

Despite seemingly breaking her heart on national television the latest promo shows Dean doing his best to make amends with the brunette beauty.

Not ideal... Her partner, 'alpha male' Dean Wells, finally came clean about his secret meet ups with Instagram model co-star Davina Rankin

He presents Tracey with flowers and begs her for another chance.

Tracey admits in frustration to the camera: 'I've been blinded by dean TWICE now!'

The couple later share a conversation on their apartment's couch, with Dean looking downcast as he asks: 'So, you think you can give it a chance?'

'I could walk away from this, I could just walk away. No problem!' Tracey is seen stating adamantly with expressive hand movements.

The side eye: The couple later share a conversation on their apartment's couch, with Dean looking downcast as he asks: 'So, you think you can give it a chance?'

It follows Dean begging Tracey for a second chance at the commitment ceremony, with the Perth-based stunner appearing conflicted at the time.

'I'm too old for this s**t, seriously!' 34-year-old Tracey yelled in exasperation as she learned of her man's shock infidelity with Davina.

She stated: 'I've put my heart on the line this whole time. I've been 100% myself, no games, nothing and I just don't know what to believe anymore.'

Poor Ryan! 'Things definitely didn't turn out the way I had thought,' she sobbed. 'I just can't believe it'

After a private chat with Dean, Tracey revealed to the show's relationship experts she was willing to 'give it another week.'

After leading Davina on, she was left furious and in tears after she was dumped by Dean in front of the other couples.

'Things definitely didn't turn out the way I had thought,' she sobbed. 'I just can't believe it.'This year Stephen Fry announced he was stepping down after hosting the BAFTAs for 12 years.

Joanna Lumley, 71, took over hosting duties from Stephen Fry on Sunday night, stepping into his shoes as presenter for the BAFTAs 2018.

And the Absolutely Fabulous star's appearance went down a storm, with her opening skit leaving the audience in hysterics and viewers, as well as Fry, taking to Twitter to praise her performance.

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National treasure: Joanna Lumley, 71, took over hosting duties from Stephen Fry on Sunday night, stepping into his shoes as presenter for the BAFTAs 2018

Joanna Lumley immediately had the audience eating from the palm of her hand as she took part in a pre-show skit, leaving the celeb-packed audience in hysterics.

In the routine, Lumley was seen in her living room, making calls to people to tell them she was going to be hosting this year's awards.

As she chatted on the phone, she was inter-cut with snippets from a variety of the nominated movies, featuring scenes with seemingly angry actors on the phone.

The likes of Hugh Grant, Timothee Chalamet, Woody Harrelson and Gary Oldman appeared in clips from their various films [Paddington 2, Call Me By Your Name, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and Darkest Hour respectively].

A natural! The Absolutely Fabulous star's appearance went down a storm, with her opening skit leaving the audience in hysterics and viewers taking to Twitter to praise her performance

One snippet saw Joanna call who she thought was Woody, asking him to join her at the BAFTAs.

But to her shock she was greeted by him, seemingly calling her an 'a**hole' and telling her he was in the middle of a film- a snippet from his film.

The clip evoked much laughter from the audience, before viewers flocked to Twitter to praise her performance.

'Joanna Lumley smashed it tonight; class, humour, humility. Long reign lumley hosting the #BAFTAs', one viewer wrote.

Lady of the evening: 'Here we go,' Lumley said before stepping onto the stage to rapturous applause

Joanna Lumley immediately had the audience eating from the palm of her hand as she took part in a pre-show skit, leaving the celeb-packed audience in hysterics

The winners of the EE British Academy Film Awards 2018 WINNER: BEST FILM THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI, Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin, Martin McDonagh Winner: Best Film: (L to R) Peter Czernin, Martin McDonagh and Graham Broadbent, for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri CALL ME YOUR NAME DARKEST HOUR DUNKIRK THE SHAPE OF WATER WINNER: OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI Martin McDonagh, Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin Winner: Outstanding British Film: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri DARKEST HOUR Joe Wright, Tim Bevan, Lisa Bruce, Eric Fellner, Anthony McCarten, Douglas Urbanski THE DEATH OF STALIN Armando Iannucci, Kevin Loader, Laurent Zeitoun, Yann Zenou, Ian Martin, David Schneider GODS OWN COUNTRY Francis Lee, Manon Ardisson, Jack Tarling LADY MACBETH William Oldroyd, Fodhla Cronin OReilly, Alice Birch PADDINGTON 2 Paul King, David Heyman, Simon Farnaby WINNER: LEADING ACTRESS Frances McDormand, THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI Winner: Leading Actress: Frances McDormand (right) came top ANNETTE BENING Film Stars Dont Die In Liverpool MARGOT ROBBIE I, Tonya SALLY HAWKINS The Shape Of Water SAOIRSE RONAN Lady Bird WINNER: LEADING ACTOR: Gary Oldman, DARKEST HOUR Winner: Leading Actor: Gary Oldman picked up a gong DANIEL DAY-LEWIS Daniel Day-Lewis Phantom Thread DANIEL KALUUYA Get Out JAMIE BELL Film Stars Dont Die In Liverpool TIMOTHEE CHALAMET Call Me By Your Name WINNER: SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS BLADE RUNNER 2049 Gerd Nefzer, John Nelson Winner: Special Visual Effects went to Blade Runner 2049 DUNKIRK Scott Fisher, Andrew Jackson THE SHAPE OF WATER Dennis Berardi, Trey Harrell, Kevin Scott STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI Nominees TBC WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES Nominees TBC WINNER: OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER I AM NOT A WITCH Winner: Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer - I Am Not A Witch THE GHOUL JAWBONE KINGDOM OF US LADY MACBETH WINNER: PRODUCTION DESIGN THE SHAPE OF WATER, Paul Austerberry, Jeff Melvin, Shane Vieau Winner: Production Design - The Shape Of Water BEAUTY AND THE BEAST Sarah Greenwood, Katie Spencer BLADE RUNNER 2049 Dennis Gassner, Alessandra Querzola DARKEST HOUR Sarah Greenwood, Katie Spencer DUNKIRK Nathan Crowley, Gary Fettis WINNER: ADAPTED SCREENPLAY CALL ME BY YOUR NAME, James Ivory Winner: Adapted Screenplay, Call Me By Your Name, James Ivory THE DEATH OF STALIN Armando Iannucci, Ian Martin, David Schneider FILM STARS DONT DIE IN LIVERPOOL Matt Greenhalgh MOLLYS GAME Aaron Sorkin PADDINGTON 2 Simon Farnaby, Paul King WINNER: FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE THE HANDMAIDEN, Park Chan-wook, Syd Lim Winner: Film Not In The English Language: The Handmaiden - Park Chan-wook, Syd Lim ELLE FIRST THEY KILLED MY FATHER THE SALESMAN LOVELESS WINNER: BRITISH SHORT FILM COWBOY DAVE, Colin OToole, Jonas Mortensen Winner: British Short Film - Cowboy Dave, Colin OToole, Jonas Mortensen AAMIR Vika Evdokimenko, Emma Stone, Oliver Shuster A DROWNING MAN Mahdi Fleifel, Signe Byrge Srensen, Patrick Campbell WORK Aneil Karia, Scott ODonnell WREN BOYS Harry Lighton, Sorcha Bacon, John Fitzpatrick WINNER: BRITISH SHORT ANIMATION POLES APART, Paloma Baeza, Ser En Low Winner: British Short Animation: Poles Apart HAVE HEART Will Anderson MAMOON Ben Steer WINNER: DOCUMENTARY I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO, Raoul Peck Winner: Documentary: I Am Not Your Negro CITY OF GHOSTS ICARUS AN INCONVENIENT SEQUEL JANE WINNER: EDITING BABY DRIVER, Jonathan Amos, Paul Machliss Winner: Editing - Baby Driver, Jonathan Amos, (pictured) and Paul Machliss BLADE RUNNER 2049 Joe Walker DUNKIRK Lee Smith THE SHAPE OF WATER Sidney Wolinsky THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI Jon Gregory WINNER: ANIMATED FILM COCO, Lee Unkrich, Darla K. Anderson Winner: Animated Film: Coco LOVING VINCENT MY LIFE AS A COURGETTE WINNER: Costume Design PHANTOM THREAD, Mark Bridges Winner: Costume Design: Phantom Thread BEAUTY AND THE BEAST Jacqueline Durran DARKEST HOUR Jacqueline Durran I, TONYA Jennifer Johnson THE SHAPE OF WATER Luis Sequeira WINNER: MAKEUP & HAIR DARKEST HOUR David Malinowski, Ivana Primorac, Lucy Sibbick, Kazuhiro Tsuji Winner: MakeUp and Hair: DARKEST HOUR David Malinowski, Ivana Primorac, Lucy Sibbick, Kazuhiro Tsuji BLADE RUNNER 2049 Donald Mowat, Kerry Warn I, TONYA Deborah La Mia Denaver, Adruitha Lee VICTORIA & ABDUL Daniel Phillips WONDER Naomi Bakstad, Robert A. Pandini, Arjen Tuiten WINNER: ORIGINAL MUSIC THE SHAPE OF WATER Alexandre Desplat Winner: Original Music: The Shape Of Water BLADE RUNNER 2049 Benjamin Wallfisch, Hans Zimmer DARKEST HOUR Dario Marianelli DUNKIRK Hans Zimmer PHANTOM THREAD Jonny Greenwood WINNER: EE RISING STAR AWARD DANIEL KALUUYA Winner: EE Rising Star Award - Daniel Kaluuya FLORENCE PUGH JOSH OCONNOR TESSA THOMPSON TIMOTHEE CHALAMET WINNER: SOUND DUNKIRK Richard King, Gregg Landaker, Gary A. Rizzo, Mark Weingarten Winner: Sound: Dunkirk's Richard King, Gregg Landaker, Gary A. Rizzo, Mark Weingarten BABY DRIVER Tim Cavagin, Mary H. Ellis, Julian Slater BLADE RUNNER 2049 Ron Bartlett, Doug Hemphill, Mark Mangini, Mac Ruth THE SHAPE OF WATER Christian Cooke, Glen Gauthier, Nathan Robitaille, Brad Zoern STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick, Stuart Wilson, Matthew Wood WINNER: DIRECTOR Guillermo del Toro, THE SHAPE OF WATER Winner: Director: Guillermo del Toro - The Shape Of Water BLADE RUNNER 2049 Denis Villeneuve CALL ME BY YOUR NAME Luca Guadagnino DUNKIRK Christopher Nolan THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI Martin McDonagh WINNER: SUPPORTING ACTRESS ALLISON JANNEY I, Tonya Winner: Supporting Actress: Allison Janney for I, Tanya KRISTEN SCOTT THOMAS Darkest Hour LAURIE METCALF Lady Bird LESLEY MANVILLE Phantom Thread OCTAVIA SPENCER The Shape Of Water WINNER: SUPPORTING ACTOR SAM ROCKWELL, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri Winner: Supporting Actor: Sam Rockwell for Three Billboards CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER All the Money in the World HUGH GRANT Paddington 2 WILLEM DEFOE Florida Project WOODY HARRELSON 3 Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri WINNER: CINEMATOGRAPHY BLADE RUNNER 2049, Roger Deakins Winner: Cinematography: Blade Runner 2049 DARKEST HOUR Bruno Delbonnel DUNKIRK Hoyte van Hoytema THE SHAPE OF WATER Dan Laustsen THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI Ben Davis WINNER: ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI Martin McDonagh Winner: Original Screenplay - Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri GET OUT Jordan Peele I, TONYA Steven Rogers LADY BIRD Greta Gerwig THE SHAPE OF WATER Guillermo del Toro, Vanessa Taylor ______ Advertisement

Another added: 'Fantastic choice of Joanna Lumley to present #EEBAFTAs this year, perfect replacement for Stephen Fry he did a great job'.

And fans appeared happy with the choice of replacement for Stephen, writing: 'Well this years #BAFTAs were great - @JoannaLumley done brilliantly @stephenfry will be proud @BAFTA'.

'An oddly paced #BAFTAs but Joanna Lumley should 100% return next year,' another wrote, while on fan added: 'Absolutely loved #EEBAFTAs this evening Joanna Lumley did a fabulous job as always absolutely smashed it I knew she would. Well done sweetie darling x'.

'Joanna Lumley smashed it tonight; class, humour, humility. Long reign lumley hosting the #BAFTAs': Viewers flocked to Twitter to praise her performance

Great chemistry! Joanna made Jennifer Lawrence blush when she called her 'one of the hottest actresses out there'

And one fan praised Joanna for not 'stealing the limelight', tweeting: 'Have Joanna Lumley present the #BAFTAs hence forth! Very professional, no cringe worthy moments and no constant reference to one's sexuality!! Let everyone else shine!'

Even Stephen Fry took to Twitter to praise his friend, after bowing out of hosting duties this year.

The Brit legend told fans he caught up on the broadcast on Monday morning, tweeting: 'Finally caught up with recording of last nights #BAFTAs  brava bravissima @JoannaLumley  wonderful & charming, you owned the evening xxx'

High praise: Even Stephen Fry took to Twitter to praise his friend, after bowing out of hosting duties this year

Joanna Lumley launched the Baftas with a nod to the suffragettes, in an opening speech laced with her characteristic gags.

The Bafta host's opening speech praised the 'dogged determination' of the suffragettes, and the 'powerful Time's Up movement, and with it, the determination to eradicate the abuse of women all over the world'.

She also pointed out that the 'ravishing' Royal Albert Hall, home to this year's event, was 'bursting at the seams with history' as the very place which hosted 'the first group of British women being given the vote' 100 years ago.

Showmanship: A performance from Cirque du Soleil followed after she opened the show with a nod to the Suffragettes

A Royal delight! Joanna was even joined by Prince William on stage at the much anticipated awards

A performance from Cirque du Soleil followed afterwards, which saw backstage, applying her lipstick, looking at her reflection in the iconic bronze BAFTA statuettes that are handed out to the eventual winners.

'Here we go,' Lumley said before stepping onto the stage to rapturous applause.

When Joanna was confirmed as BAFTA presenter, Lumley said: 'Honestly how exciting is this? It's just so unbelievably thrilling. I always looked at the BAFTA Awards with Stephen Fry there forever more, so who thought I'd turn into Stephen Fry? I said yes indecently quickly. Thank you, thank you, I'll see you on the night.

A list affair! Joanna Lumley, Frances McDormand and Sir Ridley posed together as he won an Academy Fellowship Award

Humerous: Joanna was a natural in front of the cameras as she larked about with Bryan Cranston

After stepping down from his coveted position, Fry- who presented the Awards from 2001 to 2006 and again from 2012 to 2017, said: 'Every one of the 12 BAFTA film award ceremonies that I had the privilege of hosting has a place in my memory.

'The mixture of glamour, glory, drama and - occasionally - embarrassment and hiccup holds a unique place in the British film calendar.

'Over the last two decades I have especially loved watching the emergence of new young film talent behind and in front of the camera. But after so long a time I felt it only right to stand down and let others take the Baftas on to new heights and greater glories.

'I want to thank all the production staff, Amanda Berry and her wonderful Bafta colleagues, the BBC and all those who helped make every year so enjoyable.

'I reserve especial gratitude and imagination for Ivor Baddiel and Phil Kerr, whose work on the scripts was so skillful it made people think I'd written every line myself.

'What fun it will be to watch BAFTA 2018 without my heart hammering, mouth drying and knees trembling.'Australia was left reeling after Married At First Sight contestant, Dean Wells announced he had a 'secret relationship' with co-star Davina Rankin on Sunday night's episode.

But no one is as shocked as MAFS contestant Nasser Sultan who has made threats of violence towards the 'love rat'.

The 50-year-old condemned Dean's actions, telling NW Magazine 'I swear to God, I'll break their legs and I don't care.'

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'I swear to God, I'll break his legs': MAFS' Nasser Sultan has strong words for 'love rat' Dean Wells following his shock 'secret relationship' with busty bikini model Davina Rankin

Never one to back down, Nasser continued, 'If you're an a--hole, I'm going to tell you you're an a--hole. I'll never walk away with that sort of stuff and in the past I've ended up in fights'.

In another blow to Dean, Nasser pledged his allegiance to the women involved in the MAFS 'scandal'.

On Sunday night's episode, Dean's appointed wife, Tracey Jewel was dealt a shocking blow when Dean revealed he had been had been seeing co-star Davina Rankin behind her back.

'If you're an a--hole, I'm going to tell you you're an a--hole. I'll never walk away with that sort of stuff and in the past I've ended up in fights': The 50-year-old condemned Dean's actions, telling NW Magazine 'I swear to God, I'll break their legs and I don't care'

After the shock announcement, Nasser told Tracey: 'He's played you and played her!' as she burst into tears.

'I'm too old for this s**t, seriously!' 34-year-old Tracey yelled in exasperation as she learned of her man's shock infidelity.

Stress: After the shock announcement, Nasser told Tracey: 'He's played you and played her!' as she burst into tears

The heartbreaking news came during the show's weekly commitment ceremony, which began with a joyous start.

Tracey revealed she was feeling confident about her relationship with Dean, which appeared to be back on track just a week after he told her he wanted to leave their marriage.

However, Dean's shocking admission on Sunday night left Tracey in tears, who stated: 'I've put my heart on the line this whole time. I've been 100% myself, No games, nothing and I just don't know what to believe anymore.'

Awkward: Dean publicly confessing to secretly meeting up with Davina was not what the Instagram model was expecting

With Dean begging her for a second chance, the Perth-based stunner seemed conflicted and the two went outside for a private chat.

Upon returning, Tracey revealed to the show's relationship experts 'I'm willing to give it another week.'

Justifying her choice, the single mum stated: 'I can't deny what I feel. I just can't. I can't lie to myself. I'm either going to look like a complete effing fool or the most forgiving person on the planet. It could go one of two ways.'

Social media was none too happy with her choice, with one viewer taking to Twitter stating: 'Tracey its called SELF RESPECT! Ditch him! WTF'

Another Twitter user expressed confusion over the brunette beauty's choice, writing: 'Why is Tracey from #MAFS wanting to stay with him [Dean] after he tried to leave AND CHEATED on her?? I dont understand?'

And a third offered an ominous warning to the star: 'Tracey have some damn self respect and leave. At this point you're the victim, say stay and you're just asking for trouble and will certainly not have any sympathy when Dean screws u over again'.She glittered in gold when there was a blackout on the BAFTA red carpet in support for the Time's Up initiative on Sunday night.

But TV host Hofit Golan, 32, quickly changed into a one-colour outfit for the official afterparty at London's Grosvenor House Hotel, following the ceremony.

The Israeli socialite drastically altered her look to coincide with the numerous black ensembles on the red carpet, dazzling in an elegant sequined jacket.

Quick change! Hofit Golan slipped into an all-black ensemble with daring thigh-high slit for the BAFTA after-party in London...hours after arriving in gold in Times Up protest gaffe on Sunday

Hofit's dramatic overcoat was cinched at the waist, with a glimpse of a matching black roll-neck jumper dress peaking out.

The model gave teased the camera with a flash of her pins underneath, showing off her quirky knee-high strappy boots.

Hofit appeared in good spirits after her potentially controversial wardrobe moment earlier in the evening, swapping out her minimalist jewellery for chic golden chandelier earrings.

The blonde beauty finished off her fast light-to-dark transformation with a dainty black box clutch before heading into the swanky venue.

Sneak peek: The model gave teased the camera with a flash of her pins underneath, showing off her quirky knee-high strappy boots

Silver siren: Hofit Golan wore a plunging silver gown as she opted not to follow the all-black 'Time's Up' trend

The women of the film industry continued the trend established at this year's Golden Globe awards, which saw actresses wear black to show their support for the Time's Up initiative.

Hofit hit the headlines when she opted not to follow the powerful all-black statement, instead turning up in a very busty silver gown.

The garment plunged at the front and was nipped in at the waist with a black sash, as the bottom half of the gown dropped dramatically to the ground.

Smiles: Hofit appeared in good spirits after her potentially controversial wardrobe moment earlier in the evening, swapping out her minimalist jewelry for chic golden chandelier earrings

She tied her blonde locks back for the occasion and complimented the look with a matching clutch.

Hofit offset the look with bright red nails and smiled for the cameras before turning to ascend the steps into London's Royal Albert Hall, the long train trailing gracefully behind her.

Russian presenter and model Victoria Bonya, 38, followed suit in a metallic mini-dress, striped with dark silver and black.

Turning heads: Israeli socialite Hofit, 32, turned up in a very busty silver gown

Up she goes: Hofit smiled for the cameras before turning to ascend the steps into London's Royal Albert Hall, the long train trailling gracefully behind her

The 'Time's Up' initiative sent around a letter urging guests 'to wear black to the awards ceremony, to follow suit from our sisters who attended the Golden Globes'.

Just a month ago, most of the stars who attended the Golden Globes wore black in a show of solidarity towards victims of sexual harassment.

And while the dress code was more loose for the Grammys, stars walked the red carpet carrying white roses in support of gender equality.

EE British Academy Film Awards 2018 - THE WINNERS BEST FILM: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri DIRECTOR: The Shape Of Water - Guillermo Del Toro LEADING ACTRESS: Frances McDormand - Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri LEADING ACTOR: Gary Oldman - Darkest Hour SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Allison Janney - I, Tonya SUPPORTING ACTOR: Sam Rockwell - Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri EE RISING STAR AWARD: Daniel Kaluuya OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER: I Am Not A Witch FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE: The Handmaiden DOCUMENTARY: I Am Not Your Negro ANIMATED FILM: Coco Original ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Call Me By Your Name ORIGINAL MUSIC: The Shape Of Water - Alexandre Desplat C INEMATOGRAPHY: 'Blade Runner 2049' - Roger Deakins EDITING: Baby Driver - Jonathan Amos, Paul Machliss PRODUCTION DESIGN: The Shape Of Water - Paul Austerberry, Jeff Melvin, Shane Vieau COSTUME DESIGN: Phantom Thread - Mark Bridges SOUND: Dunkirk - Richard King, Gregg Landaker, Gary A. Rizzo, Mark Weingarten SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS: Blade Runner 2049 - Gerd Nefzer, John Nelson BRITISH SHORT ANIMATION: Poles Apart BRITISH SHORT FILM: Cowboy Dave MAKEUP & HAIR: Darkest Hour Advertisement

Taking the plunge: The garment plunged at the front and was nipped in at the waist with a black sash

Dramatic: The bottom half of the gown dropped dramatically to the ground and she tied her blonde locks back for the occasion and complimented the look with a matching clutch

Sparkling: Hofit offset the look with bright red nails

Blow a kiss: Hofit teased the onlookers with a cheeky kiss before heading inside for the awards show

Silver sirens: Hofit Golan wore a plunging silver gown while Victoria Bonya put on a leggy display in metallic stripes... as the pair opted not to follow the all-black 'Time's Up' trend

Silver stripes: Russian presenter and model Victoria, 38, followed suit in a metallic mini-dress, striped with dark silver and black

Big night: She tied her chestnut locks tightly into a ponytail and added smokey eyes and a red lip to the look

Strutting her stuff: The leggy number showed off her toned pins and she completed the look with silver heels and matching accessories

Proud: Hofit lead the star-studded arrivals the BAFTA after-party, where winners Allison Janey and Gary Oldman proudly showed off their new accolades

Success: Gary seemed enamoured with his latest win, barely taking his eyes of his latest win

Sheer beauty: Sophie Cookson flaunted her incredible leggy frame in arrived in a semi-sheer black lace gown with feather accented bustier

Shimmer: Screen veteran Celia Imrie dazzled in her curve-hugging sparkling gown, with tulle trim and lace shoulders for an added touch of glamour

Turning heads: Married couple Kate Mara and Jamie Bell stunning in their equally sophisticated ensembles

Posing up a storm: Naomie Harris rocked her casual lace dress over a pair of black slacksShe was awarded Best Actress in a Leading Role for her performance in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.

But Frances McDormand has revealed that she still stands behind the Time's Up movement despite choosing not to wear black to the British Academy Film Awards on Sunday.

Taking to the stage in London's Royal Albert Hall to accept her award, Frances, 60, said that she 'stands in full solidarity' with supporters of the Time's Up cause, who requested that women wear black to the ceremony.

Activist: Frances McDormand, 60, revealed that she 'stands in full solidarity' with supporters of the Time's Up movement as she accepted the BAFTA award for Best Actress

Frances made the revelation as she attended the awards in a black and red lip-printed dress, going against the requests of Time's Up which is standing in solidarity against sexual harassment in Hollywood.

As she received her Best Actress honour, Frances said: 'Thank you British film people. As Martin [McDonagh] said, I have a little trouble with compliance.'

As the crowd cheer for her, Frances went onto explain why she chose to don her colourful lip-printed dress for the awards show.

'I want you to know that I stand in full solidarity with my sisters tonight in black,' she said.

Controversial: Frances explained that she supported the movement despite choosing not to wear black to the ceremony, instead donning a colourful lip printed dress

Supporter: Speaking about her choice of frock, Frances said: 'I want you to know that I stand in full solidarity with my sisters tonight in black'

EE British Academy Film Awards 2018 - THE WINNERS BEST FILM: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri DIRECTOR: The Shape Of Water - Guillermo Del Toro LEADING ACTRESS: Frances McDormand - Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri LEADING ACTOR: Gary Oldman - Darkest Hour SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Allison Janney - I, Tonya SUPPORTING ACTOR: Sam Rockwell - Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri EE RISING STAR AWARD: Daniel Kaluuya OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER: I Am Not A Witch FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE: The Handmaiden DOCUMENTARY: I Am Not Your Negro ANIMATED FILM: Coco Original ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Call Me By Your Name ORIGINAL MUSIC: The Shape Of Water - Alexandre Desplat C INEMATOGRAPHY: 'Blade Runner 2049' - Roger Deakins EDITING: Baby Driver - Jonathan Amos, Paul Machliss PRODUCTION DESIGN: The Shape Of Water - Paul Austerberry, Jeff Melvin, Shane Vieau COSTUME DESIGN: Phantom Thread - Mark Bridges SOUND: Dunkirk - Richard King, Gregg Landaker, Gary A. Rizzo, Mark Weingarten SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS: Blade Runner 2049 - Gerd Nefzer, John Nelson BRITISH SHORT ANIMATION: Poles Apart BRITISH SHORT FILM: Cowboy Dave MAKEUP & HAIR: Darkest Hour Advertisement

Winner: Frances accepted her Best Actress honour from Chiwetel Ejiofor, for her acclaimed performance in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Gracious: In a touching moment, Frances embraced fellow BAFTA nominess Sally Hawkins as she went to accept her award

Lovely: Frances' award was her first BAFTA after four nominations, and she it also tipped to win the Oscar for Best Actress in March

Members of the Time's Up initiative sent around a letter urging guests 'to wear black to the awards ceremony, to follow suit from our sisters who attended the Golden Globes'.

Just a month ago, most of the stars who attended the Golden Globes wore black in a show of solidarity towards victims of sexual harassment.

And while the dress code was more fluid for the Grammys, stars walked the red carpet carrying white roses in support of gender equality.

Frances also spoke out in support of those who had used the activist themes in Three Billboards in their own individual causes, such as the Grenfell Tower campaign and Marco Rubio

'I appreciate a well-organised act of civil disobedience,' Frances said.

Celeb pals: Frances was also seen rubbing shoulders with Best Supporting Actress winner Allison Janney backstage

Legend: The Fargo star also met with Best Actor winner Gary Oldman, who won for his performance as Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour

'I am thrilled that activists all over the world have been inspired by the set decoration of the three billboards and have taken to the streets and let it be a part of the positive discourse that is happening,' she added.

'Who would have thought that Marge Gunderson would grow up to be Mildred Hays? Power to the people.'

Frances has been cleaning up the Best Actress prizes throughout this awards season, and is now tipped to win the Academy Award at the ceremony in March.

It was just won of five awards given to Three Billboards at the British ceremony, including the top honours of Best Film and Best British Film.

Windswept: Frances later headed on to the BAFTAs after-party at the Chiltern FirehouseShe's getting ready to set-up camp in paradise on Love Island.

But Sophie Monk was reportedly desperate on camping out in a very different location - the South African jungle.

Woman's Day reports the 38-year-old made a secret tape of her auditioning to take over Julia Morris' hosting role on I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!

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'She wanted Julia's job': Claims Sophie Monk sent a secret audition tape to Channel Ten in the hope of replacing Julia Morris on I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!

According to the publication, Sophie made the video after wrapping filming on The Bachelorette last year.

A source told the magazine Sophie 'was keen to partner with co-host Dr. Chris Brown' because she believes 'they'd have great (onscreen) chemistry together'.

'While Julia has a lot of fans, Sophie felt that it would be great to have some new blood on the show,' the source said.

Julia and Chris have been hosting the show since it debuted back in 2015.

Eyes on the prize: She's getting ready to set-up camp in paradise on Love Island. But Sophie Monk was reportedly desperate on camping out in a very different location - the South African jungle

Hosting duo: Julia and Chris have been hosting the show since it debuted back in 2015

But Julia had nothing to worry about with Sophie's alleged audition tape rejected by Channel Ten.

Sophie's management have told Daily Mail Australia the accusations are 'completely false' adding that 'Sophie has never had any interest in hosting I'm A Celebrity and never had any discussions about it'.

Sophie has since parted ways with the network and has jumped ship to Channel Nine where she will be hosting Love Island.

Unlucky-in-love Sophie suffered a major heartbreak this year when her relationship with Bachelorette winner Stu Laundy fell apart in January.Troy: Fall Of A City

Rating:

Hold The Sunset

Rating:

Lets get the obvious complaint over with at the start: switch the flaming lights on, Auntie.

I mean that literally  gives us some blazing torches and firebrands to see by, in the ancient epic Troy: Fall Of A City (BBC1).

In night-time corridors, gloomy banqueting halls, deep woods and shadowy bedchambers, viewers were left straining their eyes.

The Beeb might claim that all this low light is for the sake of realism, to convey an authentic sense of the world 3,200 years ago.

The lack of lighting in Troy: Fall Of A City didn't amuse Christopher Stevens this week, after viewers were left training their eyes

But within the first five minutes, a spectral wolf had led our hero Paris (Louis Hunter) into an enchanted glade where the king of the gods, Zeus, demanded he choose which of three quarrelling goddesses was the most beautiful  with the prize to the fairest being an apple made of molten gold.

You dont need Professor Mary Beard to point out that bits of this story might not be entirely faithful to historical fact. Realism isnt relevant.

Lighting aside, this was a rumbustious romp through the legend of Helen of Troy  the face that launched a thousand ships and just as many books, movies and TV spectaculars.

The first version was composed by the blind Greek bard Homer, in his twin poems The Iliad and The Odyssey: this adaptation by David Farr, who also wrote the screenplay for The Night Manager, played fast and loose with the classic text.

Homer didnt have so many bare bums and boobs, for starters. We saw so much of Pariss backside that its already a celebrity in its own right and deserves a Hollywood agent all to itself.

He also complained that Homer didn't have so many bare bums or boobs, claiming that Paris's backside was seen so often it might as well be a celebrity in its own right

In the original, Helen falls in love with Paris and elopes, simply because the gods command it.

Farr came up with a more complex motive: the Greek beauty (Bella Dayne) is trapped in a wretched marriage to a weak bully, who plans to give away their teenage daughter to Paris as part of a trade deal.

Seedy B&B of the weekend On the trail of an adulterous husband in Endeavour (ITV), Morse found himself at a cheap place called the Crossroads motel. Older viewers will have chuckled at the soap reference. But what would Miss Diane say? Advertisement

For millennia, Helen has been portrayed as a temptress and a harlot. This clever rewrite shows her as a courageous mother, risking her life to protect her child.

From the bloody Caesarean birth at the start of the story, to the vivid depiction of ancient sports, this is a respectful, grown-up retelling of the myth.

The pace dragged occasionally, but the most famous war in ancient history is about to start, which ought to speed things up.

Nothing was slow about Hold The Sunset (BBC1), John Cleeses first TV sitcom for nearly 40 years.

A series of deft scenes sketched the set-up: Cleese is a curmudgeonly old Romeo, who has been carrying on with his neighbour Edith (Alison Steadman) for donkeys years.

Hold The Sunset, John Cleese's first TV sitcom for nearly 40 years, is about a couple who are about to leave their home for sunnier climes when their middle-aged couple moves home

Just as he persuades her to sell her house and use the cash to fund their dotage in sunnier climes, her middle-aged son Roger (Jason Watkins) ruins everything  hes left his family, ditched his job and is moving back into his childhood bedroom.

Cleese splutters and trots around like an elderly ostrich with high blood pressure.

Fans who were hoping to see a return of Basil Fawlty discovered instead that he has matured into a relative of the mad old Major Gowen, played by Ballard Berkeley.

It was inevitable, really.

Hold The Sunset is an old-fashioned sitcom, a cross between One Foot In The Grave and Ronnie Corbetts Sorry.

It remains to be seen whether audiences still have an appetite for laboured slapstick where ageing men get into scrapes and women cluck over them.He's the self-proclaimed country boy who has taken to the single life like a bull to a red rag.

Now former Married At First Sight star Simon McQuillan has dished on his buck-wild bachelor life.

The Queensland-based TV star told NW Magazine, 'I went to a party in Brisbane one night, and went into this room with like 16 people lying on the bed.'

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'I had four offers that night to go and muck around in the sack with someone. I was exhausted': Former MAFS star Simon McQuillan boasts about 16-person ORGY in Brisbane

The former Married At First Star claims he had multiple sexual invitations in the span of two hours at the aforementioned Brisbane bash.

'I had four offers that night to go and muck around in the sack with someone,' Simon explained.

He added: 'I was exhausted and I thought, you're a really attractive lady but I'd like to be able to talk to you.'

This isn't the first time Simon has boasted about his single lifestyle after his split from MAFS wife, Alene Khatcherianas.

'I was exhausted and I thought, you're a really attractive lady but I'd like to be able to talk to you': The Married At First Star claims he had multiple sexual invitations in the span of two hours at a Brisbane after party

Last month, he revealed how easy it was for him to get a one night stand, but admitted that he isn't interested in them.

Simon told NW Magazine that he's met women who want to date him, while others want a fling.

He said he decided that he wants more than a fling and a real connection with a woman.

Alene meanwhile told the publication she was 'heartbroken' when they split, saying long distance was a major factor.

She told OK! in December 2017, that their relationship was doomed from the beginning.

'Besides the distance, the different lifestyles and what he wants to do with his life and what kind of future he wants for himself, there was a huge difference there in the goals,' she admitted.

Reality TV Casanova?! This isn't the first time, Simon has boasted about his single lifestyle, after his split from MAFS wife, Alene Khatcherianas, pictured here

'So we knew that someone had to sacrifice and we reached a stage where we were like, "let's be honest, someone is not going to be happy eventually",' she added.

She went on to advise fans not to hope for a reunion between the pair, confirming that romance is no longer a possibility.

The pair previously enjoyed a long-distance romance after the show ended, with Alene being based in Sydney and Simon being based in Queensland.

They eventually split in July 2017, citing distance as the reason behind their breakup.She was by her friend's side through the most difficult time.

And Francia Raisa told Harry Connick, Jr., that the recovery process was positively grueling after a secret surgery to donate a kidney to Selena Gomez in June.

The 29-year-old actress felt somewhat helpless after her doctor told her she 'couldn't move for two months' following the surgery, while Selena, 25, was able get 'up and at it immediately' after.

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Difficult: Francia Raisa told Harry Connick, Jr., that the recovery process was positively grueling after a secret surgery to donate a kidney to Selena Gomez in June

'I couldnt do anything active,' she said. 'All I could do was walk. That was very hard for me, and I have a dog.

'Every day the thing I look forward to is drinking my coffee, and walking, and I couldnt do that. It was really, really hard.'

The Grown-ish starlet said that the surgery is 'harder as the donor because we are losing something our body didn't need to lose.'

She said that after the critical surgery, the girls bonded more than ever and even consider themselves family.

Friends: The 29-year-old actress felt somewhat helpless after her doctor told her she 'couldn't move for two months' following the surgery, while Selena, 25, was able get 'up and at it immediately' after; seen in December

Francia said that she and the Bad Liar star had the procedure performed in June of 2017, but didn't go public with the news until September.

'We wanted that privacy,' The Secret Life of the American Teenager said. 'It was a big surgery. She felt bad about even having me do that, because we are just friends, I am not her family or anything - well, I am now - she has my blood.'

The Los Angeles native said that in the wake of the medical procedure - amid Gomez's debilitating battle with lupus - both she and Selena wanted to be in the company of relatives.

Cute: Francia said that she and the Bad Liar star had the procedure performed in June of 2017, but didn't go public with the news until September; seen on Instagram

'It was cool because now I have a big family,' Raisa said. 'I lost my grandparents when I was younger ... [Selena's] grandparents are my grandparents now and so I have this extension of a family and its been really amazing.'

Raisa said that Gomez had a much quicker recovery that she did, based on the body mechanics of the procedure.

'Its harder as the donor because we are losing something our body didnt need to lose, so trying to recover from that and shes gaining something her body needed - so shes up and at it immediately and I had a hard time,' she said.

Strong bond: Raisa (L) donated her kidney to Gomez (R) last June amid the star's health battle with lupus

The Grown-ish star said that her recovery led to some 'very humbling' moments, as she was not able to get up or shower without assistance.

'Im a very very active person, so the fact that my doctor said I couldnt move for two months; two months, I couldnt do anything active,' she said. 'All I could do was walk. That was very hard for me and I have a dog and every day the thing I look forward to is drinking my coffee and walking and I couldnt do that. It was really, really hard.'

Gomez last September said she felt 'incredibly blessed' after Raisa gave to her 'the ultimate gift and sacrifice' in the form of a kidney.

'There arent words to describe how I can possibly thank my beautiful friend,' Gomez wrote on Instagram September 14 in a post revealing the surgical procedure. 'I love you so much sis.'

Along with the emotional statement, Selena posted included a shot of herself and Raisa holding hands in adjacent hospital beds.She was dumped by her 'husband' Sean Donnelly on Married At First Sight.

But despite having her heart broken on national television, Jo McPharlin wants a second chance at love.

The 39-year-old told TV WEEK magazine on Monday she wouldn't hesitate to sign up for another season of the show and gave an update on her relationship with Sean.

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Hopeful: Despite having her heart broken on national television on Married At First Sight, Jo McPharlin, 39, wants a second chance at love

The bubbly blonde is hoping to follow the lead of her co-star John Robertson, 54, who has appeared twice on the reality experiment searching for a partner.

'I would do it all again in the blink of an eye,' she enthusiastically announced.

She revealed that since filming the series, where she was left in tears after being rejected by Sean during the first commitment ceremony, she hasn't gone on a date.

'I would do it all again in the blink of an eye,' she enthusiastically announced

Alone: She revealed that since filming the series, where she was left in tears after being rejected by Sean during the first commitment ceremony, she hasn't gone on a date

'I've gone back to my sad little mum life, really,' she shared.

Jo is an Adelaide-based single mother with two children: Angus, 14, and Zara, 10.

In addition to being open to starring on Married At First Sight for a second time, she stated she was still hopeful to find love in her home city.

Idealistic: In addition to being open to starring on Married At First Sight for a second time, she stated she was still hopeful to find love in her home city

'There might be a couple of blokes in Adelaide,' she offered.

Jo confirmed Sean had not been in touch with her at all since they parted ways on the show and had sent her 'not one text, not one phone call'.

The dysfunctional couple were finally able to make their departure on Sunday's episode, after both decided to 'leave' during the second commitment ceremony.She appeared in the original Halloween in 1978.

And forty years later Jamie Lee Curtis has just finished filming the most recent installment of the successful horror film franchise.

The 59-year-old actress celebrated the milestone by posting a photo of a portrait painted by a crew member of the film's iconic villain, Michael Myers.

Creepshow: Jamie Lee Curtis, 59, celebrated wrapping the new Halloween by posting a photo of a portrait painted by a crew member of the film's iconic villain, Michael Myers

In the snap, the True Lies star is pictured rocking her new, wavy blonde hair look while holding up a creepy impressionist painting of Myers.

Curtis captioned the picture: 'And that's a wrap.'

'Everybody who made the movie did so because of their passion for [screenwriters] John Carpenter and Debra Hill's original vision.

'I think you will all be very happy and VERY scared.'

'See you 10/19/18.'

The legend: Michael Myers, seen above in 1995's The Curse Of Michael Myers, is one of cinema's most enduring slasher icons

The starlet shared a portrait of herself taken on the set of the movie last Monday.

The actress sported wavy shoulder-length blonde hair for her character Laurie Strode.

She was also makeup free showing off a youthful vibe as she stood half in shadow.

Iconic role: Curtis stands half in shadow in character as Laurie Strode in this portrait she shared from the set of the new Halloween movie

She captioned the photo: 'Set self portrait of Laurie Strode 2018. A survivor and a protector.'

Curtis is reprising her John Carpenter-created character one final time for the horror movie set for release in October.

According to IMDb, it promises a 'final confrontation' between Strode and Michael Myers, 'the masked figure who has haunted her since she narrowly escaped his killing spree on Halloween night four decades ago.'

Back in January 30, she had posted the first picture of herself from the set showing her standing next to director David Gordon Green who was holding a clapperboard.

'Same slate. Same Laurie': Curtis had shared this snap with director David Gordon Green on the first day of filming back on January 30

Another Halloween: The new film due out in October promises a 'final confrontation' between Strode and the masked Michael Myers, pictured in 2002's Halloween: Resurrection

In September it was announced she would reprise her role in a reboot of the horror movie, which will be released nearly 40 years to the day the original film directed by John Carpenter hit theaters.

It will be the fifth time that Curtis, the daughter of Hollywood legends Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis, has played the role.

She debuted the character in the original 1978 film Halloween, then again in the 1981 sequel.

In 1998, she starred in Halloween H20: 20 years Later and again in 2002 in Halloween: Resurrection.She scooped a coveted Best Supporting Actress trophy for her lauded efforts in the critically-acclaimed biopic I, Tonya at Sunday night's BAFTAs.

And Allison Janney was clearly in the mood to celebrate when she made her way to the afterparty - held at London's Grosvenor House - with her award still in hand.

The 58-year-old actress hammed it up for the cameras as she posed at the entrance to the bash, which was attended by an equally exuberant Gary Oldman, 59, also bearing his gong after winning the Leading Actor prize for Darkest Hour.

We like to party: Allison Janney, left, and Gary Oldman, right, led the arrivals at the BAFTA afterparty, held at London's Grosvenor House on Sunday night

They led a host of stars who made their way over to the upscale hotel after a celebratory night at the nearby Royal Albert Hall, where the awards gala was held.

But while the show applauded the best in film, it also served to mark a serious subject, as the large majority of attendees arrival in black ensembles while standing in solidarity with the Time's Up movement.

The Time's Up initiative sent around a letter urging guests 'to wear black to the awards ceremony, to follow suit from our sisters who attended the Golden Globes'.

Celebratory mood: After scooping the Best Supporting Actress gong for her efforts in I, Tonya, the 58-year-old actress was clearly in a celebratory mood

Miles of smiles: The US star flashed a broad smile as she proudly clutched her covered prize

Black and gold: She made a glam arrival at the party, stepping out in a black and gold gown

Just a month ago, most of the stars who attended the Golden Globes wore black in a show of solidarity towards victims of sexual harassment.

And while the dress code was looser for the Grammys, stars walked the red carpet carrying white roses in support of gender equality.

Hofit lead the star-studded arrivals the BAFTA after-party, where winners Allison Janey and Gary Oldman proudly showed off their new accolades.

Allison turned heads as she arrived in an unconventional black dress, which featured a gold neckline.

Joyful: After winning the Leading Actor prize for Darkest Hour, Gary was also in goos spirits

Cradle: He cradled his metallic trophy in his arms as he made his way into the star-packed bash

It's good to talk: The London-born screen star stopped outside the party to talk to the press

Tux: The actor looked stylish in a classic black tuxedo, which he wore with a crisp white shirt

making waves: The star waved at onlookers as he made his way into the exclusive gathering

Party people: He was followed by a large group of guests who were ready to let their hair down

The long gown's gold neckline was attacked to her sleeves, which the bare centre have the look of a large cut-out.

Lupita Nyong'o, Naomie Harris and Karen Gillan all graced the after party red carpet following the awards ceremony in their stunning black ensembles, as well as couple Kate Mara and Jamie Bell.

Sophie Cookson flaunted her incredible leggy frame in arrived in a semi-sheer black lace gown with feather accented bustier.

The stars turned out in force at the 2018 BAFTA award ceremony earlier in the evening, held at the Royal Albert Hall in London for the second year in a row, after the move from the Royal Opera House.

On the list: Margot Robbie was also among the attendees who made their way to the bash

Sheer: The Australian beauty wowed in a black embroidered gown with a semi-sheer overlay

Wow: Lupita Nyong'o looked sensational in a sleeveless black gown with an angular silhouette

Jet-setter: Lupita jetted in from South Africa, where she'd attended a Black Panther premiere

Nine-times BAFTA-nominated Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri took home an incredible five awards at this year's EE British Academy Film Awards.

The stars turned out in force for the award ceremony on Sunday, held at the Royal Albert Hall in London, to see Three Billboards be the first to take home an award, scooping the Best British Film gong.

Screenwriter Martin McDonagh - who took home another award for the movie, this time for Best Original Screenplay - joined producer Graham Broadbent on the stage, with McDonagh joking that hes half Irish so hes not allowed to make the speech.

Pals: Gemma Arterton made an arrival with former sewing machine operator Gwen Davis

Pretty in pleats: The brunette beauty looked stunning in a floor-length pleated black gown

Steps: She walked a few steps behind her new friend as they prepared to enter the venue

Broadbent then said: 'We finished this film about a year ago about a woman taking on the establishment. It seems more timely now than it did then with Times Out. It turns out meaningful change can happen quickly if we put our minds to it.'

The movie's next gong went to Sam Rockwell for his Supporting Actor role in the movie.

To his co-star, lead actress Frances McDormand he said: 'Frances you're the rock. You make me proud to be an actor.'

He was sure to thank his 'friend, Alan Rickman' adding: 'I'll see you in the bar!'

Screenwriter: Helena Bonham Carter made her way to the party with screenwriter James Ivory

Colleagues and friends: James, who has worked with Helena on A Room With A View and Howard's End, looked dapper in a black suit and bow tie

EE British Academy Film Awards 2018 - THE WINNERS BEST FILM: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri DIRECTOR: The Shape Of Water - Guillermo Del Toro LEADING ACTRESS: Frances McDormand - Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri LEADING ACTOR: Gary Oldman - Darkest Hour SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Allison Janney - I, Tonya SUPPORTING ACTOR: Sam Rockwell - Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri EE RISING STAR AWARD: Daniel Kaluuya OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER: I Am Not A Witch FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE: The Handmaiden DOCUMENTARY: I Am Not Your Negro ANIMATED FILM: Coco Original ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Call Me By Your Name ORIGINAL MUSIC: The Shape Of Water - Alexandre Desplat C INEMATOGRAPHY: 'Blade Runner 2049' - Roger Deakins EDITING: Baby Driver - Jonathan Amos, Paul Machliss PRODUCTION DESIGN: The Shape Of Water - Paul Austerberry, Jeff Melvin, Shane Vieau COSTUME DESIGN: Phantom Thread - Mark Bridges SOUND: Dunkirk - Richard King, Gregg Landaker, Gary A. Rizzo, Mark Weingarten SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS: Blade Runner 2049 - Gerd Nefzer, John Nelson BRITISH SHORT ANIMATION: Poles Apart BRITISH SHORT FILM: Cowboy Dave MAKEUP & HAIR: Darkest Hour Advertisement

McDormand beat Annette Bening [Film Stars Dont Die In Liverpool], Margot Robbie [I, Tonya], Sally Hawkins [The Shape Of Water] and Saoirse Ronan [Lady Bird] to scoop the Lead Actress award of the night.

In her speech, she referenced the fact she was not wearing an all-black ensemble, much like her fellow actresses who were supporting the Time's Up initiative.

'I have a little trouble with compliance. But I want you to know that I stand in full solidarity with my sisters tonight in black.

Glamorous: Cressida Bonas still looked as glamorous as ever as she arrived at the big bash

Lovely layers: The ex-girlfriend of Prince harry wowed as she arrived in a layered black dress

Upbeat: Rochelle Humes appeared to be in decidedly good spirits as she entered the bash

'I appreciate a well-organised act of civil disobedience. I am thrilled that activists all over the world have been inspired by Three Billboards.

'When I was a young actor I was told I wasnt gifted and would need to work on it... so I did. I am deeply grateful for the writers for helping me reach my potential. Power to the people!'

The movie then took the Best Film prize, with McDormand, Broadbent, Mcdonagh back on stage, alongside producer Pete Czernin.

It beat Call Me Your Name, Darkest Hour, Dunkirk and The Shape Of Water.

Taking the plunge: Florence Pugh looked stylish in a strappy deeply plunging black gown

Gary Oldman took the Lead Actor prize for his role as Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour, beating Daniel Day-Lewis [Phantom Thread], Daniel Kaluuya [Get Out], Jamie Bell [Film Stars Dont Die In Liverpool] and Timothee Chalamet [Call Me By Your Name].

'Tonight is even more special because I can share it with my three sons and my beautiful wife Giselle,' the actor said. '

Speaking to director of Darkest Hour Joe Wright, he said: 'You handpicked an armada of talent. I love you Kristen [Scott Thomas] and Lily [James].

That's a quick change! Hofit Golan slipped into an all-black ensemble with daring thigh-high slit for the exclusive gathering - hours after arriving at the main awards show in a silver dress

Smiles: Hofit appeared in good spirits after her potentially controversial wardrobe moment earlier in the evening, swapping out her minimalist jewelry for chic golden chandelier earrings

'Last but not least I want to thank Winston, the man himself. He held the line of honour and freedom and integrity for his nation. Thank you Sir Winston and thank you BAFTA.'

Alison Janney took home the Best Supporting Actress award for her role in I, Tonya as Tonya Harding's mother.

'I want to thank BAFTA and clear up a lie,' she said. 'I did not graduate from the Royal Acadmay of Dramatic Art - but I did do a two-week summer programme there - that's probably why I'm here tonight!'

Arriving in style: Saoirse Ronan swept into the party in style in a mix-texture semi-sheer gown

Shimmering: Isabelle Huppert put her best sartorial foot forward in a black sequinned gown

Neckline: Karen Gillan turned heads in an open-fronted black gown with a sheer neckline

Call Me By Your Name took home the gong for Best Adapted Screenplay. Acclaimed American screenwriter James Ivory, 89, looked dapper in a black suit and bow tie as he collected the accolade.

'I've been here before but never by myself and never for writing a screenplay,' he said in his acceptance speech. 'We are wonderfully lucky to have the actors we have - some of whom are here now.'

He was presented with the award by 2015 Rising Star nominee Margot Robbie, who is nominated in this year's Best Actress category for I, Tonya and Octavia Spencer, who received a nod in the Best Supporting Actress group for The Shape of Water.

So in love: Kate Mara and her husband Jamie Bell remained close to one another at the party

Fitted: British screen star Chiwetel Ejiofor attached a Time's Up badge to his well fitted suit

Couple: TV personality Dermot O' Leary and his wife Dee Copping also put in an appearance

Big trophies: Rungano Nyoni, left, and Emily Morgan, right, toted BAFTA awards at the bash

Host Joanna Lumley joked 'Please welcome my niece Margo Robbie' as she introduced the award.

Listing the former winners of the award - such as Will Poulter, Tom Holland and Kristen Stewart - Spencer remarked: 'This tells us that the British public would make pretty excellent casting directors.'

Emotional Kaluuya praised his fellow Rising Star nominees in his poignant speech as well as thanking his acting mentors and his family for letting him 'think different.'

Delightful: Naomie Harris looked sensational in trousers with a patterned semi-sheer dress

Eye-catching: Emma Roberts caught the eye as she arrived in a deeply plunging black dress

Broad smile: Caitriona Balfe smiled broadly as she strolled over to the celebratory gathering

He said: 'I've gone blank. Thank you, Tessa, Tim, Josh and Florence. I feel so privileged to be in your guys' company. I am a product of arts funding in the UK.

National treasure Joanna Lumley - who has this year taken the hosting reigns over from Stephen Fry - had the audience immediately eating from the palm of her hand as she took part in a pre-show skit, leaving the celeb-packed audience in hysterics.

Stephen Fry announced he was stepping down after hosting for 12 years, from 2001 to 2006 and again from 2012 to 2017. TV presenter Jonathan Ross presented during the intervening years.

Jumpsuit: Millie Mackintosh stepped out in a plunging jumpsuit for her big night on the town

Pretty in pink: Frances McDormand arrived wearing a pink coat over her bright patterned dress

Silver: Actress Gugu Mbatha-Raw looked effortlessly stylish in her silver-tinged black gown

Strike a pose: Annette Benning, left, and Celia Imrie, right, posed up a storm at the gathering

Lumley said at the time: 'Honestly how exciting is this? It's just so unbelievably thrilling. I always looked at the BAFTA Awards with Stephen Fry there forever more, so who thought I'd turn into Stephen Fry? I said yes indecently quickly. Thank you, thank you, I'll see you on the night.

And after stepping down from his coveted position, Fry said: 'Every one of the 12 BAFTA film award ceremonies that I had the privilege of hosting has a place in my memory.

The first BAFTA award ceremony took place in 1949 and presented the initial awards for films made in 1947 and 1948.

Dapper gents: Nicholas Hoult, left, and Will Poulter, right, arrived at the party looking dapper

Playful: Willem Dafoe got playful as he posed for photographers gathered outside the bash

Daring: Anya Taylor Joy opted for quite the daring ensemble for her night out on the town

Wrapped: Laura Bailey staved off the wintry chill in a faux fur stole as she arrived at the bashHe frequently celebrates his Gay pride.

And on Sunday, Richard Wilkins son Christian 'Prince' Wilkins attended the world's most spectacular salute to LGBTQI community.

The model and socialite looked hippie-chic in a 70s inspired outfit as he celebrated the launch of Sydney's Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras with boyfriend Andrew Kelly.

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Groovy, baby! Richard Wilkins' son 'Prince' Christian rocks psychedelic 70s-inspired outfit as he dances with boyfriend Andrew Kelly at launch of Sydney's Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras

Christian opted for a decorative floral patterned vest and short set in a Seventies colour palette, featuring heavy notes of mustard yellow, mission brown and burnt orange.

He sexed-up his look by adorning and accentuating his chest with a white mesh insert bodysuit.

Christian completed his retro ensemble by donning a pair of purple circular shades and black lace-up boots.

While his boyfriend rocked a white muscle tee and mid-rise denim shorts, showcasing his assortment of colourful tattoos.

How low can you go?! The pair enjoyed busting some rather energetic moves on the lawn dance floor at Sydney's Mardi Gras

Christian's dance partner finished off his look by donning a black leather belt, black baker boy cap and short cowboy boots, revealing a glimpse of his achilles heel.

The pair enjoyed busting some rather energetic moves on the lawn dance floor at Sydney's Mardi Gras.

Christian recently came out as gay in the March issue of Cosmopolitan.

Speaking to the magazine, Christian admitted: 'I've now taken it upon myself to become the best damn gay I can be!'

He added: 'It's taken me a while to really celebrate my own sexual identity.'

Earlier this month, he shared a birthday tribute to his boyfriend on Instagram.

'Even though you tell me instead of a nose I have a beak that I use to crack native seeds and nuts, I love ya Miss Jon Benet, happy birthday,' he wrote alongside a photo of the pair.

Chic: Christian opted for a decorative floral patterned vest and short set in an iconic autumn 70s colour palette, featuring heavy notes of mustard yellow, mission brown and burnt orange

The model is known for parading eye-catching fashion statements on the catwalk and on social media.

Just weeks ago, Christian dished out his honest fashion critiques of Nine's latest Married At First Sight contestants.

Speaking on the official show's podcast, Talking Married, he revealed his favourite looks of the week... and slammed one groom for his choice of footwearThe Kardashian/Jenner family loves a snowy vacation.

Kourtney Kardashian, 38, alongside Kim Kardashian West, 37, and Kendall Jenner, 22, flew out to Utah for one last zip down the slopes before winter comes to a close.

An under the weather Kylie Jenner, 20, and a very pregnant Khloe Kardashian, 33, stayed back in Los Angeles.

Suit up! Kourtney Kardashian, alongside Kim Kardashian West and Kendall Jenner, flew out to Utah for one last zip down the slopes before winter comes to a close

On Sunday, the sisters suited up for a day on the mountain.

They snapped a photo together as they rode the ski lift.

'Guess who,' Kourtney captioned the snapshot.

Kim donned all black ski gear while Kourtney sported a cameo green jacket and Kendall was fierce in a flame printed coat.

Jet-setters! Kourtney snapped herself sitting across from Kendall on their private plane

The eldest Kardashian sister began documenting her kid-free vacation at takeoff.

She was seen sitting across from Kendall on their private plane.

In her lap was a Prada backpack and on her feet were the latest Yeezy sneakers.

Kid-free zone! Kourt captured the snow covered scenery for her followers as she drove through the countryside

Where are they? The sisters were skiing somewhere outside of Salt Lake City, Utah

Kourtney captured the snow covered scenery for her followers as she drove through the countryside.

Once on the mountain, Kendall posted a video of her impressive snowboarding skills.

'Time off,' the supermodel captioned the clip.

Meanwhile, Kylie was sorrowfully at home tweeting, 'toooo sick.'

New mommy! Kylie Jenner was too under the weather to make it on the trip

Mommy-to-be! And Khloe Kardashian is currently too pregnant to hit the slopesShe is a native Puerto Rican who moved to New York City after her college graduation.

And Joan Smalls has returned to her home country to enjoy a vacation, before 'heading back to the grind.'

The supermodel took to Instagram to share a photo of herself, poolside.

'Last rays in PR': Joan Smalls, 29, took to Instagram to showcase her vacation trip home to Puerto Rico

'Last rays in PR before heading back to the grind #deaquicomoelcoqui,' she wrote.

Joan, 29, stood on the edge of a pool, with palm leaves behind her.

The brunette beauty, styled in a black swimsuit, looked to be natural state with her bouncy, curly hair and make-up free face.

'#Familylove': On Saturday, the face of Moschino fragrance shared a photo of herself alongside parents Eric Smalls and Betzaida Rodriguez

For the past three days, Joan has been enjoying a mini vacation home.

On Saturday, the face of Moschino fragrance shared a photo of herself alongside parents Eric Smalls and Betzaida Rodriguez.

'With the parental units #familylove,' she wrote.

Missing from the family photo was the model's two sisters, Betsey and Erika.

'#Touristing': The stunner shared this selfie during what appeared to be her first day back to Puerto Rico

Skills: Even while on vacation, Joan couldn't help but model. Her mother Betzaida took this photo of her

Joan's quick trip to Puerto Rico was much-needed, after a busy NY Fashion Week.

The stunner walked in several shows including the Brandon Maxwell, Tom Ford, B.E.B.A, and Marc Jacobs, the later of which she closed.

She also attended various events including the Black Panther premiere in NYC, and the amfAR gala.He's a dedicated dad and the husband of star Mila Kunis.

But Ashton Kutcher was on his own Sunday as he took time to catch up with a friend over iced coffee in Hollywood.

The That 70s Show actor, 40, looked handsome and laid-back in a blue flannel worm atop a comfy tee shirt during his weekend java run.

Dad style: Ashton Kutcher looked handsome and laid-back in a blue flannel worm atop a comfy tee shirt as he fetched coffee with a friend on Sunday in Hollywood

Ashton, who was hails from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, teamed his patterned top with distressed jeans and a pair of well worn leather shows on foot.

It appeared that the star had taken a break from shaving for the weekend, seen sporting some stubble along his chiseled jawline.

He left the coffee spot besides his pal, who was dressed in a dark cap, sunglasses, a cream sweater and jeans.

All American outfit! Ashton, who was hails from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, teamed his patterned top with distressed jeans

Feeling friendly: He left the coffee spot besides his pal, who was dressed in a dark cap, sunglasses, a cream sweater and jeans

Ashton is keeping busy between film and a number of business endeavors.

He has a part in The Long Home, directed by James Franco, which is about 'a young contractor [who] is hired to build a honky-tonk in Tennessee by the man who killed his father.'

The project has yet to receive a release date, however.

From co-stars to a couple: Ashton and wife Mila (above in December 2017) were co-stars on hit sitcom That 70's Show and went on to marry in 2015

Ashton and wife Mila were co-stars on hit sitcom That 70's Show and went on to marry in 2015.

The couple recently attended the Los Angeles Women's March, during which Ashton posted a photo of the smiling couple posing in front of LA City Hall with their handmade protest sign.

He captioned the post: 'Womens march LA!!!'They are both world-famous supermodels, having walked for some of fashion's biggest brands.

And Winnie Harlow and Jourdan Dunn proved just why they are in such high demand as they attended British Vogue and Tiffany & Co's party in London on Sunday.

Canadian model Winnie, 23, and British model Jourdan, 27, joined forces to celebrate fashion and film at the new Annabels.

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Model behaviour! Winnie Harlow and Jourdan Dunn proved just why they are in such high demand as they attended British Vogue and Tiffany & Co's party in London on Sunday

Winnie stunned in a metallic silver cut out dress, featuring panels across her midriff that flashed a sneak peek of her Gooseberry Intimates bra, and a daring thigh-high split to the skirt.

Teaming it with coordinating silver shoes and sleek raven hair, the model sizzled for the cameras at the star-studded bash.

Meanwhile Jordan ensured she stood out in a fuchsia strapless dress, also teaming it with a pair of matching satin shoes, embellished with a satin ribbon.

Wearing her hair in a loose wavy bob, the mother-of-one showed off her flawless complexion beneath minimal make-up.

Two for one! Canadian model Winnie, 23, (left) and British model Jourdan, 27, (right) joined forces to celebrate fashion and film at the new Annabels

A vision in pink: Jourdan ensured she made heads turn as she stepped out in a fuchsia pink strapless dress which she paired with matching high heels

Good pals: Jourdan and Vogue's Editor-in-chief Edward Enninful were clearly happy to see each other at the event, as they posed for pictures wrapped in each others arms

They were joined by the likes of Pixie Lott and Alexa Chung at the Edward Enninful, Steve McQueen, Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell hosted party.

Winnie first shot to fame on the 21st season of America's Next Top Model, before carving out a successful career for herself.

She's since appeared in a number of high-profile music videos, including Eminem's 'Guts Over Fear' and Beyonce's 'Lemonade.'

Winnie, who is 5ft 9in, was diagnosed with vitiligo around the age of four, making her among one per cent of the population who has the condition.

And the model has become a spokesperson on the condition, frequently speaking out about the topic.

Model behaviour! Jordan (right) and Winnie (left) ensured they stood out as they showed off their model physiques and posed the house down in their stunning outfits

Leggy display: Jourdan's long legs were on full display in the bright pink ensemble as she stepped out of her cab before heading into the glamorous event

Standing out! Wearing her hair in a loose wavy bob, the mother-of-one showed off her flawless complexion beneath minimal make-up as she posed with Winnie

In an interview with Cosmopolitan magazine, she revealed: 'Kids called me a cow and mooed at me.

'I remember sitting by my window wishing upon the stars that my skin condition would go away.

Talking about body confidence, she added: 'Everyone asks me what the turning point was but it was just me making the effort to focus on my opinion on myself.'

The beauty added: 'I was like, wait I don't actually think I'm ugly - I think I'm beautiful. So where did I get this idea I wasn't? From someone else.

Turning heads: Jourdan was scouted in Hammersmith's Primark at the age of 15 by Storm Model Management and has gone on to find fame across the globe

High spirits: Jourdan and Edward looked like they were having a great time as they spent time together and chatted at the star-studded party

Cautious: Jordan admitted that being in the spotlight means she finds it hard to form friendships - and she trusts her instincts to filter out the disingenuous people

'Now I've learnt to just listen to yourself,' the model concluded.

Meanwhile Jourdan was scouted in Hammersmith's Primark at the age of 15 by Storm Model Management and has gone on to find fame across the globe.

Speaking exclusively to MailOnline in September, Jordan admitted that being in the spotlight means she finds it hard to form friendships - and she trusts her instincts to filter out the disingenuous people.

Ive made strong friendships in the spotlight and youre meeting new people all the time. But you soon become wary and realise that some people just want to get near you for your name.

All that glitters! Winnie stunned in a metallic silver cut out dress, featuring panels across her midriff and a daring thigh-high split to the skirt

Leggy! Teaming it with coordinating silver shoes and sleek raven hair, the model sizzled for the cameras at the star-studded bash

'I have developed good judgement and go off vibes now. Anyone with bad energy is cut off straight away.

And being part of the newest batch of supermodels, which includes Kendall Jenner and Gigi and Bella Hadid, Jourdan has developed a close friendship with Karlie Kloss.

She is my best friend, Jourdan admitted. We give each other advice all the time. We talk about everything, but the one thing Karlie does is see my potential and helps me to be the best me.'

Relaxed about her A-list shoulder-rubbing is her son Riley, who helps keep her feet firmly planted on the ground.

Ive made strong friendships in the spotlight and youre meeting new people all the time. But you soon become wary and realise that some people just want to get near you for your name.

Success! Winnie first shot to fame on the 21st season of America's Next Top Model, before carving out a successful career for herself

Jourdan, who made the 2014 Forbes list as one of its highest earning models, as well as being the first solo black model to appear on the cover of British Vogue in 2015, ensures she organises her hectic career and family time carefully.

I make sure that Riley and I take time off to spend together. We go away and just have some "us" time, she explained on how she juggles life as a single working mum.

She is also fully appreciative of having an extra pair of helping hands in the form of her doting mother Dee, who takes care of Riley whenever her supermodel duties require her to jet to all corners of the globe.

'I am very lucky to have my mum to help,' admitted the statuesque stunner. 'Some mums dont have help and have to do it alone.'

International: She's since appeared in a number of high-profile music videos, including Eminem's 'Guts Over Fear' and Beyonce's 'LemonadeShe recently returned from Kosovo following a triumphant performance at their independence celebrations.

And Rita Ora was dressed to impress again as she made a leggy arrival at the Vogue Fashion and Film party at Annabel's private members' club in London's Mayfair on Sunday night.

The singer, 27, sported a multi-coloured sequin mini-dress as she arrived at the party in the capital, with her blonde hair tied back in a curled chignon.

Shady lady: Rita Ora was dressed to impress as she made a leggy arrival at the Vogue Fashion and Film party at Annabel's private members' club in London's Mayfair on Sunday night

Rita showed off her slender pins in the rainbow mini-dress covered in an array of beads and sequins as she exited her vehicle.

The Anywhere hit-maker covered up with a long black overcoat as she made her arrival at the party, accessorising with black strappy heels and a collection of gold chunky earrings, bracelets and a chain necklace.

Rita kept her blonde tresses out of the way with a messy yet still stylish chignon, while her glowing complexion was on full display with a dramatic smoky eye and defined brows.

Inside the A-list party, Rita seemed to be having a ball as she boogied up a storm in front of the cameras, before rocking a pair of tiny sunglasses as she headed home for the evening.

Leggy lady: The singer, 27, sported a multi-coloured sequin mini-dress, teamed with towering heels as she enjoyed her night out on the town

Boogie nights: Inside the A-list party, Rita seemed to be having a ball as she boogied up a storm in front of the cameras

A-list pals: Rita was seen chatting to actress Salma Hayek inside the bash, with the Hollywood A-lister heading straight to Annabel's after the BAFTAs earlier in the evening

I see you: Rita wore a pair of tiny dark shades, in spite of it being pitch black outside

Rita was seen posing up a storm at the star-studded celebrity bash, which was also attended by some of the hottest fashion stars of the moment.

The stylish songstress also posed with her stylish and designer Kyle De'Volle who made a statement in red corduroy co-ords.

Rita recently returned to the UK following a celebratory gig in Kosovo to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the country's independence.

It's party time: The pop princess looked as though she was having a ball as she partied the night away inside the star-studded fashion and film bash

Homeward bound: Rita looked lovely as she made a dignified exit from the party

Legs for days: Rita made a stylish exit from her car as she arrived at the star-studded party

Rita still managed to give fans a behind the scenes look at her racy costume for her Kosovo gig, posting some sexy snaps on Instagram.

And despite her incredible curves taking centre stage, Rita also joked that fans could see her tan lines, as one snap showed the obvious marks on her slender back.

In the scantily-clad snaps, Rita could be seen rocking the crimson and black sequinned body suit, which showed both her washboard abs and her pert derriere, as she posed in front of a mirror.

Gorgeous: Rita made an elegant exit from her car in the multi-coloured frock in a dress that was covered in an array of coloured sequins and beads

Dramatic: The Anywhere hit-maker kept warm as she arrived at the party in Annabel's club by sported a black overcoat

Amazing: Rita sported an array of gold chunky jewelery as she made her arrival at the party, including bracelets, earrings and a chain necklace

Glowing: Rita had her glowing complexion on full display, sporting a bronze smoky eye and defined brows, along with a nude lip

Rita appeared to be prepping for her big performance during her visit to Kosovo, which celebrated ten years since the country became independent from Serbia.

In a second snap Rita's back was on full display, showing off her bra tan lines, though the beauty appeared to take note as she captioned the post.

Rita wrote: 'TaN Lines - BTS - thank you @kyledevolle and @bang__london for making this incredible piece for me.'

Rita had donned the revealing look as she took to the stage in Kosovo's capital Pristina on Saturday, teaming her leotard with a matching bomber jacket.

Leggy: Rita continued to show off her slim legs in the colourful frock, as she joined the finest in fashion for the bash

Glowing: The singer recently returned from Kosovo, following a triumphant performance in the country to celebrate the 10th anniversary of its independence

On point: Rita posed up a storm with stylist and fashion designer Kyle De'Volle who rocked red corduroy co-ords

Rita looked ever the pop sensation as her signature blonde locks billowed along with her dance moves.

Clearly beaming with pride, the Kosovan-native confidently strut her stuff on stage to the packed-out capital city, with thousands of people lining the streets to celebrate.

The pop star incorporated traditional Kosovan dances into her hit tune Black Widow, while addressing the crowd in her native tongue.

Rita was named an Honorary Ambassador to Kosovo in 2015, and met up with prime minister Ramush Haradinaj before she headlined the open-air evening concert.

Revealing: Rita was keen to show off her racy red and black bodysuit on Saturday, as she posted some racy behind the scenes snaps of her look from her concert in Kosovo

Racy: Rita accidentally flashed her tan lines in one of the scantily clad snaps, though she appeared to take note as she captioned the post: 'TaN Lines - BTS'Georgia Cole and Lottie James have found themselves up for elimination in the latest instalment of Survival Of The Fittest.

And the twist is that the boys - namely their 'men' Warren Phillips and David Lundy - are the ones who have put their necks on the chopping block.

Laura Whitmore - host of the show - made a shock entrance at the end of Sunday's episode and announced that the boys had to decide which two ladies should battle it out to stay in The Lodge.

'Let the two snakes go up against each other!' David and Warren put Georgia and Lottie up for elimination as they 'throw themselves' at new boy Joel

New arrival: Warren and David had already been told by Tristan Jones that new addition to the show Joel Bennet had caught their eye

Unfortunately for Lottie and Georgia, Warren and David had already been told by Tristan Jones that new addition to the show Joel Bennet had caught their eye.

Laura asked each of the girls to explain why they should stay at which point Warren confronted Lottie about how she 'fancied' Joel.

Georgia then explained why she felt she should stay before bursting into tears.

This didn't fly with David who turned to James Middelton and said 'it's an act because she knows what's coming'.

Announcement: Laura Whitmore - host of the show - made a shock entrance at the end of Sunday's episode and announced that the boys had to decide which two ladies should battle it out to stay in The Lodge

Twist: The boys - namely their 'men' Warren Phillips and David Lundy - are the ones who have put Georgia and Lottie's necks on the chopping block

He then told her she was 'a snake' before going off to deliberate with the other boys.

'Let the two snakes go up against each other! And whoever bites first gets venom and gets f**ked!' David said.

Indeed, both girls found themselves up for elimination, storming off into The Lodge after announcing their choice.

'She's running out of lives, she ain't a f**king cat!' David said later. 'She's on thin ice and it's about to break.'

Deliberation: 'Let the two snakes go up against each other! And whoever bites first gets venom and gets f**ked!' David said

Viewers were delighted at the turn of events, flocking to Twitter to slam the girls.

'Yes boys! Right decision - just get rid of them both!' one person posted on Twitter.

'Haha your little game plan backfired on you there didnt it Georgia hun?' came another.

Spilling the beans: Tristan told the boys that Georgia and Lottie have been giving Joel the glad-eye

A third wrote: 'Georgia and Lottie been found out for what they really are!'

Someone else posted: 'David and Warren f**king mugged Lottie and Georgia right off. You tell them boys, I hate snakey girls!'

Someone else typed: 'Georgias fake tears no one cares. Lottie and her innocent fake act, weve sussed your antics. They both deserved that!'Candice Swanepoel recently launched her own swimsuit brandTropic of C.

The 29-year-old Victoria's Secret Angel modeled her ivory Blaze design in a photo posted on Instagram Sunday afternoon.

The picture was taken on a beach in Turks & Caicos as the blonde beauty played in the waves.

Beach babe! Candice Swanepoel recently launched her own swimsuit brandTropic of C. The 29-year-old Victoria's Secret Angel modeled her ivory Blaze design in a photo posted on Instagram Sunday afternoon

The collection of 80's-inspired beach wear is a mix of one-piece suits and skimpy bikinis.

The most expensive piece maxes out at $170.

Candice told her followers on social media that the line was made with 'loads of love.'

Fun in the sun! The collection of 80's-inspired beach wear is a mix of one-piece suits and skimpy bikinis

According to Bluebella, Swanepoel is the most influential lingerie model on Instagram.

With more than 11.8 million followers, the beach babe can earn up to $70,000 per post.

Coming in at fifth was girlfriend and co-worker Rosie Huntington-Whitley.

Wow! According to Bluebella, Swanepoel is the most influential lingerie model on Instagram

The South African native is currently pregnant with her second childa baby boy.

She is already mother to son Anaca, 15 months, whom she shares with fiance Hermann Nicoli.

The duo, who met in Paris, announced their engagement in August of 2015 after dating for 12 years.Courtney Stodden's never been shy about showing off her bombshell body.

And the 23-year-old starlet, who made a name for herself after marrying actor Doug Hutchinson at the tender age of 16, left nothing to the imagination in a racy Instagram shared on Sunday.

The blonde shared a photo of her bare bust which was only masked by a precisely placed palm.

Birthday suit! Courtney Stodden showed off almost all of her surgically augmented chest in a racy Instagram posted on Sunday

'Working on my abs before summer hits,' the vocal vegetarian captioned her post.

While she claimed her tummy was the focus of the photo, Stodden's surgically enhanced chest provided ample distraction.

The Couples Therapy persona underwent breast augmentation surgery to increase her breast size from a size C to a size DD back in 2013.

Courtney is no stranger to making provocative public displays.

Moving up a size! The Couples Therapy persona (above in June 2017) underwent breast augmentation surgery to increase her breast size from a size C to a size DD back in 2013

Not shy! Courtney is no stranger to making provocative displays, only Saturday taking to the adults-only app Only Fans to share an X-rated example of 'public naughtiness'

Just Saturday, Stodden took to the adults-only app Only Fans to share an X-rated example of 'public naughtiness.'

The Washington state native charges $20 a month to access the exclusive and explicit online content.

Seated in a car park, Courtney proceeded to pull down her simple vest top and flash her bare breasts for the saucy clip.

The pin-up first rose to fame after her controversial relationship with ex-husband Doug, who is 34 years her senior. The pair split in 2017, but remain legally married at present.

Cha-ching! The Washington state native charges $20 a month to access the exclusive and explicit online content

X-rated! Seated in a car park, Courtney proceeded to pull down her simple vest top and flash her bare breasts for the saucy clip

Courtney's since moved on to new boo Chris Sheng, reportedly moving into the B-list movie producer's $3million home in Beverly Hills earlier this month.

Stodden's estranged husband opened up about the beauty earlier this month in an exclusive chat with DailyMail TV, telling the show that she's 'addicted to fame' and only using Sheng for his money.

'The thing is she doesn't have any money, and he started paying her rent, and she really wants to stay in Hollywood. She is addicted to fame,' Doug explained.

Hutchinson continued explaining he'll always care for Courtney: 'Ultimately I want her to be happy first and foremost. I love her with all my heart, we are soulmates and I will always love her.'She's a two-time BAFTA TV nominee for her work in British show Doctor Who.

But it was the red carpets of London Fashion Week that secured Billie Piper's attendance on Sunday night, as she embraced her love of British fashion over the allure of the film awards taking place across town at the Royal Albert Hall.

The actress was pictured making a show-stopping arrival for Vogue's fashion and film party at Annabel's in London on Sunday night, oozing old Hollywood glamour.

Ladylike look: Billie Piper put in a fashionable turn at the Vogue fashion and film party at Annabel's on Sunday night in London

Billie looked like a true moviestar in a powder pink dress that featured elegant feathered cuffs.

In a nod to classic, retro glamour, Billie's hair was also styled in neat and glossy ringlets around her ears.

She made long strides to the party, coming dangerously close to a wardrobe mishap with a split that reached right up to the top of her left thigh.

The actress strode the red carpet in pointed silver heels, which perfectly matched her clutch bag.

Dangerous: With her gaping side-split, the actress came very close to overexposing herself

Easy does it! The actress looked extremely leggy in the pink dress

Billie was noticeably embracing colour on a night when her fellow female actresses forged a blackout on the BAFTAs red carpet.

In support of the Time's Up movement, stars including Angelina Jolie, Margot Robbie and Jennifer Lawrence all wore black gowns in protest to the sexual harassment of women.

Billie herself recently aired her views on the current movement in Hollywood, which was brought on by allegations made against producer Harvey Weinstein.

Speaking to The Sunday Times's Style Magazine about the #MeToo movement, Billie said: 'I find the abuse of power really upsetting, but if I'm honest, what I find really sickening is all the agents subjecting their clients to it, knowing full well what's going on. Like sanctioned pimping.'

She also referred to her struggle with what she describes as 'the oversexualised years', explaining how for a long time she wanted to hide her body in baggy clothing following the end of her pop career.

Watch out: Paired with silver heels, the outside was a very ladylike ensemble

Slinky: The slinky look had feathered sleeves and a high neckline

The former pop star, who struggled with an eating disorder aged 16, also described how she struggled following 'the oversexualised years' of her pop career.

'I think that's why, for so long, my desire to hide my body in baggy clothes took hold,' she explained.

During the interview, Billie revealed that she had her doubts about the 'whole sisterhood thing' on social media.

She commented: 'A lot of social media is about women looking really oversexed. That doesn't feel like feminism to me.'

Old Hollywood glamour: Jennifer Lawrence, Angelina Jolie and Margot Robbie stood in solidarity with the Time's Up movement - as they arrived at the BAFTAs, held at the Royal Albert Hall in London on Sunday night

Commanding attention: The stunning actress commanded attention as she posed in the centre of the star-studded red carpet

Making an entrance: She made an entrance to the party via the red carpet

Loved up: Billie flashed some serious leg as she got into the car alongside boyfriend Johnny Lloyd

Getting close: Billie looked truly smitten as she cosied up to Johnny in the back seat of a cab

Animated: The star pulled a series of facial expressions as she sat next to Johnny

The Swindon-born actress broke into the showbiz industry when she was just a teenager, signing her first recording contract at the age of just 15.

She famously married Chris Evans in secret when aged 18 back in 2001, with the 16-year age gap between the pair sparking controversy.

The couple divorced three years later in 2004, with Billie later marrying actor Laurence Fox, with whom she shares sons Winston and Eugene.

Billie and Laurence announced they were separating in 2016, following seven years of marriage.

The actress is set to appear in new BBC drama Collateral, alongside Carey Mulligan and John Simm, later this month.

Leggy: The star flashed her toned legs as she prepared to head home with her beau

Playful: Billie kicked her leg up in the back of the black cab as she chatted with Johnny

Sultry: The star looked breathtaking as she posed and pouted in the back of the cab

Fun times: Billie cracked a relaxed smile as she headed home after the glittering partyShe tragically lost her father to inoperable cancer in October 2017.

And Janet Roach has told TV Week the tragic death caused her to turn to alcohol as a means of 'self-medicating'.

The 59-year-old also admits the fourth reason of Real Housewives Of Melbourne was her 'worst' yet.

'I really was self-medicating': Real Housewives Of Melbourne star Janet Roach admits she was 'drinking too much' on the show's last season because her father passed away from cancer

'I didn't want to talk about my dad as a story line, as my mother would have had kittens,' she said in an interview with the magazine on Monday.

Despite the fact the cast and crew were aware of her family heartache, Janet claimed Gina Liano and Lydia Schiavello accused her of drinking too much - particularly when she took a nasty fall in Mexico after a few shots of tequila were downed.

'They were giving me grief,' she said. 'And the truth is I was drinking too much.'

With the Real Housewives reunion set to air on Wednesday, February 21, Janet admits her life has 'done a turnaround' in the last few months.

But she won't be returning for season five, confessing she has well and truly 'done her time', reports the Herald Sun.

Uh-oh: Janet claimed Gina Liano and Lydia Schiavello accused her of drinking too much

Though she does have much to look forward on the home front, admitting earlier this year she'd be prepared to walk down the aisle a third time with Chemist Warehouse boss Sam Gance.

The loved-up couple have been dating for just over a year, with Janet telling Confidential she's ready to make it official.

'I thought I wouldn't marry again but I'm madly in love. I would marry him in a heartbeat,' she said.

Love is in the air! The loved-up couple have been dating for just over a year, with Janet telling Confidential she's ready to make it official

'I was really resigned to the fact, being married twice, I was happy to be single again. I'd been single for five years and I was fine.

'And then he just came into my life. You fall in love and it just makes everything better; everything brighter. You have a partner to play with. It's fantastic.'

Janet has been a Real Housewives staple since the show premiered in 2014.Elle Fanning attended the Berlin Film Festival before traveling to London for fashion week.

The 19-year-old actress was spotted at British Vogue's event on Sunday night in a slender fitting, floor-length black dress and a pair of strappy heels.

She wore her hair in a tight ballerina bun for the evening co-hosted by Tiffany & Co.

Showstopper! Elle Fanning attended British Vogue's event on Sunday night in a slender fitting, floor-length black dress and a pair of strappy heels

So poised! She wore her hair in a tight ballerina bun for the evening co-hosted by Tiffany & Co.

All her efforts in the gym are certainly paying off.

Elle looked stunningly petite in her spaghetti strap dress for the fashion magazine's soiree.

She was adorned with gold jewelry and a touch of plum lipstick could be seen on her lips.

You're gold baby! Elle was adorned with gold jewelry and a touch of plum lipstick could be seen on her lips

All smiles! The actress looked stunningly petite in her spaghetti strap dress for the fashion magazine's soiree at Annabel's Mayfair

The Miu Miu brand ambassador was all smiles as she entered the venueAnnabel's Mayfair.

Fanning recently debuted her latest film I Think We're Alone Now starring Game Of Thrones Peter Dinklage at Sundance.

Come March, her film Galveston will premiere at SXSW in Austin, Texas.

Indie project! Fanning recently debuted her latest film I Think We're Alone Now starring Game Of Thrones Peter Dinklage at Sundance

Busy lady! Come March, her film Galveston will premiere at SXSW in Austin, Texas

The sister to Dakota Fanning has had quite the acting career thus far. She has worked alongside some of the greats including Angelina Jolie, Ben Affleck, and Nicole Kidman.

But despite growing up in the industry, Fanning still gets nervous auditioning.

'I passed out in an audition once,' she told Hoda Kotb in an interview. 'I just fainted. I didnt get the part obviously. I got Carls Jr. and Pink Berry after, so that was good. It was just nerves.'Cameron Diaz certainly knows how to spot a classic.

The Charlie's Angels star, 45, wrapped herself in a chunky turtleneck sweater while visiting to her local Whole Foods in Beverly Hills Sunday.

The look seemed to be a favorite of the actress, who was seen donning the exact same outfit several days earlier on Tuesday.

Keeping comfortable: Cameron Diaz wrapped herself in a chunky turtleneck sweater while visiting to her local Whole Foods in Beverly Hills Sunday. It was the same outfit she was seen wearing out on Tuesday

The California native teamed her cozy top with light denim which was cuffed at the bottom and ripped at the knee.

The wife of Good Charlotte's Benji Madden slicked her blonde back into a ponytail while keeping her face mostly makeup free.

She accessorized with some subtle hoop earrings and a pair of snazzy silver Oxford shoes on foot.

The star was seen in the same duds last week at the upscale Beverly Hills hotel Montage.

A classic: Today's look seemed to be a favorite for the star, who was seen in the same duds last week at the upscale Beverly Hills hotel Montage, above

Denim darling! The California native teamed her cozy top with light denim which was cuffed at the bottom and ripped at the knee

Instead of shiny silver shoes the star donned smart heeled boots, however.

Diaz has shifted her focus from film, not appearing on screen since 2014's Annie.

In January Us Weekly reported that the starlet was more interested in starting a family than continuing her career in front of the camera.

'Cameron hasnt wanted to work,' a source told the magazine, 'She is enjoying being at home and being a housewife. She would love more than anything to be a mom.'

Out of the spotlight: Diaz has shifted her focus from film, not appearing on screen since 2014's Annie

'At this point they would be very happy with the miracle of one child,' the source added.

'They arent really thinking past the first one at this point. They would love to have the chance to be parents.'

Diaz and Madden met in 2014 and were married just seven months later in an intimate ceremony at the actress's Beverly Hills home.They grew up working in their parents Chinese restaurant.

And My Kitchen Rules stars Georgie and Alicia, who named their Instant Restaurant 'Kwok Tong' after their father, aimed to come out on top on Monday's episode.

The sisters beat out rival contestants Olga and Valeria to place at number one on the leaderboard after impressing judges Manu Feildel and Pete Evans with their dishes.

Victorious: My Kitchen Rules stars Georgie and Alicia, who named their Instant Restuarant 'Kwok Tong' after their father, aimed to come out on top on Monday's episode

The siblings, who dub their cooking 'Asian cuisine with a modern touch', described how their 'direct and very blunt' attitude stemmed from their cultural upbringing.

Their menu consisted of a prawn and shiitake ravioli with seafood broth entree, a roast duck and papaya salad main dish and mango pudding and ice cream dessert.

'As a team, we strive for perfection on our plates because it's been instilled in us from a young age', the duo described prior to whipping up the meals in the kitchen.

'As a team, we strive for perfection on our plates because it's been instilled in us from a young age', the duo described prior to whipping up the meals in the kitchen

Tasty: Their menu consisted of a prawn and shiitake ravioli with seafood broth entree (pictured), a roast duck and papaya salad main dish and mango pudding and ice cream dessert

After serving their entree, Georgie and Alicia stood back in anticipation and whispered to each other: 'Failure is not an option!'

'I think it was a wonderful dish, from top to bottom,' announced Manu, as the sisters visibly exhaled.

'The raviolis were fantastic! Beautiful texture and you could taste everything in there. I can't fault it,' he continued.

Determined: After serving their entree, Georgie and Alicia stood back in anticipation and whispered to each other, 'Failure is not an option!'

'The raviolis were fantastic! Beautiful texture and you could taste everything in there. I can't fault it,' Pete continued

'The broth was the star, I loved it,' added Pete. 'This is intelligent cooking. This is perfection on a plate.'

'Whatever you're doing, keep doing it, because I'm loving it. Your duck was spot on,' he continued after eating the main dish of roast duck with plum jam and salad.

'The meat was melting in your mouth, almost to die for,' chimed in Manu, with the sisters almost in tears at the feedback.

'Whatever you're doing, keep doing it, because I'm loving it. Your duck was spot on,' Pete continued after eating the main dish of roast duck with plum jam and salad

'The meat was melting in your mouth, almost to die for,' chimed in Manu, with the sisters almost in tears at the feedback

While their dessert was rated slightly lower than Olga and Valeria's 'White Russian' from the previous Instant Restaurant, they were ultimately commended on its taste.

The guest teams gave the 'perfectionist' siblings a combined 59 out of 70 score, beating Olga and Valeria in that particular category.

The judges then gave their combined ratings, which totaled 113 to edge out Olga and Valeria at the top of the leaderboard.

Second spot: The guest teams gave the 'perfectionist' siblings a combined 59 out of 70 score, beating Olga and Valeria (pictured) in that particular categoryShe's known for controversial posts on social media.

And after a big weekend, Imogen Anthony went to graphic extremes to share her party antics with her 145,000 followers.

Taking to Instagram Stories, the 27-year-old girlfriend of shock jock Kyle Sandilands revealed she had been 'sick from one side of the house to the other'.

'Ended up sick from one side of the house to the other!' Imogen Anthony shares graphic details of her weekend party antics that left her throwing up after eating too much cheese

'Came home, drank a f**k load of water and ate too many cheese brevilles and ended up sick from one side of the house to the other,' she recounted.

Providing detailed illustration, Imogen was anything but unapologetic.

'But all in all - good night. Too much info? Yeah soz about that. Not,' she added.

Not the best time: 'Came home, drank a f**k load of water and ate too many cheese brevilles and ended up sick from one side of the house to the other,' she recounted

Wearing a crop top, the beauty flaunted her washboard abs while posing portrait with her hair down.

And it seemed as though throwing up wasn't the only bad outcome, as Imogen also revealed she had also suffered from a painful looking barb wire attack.

'So this is currently my leg,' she wrote.

The night just got worse! And it seemed as though throwing up wasn't the only bad outcome, as Imogen also revealed she had also suffered from a painful looking barb wire attack

'Had a fight with a barbed wire fence. Wouldn't recommend it. Hadn't even washed my tan off. And everything was going too well. Hair, nails....C**t.'

Imogen's bad luck comes after she and Kyle announced late last year they had purchased the $2.95 million hobby farm in the Southern Highlands.

'This has been a long time coming for us and we are so happy and excited to finally call something so large our own, she captioned her Instagram post.

The duo began dating in 2011 when Imogen was 20 after meeting at Kyle's 40th birthday bash.Olivia Palermo is a pro at Fashion Week.

The New York-born model was sure to show off her stellar style while gracing the front row of Mary Katrantzou's Sunday runway show at London Fashion Week.

During the presentation held at Central St Martins, the starlet, 31, donned a colorful red sweater that featured an inset of fuzzy angora flower petals in contrasting pink.

Sweater weather! Olivia Palermo turned heads in a quirky red sweater while gracing the front row of Mary Katrantzou's runway show during London Fashion Week Sunday

The MTV alum, who appeared on the The Hills spin-off The City, paired her on-trend top with dusty blue slacks with a smart front pleat and red buckled shoes.

Making sure her accessories were on point, Olivia added a trio of shiny bangles and a few rings.

For beauty, the fashionista amped up the glamour with a sexy smokey eye and glowing skin.

Sitting down inside the venue, Palermo draped a furry evergreen Cara Mila jacket over her shoulders.

Pleats to meet you! The MTV alum paired her on-trend top with dusty blue slacks with a smart front pleat and red buckled shoes

Sitting pretty! Inside the venue, Palermo draped a furry evergreen Cara Mila jacket over her shoulders

Smoke and mirrors! For beauty, the fashionista amped up the glamour with a sexy smokey eye and glowing skin

The wife of model Johannes Huebl styled her shoulder-length locks sleekly and tucked her tresses behind her ears in a preppy-chic style.

Also at the event was English fashionista Betty Bachz, who commanded attention in an ultra-sheer skirt and textured yellow sweater while flanked by a pair of stylish pals.

Celebrity stylist Martha Ward was also there, donning a chocolate brown floral look with a colorful Chanel handbag and cute Heidi-style braids crowning her head.

Glam guests! Also at the event was English fashionista Betty Bachz, who commanded attention in an ultra-sheer skirt and textured yellow sweater while flanked by a pair of stylish pals

In full bloom! Celebrity stylist Martha Ward donned a chocolate brown floral look

Nice touch: The stylist and Conde Nast corespondent added colorful Chanel handbag and cute Heidi-style braids crowning her head

The fashion show turned out to be more eventful than expected after a demonstrator stormed the stage to protest the use of fur.

Curiously, Katrantzou's collection was fur-free, according to The Cut.

The protester's interruption was brief, however, as security quickly shuffled her away.Finn Wittrock made a splash while shooting his new film in Louisiana last week.

The American Crime Story actor, 33,stripped down to his swim shorts and hopped in the pool for a scene from Semper Fi, which was filming in New Orleans.

While the Julliard alum swam his castmate Jai Courtney, 31, stood on dry ground and looked on with an amused facial expression and flanked by two friends as the cameras rolled.

Cannonball! Finn Wittrock stripped down to his swim shorts and hopped in the pool for a scene from Semper Fi Friday in New Orleans, Louisiana

Finn, who made his debut in the Disney Channel movie Halloweentown High, didn't hide his muscular body during the scene.

A tattoo of a bunny with the word prayer underneath could been seen on his left pec while the La La Land actor's hair was slicked back with water.

During the scene, Jai stood on the sidelines watching Finn while surrounded by actors Arturo Castro and Beau Knapp on each side.

Courtney, who plays a Marine veteran turned policer officer in the film, looking like a working man in a blue shirt, jeans, and corduroy button-up.

Water world: Finn's hair was slicked back from the water while he took a dip

During the scene, Jai stood on the sidelines watching Finn while flanked by actors Arturo Castro and Beau Knapp

Knapp got into character with a bristly mustache and gelled back hair while Castro stayed simple with rolled-up sleeves and paint-splattered pants.

After wading around a bit, Finn was seen colliding into the yellow-shirted Beau.

It was unclear whether the actor was jumping at his co-star or seen being pushed into the pool.

Cannonball! Finn was seen colliding into the yellow-shirted Beau, but it was unclear whether the actor was jumping at his co-star or seen being pushed into the pool

He appeared to push Wittrock into the pool for the scene.

The film has Courtney playing police officer/ex Marine Cal, who is 'faced with an ethical dilemma when it comes to helping his brother (played by Nat Wolff) in prison,' according to IMDB.

Leighton Meester, Lance E. Nichols and Jared Bankens also star in the picture, which is planned for release later this year.He received some heartbreaking news on Thursday, when his friend's son was tragically murdered in the recent Florida high school shooting.

But on Saturday, Josh Gad had to put on a brave face for his daughter Isabella's fourth birthday, which took place at Disneyland in Anaheim, California.

The 36-year-old Frozen voice actor enjoyed several rides with his daughter and her friends.

Brave face: Josh Gad, 36, received some heartbreaking news on Thursday, when his friend's son was tragically murdered in the recent Florida high school shooting

The star of the original Broadway production of The Book Of Mormon looked comfortable for the day of fun, slipping into blue jeans, a check shirt and gray sneakers.

He kept the sun off with a hat and dark shades.

When she wasn't being pushed around in her stroller, the birthday girl rode on her father's shoulders.

The actor shares two daughters with actress Ida Darvish: Ava and Isabella.

Moving past the pain: On Saturday, Josh Gad had to put on a brave face for his daughter Isabella's fourth birthday, which took place at Disneyland in Anaheim, California

Be happy: The 36-year-old Frozen voice actor enjoyed several rides with his daughter and her friends

The Jobs actor was heartbroken and angry after finding out his friend's son died in Wednesday's school shooting in Florida.

Gad revealed his grief on Twitter while calling for stricter gun laws and slamming Florida republican senator Marco Rubio for taking $3.3million in funding from the National Rifle Association.

'I am so angry tonight. I am so sad. Im putting my phone down because we are debating sensible gun laws again,' he posted on Wednesday night.

Doting dad: The star of the original Broadway production of The Book Of Mormon looked comfortable for the day of fun, slipping into blue jeans, a check shirt and gray sneakers

His girls: The actor shares two daughters with actress Ida Darvish: Ava and Isabella [pictured]

'A child of one of our friend's has a bullet in his chest & is critical condition because a 19 year old had access to a military weapon. Pretend its normal. Its not.' he added.

Nikolas Cruz, 19, walked into Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Parkland, Florida on Wednesday and started shooting at students with an AR-15 rifle, killing 17 and injuring countless others.

As new broke on Wednesday the Love & Other Drugs actor tweeted: 'Just learned some horrible and shocking news involving a family friend whos son was shot today at the school. Please put out lots of good vibes and prayers for he and all of the other families navigating this nightmarish day.'

The next day Gad revealed the boy had died.

Heartache: The Jobs actor was heartbroken and angry after finding out his friend's son died in Wednesday's school shooting in Florida

Heartbreaking: The next day Gad revealed the boy had diedShe's recently been covering the PyeongChang winter games for Channel Seven.

But Edwina Bartholomew has revealed a more personal side of herself, ahead of her wedding to her fellow journalist fiance, Neil Varcoe.

Speaking to TV Week on Monday, the globetrotting Sunrise star revealed her pre-wedding nerves as she strives to plan a perfect big day.

'I hope I haven't forgotten something': Sunrise star Edwina Bartholomew has revealed her wedding plans to her journalist fiance, Neil Varcoe. A Seven Network rising star, Edwina said she 'locked in the key things early.'

'We locked in the key things early on - caterer, photographer and dress. Now we have to execute it on the day. [So] I hope I haven't forgotten something,' the bubbly blonde reporter said.

Despite the ritzy locales Edwina normally visits as part of her work on network television, the couple have decided to tie the knot at Warramba, the picturesque property they share near the New South Wales town of Lithgow.

Edwina said she will have a low-key affair and guests are set to include the likes of her Seven colleagues David Koch, Natalie Barr and Sam Armytage.

Special day! The couple will get married later this year at their newly renovated 41-hectare Glen Alice farmstead

Low key! The Sunrise star will wed fiance Neil Varcoe at their property Warramba, near the NSW town of Lithgow

'A lot of couples forget that it's not just about the wedding, but also about the marriage,' the bride-to-be told the publication.

'We're conscious about taking a few moments on the day to spend time together at our wedding.'

Edwina first shot to fame on Sunrise, but has proven herself a valuable asset to the Seven network - having been an integral part of Olympics commentary for Beijing in 2008, London in 2012 and Rio in 2016.

Busy woman! While planning her wedding, Edwina has also been anchoring coverage of the winter Olympics in PyeongChang for Channel Seven

"I've grown-up with Sunrise viewers": Bubbly Edwina said Sunrise viewers have been "incredibly beautiful" since she got engaged to fiance, Neil

A rising star at the network, she will also host Seven's answer to Australian Ninja Warrior, Australia Spartan.

But the roles have appeared to put her in good stead for the interest in her nuptials.

And while most brides might shy away from the glare of the national media on their wedding day, Edwina said it was an privilege to share her day with Sunrise fans.

'I've grown-up with Sunrise viewers over the last 15 years, and they've been incredibly supportive and incredibly beautiful since we got engaged [in April],' she said.

The Olympic presenter added they would be 'open,' about the day and would be 'sharing photos in the way they want to share them.'He begged 'wife' Tracey Jewel to forgive him after his 'affair' with Davina Rankin was exposed.

And on Monday night's episode of Married At First Sight, a grovelling Dean Wells pulled out all the stops to make it up to his angry wife.

The 39-year-old 'executive creative director' started off by making Tracey breakfast in bed, but his grand gestures soon turned from romantic to ridiculous.

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Grand gestures: After his 'affair' with Davina Rankin was exposed, Dean Wells pulled out all the stops on Monday night's episode of Married At First Sight to win back his wife Tracey Jewel (pictured)

'I think I might be clawing my way out of the dog house, but I've got a couple more thing up my sleeve,' the controversial contestant teased.

Despite pushing the age of 40, Dean thought it would be a great idea to take his wife skateboarding, stating in a piece-to-camera: 'You didn't stop skateboard because you got old, you got old because you stopped skateboarding'.

'It's a blend between sport and art and creativity,' the groovy star gushed.

It's a blend between sport and art and creativity': Dean's gestures soon went from romantic to ridiculous as he took Tracey skateboarding

Tracey seemed less than impressed, stating: 'I have zero interest in skateboarding... I'm so uncoordinated, I can't even use my daughter's scooter without falling off'.

Despite her chivalrous gent bringing along a helmet, knee guards and arm pads to make sure she was protected, the brunette stunner seemed to think the activity showed sign's of Dean's immaturity.

'Maybe he isn't as responsible or mature as I thought he was,' Tracey told the producers privately.

'Maybe he isn't as responsible or mature as I thought he was': Tracey was less than impressed with Dean's dating activity

However, she seemed far more impressed with Dean's revelation that he was a rapper, going by the stage name of 'Visionz'.

Taking his wife to meet his friends at an 'underground hip hop' studio, the 'alpha male' contestant revealed he had penned a rap song about their relationship.

'Visionz': Dean revealed he was a rapper, performing a self-penned hip-hop track for Tracey

Showing off his way with words, Dean rapped: 'Tracey my little lady/ you drive me crazy/ after last week on the couch you probably hate me/ but you gave me a shot/ you're so hot/ plus your brain is next level/ show me what you got'

Blown away, Tracey beamed, stating in a piece to camera Dean's songwriting made her 'feel like a giddy little girl'.She became the first celebrity to cut ties with Oxfam amid the Haiti prostitute scandal last week.

But Minnie Driver let her hair down as she attended British Vogue's star-studded Fashion and Film party at Annabel's private members' club in London's Mayfair on Sunday night.

The actress, 48, looked stylish in a chic lilac printed dress with a flattering black tie around the waist.

Fashion moment: Minnie Driver let her hair down as she attended British Vogue's star-studded Fashion and Film party at Annabel's private members' club in London's Mayfair on Sunday

The Good Will Hunting star paired the elegant number with heeled leather boots, and wore her brunette locks in her signature corkscrew curls.

Minnie looked great with just a touch of make-up highlighting her naturally beautiful features.

The actress was also spotted at the event alongside fellow star Naomi Watts, who wore a black jumpsuit in support of the Time's Up campaign.

Naomi kept her short blonde locks straight so that they framed her face, and opted for natural make-up.

Turning heads: The actress, 48, looked stylish in a chic lilac printed dress with a flattering black tie around the waist

Showing her support: Minnie was also spotted at the event alongside actress Naomi Watts (right), who wore a black jumpsuit in support of the Time's Up campaign

The actress completed her look for the fashion bash with a pair of purple velvet heels.

Minnie became the first of Oxfam's global ambassadors to break ranks and quit in protest last week after allegations were made against senior staff saying they paid for sex with vulnerable locals in crisis zones.

The actress stepped down from the role after 20 years, saying she was shocked by the claims and felt she had to leave the role.

Minnie, who was one of the charity's 16 ambassadors, said she was 'in no uncertain terms' withdrawing her support.

Horrified: Minnie became the first of Oxfam's global ambassadors to break ranks and quit in protest last week after working for the charity for two decades

Talking about her decision in a statement, the star said: 'I am nothing short of horrified by the allegations against Oxfam International.'

The actress added that she won't let the 'abhorrent mistakes of a troubling organisation' stop her or anyone else from 'working with good people in this space to support a population of human beings around the world that needs our help.'

The British star had worked with Oxfam for two decades, and had even donated a 72,000 lunch date to its 2008 Ebay auction.

In a statement to MailOnline, Oxfam said Ms Driver's decision to step down 'saddens us deeply.'

'Minnie Driver has been a devoted Oxfam supporter for many years, and we are grateful for her commitment to ending global poverty,' it said.

This comes as the head of Oxfam issued an impassioned apology as she admitted she 'cannot guarantee' there are no sex offenders working for the organisation.

Roland van Hauwermeiren, 68, and six others left their roles at Oxfam amid claims they had used prostitutes during an aid operation in earthquake-hit Haiti.

But the disgraced former Oxfam boss at the centre of the scandal hit back at allegations he hired prostitutes for sex parties as 'lies and exaggerations'.Kerry Armstrong has admitted she'd love to give Nicole Kidman 'a run for her money' with a new role on the actress' hit HBO series Big Little Lies.

The 60-year-old previously claimed she's '100 per cent' a better actress than Nicole and recounted how she beat out the Lion star for AFI's Best Actress award in 2001, during her time on I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here.

Clearing up the 'feud' rumours after being evicted on Sunday night, she explained that she thought her comments about the 50-year-old were 'hilarious' and not intended to be a sign of them 'fighting'.

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Hmm: Kerry Armstrong has admitted she'd love to give Nicole Kidman 'a run for her money' with a new role on the actress' hit HBO series Big Little Lies

During an appearance on Network Ten's The Project, the hosts showed her a clip from the jungle.

It showed her being asked during a quiz: 'Kerry do you think you're a better actor than Nicole Kidman' to which she pressed a buzzer that blared out '100 per cent'.

Discussing the amusing moment, the presenters asked her: 'Are you trying to start a feud with Nicole or do you want a new role in Big Little Lies?'

Laughing, she said: 'I thought I was hilarious, the press wanted it to be a fight. But yeah, I'd love to give her a run for her money.'

Right then: The 60-year-old previously claimed she's '100 per cent' a better actress than Nicole and recounted how she beat out the Lion star for AFI's Best Actress award in 2001, during her time on I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here

Clarified: Clearing up the 'feud' rumours after being evicted on Sunday night, she explained that she thought her comments about the 50-year-old were 'hilarious' and not intended to be a sign of them 'fighting'

Kerry admitted she previously joked about how crushing it would be to lose an award to Nicole if she had 'that nose strapped to her face for The Hours' - referencing the facial prosthetics Kidman wore to play writer Virginia Woolf in the 2002 film.

She said: 'One year I said "imagine Meryl Streep was up for an award and imagine losing it to Nicole with that nose strapped to her face for The Hours".'

Kerry is a veteran of the silver screen, winning two Australian Film Institute Awards in 2001 for her roles in Lantana and SeaChange.

Throwback: Kerry admitted she previously joked about how crushing it would be to lose an award to Nicole if she had 'that nose strapped to her face for The Hours' - referencing the facial prosthetics Kidman wore to play writer Virginia Woolf in the 2002 film (pictured)

And while the 59-year-old is only one of two actresses to win double at the prestigious ceremony, it was beating out Nicole for Best Actress that she remembers the most.

She also distinctly remembers what Nicole did upon hearing that she'd lost.

'When we went up against each other for the AFI Awards, it was Moulin Rouge! verses Lantana, we were so waiting for Moulin Rouge! to win everything,' Kerry told a crowd of contestants on I'm A Celebrity.

'Russell Crowe said, "I'm here to announce Best Actress, it is four really wonderful ladies. I've got a bit of bias going on so I came all the way to announce best actress".'

'She left the room': It comes after Kerry spoke about the awkward moment she beat out Nicole Kidman for AFI's Best Actress award in 2001 on Sunday's I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here

That 'bias' Russell was referring to was his long-standing friendship with Nicole.

'Nicole was up there getting ready and he said Best Actress and he said my name,' Kerry explained, as the female campers listened intently.

'There was a lot of commotion on that side of the room and Vince (Colosimo) came up or Anthony LaPaglia came up and said she'd (Nicole) left the room, which was like a I went up on stage and Russell Crowe was visibly unimpressed.'

Jackie Gillies chimed in to tell Kerry she would have been brilliant on Nicole's award-winning TV series Big Little Lies, which the actress agreed with.

Kerry joked the two Australian stars have been in a feud ever since - but it does not look like the pair are in direct competition today.

Nicole now lives in Nashville with her husband Keith and two daughters, continuing to establish herself as one of Hollywood's leading ladies.

Meanwhile, Kerry's success has largely been confined to Australia since returning to her home country in 1987. She lives with her three sons in the Yarra Valley.She is the daughter of rock 'n' roll legend Noel Gallagher and his ex-wife Meg Mathews.

And so it comes as little surprise that Anais Gallagher, 18, wore a rather daring 90s inspired look to British Vogue's Fashion and Film bash held at Annabel's in London's Mayfair on Sunday night.

The pretty blonde wore a sheer lace midi dress which exposed the black briefs she wore underneath as she arrived at the venue with her photographer beau Antonioni.

Dare to be bold: Anais Gallagher, 18, stunned onlookers in a statement sheer dress at British Vogue's Fashion and Film bash in London on Sunday evening

Adhering to her grunge style sense, the face of Reebok teamed her dark number with a chic leather jacket.

Once inside the venue, she whipped it off, standing tall in a pair of Dr. Martens chunky boots.

The blonde beauty added a pop of colour to her look with heart-gemmed earrings and matching crucifix necklace.

What will Noel say? The H&M and Reebok model ensured all eyes were on her with her fiery red smokey eye look, finished with a slash of glossy berry lipstick

Gorgeous: The blonde beauty added a pop of colour to her look with heart-gemmed earrings and matching crucifix necklace as she took off her leather jacket

Anais ensured all eyes were on her with her fiery red smokey eye look, finished with a slash of glossy berry lipstick.

The catwalk star styled her golden locks into effortless curls as she beamed with her handsome beau.

Antonioni looked suave in a trendy burgundy suit and box fresh trainers.

Happy: She gave her man a loved-up smile outside the venue as she posed with one hand in her pocket

Fashionista: Adhering to her grunge style sense, the face of Reebok teamed her dark number with a chic leather jacket and a pair of platform boots from Dr. Martens

The pair were joined by a slew of celebrities at the glitzy bash, including Rita Ora, Alexa Chung and Naomi Campbell.

Anais has been sharing a series of loved-up snaps with her beau since going public with their romance in December.

Posting some shots of them kissing, she wrote on Instagram: 'How can you be so in love with one individual. My angel.'

Loved-up: The catwalk star styled her golden locks into effortless curls as she beamed with her handsome beau

Dapper: Antonioni looked suave in a trendy burgundy suit and box fresh trainers

Smitten: Anais has been sharing a series of loved-up snaps with her beau since going public with their romance in December

Iconic family: She is the daughter of rock 'n' roll legend Noel Gallagher and his ex-wife Meg MathewsShe's the outspoken former Real Housewives of Sydney star who has never been shy about voicing her opinions.

And as Lisa Oldfield joined the cast of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here on Monday with husband David, she wasted no time in trying to forge an alliance with fellow Housewife Jackie Gillies.

As the controversial couple made their entrance to camp, Jackie was clearly chuffed to be in Lisa's company, with the pair making a beeline for each other and heartily hugging.

Alliances? As Lisa Oldfield joined the cast of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here on Monday with husband David, she wasted no time in trying to forge an alliance with fellow Housewife Jackie Gillies.

While Lisa and her One Nation Party founder husband David made their introductions, the 43-year-old surreptitiously pulled a note from under her shirt which she quickly passed to Jackie.

Jackie happily took the note and proceeded to read it as David suggested the time wasn;t right for such secretive moves.

'Were you supposed to give it to her straight away?' David asked.

Chuffed: As the controversial couple made their entrance to camp, Jackie was clearly chuffed to be in Lisa's company, with the pair making a beeline for each other and heartily hugging

Continuing, David suggested his wife should've shrouded her potential subterfuge in even more secrecy.

'I think you should have secreted it to her,' David opined. 'Just mail it from home.'

While the contents of the note were not divulged on Monday's episode, it appeared the pair had planned for even more contraband - revealing they had a 'party' planned.

Shhhh: While Lisa and her One Nation Party founder husband David made their introductions, the 43-year-old surreptitiously pulled a note from under her shirt which she quickly passed to Jackie.

Too open: 'I think you should have secreted it to her,' David told Lisa. 'Just mail it from home'

'I'm sorry to tell you we did have a big party planned,' David said. 'We tried to smuggle in as much as we could.'

While they kept things pretty low key for their debut episode, David and Lisa teased that the fellow castmates could be in for a tumultuous time as the series progresses.

In their introduction piece, the pair revealed that they were fans of manipulating people, but not in a 'nasty way.'

'There are a couple of things that David and I enjoy doing,' Lisa said. 'That is playing people - not in a nasty way.

'For entertainment,' David added.They have been romantically linked around 10 months after her split from ex Liev Schreiber in 2016.

And it seems that Naomi Watts, 49, and Billy Crudup, 49, were happy to keep the dating rumours afloat as they were spotted holding hands on Sunday night.

Stepping out of the Vogue Fashion and Film Party together, the two actors looked smitten as they walked to their taxi while holding on tightly to each other.

Romantically involved? Naomi Watts (right) and Billy Crudup (left) held hands while leaving the Vogue party on Sunday amid dating rumours around 10 months after her split from Liev Schreiber

The Gypsy co-stars both looked glamorous for the event, as Naomi wore an all black ensemble in solidarity of the Time's Up campaign while Billy opted for a silver suit.

The King Kong star's top featured a deep plunging neckline that showed off her cleavage, and which was belted over slim-fitting trousers.

A coat was draped across her shoulders to shield her from the cold, and she added just a pop of colour to her outfit with a pair of velvet wine coloured heels.

Naomi's cropped blonde tresses were styled straight to frame her face, and she brushed on glamorous make-up that used black eyeliner and bold red lipstick to highlight her natural features.

Keeping close: The Australian beauty, 49, held a small clutch bag in one hand, as she held onto Billy, 49, tightly with the other as they were escorted out

Not letting go: Naomi and Billy didn't seem to mind who saw their closeness

The Australian beauty held a small clutch bag in one hand, as she held onto Billy tightly with the other as they were escorted out of the party.

Her rumoured new beau looked dapper in his sleet-grey suit, which he donned over a crisp white shirt that he wore with the top button undone.

Billy completed the look with a pair of smart black shoes, and his raven tresses were slicked back over his ears.

Dressing up: The Gypsy co-stars both looked glamorous for the event, as Naomi wore an all black ensemble in solidarity for the Time's Up campaign, while Billy opted for a silver suit

The two got close while filming the Netflix series Gypsy, which centres on a married psychologist (Naomi) who becomes obsessed with one of her client's ex-girlfriends.



A source confirmed to PEOPLE in July that the pair were 'dating' in real life.

An eye witness also Page Six: 'They were spotted holding hands in New York City last year and an eyewitness told , they 'looked happy and were laughing a lot, then left again holding hands.'

'We didn't know they were a couple. Pretty cool seeing two big stars so into each other,' the source said.

Neither camp had officially confirmed the report.

On-set romance: The two got close while filming the Netflix series Gypsy, which centres on a married psychologist (Naomi) who becomes obsessed with one of her client's ex-girlfriends

Looking good: The King Kong star's top featured a deep plunging neckline that showed off her cleavage, and which was belted over slim-fitting trousers

Naomi and her ex Liev, 50, confirmed their split in September 2016 after 11 years together.

In a joint statement the duo said: 'Over the past few months we've come to the conclusion that the best way forward for us as a family is to separate as a couple.

'It is with great love, respect, and friendship in our hearts that we look forward to raising our children together and exploring this new phase of our relationship.'

They share two sons Alexander, 10, and Samuel, nine, and while Naomi has been linked to Billy, Liev is rumoured to be dating Miss South Dakota, Taylor Niesen, 26.

Going their separate ways: Naomi and her ex Liev (right), 50, confirmed their split in September 2016 after 11 years togetherHe was spotted with Married At First Sight co-star Tracey Jewel earlier this week, sparking romance rumours.

But on Sunday, Sean Thomsen had an ex-girlfriend on his mind when he openly accused her of selling stories about him to a gossip magazine.

The blonde 'Tinder lothario' made the shock claims on his podcast during a lively chat with fellow MAFS groom Jesse Konstantinoff before also hitting out at internet trolls.

Scroll down for audio

'Didn't give a f**k about me!': Married At First Sight's Sean Thomsen has slammed an ex-girlfriend, who he has accused of selling tabloid stories about him. Pictured: Sean with former lover Jasmine Pugh

He appeared to speak about his ex-girlfriend Jasmine Pugh, who hit out at him in Woman's Day in January saying he's 'only in it for the fame.'

'She's turned around and probably sold the story to Woman's Day or whatever and try and ruin my reputation before I started on the show,' he said.

'And didn't give a f**k about me at all.'

'Try and ruin my reputation': On the podcast, he appeared to accuse a past love of trying to ruin his reputation

Not happy: 'She's turned around and probably sold the story to Woman's Day or whatever and try and ruin my reputation before I started on the show,' he said

Obviously still upset, Sean went on to say he 'never thought in a million years' she would be capable of doing such a thing and later accused her of being unfaithful.

'And someone I went through a honeymoon phase with, I never thought in a million years, they could be capable of doing that to another person...Let alone someone they loved.'

In the lengthy chat, Sean then hit out at keyboard warriors, who post negative comments about him on Instagram.

'I've got nothing but respect for people who put themselves through that,' he said referring to MAFS.

Mates: Sean made the shock claims on his podcast during a lively chat with fellow MAFS groom Jesse Konstantinoff (R)

'It is pretty gutless, throwing out comments about someone on Instagram,' he said while chatting with former MAFS groom Jesse Konstantinoff

'I couldn't picture half of them (keyboard warriors) or any of them wanting to put themselves through that.'

He then became angry, encouraging people to not 'f**king say it at all,' if they have something negative to say, adding 'It is pretty gutless, throwing out comments about someone on Instagram. Like who gives a sh*t.'

Daily Mail Australia has reached out to Jasmine and Sean for comment.Simone Holtznagel broke down on I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! on Monday, while recalling the tragic suicide of her late friend, Charlotte Dawson.

The Playboy model was overcome with emotion as she told her camp mates she had to ID the body of her Australia's Next Top Model mentor Charlotte, who struggled with depression before taking her own life at age 47 in 2014.

'She was a model, she was really famous in Australia and New Zealand and then she met this guy called Scott Miller who was at the time, an Olympic swimmer,' she said.

Emotional: Simone Holtznagel (R) broke down on I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! this week, while recalling the tragic suicide of her late friend, Charlotte Dawson. Also pictured: Jackie Gillies (L) and Vicky Pattison

'Then she fell pregnant and he was training for the Olympics and she was like pressured from his camp and him to have an abortion.

She continued: 'That's when she first started to get depression. She was a massive target, especially when she turned 40 and she was single, didn't have kids - people were so mean to her.'

The normally bubbly blonde broke down in tears as she recalled having to ID Charlotte's body.

Painful memories: 'Me and my best friend had to ID her body and I was like 'I love you so much,'' Simone sobbed

'Me and my best friend had to ID her body and I was like 'I love you so much,'' she sobbed.

It comes after Simone became visibly emotional when I'm A Celebrity psychic Jackie Gillies recently discussed Charlotte's tragic death.

The 37-year-old claimed Charlotte wanted to tell Simone she was 'so sorry for the way she left', during an emotional reading.

Tragedy: Simone's Australia's Next Top Model mentor, Charlotte, struggled with depression before taking her own life at age 47 in 2014

Brief marriage: Charlotte and Olympic swimmer Scott Miller tied the knot in 1999 before separating the following year

'She wrote a journal and in this journal, you are in it,' Jackie told Simone. 'She is also telling me you have a lot of anger as to why she did what she did.

'And she's telling me to tell you she had financial distress. She is telling me it all got too much for her. She is sorry with the way she left.'

Simone, 24, said Charlotte was 'one was of my best friends' and someone she was 'very close' to.

The Playboy model, who came third in the 2011 season of Australia's Next Top Model, was called to identify Charlotte's body following her tragic death in February 2014.

'She's so sorry for the way she left': I'm A Celebrity psychic Jackie Gillies discussed Charlotte Dawson's suicide with the model mentor's tearful 'best friend' Simone Holtznagel on Sunday's I'm A Celebrity

Charlotte, who had been battling depression, died in her Sydney flat and was found by a real estate agent just moments before an auction for her apartment was due to take place.

Jackie said: 'You've asked her to come to you and you want to know why she hasn't just appeared to prove that she is around you.

'She's come to you in a dream 10 times. She says she doesn't want to see you cry in the bed any more.

Awful: Jackie said: 'She's telling me to tell you she had financial distress. She is telling me it all got too much for her. She is sorry with the way she left'

Emotional: She added: 'She says she doesn't want to see you cry in the bed any more. She says when you do, she says that this is her touching her head, she loves you have much'

'She says when you do, she says that this is her touching her head, she loves you have much.

'I feel like I am going to cry. She says she misses you very much and she is sorry.'

Covering her face with her hands, Simone was overcome with emotion as she reflected on her friend's death.

She later said she felt positive about the reading, claiming a lot of what Jackie had said rang true with her, and gave the psychic a warm hug.

Too much: Covering her face with her hands, Simone was overcome with emotion as she reflected on her friend's death

Simone previously said she no longer felt 'angry' about Charlotte's death and often surrounded herself with her mentor's shoes and belonging that she gave to her before passing away.

'I miss her... I am not angry any more, I just wish she was here,' she told The Daily Telegraph.

Back in 2015, Simone claimed Charlotte's ghost had been haunting her, telling the New Zealand Herald that the ghost had visited her three times.

'It's happened once at my grandma's house, again when I moved into my place in LA and then just the other night in my hotel room in Amsterdam. It's the most surreal thing that's ever happened to me,' she said.

If you or anyone around you are struggling and/or seeking support, call Lifeline on 13 11 14.She is set to welcome her second child with husband Patrick Kielty in the spring.

But pregnant Cat Deeley kept her baby bump under wraps as she shielded her shape with a bunch of flowers at her local farmers' market in Los Angeles on Sunday.

The TV presenter, 41, kept casual for her low-key outing, sporting skinny jeans and a striped top as she ran errands in the California sunshine.

Bumping along: Pregnant Cat Deeley kept her baby bump under wraps as she shielded her shape with a bunch of flowers at her local farmers' market in Los Angeles on Sunday

The mother-of-one teamed her low-key ensemble with tan leather gladiator sandals and a matching satchel bag.

Cat sheltered her eyes from the sun with a pair of dark shades and a stylish fedora as she stocked up on goods.

The So You Think You Can Dance carried a tote bag on one shoulder to ensure she had plenty of room to lug around her purchases.

Cat completed her Sunday look with low-key make-up and wore her blonde locks poker straight.

Oh baby! The TV presenter, 41, kept casual for her low-key outing, sporting skinny jeans and a striped top as she ran errands in the California sunshine

In January, Cat was delighted to reveal to her legion of loyal fans that she is pregnant with her second child.

The TV host, who had first child Milo in January 2016 with presenter husband Patrick Kielty, shared that her baby is expected to arrive in the spring, after saying she was considered a 'geriatric mum' by doctors.

She told her fans on Twitter: 'Over-the-moon to share that Milo is going to be a big brother! Can't wait to be a family of four in the spring. We're all so excited.'

Exciting: The So You Think You Can Dance host is expecting her second child with husband Patrick Kielty this spring (pictured in May 2012)

Cat previously said in an interview with the Daily Mirror newspaper: 'I would love some more. But I have got to get on with it if I do.

'When you go for your check-ups they call you a "geriatric mum". That is the terminology they use, I swear.'

Despite their jubilant news, Cat revealed to US TV host Steve Harvey that she has yet to tell young son Milo about the impending newborn because she's worried what his reaction might be - so she's starting him off easy with a new puppy instead.

She said: 'I'm starting with the dog. I've got a lovely dog called Lily, who's really gentle. But sometimes he grabs her skin  not on purpose  but he is just trying to love her.'She was lauded when she shared an inspiring photo showing the reality of her post-baby body earlier this month.

And Georgia Jones revealed why she decided to take a snap of her 'wobbly stomach' mere hours after giving birth to her son during her appearance on Lorraine on Monday.

The 31-year-old model, who welcomed her first child Cooper Alf with her McFly star husband Danny last month, also discussed being a new mum, admitting 'it's not easy.'

Inspiring: Georgia Jones revealed her reasons about why she decided share a snap of her 'wobbly stomach' mere hours after giving birth to her son on Lorraine on Monday

She said: 'As a new mum, I always wondered what pregnant tummies looked like after [you have a baby], because you never know.

'It doesn't ping back and you still look pregnant when you have that baby.

'I was like well why heck not post something like that, something which is positive.'

Praised: She was lauded when she shared a inspiring photo showing the reality of her post-baby body in hospital mere hours after giving birth

To which the chat show host replied: 'To be honest I think you look absolutely stunning. I did not look like that when I had my baby but you can see you still have a tummy.'

Nodding, Georgia said: 'Very much so.'

Talking about being a new mum, she said: 'My breasts they were so sore, red and I thought am I breastfeeding properly?

Doting dad: Watching in the wings, Danny cradled his three-week-old son and gushed: 'Y oure an amazing wife, amazing human'

'Youve got to share this with new mums, its not easy.

'I have had a positive reaction from women  support, they like to see real life things of course I have had make-up snaps, but nice to share those side of things. Makes you more relatable.'

Watching in the wings, Danny cradled his three-week-old son and gushed: 'Youre an amazing wife, amazing human.'

Stunning: Georgia looked incredible for her chat show appearance, as she slipped her figure into a black embroidered mini-dress which showed off her lithe limbs

Georgia looked incredible for her chat show appearance, as she slipped her figure into a black embroidered mini-dress which showed off her lithe limbs.

She paired the look with sheer black tight and heeled boots and styled her ombre tresses into loose curls.

The new mum has been praised for sharing refreshingly honest posts about motherhood on her Instagram page.

Candid: The new mum has been praised for sharing refreshingly honest posts about motherhood on her Instagram page

Georgia inspired other mothers by stripping off to reveal her post-partum body in the intimate photo taken in hospital, while revealing in the caption how proud she is of herself.

The post read: 'This was me a few hours after baby Cooper was born.... Greasy Hair, prickly legs, very sore bits, big pants & one very empty wobbly tum....

'But I wouldnt change a thing. Do I miss my pre-pregnancy bod?... Abso-blummin-lutely (& thats fine) Will I try my hardest *when fully recovered & ready* to get said body back??? Hell Yes! (which is also totally fine)'

'But do u know what... if things are never quite the same again then Im cool with that, My body pushed that little person out!! Well done body, Im super proud of you.'

New mum: Talking about her figure she said: 'It doesn't ping back and you still look pregnant when you have that baby'

Georgia was flooded with praise from fans for sharing the photo with one writing 'What an inspiration you are! Amazing post - thank you for sharing' while another added 'This is so motivating. I love my mum tum and will proudly keep it forever.'

Another fan wrote: You look really beautiful. Sometimes we struggle to see that, but you look stunning' while another wrote 'Love this post so honest and its not all about having the baby and within a couple of hours your glowing with a flat tummy because that does not happen this is an honest post and shows what it is like to be a new mummy.'

Danny and Georgia, who have been married since August 2014, welcomed their beautiful 7lb 15oz baby boy on January 27.He plays the timid and socially awkward Jonathan Byers on hit Netflix series Stranger Things.

But Charlie Heaton looked worlds away from his famous character on Sunday night, as he made a trendy appearance at the British Vogue Fashion and Film party in London.

The actor, 24, proved his striking sense of style in a retro suit jacket and trousers as he joined his sister Levi at the star-studded bash, held at Annabel's in Mayfair.

Quirky: Charlie Heaton made a trendy appearance at the British Vogue Fashion and Film party on Sunday night, with his stylish sister Levi

The actor stood out from the crowd in a vintage-style blazer, complete with small shoulder pads, and trendy high-rise trousers.

Keeping casual for the night out, Charlie layered a simple black T-shirt underneath - before jazzing the ensemble up further with a chunky gold necklace.

Tying his look together with sleek leather loafers, the Yorkshire native cut a cool figure as he posed at the bash, with one foot crossed over the other and a glass of wine in hand.

Cool kid: The actor stood out from the crowd in a vintage-style blazer, complete with small shoulder pads, and trendy high-rise trousers

Fashionable family: Meanwhile his sister Levi, who is also an actress, put on a raunchy display in a semi-sheer mesh jumpsuit

Charlie joined his sister and fellow actress Levi at the event, who put on a raunchy display in a semi-sheer mesh jumpsuit, which flashed her bra and briefs underneath.

The Vera star teamed her one-piece with bright yellow platform heels, for a splash of colour, before adding a thick slick of red lipstick, in a glamorous finishing touch.

Charlie looked in good spirits as he partied the night away with his sister - leaving girlfriend Natalia Dyer at home.

Relaxed: The Vera star teamed her one-piece with bright yellow platform heels, for a splash of colour, and added a slick of red lipstick as she sipped on drinks with her brother

Low-key: Charlie kept casual by layering a simple black T-shirt underneath - before jazzing the ensemble up further with a chunky gold necklace

Quirky: Tying his look together with sleek leather loafers and ankle socks, the Yorkshire native cut a cool figure as he arrived at the event

The pair met on set of Stranger Things, and confirmed their heavily rumoured romance with a red carpet appearance at the Fashion Awards in December.

The couple, who met on the set of the Netflix smash hit, play Jonathan and Nancy, who form an unlikely bond as the plot progresses.

Charlie however has endured a turbulent few months, after he was refused entry into the US in October when cocaine was detected on him at LAX.

The refusal to enter the States caused Charlie to miss the eagerly-anticipated premiere for the second season of Stranger Things.

Loved-up: Charlie attended the bash with his sister instead of girlfriend Natalia Dyer, who he met on set of Stranger Things (pictured together in December 2017)

With series three of the show being confirmed, it is unclear whether Charlie will be allowed to return to the States for future filming endeavours.

In a carefully worded statement, Heaton said he was working to 'rectify' the situation, which is said to have occurred after sniffer dogs detected the cocaine on his person.

'My planned travel to the U.S. last week was affected by an issue at U.S. immigration, and I am working to rectify it as soon as possible,' the 23-year-old told People magazine.

'I do want to clarify that I was not arrested or charged with a crime, and cooperated fully with the U.S. officials at LAX.'She's not afraid to display her curvaceous physique on her widely-followed social media accounts.

So it's no surprise Chantelle Connelly left little to the imagination as she debuted the results from her recent bottom enhancement in Spain on Sunday.

The former Geordie Shore star, 27, went topless as she posed in a bright orange thong while crediting her surgeons for 'changing' her life thanks to their handiwork.

Life's a peach! Chantelle Connelly left little to the imagination as she debuted the results from her recent bottom enhancement in Spain on Sunday

Chantelle set pulses racing as she slipped her surgically-enhanced curves into a pair barely-there bottoms.

The television personality held onto her rich brunette locks while stood on a flight of stairs.

The reality star thanked her surgeons for her eye-popping look, writing: 'Thank you @serenecosmetic_ & @dr._aslani for literally changing my life... You have given me all my confidence back!'

Chantelle flaunted her tiny waist in a plunging grey gym bra and figure-hugging leggings earlier in the week.

Dare to bare! The former Geordie Shore star, 27, went topless as she posed in a bright orange thong while crediting her surgeons for 'changing' her life thanks to their handiwork

This is not the first time the star has attempted to perfect her plump rear, as she underwent a non-surgical bottom lift in March 2017.

Taking to her Instagram account to show off the effects of her procedure, the star wrote: 'Getting the peach in check for summer with a @3dlipo bum lift!'.

The image showed just her bottom - with reddened marks from the procedure - as she laid on a surgical table wearing grey panties and a green crop top.

Chantelle's upload garnered more than 5,000 likes in half a day, and a string of messages of admiration from her fans.

Work it: Chantelle flaunted her tiny waist in a plunging grey gym bra and figure-hugging leggings earlier in the week

Perky: The reality star previously attempted to perfect her plump rear in March 2017 as she underwent a non-surgical bum lift

The TV personality sported a deep tan in the shot, earned from her idyllic trip to the Dominican Republic with her ex-girlfriend Jemma Lucy.

The pair split up shortly after their getaway, and ended on bad terms following 'showmance' rumours.

In an interview with Star in August last year, Chantelle revealed: 'Basically we haven't spoken for months and she's a sh**bag.

'I wouldn't trust her as far as I could throw her. I'll never speak to her again.'

Chantelle hasn't appeared on Geordie Shore since her dramatic exit in summer 2016.He's never been one to mince his words and has made some rather bold comments over the years.

And Liam Gallagher has now outrageously claimed that the German police 'pulled his teeth out with pliers' during his epic Munich bar brawl in 2002, which resulted in the loss of his front two gnashers.

The explosive 'ding-dong' saw 80 police officers called to the scene and led to the cancellation of Oasiss German tour, Liam being arrested for bodily harm, trespassing and material damage, and being slapped with a 50,000 fine.

Wild night: Liam Gallagher has now outrageously claimed that the German police 'pulled his teeth out with pliers' during his epic Munich bar brawl in 2002, which resulted in the loss of his front two gnashers

In an interview with The Guardian, the star, 45, recalled how one of the band's roadies 'giving some bird the eye' led to a man dropped a glass table from a balcony over their heads - and a mass punch-up ensued.

The Britpop legend has since formulated a far-fetched theory that the German police pulled his teeth out while he was unconscious, as a punishment for his actions.

He joked: 'I think they give me a whack over the head in the back of the fucking van and I think theyve just gone, "Fuck you, you c**t", later on.

'[My teeth would] have broken, wouldnt they? You dont fucking have them completely fall out like that.

Ouch: The Britpop legend - pictured on the way back from Munich in December 2002 - woke up in jail, with his two front teeth knocked clean out

'And I woke up in a prison cell, handcuffed, no teeth, but I could still [whistle] and no other marks on me.'

Gallagher and two other band members had got into a fight with five Italians in a nightclub at Munich's top hotel, the Bayerischer Hof.

Liam's brother, guitarist Noel Gallagher, was not involved, police said.

'The boy didn't look good. Several of his teeth were punched out,' a Munich police spokesperson said at the time.

Back in the day: The explosive 'ding-dong' saw 80 police officers called to the scene and led to the cancellation of Oasiss German tour, Liam being arrested for bodily harm, trespassing and material damage, and being slapped with a 50,000 fine

Officers arrived at the scene after being alerted by the nightclub manager, by which time the fight had moved out into the hotel foyer.

When Liam was detained he attacked a police officer and kicked him in the ribs 'with full force'.

The band's website claimed they were innocent victims in the brawl.

'Several members of Oasis and their entourage were the victims of an unprovoked attack by a group of youths in a Munich club,' it read, adding that Liam had 'sustained facial injuries' in the assault.

The band said their attackers fled before police arrived, having left two of their security guards in need of hospital treatment.She currently produces and stars in the hit HBO series Divorce, which recently released a second season.

And Sarah Jessica Parker put on her most sizzling display yet, as she embarked on a raunchy sex scene with hunky actor Steven Pasquale in latest scenes for the comedy.

Playing the role of a mother going through a divorce, the actress, 52, wears nothing but a black chemise as she indulges in the saucy love-making session with Pasquale, who takes on the role of Andrew.

Raunchy: Sarah Jessica Parker, 52, put on her most sizzling display yet, as she embarked on a raunchy sex scene with hunky actor Steven Pasquale in the HBO shot, Divorce

While she has openly spoken about not feeling comfortable with stripping off nude for sex scenes, Jessica still put on a racy display for the cosy scene.

Getting comfortable on a plush brown sofa, the former Sex And The City star wraps her arms around the hunk - who bravely foregoes any items of clothing.

With their characters embarking on a new relationship, the pair put on a passionate display as they romp in the living room.

Jennifer proves to be taken by the handsome actor as she showers him with kisses during the passionate sex scene.

Sexy: Playing the role of a mother going through a divorce, the actress wear a black chemise as she indulges in the saucy love-making session with Pasquale, who takes on the role of Andrew

Racy: While she has openly spoken about not feeling comfortable with stripping off nude for sex scenes, Jessica still put on a racy display for the cosy scene

Despite soaring to fame in HBO's Sex and the City, Jessica has insisted on numerous occasions in the past that she will not shed clothes for racy scenes.

'I just never dug it. I think its great when women feel comfortable doing it, and thats their choice,' she dished all in an interview with People.

However, she admitted she was met with a lot of pressure in her early days but her agent (CAAs Kevin Huvane) had her back.

'He said "If anybody makes you do anything that youre not comfortable doing, you dont."

'Given whats happening now and the stories told from that particular period, I know how lucky I am that there was someone - in this case, a man - who stepped in,' she revealed.

Hunky: Getting comfortable on a plush brown sofa, the former Sex And The City star wraps her arms around the hunk - who bravely foregoes any items of clothing

Pucker up: Jennifer proves to be taken by the handsome actor as she showers him with kisses during the passionate sex scene

Plot: Sarah takes on the role of glamorous blonde Frances Dufresne, a woman navigating her way through single life and motherhood, following her split from husband Robert

Sarah takes on the role of glamorous blonde Frances Dufresne, a woman navigating her way through single life and motherhood, following her split from husband Robert, played by Thomas Haden Church.

The star's character also struggles to reconnect with her feisty teenage daughter in the show.

Meanwhile, there has been some trouble for Sarah as of late as she was blasted by former co-star Kim Cattrall - who accused her of 'exploiting' her family tragedy.

The Carrie Bradshaw star was publicly humiliated when her condolences to Kim about the loss of her brother Chris were rejected on social media.

Storyline: The star's character also struggles to reconnect with her feisty teenage daughter in the show

In a scathing attack on SJP, Samantha Jones actress Kim fumed: Your continuous reaching out is a painful reminder of how cruel you really were then and now.

Let me make this VERY clear (If I havent already) You are not my family. You are not my friend. So Im writing to tell you one last time to stop exploiting our tragedy in order to restore your nice girl persona.

The post was accompanied by an image saying: I dont need your love or support this tragic time @sarahjessicaparker.'

Kim's younger brother vanished from his home in Canada for a whole week earlier this month before he was found dead.

'I never dug it': Despite soaring to fame in HBO's Sex and the City, Jessica has insisted on numerous occasions in the past that she will not shed clothes for racy scenes

'I'm lucky a man stepped in': However, she admitted she was met with a lot of pressure in her early days but her agent (CAAs Kevin Huvane) had her back

Following her announcement, Kim had initially seemed grateful for her Sex And The City family as collective, thanking them for their well-wishings on Instagram.

She wrote a simple post saying: 'I would like to thank my fans, friends and my #SexandtheCity colleagues for the outpouring of support for myself and family over the past 72 hours.'

Sex and the City ran on HBO from 1998-2004 before making its way into film with two movies, which also starred Cynthia Nixon and Kristin Davis.

Parker married Matthew Broderick in 1997 and the couple have 15-year-old son James and eight-year-old twins Marion Loretta Elwell and Tabitha Hodge.He narrowly missed out on the Best Actor gong for his role in Film Stars Don't Die In Liverpool at the BAFTA's on Sunday night.

But Jamie Bell put on a brave face as he jetted out of Heathrow Airport with his wife Kate Mara on Monday.

The actor, 31, put on a loved-up display, holding the 34-year-old's hand as they strolled through the terminal.

BAFTA loss: Jamie Bell put on a brave face on Monday as he jetted out of Heathrow Airport with his wife Kate Mara

Kate, who had dazzled on the red carpet with a glamorous black gown, cut a casual figure in a shearling denim jacket and Vans Rider Sweatpants.

Opting for comfort for her flight, the American actress paired the look with chic white trainers and a khaki beanie.

No doubt tired after the glitzy award ceremony at the Royal Albert Hall, the blonde beauty shielded her eyes with a pair of black sunglasses.

Sweet: The actor, 31, put on a loved-up display, holding the 34-year-old's hand as they strolled through the terminal

Casual: Kate, who had dazzled on the red carpet with a glamorous black gown, cut a casual figure in a shearling denim jacket and Vans Rider Sweatpants

Dressed down: Meanwhile, Jamie, who lost out on the coveted BAFTA gong to Gary Oldman, cut a low-key figure in a black hoodie and khaki puffer jacket

Meanwhile Jamie, who lost out on the coveted BAFTA gong to Gary Oldman, cut a low-key figure in a black hoodie and khaki puffer jacket.

The Billy Elliot star seemed to have brushed off his BAFTA loss as he chatted to his wife ahead of their flight.

The married couple, who live in America, had arrived in the U.K last week specifically for the world-renowned award ceremony.

Chic: Opting for comfort for her flight, the American actress paired the look with crisp white trainers and a khaki beanie

Back home: The married couple, who live in America, had arrived in the U.K last week specifically for the world-renowned award ceremony

Sophisticated: Kate couldn't have been prouder of nominee husband Jamie Bell as she joined him on the BAFTA red carpet

Kate supported her husband on the red carpet at the film awards, wowing in a black strapless gown, embellished with gold web detailing.

The Fantastic Four star's decadent ensemble was teamed with a shimmering metallic box clutch as she cuddled up to her beau.

The blonde beauty added extra sparkle with a diamond choker and chic ear cuff, and took the opportunity to flash her wedding ring.

She swept back her glossy chestnut locks behind her ears into a sleek pin straight style.

Jamie complemented Kate's sophisticated sartorial choices in a dapper black tux suit and bow tie.

So proud: The actress beamed as she posed along side her man, while wearing an ultra glamorous black strapless gown, embellished with gold web detailing

The Snowpiercer star previously won a BAFTA Best Actor gong in 2000 for his role in Billy Elliot, making him the youngest actor to pick up the accolade at age 13.

Both in black, Jamie and Kate showed their support to the Time's Up Movement, with Jamie attaching the protest badge to his suit lapel.

They joined a host of other red carpet attendees who donned black for the cause, which raises awareness of sexual assault, harassment and inequality in the workplace and helps sexual assault survivors take legal action against their abusers.

Kate and Jamie reunited while working on the Fantastic Four film in 2015, but they had first met during an ill-fated screen test 12 years earlier.

Cute couple: The Fantastic Four star flaunted her sensational physique in the form-fitting garb

Jamie revealed the pair's history during an appearance on ITV's Jonathan Ross Show on Saturday, telling the host: 'I met her on a screen test for a film 12 years ago and neither of us got the part, but she did have to kiss a lot of other guys on that screen test,' he said.

'And there were a lot of other people there, pop stars, legitimate movie stars. And apparently she went home and her mum said, "How was your day?" and she was like, "I kissed a lot of guys today but Jamie Bell was a good kisser".

'And then 12 years later, we got married.'

The winners of the EE British Academy Film Awards 2018 WINNER: BEST FILM THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI, Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin, Martin McDonagh Winner: Best Film: (L to R) Peter Czernin, Martin McDonagh and Graham Broadbent, for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri CALL ME YOUR NAME DARKEST HOUR DUNKIRK THE SHAPE OF WATER WINNER: OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI Martin McDonagh, Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin Winner: Outstanding British Film: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri DARKEST HOUR Joe Wright, Tim Bevan, Lisa Bruce, Eric Fellner, Anthony McCarten, Douglas Urbanski THE DEATH OF STALIN Armando Iannucci, Kevin Loader, Laurent Zeitoun, Yann Zenou, Ian Martin, David Schneider GODS OWN COUNTRY Francis Lee, Manon Ardisson, Jack Tarling LADY MACBETH William Oldroyd, Fodhla Cronin OReilly, Alice Birch PADDINGTON 2 Paul King, David Heyman, Simon Farnaby WINNER: LEADING ACTRESS Frances McDormand, THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI Winner: Leading Actress: Frances McDormand (right) came top ANNETTE BENING Film Stars Dont Die In Liverpool MARGOT ROBBIE I, Tonya SALLY HAWKINS The Shape Of Water SAOIRSE RONAN Lady Bird WINNER: LEADING ACTOR: Gary Oldman, DARKEST HOUR Winner: Leading Actor: Gary Oldman picked up a gong DANIEL DAY-LEWIS Daniel Day-Lewis Phantom Thread DANIEL KALUUYA Get Out JAMIE BELL Film Stars Dont Die In Liverpool TIMOTHEE CHALAMET Call Me By Your Name WINNER: SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS BLADE RUNNER 2049 Gerd Nefzer, John Nelson Winner: Special Visual Effects went to Blade Runner 2049 DUNKIRK Scott Fisher, Andrew Jackson THE SHAPE OF WATER Dennis Berardi, Trey Harrell, Kevin Scott STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI Nominees TBC WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES Nominees TBC WINNER: OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER I AM NOT A WITCH Winner: Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer - I Am Not A Witch THE GHOUL JAWBONE KINGDOM OF US LADY MACBETH WINNER: PRODUCTION DESIGN THE SHAPE OF WATER, Paul Austerberry, Jeff Melvin, Shane Vieau Winner: Production Design - The Shape Of Water BEAUTY AND THE BEAST Sarah Greenwood, Katie Spencer BLADE RUNNER 2049 Dennis Gassner, Alessandra Querzola DARKEST HOUR Sarah Greenwood, Katie Spencer DUNKIRK Nathan Crowley, Gary Fettis WINNER: ADAPTED SCREENPLAY CALL ME BY YOUR NAME, James Ivory Winner: Adapted Screenplay, Call Me By Your Name, James Ivory THE DEATH OF STALIN Armando Iannucci, Ian Martin, David Schneider FILM STARS DONT DIE IN LIVERPOOL Matt Greenhalgh MOLLYS GAME Aaron Sorkin PADDINGTON 2 Simon Farnaby, Paul King WINNER: FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE THE HANDMAIDEN, Park Chan-wook, Syd Lim Winner: Film Not In The English Language: The Handmaiden - Park Chan-wook, Syd Lim ELLE FIRST THEY KILLED MY FATHER THE SALESMAN LOVELESS WINNER: BRITISH SHORT FILM COWBOY DAVE, Colin OToole, Jonas Mortensen Winner: British Short Film - Cowboy Dave, Colin OToole, Jonas Mortensen AAMIR Vika Evdokimenko, Emma Stone, Oliver Shuster A DROWNING MAN Mahdi Fleifel, Signe Byrge Srensen, Patrick Campbell WORK Aneil Karia, Scott ODonnell WREN BOYS Harry Lighton, Sorcha Bacon, John Fitzpatrick WINNER: BRITISH SHORT ANIMATION POLES APART, Paloma Baeza, Ser En Low Winner: British Short Animation: Poles Apart HAVE HEART Will Anderson MAMOON Ben Steer WINNER: DOCUMENTARY I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO, Raoul Peck Winner: Documentary: I Am Not Your Negro CITY OF GHOSTS ICARUS AN INCONVENIENT SEQUEL JANE WINNER: EDITING BABY DRIVER, Jonathan Amos, Paul Machliss Winner: Editing - Baby Driver, Jonathan Amos, (pictured) and Paul Machliss BLADE RUNNER 2049 Joe Walker DUNKIRK Lee Smith THE SHAPE OF WATER Sidney Wolinsky THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI Jon Gregory WINNER: ANIMATED FILM COCO, Lee Unkrich, Darla K. Anderson Winner: Animated Film: Coco LOVING VINCENT MY LIFE AS A COURGETTE WINNER: Costume Design PHANTOM THREAD, Mark Bridges Winner: Costume Design: Phantom Thread BEAUTY AND THE BEAST Jacqueline Durran DARKEST HOUR Jacqueline Durran I, TONYA Jennifer Johnson THE SHAPE OF WATER Luis Sequeira WINNER: MAKEUP & HAIR DARKEST HOUR David Malinowski, Ivana Primorac, Lucy Sibbick, Kazuhiro Tsuji Winner: MakeUp and Hair: DARKEST HOUR David Malinowski, Ivana Primorac, Lucy Sibbick, Kazuhiro Tsuji BLADE RUNNER 2049 Donald Mowat, Kerry Warn I, TONYA Deborah La Mia Denaver, Adruitha Lee VICTORIA & ABDUL Daniel Phillips WONDER Naomi Bakstad, Robert A. Pandini, Arjen Tuiten WINNER: ORIGINAL MUSIC THE SHAPE OF WATER Alexandre Desplat Winner: Original Music: The Shape Of Water BLADE RUNNER 2049 Benjamin Wallfisch, Hans Zimmer DARKEST HOUR Dario Marianelli DUNKIRK Hans Zimmer PHANTOM THREAD Jonny Greenwood WINNER: EE RISING STAR AWARD DANIEL KALUUYA Winner: EE Rising Star Award - Daniel Kaluuya FLORENCE PUGH JOSH OCONNOR TESSA THOMPSON TIMOTHEE CHALAMET WINNER: SOUND DUNKIRK Richard King, Gregg Landaker, Gary A. Rizzo, Mark Weingarten Winner: Sound: Dunkirk's Richard King, Gregg Landaker, Gary A. Rizzo, Mark Weingarten BABY DRIVER Tim Cavagin, Mary H. Ellis, Julian Slater BLADE RUNNER 2049 Ron Bartlett, Doug Hemphill, Mark Mangini, Mac Ruth THE SHAPE OF WATER Christian Cooke, Glen Gauthier, Nathan Robitaille, Brad Zoern STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick, Stuart Wilson, Matthew Wood WINNER: DIRECTOR Guillermo del Toro, THE SHAPE OF WATER Winner: Director: Guillermo del Toro - The Shape Of Water BLADE RUNNER 2049 Denis Villeneuve CALL ME BY YOUR NAME Luca Guadagnino DUNKIRK Christopher Nolan THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI Martin McDonagh WINNER: SUPPORTING ACTRESS ALLISON JANNEY I, Tonya Winner: Supporting Actress: Allison Janney for I, Tanya KRISTEN SCOTT THOMAS Darkest Hour LAURIE METCALF Lady Bird LESLEY MANVILLE Phantom Thread OCTAVIA SPENCER The Shape Of Water WINNER: SUPPORTING ACTOR SAM ROCKWELL, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri Winner: Supporting Actor: Sam Rockwell for Three Billboards CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER All the Money in the World HUGH GRANT Paddington 2 WILLEM DEFOE Florida Project WOODY HARRELSON 3 Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri WINNER: CINEMATOGRAPHY BLADE RUNNER 2049, Roger Deakins Winner: Cinematography: Blade Runner 2049 DARKEST HOUR Bruno Delbonnel DUNKIRK Hoyte van Hoytema THE SHAPE OF WATER Dan Laustsen THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI Ben Davis WINNER: ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI Martin McDonagh Winner: Original Screenplay - Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri GET OUT Jordan Peele I, TONYA Steven Rogers LADY BIRD Greta Gerwig THE SHAPE OF WATER Guillermo del Toro, Vanessa Taylor ______ AdvertisementShe brought a touch of Hollywood to Sunday's BAFTAs, but things soon turned controversial when viewers accused her behaving like a 'spoiled brat' at the show.

But hours after igniting ire for her 'rude and discourteous' exchange with the ceremony's host Joanna Lumley, Jennifer Lawrence was up and hitting the streets of London on Monday morning, as she prepared for a busy day of appointments.

As handlers shielded her under umbrellas, the Oscar-winning actress, 27, stepped out onto the rain-soaked capital's streets in patterned black palazzo pants and a black coat, under which she wore a T-shirt emblazoned with the words 'Oh My Yes'.

Out and about: Jennifer Lawrence was spotted out and about in London on Monday morning

Standing tall in a pair of open-toe embellished heels, the screen star wore her tresses in bold waves, while she highlighted her natural beauty with a rich palette of makeup that included bold red lipstick and a deep blush.

Toting a stylish black leather handbag, the American Hustle star looked fresh-faced and effortlessly stylish as she stepped out for a day of errands that included a scheduled stop at the London studios of KISS FM.

Just hours earlier, the Kentucky-born beauty was branded a 'spoiled brat' by some disgruntled viewers, after she appeared to throw shade at host Joanna Lumley, 71.

Serious: The Hollywood actress appeared to be in a serious mood as she departed her hotel

Oh My Yes! As handlers shielded her under umbrellas, the Oscar-winning beauty stepped out in patterned black palazzo pants and a white T-shirt emblazoned with the words 'Oh My Yes'

Heel: She flashed her open-toe embellished heels as she emerged from a chauffeur-driven car

Joanna, who was presenting the show for the first time after taking over from long-term host Stephen Fry, introduced her as the 'hottest actress on the planet' ahead of her presenting the Best British Film gong.

Kicking off the show, she said: 'Right let's start giving out some of those beautiful BAFTAs shall we?

'And we start with the award for Outstanding British Film and who better to kick the whole evening off than the hottest actress on the planet. Soon to be seen in Red Sparrow, it's the ravishing Jennifer Lawrence.'

Natural beauty: The screen star wore her tresses in bold waves, while she highlighted her natural beauty with a rich palette of makeup that included bold red lipstick and a deep blush

Fresh-faced: Toting a stylish black leather handbag, the American Hustle star looked fresh-faced and effortlessly stylish as she stepped out for a day of appointments

Jennifer, 27, walked onstage wearing a black gown with contrasting white chiffon sleeves and said: 'Hi. That was a bit much, but thank you Joanna.'

While it may have been meant as a joke, viewers went wild on Twitter in shocked over Jennifer's words and tone.

They wrote: 'Never liked Jennifer Lawrence. (Joan Rivers was right when she nicknamed her Miss Arrogance') and she was so rude to Joanna Lumley last night.

'I think Joanna meant hottest as in most in demand not in looks. Either way, Jennifer came off as a stuck up brat.'

Radio stop: Her day of errands included a scheduled stop at the London studios of KISS FM

Nailed it: The star sported a perfect mani-pedi as she stepped out on the rain-soaked streets

'It looked really bad. Jennifer Lawrence came off as snippy and churlish. I thought Joanna Lumley was being sincere and lovely. Ive not been a fan of JL.

'Now officially *overexposed* in my book. Two good performances. Thats about it. Now Lawrence behaves entitled.'

'Jennifer Lawrence was rude to Joanna Lumley who the F*** does she think she is. this is the last straw.'

'Shame on you, spoiled brat!': Hours earlier, BAFTA viewers slammed Jennifer, 27, after she was branded 'rude and discourteous' towards host Joanna Lumley, 71 on Sunday night

Awkward: Joanna had introduced Jennifer as being the 'hottest actress on the planet' and Jennifer said: 'that was a bit much but thank you Joanna'

Not pleasing everyone: Jennifer was presenting the award for Best Film, which was picked up by Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

No words: Joanna quietly watched Jennifer from the side of the stage after her flippant comment

'I never been so angry as to actually tweet about a celebrity, but that comment to Joanna Lumley was hugely discourteous!!!

'Get some manners #JenniferLawrence and grow up. You came across as a spoilt brat! Joanna Lumley is thee most kindest lady in your industry. Shame on you!'

'Jennifer Lawrence was unnecessarily rude then wasnt she? #EEBAFTAs didnt think there was any need for that reply to Joanna Lumley.'

'Hahaa, who does Jennifer Lawrence think she is?? Stuck up c**. If I was Joanna Lumley I know exactly where I'd stick that #BAFTA #EEBAFTAs.'

Her moment: Jennifer had a big smile on her face as she walked onto the stage with the gong in hand

Brilliant: Joanna was ever the professional as she took to her presenting duties with ease

New: Joanna was presenting the show for the first time since taking over hosting duties from Stephen Fry

Ahead of her presenting duties, Joanna had said: 'Honestly how exciting is this? It's just so unbelievably thrilling. I always looked at the BAFTA Awards with Stephen Fry there forever more, so who thought I'd turn into Stephen Fry? I said yes indecently quickly. Thank you, thank you, I'll see you on the night.

And after stepping down from his coveted position, Stephen Fry said: 'Every one of the 12 BAFTA film award ceremonies that I had the privilege of hosting has a place in my memory.

'The mixture of glamour, glory, drama and - occasionally - embarrassment and hiccup holds a unique place in the British film calendar.'

'Unnecessarily rude': Twitter went wild over how they viewed Jennifer's behaviour towards Joanna

Meanwhile, some people thought that Jennifer's comments were meant to be way more light-hearted than they had been taken.

They wrote: 'Joanna Lumley does not no enough about Jennifer Lawrence to use appropriate language in her intro to Jennifer Lawrence.

'Jennifer Lawrence reaction was humble, polite and courteous. You need to lighten up and be ashamed of your biased view.'

'Puzzled by everyone accusing Jennifer Lawrence of being rude to Joanna Lumley.

EE British Academy Film Awards 2018 - THE WINNERS BEST FILM: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri DIRECTOR: The Shape Of Water - Guillermo Del Toro LEADING ACTRESS: Frances McDormand - Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri LEADING ACTOR: Gary Oldman - Darkest Hour SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Allison Janney - I, Tonya SUPPORTING ACTOR: Sam Rockwell - Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri EE RISING STAR AWARD: Daniel Kaluuya OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER: I Am Not A Witch FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE: The Handmaiden DOCUMENTARY: I Am Not Your Negro ANIMATED FILM: Coco Original ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Call Me By Your Name ORIGINAL MUSIC: The Shape Of Water - Alexandre Desplat C INEMATOGRAPHY: 'Blade Runner 2049' - Roger Deakins EDITING: Baby Driver - Jonathan Amos, Paul Machliss PRODUCTION DESIGN: The Shape Of Water - Paul Austerberry, Jeff Melvin, Shane Vieau COSTUME DESIGN: Phantom Thread - Mark Bridges SOUND: Dunkirk - Richard King, Gregg Landaker, Gary A. Rizzo, Mark Weingarten SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS: Blade Runner 2049 - Gerd Nefzer, John Nelson BRITISH SHORT ANIMATION: Poles Apart BRITISH SHORT FILM: Cowboy Dave MAKEUP & HAIR: Darkest Hour Advertisement

'Joanna introduced her as being the "hottest actress on the planet" & "ravishing".

'Jennifer laughed and modestly described the compliment as a bit much but thanked her for it. How is that rude?'

'Jennifer Lawrence telling Joanna Lumley that was a bit much....priceless!!'

'Hahaha Joanna Lumley sucked up to Jennifer Lawrence just for her to tell her it was a bit much.'

It's not the first time Jennifer has been considered 'rude' and she has even given herself that label before.

Beauty: Whatever anyone's thoughts were about Jennifer's behaviour, it's fair to say she looked incredible on the night (as Joanna said)

Back in November, she admitted she is 'incredibly rude' and a 'huge a**hole' when she meets her followers in public.

Chatting with Adam Sandler during the seventh season of Variety Studio: Actors On Actors, the Oscar-winning star said she consciously tries to 'defend' herself by being mean to her fans when they meet her.

She said: 'Once I enter a public place, I become incredibly rude. I turn into a huge ahole,' she said. 'That's my only way of defending myself.'

Mixed reviews: Some people did stick up for the Hollywood actress who felt like she was being jovial

Jennifer demonstrated the icy stare and finger-wagging combo she deploys whenever she sees someone approach her table at a restaurant, adding that whenever someone asks for a selfie she scoffs back: 'No!'

In 2016, Jennifer Lawrence was famously blasted for calling out a foreign reporter in the middle of a Golden Globes press conference.

The Joy actress was accused of being 'rude' to E!'s Juan Pablo Fernandez-Feo during a public outburst in which she told him to stop using his phone when he interviewed her.

Shady: Back in November, Jennifer admitted she is 'incredibly rude' and a 'huge a**hole' when she meets her followers in public

Her scathing attack prompted social media users to question whether she had crossed a line with her humour at the Los Angeles' Beverly Hilton Hotel event.

The reporter asked Jennifer how she felt about Oscars night - when she interrupted with: 'You can't live your whole life behind your phone bro.

'You're just not gonna... You can't do that. You gotta live in the now,' she said as she rolled her eyes and wagged her finger at him, prompting the room to descend into laughter.

The actress, looking exquisite in a scarlet dress, had just accepted the Golden Globe award for Best Actress in the Motion Picture Comedy category for her 2016 film Joy.

She's at it again: Jennifer was accused of being 'rude' to an E! Network reporter during a press conference that followed the Golden Globes in 2016

Unimpressed: The Joy actress was unimpressed when a reporter used his phone as he asked her interview questions

As the reporter continued his question about the Academy Awards for a second time, she corrected him by saying: 'We are at the Golden Globes, if you put your phone down, you'd know that.'

In 2013, the late Joan Rivers slammed the actress saying: 'My New Years resolution is [ensuring] Jennifer Lawrence grows up and realizes how lucky she is and calms down.'

Adding: 'I love that shes telling everyone how wrong it is to worry about retouching and body image, and meanwhile, she has been touched up more than a choir boy at the Vatican.

'Look at her posters. She doesnt have a nose, she has two holes. She just has to learn, dont talk if youre doing it.'It's the reality show that forces its contestants to eat worms, cockroaches and crocodile penis.

And now the chef behind the stomach-churning dishes on'I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here' has revealed what it takes to challenge the camp mates.

Speaking to The Daily Telegraph on Tuesday, chef Caro Gardner said it was her job to make contestants sick.

'My job is to make someone vomit': 'I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here' chef Caro Gardner has revealed what it takes to challenge contestants in the South African jungle when she puts together Tucker Chewsdays

'A toffee-covered bug or scorpion would be delicious but my job isn't to do that, my job is to make someone vomit,' Caro, who is responsible for all the food consumed by camp mates said.

Last week, fans will remember the Valentine's Day 'Grim Tams', which saw meal worms and cockroaches as the filling.

'We wondered what we could use on the outside so the meal worm taste wasn't disguised by the chocolate... So we melted net fat and covered it with that,' she said.

Yuck! The chef was doing her job with Real Housewives of Melbourne star Jackie Gillies (pictured) this season

It comes after a tough week for the show, with Real Housewives of Sydney star Lisa Oldfield and One Nation co-founder husband, David were confirmed to be the 'dysfunctional couple,' on the show.

Speaking in a clip shown on Sunday night, Lisa said: 'I'm a long suffering wife and I deserve a George's Cross for putting up with this.'

David shot back: 'She's an extraordinary actress who managed to cast me to be perceived as a villain. Lisa is very affable and makes friends very easily because she's fake.'

Looking Grim! Camp mate Josh Gibson also wasn't up to the challenge when he sat down for a tucker trial

Asked if going into the South African jungle would 'make or break' their marriage, he argued that appearing on The Real Housewives Of Sydney had acclimatised them to being surrounded by cameras.

'I don't think it will make or break. It's an extreme environment, but the interesting thing is that, Lisa and I live in an extreme environment with a lot of pressure. It's in our own home,' he reasoned.

Fit for an animal! Model Simone Holtznagel managed to fair a little better during one of Caro's disgusting dishes

Lisa interjected: 'We argue all the time.'

David replied: 'She disagrees with things. A person who is wrong disagrees with a person that is right.'

Rolling her eyes, Lisa deadpanned: 'He's an idiot,' as he quipped: 'That's another thing we disagree on.'

Winner or loser? This week, the show was slammed after it was revealed Lisa and David Oldfield would be entering the South African jungle. With a number of viewers not happy

Viewers flocked to Twitter to express their dismay at the reality stars' arrival into the camp.

'Why oh why does Aust TV continue to give morons like David Oldfield broadcast oxygen??? #beatsme #imacelebrity,' one wrote.

'Ugh already saw Oldfield on TV last year. Had enough of his bulls**t. Why gotta keep bringing trash when they take themselves out?' another vented.She is known for her chic sense of style, having carved a successful career as a model.

And Daisy Lowe proved her fashionable flair once again on Monday, as she made a glamorous appearance at the Erdem AW18 show during London Fashion Week.

The 29-year-old was the picture of elegance in a metallic floral midi dress, as she beamed for cameras at the National Portrait Gallery, before taking her place on the FROW.

Flower power: Daisy Lowe proved her fashionable flair once again on Monday, as she made a glamorous appearance at the Erdem AW18 show during London Fashion Week

Daisy commanded attention in the shimmering black and silver dress, which remained sophisticated with a high neck and vintage-style puff sleeves.

Cinching in at her slim waist with a suede ribbon belt, the frock then skimmed her svelte frame before extending out into a chic dropped hem.

Keeping all eyes on her show-stopping ensemble, Daisy opted to go without accessories, and tied her look together with simple black court shoes.

Elegant: Daisy commanded attention in the shimmering black and silver dress, which remained sophisticated with a high neck and vintage-style puff sleeves

Leading lady: Cinching in at her slim waist with a suede ribbon belt, the frock then skimmed her svelte frame before extending out into a chic dropped hem

Best foot forward: Keeping all eyes on her show-stopping ensemble, Daisy opted to go without accessories, and tied her look together with simple black court shoes

Glamorous: She added a thick slick of red lipstick and oversized sunglasses, despite the rainy weather, as she headed to the show

She left her trademark full fringe loose, but pulled her hair back into a loose ponytail to draw attention to her striking features - accentuated by a natural make-up look and bright red lipstick.

The fashionista flew solo at the event, after a number of outings with artist boyfriend John Leigh in recent weeks.

The pair were introduced by Daisy's rocker-turned-artist mother Pearl last year, and have been spotted stepping out together on a number occasions.

A source told The Mirror late last year: 'It has been a while since Daisy had a serious boyfriend and she has grown really close to John.

Star-studded: Daisy was joined on the FROW by Downton Abbey actress Laura Carmichael (R)

Say cheese! She also posed with James Righton, who rose to fame in the Klaxons

Stylish couple: Damian Lewis and Helen McCrory also arrived arm-in-arm

Chic: The Peaky Blinders actress stood out from the crowds in a vibrant red maxi dress and yellow heels, while her husband was typically clean cut in a green checked coat

Main man: Vogue editor-in-chief Edward Enninful also looked in good spirits at the show

'They have been secretly dating for months and really enjoy each other's company.'

Daisy joined a number of high profile guests at the event, including Vogue editor-in-chief Edward Enninful, as well as Damian Lewis and Helen McCrory.

The Peaky Blinders actress stood out from the crowds in a vibrant red maxi dress and yellow heels, which co-ordinated the frock's floral pattern.

Meanwhile her husband, who she has been married to since 2007, was typically slick in tailored grey trousers and a smart checked coat of green.

Daisy was also joined on the FROW by Downton Abbey's Laura Carmichael, and Klaxons rocker James Righton.

All that glitters: Shimmer, sequins and hues of white and cream dominated the designer's AW18 catwalk

Statuesque: Erin O'Connor also turned heads at the event in slinky cigarette trousers and a checked blazer

Modern muse: Later that evening, Laura Carmichael joined guests at an Erdem x NARS launch dinner

Beauty: She looked effortless in an emerald frock, which featured a lace bib

With his leading lady: Erdem Moralioglu (left) posed with the Downton Abbey actress

Musing: (From left) Sylvia Haghjoo, Erdem, Evangelie Smyrniotaki, Carin Olsson, Natasha Ndlovu and Julia Haghjoo were pictured on his arm

Polka dot delight: Doina Ciobanu posed in a chic polka dot minidressShe recently returned from a luxury holiday in Bali.

But on Monday, Big Brother's Skye Wheatley, 24, let fans know she's jetting off yet again - this time to the idyllic Mauritius.

Taking to Instagram Story, the busty bombshell shared a number of revealing snaps while flaunting her pert derriere in a striped swimsuit.

Traffic stopping! Big Brother starlet Skye Wheatley displayed her sculpted physique in a barely-there bikini on Monday

Proving she can mix business and pleasure, the bikini model let fans know she would be going to the island, which lies off the coast of Madagascar.

In a second snap, the bikini model shared one photograph of herself flaunting her pert derriere poolside.

Indicating she's somewhat of a globetrotter, she captioned the snap: 'Bali in April,' then canvassing for businesses who might like to collaborate with her.

Curves ahead! The busty bombshell let fans know about two upcoming trips to Mauritius and Bali

It comes after the former reality star put her bronzed and sculpted physique was on full display in the satin two-piece, which exhibited her eye-popping form and toned torso.

Looking every inch the blonde bombshell, Skye boasted a striking coat of make-up as she struck a fierce pose while holding on to a protein shake.

'No room for the booty on this chair @womensbest errrday ,' Skye cheekily referenced her envy-inducing figure and the protein shake in the caption.

'No room for my booty': Skye Wheatley, 24, attempted to promote a protein shake on Instagram last Thursday - but instead showcased her busty cleavage in skimpy blue lingerie

Copping an eyeful! It comes after the starlet shared another racy snap flaunting her ample bust with a long-stem red rose

It comes after Skye shared a picture of herself fully-clothed alongside hunky new boyfriend, Lachlan Waugh.

Taking to Instagram, the social media star seemed ecstatic as she nestled into her beau's shoulder.

'I can't breathe': Meanwhile Skye recently gushed over her new boyfriend Lachlan Waugh after sharing a string of sizzling bikini snaps

In the snap, the pair were seen out to dinner and sat in front of Asian food.

Despite their relationship being only three-months-old, the starlet appears to be crazy-in-love and captioned her picture: 'The calm before the storm last night ... and omg my boyfriend's so hot I can't breathe.'

The pair had an exchange on the social media platform, with her boyfriend Lachlan writing back: 'Such an amazing night babe thanks so much... love you.'

Social media sensation: Skye is a one time Big Brother star who loves to flaunt her bronzed body in sizzling bikini-clad shots

Crazy in love! Skye and boyfriend Lachlan Waugh first got together last NovemberBrooklyn Beckham is all grown up and mom Victoria Beckham may have just given him the job of a lifetime.

The 18-year-old is said to be joining the Spice Girls on their long-awaited reunion tour as the official photographer. Although hes Posh Spices son, hes not lending his talents to the Spice Girls for free  or even cheap, for that matter.

According to the Daily Star, the burgeoning young photographer will be paid an astounding $70 million (50 million) to capture the reunion in its entirety. Brooklyn, who is currently studying photography at Parsons School of Design in New York City, will reportedly take a time out from his studies to focus on his new high-paying gig.

As the official Spice Girls reunion tour photographer, Brooklyn would have an all-access pass to every aspect of the on-the-road lives of mom Victoria, 43, Mel B, Geri Horner (nee Halliwell), Melanie C and Emma Bunton. He would also have full rights to all photos from the reunion, which should prove major for his career.

Neither Brooklyn, nor Victoria has confirmed reports regarding this exciting new opportunity for the teen.

So, whats the deal with the Spice Girls reunion?

Brooklyn Beckham may be joining mom Victoria Beckham as she reunites with the Spice Girls

Spice Girls reunion

In early February, TMZ reported that the Spice Girls planned to reunite for a tour through the United Kingdom and United States set for summer 2018. At the time, nothing was set in stone, though the outlet reported that Posh Spice, Scary Spice, Ginger Spice, Sporty Spice and Baby Spice had all met with former manager Simon Fuller about the reunion. Sources claimed the meetup was aimed at rough planning.

Around the time initial reports surfaced about the tour, 42-year-old Bunton shared a photo of the group together on Instagram. She hinted at the possibility of upcoming Spice Girls performances in her caption writing, the future is looking spicy. She did not, however, directly mention any such plans.

Victoria continued to publicly deny reunion claims, telling British Vogue that neither she nor her former bandmates had any plans to tour.

Im not going on tour. The girls arent going on tour, she said during a New York Fashion Week show.

Posh Spice claimed she and the rest of the Spice Girls gathered at Horners home to catch up over lunch.

It was so great to see the girls. We had such a fun lunch. It was really, really, really lovely. I still speak to them all individually, but for us all to get together was really lovely.

Victoria went on to tell Vogue that she still deeply loves what the Spice Girls stood for and is currently brainstorming with them about their future. This comment piqued the curiosity of longtime fans everywhere.

Theres something so strong in the message of what the Spice Girls stood for. What is that in the future? What does that look like? We were just bouncing ideas around. Brainstorming, she explained.

Days after that interview appeared online, TMZ reported that the entire group, sans Victoria, was on board with a reunion tour. Shes said to have come around quickly, however. On February 15, the publication released a new report stating that the Spice Girls had begun signing contracts related to the reunion tour. Mel B and other members had reportedly reached an agreement related to upcoming performances in cities around the world.

Per TMZs report, the contracts laid out a set number of locations and dates for the tour as well as how much each Spice Girl would be paid for their participation. The ladies are also expected to make a big chunk of change from merchandising.

Who is Brooklyn Beckham?

Brooklyn Joseph Beckham is the eldest son of Victoria and David Beckham. He was born on March 4, 1999 in London, England. He has three younger siblings, Romeo, Cruz and Harper Beckham.

Brooklyn voiced a character in the 2013 animated film Underdogs, but acting isnt his passion. The eldest Beckham child has his eyes fixed on a career in photography. Hes currently studying the craft at Parsons School of Design in New York City, though his schooling may be cut short if hes to join the Spice Girls on tour as their official reunion photographer.

In addition to a full course load, Brooklyn is plenty busy with a full personal life that includes time with family, friends and girlfriend Chloe Grace Moretz. He and the Carrie star met in May 2014 during Paris Fashion Week, according to Sugarscape. They werent a couple until July of that year, however.

Despite being seen together repeatedly, the pair insisted there was nothing romantic between them. During an appearance on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, Moretz claimed she wasnt yet ready to put a label on their relationship when asked about the situation. Not long after that, she and her presumed beau werent seen together for close to a year.

Brooklyn and Chloe were spotted together for the first time in a while on January 21, 2016. People reported that the pair were seen sharing a meal in London. Four months later, Brooklyn posted a photo of him and Chloe together on Instagram, which he followed with a second snapshot of him kissing her on the head.

On May 9, 2016, Chloe appeared on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen a second time. She admitted during the appearance that she and Brooklyn were, indeed, dating. Theyre said to have broken up a few times since, but are currently together and appear quite happy based on social media posts and interviews.

Brooklyn Beckhams photography

Although Brooklyn is currently in school to study photography, hes got a leg up on many of his classmates. In 2017 he released a photography book called What I See, which attracted mixed reviews. One Twitter user wrote that the book was full of terrible photographs and even worse captions. Regardless, the book was the eighth best selling photography book released that year.

Huge fan of Brooklyn Beckham's terrible photographs and even worse captions pic.twitter.com/012PeCcED4  Alice Jones (@alicevjones) June 23, 2017

Brooklyn often shares his work on Instagram. Much of it includes photos of celebrities, friends and family, himself and various things he spots while traveling around. He often takes photos in black and white and tends toward the experimental, sharing out-of-focus snapshots and unconventional objects.She's known for her sartorial elegance on the red carpet, ever since she made her name as Bond Girl Miranda Frost 16 years ago.

And Rosamund Pike looked every inch the screen queen as she stepped out for the 68th Berlin International Film Festival on Monday.

The 39 year-old actress - who is also busy promoting her upcoming thriller 7 Days In Entebbe - slipped her lithe frame into a ultra-chic tailored blazer dress, which displayed her ample cleavage with the daringly low neckline.

English rose: Rosamund Pike displayed her leggy physique in chic black mini-dress as she stepped out to promote 7 Days in Entebbe at Berlin Film Festival on Monday

The elegant minidress featured an eye-catching sparkling swan pin, drawing even more attention to her toned physique.

The London-born beauty added height to her statuesque frame in stylish killer heels as she joined co-star Daniel Bruhl for the film's photocall.

Rosamund's signature blonde tresses framed her face with her wispy fringe and delicate curls.

Leaving all the glitz to her decadent bejewelled dress badge, the Gone Girl star teamed her stunning look with only a touch of glittering rings and minimalist earrings.

Confident: The 39 year-old actress slipped her lithe frame into a ultra-chic tailored blazer dress, which displayed her ample cleavage with the daringly low neckline

Stunner: The elegant mini-dress featured an eye-catching sparkling swan pin, drawing even m more attention to her toned physique

Co-stars: The London beauty added height to her statuesque frame in stylish killer heels as she joined co-star Daniel Bruhl for the film's photocall

Concentrating: Rosamund's signature blonde tresses framed her face with her wispy fringe and delicate curls

The screen queen's natural beauty shone through with only a hint of nude pink lipstick and mascara.

Rosamund was joined by her 7 Days In Entebbe director Jose Padilha and the rest of the cast and crew for the promotional photocall.

Captain America star Daniel Bruhl rocked his signature dapper style in a burgundy roll-neck jumper and dark jeans.

Star act: Leaving all the glitz to her decadent bejeweled dress badge, the Gone Girl star teamed her stunning look with only a touch of glittering rings and minimalist earrings

Smiles: The screen queen's natural beauty shone through with only a hint of nude pink lipstick and mascara

Natural beauty: With minimal make-up, the actress relied on her natural beauty

Cosy: Captain America star Daniel Bruhl rocked his signature dapper style in a stripped burgundy roll-neck jumper

The Spanish-German actor swept his chestnut locks back as he kicked some serious scruff while posing alongside his stunning co-star.

The British film - scheduled for release on March 9 - recounts the real-life story of the 1976 Air France flight that was hijacked while en route to Tel Aviv from Paris.

Rosamund portrays German militant Brigitte Kuhlmann, who died in the Operation of Entebbe - considered one of the most daring hostage rescue missions ever.

Beaming: Rosamund appeared in good spirits as she took questions from the audience

Sultry: Daniel complemented his co-star with his dark ensemble, teamed with chestnut boots

Class acts: Rosamund was joined by her 7 Days Entebbe director Jose Padilha and the rest of the cast and crew for the promotional photocall

The in-demand star has five movies completed, with three set for release this year: Hostiles with Christian Bale, High Wire Act with Jon Hamm and The Man with the Iron Heart with Mia Wasikowska and Jack O'Connell.

Rosamund also signed on to play war journalist Marie Colvin in a planned biopic.

The veteran correspondent died in 2012 during a rocket attack while covering the siege of Homs in Syria for The Sunday Times.

On a mission: 7 Days in Entebbe is scheduled for release in March

Casting call: The British film recounts the real-life story of the 1976 Air France flight that was hijacked while en route to Tel Aviv from ParisShe's been in a long distance relationship with soap actor Ryan Thomas, 33, since he left for Australia in late 2017.

But Lucy Mecklenburgh made the most of their short time together as she cosied up to her actor beau in a Dubai cafe on Monday.

The 26 year-old TOWIE starlet stayed close to her man as they enjoyed their cosy surroundings, going casual for their day date in a belted blue shirt dress.

Going the distance: Lucy Mecklenburgh cuddled up to beau Ryan Thomas in a Dubai cafe on Monday as the couple reunite following the Corrie star's move to Australia

The reality beauty toted a chain-embellished tan shoulder bag as she hung off her man's shoulder affectionately.

With her cropped chocolate tresses tucked behind her ears, it gave Lucy the chance to show off her statement silver earrings.

Coronation Street hunk Ryan - who made his debut as English tourist Rafael Humphreys in Neighbours on Tuesday - appeared to join in the casual trend with a simple black T-shirt.

Staying together: The reality beauty toted a chain-embellished tan shoulder bag as she hung onto her beau's shoulder

Happy times: Despite the long distance, the couple made sure they spent their first Valentines Day together, sharing an intimate meal in Manchester before jetting off to Dubai

The TV couple have been trying to spend as much time together as possible following Ryan's move to Oz in late 2017.

Despite the long distance, the couple made sure they spent their first Valentine's Day together, sharing an intimate meal in Manchester before jetting off to Dubai.

The TV beauty spent New Year's with her actor stud and told OK! Magazine in January that despite wanting to see more of Australia, she doesn't have any plans to move Down Under.

She revealed: 'Maybe not to move, it's a very, very, very long way away! But definitely want to go back and travel a little bit more around.'

Cuddling up: Coronation Street hunk Ryan - who made his debut as English tourist Rafael Humphreys on Tuesday - appeared to join in the casual trend with a simple black t-shirt

Ryan and Lucy first met on Bear Grylls' Celebrity Island in August last year, where they were in the midst of water shortages, extreme hunger and tropical storms.

After developing a strong bond on the survival show, the pair continued their romance on home turf.

They first set tongues wagging when they were seen sharing holiday photographs from the same location on Instagram, despite denying claims they were dating.

They were then pictured kissing at London City Airport, and marked their first public outing as a couple at the Wimbledon men's semi-finals earlier in July.

Lucy was even seen spending New Year's Eve with Ryan and his family, and was introduced to his eight-year-old daughter Scarlet, whom he shares with former flame Tina O'Brien, earlier this year.

Stylish outing: The 26 year-old TOWIE starlet stayed close to her man as they enjoyed their cosy surroundings, going casual for their day date in a belted blue shirt-dress

Last Tuesday, Ryan made his long-awaited Neighbours debut in an hour-long late-night special episode as English tourist Rafael Humphreys, a loner with dark secrets and a score to settle.

Having previously cut his teeth on the Manchester-based ITV soap Coronation Street playing Jason Grimshaw from 2000 until 2016, he admitted it was strange working on another serial drama, but largely because of the differences in filming.

'The biggest difference is, OK, it's a lot smaller as they only have 30 cast, which I really like,' he told Press Association.

'I think in (Corrie) we had like 70, maybe more sometimes, so this is half the cast. I love that because you have a real familiarity with characters, so you can always know who you're going to see.

'In Corrie, sometimes, you won't see a character for six weeks and you won't bat an eyelid, but in Neighbours you'll see the same characters all the time.'It's the highly-anticipated telemovie of Joan Lindsays Australian 1967 novel.

And Foxtel's production of Picnic At Hanging Rock has been honoured before it even appears on Australian TV, selected to show at Berlin's prestigious film festival.

Stars of the show Lily Sullivan and Ruby Rees told News Corp it was surreal to walk the red carpet for the festival's TV Program on Monday.

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'This is like a fantasy': Foxtel's Picnic At Hanging Rock stars Lily Sullivan and Lola Bessis attend Berlin Film Festival

Lily, who plays lead character Miranda Reid, said she was overwhelmed by the experience, describing it as 'nuts!'

The brunette beauty looked stunning at the event, wearing a white beaded gown by Chanel.

'Oh my god, this is like a fantasy, a sick fantasy, just so incredible,' she gushed.

Lily,(pictured left) who plays lead character Miranda Reid, said she was overwhelmed by the experience, describing it as 'nuts!'

Strike a pose: Lola wore a fashion-forward pair of PVC pants with an embellished bodice

Lily's co-star Ruby said the experience at Berlin's film festival was made all the more special because of the hard work making Picnic At Hanging Rock.

'It was a hard shoot, especially at the Rock, but the work ethic was there,' she explained.

'Every single person on that shoot was aware we were making something incredibly special.'

Picnic At Hanging Rock's director Larysa Kondraki made a fashion statement, flashing a 'Future Is Female' T-shirt at onlookers.

Feminist: Picnic At Hanging Rock's director Larysa Kondraki made a fashion statement, flashing a 'Future Is Female' T-shirt at onlookers

The series also stars Game Of Thrones' Natalie Dormer, the British actress looking rock star chic wearing a leather jacket over her ball gown.

Absent from the red carpet was Yael Stone, who is on doctor's orders to star in Australia.

The Orange Is The New Black star is expecting her first child with partner Jack Manning in May.He's been vocal in his dislike of Dean Wells' behaviour on Married At First Sight.

And Karl Stefanovic's feud with the reality star escalated on Tuesday, with the TV host labelling the 'alpha male' contestant 'soft' for refusing to come on Today and discuss his cheating scandal.

The Channel Nine personality revealed that Dean declined the offer to be interviewed by him, after Karl previously called his behaviour 'sexist at worst and offensive'.

Not happy: 'Come on the show and explain yourself': Karl Stefanovic slams MAFS' Dean Wells as 'soft' and 'weak' after he REFUSED to come on the Today show and face the journalist over his cheating scandal

Karl and co-host Georgie Gardner were concluding their interview with MAFS couple Charlene and Patrick when they revealed Dean refused to come on the show.

'We have repeatedly asked Dean to come on the show and the invitation stands,' Karl told viewers.

'Has he turned us down?' An incredulous-sounding Georgie asked her co-host.

'He's turned me down': Karl and co-host Georgie Gardner were concluding their interview of MAFS couple Charlene and Patrick when they revealed Dean was refusing to come on the Today show.

'He's turned me down,' Karl clarified. 'That doesn't necessarily mean he is going to turn the offer down.'

'What did you do to him?' Patrick jokingly asked.

'I'm not going to say too much, but the guy is soft if he doesn't want to come on our show,' Karl fired back.

'I'm not going to say too much, but the guy is soft if he doesn't want to come on our show': Karl appeared unwilling to let his co-host do the interview solo

Karl's co-host Georgie offered to do the interview herself, adding: 'Come and have a chat to me if you're watching Dean!'

However Karl appeared unwilling to let his co-host do the interview solo, issuing a stern challenge to his reality TV nemesis.

'Come on the show and explain yourself because at the moment it is just weak,' he said.

'At the moment it is just weak': Karl issued a stern challenge to his reality TV nemesis Dean

Slammed him: Karl has since labelled Dean 'two-faced' for cheating on wife Tracey Jewel with Davina Rankin

The feud between Dean and Karl has been escalating since the 'alpha male' contestant first made an appearance on the Channel Nine breakfast show last month.

Karl has since labelled Dean 'two-faced' for cheating on wife Tracey Jewel with Davina Rankin, also telling the 39-year-old to stay away from him and fiance Jasmine Yarbrough.

During his appearance on Today last month, Karl told Dean his comments were 'sexist at worst and offensive', asking the MAFS star whether he regretted any of his statements.

'It is old school language at best and sexist at worst, and offensive': Today's Karl Stefanovic BLASTS Married At First Sight's Dean Wells for making comments about 'wife' Tracey Jewel's breasts in VERY heated exchange

During Married At First Sight's premiere Dean admitted he had been unable to stop staring at Tracey's surgically-enhanced breasts during their wedding vows, telling producers afterwards: 'I'm a man, it's just natural. '

Karl quickly took Dean to task for his comments about Tracey's breasts.

'You had others things to say ... which I guess is old school language at best and sexist at worst, and offensive,' he said.

'I wouldn't say I regret any of that, no I don't think Tracey was offended by any of that': A flushed and ruffled Dean defended his comments about Tracey's breasts

Flushed and visibly ruffled, Dean hit back: 'You think it is offensive?'

'I think so,' Karl said, to which Dean asked: 'What specifically?'

Refusing to detail what Dean had said about Tracey's bust Karl answered: 'I'm not going to say it on breakfast television but ... do you regret any of those comments?'

'I wouldn't say I regret any of that, no I don't think Tracey was offended by any of that, so that's the main person I'm worried about,' he replied.

'The whole alpha male thing has been blown out of proportion': Dean also defended his comments about gender roles, telling Karl and host Georgie Gardner they had been over-exaggerated

Dean also defended his comments about gender roles, telling Karl and host Georgie Gardner they had been over-exaggerated.

'The whole alpha male thing has been blown out of proportion - I just want to take responsibility for my wife and my partner, and I don't think there is anything wrong with that,' he said.

Dean experienced his first social media backlash when he declared: 'I'm the man and I'm in charge' in a trailer for Married At First Sight.She's an English Rose who first made her mark in Hollywood as Bond Girl Miranda Frost.

And Rosamund Pike lived up her usual sartorial credentials as she turned heads at the 7 Days in Entebbe premiere during the 68th Berlin International Film Festival on Monday.

The 39 year-old actress looked a dream in an ultra-glamorous white gown, which cascaded down in elegant lace layers.

Dripping in elegance: Rosamund Pike exuded glamour in a classic white coat with vibrant red feathers as she stepped out for the 7 Days in Entebbe premiere in Berlin on Monday

The eye-catching gown fit her lithe frame perfectly with the chic cinched-in waist, while the roll-neck top shielded her from the wintry evening.

Rosamund's high-drama jacket was the main attraction of the ensemble, as the feather detailing slowly dripped in crimson as it hit the red carpet.

The Gone Girl actress kept the sleek look in tact with her pin-straight blonde locks and block fringe.

Bold look: The 39 year-old actress looked a dream in an ultra-glamorous white gown, which cascaded down in elegant lace layers

Billowing design: The eye-catching gown fit her lithe frame perfectly with the chic cinched-in waist, while the roll-neck top shielded her from the wintry evening

Ultra glamorous: Rosamund appeared in good spirits on the red carpet as she beamed while posing alongside co-star Daniel Bruehl and the thriller's director Jose Padilha

Sharp attire: Daniel complemented his co-star perfectly with his sharp grey suit with matching slim tie, while Jose went far more informal with his dark hoodie and beanie hat combo

With no need for any extra accessories, Rosamund opted for a shimmering nude cosmetic touch, with a hint of pink gloss and mascara to finish off the look.

Rosamund appeared in good spirits on the red carpet as she beamed while posing alongside co-star Daniel Bruehl and the thriller's director Jose Padilha.

Daniel complemented his co-star perfectly with his sharp grey suit with matching slim tie, while Jose went far more informal with his dark hoodie and beanie hat combo.

Casually clad: The director rocked circular shades and jeans for the film festival red carpet, which will close with its award ceremony on 24th February

Show stopper: Rosamund's high-drama jacket was the main attraction of the ensemble, as the feather detailing slowly dripped in crimson as it hit the red carpet

The director rocked circular shades and jeans for the film festival red carpet, which will close with its award ceremony on February 24.

Earlier in the day, the Gone Girl actress looked every inch the screen queen as she stepped out for the photocall in Berlin.

The Hostiles star slipped her enviable frame into a ultra-chic tailored blazer dress, which displayed her ample cleavage with the daringly low neckline.

Turning heads: The Gone Girl actress kept the sleek look in tact with her pin-straight blonde locks and block fringe

A vision in white: Contrasting the brilliant red of the carpet, Rosamund couldn't be missed in her flowing white ensemble

English rose: Rosamund Pike displayed her leggy physique in chic black mini-dress as she stepped out to promote 7 Days in Entebbe at Berlin Film Festival on Monday

Confident: The actress slipped her lithe frame into a ultra-chic tailored blazer dress, which displayed her ample cleavage with the daringly low neckline

The elegant minidress featured an eye-catching sparkling swan pin, drawing even more attention to her toned physique.

The London-born beauty added height to her statuesque frame in stylish killer heels as she joined co-star Daniel Bruhl for the film's photocall.

Rosamund's signature blonde tresses framed her face with her wispy fringe and delicate curls.

Leaving all the glitz to her decadent bejewelled dress badge, the United Kingdom star teamed her stunning look with only a touch of glittering rings and minimalist earrings.

Stunner: The elegant mini-dress featured an eye-catching sparkling swan pin, drawing even m more attention to her toned physique

Concentrating: Rosamund's signature blonde tresses framed her face with her wispy fringe and delicate curls

Star act: Leaving all the glitz to her decadent bejeweled dress badge, the Gone Girl star teamed her stunning look with only a touch of glittering rings and minimalist earrings

Smiles: The screen queen's natural beauty shone through with only a hint of nude pink lipstick and mascara

The British film - scheduled for release on March 9 - recounts the real-life story of the 1976 Air France flight that was hijacked while en route to Tel Aviv from Paris.

Rosamund portrays German militant Brigitte Kuhlmann, who died in the Operation of Entebbe - considered one of the most daring hostage rescue missions ever.

The in-demand star has five movies completed, with three set for release this year: Hostiles with Christian Bale, High Wire Act with Jon Hamm and The Man with the Iron Heart with Mia Wasikowska and Jack O'Connell.

Rosamund also signed on to play war journalist Marie Colvin in a planned biopic.

The veteran correspondent died in 2012 during a rocket attack while covering the siege of Homs in Syria for The Sunday Times.They are the wildlife lovers who grew up oceans apart, but were destined to meet through their mutual love for animals and conservation.

And on Tuesday, Bindi Irwin posted a heartfelt throwback photo of her American beau Chandler Powell, revealing the couple were connected years before they even met.

Taken to Instagram, the 19-year-old posted a picture of Chandler (now 21-years-old) as a child, holding a copy of her late father Steve Irwin's The Crocodile Hunter Collision Course movie.

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Who would have thought! Bindi Irwin reveals the connection her boyfriend Chandler Powell had to her father Steve when he was just a little boy BEFORE the couple even met

Showing the uncanny connection the two shared during their childhood years, Bindi wrote: 'Chandler #Flashback My sunshine with his copy of The Crocodile Hunter Collision Course movie.'

She continued: 'Blessed to share my life with someone who is just as passionate about wildlife and conservation as we are, since he was so young!'

The sweethearts have gained a mass social media since getting together three years ago and Bindi's sweet flashback picture proved just that by racking up over 42,000 likes within just three hours of posting it.

Team wildlife warriors! Taken to Instagram, the 19-year-old posted a picture of Chandler (now 21-years-old) as a child, holding a copy of her late father Steve Irwin's The Crocodile Hunter Collision Course movie

Flashback! Fans were quick to comment and resonate with the emotional post, with one writing: 'And your father was so very much loved by us all  whether we met him or watched him. His robust and enthusiastic personality is definitely missed'

Fans were quick to comment and resonate with the emotional post, with one writing: 'And your father was so very much loved by us all  whether we met him or watched him. His robust and enthusiastic personality is definitely missed.'

The two met during an Australia Zoo tour in 2013 and recently sparked rumours of an impending proposal after her Florida-born beau relocated to Queensland to be with her.

Fans were quick to bless the fated couple, writing the likes of: 'How cool is that? Destiny!'

Happy couple! Fans were quick to bless the fated couple, writing the likes of: 'How cool is that? Destiny!' and 'If this isn't fate, I don't know what is'

Another shared: 'If this isn't fate, I don't know what is.'

Since having Chandler move into her family's famed 100-acre estate, Bindi told People magazine: 'Since he relocated, we're having a great time throwing Chandler into everything.'

Continuing to gush over her wildlife warrior beau, Bindi shared: 'In the afternoon Robert [her brother] has been taking him out to feed the freshwater crocodiles and the gators.'

The besotted duo aren't shy when it comes to professing their love with sweet snaps, typically getting cosy with koalas, puppies, meerkats or other furry friends.Jude Law was braced for chilly New York temperatures as he stepped out with girlfriend Phillipa Coan on Monday afternoon.

With temperatures plummeting, the British actor stayed warm in a thick fleece-lined coat while strolling alongside psychologist Phillipa, who he started dating in 2015.

The 45-year-old actor was hiding his hair in a winter beanie hat, after displaying a fuller barnet on the set of Vox Lux last week.

Well wrapped: Jude Law was braced for chilly New York temperatures as he stepped out with girlfriend Phillipa Coan on Monday afternoon

The actor was clearly well prepared for the notorious New York cold while taking a break from the set of his new film.

He added to his look with a brown woolen sweater, while tan coloured jeans and white trainers rounded things off.

Walking alongside her boyfriend, Phillipa caught the eye in a cropped black leather jacket and matching leggings.

Evidently following Judes lead, the brunette kept her ears warm beneath a pair of black mufflers, while her eyes were shielded behind a pair of heavily tinted sunglasses.

Winter ready: With temperatures plummeting, the British actor stayed warm in a thick fleece-lined coat while strolling alongside psychologist Phillipa, who he started dating in 2015

Hair today: The actor turned headed with a fuller head of hair on the set of Vox Lux last week

Two days difference: Jude was spotted at New York's JFK airport over the weekend [L], and looked to have noticeably thicker hair on Monday on set [R]

The Mail on Sunday previously reported that Jude is so taken with Phillipa he's told friends it's serious and that he's determined not to 'mess it up' after enduring one failed marriage with Sadie Frost and a stop-start engagement to Sienna Miller.

Jude echoed these sentiments in an interview with Modern Luxury, when he explained he wouldn't be oversharing aspects of his relationship.

'Shes mine and no one elses,' he explained. 'Im very, very happy. A large part of that is the fact that shes a very private person.

Determined: The Mail on Sunday previously reported that Jude is so taken with Phillipa he's told friends it's serious and that he's determined not to 'mess it up' after enduring one failed marriage with Sadie Frost (pictured)

'And our relationship is a very private thing, and I think part of the fact it works so well is exactly because of that.'

While he shares no offspring with his current girlfriend, Jude is the doting father to his five children from his former relationships.

The Holiday star shares three children, sons 21-year-old Rafferty and 15-year-old Rudy as well as 17-year-old daughter Iris, with his ex-wife Sadie Frost.

Jude raises his fourth child Sophia, eight, with American model Samantha Burke whom he enjoyed a brief romance with.

The Hollywood star also shares two-year-old daughter Ada with former flame Catherine Harding.They have refused to confirm their relationship - despite being seen kissing on dog walks in London.

But Laurence Fox, 39, and Lilah Parsons, 30, decided to make things red carpet official on Monday night, as they attended the Passavant and Lee fashion presentation together.

The couple chose London Fashion Week to make their biggest statement yet about their new-found romance, after months of speculation.

Confirmed: Laurence Fox, 39, confirmed his relationship with Lilah Parsons on Monday night, as the couple made their red carpet debut at the Passavant and Lee presentation during London Fashion Week

Lilah, who recently celebrated her 30th birthday, arrived with the thespian at the St Martin's Lane store, finally putting the rumours to bed.

Lilah sported a comfortable ensemble comprising a fluffy cardigan and spotted blouse with black jeans, while Laurence's ensemble was typically eccentric.

Keeping close for photographs, the couple looked at ease in one another's company.

It's believed they have been an item since at least last summer, following the actor's failed relationship with Vogue Williams.

It's official: The duo solidified their relationship in front of Fashion Week fans when they showed up together

Flying solo: The actor was previously married to actress Billie Piper

Elsewhere, Vogue this month announced her engagement to Made In Chelsea hunk Spencer Matthews.

A budding romance between Laurence and Lilah came to light in late 2017, when the couple were spotted holding hands and kissing on romantic dog walks in north London.

She is the daughter of courtier Sir John Parsons, who was appointed as an Extra Equerry to the Queen in 2002, and has previously modelled for Chanel, Vivienne Westwood and Swatch.

Easy does it! Only last night, Laurence dodged a run-in with ex-wife Billie Piper, who was also out for London Fashion Week

Dangerous: With her gaping side-split, the actress came very close to overexposing herself

Laurence is mending his heart following the breakdown of his marriage to actress Billie in May 2016 when the couple were granted a divorce after eight years.

They were married in December 2007 in a romantic ceremony in West Sussex after they fell in love while performing on stage together in play Treats in 2006.

Laurence and Billie - who was previously married to radio DJ Chris Evans - have two young children together, Winston and Eugene.

Luckily, the former couple successfully dodged an awkward run-in on Sunday night, as Billie similarly headed out for London Fashion Week.

The former Doctor Who actress was among guests at the prestigious Vogue post-BAFTAs party in London.

She was the ultimate glamazon in a powder pink dress with marabou sleeves, as she showcased her lithe limbs on a dash into Annabel's late in the evening.

In attendance: Noelle Reno was among the guests turning out for the presentationAfter I revealed last October that the Duchess of Cambridge's brother, James Middleton, had secretly split up with his long-term girlfriend, the television personality Donna Air, anonymous 'friends' of hers insisted they were still a couple.

However, on Sunday, Donna, 38, admitted that the couple had indeed parted at the end of last year, even though marshmallow maker James continued to boost her TV career by going to watch her take part in Dancing On Ice.

Now, the real reason for Donna's break-up announcement has emerged: she is enjoying a romance with a Chelsea playboy four years her junior, Ben Carrington.

Intriguingly, Carrington is a close friend of former Made In Chelsea star Spencer Matthews, whose brother, James, is married to Middleton's sister Pippa.

Donna Air was smiling when she stepped out hand in hand with new boyfriend Ben Carrington

Last December Donna was staying in the Swiss ski resort Gstaad with property developer Carrington and other pals.

On Saturday, she was seen beaming as she went for lunch with him (at a Japanese restaurant in London's Belgravia.

Wearing matching black trainers, the pair were seen strolling arm in arm and whispering into each other's ears as they enjoyed the winter sunshine.

Carrington, who was dressed in a fashionable puffer jacket and a grey T-shirt, later put his arm around Miss Air who wore a 495 beige coat from The Fold.

While Carrington was educated at 38,550-per-year Harrow School, Donna is the daughter of a bus mechanic and a BT receptionist who went to state schools in Newcastle upon Tyne.

She became a television star at the age of ten when she was cast in the children's programme Byker Grove. Carrington, who used to drive a Ferrari, is the director of a property development company that specialises in luxury new-build homes in South-East London.

Donna Air (left with James Middleton) looked delighted when she was walking with her new boyfriend Ben (right)

Last year, he moved house from Chelsea to an equally swanky area of the capital where he is a close neighbour of David and Victoria Beckham.

When I disclosed Donna's split from Middleton, a friend told me they had broken up 'some time' earlier. They had not been pictured together since Pippa Middleton's wedding last May.

James Middleton began courting Donna more than four years ago, but it was always a rather unlikely relationship.

Eight years his senior, Donna has a 14-year-old daughter, Freya, with her ex-boyfriend, the casino and wildlife park heir Damian Aspinall.

Middleton enjoyed a privileged upbringing, being educated at 36,525-a-year Marlborough College before dropping out of Edinburgh University.

He then launched a cake business with the help of an 11,000 loan from his 'black sheep' uncle, Gary Goldsmith.

James And The Giant Writ...

Roald Dahl's fanciful tales have enchanted millions of young readers over the years, but an adventure park's decision to name a rollercoaster after one of his books, James And The Giant Peach, is headed for a bumpy ride.

Oakwood Theme Park in South Wales opened a ride called Flight of the Giant Peach and an area called Dahland without any authority from the Roald Dahl Story Company, set up to run his literary estate after the author's death.

His grandson Luke Kelly, who is managing director of Dahl's literary estate, has issued a High Court writ against Oakwood Leisure. It accuses the company of infringing its trademarks, passing off, and copyright infringement. 'We've no comment,' an Oakwood spokesman tells me.

20million pop star Sam's latest look? It's rubbish

Anyone who thinks Sam Smith's sentimental pop music is rubbish might feel vindicated after seeing this snap he posted on social media.

The 25-year-old crooner, who performed the theme tune to the 2015 James Bond film Spectre, had no qualms getting his hands dirty for the sake of entertaining his 8.8 million followers on Instagram yesterday.

After climbing into a bin, Sam, who is worth 20 million, looks rather at home while sporting a plain white T-shirt and straw sun hat.

After climbing into a bin, Sam, who is worth 20 million, posed for a picture and uploaded it to his Instagram page

Aristocrats are often subjected to ridicule but, surely, not in hospital?

Lady Elizabeth Barne, 73, daughter of the late Earl of Eglinton, moans: 'Every six months I have to attend hospital for an infusion.

'A senior nurse always greets me with, 'Here comes the toff'... There are remarks such as, 'You must find it very difficult now you have had to get rid of James and the Rolls-Royce.'

'I find this somewhat upsetting and discriminatory, but with your life in their hands it's difficult to know how to retaliate.'Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young has gone to police over an obscene death threat she claims was inspired by Nationals MP George Christensen.

Senator Hanson-Young has lodged a complaint with the Australian Federal Police, blaming a supporter of Mr Christensen for a threat to shoot her.

She says Mr Christensen has given others permission to emulate his own vile behaviour after the MP used Facebook to share a photo of himself pointing a gun alongside the comment: "You gotta ask yourself, do you feel lucky, greenie punks?".The suspicious withdrawal of $8000 from a Victorian electorate bank account is being referred to police by the state Nationals party.

An audit of the Morwell branch account was completed on Friday and found the "possibility of unauthorised transactions and of an alleged forgery relating to a withdrawal of $8000 in May 2017" that was later put back into the account.

Party leader Peter Walsh would not say if the sum was connected to former Nationals MP Russell Northe, who stood down from the party after it was revealed he owed thousands of dollars to people.Former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is coming to Australia to talk about her future plans after losing the 2016 US election to Donald Trump.

Ms Clinton is expected to give a candid account of the presidential election and share stories from her New York Times bestseller, What Happened.

Tickets for An Evening with Hillary start at $195. Her tour kicks off in New Zealand on May 7 followed by Melbourne on May 10 and a final show in Sydney on May 11.A man who allegedly assaulted and injured two officers during a roadside breath test on Sydney's northern beaches has been denied bail.

Police allege Grant Scaysbrook became violent after he refused to take a breath test when he was pulled up by police at Belrose on Friday evening.

Two senior male constables suffered injuries during the attack - one with a fractured wrist and the other with a groin injury, police say.

The 35-year-old applied for bail when he faced Parramatta Bail Court via video link on Saturday.

While pointing to cuts on Scaysbrook's nose and cheeks, his legal aid defence lawyer told the court the facts in the case would be disputed.

Scaysbrook was needed at home as the sole breadwinner for his wife and two-week old baby, the lawyer said.

"(He) comes before the court ... with no record of any violence whatsoever," the lawyer said.

But the police prosecutor argued Scaysbrook posed a threat to the community.

"The sheer severity of the allegation does not speak of an incidence that may be a one-off," he said.

The 35-year-old has been charged with two counts of assaulting police, four counts of resisting arrest, causing grievous bodily harm, two counts of refusing breath testing and custody of a knife in a pubic place.

Magistrate Robert Abood denied bail and ordered the accused to face Central Local Court on Tuesday.The NRL has issued Melbourne Storm captain Cameron Smith a warning notice for elbowing the head of Leeds hooker Matt Parcell during the World Club Challenge match on Friday night.

A Concerning Act Notice was sent to the Storm but the Test and Queensland captain was in no danger of missing his own testimonial match in Brisbane on Saturday night when Melbourne play the North Queensland Cowboys at Suncorp Stadium.

The incident was deemed not serious enough to deserve a charge and/or suspension. Players must be found guilty of charges grade three or above to be suspended from trial games.Two men who allegedly tried to run a police car off a road near the northern NSW hippie town of Nimbin have been charged after authorities uncovered a nearby cannabis crop.

After receiving a tip-off about the cannabis crop, Nimbin police were travelling along Stony Chute Road on Sunday afternoon when a ute heading towards them allegedly tried to run their vehicle off the road.

Police eventually stopped the ute and arrested the driver and his passenger, both aged 24.

A cannabis crop was located nearby with 50 mature plants seized.

The pair is facing charges including cultivating a prohibited plant and using a weapon to avoid apprehension.

The men were granted bail to appear at Lismore Local Court in March.Queensland's Liberal National Party is calling on the state government to stop blaming the federal government for long waiting times at a major southeast Queensland hospital.

The average waiting time at Logan Hospital is 20 minutes, twice the recommended time, with no significant improvement in months, with a lack of available beds blamed for the bottleneck.

The Labor government has previously blamed the Commonwealth for a gap in hospital funding, however LNP health spokeswoman Ros Bates says it needs to stop playing the "blame game" and improve wait times.Anti-protest laws struck down by the High Court last year as being "unconstitutional" could be reintroduced in Tasmania if the Liberal Party is re-elected on March 3.

The laws were passed in 2014 in a bid to prevent forestry operations being disrupted but a challenge by former Greens leader Bob Brown had them overturned.

In a statement on Monday, Resources Minister Guy Barnett said Tasmanians had the right to go to work without the threat of protesters intentionally shutting down and harming business.Police will be given the power to freeze the assets of criminals and compel banks to hand over information about transactions, in a bill proposed by the WA government.

Australian banks could be compelled to provide more information about transactions and profits of criminals and drug cartels could be frozen before they are moved offshore, bringing WA in to line with other jurisdictions.

"Money is at the heart of the insidious meth trade so disrupting the cash flow of traffickers hits them where it hurts," Police Minister Michelle Roberts said,The City of Perth's chief executive Martin Mileham has gone on indefinite personal leave in the latest drama to hit the embattled council.

Mr Mileham is understood to have cited health issues and breaches of his contract by councillors affecting him and his family as well as his staff's wellbeing and safety in the workplace.

Lord Mayor Lisa Scaffidi stood down from the role last year after being banned for not disclosing travel and gifts but has since returned to the role.Votes speak at the ballot box, and the Greens say they will use any language necessary to reach out to residents in the federal seat of Batman.

Australian Greens leader Richard Di Natale says the party could use interpreters to engage with voters as they campaign in the inner-Melbourne electorate, home to a number of migrants.

"You talk to them in their language," he told reporters on Monday, after speaking briefly in his family's native Italian tongue.

"You hire interpreters if you can't cover all those language groups.

"These are people who are very sophisticated, very intelligent people who understand what's going on in Canberra."

Greens candidate Alex Bhathal will come up against Labor's Ged Kearney in the March 17 by-election, triggered by the exit of Labor's David Feeney, who quit over his dual citizenship.

The Liberal party will not field a candidate.

Ms Bhathal said she had a busy weekend talking to voters.

"The people of this electorate deserve an MP who will stand up for us in parliament," she said.

Mr Feeney won the seat in 2016 in a tight contest with the Greens, on the back of Liberal preferences.Two men have been arrested in southern Queensland charged with grooming a child and possessing child pornography.

Queensland Police and the Australian Federal Police Joint Agency Child Exploitation Team raided a property at Cunnamulla on Friday, arresting a 65-year-old man and seizing computer equipment.

He was charged with three counts of grooming a child under 16 as well as possessing child pornography and was to face Cunnamulla Magistrates Court on Monday.

Police on Friday also raided a property at Geham, north of Toowoomba, where similar material was seized.

A 54-year-old man was charged with two counts of possession of child exploitation material, and is set to face Toowoomba Magistrates Court next month.

Police allege the pair had been in contact with each other over the internet, and are investigating whether there was anyone else they were communicating with.A series of massive street brawls in a northern NSW town, reportedly between two feuding extended families, has landed six people in police custody.

NSW Police were first alerted to large groups of people fighting on Inverell's Waratah Avenue on February 13.

The groups were not brawling when police arrived but officers were forced to pepper spray some members of the group to separate them, NSW Police said in a statement on Monday.

Officers were again called to reports of people fighting in the same street on Sunday night.

"Police were unable to approach the group after bottles were thrown at the officers who responded to the brawl," police said.

Pictures, reportedly taken at the scene, show a mob of people filling the street and broken bottles littered through front yards.

A samurai sword was recovered from a front yard after the mob retreated to their homes, Fairfax Media reported.

Officers on Monday arrested six people all known to one another.

Three men aged 65, 56 and 29 and three women aged 49, 31 and 27 were all charged with affray and offensive behaviour.

Police have vowed to conduct high profile and covert patrols of the street in an effort to quell the violence.

The six people were granted conditional bail to appear at Inverell Local Court on April 12.Today's Birthday, February 20: US musician Walter Becker (1950-2017).

Gifted Steely Dan guitarist and bassist Walter Becker, who strummed groovy riffs on Reelin' In The Years and Do It Again, died last September aged 67 after a short battle with cancer.

In November, his widow Delia Becker revealed to Rolling Stone that the artist had been receiving chemotherapy for an "extremely aggressive form of esophageal cancer" in the four months between his diagnosis and sudden death.

Born in Queens, New York in 1950, Becker was raised by his father and grandmother and started out playing the saxophone before eventually picking up the guitar.

The schoolboy met his future Steely Dan co-founder Donald Fagen during his final year at Bard College in 1967.

Fagen was the frontman for four of the private art school's rock bands, including one with three guitarists.

But Becker unseated them all and quickly developed a rapport with the vocalist and pianist, due to their common interests and musical influences.

After graduation, the bandmates moved into a Brooklyn apartment in 1969 and were tour bandmembers for pop group Jay and the Americans.

Becker and Fagan relocated to California and formed Steely Dan in 1972, taking the name from a sex toy in William S Burroughs' novel Naked Lunch.

Their first Steely Dan album, Can't Buy Me a Thrill, was released in 1972 and featured both Do It Again and Reelin' In the Years.

The band continued penning and producing albums throughout the 1970s, with Fagen and Becker recruiting some of the best session musicians in the business.

In their distinct music, Steely Dan offered an idiosyncratic combination of rock and jazz, backed with subversive and literary lyrics.

Steely Dan scored another big hit with Rikki Don't Lose That Number in 1974 and hit their critical apex three years later with the album Aja, which landed at No.3 on the Billboard album chart.

The band broke up in 1981 but re-formed to sell a total of more than 40 million albums across nine studio albums.

In 2001, Becker and Fagen were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.A policy think tank has called for Australia to maximise its future in Asia by joining the ASEAN club of southeast Asian nations.

As Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull prepares to host leaders from the Association of South East Asian Nations in Sydney on March 17-18, a report released on Tuesday from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute makes the case for membership.

Report author Graeme Dobell suggests Australia and New Zealand could take up a new form of membership as ASEAN community partners by 2024.

"Joining ASEAN is the best way to give full expression to our future in south-east Asia and in Asia more broadly," he says.

"The Sydney summit can stir ambition into the symbolism, reaching towards substance."

Mr Dobell says southeast Asia is feeling the pressure from Asia's big beasts, the US, China, Japan and India.

"ASEAN, as a middle power grouping, needs extra middle power heft from Australia and New Zealand," he said.

The report acknowledges it will be an uphill battle to gain membership into the 10-country organisation, but one of the biggest hurdles will be Australia's own mindset.

"Australia confronts a version of the Groucho Marx line, 'I don't want to belong to any club that would accept me as one of its members', " Mr Dobell said.

"Or Canberra muses on a complicated semi-Groucho conundrum: 'Love the club. Think it's a wonderful, vitally important club. But we'd never want to join. Oh, and they don't want us.'"

Former Australian prime minister Paul Keating has advocated for Australia to seek membership of ASEAN in order to find security in Asia not from Asia.

The foreign affairs department has previously raised concerns that if Australia joined, it would have to refrain from criticism of ASEAN governments' human rights records, which would cramp Australian independence.

With growing middle classes, southeast Asian countries are expected to become economic powerhouses in coming decades, particular Indonesia, which is tipped to become a global top seven economy by 2030.

ASEAN members are Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Brunei.

Australia has had a "strategic partnership" with ASEAN since 2014 and before that was a "dialogue partner".The leaders of Tasmania's two major parties will lock horns in a debate ahead of a looming March 3 election.

Liberal Premier Will Hodgman and Labor Opposition Leader Rebecca White will go head-to-head at Launceston on Tuesday night, less than two weeks out from polling day.

Health, election promise funding and law and order are expected to be hot topics in the debate hosted by Fairfax Media.

The pair's Burnie debate last week was briefly interrupted by an environmental protester holding a banner reading Tarkine - a national heritage wilderness area in Tasmania's northwest.

Meanwhile, the Senator Richard Di Natale will be in Hobart for the Greens' campaign launch.Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has rejected suggestions Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull should stay home to deal with the Barnaby Joyce saga rather than attend a United States trade mission.

Ms Palaszczuk leaves on Tuesday bound for the US where she is set to join Mr Turnbull and other state and territory leaders in Washington DC for a meeting with more than 40 US governors.

She said she "100 per cent" believed the prime minister should attend the meeting.

"In terms of domestic politics I think he needs to sort that out, he has made several very strong comments," Ms Palaszczuk told reporters on Monday.

"But it is very important that when we head overseas to the United States that we present a united front."

In addition to travelling to Washington DC for the National Governors' Association meeting, Ms Palaszczuk will also be meeting with key investors in New York and film studios in Los Angeles.

The Labor government lists the US as Queensland's 10th most important export market, while one in 10 international tourists visiting the state are American.Senior Victorian National members will meet with police over mysterious transactions which included $8000 withdrawn from a branch bank account.

In May 2017 the $8000 was taken from the party's Morwell branch account and despite the sum being repaid, police have been asked to investigate.

"Police will speak to party officials to determine the circumstances of the complaint," a Victoria Police spokesman said on Monday.

An audit of the account between January 2014 and August 2017 is understood to have sparked concerns.

"This sum was later deposited back into the account," Nationals state president Neil Pankhurst said in a statement.

Party leader Peter Walsh on Monday would not tell reporters if the sum was connected to former Nationals MP Russell Northe, who stood down from the party in August after it was revealed he owed thousands of dollars.

In a statement Mr Northe - who now sits in parliament as an independent - said the latest reports of his finances had been upsetting for both him and his family.

"Claims of missing money as reported in some media outlets today is simply not correct and I will be seeking legal counsel on this point," he wrote.

He restated that in the past he made "some very poor decisions".

MPs are expected to answer tough questions about the money when they head back to parliament on Tuesday for the latest sitting week.The family of a 30-year-old man, who collapsed and died after being tasered and restrained by arresting officers in Sydney, are mourning their loss as police continue an internal investigation.

Jack Kokaua had escaped from a Sydney hospital, where he was being held under mental health laws, when police tracked him down and attempted to arrest him in Newtown on Sunday.

The 30-year-old man lost consciousness and later died after he was pepper sprayed, tasered, restrained and handcuffed by several officers.

A representative of Mr Kokaua's family, posting his death notice on a Cook Islands Facebook group, thanked supporters for their prayers as messages of support flooded in.

"Gone too young and too soon. Now in the arms at rest in the lord forever more," a family member wrote.

The internal investigation into the matter is continuing, NSW Police said.Armed soldiers and military vehicles have hit the streets of the Gold Coast for the first time in the build-up to the Commonwealth Games.

The army and Queensland police will be holding a security exercise at a Broadbeach shopping centre on Tuesday morning as part of preparations for the April 4-15 Games.

On Monday, police alerted locals to the exercises, informing them not to be surprised to see and hear military watercraft and vehicles, tactical equipment and soldiers carrying weapons or discharging blank or paint training ammunition.

A second exercise will be held in the early hours of Wednesday morning at the Marina Mirage shopping centre on the Spit.

Queensland police are urging people not to treat the exercises as a live threat.

"These exercises are an important component of the Australian government's commitment to ensuring that we host a safe and secure Games," a statement read.Environmental issues are set to dominate day four of the South Australian election campaign.

The three leaders will square off on Tuesday in a debate hosted by key environmental groups including Conservation SA and The Wilderness Society.

Premier Jay Weatherill, Opposition Leader Steven Marshall and SA-BEST's Nick Xenophon are expected to be grilled on renewable energy, drilling in the Great Australian Bight and nuclear energy waste dumps.

It comes after gambling policy dominated day three of the campaign, with Mr Xenophon unveiling his gambling reform package.

The plan calls for a reduction of the number of poker machines in hotels and clubs from about 12,100 to 8,100 by 2023, and introducing a system of $1 maximum bets per spin to decrease the harm of problem gambling.

The proposal came under fire from political opponents as Mr Xenophon has been a long time advocate for the complete eradication of poker machines from the state.

He was first elected to state politics on a "no pokies" platform in 1997.

Opposition Leader Steven Marshall labelled it the most "astonishing backflip" in the state's electoral history.The Prince of Wales will make a week-long visit to Australia in conjunction with the Commonwealth Games, Clarence House has announced.

Prince Charles, accompanied by the Duchess of Cornwall, will represent the Queen at the opening of the Commonwealth Games on April 4.

Charles and Camilla will spend time in Brisbane and the Gold Coast until April 6 before taking in other sights in Queensland and the Northern Territory. Their trip will conclude on April 10.

This will be Charles's 16th visit to Australia and Camilla's third. They last visited the country in November 2015.A Brisbane barber shop that refused to cut a woman's hair has blamed its lease conditions for turning her away.

Vivien Houston has told the ABC she regularly went to Jimmy Rod's Barber shop at The Gap Village Shopping Centre but was recently told they wouldn't service her because she was a woman.

But the barber shop's managing director James O'Brien says the business isn't to blame and a new lease with management stipulates women can't be served there to prevent the centre's hair salons from having to compete for trade.An adrenaline ride over the Gold Coast rainforest seems to be the new 'must do' for visiting celebrities and Hollywood stars.

Business tycoon Elon Musk, American actor Mark Ruffalo - best known for playing the Hulk in the Marvel movie series - and actress Amber Heard are among those who have faced one of these TreeTop Challenges.

There are three at the moment, across two locations, with a fourth in the wings.

One, the Canyon Flyer, bills itself as Australia's largest, highest and fastest guided zipline tour of the treetops.

Built in rainforest surrounding Thunderbird Park on Mt Tamborine, it consists of seven huge ziplines, also known as flying foxes, that cover 1.4 kilometres.

They cross Cedar Creek gorge multiple times, as high as 60 metres above the ground in some sections.

There is a thrill of adventure and glorious scenery as you "fly" across the gorge before descending to just above the treetops.

Those who have taken this ride include 38 international extreme athletes from the 2016 GoPro Athlete Summit.

Held outside of the US for the first time, brand ambassadors including American professional surfer Alana Blanchard took on the zipline, and other adrenaline-fuelled activities, creating videos that were shared with millions on social media.

The idea of building Australia's largest guided zipline tour and adventure park came to the Taylor family - Max, Julie and their two sons David and Stephen - while on a holiday overseas.

"We did a jungle zipline adventure tour in the South Pacific and thought: why not do something like this on the Gold Coast?" David says.

"None of us had any previous experience in tourism, but once we got home we started investigating options. In 2013, we found an old, high-ropes adventure park in the Gold Coast Hinterland (about 45 minutes from the beach), rebranded it as TreeTop Challenge, and the rest is history."

In just four years, TreeTop Challenge has recorded a 400 per cent increase in visitors. The Taylors are set to also develop parks in Brisbane and on the Sunshine Coast.

They had the Best Adventure Tourism product at the 2017 Queensland Tourism Awards and will contest the Australian Tourism Awards in Perth on February 23.

For the Taylors, their success is driven by a desire to provide an unforgettable Australian experience combining adventure and nature for visitors.

They also have a smaller TreeTop Challenge operating within the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary, another award-winning attraction on the Gold Coast. There, people can zipline over animal enclosures containing crocodiles, kangaroos and dingoes.

"All our experiences start off easy - and then you decide how adventurous you want to be," David says.

"Our customers have to face their fears and go outside their comfort zone. A personal challenge is involved, and it gives you a great feeling of excitement and accomplishment at the end."

All their adventure park courses are designed by the family, led by Stephen, an experienced construction rigger.

"It's really exciting. Many times you'll have the whole tour filled with international visitors, all wanting to experience this challenge because they're doing something really unique and really Australian," David says.

Mark Ruffalo found the zipline challenge exhilarating, posting a video to his 6.4 million Instagram followers.

Ruffalo took his family along and they navigated their way through the heights with nerves, laughs and an adrenaline rush. They'd never experienced Australia like this before so it was a thrill for us to share the experience with them, David says.

AAP, in collaboration with the City of Gold Coast and Gold Coast Tourism, is publishing a range of newsworthy content in the lead-up to the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.Police are searching a rural property on the outskirts of Sydney in the search for a man they believe was murdered in 2014 who had claimed to have a $100,000 bounty on his head.

The search follows the discovery of a vehicle of interest with a secret drug compartment by NSW detectives investigating the suspected murder of 37-year-old Raphael Joseph.

Mr Joseph was last seen getting into the back of a silver Holden Commodore late one night in March 2014 at Auburn in Sydney's west.

He had been extradited from the US six years earlier to face a gangland murder charge despite fears he would be hunted down by rival gangs.

NSW Police revealed on Tuesday they believe they've found that car, which has a "stash box" in the dashboard likely used for illicit drugs, along with two other vehicles which also feature professionally-installed secret compartments.

Detectives, along with forensics and the riot and bomb squad will conduct a large-scale search at a Blaxlands Ridge property in Sydney's northwest.

"We believe Mr Joseph may have been buried on the property," said the Homicide Squad's Detective Chief Inspector Grant Taylor in a statement.Almost 50 years ago, a 22-year-old unknown English actress named Helen Mirren boarded a plane in London and made the long flight to Australia to shoot the film Age of Consent.

"That was an amazing experience for me," Mirren, now 72 and one of the great actors with an Oscar win and three other nominations, said.

"I think I had been on a plane just once before and here I was flying halfway across the world.

"I think it was the first movie I ever did - a real movie."

Mirren was plucked from obscurity to star in 1969's Age of Consent alongside James Mason, based on Norman Lindsay's novel of the same name, and shot on Queensland's yet to be developed Dunk Island.

Her role as a young, wild girl with a dream of being a Brisbane hairdresser launched her acting career.

Almost half a century and more than 100 film and major TV roles later, Mirren returned to Australia to star last year in the horror film Winchester alongside another Australian actor Jason Clarke and directed by Brisbane brothers Peter and Michael Spierig.

Instead of a pristine Great Barrier Reef as the shoot location, Winchester was shot in Melbourne at Dockland Studios where elaborate sets were constructed and other locations around the city, including the National Trust building, were used.

The film is inspired by true events, with Mirren playing Sarah Winchester, heiress to the Winchester rifle fortune, who maniacally ordered the family mansion located outside of San Francisco be expanded with 24-hour construction.

It stood seven storeys high and contained hundreds of rooms with hallways that often led to dead ends.

The mansion still stands and is an odd tourist attraction.

Mirren shot some scenes at the California location, although she did not experience any ghosts like her character in the film.

"I so wish I could tell you at one point I saw a little girl in the corner crying or something," Mirren laughed.

"No, absolutely not.

"I'm so pragmatic at heart I think even if I saw a ghost I would probably not notice it.

"I'd probably say, 'Hi' and walk straight past."

Mirren's US director husband Taylor Hackford joined her in Melbourne and the Hollywood couple loved their time in the city.

It brought back plenty of memories of her first trip to Australia for Age of Consent as a 22-year-old.

"What an amazing experience and then not to end up in Sydney or Melbourne or Perth, but to finish up on Dunk Island at a time when that part of Australia was very undeveloped," Mirren said.

"I know the Gold Coast is the centre of filmmaking in Australia now and in fact a lot of my Australian friends who were on the movie have houses or live up there.

"But, in those days it was an extraordinary adventure actually."

Winchester opens in Australia on Thursday.Gambia's President Adama Barrow signed a UN treaty on the abolition of capital punishment last year

Gambian President Adama Barrow announced on Sunday a suspension of the death penalty in his country, in a break from the former regime of the dictator Yahya Jammeh.

Barrow, a onetime security guard in London who was elected president in December 2016, signed a UN treaty on the abolition of capital punishment last year.

"I will use this opportunity to declare a moratorium on the use of the death penalty in the Gambia, as a first step towards abolition," Barrow said in a speech marking the 53rd anniversary of independence from Britain.

Jammeh ruled Gambia, a small English-speaking country surrounded by Senegal and a narrow Atlantic coastline, with an iron fist for 22 years.

The death penalty was last used under Jammeh in 2012, when nine soldiers were executed by firing squad.

Jammeh later threatened to expand a list of capital crimes in response to what he said was a rising crime rate.

Barrow said Sunday: "We have won the war against dictatorship, which is the easy part. Maintaining the peace for our democracy to thrive will be our utmost challenge."

He added that "mistakes will be made, but we will correct them as we work towards perfecting the New Gambia."

Francophone west African nations such as Benin, the Republic of Congo and Guinea have all taken steps to end the death penalty in recent years, but English-speaking countries in the region have lagged behind.

Activists hope more states will follow Gambia's example.Kevin Anderson -- who lost in the final of the US Open in New York in September 2017 -- expressed delight at bucking a trend which has previously seen him lose in 11 finals

South Africa's Kevin Anderson bagged only the fourth title of his career with a three-set victory over Sam Querrey to claim the ATP Tour New York Open on Sunday.

Anderson played flawlessly in the third set tie-break to win 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/1) in two hours and 13 minutes, ending Querrey's hopes of a title on home soil.

The 31-year-old Anderson -- who lost in the final of the US Open in New York last September -- expressed delight at bucking a trend which has seen him lose in 11 finals before Sunday.

"I've been to quite a few finals and if it doesn't go your way it's pretty tough to deal with," Anderson said.

"It means a lot to me that I was able to come through it today."

A see-saw first set saw Anderson break first to go 2-0 up before Querrey hit back to level at 2-2 with a break of his own.

Querrey then broke Anderson's serve once more to take a 4-3 lead and held for 5-3. Anderson was in trouble on his next service game, and scrambled to save three set points before Querrey then served out for the opening set.

Anderson ironed out the problems with his serve in the second set, racing into a 5-0 lead. Querrey however refused to roll over, pulling a break back and holding twice to cut Anderson's lead to 5-3.

Anderson would not be denied though, forcing a third set by holding serve for 6-3.

The third set went with serve until the tie-break, and it was Querrey who blinked first, smashing his racquet in frustration after a wild forehand gave Anderson a 5-0 lead.

Anderson crushed a forehand into the corner to go 6-0 ahead, and he duly rammed home the advantage on his second match point to claim the win.Five-month-old bloodhound Shakaria gambols through the long savannah grasses of Kenya's Maasai Mara reserve, her playful mood swiftly turning to keen determination as she is ordered to track a human scent.

Straining at the leash, she pulls her handler along an invisible scent path laid down for her until she finds a ranger hiding in the grass, pretending to be one of the poachers she is training to sniff out.

Shakaria is top of her class of five puppies being trained by American experts to join a tracker dog unit, which has become pivotal in the fight against poaching in the Mara Triangle, part of the vast Maasai Mara ecosystem in southern Kenya that merges into Tanzania's Serengeti.

It is here that over one million wildebeest, and tens of thousands of other animals cross from Tanzania into Kenya on their annual migration, attracting hordes of tourists, but also poachers seeking an easy target.

A Kenyan ranger of the canine unit follows seven year-old bloodhound Anna after their chase training in the Mara Triangle, the north-western part of Masai Mara national reserve managed by non-profit organisation Mara Conservancy, in southern Kenya

Lema Langas, 30, a Maasai from the local community, who is warden of the canine unit, said the main challenge in the park was poaching for the commercial bushmeat trade, with dried meat exported to Uganda, Rwanda and further afield.

'Thomson's gazelles, impalas, giraffes, buffalos and during migration season when the wildebeest are here they become an easy target... (poachers) put down wire snares or maybe they can chase them into valleys and use machetes to cut them,' he told AFP.

Elephants, lions and other members of the famed 'Big Five' also get trapped in the snares.

Rangers used to struggle to chase or spot poachers across the flat, seemingly endless grasslands, so the Mara Triangle first introduced two tracker dogs in 2009.

The unit is now comprised of four tracker dogs and two more trained specifically to sniff out ivory and guns at the entrances to the park.

'They use their noses to see, not like us who use the eyes,' said Langas.

'So sometimes you are not able to see the footprint of the poachers... but when you suspect the poacher might have passed here you allow the dog to follow the scent... and you are able to retrieve that poacher at the end of the day.'

The bloodhound puppies are being trained by former police officers Linda Porter and her husband John Lutenberg, who spent decades hunting escaped convicts across the United States.

The couple trained and brought the first two dogs to Kenya in 2009, however one was so terrified by all the unusual smells that it impacted his tracking.

The new crop of puppies were born in Kenya 'and are progressing very fast,' Porter told AFP.

HOW ARE SCIENTISTS USING TECHNOLOGY TO THWART POACHERS? Conservationists in Gabon have begun trying to use GPS tracking collars on elephants; tracking and drugging the animals, before attaching the high-tech gadgets in a bid to stop poachers and ivory trafficking. Each operation needs around five to seven men, including a vet, scouts and trackers, to guide the group through dense jungle and locate the often shy animals. Once an elephant is spotted, a vet will move forward and use a compressed air rifle to fire a dart carrying etorphine: a semi-synthetic opioid more than 1,000 times more powerful than morphine. After the elephant is asleep on the ground, the team carry out a health check and take samples while a giant black GPS collar is fitted. The whole process takes around 10 minutes and the team then take cover, sometimes climbing up trees, before the animal is woken up with an antidote The authorities are waging virtual war on the lucrative ivory trade and the poachers who come from neighbouring Cameroon and Congo, driving deep into Gabon in militarised columns with shooters, trackers and porters Advertisement

In the late nineties, the Mara Triangle, which makes up a third of the entire reserve, was crippled by rampant poaching and such bad insecurity that one ranger recalls 'tourists being robbed, stripped and dumped on the side of the road'.

Management of the reserve was then taken over by the Mara Conservancy, a public-private partnership with the local Maasai community.

While the dog unit has greatly reduced daytime poaching, other technology such as the use of a thermal imaging camera, has helped track poachers at night.

Meanwhile, the use of community scouts and 'private spies' has strangled local poaching gangs on the Kenyan side of the border, and Langas says the majority of poaching now occurs on the almost invisible border between Kenya and Tanzania.

'The conservancy is hiring the sons and daughters from this community neighbouring the park... if the community learn there is someone having a bad intention to kill an animal,' they will come forward, he says.

A joint agreement between Kenya and Tanzania allows the rangers and their dogs to patrol deep into the Serengeti, with any poachers handed over to Tanzanian authorities.

'We are the first line of defence from Tanzania. We prevent poachers coming into the Mara and the Kenyan side,' said Asuka Takita, a Swahili-speaking Japanese vet, who helped start the canine unit.

'There is still a lot of work to do but we have caught over 4,000 poachers in the past 18 years,' she said.

During migration season, in July and August, the rangers find thousands of deadly snares set up in the park, and Langas recalls removing 511 in a single day last year.

Translating poaching arrests into convictions has long been a 'major struggle' in Kenya, Takita said. However since Kenya boosted its wildlife law in 2013, this has improved.

'The fact that you are getting imprisoned for life or fined 20 million shillings ($20,000, 16,000 euros) is a deterrent. A huge amount of people -- those small-scale poachers -- are all deterred and that is great for us.'

Ivory poaching may garner the most attention, however a 2014 report by a government-appointed taskforce warned that bushmeat poaching was going largely ignored and had hit 'unprecedented levels' in Kenya.

The report cites one case, in which a vehicle was stopped with 6,000 kilos (13,200 pounds) of bushmeat heading away from the Mara region, worth an estimated $11,000.

'This practice is unsustainable and could lead to the extermination of many species,' said the report.No caption

A conservative Australian politician who posted a photo of himself on Facebook holding a gun in a jibe at environmentalists was reported to police and slammed Monday as insensitive after a mass US school shooting.

George Christensen put up the image on Saturday showing him in a shooting stance with the comment "You gotta ask yourself, do you feel lucky, greenie punks?".

He claimed it was a tongue-in-cheek reference to the "Dirty Harry" film franchise in which a police officer played by Clint Eastwood takes on "people who are conducting illegal activity, such as the greens are".

The MP has been critical of environmentalists -- sometimes backed by the Greens political party -- who have tried to blockade mining projects, including chaining themselves to machinery.

The Facebook post was referred to the Australian Federal Police by the Greens, with their Senator Sarah Hanson-Young saying on Twitter she had received an emailed threat from one of Christensen's supporters.

"Frankly, guns are not a joke and particularly in the wake of the massacre in the US only last week, 17 people shot dead, including children," Hanson-Young told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull called the post "very inappropriate". It was also widely criticised by politicians from other parties.

Christensen, whose National party is the junior partner in the government's ruling coalition, later deleted it but responded defiantly, saying: "I'm not going to be moralised to by these extreme greens who put the livelihoods, safety and lives of other people at risk."

He said the post had nothing to do with the American shooting last week where a 19-year-old killed 17 people at his former high school, claiming instead it was a comment on environmentalists' "illegal activism on mine sites".

Australia has tough gun laws that include bans on certain weapons, a minimum age, licences and secure storage, after a mass shooting at the historic Tasmanian colonial convict site of Port Arthur in 1996 where 35 people were killed.

The uproar is the latest headache for the ruling Liberal-National coalition, with Turnbull last week publicly criticising Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce for his affair with a younger former staffer who is now pregnant with his child.Almost every week, there have been huge marches through the streets of Togo, demanding that President Faure Gnassingbe resign

After six months of political crisis, a dialogue between Togo's government and the opposition opening on Monday is seen by many as the last chance to resolve a bitter dispute over the rule of embattled President Faure Gnassingbe.

But the talks have raised a welter of emotions in this tiny west African country, ranging from hope to incredulity.

"It's a 'last chance' dialogue. It is in the interests of both the opposition and the government to do everything to put an end to this unstable situation," shopkeeper Joel Afandjigan told AFP.

"Each side must calm down."

The decision to come to the negotiating table follows five months of massive public protest against Gnassingbe, who currently holds the rotating chairmanship of west Africa's regional bloc, ECOWAS.

Almost every week, there have been huge marches through the streets demanding that he resign and to limit the presidential term to two mandates.

- 'We're tired' -

"How many Togolese do you still have to kill to quench your thirst for power?" read a poster held by a protester marching in October 2017

But Edoh Klavissou, who drives a motorbike taxi, says he's not expecting anything to result from the talks with Gnassingbe's ruling Union for the Republic (UNIR).

"UNIR will just take the opposition for a ride again. They will talk and sign another agreement which won't be respected by the government. It's the same thing all over again and we're tired of it. We have talked too much in this country."

On social media, many sceptical voices are speaking out against holding "an umpteenth dialogue" in Togo, which has been ruled for 50 years by the same family.

Gnassingbe has been in power since 2005 after taking over from his father, General Gnassingbe Eyadema, who himself ruled Togo for 38 years after seizing power in a coup in 1967.

Back in 1992, Togo saw the introduction of a multiparty system with a new constitution, but since then there has been little sign of democratic progress despite repeated attempts at dialogue.

A series of constitutional reforms, which would have changed the voting system and set presidential term limits, was written into a key 2006 agreement in a bid to draw a line under the bloodshed that occurred a year earlier following Gnassingbe's victory in a disputed election.

President Faure Gnassingbe, who has ruled Togo since 2005, wants to change the constitution to allow him to stay in power longer

But the reforms were never implemented.

Since August, anti-government demonstrations across the country nearly every week have demanded Gnassingbe's exit after he proposed changes to the constitution that would allow him to stay in power longer.

The opposition wants to restrict the presidential term to a maximum of two five-year stints in office, and introduce a two-round voting system.

- Calls for consensus -

Last week, the UN and the EU as well as the ambassadors of Germany, France and the United States all hailed the upcoming talks, calling for all of Togo's political actors "to work in good faith to reach a consensus".

Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo, who has been involved in mediation efforts, was expected to arrive in Lome on Sunday to open the talks the next day.

But few concrete details have emerged ahead of the talks, which will run for about 10 days, with the ruling party and the opposition each represented by seven delegates.

"What has impressed us is the goodwill and the enthusiasm on both sides to find a lasting solution to the crisis," Ghanaian delegation spokesman Daniel Osei told reporters on Saturday.

Togo's opposition groups, who have organised the mass protests, want to restrict the presidential term to a maximum of two five-year stints in office

He said Ghana's role was one of "facilitation" after the heads of ECOWAS decided that a solution "would only be found through dialogue between Togolese".

According to a statement released on Sunday, several key issues will be on the table, including the reinstatement of the 1992 constitution which sets a two-term limit to the presidency -- as well as an eventual transition and election reform.

However, sources close to Gnassingbe have repeatedly told local media in recent weeks that there would be no discussion of an imminent departure by the president, or of any commitment by him to step down in future.The BBC is launching new Igbo and Yoruba services in Nigeria, where it has had a Hausa-language service for 60 years

The BBC this week launches its new Igbo and Yoruba services in Nigeria, as part of an expansion in local languages aimed at more in-depth reporting of countries around the world.

The digital-only services go live online and on social media on Monday, joining a platform for Pidgin speakers that was launched last year and has attracted widespread interest.

All three are among 12 new language services set up across the world with the help of 291 million ($408 million, 327 million euros) British government funding.

Peter Okwoche, in charge of editorial for the launch, described Yoruba and Igbo as "the two final cogs in the wheel for the new services in West Africa" and said they were much needed.

"What we feel is that original journalism in a local language travels even further than in English," he told AFP in an interview.

"We're big on the African narrative, the Nigerian narrative. It's time for people to try to tell their own stories."

- Ethnic tension -

A BBC programmer checks a website for Pidgin speakers in Nigeria that launched last year and has attracted widespread interest

Young Nigerians increasingly live life online, with social media hugely popular in the country, which has about 150 million mobile phone subscriptions among its population of nearly 190 million.

Nearly two-thirds (62 percent) of the population is aged under 24, giving it one of the youngest demographics in the world.

Okwoche said they were the corporation's target audience, along with the business-savvy men and women for which the Igbo and Yoruba communities are noted both at home and abroad.

"All we ever get to hear from Nigeria these days is Boko Haram in the northeast. As serious as that story is, it's happening in one particular part of the country," he said.

"But there's so much more happening. Here in Lagos, for instance, there's technology stories, business and young entrepreneurs, the hustle of the street...

"We never get to see that."

The launch comes at a time of renewed tensions between Nigeria's three main regions, particularly the Igbo-speaking southeast and the Hausa-speaking north.

In the southeast, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) group has revived separatist sentiment, half a century after a previous declaration of independence sparked a brutal civil war.

The populist rhetoric of IPOB's leader, former London estate agent Nnamdi Kanu, has led to clashes between his supporters and the military, and propaganda on both sides.

Its push for a separate republic of Biafra, using its own media, including Kanu's Radio Biafra, has also sparked similar calls from hardline Yoruba nationalists in the southwest.

Kanu is currently on trial for treason in the capital, Abuja, but has not been seen since September last year. BBC Igbo will on Monday run an interview with his wife.

- 'About time' -

The populist rhetoric of Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) movement, has led to clashes between his supporters and the military

A heady mix of wildfire rumours and misinformation on social media, plus Nigerians' strong sense of ethnic identity, makes Africa's most populous nation a difficult place to report.

Foreign media often have historical baggage to deal with, not least those from Britain, the former colonial power until 1960.

In the southeast, it is still not forgotten that London backed Nigeria's federal forces against the fledgling Biafra in the civil war.

Okwoche acknowledged the potential pitfalls of such a strong sense of regional identity.

But he said his young team had undergone months of "rigorous BBC training, trying to almost change their mindset", to tell the story without personal emotions.

"We're trying to balance our stories... We just have to keep on telling them (that) once your story is embellished, people know and you begin to lose credibility," he added.

The BBC has had a Hausa-language service broadcasting to northern Nigeria for 60 years, which has become one of the most successful in the corporation.

Okwoche said it was "about time" the country's other regions were catered for, using local, rather than foreign staff.

"There's much to applaud in that."Political turmoil is affecting tourism in the Maldives

The Maldives' top court has suspended 12 pro-opposition legislators, emboldening President Abdulla Yameen who on Monday sought to extend a draconian state of emergency by another month.

The Supreme Court decision late Sunday reverses its original order to reinstate the MPs, who had defected from the ruling party. It came as parliament prepares to ratify the state of emergency declared by Yameen two weeks ago that plunged the Maldives into crisis.

The court had ruled on February 1 that the 12 defectors be reinstalled as legislators, reducing the president's party to minority rule in the Indian Ocean archipelago.

But this latest backflip by the Supreme Court restores Yameen's majority in the 85-member legislature. MPs will vote Tuesday on rubber stamping the existing state of emergency and renewing it for a further 30 days.

Yameen's office said he wanted it extended by a further month "as the threat to national security has not diminished and the constitutional crisis has not been resolved".

The state of emergency gives wide powers to security forces to arrest and detain suspects.

The three-judge bench said on Sunday night that it was suspending the February 1 order to reinstate the politicians following an appeal by the attorney general.

It is the second U-turn by the Supreme Court since Yameen ordered the arrest of the Chief Justice and another Supreme Court judge just two weeks ago as he declared the state of emergency.

Earlier this month the remaining judges of the court reversed their earlier order to release nine political prisoners, including Yameen's main rival Mohamed Nasheed.

That ruling threw the popular holiday islands into turmoil as Yameen cracked down on his opponents.

His estranged half-brother, former president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, was among those arrested on a charge of bribing Supreme Court justices to topple the government through a constitutional coup.

Yameen has faced international censure over his refusal to abide by the top court's rulings and his declaration of a state of emergency, described by the UN human rights chief as "an all-out assault on democracy".

The unrest has dented the Maldives' image as a popular holiday destination. The nation's top earner is tourism, with honeymooners drawn by its pristine islands and crystal-clear blue waters.South Korean President Moon Jae-in seeks a "stern" response to new US tariffs

South Korean President Moon Jae-in called Monday for a "stern" response to new US tariffs on the South's exports as concern grew over looming trade restrictions by Washington.

US President Donald Trump last week threatened retaliatory action against China and South Korea and vowed to revise or scrap a 2012 free trade deal with the South which he described as a "disaster".

Trump also put his "America First" doctrine into action last month by imposing duties of 20 to 50 percent on large washing machines made in nations including the South, as well as tariffs on solar panels imported from China and elsewhere.

Seoul has said it would take the issue to the World Trade Organization while Beijing expressed "strong dissatisfaction" with the move, adopted to protect US manufacturers.

The trade frictions have strained ties at a time when Seoul and Washington are seeking to present a united front against North Korea's nuclear threat.

Moon, at a meeting with aides, expressed concern over "intensifying protectionism" that may take a toll on the South's export-reliant economy -- also the world's 11th largest.

"I am concerned that widening restrictions by the US on our exports, including steel, electronics, solar panels and washing machines, may take a toll on the exports despite their global competitiveness," he said.

"I'd like (officials) to respond to unreasonable protectionist measures in a confident and stern manner by... reviewing whether the measures violate the current Korea-US free trade pact," he said.

Moon also urged officials to "actively argue the unfairness" of the tariffs when renegotiating the bilateral free trade deal.

Moon's comments also came days after the US Commerce Department recommended hefty new tariffs on steel imports from countries including the South.

The US trade deficit -- which Trump has vowed repeatedly to fix -- widened even further during his first year in office, up 12 percent to $566 billion.

The Trump administration last July initiated talks to renegotiate the free trade pact with Seoul, arguing it was lopsided because America's bilateral trade deficit had ballooned under it.

Two previous rounds of talks made little progress and Seoul's chief trade negotiator Kim Hyun-chong said at the time there was "a long way to go".

The next round of negotiations is scheduled in Washington next month.

jhw/smMyanmar is the second-largest opium producer in the world after Afghanistan

Myanmar troops seized $7 million worth of narcotics, precursors and equipment in a raid on drug labs in the restive north, the army said Monday, as it continues a war against ethnic rebels accused of profiting from the drug trade.

Soldiers and local officials found 259 kilogrammes (571 pounds) of crystal methamphetamine and 120 kg of opium in a sweep of the illicit drugs factory spread across 34 buildings near Lwalkhan, a village in war-hit Shan state near the Chinese border.

The army statement, posted on the commander-in-chief's Facebook page, also listed in rare detail the seized drug-producing equipment and precursors, including hundreds of barrels of acid and diesel, 750 bags of caustic soda, 22 freezers, 12 generators and huge caches of caffeine and other chemicals.

"The Tatmadaw (military) seized the drugs in the raid and cooperated with the drug enforcement police team. The legal process is still ongoing," a senior police officer from the anti-drug department told AFP on the condition of anonymity.

The bust took place in Kutkai township, where a record seizure last month brought in 30 million meth pills, two tonnes of "ice" -- crystal meth -- and heroin, with an estimated combined value of $54 million.

The raids come as the military continues its seasonal offensive against ethnic minority armed groups in the lawless border areas.

Last week alone, clashes between the army and rebels in Kutkai and neighbouring Hseni township displaced some 870 civilians, according to the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Myanmar's conflict-riddled northeast is a hub for Asia's meth producers, who pump out narcotics that are showered across Southeast Asia and beyond.

Drugs trafficking fuels much of the fighting between the army and the ethnic rebels -- both of whom are accused of profiting from the illicit trade.

Myanmar is the second-largest opium producer in the world after Afghanistan, although a surge in demand for meth has caused a slump in poppy cultivation in recent years.

Rights groups accuse the military and armed groups of extrajudicial killings, torture and the recruitment of child soldiers.Photo taken on January 27 shows a group of foreigners outside a courtroom in Siem Reap, some who were arrested for allegedly "singing and dancing pornographically"

A Cambodian court has dropped pornography charges against nine of the 10 foreigners arrested last month at a pool party in the tourist town of Siem Reap, an official said Monday.

The group was detained for around two weeks on charges of producing pornographic materials to promote the event at a private villa in the city flanking Cambodia's famous Angkor Wat temple ruins.

Police, who broke up the party on January 25, initially accused the foreigners of "singing and dancing pornographically".

"The court has dropped charges against the nine foreigners released on bail. Only one British national will face trial," court spokesman Yin Srang told AFP, declining to elaborate.

Their lawyer Ouch Sopheaktra said the Briton was held because he was accused of renting the villa and organising the pool party.

All 10 defendants -- five Britons, two Canadians, a Norwegian, a New Zealander and a Dutch national -- had denied the allegations, saying that they were wearing "sexy" clothing but had not produced pornography, according to their lawyer.

While Cambodia teems with foreign tourists and boasts a rowdy nightlife, the Buddhist country is often strict when protecting local traditions or heritage sites.

Authorities banned skimpy clothing inside the Angkor Wat complex in 2016 and have previously arrested and deported foreigners for taking racy photos among the ruins, which are considered sacred.

But the location of past violations has been inside the ancient city, not in the adjoining town of Siem Reap, a popular party hub with bars catering to foreign tourists.Smoke billows from the northern Syrian Kurdish town of Afrin on January 31, 2018

Pro-government fighters were expected Monday to enter Syria's Afrin after talks with Kurdish forces, in a move that could pave the way for a settlement in a month-old Turkish assault on the northern enclave.

"Popular forces will arrive in Afrin within a few hours to support its people's stand against the Turkish regime's attack on the area and its people," state news agency SANA said, citing its correspondent in Aleppo.

SANA said the forces would "join the resistance against the Turkish aggression".

"This comes in the framework of supporting residents and defending the territorial unity and sovereignty of Syria," the agency added.

Even hours after the announcement, AFP correspondents on the outskirts of Afrin did not see any military forces arriving, although state media was present.

The Syrian region of Afrin, which borders Turkey, is held by the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) and has faced a month-old assault by Ankara and allied Syrian rebels.

Turkey sees the YPG's presence on its southern border as a direct threat, and observers have noted it would be more comfortable with a regime force deployed there.

The Afrin operation, dubbed "Olive Branch," has seen Ankara deploy ground troops and pound the region with air strikes and artillery fire, including on Monday.

YPG spokesman Birusk Hasakeh could not immediately confirm the deployment of regime-affiliated forces on Monday.

Syrian Kurds in the northern town of Afrin mourn during the February 18, 2018 funeral of fighters from the People's Protection Units (YPG) militia and the Women's Protection Units (YPJ)

Syrian government forces withdrew from Kurdish-majority areas across the country's north in 2012, paving the way for Kurdish authorities to implement de facto self-rule.

But negotiations have been ongoing for a potential return of government-affiliated forces to the enclave, officials have said.

Heve Mustafa, the co-chair of Afrin's executive council, told AFP on Sunday that talks on the subject were ongoing.

"These talks are happening on the military level," she said.

- 'No problem' with forces -

Last week, YPG chief Sipan Hamo told journalists his forces would have "no problem" with Damascus intervening to help repel Turkey's assault.

"We don't have a problem with the entry of the Syrian army to defend Afrin and its border in the face of the Turkish occupation," Hamo said.

But Kurdish officials have remained vague on what kind of regime deployment they would accept in Afrin.

Mustafa's co-chair in Afrin, Othman Al-Sheikh Issa, told AFP last month that Damascus should intervene to stop Turkish warplanes flying overhead.

State media did not elaborate on the make-up of the "popular forces" due to enter Afrin on Monday and made no mention of regular army troops being deployed.

Damascus has denounced Ankara's "aggression" but until Monday had not explicitly said it would intervene.

Turkey and allied rebels launched the offensive on January 20 in a bid to clear the YPG from territory along the border.

The assault has brought to the surface the complex and competing interests of world powers embroiled in Syria's seven-year conflict.

Turkey has backed Syrian rebels to fight government troops, jihadists, and the YPG.

Ankara sees the YPG as a "terror" group and the Syrian arm of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has fought a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state.

The United States -- Turkey's NATO ally -- has allied with the YPG elsewhere in Syria, providing it with arms and other support to fight the Islamic State jihadist group.

Regime ally Russia had also directly supported the YPG in Afrin, training Kurdish forces there before withdrawing as Turkey announced its assault last month.

On Monday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin discussed the Afrin offensive in a phone call, the Kremlin said, without giving details.

The contact came as Turkey said it would rather see regime troops in Afrin than the YPG.

"If the regime is entering (Afrin) to oust the PKK, YPG, there is no problem. But if they are entering to protect the YPG, then no one can stop us and Turkish soldiers," Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said.

Cavusoglu said the aim of the operation was "clear" and aimed at "removing terrorists" from its border.A picture taken on February 10, 2018 from Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing on the Egyptian side of the border following an explosion

Egypt said Monday three of its soldiers had been killed in the Sinai Peninsula during a wide-ranging operation against the local branch of the Islamic State group.

Four "extremists" were also killed, the military said in a statement.

It was the first military death toll announced since the army started its campaign on February 9.

It says it has killed about 60 jihadists and arrested hundreds of suspects since the operation began.

It launched the offensive after Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi gave his army commander a three month deadline in November to quash a jihadist insurgency which has killed hundreds of soldiers and policemen.

The ultimatum came after suspected IS gunmen massacred more than 300 worshippers at a mosque in northern Sinai the same month.

The group has also targeted Christians, killing more than 100 in suicide bombings and attacks since December 2016.

On Thursday, IS used its al-Nabaa propaganda newsletter to threaten further attacks on Christians and tourists in Egypt.

The group had claimed responsibility for a 2015 Russian airliner bombing that killed all 224 people on board after the plane took off from a southern Sinai resort.

Egypt is holding a presidential election next month, which Sisi is expected to easily win. IS has also threatened attacks on election-related installations.In 2012, French authorities swooped on the Obiang family's six-storey mansion on the Avenue Foch -- one of the most upmarket addresses in Paris -- seizing it along with a fleet of luxury cars including two Bugatti Veyrons and a Rolls-Royce Phantom

France on Monday urged the UN's top court to throw out a case brought against it in a bitter diplomatic row with oil-rich Equatorial Guinea over French accusations of top-level corruption.

"France has not accepted the jurisdiction of this court under any title whatsoever to entertain those facts on which Equatorial Guinea seeks the court to rule," the French representative Francois Alabrune told the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

Malabo has accused Paris of violating the diplomatic immunity of its vice president, Teodorin Obiang, after he was prosecuted by a French court on charges of embezzling 150 million euros ($180 million) of public funds to finance his jet-set lifestyle.

Obiang, 48, the son of President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, was tried in absentia and sentenced in October to a three-year suspended sentence for corruption.

The top official from the small central African state was also given a suspended fine of 30 million euros ($35 million) for money laundering, corruption and abuse. His lawyer has said he will appeal.

But Equatorial Guinea has also lodged a complaint with the ICJ in The Hague, the UN's top court set up to resolve disputes between countries.

Four days of hearings opened Monday, with France setting out its reasons why it believed the ICJ is not competent to hear the case.

Equatorial Guinea contends however that not only was the Vienna Convention conferring diplomatic immunity on Obiang broken, but French officials also failed to uphold the diplomatic status of a building it maintains is Malabo's embassy in Paris.

Teodoro Obiang Nguema is Africa longest-serving president and has ruled the country with an iron fist since 1979. He extended his rule in April 2016 when he was re-elected with 93.7 percent of the vote.

He appointed his son as vice president in June 2016 -- two years after the first charges were first brought in France.

In 2012, French authorities swooped on the Obiang family's six-storey mansion on the Avenue Foch -- one of the most upmarket addresses in Paris -- seizing it along with a fleet of luxury cars including two Bugatti Veyrons and a Rolls-Royce Phantom.

Teodoro Obiang is accused of of embezzling 150 million euros ($180 million) of public funds to finance his jet-set lifestyle

Police also took away vanloads of valuables, including paintings, a $4.2-million clock and fine wines worth thousands of euros per bottle.

The UN judges in The Hague in 2016 urged France to ensure the protection of the diplomatic mission in Paris, but sidestepped Malabo's request to order Obiang's trial to be halted.

Relations between the two countries have furthered deteriorated after Malabo's foreign minister, Agapito Mba Mokuy, said an attempted coup in December had been hatched on French soil, although he said the French authorities had "nothing to do with" it.A picture taken on February 20, 2018 shows smoke plumes rising following a reported regime air strike in the rebel-held town of Hamouria, in the besieged Eastern Ghouta region on the outskirts of the capital Damascus

Syrian and Russian air strikes on the rebel-held Eastern Ghouta enclave have killed more than 100 civilians for the second straight day and put another hospital out of service.

In a major development in Syria's complex seven-year war, Damascus also sent pro-regime fighters to the northern Afrin region, where they came under fire by Turkish forces attacking the Kurdish-controlled enclave.

On the outskirts of Damascus, air strikes, rockets and artillery fire have been battering the Eastern Ghouta enclave in apparent preparation for a government ground assault.

At least 250 civilians have been killed since the escalation began on Sunday, among them dozens of children, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Bombardment on Tuesday killed 106 civilians, including 19 children, the Britain-based war monitor said.

It was the second straight day that the civilian death toll topped 100, after 127 were killed Monday in Eastern Ghouta's bloodiest day in four years.

The strikes left an important hospital out of action, further limiting the little medical aid that besieged civilians can access.

Regime bombardment of Eastern Ghouta

"The Arbin hospital was hit twice today and is now out of service," said Mousa Naffa, country director in Jordan for the Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS), which supported the clinic.

The Observatory blamed Russian warplanes, saying Moscow carried out its first strikes in three months on Eastern Ghouta.

The rebel-held region is nominally included in a "de-escalation" deal meant to tamp down violence, but President Bashar al-Assad appears to be preparing troops for a ground assault to retake it.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was "deeply alarmed by the escalating situation in Eastern Ghouta and its devastating impact on civilians," said spokesman Stephane Dujarric.

US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert criticised the "siege and starve tactics" of the Assad regime and said: "The cessation of violence must begin now."

- Six hospitals hit -

Eastern Ghouta is home to more than 400,000 people living under crippling government siege, with little access to food or medical resources.

The United Nations said six hospitals had been hit in the region in the past 48 hours, in addition to the one in Arbin.

At least three were out of service and two were only partially functioning, said the UN's regional humanitarian coordinator for Syria, Panos Moumtzis.

"It's beyond imagination what is happening in East Ghouta today," he said.

Civil Defence volunteers, known as the White Helmets, carry a wounded man into a makeshift hospital in the rebel-held town of Douma, following air strikes by regime forces on the besieged Eastern Ghouta region on February 20, 2018

"The untold suffering is intolerable and residents have no idea whether they will live or die. This nightmare in East Ghouta must end and must end now."

Hours before the Arbin hospital was bombed, a doctor there spoke of the casualties they had been treating.

"February 19 was... one of the worst days that we've ever had in the history of this crisis," Abu al-Yasar told AFP.

He described treating a one-year-old with blue skin and a faint pulse, rescued from under the rubble.

"I opened his mouth to put in a breathing tube and I found it packed with dirt," said Abu al-Yasar.

He pulled out the dirt as fast as possible, put in the breathing tube and managed to save the baby.

"This is just one story from among hundreds of wounded."

- 'No words' -

The bloodshed prompted the UN children's agency UNICEF to issue a largely blank statement saying "we no longer have the words to describe children's suffering."

A Syrian man carries a wounded child at a makeshift hospital in the rebel-held town of Douma, following air strikes by regime forces on Eastern Ghouta on February 20, 2018

Syria's main opposition group condemned the government onslaught as a "bloodbath" and a "war crime", saying it may pull out of UN-backed peace talks in protest.

Eastern Ghouta is mostly held by two hardline rebel groups that often fire rockets and mortar rounds into residential neighbourhoods of east Damascus.

On Tuesday, at least nine people were killed and 49 wounded by rebel fire on the capital, state media reported.

Al-Watan newspaper, which is close to the government, said the bombing campaign "comes ahead of a vast operation on Ghouta, which may start on the ground at any moment."

The army already waged a ferocious five-day air assault on Eastern Ghouta earlier this month that left around 250 civilians dead and hundreds wounded.

- Turkey shells regime -

Syria's conflict erupted in 2011 with protests against Assad, but the ensuing war has carved the country into various zones of control among rebels, jihadists, the regime, and Kurds.

A picture taken on February 20, 2018 shows a Russian-made Syrian army attack helicopter dropping a payload over the rebel-held town of Arbin, in the besieged Eastern Ghouta

Turkey has been waging an air and ground offensive against the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) militia in the Afrin enclave for the past month but on Tuesday the stakes were ratcheted up.

Hundreds of Syrian pro-government forces entered the region for the first time since 2012 to face off against Turkey alongside Kurdish forces that Ankara views as an offshoot of its own internal insurgency.

But they quickly came under shelling by Turkish forces, who said they had fired "warning shots" at the "pro-regime terrorist groups".

In a statement, YPG spokesman Nuri Mahmud said the Kurdish forces had called on the Damascus government to help fend off Turkey's assault.

"The Syrian government responded to the invitation, answered the call of duty and sent military units today, February 20, to take up positions on the borders, and participate in defending the territorial unity of Syria and its borders," the statement said.

The YPG has controlled Afrin since government forces withdrew from Kurdish-majority northern areas in 2012.A member of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces removes an Islamic State group flag in the town of Tabqa on April 30, 2017

An Iraqi court ordered the release and deportation of a suspected French jihadist sentenced Monday to seven months in prison for entering the country illegally, saying she had already served her time.

Melina Boughedir, 27, was arrested last summer in former Islamic State group stronghold Mosul with her four children, three of whom have been repatriated to France.

Wearing a black dress and purple headscarf, she entered the courtroom holding her other child, a boy with blond hair.

Speaking in Arabic, she said that she had been a housewife in Mosul.

"I entered Syria with my French passport but Daesh (IS) took it from me. I stayed in Syria for four days and then came to Mosul with my husband and four children".

She said that her French husband Maximilien, whom she said had been a cook for IS, was killed as Iraqi forces battled to oust the jihadist group from Mosul, which was recaptured last July.

Asked her if she regretted what she did, she replied: "Yes".

Iraq in December declared victory against IS after a years-long battle to retake large swathes of territory the extremists had seized in 2014.

An Iraqi court last month condemned a German woman to death by hanging after finding her guilty of belonging to IS, the first such sentence in a case involving a European woman.

And a German teenager was sentenced to six years in prison on Sunday for membership in IS, a judicial source said, adding that she was 17 years old.

- Wanted in France -

A picture taken on February 19, 2018, shows French jihadist Melina Boughedir arriving in court in the Iraqi capital Baghdad

After last month's death sentence, lawyers for Boughedir and another French woman awaiting trial in Iraq for allegedly joining IS wrote to French President Emmanuel Macron warning that they could face the same penalty.

But Boughedir also faces an arrest warrant in France, where she is wanted for alleged "association with criminals and terrorists", a judicial source in Paris said.

She is expected to be detained and interrogated by anti-terrorist judges if she returns to France, a source close to the case said.

Several dozen French citizens suspected of links to the jihadist group are believed to be in detention camps or prisons in Syria and Iraq.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said in Baghdad last week that suspected jihadists should be tried in the countries where they committed their "crimes", while reiterating France's opposition to the death penalty.

Britain has also taken a firm stance against repatriation, as has Belgium which denied a request by one of its nationals to be sent home from Iraq in exchange for cooperating with the authorities.

Several hundred foreigners, both men and women, are thought to have been detained in Iraq for alleged links to IS.

In December, a Swedish man of Iraqi origin was among 38 people executed after being convicted of "terrorism".

And on Sunday an Iraqi court sentenced a Turkish woman to death and 11 other foreign widows to life in jail for belonging to IS, despite their pleas that they had been duped or forced by their husbands to join them in Iraq.

A total of 509 foreign women, including 300 Turks, are being held in Iraq with 813 children, according to a security source.The dispute comes at a bad time for Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's US-backed government

A governor in northern Afghanistan has become the second in the region to defy an order by President Ashraf Ghani to step down, deepening a political crisis facing the US-backed government in Kabul.

Abdul Karim Khadam, the governor of northern Samangan province, was sacked along with four other provincial governors last week.

But he followed Atta Mohammad Noor, the heavyweight governor of neighbouring Balkh province, who refused to leave office after he was also sacked in December.

Noor's refusal to step down has turned the so-called "King of the North" into one of Afghanistan's most infamous politicians and a potential contender in presidential elections due in 2019, while underscoring the weakness of Ghani's government.

Khadam's decision to follow suit has deepened the crisis and threatened to further ethnic divisions between Tajiks and the Pashtun-dominated south, which often dominate Afghanistan's politics.

An ethnic Turkmen, Khadam belongs to the Tajik-dominated Jamiat-e-Islami party, of which Noor is also a member.

"The decision is unfair and unjust. It is against the principles. I condemn this decision and don't accept it. I will wait for Jamiat party stance about this," he told reporters late on Sunday.

Jamiat in a statement on Monday said his removal was "unjustified and yet another step toward increasing tension in the country".

The dispute comes at a bad time for Ghani's US-backed government, which is facing growing public fury over recent deadly attacks in Kabul and elsewhere in the war-torn country that have laid bare its inability to protect civilians.

Ghani, who belongs to the country's largest Pashtun ethnic group, took the presidency in 2014 in a US-brokered power-sharing deal with his rival, Jamiat-backed Abdullah Abdullah, who was named chief executive.

Jamiat has accused Ghani of failing to fulfil the terms of the agreement and has submitted demands to the president's negotiators, including a restructuring of parliament.

Noor has used the ongoing crisis to show off his strength, holding televised rallies and meeting representatives of various ethnic groups and political parties from across the country.

But as the talks drag on there are growing fears the crisis could turn violent, sparking calls from the White House and others for a peaceful resolution.

Last week, Noor asked his supporters to protest around the country, including in the capital Kabul, at end of this month if negotiations with the government failed.Syrian Kurds attend a parade in Afrin on January 28, 2018 as civilians enlist to fight an assault by Turkish troops and allied rebels on the enclave

Turkey's foreign minister on Monday warned against any intervention by Syrian pro-government forces to support Kurdish militias in northern Syria, saying it would not prevent Ankara from pressing on with its month-old offensive.

Mevlut Cavusoglu was reacting to a report from Syrian state news agency SANA saying pro-government forces were expected in the Afrin region to counter the Turkish offensive against the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) militia.

Turkey views the YPG as a terrorist offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), blacklisted by Ankara, the United States and the European Union.

"If the regime is entering (Afrin) to oust the PKK, YPG, there is no problem. But if they are entering to protect the YPG, then no one can stop us and Turkish soldiers," Cavusoglu said during a visit to Jordan.

"This is true for Afrin, Manbij and the east of the Euphrates River," Cavusoglu added at a joint news conference in Amman with his Jordanian counterpart Ayman Safadi.

On Monday, SANA said "popular forces will arrive in Afrin within a few hours to support its people's stand against the Turkish regime's attack on the area and its people", citing its correspondent in Aleppo.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu (L) is greeted by his Jordanian counterpart Ayman Safadi upon his arrival in Amman on February 19, 2018

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has previously threatened to expand the operation to include the YPG-held town of Manbij and other towns leading to the Iraqi border.

The Turkish army, backed by Syrian rebels, has been conducting a ground and air offensive against the region since January 20 to drive out the YPG.

Cavusoglu said the operation, dubbed "Olive Branch", was aimed at "removing terrorists" from its southern border.

- Putin, Erdogan phone call -

Damascus previously denounced Ankara's "aggression" in Afrin but had never explicitly said it would intervene before Monday.

Syria's Kurds have gradually implemented a self-rule model across much of the country's north, including Afrin, since 2012.

Kurdish fighters and government troops have since largely steered clear of each other, though there have been short-lived clashes in the cities of Hasakeh and Qamishli.

Last week, YPG chief Sipan Hamo told reporters his forces would have "no problem" with Damascus intervening to help repel Turkey's assault.

A few hours after the SANA report, Erdogan spoke on the phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin and they discussed the "latest developments in Syria, especially in Afrin and Idlib", a Turkish presidential source said.

Turkish media quoted Erdogan as telling Putin that any support from Damascus to the YPG in Afrin "will have consequences" for the regime.

The issue of establishing new observation posts in Idlib was discussed, the source said.

Turkey, Russia and regime supporter Iran agreed last year to create "de-escalation" zones in four areas including Idlib, where six observation posts have already been set up by Turkish forces to monitor any fighting.

The northwestern province is nearly completely under the control of anti-government forces, predominantly Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a group led by Al-Qaeda's former Syria affiliate.

While Turkey has called for the ouster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Russia has provided armed support to the regime and controls the airspace of northern Syria.File picture of Boko Haram founder Mohammed Yusuf at Giwa Barracks in Maiduguri on July 30 2009, shortly after his capture by Nigerian troops

Five Nigerian police officers who were accused of killing Boko Haram's founder Mohammed Yusuf while in their custody have been reinstated, a police oversight body said on Monday.

The officers were charged with committing a terrorist act and unlawfully killing the Islamist group's spiritual leader during days of unrest in the northeast city of Maiduguri in July 2009.

The clashes, in which about 800 Boko Haram followers were killed, prompted an escalation in violence that has since left at least 20,000 dead and made over 2.6 million more homeless.

A judge in Abuja in late December 2015 acquitted the police on the grounds the prosecution could not establish a case against them. The ruling attracted little publicity at the time.

A spokesman for the Police Service Commission, Ikechukwu Ani, confirmed a report in the Daily Trust newspaper that the officers were now back on the beat.

"It is true. They have all been reinstated. The Police Service Commission acted upon a memo sent to it by the inspector general of police," he told AFP.

"The memo was accompanied with the court orders that they should be reinstated. The court acquitted them of all the charges and we have no choice but to obey the orders of court."

Amaechi Nwaokolo, a Nigeria security analyst at the Roman Institute for International Studies in Abuja, said the acquittal and reinstatement was "a source of concern".

Boko Haram has long used the fact that no-one has been prosecuted or convicted for Yusuf's death as a reason for its armed struggle, he argued.

"This development will further give Boko Haram a tool for recruitment and radicalisation of its ranks by using it to show the lack of justice it has been preaching," he said.

"Extra-judicial killings by state security apparatus give terrorist groups the needed tool and justification to recruit others and carry out terrorist acts as retaliation.

"It was the killing of Yusuf that led to the escalation of the violence and the degeneration of the conflict to the level we have today."

Nigeria's security services have been repeatedly accused of abuses against civilians during the insurgency, including arbitrary arrests and extra-judicial killing.

Many civilians have been held for years without access to lawyers or being brought to court.

Last week, 475 were released from custody after it was found there was not enough evidence to prosecute them, at mass trials of suspects at a military facility in central Niger state.

A total of 468 others were freed last October. Taken together, they account for more than half of those on trial.Map of Damascus locating the besieged rebel enclave in Eastern Ghouta

Heavy Syrian regime bombardment of rebel-held Eastern Ghouta killed at least 18 civilians on Monday, a monitor said, as government forces appeared to prepare for a ground assault.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said air strikes battered the town of Hammuriyeh in Eastern Ghouta, leaving nine civilians dead.

Another nine, including a woman, were killed in air raids, artillery fire, and rockets that hit elsewhere in the enclave.

"The regime is bombing Eastern Ghouta to pave the way for a ground offensive," said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman.

Held by rebels since 2012, Eastern Ghouta is now the last opposition-controlled pocket around Damascus.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has dispatched reinforcements there in recent weeks in an apparent bid to retake the region.

The Observatory and Syrian daily newspaper Al-Watan had said negotiations were under way for the evacuation of jihadists from the enclave.

But government forces ramped up military pressure on Eastern Ghouta starting Sunday, sending more than 260 rockets sailing onto opposition-controlled towns there.

The bombing continued Monday, sending terrified civilians in the enclave searching for cover, AFP's correspondents said.Fighters of the Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary force are seen advancing in northern Iraq on October 6, 2017

The Islamic State group killed 27 members of a paramilitary group in an ambush in Iraq, the pro-government force said Monday, underlining the threat still posed by the jihadists despite Baghdad's declaration of victory.

IS members disguised as soldiers attacked a Hashed al-Shaabi unit in the Hawija region about 300 kilometres (185 miles) north of Baghdad on Sunday evening, the auxiliary force said in a statement.

"The attackers were dressed in military uniforms and during the fighting 27 of our heroes were martyred," said the Hashed, a key partner of the government in the battle against IS.

The extremist group, which has suffered a string of battlefield defeats in Syria and Iraq, claimed responsibility for the attack in an online statement.

The Hashed said the unit was conducting operations to "arrest terrorists and dismantle sleeping cells" around the city, in the province of Kirkuk,

A Hashed official who asked to remain anonymous told AFP the jihadists, disguised as soldiers, had set up a checkpoint close to Hawija.

They asked the Hashed paramilitaries to stop, get out of their vehicles and stand beside the road, on the pretext of conducting a search.

They then shot the Hashed fighters and fled, the official said.

Reinforcements arrived too late to stop the attack.

A senior police officer in the province, who also asked not to be named, said most of the bodies had been beheaded.

It was the deadliest attack against Hashed fighters since October when pro-government forces retook Hawija, which was the jihadists' last urban bastion in northern Iraq.

Iraq in December declared victory against IS after a years-long battle to retake large swathes of territory the extremists had seized in 2014.

But the Hashed says IS has not completely disappeared and that "sleeper cells" have been fighting a guerrilla war against it.Rubbish tips in Maputo are scoured by pickers looking for items to sell -- many people also live in shacks in the shadow of a dump

At least 17 people were killed when a rubbish mound collapsed in a poor district of Mozambique's capital Maputo, crushing several nearby homes, emergency services said.

Torrential rain is thought to have caused the loose waste to shift and crash down on the shacks, trapping the occupants who were sleeping at the time of the incident on Sunday night.

Mozambique's emergency service warned there could be more victims, trapped under the vast waste pile which is located in the Hulene district of the capital.

"The information we received from local authorities is that the number of people living in those houses exceeds the number of deaths recorded, so work is still ongoing to see if there are any other deaths," said spokesman Leonilde Pelembe.

The rubbish mound destroyed five homes and rescue teams were still searching through the wreckage to find survivors, he added.

"I live in this neighbourhood because I have nowhere to go. Had the government told me to go to another place to live, I would have left here," said local resident Maria Huo.

Her family home was partially destroyed and her son injured in the landslide, she said.

"It's been more than 10 years that the dump should have been closed because it's full -- but they still continue to pile trash on the trash. The consequence is this," said Teresa Mangue, a neighbourhood leader.

Heavy rain has been falling on Maputo since Sunday causing damaging homes and deluging roads and schools.Morgan Tsvangirai was the fiercest opponent to Robert Mugabe's 37-year tyrannical rule

Thousands of Zimbabweans and foreign mourners took to the streets of Harare Monday to pay tribute to Zimbabwe's iconic opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai who died after a battle with cancer.

Supporters wore the trademark red of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party which Tsvangirai led for 19 years in which time it became the main outlet for opposition to former president Robert Mugabe.

Other well-wishers wore portraits of Tsvangirai, flocking to a central square to sing and dance in honour of their fallen leader.

A casket bearing Tsvangirai's remains was adorned with flowers and driven to the square -- named for his arch-rival Mugabe -- after the cortege made a brief stop at the MDC's offices.

Tsvangirai, the country's fiercest opponent of Mugabe's tyrannical 37-year rule, died on Wednesday aged 65 at a hospital in South Africa where he had been undergoing treatment for colon cancer.

"Today we are paying tribute to a national hero," the acting MDC leader Nelson Chamisa president told mourners.

"We will not let Tsvangirai down, we will give tribute to Tsvangirai by winning elections in 2018."

Zimbabwe is due to hold crucial general elections by July and the country's new president Emmerson Mnangagwa has pledged they will be free, fair and credible -- in honour of Tsvangirai.

- 'Our great hero' -

Tsvangirai became a symbol of resistance to the ruling ZANU-PF's authoritarianism, entrenched since Zimbabwe broke from its colonial master Britain in 1980.

"Today Africa is saluting a man who has demonstrated resilience, the doyen of democracy in Africa. Morgan Tsvangirai you are our hero, our African hero," Namibian opposition leader McHenry Venaani told the crowds.

Supporters wore red -- the party's trademark colour

Zambia's former minister of labour -- and best man at Tsvangirai's wedding -- Fackson Shamenda, described him as "a courageous man" who was "beaten (and) mistreated by this government".

Before being forced into a power-sharing deal with ZANU-PF as prime minister in 2009, Tsvangirai was beaten by police, his rallies were banned and he was charged with treason and jailed.

Tsvangirai pulled out of an election run-off in 2008 following violence which, he said, claimed the lives of at least 200 of his supporters.

Tsvangirai pulled out of an election run-off with Mugabe in 2008 following violence which, he said, claimed the lives of at least 200 of his supporters

He had beaten Mugabe in the first round of presidential elections that year but narrowly fell short of the total required to defeat Mugabe outright, according to the official vote count.

Fungai Nyapopoto, 40, a street vendor who travelled to pay his respects, said: "I am mourning our great hero, a man of the people. It is not easy for us, it is a very difficult time for us. We will always remember him."

Tsvangirai's remains are due to be flown to his rural home in Buhera village, 250 kilometres (155 miles) south of Harare, for burial on Tuesday.British tycoon Richard Branson believes Virgin Hyperloop One could have a positive impact on India

Virgin Hyperloop One, the futuristic transport startup backed by British tycoon Richard Branson, has announced plans for a superfast rail network linking India's financial capital Mumbai to the city of Pune.

The proposed hyperloop -- which aims to deliver transport at near-supersonic speeds in sealed tubes -- would reduce travel time between the Indian cities from 3 hours to around 25 minutes, the company said.

Branson said Sunday the company had signed a preliminary agreement with the Maharashtra state government to build the first phase of a hyperloop network that could eventually criss-cross India.

"I believe Virgin Hyperloop One could have the same impact upon India in the 21st century as trains did in the 20th century," Branson said in a statement.

The proposed route would connect Mumbai's secondary airport in Navi Mumbai with Pune city, located 150 kilometres away.

Branson, whose Virgin Group entered a partnership with California startup Hyperloop One in October, said a demonstration track would be built within two to three years of the final agreement.

The super-high-speed transport project would take a further five to seven years to complete before being ready to ferry 150 million passengers annually, the company said.

The technology, theorized by entrepreneur Elon Musk for rail transport at near-supersonic speeds, could transform Indian cities like Mumbai and Pune plagued by creaking infrastructure.

Experts say the proposed hyperloop system, though aspirational, could upon completion ease the load on overburdened road and rail networks in India.

Virgin Hyperloop One is working to develop a pod system that can travel at up to 750 miles per hour with better safety than passenger jets, and lower build and maintenance costs than high-speed trains.Israel hopes its gas reserves will enable it to forge strategic ties within the region and become a supplier for Europe

Israel has struck an "historic" contract to supply natural gas to Egypt, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Monday, in a deal one firm said was worth $15 billion over 10 years.

"This will bring billions of dollars to state coffers," Netanyahu said in a statement announcing the deal with Israel's western neighbour, which in 1979 became the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with the Jewish state.

The Israeli energy group Delek said the value of the contract was $15 billion.

It said agreements have been signed between Delek and its associate Noble Energy of the United States to supply 64 billion cubic metres (2.26 trillion cubic feet) of gas from Israel's Leviathan and Tamar offshore fields to the Egyptian firm Dolphinus over a 10-year period.

Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz welcomed the deal.

"This agreement will help bolster Israel's position as key regional actor on the energy market," Steinitz said.

Egyptian oil minister Tarek al-Molla said the "Egyptian government had not received any official request to import gas from Israel", speaking to private television channel DMC.

He added that preliminary approval to import gas from Israel had been given but final permission would be withheld until certain conditions are met including the assurance that any deal would be beneficial to Egypt's economy.

Israel has limited natural resources but in the past few years it has discovered major gas fields off its northern coast and is building the infrastructure needed to tap the gas.

Tamar, which began production in 2013, has estimated reserves of up to 238 billion cubic metres (8.4 trillion cubic feet).

Leviathan, discovered in 2010 and set to begin production in 2019, is estimated to hold 18.9 trillion cubic feet (535 billion cubic metres) of natural gas, along with 34.1 million barrels of condensate.

In September 2016, Jordan struck a deal to buy 300 million cubic feet (8.5 million cubic metres) of Israeli gas per day over 15 years, in a deal estimated to be worth $10 billion.

Jordan is the only other Arab country to have a peace deal with Israel.

At the end of 2016, Israel also gave the green light to sell two gas fields, estimated to hold reserves of around 60 billion cubic metres, to the Greek company Energean.

Israel hopes its gas reserves will give the country energy independence and the prospect of becoming a supplier for Europe as well as forging strategic ties within the region.

Monday's announcement comes a day after Steinitz met a senior US official in a bid to defuse an escalating oil and gas dispute with Lebanon.

Last week Lebanon signed its first contract to drill for oil and gas in a pair of offshore zones, including one that Israel, its southern neighbour, says belongs to it.

Lebanese officials have said the whole zone belongs to Beirut while Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman has insisted it is solidly in Israeli territory.Okpaleke was shunned because he does not belong to one of five clans in the Mbaise group of the southern Igbo ethnic group

A Catholic bishop in southern Nigeria has resigned after the Vatican failed to quell fierce objections over his nomination because he did not belong to a local clan of the Igbo ethnic group.

The Vatican announced the resignation of Monsignor Peter Ebere Okpaleke on Monday, six years after Pope Francis's predecessor Benedict XVI named him to the post.

Okpaleke, who hails from neighbouring Anambra state, was never able to take up the post because the priests and laypeople of the diocese insisted that their bishop belong to an Igbo clan native to Ahiara's Imo state.

Pope Francis initially took a firm stand in defending the nomination, summoning Ahiara clergy to the Vatican in June last year.

He demanded "obedience" and gave the rebel priests 30 days to "ask his forgiveness" and accept Okpaleke's appointment or face the sack.

But the row was not resolved, and Cardinal John Onaiyekan, archbishop of the Nigerian capital Abuja, has run the diocese as a temporary measure since July.

Ethnic tensions and rivalries are never far from the surface in the oil-rich former British colony, which counts more than 200 ethnic groups including three main ones: the Igbo in the southeast, the Yoruba in the southwest and the Hausa in the north.

Africa's most populous country with some 180 million people including more than 30 million Catholics is also divided between a largely Muslim north and a predominantly Christian south.

The Catholic Church views Africa, with its booming population, as fertile territory for a regeneration of Catholicism worldwide as the numbers of the faithful dwindle in many industrialised countries.

Nigerian Cardinal Francis Arinze was on the short list during the papal conclave that elected Benedict XVI in 2005.A general view shows Mosul's Old City, on January 8, 2018, six months after Iraqi forces seized the country's second city from Islamic State group jihadists

An Iraqi court has sentenced a German teenager to six years in jail for membership of the Islamic State group and illegal entry into the country, a judicial source said Monday.

The source told AFP that the girl, aged 17, was on Sunday handed a five-year term for belonging to IS and one year in prison for crossing illegally into Iraq.

On January 21, a German woman of Moroccan origin was sentenced to death by hanging on charges of providing "logistical support and helping the terrorist group to carry out crimes".

The two Germans are among hundreds of foreign suspected jihadists held by Iraqi authorities, who in December announced the defeat of IS after a gruelling three-year battle.

According to media reports in Germany, the condemned woman, named Lamia K., had left Mannheim in August 2014. She was arrested by Iraqi forces during the final stages last July of the battle for the northern city of Mosul.

At least two other German women are being held in prison in Iraq, including the teenager Linda W., who had disappeared from home in the summer of 2016, shortly after converting to Islam.

The girl from Pulsnitz in Saxony, in a meeting with German journalists in Baghdad last summer, said she wanted to return to her family and regretted her actions.

In a separate case, a suspected French jihadist, who had been sentenced to seven months in prison for illegal entry, was on Monday ordered released and deported on the basis of time served.

On Sunday, a Turkish woman was sentenced to death and 11 other foreign widows who fighter husbands had been killed to life in jail for belonging to IS.A magnifying glass shows a part of the guidance system to an Iranian Qiam Ballistic Missile alleged to have been fired at Saudi Arabia by Huthi forces in Yemen

The UN Security Council is considering a draft resolution that would condemn Iran for violating the arms embargo on Yemen and call for measures to address this violation, according to the text obtained by AFP on Monday.

The proposed resolution drafted by Britain is in response to a report by a UN panel of experts which found that missiles fired by Yemen's Huthi rebels at Saudi Arabia last year were made in Iran.

The Security Council is expected to vote on the draft later this month, but it remains unclear whether Russia would back any move that punishes Iran.

The text "condemns" Iran for violating the 2015 arms embargo on Yemen by "failing to take the necessary measures to prevent the direct or indirect supply, sale or transfer" of short-range ballistic missiles, drones and other military equipment to the Huthis.

The draft resolution backed by the United States and France specifies that "these violations ... require a further response from the council; and further decides to take additional measures to address these violations."

While the text presented to the council on Friday does not provide details on those measures, it does specify that "any activity related to the use of ballistic missiles in Yemen" is a criteria for sanctions.

The report by the UN experts bolstered US and Saudi claims that Iran was arming the Huthis, despite Tehran's strong denials.

While the report found that Tehran had violated the 2015 embargo by failing to block the shipments of equipment made in Iran, the experts said they were unable to identify the supplier.

- Reining in Iran -

Russia's Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia has raised questions about the experts' findings, which AFP first reported in January when the document was confidentially sent to the council.

Russia has the power to block sanctions by resorting to its veto as one of the five permanent Security Council members, along with Britain, China, France and the United States.

In a New York Times editorial published at the weekend, US Ambassador Nikki Haley made the case that UN action against Iran could help prevent a military confrontation between Iran and Saudi Arabia.

"By confirming that Iran is the source of the missiles and other weaponry fired into Saudi Arabia, the UN panel has given the world a chance to act before a missile hits a school or a hospital and leads to a dangerous military escalation that provokes a Saudi military response," Haley wrote.

"Today, armed with this evidence, we have the chance to rein in Irans behavior and demand that it live up to its international agreements that discourage conflict."

Haley last month took Security Council ambassadors to a warehouse near Washington to inspect debris from missiles fired at Saudi Arabia last year that the United States says were supplied by Iran to the Huthis.

The missile components and other weaponry were collected by Saudi Arabia.

After the visit, Russia's ambassador remained unconvinced.

Asked whether the case had been made for action against Iran, Nebenzia answered "no."

The resolution would also renew UN sanctions on Yemen for another year, until February 26, 2019.South Africans protested against Jacob Zuma in April 2017 in Pretoria

A linchpin of South Africa's Gupta business family, which has been closely associated with ex-president Jacob Zuma, fought back Monday against a corruption probe by contesting an assets freeze.

Atul Gupta applied to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to force investigators probing a suspect farming scheme to release 10 million rand ($856,000) in frozen assets.

"Atul Gupta is challenging the court, he is requesting the court to reconsider the preservation order," NPA spokesman Luvuyo Mfaku told AFP, confirming receipt of Atul's application.

Thirteen people are facing charges linked to allegations that millions of dollars of public money meant for poor dairy farmers was siphoned off by the Guptas.

Local media reports suggested that Zuma's son Duduzane, a business associate of the Guptas, is also among those being sought, and some speculated that he could be in Dubai.

Ajay Gupta, Atul's brother, is subject to an arrest warrant in connection to alleged state corruption in another case, according to police.

Detectives last week raided the family's palatial home in Johannesburg and made several arrests for alleged offences including fraud, money laundering and misappropriation of public funds.

At the weekend, Police Minister Fikile Mbalula said that five people sought in connection with the sprawling investigation were currently abroad.

In his first address to the nation hours after he assumed power on Friday, new South African President Cyril Ramaphosa vowed to fight corruption in a direct reference to the accusations levelled at his predecessor Zuma.A policeman died after protests, similar to these on February 6, 2018, against local election results

A policeman died from a head wound on Monday sustained as people protested over delayed local election results in Guinea and teachers went on strike over pay, a police spokesman said.

Thousands of young people have been demonstrating in the Guinean capital, Conakry, over the failure to announce results to the February 4 election, while a teachers' strike has also entered its second week.

"A policeman died in the disorder around Koloma (a Conakry suburb). A projectile hit him in the head," police spokesman Mamadou Alpha Barry said.

"The victim was trying to maintain order in the area, where protests broke out early this morning," Barry added.

The rallies related to "election results, according to some, and a call for classes to resume, according to others," he said.

Two men died last Monday in clashes between demonstrators and riot police in Guinea.

The unrest in the West African country follows the opposition accusing the authorities of "massive fraud" in the election.

Last week the election commission said President Alpha Conde's party was neck and neck with the opposition party led by former prime minister Cellou Dalein Diallo.

The vote was the first of its kind since a military dictatorship ended a decade ago and followed eight years of delays blamed on a lack of funds, political infighting and the 2013-16 Ebola crisis.

Teachers also resumed strike action on February 12 after some union members called for a renewed walkout over pay and working conditions.

It follows a month-long strike by teachers last year.

On Sunday, the government threatened to not pay striking teachers at the end of the month as it deemed the walkout "illegal".A man weeps over his child at a make-shift morgue in Douma who was killed in air strikes on the Syrian village of Mesraba in the besieged Eastern Ghouta region on the outskirts of the capital Damascus

Nidal had to unfold several little shrouds, all lined up on the concrete floor of the morgue of the hospital in Syria's Douma, before recognising the body of his daughter Farah.

She was among 54 civilians killed Monday in the latest wave of Syrian regime air strikes on the rebel-held Eastern Ghouta enclave, of which Douma is the main town.

At least nine of the victims were children, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring organisation. More than 300 people were wounded.

As more bodies were brought in from the chaos of the emergency room, Nidal knelt down near his lifeless daughter and cried - not just for her but also for the five other children he lost track of in the bombardment.

Map of Syria, where new raids on a rebel-held stronghold killed at least 54 civilians on Monday

Farah was killed in the town of Masraba and her body brought to Douma by paramedics, who have been completely overwhelmed since the regime intensified its strikes two weeks ago.

"I have five other children I know nothing about, all five of them and their mother," he sobbed, resting his hand on the black shroud his daughter was wrapped in.

"Is there a fridge to put her in?", he asked.

A volunteer for the civil defence, an organisation known as the White Helmets, awkwardly looked for something to tell the bereaved father and eventually said: "May God reward you."

Nidal later told AFP that he managed to find his other children.

Douma hospital was full of distraught civilians: one father slapped his forehead after finding his two dead children, another erupted into tears as he discovered the body of his newborn on a purple sheet next to a pool of blood.

- Shellshocked children -

Lost and wounded children also cried for their parents, others sat silently, rivulets of blood running down their faces whitened by dust from the strikes, as they received treatment.

Two of them sat next to each other on a cot, shellshocked and blood staining their fresh bandages.

They were left unattended because the scope of the disaster is such that the medical staff has to prioritise patients and five of them were busy treating a disfigured young boy who was screaming in pain.

Syrian children cry at a make-shift hospital in Douma following air strikes on the Syrian village of Mesraba in the besieged Eastern Ghouta region on the outskirts of the capital Damascus

Those scenes were repeated in hospitals across Eastern Ghouta, a semi-rural area which is controlled by Islamist and jihadist groups and has been besieged by government forces since 2013.

Air strikes have intensified and killed more than 300 people this month, in what appears to be a prelude to a ground offensive that could start any day.

In Hammuriyeh, another of the enclave's main towns, the hospital was also teeming with bloodied civilians looking for their relatives, dead or alive.

One man's heart was still beating but he had already been moved to the morgue, his head wounds so bad that his case was deemed hopeless.

Moments later, a man walked in looking for his son. As the sheets wrapping the bodies laid in front of him were lifted, he eventually identified his child and collapsed.

strs-rh/jmm/hcFamily members welcome their loved ones after Sudan released dozens of opposition activists who were arrested last month when authorities cracked down on protests against rising food prices, outside the Kobar prison in north Khartoum

European embassies in Sudan on Monday jointly urged Khartoum to release all remaining political detainees held since protests against rising food prices erupted last month.

Their heads of mission also appealed to Khartoum to lift the state of emergency declared in two states in December.

On Sunday, the authorities released dozens of opposition activists and protesters held in a crackdown by security agents to prevent widespread anti-government protests after prices of food items, notably bread, surged in early January.

European embassies welcomed their release and called on Khartoum "to promptly release the remaining political detainees".

In a joint statement, the embassies said Khartoum should also "guarantee press freedom and freedom of assembly for peaceful demonstrations".

Hundreds of opposition activists, leaders and protesters were arrested after sporadic protests erupted in the capital and some other towns of Sudan following a surge in bread prices.

Many of the detainees were held in "inhumane conditions", according to a statement by Washington's mission in Khartoum issued last week.

Anti-riot police and security agents have so far swiftly managed to disperse the anti-government rallies.

Sudanese authorities are eager to prevent a repeat of deadly unrest that followed an earlier round of subsidy cuts in 2013.

Rights groups say dozens of people were killed when security forces crushed 2013 demonstrations, drawing international condemnation.

On Monday, the European embassies also urged Khartoum to lift the state of emergency declared on December 30 in the central state of North Kordofan and in the eastern state of Kassala that borders Eritrea.

A state of emergency is already in force in seven other conflict-ridden states, including the five states of war-ravaged Darfur in western Sudan.This screen grab image taken on January 2, 2018 from a video released by Islamist group Boko Haram shows Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau speaking in his first video message in months

Nigeria has freed another 51 Boko Haram suspects in the latest round of dropped cases for lack of evidence, the justice ministry said Monday.

Over the course of last week, hundreds of suspected Boko Haram extremists appeared before a court at the Kainji military base in central Niger state.

A total of 526 suspects have been released from custody after it was found there was not enough evidence to prosecute them, underscoring concerns from human rights groups that the Nigerian military has been arbitrarily arresting and detaining civilians during the Islamist insurgency.

"Among the reasons for setting the 526 suspects free are want of evidence, under aged (minor) and persons suffering from mental illness," ministry spokesman Salihu Othman Isah said in a statement.

Only one suspect, Modu Maina, was discharged and acquitted by the judge, Isah said.

"Maina confessed that he was forcefully initiated into the Boko Haram group but relocated to Lagos to avoid being arrested in Bama," Isah said.

"He said that all the confessional statements he made to Joint Task Force (JTF) was under alleged torture."

Isah added that "about 205" detained suspects were convicted and sentenced to imprisonment, with jail terms ranging from three to 60 years.

The remaining 73 cases have been adjourned until the next hearing.

Nigeria's security services have been repeatedly accused of abuses against civilians during the insurgency, including extra-judicial executions and enforced disappearances.

Many civilians have been held for years without access to lawyers or being brought to court.

In total, over 1,000 people have been processed in a string of mass hearings which began in October at four specially-constituted civilian courts inside the facility.

Boko Haram's bloody quest since 2009 to establish a hardline Islamic state in remote northeast Nigeria has left at least 20,000 dead and forced more than 2.6 million others out of their homes.

The violence has also spilt over into neighbouring Cameroon, Chad and Niger.DR Congo's huge eastern region has long been wracked by violence, but fighting between government soldiers and militia groups, as well as inter-ethnic clashes, has increased since 2017

Two Congolese aid workers were killed and a third abducted by an unidentified armed group in the troubled North Kivu province of Democratic Republic of Congo, the United Nations said Monday.

"We lost two fellow aid workers killed in the line of duty by unidentified armed people," the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a statement.

The three men were employed by the Congolese NGO Hydraulique Sans Frontieres (HYFRO), which specialises in water purification projects, when attacked on Saturday near the village of Mushikiri.

OCHA said it "strongly condemns this latest attack" and called for "the immediate and unconditional release of the person held hostage".

Aid workers "should never be targeted. This attack represents a serious violation of international humanitarian law and emergency standards," it said.

According to OCHA, security conditions are very worrying in North Kivu and represent a "major obstacle" to the work of humanitarians.

UN spokesman Farhan Haq said the situation in North Kivu was "worrying" adding that it represented a "major obstacle of the delivery of humanitarian assistance to thousands of people in need."

Kidnappings, including of foreign and Congolese personnel of humanitarian organisations, are frequent in the territories of Masisi, Lubero, Rutshuru and Walikale in the province of North Kivu.

Eastern DR Congo is torn apart by more than 20 years of armed conflict, fueled by ethnic and land disputes, competition for control of the region's mineral resources, and rivalry between regional powers.Florida Town Of Parkland In Mourning, After Shooting At Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Kills 17

US President Donald Trump signaled support Monday for improving background gun checks amid mounting pressure for reform in the wake of the Florida school shooting, as the accused gunman appeared in court.

Nikolas Cruz, charged with killing 17 people, sat silently with his head bowed during a procedural hearing in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in what is expected to be a lengthy and emotional prosecution.

Wednesday's rampage at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in nearby Parkland, Florida has ignited protests by students who survived the onslaught and renewed calls for changes in US gun laws.

Cruz, 19, was able to legally buy an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle despite numerous red flags that nonetheless failed to prompt action by state and federal agencies.

In fact, Cruz actually had bought seven rifles and had access to another three, according to several US media outlets, quoting law enforcement sources.

The White House indicated that Trump is receptive to a bipartisan proposal that would require more prompt reporting to a national database of offenses that would bar an individual from buying a firearm.

The White House indicated President Donald Trump is receptive to a bipartisan proposal to improve background gun checks, in the wake the Parkland, Florida school shooting that left 17 dead

"While discussions are ongoing and revisions are being considered, the president is supportive of efforts to improve the federal background check system," White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said in a statement.

The legislation, however, does not address the broader, divisive issue of permissive gun laws under the Second Amendment of the US Constitution, which protects the right to bear arms.

- Student protests -

Chanting "Shame on you, Shame on you," about 100 students from area high schools gathered outside the White House and staged a "lie-in" to press demands for change.

"More Guns, More Murder," read one of the signs carried by demonstrators.

Maya Smith, 15, said she fears for her life when she walks into school "because the government won't decide that my life matters as much as the right to bear arms matters."

"We as students shouldn't be worrying about being shot in our school," said high school junior Juneau Wang.

"Students should be worrying about a bad test grade, not the fact that someone could walk in with an AR-15 any time during the school day."

After the Parkland, Florida school shooting, President Donald Trump initially made no mention of guns, drawing an angry reaction from Democrats and Floridians

After earlier mass shootings, Trump has said little about guns, focusing instead on the mental health of shooters. Following the October 1 attack in Las Vegas that left 58 people dead, he said only that "we'll be talking about gun laws as time goes by."

After the Parkland shooting, he emphasized the need to deal with mental-health issues, while castigating the FBI for missing warning signs about the shooter.

The president initially made no mention of guns, drawing an angry reaction from Democrats and Floridians. Chuck Schumer, the Senate Democratic minority leader, noted that Trump's proposed 2019 budget would actually cut spending on the background check program.

Even one of the most shocking mass shootings of recent years -- the 2012 attack on a Connecticut elementary school that left 20 young children and six adults dead -- brought little legal change, though Connecticut and a handful of other states toughened their gun laws.

- 'A real, genuine effort' -

But there are some indications that the limited steps Trump backs might succeed.

Nikolas Cruz (C), charged with killing 17 people at at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, makes his first appearance in court

The NRA says it has "long supported the inclusion of all legitimate records in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System."

Gun control advocates also back the bill sponsored by Senators Joh Cornyn, a Republican, and Chris Murphy, a Democrat. They came together after a gunman killed 26 people at a Texas church in November.

"This is a real, genuine effort from people who couldn't be further from each other on the other side of the aisle," a Coalition to Stop Gun Violence official told The Atlantic magazine.

And the impassioned calls for change from Parkland shooting survivors -- photogenic young people who say they can no longer put up with the inaction of older generations -- have kept the issue alive.

"We need to do something," 17-year-old David Hogg, a shooting survivor, told CNN. "Congress needs to get over their political bias with each other and work toward saving children's lives."

CNN is holding a town hall meeting on Wednesday with the victims' classmates, parents, community members and Florida politicians.

The students' cries for action would appear to enjoy broad support.

A Quinnipiac University opinion survey in November found that support for universal background checks had reached an all-time high, with 95 percent of voters favoring such checks.

A Washington Post-ABC News poll released overnight Monday found that more than six in 10 Americans fault Congress and Trump for not doing enough to prevent mass shootings.

The survey said most Americans still say such tragedies are more reflective of problems identifying and dealing with health issues than inadequate gun laws.SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) - Puerto Rico's power company said Sunday that it will reduce its operating reserve to save money amid a cash shortfall as officials warned the move could destabilize the U.S. territory's fragile electrical grid.

William Rios, director of generation at Puerto Rico's Electric Power Authority, said a plan to reduce its reserve by 450 megawatts will not affect customers and will help save $9 million a month.

Public Affairs Secretary Ramon Rosario said that while the measure is needed, it could affect a grid still experiencing frequent blackouts as nearly 250,000 customers remain without power more than five months after Hurricane Maria. The Category 4 storm destroyed two-thirds of the power distribution system and caused the longest blackout in U.S. history.

FILE - In this Dec. 21, 2017 filw photo, barrio Patron resident Karina Santiago Gonzalez works on a small power plant in Morovis, Puerto Rico. A federal control board requested on Friday, Feb. 6, 2018, $300 million loan for Puerto Rico's power company after a federal judge rejected a previous $1 billion loan request despite warnings the U.S. territory would have to start rationing electricity. Some 400,000 customers remain in the dark five months after Hurricane Maria. (AP Photo/Carlos Giusti, File)

The power company did not provide further details on the reduction, and officials did not return messages for further comment.

However, Puerto Rico had a very high reserve margin for its generation prior to the hurricane, according to Susan Tierney, a senior adviser for Denver-based consulting company Analysis Group who testified before a U.S. Senate committee on power restoration efforts in Puerto Rico. She told the Associated Press that the island's reserve margin was 90 percent, compared with 15 to 20 percent in the U.S. mainland. She said 90 percent was still high even when taking into account the island's geography and need to import fuel, among other things.

"There's room to retire some generation," she said.

A December 2017 report prepared in part by the Electric Power Research Institute found that Puerto Rico's power company could reduce its reserve margin as it rebuilds after the storm. It also recommended that a study be conducted to establish a new reserve margin closer to 50 percent.

The government's measure to reduce the operating reserve comes just days after a federal judge rejected a $1 billion loan request for Puerto Rico's power company, saying there was not sufficient evidence to prove the power company needed the money. Government officials and a federal control board overseeing Puerto Rico's finances on Friday lowered their request to $300 million per the judge's instruction but warned that would only allow the company to operate until late March.

"The power company's fiscal situation is real and we have to deal with it now," Rosario said.

Both he and Gov. Ricardo Rossello have called on the U.S. Treasury Department to release a billion-dollar loan that Congress approved in October for disaster recovery, saying it would help ease the power company's financial situation. The board has said the company could see a $1.2 million revenue loss in the six months after the hurricane.

Last month, Rossello announced plans to privatize the company, which is $9 billion in debt and operating with infrastructure nearly three times older than the industry average. The U.S. territory experienced frequent blackouts even before the hurricane, including an island-wide outage in September 2016.LISBON, Portugal (AP) - Porto saw its second 5-0 result in five days but this time it was the team doing all the scoring.

Tiquinho Soares struck twice to lead Porto to a 5-0 victory on Sunday over Rio Ave and return to the top of the Portuguese league.

The big win came after Porto was completely outclassed at home by Liverpool in a 5-0 defeat in the opening leg of their Champions League round-of-16 match on Wednesday.

The second leg is on March 6 at Anfield.

Sergio Oliveira and Moussa Marega added goals to Soares' double, while Rio Ave defender Marcelo scored an own-goal.

Porto moved two points ahead of defending champion Benfica and also has a game in hand.

Braga remained in fourth place after routing Guimaraes 5-0.

Sporting Lisbon is five points behind Porto before it visits Tondela on Monday.BRISBANE, Australia (AP) - Wallabies rugby star Karmichael Hunt has avoided conviction on a charge of cocaine possession after prosecutors determined there was insufficient evidence.

However, Hunt was fined $600 in the Brisbane Magistrates Court Monday on a charge of possessing alprazolam - a tablet of Xanax - and for failing to provide identification to police when required.

Police had alleged the 31-year-old Hunt was in possession of cocaine when he was searched in a car park in the inner city Brisbane suburb of Fortitude Valley on December 30.

His lawyer, Adam Magill, indicated earlier this month police would not pursue the cocaine charge because of a lack of evidence.

Hunt has been stood down from all duties since his arrest by his Queensland Reds team, which begins its Super Rugby season on Friday.DELRAY BEACH, Fla. (AP) - Nick Kyrgios has withdrawn from the Delray Beach Open beginning Monday because of a right elbow injury.

Kyrgios was hurt in Australia's Davis Cup loss to Germany two weeks ago, and he withdrew from the ATP event in Rotterdam last week. He had been training in Delray Beach the past few days.

"I was working hard to be able to be fit and healthy, but my elbow needs more time," he said. "I'll continue to keep trying to get it right."

Kyrgios was seeded fifth.WASHINGTON (AP) - Breaking down barriers is nothing new for Sen. Tammy Duckworth, and that's the way she likes it.

The decorated Iraq War veteran who lost both legs when her helicopter was shot down is an Asian-American woman in the mostly white, mostly male and very fusty Senate. And now, with a baby due in April, she'll be the first senator to give birth while in office.

And so, along with her legislative and political goals, the Illinois Democrat is adding a new one: educating the tradition-bound Senate on creating a workplace that makes room for new moms.

In this Feb. 14, 2018, photo, Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., speaks to Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Summit, on Capitol Hill, in Washington. Duckworth doesn't blend in, and that's the way she likes it. The decorated Iraqi War veteran who lost both legs when her helicopter was shot down is an Asian-American woman in the mostly-white, mostly-male and very fusty Senate. And now, with a baby due in April, the Illinois Democrat will be the first senator to give birth while in office. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

"She's been through things that you and I will probably never understand. So I'm sure for her (having a baby) is in no way daunting," said Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Wash., who had two children while serving in Congress. "She's also someone who's had a whole career in a male-dominated world."

Duckworth, who turns 50 in March, says she appreciates the historic nature of her baby's birth, as well as the fact that she represents working mothers and women having babies later in life. She fully expects to have to find a place to nurse in some quiet parlor off the Senate floor.

But she says having a baby, a second daughter, is just one of many stops on the trail ahead.

"This is the last job that I want," Duckworth said of the Senate seat once held by Barack Obama. The former president is one of several men she ticks off as mentors and role models. They include Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., former Sen. Bob Dole, R-Kan., and the late Democratic Sens. Daniel Inouye of Hawaii and Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts - all backers of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which made the nation's landscape a little easier to navigate.

But she's sees both problems with compliance and efforts to undermine the law.

She points to flaws in Chicago's mass transit system, for example, and in a ladies' room at a U.S. Embassy. And floating through Congress now is a bill designed to curb frivolous lawsuits under the ADA that Duckworth and others say weakens it.

Duckworth is already in the history books. She's the first female amputee elected to Congress, the first Asian-American to represent Illinois in Washington and the first member of Congress born in Thailand. Her story of resilience and grit set her in the rare company of grievously injured veterans who later served in the Senate - Dole, a World War II veteran, and John McCain, who was kept prisoner for more than five years in Vietnam.

"If you take gender out of it, it's not that new," said Duckworth, a year into her own Senate term.

But gender can't be ignored as the nation reckons with sexual misconduct at home and in the workplace, especially since Congress is not exactly known for being on the leading edge of equality. The first area specifically set up for lactation opened in the Capitol only a dozen years ago. The House installed its first lavatory for women lawmakers in 2011. The Senate has had its own women's restroom for 25 years.

Duckworth, one of 22 women in the Senate, has the experience to give her policy advice and criticisms of President Donald Trump an especially authoritative edge.

His demand for a military parade? "Our troops in danger overseas don't need a show of bravado, they need steady leadership," she said.

His complaint that Democrats didn't sufficiently applaud his State of the Union address?

"I will not be lectured about what our military needs by a five-deferment draft dodger," reads the Tweet pinned atop her page, referring to Trump's deferment from Vietnam due to a foot ailment. She refuses to "mindlessly cater to the whims of Cadet Bone Spurs and clap when he demands I clap."

CBS' "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" gave Duckworth full credit for the nickname. In a gag ad earlier this month, a new G.I. Joe doll resembling Trump, named "Cadet Bonespurs," lolls in a hammock while his comrades march off to war.

When Trump tweets that Democrats don't care about the military, "she takes that personally. She answered personally," said Durbin.

Politics and the military were not Duckworth's original goals.

As she worked on a master's degree in international affairs in the early 1990s at George Washington University, Duckworth was aiming to become an ambassador. She signed up for ROTC to learn more about the military. She fell in love with the challenge - and with a cadet named Bryan Bowlsbey. They married in 1993. Duckworth has said she applied to fly helicopters because she wanted the same opportunity as men - and because it was one of the few combat jobs open to women.

She was the senior officer co-piloting a Black Hawk on Nov. 12, 2004, when a grenade fired by an Iraqi insurgent exploded in a fireball at Duckworth's feet. She lost both legs and partial use of her arm and faced a grueling recovery.

As she recovered, Duckworth befriended some important members of the Senate. Durbin invited Duckworth to be his guest at President George W. Bush's 2005 State of the Union address. And Dole, who had lost much of the use of one arm to war, dedicated his 2005 book to her. Duckworth, he wrote, "represents all those with their own battles ahead of them."

But for all of her powerful patrons, achievements and drive, the Senate terrain can still seem bumpy.

One day in December as Duckworth wheeled around a corner in the Capitol toward the Senate's historic vote on tax cuts, a young police officer stopped her. The elevators, he said, were reserved "for members only."

Duckworth looked up and, all business, informed him that she's the junior senator from Illinois.

The officer let Duckworth through - with apologies.

___

Follow Kellman on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/APLaurieKellman

In this Feb. 14, 2018, photo, Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., speaks to Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Summit, on Capitol Hill, in Washington. Duckworth doesn't blend in, and that's the way she likes it. The decorated Iraqi War veteran who lost both legs when her helicopter was shot down is an Asian-American woman in the mostly-white, mostly-male and very fusty Senate. And now, with a baby due in April, the Illinois Democrat will be the first senator to give birth while in office. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - Rumbling Mount Sinabung on the Indonesian island of Sumatra shot billowing columns of ash more than 5,000 meters (16,400 feet) into the atmosphere and hot clouds down its slopes on Monday.

There were no fatalities or injuries from the morning eruption, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency said.

The volcano, one of three currently erupting in Indonesia, was dormant for four centuries before exploding in 2010, killing two people. Another eruption in 2014 killed 16 people, while seven died in a 2016 eruption.

School children walk as Mount Sinabung erupts in Karo, North Sumatra, Indonesia, Monday, Feb. 19, 2018. Rumbling Mount Sinabung on the Indonesian island of Sumatra has shot billowing columns of ash more than 5,000 meters (16,400 feet) into the atmosphere and hot clouds down its slopes. The volcano, one of three currently erupting in Indonesia, was dormant for four centuries before exploding in 2010.(AP Photo/Sarianto)

Disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said hot ash clouds traveled as far as 4,900 meters southward.

The regional volcanic ash advisory center in Darwin, Australia, issued a "red notice" to airlines.

Some 30,000 people have been forced to leave homes around the mountain in the past few years.

Mount Sinabung is among more than 120 active volcanoes in Indonesia, which is prone to seismic upheaval due to its location on the Pacific "Ring of Fire," an arc of volcanoes and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.

Mount Sinabung spews volcanic ash as it erupts in Karo, North Sumatra, Indonesia, Monday, Feb. 19, 2018. Rumbling Mount Sinabung on the Indonesian island of Sumatra has shot billowing columns of ash more than 5,000 meters (16,400 feet) into the atmosphere and hot clouds down its slopes. The volcano, one of three currently erupting in Indonesia, was dormant for four centuries before exploding in 2010. (AP Photo/Sugeng Nuryono)

Mount Sinabung spews volcanic ash as it erupts in Kutarakyat, North Sumatra, Indonesia, Monday, Feb. 19, 2018. Rumbling Mount Sinabung on the Indonesian island of Sumatra has shot billowing columns of ash more than 5,000 meters (16,400 feet) into the atmosphere and hot clouds down its slopes. (AP Photo/Endro Rusharyanto)BEIRUT (AP) - The Latest on the conflict in Syria (all times local):

8 p.m.

A Turkish minister says reports that Syrian government forces are entering a Syrian Kurdish-held enclave "are false," adding that any move by Damascus to protect the Kurdish militia there would be a "disaster" for the region.

An Ankara municipality worker fixes the new street sign, "Olive Branch Street" in Turkish, named after Turkey's military operation to drive out the Syrian Kurdish militia of an enclave in northwest Syria, in Ankara, Turkey, Monday, Feb. 19, 2018. Municipality workers on Monday took down the street sign for Nevzat Tandogan Street where the U.S. Embassy is located and replaced it with one that reads "Olive Branch Street." (AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici)

Speaking to reporters after a weekly Cabinet meeting Monday, Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag said Turkey was determined to continue its military offensive in the Afrin enclave and has no plans to withdraw.

Bozdag said "this offensive will continue with determination until the last terrorist is rendered ineffective." Turkey views the Kurdish fighters in Afrin as terrorists because of their links to insurgents fighting inside Turkey's borders.

Syrian state media reported earlier that pro-government forces would enter Afrin "within hours" to "bolster" local forces in confronting Turkey's "aggression" after reaching an agreement with the Kurdish militia.

Bozdag said: "This report has not been confirmed by authorities. It is false and has no relation with the truth."

___

4:45 p.m.

Turkish officials say the president has held a telephone conversation with his Russian counterpart during which the two reaffirmed their determination to cooperate in the fight against "terrorism" in Syria.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Vladimir Putin on Monday also discussed Turkey's military offensive in the Syrian Kurdish-held enclave of Afrin and their efforts to set up observation posts in Syria's northern Idlib province. The posts are being set up as part of a joint Turkish, Russian and Iranian agreement to establish a "de-escalation" zone in the region.

The Turkish officials detailed the call on condition of anonymity in line with government regulations.

The two leaders spoke as Syrian state media reported that pro-Syrian government forces will begin entering Afrin. Turkey's foreign minister has said his country is ready to battle the Syrian troops if they enter to protect Syrian Kurdish fighters.

- Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey

___

4:15 p.m.

Syrian opposition activists and paramedics say government airstrikes and the shelling of rebel-held eastern suburbs of the capital have killed at least 18 people.

The targeted suburbs, known as eastern Ghouta, have been subjected to weeks-long bombardment that has killed and wounded hundreds of people.

Opposition activists say government forces have brought in reinforcements in preparation for a wide offensive on the last main rebel stronghold near the capital.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Monday's airstrikes and shelling on suburbs including Saqba, Sheifouniyeh and Jisreen killed 18 people.

The Syrian Civil Defense, volunteer first responders known as the White Helmets, said 30 people were killed in eastern Ghouta.

Syrian state TV reported that rebels fired dozens of mortar rounds and rockets at Damascus, wounding eight people.

___

1:20 p.m.

The Turkish foreign minister says his country is ready to battle Syrian government troops if they enter an enclave in northern Syria to protect Syrian Kurdish fighters.

Mevlut Cavusoglu spoke on Monday in Jordan's capital, Amman, as Syrian state media reported that pro-Syrian government forces will begin entering the Afrin enclave "within hours," after reaching an agreement with the Kurdish militia in control of the region.

The official Syrian news agency SANA said the forces will deploy in Afrin to "bolster" local forces in confronting Turkish "aggression." This suggested the Syrian government and Kurdish fighters - a militia known as YPG militia - have struck a deal under which the government forces would help repel an ongoing Turkish offensive on the enclave.

The Turkish minister says that "if the regime is entering to protect the YPG, then no one can stop us, stop Turkey or the Turkish soldiers."

___

11:25 a.m.

Turkish officials have increased to 786 the number of people detained so far in Turkey for criticizing the country's military offensive in northern Syria.

Authorities have been cracking down on protests and social media criticisms of its military operation into the Syrian Kurdish-held enclave of Afrin, accusing perpetrators of engaging in "terror propaganda."

Those detained have included Kurdish politicians and doctors in Turkey who have warned against the operation's human costs.

Turkey launched its offensive on Jan. 20 to clear Afrin of Syrian Kurdish militia which Turkey considers to be an offshoot of its own outlawed Kurdish rebels fighting within Turkey.

An Interior Ministry statement on Monday says at least 587 incidents of social media "propaganda" and 85 protests had occurred since Jan. 20

___

11:15 a.m.

Syrian state TV says pro-government forces will begin entering the Syrian Kurdish enclave of Afrin in the country's northwest "within hours."

The TV gave no further details about the deployment of the troops, known as "popular forces," which comes amid reports that an agreement has been reached between the Syrian government and the main Syrian Kurdish militia in control of the area.

The agreement may prompt Turkey to pull out its forces and end a month-long air and ground offensive that aims to oust the Syrian Kurdish militia known as the People's Protection Units, or YPG, from the border enclave.

The deployment would bring Syrian troops closer to the border with Turkey.

An Ankara municipality worker fixes the new street sign, "Olive Branch Street" in Turkish, named after Turkey's military operation to drive out the Syrian Kurdish militia of an enclave in northwest Syria, in Ankara, Turkey, Monday, Feb. 19, 2018. Municipality workers on Monday took down the street sign for Nevzat Tandogan Street where the U.S. Embassy is located and replaced it with one that reads "Olive Branch Street." The Embassy's flag was at half-staff in respect for the Florida school shooting victims. (AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici)

An Ankara municipality worker fixes the new street sign, "Olive Branch Street" in Turkish, named after Turkey's military operation to drive out the Syrian Kurdish militia of an enclave in northwest Syria, in Ankara, Turkey, Monday, Feb. 19, 2018. Municipality workers on Monday took down the street sign for Nevzat Tandogan Street where the U.S. Embassy is located and replaced it with one that reads "Olive Branch Street." (AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici)THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) - French lawyers on Monday urged the International Court of Justice to throw out a case brought by Equatorial Guinea in 2016 seeking to prevent the prosecution in France - which has since happened - of the African nation's vice president on money laundering and other charges linked to his opulent lifestyle.

French representative Francois Alabrune told the Hague-based world court, the highest judicial U.N. organ, that Equatorial Guinea's attempt to invoke international conventions on diplomatic relations and organized crime as a way of giving the court jurisdiction were "wholly artificial."

The case in The Hague is going ahead despite the fact that a French court convicted Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue in October and handed him a suspended three-year prison term for embezzling millions in public money, which he spent on fast cars, designer clothes, art and high-end real estate. The French court also handed him a suspended fine of 30 million euros ($37 million) and ordered that all goods seized during the investigation should remain confiscated.

FILE - In this Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2015, Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, Vice-President of Equatorial Guinea, speaks during the 70th session of the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters. A legal battle between France and Equatorial Guinea over the corruption prosecution of the African nation's vice president is back before the International Court of Justice, months after a Paris court convicted the vice president. French lawyers on Monday Feb. 19, 2018 told judges that the court, the United Nations' highest judicial organ, has no jurisdiction to rule in a 2016 case filed by Equatorial Guinea which argues that Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue has immunity from prosecution. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II, File)

Obiang Mangue, who did not attend the Paris trial, denied the charges and his lawyer, Emmanuel Marsigny, accused France of meddling in Equatorial Guinea's domestic affairs. Obiang Mangue and French prosecutors have appealed, Alabrune told judges in The Hague.

Equatorial Guinea's case at the International Court of Justice, filed in 2016, argues that Obiang Mangue has immunity from prosecution because of his position as vice president.

At a preliminary stage of the case in The Hague, the world court ruled that it appeared to have jurisdiction based on the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations. France's arguments on Monday sought to convince judges that they do not. A decision will likely take months.

Equatorial Guinea is rich in oil and gas, but most of the country's population still lives in poverty.BANGKOK (AP) - A cartoonist who lampoons Thailand's military government has done a caricature of a historian critical of the nation's monarchy and sold it in an online auction to raise money for legal aid for political dissidents.

Anon Nampha of the group Thai Lawyers for Human Rights, the beneficiary, said Monday the money will be used to bail out political prisoners.

The portrait, sold Saturday, depicts Somsak Jeamteerasakul with the Eiffel Tower in the background. Somsak fled from Thailand to France in 2014 after a coup by the country's royalist military, fearing for his safety and freedom. Insulting the monarchy is punishable by three to 15 years' imprisonment per offense.

The cartoonist known as Kai Maew - Cat's Egg - publishes minimalistic but biting four-panel cartoons on his Facebook page.ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) - While Russian officials scoff at a U.S. indictment charging 13 Russians with meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, several people who worked at the same St. Petersburg "troll factory" say they think the criminal charges are well-founded.

Marat Mindiyarov, a former commenter at the innocuously named Internet Research Agency, says the organization's Facebook department hired people with excellent English skills to sway U.S. public opinion through an elaborate social media campaign.

His own experience at the agency makes him trust the U.S. indictment, Mindiyarov told The Associated Press. "I believe that that's how it was and that it was them," he said.

FILE - In this Friday, Nov. 11, 2011, file photo, Yevgeny Prigozhin, left, serves food to Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin during dinner at Prigozhin's restaurant outside Moscow, Russia. Progozhin is known as "Putin's chef" _ a wealthy Russian businessman and restaurateur who gained favor with Putin through his stomach. On Feb. 16, 2016, Prigozhin, along with 12 other Russians and three Russian organizations, was charged by the U.S. government as part of a vast and wide-ranging effort to sway political opinion during the 2016 U.S. presidential election. According to the indictment, Prigozhin and his companies provided significant funding to the Internet Research Agency, a St. Petersburg-based troll farm that allegedly used bogus social media postings and advertisements fraudulently purchased in the name of Americans to influence the White House race. (AP Photo/Misha Japaridze, Pool, File)

The federal indictment issued Friday names a businessman linked to President Vladimir Putin and a dozen other Russians. It alleges that Yevgeny Prigozhin - a wealthy restaurateur dubbed "Putin's chef," paid for the internet operation that created fictitious social media accounts and used them to spread tendentious messages.

The aim of the factory's work was either to influence voters or to undermine their faith in the U.S. political system, the 37-page indictment states.

Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Monday that while the indictment focuses on "Russian nationals," it gives "no indication that the Russian government was involved in this in any way." Peskov reasserted that Moscow did not interfere in the U.S. election.

Mindiyarov said he failed the language exam needed to get a job on the Internet Research Agency's Facebook desk, where the pay was double than the domestic side of the factory. The sleek operation produced content that looked as if it were written by native English speakers, he said.

"These were people with excellent language skills, interpreters, university graduates," he said, "It's very hard to tell it's a foreigner writing because they master the language wonderfully."

The English test he took asked for a writing sample about Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton's chances of winning the U.S. presidential vote, Mindiyarov recalled.

"I wrote that her chances were high and she could become the first female president," he told the AP.

Mindiyarov said he took a job at the troll factory in late 2014 because he was unemployed and curious. At the time, about 400 people occupied four floors of an office building and worked 12-hour shifts, he said. Most of the operation focused on the separatist insurgency in eastern Ukraine and Western sanctions against Russia, not political races in the West, he said.

The factory had video and photo departments, Mindiyarov said. The trolls received their wages in cash and operated in teams as they tried to foment public interest with fake discussions, he said.

"We worked in a group of three where one played the part of a scoundrel, the other one was a hero, and the third one kept a neutral position," he said. "For instance, one could write that Putin was bad, the other one would say it was not so, and the third would confirm the position of the second while inserting some picture."

After only a couple of months, Mindiyarov quit. He said he hated the work.

"The world in those comments was divided into black and white: America was bad, Putin was good," he said. "They praised whatever had to do with Putin and criticized anything related to America, 'gay' Europe, and so on. That was the principle of the work."

Another former worker at the St. Petersburg workshop, Lyudmila Savchuk, also described it as an efficient venture that churned out posts around the clock.

Like Mindiyarov, Savchuk was employed in the domestic department of the "troll farm," not the international division. Nevertheless, she said her experience there corresponds with what she knows of the allegations made by American authorities.

"The posts and comments are made to form the opinion of Russian citizens regarding certain issues, and as we see it works for other countries, too," Savchuk told the AP.

Paid trolls used carefully crafted fake identities that made them come across like real people, she said.

"The most important principle of the work is to have an account like a real person," Savchuk said. "They create real characters, choosing a gender, a name, a place of living and an occupation. Therefore, it's hard to tell that the account was made for the propaganda."

Prigozhin, aka "Putin's Chef," owned restaurants and catering businesses that hosted the Russian leader's dinners with foreign dignitaries. He used his relationship with Putin to expand his business to include services for the Russian military.

"I'm not at all upset that I'm on this list," Prigozhin said of the indictment in comments carried by Russia's state RIA Novosti news agency. "If they want to see the devil, let them see him."

Along with producing social media supporting Donald Trump's candidacy and disparaging Clinton, the Internet Research Agency purchased online advertisements using identities stolen from Americans and staged political rallies while posing as American political activists, the indictment alleges. The agency also paid people in the U.S. to promote or ridicule the candidates, the document states.

Analysts and journalists have found that some of the Russian-run accounts accrued national followings in the United States, while far-right Americans and several members of Trump's team retweeted posts created in St. Petersburg.

It reportedly used doctored videos to spread false reports about a supposed Islamic State attack on a chemical plant in Louisiana and a purported case of Ebola in the state of Georgia. Seeking to sow division and mistrust ahead of the U.S. election, the agency apparently whipped up a fake video of an African-American woman being shot dead by a white police officer in Atlanta.

"All of the trolls knew that it's Prigozhin who stands behind this all," Mindiyarov, the ex-commenter who left the organization in early 2015, said. "But nobody had any evidence."

He said that the employees disliked Prigozhin, in part because he didn't set up a cafeteria or canteen in the troll factory building even though he owned a sprawling catering business.

"People had to bring food boxes from home," Mindiyarov said. "Prigozhin did not treat the trolls well. He could at least feed them."

While the U.S. indictment mentioned 13 people, many more must have been involved in the effort, according to Savchuk.

"Here they laugh about the news that 13 people could influence the elections in the U.S., but there were many more people doing that," she said. "These technologies are unbelievably effective."

She added that she learned how effective the troll farm's work was when she saw regular people sharing opinions and information that she knew were planted by trolls.

"They believed it was their own thoughts, but I saw that those thoughts were formed by the propagandists," she said.

The Internet Research Agency has reportedly changed locations, moving to another business center in the northern part of St. Petersburg. It's unclear whether it still goes by that name.

Andrey Zakharov, an investigative journalist with Russian RBC outlet who co-reported an investigation of the troll factory, said the list of indicted Russians looked "quite random" to him.

"They simply included in it all the names they could find," Zakharov told the AP. "According to our information, some of these people don't work at the factory now and did not even work there during the (U.S.) elections. This does not look like a result of a solid investigation."

Although the U.S. indictment is detailed, it makes assertions without providing evidence outright. Russian officials have seized on that, including Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who dismissed the charges as "just blabber."

___

Mstyslav Chernov in St. Petersburg, Iuliia Subbotovska, Nataliya Vasilyeva and Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow and Raphael Satter in Paris contributed to this report.

In this image taken from video on Sunday, Feb. 18, 2018, Marat Mindiyarov, a former internet troll, speaks to journalists in St.Petersburg, Russia. While Russian officials have denigrated a U.S. indictment charging 13 Russians with meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential vote through an elaborate social media campaign, former Internet trolls employed at the same facility see them as well-grounded. Mindiyarov, a former commentator at the Internet Research Agency, said his own experience at the "troll factory" makes him trust the U.S. charges. "I believe that that's how it was and that it were them," he told The Associated Press. .(AP Photo/Mstyslav Chernov)

Lyudmila Savchuk, former troll and researcher speaks to journalists in St.Petersburg, Russia, Monday, Feb. 19, 2018. While Russian officials have denigrated a U.S. indictment charging 13 Russians with meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential vote through an elaborate social media campaign, former Internet trolls employed at the same facility see them as well-grounded. Savchuk, who was employed by the domestic department of the "troll farm", said that her experience with it corresponded with the allegations made by the U.S. indictment. "The posts and comments are made to form the opinion of Russian citizens regarding certain issues, and as we see it works for other countries, too," she told the AP. (AP Photo/Mstyslav Chernov)

FILE - In this Monday, July 19, 2006 file photo, Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and U.S. President George W Bush attend a working dinner with the other leaders of the G8 nations, as Russian businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin stands on the right, in St. Petersburg, Russia. While Russian officials have denigrated a U.S. indictment charging 13 Russians with meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential vote through an elaborate social media campaign, former Internet trolls employed at the same facility see them as well-grounded. The indictment alleged that Yevgeny Prigozhin _ a wealthy entrepreneur and restaurateur dubbed "Putin's chef" _ funneled money to set up the troll factory that sent operatives to the United States, created fictitious social media accounts and used them to spread tendentious messages. (Sergei Zhukov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, file)

FILE - In this Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2016 file photo, businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin gestures at the Konstantin palace outside St. Petersburg, Russia. One of those indicted in the Russia probe is a businessman with ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Prigozhin is an entrepreneur from St. Petersburg who's been dubbed "Putin's chef" by Russian media. His restaurants and catering businesses have hosted the Kremlin leader's dinners with foreign dignitaries. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, file)

FILE - In this Monday, Sept. 20, 2010 file photo, businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin, right, shows Russian President Vladimir Putin, second right, around his factory which produces school means, outside St. Petersburg, Russia. On Friday Feb. 16, 2018, Yevgeny Prigozhin along with 12 other Russians and three Russian organizations, were charged by the U.S. government as part of a vast and wide-ranging effort to sway political opinion during the 2016 U.S. presidential election.(Alexei Druzhinin, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)

In this pool photo taken on Monday, Sept. 20, 2010, businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin, right, shows Russian President Vladimir Putin, center, around his Concord Catering factory which produces school lunches, outside St. Petersburg, Russia. One of those indicted in the Russia probe is a businessman with ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Prigozhin is an entrepreneur from St. Petersburg who's been dubbed "Putin's chef" by Russian media. His restaurants and catering businesses have hosted the Kremlin leader's dinners with foreign dignitaries. (Alexei Druzhinin, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

FILE - In this file photo taken on Sunday, April 19, 2015, a women enters the four-storey building known as the "troll factory" in St. Petersburg, Russia. The U.S. government allege the Internet Research Agency started interfering as early as 2014 in U.S. politics, extending to the 2016 presidential election, saying the agency was funded by a St. Petersburg businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin. (AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky, File)

A security guard speaks on the phone outside the Concord Catering office in St. Petersburg, Russia, Sunday, Feb. 18, 2018. The U.S. government allege the Internet Research Agency started interfering as early as 2014 in U.S. politics, extending to the 2016 presidential election, saying the agency was funded by a St. Petersburg businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin. (AP Photo/Mstyslav Chernov)CAIRO (AP) - Egypt's military says three troops, including an officer, were killed in restive Sinai in fighting with militants.

They are the first casualties Egypt has announced from an offensive Cairo launched on Feb. 9.

Military spokesman Tamer al-Rifai said Monday that two other officers and a conscript were wounded in the fighting, part of the sweep aiming to end a years-long insurgency by Islamic militants.

He says four militants were also killed.

The operation covers north and central Sinai and parts of Egypt's Nile Delta and the Western Desert, along the porous border with Libya. It involves land, sea and air forces, and the army claims to have destroyed hundreds of targets and killed dozens of fighters.

The army's figures cannot be independently confirmed as journalists are banned from the area.SYDNEY (AP) - A lawyer accused Oscar-winning Australian actor Geoffrey Rush in court Monday of touching an actress inappropriately on an Sydney stage three years ago while he was starring in a production of "King Lear."

Rush is suing Sydney's The Daily Telegraph newspaper in Federal Court for defamation over articles last year which alleged inappropriate behavior and touching during the Sydney Theatre Company production in 2015.

The newspaper's lawyer, Tom Blackburn, told the court on Monday that Rush, now 66, touched an actress who has not been identified on five consecutive nights in the last week of the production in a way that he had not done before and that made her uncomfortable.

FILE - In this Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2013 file photo, actor Geoffrey Rush poses at the photo call for the film The Best Offer at the 63rd edition of the Berlinale, International Film Festival in Berlin. A lawyer has accused Geoffrey Rush in a court of repeatedly touching an actress inappropriately on an Sydney stage three years ago while the Oscar-winning actor was starring in a production of "King Lear" it was announced on Monday, Feb. 19, 2018 Rush is suing Sydney's The Daily Telegraph newspaper in the Federal Court for defamation over articles last year which alleged(AP Photo/Michael Sohn, file)

"She said stop - he didn't. He went on doing it. Our case is that that in itself is inappropriate," Blackburn told the court.

But Rush's lawyer, Richard McHugh, told the court the accusations were vague.

Blackburn is fighting Rush's request to have the newspaper's truth defense struck out.

Justice Michael Wigney delayed his decision on that request to a later date.

McHugh told the court that parts of the defense lacked specificity and did not detail Rush's alleged behavior.

The inappropriate behavior is alleged to have occurred when Rush and the actress were required to touch on stage, McHugh said.

"To this day, it's not clear what they're saying. Not just unclear, it's completely opaque," McHugh said.

The newspaper's lawyers have previously told the court that the articles did not allege Rush engaged in inappropriate behavior of a sexual nature.

Blackburn said for the purposes of the defense it wasn't important where Rush touched the actress, but the fact she allegedly asked him to stop - and he didn't stop - made it inappropriate.

Rush, who was not in court on Monday, has denied behaving inappropriately.

Rush announced in December he was suing the newspaper over its reporting of the actress's complaint of what the theatre company described in a statement as "inappropriate behavior."

The company said the complaint was made after the production closed. The actress had not wanted Rush informed of her complaint, the company said.

Rush has performed in the Sydney Theatre Company for 35 years. He won the 1997 best actor Academy Award for "Shine" and has three other Oscar nominations. He is perhaps best known as Captain Barbossa in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" films.PARKLAND, Fla. (AP) - The Latest on the deadly Florida high school shooting (all times local):

11 p.m.

A law enforcement official says the man charged with killing 17 people at a Florida high school legally purchased at least seven long guns, including an AK-47-style rifle he bought less than a month ago.

Mourners hug as they leave the funeral of Alaina Petty, in Coral Springs, Fla., Monday, Feb. 19, 2018. Petty was a victim of Wednesday's mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Nikolas Cruz, a former student, was charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder on Thursday. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

The official is familiar with the investigation but isn't authorized to discuss it and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The suspect, 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz, legally purchased an AR-15 that authorities say he used in Wednesday's shooting. Federal law allows those 18 and over to buy rifles, and Cruz passed background checks necessary to obtain the weapons.

___

6 p.m.

Authorities in Florida say Stoneman Douglas High School, the site of last week's deadly shooting rampage, will remain closed Tuesday and Wednesday.

The statement issued by the Broward County Schools on Monday said "our hearts remain with the victims and families ... as our community copes with the aftermath and recovery process from this senseless act of violence."

The statement says the goal is to initially allow staff to return by the end of the week to the school in Parkland, Florida, where 17 people were fatally shot last Wednesday. The statement did not elaborate on when students might be able to return or when classes might resume.

___

3:45 p.m.

Hundreds of sign-carrying, chanting protesters have converged on a downtown Los Angeles park, demanding tougher background checks and other gun-safety measures following last week's deadly school shooting in Florida.

About 500 protesters gathered in LA's Pershing Square shortly before noon Monday.

Many chanted, "Ho, ho, hey, hey, our kids, not the NRA. Others held signs proclaiming, "Our Children Are Counting On You."

Last week's shooting killed 17 people at Florida's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School

One of Monday's protesters, Samantha Dorf, tells The Associated Press she supports the Second Amendment right to bear arms but believes stronger background checks for gun-buyers are needed.

___

3:25 p.m.

A prominent psychiatrist is cautioning survivors that they may want to limit the funeral services they attend to close friends after 17 people were fatally gunned down at a Florida high school last week.

Dr. Francisco Cruz, lead psychiatrist at Ketamine Health Centers, says those survivors shouldn't feel obligated to attend all 17 funerals. He also says overexposure to news coverage and social media posts about the shooting may be more harmful than attending a series of funerals.

Cruz says going through the "funeral process" can help people get through tough times. He says the ideal situation is to confront trauma "head on with the support" and to seek out counselors, pastors or others as needed.

____

2:30 p.m.

More than 1,500 mourners have thronged a church for the funeral of 14-year-old student Alaina Petty, one of the 17 people killed in last week's shooting rampage at a Florida high school.

Petty was a freshman and one of 17 people killed in Wednesday's attack at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

Family members spoke at Monday's funeral about how the teen had enthusiastically joined fellow Mormon youth for cleanup efforts after Hurricane Irma struck Florida in September. Her father, Ryan Petty, also spoke about the support the victims' families have received from their church, the community and others worldwide.

The funeral was held at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Coral Springs, not far from the school that Alaina Petty attended.

___

1:30 p.m.

Florida school shooting suspect Nikolas Cruz has appeared in court for a procedural hearing.

Cruz said nothing at Monday's hearing in Broward County Circuit Court, the first he attended in person and not via teleconference from jail. He kept his head down and did not appear to make eye contact with the judge or others in the courtroom, though he responded briefly to someone on the defense team at the end of the hearing.

The hearing concerned the rules going forward of how documents would be sealed. Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer said she was in favor of openness whenever possible.

Cruz is charged with killing 17 people and wounding many others in Wednesday's shooting attack at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, which he once attended. His lawyers have said he will plead guilty if prosecutors agree not to pursue the death penalty. No decision has been made on that.

___

12:30 p.m.

State Sen. Bill Galvano, a Republican and incoming Senate president, says the Florida Senate is preparing a sweeping package of legislation in the aftermath of the deadly shooting at a high school.

The legislation includes new age restrictions for gun purchases, a ban on bump stocks and gun violence restraining orders.

Seventeen people were killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School last week and legislative leaders saw firsthand the building where the shootings took place.

The Senate is considering a wide array of measures that also include boosting spending on mental health programs for schools and giving law-enforcement greater power to involuntarily hold someone considered a danger to themselves.

Nineteen-year-old Nikolas Cruz is facing 17 counts of murder in the Wednesday afternoon shooting.

___

11:15 a.m.

The White House says President Donald Trump supports efforts to improve the federal gun background check system after a school shooting in Florida that killed 17 people.

Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Monday that the president had spoken to Sen. John Cornyn, a Texas Republican, about a bipartisan bill designed to strengthen the FBI database of prohibited gun buyers.

Sanders said, "While discussions are ongoing and revisions are being considered, the President is supportive of efforts to improve the Federal background check system."

The bill would penalize federal agencies that fail to provide the necessary records and reward states that comply with federal grant preferences and other incentives.

Trump has been a strong supporter of gun rights and the National Rifle Association.

___

7:50 a.m.

The couple who took in the Florida school shooting suspect after his mother died says he told them he was sorry after the shooting.

Speaking Monday on ABC's "Good Morning America," James and Kimberly Snead said they've only seen Nikolas Cruz once since the shooting that killed 17 when they briefly saw him at the police station.

Kimberly Snead says she yelled at him and "really wanted to strangle him more than anything." The couple says Cruz told them he was sorry.

The Sneads also said the person who's been shown to the world since the shootings isn't the person they knew when he lived with them. They said Cruz was very polite and followed all their rules.

Cruz is facing 17 counts of murder in the Wednesday afternoon shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.

___

12:50 a.m.

Student survivors of the deadly Florida school shooting who hope to become the face of a revived gun control movement are on a potential collision course with President Donald Trump.

Several of the students have criticized the president, whose election was strongly supported by the National Rifle Association and who ran on a platform opposing gun control.

Trump spent the weekend in South Florida, only an hour's drive from Stoneman Douglas High School where 17 people were fatally shot last week. His only mentions of the massacre came in tweets Saturday contending the FBI was too focused on the Russia investigation to respond to warnings about the alleged shooter and mocking Democrats for failing to pass gun control.

Mourners hug as they leave the funeral of Alaina Petty, in Coral Springs, Fla., Monday, Feb. 19, 2018. Petty was a victim of Wednesday's mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Nikolas Cruz, a former student, was charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder on Thursday. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

The casket of Alaina Petty, a victim of Wednesday's mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, leaves her funeral in Coral Springs, Fla., Monday, Feb. 19, 2018. Nikolas Cruz, a former student, was charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder on Thursday. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Nikolas Cruz appears in court for a status hearing before Broward Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Monday, Feb. 19, 2018. Cruz is charged with killing 17 people and wounding many others in Wednesday's attack at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, which he once attended. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP, Pool)

Nikolas Cruz appears in court for a status hearing before Broward Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Monday, Feb. 19, 2018. Cruz is charged with killing 17 people and wounding many others in Wednesday's attack at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, which he once attended. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP, Pool)

Nikolas Cruz appears in court for a status hearing before Broward Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Monday, Feb. 19, 2018. Cruz is charged with killing 17 people and wounding many others in Wednesday's attack at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, which he once attended. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP, Pool)

The hearse carrying the casket of Alaina Petty, a victim of Wednesday's mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, leaves her funeral in Coral Springs, Fla., Monday, Feb. 19, 2018. Nikolas Cruz, a former student, was charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder on Thursday. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

The Hearse containing the remains of Luke Hoyer, leaves the Church by the Glades in Coral Springs where funeral services were held Monday, Feb. 19, 2018, for Hoyer, one of the 17 victims of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting. (Jose A. Iglesias/Miami Herald via AP)

Mourners hug as they leave the funeral of Alaina Petty, in Coral Springs, Fla., Monday, Feb. 19, 2018. Petty was a victim of Wednesday's mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Nikolas Cruz, a former student, was charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder on Thursday. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Mourners arrive for the funeral of Alaina Petty, Monday, Feb. 19, 2018, in Coral Springs, Fla. Petty was a victim of Wednesday's mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Nikolas Cruz, a former student, was charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder on Thursday. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Mourners arrive for the funeral of Alaina Petty, Monday, Feb. 19, 2018, in Coral Springs, Fla. Petty was a victim of Wednesday's mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Nikolas Cruz, a former student, was charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder on Thursday. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

FILE - In a Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2018 file photo, students hold their hands in the air as they are evacuated by police from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla, after a shooter opened fire on the campus. Frustration is mounting in the medical community as the Trump administration again points to mental illness in response to yet another mass shooting. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP, File)

Investigators work the crime scene of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, in Parkland, Fla., Monday, Feb. 19, 2018, where 17 students and faculty were killed in a mass shooting on Wednesday. Nikolas Cruz, a former student, was charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder on Thursday. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Nikolas Cruz appears in court for a status hearing before Broward Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Monday, Feb. 19, 2018. Cruz is charged with killing 17 people and wounding many others in Wednesday's attack at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, which he once attended. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP, Pool)

Nikolas Cruz appears in court for a status hearing before Broward Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Monday, Feb. 19, 2018. Cruz is charged with killing 17 people and wounding many others in Wednesday's attack at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, which he once attended. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP, Pool)

Nikolas Cruz appears in court for a status hearing before Broward Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Monday, Feb. 19, 2018. Cruz is charged with killing 17 people and wounding many others in Wednesday's attack at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, which he once attended. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP, Pool)

Nikolas Cruz appears in court for a status hearing before Broward Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Monday, Feb. 19, 2018. Cruz is charged with killing 17 people and wounding many others in Wednesday's attack at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, which he once attended. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP, Pool)

Nikolas Cruz appears in court for a status hearing before Broward Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Monday, Feb. 19, 2018. Cruz is charged with killing 17 people and wounding many others in Wednesday's attack at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, which he once attended. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP, Pool)

Nikolas Cruz appears in court for a status hearing before Broward Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Monday, Feb. 19, 2018. Cruz is charged with killing 17 people and wounding many others in Wednesday's attack at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, which he once attended. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP, Pool)

Nikolas Cruz appears in court for a status hearing before Broward Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Monday, Feb. 19, 2018. Cruz is charged with killing 17 people and wounding many others in Wednesday's attack at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, which he once attended. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP, Pool)

Nikolas Cruz leaves court after a status hearing before Broward Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Monday, Feb. 19, 2018. Cruz is charged with killing 17 people and wounding many others in Wednesday's attack at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, which he once attended. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP, Pool)

Denyse Christian, hugs her son Adin Christian, 16, a student at the school, at a makeshift memorial outside the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where 17 students and faculty were killed in a mass shooting on Wednesday, in Parkland, Fla., Monday, Feb. 19, 2018. Nikolas Cruz, a former student, was charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder on Thursday. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Paul Birmingham, a friend of the parents of victim Gina Montaldo, writes on a cross placed in her memory at a makeshift memorial outside the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where 17 students and faculty were killed in a mass shooting on Wednesday, in Parkland, Fla., Monday, Feb. 19, 2018. Nikolas Cruz, a former student, was charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder on Thursday. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Protesters join in on a grassroots movement during a rally against gun violence in downtown Los Angeles on Monday, Feb. 19, 2018. Hundreds of sign-carrying, chanting protesters have converged on a downtown Los Angeles park, demanding tougher background checks and other gun-safety measures following the deadly school shooting in Florida. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)

Lori Quintanilla, joins protestors on a during a rally against gun violence in downtown Los Angeles on Monday, Feb. 19, 2018. Hundreds of sign-carrying, chanting protesters have converged on a downtown Los Angeles park, demanding tougher background checks and other gun-safety measures following last week's deadly school shooting in Florida. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)

Sophie Peterson, 14 years-old from Sylmar, Calif. joins in on a rally against gun violence in downtown Los Angeles on Monday, Feb. 19, 2018. Hundreds of sign-carrying, chanting protesters have converged on a downtown Los Angeles park, demanding tougher background checks and other gun-safety measures following last week's deadly school shooting in Florida. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)

Children join their parents during a protest rally against gun violence in downtown Los Angeles on Monday, Feb. 19, 2018. Hundreds of sign-carrying, chanting protesters have converged on a downtown Los Angeles park, demanding tougher background checks and other gun-safety measures following last week's deadly school shooting in Florida. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)LONDON (AP) - A British judge sentenced a prolific pedophile to 32 years in prison Monday in what the U.K.'s national law enforcement agency described as a watershed moment for coming to grips with technology's ability to support and spread depravity.

Geophysicist Matthew Falder admitted to 137 offenses, including blackmail, voyeurism and encouraging the rape of a child.

Posing as a female artist looking to do life drawings, Falder, 29, lured victims into sending him humiliating images, many of which ended up on the dark web. He approached 300 people worldwide, some of them teens advertising for babysitting or dog walking jobs online.

This handout photo issued by the National Crime Agency shows Dr Matthew Falder. A judge in Britain has on Monday, Feb. 19, 2018 sentenced a prolific pedophile to 38 years in prison in what is being described as a watershed moment for authorities coming to grips with technology's ability to spread depravity. Geophysicist Matthew Falder admitted 137 offenses, including blackmail and encouraging the rape of a child.

Falder also hid cameras in bathrooms to record women and girls naked. He even set up a camera in the home of his parents.

In an online post titled "100 things we want to see at least once," he listed "a young girl being used as a dartboard," and the production of a video depicting a child's bones being "slowly and deliberately broken."

Judge Philip Parker branded Falder an "internet highwayman," whose behavior was "cunning, persistent, manipulative and cruel."

"The damage is ongoing for these individuals," Parker said of Falder's victims. "It will never end, knowing the abuse caused by you still exists in other unknown persons' computers."

Britain's National Crime Agency said Falder's crimes required unprecedented levels of resources to stop. The agency worked with the country's electronic intelligence agency, U.S. Homeland Security, the Australian Federal Police and Europol to crack the case. At one point, some 100 investigators were involved.

"In more than 30 years of law enforcement, I've never come across an offender whose sole motivation was to inflict such profound anguish and pain," Matt Sutton, a NCA senior investigating officer, said. "I've also never known such an extremely complex investigation with an offender who was technologically savvy and able to stay hidden in the darkest recesses of the dark web. This investigation represents a watershed moment."

Falder had been working as a lecturer at the University of Birmingham when arrested by the NCA last year. Adept at covering his tracks, he used 70 online identities - careful not to leave tracks on the social media.

He had an account on the Hurt 2 The Core network, an encrypted site on the dark web taken down by the FBI, which alerted British police. The NCA, the British equivalent of the U.S. law enforcement agency, had little to go on save the online alias "inthegarden."

"I had no scene, the internet is a virtual scene. I had no forensics whatsoever, nothing, no trace whatsoever and no witnesses ..." Sutton said. "I basically had a needle in a haystack - there are 32 million U.K. males over the age of 18 so I had to reduce that down to one."

There was no money trail to follow, either, as Falder sought status among others with similar proclivities, not cash.

"He was not about money, his currency was his kudos in the community, his standing in this world, and he traded in these type of images and this type of control," Sutton said.

Authorities contrasted Falder's level of offending against his academic prowess. A graduate of Cambridge University, he led a double life and was in a relationship.

Ruona Iguyovwe of the Crown Prosecution Service said he was very "IT savvy."

"During the day he's a lecturer in geophysics at Birmingham University, while at night online on his computer in the privacy of his iPad or his encrypted email address, he was 'evilmind' or '666devil,'" she said.

___

A version of this story was corrected to show the sentence is 32 years in prison plus six years on probation, not 38 years in prison.JOHANNESBURG (AP) - Heavy rains triggered the partial collapse of a huge mound of garbage in Mozambique's capital on Monday, killing 17 people who were buried by debris.

Authorities believe more bodies could be buried at the Hulene garbage dump on the outskirts of Maputo, and a search was underway. The garbage in the poor, densely populated area where the disaster happened rose to the height of a three-story building, according to the Portuguese news agency Lusa.

Lusa and Radio Mocambique both reported 17 deaths. Half a dozen homes were destroyed and some residents in the area fled for fear of another collapse.

Rescuers search for survivors at the collapse of a garbage mound in Maputo, Mozambique, Monday, Feb. 19, 2018. Mozambican media say at least 17 people died when heavy rains triggered the partial collapse of the mound garbage. (AP Photo/Ferhat Momade)

"The mountains of garbage collapsed on the houses and many families were still inside these residences," Fatima Belchior, a national disaster official, told Lusa. Authorities are trying to help people who lost their homes, she said.

The Hulene garbage dump is the largest such facility in Maputo. People often comb through the garbage, searching for food and items to sell.

Health workers have long raised concerns about the impact of the fumes, flies and other hazards of the dump on the surrounding community. Municipal officials have previously discussed the closure of the dump.

___

This story corrects the spelling of name in paragraph 4 to Belchior.PARIS (AP) - The French government has presented a plan to ensure the survival of wolves in the country as farmers repeatedly protest about financial losses caysed bt attacks on livestock.

Environment minister Nicolas Hulot's plan, presented Monday, aims to have 500 wolves in France by 2023, up from an estimated 360 now.

The plan allows about 10 percent of the wolf population to be killed every year, under the strict control of the authorities, to prevent attacks on herds of sheep.

FILE - In this Oct.9 2017 file photo, a French sheep breeder demonstrates with his animals against the rising wolf attacks on sheep herds in Lyon, central France. The French government has presented Monday Feb.19, 2018 a plan to ensure wolves' survival in the country as farmers repeatedly protest against financial losses due to attacks on livestock. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani, File)

The state will provide financial aid to help farmers protect their livestock, using herding dogs and electric fences.

Wolves almost became extinct in parts of Europe because of hunting in the 19th century, but have returned in recent decades to France, Italy and Slovenia due to greater protection.WASHINGTON (AP) - In a story Feb. 19 about the death of former Associated Press photographer Max Desfor, The Associated Press reported erroneously that Desfor's wife Clara died in 2004. She died in 1994.

A corrected version of the story is below:

Former AP photographer Max Desfor dies at 104

Max Desfor, former AP photographer who won Pulitzer for Korean War photos, dies at 104

By DOUGLASS K. DANIEL

Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) - Former Associated Press photographer Max Desfor, whose photo of hundreds of Korean War refugees crawling across a damaged bridge in 1950 helped win him a Pulitzer Prize, died Monday. He was 104.

Desfor died at his apartment in Silver Spring, Maryland, where he'd been living in his retirement, said his son, Barry.

Desfor volunteered to cover the Korean War for the news service when the North invaded the South in June 1950. He parachuted into North Korea with U.S troops and retreated with them after forces from the North, joined by the Chinese, pushed south.

He was in a Jeep near the North Korean capital of Pyongyang when he spotted a bridge that had been hit by bombing along the Taedong River. Thousands of refugees were lined up on the north bank waiting their turn to cross the river.

"We came across this incredible sight," he recalled in 1997 for an AP oral history. "All of these people who are literally crawling through these broken-down girders of the bridge. They were in and out of it, on top, underneath, and just barely escaping the freezing water."

Desfor climbed a 50-foot-high section of the bridge to photograph the refugees as they fled for their lives.

"My hands got so cold I could barely trip the shutter on my camera," he remembered. "I couldn't even finish a full pack of film. It was just that cold."

The Pulitzer jury in 1951 determined that Desfor's photos from Korea the previous year had "all the qualities which make for distinguished news photography - imagination, disregard for personal safety, perception of human interest and the ability to make the camera tell the whole story." The Pulitzer board honored his overall coverage of the war, based on a portfolio of more than 50 photos, and cited the Taedong River bridge shot in particular.

A native of New York, Desfor was born in the Bronx on Nov. 8, 1913, and attended Brooklyn College. He joined the AP in 1933 as a messenger. After teaching himself the basics of photography and moonlighting as a baby photographer, he began shooting occasional assignments for the AP. He became a staff photographer in the Baltimore bureau in 1938 and moved to the Washington bureau a year later.

During World War II, Desfor photographed the crew of the Enola Gay after the B-29 landed in Saipan from its mission to drop an atomic bomb on Hiroshima in August 1945. He was with the first wave of Marines at Tokyo Bay shortly after Japan's surrender that month and photographed the official surrender ceremony aboard the USS Missouri on Sept. 2, 1945.

Desfor worked for the AP in the Philippines and in India, where he photographed Mahatma Gandhi and later covered the assassinated leader's funeral in 1948. He also worked in the AP's Rome bureau and was set to return to the U.S. when war broke out in Korea.

After the war Desfor served as supervising editor of Wide World Photos, the AP's photo service, and returned to Asia in 1968 as photo chief for the region. He retired from the AP in 1978, then joined U.S. News & World Report as photo director.

Desfor and his wife, Clara, raised a son, Barry, of Wauconda, Illinois. She died in 1994.

In January 2012, when he was 98, Desfor and his longtime companion, Shirley Belasco, surprised guests at a party celebrating her 90th birthday by marrying in front of their guests. They had been friends since the 1980s when the Desfors and Ms. Belasco lived in the same Silver Spring apartment building and became a couple a few years after his wife's death. Ms. Belasco died in 2015.

A photo Desfor took during his long career that had particular meaning to him also came from the Korean War. Walking near a field he spotted two hands, blue from cold, sticking up in the snow and photographed them. The hands, which had been bound, belonged to one of several civilians taken prisoner and executed, their bodies left to be covered by snowfall.

"I labeled that picture, later on, 'Futility,' because it's always been - I've always felt that it's the civilians caught in the crossfire, the civilians, the innocent civilians, how futile it is for war," he said for the oral history. "That epitomized it to me."PYEONGCHANG, South Korea (AP) - The U.S. wasn't exactly counting on getting a medal in two-man bobsledding at the Olympics, which isn't a surprise given how the Americans have claimed only one in the last 66 years.

They weren't expecting to be this far back, either.

For the first time since 1994, an Olympics has come and gone with no U.S. sled finishing in the top 10 of the two-man competition. Justin Olsen and Evan Weinstock finished 14th on Monday night for the top American showing, the latest chapter in what's been a disappointing series of results for U.S. sliders so far in Pyeongchang.

Driver Justin Olsen and Evan Weinstock of the United States finish their fourth heat during the two-man bobsled final at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, Monday, Feb. 19, 2018. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)

Nick Cunningham and Hakeem Abdul-Saboor were 21st, while Olympic rookies Codie Bascue and Sam McGuffie were 25th.

"It's tough. We didn't train so long to come here and place 25th," Bascue said. "But I think we can put this behind us. We came in knowing our better shot was in four-man, so I think we can go into four-man with some confidence."

There is some reason for hope.

Much like how Curve 9 was an issue for luge athletes, Curve 2 has been the one thwarting American hopes in bobsled and skeleton so far. But Cunningham and Bascue - both of whom clanged their way through Curve 2 in the opening two heats on Sunday - got through it cleanly Monday. So when four-man racing happens this weekend, they'll at least know it's possible.

"I fixed what I needed to," Cunningham said.

He showed up Monday night with a clear mind, because he said that's what longtime USA-1 driver Steven Holcomb would have done. Holcomb, the three-time Olympian and three-time medalist whose unexpected death last May still has the program reeling, had an uncanny knack for not showing his frustration after bad days at the track.

"He always kind of brushed it off like nothing was the matter, because he knew once he got to the bottom and crossed the finish line he couldn't change it," Cunningham said. "So I tried to take a page out of his book."

The U.S. left Sochi four years ago with seven sliding medals - four in bobsled, two in skeleton, one in luge.

That total is not going to be matched in Pyeongchang, not even close.

So far in Pyeongchang, there's only been Chris Mazdzer's silver medal in men's luge singles. The U.S. sliding medal haul should grow by at least one and possibly two with Elana Meyers Taylor and Jamie Greubel Poser both going into the women's bobsled race that starts Tuesday as serious gold contenders. But the Americans won't leave South Korea feeling as successful as they did when they flew out of Russia in 2014.

"Were we perfect? No," Olsen said. "But we really gave everything we had to be as close to perfect as possible. This race will continue to humble people and so will this sport. You might have a down path one year and then come back, and you're struggling a bit. We don't walk away from this race upset at all. Evan and I would have liked to have push faster, but it's not like we made mistakes."

Luge was in a great spot to add more hardware to the U.S. collection; Erin Hamlin was in the mix in women's singles all the way to the end, and the Americans barely missed bronze in the team relay. But in skeleton, the Americans weren't close - the U.S. sent four sliders to the men's and women's races in Pyeongchang, and none of the four finished better than 11th.

That's an Olympic first, and an Olympic worst for the Americans.

Now it's bobsled off to a tough start, though the upcoming women's race is the one that the Americans - rightly so - felt best about coming into these Olympics. And the U.S. also believes it could be in the four-man mix, especially with veterans and Olympic medalists Steven Langton (who will be in Bascue's sled) and Chris Fogt (who will be with Olsen) having been spared pushing in two-man so they could be saved for the finale.

"We're building," Cunningham said.

___

More AP Olympics: https://wintergames.ap.org

Driver Justin Olsen and Evan Weinstock of the United States compete in their third heat during the two-man bobsled final at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, Monday, Feb. 19, 2018. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

Driver Nick Cunningham and Hakeem Abdul-Saboor of the United States starts their third heat during the two-man bobsled final at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, Monday, Feb. 19, 2018. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)LAS VEGAS (AP) - When Ivanka Trump assembled a group of Republican senators at her tony Washington home last fall, the guest list included one particularly notable name. Sen. Dean Heller of Nevada had been publicly chided by President Donald Trump months earlier and had, at times, kept the president at arm's length.

But within weeks of dining with the president's daughter and adviser, Heller, who is up for re-election this year, was working closely with the White House, writing part of the Republican tax bill.

The tax collaboration was part of steady rapprochement between the swing-state senator and loyalty-loving president. Through a series of White House meetings and phone calls, a round trip on Air Force One, and work on multiple issues with Ivanka Trump, Heller has quietly mended an awkward relationship with the president.

FILE - In this Aug. 22, 2017, file photo Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev. speaks at the 21st Annual Lake Tahoe Summit in South Lake Tahoe, Calif. When Ivanka Trump assembled a group of Republican senators at her Washington home in the fall of 2017, the guest list included one particularly notable name, Heller. But within weeks of dining with the president's daughter and adviser, Heller, who is up for re-election in 2018, was working closely with the White House, writing part of the Republican tax bill doubling the tax credit for families with children.(AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

The slow, careful warming is driven in part by political pragmatism. Heller is facing a primary challenger who has been quick to criticize the senator as insufficiently supportive of the president. An angry and meddling Trump could throw up additional hurdles.

But should he emerge from that fight, Heller - the only Republican senator seeking re-election in a state Democrat Hillary Clinton carried in the 2016 presidential election - must then face an electorate far less friendly toward the president.

The senator has not recanted his once sharp criticism of the 2016 Republican presidential nominee, but has found another way into the president's good graces. Deliberately and behind the scenes, he's shepherded a body of policy legislation to Trump's desk, and in doing so, made himself a Senate ally the president has promised to defend.

"His actions speak louder than words - on what he's accomplished with his agenda and the president's," said Nevada Republican Party Chairman Michael McDonald, a Heller friend whom Trump regularly consults. "It's a relationship between two men that has grown."

There was plenty of room to grow.

In late July, Trump publicly ribbed Heller at a White House meeting of GOP senators. With Heller to his immediate right, Trump motioned to the senator, who had recently held up the GOP's long-promised effort to repeal President Barack Obama's health care law, and declared he was "worried" about Heller and whether he was onboard. "You weren't there," he said. "But you're going to be. Look, he wants to remain a senator, doesn't he?"

Trump's lightheartedness masked frustration with Heller's opposition to the repeal legislation, which Heller argued would drop too many people from insurance coverage and do nothing to lower medical costs.

The tension was not shocking given their history. During the campaign, Heller renounced Trump as someone who "denigrates human beings" and suggested he wouldn't vote for him. (He later said he did.)

In light of their past disagreement, Heller notified the White House in late July, just days after the White House event, that he intended to vote to allow a health care debate to continue. And in September, Heller was part of the team, with South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham and Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy, to devise a last-ditch, ultimately unsuccessful effort to dismantle the Obama-era law.

Since the summer, Heller and Trump or senior White House staff have spoken regularly, chiefly on a range of policy including taxes and veterans issues. Stylistically, the two are near opposites: Heller, the quiet listener from rural Nevada who enjoys horseback riding, and Trump, the flamboyant, back-slapper from New Yorker. They've come to see in one another a get-it-done approach to policy that has fueled a respectful working relationship, McDonald said.

The senator declined to be interviewed for this story.

Heller was quick to jump on a plane to Washington in order to ride aboard Air Force One with Trump back to Nevada after the deadly mass shooting in Las Vegas in October.

Heller also has endeared himself to Trump by working closely with his daughter. Ivanka Trump and Heller, with several other Republican senators, now are studying paid family leave policy.

Heller's election path is eased by the thaw with Trump but is by no means clear. He still faces Republican primary opponent Danny Tarkanian, who entered the race in August accusing Heller of forsaking Trump.

At the same time, Heller has had to answer for Trump's proclivity for controversy.

On a constituent conference call last month, a woman asked why Heller supported Trump in light of his alleged profanity about African nations.

Trump is going to be president for the next three years, Heller replied. "I believe I have an obligation as a representative from the state of Nevada to work with every president."

In Washington this month, Trump asked McDonald, the state GOP chairman, how Heller was doing. He specifically asked when the Nevada primary was scheduled.

"I said, 'He's doing very good, sir,'" McDonald said. "He said, 'I'll be out (to Nevada) before the primary.'"Rhode Island Senate Minority Whip Nicholas Kettle, 27, was arraigned on two counts of extortion on Monday

A Republican state senator has been charged with extorting sex from a male page in Rhode Island, according to a grand jury indictment.

Senate Minority Whip Nicholas Kettle, from Coventry, was arraigned on two counts of extortion in Providence Superior Court on Monday, as the indictment was unsealed.

Kettle, 27, was indicted and arrested at his job in Richmond last week, but the details of the extortion counts remained sealed over the weekend.

The indictment says Kettle coerced a male page into sex on two occasions in 2011 - the senator's first year in the General Assembly.

It adds that Kettle threatened to injure the page or harm his reputation if he didn't comply.

State police separately charged Kettle with video voyeurism on Friday for allegedly sending pictures of his ex-girlfriend's 'private parts.'

The alleged victim, Zachary Farnum, served as a page from February 2011 to May 2012, according to his LinkedIn profile. Legislative pages, who are usually students between age 15 and college-age, run errands for lawmakers.

Kettle appears in Superior Court in Providence on Monday. The indictment says Kettle coerced a male page into sex on two occasions in 2011

The alleged victim, Zachary Farnum, served as a page from February 2011 to May 2012

Farnun is the son of retired state police lieutenant and now works as a publicist for country music artists in Nashville, according to the Providence Journal.

Kettle pleaded not guilty and was released on $50,000 personal recognizance.

He did not speak to reporters outside court and did not comment on whether he would resign, but his lawyer described Farnum as a political rival of Kettle's.

'The first thing that strikes me is who the victim is. I don't know the young man but I know he ran against my client,' Kettle's attorney Paul DiMaio said, the Providence Journal reported.

'I would think that if the person he ran against had some 'dirt' on the guy he's running against, he would have raised it at some point and time... It certainly affects someone's credibility.'

State elections records show Farnum ran against Kettle for the District 21 Senate seat in 2014 as an independent, three years after the alleged extortion.

He received nine per cent of the vote in the three-way race.

Farnun now works as a publicist for country music artists in Nashville, Tennessee

Democratic Senate President Dominick Ruggerio called for Kettle to resign immediately

The news prompted Democratic Senate President Dominick Ruggerio to again call for Kettle to resign immediately. He said he was 'horrified and disgusted by these allegations.

'As President of the Senate, as a father, and as a grandfather, I am absolutely horrified and disgusted by these allegations. We in the Senate are deeply shaken, Ruggerio said,' he said.

Kettle has refused to step down from the Senate since state police began investigating him last month.

If he continues to refuse to step down, the Senate will pursue his expulsion, Ruggerio said. He added that he also asked the Senate's chief legal counsel to conduct an immediate review of the page program.

'We have spoken to most of the pages to ensure that they are aware of their rights in the workplace, as well as procedures for reporting anything inappropriate,' Ruggerio said.

House Minority Leader Dennis Algiere has also called on Kettle to resign.

Senate spokesman Greg Pare says the Senate page program includes 67 pages, all hired at the recommendation of senators. He said pages range in age from 15 through college age. Pare said Kettle's alleged victim did not lodge any complaints while he was a page.JERUSALEM (AP) - Benjamin Netanyahu came to prominence as a star of the media age, an upgrade from older Israeli politicians in his telegenic poise, mastery of message and gift for the sound bite in English and Hebrew. But those skills may have morphed into a darker obsession with controlling the media that now accounts for much of the scandal threatening his rule.

Despite unquestioned skill as a communicator, Netanyahu has long had a rocky time with Israel's mainstream media, which is pugnacious in general and traditionally more liberal than the nationalistic governments he has led. He has increasingly accused the media of a politically motivated "witch hunt" against him and his family, members of which have become embroiled in various scandals as well.

He has maintained this message even after Israeli police last week recommended Netanyahu be indicted for corruption and bribery in two cases, one of which involved hours of recordings in which he seemed to entertain offering preferential treatment to a newspaper publisher in exchange for favorable coverage.

FILE - In this Jan. 25, 2018 file photo, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaks to journalists during the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Netanyahu traces his meteoric rise in Israeli politics to his days as a telegenic media superstar who dazzled audiences in both English and Hebrew. But he has also had a rocky relationship with Israel's notoriously aggressive media, often accusing it of carrying out a "witch hunt" against him. (Laurent Gillieron/Keystone via AP, File)

And this week, new details about another investigation have emerged involving suspicions that the prime minister promoted regulation worth hundreds of millions of dollars to Israel's Bezeq telecom company in return for puff pieces about his family in a highly popular subsidiary news site, Walla. Netanyahu has not yet been named as a suspect in the case.

Two close confidants have been arrested in connection with the probe, ex-journalists at Walla attested to pressure from above to refrain from negative coverage of Netanyahu and his family, and reports have surfaced of Netanyahu's wife Sara relaying requests to Bezeq officials.

Associates have long attested to the leader's thin skin and fixation on coverage.

"Netanyahu always wanted to control the media,'" former spokesman Aviv Bushinsky told Israel's Army Radio on Monday. "He said: 'If you don't have a media outlet, you can't operate as prime minister.'"

Last week, police said they had enough evidence to indict Netanyahu on bribery and breach of trust charges for accepting nearly $300,000 in gifts from two billionaires - in addition to discussing less critical coverage with Arnon Mozes, the publisher of the Yediot Ahronot daily. On the table was a deal whereby the government might promote legislation that would weaken the paper's main rival, the Israel Hayom free daily.

Netanyahu has denied the various allegations and said they are part of a "mendacious" media campaign to topple him. But even while defending himself, Netanyahu revealed how deeply immersed he was in media matters.

In a televised rebuttal to last week's police recommendations, Netanyahu let slip two long-suspected but hitherto unconfirmed narratives. The first was that rather than harm Israel Hayom, he actually called early elections in 2015 to stop the legislation against the paper, which is financed by his billionaire friend Sheldon Adelson and largely serves as his mouthpiece.

The second was that he tried to shut down the financially troubled Channel 10 TV station, which has long given him grief. Netanyahu had previously hinted at easing the station's debt if it fired an investigative journalist behind some of the most embarrassing exposes on him.

After winning a new term in 2015, Netanyahu appointed himself communications minister, making him responsible for media regulation, and ordered coalition partners not to float any media-related bills without his approval.

He pushed for the state-run Israel Broadcasting Authority to be shut down and replaced with a new corporation, and then waffled when the emerging personnel of the new body did not seem favorable enough. Netanyahu has since been forced to relinquish the communications ministry.

Columnist Ben Caspit, a Netanyahu nemesis, argued that it was Netanyahu's come-from-behind victory in that 2015 election that begat a dangerous hubris.

"This victory raised Netanyahu's natural smugness ... his excessive self-confidence and his belief that he is invincible and immortal to new heights," he wrote in the Maariv daily Monday.

In Netanyahu's efforts to reshape the Israeli media landscape, he has forgone press conferences and interviews and increasingly turned to social media, where he can control the message.

It's a far cry from the early days of his career. As Israel's slick-speaking ambassador to the United Nations in the 1980s, he was a fixture on American news shows. Audiences were drawn to his fluent, American-accented English, the product of an upbringing in Philadelphia and college education at MIT. He rose quickly upon returning to Israel just as the country, which once had only state TV, was liberalizing the broadcast marketplace.

His charismatic performances in the television debates leading up to the 1996 elections were widely credited as a driving force behind his first electoral win. But he was also arguing against the 1990s peace accords, which had wide popularity with the country's establishment - blaming the Palestinian attacks of those days on the peace process.

Yaakov Ahimeir, a veteran public broadcasting anchor, said Netanyahu's razor-thin victory over incumbent Shimon Peres that year - just months after the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin by a religious Jewish zealot - helped draw the battle lines.

"A lot of people considered that win legal but not legitimate, and they've hounded him ever since. I don't remember an Israeli prime minister being treated this way," he said.

Yuval Karniel, a communications expert, said Netanyahu has developed both a visceral antipathy toward the media and a strategy of attacking its elite image that appeals to his conservative base.

"He ascribes great importance to the media and that's what made him early on," he said. "It's become this type of obsession exactly because he understands the media's power and wants it on his side."

____

Follow Heller at www.twitter.com/aronhellerapThe NYPD Special Victims Division is pleading for new leads in the hunt for a teenager who raped a 12-year-old girl in 2015.

The girl, who was in pigtails and a school uniform and carrying a princess lunch box, had just stepped off a Bronx bus after tutoring about 6pm on February 24, 2015.

The teen grabbed her by the arm and threatened her.

'If you scream, I'm gonna kill you,' he said, according to police.

The stranger dragged her roughly, turning down an alley where he brutally attacked her.

Despite DNA evidence and surveillance footage of the attack, no arrests have been made.

As the anniversary nears, the Special Victims Division detective on the case is pleading for anyone with information to send a tip through the CrimeStoppers website or to call the hotline.

The NYPD Special Victims Division is pleading for new leads in the hunt for a teenager who raped a 12-year-old girl in February 2015 in The Bronx, New York

The girl was in pigtails and a school uniform carrying a princess lunch box when she stepped off a Bronx bus after tutoring when the teen grabbed her arm on February 24, 2015

At first, he tried to lead her into an apartment building, but the doors were locked so he walked her into an alley at 2064 Daley Avenue, the first building off 179th Street

'She was just a baby,' said Detective Diane Crowley. 'This is the worst of the worst.'

Surveillance footage shows a young man in tan cargo pants, wearing a blue jacket with a hood and a hat.

His face is blurry, but it's not impossible to recognize.

He is described as being in his early to mid-teens and is about 5'2" tall.

Crowley thinks that part of the problem, is that the suspect was also young, probably 14 to 16 years old.

She thinks people are afraid of being wrong and turning in an innocent kid.

'Obviously with the forensic evidence, there's no way the wrong kid will go to jail for this,' she said.

'I just think after three years, you told somebody, you told part of it to somebody. A mom saw it. Someone knows something.'

There's a reward of more than $22,000 for any tips leading to an arrest.

Crowley is haunted by the case.

She said that when she arrived to the hospital after police were called, the little girl was in a bed and still in her uniform, but it was ripped and dirty and her glasses were askew.

She had a hard time explaining the attack to law enforcement.

'She had to describe things that happened to her that she didn't even have the vocabulary for,' Crowley said.

'She'd never seen a male body before.'

The 12-year-old was on the BX 19 bus to East Tremont, where she transferred to another bus to go home.

She said the suspect grabbed her when she got off. At first, he tried to lead her into an apartment building, but the doors were locked. He then walked her into an alley at 2064 Daley Avenue, the first building off 179th Street.

After the attack, she ran and called her mother and they went to the hospital, which collected forensic evidence.

It took police days to find the crime location because the little girl didn't know where she was.

Despite DNA evidence and surveillance footage of the attack, no arrests have been made. There's a reward of more than $22,000 for any tips leading to an arrest

It took police days to find the crime location because the little girl didn't know where she was

Surveillance footage shows a young man in tan cargo pants, wearing a blue jacket with a hood and a hat. His face is blurry, but it's not impossible to recognize. He is described a being in his early to mid-teens and is approximately 5'2" tall

The 12-year-old was on the BX 19 bus to East Tremont, where she transferred to another bus to go home. She said the suspect grabbed her when she got off at this corner (above)

They followed up on hundreds of leads, talked to any gang members in the possibility it was some sort of initiation and combed through bus footage.

The victim didn't remember seeing him at school but it looked like he might have also have been wearing a uniform.

'I think most sex crimes are about opportunity. She happened to be an easy target,' Crowley said.

'But when you find a 12-year-old and you say: "I'm going to kill you"...it's a real cowardly attack.'

Crowley said the girl has had ups and downs since the attack.

She's anxious and can't sleep and struggles in school but is growing into a smart young woman and is doing her best.

'But, her innocence was taken. The twinkle in her eye dimmed out,' Crowley said.

'I would love nothing more than to bring her and her family justice.'DURHAM, N.C. (AP) - Problems identifying protesters on video hindered North Carolina prosecutors on Monday as they sought to hold demonstrators responsible for toppling a Confederate statue last summer.

A judge dismissed the criminal cases against the first two defendants to appear in a series of individual trials, and he found a third not guilty. Trials for five others are to be held at a later date.

Prosecutors showed videos of protesters bringing out a ladder, attaching a rope and yanking down the statue in front of a Durham County government building in August 2017. But defense attorneys successfully argued through a series of objections that investigators had failed to meet stringent standards to prove the first two defendants were the people seen on the video.

FILE - In a Thursday, Aug. 17, 2017 file photo, from left, Ngoc Loan Tran, 24, Peter Gull Gilbert, 36, and Dante Strobino, 35, leave a courtroom in the Durham County Courthouse after their first court appearance after being arrested for the toppling of the Durham County confederate statue during a protest, in Durham, NC. A North Carolina judge trying protesters accused of toppling a Confederate statue on Monday, Feb. 19, 2018, dismissed the criminal case against Strobino. (Casey Toth/The Herald-Sun via AP, File)

In dropping charges against defendant Peter Gilbert, Durham County District Court Judge Fred Battaglia noted "the court must dismiss this case now ... because the identification has not been made." He cited a similar reason for dropping the case against the first defendant of the day, Dante Strobino.

While Battaglia declined to dismiss the third case over similar defense arguments, he nonetheless found Raul Jimenez not guilty on all charges.

The three had faced misdemeanor counts including defacing a public building or monument and conspiracy. The rest of the defendants face similar charges.

The toppling of the statue helped thrust North Carolina into a national debate on Confederate monuments in the aftermath of white supremacist protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, which left one counterdemonstrator dead last August. The Virginia demonstrations were triggered by a dispute over another Confederate monument.

While statues elsewhere have been vandalized, the Durham case drew widespread attention because protesters succeeded in bringing it down. North Carolina is among a handful of Southern states with the most Confederate monuments. It also has a law preventing local officials from removing the statues.

Some of the Durham protesters have cited the Virginia violence as the reason they gathered Aug. 14 for the demonstration that led to the statue's toppling. They say removing Confederate monuments is part of a larger fight against racism - an idea echoed by defense attorney Scott Holmes on Monday.

Holmes told the judge that the nearly century-old statue benefited "those who would celebrate the traitorous, violent defense of human enslavement."

However, some Southerners argue that the memorials honor fallen ancestors and represent history, not racism.

And, prosecutors argued, the defendants broke the law by destroying the county's property.

"This was not a spontaneous event, but a well-orchestrated plan of organized destruction," said prosecutor Ameshia Cooper.

The protesters initially faced felony rioting charges, but the district attorney announced earlier this year that he was dropping those counts.

The crumpled statue was taken to a warehouse shortly after the demonstration, and its pedestal has remained empty. Local leaders are convening a panel to study what to do with it and other Confederate memorials in the area.

___

Follow Drew at www.twitter.com/JonathanLDrewIn a story Feb. 19, The Associated Press, relying on information in an American Psychiatric Association news release, erroneously reported that the American Osteopathic Association was among medical groups that issued a statement after the Parkland, Florida, school shooting calling for action, including labeling gun violence a national public health epidemic. The APA says it mistakenly included the osteopathic group, which says it did not participate in the joint statement.

A corrected version of the story is below:

Trump focus on mental health after school shooting denounced

The U.S. medical community is voicing mounting frustration over the Trump administration's focus on mental illness to fight mass violence

By LINDSEY TANNER

AP Medical Writer

Frustration is mounting in the medical community as the Trump administration again points to mental illness in response to yet another mass shooting.

"The concept that mental illness is a precursor to violent behavior is nonsense," said Dr. Louis Kraus, forensic psychiatry chief at Chicago's Rush University Medical College. "The vast majority of gun violence is not attributable to mental illness."

Nikolas Cruz, the 19-year-old charged with killing 17 people on Valentine's Day at his former high school in Parkland, Florida, has been described by students as a loner with troubling behavior who had been kicked out of school. His mother recently died and Cruz had been staying with family friends.

Since the shooting, his mental health has been the focus of President Donald Trump's comments. And on a Thursday call with reporters, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said the administration is committed to addressing serious mental illness and that his agency "will be laser-focused on this issue in the days, weeks, and months to come."

Mental health professionals welcome more resources and attention, but they say the administration is ignoring the real problem - easy access to guns, particularly the kind of high-powered highly lethal assault weapons used in many of the most recent mass shootings.

"Even for those who manage to survive gun violence involving these weapons, the severity and lasting impact of their wounds, disabilities and treatment leads to devastating consequences," American Medical Association President David Barbe wrote in an online column after the shooting.

"We are not talking about Second Amendment rights or restricting your ability to own a firearm. We are talking about a public health crisis that our Congress has failed to address. This must end," Barbe wrote.

Better access to mental health care, including for those who might be prone to violence, is important, but "to blame this all just on mental illness is not sufficient," he said in an interview Friday.

The AMA has supported efforts to boost gun violence research, ban assault weapons and to restrict access to automatic weapons. Barbe wrote in his column that federally funded research is crucial to address an "urgent health crisis."

Under gun industry pressure, U.S. government research on firearm violence has been limited for decades.

The American Psychiatric Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and three other medical associations issued a joint statement Friday urging comprehensive action by Trump and Congress, including labeling gun violence a national public health epidemic.

The groups' recommendations include limits on high-powered, rapid-fire weapons designed to kill and funding gun violence research at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

According to the CDC, there were about 38,000 U.S. gun deaths in 2016, slightly more than the number of people who died in car crashes.

"The families of the victims in Parkland and all those whose lives have been impacted by daily acts of gun violence deserve more than our thoughts and prayers. They need action from the highest levels of our government to stop this epidemic of gun violence now," the groups said in a statement.

The American Academy of Family Physicians, the American College of Physicians and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists contributed to the statement.

The president views gun owners as a key constituency that helped deliver him to the White House.

Before he was a candidate, Trump at one point favored some tighter gun regulations. But he embraced gun rights as a candidate, and the NRA spent $30 million in support of his campaign.

His latest budget request would slash Medicaid, the major source of federal funding for treating mental health problems, and cut school safety programs by more than a third. Last year, he signed a resolution blocking an Obama-era rule designed to keep guns out of the hands of certain mentally disabled people.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement Sunday that Trump is working with senators on a bill designed to improve criminal background checks. "While discussions are ongoing and revisions are being considered, the President is supportive of efforts to improve the Federal background check system," she said.

Florida's Republican governor, Rick Scott, a Trump ally, said he had discussed with Trump and GOP leaders how to restrict gun access to the mentally ill.

Federal and state laws already attempt to do this, in many cases with a ban on gun ownership for people who have been treated in mental institutions.

"There's a great naivete to what the president and the governor are proposing," Kraus said. A history of violent behavior, alcohol and substance use, and previous criminal behavior are all more pertinent factors to consider.

Dr. Garen Wintemute, director of a violence prevention research program at the University of California, Davis, said gun violence restraining order laws in California and Washington are "a much more focused approach." The laws allow courts to keep guns out of the hands of people who pose threats to themselves or others.

"Florida has no such mechanism. Could have prevented this one; there was plenty of advance notice," Wintemute said.

___

AP Writer Catherine Lucey contributed to this story from West Palm Beach, Fla.

___

Follow AP Medical Writer Lindsey Tanner on Twitter at @LindseyTanner. Her work can be found here.FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) - Bold. Visionary. A spectacular success.

The words in an online promotion for a new museum exhibit in Washington, D.C., describe an 1830 U.S. law that forced thousands of American Indians from their lands in the South to areas west of the Mississippi River.

Provocative, yes, says the co-curator of the exhibit "Americans" that opened last month at the National Museum of the American Indian. Bold and visionary in imagining a country free of American Indians. A spectacular success in greatly expanding wealth from cotton fields where millions of blacks worked as slaves.

People look at a section of the "Americans" exhibit that explores the historical context of the Battle of Little Bighorn, at the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian, Friday, Feb. 9, 2018, in Washington. A new exhibit uses images of Natives to show how the population permeates American culture. The "Americans" exhibit has received good reviews, but some say the accompanying website falls short in its characterization of an 1830 U.S. law that forced thousands of American Indians off their lands. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

"When you're in the show, you understand bold and visionary become tongue in cheek," co-curator Cecile Ganteaume said.

The exhibit that runs through 2022 has opened to good reviews and pushes the national debate over American Indian imagery - including men in headdresses with bows, arrows and tomahawks - and sports teams named the Chiefs, Braves and Blackhawks. The NFL's Washington Redskins logo on one wall prompts visitors to think about why it's described both as a unifying force in D.C. and offensive.

The exhibit falls short, some say, with an accompanying website and its characterization of the Indian Removal Act.

The online text is a perplexing way to characterize an effort that spanned multiple presidencies and at one point, consumed one-fifth of the federal budget, said Ben Barnes, second chief of the Shawnee Tribe.

The law led to the deaths of thousands of people who were marched from their homes without full compensation for the value of the land they left behind. And it affected far more tribes than the five highlighted online, he said.

"It made it seem like it was a trivial matter that turned out best for everyone," he said. "I cannot imagine an exhibit at the newly established African-American museum that talked about how economically wonderful slavery was for the South."

Ganteaume said the website isn't encyclopedic and neither it nor the exhibit is meant to dismiss the experiences of American Indians. Instead, it challenges the depths at which people recognize indigenous people are ingrained in America's identity and learn how it happened, she said.

An opening gallery has hundreds of images of American Indians - often a stoic chief in a Plains-style headdress or a maiden - on alcohol bottles, a sugar bag, motor oil, a missile mounted on the wall and a 1948 Indian Chief motorcycle.

Dozens of clips expand on how the imagery has permeated American culture in television and film.

But when historic or cartoonish images are the only perception people have of what it means to be Native, they can't imagine American Indians in the modern world, said Julie Reed, a history professor at the University of Tennessee.

"Even when I'm standing in front of students, identified as a Cherokee professor, making the point from Day 1 that I'm still here and other Cherokee people are still here, I still get midterm exams that talk about the complete annihilation of Indian peoples," she said.

Ganteaume said that while Native people have deep histories in other countries, the United States is more often fixated on using images of them.

Side galleries expand on what's familiar to most Americans: the Trail of Tears, Pocahontas and the Battle of Little Bighorn. An orientation film on the invention of Thanksgiving starts with a once widely used television screen test featuring an Indian head and then questions the hoopla of the national holiday when America already had Independence Day.

Eden Slone, a graduate student in museum studies in the Washington, D.C., area, said she was impressed by the exhibit's design and interactive touch tables. She never realized that Tootsie Pop wrappers featured an image of an American Indian in a headdress, holding a bow and arrow.

"I think the exhibition was carried out well and it definitely makes you think of Native American imagery," she said. "When I see images like that, I'll think more about where it came from."

Reed, University of Tennessee professor and Cherokee woman, fears people will get the wrong impression about the Indian Removal Act from the website. An essay puts a positive spin on what Reed calls ethnic cleansing.

Yet, she plans to visit.

"I think there is legitimacy to say, come look at this exhibit. That's a fair response to criticism," Reed said. "I want to go and give the exhibit a fair shake because it may be brilliant and could do everything the website does not."

A school groups explores an interactive touch table to learn about the objects and images on display at the "Americans" exhibit at the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian, Friday, Feb. 9, 2018, in Washington. The exhibit uses Native imagery to show how it permeates American culture. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Objects using imagery of Native Americans are on display at the "Americans" exhibit at the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian, Friday, Feb. 9, 2018, in Washington. A new exhibit uses images of Natives to show how the population permeates American culture. The "Americans" exhibit has received good reviews, but some say the accompanying website falls short in its characterization of an 1830 U.S. law that forced thousands of American Indians off their lands. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

A woman looks at a section of the "Americans" exhibit that explores the historical context of the Trail of Tears, at the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian, Friday, Feb. 9, 2018, in Washington. A new exhibit uses images of Natives to show how the population permeates American culture. The "Americans" exhibit has received good reviews, but some say the accompanying website falls short in its characterization of an 1830 U.S. law that forced thousands of American Indians off their lands. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

A "Native American Barbie" doll is among the items on display at the "Americans" exhibit at the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian, Friday, Feb. 9, 2018, in Washington. A new exhibit uses images of Natives to show how the population permeates American culture. The "Americans" exhibit has received good reviews, but some say the accompanying website falls short in its characterization of an 1830 U.S. law that forced thousands of American Indians off their lands. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

People look at the "Americans" exhibit at the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian, Friday, Feb. 9, 2018, in Washington. A new exhibit uses images of Natives to show how the population permeates American culture. The "Americans" exhibit has received good reviews, but some say the accompanying website falls short in its characterization of an 1830 U.S. law that forced thousands of American Indians off their lands. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

People look at a section of the "Americans" exhibit that explores the historical context of the Battle of Little Bighorn, at the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian, Friday, Feb. 9, 2018, in Washington. A new exhibit uses images of Natives to show how the population permeates American culture. The "Americans" exhibit has received good reviews, but some say the accompanying website falls short in its characterization of an 1830 U.S. law that forced thousands of American Indians off their lands. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

People look at a section of the "Americans" exhibit that explores the historical context of the Trail of Tears, at the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian, Friday, Feb. 9, 2018, in Washington. A new exhibit uses images of Natives to show how the population permeates American culture. The "Americans" exhibit has received good reviews, but some say the accompanying website falls short in its characterization of an 1830 U.S. law that forced thousands of American Indians off their lands. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran's semi-official Fars news agency says a supporter of a Sufi leader has rammed a bus into police, killing three of them before being arrested.

The semi-official ILNA news agency quoted Mohsen Hamedani, a senior security official in Tehran, as saying a gunshot was heard in the area on Monday, without providing further details.

Supporters of Sufi leader Nourali Tabandeh gathered near his residence earlier this month, fearing his arrest despite police assurances that they have no intention of detaining him.

Iran's clerically-overseen government frowns on Sufism, the mystical strain of Islam, which many conservatives view as a deviation from the faith.SAO PAULO (AP) - Brazilian leaders said Monday that the use of the military to combat rising violence in Rio de Janeiro could serve as a model for other violent areas of Brazil.

The armed forces officially took over Rio's police on Friday under a decree signed by President Michel Temer.

The measure still requires congressional approval, and the lower Chamber of Deputies began debating it late Monday. It is expected to pass both the lower chamber and Senate within a few days.

A soldier stops traffic for an armored vehicle to park on a street, before a meeting with Brazil's President Michel Temer and local authorities about the implementation of a decree that has placed the military in charge of Rio's state security, at the Guanabara palace in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Saturday, Feb. 17, 2018. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

"We are in a war against crime," said Speaker Rodrigo Maia in opening the session. "Our weapon is the constitution" for the federal government to intervene.

Temer's extraordinary decree came after Rio's governor asked for federal help following an exceptionally violent Carnival. During the holiday, there were several muggings, armed robberies and violent confrontations.

Temer met Monday with ministers and lawmakers to discuss the intervention.

"It's important to understand that Rio de Janeiro is a laboratory," Institutional Security Minister Sergio Etchegoyen said after the meeting. "It's the outward manifestation of a structural crisis."

According to the Brazilian Forum of Public Security, Rio de Janeiro isn't the most dangerous state in Brazil: In terms of violent intentional killings per 100,000 people, it ranked 11th in 2016. But Rio is in many ways Brazil's face to the world and carries major weight within the country as home to much of its media and entertainment industries.

Secretary-General Wellington Moreira Franco, a key Temer adviser, said what happens in Rio will hopefully spread throughout Brazil.

"I believe that this is one more step along the road of being able to restore security, order and, above all, confidence to residents of Rio de Janeiro state," Franco said. "This spirit is being mobilized so that ... this conversation, this methodology can spread throughout Brazil."

The security situation in Rio has been deteriorating for at least two years as the state experiences a deep fiscal crisis, often resulting in late or no payments to its police officers. The slide began just before the city hosted the 2016 Olympics, ahead of which it had ramped up policing. Those efforts, which focused on the hillside slums that are often controlled by drug traffickers, had some success.

But since the Games, battles among gangs and between gangs and the police have intensified. Major avenues are occasionally blocked for hours in shootouts and the number of people killed by stray bullets has risen dramatically.

But putting the military in charge also raises concerns about the heavy-handed tactics police have used. Amnesty International has already said that the decision to use soldiers would reinforce past mistakes by police. Rio is already the state with the most deaths during police operations.

Those concerns were fanned Monday when Defense Minister Raul Jungmann said that the authorities would seek a broader kind of search warrant that, instead of specifying an address, might list an entire street or even neighborhood where a suspect is believed to be living.

Hours before Congress was to take up the measure, an opposition party asked the Supreme Court to suspend the vote, saying Temer had not followed the rules for issuing such a decree and saying the move had "political and electoral motivations." No ruling had come from the top court by the time the session began.

Temer and his ministers have gone to great lengths to emphasize that the president is ultimately in charge of the operation, providing civilian oversight of the military. That reflects deep unease in a society where many still remember the 1964-1985 military regime.

Brazil's President Michel Temer, right, talks to the press next to the Governor of Rio de Janeiro Luiz Fernando Pezao after a meeting with local authorities about the implementation of a decree that has placed the military in charge of Rio's state security at the Guanabara Palace in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Saturday, Feb. 17, 2018. Temer said he plans to create a public security ministry to coordinate security operations in the entire country. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)DALLAS (AP) - A U.S. Postal Service worker was found fatally shot inside a mail truck along a busy highway in Dallas on Monday, and investigators are treating the case as a homicide, according to police.

Officers found the worker's body inside the government vehicle around 2:30 a.m. after responding to a reported shooting along Interstate 30 just west of downtown, according to a statement released by Dallas police.

Sr. Cpl. DeMarquis Black said no arrests have been made, and investigators are still trying to determine a possible motive behind the shooting. The victim's name hasn't been released.

The U.S. Postal Service operates two large mail sorting and processing complexes nearby, according to Amanda McMurrey, an inspector with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service , the law enforcement and security arm of the USPS.

Requests sent to the USPS for details about the employee were referred to the inspection service. McMurrey had no immediate information on the employee's route, but she said it isn't unusual for a postal service worker to be on the job before dawn.

"It is routine for postal employees to be making deliveries to stations and other post offices at that time," McMurrey said.

The Dallas Main Post Office, which includes a processing and distribution plant, is on the north side of I-30, she said. A USPS National Distribution Center is located on the south side of the highway, a main route connecting Dallas and Fort Worth.

Any charges in the slaying would be referred to federal prosecutors because the victim worked for a U.S. government agency, according to McMurrey.HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - The Latest on Pennsylvania's congressional gerrymandering case (all times local):

6 p.m.

Republicans say they'll go to federal court this week to try to block new court-ordered boundaries of Pennsylvania's congressional districts from remaining in effect for 2018's elections.

FILE - In this Oct. 7, 2015, file photo, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf, center, accompanied by state House Minority Leader Rep. Frank Dermody, right, D-Allegheny, and state Rep. Joe Markosek, left, D-Allegheny, discuss state budget negotiations at the state Capitol in Harrisburg, Pa. Pennsylvania's high court issued a new congressional district map for the state's 2018 elections on its self-imposed deadline Monday, Feb. 19, 2018, all but ensuring that Democratic prospects will improve in several seats and that Republican lawmakers challenge it in federal court. The map of Pennsylvania's 18 congressional districts is to be in effect for the May 15 primary and substantially overhauls a congressional map widely viewed as among the nation's most gerrymandered. The map was approved in a 4-3 decision. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

Top Senate Republican lawyer Drew Crompton said Monday a separation of powers case will form the essence of the GOP's argument. Crompton won't say whether Republicans will go to a district court or the U.S. Supreme Court or what type of legal remedy they'll seek.

But the case will involve making the argument the U.S. Constitution gives state legislatures and governors, not courts, the power to draw congressional boundaries.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Supreme Court wouldn't stop the state court's order to redraw congressional districts.

Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf calls the new map an effort to remedy the state's unfair and unequal congressional elections.

___

4:40 p.m.

Democratic Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf is applauding the new boundaries of congressional districts being imposed by the state Supreme Court.

Wolf said in a statement Monday that Pennsylvanians "are sick and tired of gerrymandering." He calls the court's map an effort to remedy the state's unfair and unequal congressional elections.

Wolf had backed the Democratic-majority state high court's ruling last month to throw out Pennsylvania's district boundaries. Republicans have won 13 of Pennsylvania's 18 seats in three elections under the invalidated map, although statewide elections are often closely contested.

Democratic Lt. Gov. Mike Stack says the court's map "restores a level playing field."

Republican lawmakers are expected to challenge the map in federal court.

___

3:55 p.m.

The new boundaries of congressional districts being imposed by Pennsylvania's Supreme Court could boost the Democratic Party's quest to capture control of the U.S. House in 2018's elections.

The map of districts released on the court's deadline day Monday unwinds bizarrely contorted districts, including one labeled "Goofy Kicking Donald Duck," that had been held by Republicans in Philadelphia's moderate suburbs.

The divided court appears to have drawn its own map, approved in a 4-3 vote, although some districts bear similarities to proposals submitted to the court by Democrats.

The court's order doesn't provide details on which counties, municipalities and wards are in each district. That has sowed confusion, including whether two candidates running to fill a vacancy in southwestern Pennsylvania would each land in a district with a Pittsburgh-area congressman.

___

2:45 p.m.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court is imposing a new congressional district map for the state's 2018 elections, meeting its deadline to do so and likely setting up a challenge from Republicans.

Monday's order means a new map is to take effect in the May 15 primary. Republican lawmakers are expected to quickly challenge it in federal court, arguing legislatures and governors, not courts, have the constitutional responsibility to draw congressional maps.

If it stands, the revised map is almost certain to improve Democrats' chances in more seats this year.

The Democratic-majority state high court ruled last month that Pennsylvania's district boundaries were unconstitutionally gerrymandered. Republicans have won 13 of Pennsylvania's 18 seats in three elections under the invalidated map, although statewide elections are often closely contested.

The new map won't apply to March's special election in southwestern Pennsylvania's 18th District.

___

7 a.m.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court is on the cusp of imposing a new congressional district map for the state's 2018 elections, all but ensuring that Democratic prospects will improve for several seats.

The court set a Monday deadline for itself to unveil a map of districts to take effect in the May 15 primary, although Republican lawmakers have said they'll ask federal judges to block any new map. They contend that the court is unconstitutionally commandeering legislative authority to draw districts.

The state's Democratic-majority high court ruled last month in a party-line decision that Pennsylvania's district boundaries were unconstitutionally gerrymandered. Republicans have won 13 of Pennsylvania's 18 seats in three elections under the invalidated map, although Democrats hold a statewide registration edge and most statewide offices.DANVILLE, Va. (AP) - Attorneys for a Canadian man convicted of defrauding the U.S. military after being contracted to supply armored vehicles for use in Iraq are asking a federal judge for leniency.

Defense attorneys say 72-year-old William Whyte, who faces sentencing Tuesday in federal court in Danville, never intended to defraud the government. They also cite his age and health in seeking a downward variance from sentencing guidelines.

Prosecutors are asking for an upper-range sentence of up to nine years, saying Whyte engaged in deliberate fraud and endangered the lives of American soldiers and allies in a war zone.

Whyte was convicted last year on several fraud counts.

Authorities say his now-defunct company, Armet Armed Vehicles, contracted to supply 30 vehicles but delivered only six, all behind schedule and without the specified armor.PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - In a story Feb. 19 about a Republican state senator charged with extorting page for sex, The Associated Press reported erroneously on Dennis Algiere's position. He is minority leader in the Senate, not the House.

A corrected version of the story is below:

Republican state senator charged with extorting page for sex

Republican Rhode Island state senator Nicholas Kettle charged with extorting sex from male page in Senate's page program

By MICHELLE R. SMITH

Associated Press

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - A grand jury indictment unsealed Monday accuses a Republican state senator of extorting sex from a page in the Senate's page program.

The indictment was unsealed as Senate Minority Whip Nicholas Kettle was arraigned on two counts of extortion in Providence Superior Court. Kettle, of Coventry, is accused of extorting a male page for sex multiple times. He pleaded not guilty and was released on $50,000 personal recognizance.

The news prompted Democratic Senate President Dominick Ruggerio to again call for Kettle to resign immediately. He said he was "horrified and disgusted by these allegations."

"We in the Senate are deeply shaken," he said.

If Kettle refuses to step down, the Senate will pursue his expulsion, Ruggerio said. He said he also asked the Senate's chief legal counsel to conduct an immediate review of the page program.

"We have spoken to most of the pages to ensure that they are aware of their rights in the workplace as well as procedures for reporting anything inappropriate," Ruggerio said.

Kettle, who's 27 years old, was indicted last week, but the details of the extortion counts remained sealed over the weekend. State police separately charged Kettle with video voyeurism on Friday, and his lawyer has said he denies any wrongdoing.

The indictment says Kettle extorted the page into sex on two occasions in 2011. The indictment names the page, but The Associated Press does not identify people who may be victims of sex crimes unless they come forward and agree to have their names published. The page's LinkedIn profile says he served as a page from February 2011 to May 2012.

In a statement Monday night, a spokeswoman for the page said he's "spent the last seven years coming to terms with what was done to him" and is "moving on." She said he's now an executive in the music industry in Tennessee and is no longer affiliated with Rhode Island politics.

Kettle, who's among five Republicans in the 38-member Senate, did not speak to reporters outside court and did not comment on whether he would resign, but his lawyer described the page as a political rival of Kettle's. State elections records show the page ran against Kettle as an independent in 2014, three years after the extortion is alleged to have occurred.

Senate Minority Leader Dennis Algiere also has called on Kettle to resign.

Senate spokesman Greg Pare said the Senate page program includes 67 pages, all hired at the recommendation of senators. The pages, who usually range in age from 15 through college age, help lawmakers with errands at the Rhode Island Statehouse. Pare said the page Kettle is alleged to have extorted for sex did not lodge any complaints while he was a page.

One of the Senate's 38 seats is open, and a special election is scheduled to fill it.

The House runs its own page program. A spokesman for Democratic House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello said there have been no complaints about the House program. Mattiello last week designated a former long-term page and current General Assembly employee to serve as a liaison to the House pages in case any concerns arise, spokesman Larry Berman said.

A state police affidavit on the video voyeurism charge released Monday afternoon said Kettle sent naked pictures of his then-girlfriend without her knowledge to a friend in New Hampshire. Zachary Brennan, of Springfield, New Hampshire, then sent back naked pictures of his wife, according to the affidavit.

In addition, police said the friends exchanged images of their own genitals and discussed how to take videos of the women during sex. In one message, Kettle allegedly said he needed to be "stealthy" and asked Brennan for advice.

Brennan did not immediately return a message seeking comment. Police said he admitted exchanging the photos when they searched his house last month.PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - The Latest on a Republican state senator accused of extorting sex from a Statehouse page and of video voyeurism against his girlfriend (all times local):

8:40 p.m.

A Rhode Island Statehouse page named in an unsealed grand jury indictment that accuses a Republican state senator of extorting sex from him says he's "moving on."

Rhode Island Senate Minority Whip Nicholas Kettle, appears in Superior Court in Providence on Monday, Feb. 19, 2018. A grand jury indictment unsealed Monday accuses Kettle of extorting sex from a page in the Rhode Island Senate page program. Kettle, 27, of Coventry, pleaded not guilty and was released on $50,000 personal recognizance. (Steve Szydlowski/Providence Journal via AP)

A spokeswoman for the page said Monday night that he's "spent the last seven years coming to terms" with it.

The indictment unsealed earlier Monday accuses Senate Minority Whip Nicholas Kettle of extorting sex from a page in the Senate's page program on two occasions in 2011. Kettle has pleaded not guilty.

The indictment names the page, but The Associated Press does not identify people who may be victims of sex crimes unless they come forward and agree to have their names published.

State police have separately charged Kettle, of Coventry, with video voyeurism for allegedly sending pictures of his ex-girlfriend's "private parts."

___

4:50 p.m.

Rhode Island state police say Republican Senate Minority Leader Nicholas Kettle took naked pictures of his girlfriend without her knowledge and then sent them to a friend in New Hampshire.

Police say Zachary Brennan, of Springfield, New Hampshire, then sent back naked pictures of his wife.

New details of a video voyeurism charge against Kettle were released on Monday hours after he pleaded not guilty to extorting sex from a Statehouse page.

Police say the friends exchanged images of their own genitals and discussed how to take videos of the women during sex. Police say in one message Kettle told Brennan he needed to be "stealthy."

Brennan hasn't returned a message seeking comment. Police say he admitted exchanging the photos when they searched his house last month.

Kettle has denied wrongdoing.

___

11 a.m.

An unsealed grand jury indictment accuses a Republican state senator of extorting sex from a page in the Rhode Island Senate page program.

The indictment was unsealed Monday as Senate Minority Whip Nicholas Kettle was arraigned on two counts of extortion in Providence Superior Court. Kettle pleaded not guilty.

Kettle, of Coventry, was indicted last week. State police separately charged him with video voyeurism for allegedly sending pictures of his ex-girlfriend's "private parts."

The indictment says Kettle coerced a male page into sex on two occasions in 2011.

Democratic Senate President Dominick Ruggerio says he is horrified and disgusted. He says if Kettle won't resign, he will pursue Kettle's expulsion. He says he has asked legal counsel to review the page program, and says his thoughts are with the victims.Sam Rockwell dedicated his supporting actor award to the late Alan Rickman as he accepted the Bafta gong.

The Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri actor beat the likes of Paddington 2s Hugh Grant and Christopher Plummer, who replaced Kevin Spacey in a quick re-filming of All The Money In The World after Spacey was hit with allegations of sexual misconduct.

Rockwell thanked his wife and cast members, and wrapped up his speech by telling the audience: Im very lucky to be here tonight, thank you to the British Academy, this is for my pal Alan Rickman, Ill see you at the bar!

Leslie Bibb and Sam Rockwell (Yui Mok/PA)

Black Panther star Lupita Nyongo presented the award.

Coming-of-age drama Call Me By Your Name took the adapted screenplay award, while Martin McDonaghs Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri was also named outstanding British film.

Get Out star Daniel Kaluuya won the EE Rising Star award, as voted for by the public.

Host Joanna Lumley opened up this years ceremony by acknowledging the determination to eradicate the abuse of women the world over of the many stars who wore black in solidarity with the Times Up and #MeToo campaigns.Stars from film and television grace the front pages as Sunday night saw the Bafta Awards take place at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

Most nominees and guests wore black in support of the Times Up campaign. Florence Pugh features on the front of the Telegraph wearing a ring in support of the movement. It also leads on on how the obesity crisis is being fuelled by hidden calories, with officials warning the average person is underestimating their intake by 50%.

The front page of tomorrow's Daily Telegraph: 'Hidden calories fuelling obesity' #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/l8a6HMYV4K  The Telegraph (@Telegraph) February 18, 2018

Pugh is also pictured on the front of The Sun, which also picks out the choice of dress of the Duchess of Cambridge. The pregnant royal bucked the trend in a dark green dress for the ceremony, with The Sun saying Bafta luvvies fumed at the royal for not wearing black in support of the campaign against sexual harassment.

What the papers say - February 19

Monday's Sun: "BARMY. Troop numbers shrink despite record 100k trying to join up" #tomorrowspaperstoday pic.twitter.com/I3RMQl2N4z  Helena Wilkinson (@BBCHelena) February 18, 2018

The Daily Mail, however, asks whether Kates black sash was a sign in support of the equality protest, while leading on claims by a former spy that Labour MPs were paid to meet Eastern Bloc agents during the Cold War.

Made In Dagenham star Gemma Arteton is featured n the front of The Guardian alongside Dagenham Girls Gwen Davis and Eileen Pullen  with all three opting to wear black on the Bafta red carpet. Its main story focuses on Theresa Mays plans to make universities charge less for some courses.

Guardian front page, Monday 19 February 2018: May warning to universities over high cost of tuition fees pic.twitter.com/0PvP8qUz1n  The Guardian (@guardian) February 18, 2018

The Metro leads on the same story ahead of the Prime Minsters speech on a review of higher education. She is quoted in the paper as saying Britain now has one of the most expensive systems of university tuition in the world.

Monday's i front page: Tuition fee reforms 'will be divisive' #tomorrowspaperstoday pic.twitter.com/ZmrK2ey0vV  i newspaper (@theipaper) February 18, 2018

The i says Mrs Mays plans are being challenged by senior Tories and Universities UK, with concerns the new funding model will be divisive.

Margot Robbie at the #BAFTA2018 ceremony at the Albert Hall. Stars wore black in a show of solidarity with victims of harassment. #tomorrowspaperstoday pic.twitter.com/QwYVY4HI5e  The Times Pictures (@TimesPictures) February 18, 2018

The Times front page warns savers are being tricked out of half a million pounds every day due to a rise in cybercriminals targeting pension pots.

Just published: front page of the Financial Times, international edition, Monday 19 Februaryhttps://t.co/ujoRNxeEKV pic.twitter.com/NIjTuzSqBw  Financial Times (@FinancialTimes) February 18, 2018

The Financial Times leads on Donald Trumps tweets over the Russia probe, saying the US president has denied any collusion between his campaign and Moscow.

And the Daily Mirrors campaign for an opt-out system on organ donation leads its front page, with a family revealing how their daughters heart saved the life of 10-year-old Max Johnson.Celebrities from across the pond have hailed the spread of the Times Up movement as stars in London wore black to the Baftas in solidarity with the campaign against sexual harassment and inequality.

Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Lawrence and Allison Janney were among the actresses in black gowns on the red carpet following the all-black dress code adopted at the Golden Globes in January.

Angelina Jolie attending the Baftas (Yui Mok/PA)

Britons Kristin Scott Thomas, Lily James, Andrea Riseborough and Rochelle Humes matched the American actresses in monochrome numbers at the ceremony at the capitals Royal Albert Hall.

Back home in the US, Reese Witherspoon, Kerry Washington and Emilia Clarke expressed their happiness that the campaign had expanded to the UK. All chose black dresses for the Golden Globes ceremony in Hollywood last month.

Witherspoon, who was among hundreds of prominent Hollywood women who launched the initiative to fight sexual harassment, said on Twitter: So happy to see my sisters making @TIMESUPNOW a Global Campaign.

So happy to see my sisters making @TIMESUPNOW a Global Campaign 



https://t.co/7lcs4a0PtS  Reese Witherspoon (@ReeseW) February 18, 2018

Fellow Times Up participant Washington tweeted: Time. Is. Up. And we are global! #TimesUp #BAFTA.

English actress Emilia Clarke, known for her role in HBO series Game Of Thrones, posted a picture on Instagram which read: Why I wear black today. 20% of women and 4% of men in England and Wales have experienced some type of sexual assault since the age of 16.

Wearing a black jacket, the actress said in the caption: I may not be able to be @bafta this evening but from across the pond I am proudly wearing black in support of my sisters and my brothers who are helping to end abuse and impunity @RosaForWomen.

The Times Up action plan was created in the wake of the sexual assault and harassment allegations which have emerged in recent months. It will advocate for legislation to tackle workplace harassment, and the campaign includes a legal fund to help people protect themselves from sexual misconduct.Celebrities have shown their support for students who survived a shooting in Florida as they announced they planned to hold a march in Washington DC to call for more gun controls.

Youngsters from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland told US media they would use the march in the nations capital to pressure politicians to take action on gun violence.

Speaking on CNN, Cameron Kasky, alongside four other students from the school, said the protest would take place on March 24.

Tatana Hobson 14, Annia Hobson 13, and Leilany Canate, 16, mourn in front of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland (Matias J. Ocner/Miami Herald via AP)

Cameron good talking to you last night. All of your bravery is amazing. I stand with you guys. #march24 #marchforourlives https://t.co/oKG8MmhzaI  Justin Bieber (@justinbieber) February 18, 2018

He added: The reason we are starting March For Our Lives and doing this on March 24 is we have been hearing a lot that this is not the time to talk about gun control and we can respect that  weve lost people, its important to mourn.

Heres a time to talk about gun control: March 24.

My message for the people in office is: Youre either with us or against us. We are losing our lives while the adults are playing around.

In response to the impassioned interview, pop star Justin Bieber tweeted: Cameron good talking to you last night. All of your bravery is amazing. I stand with you guys. #march24 #marchforourlives.

Children acting like leaders, while our leader acts like a child. https://t.co/zAZKDjKjGL  Mark Hamill (@HamillHimself) February 18, 2018

Another student Emma Gonzalez spoke at a rally in Fort Lauderdale over the weekend, firing a warning to US politicians who are supported by the National Rifle Association.

Referencing US president Donald Trump directly, the youngster gave a stirring speech which spread rapidly online.

She told the crowd: If the president wants to come up to me and tell me to my face that it was a terrible tragedy and how it should never have happened and maintain telling us how nothing is going to be done about it, Im going to happily ask him how much money he received from the National Rifle Association.

Actress Julianne Moore said on Twitter that the students will create a badge of shame for politicians who take money from the NRA.

On March 24 we will take the streets of Washington DC and our communities across the country to #MarchForOurLives. Sign up at https://t.co/2m7ItdfFjV pic.twitter.com/yokyEdj7Jq  March For Our Lives (@AMarch4OurLives) February 18, 2018

A website set up for the March For Our Lives movement says: The kids and families of March For Our Lives will take to the streets of Washington DC to demand that their lives and safety become a priority and that we end gun violence and mass shootings in our schools today.

It adds: March For Our Lives is created by, inspired by, and led by students across the country who will no longer risk their lives waiting for someone else to take action to stop the epidemic of mass school shootings that has become all too familiar.

Mark Hamill appeared to praise the campaign, tweeting: Children acting like leaders, while our leader acts like a child.

Seventeen people lost their lives in the shooting on Wednesday afternoon.

Nikolas Cruz, a 19-year-old who had been expelled from the school, is facing 17 counts of murder.

Charmed actress Alyssa Milano, who has changed her profile picture to one of the schools logo, posted a link on Twitter to a sign-up page for the march, saying: Join me on March 24 as we march for our lives.Rumbling Mount Sinabung on the Indonesian island of Sumatra shot billowing columns of ash more than 16,400ft (5,000m) into the atmosphere and sent hot clouds down its slopes on Monday.

There were no fatalities or injuries from the morning eruption, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency said.

Children walk to school as Mount Sinabung erupts (Sarianto/AP)

The volcano, one of three currently erupting in Indonesia, was dormant for four centuries before exploding in 2010, killing two people. Another eruption in 2014 killed 16 people, while seven died in a 2016 eruption.

Disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said hot ash clouds travelled as far as three miles (4.km) south.

Motorcyclists ride on a road covered in volcanic ash (Endro Rusharyanto/AP)

The regional volcanic ash advisory centre in Darwin, Australia, issued a red notice to airlines.

Some 30,000 people have been forced to leave homes around the mountain in the past few years.

Mount Sinabung spews volcanic ash (Endro Rusharyanto/AP)

Mount Sinabung is among more than 120 active volcanoes in Indonesia, which is prone to seismic upheaval due to its location on the Pacific Ring of Fire, an arc of volcanoes and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.The architect of Tescos UK revival has bagged a top-level role at plus-size clothing retailer N Brown.

Matt Davies, the UK chief executive of Britains biggest supermarket, is joining the owner of Simply Be and Jacamo as chairman and non-executive director.

The retail veteran will take a position on the board with immediate effect, before stepping up to the chairman role on May 1.

The move will spark the end of Andrew Higginsons five-year tenure as chairman of the high street retailer.

Mr Higginson said: Matt is a first-class retailer and brings a wealth of experience to the group.

Matt Davies is the UK chief executive of Tesco (Chris Radburn/PA)

He has a proven track record of value creation across retail and online through his roles as CEO of Tesco UK and Republic of Ireland and as CEO of Halfords and Pets at Home.

It has been a privilege to chair the company through the past five years, and I wish the business every success in the coming years.

Mr Davies, who leaves Tesco after three years in the role, was CEO of Halfords and Pets at Home between 2012/15 and 2004/12 respectively.

Ron McMillan, N Browns senior independent director who led the selection process, said: Having conducted a thorough process it was clear that Matt was the best fit to be our next chair.

He has huge experience of retail and online businesses and will be a strong addition to the N Brown board, bringing knowledge, leadership and customer focus.

N Brown saw its shares plunged more than 14% last month as investors fretted over the impact of promotional sales on the retailers margins.

The firm reported a 3.2% rise in group revenue over the 18 weeks to January 6, marking a slowdown from the 4.1% increase logged a year earlier.Rescue teams took part in a near 12-hour operation to save a skier who had fallen 200 metres off a mountain.

The alarm was raised at 11.42am on Sunday about a male casualty who had suffered a number of serious injuries after falling near the summit of Aonach Beag in the western Highlands.

Lochaber Mountain Rescue Team was called to the scene, with 22 members joining the efforts in challenging conditions of strong winds and poor visibility.

The man was airlifted to hospital in Fort William (Andrew Milligan/PA)

A spokesman for the volunteers described the operation as one of the most difficult and technical rescues they have carried out over the last year.

Four team members scaled about 1000m before having to turn back when about 200m from the casualty because of deep unstable snow.

They then made use of new snow shoes to reclimb the mountain and reach the injured skier, who was then carried to a HM Coastguard helicopter.

A Police Scotland spokesman said the man was taken to Belford Hospital in Fort William at 11.19pm before being transferred for treatment in Edinburgh.

He added the skiers injuries were serious but not life-threatening.Donald Trump has said he wants biased and insecure Oprah Winfrey to run for US president so that she can be exposed and defeated.

Winfrey recently sparked speculation that she might run for office following her rousing speech about equality at the Golden Globe awards.

However, she later said she had no desire to put herself forward as a Democratic candidate for the 2020 election.

Oprah Winfrey recently sparked speculation that she might run for office (Ian West/PA)

Mr Trump, who had previously said he would beat Oprah in a race to the Oval Office, reignited the conversation after Winfrey appeared as an interviewer on US TV programme 60 Minutes.

He tweeted: Just watched a very insecure Oprah Winfrey, who at one point I knew very well, interview a panel of people on 60 Minutes.

The questions were biased and slanted, the facts incorrect. Hope Oprah runs so she can be exposed and defeated just like all of the others!

On the CBS News programme, Winfrey met with a group of voters in Michigan, some of whom had voted for Mr Trump in the 2016 US election, to hear their thoughts on his first year in office.

Last fall, Oprah Winfrey spoke with 14 Michigan voters, seven of whom voted for Donald Trump. Winfrey sat down with the voters again to get their thoughts on Trump's first year in office. https://t.co/fvItU7cDJN pic.twitter.com/XLC09keC0k  60 Minutes (@60Minutes) February 19, 2018

The topics of discussion included Mr Trumps previous comment about people from shithole countries, and tax laws.

Winfrey, 64, had been backed by a number of high-profile stars, including Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks, to become the next US president.

But she told US magazine InStyle: Ive always felt very secure and confident with myself in knowing what I could do and what I could not.

And so its not something that interests me. I dont have the DNA for it.Arsenal have announced a five-year extension to their shirt partnership with Emirates, which is the largest sponsorship deal ever signed by the club.

The Gunners confirmed Emirates, whose sponsorship agreement started in 2006, branding would continue to feature on shirts and training kit of all their teams until the end of the 2023/2024 season.

Arsenal chief executive Ivan Gazidis said on the clubs official website: Our shirt partnership is the longest running in the Premier League and one of the longest relationships in world sport. This mutual commitment is testimony to the strength and depth of our unique relationship.

Arsenal have extended their shirt and training kit sponsorship deal with Emirates (Tim Goode/EMPICS)

We've extended our shirt sponsorship with @Arsenal until 2024. That makes it the longest running partnership in Premier League history! https://t.co/q9VaWuVDm7 pic.twitter.com/su3DJQYjZt  Emirates Airline (@emirates) February 19, 2018

Emirates are again demonstrating their great belief in our approach and ambition and their significantly increased investment will help us continue to compete for trophies and bring more success to the club and our fans around the world.

As part of the deal, Arsenal will fly on Emirates planes for pre-season tours, which saw the squad head to Australia and China during July 2017.

Emirates have held naming rights to Arsenals 60,000-seater stadium since the Gunners moved in during 2006, with that deal set to run through until 2028.

We've signed a club record-breaking sponsorship deal to extend our partnership with @emirates https://t.co/lIJHLNMQbM  Arsenal (@Arsenal) February 19, 2018

Gazidis continued: Emirates is a great partner for Arsenal  a world-class brand with a truly global reach.

The airline plays a significant role in our ambitions to extend our influence and following around the world.

The new deal, extending our shirt partnership until 2024, underlines how much both organisations value and benefit from the relationship.

Want to see our goals from #OSTvAFC? Theyre right here  https://t.co/GaIoiGLw9V  Arsenal (@Arsenal) February 16, 2018

On the pitch, Arsenal will be back in action for the second leg of their Europa League last-16 clash against Ostersund on Thursday night.

The Swedish side come to the Emirates Stadium having lost the first leg 3-0.

Arsenal will then turn their attention towards the Carabao Cup final against Manchester City at Wembley on Sunday, which is the first of two successive games against the Premier League leaders.

It has also been confirmed Arsenals Premier League match against Leicester on March 17 has been postponed after the Foxes progressed to the FA Cup quarter-finals.

Arsenal are currently sixth in the Premier League table, some seven points behind Tottenham following defeat in the north London derby at Wembley.One of Britains most prolific paedophiles, who blackmailed a string of vulnerable victims including a girl who was ordered to eat dog food, has been jailed for 32 years.

Cambridge graduate Dr Matthew Falder has admitted 137 offences, including blackmail, voyeurism and encouraging the rape of a child, relating to 46 complainants after being caught by an international inquiry led by the National Crime Agency.

The 29-year-old was arrested in June last year after three traumatised victims, who were tricked into sending him humiliating images, attempted to end their own lives.

Matthew Falder was arrested in June 2017 (National Crime Agency/PA)

Sentencing warped and sadistic Falder for a tale of ever increasing depravity, Judge Philip Parker QC said: As for your equally extraordinary sexual offending  no-one who knew you above ground had an inkling of what you were doing below the surface.

Branding him an internet highwayman, he added: You wanted to assume total control over your victims.

Your behaviour was cunning, persistent, manipulative and cruel.

Depraved 'hurt core' university academic Dr Matthew Falder jailed for 32 years after admitting 137 'hurt core' charges. https://t.co/m3ZxbClN1I pic.twitter.com/0bMjOD2OsN  National Crime Agency (NCA) (@NCA_UK) February 19, 2018

For the victims, he said: The damage is on-going for these individuals it will never end, knowing the abuse caused by you still exists in other unknown persons computers.

The judge, who also concluded Falder was a dangerous offender, added: These sentencing remarks underplay your relentless, obsessive desire to continue committing offences.

A previous hearing was told Falder coerced male and female victims into producing increasingly severe self-generated indecent images of themselves, the focus of these images being to humiliate and degrade.

The police search of Matthew Falders bedroom (National Crime Agency/PA)

Falder forced one victim to film herself licking toilet seats, a used tampon and eating dog food, and set up secret cameras in bathrooms to record women and girls naked.

Another was blackmailed into eating his faeces and drinking urine, while the 29-year-old also encouraged the rape of a boy, aged two, by his own father.

He also set up hidden cameras in publicly accessible toilets and at his parents home, catching his unsuspecting victims on film, and using the footage to blackmail  and trade with others online.

Matthew Falders desk and computer (National Crime Agency/PA)

Opening the facts of the case against Falder, prosecutor Ruona Iguyovwe previously told the court that many of the images were then distributed on so-called hurtcore websites on the dark web, showing material depicting sexual and physical abuse.

Falder, who treated victims both as sex objects and as objects of derision, posted on one forum 100 things we want to see at least once.

In remarks in that post, he suggested a young girl being used as a dartboard, production of a video depicting a childs bones being slowly and deliberately broken, and the abuse of a paralysed child.

Dr Matthew Falder, a former Birmingham University lecturer, duped his victims by posing as a depressed female artist, who wanted to draw nudes. (NCA/PA)

It also emerged during the earlier hearing that Falder initially duped victims into providing images by posing as a female artist who wanted to turn them into life drawings.

Prosecutors said Falder was also a member of several virtual communities of abusers, and in one such forum on the so-called dark web, he had a membership rank level of Rapist'.

NCA's Matthew Long talking about the sentencing of 'hurt core' offender Matthew Falder https://t.co/ILHCsnu3qS  National Crime Agency (NCA) (@NCA_UK) February 19, 2018

One of his victims, speaking anonymously after his sentencing, described how his abuse had led to the breakdown of all relationships in her life, and how she was now scared to meet people.

The operation to catch Falder, who used specialist software to hide his online accounts, was aided by GCHQ, the United States Homeland Security Department and law enforcement bodies in Israel, Slovenia, Australia and New Zealand.

A still taken from surveillance footage of Matthew Falder on a train (National Crime Agency/PA)

Falder, of Harborne Park Road, Birmingham, committed the offences over an eight-year period and never physically met any of his victims, but instead manipulated them from afar by duping them into providing nude images and personal details.

On his arrest, the former post-doctoral researcher in geophysics at the University of Birmingham told officers what is it Ive done, before correcting himself and adding supposed to have done.

Matthew Falder repeatedly answered `No comment in police interviews (National Crime Agency/PA)

He then quipped that the list of suspected offences sounded like the rap sheet from hell.Meghan Markle may not be a member of the royal family yet but she has already been given a right-hand woman to help with her official programme.

Former Kensington Palace press officer Amy Pickerill is now an assistant private secretary in Prince Harrys office working on Ms Markles official diary.

Ms Markle has already carried out four public visits with fiance Prince Harry and during the most recent event, a trip to Edinburgh earlier in February, was photographed next to Ms Pickerill who was holding a bouquet of tulips that had been given to the US actress by a well-wisher.

Meghan, pictured during her recent visit to Scotland, will be helped by royal aide Amy Pickerill in planning her official diary. (Jane Barlow/PA)

Harrys fiancee has also been carrying out private fact finding trips to organisations to get to know the UK charity sector and Ms Pickerill is likely to have been involved in organising the visits.

Her role will not only involve planning Ms Markles diary but handling any official correspondence she may receive.

During public events Ms Pickerill will be on hand to collect gifts, given to Harrys bride-to-be, and be a point of contact for organisers or officials.

Royal aide Amy Pickerill (left) looks on as Meghan Markle and Prince Harry meet well-wishers during their recent visit to Edinburgh. (Andrew Milligan/PA)

Ms Pickerill was a senior communications officer working for the households of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry before joining Harrys office.

The former Nottingham University history graduate has previously worked for the Royal Bank of Scotland in a number of roles in the press office department.

A Kensington Palace spokesman said Ms Pickerill will be working on Meghan Markles programme.New funding is allowing innovative work to raise attainment in Scotlands schools, the First Minister has said.

Nicola Sturgeon met pupils and staff working with support from the 120 million Pupil Equity Fund (PEF) at Levenvale Primary School in Alexandria on Monday.

The school has used its share of the fund to recruit an extra teacher to work on literacy through Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) projects, and create a child and parent book club.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon during a visit to Levenvale Primary School in Alexandria (Andrew Milligan/PA)

FM @NicolaSturgeon today saw some of the innovative work being carried out to raise attainment when she visited Levenvale Primary in West Dunbartonshire. pic.twitter.com/x1K1skgJQS  First Minister (@ScotGovFM) February 19, 2018

Allocations from the fund are based on the number of pupils from primary one to three who are registered for free school meals.

The First Minister said: Weve made it clear we want to see more of the budgets that support schools and education generally being determined at the level of individual schools so the PEF fund is really the first step in doing that.

It is money, and Ive heard this from headteachers around the country, that is allowing them to make a difference and I think thats whats important about it.

FM @NicolaSturgeon visited Levenvale Primary in West Dunbartonshire to see the Pupil Equity Fund in action #PEFScot18 https://t.co/MuAVdSAd4i pic.twitter.com/ckB2ArJZqf  First Minister (@ScotGovFM) February 19, 2018

Ms Sturgeon added: The number one priority of this government is to raise school attainment, particularly in less advantaged areas.

The work I have seen at Levenvale Primary is a perfect example of this. By looking carefully at their own unique circumstances, they have created their own solutions  in particular by recruiting specialist staffing and providing extra support to parents.Joanna Lumleys debut hosting the film Baftas notched up more than four million viewers  up on last year.

Sunday nights British Academy Film Awards peaked at 4.6 million and averaged four million on BBC1.

Organisers said the glitzy ceremony notched up a 23.8% share of the audience, up on last years 3.9 million average and 21.5% share.

Stephen Fry (Ian West/PA)

Last year, Stephen Fry hosted the film awards for the final time.

He later quit after 12 years at the helm of the show.

The awards, which saw celebrities wear black to show their support for the Times Up movement, was broadcast later than the actual ceremony, airing from 9pm to 11pm.

Endeavour, on ITV, airing between 8pm and 10pm, was watched by 4.5 million viewers and a 21% share.

The film Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri was crowned the big winner on Sunday night.Downing Street has brushed aside calls for an early Commons vote on plans to cut the number of MPs from 650 to 600.

The Prime Ministers official spokesman said Theresa May remains committed to delivering more equal and updated constituency boundaries which better reflect the distribution of voters around the UK.

The House is due to vote in the autumn on proposed new parliamentary boundaries based on changes introduced by the coalition government in 2011 intended to cut the number of constituencies and ensure they all have a similar number of voters.

However, the Commons Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee warned the proposals were unlikely to pass given the current state of opinion in the House.

Bernard Jenkin has said Parliament should make a decision on boundary changes now (Chris McAndrew/UK Parliament/PA)

If the measure was defeated, the committee said it would be too late to carry out a fresh boundary review in time for the 2022 general election, which would have to be fought on the existing boundaries based on population data more than 20 years out of date.

In order to avoid that prospect, it urged ministers to give Parliament the opportunity to debate the options for a new review  including retaining the existing tally of 650 seats  in time for legislation to be passed before the summer recess.

If it moved quickly, it would be possible for the Government to introduce new legislation to allow for a new boundary review and for it to be implemented prior to a 2022 election. However, the window for such a decision is short, the committee said.

What is clear is that there are serious problems with using the existing boundaries for a further election in 2022, which appears to be the only likely alternative option given the parliamentary arithmetic.

They reflect neither the changes in population since 2000, nor how devolution has further affected the UKs constitution, especially in respect to Wales.

Asked if the Prime Minister was planning to push ahead with the reforms set in train by her predecessor David Cameron, Mrs Mays spokesman said: Yes. The Boundary Commission is due to report in September with their proposals for revised constituencies.

The final proposals must then be debated and approved by Parliament for them to take effect.

We are committed to delivering more equal and updated boundaries so our parliamentary system represents everyone equally.

Committee chairman Bernard Jenkin said: The time to decide this in principle is now. If the Government waits until the autumn, Parliament will be faced with an invidious choice: either approve the new boundaries or hold the next election on boundaries that will be over 20 years out of date.

But, if we decide this now, it would be possible to change the law so new boundaries at 650 seats can be in place before the next election.One of Britains most prolific paedophiles, who blackmailed a string of vulnerable victims including a girl who was ordered to eat dog food, has been jailed for 32 years.

University lecturer Dr Matthew Falder admitted 137 offences, including voyeurism, encouraging child rape, and sharing images showing the abuse of a newborn baby, after being caught by an international inquiry led by the National Crime Agency (NCA).

The 29-year-old Cambridge graduate was arrested in June last year after four traumatised victims, who were tricked into sending him humiliating images, threatened or attempted to end their own lives.

Matthew Falder was arrested in June 2017 (National Crime Agency/PA)

Sentencing warped and sadistic Falder for a tale of ever-increasing depravity, Judge Philip Parker QC said: As for your equally extraordinary sexual offending  no-one who knew you, above ground, had an inkling of what you were doing below the surface.

Branding him an internet highwayman who targeted 46 victims, he added: You wanted to assume total control over your victims.

Your behaviour was cunning, persistent, manipulative and cruel.

Depraved 'hurt core' university academic Dr Matthew Falder jailed for 32 years after admitting 137 'hurt core' charges. https://t.co/m3ZxbClN1I pic.twitter.com/0bMjOD2OsN  National Crime Agency (NCA) (@NCA_UK) February 19, 2018

For the victims, he said: The damage is ongoing. For these individuals it will never end, knowing the abuse caused by you still exists in other unknown persons computers.

The judge, who also concluded that Falder was a dangerous offender and gave him a six-year extended licence period, added: These sentencing remarks underplay your relentless, obsessive desire to continue committing offences.

The University of Cambridge, which said it had been appalled at the crimes, is now looking at stripping disgraced Falder of his academic qualifications, in a rare move for the 809-year-old institution.

A previous hearing was told that Falder coerced male and female victims into producing increasingly severe self-generated indecent images of themselves, the focus of these images being to humiliate and degrade.

Falder duped victims, who were advertising for babysitting or dog-walking jobs on online message boards, into providing nude images by posing as a female artist who wanted to turn them into life drawings.

The police search of Matthew Falders bedroom (National Crime Agency/PA)

Falder forced one victim to film herself licking toilet seats, a used tampon and eating dog food, and set up secret cameras in bathrooms  including his parents Cheshire home  to record women and girls naked, before trading the images online.

Another was blackmailed into eating his faeces and drinking urine, while the 29-year-old also encouraged the rape of a boy, aged two, by his own father.

Matthew Falders desk and computer (National Crime Agency/PA)

Opening the facts of the case against Falder, prosecutor Ruona Iguyovwe previously told the court that many of the images were then distributed on so-called hurtcore websites on the dark web, showing material depicting sexual and physical abuse.

Falder, who treated his victims both as sex objects and as objects of derision, posted on one forum 100 things we want to see at least once.

In remarks in that post, he suggested a young girl being used as a dartboard, production of a video depicting a childs bones being slowly and deliberately broken, and the abuse of a paralysed child.

Dr Matthew Falder, a former Birmingham University lecturer, duped his victims by posing as a depressed female artist, who wanted to draw nudes. (NCA/PA)

Prosecutors said Falder was also a member of several virtual communities of abusers, under the handles evilmind and 666devil, and in one such forum on the so-called dark web, had a membership rank level of Rapist'.

One of his victims, speaking anonymously after his sentencing, described how his abuse had led to the breakdown of all relationships in her life.

NCA's Matthew Long talking about the sentencing of 'hurt core' offender Matthew Falder https://t.co/ILHCsnu3qS  National Crime Agency (NCA) (@NCA_UK) February 19, 2018

The unprecedented operation to catch Falder, who used specialist software to hide his online accounts, was aided by GCHQ, the United States Homeland Security Department and law enforcement bodies in Israel and Australia.

Falder, of Harborne Park Road, Birmingham, committed his offences over nearly 10 years, manipulating victims behind a computer screen by duping them into providing nude images and personal details.

A still taken from surveillance footage of Matthew Falder on a train (National Crime Agency/PA)

On his arrest, the former post-doctoral researcher and lecturer in geophysics at the University of Birmingham quipped with officers that the list of then suspected offences sounded like the rap sheet from hell.

Matthew Falder repeatedly answered `No comment in police interviews (National Crime Agency/PA)

Meanwhile, Falders long-term girlfriend is said to be standing by him, according to his barrister, and the judge said his parents would support him on release  though he would not be eligible for parole until he was 50.Alleged computer hacker Lauri Love may help British investigators to bring charges against him to get the case over and done with.

The 33-year-old is waiting to hear if he will face prosecution in the UK over claims that he stole huge amounts of data from US agencies in a spate of online attacks in 2012 and 2013.

On Monday it was confirmed that American authorities will not fight a High Court decision to block Mr Loves extradition to the US, on the grounds that it would be oppressive to his health.

Alleged computer hacker Lauri Love outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London (Kirsty OConnor/PA)

The engineering student, who has Asperger syndrome, as well as a depressive illness and severe eczema, said: Its the first time in four years that Ive been confident that I have a future in my life.

He announced on Twitter at the weekend that there is now no prospect of him being extradited to the United States.

However, speaking to the Press Association on Monday Mr Love said that if UK authorities cannot gather enough evidence against him, the case could be left open indefinitely in the US, meaning he will not feel safe to travel outside England and Wales.

He said: The US may for whatever reason be somewhat reluctant to co-operate with sending evidence, so the CPS may find its difficult to prosecute the case.

I may have to help them in order to get it over and done with.

If Im not convicted or acquitted here then the US can keep the case open indefinitely.

If there is no evidence I might have to make a decision, do I do the job of the state for them and help them prosecute me?

But he added: Im not at all convinced that I committed any crimes. Its for the US to cough up a bit of evidence.

Authorities in America fought for Mr Love, from Stradishall, Suffolk, to be extradited to face trial on charges of cyber-hacking, which lawyers said could have meant a sentence of up to 99 years in prison if found guilty.

He is alleged to have stolen data from bodies including the Federal Reserve, the US army, the defence department, Nasa and the FBI.

A CPS spokesman confirmed that Mr Love will not be extradited. It has applied for permission to clarify a point of law that does not affect his case.Politicians in Northern Ireland are facing calls to be courageous and visionary by pledging to invest in the arts sector.

The country has for a long time been the poor cousin when it comes to funding compared to the Republic of Ireland and other parts of the UK, an event at Stormont heard.

Beneficiaries of a thriving arts sector can include older people with dementia, young people suffering from mental health problems and communities facing conflict legacy issues, the audience was told.

The event was held at the Long Gallery in Stormont (Paul Faith/PA)

Great to hear from @PaulaMcFetridge at the #TheArtsDebate we can help address the issues of conflict legacy, allow us to do it pic.twitter.com/T5Ksj52I7P  Kabosh (@KaboshTheatre) February 19, 2018

Impassioned pleas for investment came from various arts sector workers and business people including Bill Wolsey, who owns Belfasts five-star Merchant Hotel.

He told a packed Long Gallery during the Big Art Debate that the sector is linked hand in glove with the hospitality industry.

He said: Without the arts there wouldnt be the growth in our business.

He said tourists spend more in the Republic than in Northern Ireland but said Dublin has advantages including a government that actually functions adding that it understands the importance of the arts to hospitality.

The arts and culture industry in Northern Ireland employs more than 6,000 people and contributes 151 million to the local economy, the arts council said.

Its chief executive Roisin McDonough said tiny amounts of money can be found for the arts if there is the political will and the appetite to do so.

She said: The arts in Northern Ireland in comparison to all of these other jurisdictions in these islands have consistently bumped along at the very, very bottom. Weve always been the poor country, second, third, fourth country cousin.

Dr Jenny Elliott, chief executive of Arts Care, said the arts make a huge difference in peoples lives and appealed directly to elected representatives to ensure the sector receives appropriate funding.

She said: I would ask and invite our politicians to be courageous, to be visionary.

Referencing the current political impasse Claire Hanna, who sponsored the event alongside the UUPs Mike Nesbitt, said it was heartwarming to see so many people in attendance.

The SDLP MLA said: Its novel and quite heartwarming to see this building used for debate and used for engagement and I hope that we, as your MLAs, will follow suit sooner rather than later and I say that in the very confident knowledge that there are no other solutions other than accommodation and partnership and powersharing, ideally in this building.A lawyer has accused Oscar-winning Australian actor Geoffrey Rush in court of touching an actress inappropriately on an Sydney stage three years ago while he was starring in a production of King Lear.

Rush is suing Sydneys The Daily Telegraph newspaper in federal court for defamation over articles last year which alleged inappropriate behaviour and touching during the Sydney Theatre Company production in 2015.

The newspapers lawyer, Tom Blackburn, told the court that Rush, now 66, touched an actress who has not been identified on five consecutive nights in the last week of the production in a way that he had not done before and that made her uncomfortable.

Geoffrey Rush is perhaps best-known for his role as Captain Barbossa in the Pirates Of The Caribbean movies

Mr Blackburn told the court: She said stop  he didnt. He went on doing it. Our case is that that in itself is inappropriate.

But Rushs lawyer, Richard McHugh, told the court the accusations were vague.

Mr Blackburn is fighting Rushs request to have the newspapers truth defence struck out.

Justice Michael Wigney delayed his decision on that request to a later date.

Mr McHugh told the court that parts of the defence lacked specificity and did not detail Rushs alleged behaviour.

The inappropriate behaviour is alleged to have occurred when Rush and the actress were required to touch on stage, Mr McHugh said.

To this day, its not clear what theyre saying. Not just unclear, its completely opaque, Mr McHugh said.

The newspapers lawyers have previously told the court that the articles did not allege Rush engaged in inappropriate behaviour of a sexual nature.

Mr Blackburn said for the purposes of the defence it was not important where Rush touched the actress, but the fact she allegedly asked him to stop  and he did not stop  made it inappropriate.

Rush, who was not in court on Monday, has denied behaving inappropriately.

The actor announced in December he was suing the newspaper over its reporting of the actresss complaint over what the theatre company described in a statement as inappropriate behaviour.

The company said the complaint was made after the production closed. The actress had not wanted Rush to be informed of her complaint, the company said.

Rush has performed in the Sydney Theatre Company for 35 years. He won the 1997 best actor Academy Award for Shine and has three other Oscar nominations. He is perhaps best known as Captain Barbossa in the Pirates Of The Caribbean films.Executives at Latvian bank Norvik have claimed the nations central bank chief sought to extort money from their firm for years.

Central bank chief Ilmars Rimsevics faces a criminal investigation for bribery, but has not been charged so far.

Norvik filed an international complaint against Latvia in which it claims a senior Latvian official sought bribes from the bank and abused his power.

The governor of the Bank of Latvia Ilmars Rimsevics has not yet been charged (AP)

Norviks CEO, Oliver Bramwell, told The Associated Press: The high-level official mentioned in our request for arbitration is Rimsevics.

Company chairman, Grigory Guselnikov, also told the AP how individuals connected to Rimsevics had asked his bank to launder money from Russia.

Rimsevics is also on the highest policy-making council of the European Central Bank, which sets monetary policy for the 19 euro countries.Sinn Fein has warned that direct rule is not an option for Northern Ireland as Democratic Unionists called on the UK Government to start setting budgets for schools and hospitals.

As republicans sat down for talks with the Irish government on the Stormont powersharing crisis, DUP leader Arlene Foster was calling on Downing Street to start taking big spending decisions.

Frontline staff have been living hand to mouth for too long. The Northern Ireland people deserve better, Ms Foster said.

I am not prepared to allow this to continue. Decisions need to be taken.

DUP leader Arlene Foster has called on Downing Street to start making spending decisions (David Young/PA)

The DUP leader made her calls for decisions to be made on infrastructure, education and healthcare as Sinn Fein leader and deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald and Michelle ONeill walked into Government Buildings in Dublin.

Ahead of the meeting with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Tanaiste and Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney, Ms McDonald called for decisive action from both Dublin and London.

We dont accept any call for a cooling off period, in fact were saying very clearly that there cannot be vacuum, we need action and we need the two governments to be decisive at this point, she said.

Direct rule is not acceptable. Direct rule is not on the table.

We have been clear  nationalism right across the country is clear on that point, the Government in Dublin is clear on that point and I have to say that we have previous words from both governments which made very clear that direct rule is not the answer when the institutions falter.

Sinn Fein are pressing for the British Irish Intergovernmental Conference to be convened in the absence of powersharing.

The Sinn Fein leadership and Ms Foster are expected to hold separate talks later this week with Prime Minister Theresa May.

The DUP, whose 10 MPs are propping up the Conservatives at Westminster, effectively ended talks aimed at bringing the 13-month political impasse in Northern Ireland to a close last Wednesday when Ms Foster said she did not believe it would be possible to form an Executive.

The move came two days after the PM visited Stormont.

It surprised many who had believed a deal had been close on contentious issues such as Irish language, marriage equality and the legacy of the past.

In the midst of the latest Stormont crisis, Downing Street has insisted that the UK Government is fully committed to the Good Friday Agreement.

It is working towards getting the devolved administration at Stormont up and running again, Mrs Mays official spokesman confirmed.

Northern Ireland Secretary Karen Bradley is due to update Parliament on the Stormont impasse on Tuesday.

Mrs Mays spokesman said: It is disappointing that agreement has not yet been reached between the parties, but we do still believe that the basis for an accommodation exists.

Ms Foster has insisted that she is committed to devolved government in Northern Ireland but also warned that it will not be at any price.

I stand ready to form one tomorrow without any pre-conditions, Ms Foster said.

Sinn Fein has been refusing to form a government for over 400 days until they have their own party political matters addressed.The right to peaceful protest is under attack a Green Party leader said after the Transport Secretary won a legal fight against HS2 opponents.

Chris Grayling persuaded a High Court judge to bar environment campaigners against the HS2 route running through a woodland area in west London from staging unlawful demonstrations at a construction site.

Jonathan Bartley described HS2 as environmental vandalism and said the Green Party would stand in solidarity with campaigners.

Chris Graylings lawyers asked Mr Justice Barling to impose the injunction (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

HS2 bosses said an injunction granted by Mr Justice Barling on Monday following a High Court hearing in London would help keep work sites safe, avoid delays and save taxpayers money.

An HS2 spokesman said the high-speed rail project would deliver a new green corridor and leave a lasting legacy of high quality green spaces.

Lawyers representing Mr Grayling and HS2 bosses asked Mr Justice Barling to impose an injunction to restrain unlawful protest activities in and around a construction site near Harvil Road in Hillingdon.

Environment campaigners camped near the site argued against the move.

Mr Justice Barling ruled in favour of Mr Grayling and HS2 bosses.

He said HS2 was controversial, praised campaigners commitment and suggested that many people would support their opposition to the project.

But he said workers at the site were operating lawfully and that there was no legal justification for trespassing or blocking vehicles.

Today we saw an attack on the democratic right to peaceful protest right from the top of Government, said Mr Bartley, co-leader of the Green Party, after the hearing.

But the campaign against HS2 will not be silenced.

Jonathan Bartley said it was an attack on the right to peaceful protest (Andrew Matthews/PA)

We will continue to stand in solidarity with campaigners putting their bodies on the line in the fight to stop this vanity project

It is environmental vandalism and it must be stopped.

He added: No amount of greenwashing will mask the environmental destruction taking place in the name of HS2.

Nearly 100 ancient woodlands will be trampled by this project, while natural habitats and ecosystems are already being devastated.

With costs of 56 billion and still rising, HS2 is a white elephant which will consume eye-watering figures to cut a single journey by mere minutes.

It makes no environmental sense and no economic sense.

An HS2 spokesman said: The injunction will help us keep our work sites safe.

We have a duty to deliver HS2 on time and on budget, and an injunction will help us avoid delays and additional costs to the UK taxpayer.

Alongside the economic benefits, HS2 will deliver a new green corridor made up of woodland, wildlife habitats and amenity facilities, designed to blend the line into the landscape and leave a lasting legacy of high quality green spaces all along the route.

We understand that people feel strongly about the impact the project will have on their community, and that they want us to hear their views.

That is why we offer numerous channels through which they can make their feelings understood.Oxfam has apologised to the Haitian government over allegations of sexual abuse and exploitation by its staff.

The charitys GB executive director Mark Goldring and Oxfam International boss Winnie Byanyima also requested an official high-level meeting with the Government.

Simon Ticehurst, regional director for Latin America and Margalida Massot, Executive Affiliate Unit head, met with Haitis Minister of Planning and External Co-operation on Monday to present a formal apology.

Embargoed to 0001 Monday February 19 File photo dated 21/05/2013 of an Oxfam store in London as the charitys 2011 investigation into the Haiti sex scandal concluded charities should be warned about "problem staff" - only for several accused of abuse to successfully take up future posts in the aid sector.

The meeting was called by the minister to begin clarifying the exact allegations and investigations into the abusive behaviours of some Oxfam staff in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake which killed thousands of people.

In a statement, Mr Ticehurst said: Oxfam is grateful to the Haitian Government for allowing us the chance now to offer our humblest apologies and to begin explaining ourselves and start the long road ahead of re-establishing trust and partnership, given our 40-year history with Haiti and its citizens.

We stand ready to engage with the Haitian people and have expressed our openness to co-operate as much as required with the Haitian government.

It comes as the charity officially released the findings of its investigation into relief workers sent to Haiti in 2010.

The 10-page report concluded charities should be warned about problem staff  only for several accused of abuse to successfully take up future posts in the aid sector.

Prime Minister Theresa May described the behaviour uncovered by the report as horrific.Briton Cameron Norrie has been beaten in the first round of the Delray Beach Open by Hyeon Chung.

The 22-year-old looked like he might cause an upset against last months Australian Open semi-finalist when he took the opening set.

However, Chung fought back to level the match and an utterly dominant display in the deciding set saw the South Korean win 3-6 6-3 6-1.Former US president Jimmy Carter has said he was deathly afraid as his 90-year-old wife underwent surgery over the weekend.

Rosalynn Carter is recovering in Atlanta after surgeons removed scar tissue from a portion of her small intestine early on Sunday.

Her husband described his concerns on Monday to several hundred people attending a Presidents Day event at the Jimmy Carter National Historic Site in Plains, Georgia.

Former president Jimmy Carter and Rosalynn Carter at Donald Trumps inauguration (Andrew Harnik/AP)

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Jimmy Carter said surgeons operating on the former first lady found scar tissue from an old operation had strangled almost two feet of her small intestine.

Happy #PresidentsDay! Wishing you all peace and health from The Carter Center. #PresidentsDay2018 pic.twitter.com/H1vv1l9WQA  The Carter Center (@CarterCenter) February 19, 2018

Mr Carter said: I was deathly afraid. I prayed for three hours.

He said doctors began the procedure on Saturday night and finally told him at about 5am on Sunday that his wife was going to be OK.Update : Hilton Colombo won the following at the Dubai culinarie 2018.

08 Silver

03 Bronze

02 Merit

Six chefs from the Hilton Colombo flew to Dubai to participate in what is called one of the most prestigious culinary competitions in the world. The team led by Sous Chef Dammika Kahatagahadiwela, Chefs J.D.M.Dayarathne, M.R.T Sanjaya, Pubudu Athurugiriarachchi, D.K.Priyantha, Champika Rajapaksha, Indika Liyanage will compete in the Best Cuisinier/Cuisiniere; Five Course Dinner Menu, Beef Practical Cookery, Fish & Seafood Practical Cookery, Practical Cake Decorations, Four Plated Desserts, Pastry Showpiece, Chocolate Carving Showpiece, Practical Fruit & Vegetable Carving, Four Course Vegetarian Menu, Practical Sandwiches and Tapas, Finger Food.

Also in the team from Sri Lanka will be Executive Sous Chef Chamlie Waidyaratne and Pastry Chef Ranjith Kapukotuwa who will officiate as ECG Marshals at the competition.

The Emirates Salon Culinaire (ESC) is a series of practical and display-based culinary competitions; entry to which is open to professional chefs, pastry chefs, cooks and bakers. Some of the competitions are designed for entry by a single competitor; others are designed as team events. Each competition is called a class.

Each class of the various competitions is intended to test the differing skills of entrants whilst also celebrating the preparation and presentation of food and its accoutrements in attractive and pleasing forms.A survivor of the Parkland school shooting called out US President Donald Trump on Saturday over his ties to the powerful National Rifle Association, as thousands rallied in Florida to demand urgent action on gun control. Three days after a troubled teen armed with an assault rifle killed 17 people, 18-year-old Emma Gonzalez delivered a fiery address to a crowd of students, parents and residents in nearby Ft. Lauderdale.



To every politician taking donations from the NRA, shame on you! she thundered, assailing Trump over the multi-million-dollar support his campaign received from the gun lobby. The crowd chanted in turn: Shame on you! We are going to be the last mass shooting... We are going to change the law, she vowed -- slamming the fact 19-year-old gunman Nikolas Cruz was able to legally buy a semi-automatic firearm despite a history of troubling and violent behaviour.



If the president wants to come up to me and tell me to my face that it was a terrible tragedy and... how nothing is going to be done about it, Im going to happily ask him how much money he received from the National Rifle Association, Gonzalez said in her impassioned address. It doesnt matter because I already know. Thirty million, she said.

FORT LAUDERDALE AFP Feb18, 2018 -

Trump blames FBI for Florida school shooting

US, (Daily Mail), 18 Feb 2018 -President Donald Trump said it was not acceptable that the FBI missed signs the Florida school shooter was going to attack, slamming the agency for spending too much time focusing on the Russian collusion investigation.

After a week during which Robert Mueller appeared to prove Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, Trump used the shooting, in which 17 died, including 14 children, to attack the FBI for going after him in the Russian collusion investigation.Begusarai, (Hindustan Times), 18 Feb 2018 - A mob in Begusarai assaulted a man and injected acid in his eyes, for allegedly eloping with his employers wife leaving him blind. One person has been arrested police said on Saturday.



The assault late on Friday night left the man critically injured.



Doctors at a hospital in Begusarai said the 30-year-old man was blinded as a result of the assault.

The victim said he used to work as a tractor driver at Barauni village and started an affair with his employers wife.



On February 6, he and his paramour fled from the house following which her husband lodged a complaint with the police charging him with kidnapping his wife, the DSP said.



However, she came to Teghra on February 16 and recorded a statement in a local court that asked her husband, to take her to his house.



The victim driver said her brother-in-law called him on Friday evening claiming she wanted to live with him and he should come to the police station to take her back.



However around a km away from the police station he was accosted by a mob who attacked him and injected acid into his eyes.



A passer-by admitted him to a hospital at Begusarai.Iran, (AFP/The Hindu), FEBRUARY 18, 2018 - An Iranian passenger plane has crashed into the countrys Zagros mountains. All 66 passengers and crew were killed when an Iranian plane crashed into the countrys Zagros mountains on Sunday, an airline spokesman told state television.



After searches in the area, unfortunately we were informed that the plane crashed. Unfortunately, all our dear ones lost their lives in this incident, Mohammad Tabatabai, public relations director for Aseman Airlines, told state broadcaster IRIB This plane has crashed in the Semirom area and all emergency forces are on alert. The plane had 50 to 60 passengers, Pir Hossein Koolivand told the Fars news agency. The plane was reportedly travelling from Tehran to the small town of Yasuj.

Mojtaba Khaledi, spokesman for the national emergency services, told the semi-official ISNA news agency that a helicopter had been sent to the area.Recognised in Sri Lanka for its continued excellent workmanship and maintaining high standards in the construction industry, Chandana Builders was the proud recipient of the Shramabhimanai award recently.



This prestigious accolade was presented to the companys Founder and Managing Director, Chandana Pushpakumara Ratnayake by Labour Minister John Seneviratne. Commenting on this remarkable win and his companys philosophy, Ratnayake said: An individual builds a house mainly to live in it. When designing this house it is very important to take into account the person who will be living in it. As a builder I firmly believe it is of paramount importance to create a house that people can live in comfortably.



At the tender age of only 12 years, the young Chandana Ratnayake arrived in Colombo and through his own endeavours and untiring efforts began his career. His first foray into construction was working at Former President Late Ranasinghe Premadasas Gam Udawa scheme as an assistant mason. Through hard work and commitment he was able to showcase his talents and rose to great heights in his chosen field. Years of experience gave him further impetus, strengthening his resolve to forge ahead further and in the process he also earned a stellar reputation for his craft resulting in greater success. In 2000, he began his construction venture and earned a strong reputation in the market winning several contracts and projects. Providing customers with fair pricing levels while utilising high quality materials and having established an impeccable reputation as a premier builder, Chandana Builders meets the highest standard with excellent designs, environment-friendly construction models replete with all modern amenities. An elated Ratnayake added: When constructing a house the required deeds and transfers, the house design, required local council approvals, architecture, the necessary materials are all looked into by us as we seek to provide and ensure customer satisfaction is utmost in all we do.The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants UK Sri Lanka Branch recently joined hands with the International Chamber of Commerce Sri Lanka (ICCSL) to promote education, training and business.



The agreement between CIMA UK SL Branch and ICCSL will pave way to promote, education, trade and investment.



The Memorandum of Agreement (MoU) was signed by CIMA Head of Strategic Business for Asia Pacific Venkkat Ramanan and ICCSL Chairman Dinesh Weerakkody.



Both bodies will work jointly to organise various events including seminars and workshops for the benefit of members of both bodies.The inauguration of the 12th Annual Inspection Workshop of the International Forum of Independent Audit Regulators (IFIAR), hosted by Sri Lanka Accounting and Auditing Standards Monitoring Board (SLAASMB) will take place at the Kings Court, Cinnamon Lakeside Hotel in Colombo today.

The global discussion which will be attended by over 110 professionals representing audit regulators from 40 countries from all over the world, will see independent audit regulators from around the world share their expertise during the three-day technical sessions from 20th to 22nd.



Minister of Special Assignments, Dr. Sarath Amunugama will be the chief guest at the official inauguration which will kick off at 7.00pm this evening. Governor of Central Bank, Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy will be the guest of honour.



IFIAR Chairman Brian Hunt, Vice Chairman Frank Schneider and the Executive Director of the IFIAR Secretariat in Tokyo, Japan, Carl Renner are also expected to be at the Colombos workshop.



IFIAR, established by independent audit regulators from around the world in 2007, shares knowledge of the audit market environment and practical experience of independent audit regulatory activities, promote collaboration in regulatory activities while providing a platform for dialogue with other international organisations which have interests in enhancing audit quality.LVL Energy Fund Limited (LVEF), which started trading in the Colombo bourse this January, posted a Rs.103.5 million net profit for the December quarter (3Q18), which was an over six-fold increase compared to the corresponding quarter of the previous financial year, stemming from higher income from subsidiaries.



Earnings per share increased to 22 cents from 4 cents year-on-year (YoY) and LVEF share was trading at Rs 9.50 last Friday. The company, which offered 120 million shares at Rs.10 a share in an Initial Public Offering last December, invests in power projects in Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh.



LVEFs subsidiary income for the 3Q18 increased to Rs. 121.8 million from Rs. 38.2 million YoY, while the contribution from other income was negligible, pushing up revenue for the quarter to Rs. 126.4 million.

Operating expenses of subsidiaries doubled YoY to Rs. 32 million. Finance costs meanwhile increased 41.8 percent YoY to Rs. 55.5 million, owing to project-related borrowings of subsidiaries.



LVEF CEO Sumith Arangala in his quarterly review said the finance costs are expected to reduce in the current quarter since the funds raised from the IPO would go towards settling some of the firms debt.



Income taxes meanwhile fell to Rs. 3.9 million from Rs. 34.6 million YoY, which Arangala attributed to the decline in withholding tax attributable to dividend income arising from timing differences in the declaration of dividend by companies under the group. Compared to the start of the financial year, when LVEF total assets stood at Rs.4 billion, the balance sheet expanded to Rs.5 billion at the end of the third quarter with the cash raised from the IPO.



Total interest bearing borrowings fell to Rs. 509 million from Rs. 717.8 million.



Meanwhile, for the 9-month period ended December31, 2017, LVEF posted a net profit of Rs. 394.9 million, down 9.7 percent YoY. There was a reclassification of a negative Rs.108 million available for sale financial reserve from other comprehensive income to the profit/loss statement, narrowing the net profit margin. Earnings per share for the 9 months fell to 85 cents from 98 cents. Revenue for the period increased 43.7 percent YoY to Rs. 319.4 million. Finance costs for the period increased 42.4 percent YoY to Rs.155.4 million. The tax expense fell 58.9 percent YoY to Rs. 25.6 million.



Lanka Ventures PLC is LVEFs parent, holding a 57 percent stake in the energy subsidiary. Mohandas Wijetunge owns 11.66 percent of the stake in LVEF, while the State owns 9.38 percent of LVEF through the Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation (SLIC) and the National Savings Bank.

In fact, SLIC and Phoenix Ventures, the parent of Brandix group, are the main investors of the LVEF IPO as 60 percent of the IPO shares were allocated to them.Deputy Speaker Tilanga Sumathipala today confirmed that he had told the media the UPFA had decided to quit the government and sought the President's permission to do so.

He told Parliament that the UPFA sought the President's permission to leave the government, but the latter said he had to seek the opinion of the Attorney General before granting permission for such a move. "This was the stand as of Sunday night," Mr Sumathipala said.

He said the AG has advised the President to refer the matter to the Supreme Court. Mr. Sumathipala said the President had informed the UPFA /SLFP should remain with the government till the SC gives an opinion on the matter.

Mr. Sumathipala said the SLFP and the UPFA had decided to back President Maithripala Sirisena and to support him. (Yohan Perera and Ajith Siriwardena)JAT Holdings (Pvt.) Ltd, successfully concluded an accolade filled 2017 including Managing Director Aelian Gunawardene winning the prestigious Platinum award at the 22nd Sri Lankan Entrepreneur of the Year 2017.



JAT also took home the Provincial Gold award in the Extra Large Category  Western Province at the award ceremony which was held at BMICH, on December 11th 2017, organised by the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Sri Lanka (FCCISL).



For his outstanding business acumen Aelian Gunawardene was also recognised among LMDs Top 23 Businesspeople of the Year for 2017, a list that features the movers and shakers of the business world in

Sri Lanka.



JAT had a successful year in 2017, surpassing Russia to become the number-one distributor in the world for Sayerlack Water Based Wood Coatings. Sayerlack is a world renowned product by Sherwin Williams, the largest paint coating manufacturing company in the world. JAT pioneered in introducing water based coatings to the local market and has stood the test of time for over two decades with unmatched quality and extreme customer satisfaction. The company has further broadened its horizons by exporting its world-class products to the South Asian markets of India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Maldives.



2017 also marked JATs foray in to several lucrative verticals establishing the furnishing, property development and technological sectors while remaining the market leader in the coatings industry. In terms of strategic direction, the company introduced higher end brands such as SEA Bauformat Kitchens alongside the acquisition of Euro Metallic ceilings from Access Group of Companies.



The company recently appointed Nishal Ferdinando as the Chief Executive Officer, who prior to his appointment, was the Executive Director at Access Projects (Pvt.) Ltd and has vast experience in the construction and building industry. Further, Nandana Wickramage was appointed as a Strategic Advisor and Board Member of the company. He has over 35 years of hands-on experience in business management and is one of the most renowned marketers in the country. Wickramage is well-known for his ability to turn brands around and achieve success, proven by his strategic and innovative thinking. The year ended with the company taking home the Bronze award in the Trading Category for the Annual Report Award 2017 conferred by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka. While still been a private company, this award highlights the companys good governance and transparency.



After concluding 2017 with flair, the management will be widening their horizons and celebrating 25 years of trusted business excellence in the year 2018.Nasheed, was serving a 13-year sentence for terrorism slapped in 2015, is currently a fugitive in self-exile in UK

In other words Yameen is arming himself to face a big fight

Ex-President Mohamed Nasheed, upped ante by asking India to send a military-backed Special Envoy

Yameen regime is expected to sail through parliament with a vote to extend State of Emergency

The political conflict in the Maldives, which came to a head on February 1 with the Supreme Court passing two orders which upset President Abdullah Yameen and made him declare a 15-day State of Emergency on February 5, has only sharpened since then.



There is yet no light at the end of the tunnel with the situation getting deadlocked. Just a day ahead of a Special Session of parliament on Monday, February 19, to vote for the continuation or non-renewal of the State of emergency, the Yameen government got two orders from the Supreme Court which will enable it to consolidate its hold on power.



One stayed an earlier order to reinstate 12 MPs who had been unseated for crossing over to the opposition, and the other ratified the legality and constitutionality of the State of Emergency under which many fundamental rights were suspended and former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom and Supreme Court Justices Abdullah Saeed and Ali Hameed were detained.



With these two orders in hand, the Yameen regime is expected to sail through parliament with a vote to extend the State of Emergency, which the government thinks is necessary to curb any tendency to stage violent demonstrations to continue the investigations into the alleged high level opposition efforts to buy up Supreme Court judges; to prevent foreign elements from helping the opposition; and to defend the country against any foreign political mediation and/or military intervention.



In other words Yameen is arming himself to face a big fight.



The government and the opposition have been at loggerheads since Abdulla Yameen was elected President in 2013. But what triggered the latest phase of the stand-off was a Supreme Court order of February 1, which stipulated the immediate release and re-trial of nine top opposition leaders including former President Mohamed Nasheed and Jumhoory Party leader Gasim Ibrahim and also the re-instatement of 12 ruling Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) MPs who had signed an opposition motion to remove the parliament Speaker.



If the top opposition leaders had been released, and the 12 MPs had gotten back to parliament, the political challenge to Yameen would have gone several notches up, both outside and inside parliament. Re-trials of the top leaders, if accepted,could have gone against Yameen. He therefore declared a State of Emergency, arrested the Chief Justice and one of his colleagues, Ali Hameed, and detained former President and opposition patriarch Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.



Meanwhile, former President Mohamed Nasheed, had upped the ante by asking India to send a military-backed Special Envoy to press Yameen to give into a whole range of the oppositions demands including his right to contest the September 2018 Presidential election from which he would be barred if he was still in jail.

Nasheed, who was serving a 13-year sentence for terrorismslapped in 2015, is currently a fugitive in self-exile in the UK. He had been allowed to go to the UK for treatment on the condition that he comes back to complete his jail term. But he has been dodging the law with the support of the West and campaigning for the ouster of Yameen.



In the context of the oppositions appeal for external intervention; the condemnation of the State of Emergency by several Western countries; and adverse travel advisories from countries including China, Yameen sent Special Envoys to China, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia to explain his governments case.



His attempt to send an envoy to India failed as New Delhi showed the cold shoulder.



However, the Maldives government publicized its version of the events which was that the Supreme Court had violated the law and the constitution by passing an order on the release of opposition leaders without hearing the Attorney General. Later, the court turned a deaf ear to the governments law officers who explained why its order cannot be implemented given the gravity of the charges against the prisoners including murder, terrorism, fraud etc.



Also, the court had not annulled the orders issued earlier before issuing a new order. The government also pointed out that the court had invaded and arrogated to itself the role of the Executive in law and order and security matters thus violating the constitutional principle of Separation of Powers.



But apparently, these explanations have not washed abroad, in India and the UN.



India and the UN have expressed the need for outsider mediation. The Spokesman of the Indian External Affairs Ministry said that India differs from Chinas view that foreign powers should keep off Maldives. The spokesman added that Chinas view appeared to have been influenced by its good relations with the Yameen regime.



But while India is yet to make a diplomatic move to mediate or intervene, the UN Secretary General has made it known, albeit through his spokesperson, that the UN is ready to mediate.



But, backed by China, the Yameen government has indicated that it will not accept foreign mediation of any kind even as the street level opposition activity in the Maldives is increasing. As many as 25 persons including journalists have been arrested for organizing last Fridays massive demonstration in Male.



Meanwhile, the Chinese Communist Party-backed Global Times had come out with a scathing attack on the call for an Indian military intervention warning that China would interdict Indian forces if they tried to enter the archipelagos waters forcibly.



While not being against an international role in settling issues in the Maldives (provided the sovereignty of that country is not violated), China also made it clear that the conflict should be solved internally by discussions between the various Maldives parties. China added that the Maldives parties are perfectly capable of doing that.



In the meantime, to fortify himself against further trouble in and out of parliament, Yameen had on Sunday secured two favorable orders from the Supreme Court, one saying that the declaration of the State of Emergency was legal and constitutional, and the other stating that the earlier order re-instating the 12 ousted MPs is stayed.



The Supreme Court on Sunday stated that there are no constitutional grounds to deem that the Presidential decree was in violation of Articles 253 and 254 of the Maldives Constitution.



The court pointed out that the decree had stated that the National Security Committee had raised concerns of a possible threat to the countrys security, and advised the President to take immediate action by declaring a State of Emergency.



The verdict noted that Article 253 accords the President authority to announce a State of Emergency in the event of natural disaster, dangerous epidemic disease, war, threat to national security, or threatened foreign aggression. The decree was in line with the Constitution, the court ruled.



Stating that the measures specified in the article were not restrictive, the verdict said that the President is accorded the power to take whatever action necessary to protect and secure the functioning of the nation.



Meanwhile, the ruling Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) said that it will not take part in any multi-party discussions if releasing jailed political dissidents is a pre-condition.



The opposition had stated that jailed former president of Maldives Maumoon Abdul Gayoom along with Chief Justice Abdullah Saeed and top-court Judge Ali Hameed and nine top level political prisoners, should be released as per the February 1 order of the Supreme Court.



Additionally the multi-party opposition said that it would not hold talks without the presence of a United Nations representative. But the government has rejected foreign mediation in any form.Former President and MP Mahinda Rajapaksa today said it was none other than President Maithripala Sirisena who keeps Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in his post without ousting him.

The former president said this in response to a question asked by a journalist when he was leaving Parliament.

When asked his opinion about President Sirisena seeking Attorney Generals opinion on the legality of removing the Premier, Mr. Rajapaksa said Why seek AGs consultations? Shouldnt forget that the President is the Executive,

When asked whether it was President Sirisena who continues to protect the Premier, he said Definitely, who else?

We said we will back the SLFP, if it appoints a Prime Minister among them. We wont back a PM who is a UNPer. It seems the current Prime Minister will continues to function based on the agreement between the UNP and the President, he said.

Meanwhile, he said the Joint Opposition has asked for the post of the Opposition Leader in Parliament.

We hope we will be given the place we deserve, the Opposition in Parliament, he said.President of Sri Lanka Chamber of Small and Medium Industries was appreciated at the recently concluded awards ceremony organized by the Chamber itself in Colombo.



Central Bank Governor Dr. Indrajith Coomaraswamy graced the occasion as chief guest. The incumbent president, Mohideen Cader who held the post for the last five years thanked everyone who helped tremendously during

his presidency.



He further mentioned the importance of the small industry which contributes more than 50 percent towards the development of Sri Lankas economy which would be a significant record.



He invited small industry entrepreneurs to come forward bravely to improve the economic situation of the country.



He specially thanked his staff for the tremendous support lent him during his period and invited the upcoming president to do a better job than him for the betterment of the Chamber as well as the country.The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) said today it would only support a stable government which commanded a comfortable majority in Parliament.

SLMC leader and Minister, Rauff Hakeem said the need of the hour was a stable government with a comfortable majority.

It is not advisable for anyone to form a minority government neither should there be a situation where one party directs another by way of a remote control," he said when recalling the political crisis that arose when he was removed from the Cabinet in 2001 and ended up in the opposition.

The minister urged the country's political leaders to form a stable government in line with the mandate they have received from the people.

The people may sense there is political crisis in the country if the leaders do not ensure stability," he said. (Yohan Perera and Ajith Siriwardana)Edex Chairman Mahinda Galagedera is seen presenting the winning tickets, at the Royal College Union, Skills Centre.

EDEX not only empowers the youth in education and careers, but creates wonderful surprises for its youthful visitors.



Little did Varuni, Saranga and Ushan realise that by visiting EDEX, they would win a ticket each, to visit beautiful Malaysia. This opportunity to see the world, was made available to three lucky winners, selected through EDEXon-line visitor registration process. The winners congregated at the EDEX Secretariat, on February 9, to receive their prizes from EDEX Chairman Mahinda Galagedera, at a special ceremony. Classic Travel partnered EDEX for this special offer. EDEX officials spoke to the winners and discovered that Malaysia was a destination not been visited by all three.



Varuni Nuwanthika, 25, is an Assistant Pharmacist, working at the Pharmaceutical Industry; having graduated in BSc. Chemistry, from the Open University.



Saranga Rajapaksha, also 25 years, is a first year student at ESOFT, and works at Sri Lanka Telecom. (SLT)



For both these young ladies, winning a ticket is a dream come true, and will be the first time they will fly out of Sri Lanka.



Ushan Olubodugama, a Senior Associate in Accounts, at WNS; is an Accounts Graduate from Royal Institute Colombo, currently studying at ACCA.



Having been abroad before, he is looking forward to the trip, to take a break from his exacting schedules.



The EDEX Expo 2018 Committee wishes the three youngsters an enjoyable journey, and wonderful new experiences and insights.This item is available in full to subscribers.

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Otherwise, click here to view your options for subscribing.M&M will be making additional investment in its electric vehicle segment to ramp up the production capacity over the next few years.

MUMBAI: M&M will be making additional investment in its electric vehicle segment to ramp up the production capacity over the next few years. As part of its expansion plans, the company will invest over Rs 500 crores in its electric vehicle (EV) project at its Chakan plant under the new EV Policy of the government of Maharashtra and Rs 400 crore in Karnataka. This additional investment will be utilized towards product development and capacity enhancement for electric vehicles and related components.

We are not waiting for any policy to move forward. To be a pioneer, you have to create the road and we have to move forward. We have already invested Rs 600 crore in EVs over the past five-six years and have announced our decision to invest Rs 400 crore in Karnataka and Rs 500 crore in Mahar-ashtra over the next four-five years, said Pawan Goenka, MD, M&M while interacting with repor-ters on the sidelines of Magnetic Maharashtra.

Currently, the company has a capacity to manufacture 400 electric vehicles per month and the aim is to scale it up to 5,000 per month in another two years. By September, we will reach a capacity of 1,500 vehicles per month including three wheelers and by Decem-ber 2019, we will increase that to about 4,000 vehicles per month and then go on to 5,000 per month, he added.

If everything goes well, he said the industry would become self-sufficient by 2024. Till then, it is important that the government continue with its current subsidy sche-me, which is required for price competitiveness. If the industry volume can reach approximately two lakh by 2024, that is enough to become self sufficient, he added.Mumbai: Batti Gul Meter Chalu shoot is on in full swing, and now the team has reached Uttarakhand. But whats more interesting is that instead of staying a luxurious 5-star hotel, they (including the VIP leads of the movie, Shahid Kapoor and Shraddha Kapoor) have opted to live in a hut.

The 10 houses where the team is currently living were supposedly chosen by the producers of the film much in advance.

A source told Mid-Day, The producers toyed with the idea of five-star stay initially, but realised that the closest ones are in Dehradun. The conveyance would have been a hassle since the location is a three-hour-plus drive from Dehradun. That's when Shahid and the producers decided to opt for homestay. When they suggested the idea to Shraddha, she instantly agreed.

Shahid opined that staying close to the locals would help Shraddha and him pick up their dialect, which would lend an air of authenticity to their characters, added the source.

Directed by Toilet: Ek Prem Katha helmer Shree Narayan Singh and produced by T-Series, Batti Gul Meter Chalu is scheduled to release on 31st August.Actress Jyothika, who is still basking in a legion of accolades for her tough cop role in Tamil film Naachiyaar that released on Friday, has already signed another project.

After choosing films like 36 Vayadhinile, a remake of Manju Warriors Malayalam blockbuster How Old Are You, Jyothika will now reprise National Award-winning actress, Vidya Balans character in the Tamil remake of the 2017 Bollywood hit Tumhari Sulu. The film will be helmed by Radha Mohan, who had earlier directed Jyothika in a career-defining role  that of a speech-hearing impaired girl in Mozhi.

Sources confirm that Jyothika, who is being quite cautious while choosing scripts in this comeback phase of her career, was very impressed with Balans role of a middle-class ambitious housewife who turns a radio jockey on a late night relationship advice show. Notably, Balan won critical acclaim for her alluring portrayal of a housewife-RJ besides garnering several awards. The director of Tumhari Sulu also received critical praise from one and all.

In an earlier interview with Deccan Chronicle, Jyothika had clarified that she would now sign only meaningful roles containing a social message. Although details such as who has bought the films remake rights and the production details are not known yet, the 39-year-old Tamil actress may emerge victorious with this role if all the pieces aptly fit together. Moreover, it was her pairing up with this very director that fetched Jyothika several awards and reportedly took her very close to the National Award for best actress (however, she lost it by a narrow margin that year).

Presently, Jyothika is busy with Mani Ratnams Chekka Chivantha Vaanam, which is being shot in the city.Hyderabad: Speculation around Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikars health continues on social media. Some sources report that he is suffering fourth stage pancreatic cancer.

Pancreatic cancer is generally diagnosed late and begins by affecting the tissue of the pancreas. The cancer usually occurs when the cells in the pancreas develop mutations in their DNA.

Diagnosis of the cancer is usually very difficult since the organ is deep inside the body and therefore the diagnosis happens during the third or fourth stage. Dr Mohana Vamsy, surgical oncologist, says, The Chief Minister was initially reported to be suffering from mild pancreatitis which is inflammation of the organ. But pancreatic cancer is a tumour in the pancrea that normally begins in the cells that line the ducts of the pancreas. More than the size of the tumour, it is crucial to note where the cancer has spread and which organs it has affected.

Symptoms of the disease are often overlooked. Eminent gastroenterologist and Dr D. Nageshwar Reddy, says that the cancer is normally detected when there is an acute loss of appetite and weight along with diabetes.

When all these three symptoms appear together, it is problematic as mostly people with diabetes show increased appetite. Treatment is more difficult when the tumour grows beyond two centimetres, which tends to happen because of late diagnosis.

Doctors advise frequent check-ups for people who get diabetes without having a family history of diabetes. In such cases the cancer can develop within six months. We ask high risk patients i.e. whose family has a history of pancreatic cancer, who have a pancreatic cyst, who have chronic pancreatitis or have had a history of any cancer, to get regularly checked for the disease, says Dr Nageshwar. He also said that the CA 19-9, detection test is used to check for antigens which are foreign substances released by pancreatic tumour cells. However, most patients come for the test when the cancer has crossed the preliminary stage and acute abdomen pain starts.

Another symptom linked to the cancer is jaundice. Dr Anand Kumar, a pancreatic surgeon, says, When the bile duct is blocked by the tumour, it causes jaundice. Most people resort to Ayurveda and other natural medicines, which leads to late diagnosis. By then the disease will have spread to the kidney, liver and bones. Once the disease crosses the pancreatic territory, it is incurable even through surgery. And 99% of the cases are diagnosed when they have spread to the neighbouring organs such as the kidneys.

Medical experts say that the only way to stay safe from the disease is to have regular checkups and to not ignore symptoms by dismissing it as back pain and weight loss.Ramachandra and Jayadev Galla pose with the latters sons (on the left) Ashok and Siddharth and nephews (on the right) Harshavardhana Gourineni, MD, Mangal Industries Limited and Vikramadithya Gourineni, MD, Amara Raja Power Systems Limited and Amara Raja Electronics Limited.

Jayadev Galla, politician and the Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of Amara Raja Batteries, talks about the many personal and professional challenges he faced in his entrepreneurial journey.

The early 80s in India werent an easy time to do business. As Ramachandra N. Galla, Founder and Chairman of Amara Raja Group discovered when he started off in 1985 in his home district of Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh. The dynamics of the economy were changing rapidly. The government at that time was supporting non-resident Indians for entrepreneurship to take the countrys industrial growth forward. However, when I finally returned from the US, the odds were heavily stacked against entrepreneurs. Issues like lack of infrastructure, logistics, and non-availability of skilled labour made it an uphill task, says Ramachandra.

Passing the baton from one generation to the next proved to be even more difficult. His son, Jayadev (Jay) Gallas (Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, Amara Raja Batteries) entrepreneurial journey began in America. I felt disconnected from the people and culture and realised the need to live in India. I felt that I could use my experience and knowledge to make a difference in India, says Jayadev.

While originally, the business focused only on batteries used by the telecom, power and oil-and-gas sectors, Jayadev wanted to expand into vehicles which were dominated then by Exide industries. He took over the business from Galla senior in 2003, by when Amara Raja had already come a long way.

But the overall economy when I entered the business was weak. The profits at Amara Raja Batteries had tanked to $300,000 from $1.6 million the previous year. We were established but also had to go to the next level. We planned well, sensed the glitches and moved ahead. While ensuring that the business grew and met all its targets, I also had the responsibility of ensuring that my fathers vision for the company remained our guiding principle, says Jayadev, admitting that the challenges faced by him and his father were different.

When I took over, everyone thought that the business would be ruined, and my dad asked, why did you get into this? But I was confident of getting us out of the morass. I took aggressive steps and brought in new ideas, recalls Jayadev, candidly admitting that it was difficult to work with his father. Legacy definitely mattered. At the same time, there were expectations and little options for failure. I worked very hard on convincing him and putting my ideas into action. I finally convinced him and Amaron batteries was launched in 2000.

It took five years to convince him. Initially, my father was apprehensive if I could do justice to our business or not. It was a huge company which he had created after years of hard work and dedication. He adds, The worries werent unjustified. Timing played a key role as the industrial battery prices had crashed, the auto segment that we forayed into didnt take off, and the overall economy was weak. We were going down with every quarter. Every person in the company began to think that I might ruin the whole business. My father too had some loss of faith in my capabilities.

Ramachandra reasons, The automotive battery foray needed expertise in branding and distribution, which we did not possess.

Despite the apprehensions, Jayadev was confident that theyd be able to pull themselves out of the crisis. We worked hard and started to innovate and from that low point on, our revenues grew 18-fold. We rose like a phoenix, he says proudly.

The growth wasnt without conflict between the two generations. I pushed for auto batteries because being only in industrial mode made the company vulnerable. But my father resisted, because the sector had an entrenched player like Exide on one end and unorganised players churning out cheap knockoffs on the other. Finally, after three years of constant arguments with my father, he relented and I got the opportunity to introduce my ideas, says Jayadev. He reveals that at one point, he told his father, This town isnt big enough for the two of us and one has to quit. Ramachandra took a backseat and Jayadev took over the full reins.

He shares, For the first nine months of this fiscal year, weve run way ahead of our earlier pace. People have started to believe that I can carry forward my family business in the way my father used to. I am happy that I finally gained my fathers trust, and he admits I took aggressive steps and brought in new ideas. This is a really proud moment for me. Now, my father says I can inspire people!

Just like his business, the decision to enter politics too was taken at a young age. Jayadevs grandfather was a freedom fighter while his mother was in politics for 25 years. The biggest lessons in life are those you learn from people around you, that you implement to benefit others. Be it business or politics, one cant move ahead alone. When I moved back to India, I wanted to enter politics too. But like all other things, one needs to have the right skills. Its only after you have lived as a citizen, contributed and achieved something for the people of this country, that you can enter politics. Thats why it took me 22 years to take the first step into politics, says Jayadev, a TDP LS member.

When asked why lesser numbers of the next generation are taking over their family businesses, he quips, Even my next generation isnt too involved in the business. How-ever, I am happy that they are following their dreams and passions. My sons  Ashok and Siddharth  are interested in movies. I am following my interests too. I wanted to be in politics and am balancing my commitment as a politician and life as a businessperson.The 23-year-old engineer, S Dhashwanth, was sentenced to death on Monday by a court in Tamil Nadu's Kancheepuram. He was also sentenced to 31 years in prison. (Photo: File)

Chennai: In February 2017, a seven-year-old girl was raped, murdered and her body burnt by a neighbour who had a puppy she liked to play with at an apartment complex near Chennai.

The 23-year-old engineer, S Dhashwanth, was sentenced to death on Monday by a court in Tamil Nadu's Kancheepuram. He was also sentenced to 31 years in prison.

Dhashwanth allegedly also killed his mother after being let off on bail on a petition by his father. He got a bail in December 2017. Investigators said he killed her, stole her jewellery and fled to Mumbai. He was caught again in Mumbai though he was able to trick the Chennai police and escape. He was arrested again the very next day.

Also Read: Chennai youth nabbed in Mumbai for murdering his mother

According to a report in NDTV, the girl's father reacted on the court verdict and said, "We can sleep peacefully from today. He's a monster."

In 2017, Dhashwanth drew the little girl into his apartment using a puppy he had bought months ago for the purpose of engaging children. He raped the child and suffocated her to death. Then he stuffed the body in a bag and set fire to it on the highway.

The case was legally challenging because there was no witness.

"The prosecution had to rely only on circumstantial evidence. The charge had to be proved scientifically. DNA tests proved the semen collected from the girl's dress was Dhashwanth's. The little girl's jewellery was also recovered from the bedroom of the accused," explained Kannadasan, the lawyer who represented the girl's parents in court.

The police had registered a case under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, a tough law on sexual crimes against children.Mumbai: A chauffeur has been arrested on the complaint of actor Chinmayee Surve, wife of actor Sumeet Raghavan, for allegedly masturbating outside a school in Vile Parle.

Ms Surve was near Parle Tilak School on Monday morning, when she saw the accused, Jivan Chaudhary, 43, who was in a safari suit, allegedly masturbating inside a white BMW. Ms Surve shot Chaudhary a disgusted look, but he allegedly refused to stop and further rolled down the seats window. When the actor walked towards him, he sped off in the vehicle.

Ms Surve then contacted Mr Raghavan  who took to social media about the issue and later registered a complaint with the Vile Parle police. The police nabbed Chaudhary within two hours.Mumbai: The road ahead for artificial intelligence (AI) depended on and would be driven by human intentions, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday.

He was speaking after dedicating the Wadhwani Institute for Artificial Intelligence in suburban Kalina to the nation.

"It is our intention that will determine outcomes of AI," Modi said.

"With every technological revolution, the scalability of technology has increased manifold. This has given humans increasingly more power," he said.

The march of technology can't be at the expense of further increasing the difference in society, he added.

The evolution of technology has to be rooted in the ethics of Sab ka saath, Sab ka vikas. "We need to make AI in India and it should work for India," Modi said.

"The road ahead for artificial intelligence depends on and will be driven by human intentions. It is our intention that will determine outcomes of AI," he said.

"We are using technology in an unparalleled way, from aeronautics to agriculture and from space missions to service deliveries," Modi said.

Read: Modi unveils 4th container of Jawaharlal port worth Rs 7,900 cr in Mumbai

He pointed out the diversity in the country, while dwelling on the use of artificial intelligence.

"We are such a diverse nation of hundreds of languages and hundreds of dialects, can we have AI that makes communication and conversation across these languages and dialects easier? I am sure, we can," he said.

"With the arrival of artificial intelligence, there is no doubt that productivity will go up. But there are also rising fears of human redundancy because there is a competition between the mind and the machine," he said.

"Such fears are neither unfounded nor new. At every stage of technological evolution, we have faced such doubts and questions. This leads to two views of the future. The first brings hopes and aspirations and second brings fears and disruption," he said.

On Maharashtra government and Mumbai University helping set up the institute for artificial intelligence, Modi said it was an excellent example of public-private sector cooperation.

"The institute has ten scientists working at present and their number will go up to 50-100 in a few years. Initial investment (in the project) is Rs 200 crore," said Romesh Wadhwani, co-founder of the institute.MALAPPURAM: In a major haul of banned drugs, the Malappuram district police seized brown sugar and ketamine worth around Rs 7 crore in the international market from Areekode and Manjeri and arrested ten persons including an ex-serviceman and state government employee. The members of the interstate drug peddling gang were on police net for the past few weeks and were trapped in a covert operation launched after the seizure of methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) worth cores last week from Areekode.

The gang arrested from Areekode have been identified as Ashok Kumar, 23, and Vasudevan, 53, from Chennai and Natarajan, 40 and Kannan, 44 from Tirunelveli and Sivadasan, 40 from Kanyakumari. The arrested from Manjeri have are ex-serviceman Shyam Jaggu, 39, from Jodhpur in Rajasthan, Banakk Karthik, 28, from Mysore and state govt employee and Kodiyathur native Fasil Kallunadiyil, 36, and his relative Ashraf Puthiyottil.

Acting on information received from those got arrested last week, the police launched covert operation by dealing directly with members of this gangs from Tamilnadu and Karnataka. The cops impersonated as drug distributors and visited Palani, Kodaikanal, Nagercoil and Trichy to create a rapport with them and were following their moves for the past several days. They intercepted both the gangs while transporting the contraband to distributors in Areekode and Manjeri.

They had tip-off on the arrival of ex-serviceman Shyam Jaggu to Bangalore five days ago with the drug to be handed over to Ashraf. Shyam was working as an agent of interstate drug peddling gang controlled by a Madhya Pradesh based kingpin after voluntarily retiring from the Indian Air Force two years ago, the police said. Jaggu was part of them while serving the force as well. The police team will soon go to Madhya Pradesh for further probe into the drug racket, said Malappuram district police chief Debesh Kumar Behera. The special investigation team include Malappuram DySP Jaleel Thottathil, Manjeri inspector N.B. Shyju and sub-inspector Riyas Chakkeeri.The LHTPPL has denied the allegation and said that the corpus fund is intact and not a single rupee has been misused. (Representational image)

Hyderabad: Members of the Lanco Hills Owners Welfare Association (LHOWA) at Manikonda have registered a complaint with the Raidurgam police station against the Lanco Hills Technology Park Private Limited (LHTPPL), its chairman, chief operating officer and seven others, alleging that they have misused the corpus fund to the tune of Rs 12 crore and diverted it to another welfare association which they created with malafide intention.

The LHTPPL has denied the allegation and said that the corpus fund is intact and not a single rupee has been misused.

P. Narotham Reddy, president, LHOWA said in the complaint that LHTPPL had collected money from all the flat owners towards the corpus fund which is meant for maintenance and other activities.

Meanwhile, the owners formed the LHOWA, got it registered with the government and had intimated the authorities of LHTPPL also. LHTPPL had approved LHOWA as an authorised body for the flat owners and there has been communication between both bodies on numerous occasions.

Being the authorised body, LHOWA had sought information regarding the details of the corpus fund collected and where it had been invested and how much interest had been generated on the amount.

We have written to them on multiple occasions and sought information on these aspects, but never got a response. On a few occasions, the COO of LHTPPL Mr Venkatarami Reddy Simhadri met us and gave an oral assurance that the corpus will be transferred to the account of LHOWA, but that has not been done, Mr Narotham said in the complaint. The residents allege that LHTPPL has floated a second welfare association - Lanco Hills Residential Owners Society (LHORS) - illegally, and transferred the corpus fund amount of `12 crore into its account.

The members of LHORS do not own any flats in Lanco Hills and it was floated by the firm without any information or approval of the owners, violating the apartment act, the complaint said.

Sources from LHTPPL counter that LHOWA is an illegal body and they have told its members to contest in the upcoming elections and use the fund for any activities as per the general or executive body decision.

We have made this clear to them. There are no irregularities in the fund maintenance, they said.

Inspector M Ram Babu of the Raidurgam police said that an inquiry is on and "based on the legal opinion and other evidences, we will proceed."In 2017, 36 people lost their lives in Haryana after Dera followers went on a rampage following the conviction of Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh by a CBI court in Panchkula, in a rape case. (Photo: PTI)

Panchkula: The Haryana's Panchkula Court on Monday has dropped 'attempt to murder' and 'sedition' charges against 53 Dera Sacha Sauda followers in the Panchkula violence case.

The court said that the police had failed to submit incriminating evidence, including CCTV footage to fortify the allegations.

Read: Ram Rahim Singh sentenced to 20 years of imprisonment in 2 rape cases

According to media reports, Panchkula Dera in-charge Chamkaur Singh and media coordinator Surinder Dhiman Insan, are among the accused.

The accused have been discharged from the offences punishable under Section 307, 121 and 121-A, Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Also Read: 30 dead as Dera followers run riot in Haryana; security upped in Delhi, UP

All the 53 accused will face trial in the case of violence and other sections in the court of chief judicial magistrate, Panchkula.

In 2017, thirty-six people lost their lives in Haryana after Dera Sacha Sauda followers went on a rampage following the conviction of their Chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh by a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in Panchkula, in a rape case.In January, PNB filed an initial criminal complaint with the CBI, accusing celebrity jeweller Nirav Modi and others of defrauding the bank and causing it a loss of 2.8 billion rupees (more than USD 43 million). (Photo: File)

New Delhi/Mumbai: The Punjab National Bank branch in south Mumbai sits just down the road from both the Bombay Stock Exchange and the Reserve Bank of India, at a physical centre of one of the world's fastest growing major economies.

The branch, clad in a stately colonial edifice, is now also at the heart of a fraud case linked to billionaire jeweller Nirav Modi that has shaken confidence in a state banking sector that accounts for some 70 percent of India's banking assets.

It was here in Mumbai, according to accounts from Punjab National Bank executives and government investigators, that a lone middle-aged manager, later aided by his young subordinate, engineered fraudulent transactions totalling about USD 1.8 billion from 2011 to 2017.

The bank says it is still investigating how they were able to do so and go undetected for so long. The accounts given by current and former executives who spoke to Reuters suggest an answer as simple as it is alarming; no one was paying attention.

The still unravelling story of how the fraud happened - which includes the alleged misuse of the SWIFT interbank messaging system and incomplete ledger entries - points to a breakdown in checks and balances, and standard banking practices, they said.

The apparent failure of anyone to notice the largest fraud in Indian banking history until this January reveals a "rot" in the state financial sector that goes beyond one lender, said Santosh Trivedi, who spent nearly four decades at Punjab National Bank before retiring in 2016 as a senior manager of audit and inspection in the New Delhi head office.

"Unless this rot is controlled at this stage, to the satisfaction of the international community, it is dangerous for the Indian system," Trivedi said.

JEWELLER TO THE STARS

In January, Punjab National Bank, known as PNB, filed an initial criminal complaint with the country's Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) accusing celebrity jeweller Nirav Modi and others of defrauding the bank and causing it a loss of 2.8 billion rupees (more than USD 43 million).

The allegations against a man whose diamond creations have draped Hollywood stars such as Kate Winslet and Dakota Johnson generated a flurry of coverage across TV screens and newspapers. Nirav Modi has not publicly commented on the case.

He and his family left the country in early January, according to officials, and a call on Sunday to a corporate spokesperson who has handled media for Nirav Modi in the past went unanswered. No charges have been filed against him.

But as more details surfaced about what is alleged to have happened at the state-run bank, which was founded in 1894, the stakes have gotten higher.

A review of bank and government documents related to the case - and interviews with current and former PNB executives, bank auditors and experts - points to a lack of accountability and standards in the country's public banking system.

As of September, 2017, those banks held about 87 percent of the Indian banking system's 9.46 trillion rupees (about USD 147 billion) of soured loans that are non-performing, restructured or rolled over.

A preliminary investigation by the nation's tax authority said of the PNB fraud that "the hit Indian banks would take in the end may well exceed" USD 3 billion, according to an internal note seen by Reuters.

"Yes, there is a problem. We have recognised it," bank Chief Executive Officer Sunil Mehta said during an investor call on Friday. "We are in the process of fixing it up. We'll see wherever the loopholes are there. The people-related risk, we are going to mitigate."

But despite that promise of action, one current senior executive at the bank's headquarters in New Delhi said further problems could not be ruled out.

"In Indian banks, we don't work under ideal situation," the executive, who declined to be identified, said during an interview at his office. "We are in the business of risk, you can't say there won't be road accidents."

FRAUDULENT GUARANTEES

According to court documents filed on Saturday by the CBI, branch deputy manager Gokulnath Shetty issued a series of fraudulent Letters of Undertaking - essentially guarantees sent to other banks so that they would provide loans to a customer, in this case a group of jewellery companies.

These letters were sent to overseas branches of banks, thought to be almost all Indian, that would then lend money to the jewellery firms.

Gokulnath Shetty did so using the bank's SWIFT system to log in with passwords that allowed him, and in at least some instances a more junior official, to serve as both the person who sent messages and as the person who reviewed them for approval, according to court documents and interviews with bank executives.

"The involvement and connivance of more staff members and outsiders at this stage cannot be ruled out," said a CBI document submitted to the court in Mumbai.

Gokulnath Shetty is now in custody and he has not publicly responded to the allegations. Calls to a cell phone listed for his wife on court documents were not answered.

Asked about the password sharing, the senior Punjab National Bank executive said it was not best practice but in the everyday bustle of banks in the country it happens.

"When you are flooded with customers in the morning, with 101 demands, you look for shortcuts," he said. "You do somebody else's work, somebody else does your work. You are not working in an ideal situation."

A second senior executive at the bank's headquarters, who also asked that his name not be used, echoed that sentiment.

After entering the transactions on SWIFT, the CBI documents said, Gokulnath Shetty - who worked at the same branch from 2010 to 2017 despite normal bank practices of regular rotations - did not record them on the bank's internal system.

Because PNB's internal software system was not linked with SWIFT, employees were expected to manually log SWIFT activity. If that was not done, the transactions did not show up on the bank's books.

A SWIFT spokeswoman said in a statement last week that the company does not comment on individual customers.

All together, there were at least 150 such fraudulent Letters of Undertaking during a seven-year period, according to a CBI official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

In addition to detaining Gokulnath Shetty and the junior employee, the CBI has arrested a man who it described in court documents as both being "aware about the modus operandi of the entire scams" and serving as a director in "15 to 16 companies of Nirav Modi Group".

An older brother of the man, Hemant Bhatt, said outside a courtroom on Saturday that he was innocent and the allegations were the result of a "media trial". The brother did not give his name.

An uncle of the junior bank employee, Manoj Kharat, told a reporter outside the court that his nephew was "just following orders of superiors" and added "he wasn't aware of what he is doing".

All three are to be held in custody until March 3. No charges have so far been laid against them.

FINANCIAL HIT

A February 12 note seen by Reuters, sent from PNB to other banks and marked "confidential", said; "None of the transactions were routed through the CBS system" - the bank's internal network - "thus avoiding early detection of fraudulent activity."

The Reserve Bank of India did not respond to a request for comment about whether it had earlier detected any anomalies in Punjab National Bank's operations or whether it would take additional action in auditing banks.

In a statement late on Friday the central bank called the fraud at PNB "a case of operational risk arising on account of delinquent behaviour by one or more employees of the bank and failure of internal controls". It also said the central bank "has already undertaken a supervisory assessment of control systems in PNB and will take appropriate supervisory action".

The CBI paperwork says the fraudulent Letters of Undertaking are likely to add up to "the vicinity of" 60 billion rupees, or more than USD 930 million. Bank executives say the amount tallied by working back through internal records is USD 1.77 billion.

With assets of about USD 120 billion as of December, according to bank filings, PNB will be able to cover any associated losses, though it is still a huge hit for a bank whose stock market value was only USD 6.1 billion before it revealed details of the alleged fraud last week. It has since seen USD 1.4 billion wiped off that market capitalisation.

The mechanics of how the fraud happened, and what it says about the underlying industry culture, are worrying, said Abizer Diwanji, national leader for financial services in the country at accounting firm Ernst & Young.

"Checks and balances are there in public banks as well but they are not followed earnestly," said Abizer Diwanji, who has tracked the Indian financial services industry for more than two decades.

"This is where the discipline, the culture is not there. I always believe that we don't have the culture to manage risks, even operational risks. PNB is not an outlier in this."

To control such risks, most private sector banks require branches to route SWIFT messages through their central offices, Abizer Diwanji said. They also usually integrate their own software systems and SWIFT, meaning that activity such as a Letter of Undertaking being sent would get automatically recorded.

Neither is the case at PNB or most state-run banks in the country, Abizer Diwanji said.

Representatives of two of the external audit firms listed on PNB's annual report for the 2016-17 fiscal year said they could not have known what happened.

"It was off-books, so auditors will not be in a position to detect it," said Sudesh Punhani, a partner at Chhajed & Doshi.

Asked whether the bank's failure to integrate its software system and SWIFT was a cause of concern, Neeraj Golas, a partner at R Devendra Kumar & Associates, also an external auditor of the bank, said: "True, true - we have to really get into it and understand what all these things are."Another top official of the billionaire jewellers Firestar International Company, Vipul Ambani, was already probed on Sunday along with other officials. (Photo: File)

New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), on Monday, summoned Nirav Modi's Chief Financial Officer to investigate a Rs 11,400 crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case to benefit the billionaire jeweller to stars in India and abroad.

Ravi Gupta, Nirav Modis Chief Financial Officer (CFO) has been called for interrogation in Mumbai.

Another top official of the billionaire jewellers Firestar International Company, Vipul Ambani, was already probed on Sunday along with other officials.

The CBI has also interrogated 11 officials of PNB with regard to the scam involving fake Letters of Undertaking (LoU) put out by ex-bank officials to help Nirav Modi, his uncle Mehul Choksi - who heads Gitanjali Jewels - and others get credit from banks outside the country.

Read: Will take 'appropriate supervisory action' in PNB fraud case: RBI

The probe agency is known to have sealed PNB's Brady House branch in Mumbai, where the scam occurred.

(Photo: Twitter | ANI)

The CBI has written to other Indian banks urging them to report any similar case of fraud that involves false guarantees in the form of LoUs.

The investigating agency, on Saturday, arrested ex-PNB deputy manager Gokulnath Shetty, single window operator Manoj Kharat and Hemand Bhat, the groups authorised signatory, over their role in issuing false guarantees at an enormous price to the taxpayer.

Also Read: CBI arrests PNB ex-official Gokulnath Shetty, key accused in bank fraud case

Gokulnath Shetty admitted to using his access to a Level-5 password  the key to SWIFT software interface used to grant LoUs. He reportedly shared the password with top officials of Nirav Modis company.

Read: Gitanjali Gems shares continue fall, plunge 10 pc on Monday

LoUs are guarantees from banks promising to pay back the original lender, if the borrower defaults to repay a loan.

The PNB fraud case surfaced in January when Nirav Modis companies and Mehul Choksi approached the Brady House branch in Mumbai for fresh LoUs to pay off suppliers. The bank on probing past transactions, found no record of authentic guarantees in books.Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Monday said he is looking forward to meeting the Canadian Prime Minister when he arrives in Amritsar on Wednesday. (Photo: ANI | Twitter)

Mumbai: Ending rumours of uncertainty over his meeting with Justin Trudeau, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Monday said he is looking forward to meeting the Canadian Prime Minister when he arrives in Amritsar on Wednesday.

Look forward to meeting Canadian Prime Minister @JustinTrudeau in Amritsar on Wednesday. Im hopeful that this meeting will help strengthen the close Indo-Canadian business ties as well as the deep-rooted people-to-people relations between our two countries.  Capt.Amarinder Singh (@capt_amarinder) February 19, 2018

The Punjab chief minister would be the first major Indian leader to meet the visiting prime minister Justin Trudeau during his maiden state visit. The Canadian Prime Minister, who arrived in India on Saturday evening, was received by MoS Agriculture Gajendra Singh at the Delhi airport.

The statement by the Punjab CM holds significance amid speculation that Trudeau will not meet with him, since he has publicly denounced members of Trudeaus cabinet for allegedly being connected to the Khalistani separatist movement. Previously, Amarinder Singh had called Canadian Defence Minister Harjit Singh Sajjan as a Khalistani sympathiser, during the latters visit to India in April, 2017.

While announcing that the meet would take place, the Punjab Chief Minister said he is hopeful that the meeting will help strengthen the close Indo-Canadian business ties as well as the deep-rooted people-to-people relations between our two countries.

According to reports, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had already issued instructions to the state administration to roll out the red carpet for the visiting dignitarys February 21 visit but was awaiting permission from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to hold a structured meeting.

Trudeau had arrived in India on Saturday evening on a week-long visit. He is accompanied by his wife Sophie Gregoire Trudeau and three children -- Hadrien, Ella-Grace Margaret and Xavier James Trudeau - besides prominent members of his cabinet.

The 46-year-old Canadian Prime Minister is scheduled to visit the Golden Temple in Amritsar, the holiest shrine of the Sikhs. Sikhs account for less than 1.5 per cent of Canada's population.Vijayawada: Finally, Andhra Pradesh has become successful. The state of Andhra Pradesh has been ranked number one in the Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) with 96.75 per cent implementation percentage. Telangana is placed in the 10th position, with 94.85 per cent, according to the updated statistics on Monday.

It may be recalled that the ranks related to the EoDB to AP and TS had created controversy in November 2017. Through the website-http://eodb.dipp.gov.in/, the department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP) had mentioned that the last date to upload evidence of reforms implemented has been extended to November 7, 2017.

While still one week was there for the last date of submission, the rankings were given, and that led to a major discussion in the industrial circles. Generally, rankings displayed on the website are dynamic and will continuously undergo changes, until the freezing of rankings, according to the website.

The website had indicated that AP stood fifth in Ease of Doing Business by securing 72.36 per cent score in January. Though there is a decline in GSDP from 11.61 per cent to 11.05 per cent, the DIPPs fresh score and rank have given enough confidence to APs economy as well as industry for the year 2019. It may be recalled that on October 31, 2017, TS was ranked first, with 60.48 score and AP was ranked 15th with 13.71 per cent.

It may be recalled that on January 1, 2018, 267 parameters have been adjudicated, and 102 were found to be evaluated, as per the updated web details on January 1.

It may be recalled that the ranks related to the Ease of Doing Business to Andhra Pradesh and Telangana had created controversy in the first week of November. The AP Secretariat circles termed the ranks published in media as something which are not properly understood.

During the process of evaluation, many factors were not taken into consideration, a bureaucrat said and added that for few factors, the study depended upon old statistics.

The website http://eodb.dipp.gov.in/ had clearly mentioned few points which were not taken into consideration by the media, and as a result confusion prevailed over the rankings to various states in India.

Ranking displayed on the website is dynamic and will continuously undergo changes, until the freezing of rankings, according to the website. The scores are based on implementation only and scores on feedback evaluation have not been considered in the rankings displayed. States/UTs were requested to check the reform area and recommendation before uploading evidence as the numbering may be different. Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) had stated that it was updating the website.

Coming to ranking particulars, on January 1, Telangana was given first rank with 60.48 score, and Andhra Pradesh was given 15th rank with 13.71 percent, on October 31, 2017. When it comes to Andhra Pradesh, the implementation percentage was 13.98, and only 52 reforms were adjudicated, and 320 were not yet taken for adjudication, explained a senior officer, in the month of November.

Once the process is completed, DIPP, Government of India, in association with the World Bank will come up with exact data on Ease of Doing Business (EoDB), he detailed and added that the DIPP will directly interact with the industry and based on their feedback only, it will adjudicate things. The analysis has clearly indicated that the AP ranking has gone up to 5 with 72.36 percent, by January 1, 2018 from 15th rank with 13.71 percent, on October 31, 2017.The plaintiffs said the Hindus can build Ram temple on Ram Chabootra in the outer courtyard of the Babri Masjid.

Lucknow: Three plaintiffs in the Ayodhya dispute case have announced that they will not accept any out-of-court settlement.

The plaintiffs, Haji Mahboob, Iqbal Ansari and Mohammad Umar, decided at a meeting of local Muslims in Ayodhya that Muslims will not shift the mosque to any other site or gift the land to any party.

In a press statement issued on Monday, the plaintiffs said the Hindus can build Ram temple on Ram Chabootra in the outer courtyard of the Babri Masjid.

The statement also rejected any out-of-court settlement in Babri Masjid/Ram Janambhoomi case and said Muslims will only obey the Supreme Court verdict.

The statement signed by the plaintiffs, further claimed that the meeting was attended by the representatives of Barelvi, Deobandi and Shia sects of Muslim community.

The development is a setback to the efforts being by spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravishankar and Muslim cleric Maulana Salman Nadvi for an out -of-court settlement in the Ayodhya dispute.

Haji Mahboob, one of the plaintiffs, told a news agency, that they had no objection of Hindus building Ram Mandir on Ram Chabootra.

Babri Masjid was never built after demolishing any temple. Before December 22, 1949, Muslims offered namaaz regularly there. Before 1949, Hindus never staked claim on the masjid. Since 1885, Ram Chabootra, situated outside Babri Masjid, was observed as Ram Janamsthan and regular pujas of Ram Lalla was done there, he said.Hyderabad: The possibility of illegal gems trade or as dabba trading (non-existent trade), which was outside the purview of the authorities, could happen from SEZ in TS, according to experts. While some of the trade would remain only on paper, some would take the round-shipping route to enjoy pre-shipment benefits. The Mehul Choksi fraud brought to focus the issue of trade in gems and jewellery.

On enquiries by the Deccan Chronicle, officials said that the Customs had the mechanism to check on the quality of gold, through Carat-o-meter. Any piece of gold placed under this meter will be identified by its carat value. But In case of diamonds, there was no mechanism.

Diamonds being exported have no quality check, no device to check if it is flawless, SI1 or lower grades or VVS diamonds (known to be one of the highest grades in terms of clarity), especially when it comes to smaller diamonds. Also, it is very difficult for the customs to assess every piece. Exports go through random checks. No quality of diamonds is assessed.

It is alleged that Mehul Choksi carried out dabba export, only on paper, as the trader had to fulfil the export credit norms.

A trader explained, It is humanly impossible to check every box, thus it goes unchecked. The product is exported through air cargo; the exports from the SEZ based in Telangana has been over a decade now. The Rajiv Gems Park has its own special packing facility at the site.

Hyderabad Gems SEZ (called Rajiv Gem Park) is a 100 per cent subsidiary of Mehul Choksi-owned Gitanjali Group and maternal uncle of Nirav Modi, the duo booked by the Central Bureau of Investigation.

ED conducted searches and seized diamonds, precious stones, gold and have deposited in in 14 SEZ company lockers within the premises. The total worth of the gems seized was yet to be evaluated, said regional ED officials. The SEZ was located in Ravirala village in Maheshwaram in Ranga Reddy district.New Delhi: The Supreme Court has been moved on Monday for a probe by a special investigation team consisting of retired apex court judges and to prosecute the guilty involved in the Rs 11,400 crore scam in Punjab National Bank involving jeweller Nirav Modi and others.

Advocate Manohar Lal Sharma has filed this PIL expressing serious concern over the fraud committed by the PNB by issuing Letter of Undertaking without proper surety or bank guarantee and without entering the LoU in the bank records.New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday it clear that it was looking into the issue seeking probe into the death of former sessions court judge H.B. Loya as a public cause and will not hesitate to order an investigation if it finds some suspicion in his death.

A three-judge bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A.M. Khanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud, made this observation when senior counsel Dushyant Dave, appearing for Bombay Lawyers Association made a fervent plea for a probe in public interest.

Even as senor counsel Mukul Rohatgi appearing for Maharashtra said Apart from politics, there is nothing amiss in the death of Loya and no further probe is necessary, Justice Chandrachud observed Any such untoward incident of death has to be seriously looked into by this court.

Justice Chandrachud added We are looking into every aspect of the documents and material in minute detail to verify the averments. On verification if our conscience is aroused to order an enquiry, we will not hesitate to do so. We treat it as a public cause and we are not concerned with what is happening outside this court. We take it with the highest amount of seriousness and we are duty bound to do it. The CJI endorsed Justice Chandrachuds observations and said, We are not concerned with petitioners locus standi or bonafides in filing the petition.Hyderabad: Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao held a review meeting with officials of the agriculture department at Pragati Bhavan on Sunday. At the meeting, he directed officials to conduct regional conferences of mandal-level farmers coordination committees on February 25 and 26.

The CM asked for in-depth discussions on the role of the coordination committee members to be held during the conferences. He said the members should be prepared to create awareness regarding the various programmes and measures implemented by the state government for the welfare of farmers in the state.

The CM also announced that a 42-member state-level farmers coo-rdination committee would be set up. The proposed committee will consist of agricultural officers, scientists, and specialists as well as representatives from the rural districts. He asked officials to recommend the names of persons who were working in a committed manner for the development of agriculture in the state.

Mr Rao also said the government was planning to introduce a separate Budget for the agriculture sector and he asked officials to prepare draft budget proposals.

The CM said the financial assistance extended to farmers under the investment support sch-eme would be given out in the form of cheques, in two instalments.

He said the first instalment of Rs 4,000 per acre would be given out from April 20 as assistance for the cultivation of Kharif crops, and the second instalment of the same amount would be given out from November 18 for the Rabi crop. He said funds for the scheme would be earmarked in the Budget.

Mr Rao also said the subsidisation of rice-planting machines had been proposed as part of the activities to mechanise agriculture in the state.

On February 25, a regional conference will be held at the agricultural university in Hyderabad. Members of the coordination committees from Jangaon, Medak, Sangareddy, Mahbubnagar, Wanaparthy, Nagarkurnool, Gadwal, Nalgonda, Suryapet, Yadadri, Vikarabad, Medchal, and Rangareddy districts will be invited to participate in it.

On February 26, the conference will be held in Karimnagar. Members of the committees from Adilabad, Mancherial, Nirmal, Asifabad, Karimnagar, Jagtial, Pedapalli, Warangal (Urban), Warangal (Rural), Bhoopalpally, Mahabubabad, Khammam, Kothagudem, and Siddipet districts will be invited to participate in it.

The conferences will be held from 10.30 am to 5 pm. The Chief Minister and the agriculture minister will address the participants, and it will be possible for participants to directly interact with the CM.In the run-up to the Assembly elections, now barely three months away, the Janata Dal (Secular) is engaged in a unique form of social engineering by tying up with various outfits for romping home to power. Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief and former Uttar Pradesh CM Ms Mayawati was the star attraction at a huge rally organised by the party on Saturday. There are many who think that the JD(S) can at best become kingmaker tagging behind one of the major parties after the polls but party state president H.D. Kumaraswamy, in an interview with Deccan Chronicle, says his party will be king and not kingmaker. He took potshots at the BJP and Congress saying people will decide the role the JD(S) will play, not the Congress or BJP. Here are excerpts from the interview.

Q&A

While the Congress and BJP started their election campaign three months ago, the JD(S) has started a bit late. Will this be advantageous or disadvantageous for the party?

Even we had started in November itself. The difference is that we did not get the required publicity in the media and it was not discussed much. In October, I started election work from Chamundi Hills in Mysuru. Since then, I have covered almost all the districts in North Karnataka, mainly Kalaburgi, Raichur, Yadgir and Vijayapur. In a few places, I have addressed bigger rallies that the ones being organised by the two national parties. I have no regrets that they did not receive publicity, but I am happy at the way people are responding. And with Saturdays rally, I hope we have created history in Karnataka politics.

You have allied with the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Nationalist Congress Party, which have no significant presence in Karnataka. Do you have more allies coming your way? Do you have any hope of getting help from such allies?

Well... Left parties are our natural allies for a long time and we are going to have an alliance with them. Other than that, we dont plan a tie-up with any other regional party in India. When it comes to BSP, it has its own base in all 224 constituencies, but in a small way. In some places, it has three to four per cent of the votes. In some constituencies, it could be 0.5 per cent to 1 per cent. However, this will add to our vote share. It is true that the NCP does not have a presence in Karnataka. However, we know that there are a lot of constituencies in Karnataka where the Marathas have a lot of influence. At the moment, MES and Shiv Sena are creating problems in areas like Belagavi. The NCP is not asking for seats all over Karnataka. They want to contest in Belagavi, in one or two constituencies in Bidar and Vijayapura districts where the Janata Dal (Secular) strength is not upto the mark. However, we can make inroads with the help of Nationalist Congress Party and counter the MES and Shiv Sena. Apart from this, there are Marathi speaking people, who have settled in all constituencies of Karnataka for a long time. They are here since the pre-independence period. This would be a kind of social engineering to get them to back us. I am practical when it comes to fighting elections. At this moment, we need to increase our vote share to 30-32 per cent. Only then can we win the election and we are into this process without trying to create a rift between communities.

The two national parties feel that at the best, the JD(S) can play the role of kingmaker and can never come to power on its own. Do you agree with this view?

It is the people at large, not the Congress or BJP who decide what we have to be. They will vote us in or out and not these political parties. At the moment, people are disgusted with 10 years of rule by the two national parties in the state. They are looking for change and we are providing them the alternative.

But, the concept of a regional party is not deep rooted in Karnataka like it is in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Odisha or even the North-Eastern states. Don't you feel the social structure is different here?

It used to be, but the polarisation has begun. The local people are not getting what they want. This will be a peculiar election and no one can predict the way it will be fought. Cutting across the social structure, people want to get out of the clutches of national parties.

Even the Janata Dal (Secular) has internal problems... More than seven MLAs have left and are joining another party?

As I have already said, it is the people who decide who should win. If some people think that they can win the elections with money and the support of national parties, it is up to them to prove it. I dont want to react to them. The election result will show who was right.Hyderabad: Both the ruling and Opposition parties in Andhra Pradesh are talking about moving a no-confidence motion against the Narendra Modi government to protest the raw deal Andhra Pradesh got in the Union Budget.

The second phase of the Budget session of Parliament will commence on March 5 and conclude on April 5. Of the 25 Lok Sabha MPs from Andhra Pradesh, 23 are from the TDP and YSRCP.

The National Democratic Alliance commands the support of over 330 MPs in the Lok Sabha. Even assuming the TDPs 15 MPs and the YSRCPs eight MPs vote in support of the motion, the NDA government will not collapse.

According to a statement of the Andhra Pradesh Congress committee president N. Raghuveera Reddy, even the Congress is ready to move a no-trust motion and both TDP and YSRCP will be thoroughly exposed on their support to the motion.

Given the complexity of the composition of the Lok Sabha, it is doubtful that the entire opposition as a unit will support the no-trust move for the sake of Andhra Pradesh alone. The Congress party could rope in more opposition parties if it includes other pressing issues concerning the nation, and not just Andhra Pradesh.Hyderabad: It seems neither the state government nor the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has learned any lessons from the past. Though parts of the city get flooded every year whenever there is a little extra rainfall, the cause of this flooding  the encroachments on nalas which decreases their ability to carry off the extra water  is consistently ignored. The opposition too is not pressing for action of this kind.

Recently, municipal administration and urban development minister K. Taraka Rama Rao told the 66th National Town and Country Planners Congress that the government cannot implement the recommendations made by the expert committees, including the Kirloskar committee, calling such recommendations impractical.

An elected government cannot demolish 28,000 structures to widen the citys nalas and expect to be re-elected again, he said, clearly showing where the priorities of the government lie. Senior Congress leader and former minister Marri Shashidhar Reddy said that Mr Taraka Rama Rao has not bothered to read the guidelines for urban flooding which were suggested during the Congress tenure. What has the government been doing all these years and has it held a single review meeting even on a basic measure like nala desilting, he queried. He said when government can widen the roads by destroying KBR Park, it can easily widen the city nalas to save the city from inundation.

Stop thinking about the election and please provide relief to citizens, Mr Shashidhar Reddy advised the government. MLC and BJP Greater Hyderabad president N. Ramchander Rao said that instead of removing encroachments on the nalas, the nalas can be realigned to minimise the demolitions. He said that the majority of those displaced will be from the middle class and poor. Experts have suggested that the nalas can be diverted through government open lands and underground pipelines. He said government must look for alternative proposals to minimise the damage.

CPM city secretary M. Srinivas said that the government has assured poor families who have lost their houses in the nala demolition drive that they will get 2BHK houses, but the government has done nothing of the sort. The government has issued pattas for lands on nalas according to GO 58 prior to the GHMC elections. But, after elections they demolished the houses on the same lands  the Kapra incident.

He said that the government has been making promises for the sake of electoral gains but not in order to find a solution to this issue. He said that the government shows double standards over the nala widening issue and will drag it on until the next general election.

Meanwhile, the GHMC has chalked out a plan to clear bottlenecks at nalas at 47 locations in the city where water flow gets impeded significantly leading to flooding of streets during the monsoon months. It has earmarked Rs 230 crore to dredge the nalas and widen them before the onset of the monsoon, but the plan has few takers. Six months into the plan, and the corporation has initiated work at only 15 locations. Not one contractor has evinced interest in bidding for tenders for work at 20 other locations.

The widening project has been on GHMCs to-do list for the past two decades, but demolishing encroachments is a political hot potato and so political considerations inevitably win out over civic ones.Hyderabad: Both the ruling and Opposition parties in Andhra Pradesh are talking about moving a no-confidence motion against the Narendra Modi Government to protest the raw deal Andhra Pradesh got in the Union Budget.

The idea of the no-trust motion was first mooted by Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan who has no MPs. He said the TD and YSR Congress should both move the motion so that the Modi government will talk terms with Andhra Pradeshs MPs.

The idea was picked up by Leader of the Opposition Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy who said that his party MPs will move a no-confidence motion and it is for Pawan Kalyan to enlist support for the motion including from the ruling TDP.

Given the one-upmanship presently being displayed by the rival TDP and YSRCP, it is doubtful that they can unite in moving the no-trust motion in Parliament.

On Monday, TD Chief and AP Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu did mention the No Confidence Motion on two occasions.

He first said that it would be of no use and later corrected his statement and said a no-trust move should be the last opportunity after exploring all other options.

The fact of the matter is that unless the TD breaks its alliance with the BJP-led NDA government at the centre first, it cannot move a no-trust motion.

However, Pawan Kalyan on Monday evening again said it is his responsibility to muster support for the move and he will go to Delhi and talk to all other opposition parties in the Lok Sabha to garner support.SHILLONG: Confident of forming government in Tripura, BJP is also hopeful to make an impressive opening in another hill state of Meghalaya.

Top brass of BJP including president Amit Shah, defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Kiren Rijiju have been doing hectic campaign in the state. Identifying a large number of migrant voters in urban areas, several poorvanchali (people from Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh) leaders like Manoj Tiwari and Rajiv Pratap Rudy have also been making rounds of Meghalaya.

Polling for 60 Assembly seats of Meghalaya will be held on February 27 and counting of votes will take place on March 3. The BJP, which is contesting on 47 of the 60 seats in the Assembly polls in the state, is hoping to unseat the Mukul Sangma government, ruling the state for nearly 10 years now.

With over 75 per cent of Meghalayas population Christians, BJP has prominently placed Union tourism minister K. Alphons in the state. Alphons prominently sharing posters and hoardings put across the state with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Shah with tagline of Time For Change, Time For BJP.

With no member in the outgoing Assembly claiming to form the next government but party state leaders said that the BJP will be making strong an impressive opening in the Meghalaya Assembly if in case failed to cross halfway mark. No government will be formed without BJP support next month, he added.

BJP and its leaderships are wooing voters on development with increase of central assistance.

Tiwari, Bhojpuri superstar, had a special meeting with voters from Poorvanchal. Five urban seats surrounding states capital Shillong, have a sizable population of migrants from Bihar and eastern UP. There are 40,000 voters from Bihar and eastern UP, which hold key to five Assembly seats. Along with locals they will vote to help BJP form the next government, said Tiwari.Mysuru: Launching a frontal attack on Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and the Congress government in the CM's hometown, Mysuru, Prime Minister Narendra Modi who interspersed his speech with Kannada phrases, asked the massive crowd present at a BJP rally if they did not want a respite from corruption, discrimination and whether they did not want development either.

Addressing a 40,000 plus gathering of people from Mysuru, Kodagu, Mandya Chamarajnagar and Hassan at the Maharaja College grounds, PM Modi said: "When I dubbed the state government a '10 percent commission' government at a rally in Bengaluru, I received several messages, saying that it (the commission) was more than that. So do you want a government involved in commission business or a government of the BJP with a mission to develop the state?

A leader elected from this good land is indulging in the sin of dividing society. They are not ashamed to be corrupt. Development is not their priority. They lie loudly. They are concerned about securing their chair and pleasing Congress leaders in Delhi. He concluded his speech with an appeal - Ee baari BJP gellisi (This time make BJP win.) Mr Modi began his speech in Kannada saying nanna preethiya bandhu baginiyarige nanna namaskaragalu. (My dear brothers, my heartfelt namaskar.) Attacking the Congress party, he said, Unlike in the Congress where one family ruled the entire country for many years, India is our family. The BJP wants to develop India. Wherever there is a Congress government, it functions like a road hump decreasing the pace of development.

The Congress ruled for so many years after independence, yet the dreams of leaders who fought for India remain unfulfilled, he said, adding there were not many media organisations and NGO to question them then. Four crore families in India still live in the 18th century without electricity. Do you still want to trust the promises of the Congress? When I dubbed the state government a 10 percent commission government at a rally in Bengaluru, I received several messages, saying that it (the commission) was more than that. So do you want a government involved in commission business or a government of the BJP with a mission to develop the state?"

By 2022, when India completes 75 years of Independence, it is our duty to ensure every family has a home. But will the Congress government in the state allow this to happen? We wish to ensure merit based employment, our youth are confident and self sustained. Unfortunately a mother has to sell her jewellery, pledge her land to pay bribes. Dont you want a respite from corruption? If you take a small bowl, you will get small amount of Ganga jal, the bigger it is, the larger the amount. So if you want more development, choose the BJP. Youth do not want a government which loots. We wish to give you a government with a mission, he said.In 1666, the Great Fire of London devastated that city for four days, destroying two thirds of the metropolis in a massive conflagration. There was anger, fear and despair, and many wondered if the city would ever rise again. But it did, and much credit for this goes to Sir Christopher Wren, who drew up the plans for rebuilding London, essentially transforming the city from a warren of thatched huts and cobblestone series into the first draft of the modern metropolis it is today. Along with dozens of churches, Wren also rebuilt St Pauls Cathedral where he himself was laid to rest. His tomb is a simple, Spartan affair where Wren lies resting under a slab of black marble. Above, a latin inscription reads: si monumentum requiris, circumspice.

Translated this reads, if you seek his monument, look around you. Look around and see the cathedral he build, the cathedral he designed. It is a legacy that does not require a ticker tape parade or an annual holiday. It is a legacy of vision given form, of dedication and devotion.

It is that same dedication and devotion that we saw at the funeral of the late, great Asma Jahangir. It wasnt a state funeral, of course, but that was fitting for a woman who was never the advocate for the state, who never desired such honours and would have likely scoffed at them. Had the state honoured her it would only have honoured itself. But that is of little import, because if she stood for the people  and it was the people who laid her to rest, said their farewells, and buried a giant in a small grave.

They came in all their shades and colours, people who would never otherwise stand in the same ranks: Muslim, Sikh, Christian and Hindu, rich and poor, from society elite to the forgotten tenants of the Okara farms. From those who knew her well to those who only knew of her; these were all of those whose lives she had touched, transformed and inspired.

Its difficult to add to the countless heartfelt tributes that have poured in from all corners. It seems pointless to relate personal stories about her when so many, far more meaningful tales have already been related so the only question that I shall ask is this: how do we honour such a legacy?

The usual approach is to change place names to honour her. Given that her funeral prayers took place in Gaddafi Stadium, the first demand was to rename this landmark Asma Jahangir stadium. Certainly theres no harm in this, or in naming roads, schools and more after her. There is, in my opinion, an intrinsic problem with simply changing names because it runs the risk of the persons legacy instead being subverted or even disgraced.

Take this for example: there have been calls to rename Abdul Wali Khan University, where Mashal Khan was brutally murdered by a mob of his college mates, to honour the slain student.

Lets say that happens and yet those who killed him, or cheered as he lay dying, continue to study there? What if  as is likely  the university administration that abetted this crime remains in place? What if in a renamed university the mindset that killed Mashal continues to flourish? That would indeed be the greatest dishonour possible.

One would not like to see the same happen with Asma Jahangirs name so any honour cannot simply stop there: There is a proposal to rename the law department of Punjab university after her, but that would only be truly meaningful if the cases she fought would be studied there  if a fellowship was created in her name or a scholarship programme put in place allowing deserving students without means to follow in her footsteps.

Let there be free legal aid centres that carry on her work, even if they do not bear her name. The hardest part of carrying on her legacy falls to us, though, in our limited personal capacities. It falls to us to speak truth to power where and when we can, even knowing that we could never match her raw courage  one that bordered on madness. She was the true giant of our times, towering over the moral pygmies that infest us. And while we know that we can never stand so tall, perhaps we can stand on her shoulders.

By arrangement with Dawn.Richard Bransons Virgin Hyperloop One has signed a deal with the Maharashtra government to build the magnetic levitation concept transportation mode from Mumbai to Pune via Navi Mumbai airport. This futuristic mode of carrying people and cargo was first envisaged in 2012 by the visionary Elon Musk, who was bidding to link Los Angeles and San Francisco. Since then, the concept has caught on so much that the Hyperloop is being thought of as an environmentally-friendly mode that could possibly link several pairs of cities worldwide. The first experimental track or tube is being built in the Nevada desert outside Las Vegas. Its fair to say we should keep our fingers crossed on this novel tech, hoping it would catch on universally and prove itself an even better mass transportation solution than the bullet train.

Theres no question that the super-speed Hyperloop, with pods travelling at nearly 1,000 kmph, will cut travel time and enable many trips daily at an economical cost, besides speed of construction, with the Mumbai-Pune line to be ready by, say, 2021. However, the costs are at best an estimate, while ballpark figures place them far higher than what the promoters claim. The loops per-mile cost could be up to $11.5 million from LA to the Bay Area, or even $52 million per mile from Dubai to Abu Dhabi  if so, the Hyperloop could possibly beat all others to the starting gate. Right now, all this sounds too fanciful, and its effect on the environment hasnt been fully measured yet. But if Mumbai-Pune, Chennai-Bengaluru and Delhi-Mumbai via Indore can become a reality some day, well have to thank dreamers like Musk and Branson for making it possible.The experiment was held near the isolated Israeli township of Mitzpe Ramon, whose surroundings resemble the Martian environment in its geology, aridity, appearance and desolation. (Photo: D-MARS Twitter)

A team of six Israeli researchers on Sunday ended a four-day Mars habitat experiment in Israels Negev desert where they simulated living conditions on the Red Planet, Israels Science and Technology Ministry said.

The experiment was held near the isolated Israeli township of Mitzpe Ramon, whose surroundings resemble the Martian environment in its geology, aridity, appearance and desolation, the ministry said.

The participants were investigating various fields relevant to a future Mars mission, including satellite communications, the psychological affects of isolation, radiation measurements and searching for life signs in soil.

Participant Guy Ron, a nuclear physics professor from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, said the project was not only intended to look for new approaches in designing a future mission to the Red Planet but to increase public interest.

D-Mars is half about the research, and the other half is about the outreach. A major part of this project is getting public interest and getting students interested in space, he said.

The D-Mars project was being held in Israel for the first time in cooperation with the Israel Space Agency. It is one of a number of Mars simulation projects taking place worldwide.

Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter.

Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter.The Mi TV comes with three HDMI ports and two USB ports, along with an Ethernet port and Bluetooth 4.0.

Rating:

Slim, intelligent, toys with competition and their weak points  Xiaomi's first smart TV for India is Kohli inside a box!

The only difference is that Virat Kohli comes with a heavy price tag whereas Xiaomi's Mi LED Smart TV 4 will be available at an 'under 19' price point! Xiaomi's the brand that toppled the top order of the country's budget and mid-range smartphone market with its Mi and Redmi range of offerings.

Back in China, their TVs have been popular, but it is only now that Xiaomi decided to bring it to India. We can vouch for the fact that India's wait for the Mi TV is worth it for two simple reasons. One, India-specific enhancement to TV content and two, a price point that might go on to redefine smart TV pricing. Let's break this down:

Will the real slim TV please stand up?

The Mi TV 4 is arguably the slimmest LED TV in the world and a 4K ultra HD TV at that. With a thickness of 4.9 mm and a frameless display, the TV comes in a single 55-inch variant, powered by a 64-bit quad-core processor, 2GB RAM + 8GB storage configuration and features Dolby and DTS sound capabilities. Xiaomi has truly brought the concept of the bezel-less display of smartphones to the Mi TV 4. Fine attention to detail, such as a smooth but rugged back panel coating, a cute pair of table top hold clips, and well-hidden speakers make it a TV that takes design seriously.

A drone inside your TV!

Imagine a drone circling around your neighbourhood, shooting live footage of everything that's happening within a radius of a square kilometre? Now imagine a system that's intelligent enough to identify each of your content subscriptions and display it on a dynamic, never-ending home screen, alongside content from your set top box.

It's pretty much like having a surveillance drone inside of your TV, hovering, looking for new stuff. Xiaomi's new PatchWall TV UI comes with a range of features that make finding content a smooth experience. It has a search button that lets you search for a movie, a sport, an actor, pretty much anything you want, and PatchWall pulls up every piece of content, from your set top box to your Hotstar subscription, to your saved videos, and lets you choose the one you want.

Mi TV 4 is the only device in the country that lets you throw away your bulky set top box remote and use the Mi Remote as a single interface for all content on your TV. This effectively means that you do not need to remember channel numbers. You just need to search for your content and the TV will automatically identify and switch to the relevant channel. The integration of a TV with your set top box makes the Mi TV quite smart in the true sense of the world. And the Mi Remote itself is an aesthetic piece of plastic and is hilariously simple to use. The Mi TV comes with three HDMI ports and two USB ports, along with an Ethernet port and Bluetooth 4.0. Currently, the device comes with around 500,000 hours of content across 15 content providers, where 80 per cent of the content is free.

With a good mix of hardware and in-built software, Xiaomi's India entry into the Indian market is quite an impressive one. The Mi TV 4 is aggressively priced at Rs 39,999 and is available at mi.com and Flipkart.

IndiaTechOnline

Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter.

Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter.The platform - FutureSkills was unveiled by Honble Prime Minister Narendra Modi who applauded the initiative and its focus on creating skills for future jobs in the country. (Photo: File)

As exponential technologies and digitalization expand their horizons and become indispensable for professions across the IT spectrum, the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) launched a platform for skills development in 8 varied technologies  starting with AI. The other technologies in focus will be Virtual Reality, Robotic Process Automation, Internet of Things, Big Data Analytics, 3D Printing, Cloud Computing, Social and Mobile. This is aimed at up-skilling two million technology professions and skilling another two million potential employees and students over the next few years. The platform - FutureSkills was unveiled by Honble Prime Minister Narendra Modi who applauded the initiative and its focus on creating skills for future jobs in the country.

NASSCOM also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India, to collaboratively foster, cultivate and strengthen reskilling initiatives. As a part of the MoU, NASSCOM and MeitY will work together to enable skill development and continuous learning not only for individuals in the IT-ITeS industry and its aspirants; but also, employees belonging to other sectors. The MoU was signed in the presence of Shri. Ravi Shankar Prasad, Minister of Law & Justice and Electronics and IT, Govt. of India, Mr. R Chandrashekhar, President, NASSCOM, Mr. BVR Mohan Reddy, Industry Leader and Chairman of the IT-ITES Sector Skills Council, Ms. Debjani Ghosh Industry Leader and President-designate, NASSCOM and Mr. Mohit Thukral, Industry Leader and Executive Committee Member, NASSCOM. Commenting on the MoU, Shri. Ravi Shankar Prasad, Minister of Law & Justice and Electronics and IT, Govt. of India said, Digital empowerment can only happen if there is digital inclusion. With the advent of new technologies like AI, Blockchain and IoT, reskilling of young professionals is critical. Im pleased that NASSCOM has come up with this unique platform for skilling and reskilling young people where my department and team will provide lot of support and assistance. It is all about teamwork where government and private sector leaders and organisations like NASSCOM need to come together and contribute towards digital inclusion.

The platform for re-skilling and up-skilling of workforce in new and emerging ICT technologies is a complement to Digital India initiative of the Government. While Digital India is working on steps to increase domestic electronic production, BPO promotion schemes for employment, this platform will make talent available for India and the Indian industry to embrace opportunities from emerging technologies.

While the MoU evangelises re-skilling by supporting the industry and other stakeholders; FutureSkills aims to charter the roadmap for the sustained growth in various fields starting with three distinct job roles for AI.

Expressing his views on the unveiling of the platform, Mr. R. Chandrashekhar, President, NASSCOM said, Across the whole spectrum of the industry, skill profiles are undergoing rapid changes witnessing a rising demand for enhanced digital capabilities. With this growing need we are confident that the FutureSkills platform will not only help re-engineer education and but also create employment prospects. Also, the MoU we signed today is a momentous milestone in industry and governments collaborative initiatives to build sustainable talent for the industry.

NASSCOM has conducted a comprehensive study with the Boston Consulting Group to identify 8 technologies, poised to grow tremendously, both nationally and globally, in the coming decade, along with associated 55 job roles and corresponding skills required for those technologies. The FutureSkills platform will enable discovery, continuous learning and a marketplace of best-in-class training providers/virtual labs and certifications for each of these job roles and skills, with customised pathways for learning.

Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter.

Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter.In a flurry of tweets, Trump blamed former president Barack Obama for failing to stop Russia while accusing the FBI of spending too much time trying to prove collusion with the Trump campaign. (Photo: File)

West Palm Beach: President Donald Trump said Sunday that Russia was succeeding beyond its "wildest dreams" in sowing US discord but refrained once more from directly challenging Moscow on its election meddling.

In a flurry of tweets, Trump blamed former president Barack Obama for failing to stop Russia while accusing the FBI of spending "too much time trying to prove collusion with the Trump campaign."

But the president has made no move to take on Russia since indictments Friday against 13 Russians that laid out in detail aspects of an alleged covert effort to sway the 2016 US presidential election in Trump's favor.

US intelligence chiefs warned earlier in the week that Russian meddling has continued and poses a threat to the US mid-term congressional elections in 2018.

Speaking at a security conference in Munich Saturday, National Security Advisor HR McMaster called the evidence of Russian interference in US democratic processes "incontrovertible."

But Trump glossed over Russian responsibility and offered no indication of what his administration would do about it.

"General McMaster forgot to say that the results of the 2016 election were not impacted or changed by the Russians and that the only Collusion was between Russia and Crooked H, the DNC and the Dems," Trump said in a tweet late Saturday, making reference to his defeated Democratic Party challenger Hillary Clinton.

General McMaster forgot to say that the results of the 2016 election were not impacted or changed by the Russians and that the only Collusion was between Russia and Crooked H, the DNC and the Dems. Remember the Dirty Dossier, Uranium, Speeches, Emails and the Podesta Company!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 18, 2018

Also Read: No collusion: Russian meddling didnt impact US polls, says Trump

He followed that up Sunday: "I never said Russia did not meddle in the election, I said 'it may be Russia, or China or another country or group, or it may be a 400 pound genius sitting in bed and playing with his computer.' The Russian 'hoax' was that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia - it never did!"

'Wildest dreams'

Friday's indictment was filed by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating possible collusion between Trump's campaign and Russia, and possible obstruction of justice.

"For anyone, including the president, who continues to call this a witch hunt... the evidence is now overwhelming and unequivocal and we need to move to protect ourselves from Russian interference in elections that are coming up," said Adam Schiff, the senior Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, speaking on CNN's "State of the Union" program.

Trump, however, suggested that the problem lay with congressional and Department of Justice probes, rather than the interference itself.

"If it was the GOAL of Russia to create discord, disruption and chaos within the US then, with all of the Committee Hearings, Investigations and Party hatred, they have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams," Trump tweeted.

"They are laughing their asses off in Moscow. Get smart America!" he added.

In yet another tweet, he said: "Obama was President, knew of the threat, and did nothing."

If it was the GOAL of Russia to create discord, disruption and chaos within the U.S. then, with all of the Committee Hearings, Investigations and Party hatred, they have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. They are laughing their asses off in Moscow. Get smart America!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 18, 2018

Schiff agreed that the Obama administration should have done more when it learned of the Russian meddling.

"None of that is an excuse for this president to sit on his hands," Schiff said.

Also Read: US has no reason to believe Kremlin wont meet nuke limits under treaty

"The president of the United States continues to sit on sanctions that Congress passed, that Congress wants enforced against Russia over this interference," he said.

The US Treasury Department in January issued a list of prominent Russian political and business figures who could be sanctioned, as required under a law passed last year to punish Moscow's election meddling.

But the administration said new sanctions called for under the law were not needed because the measure was already having a deterrent effect.

Shoes drop

The indictments brought by Mueller alleges that the Russian campaign was launched in 2014, initially as an effort to undermine confidence in the US political system.

By mid-2016, however, the campaign -- under the direction of Yevgeny Prigozhin, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin -- had become focused on hurting Clinton and helping Trump, according to the indictment.

Also Read: Firing officials over FBI probe can lead to confrontation: Democrats warn Trump

The effort allegedly involved hundreds of people working in shifts and with a budget of millions of dollars. Three companies were also indicted.

The indictment did not address the Russian government's role or hacks of the Clinton campaign and Democratic National Committee.

"I do think there are other shoes to drop here besides this indictment," former national security director James Clapper said on CNN.

In announcing the indictments, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said there was "no allegations in this indictment" that any American was a "knowing participant" in the Russian scheme -- leading Trump to declare that this vindicated his campaign team.

Rosenstein also said there was no judgment on whether the Russian campaign "altered the outcome" of the White House race.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov dismissed the charges, calling them "blabber" and "fantasies."Nikolas Cruz killed 17 people at his former high school last Wednesday using an AR-15 rifle that he had legally purchased. (Photo: AP)

Washington: The couple who had taken Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz into their family said in an interview published Sunday they had no inkling of violent tendencies from the young man whom they described as quirky and naive.

Cruz, 19, moved in with James and Kimberly Snead of Parkland, Florida in late November after the death of his mother earlier that month from complications of pneumonia, the South Florida Sun Sentinel reported. He was a friend of their son.

"I told him there'd be rules and he followed every rule to the T," James Snead, 48, an army veteran and military intelligence analyst, told the paper.

"We had this monster living under our roof and we didn't know," said Kimberly Snead, 49, a nurse. "We didn't see this side of him."

Also Read: Florida school shooter a 'troubled' ex-student, loved guns, say cops

Cruz killed 17 people at his former high school last Wednesday using an AR-15 rifle that he had legally purchased. It was the country's worst school massacre since the horror at Sandy Hook six years ago that left 26 dead.

A profile has emerged of a troubled young man who was expelled from the school in 2017 for "disciplinary reasons."

The FBI admitted it received a detailed warning in January about Cruz's gun ownership, erratic behaviour, and disturbing social media posts, as well as the potential of him conducting a school shooting. The agency took no action, despite the tip-off.

The Sneads described a 19-year-old who had grown up apparently without ever having to perform common chores -- he couldn't cook, do laundry, pick up after himself or even use a microwave.

"He was very naive. He wasn't dumb, just naive," James Snead told the Sun Sentinel.

Cruz had odd habits, like putting a chocolate chip cookie on a sneak and cheese sandwich, and going to bed at 8 pm.

Also Read: Shame on you: Florida shooting survivor calls out Trump over gun laws

He seemed lonely and badly wanted a girlfriend, and also was depressed about the death of his mother, the couple said. Kimberly Snead had taken Cruz to the office of a therapist just five days before the shooting, and he had said he was open to therapy and took a business card.

Cruz told the Sneads he would inherit at least USD 800,000 from his parents, with most of the funds becoming available when he turned 22.

The couple last saw Cruz, who has been charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder, at the Broward County Sheriff's office. Dressed in a hospital gown, he was handcuffed and surrounded by deputies.

"He said he was sorry. He apologized. He looked lost, absolutely lost," said James Snead. "And that was the last time we saw him."New Delhi: In what is being seen as a jolt and fresh snub to India, the state of emergency was on Monday extended by 30 days after a key parliamentary committee reportedly approved President Abdulla Yameens request, allowing him to reinforce his power in the picturesque tiny Indian Ocean archipelago nation. Continuing his defiance of India, President Yameen earlier on Monday had approached his Parliament seeking to extend the emergency in his nation by 30 days on the grounds that the threat to national security has not diminished, and the Constitutional crisis has not been resolved.

A total of 38 MPs voted to accept the decree and forward it to the National Security Committee for evaluation. All opposition MPs boycotted the sitting, alleging it was held unconstitutionally, the report said.

The Maldivian President had earlier refused to obey a Supreme Court order and had imposed emergency in his tiny archipelago nation for 15 days on February 5.

India had wanted President Yameen to lift the emergency but the advice seems to have been ignored yet again.According to the data collected, a total of about Rs 2 crore has been spent on foreign visits of the Prime Minister. (Photo: File)

Islamabad/New Delhi: Pakistan has billed India Rs 2.86 lakh as route navigation charges for Indian Air Force aircraft used by Narendra Modi during a stopover in Lahore and visits to Russia, Afghanistan, Iran and Qatar, an RTI response shows.

The data gathered by activist Commodore (Retd) Lokesh Batra through his RTI application, show that till June 2016, Indian Air Force aircraft were used for the Prime Minister's visits to 11 countries--Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Qatar, Australia, Pakistan, Russia, Iran, Fiji and Singapore.

Batra gave a copy of the RTI responses, received from August 2017 to January 30 2018, to PTI.

During one such visit on December 25, 2015, Modi had a brief stopover in Lahore at the request of then Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

The stopover took place when Modi was returning from Russia and Afghanistan.

For this, a bill of Rs 1.49 lakh has been issued as route navigation charges, records accessed under the RTI Act from the Indian High Commission in Pakistan show.

Modi was received by Sharif with a warm hug at the tarmac of the Allama Iqbal International Airport, Lahore, when he made the unexpected stopover on his way back home following a day-long trip to Afghanistan after concluding a two-day visit to Russia.

Modi was accorded a red carpet welcome as the PM's special Indian Air Force Boeing 737 plane touched down at 4.50 pm.

He then took a helicopter to Sharif's Raiwind palatial residence on the outskirts of Lahore to attend Sharif's birthday celebrations.

A bill of Rs 77, 215 was imposed as route navigation charges by Pakistani authorities when Modi used an IAF aircraft to visit Iran on May 22-23, 2016, and Rs 59,215 when he visited Qatar on June 4-6, 2016, the RTI response shows.

For both visits he flew over Pakistan.

The records were part of a response collected from various missions of India on the expenditure incurred on the visits of Modi on IAF aircraft between 2014 and 2016.

According to the data collected, a total of about Rs 2 crore has been spent on foreign visits of the Prime Minister during the period for the use of IAF aircraft.

Generally, an Air India aircraft is hired for the foreign visits of the VVIPs and the President, the Vice President and the Prime Minister -- for which the national carrier sends the bill.

The bills for the Prime Minister's visits are borne by the External Affairs Ministry.

The bills submitted by Indian missions in these countries include charges for fuelling, ground handling, airport charges, dearness allowance paid to the staff, hotel stay, catering and mobile for the crew, transport hiring, captain's imprest and other charges.The state Congress on Sunday expelled Bengaluru city youth Congress general secretary Mohammed Haris Nalapad from the party for six years for brutally assaulting a youth.



Nalapad, who is the son of Congress MLA from Shantinagar N A Haris, reportedly assaulted a youth at a restaurant located in UB city on Saturday evening. The swift action by the Congress is seen as an effort to control damage to the party ahead of the Assembly polls.

"Atrocities in any form is not tolerated in @INCKarnataka. Legal actions have been taken against those responsible. The victim will be served justice," KPCC president G Parameshwara tweeted.



Chief Minister Siddaramaiah also quickly reacted to the incident and said that he had directed the police to take action as per the rule. "Offenders should be punished to the full extent of law regardless of who they are. No less, no more. @CPBlr will take action as per law and bring the guilty to book," he tweeted.

The BJP leaders condemned the attack and accused the Congress of trying to protect Mohammed Haris. "It (attack on the youth) is condemnable. Though the youth is brutally assaulted, the police have not booked attempt-to-murder case. The culprit is yet to be arrested," party leader R Ashoka said. The former deputy chief minister visited the victim at Mallya Hospital, where he is undergoing treatment.

"I am appalled at and strongly condemn the ghastly attack by MLA N A Haris son on innocent Vidwath. @CPBlr Police must arrest the culprit and his goons to restore public confidence in the rule of law. Congress MLA must counsel his absconding son to surrender," state BJP president B S Yeddyurappa tweeted.The Supreme Court's historic verdict on the decades-old dispute on Cauvery river water sharing between the southern riparian states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu also saw some heated and anxious moments during its hearing.



On September 30, 2016, jurist and senior advocate Fali S Nariman, who led the arguments for Karnataka, had refused to argue the matter over differences with the state government for its non-compliance of the top court's order asking it to release 6,000 cusecs of water from the Cauvery river to Tamil Nadu.



The episode was also mentioned in the court's 465-page verdict penned for the bench by Chief Justice Dipak Misra. The court had on February 16 ruled an increase in the share of Cauvery water for Karnataka. The bench, however, did not go into the episode in any detail. The bench, which also comprised Justices Amitava Roy and A M Khanwilkar, had appreciated the stand taken by Nariman on the issue, and said, "We think it necessary to state here that Mr Nariman had courageously lived up to the highest tradition of the Bar and we had recorded our uninhibited accession.



" When the matter was taken up for hearing on September 30, 2016, Nariman had submitted two letters to the top court requesting it to take them on record. The letters pertained to the communication between him and the state government on the compliance of the top court's order for releasing water to Tamil Nadu. During the hearing, Nariman had told the bench that Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had called an all-party meeting after the Supreme Court passed its order on September 27.



He had said the meeting reiterated that the "will of the people of the state should be respected" and no water could be released at that juncture. While referring to the contents of his letter to the chief minister, Nariman had told the bench he had unequivocally stated he would not argue for Karnataka till the orders of Supreme Court were followed. He had said he would not make any submission on behalf of Karnataka, a move which was hailed by the bench which said Nariman's stand "unhesitatingly beholds the right tradition of the bar".



The top court after the highly charged hearing had given the last opportunity to the Siddaramaiah government to release 6,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu from October 1 to October 6, 2016, despite a unanimous resolution passed by both houses of the Assembly. "Karnataka, despite being a state, is flouting the order and creating a situation when the majesty of the law is denied," it had said.



The top court had then ordered all the stakeholders - Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry - to suggest names of representatives to be included in the Cauvery Water Management Board, which would be chaired by the Union Water Resources Minister. Similarly, another incident annoyed the apex court during the hearing on September 12, 2016, when Karnataka moved an application for modification of September 5, 2016, order directing it to release water to Tamil Nadu.



Karnataka had sought a modification of the order on the grounds that spontaneous agitations had broken out in various parts of the state, which had paralysed normal life and resulted in the destruction of public and private properties worth hundreds of crores of rupees.



The top court after reading the affidavit filed by Karnataka observed the application contained "certain averments which cannot be conceived of to be filed in a court of law seeking modification of an earlier order".



It categorically stated that an "agitation in spontaneity or propelled by some motivation or galvanised by any kind of catalyst component can never form the foundation for seeking a modification of an order". "Citizens cannot become the law unto themselves; and when a court of law passes an order, it is the sacred duty of citizens to obey the same," the bench had said while rejecting the prayer of the state government to keep the order in abeyance but had modified the order for the release of water.When the Trump family jet lands in India this week, the family member taking a tour of the world's largest democracy - with a Secret Service detail in tow - won't be the president on a diplomatic mission. It will be his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr, on a sales trip.



But Indians might be forgiven for not making much of the distinction. The visit by the younger Trump, intended to help sell more than $1 billion in luxury residential units being built by the Trumps and their local partners, has been promoted with newspaper advertisements that read: "Trump has arrived. Have you?"

The younger Trump's weeklong itinerary of cocktail parties, dinners and events with real estate brokers, business leaders and prospective buyers comes as US President Donald Trump is working to strengthen ties between the two countries.

The president, who enjoys widespread popularity in India, was greeted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with a bear hug in Washington in June, and the two leaders have frequently discussed greater military cooperation and ramping up trade. Trump has also taken a harder line toward Pakistan and China, two of India's rivals. Two weeks ago, Trump phoned Modi pledging "to strengthen security and economic cooperation" between India and the US.

The overlap in India between father and son creates a spectacle with few parallels in business and diplomacy. The younger Trump is scheduled to arrive Monday on a Boeing 757 nicknamed Trump Force One, because the president crisscrossed the United States on the plane during the campaign.

The Trump family earned as much as $3 million in royalties in 2016 from ventures in India, according to the president's financial disclosure report. And Ivanka Trump made her own trip to India in November just as sales were about to start on some of the residential projects.

"The idea that the president's son would be going and shilling the president's brand at same time Donald Trump is president and is managing strategic and foreign relations with India - that is just bizarre," said Daniel S Markey, who helped coordinate South Asia policy at the State Department during the George W Bush administration.

There are no formal federal rules that prohibit Trump Jr from pursuing his business interests; he is a private citizen. And even though his father is still a beneficial owner of the family business, he is not subject to conflict of interest laws, as the president is exempt.

India is the Trump Organization's biggest international market, with four real estate projects underway. The largest is in Gurugram, a city with a litany of Fortune 500 companies and a skyline filled with skyscrapers. The Trump development encompasses two towers with a total of 254 "ultra luxury" units, according to the company, each selling for as much as $1.5 million.

The luxury apartment buildings near the Trump development in Gurugram have names like Palm Springs and Central Park, even as they overlook pothole-ridden highways. The Trumps and their partners are offering buyers the opportunity to become "members of the Trump family," with the promise of exclusive amenities such as an infinity swimming pool, a billiards room and valet services.

"I had no idea that Trump built property around the world before this development was launched," said Hitesh Khanna, who is helping sell units at the Trump towers in Gurugram through a local real estate brokerage firm. "I just thought he was president."

Khanna's boss, Rajiv Bansal, predicted the presidential connection would create enough buzz to entice buyers. "Everyone in India knows who the US president is," Bansal said. "It's a status symbol. This is a big brand, the president of the United States' name will be on it."

Trump Jr, in an interview in New York last week, said he had spent nearly a decade "cultivating relationships in India," and the company was "now seeing the response of that effort." To that point, the newspaper advertisements in India featured large photographs of him, arms crossed and staring into the camera.

The younger Trump said his itinerary did not include interactions with government officials in an intentional effort to steer clear of politics.

He is scheduled, nonetheless, to speak at the Global Business Summit in New Delhi, sponsored by a prominent Indian newspaper and a bank, who say the event will "showcase India's rise in world affairs." Trump Jr is billed as a keynote speaker, along with Modi.

Other stops on the 3,000-mile journey include Kolkata, where construction on a project with 137 luxury units is about to begin; Mumbai, where a 78-story Trump-branded tower with 400 residences is scheduled to be completed next year; and Pune, a city near Mumbai, where a fourth Trump-branded project has been built.

A big draw

According to business partners in India, many units are selling about 30% per square foot higher than market rates. The younger Trump's visit this week is expected to reinforce that trend, they said, even as many other luxury housing towers have hundreds of empty units. In addition to an oversupply, demonetisation has hurt sales at competing developments, but the Trump name remains a draw.

"The brand is a lead generator," said Kalpesh Mehta, who runs the Mumbai-based development company Tribeca, which serves as the lead representative for the Trump brand in India. "It is what is making people pay attention and look at it deeply." Buyers who put down a deposit this week, according to an advertisement wrapped around the front page of the Hindustan Times this weekend, are promised a seat at a dinner with the younger Trump.

Madhav Das Nalapat, an academic and newspaper columnist who is close to senior members of the ruling BJP, said the excitement around the Trump towers was an extension of the country's complicated caste system and the Trump administration's tough stance on its rival Pakistan. "India is a hierarchical society," he said. "Trump is now leading the No. 1 country in the world, so his brand has higher value. That counts. It's not who he is. It's what he is."

Under voluntary ethics rules governing the Trump Organization's activities during the Trump presidency, international projects in the works before the 2016 election - which include all of the India properties now being marketed - can proceed as planned.

The president handed over daily operations of the company to his sons Donald Jr. and Eric, but he remains the owner. Still, some ethics lawyers say the mere presence of the Trump Organization in India is problematic. The Trump family's financial interests in India could also call into question the president's objectivity in dealing with the country, they said.

Arun Kumar Singh, a former ambassador to the US from India, and Markey said they had not seen changes in US policy toward India that they would attribute to the president's business interests. The biggest difference from the Obama administration, they said, was the apparent warmth between the president and Modi.

"I have always had a deep admiration for your country and for its people, and a profound appreciation for your rich culture, heritage and traditions," Trump said in June during a state visit by Modi, one of many such words of praise for India he has offered in the last year.Israeli warplanes hit Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip early on Monday after a rocket fired by Palestinians slammed into southern Israel, the army said.



It did not elaborate on the targets but Palestinian security sources said several missiles were fired at farmland east of Rafah in the south of the coastal enclave.

Israeli "fighter jets targeted underground infrastructure in the southern Gaza Strip, in response to the projectile that was launched at Israel earlier," an army statement said.

No casualties were reported in either incident.

The strikes followed fierce exchanges over the weekend in which Israeli ground forces killed two Palestinian teenagers in the enclave in cross-border fire.

Warplanes also pounded 18 Hamas facilities in two waves of air strikes, according to the Israeli military.

Those raids were in response to an explosion on Saturday in which four Israeli soldiers inspecting the border fence were injured by an apparent Palestinian booby trap.

Two of the men were severely wounded but their lives were not in danger, the army said.

The blast and the retaliatory fire marked one of the most serious escalations in the Hamas-ruled territory since the Islamist movement and Israel fought a war in 2014.A ruling BJP lawmaker and 27 other people have been booked under various charges, including rioting and criminal conspiracy, following a fracas over a land dispute in Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh, police said today.



Kamlesh Paswan, the sitting MP from Bansgaon constituency, and others were booked last night in connection with the dispute in Rustampur area, Praveen Kumar Singh, who is holding the additional charge as circle officer of Cantonment police station area, said. "One of the parties (involved) in the dispute in a police complaint stated that the other side demolished an under-construction boundary wall at around 1.30pm yesterday, allegedly at the behest of Paswan," Singh said.



The officer, however, added that Paswan was "not directly involved". "Allegations have been levelled against him (by one party) of giving patronage (to the other). Paswan's involvement in the case is subject to investigation."



But Senior Superintendent of Police Satyarth Aniruddh Pankaj said they have evidence that associates of Paswan demolished the wall. "A case against MP Kamlesh Paswan and others has been registered with Cantonment police station under various sections of the IPC," Pankaj said.



When contacted, the two-time MP denied the charges. "I was not present at the spot and I am not involved in this issue. It is all fake charges levelled against me. Yesterday evening, I met the SSP regarding the land, that some people are trying to grab it. I don't know how my name figured in the FIR. I am shocked and I will take up the matter forward," Paswan said. Paswan and the 27 other people have been booked under various sections of the IPC, including 147 (rioting), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 120B (criminal conspiracy).Australia, the United States, India and Japan are talking about establishing a joint regional infrastructure scheme as an alternative to China's multibillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative in an attempt to counter Beijing's spreading influence, the Australian Financial Review reported on Monday, citing a senior U.S. official.



The unnamed official was quoted as saying the plan involving the four regional partners was still "nascent" and "won't be ripe enough to be announced' during Australian Prime Minister Turnbull's visit to the United States later this week.

The official said, however, that the project was on the agenda for Turnbull's talks with U.S. President Donald Trump during that trip and was being seriously discussed. The source added that the preferred terminology was to call the plan an "alternative" to China's Belt and Road Initiative, rather than a "rival."

"No one is saying China should not build infrastructure," the official was quoted as saying. "China might build a port which, on its own is not economically viable. We could make it economically viable by building a road or rail line linking that port."

Representatives for Turnbull, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and Trade Minister Steven Ciobo did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, at a news conference about the report of four-way cooperation, said Japan, the United States, Australia, and Japan, Australia and India regularly exchanged views on issues of common interest.

"It is not the case that this is to counter China's Belt and Road," he said.

Japan, meanwhile, plans to use its official development assistance (ODA) to promote a broader "Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy" including "high-quality infrastructure", according to a summary draft of its 2017 white paper on ODA. The Indo-Pacific strategy has been endorsed by Washington and is also seen as a counter to the Belt and Road Initiative.

First mentioned during a speech by Chinese President Xi Jinping's to university students in Kazakhstan in 2013, China's Belt and Road plan is a vehicle for the Asian country to take a greater role on the international stage by funding and building global transport and trade links in more than 60 countries.

Xi has heavily promoted the initiative, inviting world leaders to Beijing last May for an inaugural summit at which he pledged $124 billion in funding for the plan, and enshrining it into the ruling Communist Party's constitution in October.

Local Chinese governments, as well as state and private firms, have rushed to offer support by investing overseas and making loans.

In January, Beijing outlined its ambitions to extend the initiative to the Arctic by developing shipping lanes opened up by global warming, forming a "Polar Silk Road".

The United States, Japan, India and Australia have recently revived four-way talks to deepen security cooperation and coordinate alternatives for regional infrastructure financing to that offered by China.

The so-called Quad to discuss and cooperate on security first met as an initiative a decade ago - much to the annoyance of China, which saw it as an attempt by regional democracies to contain its advances. The quartet held talks in Manila on the sidelines of the November ASEAN and East Asia Summits.A clash between Hindu Jagaran Vedike workers and a group of Muslim youth, broke out in Hosapete town on Monday afternoon, during the Chhatrapathi Shivaji Jayanti procession taken out by the Vedike.



Police said that trouble broke out when a Vedike worker attempted to tie a flag to a pole and was thrashed by a group of Muslim youths.



Enraged by this, Jagaran Vedike workers began pelting stones at the nearby mosque and shattered its glass windows.



The violence later aggravated when the two groups clashed and a slug fest broke out.



Assistant Commissioner Gargi Jain rushed to the spot as the police quelled the mob and pleaded with the angry protesters to remain calm and call off their protest.



Meanwhile, the Vedike workers have blocked the highway and all vehicles bound for Shivamogga and Raichur have come to a halt. Traffic is piling up on the highway.Four senior officials of Nirav Modi companies, including vice president (Finance) Vipul Ambani, were on Monday questioned by the CBI in connection with the PNB scam, even as the ED conducted fresh searches.



The Enforcement Directorate (ED) continued its searches for the fifth consecutive day at eight other locations in cities, including Bengaluru, Mumbai, Aurangabad, Thane, Kolkata, Delhi, Jammu, Lucknow, Pune and Surat.

They also searched Nirav's Samudra Mahal apartments in Mumbai's Worli and has so far seized assets worth Rs 5,716 crore, which included Monday's seizure of Rs 22 crore, in connection with defrauding the Punjab National Bank (PNB).

CBI sources said Ambani, chief financial officer Ravi Gupta, international finance president Saurabh Sharma and deputy general manager (finance) Subhash Parab were quizzed extensively by the investigators to unravel the financial transactions carried out by the billionaire diamond merchant.

Sources said Ambani, who is understood to be a relative of the late Dhirubhai Ambani, has been in the post for a couple of years.

Five other officials, including general manager-level employees, are also being questioned, taking the total number of officials being questioned to 11.

The CBI also intensified its searches on Sunday evening at the Brady House branch of the PNB, the nerve centre of the Rs 11,344.40 crore bank fraud, and even sealed it for a brief period as a security measure to prevent possible tampering.

"The PNB branch was secured with a seal briefly so as to prevent any inadvertent or unauthorised opening by the concerned PNB staff," a CBI spokesperson said.

"Temporary sealing of the premises was a time-bound security measure to prevent possible tampering. It will not affect regular business of the branch as today (Monday) is a local holiday in Maharashtra as it is Shivaji Jayanti," the spokesperson said.

The ED had summoned Nirav and his uncle Mehul Choksi, the promoter of Gitanjali Gems, to appear before it on February 23 in Mumbai.

The ED officials are also talking to senior PNB officials to ascertain how Letters of Understanding (LoUs) are issued and other bank operations done.

ED Director Karnal Singh also flew down to Mumbai to review the investigations.

The ED has collected information from former Allahabad Bank director Dinesh Dubey, who has claimed that loan was given to Gitanjali Gems in 2013 despite his dissent note.Police in Madhya Pradesh have registered a case against a BJP leader, who enjoyed the status of minister of state as the vice-chairman of a government body, for allegedly molesting an acid attack survivor.



Taking a serious view of the matter, the state government today removed Rajendra Namdeo, the accused, from his post as the vice-chairman of the Madhya Pradesh Rajya Silai Kala Mandal.

He enjoyed the status of minister of state owing to the post.

The order to remove Namdeo from his post was issued by Rajiv Nigam, deputy secretary, urban administration and housing department.

State BJP president Nandkumar Singh Chouhan suspended Namdeo from the party for six months, after Hanumanganj police station here registered the case of molestation against Namdeo, who hails from Maihar in Satna district, last night.

In the complaint, the 25-year-old woman alleged that in November last year, Namdeo called her to a hotel room near the Bhopal railway station and tried to molest her but she managed to escape, said Additional Superintendent of Police Rajesh Singh Bhadauriya.

"Police have booked him under relevant sections of the IPC. We are interrogating Namdeo," he said.

Namdeo hasn't been arrested yet.

Bhadauriya said the complainant was attacked with acid in Bhopal in 2016. The assailant was arrested and is in jail.

She had approached Namdeo to get some work, he said.

"We are verifying the complaint and also looking into why she took three months to lodge it," he said.At least five students were killed and nearly 30 others were injured when a truck in which were travelling, turned turtle in Kolhapur district in the early hours of Monday.



The accident happened on the Mumbai-Bengaluru highway near Nagaon village, when a group of 40-plus students were on their way to Sangli, in a truck carrying a 'ShivJyot' to mark the birth anniversary of legendary Maratha warrior Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.

According to reports, to aviod dashing a motorcycle speeding from the other side, the driver applied brakes, making the truck veer and turn turtle.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis expressed condolences to the bereaved families.

"Shocked and saddened to know about the tragic accident near Nagaon where 5 students from Walchand college, Sangli, carrying 'ShivJyot', lost lives while returning to Sangli. My deepest condolences to all families. Praying for speedy recovery of injured students," Fadnavis tweeted.Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) has barred students appearing for the 2018 matriculation (Class X) exam in the state from wearing shoes and socks to the examination centres to check the use of unfair means.



The students will instead be allowed to wear slippers to the centres for writing their matriculation examination, which is scheduled to begin on February 21, a BSEB release said on Sunday.

"Such advisories disallowing wearing of shoes and socks had been issued in the past for competitive examinations in the state. Now a similar advisory has been issued which will be implemented from this year's matriculation examination," BSEB chairman Anand Kishore told reporters.

The board has taken the decision to check adoption of unfair means by candidates at the examination, he said adding that the advisory would be communicated to all the district education officers, students, gaurdians and centre superintendents.

Use of unfair means at the board examination had brought bad name to Bihar in the past.

A photograph showing guardians and friends of examinees scaling a school building in Vaishali district to help them write their examinations had gone viral a few years ago bringing disrepute to the state.

State Education Minister Krishna Nandan Prasad Verma has justified the Board's advisory.

"The board has taken a right decision. Around 17 lakh students will be appearing for the (matriculation) examination and it is very difficult to check all the students. So it will be better if they (students) wear slippers instead during the examination," Verma told reporters.

Former Education Minister Ashok Choudhary, however, criticised the decision saying that it was not required at all.

"The board's decision is absolutely wrong and cannot be justified. I would not have agreed to it had I been the minister," Choudhary said.

Around 17.70 lakh students will write their matriculation examination in 1426 centres across the state this year.

The examination will be conducted between February 21 to February 28.As the Punjab National Bank-Nirav Modi scam seems to be compounding, banking employees associations have questioned the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the four successive governors.



"Apart from PNB, the other organisation who should be answering a lot of questions in this matter is the RBI. Banking supervision and regulation in India must be made legally accountable. What were YV Reddy, D Subbarao, Raghuram Rajan and Urjit Patel doing during this time," asked Vishwas Utagi, convener of Investor Action Forum Charitable Trust Mumbai.

Utagi, who is the former vice president of All India Banking Employees Association (AIBEA), said that it was a case of non-fund business resulting from a bad debt.

"The RBI should be accountable and responsible," he said.

He pointed out that LOUs issued by any bank in India has to be reported to the RBI on a quarterly basis.

"Why is it that when the first LOU was issued way back in 2011, without entering into the CBS, it was ignored by RBI and the PNB top management despite the amounts being so huge," he asked.

On the issue of Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication or SWIFT, he said: "Whenever a SWIFT message is sent it is verified checked and authorised at various checkpoints by personnel in various capacity and hierarchy. Why no one from the forex dept of PNB raised an alarm. This seems more like a top-level collaboration than a branch level fraud."

Whenever such huge amounts are sent through SWIFT, bypassing CBS, it generates daily reports.

"Were the concurrent auditors of PNB sleeping for seven years that they could not go through these daily reports," he said, adding that the problem is deep-rooted.

"When an LOU is issued by one bank to another, the receiving bank sends a letter of confirmation to the issuing branch and it's controlling office like a Regional or Zonal office. Did other banks do so? If so, then why didn't anyone in the PNB controlling office raise an alarm," said Utagi, who is also the general secretary of Maharashtra State Bank Employees Federation.



India's Punjab National Bank (PNB), which is at the centre of a probe into a $1.77 billion loan fraud scam, will need to honour the "bonafide" transactions that have occurred through the bank's platform, a finance ministry official said on Monday.



In the case, diamond billionaire Nirav Modi and others are accused of colluding with bank employees to fraudulently obtain advances for payments to overseas business suppliers, in the country's biggest ever bank scam.

Some banks have said that PNB was liable to make good on the credit extended, although PNB maintains other lenders share some of the blame as they should have more closely examined the requests for credit. Analysts have warned, however, that PNB may be left on the hook.

Rajiv Kumar, India's financial services secretary, said the bank "will have to own responsibility for bonafide transactions."

Morgan Stanley estimated on Thursday if PNB had to assume all the liability from the fraud it would need 80 billion rupees ($1.25 billion) in additional capital, which at the stock's current valuation would mean a 14 percent dilution.

Kumar also said the ministry had written to all banks to take effective steps to avoid a repeat of a PNB-like fraud. The Reserve Bank of India will also take all the required steps in the fraud case, Kumar said.

"Our responsibility is to ensure that fire alarms are installed and are in working condition. We can't stop every fire," Kumar told Reuters.Shambhu Lal Regar, an accused of killing Muslim labourer from West Bengal Mohammed Afrazul in Rajsamand, has made two videos from Jodhpur Central Jail, claiming a threat to his life.



In the two videos which are being circulated on social media, Regar alleged that a prisoner from West Bengal could try to kill him. The release of the video on social media raised several questions on jail authorities and has termed it as a major security breach.



In two videos Regar alleged that a suspicious prisoner named Vasudev Brahman has shifted to his cell and may attempt to kill him. He further said that several prisoners in the jail are in touch with jihadi elements from Pakistan and Bangladesh. He also said he doesnt regret the crime he had committed.



In the latest videos, Regar wearing a black hoodie and equipped with earphones appears to be reading from a pre-written script of the hate-filled statement. Regar said in the video, "I can't tolerate threats to Hindu women. I have spoiled my life but I have no regrets for whatever I did".



Shambulal Regar had murdered Afrazul Khan on December 6 last year and filmed the act with the help of his minor nephew (15-year-old). In a series of videos, Regar had termed the murder as love jihad. He has been booked for murder, outraging religious feelings, and criminal conspiracy, among other charges.



In a charge sheet filed in January by the Rajsamand police said that Regar had an illegitimate relationship with the woman whom he referred to as his Hindu sister in the videos.



The jail officials are trying to track down the mobile phone. However, so far police have said that no phone or any device has been found in the jail or cell where Regar is kept. Superintendent of Jodhpur central jail Vikram Singh confirmed, "The mobile phone used to film the video hasnt been recovered yet but police are in search of the device. He might have used someone else's device".



Police have also ruled out that there is any danger to Regar's life, "These are mere allegations and his life is not under threat or danger", Singh added.



However, a senior prison official told DH on basis of anonymity, "The primary investigation reveals that the backdrop in the video resembles the texture of the washroom walls of the jail and there could be a possibility that the video has been filmed there".



At present Regar has been shifted to a separate cell. Incidentally, self-styled Godman Asaram Bapu, who is accused in a rape case is currently lodged in the same jail.







#RajasthanHacking #ShambulalRegar #Afrazul

In a major security breach , two hate videos recorded by Shambulal Regar, who allegedly hacked Muslim labourer Afrazul in Rajsamand ,have gone viral on social media. Both have been recorded inside the Jodhpur Central Jail @DeccanHerald pic.twitter.com/c6hTPbXVi4  Tabeenah Anjum (@TabeenahAnjum) February 19, 2018



Actor Priya Prakash Varrier, who became an internet sensation with a wink in a song of an upcoming Malayalam movie, on Monday approached the Supreme Court for quashing of criminal cases lodged against her and others in Maharashtra and Telangana.



Within days of uploading a promotional video of a song "Manikya Malaraya Poovi" from the movie Oru Addar Love on Youtube on February 9, it was watched by millions of people.

"The song "Manikya Malaraya Poovi" is a Mappila Song, or a traditional Muslim song from the Malabar region of Kerala, which praises the love between the Prophet Mohamed and his first wife Khadeeja and is a part of the Muslim tradition in Kerala and does not offend any religious sentiment of any community or person," her plea filed by advocate Haris Beeran stated.

It stated that criminal complaints and registration of FIRs in multiple states on the basis of complaints by "fringe elements who have misunderstood the lyrics of the song which they claim allegedly offended their religious sentiments and that of their community has adversely affected the petitioners right to life, liberty and freedom of expression under the Constitution".

The petition jointly filed by film director Omar Abdul Vahab and producer Joseph Valakuzhy Eapen, cited the apex court's order in case of movie Padmaavat that stated "An artist has his own freedom to express himself in a manner which is not prohibited in law and such prohibitions are not read by implication to crucify the rights of expressive mind."

On February 14, an FIR was registered in the Falaknama Police Station in Hyderabad for hurting religious sentiments and similarly, two other complaints were filed in Mumbai and Aurangabad.Three plaintiffs in Babri Masjid/Ram Janmbhoomi case have said they will not accept any out-of-court settlement.



At a gathering of local Muslims here in which the plaintiffs - Haji Mahboob, Iqbal Ansari and Mohammad Umar -- were present, a resolution was passed that the"Muslims will not shift the mosque" to any other site or gift the land to any party, according to a press statement issued after the meeting which was held on Saturday.



It said the Hindus can build Ram temple on Ram Chabootra in the outer court yard of Babri Masjid. The resolution also rejected any out-of-court settlement in Babri Masjid/Ram Janmbhoomi case and said that Muslims will only obey the Supreme Court verdict.



Among those who signed the resolution were the three plaintiffs, the statement said, claiming that the meeting was attended by the representatives of Barelvi, Deobandi and Shia sects of the Muslim community. The development comes amid efforts by Art of Living founder Sri Sri Sri Ravishankar and Muslim cleric Maulana Salman Nadvi for an out-of-court settlement in the Ayodhya dispute.



Talking to PTI, plaintiff Haji Mahboob said they have no objection Hindus build Ram Mandir on Ram Chabootra. "Babri Masjid was never built after demolishing any temple. Before December 22, 1949, Muslims offered regular 'namaaz' there. Before 1949, Hindu brothers never staked a claim on Babri Masjid. Since 1885, the place named as Ram Chabootra situated outside Babri Masjid was observed as Ram Janm Sthan and regular puja of Ram Lalla was done there," he said.



"We have no objection if Hindu brothers build Ram Mandir on Ram Chabootra situated in the outer courtyard of Babri Masjid, said Mahboob," Mahboob said. Meanwhile, the chief priest of Ayodhya's famous Hanuman Garhi temple and president of Ram Janambhoomi Mandir Nirmaan Samiti (Hindu Mahasabha) came out in support of Islamic cleric Maulana Salman Nadvi. Nadvi was mired in a controversy after the president of Ayodhya Sadbhavna Samiti Amarnath Mishra alleged that he had demanded money for supporting the construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya. Hanuman Garhi priest Mahant Gyan Das said that allegations against Nadvi are "baseless and fake". Das also alleged that "Mishra tried to offer me a payment of Rs five crore for issuing a statement in Babri Masjid/Ram Janambhoomi issue which I denied".T T V Dhinakaran, leader of the AIADMK (Amma) faction, today told the Delhi High Court that he needed a temporary name and symbol for his group to interact with the electorate in the eventuality of elections to local bodies or any other polls held before his claim to the party's symbol is decided.



The contention on behalf of Dhinakaran was made before Justice Rekha Palli who reserved judgement on his application seeking temporary allocation of the 'pressure cooker' symbol to his faction which also includes V K Sasikala. The Sasikala-Dhinakaran faction has also given a list of three names -- All India Amma Anna Dhravidar Munnetra Kazhagam, MGR Amma Dravidar Munnetra Kazhagam and MGR Amma Dhravidar Kazhagam -- seeking that one of them be temporarily allotted to them.



The court has already heard the arguments on behalf of the Election Commission (EC) and the AIADMK faction of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister E K Palaniswami and his deputy O Panneerselvam, who have opposed the plea for interim relief. During the day's proceedings, senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for the Sasikala-Dhinakaran faction, told the court that it, as well as the EC, had the power to grant them the interim relief. The Palaniswami-Panneerselvam faction and EC had earlier argued that the high court cannot grant any such interim order.



The Sasikala-Dhinakaran faction also contended that if it was granted a temporary name and symbol, no prejudice would be caused to the other side as they already have a name - AIADMK - and a symbol - 'two leaves' - and therefore, they have "no locus" to oppose the plea for interim relief. It has argued that not granting them a temporary name or symbol, to enable it to "associate" and interact with the people and engage in political activities, would result in denial of a level-playing field to it.



It's lawyers also said there was no need to wait for the announcement of an election to grant a name and symbol to the faction as by then it would be too late and "irreversible damage" would have already been done to its political prospects. "We should not be hounded out. We also enjoy the support of some members of the state legislative assembly and some Members of Parliament," Sibal argued. The EC and the Palaniswami-Panneerselvam faction had earlier argued that there was no urgency for grant of any temporary relief to the Sasikala-Dhinakaran faction as no elections have been announced till date. The application for using a suitable name and symbol was moved in Sasikala-Dhinakaran faction's main petitions challenging the poll panel's November 23, 2017, decision holding the Palaniswami-Panneerselvam faction as the real AIADMK and allotting them the 'two-leaves' symbol.



The application has sought the allocation of a suitable name and symbol only till the pendency of the main petition, claiming that otherwise, the EC might declare it as a separate party. Dhinakaran had won the bye-elections held in Radha Krishnan Nagar Assembly constituency in December last year under the 'pressure cooker' symbol with a margin of over 40,000 votes. On December 4 last year, the high court had declined to grant any interim relief to V K Sasikala-Dhinakaran faction of the AIADMK by dismissing their plea to use the 'hat' symbol in the by-poll to the R K Nagar assembly constituency.



The court had left the decision to the Returning Officer who had allotted the 'pressure cooker' symbol to Dhinakaran for the by-poll held on December 21, 2017. The 'hat' symbol was given to the Sasikala-Dhinakaran group by the EC in March 2017 after it froze the use of the 'two-leaves' symbol to which the group led by Palaniswami and Panneerselvam had also laid claim. The Palaniswami-Panneerselvam faction had at the same time been granted the 'electric pole' symbol. However, on November 23, 2017, the poll panel had ruled in favour of Palaniswami-Panneerselvam faction by allotting the 'two-leaves' symbol to them.



The symbol issue has been lingering since April in the aftermath of the announcement of by-poll to Radha Krishnan Nagar constituency in Tamil Nadu following the death of AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa in December 2016. Earlier, rival factions led by Sasikala and Panneerselvam had staked claim over the symbol. Palaniswami was then in the Sasikala camp. Later, a large number of legislators led by Palaniswami revolted against Sasikala.Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday took his "10% commission sarkar" jibe against the Congress government a step forward asking the people to choose between a dispensation which takes cut for everything or the BJP which will deliver a "mission government."



Addressing a well-attended rally, Modi trained his guns on the state government stating that the longer the dispensation continue, the further it will ruin the state. "Do you want a commission or a mission government?", he asked throwing the question to the crowd.

Modi during his visit to Bengaluru to address a pre-election rally earlier this month had made the "10% sarkar" jibe against the state government much to the chagrin of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah who sought that the prime minister should release evidence to prove his charge.

Modi, who addressed the rally at Maharaja College grounds, the same place were party national president Amit Shah addressed the conclusion of Navakarnataka Nirmana Parivarthan yatra, sarcastically said his comments had made people angry. "I received calls, people sent me messages that it is not just 10%, but much more!"

Modi, who started and ended his speech in Kannada, dubbed the Congress government and its leaders as "petty minded" who are only interested in saving their chair and not bothered about development or progress. "Bundles of notes are exchanged every day to get work sanctioned and they not even ashamed. Karnataka should be freed from such a government," he added.

He accused the government of not utilising grants given by the Centre for political reasons. "They are only dividing society and misleading the people by repeated lies," he said.

He sought to compare the Congress governments to a "road hump.". "The NDA government is like a world like highway allowing you to cruise with top speed, but Congress governments are like road humps becoming impediments to progress and development.

He said governments are constitutionally obliged to work towards progress but the Congress which ruled the country for more than 50 years had moved in the opposite direction.

He said the NDA government at the Centre and the BJP dispensation at the state will provide remarkable results. "I request all of you to meet people, go to the polling booth and ask the voters to root out this government," he told the crowd.

He said the Mudra Yojana of the Centre had provided loans to 10 crore people without any bank guarantee. The opening of Jan Dan accounts had financially empowered the poor.

The Centre was committed to ensure every family has a house by 2022. "But the state government is creating hurdles in implementation. If you want development in the state the BJP is the only answer, " he said.Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Monday announced that he would meet Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Amritsar amid murmurs that the visiting dignitary was given the cold shoulder over pro-Khalistani movement allegedly run from Canadian soil.



Singh, who had publicly snubbed Canadian Defence Minister Harjit Singh Sajjan when he visited India last April, said he was looking forward to meeting Trudeau when he visits Amritsar on Wednesday to offer prayers at the Golden Temple.

"I'm hopeful that this meeting will help strengthen the close Indo-Canadian business ties as well as the deep-rooted people-to-people relations between our two countries, Singh said.

Trudeau's low key reception since he landed in New Delhi on Saturday night had triggered chatter in a section of the international media about the Canadian prime minister being snubbed by Indian authorities over pro-Khalistan views that the ministers in his government have.

A section of the Canadian media also pointed out that Trudeau was received by junior minister Gajendra Shekhawat on arrival in Delhi, unlike other visitors who were personally received by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The absence of Chief Ministers of Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat during Trudeau's visit to Taj Mahal in Agra and the Ahmedabad leg of the tour respectively also set tongues wagging.

Amarinder was also riled at Canada's denial of permission to him to hold "interactive meetings" with Punjabis in Toronto and Vancouver ahead of the Punjab Assembly elections last year.India will host United Nation's World Environment Day celebration this year with a theme 'Beat Plastic Pollution'.



The Union Ministry of Environment and Forest and the United Nation on Monday signed an agreement on the hosting of the June 5 event during which governments, communities and individuals from around the world would be encouraged to find out an alternative to plastic.

Every year the world uses 500 billion plastic bags and each year at least 8 million tonnes of plastic are dumped into the oceans. This is equivalent to a full garbage truck carrying plastic being thrown into the sea in every minute.

"India demonstrated tremendous global leadership on climate change and the need to shift to a low carbon economy, and India will now help galvanize greater action on plastics pollution," said Erik Solheim, United Nations Under-Secretary-General and head of UN Environment. The agreement was signed in the presence of Union Environment Minister Harsh Vardhan.

World Environment Day is a UN Environment-led global event.The travel time between Mumbai and Pune is all set to reduce significantly to just 25 minutes, which is possible when the Hyperloop is in place.



The US-based Virgin Hyperloop One has signed a framework agreement with the Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA) for this purpose.

Virgin Group Founder and Virgin Hyperloop One Chairman Sir Richard Branson announced the agreement in presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, on Sunday evening.

"I believe Virgin Hyperloop One could have the same impact upon India in the 21st century as trains did in the 20th century. The Pune-Mumbai route is an ideal first corridor as part of a national hyperloop network that could dramatically reduce travel times between India's major cities to as little as two hours," said Branson.

The hyperloop route will link central Pune, Navi Mumbai International Airport, and Mumbai in 25-minutes, connecting 26 million people and creating a thriving, competitive mega-region.

The high-capacity passenger and cargo hyperloop route eventually will support 150 million passenger trips annually, saving more than 90 million hours of travel time, and providing citizens with greater opportunities; social and economic mobility.

The hyperloop system will also have the potential for the rapid movement of palletized freight and light cargo between the Port of Mumbai and Pune, creating a robust backbone for on-demand deliveries, supply chains, and next-generation logistics.

The Pune-Mumbai route could result in Rs 3,50,000 in socio-economic benefits (time savings, emissions and accident reduction, operational cost savings, etc.) over 30 years of operation, according to an initial pre-feasibility study completed by Virgin Hyperloop One.

The 100% electric, efficient hyperloop system will ease severe expressway congestion and could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 1,50,000 tons annually.

"The Pune-Mumbai hyperloop route will be an economic catalyst for the region and create tens of thousands of jobs for India's world-class manufacturing, construction, service, and IT sectors and aligns with Make in India initiatives," said Fadnavis.In a first such attack this year, Pakistani soldiers on Monday carried out Border Action Team (BAT) attack along the Line of Control (LoC) in Khari Karmara sector of Poonch district in Jammu and Kashmir injuring two Indian soldiers.



"A BAT of Pakistani army launched an attack on a patrol operating in between the two posts inside the Indian territory. The Indian troopers bravely repulsed the attack, but two soldiers were critically injured in the attack," sources said and added that one intruder was also killed in the retaliatory action by the army.

"The BAT team was seen retreating to the Pakistani post on the LoC while the body of the intruder was recovered. He was wearing combat fatigues," the source said.

The critically injured soldiers were airlifted to a hospital in Udhampur for treatment.

"The ambush, carried out by the BAT of the Pakistan army, could have inflicted more damages if Indian troops weren't alert. The Army is on high alert and is ready to thwart BAT attacks. However, as Pakistani army gave covering fire, the BAT wearing black combat uniform could cross over the LoC. They assaulted Indian Army's Area Domination Patrol but had to retreat after retaliation," they said.

A senior army officer said that Pakistani Army has deployed several battalions of the 'Mujahid Force Regiment', which is part of its dreaded BAT, along the LoC and the international border (IB) to help terrorists infiltrate and target Indian troops.

Recently, Northern Command chief Lt Gen Devraj Anbu had stated that over 300 militants were waiting across LoC to infiltrate into the Indian territory.

Sources said the infiltration attempt could rise in the coming days as the weather has started opening-up in some of the areas.

"With infiltration attempts, BAT attacks too would increase in coming months. However, the Army has devised its strategy accordingly and they are maintaining high alert along LoC in twin border districts of Poonch and Rajouri not only to tackle the ceasefire violations but also to foil BAT attacks," they added.

Defence experts say that Pakistan's Special Services Group (SSG) forms the core of the BAT, besides, dreaded terrorists from Lashkar-e-Toiba, Hizbul Mujahideen and Jaish-e-Mohammad outfits, for trans-LoC action up to a depth of one to three kilometre.

"As Indian posts are closer to Pakistan in Poonch sector, the rugged terrain and thicker forests give BATs an advantage to escape. The BAT usually mutilates the bodies of Indian soldiers to wage psychological warfare," they said.

The BAT camps, unlike the largely make-shift terror-training camps and launch pads across the LoC, consist of around 40-50 Pakistan Army regulars and commandos being specially trained for cross-border raids and ambushes, experts said.Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu is likely to hold an all-party meet to discuss the problems due to Andhra Pradesh state bifurcation.



However, the place and the venue for the all-party meeting is expected to be finalised on Tuesday, during the party coordination meeting. As only TDP, YSRCP and BJP parties only have representation in the state Assembly, it is not yet known whether parties such as Janasena, Loksatta, CPI and CPM will be invited for the meet. Sources say that the meeting will take place before 24 February as chief minister and his entire cabinet will get busy with the partnership summit to be held in Visakhapatnam.

Meanwhile, state endowments minister Manikyala Rao of BJP threw down a gauntlet at TDP and said that the state unit of BJP is ready to come out of the alliance. Speaking with media he said that the state unit has already sent a message to its headquarters in Delhi to either let them come out of the alliance in AP or to send Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to the state to explain things Centre has done for AP.

The Opposition YSRCP which has already declared its support for a "No confidence Motion " against Modi government for not fulling promises made to residual AP has said that the party is willing to support TDP as it doesn't have sufficient numbers to do so.

Speaking to reporters here on Monday, Party senior leader Botsa Satyanarayana said, "While our Party is prepared to move the motion, Chandrababu Naidu is differing on the matter and we condemn his remarks that we do not know the procedure of moving the motion," he said.

The YSRCP leader said that the party is interested in attaining Special Category Status to AP, and the idea of moving the no-trust vote was mooted by Pawan Kalyan who is Chandrababu Naidu's partner.

Opposition leader YS Jaganmohan Reddy has already declared that his MPs will resign on 6 April, if the centre fails to fulfil its promises. The TDP has countered the move by saying that its MPs are ready to quit on 5 March.A week after Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said that his party won't contest on any of the seats in the ensuing bypolls, the JD (U) has fielded its candidate for the Jehanabad Assembly seat.



The party announced the candidature of Abhiram Sharma, who earlier represented Jehanabad from 2010 to 2015, but was denied ticket in the 2015 Assembly polls as the seat was allocated to the RJD, then an ally of the JD (U).

RJD nominee Mundrika Singh Yadav won from here but his untimely demise has led to the bypoll. The RJD has fielded his son Suday Yadav against NDA nominee Abhiram.

Meanwhile, the BJP has announced the name of former MP Pradip Singh's candidature for the Araria Lok Sabha constituency. This parliamentary seat in the Muslim-dominated area fell vacant after the death of RJD MP and former Union minister Mohammad Taslimuddin last year. His son, Sarfaraz Alam, who was a JD (U) MLA, quit Nitish's outfit and resigned as a legislator before joining the RJD last week. Lalu Prasad has fielded him as the party nominee for the Lok Sabha bypoll.

The BJP has announced the candidature of Rinki Rani Devi for the Bhabua Assembly seat. She is the widow of BJP MLA Anand Bhushan Pandey. The RJD has left the Bhabua seat for the Congress which will announce its nominee in a day or two.

The voting in all the three constituencies - one Lok Sabha and two Assembly seats - will take place on March 11. The counting of votes will take place on March 14.Union Water Resources Minister Nitin Gadkari on Monday said he was "100% ready" to mediate in the ongoing Mahadayi river water dispute if chief ministers of Karnataka and Goa approach him.



"I will take the initiative (to find a solution) if both chief ministers want to unofficially sit and discuss," Gadkari said during an interaction with DH.

Gadkari's offer comes just ahead of the Assembly polls with the ruling Congress and the opposition BJP trading barbs over the Mahadayi dispute.

The minister said neither Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah nor Goa's Manohar Parrikar had sought his mediation so far. "What can I do if no one comes to me? The matter is already sub-judice as it is before a tribunal," he added.

Gadkari said he was able to resolve similar water disputes between states. "I was able to solve the dispute between Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra and Gujarat. I have always encouraged out-of-tribunal settlements. In the case of Mahadayi, if Karnataka and Goa want it, we will find a solution and withdraw the case before the tribunal," he said.

Karnataka has claimed as its share about 45 tmc ft from the Mahadayi river and has demanded that it be allowed to utilise 7.56 tmc ft to meet drinking water needs of the North Karnataka region.

Godavari-Cauvery link

Detailed project reports on linking Godavari and Cauvery rivers will be ready in about a month's time, Gadkari said.

Work on linking the two rivers has been planned in two phases. "In the first phase, 250 tmc ft of water will be lifted from Godavari river at Akinipalli and could be released in the Nagarjuna Sagar Dam across River Krishna. Then, water will be taken upto Somasila reservoir across River Pennar and then to Grand Anicut across Cauvery. In the second phase, it is proposed to lift 450 tmc ft from Polavaram across Godavari, take it to Bolapalli reservoir, then to Somasila and to Grand Anicut across Cauvery, " Gadkari said.

He added that the project will help irrigate 20 lakh hectares in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.The Supreme Court on Monday said that it was examining the case of Mumbai Special Judge B H Loya's death on December 1, 2014, with the "highest amount of seriousness" and would consider if proper procedure was followed in the matter.



The top court also assured PIL petitioners Bombay Lawyers Association and Congress sympathiser Tehseen Poonawalla, Maharashtra-based journalist B S Lone and others that the court was not questioning their locus standi or bona fides.

"We give this the highest amount of seriousness. We treat it like a cause. We do not care what is said outside, but we will do our duty if any fact arouses our suspicion," a bench presided over by Chief Justice Dipak Misra told senior advocates Dushyant Dave and Indira Jaising, representing the petitioners and intervenor.

Justice D Y Chandrachud, a part of the bench comprising Justice A M Khanwilkar said, "We are looking at the matter carefully to see whether there are facts which arouse our suspicion to pass an order for investigation. A member of the judiciary has died. Certain suspicions have been raised. We take this very seriously."

The observations from the bench came after Dave questioned the procedure followed by the court in not issuing a notice in the matter. He reminded the bench that four senior-most judges - Justices J Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan B Lokur and Kurian Joseph - had called the matter serious. He was alluding to the unprecedented press conference by the judges on January 12.

'Political motives'

Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, representing Maharashtra, questioned the timing of the PILs and repeated that the petitioners had got "oblique political motives". He said the matter was raised on the basis of media reports after activist Harsh Mander's plea against the discharge of BJP president Amit Shah in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case, which Loya was hearing, was dismissed by the apex court.

During the hearing, Dave said he was being pressured through the Bar Council of India which issued a notice to him. Senior advocate Pallav Sisodia, who represented PIL petitioner Lone, contended that Dave in fact wrote an article in an attempt to exert pressure on him. Dave then said Sisodia, who once represented Shah before the top court, should not have appeared for a PIL petitioner in the matter.Two Delhi-based lawyers on Monday approached the Supreme Court seeking an SIT probe into the PNB scam.



A probe into the role of top management of the Punjab National Bank (PNB) was also sought by them.

Advocate M L Sharma sought a direction for a court-monitored probe by an SIT, comprising retired judges.

He claimed that the banking fraud has caused serious injury to the general public and the state's treasury and it should be investigated not by an agency "being controlled by the political leaders/authorities".

Advocate Vineet Dhanda sought direction to the finance ministry and the Reserve Bank of India to frame guidelines for the grant of loans involving huge amounts.

He urged for framing rules for the recovery of loan from the defaulters within a stipulated period and even resorting to the attachment of their properties, providing for their auction in the open market and the registration of criminal cases against the bank officers.

"A borrower of a small amount as loan from the bank cannot run away from the country, so how can a scamster of Rs 11,300 crores run away?" the petitioner asked.

He named Nirav Modi, Vijay Mallya and Lalit Modi, who used their influence to swindle banks.

He cited instances where the poor farmers ended their life due to their inability to pay back the banks.

The petitions have also sought the apex court's direction to the Centre to initiate process of deportation of Nirav Modi and others related to the case as soon as possible, preferably within two months.

Dhanda also urged for disclosing the names of the borrowers of loan of more than Rs 500 crores.From direct involvement of citizens and technical experts in governance, to generating employment for 10 lakh unemployed rural youth and women, JD(S) state president H D Kumaraswamy spelled out some of his ideas for a better Karnataka, if his party is voted to power in the upcoming Assembly elections.

Kumaraswamy on Monday participated in a near three hour interaction on his 'Kanasina Karnataka' with experts from various fields and readers of Prajavani, as part of the 'Prajamatha 2018' interaction ahead of the upcoming Assembly polls.

Stressing on the fact that his government would not function on advice of bureaucrats alone, Kumaraswamy said that he would reserve Cabinet berths of three "sensitive" portfolios -- education, health and housing -- to subject experts from that field.

For example, a medical professional would be assigned the health portfolio, he said. Not only would he invite farmers to the Vidhana Soudha once every two months to address their grievances, he said that he would also frequently extend an invitation to experts to come and share their views and opinions.

The former chief minister said that this was the only way to realise the preamble of the Indian Constitution, where the citizen would be fully part of the democratic process.

He said that there needs to be systemic changes in areas of governance and policy, and that he wanted to do away with the traditional form of governance.

Speaking on his vision for Karnataka in various sectors, Kumaraswamy reiterated that he was committed on waiving crop loans.

From disbursing a monthly honorarium of Rs 5,000 to senior citizens and a monthly honorarium of Rs 6,000 for pregnant and lactating mothers; to keeping Suvarna Vidhana Soudha in Belagavi open for 365 days, Kumaraswamy also said that his government would lay more thrust on upgrading government schools.

Experts including M S Sriram, visiting faculty, Centre for Public Policy, IIMB; S Sampathraman, president, FKCCI; V Ravichander, urban infrastructure expert; actor Prakash Belavadi; S V Manjunath, head of Azim Premji Foundation's Karnataka State Institute; architect Naresh V Narasimhan, literary critic M S Asha Devi and journalist Meera K participated in the interaction.

'Elevated Metro for MG Road was a mistake'

Kumaraswamy regretted his decision of having approved an elevated line for Namma Metro on M G Road, when he served as chief minister in 2006-7. Acknowledging the fact that the said line marred the beauty of the iconic road, he said that he had made the decision in haste -- upon insistence of his officials. He said that Bengaluru too should have had tunneled lines like other global cities.

He said that he had no administrative experience when he was elected as chief minister. But, in the last 10 years, he had gained enough practical knowledge not to repeat the same mistakes.

He said that he was confident of ascending to power, but was not sure if he would stay in power, because he was committed to take some "tough" decisions. He said that there was need for a separate Act for Bengaluru for governance and administration.There is a strong case for a fair and independent probe into the death of CBI judge B H Loya, as demanded by the Opposition and sought in petitions filed in the Supreme Court. Judge Loya, who was hearing the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case in which BJP president Amit Shah was an accused, died allegedly of a cardiac arrest on December 1, 2014 in Nagpur. Media reports which appeared last year quoting his family members and questioning some details of the account of his death had raised suspicions about the circumstances surrounding it. As many as 114 MPs from 15 Opposition parties submitted a memorandum to President Ram Nath Kovind last week seeking a Special Investigation Team probe into the death. The Supreme Court is also currently hearing some petitions seeking a probe, under its watch, into the matter. The court has termed the matter "very serious" and told the Maharashtra government to submit to it all documents pertaining to the death.



Members of the family, including Loya's son, and some judges who accompanied Loya to the hospital where he was declared dead, have stated since then that they did not have any doubts about the death. They have refuted some points and observations made in media reports. But this has not removed all suspicions. Some of the details given by the Maharashtra government have been challenged and disputed. Inconsistencies have also been reported in some accounts of the incident and in the medical reports. Discrepancies and inadequate procedures, like the failure to hold an inquest, non-filing of an FIR, entry of an incorrect date of death and lack of authentication of statements of witnesses and doctors, have been pointed as abnormal. A medical expert has contested the published medical records and claimed that they do not support the statement that Loya died of cardiac arrest.

The judge who heard the case before Loya, and had ordered Amit Shah to appear before him, had been abruptly transferred, and the judge who came in place of Loya discharged Amit Shah from the case, dropping all charges against him even before the trial. This was considered unusual, but the CBI failed to appeal against the decision. The Loya case has actually got linked to the many unusual happenings in the Sohrabuddin encounter case. It has been pointed out that 15 of the 38 accused, including senior police officers, have been discharged and 30 witnesses have turned hostile. Last week, a former judge of the Bombay high court, Abhay M Tipsy, mentioned many of the "absurd inconsistencies" in the trial process and questioned its conduct. But even without any linkage to the trial, Judge Loya's death calls for an independent investigation.Congress MLA from Shanthinagar, N A Haris, on Monday apologised for the incident wherein his son Mohammed Haris Nalapad assaulted a youth at a restaurant on Saturday evening.



"In view of Saturday night's unfortunate incident involving my son and Vidhvant (sic), I, N A Harris, would like to apologise to Vidhvant, his parents (again) and the citizens of Bangalore," he said in a media statement.

He said he had served the constituency with humility for the past 10 years and that the law would be the same for all, including his son.

Haris took exception to the Opposition and a section of the media playing up the issue. "I again strongly emphasise that the law is the same for all of us and we will adhere to the investigation process and give our 100% cooperation," he added.

An embarrassed Congress on Sunday expelled Nalapad, its youth general secretary for Bengaluru city, for six years.By @TrueGodImmortal









Reading about the life and times of some historical figures in black history can be pivotal for many young minds growing up. In adult life, our understanding of these stories becomes greater and as a result, there are some biographies and autobiographies that you appreciate much more as you evolve as a person. Perhaps there is no better example than autobiographies of the black revolutionaries that have come through our history. Today, I wanted to reflect on 7 of those autobiographies that are important and vital. Let's take a look at those books.





*Soul On Ice By Eldridge Cleaver (1968)







-Let everyone else tell it, Eldridge is one of the most problematic black figures in the history of our society. At least that's the narrative today. While he was a troubled soul of the time, Eldridge at one point stood for something and became a revolutionary with an ideology that would benefit his people. His book chronicles his life and times, and features 4 parts thematically, and while I don't agree with some of the things he says, his ability to write and channel his emotions and experiences is amazing. Soul On Ice is a book that you should read without judgment and with that, you can recognize the flawed revolutionary that was Eldridge Cleaver, whether you agree with his methods and life or not.





*Assata: An Autobiography (1987)







-One of the most controversial figures in black history is Assata Shakur. While some would classify her as many things beyond a revolutionary, at her core, she was just that. Born with a will to survive, her life story is not the norm and it makes her book a gripping read. For those who know pieces of her story, including why she lives in Cuba now, this is a very telling read that allows the woman born JoAnne Chesimard to showcase her story. If anything, my favorite aspect of this book is that she is unapologetic and honest, and the way we may have perceived her due to the revolutionary folklore is a bit different from who the woman is, and that is an aspect that we tend to overlook when seeing leaders and figures. Their lives have been mazes and full of good and bad that led them to where they are, and the revolutionary side is grown (whereas people use someone's past to belittle their revolutionary present, this book embraces it). Perhaps there is no other autobiography in black history that showcases this more than Assata and her story.





*Nigger: An Autobiography By Dick Gregory (1964)







-One of the most outspoken voices of the time, Dick Gregory was a controversial figure that has a life many of us would watch play out over the years. In his later years, his outspoken style didn't dwindle, but in his younger years, he was a Civil Rights activist and focused on black issues without question. His autobiography, with a very interesting title, came about in the mid 60's, where he speaks about his experience through the years, discrimination and everything in between. While the book isn't regarded as one of the more powerful books, it should be. This is an autobiography that everyone should read at least once.





*Angela Davis: An Autobiography (1974)







-When we look back at women in black history that made an impact, the list is extensive. One of the most notable remains Angela Davis, an activist who assisted the Black Panther and many other revolutionary groups and stands out as one of the last pieces in the Black Liberation movement. Her book chronicles the hatred faced for being a revolutionary, as well as her life story. For young women of color, this book is important to read. For everyone, this book is important to read. The look into the rise and the ascension of one of the last true revolutionaries of the time is a necessary read.





*A Taste Of Power: A Black Woman's Story (1992)







-There are many women who overcame the obstacles during the darkest era, but perhaps Elaine Brown is the brightest of them all. The former close friend and lover of Huey P. Newton would rise up and become a leader in the Black Panther Party and this book would tell her story. More so a book of memoirs than your traditional autobiography, this follows her upbringing in Philly all the way to her years as the leader of the Party and everything in between. Elaine Brown is a name we don't see mentioned as much with Angela Davis and Assata, and while there are some reasons for that, her book is still a good read that showcases someone who searched for their own identity and found it through liberation.





*Revolutionary Suicide By Huey P. Newton (1973)







-An underrated autobiography in the grand scheme, a look into the mind and world of Black Panther Huey P. Newton was gripping. You learn so much from this book about Huey, some of which you might even find hard to believe initially. He is open and honest about his upbringing and how he taught himself to read much later in life than expected, along with the Oakland history he would become a part of. As one of the central figures in the history of the Black Panther Party, this book is interesting for a number of reasons, which you have to read for yourself to grasp why I say that.





*The Autobiography Of Malcolm X (1965)







-The greatest book ever written for me. While I wasn't the biggest fan of Alex Haley and some aspects of his career as an author, I will always marvel at the attention to detail on this supremely executed autobiography. Simply put, learning about Malcolm and his upbringing keeps you attentive to the page at every second. Whether it's discussing how he would be close to a white woman in his past, him being saved at times when things got rough, his life as Detroit Red, and everything else in between, the early days of Malcolm show a man looking to find his way. The later years show a man still searching for identity, but gaining more clarity as the days go on. For me, this is the essential reading experience as a black man in America and I've always said that I've been inspired by Malcolm and his story and honestly, this book is a prime example of why. It's that great, and honestly the best autobiography of all time IMO.





-TrueBy Lisa Friedman

12 February 2018

(The New York Times)  The Trump administration on Monday moved to repeal one of the last unchallenged climate-change regulations rushed into place in the waning days of the Obama presidency  a rule restricting the release of planet-warming methane into the atmosphere.

The rule, which applied to companies drilling for energy on federal land, has been the subject of intense court battles and delay efforts, as well as one surprise vote last year in which Senate Republicans temporarily saved it from being torpedoed.Methane, which is about 25 times more potent at trapping heat than carbon dioxide, accounts for 9 percent of all domestic greenhouse gas emissions; about a third of that is estimated to come from oil and gas operations. Under the rule, oil and gas companies would have been required to capture leaked methane, update their equipment and write new plans for minimizing waste when drilling on government property.The Interior Departments Bureau of Land Management described the rule as costly, redundant and overly burdensome.In order to achieve energy dominance through responsible energy production, we need smart regulations, not punitive regulations, Joe Balash, the departments assistant secretary for land and minerals management, said Monday in a statement.The move came as the Trump administration released an $11.3 billion budget for the Interior Department that emphasized the development of domestic energy resources and responsible development of energy on public lands and offshore waters.The methane waste rule was aimed at accidental gas leaks and the process of venting and burning off leaked gas, known as flaring, from oil and gas wells on public lands. It was created as part of a broad strategy to tackle climate change as well as wasteful releases of gas. The Bureau of Land Management estimated in 2016 that the rule would prevent as much as 180,000 tons of methane emissions annually, about the equivalent of taking 950,000 cars off the road.The oil and gas industry argued that the rule could cost as much as $279 million to implement and would hinder production. The industry made repeal of the regulation a top priority. []Environmental activists denounced the plan and noted that the repeal would return the Bureau of Land Management to a set of policies dealing with methane waste that are almost 40 years old. Gutting the rule would allow unchecked waste of natural gas, unnecessary pollution and the loss of revenue to communities and tribes to address critical needs such as schools and roads, said Fred Krupp, president of the Environmental Defense Fund. [more]Country

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Principe, Democratic Republic of Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Senegal, Republic of Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles, Republic of Sierra Leone, Republic of Singapore, Republic of Slovakia (Slovak Republic) Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia, Somali Republic South Africa, Republic of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Spain, Spanish State Sri Lanka, Democratic Socialist Republic of St. Helena St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Pierre and Miquelon St. Vincent and the Grenadines Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Suriname, Republic of Svalbard & Jan Mayen Islands Swaziland, Kingdom of Sweden, Kingdom of Switzerland, Swiss Confederation Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand, Kingdom of Timor-Leste, Democratic Republic of Togo, Togolese Republic Tokelau (Tokelau Islands) Tonga, Kingdom of Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Tunisia, Republic of Turkey, Republic of Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda, Republic of Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of ZimbabweAfter Google removed the "view image" button from its image search results last week, other browsers like Microsoft's Bing and Startpage that allow download of high-resolution images with a right click, would likely see their users increase, according to media reports.

Google signed a multi-year global licensing deal with Getty Images, and removed the "view image" button. The move is expected to curb the lifting of copyrighted images from its platform (See: Google partners with Getty, removes ''View Image'' from results).

According to a BBC report, critics have flayed the changes as "awful", "user-unfriendly" and "degraded the product".

Talk about destroying your own successful service," one user tweeted.

Users have also suggested that people try rival image search engines such as Bing, which still has a "view image" button.

"Others pointed out that right-clicking an image in Google's Chrome browser, and clicking 'open image in new tab' replicated the missing function," the report added.

According to lifehacker.com frequent users of the feature can still get a similar experience through another search engine called Startpage.

Media reports suggest that Google will make copyright attribution and disclaimers more prominent in image search results.

"The change is essentially meant to frustrate users, The Verge reports. Google has long been under fire from photographers and publishers who felt that image search allowed people to steal their pictures, and the removal of the view image button is one of many changes being made in response."

At times, websites disable the ability to right click, too, which would make it even harder for someone to grab a photo they're looking for. Google has also removed the 'search by image' button that appeared when people opened up an image.Tesla to set up smart power grid in Canada in pact with Nova Scotia Power

Tesla's smart power grids are headed to Canada. It has signed an agreement with Nova Scotia Power for a pilot programme at Elmsdale, Nova Scotia, which will deploy a combination of Tesla's Powerwall 2 home batteries and utility-grade Powerpack batteries to bolster the reliability of the region's wind power production, according to Engadget.

The Elmsdale Intelligent Feeder project will make use of excess power generated by wind turbines to fill in the gaps of the area's electrical grid. Whenever one of the area's wind turbines generates excess power, it will be sent to one of Tesla's Powerpacks from where the power will be distributed to local homes whenever there is an outage or one of the wind turbines fails to produce enough energy.

The test programme is partly supported by the Canadian government, and is expected to go live before the end of February and run through 2019. Whatever the outcome of the experiment, the batteries would remain. The decision on the extension of the programme to other parts of the country will be taken by Nova Scotia Power. The company is likely to judge the programme on the basis of how well it serves the interest of consumers and itself.

Commentators point out that the experiment will serve a modest 300 homes, and only 10 customers have Powerwall 2 batteries. They say, this shows the increasing global interest in storage batteries like Tesla's as a means of stabilising green power. And the Canadian pilot in particular could show the future of electricity for rural communities. They may be less dependent on distant power grids, and will not have to worry quite so much about blackouts.Indian Army chief Gen Bipin Rawat, foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval travelled to Bhutan without fanfare earlier this month on a rare visit, during which they held extensive talks with the top Bhutanese leadership on strategic issues including the situation in Doklam, reports PTI citing authoritative government sources. Ajit Doval (left) and Gen Bipin Rawat The sources said the two sides reviewed bilateral security and defence cooperation issues with the focus on China's increasing military presence and infrastructure development in the Doklam plateau. The visit took place between 6 and 7 February and "positive" outcomes emerged from the meetings. The visit was the first high-level trip from India to Bhutan after the Doklam standoff, and kept under wraps by the Bhutanese and Indian sides. The visit came three days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi held talks with his Bhutanese counterpart Tshering Tobgay on the sidelines of an investor summit in Guwahati. The sources said the Bhutanese apprised the Indians about the status of boundary talks between Bhutan and China, and emphasised that Thimphu wants peace in the Doklam tri-junction. Troops of India and China were locked in a 73-day-long standoff in Doklam from 16 June last year after the Indian side prevented the building of a road in the disputed Doklam tri-junction by the Chinese Army. Bhutan and China have a dispute over Doklam. The face-off ended on 28 August. China and Bhutan are engaged in talks over the disputed area. India argues that since it is a tri-junction involving the three countries, it also has a say in the issue, especially in the backdrop of a 2012 agreement between special representatives of the two countries that have till now held 20 rounds of talks. Bhutan has no diplomatic ties with China, and relies on diplomatic and military support from India. The sources said several other key officials of the Army and the Ministry of External Affairs were also a part of the visit. Asked about the foreign secretary's visit, a diplomatic source told PTI it was "routine". This was Gen Rawat's second visit to Bhutan in the last nine months. He has been calling for adequate focus by India on its nearly 4,000 km-long border with China. Last month, he had said the time had come for the country to shift its focus from the western to the northern frontier. Army sources told PTI China has been keeping its troops in north Doklam and significantly ramping up its infrastructure in the area.







Virgin Hyperloop on Sunday signed an "intent agreement" with Maharashtra to build a hyperloop transportation system between Mumbai and Pune, which would help reduce the travel time between the country's financial capital and the manufacturing and IT hub to just to 20 minutes against three hours at present. The proposed Virgin Hyperloop One transport system envisages initial average speeds of 350 km per hour, with speeds going up to 500-1,000 km per hour with the evolution of the complete infrastructure and it will be priced at an affordable rate comparable with an airfare or a cab transport. As per the framework agreement signed by Richard Branson-backed Virgin Hyperloop One, the cost of travel will be pegged at almost the same price as travelling in a cab or an airplane. The company will first build an operational demonstration track and the first hyperloop route will link central Pune and Mumbai via the Navi Mumbai international airport, the foundation stone for which was laid by Prime Minister Narenda Modi on Sunday evening. Virgin Hyperloop One chairman Richard Branson announced the framework agreement in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis at the Magnetic Maharashtra investor summit here this evening. "We have signed an agreement with Maharashtra to build a Virgin Hyperloop between Mumbai and Pune, beginning with an operational demonstration track in the region," Branson announced on the first day of Magnetic Maharashtra event. With easier access to airport gates, the loop will be able to ferry 150 million passengers every year. "The proposed hyperlook transportation system will transform the transportation system and make Maharashtra a global pioneer in the space. The socioeconomic benefits of the project is $55 billion," Branson said, claiming that the project will create thousands of jobs. "Mumbai-Pune is one of the most busiest routes in the world, anybody who uses it regularly knows it can be unpleasant route to travel on. The study just shows that the opportunity is enormous and the government is welcoming it with open arms and they are working very closely with us to make it happen. Three years from now we will finish the test run on this route and six to seven years from now the route will be commercially opened," Branson added. "Preliminary study showed that Mumbai-Pune was one of the most economically viable routes we have ever studied. It is one of the most economically powerful routes, which is why construct of PPP will be well received. We have looked at numerous routes around the world. But this was the most viable and lucrative option seen," added Branson. Emphasising on the need for faster modes of overland transport, Branson said Indians waste a lot of time travelling from one part of the country to other and road travel in India is the most unpleasant experience. If it was trains that opened up India in the last century, he believes it could be Hyperloops in the coming century, he said. "If I was an Indian, a lot of my life, would have been spent sitting in traffic jams. It is a miserable ways of spending one's life in traffic, it is waste of one's life and waste of productivity, there are better way in which one can spend one's life or time," added Branson, which hyperloops can address. Rob Floyd, CEO of Hyperloop One credited state government for its active interest which has helped Virgin Hyperloop to swiftly work on its initial feasibility study. In the coming six months Virgin will come out with a detailed framework on engineering, sourcing, PPP etc. Details such as the project cost and a time-line are yet to be announced. The hyperloop route will be a fully electric system and will have the capability travel up to 1,000 km per hour. The proposed project will begin after a six-month in-depth feasibility study which will analyse and define the route alignment, including environmental impact, economic and commercial viability, the regulatory framework, and cost and funding model suggestions. The government will help Virgin move to the next stage of feasibility study while most of the funding will come from private sources. The company is currently in discussion with various business houses and groups for selecting an Indian partner for the project. Apart from Maharashtra, Virgin Hyperloop has been in active discussion with Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka state government to introducing hyperloops in those markets. Besides Branson, other key investors in Hyperloop One include Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, CEO and group chairman of DP World, and Ziyavudin Magomedov, chairman of Summa Group.







In late July, Snapchats director of engineering emailed the companys team in response to an unfolding privacy threat. A government official from Dorset in the United Kingdom had provided Snapchat with information about a recent attack on the companys users: a publicly available list, embedded in a phishing website named klkviral.org, that listed 55,851 Snapchat accounts, along with their usernames and passwords.

The attack appeared to be connected to a previous incident that the company believed to have been coordinated from the Dominican Republic. Not all of the account credentials were valid, and Snapchat had reset the majority of the accounts following the initial attack. But for some period of time, thousands of Snapchat account credentials were available on a public website.

According to a person familiar with the matter, the attack relied on a link sent to users through a compromised account that, when clicked, opened a website designed to mimic the Snapchat login screen. Many companies, including Facebook, scan links as they are sent in an effort to identify pages that mimic their login screens and block them accordingly.

We are very sorry when anyone is tricked by phishing, a Snap spokesman told The Verge. While we cant prevent people from sharing their Snapchat credentials with third parties, we do have advanced defenses to detect and prevent suspicious activity. We encourage Snapchatters to always use strong passwords, enable login Verification, and never use third-party apps or plugins.Blog Archive September (49) August (120) July (122) June (82) May (82) April (76) March (100) February (106) January (144) December (133) November (92) October (72) September (68) August (80) July (68) June (89) May (92) April (75) March (87) February (85) January (86) December (74) November (67) October (60) September (60) August (60) July (64) June (51) May (63) April (53) March (59) February (70) January (68) December (70) November (78) October (98) September (77) August (71) July (68) June (60) May (68) April (54) March (61) February (55) January (69) December (61) November (53) October (48) September (40) August (47) July (56) June (56) May (71) April (55) March (43) February (3) December (15) November (48) October (46) September (39) August (27) July (18) June (33) May (44) April (38) March (31) February (34) January (34) December (26) November (57) October (43) September (81) August (66) July (77) June (85) May (70) April (56) March (49) February (32) January (39) December (42) November (25) October (16) September (36) August (34) July (40) June (55) May (45) April (63) March (56) February (57) January (60) December (58) November (50) October (55) September (31) August (77) July (65) June (27) May (52) April (53) March (77) February (75) January (36) December (24) November (31) October (31) September (29) August (30) July (49) June (53) May (61) April (65) March (96) February (35) January (53) December (56) November (52) October (51) September (109) August (94) July (70) June (65) May (85) April (80) March (96) February (74) January (79) December (75) November (104) October (105) September (108) August (86) July (101) June (106) May (100) April (97) March (103) February (92) January (95) December (137) November (122) October (173) September (111) August (178) July (168) June (184) May (193) April (161) March (149) February (121) January (131) December (120) November (97) October (137) September (105) August (133) July (120) June (103) May (111) April (72) March (48) February (58) January (27)The 2018 awards season is winding down. Since November 2017, awards season has been on a wild ride due to the unpredictability of picking winners.

While the Dolby Theatre and the Oscars' creative team continue preparations for the 90th Annual Academy Awards, all eyes were on the Royal Albert Hall in London, England. Some of Hollywood's top talents have traveled to the United Kingdom to attend the British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA).

Used To Be Like Twins

According to BBC America's Anglophenia, the BAFTA used to be in sync with the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences' selections on which films would join the winner's circle and crowned the top film of that year. However, over the past few years, the BAFTA  for their respective prized award  Best Picture, have not matched. Also, the public also selects a winner in a special prize called the EE Rising Star Award, which is exclusively given out at the BAFTA.

The Big Upset

Despite The Shape of Water being nominated for 12 awards, the science fiction film only took home three. According to Deadline, the evening's biggest winner was Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, which was awarded five statues. It will be fascinating to see which films and performers will win Oscar gold on March 4. Jimmy Kimmel will return to host The Academy Awards for the second year in a row.

Here are the official recipients of the BAFTA statues:

Leading Actress

Frances McDormand, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Leading Actor

Gary Oldman, Darkest Hour

Supporting Actor

Sam Rockwell, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Supporting Actress

Alison Janney, I, Tonya

EE Rising Star Award

Daniel Kaluuya, Get Out

Best Film

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Outstanding British Film

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Best Film Not In The English Language

The Handmaiden

Best Animated Film

Coco

Best Short Animation

Poles Apart

British Short Film

Cowboy Dave



Best Documentary

I Am Not Your Negro

Best Director

Guillermo del Toro, The Shape of Water

Adapted Screenplay

James Ivory, Call Me by Your Name

Original Screenplay

Martin McDonagh, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Best Production Design

Paul Denham Austerberry, Jeff Melvin, and Shane Vieau, The Shape of Water

Best Special Visual Effects

Richard R. Hoover, Paul Lambert, Gerd Nefzer, and John Nelson, Blade Runner 2049

Best Editing

Paul Machliss and Jonathan Amos, Baby Driver

Original Music

Alexandre Desplat, The Shape of WaterKate Middleton has been lauded for her fashion statement. However, her dress in this year's BAFTA Awards has raised some eyebrows, citing the #MeToo campaign.

The Duchess of Cambridge had been awed and praised because of her stylish pieces. Regardless of the occasion, many await her outfit in these public appearances, and so was the case in the recently held BAFTA Awards on Sunday, Feb. 18.

As usual, Middleton stood out from the crowd with her elegance and grace. But more so, she was noticeable for her dress for this year's prestigious awards night, a dark green empire cut flowy dress made by Jenny Packham. She paired this with sparkly accessories.

At first glance, Middleton looked beautiful in her well-fitting gown. But the color of the dress was what sparked controversy. For those unaware of what had cast shadow in the industry, black had become a significant symbol of the many victims who are speaking out against their abusers.

Last month, there was news that those who will grace the BAFTA Awards would wear black as a nod to what had happened in the Golden Globes where most celebrities wore black. However, a BAFTA official already said that the institution did not have any dress code.

Now, the event was attended by many celebrities mostly wearing black. With Middleton's dark green gown, many wondered if the 36-year-old royal stunner was expressing her support for the #MeToo movement.

Subtle Hint

While this was the case, Middleton accentuated her gown with a black ribbon and a black clutch, while her dark green dress visibly turned black in the dark. Altogether, Prince William's wife seemingly hinted that her pieces were a subtle hint to the #MeToo campaign.

While we could only assume so much, it is important to understand where Middleton was coming from. Whether she was for or against the movement, she would not be able to express this freely, as the royals are prohibited from making a political statement.

Prince William also wore a black tux. Meanwhile, celebrities during the event who wore black are Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Lawrence, Emma Roberts, Saoirse Ronan, and Margot Robbie.

Last year, Middleton wore a black floral off-shoulder Alexander McQueen dress to the BAFTA Awards. Many lauded the Duchess of Cambridge for carrying the outfit with simplicity and grace at the same time.

The #MeToo campaign started last year after several women bravely came out accusing film mogul Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault. Since then, it had encouraged other victims from different sectors to speak out as well.Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux's separation came out as a shocker, but reports say the two had met on Valentine's Day for the last time, despite splitting in December.

It can be remembered that the power couple announced their split a day after Feb. 14. According to a PEOPLE's source, Aniston and Theroux met during the late hours of that day to talk about the announcement.

"They decided together that they would make the announcement the next day. Justin flew on a private jet to L.A. to see Jen one last time," the insider added.

The agreement seemed to be a last-minute choice, however, as Aniston initially wanted to keep things private for the longest time. The source revealed that the 49-year-old Horrible Bosses star and Theroux were hard to reach a consensus about announcing their fallout.

Apparently, Aniston did not want the attention to be shifted into their split, but as established, the opposite has been happening. Prior to all of the hullabaloos, the Friends star celebrated her birthday noticeably without her beau at her side.

Many questioned this, as Aniston held her birthday with close friends, including actress Courteney Cox, Kristin Hahn, Andrea Bendewald, and Leigh Kilton-Smith on Feb. 11 in Malibu, California, obviously Theroux-less. The source further divulged that the We're the Millers actress wanted to keep things "low-key," so people would not have an inkling about their decision.

However, it was not the same for Theroux, who wanted to live life and move on after the announcement.

"But that's not Justin's style. He wanted to make the announcement so he can live his life," the insider claimed.

Aniston, Theroux Split

The couple had been together for seven years before getting married in 2015. That was why the announcement made on Feb. 15 through the actress's publicist Stephen Huvane came as a surprising news. According to the statement, Aniston and Theroux mutually made the decision.

"We are two best friends who have decided to part ways as a couple, but look forward to continuing our cherished friendship," the couple said and added that they already made the announcement themselves to avoid rumors and misleading news reports.

Aside from this, the couple narrated that they had separated in December last year but did not mention the reason for their split. Meanwhile, people started speculating about the split last year after Theroux had often been spotted without Aniston in New York.Prince Harry and fiancee Meghan Markle took time off from their royal engagement Friday night for some fun in London and watched the theater production of Hamilton.

Date Night

The soon-to-be-married couple went on a date night at London's West End to see a performance of Hamilton at the Victoria Palace Theater. Although there are no pictures to prove they were at the theater, one of the stars of the show confirmed their presence,

Leslie Garcia Bowman, who plays a general in the stage play, tweeted about Prince Harry and Markle. He mentioned that it was a pleasure to have the couple at the show on Friday night.

Was an honour to have Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in to watch @HamiltonWestEnd last night!  Leslie Garcia Bowman (@lesliegbowman) February 17, 2018

Markle is definitely a big fan of Hamilton. This is not the first time she watched the show. The Suits star also accompanied her friend and actress Priyanka Chopra for a date night in New York to watch it. Markle shared her photo with the Quantico star on her Instagram and captioned it, "About last night. Thank you to my babe @priyankachopra for the best date night #Hamilton #NYC." The snap has since been deleted along with the rest of the photos on her Instagram.

Royal Engagements

Prince Harry and Markle have been on a series of royal engagements for the past weeks. They were last spotted together in public on Tuesday, when they visited Scotland. They dropped by Edinburgh, where they met well-wishers who have eagerly waited to meet the future royal couple.

Markle and Prince Harry also dropped by the Social Bite, a cafe in Edinburg that helps employ and feed the homeless. They talked to the employees, and the actress even hugged cafe cofounder Alice Thompson when they were about to leave. The future princess broke royal protocol when she gave her a hug instead of a polite handshake.

In the previous days, Prince Harry and Markle also interacted with schoolchildren during a visit to Star Hub in Tremorfa. The couple even received warm hugs from the kids for their royal visit.

Royal Wedding

The royal nuptials will take place on May 19 at noon at St. George's Chapel in Windsor. Rt Revd, David Conner will conduct the service. The ceremony will be made public so everyone will witness Prince Harry and Markle exchange wedding vows, which the Most Revd. and Rt Hon. Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, will officiate.

Following the ceremony, a royal procession will follow where Markle and Prince Harry will first emerge as husband and wife. The reception will take place at St. George's Hall.Moviegoers eager to watch the much acclaimed Black Panther are surprised, to say the least, when the movie house played Fifty Shades Freed instead.

Apparently, staff at the Atlanta's Regal Atlantic Station messed up the films at their cinema, much to the dismayed of their guests who immediately took videos and uploaded to their social media accounts the experience. Smartphones are not allowed inside the cinema but the confusion about the supposed Black Panther screening could not specifically hold moviegoers down.

One of which was user @ChefWaites who took to Twitter to share the clip from his experience. In the video, people can be heard laughing and jeering at the film.

"Aiight so this happened at Atlantic Station. They played 50 shades instead of black panther," he tweeted and attached a 15-second clip of the rolling sexy film, which, as of writing, already had more than 200,000 views.

The user also revealed that Fifty Shades Freed played for five minutes, before movie staff had noticed the mistake and made something about it. Meanwhile, some spectators of the Marvel film Black Panther, including the twitter user, found the experience funny rather than irritating.

"I never laughed so hard. I'm happy i came to the black theatre," the Twitter uploader wrote in another tweet.

Another took humor to another level when he tweeted that he was able to rush and ran out of the theater when the Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson-film started playing instead of Black Panther, despite having an ACL surgery five months ago.

Black Panther Hype

Meanwhile, the lividness among the audience was understandable, though, as getting amped up for a superhero film was suddenly let down by an erotic film. Moreover, Black Panther had proven to be a hit, with the amount it had amassed on its opening day.

Variety reported that Black Panther is heading for $218 million during the President's Day weekend, as per data on Sunday, on the more than 4,000 locations in North America. Impressively, this was a far cry from the expected amount of $100 to $120 million, which was released in January.

With this, it has beaten past record holder, 2016's Deadpool, which got $152 million. Prior its release, the film garnered 5 million tweets, snatching the title of being the most tweeted movie of 2018.

Black Panther is directed by Ryan Coogler and stars Chadwick Boseman as the titular character. Other cast members are Lupita Nyong'o, Michael B. Jordan, Danai Gurira, and Daniel Kaluuya.Date night with Travis Scott is the last thing on first-time parent Kylie Jenner's mind right now. All this is because of Stormi Webster.

As fans of the makeup maven would notice, Jenner had kept a low profile on social media prior to Stormi's birth. She had also posted lesser photos and videos in her accounts, but now that the cat is out of the bag, many fans had noticed that the 20-year-old had been also using the social media to share Stormi-related posts.

As a nod to this, a source revealed to the Hollywood Life that the proud mom had not had a date night with the rapper. Apparently, Jenner was consistently asked by Scott for a night off, but the Kylie Cosmetics owner was just not ready to leave the side of their bundle of joy any moment and that she was determined to take care of Stormi.

"Kylie's priorities have really shifted over the past nine months, she's matured a lot, and her focus now is on being a mom and working hard to provide for her daughter," the insider claimed.

Scott has no chance of snatching his girlfriend for a date anytime soon too, as Jenner is just enjoying every minute she is with Stormi. Her partying days are over as well, as per the source's revelations, as she is now more than ready to enter parenthood full-time.

"She's so in love with Stormi that she can't even entertain the thought of leaving her with someone else, even if it's only for a few hours," the source said.

With this, Scott could expect to wait a little longer, as Jenner's excitement is still overflowing as of this moment. Her hands are a little busy too, of course, with Stormi and her makeup line.

Scott would surely understand this, considering that he was swept away the minute he saw Stormi, whom he described as "beautiful" to TMZ.

Talk Of The Town

The 20-year-old reality star had been the talk of the town since last year when people noticed that she had shied away from the public eye. Pregnancy rumors started milling as well, with unflattering pictures of Jenner circulating.

However, Jenner vehemently denied this, slamming the photos that she called fake and altered. Despite later reports of a baby shower, she had kept things a secret. It was predicted that Jenner was expecting a baby girl, judging by the pink-themed event. True enough, she gave birth to a bouncing baby girl, Stormi. This was recently revealed through social media.Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri bagged the top honors at the 71st British Academy Film Awards in London on Sunday, Feb. 18.

The drama, written and directed by Academy Award-winning director Martin McDonagh (In Bruges), was singled out as the winner in five categories on Sunday.

McDormand Wins Best Actress

Frances McDormand, who plays the role of a bereaved mother who rents three billboards to draw attention to her daughter's unsolved murder in the film, took home the Best Actress honor. Sam Rockwell won the award in the Best Supporting Actor category, beating costar Woody Harrelson for the iconic BAFTA mask trophy.

McDormand accepted her Best Actress award in a red and black ensemble.

"As Martin said I have a little trouble with compliance but I want you to know I stand in alliance with my sisters in black," the actress said about her dress, which was a contrast to the shades of black worn by swarms of women to show their solidarity with the Time's Up movement.

"In drama school I was told I wasn't naturally gifted and I should work at it. So I did," she quipped. This was McDormand's first BAFTA award after four nominations.

McDonagh Wins Best Screenplay

Although McDonagh bagged the Best Screenplay award for the tragicomedy, he missed out in the Best Director category, with the award going to The Shape of Water director Guillermo Del Toro instead. Del Toro's fantasy drama took home the second-highest number of honors with three awards, while Blade Runner 2049 and Darkest Hour won two each.

Road To The Oscars

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri also won best film as well as best British film at Sunday night's award ceremony.

However, the BAFTA Awards may not be the best barometer for success at the Oscars. Over the last 10 years, there have only been four instances in which a film that picked up a BAFTA for Best Film went on to win an Academy Award in the same category.

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri has been nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Actress for McDormand and Best Supporting Actor nods for Harrelson and Rockwell.

The film has won several other awards, including Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Screenplay at the Golden Globes this year. The film also picked up three honors, including Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture at the Screen Actors Guild Awards.Former The View co-host Jedediah Bila officially marries her fiance Jeremy Scher. The two tied the knot Saturday, Feb. 17, in New York.

An Intimate Ceremony

The 39-year-old wed her beau in Huntington surrounded by friends and family in an intimate and traditional ceremony.

"As 60 of their closest family and friends filled the room, Jedediah walked down the aisle as Jeremy beamed with joy - you could truly feel the love in this magical evening!" gushed wedding planner Michael Russo.

Bila wore a stunning Rivini lace ballgown and matching earrings from Susan Hanover for the big day, which The View host Sunny Hostin attended. Her wedding band was white gold, eternity style, with elegant wraparound diamonds.

Scher wore a traditional tuxedo and chose a plain, yellow gold band for his own wedding ring. Of her desire to get married in true princess style, Bila admitted she didn't think she was that kind of girl.

"I always wanted to get married, but I never thought I would do the big wedding dress and the beautiful venue. I always thought I was gonna be on a beach somewhere, just a couple of friends, doing it really casual. So it's crazy," she said.

"What I'm looking forward to the most [about my wedding day] is that moment of walking down the aisle and seeing him and having him see me and having that moment where we're in front together."

For the ex-Fox News correspondent, the choice of a traditional wedding is a surprising one. Bila is known for being a bit of a rule breaker and a boundary pusher.

The Daytime Emmy Award-winning TV host utilized the services of celebrity wedding planner Michael Russo Events to ensure every detail of her big day was perfect, from music to flowers. For dinner, guests could choose between filet mignon and seared Atlantic salmon, while the wedding cake was vanilla and chocolate with a mousse filling.

A View Of The Engagement

Bila announced her engagement to Scher on the air in June of last year, asking the studio audience whether they noticed anything different about her.

Her beau reportedly took her to a romantic bed and breakfast to pop the question, which Bila claimed was a complete shock at the time. She noticed that something was up, however, because Scher had gotten ready much quicker, and earlier than ever before.

Bila joined The View crew in August 2016. Just a year later, in September 2017, the 39-year-old host abruptly announced she would be leaving the show.

The former Fox News contributor told the studio audience on Sept. 18 that it would be her last day on the show with co-hosts Hostin, Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Sara Haines, and Paula Faris.

Bila described it as her most difficult day on the job, before thanking the other ladies for being her friends throughout her time there. She acknowledged that she wasn't to everyone's tastes, but explained it was in her nature to rile people up and try to rock the boat a little bit.

Bila's spot was filled by Megan McCain on The View just a short while later in October.Kendall Jenner talked out about her struggles with anxiety. The 22-year-old supermodel opens up on the latest episode of Keeping up with the Kardashians.

A Lifelong Struggle

Sunday's edition of the hit show sees Jenner explaining how much of a negative impact her high-powered fashion career has taken on her flailing mental health.

"Kendall struggles from anxiety, and I think she has so much going on that she gets herself really worked up. Kendall gets the most anxious during fashion week... Trying to juggle it all is overwhelming," mother Kris Jenner explained.

Kendall also struggles with hypochondria, visiting a doctor to see whether she's anemic, only to find out she's not.

"Since I was a kid, I've always been a hypochondriac. I've always been the worst hypochondriac," she admitted.

To be fair to Kendall, she's had a difficult year. First, her big sister Kim Kardashian-West was robbed at gunpoint, then Kendall herself was robbed, not to mention the stalkers she's had to contend with showing up at her house. It's even put the supermodel off social media.

Momager Kris was worried that Kendall's anxiety, which, in previous episodes of the show, has seen her on the cusp of fleeing a flight due to anxiety  possibly leading to a loss of work  will negatively affect her career.

A Lot On Her Plate

"I don't think any of us have taken the time to process what's been happening over the past year... And I think that that is a factor in a lot of this. It's hard to get your brain to slow down ... and really process what's happening," Kendall said.

The episode then showcases various methods Kendall tries to cope with her anxiety ahead of appearances at Milan Fashion Week, including acupuncture and meditation. Kris subsequently accompanies her on the trip, remaining by her side in the event anything goes wrong which, thankfully, it doesn't.

Kendall was missing at Paris Fashion Week 2018, so it's good to see her prepare to face Milan head on.

Sunday night's episode of KUWTK also finds Scott Disick making a hilarious "legacy" video for his new BFF, Kris Jenner. The two came to blows previously after Kris put Disick on the spot over his relationship with 19-year-old Sofia Richie.

Elsewhere, Khloe Kardashian tries to juggle her private time between partner and baby daddy Tristan Thompson and her BFF, Malika Haqq.Actress Salma Hayek utilized her big moment presenting at the 2018 BAFTA Awards to call out men, in hilarious fashion. Time's Up indeed.

And The Winner Is

The 51-year-old Mexican actress, and star of Frida and From Dusk Till Dawn, seized the opportunity to make a real statement while presenting the Best Actor award during the 71st British Academy Film Awards at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

"In this very important and historical year for women, I am here on this legendary stage to celebrate men," Hayek declared to the camera, deadpan serious.

A mixture of rapturous applause and scattered laughter soon filled the auditorium, particularly on the word "men."

Hayek continued on, still serious while being outwardly professional.

"It gives me great pleasure to be the one to present the nominations for the Leading Actor award. This is an extraordinary collection of actors at the top of their game, and emerging talent, who are already producing world-class work," she said.

After a short pause, Hayek declared the winner to be Frances McDormand, star of Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.

"Just kidding. The BAFTA goes to, Gary Oldman," she finished.

Twitter unsurprisingly blew up following Hayek's speech, with many users praising her bravery.

Salma Hayek is my new favourite person. #Timesup  elephantsbehindsheds (@Suzy_Pearson) February 18, 2018

Salma Hayek won everything drama lama (@pondgitsune) February 18, 2018

There were those who fretted that Oldman, the front-runner for the entire awards season, won't come home with the gong on the Awards night. This in spite of the fact that McDormand won in the Best Actress category.

Making A Statement

Elsewhere, it was much of the same, with the only surprise being Guillermo Del Toro walking away with Best Director for his woman-and-fish romance The Shape Of Water, possibly heralding an Oscar on the cards for the beloved auteur. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri won Best Original Screenplay beating Get Out, Lady Bird, The Shape of Water, and I, Tonya.

EE Rising Star Award recipient Daniel Kaluuya, the lead in Jordan Peele's celebrated horror movie Get Out, who is up for Best Actor at the Oscars, gave an emotional speech during the BAFTAs. He thanked his mother for her support, dedicating the award to her.

It was also a big night for #MeToo and Time's Up, with women sporting black on the red carpet while the men accessorized with Time's Up pins on their lapels.

Sam Rockwell thanked all of the women in his life during his acceptance speech for Best Supporting Actor, for Three Billboards, while presenters Gemma Arterton and Lily James took their moment on-stage to thank those fighting against inequality across the board.God bless this abortion mill By Michael R. Shannon

A Maryland abortion mill recently held an audition that was so important the Washington Post covered it. And this wasnt one of the friendly Planned Parenthood clinics where they are so busy providing mammograms, checkups, flu shots and underage marital counseling that abortion customers practically have to deliver in the waiting room before someone will see them. This performance was at the Carhart clinic in Bethesda, MD. There chief executioner LeRoy Carhart terminates the life of viable, unborn babies up to five months old. Although that limit is selfimposed. In the Peoples Republic of Maryland, a woman can execute her unborn child even in the ninth month. There were four individuals present, each trying to outdo the others in their unqualified support for killing the unborn. What made this audition so newsworthy was all four claimed to be religious authorities. The Rev. Carlton Veazey, Rabbi Charles Feinberg, Rev. Cari Jackson and Rev. Barbara Gerlach were present but evidently the priest of Moloch had a schedule conflict. None of the four are exactly mainstream clergy, the mainstreamers are the ones across the street leading prayer vigils trying to prevent abortions. Consequently, abortion mills cant be picky when it comes recruiting spiritual help. If they own a Bible and know where to put the amen in a prayer, its good enough for the Choose Death industry. Veazey has been described by Tucker Carlson as an abortion fanatic who claims abortion is part of the basic tenet of our church." Veazey talks less about the photo where he was in a nude embrace with a woman who had come to him for spiritual help. And the Washington Post reporter didnt inquire into the circumstances of her subsequent suicide and Veazeys ouster as pastor of the Zion Baptist Church in Washington, DC. Rev. Jackson is a married lesbian and Rev. Gerlach is a widow and oldtime feminist. None of the four currently have a church or synagogue that provides a salary. If they were going to generate any paid speaking opportunities from their butcher shop blessing, news coverage would be crucial. They began with spurious religious justifications for abortion that reeked of modern misplaced moral authority: Achieving the goal comes at someone elses expense. In this instance, the baby. Veazey proclaimed, Keep them safe and keep them strong. And may they always know that all that they do is for Thy glory. Feinberg was reassuring, Judaism has always said abortion is never murder. It may not be permitted, depending on the circumstancesbut it is never murder. True as far as it goes. Feinberg failed to note one of those times abortion is not permitted is after 40 days. Up to 40 days a woman can go to any abortion clinic, instead of Carharts Last Gasp Gynecology. After 40 days the only Jewish justification for abortion is to save the mothers life. And saving women from homicidal clumps of cells is exactly what lateterm abortion apologists would have you believe Carhart does. Only thats not true either. The abortionfriendly Guttmacher Institute published a study that found data suggest that most women seeking later terminations are not doing so for reasons of fetal anomaly or life endangerment. Latetermers get an abortion for the same reason first trimester women get one, only they arent as prompt or organized. The other justification is lateterm abortions are only 2 percent of the total, which sounds small until one realizes in 2013 there were a total of 664,435 abortions reported to the feds. Two percent of that appalling total is 13,288 unborn children killed and as National Review points out, To get a sense of scale, consider that the CDC reports that gun homicides claimed the lives of 11,208 people in the US that year. Jackson may have won the audition with her rousing declaration, We give honor to all of these women who choose to come to this space. We sanctify this space, and we honor this as holy. That proves these vile people most certainly not in the service of either God or Jesus Christ who said in Ecclesiastes 11:5: As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child, even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all. During the last 100 years the world has experienced two Holocausts. A quick one by the Nazis that killed in excess of 6 million Jews and a gradual accumulation of 60,166,484 unborn children killed by abortion since the Supreme Court decided Row v. Wade in 1973. And when comparing the two one conclusion is inescapable: As bad as the Nazis were, to my knowledge, they never had a pastor bless the ovens. Michael R. Shannon is a public relations and advertising consultant with corporate, government and political experience around the globe. He is a dynamic and entertaining keynote speaker. He can be reached at mandate.mmpr (at) gmail.com. He is also the author of Conservative Christian's Guidebook for Living in Secular Times (Now with added humor!). HomeThe American Renaissance: Chapter Ten, Monuments of Hell By Michael Moriarty

A new docudrama on NETFLIX: First They Killed My Father. Cambodia! I was so instantly depressed by it, I turned it off. However, because it is so obviously well-made, I must continue watching. The Khmer Rouge! It is SOOOOO PAINFUL TO WATCH!!!! Why? It HAPPENED! As certainly as the Third Reich and WORLD WAR II happened! Out of my unexpectedly powerful grief, something must be created! WRITTEN!! It already has been, Michael! Not only its history is readily available on Wikipedia, but the film, Killing Fields, was produced. And now, First They Killed My Father. Need anything more be said?! Yes! Our helplessness before such horrific acts! Our helplessness before even the history of such nightmares!! THEY HAPPENED!!! All because of Mans Free Will. God wants to be freely and authentically loved by Mankind. Without Free Will, that authenticity could not exist! Despite the Hell that Mans Free Will has created, it couldnt be constructed any other way. I certainly wouldnt want it any other way. To live a slave to God, rather than a vibrantly free lover of God?! No!! God forbid!!! Im back to watching First They Killed My Father. Like watching an entire set of highway collisions about to happen. There is nothing you can do about it! The children count the days of their eviction from their homes. Evil such as the Khmer Rouge and Kim Jong Uns North Korea make war an absolute necessity! The human race would not survive if tyranny were not resisted! Its the most horrifying film Ive ever seen! Why? Because I know what this entire nation is about to face!! The film appears to be seen entirely through the eyes of the young daughter. The father says, We are poor now. We can no longer speak of the rich and the poor. All Cambodians are poor except for the Khmer Rouge Army which steals everything that the people once owned, including their own lives. The script strongly infers

that the Khmer Rouge

would not have been possible

if it werent for the Americans

bombing Cambodia. Is that actually true? The Khmer Rouge is fiercest with the Buddhist Monks! Calls them Parasites, leeches! Forces them immediately into slave labor. Angkar, The Organization, an alternate name for the Communist Party of Cambodia, rules. I now learn that this extraordinary film was produced by the actress, Angelina Jolie. It is based upon the memories of Loung Ung, the daughter of a government official prior to the coup-detat by the Khmer Rouge. Ms. Ung wrote the story of First They Killed My Father and portrayed it as an experience seen through the eyes of a five-year-old girl, which was exactly how old Loung Ung was when the Khmer Rouge took power. Knowing how horrible the story will be, one tends to give up on seeing it because of how depressing is Cambodias fate during those years. It was, however, exquisitely cast and produced by Ms. Jolie and created by an extraordinarily gifted assembly of artists. It is the strongest reminder of just how horrible the human race can become, but also how indomitable the goodness of humanity actually is. It proves that Love between human beings is ultimately INDOMITABLE! Basically the Khmer Rouge are attempting to tell God, our Creator, what His creation is all about. They are, as Hitler was, and Stalin was, and what Mao Zedong will inevitably be proven to have been: godlessly sadistic tyrants. Will such men ever stop appearing on Earth? Only if they are sent eventually to another planet and kept there. Then, of course, there will be Star Wars! The planet Earth will have become Mans one, sacredly great hope for the future of the human race. Despite the increasingly Marxist and Muslim historians amidst the embattled Free World, Human History will actually become that simple. Communist Islam will, indeed, be an inevitable alliance that, as with all tyrannies, be defeated on Earth. As soon as another planet in the Solar System becomes inhabitable, the enemies of a Sane Human Race will race to occupy it. The Earth, in its entirety, then becomes a United States of the World. The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and its Bill of Rights will become the governing principles for the entire human race. That, for myself at any rate, appears to be an inevitability! Before that happens? Another Hell on Earth! A World War III. A permanently defining event that begins as a Second Civil War in the United States. The treasonously bipartisan campaign to create a Progressively New World Order, one to be run by the United Nations?! Despite its present power and influence, the NWO will lose. The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and its Bill of Rights will win! How? Right now, only God knows how. We, however, shall learn how. Its the next day and Im still, in very small segments because that is all I can take at one time, watching First They Killed My Father. The title alone forever tells us what is coming and then leaves us in suspense about what is coming after that! Seen mainly through the eyes of a five-year-old child?! All our nerves, like those of a child, are on alert!! And all the captives are being slowly starved to death. The father does his best to feed his children. Most likely because of that and because of his humanity, the father will be executed!! I have never, throughout an entire movie, wept so continuously. The excruciatingly sensitive face of this child and the other children who are suffering in fear and growing starvation. We, the audience, become children ourselves. We cry inside, Life cannot be as terrible as this, can it? OH, YES, IT CAN!!!! The citizens of North Korea are living in terror of their psychotic leader, Kim Jong Un, who is now attempting to keep America and the entire Free World within increasing fear of nuclear war. The secret to the power of this film?! No self-pity on the part of the victims! Only a sense of growing shock that Mankind could be this cruel. Even the single tear that begins to fall from the eye of our child heroine, it descends over her cheek as if over frozen ice. THE FACE OF TERROR! THE ARMAGEDDON OF TERRORISM!! A PERMANENT AND ETERNALLY INERADICABLE VILLAINY!!! THE EVIL OF THE KHMER ROUGE, LIKE THAT OF THE NAZIS, STALINISTS AND MAOISTS, SHALL NEVER, TO THE END OF TIME, IF THERE IS SUCH A THING, EVER BE FORGOTTEN. Michael Moriarty is a Golden Globe and Emmy Award-winning actor who starred in the landmark television series Law and Order from 1990 to 1994. His recent film and TV credits include The Yellow Wallpaper, 12 Hours to Live, Santa Baby and Deadly Skies. Contact Michael at rainbowfamily2008@yahoo.com. He can be found on Twitter at https://twitter.com/@MGMoriarty. Home'Miraculously, we found Bill's crash site' By Mark Alexander

Shortly after midnight on Wednesday, a few weeks ago, I received this text message: "Miraculously, we found Bill's crash site and the farmer who was nearby that day." That message was from halfway around the world in Vietnam, where my friend, Gen. Bill Raines (USA Ret.), was with another friend, also a Vietnam veteran, on their return trip to a country where, as young men, they gave much and lost many. Our national sacrifice there includes the incalculable cost of 58,220 U.S. military fatalities, and the countless walking wounded who returned home  some of those wounds visible, many not. Over the years, I've had the humbling privilege of knowing many "old guys" a generation ahead of me, American Patriots who defended Liberty in the service of our nation with honor and dignity in Vietnam. Of those I've profiled in recent years, one was a lifelong mentor, former POW Col. Roger Ingvalson (USAF Ret.). Two of his grandsons are now flying A-10 Warthogs. Another friend was also a POW and Medal of Honor recipient, Col. Leo Thorsness (USAF Ret.), who passed away last year. There are also the Marines we've profiled  Col. "Big" Jim McGinn and another Medal of Honor recipient, Col. Wesley Fox (USMC Ret.), who also passed away last year. My friend and colleague Roger Helle was hit with an NVA RPG, shot twice, bayonetted and left for dead. But they couldn't keep him down. (Roger has returned to Vietnam 19 times to assist orphanages and build rural medical clinics.) I now serve with several of these men on the board of the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center. Gen. Raines chairs that board, and Roger Helle is the Center's executive director. But there's another Vietnam-era Air Force aviator who's been on my profile radar for some time who also serves on the Center's National Advisory Board. He is Lt. Col. Bill Gauntt (USAF Ret.). Gauntt is a gentle giant of a man, a bear-like 6'7" but with a remarkably tender heart. (A warrior without heart is little more than a mercenary.) He was not only a USAFA graduate ('68), he was an RF-4C Phantom II pilot and the recipient of three Distinguished Flying Cross citations. In 1972, he and his WSO rear-seat weapons systems officer, 1st Lt. Francis W. Townsend, were shot down on a reconnaissance mission 10 miles southwest of Vinh Linh in Quang Binh Province. Their fate was not known until Bill was released in 1973 from POW captivity in Operation Homecoming. Townsend was not among those released, and he was classified as MIA until many years later. Though I have known Bill for 10 years, I came to know him best because, in his retirement, he has devoted his life to the care of members of the Greatest Generation at the end of their lives. He was the caregiver, and moreover the companion, of my father in the last year of his life. Two fighter pilots from different generations who became very close ... and I will forever be grateful to Bill for walking my father through his final days. Bill's return to Vietnam was sponsored by Patriot Foundation Trust as part of our mission of service to American military personnel and veterans. I asked both Bill Raines and Bill Gauntt for some perspective about Vietnam then and now, just ahead of the 50th anniversary of the Tet Offensive. Their answers will resonate not only with Vietnam vets but all combat veterans  those who have defended Liberty at the greatest personal risk and sacrifice. I began by asking Raines two questions: What were your departing memories of Vietnam? And what were your apprehensions about returning compared to what you actually experienced on your return? Gen. Raines: I was glad to be heading home in 1971 and kissed the ground when I returned and wanted to put that into the past and never return to Vietnam. I refused to buy Vietnam products and at West Point reunions, I experienced a lot of grief for my roommate and classmates who died there at such young ages  and who did not live to enjoy a full life. Notably, a significant aspect of my departing memories would include returning home to a reception by many Americans who did not appreciate nor recognize our sacrifices  which still causes me and many of my fellow warriors grief. (This is in stark contrast to the current CINC's proposal for a parade honoring active duty military and veterans.) My apprehensions about returning... I felt the people of Vietnam had suffered with our "failure" and would harbor great resentment towards Americans. I felt reluctant to return to a place with bad memories and hard times. I was concerned that the Communist atmosphere would be a challenge and they might try to use anything I said as "propaganda." And I did not want to help "prop up" a regime who had committed so many atrocities. My actual experience on return was not what I expected. My apprehensions went back 47 years ago  "black and white" memories. What I witnessed on return was in "color" and very dynamic. The Vietnamese people love Americans, are industrious and the 90 million non-card-carrying Communists of the 92 million total would like for us to become closer friends! The Vietnamese people understood that we were not there to colonize them. We tried our best to help them achieve Liberty and contain the communist threat in the region  and they appreciate that. The "dominos" did not fall because of our military efforts. We did not win on the battlefield but, as in the case in China, free enterprise is leading to freedom. My desire now is to tell other Vietnam veterans that our sacrifices were not in vain! For the record: The tyrannical toll of communism in Southeast Asia was enormous, particularly in Vietnam. The Vietnamese people have endured six wars over five decades  Indochina War, Vietnam War, Cambodian War, subsequent guerrilla warfare in Cambodia, guerrilla warfare in Laos, and Sino-Vietnamese War. It is estimated that more than 3.8 million Vietnamese died as a result of warfare and political violence. Of these, about 1.2 million were murdered and, as was the case in China, another 2.5 million would die from communist "land reforms." Of the 1.5 million who attempted to flee the tyranny after the war, it is estimated that 200,000 died. I asked Bill Gauntt to provide, in more detail, his recollections of three days in Vietnam  separated by many decades. I asked about the day he and Townsend were shot down, the day of his release as a POW, and the day he returned to find the crash site where his backseat friend, 1st Lt. Fran Townsend, perished. (I have only slightly abridged Gauntt's reply because this post serves as a benchmark record for his perspective.) Lt. Col. Gauntt: SHOOT DOWN  Sunday 13 August 1972  the day that the RF 4C I piloted, then as a Captain, with my Weapons System Officer, Lt. Fran Townsend, was shot down in the DMZ between North and South Vietnam. Call sign Atlanta 10 Alpha and 10 Bravo down. Up at 0400 for a 0630 launch into Route Pac 1, the area just north of the DMZ. I had found several AAA guns moving around the area during the previous week. This was my 14th straight day flying since I had returned from two weeks of leave. I had been checked out for "Fast Fac Reconnaissance" shortly after I returned, a job which entailed overflying the same area on a daily basis so that I could observe any changes in troops or Vietnamese weapons movements in that area. If I found changes, the fighters would then launch a quick reaction force to eliminate or disrupt the enemy's plans. On several previous flights we had noted changes in the number of anti-aircraft guns, 37MM and 57MM weapons. I was flying with another Air Force Academy graduate and friend, Lt. Fran Townsend, who I had flown with many times before. He was competent and eager to do a good job looking outside the aircraft to help identify changes in the enemy posture. I had met Fran at the Academy almost four years earlier and we had developed a friendship since we were both natives of East Texas. We flew our first recon mission in Vietnam six months earlier in February, and I knew he was an accomplished Weapons Systems Officer and Navigator. As we strapped on our flight gear and survival vest, Fran lamented that he wished he was carrying a 1911 M45 instead of the S&W short nose .38 we were issued. He did let me know he carried an extra 100 rounds just in case... The launch at 0630 was uneventful, as was the tanker rendezvous to top off fuel. We proceeded over to the DMZ and contacted the Forward Air Controller who was flying an OV-10 just south of the DMZ. He indicated he was busy handing another strike near Khe Sanh at the west end of the DMZ. He suggested we go ahead and start our run north across the DMZ and then return to Military Region 1 to see if he needed any special runs there. We headed north across the DMZ at the bend in the river where we had seen multiple gun emplacements before. After crossing the river we turned east to go "feet wet" before heading back south to rendezvous with the FAC. About one-third of the way through the turn at 450 Kts and 4 G's the aircraft shook hard and then pitched up into a 9-11 G snap-up. The immediate physical reaction was a narrowing of the vision due to the blood rushing into the lower parts of the body. I attempted to regain control by pushing the stick forward, but it felt totally loose in the socket and the aircraft would not respond to any control surface movement. A quick look in the cockpit told me that the utility hydraulic system had completely failed. Fran yelled at me that we were headed toward the ground and I responded with "Eject, eject, eject" and reached for my ejection handle located just aft of the stick and pulled it with all my strength. According to the text book, I should have been hanging beneath a parachute in 3.7 seconds. That was the longest 3.7 seconds I have ever experienced as I listened for the 34 distinct steps that had to take place for me to be hanging in that chute. But it worked, and there I was about 600-700 feet above the ground descending toward a burning pile of wreckage. I quickly recalled those parachute instructors showing us how to locate where we would land if we just looked off the toes of our boots. And if we wanted to move, we needed to use the aerodynamics of the chute to propel us somewhere else. Since I didn't believe landing in the burning wreckage was a good idea, I reached up and grabbed my harness and pulled it as near my butt as I could and saw that I in fact was moving away from the wreckage and into a greener area. As I looked back up to the horizon, I had lots of thoughts going on in my head. The first was that I was moving rapidly into a new phase of existence and it was Sunday morning  I could have been at the chapel back on the base instead of over 600 miles away in bad-guy territory and without my glasses and helmet. How was I going to see things clearly for whatever time I had left? About that time, I felt my feet sinking to the soft mud of a bomb crater as my parachute began collapsing around me. As I surveyed the area, no one was within sight, so I bundled the parachute up and stuck it in the pool of water at the bottom of the crater. Loosing the harness, I climbed out of the crater and listened for gunfire or movement. I heard some gunfire going on off to my left. I didn't see any movement out there, so I headed toward an area that seemed to have lots of brush available for cover. I wondered if Fran had survived the ejection and the firefight I thought I was hearing across the small valley we had crashed in. I ran hunched over for what seemed like 20 minutes, but was probably only 5-10 minutes. I began to hear more gunfire, closer, so I found an area with multiple large bushes and lots of leaves. I dove under the bushes and covered myself with as many leaves as I could. Realizing I was still in a state of shock, I found my water bottles still in my g-suit harness and began to consume them until I began to calm down. As I listened, I could still hear small arms weapons firing and AAA-type weapons firing. The FAC must have returned to the area when our emergency beacons went off as we ejected. I found my radio and began talking to the FAC. He had heard the beacons and saw the burning wreckage with people still in the area. I told him I was concealed for the time being and he indicated he had a direction finder on my transmissions, so he knew approximately where I was. He also said the other fighters were in the air and they would be attempting to suppress the AAA so the rescue forces could attempt a pickup. About this time I saw a group of about 19 or more villagers and North Vietnamese Regulars moving through the area. I had previously taken my S&W 38 out of the holster, but now realized the futility of engaging in a firefight. During the next three and a half hours, the FAC and four different flights of F-4s had taken out two 37MM gun sites and one 57MM gun site. The Vietnamese locals and Regular NVA soldiers had moved through the area two more times. The F-4 fighters had attempted to keep them away from my location with gun passes on either side of my position. About 11:00 that morning, the Vietnamese assisted by a dog passed through the area and the dog apparently tracked my path straight to the clump of bushes I was using for concealment. As the local Vietnamese began yelling for help, the NVA Regulars rushed forward and, using their AK-47 weapons, sprayed the bushes over my head and in front of me while motioning for me to stand up. With my hands in clear view and clutching the radio, I pressed the microphone button to say I was being taken prisoner. I managed to snap the radio antenna off as I dropped it to the ground. In that instant I realized my status had changed from evading airman to prisoner of war. Later in the afternoon, my guards and I were subjected to a gas attack that was used to suppress enemy resistance while rescue forces attempted to pick up downed airmen. When that event occurred, I assumed there was a possibility that Fran was being recovered. At least there was some hope in my mind that he was okay. The events over the next 24 hours were equally disconcerting as the previous four hours, but I was now much more in control of my emotions and actions toward the NVA guards and interrogators. Surviving the initial capture while under gunfire gave me new confidence that this was now a survivable situation which I had been well-trained for at home, at the Academy, and at multiple survival schools in the Air Force. We began to move north, walking along jungle paths. My hands were tied with what appeared to be piano wire. Before the first day of captivity ended, I was taken to a hut where an English-speaking NVA interrogator put a gun to my head and asked for information. I provided the authorized information: Name, Rank, Service Branch and Date of Birth. This angered the interrogator, who cocked his pistol and asked again. When I refused to answer, he then pulled the trigger  I could hear the spring drop the hammer, but it was on an empty chamber. From there it took 40 days marching to reach the infamous Hanoi Hilton, the NVA's Hoa Lo prison  which translates as "fiery furnace" or "hell's hole." (The month before Gauntt was shot down, "Hanoi Jane" Fonda took her traitorous anti-American protests to the Hanoi Hilton, posing on NVA anti-aircraft guns while American POWS were being tortured a hundred yards away.) FREEDOM  27 March 1973 The last group of prisoners being held in Hanoi by the Provisional Revolutionary Government of South Vietnam was scheduled to be flown to Clark AFB, PI, on March 20, 1973. There was a glitch in the plans, however, when the U.S. government discovered that there were another nine prisoners being held by the PRGSV from Laos. We had dressed up and cleaned up our cells on the 20th as instructed, but told to wait. About 4:00 PM we were finally told that our departure was delayed. As we wondered what was going on, our spirits were wounded, but not broken. The next couple of days were quieter than normal. We continued our routine knowing that if some of our fellow POWS had already been released, it wouldn't be too much longer for us. On the morning of the 27th we were awake early and told to get ready. By 8:00 we were ready, but told to stay in place. Finally, about 11:00 we were ushered out to a waiting bus. We were driven out of town and across the bridge toward the airport we all knew as Gia Lam. As we rounded the corner of the hangar, we could see that big white C-141 waiting on the tarmac. As we filed out of the bus, we proudly formed up in two columns and marched to the area where the release was to take place. Everyone was finally giving a sigh of relief as our names were called and we marched up to the colonel receiving each man, rendering a salute. After returning the salute, he motioned crew members of the C-141 to escort us to the tail ramp where we quickly found seats and waited silently until all returnees were aboard. We relaxed even more as the engines started and the taxi out to the line started. When the Freedom Bird finally lifted off the entire group started celebrating with shouts of joy and hugs for all the nurses and crew members. After the hour-and-a-half flight landed in the Philippines, we were greeted by crowds cheering and waving flags and banners  WELCOME HOME. The ride to the hospital was short and we gladly changed our Vietnamese-made suits for a shower and pajamas and bathrobes. Next was a trip to the cafeteria for the best tasting hamburgers, steaks, fried chicken, fries and ice cream we could find. After filling up on new food to us, we were given chances to make telephone calls home and then began the debriefs, physical exams, uniform fittings and gathering for one last picture of our group. Finally, a sleep without the lights beeping on all night. The next couple of days included more exams, debriefs, visits with local school kids and uniform fittings. When all was done, we headed for the states. First to Travis AFB CA and then transfer to a C-9 Nightingale aircraft for transfer to local hospitals and meetings with our families. On April 7, 1973, our C-9 approached Sheppard AFB TX. As we flew over the green and yellow fields of sunflowers and cotton, I knew that we were home and lucky to live in the most beautiful land in the world. As our names were called over the loudspeakers we stepped off the airplane and were offered a chance to say a few words. I could see my family eagerly waiting as my wife was silently signaling to me to keep it short and sweet, so I did as we gathered for a family hug and kisses. All I can remember of that day is how grateful I was for this land we live in. RETURN TO THE CRASH SITE  27 January 2018  Finding the crash site where my friend Fran Townsend perished. Leave no man behind... Our country has always endeavored to identify all sites on foreign soil where Americans may have perished. In 1999, Army (CILHI) investigators, with the cooperation of Vietnamese officials and local farmers, identified the crash site of an F-4 in the dense jungle near Vinh Linh. At that time, forensic excavations were made in an effort to recover parts of the aircraft wreckage and any human remains to identify the aircraft and crew. Among the items recovered, local Vietnamese provided investigators with a silver-colored identification tag with a nylon-type cord that referenced Townsend, Francis W 458-xx-xxxx, O Neg, Methodist. In 2002, Army investigators completed a DNA match to confirm that the fragments of remains recovered at the crash site were those of 1st Lt. Townsend, and his remains were then returned to his family. Using the Army report I endeavored to find, again, the site where my aircraft impacted the ground. It was a difficult task because the tropical growth overtakes such sites very quickly. Once in the area, we contacted local farmers who might have knowledge of the crash site. The Army team had identified local Vietnamese nationals that had knowledge of the original crash in 1972. From the maps included in the report and names of local hamlets, we traveled to the area as best we could determine the site to be. Amazingly, we found an individual in the area who knew some of the local farmers who originally found the crash site. They soon arrived at his house and we traveled by motorcycles several miles to a location where we had to then walk to the site, about a quarter-mile from the dirt road. When we arrived at the site, we met Mr. Phong and his family, who had lived in the area all their lives. Mr. Phong recalls the crash, although he was only 9-10 years old at the time. He recalled that one man had been captured (me) and led away, but he did not know his status. Now he does. Mr. Phong and the other locals were very sympathetic with my presence at the site of the crash. He assisted me in placing a token of remembrance in the pond at the site, and then asked that I wait there for a few minutes while he went back to his house. When he returned, he brought back three pieces of the aircraft that he had recovered over time while working in and around the pond. I will be sharing those with Lt. Townsend's family. Mr. Phong told me about his grief for the pilot and that he and his family had held a memorial service every new year to honor the spirit of the pilot who died there. He said he knew one day the captured man would return. My return has provided me a newfound peace in my heart, especially for all that we did to honor one of our lost warriors. For the last 46 years, I have assisted Fran Townsend's family in any way I could. Both of his parents are still alive, and I look forward to sharing the news of my return to the crash site with them personally. (1st Lt. Francis W. Townsend is honored on Panel 1W, Row 66 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington.) It is not sufficient to just say, "Thank you, Bill Gauntt and Bill Raines," but a simple thanks must suffice in this forum. We thank God for all American Patriots who have defended Liberty since the dawn of our Republic, mutually pledging "to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor." Please join us in daily prayer for the protection of and provision for our military Patriots and their families. Mark Alexander is the executive editor of the Patriot Post. HomeMass exodus from blue states to red states By Rachel Alexander

Democrats claim their policies are superior to Republicans, but they keep leaving their blue states and moving into red states. Democrats are known for taking over large urban areas and turning them blue, then deserting them as they become unpleasant to move on to better territory in red states where they make the same transformations. They increase taxes and regulations, making it expensive and annoying to live wherever they get into power. According to United Van Lines, the top 10 states people are leaving include the blue states Wisconsin, Ohio, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey and Illinois. Only three red states made the list; Kentucky, Utah, and Kansas. The top 10 states people are moving to include the red states Idaho, South Dakota, South Carolina, North Carolina, Alabama, Nevada and Colorado (the last two are purplish states). Only three solidly blue states made the list, Vermont, Oregon and Washington. In 2017, Vermont slipped, with its inbound and outbound moving becoming about equal. Notably, all three of those states used to be much more moderate, only turning blue within the past 25 years or so. Longtime residents in Washington and Oregon regularly rant about Californians taking over their states and turning them blue. People in Vermont complain about Democrats from Massachusetts and New York moving into their state. The bluer those three states become, the fewer people will move there as were already seeing with Vermont. Last week, CBS in San Francisco reported that the number of people leaving the Bay Area reached its highest level in more than a decade. Topping the list of reasons for moving was the high cost of housing. Democrats are more reluctant than Republicans to allow permits for homebuilding, and pile on regulations. With the exception of Houston, according to Redfin, the top nine cities people are leaving are all in blue states. Besides San Francisco, they include New York, Los Angeles, Washington, DC, Chicago, Houston, Detroit, Dayton and Milwaukee. Los Angeles has the worst traffic in the world, and San Francisco is not far behind. Democrats are fond of diverting transportation money into public transportation and HOV lanes instead of easing traffic congestion with more traffic lanes. A majority of the top 10 cities people are moving to are located in red states. They include Phoenix, Atlanta, Dallas, Nashville, Tampa and Miami. The other cities are San Diego, Sacramento, Boston and Las Vegas, which is located in a purplish state. Moving companies survey those moving as to why. Economic opportunities is a big reason. United Van Lines found that 60 percent of respondents from the Midwest move to take new employment or a job transfer. Michael Stoll, economist and professor in the Department of Public Policy at the University of California, Los Angeles, says two main reasons people move are for lower housing costs and higher job growth. Retiring in a better state is also a popular reason for moving. United Van Lines found 17 percent of those moving from the Midwest cited a different retirement location. The conservative American Legislative Exchange Council ranks states according to their economic performance. Many of the states that people are moving to are ranked toward the top. Seven are red states and one is purple. Many of the most common states that people are moving out of are clustered around the bottom of the list. The bottom 10 include Ohio, New Jersey, Illinois, Connecticut and Wisconsin. People are leaving Los Angeles in droves, and blue California was ranked the last state in the country for business 12 years in a row, according to Chief Executive magazines annual Best and Worst States for Business survey of CEOs. Red Texas ranked number one the past 12 years. One CEO complained in the survey, States like California just dont get it. At the rate they are going, whos going to pay the bills with such an anti-business, leftist government and businesses leaving every month for Arizona and Washington state? California has the highest state income tax in the country. The survey also noted that the bottom 10 states are not right-to-work states, but most of the top 10 are. The reason California as a whole isnt in the top 10 states people are leaving is likely due to its weather, which is a key reason people move. Likewise, the reason red Arizona isnt in the top 10 states people are moving to is because its so hot. Democrats will point to the handful of blue states and cities that are still popular locations to move to as evidence their policies arent all bad. But theyre in the minority, and trends are turning against them. Pretty soon the only blue areas people will be flocking to will be areas the Democrats recently turned blue. Democrats can talk the talk, but actions speak louder than words. Rachel Alexander and her brother Andrew are co-Editors of Intellectual Conservative. She has been published in the American Spectator, Townhall.com, Fox News, NewsMax, Accuracy in Media, The Americano, ParcBench, and other publications. HomeThis Obumer hangover just wont go away By Dr. Robert Owens

One of the primary accusations against President Nixon that caused him to resign was that even though he was never shown to be personally aware of any abuses committed in his name he fostered an environment that encouraged such behavior. The truth is finally seeing the light of day. And what do we see? That President Obama was if not personally complicit in the growing list of abuses exposed he set the tone and offered cover for his minions as they ran amuck trashing the FBI, the CIA, the IRS, FISA, and any other agency that could advance his transformative agenda, secure the nomination for Hillary, and thwart Trumps nomination, election, and administration. The weaponization of these powerful government agencies shows an administration determined to steal first a primary then an election. So far emails and messages implicate James Comey, Loretta Lynch, Andrew McCabe, Andrew Weissmann, Sally Yates, Peter Strzok, Lisa Page, Bruce Ohr. Tom Del Beccaro, an attorney and contributor to Forbes said, Holistic analysis of the Justice Department (DOJ) and FBIs interconnected and ostensible investigations of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump amount to the worst abuse of political power in American history related to elections. And The DOJ [and] the entire Obama administration wound down the Hillary email crisis in time for her to really run for office and then ramped up the attacks on candidate Trump to stop him from being president. As quoted in an article by Robert Kraychik posted in Breitbart Del Beccaro continues, The FBI was sort of just going through the motions with Hillary, and its about March or April, and suddenly the election heats up, and Obama goes on TV, and he says, with Chris Wallace, basically, that she didnt intend to do anything [wrong]; she didnt want to harm us, said Del Beccaro. Thats irrelevant to the crime she committed of possessing classified information in an insecure environment. So he announces this, and once he does, the DOJ and the FBI then change their speed [of] work and the manner in which theyre working, the things that theyre doing, and between April and June, they exonerate her, and what I mean by that is they change the language in the memo as to whether she was doing something wrong from gross negligence of a crime to  extreme carelessness. Thats irrelevant. Thats not legal language: extreme carelessness. As his evaluation of the situation continued Del Beccaro stated, Early May, [Obama] endorses her, [and] its very rare in our history for a president to endorse in a divided primary within his own party, said Del Beccaro. If there wasnt a sham investigation going on, why would he take a risk endorsing a candidate under investigation by the FBI when on its face she broke the law? His first appearance with her [was] on the afternoon of July 5. You know what happened on the morning of July 5? James Comey goes on TV to exonerate her. This cannot be coincidental. Seems pretty much like they knew what they were doing to me, dont you think? asked Del Beccaro, rhetorically. In what may soon be a growing chorus Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) has called for a second special counsel to investigate abuse at the Department of Justice and the FBI. This seems like a no-brainer since in any honest or realistic scenario it is obvious that the FBI and the DOJ cannot investigate themselves. When on Fox News Channels Watters World Gaetz was asked if given Sessions recusal he had the authority to appoint such a special counsel. Rep. Gaetz answered, Of course, he does, Gaetz replied. There was no legal obligation for that recusal, and frankly, I dont even know what the four corners of that recusal are. Here, the accusation is not against Russia. It is against the very agency that Jeff Sessions leads, the Department of Justice, and then some of the senior politicized leadership at the FBI. So he could appoint that special counsel. More than two dozen Republicans have joined me in calling for it, and it is darn time that it happened. Now is the time to demand accountability. Let the chips fall where they may. It certainly appears as if these wannabe banana boat authoritarians were attempting to corrupt our election process. They succeeded against Bernie. However, once they failed in the general election they are now attempting to orchestrate a coup against the sitting President. We cannot allow this to happen. We must let our representatives and senators know we want a Special Counsel to investigate these abuses. You can use this link to find out how to contact your representatives and senators. Let them know We the People want our country back, we want to drain the swamp, and we want anyone no matter how high prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law for trying to undermine our Republic. Dr. Robert Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion. He is the Historian of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com  2018 Contact Dr. Owens drrobertowens@hotmail.com Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook or Twitter @ Drrobertowens or visit Dr. Owens Amazon Page / Edited by Dr. Rosalie Owens. HomeOverheated claims on temperature records By Dr. Tim Ball and Tom Harris

Now that the excitement has died down over the news that Earths surface temperature made 2017 one of the hottest years on record, it is time for sober second thoughts. Did the January 18 announcement by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) that 2017 was our planets third-hottest year since 1880, and NASAs claim that it was the second hottest year, actually mean anything? Although the Los Angeles Times called 2017 a top-three scorcher for planet Earth, neither the NOAA nor the NASA records are significant. One would naturally expect the warmest years to come during the most recent years of a warming trend. And thank goodness we have been in a gradual warming trend since the depths of the Little Ice Age in the late 1600s! Back then, the River Thames was covered by a meter of ice, as Jan Grifiers 1683 painting The Great Frost illustrates. Regardless, recent changes have been too small for even most thermometers to notice. More important, they are often less than the governments estimates of uncertainty in the measurements. In fact, we lack the data to properly and scientifically compare todays temperatures with the past. This is because, until the 1960s, surface temperature data was collected using mercury thermometers located at weather stations situated mostly in the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom and eastern Australia. Most of the rest of the planet had very few temperature sensing stations. And none of the Earths oceans, which constitute 70 percent of the planets surface area, had more than an occasional station separated from its neighbors by thousands of kilometers or miles. The data collected at the weather stations in this sparse grid had, at best, an accuracy of +/-0.5 degrees Celsius (0.9 degrees Fahrenheit). In most cases, the real-world accuracy was no better than +/-1 deg C (1.8 deg F). Averaging such poor data in an attempt to determine global conditions cannot yield anything meaningful. Displaying average global temperature to tenths or even hundreds of a degree, as is done in the NOAA and NASA graphs, clearly defies common sense. Modern weather station surface temperature data is now collected using precision thermocouples. But, starting in the 1970s, less and less ground surface temperature data was used for plots such as those by NOAA and NASA. This was done initially because governments believed satellite monitoring could take over from most of the ground surface data collection. However, the satellites did not show the warming forecast by computer models, which had become so crucial to climate studies and energy policy-making. So bureaucrats closed most of the colder rural surface temperature sensing stations  the ones furthest from much warmer urban areas  thereby yielding the warming desired for political purposes. Today, virtually no data exist for approximately 85 percent of the earths surface. Indeed, fewer weather stations are in operation now than in 1960. That means surface temperature computations by NOAA and NASA after about 1980 are meaningless. Combining this with the problems with earlier data renders an unavoidable conclusion: It is not possible to know how Earths so-called average surface temperature has varied over the past century and a half. The data is therefore useless for input to the computer models that form the basis of policy recommendations produced by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and used to justify eliminating fossil fuels, and replacing them with renewable energy. But the lack of adequate surface data is only the start of the problem. The computer models on which the climate scare is based are mathematical constructions that require the input of data above the surface, as well as on it. The models divide the atmosphere into cubes piled on top of each other, ideally with wind, humidity, cloud cover and temperature conditions known for different altitudes. But we currently have even less data above the surface than on it, and there is essentially no historical data at altitude. Many people think the planet is adequately covered by satellite observations, data that represents global 24/7 coverage and is far more accurate than anything determined at weather stations. But the satellites are unable to collect data from the north and south poles, regions that the IPCC, NOAA and NASA tout as critical to understanding global warming. Besides, space-based temperature data collection did not start until 1979, and 30 years of weather data are required to generate a single data point on a climate graph. So the satellite record is far too short to allow us to come to useful conclusions about climate change. In fact, there is insufficient data of any kind  temperature, land and sea ice, glaciers, sea level, extreme weather, ocean pH, and so on  to be able to determine how todays climate differs from the past. Lacking such fundamental data, climate forecasts cited by climate activists therefore have no connection with the real world. British Professor Hubert Lamb is often identified as the founder of modern climatology. In his comprehensive 1972 treatise, Climate: Past, Present and Future, he clearly showed that it is not possible to understand climate change without having vast amounts of accurate weather data over long time frames. Lamb also noted that funding for improving the weather database was dwarfed by money being spent on computer models and theorizing. He warned that this would result in wild and unsubstantiated theories and assertions, while predictions failed to improve. That is precisely what happened. Each and every prediction made by the computer models cited by the IPCC have turned out to be incorrect. Indeed, the first predictions they made for the IPCCs 1990 Assessment Report were so wrong that the panel started to call them projections and offered low, medium and high confidence ranges for future guesstimates, which journalists, politicians and others nevertheless treated as reliable predictions for future weather and climate. IPCC members seemed to conclude that, if they provided a broad enough range of forecasts, one was bound to be correct. Yet, even that was too optimistic. All three ranges predicted by the IPCC have turned out to be wrong. US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt is right to speak about the need for a full blown public debate among scientists about the causes and consequences of climate change. In his February 6 television interview on KSNV, an NBC affiliate in Las Vegas, Mr. Pruitt explained: There are very important questions around the climate issue that folks really dont get to. And thats one of the reasons why Ive talked about having an honest, open, transparent debate about what do we know, and what dont we know, so the American people can be informed and they can make decisions on their own with respect to these issues. On January 30, Pruitt told the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee that a red team-blue team exercise (an EPA-sponsored debate between climate scientists holding differing views) is under consideration. It is crucially important that such a debate take place. The public needs to understand that even the most basic assumptions underlying climate concerns are either in doubt or simply wrong. The campaign to force America, Canada, Europe and the rest of the world to switch from abundant and affordable coal and other fossil fuels  to expensive, unreliable, land intensive alternatives  supposedly to control Earths always fluctuating climate, will then finally be exposed for what it really is: the greatest, most damaging hoax in history. Dr. Tim Ball is an environmental consultant and former climatology professor at the University of Winnipeg in Manitoba. Tom Harris is executive director of the Ottawa, Canada-based International Climate Science Coalition. HomeRace and IQ: A high school science fair project ignites a storm By Selwyn Duke

We dont know the students name, but we do know that he hit a nerve  in fact, he hit a whole bunch of them. Identified only as a boy of Asian descent at C.K. McClatchy High School in California, the teens recent science-fair project, Race and IQ, propounded the thesis that differences in groups average intelligence influence their academic performance. He couldnt win, though, because his project was removed after parents, staff and other students became upset and one girl said she felt unsafe and uneasy. The irony? A project on evolution would no doubt have been well received  even though an assumption of racial differences is implicit in evolutionary theory. In fact, The Sacramento Bee, which hasnt yet evolved out of the progressive primordial soup, mentioned that the students thesis is associated with eugenics (which the Bee casts negatively), the science of improving the human race via selective breeding. The paper is likely unaware, however, that the term eugenics itself was coined by Sir Francis Galton  a cousin of famed evolutionist Charles Darwin  and that Galton made clear that in his eugenicist endeavors, he was merely building on his cousins work. Philosopher G.K. Chesterton once noted that if people were not created equal, they were certainly evolved unequal. This is easy to understand: What are the chances that different groups could have evolved isolated from one another for eons  subject to different environments, stresses, procreation-influencing cultural imperatives and adaptive realities  and ended up identical in every worldly measure? Why, even if the peoples evolved isolated in identical environments, the separation alone would make the prospects of winding up completely equal a virtual statistical impossibility. Whatever you believe about evolution, its clear that equality is not a thing of this world. Do we see it in nature? Some species can dominate others or are more adaptable, which is why the rat is a pest and the dodo is extinct (and, in fact, the rat helped drive the dodo to extinction). Even within species, some members are hardier, smarter, faster or stronger than others. There are alphas and betas, with a silverback gorilla running his troop and a dominant lion leading his pride. And different breeds of dogs have different characteristic traits, with some being more intelligent than others. As for people, how is it that we can even characterize different groups as groups? Since we dont do it based purely on location (e.g., dividing 10 boys into two groups of five, each on opposite sides of a room), we can only do so because there are differences among them. We can only speak of men and women because sex differences actually exist. Regarding the races, we know there are distinctions relating to skin color and hair, for example. Its differences that make groups groups. But are the differences only skin deep? Tay-Sachs disease is most common among Ashkenazi Jews, while sickle cell anemia is almost exclusive to people of Middle Eastern, Indian, Mediterranean and African heritage. Relative to American whites, American blacks generally have longer limbs, more sweat glands (and thus dissipate heat better), narrower pelvises and greater bone density; and black men have higher free testosterone levels than white men do. Not that its the focus of this article, but all these characteristics bring advantages and disadvantages. Now, next question: Are the differences only neck high? If evolution is a reality, would its principles be operational with the body but, somehow, some way, be suspended with the brain? My, believing that would truly take faith. Of course, whether nature, nurture or both  whether the tests are valid or not  the fact remains that we do see marked IQ differences among groups. Ashkenazi Jews score the highest of all, at 115 (the world average is currently about 88); this may explain why Jews are only 0.2 percent of the worlds population but were 22 percent of the 20th centurys Nobel Prize winners. Hong Kong and Singapore lead the country list with average IQs of 108, while many nations register far, far lower. Note that while good scientists may debate why these differences exist and how meaningful they are, that they exist is not in dispute. Of course, some may quibble with the numbers I provided or the group differences I cited, but the details arent really the point. The point is, again, that evolution and Equality Dogma contradict one another. Embracing both is akin to believing it likely that on two different occasions, you could spin a giant bin with one million numbers in it, remove them randomly and put them in a row, and they would end up in the precise same order each time. Random processes yield variable results. That is, unless you believe that God guided evolution. Even this belief, however, allows for the inequality that is the worlds apparent norm. How could this be? Its simple: Equality is our hang-up  not Gods. Is equality emphasized in any great, time-tested religious canon? Its certainly only mentioned in the Bible in reference to weights and measures. In fact, Christian theology holds that in that perfect, sinless realm of happiness  Heaven  we will not all have equal glory, as St Therese of Liseaux once explained. As for this fold, Hell on Earth is what Equality Dogma helps create. It has spawned perverted scientific priorities that deny Truth and demand ideological determinations. Weve seen this before. The Soviet equality dogmatists did it with Lysenkoism, insisting that acquired traits could be inherited because Marxist ideology demanded a malleable human nature. The Nazi superiority dogmatists did it with their racial theories, believing in a master race that could become all the more masterful through selective breeding. And weve combined elements of both, demanding an unnatural and unattainable equality and measuring it by racial, ethnic and sexual representation in worldly endeavor. In a saner time, Equality Dogma would be considered a vile heresy. The truth here isnt hard to grasp: There are differences within groups, but there are also differences among groups. We know we mustnt paint every individual with the same brush. Why would we paint every individual group with the same one? One group we should paint over with the label Rejected is equality dogmatists. The McClatchy students scientific methods might very well have been shoddy, but this wasnt what got his project scuttled. Rather, The Sacramento Bee article quoted individuals who said the it was shocking and its creator closed-minded; it spoke of how people felt upset and unsafe and uneasy. Whats notable is that no one quoted said the projects conclusion was wrong or untrue. Oh, if asked, the critics would surely bellow, Well, of course its untrue! But its no accident that they didnt think to say it; in fact, this failure is typical today when fashionable emoters react to unfashionable science. These critics dont think to call it untrue because the truth of the matter isnt their focus. Ideology is. Its feelings over facts, emotion over education. But science doesnt exist to make us feel good or bad; its purpose is the discovery of Truth via the scientific method. People who reject this, who subordinate Truth to agenda-driven lies, are dangerous to civilization. They also are hardly progressive  except insofar as theyre progressing toward ignorance. Contact Selwyn Duke, follow him on Twitter or log on to SelwynDuke.com. HomeRegionalism and nationalism in Canada  a reassessment (Part Seven) By Mark Wegierski

In societies such as Canada, the terms nation and state are often considered to be describing the same thing. However, a more subtle approach could describe a nation as something close to a cultural or ethnic entity, whereas a state is a legal structure than can include mostly one, two or several nations. Gad Horowitz is one of the most interesting figures of the Canadian Left. One of his central ideas was that Canada as a whole could be characterized as a binational State. The two nations are English-speaking Canada and Quebec. Gad Horowitz had also suggested that Britishness can be mostly a political nationality that does not imply ethnic or religious exclusion. The pattern of Canada today would appear to be moving more and more towards a dualism where Quebec would have most of the attributes of an independent country, but be loosely linked to the Canadian federation. It may be a bit unclear to what extent a very pronounced dualism would correspond to Gad Horowitzs call for special status for Quebec. Whether that might necessarily mean a more robust identity for English-speaking Canada is also not entirely certain. Something that is very noticeable is that Preston Manning insisted in the platform of the Reform Party on the equality of the provinces and explicitly disavowed the two founding nations idea. Manning claimed he wanted special status for no one. Mannings concept coincided somewhat with a One Canada approach that Gad Horowitz had identified as untenable  because Horowitz thought that Quebec was truly a nation. The problems of maintaining a binational State have been huge for Canada. Some have argued that the original kernel behind the idea of multiculturalism was the unquestionable duality of the Canadian State. Indeed, Quebec could be viewed as one of the perennial problematic quandaries for the Canadian federation, absorbing vast amounts of political energy in the federation. While Manning preferred to not call Quebec a nation, some of his ideas of decentralization (such as the so-called tool-kit for the provinces which he proposed around 1997) would have offered considerable political possibilities to Quebec. At the same time, to say that Quebec is a nation is not to necessarily imply that its future must lie outside Canada. It may be possible that a more positive evolution of Canada would eventually have to move in the direction of a provincialization or cantonization where there might be a union of sovereign states (which was the original concept of what was then called the European Community). The four main regions of Canada would appear to be Quebec, Ontario, the Atlantic provinces, and Western Canada (which would presumably include most of the Far North). In such a case, it could be possible that a more traditional Quebecois nationalism, and the local patriotism of the three main English-speaking regions, would come to the fore. The extent to which most concepts of current-day Canadian nationhood have diverged from more traditional concepts of nation, is amazing. Ironically, Quebec in some ways retains far more of a hard concept of nation. Such notions that meaningful assimilative pressures should be exercised by Canadian society  and that there are truly worthwhile aspects of Canada that it is virtually necessary to assimilate to (and that constitute considerably more than merely what Benjamin J. Barber has termed junk westernization)  fly in the face of the regnant multiculturalist orthodoxy. Nevertheless, it takes considerable obtuseness to deny that the excesses of multiculturalism do create increasing tensions and frictions in society that simply never existed before. That Canada functions at all today, may simply be due to the fact that it is territorially the worlds second-largest country, with vast natural resources spread among a comparatively small population. There simply isnt the often ferocious competition for resources frequently seen in heavily populated countries with a much smaller natural resource base. And, when a heavily populated country consists of different ethnic and religious groups competing for scarce resources, various levels of violent conflict may sometimes occur. The pessimism of traditionalist and conservative thought about the long-term sustainability of such utopian societal constructs as multiculturalism, or an economy of never-ending growth, should be seen as a helpful warning, a call to temper the system before it possibly collapses with results that could be truly catastrophic. Traditionalist and conservative philosophy indeed fears, with well-reasoned foreboding, rooted in its understanding of human nature, history, social experience, and the natural world, the horrific crashing down of the entire world system. It seeks to possibly offer advice and informed knowledge to more astute and thoughtful statesmen and politicians, as well as to the public at large, to somehow strive to avert the engulfing of the world by ever more apocalyptic/dystopic outcomes. It could be argued that Canada today is flying so high on its apparent economic success that it is likely that it will come to the painful rediscovery of some basic truths only years from now, in the wake of a major economic downturn or crisis. Any more serious analysts know that such a downturn or crisis will sooner-or-later happen in Canada. Or possibly the coming storm of the conflict with Islamist extremists will move into such a high pitch, especially in some overseas countries, that Canadians will finally be shocked into apprehending certain uncomfortable truths. It is presumably only then that the sheer utopianism of the various post-Sixties projects in Canada will become painfully obvious to considerable numbers of people. Whether, at that point, Canadian society can move towards some forms of social and cultural restoration (which may in fact have to be concretized through regionalist tendencies), or continue to socially and culturally dissolve to virtual oblivion (because the socially and culturally centrifugal forces by that time will simply be too strong), remains to be seen. Mark Wegierski is a Canadian writer and historical researcher. HomeHi everyone,



I searched the forum and didn't see an answer to this question, so here goes another one:



My husband and I both have a recepisse for the premiere demande of our cartes de sejours (Passeport Talent and PT Familial). However, when we signed our lease (which was right before our Prefecture appointment) the real estate agent wrote the wrong apartment number down (looooong story...and it wasn't caught until after our appointment). So, our recepisses have the correct building address, but the wrong apartment number. Ugh...



Luckily this doesn't impede mail delivery at all, since the mailboxes for the building only have names on them. However, I'm figuring that we should probably get this fixed at some point on our official documents. We had our Prefecture appointment one month ago and are now waiting to hear about our cartes de sejours.



Do we try to get the address changed before the cartes are issued, or wait to tell them until after (or maybe when we go to pick them up?)? The form that one fills out to make the change only mentions Titres de Sejours, so can we update on just a recepisse? Does anyone have experience with this?



Many thanks!

JessicaHi,Having lived in France now for the last 10 years I thought I was aware of all the nuances of French car insurance and I suppose like many other things in France every experience is an a learning exercise.Having experienced an accident recently I find that I am required to pay for the repairs and claim the money back. My friend had the similar experience with the same Major insurance company. You can appreciate this can be a significant amount as is our case.Having researched this, apparently its neither unusual or the norm. I then started to wonder how this and possibly other characteristics of various assurance companies that we are not aware of would impact on things like house and health insurance.I can appreciate that differences must exist to reflect competitiveness but I have looked for information to show those bigger differences that are concerning without success.Any info or recommendations appreciated.



Air Serbia will undertake wide-ranging restructuring in an attempt to boost its key performance indicators, as it struggles to keep a lid on costs, growing competition, an over-inflated workforce and the winding down of state subsidies. According to the daily "Danas", the company's interim CEO, Duncan Naysmith, has told employees in an internal memo that focus will be put on "net profit, the new fare structure, in-flight sales, additional services that bring in ancillary revenues, as well as other initiatives to boost efficiency". The so-called transformation will be managed by the executive management with the support of a newly established Transformation Office. As a result, the carrier will evaluate the success of all of its projects, programs, products and other initiatives.





The development comes several months after Air Serbia's part-owner, Etihad Airways, ordered the company to restructure and mirrors similar policies being put in place at both the Emirati carrier and another one of its equity partners Air Seychelles. Although there have been suggestions Etihad will disinvest from the Serbian carrier, the Abu Dhabi-based airline is expected to stay put at least until January 1, 2019 when its five-year investment and management agreement expires. Serbia's President, Aleksandar Vucic, recently held talks with the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and its de-facto ruler, Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, during which the two reviewed the expansion and diversification of the partnership, as well as its continuation. Prime Minister Ana Brnabic recently said the Emirati carrier would retain its 49% stake in Air Serbia, despite the ongoing cost cutting taking place at both airlines. A final decision on the partnership will likely rest on the success of the restructuring process taking place.





Air Serbia has remained silent on its operational and financial results for the previous year. The airline has taken steps towards restructuring its business by reducing its workforce in late 2017, with further layoffs expected this year, transforming into a hybrid carrier, consolidating its destination network, putting on sale non-airworthy general aviation aircraft and the retiring some of its ageing Boeing jets. Further changes to the fleet are expected in the coming months. Mr Naysmith said last week, "Since our first flight, our business has undergone many changes, but one thing has remained the same - our willingness to adapt, grow and innovate. It's through this spirit that we have recently launched our new fare structure, representing a fundamental shift in the way travellers can now personalise and tailor their journey with Air Serbia".





It will be up to the carrier's new CEO, to be named during the second quarter of 2018, as well as two of Air Serbia's shareholders to navigate the carrier's transformation just four years since its relaunch.Senior Sales & Hospitality Managers in the Munster area who want to increase their share of business from key international tourism markets are invited to attend Failte Irelands International Sales Development Programme in the Clayton Silver Springs Hotel on Tuesday, 13th March.



The Programme is tailored to reflect the transformation in international tourism, increased visitor expectations and the development, marketing and overseas sales techniques needed to increase business growth. It will provide participants with insider sales strategies and tactics and help them develop a new sales growth plan.



The Programme is facilitated by Failte Ireland specialists, international consultants and other experienced industry leaders in tourism including buyers and those working currently within international markets and will cover key markets including Britain, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Canada and the US.



Testimonials on the Programme from former participants and lead trainers are available to watch HERE:



The cost of the 4 day Programme is 450, with a reduced fee available of 300 for more than one participant from the same business.



Start Date - the programme will be delivered over 2 modules across 4 days at the Clayton Silver Springs Hotel, Cork.



 Module 1: 13th & 14th March 2018

 Module 2: 27th & 28th March 2018



For further information on booking your place, please contact:



Failte Ireland Customer Support

Email: CustomerSupport@failteireland.ie

Telephone: 1800 242 473



In addition, those interested in attending the Programme can also express their interest in the Programme via Failte Irelands Trade Portal.

Jump to topFailte Irelands Campaign highlights the regions offering for the domestic market

Failte Irelands 2018 spring advertising campaign for Irelands Ancient East kick-starts today, highlighting the region as the perfect place to take a short break, both in the run up to the St Patricks and Easter long weekends and beyond.



Aimed at families, the TV ad campaign builds on the Great Stories Stay With You Forever creative previously rolled out by Failte Ireland, emphasising the unforgettable holiday experiences and stories to be discovered in Irelands Ancient East. The original ad will run for one week from today, with a new shorter version of the ad rolling out from 26th of February to the 19th of March on RTE, Virgin media, Sky Ireland, Channel 4 and E4.



The spring campaign will also include advertising across national and local radio from the 19th March to the 16th April, specifically targeting the empty nesters market (parents whose children have grown up and left the family home) in the post Easter period, as well as advertising across outdoor and social media channels.



Speaking today, Failte Irelands Director of Marketing Niall Tracey said:



The domestic market provides a bed-rock for many tourism businesses and sustains activity in the sector throughout the year  providing the sector with more than a billion Euros in revenue. Our home holiday marketing activity is especially geared to generate business in the shoulder seasons each side of summer to allow tourism operators trade longer which is good for jobs and also important in terms of developing and maintaining a strong product on the ground for all tourists  whether domestic or international.



The Irish domestic market is a very important component of the tourism sector, delivering an estimated 4.8m holiday trips in Ireland in 2017 with an estimated 1.13bn generated by domestic holidays. Total nights spent on domestic leisure trips last year was estimated at 14 million. Irish residents accounted just over half (52%) of all hotel nights in Ireland in 2017.



Jenny De Saulles, Failte Irelands Head of Irelands Ancient East added:



Irelands Ancient East has so much to offer domestic tourists. Since its launch, we have been working with tourism businesses in the region to provide enjoyable, engaging and accessible cultural experiences and we are already seeing early signs of success with revenue growth and season extension. This campaign not only raises awareness of the region on the whole, but really highlights the amazing offering for the domestic market.

Jump to topAt a recent cryptocurrency workshop, financial investigators from the Interpol and Europol organizations from over 30 nations discussed measures to combat the misuse of cryptocurrencies by criminals.

This meeting was in response to the report released by Europol (with headquarters in the Hague, Netherlands) which stated (pdf) that more than 40 percent of online transactions for illegal ends used Bitcoin, crypto mixers, and tumblers.

A cryptocurrency mixer or tumbler is a service offered to mix potentially identifiable or tainted cryptocurrency funds with others, to obscure the trail back to the funds original source.

Tumblers and mixers have arisen to improve the anonymity of cryptocurrencies, usually Bitcoin, since the currencies provide a public ledger of all transactions.

Newer and proposed cryptocurrency implementations such as Cloakcoin, Dash, PIVX and Zcoin have built in mixing services as a part of their blockchain network. The Monero cryptocurrency provides anonymity without tumbling services due to its privacy centric design, utilizing ring signatures to keep the entire blockchain secure and untraceable.

At the workshop in the Hague, Interpol and Europol said more effort is needed to monitor cryptocurrencies with privacy or mixing services features, since they innately impede anti-money laundering practices and law enforcement agencies.

The European Central Bank (ECB) Governing Council member Ewald Nowotny has said the investigation of financial institutions for compliance with AML and Know Your Customer (KYC) standards is absurd while the cryptocurrency floodgates are open.

The investigative arm of the Dutch tax authority  the FIOD  wants to lower the bar for prosecution of unlicensed cryptocurrency exchanges. As part of that effort, the FIOD aims to have mixing services recognized as money-laundering indicators, with users of mixing services assumed to be guilty.

The European Union (EU) started to tighten laws about cryptocurrencies last year. On December 20, 2017, the European Parliament and its executive arm, the European Council, agreed to amend the he EU Fourth Anti- Money Laundering Directive. The amendment will make virtual currency exchange platforms and wallets subject to beneficial ownership-reporting requirements.

The Netherlands ranks in the top five countries in the world when it comes to digital economies due to the Dutch Blockchain Action Agenda, which has been the driving force for the innovative application of blockchain technology in Fintech as well as government.

The top five Dutch Banks, which control over 90 percent of the Netherlands retail banking market, are all involved in exploring implementing blockchain technology in various parts of their operations. ABN Amro and RaboBank joined SWIFT global payments innovation project, to determine if blockchain technology could help banks improve, speed-up cross-border payments. ING has successfully completed the testing of blockchain-powered trade settlement platform in partnership with Calypso and the R3 consortium and has trialed blockchain technology for lending, payments, financial markets, bank treasury, and know-your-customer (KYC) process solutions.

Yet most of these banks  ABN Amro, ING, Rabobank, Volksbank and Aegon subsidiary Knab  refuse to let entrepreneurs active in the cryptocurrency world open business accounts because of too great compliance risks. Only online bank Bunq allows cryptocurrency businesses to open accounts under certain conditions.

Countering money laundering and fraud in the world of cryptocurrency is a startup blockchain company called Chainalysis Inc.

Its in-house developed software solution flags suspicious activity associated with any digital currency address, and provides law enforcement with a range of investigative tools. It breaks down blockchain activity by different categories so that banks can assess the risk of doing business with on-boarded customers. The technology may help more government agencies and banks open up to crytptocurrencies.

____

Selva Ozelli, Esq., CPA is an international tax attorney and CPA who frequently writes about tax, legal and accounting issues for TaxNotes, Bloomberg BNA, other publications and the OECD.By Marion Kaplan, Photojournalist

France, Reflections and Realities

It would be accurate to say I didnt choose adventure. I chose interesting situations rather than practical approaches even before I started work as a photojournalist. The adventures just sort of followed.

It helps, I think, that I am an only child. I had to entertain myself. As a result, independence came early. I still find it impossible to be bored, even though Ive reached old age. After all, what could be more stimulating than witnessing history, discovering new places, experiencing new ideas and people.

I was still quite young, barely out of my teens, and staying with family in South Africa, when I decided to hitchhike overland back to London. The journey became my pigtail safari and took more than two years. It left me with an enthralled and educated view of the continent, very useful when I returned to work in Africa.

Nothing in Africa was dull. The fast flow of news sent me on hazardous journeys. For newspapers and magazines in the UK and USA, I covered revolution in Zanzibar, and photographed personalities such as Idi Amin in Uganda, and mercenaries in the Congo. I helped record the struggles for independence, the last years of Emperor Haile Selassie in Ethiopia, and the splendour of African landscapes and wildlife. And for a story that I loved the most, for National Geographic, I voyaged over two thousand mile aboard a wooden Arab dhow from the Persian Gulf to the East Africa coast to record the final days of the ancient Indian Ocean maritime trade driven by sail and the trade winds.

I left Africa for Portugal, a country still raw from the carnation revolution. I completed my book, Focus Africa, and turned to Portuguese and broader European matters just as the European Union was taking shape.

Not for the first time or last time, I was compelled to write about my new home. The PortugueseThe Land and its People is an affectionate look at an old nation transforming itself into a modern state. Again, I tried to bring a sympathetic eye to a changing world.

But I was still restless, determined not to settle down, but perhaps hankering for something nearer to home. My restless spirit took me to France and a quieter life, where I live today. Yet old habits and the riches of French culture prevailed. From my home in the rural southwest I have travelled the length and breadth of my adopted homeland, camera in hand. The latest work is the result, FranceReflections and Realities.

I would like to think the prose is entertaining, and I am confident in stating that there are many surprises alongside the more familiar in the 240 plus photos in my book. I wouldnt have it any other way !

Marions Ten Top Tips for Living an Adventurous Life

Stay interested in things beyond your immediate world Keep things fresh in your personal life  no grudges or regrets ! Ditto in your work life  move on and look out for new opportunities Be open to a new story  they are all around you ! Keep learning  facts and skills Respect others And Respect yourself Dont obsess about it  but keep an eye on your health Keep good company Have fun and be fun

France - Reflections and Realities by Marion Kaplan

Available from Amazon or any good booksellerTravis Scott has broken his silence since welcoming his first child with Kylie Jenner.

Travis Scott

The 20-year-old reality star and the 'Butterfly Effect' rapper - whose real name is Jacques Webster - welcomed their daughter Stormi Webster into the world on February 1, and now Travis has spoken for the first time about his newborn daughter.

He simply told TMZ: 'She's beautiful."

It comes after the pair seemingly marked their little girl's birth with matching tattoos.

The dual inking reportedly took place when the couple went out on their first date night since becoming parents, and neither of them have yet told anyone what their new body art is of.

A source told The Sun newspaper: "It was actually the first time they've been out on a date night since Kylie had Stormi. They went to a tattoo artist and got secret matching tattoo tributes to their daughter. They haven't told people what they got. Kylie organised it as a surprise and Travis loved it."

The 'Keeping Up with the Kardashians' star and Travis, 25, already have matching butterfly tattoos, which they got last June.

Previously, a source claimed the loved-up couple have become even closer since Stormi was born.

They said: "Her relationship with Travis has made huge strides since having baby Stormi, and they are back in a good place.

"Travis has been staying overnight at Kylie's several times a week when he is not working or out of town and has also been giving Kylie her time to bond with the baby alone."

And it was also previously reported that Travis - who recently pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct over an incident at a concert in Arkansas last May - has become a changed man since becoming a father.

A friend of the musician said that he is "laughing a lot, and much calmer than usual".

A source previously said: "Kylie and Travis are a good team. Travis is able to do his own thing during the day as well, but he helps Kylie out at night. He has cut down on work and only has a few shows coming up."Christopher Bailey is "really excited" to see what's next for Burberry.

Christopher Bailey

The fashion designer announced he was stepping down after 17 years with the company last October, but can't wait to see what the fashion house will do after he departs next month.

Speaking to The Financial Times, he said: "I'm really excited to see what happens for the future of Burberry. And I'm tremendously proud to be handing over a role that has given me unbelievable joy."

Christopher's final show, which took place over the weekend at London Fashion Week, was dedicated to a number of organisations supporting the LGBTQ community and featured a collection of bright colours and diversity.

After the show had ended, the designer said: "The show was a point of positive reflection.

I'm trying to make some sense of the chaos in the world. There are so many questions. About our culture, about our habits, about shopping, about how we consume, how we see fashion, how we buy it."

Caroline Rush, the chief executive of the British Fashion Council (BFC) has praised Christopher and believes that he has transformed London Fashion Week with his creativity.

Some of his achievements in the fashion world include introducing the first live-stream of a Burberry show and launched a music platform that supported British talent such as Adele and Jake Bugg.

Speaking of his legacy he said: "I hope I showed that fashion needs an environment: it's not just about clothes but about people, music, places, art."

When asked what he was proud of, Christopher believes that he "allowed the company to be brave".

He said: "I think I brought a point of view. I instilled creativity. I got the licenses back and I allowed the company to be brave - to stick its head above the parapet."Foo Fighters are desperate to land a collaboration with Liam Gallagher.

Foo Fighters

The US stadium rockers have previously expressed their admiration for the former Oasis frontman, and now the 45-year-old rocker has said he'd also like to work with Dave Grohl and co, though he's not got any free time at the moment.

The 'Wall of Glass' hitmaker told NME magazine: "They keep texting me, man.

"They wanted to do one tune, but I dunno - I'll do it one day, but I'm too busy doing this at the moment. But I do like them - I think Foo Fighters have got good tunes. I think Dave Grohl's very talented, and so is the band."

Liam turned down the chance to perform with Foo Fighters at Glastonbury last year.

The 'Songbird' songwriter was invited by frontman Dave to join them on the Pyramid Stage when they headlined the music extravaganza at Worthy Farm in Somerset, South West England, but Liam declined because of the lack of time for rehearsals.

Liam previously said: "He asked me to come on and do a song. I said no, cos I need a bit of rehearsal. I know it's cool and all that, but I need a rehearsal."

However, the rocker said he would've loved to have done a duet with the 'Run' group's drummer Taylor Hawkins on his solo single 'Range Rover Bitch'.

He said at the time: "I tell you what I wanna do. I wanna do 'Range Rover Bitch' that Taylor [Hawkins, drummer] made. That's the tune."

Liam did end up performing with Foo Fighters at their own festival, CalJam, in San Bernadino, California in October, they teamed up on a rendition of The Beatles' hit 'Come Together', but Liam received backlash after having to read the words to the 1969 track from a giant piece of paper.Prince Edward's daughter is using crutches after taking a tumble on the slopes in St. Moriz in Switzerland.

Lady Louise Windsor

The 53-year-old royal and his wife Sophie, Countess of Wessex, took their two children, James, Viscount Severn, 10 and Lady Louise Windsor, 14, to the popular resort for a half-term break.

However, whilst they appear to have been enjoying their time in the snowy mountains, their daughter has reportedly fractured her left leg, according to hellomagazine.com.

Later today, Sophie and Duchess Catherine - who attended the BAFTA Awards on Sunday night (18.02.18) - are to co-host a London Fashion Week event at Buckingham Palace on behalf of Queen Elizabeth.

The 36-year-old beauty - who is expecting her third child with husband Prince William - has been chosen by the British monarch, along with Edward's wife, to strengthen relations with the Commonwealth by putting on the Fashion Exchange Reception at the royal household ahead of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.

A spokesman for Buckingham Palace said: "The initiative uses fashion as a common language and platform to help people understand the modern Commonwealth in a different way.

"The reception at Buckingham Palace will showcase the best of Commonwealth contemporary fashion and creativity with an exhibition of some of the bespoke fashion 'looks' which are the result of these exchanges."

Both women are style icons in their own right and are the perfect fit for the event, which will see renowned designers including Stella McCartney, Bibi Russell and Karen Walker, work together with producers from less developed countries to "exemplify traditional handcraft techniques and trades".

Whilst Catherine - who has two-year-old Princess Charlotte and four-year-old Prince George with the queen's grandson - and Sophie have been enlisted to help, the 91-year-old royal is still going to be on hand to formally kick off the meeting and host dinners with other members of the royal family being drafted in to help improve communication with the Commonwealth.Prince Harry and Meghan Markle enjoyed a date watching 'Hamilton' at London's West End on Friday night (17.02.18).

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle

The 33-year-old royal and his fiancee were in the audience at the city's Victoria Palace Theatre to watch the Tony Award-winning musical, a member of the cast revealed.

Leslie Garcia Bowman - who plays general Charles Lee in the production created by Lin-Manuel Miranda - wrote on Twitter: "Was an honour to have Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in to watch @HamiltonWestEnd last night! (sic)"

It's not the first time the couple have enjoyed a theatre date together.

Four months into their relationship, in December 2016, the pair attended 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time' in London.

Meanwhile, Harry is extremely "excited" to tie the knot with the 36-year-old beauty.

The pair will start life as a married couple on May 19, when they complete their nuptials at St. George's Chapel inside Windsor Castle, and whilst people around the globe are waiting with baited breath, no-one is more excited than the happy couple themselves.

During a visit to Edinburgh this week, well-wisher Maria Jordan got the chance to ask Harry if he was looking forward to marrying Meghan

She said: "I asked if he was excited for the wedding and Harry said 'I've been excited since the day I met her.' It was really nice."

The wedding is set to being at 12pm, and will be conducted by The Archbishop of Canterbury.

Harry and Meghan will then travel to St. George's Hall for a reception, before Harry's father Prince Charles hosts a "private evening reception" for special guests.Laura Tobin will return to 'Good Morning Britain' in two months' time.

Laura Tobin

The 36-year-old weather girl has been on maternity leave since September last year, after her daughter Charlotte was born prematurely, but she has confirmed she'll be returning to the early-morning breakfast show from April.

Speaking on the show this morning (19.02.18), she said: "I'm coming back for when we launch the new studio, which is in two months' time."

The studio was overcome with excitement this morning when Laura brought little Charlotte - who was born three months prematurely - in to meet everyone.

Speaking of motherhood, she said: "Nobody tells you how hard it is being a parent. It's really difficult! But do you know what? We're so lucky, she sleeps basically through the night. She doesn't like sleeping during the day so much."

And, although Charlotte is very strong now, Laura is still very cautious about her because she weighed only 2.5lbs when she born and her lungs weren't fully-formed.

She explained: "Lots of babies that are born prematurely, their lungs don't work, they have chronic lung disease. They all have oxygen support for a long time.

"However, the bigger she got, the stronger she got, and then she came home off oxygen which is amazing. But it means she's really susceptible to coughs and colds and things. I carry around a bottle of anti bacterial gel wherever I go."

Laura's current replacement on the show, Alex Beresford, will continue to step in for her when she is unable to work, but will more than likely be taking on more projects following his appearance on ITV's popular show 'Dancing on Ice'.Our pick of the news from Fethiye and around Turkey over the last week.

News

Mugla issues weather warnings

Weather warnings were issued by the Regional Directorate of Meteorology this week as storms were forecast to hit between Bodrum and Kas on Wednesday. The southwest wind (LODOS) was expected to gust to up to 75km/hour. Citizens were warned to be careful about tiles blowing off roofs, trees uprooted and telegraph poles blowing down.

Source: gazetefethiye.com

Head on collision on D400

A car driving on the wrong side of the dual carriageway collided head-on with a lorry on Wednesday.

The accident happened on the D400 near Yanklar. The driver of the vehicle was seriously injured and hospitalized.

Fethiye Municipality Environmental Protection and Control Department teams continue their environmental education in Fethiye.

33 schools, 180 departments and four thousand students will take part in environmental education in Fethiye.

The project aims to educate young people in order to prevent environmental pollution. Hatice Selver Kabak, Director of Environmental Protection and Control, provided information on environmental activities being held in the Fethiye Culture Centre.

Younger students were shown cartoons about environmental values as well as visuals explaining how to recycle and dispose of garbage in a responsible way.

Kabak said: When the right information is given to the person, it is possible to get permanent and productive results. We are trying to carry the right environmental information to schools in all the neighbourhoods of Fethiye. What we mean by conservation is how we can provide support for our environmental activities in Fethiye, and how we value our environmental values. We are striving to act with the awareness that education is of great importance to environmental protection. In order to become a more conscious society and to appreciate the values we have, we gave presentations to approximately two thousand students in this semester. This year the first semester will be given to the 3rd year classes, and the second semester will continue with the 4th classes.

Source: Fethiye Haber Bulteni

Roman-era child sarcophagus seized in western Turkeys Aydn

A Roman-era child sarcophagus was seized on Monday in an anti-smuggling operation carried out in western Turkeys Aydn province.

Gendarmerie units launched the operation after a detailed investigation carried out in Aydns Soke district.

The units found the historical artifact, called an ossuary, in a car trunk. Two suspects were also detained in the operation.

Ossuaries are stone or wooden boxes or chests containing the bones of the deceased. Unlike sarcophagi, ossuaries were reserved for common people. These peoples bodies were first buried in a burial cave and after a while their bones were collected to be put into these boxes.

The ossuary was identified by experts as a priceless and immovable artifact, which needed to be preserved in a museum.

Thousands of anti-smuggling operations are carried out across Turkey every year to hinder the illegal sale of historical objects and protect the countrys rich cultural heritage.

Source: Daily Sabah

Turkey issued work permits to more than 87,000 foreigners in 2017

Turkey granted over 87,000 work permits to foreign nationals in 2017, according to data from the countrys Labor and Social Security Ministry compiled by state-run Anadolu Agency.

Overall the ministry received almost 100,000 work permit applications last year, approved almost 87 percent of them, according to the data.

Syrian citizens accounted for 24 percent of all work permits granted to foreign nationals, making Syrians the largest single group. As a result, nearly 21,000 Syrians started working in Turkey last year.

They were followed by Georgians with 7,317 work permits granted, Kyrgyzstanis with 6,360, Ukrainians with 5,761, and Chinese with 4,288.

The overall number of work permits granted last year rose from 2016, when the ministry granted 73,584 work permits to foreigners.

Source: Hurriyet Daily News

Sport

Fethiyespor

Thank you to Brian Lloyd for the Fethiyespor updates.

Fethiyespor drew their away match against Kahrahmanmarasspor A.S. on Wednesday. The final score was 2-2.

Fethiyespor lost their home match against Sanlurfaspor yesterday. The final score was 1-3.

After this week matches, Fethiyespor moved back down to 15th position on the league table.

The next league matches are:

Sunday 18th February 2018 at home against Sanlurfaspor. Kick off is 13:30.

Sunday 25th February 2018 away against Nazilli Belediyespor. Kick off is 13.30.

Sunday 4th March 2018 at home against Altay. Kick off is 14.30 (please note the later kick-off time)

For more information about Fethiyespor please visit Fethiyespor Yabancilar on Facebook.

Turkish Money

Turkish Lira (TL) exchange rates:

The British Pound bought 5.25 TL by the close of business on Friday. The week before it was selling for 5.28 TL.

The US Dollar bought 3.74 TL by the close of business on Friday. The week before it was selling for 3.82 TL.

The Euro bought 4.64 TL by the close of business on Friday. The week before it was selling for 4.68 TL.

Weather Forecast

Heres your weather forecast for the week ahead.

Featured photograph: storm brewing over Oludeniz by Steve ParsleyCategory Select Category Apparel/Garments Textiles Fashion Technical Textiles Information Technology E-commerce Retail Corporate Association Press Release

SubCategory Select Sub-CategoryEducation ministers and their delegations from around the world have arrived in Nadi in preparation for the 20th annual Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers (20CCEM). Held every three years, CCEM is a high-level series of meetings giving education officials from the 53 Commonwealth countries an opportunity to engage in meaningful dialogue and discuss key education issues and trends-- this year, in the context of climate change.20CCEM, spanning from 19-23 February at the Sheraton Fiji Resort in Denarau, will mark the first time that the Conference will be hosted by a Pacific Island nation.Fiji, currently presiding over the presidency of the United Nations climate change conference, COP23, will play host to a climate-centred 20CCEM, the theme of which is Sustainability and Resilience: Can Education Deliver?Fiji is incredibly proud to stand as a leader among the Commonwealth as the first Pacific Island nation to host this important gathering, said Fijian Prime Minister and COP23 President Frank Bainimarama. We offer a fitting location for 20CCEM, and not just because of our global climate leadership. Fiji is in the midst of an education revolution; providing free schooling, textbooks, and transportation to many of our young people for the first time in our countrys history, restructuring a merit-based compensation system for teachers, increasing access to higher degrees through an affordable Tertiary Education Loan Scheme, and rebuilding schools that were struck by Cyclone Winston-- and all done through a lens of resilience and sustainability. We look forward to continuing this progress, sharing our learnings, and gaining new perspectives through collaboration with our fellow Commonwealth nations at this years event.Nearly 500 attendees are expected throughout the week at 20CCEM, where education ministers from 32 Commonwealth nations and their delegations will be joined by world-renowned politicians and speakers, teachers, students, NGO representatives, and other partners.Here in Fiji over the coming days, we have an early opportunity to influence outcomes of that meeting. We can help plan for a common future that is fairer, more prosperous, more sustainable and more secure that will meet the needs of all, particularly our young people, said Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland. Our 53 Commonwealth member countries have a combined population of some 2.4 billion. More than 60 per cent are under 30 years of age, and in some countries, that rises to over 70 per cent. These young people drive long-term economic growth, competitiveness, prosperity and social justice, if given the fair chance and opportunities to fulfil their potential.The outcomes of 20CCEM will be presented at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in London this April.More information on 20CCEM, including a full overview and agenda of the weeks events, can be found at: http://thecommonwealth.org/sites/default/files/inline/20CCEM%20Overview%2001-12-2017.pdf -ENDS-Fiji has secured significant railway infrastructure development assistance from the Indian Government during Attorney-General and Minister for Economy Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum's official visit to the World Sustainable Development Summit held in New Delhi, India from the 15  17 February, 2018.



In his meeting with the Indian Minister for Railways, Hon. Piyush Goyal, the Attorney-General expressed the urgent need for revolutionising the existing Fijian railway network "to not only cart far more cane by rail to the mills but extend it to transport everyday passengers and cargo.



Using an upgraded rail system in such a manner will relieve pressure on Fijian roads and is fundamental to the long-term sustainable development of Fiji, explained the Attorney-General.



He added that Fijis tourism industry would receive a major boost from a railway network upgrade, as the introduction of passenger trains would expand the benefits of tourism spending to more of the country than ever before.



Hon. Piyush Goyal has offered the immediate deployment of technical expertise for the assessment of the Fijian railway network. The Indian team will comprise of civil and mechanical engineers, including traffic management experts. The delegation is expected to arrive in Fiji in the next few weeks.



The assessment of the Fijian railway network will also inform the utilisation of the line of credit to the Fiji Sugar Corporation by the EXIM Bank of India.



Indian Railways, which will be providing the assistance, is Indias state-owned railway system. With the number of daily passengers carried by Indian Railway exceeding 22 million, and a total of 8.26 billion passengers last fiscal year, it is the most travelled rail operation in the world.



-ENDS-

ATTORNEY GENERAL HON. AIYAZ SAYED-KHAIYUM AT THE OPENING SESSION OF THE INTEGRATED PARTNERS FORUM IN NADI





Im delighted to be here this morning to open the Integrated Partners Forum ahead of the 20th CCEM here in Nadi.I would like to, in particular, welcome our visitors to Fiji, especially those who are here with us for the first time.The outcomes of this forum, and the theme of this CCEM, can only be realised through a commitment to one another, as Commonwealth partners, and as women and men dedicated to the education of our citizens. Only together can we address the great challenges facing students and young people around the world, including engraining sustainable development and resilience in the delivery of high-quality education.Every country stands at its own level of development, and every country has its own priorities, aspirations and game plans for the education of their students and young people. But for all of us, small island developing states, and for larger, industrialised economies, our progress in education hinges on our ability to pursue sustainable development, and realise the sustainable development goals. That is not a journey that can take place in silos, it has to be a journey we embark on together, with well-resources nations standing shoulder-to-shoulder with those with more limited resources. Because the theme of this years CCEM bears relevance for us all, Sustainability and Resilience: Can Education Deliver?Here in Fiji, we are fully committed to our agenda for expanding access to high quality education. Weve made education free for the first time in Fijian history, we are proving our students with free textbooks and subsidised transportation to school. And, recently, weve massively expanded access to merit-based scholarships and our affordable tertiary education loans scheme, and made those programmes more tailored to students needs. We are on the cutting edge of strategies for adaptation and climate resilience, of finding new ways to engage with development partners and those in the private sector to accelerate investment in sustainable development across every sector of our economy  including in education.The mantra that has driven the education revolution in Fiji has been that we need to move away from a business-as-usual mentality. That includes our teachers, administrators, trade unions and curriculum experts. We in Fiji particularly have seen an issue with the ways, historically, that weve administered our education system and administered our teachers. Weve also had to consider: how do we meet the challenges of modern technologies and expanded access to these technologies, including social media? And weve responded by finding new ways to engage with our education stakeholders and with the public to solve problems and find new ways to expand access to high quality education.Abroad, weve also shown we are able and willing to lead on the great challenges facing sustainable development. As President of the COP23 negotiations in Bonn, Germany, we led the world to decisive action in implementing the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and scored other major victories for small island developing nations, and every vulnerable nation on earth, in the global campaign to reduce harmful carbon emissions and adapt vulnerable economies to climate impacts.During those negotiations, we brought with us our Fijian Bula spirit of inclusiveness and solidarity, along with the participatory and transparent dialogue process of Talanoa. Themes that should also guide our discussions at this forum, and during CCEM this week. Because the more freely we express ourselves and the deeper the connections we forge among one another, the higher the quality of our discussions will become. And that exchange of knowledge, as weve seen before, will have a direct impact on students and young people throughout the Commonwealth in obtaining a high-quality educations.Those discussions must be had within the context of sustainable development. In that, everyone has a role to play. Students and young people, in particular, should be at the center of policy discussions, not only as beneficiaries of education but in recognition that they are among some of the most vulnerable members of society. We cannot allow them to be passive actors. They must be full members of the decision-making and planning that impacts their lives, be it as school leaders, members of student governing bodies, or members of student councils.It's our responsibility to pass down the lessons of sustainable development to our children; when those lessons are lost, we risk repeating the same mistakes. We must break this cycle by instilling values, such as climate change awareness and advocacy, in our education system so we can raise the next generation of climate warriors. By doing so, we will secure a brighter future for every young person on earth.Throughout our discussions, I hope that we remain committed to many of the same principles that have guided us in the past, and explore new ways of thinking, new strategies of cooperation and new ways to engage with our students and young people.As always, civil society organizations must work in partnership with governments to build equitable and quality education systems and improve the accountability of the education systems in their countries.Teachers also have an essential role in empowering and forging the minds of our students and young people. We want them to motivated, engaged, and well-qualified. We need them to be accountable in reaching out to the most disadvantaged to ensure all of our citizens get the access to education they deserve, including our young children and young people with special needs. We count on our teachers and educators to engage children and young people so they go on to become responsible and engaged citizens. More than that, so they can grow to become the next generation of leaders on whatever challenges the future holds.We must continue to work alongside our higher education institutions as partners in sustainable development. These institutions often provide us with data that informs our policy-making and enables us to plan properly for the future. They also are critical in building bridges between students and businesses so that as many of our students as possible can go on to high-paying jobs and maximise their contribution to our economies.All of this culminates in the need for us to come together in a learning and knowledge alliance to bridge major gaps in research needs, capacity development and policy implementation within our member states and best identify the most effective practices and recommendations that can help us attain the SDGs. Such an alliance calls for a much closer level of collaboration between policy-makers and academia on policy research. We need to know, in a quantifiable way, which strategies have worked and which havent. The strength of our partnerships in this regard will directly determine the rate of our socioeconomic growth, and accelerate innovation across the Commonwealth.Finally, we need to do a better job at tapping the vast educational and research resources of Commonwealth countries for all of our benefit. By facilitating the transfer of knowledge between our countries, we can develop invaluable materials, such as research papers, analytical reports and other data that can assist leaders and policy makers in putting forward bold, inclusive and innovative policies in education. Policies tailored to their own education sectors, but that are based on wisdom, evidence and experiences collected from around the world.If you are a policy maker, administrator, teacher, or student, and you have an idea, or have a growing need, you should all be able to see, very clearly, what other countries have tried, what issues they have identified and what success they have found. With that information available, we can think outside-of-the-box to develop and implement new and sometimes  unconventional solutions, as groups, organisations, schools and individuals, and have immediate access to hard facts and real experiences from our fellow Commonwealth countries.Id like to again welcome many of you to Fiji, and wish you all well in your discussions. We very much look forward to the joint statement that will be delivered to the 20th CCEM following this forum.Vinaka vakalevu. Thank you.HON PM BAINIMARAMA AT THE 21ST ANNUAL ANZ FIJI EXCELLENCE IN TOURISM AWARDS





The Minister for Industry, Trade and Tourism, Honourable Faiyaz Koya;Honourable Ministers;Chairman of Fiji Excellence in Tourism Awards Trustees;Chairman and Board of Fiji Excellence in Tourism Awards Trustees;Our Keynote Speaker this evening, Sir Michael Jones and Mrs Jones;Country Head ANZ Fiji Mr Saud Minam and Mrs. Minam;Members of the Fijian Tourism Industry;Distinguished guests;Ladies and gentlemen,Bula vinaka and a very good evening to you all.Im pleased to be here tonight on the heels of my tour of our Western Division, where I met with our fellow Fijians for consultations about infrastructure, growth, land use, agriculture, and the everyday issues that are the bread and butter of my Government. It was my chance to spend time with ordinary Fijians here in the West, many of whom rely on the health and growth of our tourism industry, and Im very glad to be here this evening to celebrate achievement in an industry that is supporting so many of our citizens.The theme of this years Excellence in Tourism Awards, Sustaining Our Resources, could hardly be more fitting. Earlier this week, Fijis Southern Lau group was struck by Tropical Cyclone Gita; yet another superstorm that ravaged our Pacific Island neighbor, Tonga. We were blessed to be spared the brunt of the storms wrath, but as Gita churned off our shores, nearly two years to the day from the horror and devastation of Cyclone Winston, Fijians were reminded of the force of natures fury that we are all too familiar with.Once again, we are reminded of the urgent necessity for action to combat climate change through sustainability, while also fortifying our future by making Fiji more resilient in every way possible.Sustainability has been at the core of my Governments development agenda since day one. I have said time and time again, and I repeat tonight: no development in Fiji will be unsustainable. And, in the time that has passed since I was with you all at last years awards ceremony, our passion for sustainable development has been elevated and channeled in ways that, just a few short years ago, few would have imagined possible for a small island state like ours.Since this time last year, Fiji has taken a global leadership role the issue of sustainability and resilience. We were proud to be co-Chair of the United Nations Oceans Summit, we hosted the World Wildlife Funds International Year of the Reef, and, most notably, we took the perspective of Small Island Developing States to the centre stage of international climate discourse, as we successfully presided over the United Nations negotiations on climate change as COP23 President.And the global spotlight that Fiji earned over the course of the past year through our climate leadership will undoubtedly benefit our tourism industry. The exposure that we gained proved to be invaluable in many ways; most immediately, we have been able to attract international investments and grants to make Fijis infrastructure and development more sustainable. This assistance will help expedite my Governments efforts to provide every corner of Fiji with access to sustainable infrastructure, clean water, and renewable energy sources. Its also given us access to technical expertise and support so that we can make better informed decisions on sustainable development. Its not just the hard investments that will reap the benefits of this increased exposure. I hear that the exposure gained through international media coverage has already inspired a spike in web traffic to Tourism Fijis website. And the Bula Spirit that was shared by our delegation in Bonn, Germany, the smiles and the stories that we shared, relayed a message not of helplessness, but of hope. And that Fijian fortitude, that happiness and warmth that we were able to showcase all the way in Bonn, will yield fruit for Fiji for years to come.Ladies and gentlemen, my Government knows how to strike the delicate balance of sustainable growth. While our political opponents try to grandstand by latching on to any issue that earns them a headline, the proof is not in hollow words and empty promises, or fear mongering -- it is in action. Action with a vision. Under my leadership, Fiji is experiencing eight straight years of economic growth, and our unemployment rate is at a 30-year low. And weve achieved this unprecedented prosperity not by compromising the pristine beauty, from our beaches to our forests to our coral reefs to our mangroves, but by protecting it. While any new development will cause some disruption, we work to both minimalise any disturbance and offset it with even greater commitment to the health of the environment. I can assure you: no mangrove is removed unnecessarily, nor without a new one, or two, or ten, being planted in its place. And every mangrove that is removed and then replaced is done with the purpose of opening new areas and creating new jobs for as many Fijians as possible.Ladies and gentlemen, sustainable development also means protecting our environment while being creative to ensure sustainable livelihoods for all Fijians.In fact, our Green Growth Framework is dictated by that core mission: to create a better Fiji for all, keeping the people of Fiji at the centre of all development. I can proudly say that we have stuck to this mission, and with each passing year, both the Fijian people and the environment that surrounds them are in better shape than the year before.And we have set out our game plan to keep Fiji on the great path of progress through our 5-Year and 20-Year National Development Plans. And I urge everyone to read those plans. They lay out every aspect of our development in the years ahead and capture our vision for where Fiji is headed, including our tourism industry. So that we can continue to grow our economy, and continue to make life better for the Fijian people.Ladies and gentlemen,2017 marked the best year ever for tourism in Fiji, with 842,884 visitors coming to our shores-- an impressive 6.4 per cent increase from 2016, which held the previous record. We also saw the most-ever visitors coming from both the United States and New Zealand. Its interesting to see that, in numbers, our tourism arrivals now nearly equal the entire population of Fiji-- which, by 2017s census count, stands at 884,887. This increased demand is being met with the need to increase supply, which also means new jobs, sustained jobs, new investment opportunities and the need to be responsive to emerging trends in the market.Achieving record numbers of foreign visitors and attracting multi-million-dollar resorts is an accomplishment-- and with every new resort that announces plans to invest in Fiji, all Fijians feel a sense of pride. We all cheer with each new opening because we have seen firsthand the benefits of these resorts in the form of economic impact. And while the resorts themselves are something to be proud of, my real pride comes with each Fijian job created, and with each Fijian familys standard of living that is raised. My real pride comes from the tens of thousands of hard-working Fijians whose livelihoods are directly and indirectly tied to tourism. The tour guides, the maids, the nannies, the cooks, the groundskeepers, the farmers, the fishermen, the sales assistants, the taxi drivers, the craftsmen and craftswomen, the waiters and waitresses. These are the people in my thoughts every day. This is my driving passion-- the betterment of every Fijian woman, child, man and our youth. And I thank those of you in this room for your role in helping lift up so many Fijian families by advancing our strong and growing tourism industry.Ladies and gentlemen, tourism is already the largest single contributor to our GDP. But we must not sit on our laurels, as so much of our beautiful nations potential remains untapped. My Government is dedicated to finding new and innovative ways together with you to continue to grow Fijis tourism industry in a sustained manner.This is why we assembled the Fijian Tourism 2021 development plan, which complements our National Development Plans. The tourism development plan sets out priority areas that will strategically bolster our tourism industry in a way that allows the most Fijians to see the most benefit.My Government is steadfastly dedicated to bringing all Fijians into the fold, and now more than ever, that dedication is targeted at the tourism industry. My Government is dedicated to spreading the good benefits of a tourism-based economy to other parts of Fiji that do not directly benefit from traditional mainland tourist arrivals. We are also broadening our approach by looking at news ways of providing support to micro, small, and medium-sized tourism operators throughout our maritime and rural regions. By helping provide these potential operators with the tools and technologies to succeed, improving access to water and sewage treatment, and laying the proper infrastructure, we are creating the foundation that will allow more resorts of all sizes to attract more tourists to more remote parts of Fiji than ever before.Our plans will also allow us to strategically identify ways to remove as many barriers and inconveniences as possible.Fiji Airways is already increasing the frequency of its flights to Singapore and San Francisco, and will be open the route to Tokyo, connecting us to lucrative markets  and we need to take full advantage. We also need to go further, and tap new markets like India, China and the Middle East, and we need to accordingly provide training to our staff and respond to the needs of these markets.Ladies and gentlemen, this growth would not be possible without all of you. And to continue on our sustainable and progressive path, we must continue to innovate, and work together to create an industry that will benefit all Fijians. And we must do so in a sustainable way.Congratulations to tonights award winners and nominees, thank you to ANZ and other sponsors for their continued commitment to this vital industry, and thank you all for the warm reception.Vinaka vakalevu. Thank you.CHICAGO , IL / ACCESSWIRE / FEBRUARY 18, 2018 / The DNotes digital currency is four years old today, and one of its co-creators, DNotes Global Inc. co-founder, and CEO Alan Yong, marked the occasion with an article that details the project's previous accomplishments and future plans.

In that piece, Mr. Yong talked about the importance of observing important milestones like anniversaries and how those observances provide an opportunity to put things into context. In remarks earlier today, he explained why he wanted to celebrate the digital currency's birthday in this unique way.

"Four years may not seem like a long time, but a lot can happen in just a few short years. That's especially true in the cryptocurrency space, where innovation occurs at breakneck speed. For DNotes, the last four years have been a time of steady progress, as we have methodically rolled out the various components of the DNotes ecosystem."

"Stakeholders who have been with us since the first launch in 2014 are aware of that progress," he continued. "However, many of the more recent DNotes holders are less familiar with the currency's history. I wanted to take this opportunity to summarize our progress, commemorate what we have accomplished to date, and briefly touch on the exciting changes that are coming in 2018."

Yong's anniversary article describes DNotes' mission, and how it has progressed since 2014. He even delves into why the digital currency project is so important to ensuring greater financial inclusion for the world's population. As he describes it, the DNotes team wanted to create a digital currency that was different than everything that had come before it:

"Our goal was to make DNotes a digital currency with purpose: to become an accepted cryptocurrency that can supplement the world's fiat currencies and provide financial inclusions and empowerment for people everywhere."

His detailed account of DNotes' progress over the last several years provides some clues about how his company plans to accomplish that purpose. Much of his article is devoted to detailing a timeline of accomplishments, as he explores the digital currency's history and the steps the company has taken to create a working infrastructure to support DNotes' objectives.

Considerable space is also devoted to the company's future endeavors, of course - and that seems fitting for a company that keeps its gaze firmly fixed on the future. According to Yong, the next version of DNotes is arriving soon. Aptly named DNotes 2.0, the new cryptocurrency will replace the existing version, and contain new features and benefits. DNotes 2.0 will reportedly be based on Proof of Stake, and stakeholders will be provided with new and improved blockchain staking rewards.

Yong also talked about the company's other major plans for the next few months and years, including the imminent launch of a mini-IPO to raise funding that will be used to advance the company's goals. Other plans include a new digital currency exchange, banking services, payment systems, charitable enterprises, and more.

As Yong notes, the company and the DNotes community have much to celebrate:

"On this, our four-year anniversary, we can all take pride in everything that our community has achieved in such a short period of time - even as we look forward to the unfinished work that lies ahead."

About DNotes and Alan Yong:

DNotes co-founder Alan Yong is a well-regarded visionary who established Dauphin Technology in 1988. He is the author of the book "Improve Your Odds: The Four Pillars of Business Success and is well-regarded as a "thought leader" in the cryptocurrency industry.

DNotes is a digital currency noted for its consistent and reliable growth and innovative initiatives that actively engage women, young people, small businesses, workers, and others - effectively inviting the world to participate in the digital currency revolution. DNotes Global Inc. has plans to launch DNotes 2.0 in early 2018, with improved features and functionality.

For more information, please visit http://dnotescoin.com.

Media contact

Name: Alan Yong

Email: Contact@DNotescoin.com

Source: DNotes Global Inc.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.LONDON, February 19, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

84 per cent of UK financial service organisations are concerned about their ability to identify customers correctly

A third believe they are ' seriously lagging behind competitors ' when it c o mes to fraud checks

UK firms have less interest in adopting new approaches to authenticate customer identity, lagging behind China , Singapore and the US

Seismic changes in UK policy and legislation could be negatively impacting the UK financial service industry's ability to build a globally competitive digital customer experience.

(Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/643105/GBG_new_technologies_Infographic.jpg )

(Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/643111/GBG_digital_customer_experience_Infographic.jpg )



According to an international study commissioned by identity data intelligence specialist GBG and conducted by Forrester Consulting, the UK financial sector is lagging behind China, Singapore, the US and Australia in adopting new approaches to authenticating customer identity.

The findings show that 84 per cent of UK financial service firms are concerned about their ability to identify customers but UK firms are less focused on new technology solutions to address this, and appear more inward-looking, more focused on cost-control and less inclined to invest in new technology than their global counterparts.

Major regulatory changes this year including Open Banking and GDPR, as well as ongoing Brexit negotiations, are impacting the sector. At the same time customer expectations continue to rise as a result of digital empowerment and great experiences from the likes of Amazon, Apple, and Facebook.

Despite the UK's reputation as a world-leader in artificial intelligence, interest in new technology such as facial recognition, automated data capture and social media data analysis, has yet to be widely adopted in the UK. This means customers are missing out on seamless online transactions enjoyed in other markets.

Research highlights

Spending on digital customer experience shows the UK behind global peers.

UK financial service firms are prioritising cost control over the next 12 months more so than other markets.

More firms in the UK are uninterested in new technologies than other markets .

Compared to other markets, more UK firms think their performance is 'seriously lagging' behind their competitors when it comes to fraud checks when onboarding customers.

In 2018 we'll see unprecendented change in the financial service sector. At the same time, consumers are increasingly happy to use everyday digital services provided by organisations from across the world.

According to Forrester, financial service firms will live (or die) by delighting customers via digital channels. A tough economic environment, increased regulation, and greater competition have created challenges for incumbent financial service organisations; on the flip side fintechs delight with great experiences, but lack the strategic execution to comply with regulatory requirements.[i]

Mick Hegarty, Managing Director at identity data intelligence specialist GBG, said: "Although the UK is currently behind the rest of the world in its digital approach to customer identity, there are some promising signs for the future. Our research shows that UK fintechs are more interested than the established banks in adopting new approaches and more are planning to increase investment in the next 12 months. The fintech innovators and challenger banks will prove vital to the UK financial service sector in keeping pace with the rest of the world whilst we navigate a challenging year of legislation and policy change."

Download the full report here.

[i].The research: Leaders in Financial Services Are Experts in Customer Identity, January 2018

GBG commissioned Forrester Consulting to conduct a study of 315 Fintech and Incumbent Financial Service organisations in Australia, China, Singapore, UK, and the US. The custom survey began in November 2017 and was completed in January 2018.Surgical Innovations announced on Monday that its subsidiary Elemental Healthcare has signed a three year distribution deal with a Swiss company. Bariatric Solutions specialises in innovative medical devices for the surgical treatment of obesity, which will now be distributed directly to the UK market by Elemental Healthcare. Adam Power, group development director of Surgical Innovations, said: "Obesity is an increasing problem in the United Kingdom and surgery is an effective way to control the ...

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.European shares slipped into the red as investors looked for something to chew on with US and China markets both closed. By the closing bell, the Stoxx Europe 600 index was down 0.63% to 378.24, alongside a fall of 0.53% to 12,385.60 for the German Dax and a retreat of 0.48% to 5,256.18 in the Cac-40. "Bereft of US volume and market catalysts, stocks across Europe are in retreat this afternoon. After rallying from the lows, stock markets have hit a brick wall. The worry is that the US will ...

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.Industry veteran and human resources (HR) executive Jennifer (JT) Trzepacz joined San Mateo, CA-based venture capital firm Wildcat Venture Partners as chief people officer and operating partner.

In her role, JT will focus on connecting talent, people strategies and operations to accelerate performance in Wildcats portfolio companies. She also will act as the executive director of the Traction Gap Institute. The Traction Gap Institute was founded by Wildcat Venture Partners to help startups scale.

JT has more than 20 years of experience implementing HR strategies at several companies including LivingSocial, Salesforce, Electronic Arts, Yahoo! and CNET Networks.

Prior to joining the firm, she was the executive vice president at Rocket Fuel, where she oversaw global HR, legal, facilities, IT, business operations and internal communications.

Founded in 2015 by Bill Ericson, Wildcat Venture Partners invests in early stage technology companies partnering with entrepreneurs leveraging key technologies such as Machine Learning/Artificial Intelligence (AI), IoT, Cloud & Mobility, Augmented/Virtual Reality and Blockchain in Consumer, Digital Health, EdTech, Enterprise SaaS, FinTech, Marketing Technology, and Marketplaces.

Current investment portfolio includes companies such as Aceable, Amplero, C3 IoT, Carrum Health, Clover Health, GreenFig, KEY Concierge, Tuition.io, Ritual, Vina, Vlocity, What3Words, and Zebit.

FinSMEs

18/02/2018Probe in the Bank of Baroda scam comes close on the heels of a huge Punjab National Bank fraud in which diamantaire Nirav Modi prime accused

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday grilled Vikram Kothari, owner of the now defunct Rotomac Pens in Rs 800 crore loan fraud case. The Bank of Baroda had approached the CBI with a complaint against Kothari. Kothari had borrowed Rs 800 crore from various public sector banks including Allahabad Bank, Bank of India and Union Bank of India.

Early Monday morning sleuths from the premier investigating agency swooped down on Kotharis residence in Kanpur and questioned him and his wife for hours.

As the raids were still on, the agency had clarified that no arrests were made as yet in the case. CBI also said apart from Kothari and his wife, his son was also questioned to get to any lead in the investigation.

Yesterday some media reports had said Kothari might have fled the county which he had denied saying he was very much in Kanpur. He had also objected to the media calling his dealings with Bank of Baroda a scam and comparing it with Punjab National Bank fraud.

"I am a resident of Kanpur and I will stay in the city. However, I do have to travel to foriegn countries for business purposes," Kothari told PTI. Kothari took a loan of Rs 485 crore from Mumbai-based Union Bank of India and a loan of Rs 352 crore from Kolkata-based Allahabad Bank. A year later, Kothari has reportedly not paid back either the interest or the loan, according to a PTI report.

The probe in the Bank of Baroda scam comes close on the heels of a huge Punjab National Bank fraud in which diamantaire Nirav Modi the prime accused who is absconding. The PNB has reported fraudulent transactions worth Rs 11,400 crore at its Brady House branch in Mumbai.Narendra Modi on Sunday reiterated that India aspires to, and is moving towards, a $5 trillion economy over the next few years with sustained development

Mumbai: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday reiterated that India aspires to, and is moving towards, a $5 trillion economy over the next few years with sustained, comprehensive and holistic development.

Inaugurating the first mega global investors summit, "Magnetic Maharashtra: Convergence 2018" in Mumbai, he said the country is on the firm path of development simultaneously with the development of the states.

"We are working towards becoming a member of the Five Trillion Dollar club," Modi said.

He also said Maharashtra would become the first state in India to become a Trillion Dollar economy in the next few years, while addressing a gathering of over 200 captains of Indian and global companies at Bandra Kurla Complex in Mumbai.

Modi noted his government has taken a slew of steps to ensure all-round development of India with an ecosystem comprising a development-friendly, investor-friendly governance with minimal governmental interference.

Indian states are now policy-driven, governance is performance-driven with full accountability, a transparent ecosystem, various norms are being eased, the government is changing laws where needed, and scrapped more than 1,400 old or outdated laws, and for new or modified laws, care is being taken to ensure they are simplified, he said.

In recent years, various states of India have also competing among themselves to attract maximum foreign investments as per their needs and requirements, including Assam, he said.

On Maharashtra, Modi said during the past three years, this state has initiated unprecedented measures to lure foreign investors on all fronts, led by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

"The state's reforms have transformed business, huge improvements in its rating in Ease of Doing Business, changed the work culture, problems are being resolved in a time-bound manner, debottlenecking has been achieved with inter-departmental cooperation, all of which have reflected on its development," he said.

He added that last year Maharashtra led other states on various parameters in infrastructure development rankings, it got 51 per cent of all FDI in India, during the Make In India initiative of February 2016, it secured more than Rs 400,000 crore investments and work on half of them is underway.

Besides, the state has initiated mega-infrastructure projects like Navi Mumbai International Airport, Mumbai Trans Harbour Link, 350 km of Metro Rail and similar Metro Rail in other cities like Pune and Nagpur, taking up the 700 km Mumbai-Nagpur Communication Expressway, etc, which will create between two to two-and-half million jobs and give a fillip to rural development.

Modi also cited the various measures and budgetary provisions to construct roads, bridges, metro rails and airports across the country, to help realize "the aspirations of the people" and fulfill the vision of a 'New India'.

Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani said Mumbai is both his 'janmabhoomi' (birthplace) and his own 'karmabhoomi' (are of action) where the start-up company was established by his father, the late visionary Dhirubhai Ambani with a seed capital of Rs 1,000 and one employee.

"Today, Reliance employs over 3,50,000 people. It's the largest 'wealth-creator for India'. Reliance always invests in India's Big Dreams in building businesses of the future with Indian talent and Indian youth," he said in his address.

He said Mumbai is also home to Jio, the newest tech-startup in the Reliance family, and when the PM unveiled his vision for a Digital India, it also became Jio's own mission.

He announced that now Reliance will take the Jio Movement forward with an even more ambitious new initiative for New India and New Maharashtra, by setting up the country's first-ever 'Integrated Industrial Development Area' for the Fourth Industrial Revolution in Maharashtra.There is some monitoring of large infrastructure projects, but that happens with a lag.

Could the days of ministries not having a clue about how money allocated for projects is being spent be over soon? A framework for concurrent monitoring of expenditure, developed by the finance ministry in association with NITI Aayog, will be released shortly, expenditure secretary Ajay Narayan Jha said in a Facebook Live interaction to Firstpost. This framework, which has got the concurrence of the ministries, will allow each ministry to monitor the progress of sundry schemes and projects under its jurisdiction.

This will be a significant step in expenditure management, if done properly; right now there is no such concurrent monitoring. There is some monitoring of large infrastructure projects, but that happens with a lag. Since 2016-17, there has been an outcome budget that is part of the budget documents. This lists annual targets that ministries have to achieve for the money they have sought. But while this gives a sense of how much money has been spent in the first six months and on what  and helps decide budget allocations for the following year, there is no ongoing evaluation process. Another shortcoming in the outcome budget is that the second in the series (released this year) does not let those outside the government know whether the targets listed last year have been met or not.

The news that the fiscal deficit will be the operational target for fiscal consolidation (junking the revenue defict) has upset public finance experts and raised concerns about laxity over checking consumption expenditure. Jha feels this will not happen. There are already checks in place, he says. One example is that the annual increase in salaries, pensions and establishment expenses is capped at 6-8 percent. Besides, he points out, autonomous bodies funded by the government now have to meet 30 percent of incremental expenditure through internal resources.

Nor should there be concerns about inadequate capital expenditure by the centre, Jha says. The Rs 3 lakh crore direct allocation from the central budget will be leveraged by ministries to raise almost double the amount.

What could be good news is the likely expansion of direct benefit transfer in the form of shifting in-kind transfers to cash transfers. While cash transfers in food has not moved beyond the three pilot projects in Chandigarh, Puducherry and Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Jha says cash transfers in fertilisers, which started in a few states in October, could be adopted in a large number of states by April. The experiments with cash transfers in kerosene mainly in Jharkhand are also showing good results.

Could the subsidy bill of Rs 2.64 lakh crore (on food, fertiliser and petroleum) shoot up later in the year, given the likely increases in minimum support prices and global crude prices? Jha says the allocation has kept enough elbow room for these eventualities and he does not expect any major change in these numbers.

But yes, the subsidy bill does not include the unpaid amounts to various agencies like the Food Corporation of India (FCI) and on the fertiliser subsidy account. Jha calls it a structural problem that have to do with bills being submitted with a lag and the need for verification, among other things. He sees this petering out once there is greater shift to cash transfers. This is a systemic challenge we need to address. It will help us have a better budget, more predictable flow of funds and our fiscal numbers will have more credibility.

Well, so long as the government is at least acknowledging that this is a problem, that is a big step forward. If this, the concurrent monitoring and the greater shift to DBT and cash transfers are pushed through, government spending could become more efficient and not just a bottomless black hole swallowing up taxpayers money.

(The writer is a senior journalist and author and tweets at @soorpanakha )CBI questioned 11 PNB officials as well as Vipul Ambani, the chief financing officer of diamond merchant Nirav Modi's Firestar Internationl company

New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Sunday questioned 11 Punjab National Bank (PNB) officials as well as Vipul Ambani, the chief financing officer of diamond merchant Nirav Modi's Firestar Internationl company, in connection with the multi-crore bank fraud, an official said.

The agency also conducted searches at PNB's Brady House branch in Mumbai, which would continue till Monday.

The CBI on Sunday also wrote to all banks and asked them to report any irregularities in Letters of Undertakings (LoUs), days after the PNB complained about fraudulent issuance of LoUs and Letter of Credits (LCs) to companies of Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi.

The agency officials questioned PNB officials, Vipul and some other Nirav Modi staff and associates in the Rs 11,384 crore scam in Mumbai for over eight hours.

Vipul, son of Dhirubhai's younger brother Natubhai Ambani, was called by the CBI to come along with certain documents.

The PNB officials questioned by the CBI are reportedly suspended by the public sector bank, the official said.

While the CBI is scrutinising the details of LoUs and Letters of Credit submitted by the Punjab National Bank in the past few days, PNB's head office too has scrutinised its LoUs and submitted a report to the CBI.

The CBI's move comes after the agency on Saturday arrested former PNB deputy manager Gokulnath Shetty, single window operator Manoj Kharat and group's authorised signatory Hemand Bhat.

Gokulnath Shetty made explosive revelations and admitted to unauthorised access to a Level-5 password - the key for SWIFT software used to issue Letters of Undertaking. He said he shared the password with other individuals, essentially employees and directors of Nirav Modi's company.

An LoU is a guarantee from the bank that should the borrower default on repayment, it will pay back to the original lender.

The scam surfaced when companies of Nirav Modi and Choksi approached the PNB's Brady House branch in January to seek LoU for making payments to suppliers.Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje has also ordered an inquiry into the incident in Beawar, Rajasthan.

Jaipur: The death toll in an LPG cylinder blast during a wedding function on Friday night in Beawar town of Ajmer district rose to 19 with the recovery of 10 more bodies on Sunday, police said.

Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje has also ordered an inquiry into the incident and has appointed the chairman of the Ajmer Revenue Board as the investigating officer (IO), an official said.

The IO has been asked to submit a report to the state government and also give suggestions so that such an incident does not not recur, he said.

The officer will also investigate for lapses by departments concerned.

Ten more bodies were recovered on Sunday from the debris. With this the toll rose to 19. Two more are feared to be stuck under the debris, Ajmer District Collector Gaurav Goyal said.

He said a joint rescue-and-relief operation by the army and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) was underway.

Of the 18 injured, six were discharged, whereas five persons, said to be critical, were referred to Jaipur from the JLN Hospital in Ajmer, police said.

Raje has announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh each to the family members of those killed in the blast and a financial help of Rs 50,000 each to the injured, an official spokesperson said.

On Saturday, the chief minister took stock of the rescue operation, met the family members of those killed and announced the compensation from the chief minister's relief fund.

An additional compensation of Rs 1 lakh each was given by the Shree Cement company to the kin of the deceased, she said.

Compensation will also be provided to the owners of the houses damaged in the explosion after an assessment, the spokesperson said.

The powerful blast had turned the building, where the wedding ceremony was underway, into rubble. Nine bodies were recovered on Saturday.On this episode of BFFs With Vogue, Rani Mukerji talks about her Italian wedding, relationship with Aditya Chopra, and about her long and illustrious career.

Rani Mukerji is all set to make a comeback with the upcoming movie Hichki. Directed by Sidharth P Malhotra and produced by Aditya Chopra under the banner of Yash Raj Films, Rani Mukerji plays a teacher having Tourette syndrome.

On the latest episode of BFFs With Vogue, we saw Rani Mukerji with her longtime friend and frequent collaborator Sabyasachi Mukherjee. Hosted by Neha Dhupia, BFFs With Vogue brings together two well-known personalities, who also happen to be close friends, to talk about their careers, family and personal lives, and their own interesting stories.

On this episode, Rani Mukerji talks about her Italian wedding, her relationship with husband and big-time producer Aditya Chopra, and about her long and illustrious career.

When asked about how she met Aditya Chopra, Rani said, "After having faced failure for a couple of my films, luckily Mujhse Dosti Karoge happened and thats when I met Adi first time professionally. He told me that Im doing a couple of crap films and that people have pressured him not to take me because they think you dont have the equity for a Yash Raj film but Adi had belief in my talent and me and thought that I was good for the part. My mother and I have been very upfront people always and I like frankness and openness so I like the fact that he was on my face."

Rani also talked about her husbands shy nature. She said, Its not as if he is paranoid about the cameras. He just doesnt want to be photographed. She also said, He had told me after our marriage, God when I fell in love with you, I didnt stop to think that I was in love with an actress. Now, because of you, people are attaching my pictures to yours as well'.

When Neha asked Rani if she curses and abuses, she replied saying, "Yes, I do. I curse my husband every day; I abuse my husband every day (laughs)!"

Rani Mukerji also talked about her daughter and made it clear that she doesn't want Adira to be a victim of constant media attention. I want Adira to grow up normally. You get unwanted and undeserved attention without having achieved anything in life. I want Adira to be treated like any other child in school. Aditya and I dont want her to be photographed constantly, she said.Prime Minister Narendra Modi not receiving his Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau at the airport, a courtesy he extended to some world leaders in the past, has triggered speculation in Canada that it was a snub to him for the rising Sikh radicalism in that country.

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi not receiving his Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau at the airport, a courtesy he extended to some world leaders in the past, has triggered speculation in Canada that it was a snub to him for the rising Sikh radicalism in that country.

However, government sources strongly rejected the speculation, insisting normal diplomatic protocol has been extended to Trudeau.

They also expressed surprise over the Canadian side preferring to schedule Trudeau's official engagements in Delhi at the fag end of the tour as against the normal practice of having bilateral meetings during the first part of such visits.

The sources said it is quite unusual for a visiting dignitary to slot important talks towards the end of a visit, besides setting aside little time for official engagements.

Trudeau will hold bilateral talks with Modi on Friday, a day before he wraps up his tour.

A section of the Canadian media has also talked about the Indian prime minister's absence during Trudeau's visit to Gujarat, Modi's home state.

"We have own set of parameters for measuring importance," an official said while calling the criticism by Canadian media "unfounded".

The sources said there was no "substantive content" in Trudeau's programme in Gujarat for which the prime minister's presence was required.

Referring to Modi accompanying Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe during the latter's visit to Gujarat in September last year, the sources said the visit was "very high" in content which included laying the foundation for India's first high-speed bullet train project besides other components.

Commentators in Canadian media highlighted that Union Minister of State for Agriculture Gajendra Shekhawat received Trudeau at the Delhi airport when he arrived on a seven-day India visit on Saturday evening and contrasted it against Modi himself receiving several world leaders at the airport.

"On official state visits to India, PM Modi personally greets and welcomes the Israeli PM, UAE Crown Prince and US President. For PM Trudeau, he sends a low-ranking official. 'Canada is back'," tweeted Canadian author and columnist Candice Malcolm.

There were stories in Canadian media that said Trudeau's perceived support for Sikh separatists may be the reason for the "snub".

The Sikhs in Canada wield significant political clout and Trudeau's Cabinet has four Sikh members.

The sources said the prime minister received around five leaders at the airport during the last three-and-half years which included the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, US president Barack Obama, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, and Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan twice.The optics surrounding the surrender of Mohammed Haris Nalapad raises the suspicion that he might be treated with kid gloves by the Bengaluru police force, which is wary of inviting the wrath of the politically powerful

If potholes in Bengaluru won't kill you, a politician's son will. That's the takeaway from the ghastly incident that took place at Farzi Cafe at UB Mall on Saturday, in which Congress MLA from Shanti Nagar constituency in central Bengaluru, NA Haris' son Mohammed Haris Nalapad and his gang of goons assaulted Vidwath. They, however, did not stop with the vulgar display of muscle power at the cafe. They even landed up at the hospital where Vidwath was admitted, to threaten him again. The injuries on the 24-year-old were so severe that it is a miracle he is still alive.

The video of a badly injured Vidwath will leave you upset, disturbed and angry. And it is important for voters of Shanti Nagar, the rest of Bengaluru, and Karnataka, to retain that anger when they go to vote to elect their new MLAs a couple of months from now. For, this episode is a testimony to the arrogance of power, the tu jaanta nahin mera baap kaun hai syndrome that so far the civil Bengaluru thought was exclusively a Delhi trait.

And pray, what was Vidwath's crime that invited Nalapad's wrath? When Nalapad walked into the cafe, Vidwath had his leg stretched out because he was recovering from a fracture. The body language irked Mohammed and a fracas ensued.

Why have we come to this pass? Because, in states across India, sons have emerged as extra-constitutional authorities in the peshis of their politician fathers. Check any big or small-ticket neta in India and in 9 out of 10 cases, you would find he reposes his trust in his blood. Unelected and unanswerable, these spoilt brats function as access control to their fathers. This is like a probation period for them and depending on how well one can be a conduit for shady financial deals, arrange for funds at short notice, use money power and muscle power effectively, they move from being a quasi neta to a full-fledged politician. In this case, Nalapad had proven his worth which is why he was rewarded with the post of the general secretary of the Bengaluru unit of Youth Congress.

What makes it even more galling is that Nalapad is known to throw his weight around in the commercial establishments that dot his father's constituency. Yet, at no stage, his MLA father seems to have thought it necessary to rein him in and told him not to cross the line.

The episode shows the Bengaluru police in poor light as well. Vidwath's friend Ramesh Gowda alleged that the Cubbon Park Police Station officer made them wait four hours before they registered the FIR. Clearly, an attempt to hush up the matter or trying to take instructions from the political higher-ups on how to deal with the case. The Cubbon Park police inspector was subsequently suspended for dereliction of duty and the ACP shunted out.

On Monday morning, Nalapad was allowed the privilege of surrendering before the Cubbon Park Police Station instead of being arrested and dragged into the Cubbon Park Police Station. This even as several of Haris' supporters had gathered outside the police station in a show of strength. The optics were telling and the suspicion obviously is that Nalapad will be treated with kid gloves by a police force wary of inviting the wrath of the politically powerful.

What it shows is that it's not enough for Bengaluru cops to be a Twitter-friendly police force that makes its presence felt on social media or brags about having 8,69,000 followers on the microblogging website. What matter is how the cops at the local thana behave.

The Congress, under pressure from the media, decided to expel Nalapad from the party. The chief minister, realising Nalapad was a political hot potato, emphasised that offenders will be punished regardless of who they are. Well done! However, one wonders if the party would have done the same if Karnataka was not going to polls in a couple of months. And why shouldn't Haris be held answerable for his son's criminal conduct? At the end of the day, the MLA is Nalapad's calling card.

The doubt over whether the case will be given a quiet burial in due course of time arises because simultaneously a sob narrative is being built with the Congress claiming that it is a case of a father whose son has gone astray. There is whataboutery also at work with the ruling party asking why no action was taken by BJP against its MP Anant Kumar Hegde who had assaulted a doctor at Sirsi in 2017.

The BJP, which is taking Congress to the cleaners over the Nalapad issue, is a hypocrite because a few months after the Sirsi incident, in September, Hegde was inducted into the Union Cabinet. As far as the common man in Karnataka is concerned, it is a case of the pot calling the kettle black.

During its election campaign, BJP has also been focusing on lawlessness in Karnataka. But instead of talking of citizens, it emphasises on the killing of 24 Hindus, who it claims were all Sangh Parivar activists. Who, pray, is to talk of common citizens like Vidwath?

Just last week, the Cauvery verdict meant Congress could trumpet its success in getting more drinking water for Bengaluru. That achievement has been washed away by Haris junior's show of hooliganism. What Congress has done is expose a goon in a neta's attire, and that a common man may dare to confront them at the risk of losing his life and limb. You need to only look at Vidwath's photographs on the hospital bed for a reality check.

Ironically, this election is seeing scores of sons and daughters of senior Congress leaders demanding a ticket to contest the election. The son-rise may well happen in many families in Karnataka. And if there are more Nalapads in Karnataka, the citizen in the state faces the risk of being eclipsed.Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday answered questions on gender equality, bilateral ties, NAFTA, Canada's immigration system, Donald Trump and much more at a question and answer session in IIM Ahmedabad.

Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau on Monday answered questions on gender equality, bilateral ties, NAFTA, Canada's immigration system, Donald Trump and much more at a question and answer session at IIM Ahmedabad.

Talking about how he ventured into politics, Trudeau said it isn't always about dynasty politics. He said,"Citizens are not fools. Citizens can tell whether someone is genuine in their approach or just trying to live up to some lofty familial expectation."

Explaining how he has always been a feminist and there is gender parity in his Cabinet, Trudeau said,"If you think that men and women should get equal opportunities, you are a feminist, it is that simple." He goes onto explain that gender balance in terms of opportunities isn't the right thing to do but the smart thing to do in terms of growth.

He also mentioned why, with growth being the main focus, bilateral ties are important to Canada. He said Canada-India trade is $8 billion in goods and $2 billion in services but it still has a huge potential for growth if compared to trade with America.

When asked about similarities with US president Donald Trump, Trudeau said that he has always emphasised on how similar they are in their approach towards the future, investment and how both their policies have worked very well for Canada and US' economy. He added that both he and Trump are working towards improvement of the middle class in their countries.

Talking about the robust immigration system in Canada, Trudeau said, "More countries need to do more to welcome immigrants not because that is the right thing to do, because refugees who flee the persecution in their country for a better life in another, are extremely grateful to the country that welcomes them. They work very hard and contribute tremendously to the growth of the country that welcomed them. That is the Canadian story."

Trudeau also said the media is 'frustrating' at times but it's essential to empower and support media. "It fulfils an important duty of telling Govt what its doing wrong; an independent media is essential for a successful democracy," he said.

About citizens, Trudeau said the idea of ideal citizen does not just rest on surface attributes like ethnicity or racism, it is more dependent on shared values that a society subscribes to, says Trudeau. He added that young people tend to get that kind of openness and they understand how defined you are in your choices.

Early on Monday, Trudeau and his family offered prayers at the Swaminarayan Akshardham temple here and visited the Sabarmati Ashram as part of their day-long visit to Gujarat. The family travelled straight to Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad after arriving in the morning. Trudeau, accompanied by his wife Sophie and their three children, visited Hriday Kunj, the place where Mahatma Gandhi lived and from where he ran the non-violence movement.

Trudeau was invited to visit the Akshardham temple here during his visit to the Akshardham temple in Toronto in Canada, said BAPS media coordinator Vivek Jeevan Swami.

"Trudeau visited Akshardham temple in Toronto on 22 July last year. There he remarked that the temple is an architectural masterpiece and embodies openness and peace. He was invited to visit the temple in Gandhinagar to which he graciously agreed," Swami Vivek said.

With inputs from PTIKerala HC Advocates' Association has expressed its 'deep concern and anxiety' over the delay in approving Justice KM Joseph's elevation as an SC judge.

The executive and the judiciary have been at loggerheads over the elevation of Justice KM Joseph  presently Chief Justice of the Uttarakhand High Court  as a Supreme Court judge ever since the Collegium of Judges of the apex court recommended his name.

Irked by the inaction of the Centre, members of the Kerala High Court Advocates' Association have expressed their "deep concern and anxiety" over the delay in forwarding Joseph's name to the President of India for his assent.

On Monday, the Kerala Bar association's general body unanimously passed a resolution for his appointment to the Supreme Court, which has been sent to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, and President Ram Nath Kovind.

The resolution noted that the Collegium recommended Joseph's name for elevation in its meeting on 10 January, and added that even after a lapse of over a month, the Union government had not taken any action.

"It noted that Joseph, a judge known for his "integrity, honesty, knowledge in law and independent discharge of his judicial duties", had discharged all his duties as a judge both in letter and in spirit..."

"Such qualities cannot become a taboo for the appointment of anyone, as a judge... No judge shall be allowed to suffer consequences, for being honest and fearless, in the discharge of his duties as a judge," the resolution read.

"The delay in forwarding the name of Justice Joseph is sending wrong signals to the institution, for judges being independent and fearless in the discharge of their constitutional functions," the resolution added.

Centre 'not keen' on Joseph

It has been widely reported that the Centre is not keen on giving its assent to Joseph's elevation. According to a Bar and Bench report, the issue seems to be limited to Joseph as the other recommendation made by the Collegium, of senior advocate Indu Malhotra  the first woman lawyer to be directly elevated to the Supreme Court from the Bar  faced no such resistance.

The Supreme Court Collegium seems to be cognisant of the government's resistance, according to this report in The Print: "We knew there was a possibility that the government could use some excuse not to process the name (of Joseph). That is why it was decided to recommend only one name from among eligible high court chief justices," a member of the collegium was quoted as saying by the report. "The majority of members of the collegium felt that the government should clear his name first before fresh recommendations are made," the member added.

According to a report in The Indian Express, the government, citing "disregard for seniority and regional representation", could consider returning the recommendation to the Collegium for "reconsideration".

Payback for Uttarakhand?

Incidentally, it was a bench headed by Chief Justice Joseph which, in April 2016, left the Centre embarrassed when it quashed the imposition of Presidents Rule in Uttarakhand, The Indian Express report added. The court revived the Congress government of Harish Rawat, directing him to prove his majority on the floor of the House.

According to the Bar and Bench report, the Centre being reluctant to elevate Joseph is evident in the fact that, "The file recommending his transfer to the High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad almost two years ago has been relegated to some dusty cabinet in a law ministry office, where the government stores its discontent. An attempt to find the pulse of this document has borne little fruit, with the government revealing last year that it was 'still under consideration'."

The governments argument is that elevating Joseph would mean giving "seniority and regional representation a go-by." However, as this Firstpost article argues, it may be time to rethink on the role of 'seniority' in Supreme Court appointments:

"The question of finally deciding on seniority and regional representation ought to take a backseat to how the Supreme Court Collegium views the merit and skill of a particular judge. In fact, in the recent past, there have been a lot of younger judges appointed to the court, including appointees from the Bar. In this round of recommendations as well, there is a Bar appointee, Indu Malhotra, who has also been recommended for elevation."

The judiciary's stand and the Centre's pushback raises a pertinent question: What will the Supreme Court Collegium do if the Centre again decides to defer Joseph's appointment?

Read the complete resolution here:The Budget session of the Goa Assembly will be curtailed to three days owing to ill health of Manohar Parrikar who is undergoing treatment at a Mumbai hospital.

Panaji: The Budget session of the Goa Assembly will be curtailed to three days owing to ill health of Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar who is undergoing treatment at a Mumbai hospital.

Parrikar, who is being treated at the Lilavati Hospital for a pancreatic ailment since 15 February, would not attend the session, said BJP MP Narendra Sawaikar.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi went to the hospital to enquire about Parrikar's health. "The prime minister was in the hospital for 15 minutes in the evening. He was accompanied by Union minister Nitin Gadkari and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis," a BJP source told PTI.

Earlier on Sunday, the hospital authorities said Parrikar is "responding well to treatment". "It has been brought to our notice (that) various malicious and misleading reports/rumours are floating around in the electronic/print media with regards to his health," a hospital statement read.

Meanwhile, Assembly Speaker Pramod Sawant met Governor Mridula Sinha in Panaji to discuss the situation in view of Parrikar's ill-health.

The budget session will begin on Monday with Governor Mridula Sinha's address. It was scheduled to end in mid-March, but now it would end in three days owing to Parrikar's illness, Deputy Speaker Michael Lobo said.

The state budget, scheduled for 22 February, will now be presented on 20 February, the deputy speaker said, adding that the Business Advisory Committee will meet on Monday afternoon to take a formal decision on cutting the session short. "The questions, which were supposed to be discussed in the current session, would be postponed to the next session," Lobo said.

Legislature sources said minister Sudin Dhavalikar of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party will table the budget as Parrikar, who holds the finance portfolio, will not be able to attend the session. "On the advice of his doctors, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar will be continuing with the treatment for (the ailment of) pancreas in Mumbai," BJP MP from South Goa Narendra Sawaikar told reporters.

The chief minister was responding to the treatment but he needed "sufficient time to recover and be focused on the treatment", he added. "Expert doctors are taking a good care of him," the MP said.

Main Opposition Congress said it had no objection to the curtailment of the session. "We have no objection if the Assembly is curtailed to three days as the chief minister is genuinely ill," said Leader of Opposition Chandrakant Kavlekar, who is also a member of the Business Advisory Committee.

The BJP's Goa legislature wing will be holding a special meeting on Monday morning before the start of the session to decide who will be its leader in the House in Parrikar's absence. Party sources said Union AYUSH Minister Shripad Naik would also attend the meeting.

Parrikar underwent a check-up at the Goa Medical College Hospital on 14 February after he complained of stomach pains. The next morning, he was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital in Mumbai, where the doctors said he was suffering from a "mild pancreatitis".Goa Police detained a local journalist in connection with an alleged false news item about the health of Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar who is admitted to a Mumbai hospital for treatment of a pancreatic ailment

Panaji: The Goa Police detained a local journalist on Monday in connection with an alleged false news item about the health of Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar who is admitted to a Mumbai hospital for treatment of a pancreatic ailment.

Parrikar is being treated at the Lilavati Hospital in Mumbai since 15 February.

"We have detained journalist Harish Volvoikar as a part of an investigation. He was questioned related to the false news that is being circulated," Inspector General of Police Jaspal Singh told PTI.

The action against the journalist was taken after BJP leader Sunil Desai filed a complaint with Ponda police alleging that a fake news was being circulated, in which he (Desai) was being quoted about the health condition of Parrikar.

Earlier in the day, the journalist was also stopped from attending the ongoing assembly session when Goa Governor Mridula Sinha addressed the legislators.

Singh said a case had been registered and the investigation was underway.

"We have to know the origin of the message which was being circulated. We are going through the whole chain of messages," he said.

Volvoikar represents a WhatsApp-based news service, which covers local events.

In his complaint, Desai had said the false news was circulated on 17 February and the second one on the next day.

"This is to bring to your kind notice that some people are circulating false news about our honourable chief minister's health and misguiding the people in my name," Desai, whose name was quoted in one of the reports of the news service.A Border Action Team (BAT) attack from across the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district has been foiled and one intruder killed while two Indian soldiers were injured, defence sources said

Jammu: A Border Action Team (BAT) attack from across the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district has been foiled and one intruder killed while two Indian soldiers were injured, defence sources said on Monday.

Defence Ministry sources said a BAT attack took place on Sunday evening in Gulpur area with the assistance of Pakistani Army that gave protective cover by using small arms, automatics and mortars.

"After noticing suspicious movement, the alert troops immediately engaged the BAT group. One intruder was killed while two of our soldiers were injured in this operation.

"The BAT team was seen retreating to the Pakistani post on the LoC. The body of the intruder was recovered. He was wearing combat fatigues," the source said.

A large cache of arms and ammunition was recovered from the intruder.

BAT groups are highly trained and motivated militants supported by Pakistan Army to carry out attacks on Indian patrol parties and pickets across the LoC.Tensions between the two countries continue to simmer over the Khalistan issue, especially between the Canadian government and Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh.

On Sunday, Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau kicked off a week-long trip to India by taking his family to visit the Taj Mahal. Trudeau, who is on his first visit to India since taking office in 2015, is slated to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi this week an effort to expand trade between the two countries, as well as cooperation in the fields of energy, education and infrastructure.

However, tensions between the two countries continue to simmer over the Khalistan issue, especially between the Canadian government and Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh.

Indeed, it seemed like Trudeau was attempting to go out of his way to avoid controversy, with a report in the National Herald on the eve of his India visit stating that he would not meet Amarinder during a tour of the Golden Temple on 21 February.

And some might say he had cause. Especially after Amarinder, speaking to Outlook in February, blamed a "foreign hand" for fomenting unrest and reviving Khalistani extremism in Punjab, saying that the police were investigating a case and found a link for money used to buy an Uzi sub-machine gun for terrorists. "On the face of it, there seem to be Khalistani sympathisers in Trudeau's Cabinet," he alleged.

This after Singh, in 2017, accused Canadian defence minister Harjit Sajjan  part of Trudeau's delegation  of being sympathetic to the cause of Sikh separatists agitating for an independent Khalistan. According to a report in The Indian Express, Singh even publicly refused to meet Sajjan during his 2017 trip.

CBC News reported that Sajjan, responding to the Outlook interview, called Amarinder's accusation "ridiculous" and added that Canada was being "sucked into" internal Indian politics. "I've been a police officer, I've served my country and allegations like that are absolutely ridiculous and I find it extremely offensive as well," Sajjan said, according to the report.

In fact, both Sajjan and Trudeau's Cabinet member Amarjeet Sohi, who is the minister for infrastructure, had to deny links to Khalistani elements in the run-up to Trudeau's visit, as this Firstpost article pointed out.

Earlier this week, an MP from Trudeau's party, Kevin Lamoureux, while speaking in the House of Commons, referred to Punjab as a country while speaking in the House. Whether it was a genuine mistake or plain ignorance is not clear, the Firstpost article stated.

According to a report in DailyO, Amarinder's refusal to engage with those in the Canadian government accused of having Khalistani leanings seems to have forced ministers to issue clarifications. Sohi reportedly said "he does not sympathise with the cause (Khalistan), nor does he hear much talk about it in the (Canadian) Sikh community".

But there seems to be a thaw in the offing from both sides. According to the DailyO report, Amarinder welcomed clarifications from both Sohi and Sajjan, saying, "I congratulate Prime Minister Trudeau for creating the necessary environment against secessionist forces believed to be operating from his country," according to the report.

And Sajjan seems to have responded, with The Star newspaper reporting that at his insistence, Canada's high commissioner was dispatched to organise a meeting with between Sajjan, Trudeau and Singh.

With inputs from AFPThis confusion, however, reflects the state of India-Canada bilateral relationship, which is fallen into a state of disrepair and mistrust since Trudeau's Liberal Party came into power in 2015.

Is Justin Trudeau meeting Captain Amarinder Singh, or is he not? The Punjab chief minister reportedly expressed willingness to escort the visiting Canadian prime minister on his trip to the Golden Temple in Amritsar. While the Canadian press earlier reported that Trudeau's office is not interested in meeting Captain Amarinder  a vocal critic of Trudeau regime's role in aiding Khalistani resurgence later reports indicated that since Trudeau's landing in India, the Canadian high commission has been involved in furious back-channel negotiations to set up the meeting.

According to Abigail Bimman of Canada-based Global News, "Sunday evening in New Delhi, a government official speaking on background confirmed the plans had changed, and a meeting between Trudeau, Sajjan and Singh would be requested by Canadian high commissioner Nadir Patel. The official wouldnt say what prompted the change." Indeed, in a late breaking development, Captain Amarinder tweeted:

Look forward to meeting Canadian Prime Minister @JustinTrudeau in Amritsar on Wednesday. Im hopeful that this meeting will help strengthen the close Indo-Canadian business ties as well as the deep-rooted people-to-people relations between our two countries.  Capt.Amarinder Singh (@capt_amarinder) February 19, 2018



It may seem peculiar that the granular details of a high-level visit, usually sorted out well before a Head of State boards the flight to host nation, were left hanging even during the visit. This confusion, however, reflects the state of India-Canada bilateral relationship, which is fallen into a state of disrepair and mistrust since Trudeau's Liberal Party came to power in 2015.

The Stephen Harper-era warmth has been replaced by a chill that Trudeau and his entourage may have felt despite arriving in India at the onset of summer. If two of the strongest democracies in the world still find themselves at odds, it owes largely to the disturbing course Canada's domestic politics seems to have taken.

Members of the Trudeau Cabinet have been accused of being sympathetic to the Khalistani cause. There have been widespread concerns in India that Sikh terrorism is rearing its head again, fuelled by 'liberal' support and funds in the West. An umbrella group of the management committee of 14 gurudwaras in Canada last December barred Indian officials from visiting the shrines. The ban was soon replicated in the United Kingdom and the United States.

Last April, Ontario's provincial legislature carried a motion describing the 1984 anti-Sikh riots as "genocide," prompting an alarmed India to "reject this misguided motion which is based on a limited understanding of India, its constitution, society, ethos, rule of law and the judicial process" and convey to the "government and political leadership in Canada" that such moves are deleterious to bilateral ties.

The Sikh separatist movement is getting a wide berth in Canada, even among Liberal Party's rivals. Jagmeet Singh, one of the rising stars in Canadian politics who belongs to the Opposition New Democratic Party (NDP) and the man behind the motion to declare 1984 a 'genocide', is ambivalent about the role of Talwinder Singh Parmar, the man behind Canada's worst terrorist attack: The 1985 Air India bombing incident. All 329 people (most of them Canadian nationals or Canadian-Indians) on board Air India Flight 182 were killed when an explosive device tore apart the plane as it approached Ireland.

"Jagmeet has maintained a studied silence whenever asked to condemn Parmar," wrote Ushinor Majumdar in Outlook, because "NDP lost 59 seats in the 2015 federal elections and fell to third place nationally. The Sikh population, less than two percent of Canadas total but with significant concentrations across constituencies, is a real factor."

To add to the wound, the only Sikh immigrant who was convicted of the terrorist attack was freed last year after a jail term while two others were acquitted without punishment. To quote from Ushinor, "This offshore radicalism is also organically linked, and bleeds right back, to the narrative unfolding in Punjab."

Obviously, the Khalistan movement is a hot button issue in India that sits at the crossroads of secessionism, radicalism and terrorism, evoking ghosts of the past and anxieties of present. Though the official Canadian position is to reinforce India's 'unity and integrity', it has frequently been belied by key members of Trudeau's party and the government.

Canadian defence minister Harjit Sajjan and Infrastructure Minister Amarjeet Sohi (both of whom are part of the touring delegation) have been accused of being complicit in the rise of Sikh radicalism, which they both deny. Trudeau's initial decision to avoid a meeting with Captain Amarinder was based on reports that the Punjab chief minister has called the Canadian defence minister "a Khalistan sympathiser".

Some Canadian lawmakers dismiss this as an "Indian media-fuelled controversy", but it is hard to take such a position when Sohi, a minister in Trudeau Cabinet, stated on the record: "If some people believe in the support or the movement of Khalistan, theyre entitled to do so as long as they do that in a peaceful way."

Trudeau himself courted controversy by repeatedly appearing in political events where Sikh radicals have been feted or glorified. For instance, India had to issue another stern rebuke against the Canadian government when Trudeau attended 'Khalsa Day', a Sikh community event in Toronto on 30 April. The Canadian prime minister reportedly addressed a parade at the rally that glorified Sikh militant leaders Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, Amreek Singh and former General Shahbeg Singh who were killed during Operation Blue Star in 1984.

A former diplomat was quoted as saying by Suhasini Haider in The Hindu this is an issue we will have to grapple with, not just in the provinces, but in the House of Commons, where many of these Sikh separatist groups believe they now have a sympathetic ear." This presents a challenge for bilateral ties which the Trudeau regime seems unwilling to meet even halfway.

There are increasing indications, however, that Trudeau doesn't even want to meet the challenges. The reason is complicated, and takes us to the heart of Canadian politics where the 1.4 million-strong Sikh community in Toronto and Vancouver has emerged as a powerful 'vote-bank'.

The Trudeau regime claims to interpret the demand for Khalistan  which has evolved from a human rights movement against the 1984 anti-Sikh riots to a full-fledged politico-radical movement for secessionism  as the "freedom of expression" issue of a vocal minority. Such a position may have passed muster in a world innocent of terror, not any more. A movement that seeks political solution through terror cannot be cast within the paradigm of "freedom of expression".

It not only goes against 'One India' policy but is also at odds with New Delhi's stated position on terror. It seems Trudeau or his ministers are unable to take an unambiguous, clear position against terrorism. Under normal circumstances, this would be interpreted as bad policy that runs the risk of further damaging bilateral ties. For Trudeau, though, such a position may reap rich electoral dividends, and it seems likely that instead of virtue-signalling on freedom of expression, Trudeau's position on Khalistan is a cynically calculated stand designed to garner votes from an influential community.

Canadian media quoted Vivek Dehejia, associate professor at Carleton University and IDFC Institute resident fellow, as saying, "I think to be fair, there is sometimes a feeling that some Sikh-Canadian politicians maybe are playing to a Khalistani gallery back here in Canada It helps to win votes in that particular community and those kinds of statements arent helpful, frankly, because India doesnt take kindly to appearing to condone a separatist movement.

Suddenly, the controversies that surround Trudeau's visit to India  where he has been accorded just one official day for bilateral engagements in a seven-day trip  make sense. Trudeau might not be successful in striking a Free-Trade Agreement, sorting out the long-pending Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) or the Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (FIPA) with India. What he may ensure, however, is a bagful of votes back home even if he suffers a royal snub on tour.Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau arrived on an eight-day visit at the invitation of his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi. He will visit Gujarat on Monday.

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More visuals of the Trudeau family at the Sabarmati Ashram

NDTV reported that Narendra Modi is not in Gujarat today and will not meet the Canadian PM today.

What has caused concern, even annoyance in New Delhi is the Canadian prime minister and his partys hobnobbing with some who are seen as Khalistani elements. For instance, New Delhis hackles were raised in April last year after the Ontario legislature passed a private members bill  it was moved by Harinder Malhi and she belongs to Trudeaus party  that described the 1984 anti-Sikh riots as a "genocide".

Trudeau will speak at IIM-Ahmedabad later in the day, reported Financial Express . He will speak on "Education and Investment Opportunities before an audience of students at IIM-A.

Yogi Adityanath's refusal to meet Trudeau ahead of the Canadian prime minister's Taj Mahal visit and the uncertainty surrounding whether or not there will be a meeting with Captain Amarinder Singh notwithstanding, it's too early to call what Modi did (or didn't do) a snub. We'll need to wait at least until the duo finally meets in New Delhi.

Justin Trudeau snubbed by Narendra Modi? Too soon to say, because Indian PM has thus far stuck to protocol

His other family members  wife Sophie and children  also signed the register book, reported The Economic Times .

The Canadian prime minister wrote: "A beautiful place of peace, humility and truth, that is as needed today as it ever was."

Justin Trudeau will participate in several business roundtables to further promote bilateral trade and investment

Trudeau to visit Mumbai, Amritsar and New Delhi after winding up Ahmedabad leg

The potential path I was taking going into politics was entirely my own, not necessarily my father's. The decision was because I had to say certain things to the masses, not just because it was dynastic politics. Politics is unpleasant in certain ways and incredibly rewarding in other ways. Familial expectations isn't a way to be successful in politics.

"Canada has enough fossil fuel resources to not be bothered about climate change but that's not the right path. It is important to take oil resources to market at a reasonable price. It's important to find a middle ground and move ahead in a responsible way,"Trudeau tells IIM Ahmedabad students.

Climate change is essential and Canada has to take the lead: Trudeau

While saying that US president Donald Trump shares similarities with him, Justin Trudeau says their policies are doing well for their economy. Both have an optimistic approach towards the future of investment, he added.

Trudeau says Donald Trump and he are similar in more ways than one

Citizens know when someone is trying to live up to some lofty familial expectation: Trudeau

If you think that men and women should get equal opportunities, you are a feminist, it is that simple, says Trudeau. He goes onto explain that gender balance in terms of opportunities isn't the right thing to do but the smart thing to do in terms of growth.

Canadian PM says he is a feminist and gender balance is a smart choice

No statement on how a man looks is not even an eyelash-worthy of the kind of sexism that women have to face everyday in various ways, says Trudeau in response to how people commented on his nice hair when he was campaigning.

The idea of ideal citizen does not just rest on surface attributes like ethnicity or racism, it is more dependent on shared values that a society subscribes to, says Trudeau. He adds that young people tend to get that kind of openness and they understand how defined you are in your choices.

Idea of ideal citizen does not rest on surface attributes, says Trudeau

Trudeau says Canadians are always excited at the prospect of trade

Talking about the robust immigration system in Canada, Trudeau says, "More countries need to do more to welcome immigrants not because that is the right thing to do, because refugees who flee the persecution in their country for a better life in another, are extremely grateful to the country that welcomes them. They work very hard and contribute tremendously to the growth of the country that welcomed them. That is the Canadian story."

Trudeau says that cynicism is spreading across the world and the way people easily draw lines along communities is deeply worrisome. Hope is important and can usher growth, cynicism telling voting is uncool doesn't, the Canadian PM says.

I had advantage but I didn't go near discrimination, sexism that women go through daily: Trudeau

Media is frustrating at times but it's essential to empower and support it: Trudeau

Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau, who arrived in Mumbai on Monday, will on Tuesday meet industry leaders. According to the itinerary posted on Trudeau's official website, the Canadian prime minister will be meeting N Chandrasekharan of Tata Sons at 9 am before holding discussions with Infosys CEO Salil Parekh and Mahindra Group chairman Anand Mahindra.

However, government sources strongly rejected the speculation, insisting normal diplomatic protocol has been extended to Trudeau, PTI reported. They also expressed surprise over the Canadian side preferring to schedule Trudeau's official engagements in Delhi at the fag end of the tour as against the normal practice of having bilateral meetings during the first part of such visits.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi not receiving his Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau at the airport, a courtesy he extended to some world leaders in the past, has triggered speculation in Canada that it was a snub to him for the rising Sikh radicalism in that country.

The Indo-Canadian Business Chambers will be hosting the business forum where Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is also expected to participate in an armchair discussion along with veteran banker Chanda Kocchar at 3 pm.

"SME has been the backbone of our 40 year collaboration. There are lot of untapped areas which need to be focussed on. 130 Indian companies were brought to Canada to increase bilateral trade. Today's forum is focused on building strong relationships between Indian and Canadian companies. Canada-India foundation also completed 10 years. It was formed to clarify public policy issues between the two countries. They've also pioneered the work of connecting the diaspora," said Kasi Rao, CEO of Canadian-Indian Business Council.

Calling himself a "feminist", Trudeau also said "we as a society are underperforming" as women are not being given an opportunity to contribute to their full potential. He was addressing students at the prestigious Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A).

Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau said on Monday that heterogeneous society is the new reality of the 21st century and the biggest challenge is to understand how differences can become a source of strength, "something that India and Canada have done fairly well".

Differences have to be source of strength in society: Trudeau

"Prospect of doing business in India had been particularly favorable as the legal process is similar to Canadian common law. English language proficiency is a helping factor. Strong local partners are also important. GST and other reforms have given a more transparent and stable environment which helps us. We invest based on trends, are active in residential projects and so on. Lessons learnt in the last ten years is that you've to be patient. India presents a high growth potential along the Aasian markets," says Rita-Rose Gagne of Ivanhoe Cambridge.

Prospects of doing business in india is favourable, says Rita-Rose Gagne of Ivanhoe Cambridge

"The global pulse market is influenced not only by the commercial forces of supply and demand (trade) but also by government directions (policy) that can complement but also override commercial market direction. Perhaps no government is having a bigger impact on the pulse industry than the Government of India," he wrote in an editorial recently.

"We won't go that big anytime soon as banks does not need physical braches. We need to make a transition from 'brick and mortar' to 'Click and mortar'. We want to have a branch in Calgary region. The diaspora evolves over time and we've to be relevant to this. What are he kind of values we can bring to the consumer is what's important," says Siddharth Sengupta of SBI.

"I won't day what is the final price of pulses in India. But what I do know is that trade will help food security in India. What we need to find is the Indian policy perspective on Indian farmers and consumers and find the point of connection for global trade," Gordon Bacon, CEO, Pulse Canada.

"Banking is getting thoroughly regulated than any other industries. Govt policies between the two countries effects business, but the host country regulator is important. The cost of compliance is driving financial institutes out of business. If we drive these businesses out of business, they're not going to stop doing business but will operate in shadows which is not good," says Siddharth Sengupta of SBI.

"Every time I come to India it gives me an opportunity to reflect on the time when I was a young man and went to Canada and built my life there. The opportunities Canada has to offer is immense. 1.4 million Indian-Canadians have a strong bond of culture and values," says Amarjeet Sohi, cabinet minister of Canada.

"Economic growth is on the top agenda of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Growth that helps everyone as businesses and individuals. The same values are also shared by Prime Minister Narendra Modi," says Sohi.

According to media reports , Sohi was arrested under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act for about 21 months in the late 80s for his alleged links with the Khalistan movement. However, he was released without being charged as no evidence was found against him.

"IT companies are of particular interest. We want to see how we can help with Smart City challenges of major urban centres. Problems of transportation, social laws, etc. If we partner wet can find innovative solutions to these issues. The way the challenges work is we call municipality's to identify problems and then tech is used to solve these problems. We then fund viable projects. This is something that is inspired by Indian Smart City challenges," says Sohi.

India and Canada can work on IT sector, says Amarjeet Sohi

David Agnew, president of Toronto's Seneca College, spoke in glowing terms about the higher educational possibilities in Canada for Indian students. "According to Canadian system, we are a college offering diploma and degrees. We have 25,000 full-time students and 10 campuses in the Greater Toronto area. Internationalisation of education is a big topic and we are still a big receiver of international students. In all, 125,000 students from India are studying in Canada. We are focused on developing partnerships in India," Agnew said.

Companies that they've incubated have created over 3,000 jobs, Khakar said. "These new companies are nimble enough to find out needs that are yet to be fulfilled and are coming up with innovative solutions for these issues. They're not just making copycat products but something innovative," he added.

Devang Khakar, director of IIT-Bombay, spoke of the growing interest in entrepreneurship. "Twenty years ago, there wasn't much interest in entrepreneurship. But now many are either starting their own companies or working with start-ups. Now there's more focus towards doing innovative things in areas which were unthinkable in the past. For instance, some of our graduates have worked on something as old as ceiling fans and have won patents for their design. Students are thinking of entrepreneurship from the beginning. We also have a workshop for students in entrepreneurship. I think that this is a trend that is very strong. A lot of support is coming from outside, senior alumni are coming back to start their own companies."

Devang Khakar, director of IIT Bombay, said, "We've collaborated with Canadian universities. There are a lot of exchange programmes. We are also building a large number of collaborations with Canadian universities. There are a lot of joint research projects going on. We are keen to build a special relationship with the University of Toronto. There's a great potential to learn a lot."

Kirsty Duncan, minister for science and sport in the Canadian government, recalls it being a difficult time for woman scientists to break through in a male-dominated field like science. "It's an honour to be in India. I'm here to build on the strong ties between India and Canada. Science is the backbone of innovation. We can think of collaboration on artificial intelligence, healthcare, innovation, etc. Canada started funding AI by the 90s and we kept funding sciences as it matters. Now it's become mainstream. Everyone knows about Silicon Valley, but there's also Maple Valley."

Canada has done a lot to promote science, says Kristy Duncan, minister for science

India-Canada trade is worth just $8 billion, just a minor fraction of the $100 billion trade between India and the US, Jaspal Bindra, executive chairman of Centrum, said. "The purpose of the CEO panel is to find better business opportunities that can be explored between the two countries," Bindra said.

Risk sharing can be an interesting model and both in India and Canada can look at that area for getting new innovative ideas to these market. E-commerce is disrupting the world everywhere. Bangalore has a lot of innovation happening and so have many Canadian cities. So I'd suggest the creation of a technology corridor between the two countries. We should be focusing on technology diplomacy," she said.

Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, the chairperson of Biocon Limited, said both India and Canada have plenty of skill and talent. "We've to build a technology corridor between India and Canada. The US has created a good ecosystem with that. The risk appetite created in the US needs to be re emulated in other countries.

Patricia Koval, chairperson of C-IBC, spoke about creating more business exchange opportunities. "We have strong educational ties between Canada and India. In terms of job creations, there's huge benefits in collaborative programmes," she said.

Patricia Koval, the chairperson of the C-IBC, has complimented India for easing visa regulations and said Canada must do likewise. "US' visa renewal issues are a huge opportunity. I do think India has made fabulous drives on the visa system. Canada now needs to step up and facilitating the transfer of visas," Koval said.

"Same goes for immigration," he added. "Canada is opening up for immigration. One complaint we get is that we are not getting enough immigration," Trudeau said about Canada's stance on immigration.

He also emphasised the ease of doing business in Canada, "Companies can get visas within two weeks. Openness to international talent is a positive advantage in the world trade."

When Kochhar asked Trudeau's thoughts on trade agreements, he said, "I worry about the impact of trade on globalisation. At a time when the world is turning away from trade, we are proud to be signing trade agreements. We know that trade leads to growth. But if we're are able to keep public support for the trade agreements. We ensure that small traders get benefits for these trade deals."

At a time when the world is turning away from trade, we are proud to be signing trade agreements, Trudeau says

With questions raised over his silence so far ever since Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau's arrival in India on Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday evening welcomed him on his visit and said that he looked forward to meeting him on Friday.

Addressing the controversy, Trudeau said the dinner invitation to Atwal, who was once active in the International Sikh Youth Federation, was rescinded as soon as the Canadian government received the information about him, ANI reported.

Amid the row over the presence of Khalistani sympathisers in Canada's Cabinet, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said that Jaspal Atwal should "never have received an invitation" to his event, even as India said it is ascertaining details on how the convicted militant obtained a visa.

Justin Trudeau responds to Modi's tweet, says his daughter remembers his visit well

As the two prime ministers finally meet at Hyderabad House in New Delhi at noon, something could still be salvaged out of this magnified mess. And the relationship between India and Canada is far too significant to allow it to be reflected in the buildup to that bilateral summit. But it will take the combined charm of Trudeau and Modi to elevate the public conversation over the debris left by the disaster so far.

But those (Canada's) linkages (with Khalistan), frowned upon by New Delhi, could have escaped too much scrutiny if those who had scheduled Trudeau's visit had listened to India and ensured he stopped early in the National Capital for the government-to-government dialogue with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Instead, they opted to have him gallivant across the country  from Agra to Ahmedabad and Mumbai to Amritsar. In that period, people noticed Modi had not welcomed him with his trademark tweet (something he eventually did on Thursday, on the eve of their meeting), and the story of the 'snub' went global.

It will take combined charm of PMs to mitigate bad vibes

The Canadian prime minister was welcomed with a Guard of Honour, with the Canadian and Indian national anthems played in the background. This is the first engagement for the day for Trudeau's schedule.

Following his official welcome at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi, Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau will move to the Rajghat next, where he will lay a wreath at Mahatma Gandhi's memorial.

In 2015, photos of Saini holding banners that read "Modi is a Terrorist", "Modi you are not welcome in Canada", and "India out of Khalistan" had gone viral at the time.

According to The Indian Express , Canadian journalist Manvir Singh Saini, who had protested Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 2015 visit to Canada, is part of Justin Trudeau's media delegation and has accompanied him to all official events so far.

Writing for The Washington Post , journalist Barkha Dutt says that the unusual length of Trudeau's trip may help explain why it began on a "discordant note". The editorial quotes government sources as saying that India had requested Canada to shorten Trudeau's trip or sequence it differently, beginning with political talks. However, that did not happen. "India wanted to start the trip with political talks before Trudeau played tourist. The Canadians disagreed. Also, the Canadians expected Modi to accompany Trudeau to his home state of Gujarat, just as he had done with Shinzo Abe, Xi Jinping and Benjamain Netanyahu. India declined."

Union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal on Thursday urged Trudeau to start Toronto-Amritsar Air Canada flights on the sidelines of the India-Canada business session, reported Hindustan Times.

As per the Canadian prime minister's website , Justin Trudeau, along with the Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, Navdeep Bains, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chrystia Freeland, the Minister of Defence, Harjit Sajjan, the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities, Amarjeet Sohi, the Minister of Science and Minister of Sport and Persons with Disabilities, Kirsty Duncan, and the Minister of Small Business and Tourism, Bardish Chagger will hold an expanded bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Hyderabad House.

The Sikhs in Canada wield significant political clout and Trudeau's Cabinet has four Sikh members. The (government) sources said the prime minister received around five leaders at the airport during the last three-and-half years which included the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former US president Barack Obama, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, and Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan twice.

There were stories in Canadian media that said Trudeau's perceived support for Sikh separatists may be the reason for the "snub".

First off, Modi not receiving his Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau at the airport, a courtesy he extended to some world leaders in the past, had triggered speculation in Canada that it was a snub to him for the rising Sikh radicalism in that country.

Ties between India and Canada have shown signs of tension ever since Trudeau began his visit to India.

The Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, is known to go to extreme lengths to project himself as part of a cause. It is very evident on his India trip where he can been wearing dazzling sherwanis and performing bhangra at a Canada House event or wearing kurtas to the Golden Temple. Social media users were quick to latch on to this and began saying that 'it was too Indian even for Indians'. According to NDTV , Vivek Dehejia, an economics professor in Ottawa told Canada's Global News, "It's a little over the top. I understand on day one having to wear the traditional clothes, but now it's getting too much."

'Those challenging the sovereignty, unity and integrity of our countries cannot even be tolerated': Modi

"We have agreed to strengthen our security cooperation. Terrorism and extremism are threats to democratic, pluralistic societies like India and Canada. It is important to come together to combat these."

First, talked about how to come together to benefit both Indians and Canada."

"I thank Prime Minister Modi for his warm reception here. We share, not only a rich history, but a natural friendship between the two nations. I'm glad to say we wrapped up a productive meeting and discussed mutual interests.

'Talked about how to come together to benefit both Indians and Canada': Trudeau

"As Canada looks to do business beyond borders, India is a natural partner and trusted friend in commercial operations," says Justin Trudeau.

Will not tolerate those who try to divide country, says Modi

MoUs were signed on energy, higher education, trade and investment, sports etc. You can read the full list on the official MEA website.

"We are committed to building friendliness with the Canadian-based Indian community and seeking active participation in India's progress. India-Canada is a natural partnership of shared values. I hope to have more robust partnership between the two countries and the bright future of our two countries."

MEA refers to Canadian side as 'Iranian' on its official website

#Tamils4JustinTrudeau is trending on Twitter. This fact becomes stranger when takes into consideration that Trudeau has neither visited Tamil Nadu nor said anything particularly focused on the Tamil community.

Yet, for some reason, the ones who are most excited (at least on Twitter) about Trudeau's visit to India seem to be Tamilians.

On his visit to India, Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau has gone to a lot of places. He has been to the Sabarmati Ashram in Gujarat, Golden Temple in Amritsar and Jama Masjid in New Delhi.

First, talked about how to come together to benefit both Indians and Canada."

"I thank Prime Minister Modi for his warm reception here. We share, not only a rich history, but a natural friendship between the two nations. I'm glad to say we wrapped up a productive meeting and discussed mutual interests.

'Talked about how to come together to benefit both Indians and Canada': Trudeau

"As Canada looks to do business beyond borders, India is a natural partner and trusted friend in commercial operations," says Justin Trudeau.

There should be no space for those who misuse religion for political motives and promote separatism. We will not tolerate those who challenge unity and integrity of our countries: PM Modi

Will not tolerate those who try to divide country, says Modi

As #Canada looks to diversify its own economy and looks for new opportunities to do business beyond its boundaries, India is a natural partner and a trusted friend for commercial cooperation: #JustinTrudeau pic.twitter.com/39Xht4ECab

MoUs were signed on energy, higher education, trade and investment, sports etc. You can read the full list on the official MEA website.

"We are committed to building friendliness with the Canadian-based Indian community and seeking active participation in India's progress. India-Canada is a natural partnership of shared values. I hope to have more robust partnership between the two countries and the bright future of our two countries."

MEA refers to Canadian side as 'Iranian' on its official website

India is a natural partner and a trusted friend says Prime Minister @JustinTrudeau at the press remarks at Hyderabad House pic.twitter.com/kZYTx5YcBt

#Tamils4JustinTrudeau is trending on Twitter. This fact becomes stranger when takes into consideration that Trudeau has neither visited Tamil Nadu nor said anything particularly focused on the Tamil community.

Yet, for some reason, the ones who are most excited (at least on Twitter) about Trudeau's visit to India seem to be Tamilians.

On his visit to India, Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau has gone to a lot of places. He has been to the Sabarmati Ashram in Gujarat, Golden Temple in Amritsar and Jama Masjid in New Delhi.

Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau arrived on Saturday on an eight-day visit at the invitation of his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi.

"Strategic partnership underpinned by shared values of democracy and pluralism! Namaste to the Right Honorable @JustinTrudeau, Prime Minister of Canada as he arrives on the state visit to India from 17-24 February, 2018," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted.

On Sunday, Trudeau started his visit to India with a tour of the iconic Taj Mahal, which he had first seen 35 years ago. Trudeau was accompanied by wife and three kids during the tour of white marble mausoleum on the banks of Ganga river.

"I was about Xav's age when I first visited the Taj Mahal almost 35 years ago... and it's amazing to be back with him & the family on Day 1 of our trip to India," he tweeted.

The Canadian first family was visibly thrilled during the visit and posed for a picture seated on the iconic bench with the monument in the backdrop.

The visit is aimed at further strengthening bilateral relations between the two countries in key areas of mutual interest trade and investment, energy, science and innovation, higher education, infrastructure development, skill development and space, a ministry statement said. Cooperation in security and counter-terrorism as well as exchange of views on global and regional issues of mutual interest will also form important components of the visit.

Canada is also home to around 1.4 million people of Indian origin.

Modi will hold bilateral talks with Trudeau on February 23 following which a number of agreements are expected to be signed. The trip comes nearly three years after Modi visited Canada in April 2015. The last visit of a Canadian Prime Minister to India was in November 2012.

During the course of his stay in India, Trudeau will also visit Agra, Ahmedabad, Mumbai and Amritsar.The sight of Narendra Modi's warm bearhugs, double-fisted handshakes and vigorous exchanges of pleasantries on the tarmac of one of Delhi's airports has become a common feature of most State visits to India these days

The sight of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's warm bearhugs, double-fisted handshakes and vigorous exchanges of pleasantries on the tarmac of one of Delhi's airports has become a common feature of most State visits to India these days. It isn't all that surprising then that there was uproar in some quarters when the prime minister didn't extend the same courtesy to his Canadian counterpart (and family) on Saturday evening.

On official state visits to India, PM Modi personally greets and welcomes the Israeli PM, UAE Crown Prince and US President. For PM Trudeau, he sends a low-ranking official. Canada is back pic.twitter.com/ezsMtFTPzr  Candice Malcolm (@CandiceMalcolm) February 17, 2018

Instead, it was Minister of State for Agriculture Rajendra Singh Shekhawat who met the Trudeaus (or is it Trudeaux?) at Palam Airport upon their arrival in Delhi. And while at face value, it may have seemed strange that Modi wasn't present, it's worth revisiting the fact that protocol doesn't dictate that the prime minister must greet heads of government/State at the airport. According to this article in The Tribune, until Rajiv Gandhi's tenure, the protocol was for the Prime Minister of India to greeting visiting counterparts from other States at the airport.

However, it was in 1984 and in view of the increasing number of world leaders visiting India that the protocol was tweaked. The new protocol dictated that it was no longer mandatory for the prime minister to be at the airport. Instead, a junior official could very easily carry out the task her/himself. In fact, as an article on the Ministry of External Affairs website points out, "the host country's chief protocol officer is the first hand that greets a visiting leader and the last face that he sees before returning home". The piece goes on to caution, "Unfortunately, protocol sometimes gets confused with just glory and grandeur, pomp and ceremony, and all that glitter and glamour."

It would appear that a section of commentators have fallen into this trap of confusion.

Like his predecessor Manmohan Singh, Modi too has set aside protocol  albeit more frequently  for a handful of world leaders, but it has never been mandatory. The prime minister is well within his authority to break protocol if he deems it a special occasion  say to greet a Republic Day chief guest or an important international partner, or if it's to reciprocate a similar gesture paid to him during his own State visit to that particular country. And should this give rise to questions about whether Trudeau isn't an important enough partner, look no further than Vladimir Putin.

No one will claim that the President of the Russian Federation isn't an important partner of Modi's  particularly, if they've seen this series of images, and yet Modi has to-date not received Putin at the airport.

Yogi Adityanath's refusal to meet Trudeau ahead of the Canadian prime minister's Taj Mahal visit and the uncertainty surrounding whether or not there will be a meeting with Captain Amarinder Singh notwithstanding, it's too early to call what Modi did (or didn't do) a snub. We'll need to wait at least until the duo finally meets in New Delhi or until he refuses to present young Xavier, Ella-Grace and Hadrien with signed first edition hardcover copies of Exam Warriors.

Follow all the LIVE updates of Justin Trudeau's maiden India State visit hereNalapad, who is Bengaluru district Youth Congress general secretary, was expelled from the party for six years following the incident

Karnataka Congress MLA NA Haris' son Mohammed Haris Nalapad surrendered at the Cubbon Park Police Station in Bengaluru on Monday, nearly two days after an FIR was filed against him and ten others for allegedly assaulting a man in UB City.

Shortly after he was taken into police custody, BJP and JD(S) workers began protesting outside the Cubbon Park Police Station alleging that the Congress was trying to shield Nalapad, and demanded that MLA NA Haris resign from his position., reported CNN-News18.

According to a News18 report, Bengaluru police commissioner Sunil Kumar had suspended Cubbon Park Circle Inspector Vijay Hadagali for failing to arrest Nalapad earlier.

Nalapad, who is Bengaluru district Youth Congress general secretary, was expelled from the party for six years following the incident, according to News18. President of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee, G Parameshwara on Sunday informed of Nalapad's suspension.

The incident took place when Nalapad, with his friends, walked into a pub in UB City around 10 pm. According to India Today, the victim, identified as Vidwath was having dinner in the same pub with his friend. Nalapad and his friends got into an argument with Vidwath when they asked him to sit properly.

Respond to the incident, working president of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee and national spokesperson Dinesh Gundu Rao condemned the attack and said that nobody is above the law.

Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah on Sunday, taking cognisance of the incident, said that "offenders should be punished to the full extent of law regardless of who they are".Private bus operators in Kerala on Sunday decided to continue their three-day old indefinite strike demanding hike in minimum bus fare as the talks held by the state government with them failed.

Kozhikode: Private bus operators in Kerala on Sunday decided to continue their three-day old indefinite strike demanding hike in minimum bus fare as the talks held by the state government with them failed.

"The government did not accept our demands. We cannot move ahead without a increase in the minimum fare to Rs.10 and the students concession from the existing Rs.1 to Rs 5 So, we have decided to continue with the indefinite strike," an office-bearer of the Private Bus Owners association said.

Earlier, Transport Minister A K Saseendran held a nearly two-hour long meeting with the association members at the government guest house here to find a solution to their issues.

The government had on 14 February raised the minimum bus fare to Rs 8. Demanding that the minimum bus fare be hiked to Rs 10 and the students concession from the prevailing Re one to Rs five, the private bus operators in the state went on the indefinite strike from 16 February.Let there be no doubt that Modi's image is considerably undermined after A Raja's acquittal in the 2G scam and further so with the unfolding of the Nirav Modi scam

Diagnosing what ails India's governance, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar used to name three arms of governance that are so corrupted that they are beyond redemption: Village patwaris, police station darogas and railway ticket collectors. He has, of late, added one more entity to the list: Bank employees.

Nitish was prompted to say this after the Srijan scandal blew up in his face soon after he parted company with Lalu Prasad Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and tied up with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) last year. The scam, running into hundreds of crores of rupees, was quite similar to Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi swindling Indian banks to the tune of about Rs 11,400 crore.

Like in Nirav Modi's case, the Srijan scam revolved around a clutch of district officials and some bank officers, who had conspired with a cooperative bank run by a controversial woman, named Manorama Devi, and diverted government funds meant for the district treasury. The scam was exposed when Manorama Devi suddenly died and government's cheques started bouncing. This baffled the chief minister who ordered an inquiry and handed the case over to the CBI for a thorough probe.

The Srijan scam is recalled here only to point out that there is an uncanny similarity of the script in so many bank scams, right from Harshad Mehta's to Nirav Modi's. And every time a scam comes to light, we realise that banks have tended to become even more careless and scamsters have gotten even more brazen. Consider the manner in which some truant bank employees had subsidised black money by offering exchange of old currency with new ones on discount during demonetisation.

In most cases, investigating authorities fix culpability on the "minions" in a cavalier manner and wash their hands of the episode. There is hardly any case of bank fraud where an exemplary punishment is meted out to culprits. Far from it, there is an impression firmly gaining ground that you will be easily let off if you commit a huge financial scam. And this perception is built over decades, as political leaders messed with the banking and financial systems and promoted cronyism and criminality of the worst order.

The 2014 Lok Sabha election was held against the backdrop of a cynical social acceptance of the prevalent chalta hai (business as usual) attitude. And there is no doubt Narendra Modi was seen as a subversive leader  in a positive sense. He promised to bring in a change in the culture of governance and overthrow "vested interests" which had come to monopolise institutions. He claimed that under his watch, the chalta hai attitude would not work. But all the talk is proving to be mere rhetoric if one looks at the manner in which the investigating agencies have washed out the 2G scam and allowed the Vijay Mallyas and Nirav Modis to flee the country despite mounting evidence of criminality against them.

Let there be no doubt that Modi's image is considerably undermined after A Raja's acquittal in the 2G scam and further so with the unfolding of the Nirav Modi scam. The quality of governance under his promised watch has come under critical scrutiny. The question arises: Why has the situation come to such a pass? An accomplished administrator that he was as the Gujarat chief minister, are we seeing unmistakable signs of drift in Modi's governance in New Delhi? Is he paying more attention to politics than governance?

Perhaps Modi is conscious of the fact that Atal Bihari Vajpayee paid more attention to governance and less to politics in his tenure and lost the 2004 election. During that phase, since all senior leaders of the BJP and its allies were inducted into the government, the BJP's organisational issues were at a discount. The party had been playing second fiddle to the government, resulting in its organisational structure being weakened. In Modi's tenure, there is no doubt that the BJP's organisation takes primacy over all other issues. And this is the precise reason why the party has been consistently expanding its base, not only beyond the Vindhyas to the South but also in the North East.

Though the party's growth is phenomenal after winning a series of state elections, it is strangely accompanied by a declining standard of governance in states where the BJP is in power. Take for instance Haryana and Jharkhand, where chief ministers are seen as clueless administrators. The Jharkhand chief minister even resorted to vituperative remarks during a debate in the Vidhan Sabha. In Rajasthan, Vasundhra Raje Scindia evokes sentiments that border on hatred among the electorate because of her governance. The loss of three seats in bye-elections is a testimony to her growing unpopularity. Of course, governance seems to largely be at a discount while the BJP's organisation has been gaining strength. This is quite a reversal of the position of NDA 1 led by Vajpayee.

With the next Lok Sabha elections only a year away, it's anybody's guess if this situation would bring political dividends to the BJP. But Modi's image of a leader who will subvert the chalta hai attitude in governance is taking a beating. He would be increasingly confronted in the future by people's sentiments which is evocatively captured in an Urdu couplet by Firaq Jalalpuri:

Tu idhar udhar ki baat na kar, ye bataa ke kaafila kyon luta

Mujhe Rahjanon se gila nahin, teri rehbari ka sawaal hai

(Don't talk about this and that, tell us why the caravan was looted. We have no complaint against the robbers, it is a question of your leadership.)

By way of a post-script, let us add that the last time this couplet made news was seven years ago. In those scam-a-day times, during a Parliament debate, Sushma Swaraj had quoted these lines to question Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's leadership.The road ahead for artificial intelligence (AI) depended on and would be driven by human intentions, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in Mumbai on Sunday

Mumbai: The road ahead for artificial intelligence (AI) depended on and would be driven by human intentions, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in Mumbai on Sunday.

He was speaking after dedicating the Wadhwani Institute for Artificial Intelligence in suburban Kalina to the nation.

"It is our intention that will determine outcomes of AI," Modi said.

"With every technological revolution, the scalability of technology has increased manifold. This has given humans increasingly more power," he said.

The march of technology can't be at the expense of further increasing the difference in society, he added.

The evolution of technology has to be rooted in the ethics of Sab ka saath, Sab ka vikas. "We need to make AI in India and it should work for India," Modi said.

"The road ahead for artificial intelligence depends on and will be driven by human intentions. It is our intention that will determine outcomes of AI," he said.

"We are using technology in an unparalleled way, from aeronautics to agriculture and from space missions to service deliveries," Modi said.

He pointed out the diversity in the country, while dwelling on the use of artificial intelligence.

"We are such a diverse nation of hundreds of languages and hundreds of dialects, can we have AI that makes communication and conversation across these languages and dialects easier? I am sure, we can," he said.

"With the arrival of artificial intelligence, there is no doubt that productivity will go up. But there are also rising fears of human redundancy because there is a competition between the mind and the machine," he said.

"Such fears are neither unfounded nor new. At every stage of technological evolution, we have faced such doubts and questions. This leads to two views of the future. The first brings hopes and aspirations and second brings fears and disruption," he said.

On Maharashtra government and Mumbai University helping set up the institute for artificial intelligence, Modi said it was an excellent example of public-private sector cooperation.

"The institute has ten scientists working at present and their number will go up to 50-100 in a few years. Initial investment (in the project) is Rs 200 crore," said Romesh Wadhwani, co-founder of the institute.Nirav Modi's case, and Rajendra Sethia before him, show there is something about PNB that makes it attractive to scamsters, loan defaulters and frauds.

There is something about the Punjab National Bank that makes it attractive to scamsters, loan defaulters and frauds. And, in spite of being duped, it just refuses to learn.

Much, much before our Mehul (Choksi) Bhai and his nephew Nirav Modi unburdened the bank of nearly Rs 11,000 crore and counting, the PNB had found itself in a similar soup because of another high-flying businessman, the suave Rajendra Sethia.

The bank's Sethia to Modi-Choksi story spans almost 30 years. But, nothing about the PNB seems to have changed. It is still a ripe, rotten mango waiting to be plucked by those with smart brains and right connections.

I met Sethia a few years ago at a wedding in Delhi. Everything about him appeared to be the same since he burst onto the London scene in the 1980s as a suave, high-flying exporter with many banks on his borrow-from-us-please list. He still had a pointed moustache, a flair for smooth talking and passion for a good life, in spite of several bypass surgeries on a young but ailing heart.

During the 1980s, the creme-de-la-creme would wait for Sethia's invite to his parties. Apart from the good food and drinks, he had another thing to offer  pick up anything stocked in his godowns that were stacked with expensive shoes, suits, watches and, well, almost everything.

When he spoke, and he did very little, Sethia maintained he was not the financial fraud he was made out to be by banks, among them, please note, the PNB. After having spent months in the Tihar jail, for being accused of helping Charles Sobhraj escape in April 1986, he maintained he was the victim, not the accused.

But, the PNB may not have agreed. In the 1980s, the PNB allegedly advanced him crores of Rupees to run his company Esal, without securing collaterals. Later, the bank claimed, the loans were given on the basis of fake securities and far exceeded the net worth of his business. A few years later, when Sethia's business floundered, the PNB found itself in a soup.

History, for those who are daft enough to not learn from it, repeats itself with a brute force. The PNB is learning it the hard way by finding itself in a similar mess three decades later. Modi and Choksi, two diamond exporters as flamboyant and well-connected as Sethia in his prime, appear to have disappeared with money that is almost a third of its stock market value. The modus operandi is almost similar.

The bank issued the duo loans many times the worth of their businesses. As a report by Reuters points out, the bank issued a series of fraudulent Letters of Undertaking  essentially guarantees sent to other banks so that they would provide loans to a customer, in this case, a group of Indian jewellery companies. These letters were sent to overseas branches of banks, thought to be almost all Indian, that would then lend money to the jewellery firms.

How could just two employees help Modi-Choksi siphon off crores is incomprehensible. One, the banks have a system of transferring their staff every three years. If, as reports suggest, the same staff continued to issue these letters for seven years, there were others helping them occupy the same office for a long period. This couldn't have happened without the connivance of senior management.

Such big loans could not have been approved without the senior management getting involved. Transactions running into crores would have required the sanction and scrutiny of the senior management. They would have come to the notice of the auditors, both internal and of the RBI. How Modi-Choksi managed to swindle the banks in spite of all these checks and balances would amuse even Sethia.

The truth is, public sector banks just refuse to learn from their mistakes. Every few years, they get looted by frauds who exploit the loopholes that remain in place in spite of a litany of catastrophes. While the banks treat ordinary defaulters as criminals, they continue to roll the red carpet for high-profile borrowers who are politically connected because of pliant and corrupt staff and systemic failures.

In the end, the money that is looted from these banks belongs to the Indian public. The fraud is perpetrated on depositors and tax-payers. In any other country, these banks would have been brought to their knees by class action suits seeking both punishment and payback.

Unfortunately, in India, the only people who can bring banks like the PNB to their knees are tricksters, criminals and defaulters.

The Sethias, Harshad Mehtas, Ketan Parekhs of India would have agreed.

With inputs from ReutersCBI on Monday sealed Brady House Branch of Punjab National Bank as multiple probe agencies continued with their investigation into the Rs 11,515 crore fraud

Mumbai: The CBI on Monday sealed the Brady House Branch of the Punjab National Bank as multiple probe agencies continued with their investigation into the Rs 11,515 crore fraud, according to officials.

The Central Bureau of Investigation pasted an official notice outside the branch in Fort - the bank's flagship lending window in Mumbai and its second largest national outlet.

All have been barred from opening or entering inside this branch without prior permission of the CBI or the CBI Special Court or the CBI Competent Authority.

Accordingly, all operations at the Brady House Branch came to a grinding halt and several bewildered staffers were seen waiting outside it for further orders from their bosses.

The action came two days after the Special CBI Court in Mumbai remanded to police custody till 3 March, three accused in the PNB fraud, including two former staffers.

The accused includes retired PNB deputy manager Gokulnath Shetty, Single Window Operator Manoj Kharat and authorized signatory of the prime accused Nirav Modi's group companies, Hemant Bhatt.

The three were the very first arrests to be in the sensational case so far by the CBI from different parts of Mumbai and Raigad. More arrests were expected soon, officials have indicated.

Besides these, the CBI earlier named 10 other directors and officials as accused in the scam which has created a nationwide furore.

They are: Krishnan Sangameshwaran, Nazura Yashjaney, Gopal Das Bhatia, Aniyath Shivraman, Dhanesh Vrajlal Sheth, Jyoti Bharat Vora, Anil Umesh Haldipur, Chandrakant Kanu Karkare, Pankhuri Abhijeet Varange and Mihir Bhaskar Joshi.

The prime accused, diamond trader Nirav Modi and other associates fled the country in early January, before the massive PNB fraud came to light.

The multi-pronged action by the CBI, Enforcement Directorate and others comes five days after PNB admitted to unearthing a fraud of Rs 11,515 crore involving Modi's companies and certain other accounts in the Brady House Branch.

The fraud, which includes money-laundering among others, concerns the Firestar Diamonds group in which the CBI last week booked Modi, his wife Ami, brother Nishal Modi and their uncle Mehul Choksi.The crackdown on billionaire diamantaire Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi intensified with the ED seizing jewellery worth Rs 22 crore, the I-T department attaching seven properties, and the CBI grilling four senior executives of his company

New Delhi: The crackdown on billionaire diamantaire Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi intensified on Monday with the ED seizing jewellery worth Rs 22 crore, the I-T department attaching seven properties, and the CBI grilling four senior executives of his company.

Central Vigilance Commissioner KV Chowdary met senior PNB and finance ministry officials in connection with the Rs 11,400-crore fraud case.

Enforcement Directorate (ED) Chief Karnal Singh also flew down to Mumbai to review the PNB fraud-related anti-money laundering investigations which are being conducted by a special team of the agency.

The total value of gems and jewellery seized so far stands at Rs 5,671 crore.

As part of the multi-agency probe in the case, the Income Tax department on Monday attached seven properties of the Gitanjali group and its promoter Mehul Choksi, uncle of Modi, in Mumbai.

Official sources said ED sleuths searched Modi's flat in the posh Samudra Mahal apartments in upmarket Worli in south Mumbai.

The central probe agency also conducted searches at 38 other locations in several cities, including Mumbai, Pune, Aurangabad, Thane, Kolkata, Delhi, Jammu, Lucknow, Bengaluru and Surat.

While the ED is looking into the money laundering aspect of the Rs 11,400-crore scam, the CBI continued to focus on unravelling the mystery behind the issuance of Letters of Understanding and Letters of Credit bypassing the bank's regulatory mechanism.

The agency on Monday questioned Vipul Ambani, president (finance) of Modi's Fire Star Diamond, its Chief Financial Officer Ravi Gupta, and executives Saurabh Sharma and Subhash Parab.

It also intensified its search operation at the Brady Road branch of the Punjab National Bank in Mumbai from where all the LOUs and LCs were issued, officials said.

They said Ambani had been holding the position for over three years. It is believed he was aware of the financial transactions carried out by the company of the jeweller-businessman, who fled the country before the PNB reported the fraud.

Ambani is understood to be a relative of late industrialist Dhirubhai Ambani.

A CBI spokesperson said the PNB branch was briefly sealed early this morning to prevent any "possible tampering".

He said the seal and the notice were removed during the day.

The CBI had on Sunday started a search operation at the PNB branch, which is at the centre of the colossal banking fraud involving Modi and Choksi.

The agency continued to question two arrested PNB officials and an authorised signatory of Nirav Modi's company, the officials said.

The probe agency has also started interrogating 13 other officials of the PNB, including general manager-level officers, they said.

CBI officials said the agency is still questioning arrested bank officials Gokulnath Shetty (retired) and Single Window Operator Manoj Kharat, and Hemant Bhat, the signatory of Nirav Modi's company.

On the money laundering part, the ED obtained information from the whistle-blower in the case who had said he had raised flags against Choksi's loan in 2013.

It has also sought PNB's audit reports since 2011 from the RBI, they said.

The ED is also moving to attach at least two dozen immovable properties of Modi, Choksi and their concerns under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The ED and the Income Tax department have zeroed in on about 200 dummy or shell companies in India and abroad that were being used to route or receive funds as part of the alleged fraud.

It is suspected that the shell firms were being used by the accused to launder money and create benami assets in the form of land, gold and precious stones, which are now being probed by the tax department.

Modi, Choksi and others are being investigated by multiple probe agencies after it recently came to light, following a complaint by the PNB, that they allegedly cheated the nationalised bank to the tune of Rs 11,400 crore, with the purported involvement of a few employees of the bank.

The CBI and the ED have registered two FIRs each to probe the case.The CBI virtually took control of the entire campus of Punjab National Bank's Brady Road branch in Mumbai, which is at the centre of a clossal banking fraud involving billionaire jewellers Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi, and started an intensive search operation, officials said on Monday

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In the complaint, PNB had named three diamond firms -- Diamonds R Us, Solar Exports and Stellar Diamonds -- saying they had approached it on January 16 with a request for buyers' credit for making payment to overseas suppliers...

Last week, PNB had lodged an FIR with CBI stating that fraudulent LoUs worth Rs 280.7 crore were first issued on 16 January. At the time, PNB had said it was digging into records to examine the magnitude of the fraud.

A look back at how the scam was carried out

A retired PNB officer and a clerk have been booked by the CBI for helping Nirav Modi, his wife and relatives, a Times of India report said. PNB's retired deputy manager Gokulnath Setty and single window operator Manoj Kharat had issued eight letters of understanding (LoU) worth over Rs 280 crore to Niravs company just three months before the formers retirement, the report said.

At the bourses, Gitanjali Gems plunged nearly 19 percent on reports over its involvement in the PNB fraud case in morning trade after the company came under scanner of various investigating agencies following the Punjab National Bank's declaration of nearly Rs 11,400-crore fraud. The stock today opened on a bearish note at Rs 48, then lost further ground to touch a low of Rs 47.50, down 18.94 per cent over its previous closing price.

The regulators are set to spread their net overseas as it has been found that credit was availed from various bank branches in Hong Kong on the basis of Letters of Undertaking (LoUs) issued by Punjab National Bank.

The Reserve Bank and the Sebi are likely to approach their counterparts in Hong Kong for cooperation in the matter relating to the whopping over Rs 11,400 crore fraud at public sector lender PNB where several entities have come under the scanner, officials said on Wednesday.

This is the second consecutive day of decline for the stock. It had slumped 10 percent yesterday. The state-owned bank said it had detected a USD 1.77 billion (about Rs 11,400 crore) fraud in which billionaire jeweller Nirav Modi allegedly acquired fraudulent letters of undertaking (LoUs) from one of its branches for overseas credit from other Indian lenders.  PTI

Shares of Punjab National Bank today extended its fall for the second straight session, falling as much as 9 percent in morning trade after the lender said it has detected a USD 1.77 billion fraud. The stock opened at Rs 137, then hit a low of Rs 133.45, down 8.47 per cent over its previous closing price. On the NSE, the stock opened at Rs 137.60, then fell 8.57 per cent to Rs 133.35.

Times Now reported that Bollywood actress Priyanka Chopra said that she never got paid for a diamond advertisement.

The CBI FIR itself lists out the details of the accused. The primary name is that of Nirav Modi who is listed as a partner in M/s Diamond R US, M/s Solar Exports and M/s Stellar Diamonds.

The CBI FIR dated 31 January, 2018 was based on a complaint filed by Avneesh Nepalia, the Deputy General Manager at Punjab National Bank. It alleged that the partnership firms mentioned in the complaint had gained an amount of Rs 280.70 crore rupees while the bank suffered a wrongful loss of the same magnitude.

He addressed the row on Nirav Modi's photograph with Narendra Modi at the World Economic Forum 2018 in Davos, asking how there was no background check done on those posing with the prime minister.

Speaking to India Today, Congress leader Sanjay Jha said that the alleged fraud involving jeweller Nirav Modi "is a serious scam of epic proportions".

The AAP then asked why Nirav Modi was "part of a delegation" that accompanied the prime minister and sought response from the saffron party on the row. "We think he(Narendra Modi) is busier with speeches and speaking his 'Mann ki Baat'," one of the AAP leaders said.

Speaking at a press conference, members of the Aam Aadmi Party mentioned Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi, and claimed that before any such businessman becomes a fugitive, he is "seen hanging around the BJP office".

India Today reported that among the 40 properties raided by CBI in connection with the alleged fraud involving Nirav Modi, 9 properties belonged to the jeweller.

He said, "I want to say one thing clearly. No one will be spared. This will be regardless of the status and the status of the accused,"

"Till now, both the CBI and ED has taken speedy action in the wake of complaint made to the CBI. Till now, CBI has raided nine properties belonging to Nirav Modi: 3 in Surat, 4 in Mumbai and 2 in Delhi. Assets worth 13,000 has been seized and action has been taken to revoke his passport. Look out notice has been issued," Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Wednesday.

He further said that "very good photographs of the Congress leaders with Mehul Choksi is available with us." "But we don't want to stoop to that level," he added.

Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad hit out at the Congress for linking Nirav Modi's fraud case to Narendra Modi. He said, "The BJP takes strong offence by calling someone 'chota Modi'. It is derogatory and scandalous. Nirav Modi was not the part of the delegation at Davos. He reached there on his own."

"Jinke ghar aise sheeshe ke ho jo tukde tukde hochuke hai, woh dusre ke ghar pathar na feke(Those who live in house made of broken glass should not throw stones at others' residences," Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said at a press conference.

"Narendra Modi's shadow will not be harmed because of Randeep Surjewala or Congress. He is loved by the people. And what kind of language is Congress using? 'Chota Modi' jibe is shameful, condemnable and utterly irresponsible," Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Wednesday.

PNB gives CBI a list of 150 Letters of Undertaking which were fraudulently issued to transfer money to firms associated with Nirav Modi, PTI quotes officials as saying.

The agency issued a look out circular against all the four after registering the first FIR against them, they said.

His brother Nishal, a Belgian citizen, also left the country on 1 January, while wife Ami, a US citizen, and business partner Mehul Choksi, who is the Indian promoter of Gitanjali jewellery chain, departed on 6 January, the officials said.

Billionaire jewellery designer Nirav Modi had left the country on 1 January much before the CBI received a complaint from Punjab National Bank on 29 January about a Rs 280-crore fraud, officials said.

The bank has sent two more complaints to the CBI on Tuesday, saying the scam was worth more than Rs 11,400 crore.

Nirav Modi, a regular feature on the lists of rich and famous Indians since 2013, was booked by the CBI, along with wife, brother and business partner Choksi on 31 January, for allegedly cheating the state-run Punjab National Bank to the tune of Rs 280 crore.

The diamantaire is an India citizen but his brother Nishal and wife Ami are not Indian nationals, the officials said.

Nirav Modi, who is believed to be in Switzerland, was also present in a group photo of Indian CEOs with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, issued by the Press Information Bureau, in World Economic Forum on 23 January, six days before the bank sent its first complaint against him to the CBI, according to the officials.

Nirav Modi is an Indian citizen by his brother and wife are not, say officials

The CBI has sought revocation of the passports of billionaire jewellery designer Nirav Modi and his partner Mehul Choksi who are the main accused in alleged fraudulent transactions, officials told PTI. Nirav Modi, who holds an Indian passport, left India on 1 January, while his brother Nishal, a Belgian citizen, departed from the country on same day.

NDTV reported that Nirav Modi is staying in a suite at the JW Marriott's Essex House in Manhattan, New York, a short walk away from his luxurious Madison Avenue jewelry retail store.

"This (diffusion) is less formal than a notice but is also used to request the arrest or location of an individual or additional information in relation to a police investigation. A diffusion is circulated directly by an NCB (CBI in this case) to the member countries of their choice, or to the entire INTERPOL membership and is simultaneously recorded in Interpols Information System," the website of Interpol says.

The ED on Friday issued summons for appearance to billionaire diamond merchant Nirav Modi and his business partner Mehul Choksi in connection with its money laundering probe, officials said. They said both Modi and Choksi were summoned under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and asked to depose within a week's time. The notices were handed over to the directors of the firms of the two businessmen as they were not in the country.

Secondly, ED investigators want to know whether these LoUs were even once  at any point of time over the past seven years  returned to the originating bank branch for verification, and if so, whether or not these transactions were flagged in the annual audit report of the banks foreign exchange department.

Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials said they were baffled when the top boss of Punjab Nationa Bank claimed that the bank was both whistle-blower and victim. The ED has sought documents related to SWIFT payments as such transactions are verified to ascertain FEMA provisions. The verification sometimes takes a week before the final clearance is granted

"When I opposed the Gitanjali Gems loan proposal, my fight with Allahabad Bank board got really intense and dirty. They tried to persuade, mollify and even threaten me but I said such loans to the corporates without recovery will only add to more non-performing assets. I also wrote to the Reserve Bank of India and secretary, financial services in the Ministry of Finance in my effort to warn them of a massive scam looming large. My request was to take immediate preventive action and keep a watch on all the companies linked to Choksi's firm, as they were accumulating loans without making payments to the bank," Dubey said.

Dinesh Dubey, a journalist by profession, exclusively spoke to Firstpost exposing the deep-rooted corruption in the banking system and how the UPA government turned a blind eye to illegitimate loan sanctions.

Although Firstpost could not independently verify the news, there have been several reports suggesting that Priyanka's management had alleged that she wasn't paid the amount the two parties had agreed on.

A spokesperson for Priyanka Chopra said: "There are speculative reports that Priyanka Chopra has sued Nirav Modi. This is not true. However, she is currently seeking legal opinion with respect to terminating her contract with the brand in light of allegations of financial fraud against Nirav Modi."

Sources in the Finance Ministry are saying that the recapitalisation of the Punjab National Bank will not be impacted by the fraud case

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) must feel like Cassandra gifted with the ability to tell the future, but cursed that her prophecies would never be believed (she is a character in the Greek myth The Iliad, and sister of one of the main protagonists, Hector, Prince of Troy). The latest example is the Rs 11,000 crore plus fraud perpetrated in a Mumbai branch of Punjab National Bank.

Banks will have to be equipped with better risk management as NPAs pile-up

It also said none of the overseas branches of India-based banks had shared with PNB any documents or information at the time of extending buyers credit to the companies. PNB said Nirav Modi had written to the bank but had yet to offer any formal proposal for a repayment.

Banking sources have said several other banks who have extended loans based on the PNB LoUs that were later found to be fraudulent are at risk of losing money. Some of the banks say PNB is liable to pay since it issued the LoUs, although PNB, in a 12 February caution notice addressed to chief executives of 30 banks, including two foreign banks, said the other banks also have a share in the blame as they overlooked certain Indian central bank rules.

PNB has said the transactions are contingent in nature, and it will decide on the liability based on the law and the genuineness of underlying transactions, reported Reuters.

CBI has registered an FIR against Gitanjali Group of companies of Mehul Choksi (Nirav Modi's uncle and alleged partner) based on complaint of PNB

"If they fail to respond within the stipulated time it will be assumed that they have no response to offer and the MEA will go ahead with the revocation," the ministry said in a statement.

The external affairs ministry suspended with immediate effect the passports of diamantaire Nirav Modi and his business partner Mehul Choksi for four weeks. The ministry gave them one week to respond why their passports should not be revoked.

"The PNB management is blaming other banks for not sharing details of their due diligence done on Modi's business. The $1.8 billion fraud is done on non-fund based transaction. The PNB management has to clarify what kind of due diligence it had done while lending to Modi's firms a sum of Rs 1,700 crore," CH Venkatachalam, General Secretary at All India Bank Employees' Association (AIBEA) said.

He also asked the PNB management to reveal what kind of due diligence was done on diamond trader Nirav Modi and his companies before extending a loan of Rs 1,700 crore.

Only the naive would believe that just two officials were involved in the $1.8 billion fraud in Punjab National Bank (PNB) and that the whole bank was in the dark for the past seven years, said a top leader of a major bank union.

The Sebi and stock exchanges have begun analysing the stock market trade details of all entities associated with Modi including Choksi, who has already been under scanner for various cases including a brokerage default incident.

Incidentally, in July 2013, NSE in consultation with Sebi had debarred Gitanjali Gems chief and main promoter Mehul Choksi among others from trading, for securities market violations relating to trading in his company.

Sebi accords utmost importance to market conduct and integrity. Anyone found violating the securities laws will be dealt with firmly, a regulatory official said.

Markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has launched a probe into trading and disclosure related issues in the matter of Punjab National Bank and Gitanjali Gems in connection with over Rs 11,000 crore banking fraud allegedly perpetrated by absconding Nirav Modi.

Bank loan frauds have steadily increased as well, reaching Rs 176.34 billion in the latest financial year from Rs 63.57 billion in 2012-13, according to the data, which doesnt include the PNB case.

The figures expose the magnitude of the problem in a banking sector already under pressure after years of poor lending practices. Bad loans surged to a record peak of nearly $149 billion in 2017.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data, obtained through an RTI request, shows state-run banks have reported 8,670 loan fraud cases totalling Rs 612.6 billion over the last five financial years up to March 31, 2017.

Investors may have been shocked when one of Indias biggest banks disclosed a $1.77 billion fraud by a billionaire jeweller, but the central bank has recorded data that shows the problem runs far deeper and wider.

"UDAAN word is Narendra Modi's buzzword, Any scamster can flee and fly," said Surjewala said.

At a press conference, Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said that in the past 24 hours, the biggest fraud in India has been exposed. He added that the scam is worth Rs 21,306 crore

The Congress then played a video of one of Narendra Modi's 2015 address as evidence that he is familiar with Choksi. "Why is the Centre denying it?" asked Surjewala.

"From 7 May 2015 to May 2017, everybody knew about the fraud. They were even informed that this fraudster will flee. It is likely that Prime Minister Narendra Modi knows Mehul Choksi," Randeep Surjewala said on Thursday.

Ex-CBI director says it could take months or even years to track Nirav Modi's overseas money trail

Whistleblower Dinesh Dubey says he had sent dissent note against Gitanjali Gems to Centre, RBI in 2013

Everyone in Modi government was aware of the fraud being committed

"Rahul Gandhi was at Nirav Modi's 2013 exhibition and immediately Allahabad Bank gets notified about the fraud. Dubey wrote to all the important ministries in the Centre at that time. Finance secretary instead suggested Dubey to resign. This is the story. We want to ask, who pressurised the finance secretary? This is a UPA 'ghotala'," Prakash Javadekar said at a press briefing.

"All the wrong loans were sanctioned under the UPA government and it was passed on to us. We have not stopped any of the investigating agencies. This is one of the scams under the UPA. There is a difference between government scams and bank scams. They even have a party scam. It has come to light because of our alertness and our efforts to make banking systems transparent," Union minister Prakash Javadekar said at a press conference.

Nirav Modi scam has come to light because of our efforts: Centre

Asserting that the Centre is "making sure" that the money will be recovered, Union minister Prakash Javadekar said, "What UPA did was destroy the banking system. Coal scam, 2G, CWG are all government scams and they are not comparable with Nirav Modi scam(which allegedly began at a bank)."

Ex-CBI director says not necessary Nirav Modi will be extradited because of Interpol notice

Revenue secretary says Dinesh Dubey resigned in 2013 saying he was 'unhappy over something'

CBI carries out searches in 26 places across India after naming 3 companies in fresh FIR registered in PNB fraud case, reports PTI

At a press briefing, MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said that Nirav Modi and other Indian CEOs were at Davos on their own. He further added that the Narendra Modi's impromptu meeting was not in any way an endorsement of Nirav Modi or his business.

MEA says Nirav Modi cannot move out of the country after suspension of passport

"The fact that an officer of the level of deputy manager, as is being reported in the media, could single-handedly wreck not only the country's second largest PSU bank but also several other lenders, shows how the risk management system is lacking in these entities and how a chain of command system was not there or was not followed, said the chamber.

The alleged fraudulent transactions from a single branch of the bank show how vulnerable Indian banks, especially PSBs, have become, with a dangerous potential contagion in the country's financial system, Assocham said.

India Inc on Friday called for swift and strict action against the companies who have allegedly defrauded Punjab National Bank, while expressing concern over the vulnerability of lenders.

During the investors' conference call, the bank chief reiterated that the incident was a standalone case. "We are looking at gaps in our existing controls, systems and trying to control them," he added.

He said the bank was going through some problems but "we will fix it", adding that the bank "will not spare anyone" involved in the crime.

"We will get back to normalcy within six months. Bank has the size and capacity to come out of the problem," Sunil Mehta, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Punjab National Bank. told a investors' conference call on Friday.

Despite the huge blow of $1.8 billion fraud, India's second largest public sector bank is hopeful of coming out of the problem in the next six months, according to its top official.

We will get back to normal within six months: PNB chief

"Some ripple effects are bound to happen and it (the fraud) will have some psychological impact on the mind of loan advancers. Whenever a banker is financing someone, he will be more cautious to check out whether there is any possibility of fraud or not. This could impact credit flow to the industry or lead to delay in extending advances," Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) Regional Chairman (Eastern Region) Prakash Chandra Pincha said.

However, they also said that in the wake of the fraud, the entire gems and jewellery industry should not be blamed or branded as "risky" industry.

Jewellery traders and exporters are apprehending that "ripple effects" of the $1.8 billion fraud involving billionaire diamond trader Nirav Modi's companies could make lenders more cautious and impact credit flow to the industry to some extent, officials said here on Friday.

"But with developments in the company going off-track, how much will it hold is something that time will decide," he added.

"Price-wise, the way the stock of Gitanjali Gems has slipped and the kind of circuit that we are seeing, probably the sequence may continue for some days. From a support perspective, Rs 29-30 is a support," Sacchitanand Uttekar, Assistant Vice-President at Research for Tradebulls, said.

Stocks of Gitanjali Gems, the luxury jewellery brand promoted by the main accused Nirav Modi's maternal uncle and business partner Mehul Choksi, plunged 19.94 percent to close at Rs 37.55 per share.

Following the $1.8 billion fraud detected by the Punjab National Bank (PNB), stocks of jewellery company Gitanjali Gems on Friday plunged almost 20 percent  hitting its lower circuit  while PNB's shares closed over 2 percent lower.

The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) has summoned senior officials from the Reserve Bank of India, the finance ministry and the Chief Vigilance Officer of Punjab National Bank (PNB), next week to assess how the fraud reported slipped past all the checks and balances in the system, The Hindu reported.

The Income Tax Department on Saturday provisionally attached 29 properties and 105 bank accounts of the diamond merchant Nirav Modi, his family and firms as part of its tax evasion probe

Nirav Modi may be holding dual citizenship, according to The Tribune report. Modi and his brother Nishal grew up in Belgium. According to intelligence sources Nishal had surrendered his Indian passport and acquired Belgian citizenship, added the report.

CBI on Saturday arrested Gokulnath Shetty former deputy manager of Punjab National Bank, Manoj Kharat, single window operator at PNB and Hemant Bhat, Authorised Signatory of the Nirav Modi Group of Firms, said media reports.

Congress leader Kapil Sibal, while taking dig at Prime Minister Narendrs Modi, said that the Chaukidar of the coutry is busy these days. "The situation which has arose today is because Chaukidar is sleeping. How can one say that the prime minister, finance minister did not know about the PNB fraud."

Sibal said that banks gave loan even though there was no collateral. He asked the government why action was not being taken against loan defaulters. "If India's economic situations worsens, investors will lose trust. Nivar Modi scam can be called ease of doing business. We don't want this kind of ease of doing business," said the congress leader.

PM should disclose who travells with him on official tours: Sibal

He alleged that in 2015 there was a complaint file regarding the PNB issue but PMO replied that this had been 'dealt with'. "How was it dealt it? This proves that they were aware of all this," asked Sibal

Sibal said that with ill-intentions, the BJP brought India's economy to its knees. "I challenge BJP to come and talk about UPA's governance and their governance," said the congress leader.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday conducted raids at Nirav Modi's franchise Gitanjali Gems Store in Durgapur, West Bengal. The ED also seized diamond and jewellery worth Rs 3 crore in raids at Gitanjali and Nakshatra Jewellers in Jaipur.

The agency said that many old LoUs too were renewed in 2017. Nirav Modi and his relatives were rolling over the LoU money by getting them renewed, added the report.

The CBI has said that a majority of the Letters of Understanding (LoUs) in the Punjab National Bank fraud were either issued or were renewed in the bank in 2017-18, The Indian Express reported.

"Original sin in Nirav Modi fraud was committed in 2011. The Letters of Understand (LoU) hold good only for 90 days. But the accused PNB officer kept rolling the LoUs till he got retired. He didn't put details in banking system which lead to no one detecting the scam," Sitharaman said.

BJP leader and defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday, in a press conference, said that Congress' allegations against the Centre are misleading people. She said that repeating lies is a strategy being adopted by Congress.

Nirmala Sitharaman said that the entire might of the government has been invoked to nab Nirav Modi. She said that Centre put all concerned authorities in action immediately after the PNB fraud came to light.

"Adwait Holding owns a commercial property at Lower Parel, as it does elsewhere, which was rented by Firestone many years ago. Neither Adwait nor my family has any interest with Nirav Modi or Firestone. Firestone vacated Parel's Kamala Mills premises in December 2017," Singhvi further explained.

"Nirmala Sitharaman and her colleagues are liable to civil and criminal defamation for making ignorant and patently false allegations," Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi said according to ANI. "Neither my wife, sons nor me have anything whatsoever to do with Gitanjali or Nirav Modi's companies. The company was a tenant of a Kamala Mills properties owned by Adwait Holdings in which my wife and sons are directors," he added.

Neither my wife, sons nor me have anything whatsoever to do with Gitanjali or Nirav Modi companies, says Abhishek Manu Singhvi

"NDA's cheap sense of politics has reached ludicrous and ridiculous proportions," Abhishek Singhvi says on Twitter in retaliation to Nirmala Sitharaman's charges against him

"When will the finance minister and the prime minister come clean on the Nirav Modi scam?" Congress asks on Twitter

ANI reports that the three accused are Gokulnath Shetty, then deputy manager of Punjab National Bank (PNB) and Manoj Kharat, SWO (single window operator) of PNB and Hemant Bhat, Authorised Signatory of the Nirav Modi Group of Firms.

"Nirav Modi took away Rs 22,000 crores. The prime minister can teach kids how to take an exam for one and a half hours but he can't tell the country who is responsible for the money Nirav Modi took away. The prime minister must answer what is he going to do about it," Congress president Rahul Gandhi said after the Congress steering committee on Saturday. Rahul also rejected the BJP's charge that he has personal ties with Nirav Modi, saying they are trying to divert the issue.

Enforcement Directorate conducted further searches at 21 locations across India in Nirav Modi case and seized diamonds, gold, precious stones, metals and jewellery worth Rs 25 crore, reports ANI. Total seizure now stands at Rs 5,674 crore, ED added.

Speaking to CNN-News18, former executive of Gitanjali Gems, Santosh Srivastava slammed Mehul Choksi, who is now at the eye of the storm for siphoning off Rs 11,400 crore from Punjab National Bank. "Choksi created an unprofessional institution. It was an one man show at Gitanjali. He threatened me when I decided to tell the truth," Srivastava said.

WATCH: Srivastava says he has been writing to authorities since 2015 but with no success

News18 reported that CVC was not satisfied with the information given by top brass of the Punjab National Bank. According to the report, it wants vigilance officer of PNB to step in and report back on lapses. The CVC will also issue fresh guidelines to all banks.

According to News18, at least six to seven employees are being questioned inside the branch by the Central Bureau of Investigation. According to the report, the CBI is investigating whether there are more people involved in the scam.

FICCI, the representative body of Indian private companies has pushed for privatisation of public sector banks. Claiming that the recapitalisation of banks have had little impact on the health of public sector banking, FICCI believed that financial irregularities have been affecting India's image as a business friendly nation.

Celebrity jeweller and prime accused in the alleged Rs 11,400-crore Punjab National Bank fraud Nirav Modi will be represented by advocate Vijay Aggarwal in the courts, said media reports on Monday. Aggarwal has previously represented a number of accused in the 2G spectrum allocation scam case.

The Shiv Sena on Sunday attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the multi-crore-rupee Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam and alleged that diamond czar Nirav Modi, who is at the centre of the scandal, had been a "partner" of the BJP and helped it collect funds for elections.

Investigation agencies believe billionaire businessman may be in Dubai. According to India Today, the CBI may have got a tip-off from undisclosed sources and is currently seeking Interpol's help to nab Modi.

According to News18, the government has written to RBI asking if lapses have been noticed on five counts. The report added that RBI's response is expected after due diligence with banks.

The CBI is questioning Vipul Ambani, the Chief Financial Officer of diamantaire Nirav Modi's Fire Star diamond company, officials said on Monday. They said Vipul Ambani was holding the position for last three to four years. He is understood to be a relative of late Dhirubhai Ambani, reported PTI.

According to a News18 investigation, the FIR filed by the CBI stated that eight LoUs were issued. However, the investigation claims that 150 LoUs were issued to Nirav Modi, the alleged mastermind of the 11,000 crore scam.

According to CNN-News18, the Rs.11,000 crore scam is just the tip of the iceberg. One-hundred fifty LoUs (Letters of Understanding) and 233 foreign letters of credit were issued to Nirav Modi, the report said.

In its latest complaint to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), an exclusive copy of which is with Firstpost, the PNB gave vague responses to the investigators' questions and directed them to the in-house probe.

The PNB has also contradicted itself by admitting that there are several loopholes in Letters of Undertaking (LoUs), which could have been easily detected.

Even before the investigating agencies begin their probe, an in-house inquiry by state-owned Punjab National Bank (PNB), which was allegedly defrauded of Rs 11,360 crore by diamond merchant Nirav Modi and his maternal uncle Mehul Choksi, has given a clean chit to its auditors and blamed foreign branches of Indian banks.

The bank's Sethia to Modi-Choksi story spans almost 30 years. But, nothing about the PNB seems to have changed. It is still a ripe, rotten mango waiting to be plucked by those with smart brains and right connections.

Much, much before our Mehul (Choksi) Bhai and his nephew Nirav Modi unburdened the bank of nearly Rs 11,000 crore and counting, the PNB had found itself in a similar soup because of another high-flying businessman, the suave Rajendra Sethia.

Nirav Modi's fraud case not a first for Punjab National Bank, it has been a sitting duck for decades

Enforcement Directorate (ED) sleuths are examining details of over 250 shell firms linked to Nirav Modi, his brother and Mehul Choksi, which they suspect were used to move ill-gotten financial assets after they defrauded state-owned Punjab National Bank of Rs 11,360 crore. These ghost entities, sources said, allegedly acted like a sleeper cell to launder money in India and abroad.

ED begins attachment of various properties of Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi in Mumbai, reports News18. The total assets seized as of now stands at Rs 5716 crores.

Firstpost takes a look at the events that unfolded since 16 January when the Punjab National Bank first found out about the fraudulent transactions in what has now become the largest banking scam in Indian history.

ED Director Karnal Singh has reached Mumbai to take over the probe into the Punjab National Bank fraud case, reports Moneycontrol . The report adds that the Enforcement Directorate might also issue Letters of Rogatory to Hong Kong and other nations where they suspect that funds were diverted

The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) has asked Punjab National Bank and finance ministry officials to submit a report on how the scam took place despite monetary regulations to avoid the same being in place. ANI reports that the commission has given the bank 10 days to formulate the report.

Corporate frauds like the Nirav Modi scam, phenomenal rise in non-performing assets (NPAs), new provisions like bail-in under Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance (FRDI) regime are a multi-pronged conspiracy aimed at weakening India's predominantly public-owned banking system. This would result in corporate appropriation of public savings besides diverting household savings into speculative investment to fuel market bubbles. Thus, the Nirav Modi scam is not an aberration.

A tiny, decrepit room in Kalbadevi, a chawl in Kalyan, a run-down accommodation in Dahisar, and an old Amboli flat with barely any amenities are the registered residential addresses of directors appointed by the companies of wanted billionaire jeweller Mehul Choksi, reported Bombay Mirror . These people are actually ordinary employees and small-time retail investors who were persuaded by the companies to serve as top company members on paper.

I-T department serves notice to Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi for unaccounted payment to the tune of Rs 4.5 crore out of which only Rs 1.5 crores was paid in cheque.The notice was sent after transactions showed Singhvi had bought diamonds worth Rs 6 crores.- CNN-News 18

It is inappropriate to assume that Congress is involved in this matter: NCP leader Majeed Memon

Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi denies charges, says,"We must have purchased jewellery from various stores. But, there is no cash transaction with Nirav Modi."

International rating agencies Moody's Investor Service and Fitch Ratings today warned the scam-hit Punjab National Bank (PNB) of rating downgrades, citing likely net worth erosion and widening losses at the second largest state-run lender. The Rs 11,400-crore fraudthe biggest in the country's banking historyhas raised questions on both internal and external risk controls at PNB as well as the quality of management supervision at the regulatory level considering that the fraud went undetected for several years, the agencies said.- PTI

In a letter written to Punjab National Bank, Nirav Modi has accused the bank of destroying his brand and says the move has jeopardised his ability to repay banks, media reports said.

"We want a discussion on the PNB fraud case in the ongoing session of the state assembly. We hope the ruling party won't have any objection. We will submit it very soon," Leader of Opposition and Congress MLA Abdul Mannan said.- PTI

The Opposition Congress and CPM on Tuesday demanded a discussion on the Punjab National Bank fraud case in the ongoing session of the state Assembly. The ruling Trinamool Congress is yet to take a call on the issue and mocked Congress and CPM for staging walkout from the house during most of the discussions.

Singhvi asks why no one else received a notice in this regard first

Meanwhile, Congress leader spokesperson Manish Tewari said question does not stop at Nirav Modi and Vikram Kothari but extends to the credibility of entire banking sector.

Congress leader Manish Tewari defends Manu Singhvi, says the question is whether the Centre wants to remain 'helpless' in the PNB scam or not. - CNN-News 18

Congress defends Manu Singhvi, says question is whether Indian govt wants to remain 'helpless' in case or not

Gitanjali employees were handed over relieving letters and were refused gratuity. The employees soon took to the roads and decided to protest demanding February salary.

Punjab National Bank's market valuation has slumped by Rs 10,939 crore in five days, which is nearly equal to the massive Rs 11,384-crore fraud at the company, even as the stock made a marginal recovery today The stock had dropped in the previous four trading sessions. In the past one week, the stock has lost nearly 28 percent PNB's market valuation fell by Rs 10,938.78 crore to Rs 28,270.22 crore on Tuesday from Rs 39,209 crore on 12 February. The company's scrip meanwhile staged a marginal recovery today ending 0.13 per cent higher at Rs 116.55 on BSE. - PTI

As the owner of Gitanjali, Mehul Choksi continues to abscond, the employees have been given relieving letters.

Centre has taken case seriously and already seized more than 5,000 crore assets: Amit Shah

I would like to request Modiji to bring back the other Modiji (Nirav Modi): Rahul Gandhi

It is incumbent upon the state to chase those who cheat the banking system: Arun Jaitley

On Tuesday night, the CBI made its first high-profile arrest in the Rs 11,400 crore alleged Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam on Tuesday, taking into custody Vipul Ambani, the head of finance of Nirav Modi's Firestar Diamond.

The Supreme Court will hear a plea seeking the deportation of diamond merchant Nirav Modi, the main accused in the alleged Rs 11,300 crore scam, Times Now reported.

It is alleged that the issuance of Letters of Undertaking (LOUs) to Nirav Modi group firms without sanctioned limits started during his tenure. Jindal is presently posted as general manager, credit, at PNB's head office in New Delhi. It is alleged that Rs 11,400 crore of LoUs were fraudulently issued to the firms of Nirav Modi and Choksi.

The CBI has arrested a general manager-rank officer of the Punjab National Bank posted at the bank's head office in New Delhi connection with the alleged Rs 11,400 crore fraud involving billionaire jewellers Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi, officials said. The arrested accused, identified as Rajesh Jindal, was the head of the bank's Brady House branch in Mumbai during 2009-11.

A Firstpost investigation into the Punjab National Bank-Nirav Modi fraud case shows that corruption has gone into the very bone and marrow of state-owned banks and this is not just a 'one-off' for several banks, including PNB and others like UCO and Canara, which have encountered exposure in the Modi-Mehul Choksi scam.

Late night parties at plush farmhouses and hefty kickbacks to top bank officials are two 'compulsory' requirements for scamsters to access the loans from public sector banks that they fully know would turn into Non-Performing Assets (NPAs).

In a statement, PHD Chamber said it is surprised how the bank's internal audit system failed to detect anomalies in transactions leading to the alleged fraudulent loans given out to the borrowers.

PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Tuesday expressed concern over what it termed as the "crisis" triggered in the banking industry following the fraud detected in state-run Punjab National Bank.

A special CBI court on Tuesday remanded three officials of Punjab National Bank in police custody till 3 March. These three were arrested on Monday in connection with alleged fraud of Rs 11,384 crore, while observing that there is a possibility of their involvement in diverting the bank money. During the arguments over the custody of the trio, the CBI told the court that key accused Gokulnath Shetty, then deputy manager (now retired) of PNB, had told them that issuing of the Letter of Undertakings (LoUs) had been going on since 2008.

Nirav Modi, the alleged kingpin of the Rs 11,400 crore Punjab National Bank scam, is not absconding but is out on business, the diamond merchant's lawyer has told the media. "He has a global business and he went out of India for business purpose. Now his passport has been revoked. His family members, some of them are foreign nationals, also stay abroad most of the time," the lawyer, Vijay Aggarwal, was quoted as saying by DNA .

This apart, there are RBI and government representatives on the boards of large banks who are supposed to keep an eye on all transactions and ensure that nothing goes amiss. "But it appears that all of them were sleeping when a fraud was developing," the banker added.

Looking at PNB-like frauds, if someone thinks that there are no checks in place in the system, they are wrong. "There are checks but no one really cares," said a banker. "Besides daily checks, the bank also does concurrent audits, which happen concurrently throughout the year. Such fraud should have reflected there," the official said.

Nirav Modi not the first the first; Indias banks have long been beaten by frauds

Refusing to entertain a PIL filed by a lawyer seeking a probe by the apex court into the Punjab National Bank fraud case, the Supreme Court said it was "becoming fashionable" to run to the courts and it was only right to let the government complete its investigation. It also called such PILs "publicity interest litigations".

Attorney General KK Venugopal has told the Supreme Court that the investigation is ongoing and an FIR has been registered. The court has fixed the next date of hearing for 16 March.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), on quick action mode, has rolled out some strict measures in the aftermath of the Rs 11,400 crore Punjab National Bank scam. An expert committee will be formed, while the central bank has also issued guidelines and safeguards that banks are meant to implement.

The plea has asked for a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the banking fraud, allegedly involving billionaire jewellers Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi. It has also sought a probe into the role of the top management of the Punjab National Bank (PNB).

The PIL has made Punjab National Bank, Reserve Bank of India and the ministries of finance and law and justice as parties. It has sought a direction for initiation of deportation proceedings against Nirav Modi and others allegedly involved in the banking fraud, preferably within two months.

Attorney General KK Venugopal, appearing for the Centre, said he was opposing the PIL on various grounds, including that an inquiry has started after the FIR was registered.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud said it would not say anything on the matter now and listed the PIL filed by lawyer Vineet Dhanda for further hearing on 16 March.

The Centre on Wednesday opposed in the Supreme Court a PIL seeking an independent probe and deportation of billionaire jeweller Nirav Modi in the over Rs 11,000 crore PNB fraud case, saying an FIR has been lodged and a probe was on.

In response to the prime minister's suggestion for ideas for his 28 January 'Mann ki Baat' programme, Rahul had urged him to tell the country about India's plans on stopping rapes, getting the Chinese out of Doklam and jobs for the youth.

Rahul also labelled the prime minister's programme aired on All India Radio a monologue and said the country wants to hear him speak on billionaire diamond jeweller Nirav Modi and the Rafale "scam".

Congress president Rahul Gandhi attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his silence on the PNB bank fraud and the Rafale deal, saying sarcastically that he looked forward to his "sermon" on the issues in his "Mann ki Baat" programme.

"We have adequate capital coupled with strong non core asset base," said the PNB tweet as multi-agency probe widened into the fraud. PNB also said that it has the capacity and capability to "handle the situation" and protect the interest of the institution.

Earlier in February, the bank said that it has been hit by a fraud amounting to about $1.77 billion. The alleged fraud was affected by fraudulent Letter of Undertakings (LOUs) issued to firms of diamantaire Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi.

"Be rest assured we have a strong sovereign backing. The core strengths of the bank is the brand image with rich 123 years of existence, strong CASA base, stable asset quality and increased pace of digitisation," PNB said.

The country's second largest lender has also dismissed media reports that it has imposed restrictions on withdrawals.

Scam-hit PNB has assured investors and customers that it has a strong sovereign backing and adequate capital to deal with the situation in the aftermath of the Rs 11,400 crore fraud. "We assure you that in your bank, it is business as usual," state-owned Punjab National Bank said in a tweet.

"But, it appears that all of them were sleeping when a fraud was developing," said the banker. That apart, given the tremendous pressure on bankers to generate business, top-level officers often turn a blind eye to illegal business activities.

This apart, there are RBI and government representatives on the boards of large banks who are supposed to keep an eye on all transactions and ensure that nothing goes amiss.

For instance, the SWIFT messaging platform that was used by the perpetrators in the PNB case is subjected to a daily check by the branch manager, which is compulsory in any bank. Even if one imagines that this part failed, the branch manager has to do a daily tally of income and expenditure in the branch while one of the officers (not involved in the transactions) combs through the books to look for suspicious transactions, the official said.

Looking at PNB-like frauds, if someone thinks that there are no checks in place in the system, they are wrong. "There are checks but no one really cares," said a banker who requested anonymity. He takes the example of the LoU (Letters of Undertakings) fraud in PNB. If a branch-level official does a transaction of this manner for a period of seven years, it can get caught at different levels if any of the checks in place triggered this illegal activity.

The six were arrested on Tuesday in connection with two FIRs registered by the CBI involving Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi, the owner of Gitanjali Gems.

A special court in Mumbai on Wednesday remanded Vipul Ambani, the president (finance) of Nirav Modi's Fire Star Diamond, and five others in CBI custody till 5 March in connection with the Rs 11,400 crore alleged fraud in Punjab National Bank (PNB).

The 1.5 acre farm house in the uber rich neighbourhood at a stone's throw distance from Arabian sea was purchased by Modi in 2004 for Rs 32 crore for hosting special parties for his clientele to show case his precious jewellery collection, they said.

The CBI on Wednesday sealed a luxury property of billionaire Nirav Modi in Alibaug area near Mumbai, officials said.

The official also said that they have seized documents during searches at the office of Firestar at Peninsula Business Park in Mumbai's Lower Parel that "prove" that Ambani knew what was being done.

The CBI official said the agency during its probe found that Ambani not only visited and met PNB's officials at the Brady House branch but also met other bank officials in Mumbai and New Delhi.

"Ambani was fully aware of the fraudulent and illegal LoUs issued by Shetty who was a deputy manager at PNB's Brady House branch in Mumbai. (This was being done) in conspiracy and (under the) guidance of Nirav Modi and other employees of his firm," a senior CBI official told IANS in New Delhi.

Ambani was arrested on Tuesday and is being continuously grilled by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officials in Mumbai.

Vipul Ambani, an arrested aide of fugitive billionaire Nirav Modi, knew about the fraudulent and illegal Letters of Undertaking (LoUs) issued by the Punjab National Bank in the Rs 11,400 crore fraud, CBI officials said on Wednesday.

The ED, in the past few days, has raided showrooms of the Gitanjali Group at a number of locations in Patna, Muzaffarpur and Kishanganj and seized valuables worth crores of rupees.

The jewellers, spread across towns like Patna, Bhagalpur, Muzaffarpur and Gaya, have been asked to surrender their stocks at the agency's zonal office in Patna, failing which they may have to face legal action, an ED official said.

The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday said it has identified 50 jewellers across Bihar with suspected stocks of the Geetanjali Group, which is under the scanner in the aftermath of the Punjab National Bank scam.

The note sent by the banks head office in New Delhi to all regional offices on 17 February also stated any SWIFT message will have to be created, verified and authorised by three different officers, starting Thursday. Previously only two individuals were needed for the process.

The new measures mean only PNB officers will be able to initiate messages on SWIFT, taking away the authority of clerks to do so. Several new limits have been placed on the amount that officers can generate depending on their seniority in the bank hierarchy.

Indias state-run Punjab National Bank has stepped up its controls on the use of global payments network SWIFT following an alleged $1.77 billion fraud, according to memos issued this month and seen by Reuters.

The I-T department issued notices to several clients, including Congress leader Singhvi, of Nirav Modi for making large payments to him in cash, reports CNN-News18.

Looking at PNB-like frauds, if someone thinks that there are no checks in place in the system, they are wrong. "There are checks but no one really cares," said another banker who too requested anonymity. He takes the example of the LoU (Letters of Undertakings) fraud in PNB. If a branch-level official does a transaction of this manner for a period of seven years, it can get caught at different levels if any of the checks in place triggered this illegal activity.

The instances of fraudulent transactions and loan scams involving bank officials continued. This included both and big and small frauds  Citibank fraud, Bank of Baroda forex scam, Syndicate Bank fraud and several other lesser-known scams. In most instances, the victims were public sector banks and culprits their own officials. Most cash-for-loan scams happened through middlemen.

With Wednesday's seizure, the total value of gems and gold jewellery seized by the ED stands at Rs 5,736 crore. The agency has said it is carrying out an "independent valuation" of these seized assets.

While the ED seized assets worth Rs 10 crore on Wenesday, the tax department said it has attached a total of 141 bank accounts and fixed deposits worth Rs 145.74 crore of the Nirav Modi group. The department said it has attached these assets to realise outstanding tax demands.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday continued raids for the seventh day as it visited 17 locations across the country, including four shell companies in Mumbai, even as the I-T department attached assets worth Rs 145 crore in the alleged Rs 11,400-crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud.

It fell for sixth consecutive session on Wednesday. The stocks of the jewellery company plunged by 9.85 percent to close at the lower circuit of Rs 27.45 per share on Wednesday. Market capitalisation of the company stood at Rs 325.60 crore, down from Rs 695.08 crore.

According to CNN-News18, jeweller Nirav Modi is holed up at friend Rashmi Mehta's house 27, Berkenlaan, in Antwerp, Belgium, reported CNN-News18.

According to CNN-News18, investigative agencies could not trace absconding billionnaire Nirav Modi as he used his Belgian passport to fly out of Davos.

On the other hand, Bipasha Basu, who endorsed Gili, accused the Gitanjali Gems group of using her photographs even after her contract expired.

According to News18 , the actresses have accused Mehul Choksi-owned Gitanjali Gems of non payment of dues and breach of contract. A spokesperson for Ranaut said, "There are outstandings due on Kanganas Nakshatra endorsement, beyond the stipulated contract." She was the company's brand ambassador since 2016 and claims she has not been paid her dues fully for endorsing the jewellery brand.

Laws which govern the functioning of RBI need to be changed to bring about transparency and accountability. This has to then be supported by scrutiny into the functioning of the institution. A tragedy is a terrible thing to waste. The legislature should take a relook at the legislative framework of transparency, accountability and governance of RBI. The Draft Indian Financial Code addresses many of these concerns and there is need to incorporate its principles in primary legislation.

Various process failures of public sector banks in India are not new. What is new in the PNB fraud is that, for the first time, questions are being raised about the supervisory capacity and systems in Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The government has written to the RBI asking for why the scam was not detected in its systems. Concerned citizens have asked for similar information in the past and disclosures by RBI have not been adequate.

The ED on Thursday said it has frozen mutual funds and shares worth Rs 94.52 crore of the Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi groups in connection with a money laundering probe against them in the Rs 11,400-crore alleged fraud at the Punjab National Bank (PNB).

In its note, the agency has made a startling revelation that even top officials of the PNB beginning with the zonal to head office was aware of the business dealing with Nirav Modi's companies and the assertion that top officials were ignorant has been neutralised by the probe agency.

For hours on Wednesday, sleuths from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) were frustrated as they were trying to find out how fake Letter of Undertakings (LoUs) and Foreign Letter of Credits (FLCs) running into thousands of crores was drafted and subsequently sanctioned by the Punjab National Bank (PNB) officials. The two executives of Nirav Modi admitted to preparing and signing the applications made to PNB but they refused to disclose details how and where such applications were finalised.

A special CBI court in Mumbai on Wednesday sent to police custody, till 5 March, five senior executives of the Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi Group of Companies, including Vipul Ambani, who were arrested on Tuesday in conection with the Rs 11,400 crore Punjab National Bank fraud.

Vipul Ambani, Firestar International's president (Finance), was director of eight shell companies, India Today TV reported quoting unnamed sources. It also added that Ambani is singing while in CBI custody.

Have followed lawful avenues available to recover dues from Nirav Modi, says PNB

On the other hand, Bipasha Basu, who endorsed Gili, accused the Gitanjali Gems group of using her photographs even after her contract expired.

According to News18 , the actresses have accused Mehul Choksi-owned Gitanjali Gems of non payment of dues and breach of contract. A spokesperson for Ranaut said, "There are outstandings due on Kanganas Nakshatra endorsement, beyond the stipulated contract." She was the company's brand ambassador since 2016 and claims she has not been paid her dues fully for endorsing the jewellery brand.

#PNBScam : ED seized 9 cars belonging to #NiravModi and his companies. These cars include one Rolls Royce Ghost, two Mercedes Benz GL 350 CDIs, one Porsche Panamera, 3 Honda cars, one Toyota Fortuner and one Toyota Innova.

ED also froze mutual funds and shares worth Rs 7.80 Crore of #NiravModi and worth Rs 86.72 crore of those belonging to #MehulChoksi Group.

ED seized 9 cars belonging to #NiravMod and his companies. These cars include one Rolls Royce Ghost, two Mercedes Benz GL 350 CDIs, one Porsche Panamera, 3 Honda cars, one Toyota Fortuner and one Toyota Innova. pic.twitter.com/Kfx0rkPrIW

Laws which govern the functioning of RBI need to be changed to bring about transparency and accountability. This has to then be supported by scrutiny into the functioning of the institution. A tragedy is a terrible thing to waste. The legislature should take a relook at the legislative framework of transparency, accountability and governance of RBI. The Draft Indian Financial Code addresses many of these concerns and there is need to incorporate its principles in primary legislation.

Various process failures of public sector banks in India are not new. What is new in the PNB fraud is that, for the first time, questions are being raised about the supervisory capacity and systems in Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The government has written to the RBI asking for why the scam was not detected in its systems. Concerned citizens have asked for similar information in the past and disclosures by RBI have not been adequate.

The ED on Thursday said it has frozen mutual funds and shares worth Rs 94.52 crore of the Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi groups in connection with a money laundering probe against them in the Rs 11,400-crore alleged fraud at the Punjab National Bank (PNB).

According to Moneycontrol , a finance ministry official told CNBC-TV18 that the ministry was planning to seek Banks Board Bureau's (BBB) inputs on whether a PNB top management reshuffle is possible.

Finance ministry to seek BBB's input to see if PNB top management reshuffle is possible

In its note, the agency has made a startling revelation that even top officials of the PNB beginning with the zonal to head office was aware of the business dealing with Nirav Modi's companies and the assertion that top officials were ignorant has been neutralised by the probe agency.

For hours on Wednesday, sleuths from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) were frustrated as they were trying to find out how fake Letter of Undertakings (LoUs) and Foreign Letter of Credits (FLCs) running into thousands of crores was drafted and subsequently sanctioned by the Punjab National Bank (PNB) officials. The two executives of Nirav Modi admitted to preparing and signing the applications made to PNB but they refused to disclose details how and where such applications were finalised.

A special CBI court in Mumbai on Wednesday sent to police custody, till 5 March, five senior executives of the Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi Group of Companies, including Vipul Ambani, who were arrested on Tuesday in conection with the Rs 11,400 crore Punjab National Bank fraud.

Vipul Ambani, Firestar International's president (Finance), was director of eight shell companies, India Today TV reported quoting unnamed sources. It also added that Ambani is singing while in CBI custody.

#BREAKING -- Have followed lawful avenues available to recover our dues from Nirav Modi. Disciplinary authority's reply awaited on arrest of bank officials: PNB #BigBankScam pic.twitter.com/cpo4UUtiJf

Have followed lawful avenues available to recover dues from Nirav Modi, says PNB

Latest updates: According to India Today, Nirav Modi may currently be hiding in Dubai. According to the report, CBI is seeking Interpol's help to nab the absconding businessman.

Amid the banking scam, FICCI, the representative body of Indian private companies has urged privatisation of Indian public sector banks, adding that re-capitalisation of banks have not helped the sector.

Meanwhile, the Central Vigilance Commission has express dissatisfaction over the PNB report over lapses and has asked the vigilance officer of the bank to re-investigate the case.

As the Punjab National Bank scam unfolds across the country, a former aide of Mehul Choksi, the owner of Gitanjali Gems, has hit out at him for running the company like a 'dictator'. Srivastava said that Choksi has a lot of things to answer for cheating the public of India, adding that the businessman had threatened him with dire consequences if he went public with the irregularities.

The CBI virtually took control of the entire campus of Punjab National Bank's Brady Road branch in Mumbai, which is at the centre of a colossal banking fraud involving billionaire jewellers Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi, and started an intensive search operation, officials said on Sunday.

The search operation is likely to continue until Monday morning, they said. The agency also started questioning of five more officials, including general manager level officers, taking the total number of those being quizzed to 11, they said.

The agency is continuing the questioning of arrested bank officials  Gokulnath Shetty (retired) and Manoj Kharat, and the signatory of Nirav Modi company's  besides that of other officials of PNB, to find out the money trail and depth of the alleged scam involving thousands of documents and digital records.

The CBI is also examining financial transactions of 18 India-based subsidiaries of the Gitanjali group of companies promoted by Choksi to understand the money trail of funds taken from various banks on the basis of Rs 11,384 crore of guarantees furnished by Punjab National Bank, the officials said.

They said the agency is also analysing records recovered from a huge server seized during searches after registration of an FIR against Choksi.

Asked about possible quid pro quo involved in the alleged scam perpetrated in collusion with billionaire diamond merchants Choksi, his nephew Modi and PNB officials, they said they are still looking into it and it cannot be clearly said if there were regular payments or not.

"Right now the focus is to understand the depth of the scam, movement of funds and role of other senior officials," an official said.

The scam surfaced when companies of Modi and Choksi approached PNB's Brady Road branch, Mumbai, in January this year seeking Letter of Understanding (LoU) for payments to suppliers. The official handling the case sought 100 percent cash guarantee before any such letter could be issued to which the company officials said no such guarantee was sought in the past.

The official checked the records which did not show such an LoU to Modi or Choksi's company which led to suspicion. It is alleged that Shetty, for the last seven years, was bypassing PNB's core banking system and issuing LoUs fraudulently.

An LoU is a guarantee which is given by an issuing bank to Indian banks having branches abroad to grant a short-term credit to the applicant. In case of default, the bank issuing the LoU has to pay the liability to credit giving bank along with accruing interest.

Shetty and Kharat allegedly sent messages of these LoUs using an international messaging system for banking systems called SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication) which is used to pass instructions among banks globally to transfer funds.

It is estimated that millions of messages are sent daily using the SWIFT technology globally wherein every member bank can send or receive messages of financial transactions to another bank worldwide.

The PNB officials allegedly sent these messages to Indian banks  Canara Bank, State Bank of India, Bank of India, Axis Bank, Allahabad bank  located in Antwerp, Hong Kong, Bahrain, Mauritius, Frankfurt without making entries in the banking software about the LoUs.

These LoUs and Letters of Credits (LC) worth Rs 11,384 crore were getting renewed or issued afresh during last six years without coming in the notice of the bank.

The Indian banks abroad did not mind as their money was safe (under guarantee from PNB) and increasing because of the accruing interest.

The party was spoiled in January this year when first renewal arose after the retirement of Shetty, the officials said.

An alarmed bank dug out all such LoUs and LCs showing a mammoth liability towards other banks.

The conniving officer also issued Foreign Letters of Credit by entering a smaller amount in trade finance module of Core Banking Solutions (CBS) system and generating the reference number and a SWIFT message was sent for the amount, the bank alleged.

It said subsequently without making any changes in the module of the CBS, the conniving officer sent modified SWIFT messages for an enhanced amount under the same reference to the beneficiary bank.

Upon receiving messages from PNB under SWIFT, the banks abroad transferred these amounts into PNB's NOSTRO account with them. A Nostro account means is an account that a bank holds in a foreign currency in another bank to enable foreign trade by its clients.Sachin Pilot told Firstpost that he is pleased with the Congress's victories in Rajasthan. Pilot believes his state has seen through the communal politics of the BJP.

After his party won the three bypolls conducted in Rajasthan, the state's Congress chief Sachin Pilot spoke to Firstpost about the Congress's performance and the BJP's shortcomings. Pilot believes the people of his state have seen through the communal and divisive politics of the BJP. He is also confident that the people of Rajasthan and of the country as a whole will give a befitting reply to the ruling party in the coming Lok Sabha elections.

With the recent victory in the bye-elections in Rajasthan, do you feel the idea of the BJP being an election-winning machine has finally been brought into question?

It is true that the BJP claims to be a well-oiled electioneering machine but this is a myth that we have been able to bust. The elections were held in three geographically different parts of the state. Alwar lies in the eastern part of Rajasthan, Ajmer in the central while Bhilwara lies in the West. We won in all three regions and in the 17 Assembly segments. They had the entire government machinery at their disposal. We cannot forget that they have been in government for the last four years and came to power with a full mandate. They had all the money power at their command.

But the fact is that Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje is extremely unpopular in the state.

Well, the BJP has made her the Chief Minister of the state, I have not made her Chief Minister. In the last Lok Sabha elections, the BJP won all 25 seats in Rajasthan and are well represented in the Cabinet. We have three to four Union ministers from this state. But the writing is on the wall for the BJP as far as Rajasthan is concerned. The people will side with the Congress for a better future.

You have claimed that the BJP is now on the back-foot but actually it is the Congress which is on the back foot. Tripura, to cite an example, is going to the polls but you have no presence there.

The BJP is using money power and state machinery to generate crowds. This is their strategy across the country.

Do you see the developments in Rajasthan impacting the Karnataka polls?

Victory in any elections is bound to give our Congress workers a lot of strength. The results of the Rajasthan election will have a positive impact in the coming Karnataka elections. Our victory in the Punjab elections also gave us a lot of strength. I also believe that Rahul Gandhis aggressive campaigning has put the BJP on the backfoot.

Traditionally, the ruling party in Rajasthan has generally won the bypolls. What do you think went wrong with the BJP this time?

The Congress has not hesitated to take a principled stand on various issues such as unemployment, agrarian distress and corruption. The BJP, on the other hand, has blatantly tried to polarise and communalise the elections but the public did not fall into this trap. This shows the maturity of the Indian voters.

Is the Congress going to declare its chief ministerial candidate in Rajasthan given that they have done so in Karnataka?

Traditionally the Congress does not announce the name of the chief ministerial candidates in any state barring a few exceptions. I think this question should be asked of the BJP which has not announced Vasundhara Raje as its chief ministerial candidate in Rajasthan in contrast to Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka where these decisions have been made public.

That Rahul Gandhi handed you the Rajasthan Congress after the last Assembly debacle suggests two things: he wants to bring in new blood and ideas, and signal to the old guard that change is in the air. Has this affected your working relationship with Ashok Gehlot? And is it really true that the old guard is ready to make way for the young blood?

Rahul Gandhi wants to have mix of the experience and new faces. He wants people from every age group to play an active role. He wants a rainbow coalition, a mix of everyone. In Rajasthan, it has been a sustained effort during all these years and this can only happen when people from all communities join hands in supporting and strengthening the Congress.

Let's go back to the immediate aftermath of the Ajmer Lok Sabha bypoll. If you remember, Raghu Sharma fell at your feet seeking blessings after he won. A lot of political observers saw this as a sign of your ascendancy within the party. I know the Congress high command will decide who leads each state it runs but do you believe Sharmas gesture is indicative of the fact that youre ready to take charge of Rajasthan?

I think it was an emotional act done on the spur of the moment. We worked as a team. If we were not united, we would not have won. This is all false propaganda being spread by the BJP.

You have to admit that Prime Minister Modi remains the most popular leader in the country. Do you think Rahul Gandhi can prove an alternative to Modi?

Rahul Gandhi is providing a strong alternative leadership to Modi. Modi cannot keep blaming the Congress for all their wrong doings. Rahul Gandhi is aggressively asking tough questions in challenging the motives and actions of the ruling BJP. He is holding them accountable and he is taking them on fearlessly. He is giving a lot of energy and confidence to the people.

But what is the alternative the Congress is offering to the BJP?

Rahul Gandhi has already said that if the Congress is voted back, we will provide a simplified GST, we will ensure our international borders are more secure. We will improve our national security and will work towards strengthening our economic and foreign policies. The Congress does not believe in making promises, we believe in delivery. We will go with a report card as to who governed better.

Do you see the likelihood of the Opposition parties coming together to form a united front against the NDA in the coming general elections?

All the political parties opposed to the BJP have to come together at the national level. All the parties will have to unite for the larger good of the country in order to launch a frontal attack on the BJP. The Congress will be a pivot around which the other parties come on this platform. The question that needs to be asked is how has the NDA fared. The BJP has parted ways with the Shiv Sena, the TDP is on the verge of a walk out and even the other allies have openly express their resentment. Despite being in power, the BJP cannot hang on to its own allies.

The Congress claims to be pleased with its performance in Gujarat but the fact is that though you made a dent in the BJPs election machinery, they still emerged as the winner.

From 116 seats in 2012, the BJP was reduced to two digit figures. The Congress has succeeded in putting the BJP on the backfoot. The BJPs failures are there for everyone to see. They have failed to provide jobs, stem the tie of agrarian distress curb black money, handle China or Pakistan. People are tired of their jumlabaazi. The people of India are asking questions to which they have no replies.

Where do you think the BJP has failed the Indian public and what are the issues that the Congress hopes to raise in order to do well in the coming general elections?

The BJP came to power promising the moon but on the ground their execution has been close to zero. The people want a government that actually delivers as opposed to a government that is good at making speeches.Blood banking services, an emergency and trauma centre, enough specialists  these are just a few of the things AIIMS Patna still doesn't have entirely in place

In January this year, Madhav Rai and Dhanmanti Devi went through every parents worst nightmare: amid heavy fog, their son had been involved in a road accident near their village in Bihars Vaishali district. He sustained serious injuries in the mishap. When Madhav and Dhanmanti rushed their son  who was battling for his life  to AIIMS Patna, there was another shock in store: the much-hyped facility had no emergency and trauma (care) services. Madhav and Dhanmanti were advised to take their son to another hospital for treatment.

Madhav, a marginal farmer, recalls: When we reached AIIMS Patna in an ambulance, first, the security guard at the main gate told us that treatment for our son would not be possible here. We insisted on going inside. Then, officials at the OPD told us that there are no facilities to take care of seriously injured patients like our son and we (would) have to move him to another hospital in Patna for treatment. What Madhav couldnt have guessed was that AIIMS Patna was running without a basic facility like emergency and trauma services.

Madhav and Dhanmanti finally admitted their son to the Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH). Their story is one repeated by dozens of other people who have previously brought injured patients to AIIMS Patna for treatment. Five years after it started, AIIMS Patna has no functional blood banking service, not all its operation theatres are functional and there are not enough specialist doctors. Patients, even those who come to the OPD, cannot avail proper treatment as a consequence.

Lack of emergency and trauma services, as well as non-functional blood banking services are a major drawback. It means we cannot treat patients who are in a serious condition here. All this is due to shortage of specialist manpower, equipment and proper infrastructure, said an official from AIIMS Patna on condition of anonymity. The official admitted that patients in a critical condition have to be turned away because there arent adequate facilities for their treatment.

We politely advise the relatives of patients in a serious condition to not waste their time here and take the ambulance to PMCH or Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Science  another government-run hospital here  or even any private hospital because a delay will prove costly and there is no emergency and trauma centre here at AIIMS Patna, said one security guard posted on the premises.

When it was launched, AIIMS Patna was hyped as a hub for healthcare and a destination for critical patients in Bihar. However, its current facilities only encompass treatment for routine cases. A doctor who was among the first to join the staff at AIIMS Patna four years ago, told us: There are no facilities for heart, kidney-related conditions and other major operations. Moreover, there are only four functional operation theatres so far, against the planned 28.

Similarly, against 304 sanctioned faculty posts, there are at present only around 50 teachers (including doctors). The hospital currently has a bed count of 196 for in-patient admissions  against a potential capacity of 1,000 beds. On the other end of the spectrum, post-mortems have so far not been conducted at AIIMS Patna due to non-availability of a mortuary. A senior official, however, told us the mortuary building is finally ready and will be functional soon.

Unlike other hospitals, you wont hear the wail of an ambulance siren here. What would be the point, since theres no emergency and trauma centre? In place of ambulances, trucks loaded with sand, bricks, iron rods and other construction material move around the premises. Sounds of heavy vehicles are ubiquitous near the administrative building, OPD and at other places. Dozens of labourers and skilled workers have been keeping busy at five different sites on the campus  all signs of the extensive construction underway at AIIMS Patna.

We have completed nearly 85 percent of the construction and the pending work will be finished over March-June, AIIMS Patna director Dr Prabhat Kumar Singh told Firstpost.

He further added that the institutions other issues would be resolved soon as well.

First among these is the blood banking service, for which AIIMS Patna has finally received a provisional licence. The service should be fully operational by March, Dr Singh said. He admitted that the central licensing authority, under the Ministry of Health, had previously withheld the licence for AIIMS Patna to operate a blood bank due to infrastructure deficiencies.

Once the blood banking service is in place, the emergency and trauma centre will also be started by May-June 2018. The 28 operation theatres, recruitment of over 100 faculty members and specialists, Dr Singh hopes to accomplish on a similar timeline. I am hopeful that AIIMS Patna will be fully operational by mid-2018, he said.

Dr Singh said that when he joined AIIMS Patna in 2017, the main challenges before him were to complete the construction work, purchase necessary equipment and recruit the requisite manpower. Now, he anticipates a formal inauguration for AIIMS Patna once these services are in place. The initial inauguration date had been planned for 2012.

It isnt all bad news for AIIMS Patna. Patients who had been cared for at its OPD said the doctors and the facilities here are both above-par. We are very satisfied with facility and treatment as also the behaviour of the staff and doctors  its unlike other government-run hospitals, said Jai Ram Mahto of Gopalganj district, who had brought his seven-year-old son to the hospital after he complained of a stomach ache.

Two MBBS students who have been posted at AIIMS Patna, also praised the high quality teaching and other facilities. We have no problem, there is no difficulty. Of course, the hospital facilities should be upgraded and patients should be provided with proper health care, they added.

In 2017, Ashwini Kumar Choubey  the Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare  claimed to have asked AIIMS Delhi to redirect patients from Bihar to AIIMS Patna, in order to prevent overcrowding in the former. We have this peculiar habit of visiting AIIMS in Delhi for everything. The people of Bihar tend to go there even for a small disease. This has put pressure there and I have directed the doctors to send such patients back to the state, Choubey said.

Those who own medical shops outside AIIMS Patna, however, said Choubeys statement is ironic  given the unfinished state of AIIMS Patna.

With low patient footfall, business at these medical shops  of which there are about 30  hasnt picked up as anticipated. We have been waiting for three-and-a-half years, hoping things will change and greater number of patients will visit AIIMS Patna, said Mahesh Kumar, one of the owners. But numbers have decreased, if anything, in the last one year. If there are fewer patients, our business too will be affected.In Dreamers, Snigdha Poonam chronicles the stories of young Indians, who have grown up with Facebook, Twitter and Instagram  and the 'cultural values of their grandparents' | #FirstCulture

Upon reading Dreamers, Snigdha Poonam's splendid cultural study of a generation's appetite for ruthless ambitions and change, it's apparent that India's young men from the north are driven by a peculiar hunger. They chase fame, fortune, power and lofty dreams just like every other millennial but these small town youth are unlike their city counterparts. It's an unquenchable anger that sets them apart  anger that their country was spoilt by the Congress, anger that corruption was at its peak, anger over their lost izzat, anger over the lack of jobs Enough anger to make them want to be famous, important and rich beyond their dreams. And while some of them are lucky enough to realise their dreams, some others are stuck in an illusion forever.

Poonam, who writes for Hindustan Times, travelled to India's towns and villages in the north, besides her own hometown of Ranchi, to find out what these young Indians wanted. "The idea was to [go to a small town] find out four or five people whose stories stood out and follow them for a year to see how close they get to their dreams. As I progressed with that brief, it became a larger project," she says. Initially, Poonam chose four people in and around Ranchi, but as she travelled to other places, it became 6-7 people in 3 or 4 locations, to whom she kept going back for anywhere between a year and three years.

South India and its millennial population feel like a glaring omission from the book, but Poonam says she chose north India for a reason  that it was "representative of the frustrations of this generation because it does more badly than south India; its level of education and employment is poorer. More logistically, the book was never meant to be a sequel to Butter Chicken in Ludhiana [Pankaj Mishras travelogue on small-town India]. I was doing the opposite thing; I wanted to limit the number of people and places," she says.

Among the people Poonam meets is Pankaj Prasad or 'The Fixer', an entrepreneurial young man in southern Jharkhand, who is a small-time lobbyist and liaison  an important link between the state administration and citizens  or rather a go-to man for villagers ready to pay him for sarkari services. Then there's the founder of WittyFeed or 'The Click-Baiter', a startup that thrives on American obsessions from Kim Kardashian and lip-sync battles to banal listicles on Katy Perry's weirdest faces. To match success stories, Dreamers also has a chapter on the disputers  the angry young men complaining about the future of this country and turning to various Hindu groups who tend to their anxiety. Like Vikas Thakur, with his funky tattoo and beach sandals, who wants to become a politician because he wanted to stand up for Hindus. Or 19-year-old Arjun Kumar who cannot wait for Valentine's Day year after year because it's the only day he can deal with couples the way he wants, with an iron rod.

Poonam also gifts us with a rare chapter on an angry young woman  Richa Singh, who fought the Allahabad University elections and won and moved on to mainstream politics. Just like the south Indians who are absent from this book, women too are very obviously missing. But it wasn't intentional, says Poonam. "I met young women too who had dreams, but when you talk to young men about their dreams, they're not just talking about their own dreams but also what they want for their country and what they want from the world." For many young women dreamers, "it was about changing their own lives and in some sense that itself was a huge leap for them to take and they weren't going to talk about how India should go back to becoming the glory of world civilisation. A lot of the anxiety about their place in India and India's place in the world was very manly," she says.

To round off, Poonam has the strugglers as well  men who dream big, plan elaborate and push hard but still remain at the lowest possible level, men like Mohammad Azhar who dream of becoming Bollywood superstars but instead get exploited.

The underbelly of Dreamers not just gives us a peek into toxic masculinity and anger, but also uncovers the appeal of religion, specifically Hinduism, to these men. What does it offer them in a way of appeasing anger or giving them something to move forward? According to Poonam, it offers them a basic sense of identity, honour, and masculinity. "When I spoke to these young men, they were not speaking about religion per se because I knew more about religion than they did and they didn't connect with any texts, they didn't have the most basic understanding of what they were fighting for, starting with cows," she says. And most of the angry men just ended up being Hindu. "I was looking for anger in general, but what I found was that the minorities  young Muslim and Dalit men  were busier looking ahead in terms of opportunities, whereas the Hindu men were looking at the past, at what they had lost, and wanted to restore the old order. Religion had very little meaning in their lives"

Essentially, these men always saw a society that's constantly conspiring against them and their Hindu heritage. They also saw a leader in Narendra Modi  someone like them who'd made it, from tea vendor to Prime Minister  who promised them the India they wanted, whose politics aligned with theirs and whose rhetoric reeked of Hindu nationalism. Modi would transform their beloved India back to its glorious past, they believed. Poonam says that the growing young population she talked to were political in an ambitious, idealistic way in that that there should be smooth roads, no corruption, and trains running on time. "But there was a general hope in Narendra Modi and a lot of disappointment in how Congress had steered the country since independence. That is very common and a lot of that was borrowed perception," she says.

Poonam writes that less than 17 percent of Indias graduates are immediately employable and only 2.3 percent of the workforce has undergone formal skills training, which means that the country needs to educate about 100 million young people over the next 10 years, "a task never before undertaken in history". Yet these young Indians, who have grown up with Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and "cultural values of their grandparents", are creating opportunities for themselves in various fields with the help of the ubiquitous internet. Facebook especially, Poonam says, is a tool through which young people are able to manage how other people see them. "The sense that they can manage their perception is very common among young people even in the villages. Even if you want to have the slightest of part to play in politics  and these are the people who are doing this at the block, tehsil level  Facebook and WhatsApp is where they like to do that and they're becoming really good and smart at it."

Perhaps this is how young Indians will change the world, one status at a time.Books such as Shashi Tharoors 'Why I am a Hindu' simply take sides in the Left vs Right unproductive struggle, without adding much of intellectual value to the socio-political issues confronting India today | #FirstCulture | #BookReview

Shashi Tharoors is a familiar face in the public realm; over the years he has built up a distinct personality for himself, making us anticipate responses from him in his political or intellectual efforts, as in his speeches and books. There are few public intellectuals in India as suave, nimble and dapper. He emerges as pragmatic and charitable, and if he is with the Congress Party, he has voiced disagreement with its stance when he feels that the leadership has erred on fundamental issues. His speech is never less than elegant, as is his writing; if one still harbours doubts about his merit as potential statesman it is because his eloquence is the cultivated kind appropriate to a university orator. One misses the weightiness expected from a thoughtful person when he speaks or writes. Words flow too easily from him and it is sometimes as if thought has not kept pace. He is exceptionally erudite but erudition is not so great a virtue in the age of the internet when scholarship is easily outsourced. In Why I am a Hindu, which has just been published, Tharoor expresses just the correct sentiments about the religion (past and present) expected from a liberal trying to reclaim it from the fringe. The book is so predictable that merely judging it is tedious; more interesting will be to examine some un-articulated questions that the information revealed in it seem to provoke.

Why I am a Hindu is in three sections and in the first one Tharoor looks at various aspects about the religion. The term Hindu itself merely specifies a geographic location (beyond the river Sindhu) and if it is a religion it is far too nebulously defined, perhaps because it has constantly transformed by accommodating the practices of those outside the pale. This naturally leaves one posing a question that Tharoor does not ask: If Hinduism is defined by its very nebulousness and its capacity for absorbing or accommodating other ways of life, if it is ultimately to be defined as the way(s) of life of a people beyond the river Sindhu, how can one choose to be Hindu, as Tharoors title suggests (Why I am a Hindu)?

Hinduism accommodates contradictory beliefs and even unbelief and the first viable definition of the notion that offers itself is that Hindus are all those who live in the designated space, and who do not exclude themselves on account of dogmas  like Judaism, Islam and Christianity. But that would still leave out people not attached to the space and there are Hindus elsewhere. It would hence seem that, since the Hindu religion makes no demands of faith or knowledge of scripture, anyone who calls himself/herself Hindu with or without an idea of what the term means is justly Hindu. This logic may seem facetious but it nonetheless suggests a way forward for India, beset as it is by discord. Instead of making all Indians define themselves through a single religion, would it not help to allow every person a secondary affiliation (even atheism) and would this not go some distance in reducing religious conflict? A Muslim agnostic seems less threatening to a Hindu just as a Hindu admirer of Jesus seems more benign to a non-Hindu. In Japan, people can be both Buddhists and Shintoists and India could follow the model.

Shashi Tharoor in conversation with Firstpost: 'Part of the problem with the Hindutva brigade is that their notion of Hinduism is profoundly based on an inferiority complex'

Tharoor crowds the first section of the book with detail and anecdote to illustrate the tolerant and accepting nature of Hinduism  including sections from the Upanishads and an account of Swami Vivekanandas speech at the Parliament of the Worlds Religions in 1893; still, he declines to address, I think, a feature distinguishing Hindu from western thought, which has some bearing on Hindu/Indian attitudes. If one were to look at the term materialist under both systems, one finds that where it signifies belief in an external world in western thought, which can be understood and/or speculated about, materialism in the Hindu sense (as exemplified by the Charvakas) is more a way of life akin to hedonism. This suggests that rather than gaining knowledge of the world perceived by the senses, Hinduism is essentially about how to live ones life, i.e: it is inward rather than outward looking.

A religious dogma is thrust down but it offers a proposition about the world, how it came into being and the relationship between man and the material universe that leads to inquiry and the different disciplines  ranging from theoretical physics to the law. The absence of dogma in Hindu belief is laudable but that (arguably) leaves it too indefinite to force an inquiry into the material world and engender the more solid disciplines. No heresies are recognised in Hinduism, but it may be recognition of the heresy that necessitates a Galileo. Here is Dr S Radhakrishnan on God as quoted by Tharoor: God is more than the law that commands, the judge that condemns, the love that constrains, the father to whom we owe our being, or the mother with whom is bound up all that we can hope for or aspire to. My argument here is that the proposition is so all-encompassing that it leads to no further inquiry. It disallows heresies since there is nothing in it that one might oppose or subvert.

Tharoor, after discussing various aspects of Hindu belief, moves on to Hindu social practice. As may be expected, this section dwells extensively on caste questions. These questions have been debated extensively, including the evidence that caste did not have such a rigid basis in early times. One familiar story pertains to Adi Shankara whose path was once blocked by an outcaste Chandala and who demonstrated Advaita wisdom which so shamed Shankara that the latter prostrated himself before the man.

But caste practice also presents us with an deeper question: Swami Vivekananda said that caste was not part of Hindu religion but social practice, and this is supported by Sikhs, Christians and Muslims in India being known to practise discrimination against untouchables although the respective religions profess equality before God. But the issue is, given the indeterminate nature of Hinduism, metaphysics coalescing freely with ritual, how is one to differentiate between the religion and its social practices? The answer, it seems to me, is that describing Hinduism as a way of life also identifies it with social practices (both good and bad) within the primary space corresponding to beyond the river Sindhu. Since Hindus have now come to believe that theirs is a religion, they must be allowed the comfort of believing so. At the same time the religion must distance itself from undesirable social practices, which are common to the other religions in India. I propose that when people are to be compensated for these practices the compensations (like job reservation for dalits) should stretch beyond the Hindu religion since confining it to Hindus identifies the undesirable practice with it. Compensatory measures such as job reservation as to non-Hindu dalits will help distance Hinduism from undesirable social practices which, in the worlds eyes, are intimately tied to the religion.

The second section of Why I am a Hindu is devoted to political Hinduism and is highly informative on the views and political philosophies of three key ideologues  VD Savarkar, MS Golwalkar and Deen Dayal Upadhyaya. The primary goal of political Hinduism was to create a nation with Hinduism as its basis, instead of having India defined as a territory. As may be anticipated the chief stumbling block faced by each of them was in defining who a Hindu was since there were no beliefs of text which was conclusively and exclusively Hindu. The Bharatiya Jana Sangh, which ultimately became the Bharatiya Janata Party, arose out of the difficulty of associating Hinduism with any identifiable religious tenets.

It is in this section that Tharoors partisanship comes to the fore and it emerges that his book is a panegyric to the Congress Partys secular rhetoric. While having some cautious praise for Deen Dayal Upadhyaya he points out a contradiction  Upadhyaya as a political thinker and ideologue not having to contend with the fact that given the support his party enjoyed, he would not have to implement his philosophy as an administrator: It is possible to argue that the philosophy of Upadhyaya is the credo of a man who does not believe he can ever have an opportunity to implement it. My counter here is that the same charge can be made of Gandhi who died too early to see Nehrus industrial India but who gave scant indication, when independence was imminent, that his anti-modern ideas should be implemented.

That a third of Tharoors book should be given to the deplorable aspects of Hindutva politics is disappointing but not unexpected  since he is trying essentially to reclaim Hinduism for the liberals. But an issue is this: since there is no way of persuading the rabid member of a Hindu lynch mob into becoming a well-meaning liberal through rational argument in English, why should a writer like Tharoor discuss it intellectually? It should be noted here that the NDA government is not faulted directly by Tharoor. The NDA has not pushed a Hindutva agenda demonstrably and its culpability (which is not small) rests only on its not ensuring law and order adequately in places like Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajastan, and not taking the cow issue to its only viable conclusion  which is to not ban beef anywhere. Narendra Modis problem, it seems, is being unable to govern as he should, because of the assorted elements that constitute his support base whose rash impulses can neither be pandered to nor contained. In other words, Hindutva as it is emerging today is not an intellectual problem but a law and order one. This being the case, the only purpose of Tharoors last two sections can be to demarcate his own identity as a liberal Hindu. The emphasis in the books title is apparently on the I and not on the term Hindu.

This brings us to the fundamental problem afflicting liberals and radicals in India today who oppose the NDA government for what it represents rather than for its actions. Their radicalism is not directed towards workable political solutions since they cannot imagine themselves in positions where they might have to implement them; it is that radicalism defines their political identities. Their activism is intended to show who they are rather than press for what they want done. They are as inward-looking as Hinduism makes them and their inwardness leaves them without a tangible objective. Hindutvawadis (and I dont mean the NDA) are equally without an economic and political plan. Hindutva also does not concern itself with reform that might make the religion more pertinent to today and it seems to set great store only by a Ram temple in Ayodhya which is as antediluvian an urge as any. The Hindu religion does not admit a single authority but there are influential organisations which could reform Hindu practice the way the reformers did in the 19th century. In summary, we could say that since both right and left are Hindu by temperament, the political struggle in India is between different political identities, between people who offer no workable alternative plans to choose from. Books such as Shashi Tharoors Why I am a Hindu simply take sides in this unproductive struggle without adding much of intellectual value to the socio-political issues confronting India today.

MK Raghavendra is a film scholar and author of seven books including The Oxford India Short Introduction to Bollywood (2016). He is deeply interested in social, political and cultural issues in India, an interest that informs his books on film.Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday alleged that the top leadership of the BJP government was involved in the Rs 11,400-crore alleged fraud at PNB.

New Delhi: Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday alleged that the top leadership of the BJP government was involved in the Rs 11,400-crore alleged fraud at the Punjab National Bank (PNB) which was why billionaire could Nirav Modi flee the country.

Talking to reporters in New Delhi, the chief minister said the central government should answer when Modi and embattled liquor baron Vijay Mallya would be arrested.

"Nirav Modi fled the country after committing a scam of Rs 11,000 crore which cannot merely be a coincidence. Lots of agencies are involved in it and it is not possible until it gets nod from the top," he alleged.

"So, it is clear that top brass of the Centre is involved in this matter. How can it be possible that Vijay Mallya ran away with Rs 9,000 crore and Nirav Modi escaped with Rs 11,000 crore, which clearly indicates that top leadership of the central government is directly involved in it," Kejriwal alleged.

On Saturday, the BJP had alleged that multi-crore scam involving the billionaire jewellery designer happened during the UPA rule and the Congress was spreading lies to mislead the public.

Kejriwal said the people wanted to know whether their money in the bank was safe or not.

"Some people called me as well and inquired about their deposited money. The government (Centre) should answer when Nirav Modi and Vijay Mallya will be arrested as the entire country wants to know about this," Kejriwal asked.

The chief minister also alleged the scams that had happened during the previous Congress-led UPA government were still going on under the current government.

"Whatever scams took place during the Congress governments regime are still going on. Not even a single one was stopped. People had voted for the BJP in 2014, hoping that it would bring some change, but nothing has changed," Kejriwal alleged.

"Not even a single person (involved in alleged scams during the UPA regime) has been sent to jail. Both the parties (BJP and Congress) are hand in glove. Nothing has been changed, and people are only being fooled," he alleged.

On Saturday, the BJP, which fielded Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to counter the Congress' charge, had claimed that it was under the NDA government that scams committed during the UPA rule were being unearthed now.

"The original sin took place during the Congress regime. It multiplied, it took traction under the Congress regime," she had told reporters on Saturday.

"We are not conspiring to help scamsters flee the country, but the BJP government is catching them instead," she had said.The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has shifted its New Delhi headquarters from 11 Ashoka Road to 6 Deen Dayal Upadhyay Road.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has shifted its New Delhi headquarters from 11 Ashoka Road to 6 Deen Dayal Upadhyay Road.

Of course, it is purely coincidental that the previous BJP headquarters was housed at Ashoka Road, named after greatest ruler of ancient India, and its new headquarters is at Deen Dayal Upadhyay Road, named after one of the foremost political ideologues of modern India and the tallest icon of the party. But, as far as the politics of symbolism goes, BJP leaders and workers would feel extremely gratified.

The new, swanky 1.70 lakh square foot BJP headquarters, inaugurated on Sunday by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the most powerful leader the Sangh Parivar ever produced, is a declaration of power: Of changing times, changing thoughts and changing desires. The BJP has made a huge statement to its political peers and the nation.

The size of the building, style, design, decor, grandeur, modern connectivity, and the speed with which this huge complex of three blocks with a seven-storey main structure and buildings either side of it were raised and opened, reflects the massive change which has taken place within the BJP's thought process.

The BJP of yesteryear took pride in austerity. Its ideological fountainhead, the RSS, still takes pride in living and working with visible austere measures. This was true for other political parties also. Guided by socialistic thought, all parties would operate from buildings or bungalows provided by the Union or state governments and leaders would necessarily appear in public in khadi kurta-pajama uniform.

The BJPs new headquarters is symbolic of India and its political leadership casting off the old socialist ideology. It symbolises what Modi refers to "new India", and its newfound confidence and capabilities.

The BJP under Narendra Modi-Amit Shah dispensation is not afraid to make bold, loud statements. Modi changed the way public rallies and political conclaves were held. His 2014 campaign was designed in a style and on a scale  using modern communication technique  India had never seen. Now, other political parties, including Congress are following suit.

The grand BJP office is yet another statement by the Modi-Shah combine which political parties, in time, will follow. Shah was not shy in claiming that the BJP office was the largest of any political party in the world. In fact, Shah took credit for that: The biggest party on earth, the biggest office on earth. They did not bother with what critics and rivals would say: Why, in a poor country, was a political party indulging in an obvious display of wealth and power?

It should be noted that BJP leaders were never averse to change, but after Modi and Shah arrived, it moved to a whole other level. LK Advani was a pioneer in using digital diaries and cell phones. He was always willing to learn new technologies and its applications to organise better. Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee ensured that Indian airports looked and felt world-class and that India built highways and expressways on which driving became a pleasure. Vajpayee began connecting the nation with "super highways" comprising four, six and eight lanes. He also brought some innovations at the prime minister's residence at 7 Lok Kalyan Marg (formerly Race Course Road).

But then, during the Vajpayee-Advani era, the party headquarters at Ashoka Road looked and felt mundane, resembling an RSS swayamsevak. Things began to change at BJP headquarters when Nitin Gadkari became president in 2009. Instead of the usual dhoti-kurta or kurta-pajama uniform of a politician, Gadkari wore cotton or linen trousers and short sleeve shirts. He would work and hold meetings late into the night. He also abandoned the white ambassador car which was used by past party presidents.

Gadkari began changing the old headquarters. Even as the exterior remained the same, the conference rooms, offices of president and other office-bearers underwent renovations, a process which continued in the Shah era. The interiors began to resemble a corporate office than that of a political party.

But with the new BJP office, Modi and Shah have scaled new heights: It looks like a top class corporate house, a modern government building, and faintly resembles a newly-built Parliament Library inside Parliament House. The new office also reflects the altered power equation in Parliament and the country.

Ironically, the BJP, with a clear majority in Lok Sabha and singe largest party in Rajya Sabha, benefited in terms of land allocated to it by rules framed by UPA government in 2006 following a Supreme Court directive asking parties to vacate official bungalows in Lutyens' Delhi.

Unfortunately, the Congress cant take credit for benefiting BJP with rules that were framed under its command 11 years ago. It is now under pressure to vacate four government bungalows in central Delhi: Congress headquarters at 24 Akbar Road, Seva Dal (one of its organisations) at 26 Akbar Road, Youth Congress office at 5 Raisina Road, and C-II/109 Chanakyapuri, occupied by Vincent George, a close aide of Sonia Gandhi.The Tamil Nadu govt has called for an all-party meeting at the Secretariat on 22 February to discuss Supreme Court's verdict on the Cauvery dispute.

The Tamil Nadu government has called for an all-party meeting at the Secretariat on 22 February to discuss the Supreme Court's verdict on the Cauvery dispute, media reports said. "Tamil Nadu government will immediately take steps on the issue after consulting and getting the views of leaders of all parties," an official release said.

DMK working president MK Stalin welcomed the announcement of the all-party meeting and said his party would participate in the meet and give constructive suggestions to the government on the issue. He also said that representatives of farmers associations should be invited for the meet as their opinion on the issue was crucial.

The decision comes a day after DMK decided to convene an "all-party meeting" on the Cauvery issue. "A proposed all party meeting called by the DMK in this regard now stands cancelled," he said.

The AIADMK has said its government would continue efforts to get an adequate share of Cauvery water even as the Opposition DMK hit out at it over the alleged inept handling of the case in the apex court.

#FLASH Tamil Nadu Government calls for an All Party Meeting at Tamil Nadu Secretariat on 22nd February over #CauveryVerdict by Supreme Court.  ANI (@ANI) February 19, 2018

On 17 February, Tamil Nadu chief minister K Palaniswamy had said the Supreme Court verdict reducing the quantum of Cauvery water to be released for Tamil Nadu to 177.25 tmcft was "disappointing".

Palaniswamy, under attack from the DMK for allegedly not handling the matter in the apex court properly, however, said: "Several advantageous features for Tamil Nadu find a place in the verdict." Tamil Nadu will urge the Centre to implement the action plan within a time frame, he added.

The ruling AIADMK's decision to hold an all-party meet is a marked departure from the stand of late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on similar matters. Though DMK has all along sought such meetings on key issues like Cauvery, Jayalalithaa had not acceded to it.

The all-party meeting on Cauvery comes after a gap of several years. A similar meet was held during the previous DMK regime when M Karunandihi was the chief minister.

The Supreme Court on 16 February directed the Karnataka government to release 177.25 tmcft of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu from its inter-state Biligundlu dam. The judgment was pronounced by a bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and justices Amitava Roy and AM Khanwilkar, which had on 20 September last year reserved the verdict on the appeals filed by Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala against the 2007 award of the tribunal.

The verdict clarified that Karnataka will now have an enhanced share of 14.75 tmcft water per year while Tamil Nadu will get 404.25 tmcft, which will be 14.75 tmcft less than what was allotted by the tribunal in 2007.

For many years, Tamil Nadu had demanded the constitution of a board to ensure it did not have to depend on Karnataka's benevolence for getting water into the Mettur dam in Salem district.

With inputs from agenciesOpposition Congress created an uproar in Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly alleging that the state government has invited an associate company of Nirav Modi, an accused in Punjab National Bank scam, for investment in the state

Raipur: Opposition Congress created an uproar in Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly on Monday alleging that the state government has invited an associate company of Nirav Modi, an accused in Punjab National Bank scam, for investment in the state.

The Congress members also demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Raman Singh on the issue. As many as 29 Congress MLAs were suspended after they trooped into the Well of the House seeking a discussion on the issue.

Soon after the Question Hour, senior Congress MLAs, including party chief Bhupesh Baghel, Satyanarayan Sharma and Dhanendra Sahu, alleged that the chief minister and his officials, during a visit to Australia last month, had invited Australian mining major Rio Tinto for mining exploration in the state.

"Rio Tinto is an associate company of Nirav Modi's conglomerate and although the company had left the diamond project in Chhatarpur district of Madhya Pradesh midway in the past, it was invited for investment in the state," they claimed.

Congress members further accused the ruling BJP of looting the state in the name of investments in the industrial sector and sought a discussion on it by moving an adjournment motion notice.

Speaker Gaurishankar Agrawal rejected their demand saying the nature of the motion is superficial and it cannot be accepted.

The speaker said the adjournment motion should be on a fresh issue, which needs immediate attention of the government, following which Congress members started shouting slogans.

Due to the pandemonium, the House was adjourned for five minutes.

When the proceedings resumed, Baghel again sought a discussion on the topic accusing the government of trying to loot the natural resources of the state in the name of investments.

"The chief minister should answer why he had invited a company which had a bad track record. The CM should resign," Baghel said.

As the speaker took up the listed business for the day despite slogan-shouting by the Congress MLAs, agitated members rushed to the Well of the House and were automatically suspended as per the assembly rules.

Congress legislators sat on the floor of the Well and continued to raise slogans.

Announcing the suspension, the speaker named the Congress members and asked them to go out of the House, following which they moved out.

Later, while talking to reporters on the Assembly premises, chief minister Raman Singh said Congress has been levelling "baseless and hypothetical charges" as they don't have any other issue left to raise in the House.Congress spokesperson Manish Tiwari on Monday voiced support to the demand for doing away with electronic voting machines (EVMs) and called for 'serious efforts' to ensure that paper ballots were used in the 2019 Lok Sabha election.

New Delhi: Congress spokesperson Manish Tiwari on Monday voiced support to the demand for doing away with electronic voting machines (EVMs) and called for "serious efforts" to ensure that paper ballots were used in the 2019 Lok Sabha election.

Democracy was "too precious" to be left to technology, he said, while pointing out that several countries had gone back to paper ballots.

"All right-thinking people, who believe that if certain people do not come back (to power) in 2019, democracy will survive, should make serious efforts to ensure that the election in 2019 are held on ballots," Tiwari said at a debate on EVMs, organised by an NGO.

Instead of looking for a "middle path" like voter-verifiable paper audit trails (VVPATs), the effort should be to go back to the ballots because the EVMs were destroying the "trust" the people had in the democratic system, the Congress leader said.

Senior CPM leader Nilotpal Basu said the demand for going back to paper ballots should be a part of electoral reforms that were needed in the country.

Stating that the purity of the electoral process was fundamental, he said, "There cannot be unanimity on all the issues, but there should be a consensus on certain points."

Many social and political activists, including those from the JD(S), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), participated in the debate.

Rebel JD(U) leader Ali Anwar said people had a "suspicion" as regards the EVMs.

The speakers strongly opposed the use of EVMs in elections as they could be tampered with and demanded going back to the paper ballot system.

"We wrote to the Election Commission, demanding paper ballots and making it clear that we were against EVMs. But the political parties are sleeping over the issue," charged Danish, a JD(S) leader from Karnataka.

RJD leader Naval Kishor Yadav suggested that the political parties should raise a demand for a 100-percent counting of VVPAT slips in 10 percent constituencies in every election.

The speakers also called for a consistent movement to demand the replacement of the EVMs with ballot papers in elections.The decision of the Congress and Samajwadi Party to go separate ways in the bypolls for two Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh may have brightened the BJP's prospects of retaining these seats even as the saffron party claimed it would rely on its hardwork and strength.

Lucknow: The decision of the Congress and Samajwadi Party to go separate ways in the bypolls for two Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh may have brightened the BJP's prospects of retaining these seats even as the saffron party claimed it would rely on its hardwork and strength.

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav today announced the name of the party contestant from Gorakhpur and said the candidate for Phulpur will be declared shortly. The Congress has already named its nominees for both the high-profile constituencies. Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha constituencies were vacated by Chief Minister Adityanath and his deputy Keshav Prasad Maurya respectively, after they became members of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council.

For the BJP, Gorakhpur assumes significance as it is the bastion of Adityanath, who has represented it in Lok Sabha five times. Prior to Adityanath, Gorakhpur was thrice represented in the Parliament by his mentor Avaidyanath.

Phulpur, on the other hand, was once the bastion of the Congress, and represented by first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. It had for the first time witnessed a saffron surge in 2014 Lok Sabha elections, when Maurya emerged victorious.

"We can clearly see that opposition votes will split with both the SP and the Congress in the fray. However, we will contest on our strengths, and emerge victorious. We believe that the hard work of the party workers will definitely help us to clinch victory on both the seats," UP BJP spokesperson Manish Shukla told PTI on Sunday. Even when the two parties (SP and Congress) fought against us jointly in the 2017 Assembly polls, their alliance came a cropper, he said.

Shukla exuded confidence that BJP will not only retain the two seats, but also improve its margin of victory. "There are only two waves - Modi wave and Yogi wave - in Uttar Pradesh, thanks to their vision for development as reflected in both the Union and state budgets," he said.

The Samajwadi Party on Sunday declared its support for Praveen Kumar Nishad, for the bye-election to the Gorakhpur Lok Sabha seat. Praveen Kumar Nishad, who belongs to the Nishad Party, would contest on SP poll symbol - the bicycle, the party said. Samajwadi Party would soon declare its candidate for the Phulpur Lok Sabha seat, it added.

On 16 February, the Congress decided to go it alone in the parliamentary bye-elections in Uttar Pradesh and declared its candidates. Party general secretary Janardan Dwivedi said that Dr Sureetha will be its candidate for the Gorakhpur Lok Sabha bypoll, and local leader Manish Mishra will contest from the Phulpur parliamentary seat.

Voting for the Lok Sabha bye-elections will be held on 11 March, while counting of votes will be held on 14 March.Congress sharpened its attack on Narendra Modi, dubbing him 'Maun Modi' (silent Modi) for his 'continued silence' on issues critical to the country, and alleged that raids by agencies in the bank scam are a mere 'eyewash' to befool the public

New Delhi: The Congress on Monday sharpened its attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, dubbing him "Maun Modi" (silent Modi) for his "continued silence" on issues critical to the country, and alleged that raids by agencies in the bank scam are a mere "eyewash" to befool the public.

Leading the attack was Congress president Rahul Gandhi, who fired yet another salvo at the prime minister over his "silence" on the multi-crore PNB bank fraud, asking where the "country's watchman" was when jeweller Nirav Modi fled the country like liquor baron Vijay Mallya.

Gandhi took the swipe at the prime minister for his refrain during poll rallies that he would act as a watchman for the country and cited his "na khaoonga, na khaane doonga" (will neither do nor allow anyone to do corruption) statement.

The Congress chief said the entire country was keen to know the "secret behind his silence" and alleged that it screams out loud where his loyalties were.

"First Lalit (Modi) and then (Vijay) Mallya, now Nirav (Modi) also fled the country. Where is the country's watchman who claimed 'Na khaoonga, na khaane doonga' (Will neither do nor allow anyone to do corruption)?

"The public is longing to know the reason of 'saheb's' silence. His silence screams out loud who is he loyal to?" he asked in a tweet in Hindi.

   

    

  ' ,   '     ?         

     

   #ModiRobsIndia  Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) February 19, 2018

The Congress on its official website also dubbed Modi as "Maun Modi", a term used by the BJP against former prime minister Manmohan Singh for his silence on various scams during the UPA Government.

Congres spokesperson Manish Tewari said the government should tell who facilitated the escape of accused designer jeweller Nirav Modi and his partner Mehul Choksi, despite a court order declaring Choksi as an "absconder" and a proclaimed offender.

He said, "fresh revelations" have come in the matter and the court of chief judicial magistrate had on 4 August, 2017 declared Mehul Choksi, the managing director of Gitanjali Jewellery, and Vipul Chaitalia, the company's authorised signatory, as a proclaimed offender and "absconding".

"How was this man allowed to leave the country? The question arises that how can a person who is a declared proclaimed an offender and an absconder by a court of law be allowed to leave the country and we would like to ask the NDA-BJP Government.

"We would like to ask the prime minister of India and the finance minister of India that who facilitated the exit of this man from the country despite the order of a competent court which brings us to certain other questions that we would like to ask," he told reporters.

The Congress asked on Twitter, "Is it too much to expect Maun Modi, who had promised to be the chowkidar of the nation, to speak one word on this systematic loot of the banking system?"

In an article headlined "Maun Modi: The Art of Silence", the Congress said the age-old proverb "Silence is golden" has caught the fancy of the "verbose" Prime Minister, while the nation ponders over the reasons behind his reticence.

PM Modi has mastered the art of remaining silent while scam after scam hits the nation. He possibly believes that his silence will help distract the nation. #MaunModihttps://t.co/mEPHzKUOvw  Congress (@INCIndia) February 19, 2018

"What could explain this? When the countrys biggest banking scam hit the airwaves, Narendra Modi was found passing on unsolicited tips to students on how to cope with exam stress, inaugurating the swanky new headquarters of BJP, and holding forth on artificial intelligence.

"It looks like the chowkidar of the nations wealth has abdicated all responsibility, moral and otherwise," it said.

Tewari said Modi "speaks on everything, referring himself as 'chowkidar' (watchman) of the country and its 'pradhan sevak' (servant).

"But we would like him to answer some questions on issues that are critical and the country is demanding answers," the Congress leader said.

Tewari demanded that the government issue a white paper on the health of the banking sector and a complete list of all NPAs of banks be published on their website to enable people who have invested money in these banks to know their fiscal health.

On the country-wide raids launched by various agencies in the bank scam case, he asked, "Who are they attempting to fool? This is an activity merely for the sake of activity for creating a smoke-screen for trying to give an illusion of action when the horses have already bolted."

"This activity is merely an eye-wash. It is for the benefit of cameras," he alleged.

Tewari demanded answers from the prime minister on Amit Shah's son's company, the Rafale price at which the aircraft were purchased, the purchase of stake by ONGC in Gujarat Petroleum Corporation and on the issue of death of Justice Loya, asking "why he has not answered questions of the

The Congress said, "Whenever the prime minister speaks, it is either to dish out more rhetoric, or to badmouth the Congress party, or to point towards the past and claim victimhood".

The Opposition party also took out a video of Modi sleeping while scamsters like Mallya and Nirav Modi fled.

"Have you heard of this amazing scheme by the Modi govt to create more billionaires?

"PM Modi has mastered the art of remaining silent while scam after scam hits the nation. He possibly believes that his silence will help distract the nation," the party said.The reported denial of visa to the president of a worldwide alliance of Baptist churches and organisations who was to visit Meghalaya earlier this month, may cost the BJP and its ally NPP in the 27 February Assembly polls, state Congress working president Vincent H Pala has said.

Tura (Meghalaya): The reported denial of visa to the president of a worldwide alliance of Baptist churches and organisations who was to visit Meghalaya earlier this month, may cost the BJP and its ally NPP in the 27 February Assembly polls, state Congress working president Vincent H Pala has said.

The BJP and the National People's Party (NPP) are seeking to unseat the ruling Congress in Meghalaya, where Christians constitute nearly 75 percent of its three million population. The BJP, which had failed to open its account in the 2013 polls, has this time fielded 47 candidates and set an ambitious target to win 40 seats in the 60-member house in Meghalaya, which is under Congress rule for past 10 years.

The Centre had last week reportedly denied visa to Baptist Convention president Rev Paul Msiza. He was set to visit remote Rajasimila village in Meghalaya's East Garo Hills district to attend the 150th anniversary of the church in Meghalaya.

Rev Msiza did not make it to the celebrations despite the last minute calls made to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj by Union Tourism Minister K J Alphons. NPP president and MP Conrad K Sangma, too, had shot off a letter to Swaraj. The BJP had issued clarifications on the issue. "How can we say that the BJP is inclusive and will stand for everybody in the country when there is such an incident (denial of visa to Rev Msiza). The sentiments of the church have been hurt deeply," a leader of the Catholic Church said on condition of anonymity.

Rev Mzisa was to visit a "very important celebration of the Baptist Church and not to convert people", he said, adding that if there was any such "unfounded fear" there are government agencies to keep track of foreign visitors.

BJP state chief Shibun Lyngdoh avoided making a direct statement on the issue. He only said: "People of Meghalaya want change. They are against the misrule of the Congress."

Some other church leaders even questioned the authenticity of Conrad's letter as no official receipt by the MEA was 'seen'.

Congress veteran Pala said that Rev Mzisa was kept under surveillance when he visited the Garo Hills in the state two years ago, following which he was found to have violated the visa guidelines and was blacklisted.

Last month, Meghalaya's Catholic Church and Presbyterian Church, who have more than 15 lakh members, had declined the 'Swadesh Darshan scheme' packages launched by the Union tourism ministry for the churches in the state.

The secretary of the Parish Pastoral Council of the Cathedral of Mary Help of Christians, B Nangbah, told PTI that such packages to the Church ahead of elections "may be read otherwise as indirectly trying to bring the church into electoral politics".

The Mawkhar Presbyterian Church, a parent church of the Presbyterians in the state, too, announced that it is not a party to the decision taken by the tourism ministry and did not wish to avail the packages. The BJP campaign rallies in Meghalaya have been sparsely attended and even its president Amit Shah's rally in Shillong on Friday failed to draw a large crowd.

The Congress is going all out to defend its turf and has taken to campaign against the BJP using all platforms, including the social media. Pala said the campaign this time is different from earlier times. "We are at war. We are working day and night this time because the other parties like the NPP and the BJP are also working." The Congress has put up candidates in all 60 seats while the NPP is contesting in only 53 seats.DMK has decided to convene an 'all-party meeting' on the Cauvery issue in which actor Kamal Hassan, who will launch his party next week, has agreed to attend

Chennai: DMK has decided to convene an "all-party meeting" on the Cauvery issue in which actor Kamal Hassan, who will launch his party next week, has agreed to attend, party working president MK Stalin said on Sunday.

The DMK took the decision as the AIADMK government was not paying heed to his demand to hold an all-party meeting in the wake of the Supreme Court reducing the quantum of water from Cauvery river to the state, he told reporters in Chennai on Sunday night.

"As an Opposition party, we have decided to convene an all party meeting and will be inviting AIADMK which is the ruling party... we will also invite BJP," he said without mentioning the date of the proposed meeting.

"Not only that. I have directly invited Kamal Hassan, who is going to launch his party on 21 February. He has assured he will participate," Stalin said.

To a question on actors Hassan and Rajinikanth's political foray, Stalin said anyone can enter politics.

The Supreme Court had on 16 February directed the Karnataka government to release 177.25 tmcft of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu, reducing the quantum specified by the tribunal in 2007.

DMK has hit out at the state government accusing it of inept handling of the case in the Supreme Court.Gujarat's ruling BJP retained power in most of the 75 municipalities in 22 districts where polling was held last week though in line with the December 2017 assembly polls' trend, its overall strength declined and the opposition Congress chalked up several gains

Ahmedabad: Gujarat's ruling BJP on Monday retained power in most of the 75 municipalities in 22 districts where polling was held last week though in line with the December 2017 assembly polls' trend, its overall strength declined and the opposition Congress chalked up several gains.

From 59 municipalities it controlled in 2013, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won only 44 civic bodies while the Congress' performance shot up dramatically capturing 22 nagarpalikas from six earlier.

This was largely in keeping with the electoral mood in BJP's bastion of Gujarat ever since the assembly elections. The share of the ruling party, which had bagged 117 seats in the 182-member assembly in 2012, dipped to below 100  at 99 seats.

This was only seven more than a simple majority of 92, while at least 15 of its legislators scraped through with margins of less than 500 votes.

Among the other local bodies, there was a tie between the Congress and the BJP on three of the municipalities, while six urban bodies went in favour of Independents and others.

The voting for the semi-urban municipalities took place on Saturday. Elections were also held for two district panchayats, 17 taluka (tehsil) panchayats and 1,423 gram panchayats, simultaneously. The villagers in 295 gram panchayats chose their 'sarpanch' unanimously.

This was for the first time in a decade that parties contested the local body polls on their party symbols. Though it lost several urban bodies, the consolation for the BJP is that it has retained a majority hold on the muncipalities since the early 1990s.

The takeaway for the Congress is that it has entered into double-figures in the municipalities after a much improved performance in the recent assembly elections.

The BJP won 27 of the 28 seats in Vadnagar municipality, the hometown of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with the Congress being able to win only one seat.

Interestingly, the BJP had lost Assembly elections of 2017 from Vadnagar in the wake of the Patel quota stir.

Similarly, Congress has lost all the three municipalities in Mehsana district this time, also losing Kheralu and Vijapur to BJP, in the Patidar hub of north Gujarat.

In auto hub Sanand, the BJP was able to bag 20 of 24 seats, while the Congress saw its seats reducing from eight last time to four.

The Congress was in for a jolt in the Amreli district, the stronghold of Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Paresh Dhanani, where the BJP snatched away three of the four municipalities from the Congress which had made a clean sweep here in 2017 assembly elections.

The woes of another senior Congress leader Arjun Modhvadia, who lost from Porbandar Assembly constituency, increased as the party lost all the three municipality polls in the area.

It lost Kutiyana and Chhaya municipalities to the BJP and Ranavav to the Nationalist Congress Party. More shocking, the son and wife of former Congress MP and Union Minister Naransinh Rathwa lost the elections in the tribal Chhota Udepur district in central Gujarat.Escalating his attack on Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on graft, Narendra Modi said new scams, corruption charges and fresh allegations were emerging under his rule 'every day'

Mysuru: Escalating his attack on Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on graft, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said new scams, corruption charges and fresh allegations were emerging under his rule "every day".

Taking the battle to Siddaramaiah's home turf at a rally in Mysuru, Modi said he had earlier called his administration a "10 percent government" but later came to know his information was not correct and it was much more.

In his second public rally in a fortnight in poll-bound Karnataka, Modi singled out corruption to attack Siddaramaiah and asked, "Do you want a commission government in Karnataka or mission government? Commission or mission?"

Recalling his Bengaluru remark that "it is a 10 percent commission business," Modi said many people were angry with him, some even called him, some sent messages and others expressed their anguish...." they said my information was not correct.It was not 10 percent, but more than that," he said.

"Every day, a new scam, new corruption, new allegations are being levelled against their one or the other leader, against one or the other minister or one or the other programme of the government, in one or the other part of Karnataka," Modi said.

He charged that Central government funds under various schemes meant for the poor and middle class were not being properly utilised by the state.

"Their priority is political squabble, keeping Delhi (high command) happy, and send them whatever is needed to keep them happy. Their interest is only in it...keeping their party bosses happy so that their seats are safe."

Saying that no state can function like this, he said, "They don't care about the people and their feelings... Such governments, such leadership and personality will never strengthen democratic system."

Taking a jibe at Siddaramaiah, Modi said: "Mysuru is the land that spreads the message of social unity, Mysuru is the land of energy and youthfulness, Mysuru is a land that creates an atmosphere of harmony... but the person who was born from here should not have gone on the wrong path."

"He is associated with such people that whatever Mysuru taught him, he completely forgot them on his way to Bengaluru, and is now taking entire Karnataka towards destruction."

Modi also hit out at the Congress for spreading "lies repeatedly" and asked the people to question their record.

He said "ask those who come here, make speeches. For 50 years one family got an opportunity to rule. What is the reason that four crore families are still living the life of the 18 century?."

"They dont even feel a bit of shame or sadness. They think by lying, by lying repeatedly, lying wherever they go, by lying loudly, by many people lying, not one or two days but for months on end, the people of this country will believe."

"You are talking from a wrong place; the country can never believe you, the country will never accept your lies. You will have to answer...." he told the Congress.

Modi said the NDA government at the Centre wants to take the country forward at a faster pace, but Congress governments wherever they are, are working to stop the pace of the country. They work as 'bumps,' he said.

Modi said he has come to assure the people and see to it that the BJP government that would be formed in Karnataka would work with a mission. It would work towards changing the destiny of Karnataka, he said.

"The way the government is functioning in Karnataka and political developments are going on, you know that bundles and bundles of notes were seized and they are not ashamed of it."

"Diaries and what all were entered in it... Karnataka needs to get rid of it or not? Those who destroyed Karnataka.." Modi said, apparently referring to the raids by Income Tax department on some ministers recently.

Modi also announced a six-lane 117 km Bengaluru-Mysuru national highway project at a cost of Rs 6,400 crore and a world-class new satellite railway station at Mysuru at an investment of Rs 800 crore.

He dedicated to the nation an electrified railway line between Mysuru and Bengaluru and flagged off the Palace Queen Humsafar Express between Mysuru and Udaipur.

The train with only AC features connects five states in western India, according to South Western Railway.

The electrification of the railway line between Bengaluru and Mysuru, costing Rs 220 crore, is expected to benefit 25,000 passengers.

Assembly polls in Karnataka are due early this year.

The BJP is pulling all stops to unseat the Congress and return to power for the second time after its 2008-2013 rule that saw squabbling among its leaders and change of chief minister thrice.Siddaramaiah doesnt believe that populism should come only just before polls. In fact, he has been in election mode almost ever since he took over as chief minister in 2013.

The Greek god Zeus had the cornucopia, the goats horn which supplied never-ending nourishment. Draupadi had the Akshaya Patra, from which she produced an endless amount of food for guests visiting the Pandavas during their forest exile.

Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah possesses something similar: An item from which he removes goodies for one section of the population or the other, with no end in sight. The Americans call it 'pork-barrel', named after the large barrels used for storing pork in salt solution before the advent of refrigerators.

Sometime during the 18th Century, the phrase 'pork-barrel' began to be used to refer to the spending of government money on projects of questionable utility to please voters. According to William Safires New Political Dictionary, the derogatory use of this phrase probably derived from an ancient practice of distributing salted pork to slaves.

Governments dishing out populist schemes before elections is, by no means, a phenomenon unique to India. Different countries have different names for the pre-election carrots they dangle at voters. The British, for instance, call it election sweeteners. The Germans: Wahlgeschenke or election gifts.

But nowhere in the world are pork-barrel schemes rolled out as unabashedly as in India. Most state governments  and the Centre  are known to discover their sudden love for the people and shower it upon them in pre-election budgets. Indeed, Arun Jaitley's national Budget came with its own dose of populism.

Siddaramaiah, of course, will go down in the history as one of the tallest among Indias pork-barrel leaders. Late Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa  may her soul rest in peace  came close to him. Sample Siddaramaiah's latest populist state budget, which he unveiled on Friday (beating every populist budget ever presented in India):

 Farmers will get loans of up to Rs 3 lakh at zero interest, and loans of Rs 3 to 10 lakh will be given at 3 percent interest.

 The government waived off loans totalling Rs 8,165 crore taken by 22.27 lakh farmers.

 30 lakh poor people to get free gas connections with twin-burner stoves and two refills.

 70 lakh farmers growing rain-fed crops will get Rs 5,000 each per hectare (up to a maximum of Rs 10,000). Cost to government? Rs 3,500 crore.

 20 lakh students will get free bus passes at a cost of Rs 356 crore. There will be no fees for girls studying pre-university, degree and post-graduate courses in government institutions. Students will also receive a host of other incentives (the chief minister is fully aware that the state has nearly half a crore first-time voters).

 Since Siddaramaiah has been dubbed pro-Muslim, he has rolled out sops for Christians (Rs 200 crore), Jains and Sikhs (Rs 80 crore each).

But Siddaramaiah doesnt believe that populism should come only just before polls. In fact, he has been in election mode almost ever since he took over as chief minister in 2013. He has reduced governance to announcement of schemes for the free supply of something or the other.

So there are schemes to supply free rice and milk to the poor, distribute cash to women of minority communities at the time of marriage, and provide laptops to Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes students. Last year, he set up Indira canteens to supply subsidised food in Bengaluru (to be extended to other parts of the state). A free healthcare scheme for poor is also being worked out.

Its a political marketplace

But what is populism? There are two kinds: Programmatic populism based on ideology (however questionable that ideology happens to be) and economic populism (which panders to particular sections of people by offering them dole of the kind seen in Karnataka). In India, however, we use the word populism largely to mean the second variety, which simply means distribution of economic patronage.

Its another matter that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who began with programmatic populism in 2014, brought in a fair measure of economic populism through Arun Jaitleys latest Budget. And that leaves us with the Congress, which seeks to thrive only on economic populism or patronage politics. The Congress treats politics as a marketplace where it throws schemes at people to buy their votes.

In his book Why Populists win Elections in India, Asia and Beyond, Paul D Kenny wrote: ... patronage party systems are characterised by competition between parties that are tied to supporters through the distribution of particularistic benefits, such as cash, jobs or pork-barrel spending.

Indira, the mother of populism

After Indira Gandhi took over as prime minister in 1966, two things occurred one after another: First, she tried to lure poor voters with fake socialism and make-believe slogans such as garibi hatao. Second, she encouraged her party-men to distribute cash and liquor to voters before polling.

As a vote-catching tactic, the first one worked for some time and then failed miserably. Her economic pranks such as nationalisation of banks  as part of her spurious socialism  led to financial doldrums from which India still hasnt fully recovered.

The second strategy of distributing gifts to voters worked  it still does  but only sporadically. While this second, illegitimate strategy is still used, it later began to have a seemingly legitimate, official version by way of pork-barrel spending: Sundry schemes and budgetary allocations to sections of people to placate them. Indira was the mother of populism.

Can populism win elections?

We are, of course, talking about the economic populism which comes from budgets, and there is no easy answer to this question. Just like the distribution of cash, liquor and other handouts from illegitimate funds, the pre-election budgetary bonanza too has foxed election analysts over their efficacy in influencing voter preferences.

Past elections have shown that populism alone cant determine voter choice, but can influence results in combination with other factors. Its demeaning to voters to assume that most of them are ignorant of the difference between true governance and populism.

They are aware what governance means: It aims to enhance economic growth, raise incomes and living standards, improve infrastructure and create jobs and opportunities. They are also aware that its a long haul. When an incumbent government takes to populism, voters could accept the largesse but still vote it out if they see an alternative party which promises true governance. But when there is no convincing alternative, populism can sway at least the unattached voters.

In Karnataka, the alternative is the BJP. There are legitimate questions over whether the BJP can deliver true governance in the state, considering the mess it created when it lost power in 2008. Its campaign, so far, has done little to inspire the people. But there are still around two months left for polling.West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday slammed the BJP for 'boasting' about its new party office in Delhi and said a political party should be humble in its approach.

Baharampur: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday slammed the BJP for "boasting" about its new party office in Delhi and said a political party should be humble in its approach.

She also wondered where did the funds to build such a huge office come from.

"They (BJP) are boasting about inaugurating the world's largest party office. They should be ashamed of it. From where are they getting so much money? A political party should be humble in its approach and should not behave arrogantly," the Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo told a public meeting. People did not prefer to see a political party sitting on crores of rupees, she said.

With an area of over 1.70 lakh sq.ft, the new BJP headquarters in Delhi was bigger than the office of any other political party in the world, party president Amit Shah had said on Sunday. The BJP was quick to hit back at Banerjee, saying it had not built the party office by syphoning off public money in the name of chit funds.

"We have built the party office with our own funds. Our ministers did not syphon off public money in the name of chit funds," state BJP general secretary Sayantan Basu said. West Bengal was rocked by chit fund scams a few years back and the names of certain TMC leaders had also figured in those.

Banerjee also accused the BJP-led central government of helping fraudsters swindle public money and alleged that a conspiracy was hatched in this regard ahead of demonetisation in November, 2016. It was "India's misfortune" that it was being ruled by a party like the BJP, she said.

Referring to the alleged fraud at the Punjab National Bank (PNB), the chief minister said, "If you keep money in banks, it will be taken away. If you dig deeper, you will find out that not only PNB, but any other bank is also being looted. Who gave them (fraudsters) protection, the government has to answer."

Alleging that the "big bank fraud" was being planned "from the time of demonetisation", Banerjee said, "What was the central government doing all these days? Instead of giving speeches on television channels and lectures to others, they should act."

The BJP-led NDA government had demonetised the old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes on 8 November, 2016 in a bid to curb circulation of black money.

Criticising the Centre over the proposed Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance (FRDI) Bill, Banerjee claimed that with the help of it, the BJP-led government would take away the depositors' money to bail out banks which were suffering due to huge debts taken by big business houses.Neiphiu Rio, the chief ministerial candidate of the NDPP following its alliance with the BJP in Nagaland, has sought to allay fears about the emergence of the saffron party in the state

Neiphiu Rio, the chief ministerial candidate of the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) following its alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Nagaland, has sought to allay fears about the emergence of the saffron party in the state. He said that if voted into power, his government will protect the culture and religion of the state's citizens despite the Hindutva-based ideology of the BJP.

His assurance comes days after the Church questioned the BJP's secular credentials and questioned the party's intentions in Nagaland, a Christian-majority state.

The Naga Baptist Church Council had, in an address to political parties last week, said, "We cannot deny that the Hindutva movement in the country has become unprecedentedly strong and invasive in the last few years with the BJP, the political wing of RSS, in power. This fact cannot be denied no matter how hard you try to convince the innocents. You also cannot deny that the party in power at the Centre is working tooth and nail to make its presence known and seen in Nagaland, the frontline Christian-majority state of India. Have you ever seriously questioned their intention? If you have not, do not be fooled."

Rio said that the Church was right in expressing its concerns since it is a contentious issue, but added, "We are only in partnership with BJP; we are not going to change our religion. We would rather fight to protect our rights, as the Constitution clearly says that it is a secular country and persons of all faith can co-exist. We will ensure freedom of faith in Nagaland as mentioned in the Constitution."

When asked if there was an agreement between NDPP and BJP regarding Hindutva, he said, "We have not arrived at an agreement. But I have experimented the relationship with BJP for the last 15 years. We have the required understanding. From the experiment and understanding, I feel that Hindutva will not come in the way. We will work out whatever the problem is, because this relationship is good for the Nagas and and for the country."

Significantly, the NDPP is Rio's second innings as leader of a new party. In 2003, he came up with the Naga People's Front (NPF) and won three consecutive elections. He went on to become chief minister of Nagaland all three times.

In 2014, he won the lone Lok Sabha seat from Nagaland and went on to represent his state in Parliament. In doing so, he had to step down as chief minister and hand over the reigns to his aide TR Zeliang. His relationship with the NPF and Zeliang soon soured, especially after a group of MLAs revolted against Zeliang, and the NPF saw the development as Rio's handiwork.

Just before the Nagaland Assembly polls were announced, he joined the newly floated NDPP and even won the Northern Angami 2 seat since the only other candidate withdrew his nomination. He is campaigning for the party in the state currently as its chief ministerial candidate.

Speaking about the ideological differences between NDPP and NPF he said, "Both are regional parties fighting for the right and identity of the Naga people. Both parties also stand for an amicable solution to the Naga political issue. But to know what the difference is, one has to know why I left NPF and joined NDPP. The former is a divided house and the leaderships in the party and government has not done well. As a result, the Government of India could not trust the leadership of the NPF. That is why BJP has allied with NDPP forgoing its 15-year-long relationship with the NPF, in order to ensure political stability in the state."

Rio has all along been a vocal supporter of the demand for Naga integration, which denotes bringing 'Naga territories'  spread across Assam, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and Myanmar  under one political jurisdiction. During his tenure as chief minister, he gained political clout in parts of Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh as well.

The demand to integrate the Nagas has been ruled out in the ongoing peace process with Naga insurgent groups which have also been raising the same demand. When asked if he is happy with this development he said, "Though the government has said physical integration of Naga territories is not possible, cultural, political and social integration is required, and both sides to the agreement seem to have agreed with it."

He also called Prime Minister Narendra Modi a "decisive and dynamic statesman", whose name appears among the top-notch world leaders.

Click here to follow LIVE updates on the Nagaland election results

Click here to follow LIVE updates on election results in all three statesNirmala Sitharaman accused the Congress of looking for a scam every day to throw mud on the 'corruption-free for throwing 'trantrums' over Rafale deal

Bengaluru: Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman accused the Congress of looking for a scam every day to throw mud on the "corruption-free" NDA government as she hit out the opposition party for throwing 'trantrums' over the Rafale deal.

BJP did not throw tantrums during Congress-led UPA government over any defence deals as the Congress was doing at present over the deal for purchase of Rafael fighter jets, she said at "The Huddle", a thought conclave, conducted by The Hindu Publication in Bengaluru.

"The Congress wants to equate their corrupt and scam-hit UPA government with ours. So, it is looking for a scam every day. Here we go there is one, pick it up and throw mud, and it is for us to keep wiping it and saying we are clean. I am sorry it is somewhat not so responsible way in which you want to criticise the government," she said.

Stating that she had 'happily released all the answers on purchase of equipment, weaponry and certain helicopters," she said when some helicopters were deployed in friendly countries during UPA regime, then ministers did not disclose information citing national security concerns.

There was no outrage at that time, in spite of BJP being the opposition. "We didn't throw tantrums. We then thought there would have been some reason, the government, the defense ministry and the PM, probably had a genuine reason not to talk about it," she added.

Sitharaman also said there was no controversy over the Rafale deal as there was no deal under the UPA government. "Let's get this out of our system that they (UPA government) had the deal and it was much better. Where was the deal under the UPA? There was just no deal."

She was responding to Congress President Rahul Gandhi's allegations that the Rafale deal inked by the government to buy 38 fighter planes had no technology transfer, ignoring the deal signed by UPA government to procure 126 Rafale planes.

The defence minister said Rafale had been considered along with Eurofighter Typhoon under the UPA regime and there was enough data in public domain where within three years between 2011 to early 2014, the UPA's quoted prices about Rafale had undergone nearly 300 per cent increase. She said the process was almost completed and the bids were opened and at the stage of buying, the then "Raksha Mantri thought probably there was something wrong and asked for the details."

Sitharaman said the defence minister had no business to enter the process after the bids were opened.

Responding to the allegation that Qatar was buying Rafale jet at cheaper rate than the rate at which India will procure them, she said, "The simple thing is also that every time you go with transfer of technology, the price goes up to that extent."

She also countered allegations that a contract to manufacture parts of the jets was awarded to an inexperienced

private company. "In the UPA non-deal, HAL had very clearly come up with certain number of man-hours which was not even acceptable for Dassault. So, the HAL deal again did not happen, so we had managed to get transfer of technology, you have not. Dassault even did not consider HAL, and we have not considered anybody," she said.

Moreover, the Prime Minister did not mention any particular company's name, public or private, in the

inter-governmental agreement, which was more like an MoU, she added. She said Dassault had not yet told the government with whom they were going. " So, why there is imagination, "Oh you have gone with them and that name was given by Prime Minster.

Sorry again, non-sense," she added. Giving reasons for the government not wanting to reveal the price, Sitaraman said she would love to answer this in the Parliament or anybody to satisfy all, but it will be more satisfying to the enemies of India. "By revealing the prices of all the additional equipments to be fixed in the jets, who are we trying to help?" she asked.Political parties condemned the unpreparedness of EC for Tripura polls & said voters in almost all constituencies suffered because of malfunctioning EVMs.

Agartala: The polling for 59 Assembly constituencies in Tripura on Sunday saw 78.56 percent voter turnout. At 10 pm, polling was still on in 22 booths. While voting was to begin at 7 am and end at 4 pm, queues at some polling booths began moving only after 10:30 am as malfunctioning electronic voting machines (EVMs) were being replaced or repaired. The voter turnout at noon was 27 percent. It shot up to 47 percent at 1 pm and 74 percent at 4 pm.

At a press conference in New Delhi, additional election commissioner Sudeep Jain admitted that several complaints had come about the failure of EVMs during polling. "But, on actual verification, many of them (complaints) were found to be not genuine. Until 4 pm, 12 ballot units and control units and 97 VVPAT (voter-verifiable paper audit trail) were replaced. These numbers are far-far lesser than normally found replacement figures. Nothing unusual about these," he said.

Sudeep also said that no incidents of violence were reported in the state. "Two crude bombs were recovered, which were disposed of."

While Tripura chief electoral officer (CEO) Sriram Taranikanti had earlier told 101Reporters that the technical glitches will be scrutinised on Monday by observers and an inquiry will be ordered, he later denied making the statement. On the wide gap in voter turnout this time compared to the 2013 state elections, where 91.8 percent registered voters polled, the CEO said he did not wish to comment.

However, Sriram said that "with about 3,200 booths, technical glitches are bound to be there. It is not that many of the machines were replaced, but they were rectified soon and started to function. A team of about 180 engineers helped us address the problems."

Political parties slam 'unprepared' EC, trust voters to hang on

Senior CPM leader Gautam Das condemned the unpreparedness of the state election commission and said voters in almost all constituencies suffered because of malfunctioning EVMs. "Polling started at many booths after 10 am. There were reports from some booths that machines continued to have faults even after being replaced or repaired once," he said.

Das believed some voters may have even returned due to faulty machines. "But most of our voters are serious about preserving their democratic and constitutional right. That's why they were still in the queue."

While Tripura Pradesh Congress general secretary Harekrishna Bhowmik said that his party will accept whatever the mandate is, he also criticised the Election Commission (EC) for the reports on EVMs. "It is the responsibility of the election commission. It is not a routine disturbance. This was observed across all constituencies. It is our apprehension that EVMs were not checked properly beforehand. Voters will ask the EC. Political parties will also ask whether the commitment of EC towards keeping booths equipped was up-to-mark," Bhowmik said.

Tripura BJP chief Biplab Kumar Deb too felt the glitches must've had an impact. "Some voters started lining up at 5 am. And then, the EVM machines were found not working. If the machines were working fine, the voting would've ended at 4 pm."

However, he placed full faith in "BJP voters". "Some people may have gone back, but it won't matter. BJP voters won't return because they are passionate. They are youths, women and stubborn. Without a doubt, we'll win. Tripura needs mukti (salvation)."

BJP candidate accuses CPM cadres of threatening her

Bishwajit Naha, a 35-year old Agartala-based voter, told 101Reporters that he didn't have many complaints against the present government except for "the corruption done by mid-level leaders". He said even if BJP does not win the elections, support for the party has increased in the state. "It will be difficult for CPM to stay in power for too long. It's only natural because it's not possible to keep everyone happy for so many years," he said.

Meanwhile, Kalyani Roy, BJP candidate from Teliamura constituency in Khowai district, accused CPM cadres of disrupting the poll process by campaigning in her constituency. "There is cadre-raj going on here. They threatened me with life when I questioned them. I am filing an FIR at Teliamura police station," she said.

The EC had postponed polling in Charilam constituency following the death of CPM candidate Ramendra Narayan Debbarma while he was campaigning last week. It will now be held on 12 March.

The authors are members of 101Reporters.com, a pan-India network of grassroots reporters. With inputs from Prabhu Mallikarjunan and Pranav PrakashAn impressive 89.8 percent of the over 25.73 lakh electors came out to vote in Sunday's Tripura Assembly elections, the Election Commission said on Monday. On Sunday, based on details made available by local poll authorities, the commission had put the figure at 76 percent.

New Delhi: An impressive 89.8 percent of the over 25.73 lakh electors came out to vote in Sunday's Tripura Assembly elections, the Election Commission said on Monday. On Sunday, based on details made available by local poll authorities, the commission had put the figure at 76 percent.

A spokesperson said on Monday that the "final figure" is 89.80 percent. In the last Assembly elections, the voter turnout was recorded at 91.82 percent, while in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, it was 84.32 percent.

The polling for 59 seats of the 60-member Assembly was held peacefully with thousands of central paramilitary forces fanning across the northeastern state. There were reports of malfunctioning of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) at some polling stations which were rectified.

Polling could not be held in Charilam constituency due to the death of CPM candidate Ramendra Narayan Deb Barma last week. The constituency will go to polls on 12 March.

The BJP, hitherto an "also ran" in the border state, has emerged as the key challenger to the CPM-led Left Front, which has remained unvanquished in the last five Assembly elections. Manik Sarkar, one of the most enduring icons of the CPM, has led the state for the last four terms.

The Congress, which has been marginalised in Tripura, was last in power between February 1988 and March 1993. It is contesting 59 seats and had not fielded a candidate for Kakrabon constituency.

The BJP, which has been rapidly expanding its footprint in the northeast, with the party already in power in Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh, has forged an alliance with Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT), an anti-Left party. The BJP has fielded candidates in 51 places, while its ally is contesting the remaining nine seats.AFP

Blockchain, the technology behind the cryptocurrency bitcoin, is taking root in a sector far from finance: the world of humanitarian aid.

By offering refugees a virtual identity, reassuring donors that their money is being well spent, or rushing funds where they are needed most, aid charities are experimenting with the technology in the hopes that it can improve their work.

We are at the very beginning. There is a lot of hype, said Christopher Fabian, leader of UNICEFs Ventures Fund, which invests in open source technology solutions.

At the end of 2017, UNICEF  the UN agency dedicated to protecting children  brought together Russian-speaking blockchain experts in a meeting in Kazakhstan.

The goal? To develop a smart contract that would facilitate transactions between the organisation and its numerous partners for deliveries and payments, if certain conditions were met.

It totally failed, but we learned a lot from that and will do the same challenge this year in Mexico, Fabian admitted, adding that he could envision a host of future projects using blockchain for the social good  even if most of them will fail.

But the agency is thirsty for innovation.

Its French office has also launched an operation dubbed Game Chaingers (for blockchain), which challenges tech geeks and gaming enthusiasts to install on their computers software aimed at creating Ethereum, a virtual currency, to help Syrian children.

Blockchain allows users to create and spread information across a large network of computers, which its proponents say lends it both transparency and security. And the applications for the technology are multiplying quickly.

For aid and development groups, blockchain can come in all shapes and sizes.

Aid donors could, for example, trace their contributions as they spread across an organisation. The platform Disberse, supported by a network of 42 humanitarian groups, already road-tested this application by tracking money sent by a British association to four schools in Swaziland.

In theory, the technique can reduce transaction costs, fight corruption by making everything transparent, and allow a better record of where food aid is directed, or make sure that medicines are not counterfeited.

Those in charge of programs that directly send money to people in need also see it as a way of more easily controlling the disbursement of funds or avoiding the use of financial intermediaries such as banks, which might also take a cut.

In the old days, we were delivering aid at the back of the truck, said Alex Sloan, a consultant at the World Food Programmes Innovation Accelerator, which works with start-ups and others to help fight hunger.

Now, we are moving toward distributing cash to our beneficiaries, in the form of actual cash, through vouchers, e-cards, et cetera.

Sloans organisation has already field-tested a pilot project in Jordans Azraq refugee camp, where Syrian refugees can use iris-identification technology at a cash register to buy food and supplies.

The amount of money is then passed on via a blockchain-based computing platform. The program is currently private and used only by the WFP, making it more of a database project than a real blockchain. But Sloan said it could serve as a tool to bring different partners and organisations together to collaborate and make the industry much more effective.

The expansion of blockchain is not without risk. Besides the technical constraints, such as the need for an internet connection, blockchain poses some basic questions about governance and data protection.

How to ensure, for example, that key information about refugees is not hacked by dictatorial regimes? Who authenticates the data? Which countries accept virtual portfolios?

Its hard to navigate the regulatory environment or the lack of it, said Rosa Akbari, technology advisor at the US charity Mercy Corps.

Her group recently teamed up with tech giants Microsoft and Accenture for the ID2020 Alliance, working on a virtual identity model to help refugees.

We need to have more understanding of what is going on and we want to have a seat at the table, said Akbari.

Blockchain has enormous potential but still has a long way to go, she said.

In fragile states, and dealing with people facing great hardship, there could be some scary implications if we dont do it responsibly, she said.PTI

Infosys, India's second-largest software services firm, today said it has divested its investment in OnMobile Systems for $2.49 million.

"...it (Infosys) has on 15 February 2018, signed an agreement for divestment of its entire investment from OnMobile Systems Inc., USA for a total consideration of $2,498,756 (approximately Rs. 161457120)," Infosys said in a regulatory filing.

In a separate filing, BSE-listed OnMobile Global (OGL) said Telesystem had acquired Infosys' stake in OnMobile Systems.

Telesystem is a part of the promoter group of OnMobile Global, it added.tech2 News Staff

While rumours of the Nokia 1 and the Nokia 7 Plus launching at MWC 2018 are gathering pace, a new report now states that HMD Global's plans could well include the Nokia 4 as well.

While not much was known about the Nokia 4 so far, a report by NokiaPowerUser reveals that the smartphone will likely be powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 450 SoC. The report also says that the smartphone will in all likelihood be unveiled at MWC alongside the Nokia 7 Plus and the Nokia 1.

This, however, is not the first time that we have heard about the Nokia 4. A teardown of the Nokia Camera APK earlier this year had revealed its name, though there has not been any information about the device ever since. The Nokia 4 is expected to be Nokia's new mid-range smartphone offering, with claims that it may replace its current Nokia 3 smartphone. The Nokia 4 would be a welcome replacement for the Nokia 3 since it packs a much more capable chipset than the MediaTek chipset on the 3.

Based on a report from earlier today, the Nokia 7 Plus, which will likely be unveiled at MWC, will sport an 18:9 display with a design that features slim bezels and rounded corners. Both the Nokia 7 Plus and the Nokia 1, which would be HMD Global's new entry-level smartphone will be powered by Google's Android One platform.tech2 News Staff

HMD Global is expected to announce a new Nokia smartphone at MWC 2018 and it could likely be the Nokia 7 Plus. With less than a week left for MWC to begin, a new hands-on image on the internet seems to have completely given away the front-panel design of the phone.

The hands-on image appears days after well-known tipster Evan Blass revealed full size renders of the Nokia 7 Plus. The image which leaked on a Facebook group does look a lot like the press renders revealed earlier. The Nokia 7 Plus will be HMD Global's first phone to sport an 18:9 display with rounded sides and fine bezels. What we also notice in the image, is the front-facing camera which is expected to be a 16 MP sensor.

Based on earlier reports, the Nokia 7 Plus may get a 6-inch display along with a dual-camera implementation of 12 MP + 13 MP sensors at the back. The phone is also reportedly going to have the Nokia OZO 360 degree spatial audio technology, which was last seen on the Nokia 8. The phone is also expected to come with Qualcomm QuickCharge and Android Oreo 8.0 out of the box.

In terms of the internal specs, the phone is expected to get a Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 SoC powering it alongside 4 GB of RAM. Other features are expected to be in keeping with the Nokia 7.

Pricing details have not been mentioned yet, but it is expected to be priced around the $300 range.IANS

In a bonanza for Maharashtra, Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani on Sunday announced plans to launch the 'Fourth Industrial Revolution' in the state with an investment of Rs 60,000 crore and collaboration of over 20 global conglomerates.

He said that the initiative will take forward the flagship Jio Movement with the ambitious new plan for a New India and New Maharashtra by setting up the country's first-ever 'Integrated Industrial Development Area' in the state over the next 10 years.

"The company will make Maharashtra the birthplace and cradle of the Fourth Industrial Revolution in India, which is a convergence of disruptive technologies in the physical, digital and biological spheres. It is going to transform the world and our society in unimaginable ways," Ambani said in his address at the 'Magnetic Maharashtra: Convergence 2018' inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Some of the global companies who have already agreed to co-invest with Reliance include Cisco, Siemens, Corning, HP, Dell, Nokia and Nvidia, he said, assuring Modi that "this mega-project will make Maharashtra even more magnetic".

Ambani said there is a global race to harness Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Blockchain, Internet of Things, Next-Generation Virtual and Augmented Reality, Life Sciences, New Materials and New Sources of Energy and other futuristic technologies.

"India cannot afford to lag behind in this race and indeed has an opportunity to be a global leader," he said.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution will help Maharashtra and India solve the most difficult problems in socio-economic development in health-care and education, water security and environmental security, boosting agriculture production, in making all our towns, cities and villages SMART, and generate millions of new employment opportunities for the youth of the state and in India.

Ambani described Mumbai as the 'janmabhoomi' (birthplace) of Reliance and his own 'karmabhoomi' (workplace) where the start-up company was established by his father, the late visionary Dhirubhai Ambani with a seed capital of just Rs 1,000 and one employee.

"Today, Reliance employs over 350,000 people... it's the largest 'wealth-creator for India'. Reliance always invests in India's Big Dreams in building businesses of the future with Indian talent and Indian youth," he said.

He said Mumbai is also home to Jio, the newest tech-startup in the Reliance family, and when the Prime Minister unveiled his vision for a Digital India, it also became Jio's own mission.

"Before Jio's launch, India was 155th in the world in mobile broadband consumption. Today India is No 1. Over 170 million Indians enjoy the highest quality date services at the lowest prices in the world," he said.

So far, the company has invested Rs 250,000 crore in India, of which the highest share  Rs 22,000 crore  came to Maharashtra, and within two years, Jio will connect every village panchayat, every school, college and hospital in the state to bring the benefits of digital revolution to the last person in society, he said.

Disclaimer: Reliance Industries Ltd. is the sole beneficiary of Independent Media Trust which controls Network18 Media & Investments Ltd which publishes Firstposttech2 News Staff

The Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus already have a lot of hype building up for them and the South Korean giant is going to officially take the wraps off the devices at MWC this week. However, we won't have to wait till then as reliable tipster Roland Quandt has just shared the entire specifications sheet for the Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus.

As per a report by Winfuture, the main focus for Samsung this year has been on the camera of its flagship device, which was quite clear when they first handed out media invites with the caption "Camera reimagined". The Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus, according to the report, has been given a dual-camera system on the back, which has been aligned vertically. This alignment has improved the position of the fingerprint sensor, which now sits below the camera in a position which would be easy to reach and also not smudge the camera lens.

The report confirms earlier rumours that the 12 MP rear sensor on the single camera S9 will have variable apertures, allowing a switch between f/1.5 and f/2.4, which would help in capturing good shots under variable lighting conditions. The smaller aperture could be used to give greater depth of field for landscape shots in good lighting and the other one could be used to improve low-light performance. On the Plus model, it seems that one camera will have the S9's variable aperture system while the second one will have an f/2.4 aperture.

The rear-cameras can also record 4K videos and have optical image stabilisation. The report says that each sensor will be using a combo of laser autofocus and dual-pixel autofocus to have faster autofocus capabilities. The camera can shoot videos at 960 fps but it is not clear at what resolution. More on that should be revealed during the launch of the device.

The front of the device sees an 8 MP selfie camera with an aperture of f/1.7 and also auto-focus capabilities. The phone will feature an Iris scanner and also face authentication security systems and it's been rumoured that the devices might arrive with iPhone X-like Animoji's.

Samsung is also aiming to improve on the speakers of the device and the report says that both the devices will be sporting stereo speakers, as compared to the single speaker seen on the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus. You can read our review of the Galaxy S8 over here.

In the hardware department, the S9 will sport a 5.8-inch SuperAMOLED QHD infinity display with an aspect ratio at 18.5:9. The S9 Plus will have the same display, albeit with a screen size of 6.2-inches. As per the report, the phone has been designed in such a way that the chin of the device has been reduced to give a higher screen-to-body ratio.

As to what will power both the phones, this has been known for quite some time. There will be two variants of the S9 and S9 Plus, wherein one model will be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 SoC while the other will have Samsung's Exynos 9810 SoC. The S9 will come with 4 GB of RAM while the S9 Plus will have 6 GB of RAM. Both the devices will have 64 GB of internal storage and there is a possibility that a higher storage variant will also be announced. In any case, the phone will have microSD card support which can boost the storage to 256 GB.

The Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus will be shipping with Android Oreo 8.0 out of the box overlaid with the Samsung Experience 9.0 UI. The devices are also IP68 certified and can survive a plunge in water for up to 30 minutes at a depth of 1.5 meters.

Something that might be advantageous to a country like India is the fact that the devices, like the S8 and S8 Plus, will have dual-SIM support. As for the battery, Samsung will look to avoid any debacle like the Note 7 and has, therefore, according to the report, provided a 3,000 mAh battery in the S9 while a larger 3,500 mAh battery is present in the S9 Plus. Both the devices support wireless charging and fast charge. Samsung will be introducing the devices in three colours: Midnight Black, Coral Blue, and also Lilac Purple.

Samsung will be accepting pre-orders of the devices from 25 February onwards while delivery is set to begin by 8 March, as per the report. The phone has been rumored to be priced nearly the same as the Galaxy S8 when it was first released back in 2017. No word is out yet on release dates and price in India, but we shall be sure to be keep you updated as soon as we get information. Stay tuned to our website for more MWC 2018 coverage.tech2 News Staff

Though Tim Cook has claimed that iPhone X has been the top-selling smartphone for Apple every week since its release, Samsung seems to be offering up a different side to the story. The South Korean giant, who has been manufacturing the OLED displays found on the iPhone X, has reportedly said that they have been left with excess OLED capacity after Apple cut down iPhone X production by 50 percent.

A report by Japanese publication Nikkei states that Samsung had ramped up the production of OLED panels to meet initial iPhone X demand. But now with the production cut down, Samsung has been left with excess capacity and is looking for buyers.

Samsung's panels cost $100 each to make, almost double that of a traditional LCD panel. The high cost of OLED panels is why many smartphone makers have not switched from the traditional LCD panels.

The report claims that the production of the iPhone X has been halved in this quarter due to poor sales in the holiday season. Apple sold 77.3 million iPhones in the holiday quarter, about 1 million fewer than at the same time in the previous year, which included an additional week because of a quirk in the calendar. Despite the smaller window of time, analysts had predicted Apple that would sell 80 million iPhones in the past quarter.

Samsung may also risk losing the contract for manufacturing further OLED panels for the upcoming iPhones in 2018 as the Cupertino giant may opt to go with LG instead. The report also notes that Chinese companies are ramping up OLED production, which might force Samsung to bring down the price of its own panels.tech2 News Staff

Los-Angeles based Virgin Hyperloop One on Sunday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Maharashtra government to build and develop the world's first operational hyperloop between Mumbai and Pune.

Travellers who currently require roughly three-four hours to complete the 140-kilometre stretch can now wave their traffic woes goodbye as hyperloop is expected to cover the same in 14-25 minutes. Hyperloop does have the capability to hit much higher speeds (up to 1,000 kmph), but as mentioned in a report by The Hindu Business Line, on this route, it would be limited to roughly 350 km. This, however, will be raised to about 600 kmph in time.

Pune-Mumbai @Virgin @HyperloopOne route could result in USD $55 billion in socio-economic benefits, time savings, accident reduction & operational cost savings, over 30 years https://t.co/IkYbfIs2yi pic.twitter.com/wnPzCOFkHN  Richard Branson (@richardbranson) February 18, 2018

The route is also expected to connect Navi Mumbai International Airport which would make it easier for more travellers. The foundation stone for the project was laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Magnetic Maharashtra Global Business Summit in Mumbai.

What would be even bigger news is the fact that India may become the first country to have an operational system, even as Dubai is a close second.

Richard Branson, Company Chairman and business tycoon, stated that it would take the project three years to complete the test run and roughly 7 years to begin commercial operations.

 A post shared by HyperloopOne (@hyperloopone) on Feb 17, 2018 at 9:26am PST

Interacting with journalists, he said, "I have sat in Indian traffic every time I have come here, its not a pleasant experience, and if I were an Indian a lot of my life would have been spent sitting in traffic jams. This is a miserable way of spending ones life."

Branson also added that the project will be "for the masses" and not a premium priced service. Virgin Hyperloop One is also in talks with the Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka state governments to add projects in India.tech2 News Staff

Xiaomi looks to be getting in every electronic segment on the market with its hand in smartphones, tablets, TV's, Wi-Fi routers, wearables and more. Xiaomi had also launched its own headphones back in 2015 called the Mi Headphones and they were priced at around $80. Now Xiaomi has tweeted out another photo where a man is seen wearing golden coloured headphones with the caption " Are you ready to get in the zone with #Xiaomi?".

This could mean that the Chinese smartphone maker will be introducing a long overdue successor to the Mi headphones. No other details have been provided by Xiaomi and we have no information on the price or availability of this set. However, since Xiaomi has modeled the company around providing budget-friendly and quality products, it could be assumed that these new headphones are going to be priced at around the same as the first Mi Headphones.

Are you ready to get in the zone with #Xiaomi? pic.twitter.com/73ComB5U5v  Mi (@xiaomi) February 19, 2018

In more Xiaomi related news, Xiaomi India Managing Director and Global Vice President Manoj Kumar Jain said that the company's inventory does not last even a week as their smartphone sales are faster than other brands.

The exponential growth of Xiaomi in India, especially in the last two quarters, when it dethroned Samsung from the top spot, has alarmed the South Korean giant  a market leader for years  which registered 27 percent growth in its mobile business revenue for the financial year 2016-17, touching a mammoth Rs 34,300 crore.

With inputs from IANSPresident Donald Trump's Twitter cannon roared over the weekend as the latest turn in the Russia investigation seemingly placed him on the defensive.

Washington: President Donald Trump's Twitter cannon roared over the weekend as the latest turn in the Russia investigation seemingly placed him on the defensive. He denied he had ever absolved Russia of meddling in the 2016 US election, despite his plentiful record of voicing doubts on that question.

Resurrecting an old tale from the campaign, Trump also described a diplomatic transaction between the US and Iran during the Obama years as a dark plot that should have been investigated by US authorities. The transaction actually was money the US owed to Iran from decades ago and one in a series of claims that were addressed by an international tribunal set up by both countries.

Trump's rash of tweets followed an indictment released Friday charging 13 Russians with running a massive social media trolling campaign and field operations in the US aimed in part at helping him defeat his 2016 Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton. The case brought by special counsel Robert Mueller provided the most concrete evidence yet of Russian attempts to subvert the election.

Here's look at some of Trump's broadsides and how they stack up with the facts:

TRUMP: "I never said Russia did not meddle in the election, I said 'it may be Russia, or China or another country or group, or it may be a 400 pound genius sitting in bed and playing with his computer.' The Russian 'hoax' was that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia - it never did!"

THE FACTS: On multiple occasions Trump has challenged the veracity of the mounting evidence about Russian interference in the 2016 campaign. On Air Force One, during foreign travels in November, he was asked about a conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin: "How did you bring up the issue of election meddling? Did you ask him a question?"

Trump replied: "He just  every time he sees me, he says, 'I didn't do that.' And I believe  I really believe that when he tells me that, he means it. But he says, 'I didn't do that.' I think he's very insulted by it, if you want to know the truth."

And in September, he tweeted: "The Russia hoax continues, now it's ads on Facebook," referring to the discovery that Russian entities had posted ads on Facebook critical of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and supportive of him.

Mostly, he has equivocated on the question of Russian interference, speaking at times as if he believes it happened and other times as if he does not, even as lawmakers, intelligence officials and some of his own aides say there is no doubt Russia meddled. He's been consistent only in denying that his team colluded with Russia.

TRUMP: "Never gotten over the fact that Obama was able to send $1.7 Billion Dollars in CASH to Iran and nobody in Congress, the FBI or Justice called for an investigation!"

THE FACTS: It's not clear what there could be to investigate. In the late 1970s the Iranian government, under the US-backed shah, paid the US $400 million for military equipment. The equipment was never delivered because in 1979, his government was overthrown and diplomatic relations between the US and Iran ruptured. In 1981, both countries agreed on a commission at The Hague to rule on claims by each country for property and assets held by the other. Iran paid more than $2.5 billion to US businesses and citizens to resolve claims.

In January 2016, the US agreed to settle an Iranian claim, paying the $400 million and committing to follow up and pay $1.3 billion in interest, for a total of $1.7 billion. US officials said they settled because they expected the tribunal to rule on the claim soon and assess higher interest. The Obama administration delivered the initial payment the same day Tehran agreed to release four American prisoners, and later acknowledged the cash was used as leverage until the Americans were allowed to leave.

TRUMP: "General McMaster forgot to say that the results of the 2016 election were not impacted or changed by the Russians and that the only Collusion was between Russia and Crooked H, the DNC and the Dems.

THE FACTS: HR McMaster, Trump's national security adviser, would have had no basis to say Russia failed to impact the US election because that is an open question.

McMaster said in remarks the previous evening that the indictment provides "really incontrovertible" evidence of Russian malfeasance in the election. The indictment does not allege collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign and does not assert that Russia's deeds tipped the election in Trump's favour. But Mueller's investigation continues and nothing is ruled out.

Trump tweeted Friday about his conviction that Russia had no impact and Vice-President Mike Pence said in an Axios interview days earlier that "it is the universal conclusion of our intelligence communities that none of those efforts had any impact on the outcome of the 2016 election."

US intelligence agencies, however, have reached no such conclusion.

This much is thought to be true: Russia is not known to have succeeded in manipulating voting systems or ballots. Officials said as much months ago. But since then, much more has been discovered about the Russian assault on Facebook, Twitter and Google as propagandists pushed fake or negative news to readers to deepen public discord and influence opinions on whom to vote for. Now the Mueller indictment adds voluminous detail to that understanding.

The extent to which such efforts may have motivated people to vote for Trump may be impossible to measure.

But Pence's apparent equanimity on the subject was not shared by Trump's director of national intelligence in testimony to senators Tuesday. "There should be no doubt that Russia perceives its past efforts as successful," Dan Coats said in warning that Moscow was already meddling in the 2018 midterms. Coats said Russians "upped their game" in the 2016 election, "took advantage, a sophisticated advantage, of social media" and interfered in "pervasive" fashion  a conclusion underscored by the criminal charges brought Friday.The hunt for a plane that disappeared with 66 people onboard in Iran's Zagros mountains was stopped until morning as blizzard conditions made progress impossible for rescue teams

Tehran: The hunt for a plane that disappeared with 66 people onboard in Iran's Zagros mountains was stopped until morning as blizzard conditions made progress impossible for rescue teams, state television said Sunday.

"With the wind intensifying, and with snow, rain and darkness, it is not possible for rescue and relief teams to reach high altitudes and the search operation has been postponed until tomorrow (Monday)," broadcaster IRIB announced.

"Five helicopters are on alert to resume the search at dawn if the weather conditions are better."

Aseman Airlines flight EP3704 disappeared from radar 45 minutes after taking off from Tehran.

The ATR-72 twin-engine plane, in service for 25 years, left the capital's Mehrabad airport at around 8 am (0430 GMT) and was heading towards the city of Yasuj, some 500 kilometres (300 miles) to the south.

The Red Crescent said 45 teams had been deployed to the Dena mountain of Iran's southwestern Zagros range, but there was still no sign of any wreckage.

"The mountainous terrain is impassable. Thick fog and snow and rain have made it impossible to use helicopters," said Morteza Salimi, head of its rescue and relief section.

The airline said 60 passengers, including one child, were on board flight EP3704, as well as six crew.

It was the third disaster to strike Iran in recent months, after an earthquake that killed at least 620 people in Kermanshah in November and 30 Iranian sailors were lost in an oil tanker collision off China's coast last month.

Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei sent a message of condolence, saying the news had "left our hearts overwhelmed with sadness and sorrow", according to state television.

Ageing fleets

Families of the passengers gathered at a mosque near Mehrabad airport.

"I can't bring myself to believe it," said a woman whose husband was on board.

A man who missed the doomed flight told reporters of his conflicting emotions.

"God has been really kind to me but I am so sad from the bottom of my heart for all those dear ones who lost their lives," the unnamed man told the Tabnak news website, which showed a picture of his unused ticket.

A Greek seismologist was also scheduled to take the flight but missed it after getting stuck in traffic, Greece's ANA news agency reported.

"I had planned to go to Yasuj on this flight, or the next if I missed it, but because of huge traffic jams in Tehran, I didn't get on board the plane in the end," Akis Tselentis was quoted as saying.

Decades of diplomatic isolation have left Iran's airlines with ageing fleets of passenger planes which they have struggled to maintain and modernise.

Aseman's fleet includes at least three ATR-72s that date back to the early 1990s, according to the IRNA news agency.

France's air safety agency BEA said it would take part in the investigation led by Britain's Air Accidents Investigation Branch. "Three investigators and our technical advisers will go to the site," a BEA spokesman told AFP.

President Hassan Rouhani ordered the transport ministry to set up a crisis group to investigate the crash and coordinate rescue efforts, ISNA reported.

Aseman's three Boeing 727-200s are almost as old as the country's 1979 Islamic revolution, having made their first flights the following year.

Iran has suffered multiple aviation disasters, most recently in 2014 when 39 people were killed when a Sepahan Airlines plane crashed just after take-off from Tehran, narrowly avoiding many more deaths when it plummeted near a busy market.

Lifting sanctions on aviation purchases was a key clause in the nuclear deal Iran signed with world powers in 2015.

Following the deal, Aseman Airlines finalised an agreement to buy 30 Boeing 737 MAX jets for $3 billion (2.4 billion euros) last June, with an option to buy 30 more.

However, the sale could be scuppered if US president Donald Trump chooses to reimpose sanctions in the coming months, as he has threatened to do.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered his condolences over Sunday's crash, just moments after he launched a blistering attack on Tehran's government.

"I take this opportunity to send condolences to the families of the 66 civilians that lost their lives," Netanyahu said at the Munich Security Conference.

"We have no quarrel with the people of Iran, only with the regime that torments them," he added.

The US Treasury Department, which must approve aviation sales to Iran, has done so for 80 Boeing jets and 100 Airbus planes for national carrier Iran Air.

The first few Airbus jets have already arrived in Tehran.A group of independent candidates who fought the June 2017 General Election on an anti-Brexit platform today officially launched a political party that will tour the UK with its message to prevent Britains exit from the European Union (EU).

London: A group of independent candidates who fought the June 2017 General Election on an anti-Brexit platform on Monday officially launched a political party that will tour the UK with its message to prevent Britains exit from the European Union (EU).

Renew, which launched its national campaign and candidate mobilisation programme in London on Monday, claims to have recruited over 1,000 supporters and more than 300 candidates from "outside the political system" all over the UK to stand in local and national elections on a "Rethink Brexit, Renew Britain" agenda.

"Renew has enjoyed overwhelming support for its centrist agenda and platform to address inequality from a position of strength as a full EU member," the party said in a statement.

"Renew aims to recruit 650 candidates to stand in every Parliamentary constituency in any future election and to campaign to Remain in the EU in any vote on the final deal," it notes.

The partys first major challenge will be to contest the local elections scheduled for May this year, with the next General Election due in 2022. Renew, founded by former financier Chris Coghlan who stood as an independent candidate from Battersea in south London in June 2017, describes its mission statement as reversing Brexit and restoring Britains influential position in Europe.

"The Brexit referendum was a wake-up call that we are a nation divided, with deep discontent at inequality. Leaving the EU will only make things worse. We should reconsider Brexit, now we know more," said Sandra Khadhouri, a former journalist and UN worker who is one of Renew's three "principals".

The other principals of the party include James Torrance, an accountant and marketing professional who has worked in India in the past, and James Clarke, a start-up strategy consultant. They both stood as "stop Brexit" independent candidates in the June 2017 general election in an attempt to reduce the vote-share of pro-Brexit candidates from key London constituencies.

"We are heading out all over the country to listen to what you think we can do to renew our towns, our politics, our economy, our opportunities, and make sure we all have more hope for Britain, the party said in reference to its plans for a "Listen to Britain" tour in the coming months.

A series of anti-Brexit campaigns have emerged in the UK in recent months, calling for a re-run of the EU membership referendum and putting pressure on MPs to oppose a Brexit agreement when it comes before Parliament later this year.

Best for Britain, backed by prominent Indian-origin anti-Brexit campaigner Gina Miller, and a new youth group called Our Future, Our Choice is among some of the others campaigning against Britains exit from the EU.

Renew says its UK-wide tour is aimed at addressing what it calls the root causes of the 2016 Brexit referendum, in which 52 percent of the British public voted in favour of leaving the EU. It said it would also "look at better ways to manage immigration"  one of the central issues that is believed to have led to a Vote Leave victory in the referendum..                           ...Virgin Hyperloop One today announced that it has signed an agreement with Maharashtra who intends to build a hyperloop between Pune and Mumbai beginning with an operational demonstration track. The companys chairman Sir Richard Branson signed the framework agreement today to begin the development of the route.

The Hyperloop route would link central Pune, Navi Mumbai International Airport, and Mumbai in 25-minutes and connect 26 million people, supporting 150 million passenger trips per year. The company further said that the route could result in USD $55 billion (Rs.350,000 crores) in socio-economic benefits, time savings, accident reduction and operational cost savings with 30 years of operations.

It also opens up a new possibility of job creation and saves more than 90 million hours of travel time. The Hyperloop One project will begin with a six-month in-depth feasibility study to analyze and define the route alignment including environmental impact, the economic and commercial aspects of the route, the regulatory framework, and cost and funding model recommendations.

Upon the successful study, the project will enter a procurement stage post which the Construction of the Pune-Mumbai hyperloop route would commence which would take 2-3 years from the date of signing the agreement. The second phase will target to complete construction of the full Pune-Mumbai route in five to seven years.

Commenting on the same, Sir Richard Branson said:

I believe Virgin Hyperloop One could have the same impact upon India in the 21st century as trains did in the 20th century. The Pune-Mumbai route is an ideal first corridor as part of a national hyperloop network that could dramatically reduce travel times between Indias major cities to as little as two hours. Virgin Hyperloop One can help India become a global transportation pioneer and forge a new world-changing industry.

SourceSamsung made Over the Horizon as default tone on its Galaxy device back in 2011. Each generation of Samsungs Galaxy devices comes pre-loaded with a fresh new take on Samsungs signature Over the Horizon, six-note groove. Today it has announced that it has teamed up with Icelandic composer Petur Jonsson to compose a new Over the Horizon tune for the next generation flagships.

The Samsung Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ announcement at the Galaxy Unpacked 2018 will take place at 6 p.m.CET (10:30 PM IST) in Barcelona on February 25, 2018.

Regarding the creation on the new tune, Samsung on its release, said:

Delicately layering instruments, Jonssons minimalist arrangement takes you away on an atmospheric journey of discovery. The piece begins with the soft tones of a single piano playing the refrain. As additional instruments are gradually introduced, the sound rises to a crescendo before melting away. As the video cuts away from the opening scene of Jonsson at the piano, it prompts you to imagine travelling over the remote Icelandic countryside. Capturing the beauty of Nordic nature, the camera pans over misty mountains and jagged cliffs, steaming geysers and snow-blanketed hills. Listening to this years piece by Jonsson, you will find that the notes arouse the most pure, fundamental elements of the human sentiment that often remain hidden in our daily lives. In this way, the latest version of Samsungs brand sound has the power to relax the mind and heal the soul, thus resonating with all who hear it, regardless of their age.

SourceOmarosa Manigault Newman is discussing her time in the White House from the comfort of the Big Brother: Celebrity Edition house once again. This time, shes revealing why she made the jump from campaigning for Hillary Clinton to working in the Trump administration.

In a preview clip for Sundays episode, Omarosa sat down with fellow house guest Ross Mathews to discuss her role in politics over the past couple years. As many of her fans and detractors alike may have forgotten, Manigault Newman actually worked on Hillary Clintons campaign in the early days of the 2016 election.

Hillary, when we were in the White House, she was an interesting person. She was just a strong woman, she was... she defended her man, she told Mathews in the clip below. She was very engaged and sharp and smart.

Manigault Newman even went as far as to say Clinton would have been exceptional as president when asked by Mathews.

Why then did she pivot from the Clinton camp to her former Apprentice boss administration? Apparently, she believes she was used and abused by Clinton. Manigault Newman described working for the Ready for Hillary organization, which eventually became Hillary for America.

Then, when it was time to roll it over into the Hillary for America campaign, they just completely discarded all of the people who had done work, she explained. [It] soured a lot of people. So it wasnt hard when he called me and said can you be on board? because I had just been used and abused by the Ready for Hillary organization.

I could go down the list of people who were abused and misused by that organization and decided to go a different direction as a result of it, she continued.

Manigault Newman left her greatest reveal for the end of the clip, noting that she is excited to tell her lifes story when she decides to do so. Many were puzzled when the former White House Office of Public Liaison head was abruptly fired from her role and pivoted directly back to reality TV. Since then, shes been teasing details about her time in the Trump White House on the first Celebrity edition of the CBS reality series. Given her latest quote, its possible that shes teasing a book or some other type of tell-all coming in the near future.

You can watch the clip from Sundays episode below.Elissa Wall can still vividly remember when she was forced to marry her 19-year-old first cousin Allen Steed at the age of 14 by a false religious prophet.

The former child bride has come forward with her story as part of A&Es documentary Warren Jeffs: Prophet of Evil. The special explores how the now-imprisoned cult leader ruled over an estimated 15,000 followers of the polygamous Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS).

The 62-year-old is said to have had 78 wives, more than 50 children and controlled millions of dollars of the church before he was sentenced to life in prison in 2011 for sexually assaulting his 12-year-old and 15-year-old child brides.

Wall later became the lead witness in the trial that ultimately put Jeffs in prison. A 2014 Lifetime movie titled Outlaw Prophet starring Tony Goldwyn attempted to shed light on a community ruled by a man who was determined to quell his demands and desires.

Wall, now 31, says she is determined to pull back the curtain on the secretive community.

I really think at the time it was about submission, Wall told Fox News about the illegal marriage. I could have become a really big problem for the community and for Warren. I was a little more outspoken than the average girl. But I really think it was about pounding me into submission I was just the next player he wanted to eliminate and to quickly get control over.

Wall, who was born into the FLDS church in Utah, was raised by her mother, a multigenerational member whose parents were also part of the sect, as well as her father, a convert from the outside world. But despite her upbringing, Wall described herself as a naturally curious child who felt there was something strange about her community.

We led a very secret lifestyle, she described. We didnt interact with the outside world. We didnt go to public school. We were educated, cultivated and bred to be products of the church and the religion.

"I have this one vivid memory being at a beach in northern Utah. I was watching this family play about 500 yards away from us. They looked loving, kind and caring. The mother was hugging and holding her children. They were laughing and they didnt look like these evil disciples of the devil like I have been told they were. So I think my questions really started early on.

Wall described how Jeffs, or Uncle Warren, was an ever-present figure looming over her childhood. Jeffs was the son of the beloved figure Rulon Jeffs. The patriarch died in 2002 at age 92 and it didnt take long for his son to take over.

[Warren] was in charge of church history, said Wall. So for a lot of us children who were born into this, our days would be forever listening to these tapes of Warrens voice playing over and over of him teaching us church history. It became the backdrop of our childhood.

Still, Wall couldnt ignore what she was seeing. She claimed to have witnessed families be torn apart, her father being sent away and her mother given to another man as a wife.

There just had to be a better way, she said.

It did not take long for Jeffs to force Wall into marrying Steed in 2001, despite her tearful pleas. Wall insisted she was tortured with various forms of abuse.

Mentally, it was immediate, she said. I was now the property of my cousin. And no matter how resistant I was to him, his job was to get me into submission as quickly as possible Then the sexual abuse came later as he started to force himself on me and force that my role as a wife was to be at his beck and call and to have his children.

"And when I became resistant to that, then the physical abuse started to take over. And I think the frustration of my cousin, his frustration of being judged for not being a good man because his wife wasnt submissive and she wasnt good  that all compounded the problem.

Wall said she reached out to Jeffs multiple times, but her cries for help went on deaf ears.

I felt like something was going terribly wrong, she admitted. And so, I would describe these occurrences in detail in hopes that he would validate these deep concerns that I had.

"But he reprimanded me over and over for not being submissive. Reminding me of my teachings. Reminding me that I was the property of this man and he could do whatever he wanted to me.

Wall endured several miscarriages and a still-birth during the nearly-four-year arranged marriage. In 2005, she ran away from the church at age 18. However, something was holding her back.

I had two young sisters that I loved with every fiber of my soul that I couldnt protect because there was this giant canyon between us, said Wall. It took me meeting a very important prosecutor and investigators that were kind and trustworthy that I could come forward and begin to tell my story [But] I had no idea I would end up testifying against Warren. My goal wasnt to take Warren down. My goal was to protect my sisters.

In 2006, NPR reported Jeffs was arrested and charged with facilitating polygamous marriages involving underage girls. He had been on the run from criminal charges for more than four months. Wall would face him again in 2007.

I remember locking eyes with him for the first time [in court], said Wall. I felt this overwhelming power that consumed my very soul and I refused to drop eyes. That was my stand. If I can keep contact with him, I can prove to myself that he didnt control me I was liberating myself from his control. I was beginning to free myself from the anger I had towards him.

In 2017, The Salt Lake Tribune reported Jeffs was ordered to pay Wall $16 million in damages.

Today, Wall is a single mother to a 13-year-old son and an 11-year-old daughter living in Utah. She has since started a children's clothing company. And three years ago, she was finally able to reconnect with her sisters. However, she is not completely in touch with all of her family. Her mother is still in the church.

Wall insisted her work is far from over. Shes still eager to help people safely leave behind the FLDS and similar organizations. And shes hoping her participation in the A&E special will further raise awareness.

Its painful sometimes to be out in the open and be vocal about these memories, said Wall. And as painful as it is to be an advocate, to be vocal, to be out there, I see it as a necessary role in bringing about education and awareness There is a sense of bittersweet sadness that we still have work to do.

"Warren Jeffs: Prophet of Evil" airs Monday at 9 p.m. on A&E.Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux may not even be married.

The Hollywood couple announced on Thursday that they were heading for divorce  but TMZ is now claiming there is no evidence to suggest they ever got hitched in the first place.

The couple had a lavish ceremony at their Bel Air home in 2015; however, the website says it has checked marriage records in L.A. County all the way back to 2010 and there is no record of a marriage license for them.

It does say there's such a thing as a "confidential marriage license," but states "we're told they did NOT get one in L.A. County."

The website claims to have spoken to insiders in Jen's group and they say there's been "talk for a long time they might not be legally married."

The Sun reached out to representatives for both Justin and Jennifer.

Click here for more on this story from The Sun.Lionel Richie doesnt have much to say about his daughter Sofia Richies relationship with Scott Disick, but he doesnt think it will last forever.

Shes 19, the music icon told The Daily Telegraph. When youre 19 you know everything. Is it going to be for life? I dont know. But for right now its just a phase and Im going to stand real still in the corner, get me a good drink and not make too much noise.

Sofia and Scott, 34, have been dating for more than nine months and have been photographed celebrating their love all over the world  from Miami to romantic strolls in Italy.

Despite Scotts reputation as a hard-partying kind of guy with three young kids, Lionel had nothing but good things to say about him.

From what I met of him hes a very nice guy, Lionel, 68, quipped. When you hang around the reality world, who knows what you are really doing? This is a well-oiled machine, the Kardashian machine. I dont really know what to think. I told Sofia I will have no opinion. Ill continue to be my cheerful self and move on.

This article originally appeared in the New York Post.The Associated Press inaccurately reported that Florida high school massacre suspect Nikolas Cruz was confirmed to be a member of a white nationalist group  but it appears the news organization was duped by attention-seeking trolls.

Cruz reportedly has confessed to police that he killed 17 people when he opened fire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., on Valentines Day. Republic of Florida leader Jordan Jereb reportedly told the AP that Cruz was a member of his white nationalist militia and even participated in paramilitary drills.

Leader of white nationalist group has confirmed suspect in Florida school shooting was member of his organization, the AP tweeted on Thursday.

A few minutes later the AP sent another tweet, downplaying the language and changing leader of white nationalist group has confirmed to "leader of a white nationalist militia says that Cruz was a member. The story attached to the second tweet noted that a law enforcement official told the AP that he was unaware of ties between Cruz and the white supremacist group. The first tweet was retweeted more than 40,000 times and liked by more than 50,000 users, while the clarification was only retweeted 8,000 times and liked by less than 7,000 users.

Media Research Center contributing editor Tom Blumer wrote that the AP went to great excuse-making lengths after it abandoned skepticism when contacted by Jereb.

It's reasonable to ask if what supposedly fooled them was really narrative-fitting information that was too convenient to conscientiously check, Blumer wrote.

Jereb eventually claimed on social media that there was a "misunderstanding," according to Politico.

On online forums and Twitter, trolls and white nationalists gloated at the disinformation they had sowed, Politico reported.

The AP was not the only news organization to be fooled. ABC s story led by stating, The suspect in the Florida school shooting was a member of a white nationalist group, while the Daily Beast reported Cruz was a member of a white separatist paramilitary proto-fascist organization. Fox News Channel briefly posted the story, citing The Associated Press.

I know with certainty he had something to do with us, Jereb told the Miami Herald, which reported that alt-right backlash caused Jereb to eventually back off the claim and blame the media.

The Herald said Jerebs group is known for seeking publicity and that he would not respond to request for comment once backing off the claims.

Think Progress pointed out that ABC News reported it talked to three of Cruzs former classmates, who said he was part of the group. However, ABCs article has apparently been removed from its website and story links direct users to the homepage. Politicos piece hints that online trolls fooled ABC reporters over social media.

It's fair to ask whether AP and other media outlets unskeptically reported what they did because they wanted to believe it.  Tom Blumer, of the Media Research Center

A spokesperson for ABC News declined to comment when reached by Politico on how its reporters vetted the identities of these purported acquaintances of Cruz.

ABC did not immediately respond to request for clarification.

A variety of websites and news organizations were forced to issue corrections or clarifications. PBS added an editors note blaming the AP for its misleading headline, while the Denver Post published a story citing the AP headline, Florida school shooting suspect belonged to white nationalist group.

Politico published a piece, How white nationalists fooled the media about Florida shooter, that blames misrepresentations by a white nationalist leader and coordinated efforts by Internet trolls on the gaffe.

That the false air of certainty over Cruz's ties remained prevalent for so long is largely due to how the AP buried contrary information deep in one of its subsequent longer dispatches while deleting any reference to it without recognizing its erroneous original reporting in another, Blumer wrote.

Politicos Shawn Musgrave wrote that the rumor appears to have been perpetrated by white nationalist trolls themselves.

AP spoke with the leader of Republic of Florida, who said Cruz was a member of his group and had participated in exercises in Tallahassee. In the course of continued reporting, police and other groups were not able to confirm Cruzs association with the white nationalist militia, and that is what is reflected on the wire, an AP spokesperson told Politico.

Blumer wrote, It's fair to ask whether AP and other media outlets unskeptically reported what they did because they wanted to believe it.Following the news of a Florida school shooting, Rob Reiner attacked "GOP patriots" and called for an end to Trump's presidency.

On Sunday, the famed Hollywood filmmaker took to Twitter to accuse the government of putting the president before the lives of children and the country.

The Hollywood writer and director tweeted, "How much longer do we have to put up with a mentally ill sociopath? When the f---ed up psyche of the leader of the free world comes before the horrific deaths of innocent children, its time for GOP patriots to stand up and end this sickness."

The filmmaker, who is a frequent critic of Trump, also called out the president over reports of Russian interference with the 2016 election.

"There was a time when the GOP was the party of national security. When Trump refuses to acknowledge Russias attack on US, he refuses to protect US from without. When he refuses to support sensible gun safety, he refuses to protect US from within," Reiner tweeted on the evening of Valentine's Day following the mass shooting.

That Friday, the filmmaker continued to slam the president.

"There are 21,000,000 reasons why Donald Trump refuses to protect our children from being slaughtered by guns. The NRA has deep pockets. But we will show them that our hearts and our pockets are deeper than theirs," Reiner wrote.

The "Princess Bride" director joins the chorus of celebrities who have called for government action after the shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.

Back in December, while accepting a social justice award at the African American Film Critics Association Awards, Reiner called the Trump presidency the last battle of the Civil War.A Georgia woman was so desperate for a discount at Chick-fil-A that she impersonated a federal law enforcement officer  even telling managers she was working undercover, according to authorities.

Tara Marie Solem, of Marietta, was charged Thursday on two felony counts of impersonating an officer in connection with an incident in July at a Chick-fil-A location in Macland Cross Circle, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.

Solem at first tried to convince a drive-thru employee that she was a federal agent but was unsuccessful. She then went inside the restaurant and flashed a silver badge to two managers in a bid to persuade them that she was a federal law enforcement officer.

She stated that she was undercover and that for them asking her to be in uniform would blow her cover and [possibly] get her killed, according to the arrest warrant cited by the paper.

Solem also called the fast-food chains corporate offices in Atlanta to complain, giving her name as Agent Solem before changing her story and claiming to be an agent with the Georgia Bureau of Investigations.

An officer, however, noted in the warrant that the law enforcement agency had no record of a former or current employee by that name.

During the confrontation, Solem cursed in front of customers, including children, according to a warrant.

The situation grew so heated that employees eventually called the police. Solem was arrested at the restaurant July 5 on charges of impersonating an officer and disorderly conduct, WXIA reports.

This article originally appeared on the New York Post.NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

Last week, actor Danny Glover took center stage as the keynote speaker at Quinnipiac Universitys Black History Month event to explore the similarities of the #BlackLivesMatter movement and its early abolitionist roots  particularly Frederick Douglass  to build connections, increase dialogue and end racism.

While it would be fascinating to hear Glovers plan to end racism, its even more strikingor perhaps, disappointingto see Frederick Douglass legacy listed among the roots of the Black Lives Matter movement. An honest review of his life would find that he modeled values almost antithetical to what they stand for. But Glover isnt the first to distort Douglass legacy to fit contemporary political agendas.

Last year, the Washington Post published an article dispelling five myths about Frederick Douglass. It turns out that many of the myths were simply facts about Douglass life that contradict the progressive agenda. Here are just the first two: Douglass was a pious Christian. Myth. Douglass was an American patriot. Myth.

Really?

Unfortunately, partisans often project their contemporary political views into the pastrather than allowing the past to inform the present. History, then, becomes not an explanation of how things came to bebut rathera depository where ideologues come and go, mining for information that confirms their already long-held beliefs. Any discordant facts are conveniently discarded as myths.

Heres the truth about Frederick Douglass: he was an unapologetic Christian minister and a patriotic American statesmantwo distinctions that the left just cant accept.

Black Lives Matter has a different relationship with the church in that they only intend to focus on the parts of scripture where Jesus challenges the Roman power structure rather than the parts about loving one's enemies.

An active participant in church ministry, Douglass required his children to read an entire chapter of the Bible before dinner each night. Passing the book around the table, each child was expected to read a verse until the chapter was complete. Speaking on his own conversion to Christianity, Douglass wrote:

I finally found my burden lightened and my heart relieved. I loved all mankind, slaveholders not excepted, though I abhorred slavery more than ever.

In fact, decades after being subjugated to the evils of the slave system, Douglass accepted his former masters invitation to sit at his bedside as he took his last breaths. Somehow, even after enduring years in chains as another christian mans property, Douglass demonstrated the powerful Christian ethic of loving ones enemy.

Douglass faith can hardly be traced as the early roots of contemporary social justice movements. As one activist proudly stated, the Black Lives Matter has a different relationship with the church in that they only intend to focus on the parts of scripture where Jesus challenges the Roman power structure rather than the parts about loving one's enemies.

It doesnt take a degree in theology to see the stark contrast between Douglass faith and the cherry-picked theology that todays activists espouse.

Another narrative looming over Douglass bicentennial is that he was disdainful of America. Its no coincidence that out of all of his speeches, Douglass famous The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro is a favorite among contemporary activists. In the 1852 speech, Douglass declares:

Your celebration is a sham, your boasted liberty an unholy licenseTheres not a nation on the Earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of the United States at this very hour.

Here, they say, is proof that Douglass was no patriot. However, when this speech is reconciled alongside his other worknotably after the abolition of slaveryhis views about the United States change. But for those who need history to support their agenda, they tell half the story in place of the whole.

Its unclear why someone who still felt such hate for the United States would accept the call to serve his country as United States Marshal of the District of Columbia. In fact, while serving in this capacity, Douglass honored soldiers who fought for the union:

If now we have a united country, no longer cursed by the hell-black system of human bondageand our country has before it a long and glorious career of justice, liberty and civilization, we are indebted to thenoble army

Frederick Douglass life exemplifies precisely whats missing in todays politics. He lived his life beholden only to his heartfelt beliefsnot a partisan political agenda. He loved God, his family, and his country. What about that is so hard for the left to accept?NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

The West is showing evidence of a newly stiffened spine in the face of Saudi Arabian influence on Islamic culture  and none too soon.

The world heard the get-tough rhetoric of President Trump last May in the Saudi capital of Riyadh when he admonished Muslim leaders to begin honestly confronting the crisis of Islamist extremism and the Islamist terror groups it inspires.

Now Europe is finding its voice with a new willingness to pressure the Saudi Arabian government to end its spread of extreme Islamic ideology, known in the West as Wahhabism.

In Brussels, the Belgian government has broken a 99-year sweetheart lease  given rent-free to Saudi Arabia in 1969  that has turned into an extremist focal point.

The lease covered the Brussels Grand Mosque, located on prime real estate in the heart of the European Unions de facto capital. According to a Reuters dispatch, the Saudis are to detail the mechanics of the mosques handover later this month.

Islamist terror has replaced chocolate as Belgiums best known export.

This isnt being done for financial reasons. It follows a classified Belgian intelligence report in 2016 that declared ideology promoted at the mosque led Muslim youth to more radical ideas.

Belgium acted in response to a call from the Belgian Parliament last October, after that assembly reviewed the alarming report by the Belgian security agency.

As Reuters noted in a comment that also applied to the U.S: Belgiums willingness to put its demands to Saudi Arabia breaks with what EU diplomats describe as the reluctance of governments across Europe to risk disrupting commercial and security ties.

Belgium really has no choice but to take action. Islamist terror has replaced chocolate as Belgiums best known export.

Tiny Belgium, population 11.27 million, has sent more Islamic fighters to Syria per capita than any other European country. Muslims in Belgium were responsible for horrific terror attacks in recent years in Paris, as well as in Brussels.

And Belgium was feeling heat from members of Europes highest political elite, who are personally at risk, since the European Unions headquarters is not far from the Brussels Grand Mosque.

There have been other such moves. Reuters reported simultaneously that Saudi Arabia in January concluded a secret agreement with the West to end its support for radical mosques and schools throughout the world. The English-language, Saudi-backed Al Arabiya English news service re-published the Reuters report almost in full.

Germany finally pressed Saudi Arabia to close the King Fahd Academy in Bonn in spring 2017, according to a 2016 Deutsche Welle report. It first came under investigation 14 years earlier for alleged ties to al Qaeda.

On Feb. 11, French President Emmanuel Macron told the Journal du Dimanche that he intended to reorganize Islam in France to better integrate worship, fight fundamentalism and preserve national cohesion. We are working on the structuring of Islam in France and also on how to explain it, which is extremely important, he said, without providing further details.

These are astonishing developments, but not because they evidence Saudi moderation  they dont, at least not yet. These events are being driven by Western governments that are now pushing hard for the government of King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud to pull back from Wahhabist support  a push that appears to be working.

For decades European and U.S. leaders bit their tongues while the Saudi governments spent billions of dollars indoctrinating Sunni Muslim communities around the world in extremist ideology in the web of mosques and schools Riyadh supports. During this time, the West was hit time and again with terrorist attacks in which the taint of extremist Islam was clearly a factor.

Since 2005, for a project of the Center for Religious Freedom, I have directed the gathering, translation and analysis of four editions of religious educational texts published by the Saudi Arabian government.

As I told Congress in testimony last July, 16 years after the 9/11 attacks  led and carried out primarily by Saudis  Saudi Ministry of Education textbooks still teach an ideology of hatred and violence against many groups, including: Jews, Christians, non-Wahhabist Muslims (Shiites, Sufis and Ahmadis), Hindus, Bahais, Yazidis, animists, and infidels of all stripes, as well as other groups with different beliefs.

These Saudi textbooks have been used in Saudi academies worldwide, including in Vienna, Paris, Rome, Madrid, Berlin and Washington.

Among other things, the textbooks exhort:

The Apes are the people of the Sabbath, the Jews; and the Swine are the infidels of the communion of Jesus, the Christians. Jews and Christians are enemies of Muslim believers who are to be fought and killed.

Apostate Muslims are to be put to death.

Major polytheism makes (the taking of) blood and wealth permissible.

Jihad is glorious and defined to mean: Exerting effort in fighting unbelievers and tyrants.

Until recently, the West has done little or nothing about the Saudi ideological aggression. In 2010, a top U.S. Treasury counterterrorism official warned that without Saudi education reform we will forever be faced with the challenge of disrupting the next group of terrorist facilitators and supporters.

But Saudi Arabia was left unnamed and the West was loath to point fingers at or press the point with Saudi Arabia.

Indeed, for years the State Department did the opposite. It deflected criticism of the Saudi Kingdom and reassured the public in its annual religious freedom reports that Saudi Arabia has reformed and improved these texts. My investigations showed that it hadnt.

Even after a 2014 New York Times report that Saudi texts were being used by ISIS in schools in its then-stronghold of Mosul, Iraq, the State Department concealed the incitement in the textbooks of our strategic Saudi ally.

Upon the urging of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, the State Department once commissioned an independent review of the Saudi textbooks (2011-2012 edition), which cited and effectively supported my findings, then immediately classified this review. A Freedom of Information Act request in 2016 forced the department to make the findings public.

The West seems to be finally waking up. The new assertiveness shows official recognition of the link between Islamist ideology and terror, and our governments must keep it up.

Women drivers, economic diversification and the other promises for modernization of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bring hope about Saudi Arabias future, but the acid test will be the moderation of Wahhabi ideology.NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

Late Thursday, the Securities and Exchange Commission issued a notice announcing it did not approve the proposed acquisition of the 136-year-old Chicago Stock Exchange by a Chinese-led consortium.

The Chicago exchange, better known as CHX, is not happy, saying in a statement the SEC unfairly disadvantaged our company and shareholders.

The stakes for the rest of America are high. As Rep. Robert Pittenger, R-N.C., pointed out before the SEC turned down the deal, a successful takeover would be the first time a Chinese-owned, possibly state-influenced, firm maintained direct access into the $22 trillion U.S. equity marketplace.

At the moment at least, Chinese plans are on hold. And that, for many reasons, is a good development.

In December 2016, CHX filed a proposed rule change, pursuant to the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, that would allow a group, led by Chongqing Casin Enterprise Group, to acquire the exchange.

Chinese ownership could permit Beijing to breach personal and business data.

The SEC on Thursday blocked the $25 million takeover due to concerns about the ability of the Chicago exchange to ensure ongoing compliance with ownership and voting limitations. Moreover, the Commission questioned whether the proposed ownership structure would allow it to exercise sufficient oversight of the exchange.

Its not hard to see why the SEC reached that conclusion. As the Commissions staff sought more and more information about the deal, the clearer it became that the ties among the acquirers were murky. The information made available to the Commission was insufficient to verify the ultimate source of the funds certain of the proposed upstream owners were using to fund their part of the transaction, Thursdays SEC notice states.

The Commission also noted that there were potential undisclosed connections between purportedly unrelated members of the investor consortium.

These connections are important because, as the Commission pointed out, upstream owners might be able to exercise undue influence over the Exchange.

To facilitate approval, three members of the acquisition group dropped out, according to an announcement last November. After the change, the remaining Chinese participant, a Casin-owned shell company, held a 29 percent interest in the consortium. Said John Kerin, CHXs CEO, We are confident this will address any concerns the Commission may have had about the ownership composition.

Yet the reduction in Chinese ownership did not help. The fact that the acquirers did not answer previous questions from the Commissions staff left the SEC unable to resolve matters relevant to the structure of the proposed acquisition after the trio exited the deal.

Theoretically, the Casin investment group could go back to restructure the deal to get the SEC to give its nod, yet the groups deceptive responses to the Commission mean that, as a practical matter, it is unlikely to ever win approval.

Its bad enough that the acquirers apparently tried to mislead the SEC. What is even more disturbing, as Fraser Howie, a prominent Asia-based investment analyst, told Fox News, is that Casins bid was odd to begin with.

For one thing, CHX was not a particularly attractive investment. Casin argued it could bring Chinese companies to market in Chicago, yet its hard to see how it could do so. The identity of owners of an exchange is almost never a factor for companies going public. As Andrew Collier of Orient Capital Research in Hong Kong told Fox News, exchange ownership would be relevant only if the listing company thinks that doing a favor to the owners would pay off.

As Collier points out, companies selling shares care most about liquidity and valuation. The tiny CHX, which handles about 0.5 percent of daily stock trading volume in the U.S, lacks liquidity and would continue to do so.

In the meantime, what happens when another Chinese group comes along to buy CHX? The SEC, basing its decision on technical grounds, did not have to consider the broader arguments about Chinese involvement in the U.S. financial system.

Such involvement is not in Americas interests. Why can Chinese companies come and buy U.S. exchanges yet U.S. companies can neither start nor buy Chinese exchanges? Howie, the co-author of Red Capitalism: The Fragile Financial Foundation of Chinas Extraordinary Rise, asks. Reciprocity should be our new mantra.

There are also concerns about China undermining the U.S. economy. Because any Chinese entity permitted by Beijing to play in foreign markets is effectively controlled by the Chinese government, all such deals, no matter how small or marginal the takeover target seems, enable that government, and the state-dominated Chinese system, to grow its footprint in the U.S. economy, Alan Tonelson, a Washington, D.C.-based trade expert who blogs at RealityChek, told me. That, he persuasively argues, weakens our economys basic free-market structure.

No Chinese company could demonstrate independence these days due to Beijings tightening control, so allowing access to the Americas financial backbone looks exceedingly dangerous. Michael Wessel, a long-time commissioner of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, tells Fox News that running an American exchange would give China inside information on its markets.

There are three principal dangers that flow from China having that information.

First, Beijing could gain technical information about infrastructure weaknesses should it cyberattack the markets.

Second, the Chinese could conceivably use their preferential position, inside the backbone, to profitably trade the markets.

Third, Chinese ownership could permit Beijing to breach personal and business data, as Rep. Pittenger, who has led the charge in Washington against the Casin bid, told Fox.

Why on earth would we think that allowing them to control a U.S. exchange is in our interest? Wessel asks.

Casins bid to buy CHX is unlikely to be the last Chinese attempt to control an American exchange. The next offer from that country will require Washington to answer, head on, Wessels critical question.A Republican running for a Maryland legislative seat raffled off an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle at a Saturday night fundraiser  only days after the same type of weapon was used to kill 17 people at a Florida high school.

The Baltimore Sun reported that about 15 people held a peaceful vigil outside, reading off the names of the 17 victims, as well as others killed in American mass shootings, before the fundraiser for sheriffs deputy Aaron Penman, a Harford County Republican who is running for a seat in the Maryland House of Delegates.

The Sun said the sold-out gun/cash bingo event Saturday evening was held at the Jarrettsville Volunteer Fire Company.

Penman, a Christian and a former Marine, told Fox News on Sunday that the fundraiser was months in the planning.

The Facebook posting for Penmans event said gun winners would have to complete background checks.

On his website, Penman said he is running for office because of his lifetime of service to family and community: Standing up to do the right thing is how I have lived my life and why I have chosen to run as Delegate for Marylands 7th District.

He said his mission is working together to keep our community and schools safe.

Penman, who said he is an ardent supporter of the Second Amendment, also told Fox News: I believe law-abiding citizens have the constitutional right to own firearms, and I respect that some in the community might have a difference of opinion. I believe we must always ensure that all of our constitutional rights are upheld to ensure we continue to have a strong and free democracy. Accordingly, I support their First Amendment right to express their point of view, but making use of a planned fundraiser using the victims in Florida to push an anti-gun agenda by a few is distasteful.

Democrat Allison Berkowitz, also running to represent House District 7, took a turn sharing the stories of shooting victims over a megaphone at Saturdays vigil opposite Penmans fundraiser. She said: We just want things to be safer for all of our children.

Last week in Florida, 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz was accused of opened fire inside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, killing 17 people, Fox News previously reported. Cruz walked into the high school with an AR-15 rifle, and fired at students and faculty members while walking through the hallways, investigators said.

Cruz was caught later in the afternoon and was charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder in the deadly shooting. He made his first court appearance Thursday and was ordered held without bond.

He later confessed to the shooting, according to court documents.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.The White House revealed on Sunday that President Trump would support a push to improve the nation's system of background checks for would-be gun buyers, days after the shooting massacre at the high school in Parkland, Florida.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said Trump spoke on Friday to Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn about a bill the Texas Republican had introduced alongside Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., which would improve federal compliance with criminal background check legislation.

Sanders continued, While discussions are ongoing and revisions are being considered, the president is supportive of efforts to improve the federal background check system.

The massacre on Valentines Day of last week has renewed debate across the political spectrum in America about gun violence and how to prevent mass shootings.

Nikolas Cruz, 19, is suspected of opening fire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where he was a former student, killing 17 people and injuring more than a dozen others.

One day after the shooting, Trump singled out mental health as a possible factor. So many signs that the Florida shooter was mentally disturbed, even expelled from school for bad and erratic behavior. Neighbors and classmates knew he was a big problem. Must always report such instances to authorities, again and again! the president tweeted.

Trump will hold a listening session with high school students this week following the deadly school shooting in Florida.

A White House schedule says Trump will host students and teachers Wednesday. He also will meet with state and local officials on school safety on Thursday.

Trump was last seen publicly Friday night when he visited the Florida community reeling from the massacre, which gave rise to a student-led push for more gun control.

Late Saturday, after reports had emerged that federal investigators failed to act on warnings about Cruz, Trump tweeted: Very sad that the FBI missed all of the many signals sent out by the Florida school shooter. This is not acceptable.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.From the storied hallways of the J. Edgar Hoover building to field offices around the country, the Federal Bureau of Investigation faces a crisis of confidence as rank-and-file agents are blamed for not preventing recent attacks and top brass finds itself in the middle of an unfolding political fight.

The blitz of bad news is taking a toll on the intensely proud bureau's members, both past and present.

In my experience, I cant say I know of any parallel to what is going on now, former FBI Assistant Director Ron Hosko told Fox News.

The two-pronged attack on the bureau's credibility reached a crescendo last week, when the bureau admitted it had not acted on a tip that might have stopped Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz. President Trump, in turn, seized on the grave error to effectively accuse the bureau of making mistakes because agents have been consumed with the Russia probe.

While the DOJ triumphantly announced Friday that Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation had indicted 13 Russian nationals, Trump stressed that the case did not show collusion with his campaign.

The ignored warning about Cruz was especially painful, because it was the second such admission in the case. Cruz gunned down 17 students at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., on Feb. 14. It quickly emerged that a YouTuber had warned the FBI someone sharing the same name had said he wanted to be a "professional school shooter" back in September.

Then came word on Friday that another tipster had given the bureau an even more specific warning Jan. 5, and that had also been ignored.

This kid was flashing red and the system failed, Hosko said. The FBI has had its piece in that and its a significant piece.

Trump was quick to tie the two issues together, tweeting that the bureau missed signals because it was "spending too much time trying to prove Russian collusion with the Trump campaign," then urging it to "Get back to the basics and make us all proud!'

FBI Director Christopher Wray, selected by Trump to bring stability to the bureau after he fired James Comey, has vowed to get to the bottom of what happened in this particular matter.

But Florida Gov. Rick Scott has had enough. In his view, Wray  who was just installed as the bureaus new leader on Sept. 28 -- already has to go.

An apology will never bring these 17 Floridians back to life or comfort the families who are in pain, Scott said last week. The families will spend a lifetime wondering how this could happen, and an apology will never give them the answers they desperately need.

And the Florida shooting isnt the only case currently generating questions about what the FBI knew, and when.

The father of Ahmad Khan Rahimi, a convicted terrorist sentenced to multiple life terms in prison Tuesday for planting pressure-cooker bombs in New York and New Jersey in 2016, says he raised concerns about his son to the FBI two years before the detonations, which injured 30, but nothing ever came of it.

"After two months, they call me [and say] Oh, your son is not doing any act like a terrorist,'" Mohammad Rahami told WNBC on Thursday. "I said, You sure he not doing anything?' He say, 'Yeah, thats good news.'"

It allows the president  gives him the ammunition  to say what the hell is going on with the FBI?  Former FBI Assistant Director Ron Hosko

Back in Washington, a shakeup of bureau leadership in recent weeks has led to the departure of Andrew McCabe -- following months of conflict-of-interest complaints from Trump and Republicans -- and James Rybicki, Wrays chief of staff.

Fox News was told McCabe -- who has been questioned for his ties to the Democratic Party -- was removed from his post and will no longer be reporting to work at the FBI. His wife, as a Democrat, ran for a Virginia Senate seat in 2015 and had her campaign financially boosted by a group linked to Clinton family pal Terry McAuliffe.

How can FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, the man in charge, along with leakin James Comey, of the Phony Hillary Clinton investigation (including her 33,000 illegally deleted emails) be given $700,000 for wifes campaign by Clinton Puppets during investigation? Trump tweeted in December, about a month before news of McCabes ouster broke.

Hosko says Trumps weekend criticism of the FBI is an obvious response to the pressure hes facing from the Robert Mueller-led probe and his comments are made to delegitimize the FBIs effort and support for the Russia investigation.

He has the Twitter box in his hand, Hosko told Fox News, noting that the president gets his thoughts out faster and more often than any of his predecessors. I think that amplifies his commentary about the FBI.

But Hosko says as long as the FBI keeps making mistakes -- such as the catastrophic Florida one or the embarrassing text message exchanges between Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, two former members of Muellers team who blasted the president  the hits against the agency will keep coming.

Its a part of this conversation, Hosko told Fox News. It allows the president  gives him the ammunition  to say what the hell is going on with the FBI?The massacre at a Florida high school has revived an all-too-familiar national debate on gun control  but this time, public pressure combined with fresh presidential interest could spur at least some changes in the country's gun laws.

Most recently, the White House said President Trump backs efforts to improve the country's background check system. His abrupt involvement could be the nudge for action in a Congress divided on virtually every issue.

We want to make sure that the background check process is fully staffed and that all information gets in, White House spokesman Raj Shah said Monday on "Fox & Friends," describing the current system as a "patchwork."

Trump specifically has taken interest in bipartisan Senate legislation that would bolster the National Instant Criminal Background Check System -- a nationwide database for gun sellers that helps prevent the purchase of guns by criminals, the mentally ill and others considered too dangerous to own a firearm.

The Republican-controlled House already passed a measure to strengthen or fix the so-called NICS system, as part of legislation approved in December 2017 that also would allow gun owners more freedom to take a firearm across state lines.

The House passed legislation to enforce existing law, improve compliance with the federal background check system, address the bump stock issue, as well as strengthen the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens, North Carolina GOP Rep. Richard Hudson, whose gun-reciprocity plan was included the measure, told Fox News on Monday.

The reciprocity provision is a conservative priority that might not attract bipartisan support in the Senate.

The Senate version, as originally introduced last fall, mostly focused on the background check system. Trump spoke last week with Texas Sen. John Cornyn, the Senates No. 2 Republican and co-sponsor of that "Fix NICS" measure.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement that their discussion focused on efforts to improve federal compliance with criminal background check legislation. She said the president is supportive of such efforts but cautioned that discussions are ongoing and revisions are being considered.

Cornyn has been working on a version of the bill since at least last year and suggested well before the Florida massacre that it had good bipartisan support. The plan also tries to ensure that federal and state authorities submit critical information like criminal convictions to the database.

The National Rifle Association, considered the countrys most influential gun-rights group, also is backing congressional efforts to improve the system.

Whether this leads to congressional action, or political point-scoring, remains to be seen.

Both the NRA and Trump were hammered by gun control advocates in the wake of last week's massacre, where the shooter had an AR-15-style rifle. Trump took heat for his initial comments focusing largely on the issue of mental health.

He, in turn, has hammered the FBI after the bureau admitted it failed to follow up on clear warnings about the shooter.

Very sad that the FBI missed all of the many signals sent out by the Florida school shooter. This is not acceptable, he tweeted, accusing agents of being distracted by the Russia probe.

Other presidents have put their support behind efforts to stop gun violence, only to see such initiatives fail in Congress, most notably after gunman Adam Lanza killed seven adults and 20 children at Sandy Hook Elementary School, in Newtown, Conn., in December 2012.

As a country, we have been through this too many times, then-President Barack Obama said afterward. We're going to have to come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of the politics.

However, the Senate, then controlled by the presidents fellow Democrats, couldnt pass any proposals to change gun laws.

The gun control debate has played out after virtually every mass shooting since April 1999, when two teens killed 12 fellow students and a teacher before killing themselves inside their Columbine High School, in Littleton, Colo.

But the most-recent calls for action could escalate the pressure -- including nationwide rallies planned next month by students who survived last weeks shooting in Florida. Seventeen people were killed in the attack at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, in Parkland, Fla.

Trump is scheduled Wednesday to host students and teachers at the White House to talk about school safety. And he plans to meet Thursday with state and local officials on the issue.

A frequent Trump critic, Ohio's moderate Republican Gov. John Kasich, has publicly urged Trump to lead efforts to curb gun violence.

Mr. President, America needs real leadership. We need to take common sense steps NOW to protect our kids. From one father to another, lets protect them, he tweeted over the weekend.

Kasich says he remains a strong Second Amendment supporter but is calling for changes  perhaps at a state or local level  such as improving background checks and increasing attention on the connection between mental illness and gun violence. (A pro-gun section on his political website reportedly was scrubbed amid his new calls for changes to the law.)

While Kasich's view is unlikely to shape presidential policy, other factors are at play. Al Hoffman Jr., a prominent Republican political donor, reportedly has vowed to withhold contributions from candidates who dont support a ban on the sale of assault weapons. And he suggested he would rally other GOP donors to follow his lead.

Such an ultimatum would be an unexpected turn in the Washington debate over guns laws, and it's unclear how much support Hoffman might get from fellow donors.

A major argument from Second Amendment advocates is that tougher laws wont keep guns away from potential mass killers and others committing or trying to commit crimes.

Another reason why gun legislation in difficult to pass in Congress is that Republicans, particularly from rural or other conservative districts, could face tough primary challenges if they vote for stricter laws.

As for Cornyn's plan, Hudson said hes yet to see the text of the legislation but encouraged senators to consider his Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017.

Hudson submitted his measure after 25 people were killed in November 2017 at a Texas church by a former Air Force member.

The Air Force later admitted it had failed to enter into a federal database that the killer had been convicted in 2004 of domestic violence, a charge that could have prevented him from buying a gun.After a 19-year-old man was accused of fatally shooting 17 students and faculty members at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida last week, all eyes turned to Republican lawmakers  many of whom have had support of pro-gun organizations over the years.

Thousands of students, parents and teachers attended rallies over the weekend in support of stronger gun control legislation. And many of them blamed politicians  particularly those who have accepted donations from the National Rifle Association (NRA), a nonprofit that supports gun rights.

Heres a look at what 15 Republican senators have said about gun control in the aftermath of the deadly shooting on Feb. 14.

John Boozman, Arkansas

When Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., was a student in Arkansas, he said it wasnt uncommon for young people to actually bring their rifles to school during deer season. But, he told KARK-TV, nobody at that time entertained the thought of doing such a horrendous thing as shooting individuals in a school.

Boozman says the "heart of the problem" facing the U.S. is a mix of drugs, gangs, mental health and the break-up of the family, which, he argued, can be the catalyst behind these recent tragedies.

"Throwing money at the problem or passing a law that simply would not make any difference is not the answer  even though it might make us all feel better."  Sen. John Boozman

My understanding is, if you look at all the instances like these that have happened in recent history, that all of the things that have been proposed in Congress to counter them would not have made any difference, Boozman told KARK. Throwing money at the problem or passing a law that simply would not make any difference is not the answer  even though it might make us all feel better.

He said he wants to see the country be able to more easily identify these young white males that are definitely mentally ill, very unstable, and be able to somehow restrain them.

Susan Collins, Maine

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, told the Bangor Daily News that shes sponsored several bills in Congress that would prohibit people on a no-fly list from purchasing guns as well as strengthen background checks.

What happened [in Florida] is not only so horrific a tragedy, but it also has happened far too many times in this country, she said.

John Cornyn, Texas

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, has spoken to President Trump about a bipartisan bill designed to strengthen the FBI database of prohibited gun buyers, according to the White House.

The bill, which he introduced last year alongside Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., would penalize federal agencies that fail to provide the necessary records and reward states that comply with federal grant preferences and other incentives.

Ted Cruz, Texas

Appearing on Fox News, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, criticized Democrats for what he said was their attempt to politicize a tragedy  including by advocating to take away the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens.

Cruz mentioned the mass shooting at First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, Texas, in November 2017 and said the survivors told him gun control is not the answer.

The answer is to focus on criminals, to focus on violent criminals, Cruz said.

The former presidential contender has also battled CNN in the wake of the shooting. The cable news network accused Cruz, along with other Republicans, of being unwilling to appear on CNN to talk about gun control.

Cruz pushed back on Twitter, saying he did a 15-minute interview with CNN about proactive solutions to prevent gun violence, but said the network aired NONE of it.

Joni Ernst, Iowa

After the shooting, Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, said there should be a balance between supporting existing gun laws and not restricting Second Amendment rights.

While we must enforce current federal gun laws to prevent firearms from getting into the wrong hands, we can and must do so in a way that respects our Constitution, Ernst told KCCI-TV.

"The root cause is not that we have the Second Amendment; it is that were not adequately addressing mental illness across the United States."  Sen. Joni Ernst

She also told reporters on a conference call that the problem isnt guns, but societal issues that can be helped with better access to mental health services, the Des Moines Register reported.

The root cause is not that we have the Second Amendment, Ernst said. It is that were not adequately addressing mental illness across the United States. We need to focus on that, and we need to focus on substance abuse.

Cory Gardner, Colorado

Like other Republicans, Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., has said the school shooting should serve as an example for lawmakers to better improve mental health initiatives.

Now is the time to have a discussion about what we can do to break down the barriers that prevent help going to people who need it  whether thats a substance abuse issue or whether thats a mental health concern, Gardner said, according to the Denver Post.

Gardner called for a probe into whether authorities took earlier complaints about the alleged gunman seriously enough.

We need to understand why those reports werent investigated or further action wasnt taken, he said.

Chuck Grassley, Iowa

After the shooting, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, told fellow lawmakers he planned to sit down with some of them to discuss gun legislation, CBS News reported.

The Senate Judiciary Committee chairman responded to a request from Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and said he would to talk to her and Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas.

Both senators have introduced legislation pertaining to gun control. Feinstein, in particular, is seeking to raise the minimum age requirement to purchase rifles.

Jim Inhofe, Oklahoma

Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., accused gun control advocates of attempting to take a tragedy and try to capitalize on it.

Every time theres an incident, people somehow think if you take away guns from law-abiding citizens, the criminal element will give up their guns voluntarily, Inhofe told WJLA-TV. It doesnt make sense to me.

John Kennedy, Louisiana

According to Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., the first way to stop a shooter is to shoot back.

Kennedy is advocating for active shooter drills and trained security personnel on hand in schools. He told WVUE-TV he's not going to support "more gun control."

I don't think gun control keeps guns out of the hands of people that shouldn't have guns, Kennedy said. I think criminals and those who are mentally ill obey gun laws pretty much like politicians keep promises.

I think our problem is not gun control; its idiot control, he quipped.

James Lankford, Oklahoma

While hes not on board with a ban of so-called assault weapons, Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., called for stronger background checks in the wake of the Florida school shooting.

The problem is not owning an AR-15, its the person who owns it, Lankford told NBC News, adding that he doesnt believe the AR-15 should be more difficult to buy.

He pushed for reform to strengthen background checks on individuals purchasing firearms, especially in some rural departments or federal entities.

Lankford strongly advocated for the Fix NICS Act, from Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Chris Murphy, D-Conn. The bill "penalizes federal agencies who fail to properly report relevant records and incentivizes states to improve their overall reporting," Cornyn described in a post on his website.

Lisa Murkowski, Alaska

Like some of her Republican colleagues, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, focused on mental health efforts in the wake of the shooting.

I think we all know that there is no one single initiative that is going to be able to stop what happened in Florida or what has happened in  unfortunately  far too many other areas, where, again, you think theres a level of safety and security and theres not, Murkowski told Vox.

She added that Alaska has a very serious deficiency when it comes to mental health providers.

Mike Rounds, South Dakota

In an interview with NPR, Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., encouraged people not to get too caught up in the type of firearm used in the school shooting.

You can call any type of a series of different types of guns assault weapon, and suddenly then they become a demonized item, Rounds said. And then suddenly it sounds like we've done something. The reality is there's a whole lot of different types of weapons that can be utilized whether you're talking about a handgun, or you're talking about a shotgun, or you're talking about a rifle

Rounds said Congress could do a better job, but added that he supports the Second Amendment.

All we have to do is take away one particular type of weapon  that suddenly becomes the discussion point. And suddenly we all feel good about having done something. And in reality, we havent done something, he said.

Marco Rubio, Florida

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., has borne the brunt of criticism in the wake of the school shooting in his state, given his positions on gun control. He said the issue is "complicated, but not unsolvable.

If a bill makes things better, we should vote for it and keep working," Rubio told WFOR-TV. "But were in an era now where everybody wants to get 100 percent of what they want or theyll just walk away."

"Theres this false narrative out there that says just because you want to deal with mental illness means you dont want to deal with the gun part."  Sen. Marco Rubio

Rubio said it should have been impossible for the alleged gunman in Parkland to have been able to obtain the firearm he did, though he added that he respects law-abiding citizens who want to own a weapon like an AR-15 for sport or protection.

Theres this false narrative out there that says just because you want to deal with mental illness means you dont want to deal with the gun part. Im willing to deal with the gun part. I dont think people like this guy or people like him should be able to have any gun, not an AR-15, any gun. We need to create a system that keeps them from getting it, Rubio said.

Rubio also embraced a Democratic bill in the Florida legislature to allow courts to temporarily prevent people from having guns if they are determined to be a threat to themselves or others.

Tim Scott, South Carolina

After the deadly Florida shooting, Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., said the system in place simply was not followed."

We all say, If you see something, say something, Scott told CBS News. In [the] Parkland community, we saw people reporting there were 20 calls to the sheriff's department, they responded. The FBI received a legitimate, credible tip and it was not followed up upon."

Pat Toomey, Pennsylvania

On social media, Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., assured the public of his commitment to improving our federal background check system.

I believe gun safety legislation should focus on keeping guns away from those who shouldnt have them  criminals, the dangerously mentally ill and terrorists, Toomey said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.When Carina Driscoll announced she was running for mayor of Burlington  the local Vermont office her stepfather Bernie Sanders once held  she was determined to be her own candidate.

But the Sanders family ties have loomed large in the race, for better or worse.

On one hand, her campaign hopes to capitalize on the popularity of the states independent senator, with one ad calling her Bernie's daughter. But another family connection could prove more problematic.

With the election coming up next month, Driscolls candidacy has been hit with controversy over payments her business once received from the college her mother used to run.

Jane OMeara Sanders was president of Burlington College from 2004 through 2011  and from 2009 through 2012, the college paid about $500,000 to Driscolls Vermont Woodworking School.

It speaks to the way she does business, Carol A. Moore, Jane Sanders successor as Burlington College president, told Fox News, when asked if the deal reflects on the Driscoll mayoral race.

She accused Driscoll of gouging the college with a sweetheart deal awarded by her mother.

The college itself also has been in the headlines for months.

A federal grand jury has heard testimony regarding a $10 million loan to the school in 2010, and allegations the college overestimated its ability to pay the money back.

Jane Sanders left with a $200,000 severance. The college closed in 2016 unable to pay its debt.

Reached by phone, Driscoll campaign spokeswoman Elise Greaves told Fox News she would call back, but did not. Greaves didnt respond to subsequent detailed voicemails about the topic of this story.

Driscoll did not respond to an email inquiry from Fox News sent to an address provided by the Vermont Woodworking School.

Carving Out a Deal?

The details of the partnership between Burlington College and the Vermont Woodworking School were first reported by VTDigger, with links to the colleges 990 forms. Later, other news outlets also reported on the controversial links.

The college paid out $500,000 to Driscolls business over the course of the partnership.

The partnership and the financial agreements were brought to the board by Jane Sanders and developed by Jane Sanders and Carina Driscoll, said Moore, who presided over Burlington Colleges 2016 demise and is now president of Columbia College in South Carolina.

JANE SANDERS DEAL UNDER FBI SCRUTINY

Moore said the woodworking school could not have been financially sustainable without Burlington College, because it needed to be able to provide degrees in order to qualify for student financial aid. Driscolls woodworking school now has an agreement with Johnson State College.

As for the probe regarding the Burlington College finances, Moore said that when investigators from the FBI and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. talked to her, the woodworking school was not directly a topic.

She added, Their focus was on the bank and loan, but they are looking at the full tenure of Jane Sanders at Burlington College and the financial workings or lack thereof.

Driscolls campaign website touts that she founded the woodworking school in 2007, but the campaign does not mention Burlington College. Driscolls campaign site says she and her husband Blake Ewoldsen, along with their friend Bob Fletcher, founded the school.

Carina had taken up woodworking as a hobby and the three founders identified a need for a school in Vermont, a place where craftsmanship and fine wood furniture-making was both an important part of our heritage and a dying art, the campaign site says.

On My Own

Driscoll is running as an independent in the March 6 election -- with the endorsement from Vermonts Progressive Party -- challenging incumbent Democratic Mayor Miro Weinberger. Also in the contest is independent candidate Infinite Culcleasure.

When announcing her candidacy for mayor in December, Driscoll told Vermont newspaper, Seven Days, It's important to me that I enter this campaign on my own.

Driscoll, who previously served in the Vermont state legislature and on the Burlington City Council, even vented to the paper, I will never, ever get credit for fully completing anything on my own.

For his part, Sen. Sanders said upon his stepdaughters announcement in December, Today is Carina's day, and her words and her ideas should be the focus, not anyone elses.

However, Driscoll later posted an ad on social media that says: I am Bernie's daughter, and am one of the thousands of people across this country inspired by Bernie to lead during this challenging time.

Our Revolution, a political group that grew from the Sanders presidential campaign, endorsed her, with a tweet that said Driscoll will push for more transparent government, protect community assets, and invest in Burlington schools. The organizations profile page on the candidate also linked to Driscolls fundraising page.

Weinberger has raised more than $80,000 compared to Driscolls haul of about $33,000, Vermont Public Radio reported in early February.

Weinbergers spokeswoman Jordan Redell told Fox News the mayor would not be commenting for this story.Pennsylvania's high court issued a new congressional district map for the state's 2018 elections Monday, the latest attempt to carve out voting boundaries in time for the state's May 15 primary.

The map, approved in a 4-3 decision by the Democratic-majority state Supreme Court, is expected to give Democrats a better shot at winning seats in Philadelphia's heavily populated and moderate suburbs, where Republicans had held seats in bizarrely contorted districts, including one labeled "Goofy Kicking Donald Duck."

Republicans said they would challenge the new boundaries in federal court this week, but did not specify what type of legal remedy they would seek or whether they would appeal to a district court of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, sitting congressmen, dozens of would-be candidates and millions of voters have to sort out which district they live in barely a month before the candidates' deadline to submit paperwork to run.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, applauded the court's map, which he described as an "effort to remedy Pennsylvanias unfair and unequal congressional elections."

"Over the last month, I have personally heard from thousands of Pennsylvanians and they are sick and tired of gerrymandering, which perpetuates gridlock, alienates citizens and stifles reform," Wolf said in a statement. "I have stood for fairness and rejected a proposed map that was universally seen as another partisan gerrymander."

The court ruled last month in a 5-2 party line decision that the district boundaries drafted by the GOP-led legislature unconstitutionally put partisan interests above neutral line-drawing criteria, such as keeping districts compact and eliminating municipal and county divisions.

Republicans won 13 of 18 seats in three straight elections under the now-invalidated map, even though Pennsylvania's statewide elections are often closely divided and registered Democratic voters outnumber Republicans.

The decision is the first time a state court threw out congressional boundaries in a partisan gerrymandering case and handed a victory to the group of registered Democratic voters who sued last June in a lawsuit backed by the League of Women Voters.



Candidates can start circulating petitions to run in their new district in a little over a week, Feb. 27. Pennsylvania has seen a surge in interest in running for Congress with six incumbents elected in 2016 not running again -- the most in four decades -- and Democrats vehemently opposing President Donald Trump.

The new map will not apply to the March 13 special congressional election in southwestern Pennsylvania's 18th District between Republican Rick Saccone and Democrat Conor Lamb.

Fox News' Bill Mears and Michelle Chavez contributed to this report. The Associated Press also contributed to this report.President Trump on Monday followed other Republican leaders in questioning why the Obama administration failed to act on the intelligence that Russias meddling in U.S. politics began in 2014.

Obama was President up to, and beyond, the 2016 Election, Trump tweeted. So why didnt he do something about Russian meddling?

A federal grand jury on Friday indicted 13 Russians and three Russian companies for allegedly interfering in the 2016 presidential election. The indictments are part of Special Counsel Robert Muellers investigation into possible ties between the Trump campaign and Moscow.

Trump throughout the weekend often took to Twitter to address the indictment, claiming in three separate tweets that there was "no collusion" between Russians and his election campaign.

Republicans shared similar sentiments following the indictment, with California Rep. Devin Nunes arguing that the Obama administration failed to act on the [House Intelligence Committees] warnings. Nunes said hes warned of Russias possible influence on campaigns since 2014.

Former U.S. Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, now a Fox News contributor, also suggested that the former administration failed to address Russian meddling when provided the intelligence. The indictment shows that former CIA Director John Brennan and former National Intelligence Director James Clapper werent on top of the Russia threat, Chaffetz argued.

Trump also criticized his national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, on Saturday after the official said the indictments undeniably showed that Russians meddled in U.S. elections.

General McMaster forgot to say that the results of the 2016 election were not impacted or changed by the Russians and that the only Collusion was between Russia and Crooked H, the DNC and the Dems. Remember the Dirty Dossier, Uranium, Speeches, Emails and the Podesta Company! the president tweeted.

Obama in late 2016 defended his administration's response to the Russian involvement, saying he had confronted Russian President Vladimir Putin that September, telling him to "cut it out."

The former administration also issued sanctions against Russia, ordered 35 Russian diplomats to leave the U.S. and shut down two Russian estates in the country.

Top U.S. intelligence officials confirmed to the Senate intelligence committee on Thursday theyve already seen evidence of pervasive Russian meddling in the upcoming midterm elections.

Fox News' Alex Pappas, Judson Berger, Joseph Weber and The Associated Press contributed to this report.A dark storm on Neptune, once big enough to reach from Boston to Portugal, is dwindling to nothing as the Hubble Space Telescope keeps watch.

When NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft flew by Neptune in 1989, it observed large, dark storms inhabiting the distant planet's atmosphere. Since then, scientists have monitored Neptune using the Hubble Space Telescope and seen new storms develop.

But unlike Jupiter's Great Red Spot, a storm which has been roiling for at least two centuries, the storms brewing on the windy planet Neptune come and go in just a few years  and now, for the first time, researchers have seen one begin to disappear, NASA officials said in a statement. [The Amazing Blue Planet Neptune in Photos]

"It looks like we're capturing the demise of this dark vortex, and it's different from what well-known studies led us to expect," Michael Wong, a researcher at the University of California at Berkeley and lead author on the new work, said in the statement. Previous simulations suggested that the vortex would drift toward the planet's equator, and "once the vortex got too close to the equator, it would break up and perhaps create a spectacular outburst of cloud activity."

But instead, it drifted toward the planet's south pole and is quietly fading away. The vortex was 3,100 miles (5,000 kilometers) across the long axis when Hubble spotted it in 2015, and now it's down to 2,300 miles (3,700 km) across.

The planet's anticyclones, like this dark storm, pull up dark material from deeper in Neptune's atmosphere as they spin, carried along by three wind jets circling the planet: one going west at the equator, and two going east near each of the poles. (Neptune's powerful winds are the fastest ever detected in the solar system and can reach supersonic speeds.) Careful tracking by Hubble can help reveal how common the storms are, as well as what's going on further down.

"No facilities other than Hubble and Voyager have observed these vortices," Wong said. "For now, only Hubble can provide the data we need to understand how common or rare these fascinating Neptunian weather systems may be."

The new work was detailed Feb. 15 in the Astronomical Journal.Letters from Princess Diana to an AIDS victim, which show her compassionate nature, have surfaced in the U.K.

The rare documents will be auctioned by Henry Aldridge & Son on Feb. 24.

The three letters from Diana and her lady-in-waiting were sent to the friend of an AIDS victim who had contacted the Princess requesting help. Margaret Bendon contacted Diana in July 1996 on behalf of Vincent Hickey, who had AIDS and bowel cancer.

PRINCESS DIANA LETTERS SOLD AT UK AUCTION

The correspondence documents the Princesss efforts to help Hickey  she sent a check for 580 ($812) to enable Hickey and Bendon to visit the Catholic shrine of Lourdes in Southern France.

In a typed letter dated Oct. 3, 1996, the Princess thanks Bendon for the gift of a small medal following their trip to Lourdes. I was most touched to receive your very kind letter about your visit to Lourdes with Vincent, she wrote. I was delighted to be able to help and so glad that he was well enough to travel.

It is so important that every bit of comfort is given to people like Vincent who, as you know, need all the care and help we can give them, she added. The letter is signed with love from Diana.

SPAIN CRACKS SECRET CODE ON KING FERDINAND'S MYSTERIOUS 500-YEAR-OLD MILITARY LETTERS

Princess Diana, who was famed for her charitable work, died in August 1997 after sustaining fatal injuries in a Paris car crash. She was 36.

"[The letters] demonstrate the empathy and generosity Diana was able to show to some of the more vulnerable members [of] society and just illustrate what an incredible person she was," auctioneer Andrew Aldridge told Fox News.

The lot has a pre-sale estimate of 2,000-3,000 ($2,802-$4,202).

Last year ,letters sent by Princess Diana to a Buckingham Palace official, including one revealing that Prince Harry was "constantly in trouble" at boarding school, sold at auction for thousands of dollars.

Follow James Rogers on Twitter @jamesjrogersScientists have harnessed sophisticated X-ray and imaging technology to reveal a lost painting and other details hidden in a Picasso masterpiece.

The painting, La Misereuse accroupie (The Crouching Woman), is a major work from Picassos Blue Period. High-tech analysis of the 1902 painting, however, has revealed how Picasso painted over a landscape by another painter. Buried images linked to other works by Picasso have also been found.

Owned by the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) in Toronto, the painting of the crouching and cloaked woman was analyzed by an international team of experts.

SECRET GHOSTLY PORTRAIT OF MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS, DISCOVERED BENEATH 16TH-CENTURY PAINTING

In addition to researchers from the AGO, the Northwestern University/Art Institute of Chicago Center for Scientific Studies in the Arts (NU-ACCESS) and the National Gallery of Art in Washington worked to unravel the paintings secrets.

The identity of the landscape artist is unknown, although experts believe that the work was likely created by another painter in Barcelona, where Picasso spent part of his early life.

Picasso painted over the landscape after rotating it 90 degrees to the right and also incorporated some of the features into La Misereuse accroupie, according to the researchers. Some of the lines from the cliff edge were incorporated into the womans back, they noted.

VAN GOGH DISCOVERY: PREVIOUSLY UNKNOWN DRAWINGS BY DUTCH MASTER IDENTIFIED

Picasso had no qualms about changing things during the painting process, explained Marc Walton, a research professor of materials science and engineering at Northwestern University, in a statement. Our international team  consisting of scientists, a curator and a conservator  has begun to tease apart the complexity of La Misereuse accroupie, uncovering subtle changes made by Picasso as he worked toward his final vision.

Scientists, for example, identified a compositional change in the painting  Picasso had initially painted the woman holding a disk in her right hand. However, these features, along with her right arm, were painted over with a cloak in the completed version of La Misereuse accroupie.

Experts note that the hidden arm is similar to a womans right arm in Femme assise, robe bleue, (Seated woman, blue dress), a 1902 Picasso watercolor, that was sold at auction for $45 million last year.

GEORGE WASHINGTON'S FAMOUS REVOLUTIONARY WAR TENT FOUND IN NEWLY-DISCOVERED PAINTING

While previous X-rays had already identified an underlying landscape beneath La Misereuse accroupie, the latest research has given a much clearer insight into the artworks secrets. John Delaney, senior imaging scientist at the National Gallery of Art, used infrared reflectance hyperspectral imaging, which identifies underlying images based on the relative transparency of their paint layers, to reveal the painted-over arm and disk.

NU-ACCESS scientists then garnered additional detail by scanning the painting with an X-ray fluorescence scanner.

We now are able to develop a chronology within the painting structure to tell a story about the artists developing style and possible influences, said Sandra Webster-Cook, AGOs senior conservator of paintings, in a statement.

LEONARDO DA VINCI'S $450 MILLION 'SALVATOR MUNDI' PAINTING HEADS TO THE LOUVRE ABU DHABI

Scientists revealed their findings Saturday during the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Austin.

In a separate project, experts from the Musee national Picasso-Paris and NU-ACCESS also performed high-tech analysis of 39 bronzes and 11 painted sheet metal sculptures by Picasso. The sculptures were studied using X-ray fluorescence spectrometry and an extensive database of alloy fingerprints from other early 20th-century bronzes.

Alloy analysis revealed that five of the bronzes were cast during 1941 and 1942 in a Paris foundry owned by Emile Robecchi, a relatively little-known collaborator of Picasso. Silver was also found in the facial features of one of the sheet metal sculptures. The research findings were also revealed Saturday at the AAAS meeting.

LONG-LOST 'NIGERIAN MONA LISA,' VALUED AT OVER $280G, FOUND IN 'MODEST' NORTH LONDON APARTMENT

Other artworks have also been revealing their secrets. Last month, for example, experts in the Netherlands identified two previously unknown drawings as works by Vincent van Gogh.

In 2017, a secret portrait of Mary, Queen of Scots that had been hidden for centuries beneath another painting was discovered.

Last year it also emerged that a recently discovered 235-year-old panoramic painting has the only known wartime depiction of George Washingtons Revolutionary War field tent.

Follow James Rogers on Twitter @jamesjrogersA Canadian mother is warning others about the dangers of escalators after her 2-year-old sons foot got caught in one at the airport.

Andrea Diaczok, her husband and their young son Julian were at the Vancouver International Airport on their way back home to Calgary. They were halfway down the escalator when Julians little shoe became stuck between the side railing and the stairs.

MOM WHO FILMED PASSENGERS VIRAL AIRPLANE RANT FEELS 'BAD' FOR WOMAN IN VIDEO

His whole boot basically disappeared, Diaczok told the Calgary Herald. The teeth bit onto his toe midway  I started screaming for help.

Diaczok said that since they were in the middle of the escalator, neither she nor her husband could push the emergency stop. By the time the escalator stopped moving, they were only a few steps from the bottom.

The mom said she was prepared for the worst. I didnt even know if his foot was there  I didnt know if theres only a stump there at this point, she told the Herald.

It twisted his leg around and broke his leg and then the entire foot of the boot disappeared in the side of the escalator, she said.

A photo of Julians shoe shows the mangled remains of the childs rubber boot completely shredded by the metal teeth of the stairs.

Julians boot was so wedged in there, it took help from airport employees and bystanders to cut him free, according to the Herald.

Diaczok explained that shes been teaching her son escalator safety when he gets on and off, but she never expected the potential danger of the middle.

He hops at the top, he hops at the bottom. We make a game of it, dont touch this part, always step over. But Ive never heard of (getting stuck) in the sides, she said.

While Julian suffered a broken leg and some bruises, Diaczok noted her son was lucky to be wearing boots, which helped protect his foot. She said she cant imagine what would happen if someone were wearing sandals.

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS

A spokeswoman with the Vancouver Airport Authority told the Herald an investigation into the incident is underway and that safety is a top priority.The Carnival Corporation said on Monday that it plans to investigate all aspects of a large-scale brawl that broke out on a recent cruise, including the security response, according to Reuters.

Carnival had previously stated that it would be launching a full investigation into the incident, which took place in the early hours of Feb. 16 near the tail end of the Carnival Legends 10-day trip out of Melbourne, Australia. In footage of the altercation shared by 3AW later that day, dozens of passengers and staff members could be seen punching, kicking and wrestling in what appeared to be a violent altercation near the ships nightclub.

WARNING: Video contains graphic content and language.

One witness later described the fight as a bloodbath, while another said the rest of the ships guests were truly scared for [their] safety.

P&O CRUISE FORCED TO TURN AROUND AFTER WOMAN SMACKS MAN WITH A WINE BOTTLE

As a result of the violent fighting, police unloaded 23 members of a large extended family from the Carnival Legend in Eden, New South Wales, on Friday afternoon.

On Monday, however, the Carnival Cruise Line stated that it will be reviewing its own staffs actions during the melee.

Our security team responded in several instances to extremely unruly behavior by these guests while the ship was at sea, Carnival said in a statement obtained by Fox News. One particular altercation in the nightclub began when the group physically attacked other guests. The actions seen on the video by our security team are not in line with our values and policies. We are conducting a full investigation and will take appropriate corrective action as necessary.

"The actions seen on the video by our security team are not in line with our values and policies."  Carnival Cruise Line

Carnival further confirmed that the ships other guests disembarked in Melbourne on Feb. 17 as scheduled. The company also said it offered each guest a 25 percent discount on a future cruise, though some were less than thrilled at the prospect.

"I won't be travelling Carnival ever again so a 25 percent off a future cruise in my eyes is unacceptable," passenger Mark Morrison told the Associated Press.

FIGHT OVER MAN'S FLATULENCE FORCES FLIGHT TO MAKE EMERGENCY LANDING

Other guests had also claimed that the family had been harassing guests and staff from the minute they got on the ship, and had even threatened to stab or throw people overboard.

WARNING: Video contains graphic content and language.

[It was] very violent, they were full-on attacks," said passenger Lisa Bolitho, who described the unruly passengers as being from the same big Italian family.

Bothilo claimed she informed the ships captain about the problem, but quoted him as saying, What do you want me to do about it  throw them overboard?

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS

Police in New South Wales said on Friday that the 23 passengers were transported to Canberra, where other travel arrangements were made to transport them to Melbourne.Taking a flight typcially means sitting next to strangers, and it can be tough to know what the etiquette is for travelers when it comes to chatting with (or ignoring) your neighbor. British Airways asked 1,500 travelers from the U.S., U.K., Germany, France and Italy about whether you should  or should not  chat with your seatmate on a flight.

Overall, 83 percent of travelers agreed that saying hello and giving a smile to your neighbor is acceptable and appropriate when taking a flight.

Among respondents in the U.S., what should be discussed was a big concern, and 42 percent said its unacceptable to share personal stories. Anyone confronted with an oversharer on their flight could politely thank the person, then excuse themselves by putting on headphones, respondents said. Another way to get out of an awkward conservation mid-flight, according to travelers from the U.K., is to step out to use the lavatory.

A majority of travelers from Europe were open to engaging with their seatmates: Eighty percent of Italian respondents said small talk is appropriate during a flight, and half of the French respondents said that flights are a great place to make new friends.

When it came to German travelers, 85 percent said they would just acknowledge their seatmate with a hello and leave it at that.

As for what to do if your seatmate's conversation is making you uncomfortable, 53 percent said its appropriate to switch seats (but you should check with cabin crew before doing that).The Broward County Sheriff on Sunday visited one of the victims still in the hospital after the deadly shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

Sheriff Scott Israel visited 15-year-old Anthony Borges at Broward Health. The teen, according to a photo posted to Twitter, was shot five times.

Fortunately, he is recovering, but has a long road ahead with more surgeries needed, the sheriffs office stated. Please join us in praying for the swift recovery of Anthony and all others from #StonemanDouglas.

Four other people injured in the shooting remain hospitalized at Broward Health in fair condition.

President Trump and First Lady Melania paid a visit to Broward Health North on Friday to pay their respects to survivors and medical professionals.

"Incredible recovery," Trump said while at the hospital. "Incredible. And first responders. Everybody. The job they've done is incredible."

Afterward, the president visited with members of the Broward County Sheriffs Office.

Fox News Matt Richardson and Alex Pappas contributed to this report.Less than a month after a gunman opened fire at a high school in Kentucky, the nation is grappling with yet another school shooting.

The Feb. 14 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, killed at least 17 people and wounded over a dozen others. The suspected gunman, identified as 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz, set off fire alarms to lure hundreds of students out of their classrooms so he could open fire with a semi-automatic AR-15 assault rifle.

Cruz was captured about an hour later in Coral Springs, roughly a mile away from the school. The following day, Cruz told authorities he shot "students that he saw in the hallways and on school grounds," according to an arrest affidavit.

There really are no words, Broward Sheriff Scott Israel said the day of the shooting.

But in wake of the tragedy, the deadliest school shooting since Sandy Hook in 2012, the Broward community has received an outpouring of support.

Read on to see whats being done to help the shooting victims, their families, the local community and beyond.

Comfort dogs arrive in Broward County

At least 18 comfort dogs and 33 handlers arrived in Broward County from across the country, Tim Hetzner, the president and CEO of the nonprofit ministry Lutheran Church Charities (LCC), told Fox News.

Jacob, a doe-eyed Golden Retriever, was first on the scene. He spent the day comforting students and faculty at the high school.

Dogs are good listeners and have a unique way of knowing when people are hurting, he said.

Like Jacob, all dogs used in LCCs comfort dog program are Golden Retrievers  a breed chosen by the organization because goldens are lovers by nature, Hetzner said. LCC trains the dogs for 16 to 18 months and then places them in affiliated churches, schools and other ministries across the country.

The dogs, which are trained to the level of a service dog, travel across the U.S. with their handlers whenever there is a crisis.

While the dogs are there to comfort the students and faculty at the high school, their services are also available to parents, first responders and anyone in the Broward community struggling with what took place.

We go where were invited," Hetzner said. Were there to serve people and show mercy and compassion.

To help offset transportation costs, you can donate here.

Donate to the victims' fund

The Broward Education Foundation, a nonprofit that raises money for the public schools in Broward County, has set up an official GoFundMe donation page for the victims of the Stoneman Douglas shooting.

As of Monday morning, the fund received more than $1.5 million of its $2 million goal  a significant increase from its initial goal of $300,000. The foundation will continue to increase the goal each time it's met, PeJay Ryan, the director of marketing at the Broward Education Foundation, told Fox News.

All of the proceeds will go to those affected by the tragedy, Ryan said, as well as anyone who may need grief counseling.

Weve all cried a lot - first in horror, but then because of the outpouring generosity and compassion.  PeJay Ryan

Memorial bracelets to honor the victims are also being created. And the foundation worked with Bank of America to set up a text-to-donate option as well, she said. To donate to the Stoneman Douglas fund, text PARKLAND to 20222.

We are in a unique position here, no one expected this to happen, said Ryan. Weve all cried a lot  first in horror, but then because of the outpouring generosity and compassion.

You can donate to the GoFundMe campaign here.

Additionally, at least one scholarship fund has been set up in the name of one of Wednesday's shooting victims.

If you live in Florida, consider donating blood

If you live in Florida, a local blood center is asking for your help, especially if your blood type is O negative.

While the immediate blood needs have been met, there is a need to replenish the area's O negative blood supply. O negative is the universal blood type and is used to treat trauma patients, OneBlood said in a statement.

As of Feb. 19, at least four shooting victims were still being treated at local hospitals.

To donate, find a location here.

Florida attorney general vows to cover funeral expenses

Florida Attorney General Pamela Bondi announced Wednesday that her office would pay for the funeral expenses of the 17 victims who died as a result of the shooting.

"We will pay for the funeral expenses of these poor victims," Bondi said. "We will take care of it."

Free transportation for victims families

JetBlue Airways is providing free transportation for family members of victims who are traveling to Florida, the airline announced in a blog post.

This weeks events are felt by all of our 21,000 crewmembers, many of whom live in, work from and travel through the Broward County area, home to our Focus City, Fort Lauderdale," JetBlue said. "We want to do our part to help the community, and support South Florida through this difficult time."

Volunteers in the Family Assistance Center will help people book the free travel, the airline said.

Once the families have arrived in Florida, ride-sharing service Lyft will provide free ground transportation in partnership with JetBlue, spokesperson Campbell Matthews confirmed to Fox News, adding the company is "heartbroken by the tragedy."

JetBlue is also partnering with the Florida Panthers hockey team to hold a blood drive on Feb. 22.

"Parkland Strong" t-shirts

To "do what [they] can to make a difference," a veteran-owned apparel company based in Savannah, Georgia, created a limited time Parkland Strong t-shirt.

Nine Line Apparel, working alongside the Broward Education Foundation, will donate 100 percent of the proceeds from the t-shirts to the victims' families.

Its not about turning a profit. Its about doing whats right and remembering those who are no longer with us," Nine Line Apparel CEO and Co-founder Tyler Merritt said in a press release. "We honor those who have been lost through unique t-shirt designs and then donate all of the profits to those whose lives were changed forever."

The t-shirts are on sale until March 7.

Fox News' Kaitlyn Schallhorn and Shira Bush contributed to this report.Although some students said they werent surprised by the alleged gunman of last weeks Florida shooting massacre, Jack Ciaramello was.

He said he knew suspect Nikolas Cruz was troubled and had a thing about guns  but hed never suspected Cruz was capable of this kind of savagery.

Cruz had been one of Ciaramellos cadets in the schools tight-knit Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps.

Officials have accused Cruz in the Wednesday shooting rampage that killed 17 students and staff.

When Cruz was arrested, he, too, wore ROTC gear: a maroon polo shirt emblazoned with the corps crest.

In the days since, reports of Cruzs violent, threatening behavior have flooded mainstream and social media.

Ciaramello, a Marjory Stoneman Douglas High senior, said he found Cruz a bit odd but didnt consider his cadet dangerous.

He liked hunting. He liked fishing. And me, being a guy and liking that kind of thing, you know, military, ROTC ... it seemed normal, the 17-year-old senior told The Associated Press. Obviously, it wasnt.

As Cruzs leader in Company E  Echo Company  Ciaramello tried to instill discipline, pride and a sense of camaraderie in Cruz.

The 350 or so cadets at the Parkland high school in Florida are issued uniforms and T-shirts  with the motto WHATEVER IT TAKES over the heart  and theyre required to show the colors as much as possible, or risk demerits.

But last year, Cruz reportedly stopped wearing his JROTC gear. As leader, Ciaramello took notice.

He said Cruz always had an excuse for being out of uniform. Worried Cruz would get kicked out of the corps, Ciaramello asked what it would take to get him to wear his gear.

His request: a Snickers candy bar.

So I went out to the store, I bought him it, and the next day, there on after, he came in with the uniform every day  T-shirt, uniform, everything, Ciaramello said.

When the fire alarms rang out Wednesday, Ciaramello was on the drill field behind the school when he heard the unmistakable sound of gunfire.

Teachers screamed at him and other kids to get back inside to the classrooms.

Nope, he said to himself. I dont want to be stuck in a classroom if theres an armed shooter on the campus.

As he hopped the fence and began sprinting down the road, he thought about his 14-year-old brother, James  a sergeant, the highest rank he could attain as a freshman.

Ciaramello fought the urge to go back and find him.

Even if I wanted to, I couldnt do anything. So I knew I had to run.

The family previously had lived in Newtown, Connecticut  they left about three months before a former student shot and killed 26 students and teachers there.

This time, the boys were both there, in Parkland, for the rampage.

James Ciaramello was in geography class when the alarm sounded. Then came the pops. Having fired both an AR-15 rifle and 9 mm pistol, he knew the sound.

The teacher rushed the kids back into the classroom. After 40 agonizing minutes huddled against a wall, there came a pounding on the door.

We didnt know if it was just a ploy to get us out of the rooms, so we could be shot, he said. But my teacher went over and checked and, thankfully, it was the police, and they opened the door.

He made it out of the building  but not all his JROTC comrades did.

Cadet Carlos Gutierrez, 14, was in a study hall when police came to rescue them. On his way out of the building, he saw several bodies  including one with the blue pants and distinctive shiny shoes of a JROTC member protruding from a covering.

Theyd soon learn that of the 14 students killed, three  Peter Wang, Martin Duque and Alaina Petty  were JROTC members. Witnesses told Wangs family that the 15-year-old was last seen in his uniform, holding open a door for others to escape.

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 Minneapolis 911 dispatcher was killed over the weekend after her car was struck by a church pastor who was driving the wrong way and is believed to have been drinking, police say -- and her husband reportedly heard about the incident from a police scanner as it unfolded.

Jenna Bixby, 30, was killed around 8 p.m. while heading to her job Saturday night on Highway 252 in Brooklyn Park.

Please know that I never stopped loving you with all my heart, and I will never stop loving you, her husband Daniel wrote on Facebook Sunday morning, according to the newspaper.

Daniel heard about her wife's fatal crash on a police scanner the couple kept in their home, the New York Daily News reported.

"We just want to know why, her sister, Nikki Orlicki, told FOX9. "We don't understand. Why her? She was going to work to save people, and somebody decided to take her life and didn't care."

Authorities said Bixbys car was hit head on by an SUV driven by Richard J. Shaka, a retired 72-year-old minister from Blaine, and alcohol is suspected to have been a factor. Bixby was pronounced dead at the scene while Shaka was in critical condition Sunday at a local hospital. No charges have been announced yet in the case.

"Minneapolis Emergency Communications staff work day-and-night to keep people safe. As a 911 Dispatcher, thats what Jenna Bixby did for years  and what she was on her way to do at City Hall when her life was tragically taken late last night, said Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey My thoughts are with her family, friends, neighbors and all of her colleagues in City Hall who are mourning her loss. She was an extraordinary person.

Bixby started working with Minneapolis emergency communications nearly four years ago and helped train new members, the Star Tribune reported.

Shaka was the founder of the All Nations Christian Assembly in North East Minneapolis, where he served as a pastor for 17 years.

"Our mission is to reach all the nations in the Twin Cities and the metropolitan in MN and the world with the Good News of Jesus Christ through missions, Evangelism and the proclamation of the Gospel, the Assembly, which describes itself as an international Bible believing church, says on its website.

Shaka also taught at North Central Universitys Bible and Theology Department from 1996 to 2011, and started a Twin Cities nonprofit group that builds orphanages and youth facilities in Sierra Leone, his home country, the Star Tribune reported.Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz has become the latest mass killer who was able to carry out his sick slaughter due in part to law enforcement's failure to heed warnings of disturbing behavior and because of lapses in the background check process.

The FBI admitted on Friday it received a call just over a month before Cruz opened fire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Valentine's Day, killing 17 people.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions said he ordered an "immediate review" after it emerged the bureau had not acted on a Jan. 5 call from a person close to Cruz who contacted the FBI through its Public Access Line tipline to express concerns about Cruz's erratic behavior and disturbing social media posts. The person said Cruz may have aspired to be a "school shooter."

Besides the tip last month to the FBI, the 19-year-old was also investigated by social services and mental health professionals in 2016 after disturbing Snapchat videos -- which showed him cutting both his arms -- were uncovered. But Cruz avoided hospitalization, according to a Florida Department of Children and Families report obtained by Fox News.

State investigators found Cruz to be low risk, and investigators felt he was unlikely to hurt himself or others because he had services already in place, including receiving counseling from Henderson Behavioral Health.

Florida DCF closed the investigation into Cruz on Nov. 12, 2016 "based on his caregivers protective capacity, in-home services through Henderson, and engagement in school."

During the DCF investigation, Cruz's adoptive mother told caseworkers that Cruz did not own a firearm. Cruz purchased a Smith & Wesson M&P 15 rifle in February 2017 from a licensed gun store located about three miles from the school, law enforcement officials said.

RECENT SCHOOL SHOOTINGS IN THE US

If Cruz wanted a handgun, however, the sale wouldn't have been allowed. Federal laws allow people as young as 18 to buy semi-automatic weapons from licensed dealers, while handgun purchases are restricted to those 21 and older.

Cruz had his gun for about seven months when he commented on YouTube that he was "going to be a professional school shooter." The FBI has said it investigated the incident, but was unable to identify the person who posted the comment despite Cruz using his actual name as his YouTube user name.

Here are some other recent mass murderers that have slipped through the cracks in the system:

DEVIN PATRICK KELLEY -- SUTHERLAND SPRINGS, TEXAS

The man behind the massacre that killed 25 people at a Texas church in November 2017 had a history of domestic abuse. But Devin Patrick Kelley was able to purchase guns because information about his crimes was never entered into a federal database used for background checks.

Kelley purchased four guns, including the AR-15-style rifle and handguns found in and near First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, from licensed dealers in Texas and Colorado over a four-year span.

The 26-year-old passed required background checks because the Air Force never informed the FBI about his criminal conduct -- which included an assault on his wife and her child that led to a court-martial, a year of confinement and a bad conduct discharge. Military rules require the information to be shared.

Kelley was convicted at a court-martial for choking his then-wife and fracturing her son's skull in 2012.

Besides the lapse by the Air Force, officials in Texas disclosed in records released Friday they didn't pursue a sexual assault investigation against Kelley in 2013, even though the woman reporting it signed a complaint detailing the alleged attack.

Authorities said the alleged victim was not given a forensic exam in June 2013 after reporting the assault, which she said had occurred three days earlier. The investigation was then listed as inactive because a detective at the Comal County sheriff's office couldn't contact Kelley, thinking he had moved.

The 2013 case remained inactive even after deputies were called to Kelley's home in February 2014 to investigate a separate domestic violence complaint against him.

"This was an error on the part of the sheriff's office," Comal County Sheriff Mark Reynolds told The Associated Press.

A 1996 law bans people convicted of even a misdemeanor-level domestic violence offense from owning guns.

KEVIL NEAL -- RANCHO TEHAMA RESERVE, CALIFORNIA

The man who killed five people in a rural northern California community in November 2017 had violent squabbles with his neighbors and his wife, but was not arrested for previously violating a court order prohibiting him from having guns.

Police said at the time, neighbors repeatedly complained about Kevin Neal, 44, firing hundreds of rounds from his house -- among other erratic and violent behavior. While authorizes responded to the home several times, Neal wouldn't open the door so they left, Tehama County Assistant Sheriff Phil Johnston said at the time.

"He was not law enforcement friendly. He would not come to the door," Johnston said during a news conference. "You have to understand we can't anticipate what people are going to do. We don't have a crystal ball."

FLORIDA SCHOOL SHOOTING AMONG 10 DEADLIEST IN MODERN US HISTORY

At the time of the 25-minute rampage, Neal was out of custody on bail after being charged in January 2017 with stabbing one of the neighbors he later killed. After the January assault, a judge barred Neal from having guns, according to court records. The records also show Neal was charged with illegally firing a weapon and possessing an illegal assault rifle on Jan. 31.

He was charged with five felonies and two misdemeanors. As part of a protective order that barred him from "owning, possessing, purchasing or attempting to purchase firearms," Neal was ordered to stay away from the two female neighbors he had threatened. Johnston initially said Neal "was not prohibited from owning firearms" but later acknowledged the protective order against him.

Neal certified that he surrendered his weapons in February, but authorities said they had recovered two homemade assault rifles and two handguns registered to someone else after the shooting rampage. After being pressed by reporters on why police did not act when Neal was in clear violation of his court order, Johnston replied: "The law is only for people who obey it."

DYLANN ROOF -- CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA

A drug arrest in the months before Dylann Roof killed nine people at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C. should have prevented him from using the pistol in that massacre, but a clerical error allowed the transaction to go through.

A jail clerk at the time made an error when entering the incorrect location for Roof's drug arrest in February 2015, which was not corrected in the state police database of arrests.

The FBI said at the time a background check examiner never saw the arrest report and couldn't find details when Roof wanted to buy a gun because the wrong arresting agency was listed in state criminal history records.

The background check found nothing after three days, and Roof was eventually allowed to buy the .45-caliber handgun authorities said was used in the June 17, 2015 shooting.

Fox News' Katherine Lam, Kathleen Reuschle, Lucia Suarez and The Associated Press contributed to this report.The teen who killed 17 people in a shooting rampage last week at his former Florida high school deserves the death penalty, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said Monday.

Rubio expressed his view on executing 19-year-old gunman Nikolas Cruz in an interview with CBS4 Miami. But he also acknowledged it was a tough question to answer because of his larger concerns about the death penalty.

I would imagine that most people would say that the answer to that is 'yes,' Rubio said when asked whether Cruz should get the death penalty.

When asked what he personally thought, Rubio said, Well look, that answer is yes.

But he added: Its a tough thing to answer because I have concerns about the death penalty -- not in a case like this.

NIKOLAS CRUZ COULD PLEAD GUILTY IN FLORIDA HIGH SCHOOL SHOOTING TO AVERT DEATH PENALTY, LAWYER SAYS

I have concerns in the broader sense about how not everyone gets equal representation in death panels. But in this particular case it would be a hard to argue against the death penalty.

Lawyers for Cruz may try to negotiate a plea deal to avoid the death penalty.

One member of the defense team, Howard Finkelstein, a public defender, has already said that Cruz doesnt deserve the death penalty.

There is no way anyone can minimize the tragedy of what took place, Finkelstein said, according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Its time to mourn; its time to figure out how to prevent future tragedies. He should spend the rest of his life in prison, but he does not deserve to die.

NIKOLAS CRUZ INVESTIGATED AFTER SNAPCHAT CUTTING VIDEO, BUT NOT CONSIDERED A THREAT, REPORT SHOWS

Shari Tate, a prosecutor and head of the homicide unit at the Broward State Attorneys Office, was quoted as saying that it was too soon to have a conversation about an appropriate punishment in Cruzs case.Four people were shot, including a 6-year-old, when a masked suspect opened fire Sunday night outside a Texas Roadhouse restaurant in San Antonio, authorities said.

The gunman, described only as a male, is at large.

Two of the victims, in their 20s, were in critical condition. The 6-year-old, who was shot in the leg, is in stable condition, MySanAntonio.com reported. The victims were all family members.

The folks were waiting outside to eat when the shooting occurred, San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said.

The shooting was not considered random and the suspected gunman fired 10 bullets from a semi-automatic pistol, emptying the magazine.

Authorities responded to reports of an active shooter at about 8:45 p.m. McManus said it was not an active-shooter situation because the shooting was not random.The case of two New York City police officers accused of raping an 18-year-old woman in their custody last year is spurring calls to close what some are calling a police sex loophole.

While New York law already bars sex between prison guards and inmates, it doesn't apply to officers and those in their custody.

Democratic Gov. Andrew Como is pushing to close the loophole. A bill has already passed the state Assembly and was pending in the Senate. It's based on the idea that people in police custody are incapable of consenting to sex because of the power officers hold over them.

Experts say such loopholes exist in many states. They say new laws are needed, as are department policies that make it easy for victims to file complaints.The father of a Texas man set to die for planning a deadly domestic violence attack in 2003 reportedly asked the state last week to spare his sons death.

Kent Whitaker survived the attack setup by Thomas Whitaker that left his wife Tricia and his other son Kevin dead. He suffered a bullet wound near his heart, according to Reuters.

I am going to be thrown into a deeper grief at the hands of the state of Texas, in the name of justice, Whitaker said in a meeting with David Gutierrez, the chairman of the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles in Austin, according to the Austin American-Statesman.

Whitaker, relatives and his wifes family do not want Texas to execute the man, Reuters reported, citing the clemency petition. However, the state has never spared a death row inmate based on the familys request alone. The panels final decision will come Tuesday, two days before the scheduled execution.

Reuters, citing court documents, reported that money may have been the motivating factor for Thomas Whitaker to arrange the murders. Chris Brashear, Whitakers roommate, shot the father, mother and brother after the family returned home from dinner.

Court documents reportedly said Brashear shot Whitaker in the bicep to make it look like it was a random attack.

Two other men involved in the murders helped prosecutors pin the crime on Whitaker as the mastermind behind the attack and were given lesser sentences. Brashear received a life sentence. Prosecutors believe Whitaker is a sociopath and a master manipulator, according to Reuters.

Kent Whitakers petition argues that a commutation would spare additional grid and that being a model inmate has earned his son some mercy, according to the Statesman.

Were not asking them to forgive him or let him go, we just want them to let him live, Whitaker said.A petite Texas 17-year-old girl staged the gunpoint carjacking of a friend by two other friends, police said.

At first, authorities said they believed Susan Mize, of Spring, was also a victim. She was arrested after deputies with the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office conducted an investigation and quizzed her about what happened.

During the course of the investigation  deputies learned that Susan had lied about the entire incident,Lt. Scott Spencer Spencer said.

He said deputies learned that Susan had set up her friend Preston Barry, 20, also of Spring, to be robbed by two juvenile males. They arrested one of the juveniles, a 16-year-old boy, and issued an arrrest warrant for the other, a 15-year-old boy.

Spencer said published reports that Susan set up her father to be carjacked were not factual.

Barry had told deputies that he and Susan had been carjacked by the two juveniles, one of whom had a gun and was wearing a mask.

Spencer said that during the ordeal, Barry was robbed of his wallet, struck numerous times and forced to withdraw money from an ATM machine. In the car, he was also tied up with Susans shoelaces.

At one point the two juveniles dropped Susan off at her house and then drove with Barry to his house.

Spencer said Barry convinced the robbers to drive him home, telling them that he could get more money. Instead, when Barry ran inside, he locked the door, told his parents what happened and called 911.

Police searched Barry's vehicle and recovered a knife and two BB guns, they believed were used in the crime.

"Susan beleived Preston was an easy target and the plan was for the males to rob him for the money in his wallet," Spencer said.

She claimed that tying Barry up and taking his car, was not her idea or part of the plan, he said.

She is being held on $75,000 bond and being charged with aggravated robbery.

Fox News' Robert Gearty and Jennifer Earl contributed to this report.An Atlanta food delivery driver who police believe shot and killed a customer over the weekend has turned himself in, officials said Monday afternoon.

Robert Bivines, 36, is accused of murdering Ryan Thornton, 30, moments after delivering food to Thornton in the ritzy Buckhead section of Atlanta late Saturday night.

Witnesses told police Thornton and the delivery driver got into some kind of argument and then someone inside the vehicle started shooting, striking Thornton multiple times.

The driver then sped away from the apartment building. Thornton was taken by ambulance to Grady Memorial Hospital where he later died, police said.

The man had used UberEATs, which is a food delivery service where a driver picks up orders from participating restaurants.

MASKED GUNMAN SHOOTS 4, INCLUDING 6-YEAR-OLD, OUTSIDE TEXAS ROADHOUSE IN SAN ANTONIO

A spokesperson from Uber told FOX 5 in a statement: "We are shocked and saddened by this news. We are working with Atlanta Police, and our hearts go out to the families of those involved."

Megan Emery, who has lived in the same building as Thornton for more than a year, told FOX5 she heard the commotion on Saturday but did not hear any gunshots. Her building, described as "31 stories of Buckhead luxury living," has a robust network of security cameras.

"It's a little scary. I mean, there's a lot of young women that live in this apartment and we have really good security. So, you just don't ever think that something like that could happen," Emery said. "I probably won't be using delivery food service anytime soon, just for peace of mind."A postal truck driver was shot to death early Monday on a highway near downtown Dallas, officials said.

The Dallas Police Department said in a news release the shooting happened around 2:20 a.m. in the eastbound lanes of Interstate 30 near the interchange with Interstate 35E.

When authorities arrived at the scene, they found the worker -- identified as 58-year-old Tony Mosby -- dead in the cab of a truck that was riddled with bullets, according to FOX4.

The U.S. Postal Service is offering $50,000 to anyone with information that leads to an arrest in the shooting.

MASKED GUNMAN SHOOTS 4, INCLUDING 6-YEAR-OLD, OUTSIDE TEXAS ROADHOUSE IN SAN ANTONIO

Dallas Police closed a part of the highway for several hours to investigate the shooting, unload the postal truck, and tow it away from the scene.

In a separate incident earlier this month, authorities said a Dallas Police squad car was shot at around 2:10 a.m. on Feb. 8 about one mile from the shooting on Monday.

"At this this point in the investigation there is no evidence linking these two crimes," police said.

Investigators say no arrests have been made and that they're still trying to determine a motive in the shooting. The victim's name has also not yet been released.

The Dallas Police Department and United States Postal Inspectors are investigating the shooting, and are asking anyone with information to contact them.

The U.S. Postal Service operates two large mail sorting and processing complexes nearby, Amanda McMurrey, an inspector with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service -- the law enforcement and security arm of the USPS -- told the Associated Press. She said the federal agency is working with Dallas police in the investigation.

McMurrey had no immediate information on the employee's route, but she said it wasn't unusual for a postal service worker to be on the job before dawn.

"It is routine for postal employees to be making deliveries to stations and other post offices at that time," McMurrey said.

The Dallas Main Post Office, which includes a processing and distribution plant, is on the north side of I-30, she said. A USPS National Distribution Center is located on the south side of the highway, a main route connecting Dallas and Fort Worth.

Any charges in the slaying would be referred to federal prosecutors because the victim worked for a U.S. government agency, according to McMurrey.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.A new report details how a worldwide oversight in the War on Terror helped lead to the deaths of four U.S. service members in Niger last October  the largest loss of American troops during combat in Africa since the 1993 Black Hawk Down debacle in Somalia.

According to the report Sunday in The New York Times, a series of intelligence failures and strategic miscalculations left the Americans far from base, in territory of Islamic extremists longer than planned, with no backup or air support, on a mission in a remote stretch of West Africa that they had not been expected to perform.

Defense Department officials insisted, according to The Times, that the soldiers  outnumbered and outgunned by fighters loyal to the Islamic State terror network  were in Niger simply to train, advise and assist the countrys military. The ambush killed Staff Sgt. Bryan C. Black, Staff Sgt. Jeremiah W. Johnson, Staff Sgt. Dustin M. Wright, and Sgt. La David T. Johnson  who were lightly equipped, with few heavy weapons and no bulletproof vehicles.

The Pentagon's official report on what happened is still under review, the Times reported. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said the investigation runs thousands of pages.

A draft of the report has called for the Pentagon to scale back the number of ground missions in West Africa and to strip commanders in the field of authority to send troops on potentially high-risk patrols, The Times reported.

The Times also reported the final moments of Staff Sgt. Black, Staff Sgt. Johnson, and Staff Sgt. Wright were recorded.

The body of Sgt. Johnson was recovered in November, as Fox News previously reported.

Johnsons death also fueled a political fight between President Donald Trump and Florida Democratic Rep. Frederica Wilson, who accused the president of telling Myeshia Johnson her husband knew what he signed up for, and alleged Trump didnt appear to know Johnsons name during a phone call. The story was later backed up by Johnsons aunt.

Trump hit back at Wilson and tweeted she fabricated his statement. He later called the congresswoman wacky and accused her of SECRETELY listening to the phone call. White House Chief of Staff John Kelly also defended Trump and said he was stunned and brokenhearted that the event turned into a public and political spectacle.Israel successfully tested its new Arrow missile defense system Monday, the Defense Ministry announced in a tweet, the accomplishment capping a program thats seen a series of delays and cancellations.

The test was carried out in cooperation with the United States Missile Defense Agency.

A short while ago, the Defense Ministry and American MDA carried out a planned flight test of its Arrow weapons system, with an Arrow 3 interceptor, the Defense Ministry tweeted. The Arrow 3 interceptor was launched and carried out its mission.

The test came after several aborted attempts in recent months. In January, an exercise was called off because of a communication glitch that resulted in a data transfer problem. In December, a test was canceled after safety concerns arose when the Anchor-type target missile -- which was fired from a jet -- experienced a malfunction.

"The experiment we conducted today was very complex," Boaz Levy, Deputy CEO of Israel Aerospace Industries and manager of its Systems, Missiles & Space Group, said in a statement. "In the experiment, the interceptor simulated a full military scenario and the rocket did the route in full. And, if it had a real target, would have hit it. We are very pleased with the result.

Israel Aerospace Industries worked together with Boeing to develop the Arrow-3.

Moshe Patel, the director of Israels Missile Defense Organization, said in a statement that a more advanced test is scheduled in Alaska later this year.

The Arrow-3 is designed for long-range threats, as well as unconventional threats, said Patel, appearing to hint at Irans ballistic capabilities. We are aiming for 100 percent success rate.

The Arrow 3 is considered to be one of the most powerful weapons of its kind in the world and has been in development for nearly a decade, starting in 2008. It was handed over to the Israeli Air force in January 2017.

In March 2017, Israel used the Arrow-2 system for the first time, intercepting a surface-to-air missile launched from Syria toward Israeli fighter jets returning from an operation over Syria.Kuwait's ruling emir has reportedly invited Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte to his country to resolve tensions after a Filipina maid was found dead in a freezer.

That's according to a report Monday by Kuwait's state-run KUNA news agency, which quoted Kuwait's Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled al-Jarallah announcing the proposed visit in March.

It's unclear if Duterte has accepted the invitation from Kuwait's emir, the 88-year-old Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah.

Some 250,000 Filipino workers are in Kuwait. Many work as domestic help.

Duterte's government banned workers from going to Kuwait after the Filipina's body was found Feb. 6 in a Kuwait City apartment that had reportedly been abandoned for more than a year. Duterte has criticized Kuwait over other Filipino killings and abuse there.Militants disguised as Iraqi soldiers ambushed paramilitary troops Monday north of Baghdad, leaving at least 27 dead, officials said. It is unclear who was behind the attack.

The attack comes days after NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg announced that the alliance will expand its military training mission in Iraq and help the conflict-ravaged country develop new academies and schools for its armed forces.

NATO already has a small team of military and civilian personnel in Iraq and uses mobile teams to train national forces in de-mining, countering home-made bombs and dealing with explosives. The allies have also trained Iraqi troops in neighboring Jordan.

We will scale up, Stoltenberg said after talks with NATO defense ministers in Brussels, though he declined to say how many personnel the effort would involve or where it would operate. He said the mission would not be used for combat, but rather to train Iraqi officers so they in turn can train their own troops.

The Associated Press contributed to this reportIn January, Canadas Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted that those fleeing persecution, terror & war, Canada will welcome you regardless of faith, but a recent report indicated that his country has been deporting North Korean asylum seekers.

Al Jazeera reported Sunday that since 2013, Canada has kicked out nearly 2,000 North Korean asylum seekers. These immigrantswho reportedly lied on their application formscall the deportation notice a death warrant.

That notice means death to me. Taegun Kim, who arrived in Canada with his wife and two children 11 years ago, told the news outlet. I came all the way here for a better life and my family is well adjusted to life in Canada. To think were going to be separated, it breaks my heart.

The report said a lawyer has met with officials in the country to appeal to the Minister of Immigration to allow these immigrants stay on compassionate grounds. There has, so far, been no reply.

Global News reported in November that Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada sent out 150 letters to North Koreans in the country. The letter reportedly explained that the government had concerns about their applications.

Global News, citing the 2016 census, reported that there are about 970 North Koreans in Canada, half arrived before 1980.

The report pointed out that, if deported, these immigrants would not be sent to South Korea. These refugees told Al Jazeera that living in South Korea would not be safe for them due to North Korean spies.

The Global News reported that, based on other cases, these North Koreans have little chance of being granted asylum because they could obtain a South Korean citizenship.

Trudeau has talked about the success of Canadas refugee policy. He reacted to President Trumps ban on Muslims from select countries by welcoming those fleeing percussion.next Image 1 of 2

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Philippine police say authorities have arrested an Arab man who they believe is a former commander of the Islamic State group.

Police Director General Ronald dela Rosa said Monday that police and military personnel arrested Fehmi Lassoued, an Egyptian who also uses the name John Rasheed Lassoned, and his Filipina companion, Anabel Moncera Salipada, in a Manila apartment last week based on intelligence provided by foreign counterparts.

Dela Rosa said bomb-making materials, firearms and ammunition were seized during the arrest.

He said investigators were looking into possible links of Salipada and Lassoued, who has a fake Tunisian passport, to local and foreign militant groups, and whether they were involved in any terrorist plot.Four farmers and a 13-year-old boy in Indonesia admitted they stabbed, clubbed, and shot a male orangutan with at least 130 air gun pellets to protect their pineapple crop, police said Monday, in the latest high-profile killing of a critically endangered species.

The orangutan, believed to be 5 to 6 years old, died two weeks ago after it was spotted by villagers in a lake in the Kutai Timur district of East Kalimantan province.

"All the suspects have told police that they shot, stabbed and clubbed the orangutan," local police chief detective Yuliansyah, who goes by a single name, told the Associated Press. "They did it because they considered the animal to be a pest that ruined the family's pineapple plantation."

The Center for Orangutan Protection said an X-ray of the great ape showed at least 130 air gun pellets in the orangutan's body  including more than 70 in its head.

Officials also found the animal was blinded as a result of the shooting, and also had 17 open wounds believed to be caused by sharp objects. The great ape's left thigh, right chest and left hand were bruised from blunt object trauma.

Yuliansyah told the AP the adult suspects face up to five years in jail and fines of $7,400, while the boy could face half the adult punishment at a juvenile detention center.

ORANGUTAN DEAD AFTER BEING BLASTED BY 130 PELLET GUN SHOTS SOON AFTER ANOTHER BRUTAL ORANGUTAN MURDER

The orangutan protection center praised the arrests by police, saying that it has "opened up new hope for the enforcement of animal protection laws" in Indonesia.

Ramadhani, a manager of habitat protection at the center who goes by one name, said in a statement work continues to make sure the suspects "can get the maximum penalty."

"This is to ensure a deterrent effect for the perpetrators of crimes against orangutans and their habitats," he said.

The numbers of orangutans on Borneo and on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, recognized as separate species and both classified as critically endangered, have fallen precipitously since the 1970s.

A new study published last week estimated that the population on Borneo has dropped by more than 100,000 since 1999.

Orangutans are a protected species in Indonesia and Malaysia, but deforestation has dramatically reduced their habitat and brought them into contact with farmers and plantation workers who kill them to protect crops and for meat.

In mid-January, an orangutan was found decapitated and shot more than a dozen times with an air gun in Central Kalimantan, environmental news website Mongabay reported. Police arrested two rubber farmers suspected in the killing, it said.

Fox News' Lucia Suarez and the Associated Press contributed to this report.Religious protesters in Romania have disrupted the screening of two movies in Bucharest, saying they violate traditional values in the Eastern European country.

The recent protests illustrate divided views about homosexuality which remains a difficult topic in the European Union member.

Recent years have seen traditionalists seeking inspiration in Christian orthodoxy, a denomination which claims more than 85 percent of Romanians.

Protesters who called themselves Christian Orthodox burst into a movie theater on Feb. 4 during a showing of French AIDS drama "120 Beats Per Minute." Days later, protesters disrupted another movie featuring homosexuality.

Cristian Parvulescu, dean of the National School of Political Studies and Public Administration, says there's a "conflict between conservatives and liberals in Romania."

The award-winning "120 Beat Per Minute" will be rescreened on Tuesday.A British woman was arrested Monday after she allegedly left a scathing note on an ambulance that was responding to an emergency call.

The crew was responding to a 999 call  the emergency service number in the United Kingdom  on Sunday about a person having difficulty breathing, West Midlands Ambulance Service said. The emergency crew arrived at the home in Stoke-on-Trent just after 11 a.m. and parked the ambulance at the closest spot available.

The crew discovered the vile note when they went back to the ambulance to bring the person to the hospital.

If this van is for anyone but Number 14 then you have no right to be parked here. I couldnt give a s--- if the whole street collapsed now move your van from outside my house, the handwritten note read.

Katie Tudor, a paramedic, tweeted an image of the note and said she was very upset about it.

"So upset to be sent this by one of our crews this morning! Along with this note left on their [ambulance], they received a load of verbal abuse!" Tudor wrote.

The image quickly circulated on Twitter and received thousands of comments. Eventually, Staffordshire police saw the Twitter post and took action after hearing about the details.

The woman who allegedly left the note, who was not identified, was arrested on suspicion of public order offenses.

As a Trust we welcome Staffordshire Polices swift response to this incident and the arrest of the woman. We will continue to work closely with the police to ensure the perpetrator feels the full weight of the law, a West Midlands Ambulance Service spokeswoman said in a statement. We have a zero-tolerance policy towards people who abuse our staff whilst trying to help patients in their hour of need. It is completely unacceptable and it must stop.

This isnt the first incident paramedics from West Midlands Ambulance Service have dealt with. Paramedics were reportedly told to move their ambulance last November in the midst of treating a heart attack patient, according to The Telegraph.Free Freightnet Membership

List your company in the Freightnet directory. It's Free, it's Easy and your company can be displayed in front of potential freight buyers within 24 hours.Scotlands largest landowner has announced that it is now looking to sell off 24 of its farms to their tenants, with the aim of releasing capital to invest into new projects.

Buccleuch Estates revealed last summer that it had initiated discussions with 11 tenants who had registered an interest in buying their farms on the Eskdale and Liddesdale Estate.

But the estate has now announced that it is to offer a total of 24 tenants, who are on secure tenancies, the opportunity to buy their farms if they wish to.

See also: How Scottish tenancies work (see explanatory panel at end of story)

If they decide not to proceed, then the farmers they can continue with their secure tenancy unchanged under the 1991 Agricultural Holdings (Scotland) Act.

The news has been cautiously welcomed by the Scottish Tenant Farmers Association which said it was a tremendous opportunity for those involved, and for the wider community, but expressed reservations the announcement was being used as PR ploy.

The news come in the wake of controversy over the estates plans to switch some farmland to forestry.

Whilst this news is welcome, discussions with tenants are in their infancy and it remains to see how far this is a serious intention to reorganise Buccleuchs landholdings and how much is a public relations exercise to ward off criticism, said STFA chairman Christopher Nicholson.

The answer will become evident when the money is on the table and the agricultural community will be watching with interest.

Tenanted discount

Most tenants on secure tenancies would have invested heavily in their farms over the generations and this investment must be reflected in the purchase price of the farms which should be subject of a tenanted discount, said Mr Nicholson.

If Buccleuch are serious in their intentions to sell, we would expect independent and transparent valuations and a willingness to negotiate a realistic purchase price.

Responding to concerns that the sales will take land out of the tenanted sector, Mr Nicholson said the impact would be limited.

Farms sold to sitting secure tenants are unlikely to become vacant in the foreseeable future and these sales should not have an adverse impact on the tenanted sector.

John Glen, chief executive of Buccleuch, said since 2000 it had sold 22 farms to tenants across the South of Scotland.

Restructuring

Such sales enable the tenants to make positive choices for their future, and the estate to reinvest the capital released into new projects, such as Glenmuckloch pump storage hydro and Dalkeith Country Park, strengthening the rural economy.

Mr Glen stressed that the estate was itself a very active farm and that would not change.

Just under 30,000 acres of the 200,000 holding is farmed in-hand, running 11,000 ewes, 339 tups, 700 cattle and 32,000 hens.

However, further restructuring of the estate is in motion.

Over recent months, the estate has also been in discussions to move away from old-style Limited Partnership tenancies, either by converting these tenancies to Limited Duration Tenancies or selling the farms to the tenants.

Tenants with a Limited Partnership who are offered their farm are expected to pay an open market value.The recent price fluctuations in the Bitcoin Price Index has been a wild ride in recent months. New lows signaled a possible bear market, while renewed hopes of a long-term bullish run have resurfaced in recent trading activity.

As reported by PlaySlots4RealMoney.com as part of its daily cryptocurrency news, Bitcoin has rallied from an earlier decline to the tune of an 84 percent gain. Over the weekend, the Bitcoin Price Index reached $11,279.18, which was its highest level since late January. The price settled back down to $10,800 amid some profit taking from investors. The low in this roller-coaster ride was $5,947 on Feb. 6, so the recent gains have been a welcomed sight for anyone actively involved in Bitcoin investments.

The fact that the price did rebound in a rather limited trading window has eased some of the stress that the recent freefall created. However, there are still some mixed reactions among investors as to what these latest gains mean for the long-term trading cycle of this cryptocurrency. If anything, all this volatility over the past few weeks may have set a defined bottom around the $6000 mark. Even the top voices in this rapidly emerging industry are not ready to put that in writing. This also does not guarantee that the recent rebound in value marks the start of another bull run similar to 2015 through 2017 that attracted so many investors in the first place. Reaching $11,000 was viewed as a positive step forward, but the Bitcoin Price Index is still far off its trading high of close to $20,000. The key indicators moving forward will help to define the possible trading path Bitcoin takes from here.

One industry that has really embraced Bitcoin as a valued means for transferring money from one party to the next is online casino gambling. Cryptocurrency is rapidly becoming the preferred method for deposits and withdrawals from online betting accounts. This spans across a wide spectrum of online sportsbooks, racebooks for horses and casinos offering both slot machines and table games as part of its real money gambling opportunities. Setting up a new account and funding it with the use of cryptocurrency has never been easier. More and more online betting sites have incorporated Bitcoin into is banking center and actively promoting this fact in any online advertising campaigns.

As with any other type of investment, the basic concept of no risk, no reward applies to Bitcoin and the whole cryptocurrency revolution. Change does not happen overnight. Just about every great technological innovation met with resistance in the start-up phase. This was almost always followed by concerned optimism for the new application. Following closely in the process is wide-scale acceptance. Bitcoin is entering this stage of its lifecycle which only adds value to future investments. While the Bitcoin Price Index has been a wild ride lately, the fundamentals driving this growth are firmly in place. These are the type of fundamentals that differentiate solid investment opportunities from wild speculation.The Government of Malta is looking to aggressively pursuit online gambling companies it deems to have ties to Italy's Mafia.

As the world's largest Web gambling hub, Malta's regulator fears the influence organized crime might have on the explosive sector.

Malta Gaming Authority executive chairman Joseph Cuschieri said this past week that actions against said businesses will be intensified in the wake of several reports from Italy.

We have very strict and transparent rules, and we immediately launch investigations every time the Italian authorities report suspicions against gaming companies, even though we dont have the investigation capacity of the police and the judiciary, Cuschieri said. We collaborate with the Italian authorities constantly and in a timely manner, and there is mutual respect between us.

The current concerns seem only to focus on Italian-owned iGaming companies.

We have problems only with Italians, who are now managing less than ten licences out of 200, an unnamed Maltese official told the website. Italy is becoming highly risky for our reputation, as very often we must face public scandals founded on the connection between Italian entrepreneurs and the mafia. The cancellation of a licence is always possible, because it is a privilege and not a right. If in our investigation we discover any business not provided by the licence, we are going to revoke it.

Malta plays host to one of the industry's leading online affiliate conferences, SiGMA.

- Jagajeet Chiba, Gambling911.comBosses of the United States' law enforcement agencies have warned against using phones made by Chinese manufacturers Huawei and ZTE.



"We're deeply concerned about the risks of allowing a company or entity that is beholden to foreign governments that don't share our values to gain positions of power inside our telecommunications networks," FBI director Chris Wray told the Senate Intelligence Committee, tech site CNET reports.

Mr Wray says the two companies could give Chinese spies "the capacity to exert pressure or control over our telecommunications infrastructure".

It provides the capacity to maliciously modify or steals information and provides the capacity to conduct undetected espionage.

US telecommunications providers AT&T and Verizon have both pulled deals with Huawei in recent times, according to reports.

Asked by the panel if they would recommend people use Huawei or ZTE phones, none of the officials testifying to the committee - including Mr Wray and officials from the Central Intelligence Agency and the Defence Department - raised their hands.

Denials

Huawei said warning people against certain brands of phones was "misleading at best, dangerous at worst".

"Huawei is trusted by governments and customers in 170 countries worldwide, connecting one-third of the world's population," Huawei vice president of external affairs William Plummer said in a statement.

"Privacy and security are critically important to all of us these days and we must all be cautious to protect our personal and family and professional data from compromise."

Huawei was founded by Ren Zhengfei, a former engineer in China's People's Liberation Army.

"As a publicly traded company, we are committed to adhering to all applicable laws and regulations of the United States, work with carriers to pass strict testing protocols, and adhere to the highest business standards," ZTE said in response.

"ZTE takes cybersecurity and privacy seriously."

Lawmakers in the US are considering a Bill that would ban the two companies from bidding on government contracts.

Huawei is the world's second-biggest phone manufacturer, behind Samsung and ahead of Apple, but has struggled to get a foothold in the US.

Huawei helped build New Zealand's UFB infrastructure. The Green Party raised concerns when the contract was announced in 2012, but then-Communications Minister Amy Adams said there were no grounds for concern.

Source: Newshub.felicilin at 19-02-2018 12:49 PM (3 years ago) (f)

Police rescued a Nigerian man after he was attacked and about to be set ablaze in Rustenburg, North-West Province area, South Africa last Wednesday.

Police rescued a Nigerian man after he was attacked and about to be set ablaze in Rustenburg, North-West Province area, South Africa last Wednesday. Eyewitnesses said the Nigerian identified as Desmond, was delivering hair products at his hair salon on Bethlehem Drive when he was attacked and doused with petrol, but the police arrived at the time he was about to be set alight and rescued him.

Police rescue Nigerian trader after he was attacked, doused with petrol and about to be set ablaze by mob in South Africa

Police fired rubber bullets and teargas to disperse a crowd of protesters who complained after the police took the victim away.

North West police said the man was opening his hair salon when he was attacked, doused with petrol and stabbed.

Police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Pelonomi Makau, who confirmed the incident said the police responded quickly and rescue him before he was set alight.

No one has been arrested, the same people who attacked him blocked the intersection of Oliver Tambo and Bethlehem Drive, she said.

Police rescue Nigerian trader after he was attacked, doused with petrol and about to be set ablaze by mob in South Africa

The group barricaded the road near the taxi rank with burning objects and rubble and pelted the police with stones. Shops near the taxi rank were closed.

Confirming the incident on Friday, Mr Adetola Olubajo, the President of Nigerian Union, South Africa, said Desmond, hair piece hawker sustained multiple injuries.

"He was rescued when he was about to be set ablaze after being wet with petrol. Nigerians and their families told us that the situation is very dangerous and that their lives are not safe.

They also alleged that some group of people were abducting Nigerians and requesting money to bail themselves. A Nigerian who couldnt pay was murdered last month. This same group also looted businesses of foreign nationals, Nigerians in particular. said Olubajo.



Eyewitnesses said the Nigerian identified as Desmond, was delivering hair products at his hair salon on Bethlehem Drive when he was attacked and doused with petrol, but the police arrived at the time he was about to be set alight and rescued him.Police rescue Nigerian trader after he was attacked, doused with petrol and about to be set ablaze by mob in South AfricaPolice fired rubber bullets and teargas to disperse a crowd of protesters who complained after the police took the victim away.North West police said the man was opening his hair salon when he was attacked, doused with petrol and stabbed.Police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Pelonomi Makau, who confirmed the incident said the police responded quickly and rescue him before he was set alight.she said.Police rescue Nigerian trader after he was attacked, doused with petrol and about to be set ablaze by mob in South AfricaThe group barricaded the road near the taxi rank with burning objects and rubble and pelted the police with stones. Shops near the taxi rank were closed.Confirming the incident on Friday, Mr Adetola Olubajo, the President of Nigerian Union, South Africa, said Desmond, hair piece hawker sustained multiple injuries.said Olubajo.

Post Reply Posted: at 19-02-2018 12:49 PM (3 years ago) | Herofelicilin at 19-02-2018 01:05 PM (3 years ago) (f)

Nigerias Justice Ministry said the suspects were rounded up from across the country over claims they were either members of Boko Haram or held information on the group.

Nigerias Justice Ministry said the suspects were rounded up from across the country over claims they were either members of Boko Haram or held information on the group. A Nigeria court has freed 475 Boko Haram suspects due to a lack of evidence against them, the West African countrys Justice Ministry said on Sunday.

Ministry spokesman Salihu Isa said in a statement that the suspects had been arrested across various states over claims they were either members of Boko Haram or they were holding information key to crushing the insurgency or preventing further terrorist acts.

Isa said the suspects were freed over the weekend by a special court trying over 1,000 terrorism suspects in the central Nigerian town of Kainji.

As the prosecution counsel could not charge them with any offence due to lack of evidence against them, the suspects were ordered released, according to the statement.

The court also directed states to provide rehabilitation to the released persons at any appropriate center provided by the states before being released to their families, it added.

Suspects suffering mental or physical ailments are to be provided medical attention at any appropriate medical or other mental health facilities, it quoted the court as ruling. A Nigeria court has freed 475 Boko Haram suspects due to a lack of evidence against them, the West African countrys Justice Ministry said on Sunday.Ministry spokesman Salihu Isa said in a statement that the suspects had been arrested across various states over claims they were either members of Boko Haram or they were holding information key to crushing the insurgency or preventing further terrorist acts.Isa said the suspects were freed over the weekend by a special court trying over 1,000 terrorism suspects in the central Nigerian town of Kainji.As the prosecution counsel could not charge them with any offence due to lack of evidence against them, the suspects were ordered released, according to the statement.it added.Suspects suffering mental or physical ailments are to be provided medical attention at any appropriate medical or other mental health facilities, it quoted the court as ruling.

Post Reply Posted: at 19-02-2018 01:05 PM (3 years ago) | Herofelicilin at 19-02-2018 01:53 PM (3 years ago) (f)

The specialised chamber for international crimes at the High Court in Kigali on Thursday sentenced a Nigerian woman to six years in prison for drug trafficking.

The specialised chamber for international crimes at the High Court in Kigali on Thursday sentenced a Nigerian woman to six years in prison for drug trafficking. Priscilla Duru was arrested at Kigali International Airport in October 2016 as she tried to smuggle1.3 kilograms of heroin through Kigali en route to Nigeria.

During the hearings, she denied the charges arguing that she was given the bag by a Tanzanian woman and didnt know the contents of the bag.

Reading the verdict, the presiding judge Alice Rulisa said that the court had established that Duru entered the country to wait for another person to give her the narcotics from Tanzania so that she could transport it to Nigeria.

The High Court ruled that the suspect was well aware of the contraband, waited for over a month in Rwanda before the bag containing the drugs was brought to her.

Duru, who was in tears during the reading of the verdict, had previously begged for clemency adding that if she knew that she had been given drugs, she would have alerted the police before leaving Kigali as she indicated that she only came in Kigali after she was asked by a family friend who owns a pharmacy in Nigeria to carry for him a bag with a certain medicine called Ephedrine.

She claimed that she had approached him for help because she needed to cater for her children after losing her husband.

Court ruled that she will have to serve six years in Muhanga Prison, and pay two million Rwandan francs in fines.

Priscilla Duru was arrested at Kigali International Airport in October 2016 as she tried to smuggle1.3 kilograms of heroin through Kigali en route to Nigeria.During the hearings, she denied the charges arguing that she was given the bag by a Tanzanian woman and didnt know the contents of the bag.Reading the verdict, the presiding judge Alice Rulisa said that the court had established that Duru entered the country to wait for another person to give her the narcotics from Tanzania so that she could transport it to Nigeria.The High Court ruled that the suspect was well aware of the contraband, waited for over a month in Rwanda before the bag containing the drugs was brought to her.Duru, who was in tears during the reading of the verdict, had previously begged for clemency adding that if she knew that she had been given drugs, she would have alerted the police before leaving Kigali as she indicated that she only came in Kigali after she was asked by a family friend who owns a pharmacy in Nigeria to carry for him a bag with a certain medicine called Ephedrine.She claimed that she had approached him for help because she needed to cater for her children after losing her husband.Court ruled that she will have to serve six years in Muhanga Prison, and pay two million Rwandan francs in fines.

Post Reply Posted: at 19-02-2018 01:53 PM (3 years ago) | HeroYes, you can transfer your domain to any registrar or hosting company once you have purchased it. Since domain transfers are a manual process, it can take up to 5 days to transfer the domain.

Domains purchased with payment plans are not eligible to transfer until all payments have been made. Please remember that our 30-day money back guarantee is void once a domain has been transferred.

For transfer instructions to GoDaddy, please click here.When he first ran for re-election in 2016, the NRA's PAC upped its support. Katko received $9,900 during that campaign, according to financial filings.

In the current election cycle, Katko received $1,000 from the NRA's PAC in March 2017.

But the NRA's support of Katko extends beyond direct contributions to his campaign. The group's PAC spent $4,789.09 and $1,669.82, respectively, to support Katko's 2014 and 2016 campaigns.

The NRA also made independent expenditures in 2016 to support Katko's candidacy. The group spent $26,645.44 in the last election cycle, records show.

"Rep. Katko has to decide, on the issue of gun safety, whether he stands with his constituents, or with the NRA and the Republicans in Washington," Messenger said. "He can't have it both ways."

When Katko commented on gun violence last week, he didn't address the NRA's past support of his campaign. But he acknowledged that the inaction in Congress in responding to mass shootings is "unacceptable."

His focus is mainly on preventing those with mental illnesses from buying guns. There have been reports that the gunman in the Florida school shooting, Nikolas Cruz, received a psychiatric evaluation two years ago.The Governors Official Program is comprised of a wide range of constitutional and legal duties and ceremonial and community engagements. Each year, the Governor hosts thousands of visitors to Government House to take part in investiture and award ceremonies, Open Days, receptions and meetings, and travels widely throughout Queensland to support the activities of Patron groups. View a chronological record of the Governors daily program below.

On Friday, in the morning, His Excellency the Honourable Paul de Jersey AC and Mrs Kaye de Jersey visited the Queensland State Archives, where they met the Minister for Minister for Housing and Public Works, Minister for Digital Technology and Minister for Sport, the Honourable Mick de Brenni, and State Archives staff, and toured the facility.

In the afternoon, at the Cathedral of St Stephen in Brisbane, the Governor and Mrs de Jersey attended the funeral service for the Honourable John Muir QC.Governor's Program

The Governors Official Program is comprised of a wide range of constitutional and legal duties and ceremonial and community engagements. Each year, the Governor hosts thousands of visitors to Government House to take part in investiture and award ceremonies, Open Days, receptions and meetings, and travels widely throughout Queensland to support the activities of Patron groups. View a chronological record of the Governors daily program below.(TNS)  As flags were being lowered to half-staff after Wednesdays Parkland, Florida, school shooting, school administrators here were fielding telephone calls from concerned parents.Im fed up with school shootings, said Carl Murphy, an Eastmont parent who called The Wenatchee World after talking to his childs school principal. I want to know why anyone can walk into a school and cause whatever harm they choose.Similar calls and emails from parents worried about school security in the wake of the shooting that killed 17, prompted both Wenatchee and Eastmont superintendents to post letters of assurance to community and staff members.We lock doors, we train and practice safety procedures and have switched from hiding during a potential shooter to flee, hide or fight, depending on the situation, Eastmont Superintendent Garn Christensen wrote in a letter to staff Thursday afternoon.But, he said in an interview, Its important to remember that even at Sandy Hook, that had one of the most secure campuses you will ever find, the shooter still managed to come into the school. The security measures didnt seem to deter him much. He just shot through the doors.In that 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, 20 children, age 6 and 7, were killed, along with six staff members, by a 20-year-old former student. It was the deadliest mass shooting at a school.Ive been in urban schools, with metal detectors, gates and security guards, Christensen said. The principals shared that it is a deterrent, but they still have situations with weapons. Its a problem. There are no easy solutions.Murphy was pushing for measures that include double security doors where visitors are buzzed through the first door, get their identification checked and their photo taken before being allowed through a second set of doors, with a photo sticker on their chest.Wenatchee School Districts Washington and Lincoln elementary schools and WestSide High School, all remodeled in the past three years, have the single entry, double-security door system.Superintendent Brian Flones said all Wenatchee schools also have video cameras and electronic locks.In Cashmere, a high school remodel project that is getting underway includes similar security measures. The bond proposal approved by voters on Tuesday includes locks and entry reconfigurations for the middle and elementary schools as well.Eastmont has four elementary schools slated for modernization projects that will allow the single entry, double-security door design, but theyre at least 10 years out.The district has taken interim steps to boost security including adding the electronic card locks on exterior doors and video camera surveillance at all schools.East Wenatchee police and the Douglas County Sheriffs Office have electronic card keys and video access as well.We talked with RiverCom and police and they said timing is critical and they need the ability to immediately enter a school, Christensen said.Flones said Wenatchee also participates in active shooter drills, so police know the layout of the schools. The district has a five-member security team that includes a school resource officer, that helps make sure plans are in place and provide help with training.There are always new things coming for school safety, he said.Lockdowns have become part of the emergency training routine.We rarely worry about schools catching on fire anymore, Christensen said, thanks to extensive sprinkler systems and alarm systems. Our predominant worry is about an active shooter in the school.This year, he said, school administrators have been meeting monthly with police and fire leaders to look at things we can do different or do better, to see what were missing. We want schools to be as safe as possible, he said.Eastmont has scheduled active shooter trainings for staff for the past few years. Last year, about 75 staff members participated.The next training is set for Feb. 28. Christensen said he has received requests Thursday from other agencies and businesses asking if they can participate, so is opening it up to the community.Flones and Christensen said security measures are only part of the picture.One of the best preventions is early warning, Flones said. We want to make sure students or parents tell someone if they have a concern about someone who has a behavioral or mental issue that might lead to an act of violence. We want to be able to provide help and assistance.Christensen agreed.I believe our most likely means for heading off these tragedies is the relationships we have with students, their parents, grandparents and our community. If these are strong, we have a much better chance of learning about and stopping a deranged your person, or adult than if we do not listen and learn from our community, he said.Reach Nevonne McDaniels at 509-664-7151 or mcdaniels@wenatcheeworld.com.2018 The Wenatchee World (Wenatchee, Wash.)Visit The Wenatchee World (Wenatchee, Wash.) at www.wenatcheeworld.comDistributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.(TNS)  Triangle blood donation centers that supply area hospitals are experiencing a drop in donors as a national flu epidemic is keeping people home.The Blood Connection announced an urgent need for all blood types this week, saying the flu outbreak has cut blood inventories by at least 10 percent. The organization lost two days worth of blood from cancelled blood drives.The American Red Cross Carolinas said bad weather forced the cancellation of 121 blood drives in January, resulting in the loss of about four days of blood collections. The organization is also seeing a lower donor turnout this month because of the flu.Whats more, both groups send blood to aid victims of disasters and emergencies around the country. The regional chapter of the Red Cross has already sent blood to Florida in response to Wednesdays school shooting that left 17 dead, and The Blood Connection is reviewing a request for blood to treat Florida shooting victims.Still, neither group is experiencing a shortage or an emergency. If blood supplies were depleted to critical levels, the Red Cross and Blood Connection would turn to national blood supply networks of which they are members to make up for local shortages.Were activating a continuity of operations plan, which allows us to avoid a shortage, said Tracy Bridges, vice president of business development and chief technical officer of The Blood Connection. This is really inventory management.The Blood Connection is the primary supplier of blood to UNC Rex Healthcare, WakeMed Health & Hospitals and Johnston UNC Health Care, and a supplemental supplier to Duke University Health System, which includes Duke Raleigh Hospital. The Red Cross supplies blood to UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill and Duke University Health System.Unlike canned food, furniture or other donations, human blood is perishable and in constant demand. It is also susceptible to seasonal fluctuations that can make it harder to access donors for months at a time. Blood is typically more difficult to source in the summer, when schools and colleges are out of session and deprive donation centers of a reliable pool of donors. Winter is also a time of lower donations during an aggressive flu season, because federal regulations dont allow infected people to donate blood.Barry Porter, Eastern North Carolina regional CEO of The American Red Cross, said his organization is not experiencing a major problem right now but is below optimal inventory levels to keep local hospitals supplied. Porter said that it takes two to three days to test donated blood before it can be shipped to a hospital.Both organizations rely on regular donors like Donald Richardson, 48, a N.C. Department of Transportation engineer who has been donating blood since he was in college. Richardson, who lives in Wendell, said donating blood is a family tradition that promotes the public good.I try to be a good citizen, he said. There is no other advantage other than the doughnuts.Richardson was donating red blood cells on Thursday at the Red Cross donation center in Raleigh, which distributes doughnuts to donors. He gives blood every 16 weeks and said it is immaterial to him whether his blood goes to a local hospital or out of state.The Red Cross tracks blood donations by barcode and notifies donors electronically to alert them which hospital received their blood donation.Every donor who makes a blood donation would like their blood to be used, Porter said.The Red Cross and Blood Connection also use apps, texts and emails to remind donors that they are eligible for their next donation.We want people to be renewable resources, said Greg Sain, a supervisor at the Red Cross donation center in Raleigh.John Murawski: 919-829-8932, @johnmurawski2018 The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.)Visit The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.) at www.newsobserver.comDistributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.(TNS)  Shockwaves from a deadly shooting at a Florida high school shook the Capitol on Thursday, where lawmakers halted plans to change the states gun permitting law and directed Iowa school officials to adopt security plans to deal with active shooter or disaster situations.The constitutional carry firearms legislation that was slated for action was pulled from the Senate Judiciary Committee in the aftermath of the tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., a day earlier.The team decided that we were not going to run it today, said Sen. Jason Schultz, R-Schleswig, manager of Senate File 2106, who expressed confidence the bill had the votes needed to clear committee and the full Iowa Senate.He said the Florida shooting, in which a gunman killed 17 people, apparently changed the optics enough that the team together decided that it would be best that we didnt.Committee Chairman Sen. Brad Zaun, R-Urbandale, said he made the decision to pull the gun bill from Thursdays debate list after receiving indications the Iowa House did not plan to debate the issue this year and that Gov. Kim Reynolds was not interested in changing Iowas current permitting process.The governor said that she was not interested in this bill and liked the current permit system the way it is, and so I made the decision that it needed to be taken off the agenda, Zaun said. Im disappointed. It makes me sick what happened down in Florida but with that said I did have the votes to move this thing forward but I decided to pull it off the agenda.SF 2106 would remove the general prohibition on carrying weapons without a permit as well as repealing the duty to carry a permit.The legislation also repeals Iowas permit to acquire handguns and replaces it with a duty to comply with federal law for the acquisition of weapons, which includes a background check. A person still would be allowed to use a carry permit to acquire a gun.Gov. Reynolds is a strong supporter of the 2nd Amendment, and she supports maintaining current permitting requirements, her spokeswoman, Brenna Smith, wrote in an email.Reynolds ordered all state flags to be lowered to half-staff until sunset Monday to honor those murdered and injured in Wednesdays attack.Sen. Rick Bertrand, R-Sioux City, the bills lead sponsor, praised Zaun and Schultz for their leadership but conceded its simple math there wasnt enough support.Today was the day to defend the Second Amendment, not bow to anti-gun rhetoric, and these individuals will have this day stapled to every political resume moving forward, Bertrand said in a statement.The reality is that some of my colleagues simply got scared, it was gut check time, and today the Second Amendment needed leaders, not talkers, he added.House Speaker Linda Upmeyer, R-Clear Lake, said she was reluctant to comment since she had not seen the Senate bill.But Zaun said he was told by the House GOP point person on firearms legislation that the bill would not pass the House if the measure cleared the Senate, so there was no need to push it.I thought it was a very logical first step based on our constitution. There was definitely safeguards in place that people that should not have guns would not be able to get guns, Zaun said. Obviously we need to have a conversation about mental health in the state of Iowa rather than guns. We do a poor job in the state of Iowa with mental health.Earlier Thursday, members of the Senate Education Committee passed Senate File 2253, a measure that would require Iowa schools to establish security plans for buildings in their districts. Sponsors said the bill had cleared subcommittee early this week and it was bad coincident that it won unanimous support one day after the shooting.This isnt a knee-jerk reaction to some sensational news, said Democratic Sen. Tod Bowman, a Maquoketa High School teacher who recounted his experiences in active-shooter drills and said he was caught off guard by data indicating only 85 percent of Iowa schools have plans.These are mock situations but they are as real as we can get it, he said. I can tell you the first time that we did it my heart beat was racing. There are no right or wrong decisions that you make. You make them on gut.Sen. Jim Carlin, R-Sioux City, said he was reluctant to add another mandate to districts but said the concern I have and I think its a valid concern is rural schools in particular to do not have law enforcement within minutes of the locations of schools.During Thursdays Senate floor work, Ocheyedan Sen. David Johnson made note of the Florida shooting and that fact that at least a half-dozen gun bills were moving through the Senate committee process.So enough is enough, maybe? Do we need a gun everywhere? the independent asked.After the Senate adjourned for committee work, a spectator in the gallery, Heather Smith of Des Moines, shouted at senators working at their desks her concerns about gun safety, saying, were living as if were in a war zone before being escorted out.l Comments: (515) 243-7220; rod.boshart@thegazette.com2018 The Gazette (Cedar Rapids, Iowa)Visit The Gazette (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) at thegazette.comDistributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.Red Bull will decide in the first half of 2018 whether to switch to Honda power next year.

After the McLaren-Honda divorce, the Japanese engine supplier has moved on to Red Bull's second team, Toro Rosso.

Dr Helmut Marko, the Red Bull official, said he has been "positively surprised" with what he has seen from Honda so far.

"So far we're positively surprised by Honda, also in terms of their dedication and enthusiasm," he told Auto Motor und Sport.

"I think they have learned from the mistakes that certainly happened.

"So far, according to the test stands, the engine is reliable. I think it will be possible for the engine to catch up to Renault level by mid season," Marko added.

And if that happens, Red Bull is likely to make the switch from Renault to Honda for 2019.

"The regulations have changed so that you have to announce what engine you want to compete with the following year by the summer," said Marko.

"We will analyse thoroughly and then make a decision."

(GMM)F1 should not be trying to turn up the volume of its 'power units'.

Ever since the hybrid era began in 2014, fans have lamented the new sound and the sport's authorities have vowed to rev it up for the future.

But Renault boss Cyril Abiteboul said quiet engines are simply a sign of the power units' incredible efficiency.

"The exhaust sound is energy," the Frenchman told Canadian radio Rive-Sud de Montreal.

"If we begin to convert more energy into sound, then we will not achieve a good result in terms of energy efficiency.

"A loud sound from the engine and the economy of the engine are two conflicting goals," Abiteboul added.

He said a better approach would be to wait for the next generation of F1 fans to better appreciate energy efficiency.

"A generation of fans who have never heard V10 or V8 engines will soon grow up, and for them quiet engines will be the norm," he said.

"Perhaps formula one moved from one stage to the next too quickly and today is somewhat ahead of its time."

(GMM)The first two months of 2018 are shaping up as real winner for fans of great fiction. Here are three novels that have garnered well-deserved critical acclaim.

Kristin Hannahs last novel, The Nightingale, became a best-seller and brought her many new fans. Set in World War II, it told the story of two sisters trying to survive the German invasion. It was an emotional stunner of a book.

Hannahs new novel is The Great Alone, set in the wilds of Alaska in 1974. Leni is the teenage daughter of Cora and Ernt. Ernt fought in Vietnam and was captured as a POW. When he came home, he was different man, angry and distrustful, and couldnt hold a job.

When he receives word that one of his fellow soldiers left him land on a small island in Alaska, he brings his family up there to start a new life.

Life is difficult in Kaneq, and the cabin where they are to live has no running water and is filthy. But Ernt sees nothing but opportunity, and he believes that living off the grid will be perfect for his family.

Cora and Leni have a harder adjustment, but Cora loves Ernt and will do anything to make him happy. There are few people Lenis age in Kaneq, and when she falls in love with Matthew, the son of one of the towns founders, Ernt will not stand for it.Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}

Other hidden figures, among many, included William H. Seward, who played a significant role in passing legislation that led to Northup's freedom; Frederick M. Coffin, who illustrated the book and went on to be a Civil War veteran, as well as Nathaniel Orr, one of the best known engravers of his time, who was the engraver for the book, Howell said.

Howell presented three main theories to help support why "Twelve Years a Slave" was published in Auburn. To start, the New York Times, at the time known as the New York Daily Journal, published an article called The Kidnapping Case on Jan. 20, 1853. Howell speculated that, as the first wide-spread story of Northup's kidnapping, the article's popularity may have helped pave the way for the book.

Howell also speculated that it could be due to William Seward's involvement in passing legislation that permitted the rescue of Northup. A third possibility explored was that it may have been through Orville Clark, a lawyer involved in helping Northup regain his freedom, introducing Northup to David Wilson, who became the editor of the memoir.Agriculture contributes so much to our daily lives, but it is an industry that has been hit by hard times. It is also a demanding occupation and those who take up the farming mantle must be very special. Preparing the next generation of farmers is also a critical role. All of those individuals are being duly recognized from February 17-24 - National Future Farmers of America Week.

The FFA was founded in 1928 by thirty-three young farm boys at a hotel in Kansas City, and is currently made up of more than 600-thousand student members in grades seven through twelve. There are over 7,500 chapters headquartered in every state in the nation, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. More than 11,000 advisors and agriculture teachers work with students on subjects like agriscience, biotechnology, and horticulture. FFA students divide their time between classroom learning and hands-on experience in the field. After high school, many of these students go on to productive careers in various agriculture fields. Others parlay their FFA knowledge into further studies at colleges and universities and graduate with advanced degrees.

It is clear that the FFA has played a significant role in making certain that agricultural education is a mainstay of our communities. I am also confident that the FFA will continue to connect students to exciting careers in the science, business and technology of agriculture.BMW chairman outlines development focus in China

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Recently, Harald Kruger, chairman of the Board of Management of BMW AG, visited China and shared some opinions with local media.

Kruger said that China is not only the most important market for the luxury carmaker, but also an important base for the companys innovation and value creation. BMW hopes to work with China market to write a new chapter in new energy vehicles, autonomous driving and mobility service.

BMW aims to be a global leading mobility service provider. ReachNow powered by EVCARD, the co-brand BMW set up with EVCARD, a Shanghai-based electric vehicle-sharing brand, has started to provide service in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province, signifying BMW officially introduces car-sharing service to China. In the future, 100 upgraded BMW i3s will be put into operation in Chengdu.

Innovation, learning and local talent training will be key words for BMW in China. The innovation is not limited to technology, but also in culture and marketing. In October, 2017, BMWs power battery center opened. With the completion of new Dadong factory, new R&D center and new power battery center, BMW has entered a new phase in the development in China.

The talent localization is part of its strategy in China. More and more Chinese people take important posts in BMW. Currently, 82 percent posts in the management are filled with Chinese staff, increasing 5 percent. Some of them can report directly to Kruger.

The chairman thought highly of the mobile internet development in China. At present, over 1 million vehicles with interconnect features are running on Chinas roads. Whats more, BMW has teamed up with Alibaba, the ecommerce giant, to develop a series of digitalized experiences for the car and home. Based on smart speakers and the cloud technology, the service can remotely access information about cars.

As to the electric vehicle startups that have sprung up in China auto industry, Kruger said that BMW has always been taking all entrants in auto industry seriously. Since the industry has been transforming, it is advisable for BMW to keep an eye on the new entrants as well as the traditional players. Apart from the competition, there are still chances for BMW to cooperate with the startups.When Masa Takayama was planning the dessert menu for his robata restaurant, Tetsu, he asked pastry chef Matthew OHaver to think beyond traditional Asian sweets. After the first few attempts, says OHaver, Takayama told him to stop trying to please him. He pointed at me and said, You do you.  And so, in pastry terms, OHaver is this toasty slab of charred yuzu-scented olive-oil cake, paired with a stripe of mascarpone cream. Its an inventive approach to a rustic Mediterranean dessert  sturdy enough to grill, in keeping with Tetsus theme, and, with its barely detectable hit of yuzu sake, true to its creators vision. I add booze to everything, he says. And salt.

Mouse over or tap the image to read more.

On the menu at Tetsu; $12; 78 Leonard St., nr. Church St.; 212-207-2370.

*This article appears in the February 19, 2018, issue of New York Magazine. Subscribe Now!Press Release

Mt. Juliet, TN  February, 2018  Each year KHS America awards a college scholarship to a member of the United States Army All American Marching Band (USAAAMB). Made up of 101 high school seniors from around the country, members of the band who are pursuing a career in music education can apply for a $1,000 College Scholarship from KHS America. There were 17 applicants this year and the winner was announced during the bands banquet in San Antonio, TX on Saturday, January 6th. The 2018 winner was Elissa Travis from Hamilton High School in Chandler, AZ. It was a surreal moment for me! The entire Bowl week was truly a once in a lifetime experience and accepting this scholarship in front of so many talented USAAAMB members, my family, and my school band director was an incredible and emotional moment for me I will never forget, stated Elissa.

Ms. Travis plans to attend Arizona State University in Tempe, AZ in the fall. Elissa started playing the French horn in her 6th grade band but it wasnt until her junior year she decided to join marching band and play the mellophone. Playing in high-level ensembles and working closely with my band directors influenced my love for performance, but after joining marching band my junior year, I found the missing piece and my love for the marching arts grew quickly, stated Elissa. She is thankful how band has helped guide her in how to work hard towards a common goal. Band has taught me that it takes drive, responsibility, and passion to achieve a goal in its entirety; it is not about the end result, but everything you learn along the journey to reach the result.

As part of the application process, students must submit an essay on why they are interested in becoming a music educator along with a letter of recommendation for their band director.

Ms. Traviss music director, Julie Trent says Elissa will be a tremendous addition to our music education community. As a future band director, I am sure she will reach her students with a kind and loving demeanor while holding high standards for musical achievement.

Knowing the quality of students who get selected to be a part of US Army All American Marching Band is why we at KHS America are proud to offer a scholarship to a future music educator states Education Manager Rick DeJonge. We need people like Elissa Travis in our schools as a music teacher and this scholarship is one of the ways we can help.Following immersion in Riesling Downunder, Sarah Ahmed explores the varietys potential in the UK

By Sarah Ahmed

If the recent Riesling Riot was a litmus test, then Riesling is clearly starting to attract the cool crowd in Australia.

Doubtless, the DJ, the eye-catching labels and strong presence of generation next behind the tables helped too. This event formed part of the triennial international Riesling celebration, Riesling Downunder, with this years mega-tasting of Rieslings from over 60 international producers attracting 730 people in Melbourne (versus 500 previously) and 550 at its Sydney debut, split almost equally between consumers and trade.

So whats different and is Australian Riesling winning new UK fans?

While classic dry Clare and Eden Valley Rieslings still dominate premium sales, cooler climate examples are gaining ground.

From zero Australian Rieslings a decade ago, leading German Riesling importer Awin Barratt Siegel Wine Agencies (ABS) now lists 10, spanning five regions. Of those, sales director Kate Dowdeswell reports, Tassie Riesling is hot!

ABSs Devils Corner and Tamar Ridges sales are up 36.85% by volume so far this year.

Similarly, according to Liberty Wines managing director David Gleave MW, sales growth of Libertys classic dry range - 32% by volume since January 2012 - has been spearheaded by an impressive 62% growth in the on-trade.

A new niche is funkier, textural Rieslings, influenced by natural ferment, lees-ageing, skin contact and oxidative handling in barrel or foudre.

Contrasting Interlopers classic Riesling with funkier sister-label Odeon, importer Red Squirrels managing director Nik Darlington says the former does well in both on and off trade, while the latter attracts restaurant sommeliers who can hand-sell higher-end New World wines to curious diners.

For Les Caves de Pyrenes sales director Doug Wregg, these more gastronomic Rieslings appeal to on trade customers, who are looking for mouthfeel.

Playful field blends are smaller still but, according to Wregg, are a natural wine bar phenomenon. David Knott of The Knotted Vine agrees, adding: They appeal to the next level of wine geek.

These days, not all Australian Riesling is bone dry. Gleave, who is happy to import them where a bit of residual sugar sits comfortably on the frame of the wine, lists Grossets off dry Alea and, this year, Canberra Districts Clonakilla Riesling.

Already listing Josef Chromys Sekt and and Kabinett-style Tasmanian Rieslings, Bibendum has just shipped a mixed pallet of my top Riesling Downunder discovery - Rieslingfreaks pure-fruited but subtly textural Sekt, dry and Kabinett-style Clare and Eden Valley Rieslings.

For Simon Thorpe MW, who heads up antipodean specialist Negociants UK, young guns Chaffey Bros Tripelpunkt Riesling appeals as a match for certain styles of cuisine with which Dry Riesling can clash.

However, Thorpe is not alone when he cautions that niche styles could be counter-productive for Australian Riesling, because there is a greater sense of cut through to the consumer if there is a similarity in style of dry Riesling.

With sales of 100,800 litres last year, Jacobs Creek Classic [dry] Riesling tops the Riesling category by volume in the UK off trade (excluding private labels) and Pernod Ricard has no plans to venture into sweeter styles.

That said, chief winemaker Ben Bryant is tweaking fruit sourcing towards Langhorne Creek for structure and freshness, Clare Valley for added depth of fruit and flavour, looking for a bit more generosity and fruit profile, rather than just acid line, because Riesling at that price has to be approachable.

Bryants comments reflect an ongoing quest voiced by Riesling producers during Riesling Downunder - bringing balance to the consumer.

In Germany, this has resulted in a shift towards dry Rieslings which, Dowdeswell reports, are growing at a phenomenal rate.

Fellow German Riesling specialist Ben Mason at Wine Mason in Dublin confirms that off-trade consumers, including 20-30-somethings who don't have the Liebfraumilch all-Riesling-is-sweet complex are buying Riesling in the same way as they buy Albarino or Chenin Blanc.

Not anywhere near the New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc level, but as a trendier choice for the wine explorer, adds Mason.

Perhaps ultimately, it pays not to be too one-eyed about wine style or, indeed, the consumer; a broader church of Australian Riesling is finding its converts.





Explosion at oilseed factory in northern France kills two

Two people were killed in an explosion at the Saipol oilseed plant in Dieppe on February 17. Local officials said 11 people received light injuries, mostly suffering shock. A team of 40 firefighters, police and rescuers were quickly on the scene, where the explosion was followed by a fierce blaze with huge flames and a large column of smoke.

Stock image

A spokesman for the company said the explosion happened as maintenance work was being carried out on an oil tank, and that at this stage the cause of the blast was unknown. The two dead were maintenance workers employed by a subcontractor.



Saipol is the oilseed subsidiary of the Avril cooperative group, the largest biodiesel producer in Europe and largest table oil producer in France with brands including Lesieur and Pouget.



The Dieppe plant employs 40 people.

NNPC says third of Nigerias oil production lost to pipeline theft in 2016

Nigeria National Petroleum Corp (NNPC) Group Managing Director Dr Maikanti Baru claimed in late 2017 that about 700,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil were lost in 2016 due to pipeline theft and sabotage. This brought Nigerias production down to 1.3 million bpd, against a target of 2.2 million for the period.

Stock image

According to the Pulse.ng news site, Baru said that the 300,000 bpd capacity Trans Forcados Pipeline (TFP) recorded 17 breaches in 2016 and 15 in in the first three-quarters of 2017, while the Trans Niger Pipeline (TNP) also suffered 15 breaches in 2017.



He urged members of the Pipeline Professionals Association of Nigeria (PLAN) to conduct a systematic diagnosis of the pipeline system in Nigeria and come up with sustainable and actionable solutions to the menace of pipeline vandalism in the country.



Baru said the issue posed a great threat to the Nigerian economy in terms of revenue loss and environmental degradation.



Some of the measures deployed by NNPC to stem vandalism include: Horizontal Directional Drilling technology to bury pipelines deeper to prevent easy accessibility; technology-based pipeline surveillance mechanism with capability to detect, alert and deny access and aerial monitoring and marine patrols by the Military Joint Task Force.



He said the Nigerian government was trying to build a political solution to the agitation sabotage in the the south, where local tribes hamper oil operations to bring their grievances to public attention.



In a later meeting with southern politicians reported in The Daily Post, Baru said: Nigerias energy supply security is underpinned by a robust pipeline network of over 8,000 kilometres used for transportation of crude oil, petroleum products and natural gas.



Of this vast access, NNPC has the largest downstream footprint with over 5,130 kilometres of pipeline network and 21 depots around the country.



This critical national asset has become a subject of incessant vandalism, theft and sabotage

The consequence of this act of sabotage has often resulted in damage and shutdown of critical facilities, environmental impacts, injuries and loss of lives and property, thus causing the NNPC and by extension the federation huge maintenance costs.



Non-availability of critical pipeline infrastructure has resulted in long-range haulage of petroleum products across the country with attendant risk of accidents and damage to our road infrastructure.



The year 2018 is the 20th anniversary of the worst pipeline fire in Nigerian history in Jesse, Delta State, when in October 1998 a ruptured NNPC pipeline exploded and fire spread to surrounding villages, killing 1,098 people and injuring hundreds more.



Contact Details and Archive...(The Business Insider) When Sean Stiefel told his dad two years ago he was going to invest in an Uruguayan cannabis company after getting pitched on the deal by a broker, the reaction was laughter.But that bet paid off in a big way. Stiefel, along with his partner John Kaden, invested in International Cannabis Corp  a producer of CBD (an extract from the cannabis plant used for medicinal purposes)  at a $40 million valuation and exited at a $160 million valuation only four months later.

To read this article:The Finnish businessman was found dead in a hotel room in Kampala, the capital of Uganda, on 6 February.

Patria on Friday announced that two of its executives have resigned as a consequence of the widely reported case of a middle-aged businessman who had erroneously been given permission to market the products of the state-owned defence contractor in Uganda and Mozambique.

The two executives to leave the company are Mika Kari, the president of Patria Land Systems, and Juha Simola, the vice president of sales and marketing at Patria Land Systems. Both of the executives left the state-owned company by mutual consent, according to a press release from Patria.

The defence contractor also indicated that it has identified a number of corrective measures to clarify its international marketing procedures and provide improved internal training to its employees.

This incident has taught us that even the best procedures can be developed. We operate in a very sensitive business area and we cannot afford poor situational judgement calls, explained Olli Isotalo, the CEO of Patria.

Mika Lintila (Centre), the Minister of Economic Affairs, estimated that the resignations are a regrettable but necessary course of action to mitigate the scrutiny surrounding the defence contractor.

In these circumstances after all the events, they naturally had to make a decision in order to restore their credibility and public confidence in their operations. The conclusion they reached was that two people in key positions will leave the company, he commented to Iltalehti.

Lintila is the minister responsible for ownership steering in the government of Prime Minister Juha Sipila (Centre).

Aleksi Teivainen  HT

Photo: Kaisa Siren  Lehtikuva

Source: Uusi SuomiLinden accompanied the middle-aged businessman on his visit to Uganda. She initially seemed to imply that she travelled to the country as a representative of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a specialised agency established under the United Nations.

Suvi Linden, a two-time cabinet member, has found herself embroiled in the case of a middle-aged businessman who was found dead in a hotel room in Kampala, Uganda, on 6 February.

Fostering the information society in poor countries has been part of my responsibilities as a special envoy for the UNs telecommunication union since 2011, she wrote in response to reports of her visit to Uganda.

Related posts: Patria lets two executives go after death of businessman in Uganda (19 February, 2018)

ITU, however, revealed that it was not aware of the visit and stressed that the ex-cabinet member neither serves as a representative of nor has an official role with the union. Linden subsequently clarified that her tenure as special envoy ended in 2015.

I never claimed in my post that this was an assignment from the telecommunication union, she argued.

I had a voluntary role with the telecommunication union that was based on a personal invitation from the secretary general. I havent been compensated for it. It has been my duty to speak about the importance of sound telecommunications infrastructure and smartphones in developing countries.

Linden revealed that the purpose of her visit was to examine the readiness of various ministries to launch projects that utilise low-cost smartphones to improve the daily lives of people in Uganda.

The Finnish businessman had obtained permission to distribute marketing material for the products of Patria, a state-owned defence manufacturer, in Uganda and Mozambique. Ugandan law enforcement authorities have yet to rule out foul play in his death.

Aleksi Teivainen  HT

Photo: Vesa Moilanen  Lehtikuva

Source: Uusi SuomiThe groups state in a joint press release that the bill not only neglects to address the most important development needs but would also sanction a variety of practices that cause an unreasonable amount of pain and discomfort to animals.

Animal rights groups have reiterated their demands that the bill for a new animal welfare act be sent back to the drawing board.

Such issues include prohibiting the long-term tethering of animals, guaranteeing that animals have continuing access to water, making the registration and identification marking of dogs and cats mandatory, and prohibiting fur farming.

[These] are key issues that the law absolutely must cover, they view.

Sari Sarkomaa (NCP), a member of a parliamentary animal welfare group, has similarly expressed her disappointment with the bill, urging lawmakers to address the shortcomings in the bill before presenting it to the Parliament. She believes, for example, that the use of tie-stall barns and farrowing crates should be banned after a transitional period.

The primary objective of the reformed animal welfare act is to promote the well-being of animals. It prescribes that animals must have the possibility to satisfy their key behavioural needs and that the supervision of animal welfare is stepped up, she states.

Emma Kari (Greens), in turn, warns that the bill could end up having a negative affect on food producers in Finland.

Consumers are increasingly interested in the ethics of food and animal well-being. The fact that our legislation will be well behind our neighbouring countries also after the reform damages the reputation of Finnish food production. It is unfortunate if the government manages to make ethical consumers prefer foreign animal production with an ill-advised law, she said.

This is not in the interests of producers or animals.

Aleksi Teivainen  HT

Photo: Mikko Stig  Lehtikuva

Source: Uusi SuomiA DEVELOPER is making another attempt to build 10 flats in Henley.

Millgate Homes, of Ruscombe, has resubmitted plans for Parkside after its first application was rejected because the site is not included in the joint Henley and Harpsden neighbourhood plan.

South Oxfordshire District Council, the planning authority, said the single block on the 2.5-acre site south of Gravel Hill would also mean the loss of protected woodland.

Now the company says that since the neighbourhood plan was adopted the housing requirement for South Oxfordshire has been significantly increased.

This was a result of the strategic housing market assessment which led to the district council saying that Henley should accept 350 new homes on top of the 500-plus that were agreed under the neighbourhood plan, which passed a referendum in 2016.

A design and access statement by architect Edgington Spink Hyne, of Windsor, says: The recent increase of housing numbers allocated to Henley as a result of the emerging local plan adds increased need to review the capacity of existing allocated sites and to potentially allocate new sites or to allow windfall development sites such as this to help meet this increased housing need.

The application site has good connections to public transport, community facilities and local services with Henley town centre, including the provision of education and training facilities, healthcare, community and leisure/recreation facilities.

The block would be three storeys high with a basement for parking and all the flats would have two bedrooms.

The architect says the higher quality trees around the edges of the site would be retained, adding: The layout and siting of the various elements of the proposed building have been advised following detailed consultation with the tree consultant.

This process has resulted in the reduction of and the re-alignment of the footprint of the building during the development of the scheme.

Changes to the original plans include the reduction in the height of the roof by about 50cm, the replacement of rendered timbering and hooded balconies on the second floor with tile-hung gables to merge better with the woodland setting and removal of chimneys.

When landowners were invited to put land forward for the neighbourhood plan, Millgate suggested building 15 homes in Parkside.

When the draft document went out to a consultation, 70 per cent of respondents supported development there but the site was ruled out because of the impact on the trees.

The district council said the land was on the edge of the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty so should be removed from the plan unless Millgate could offset the impact.

The company said that it had done this by shrinking the proposed development, moving most of the parking underground and reducing the number of trees that would need to be felled. It also said the flats would help make up for the loss of other housing sites in the plan care housing.

The district council is set to make a decision on the latest application by May 8.

Meanwhile, plans to convert an office complex in Henley into flats have been withdrawn but are set to be resubmitted.

Ressance, of Newbury, wanted change of use consent to redevelop The Hub at Hallmark House, off Station Road, into 23 flats. Full planning permission was not required as converting offices into homes is permitted development.

A Ressance spokeswoman said: The application was withdrawn prior to determination because the planning authority requested more information.

We will answer those questions and enter into positive engagement with South Oxfordshire District Council before resubmitting the application.

The three-storey complex, which was built in 1991 on land previously owned by British Rail, is owned by a management company in Portsmouth and divided into about a dozen suites. These are occupied by a number of businesses.

The district council could only refuse permission if there was a risk of flooding or contamination on the site or if Oxfordshire County Council, the highways authority, believed there would be an adverse impact on road safety.

A developer with permitted rights does not have to make payments towards improving infrastructure, such as roads, schools or GP surgeries, or to include a proportion of affordable homes.Egypt Today, by: Nawal Sayed

CAIRO  19 February 2018: Since the declaration of the republic following the Egyptian Revolution in 1952 and the abolishment of the monarchy, Egypt has been led by nine leaders; six presidents, two interim presidents and one acting president.



No Egyptian leader thought about his successor, but incumbent President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi does. In September, 2015, Sisi revealed launch of the Presidential Leadership Program (PLP) which seeks to educate and enlighten junior cadres who can be the countrys future leaders.



Comparing Sisi to Frances Chales du Gaulle may be not fair. Gaulle is the founder of the fifth republic of France and was the head of state for ten years (1959-1969).



Sisi has been leading the country in difficult circumstances, following the removal of the Brotherhood-affiliated President Mohamed Morsi. Since June, 2013, Egypt has been rebuilding with hands of its patriots, despite the acts of terror that it has suffered.



Sisi is Egypts savior who rescued Egypt from autocracy of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group. American researcher Andrew MacGregor described Sisi as Egypts second modern states founder.



Sisi is running for the upcoming Marchs presidential election and is expected to win a second four-year term in office due to impressive successes that he has achieved throughout his first presidential term.



By success of Sisis projects for youth, he will be able to prepare and present Egypts future leaders and may be presidents as well.



The PLPs successes



wo batches of students have successfully graduated from the PLP and the third batch is still attending the program.











In October, 2016, Sisi attended a session on an integrated simulation model of the Egyptian state, where members of the PLP simulated some of the government's ministries and offered ways to address various issues and crises. The relevant ministers attended the session and evaluated the performance of the PLP youth.



Sisi contributes to prepare Egypts future leaders



The PLP aims to inject new blood into the state's apparatuses and not to establish a platform with political nature or objectives, stressed President Sisi during the first National Youth Conference held in Sharm el-Sheikh.



In February, 2017, Sisi met with the participants in the PLPs second batch, reviewing achievements made over the past three years in terms of consolidating the state and launching national projects to enhance economic progress.









Charles du Gaulles model



After the Second World War, Charles du Gaulle founded in 1945 the National School of Administration (ENA) to train civil servants who would rebuild France.



Frances current President Emmanuel Macron is an ENA graduate



The ENA stands as one of the main pathways to high positions in the public and private sectors; most notably in politics and business. It is one of the most prestigious French and international institutions in the field of preparing officials and qualifying them to assume senior management positions.



ENA graduates are often recruited as aides and assistants by state ministers and statesmen. Four French presidents are graduates of the ENA: Valery Giscard d'Estaing, Jacques Chirac, Francois Hollande and current President Emmanuel Macron.



Current ministers who graduated from the ENA:



 Edouard Philippe: Frances Prime Minister since May 15, 2017.



 Florence Parly: Frances Minister of the Armed Forces since June 21, 2017.



 Bruno Le Maire: Frances Minister of the Economy since May 17, 2017.



Egyptian-French partnership



President Sisi received on Sunday director of the (ENA) Patrick Gerard, to discuss cooperation between the school and the Youth Academy to hone the skills of officials and enable them to advance their posts.



Sisi stressed Egypt's aspiration to benefit from the experience of the French National School by establishing a full partnership with the Egyptian Academy of Youth to prepare cadres trained at the highest scientific level, so that the Egyptian Academy will become the main source for selecting leaders in the country according to the criteria of efficiency and equal opportunities.



Egypts former interim President Adly Mansour also is an ENA alumni



Egypt is looking forward to benefiting from a French experiment in training cadres through a partnership between the Ecole Nationale d'Administration (ENA) and Egypt's Youth Academy, said Sisi.Guns dont kill people; people do. Weve heard it time and again, usually after some horrific shooting like the one that occurred in a Florida high school on Wednesday, which left 17 people who had been about to leave school on Valentines Day dead. Of course, a person pulled the trigger, allegedly a 19-year-old who had been expelled from the school. But without an AR-15 at his disposal, a deranged young man would most likely not be able to wreak the kind of carnage we saw here. The Second Amendment was not meant to put such lethal weapons in the hands of individuals intent on killing their fellow citizens  and its time we quit pretending otherwise.

I own guns. As someone who has often lived in remote places, far away from police in an emergency, I appreciate the right to be able to protect myself. But I am also willing to accept that my right does not extend to amassing an arsenal or purchasing weapons more appropriate for military use than self-protection or sport. Most Americans, I suspect, agree with me, even those who own guns. So why do politicians refuse to consider even sensible restrictions that might keep guns, especially the most lethal ones, out of the hands of would-be mass murderers?

In October, a madman killed 58 people at an outdoor country music concert in Las Vegas, the deadliest shooting in modern U.S. history. The perpetrator had a virtual arsenal at his disposal, which he had amassed over time, with no authority scrutinizing why he was buying so many guns and so much ammunition. To do so, Second Amendment purists contend, would be to violate his rights, as if the Founding Fathers thought every citizen in a well-regulated militia should have a right to equip himself with more lethal firepower than the British expended at the battles of Lexington and Concord, where only 49 colonists died.

In November, another deranged individual walked into a small church in rural Texas and killed 26 parishioners. Indeed, churches have, in recent years, been a favorite target of mass shooters, including Dylann Roof, who was convicted of murdering nine people in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015. Schools, too, have been the frequent scene of horrendous killings. Perhaps the most horrific was Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, where the victims were 20 6- and 7-year-olds and six teachers. But other school killings come to mind: Columbine High School in suburban Denver, where 13 innocent people died, as well as Virginia Tech, where a student killed 32 people. The death count goes on and on  and has been mounting at an alarming rate recently. Three of the 10 most lethal killings in modern U.S. history have occurred in the past five months. How many more people have to die before Congress acts?

Donald Trump was once a champion of sensible controls on guns. In 2000, he wrote in his book The America We Deserve, I generally oppose gun control, but I support the ban on assault weapons and I support a slightly longer waiting period to purchase a gun. In the aftermath of the Sandy Hook massacre, Trump tweeted, President Obama spoke for me and every American when he called for stronger gun laws in response. But he changed his position when he sought the GOP nomination for president, largely because the National Rifle Association and its members might have derailed his chances. After the Las Vegas slaughter, President Trump wanted to talk about mental illness  though there is no evidence the killer was mentally ill  but wasnt willing to talk about changes in gun laws. However, he did promise, Well be talking about gun laws as time goes by.

Enough time has gone by, Mr. President. Another 17 are dead, teenagers who will not come home to their parents and siblings, teachers who will never stand before another class of eager students. Its time we forget the slogans that diminish the role that guns play in these tragedies and figure out how to keep weapons meant for use on the battlefield out of our schools and churches and off our streets.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ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - The United States has put forward a motion to place Pakistan on a global terrorist-financing watchlist with an anti-money-laundering monitoring group, according to a senior Pakistani official.





Pakistan has been scrambling in recent months to avert being added to a list of countries deemed non-compliant with terrorist financing regulations by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a measure that officials fear could hurt its economy.





The United States has been threatening to get tough with Islamabad over its alleged ties with Islamist militants, and last month President Donald Trumps administration suspended aid worth about $2 billion.





Islamabad, which denies assisting militants in Afghanistan and India, has reacted angrily to U.S. threats of further punitive measures.





A meeting of FATF member states is due to take place next week in Paris, where the organization could adopt the motion on Pakistan. The FATF, an intergovernmental body based in Paris, sets global standards for fighting illicit finance.





Pakistans de facto finance minister, Miftah Ismail, told Reuters that the United States and Britain put forward the motion several weeks ago, and later persuaded France and Germany to co-sponsor it.





We are now working with the U.S., UK, Germany and France for the nomination to be withdrawn, Ismail said, speaking by telephone from Europe. We are also quite hopeful that even if the U.S. did not withdraw the nomination that we will prevail and not be put on the watchlist. - More



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*Cindy* 1) $10 Amazon Gift Card: Deb Gramie Burgess 2) The Cowboys: Dawn LeGros 3) Rescuing Her Heart: Cindy Klemm *Denise* Audio Codes for The Witness Tree: Marilyn Ridgway and Licha Hanley *Mary* 1) Audio code for The Damsel's Intent: Danielle Grandinetti Owen 2) Reader's Choice: Brenda Walters *Linda* 1) Gold Rush Bride Hannah: Lisa Turley and Jennifer Devon Hibdon 2) $5.00 Gift card to retailer of their choice (Kobo, B&N, AppleBooks, Amazon): Tami le Roux *Grand Prize*: Bonnie Yepsen Weinman *Blog Winners*: 1) Spies & Sweethearts: Sheila64 2) Bent Tree Bride: Roxanne Cruz 3) Rescuing Her Heart: Natalya Lakhno 4) The Debutante's Secret: Connie Porter Saunders

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Winners must leave their email address and will be notified by email and the winners name will be announced in the days comments. No one under 18 can enter our giveaways. No purchase is necessary. All winners have one week to claim their prize. USA shipping only. Offer void where prohibited. Odds of winning vary due to the number of entrants.From 1869 to 1901, five elected U.S. Presidents were Civil War veterans who had served in the Union armies. Four were generals. (All photographs: Library of Congress)

Ulysses S. Grant, in office 1869-1877

Grant entered the Civil War with the 21st Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment. On March 2, 1864, President Lincoln promoted Grant to lieutenant general, giving him command of all Union Armies, answering only to the president.

Rutherford B. Hayes, in office 1877-1881



Hayes served with the 23rd Regiment of Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He was injured at the Battle of South Mountain Sept. 14, 1862. He was promoted to brigadier general in October 1864 and brevetted major general.

James Garfield, in office March 4, 1881-Sept. 19, 1881

In August 1861, Garfield received a commission as a colonel in the 42nd Ohio Infantry regiment. He later served as chief of staff to General William S. Rosecrans. Garfield was the 20th president of the United States, serving from March 4, 1881, until his assassination later that year.

Benjamin Harrison, in office 1889-1893

Indiana Governor Morton commissioned Harrison as a colonel on August 7, 1862, with the newly formed 70th Indiana. On January 23, 1865, President Lincoln nominated Harrison to the grade of brevet brigadier general of volunteers.

William McKinley, in office 1897-1901

McKinley enlisted as a private in the newly formed Poland Guards in June 1861, which was consolidated into the 23rd Ohio Infantry. Just before the wars end, McKinley received his final promotion, a brevet commission as major.The actress and activist has made the huge 1.13m contribution to help fund the Justice and Equality Fund, which aims to provide assistance to sexual harassment and abuse victims.

"We have created the Justice and Equality Fund, to create the far-reaching personal, social, legal and policy changes that will ensure everyone can feel safe at work, at play and at home," they state on their Go Fund page.

We are bringing it home to the UK! @timesupnow



Link here and in my bio to donate to the UK Justice and Equality fund. https://t.co/90ymNXxElk pic.twitter.com/D5Ebz48KAn  Emma Watson (@EmmaWatson) February 18, 2018



The new movement has now been endorsed by 200 movers and shakers in the acting world.

"Together we can end the culture of harassment, abuse and impunity," they also state on their page.

Watch @EmmaWatson announce our partnership with @BAFTA and key industry organisations to eradicate bullying & harassment in the screen sector https://t.co/qCAILLuAyR pic.twitter.com/IzT90LxdZC  BFI (@BFI) February 14, 2018



In an open-letter published in The Observer newspaper, the new movement declared: "In the very near past, we lived in a world where sexual harassment was an uncomfortable joke; an unavoidable awkward part of being a girl or a woman.

"It was certainly not to be discussed, let alone addressed. In 2018, we seem to have woken up in a world ripe for change.

"If we truly embrace this moment, a line in the sand will turn to stone."

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#100years ago in the UK, certain women became eligible to vote, & women were given the right to stand for Parliament. Amidst the celebrations, let's not forget those women that were excluded from voting for another ten years, & the women still denied a political voice even today.  Emma Watson (@EmmaWatson) February 6, 2018Our Hot Press track of the day is the brand-spanking new single from Fontaines D.C 'Boys in The Better Land'.

We bring you the first Irish broadcast of Fontaines D.C latest video, the second side of their forthcoming AA side "Chequeless/Reckless/Boys in The Better Land," which is released on all Digital Platforms and Limited Edition 7" Vinyl on Friday February 23rd.

This track exemplifies retro old school rock'n'roll, accompanied with the most authentic Dublin accent, setting the song apart from other rock songs. It's absolutely impossible not to know the origin of this band, they are unmistakably Irish, specifically Dublin and this new tune doesn't let our city down. With a cracking video to accompany a deadly song, we bring you the first ever glimpse of The Fontaines "Boys in The Better Land." Enjoy!!Saoirse Ronan, Margot Robbie, Angelina Jolie and Emma Roberts were just some of the women in all black this weekend as the BAFTA's saw its 71st award ceremony in the Royal Albert Hall, London.

The BAFTA's is one of the biggest events in the film industry's calendar and is the first major awards ceremony this year in Europe. With the Golden Globes having already played host to a red-carpet black out, the BAFTA's, was expected, followed in the movements footsteps.

Celebrities including Jennifer Lawrence and our very own woman of the moment Saoirse Ronan wore head to toe black. The event was a pointed opportunity for the gathering glitterati to show their support for sexual harassment victims as they wore all black with a few exceptions such as the Royal family, however it wasn't expected as they rarely get involved in political business. Saoirse Ronan who has recently blown up all over media due to her sweeping up of awards, was dressed in a dramatic polo neck feather detailed dress by Chanel, boasting a plume trim and a sheer skirt, looking absolutely stunning.Martin McDonaghs darkly comic drama Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri dominated Sunday nights awards bash, taking home five gongs including Best Film, Best British Film and Original Screenplay. Stars Frances McDormand and Sam Rockwell picked up the awards prizes for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor for their roles McDonaghs film.

McDormand, who plays grieving mother Mildred Hayes, fought off competition from Saoirse Ronan, Annette Benning, Sally Hawkins and Margot Robbie to win Leading Actress.

McDormand caused a bit of a stir on the red carpet as she  along with Kate Middleton  eschewed the all-black dress code that most actresses were observing, in honour of the TimesUp and MeToo movements. She acknowledged her controversial wardrobe choice in her speech, saying, Thank you British film people. As Martin [McDonagh] said, I have a little trouble with compliance, but I want you to know that I stand in full solidarity with my sisters tonight in black. I appreciate a well organised act of civil disobedience and I'm glad activists have been inspired by the set of three billboards and taken it to the streets.

She continued: When I was a young actor I was told I wasn't naturally gifted and I would have to work at it, so I did. And along the way I was very fortunate to collaborate with film makers and I'm deeply grateful to them to realise my hidden potential. Power to the people.

Her co-star Sam Rockwell picked up the Best Supporting Actor gong, which he dedicated to the late Alan Rickman.

This has been a real magical journey for me, Rockwell said. I never dreamed Id be here in London celebrating tonight. [Martin] youve changed my life, thank you. As we engage in this long overdue discussion about women in the workplace I stand on the shoulders of strong righteous women who have got me here. Fran youre the rock that this film relies and you make me proud to be an actor. This is for my pal Alan Rickman  I'll see you at the bar.

It was also a triumphant night for British stars, with Gary Oldman winning Best Leading Actor for his portrayal of Prime Minister Winston Churchill. The 59-year-old looked tearful as he took to the stage to accept the tremendous honour which he said he would share with his three sons and my wife tonight.

Londoner Daniel Kaluuya, who is currently appearing in Black Panther, followed in the footsteps of Spider-Man star Tom Holland and Star Wars star John Boyega, picking up the EE Bafta Rising Star Award.

Kaluuya  who was also nominated for Best Actor for his role in Jordan Peeles hit social horror Get Out  thanked his mother for helping him achieve his dreams.

London city  hello, Kaluuya said. Ive gone blank. Thank you to all the people for voting for us all. I feel so privileged to be part of this group. Im a product of financial funding in the UK. Id like to thank my mum, youre the reason why Im here, youre the reason for this and youre the reason why I keep going.

The Shape of Water may be nominated for 13 Oscars, and did received 12 BAFTA award nominations, had a disappointing night all round, only winning three awards, including Best Director for Guillermo del Toro. The film also won Production Design and composer Alexandre Desplat picked up the Original Music gong.

See the full list of winners below:

Best British Film

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Best Film

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Best Director

Guillermo del Toro  The Shape of Water

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Leading Actor

Gary Oldman  Darkest Hour

Leading Actress

Frances McDormand  Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Best Supporting Actor

Sam Rockwell  Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Best Supporting Actress

Allison Janney  I, Tonya

EE Rising Star

Daniel Kaluuya

Adapted Screenplay

Call Me By Your Name

Original Screenplay

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

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Original Music

The Shape of Water

Best Cinematography

Blade Runner 2049

Best Hair and Makeup

Darkest Hour

Best Costume Design

Phantom Thread

Best Animated Film

Coco

Best Editing

Baby Driver

Best Sound

Dunkirk

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Best Documentary

I Am Not Your Negro

Short Animation

Poles Apart

Best Short Film

Cowboy Dave

Best Foreign Film

The Handmaiden

Best Production Design

The Shape of Water

Special Visual Effects

Blade Runner 2049

Outstanding Debut

I Am Not A Witch

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Outstanding Contribution to Cinema

National Film and Television SchoolSubscribing to our services is a three step process. First you have to create an account and then you have to pick if you want to subscribe to digital and or print.

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The account number and zip code are easily available on your most recent issue of the High Plains Journal or Midwest Ag Journal in the address fields as is shown here. Sometimes the account number has extra zero's in front of it, just ignore those.The roll out of high-speed broadband, Next Generation Access, is one of the main factors behind the digitalisation wave that has helped make communication between citizens and public bodies more efficient and made Nordic companies highly competitive.

Iceland leads the pack in the roll-out of high-speed broadband with access for 95% of its population, followed by Denmark on 93%. The European average is 76%, which confirms the image of thoroughly digitalised Nordic Region, although even Denmark and Iceland are surpassed by Malta, which enjoys 100% coverage.

Digital citizens

It has been a political priority in the Nordic countries since the 1990s that as much of the contact between citizens and public bodies as possible should be online. Huge progress has been made on this front, with Denmark leading the pack. The European average for individuals with Internet access who have had online contact with the public sector is as low as 34%, but it is significantly higher in the Nordic countries. Denmark is way in front at 73%, followed by Norway and Finland 63% and Sweden 50%. More recent data is not available for Iceland, but it was at 68% in 2014.

Another benchmark for digitalisation is the number of people who have never been online, and the Council of Ministers has compiled data on this for the various parts of the Nordic Region. Unsurprisingly, the big cities come out on top. In the Copenhagen, Oslo and Stockholm regions, just 1% of people have never been online, in Helsinki 2%. The areas with the highest figures are at max. 7-8%. The EU average is 14%, so once again the Nordic Region is clearly at the helm of the digitalisation agenda.

The State of the Nordic Region is published every two years and is part of a general attempt by the Council of Ministers to provide decision makers with greater knowledge and insight.

The State of the Nordic Region compiles knowledge and information that provides a holistic perspective on developments in the Region and helps decision-makers to draw up new policies. It highlights our successes and sheds light on the challenges we face in key areas of society. This is Nordic co-operation at its very best, says Dagfinn Hybraten, Secretary General of the Nordic Council of Ministers.

Facts:

The State of the Nordic Region is a unique collection of data on economics, demographics, employment, education, and much more, illustrated with specially designed national maps. Published every other year by the Nordic Council of Ministers, the report takes the temperature, as it were, of the regions and local authorities. It includes a Regional Potential Index showing how dynamic the 74 different areas that make up the Nordic Region are based on traditional, comparable, statistical parameters. The index was designed by Nordregio, the Nordic Council of Ministers research centre for regional development and planning.

Read the chapter on digitalisation here:

Read the full report here:What exactly is citizen science? And what is its importance?

What can we all measure ourselves, but how can we do that best, and perhaps most importantly, how do we use the acquired knowledge to make our living environment healthier and more enjoyable?

In this crash course we explain the idea behind citizens science and we look at the potential of this movement for society, based on the lessons we have learned in various projects

Entrance is  5 (incl. one drink).

This evening is Dutch spoken. Programme - Welcome and introduction by the moderator of this evening: Frank Kresin (DesignLab UT Twente). - Presentation of the Making Sense publication: Citizen Sensing, a toolkit Ivonne Jansen-Dings (Waag Society) presents the new publication 'Citizen Sensing, a toolkit', in which the results of the European project Making Sense are explained. What lessons have we learned in recent years, what is the importance of citizen science and what is the potential? - Reflection on the Smart Citizens Lab particulate matter measurements To make the concept of citizens science concrete, we present a project that is currently ongoing. Together with the RIVM and a group of Amsterdammers, we are investigating the effects of fireworks on the concentration of particulate matter (pm) in the air from just before the turn of the year until now. During this evening Joost Wesselink (RIVM) will talk about the approach of these measurements and will we discuss with participants about the results that these measurements have produced. What we can do with this knowledge? - Measuring particulate matter yourself After that, we will use the RIVM sensors ourselves and measure the difference between particulate matter indoors and outdoors under different conditions. What do we measure and what does that mean? About the Smart Citizens Lab The program series of the Smart Citizens Lab consists of participatory workshops, presentations and design sessions aimed at improving and mapping the living environment. In what world do we want to live and what role does technology play in this? We explore solutions that we can directly influence ourselves. Together we develop do-it-yourself (or do-it-together) solutions and creative interventions. There is room to experiment and learn, to explore together what we want and how we can achieve it. Making Sense has received funding from the European Unions Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no. 709443.

Source: https://amsterdamsmartcity.com/events/smart-citizens-lab-citizen-science-crash-courseThe term smart city is interesting yet not important, because nobody defines it. Smart is a snazzy political label used by a modern alliance of leftist urbanites and tech industrialists. To deem yourself smart is to make the NIMBYites and market-force people look stupid.

Smart-city devotees all over this world will agree that London is particularly smart. Why? London is a huge, ungainly beast whose cartwheeling urban life is in cranky, irrational disarray. London is a god-awful urban mess, but London does have some of the best international smart-city conferences.

London also has a large urban-management bureaucracy who emit the proper smart-city buzzwords and have even invented some themselves. The language of Smart City is always Global Business English, no matter what town you're in.

So if grand old London is smart, with its empty skyscrapers, creepy CCTV videocams, and sewers plugged with animal fat, then we probably neednt fret about the Elon Musk sequins and stardust of digital urbanism. Better to reimagine the forthcoming urban future as a mirror of Rome, that Eternal City, where nothing much ever gets tech-fixed, but everything changes constantly so that everything can remain the same.

* * * Rome and London are two huge, sluggish beasts of cities that have outlived millennia of eager reformers. They share a world where half the people already live in cities and another couple billion are on their way into town. The population is aging quickly, the current infrastructure must crumble and be replaced by its very nature, and climate disaster is taking the place of the pasts great urban fires, wars, and epidemics. Those are the truly important, dull but worthy urban issues. The digital techniques that smart-city fans adore are flimsy and flashyand some are even actively perniciousbut they absolutely will be used in cities. They already have an urban heritage. When you bury fiber-optic under the curbs around the town, then you get internet. When you have towers and smartphones, then you get portable ubiquity. When you break up a smartphone into its separate sensors, switches, and little radios, then you get the internet of things. These tedious yet important digital transformations have been creeping into town for a couple of generations. At this point, theyre pretty much all that urban populations can remember how to do. Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, Baidu, Alibaba, Tencentthese are the true industrial titans of our era. Thats how people make money, thats how they make war, so of course, it will be how they make cities. However, the cities of the future wont be smart, or well-engineered, cleverly designed, just, clean, fair, green, sustainable, safe, healthy, affordable, or resilient. They wont have any particularly higher ethical values of liberty, equality, or fraternity, either. The future smart city will be the internet, the mobile cloud, and a lot of weird paste-on gadgetry, deployed by City Hall, mostly for the sake of making towns more attractive to capital.

Whenever thats done right, it will increase the soft power of the more alert and ambitious towns and make the mayors look more electable. When its done wrong, itll much resemble the ragged downsides of the previous waves of urban innovation, such as railways, electrification, freeways, and oil pipelines. There will also be a host of boozy side effects and toxic blowback that even the wisest urban planner could never possibly expect. These smart cities wont be a solutionist paradise thats as neatly groomed as the new Apple Headquarters. The cities that promulgate, and also suffer, this new dynamic action will look more or less like Amsterdam, Singapore, Tallinn, Dubai, Barcelona, Los Angeles, Toronto, Shanghai, Sydneyand yes, Londonfor the simple reasons that those are the people who are already doing it. Thats where its at. I used to imagine that time was on the side of the internets infrastructure providersthat we were in for a flat world of torrenting, friction-free data. That could well have happened, but it didnt pay off fast enough; instead, todays surveillance-marketing business model set in, and with it the realization that information about you wants to be free to us. This silo-izing and digital balkanizing is sinister and unfair in many ways, but it also tends to add regional character. Its about as flat and fair as a billionaires penthouse. This year, a host of American cities vilely prostrated themselves to Amazon in the hopes of winning its promised, new second headquarters. Theyd do anything for the scraps of Amazons shipping business (although, nobody knows what kind of jobs Amazon is really promising). This also made it clear, though, that the flat-world internet game was up, and its still about location, location, and location.

Thats why the previously little-known German town of Duisburg is carving out a brand-new reason for existence as the first Chinese tech smart city thats located in Europe. Its also why Tallinn, Estonia, offers e-residencies to South Koreans who want to pretend to be European Union businesspeople, without having to actually place their shoes in the marshy ground of the Baltics. Smart cities will use the techniques of smartness to leverage their regional competitive advantages. Instead of being speed-of-light flat-world platforms, all global and multicultural, theyll be digitally gated communities, with code as law that is as crooked, complex, and deceitful as a Facebook privacy chart. * * * I didnt expect to see this, but neither did city planners. Back in the internet days, the fact that everybody had broadband and cellphones made it look like city government would become flat, participatory, and inclusive. You still see this upbeat notion remaining in the current smart-city rhetoric, mostly because it suits the institutional interests of the left. Community leaders, grassroots activism, the people who want to participateto point, click, and fix the potholesthere are plenty of such people around. However, theyre always the people who think a city-council meeting or a labor-union rally are interesting. Theyre not interesting. Theyre important, but theyre dull. Thats why smart cities, in this new digital era of Big Five and China-BAT industry consolidation, drift away from open public websites and popular comments. Instead, theyre adopting that new surveillance-marketing paradigm of data extractivity. Why trouble to ask the citizens what they want from urban life, when you can accurately surveil the real actions of citys users and decode what theyre actually doing, as opposed to what they vaguely claim they might want to do?

Historically, this is a rather typical drift for a left-wing mass-democratic ideologyfrom the unwieldy awkwardness of rallying the entire people, and toward the semi-covert vanguard of the revolution. Throw in some engineering degrees and a whole lot of police software, and this is the basic model for modern Chinese cyberspace sovereignty. The new Chinese smart-city model isnt London at all, but rather Baidu-Macau, where the state-approved social-media giant shows up in the sleepy ex-Portuguese gambling town, and offers to ramp up the local action. For instance, embedding Chinese AI facial recognition into all the towns police security cameras. Brand-new Brazilian AI security cams are arriving in Mumbai, Delhi, and Agra, too. Thats pretty interesting, in its dramatic Orwellian fashion, but Im not sure its as important to city life as it may sound. Gang kids in Chicago like to voluntarily wave automatic weapons on YouTube while chanting death threats; theyre auto-surveilling themselves. Smart security services may see, on smart video, that their populations get restivebut that doesnt mean the wretches actually stop. You could say much the same for smart air-pollution sensors, which are deployed all over the toxic winds of China, yet are ceremoniously ignored because the truths so inconvenient. So what future cities have in store, I surmise, is not a comprehensive, sleek, point-and-click new digital urban order, but many localized, haphazard mash-ups of digital tips, tricks, and hacks. These half-baked smart-aleck cities will require the arcane knowledge that any local townie knowsthat he or she considers habit, a second nature. But the tourist and the emigre will be automatically skinned.

The bad part of town will be full of algorithms that shuffle you straight from high-school detention into the prison system. The rich part of town will get mirror-glassed limos that breeze through the smart red lights to seamlessly deliver the aristocracy from curb into penthouse. These arent the best practices beloved by software engineers; theyre just the standard urban practices, with software layered over. Its urban design as the barbarians varnish on urbanism. People could have it otherwise, technically, if they really wanted it and had the political will, but they dont. So they wont get it. This may sound cynical from the point of view of my American hometown of Austin, Texas. Austin is a high-quality-of-life, high-tech, overeducated city that consistently preens itself about its smartness. However, Austin has a remarkably odd and quirky set of regional technical allies. These typical Golden Rut Austin techies are remarkably advanced, only nobody who matters has ever heard of em. I appreciate that prototypical Austin situation, but I also spend much time in Belgrade, Serbia, a city that locals say was burned to the ground 19 times (at the very least, its been sieged, assaulted, and conquered that many). From the urban point of view of Belgrade, a smart-city advancement deeper into crabbiness and quirkiness actually sounds pretty good. Because its an urban situation that has Belgrades own fully flavored, small-language, weird ethnic, formerly Ottoman atmosphere. It means a Byzantine, kinky town that doesnt have to fret too much about being outworked by Shenzhen or outschemed by Silicon Valley.

* * * If you look at where the money goes (always a good idea), its not clear that the smart city is really about digitizing cities. Smart cities are a generational civil war within an urban world thats already digitized. Its the process of the new big-money, post-internet crowd, Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft et al., disrupting your uncles industrial computer companies, the old-school machinery guys who ran the city infrastructures, Honeywell, IBM, General Electric. Its a land grab for the command and control systems that were mostly already there. The GAFAM crowd isnt all that well suited to the urban task at hand, either. Running cities is not a good business fit for them because they always give up too easily. Americas already littered with the remnants of abandoned Google Moonshots. Amazon kills towns by crushing retail streets and moving all the clerks backstage into blind big-box shipping centers. The idea of these post-internet majors muscling up for some 30-year urban megaprojecta subway system, aqueducts, the sewersseems goofy. These Big Tech players have certainly got enough cash to build a new, utopian town from scratch, entirely on their own software principlesa one-company Detroit for the Digital Initiative. But they wont do that because theyre American. The United States hasnt incorporated a major new city in almost 70 years. There are some brand-new cities in the rapidly urbanizing world: Oyala, Equatorial Guinea; Saihoon, Tajikistan; Rawabi, Palestine; Astana, Kazakhstanbut you never hear about them in the context of smart cities. Even though theyre new, and they have shiny modern infrastructure, theyre not smart. Even though Astana is a genuine political capital, and also a very interesting place, it doesnt have enough political capital to become a player in the smart-city sweepstakes. Smart cities merely want to be perceived as smart, when what they actually need is quite different. Cities need to be rich, powerful, and culturally persuasive, with the means, motive, and opportunity to manage their own affairs. Thats not at all a novel situation for a city. Smartness is just todays means to this well-established end. The future prospects of city life may seem strange or dreadful, but theyre surely not so dreadful as traditional rural life. All over the planet, villagers and farmers are rushing headlong into cities. Even nations so placid, calm, and prosperous as the old Axis allies of Germany, Japan, and Italy have strange, depopulated rural landscapes now. People outside the cities vote with their feet; they check in, and they dont leave. The lure of cities is that powerful. They may be dumb, blind, thorny, crooked, congested, filthy, and seething with social injustice, but boy are they strong.

Source: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/02/stupid-cities/553052/Pittsfield Police Seeking Information on Gas Station Robbery

PITTSFIELD, Mass.  Police are seeking information on an armed robbery that occurred at a Wahconah Street gas station on Saturday night.

The incident happened at about 10:30 p.m. at the Gulf Gas Station at 186 Wahconah St. When officers arrived at the location they learned that a masked man had entered the store, brandished a knife, and demanded money.

The clerk, who suffered a small cut to one of his fingers during the robbery, reported that the suspect took cash from the register and then fled the store. The robbery suspect was described as being a white or Hispanic male.

Anyone with information on the robbery is asked to contact the Pittsfield Police Detective Bureau at 413-448-9705.Imperial Valley News Center

Senate Minoritys Obstructionism On Immigration

Washington, DC - Senate Minoritys Obstructionism On Immigration:

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY): I thought my friends across the aisle would jump at this opportunity to fulfill what they say is their top priority. But they just could not take yes for an answer. They turned away from a golden opportunity to solve this issue. They decided theyd rather come away empty handed, with no resolution whatsoever for the 1.8 million individuals they say they are championing, than accept a reasonable compromise with the president.

Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-TX): On Tuesday the Majority Leader tried twice to open the debate and start voting, but both times there were objections heard by our Democratic colleagues. This despite their repeated promises over the years to address the DACA issue once and for all.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA): Today is a sad day for many Americans and for many dreamers who would have had a rare pathway to citizenship. We had the opportunity to pass a bill that would have provided legal certainty for 1.8 million individuals. It would have secured the border and focused enforcement on the very worst criminals, like sex offenders, human rights violators and war criminals. And importantly, it had the Presidents support and could have actually become law. Its unfortunate that so many of my colleagues, when given the chance to finally give citizenship to DACA kids, refused to do so.

Sen. John Boozman (R-AR): President Trump presented a thoughtful framework to accomplish these shared goals and Senator Grassleys amendment, which I supported, turned that framework into legislation that could become law. Given our mutual goals, it should have passed the Senate in a bipartisan manner. I am disappointed that it did not.

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR): What this debate has shown is just how unserious the Democrats are about illegal immigration. If they were serious, they wouldnt have shut down the government over DACA only to reject the one bill, endorsed by the president, that wouldve given DACA recipients the legal certainty they need. And they wouldnt have introduced such a reckless proposal that had zero chance of becoming law. Theres broad agreement about how to solve this problem, but we wont succeed unless the Democrats stop this incessant virtue-signaling and start negotiating in good faith.

Sen. David Perdue (R-GA): Senate Democrats have shown their true colors. First, they shut down the government over DACA. Today, they had an opportunity to vote to provide certainty for 1.8 million DACA recipients and they voted no. Senate Democrats said they wanted a bipartisan solution, but really they dont. Senate Democrats said they want to secure our border, but really they dont. Today, Senate Democrats crushed the dreams of many people who were counting on them to deliver and showed they are quite happy to have an immigration system that does not serve the American people or protect our national security.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY): In case you didnt think Congress was absurd before, Senate Democrats are now filibustering the open immigration debate they asked for, and are refusing to put their bill on the floor.

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA): I voted for Senator Grassleys measure based on President Trumps proposal. We must stop human trafficking, money laundering and drug trafficking. This amendment provided real border security and discouraged future human trafficking. As a compromise, it also addressed Democrats concerns. This was the only bill that could become law. If Democrats truly wished to solve immigration issues, they should have supported this bill.

Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT): It is disappointing that a minority of the Senate blocked my bipartisan proposal to end sanctuary cities and protect the safety and security of America.

Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND): I voted against the proposal put forward by Minority Leader Chuck Schumer because the Department of Homeland Security said it would not secure the border, nor did it end the diversity lottery system or adequately address chain migration.

Sen. James Lankford (R-OK): Most of what was proposed by the President and Senate Republicans has passed the Senate multiple times over the past fifteen years, but not today. Its disappointing that Democrats would not come to the table simply because President Trump supported it. Immigration reform is complicated and emotional, but it is essential that we keep working until we reach a good faith solution for the future of all Americans.

Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA): I am disappointed that the Senate was unable to reach an agreement today on immigration policy. It was also deeply troubling that a minority of Senators blocked consideration of my common-sense bipartisan amendment designed to end dangerous sanctuary city policies.

Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC): I have said from the beginning that we must secure the border and keep our nation safer, reform our legal immigration system, and find a permanent, compassionate solution for DACA recipients. Today, I voted for measures that would accomplish these things, namely the Secure and Succeed Act and legislation to stop sanctuary cities, and against measures that do not. Democrats continue to try and use Dreamers as a political tool, and we continue working to find a solution.

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN): Trump has shown presidential leadership on immigration. Senate Democrats should take my fellow Tennessean  Howard Bakers  advice that the other fellow might be right, and the other fellow in this case might be named President Trump.

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV): I share the Presidents commitment to border security. Thats why I voted for his plan. Thats why I fought to ensure the $25 billion he requested for border security was included in the bipartisan deal. Thats why I opposed the Democratic proposal that did not provide a single penny for border security.

Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-MI): Sad to see that the US Senate could not find any path forward on DACA and immigration reform today. Of interest, Sen Stabenow voted to defund Sanctuary Cities."

Commentators

Former Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL): Senate Democrats blocked a vote on #SanctuaryCities. Only further proving that they care more about illegals than actual Americans.

Fox Business Trish Regan: President [Trump] is extending a massive olive branch on immigration, but the Democrats dont want to make a deal! Maybe they dont want Republicans to get the credit for giving these dreamers a path to citizenship!Attorneys General Becerra & Schneiderman: Energy Efficiency Standards Shelved by Trump Administration Must Go into Effect Nationwide

Sacramento, California - California Attorney General Xavier Becerra and New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman today secured a federal court ruling requiring national energy efficiency standards go into effect. Attorneys General Becerra and Schneiderman led a coalition that sued the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) on June 13, 2017 for refusing to implement these standards in violation of the law. The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ruled that DOE violated its error correction regulation under the Energy Policy and Conservation Act by failing to publish in the Federal Register finalized energy efficiency standards for four products: portable air conditioners, uninterruptible power supplies, air compressors, and commercial packaged boilers.

Attorneys General Becerra and Schneiderman led a coalition of 13 Attorneys General, the California Energy Commission, and the City of New York in filing the lawsuit.

Todays ruling means that the Trump Administration may no longer block common-sense energy efficiency standards. This is a tremendous victory for the American people and for our planet, said Attorney General Becerra. The California Department of Justice will continue to hold the Trump Administration, indeed all polluters, accountable. The stakes could not be higher  climate change is the most important global environmental issue of our time. Our citizens have a right to be part of the climate change solution.

The Trump administration has made a point of rolling back basic, common sense energy efficiency standards  putting polluters before everyday New Yorkers and Americans, said Attorney General Schneiderman. Our coalition of Attorneys General has made clear that well use every tool at our disposal to protect our public health, our environment, and consumers pocketbooks. Todays court decision is an important victory in fighting back against the Trump Administrations polluter first agenda. We will continue to fight to ensure the Trump administration meets its obligations to New Yorkers and the law.

Over a 30-year period, these energy efficiency standards are estimated to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 98.8 million tons. That is comparable to taking more than 21 million cars off the road for one year. Consumer savings are estimated to be $8.4 billion.

The energy efficiency standards were approved by the Acting Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency at DOE in December 2016. As is required, the standards then underwent two procedural steps. First, they were subjected to a 45-day period for submission of correction requests. Once this period closed, the DOE was required to make any necessary corrections and submit these rules for publication in the Federal Register, making the rules legally enforceable. The DOE failed to complete this final step.

In the lawsuit, Attorneys General Becerra and Schneiderman highlighted that the states have significant interests in reducing energy use and increasing energy efficiency, in protecting their populations and environments, and in enforcing the provisions of their laws designed to foster energy efficiency and reduce global warming-related impacts. Attorneys General Becerra and Schneiderman underscored that these efforts would be harmed by the DOEs illegal decision not to publish the energy efficiency standards.

Attorneys General Becerra and Schneiderman were joined in the filing of this lawsuit by the Attorneys General of Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Washington, and the District of Columbia. The California Energy Commission and the City of New York also joined in the lawsuit.Second Lady Karen Pence Visit to Methodist Healthcare in San Antonio

Washington, DC - Friday, Second Lady Karen Pence traveled to San Antonio, Texas where she visited the Tracys Kids Art Therapy program at Methodist Childrens Hospital.

Upon arrival, Mrs. Pence toured the Pediatric Oncology unit and observed an art therapy session with young patients. Afterwards, the Second Lady participated in a roundtable discussion with the hospitals leadership and staff to learn more about the impact and mission of the Tracys Kids Art Therapy program.

Mrs. Pence first became aware of art therapy more than 10 years ago when she visited Tracys Kids Pediatric Art Therapy program at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center in Washington, DC. In 2011, she joined the board of Tracys Kids. The art therapy program exists in seven locations in the United States.

Tracys Kids Art Therapy program provides an invaluable opportunity for young patients to work with an art therapist to cope with the emotional stress and trauma of cancer and its treatment with the use of art, said Mrs. Pence. I am encouraged by the stories I heard during todays visit, which illustrates the positive difference art therapy is making in these childrens lives. I applaud art therapist, Courtney Martin and the staff at Methodist Childrens Hospital who are undoubtedly playing an important role in the healing of the children.

Methodist Childrens Hospital believes in a holistic approach to healing our patients and the experience provided through programs such as Tracys Kids is invaluable to promoting their mental and spiritual well-being, said Robert Lenza, CEO of Methodist Childrens Hospital. To have the Second Lady visit our facility to show her support for these significantly impactful programs is an immense honor and we are so privileged to host her.

About Art Therapy

Second Lady Karen Pence chose one initiative to champion, and it is art therapy. She calls her initiative, Art Therapy: Healing with the HeART. According to the American Art Therapy Association, art therapy is an integrative mental health and human services profession that enriches the lives of individuals, families, and communities through active art-making, creative process, applied psychological theory, and human experience within a psychotherapeutic relationship. Professional art therapists who are experts in human development, psychological, and counseling theories and techniques facilitate Art therapy. For more information about the art therapy profession, visit https://arttherapy.org/ .Gambia National Day

Washington, DC - Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson: "On behalf of the Government of the United States of America, I offer congratulations to the people of The Gambia on the 53rd anniversary of your countrys independence on February 18, 2018.

"We commend your impressive progress since the return of democracy to The Gambia. The Gambias eligibility under the African Growth and Opportunity Act and its selection by the Millennium Challenge Corporation for a Threshold Program are endorsements of your commitment to good governance and economic development.

"The United States remains committed to supporting The Gambia and its people as you strive to promote democratic principles, economic growth, and investment."MUBI has announced a new initiative offering film students around the world free access to their streaming service for the duration of their studies.

Over 60,000 students and their teachers will be able to access MUBIs catalogue of acclaimed movies, ranging from acclaimed classics to festival favourites, for zero cost.

MUBIs CEO and Founder Efe Cakarel explained: For us, it's simple: the best films, from the classics to the cutting-edge, should be available to the next generation of filmmakers. We hope you enjoy this gift, that you get lost in a world of film and that one day, MUBI will be screening yours."

27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Show all 27 1 /27 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Black Panther Released: 12 February 12 February Director: Ryan Coogler Cast: Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong'o, Forest Whitaker, Danai Gurira, Martin Freeman 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 The Greatest Showman Released: 1 January 1 January Director: Michael Gracey Cast: Hugh Jackman, Zac Efron, Michelle Williams, Rebecca Ferguson, Zendaya, 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Darkest Hour Released: 12 January 12 January Director: Joe Wright Cast: Gary Oldman, Kristin Scott Thomas, Ben Mendelsohn 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri Released: 12 January Director: Martin McDonagh 12 JanuaryMartin McDonagh Cast: Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell, Caleb Landry Jones > Twentieth Century Fox 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Coco Released: 19 January 19 January Director: Lee Unkrich ,p>Cast: Anthony Gonzalez, Gael Garcia Bernal, Benjamin Bratt, Renee Victor 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Downsizing Released: 19 January 19 January Director: Alexander Payne Cast: Matt Damon, Christopher Waltz, Jong Chau, Kristen Wiig, Jason Sudeikis 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Early Man Released: 26 January 26 January Director: Nick Park Cast: Eddie Redmayne, Tom Hiddleston, Maisie Williams, Timothy Spall 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Fifty Shades Freed Released: 9 February 9 February Director: James Foley Cast: Dakota Johnson, Jamie Dornan, Kim Basinger 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Maze Runner: The Death Cure Released: 9 February 9 February Director: Wes Ball Cast: Dylan O'Brien, Thomas Brodie Sangster, Kaya Scodelario, Giancarlo Esposito, Aidan Gillen 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 The Shape of Water Released: 16 February 16 February Director: Guillermo del Toro Cast: Sally Hawkins, Octavia Spencer, Michael Shannon, Michael Stuhlbarg, Doug Jones 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Annihilation Released: 23 February 23 February Director: Alex Garland Cast: Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Lee, Gina Rodriguez, Tessa Thompson, Oscar Isaac 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Dark River Released: 23 February 23 February Director: Clio Barnard Cast: Ruth Wilson, Mark Stanley, Sean Bean 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Red Sparrow Released: 2 March 2 March Director: Francis Lawrence Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Joel Edgerton, Jeremy Irons 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Tomb Raider Released: 16 March 16 March Director: Roar Uthaug Cast: Alicia Vikander, Walton Goggins, Daniel Wu, Dominic West, 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 A Wrinkle in Time Released: 23 March 23 March Director: Ava DuVernay Cast: Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, Mindy Kaling, Zach Galifianakis 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Pacific Rim: Uprising Released: 23 March 23 March Director: Steven S. DeKnight Cast: John Boyega, Scott Eastwood, Charlie Day, Burn Gorman 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Roman J Israel, Esq Released: 23 March 23 March Director: Dan Gilroy Cast: Denzel Washington, Colin Farrell, Carmen Ejogo Columbia Pictures 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Isle of Dogs Released: 30 March 30 March Director: Wes Anderson Cast: Bill Murray, Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, Tilda Swinton, Scarlett Johansson 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Ready Player One Released: 30 March 30 March Director: Steven Spielberg Cast: Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn, Mark Rylance, Simon Pegg 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Avengers: Infinity War Released: 27 April 27 April Director: The Russo Brothers Cast: Robert Downey, Jr, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Josh Brolin 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Untitled Han Solo Film Released: 25 May 25 May Director: Ron Howard Cast: Alden Ehrenreich, Emilia Clarke, Woody Harrelson, Donald Glover 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom Released: 8 June 8 June Director: J.A. Bayona Cast: Bryce Dallas Howard, Chris Pine, B.D. Wong, Toby Jones 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Deadpool 2 Released: 1 June Director: David Leitch 1 JuneDavid Leitch Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Morena Baccarin, T.J. Miller, Zazie Beetz, Josh Brolin 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Ocean's 8 Released: 22 June 22 June Director: Gary Ross Cast: Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Mindy Kaling, Sarah Paulson, Anne Hathaway, Olivia Munn, Helena Bonham Carter, Rihanna, Matt Damon 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Ant-Man and the Wasp Released: 29 June 29 June Director: Peyton Reed Cast: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Douglas, Michelle Pfeiffer 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 Soldado Released: 29 June 29 June Director: Stefano Sollima Cast: Benicio del Toro, Josh Brolin, Jeffrey Donovan, Catherine Keener, Matthew Modine 27 films to look out for in the first half of 2018 The Incredibles 2 Released: 13 July 13 July Director: Brad Bird Cast: Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Sarah Vowell, Samuel L. Jackson

The roll-out to 180 schools was first piloted at the National Film and Television School (NFTS), based just outside of London in Beaconsfield. Jon Wardle, Director of the NFTS said: MUBI has proved to be an invaluable resource for our students, were so pleased that aspiring filmmakers around the world will now be able to use and enjoy it as our school has.

The initiative was started in association with the International Association of Film and Television Schools (CILECT) and with the support of Creative Europe  MEDIA Programme of the European Union. The collaboration hopes to reflect the services long-standing support for film and upcoming filmmakers, with a particular emphasis on European cinema.

Unlike Netflix and Amazon, MUBI features just 30 films at any time, all available for just 30 days. It has over 8 million registered users.Last year, after the Brit Award nominations were announced, there was a buzz ahead of the ceremony from every music fan hoping that the #BritsSoWhite uproar had done the trick. That after an overhaul of the voting panel, we might finally see the diversity and innovation in UK music recognised.

It wasnt to be. This writer was just one person who left the ceremony feeling like theyd been tricked. A piece on why Skepta deserved to win Best British Male over the late David Bowie was swiftly followed by another, on how increasingly irrelevant the Brit Awards had become. Despite nominations for Kano, Skepta, Stormzy, Michael Kiwanuka, NAO, Craig David and Anohni, too much talent went home empty-handed.

The reaction to the disappointment was fierce; music publications ran comment pieces with headlines calling for music fans and grime artists to forget the Brits. A piece by Joe Zadeh in the Fader pointed out how David Bowie, who passed away in January 2016 and was celebrated with so much love and sincerity that year, scooped up more trophies than all British BAME artists put together. The Brit awards 2017 was like watching some of the UKs most exciting artists finally being offered a seat at the table, only to be passed over when dinner was served.

By the end of the show, it felt fair to wonder whether the Brits much-touted plan to diversify was just an intentional and tokenistic ruse to curry favour with earnest music fans and make us all naively tune in, drum up the viewing figures, and send the hashtags to the top of Twitter trending charts, Zadeh wrote.

So when the Brit nominations for 2018 have been announced, this time on social media the general consensus appeared to go something like this: OK, not bad. Better than last year. But were not getting our hopes up just yet.

This year it seems impossible, surely, that the awards ceremony could overlook those most deserving of recognition. It must at least be a first for the British Breakthrough category, where, for once, a white male artist has not been nominated. Instead you have rappers J Hus and Dave, hip hop artist Loyle Carner, Mercury Prize-winner Sampha, and rising pop star Dua Lipa: all completely different artists, linked only by sheer talent. The same thing happened for this years Grammy nominations, where no white men were nominated for Album of the Year for the first time in 20 years, and were also omitted from the Best New Artist category.

Recommended The best new artists to look out for in 2018

For album of the year you have the obvious commercial pop juggernauts, but also works by artists who succeeded in balancing sales success with critical praise: Huss Common Sense and Stormzys Gang Signs & Prayer look like serious contenders against Ed Sheerans record-breaking album Divide.

Similarly with Best Male: Loyle Carner and Stormzy are recognised alongside Liam Gallagher and Ed Sheeran. While props are owed to Dua Lipa, who along with the likes of Lorde, Alma and Charli XCX are pioneering a new wave of female-led pop music, one glaring omission was that of Stefflon Don in the Best Female category, and who also could have appeared as a potential British Breakthrough.

Independent artists like Stormzy and Dave may not need the Brit awards, but its still essential for mainstream events and media to acknowledge their work and its impact on culture and society.

Recommended The 30 best albums of 2017

In Beyonces heartfelt speech at last years Grammy awards she noted: Its important to me to show images to my children that reflect their beauty so they can grow up in a world where they look in the mirror  first through their own families, as well as the news, the Super Bowl, the Olympics, the White House, and the Grammys, and see themselves. And have no doubt that theyre beautiful, intelligent, and capable. This is something I want for every child of every race, and I feel its vital that we learn from the past and recognise our tendencies to repeat our mistakes.

Sceptics of mainstream shows like the Brits are unlikely to volunteer a nod of approval until the winners are read out on the night. But from this years nominations, it seems as though the Brit awards might finally be embracing the future of music, rather than clinging on to the past.

The Brit Awards take place on Wednesday 21 February at the O2 Arena in London from 7.30pmFollowing in the footsteps of the Golden Globes, which saw almost every attendee wear black in honour of the #TimesUp movement, Sunday's Bafta looks made more of an impact than ever before.

But, while the majority of Hollywood A-listers and British stars joined in on the sartorial statement, one of the night's biggest winners chose to shun the all-black dress code.

Frances McDormand, who scooped the Best Actress award for her role in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, defied the black-out by instead wearing a graphic floor-length gown decorated with pink and red lipstick print.

Addressing her choice, the American actress admitted that she had a little trouble with compliance during her acceptance speech but that she stood in full solidarity with her sisters against the myriad of sexual harassment allegations overshadowing the film and TV industry.

Thank you British film people, she said.

Giving a nod to Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri's director Martin McDonagh and gesturing to her outfit, she added, As Martin said, I have a little trouble with compliance.

But I want you to know that I stand in full solidarity with my sisters tonight in black.

Frances McDormand and co-star Sam Rockwell both picked up awards for their roles in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

I also want to stay that I appreciate a well organised act of civil disobedience.

And I'm thrilled that activists all over the world have been inspired by the set decoration of the three billboards in Martin's film and have taken to the streets and let it be a part of the positive public discourse that is happening.

BAFTAs 2018: Best dressed guests on the red carpet Show all 26 1 /26 BAFTAs 2018: Best dressed guests on the red carpet BAFTAs 2018: Best dressed guests on the red carpet The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge For the annual ceremony the Duchess relied on a firm fashion favourite for her red carpet look. This olive green Jenny Packham gown may defy the dress code, but it's no less worthy of a style accolade. Meanwhile, the Duke stayed true to the uniform in a traditional black tuxedo. Rex Features BAFTAs 2018: Best dressed guests on the red carpet Allison Janney The I,Tonya star excelled in this strapless black and gold ensemble which flattered the American actress from all angles. Rex Features BAFTAs 2018: Best dressed guests on the red carpet Gemma Arterton Few women could pull off the brazen pleats and avant-garde neckline of this couture Alberta Ferretti gown, but Gemma Arterton manages to seduce and delight with aplomb. A simple swish of scarlet lipstick proves the British actress's flair for the dramatic, an apt addition given the occasion. Rex Features BAFTAs 2018: Best dressed guests on the red carpet Salma Hayek A Gucci girl to her core, Hayek returned to the red carpet as Alessandro Michele's ultimate leading lady in this floral design, which was topped off with rosy rhinestones and a black velvet clutch. Jeff Spicer/Getty Images BAFTAs 2018: Best dressed guests on the red carpet Margot Robbie The Australian beautys porcelain-perfect skin was offset by a halter-neck Givenchy couture gown that gracefully flowed onto the red carpet in oscillating pleats. Rex Features BAFTAs 2018: Best dressed guests on the red carpet Chiwetel Ejiofor and Frances Aaternir Packing a stylish power couple punch, Ejiofor and Aaternir each donned classic black tuxedos and #TimesUp pins for the glittering event. Rex Features BAFTAs 2018: Best dressed guests on the red carpet Emma Roberts With a plunging Eighties neckline and oversized shoulder pads, the American actress successfully channelled a nostalgic nod to another Hollywood era in this Schiaparelli gown. Rex Features BAFTAs 2018: Best dressed guests on the red carpet Rungano Nyoni The I Am Not A Witch director added splashes of colour to her gown of choice, which featured a peppering of heavily-embroidered purple floral patterns. Rex Features BAFTAs 2018: Best dressed guests on the red carpet Lily James The British actress posed up a storm in this strapless tulle gown, worthy of a darker and edgier Cinderella. Rex Features BAFTAs 2018: Best dressed guests on the red carpet Jennifer Lawrence The American actress stayed true to her Dior heritage in a rigid off-the-shoulder gown hot off the design house's spring 2018 couture catwalk. Rex Features BAFTAs 2018: Best dressed guests on the red carpet Saoirse Ronan Nominated for her leading role in Ladybird, the Irish actress was semi-prepared for the British chill in a polo-neck Chanel gown that fluttered in the wind thanks to a sheer pleated skirt, complete with a buoyant feather trim. Rex Features BAFTAs 2018: Best dressed guests on the red carpet Greta Gerwig With three nominations for her coming-of-age drama, Ladybird, the American actress, writer and director kept things simple in a feminine shift dress adorned with flowers. Rex Features BAFTAs 2018: Best dressed guests on the red carpet Lupita Nyong'o The Academy-Award-winning actress proved her style credentials in this Elie Saab gown, featuring innovative cuts and a peplum skirt that complemented Nyong'o's lean figure. Rex Features BAFTAs 2018: Best dressed guests on the red carpet Angelina Jolie Nobody looks more at home sashaying down the red carpet than Ms Jolie, who probably would've stuck to her trademark all-black aesthetic regardless of the #TimesUp incentive. Nonetheless, the Hollywood starlet stunned in this velvet sweetheart-neck gown, which she paired with dramatic drop diamond earrings. Rex Features BAFTAs 2018: Best dressed guests on the red carpet Naomie Harris Never one to shy away from daring textures, the beloved British talent amplified her cigarette trousers with a highly-decorative sheer cape that accentuated her longline figure. Rex Features BAFTAs 2018: Best dressed guests on the red carpet Cressida Bonas Void of colour is by no means void of charm as Bonas proved in this wonderfully-girlish gown. Complete with a decorative bodice and dynamic skirt, the British actress looked just the part for the glamorous ceremony ahead. Rex Features BAFTAs 2018: Best dressed guests on the red carpet Kate Mara In a playful interpretation of the all-black dress code, the American actress' intricately-embellished Dior gown featured gold piping and a gentle tulle skirt. Minimal jewellery brought an elevated elegance to her look. Rex Features BAFTAs 2018: Best dressed guests on the red carpet Sir Patrick Stewart Proudly sporting a #TimesUp pin next to his lapel, the British acting legend showed his support for the movement in a dark navy and black suit. Rex Features BAFTAs 2018: Best dressed guests on the red carpet Octavia Spencer Renowned for a slew of sartorial successes on the red carpet, the Academy-Award-winning actress brought a subtle opulence to the BAFTAs in a geometrically-patterned gown, paired with fairy-like cropped sleeves. Rex Features BAFTAs 2018: Best dressed guests on the red carpet Nicholas Hoult There's nothing wrong with a classic tuxedo, as the former Skins frontman proved in his perfectly-tailored look. Rex Features BAFTAs 2018: Best dressed guests on the red carpet Letitia Wright Taking some time out to from Black Panther promo, the British actress turned heads in a slim-fitting velvet gown by Gucci, complete with diamante straps and an army of glittering bumblebees. Rex Features BAFTAs 2018: Best dressed guests on the red carpet Will Poulter The young British actor wore an all-black ensemble accessorised only by a #TimesUp pin and a classic pair of specs. Rex Features BAFTAs 2018: Best dressed guests on the red carpet Anya Taylor-Joy Staying true to her trademark gothic aesthetic, the 21-year-old actress brought a dark romance to the red carpet in a sheer lace Dolce & Gabbana gown. Plus, in an unexpected regal twist, the star of The Miniaturist completed her look with a decadent golden crown. Rex Features BAFTAs 2018: Best dressed guests on the red carpet Rochelle Humes The British singer arrived to host the red carpet arrival coverage wearing a simple but effective plunging long-sleeved gown. Rex Features BAFTAs 2018: Best dressed guests on the red carpet Natalie Dormer The former Game of Thrones star cut a slick silhouette in a strapless chiffon Alberta Ferretti gown with a dramatic micro-train that billowed over the red carpet. Rex Features BAFTAs 2018: Best dressed guests on the red carpet Kristen Scott Thomas The Darkest Hour actress donned a black tapered Dior gown while showcasing her new pixie haircut. Paired with a #TimesUp pin and a rather dazzling pair of oversized diamond Buccellati earrings, Scott Thomas' look was the perfect amalgamation of red carpet glamour and sophistication. Rex Features

However, McDormand wasnt the only guest of the night to not wear black.

The Duchess of Cambridge, who attended alongside Prince William, also shunned the dress code by choosing to wear a dark green Jenny Packham gown and carrying a Mascaro clutch. But, did she miss the memo?

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge attend the 71st British Academy Film Awards (Chris Jackson - WPA-Pool/Getty Images)

While Kate Middletons choice of gown may have seemed dismissive, as a member of the royal family she isnt allowed get involved in political messaging or bias, and as such wearing black may have been considered a breach of protocol.

Nonetheless, many noticed that The Duchess did sport a black ribbon belt around her middle which may well have been a nod to the Times Up initiative.The Duchess of Cambridge has divided opinion by wearing a green dress at the Bafta Awards.

The majority of attendees at last nights film awards ceremony donned black to take a stand against sexual harassment in support of the Times Up movement, in a similar fashion to last months Golden Globe Awards.

With that in mind, many are questioning whether it was appropriate for the Duchess of Cambridge to appear on the red carpet dressed in a dark shade of green as opposed to black.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge attend the 71st British Academy Film Awards (Chris Jackson - WPA-Pool/Getty Images)

Tradition dictates that the royal family, or more specifically the reigning monarch, must remain politically neutral.

So, it should arguably come as no surprise that the Duchess of Cambridge chose to wear a green Jenny Packham dress, as she cannot make what is perceived to be a political statement.

While she may be restricted by her position as a member of the royal family, the question of whether decrying sexual harassment is a political act, rather than simply a moral one, is debatable.

So, is it right that the Duchess of Cambridge arrived at the Royal Albert Hall in London in a green gown?

Some have speculated that she did give a subtle nod to the Times Up movement by wearing a black ribbon around her waist and carrying a black Prada clutch.

However, neither she nor the Duke of Cambridge wore Times Up pins that other celebrities could be seen displaying, such as Lupita Nyongo, Natalie Dormer and Sir Patrick Stewart.

When questioned about the Duchess of Cambridge's dress choice in the winners room at the Baftas, Allison Janney, who picked up the gong for Best Supporting Actress for her role in I, Tonya, defended her decision.

BAFTAs 2018: Best dressed guests on the red carpet Show all 26 1 /26 BAFTAs 2018: Best dressed guests on the red carpet BAFTAs 2018: Best dressed guests on the red carpet The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge For the annual ceremony the Duchess relied on a firm fashion favourite for her red carpet look. This olive green Jenny Packham gown may defy the dress code, but it's no less worthy of a style accolade. Meanwhile, the Duke stayed true to the uniform in a traditional black tuxedo. Rex Features BAFTAs 2018: Best dressed guests on the red carpet Allison Janney The I,Tonya star excelled in this strapless black and gold ensemble which flattered the American actress from all angles. Rex Features BAFTAs 2018: Best dressed guests on the red carpet Gemma Arterton Few women could pull off the brazen pleats and avant-garde neckline of this couture Alberta Ferretti gown, but Gemma Arterton manages to seduce and delight with aplomb. A simple swish of scarlet lipstick proves the British actress's flair for the dramatic, an apt addition given the occasion. Rex Features BAFTAs 2018: Best dressed guests on the red carpet Salma Hayek A Gucci girl to her core, Hayek returned to the red carpet as Alessandro Michele's ultimate leading lady in this floral design, which was topped off with rosy rhinestones and a black velvet clutch. Jeff Spicer/Getty Images BAFTAs 2018: Best dressed guests on the red carpet Margot Robbie The Australian beautys porcelain-perfect skin was offset by a halter-neck Givenchy couture gown that gracefully flowed onto the red carpet in oscillating pleats. Rex Features BAFTAs 2018: Best dressed guests on the red carpet Chiwetel Ejiofor and Frances Aaternir Packing a stylish power couple punch, Ejiofor and Aaternir each donned classic black tuxedos and #TimesUp pins for the glittering event. Rex Features BAFTAs 2018: Best dressed guests on the red carpet Emma Roberts With a plunging Eighties neckline and oversized shoulder pads, the American actress successfully channelled a nostalgic nod to another Hollywood era in this Schiaparelli gown. Rex Features BAFTAs 2018: Best dressed guests on the red carpet Rungano Nyoni The I Am Not A Witch director added splashes of colour to her gown of choice, which featured a peppering of heavily-embroidered purple floral patterns. Rex Features BAFTAs 2018: Best dressed guests on the red carpet Lily James The British actress posed up a storm in this strapless tulle gown, worthy of a darker and edgier Cinderella. Rex Features BAFTAs 2018: Best dressed guests on the red carpet Jennifer Lawrence The American actress stayed true to her Dior heritage in a rigid off-the-shoulder gown hot off the design house's spring 2018 couture catwalk. Rex Features BAFTAs 2018: Best dressed guests on the red carpet Saoirse Ronan Nominated for her leading role in Ladybird, the Irish actress was semi-prepared for the British chill in a polo-neck Chanel gown that fluttered in the wind thanks to a sheer pleated skirt, complete with a buoyant feather trim. Rex Features BAFTAs 2018: Best dressed guests on the red carpet Greta Gerwig With three nominations for her coming-of-age drama, Ladybird, the American actress, writer and director kept things simple in a feminine shift dress adorned with flowers. Rex Features BAFTAs 2018: Best dressed guests on the red carpet Lupita Nyong'o The Academy-Award-winning actress proved her style credentials in this Elie Saab gown, featuring innovative cuts and a peplum skirt that complemented Nyong'o's lean figure. Rex Features BAFTAs 2018: Best dressed guests on the red carpet Angelina Jolie Nobody looks more at home sashaying down the red carpet than Ms Jolie, who probably would've stuck to her trademark all-black aesthetic regardless of the #TimesUp incentive. Nonetheless, the Hollywood starlet stunned in this velvet sweetheart-neck gown, which she paired with dramatic drop diamond earrings. Rex Features BAFTAs 2018: Best dressed guests on the red carpet Naomie Harris Never one to shy away from daring textures, the beloved British talent amplified her cigarette trousers with a highly-decorative sheer cape that accentuated her longline figure. Rex Features BAFTAs 2018: Best dressed guests on the red carpet Cressida Bonas Void of colour is by no means void of charm as Bonas proved in this wonderfully-girlish gown. Complete with a decorative bodice and dynamic skirt, the British actress looked just the part for the glamorous ceremony ahead. Rex Features BAFTAs 2018: Best dressed guests on the red carpet Kate Mara In a playful interpretation of the all-black dress code, the American actress' intricately-embellished Dior gown featured gold piping and a gentle tulle skirt. Minimal jewellery brought an elevated elegance to her look. Rex Features BAFTAs 2018: Best dressed guests on the red carpet Sir Patrick Stewart Proudly sporting a #TimesUp pin next to his lapel, the British acting legend showed his support for the movement in a dark navy and black suit. Rex Features BAFTAs 2018: Best dressed guests on the red carpet Octavia Spencer Renowned for a slew of sartorial successes on the red carpet, the Academy-Award-winning actress brought a subtle opulence to the BAFTAs in a geometrically-patterned gown, paired with fairy-like cropped sleeves. Rex Features BAFTAs 2018: Best dressed guests on the red carpet Nicholas Hoult There's nothing wrong with a classic tuxedo, as the former Skins frontman proved in his perfectly-tailored look. Rex Features BAFTAs 2018: Best dressed guests on the red carpet Letitia Wright Taking some time out to from Black Panther promo, the British actress turned heads in a slim-fitting velvet gown by Gucci, complete with diamante straps and an army of glittering bumblebees. Rex Features BAFTAs 2018: Best dressed guests on the red carpet Will Poulter The young British actor wore an all-black ensemble accessorised only by a #TimesUp pin and a classic pair of specs. Rex Features BAFTAs 2018: Best dressed guests on the red carpet Anya Taylor-Joy Staying true to her trademark gothic aesthetic, the 21-year-old actress brought a dark romance to the red carpet in a sheer lace Dolce & Gabbana gown. Plus, in an unexpected regal twist, the star of The Miniaturist completed her look with a decadent golden crown. Rex Features BAFTAs 2018: Best dressed guests on the red carpet Rochelle Humes The British singer arrived to host the red carpet arrival coverage wearing a simple but effective plunging long-sleeved gown. Rex Features BAFTAs 2018: Best dressed guests on the red carpet Natalie Dormer The former Game of Thrones star cut a slick silhouette in a strapless chiffon Alberta Ferretti gown with a dramatic micro-train that billowed over the red carpet. Rex Features BAFTAs 2018: Best dressed guests on the red carpet Kristen Scott Thomas The Darkest Hour actress donned a black tapered Dior gown while showcasing her new pixie haircut. Paired with a #TimesUp pin and a rather dazzling pair of oversized diamond Buccellati earrings, Scott Thomas' look was the perfect amalgamation of red carpet glamour and sophistication. Rex Features

I would never judge anyones choice. She looked absolutely beautiful and Im so happy for them that shes pregnant again, she said.

I think shes an extraordinary woman and she can wear whatever she wants to wear.

People have been quick to share their opinions on the matter on social media, with some saying that criticising the Duchess of Cambridge for her attire does not align with the positive message of empowerment being spread by the Me Too and Times Up campaigns.

I know the Royals arent supposed to get involved with protests or anything but would it really have been THAT bad for Kate Middleton to wear black??? one person wrote on Twitter.

In January, it was reported that guests at this years Baftas would be following an unofficial dress code to wear black.

More than 190 of Britains leading actresses, including Emilia Clarke, Noma Dumezweni and Saoirse Ronan, signed an open letter in support of the Times Up movement.

Keep up to date with the latest trends, stories and talking points in the world of modern dating by listening to The Independent Lifestyle team's weekly podcast, Millennial Love.Its the third day of shows and the five-day event is nearing its sartorial climax as designers continue to flood the runway with seriously top-notch garb.

On Sunday, there were no signs of things slowing down with a burst of big names on the line-up including Preen by Thornton Bregazzi, Mary Katrantzou and Ashish.

Meanwhile, Londons affiliation with emerging talent continued with Fashion East showcasing the work of some of todays youngest and most brilliant designers.

Here we take a look at all the best bits from day three of London Fashion Week.

Preen by Thornton Bregazzi

The models were given opulent glitter facials by Val Garland (AFP) (AFP/Getty Images)

Kickstarting the morning, designer duo Thea Bregazzi and Justin Thornton  who are partners in real life as well as business  built on their dreamy aesthetic of dark romanticism and feminine edge.

This time round, they sought inspiration from the deep-citing books like Haenyo Women Divers of Korea, Why Women Will Save The Planet, The Pearl and The Seaweed Collector.

As such, a storm of aquatic eco-feminists hit the runway with looks that quickly escalated from scuba sheaths to sequins evoking pearls from an underwater landscape.

Seen in sheer ruffled skirts, floral dresses with knot detailing, mandarin collars and leather hoods, the looks were perfectly accessorised with fuzzy additions including furry shoes, as well as netted tote bags and drawstring bonnets.

What really stole the show here though were the series of sequin-loaded dresses in pearlescent hues that were encumbered with draping, cut-out detailing and asymmetric finishes. Not to mention the opulent glitter facials expertly curated by Val Garland.

Fashion East

Fashion East showcased the work of three emerging designers: Asai, Charlotte Knowles and Supriya Lele

Lulu Kennedys designer initiative  which helped kickstart the careers of Roksanda Ilincic, J.W. Anderson and Craig Green  returned for autumn-winter 2018 to showcase the work of three exciting emerging designers; Asai, Supriya Lele  for whom this will be the third season they have been part of the Fashion East platform  and newcomer Charlotte Knowles.

For Asai, the collection evidently drew on his Chinese, Vietnamese and British background while paying particular attention to a clever use of textiles. Here parkas perfect for the frigid Antarctic came in sunshine brights and trimmed with fur, not to mention the deconstructed trench coats, distressed hems, oversized neck ties and handbags with nunchuck handles.

At Charlotte Knowles, the designers debut through the showcase was an extension of her lingerie-inspired collection from her Central Saint Martins graduation show. Experimenting with female sensuality and fetishism, there were plenty of sheer fabrics, loose strap detailings, and flashes of vibrant green set against camo-print bustiers.

Finally, Supriya Lele stuck to what she knows best with a collection that focused on the female form. While perceptibly feminine, the juxtaposition of vibrant yellow and army green gave each look an air of sophisticated edge, as did the fusion of soft sheer textiles and delicate ruching with tough leather and sportswear-inspired finishing touches.

Mary Katrantzou

Mary Katrantzou was inspired by Bauhaus and Victoriana for her latest collection

For autumn-winter 2018, Greek born, London-based designer Mary Katrantzou offered up an opulent fusion of Bauhaus modernism with the ostentation of Victoriana  Ornament is crime vs ornament is everything, the show notes read.

Here, the queen of print explored the intermingling of the two very different aesthetics in an attempt to create a new hybrid and, the good news is it totally worked.

Originally studying textiles for interiors, Katrantzous Bauhaus vision was felt in the sharp, reductionist lines and slender silhouettes of sharply tailored coats, thigh hugging skirts and geometric prints.

Meanwhile, the Victorian eras excesses were given new life in the form of sequin drapery, vintage lampshades becoming structured, cinch-waist jackets with crinoline hips and cropped puffer jackets inspired by chesterfield sofas.

Ashish

Lavish, retro-inspired Bollywood beehives by Ashish (Getty)

We know what to expect from Ashish by now and thats glitter, lots of it, but for autumn-winter, designer Ashish Gupta used his platform to continue to spread a message of love and acceptance, oh and shopping.

Sticking to the brands habitual sparkly-loaded moniker, the collection saw a parade of rainbow-clad models appear from a shop entrance complete with shutters, mannequins and signs that read Posh Lookz.

Evidently inspired by the friendliest of decades  the Sixties and Seventies  the women sported retro-inspired Bollywood beehives and painted-on lashes as they sashayed in everything from wavy glitter stripe trousers to tinsel jumpsuits and floaty floor-length dresses prettified with love hearts.

The brand also continued its regard for tongue-in-cheek slogans with a clever play on financial corporations. Here Mastercard became Masterbate, Visa to Viva LAmore and American Express was altered to read American Excess.

Soundtracked to Chers Take Me Home, the finale attested Ashishs message of love, peace and self-indulgence.Anti-fur protests during fashion week are nothing new but demonstrations reached a climax last night when one activist made it onto the runway.

For autumn/winter 2018, Greek born, London-based designed Mary Katrantzou offered up an opulent fusion of Bauhaus and Victoriana, but shortly after the show started a protestor crashed the catwalk.

The as-yet-unnamed campaigner from SURGE  a UK non-profit animal rights organisation  paraded on the runway alongside models wielding her phone and heckling the audience by calling out, Shame on you. Shame on all of you!

Recommended What we learned from London Fashion Week

Documented by many of the shows guests, various clips show the woman walking up and down the runway before being quickly escorted away by security.

In light of the incident, Mary Katrantzous team issued a statement to guests insisting that the collection was entirely fur-free.

Please note this show did not include any real fur. Only faux fur was used, it read.

Thank you so much for your patience and understanding at the show.

The confrontation followed earlier stunts by SURGE outside of the venue where, instead of paparazzi, guests were greeted with a crowd of angry activists wielding billboards, banging drums and chanting blood, blood, blood on your hands.

But, this was just one of many orchestrated anti-fur demonstrations that took place with the same crowd gathering outside the Burberry show on Saturday afternoon.

Similarly, a protest by animal rights charity PETA saw activists paint the message wear your own skin" across their naked torsos at the end of last week in a bid to encourage showgoers to stand up for animal rights and adopt a vegan wardrobe.

Fashion news in pictures Show all 22 1 /22 Fashion news in pictures Fashion news in pictures ATP World Tour Finals 2015 Designer Christopher Kane and actress Rose Leslie at the 2015 Barclays ATP World Tour Finals Getty Images Fashion news in pictures Beauty spot Get down to your nearest H&M store quick! The brand has launched a mammoth beauty collection, and all at budget friendly prices Fashion news in pictures VMA crisis Miley Cyrus hosting the VMAs was never going to be a modest affair. The latest is a costume copying scandal. Fashion news in pictures Cover girl Interview magazine unveiled its newest issues featuring cover image selfies of your favourite stars Fashion news in pictures Nadal in the nude The tennis star has stripped off as the new face of Tommy Hilfiger underwear, fragrance and tailoring Fashion news in pictures Spy drama The Man From U.N.C.L.E is more than just your average spy movie, we're obsessing after the seriously stylish sixties fashion Fashion news in pictures Queen B Beyonce has been revealed as the star of the prestigious September issue of US Vogue Fashion news in pictures May the force be with you Max Factor revealed a collaboration with Star Wars, makeup artist Pat McGrath has made these looks to celebrate the upcoming film release Fashion news in pictures Pop model Gigi Hadid stars in Calvin Harris' new music video Fashion news in pictures McQueen magic Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty closes as the V&A's most popular exhibition ever Fashion news in pictures Politics of style Samantha Cameron is crowned the best dressed woman in the world by Vanity Fair Rex Features Fashion news in pictures Model behaviour Brooklyn Beckham lands a modelling contract GETTY IMAGES Fashion news in pictures Olympic dreams Stella McCartney is on board once again to design the Team GB Rio 2016 kit Fashion news in pictures Birkin blow-up Jane Birkin asked for the iconic bag to be renamed due to animal cruelty concerns TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/Getty Images Fashion news in pictures Gigi's new gig Gigi Hadid was announced as the new face of Topshop Fashion news in pictures Blahnik's bags Manolo Blahnik is to launch a debut handbag collection Fashion news in pictures Sister act Siblings were the subject of Balmain's new ad campaign featuring Kendall and Kylie Jenner as well as other famous model siblings Fashion news in pictures Caitlyn's couture Caitlyn Jenner makes her red carpet debut in an Atelier Versace white gown Fashion news in pictures Casino couture The Chanel couture show opens with A-list stars making their way to a casino in the centre of the catwalk - think Kristen Stewart, Julianne Moore and Vanessa Paradis Fashion news in pictures Scentsational Miu Miu kicks off couture week with the launch of its very first fragrance Fashion news in pictures Midnight at the museum The V&A announces all night openings for the final two weekends of the Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty exhibition Fashion news in pictures New York Fashion Week Beth Ditto walks the catwalk at Marc Jacobs spring/summer 2016 show Getty Images

But is the fact that London Fashion Week has been met with activism on a much bigger, aggressive scale now, at a time when more than 90 per cent of its designers confirmed to the British Fashion Council (BFC) that they would not be using fur, a little excessive?

Most of us agree that real fur should be removed from the catwalks and, while there are still lessons to be learned, the fashion industry is making huge strides to shift to a fur-free policy.

While retail giants like Yoox Net-a-Porter and Selfridges have stopped selling fur altogether, we have also seen Michael Kors, Gucci and Giorgio Armani move to non-animal fur in the last years.

Likewise, Tom Ford announced that he would only be using fur that is a by-product of food since becoming vegan. Still a controversial move, the designer has defended his decision by describing the impact that fake fur has on the environment.

I've been vegan for about the last year, he told WWD (Women's Wear Daily).

Recommended Day three highlights from London Fashion Week

When you look at how most of our meat, our animal products, are raised, from a health standpoint, I didn't feel that I should eat those things anymore.

Now, however, I have limited the fur in these collections and going forward to food by-products, which does not sound sexy.

Im also very torn about this because fake fur is terrible for the environment.

People think of fake fur as a disposable thing. They buy it, they wear it a few seasons, they throw it away, it doesnt biodegrade. Its a petroleum product. It is highly toxic.Whether you go for a kebab, cheesy chips or chicken nuggets, theres nothing like end-of-the-night-out food.

When its 3am and youre drunk, most of us crave greasy, salty, delicious carbs - even if we dont always remember what we ate the following day. (Unless our meal decides to make an unfortunate reappearance.)

One woman, however, last weekend managed to capture her drunken kebab shop visit for posterity by conducting an impromptu photoshoot with the eaterys staff.

Moya Lothian-McLean, a journalist based in London, ended her Saturday night at Ali Babas in Dalston.

Despite not remembering even going there the next day, when she woke up she found a full photoset from the kebab shop.

Lothian-McLean, 22, explained to The Independent that she had absolutely no recollection of taking the photos.

I woke up the next day and read a message from my friend who complimented me on my good kebab pics, she said. I had no idea what he was talking about until I opened Instagram and saw Id uploaded a full-on shoot.

I usually always remember my nights, however messy, so I was pretty shocked Id managed to delete such a huge chunk from my memory but found it really funny, especially because they were actually decent photos.

Featuring photos of the staff giving thumbs-ups to the camera and handing over the kebabs, many people have remarked on the incredible quality of the photos.

These are amazing, one person wrote.

This is like something from a national geographic article, added another.

This is bloody majestic, someone else agreed.

Lothian-McLean says she even surprised herself by the quality of the pictures. When I found the pics, I couldnt stop laughing - theyre good! If someone else had taken them, Id be retweeting them for sure. Im just annoyed I dont seem to show that kind of talent when 100 per cent sober.

Many asked what phone Lothian-McLean had used, to which she replied: Google Pixel 2 XL! The camera is INSANE.

Others suggested she expand the project into a series which could involve chippies, pizza joints and curry houses.

Some people noticed how willing the staff clearly were to get involved, which cant be said for every employee at a late night fast food establishment.

The kebab guys were the Ali Baba boys in Dalston who are usually up for everything, Lothian-McLean added.

The photos seem to show they werent too perturbed by an idiot shoving a phone in their faces and they always remember their customers, so I wasnt some complete random to them. They call me chips with cheese because I always get that.

And Lothian-McLean says she never expected the pictures to garner such a huge reaction on Twitter: I thought people might like them but I never expected them to spread so wide. Its the kebab factor - big up the bossmen who are there for us through thick and thin.

Keep up to date with the latest trends, stories and talking points in the world of modern dating by listening to The Independent Lifestyle team's weekly podcast, Millennial Love.An opinion piece published in the New York Times has sparked controversy among yogis and women alike for attacking yoga pants and the women who wear them to workout.

Titled: Why Yoga Pants Are Bad for Women, the author of the article, Honor Jones, argues that yoga pants arent worn by women because they are cooler or more comfortable, but rather because they are sexy.

Jones then insists that sweatpants, which she personally wears to work out in, are perfectly acceptable workout attire - and even made for working out.

The problem, Jones explains, is: We felt we had to look hot on dates - a given. We felt we had to look hot at the office - problematic. But now weve internalised the idea that we have to look hot at the gym? Give me a break, before suggesting that the whole booming industry around womens exercise, is to blame.

Since the piece was published, it has received some strong responses - with many women, and men, defending yoga pants as the more appropriate form of workout clothing - and denying that sex appeal has anything to do with it.

One person responded to the article: I think it's ridiculous to have a go at women for wearing leggings in the gym. The fact of the matter is that leggings make it easy to move whilst also making sure you don't get too hot - I'd hate working out in sweatpants! I'd overheat, all the fabric would get in the way, plus they'd make me want to curl up on the sofa rather than get moving in the gym. We should be able to wear whatever we want when exercising without fear of everything being sexualised."

Another said: Im currently wearing yoga pants but only because Im comfortable in them. Never have I ever felt sexy wearing yoga pants. Also, have you ever worked out in sweatpants? Its so uncomfortable and youre left feeling disgusting.

As someone who has practised yoga for years, its unbelievable that you think we wear yoga pants because theyre sexy?! We wear them because they allow us to manoeuvre in ways other clothing doesnt. Alternatively, seeing if you arent in the proper position is just as important, wrote one woman.

Others criticised Jones for policing what women wear, especially considering in the article she wrote: Its not good manners for women to tell other women how to dress; thats the job of male fashion photographers, before adding: Wouldnt it be easier to do so in pants that dont threaten to show every dimple and roll in every woman over 30?

One woman responded: Thats the funny thing about flesh, it does not matter how well you fit particular beauty stands, flesh is flesh, and no one is flawless. Also, yoga pants are amazing.

And others have responded by buying more yoga pants.

I saw that NYT yoga pants op-ed and immediately bought the expensive leggings Ive been considering, wrote one woman.

Keep up to date with the latest trends, stories and talking points in the world of modern dating by listening to The Independent Lifestyle team's weekly podcast, Millennial Love.Investors in Carillion were fleeing for the hills after spotting that the construction giant was heading for disaster, it has been revealed.

Evidence to a parliamentary inquiry into the companys collapse last month showed that one leading investor was considering suing Carillion.

Almost 1,000 former Carillion workers have been made redundant and jobs have also been lost among subcontractors since the firm went into liquidation.

Auditors KPMG will be questioned on Thursday by both the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee and the Work and Pensions Committee  and asked why Carillions accounts were signed off.

 Jeremy Corbyn hits out at the government's use of private companies following Carillion collapse

Frank Field, chairman of the Work and Pensions Committee, said the suggestion investors were aware of the firms dire situation proves there is a disconnect with what Carillion directors told MPs earlier this month  that all was well until problems with a contract in Qatar hit them out of the blue.

The MP said: Their stewardship had, they proudly told us, been adjudged best in class by their friends at KPMG.

On the other hand, investors were fleeing for the hills, and it appears those who looked closest ran fastest.

We will be taking evidence from the auditors and the investors  as well as demanding more company papers  to get to the bottom of who knew what and, most importantly, when.

Rachel Reeves, who chairs the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee, said: Investors spotted that Carillion was heading for disaster and fled.

The company had unsustainably high levels of debt, weak cash generation and was saddled with a widening pensions deficit.

Its a tragedy for those who have lost their jobs and the suppliers left struggling for survival that Carillion directors ignored these issues.

Carillions annual reports were worthless as a guide to the true financial health of the company.

The fact that it was impossible to get a true sense of the assets, liabilities and cash generation of the business raises serious questions about Carillions corporate governance.

KMPG will have to explain why they signed off on accounts which appeared to bear so little relation to reality.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 15 September 2021 Children pose by ice sculptures depicting people collecting water by charity Water Aid to show the fragility of water and the threat posed by climate change in London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 14 September 2021 Heavy rain covers the A149 near Kings Lynn in Norfolk PA UK news in pictures 13 September 2021 Luke Jerram's 'Museum of the Moon' at Durham Cathedral PA UK news in pictures 12 September 2021 Inspirational young fundraiser Tobias Weller crosses the finish line, near his home in Sheffield, as he completes his latest epic feat where he swam and triked his way to the end of his awesome year-long Ironman Challenge. This is the third challenge Tobias, who has cerebral palsy and autism, has completed, raising more than 150,000 for his school and Sheffield Children Hospitals charity PA UK news in pictures 11 September 2021 British player Emma Raducanu, holds up the US Open championship trophy winning the women's singles final of the US Open in New York AP UK news in pictures 10 September 2021 People paddle board during a misty morning in Ullswater, the second largest lake in the Lake District, Cumbria PA UK news in pictures 9 September 2021 Troops from Wiltshire based 4 Armoured Close Support Battalion Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers during final inspection at Wellington Barracks in London, ahead of providing troops for the Queens Guard PA UK news in pictures 8 September 2021 Workers cross London Bridge during the morning rush hour in London Reuters UK news in pictures Mixing it up: Painting it up press view in London A gallery employee poses for photographers next to a painting entitled Prairie by British artist, Louise Giovanelli during the exhibition 'Mixing it up: Painting it up' at the Hayward Gallery in London EPA UK news in pictures 6 September 2021 Traders in the Ring at the London Metal Exchange, in the City of London, after open-outcry trading returned for the first time since March 2020, when the Ring was temporarily closed due to the pandemic PA UK news in pictures 5 September 2021 People enjoy the warm weather on Sandbanks beach, Poole PA UK news in pictures 4 September 2021 Demonstrators from Animal Rebellion and Nature Rebellion protest in Trafalgar Square in London. 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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. 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Kiltearn Partners, which held as much as 9.85 per cent of Carillions shares last year, said in a letter to the committees that they believe there are clear grounds for an investigation into whether Carillions management knew, or should have known, about the need for a 845m provision due to receivables on its construction business earlier than July 2017  and that if Carillion had not gone into liquidation, they would have considered participation in civil legal action against Carillion with a view to recovering a proportion of its clients crystalised losses.

Kiltearn began selling shares in August. At a meeting with Carillion on 13 October, they said former interim chief executive Keith Cochrane could only provide limited and vague responses to fundamental questions  and consequently Kiltearn sold all shares by 4 January this year.

Standard Life Aberdeen began a process of divestment in December 2015 due to concerns about financial management, strategy and corporate governance, which they raised with the board in regular meetings from then until they sold up completely in July 2017, the committees were told.

Press AssociationA court will decide on Thursday whether German cities can ban heavily polluting cars, potentially wiping hundreds of millions of euros off the value of diesel cars on the countrys roads.

Environmental group DUH has sued Stuttgart in Germanys car-making heartland and Dusseldorf over levels of particulate matter exceeding European Union (EU) limits after Volkswagen's (VW) 2015 admission to cheating diesel exhaust tests.

The scandal led politicians across the world to scrutinise diesel emissions, which contain the matter and nitrogen oxide (NOx) and are known to cause respiratory disease.

Recommended Carmakers that cheat on emissions tests may be given unlimited fines

There are around 15 million diesel vehicles on German streets and environmental groups say levels of particulates exceed the EU threshold in at least 90 German towns and cities.

Local courts ordered them to bar diesel cars that did not conform to the latest standards on days when pollution is heavy, startling German car makers because an outright ban could trigger a fall in vehicle resale prices, and a rise in the cost of leasing contracts, which are priced on assumed residual values.

The German states concerned, where the car makers and their suppliers have a strong influence, appealed against the decisions, leaving Germanys federal administrative court - the court of last resort for such matters - to rule on whether such bans can legally be imposed at local level.

The key question is whether bans can already be considered to be legal instruments, said Remo Klinger, a lawyer for DUH. Its a completely open question of law.

Paris, Madrid, Mexico City and Athens have said they plan to ban diesel vehicles from city centres by 2025, while the mayor of Copenhagen wants to ban new diesel cars from entering the city as soon as next year. France and Britain will ban new petrol and diesel cars by 2040 in a shift to electric vehicles.

Evercore ISI forecasts a 5 per cent fall in diesel residual values could result in a drop of 1.6bn (1.4bn) in operating profit across eight European and US car makers.

Analysts at Bernstein Research have said that diesel bans in Europe would hit French car maker Peugeot hardest, followed by Renault. Among German car makers, Daimlers global fleet exposure to diesel is around 38 per cent, BMWs 35 per cent and VWs 26 per cent, Bernstein said in a report from 2016.

Car makers have sought to avert total bans by updating engine management systems to improve exhaust-treatment filters, a step only possible on vehicles equipped with software-based engine-management systems.

Business news: In pictures Show all 13 1 /13 Business news: In pictures Business news: In pictures Flybe collapses Airline Flybe has collapsed. All future flights on the Exeter-based airline have been cancelled  leaving more than 2,300 staff facing an uncertain future, and wrecking the travel plans of hundreds of thousands of passengers. The chief executive, Mark Anderson, said: Europes largest independent regional airline has been unable to overcome significant funding challenges to its business. AFP via Getty Business news: In pictures Future product placement will be 'tailored to individual viewers' Marketing executives say that product placement in films and televison shows on streaming services such as Netflix may be tailored to individuals in future. For instance, if data shows that a viewer is a fan of pepsi, a billboard in the background of a shot would host an advert for pepsi, while for a viewer known to have different tastes it could be for Coca-Cola Paramount Business news: In pictures Corbyn wishes Amazon a happy birthday In a card sent to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on the company's 25th birthday, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn writes: "You owe the British people millions in taxes that pay for the public services that we all rely on. Please pay your fair share" Business news: In pictures No deal, no tariffs The government has announced that it would slash almost all tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Notable exceptions include cars and meat, which will see tariffs in place to protect British farmers Getty Business news: In pictures Fingerprint payment NatWest is trialling a new bank card that will allow people to touch their hand to the card when paying rather than typing in a PIN number. The card will work by recognising the user's fingerprint NatWest/PA Wire Business news: In pictures Mahabis bust High-end slipper retailer Mahabis has gone into administration. 2 Jan 2019 Mahabis Business news: In pictures Costa Cola Coca-Cola has paid 3.9bn for Costa Coffee. A cafe chain is a new venture for the global soft drinks giant PA Business news: In pictures RIP Payday Loans A funeral procession for payday loans was held in London on September 2. The future of pay day lenders is in doubt after Wonga, Britain's biggest, went into administration on August 30 PA Business news: In pictures Musk irks investors and directors Elon Musk has concluded that Tesla will remain public. Investors and company directors were angry at Musk for tweeting unexpectedly that he was considering taking Tesla private and share prices had taken a tumble in the following weeks Getty Business news: In pictures Jaguar warning Iconic British car maker Jaguar Land Rover warned on July 5, 2018 that a "bad" Brexit deal could jeopardise planned investment of more than $100 billion, upping corporate pressure as the government heads into crucial talks AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures Spotif-IPO Spotify traded publically for the first time on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday. However, the company isn't issuing shares, but rather, shares held by Spotify's private investors will be sold AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures French blue passports The deadline to award a contract to make blue British passports after Brexit has been extended by two weeks following a request by bidder De La Rue. The move comes after anger at the announcement British passports would be produced by Franco-Dutch firm Gemalto when De La Rues contract ends in July. The British firm said Gemalto was chosen only because it undercut the competition, but the UK company also admitted that it was not the cheapest choice in the tendering process. Business news: In pictures Beast from the east economic impact The Beast from the East wiped 4m off of Flybes revenues due to flight cancellations, airport closures and delays, according to the budget airlines estimates. Flybe said it cancelled 994 flights in the three months to 31 March, compared to 372 in the same period last year.

Environmental groups have called software updates insufficient and have lobbied for cars with Euro-6 and Euro-5 emissions standards to receive hardware updates of their exhaust treatment systems, costing at least 1,500 per vehicle.

Europes love affair with diesel is already fading, with its market share in the EU falling from 53.6 per cent at the end of 2014 to 49.9 per cent at the end of 2016, European automotive association ACEAs most recent data shows.

ReutersOne of the world's favourite guitar manufacturers could be forced to pull the plug because of dire financial problems, as the industry struggles to cope with waning interest in rock music.

Gibson, a favourite of musicians such as BB King, Slash, Santana and Bob Marley, is struggling with debt repayment deadlines and the recent departure of its chief financial officer after less than a year in the job.

According to a recent report in the Nashville Post, Gibson Guitars faces a $375m (268m) deadline for a debt repayment in less than six months time. A further $145m worth of bank loans are due to mature immediately, if those notes  which were issued back in 2013  are not refinanced or repaid by 23 July.

The companys CFO, Bill Lawrence, recently quit after only around six months in the role and the prospect of an orderly refinancing, the paper said, now looks slim.

Recommended Rap overtakes rock as most popular genre in the US

Last week, Gibson issued a statement saying that it had met all current obligations to its bond holders and that it was in the process of arranging a new credit facility to replace the debt that is falling due in the summer. The group said that it was working with investment bank Jefferies to manage that process.

Chairman and chief executive officer Henry Juszkiewicz said in the statement that Gibson is streamlining its focus and trying to concentrate on product segments that are profitable, while moving away from those that have little upside in the future.

With the refinancing and the improvement in operating performance from the actions that we are rolling out, we expect the company to be organised for success and growth for years to come, he said.

The company, which is one of the most recognisable and iconic guitar manufacturers in the world, was not immediately available for additional comment when contacted by The Independent.

Manufacturers of guitars, especially electric ones, have endured a tough few years, hit by a dramatic slowdown in demand for the instruments, which has translated into a fall in profits. Gibson rival Fender was reportedly forced to abandon plans to list publicly on the stock market back in 2012. Investors were understood to have deemed the company overvalued.

Gibsons annual revenue, meanwhile, has been inching lower for some years with some analysts blaming the rise of streaming services and the popularity of music genres that are faster growing than rock, like hip hop and electronic dance music.

The Washington Post last year attributed the fall in electric guitar sales to rock music simply getting stale and to there being too few new faces on the scene.

What we need is guitar heroes, George Gruhn, a Nashville guitar dealer told the paper at the time.

Data published last week shows that rap surpassed rock as the most popular music genre in the US last year.

Analytics firm Nielsen Music found that R&B and hip hop represented 24.5 per cent of all music consumption in the US while rock only accounted for a share of 20.8 per cent.

Eight out of 10 of the most listened to artists of 2017 fell into the R&B/hip hop category, as did seven out of 10 of the top albums.

Gibson was founded in 1894 in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and has been headquartered in Nashville since 1984. A privately held company, it is best known for its Les Paul model, which is widely recognised as an icon for rock music.

Other brands in its stable include Epiphone, Dobro, Valley Arts, Kramer, Steinberger, Tobias, Slingerland, Maestro, Baldwin, Hamilton, Chickering and Wurlitzer.

The company was started by Orville Gibson, a restaurant clerk, and initially concentrated on mandolins but it later broadened its focus to banjos in the 1920s and guitars in the 1930s, as music tastes evolved.

The Nashville Post reported that Gibson recently gave itself some breathing room by selling a former piano warehouse for $6.4m. Its reportedly also in the process of trying to sell another property. But even if those transactions are successful, the proceeds are unlikely to offer much respite in the context of Gibsons sizeable debt pile.

The company is owned by Mr Juszkiewic and Gibson president David Berryman.At least 2.1bn worth of old 10 notes are still in circulation, despite the fact that they will cease to be legal tender in less than two weeks, the Bank of England has said.

The old notes, featuring a portrait of Charles Darwin, must be spent by 1 March, after which shops will no longer have to accept them. New plastic 10 notes depicting author Jane Austen were introduced in September.

After the deadline, people can exchange old paper notes by posting them or delivering them in person to the BoE in central London. The bank said it would accept the old notes indefinitely.

People may also be able to exchange the old 10 notes at a local bank or post office but there is no obligation to accept them after the deadline.

According to the BoEs latest figures, about 27 per cent, or 218 million, of the 10 notes in circulation are old paper ones. Weekly returns of the paper tenners are currently averaging around 85m.

The new 10 note is the second to be printed on a plastic polymer, which the bank has said is cleaner, safer and more hard-wearing than the traditional cotton paper it will replace. The plastic fiver, featuring Winston Churchill, entered circulation in September 2016.

When the design of the new 10 was first unveiled in July last year it was praised by members of the blind and visually impaired community for its tactile features.

Raised dots, similar to braille characters, on the left hand side of the note and fine raised lines on the right, help those who cannot see to differentiate it from notes of other denominations.

A new polymer 20 banknote, featuring landscape artist JMW Turner, is due to be issued in 2020. Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said in October that there were no plans to make a new 50 note.UK millennials have suffered the second-worst falls in their earnings of any of the dozen advanced economies surveyed by a think tank over the past decade.

In a new report, the Resolution Foundation calculates that average real hourly earnings for under-30s in Britain fell 13 per cent between 2007 and 2014.

Only Greece, where real earnings slumped by 25 per cent over the same period as the eurozone country plunged into depression, saw a worst performance for this age group among the dozen advanced economies Resolution analysed in the latest research from its Intergenerational Commission.

British millennials experienced bigger earnings falls than other crisis-hit southern eurozone states such as Portugal and Italy, where they fell 12 per cent and 6 per cent respectively.

Average earnings for Spanish millennials fell by only around 2 per cent.

Resolution also found that the gap between the pay performance of UK millennials and workers aged between 50 and 59 was particularly pronounced, with older UK workers seeing their pay fall by around half the extent of the younger group.

In Italy and France the declines were roughly in line. In Germany, Spain and Italy the older group of workers saw larger pay declines than millennials.

The pay squeeze has been deeper in the UK than in most other places, and more focused on young people in particular, said Resolution.

British millennial punishment

Resolution Foundation

However, the jobs market for UK millennials was, in other respects, much healthier than in other countries.

The under-30 unemployment rate rose by only around 2 percentage points over the period. In Portugal it shot up by 12 percentage points and in Italy by 16 percentage points.

In Spain and Greece the millennial jobless rate jumped by around 26 percentage points.

The UK has traded off more pay growth for younger workers than other countries with similar youth unemployment experiences, said the think tank.

Another major finding from the study is that millennials in the UK, relative to younger people in other high-income countries, have experienced a pronounced bust in rising living standards, following a long boom of generation-on-generation advancement in previous decades.

Only Spain echoes the UK experience [of] a boom and bust income cycle where significant generation-on-generation gains for older generations have come to a stop for younger people, said Daniel Tomlinson, a policy analyst at Resolution.European universities are increasing English-speaking courses to prepare for an influx of students who could seek alternatives to the UK as a result of Brexit, a new study suggests.

The total number of English-taught programmes in universities on the continent has risen by 13 per cent in the last year, according to analysis shared with The Independent.

The number could accelerate further as institutions prepare for an increased demand from international students following Brexit.

Universities in Poland have doubled the number of English-speaking courses over three years  and now the country has been deemed to be one of the best places for international students to study.

Analysis from Study.EU, an information provider for student choice, has ranked the United Kingdom as the second most desirable destination for international students  just behind Germany. But Poland, one of the most affordable places to study, also made the top 10 this year.

In the annual rankings of thirty European countries, the UK scored highly on quality of education and quality of life and career prospects  despite being the least affordable for students.

But Brexit could make the UK, with its high tuition fees and high living costs, a less desirable place to study in years to come, Gerrit Bruno Bloss, chief executive of Study.EU, has warned.

He said: With low unemployment and high GDP per capita, the opportunities for English-speaking graduates are currently much better than in most other European countries.

However, Brexit might adversely affect some of the underlying metrics if the economy takes a hit. At the same time, Britains top rank in Education is at risk if policy changes motivate talented academic staff to leave.

Last month, The Independent revealed that more than 2,300 EU academics had resigned from UK universities over the past year amid concerns over a Brexodus of top talent in higher education.

And according to Mr Bloss, who regularly speaks to recruiting managers and international officers at universities across Europe, institutions are already preparing for a potential fall-out.

He said: Compared to last year, there has been a noticeable increase of programmes offered in English. Universities on the continent are preparing for Brexit. They expect European students to seek alternatives to the UK in the coming years.

Layla Moran, education spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats, said: These findings will be deeply concerning for UK universities who for many years have been lucky enough to attract some of the brightest and best students from across Europe.

Thanks to the Governments repeated failure to address the concerns of this sector, we know that more than 2,000 academics from elsewhere in Europe have already resigned from posts at UK universities in the past year and now it seems we may see a similar impact on students too.

If the Government are serious about protecting our universities and ensuring they remain some of the best in the world, they should prioritise giving European citizens living and working in the UK an unequivocal right to remain, as well as fighting to ensuring our universities can retain European research funding which helps make our academic institutions some of the most dynamic and interesting places to study and work in the world.

Student news in pictures Show all 34 1 /34 Student news in pictures Student news in pictures South Korean policemen detain a student demonstrator during a protest against South Korean President Park Geun-Hye EPA Student news in pictures South Korean policemen detain student protestors during a protest against South Korean President Park Geun-Hye outside the National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea. The protesters demanded that the parliament takes steps to impeach President Park Geun-Hye EPA Student news in pictures Filipino demonstrators face off with anti-riot police during a protest near the US Embassy in Manila, Philippine EPA Student news in pictures Hundreds of protesters including Indigenous People, students and militant groups marched towards the US Embassy to protest against the presence of US military troops and condemning the violent dispersal which left at least forty people hurt including twenty police officers and three people who were run over by a police van EPA Student news in pictures A federal judge in Mexico has ordered that a once-fugitive police chief be held on charges of kidnapping in the disappearance of 43 students Student news in pictures A man holds up a photograph of a missing student with a caption reading 'We are missing 43,' during a meeting marking the 25-month anniversary of the disappearances of 43 students in the southern state of Guerrero, in Mexico City. A federal judge in Mexico has ordered that a once-fugitive police chief be held on charges of kidnapping in the disappearance of 43 students AP Student news in pictures Miguel Perez, an intern student from the University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine, puts away his cell phone before walking into the operating room at the Dr. Isaac Gonzalez MartInez Oncological Hospital in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Once they complete their general surgery training, many residents are moving to the United States in search of better wages, one of the main factors linked to the current shortage of specialists in the Island Student news in pictures Fewer EU students have applied to start university courses in the UK next autumn. There was a 9% fall in the numbers who had applied for courses, according to admissions service UCAS. PA wire Student news in pictures University students protest against President Nicolas Maduro, in Caracas, Venezuela. Masses of protesters jammed the streets of Venezuela's capital on the heels of a move by congress to open a political trial against Maduro, whose allies have blocked moves for a recall election AP Student news in pictures University students protest against President Nicolas Maduro, in Caracas, Venezuela AP Student news in pictures Thousands, most of them high school students, march during a demonstration in Madrid, Spain, on a one day strike to protest about the country's education law that increases the number of annual exams AP Student news in pictures Students gather on the west mall to confront the Young Conservatives of Texas student organization over a controversial bake sale on The University of Texas campus in Austin, Texas. The Young Conservatives of Texas chapter at the University of Texas-Austin sparked the protest with an affirmative action bake sale. The club encouraged students to buy a cookie and talk about the disastrous policy that is affirmative action Student news in pictures Donald Parish Jr, right, confronts Electrical and Computer Engineering senior Dewayne Perry over a controversial bake sale on The University of Texas campus in Austin, Texas. The Young Conservatives of Texas chapter at the University of Texas-Austin sparked the protest with an affirmative action bake sale. The club encouraged students to buy a cookie and talk about the disastrous policy that is affirmative action AP Student news in pictures Brigham Young University announced that students who report sexual assault will no longer be investigated for possible violations of the Mormon-owned school's strict honor code that bans such things as alcohol use AP Student news in pictures Students of secondary education march to protest against the final examinations and LOMCE (The Improvement Quality Education Law) law, after a call by trade unions, in Murcia, Spain EPA Student news in pictures South African police have used stun grenades and rubber bullets to disperse hundreds of protesters who had marched to the parliament building to call for free university education, where the finance minister was giving a budget speech AP Student news in pictures Police break up student protests outside the parliament in Cape Town, South Africa Reuters Student news in pictures South African Policemen fire rubber bullets at student protestors in Cape Town, South Africa AP Student news in pictures A student protestor is hit by a rubber bullet in Cape Town, South Africa AP Student news in pictures An injured student is helped by colleagues during protest outside the parliament during South African Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan's medium term budget speech in Cape Town, South Africa Reuters Student news in pictures Plaintiffs and bereaved families of elementary school students killed in the tsunami that followed a major earthquake in northeastern Japan in 2011, show banners that say 'victory in a suit filed with the Sendai District Court' in Sendai. A Japanese court ordered municipalities to pay $13.7 million dollars to families of school children who were swept away to their deaths by the 2011 tsunami Getty Student news in pictures A group of student at Ewha Womans University calls for a thorough investigation into those involved in years of engagement with state affairs backstage by Choi Soon-sil, a personal confidante of South Korean President Park Geun-hye, at the school's front gate in Seoul, South Korea EPA Student news in pictures Students raise placards during a strike action called by the student union, in Madrid against university entry exams Getty Student news in pictures Libyans throw a newly graduated student into a fountain as they celebrate during the graduation ceremony for students from the Faculty of Pharmacy at the Al-Arab University in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi Getty Student news in pictures Libyans celebrate as they attend the graduation ceremony for students from the Faculty of Pharmacy at the Al-Arab University in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi Getty Student news in pictures Libyans celebrate as they attend the graduation ceremony for students from the Faculty of Pharmacy at the Al-Arab University in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi Getty Student news in pictures Thousands of Thai Catholic students take part in mourning tributes and in singing the Thai Royal Anthem to honour late Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej at Saint Dominic School in Bangkok, Thailand EPA Student news in pictures Students of Silpakorn University paint portraits of the late Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej at the university campus in Bangkok Getty Student news in pictures A student of Silpakorn University paints a portrait of the late Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej at the university campus in Bangkok Getty Student news in pictures St Andrews University students take part in a foam fight known as Raisin Monday in the Lower College Lawn behind St Salvator's Quadrangle following the Raisin Weekend PA wire Student news in pictures St Andrews University students take part in a foam fight known as Raisin Monday in the Lower College Lawn behind St Salvator's Quadrangle following the Raisin Weekend, an annual tradition where student 'parents' inflict tasks on the unfortunate first-years they have adopted as 'children' as part of a mentoring scheme PA wire Student news in pictures Students at the Cuba's National Ballet School (ENB) in Havana, Cuba Reuters Student news in pictures Students at the Cuba's National Ballet School (ENB) take part in a practice in Havana, Cuba Reuters Student news in pictures Students at the Cuba's National Ballet School (ENB) wait in line to enter a classroom in Havana, Cuba Reuters

Despite these warnings, Ucas figures this month showed that more EU students had applied to study at UK universities this year.

The number of EU and international students applying for university places in the UK increased to more than 100,000 for the first time, but the admissions body said that the weaker pound had temporarily boosted interest.

Alistair Jarvis, Chief Executive of Universities UK, said: Universities UK will continue to work with the UK government and officials in Brussels to secure an effective post-exit settlement for universities.

This includes ensuring that international students and staff can continue to come to the UK to study and work, with minimal barriers.

Talented international students make an enormously important contribution to UK universities, enriching our campuses both culturally and academically. They also bring a net economic benefit to the UK of more than 20bn annually.

He added: The increase in the number of bachelor degrees taught in English at European universities is not a new development. There has been a gradual increase in the number of such degrees over the last decade, well before the start of discussions about Brexit."

A Department for Education spokesperson: The UKs world-class higher education sector has a long established tradition of attracting global talent, and we want that to continue.

"The UK is second only to the US when it comes to global rankings for universities, with four universities in the worlds top 10 and 16 in the top 100.

"And we continue to be a highly attractive destination for students from the EU and the rest of the world  again, second only to the USA in the numbers we attract.

"To provide certainty to prospective students, we have already guaranteed that EU students starting courses at in the academic year 2018/19 or before will continue to be eligible for student loans and home fee status.

"They will also have a parallel right to remain in the UK to complete their course.MPs voted last month, after years of procrastination, to repair the crumbling buildings in which they work. The restoration wont get going until 2025, but its a start. Sadly, they failed to take the chance to begin an equally necessary overhaul of Parliament itself.

What if they had? Given the chance to remake Parliament in 2018, what would we do? How could the system be modified to increase the day-to-day influence of British citizens  nearly 47 million of whom are eligible to vote?

Heres how. We start in the obvious place, at the least democratic, southern end of the Palace of Westminster. We expel the occupants. And we give the House of Lords to the people.

We cannot put everyone in the chamber; nor can we sensibly put everything to referendum. What we could do, though, is create a Peoples Chamber, whose 400 members, randomly conscripted from the electoral roll as jurors, would be a small, representative sample of the population as a whole.

The details are negotiable. Heres one hypothetical version. Everyone eligible to vote is also eligible for selection by lot to serve in the chamber for a fixed term of, say, four years. Service is compulsory, well-paid and prestigious. The Peoples Peers can wear ermine and, if they want, use titles; the financial rewards are comparable to a sizeable lottery win.

Let sleeping peers lie...

The chambers functions remain the same: scrutiny, endorsement, revision, occasional delay. The great and good have vacated their seats, but much of their expertise can remain. The new peers four-year terms include a six-month period for training. (The intake would eventually be staggered.) Expelled members of the old chamber can choose between a severance package, or, if they prefer, paid employment as trainers or specialist advisers for their randomly selected replacements.

It would all take a bit of organising. So did National Service (which disrupted 130,000 lives a year rather than 400 every four years). And while some people might resent the call-up, their displeasure would be worth living with. As with jury service, there would be the option of seeking exemption or postponement. But the whole process  selection, plea, outcome  would be public; and with luck most people would prefer to do their civic duty than to risk the social stigma attached to dodging it.

The overall running costs might be higher than those of the current House of Lords. It would be money well spent. The prize would be a second chamber whose legitimacy could not be questioned: a chamber that, finally, was no less democratic than the Commons, yet did not challenge its supremacy: not more legitimate, or equally legitimate, but differently legitimate. The two chambers would complement one another  and the legislation enabling the reform could make it clear that the Commons had primacy.

Every voter, as a potential member, would have an emotional stake in this new chamber, and thus in Parliament. It would be a chamber of us rather than them; and, as a result, would not seem remote or out of touch. It would be a chamber of our peers.

Would it work? There would be drawbacks. We have all seen how easily people power can go rogue, in Twitter mobs or in votes for Boaty McBoatface. But the mere creation of the chamber would remove the need for anti-establishment gestures.

Baroness Mone arrives in the House of Lords before the state opening of Parliament (Getty) (Getty Images)

As for mischief, experience suggests that randomly selected citizens who are given decision-making responsibilities usually take them seriously and exercise them wisely. We see this all the time in juries. It has also been demonstrated repeatedly in experiments in deliberative polling conducted by, notably, Professor James S Fishkin of Stanford University and Professor Robert C Luskin of the University of Texas at Austin.

These experiments are, of course, quite different from suggesting that the deliberations and scrutiny of a representative cross section of the public could replace the current functions of the House of Lords in their entirety  but it is only a medium-sized leap from one thought to the other.

The key point for the moment is this: however much our prejudice tells us that the average citizen, given a role in Parliament, would be thoughtless, feckless and ignorant compared with the average ermine-clad peer of the realm, the evidence suggests that, placed in contexts in which it is clear that their judgements matter, members of the public typically rise to the challenge.

If you think otherwise, its arguable that you should be opposed to democracy itself. You should certainly be against trial by jury. But you should also apply the same question to the chambers current occupants. Do you really believe that, collectively, the massed members of todays House of Lords offer a better source of wise, impartial judgement than a random cross section of the electorate?

Its easy to be a lord... Lord Hanningfield was the subject of an expenses scandal (Getty) (Getty Images)

Ninety-one of them, remember, are there mainly because of who their parents were. Twenty-five are there because of their prominence in organised religion. Around 500 are beneficiaries, to some degree, of party political patronage. Most are drawn from the same gilded sub-sets: career politicians, academic high-fliers, company directors. Many have significant outside financial interests. Three-quarters are men. Their average age is 69. Such a house may be clever and experienced. But is it fit to speak for the nation  or merely for the establishment?

In a randomly selected house, everyone  rich, poor, old, young, educated, uneducated, pushy, shy, high-flying, under-achieving, innovative, traditionalist, male, female, white, non-white  will tend to be represented, in proportion to their democratic weight. And so will voters, whose preferred parties or candidates have failed to win first-past-the-post elections to the Commons. In John Adamss words, the assembly is in miniature an exact portrait of the people at large.

A further virtue is that the enlisted members are not driven by ambition: power has been thrust upon them. They are independent of government and, since they cannot seek re-election, have no incentive (unlike MPs in the Commons) to put short-term political advantage before the long-term national interest. Collectively, they are likely to understand the priorities of ordinary voters, and their loyalties are to nation, not party.

I can already hear the scorn of parliamentary sophisticates mocking the naivety of my proposal and complaining that I dont understand the full complexities of how Parliament works. Maybe I dont. But I do understand that, on its own terms, the current upper chamber works reasonably well. I accept that  among the party stooges, hereditary fools and hard-faced businessmen who have done well out of globalisation  it has a substantial contingent of experienced parliamentarians and real-world high achievers, without whose skilled revision of legislation we would be a worse-governed nation.

The Archbishop of Canterbury is automatically granted a peerage along with 26 other bishops (Getty) (Getty Images)

I dont deny that, over the past couple of decades, there have been many occasions when the House of Lords has behaved with more wisdom and principle than the Commons. I even accept that the chambers weak legitimacy may have helped it to find a useful role as a trusted servant of government: helpfully independent-minded but not a threat.

But all this is to look at the question from the wrong place: from inside Westminster. Look at it from the outside, and bigger issues claim the attention. Its the system as a whole thats dysfunctional. A large part of the electorate feels that Parliament does not share its priorities.

* * *

This is not a proposal to replace expertise with ignorance. It is a proposal to redistribute the power to influence government. All the ingredients of my proposed Peoples Chamber are already in use in the existing House of Lords. Outside experts advise, as witnesses to select committees; so, to a degree, do ordinary citizens.

Appointed and hereditary peers, some of them great and good, can choose to draw on these contributions, along with their own expertise, when deliberating and voting. In the system I propose, the greatest and best former peers would be paid to join outside experts in giving advice (plentifully, I hope), while citizens would be in the chamber, with the power to use the advice as they saw fit. The aim would be for the quantity and quality of expertise in the equation to remain the same.

Only the power would shift. But it would truly need to shift. An advisory citizens panel would change nothing. A citizens chamber with decision-making powers (even limited ones) would change everything.

This isnt the first time such a system has been proposed. Political theorists call it sortition. It was used successfully in ancient Athens and at different times in Italian city states such as Florence and, later, in parts of Switzerland. In modern times it has been used, to varying degrees, for assemblies on constitutional reform in Canada, Iceland, Mongolia and the Republic of Ireland.

When I first tried to advocate it in print, nearly 20 years ago, the story ended up as The Independents April Fool item. But it has played a part in a number of significant crowd-funded assemblies, such as the hugely popular G1000 citizens summits in Belgium and the Netherlands. Kofi Annan, the former UN secretary-general, recently endorsed it, and there has barely been a year in the past three decades when a political thinker somewhere in the world hasnt proposed it  often as part of a wider programme to incorporate elements of direct democracy into existing representative systems.

A timeless scene: a nearly empty House of Lords during a session with bored attendees (Richard Doyle/Getty) (Getty Images)

As I write this, the British Government is engaged in the most ambitious national undertaking since D-Day. I wont try to hide the fact that I consider the whole enterprise a disastrous mistake. But my views may well be wrong and are in any case irrelevant. The point that matters is the relationship between, on the one hand, the democratic expression of the peoples will at the ballot box and, on the other, the course the nation takes.

The ordinary voter is prevented from taking part in constructive day-to-day deliberation or policy adjustment. If we vote for something, and then decide that our original decision needs revising, we have no mechanism for doing so beyond throwing out the entire government  often blaming it, unfairly, for having done precisely what we once told it to do.

And if we vote for something in a referendum, we appear to have no way of modifying our decision ever. Yet it turns out that voters elected representatives are equally constrained, since they are not allowed to reach conclusions that dont conform with the previously expressed will of the people.

There is, in fact, no admissible option for constructive day-to-day deliberation  and, as Anthony King and Ivor Crewe have shown in their 2014 book The Blunders of Our Governments, lack of deliberation is one of the main drivers of state incompetence.

* * *

In nearly 20 years of banging on about the potential benefits of a Peoples Chamber, I have grown used to two big objections to the idea. The first is that random selection would produce representatives who werent up to the job. The second is that, simply, it aint going to happen.

My usual response to the first is that we already have a system that produces representatives who arent up to the job: not all of them, by any means, but as many as youd expect in a comparably sized random population sample.

For a long time, however, I found the second objection persuasive. No matter how neat the idea, there really couldnt  could there?  be the slightest chance of its becoming reality.

Now Im not so sure.

One of the great paradoxes of modern British politics is that, in an age of rising populism, there is no corresponding popular enthusiasm for Lords reform. Why not? In todays collective, people-friendly discourse, we despise the privileged, reserving special contempt for the titled. We scorn fusty traditions. We have a horror of unfairness. Many of us resent the status quo in all its manifestations. Yet we tolerate the House of Lords.

The idea that such a chamber should speak and legislate for the nation is laughable. Yet raise the question of reform and youll be met with an instant and near-universal glazing over of eyes. There is one powerful reason for this: the alternatives on offer are usually only marginally better. Dozens of options for Lords reform have achieved some kind of political traction over the past century or so. Two models for selecting members have dominated: election and appointment. The proportions have varied: wholly appointed, wholly elected, or some mixture of the two. But the proportions arent the problem. Its the methods that are flawed.

Lack of popular appetite for Lords reform as envisaged by the political professionals isnt quite the same as lack of appetite for a more radical kind of reform  a kind that would directly challenge the power of the Westminster establishment. And one of the good things about living in an age of hi-tech populism is that simple, sexy, people-friendly ideas can occasionally catch the public imagination so comprehensively that they force themselves to the top of the political agenda.

Could this really not happen with a proposal to sweep away a chamber thats a democratic embarrassment and replace it with one that gives ordinary people a direct role in Parliament?

Lord Sewell resigned in 2015 after a drug and prostitution scandal (The Sun)

I think it could. Yet even that would not be enough. Such a reform could take place only with the consent and the will of the current establishment: the very people whose grip on power would be loosened by a Peoples Chamber.

Yet it isnt entirely unthinkable. The Liberal Democrats and Labour are committed to Lords reform as part of the wider goal of, in Jeremy Corbyns words, the democratisation of public life from the ground up. The Conservatives, on the other hand, find themselves  fairly or unfairly  associated with privilege. But intelligent Tories realise this, and history suggests that their party has a tenacious instinct for reading the writing on the wall  and, if necessary, performing whatever ideological somersaults seem necessary to ensure its survival.

If the Tories claim the proposal for themselves their toxic reputation as the nasty, people-hating party of the privileged could be neutralised at a stroke, and popular hunger for change could be used (as before) to re-energise the party rather than sweep it away. Rival parties could hardly object  yet the Conservatives could claim the electoral rewards. And if the rival parties wish to neutralise that threat, they must beat the Tories to it...

* * *

People are tired of experts, said Michael Gove when campaigning for Brexit. He was right, but he missed a bigger story: people may be tiring of politicians, too. Not all people or all politicians but many of both. How could they not? Westminster is the setting for a system of parliamentary democracy in which the educated elite manage the democratic mandate of the ignorant masses. But if the masses have rejected the educated elite  precisely because they are educated, elite and, for good measure, cocooned in the Westminster bubble  where does that leave the system?

The peoples trust is broken  and the political professionals who are blamed for breaking it are in danger of joining the liberals and the experts, on the wrong side of history. For the first time in centuries, the legitimacy of Parliament itself is in doubt.

For those of us who believe that, for all its flaws, our representative democracy is worth defending, the question of Lords reform is becoming urgent. How can you defend as democratic a system in which our futures are decided, in part, by a chamber that is no more democratic than the Garrick Club? A reformed system that required the wholehearted support and active involvement of ordinary people would be a different matter. Its democratic legitimacy would be beyond question, and the whole system would be stronger as a result.

The Peoples Chamber would be a workable solution to a real, urgent and obvious danger. There is a rising tide of populism in Western politics: a non-specific clamour for direct democracy that threatens to submerge representative democracy in the tyranny of the mob.

It is folly to ignore that tide. It is folly to yield to it. The wise course is to react constructively, neither denying facts nor surrendering to them. Somehow, we need to channel those waves of popular discontent.

My rough proposal for Lords reform offers a simple form of channelling. Others may be able to suggest a better form. But we have to do something.

Richard Askwith is a former executive editor of The Independent

People Power: Remaking Parliament for the Populist Age by Richard Askwith, Biteback Provocations, 10 hardback or 6.99 e-book, is available nowWould you like to see the little ones? asks Magdelis Salazar, a social worker, beckoning me towards a crowded playground.

We are at Venezuelas largest orphanage, just after lunch. The yard is an obstacle course of abandoned children. A little chunk of a boy, on the cusp of three, sits on a play scooter. He is called El Gordo  the fat one. But when he was left here a few months ago, he was skin and bones.

He zooms past a three-year-old in a pink shirt with tiny flowers. She doesnt talk much, one of the attendants says, tousling the girls curly hair. At least, not anymore. In September, her mother left her at a subway station with a bag of clothes and a note begging someone to feed the child.

Poverty and hunger rates are soaring as Venezuelas economic crisis leaves store shelves empty of food, medicine, diapers and baby formula. Some parents can no longer bear it. They are doing the unthinkable: giving up their children.

People cant find food, Salazar says. They cant feed their children. They are giving them up, not because they dont love them but because they do.

Ahead of my recent reporting trip to Venezuela, Id heard that families were abandoning or surrendering children. Yet it was a challenge to actually meet the tiniest victims of this broken nation. My requests to enter orphanages run by the socialist government had gone unanswered. One child-protection official  warning of devastating conditions, including a lack of diapers  confided that such a visit would be impossible. Some privately run child crisis centres worried that granting access to a journalist could damage their delicate relations with the government.

Dayana Silgado visits her daughter at Fundana, a nonprofit orphanage in Caracas (Washington Post)

A Venezuelan colleague introduced me to Fundana  an imposing cement complex perched high on a hill in southeastern Caracas. Her family had founded the nonprofit orphanage and child crisis centre in 1991, and her mother remains the head of its board. Rachelle remembered volunteering there a decade ago, when she was a student and the children were almost exclusively cases of abuse or neglect.

There are no official statistics on how many children are abandoned or sent to orphanages and care homes by their parents for economic reasons. But interviews with officials at Fundana and nine other private and public organisations that manage children in crisis suggest that the cases number in the hundreds  or more  nationwide.

Fundana received about 144 requests to place children at its facility last year, up from about 24 in 2016, with the vast majority of the requests related to economic difficulties.

I didnt know what else to do, says Angelica Perez, a 32-year-old mother of three, near tears.

On a recent afternoon, she showed up at Fundana with her three-year-old son and her two daughters, aged five and 14. She lost her job as a seamstress a few months ago. When her youngest came down with a severe skin condition in December and the public hospital had no medicine, she spent the last of her savings buying ointment from a pharmacy.

Her plan was to leave the children at the centre, where she knew they would be fed, so she could travel to neighbouring Colombia to find work. She hoped she would eventually be able to take them back. Typically, children are allowed to stay at Fundana for six months to a year before being placed in foster care or put up for adoption.

You dont know what its like to see your children go hungry, Perez says. I feel like Im responsible, like Ive failed them. But Ive tried everything. There is no work, and they just keep getting thinner. Tell me, what am I supposed to do?

Venezuela descended into a deep recession in 2014, battered by a drop in global oil prices and years of economic mismanagement. The crisis has worsened in the past year. A study by the Catholic charity Caritas in poorer areas of four states found the proportion of children under five lacking adequate nutrition had jumped to 71 per cent in December from 54 per cent seven months earlier.

Venezuelas child welfare ministry did not respond to requests for comment on the phenomenon of children being abandoned or put in orphanages because of the crisis. The socialist government provides free boxes of food to poor families once a month, although there have been delays as food costs have soared.

For years, Venezuela had a network of public institutions for vulnerable children  traditionally way stations for those needing temporary or long-term protection. But child-welfare workers say the institutions are collapsing, with some at risk of closing because of a shortage of funds and others critically lacking in resources. So, increasingly, parents are leaving their children in the streets.

At Bambi House, infants, once in high demand for adoption or foster placement, are lingering longer in the organisations care (Washington Post)

In the gritty Sucre district of Caracas, for instance, eight children were abandoned at hospitals and public spaces last year, up from four in 2016. In addition, officials there say they logged nine cases of voluntary abandonment for economic reasons at a child protective services centre in the district in 2017, compared with none the previous year. A child-welfare official in El Libertador  one of the capitals poorest areas  calls the situation at public orphanages and temporary care centres catastrophic.

We have grave problems here, says the official, speaking on condition of anonymity out of fear of reprisals from the authoritarian government. There are definitely more abandoned children. Its not just that there are more, but also their health conditions and nutrition are much worse. We cant take care of them.

With the public system overwhelmed, the burden is increasingly falling on private facilities run by nonprofit organisations and charities.

Leonardo Rodriguez, who manages a network of 10 orphanages and care centres across the country, says that in the past, children placed with his centres were almost always from homes where they had suffered physical or mental abuse. But last year, the institutions fielded dozens of calls  as many as two per week  from desperate women seeking to give up their children so that they would be fed. Demand is so high that some of his facilities now have waiting lists.

To manage the surge in demand at Fundana, the organisation opened a second facility in Caracas with the aid of private donors. But it still had to turn down dozens of requests to take in children. At Bambi House, Venezuelas second-largest private orphanage, requests for placements surged about 30 per cent last year, according to Erika Pardo, its founder. Infants, once in high demand for adoption or foster placement, are also lingering longer in the organisations care.

Foster families are asking for older children because diapers and formula are either impossible to find or too expensive, she says. The number of pregnant women seeking to put their children up for adoption is also jumping.

Jose Gregorio Hernandez, owner of one of Venezuelas main adoption agencies, Proadopcion, says that in 2017 his organisation received 10 to 15 requests monthly from pregnant women seeking to give up their babies, compared with one or two requests per month in 2016. Overwhelmed, the organisation had to turn down most of the women. It accepted 50 children in 2017  up from 30 in 2016.

For many Venezuelan families, hunger presents an excruciating choice. I meet Dayana Silgado, 28, as she enters Fundanas new food centre for parents in economic crisis. Silgado seems drained. The shoulder blades on her thin frame protrude from her tank top.

In November, she surrendered her two youngest children to Fundana after losing her job as a cleaner for the city during a round of budget cuts. At the centre, she knew, they would get three meals a day.

Fundanas home for children does not accept older kids, so Silgado is still trying to feed her two eldest  aged eight and 11  at home. The free milk, sardines and pasta offered by the centre help. It is not enough, though.

After eating dinner, Silgado says, her children tell her: Mom, I want more. But I dont have more to give, she says.

 Washington PostA leading crustacean expert has said there is no rationale behind UK laws that allow lobsters to be boiled alive.

Professor Emeritus Robert Elwoods made the comments after Switzerland became the first country to ban the common cooking practice as part of new reforms to the countrys animal welfare laws.

The scientist, who has carried out extensive research on how decapod crustaceans experience pain, has welcomed a move he said was sensible and suggested others countries followed suit.

He said: Animals that show responses consistent with pain are typically given some protection, especially at slaughter. However, crustaceans do not receive that protection in the UK. Even though the evidence is similar for different groups of animals they are treated very differently.

I see no rationale for this different treatment in the UK and it is good to see the Swiss making sensible decisions based on evidence. I suspect that other countries will follow the available evidence.

The government act, which takes effect in March in Switzerland, means crustaceans must be stunned before they are killed. The new regulations also prohibit the transportation of live lobsters on ice or in ice water.

Boiling lobsters alive has been a common method of killing them for many years, but lately there has been growing debate about whether crustaceans feel pain.

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It was previously suggested that lobsters responses were just reflexes and that they were incapable of feeling pain  but recent research suggests otherwise.

Prof Elwood, who is based at Queens University Belfast, said his experiments showed decapod crustaceans responses to noxious stimuli are much more than mere reflex. Decapods learn to avoid a place in which they receive electric shock remarkably quickly, he said.

They will engage in prolonged rubbing of specific body areas that are subject to chemical or electrical stimuli, indicating an awareness. They will give up valuable resources to get away from shock.

They show hormonal changes after shock that are analogous to mammalian stress responses. All these responses are consistent with the idea of pain.

Switzerlands reforms come after a court in Italy ruled that lobsters cannot be kept on ice before being killed as this causes them suffering that could not be justified.

In the UK, more than 33,900 people have signed a petition calling on the government to include decapod crustaceans such crabs, lobsters, prawns, crayfish and shrimp in the Animal Welfare Act 2006. This would offer them greater protection from pain and suffering and would push for humane slaughter methods as with other vertebrate animals.

The petition to Michael Gove, the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, said: An EU panel has stated that many of the ways in which these animals are currently slaughtered are inhumane. They are often simply torn apart or boiled alive.

Recommended Fisherman catches rare blue lobster and donates it to science

It is estimated that a brown crab boiled alive may remain conscious for up to three minutes, something which would be considered completely unacceptable in a vertebrate animal like a pig or chicken. The petition added: Given the latest scientific evidence we believe this is unacceptable.

More humane methods include electrically stunning lobsters before they are killed so they do not feel pain.

Professor Elwood added: We should aim for a quick death at slaughter. That does not occur with boiling. Some advocate steaming lobsters by placing them in a small amount of hot water. Here, death will be even slower than by boiling.

The UK Government has published a draft bill which recognises animals as sentient beings, including wild animals.

Mr Gove pledged to toughen punishments for animal abusers and enshrine in law the principle that animals can feel pain and suffering. He also put forward proposals to make CCTV compulsory in slaughterhouses.

A spokesman for the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs said minister George Eustice had previously stated the issue of crustaceans was one the Government is considering.

We are committed to the very highest standards of animal welfare, he said. As the Prime Minister has set out, we will make the United Kingdom a world leader in the care and protection of animals as we leave the EU.One of Britains most prolific paedophiles has been jailed after blackmailing dozens of young victims into performing depraved sexual acts online.

Dr Matthew Falder, a 29-year-old Cambridge graduate, was sentenced for 32 years in prison after admitting 137 offences against 46 victims.

Three of them attempted to kill themselves after being coerced into sending him explicit images, with Falder being arrested following an international intelligence operation involving security services in the UK, US, Israel and Australia.

Judge Philip Parker QC said his warped and sadistic behaviour told a tale of ever increasing depravity.

As for your equally extraordinary sexual offending  no-one who knew you above ground had an inkling of what you were doing below the surface, he told Falder.

You wanted to assume total control over your victims. Your behaviour was cunning, persistent, manipulative and cruel.

Judge Parker said the damage to victims would never end because of the knowledge that the images he obtained and distributed remain online.

Time and again people begged you to stop, he added. Time and again you ramped up the pressure.

Matthew Falder, an academic from Birmingham, was jailed for 32 years (NCA)

Birmingham Crown Court was told horrific details of Falders eight-year campaign of a relentless, obsessive desire to continue committing offences, which saw him encourage the rape of a four-year-old boy.

It heard that both male and female victims were convinced to send increasingly severe self-generated indecent images of themselves, the focus of these images being to humiliate and degrade.

Prosecutor Ruona Iguyovwe said many images were then distributed on so-called hurtcore websites showing material depicting sexual and physical abuse.

In a list of 100 things we want to see at least once, Falder suggested a young girl being used as a dartboard, a video depicting a childs bones being slowly and deliberately broken and the abuse of a paralysed child.

Falder boasted that he would never be caught and said he did not care if his victims lived or died, while targeting more than 300 people ranging from young teenagers to adults worldwide using a classified advert website.

He initially posed as a female artist who wanted to turn the images, including showing a vulnerable girl eating dog food, into life drawings.

One of Falder's victims told the court how she was left scared of meeting new people after being bombarded with controlling messages by Falder every day.

The woman  who was then a schoolgirl  believed her abuser would send images of her to friends and relatives unless she followed his instructions.

Matthew Falder, an academic from Birmingham, was jailed for 32 years (NCA)

She was approached by Falder after she posted an advertisement for work as a babysitter, with the abuser posing as a depressed female artist called Liz.

Falder convinced her to send nude images, claiming he would use them as tasteful illustrations, but was then blackmailed into taking demeaning photos of herself.

Every day when I woke up, there would be a message, the victim said. When I came home from school, there would be a message.

The woman initially felt too ashamed to tell anyone what was happening, with her school work suffering and relationships breaking down.

I felt like no one would understand because there was no one there holding a knife to me saying You will do this, even though it felt like that, she told the court.

I hope one day I can rationalise the fact that not everyone wants to hurt me.

Falder, of Harborne Park Road in Birmingham, was working as a lecturer and post-doctoral researcher in geophysics at the University of Birmingham when he was arrested.

The University of Cambridge, where a tutor described Falder as one of the finest students hed ever supervised, said it was pursuing ways to strip him of his geophysics degree, Masters and PhD.

GCHQ, the US Homeland Security department and security services in Israel, Slovenia, Australia and New Zealand helped the operation to catch Falder, who used specialist software to hide his online accounts.

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Under the usernames evilmind and 666devil, he used anonymising web software and hidden dark-web forums dedicated to sharing images of rape, murder, sadism, torture, paedophilia, blackmail, humiliation and degradation.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) was alerted to a UK-based user Inthegarden on what investigators considered the worlds worst website in 2012, with a handful of victims reporting the abuse to local police forces.

The suspect could not be identified but in April 2015, the NCA began investigating a user called 666devil who was using a picture of a young girl he claimed was his daughter as his avatar and requested ideas on how to torture her.

The user, later unmasked as Falder, was found to be the same user as evilmind and Inthegarden following an extensive intelligence operation.

All 300 people he approached were reviewed by NCA child protection advisors and investigations showed Falder had installed hidden cameras at a variety of locations to secretly film friends showering.

Falder was questioned over three days, but answered no comment to all allegations before providing two prepared statements.

He admitted charges including encouraging the rape of a child, fraud, causing sexual exploitation, blackmail, making indecent images, sending communications with intent to cause distress and possession of extreme pornography depicting torture, death and bestiality.

Matt Sutton, NCA senior investigating officer, said the investigation was a watershed moment for forces working to catch online paedophiles.

In more than 30 years of law enforcement Ive never come across an offender whose sole motivation was to inflict such profound anguish and pain  Falder revelled in it, he added.

Ive also never known such an extremely complex investigation with an offender who was technologically savvy and able to stay hidden in the darkest recesses of the dark web.

The computer in Falders Birmingham flat (NCA)

Prosecutor Ruona Iguyovwe, from the Crown Prosecution Services International Justice and Organised Crime Division, said Falders use of encryption, technology and multiple identities showed a high degree of sophistication and planning.

Matthew Falder is a highly manipulative individual who clearly enjoyed humiliating his many victims and the impact of his offending has been significant, she added.

Javed Khan, the chief executive of Barnardos, said Falders sentence sends a message to paedophiles that they will pay for their crimes and will hopefully give victims the confidence to seek justice.

The childrens charity is encouraging parents to monitor their childrens online activity and warn them of dangers, while calling on technology companies to sign an online code of practice.

Victoria Atkins, the minister for crime, safeguarding and vulnerability, said Falders truly sickening crimes were a reminder of the scale of online child sexual exploitation.

I am humbled by the bravery of victims who came forward to tell their stories, and I applaud the collaborative work of the NCA and GCHQ in bringing him to justice, she added.

This Government will continue to support this outstanding work and the efforts of law enforcement to identify and protect victims and pursue these despicable predators.

It has committed 20m over three years to support the identification of those using the internet to groom children.

A spokesperson for the NSPCC said Falders despicable abuse showed that behind every pornographic image including children is a victim who has endured unimaginable pain and suffering.

Anyone affected is urged to contact police, the NSPCC Helpline 0808 800 5000, or Childline on 0800 1111.

Additional reporting by PAThousands of children could be abused because relatives believe they are witches or possessed by evil spirits in Britain, it has been warned.

Experts fear another child will be murdered if efforts to prevent abuse linked to faith and belief are not urgently stepped up, following the horrific deaths of young victims including Kristy Bamu and Ayesha Ali.

The first ever Government statistics on the issue showed that witchcraft and possession were linked to almost 1,500 potential abuse cases across the UK in a single year but the figure is thought to be an underestimate.

These beliefs are very real and on occasion people are going to take this to extremes where a child can be murdered, said Inspector Allen Davis, who leads the Metropolitan Polices response to the issue.

There are a number of ways that an adult will try to rid the child of the evil they believe is within them.

They might try to burn it out, cut it out, strangle it out, drowning can be involved, or starving and beating.

Several children have been killed in the UK as a result of horrific abuse meted out by guardians who believed they were possessed or witches, including an eight-year-old girl who was tortured and 15-year-old boy who drowned during an exorcism.

Victoria Climbie died at the age of eight after sustained torture and abuse by her guardians in February 2000

Each harrowing case has sparked calls for action, but attention has quickly faded and activists are battling to raise awareness among social services, teachers, police and other authorities.

Dr Lisa Oakley, chair of the National Working Group for Child Abuse Linked to Faith or Belief, said: We know these practices are occurring so we want to be acting now so we dont have another high-profile case.

Youve then got a child who is severely damaged or not here anymore, and thats a high price to pay.

Were saying we dont want to get to a point where there is another high profile case.

Dr Oakley, who is a senior psychology lecturer at the University of Chester, said the abuse stems from genuine belief systems where people believe they are doing the right thing for a child.

Cases have been found in all regions of the UK and across a range of different communities and religions, but a survey of more than 1,300 teachers, social workers, police officers, medics, community workers and religious figures showed that only a third could spot signs of abuse.

Research by the working group indicated that only half of respondents knew how to respond properly and a quarter had training on the issue.

Insp Davis warned that abuse related to witchcraft and demons was being hidden in plain sight because it is not properly understood.

Were not recognising the signs, were not sharing the information, were not identifying people who are vulnerable, he said.

Ayesha Ali death Show all 10 1 /10 Ayesha Ali death Ayesha Ali death Ayesha Ali death A mother and her girlfriend have being convicted of killing eight-year-old Ayesha Ali after subjecting the child to months of abuse because she was evil PA Ayesha Ali death Ayesha Ali death A letter written by Ayesha Ali PA Ayesha Ali death Ayesha Ali death A 'naughty list' written by Ayesha Ali PA Ayesha Ali death Ayesha Ali death Mother Polly Chowdhury (left), 35, and her lesbian lover Kiki Muddar, who were found guilty of killing eight-year-old Ayesha Ali after getting caught up in a twisted romance revolving around fictional Facebook characters PA Ayesha Ali death Ayesha Ali death The bedroom where Ayesha Ali's body was found PA Ayesha Ali death Ayesha Ali death A new shower hose and fitting purchased by Kiki Muddar found inside the flat at Bedwell Court; it is believed this was a replacement for one that had been used to assault Ayesha Ali PA Ayesha Ali death Ayesha Ali death Kiki Muddar during the morning of 28 August when she purchased a shower hose and fitting, it is believed this was a replacement for one that had been used to assault Ayesha Ali PA Ayesha Ali death Ayesha Ali death A CCTV still taken from footage issued by the Metropolitan Police of Kiki Muddar during the morning of 28 August when she purchased a shower hose and fitting; it is believed this was a replacement for one that had been used to assault Ayesha Ali PA Ayesha Ali death Ayesha Ali death Detective Inspector Donna Convery, from the Metropolitan Police, said she had never seen a case like it. What the motivation behind this campaign of abuse was remains unclear. What is painfully clear, however, is that Ayesha, an eight-year-old girl, has had her life taken away in horribly brutal circumstances PA Ayesha Ali death Ayesha Ali death Polly Chowdhury, the mother of Ayesha Ali Facebook

The beliefs in witchcraft and spirit possession are very broad and go across a far larger swathe of the world than you would expect.

These beliefs are common within both Christianity and Islam and we get victims from both.

Evidence suggests that areas of Africa are affected by it but this is not a black African problem. This is far broader, these beliefs are widespread across many parts of the world and were widespread in this country not so long ago.

A cursory internet search demonstrates the demand for exorcisms and other religious services in Britain.

One self-declared Deliverance Ministry offers services in person or over Skype that claim to cleanse demons and evil spirits  for a price.

Its website blames the supernatural for everything from depression to sexual abuse, marriage breakdown, financial issues and health problems, proscribing exorcism with inner healing.

One Muslim practitioner claims to exorcise Jinn spirits in his East London home for 60 a time and similar Ruqyah services can be found in several British cities.

Mainstream Christian denominations also offer exorcisms, although the Church of England urges believers to contact advisers confidentially on psychic phenomena because of the danger of adverse and sensational publicity.

Exorcisms are performed as part of many faiths, including Christianity (Getty)

Leethen Bartholomew, who oversees work to tackle faith-linked abuse as head of the National FGM Centre, said the beliefs do not always result in physical action against a child.

He explained that parents who believes their children is a witch or possessed might first employ safety behaviours like protective talismans or amulets, and ask for deliverance through fasting and prayer before starting physical measures.

All of these things are done for a purpose, theyre not random, Mr Bartholomew said. The idea is that the child is no longer there, the childs body is possessed by something thats evil.

Recommended Survivor recounts horror of FGM as police launch crackdown

He believes the 1,460 potential cases found in the 2016/2017 Children in Need Census is a massive underestimate to be honest, having worked at a local authority seeing at least 10 cases a year even before faith and belief had to be recorded as a factor.

The information from my research is that its much more prevalent, said Mr Bartholomew, who is working towards a PhD adults accused of being possessed or called a witch.

The prevalence of it internationally has also been increasing.

He said there was still a lot of learning to be done as prevention work by Barnardos and other charities continues alongside projects by the Metropolitan Police and London Mayors office.

Research shows children are singled out for the accusations because of difference, which can include being a twin, albino, having mental health problems, epilepsy, bed-wetting, sleep walking, being rebellious or gifted.

A child normalises that abusive behaviour and blames themselves, because theyre very young, theyre vulnerable, they will think of themselves as witches, Insp Davis said.

Inspector Allen Davis, the Metropolitan Polices head of child abuse linked to faith and belief (Lizzie Dearden)

This is why there is the opportunity for professionals and communities to recognise that harm because if a child is talking about someone accusing them of being witch, they need to take that really seriously.

He said police cannot arrest our way out of the issue, which can be linked to other concerns including honour-based violence and female genital mutilation (FGM).

The beliefs that underpin the abuse are far, far wider than most people would thinkwere not here to criticise those beliefs but when they turn into the abuse of children, we all have to step in, the officer added.

Our primary concern is safeguarding children as a preventative measure where we can intervene before a crime has taken place and ultimately before a child is murdered.

He said raising awareness had been a challenge and urged agencies including police, social workers, teachers and health professionals to take up training so they can spot the warnings signs.

Dr Oakley said child abuse linked to faith and belief had not had the same Government buy-in or support as FGM, but public awareness and intervention was desperately needed.

We are calling on Government ministers to consider this issue and start to give us backing to tackle it, she added.

A spokesperson for the Department for Education said: Children must be kept safe, and no belief system can justify the abuse of a child.

Those responsible for child abuse linked to faith or belief would be subject to prosecution. Our statutory guidance is clear that anyone who has concerns about a childs welfare should report this to childrens social care or the police.

Wicked: Children murdered over spiritual beliefs in the UK

Victoria Climbie, 11

Died: 25 February 2000, London

Victoria Climbie died at the age of eight after sustained torture and abuse by her guardians in February 2000

Victoria was born in Ivory Coast and brought to the UK by her great-aunt Marie-Therese Kouao, who moved in with her boyfriend Carl Manning in 1999.

Numerous people who came to contact with the family reported concerns to social services but no action was taken and Victorias abuse worsened, with her aunt initially blaming her incontinence.

A childminder heard Kouao calling the child a wicked girl before she told pastors that she believed Victoria was possessed by an evil spirit.

Two pastors supported her claim, with one saying he would fast on Victorias behalf and pray for deliverance from witchcraft, bad luck and everything bad or evil.

Days later, Victoria died after being starved for days while tied up in a black plastic bag with her hands and feet bound, lying in her own excrement without heating between being beaten and burned.

She was rushed to hospital suffering from a combination of malnutrition and hypothermia and was declared dead the next day, with a pathologist finding 128 separate injuries and scars in the worst case of child abuse I've encountered.

Kouao and Manning were jailed for life for murder, and the Government commissioned an inquiry into the deeply disturbing failures by social services, police, housing authorities and hospitals.

Two social workers from Haringey Council were dismissed for gross misconduct.

Nusayba Bharuchi, four

Died: 16 December 2010

Nusayba was disembowelled by her mother after she accused her of being possessed, with her father finding her body.

Reports said the childs heart and other organs had been removed and placed in different rooms.

Her mother was detained under the Mental Health Act after allegedly being found by the corpse, rocking back and forth, chanting and listening to Quranic verses on an mp3 player.

Neighbours said they had been hearing terrible screaming in the night.

Kristy Bamu, 15

Died: 25 December 2010

Kristy Bamu was tortured and drowned in a bath on Christmas Day 2010 (PA)

Kristy and four of his siblings had come to London from Paris to stay with his sister Magalie Bamu and her partner Eric Bikubi for the festive season.

The couple, who were said to be obsessed with kindoki, the word for witchcraft in their native Democratic Republic of the Congo, accused him of putting spells on a younger child and started days of sadistic abuse.

Kristy was singled out after wetting his pants and his siblings were starved of food and water for three days and nights while praying for deliverance.

His sisters, aged 20 and 11, were also beaten but escaped further attacks after confessing to being witches, while they and their brothers aged 13 and 22 were then forced to take part in the torture.

Prosecutors said Kristy pleaded to be allowed to die while being beaten with a metal bar, hammer, floor tiles and bottles.

The siblings were placed in a bath for ritual cleansing on Christmas Day but Kristy was too weak and slipped under the water.

He died of a combination of drowning and the beatings, with a post-mortem finding 130 separate injuries.

Ayesha Ali, eight

Died: 29 August 2013

Mother Polly Chowdhury (left), 35, and her lesbian lover Kiki Muddar, who were found guilty of killing eight-year-old Ayesha Ali after getting caught up in a twisted romance revolving around fictional Facebook characters (PA)

Ayeshas mother, Polly Chowdhury, was brainwashed by her girlfriend into believing her daughter was possessed, evil and had bad blood after her father left their home in East London.

Kiki Muddar manipulated the mother using a bizarre cyber fantasy world, bombarding her with more than 40,000 texts, including one reading: You have no right to ever love or like your evil daughter.

During the court case that saw both women jailed was played a recording of a telephone call to a friend where Muddar vowed to kill Ayesha, calling her a witch, adding: Ill f***ing drown her in the bath.

Chowdhury eventually believed a Muslim spirit guide called Skyman instructed them to abuse her daughter via text messages.

Neighbours heard Ayesha screaming and pleading I dont want to be bad, while a handwritten note by the child described how she hated getting punishments but was trying to be good.

Ayesha was found dead in her bedroom at their flat in Chadwell Heath, east London, in August 2013.

A blow to the head was ruled to be the cause of death but more than 50 injuries, including bruises, carpet burns and a bite mark, told of the extent of the abuse.

When paramedics found the child dead, the court heard that Muddar told them: Ayesha is always naughty. She was a naughty child and her mum thought she was possessed by the devil.A gay couple who kissed briefly during a meal to mark Valentines Day walked out of the restaurant when its owner confronted them and said it was a family-friendly environment.

Sam Anderson and Angus Reilly had been enjoying their dinner in The Mumbai Inn in Leicester and had moments earlier swapped gifts as part of their romantic celebration.

But it turned sour when owner Andaz Rana approached them and claimed another customer was uncomfortable with their public display of affection.

Recommended Gay couple sue after just one of their twins receives US citizenship

The pair said they were shocked and left after feeling they had been discriminated against.

Mr Anderson explained how they pair ended up kissing during their early Valentines Day meal last Monday  two days ahead of the official occasion  when they walked into The Mumbai Inn.

We were shown to our table, it was pretty quiet. And then Angus gave me a Valentine Days present. We then kissed across the table briefly, he told BBC Asian Network.

A couple of minutes later probably, Mr Rana (the owner) came up to the table and stood over us, in a fairly intimidating way, we felt. He told us it was a family-friendly restaurant. We werent asked to stop, werent made aware of any customer complaint that hed had.

I was really shocked, I didnt really know what to say. We were just told its a family-friendly restaurant  a phrase that I definitely do associate with homophobia.

And yes, some people might have issues with public displays of affection but it was Valentines period.

Mr Rana, the owner of The Mumbai Inn, told the same programme that he approached Mr Anderson and Mr Reilly because a customer had supposedly made a complaint over the couples kiss.

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 said they were not feeling comfortable. Its a PDA (public display of affection). Somebody said there were underage people next to him having dinner and somebodys sons  around nine-10 years old, and they were feeling uncomfortable.

He apologised to Mr Anderson and Mr Reilly, saying: If they feel bad, from my side I am saying sorry. The Independent tried to contact Mr Rana for comment but was unable to reach him.

Mr Anderson said: You know as a gay couple this stuff happens, but the worst part is that you dont know when. Its really sad that I just want to have a nice evening with the man I love.A newly released 2011 internal report into alleged abuse by Oxfam aid workers reveals how three members of the organisations Haiti team physically threatened a colleague sent to investigate misconduct claims.

The report sheds light on how a tip-off bloomed into a scandal which has now shamed the organisation.

An email on 12 July 2011 from the Latin America & the Caribbean Region alerted staff to a spate of potential code of conduct breaches.

Offences reported related to sexual exploitation (use of prostitutes in OGB (Oxfam GB) guest houses and sexual harassment of staff), fraud, negligence and nepotism, according to the newly released document.

Investigators were also alerted that country director (CD) Roland Van Hauwermeiren had allegedly used prostitutes at his OGB funded residence, prompting a decision to probe claims against him first.

Three people were sent to Haiti to covertly investigate the accusations during four days. The report concluded: The only substantiated allegations against the CD were of the use of prostitutes in his OGB residence.

It continues: During the interview the CD admitted using prostitutes in his OGB residence. On being briefed on the wider allegations, he took full responsibility and offered to resign.

Recommended Oxfam told of aid workers raping children in Haiti a decade ago

After further discussion... it was agreed that OGB might accept his resignation, and allow him a phased and dignified exit, provided he would fully cooperate with the rest of the investigation.

This was partly in recognition of the significant contribution he made in his time with OGB, the report added.

Mr Van Hauwermeiren last week denied ever using sex workers in Haiti.

Forty witnesses were interviewed during the investigation, but the leaking of an official report resulted in 3 of the suspects... physically threatening and intimidating one of the witness, leading to further charges of bullying and intimidation.

The report ended: None of the inititial allegations concerning fraud, nepotism, or use of under-age prostitutes was substantiated during the investigation, although it cannot be ruled out that any of the prostitutes were under age.

Press AssociationThere is nothing to stop Theresa May immediately publishing a forecast of the exact Brexit deal she wants from Brussels, a Government insider has told The Independent.

Whitehall officials have created a forecasting model into which any Brexit circumstances can be fed to estimate how the UKs GDP growth would perform.

Ms May has sought to play down a document which showed the UK worse off under three different Brexit scenarios, by saying it had not explored the exact deal she wants to agree.

But news about the Whitehall forecasting model has led critics to question why the Government does not yet appear to have tested the deal Ms May hopes to secure, and whether the Prime Minister even knows exactly what it looks like.

It comes as her former deputy Damian Green called on the Government to publish all Brexit analysis and attacked politicians who wont accept evidence stacking up about what will happen to the UKs economy after EU withdrawal.

Earlier this year a leaked document showed the UK would be worse off under three tested scenarios  a no deal Brexit, Brexit with a free trade deal with the EU, and Norway-style access to the single market  than if it stayed in the EU.

At the time Ms May said the paper was very preliminary and had not tested the specific scenario she is seeking.

 Guy Verhofstadt says there will be a no deal Brexit if the UK Parliament votes against the deal

But an official told The Independent: The analysis that is being seen comes from an economic modelling exercise.

You can feed into the model whatever circumstances you like to test any outcome of the Brexit talks.

So there is nothing to stop the Government testing any outcome right now, in addition to the three that were included in the paper.

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

Ms May has pledged to give Parliament the information it needs to vote on the deal she agrees, but critics attacked her today for failing to be open about the impact of her plans, despite Brexit being just a year away.

Labour MP Chuka Umunna, a supporter of the Open Britain campaign, said: This suggests yet again the public are being kept in the dark on the impact of Brexit.

Thats either because the PM has no idea what deal she wants, so is in not in a position to test it, or because she does have an idea, but doesn't want us to see the results, which are highly likely to indicate that staying in the single market and customs union are the best possible options.

A Government spokeswoman said officials are working to build the best possible analysis to inform the negotiations on our exit from the EU.

She added: As Ministers have made clear, this is provisional internal work. The modelling is only one part of an ongoing programme of analysis which government is undertaking to inform decisions."

Ministers were eventually forced to show the leaked impact assessment to MPs under strictly controlled conditions, but the Whitehall paper sparked vitriolic attacks from Tory backbenchers who accused civil servants that drew it up of being biased against Brexit.

The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Show all 8 1 /8 The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Post-Brexit immigration workers sorting radishes on a production line at a farm in Norfolk. One possible post-Brexit immigration scheme could struggle to channel workers towards less attractive roles - while another may heighten the risk of labour exploitation, a new report warns. PA The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Customs union A key point in the negotiations remains Britain's access to, or withdrawal from, the EU customs union. Since the referendum there has been hot debate over the meaning of Brexit: would it entail a full withdrawal from the existing agreement, known as hard Brexit, or the soft version in which we would remain part of a common customs area for most goods, as Turkey does? No 10 has so far insisted that Brexit means Brexit and that Britain will be leaving the customs union, but may be inclined to change its position once the potential risks to the UKs economic outlook become clearer. Alamy The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Northern Ireland-Irish border Though progress was made last year, there has still been no solid agreement on whether there should be a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. To ensure borderless travel on the island, the countries must be in regulatory alignment and therefore adhere to the same rules as the customs union. In December, the Conservative Partys coalition partners, the DUP, refused a draft agreement that would place the UK/EU border in the Irish Sea due to its potential to undermine the union. May has promised that would not be the case and has suggested that a specific solution would need to be found. Getty The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Transition period Despite protests from a small number of Conservative MPs, the Government and the EU are largely in agreement that a transitional period is needed after Brexit. The talks, however, have reached an impasse. Though May has agreed that the UK will continue to contribute to the EU budget until 2021, the PM wants to be able to select which laws made during this time the UK will have to adhere to. Chief negotiator Michel Barnier has said the UK must adopt all of the laws passed during the transition, without any input from British ministers or MEPs. EPA The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Rights of EU citizens living the UK The Prime Minister has promised EU citizens already living in the UK the right to live and work here after Brexit, but the rights of those who arrive after Brexit day remains unclear. May insists that those who arrive during the transition period should not be allowed to stay, whereas the EU believe the cut-off point should be later. Getty The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Future trade agreement (with the EU) Despite this being a key issue in negotiations, the Government has yet to lay out exactly what it wants from a trade deal with the EU. Infighting within the Cabinet has prevented a solid position from being reached, with some MPs content that "no deal is better than a bad deal" while others rally behind single market access. The EU has already confirmed that access to the single market would be impossible without the UK remaining in the customs union. Getty The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Future trade agreements (internationally) The Government has already begun trying to woo foreign leaders into prospective trade agreements, with various high profile state visits to China, India and Canada for May, and the now infamous invitation to US President Donald Trump to visit London. However the UK cannot make trade agreements with another country while it is still a member of the EU, and the potential loss of trade with the world's major powers is a source of anxiety for the PM. The EU has said the UK cannot secure trade deals during the transition period. EPA The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Financial services Banks in the UK will be hit hard regardless of the Brexit outcome. The EU has refused to give British banks passporting rights to trade within the EU, dashing hopes of a special City deal. However according to new reports Germany has suggested allowing trade on the condition that the UK continues paying into the EU budget even after the transition period. Getty

In an interview broadcast on Monday evening Theresa Mays former deputy Damian Green warned that the UK is in danger of adopting faith based Brexit policies if ministers ignore economic forecasts predicting a hit to the British economy.

He told the BBC: Theres a great problem of politicians who wont accept evidence.

We can all argue about economic forecasts and none of them are 100 per cent accurate, but you have to some extent rely on them and if you reject evidence you dont like, then you are likely to end up producing faith based policies.

There are politicians who would prefer not to have the evidence there.

Mr Green went on to say: If analysis is being produced then publish it. And frankly there will be a big political debate lets have this argument in public, thats what democracies do.Australia has said it would be open to the idea of the UK joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade bloc after Brexit.

Julie Bishop, the countrys Foreign Affairs Minister, said during a visit to Britain that Australia could also sign a bilateral trade deal with the UK  but only if the Government sticks to its plan to leave the EU customs union.

Asked about the prospect of the UK joining the Pacific trade group, Ms Bishop said: We would of course welcome interest from an economy the size of Britains.

It follows reports that UK ministers are considering applying to join the TPP in a bid to find alternative markets for exports that currently go to Europe.

Liam Fox, the International Trade Secretary, said earlier this year that the Government was looking at the option of becoming part of the trading bloc.

If it joins, the UK will be the only TPP member not to have a border on the Pacific Ocean or South China Sea. Current members include Japan, Canada, Mexico and Australia.

Donald Trump pulled the USA out of the group soon after taking office but has since suggested he could renegotiate its membership.

The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Show all 8 1 /8 The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Post-Brexit immigration workers sorting radishes on a production line at a farm in Norfolk. One possible post-Brexit immigration scheme could struggle to channel workers towards less attractive roles - while another may heighten the risk of labour exploitation, a new report warns. PA The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Customs union A key point in the negotiations remains Britain's access to, or withdrawal from, the EU customs union. Since the referendum there has been hot debate over the meaning of Brexit: would it entail a full withdrawal from the existing agreement, known as hard Brexit, or the soft version in which we would remain part of a common customs area for most goods, as Turkey does? No 10 has so far insisted that Brexit means Brexit and that Britain will be leaving the customs union, but may be inclined to change its position once the potential risks to the UKs economic outlook become clearer. Alamy The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Northern Ireland-Irish border Though progress was made last year, there has still been no solid agreement on whether there should be a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. To ensure borderless travel on the island, the countries must be in regulatory alignment and therefore adhere to the same rules as the customs union. In December, the Conservative Partys coalition partners, the DUP, refused a draft agreement that would place the UK/EU border in the Irish Sea due to its potential to undermine the union. May has promised that would not be the case and has suggested that a specific solution would need to be found. Getty The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Transition period Despite protests from a small number of Conservative MPs, the Government and the EU are largely in agreement that a transitional period is needed after Brexit. The talks, however, have reached an impasse. Though May has agreed that the UK will continue to contribute to the EU budget until 2021, the PM wants to be able to select which laws made during this time the UK will have to adhere to. Chief negotiator Michel Barnier has said the UK must adopt all of the laws passed during the transition, without any input from British ministers or MEPs. EPA The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Rights of EU citizens living the UK The Prime Minister has promised EU citizens already living in the UK the right to live and work here after Brexit, but the rights of those who arrive after Brexit day remains unclear. May insists that those who arrive during the transition period should not be allowed to stay, whereas the EU believe the cut-off point should be later. Getty The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Future trade agreement (with the EU) Despite this being a key issue in negotiations, the Government has yet to lay out exactly what it wants from a trade deal with the EU. Infighting within the Cabinet has prevented a solid position from being reached, with some MPs content that "no deal is better than a bad deal" while others rally behind single market access. The EU has already confirmed that access to the single market would be impossible without the UK remaining in the customs union. Getty The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Future trade agreements (internationally) The Government has already begun trying to woo foreign leaders into prospective trade agreements, with various high profile state visits to China, India and Canada for May, and the now infamous invitation to US President Donald Trump to visit London. However the UK cannot make trade agreements with another country while it is still a member of the EU, and the potential loss of trade with the world's major powers is a source of anxiety for the PM. The EU has said the UK cannot secure trade deals during the transition period. EPA The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Financial services Banks in the UK will be hit hard regardless of the Brexit outcome. The EU has refused to give British banks passporting rights to trade within the EU, dashing hopes of a special City deal. However according to new reports Germany has suggested allowing trade on the condition that the UK continues paying into the EU budget even after the transition period. Getty

The remaining TPP members agreed to continue without the US. They are currently negotiating a new deal, due to be completed in March, but the UK would be unable to join until it leaves the EU.

Ms Bishop said she hoped Australia could agree its own trade deal with the UK but warned that this could be scuppered if Britain remains in the EU single market.

Australia is very keen to pursue a free trade agreement with the United Kingdom, she said. I think that would be precluded if the United Kingdom were to rejoin the customs union.

Australia would want to secure rights enabling its citizens to work in the UK as part of any deal, Ms Bishop said.Jeremy Corbyn threatened to sue a Conservative MP for making unsubstantiated claims about his involvement with Communist spies.

The Labour leader ordered solicitors to contact Conservative Vice Chair Ben Bradley after he tweeted that Mr Corbyn had sold British secrets to foreign agents, after which the Tory backbencher promptly deleted it.

It follows days of lurid allegations in the media about meetings Mr Corbyn and other Labour MPs are said to have attended in the 1980s.

Mr Bradley referred to the reports during an interaction with another Twitter user, going on to say: Corbyn sold British secrets to communist spies.

Mr Corbyn and other Labour MPs accused of contact with foreign agents have already denied allegations made against them, but Mr Bradleys comment went even further than anything reported so far.

A spokesman for the party leader said: Jeremy has instructed solicitors to contact Ben Bradley to delete his libellous tweet or face legal action.

The controversy first began when The Sun reported on files in Czech archives that appeared to show the current Labour leader had met with a Czechoslovakian agent at least three times in 1986 and 1987.

Mr Corbyn admits to the meetings but insists he thought Jan Sarkocy was a diplomat, and strongly denies giving him any information.

Sarkocy, a former Czech spy who worked for the Statni Bezpecnost (StB) secret police during the Cold War, says he met Mr Corbyn a number of times, including twice in the House of Commons.

The ex-agent, now lives in Slovakian capital Bratislava, has also claimed to have personally organised the Live Aid concern in 1985, which he said was funded by Czechoslovakia.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 11 September 2021 Arsenals Takehiro Tomiyasu attempts to control the ball during the Premier League match at The Emirates Stadium PA UK news in pictures 10 September 2021 People paddle board during a misty morning in Ullswater, the second largest lake in the Lake District, Cumbria PA UK news in pictures 9 September 2021 Troops from Wiltshire based 4 Armoured Close Support Battalion Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers during final inspection at Wellington Barracks in London, ahead of providing troops for the Queens Guard PA UK news in pictures 8 September 2021 Workers cross London Bridge during the morning rush hour in London Reuters UK news in pictures Mixing it up: Painting it up press view in London A gallery employee poses for photographers next to a painting entitled Prairie by British artist, Louise Giovanelli during the exhibition 'Mixing it up: Painting it up' at the Hayward Gallery in London EPA UK news in pictures 6 September 2021 Traders in the Ring at the London Metal Exchange, in the City of London, after open-outcry trading returned for the first time since March 2020, when the Ring was temporarily closed due to the pandemic PA UK news in pictures 5 September 2021 People enjoy the warm weather on Sandbanks beach, Poole PA UK news in pictures 4 September 2021 Demonstrators from Animal Rebellion and Nature Rebellion protest in Trafalgar Square in London. PA UK news in pictures 3 September 2021 South Africa's Ntando Mahlangu (centre) wins the Men's 200 metres T61 Final ahead of second placed Great Britain's Richard Whitehead at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games PA UK news in pictures 2 September 2021 A young common seal on the beach at Horsey Gap in Norfolk, as hundreds of pregnant grey seals come ashore ready for the start of the pupping season. PA UK news in pictures 1 September 2021 Goldfinches fighting over food in a garden in Strensham, Worcestershire PA UK news in pictures 31 August 2021 Gold Medallist Sarah Storey of Britain celebrates on the podium Reuters UK news in pictures 30 August 2021 Extinction Rebellion protesters hold a a tea party on Tower Bridge in London EPA UK news in pictures 29 August 2021 A police office tussles with a demonstrator on Cromwell Road outside the Natural History Museum during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion in London PA UK news in pictures 28 August 2021 Members of the British armed forces 16 Air Assault Brigade walk to the air terminal after disembarking a Royal Airforce Voyager aircraft at Brize Norton, Oxfordshire POOL/AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 27 August 2021 Fabio Quartararo crashes during a MotoGP practice session at the British Grand Prix, Silverstone Circuit Action Images via Reuters UK news in pictures 26 August 2021 An Extinction Rebellion activist holds a placard in a fountain surrounded by police officers, during a protest next to Buckingham Palace in London Reuters UK news in pictures 25 August 2021 Gold Medallist Great Britains cyclist, Sarah Storey, celebrates after winning the Womens C5 3000m Individual Pursuit Final at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. It was her 15th Paralympic gold Reuters UK news in pictures 24 August 2021 A demonstrator dressed as bee during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion on Whitehall, in central London PA UK news in pictures 23 August 2021 Former interpreters for the British forces in Afghanistan demonstrate outside the Home Office in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 22 August 2021 Police officers form a line in front of the entrance to the Guildhall, London, where protesters have climbed onto a ledge above the entrance during an Extinction Rebellion stage a protest PA UK news in pictures 21 August 2021 People take part in a demonstration in solidarity with people of Afghanistan, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 20 August 2021 People zip wire across the sea from Bournemouth pier towards the beach. PA UK news in pictures 19 August 2021 Supporters of Geronimo the alpaca gather outside Shepherds Close Farm in Wooton Under Edge, Gloucestershire PA UK news in pictures 18 August 2021 Former Afghan interpreters and veterans hold a demonstration outside Downing Street, calling for support and protection for Afghan interpreters and their families PA UK news in pictures 17 August 2021 Military personnel board the RAF Airbus A400M at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, where evacuation flights from Afghanistan have been landing Reuters UK news in pictures 16 August 2021 Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer takes part in a minute's silence at Wolverhampton police station for the victims of the Plymouth mass shooting last week PA UK news in pictures 15 August 2021 2Storm, a ten-metre tall puppet of a mythical goddess of the sea created by Edinburgh-based visual theatre company Vision Mechanics, makes its way alongside the seafront at North Berwick, East Lothian, during a performance at the Fringe By The Sea festival PA UK news in pictures 14 August 2021 A woman and two young girls look at floral tributes in Plymouth where six people, including the offender, died of gunshot wounds in a firearms incident PA UK news in pictures 13 August 2021 Forensic officers in the Keyham area of Plymouth where six people, including the shooter, died of gunshot wounds in a firearms incident on Thursday evening PA UK news in pictures 12 August 2021 Children ride horses in the River Eden in Appleby, Cumbria, during the annual gathering of travellers for the Appleby Horse Fair PA UK news in pictures 11 August 2021 Stella Moris (left) reacts after talking to the media outside the High Court in London, following the first hearing in the Julian Assange extradition appeal, n London, following the first hearing in the Julian Assange extradition appeal. The US government has won the latest round in its High Court bid to appeal against the decision not to extradite Julian Assange on espionage charges PA UK news in pictures 10 August 2021 Students react after they receive their A-Level results at the Ark Academy, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 9 August 2021 The final athletes from Great Britain arrive home including Jason Kenny, Laura Kenny and Katie Archibald (front left-right) at Heathrow Airport, London following the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games PA UK news in pictures 8 August 2021 Great Britain's Laura Kenny during the closing ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Olympic stadium in Japan PA UK news in pictures 7 August 2021 People from the Glasgow Southside community take part in the Govanhill Carnival, an anti-racist celebration of pride, unity and the contributions immigrants have made to the community in Govanhill, at Queen's Park, Glasgow PA UK news in pictures 6 August 2021 Chijindu Ujah of Britain, Zharnel Hughes of Britain, Richard Kilty of Britain and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake of Britain celebrate winning silver as they pose with Asha Philip of Britain, Imani Lansiquot of Britain, Dina Asher-Smith of Britain and Daryll Neita of Britain after they won bronze in the women's 4 x 100m relay during Olympic Games Day 14 Getty UK news in pictures 5 August 2021 A protester places flowers on a photograph of an executed man during a demonstration organised by supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) to protest against the inauguration of Iran's new president Ebrahim Raisi in central London AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 4 August 2021 England's Joe Root looks on as India's KL Rahul doesn't make it to a catch during day one of Cinch First Test match at Trent Bridge, Nottingham PA UK news in pictures 3 August 2021 Great Britain's Laura Kenny and Jason Kenny with their silver medals for the Women's Team Pursuit and Mens Team Sprint during the Track Cycling at the Izu Velodrome on the eleventh day of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Japan PA UK news in pictures 2 August 2021 Great Britains Charlotte Worthington competes during the Womens BMX Freestyle Final at the Tokyo Olympics PA UK news in pictures 1 August 2021 EPA 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

Mr Corbyns spokesman has said: The claim that he was an agent, asset or informer for any intelligence agency is entirely false and a ridiculous smear.

Like other MPs, Jeremy has met diplomats from many countries. In the 1980s he met a Czech diplomat...Jeremy neither had nor offered any privileged information to this or any other diplomat.Labours deputy leader Tom Watson has launched a major attack against right-wing newspapers he accuses of spreading propaganda about Jeremy Corbyn to bolster declining sales.

Writing exclusively for The Independent, Mr Watson said the stories making allegations about Mr Corbyns contact with a Czech agent in the 1980s are false and ridiculous smears based on discredited sources.

The senior Labour figure goes on to accuse the newspapers proprietors of abusing their power to print poorly sourced stories simply because it suits their political agenda.

He argues the new attacks on Mr Corbyn fit a pattern going back decades, which has also seen the same papers attack Ed Milibands father as the man who hated Britain and vilified Neil Kinnock.

Mr Watsons attack comes as Mr Corbyn was forced to threaten legal action against Ben Bradley, an MP and a vice chair of the Conservatives, who, after reading the newspaper coverage, made claims on social media that the Labour leader had sold British secrets to communist spies.

In his article, Mr Watson writes: Newspaper proprietors in this country abuse their power.

Its a unique kind of self-harm for a newspaper to print a story they know is poorly sourced, decide to run it regardless because it suits their political agenda, and pass it off as news.

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

There are many reasons for declining newspaper circulation, but there can be no doubt the public is beginning to tire of the fact that too many papers routinely present smears, lies and innuendo as facts.

The controversy first began when The Sun reported on files in Czech archives that appeared to show the current Labour leader had met with a Czechoslovakian agent at least three times in 1986 and 1987.

Mr Corbyn admits to one meeting but insists he thought Jan Sarkocy was a diplomat, and strongly denies giving him any information.

Sarkocy, a former Czech spy who worked for the Statni Bezpecnost (StB) secret police during the Cold War, says he met Mr Corbyn a number of times, including twice in the House of Commons.

The ex-agent, who now lives in the Slovakian capital Bratislava, has also claimed to have personally organised the Live Aid concern in 1985, which he said was funded by Czechoslovakia.

Mr Watson wrote: Documents do not substantiate his wild claims.

 Jeremy Corbyns passionate Hyde Park Stop The War Speech in 2003

In fact, the director of the Czech security forces archive says that historic records show the opposite to what he claims  that Jeremy Corbyn was not a collaborator and that the Czech official he met deliberately concealed his true identity.

He added: Unfortunately for these newspapers, the years of slurs, of stretching the truth to breaking point, of completely one-sided reporting may be creeping up on them.

They do not wield the power they once did, their circulations are falling and people simply dont trust them anymore.

Theresa May chose to comment when she was asked about the claims in a press conference yesterday, responding that all MPs need to be open and transparent about their dealings in the past.

Conservative Ben Bradley MP took to Twitter to tell another social media user that Corbyn sold British secrets to communist spies.

He later deleted the tweet when Mr Corbyns office threatened him with legal action unless he removed the allegation.

Mr Corbyns spokesman has said of the stories more broadly: The claim that he was an agent, asset or informer for any intelligence agency is entirely false and a ridiculous smear.

Like other MPs, Jeremy has met diplomats from many countries. In the 1980s he met a Czech diplomat... Jeremy neither had nor offered any privileged information to this or any other diplomat.Nicola Sturgeon has warned that the Oxfam sex scandal should not be used as cover for foreign aid cuts as Theresa May attacked the behaviour of members of staff at the charity.

Oxfam issued a formal apology to the Haitian Government after allegations of abusive behaviour by its staff.

It was given at an official high-level meeting and the charitys international regional director for Latin America, Simon Ticehurst, said they wanted to re-establish their trust and partnership that had spanned 40 years.



The Scottish First Minister said that any form sexual misconduct was completely and utterly unacceptable but stressed that the Oxfam scandal should not be used to decimate the foreign aid budget.

The UK is one of only a handful of countries to meet the United Nations target of spending 0.7 per cent of Gross National Income on overseas aid and Ms Sturgeon said there was no shortage of people who wanted to stop that.

"I'm absolutely of the view, whether it's in the aid sector or Hollywood or politics or wherever we've seen this type of behaviour, it's absolutely vital that it's not tolerated and that steps are taken to make sure it doesn't happen in future, Ms Sturgeon said.

"But we've also got to be clear that the aid sector does good work and it's important in condemning the revelations that we've heard that we're not allowing those - and let's be pretty frank about this - we know there are no shortage of people within the current UK Government who would want to see the international aid budget decimated or removed altogether.

We must not allow this kind of situation, unacceptable though it is, to be used as cover for that broader political view point."

The comments came as the Prime Minister criticised staff at Oxfam describing their actions as horrific.

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

Well, first of all in relation to the Oxfam issue, the behaviour that we've now discovered was horrific, Ms May said. "It was far below the standards that we expect for the charities and the NGOs that we're working with."

She added: "And I understand there have been further revelations today which show that actually there was physical intimidation of witnesses.

"This is absolutely horrific. This is exactly the problem that we see which means that all too often people don't feel able to come forward to report what has happened to them, the behaviour that they've been on the receiving end of."A new political party inspired by the success of French President Emmanuel Macron has embarked on a national campaign to overturn the Brexit vote.

The Renew party has vowed to be the more military arm of the Remain campaign, with plans to field more than 200 candidates at the next general election, to ramp up pressure on Brexiteer MPs in pro-EU constituencies.

Inspired by the rise of President Macrons populist movement En Marche!, the centrist party said it could appeal to voters who felt politically homeless and abandoned by the EU referendum result and disillusioned by mainstream parties.

Speaking at a launch event in London, James Clarke, one of the partys leaders, said: Some of the anti-Brexit pressure groups and movements are very much focused on asking people to pressure their local MP to have a second thought on Brexit.

What we are is almost the more military arm of that movement, whereas we are actually standing candidates in seats to threaten those MPs that are not changing their minds, or are not standing up for the views of their constituents.

Renew has recruited more than 1,000 supporters and received 450 applications from budding MPs, with plans to recruit candidates to stand in each of the 650 parliamentary constituencies.

The party will face its first test in the local elections in May and has launched a crowd-funding campaign to ensure it can field some candidates in time.

Sandra Khadhouri, another party leader, who worked at the UN and Nato, said extremes are prevailing in the wake of the referendum vote and compared Britain to a conflict zone.

She said: Millions in this country feel politically homeless right now and abandoned. Brexiteers and Remainers, old and young, north and south. Many are disappointed with the false promise of Brexit.

It is leaving us poorer, damaging us in many ways, and distracting us from addressing real problems of inequality and division.

Existing parties are failing to protect peoples interests due to personal ambition and tribal loyalties. Extremes are prevailing.

The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Show all 8 1 /8 The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Post-Brexit immigration workers sorting radishes on a production line at a farm in Norfolk. One possible post-Brexit immigration scheme could struggle to channel workers towards less attractive roles - while another may heighten the risk of labour exploitation, a new report warns. PA The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Customs union A key point in the negotiations remains Britain's access to, or withdrawal from, the EU customs union. Since the referendum there has been hot debate over the meaning of Brexit: would it entail a full withdrawal from the existing agreement, known as hard Brexit, or the soft version in which we would remain part of a common customs area for most goods, as Turkey does? No 10 has so far insisted that Brexit means Brexit and that Britain will be leaving the customs union, but may be inclined to change its position once the potential risks to the UKs economic outlook become clearer. Alamy The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Northern Ireland-Irish border Though progress was made last year, there has still been no solid agreement on whether there should be a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. To ensure borderless travel on the island, the countries must be in regulatory alignment and therefore adhere to the same rules as the customs union. In December, the Conservative Partys coalition partners, the DUP, refused a draft agreement that would place the UK/EU border in the Irish Sea due to its potential to undermine the union. May has promised that would not be the case and has suggested that a specific solution would need to be found. Getty The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Transition period Despite protests from a small number of Conservative MPs, the Government and the EU are largely in agreement that a transitional period is needed after Brexit. The talks, however, have reached an impasse. Though May has agreed that the UK will continue to contribute to the EU budget until 2021, the PM wants to be able to select which laws made during this time the UK will have to adhere to. Chief negotiator Michel Barnier has said the UK must adopt all of the laws passed during the transition, without any input from British ministers or MEPs. EPA The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Rights of EU citizens living the UK The Prime Minister has promised EU citizens already living in the UK the right to live and work here after Brexit, but the rights of those who arrive after Brexit day remains unclear. May insists that those who arrive during the transition period should not be allowed to stay, whereas the EU believe the cut-off point should be later. Getty The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Future trade agreement (with the EU) Despite this being a key issue in negotiations, the Government has yet to lay out exactly what it wants from a trade deal with the EU. Infighting within the Cabinet has prevented a solid position from being reached, with some MPs content that "no deal is better than a bad deal" while others rally behind single market access. The EU has already confirmed that access to the single market would be impossible without the UK remaining in the customs union. Getty The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Future trade agreements (internationally) The Government has already begun trying to woo foreign leaders into prospective trade agreements, with various high profile state visits to China, India and Canada for May, and the now infamous invitation to US President Donald Trump to visit London. However the UK cannot make trade agreements with another country while it is still a member of the EU, and the potential loss of trade with the world's major powers is a source of anxiety for the PM. The EU has said the UK cannot secure trade deals during the transition period. EPA The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Financial services Banks in the UK will be hit hard regardless of the Brexit outcome. The EU has refused to give British banks passporting rights to trade within the EU, dashing hopes of a special City deal. However according to new reports Germany has suggested allowing trade on the condition that the UK continues paying into the EU budget even after the transition period. Getty

Ms Khadhouri said the message to wavering Brexit voters was its not your fault  as many had not been given enough information on the reality of leaving the bloc.

It comes as Theresa May gears up for a crunch Cabinet meeting this week, where senior minister will head to Chequers to thrash out what Britains future relationship with the EU should be.

Her top team remain deeply divided with Brexiteers Boris Johnson and Michael Gove pitched against Chancellor Philip Hammond and Amber Rudd, the Home Secretary, on the Governments approach.Theresa Mays former deputy has warned that the UK is in danger of adopting faith-based Brexit policies if ministers ignore economic forecasts predicting a hit to the British economy.

Damian Green called for all economic forecasting of the UKs withdrawal plans to be released and for the public to be allowed an open debate on how the country should proceed.

Whitehall documents recently predicted the UK would be worse off after withdrawal regardless of whether it secures an EU trade deal, sparking anger from Tory right-wingers who accused the civil service of trying to sabotage Brexit.

But in a move that threatens to lever open Conservative Brexit divisions ahead of a crunch cabinet meeting this week, Mr Green rejected their claims as conspiracy theories.

Speaking in a BBC interview to be broadcast this evening, he said: Theres a great problem of politicians who wont accept evidence.

We can all argue about economic forecasts and none of them are 100 per cent accurate, but you have to some extent rely on them and if you reject evidence you dont like, then you are likely to end up producing faith-based policies.

There are politicians who would prefer not to have the evidence there.

 Boris Johnson refuses to rule out resigning from the Cabinet over Brexit

The Government has been under intense pressure for months to publish official forecasts of Brexits impact on the economy, and have only released anything following votes in Parliament.

When a more recent analysis showed the UK would be worse of outside the EU after 15 years, regardless of whether it is still in the single market, has a trade deal or is on WTO trading terms, Ms May rebuffed the story by saying the document had not analysed the particular deal she was seeking.

She went on to pledge that Parliament would be given analysis of the final deal the UK agrees before it votes on the issue.

The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Show all 8 1 /8 The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Post-Brexit immigration workers sorting radishes on a production line at a farm in Norfolk. One possible post-Brexit immigration scheme could struggle to channel workers towards less attractive roles - while another may heighten the risk of labour exploitation, a new report warns. PA The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Customs union A key point in the negotiations remains Britain's access to, or withdrawal from, the EU customs union. Since the referendum there has been hot debate over the meaning of Brexit: would it entail a full withdrawal from the existing agreement, known as hard Brexit, or the soft version in which we would remain part of a common customs area for most goods, as Turkey does? No 10 has so far insisted that Brexit means Brexit and that Britain will be leaving the customs union, but may be inclined to change its position once the potential risks to the UKs economic outlook become clearer. Alamy The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Northern Ireland-Irish border Though progress was made last year, there has still been no solid agreement on whether there should be a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. To ensure borderless travel on the island, the countries must be in regulatory alignment and therefore adhere to the same rules as the customs union. In December, the Conservative Partys coalition partners, the DUP, refused a draft agreement that would place the UK/EU border in the Irish Sea due to its potential to undermine the union. May has promised that would not be the case and has suggested that a specific solution would need to be found. Getty The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Transition period Despite protests from a small number of Conservative MPs, the Government and the EU are largely in agreement that a transitional period is needed after Brexit. The talks, however, have reached an impasse. Though May has agreed that the UK will continue to contribute to the EU budget until 2021, the PM wants to be able to select which laws made during this time the UK will have to adhere to. Chief negotiator Michel Barnier has said the UK must adopt all of the laws passed during the transition, without any input from British ministers or MEPs. EPA The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Rights of EU citizens living the UK The Prime Minister has promised EU citizens already living in the UK the right to live and work here after Brexit, but the rights of those who arrive after Brexit day remains unclear. May insists that those who arrive during the transition period should not be allowed to stay, whereas the EU believe the cut-off point should be later. Getty The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Future trade agreement (with the EU) Despite this being a key issue in negotiations, the Government has yet to lay out exactly what it wants from a trade deal with the EU. Infighting within the Cabinet has prevented a solid position from being reached, with some MPs content that "no deal is better than a bad deal" while others rally behind single market access. The EU has already confirmed that access to the single market would be impossible without the UK remaining in the customs union. Getty The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Future trade agreements (internationally) The Government has already begun trying to woo foreign leaders into prospective trade agreements, with various high profile state visits to China, India and Canada for May, and the now infamous invitation to US President Donald Trump to visit London. However the UK cannot make trade agreements with another country while it is still a member of the EU, and the potential loss of trade with the world's major powers is a source of anxiety for the PM. The EU has said the UK cannot secure trade deals during the transition period. EPA The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Financial services Banks in the UK will be hit hard regardless of the Brexit outcome. The EU has refused to give British banks passporting rights to trade within the EU, dashing hopes of a special City deal. However according to new reports Germany has suggested allowing trade on the condition that the UK continues paying into the EU budget even after the transition period. Getty

Mr Green went on to say: If analysis is being produced then publish it. And frankly there will be a big political debate ... lets have this argument in public, thats what democracies do.

His interview with the BBC Radio 4 programme The Ministry of Leave will be broadcast at 8pm this evening, but has already sparked an angry reaction from politicians who backed Remain.

A Government spokesperson said: The Departments purpose is to negotiate our successful exit from the European Union, and therefore a significant amount of our work is sensitive. We always strive to balance our commitment to transparency with the need to protect sensitive information that could affect our negotiating position.

 Theresa May: After Brexit the UK will pursue an independent foreign policy

Throughout this process we have been as transparent as possible  as demonstrated by the number of speeches setting out our position by the Prime Minister and her Cabinet colleagues, as well as the 14 position papers weve published.

Labour MP Stephen Doughty, a leading supporter of the Open Britain campaign, said: The fact that even Theresa Mays former deputy, Damian Green, is saying that the Government should release their secret Brexit impact assessments for the public to see is a damning indictment of her behind-closed-doors, secretive approach to Brexit.

Tom Brake, Liberal Democrat Brexit Spokesperson, said: It is shameful that this government is keeping the public in the dark about Brexit.

The future of the UK is being plotted behind closed doors, without scrutiny and without transparency.

It comes ahead of a crunch meeting of the Cabinet at Chequers on Thursday that will see Brexiteers Boris Johnson and Michael Gove pitched against Philip Hammond and Amber Rudd, as Ms Mays top team attempts to thrash out an agreed approach on what Britains future relations with the EU should look like.Theresa May is facing a call for an early vote in the Commons on whether to press ahead with contentious plans to slash the number of MPs from 650 to 600.

The House is due to vote in the autumn on new parliamentary boundaries  based on rule changes introduced by the coalition government in 2011  reducing the total number of MPs in the chamber by 9 per cent.

But MPs on the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee (PACAC) warn that if ministers wait to consult Parliament  and the legislation fails in the Commons  then it would be too late to carry out a fresh review before the next general election.

It would mean that in 2022 the election would be fought on the existing boundaries based on population data that the committee claims is more than 20 years out of date.

If it moved quickly, it would be possible for the Government to introduce new legislation to allow for a new boundary review and for it to be implemented prior to a 2022 election. However, the window for such a decision is short, the committee said.

What is clear is that there are serious problems with using the existing boundaries for a further election in 2022, which appears to be the only likely alternative option given the parliamentary arithmetic.

Recommended Boris Johnson could lose his seat after constituency boundary review

They reflect neither the changes in population since 2000, nor how devolution has further affected the UKs constitution, especially in respect to Wales.

Conservative MP Bernard Jenkin, who chairs the committee, said: The time to decide this in principle is now. If the Government waits until the autumn, Parliament will be faced with an invidious choice: either approve the boundaries or hold the next election on boundaries that will be more than 20 years out of date.

But Mr Jenkin said if that if the Government puts the vote to the Commons now, it would be possible to change the law so new boundaries at 650 seats can be in place before the next elections  scheduled for 2022.

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. 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The US government has won the latest round in its High Court bid to appeal against the decision not to extradite Julian Assange on espionage charges PA UK news in pictures 10 August 2021 Students react after they receive their A-Level results at the Ark Academy, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 9 August 2021 The final athletes from Great Britain arrive home including Jason Kenny, Laura Kenny and Katie Archibald (front left-right) at Heathrow Airport, London following the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games PA UK news in pictures 8 August 2021 Great Britain's Laura Kenny during the closing ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Olympic stadium in Japan PA UK news in pictures 7 August 2021 People from the Glasgow Southside community take part in the Govanhill Carnival, an anti-racist celebration of pride, unity and the contributions immigrants have made to the community in Govanhill, at Queen's Park, Glasgow PA UK news in pictures 6 August 2021 Chijindu Ujah of Britain, Zharnel Hughes of Britain, Richard Kilty of Britain and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake of Britain celebrate winning silver as they pose with Asha Philip of Britain, Imani Lansiquot of Britain, Dina Asher-Smith of Britain and Daryll Neita of Britain after they won bronze in the women's 4 x 100m relay during Olympic Games Day 14 Getty UK news in pictures 5 August 2021 A protester places flowers on a photograph of an executed man during a demonstration organised by supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) to protest against the inauguration of Iran's new president Ebrahim Raisi in central London AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 4 August 2021 England's Joe Root looks on as India's KL Rahul doesn't make it to a catch during day one of Cinch First Test match at Trent Bridge, Nottingham PA UK news in pictures 3 August 2021 Great Britain's Laura Kenny and Jason Kenny with their silver medals for the Women's Team Pursuit and Mens Team Sprint during the Track Cycling at the Izu Velodrome on the eleventh day of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Japan PA UK news in pictures 2 August 2021 Great Britains Charlotte Worthington competes during the Womens BMX Freestyle Final at the Tokyo Olympics PA UK news in pictures 1 August 2021 EPA UK news in pictures 31 July 2021 James Guy, Adam Peaty and Kathleen Dawson celebrate winning the gold medal in the mixed 4x100m medley relay final at the Tokyo Olympics AP UK news in pictures 30 July 2021 Great Britain's Bethany Shriever and Kye Whyte celebrate their Gold and Silver medals respectively for the Cycling BMX Racing at the Ariake Urban Sports Park on the seventh day of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Japan PA UK news in pictures 29 July 2021 Team GB's Mallory Franklin during the Womens Canoe Slalom Final on day six of the Tokyo Olympic Games. 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We therefore recommend that the House of Commons should be given and early opportunity to debate the options for reform and to decide whether or not to continue the current boundary review.

Last year Labour called for the proposals on the table to be abandoned. Cat Smith, the Shadow Cabinet Office Minister, said at the time: It has been clear from the start than the Tories have only been interested in their own political advantage rather than what is in the best interests of the country.

They need to drop their unfair, undemocratic plans, as well as ensuring the review is based on the most up-to-date register and that there is appropriate flexibility to take into account community ties and geography.Theresa May has hit out at university vice chancellors who take part in setting their own pay.

The Prime Minister said she was concerned over a recent row about university leaders who take home many hundreds of thousands of pounds after having a say in determining their own salary.

It comes after data release in response to a freedom of information request by the University and College Union (UCU) revealed 95 per cent of vice chancellors are either on the committee that sets their pay or are allowed to attend the meetings where the decision is made.

Just seven of the 158 universities surveyed said they stop vice chancellors taking part in meetings about their own pay.

Asked about the issue after delivering a keynote speech on education, Ms May said: One of the points I would make  that I know the universities minister, Sam Gyimah, also made  is we should be concerned when we see vice-chancellors sitting on remuneration committees which determine their pay.

It follows a row over the salaries of university leaders after it was revealed that Christina Slade, the departing vice chancellor of Bath Spa University, was paid 800,000 in her last year in the job.

Labour peer Lord Andrew Adonis has called for an independent inquiry into the issue, which he called straightforwardly outreagous.

Guidance published last month by the Committee of University Chairs said vice chancellors should not be involved in decisions about their own pay. It also suggested universities should be forced to justify any decision to pay a vice chancellor more than 8.5 times the average staff salary.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 11 September 2021 Arsenals Takehiro Tomiyasu attempts to control the ball during the Premier League match at The Emirates Stadium PA UK news in pictures 10 September 2021 People paddle board during a misty morning in Ullswater, the second largest lake in the Lake District, Cumbria PA UK news in pictures 9 September 2021 Troops from Wiltshire based 4 Armoured Close Support Battalion Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers during final inspection at Wellington Barracks in London, ahead of providing troops for the Queens Guard PA UK news in pictures 8 September 2021 Workers cross London Bridge during the morning rush hour in London Reuters UK news in pictures Mixing it up: Painting it up press view in London A gallery employee poses for photographers next to a painting entitled Prairie by British artist, Louise Giovanelli during the exhibition 'Mixing it up: Painting it up' at the Hayward Gallery in London EPA UK news in pictures 6 September 2021 Traders in the Ring at the London Metal Exchange, in the City of London, after open-outcry trading returned for the first time since March 2020, when the Ring was temporarily closed due to the pandemic PA UK news in pictures 5 September 2021 People enjoy the warm weather on Sandbanks beach, Poole PA UK news in pictures 4 September 2021 Demonstrators from Animal Rebellion and Nature Rebellion protest in Trafalgar Square in London. PA UK news in pictures 3 September 2021 South Africa's Ntando Mahlangu (centre) wins the Men's 200 metres T61 Final ahead of second placed Great Britain's Richard Whitehead at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games PA UK news in pictures 2 September 2021 A young common seal on the beach at Horsey Gap in Norfolk, as hundreds of pregnant grey seals come ashore ready for the start of the pupping season. PA UK news in pictures 1 September 2021 Goldfinches fighting over food in a garden in Strensham, Worcestershire PA UK news in pictures 31 August 2021 Gold Medallist Sarah Storey of Britain celebrates on the podium Reuters UK news in pictures 30 August 2021 Extinction Rebellion protesters hold a a tea party on Tower Bridge in London EPA UK news in pictures 29 August 2021 A police office tussles with a demonstrator on Cromwell Road outside the Natural History Museum during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion in London PA UK news in pictures 28 August 2021 Members of the British armed forces 16 Air Assault Brigade walk to the air terminal after disembarking a Royal Airforce Voyager aircraft at Brize Norton, Oxfordshire POOL/AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 27 August 2021 Fabio Quartararo crashes during a MotoGP practice session at the British Grand Prix, Silverstone Circuit Action Images via Reuters UK news in pictures 26 August 2021 An Extinction Rebellion activist holds a placard in a fountain surrounded by police officers, during a protest next to Buckingham Palace in London Reuters UK news in pictures 25 August 2021 Gold Medallist Great Britains cyclist, Sarah Storey, celebrates after winning the Womens C5 3000m Individual Pursuit Final at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. It was her 15th Paralympic gold Reuters UK news in pictures 24 August 2021 A demonstrator dressed as bee during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion on Whitehall, in central London PA UK news in pictures 23 August 2021 Former interpreters for the British forces in Afghanistan demonstrate outside the Home Office in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 22 August 2021 Police officers form a line in front of the entrance to the Guildhall, London, where protesters have climbed onto a ledge above the entrance during an Extinction Rebellion stage a protest PA UK news in pictures 21 August 2021 People take part in a demonstration in solidarity with people of Afghanistan, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 20 August 2021 People zip wire across the sea from Bournemouth pier towards the beach. PA UK news in pictures 19 August 2021 Supporters of Geronimo the alpaca gather outside Shepherds Close Farm in Wooton Under Edge, Gloucestershire PA UK news in pictures 18 August 2021 Former Afghan interpreters and veterans hold a demonstration outside Downing Street, calling for support and protection for Afghan interpreters and their families PA UK news in pictures 17 August 2021 Military personnel board the RAF Airbus A400M at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, where evacuation flights from Afghanistan have been landing Reuters UK news in pictures 16 August 2021 Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer takes part in a minute's silence at Wolverhampton police station for the victims of the Plymouth mass shooting last week PA UK news in pictures 15 August 2021 2Storm, a ten-metre tall puppet of a mythical goddess of the sea created by Edinburgh-based visual theatre company Vision Mechanics, makes its way alongside the seafront at North Berwick, East Lothian, during a performance at the Fringe By The Sea festival PA UK news in pictures 14 August 2021 A woman and two young girls look at floral tributes in Plymouth where six people, including the offender, died of gunshot wounds in a firearms incident PA UK news in pictures 13 August 2021 Forensic officers in the Keyham area of Plymouth where six people, including the shooter, died of gunshot wounds in a firearms incident on Thursday evening PA UK news in pictures 12 August 2021 Children ride horses in the River Eden in Appleby, Cumbria, during the annual gathering of travellers for the Appleby Horse Fair PA UK news in pictures 11 August 2021 Stella Moris (left) reacts after talking to the media outside the High Court in London, following the first hearing in the Julian Assange extradition appeal, n London, following the first hearing in the Julian Assange extradition appeal. The US government has won the latest round in its High Court bid to appeal against the decision not to extradite Julian Assange on espionage charges PA UK news in pictures 10 August 2021 Students react after they receive their A-Level results at the Ark Academy, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 9 August 2021 The final athletes from Great Britain arrive home including Jason Kenny, Laura Kenny and Katie Archibald (front left-right) at Heathrow Airport, London following the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games PA UK news in pictures 8 August 2021 Great Britain's Laura Kenny during the closing ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Olympic stadium in Japan PA UK news in pictures 7 August 2021 People from the Glasgow Southside community take part in the Govanhill Carnival, an anti-racist celebration of pride, unity and the contributions immigrants have made to the community in Govanhill, at Queen's Park, Glasgow PA UK news in pictures 6 August 2021 Chijindu Ujah of Britain, Zharnel Hughes of Britain, Richard Kilty of Britain and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake of Britain celebrate winning silver as they pose with Asha Philip of Britain, Imani Lansiquot of Britain, Dina Asher-Smith of Britain and Daryll Neita of Britain after they won bronze in the women's 4 x 100m relay during Olympic Games Day 14 Getty UK news in pictures 5 August 2021 A protester places flowers on a photograph of an executed man during a demonstration organised by supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) to protest against the inauguration of Iran's new president Ebrahim Raisi in central London AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 4 August 2021 England's Joe Root looks on as India's KL Rahul doesn't make it to a catch during day one of Cinch First Test match at Trent Bridge, Nottingham PA UK news in pictures 3 August 2021 Great Britain's Laura Kenny and Jason Kenny with their silver medals for the Women's Team Pursuit and Mens Team Sprint during the Track Cycling at the Izu Velodrome on the eleventh day of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Japan PA UK news in pictures 2 August 2021 Great Britains Charlotte Worthington competes during the Womens BMX Freestyle Final at the Tokyo Olympics PA UK news in pictures 1 August 2021 EPA 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

Ms May was speaking at Derby College, where she announced a wide-ranging review of tuition fees and the university funding system.

Highlighting problems with the existing arrangements, she said: Making university truly accessible to young people from every background is not made easier by a funding system which leaves students from the lowest-income households bearing the highest levels of debt, with many graduates left questioning the return they get for their investment.

In addition to looking at tuition fees, the review will consider how students from disadvantaged backgrounds receive support. The system of maintenance grants was replaced by a loan scheme under the Coalition Government.

Ms May said: We must have an education system at all levels which serves the needs of every child. And if we consider the experience which many young people have of our system as it is, it is clear that we do not have such a system today.Jeremy Corbyn is at the centre of a bizarre row over his actions in the 1980s, amid accusations he worked as a Soviet-bloc informant during the Cold War.

The controversy began when The Sun uncovered files in Czech archives that appeared to show the current Labour leader had met with a Czechoslovakian agent at least three times in 1986 and 1987.

Mr Corbyn admits to the meetings but insists he thought the man was a diplomat, and strongly denies giving him any information.

Other senior Labour figures have also now been included in the allegations.

What has been claimed?

Jan Sarkocy, a former Czech spy who worked for the Statni Bezpecnost (StB) secret police during the Cold War, says he met Jeremy Corbyn a number of times in 1986 and 1987  including twice in the House of Commons and once in the Islington North MPs constituency office.

Mr Sarkocy, who operated under the name Jan Dymic, claims there were more than 10 meetings between the two.

He says the Labour MP was a paid informant, known by the codename Agent Cob, who passed on information as part of a process of conscious cooperation.

The former agent dismissed Mr Corbyns claims that he believed he was meeting a Czech diplomat, not a spy, saying: Everybody knew that diplomat was just a cover for spy. It was a conscious cooperation. Diplomat and agent were the same thing.

Of Mr Corbyn, he said: He was our asset. He had been recruited. He was getting money from us.

Mr Sarkocy was expelled from the UK by Margaret Thatcher three years after the meetings, having being exposed as a spy.

He says the now Labour leader had warned him to be careful by giving him a newspaper cutting about MI5 clamping down on foreign spies.

In a bizarre twist, Mr Sarkocy, who now lives in Slovakian capital Bratislava, also claimed to have personally organised the Live Aid concern in 1985, which he said was funded by Czechoslovakia.

What about other Labour figures?

Mr Sarkocy claims other senior Labour figures, including John McDonnell, now Shadow Chancellor, and Ken Livingstone, the former Mayor of London, also shared information with Eastern bloc agents.

He says around 15 Labour MPs were informers and were paid between 1,000 and 10,000 for information. They were great sources but wanted big bucks to give us help, he added.

Mr Sarkocy claims Mr Livingstone met representatives of the Czech government and was a frequent visitor to the Czechoslovakian embassy.

He also says Mr McDonnell met a KGB agent several times and claims to have witnessed one meeting in Guildford between the now MP and a Soviet spy named P Tibor.

At the time Mr Livingstone was in charge of the Greater London Council and Mr McDonnell was his deputy. There is no suggestion that either received money in exchange for information.

What do we know for sure?

Very little. Records appear to confirm three meetings between Mr Corbyn and Mr Sarkocy in 1986 and 1987: two in Parliament and one in Mr Corbyns constituency office.

Czech authorities have also confirmed the meetings, but say Mr Corbyn was not an informant. There are signs that Czechoslovakian intelligence officials made attempts to hide Mr Sarkocys true identity from the Labour MP, they said.

Svetlana Ptacnikova, director of the Czech Security Forces Archive that includes StB documents, said: Mr Corbyn was neither registered [by the StB] as a collaborator, nor does this [allegation] stem from archive documents.

Mr Sarkocys other claims have so far not been substantiated.

What does Labour say?

Jeremy Corbyn admits meeting with a Czech diplomat but says he had no idea the contact was a spy. He strongly denies handing over any information.

His spokesman said: The claim that he was an agent, asset or informer for any intelligence agency is entirely false and a ridiculous smear.

Like other MPs, Jeremy has met diplomats from many countries. In the 1980s he met a Czech diplomat, who did not go by the name of Jan Dymic, for a cup of tea in the House of Commons.

Jeremy neither had nor offered any privileged information to this or any other diplomat.

During the Cold War, intelligence officers notoriously claimed to superiors to have recruited people they had merely met. The existence of these bogus claims does not make them in any way true.

A Labour Party spokesman dismissed Mr Sarkocy as a fantasist, whose claims are entirely false and becoming more absurd by the day.

These ridiculous smears should be given no credence whatsoever, he added.

Mr Livingstone said he had no recollection of meeting anyone from the Czech embassy and dismissed the claims as a tissue of lies.

Mr McDonnell strongly denied ever having met a KGB agent.

He said: These are ridiculous and false allegations. I have never met any Czechoslovak or Soviet agent, nor visited the Soviet or Russian embassy and have only visited Guildford once in my life, which was last year for a Labour Party public meeting.

Labours deputy leader, Tom Watson, has dismissed the claims. In a strongly worded attack on the newspapers reporting them, he said: This journalism is not worth the paper its printed on. The only thing these articles reveal is just how concerned some tax dodging media barons are about a Labour government.

In an era when the traditional press is fighting for survival newspapers should be upping their journalistic standards not falling onto the wrong side of the fake news divide.

These irresponsible scurrilous stories do a disservice to the titles they are printed in and undermine the British newspaper industry during a very febrile time. For newspapers to have a brighter future than they look to now, proprietors must focus on ensuring their publications long term health and reputation, rather than on cheap political attacks.

What have the Labour leaders opponents said?

Unsurprisingly, senior Conservative figures have piled in to criticise Mr Corbyn.

Gavin Williamson, the Defence Secretary, said of the Labour leader: Time and time again he has sided with those who want to destroy everything that is great about this country, whether it is sympathising with terrorists, backing rogue regimes, or cosying up to those who want to inflict pain and misery on the British people.

That he met foreign spies is a betrayal of this country. He cannot be trusted.

A second file on Mr Corbyn is reportedly held in the archives of the former East German secret police, the Stasi, and can only be released with the Labour leaders permission. Almost 5,000 people have signed an online petition calling on him to request the file is released.

Tory MP David Morris said Mr Corbyn should also be questioned on the matter by the Foreign Affairs Select Committee.

It is now vital the Labour leader is questioned about his links to brutal Soviet Bloc countries trying to undermine Britain, he said.

Theresa May, meanwhile, said Mr Corbyn must be prepared to be open and transparent over the issue.

Perhaps the strongest response came from Tory MP Ben Bradley, who took to Twitter to claim: Corbyn sold British secrets to communist spies.

Mr Bradley later deleted the tweet after the Labour leader threatened to sue him for libel.

There is no evidence that Mr Corbyn sold any information, let alone British secrets  something not even Mr Sarkocy has claimed.

It is almost certain Mr Corbyn met with someone who was a Czech agent but, on the basis of the current evidence, unlikely that he knew the man was a spy. There is no evidence at all that the MP handed over any information that wasn't already public knowledge, and none to explain why a firebrand left-wing opposition MP would be in the possession of state secrets.

The rest of the story is based entirely on Mr Sarkocy's claims, which he has yet to provide any evidence for.India is preparing to build a military base in the Seychelles as part of the countrys ongoing contest with China for influence in the Indian Ocean.

Last month, India signed a 20 year pact with the Seychelles to build an airstrip and a jetty for its navy on Assumption Island.

The Seychelles are of high strategic importance to India, as the island chain lies close to key global shipping lanes.

It came after China inaugurated its first overseas military base in Djibouti last year, near one of the worlds busiest shipping lanes, deepening Indian insecurities and pushing it to gain a foothold in the region.

The pact, which was first announced when the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, visited the islands in 2015, has faced problems as critics who feared a handover of territory demanded the Seychelles government make clear the terms of Indias role.

 Indian PM Narendra Modi highlights 'worrying' trend against globalisation

Earlier this month, around 50 people held a protest against the construction of the naval base. They argued the details of the project had not been made public and it could have a catastrophic impact on the local environment.

One of the organisers of the protest, Ralph Volcere, told the Seychelles News Agency: This agreement is not being supported by the people of Seychelles. We do not know any details, what is the arrangement? What are the costs?

Our problem is that Seychelles cannot get involved in conflicts of superpowers. We need to remain nonaligned, friendly to all  enemy to none.

He added: This facility on Assumption will place Seychelles at great risk should a military conflict involving India ever happen. We are dealing with countries with nuclear powers here.

India and the Seychelles are maritime neighbours with a stake in each others security, Indias foreign secretary, Subrahmaniam Jaishankar, said after signing the deal.

The two countries have drawn up a cooperation agenda that covers joint efforts in anti-piracy operations, and enhanced surveillance and monitoring to prevent intrusions by potential economic offenders, he said.

These are people engaged in illegal fishing, poaching, drug and human trafficking, he added.

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

China has been building ports, power stations and highways across Asia, but the terms of some of its investments have caused anger.

In Sri Lanka, it faced criticism after taking control of the southern port of Hambantota it had built in a debt-to-equity swap deal.

India has tried to be more careful, avoiding giving hard loans and casting its assistance as a joint endeavour.

However, military officials called the Seychelles pact a big step in extending the reach of Indias navy, which is expected to rotate its ships and aircraft through the islands.

The development is a clear indicator that Indias geostrategic frontier is expanding in tandem with Chinas growing strategic footprint in the Indo-Pacific, Captain Gurpreet Khurana, of the Indian Navys National Maritime Foundation, said.

Additional reporting by ReutersAt least 17 people have been killed after heavy rains caused the partial collapse of a rubbish dump in Mozambique.

A 15-metre high pile of rubbish collapsed, destroying seven houses, and rescuers fear more bodies may be buried under the debris.

The accident, at the Hulene landfill, six miles from the centre of the capital, Maputo, happened at 3am local time.

Heavy machinery was brought in to help with the search (EPA)

Families living close to the site have fled their homes fearing another collapse.

Reports suggest the houses were built illegally and officials had previously asked residents to leave.

Despedida Rita, a councillor for Ka Mavota Municipal District, said: Up to now 17 dead bodies were recovered. We fear more might be unaccounted for.

So we will keep searching for bodies buried underneath the rubbish pile.

A landslide at Ethiopias largest rubbish dump last year claimed the lives of at least 65 people.

People look for their belongings under collapsed garbage piles in Maputo (EPA)

Residents blamed that collapse on construction work for a biogas plant being built on top of the rubbish pile.

As in Ethiopia, the dead in the Maputo collapse could include those squatting near the landfill site to search for food and items to sell.

The Hulene dump  the only official dump for Maputos 3.5 million people  is located in a densely populated neighbourhood covering around 17 hectares.Donald Trump called Oprah Winfrey insecure in a late night attack on the talk show host who is rumoured to be contemplating a presidential bid.

The US leader said he hoped the talk show host would run against him in 2020 so she can be exposed and defeated just like all of the others!

He was commenting after watching her interview on 60 Minutes  a political panel discussion shown on US broadcaster CBS News.

Just watched a very insecure Oprah Winfrey, who at one point I knew very well, interview a panel of people on 60 Minutes, the world leader tweeted.

The questions were biased and slanted, the facts incorrect. Hope Oprah runs so she can be exposed and defeated just like all of the others!

Winfrey interviewed seven individuals who voted for Mr Trump and seven who voted against. Her line of questioning prompted a heated debate between the ideologically opposed groups in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

She asked them about the presidents tax plan, his reported reference to "sh*thole countries" and about Americas diminishing reputation in the wider world.

She questioned whether Mr Trump was suitable for the top job.

"There have been some members of Congress, including Republicans, questioning his stability and fitness for office," she said. "What do you think of that, and do you believe he has the temperament to be president?"

Winfrey also asked: "How many people here voted for him? Just to remind everybody. And how many of you would vote for him again?"

Winfrey has repeatedly insisted she has no ambitions to run for president despite mounting calls for her to throw her hat into the ring and the Oprah2020 hashtag gaining increasing traction on Twitter.

But speculation that she might campaign mounted after her speech at the Golden Globes awards ceremony in January, when she addressed gender and racial equality in the US.

Asked about it then, she said a presidential run was "not something that interests me" and she didn't have "the DNA for it.

Mr Trump was also confident he would be able to defeat her, when he was questioned about a potential run after the speech.

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

He said: Yeah, Id beat Oprah. Oprah would be a lot of fun. I know her very well. I like Oprah. I dont think shes gonna run.

At one point during his own presidential campaign, Mr Trump reportedly toyed with the notion of asking her to be his running mate.

But Winfrey, a supporter of Hillary Clinton, insisted she had no plans to join the billionaire property developer at the time, saying: Donald, Im with her!

Winfreys capacity to significantly influence public opinion has been dubbed The Oprah Effect.

The media mogul, who is the first and only black person in the US to become a multi-billionaire, is a significant influencer in the country.

One estimate suggested that her endorsement of Barack Obama between 2006 and 2008 delivered over a million votes in the 2008 Democratic primary race.The family who took the Florida school shooting suspect into their home after his mother died have labelled him a monster.

Kimberley and James Snead said Nikolas Cruz was lonely and depressed, but they saw no warning signs.

The 19-year-old is accused of killing 17 and leaving more than a dozen injured, at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, a small city about 50 miles north of Florida.

"We had this monster living under our roof and we didn't know, "Ms Snead told the South Florida Sun Sentinel. "We didn't see this side of him."

Mr Snead added: Everything everybody seems to know, we didnt know. Its as simple as that.

Mr Cruz went to live with the Snead family after his adopted mother died of pneumonia last November.

Their son asked whether he could join them in the family home.

As well as providing him with a roof over his head, they registered him in adult education classes and helped him get a job at a local pound shop.

They were forced to teach him basic chores such as how to cook, use the microwave, wash his clothes and tidy up after himself.

"He was very naive. He wasn't dumb, just naive," Mr Snead, an army veteran, said. "I told him thered be rules and he followed every rule to the T."

The parents said they were alright with the teenager storing guns in the house as they long as they were kept in a gun safe. They told Mr Cruz he had to ask permission before taking out the guns.

Mr Snead told the paper he thought he was the only person who possessed a key to the safe, but he now thinks Mr Cruz kept a key for himself.

Florida shooting  in pictures Show all 10 1 /10 Florida shooting  in pictures Florida shooting  in pictures Police arrest a suspect in connection with the shooting at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida Reuters Florida shooting  in pictures Parents wait for news after reports of a shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida AP Florida shooting  in pictures Anxious family members wait for news of students AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee Florida shooting  in pictures Students being evacuated from the school AP Florida shooting  in pictures Students being evacuated from the school Getty Florida shooting  in pictures People gather waiting for word from students AP Florida shooting  in pictures Parents waiting for news on their children AP Florida shooting  in pictures People gather at a hotel where students were taken after the shooting Getty Florida shooting  in pictures Florida Governor Rick Scott speaks to the media as he visits Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School following the shooting AFP/Getty Florida shooting  in pictures Dr. Igor Nichiporenko, Medical Director Trauma, left, and Dr. Evan Boyer, Medical Director, Emergency Services, speak about treating victims and the suspect at a press conference outside Broward Health North hospital AP

While Mr Cruz has not yet entered a plea, an arrest affidavit alleged that he confessed to authorities he was the gunman who entered the school campus armed with a AR-15 and began shooting students that he saw on the hallways and on the school grounds.

In the meantime, tales of heroism during the shooting have emerged, including that of Anthony Borges, who reportedly placed his body between the shooter and fellow students.

Carlos Rodriguez, said he survived the massacre because of his best friend Anthony's heroism.

"None of us knew what to do. So, he took the initiative to just save his other classmates," Carlos told ABC's Good Morning America.

He said that after gunfire erupted Anthony and his fellow classmates made a dash to hide in a classroom. According to Carlos, Anthony was the last of 20 students who escaped into a room and was trying to lock the door when he was shot.

He said he used his body as a human shield in the doorway and managed to put his body between the bullets and his classmates - who all survived wholly uninjured.

Anthonys father said his son was shot a total of four times  taking bullets to the back and both of his legs  but managed to survive what was the deadliest school shooting since a gunman opened fire at Sandy Hook Elementary.

Hes my hero, Roy Borges, his father, said.

He said his son is in stable condition in hospital after going through hours of surgery.Two teenage girls who thought they had landed dream modelling jobs in New York were saved from a sex trafficker by a vigilant airline worker.

The Californian youths aged 15 and 17 narrowly avoided becoming victims of an Instagram predator thanks to American Airlines agent Denice Miracle.

Ms Miracle realised something was wrong when the girls approached her ticket counter at Sacramento Airport to check-in for a one-way first-class flight which had been paid for using a stolen credit card.

She told them they would not be able to fly and then alerted the County Sheriff's Department.

Between the two of them, they had a bunch of small bags. It seemed to me as if they were running away from home, Denice said. They kept looking at each other in a way that seemed fearful and anxious. I had a gut feeling that something just wasn't right.

"It was a first-class ticket. It was very expensive. I told a supervisor, 'I'm going to call the sheriff. It just doesn't feel right to me."

The girls revealed that a man called "Drey" on Instagram had invited them to New York for the weekend to earn $2,000 (1,425) by doing some modelling and performing in music videos.

They had not told their parents about the trip on 31 August last year and were shocked when they were told the tickets did not cover a return flight.

"When I told them that they didn't have a flight home, that's when it kind of sunk in that maybe I was actually telling the truth," said Sheriff's Deputy Todd Sanderson.

"In my opinion, what was going to happen was they were going to go back to New York and become victims of sex trafficking. They said they wouldn't have let that happen, and I said they probably wouldn't have had a choice."

Deputies tried to contact "Drey" but he quickly deleted all his social media profiles.

"I fully believe Denice probably prevented these girls from becoming victims," Deputy Sanderson told Fox.

"They had told us they were talking to somebody on Instagram who was asking them to come back and take pictures, modelling pictures, and music videos.

"That's typically the ruse that's being used to get minors and others involved to do that."

The girl's parents were later told by the Sheriff's Department that they were victims of attempted human trafficking.

Im proud of Denice and how she put her training into action to save these children, said General Manager Aleka Turner in a statement from American Airlines. She is a testament to the critical role our frontline team members play each and every day in the operation and the lives of each person they come in contact with. Shes a true professional with a huge heart."The US has dropped the matter of extraditing alleged British hacker Lauri Love.

Mr Loves possible extradition to the US was to be prosecuted on charges that he had stolen vast amounts of data from US government agencies between 2012 and 2013.

American authorities have said it would be oppressive to Mr Loves health if he were extradited.

"It's the first time in four years that I've been confident that I have a future in my life, Mr Love tweeted after the decision.

Mr Love had been arrested in 2015 by UK extradition authorities on behalf of the US.

The 33-year-old engineering student has Asperger syndrome, a condition on the autism spectrum that is often characterised by normal intelligence but difficulty with social skills.

Mr Love also has been diagnosed with depression and suffers from severe eczema.

His family had said he may commit suicide if the US had held him and put him in solitary confinement, as is the procedure for those at risk.

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

He originally faced up to 99 years in prison for the suspected hacks into the FBI, National Security Agency, and NASA.

However, Mr Love told the Press Association: if I'm not convicted or acquitted here then the US can keep the case open indefinitely.

Mr Love said that if UK authorities cannot gather enough evidence against him and the US case remains open indefinitely, he will not feel safe to travel outside England and Wales.

"The US may for whatever reason be somewhat reluctant to cooperate with sending evidence, so the CPS may find it's difficult to prosecute the case. I may have to help them in order to get it over and done with, he said.

However, he noted that he is not at all convinced that I committed any crimes. It's for the US to cough up a bit of evidence."Presidents Day is an annual American holiday that began in honour of the first president of the United States, George Washington.

Every year, on the third Monday in February, US citizens enjoy a three-day weekend to mark the federal holiday.

How did it start?

The tradition began in honour of President Washington, the countrys first leader whose birthday falls on 22 February.

It became a national holiday in 1968, when the US Congress passed a measure known as the Uniform Monday Holiday Act.

The day is also understood to celebrate Abraham Lincoln, America's 16th President, who was born on 16 February.

Although it is commonly referred to as Presidents Day, the federal government still recognises it as Washingtons Birthday.

Read more: 2021 Federal Holidays: Full List

How is it marked?

Carnivals and parades usually take place across the country, although this years will be affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

It is also traditionally a big shopping day, as Americans hit the sales that take place over the bank holiday weekend  although schools, banks and government agencies tend to be closed.

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

Despite its direct link to Washington and association with Lincoln, the day is popularly viewed as an opportunity to celebrate all US presidents past and present.A six-year-old boy was among the victims of a shooting outside a restaurant in Texas, it has been reported.

The child was shot in the leg and is expected to survive, but two of three adults injured in the attack suffered life-threatening injuries.

Those in the group were related and police said they did not believe the shooting was random, CBS News reported.

It happened at about 8.40pm on Sunday outside the Texas Roadhouse restaurant in San Antonio, police said.

San Antonio Police Department chief William McManus told reporters: "We do not believe that this shooting was random.

"The folks were waiting outside to eat when the shooting occurred.

"We're looking for a male suspect who ran through the hotel over here.

"The call first came out as an active shooter [but] this was not an active shooter situation."

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 adults were all aged in their 20s, he said.

A description of their attacker was not available because "he was covered", Mr McManus added.

A semi-automatic handgun was reportedly used in the shooting.Chinese officials are demanding punishment for the alleged theft of a thumb from an ancient terracotta warrior statue on display at an American museum.

The FBI has charged 24-year-old Michael Rohana with snapping the thumb off of the 2,000-year-old Chinese sculpture during an "ugly Christmas sweater" party at the Franklin Institute, the Philadelphia museum that is currently displaying 10 of Chinas famed terracotta warriors.

The agency claims Mr Rohana walked into the exhibit through an unlocked door during the party on 21 December. He perused the dark exhibit using the light from his cell phone, then posed for a selfie with the statue in question, according to an arrest affidavit. Before leaving, he tore off the statues thumb as a souvenir, the affidavit said.

An attorney for Mr Rohana could not immediately be reached for comment.

Wu Haiyun, the director of the government-run organisation that loaned the statues out, criticised the Franklin Institute for being "careless" with the statues, according to CCTV.

"We ask that the US severely punish the perpetrator. We have lodged a serious protest with them," he said.

World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty

The museum said in a statement that a safety contractor had not followed proper closing procedures on the night of the party. The museum said it had conducted a thorough review of security procedures, and taken appropriate action where needed. The statement also noted that an internal investigation gave the FBI "the information necessary to identify the suspect."

FBI agents tracked Mr Rohana to his house in Bear, Delaware using credit card transactions and surveillance video from the night in question, according to the affidavit. The document said Mr Rohana had attended the party with five friends  one of whom said they heard him talking about the finger on the ride home. Another friend said they saw him post a photo of it on Snapchat the next day.

 China stages biggest ice sculpture festival in the world

Upon being confronted by agents, Mr Rohana confessed to stealing the artifact and retrieved it from his desk drawer, according to the affidavit. He has been charged with concealment of major artwork from a museum and interstate transportation of stolen property.

Mr Wu, the official from the Shaanxi Cultural Heritage Promotion Centre, said the organisation would be sending two experts to the US to assess the damage, and would be making a claim for compensation.

The sculpture was one of 10 loaned out to the Franklin Institute as part of its Terracotta Warriors of the First Emperor exhibition. The warriors  one of Chinas biggest tourists attractions  were crafted to accompany the tomb of Chinas first emperor, Qin Shi Huang. They were uncovered by workers digging a well outside Xian in 1974.Donald Trump reportedly consulted guests staying at his Mar-a-Lago resort about what action he should take on gun control in the wake of the Florida school shooting.

The US President is said to have asked members of the luxury Florida resort whether he should take an active position on gun control after a gunman opened fire at a school in the small city of Parkland, around 45 miles north of Miami. The assailant killed 17 and left more than a dozen injured.

A number of people who reportedly spoke with Mr Trump at the resort during the two days he spent there, told The Washington Post that the president had observed media appearances made by student survivors of the massacre.

Mr Trump was said to have polled guests at the resort over whether she should opt to take a stand on gun control after the deadliest school shooting to take place since Adam Lanza opened fire at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, killing 20 children and six staff members.

Survivors of Florida shooting have urged the world leader to implement gun control measures. Emma Gonzales, who survived the Valentines Day massacre, has been hailed as a leader for delivering an impassioned speech at a gun control rally.

If the president wants to come up to me and tell me to my face that it was a terrible tragedy and how it should never have happened and maintain telling us how nothing is going to be done about it, Ms Gonzalez told the crowd in Fort Lauderdale. Im going to happily ask him how much money he received from the National Rifle Association (NRA).

 Florida student Emma Gonzalez passionately calls for gun control at rally after school shooting

The NRA donated more than $30m (21.4m) to Mr Trumps presidential campaign, meaning he received the most gun lobby funding of any presidential candidate.

Last April, he told members of the NRA: The eight-year assault on your Second Amendment freedoms has come to a crashing end.

Reports Mr Trump discussed gun control measures with Mar-a-Lago guests preceded the White Houses announcement the president supported efforts to improve the federal background check system for gun purchases.

 Donald Trump supports 'improved gun background checks', White House announces

Mr Trump spoke to Republican Senator John Cornyn about gun legislation last week. The pair discussed the bipartisan bill Mr Cornyn and Democratic Senator Chris Murphy introduced to improve federal compliance with criminal background checks, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said in a statement.

While discussions are ongoing and revisions are being considered, the President is supportive of efforts to improve the federal background check system, Ms Sanders said.

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

Mr Trump signed a resolution in February blocking an Obama-era rule that would have stopped an estimated 75,000 people with mental disorders from purchasing guns.

But on Sunday, the White House announced that Mr Trump would host a "listening session" with students to talk about school safety measures.

Mr Trump launched into a Twitter tirade over the weekend attacking the FBI for failing to stop the Florida school shooting suspect and spending too much time trying to link his election campaign to Russia.

Very sad that the FBI missed all of the many signals sent out by the Florida school shooter, the president tweeted. This is not acceptable. They are spending too much time trying to prove Russian collusion with the Trump campaign  there is no collusion. Get back to the basics and make us all proud!Police are hunting for an UberEats delivery driver after a man was shot dead as he collected his takeaway.

Ryan Thornton, 30, had ordered some food at around 11pm on Saturday night.

He stepped outside his home near Atlanta, Georgia, to pick it up when a dispute took place, police in the city said.

Witnesses said that he exchanged words with the driver from UberEats.

Someone in a white Volkswagen then opened fire, before leaving the apartment complex, according to reports.

Mr Thornton was rushed to the nearby Grady Memorial Hospital, where he later died.

His body was identified by The Fulton County Medical Examiner's Office.

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

There have been no arrests yet.

An Uber spokesman said: We are shocked and saddened by this news.

"We are working with Atlanta Police, and our hearts go out to the families of those involved.

Additional reporting by Associated Press.Amid global anxiety about President Donald Trump's approach to global affairs, US officials had a message to a gathering of Europe's foreign policy elite this weekend: pay no attention to the man tweeting behind the curtain.

US lawmakers - both Democrats and Republicans - and top national security officials in the Trump administration offered the same advice publicly and privately, often clashing with Trump's Twitter stream: the United States remains staunchly committed to its European allies, is furious with the Kremlin about election interference and isn't contemplating a pre-emptive strike on North Korea to halt its nuclear programme.

But Trump himself engaged in a running counterpoint to the message, taking aim on social media at his own national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, because he forgot on Saturday to tell the Munich Security Conference that the results of the 2016 weren't affected by Russian interference, a conclusion that is not supported by US intelligence agencies. They say they will likely never be able to determine whether the Russian involvement swung the election towards Trump.

The determination to ignore Trump's foreign-policy tweets has been bipartisan.

There is a lot more support for continuing our past policies than it might appear from some of the statements, Senator Jeanne Shaheen, Democrat-New Hampshire, told an audience on Sunday that was comprised mostly of Europe's foreign-policy elite. The unanimity comes from those folks who are actually operationalising policy.

The values are the same, the relationships are the same, said Representative Michael Turner, Republican-Ohio. What you do see is this administration willing to put pressure upon the systems.

The question of whom they should believe - the President or his advisers - has befuddled European officials. German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel confessed Saturday that he didn't know where to look to understand America.

Is it deeds? Is it words? Is it tweets? he asked.

He said he was not sure whether he could recognise the United States.

Away from the glare of television cameras, many European diplomats and policymakers echoed the same concerns. One diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity to avoid provoking Trump, asked whether policymakers like McMaster who adhere largely to traditional US foreign policy positions were falling into the same trap as Germany's elite during Hitler's rise, when they continued to serve in government in the name of protecting their nation.

The answer, the diplomat said, might be found following nuclear war, which he feared could be provoked by Trump administration's hawkish approach to North Korea.

Testing those lines, McMaster offered a starkly different view of the world from his own boss, saying that the evidence is now incontrovertible that Russia intervened in the US political system. Trump has downplayed Russian involvement, saying that he believes the reassurances of Russian President Vladimir Putin that the Kremlin was not involved in the election.

McMaster even walked back some of his own previous tough language. Asked about a Wall Street Journal op-ed he co-authored with White House economic adviser Gary Cohn last year that said they embraced a world that was an arena where nations, non-governmental actors and businesses engage and compete for advantage, McMaster said it was actually a call for greater cooperation among Western powers.

US Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats took a similarly reassuring stance hours later.

The assertions that nothing fundamental has changed about Washington's commitments to the world do seem to have eased some concerns among some allies, particularly regarding the US commitment to defend Nato allies against the threat of Russian aggression.

In the Baltic nations, which border Russia, Trump's election had raised concerns about US commitments to Nato. But that doubt is now gone, Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid said in an interview, embracing the Pentagon's stepped-up military commitments to Eastern Europe.

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

Even hawkish Republicans shrugged away from Trump's top priorities. While speaking on a panel Friday, Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican-South Carolina, was cued up by a questioner to attack the failure of Europe to spend 2 percent of its economic output on defence - a frequent Trump talking point. Graham demurred.

I want you to get to 2 percent so Trump will be quiet, he said before swiftly moving on.

The Washington PostFormer Vice President Joe Biden is said to have told longtime policy aides its a real possibility he could run for president in 2020.

Mr Biden reportedly insisted he has still not made a decision on the matter, the Associated Press reported.

Mr Biden, 75, is expected to be considered a strong Democratic presidential nominee if he runs.

He has repeatedly indicated in public he is considering a campaign.

But if elected in 2020, Mr Biden would be 78 on Inauguration Day - a concern for some Democrats.

The former Vice President to Barack Obama ruled out running for office in 2016 for a race that would have seen him pitted against Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.

This was partly prompted by his son Beaus brain cancer diagnosis and subsequent death, aged 46, in January 2015.

World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty

While promoting his new book, Promise Me, Dad, late last year, Mr Biden declined to say if he would consider running for president in 2020.

I want to focus on Beau and my grandkids. We'll see where it goes, he said during an interview with NBCs Today show. I'm not closing the door. I've been around too long. I'm a great respecter of fate.

But who knows what the situation is going to be a year and a half from now? I don't have any idea, he added.Evidence of collusion between Donald Trumps presidential campaign and Russia could still come to light, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee has suggested, even though the indictment handed down last week against Russians and Russian companies did not indicate that an American was knowingly involved in US election meddling.

A portion of the 13 Russians that were indicted last week for allegedly meddling in the 2016 election are said to have communicated with unwitting individuals associated with the Trump campaign, according to court documents.

Its very clear from this 37-page indictment that this was a massive Russian operation and part of its design was to promote the campaign of Donald Trump, Congressman Adam Schiff told radio station WNYC.

The charges were brought by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is leading the federal probe into Russias meddling in the 2016 presidential race. Multiple congressional panels, including the House Intelligence Committee, are also investigating the matter.

Asked if he believed the investigation would claim witting participation with Russia by anyone working for Mr Trump, Mr Schiff said it was clear that the president was aware of Russias hacking and dumping of documents. The intelligence community had said in October 2016 that Russia was seeking to influence the election at Russian President Vladimir Putins behest, Mr Schiff noted.

He continued: Then-candidate Trump used this information on a daily basis to denigrate Hillary Clinton ... and we know there were conversations about getting dirt on Hillary Clinton between very high levels of the campaign, including the presidents own son, son-in-law and campaign manager met in the secret meeting at Trump Tower where the Russians had offered to send someone out from Moscow ... who was part of the Russian government effort to help elect Donald Trump.

There was uproar in Washington last year following revelations that Mr Trumps eldest son, Donald Trump Jr, had met with a Kremlin-connected lawyer after being promised dirt on Hillary Clinton.

Mr Schiff, a frequent target of the Presidents attacks on Twitter, told CNN earlier that the indictment against the Russian nationals in no way clears the Trump campaign of collusion.

A spokesman for the Kremlin said on Monday that the US indictment presented no tangible proof that the Kremlin itself or Russian government agencies were involved in the scheme to interfere in the election.

They [the Americans] are talking about Russian citizens, but we have heard in announcements from Washington accusations about the involvement of the Russian state, the Kremlin and the Russian government, Mr Peskov told reporters on a conference call, according to Reuters.

He continued: There are no indications that the Russian state could have been involved in this and nor can there be any. Russia did not meddle, does not have the habit of meddling in the internal affairs of other countries, and is not doing so now.

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 charges last week partially centred on a Russian businessman, Evgeny Prigozhin, who has been nicknamed Putins chef by the Russian media. The owner of restaurants and catering businesses that have hosted Mr Putins dinners with foreign dignitaries, Mr Prigozhin is said to have extensive ties to Russias military and political establishment.

According to the indictment, Mr Prigozhin is accused of funding the internet firm, the Internet Research Agency, that allegedly served as a hub from which the defendants and other co-conspirators used social media to sow discord in the US political system.

Mr Prigozhin said on Friday he was not upset about his indictment for alleged election meddling in the US, the RIA news agency reported.

The Americans are very emotional people, they see what they want to see. I have great respect for them. I am not at all upset that I am on this list. If they want to see the devil, let them, Mr Prigozhin is quoted as saying.

The Kremlin has repeatedly denied it tried to influence the 2016 election, casting such allegations as part of an anti-Russian campaign in the US.

Mr Trump has also denied allegations of collusion.

Over the weekend, he took to Twitter multiple times to fume about the Russia investigation, falsely claiming he never said Russia didnt meddle in the 2016 election. He also attacked former President Barack Obama, saying his predecessor was aware of Russias interference and did nothing.

Last year, Jeh Johnson, the former secretary of homeland security under Mr Obama, said the Obama White House purposely delayed making a statement about the Russian hacking.

We were concerned that by making the statement we might, in and of itself, be challenging the integrity of the election process itself, Mr Johnson testified to the House Intelligence Committee.President Donald Trump supports efforts to improve the federal background check system for gun purchases, the White House has said, less than a week after a school shooting in Florida resulted in the deaths of 17 people.

Mr Trump is said to have spoken to Republican Senator John Cornyn about gun legislation on Friday.

During the conversation, they discussed the bipartisan bill Mr Cornyn and Democratic Senator Chris Murphy introduced to improve federal compliance with criminal background checks, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said in a statement.

While discussions are ongoing and revisions are being considered, the President is supportive of efforts to improve the federal background check system, Ms Sanders said.

While running for president, Mr Trump tied himself to the National Rifle Association, one of the most powerful gun-rights organisations, and received the most gun lobbying funding of any presidential candidate ever.

Last April, Mr Trump declared to members of the NRA: The eight-year assault on your Second Amendment freedoms has come to a crashing end.

He also assured association  which donated more than $30m (21.4m) to his presidential campaign  that it now has a true friend and champion in the White House.

His comments came after he signed a resolution in February blocking an Obama-era rule that would have prevented an estimated 75,000 people with mental disorders from buying guns.

The rule was part of former President Barack Obamas push to strengthen the federal background check system following the 2012 Newtown, Connecticut shooting  the deadliest school shooting in US history.

Florida shooting  in pictures Show all 10 1 /10 Florida shooting  in pictures Florida shooting  in pictures Police arrest a suspect in connection with the shooting at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida Reuters Florida shooting  in pictures Parents wait for news after reports of a shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida AP Florida shooting  in pictures Anxious family members wait for news of students AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee Florida shooting  in pictures Students being evacuated from the school AP Florida shooting  in pictures Students being evacuated from the school Getty Florida shooting  in pictures People gather waiting for word from students AP Florida shooting  in pictures Parents waiting for news on their children AP Florida shooting  in pictures People gather at a hotel where students were taken after the shooting Getty Florida shooting  in pictures Florida Governor Rick Scott speaks to the media as he visits Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School following the shooting AFP/Getty Florida shooting  in pictures Dr. Igor Nichiporenko, Medical Director Trauma, left, and Dr. Evan Boyer, Medical Director, Emergency Services, speak about treating victims and the suspect at a press conference outside Broward Health North hospital AP

Mr Trumps initial response to the Florida shooting drew criticism from gun control advocates. While the President expressed empathy, he made it clear that he would not break from his base or the Republican partys position on the issue that does not appear to be preventing such tragedies from occurring again and again.

In his speech last week following the massacre, Mr Trump called for action but did not mention the issue of gun control. Instead, he promised to prioritise school safety and tackle the difficult issue of mental health. He did not say the word gun or discuss AR-15s, which have repeatedly been used in mass shootings.

A gunman last Wednesday, armed with a legally purchased AR-15-style assault rifle, attacked Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, about 45 miles north of Miami.

Several student survivors have called on Mr Trump and members of Congress to take action on gun control, appearing on news programmes to announce they will lead a nationwide demonstration next month to bring further attention to the issue.

Any politician on either side who is receiving money from the NRA is responsible for events like this, said high school junior Cameron Kasky, referring to the Parkland shooting.

At the end of the day, the NRA is fostering and promoting this gun culture, he told ABC.

Over the weekend in Florida, Mr Trump is said to have surveyed members at his Mar-a-Lago resort about whether he should support gun control measures. He told them he was closely watching the media appearances by the student survivors, the Washington Post reported.

The White House announced on Sunday that the President will host a listening session with students to discuss school safety measures.

Mr Trump also spent time ranting on Twitter. In a tweetstorm that began late Saturday evening and lasted until around noon on Sunday, Mr Trump railed against former President Barack Obama, Democrats, CNN and an investigation into whether his campaign colluded with the Russian government.

He also blamed the FBI for the shooting.

Very sad that the FBI missed all of the many signals sent out by the Florida school shooter. This is not acceptable, the President wrote. They are spending too much time trying to prove Russian collusion with the Trump campaign  there is no collusion. Get back to the basics and make us all proud!

The FBI acknowledged on Friday that it failed to "investigate a warning over the alleged shooter, Nikolas Cruz, with the agency saying a tipster had called a hotline claiming that Cruz owned a gun and had a desire to kill.

Cruz appeared in court on Monday. He has been charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder.A woman who pleaded guilty over her fiances kayaking death has argued that she was in the wrong place at the wrong time when he drowned in rough waters after plunging overboard.

Angelika Graswald spoke out weeks after she was released from prison. She spent the previous two-and-a-half years behind bars after pleading guilty to the criminally negligent homicide of her groom-to-be Vincent Viafore.

The 46-year-old drowned in New York's Hudson River as the pair paddled back from a trip to Pollepel Island in April 2015.

Graswald said Viafore, who was not wearing a life jacket, capsized in the rough waves and drowned, after his kayak got caught in dangerous currents. His body was found weeks later.

Recommended Woman who killed fiance by sabotaging his kayak released from jail

Prosecutors claimed that Graswald pulled the drain plug from his kayak so it would flood. They also alleged that she took his paddle away as he struggled in the water.

Graswald denied the claims but accepted the lesser charges of being criminally negligent homicide after admitting she should have known the risks in the river that day.

Now the Latvian national has insisted she had no choice but to accept she was partly to blame over Mr Viafores drowning.

I was just at the wrong place at the wrong time, bottom line, she told ABC News 2020. I was in danger, too, just as much as he was. I just happened to survive, and now Im guilty?

I tried to help him. I tried to paddle toward him. Its just not fair how theyre portraying me as a cold blooded murderer or killer.

Im not cold, and Im not heartless. Im a person with feelings. I love people. I love Vince. I love his family. I love my friends and his friends. I didnt just go out and coldheartedly let him die.

She claimed that she was pushed into accepting the lesser charges levelled against her. She said it was either that or face the possibility of spending a lifetime behind bars if she had been found guilty of murder.

I don't want felony on my record," she said. "I'm not a felon. How do I live with that? It's not fair, it's not right, I didn't kill him. Why?

They said: Chance to go away for life. Take the plea and get out in December. I went that way because everything is taken as a package.

Graswald was sentenced to one to four years in prison in November 2017 and was released just before Christmas after spending two-and-a-half years in jail.

Mr Viafores sister Laura Rice believes Graswald played a part in her brother's drowning because she accepted her charges.

She definitely did something; otherwise she would have fought it, she told The New York Times. She still took a plea. An innocent person doesnt take a plea.

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 Grawalds trial, it surfaced that she had told the police it felt good knowing he was going to die when she watched Mr Viafore struggling in the water, and that it was a relief he was dead.

She had complained that he had been forcing her to take part in sexual acts with other couples.

He pushed for everything, he pushed for sex, for sexual stuff," she said. "He wanted threesomes, four - everything, and I was not ready.

Prosecutors argued that this showed motive for their claims she had murdered Mr Viafore. They also pointed out she was the sole beneficiary of some $250,000 (179,000) in life insurance policies when he died.

They have now declined to discuss the case.Indonesia's Mount Sinabung volcano erupted on Monday morning, shooting a spectacular plume of ash billowing 16,400 feet into the atmosphere.

Hot clouds were subsequently seen rolling down the mountain's slopes near Kutarakyat on the island of Sumatra, before drifting three miles south.

Airlines passing over the area have been issued with a "red notice" by the regional Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre in Darwin, Australia.

The stratovolcano first erupted in 2010, having previously lain dormant for four centuries, when an explosion killed two people. Sixteen were killed in a 2014 blast and seven more in 2016.

So far, no fatalities or injuries have been reported this time, according to the National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho.

Over 30,000 people have been forced to move away from homes near the mountain's base since the current series of eruptions began eight years ago.

The volcano is one of three currently erupting in Indonesia.

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 country - situated on the Pacific's famous "Ring of Fire", known for its fault lines and seismic instability - has over 120 active volcanoes.Plans have been drawn up to build the worlds largest wooden skyscraper.

Japanese company Sumitomo Forestry is proposing to build a 350-metre 70-storey building in Tokyo.

The new building, which is being referred to as W350 Project, will be ten per cent steel, combined with 180,000 cubic metres of indigenous wood.

The internal beams and braces will have a mixture of steel and wood and will be able to withstand the regular earthquakes that hit the region.

It will have balconies on all four sides as well as greenery from the ground to the top floor.

The project is expected to cost twice as much as a conventional skyscraper that size  coming in at approximately 600bn yen (4.02bn).

That figure may however be reduced as technology advances between now and 2041, when the project is scheduled to be completed.

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 current tallest wooden building is a 53-metre student residence in Vancouver.

Other wooden sky scrapers are currently under proposal with a 244-metre building in Chicago being considered.Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was given a guarded welcome to India as a way of showing "polite displeasure" over his country's sympathies with Sikh nationalists, an expert has said.

Mr Trudeau touched down at New Delhi airport over the weekend to be greeted only by a junior agricultural minister. He is not due to meet Indian premier Narendra Modi until the sixth day of his week-long tour.

His trip to Taj Mahal was also a small-scale family affair  with most attention being paid to the PM sporting Star Wars footwear in an apparent nod to Mr Modi's favourite film.

By contrast the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was warmly embraced by the Indian leader on the tarmac moments after he stepped off the plane last month.

Tensions between the Canadian and Indian governments have increased in recent years because of the growth in support in North America for an independent Sikh nation of Khalistan.

The Sikh nationalist campaign aims to create a separate country in the Punjab region of northern India.

There are nearly half-a-million Sikhs in Canada and three Sikh-Canadians in Mr Trudeau's cabinet including defence minister Harjit Sajjan, whose father was a member of the World Sikh Organisation.

Mr Sajjan was branded a Khalistani sympathiser by Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh last year. He rejected the claim as "ridiculous".

India was further upset when the Ontario Parliament passed a motion condemning the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in India as "genocide". Pro-Khalistan groups in Canada are even said to be planning a "Punjab Independence Referendum" in 2020.

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

Dr Gareth Price, an senior research fellow at Chatham House, said Mr Modi's decision not to personally welcome Mr Trudeau was "a way of showing a bit of polite displeasure".

He said: "The welcome will be more guarded when there is a suspicion that a country is not 100 per cent pro-India. It is an issue that has affected the UK in the past, as some of the biggest supporters of an independent Sikh state are in the UK and Canada.

"The UK has taken steps to demonstrate unambiguously we have no sympathies. Denmark also has an issue."

Captain Amarinder Singh tweeted about welcoming Mr Trudeau to the Golden Temple in Amritsar - even though Canada has said there are no plans for a meeting.

The temple was the scene of a controversial military operation to drive out Khalistani separatists in June 1984 which left hundreds dead. Four months later the Prime Minister Indira Gandi was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards and more than 3,000 Sikhs were killed in the resulting riots.

Mr Modi's failure to welcome Mr Trudeau dominated the Twitter hashtag #trudeauinindia and one user celebrated it as a "humiliation for a terrorist sympathiser".

The Former Indian High Commissioner to Canada, Vishnu Prakash, attacked the "political mollycoddling" of Khalistanis in Canada but insisted Mr Trudeau was an "esteemed guest".

"A Canadian political leader will naturally be courting different sections of society to be successful," Mr Prakash told Indian news website, The Print. "The Sikhs are a dynamic, vibrant and chivalrous community, and courting them is fine. The difficulty lies with appearing at radical platforms. It provides them legitimacy and the oxygen of publicity.

"The Khalistani separatists use such forums to whip-up anti-India sentiments and disaffection. India has been taking up this issue at all levels.

That said, I completely disagree with the media construct that PM Trudeau is being cold shouldered. He is an esteemed guest and both sides have invested a lot in this relationship. He is here at the PMs invitation; every courtesy has been extended to him.Jacinda Ardern became the first Prime Minister of New Zealand to attend the country's Pride March over the weekend.

The Labour Party leader was one of 25,000 people at the colourful event in Auckland. She described it as a "particularly special" experience.

Ms Ardern used the opportunity to applaud the parade's message of peace as she posted a selfie on Instagram.

"Ive loved every Pride Parade I have been lucky enough to walk in, but this one was particularly special," she said.

"The streets were packed, and what an important message that sends about diversity and inclusiveness. Thanks to everyone who came!"

The Prime Minister was photographed walking alongside two gay colleagues - her finance minister, Grant Robertson, and Labour MP Louisa Wall.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern cuts the purple ribbon (Fiona Goodall/Getty Images)

Ms Ardern danced, posed for selfies, gave hugs to people in the crowd and cut the last rainbow ribbon to mark the event.

The parade also featured a rainbow-coloured police patrol car, police dogs, horses and motorbikes, a decorated cement truck, and a "peace bird" made with 500 painted aluminium rods.

Parade producer Shaughan Woodcock told the New Zealand Herald it was "very exciting" to have a Prime Minister at the Parade for the first time.

"I think the overall message is that we are being led by a progressive government, a government that stands for all groups not just some," he said.

"It also sends a very clear message outside of New Zealand that New Zealand is leading the way around basic human rights and human rights for our rainbow community, and that it is time for the other countries to step up."A newcomer party in the Netherlands that wants a referendum on EU membership is polling in second place in the country, having won only 1.8 per cent of the vote in elections just last year.

Forum for Democracy (FVD), which was only founded in 2016, is now trailing Prime Minister Mark Ruttes centre-right VVD by 8 per cent, according to a new survey by pollsters Peil.nl.

The Eurosceptic party made little impact in last years general election but has been the beneficiary of the Netherlands fragmented political system  which has seen parties of all stripes temporarily rise and fall in recent years.

Recommended Belgian and the Netherlands move national border

There are currently eight political parties polling 8 per cent or more in the Netherlands, with the first-placed VVD on just 18 per cent. The hard-right FVD is on 10 per cent, around the same as the left-wing Socialist Party.

The Netherlands more well-known right-wing populist party, the Freedom Party (PVV) is down on 9 per cent  having been overtaken by newcomer FVD for the first time in a poll.

The PVV, which is led by Geert Wilders, came second in last years general election and previously participated in a government with Mr Rutte between 2010 and 2012, when it withdrew its support.

The FVD says it supports direct democracy and wants sharp tax cuts across the board. Like the PVV, it campaigns against Muslim immigrants, and says it would introduce a Dutch Values Protection Act and wants to ban Islamic face veils and other face coverings.

PVV leader Geert Wilders and Mark Rutte, the Dutch PM

Despite the good fortune for the new party, polling suggests that the Dutch are strongly pro remaining in the EU  with opinion having hardened significantly since the UK headed for the exit door.

With the next general election not scheduled until 2021, it remains to be seen whether the FVDs strong polling momentum will last.

The poll showed governing coalition partners D66 and CDA trailing the FVD on 9 per cent each, level with the Green Left.

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 PVDA, the centre-left allies of the UKs Labour party, are on 8 per cent, ahead of the Party for the Animals on 5 per cent. Pensioners party 50+ is on 4 per cent, level with a Christian Democratic party.

Mr Rutte survived a confidence vote in the Dutch parliament last week, trigged by the PVV over his handling of a scandal regarding one of his ministers. Halbe Zijlstra was forced to stand down as foreign minister after admitting he had lied about a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.A plan to protect wolves in France could see their population swell to 500 in the next five years.

The proposal - which would increase the number of wolves by around 40 per cent - is designed to ensure the survival of the species in France.

The country's farmers are likely to oppose the plans, having already complained about the financial losses caused by wolf attacks on livestock.

Recommended Wolf escapes wildlife sanctuary near Reading

Environment minister Nicolas Hulots proposal includes financial aid to help farmers protect their livestock using electric fences and herding dogs.

The plan also allows around 10 per cent of the wolf population to be culled every year to prevent attacks on herds of sheep.

Wolves once existed throughout much of Europe but came close to extinction in some parts due to aggressive hunting practices in the 19th century.

In recent decades, the species has gradually returned to several countries - including France, Italy, Slovenia and Denmark  with sightings of individual animals recorded in several others.

Last month, a wild wolf was spotted in Belgium, the first confirmed sighting in the country for more than a century.

The UK's Wildwood Trust is one of several organisations across Europe calling for the species to be actively reintroduced.

"Large predators play a vital role within the ecosystem, exerting control on prey species numbers and spread, to keep the ecosystem in balance," according to the Trust.

But they acknowledge that reintroducing species such as wolves would be problematic, too: "Peoples opinion of the wolf remains prejudiced, and this poses a serious problem for obtaining support for the reinstatement of the species into this country."

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

According to the most recent estimates by the US-based International Wolf Center, there are now around 13,000 wolves in Europe.

But while some countries are actively reintroducing the species  or considering doing so  others are seeking to reduce their numbers.

Between 2015 and 2016, Finland culled 55 of its 290 grey wolves in an apparent bid to prevent illegal poaching by landowners seeking to protect their livestock.

The move angered environmentalists concerned about damaging wolf population numbers and genetic diversity.

Associated Press contributed to this reportReligious leaders have reacted with outrage to a bill proposed by MPs in Iceland that would criminalise male circumcision.

The bill proposes a six-year prison term for anyone found guilty of removing sexual organs in whole or in part.

Salmann Tamimi, president of the Muslim Association of Iceland, described the proposal as an attack on religion.

Recommended Iceland MPs propose ban on circumcision of boys

Circumcising girls has been illegal in Iceland since 2005, but there are currently no laws to regulate the practice against boys.

Describing circumcision as a violation of young boys rights, the bill states the only time it should be considered is for health reasons.

Young men would be given the opportunity to decide for themselves once they reached the age of consent.

Male circumcision is one of the most common surgical procedures in the world, with one recent study estimating that around 38 per cent of men globally have undergone the procedure.

According to the same study, around half of circumcisions are carried out for religious or cultural reasons.

While the importance of male circumcision in Islam is disputed  some Muslim groups say it is obligatory, others only recommend it  it remains a major and celebrated rite wherever Islam is practised.

For Jews, circumcision carries profound religious significance and most baby boys born into Jewish families are circumcised within a week of birth.

The Bishop of Iceland, Agnes M Sigurardottir, has criticised the bill for criminalising the religious beliefs of Jews and Muslims, recommending instead a ban on unsafe circumcision.

In a statement to The Independent, Chief Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, president of the Conference of European Rabbis, said he was extremely concerned about the proposed legislation.

Whilst the Jewish population in Iceland is small, we cannot ignore the dangerous precedent this sets within Europe and the implications it has on Jews ability to carry out our religion in an open and free manner.

A spokesperson for Milah UK, which campaigns to protect the right of the Jewish community to carry out male circumcision, described the practice as "a non-negotiable element of Jewish identity". A ban would make "sustainable Jewish life in the country impossible," he said.

There are no official figures on the number of Jews living in Iceland but estimates in 2010 by the Pew Research Center suggest they make up less than 0.1 per cent of the population (fewer than 320 people).

Mr Tamimi said he was particularly concerned about the potential impact of the bill on the small Jewish community.

Even if there is just one Jew, it is very bad to criminalise him, he said. Its very bad for Iceland to get that name, that they dont want Jews. This is one way of saying they are not welcome.

He warned the legislation was an attack on religion more broadly  "they are interfering in religious freedom  and said he was frustrated that religious groups were not consulted before the legislation was proposed. There was not a single word, he said. We read about it in the newspaper.

Progressive Party MP Silja Dogg Gunnarsdottir is the driving force behind the legislation.

I didnt think it was necessary to consult, she told The Independent. I dont see it as a religious matter.

Jews are welcome in Iceland. But this is about child protection and childrens rights. That comes first, and before the religious rights of the adult.

Every individual, it doesnt matter what sex or how old should be able to give informed consent for a procedure that is unnecessary, irreversible and can be harmful. His body, his choice.

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

She said she was surprised when she learned that male circumcision was still legal, despite the ban on circumcising girls.

The body parts are different, the procedures are different, but in both cases they can be lethal and harmful to the child, she said.

Guidance issued in 2013 by the Nordic Ombudsmen for Children and paediatric experts concluded that there are no health-related grounds to circumcise young boys in the Nordic countries.

According to the paper, the procedure violates fundamental medical-ethical principles, not least because the procedure is irreversible, painful and may cause serious complications".

In the wake of that report, doctors working for Icelands national health system stopped carrying out the procedure.

Ms Gunnarsdottir argued that if just one person has complications after circumcision, that is one too many.

But there is significant disagreement in the global medical community regarding the potential harms or benefits of male circumcision.

While some studies say non-therapeutic circumcision can cause pain and serious long-term consequences  including infections, haemorrhages, sexual problems and psychological trauma  others suggest the health benefits outweigh the risks.

Mr Tamimi is keen to support any legislation that would make male circumcision safer. But he rejects a complete ban.

This bill is built just on feelings without any thinking about what it means to criminalise circumcision, he said. We dont accept it.

The legislation has been debated once in the Icelandic parliament and will go through several stages of discussion and consultation before it could become law.

This is a complicated and difficult matter, said Ms Gunnarsdottir. This is a healthy, democratic way to come to a conclusion.Israels Prime Minister has called a new police investigation into alleged corruption offences a media witch hunt.

Benjamin Netanyahu said it was "another baseless investigation under pressure from the media.

He added: The media witch-hunt continues in full force.

Police said they had arrested two very close associates of Mr Netanyahu, along with senior officials from telecoms company, Bezeq.

Israeli media said investigators were looking into whether the company received benefits in return for favourable media coverage of Mr Netanyahu.

Channel 2 TV reported that it was also alleged that Mr Netanyahu received favourable coverage from the Walla news site, a Bezeq subsidiary, in exchange for regulation which earned its controlling shareholder, Shaul Elovitch, hundreds of millions of shekels.

The channel said Mr Netanyahu, who held the communications portfolio until last year, is expected to be questioned.

 Benjamin Netanyahu announces he will stay in office despite police recommendation

The arrests came less than a week after police recommended the Prime Minister face charges for alleged corruption.

He is alleged to have received gifts from businessmen and discussed a deal with the publisher of Israels best-selling newspaper for better coverage in return for curbs on a rival newspaper.

Mr Netanyahu, who is fighting for his political career, denies wrongdoing in both cases.

He said: After the release of air from Case 1000 and 2000 and after it became clear there was no air in Case 3000, the media created massive pressure to create a new balloon. Case 4000, the air will escape from it too.

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

Case 1000 refers to the allegations Mr Netanyahu received lavish gifts from Hollywood mogul Arnon Milchan and Australian billionaire James Packer, including champagne and cigars.

In Case 2000, he is accused of holding secret talks with the publisher of a major Israeli newspaper, where he allegedly requested positive coverage in exchange for reining in a free pro-Netanyahu daily newspaper.

The new investigation into Bezeq is known as Case 4000.

The attorney general must decide whether to file charges against him, a decision that could take months.An Isis widow was sentenced to death by hanging and 11 others were jailed for life in a court in Iraq for their part in acts of terrorism waged by the Islamic extremists in the country.

The Turkish national, 48, who was condemned to death said she had travelled to join her husband in the group's northern stronghold there because it had established strict Sharia law.

She was handed the sentence, despite her state defence team arguing that all 12 women  11 from Turkey, one from Azerbaijan  had not been linked to violence, in the Baghdad court.

Recommended Funding pledges to rebuild Iraq after war against Isis fall short

They also claimed the women, aged 20 to 50, had been tricked or forced into joining their husbands, with one saying her spouse threatened to take their two-year-old son unless she travelled.

The women were arrested in both Mosul and Tal Afar when Iraqi forces moved to re-capture the Isis enclaves in an offensive which left their husbands dead, Al Jazeera reported.

"The court issued 10 verdicts of life in prison against 10 women after convicting them of terrorism, and sentenced to death by hanging another terrorist who holds Turkish citizenship, Judge Abdul-Sattar Al-Birqdar said.

The Turkish woman sentenced to death broke down in tears when she explained her reasons for travelling to Iraq.

"We had to leave Turkey because my husband was a wanted man. I wanted to live in an Islamic state where sharia (Islamic law) is the law of the land.

"I regret having come," she added, pointing out that her husband and two sons were killed in air attacks when Iraqi forces aided by US fighter jets moved to re-capture the Isis strongholds.

The woman from Azerbaijan said she had travelled to Turkey to meet her husband there  but she was unknowingly later taken to meet him in an Isis stronghold in Iraq.

"I got to know my husband through the internet. He proposed we meet in Turkey, but an intermediary there told me he would drive me to my future husband, without saying where," said Angie Omrane.

"I thought we were staying in Turkey, but I found myself in Syria and then my husband took me to Iraq."

Leila, one of the Turkish women, said she was pushed into travelling there.

"My husband forced me to come to Iraq by threatening to take away my two-year-old son if I didn't follow him. I didn't take part in any violent action. I stayed at home the whole time."

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

Human Rights Watch senior Iraq researcher Belkis Wille hit out at the death penalty that the court levelled at the Turkish woman.

She told The National that the group "opposes the death penalty in all circumstances as an irreversible, degrading, and cruel punishment."

All 12 women were found guilty under Iraqs anti-terrorism laws against "any person who commits, incites, plans, finances or assists in acts of terrorism". They were also found guilty for entering the country illegally.

They have one month to appeal the courts ruling.

Figures show a total of 509 foreign women, including 300 Turks, are being held in Iraq, with 813 children, according to a security source who spoke to French news agency Agence France Presse.The conflict in Syria may escalate significantly after the Assad regime declared that it will send troops to help Kurdish fighters defending the town of Afrin against Turkish forces.

The deployment, which may also include Iranian-controlled militiamen, will take place, said Damascus, after an agreement was reached with the Peoples Protection Units (YPG) group, which has set up a Kurdish enclave across the Turkish border.

Popular forces will arrive in Afrin within a few hours to support its peoples stand against the Turkish regimes attack on the area and its people, announced Sana, the Syrian state news agency. The forces, continued Sana, will position themselves at the frontier  a move that opens up the possibility of direct clashes with the Turks and allied Syrian Arab militias.

The reference to popular forces indicate that the initial units may not be regular Syrian army but paramilitaries composed of, among others, Shia Afghans recruited in Iran, and the Shabiha  the militia of Syrias ruling Alawite community.

Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in response to the Syrian action: If they [the Syrians] are entering Afrin to protect YPG/PKK, nobody can stop the Turkish army. However, he added that there will be no problem if the regime forces were being sent to control the Kurds. We have always expressed our support for Syrias territorial integrity. We are one of the countries with the utmost support for it, he insisted.

Nuri Mahmoud, a spokesman for the YPG, also spoke of preserving the unity of Syria. He said: We are calling on the Syrian army to protect Afrin because we would love to preserve a unified Syria. Syrian soldiers have not arrived yet, but they will. The international community continues to address the Syrian leadership as sovereign and we call on this authority to protect its territory.

There has, however, been dispute between the Syrian regime and the Kurds over the latter's presence, with demands from Damascus that the YPG hands over security control to the Syrian force, allows in regime officials and flies the Syrian flag to show that it acknowledges Syrian rule.

Turkish attack on Afrin, northern Syria  in pictures Show all 9 1 /9 Turkish attack on Afrin, northern Syria  in pictures Turkish attack on Afrin, northern Syria  in pictures Smoke billows following a Turkish airstrike on a village in the Afrin district, on 28 January, 2018. Turkey launched operation "Olive Branch" on January 20 against the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) militia in Afrin, supporting Syrian opposition fighters with ground troops and air strikes AFP Turkish attack on Afrin, northern Syria  in pictures Smoke billows from surrounding villages during the Turkish military operation against the Kurdish enclave on 28 January, 2018 AFP/Getty Turkish attack on Afrin, northern Syria  in pictures Twenty-year old Kifah al-Moussa, a Syrian Arab woman living among the Kurds of Afrin province, was working on a chicken farm in the village of Maryameen when a Turkish aircraft bombed the building at midday on 21 January, wounding her in the chest. When she recovered consciousness, she found eight people from one family lying dead around her Yara Ismail Turkish attack on Afrin, northern Syria  in pictures Mohamed Hussein, a 58-year-old Kurdish farmer, lies in the Afrin hospital, wounded in the head and eye after his home was bombed by Turkish aircraft on the second night of the attack Yara Ismail Turkish attack on Afrin, northern Syria  in pictures Syrian Kurds sit on benches overlooking a street in Afrin, on 28 January, 2018. Above is a memorial to martyrs who died in the fight against Isis AFP/Getty Turkish attack on Afrin, northern Syria  in pictures Smoke is seen rising on the Syrian side of the border, at Hassa, near Hatay, southern Turkey as Turkish jet fighters hit People's Protection Unit (YPG) positions, on 28 January, 2018 AFP/Getty Turkish attack on Afrin, northern Syria  in pictures A Turkish made T-155 Firtina (Storm) howitzer is dispatched to the border at Hassa near Hatay, southern Turkey, on 28 January, 2018 AFP/Getty Turkish attack on Afrin, northern Syria  in pictures A Turkish soldier waves a flag on Mount Barsaya, northeast of Afrin, on 28 January, 2018 Reuters Turkish attack on Afrin, northern Syria  in pictures Turkey-backed Free Syrian Army fighters are seen in Barsaya mountain, northeast of Afrin, on 28 January, 2018 Reuters

The Kurdish fighters have been extensively used, and supplied arms, by the US and the West in the campaign against Isis, and now control around 30 per cent of Syrian territory. There have been sporadic clashes between them and regime forces, but on the main the two sides have avoided each other.

The Kurds have complained of being abandoned by the West at Afrin and have sought to establish relations with Russia, which carried out some training of Kurdish fighters before withdrawing as Turkey began its assault last month. It is unclear at this stage whether Moscow played any part in organising the deal between Damascus and the YPG.

The Turkish government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in Ankara, says it is determined not to allow the Kurds to set up a defacto state across its borders. It accuses the YPG of being a part of PKK, which has fought for Kurdish autonomy in Turkey for more than three decades. YPG denies having any military or political links with the PKK.

 Video shows the moment a bomb hits a building in Syria as new onslaught new onslaught causes mass civilian casualties

Turkey has supported rebels fighting the Assad regime since uprisings began in 2011, but there has been no direct armed confrontations between the two countries since the Syrians shot down a Turkish aircraft in 2012, killing its two crew members.

The deal comes as Turkish authorities replaced the name of a street where the US embassy is located in Ankara with the name of Turkeys military offensive in Syria.

The Ankara Metropolitan Municipality decided to change the street name of the US embassy to Olive Branch, which is the name of Turkeys military operation against US-backed YPG forces (EPA)

Ankara municipal workers put up the new sign in Turkish for Olive Branch Street, replacing the one named after late Ankara governor Nevzat Tandogan.

When asked last week about the upcoming name change, US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said they can call it whatever they want. As long as its in accordance with their own law, were fine with that.Soaking in London at dawn is a great way to start your holiday as soon as you leave the house. A sunrise boat trip down the Thames is one of the best ways to get uninterrupted views of the city, and the TFL Riverbus transports commuters and sightseers alike all the way from Hampton Court to Woolwich. From Greenwich its an easy 25-minute DLR ride to London City Airport, so youll arrive in time for breakfast before boarding your flight to Prague.

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Coffee in the cobblestoned corner of Novy Svet

Karvana Novy Svet

Prague is a deservedly popular destination, but this makes spots where you can escape the crowds particularly precious. After exploring the Castle area, make a beeline for Novy Svet, a cute cobblestoned grid of 14th century streets that are mercifully ignored by the tourist hordes.

Recommended The best things to do on a trip to Malaga

Youre just two streets away from the main drag between the Castle and the Strahov Monastery, but you wouldnt know it as you duck into Kavarna Novy Svet, a tiny cafe with outdoor seating and coffee by local roastery Doubleshot, served from a gleaming E61 Faema espresso machine.

Shop for superlative stationery at Papelote

Papelote

For a truly chic Czech souvenir, how about an ecologically produced diary or jotter from Papelote? This delightfully quirky, homegrown company is something of a cult brand amongst Czech artists and creatives. At the studio you'll also find pretty products by other local designers, including Wildpapers notebooks and Studio Cincera boxes.

Lunch at a riverside farmers market

Alamy

Follow @ftpraha on Instagram to find a farmers market near you, and snack on locally made organic sausages, grilled cheese sandwiches and tempting baked goods. On Saturday mornings, streetfood stalls and farmers selling fresh produce line the river at Rezacovo namesti; get there between 10am and 3pm for an atmospheric brunch or lunch.

Immerse yourself in art at Forbidden Spot

Petr Hricko (Photo: Petr Hricko)

Pragues reputation for creativity is in no way misplaced, and theres no better place to get a flavour of the citys underground art scene than Forbidden Spot, part-gallery, part-atelier, home to visual artists, street artists, tattoo artists, fashion designers and filmmakers. Currently moving to brand new premises due to open on 1 April, follow @forbiddenspot on Instagram for updates about their pop-up supper clubs and other events.

Catch a cult film in an arthouse cinema

Kino Aero

Czech filmmakers have been pushing boundaries since the 1950s, with names like Milos Forman, Vera Chytilova and Jiri Menzel associated with the Czech new wave. There are a string of beautiful arthouse cinemas across the city, but visitors should start with Aero, which has innovative film festivals, exhibitions and talks on offer as well as a superlative programme of cult favourites, international gems and independent standouts.

Sip a Sundowner on Pragues most charming street

Hemingway bar

Easily one of Pragues best watering holes, Hemingway cocktail bar pays homage to the great drinker (and occasional writer) with particularly impressive collections of absinthe, champagne and rum. Plus drinking here puts you in the atmospheric heart of the Old Town, on Karoliny Svetle, one of the citys most charming and vibrant streets. This is the perfect spot in which to linger and remember that only this morning, you were soaring high above the skyline in East London.

With a central location and check-in just 20 minutes before departure, flying from London City Airport makes for a smart start to your getaway, giving you time to enjoy breakfast in London before you take off.

British Airways flies up to six times a week from London City Airport to Prague. Find out more at ba.com/londoncityA Czech photographer has published a series of eerie but stunning photos of an abandoned casino in Romania, which once counted the Russian Imperial family among its guests.

Constanta Casino in Constanta, a seaside town in the south-east of Romania (about two hours from capital Bucharest), opened in 1910. After the Russian Imperial family visited in 1914, it became a military hospital at the outbreak of the First World War and suffered bombing.

It was restored to its former purpose in 1917 before being bombed once again during the Second World War, after which it was turned into a restaurant and bar due to communist Romanias strict anti-gambling laws.

Speaking to The Independent, photographer Jakub Kyncl said: The atmosphere was a bit spooky to be honest. Hundreds of pigeons are nesting inside and a family of cats eats the [deceased]. The air was heavy and a creepy sound of the wind coming in through the broken windows is dominant when you enter.

Even now, when the building is in a desolate condition, you can imagine how luxurious it must have been.

Constanta Casino Show all 13 1 /13 Constanta Casino Constanta Casino The now abandoned Constanta Casino in Romania Jakub Kyncl Constanta Casino The grand staircase at Constanta Casino Jakub Kyncl Constanta Casino The building opened as a casino in 1910 Jakub Kyncl Constanta Casino However, after it was visited by the Russian Imperial family in 1914, it was turned into a military hospital upon the outbreak of the First World War Jakub Kyncl Constanta Casino The hotel was bombed during the First World War but reopened as a casino when hostilities ended Jakub Kyncl Constanta Casino Sadly, it was bombed again during the Second World War and closed as a casino as a result of communist Romania's anti-gambling laws Jakub Kyncl Constanta Casino It reopened as a bar and restaurant, but was abandoned in 1990 Jakub Kyncl Constanta Casino Although locals would love to see the building restored, it would cost millions of euros Jakub Kyncl Constanta Casino It is now listed as one of the seven most endangered buildings in Europe Jakub Kyncl Constanta Casino A submission to Europa Nostra to restore the building highlighted the severity of the damage Jakub Kyncl Constanta Casino Waves from the sea and strong winds have shattered most of the building's windows Jakub Kyncl Constanta Casino Lavishly decorated rooms at Constanta Casino are now rotting Jakub Kyncl Constanta Casino Despite the state of the building, the area around Constanta Casino is popular with locals in good weather Jakub Kyncl

Kyncl, who is travel editor of Czech news site Novinky.cz, used a Nikon D850 to take the eerie photographs.

I saw some pictures of Constanta Casino (Cazinoul din Constanta) two years ago for the first time, he said. Recently my mother showed me a black and white image of this building from 1968 in our family album. She was there on vacation with her family50 years ago.

A photo of the casino in the 1950s, when it was a bar and restaurant (Jaroslav Rejhon)

This buildings history was so incredible that I decided to go during January to underline the feeling of abandonment, as there were almost no people around.

I spent six hours inside the building and two freezing mornings around it. I had permission to enter from the local City Hall and had to sign an agreement that I was coming in at my own risk.Boris Johnson looked a bit like a parboiled frog when he delivered his Valentines Day speech. Theresa May is gradually heating the water so that the Brexiteers in her Cabinet wont realise until too late that they are being cooked. I dont think this was what she set out to do, but it has turned out to be the only way to hold her Government together through the Brexit negotiations.

In her speech today at the Munich Security Conference, the Prime Minister turned up the heat a little more by saying that, when participating in EU agencies, the UK will respect the remit of the European Court of Justice. Previously, she has suggested that the UK would seek some kind of associate membership of agencies such as Euratom, the nuclear co-operation club, as a way of avoiding direct ECJ jurisdiction.

Todays speech adopted a more pragmatic line. In effect, May said she was happy to accept ECJ rulings in areas where we choose to take part. This involves a trivial infringement of British sovereignty compared with membership of the EU, but it clashes with the absolutist rhetoric of the Leavers  including her own, in the Lancaster House speech last year, when she promised to bring an end to the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice in Britain.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 10 September 2021 People paddle board during a misty morning in Ullswater, the second largest lake in the Lake District, Cumbria PA UK news in pictures 9 September 2021 Troops from Wiltshire based 4 Armoured Close Support Battalion Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers during final inspection at Wellington Barracks in London, ahead of providing troops for the Queens Guard PA UK news in pictures 8 September 2021 Workers cross London Bridge during the morning rush hour in London Reuters UK news in pictures Mixing it up: Painting it up press view in London A gallery employee poses for photographers next to a painting entitled Prairie by British artist, Louise Giovanelli during the exhibition 'Mixing it up: Painting it up' at the Hayward Gallery in London EPA UK news in pictures 6 September 2021 Traders in the Ring at the London Metal Exchange, in the City of London, after open-outcry trading returned for the first time since March 2020, when the Ring was temporarily closed due to the pandemic PA UK news in pictures 5 September 2021 People enjoy the warm weather on Sandbanks beach, Poole PA UK news in pictures 4 September 2021 Demonstrators from Animal Rebellion and Nature Rebellion protest in Trafalgar Square in London. PA UK news in pictures 3 September 2021 South Africa's Ntando Mahlangu (centre) wins the Men's 200 metres T61 Final ahead of second placed Great Britain's Richard Whitehead at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games PA UK news in pictures 2 September 2021 A young common seal on the beach at Horsey Gap in Norfolk, as hundreds of pregnant grey seals come ashore ready for the start of the pupping season. PA UK news in pictures 1 September 2021 Goldfinches fighting over food in a garden in Strensham, Worcestershire PA UK news in pictures 31 August 2021 Gold Medallist Sarah Storey of Britain celebrates on the podium Reuters UK news in pictures 30 August 2021 Extinction Rebellion protesters hold a a tea party on Tower Bridge in London EPA UK news in pictures 29 August 2021 A police office tussles with a demonstrator on Cromwell Road outside the Natural History Museum during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion in London PA UK news in pictures 28 August 2021 Members of the British armed forces 16 Air Assault Brigade walk to the air terminal after disembarking a Royal Airforce Voyager aircraft at Brize Norton, Oxfordshire POOL/AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 27 August 2021 Fabio Quartararo crashes during a MotoGP practice session at the British Grand Prix, Silverstone Circuit Action Images via Reuters UK news in pictures 26 August 2021 An Extinction Rebellion activist holds a placard in a fountain surrounded by police officers, during a protest next to Buckingham Palace in London Reuters UK news in pictures 25 August 2021 Gold Medallist Great Britains cyclist, Sarah Storey, celebrates after winning the Womens C5 3000m Individual Pursuit Final at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. It was her 15th Paralympic gold Reuters UK news in pictures 24 August 2021 A demonstrator dressed as bee during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion on Whitehall, in central London PA UK news in pictures 23 August 2021 Former interpreters for the British forces in Afghanistan demonstrate outside the Home Office in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 22 August 2021 Police officers form a line in front of the entrance to the Guildhall, London, where protesters have climbed onto a ledge above the entrance during an Extinction Rebellion stage a protest PA UK news in pictures 21 August 2021 People take part in a demonstration in solidarity with people of Afghanistan, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 20 August 2021 People zip wire across the sea from Bournemouth pier towards the beach. PA UK news in pictures 19 August 2021 Supporters of Geronimo the alpaca gather outside Shepherds Close Farm in Wooton Under Edge, Gloucestershire PA UK news in pictures 18 August 2021 Former Afghan interpreters and veterans hold a demonstration outside Downing Street, calling for support and protection for Afghan interpreters and their families PA UK news in pictures 17 August 2021 Military personnel board the RAF Airbus A400M at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, where evacuation flights from Afghanistan have been landing Reuters UK news in pictures 16 August 2021 Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer takes part in a minute's silence at Wolverhampton police station for the victims of the Plymouth mass shooting last week PA UK news in pictures 15 August 2021 2Storm, a ten-metre tall puppet of a mythical goddess of the sea created by Edinburgh-based visual theatre company Vision Mechanics, makes its way alongside the seafront at North Berwick, East Lothian, during a performance at the Fringe By The Sea festival PA UK news in pictures 14 August 2021 A woman and two young girls look at floral tributes in Plymouth where six people, including the offender, died of gunshot wounds in a firearms incident PA UK news in pictures 13 August 2021 Forensic officers in the Keyham area of Plymouth where six people, including the shooter, died of gunshot wounds in a firearms incident on Thursday evening PA UK news in pictures 12 August 2021 Children ride horses in the River Eden in Appleby, Cumbria, during the annual gathering of travellers for the Appleby Horse Fair PA UK news in pictures 11 August 2021 Stella Moris (left) reacts after talking to the media outside the High Court in London, following the first hearing in the Julian Assange extradition appeal, n London, following the first hearing in the Julian Assange extradition appeal. The US government has won the latest round in its High Court bid to appeal against the decision not to extradite Julian Assange on espionage charges PA UK news in pictures 10 August 2021 Students react after they receive their A-Level results at the Ark Academy, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 9 August 2021 The final athletes from Great Britain arrive home including Jason Kenny, Laura Kenny and Katie Archibald (front left-right) at Heathrow Airport, London following the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games PA UK news in pictures 8 August 2021 Great Britain's Laura Kenny during the closing ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Olympic stadium in Japan PA UK news in pictures 7 August 2021 People from the Glasgow Southside community take part in the Govanhill Carnival, an anti-racist celebration of pride, unity and the contributions immigrants have made to the community in Govanhill, at Queen's Park, Glasgow PA UK news in pictures 6 August 2021 Chijindu Ujah of Britain, Zharnel Hughes of Britain, Richard Kilty of Britain and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake of Britain celebrate winning silver as they pose with Asha Philip of Britain, Imani Lansiquot of Britain, Dina Asher-Smith of Britain and Daryll Neita of Britain after they won bronze in the women's 4 x 100m relay during Olympic Games Day 14 Getty UK news in pictures 5 August 2021 A protester places flowers on a photograph of an executed man during a demonstration organised by supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) to protest against the inauguration of Iran's new president Ebrahim Raisi in central London AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 4 August 2021 England's Joe Root looks on as India's KL Rahul doesn't make it to a catch during day one of Cinch First Test match at Trent Bridge, Nottingham PA UK news in pictures 3 August 2021 Great Britain's Laura Kenny and Jason Kenny with their silver medals for the Women's Team Pursuit and Mens Team Sprint during the Track Cycling at the Izu Velodrome on the eleventh day of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Japan PA UK news in pictures 2 August 2021 Great Britains Charlotte Worthington competes during the Womens BMX Freestyle Final at the Tokyo Olympics PA UK news in pictures 1 August 2021 EPA 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

And yet the Brexiteer frogs have still not jumped out of the Cabinet saucepan. Michael Gove is still croaking about banning foie gras after Brexit (we already have a ban on production), and Johnson delivered a whole speech on Wednesday about the liberal case for leaving and why Remainers should embrace it.

After the speech, he was asked if he would guarantee not to resign if the Cabinet decided in favour of regulatory alignment with the EU on manufactured goods. Were all very lucky to serve, he replied, pretending not to notice that the water was getting hot.

It sounded like a rather technical question. Would the Foreign Secretary really resign over something that sounded like the small print? The trouble is that it was a reference to what he said in September: There is no point in coming out of the EU and then remaining in rotational orbit around it. That is the worst of both worlds. You have to be able to have control of your regulatory framework.

We may be about to find out whether Johnson stands by that on Thursday, when the Cabinet meets for a long session at Chequers, the Prime Ministers country home. It is quite likely that Theresa May will propose what Johnson called the worst of both worlds  for some categories of trade, such as manufactured goods, at least.

It would be hard for Johnson to resign and to make it look as if it were some great stand on a point of principle. He has, after all, been allowed to make a speech  unlike five months ago when May told him not to, so he published it in the Daily Telegraph anyway.

 Theresa May: After Brexit the UK will pursue an independent foreign policy

It is not her fault that the Foreign Secretarys speech this week was such a poor one. She didnt suggest that he reach out to the Remainers by reminding them of the promise of 350m a week for the NHS on the side of the bus. In his speech Johnson said, twice, that we would be able to spend more on the NHS after Brexit.

And when they get to Chequers is Johnson really going to walk out if the majority of the Cabinet agree to try to keep our economy close to the EUs? I suspect he will bow instead to the spirit of pragmatism that we saw in the Prime Ministers speech in Munich.

It was significant that some flexibility has been shown by both sides. The EU side in the Brexit negotiations this week rewrote the punishment clause that would have allowed the EU Commission to suspend UK access to the single market during the transition period. I thought David Davis, the Brexit Secretary, had been over the top in his condemnation of the draft, but it seems to have had the desired effect.

Then on Friday Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, seemed to accept that there could be some status for Britain that lies between being an EU member state and a non-member state like any other.

If a deal can be done, I dont believe Johnson or any of the other Cabinet Brexiteers is going to stand against it. I would guess that the Cabinet will emerge from Chequers with an agreed position on the future relationship with the EU and no resignations. The frogs will have been well and truly boiled.

Then all we have to do is have the negotiation.Theresa May was meant to be on ITVs This Morning with Holly and Phillip to talk about making life fairer for students. So it was nothing if not fitting that her late arrival forced producers to fill time by dispatching a man in a cow outfit to knock on a random pensioners door and give her five grand in cash.

In any event, the Prime Minister had already been upstaged by this point by Im A Celebrity! winner Georgia Toff Toffolo bravely baring all in her battle with cystic acne.

It was to be her first appearance on the This Morning sofa since becoming Prime Minister, so we must assume there is someone in No 10 who has identified monochrome-barneted former dreamcoat wearer Phillip Schofield as the gateway to the nations youth.

But if the plan really was to capture the just-rolled-out-of-bed undergraduate market, Theresa May frankly should have arrived on time, and not handed the precious 11.10am slot to Pat from secret location and the cow with the briefcase full of twenty quid notes.

Back to the matter at hand. The Prime Minister appears to have decided that the higher education policy that has come to pass during the previous eight years in which she has been either Home Secretary or Prime Minister is unfair and needs a rethink.

And to prove she is serious she has launched a year-long review, the conclusions of which are already all but decided, and will not come anywhere near close to abolishing tuition fees as Jeremy Corbyn has promised to, and had he not done none of this would be happening.

Looking only mildly more startled to be on live TV than the pensioner whod opened her front door to a TV crew and a bipedal Holstein Friesian half an hour before, the Prime Minister gave Holly and Phillip the same precooked spiel shed emailed out last night and would be saying at a speech in Derbyshire two hours later. She recognises that many young people, their parents and grandparents have serious concerns about aspects of the current system  the principal one being the massive sums of money involved in getting a degree that is highly likely to turn out to be worthless. That even student fees policy can be delivered through the prism of grandparental concern is revealing of the strange psychological space our Prime Minister inhabits.

She wants to end the stigma of vocational training, which she says is too often seen as something for other peoples children, which if you have no trace of ever having stepped outside Oxford-educated Conservative Party social circles is probably true, but if youre at home watching Holly and Phillip at noon on a Monday dare I say possibly isnt.

She faced three difficult questions from Holly and Phillip. One, on whether she ever enjoyed a takeaway, she flat out refused to answer.

A second, on whether she was enjoying the job, she replied, yes, then paused, grimaced, and said yes again. As everyone knows, the more times you say yes in reply to a yes or no question, the more clear it becomes you are telling the truth.

On the toughest one of all, its arguable Schofers should have done his homework. Could you be Prime Minister without going to university?

May reached out and found the closest available rock. John Major! John Major never went to university! Indeed he did not.

And nor did Winston Churchill, Disraeli and the Duke of Wellington who unarmed as they were with degrees from Oxford were unable to, say, lose their parliamentary majority by accident, take their country out of the EU by accident, or bomb Iraq if not by accident then for reasons that remain a touch unclear.

Still, to give Theresa May credit, a less modest Prime Minister might have been inclined to mention their own tireless efforts to improve access to No 10 for those without degrees, which, should Jeremy Corbyn get another chance at a general election, might well be her defining legacy.Yes  this is yet another piece about transgender people. Youd be forgiven for thinking that we make up 90 per cent of the population (the reality is between 1-2 per cent). We are everywhere in the media, and not in a terribly good way lately.

Ever since the Government announced theyre considering reforming the Gender Recognition Act (2004) about six months ago a very corrosive and heated public debate in the UK about trans rights and the reality of trans people is being played out in the media, and we are the fodder. Under the act trans people will no longer need a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria from a health care professional to receive their gender recognition certificate.This means that trans people can get a new birth certificate without having to jump through hoops to prove who they are.We have seen many trans voices being heard in positive ways amidst the chaos, however much media coverage has shown trans people in an extremely negative light.

 Jordan Peterson leaves Cathy Newman speechless in debate on transgender rights

A recent example being The Sunday Times harmful inaccuracies about a small charity called Mermaids, which gives life saving services to parents and their children.

Its safe to say that although visibility has increased and more trans people are able to come out and live relatively ordinary lives, at the same time we are being targeted more than ever. This is partly due to an organised effort led by a fringe group of feminists, opposed to reform of the Gender Recognition Act, which most recently resulted in a gofundme campaign calling for the exclusion of trans women from all-women shortlists within the Labour Party.

Trans children, who deserve our support and understanding, are the target of much of the misinformation, from articles claiming the advancement of trans rights will endanger children, to articles containing misleading information about the services they receive from the NHS to people advocating for conversion therapy.

What is the impact of these attacks on us? How is this affecting our mental health? Can fair and accurate media coverage improve the lives of trans people, making our children safer and happier? Happily, the answer to the last question is yes, as a new study shows.

Lonely road: Why school is hell for transgender pupils Show all 2 1 /2 Lonely road: Why school is hell for transgender pupils Lonely road: Why school is hell for transgender pupils 25255.bin Lonely road: Why school is hell for transgender pupils 25256.bin

The research, carried out by Kings College London in partnership with All About Trans, looked at how media representation of trans people affects trans people themselves. 78 per cent thought that coverage about trans people was inaccurate and when seeing negative media coverage, 69 per cent felt unhappy, 78 per cent felt angry, 69 per cent felt bad about society, 49 per cent felt excluded and 41 per cent felt frightened.

It found that negative representations can worsen the dysphoria of trans people causing feelings of shame, making one respondent feel like I will never be accepted in society as my true self and this hurts deeply.

Where there is fear and misinformation, there is hate. Research published by Stonewall in January 2018 showed that two fifths of trans people (41 per cent) experienced a hate crime in the last 12 months, nearly half of trans people (48 per cent) avoid using public bathrooms, one in four (25 per cent) have experienced homelessness, two in five (40 per cent) have adjusted the way they dress out of fear of harassment or discrimination and one in eight (12 per cent) have been physically assaulted by colleagues or customers in the last year, simply for being trans.

The negative portrayal of trans people in the media is particularly worrying because so many of our children and young people who happen to be transgender try and commit suicide nearly half (45 per cent).

However, positive media coverage, like seeing Paris Lees in Vogue or BBC 2s Boy Meets Girl, had a positive effect on trans people. Sixty two per cent of respondents to the All About trans survey felt happy, 55 per cent felt included, and 46 per cent felt both good about society and more able to talk about their gender identity when they watched or read something about the trans experience that was truthful and fair.

The prevailing view of respondents was that trans children are at the epicentre of a media backlash and there is an urgent need to increase awareness of the issues they face and stop the tide of misinformation.

Visibility is great but not when it brings more suffering to trans children and adults.

Despite what some journalists and transphobic groups might want the public to believe, the reality is that many trans people, who make up one of the most marginalised and stigmatised groups in society, are loved and supported by people across this country who understand that there is nothing to fear.

Lets call out the attacks and lies when we see them in our media  and applaud the positive and accurate coverage that can make such a difference to our lives.



Owl Fisher is a non-binary trans activist, writer and an advisor for All About Trans.In sacking Henry Bolton and choosing Gerard Batten as their new interim leader, Ukip members have sounded the death knell for their party.

A noted Islamophobe and conspiracy crank, who believes that Nazis created the basic plan for the EU, Ukips founder member and London MEP Batten inherits an organisation (for the next 90 days at least) that is in debt to the tune of hundreds of thousands of pounds, lurching ever further to the right and into political irrelevancy.

The next leadership election will be Ukips fourth since the 2016 EU referendum, which was the high-water mark for the increasingly Islam-and-extremism-obsessed party, which has stumbled from crisis to crisis, most recently as a result of former leader Henry Boltons disastrous dalliance with Jo Marney, who sent racist messages about Meghan Markle.

The party is now a bad joke, haemorrhaging support and money. However, the bigger threat lies in Nigel Farage and his Leave EU backer Arron Banks, eagerly waiting in the wings. Farage and Banks are far more capable figures than anything Ukip is likely to offer and will hit home hard on anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim messages when they re-enter the political fray, most likely at the helm of a new radical-right political movement.

 UKIP MEP Gerard Batten says 'extremist' mosques should be banned in Britain

So how did it come to this?

The sense of crisis was palpable at Ukips extraordinary general meeting (EGM) on Saturday  its first in 18 years  which quickly became an all-out war between Bolton (whod refused to go) and the partys ruling National Executive Committee (NEC).

The NEC took a vote of no confidence against Bolton after hed left his wife for Marney, a party member less than half his age. Marney was outed by the media for her numerous racist comments against Prince Harrys new fiancee Meghan Markle.

What the 1,500 EGM attendees witnessed was a mixture of the ugly, comedic and surreal.

By the end of it, the partys leader, Chairman Paul Oakden and leading NEC figure Steve Crowther had all left their posts, and Ukip was staring down the barrel of financial ruin.

NEC member and former Ukip Chairman Steve Crowther tore into Bolton for his poor judgement in dealing with the Marney affair, attacking him for his treatment of his wife and children. Crowther also criticised Bolton for apparently lying on his CV.

Astonishingly NEC member Paul Oakley accused Bolton of having threatened legal action against his own party on two separate occasions.

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

Bolton quickly went on the offensive, outlining his plans to reform Ukips party structure and to strip the NEC of power. At one point he described the NEC as the enemy within. He even threatened the NEC with action, leading to boos from the crowd and a heckler having to be removed from the room.

One impassioned (if confused) pro-Bolton speaker ripped up a 5 note and began shouting about George Soros.

Bizarrely another Bolton supporter informed the crowd of the large age difference between himself and his two ex-wives, and stated that that his third (and current) wife was much, much, much younger. He went on to claim that he had been ostracised from Conservative circles after his second wife turned up to a meeting in a see-through cat suit.

You have to say Paul Oakden, the outgoing party Chairman, was wise in barring the press from attending.

In then choosing Batten to hold the helm, though, the party has gone from the sublime to the ridiculous.

Batten believes Islam is a death cult, a view he reiterated over the weekend during press interviews as factually and historically true, insisting it should be referred to as Mohammedanism. His election is a disaster for any hope Ukip might have of resurrecting its political fortunes.

Batten spoke at the far-right Traditional Britain Group in 2011, which wants to deport non-white people from Britain and whose vice-president called Doreen Lawrence a n****r and broadcaster Vanessa Feltz a fat Jewish s**g, something we revealed as part of our new undercover film into the alt-right movement.

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Batten also has links to anti-Muslim counter-jihad networks across Europe, showing support for the controversial far-right politician Geert Wilders in the Netherlands  who wants to ban the Quran and halt mosque building  calling him a brave man trying to defend western civilisation in the face of its own loss of the most basic instinct of self-preservation.

In 2006 Batten called for British Muslims to sign a Charter of Muslim Understanding to reject violence, reiterating the claim in 2014. This weekend speaking to Sky News he said: I dont think its unreasonable to think that people who come and live in our country should reject these dark-age ideologies, which many of them bring with them.

But all this is something of a side show, as we fully expect former Ukip leader Nigel Farage and his financial backer Arron Banks to launch their Ukip 2.0 movement in the near future.

Our own polling (of 4,000 people across England) suggests that 14 per cent of people view Farage as their natural choice of political leader. The same poll revealed that a worrying 52 per cent of people distrusted Muslims following last years terror attacks, so with rising tensions and as Brexit gathers pace, we expect anti-immigration sentiment to be replaced with anti-Muslim views, something Farage and Bankss new movement is likely to seek to exploit.

While the comedy capers this weekend might cause some amusement, there are very real tensions out there which the Farage/Banks duo (think Breaking Point posters) may seek to exploit. One only has to look across the water to the rise of Marine Le Pen of the Front National in France, or even more appropriately Donald Trump in the States, to see how the radical right message has been embraced by populist leaders  driving us in a dangerous direction for the future.

Nick Lowles is chief executive of anti-racism campaign Hope Not HateAn Indian American business tycoon from Florida, Kris Singh, is bringing the moon to his new Aston Martin Valkyrie car, which cost him roughly $200 million. Singh announced that a rock from the moon will be used as a key ingredient in his cars color. (Kris Singh/Instagram photo)Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla with his family. "This incident, along with death threats to me and my family, is an unfortunate reminder that we need to take security seriously," the Sikh American mayor said in a statement. (Facebook photo)As today marks the 30th year anniversary of the Federal Road Safety Corps which is the Government agency with statutory responsibilities for road safety administration in Nigeria. For your learning pleasure, here are 7 things we bet you didnt know about it.

1.Professor Wole Soyinka, was the first Chairman of FRSC Board.

2.They operates in all Nigerian states as well as the Federal Capital Territory.

3.It was Founded in 1988. The Federal Government established the Federal Road Safety Commission through Decree No. 45 of the 1988 as amended by Decree 35 of 1992 referred to in the statute books as the FRSC Act cap 141 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria (LFN). Passed by the National Assembly as Federal Road Safety Corps (establishment) Act 2007.

4.They are the lead agency in Nigeria on road safety administration and management.

5.Their statutory functions include: Making the highways safe for motorists and other road users as well as checking road worthiness of vehicles, recommending works and infrastructures to eliminate or minimize accidents on the highways and educating motorists and members of the public on the importance of road discipline on the highways.

6.They are charged with providing roadside and mobile clinics for the treatment of accident victims free of charge.

7.They have power to arrest and prosecute persons reasonably suspected of having committed any traffic offence.Popular Nigerian child comedienne, Emmanuella has come into some more recognition as the Senate president, Bukola Saraki reaches out to her.

Nigerias Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, on Sunday, extended an invitation to popular child comedienne, Emmanuella Samuel, popularly known as Emmanuella.

The girl is reported to have been slated to feature in a Disney Hollywood film.

Saraki described Emmanuella as an inspiration.

Saraki, in a post on his official Twitter and Facebook accounts, said he wanted Emmanuella to visit the Senate to enable him discuss with her how to aid the development of young talents in Nigerias creative industry.

His tweet reads;

Congratulations Emmanuella! Make sure you make them laugh over there. Your story is an inspiration. Come by the @NGRSenate sometime, lets discuss how we can develop the potential of our young talents in the creative industry. 

See Sarakis tweet below:

source: TwitterThe international team, led by the University of Cambridge, found that calcium can mediate the interaction between small membranous structures inside nerve endings, which are important for neuronal signalling in the brain, and alpha-synuclein, the protein associated with Parkinson's disease. Excess levels of either calcium or alpha-synuclein may be what starts the chain reaction that leads to the death of brain cells.

The findings, reported in the journal Nature Communications, represent another step towards understanding how and why people develop Parkinson's. According to the charity Parkinson's UK, one in every 350 adults in the UK  an estimated 145,000 in all  currently has the condition, but as yet it remains incurable.

Parkinson's disease is one of a number of neurodegenerative diseases caused when naturally occurring proteins fold into the wrong shape and stick together with other proteins, eventually forming thin filament-like structures called amyloid fibrils. These amyloid deposits of aggregated alpha-synuclein, also known as Lewy bodies, are the sign of Parkinson's disease.

Curiously, it hasn't been clear until now what alpha-synuclein actually does in the cell: why it's there and what it's meant to do. It is implicated in various processes, such as the smooth flow of chemical signals in the brain and the movement of molecules in and out of nerve endings, but exactly how it behaves is unclear.

Alpha-synuclein is a very small protein with very little structure, and it needs to interact with other proteins or structures in order to become functional, which has made it difficult to study, said senior author Dr Gabriele Kaminski Schierle from Cambridge's Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology.

Thanks to super-resolution microscopy techniques, it is now possible to look inside cells to observe the behaviour of alpha-synuclein. To do so, Kaminski Schierle and her colleagues isolated synaptic vesicles, part of the nerve cells that store the neurotransmitters which send signals from one nerve cell to another.

In neurons, calcium plays a role in the release of neurotransmitters. The researchers observed that when calcium levels in the nerve cell increase, such as upon neuronal signalling, the alpha-synuclein binds to synaptic vesicles at multiple points causing the vesicles to come together. This may indicate that the normal role of alpha-synuclein is to help the chemical transmission of information across nerve cells.

This is the first time we've seen that calcium influences the way alpha-synuclein interacts with synaptic vesicles, said Dr Janin Lautenschl?ger, the paper's first author. We think that alpha-synuclein is almost like a calcium sensor. In the presence of calcium, it changes its structure and how it interacts with its environment, which is likely very important for its normal function.

There is a fine balance of calcium and alpha-synuclein in the cell, and when there is too much of one or the other, the balance is tipped and aggregation begins, leading to Parkinson's disease, said co-first author Dr Amberley Stephens.

The imbalance can be caused by a genetic doubling of the amount of alpha-synuclein (gene duplication), by an age-related slowing of the breakdown of excess protein, by an increased level of calcium in neurons that are sensitive to Parkinson's, or an associated lack of calcium buffering capacity in these neurons.

Understanding the role of alpha-synuclein in physiological or pathological processes may aid in the development of new treatments for Parkinson's disease. One possibility is that drug candidates developed to block calcium, for use in heart disease for instance, might also have potential against Parkinson's disease.

###

The research was funded in part by the Wellcome Trust, the Medical Research Council, Alzheimer's Research UK, and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.This content is from: United States

As part of its effort to cut red tape, the US Treasury Department has singled out the section 385 regulations to be dropped alongside almost 300 tax regulations deemed to be out of date. This is after President Donald Trump called for the Treasury to find ways to reduce the regulatory burden on taxpayers.Dix joins from PwC where he was a partner. With more than 18 years of experience, Dix has participated in major transactions and advised large companies in a wide range of sectors, particularly the energy sector.

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Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.Today is the U.S. federal holiday known as Washingtons Birthday (not Presidents Daysee item #1). In honor of George Washingtons birthday, here are 5 things you should know about the day set aside for our Americas premier founding father.

1. Although some state and local governments and private businesses refer to today as Presidents Day, the legal public holiday is designated as Washingtons Birthday in section 6103(a) of title 5 of the United States Code. The observance of Washingtons birthday was made official in 1885 when President Chester A. Arthur signed a bill establishing it as a federal holiday.

2. Washington was actually born on February 11, 1732, under the Julian calendar in effect at the time he was born. But his birthday is considered to be February 22 under the Gregorian calendar which was adopted throughout the British Empire in 1752.

3. Because the public holiday is on the third Monday in February, the observance can never again occur on Washingtons actual birthday since the third Monday in February cannot occur any later than February 21.

4. Some sourcesincluding Wikipedia and the U.S. Mintincorrectly claim that President Nixon changed the name of the holiday to Presidents Day to honor all past presidents. While Nixon did issue an executive order making the third Monday in February a public holiday, the claim that he changed the name is a modern myth. Presidents Day was created by marketers who jumped at the opportunity to play up the three-day weekend with sales, and Presidents Day bargains were advertised at stores around the country.

5. Almost every February 22 since 1888 President Washingtons 1796 Farewell Address has been read in the United States Senate. Here is the text of that address:

Friends and Citizens:

The period for a new election of a citizen to administer the executive government of the United States being not far distant, and the time actually arrived when your thoughts must be employed in designating the person who is to be clothed with that important trust, it appears to me proper, especially as it may conduce to a more distinct expression of the public voice, that I should now apprise you of the resolution I have formed, to decline being considered among the number of those out of whom a choice is to be made.

I beg you, at the same time, to do me the justice to be assured that this resolution has not been taken without a strict regard to all the considerations appertaining to the relation which binds a dutiful citizen to his country; and that in withdrawing the tender of service, which silence in my situation might imply, I am influenced by no diminution of zeal for your future interest, no deficiency of grateful respect for your past kindness, but am supported by a full conviction that the step is compatible with both.

The acceptance of, and continuance hitherto in, the office to which your suffrages have twice called me have been a uniform sacrifice of inclination to the opinion of duty and to a deference for what appeared to be your desire. I constantly hoped that it would have been much earlier in my power, consistently with motives which I was not at liberty to disregard, to return to that retirement from which I had been reluctantly drawn. The strength of my inclination to do this, previous to the last election, had even led to the preparation of an address to declare it to you; but mature reflection on the then perplexed and critical posture of our affairs with foreign nations, and the unanimous advice of persons entitled to my confidence, impelled me to abandon the idea.

I rejoice that the state of your concerns, external as well as internal, no longer renders the pursuit of inclination incompatible with the sentiment of duty or propriety, and am persuaded, whatever partiality may be retained for my services, that, in the present circumstances of our country, you will not disapprove my determination to retire.

The impressions with which I first undertook the arduous trust were explained on the proper occasion. In the discharge of this trust, I will only say that I have, with good intentions, contributed towards the organization and administration of the government the best exertions of which a very fallible judgment was capable. Not unconscious in the outset of the inferiority of my qualifications, experience in my own eyes, perhaps still more in the eyes of others, has strengthened the motives to diffidence of myself; and every day the increasing weight of years admonishes me more and more that the shade of retirement is as necessary to me as it will be welcome. Satisfied that if any circumstances have given peculiar value to my services, they were temporary, I have the consolation to believe that, while choice and prudence invite me to quit the political scene, patriotism does not forbid it.

In looking forward to the moment which is intended to terminate the career of my public life, my feelings do not permit me to suspend the deep acknowledgment of that debt of gratitude which I owe to my beloved country for the many honors it has conferred upon me; still more for the steadfast confidence with which it has supported me; and for the opportunities I have thence enjoyed of manifesting my inviolable attachment, by services faithful and persevering, though in usefulness unequal to my zeal. If benefits have resulted to our country from these services, let it always be remembered to your praise, and as an instructive example in our annals, that under circumstances in which the passions, agitated in every direction, were liable to mislead, amidst appearances sometimes dubious, vicissitudes of fortune often discouraging, in situations in which not unfrequently want of success has countenanced the spirit of criticism, the constancy of your support was the essential prop of the efforts, and a guarantee of the plans by which they were effected. Profoundly penetrated with this idea, I shall carry it with me to my grave, as a strong incitement to unceasing vows that heaven may continue to you the choicest tokens of its beneficence; that your union and brotherly affection may be perpetual; that the free Constitution, which is the work of your hands, may be sacredly maintained; that its administration in every department may be stamped with wisdom and virtue; that, in fine, the happiness of the people of these States, under the auspices of liberty, may be made complete by so careful a preservation and so prudent a use of this blessing as will acquire to them the glory of recommending it to the applause, the affection, and adoption of every nation which is yet a stranger to it.

Here, perhaps, I ought to stop. But a solicitude for your welfare, which cannot end but with my life, and the apprehension of danger, natural to that solicitude, urge me, on an occasion like the present, to offer to your solemn contemplation, and to recommend to your frequent review, some sentiments which are the result of much reflection, of no inconsiderable observation, and which appear to me all-important to the permanency of your felicity as a people. These will be offered to you with the more freedom, as you can only see in them the disinterested warnings of a parting friend, who can possibly have no personal motive to bias his counsel. Nor can I forget, as an encouragement to it, your indulgent reception of my sentiments on a former and not dissimilar occasion.

Interwoven as is the love of liberty with every ligament of your hearts, no recommendation of mine is necessary to fortify or confirm the attachment.

The unity of government which constitutes you one people is also now dear to you. It is justly so, for it is a main pillar in the edifice of your real independence, the support of your tranquility at home, your peace abroad; of your safety; of your prosperity; of that very liberty which you so highly prize. But as it is easy to foresee that, from different causes and from different quarters, much pains will be taken, many artifices employed to weaken in your minds the conviction of this truth; as this is the point in your political fortress against which the batteries of internal and external enemies will be most constantly and actively (though often covertly and insidiously) directed, it is of infinite moment that you should properly estimate the immense value of your national union to your collective and individual happiness; that you should cherish a cordial, habitual, and immovable attachment to it; accustoming yourselves to think and speak of it as of the palladium of your political safety and prosperity; watching for its preservation with jealous anxiety; discountenancing whatever may suggest even a suspicion that it can in any event be abandoned; and indignantly frowning upon the first dawning of every attempt to alienate any portion of our country from the rest, or to enfeeble the sacred ties which now link together the various parts.

For this you have every inducement of sympathy and interest. Citizens, by birth or choice, of a common country, that country has a right to concentrate your affections. The name of American, which belongs to you in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of patriotism more than any appellation derived from local discriminations. With slight shades of difference, you have the same religion, manners, habits, and political principles. You have in a common cause fought and triumphed together; the independence and liberty you possess are the work of joint counsels, and joint efforts of common dangers, sufferings, and successes.

But these considerations, however powerfully they address themselves to your sensibility, are greatly outweighed by those which apply more immediately to your interest. Here every portion of our country finds the most commanding motives for carefully guarding and preserving the union of the whole.

The North, in an unrestrained intercourse with the South, protected by the equal laws of a common government, finds in the productions of the latter great additional resources of maritime and commercial enterprise and precious materials of manufacturing industry. The South, in the same intercourse, benefiting by the agency of the North, sees its agriculture grow and its commerce expand. Turning partly into its own channels the seamen of the North, it finds its particular navigation invigorated; and, while it contributes, in different ways, to nourish and increase the general mass of the national navigation, it looks forward to the protection of a maritime strength, to which itself is unequally adapted. The East, in a like intercourse with the West, already finds, and in the progressive improvement of interior communications by land and water, will more and more find a valuable vent for the commodities which it brings from abroad, or manufactures at home. The West derives from the East supplies requisite to its growth and comfort, and, what is perhaps of still greater consequence, it must of necessity owe the secure enjoyment of indispensable outlets for its own productions to the weight, influence, and the future maritime strength of the Atlantic side of the Union, directed by an indissoluble community of interest as one nation. Any other tenure by which the West can hold this essential advantage, whether derived from its own separate strength, or from an apostate and unnatural connection with any foreign power, must be intrinsically precarious.

While, then, every part of our country thus feels an immediate and particular interest in union, all the parts combined cannot fail to find in the united mass of means and efforts greater strength, greater resource, proportionably greater security from external danger, a less frequent interruption of their peace by foreign nations; and, what is of inestimable value, they must derive from union an exemption from those broils and wars between themselves, which so frequently afflict neighboring countries not tied together by the same governments, which their own rival ships alone would be sufficient to produce, but which opposite foreign alliances, attachments, and intrigues would stimulate and embitter. Hence, likewise, they will avoid the necessity of those overgrown military establishments which, under any form of government, are inauspicious to liberty, and which are to be regarded as particularly hostile to republican liberty. In this sense it is that your union ought to be considered as a main prop of your liberty, and that the love of the one ought to endear to you the preservation of the other.

These considerations speak a persuasive language to every reflecting and virtuous mind, and exhibit the continuance of the Union as a primary object of patriotic desire. Is there a doubt whether a common government can embrace so large a sphere? Let experience solve it. To listen to mere speculation in such a case were criminal. We are authorized to hope that a proper organization of the whole with the auxiliary agency of governments for the respective subdivisions, will afford a happy issue to the experiment. It is well worth a fair and full experiment. With such powerful and obvious motives to union, affecting all parts of our country, while experience shall not have demonstrated its impracticability, there will always be reason to distrust the patriotism of those who in any quarter may endeavor to weaken its bands.

In contemplating the causes which may disturb our Union, it occurs as matter of serious concern that any ground should have been furnished for characterizing parties by geographical discriminations, Northern and Southern, Atlantic and Western; whence designing men may endeavor to excite a belief that there is a real difference of local interests and views. One of the expedients of party to acquire influence within particular districts is to misrepresent the opinions and aims of other districts. You cannot shield yourselves too much against the jealousies and heartburnings which spring from these misrepresentations; they tend to render alien to each other those who ought to be bound together by fraternal affection. The inhabitants of our Western country have lately had a useful lesson on this head; they have seen, in the negotiation by the Executive, and in the unanimous ratification by the Senate, of the treaty with Spain, and in the universal satisfaction at that event, throughout the United States, a decisive proof how unfounded were the suspicions propagated among them of a policy in the General Government and in the Atlantic States unfriendly to their interests in regard to the Mississippi; they have been witnesses to the formation of two treaties, that with Great Britain, and that with Spain, which secure to them everything they could desire, in respect to our foreign relations, towards confirming their prosperity. Will it not be their wisdom to rely for the preservation of these advantages on the Union by which they were procured ? Will they not henceforth be deaf to those advisers, if such there are, who would sever them from their brethren and connect them with aliens?

To the efficacy and permanency of your Union, a government for the whole is indispensable. No alliance, however strict, between the parts can be an adequate substitute; they must inevitably experience the infractions and interruptions which all alliances in all times have experienced. Sensible of this momentous truth, you have improved upon your first essay, by the adoption of a constitution of government better calculated than your former for an intimate union, and for the efficacious management of your common concerns. This government, the offspring of our own choice, uninfluenced and unawed, adopted upon full investigation and mature deliberation, completely free in its principles, in the distribution of its powers, uniting security with energy, and containing within itself a provision for its own amendment, has a just claim to your confidence and your support. Respect for its authority, compliance with its laws, acquiescence in its measures, are duties enjoined by the fundamental maxims of true liberty. The basis of our political systems is the right of the people to make and to alter their constitutions of government. But the Constitution which at any time exists, till changed by an explicit and authentic act of the whole people, is sacredly obligatory upon all. The very idea of the power and the right of the people to establish government presupposes the duty of every individual to obey the established government.

All obstructions to the execution of the laws, all combinations and associations, under whatever plausible character, with the real design to direct, control, counteract, or awe the regular deliberation and action of the constituted authorities, are destructive of this fundamental principle, and of fatal tendency. They serve to organize faction, to give it an artificial and extraordinary force; to put, in the place of the delegated will of the nation the will of a party, often a small but artful and enterprising minority of the community; and, according to the alternate triumphs of different parties, to make the public administration the mirror of the ill-concerted and incongruous projects of faction, rather than the organ of consistent and wholesome plans digested by common counsels and modified by mutual interests.

However combinations or associations of the above description may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely, in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion.

Towards the preservation of your government, and the permanency of your present happy state, it is requisite, not only that you steadily discountenance irregular oppositions to its acknowledged authority, but also that you resist with care the spirit of innovation upon its principles, however specious the pretexts. One method of assault may be to effect, in the forms of the Constitution, alterations which will impair the energy of the system, and thus to undermine what cannot be directly overthrown. In all the changes to which you may be invited, remember that time and habit are at least as necessary to fix the true character of governments as of other human institutions; that experience is the surest standard by which to test the real tendency of the existing constitution of a country; that facility in changes, upon the credit of mere hypothesis and opinion, exposes to perpetual change, from the endless variety of hypothesis and opinion; and remember, especially, that for the efficient management of your common interests, in a country so extensive as ours, a government of as much vigor as is consistent with the perfect security of liberty is indispensable. Liberty itself will find in such a government, with powers properly distributed and adjusted, its surest guardian. It is, indeed, little else than a name, where the government is too feeble to withstand the enterprises of faction, to confine each member of the society within the limits prescribed by the laws, and to maintain all in the secure and tranquil enjoyment of the rights of person and property.

I have already intimated to you the danger of parties in the State, with particular reference to the founding of them on geographical discriminations. Let me now take a more comprehensive view, and warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party generally.

This spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our nature, having its root in the strongest passions of the human mind. It exists under different shapes in all governments, more or less stifled, controlled, or repressed; but, in those of the popular form, it is seen in its greatest rankness, and is truly their worst enemy.

The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of public liberty.

Without looking forward to an extremity of this kind (which nevertheless ought not to be entirely out of sight), the common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it.

It serves always to distract the public councils and enfeeble the public administration. It agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which finds a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions. Thus the policy and the will of one country are subjected to the policy and will of another.

There is an opinion that parties in free countries are useful checks upon the administration of the government and serve to keep alive the spirit of liberty. This within certain limits is probably true; and in governments of a monarchical cast, patriotism may look with indulgence, if not with favor, upon the spirit of party. But in those of the popular character, in governments purely elective, it is a spirit not to be encouraged. From their natural tendency, it is certain there will always be enough of that spirit for every salutary purpose. And there being constant danger of excess, the effort ought to be by force of public opinion, to mitigate and assuage it. A fire not to be quenched, it demands a uniform vigilance to prevent its bursting into a flame, lest, instead of warming, it should consume.

It is important, likewise, that the habits of thinking in a free country should inspire caution in those entrusted with its administration, to confine themselves within their respective constitutional spheres, avoiding in the exercise of the powers of one department to encroach upon another. The spirit of encroachment tends to consolidate the powers of all the departments in one, and thus to create, whatever the form of government, a real despotism. A just estimate of that love of power, and proneness to abuse it, which predominates in the human heart, is sufficient to satisfy us of the truth of this position. The necessity of reciprocal checks in the exercise of political power, by dividing and distributing it into different depositaries, and constituting each the guardian of the public weal against invasions by the others, has been evinced by experiments ancient and modern; some of them in our country and under our own eyes. To preserve them must be as necessary as to institute them. If, in the opinion of the people, the distribution or modification of the constitutional powers be in any particular wrong, let it be corrected by an amendment in the way which the Constitution designates. But let there be no change by usurpation; for though this, in one instance, may be the instrument of good, it is the customary weapon by which free governments are destroyed. The precedent must always greatly overbalance in permanent evil any partial or transient benefit, which the use can at any time yield.

Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked: Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice ? And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.

It is substantially true that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government. The rule, indeed, extends with more or less force to every species of free government. Who that is a sincere friend to it can look with indifference upon attempts to shake the foundation of the fabric?

Promote then, as an object of primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened.

As a very important source of strength and security, cherish public credit. One method of preserving it is to use it as sparingly as possible, avoiding occasions of expense by cultivating peace, but remembering also that timely disbursements to prepare for danger frequently prevent much greater disbursements to repel it, avoiding likewise the accumulation of debt, not only by shunning occasions of expense, but by vigorous exertion in time of peace to discharge the debts which unavoidable wars may have occasioned, not ungenerously throwing upon posterity the burden which we ourselves ought to bear. The execution of these maxims belongs to your representatives, but it is necessary that public opinion should co-operate. To facilitate to them the performance of their duty, it is essential that you should practically bear in mind that towards the payment of debts there must be revenue; that to have revenue there must be taxes; that no taxes can be devised which are not more or less inconvenient and unpleasant; that the intrinsic embarrassment, inseparable from the selection of the proper objects (which is always a choice of difficulties), ought to be a decisive motive for a candid construction of the conduct of the government in making it, and for a spirit of acquiescence in the measures for obtaining revenue, which the public exigencies may at any time dictate.

Observe good faith and justice towards all nations; cultivate peace and harmony with all. Religion and morality enjoin this conduct; and can it be, that good policy does not equally enjoin it  It will be worthy of a free, enlightened, and at no distant period, a great nation, to give to mankind the magnanimous and too novel example of a people always guided by an exalted justice and benevolence. Who can doubt that, in the course of time and things, the fruits of such a plan would richly repay any temporary advantages which might be lost by a steady adherence to it ? Can it be that Providence has not connected the permanent felicity of a nation with its virtue ? The experiment, at least, is recommended by every sentiment which ennobles human nature. Alas! is it rendered impossible by its vices?

In the execution of such a plan, nothing is more essential than that permanent, inveterate antipathies against particular nations, and passionate attachments for others, should be excluded; and that, in place of them, just and amicable feelings towards all should be cultivated. The nation which indulges towards another a habitual hatred or a habitual fondness is in some degree a slave. It is a slave to its animosity or to its affection, either of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and its interest. Antipathy in one nation against another disposes each more readily to offer insult and injury, to lay hold of slight causes of umbrage, and to be haughty and intractable, when accidental or trifling occasions of dispute occur. Hence, frequent collisions, obstinate, envenomed, and bloody contests. The nation, prompted by ill-will and resentment, sometimes impels to war the government, contrary to the best calculations of policy. The government sometimes participates in the national propensity, and adopts through passion what reason would reject; at other times it makes the animosity of the nation subservient to projects of hostility instigated by pride, ambition, and other sinister and pernicious motives. The peace often, sometimes perhaps the liberty, of nations, has been the victim.

So likewise, a passionate attachment of one nation for another produces a variety of evils. Sympathy for the favorite nation, facilitating the illusion of an imaginary common interest in cases where no real common interest exists, and infusing into one the enmities of the other, betrays the former into a participation in the quarrels and wars of the latter without adequate inducement or justification. It leads also to concessions to the favorite nation of privileges denied to others which is apt doubly to injure the nation making the concessions; by unnecessarily parting with what ought to have been retained, and by exciting jealousy, ill-will, and a disposition to retaliate, in the parties from whom equal privileges are withheld. And it gives to ambitious, corrupted, or deluded citizens (who devote themselves to the favorite nation), facility to betray or sacrifice the interests of their own country, without odium, sometimes even with popularity; gilding, with the appearances of a virtuous sense of obligation, a commendable deference for public opinion, or a laudable zeal for public good, the base or foolish compliances of ambition, corruption, or infatuation.

As avenues to foreign influence in innumerable ways, such attachments are particularly alarming to the truly enlightened and independent patriot. How many opportunities do they afford to tamper with domestic factions, to practice the arts of seduction, to mislead public opinion, to influence or awe the public councils. Such an attachment of a small or weak towards a great and powerful nation dooms the former to be the satellite of the latter.

Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence (I conjure you to believe me, fellow-citizens) the jealousy of a free people ought to be constantly awake, since history and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of republican government. But that jealousy to be useful must be impartial; else it becomes the instrument of the very influence to be avoided, instead of a defense against it. Excessive partiality for one foreign nation and excessive dislike of another cause those whom they actuate to see danger only on one side, and serve to veil and even second the arts of influence on the other. Real patriots who may resist the intrigues of the favorite are liable to become suspected and odious, while its tools and dupes usurp the applause and confidence of the people, to surrender their interests.

The great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign nations is in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connection as possible. So far as we have already formed engagements, let them be fulfilled with perfect good faith. Here let us stop. Europe has a set of primary interests which to us have none; or a very remote relation. Hence she must be engaged in frequent controversies, the causes of which are essentially foreign to our concerns. Hence, therefore, it must be unwise in us to implicate ourselves by artificial ties in the ordinary vicissitudes of her politics, or the ordinary combinations and collisions of her friendships or enmities.

Our detached and distant situation invites and enables us to pursue a different course. If we remain one people under an efficient government. the period is not far off when we may defy material injury from external annoyance; when we may take such an attitude as will cause the neutrality we may at any time resolve upon to be scrupulously respected; when belligerent nations, under the impossibility of making acquisitions upon us, will not lightly hazard the giving us provocation; when we may choose peace or war, as our interest, guided by justice, shall counsel.

Why forego the advantages of so peculiar a situation? Why quit our own to stand upon foreign ground? Why, by interweaving our destiny with that of any part of Europe, entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils of European ambition, rivalship, interest, humor or caprice?

It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world; so far, I mean, as we are now at liberty to do it; for let me not be understood as capable of patronizing infidelity to existing engagements. I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to private affairs, that honesty is always the best policy. I repeat it, therefore, let those engagements be observed in their genuine sense. But, in my opinion, it is unnecessary and would be unwise to extend them.

Taking care always to keep ourselves by suitable establishments on a respectable defensive posture, we may safely trust to temporary alliances for extraordinary emergencies.

Harmony, liberal intercourse with all nations, are recommended by policy, humanity, and interest. But even our commercial policy should hold an equal and impartial hand; neither seeking nor granting exclusive favors or preferences; consulting the natural course of things; diffusing and diversifying by gentle means the streams of commerce, but forcing nothing; establishing (with powers so disposed, in order to give trade a stable course, to define the rights of our merchants, and to enable the government to support them) conventional rules of intercourse, the best that present circumstances and mutual opinion will permit, but temporary, and liable to be from time to time abandoned or varied, as experience and circumstances shall dictate; constantly keeping in view that it is folly in one nation to look for disinterested favors from another; that it must pay with a portion of its independence for whatever it may accept under that character; that, by such acceptance, it may place itself in the condition of having given equivalents for nominal favors, and yet of being reproached with ingratitude for not giving more. There can be no greater error than to expect or calculate upon real favors from nation to nation. It is an illusion, which experience must cure, which a just pride ought to discard.

In offering to you, my countrymen, these counsels of an old and affectionate friend, I dare not hope they will make the strong and lasting impression I could wish; that they will control the usual current of the passions, or prevent our nation from running the course which has hitherto marked the destiny of nations. But, if I may even flatter myself that they may be productive of some partial benefit, some occasional good; that they may now and then recur to moderate the fury of party spirit, to warn against the mischiefs of foreign intrigue, to guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism; this hope will be a full recompense for the solicitude for your welfare, by which they have been dictated.

How far in the discharge of my official duties I have been guided by the principles which have been delineated, the public records and other evidences of my conduct must witness to you and to the world. To myself, the assurance of my own conscience is, that I have at least believed myself to be guided by them.

In relation to the still subsisting war in Europe, my proclamation of the twenty-second of April, I793, is the index of my plan. Sanctioned by your approving voice, and by that of your representatives in both houses of Congress, the spirit of that measure has continually governed me, uninfluenced by any attempts to deter or divert me from it.

After deliberate examination, with the aid of the best lights I could obtain, I was well satisfied that our country, under all the circumstances of the case, had a right to take, and was bound in duty and interest to take, a neutral position. Having taken it, I determined, as far as should depend upon me, to maintain it, with moderation, perseverance, and firmness.

The considerations which respect the right to hold this conduct, it is not necessary on this occasion to detail. I will only observe that, according to my understanding of the matter, that right, so far from being denied by any of the belligerent powers, has been virtually admitted by all.

The duty of holding a neutral conduct may be inferred, without anything more, from the obligation which justice and humanity impose on every nation, in cases in which it is free to act, to maintain inviolate the relations of peace and amity towards other nations.

The inducements of interest for observing that conduct will best be referred to your own reflections and experience. With me a predominant motive has been to endeavor to gain time to our country to settle and mature its yet recent institutions, and to progress without interruption to that degree of strength and consistency which is necessary to give it, humanly speaking, the command of its own fortunes.

Though, in reviewing the incidents of my administration, I am unconscious of intentional error, I am nevertheless too sensible of my defects not to think it probable that I may have committed many errors. Whatever they may be, I fervently beseech the Almighty to avert or mitigate the evils to which they may tend. I shall also carry with me the hope that my country will never cease to view them with indulgence; and that, after forty five years of my life dedicated to its service with an upright zeal, the faults of incompetent abilities will be consigned to oblivion, as myself must soon be to the mansions of rest.

Relying on its kindness in this as in other things, and actuated by that fervent love towards it, which is so natural to a man who views in it the native soil of himself and his progenitors for several generations, I anticipate with pleasing expectation that retreat in which I promise myself to realize, without alloy, the sweet enjoyment of partaking, in the midst of my fellow-citizens, the benign influence of good laws under a free government, the ever-favorite object of my heart, and the happy reward, as I trust, of our mutual cares, labors, and dangers.Since moving to Jackson Hole in 1992, Richard has covered everything from local government and criminal justice to sports and features. He currently concentrates on arts and entertainment, heading up the Scene section.Allie Gross covers Teton County government. Originally from the Chicago area, she joined the News&Guide in 2017 after studying politics and Spanish at Vanderbilt University in Nashville.Cody Cottier covers town and state government. He grew up with a view of the Olympic Mountains, and after graduating Washington State University he traded it for a view of the Tetons. Odds are the mountains are where youll find him when not on deadline.PASCAGOULA, Mississippi -- Ingalls Shipbuilding has been awarded a $1.43 billion contract for design and construction of LPD 29, a San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship.

The as-yet unnamed LPD 29 will be the 13th in its class. Thus far, Ingalls has delivered 11 LPD's, with a 12th -- the Fort Lauderdale -- currently under construction and expected to launch in the first quarter of 2020. The Portland (LPD 27) is set for commissioning on April 21 in Portland, Ore.

"This contract is further recognition of the confidence the Navy/Marine Corps team has in the great work our shipbuilders are doing in the LPD program," said Ingalls president Brian Cuccias. "This efficient work is proven through our hot production line keeping the work going in the shipyard and through our nationwide network of suppliers.

"We are excited to build this additional ship and in providing our sailors and Marines with the best amphibious ships in the world."

The 684-foot-long, 105-foot-wide San Antonio-class ships are used to embark and land Marines, and bring equipment and supplies ashore via air cushion or conventional landing craft and amphibious assault vehicles, augmented by helicopters or vertical takeoff and landing aircraft such as the MV-22 Osprey.

The ships support a Marine Air Ground Task Force across the spectrum of operations, conducting amphibious and expeditionary missions of sea control and power projection to humanitarian assistance and disaster relief missions throughout the first half of the 21st century.Addressing the nation at Gambias 53rd Independence Anniversary celebration on Sunday, Gambian President Adama Barrow [BBC profile] announced [press release] the suspension of the death penalty.

Barrow stated, at this junction, I will use this opportunity to declare a moratorium on the use of the death penalty in The Gambia, as a first step towards abolition.

The Gambia has not used the death penalty since 2012, where former president Yahya Jammeh [BBC profile] executed nine soldiers by firing squad. Jammeh was the first president to peacefully hand over power since The Gambias independence in 1965. However, prior to his departure in 2017, Jammeh had threatened to expand a list of capital crimes in response to what he said was a rising crime rate.

Nevertheless, soon after Barrows successful election in 2016, the president signed a UN treaty to enact the abolition of capital punishment.

Barrow said, we have won the war against dictatorship, which is the easy part. Maintiaing the peace for our democracy to thrive will be our utmost challenge. He added that, mistakes will be made, but we will correct them as we work towards perfecting the New Gambia.

In recent years, surrounding African nations such as Benin, the Republic of Congo and Guinea have all taken steps to end the death penalty.Image copyright EPA

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's first official visit to India has not been the headline-grabbing love fest he must be accustomed to on his overseas trips.

Despite plenty of photo opportunities, including at the Taj Mahal, Mr Trudeau and his family's tour has been largely ignored by senior members of the Indian government so far.

When he arrived in the capital, Delhi, he was met at the airport by a junior minister in what many interpreted to be a "snub".

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has, on many occasions, personally received visiting government leaders. He also famously hugs his foreign counterparts.

Most recently Mr Modi extended the courtesy - both the personal reception and the hug - to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who visited in January.

But Mr Modi has not yet met the Canadian prime minister, despite him being in India for two days.

He was also absent when Mr Trudeau visited his home state of Gujarat on Monday.

And it's not just the prime minister.

Image copyright GETTY IMAGES Image caption Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (left) was greeted by his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi in Delhi

When Mr Trudeau visited the Taj Mahal on Sunday, some media reports pointed to the fact that the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, where the monument is located, did not go to greet the visiting premier.

The pictures, headlines and social media frenzy that usually accompany Mr Trudeau's overseas travels have also been largely missing.

So is India really cold shouldering Justin Trudeau? And if so, why?

"Yes, this is a major snub. The fact that a junior minister was sent to receive Mr Trudeau and his family is most definitely a snub," columnist and economist Vivek Dehejia told the BBC.

Mr Dehejia said the reason for Mr Trudeau's lukewarm reception could well be that several members of his government were closely allied with a Sikh independence movement - the Khalistan movement - which seeks to create a separate independent Sikh homeland in the Sikh-dominated northern state of Punjab.

Canadian authorities have also linked Sikh separatist militants to Canada's 1985 Air India bombing, which killed 329 people.

"His Liberal party relies heavily on the Sikh-Canadian vote bank and some of the Sikh members of his government are fellow travellers with the Khalistanis," said Mr Dehejia.

Mr Trudeau counts four Sikh-Canadians in his cabinet.

If this were the case, it would not be the first time that Khalistan has soured relations between officials from the two countries.

Image copyright REUTERS Image caption Former diplomats say that "too much" is being read into Mr Trudeau's reception in India

Punjab's top elected official refused to meet Canadian defence minister Harjit Sajjan in April last year, alleging that he was "a Khalistani sympathiser".

But India's former high commissioner to Canada, Vishnu Prakash, denied that Mr Trudeau was being "snubbed", saying that India had closely followed diplomatic protocol when receiving him.

"According to protocol, it is a cabinet minister who receives a visiting foreign leader, and this courtesy was extended to Mr Trudeau," Mr Prakash told the BBC.

He said that although Mr Modi had "breached protocol" to personally greet foreign leaders in the past, he could not be expected to greet every visitor that came to India.

"It's not like the prime minister is not going to meet him at all. There is a ceremonial welcome that will be held for him on 23 February and he will meet him there," he added.

You might also be interested in:

Former diplomat Kanwal Sibal told the BBC that it would be both politically and professionally "wrong" for India to begin a state visit by Mr Trudeau with the "prejudice" of Khalistan when it could be used instead as a platform to raise India's concerns with Khalistan at the highest level.

Image copyright AFP/GETTY IMAGES Image caption Canadian Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan was not met by the Punjab chief minister

"It is true that domestic political reasons have meant that India has not got the kind of support on the issue, but we can use the visit to get a commitment of action from the Canadian government," he said.

Mr Sibal also said he believed it was "not true" that India was snubbing Mr Trudeau, saying that relations between the two countries improved "dramatically" in the recent past, with the signing of a nuclear deal showing that they had "common interests" now.

Canada announced it would supply uranium to India in 2015, in what was believed to be a significant step forward in relations between the nations.

Mr Sibal said he felt too much was being read into the fact that a junior minister was sent to greet Mr Trudeau at the airport when he arrived in India.

"This is normal protocol. Neither India nor Canada would want to jeopardise a state visit they knew was happening. It is in the interests of both countries to make sure it is a success," he said.: West 8th Street will be closed from Pine Street to Chestnut Street, as well as Pine Street in front of the Westin Hotel, on Saturday, from

8 a.m. to midnight

for this celebration in the streets. Visit

ga.com

for more information.

West Village Street FestivalA worker tidies up the wood pile at a lumber yard Tuesday, April 25, 2017 in Montreal. Canadian lumber producers are optimistic for 2018 as strong demand from rising U.S. housing starts and tight supply is expected to keep prices high and more than offset the cost of softwood lumber duties. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul ChiassonCongress party Vice President Rahul Gandhi, left, speaks with former chief minister of Punjab state Amarinder Singh during an election campaign rally in Amritsar, India, Friday, Jan. 27, 2017. Punjab state will go to the polls on Feb. 4. An Indian politician who publicly accused members of Justin Trudeau's cabinet of being connected to the Sikh separatist movement will meet the prime minister this week. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Prabhjot GillBank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz and Carolyn Wilkins, Senior Deputy Governor, walk to the National Press Gallery in Ottawa on Wednesday, October 25, 2017. Canada's competition regulator says it's not the size of the data, it's the size of the deception that it must guard against as it considers protecting innovation and competition in a marketplace where big data is seen as a growing concern. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean KilpatrickIt will be 16 years this Saturday, February 17, 2018, since Adrienne McColl, shown in this police handout image, was found murdered in a rancherAos field five miles outside of Nanton and approximately 85 kilometres south of Calgary. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-RCMP *MANDATORY CREDIT*Average retail gasoline prices in Chattanooga have fallen 6.4 cents per gallon in the past week, averaging $2.26 per gallon on Sunday, according to GasBuddy's daily survey of 170 gas outlets in Chattanooga. This compares with the national average that has fallen 5.4 cents per gallon in the last week to $2.51 per gallon, according to gasoline price website GasBuddy.com.

Including the change in gas prices in Chattanooga during the past week, prices on Sunday were 24.4 cents per gallon higher than the same day one year ago and are 1.2 cents per gallon higher than a month ago. The national average has decreased 2.5 cents per gallon during the last month and stands 23.4 cents per gallon higher than this day one year ago. The national average has decreased 2.5 cents per gallon during the last month and stands 23.4 cents per gallon higher than this day one year ago.

According to GasBuddy historical data, gasoline prices on Feb. 19 in Chattanooga have ranged widely over the last five years:

$2.02 per gallon in 2017, $1.51 in 2016, $2.15 in 2015, $3.12 in 2014 and $3.58 in 2013.

Areas near Chattanooga and their current gas price climate:

Knoxville- $2.27, down 5.4 cents per gallon from last week's $2.32.

State of Tennessee- $2.31, down 5.1 cents per gallon from last week's $2.37.

Huntsville- $2.30, down 3.9 cents per gallon from last week's $2.34.

"For the second straight week, average gasoline prices fell, with nearly every state declining week-over-week as retail gas prices saw more catching up to the previous decline in crude oil prices," said Patrick DeHaan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy. "The trend may not be over just yet, but oil prices have rebounded from their lows and are again strengthening, which may cut the party at the pump short in the weeks ahead. Worth watching is U.S. shale oil production values which continue to increase, which may limit oil's rally moving forward, but dead ahead on the calendar is still turnaround season at the nation's refiners which promises at least some short-term pain for long-term gain."Hikers cool off in the icy waters of British Columbia's Berg Lake in this September 2017 photo. Cradled below towering mountains at the centre of Vancouver Island is a lake whose name tells the landscape's history. Landslide Lake caught the face of one the Island's tallest mountains when a magnitude-7.3 earthquake shook it loose in 1946. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Amy SmartThis past year, the Hamilton County Sheriffs Office responded to an unusually high number of vehicle thefts throughout Hamilton County. In total, sheriffs deputies responded to 375 thefts from vehicles in Hamilton County. Many of these thefts occurred in large numbers in the Ooltewah, Apison, and East Brainerd Road areas. Unfortunately, after investigating, it was found many of these break-ins were from vehicles simply left unlocked and could have been prevented.The Hamilton County Sheriffs Office is joining with other law enforcement agencies throughout the United States to promote the #9PMRoutine in an effort to help citizens remember to lock their vehicles and their homes.The #9PMRoutine is designed to help residents receive periodic notices throughout the week on their social media wall at 9 p.m.to help remind them to lock-it chirp-it meaning check to make sure your doors are locked and chirp your vehicle alarms.Officials said, "We realize that life is busy and we all have many things that distract us from the little things, but remembering to lock your cars and your home should be something we do every night no exceptions. Please help us spread the word by sharing the reminders you receive with your family and friends from the #9PMRoutine and remembering to #CheckItChirpIt."EUGENE, Ore. -- Eugene School District 4J is holding a community conversation about a potential bond measure to improve school buildings and learning materials. Members of the public are invited to learn more and weigh in.

The 4J school board is talking with the community about how and when to replace or renovate buildings and materials that no longer serve our students well. The board is considering a potential bond measure to be placed on the November 2018 ballot, and wants to hear from community members about their views on priorities and how to proceed. No decisions have been made yet.

Community forums have been scheduled in different locations across the district so community members may choose a convenient time and location. Spanish interpretation will be provided.

Community Forums

 Tuesday, Feb. 20, 7:008:30 p.m., Roosevelt Middle School, 500 E. 24th

 Thursday, Feb. 22, 7:008:30 p.m., Kelly Middle School, 850 Howard Ave.

 Saturday, Feb. 24, 10:00 a.m.11:30 a.m., 4J Education Center, 200 N. Monroe St.

 Monday, Feb. 26, 7:008:30 p.m., Arts & Technology Academy, 1650 W. 22nd

 Thursday, March 1, 7:008:30 p.m., Cal Young Middle School, 2555 Gilham Rd.DES MOINES, Iowa (AP)  The birth mother of an 18-month-old girl, who agreed to be paid as a surrogate to have the baby, is not legally the child's parent, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled Friday in an emotional case that concluded surrogacy contracts can be enforced in Iowa.

The ruling means the girl remains with the Cedar Rapids couple, the only parents she has known since leaving the hospital after birth.

It was the first time the state's highest court has weighed whether surrogacy contracts can be enforced.

But the fight isn't over. The birth mother plans to appeal port of the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.

"I no longer believe that surrogacy contracts should be entered into," said the woman identified in court documents only as T.B., in a statement provided by her attorney. "Every child should have a mother and an essential part of the mother-child relationship is the role of pregnancy and the bonding that takes place during it. Children should not be sold."

The woman said she has taken no money for bearing the baby. The contract required her to relinquish custody and parental rights in exchange for being paid, but she said she didn't agree to do so after her relationship with the couple deteriorated. She also said she concluded that payment for babies is wrong.

Iowa, like most states, has no clear law on surrogacy parenting, but a 1989 law making it a felony to sell an individual to another person specifically exempts surrogate mother arrangements. The law was passed after the New Jersey Supreme Court invalidated surrogacy contracts as contrary to the state's "baby selling" prohibition on payment of money to adopt a child.

In that case, which received wide publicity as the Baby M case, Mary Beth Whitehead agreed to carry a baby for William and Elizabeth Stern for $10,000. The New Jersey court in invalidating the surrogacy contract awarded the Sterns custody but allowed Whitehead visitation.

The Iowa court concluded that the Iowa Legislature "tacitly approved of surrogacy arrangements by exempting them from potential criminal liability for selling children" in response to the Baby M case.

The justices concluded gestational surrogacy agreements promote families "by enabling infertile couples to raise their own children and help bring new life into this world through willing surrogate mothers."

"Banning gestational surrogacy contracts would deprive infertile couples of perhaps the only way to raise their own biological children and would limit the contractual rights of willing surrogates," the court said in an opinion written by Justice Thomas Waterman.

The birth mother's attorney Harold Cassidy said the state law issues are now in the hands of the voters "through their elected legislative representatives."

The court also concluded that any constitutional right to custody, care and control of the baby belongs to the biological father as it denied the woman's constitutional arguments that her due process and equal protection rights were violated. The court said the birth mother waived her parental rights when she signed the surrogacy agreement.

Cassidy, who also represented Whitehead in the Baby M case, said those issues will be appealed because they hinge on federal constitutional issues, not state law.

The case centered on Paul and Chantele Montover, who have discussed their case publicly but are identified in court documents only as P.M. and C.M. They decided in 2016 at age 50 that they wanted to raise a child together. They couldn't have a child on their own so they advertised on Craigslist and agreed to pay a Muscatine woman who responded to the ad offering $13,000 to carry a baby for them.

The woman, identified only as T.B., was impregnated with an egg from an unknown donor and Paul Montover's sperm. She had twins prematurely on Aug. 31, 2016, but one baby died within seven days of birth.

The surviving baby became the center of a legal dispute after the relationship between the Montovers and the birth mother deteriorated and she decided she wanted to keep the infant.

The baby was 2 months old and still in the hospital being treated for issues related to her premature delivery when a judge awarded Paul Montover custody. The birth mother appealed through the courts, but the Montovers maintained custody of the child.

Casey Rigdon, the Montovers' attorney said the case clears the way for couples choosing surrogacy to be confident in that choice.

"It allows people to make decisions about how to raise a family and now people can enter these contracts without interference," he said.WATERLOO, Iowa  A Floyd County man is being accused of trying to hit someone with an SUV.

Waterloo police say they were contacted around 2 am Sunday about a fight at 427 West Donald Street. They were told there was a guy in a truck trying to run people over. Officers arrived on scene and were told the driver of a white SUV had been asked to move his vehicle because it was blocking several other cars in a parking lot.

Witnesses said the driver, 27-year-old Grace Mutungi Nzundu, drove off and then came back and sideswiped a car, nearly hitting a man who had to jump out of the way. Police say the victim injured one of his legs. Nzundu is accused of hitting another parked vehicle and then driving away through someones yard.

Waterloo police then stopped a white SUV in the 1400 block of Longfellow Avenue and arrested Nzundu, who was the only person in the vehicle. Officers say a backpack in the SUV contained the prescription drug Cyproheptadine.

Nzundu, who lists addresses in both Charles City and Waterloo, is charged with assault while displaying a dangerous weapon, unlawful possession of a prescription drug, and driving while barred.DES MOINES, Iowa  State government is launching new campaign to encourage the reporting of suspicious activity.

The If You See Something, Say Something campaign is a joint effort of the Iowa Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, the Iowa Department of Public Safety, and the U.S Department of Homeland Security.

There are things we all can do to increase the safety of our communities, state and nation, says Governor Kim Reynolds. We are asking all Iowans to pay attention to their surroundings, and if they see something that looks suspicious, to report it to local law enforcement or call 911.

A public awareness promotion will include radio public service announcements and social media posts.

As we go about our days, going to work, school, shopping, traveling, if we see something out of the ordinary, something that shouldnt be there or someones behavior doesnt seem right and causes suspicion, we should contact our local law enforcement agency or call 911, says Lieutenant Governor Adam Gregg.

For more information on Iowas If You See Something, Say Something campaign, click here.(Repeats with no changes. The opinions expressed here are those of the author, a columnist for Reuters.)

* China's imports of nickel ore: * China's imports of Indonesian NPI: By Andy Home

LONDON, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Nickel has enjoyed a blistering start to 2018.

On the London Metal Exchange (LME) three-month nickel has this week punched up through the $14,000 level for the first time since May 2015 to hit a Thursday high of $14,420 per tonne.

It has gained 10 percent since the start of the year and has bounced 34 percent from its December low of $10,740 per tonne.

Speculative money has poured into this hot market, fund managers tripling their net long exposure to the London contract over the course of December and January.

Shanghai investors have been equally enthusiastic, albeit with a Chinese twist of treating nickel as a bullish steel rebar derivative.

Nickel is basking in the electric vehicle glow but the full demand impact is still in the future.

Right now, rather, this is a good old-fashioned commodity story of strong demand from the global stainless sector, falling stocks and supply hits, both expected and unexpected.

Indonesia, however, is waiting in the wings.

Four years after the country upended the nickel market with its ban on exports of ore, it is set to return to the world stage, bigger and more integrated than ever before.

SUPPLY HITS

Brazil's Vale kick-started this rally with a Dec. 6 announcement it was cutting production by 15 percent, or 45,000 tonnes, in 2018 to "preserve its nickel optionality". It was a reminder of just how low nickel prices have fallen in the last couple of years but a welcome, if belated, sign of industry leadership.

If Vale lit the fire, extra fuel came from one of those totally unforeseen incidents that plague commodity forecasting.

A tropical cyclone swept across the island of Madagascar early January, causing damage to the Ambatovy nickel operations.

Production was halted and is only now ramping up again. Slowly.

Sumitomo Corp , now the largest shareholder in the joint venture after a restructuring late last year, said it expects the plant to run at an average 50 percent utilisation this quarter. Production of refined nickel will fall from 40,500 tonnes to 33,400 tonnes in the year to March. Chinese supply, meanwhile, has also taken a double hit.

Nickel pig iron (NPI) producers in Shandong province were among the industrial sectors required to reduce operating rates for the winter heating season running from mid-November through mid-March.

Unexpected disruption came in the form of a Dec. 31 fire at Jinchuan Group's giant 135,000-tonne-per year smelter.

The affected 30,000 tonnes of capacity will take around three months to rebuild, although there is potential offset from other parts of the plant, reported Shanghai Metals Market.

These supply hits, both planned and unplanned, both Western and Chinese, seem to be feeding draws on LME inventory.

LME nickel stocks are "noisy" with much two-way traffic at locations such as Johor but the net outcome last year was a minimal decline of 5,454 tonnes.

So far this year the clear trend has been downwards with a 27,654-tonne, 7.6-percent fall.

Graphic on China's imports of nickel ore: Graphic on China's imports of Indonesian NPI: INDONESIA RAMPS UP

Set against such supply cuts is the return of Indonesia as a major producer and exporter of nickel.

Indonesia banned the export of all unprocessed minerals, including nickel ore, at the start of 2014. The aim was to force the creation of a value-added processing industry.

Those plans are now starting to bear fruit and the Indonesian government is rewarding investors with a relaxation on the export rules.

After a three-year hiatus flows of Indonesian ore to China started showing up in the Chinese trade figures from April last year. Total imports were 3.8 million tonnes bulk weight through December.

More will follow.

The Indonesian authorities have issued permits for 20.4 million tonnes of exports through October this year.

One producer alone, Aneka Tambang , is planning to ship 3.9 million tonnes this year. The result, according to analysts at Wood Mackenzie, will be to boost Chinese output of NPI, the intermediate product between ore and stainless steel on the nickel process flow-chart.

Chinese NPI production this year is expected to match the previous 2013-2014 peak of 480,000-500,000 tonnes. ("Nickel: Five things to look for in 2018", January 2018)

This, however, is no longer just a China story.

Most of those receiving their export permits are companies that have built out NPI capacity in Indonesia itself.

Flows to China of Indonesian intermediate nickel, some ferronickel but mostly NPI, totalled 989,000 tonnes last year.

Wood Mackenzie expects Indonesia's own NPI production to hit 220,000 tonnes this year as ever more plants make it into production.

Underpinning this domestic industrial build-out will be a 50-percent lift in Indonesian nickel mine production, according to Wood Mackenzie.

If that sounds a fast rate of growth, consider the assessment by the International Nickel Study Group that Indonesian output grew by 85 percent to 325,000 tonnes in the first 11 months of 2017.

The total in 2013, the year before the ban, was 834,000 tonnes.

Indonesia was the world's largest nickel miner before 2014 and it looks set to resume its place this year.

SUPPLY CHAIN DISRUPTION

At least, bulls might argue, the Indonesian-China NPI axis keeps this supply surge partly quarantined from the rest of the market, particularly the metallic part traded on the LME.

That might be to underestimate the scale of what is happening in Indonesia.

China's stainless giant Tsingshan was an early investor in NPI capacity but it has now constructed an integrated stainless steel plant, ramping up to three million tonnes per year by end-2018.

It has already signed a sales contract to ship stainless slabs to U.S. producer Allegheny Technologies Inc as part of a broader joint venture agreement. If the tie-up gets the nod from U.S. regulators, nickel ore will be directly entering the non-Chinese stainless supply chain in the form of stainless steel semis.

Might Indonesian NPI also start being diverted from China to impact the equivalent ferronickel part of the supply chain in the West? Might it displace Chinese output, which is then exported, a distinct possibility after China dropped a 20-percent export tax last year?

Wood Mackenzie's view is that such disruption is still a year or two away but that "ferronickel pricing might face competition in the spot market from test parcels of Indonesian NPI" this year.

The Indonesian ban and China's response to off-shore parts of its own nickel-stainless supply chain is already starting to have profound consequences on the nickel market.

The clearest one to see right now is resurgent production. Nickel bulls might want to enjoy the ride while it lasts.

(Editing by Jane Merriman)(Kitco News) - The mining sector is still being shunned by investors as there is a general lack of trust in the decision-making process, Reuters reported citing its data.

Investors are having trouble forgetting a number of multi-billion dollar takeovers and expensive development projects that left them with no profit, Thomson Reuters said in a report.

Even several years after the raw materials crash, investors are still worried about putting their money on the line.

Even though the mining sector boosted the FTSE higher in 2016, the levels were very weak in comparison to the strength seen in 2011, Reuters said.

Thomson Reuters data shows mining funds shrank slightly last year after a surge in 2016. Returns of 16 U.K.-domiciled natural resources funds fell 2 percent last year after a 74 percent increase in 2016. Assets under management fell to 3.78 billion pounds ($5.3 billion) last year from 3.81 billion in 2016, the media report said.

Investec Asset Management portfolio manager Hanre Rossouw said that a drop in interest was due to a general lack of trust in the managements decision-making process.

It seems that investment in mining companies has gone from sector-specific funds to generalist and more diversified funds. After the good bounce in 2016 people may have decided to take their money out of sector specific funds, Rossouw told Reuters.

There are ongoing concerns that the management will just do the same as they've done in the previous supercycle in not returning cash to shareholders and making poor capital allocation decisions.

The mining sector is directly connected to commodity prices and right now there are concerns that another upcoming boom might end up busting.

Miners are currently stuck in the unloved camp, said Jonathan Miller, head of U.K. manager research at Morningstar.

The sector has been in outflow mode for six out of the last seven years, with the only positive in this period being 1.1 billion euros ($1.4 billion) of net inflows in 2016, Miller said.

But, hope is not lost as the mining sector is turning around and companies are starting to pay back their shareholders in a very noticeable way.

For example, Rio Tinto revealed record dividends last week and BHP Billiton announced a record dividend last August. Also, mining firms, such as Anglo American and Glencore, have reinstated their dividends.

We are delivering through the cycle, said Rio Tinto's chief financial officer Chris Lynch. I don't think you're going to find many people in my position who are going to say we are overvalued.BUENOS AIRES, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Argentina wants to change the terms of a key gas import contract with neighboring Bolivia, which would allow it to reduce or even eliminate costly liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports while boosting its own production, an official said on Monday.

Bolivia is South America's largest natural gas exporter and depends on the resource for most of its export revenue, but rising output and contract re-negotiations in main customers Brazil and Argentina threaten its dominance at a time when its production and reserves are both falling. Daniel Redondo, secretary of energy planning in Argentina's Energy and Mining Ministry, said the government wants to modify the take-or-pay contract with its northern neighbor, which expires in 2026, to permit seasonal shifts that could drastically reduce costly LNG imports in the winter.

"We will need to import LNG during the winter unless we reach a deal with Bolivia where supply, instead of being flat throughout the year, peaks in the winter. It is something we want to do with Bolivia," he told a gathering of Japanese business leaders.

Representatives of YPFB, Bolivia's state-run oil company, and the landlocked Andean country's Energy Ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Argentina, once a net energy exporter, currently imports around 20 percent of its natural gas needs, Redondo said. Most comes from Bolivia, while the rest comes from around 70 shipments of LNG per year and some re-gasified LNG piped across the border from Chile. LNG suppliers to Argentina include Royal Dutch Shell , BP Plc and Vitol . Rising natural gas output in its Belgium-sized Vaca Muerta shale play could let Argentina export excess gas to Chile in the summer, he said.

"We think that because of the development of Vaca Muerta, Argentina will be able to supply 100 percent of the country's demand in 2021, except the winter months," Redondo said.

Since taking office in December 2015, President Mauricio Macri has sought to lower labor costs and improve infrastructure to attract foreign investment to the Patagonian shale formation.

But investment in the play has remained well below the $10 billion per year needed, Redondo said, leaving Argentina - home to the world's second-largest shale gas reserves - unable to cover demand that boomed under former populist President Cristina Fernandez, who implemented generous gas subsidies.

Argentina's residential natural gas demand in the summer is 12-15 million cubic meters per day, but that rises to 65-70 million in the winter, Energy Minister Juan Jose Aranguren said in December.

<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Global factors weigh against Bolivia in gas contract negotiations Chile to export gas to Argentina to cover winter demand ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^> (Reporting by Luc Cohen; Additional reporting by Daniel Ramos in La Paz; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)By Jan Strupczewski

BRUSSELS, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Euro zone finance ministers are likely to agree on Monday to back Spanish Economy Minister Luis de Guindos to succeed European Central Bank Vice President Vitor Constancio in May, a move likely to boost the chances of a German becoming the head of the ECB next year.

The discussion among the finance ministers of the 19 euro zone countries is informal, with a vote scheduled only for Tuesday when they will have to decide between the Spaniard and Ireland's central bank governor Philip Lane.

A senior euro zone official involved in the preparation of the meeting has said the preferred scenario was that there would be no vote but one person would be chosen by consensus.

If there were to be a vote, the successful candidate would have to get 14 out of the 19 votes and these would have to represent 65 percent of the euro zone population.

The European Parliament's economic committee, which has only a consultative role, said after an informal hearing of both candidates last week that Lane was a better choice, but euro zone officials said de Guindos was the favourite.

Lane was more likely to get the job of ECB chief economist after Peter Praet when the post becomes vacant next year, they said.

The choice of a southerner like de Guindos for vice president increases the chances that a northerner like German central bank governor Jens Weidmann could be elected to replace Mario Draghi as the ECB head in 2019.

"It looks like that is the case," one euro zone official said. "But it is a chess game and we don't know all the players yet. Lane would be well placed as chief economist but Weidmann depends on the distribution of the big jobs in 2019."

The "big jobs" include the head of the European Commission, the chairman of European Union leaders and the head of the European Parliament -- all of which will come up for replacement in 2019.

Euro zone officials said Weidmann could get the ECB top job if, for instance, a Frenchman became the head of the European Commission -- someone like the EU's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier or the head of he IMF Christine Lagarde.

Picking the Bundesbank chief for the ECB presidency may be tricky, even though Weidmann is considered a top-notch central banker, because he has alienated some officials with his opposition to the ECB's ultra easy monetary policy, which is credited with reviving economic growth.

Some other central bank governors regarded this as disloyalty in a time of crisis.

Weidmann has also ruffled some political feathers, engaging in public exchanges with former Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi by criticising Rome's performance in cutting its debt.

After joining the losing side in the ECB's biggest decisions to stimulate the economy, Weidmann could also struggle to unite the Governing Council, which rarely takes votes and strives for the broadest possible consensus.

(Editing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg)By Ed Davies and Cindy Silviana

JAKARTA, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Indonesia is likely to have more than five startups worth at least $1 billion each by 2019, with healthcare and education the most promising sectors to spawn new unicorns in Southeast Asia's biggest economy, the communications minister told Reuters.

Driven by a youthful population of more than 250 million people owning at least 100 million smartphones, Indonesia has seen a rapid growth in the number of startups trying to capitalise on this potential in a growing economy.

The country currently has four unicorns - companies that have reached $1 billion in valuation without tapping the stock markets - including ride-hailing company Go-Jek, travel site Traveloka, and market places Bukalapak and Tokopedia.

"In ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) we have seven unicorns and, out of seven, four are coming from Indonesia," said Minister of Communication and Information Rudiantara, noting that even one of the unicorns in the region outside Indonesia derived most of its revenue from the country.

"I believe that we'll have more than five unicorns until 2019," Rudiantara, who uses one name, said in an interview.

Investors in Go-Jek include Tencent Holdings , with Alphabet Inc's Google joining the latest fundraising. Tokopedia has backing from Alibaba and SoftBank Group , while Traveloka's backers include Expedia and JD.com . Bukalapak investors include Singapore's GREE Ventures.

The minister said that a unicorn was likely to come from the education sector.

"If we see the numbers, I project that has to come from the education (sector)," he said.

Under Indonesia's constitution, the government has to spend a fifth of its annual budget on education, so even excluding private spending an app or startup only needed to get a small percentage of this "huge" potential, he said.

Indonesia's state budget for education was 400 trillion rupiah ($29.50 billion) in 2017.

The minister said the biggest local app for education currently was Ruanguru.

The other most promising sector to develop a unicorn is healthcare, which has a state budget of more than 100 trillion rupiah, he said.

He noted the development of startups like HaloDoc offering online medical consultation, while others include Alodokter.

On funding, the minister said that he wanted to help make it easier for unicorns to apply for initial public offerings in Indonesia. Local regulations prevent listings before companies have made a profit for a number of years.

"If necessary, I will go to the OJK (financial regulator) to solve this issue," he said, adding the government should no longer be just a regulator.

"It's an old model. The government has to be the facilitator," said Rudiantara. ($1 = 13,558.0000 rupiah)

(Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)RIGA, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Latvia's ABLV Bank said on Monday it had never violated sanctions, rejecting an assertion by the US Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FCEN).

"We don't participate in any illegal activities," Deputy CEO Vadims Reinfelds told a news conference. "There are no violations of sanctions."

The bank said depositors had withdrawn around 600 million euros from the bank following the call by the FCEN for sanctions against ABLV, but that the bank's liquidity and capital were at an adequate level. (Reporting by Gederts Gelzis; Editing by Peter Graff)LONDON, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Latvia's benchmark bond fell on Monday, after one of the country's biggest banks was accused of breaching Western sanctions on North Korea and its central bank governor was detained by the country's anti-corruption agency.

The moves saw the main Oct 2026 euro-dominated bond drop 0.67 cents to 96, its lowest since August. The yield, which moves inverse to the bond's price, climbed to 0.85 percent.

ABLV Bank, Latvia third biggest lender, was ordered by the European Central Bank -- its supervisor -- to stop all payments on Monday as its "liquidity position" had deteriorated sharply since the U.S. Treasury accused it last week of money laundering. In a separate development, Latvia's government increased pressure on central bank boss Ilmars Rimsevics, an ECB policymaker, to quit after he was detained by police over the weekend in an anti-corruption probe.

The Latvian Anti-Corruption Authority said on Monday Rimsevics' detention was related to a solicitation for a bribe. (Reporting by Marc Jones, Editing by Abhinav Ramnarayan)LONDON, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Successful leaders need to show humility and empathy among other virtues to win the trust of citizens who see globalisation as creating inequality and low wages, Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said on Monday.

"While you should always marshal your facts, you must engage people's intuitions and win their trust in order to convince them. Do this through empathy," Carney told an event hosted by London's Regent's University and Christian think tank Meditatio.

Social media had made people more divided, an in advanced economies many people were mistrustful of globalisation and multinational companies, the former Goldman Sachs banker said.

"Every technological revolution mercilessly destroys jobs and livelihoods - and therefore identities - well before the new ones emerge," he said.

The Canadian is due to step down as governor at the end of June 2019, and Britain's government is expected to name his successor later this year.

"Do not confuse your leadership role with yourself or become addicted to the status and privileges of powers," he advised. "If possible - although it's a bit late for me - take a cue from Cincinnatus and Washington, and leave before you are asked."

(Reporting by David Milliken; editing by John Stonestreet)LONDON, Feb 19 (Reuters) - South Africa's new leadership headed by newly-elected President Cyril Ramaphosa is a 'credit positive' for many of the country's top gold and platinum miners. It added that a resolution of issues around the country's revised mining charter and finalisation of MRPDA (Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act) amendment bill would be credit positive for Anglogold Ashanti (baa3 positive), Gold Fields (ba1 positive) and Sibanye Gold (ba2 stable).

(Reporting by Marc Jones; Editing by James Macharia)

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.(Refiles to add full name and title of Venezuelan president in para 3)

By Gabriel Stargardter

MEXICO CITY, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Venezuela's political situation could well be on the agenda during a trip by Mexico's foreign minister to Jamaica next month during which Mexican oil sales are likely to be discussed, Jamaica's foreign minister told Reuters on Monday.

Last week, Reuters reported that Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray will travel to Jamaica and other Caribbean nations in March, as part of efforts to erode Venezuela's oil-based influence in the Caribbean. Mexico has been looking at the possibility of replacing Venezuela's Petrocaribe program that provided cheap loans for oil to Caribbean nations and has helped Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro retain diplomatic support in the region. "Jamaica buys (Mexican crude) ... on the spot market, so in terms of Jamaica having an energy relationship with Mexico, that exists, of course, and probably there will be discussions around that," Foreign Minister Kamina Johnson Smith said in a phone interview on Monday, when asked about Mexico's commitment to help improve energy security in the Caribbean.

Johnson Smith said she had invited Videgaray to Jamaica last October and they decided his visit should coincide with a regional conference of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), due to be held in Jamaica on March 5-8.

Videgaray's visit represents the latest development in U.S.-led pressure on Maduro, who retains loyalty from some Caribbean nations that have long benefited from Caracas' oil largesse and have been unwilling to shun the country in regional diplomatic efforts.

"It could be," Johnson Smith said, when asked if Venezuela would be on the agenda with Videgaray. "Hemispherical matters will, of course, be on the agenda."

"But the focus is very much on our bilateral cooperation, deepening trade and investment," she added.

Videgaray's trip follows a visit to Latin America and the Caribbean earlier this month by U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who announced plans to study how possible oil sanctions against Venezuela could be mitigated in the Caribbean.

Mexico's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A Mexican official told Reuters last week that Videgaray has sought to engage more with the Caribbean in the wake of a June meeting in which foreign ministers from the 34-nation Organization of American States (OAS) failed to reach agreement on a resolution criticizing Venezuela.

(Reporting by Gabriel Stargardter; Editing by Alistair Bell)BUCHAREST, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Here are news stories, press reports and events to watch which may affect Romanian financial markets on Monday. DEBT TENDER Romanian debt managers tender 500 million lei worth of Oct. 2020 treasury bonds. FINMIN Romanian Finance Minister Eugen Teodorovici and European Investment Bank vicepreisdent Andrew McDowell hold joint news conference at 1230 GMT. CEE MARKETS Central European currencies were slowly adding to the previous day's gains on Friday, with the Czech crown shrugging off strong data on the country's economic expansion which outpaced regional peers and the euro zone. WESTERN BALKANS The European Union on Friday told six Western Balkan nations seeking membership that they would have to implement difficult reforms before they can be allowed to join the wealthy bloc. For the long-term Romanian diary, click on For emerging markets economic events, click on For an index of all diaries, click on For other related news, double click on: --------------------------------------------------------------- Romanian equities RO-E E.Europe equities .CEE Romanian money RO-M Romanian debt RO-D Eastern Europe EEU All emerging markets EMRG Hot stocks HOT Stock markets STX Market debt news DBT Forex news FRX For real-time index quotes, double click on: Bucharest BETI Warsaw WIG20 Budapest BUX Prague PX -------------------------------------------------------------



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.BUCHAREST, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Romania sold a planned 500 million lei ($133.29 million) worth of Oct. 2020 treasury bonds on Monday, at an average accepted yield of 3.51 percent, central bank data showed. Debt managers last sold the paper in January at an average yield of 3.40 percent. So far this year, the finance ministry has sold roughly 5.2 billion lei worth of domestic debt and has tapped 2.0 billion euros from foreign markets in 2028 and 2030 Eurobonds.

Series: RO1720DBN072 Issue date 21/02/2018 29/01/2018 Auction date 19/02/2018 25/01/2018 Maturity 26/10/2020 26/10/2020 Avg.yield (pct) 3.51 3.40 Avg. accepted price 96.9561 97.1675 Highest accepted yield 3.51 3.42 Tail (highest yield minus 0.00 0.02 average yield) Total bids 1,137 mln lei 575.4 mln lei Allotted 500 mln lei 500.0 mln lei Bid-to-cover ratio 2.3 1.2 ($1 = 3.7513 lei)

(Reporting by Radu Marinas)

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.BRUSSELS, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Spanish Economy Minister Luis de Guindos said he would defend the independence of the European Central Bank after being chosen as its new Vice President from June by euro zone ministers.

"I have been a minister, but to be a minister is something that does not limit the defence that I make on the independence of the European Central Bank. I will defend the independence of the European Central Bank," de Guindos told reporters after his appointment.

The nomination will be formally adopted at a meeting of EU heads of state at the end of March and de Guindos will take up his new post on June 1. The move is seen as likely to boost the chances of a German becoming head of the ECB next year, though de Guindos said there was "no conditionality attached at all" to his nomination.

(Reporting by Francesco Guarascio, writing by Julia Fioretti)By Gabriel Stargardter

MEXICO CITY, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Venezuela's political situation could well be on the agenda during a trip by Mexico's foreign minister to Jamaica next month during which Mexican oil sales are likely to be discussed, Jamaica's foreign minister told Reuters on Monday.

Last week, Reuters reported that Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray will travel to Jamaica and other Caribbean nations in March, as part of efforts to erode Venezuela's oil-based influence in the Caribbean. Mexico has been looking at the possibility of replacing Venezuela's Petrocaribe program that provided cheap loans for oil to Caribbean nations and has helped Maduro retain diplomatic support in the region. "Jamaica buys (Mexican crude) ... on the spot market, so in terms of Jamaica having an energy relationship with Mexico, that exists, of course, and probably there will be discussions around that," Foreign Minister Kamina Johnson Smith said in a phone interview on Monday, when asked about Mexico's commitment to help improve energy security in the Caribbean.

Johnson Smith said she had invited Videgaray to Jamaica last October and they decided his visit should coincide with a regional conference of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), due to be held in Jamaica on March 5-8.

Videgaray's visit represents the latest development in U.S.-led pressure on Maduro, who retains loyalty from some Caribbean nations that have long benefited from Caracas' oil largesse and have been unwilling to shun the country in regional diplomatic efforts.

"It could be," Johnson Smith said, when asked if Venezuela would be on the agenda with Videgaray. "Hemispherical matters will, of course, be on the agenda."

"But the focus is very much on our bilateral cooperation, deepening trade and investment," she added.

Videgaray's trip follows a visit to Latin America and the Caribbean earlier this month by U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who announced plans to study how possible oil sanctions against Venezuela could be mitigated in the Caribbean.

Mexico's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A Mexican official told Reuters last week that Videgaray has sought to engage more with the Caribbean in the wake of a June meeting in which foreign ministers from the 34-nation Organization of American States (OAS) failed to reach agreement on a resolution criticizing Venezuela.

(Reporting by Gabriel Stargardter; Editing by Alistair Bell)Do You Know the Real George Washington?

Inspired by Washington's faith and fortitude, children's book author Demi pays tribute with beautiful new book

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 19, 2018 / Christian Newswire / -- While many American children will learn how George Washington cut down the cherry tree, they will not learn about his deep and abiding faith in God, his many heroic battles and his selfless leadership. In GEORGE WASHINGTON: HIS LEGACY OF FAITH, CHARACTER, AND COURAGE, children will delight in Washington's story through the eyes of children's book author and illustrator Demi.

Demi, a renowned author and illustrator with more than 300 children's books to her name, uses vivid watercolors to create a world that appeals to both young and old audiences. Her expert use of interesting facts intertwined with imaginative illustrations is captivating.

GEORGE WASHINGTON covers George Washington's entire life, from how his parents met to his interesting childhood in Virginia and how he developed the skills needed for farming, hunting, horse riding and self-defense. It shows how he was devoutly religious from the time of his youth.

The new book tells about Washington's incredible military career and leadership, with many miraculous moments in battles, capped by leading the Continental Army to victory in the Revolutionary War for America's independence.

Demi wrote GEORGE WASHINGTON for children, but adults will learn about America's first president as well. She conceived the book after reading about Washington's prophetic dream at Valley Forge.

Many of Demi's most successful books have spiritual elements, which she says that "children immediately understand." She has written books on Mother Teresa, Saint Francis, the Blessed Mother and President Abraham Lincoln, among others. Demi received a papal blessing from then-Pope John Paul II on her books on Mother Teresa and the Blessed Mother.Trump urged to stop hurling tariff bombs at allies



By Yoon Ja-young



President Moon Jae-in promised Monday to come up with strong countermeasures against a series of U.S. tariffs, including a move to levy heavy duties on Korean steel products, such as taking the issue to the World Trade Organization (WTO).



"We should sternly cope with irrational trade protectionist measures, including taking the issue to the WTO and examining whether they violate the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement (KORUS FTA)," President Moon said at the meeting with the top aides.



Experts point out that the United States is sacrificing long-time ally Korea for political motivations, adding it will likely demolish the international trade order and rebound to hurt the U.S. economy.



"The U.S. needs to import steel. Levying heavy tariffs will pull up prices, damaging U.S. businesses that have been using imported steel," said Bae Chan-kwon, head of the trade and investment policy team at the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy.



He said the Trump administration is only using political motivations without considering any economic analysis.



"The safeguard measures on imported washers also stirred controversy within the United States, criticism that it is sacrificing consumers to protect a certain company."



The U.S. Department of Commerce recommended Friday that the administration should restrict imports of steel and aluminum products, following an investigation based on the 1962 Trade Expansion Act.



As it determined that the steel imports "threaten U.S. national security," President Donald Trump can impose high tariffs or restrict imports without congressional approval.



He has three options, which are quotas on imports; a 24 percent duty on steel imports from all countries; or levying a 53 percent tariff on imports from 12 countries, including Korea. Trump has to make a decision by April 11.



The announcement came as a shock especially for Korea since it was the only U.S. traditional ally to be included on the list of 12 countries. Canada, which is the biggest steel exporter to the U.S., as well as Japan, Germany and Taiwan were excluded.



Korea exported 3.65 million tons of steel to the U.S. last year, which is a 42 percent increase from 2011. Germany was excluded despite a 40 percent increase in exports during the same period, and so was Taiwan though its shipments have more than doubled.



An official at Korea's trade ministry said that the U.S. seems to be focusing on the fact that Korea is importing large quantities of steel from China. Some of this is reprocessed by companies here and then exported to the U.S.



Even so, the U.S. is failing to present rational criteria for its decision. Kim Soo-dong, a research fellow at the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade, said relations between the U.S. and Korea will sour and not only just from the economic perspective.



"The negative impact on Koreans' sentiment is also worrisome," he said, also adding that it will damage all international trade.



"If the U.S. executes its planned tariff bombs, the damaged countries will immediately take action. China is already mentioning diverse scenarios, and other countries will also consider their options to fire back."



China's commerce ministry warned that it will definitely take necessary measures if the final decision from the U.S. hurts its interests. Restricting imports of soybeans is considered one option for China, which purchases one third of the entire U.S. production. This will hurt farmers in U.S. states in the Midwest, one of Trump's main support groups.



Experts say that Korea should take measures jointly with other countries as well as groups within the U.S. who oppose the plan. The trade ministry said in a statement that it will reach out to such groups and ask for their assistance.



By Jhoo Dong-chan







Three pairs of twins are fulfilling their duties to the country in the navy.







According to Republic of Korea Navy (ROKN), Petty Officer 2nd Class (PO2) Lee Dong-geun and his twin brother Lee Tae-geun are serving at a naval base in Heuksando, South Jeolla Province.







They joined the Navy together in 2016, but were separated after boot camp training as Dong-geun was sent to one of the country's southernmost islands while Tae-geun was first stationed in Busan, a big southeastern port city.







Tae-geun wished to serve together with his brother, and the Navy helped him realize his wish January last year, by transferring him to the Heuksando base.







They have since served together at the base as military police, and were nominated for the Navy's model soldier award last year for their exemplary service to the country. ROKN Chief of Staff Admiral Um Hyun-seong visited the base earlier this month to award them.







Another twin pair Kim Won-hee and Kim Tae-hee are serving the navy in the country's westernmost isles of Yeonpyeongdo and Woodo. Their bases were about 25 kilometers from each other, but the two whose duty is radar surveillance often check each other's work.







"I sometimes see my brother's identification code while on duty as he does the same job I do," Petty Officer 3rd Class (PO3) Kim Won-hee said.







Both of the brothers graduated from Hongseong High School. The nation's fallen hero Senior Chief Petty Officer Choi Han-kwon, who died with 45 seamen on duty in a 2010 North Korean torpedo attack, also graduated from the school.







Twin brothers PO3 Yeo Sang-min and PO2 Yeo Sang-hoon are also serving the navy at a base in Gunsan, North Jeolla Province.







PO2 joined the Navy first and then recommended his brother to join.



By Cho Se-yong, Park Si-soo







An Afghan asylum seeker with a Pakistani passport tried to set himself on fire during an interview with an immigration official, police said Monday. The exact reason for the life-threatening act was unknown.







According to police, the asylum seeker, 39, was talking with an immigration official at the Busan Immigration Office on Monday morning. At around 10:40 a.m., he suddenly opened a 500mm gasoline-filled plastic bottle, poured the gas over his head, and tried to ignite a lighter.







He was subdued swiftly. Police said the incident took place when he and the official were discussing a re-trial of the asylum seeker's rejected petition to get refugee status.





North Korea displays a Hwasong-14 intercontinental ballistic missile at Kim Il-sung Square in Pyongyang during this year's military parade on Feb. 8. / Yonhap



By Lee Min-hyung



In the history of humankind, dictators have used military parades as political means to tighten their leadership and intimidate their enemies.



This is because a military show of force has for thousands of years been cited as the most effective tool for rulers to seize more power without staging a war.



Things are the same for North Korea's young leader Kim Jong-un. The third generation of the Kim dynasty, he has, like his father and grandfather, taken full advantage of military parades as a symbolic and regular show of force to maintain tension on the Korean Peninsula and among its enemies - such as the United States.



Kim took office as the North's supreme leader and chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea in December 2012 after his father Kim Jong-il died.



One outstanding leadership difference between them is that Kim Jong-un favors outwardly showing off the military prowess of the regime.



He has supervised regular military events since 2012 when he revealed his voice to the world for the first time. The North's 2012 military parade, which marked the 100th anniversary of the birth of the regime's founder Kim Il-sung, was the debut stage for Kim Jong-un to make an impression worldwide.





North Korean leader Kim Jong-un delivers a speech to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the foundation of the regime's armed forces while supervising its annual military parade in Pyongyang on Feb. 8. / YonhapLee Yoon-taek

By Lee Kyung-min



Renowned theatrical play director Lee Yoon-taek, 67, apologized Monday for alleged sexual misconduct over the past two decades, the latest in a series of the #MeToo cases spreading in the cultural scene in Korea. Lee is another of the high-profile figures in the art and literary circles here to have publicly admitted to such behavior, following Ko Un, 84 _ a perennial hopeful for the Nobel Prize for literature among Koreans _ who has been accused of similar misconduct over the last 30 years.



Lee said he deeply regrets what happened, adding he would take responsibility _ legally or otherwise. "I am ashamed and devastated," he said during a press conference at an art studio in Seoul. "I offer my sincere apology to the victims. I admit that I failed to keep promises made to my coworkers and staff despite their protests following my indiscretions. I committed a great sin by repeatedly reneging on promises that I should never have broken under any circumstances."

The "customary long-held practice" that continued for 18 years, Lee added, was extremely bad, adding that he would not want to see the theatrical circles reputation denigrated as a whole due to the "isolated" incident. "I sometimes might have unwittingly committed the act and I might have felt guilty but ended up letting the dirty desire get the better of me. I also apologize to my fellow members of the art circle. But I did not rape any one and not everything on social media is true," he added.



The apology followed sexual harassment allegations raised by the leader of a Seoul-based theater group, Kim Soo-hee. She said that many women were called in and forced to give him "a massage" near his genitals for years. These claims were further compounded by a sexual assault allegation raised by a former staff member of Lee who claimed she was sexually assaulted in Busan in 2001 and Miryang, South Gyeongsang Province, in 2002. "I decided to go public outraged by Lee's criminal acts that have continued for over a decade even after what he did to me," she wrote on a social media account.



The explosive allegations triggered an online petition at the Cheong Wa Dae website, where over 20,000 people signed on to demanding a thorough investigation and subsequent punishment. "The petition seeks to root out wrongful and unreasonable practices prevalent in the art community that have continued in the name of art perpetuated by a violent, command-oriented hierarchical structure. We hereby seek a chance for deep self-reflection," the petition read. The Korean Playwrights Association said it had expelled Lee, and withdrawn a recommendation for him to become a member of a review board at the Arts Council Korea, supervised by the culture ministry.



Meanwhile, Ko Un said Sunday that he would leave his residence in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, provided by the city government along with a substantial state subsidy, virtually nullifying prospect of the city's years-long plan to make the location a "literary" cultural heritage.



The sudden announcement came amid brewing public criticism over a sexual harassment allegation raised by poet Choi Young-mi that was confirmed by poet Ryu Keun. In a poem, Choi described how she was told not to sit next to a man identified as "En," as she was warned by a fellow poet: "En always gropes when he sees a young woman."



Amid mounting speculation that the alleged perpetrator was Ko, Ryu confirmed that it was indeed him, adding that he was more surprised at the belated media coverage and also belated revelation by the woman poet. Ryu also said some literary figures have tried to glorify such criminal offences; while those who did not speak up against Ko enabled him to continue his aberrant behavior.



In response, Ko said it happened 30 years ago at a year-end get-together organized by a publisher, and admitted to "grabbing many by the wrists and so on." He added that he did not intend to harass the victims at the time but if his behavior was defined as sexual harassment by current standards, he would apologize, drawing criticism that in his half-hearted, outdated mindset he failed to show any remorse.

By Lee Min-hyung





North Korean leader Kim Jong-unBy Dr. Jeffrey I. Kim





Adam Smith (1776) argued that the principle of absolute advantage determines patterns of trade. He said a country would try to sell its product to a country where it can charge the highest possible price.



David Ricardo (1817) said, the absolute advantage principle would not be enough to explain the general pattern of trade and developed the principle of comparative advantage.



Heckscher and Ohlin (1919) further developed the concept of comparative advantage in the two-country, two-product, and two factor model.



They predicted that given the assumptions of identical technology and constant returns to scale, a country would tend to export a commodity which requires the intensive use of the country's relatively abundant factor. They focused on the production-side conditions and argued that patterns of trade are determined by the nation's endowment.



In the modern world, however, the conditions have much changed. The world we live in is a multi-commodity world. Global consumers frequently change their demand pattern.



Production technologies vary across countries and more of the phenomenon of increasing returns to scale has been observed rather than constant returns to scale. Not to mention that the uncertainties in the global markets have intensified.



According to Michael Porter (2003), comparative advantage is vital in explaining patterns of trade. However, it is the competitive advantage that directly affects a country's standard of living and a firm's profit.



As global businessmen struggle with investment risks and market uncertainties, they consider competitive advantage more seriously than comparative advantage. To mitigate business risks and market uncertainties, the government needs to be involved in one way or another.



Under these circumstances, state entities may aggressively propagate favorable conditions in the domestic economy by improving the quality of export products and offering various incentives for FDI.



South Korean embassies in foreign countries are the most powerful and effective state entities in promoting exports and FDI. Currently South Korea maintains diplomatic relationships with 190 countries.



Professional diplomats always take the initiative in contacting prospective foreign buyers and potential foreign investors and provide them with business counsel and informative brochures and catalogues.



The Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency, or KOTRA, is another important quasi-state entity specializing in the promotion of exports and foreign direct investment.



KOTRA was founded in 1962 and has been financially supported by the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy (MOTIE). KOTRA maintains 127 overseas offices called "Business Centers" in 86 countries.



There are 10 local head offices in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), China, Japan, Southwest Asia, Southeast Asia, North America, and Central and South America.



In this manner, KOTRA covers the entire world, aggressively exploring the markets for Korean export products and services, and strengthening the export capabilities of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).



Having recognized the positive of role of government trade and investment promotion agencies, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) highly recommended that developing countries should establish the IPA (Investment/export Promotion Agency) like KOTRA, to promote trade and development.



KOTRA has recently added to its mission, the creation of innovative programs which will surely yield many new jobs. At this point, a short comment is worth being made.



The comparative advantage principle affects the pattern of trade of a country. A competitive advantage or competitive edge determines the profits of export firms and of foreign invested firms.



In conclusion, it is critically important that state entities such as embassies and KOTRA enhance Korea's exports and FDI.Reverend Michael Cocks an Anglican Minister from Christchurch writes, again challenging some of the understanding of the Church Fathers through the centuries.

Reverend Michael Cocks 82 years young says the following -

How can this Anglican clergyman follow Jesus, yet study the strange things found in his The Ground of Faith?

I have been a priest for 65 years, love my church and its liturgy, its tolerance of varying theologies, I love its hymns and those worshipping with me. My aim is to love God with heart, mind, soul and strength, and my neighbour as myself. Yes, I am human, and can fail in my aims.

My church, your church, whatever it may be, presents us with the Gospel of Jesus from the point of view of one tradition. Praise God!

But of course Jesus taught that God is the Father Parent of all humankind without exception. Gods love is for all, regardless of race or religion.

For that reason its good to be grateful for ones church, on the one hand.

On the other its also good to image our church has glass walls and roof with the rest of Gods universe in view. (The fact that you are reading this article in Christian Today shows that you are agreeing about these glass walls)

We look through these glass walls in the present issue of The Ground of Faith, We read about a child prodigy Alma Deutscher, who at the age of 11 has already composed a piano concerto, and has written a opera Cinderella  which is to be performed in the Vienna Opera House. See and hear her in the very act of composing in YouTube vudeos. Ask yourself where this music comes from? Where else but from the spirit of a God who is in all, through all, above all.

For centuries

For some centuries Christian faith has been under attack from universities accepting the Materialist interpretation of the Universe of Isaac Newton. The universe is a mindless, purposeless machine, where all happens by random chance. Arch skeptic Richard Dawkins has been loud in defending such a view. There is a chorus of loud voices agreeing with him.

What everybody should say to him, is this: As former Oxford Professor for the public understanding of science, you know that science consist of open-minded investigation. Now there is a large number of Nobel Prize winning physicists, who would disagree with your every word. They agree with the founder of quantum mechanics, Max Planck, that the universe is not a great machine, but a great thought. The basis for everything is mind, consciousness, spirit. Science is open-ended, and you, professor, may be right. But you never mention these physicists.

Could you not calmly explain why the science of quatum mechanics (the very science that investigates the nature of reality, has got it so wrong?

Many great physicists write on synchronicity, spirituality, and give spiritual leadership. (See my article on Will Keepin)

As I look through the current issue of The Ground of Faith, I find several places which may challenge the readers boggle threshold. Reincarnation will be one of them. It is a fact that some early Christians accepted its reality. We note that Jesus was asked whether John the Baptist was a reincarnation of Elijah. Jesus did not reply that that would be nonsense. In any case the question was put to a vote by clergy under the Empress Theodosia (died 548 CE) . A majority voted No to the question. Such is the way a church doctrine can be decided!

Similarly I write about conversations with Stephen the Martyr. His teaching was close to that of the Gospel according to St John, and the mysticism of St Paul. Two bishops, two linguists, and other scholars affirm that they consider the conversations to be genuine. But I agree that the claim is hard to accept.

Keep close to your community of faith! Your church! But may your church have glass walls!

Michael Cocks

Reverend Michael Cocks is an Anglican Minister from Church and who has served in many distinguished overseas roles.By Fred Phaswana





JOHANNESBURG  Jacob Zuma has resigned as South Africa's president  an inevitable move, following the African National Congress' withdrawal of its support.







Two decades after Nelson Mandela tried  and failed  to pass the presidency to Cyril Ramaphosa, the former deputy president and current ANC head has become South Africa's leader. And the challenges that Ramaphosa will face are almost as daunting as those Mandela confronted in lifting his country from the ruins of apartheid.







Nearly a quarter-century ago, four years after Mandela was released from prison, South Africans celebrated the birth of an inclusive, constitutional state. During Zuma's tenure, however, that euphoria evaporated. Amid allegations of endemic corruption, ratings downgrades, corporate malfeasance, and deepening malaise among state-owned enterprises (SOEs), South Africa's regional and international standing weakened.







For many, Ramaphosa represents a return to national strength. He has vowed to restore credibility to the management of South Africa's affairs, and to reinvigorate the values of democratic inclusion. His simple gestures, like starting meetings and rallies on time, are departures from Zuma's more aloof approach.







But returning accountability and good governance to South Africa will require much more than punctuality. Three key areas will need urgent attention if the country's incoming leader is to chart a new course.







The first challenge, restoring faith in the country's rule of law, may be the hardest to meet. Zuma's "capture" of businesses, the National Prosecuting Authority, and cabinet appointments. was so complete that untangling the webs of influence will take time. But restoring public confidence in these vital institutions must be made a top priority.







Second, Ramaphosa's government, whenever it is seated, will need to move quickly to reform the state's relationship with SOEs. Zuma treated these businesses as vehicles for personal gain, and their mismanagement undermined economic growth and development. An economy characterized by poverty, inequality, and unemployment will never recover if the drivers of wealth are not operating effectively.







For example, mining continues to be a significant contributor to the South African economy; if managed properly, the sector could be a powerful lever for supporting the growth of upstream manufacturing. South Africa has some of the world's largest deposits of chrome and manganese, minerals that are essential for the manufacture of electric vehicles, wind turbines, and other components of the so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution.







Unfortunately, because Zuma's government misused resource wealth by redistributing mineral rents to loyal clients, trust between the mining industry and the state is nonexistent. And the only way to restore it  and thereby increase exploration and production  will be to overhaul legislation and regulation to ensure stronger protection of industry interests.







Restoring trust and accountability to the business environment would attract investment, create jobs, fill state coffers, and improve redistribution, especially to those for whom employment prospects remain limited. This final point is key; in recent years, South Africa's welfare programs have been threatened by poor governance and mismanagement, and can be reformed only if economic growth returns.







Finally, Ramaphosa will need to invest heavily in South Africa's education system, a sector that Zuma largely neglected. A good place to begin would be with early childhood education, where spending often yields high long-term rewards. With the youth unemployment rate currently at a staggering 39 percent; putting more young people to work will require rethinking how future generations are trained.







South Africa is a small country, but with the right reform-minded leadership, it can reassume its regional role as an economic and political powerhouse. In fact, this may be the ideal time to make changes at the top; much of Africa is undergoing similar shifts, which could bring new opportunities for economic cooperation.







In neighboring Zimbabwe, for example, the end of Robert Mugabe's misrule could reignite growth linked not only to natural resources, but also to value-added products, services, and trade.







As South Africa navigates its own presidential transition, the country must redefine its role in an evolving geopolitical landscape. To do that, the country must reassert its role as an influential actor, while pursuing a more dynamic, effective, and integrated investment strategy.







Strong diplomacy and commercial outreach will be essential, and South Africa's leaders should embrace and develop membership in economic clubs, like the BRICS group of major emerging economies (which also includes Brazil, Russia, India, and China).







South Africans are ready for new leadership. But to achieve a future defined by full employment, social justice, strong governance, and international credibility  the era that Mandela represented  Ramaphosa will need to return to the path from which Zuma so egregiously strayed.



).



Fred Phaswana is national chairman of the South African Institute of International Affairs. Copyright belongs to Project Syndicate ( www.project-syndicate.org

By John Burton





The U.S. has been doing itself no favors in its rather paternalistic response to the thawing relations between the two Koreas at the Winter Olympics.



The bottom line message emerging from Washington is that South Koreans cannot be trusted in handling Pyongyang. The U.S. is worried that North Korea is trying to drive a wedge in relations between Seoul and Washington. But the Trump administration's own behavior is contributing to the possibility of any split.



And if the South Koreans can't be trusted with their own security, then why should the U.S. be so concerned about defending them unless it is for some ulterior motive such as maintaining a military presence on the Asian mainland to counter China?



The fact is that the Koreans have reached out to each other because of fears that Trump might launch a "bloody nose" preventive attack that could result in appalling destruction across the Korean Peninsula. No wonder why Koreans want to give peace a chance.



But the U.S. has not reacted well to what is happening in PyeongChang. The American media has reported about South Koreans having been seduced by the wily charms of Kim Yo-jong, described as North Korea's Ivanka Trump, and her accompanying "army of beauties."



Many predict that her siren song is likely to result in President Moon Jae-in accepting her invitation to travel to Pyongyang and meet her brother, Kim Jong-un, who will trick the South Koreans into undermining the international sanctions regime against North Korea over its nuclear program.



At the same time, the Washington consensus claims that North Korea's "charm offensive" at the Olympics actually shows that the Trump administration's policies are working, with its combination of aggressive war talk and economic sanctions forcing Kim to appear more conciliatory. As a result, there is no need to change the current U.S. course on North Korea, it is said.



President Moon Jae-in, center, and U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, left, attend the ladies' 500 meters short-track speedskating in the Gangneung Ice Arena at the Winter Olympics in Gangneung, Gangwon Province. AP-Yonhap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.Justice for all or for some?The Mail on Sunday's headline read "Jo Cox's husband Brendan confesses to inappropriate behaviour amid new allegation that he drunkenly "grabbed a woman by the throat" as he is forced to quit the murdered MP's charities".

Brendan, 39, apologised for the "hurt and offence" he had caused to women and told colleagues last week he was to stand down from the Jo Cox Foundation board to protect its work.

He said he had made people "feel uncomfortable", adding: "I want to apologise deeply and unreservedly for my past behaviour".

Brendan Cox denied assaulting a woman at Harvard University in 2015 - but admitted to "inappropriate" behaviour while working for charity Save the Children. He had been due to face a disciplinary panel but left before it could take place.

He has now ended his involvement with the Jo Cox Foundation and More In Common, which was named after a line in Cox's maiden speech in the House of Commons in 2015.

Thomas Mair, 53, shot and stabbed Jo Cox outside her constituency surgery in Birstall, near Leeds, on June 16 2016.

"This was never malicious but it was certainly inappropriate".

'I have a fantastic team of people who have supported me so far and I know they will continue to do so as we focus on creating a positive legacy for Jo.

"She would have wanted two things above all else to happen now: one, that our precious children are bathed in love; and two, that we all unite to fight against the hatred that killed her".

In the past few days allegations from several years ago have resurfaced that makes concentrating on both of those tasks much more hard.

"As a family we will support Brendan as he endeavours to do the right thing by admitting mistakes he may have made in the past, and we respect him for doing so", Ms Leadbeater said in a statement.

"His family are friends with my family, but the fact of the matter is, is that it's not enough just to say "oh I'm sorry", you have to show how you're going to change the way you are in the future and I think Brendan, more so than many I've seen in this area is actually trying to do that".

The pair married in 2009 and had two children together.

In an interview with the newspaper, Mr Cox refused to disclose what his wife knew of the allegations, but said: "We never pretended that we had the ideal relationship, or the flawless marriage. I often wasn't being serious, but that was perceived differently by others", he said.

British aid charities have come under scrutiny following reports that Oxfam staff had paid prostitutes for sex in Haiti while working their following the 2010 natural disaster.

"The Jo Cox Foundation was established in September 2016 to channel the energy and determination generated by Jo's life and murder into practical efforts to advance the causes she championed".Manila (CNN Philippines Life)  Ryan Gersava was born in Sultan Kudarat to parents who did not finish high school and whose only source of income was farming. The youngest child of 10, he says his family had two options: to drown in systematic oppression or to dream big.

They opted to dream, with all the siblings pooling resources and coming together to help Gersava go to a private medical school. However, at 16, he was diagnosed with an incurable disease.

I was very young, [so] you don't think that your life is gonna end  So I went into a denial stage until I was confronted by it when I already finished school, he shares.

After passing the medical technology board exams in 2015, he applied for jobs abroad, as he wanted to work and save first before he pursued becoming a doctor. He got a job offer in Dubai, but when he was about to sign the contract, the offer was revoked after the company learned of his condition.

Because I couldn't get a job, I opted to work online, he says. I could work from home with a laptop and an internet connection, and earn a decent income without having to deal with discrimination or politics or whatever unhealthy situation [that exists] inside a workplace.

Within Virtualahans six-week program, PWDs undergo online training on digital marketing, administrative support, and content management, among others. Photo by GIMER ROMERO

He realized that this was not only applicable to him, but also to a lot of Filipinos who could not find jobs as well because of their disabilities. That same year, with some time on his hands, he created Virtualahan, a combination of the words virtual and eskwelahan, to provide digital skills support for people with medical, mental, and psychosocial disabilities, so they can work on their careers as online professionals.

According to the Department of Health, in the Philippines, the latest Census of Population and Housing show that out of 92.1 million households, 1.443 million Filipinos have some form of disability; the highest number being in Region IV-A or the Calabarzon region. The same research shows that among the age groups, the majority of PWDs belong to the working age group (15-64 years old).

Within Virtualahans six-week program, PWDs undergo online training on digital marketing, administrative support, and content management, among others. Some of their students have gone to put up their own online businesses, others work on other online platforms like Upwork and onlinejobs.ph, and some of them have also been directly hired by Virtualahan. Outsourcing companies like Accenture have also collaborated with Virtualahan to provide digital training skills and employment for PWDs.

Gersava says that since starting, they've had a 74 percent employment rate.

While the sessions on technical, digital skills are what can get their students employed, Gersava shares that their sessions on well-being and advocacy are what trainees seek the most. The well-being session runs like a support group session, where trainees open up about their day-to-day worries, issues, and insecurities.

Statements like, Until when should we live in the shadows? Parang ganon na [statements], super painful siya and I know because I've been there, he says. Like sa akin yung struggle ko [is] I need to find a specific hospital na wala akong kakilala, na wala akong mga classmates to do my blood tests  until today.

The advocacy sessions, on the other hand, are where they promote various campaigns and causes  from autism awareness activities to initiatives like hugs against drugs. We run a lot of advocacy campaigns on road safety kasi marami kaming [students na] victims of hit and run, he shares. So [this] turns PWDs into productive and active citizens at the same time.

However, not all companies are keen to open their hiring pool to PWDs. In a study provided by the Philippine Institute of Development Studies, approximately half of working PWDs are underemployed or are only employed as temporary workers. Gersava shares that some companies just simply say no for the sole reason that they cannot hire a PWD, while other companies that are open to it do not have the structure to do so. They're scared. It's not about the jobs that they can provide, but it's about supporting the person with disability. Like okay, we hired a PWD, what happens next? he explains.

He also cites some instances where companies can be overprotective towards PWDs. When a PWD is hired within a company, parang, Hey, dont do this, dont do that, Hey, baka madapa ka, baka maganito ka, he says. Instead of feeling productive that hes doing well in his job, the person feels guilty getting a paycheck at the end of the month because the person didn't do anything productive.

To improve these workplace realities, Virtualahan has recently developed a two-day workshop for HR personnel and key decision makers in various institutions that could help them identify problems that hinder companies from hiring and empowering PWDs within the workplace. After the workshops, the companies then decide if they are able to employ PWDs, and Virtualahan extends the support necessary for the PWDs integration in the company.

While the sessions on technical, digital skills are what can get their students employed, Gersava shares that their sessions on well-being and advocacy are what trainees seek the most. The well-being session runs like a support group session, where trainees open up about their day-to-day worries, issues, and insecurities. Photo by GIMER ROMERO

Virtualahan ultimately wants to be a leader in creating work environments that are diverse and inclusive in the Philippines. They are working to achieve this by also launching projects that would include indigenous people of Sultan Kudarat, as well as former drug dependents, so these disenfranchised communities can also be empowered workers of the digital age.

The rise of digital technologies seems to be inevitable, and the rapid transition into automation is a foreseeable challenge that Gersava recognizes. We are scared that a lot of people will lose their jobs. The most affected vulnerable population would be people with disabilities because people with disabilities, the type of tasks that they can do at the moment, can easily be replaced by algorithms, he says.

[But PWDs] have the biggest protection when it comes to human and emotional intelligence, which is what we need for the next generation of jobs ... The dream is to invent and make sure that as we progress as a species, as we evolve as a society, that no one is left behind.

***

For more information, visit the Virtualahan website.Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 19)  Two Muntinlupa judges denied receiving a call from Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, allegedly asking them not to issue a warrant of arrest against Senator Leila de Lima in 2017.

Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court Judges Amelia Fabros-Corpuz and Patria Manalastas-de Leon, presiding judges of branches 205 and 206, both contradicted the allegations of complainant Lorenzo Gadon.

"That's a brazen lie, your honor. I did not receive any instruction that I should not issue a warrant of arrest," Corpuz said during Monday's resumption of the hearing against Sereno.

Judge Juanita Guerrero, who handles Branch 204 and the first Muntinlupa judge to issue a warrant, was not in the hearing.

Gadon, who was also present at the hearing, said he "heard from the employees of the Supreme Court that one of the deputies was asked to call."

However, he was not able to immediately provide the name of the deputy who allegedly called.

De Lima, who has been detained at the Philippine National Police Custodial Center for almost a year now, has been accused by the Department of Justice (DOJ) of abetting illegal drug trade in the New Bilibid Prison while she was Justice Secretary from 2010 to 2015.

READ: Sen. Leila De Lima arrested over drug charges

Leyte 3rd district Rep. Vicente Veloso asked the two judges why the issuance of De Lima's warrant of arrest was delayed. Corpuz issued the warrant in June, and De Leon in November.

"You have only 10 days within which to issue a warrant of arrest. Impression-wise, you have created the impression that somebody called you not to issue a warrant of arrest because of the delay," Veloso said, addressing Corpuz.

Corpuz cited the numerous pleadings filed by De Lima, while de Leon said it was "in deference to the Supreme Court" since the question of jurisdiction was raised in the High Court.

"The court deems it prudent to hold in abeyance the resolution of other motions for judicial determination of probable cause until after the resolution of the motion to quash," De Leon said. "I cannot decide on something that is pending before the Supreme Court," she added.

In March 2017, De Lima said it is the Ombudsman and not the Justice Department who has jurisdiction over her.

De Lima added the Sandiganbayan, not the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court, should handle her case.

READ: De Lima cites 'political persecution' in SC ruling

In October, the Supreme Court, voting 9 to 6, dismissed De Lima's petition to nullify her arrest.

READ: Supreme Court dismisses De Lima's petition to nullify arrest on drug charges

The House panel questioned Deputy Court Administrator Jenny Lind Aldecoa-Delorino, who was identified to have called the Muntinlupa judges, why she communicated with them.

Delorino said it was her way to ask if the lower courts need help, especially when they are assigned high-profile cases.

"Once a case of national importance is raffled to a court, we coordinate with the judges to ask them if they need anything, like additional staff or stenographers. We ask them if they need security, and remind them of protocols in dealing with the media while a case is being heard," Delorino said.Macerata, February 15 - Prosecutors in the central city of Macerata are set to request an immediate trial, without preliminary hearings, for Luca Traini, a far-right extremist accused of shooting and wounding six African migrants in a racist attack early this month, sources have said. Traini reportedly said he shot the six to avenge the murder and dismemberment of an 18-year-old woman, whose hacked-up body was found in two suitcases near Macerata. Three Nigerians have been detained in relation to that case.Bologna, February 19 - Free and Equal (LeU) leader Pietro Grasso on Monday called for Italy's Fascist groups to be dissolved. Grasso, the former Senate Speaker, said he backed an appeal from former Lower House Speaker Laura Boldrini, an LeU bigwig. "We condemn all violence, from the standpoint of Fascism and racism," said Grasso, a former national anti-Mafia prosecutor. "So I share the position of Speaker Boldrini, condemning all those demonstrations that cane be viewed as a reconstitution of the Fascist party. And I share the appeal to dissolve any formations or associations of this type". Italy has seen an upsurge in far-right and racist groups. A neo-Nazi shot and wounded six African migrants in Macerata February 3 in retaliation for the murder and dismemberment, allegedly by Nigerian drug pushers, of an 18-year-old female Roman drug addict. Another LeU bigwig Roberto Speranza, tweeted: "Italy is an anti-Fascist republic and all neo-Fascist organisations must be dissolved. @lauraboldrini is right #FreeandEqual". Another leading figure in the LeU, former Democratic Party (PD) leader Pier Luigi Bersani, said "the Fascists must not take part in the election". He said "if that's not clear we must clear it up with a law". The far-right CasaPound group and the extremist Forza Nuova (FN) group are normally described as neo-Fascist.Milan, February 19 - British model Chloe Ayling on Monday walked investigators through moments during her alleged kidnapping in Milan during a video that was shown Monday in a trial against Lucasz Herba, a Pole from Birmingham who is in jail for the crime. The kidnapping was said to have been conducted with Herba's brother, Michal Konrad Herba, who is in the UK while awaiting extradition. The model has said that the two had threatened to sell her in an online auction on the 'deep web' before they eventually released her, allegedly when they found out that she was the mother of a small child. The video was shown at the Court of Assize and includes scenes of the model filmed by investigators in which she enters the flat on Milan's Via Bianconi, where she was lured on the pretext of a photographic shoot, beaten, drugged and kidnapped. On August 5, Ayling returned with the police to the place where she had been held, saying that "I slept in this bed on one side, with Lucasz on the other". According to the investigation by prosecutor Paolo Storari, the 20-year-old model was held hostage from July 11 to July 17, first in the Milan flat and then in a remote cabin in the Turin province. She was eventually freed by Herba himself, who investigators have called an "adventurous mythomaniac" who wanted to earn a reputation on the 'deep web'. The two brothers allegedly initially demanded 300,000 euros from her family and agent prior to reducing this to $50,000. In the police video, the model is seen entering the flat on Via Bianconi and explaining to them that "just as I was about to open this door I was taken from behind, kidnapped". Then there are images of the young woman as she walks through the town of Viu' in the Turin province and shows the police where she had gone to buy some fruit and a pair of shoes, and then she burst into sobs - according to a policeman who was there - prior to entering the cabin, where she then spoke about some of the details of the kidnapping. "I was allowed to use this bathroom," she said, "here, instead, I slept on one side of the bed." The policeman who was with her showed the judges photographs taken on July 17, 2017, when the police entered the flat during an investigation to find the young woman. The photos showed a piece of paper left by the kidnappers with "11 men in long gowns and the writing 'Black Death Group - Chloe'", along with the girl's clothes. The Black Death Group is an organization alleged to be operating on the dark web.Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 19)  There is no stopping the family of Horacio "Atio" Castillo III from pushing through with their case against the University of Santo Tomas before the Vatican.

This, despite the expulsion of eight law students allegedly involved in Atio's hazing death.

READ: UST expels eight students involved in Atio Castillo hazing death

Speaking to CNN Philippines Sunday, Carminia said, "We will bring this to the Vatican. We're compiling our complaints and we will proceed with this."

READ: Atio Castillo's parents want papal audience to report UST 'inaction'

UST is the only university in the Philippines to be conferred with a pontifical title, which means it is under the authority of the Vatican.

Atio's parents, Horacio Jr. and Carminia, believe UST is still being influenced by some members of their legal team who also happen to be part of the Aegis Juris fraternity.

And without giving a reason why, UST has also refused to release the names of the students it expelled.

Carminia Castillo said, "Maybe it took them some time to come out with an investigation and ayaw nilang irelease yung names so maybe an influence is there."

The Justice Department is set to release its resolution on whether there is probable cause to indict and arrest accused Aegis Juris members.

Meanwhile, the Manila Police said they are ready to make arrests once the court issues a warrant.

The Castillos said they will not accept any money from the fraternity to settle they case. They will fight until justice for Atio is achieved.

"We're prepared. Sabi nga ni Minnie (Carminia), kahit ikamatay pa namin [even if we die from it)], that's okay," Horacio Jr. said.

Atio died in September 2017. Five months after his death, no one has been apprehended or found guilty.

Following Atio's death, both the Senate and the House of Representatives approved bills completely banning hazing as a requirement for admission into a fraternity, sorority, or organization.A class-action lawsuit alleging that Uber stiffed its drivers of fare money has received class certification, paving the way for the lawsuit to include thousands of drivers nationwide who did not sign an arbitration agreement with the San Francisco company.

The breach of contract lawsuit, filed in May in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, alleges that when Uber implemented a feature called upfront pricing in August 2016, it didnt pay drivers their fair share.

Previously, the cost of Uber rides was calculated based on factors such as miles traveled and time. Passengers were charged accordingly at the end of the ride, and Uber passed along 80% of the fare to drivers, keeping 20% for itself.

The lawsuit alleges that when Uber introduced upfront pricing, it quoted and charged passengers a higher fare upfront, but continued to pay drivers based on previous calculations, which resulted in drivers receiving less than 80% of the total fare.

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Uber has failed to properly act as payment collection agent for Plaintiff and other drivers, the lawsuit read. Ubers failure to pay the amounts promised under the Agreement and the Addendum is a material breach of the Agreement.

Uber did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

This isnt the first time Uber has been slapped with a lawsuit over the way it pays its drivers.

In April, Los Angeles Uber driver Sophano Van filed a similar class action, yet to be certified, alleging that Ubers upfront pricing practice was a breach of contract.

The company has also been sued for pocketing drivers tips, and it faces lawsuits around the country about whether it owes drivers expense reimbursement and benefits.

In the certification order issued last week and made public Friday evening, Judge William Alsup determined that the class includes Uber drivers across the country who meet all of the following criteria:

Opted out of Ubers arbitration provision.

Drove for UberX or UberSelect.

Transported a passenger who was charged an upfront fare before May 22, 2017, when Uber updated its driver fee schedule.

Made less money overall on rides because of the upfront pricing.

Uber produced ride-by-ride data for all drivers who opted out of arbitration, which resulted in about 4,600 drivers who could participate in the lawsuit, said Paul B. Maslo, a partner at law firm Napoli Shkolnik and lead counsel for the drivers.

Without this decision, it would have likely been the end of the road for drivers seeking to recover for Ubers breach, he said.

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The lawsuit seeks unspecified monetary damages and a jury trial.

Drivers will have until March 22 to opt out of the lawsuit and pursue their own litigation.

tracey.lien@latimes.com

Twitter: @traceylienThe New Colossus, a performance work created by the Actors Gang in collaboration with company artistic director Tim Robbins, is inspired by the stories of ensemble members ancestors who fled hardships, swallowed losses and risked their lives to become part of the great American experiment.

The title of the piece, which had its press opening last weekend, is borrowed from Emma Lazarus poem, which transformed the symbol of the Statue of Liberty into a beacon of welcome to the worlds huddled masses yearning to breathe free.

At a time when those in office are cruelly playing politics with the fates of vulnerable, would-be citizens, its important to be reminded that America is a land of immigrants. The greatness that President Trump ostensibly wants to return us to is a function of a common ideal rather than nationality, skin color or other accidents of birth.

In the lobby of the Actors Gang Theatre in Culver City, theres a map of the world upon which theatergoers are invited to tag their ancestral origins. Everyone, if you go back far enough, turns out to come from somewhere else.

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I had a great-grandparent who made the trip from Sicily, another who came via Canada from Ireland, one who came from Lithuania and still another who came from England. Without them all converging in Brooklyn at the beginning of the 20th century, youd be reading the review of another grateful descendant of immigrants right now.

A work of physical theater, The New Colossus unites the figures portrayed by the 12-person cast into a human bloc. These characters come from different corners of the world and speak in different tongues. The circumstances that brought them here are specific. Their journeys may be more than a century apart. But they all have suitcases loaded with fears and packed with dreams. Together they embody the tenet of e pluribus unum that has made America unique.

Two musicians (David Robbins and Mikala Schmitz) are perched above the action. The grave notes of a cello set the momentous mood. The shadowy outline of a migrant is projected onto the theaters exposed-brick wall. The setting is at once artful and harsh. These stories are aestheticized though not softened. Every step of every journey seems fraught with doom.

A babbling din rises and falls. So many identities, so many histories. Translation isnt necessary. The details vary but the sagas are the same.

The actors run in patterns across imaginary borders. Their feverish exertions, gasps and yelps theatricalize a common plight. Characters are identified first by name and age, then by place of birth. Adana, Turkey. Isfahan, Iran. Dalat, Vietnam. Kronoby, Finland. The list includes places youve probably never heard of, but even the most obscure regions have altered the ever-evolving national culture.

Characters in The New Colossus hail from various points around the globe but converge on stage where ultimately all of their stories become American. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times )

The performers convey through moistened eyes and expressions of indebted humility just how precious these stories are to them.

The characters call themselves refugees, and whatever the legal definition, you believe them. Together they struggle to keep warm. Their worn overcoats, scarves and gloves seem inadequate protection for their vulnerable humanity. Loud noises cause them to crouch and cower. Naturally, given the hodgepodge of temperaments, they bicker. The sight of a boat stirs the clamorous group. Rescue flickers on the horizon. But the fearsome journey is only beginning.

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Directed by Tim Robbins, the production keeps narrative at bay. The research the actors have done into their roots is eventually shared, but the priority is the group identity. Individual voices become momentarily discernible before giving way to other voices. The overlap makes us-versus-them distinctions unthinkable. They are all Americans now.

The theatrical and political context of The New Colossus is more stirring than the work itself. The stage effect of this kaleidoscope of bedraggled bodies is powerful at points but also a little monotonous.

The most moving part of the piece is when the actors reveal their relationships to the characters portrayed. This material is deeply personal, no matter how distant. The performers convey through moistened eyes and expressions of indebted humility just how precious these stories are to them.

Robbins joins the cast at the curtain call to ignite a discussion with the audience. The purpose of this brief, gently conducted town hall is to remind us who we are as Americans. Some in the audience fled dictatorships. Others are the children or grandchildren or great-grandchildren of survivors of persecution. Some, like me, were merely the descendants of those who wanted a better life.

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No one could doubt that a version of what we just witnessed is how we came to be lucky citizens of this multicultural country. At a time when history is being warped by demagoguery, The New Colossus holds a theatrical mirror to the nation.

         

The New Colossus

Where: The Actors Gang Theatre, 9020 Venice Blvd., Culver City

When: 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays; ends March 24

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Tickets: $20-$34.99

Information: (310) 838-4264, theactorsgang.com

Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes

charles.mcnulty@latimes.com

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Follow me @charlesmcnulty

MORE THEATER

Dreamers turn out for a mariachi opera whose story sings with familiar sorrow

In Betroffenheit, wrenching tragedy becomes an enlightening dance drama

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Jeff Daniels to star in Aaron Sorkins Mockingbird on BroadwayFrom an 80s lounge in West Hollywood to a new French bistro in Studio City, heres whats happening in the Los Angeles food and drink world:

New to the block: Tousle your hair and get your acid-wash jeans out of storage. Big hair and the 80s fashion staple are encouraged at the Lazer Kat bar, now open in West Hollywood. Brought to you by the Goat Group (partners Ryan Sweeney, Alen Aivazian, Justin Klinger and John Bower), the team behind the Blind Donkey and the Surly Goat recently opened their two-story lounge on the Sunset Strip. Theres an LED dance floor, a logo featuring a cat with lasers shooting out of its eyes and a portrait of Mr. T hanging prominently on one of the walls. The bar has a selection of boozy slushies along with PBR on tap, cans of Hamms and throwback cocktails: Blue Hawaiians and Jungle Birds anyone? If you find yourself getting hungry in between doing the Moonwalk and the Cabbage Patch, the bar serves New York-style pizza by the slice. 8264 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, (323) 450-9478, lazerkat.com.

Treasures: Actress and restaurateur Lisa Long (shes behind the Flats and La Loggia Ristorante) and designer and partner Ann Booth Luly have opened Montresor, a French restaurant in Studio City, just down the street from the Sugarfish. The name Montresor means my treasure in French. Executive chef Paul Shoemaker, who has previously cooked at Alain Ducasse, the French Laundry, Water Grill and Providence, is helming the kitchen. Shoemakers menu includes French onion soup; black truffle winter gnocchi; salmon and porcini ragu; and profiteroles. And the restaurant features an extensive list of French wines. 11266 Ventura Blvd., Studio City, (818) 760-7081, www.Montresor.LA

#brunch: In L.A., we take brunch seriously. From the location to the company to the cocktails on the table, brunch is often thought of as the most important meal of the weekend. Lucky for us, there are a couple of new places to try this weekend. NoMad, Will Guidara and chef Daniel Humms new downtown L.A. hotel, will start serving brunch on Saturday at the restaurant in the lobby. Brunch will be available every weekend from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., and you can make a reservation via Resy. Executive chef Chris Flint plans to cook Benedict with rye English muffins and smoked salmon; and a breakfast burrito with suckling pig. Executive pastry chef Mark Welker will have a variety of viennoiseries including banana pudding croissants in the coffee bar downstairs. And bar director Leo Robitschek plans to offer a Bloody Mary menu with different variations on the cocktail. 649 S. Olive St., Los Angeles, (213) 358-0000, www.thenomadhotel.com/los-angeles. Mi Corazon in Silver Lake has started serving weekend brunch from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The Mexican restaurant is offering omelets with roasted poblanos; Mexican bolillo bread French toast; and eggs with ranchero sauce alongside $17 bottomless mimosas. 2609 Hyperion Ave., Los Angeles, (323) 522-3320, mi-corazon.net. RBTA in Highland Park has started serving ramen, noodles and rice bowls for lunch during the week, as well as for brunch on Saturdays. Chef Justin Baey is using Matsuri rice for all the rice bowls, including in the Katsudon, a bowl topped with a pork cutlet and Tokyo-style dashi. The menu is available from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. 5629 N. Figueroa St., Los Angeles, (323) 259-6474, www.rbtahp.com.

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UCLA adjacent: Fellow, a new restaurant from Philip Camino and Terry Tolba (both of the Hudson and the Churchill) and executive chef Michael Bryant (formerly of the Churchill and Cliffs Edge), will soon open in Westwood Village. Fellow is located in the space formerly occupied by the Glendon Bar & Kitchen. Although the restaurant doesnt open for a few weeks, Fellow has plans to start delivery service this week through Postmates, ChowNow etc. with a selection of Bryants dishes, including dashi-poached king salmon; buttermilk and pickle-brined chicken sandwiches; avocado toast and tuna Nicoise salad with boiled quail eggs The restaurant is expected to open for lunch in about six weeks with dinner service and a cocktail program to follow. 1071 Glendon Ave., Los Angeles. (310) 753-8040, www.fellow.la.

Crack pie: Those looking forward to the opening of Christina Tosis Melrose Avenue Milk Bar will be happy to learn that the pastry chef is working on a collaboration with the Reformation clothing brand. This Saturday only, youll be able to find Tosis Milk Bar cookies, truffles and a new crack pie latte at the Reformation store on Melrose Avenue. The sweets will be available 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Reformation, 8000 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, milkbarstore.com.

Jenn.Harris@latimes.com

@Jenn_Harris_Teresa Watanabe covers education for the Los Angeles Times. Since joining the Times in 1989, she has covered immigration, ethnic communities, religion, Pacific Rim business and served as Tokyo correspondent and bureau chief. She also covered Asia, national affairs and state government for the San Jose Mercury News and wrote editorials for the Los Angeles Herald Examiner. A Seattle native, she graduated from USC in journalism and in East Asian languages and culture.

From Costco pizza and brown bag lunches to dozens of grenades that spew rubber balls in a 50-foot radius, San Diego police rushed to purchase $50,000 worth of supplies for security in the areas near President Trumps border wall prototype project, much of it motivated by concerns for mass demonstrations that never materialized, city records show.

The purchases were ordered and made in the weeks before and just after the Sept. 26 start of construction on eight prototype walls on a patch of federal land near the border on Otay Mesa. The Union-Tribune reported in January that the city spent $826,354 on security, including about $227,500 in overtime and the balance in wages and supplies. The department was not providing security for the walls but patrolling and securing the area near the build  city streets in an Otay Mesa business park.

The U-T then requested a breakdown of the $50,000 in supplies as well as other information. Those records show the extent to which city officials believed they had to prepare for possibly large demonstrations against the project.

Department of Homeland Security officials had warned of large-scale and potentially violent protests in a memo to local agencies before the project began.

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That memo, which has not been made public but was reported by the Wall Street Journal, clearly drove decisions by the police and San Diego County Sheriffs Department, which also secured and patrolled the area and spent $1.6 million in salaries, overtime and supplies.

For example, on Sept. 12, the Police Department requested $25,000 to purchase meals for the expected monthlong project duration  an initial amount that officials said could go much higher.

We may need to increase this depending on how the protests go as costs could rise to $100,000 or higher, a management analyst wrote that day.

After a week it became apparent that there would be no protests and the city reduced manpower. In the end, it spent $5,778 on food, including 350 sack lunches and about two dozen pizzas one day.

The largest expenditure category was ammunition  and the records show the city bought an array of less-than-lethal tactical gear and ammunition. It included 750 rounds of pepper spray projectiles that can be fired from special launchers.

The city also bought 100 chemical grenades that spray out CS gas, commonly known as tear gas, as well as 50 grenades that spew out rubber pellets when detonated to deter and disperse large crowds.

Police said that the equipment is used by SWAT teams and the city does not have enough on hand.

Our current inventory of munitions will not meet the demands of a long sustained and violent protest, Capt. Rudy Tai of the Operational Support Division wrote in a Sept. 6 memo requesting the equipment.

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The city ended up spending $33,969 on ammunition and tactical gear, the records show.

Concern over the protest also drove the Sheriffs Department, which spent $764,278 for more than 10,000 hours of overtime logged by 356 employees from Sept. 7 through Dec. 15 in border wall-related costs and installed two miles of temporary chain link fencing to block off private and some county property.

The county got an exemption from environmental laws for installing the temporary fencing, while also saying the fencing would stop trampling on environmentally sensitive land given the high likelihood a significant number of people will be demonstrating, county officials wrote in a formal notice.

Despite all the concern, there were no protests during the building, and only a small rally near the site on Dec. 9, weeks after the walls were constructed and long after construction crews had left.

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Both city and county officials have said that they will not be reimbursed by the federal government for the costs of securing the area for the prototype project.

To read this article in Spanish, click here

greg.moran@sduniontribune.com

Moran writes for the San Diego Union-TribuneLos Angeles Countys homeless population is increasing faster than the supply of new housing, even with the addition of thousands of beds in the last two years and millions of dollars beginning to flow in from two ballot measures targeting the crisis, according to a long-awaited report by the regions homelessness agency.

The report showed that officials two years ago far underestimated how much new housing would be needed when they asked city and county voters to approve the tax measures.

As a result, a $73-million annual shortfall in funding for the countys comprehensive homelessness program could more than triple, a Times analysis of the report found.

Providing permanent housing for the countys chronically homeless population would require more than 20,000 new units, about 5,000 more than projected two years ago, the report said.

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(@latimesgraphics )

The estimated shortage of emergency shelter and short-term rental subsidies also increased by double-digit percentages.

The report, known as the Housing Gaps Analysis, offers the latest sober assessment of the years-long surge in homelessness, marked by widespread tent encampments and rising demands for urgent action to curb the problem.

In a departure from its previous report, the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority provided no analysis of costs associated with the needed housing in the revision released last week.

Based on estimates in the 2016 report, The Times calculated the additional costs could be about $200 million, pushing the annual shortfall to more than $270 million.

Peter Lynn, executive director of the homeless authority, said Friday that new cost figures had not been calculated, but he guessed the additional costs might be closer to $150 million, leaving a $220-million shortfall in total.

But he argued that the situation isnt as bleak as the numbers might suggest, because the countys multi-pronged homelessness initiative is still gearing up and the new funding is only starting to have an effect.

In creating the previous analysis, officials didnt know what the funding would look like. But with the passage of both measures, Lynn said, there are very serious dollars behind filling that gap.

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Now, he added, we have a plan for deploying new permanent supportive housing through Proposition HHH and Measure H. That does give us a way forward.

The original analysis was prepared to quantify the difference between the housing and services existing at the time and what would be needed to get all the chronically homeless off the streets and quickly restore housing for those falling into homelessness.

The report became the basis for both Proposition HHH, the homeless housing bond approved by Los Angeles city voters in 2016, and the countywide Measure H sales tax for homeless services approved last year.

(@latimesgraphics )

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Homeless advocates considered the quarter-cent sales tax to be the best approach to raising money for homelessness, but the $355 million it is expected to generate each year falls short of meeting the county programs estimated annual cost of $428 million.

In adopting the initial Measure H budget last June, the L.A. County Board of Supervisors put off deciding how to deal with the deficit because the costs would not exceed revenue until the fourth year of the spending plan, as programs geared up.

When the supervisors review the budget in June theyll face hard choices.

Phil Ansell, director of the countys homeless initiative, acknowledged that the rising demand for housing and services will influence those deliberations, but he said that nothing in the report should deter the county from fulfilling its promise to voters.

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During the Measure H election we projected that Measure H would enable 45,000 families and adults to move from homelessness into permanent housing in the first five years of expanded services and that an additional 30,000 families would avoid becoming homeless, Ansell said. We are on track to achieve those targets.

The 2015 homeless count, on which the previous analysis was based, put the number of people living on the streets across the county at just under 29,000.

Last year, the annual January count raised the number of unsheltered homeless people to nearly 49,000  almost three-fourths of all homeless people.

The analysis released last week projected that more than 20,000 new units of supportive housing are needed to establish homes for chronically homeless people.

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The earlier report had set the number at about 15,000, two-thirds of which the city was expected to provide with new construction funded by Proposition HHH. The rest would come from long-term rental subsidies funded by Measure H to supplement federal rent subsidies.

According to the new report, more than 6,000 new units of permanent supportive housing have been added since 2015. That includes newly constructed buildings as well as scattered placements in subsidized market rentals that are supported by traveling case managers.

The gains in housing, however, were outstripped by the rising homeless population.

The earlier report projected a reduction of 14% each year. If that had occurred, the total homeless population  including unsheltered and sheltered  would have dropped to 41,323 last year.

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Instead, it climbed to nearly 59,000. The results of this years count will be released in the spring.

doug.smith@latimes.com

Twitter: @LATDougA wind-driven wildfire exploded to about 900 acres in Inyo County on Sunday night, triggering evacuations and threatening a historic railroad station built in the 1880s, authorities said.

As many as 200 people, including residents of the Laws and Meadow Creek communities and campers at the Pleasant Valley Campground, were ordered to evacuate, said Capt. Liz Brown, a spokeswoman with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

Inyo County sheriffs officials were going door-to-door urging residents, many of whom have large animals, to leave as powerful winds hampered firefighting efforts. An evacuation center was opened at the Bishop Tri-County Fairgrounds at 1234 Fair St.

About 90 firefighters were battling the blaze, with more on the way. Water drops were slated for early Monday morning, Brown said.

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The fire broke out shortly after 2 p.m. near the Pleasant Valley Reservoir and Highway 395, exploding from 100 acres to 900 in a few hours. Highway 6, a major traffic artery to Nevada, was closed from Highway 395 to the Nevada state line.

As of about 9:30 p.m., the fire was uncontained, though no structures had been damaged or destroyed. Its unclear how many were threatened.

Once its wind-driven, its no different than any fire down here, Brown said. It can be very dangerous.

Authorities are investigating what caused the blaze.

One of the areas threatened is home to the Laws Railroad Museum, a historical landmark that features narrow-gauge railroad memorabilia, along with buildings and artifacts from when rail service began in 1883.

Until 1915, this railroad offered the only reliable mode of transportation in and out of Owens Valley, according to the Office of Historic Preservation.

After the railroad stopped operating in 1960, many of the buildings and artifacts were set to be destroyed. They were later preserved by the Bishop Museum and Historical Society.

alene.tchekmedyian@latimes.com

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Twitter: @AleneTchekMetro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 19)  The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) revealed Monday there are discrepancies in the tax records of Supreme Court Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno.

"We have observed some discrepancies, but as I qualify it, we have to determine and base it on other documents," said BIR Deputy Commissioner Arnel Guballa at the resumption of the House Justice Committee's inquiry on the impeachment case against Sereno.

Guballa, however, refused to divulge details of the agency's initial report, citing provisions in the tax code that could make the bureau "susceptible to charges."

Some lawmakers argued Guballa should be able to disclose information, but he did not let up.

The BIR was earlier ordered by the committee to investigate Sereno's tax records from 2004 to 2009, covering her work as government counsel in the Philippine International Air Terminals Company Incorporated or PIATCO case.

The chief magistrate is accused of not declaring her case earnings amounting to P30 million in her Statements of Assets, Liabilities, and Net worth, and that she did not pay the corresponding taxes.

The Justice Committee issued a subpoena compelling the BIR to bring documents showing the discrepancies, but Guballa said they will have to get the Solicitor General's opinion on the matter first.

Sereno's spokesperson, Jojo Lacanilao, insisted this is a non-issue as the chief justice paid all her tax dues.

"Wala silang makikitang tax evasion o pandadaya sa kanyang tax declaration kaya non-starter 'yan...May mga conclusions na, di pa tapos ang investigation, kelangan pagbigyan mag-explain. Ngayon wala pang reply si CJ may conclusions na about discrepancy," Lacanilao said.

[Translation: They won't find any tax evasion or any anomaly in her tax declaration, so it's a non-starter...The investigation is not yet over but they already have conclusions, they should give her a chance to explain. The CJ doesn't have a reply yet but there's already a conclusion.]

The committee also took up claims that Sereno instructed three Muntinlupa court judges handling drug cases against Senator Leila de Lima not to issue arrest warrants.

The instruction was supposedly coursed through SC deputy court administrator Jenny Delorino.

Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court Branch 205 and 206 presiding judges Amelia Fabros-Corpuz and Patria Manalastas De Leon denied the allegations.

READ: 2 Muntinlupa judges deny receiving call from SerenoFirefighters gained ground Monday against a wind-fueled fire burning in rural Inyo County, reporting some containment for the first time in their daylong firefight and lifting most evacuation orders.

The so-called Pleasant fire was 25% contained late Monday afternoon, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Though fire officials initially guessed the blaze had scorched 2,800 acres, they later downgraded that number to 2,250 acres, citing more accurate mapping.

About 400 firefighters worked to contain the fire, which broke out Sunday afternoon near the Pleasant Valley Reservoir and Highway 395, north of Bishop.

Strong winds had led officials to evacuate about 200 people Sunday night in the rural high desert area. But they subsided by Monday afternoon and Tuesdays forecast for the area was pretty normal, according to Cathey Mattingly, a CalFire spokeswoman. That should let us make some progress, she said.

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The fire exploded quickly Sunday, growing from 100 acres to 900 in a few hours and forcing the shutdown of Highway 6, a major traffic artery to Nevada. Sheriffs deputies went door-to-door in some neighborhoods, urging residents to leave.

As of Monday morning, Mattingly said, there were no reports that the fire had destroyed any structures. One of the areas threatened is home to the Laws Railroad Museum, a historic railroad station built in the 1880s.

The cause of the blaze remains under investigation.

kate.mather@latimes.com

@katemather

alene.tchekmedyian@latimes.com

@AleneTchek

UPDATES:

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8:55 p.m.: This article was updating with a new containment figure and forecast from CalFire.

2:26 p.m.: This story was updated with new details from CalFire.

This article was originally published at 9:35 a.m.A woman was killed and several people were injured when a girl suspected of carjacking led deputies on a short pursuit in Palmdale on Sunday and crashed into an SUV, authorities said.

Five people inside the SUV  a man and a woman, two teenage boys and an infant  were taken to a hospital, where the woman was pronounced dead, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department. The other victims were being treated for unknown injuries.

The suspect, a juvenile, was also hospitalized, though authorities did not have details on her condition.

The two-car crash occurred just before 5 p.m. at West Palmdale Boulevard and 10th Street West, seconds after deputies initiated a pursuit.

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Authorities advised drivers to avoid the intersection, which will be closed for a few hours as homicide detectives investigate the crash.

This post will be updated as more information becomes available.

#LASD Fatal Traffic Collision & multiple persons injured. Investigation is at W. Palmdale Bl/ 10th St West, the intersection will be closed for a few hours.Please avoid area for the investigators. Thank You @PalmdaleSheriff pic.twitter.com/PKGyEJPYp9  LA County Sheriff's (@LASDHQ) February 19, 2018

alene.tchekmedyian@latimes.com

Twitter: @AleneTchek

UPDATES:

11:10 p.m.: This article was updated with more details about the crash.

This article was originally published at 8:55 p.m.USC faculty member Susan Kamei was struck by discomforting moments of deja vu during the 2016 presidential campaign.

As some calls rose for restrictions on Muslims and Arab Americans, purportedly to protect national security, Kamei thought of her parents. Exactly 76 years ago Monday, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which paved the way for the incarceration of Kameis parents and about 120,000 others of Japanese descent, most of them American citizens, following Japans 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor.

Kamei had helped right that wrong as a legal advocate for the successful 1988 effort to win an apology and monetary reparations from the U.S. government to those incarcerated. But after President Trumps election, she feared that any lessons learned were being forgotten.

Between the election and President Trumps inauguration, there were things in the press about the Japanese American internment being a precedent for what various people were proposing...like a Muslim registry, Kamei said. We thought: Wow, we thought we won on this 30 years ago. And here we are again talking about this and fighting the same misconceptions and prejudices. 

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Now Kamei is leading a new generation of students to plumb that past in USCs first-ever history course on the Japanese American internment, the constitutional issues raised and the relevance today amid the war on terror.

I want students today to have an opportunity to appreciate the importance of the issues around the constitutional tension between national security and civil liberties, said Kamei, a lecturer in history and managing director of the USC Spatial Sciences Institute.

Instructor Susan Kamei said the idea for the course came up in conversations with USC history professor Lon Kurashige after the election of President Trump. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times )

In 2004, UCLA launched the nations first endowed academic chair focusing on the internment; but most universities that cover the subject do so in broader classes on Asian American studies, U.S. history or constitutional law.

Kamei said that USC history professor Lon Kurashige approached her about the course as a timely offering for a new major in law, history and culture. She was particularly well-suited to teach it, he told her, because she had served as national deputy legal counsel for the Japanese American Citizens League in the successful fight for redress.

Philip J. Ethington, chairman of the USC history department, said it was not surprising that a separate history course had never been offered about the internment because it was a specific set of events in the gigantic context of World War II. But times have changed, he said.

The whole story of the internment and the disavowal of it by the U.S. government officially through the reparations is a very important case study in recognizing and undoing injustices, he said. Its not just a thing that happened. Its an example of something that still could happen...as America reckons with its troubling past.

The multidisciplinary course, War, Race and the Constitution, is an intimate seminar of about a dozen students  some of whom had never before learned about those wartime events.

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Henry Fusaro, a USC sophomore, grew up in Arizona and learned about the internment in a law class only last year. He became fascinated by the overarching issues of civil liberties and national security it raised.

Matthew Weisblys interest in World War II is more personal. His Jewish relatives suffered the horrors of the Holocaust and his Japanese American family members were interned in one of the governments 10 prison camps in Gila River, Ariz.

Laura Dominguez is a doctoral student researching Western American and Chicano history. For her, the Japanese American internment offers a chance to study memories of oppression among both ethnic groups.

It couldnt be more timely now to dedicate a full semester to this, given where we are in the U.S. today with questions of exclusion, citizenship and who belongs and who doesnt, Dominguez said.

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Instructor Susan Kamei teaches USCs first course on the World War II internment of Japanese Americans in Los Angeles. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times )

The students are examining the cases of three Japanese American men who violated the wartime curfew and evacuation orders in order to challenge their constitutionality. The U.S. Supreme Court, in a divided vote, upheld the orders as justified by military necessity. In the 1980s, the mens convictions were vacated after Peter Irons, then a UC San Diego political science professor, discovered that government attorneys suppressed evidence refuting allegations of Japanese American disloyalty.

In one class session, students watched a documentary about one of the plaintiffs, Minoru Yasui. Then they met his daughter Holly, who made the film, and Jay Hirabayashi, the son of another plaintiff, Gordon Hirabayashi, via video hookup.

How have your family experiences influenced your views on current immigration cases, one student asked, referring to Trump administration policies.

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I live in Canada...and we look south to the United States in horror, Hirabayashi replied. The difference between Canadas acceptance of refugees and immigrants and people trying to get into the U.S.is really disturbing to us.

Students also have explored the history of Japanese immigrants to the United States, the racism against them and the Pearl Harbor bombing. They visited reconstructed camp barracks at the Japanese American National Museum in Little Tokyo and learned about the hardships of camp life, including a lack of antibiotics that led to some deaths and depression that sparked some suicides.

One of the liveliest sessions, Kamei said, was a look at the visual archives of the era: photographs of camp life by Ansel Adams, Dorothea Lange and Toyo Miyatake; art by those interned, newspaper photos and their inflammatory captions.

The course also covers the U.S. military experiences of second-generation Japanese American soldiers, draft resisters, the communitys postwar resettlement and the redress campaign. Students will study legal cases involving Muslims who are disproportionately affected by Trumps travel ban and enemy combatants detained without specific charges under President George W. Bush.

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Students say the course, so far, has been sobering.

Knowing that there was no evidence as to whether there was sabotage or espionage and they still went through with [the internment], that did shock me, Fusaro said. The more we dive into the nuances, the more I see how ridiculous it was.

Emily Summers, a junior, said she never learned about the internment at Whittier Christian High School in La Habra. On her own, she read about similar wartime experiences of Canadian citizens of Japanese descent in the book Obasan.

I was like, Why have I never learned about this in my history classes?  Summers said. Its blatant racism against a certain group of people in America and it should be discussed. In the political climate that were in today, its important to look back and see how we can prevent this kind of thing in the future.

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USC student Matthew Weisbly points to himself as a child pictured with family and friends. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times )

Weisbly, a junior who grew up in Oregon and Arizona, learned about the Holocaust at an early age from relatives, who shared stories of family members sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp. But no one told him that his Japanese American grandfather had been incarcerated during the war until he saw a feature film about the internment when he was 12 and began to ask questions.

He dove into research about it  and jumped at enrolling in the USC class.

Ever since 9/11, people have been singling out people of the Islamic faith, Weisbly said. Something like that happened to both sides of my family in different ways, and both were horrible. I dont want to see something like that ever happen again.

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teresa.watanabe@latimes.com

Twitter: @TeresaWatanabeThe mystery surrounding strange symptoms of illness experienced by at least two dozen U.S. diplomats stationed in Havana has still not been resolved.

More than a year after the symptoms were first reported, and the U.S. government blamed them on attacks against the diplomats, a new report by U.S. medical experts can find no explanation for the cause.

The study by a team from the University of Pennsylvania, published last week in the Journal of the American Medical Assn., concluded the diplomatic personnel suffered brain injuries without evidence of head trauma.

The Americans reported a range of symptoms including hearing loss, headaches, dizziness, nausea and loss of concentration. Initially, the U.S. government blamed the symptoms on sonic or acoustic attacks, but has since backed off those labels.

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Yet the Penn group could not determine a cause, saying that any sensory phenomena was of unclear origin.

These individuals appeared to have sustained injury to widespread brain networks without an associated history of head trauma, the study said.

Nonetheless, the JAMA added in an attached report, the similarities among the 21 cases merit consideration of a common medical, environmental, or psychological event as the potential cause.

The State Department has said a total of 24 people reported symptoms after hearing strange, high-pitched sounds, or a kind of pressure on their ears, at their diplomatic homes in Havana or in hotels. The studys authors said they only looked at 21 cases of people who submitted to multidisciplinary evaluation.

The symptoms were first reported in late 2016 but not disclosed by the State Department until August. In response, Washington expelled 17 Cuban diplomats from Washington, and ordered most of its own diplomatic personnel from Havana back to U.S. soil and restricted travel there to emergency personnel.

The two governments at first said they were cooperating in the investigation but soon fell into mutual recrimination. The government of President Raul Castro condemned the purported attacks and denied any involvement but later called into question the veracity of the incidents.

The Trump administration, after first welcoming Havanas cooperation, later blamed Castros government for failing in its duty to keep foreign diplomats safe on the island as per international treaty.

The chill in diplomatic relations followed a major opening between Washington and Havana under President Obama, which ended half a century of Cold War hostilities. The U.S. reopened its embassy in Havana, and Cuba did the same in Washington, in 2015.

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Trump had pledged to roll back that opening but so far has taken only limited steps to restrict some travel to and trade with Cuba by U.S. citizens.

And despite the tension over the embassy illnesses, the two governments have been meeting regularly on law enforcement, money-laundering, immigration and similar technical issues, according to officials from both sides.

But the meetings, which once alternated locations between Havana and Washington, are now held exclusively in Washington because of the illness fears.

The continued talks are aimed at promoting democracy and human rights in Cuba, the State Department says, in keeping with Trumps stated focus for the communist-ruled island.

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Cuban officials argue that the embassy restrictions hurt ordinary Cubans, whom the administration claims to want to help. Cubans, for example, who seek visas to travel to the U.S. to visit relatives or participate in academic programs now must go to Colombia to apply, an expensive and time-consuming task.

tracy.wilkinson@latimes.com

For more on international affairs, follow @TracyKWilkinson on TwitterStudents who escaped the deadly school shooting in Florida focused their anger Sunday at President Trump, contending that his response to the attack has been needlessly divisive.

Youre the president. Youre supposed to bring this nation together, not divide us, David Hogg, a 17-year-old student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, said on NBCs Meet the Press.

How dare you? he said.

Hogg was responding to Trumps tweet Saturday that Democrats hadnt passed any gun control measures during the brief time they controlled Congress with a supermajority in the Senate. Trump also alluded to the FBIs failure to act on tips that the suspect was dangerous, while bemoaning the bureaus focus on Russias role in the 2016 election.

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Trump was at his Florida estate Sunday but did not mention the attack in a series of tweets. After more than a day of criticism from the students, the White House said the president would hold a listening session with unspecified students Wednesday and meet with state and local security officials Thursday.

Florida politicians, meanwhile, scrambled to produce legislation in response to Wednesdays attack, which killed 17 people. Nikolas Cruz, a 19-year-old who had been expelled from the school, is being held without bail in the Broward County Jail, charged with 17 counts of first-degree murder.

1 / 41 Abigail Avioa, a senior at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School, her back to camera, is prayed over in front of the school on Sunday, Feb. 18, 2018. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 2 / 41 People come to pay their respects and leave flowers at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School, where 17 students were killed in a mass shooting last week. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 3 / 41 Bicycles still remain on campus as people come to pay their respects and leave flowers at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School, where 17 students were killed in a mass shooting last week. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 4 / 41 Brandon Sanchez, 9, prays with his father Victor Sanchez, center, of Coral Springs, Fla., along with other family members and friends in front of Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School on Sunday, Feb. 18, 2018. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 5 / 41 Hearts with the names of some of those killed are hung on the fence at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 6 / 41 Lauren Fitzsimmons, 12, left, and Ed Staszeski pray during a service at First Church Coral Springs where prayers were said for the victims of the high school shooting. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 7 / 41 Pastor Vance Rains leads prayers for the victims of the school shooting at First Church Coral Springs. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 8 / 41 Students gathered at the memorial crosses at Pine Trails Park in Parkland, Florida to remember those where were killed and injured in the shooting. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 9 / 41 Isabella Cristancho, 14, left, Valentina Piedrahita, 14, and Paula Mantilla, 13, far right, protest on a corner not far from Marjorie Stonemason Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida where a gunman killed 17 dead and injured 14 in a school shooting. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 10 / 41 Family members greet one another as they arrive for the memorial and burial for Meadow Paddock, age 18, one of the shooting victims at Marjorie Stonemason Douglas High School. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 11 / 41 Sarah Cardenas, age 38, brings some of her students from Classical Conversation (home school) in Boca Raton to the memorial for the victims of the shooting at Marjorie Stonemason Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida where a gunman killed 17 dead and injured 14 in a school shooting. We came to pay our respects and pray, says Cardenas. (Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times) (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 12 / 41 Isaah Jean, age 14, is a freshman at Marjorie Stonemason Douglas High School and was in the freshman building and saw the gunman. The only thing he thought to do was throw his phone at the gunman. He fractured his ankle trying to run from the shooting and is now on crutches. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 13 / 41 Mourners hold a prayer vigil for victims at Parkridge Church in Coral Springs, Fla. (Rhona Wise / AFP/Getty Images) 14 / 41 Thousands gather for an evening vigil at Pine Trails Park in Parkland, Fla. to remember those killed and injured in the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 15 / 41 Thousands gather for an evening vigil at Pine Trails Park in Parkland, Fla. to remember those killed and injured in the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 16 / 41 Thousands gather for an evening vigil at Pine Trails Park in Parkland, Fla. to remember those killed and injured in the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 17 / 41 Thousands gather for an evening vigil at Pine Trails Park in Parkland, Fla. to remember those killed and injured in the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 18 / 41 Antonina Messina, 17, a student at Marjorie Stonemason Douglas High School, left, attends a vigil with her mother Clara Messina, center, and brothter, Matteo Messina, right. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 19 / 41 Students gather for a memorial at Parkridge Church in Coral Springs, Fla., one day after a gunman killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in nearby Parkland. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 20 / 41 Broward County school board members Robin Bartleman, left, and Rosalind Osgood, second from left, and Chaplain Robert Ossler of the City of Cape Coral Fire/Emergency Department, pray for the victims of the mass shooting after a news conference. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 21 / 41 Balloons are released Thursday at the end of a vigil for victims of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 22 / 41 Marla Eveillard, 14, grieves with friends before the start of a community prayer vigil in Coral Springs, Fla. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 23 / 41 Reunited relatives leave the Marriott Coral Springs Hotel on Wednesday night after a deadly shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. (Matt McClain / Washington Post) 24 / 41 Florida Gov. Rick Scott speaks to the media as he visits Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., after a shooting there killed 17 people. (Joe Raedle / Getty Images) 25 / 41 Parents meet at a hotel to pick up their children after the shooting at nearby Marjory Stoneman Douglas High. (Jim Rassol / South Florida Sun-Sentinel) 26 / 41 Students released from a lockdown embrace after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. (John McCall / South Florida Sun-Sentinel) 27 / 41 Students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School after the lockdown ended. (John McCall / South Florida Sun-Sentinel ) 28 / 41 People are brought out of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School after a gunman opened fire Wednesday. (Joe Raedle / Getty Images) 29 / 41 Students are escorted by police following a shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. (Amy Beth Bennett / South Florida Sun-Sentinel) 30 / 41 Parents wait for news after a shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., on Wednesday. (Joel Auerbach / Associated Press) 31 / 41 Parents and family members gather south of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School campus following a shooting in Parkland, Fla. (Amy Beth Bennett / Associated Press) 32 / 41 Anxious family members wait for news of students after a shooting at the school in Broward County in southeast Florida. (Wilfredo Lee / Associated Press) 33 / 41 Medical personnel tend to a victim after the mass shooting. (John McCall / South Florida Sun-Sentinel ) 34 / 41 People gather waiting for word from students following the mass shooting. (Amy Beth Bennett / South Florida Sun-Sentinel ) 35 / 41 A law enforcement officer rushes toward Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School following a shooting at the school in Parkland, Fla. (John McCall / Associated Press) 36 / 41 Anxious family members wait south of the campus at which more than 3,000 students are enrolled. (Amy Beth Bennett / South Florida Sun-Sentinel ) 37 / 41 In this frame grab from video provided by WPLG-TV, students follow law enforcement out of the building. (Associated Press) 38 / 41 Family members embrace a student who was released from the school. A shooting at the school sent students rushing into the streets as SWAT team members swarmed in and locked down the building. (Wilfredo Lee / Associated Press) 39 / 41 A law enforcement officer tells anxious family members to move back after a shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. (Wilfredo Lee / Associated Press) 40 / 41 Anxious family members wait for information on students in Parkland, Fla. Multiple deaths were reported Wednesday as gunfire broke out at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. (Wilfredo Lee / Associated Press) 41 / 41 Students hold their hands up as they are evacuated on Wednesday, in a frame grab from WPLG-TV. (Associated Press)

In a TV interview, Republican Sen. Marco Rubio embraced a Democratic bill in the Florida Legislature to allow courts to temporarily prevent people from having guns if they are determined to be a threat to themselves or others.

Gov. Rick Scott, also a Republican, attended a prayer vigil at the First Church Coral Springs, a few blocks from the shooting site. He is expected to announce a legislative package with GOP leaders of the Legislature this week.

Emma Gonzalez, another student who survived the attack, cited Trump, Rubio and Scott by name in a warning to politicians who are supported by the National Rifle Assn.

Now is the time to get on the right side of this, because this is not something that we are going to let sweep under the carpet, she said on Meet the Press.

The students pointed comments are the latest signs of increased pressure for gun control after the massacre.

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The students have vowed to become the face of a movement for tighter firearm regulations and plan to visit the state Capitol in Tallahassee this week to demand immediate action. They are also calling for anti-gun violence demonstrations in Washington and other cities on March 24.

Organizers behind the Womens March, an anti-Trump and female empowerment protest, called for a 17-minute, nationwide walkout by teachers and students on March 14. The Network for Public Education, an advocacy organization for public schools, announced a day of walkouts, sit-ins and other events on school campuses on April 20, the anniversary of the 1999 shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado that left 12 students and one teacher dead.

Not every student at the Florida school was calling for more gun control. James Ciaramello, a freshman in the schools Junior ROTC program, on Friday paused at a memorial in a park in front of a photo of one victim, Peter Wang, a 15-year-old Junior ROTC student who was killed after holding open a door so others could escape.

Hes just messed up, Ciaramello said of Cruz, who was also in Junior ROTC. I mean, tighter gun control, its not gonna help. Theres always a way around it.

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School and government records obtained Sunday show Cruz was diagnosed as developmentally delayed at age 3 and had disciplinary issues dating to middle school. In February 2014, while in eighth grade, Cruz was transferred to a special school for children with emotional and behavioral issues. He stayed there until 10th grade, when he was transferred to Stoneman Douglas. A month after arriving, Cruz was written up for using profanity. Last year, Cruz was expelled.

On Sept. 28, 2016, an investigator from the Florida Department of Children and Families visited Cruz and his mother, Lynda, after he posted video on Snapchat showing him cutting himself. The report showed that Cruz had written a racial epithet against African Americans and a Nazi symbol on his book bag, which his mother had forced him to erase. The investigator said Cruz was suffering from depression and on medication and had told his mother that he planned to buy a gun, but she couldnt determine why.

She said he had been depressed after breaking up with a girlfriend who had been cheating on him, the investigator said. A school counselor told the investigator that Lynda Cruz had always tried to help her son and followed through on his therapy and medication, but the counselor was concerned about the youths desire to buy a gun.

A crisis counselor told the investigator that he had visited the school and that he did not believe Nikolas Cruz was a danger to himself or others. The case was closed, with the investigator concluding that Cruz was receiving help from his mother and counselors, and no other referrals or services were needed.

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After Lynda Cruz died in November, her son moved into the home of a teenage friend. The friends parents told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel newspaper they had no idea the extent of Cruzs issues.

We had this monster living under our roof and we didnt know, Kimberly Snead said in an interview published Sunday. We didnt see this side of him.

James Snead said: Everything everybody seems to know, we didnt know. Its as simple as that.

The Sneads said Cruz seemed unable to do even simple tasks such as doing the laundry or using the microwave.

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He kept the AR-15 semiautomatic rifle he allegedly used in the massacre locked in a gun safe with a few other firearms. James Snead thought he had the only key to the cabinet but said Cruz must have had another key. The family kept their own rifles, bought after a burglary a few years ago, in a separate locked cabinet.

They told Cruz he needed to ask permission to take out the guns. He had asked only twice since November. They said yes once and no once.

On Wednesday morning, Cruz told them he didnt need a ride to school. Its Valentines Day and I dont go to school on Valentines Day, he said.

Cruz sent their son a few texts that day. In one, he asked what classroom the boy was in. He said he was going to see a movie.

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Later he texted he had something important he wanted to tell the teen. Then he wrote, Nothing man.The Trump administration is once again calling for the complete elimination of a heating assistance program that helps keep the homes of low-income families warm. And once again, program supporters are vowing to fight it.

The administration is using the same arguments from a year ago when it tried to abolish the program, saying that its rife with fraud and that no one would be left freezing if the program went away.

These arguments are very misleading and wrong, said Mark Wolfe, director of the National Energy Assistance Directors Assn. in Washington, D.C.

The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program helps families pay their heating bills primarily in the form of a grant thats sent directly to utility companies or heating-fuel vendors.

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President Trump tried to eradicate the program last year but encountered resistance in Congress. In October, he released nearly $3 billion, or about 90%, of the funding.

Critics say that money wont go as far as in past years because of rising prices.

Supporters nonetheless say the program is a lifeline for the elderly, disabled and others on fixed incomes.

If the president turned around and did away with that funding, I have no idea how wed survive in the winter, said Dwayne LaBrecque, a diabetic who is on disability after losing several toes and part of his foot to infection.

LaBrecques income plummeted when he lost his job as a shipping manager, leaving him to cobble together an existence for himself, his fiancee and their five children in the rural Maine town of Hartford. The family received about $1,000 in heating assistance this winter, and that money is already gone.

The Trump supporter said he hopes the president has a change of heart. He said he wont be voting for Trump again if he kills the program.

The presidents 2019 budget was released Monday and would cut other social programs like federal housing assistance and the food stamp program, in addition to eliminating heating aid.

As in last year, the proposal faces an uphill fight in Congress.

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Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) told the White House budget director that the Trump administration is creating a situation where people will go cold, some may freeze to death.

The program is popular in both cold weather and warm weather states, like Florida and Arizona, where it also distributes money to keep people keep cool in the summer. All told, the program helps 6 million households.

A group of 45 senators asked the president to maintain energy assistance and weatherization assistance programs.

A dangerous stretch of cold weather around New Years Day underscored the need for the program, said Sen. Angus King, an independent from Maine. And Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire called gutting the program dangerous and unacceptable.

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Republican Sen. John Hoeven, of North Dakota, a member of the Appropriations Committee, said hell fight for the program that provides vital resources to help those in need keep their homes safe and warm and to make ends meet.In post-marriage-equality America, where same-sex couples live openly and increasingly are embraced in their communities, those on the conservative right who once pushed back against gay rights now appear to have shifted their focus to the transgender community.

So far this year, 10 states have introduced a flurry of bills that would make life tougher for transgender people, especially students who try to use campus restrooms that match their gender identity. And earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Education confirmed that it will no longer investigate civil rights complaints from transgender students who say they were barred from using restrooms that align with their gender identity.

Were seeing proposals around the country that would make it harder for trans people to go to work, go to school, participate in public life, or even do things as simple as go to the store or go to a restaurant with their family, said Jay Wu, communications manager at the National Center for Transgender Equality. If laws like this pass, they can send a message to transgender people and their families that they are not as worthy as their peers and that they dont deserve to have the same rights as everyone else.

Education Department Press Secretary Liz Hill said it is not breaking news that her office wont investigate bathroom-related complaints. That shift, she said, was made last year when President Trump rescinded the Obama administrations directive that discrimination against transgender students on the basis of gender identity violates Title IX.

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Contrary to President Obamas view, Hill said that Title IX prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex, not gender identity.

Where students, including transgender students, are penalized or harassed for failing to conform to sex-based stereotypes, that is sex discrimination prohibited by Title IX, Hill said. In the case of bathrooms, however, longstanding regulations provide that separating facilities on the basis of sex is not a form of discrimination prohibited by Title IX.

LGBTQ advocates, however, said they are surprised by the Education Departments tough stance and see it as further evidence that transgender people are facing more and more obstacles  legal battles, legislation and policies that make life difficult.

Lawmakers seem undeterred by the backlash seen in North Carolina after the state in early 2016 passed its controversial bathroom bill, which in effect barred transgender people from using restrooms that aligned with their gender identity. North Carolina lost millions in revenue  new employers, conventions and sporting events  because of the decision.

Of the 10 states that have introduced legislation aimed at the transgender community, seven have crafted bills that are a variation of North Carolinas bathroom bill, according to the National Center for Transgender Equality. Two states, Alaska and Massachusetts, are also considering ballot initiatives that could restrict the freedoms of transgender people.

In Tennessee, four bathroom-related bills were introduced, including three that require the state to provide legal defense for schools that adopt North Carolina-like restroom bans and for employees of those schools.

In South Dakota, two conservative lawmakers proposed a bill to prohibit public school teachers from even mentioning gender identity or gender expression to students in kindergarten through seventh grade. And in New Hampshire, a proposed bill would have made providing transition-related medical care to a minor, including puberty blockers and hormone therapy, a form of child abuse. The bill has since died in committee.

I would say what were seeing with transgender people is history repeating itself, said Seth Galanter, senior director at the National Center for Youth Law.

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We saw the same thing 60 years ago with integrating black and white kids together. We saw it 40 years ago integrating kids with disabilities into public schools, and now were seeing it with transgender people, Galanter said.

Galanter, who worked in the Obama administration when it issued the gender identity guidelines, said transgender students are at risk of being deprived of basic civil liberties.

Hill said that Education Secretary Betsy DeVos believes it is the job of Congress or the courts, not the bureaucracy, to determine whether or not the term sex under Title IX encompasses gender identity.

But Galanter  and other advocates  contend that courts have already made that determination, including a ruling last May by the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Whitaker vs. Kenosha Unified School District in Wisconsin.

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The case involved Ash Whitaker, a transgender student, who was denied access to male-designated restrooms at his high school.

The 7th Circuit  which includes Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin  noted in its ruling: A policy that requires an individual to use a bathroom that does not conform with his or her gender identity punishes that individual for his or her gender non-conformance, which in turn violates Title IX.

Galanter said the Trump administrations decision  to not pursue civil rights complaints from transgender students on the basis of gender identity  puts an economic and emotional burden on transgender students and their parents.

The Office for Civil Rights has closed its doors to these complaints, and for a lot of people, they cant afford a lawyer, and they dont want to make a big scene in a courtroom, Galanter said. They just want their kid to be able to go to school.

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To read this article in Spanish, click here

jaclyn.cosgrove@latimes.com

@jaclyncosgrove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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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Allies balk at Trump administration bid to block Chinese firm from cutting-edge telecom markets By David S. Cloud Britain and Germany are balking at the Trump administrations call for a ban on equipment from Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei, threatening a global U.S. campaign to thwart Chinas involvement in future mobile networks. Both countries are expected to limit Huawei and other Chinese companies from providing core components including routers. But other types of Chinese equipment for next-generation, high-speed communications could still be installed on British and German networks, officials and analysts say. The U.S. push to ban Huawei has provoked a global dispute in recent weeks, with senior U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo, publicly urging NATO allies in Europe to exclude the company and warning that the United States might limit its military presence in countries that did not do so. Read More Facebook

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Confucius Institutes: Do they improve U.S.-China ties or harbor spies? By Don Lee Hanging red lanterns welcome visitors to the University of Marylands Confucius Institute, the oldest of about 100 Chinese language and cultural centers that have popped up over the last 15 years on American campuses, subsidized by millions of dollars from Chinas central government. But last fall, when four U.S. Senate investigators walked into the Confucius offices in Maryland and spent hours questioning staff, they werent looking for an educational exchange. The committee has been seeking detailed information from the university about the program, including contracts, email exchanges and financial arrangements that school administrators have kept under wraps since it started in 2004. American colleges once viewed these jointly funded institutes as an economical way to expand their language offerings  one that could also bring warmer ties with China and, importantly, an influx of Chinese international students paying full tuition. Read More Facebook

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U.S. policy toward China shifts from engagement to confrontation By David S. Cloud For decades, China had no closer American friend than Dianne Feinstein. As San Francisco mayor in the 1970s, she forged a sister-city relationship with Shanghai, the first between American and Chinese communities. As U.S. senator, she dined with Chinese leaders at Mao Tse-tungs old Beijing residence. And in the 1990s, she championed a trade policy change that opened a floodgate of Western investment into China. Today the Democratic senator sees China as a growing threat, joining a broad array of Trump administration officials, national security strategists and business executives who once favored engagement with Beijing and now advocate a confrontational approach instead. Read More Facebook

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Mnuchins attempt to calm markets backfires as Trump takes another shot at the Federal Reserve By Jim Puzzanghera An attempt by Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin to calm plunging financial markets backfired Monday, further rattling investors with new fears about whether major U.S. banks have enough cash on top of worries about interest rates, political instability in Washington and a slowing global economy. Adding to the volatile mix was a fresh attack on the Federal Reserve by President Trump, who declared that the central bank was the U.S. economys only problem and that it didnt have a feel for the market. The Fed is like a powerful golfer who cant score because he has no touch -- he cant putt! Trump said on Twitter. Read More Facebook

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He speaks to Democratic hearts. But is Beto ORourke a serious White House contender? By Mark Z. Barabak Hes a failed U.S. Senate candidate with an undistinguished congressional record who, for the moment, is a blazing-hot 2020 presidential prospect  despite the fact that he may not run and faces long odds if he does. Beto ORourke suggests the will-he-or-wont-he speculation is something he himself cant quite fathom. I think thats a great question, he responded in a Dallas Morning News interview when asked whether his unsuccessful November Senate bid merited a promotion to the White House. I ask that question myself. Read More Facebook

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Russian disinformation teams targeted Robert S. Mueller III, says report prepared for Senate By Craig Timberg, Tony Romm, Elizabeth Dwoskin Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III. (Associated Press) Months after President Trump took office, Russias disinformation teams trained their sites on a new target: special counsel Robert S. Mueller III. Having worked to help get Trump into the White House, they now worked to neutralize the biggest threat to his staying there. The Russian operatives unloaded on Mueller through fake accounts on Facebook, Twitter and beyond, falsely claiming that the former FBI director was corrupt and that the allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 election were crackpot conspiracies. One post on Instagram  which emerged as an especially potent weapon in the Russian social media arsenal  claimed that Mueller had worked in the past with radical Islamic groups. Such tactics exemplified how Russian teams ranged nimbly across social media platforms in a shrewd online influence operation aimed squarely at American voters. The effort started earlier than commonly understood and lasted longer while relying on the strengths of different sites to manipulate distinct slices of the electorate, according to a pair of comprehensive new reports prepared for the Senate Intelligence Committee and released Monday. Read more Timberg, Romm and Dwoskin report for the Washington Post. Facebook

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President Trump announces Mick Mulvaney as acting White House chief of staff By Associated Press President Trump says budget director Mick Mulvaney will serve as acting chief of staff, replacing John F. Kelly in the new year. I am pleased to announce that Mick Mulvaney, Director of the Office of Management & Budget, will be named Acting White House Chief of Staff, replacing General John Kelly, who has served our Country with distinction. Mick has done an outstanding job while in the Administration....  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 14, 2018 Facebook

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It aint over when its over: In Michigan, Wisconsin and elsewhere, losers seek to undermine election results By Mark Z. Barabak Democrat Gavin Newsom has yet to become California governor, but already a candidate for state Republican Party chairman is promoting a recall effort. In Michigan and Wisconsin, GOP lawmakers have rushed through legislation to thwart their incoming Democratic governors and hamper others in the opposing party from doing the jobs voters chose them to do. In Congress, GOP leaders have echoed President Trump and sought to undermine the legitimacy of Democrats strong midterm performance, raising unsubstantiated allegations of fraud and political malfeasance. Read More Facebook

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New CFPB Director Kathy Kraninger says she wont be a puppet of Mick Mulvaney By Jim Puzzanghera On her first full day leading the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Kathy Kraninger said she wont be a puppet of Mick Mulvaney, the controversial acting director whom she replaced in the powerful regulatory position. To underscore that point, the former White House aide said she would even reconsider a Mulvaney action that critics saw as a gratuitous jab at Democrats who championed the agencys creation: changing its name to the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection. Kraningers declaration during a meeting with reporters Tuesday addressed one of the main criticisms of her selection. She is considered a protege of Mulvaney, her boss at the White House Office of Management and Budget who has executed a dramatic, industry-friendly shift at the watchdog agency. Read More Facebook

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Trumps pick for chief of staff, Nick Ayers, out of running By Associated Press Nick Ayers, right, with Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, at the funeral service for George H.W. Bush on Dec. 3. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Associated Press) President Trumps top pick to replace John F. Kelly as chief of staff, Nick Ayers, is no longer expected to fill that role. Thats according to a White House official who is not authorized to discuss the personnel issue by name and spoke on condition of anonymity. Ayers is Vice President Mike Pences chief of staff. The official says that Trump and Ayers could not agree on Ayers length of service. The father of young children, Ayers had agreed to serve in an interim capacity though the spring, but Trump wanted a two-year commitment. The official says that Ayers will instead assist the president from outside the administration. Trump announced Saturday that Kelly would be departing the White House around the end of the year. Thank you @realDonaldTrump, @VP, and my great colleagues for the honor to serve our Nation at The White House. I will be departing at the end of the year but will work with the #MAGA team to advance the cause.  #Georgia  Nick Ayers (@nick_ayers) December 9, 2018 Facebook

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U.S. hiring slows to 155,000 jobs, unemployment rate holds at 3.7% By Jim Puzzanghera Job growth slowed significantly in November but still was solid, indicating the economy remains in good shape but not expanding so quickly that it will lead to sharply higher interest rates. U.S. employers added 155,000 jobs last month, well below analyst expectations and a steep decline from Octobers strong 237,000 figure, the Labor Department reported Friday. Still, monthly job gains are averaging 206,000 this year, the best since 2015. Even the slower pace of 170,000 over the last three months is close to last years average of 182,000 and well above the amount needed to keep up with population growth. Read More Facebook

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Trump is expected to pick State Department spokeswoman for U.N. ambassador By Associated Press Heather Nauert at a briefing at the State Department on Aug. 9, 2017. (Alex Brandon / Associated Press) President Trump is expected to nominate State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert to be the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Two administration officials confirmed Trumps plans. A Republican congressional aide said the president was expected to announce his decision by tweet on Friday morning. The officials were not authorized to speak publicly before Trumps announcement. Trump has previously said Nauert was under serious consideration to replace Nikki Haley, who announced in October that she would step down at the end of this year. Trump has been known to change course on staffing decisions in the past. Nauert was a reporter for Fox News Channel before she became State Department spokeswoman under former Secretary Rex Tillerson. Facebook

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Senate confirms new consumer financial protection chief: Kathy Kraninger, protege of industry-friendly Mick Mulvaney By Jim Puzzanghera The Senate, in a party-line vote Thursday, confirmed White House aide Kathy Kraninger to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and experts predicted a continuation of the industry-friendly shift it has taken since President Trump installed an acting director last year. Kraninger is a protege of acting director and White House budget chief Mick Mulvaney, an outspoken critic of the agency that was created in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis to prevent predatory lending and other abuses that led to it. Democrats and consumer advocates have denounced him for sharply departing from the aggressive watchdog role the bureau had pursued under its first director, Obama-appointee Richard Cordray, including scaling back enforcement and moving to reassess tough new rules on payday loans and narrow the definition of abusive practices by banks and other firms. Read More Facebook

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Shutdown postponed by two weeks under plan approved by Congress By Erik Wasson Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), shown at the Capitol on Tuesday, says President Trumps border wall is a waste of money. (J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press) Congress passed a two-week stopgap spending bill that will delay the chance of a partial government shutdown until Dec. 22 as lawmakers and President Donald Trump negotiate over his demands to pay for a wall on the southern border. The House and Senate passed the measure Thursday without dissent, and Trump has indicated hell sign the bill before the current shutdown deadline of midnight Friday. Negotiations were delayed by memorial services this week for former President George H.W. Bush. The temporary measure gives Democrats and Republicans more time to find a resolution to their biggest hurdle: funding a wall on the U.S. Mexico border wall. Trump says he wants $5 billion for parts of a concrete wall on the southern border and is willing to shut down the government if he doesnt get it. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York has said Democrats will provide no more than $1.6 billion for border security, because the wall is a waste of money. The presidents demands for wall funding from Congress come after he said during the campaign that Mexico would pay for it. This week he said on Twitter that a $25 billion border wall would pay for itself in two months, without providing evidence. Most of the U.S. governments $1.2 trillion discretionary budget has been appropriated already by Congress for the fiscal year that began on Oct. 1. Departments at a risk of a partial shutdown late this month include the departments of State, Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, Justice, Treasury and Homeland Security. Talks to resolve the differences have been on hold since a meeting among Trump, Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California originally slated for Dec. 4 was postponed due to Bush memorial events. The three are scheduled to meet on Tuesday, according to a person familiar with the matter. Senate Appropriations Chairman Richard Shelby of Alabama told reporters the rest of the seven-bill spending package being negotiated is basically done. Shelby in recent weeks had tried to broker a compromise in which Trumps $5 billion request would be split over two years, but Schumer has rejected that. Some Democrats have been willing to trade border wall funding for deportation protections for young undocumented immigrants. Pelosi ruled out such a deal in remarks to reporters Thursday. The stopgap government funding measure also would extend the National Flood Insurance Program, which provides subsidized coverage for homes in flood-prone areas, to Dec. 21. Facebook

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Bipartisan Senate group wants to formally blame Saudi crown prince for journalists killing By Karoun Demirjian Saudi Arabias Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the G-20 summit in Buenos Aires. (Associated Press) A bipartisan group of senators filed a resolution Wednesday condemning Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as responsible for the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, directly challenging President Trump to do the same. This resolution -- without equivocation -- definitively states that the crown prince of Saudi Arabia was complicit in the murder of Mr. [Jamal] Khashoggi and has been a wrecking ball to the region jeopardizing our national security interests on multiple fronts, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said in a statement accompanying the release of the resolution. It will be up to Saudi Arabia as to how to deal with this matter. But it is up to the United States to firmly stand for who we are and what we believe. The resolution put forward by Graham and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who are expected to lead the Judiciary Committee together next year, comes just one day after CIA Director Gina Haspel briefed leading senators about the details of the agencys assessment that Mohammed ordered and monitored the killing and dismemberment of Khashoggi in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. Senators emerged from that closed-door briefing furious not only with Saudi Arabia, but Trump as well for dismissing the heft of the CIAs findings. You have to be willfully blind not to come to the conclusion that this was orchestrated and organized by people under the command of MBS and that he was intricately involved in the demise of Mr. Khashoggi, Graham said following the briefing, referring to Mohammed by his initials. He added that Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo and Defense Secretary James N. Mattis, who briefed senators last week, were at best being good soldiers and at worst were in the pocket of Saudi Arabia for presenting the evidence of Mohammeds involvement as inconclusive. The release of the resolution condemning Mohammed also comes as the Senate is preparing to move ahead with debate on a resolution to curtail U.S. support for the Saudi-led military campaign in Yemen. Though the Yemen resolution does not directly address Khashoggis murder, its popularity is a sign of how strained the United States patience with Saudi Arabia is on multiple fronts, including its role in worsening the civilian cost of the war in Yemen, cited by the United Nations as the worlds worst humanitarian crisis. Last week, the Senate voted 63 to 37 to advance the Yemen resolution past an opening procedural hurdle. But Graham and Feinsteins resolution on the crown prince has the potential of drawing broader support, especially from Republicans, who are deeply divided about how fiercely to punish Saudi Arabia over Khashoggis killing. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who has been an outspoken advocate for human rights and is seen as one of the more influential foreign policy voices in the GOP, did not vote for the Yemen resolution last week or sign on to a bipartisan measure last month to sanction Saudi officials and cease weapons transfers to the kingdom. But he is an original co-sponsor of the resolution condemning Mohammed over Khashoggis death. So is Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.), who represents the other end of the GOP spectrum in terms of recent Saudi-related votes and endorsements. Young was an initial co-sponsor of the bill Graham wrote with Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) to sanction Saudi officials deemed responsible for Khashoggis killing and stop the sale of anything but exclusively defensive weapons to the kingdom until it ceased hostilities in Yemen. Young also voted to advance the Yemen resolution  something Graham did as well, though Graham has signaled he will not be lending any similar support to the measure, fearing it may establish a precedent of invoking the War Powers Act too broadly. Sens. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Chris Coons (D-Del.) are listed as original co-sponsors of the resolution condemning Mohammed, which also urges Saudi Arabia to negotiate with Houthi rebels to end the Yemen war, work out a political solution to its standoff with Qatar and release political prisoners. But how much sway the resolution has probably comes down to how forcefully the administration decides to heed it -- and thus far, Trump has not shown any interest in condemning the crown prince the way the senators hope he will. Demirjian reports for the Washington Post. Facebook

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Los Angeles County offices and U.S. Postal Service closed Wednesday in honor of George H.W. Bush By Brian Park The Honor Guard carries the casket of former U.S. President George H. W. Bush following his funeral on Dec. 5 in Washington, DC. (Doug Mills - Pool/Getty Images) The U.S. Postal Service will suspend regular mail delivery Wednesday, which President Trump has declared a national day of mourning in honor of former President George H.W. Bush. All retail postal outlets will be closed, and package delivery will be limited. In Los Angeles, all nonessential county departments, offices and libraries will be closed for the day, L.A. County officials said. The Los Angeles County Library said no overdue fines will be assessed for books, and due dates will be moved forward one week. Los Angeles County Department of Public Health offices also are closed Wednesday. The Sheriffs Department, Fire Department, clinics and hospitals will continue to operate, the county said. The Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health clinics are being operated with reduced staffing, and the department asked patients to confirm or reschedule any appointments. All county courts and the disaster recovery centers for the Woolsey fire in Malibu and Agoura Hills will remain open. Larger federal government operations will be closed Wednesday. To honor the life and legacy of President Bush, the Postal Service will observe the National Day of Mourning. Learn how Postal operations will be affected. https://t.co/Mffch7bPCh pic.twitter.com/vG46BsIOpm  U.S. Postal Service (@USPS) December 4, 2018 L.A. County offices and libraries will be closed tomorrow (Dec 5) in observance of the #NationalDayOfMourning for President George H. W. Bush.



The Countys Disaster Recovery Centers in Malibu & Agoura Hills will remain open from 10 a.m. - 8 p.m. pic.twitter.com/Sv1J7GoJ7T  Los Angeles County (@CountyofLA) December 4, 2018 @LAPublicHealth offices will be closed tomorrow December 5 in observance of the national Day of Mourning for President George H. W. Bush. Essential Services including clinics and other services will remain open: https://t.co/tZGoGGHRlg pic.twitter.com/ypXsV6vlYY  LA Public Health (@lapublichealth) December 4, 2018 Facebook

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Former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick to skip 2020 White House race, sources say By Associated Press Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick speaks during an interview in Boston on Dec. 15, 2014. (Elise Amendola / Associated Press) Former Gov. Deval Patrick of Massachusetts will soon announce he wont launch a 2020 presidential campaign, according to three sources familiar with his plans. They did not say why the Democrat decided against a run. A formal announcement was delayed as the country observed a day of mourning for President George H.W. Bush, one source said. News of Patricks plans was first reported by Politico. Patrick, 62, served two terms as governor, from 2007 to 2015, was assistant attorney general for civil rights in the Clinton administration and since leaving the governors office has been a managing director for Bain Capital. Patrick traveled the country in support of Democratic candidates in the recent midterm election. Earlier this year, some of Patricks supporters and close advisors started the Reason to Believe political action committee, a grassroots organization dedicated to advancing a positive, progressive vision for our nation in 2018 and 2020. Reason to Believe PAC had been holding meetups across the country, including in early presidential primary states. While Patrick is opting against a 2020 run, dozens of Democrats are considering jumping in, including nearly a half-dozen members of the Senate, several House members, and other Massachusetts politicians. On Tuesday, Michael Avenatti, the attorney for adult film star Stormy Daniels and a vocal critic of President Trump, said in a statement that he would run. Patrick had previously expressed some concerns about breaking through if he sought the nomination, telling David Axelrod, a former advisor to President Obama, that he wasnt sure he could stand out in such a large field. Its hard to see how you even get noticed in such a big, broad field without being shrill, sensational or a celebrity, and Im none of those things and Im never going to be any of those things, Patrick said in a September interview with Axelrod. Facebook

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Former Trump adviser Roger Stone invokes 5th Amendment right and wont testify before Senate Judiciary Committee By Associated Press Roger Stone in 2017. (Joe Raedle / Getty Images) Roger Stone, an associate of President Trump, says he wont provide testimony or documents to the Senate Judiciary Committee. An attorney for Stone said in a letter to Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the committees top Democrat, that Stone was invoking his 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination in refusing to produce documents or appear for an interview. Stone has been entangled in investigations by Congress and special counsel Robert S. Mueller III about whether Trump aides had advance knowledge of Democratic emails published by WikiLeaks during the 2016 election. Stone has not been charged and has said he had no knowledge of the timing or specifics of WikiLeaks plans. In the letter to Feinstein, Stone said the committees requests were far too overbroad, far too overreaching and far too wide-ranging. Facebook

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Watch live: Vice President Pence and lawmakers honor George H.W. Bush at the U.S. Capitol before he lies in state Facebook

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Rebuilding crumbling infrastructure has bipartisan support. But who gets to pay for it? By Jim Puzzanghera The grades for major U.S. infrastructure would give any parent indigestion if they were on a childs report card. Roads: D; bridges: C+; dams: D; ports: C+: railways: B; airports: D; schools: D+; public transit: D-. The nations overall grade: D+, which translates to being in fair to poor condition and mostly below standards with significant deterioration and a strong risk of failure, according to an evaluation last year by the American Society of Civil Engineers. Read More Facebook

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Trump calls former lawyer Michael Cohen a weak person who is lying By Associated Press President Trump says his former lawyer Michael Cohen is lying to get a reduced sentence. The president is reacting to Cohens guilty plea Thursday to lying to Congress about work he did on a Trump real estate project in Russia. During a surprise court hearing, Cohen admitted to lying in testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee about a plan to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. Cohen in his guilty plea said he made the false statements to be consistent with Trumps political message. Cohens lawyer says he continues to cooperate with special counsel Robert S. Mueller IIIs investigation into Russian election interference and possible coordination with Trump associates. Facebook

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As California Republicans confront a congressional wipeout, GOP leader Kevin McCarthy faces a reckoning By Mark Z. Barabak When the House voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Kevin McCarthy trooped with other Republican lawmakers to a splashy Rose Garden celebration, smiling alongside President Trump as they celebrated the moment. As majority leader, McCarthy had helped round up the votes to narrowly pass the hard-fought legislation, convincing 13 other California Republicans to go along, even though several faced tough reelection fights. Fewer than half will be returning in January. Read More Facebook

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As California Republicans confront a congressional wipeout, GOP leader Kevin McCarthy faces a reckoning By Sarah D. Wire When the House voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Kevin McCarthy trooped with other Republican lawmakers to a splashy Rose Garden celebration, smiling alongside President Trump as they celebrated the moment. As majority leader, McCarthy had helped round up the votes to narrowly pass the hard-fought legislation, convincing 13 other California Republicans to go along, even though several faced tough reelection fights. Fewer than half will be returning in January. Read More Facebook

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Michael Cohen, President Trumps ex-lawyer, pleads guilty to lying to Congress about Trump real estate project in Russia By Associated Press Michael Cohen, President Trumps former personal lawyer, pursued a Russian real estate project on candidate Trumps behalf well into the 2016 campaign, he said Thursday while pleading guilty to lying to Congress. Cohen had previously said that the project was abandoned in January 2016, but he now admits he continued to pursue a deal and says he updated Trump and members of his family about the negotiations, according to a new court document. Read More Facebook

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James Comey says acting Atty. Gen. Whitaker may not be the sharpest knife in our drawer By John Wagner Acting Atty. Gen. Matthew Whitaker speaks at the Justice Department in Washington on Nov. 14. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais / Associated Press) Former FBI Director James B. Comey apparently isnt too impressed with the mental prowess of President Trumps acting attorney general. Matthew Whitaker may not be the sharpest knife in our drawer, Comey said during a radio interview on Monday night in which he sized up the man Trump installed this month to replace ousted Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions. Comey was asked by WGBH News in Boston if he thinks Whitaker could derail the investigation of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Whitaker has spoken critically of the probe, and Trump  as recently as Tuesday  continues to call it a witch hunt. I think its a worry, but to my mind not a serious worry, Comey said. The institution is too strong, and [Whitaker], frankly, is not strong enough to have that kind of impact. He may not be the sharpest knife in our drawer, but he can see his future and knows that if he acted in an extralegal way, he would go down in history for the wrong reasons, and Im sure he doesnt want that, added Comey, who was fired by Trump last year and later wrote a book that portrays the president as an ego-driven congenital liar. Whitaker, a former U.S. attorney in Iowa, was Sessions chief of staff before being picked by Trump to lead the Justice Department. Trump has called Whitaker a very smart man. Earlier this year, Trump called Comey an untruthful slime ball. Wagner writes for the Washington Post. Facebook

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Interior Department watchdog clears Zinke in investigation of Utah national monument By Juliet Eilperin Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke, third from the left, and Gov. Jerry Brown tour fire damage in Paradise, Calif., on Nov. 14. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) The Interior Departments Office of Inspector General has cleared Secretary Ryan Zinke in a probe of whether he redrew boundaries of a national monument in Utah to aid the financial interests of a Republican state lawmaker and stalwart supporter of President Trump. In a Nov. 21 letter to Zinkes deputy, David Bernhardt, Deputy Inspector General Mary Kendall wrote that her office found no evidence that the secretary or his aides changed the boundaries of Utahs Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in an effort to help former Utah state representative Mike Noel, who serves as executive director of the Kane County Water Conservancy District. Last December, Trump shrank the monument, first established by President Clinton in 1996, by 46% based on Zinkes recommendation. Noel owns 40 acres that had been surrounded by the monument, but now lies outside its boundaries. The new boundaries also would make it easier to construct the proposed Lake Powell Pipeline, which would deliver water to sites in Kane County that include Noels property. Earlier this year, the Interior Department had proposed selling off 120 acres of federal land from the former monument that lay adjacent to some of Noels land holdings, but later reversed the plan. We found no evidence that Noel influenced the DOIs proposed revisions to the [monuments] boundaries, that Zinke or other DOI staff involved in the project were aware of Noels financial interest in the revised boundaries, or that they gave Noel any preferential treatment in the resulting proposed boundaries, Kendall wrote. Neither the Interior Department nor the inspector generals office would release the actual investigative report. In the letter, Kendall writes that her office will provide the report to Congress no sooner than 31 days from Nov. 21, when it is provided it to Zinkes office. The Associated Press first reported the inspector generals conclusions Monday night, but did not provide details from the report itself. Noel emailed Zinke about the effort to alter Grand Staircase-Escalante, according to emails released by Interior under the Freedom of Informational Act. But those emails do not make references to Noels land holdings. Noel also pushed to rename a Utah highway in honor of Trump, but abandoned that effort in March after some of his fellow Republicans objected to the idea. Noel did not respond to requests for comment Tuesday. The inspector generals office still has at least two ongoing probes of the secretary, including one focused on his real estate dealings in Whitefish, Mont., and another regarding his decision to deny a permit to two Connecticut tribes who were hoping to jointly run a casino after MGM Resorts International lobbied against it. Interior Department spokeswoman Heather Swift welcomed the watchdogs conclusions. The report shows exactly what the secretarys office has known all along  that the monument boundaries were adjusted in accordance with all rules, regulations and laws, she said in an email. This report is also the latest example of opponents and special interest groups ginning up fake and misleading stories, only to be proven false after expensive and time consuming inquiries by the IGs office. But Kendalls spokeswoman, Nancy DiPaolo, defended the inquiry, even though she said the report has not been publicly released and we will not be speaking specifically about the matter at this time. The OIG opens investigations based on credible allegations and reports our findings objectively and independently, DiPaolo added. Any time or resources spent investigating conduct or activity that may be a violation of law, regulation or policy is a service to the public, Congress and the Department. Rep. Raul Grijalva of Arizona, the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, said in a statement that he still intended to investigate the way Zinke and his colleague redrew the boundaries for Grand Staircase-Escalante and another Utah national monument, Bears Ears, next year. I have great respect for the inspector general, and I accept these findings, but Secretary Zinke should have known the people he listened to while destroying our national monuments had disqualifying conflicts of interest, he said. Should I chair the Natural Resources Committee in the next Congress, the process he and President Trump used to destroy Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante will be front and center in our oversight and investigations efforts. We need to know why they ignored overwhelming public expressions of support for both Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante, why they ignored Native American tribes throughout their decision-making, and why they removed protections on parcels of land with known mineral deposits. Eilperin and Rein report for the Washington Post. Facebook

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Trump advisor Larry Kudlow says China must do more to end trade war By Jim Puzzanghera Larry Kudlow, President Trumps top economic advisor, said Tuesday that Chinas response to U.S. efforts to rework the two economic superpowers trade relationship has been extremely disappointing but the planned meeting this weekend between the nations leaders is an opportunity for a breakthrough. They have to do more. They must do more, Larry Kudlow, director of the White House National Economic Council, told reporters ahead of a Saturday dinner between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Group of 20 Summit in Argentina. I think the president is exactly right  to show strong backbone when prior administrations did not, to break through these Chinese walls, Kudlow said. Theyre so resistant to change. We have to protect the country. We have to protect our technology, our inventiveness, our innovation. Read More Facebook

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Watch live: White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders holds a media briefing amid tensions at the border By Los Angeles Times Staff Facebook

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Democrat TJ Cox grabs lead over Republican David Valadao in nations last remaining undecided House race By Maya Sweedler Democrat TJ Cox slipped past Republican incumbent David Valadao on Monday to take the lead in the countrys sole remaining undecided congressional race, positioning Democrats to pick up their seventh House seat in California and 40th nationwide. Cox, who trailed by nearly 4,400 votes on election night, has steadily gained as ballot counting continues nearly three weeks after the Nov. 6 election, a pattern consistent with the states recent voting history. On Monday, he pulled ahead by 438 votes after Kern County updated its results. Read More Facebook

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Former CIA director Michael Hayden hospitalized after suffering a stroke By Deanna Paul Then-CIA Director Michael Hayden testifies before a Senate committee in 2008. (Saul Loeb / Getty Images) Former CIA Director and retired Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden has been hospitalized after suffering a stroke, his family said Friday. He is receiving expert medical care for which the family is grateful, according to a statement issued by his namesake organization. The General and his family greatly appreciate the warm wishes and prayers of his friends, colleagues, and supporters. Hayden, 73, served as director of the CIA and National Security Agency during the George W. Bush and Obama administrations. He retired from the CIA in 2009. Hayden has been a vocal critic of Donald Trumps campaign and presidency. Earlier this year, after Trump decided to revoke the security clearance of former CIA director John Brennan, Hayden was one of several former intelligence leaders who signed a statement in opposition. Criticizing the president for crossing a line, he quickly became one of the individuals whose security clearance Trump threatened to review. Deanna Paul writes for the Washington Post. Facebook

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Trump tells troops hes thankful for what hes done for the U.S. and rails against courts and migrants By Associated Press President Trump talks with troops via teleconference from his estate in Palm Beach, Fla., on Thanksgiving. (Susan Walsh / Associated Press) President Trump used his Thanksgiving Day call to troops deployed overseas to pat himself on the back and air grievances about the courts, trade and migrants heading to the U.S.-Mexico border. Trumps call, made from his opulent private Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Fla., struck an unusually political tone as he spoke with members of all five branches of the military to wish them happy holidays. Its a disgrace, Trump said of judges who have blocked his attempts to overhaul U.S. immigration law, as he linked his efforts to secure the border with military missions overseas. Trump later threatened to close the U.S. border with Mexico for an undisclosed period of time if his administration determines Mexico has lost control on its side. The call was a uniquely Trump blend of boasting, peppered questions and off-the-cuff observations as his comments veered from venting about slights to praising troops  You really are our heroes, he said  as club waiters worked to set Thanksgiving dinner tables on the outdoor terrace behind him. It was yet another show of how Trump has dramatically transformed the presidency, erasing the traditional divisions between domestic policy and military matters and efforts to keep the troops clear of politics. You probably see over the news whats happening on our southern border, Trump told one Air Force brigadier general stationed at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan, adding: I dont have to even ask you. I know what you want to do, you want to make sure that you know who were letting in. Later, Trump asked a U.S. Coast Guard commander about trade, which he noted was a very big subject for him personally. Weve been taken advantage of for many, many years by bad trade deals, Trump told the commander, who sheepishly replied, Mr. President, from our perspective on the water  we dont see any issues in terms of trade right now. And throughout, Trump congratulated himself, telling the officers that the country is doing exceptionally well on his watch. I hope that youll take solace in knowing that all of the American families you hold so close to your heart are all doing well, he said. The nations doing well economically, better than anybody in the world. He later told reporters, Nobodys done more for the military than me. Indeed, asked what he was thankful for this Thanksgiving, Trump cited his great family as well as himself. I made a tremendous difference in this country, he said. Facebook

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Trump contradicts CIA assessment that Saudi crown prince ordered Jamal Khashoggi killing By Josh Dawsey | Washington Post (Susan Walsh / Associated Press) President Trump on Thursday contradicted the CIAs assessment that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had ordered the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, insisting that the agency had feelings but did not firmly place blame for the death. Trump, in defiant remarks to reporters from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, defended his continued support for Mohammed in the face of a CIA assessment that the crown prince had ordered the killing. He denies it vehemently, Trump said. He said his own conclusion was that maybe he did, maybe he didnt. I hate the crime .... I hate the cover-up. I will tell you this: The crown prince hates it more than I do, Trump said. Asked who should be held accountable for the death of Khashoggi, who was killed at the Saudi Consulate in Turkey, Trump refused to place blame. Maybe the world should be held accountable because the world is a very, very vicious place, the president said. He also seemed to suggest that all U.S. allies were guilty of the same behavior, declaring that if the others were held to the standard that critics have held Saudi Arabia to in recent days, we wouldnt be able to have anyone for an ally. Trumps remarks came after he held a conference call with U.S. military officers overseas, during which he repeatedly praised his administration and sought to draw the officers into discussions of domestic policy. Facebook

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Former FBI Director James Comey gets subpoena from House Republicans By Bloomberg Former FBI Director James B. Comey said he has received a subpoena from House Republicans, according to a Twitter post on Thursday. Bloomberg News reported last week that Comey would be receiving a subpoena alongside former Atty. Gen. Loretta Lynch as part of continuing probes into their handling of investigations into Hillary Clinton and Russian election meddling, according to a top House Democrat. Happy Thanksgiving. Got a subpoena from House Republicans. Im still happy to sit in the light and answer all questions. But I will resist a closed door thing because Ive seen enough of their selective leaking and distortion. Lets have a hearing and invite everyone to see.  James Comey (@Comey) November 22, 2018 Read More Facebook

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Republican David Valadaos lead slips to 447 votes over Democrat TJ Cox in still-undecided Central Valley House race By Mark Z. Barabak Rep. David Valadao (R-Hanford), right, finds himself in an increasingly harrowing cliffhanger against Democrat TJ Cox. (Bill Clark / CQ Roll Call) On election night, it looked like Rep. David Valadao had survived a close shave and was destined to return to Washington for his fourth term. But on Wednesday, when Fresno County announced its latest vote totals, the Hanford Republican found himself in an increasingly harrowing cliffhanger against Democrat TJ Cox, with his lead in the Central Valley district shrunken to 447 votes. Thousands remain to be counted. Valadao, a repeated Democratic target, finished election night with a lead of nearly 4,440 votes. Cox, an engineer and a business owner who unsuccessfully ran for Congress in 2006, has steadily gained ground in the 21st Congressional District ever since. The trend is consistent with historic patterns showing Republicans in California tend to vote early and Democrats later, meaning their mail ballots continue to stream in past election day. Under California law, ballots postmarked up to midnight on Nov. 6 will be counted. Democrats have already picked up six House seats in California. They ousted Reps. Dana Rohrabacher, Mimi Walters, Steve Knight and Jeff Denham and won the seats of retiring Reps. Ed Royce and Darrell Issa. All six represented districts that backed Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump in 2016. Valadao was the seventh California Republican in a district Clinton won, though his previous successes  he last won reelection by a 14-point margin  suggested his ouster was a longer shot for Democrats. If Cox prevails, it would give Democrats a 40-seat gain nationwide, far more than the 23 seats needed to take control when Congress reconvenes in January. Facebook

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Trump says no new punishments against Saudi Arabia in Jamal Khashoggi murder By Eli Stokols In this Oct. 25 photo, candles are lit in front of a photo of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. (Lefteris Pitarakis) President Trump made it clear on Tuesday that he does not intend to punish Saudi Arabia or Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for the murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, an American resident killed by Saudi officials in Turkey in October. In a remarkable statement replete with exclamation points, Trump cast doubt on the CIAs reported conclusions that it has a high degree of confidence that the crown prince ordered Khashoggis murder and sent his closest allies to Saudi Arabias consulate in Istanbul to carry it out. Read MoreThis article has been updated with staff. Facebook

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Sixteen House Democrats vow to oppose Nancy Pelosi as next speaker By Mike DeBonis | Washington Post House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press) Sixteen House Democrats said Monday that they will vote to deny Rep. Nancy Pelosi another stint as House speaker, a show of defiance that puts her opponents on the cusp of forcing a seismic leadership shake-up as their party prepares to take the majority. Their pledge to oppose Pelosi (D-San Francisco), both in an internal caucus election and a Jan. 3 floor vote, delivered in a letter sent to Democratic colleagues, comes as Pelosi has marshaled a legion of supporters on and off Capitol Hill to make her case. But her opponents said Monday they are convinced it is time to select a new leader. We are thankful to Leader Pelosi for her years of service to our Country and to our Caucus, they wrote. However, we also recognize that in this recent election, Democrats ran on and won on a message of change. Pelosi has expressed complete confidence that she will retake the speakers gavel in January  eight years after she lost it following massive Republican gains in the 2010 midterms and 16 years after she was first elevated to the top Democratic leadership post in the House. Come on in, the waters fine, she said Friday about a potential leadership challenge. The signers might not be able to force Pelosi out themselves. The size of the Democratic majority remains in flux, but Democrats have already won 232 seats, according to the Associated Press, with five races still undecided. All those races have Republican incumbents, but the Democratic challenger is ahead in only one of them. If the leads hold in the uncalled races, Democrats would have won 233 seats, a 16-seat majority. That means Pelosi could lose as many as 15 Democratic votes when she stands for election as speaker on Jan. 3. Read More Facebook

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Democratic senators sue over Whitakers appointment as acting attorney general By Associated Press Acting U.S. Atty. Gen. Matthew Whitaker (Nicholas Kamm / AFP/Getty Images) Three Senate Democrats filed a lawsuit Monday arguing that Acting Atty. Gen. Matthew Whitakers appointment is unconstitutional and asking a federal judge to remove him. The suit, filed by Sens. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Mazie Hirono of Hawaii and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, argues that Whitakers appointment violates the Constitution because he has not been confirmed by the Senate. Whitaker was chief of staff to Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions and was elevated to the top job after Sessions was ousted by President Trump on Nov. 7. The Constitutions Appointments Clause requires that the Senate confirm all principal officials before they can serve in their office. The Justice Department released a legal opinion last week that said Whitakers appointment would not violate the clause because he is serving in an acting capacity. The opinion concluded that Whitaker, even without Senate confirmation, may serve in an acting capacity because he has been at the department for more than a year at a sufficiently senior pay level. President Trump is denying senators our constitutional obligation and opportunity to do our job: scrutinizing the nomination of our nations top law enforcement official, Blumenthal said in a statement. The reason is simple: Whitaker would never pass the advice and consent test. In selecting a so-called constitutional nobody and thwarting every senators constitutional duty, Trump leaves us no choice but to seek recourse through the courts. The lawsuit comes days after a Washington lawyer challenged Whitakers appointment in a pending Supreme Court case dealing with gun rights. The attorney, Thomas Goldstein, asked the high court to find that Whitakers appointment is unconstitutional and replace him with Deputy Atty. Gen. Rod Rosenstein. Rosenstein, the second-ranking Justice Department official, has been confirmed by the Senate and had been overseeing special counsel Robert Muellers Russia investigation. Whitaker is now overseeing the investigation. The Justice Department issued a statement Monday defending Whitakers appointment as lawful and said it comports with the Appointments Clause, the Federal Vacancies Reform Act and legal precedent. There are over 160 instances in American history in which non-Senate confirmed persons performed, on a temporary basis, the duties of a Senate-confirmed position, Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said. To suggest otherwise is to ignore centuries of practice and precedent. Facebook

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Gov. Rick Scott says Sen. Bill Nelson concedes Florida Senate race By Associated Press Republican Senate candidate Rick Scott speaks with his wife, Ann, by his side at an election watch party in Naples, Fla., on Nov. 7. (Wilfredo Lee / Associated Press) Floridas Republican Gov. Rick Scott says incumbent Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson called him to concede defeat in their extremely tight race. Scott issued a statement Sunday saying Nelson graciously conceded their Senate race shortly after the states recount ended. The final results show Scott defeated Nelson by just over 10,000 votes out of 8 million cast. Nelson is scheduled to release a videotaped statement later Sunday. The defeat ends Nelsons lengthy political career. The three-term incumbent was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 2000. Before that he served six terms in the U.S. House and as state treasurer and insurance commissioner for six years. Scott spent more than $60 million of his own money on ads that portrayed Nelson as out-of-touch and ineffective. Nelson responded by questioning Scotts ethics and saying he would be under the sway of President Trump. Facebook

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Orange County goes blue, as Democrats complete historic sweep of its seven congressional seats By Michael Finnegan Gil Cisneros defeated Republican Young Kim on Saturday in the last of Orange Countys undecided House races, giving Democrats a clean sweep of the states six most fiercely fought congressional contests and marking an epochal shift in a region long synonymous with political conservatism. With Cisneros victory, Democrats will constitute the entirety of Orange Countys seven-member congressional delegation, the first time since the 1930s that the birthplace of Richard Nixon, home of John Wayne and spiritual center of the Republican Party will have no GOP representative in the House. Sitting back in the 1960s, I would never have believed this would happen, said Stuart K. Spencer, a party strategist who spent more than half a century ushering Republicans, including President Reagan, into office. Read More Facebook

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Going, going ... with midterm wipeout, California Republican Party drifts closer to irrelevance By Michael Finnegan For a party in freefall the last two decades, California Republicans learned that its possible to plunge even further. The GOP not only lost every statewide office in the midterm election  again, in blowout fashion  but Democrats reestablished their supermajority in Sacramento, allowing them to legislate however they see fit After major defeats in Orange County and the Central Valley, two longtime strongholds, Republicans will have a significantly smaller footprint on Capitol Hill. (Democrats hold both Senate seats.) When the vote-counting is finished, the GOP may not even have enough lawmakers in Californias 53-member House delegation to field a nine-person softball team. Read More Facebook

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Congresswoman-elect Katie Porter says she will support Rep. Nancy Pelosi for speaker By Maya Sweedler Democratic Rep.-elect Katie Porter is congratulated by volunteers at her campaign headquarters in Irvine. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) Congresswoman-elect Katie Porter said she plans to support Rep. Nancy Pelosis bid for speaker of the House and will make campaign finance reform her top priority when she enters the chamber in January. Im going to continue to have conversations, but so far I feel like Leader Pelosi is definitely making the things that were a priority to the families that elected me her priorities, including announcing her support for campaign finance reform and anti-corruption as HR1, Porter said in her first public appearance since being declared the winner in Californias 45th Congressional District on Thursday evening. It means a lot to me that she is a Californian. She understands our state, Porter added. When we talk about environmental protections, this is a person who understands as a Californian how fragile our environment is and whats at risk in things like drilling off our coasts. Porter, a law professor at UC Irvine, defeated two-term Republican Rep. Mimi Walters. The 45th District, covering inland Orange County, has never been represented by a Democrat. Porter became the third Democrat to claim a Republican-held seat in Orange County, following the victories of Harley Rouda in the 48th District and Mike Levin in the 49th. A fourth, Gil Cisneros, is running slightly ahead of his Republican opponent in the race for the open seat in the 39th District, which extends into Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties. Porter attributed the massive political shift in the county, for decades a conservative stronghold, to increased levels of political engagement. Folks here care about education, they care about the environment, they believe climate change is real, they want healthcare that protects preexisting conditions, they want a tax system that doesnt punish California, they want our schools and places of worship to be safe from gun violence, she said. Those are the issues we campaigned on, and to the extent that Donald Trump and Mimi Walters were on the wrong side of those issues, the voters have made clear what direction they want us to go. Porter was flying back from the East Coast when her race was called, she said. She turned on her phone to find 167 text messages from friends and supporters. Among them was Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who was one of Porters teachers in law school and with whom she has remained close. The pair spoke via FaceTime this morning, she said. Facebook

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Bitter battle for Senate seat in Florida goes to hand recount By Associated Press Employees look through damaged ballots during a recount Thursday in West Palm Beach, Fla. (Wilfredo Lee / Associated Press) Floridas acrimonious battle for the U.S. Senate headed Thursday to a legally required hand recount after an initial review by ballot-counting machines showed Republican Gov. Rick Scott and Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson separated by less than 13,000 votes. But the highly watched contest for governor between Republican Ron DeSantis and Democrat Andrew Gillum appeared to be over, with a machine recount showing DeSantis with a large enough advantage over Gillum to avoid a hand recount in that race. Gillum, who conceded the contest on election night only to retract his concession later, said in a statement that it is not over until every legally casted vote is counted. The recount so far has been fraught with problems. One large Democratic stronghold in South Florida was unable to finish its machine recount by the Thursday deadline due to machines breaking down. A federal judge rejected a request to extend the recount deadline. We gave a heroic effort, said Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Susan Bucher. If the county had three or four more hours, it would have made the deadline to recount ballots in the Senate race, she said. Meanwhile, election officials in another urban county in the Tampa Bay area decided against turning in the results of their machine recount, which came up with 846 fewer votes than originally counted. Media in South Florida reported that Broward County finished its machine recount but missed the deadline by a few minutes. Counties were ordered last weekend to do a machine recount of three statewide races because the margins were so tight. The next stage is a manual review of ballots that were not counted by machines to see whether there is a way to figure out voter intent. Scott called on Nelson to end the recount battle. Its time for Nelson to respect the will of the voters and graciously bring this process to an end rather than proceed with yet another count of the votes  which will yield the same result and bring more embarrassment to the state that we both love and have served, the governor said in a statement. The recount has triggered multiple lawsuits, many of them filed by Nelson and Democrats. The legal battles drew the ire of U.S. District Judge Mark E. Walker, who slammed the state for repeatedly failing to anticipate election problems. He also said the state law on recounts appears to violate the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that decided the presidency in 2000. We have been the laughingstock of the world, election after election, and we chose not to fix this, Walker said during a morning hearing. Walker vented his anger at state lawmakers and Palm Beach County officials, saying they should have made sure they had enough equipment in place to handle this kind of a recount. But he said he could not extend the recount deadline because he did not know when Palm Beach County would finish its work. This court must be able to craft a remedy with knowledge that it will not prove futile, Walker wrote in his ruling turning down the request from Democrats. It cannot do so on this record. This court does not and will not fashion a remedy in the dark. The overarching problem was created by the Florida Legislature, which Walker said passed a recount law that appears to run afoul of the 2000 Bush vs. Gore decision by locking in procedures that do not allow for potential problems. A total of six election-related lawsuits are pending in federal court in Tallahassee as well at least one lawsuit filed in state court. Walker also ordered that voters be given until 5 p.m. Saturday to show a valid identification and fix their ballots if they have not been counted due to mismatched signatures. Republicans appealed the ruling, but an appeals court turned down the request. State officials testified that nearly 4,000 mailed-in ballots were set aside because local officials decided the signatures on the envelopes did not match the signatures on file. If those voters can prove their identity, their votes will be counted and included in final official returns due from each county by noon Sunday. Walker was asked by Democrats to require local officials to provide a list of people whose ballots were rejected. But the judge appointed by President Obama refused the request, calling it inappropriate. Under state law, a hand review is required with races that have a margin of 0.25 percentage points or less. A state website put the unofficial results showing Scott ahead of Nelson by 0.15 percentage points. The margin between DeSantis and Gillum was at 0.41 points. The margin between Scott and Nelson had not changed much in the last few days, conceded Marc Elias, an attorney working for Nelsons campaign. But he said that he expected the vote tally to shrink due to the hand recount and the ruling on signatures. The developments fueled frustrations among Democrats and Republicans alike. Democrats want state officials to do whatever it takes to make sure every eligible vote is counted. Republicans, including President Trump, have argued without evidence that voter fraud threatens to steal races from the GOP. Facebook

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Democrat Gil Cisneros pulls ahead of Republican Young Kim as more votes are tallied in Orange and San Bernardino counties By Michael Finnegan Congressional candidate Gil Cisneros (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) Democrat Gil Cisneros pulled ahead of Republican Young Kim in one of Californias undecided congressional races Thursday, an ominous sign for a GOP already reeling from its loss of four House seats in the state. In updated vote counts released by the registrars for Orange and San Bernardino counties, Kim fell 941 votes behind Cisneros in the contest to succeed Republican Rep. Ed Royce in Californias 39th Congressional District. The 39th straddles Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Orange counties. In another unresolved House race, Democrat Katie Porter pulled further ahead of Republican incumbent Mimi Walters in the 45th District, which includes Mission Viejo, Tustin, Irvine, Rancho Santa Margarita and Laguna Hills. Porter, a consumer attorney and UC Irvine law professor, is now 6,203 votes ahead. The Nov. 6 midterm election has been devastating to Republicans in California. If Cisneros and Porter win, the party will have lost six of its 14 House seats in the state, essentially a wipeout in every contest that both parties spent heavily to win. The three Republicans already bounced from Congress are Reps. Dana Rohrabacher of Costa Mesa, Steve Knight of Palmdale and Jeff Denham of Turlock in the San Joaquin Valley. Democrat Mike Levin won the seat of retiring GOP Rep. Darrell Issa of Vista in the fourth district flipped so far. Facebook

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Florida Senate race likely headed to second recount By Associated Press A Palm Beach County Sheriffs deputy walks past boxes of ballots before a recount on Nov. 15 in West Palm Beach, Fla. (Wilfredo Lee) Unofficial Florida election results show that the governors race seems to be settled after a machine recount but the U.S. Senate race is likely headed to a hand recount. Republican Ron DeSantis is virtually assured of winning the nationally watched governors race over Democrat Andrew Gillum. Florida finished a machine recount Thursday that showed Gillum without enough votes to force a manual recount. Unofficial results posted on a state website show the margin between U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson and Gov. Rick Scott is still thin enough to trigger a second review. State law requires a hand recount of races with a margin of 0.25 percentage point or less. Counties have until Sunday to inspect the ballots that did not record a vote when put through the machines. Those ballots are re-examined to see whether the voter skipped the race or marked the ballot in a way that the machines cannot read but can be deciphered. The election will be certified Tuesday. Read More Facebook

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Pelosi says she has the votes to become the next House speaker By John Wagner Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi speaks during a news conference in Washington on Nov. 14. (Susan Walsh) House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi insisted Thursday that she has the votes to become the chambers speaker despite solid opposition from more than a dozen Democrats who want fresh leadership when the party takes control next year. I have overwhelming support in my caucus to be speaker of the House, the San Francisco lawmaker told reporters. I happen to think at this point, Im the best person for that. A vote within the Democratic caucus is scheduled for Nov. 28. The full House votes on Jan. 3 to elect a new speaker. During her remarks, Pelosi touted the size of the Democratic victory in the midterms, which she called almost a tsunami. With a few races still to be decided, Democrats are poised to pick up close to 40 seats in the chamber. Pelosi called that the biggest victory for the Democrats since 1974, when the Watergate babies came in. Pelosis comments come as she faces solid opposition from at least 17 Democrats, setting the stage for a battle over who will ascend to one of the most powerful positions in Washington. After a campaign in which some Democrats prevailed in competitive districts by promising to oppose her, a coalition of incumbents and newly elected members has denied her a smooth path to the speakership. The defections, if they stand, would leave Pelosi, who has led the Democrats for more than 15 years, several votes short of the 218 she would need when the full House votes for speaker Jan. 3. However, no Democrat has stepped forward to run against her for a job she held from 2007 through 2010. Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio) told reporters Wednesday that shes being encouraged to stand for speaker if Pelosi doesnt have the votes. In an interview with the Washington Post on Thursday, she said she has been overwhelmed by the support from many of her colleagues for her possible entry into the race for House speaker. Over the last 12 hours, Ive been overwhelmed by the amount of support Ive received, Fudge said, adding that there are probably closer to 30" Democrats who have privately signaled that they are willing to oppose Pelosi. Things could change rapidly, Fudge said. Fudge, 66, a former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, said she is building a diverse coalition as she mulls a speaker run, talking with allies in the caucus, moderate Democrats and newly elected members. To this point, Pelosi has enjoyed the strong backing of the Congressional Black Caucus. On Thursday, Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.), one of its members, wrote a letter to colleagues praising her insight, fortitude and strategic thinking and urging support for her speakership bid. Former Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr., an African American who is contemplating a 2020 presidential bid, also voiced support for Pelosi, praising her in a tweet as an architect of the recent midterm success. Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), a leader of the resistance to Pelosi, said during an interview on CNN on Thursday that Fudge is the kind of new leader that we need in this party. Shes in touch with middle America. She understands what the American people want. Shes a next-generation leader that people will look to and say, Thats the future of our party, thats the future of our country, and thats exactly the kind of leader that I want to see as our next speaker. Wagner reports for the Washington Post. The Posts Robert Costa, Erica Werner, Mike DeBonis, Paul Kane and Elise Viebeck contributed to this report. Facebook

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GOP Rep. Jeff Denham concedes to Democrat Josh Harder in Central Valley race By Maya Sweedler Rep. Jeff Denham (Bill Clark / CQ Roll Call) Republican Rep. Jeff Denham has conceded to Democrat Josh Harder in the race to represent Californias 10th Congressional District in the San Joaquin Valley. It has been an absolute honor to serve our community and represent the Central Valley in Congress over the past eight years, the 51-year-old congressman said. The enormity of the responsibility was never lost on me. My wife Sonia and I look forward to starting the next chapter of our lives. Harder said he had spoken with Denham and the two were committed to a productive transition. Denham, an Air Force veteran, previously represented the region in the state Senate for eight years and founded a company specializing in plastic packaging used in agriculture. While a member of Congress, he sat on the Transportation and Infrastructure, Veterans Affairs and Agriculture committees. First-time candidate Harder was born and raised in the district. After graduating from Stanford University, he served as vice president of a Silicon Valley venture capital firm. Since moving back, he has been teaching at Modesto Junior College. Denhams House seat is one of four in California that Republicans lost in the Nov. 6 election, with two contests in Orange County still undecided as of Thursday morning. Jeff Denham called me this morning and we had a very productive conversation. I'm honored that I've been chosen to serve our community in Congress, and we're both looking forward to a productive transition that best serves the people of District 10.  Josh Harder (@JoshHarder) November 14, 2018 Facebook

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Democrat Katie Porter now nearly 3,800 votes ahead of GOP Rep. Mimi Walters By Maya Sweedler Rep. Mimi Walters thanks all of her supporters as she watches election results in Irvine on Nov. 7, 2018. (Alex Gallardo / Associated Press) Democrat Katie Porter opened a 3,797-vote lead Wednesday over Republican Rep. Mimi Walters in Orange Countys 45th Congressional District. In the neighboring 39th, Democrat Gil Cisneros has nearly tied the race against Republican Young Kim. Cisneros now trails Kim by a razor-thin margin of 122 votes. The 39th District straddles Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernardino counties; Wednesdays updated ballot counts came from the latter two. There are more than 202,000 ballots left to count in Orange County, which includes parts of seven congressional districts. The 45th is entirely in inland Orange County. In California, the ballots counted first tend to lean Republican and those tallied later skew Democratic. In the Central Valleys 21st Congressional District, Democratic challenger TJ Cox has pulled within 2 percentage points of Rep. David Valadao, who is serving his third term. The Associated Press had projected a win for Valadao on election night, but his 4,839-vote advantage has shrunk to 2,090. Back in CA-21, Valadao (R) wins a batch of ballots from his stronghold in Kings Co., but by a considerably smaller margin (14 points) than his previous ~30-point margin in the county. We're moving to Lean R from Likely R; today a bit scary for Valadao.https://t.co/WqJVUVkqGW  Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) November 15, 2018 A spokesman for Valadao told the Fresno Bee that the changes were expected and that [s]tatistically, David Valadao has won this race. Democrats in California have already flipped four House seats, defeating three Republican incumbents and claiming an open seat previously held by the GOP. Reps. Steve Knight of Palmdale, Dana Rohrabacher of Costa Mesa and Jeff Denham of Turlock have already lost their races, and retiring Rep. Darrell Issas San Diego County seat was claimed by Democrat Mike Levin. Facebook

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Trump aide departs West Wing after rebuke from Melania Trump By Associated Press First Lady Melania Trump. (Alain Jocard / AFP-Getty Images) Deputy national security advisor Mira Ricardel is leaving the White House, one day after First Lady Melania Trumps office issued an extraordinary statement calling for her dismissal. No replacement was named. Aides said Ricardel clashed with the first ladys staff over her visit to Africa last month. Yet it is highly unusual for a first lady or her office to weigh in on personnel matters, especially the presidents national security staff. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Ricardel would have a new role in the administration. On Tuesday, Stephanie Grisham, the first ladys spokeswoman, released a statement saying, It is the position of the Office of the First Lady that she no longer deserves the honor of serving in this White House. President Trumps White House has set records for administration turnover. Ricardel was the third person to hold the post under Trump. An ally of national security advisor John Bolton, Ricardel began her service in the Trump administration as associate director in the White House Office of Presidential Personnel, then moved to the Commerce Department last year. Bolton brought her into the West Wing shortly after taking the job in April. He is traveling in Asia this week alongside Vice President Mike Pence. Facebook

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Race for House Minority Leader is Kevin McCarthys to lose By Associated Press (Bill Clark / CQ Roll Call) House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy is running to take over next years shrunken caucus in closed-door elections that will set the tone for the new Congress. The race for minority leader is McCarthys to lose Wednesday. But the California Republican, who is an ally of President Trump, must fend off a challenge from conservative Jim Jordan of Ohio. Jordan is a leader of the House Freedom Caucus. The two encountered questions and finger-pointing during a private meeting with lawmakers Tuesday night as the GOP sorted through the midterm defeat that put Democrats in the majority next year. Elections Wednesday will also determine party leadership in the Senate. Voting for the biggest race, Nancy Pelosis bid to return as the Democrats nominee for speaker, is later this month. Read More Facebook

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Melania Trump calls for the firing of deputy national security advisor By Justin Sink First Lady Melania Trump arrives at the Chateau de Versailles outside Paris on Nov. 11. (Alain Jocard / AFP/Getty Images ) First Lady Melania Trumps office said she wants Mira Ricardel, the deputy national security advisor, ousted from the White House. It is the position of the Office of the First Lady that she no longer deserves the honor of serving in this White House, Trumps spokeswoman, Stephanie Grisham, said in a statement in response to a question about reports the first lady had sought Ricardels removal. Ricardel is the top deputy to national security advisor John Bolton. She drew the first ladys wrath after threatening to withhold National Security Council resources during Melania Trumps trip to Africa last month unless Ricardel was included in her entourage, one person familiar with the matter said. Grishams statement comes as several media outlets have reported that President Trump is considering a broader shakeup of his administration, including ousting Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen. Sink and Jacobs report for Bloomberg. Read More Facebook

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CNN sues Trump over the suspension of Jim Acostas White House press credentials By Jim Puzzanghera CNN said Tuesday that it is suing President Trump and other administration officials over the decision to suspend the White House press credentials of correspondent Jim Acosta after a conflict at a news conference last week. The suit, to be filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, escalates an ongoing battle between Trump and the cable news outlet that he frequently accuses of disseminating fake news for its aggressive coverage of him and his administration. The wrongful revocation of these credentials violates CNN and Acostas 1st Amendment rights of freedom of the press, and their 5th Amendment rights to due process, CNN said in a written statement. If left unchallenged, the actions of the White House would create a dangerous chilling effect for any journalist who covers our elected officials. Read More Facebook

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Maxine Waters to take aim at Wells Fargo and Deutsche Bank as new head of House Financial Services Committee By Jim Puzzanghera Rep. Maxine Waters plans to zero in on two big banks  Wells Fargo & Co. and Deutsche Bank  when she becomes head of the powerful House Financial Services Committee. The Los Angeles congresswoman, now the committees top Democrat, is widely expected to gain the gavel after her party won control of the House in last weeks elections. While Waters has outlined a wide-ranging agenda, she said her focus on bank oversight will target two large institutions she has been tangling with for a while  including one, Deutsche Bank, that spills into her bitter feud with President Trump. With Trump in the White House, I know that our fight for Americas consumers and investors will continue to be challenging. But I am more than up to that fight, Waters wrote in a letter last week to her Democratic colleagues on the committee that was obtained by The Times. Read More Facebook

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Heres how a controversial voting system will decide a congressional race in Maine By Kurtis Lee For the first time in U.S. history, a controversial voting system known as ranked choice is being used to decide a federal election. Its happening in Maine, which adopted the system in 2016. Rather than marking a single candidate, each voter ranks them all, assigning a first-place vote, a second-place vote and so on down the ballot. Read More Facebook

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ACLU files suit to stop Trumps new asylum limits By Associated Press A group of Central American migrants march to the office of the U.N.'s humans rights body in Mexico City on Nov. 8. (Rebecca Blackwell / Associated Press) The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a legal challenge to President Trumps order denying asylum to migrants if they cross the U.S.-Mexico border illegally. The lawsuit was filed Friday in federal court in San Francisco and argues the new rules are against the law. Attorney Lee Gelernt said the regulations will put families in danger. The suit seeks to declare the regulations invalid and wants a judge to stop the rules from going into effect while the litigation is pending. The new rules were spurred in part by caravans of Central American migrants slowly moving north on foot, but officials say they will apply to anyone caught crossing illegally. Officials say about 70,000 people who enter the country illegally claim asylum. The order invoked the same national security powers Trump used to push through his travel ban. Read More Facebook

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Trump on new acting AG: I dont know Matt Whitaker By Associated Press President Trump talks with reporters before departing for France on the South Lawn of the White House on Nov. 9. (Evan Vucci / Associated Press) President Trump is moving to distance himself from Matthew Whitaker as he faces criticism over his choice for acting attorney general. Trump told reporters Friday that I dont know Matt Whitaker and said he didnt speak with Whitaker about special counsel Robert Muellers Russia investigation. Whitaker has made public comments critical of Muellers investigation, and critics have called on Whitaker to recuse himself from oversight of the inquiry. Under former Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions, the investigation was overseen by Deputy Atty. Gen. Rod Rosenstein. Of the scrutiny Whitaker is facing, Trump said: Its a shame that no matter who I put in they go after. He also called Whitaker a very highly respected man. Whitaker was Sessions chief of staff before Trump made him Sessions interim replacement. Facebook

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Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg out of hospital after fall By Associated Press The Supreme Court says 85-year-old Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is home after being released from the hospital. She had been admitted for treatment and observation after fracturing three ribs in a fall. The court said Ginsburg was released Friday. Supreme Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg says she is doing well and working from home. The court had previously said the justice fell in her office at the court on Wednesday evening and went to George Washington University Hospital in Washington early Thursday after experiencing discomfort overnight. Ginsburg broke two ribs in a fall in 2012. She had two prior bouts with cancer and had a stent implanted to open a blocked artery in 2014. Facebook

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Gun-control activist Lucy McBath defeats GOP Rep. Karen Handel in Georgia By Associated Press Lucy McBath speaks during a rally for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams on Nov. 2 at Morehouse College in Atlanta. (Alyssa Pointer / Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP) Democratic gun-control activist Lucy McBath has defeated Republican Rep. Karen Handel of Georgia in a suburban congressional district long considered safe for the GOP. Handel had to seek reelection after winning her seat last year in a close special election race against Democrat Jon Ossoff. McBath became an advocate for stricter gun laws after her son, Jordan Davis, was fatally shot at a Florida gas station in 2012 by a man angry over loud music the teenager and his friends were playing in a car. McBaths margin of victory was narrow enough for Handel to have requested a recount. The Associated Press declared McBath the winner Thursday after Handel conceded. Handel conceded in a statement Thursday morning, stating that after reviewing all of the election data, its clear she came up a bit short in Tuesdays vote. Handel congratulated McBath, offering good thoughts and much prayer for the journey that lies ahead for her. McBath, who is African American, declared victory Wednesday. Facebook

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Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg hospitalized after fracturing 3 ribs in fall By Associated Press Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (Jacquelyn Martin / Associated Press) The Supreme Court says 85-year-old Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg fractured three ribs in a fall in her office at the court and is in the hospital. The court says the justice went to George Washington University Hospital in Washington early Thursday after experiencing discomfort overnight. The court says the fall occurred Wednesday evening. Ginsburg was admitted to the hospital for treatment and observation after tests showed she fractured three ribs. Ginsburg broke two ribs in a fall in 2012. She has had two prior bouts with cancer and had a stent implanted to open a blocked artery in 2014. Facebook

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White House suspends press pass of CNNs Jim Acosta after heated exchange with Trump By Associated Press The White House on Wednesday suspended the press pass of CNN correspondent Jim Acosta after he and President Trump had a heated confrontation during a news conference. They began sparring after Acosta asked Trump about the caravan of migrants heading from Latin America to the southern U.S. border. When Acosta tried to follow up with another question, Trump said, Thats enough! and a female White House aide unsuccessfully tried to grab the microphone from Acosta. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders released a statement accusing Acosta of placing his hands on a young woman just trying to do her job as a White House intern, calling it absolutely unacceptable. The interaction between Acosta and the intern was brief, and Acosta appeared to brush her arm as she reached for the microphone and he tried to hold onto it. Pardon me, maam, he told her. Acosta tweeted that Sanders statement that he put his hands on the aide was a lie. CNN said in a statement that the White House revoked Acostas press pass in retaliation for his challenging questions Wednesday, and the network accused Sanders of lying about Acostas actions. This conduct is absolutely unacceptable. It is also completely disrespectful to the reporters colleagues not to allow them an opportunity to ask a question. President Trump has given the press more access than any President in history.  Stephanie Grisham (@PressSec) November 8, 2018 Contrary to CNNs assertions there is no greater demonstration of the Presidents support for a free press than the event he held today. Only they would attack the President for not supporting a free press in the midst of him taking 68 questions from 35 different reporters...  Stephanie Grisham (@PressSec) November 8, 2018 As a result of todays incident, the White House is suspending the hard pass of the reporter involved until further notice.  Stephanie Grisham (@PressSec) November 8, 2018 Sanders provided fraudulent accusations and cited an incident that never happened. This unprecedented decision is a threat to our democracy and the country deserves better, CNN said. Jim Acosta has our full support. Journalists assigned to cover the White House apply for passes that allow them daily access to press areas in the West Wing. White House staffers decide whether journalists are eligible, though the Secret Service determines whether their applications are approved. Facebook

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Trump spars with reporters at post-election news briefing, ordering several to sit down By Associated Press  President Trump assails CNNs Jim Acosta at a White House news conference. President Trump sparred with reporters at his post-election news conference, ordering several to sit down and telling another hes a rude, terrible person. He told another reporter hes not a fan of yours, either. The presidents mood turned sour Wednesday after reporters pressed him on why he referred to a migrant caravan making its way to the U.S. on foot through Mexico as an invasion. Trump ramped up his anti-immigrant rhetoric against the caravan in the final days of the midterm elections. Trump was also pressed on why his campaign aired an ad featuring a Mexican immigrant convicted of killing American police officers and linking the mans actions to the caravan. Several television networks pulled the ad after airing it or declined to air it at all. Facebook

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Im living one hour at a time at this point By Christine Mai-Duc Republican congressional candidate Young Kim and gubernatorial candidate John Cox campaign in Rowland Heights. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) Republican congressional candidate Young Kim greeted gubernatorial candidate John Coxs giant campaign bus, the words HELP IS ON THE WAY emblazoned across it, as it rolled into the parking lot outside her Rowland Heights field office. Standing beside Cox on Saturday, Kim predicted that a string of GOP victories Tuesday would start with voters repealing the gas tax hike. Can you imagine Gavin Newsom being our governor? Can you imagine Gil Cisneros being your representative? Kim asked the crowd, to loud boos and cries of Nooo! The former state assemblywoman who worked for retiring Rep. Ed Royce (R-Fullerton) is vying for his seat with Democrat Gil Cisneros. She led the crowd in chants of Enough is enough! and, though short-lived, Drain the swamp! Ive served you in Sacramento and Ive seen dysfunction personally, Kim continued. We cannot continue that route. She urged her supporters to stay and help make phone calls or walk neighborhoods. Lets get out there  the 72 hours is really critical. Its all going to come down to a few votes, it could be your vote, she said pointing to her left, then pivoting right, it could be your vote. So dont sit back and do nothing. Every night I go to sleep thinking, OK, how many more votes can I get or how many more people can I call tomorrow? Kim said. It can be physically exhausting but Im mentally, emotionally very energized. She listed off her events so far that day  and the next one she was heading to. Thats just what I can remember, she said. Im living one hour at a time at this point. Kims campaign invited press to two of her events on Saturday. After she was whisked away to her next event  a high tea fundraiser in Walnut, a couple dozen volunteers remained. John Freeman, a statewide field manager for the state Republican Party, tried to pump them up. This is the Super Bowl. Were not in an NFL stadium, were not getting paid millions of dollars, but you know what? Freeman said. Were walking on the field right now. This is that high-stakes-level game. Facebook

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Its going to be tough out there Democratic candidate Katie Porter speaks to volunteers in Mission Viejo. Jon Bauman, Bowzer from the band Sha Na Na, is in the background. (Victoria Kim / Los Angeles Times ) Judging from the cheers in the crowd, about half those assembled at Katie Porters campaign headquarters in Mission Viejo Sunday morning were old enough to remember 70s rock n roll star Bowzer from the band Sha Na Na. Jon Bauman, as Bowzer is known off stage, said it was her position on senior issues including retirement and social security that has him out supporting Porter over her opponent, incumbent Rep. Mimi Walters. I want you to make sure every phone is called and every door is knocked, he told the crowd of about 80 volunteers. There has never been a more important election. Both Bauman and his nephew, California Democratic Party Chairman Eric Bauman, were interrupted by yells from Trump supporters coming from an adjoining hillside. We love Trump, the voice cried out. We love him too, he makes great fodder, the younger Bauman retorted, before introducing Porter. Porter, a UC Irvine law professor and first-time candidate, acknowledged the uphill battle some of her canvassers might face in this more conservative end of the long-red Orange County district. I know its going to be tough out there, she said, motioning to the hillside. But she said the attacks meant the other side viewed her campaign as a significant threat. This election is going to be close, she said. If we dont fight all the way to the finish line, until 8 oclock on Tuesday, this could slip away. Bowzer then took to a keyboard piano to lead the crowd in a reworded rendition of the song Good Night Sweetheart: Good night, Mimi Walters, he crooned. A woman in a black tank top, jeans and flip flops holding a cup of coffee later joined the crowd with her two sons, 17 and 14, the younger one wearing a Trump 2016 T-shirt. She declined to give her name, saying she was concerned about being attacked, but said she lived up the hill and said she had been the one yelling. She said she was encouraging her sons to talk to people on both sides and make up their own minds. We need to have a government that runs the way government teachers are telling kids its supposed to be run, said the woman, a retired registered dental assistant who voted early for Mimi Walters. Referring to Democrats, she said: Theyve had control over all these years and Californias gone to crap. Among those canvassing was Stacie Campbell, 37, who was at the launch with her husband Jerome and three children, the youngest of whom was 2 months old. Campbell, a Mission Viejo resident who runs a business, had never canvassed or volunteered for campaigns before, and her husband is a French citizen and unable to vote. She said they had been talking to their children  the older ones are 5 and 2  about the presidency and the government since Trumps election. Together, they worked on homemade Katie Porter lawn signs and put them up around town. This is the first time its felt like a big deal and there isnt a president up for election, she said. Because her city is a mix of conservatives and liberals  her next-door neighbor is an NRA-supporting Republican  she the race felt mLook, its really simple: Mass shootings will continue in this country until we finally ban mass-shooting weapons.

The more bullets a gun can fire rapidly, the more people will die.

Pretty basic stuff. We dont need to twist elementary logic into a contortion.

Anyone who doesnt understand this is probably a firearms addict in denial.

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Lets be clear: Im not anti-gun. I grew up shooting, have owned firearms all my life and enjoyed them. Im pro-common sense.

More from George Skelton 

Theres absolutely no reason to possess a semiautomatic, military-style rifle with large-capacity ammunition magazines except to kill lots of people within a few minutes.

Its not a good hunting weapon. And for personal protection, youre better off with a 12-gauge shotgun or a handgun. Of course, with those weapons at home, you also might shoot a family member or yourself.

Sorry, but all these gun killings and the national politicians inaction afterward are getting old and repetitious. Its like the movie Groundhog Day.

Regarding movies, yes, too many flicks extol gratuitous violence and sow evil seeds in vulnerable kids minds. Video games are worse. But again, no one in real life becomes a mass shooter without a mass-shooting gun.

Immediately after last weeks South Florida school shooting that left 17 dead and 14 wounded, there was the usual strained finger-pointing at the lack of mental health treatment. Baloney!

Sure, anyone who murders is a wacko. But that doesnt mean theyre clinically mentally ill. No more than 5% of all violence is committed by the mentally ill, according to Garen Wintemute, director of the UC Firearm Violence Research Center.

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Certainly there should be better mental health care. The suspect was a troubled 19-year-old ripe for therapy.

Nikolas Cruz had been kicked out of school and his mother had just died. Even before that, he reportedly had tormented neighbors  bit a kids ear, threw eggs at a car, shot chickens with a BB gun. Hed posed with guns on Instagram and declared on YouTube: Im going to be a professional school shooter.

Steve Lopez: Yes, gun control. But heres another measure to keep us safe 

He probably couldnt have shot 31 victims with a six-shooter or pistol holding nine rounds. He would have needed to pause to reload, giving his former schoolmates a few seconds to flee or jump the guy.

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Instead, Cruz went to the high school armed with a weapon of choice for mass killers: a semiautomatic AR-15 rifle  the civilian knockoff of the military M-4  and several magazines. He had bought the weapon legally in Florida, which has weak gun laws.

More of the country should be following California. We banned the sale of such assault weapons many years ago.

In 2016, we took another big step. The Legislature passed a bill and the voters overwhelmingly approved a separate ballot initiative outlawing the possession of magazines holding more than 10 rounds.

But attorneys for the National Rifle Assn. persuaded U.S. District Judge Roger T. Benitez of San Diego to issue a preliminary injunction blocking the large magazine ban. The California Rifle and Pistol Assn. argued that the ban violated 2nd Amendment rights to bear arms and also protections against government seizure of property without due process or compensation.

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Nonsense on the first count. The late conservative U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia wrote in a 2008 opinion affirming the right of individuals to own firearms: The right secured by the Second Amendment is not unlimited.  The right was not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose.

The gun lobbys second count was on target: The state government shouldnt be forcing citizens to surrender their ammo magazines without compensation. If the state wants the magazines, it should buy them.

California and every other state should do a better job of detecting potential killers and seizing their guns. Cruz was waving red flags. The FBI didnt see them.

Coverage of California politics 

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Someone close to Cruz called FBI officials last month to report that he had purchased a firearm, threatened a family member and posted scary messages on social media. But proper protocols were not followed, FBI Director Christopher Wray acknowledged.

A California law allows immediate family members and law enforcement to seek a gun violence restraining order against someone suspected of being dangerous. If granted by a court, the order forces the person to temporarily turn over his firearms. That might have helped in South Florida.

Assemblyman Phil Ting (D-San Francisco) got a bill passed two years ago that also would have permitted school staffs, co-workers and mental health specialists to seek a restraining order. Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed the bill, saying it was premature because the original law had only been in effect a short time.

Now Ting says hell reintroduce the bill. More time has passed and weve seen more and more shootings in schools and workplaces, the lawmaker says.

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What Congress should do  and wont as long as Republicans and the NRA control Washington  is ban the mass-shooting weapons. California Sen. Dianne Feinstein tried to do that with a 1994 bill that expired 10 years later. The politicians refused to renew it.

Now guns are more powerful. High-capacity magazines are now larger. And even bullets are more destructive, Feinstein says. We become culpable when we do nothing to stop it. ... Im tired of children getting shot.

But too many of her colleagues never get tired of pandering for gun lobby support.

To read this article in Spanish, click here

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george.skelton@latimes.com

Follow @LATimesSkelton on TwitterMetro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 19)  More than a year after President Rodrigo Duterte created the consultative body on charter change, its members buckled down to work on Monday.

The committee, whose members were appointed on January, created subcommittees to look into provisions in the proposed federal government.

The subcommittees are as follows:

Structure of the Federal Government - Chair: Retired Associate Justice Antonio Eduardo B. Nachura

Creation and Structure of States/Subnational Governments:

Creation of States, Subnational Governments - Chair: Professor Edmund S. Tayao

Structure of States, Subnational Governments - Chair: Professor Edmund S. Tayao

Special Subcommittee 1 on Bangsamoro - Chair: Atty. Ali Pangalian M. Balindong

Special Subcommittee 2 on Cordillera - Chair: Dr. Virgilio C. Bautista

Economic Reforms and Fiscal Administration - Chair: Arthur N. Aguilar

Social and Political Reforms

Rights, Obligations, Social Justice - Chair: Atty. Rodolfo D. Robles

Levelling the political field - Chair: Dean Julio C. Teehankee

National Territory State Policies and Principles, Foreign Affairs, National Security, Public Order and Safety - Chair: Atty. Antonio B. Arellano

Constitutional Bodies and Public Accountability - Chair: Retired Associate Justice Bienvenido L. Reyes

Transition/Amendments - Chair: Retired Chief Justice Reynato Puno

Each subcommittee scheduled separate meetings to fast-track the consultative process.

They will then consolidate their output for the en banc to review before submitting to the President.

They aim to finish the process before Duterte's third State of the Nation Address on July 23.

Committee chair and former Chief Justice Reynato Puno urged his colleagues to agree on a federal Constitution that will allow regions to stay autonomous, and for them to cooperate instead of competing against each other.

"We should not plagiarise any federal model, for our model should be distinctly Filipino as it cannot be impassive to our past and indifferent to the present," Puno said.

"The three departments of our government must speak with one voice. In times of crises, more than one voice is mere noise," he added.

He also said Duterte wants the draft Bangsamoro Basic Law included in the charter change process.

Committee member and former Senate President Nene Pimentel, meanwhile, said the committee welcomes even those who oppose a federal form of government.

"It is important that other views should be welcomed because nobody has a monopoly of knowledge. Everybody's views should be treated with respect," Pimentel said.

He added, however, the committee needs more representation from the women and indigenous peoples' sectors.

"I am sure that the women sector of our country would need more representation, not just one woman in a 25-member body cause that sounds like so masochistic," he said.

The consultative panel still only has 19 of the supposed 25-member committee. Pimentel said they have requested Duterte to appoint experts from the fields of economics, fiscal reforms, foreign relations, and the military.Spice up your life this spring on a West Coast culinary cruise with Princess Cruises that will feature Bill Esparza, James Beard award winner and food journalist.

The four-day voyage, which will depart Los Angeles on March 22, will also include chefs Sabina Bandera and Carlos Salgado, recently nominated for best chef in the West with the James Beard Foundation Awards.

Esparaza and the chefs will work with the Princess culinary team to produce chef-led cooking demonstrations, tequila tastings and cocktail-making tutorials, custom shore excursions and Q&A sessions.

The Ruby Princess cruise will visit Santa Barbara and Ensenada, Mexico, before returning to Los Angeles. Passengers will have an opportunity to taste special menus throughout the ships restaurants and bars, and learn new cuisine skills from the guest chefs.

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Esparza is a recent winner of a James Beard award for his coverage of the L.A. taco scene in Los Angeles magazine and is considered an expert on Mexican food. Esparza has traveled and tasted cuisine throughout Mexico, Latin America and Southern California.

Salgado is the chef-owner of Taco Maria in Costa Mesa, one of Orange Countys most critically acclaimed restaurants. He was named best new chef by Food & Wine in 2015.

In Ensenada, Mexico, Bandera is known as the Queen of the Cart, La Guerrerense. Her food cart and tostadas de mariscos (seafood tacos) have been praised by food guru Anthony Bourdain, among others.

Cruise prices start at $509 per person, double occupancy, for an inside room; ocean-view rooms start at $604 per person, double occupancy. Balcony rooms and suites are sold out.

Info: Princess Cruises, (800) 774-6237, or contact a travel agent.

To read this article in Spanish, click here

travel@latimes.com

@latimestravelQuestion: I will be traveling to Vietnam. Am I legally permitted to bring Vietnamese currency into Vietnam from the United States?

Joe Joffino

Torrance

Answer: You may take Vietnamese currency into Vietnam from the U.S. and vice versa.

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Just for background: The dong is the national currency issued by the State Bank of Vietnam, the central bank. It is one of those currencies that makes doing math in your head a challenge. Last week 100,000 dong equaled about $4.40.

One of the easiest ways to bone up on the nuts and bolts of a foreign destination, including money and other matters, is through the State Department website (www.travel.state.gov). Its country listings include critical information that could make the difference between a great trip and one that doesnt make it off the ground.

On the Vietnam page, for instance, it notes there are no currency restrictions on carrying money into or out of the country. (See lat.ms/statevietnampage.) But, it goes on to note, if you are carrying more than 150 million dong (or foreign currency in excess of 5,000 U.S. dollars or equivalent) it must be declared whether youre entering or leaving.

The rules are slightly different for taking money in or out of the U.S., Evan Tarver said. Tarver is a currency and investment analyst for FitSmallBusiness.com, whose website notes that it focuses on the needs of small business owners, here and abroad. Tarver is also a frequent traveler.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection doesnt restrict the amount, but you do need to complete paperwork if its more than $10,000. Check out these pages (lat.ms/cbpmoneyrules) to learn what forms you need and to reinforce that a family cant split the $10K among themselves to avoid filing paperwork. (The money could be confiscated.)

If youre visiting a developing nation, you may need a bit of cash, but otherwise, Tarver said, most transactions can be taken care of by credit card.

You can get foreign money at many U.S. banks, but author David Swanson, who wrote the Vietnam story on L4-5, said he took no Vietnamese currency on his Da Nang-Hue-Hoi An trip.

Instead, he stopped at an ATM at the airport, where he withdrew between $50 and $100 to be used for cab fare and for small purchases in marketplaces or from street vendors.

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Not everyone says no to carrying dough. Karin Esterhammer, formerly of the Los Angeles Times Travel staff and author of the book So Happiness to Meet You, about her familys move to Vietnam, thinks that if you stick only with the places that take cards, youll miss the real essence of the country.

You will need to pay with cash if you venture out beyond the center of the city, which, of course, you will want to do anyway, she said in an email.

Small restaurants tucked into alleys and quaint old hotels will give travelers the real flavor of Vietnam. And carrying wads of 100,000-dong bills will make you feel rich! said Esterhammer, who has since returned to the L.A. area after 2 years in Vietnam.

A word of warning: Check with your bank to see whether your Personal identification Number, or PIN, and debit card will work in Vietnam or any country youre visiting. Some countries like four-digit PINs and some like six. PINs are usually easy enough to change, but you would need to do this before leaving.

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And, as always, be careful about using ATMs. Those at banks are generally thought to be more secure.

Finally, four tips:

--If you get in a jam, U.S. dollars often are accepted, Swanson said. Most everything else can be bought with a credit card, Swanson and Tarver said.

--Call your credit card company to find out whether your card will be accepted at your destination and ask whether you need to notify the company about your upcoming trip. (Increasingly this notification can be done online. Sometimes the card company doesnt care that youre traveling, but it never hurts to ask.)

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--Understand that some credit cards incur foreign transaction fees. Jason Steele of the Points Guy website has a current roundup of cards that do not charge the fee (lat.ms/nofeecards).

--Hide some cash, whether U.S., Vietnamese or both, and an extra credit card. If you lose it, or worse, youll have a backup.

A what if plan is just like having money in the bank.

Have a travel dilemma or question? Write to travel@latimes.com. We regret we cannot answer every inquiry.

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travel@latimes.com

@latimestravelIslamic State militants have ambushed a group of Iraqs Shiite-led paramilitary fighters, killing at least 27.

The Popular Mobilization Forces, an umbrella group of mostly Shiite militias, said on Monday that the attack took place the previous night in the Saadounya area, southwest of the northern city of Kirkuk, when the paramilitaries were conducting overnight raids.

The PMF said the attackers were disguised in army uniforms. It said clashes lasted for at least two hours and that some of the militants were killed while others fled the area.

Brig. Gen. Yahya Rasool, a spokesman for Iraqi military, blamed Islamic State sleeper cells and said Iraqi forces were searching the area to find the perpetrators.

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Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement on its Aamaq news agency.Less than one week after Israeli police recommended that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu be indicted on several corruption charges, a new legal minefield has opened up beneath his feet.

Seven Israelis were arrested on Sunday in what the police call Case 4000, a new investigation in which members of Netanyahus innermost circle are suspected of intervening with regulators to help the Bezeq group, an Israeli communications giant then run by a close friend of the prime minister, in exchange for favorable coverage of Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, on a news portal owned by the company.

Though Netanayhu has not been named as a suspect in the case, numerous Israeli news outlets reported on Sunday that he is expected to be questioned under caution, a term used for suspects in criminal cases.

The names of those arrested were not officially announced. But for about an hour before the imposition of a gag order on all details of the investigation, the Haaretz news website reported that they included Nir Hefetz, a close friend of the Netanyahus and the prime ministers former communications director, and Shlomo Filber, a Netanyahu associate who served as director general of the Communications Ministry.

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Sundays revelations came only five days after the police announced their recommendation, presented to the attorney general, that Netanyahu be indicted on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust in two unrelated cases in which Netanyahu is alleged to have inappropriately given associates political favors.

From Germany, where Netanyahu was attending the annual Munich Security Conference, he said the arrests of members of his close circle revealed yet another futile investigation, a contrived bubble that will burst.

Netanyahu has been in Germany since Thursday, holding meetings with world leaders and acting outwardly as if nothing is amiss.

Israeli protesters wave signs critical of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv on Feb. 16, 2018. (Jack Guez / AFP/Getty Images )

He addressed the plenum on Sunday. Brandishing the large shard of what he said was an Iranian drone downed Feb. 10 by the Israeli air force, he said that Israel will not allow the Iranian regime to put a noose of terror around our neck.

The drones incursion into Israeli skies precipitated an exchange of fire that resulted in the loss of an Israeli F-16 that was downed by a Syrian antiaircraft missile. It was the first loss of an Israeli fighter jet since 1982.

Speaking directly to Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who was in the audience, Netanyahu asked, Do you recognize it? You should. Its yours. Dont test us.

Speaking a few hours later, Zarif ridiculed what he called Netanyahus cartoonish circus.

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Such an international venue is familiar ground for the Israeli leader, who has dominated Israeli politics for the last decade.

Tal Schneider, the political analyst for the Israeli financial daily Globes, who accompanied Netanyahu to Munich, said the prime minister appeared unruffled, projecting that business is as usual, carrying on with scheduled meetings.

As he departed from Munich, Netanyahu refused to answer questions from Israeli reporters about the criminal investigations that surround him.

Israelis, however, appear to be asking the same questions. Three polls published before the weekend show many Israelis believe the police version of events rather than that of Netanyahu, who claims he is the victim of a political witch hunt.

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A poll that aired on television channel Reshet said 49% of Hebrew-speaking Israelis believe Netanyahu acted improperly. Twenty-five percent accept Netanyahus claims of innocence and the remaining 26% do not know what to believe.

A poll by Channel 2 showed that 45% of Israelis believe Netanyahu should resign even before the attorney general decides whether to indict, versus 40% who said he should not.

The police recommendations were the product of a yearlong investigation and were presented Tuesday to Atty. Gen. Avichai Mandelblit, the nations chief prosecutor, who will have to decide whether to indict Netanyahu.

Israel feels increasingly alone as it confronts a difficult dilemma on its northern border: to allow Iran to gain a permanent foothold just across its border with Syria, or to go to war to prevent that from happening.

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The White House took more than a full day before reacting to the first incident of Iranian-Israeli military engagement before releasing a statement reaffirming Israels right to defend itself.

Other strains are becoming evident in the usually strong relationship between Netanyahu and President Trump, including a spat last week in which Netanyahu told political allies that for some time now Ive been talking about [plans to annex areas of the occupied West Bank] with the Americans, an assertion that White House spokesman Josh Raffel rapidly declared false.

The United States and Israel have never discussed such a proposal, and the presidents focus remains squarely on his Israeli-Palestinian peace initiative, Raffel said in a prepared statement.

On Friday, however, dismissing any concerns relating to Netanyahus possible indictment, the White House announced it would be hosting Israels embattled prime minister for meetings with Trump on March 5.

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Netanyahu will keep meeting other leaders, hell keep on acting as if everything is normal as long as he can, Meir Sheetrit, a former minister from Netanyahus political party, Likud, said in an interview. But we know what direction this is going in: political defeat.

This is untenable in the long term, Sheetrit added. Netanyahu and the Likud are disconnected from the people, floating along in a world in which their corruption doesnt matter. But it will, and this wont take long to come.

ALSO

Four Israeli soldiers wounded in Gaza border explosion

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Shhh! The back story of EPA chief Scott Pruitts highly secret, on-and-off, official non-visit to Israel

U.S. pledges aid increase to Jordan, hints at developments in Middle East peace process

Tarnopolsky is a special correspondent.Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 19)  The Department of National Defense is bent on pursuing the frigate deal despite alleged anomalies in the Navy's procurement of billions-worth of new warships.

The Frigate Acquisition Program is the biggest defense procurement in the country's history, with a price tag of P16 billion.

The frigates are capable of anti-air, anti-surface, and anti-submarine warfare. It can do longer maritime patrol and surveillance, making it ideal in defending our sea borders, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said on Monday.

"Some of our vessels cannot go into a sea-state 7 - yung malalaking alon - hindi nila kaya. But this one, it can go to sea-state 7. Ibig sabihin makakapunta sila, makakapagtagal sila diyan sa West Philippine Sea kahit na malakas ang alon or even sa Philippine Rise," he said during the Senate probe on the Armed Forces' modernization program.

[Translation: Some of our vessels not cannot go into a sea-state 7, it cannot withstand strong waves. But this one can. Our officers can go and stay in West Philippines Sea and even Philippine Rise.]

But this project has been sailing on rough waters.

Lorenzana said he merely carried out the procurement process from the previous administration when it initiated the project in 2013.

But Navy officials had opposed how the winning bidder, Hyundai Heavy Industries, was implementing the contract. They cited violations, including insertion of a questionable provision, as well as Hyundai's apparent bias for a South Korean sub-contractor.

There was so much discussion on which of two companies should provide for the combat management system (CMS), which is described as the brain or nerve center of a warship.

Former Navy Flag Officer in Command Vice Admiral Ronald Joseph Mercado was dismissed in December 2017 for allegedly delaying the project.

"He was insisting on Tacticos. He said that he will work for the cancellation of the contract kung hindi matuloy yung Tacticos of Netherlands (if the Tacticos of Netherlands will not be pursued)," the Defense Chief said.

Mercado denied the allegations, saying the CMS is not the only issue.

"It is not only the CMS that was the issue in October 2017. There were deliverables required based on the contract to be submitted by Hyundai which they did not submit in October 2017. So the question is, am I delaying? Or were they delaying the project because they did not submit the deliverables?" he said.

During the hearing, the Department of National Defense and Armed Forces were placed on the spot for failing to exercise "due diligence in reviewing the project."

Hyundai, for example, was blacklisted in its own home country South Korea over a corruption-related charge. But Navy officials said they were not aware of this issue.

Mercado repeatedly insisted Hyundai complied with the ships' added specification, particularly a vital software of the CMS.

Despite issues hounding the frigate deal, Lorenzana said the project will still be carried out. The first of two ships are expected to be delivered in 2020.A 21-year-old woman who died Friday morning following a Lehigh County crash studied nursing, had a passion for horses and enjoyed the beach with family and friends, according to her obituary.

Emily C. Tomredle

Emily C. Tomredle of South Whitehall Township, graduated from Parkland High School Class in 2015 and then, attended the Lehigh County Technical Institute to study nursing. She was employed as a cake decorator at the Wal-Mart in Trexlertown, according to the obituary.

The obituary goes on to say Tomredle was passionate about horses, spending countless hours as a horse handler at the Manito Equestrian Center in Allentown. She is described by friends and family members as a "free-spirited girl who loved cars and going to the beach."

Tomredle was pronounced dead shortly after the crash at about 9:55 a.m. in the 5400 block of Cetronia Road -- 1,061 feet east of Krocks Road -- in Upper Macungie Township.

Tomredle was heading west when she lost control of her 2006 Pontiac G6, colliding with an oncoming 2015 Mercedes-Benz S550, driven east by 38-year-old Kalpesh Patel of Allentown. Tomredle was taken by Cetronia EMS to Lehigh Valley Hospital, Salisbury Township, where she was pronounced dead at 11:54 a.m., the Lehigh County Coroner's Office said.

She died of multiple blunt-force trauma, and her death was ruled an accident, Coroner Scott Grim said.

Patel was taken by Cetronia ambulance to Lehigh Valley Hospital with a suspected minor injury. Police said both were wearing seat-belts at the time of impact and neither had passengers with them in the vehicles.

Police determined Tomredle was driving at an unsafe speed at the time of the accident. The Pontiac's damage was to its right side, while the Mercedes-Benz's damage was to its front bumper/hood area.

Tomredle leaves behind her parents, William S. and Christine (Jaczuk) Tomredle; as well as her paternal grandmother, Constance Tomredle of Bethlehem; brothers, Daniel W. and her twin Eric D. Tomredle both of Allentown; as well as many uncles and aunts.

Services are being handled by Stephens Funeral Home in Allentown. Her father posted on Facebook, "We ask that anyone planning to attend Wednesday morning as we lay Emily to rest,to please dress casual since this is what Emily would want."

Visitation is from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday and 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at the funeral home, 274 North Krocks Road, in Allentown. A service follows at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at the funeral home and interment will be in the Grandview Cemetery in Allentown.

Contributions, according to the obit, are being made in Tomredle's name to Manito Equestrian Center and The Sanctuary at Haafsville.

Pamela Sroka-Holzmann may be reached at pholzmann@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @pamholzmann. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.The U.S. Marshals Violent Crime Fugitive Task Force has arrested a man accused of assaulting his girlfriend and threatening to kill her, as well as police officers.

Jason Hill

The task force, along with officers from the Quakertown Borough Police Department and Richland Borough Police Department, closed in on Jason Hill, 43, at 11:30 a.m. this past Friday in Richland. Hill had been on the run since a few days after Jan. 23 when he was involved in a domestic incident in the 1400 block of Old York Road in Warwick.

Hill on Jan. 23 allegedly told his girlfriend during a dispute he would kill her and any officer who attempted to arrest him, as well as their families. He then assaulted the victim, police said.

Police got a warrant to arrest Hill a few days after the incident, but were unsuccessful in locating him, according to the Intelligencer. Investigators then learned Hill was staying with a male friend in the 100 block of Station Road in Richland.

Marshals this past Friday were able to spot Hill peering out a side apartment window and found him inside the first-floor apartment. Hill refused to obey commands and scuffled with officers before being taken into custody, according to authorities.

Hill is charged with harassment and making terroristic threats. He was arraigned before District Judge Mark Douple, who set bail at $25,000. In lieu of bail, Hill was taken to the Bucks County jail.

The investigation into Hill's arrest was a joint effort by the U.S. Marshals, the Warick Township Police Department, Quakertown Borough Police Department and Richland Police Department.

Pamela Sroka-Holzmann may be reached at pholzmann@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @pamholzmann. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.Stock Market News

Diurnal finds partner to break Australia and New Zealand markets 19-02-2018 16:28



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Uh-oh! It could be you, or it could be us, but there's no page here.Stock Market News

Europe midday: Shares slip into red as Reckitt disappoints 19-02-2018 11:56



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

N Brown appoints Tesco UK & Ireland boss Matt Davies as chairman 19-02-2018 09:01



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

Sunday share tips: British American Tobacco, City Pub Group 18-02-2018 19:54



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

Tuesday preview: HSBC, RBA meeting minutes in the spotlight 19-02-2018 18:35



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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 19)  China's move to name features in Benham Rise is preparatory to laying claim of the territory, former Solicitor-General Florin Hilbay warned on Monday.

"We should look at it as part of the larger attempt of China to name things that they think they own... These are preparatory acts in claiming ownership over the particular area," Hilbay told CNN Philippines' The Source.

China successfully named four undersea mountains and a hill in Benham Rise east of the country, which the Philippines has sovereign rights.

The names were reportedly approved by the International Hydrographic Organization and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO between 2016 and 2017.

Related: Gov't to give PH names to Benham Rise features named by China

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque earlier called on those concerned about the ruling not to be alarmist, even likening the naming of the islands to the naming of food like siopao and mami.

Malacanang Palace has since announced that it would not recognize the Chinese names and would instead give its own names to the features.

It also said the Philippine Embassy in Beijing was "considering a recommendation" to raise the matter to the international organizations which approved the Chinese names.

However, some government critics believe the move is too little too late, considering the Philippines approved a joint exploration with China in the area.

Hilbay also hit the government for being too "soft" in its approach against the eastern giant, which is also maintaining its claim over disputed islands in the South China Sea, to the west.

He suggested the Philippines should "consistently protest, build coalitions against [its] aggressive neighbor."

Any citizen could file a case at the Supreme Court arguing that a joint exploration with China in the South China Sea would be unconstitutional, Hilbay added.

"Our Constitution has provisions with respect to our exclusive economic zone, and you simply have to tie that up with our victory in Philippines vs. China," said Hilbay.

"Philippines vs. China" was a case the country won at the arbitral tribunal in The Hague. As the ruling did not recognize China's claim, the eastern giant expressed that it would not recognize the ruling, and continued building military structures on the disputed islands.

In the wake of warmer bilateral ties under President Rodrigo Duterte, the government is mulling a joint exploration with China in the area.

However, Hilbay argues that such an endeavor would give China an edge should it again claim the territory as theirs.

"For us to recognize, or to enter into a joint development agreement with them, would be to impliedly recognize their rights and to waive our win in Philippines vs. China," said Hilbay.

Hilbay was part of the legal team that raised the Philippine case against China at the arbitral tribunal.Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 19)  President Rodrigo Duterte's right-hand man Bong Go on Monday denied his involvement in the Navy frigate deal, adding the controversy poses danger to national security.

"Labis na kailangan ng Philippine Navy ang proyektong ito sa pagpatrolya sa ating karagatan. But this controversy is seriously derailing the implementation of this security measure," the Special Assistant to the President said during the first Senate hearing on the Armed Forces of the Philippines modernization program.

[Translation: The Philippine Navy badly needs this project to protect our seas, but this controversy is seriously derailing the implementation of this security measure.]

The Frigate Acquisition Project (FAP) is one of the big-ticket projects of the Armed Forces of the Philippines' (AFP) modernization program, as it seeks to provide the country with the capability to deal with air, surface and sub-surface threats.

The acquisition of the two frigates is seen as the first step to provide the Navy with modern warships to protect the country's maritime territories.

Go believes the implementation of the program is being blocked.

"Perhaps, this is really their intention...to block the implementation of this important security program and ensure that this administration will fail," he said.

He again denied intervening in the process by backing a South Korean firm as a supplier for the Combat Management System (CMS) for the two Navy warships in a project worth P15.5 billion.

The CMS is known as the ship's "brain," which integrates all of its sensors and weapons.

"I did not intervene in the acquisition of the two frigates by the DND (Department of National Defense) nor interfere in the selection of its combat management system," he said.

Prior to the hearing, Go said President Rodrigo Duterte advised him to only speak the truth, and to not go into an executive session.

In a white paper sent to Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana in January 2017, Go supposedly recommended South Korean Company Hanwha Thales as CMS provider. The Philippine Navy, then under Vice Admiral Ronald Mercado, preferred Tacticos Thales of Netherlands.

The sacked navy chief cleared Duterte and Go in the issue, saying they showed no interest in the controversial deal.

"Secretary Bong Go never approached me over frigate deal," aid Mercado, who headed the technical working group that worked on the frigate deal.

Mercado was relieved from his post in December last year for supposedly delaying the deal's implementation. During the hearing, he denied allegations of insubordination.

"I have never disobeyed any order... I vehemently deny the allegations," he said on Monday.

Go added people should stop using their names or that of Duterte's, as the President will not allow any name-dropping to push for government contracts.Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 19)  Senator Grace Poe wants cases of overseas Filipino workers (OFW) who were abused or had died looked into.

Poe filed Senate Resolution No. 636 Monday, calling on the Senate committees on labor, employment and human resources development, and foreign relations to investigate deaths and reports of maltreatment of OFWs that have happened over the years.

Poe said information gathered from the probe would help lawmakers create policies that would protect migrant workers and their families "before, during, and after deployment."

The resolution said despite OFWs' contribution to the economy, "we seem to fail to acknowlege and address the problems and issues they encounter" as they work far from the comforts of home and family.

It added the main problems encountered by Filipino workers are illegal recruitment, high placement fees, abusive employers, and indictments of crime they did not commit.

The resolution mentioned specifically the cases of Joanna Demafelis, who died in Kuwait and whose body was found stuffed in a freezer a year after her family said they lost contact with her; and Josie Lloren who also suffered abuse in Kuwait, and died on February 9 after returning to the country.

Poe said the sufferings of OFWs were not new, and continue to happen despite rules set by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration stating that OFWs' safety and human rights should be ensured.

She added there is a need for a thorough, objective and no-nonsense assessment and review on our existing laws and policies concerning employment contracts, diplomacy, safety, and the extension of assistance and resources to OFWs.

"It is high time that we value the faces and stories behind the statistics and numbers related to our OFWs and acknowledge their 'cries' behind the scenes abroad only to ensure the 'smiles' of their loved ones at home, Poe said in the resolution.

Duterte to attend Demafelis wake

Meanwhile, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque confirmed Monday that President Rodrigo Duterte would be attending the wake of Demafelis in Iloilo.

READ: OFW found in freezer in Kuwait is back home

The visit will happen on Thursday, February 22.

Duterte is expected to give burial and financial assistance to the Demafelis family.

RELATED: A daughter's promise: The house that Joanna builtMetro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 19)  Another lawyer connected to the Espinosa family, whose members were allegedly involved in illegal drugs, was ambushed, police said Monday.

According to the Cebu City Police, Jonah John Ungab, lawyer of alleged drug lord Kerwin Espinosa, was shot after a promulgation hearing on one of his client's cases in Cebu City.

Cebu City Police spokesperson Artemio Ricabo confirmed that Ungab died in the hospital after sustaining gunshot wounds in the head. The gunman is still unidentified.

Ungab is also the sitting vice-mayor of Ronda, Cebu.

Police said National Bureau of Investigation agents escorted Espinosa while going to and leaving the court, but was not with Ungab during the ambush.

The ambush follows the death of Rogelio Bato in August 2016 from multiple gunshot wounds. Bato was the lawyer of Kerwin's father, slain Albuera, Leyte Mayor Rolando Espinosa.

In October 2017, Kerwin Espinosa pleaded not guilty to charges of trading and distribution of dangerous drugs, which is punishable by life imprisonment.

Authorities arrested Espinosa in Abu Dhabi in October 2016 after the international police organization sent a "red notice" to their counterparts, which seeks the location and arrest of wanted persons, police said. The Philippine National Police later sent officers to bring Espinosa home, and he was eventually placed under NBI custody.

The Baybay Regional Trial Court in Leyte earlier dismissed the case against the older Espinosa after he was shot and killed in a drug raid inside his jail cell on November 5, 2016.

Both father and son were tagged by President Rodrigo Duterte in his list of alleged illegal drug coddlers and traffickers.Culture / Art Republik

Feb 15, 2018 | By Art Republik

Poesy Liang, an interdisciplinary artist that has championed many social awareness causes such as bald empathy and environmental activism, brought a new immersive installation to Art Stage Singapore 2018. Entitled Poesy Empathy: Hidden Messages, the installation allowed visitors to experience varied curated media by Poesy and her team in partial blindness.

Poesys artist statement, to raise (CKE) compassion, kindness & empathy by media reform, was seen in the installations walk through with elements of social media, blockchain, anime, cosplay, and choral speaking, using what the artist perceives as universally accessible forms of childhood nostalgia. The installation was deliberately masked by a misleading facade of whimsical artwork, with floor coverings of 42 QR codes that visitors on her queue could scan to keep themselves occupied with digital contents.

It is easy to assume that Poesys installation is purely intended to enlighten the masses of the struggles of being visually impaired. However, Poesy believes that everyone has something that they are good at and that some people have extraordinary abilities but dont know it, while some able-bodied people have emotional/mental disabilities and dont know it either. Hence, her installation primarily contested the perception of what it means to be disadvantaged, and to question how people make tend to make judgments of disabled people at face value.

There were 10 members in the Poesy Empathy team at Art Stage 2018 (including the artist and a dog), 6 members of the Poesy Empathy production were blind or visually impaired. It was a mad rush to get the blind team together, noted Lee Lee, the blind trainer of Poesy Empathy guide team. I am very happy that Poesy has chosen this topic which will help the blind community in Singapore, and at large. Empathy is what the world needs.

Poesy further cultivated conversation by employing the guide dog, Nice, one of her collaborators to sit at the front of the booth, by the sale of her illustrated books. Nice was surrounded with clear DO NOT PAT DOG ON DUTY signs,making a point about the masses lack of awareness for the role a guide dog plays, and how the lesser informed passer-by often distracts them without understanding their duty.

Lorenzo Rudolf, founder of Art Stage, lauded Poesy for her artistic and social engagements, citing her conceptual way of thinking and working as the reason why he invited her to show at the art fair. Dr. Uli Sigg, owner of the Sigg Collection of contemporary Chinese art, also noted that Poesy is persuasive with her self-narration and tells a powerful story to offer the world a message of healing.

More information at poesyliang.com.Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 19)  Pharmaceutical company Sanofi Pasteur is firm in its refusal to refund the Philippines of used Dengvaxia vaccines.

The vaccine maker on Monday once again rejected the Department of Health's (DOH) request to refund the government for the P1.8 billion-worth of used doses of Dengvaxia and financially support an indemnification fund.

"We stand firmly behind our product. Refunding the used doses of Dengvaxia would imply that the vaccine is ineffective, which is not the case. And at this time, there is also no known circumstance requiring indemnification," Sanofi Pasteur said in a statement.

Sanofi Pasteur on February 5 also turned down the Health Department's demand to refund used dengue vaccine vials.

Duque last week announced the DOH was intending to file another letter requesting for the full refund.

Related: Sanofi rejects request to refund used Dengvaxia, support compensation fund

In January, Sanofi refunded P1.16 billion worth of unused Dengvaxia dengue vaccines.

Last December 1, the government halted its nationwide dengue vaccination program that began in 2016, after 837,000 children were immunized. Sanofi's earlier study showed those with no previous dengue infection and got vaccinated could contract "severe diseases."Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 19)  Shangri-La at the Fort, Manila, will be teaming up with animal welfare workers to find the missing cats in its community.

"Shangri-La at the Fort will be offering to [Compassion and Responsibility for Animals (CARA) Welfare Philippines] and Cats of BGC to mobilize some of its colleagues to help rescue and bring back the cats," Shangri-La said in a statement on Monday.

The hotel came under fire after visitors of Bonifacio Global City (BGC) in Taguig noticed the disappearance of the neighborhood's cats.

Netizens pointed to the hotel as having hired the services of the pest control service Pestbusters. In its statement, Shangri-La denied exterminating the cats but did not comment on whether it tapped such a service.

Instead, it said 11 cats were relocated to "residential areas on Ilaya Street and Anastacio Street, both in Taguig City."

Shangri-La also claimed that 12 cats were adopted by the hotel staff, although animal welfare group CARA said on Thursday that they were not provided proof of such adoption.

CARA said in a Facebook post on Monday that Shangri-La confirmed it hired Pestbusters in a meeting on February 15. The animal welfare group added it did not receive news of the possible relocation site until Sunday.

"The locations given were not 'exact' as stated, rather vague descriptions of areas in Taguig," CARA wrote in a Facebook post.

Cats of BGC, a Facebook page dedicated to cat lovers in the area, also said the statement differed from a February 16 e-mail they received that said the cats were "at Buting and near Kalayaan Avenue."

An initial search for the cats on Sunday turned up dry, and CARA called for volunteers to assist on a second search on Monday.

Shangri-La said it had been "undertaking steps to manage its co-existing with the cats" since November last year.

"The incident has been a learning experience for all of us to closely collaborate with experts in our community in order to provide a safe and happy environment for animals and humans alike," the statement read.

Netizens outraged

Netizens took to Facebook with one-star reviews for Shangri-La at the Fort. Some even complained that the page administrator had blocked them after their low reviews.

"What BGC Shang did with the cats in their area  and their obvious dishonesty during the aftermath  shows a lack of perceptiveness and accountability, two values that are absolutely critical in running a hotel," a netizen named Gian Lao wrote.

Other netizens repeatedly copy-pasted a passage from Republic Act No. 8485, or the Animal Welfare Act of 1998.

The section being quoted noted provisions of penalties for the cruelty, maltreatment or neglect of an animal.

The penalties include:

Six months to one year imprisonment and a minimum fine of P30,000 for cruelty, maltreatment or neglect but without causing its death or incapacitation for survival;

One year to a year and six months imprisonment and a minimum fine of P50,000 for cruelty, maltreatment or neglect that causes incapacitation for survival; and

One to two years of imprisonment and a minimum fine of P100,000 for cruelty, maltreatment or neglect that results in death.

Netizens recalled how the cats were a part of the neighborhood community.

"I really hope that these cats are in a much safer place than where they were. They were friends and family to thousands of people and the BGC community," a netizen named Marcelle John Marcelino wrote in a Facebook post that has garnered 20,000 reactions and 10,000 shares of publishing time.

He surmised that visitors who disliked cats complained to the hotel management.

"As disappointed as I am, lets not take it hard on Shangri-La BGC... A public apology and proof of the cats' well being would be nice though," he added.Kannur: The police team probing the murder of the youth congress leader Suhaib on Monday made it clear that a five-membered gang hacked Suhaib to death.

The police also launched a search party for the remaining absconders. Meanwhile, those who surrendered before the police confessed that party knew the murder plan.

Aakash and Rijinraj, the two CPM workers surrendered before the police along with some local leaders. However, they claimed that the murder was not intentional, as they only planned a deadly assault on Suhaib.London : Crime drama "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" captured five British Bafta film awards today, including best film, topping an emotionally charged ceremony that featured fashion and rhetoric in support of the fight against sexual harassment sweeping Hollywood. The movie, chronicling a grieving mothers campaign for justice, won for original screenplay and outstanding British film, while Frances McDormand bagged best actress and Sam Rockwell best supporting actor prizes. "The Shape of Water" -- the most heavily nominated film of the night with 12 nods -- came away with only three awards, including best director for Guillermo Del Toro, while "Darkest Hour" claimed two prizes, including for Gary Oldman as best actor.

With Hollywood still reeling from the fallout of the Harvey Weinstein scandal, the resulting anti-sexual harassment campaigns were reflected in the mood of the evening. "Our film is a hopeful one in lots of ways but its also an angry one," Martin McDonagh, writer and director of "Three Billboards", said in his acceptance speech. "And as weve seen this year, sometimes anger is the only way to get people to listen and to change, so were thrilled that Bafta has recognised this."

Star's arrived at Londons Royal Albert Hall predominantly dressed in black in solidarity with the #MeToo and "Times Up" campaigns, mirroring other recent American red carpets including last months Golden Globes. Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Lawrence and Kristin Scott Thomas were among the stars who wore black. British royals avoid making overtly political statements or gestures, so there was little surprise when the Duchess of Cambridge chose to wear a dark green dress, by British designer Jenny Packham, as she accompanied husband Prince William, president of Bafta, to the ceremony.



Jane Lush, chair of Bafta, opened the evening soberly telling the star-studded audience it was important to acknowledge a "difficult" past year, and noted efforts to tackle gender inequality. "Brave revelations have followed brave revelations of bullying and sexual harassment, and which to all our shame has been hidden in plain sight for decades," she said. "This is a moment in history, it should be a watershed, a catalyst for lasting change." Host Joanna Lumley, a British film and TV star, also praised the gender equality movement as a continuation of the work of the Suffragettes a century ago.



She hailed the "determination to eradicate the abuse of women the world over" as she took to the stage. Meanwhile in an open letter published before the awards, almost 200 British and Irish stars backed a new fund to help women facing sexual harassment and abuse at work. It echoes a similar initiative launched in Hollywood last month, and was kick-started with a USD 1.4 million donation from actress and activist Emma Watson. Choices at the Baftas, which fall between the Globes and the Oscars, often mirror those of the American heavyweights. "The Shape of Water", a story of love between a mute cleaning woman and a mystery merman-like creature, led the pack just as it has across the Atlantic, where it has topped the list of Oscar nominations with 13 nods, including for best picture. PTIMetro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 19)  Authorities on Monday presented suspected foreign terrorist and his Filipina companion, who were arrested in Ermita, Manila over the weekend.

Philippine National Police (PNP) Director General Ronald dela Rosa said arrested Tunisian national Fehmi Lassoued was a recruiter for an international terrorist organization and a former ISIS commander in Syria and Turkey.

"Sa ngayon dito sa Pilipinas recruiter ang kanyang status pero formerly negotiator between ISIS leadership and local government officials in Syria and Turkey. Former ISIS commander in Syria, Turkey border, so commander siya ng ISIS. In fact merong ISIS flag na nakuha," he said in a media briefing.

[Translation: In the Philippines, he is a recruiter. But he was a former negotiator between ISIS and local government officials in Syria and Turkey. He was a former ISIS commander in Syria and Turkey. We have retrieved an ISIS flag from him.]

Dela Rosa added Lassoued entered the Philippines in July 2016 from Iran using a fake passport.

Lassoued and Anabel Moncera Salipada of Upi, Maguindanao were arrested for possession of assorted firearms, ammunition, components for improvised explosive device. They were arrested through a joint counterterrorism operation of the police and Armed Forces.

"The arrest of Lassoued and Salipada may have effectively thwarted whatever hostile activities they were up to, but we will not lower our guard rather we will continue to mount proactive operations against terrorism," Dela Rosa said.

Authorities are still investigating the involvement of Salipada.EAST LONGMEADOW -- Local workers will once again make Craftsman tools here in the Pioneer Valley.

Stanley Black & Decker, which bought the Craftsman brand from ailing Sears in January 2017 for $775 million, will likely start making Craftsman-brand saw blades and other tools at the former Lenox American Saw plant in the second half of 2018, said spokesman Tim Perra.

"We'll begin integrating Craftsman into our operations in the second half of 2018," Perra said. "Production here would probably coincide with the launch of the product in the second half of 2018."

Danaher Inc. used to manufacture some Craftsman ratchets and wrenches in Springfield before shutting down in 2005.

Sears had Craftsman brand tools manufactured by various makers. In recent years many Craftsman products were made in China. Craftsman tools are available at Sears, Kmart and at Ace Hardware stores and other hardware chains.

Stanley Black & Decker has owned the former Lenox American Saw plant in East Longmeadow for just less than a year, Perra said.

Based in New Britain, Connecticut, Stanley bought Lenox American Saw along with the rest of Newell Brands' hardware division for $1.95 billion. The acquisition was first announced in October 2016 and became official March 2, 2017.

What followed was a busy year at the half-million-square-foot factory.

Now called Stanley Black & Decker's Lenox Plant, it has added 100 workers for a new head count of 670 employees, and has plans to add another 40 to 60 positions in the coming year, said Hannah Butler, senior human resources manager.

The factory also received $7 million to $8 million in new equipment and plans to get $10 million or more in investment in the future, said Scott Burkins, director of operations and engineering.

"It is great being part of a company that is American-owned and American-made," Burkins said. "We make products with purpose here. We make products that fit the organization."

Newell has many brands in and out of the hardware business, including Sharpie markers, Goodie hair accessories and Yankee Candle in South Deerfield.

As Newell Rubbermaid, today's Newell Products company bought the former American Saw & Manufacturing Co. from the Davis family in 2003 for $450 million.

Founded in Springfield in 1915, Lenox American Saw built its East Longmeadow plant in 1952 and shifted its entire operation there in 1964.

Stanley Black & Decker has already started making saw blades and other tools for its DeWalt line in East Longmeadow. Perra said DeWalt production came to East Longmeadow for the same reason Stanley Black & Decker will make Craftsman there.

"They are the best in the world at what they do and they have been doing it for more than 50 years in that plant," Perra said.

Soon after the 2017 acquisition, Stanley Black & Decker announced plans to make as many Craftsman products in the U.S. as it could.

Stanley Black & Decker has 30 manufacturing plants across in the country with a total of 16,000 employees. Since 2015, the company has increased its manufacturing jobs in the U.S. by 40 percent.

The company has three Connecticut factories: New Britain, Farmington and Danbury, as well as a factory in Holliston, Massachusetts, that makes steel storage bins and containers for industry. Stanley's plant in Gorham, Maine, makes tools and is a sister plant to the one in East Longmeadow.

Stanley also announced in December that it plans to open an advanced manufacturing training and research center in downtown Hartford sometime this spring or summer, according to the Hartford Courant.

Workers in East Longmeadow make blades for hacksaws and for reciprocating saws, hand tools, drill bits and hole saws. These products are for contractors and home handypersons and are sold in hardware stores and home centers. The plant also makes large industrial bandsaws for cutting metal.

The plant manufactures tools and blades under the Lenox, Irwin and now DeWalt brand names.

Butler said besides adding 100 new employees she's had to hire 12 workers to replace those who retired in the last year.

"We are finding people and they are excited to be given the opportunity," she said.

There is an on-site recruiting event every two weeks.

Jobs she's filling include machine operators, electromechanical technicians and electricians. Rates of pay range from $15.69 to $26 an hour.Jimmy Kimmel is set to host the 90th Academy Awards on Sunday, March 4, and the selection is getting mixed reactions in the current political climate. While some enjoyed his hosting in 2017, others were offended by him poking fun at the names of people of color--and some blamed him for the Best Picture mixup. Others argue he's a tone-deaf choice in the era of #MeToo and Times Up. But Kimmel isn't going to shy away from last year's controversies and any current political moments at the 2018 Oscars. What do you think?

PERSPECTIVES

Kimmel isn't going to shy away from controversies. He told GQ in an interview:

The Academy enjoyed Kimmel's hosting in 2017, and that's why he was invited to host the 90th Oscars, long before the #MeToo movement garnered visibility. The Oscars even created a listicle of Kimmel's seven best moments at the 89th Academy Awards.

Kimmel even cleverly poked fun at last year's Best Picture mixup.

But others were not pleased with some of his jokes last year.

And in the era of #MeToo and Times Up, advocates were hoping for female hosts to not only lead in entertaining Hollywood's big night, but tackle the nuances of our current political climate. Some argue more female hosts of awards shows is one way of combating gender inequality in Hollywood. And besides, many view male hosts cracking jokes about predators in Hollywood as tone-deaf.

Vogue's Kyle Munzenrieder wrote back in November:

Seth Meyers ended up hosting the Golden Globes, but the point still remains.

The Tylt is focused on debates and conversations around news, current events and pop culture. We provide our community with the opportunity to share their opinions and vote on topics that matter most to them. We actively engage the community and present meaningful data on the debates and conversations as they progress. The Tylt is a place where your opinion counts, literally. The Tylt is an Advance Digital, Inc. property. Join us on Twitter @TheTylt or on Facebook, we'd love to hear what you have to say.Hundreds of workers employed by the city of Boston made more than $200,000 last year, according to newly released payroll information.

The city of Boston released its 2017 employee earnings report this month, showing payroll information for the more than 22,000 people who worked for the city.

Members of the Boston Police Department again top the list, 10 of whom earned more than $300,000.

Haseeb Hosein was the highest earner on the city's payroll, receiving $366,232.65 in 2017.

Hosein was promoted to the rank of captain in 2014, the first Muslim captain in the department.

With a salary of $146,893.76, Hosein doubled his earnings through working overtime ($62,696.50) and detail pay ($106,980) last year. He also received $27,542.71 through the Police Career Incentive Pay Program and $22,119.68 in unclassified earnings.

He was one of many members of the department to receive a boost to their earnings through overtime and detail pay.

The department paid $66.9 million in overtime last year -- a jump of nearly six million over 2016 - an amount city officials attribute to large public gatherings in the city, such as the "Free Speech" rally and Women's March on the Boston Common.

Women's March for America in Boston Common draws thousands 80 Gallery: Women's March for America in Boston Common draws thousands

"The City of Boston has made fiscal responsibility and smart spending a priority, and continues to ensure that we carefully manage both our personnel numbers and overtime each calendar year," Boston Chief Financial Officer Emme Handy said, adding that there "were a significant number of unplanned protests, large gatherings and celebrations" last year.

"Our first priority is keeping the public safe," Mayor Marty Walsh told the Boston Herald, of the overtime costs. "I mean, obviously, I'd love to see the overtime costs way down, but we have to keep the public safe and we can't do anything about free speech. If people want to protest and rally, it's our responsibility to keep them safe. We saw what happened in Charlottesville. We don't want a situation like that to happen in Boston."

Walsh made $175,000 in 2017.

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by CaspioSOUTH HADLEY -- There will be contested races for the Selectboard, School Committee and South Hadley Electric Light Department Board of Commissioners when voters in town go to the polls April 10.

Two of the five Selectboard seats are up for election. Incumbents Bruce Forcier and John Hine have taken out nomination papers, as has challenger Scott Moore.

There are four running for two seats on the school committee for a three-year term and two seeking to fill the unexpired two-year term of Carly Lapinski. She resigned in December after notifying officials she was moving out of town, having accepted a job outside of Massachusetts.

Charles Miles and Kyle Belanger are challenging incumbents Kevin McAllister and Christine Phillips for the three-year seats.

Allison Schlachter and Lilly Newman are seeking election for the remainder of the two-year term.

Three have taken out nomination papers for two SHELD board of commissioners seats. Incumbent Anne Awad is not seeking re-election.

Chairman Greg Dubreuil is seeking re-election.

Former selectman Frank DeToma and Peter McAvoy have taken out papers.

As of last week, no one had taken out nomination papers for a seat on the Board of Health. Incumbent Suzanne Cordes is not seeking re-election.

There is a non-binding ballot question that asks voters if the Board of Health should no longer be elected positions but instead become Selectboard appointments.

A related non-binding question asks if the three-person panel should increase to five members, with one member being the town's health director and the other four Selectboard appointments.

A binding question on the April 10 ballot asks residents whether to ban "all types of marijuana establishments as defined in MGL c. 94G subsection 1(j) including commercial cultivation, retails sales, testing, manufacturing, packaging, distribution or any other type of licensed cannabis/marijuana related businesses shall be prohibited in the Town of South Hadley."

During the November 2016 statewide election when voters approved legalization of recreational marijuana, South Hadley residents approved it with 9,338 of the town's 11,298 registered voters -- 83 percent -- casting ballots.

The municipal vote tally was 4,779 in favor of marijuana legalization with 4,445 voting no and 114 blank ballots.

In contrast to the high turnout for that election, data on file with the town shows much lower turnout for recent municipal elections -- at no higher than 15 percent.

During the April 2017 municipal election, 1,552 of the town's 11,042 registered voters cast ballots, a 14 percent turnout. In 2016, municipal election turnout was 15 percent and in 2015 it was 13 percent.EASTHAMPTON -- On May 22, voters will be asked to approve major borrowing for a new elementary and middle school, and now a city councilor is pushing his peers to take a public stand on the matter.

At-large councilor Owen Zaret has introduced a measure asking the City Council and Mayor Nicole LaChapelle to "wholeheartedly" declare their support for the $109 million school construction project. If approved, around $60 million would be financed by local taxpayers, with the rest reimbursed by the state.

"We have before us a multi-year, well-planned, well-researched proposal to build a consolidated school that will in one fell swoop replace all of our aging school buidings," Zaret wrote in a Feb. 15 memo. "It is no secret that our current schools have significant problems in regards to code, infrastructure, and amenities that have no place in our growing and thriving community."

The school would replace three 100-year-old elementary schools and the 1970s-era White Brook Middle School. While construction would mean a significant tax hike for residents, supporters say a new school is necessary and would serve the best interest of the city.

Zaret said he spoke with the State Ethics Commission and learned that city councilors may take a position on the ballot. "The question is not can we support the ballot initiative, it is how we can support the ballot initiative," he wrote.

Zaret's resolution states that current elementary schools are in disrepair and not conducive to teaching and learning; that White Brook Middle School is poorly designed and has chronic problems with basic systems; and that current school buildings are "unhealthy for our children."



A new school will be "an investment in the future of education," wrote Zaret, who praised the city's "dedicated, qualified, caring and exceptional teachers, administrators, and staff."

The City Council should not just legislate, but "be leaders in our community," Zaret's resolution states.

The City Council will receive the resolution under "new business" at its Wednesday night meeting, set for 6 p.m. at 50 Payson Ave. Any eventual vote on the declaration would serve to put each of the nine elected officials on the record.

An appointed School Building Committee, which is marshaling the project, hasn't posted minutes since November, but says it plans two more public forums before the May 22 vote. A public forum in January was videotaped by Easthampton Media.

A ballot committee formed in November is now raising money to support its upcoming efforts to get out the vote, according to the group's Facebook page.

The Massachusetts School Building Authority is scheduled to vote whether to approve the project for state financing on Aug. 29. If approved, the first students could move into the new building in 2021.

White Brook Middle School would be torn down to accommodate the new school, and three downtown school buildings would be surplussed by the School Department and sold by the city.AMHERST -- A year after Larry Kelley was killed in a car crash, friends are remembering the creator of the Only in the Republic of Amherst blog in online tributes.

They're also also posting victim witness statements that they will send to the judge in the case of the teenager charged with negligent motor vehicle homicide in the Feb. 17, 2017, crash that killed Kelley.

Ryan Fellion, 19, of Belchertown, has denied the charge but is expected to change his plea when he appears again in Eastern Hampshire District Court April 26. Victim witness statements would be presented then.

Cinda Jones, president of Cowl's, said Kelley is a "superhero."

On Facebook she wrote, "Kelley was the most important contributor to truth and justice in Amherst in my lifetime. While newspapers and first responders have to follow rules, Larry did not. He was a superhero who took justice into his own hands and tirelessly fought for a more civil society. ...

"The Amherst Area won't be the same without him. There will be less accountability for lackadaisical landlords; red cups on Sunday mornings; drunk drivers; and NIMBY hypocrites. Our community has lost a mirror of accountability and our reflections on the world have changed because he's gone."

According to the Massachusetts State Police probable cause statement, Fellion's phone was "actively accessing data and was being used while operating his motor vehicle." The document quoted a passenger in Fellion's vehicle who said Fellion was texting while driving from Belchertown toward Amherst when he allegedly crossed the center line and crashed head-on into the vehicle Kelley was driving.

Northampton lawyer David C. Kuzmeski, who represents Fellion, in a December court hearing said that there was no evidence that his client was using his phone at the time of the crash and police had no reason to seize it.

Judge Michael Mulcahy ruled last week that Fellion must turn over the passcode to his phone so police can complete the investigation.

Kelley's friend, Rebecca Casagrande, owner of Sunset Grill and Pizza, who was at a hearing in the case Friday, wrote how much she misses him and how dedicated he was to his two daughters.

"... before I met him in person I was slightly intimidated by his strong mind and reputation, but after we met Larry helped me in many ways. ...

"Larry could be controversial, but he got people interested, he got people communicating, he created dissonance, and he made people really think through their opinions and stances on subjects around town. Amherst isn't the same without him."When a young man headed to the Massachusetts State Police's Air Wing base at Lawrence Airport last week, he wanted one thing: To meet the troopers who saved his life.

Raveth Than wanted to thank Troopers Russell Phippen and John Hazelrigg, members of the State Police Air Wing, who plucked Than from the icy waters of the Merrimack River in Lowell during a daring rescue in January.

State Police shared photographs of Than meeting the troopers recently.

Lowell police and fire responded to the Merrimack River on a cold Jan. 3 night after Than was heard screaming in the river. He was standing on rocks in the deep water.

"Attempts to rescue the man by first one boat and then another failed as ice and rocks in the river damaged the craft," State Police said.

Trooper Hazelrigg, the Air Wing pilot, and Trooper Phippen, the tactical flight officer, headed to the area in order to give first-responders on the ground direction and light up the scene.

When the boat rescues failed, Than began to struggle. He slipped deeper in the cold water, which now reached his head. He began to lose consciousness.

"By that time he had been in the frigid water more than a half-hour," State Police said. "It was then that the Troopers determined they would try to do something they were not even equipped to do, something that is not part of the Air Wing's usual mission. In order to save the young man's life, they would attempt a hands-on water rescue directly from the aircraft."

Phippen strapped himself into the rear seat and opened the door while Hazelrigg carefully positioned the helicopter over Than. The helicopter's skids were under water.

"As the young man with his last strength tried to hold onto a rock or some other object under the strong current, and Trooper Hazelrigg held Air 4 in its precarious position, Trooper Phippen, leaned far outside the aircraft over the water and finally was able to grab hold of the hypothermic, nearly unresponsive man," State Police said.

Than was pulled to safety. He was flown to Lowell General Hospital where he spent a week recovering.

Medical staff told the troopers Than would not have lived if he remained in the river much longer.

State Police said Troopers Phippen and Hazelrigg were thrilled to meet Than and thanked him for visiting them.PITTSFIELD - With a reputation as a hub for arts and culture, Berkshire County also boasts a rich history of manufacturing and technology. That's something local business leaders and officials are looking to highlight and build upon with the creation of the long-awaited Berkshire Innovation Center.

The project, which has faced delays due to funding shortfalls since it was proposed nearly a decade ago, is expected to break ground in Pittsfield this year.

Stephen Boyd, BIC president and chairman since 2014, said he hopes to open the 20,000-square-foot facility at William Stanley Business Park, part of General Electric's former headquarters, in the summer of 2019.

Boyd is also president of Lee-based Boyd Technologies an international supplier of flexible materials. He said the nonprofit BIC will offer member companies like his access to cutting-edge research and development equipment, customized training programs, student internship opportunities and collaborative research partnerships with local colleges and health systems in a way that doesn't currently exist in Berkshire County.

"Whether it's a kid at Taconic High School who is thinking about what a career in advanced manufacturing looks like, or its an employee at Boyd Tech who's trying to solve a complicated problem, I think the BIC is a place of discovery and solutions and inspiration that will lend great credibility to the region," he said during a recent interview.

Boyd said the BIC isn't a "silver bullet." But he argued it will support the work of precision manufacturing and technology companies that are already in the Berkshires, like General Dynamics, Berkshire Sterile Manufacturing and Interprint USA. It will help them recruit more workers to the region and train a new generation of Berkshire County residents, he said.

"I think it will bolster the businesses that are here. I think if we do a good job at that, we'll continue to retain or recruit new, exciting, dynamic people who will then be the catalyst of additional growth for attracting new businesses here," he said.

The BIC will help local businesses partner with health care organizations, like Berkshire Health Systems or Baystate Health, on things like clinical trials, and with education entities like Williams College, the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Taconic High School or McCann Technical School on research and training.

BIC members could partner to offer on-site training courses, similar to the ones they already send employees to in other parts of the country, Boyd said.

"If we host a similar course -- and we're talking polymers and other things that other injection molders and other fellow BIC members might also be interested in -- instead of us all flying our people down there, we can fly the professor here, or (Berkshire Community College) knows someone who could teach that course, and we host it in that room, then there's no hotel room, there's no flight, the course might (cost) a little less because I'm a BIC member," he said. "Again, there's an efficiency and an economy of scale that supports my business."

The BIC also will offer space for startups looking to access equipment and opportunities that are often out of reach. Boyd stressed, however, that the organization's primary focus will not be incubating or accelerating startups.

With a projected cost of $14 million, the BIC received a $9.7 million state grant in 2014 from the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, plus two startup grants of $250,000 from the Pittsfield Economic Development Authority and the city's economic development fund.

A recent $1 million grant from the city of Pittsfield and efficient design changes have narrowed the funding gap from $4.3 million to $2.3 million, Boyd said.

"We feel that we're very close -- in broad terms -- to finalizing the funding gap and being able to break ground in the spring of 2018 with a projected ribbon cutting in the summer of 2019," he said. "So about a year and a half to construct the facility -- that's our timeline."

Workforce challenges

Companies face challenges when it comes to finding local talent and attracting employees to the Berkshires over places like Cambridge, Boyd said.

Boyd Technologies works with schools like BCC in Pittsfield and the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in North Adams to recruit local workers. It also targets graduates from similar regions across Western Massachusetts and upstate New York. The company looks for recruits who are a good cultural fit for the Berkshires and enjoy nature and the arts.

"We love Berkshire natives ... but we do have some transplants here," he said.

Shawn Kinney, CEO of Lee-based Berkshire Sterile Manufacturing Inc., told U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, D-Springfield, in August that his company faced challenges in finding qualified local workers and in affording to bring potential employees in from places with higher costs of living.

Johnathan Butler, president and CEO of 1Berkshire, acknowledged that the disconnect between employers and residents' hireability remains a big concern for his regional economic development organization.

"We have a problem there. There's a lot of work being done at the community colleges, with our workforce organizations, with organizations like us ... to try to bridge that skills gap to an extent," he said during a recent interview. "We do have employers who are constantly hiring and they can't fill those positions with just local talent."

Butler pointed to General Dynamics, which has used billboards along the Massachusetts Turnpike to recruit employees to its Pittsfield location, as an example of a local employer that typically has more than 100 positions available at any given time.

"They're always recruiting, and the majority of those positions are in engineering or engineering-related fields. We simply don't have the local talent here to fill that jobs pipeline," he said. "So recruitment becomes their only option."A motor vehicle stop in Boston Monday morning led to the discovery of a van full of booze and a small amount of cocaine.

The driver was arrested after Massachusetts State Police say the amount of alcohol he was transporting is only allowed with a permit.

Authorities say the van had just over 30 gallons of malt liquor and 8.7 gallons of other alcohol inside along with a small amount of cocaine.

State law only allows people to transport 20 gallons of malt liquor or three gallons of any alcoholic beverages at a time without a permit or license for alcohol transportation.

Troopers Alan Pena Mejia and Matthew Kelley were on patrol in Boston, when they stopped a Toyota Sienna van for a motor vehicle violation around 12:30 a.m.

The driver was identified as Edwin Loyola-Delvalle, 49, of Waltham. Troopers believe he planned to sell the alcohol.

Loyola-Delvalle was arrested and charged with cocaine possession, unlawfully transportation of liquor and a motor vehicle lights violation.Wait a minute -- you mean this whole Russia thing wasn't a hoax after all?

That's what President Donald Trump could have posted to Twitter on Friday after the indictments of 13 Russian nationals and three Russian companies on charges of meddling in our nation's electoral process, including our 2016 presidential election. Their goal: help Trump and damage Hillary Clinton.

Had he felt the need to post something -- as he generally does -- that's the sort of thing he should have written. But of course he didn't. At all.

The Donald has long been calling the tale of Russian meddling a "hoax" that was concocted by Democrats who just couldn't comprehend how Clinton had lost an election she was supposed to win. He's also frequently described the probe as a "witch hunt."

The 37-page indictment, signed by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, lays out in detail the complex, sophisticated operation that sought to boost Trump's chances even as it damaged Clinton's prospects of getting to the White House.

On Friday, after the indictments were revealed, Trump jumped onto Twitter and wrote excitedly, his preferred mood on the social media site. His tweet:

"Russia started their anti-US campaign in 2014, long before I announced that I would run for President. The results of the election were not impacted. The Trump campaign did nothing wrong -- no collusion!"

Well, not exactly.

There is no way to know, of course, what effect the Russian operation had on America's voters. Perhaps it was only slight. Maybe it was much more than that. It may even have been sufficient to tilt the election to Trump.

That's a question that simply cannot be answered, but it's one that will hang over the Trump presidency -- perhaps forever. Our nation's 45th chief executive may eventually come with an asterisk.

Also, just because Friday's announcement, made by Assistant Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, made no mention of collusion in no way means that the Trump campaign is in the clear. Mueller's probe is likely far from over. And just as the indictments caught most everyone completely off guard, no one outside of Mueller himself, and perhaps a small handful who are closest to him, knows what's next.

It's entirely possible that the special counsel, who was appointed by Rosenstein in May, soon after Trump fired then-FBI Director James Comey, has been building a case that will demonstrate clear links between the Trump campaign and Russian operatives. The amount of greatly detailed information in Friday's indictment should worry anyone whose hands are even a little bit dirty.

Mueller's charge, after all, was to investigate Russian meddling, possible connections between members of Trump's camp and those efforts, and related matters. Since federal agents have records of internal communications among those working for the Russian "troll farm" that had been acting to boost Trump's candidacy, one might reasonably wonder what other information is in Mueller's hands.

Trump seems to believe that Friday's news somehow vindicates him, his campaign. Not so. Rather, it may in fact be only the beginning of a fascinating new chapter in the story of how Russia's preferred presidential candidate came to win our 2016 election.

Stay tuned.Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 20)  Benham Rise belongs to the Philippines.

President Rodrigo Duterte made this clear following reports that China has moved to name five features it discovered in the marine resource-rich body of water, which is located 135 miles off the coast of Aurora province and lies within the Philippines' exclusive economic zone, where the country has sole right to its resources.

Read: China names five undersea features in Benham Rise

He, however, is not taking any offense at China's move. He appeared to even defend it.

"Eh, alangan namang gawin nilang German, ang alam lang nila Chinese eh," Duterte said at the 20th founding anniversary celebration of the Chinese Filipino Business Club Inc. Monday, where Chinese Ambassador Zhao Jinhua was also present.

[Translation: Do you expect them to use German when all they know is Chinese?]

"Those are just directions na tapos na sila diyan. Of course, they do it in Chinese because it's their dialect. Alangan i-Tagalog mo 'yan?" he added.

[Translation: Those are just directions that they are finished there. Of course, they do it in Chinese because it's their dialect. Do you expect them to use Tagalog?]

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in press briefings last week that the Philippines will not recognize the Chinese names and will give its own names to the features.

Read: Gov't to give PH names to Benham Rise features named by China

"Bahala kayo kung ano binigay niyo diyan basta kami magtatalaga kami ng Pilipinong pangalan [You can name it whatever you want, we will assign a Philippine name]," Roque said on Thursday.

Duterte said he would insist on the country's rights over Benham Rise and also push for our claims in the West Philippine Sea.

"I would insist on the Philippine Rise because that is ours, period... In front of the Ambassador, I'd tell you, we will insist. But what would be the components of our demands and our insistence? Well, we can only be diplomatic. We can only be talking on friendly and civilized terms," he said.

But in insisting on our claims, the President stressed the need to maintain good relations with China.

He pointed out that China's military structures are not intended for the Philippines, which is even more reason for him not to cause tensions between the two nations.

"It's really intended against those who the Chinese think would destroy them and that is America. Wala tayong kasali diyan [We are not included in that]. Then why would I go there, bring my Navy, my soldiers, my police and everything only to be slaughtered? I will not commit the lives of the Filipinos only to die unnecessarily," he said.

President Duterte also said his decision to stop foreign-led research explorations in Benham Rise is only "for show."

"Let us make an agreement, it is only for show. No shots are fired. We can always talk," he said in his speech. "Like yours, you also sail there around the Scarborough, i never stopped you."

The President responded to claims that he is being too soft on China which has built structures and militarized in disputed areas.

As he called out the previous administration for practically letting China build structures, he said Chinese President Xi Jinping promised him that they will not build anything on Scarborough shoal.

The President seemed so pleased by this assurance that he made a joke  why not make the Philippines a province of China?

"They assured us they will not build anything there sa Scarborough shoal. Maniwala kayo kasi 'yan ang commitment sa akin ng China. Si Xi Jinping mismo nagsabi and he's a man of honor... Kaya nga, sabi ko, 'Why are you so sparing?' Gusto ninyo, gawain ninyo nalang kaming province... Fujian pati Philippine province of China. 'Di wala na tayo problema. Libre na lahat."

[Translation: They assured us they will not build anything sa Scarborough Shoal. Believe me because that was the commitment of China to me. Xi Jinping himself said it and he's a man of honor...that's why I said, 'Why are you so sparing?' If you want make us a province...Fujian and Philippine province of China. So we don't have a problem anymore. Everything will be free.]On immigration, Congress can lead, it can follow, or it can get out of the way.

Those ought to be the only choices, anyway.

It could lead by offering real solutions to real problems, which a small handful of senators, from both political parties, have been trying to do for years now. It could follow the instincts of the vast majority of the citizens, who want to see the so-called dreamers, those who were brought to our nation illegally as children, protected from deportation and offered a viable path to citizenship. Finally, Congress could get out of the way of those proffering solutions -- the elected officials and the people alike.

But Congress continues to choose none of the above.

Last week, the Senate failed -- and failed badly -- to do anything positive on immigration.

A bipartisan bill that had appeared promising came up six votes shy of the 60 needed to move the measure forward. A plan from the White House that sought to include not only protections for the dreamers and funds for a border wall with Mexico, but also significant changes to immigration policy more generally, received the support of barely more than one-third of senators.

And now the Senate will be in recess this week.

But not all hope has been lost.

Sens. Jeff Flake, an Arizona Republican, and Heidi Heitkamp, a North Dakota Democrat, are set to bring forward a plan that would provide a shorter-term solution. Their thinking: Since it's impossible to get a working majority behind any kind of a comprehensive solution at present, perhaps a smaller move would be more palatable to many members.

Their proposal would allot money that would pay for three years worth of border security, specifically for parts of a wall, in exchange for a three-year extension of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, the Obama-era program that protects the dreamers from deportation.

Give both sides a little something, and give the fanatics a whole lot less to whine about.

Those obsessed with a wall will get some parts of a wall. Those fearing the dreamers' future will see them protected. And those who simply cannot abide the thought of providing a path to citizenship for anyone, branding it "as amnesty" and refusing to think further about the matter, won't have that worry clouding the issue.

Is the Flake-Heitkamp plan less than ideal? Absolutely. It's merely a temporary fix when what would be best is a permanent solution. But with Congress so astonishingly dysfunctional these days, with the extremists in both parties controlling much of the debate, ideal solutions are for the theorists. And for another day.

Since Congress can't lead, can't follow, and can't get out of the way, a temporary fix must be seen as a whole lot better than nothing.A federal judge has ordered the U.S. Department of Energy to finalize standards for energy efficiency, in response to a lawsuit brought by a coalition of attorneys general, including Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey.

In December 2016, right before President Barack Obama left office, the Department of Energy adopted four standards for energy conservation. These standards set energy efficiency rules for certain appliances, such as commercial boilers and portable air conditioners.

Under federal rules, the department had to give the public 45 days to identify any errors, then the department had to submit the standards to the Office of the Federal Register for publication. At that point, they would become official rules.

However, a year later, under President Donald Trump, the department never submitted the standards to the Office of the Federal Register, so they never went into effect. The Department of Energy said it is still considering the standards.

Groups of environmental organizations as well as 13 attorneys general filed lawsuits asking a judge to require the department to publish the standards.

On Thursday, U.S. District Court Judge Vince Chhabria of the Northern District of California ruled that the Department of Energy is required to publish the energy standards.

Healey said the energy efficiency standards will save consumers $8.4 billion over 30 years, while reducing air pollution.

"This ruling means that (Energy Secretary) Rick Perry can no longer block these common sense, energy and money saving standards," Healey said in a statement. "This is a huge victory for our environment, consumers, and our growing clean energy economy."

The amount saved by energy consumers has been corrected.BOSTON- The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum hosted its sixth annual President's Day Family Festival on Monday, February 19, 2018.

Actors portraying Presidents John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Ulysses S. Grant as well as First Ladies Abigail Adams and Julia Grant made appearances.

Children were able to build log cabins, make Lincoln style hats, build origami ships and decorate their own White House rooms, along with other crafts.FORT MYERS, Fla. - The process to rename Yawkey Way outside Fenway Park is still in the works.

"We're still in conversations with the city so no new update right now but probably in the next couple weeks we'll have some news," Red Sox president Sam Kennedy told MassLive.com on Monday.

Kennedy said the process, which began in August, has taken so long because of the number of stakeholders involved from those involved with the Red Sox to other business owners on Yawkey Way to city officials.

While he didn't have a specific timeline, Kennedy did say he expects movement on the name change to happen closer to Opening Day than the All-Star break.

"There's a lot of property owners and publicly elected officials who have to endorse the petition (to change the name) as well and then you submit it (to the city)," Kennedy explained.

Once the team and nearby business owners come to an agreement, they will file a formal petition to the Public Improvement Commission in Boston's City Hall.

At that point, there will be a hearing to approve the proposal.

In August, team owner John Henry told the Boston Herald the club wanted to rename Yawkey Way because of former team owner Thomas Yawkey's racist history.

--

Follow MassLive.com Red Sox beat reporter @jcmccaffrey on Twitter. She can be reached by email at jmccaffr@masslive.com.Le ministere de la Sante a confirme le deces de deux patients a New ENT Hospital.

Ces deux mortalites qui ont eu lieu pendant la journee du 30 aout 2021 et elles ont ete attribuees a la Covid-19.The African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights (the Commission or ACHPR), through the Chairperson of its Working Group on Extractive Industries, Environment and Human Rights in Africa  Commissioner Solomon Ayele Dersso, and the Commissioner responsible for the promotion and protection of human and peoples rights in the Republic of Mauritius  Commissioner Hatem Essaiem, expresses deep concern about the recent oil spill in the Indian Ocean, on the reef near Pointe dEsny on the south east coast of the Mauritian island, which reportedly occurred when the Japanese bulk carrier, the MV Wakashio, which is believed to have been carrying about 4,000 tonnes of fuel oil, ran aground around July 25 and began to leak tonnes of diesel and oil into the ocean.

Articles similairesMetro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 20)  President Rodrigo Duterte appealed to lawmakers who summon government officials to legislative probes to treat them with respect.

The President made this appeal hours after his trusted aide, Secretary Bong Go, testified at the Senate's probe into an allegedly anomalous, 15.7-billion frigate deal, the biggest defense procurement in the country's history.

Read: Defense Department to pursue warship deal despite controversy

Duterte warned lawmakers against using demeaning language towards his people.

"With the utmost respect, please treat them as if they are really a general, a Cabinet member, an officer. Do not demean them before the public," he said addressing himself to lawmakers.

He added, "Because they are the ones very visible to the public. Tapos babuyin mo ng ganun? Sigaw-sigawan mo?"

[Translation: Because they are the ones very visible to the public. Then you will goad them like that? You will yell at them?]

The President said being a congressman or a senator does not give a person the authority to use foul language against others.

"Why don't you just investigate first. Rather on a mere gossip, pati [even a] piece of paper you call them, and they have to answer for hours grueling questions and all," he said.

If his men feel that they are being disrespected during the questioning, the President said he would allow them to walk out of ongoing investigations. He even promised to personally get them if they are detained.

"'Wag lang ninyong babuyin kasi my orders would be if you are degraded, if you are inflicted with the wounds of your dignity as a person, stand up and go out. If you are arrested, I will object. 'Pag hindi kayo binitawan, I will go to Congress even alone to get you," he said.

[Translation: Do not turn it into a mockery because my orders would be if you are degraded, if you are inflicted with the wounds of your dignity as a person, stand up and go out. If you are arrested, I will object. If they do not let you go, I will go to Congress even alone to get you.]

The President said he will not stop members of the Executive to attend Congressional investigations.

Reacting to Go's attendance of Monday's Senate probe, Duterte said he told his aide to tell the truth.

The President clarified that while he has urged people to send complaints on corrupt officials to his office, the Office of the President does not directly handle government procurements.

Siding with Lorenzana

In the case of the frigate deal, he said it was Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and former Navy Chief Vice Admiral Ronald Joseph Mercado who handled the case.

Navy officials had opposed how the deal's winning bidder, Hyundai Heavy Industries, was implementing the contract. They cited violations, including insertion of a questionable provision, as well as Hyundai's apparent bias for a South Korean sub-contractor.

Despite this, the Defense Department said it would continue with purchasing the ships.

Between the two officials, Duterte said he is siding with Lorenzana.

"I believe in Lorenzana. I believe in their honesty," he said.WASHINGTON

Feb. 19, 2018

Israel's

Papua New Guinea

Eva Platner

Israel's

Papua New Guinea

Yitshak Kreiss

January 26th through February 11th

Eva Platner

Papua New Guinea

Yitshak Kreiss

Zambia

Tanzania

Nigeria

Nepal

Haiti

Israel

Middle East

Israel

Tel-Aviv University

/PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer,national hospital, just completed its second successful humanitarian medical mission towhere their medical experts performed over 80 life-transforming eye surgeries that restored vision to the blind. More missions are scheduled to take place in April and May of this year.At the request of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs and in collaboration with Natan, an Israeli NGO, the Israel Center for Disaster Medicine and Humanitarian Response at Sheba Medical Center mobilized a team of Ophthalmology specialists headed by Dr., Vitreo-Retina specialist, Goldschleger Eye Institute, to perform eye surgeries, primarily cataract surgeries. Sheba Medical Center's Goldschleger Eye Institute islargest academic ophthalmic center, known for excellence in eye care, research and teaching."Humanitarianism is a core value for Sheba Medical Center, and this successful medical mission tois the latest example of how we export our expert resources to help as many people as possible all around the world," said Prof., Sheba Medical Center's Director General and former Israel Defense Forces Surgeon General.Sheba's medical experts performed the surgeries in an operating theater while sailing aboard an Australian Youth with a Mission (YWAM) ship that traveled the coast in effort to reach as many villages as possible. The team screened patients for cataract surgeries, most of whom were blind in both eyes caused by simple cataracts that had been neglected for years. The YWAM voyage, which took place fromincluded 120 people representing 20 nations. Two surgeons and three nurses from Sheba Medical Center were part of a ten-member Israeli team aboard the ship.Dr.provided Sheba Medical Center with frequent updates from the remote mission, such as this one: "It's been a hard but satisfying day onboard the YWAM medical ship. The day started with the post-cataract surgery patients from yesterday. They came early in the morning, and I can't wait to take off their eye patches and have them see once again for the first time in years. This was followed by about a dozen more cataract surgeries for blind people under difficult weather and sea conditions. Knowing that our time here is short and we have to make the most of it made us overcome the harsh conditions, and continue operating.""We're trying to make a difference, and I hope it's not just a drop in the big sea," reported Dr. Platner from. "It's been a hard and sometimes complicated mission, both physically and mentally, but we overcame the challenges and we helped a lot of people and their families see a brighter world once again."The Israel Center for Disaster Medicine and Humanitarian Response at Sheba Medical Center boasts highly experienced specialists who continue to lead the charge in preparing and responding to global humanitarian crises and emergencies.Professorhas made responding to humanitarian crises effectively with the highest standards of medical care and crisis leadership a core priority. Teams from Sheba have successfully participated in life-saving humanitarian missions inand elsewhere.Humanitarian aid has been a part of Sheba Medical Center's mission since its establishment in 1948. Over the years, Sheba Medical Center has initiated successful projects in all fields of medicine, and has collaborated with national and international organizations in underserved regions. These projects include improvement in patient care, bringing complex patients for treatment back to Sheba, and training local personnel on-site.About Sheba Medical Center Born together within 1948, Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer is the largest and most comprehensive medical center in the. Sheba is the only medical center inthat combines an acute care hospital and a rehabilitation hospital on one campus, and it is at the forefront of medical treatments, patient care, research and education. As a university teaching hospital affiliated with the Sackler School of Medicine at, it welcomes people from all over the world indiscriminately.SOURCE Sheba Medical CenterAdvertisement

Immediate Effects include

Decreased levels of carbon modioxide in the blood- within 24 hrs.

Improvement in small airway function

Improvement in blood viscosity

Decrease in LBW (low birth weight), preterm birth, premature rupture of membranes

Decrease in cardiovascular diseases

Marked reduction in stroke (3-5 years)

Improvement in oral health including cancer

Lung Cancer

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and

Improvement in male erectile dysfunction and female fertility

Dr. Shah has served as the President of the Federation of Obstetric and Gynaecological Societies of India (FOGSI), and is currently the Senior Vice President of the Indian Society of Assisted Reproduction.Second-hand exposure can endanger the health of the mother and the baby. It can result in premature aging of her eggs; smoking can also affect the hormone production and cause inflammatory changes in the fallopian tube.Men with long-term tobacco exposure can have erectile dysfunction, and damagedDNA in their sperm indirectly affecting a woman's reproductive function.Smoking can be one of the factors causing infertility . Smoking can also be a contributor to increased miscarriage rates or still birth. Hence, affecting the mother both physically and psychologically.It may also result in increased chances of a pregnancy that fails to attach to the womb but attaches to the tube (ectopic pregnancy) instead, which always results in the fetal death and can be potentially fatal for the mother.Exposure to second or third-hand smoking can have various adverse effects on the baby. There is an increased risk of miscarriage, pre-term delivery, and low birth weight babies, still birth in such situation.Infants that were exposed to second and third-hand smoking have increased frequency of cold, cough, wheeze and lung infections. They are also more susceptible to allergies compared to their non-smoking counter parts.These children also have learning difficulty and an altered attention, behavior, and ability to reason and understand.The health consequences of exposure to smoking does not end in infancy and childhood but continue into adulthood, making them more prone to cancer and heart diseases.Cessation of smoking definitely has benefitsIn the words of Dr.Duru Shah, "smoking causes infertility as it harms the eggs in women and sperms in men. Consumption of smokeless tobacco during pregnancy leads to premature deliveries and also prevents the babies from growing optimally whilst in the mothers' wombs".Smoking cessation can help avoid low birth weight, preterm birth, and premature breakage of the amniotic sac, and contributes to infant and maternal health.Source: MedindiaAdvertisement

Clive Ballard, Carol Banister, Zunera Khan, Jeffrey Cummings,et.al. Evaluation of the safety, tolerability, and efficacy of pimavanserin versus placebo in patients with Alzheimer's disease psychosis: a phase 2, randomised, placebo-controlled, double-blind study. The Lancet Neurology, 2018; 17 (3): 213 DOI: 10.1016/S1474-4422(18)30039-5

Currently, there is no approved safe and effective treatment for these distressing symptoms. In people with dementia, widely-used antipsychotics lead to sedation, falls and can double the speed at which brain function deteriorates.Their use increases the risk of falls and leads to 1,660 unnecessary strokes and 1,800 unnecessary deaths in the UK every year.Despite all of these negative effects they have very little benefit in improving psychosis in people with dementia Pimavanserin works differently to other antipsychotics, by blocking a very specific nerve receptor (THT2A) in the brain. Now, it has been found to effectively reduce symptoms of psychosis in people with Alzheimer's disease without the damaging effects of other antipsychotics.Clive Ballard, Professor of Age-Related Diseases at the University of Exeter Medical School, who led the research, said: "Psychosis is a particularly terrifying symptom of Alzheimer's disease. People may experience paranoia, or see, hear or smell things that are not there. It's distressing both for those experiencing the delusions and for their carers."It's particularly encouraging that most benefits was seen in those with the most severe psychotic symptom, as this group is most likely to be prescribed antipsychotics. We are talking about vulnerable elderly, frail people who are suffering terrifying symptoms, being sedated with current antipsychotics even though its well known that they cause terrible health issues and even death in people with dementia, and have very little benefit. We urgently need to do better by them, and our encouraging results provide hope. We're delighted that our results have led to a larger phase 3 clinical trial which is now ongoing."The findings are the result of a double-blind, placebo-controlled exploratory trial designed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of pimavanserin in 181 patients with Alzheimer's disease psychosis, with 90 of them given pimavanserin and 90 of them on a placebo. Its safety and efficacy in reducing psychotic symptoms in dementia is now being assessed in a large-scale clinical trial in the US.The results build on previous research that found pimavanserin was effective for people with dementia related to Parkinson's disease. Pimavanserin has been approved for use by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the US for this purpose, but has not yet been submitted for approval to the European equivalent, the European Medicines Agency.Previously, the Alzheimer's Society said it is "imperative" that it goes through European approval processes for Parkinson's Disease Dementia.Pimavanserin is currently the subject of a Phase III trial In the US to assess its safety in a wider group and to see if it can prevent relapse of psychotic symptoms in some of the most common forms of dementia.Source: EurekalertAdvertisement

Rural hospitals were included in the study if they were located in a community of about 10,000 residents or less and provided 24/7 emergency physician coverage and inpatient beds for acute admissions.Using data compiled by the Canadian Institute for Health Information, the researchers established that the mortality rate of stroke victims admitted to urban hospitals fluctuated between 14.1 and 16.8% in the five years covered by the study. In rural hospitals, this rate varied from 18.3 to 21%.The discrepancy between the two types of hospitals was observed every year and in every province surveyed.According to the researchers, this divide could be due to a lack of resources in rural hospitals. Their study reports that only 21% of such hospitals have an intensive care unit and scarcely 11% have a CT scanner."Not having this device on hand in the hospital deprives doctors of a tool that can help them quickly diagnose a stroke so they can immediately begin the recommended treatment," said Dr. Fleet.Rural hospital emergency rooms log over 3 million visits every year in Canada, and strokes are one of the main causes of death in the country."Some 20% of Canadians live in rural areas, and our study raises questions about the principles of our universal healthcare system, which stipulate that all Canadians, regardless of their place of residence, have an equal right to quality health care. It might be time to address the iniquities in health care in rural areas."It should be noted that Quebec hospitals were not included in the analyses because the province did not provide data to the Canadian Institute for Health Information for the study period.However, a previous study by Professor Fleet's team showed that Quebec's rural hospitals are well equipped compared to those in the rest of Canada: 74% of Quebec's rural hospitals have an intensive care unit and 78% have a CT scanner.Source: EurekalertJeremy Gray | jgray@al.com

I am a managing producer overseeing breaking news AL.com and I have been with the company since 2004. I'm a father of two and Bessemer native living in Alabaster. I am also a graduate of McAdory High School and the University of Montevallo. I can be reached at 601-2968 or jgray@al.com.DAYTONA BEACH, FL - Michigan drivers Brad Keselowski and Erik Jones showed muscle in the Daytona 500, but both crashed out in big wrecks on Sunday, Feb. 18.

Leading less than half of a lap, Austin Dillon took the No. 3 Chevrolet to victory lane after moving leader Aric Almirola out of the way entering the final corner to take the win.

The victory comes 20 years after the first and only victory for Dale Earnhardt and his No. 3 Chevrolet in Daytona 500 in 1998. It also is 17 years to the day after Earnhardt's death on the final lap in the 2001 running of the race.

"It is so awesome to take the No. 3 car back to victory lane 20 years (later)," Dillon said to FOX after the win. "This one's for (Earnhardt) Senior and all those Senior fans. I love you guys, we're going to keep kicking butt the rest of the year."

Dillon, 27, is the grandson of Richard Childress - the current owner of the No. 3 car and owner when Earnhardt drove the car. It's Dillon's second career NASCAR Cup Series win.

Surviving the carnage

Only 10 of the 40 drivers finished the race on the lead lap, as three major crashes took out a host of contenders. Jones, a Byron native, led 11 laps early before being taken out in the first big crash on Lap 61.

Driving the No. 20 Toyota, Jones finished 36th in his second Daytona 500 start. He was also involved in a crash in last year's race, finishing 39th.

Here's a replay. What do you guys think about Ricky Stenhouse Jr.'s aggressive move on Ryan Blaney?https://t.co/E09ziMKq3G  FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) February 18, 2018

Keselowski, a Rochester Hills native, was collected in a multi-car crash on Lap 103 while racing for second place with Chase Elliott.

"It's just too many moves and the cars aren't stable enough to take that," Keselowski told FOX after the crash. "We had an incredible car here for Speedweeks and it didn't come together."

Keselowski, who was the odds-on favorite to win the race, finished 32nd.

Danica Patrick, in her final career NASCAR race, was also collected in the wreck and would finish 35th. She'll race the Indianapolis 500 in May to cap off her motorsports career.

The third major wreck happened with two laps to go, as Ryan Blaney and Kurt Busch came together in Turn 1. This set up the final restart with Denny Hamlin and Almirola starting on the front row. Dillon came from fourth place on the final restart to win.

Blaney dominated the afternoon before getting caught up in the late crash, leading 118 of the 200 laps. He finished seventh.

Here's the unofficial running order from the 60th running of the Daytona 500.Our Blueberry Ambassadors were busy doing good in their community this week. Some Blueberry Moments centered around donating to the less-fortunate and others involved simpler acts of kindness like helping around the house or including new people in activities.

This week's Ambassadors included Julie Torsch's group from Westwood Heights McMonagle Elementary, Jennifer Bertuleit's group form Swartz Creek Morrish Elementary, Stephanie Rueckert's group from Linden Hyatt Elementary, Nicole Lafleur's group from Grand Blanc East Middle School, and Kelli Verran's group from Kearsley Fiedler Elementary.

Below is an excerpt of just some of the Blueberry Moments from each of the classes moments.

Being a Blueberry Ambassador means students are obligated to do at least three random acts of kindness -- to look for three ways to go out of their way to positively impact someone or the community. The actual number of good deeds is immeasurable actually much higher than that because each Blueberry Ambassador also asks those they help to pay it forward.

Through a partnership with MLive, the students' stories are published online. Below is an excerpt of just some of the Blueberry Moments. Check out all the teams' good work at http://topics.mlive.com/tag/flint-blueberries/.

To find out more about "I'm Concerned About the Blueberries," email BlueberryAmbassador@gmail.com.



Westwood Heights McMonagle Elementary, coordinator Julie Torsch

Dontray Lewis

Blueberry Moment 12005

One day, I was at home playing my games. I saw that my mom was struggling getting everything done. I asked her how I could help, so I did the dishes for her.

Taylor Arnold

Blueberry Moment 12008

In class one day, a classmate didn't have a snack during snack time. I had only an apple, but she looked like she needed my apple. I gave my apple to her and she was very happy. I didn't have a snack, but it made me feel good helping her.



Swartz Creek Morrish Elementary, coordinator Jennifer Bertuleit

Ali Callahan

Blueberry Moment 12211

I put pennies by Sandy, the horse ride, at Meijer because kids LOVE to ride Sandy but they can't if they don't have any pennies. Sometimes parents don't have any pennies in their wallet. So, I put pennies in a bag next to Sandy so parents would use the pennies for the ride and put a smile on their children's faces.

Kyla Moore

Blueberry Moment 12212

For my first Blueberry Moment, I decided to take cookies to the Swartz Creek Fire Department and told them that I am thankful for them and that I appreciate everything they do for our community. Their faces looked excited. I felt really happy doing that! Later on, they posted on Facebook that my random act of kindness had made their day.

Abbie Schultz

Blueberry Moment 12203

For one of my Blueberry Moments, my friend and I hosted a pajama day at our school. The students had to pay $1.00 to wear pajamas to school that day. The money we raised went to Toys for Tots. We chose Toys for Tots because some kids do not have toys and I wanted to raise money so these kids could have something under the tree on Christmas morning. At the end of the day, we raised over $400! It felt so good to raise this much money for this wonderful organization.



Linden Hyatt Elementary, coordinator Stephanie Rueckert

Hyatt's third grade Blueberry Ambassadors collected hot chocolate, chapstick, and

little candies and put them in a bag. We waited outside on a very cold morning for the bus drivers to arrive. We had painted signs and when the bus drivers pulled up, they were very surprised. Each bus driver got a little bag of goodies. They all had smiles on their faces, took lots of pictures and waved at us.

As Blueberry Ambassadors and Student Counselors, we do things with the kindergartners like cup stacking and bowling. Our gym teacher, Mrs. Wright asked for help with the kindergartners. We have to be as helpful as we can with the kindergarteners so, we did exercises with them and helped them knock down the pins when they bowled.



Grand Blanc East Middle School, coordinator Nicole Lafleur

Ava Himelhoch

Blueberry Moment 14522

I decided to go to my grandma's nursing home and spend time with her and her friends. I typically visit her once a month for brunch and we get to talk about her Wii bowling status. All of the people there have such a great attitude although they do get lonely very often. I decided to just talk to her and her friends. It was actually really nice and I felt like I was helping to fill up some of the afternoon boredom that they usually experience. I gave my grandma a Blueberry Card to show to all of her friends and told them about the Blueberries.



Kalyn Woznicki

Blueberry Moment 14473

My second Blueberry Moment was giving a homeless man outside some hand warmers and some food. My mom works in Detroit, and outside her work there is a homeless man that is always there. I really wanted to help him, so when my mom went to work, she gave him some hand warmers and some food to help him. Whenever we see him when we go to Detroit, we give him some food and talk to him.

Chloe Emmendorfer

Blueberry Moment 14578

For my second Blueberry Moment, I put an inspirational note in a library book for the next person to check it out. This made me feel good that someone else might find the note and smile. Also, I thought that maybe If the person who found the note might do the same and leave a note for someone else.



Kearsley Fiedler Elementary, coordinator Kelli Verran



See all the Blueberry Moments from Verran's group at Fiedler Elementary

Ambrielle Coughlin

Blueberry Moment 13790

My second Blueberry Moment was when new neighbors had moved in next door. It was in the fall and there was a ton of leaves in their yard. You couldn't even see their grass! I went over there, knocked on the door and I asked, "Is it ok if I rake your leaves for you?" He said, "Sure, how much money do you want for it?" I said, "I don't want any money." I ran back home to get a rake and went back over and I started working on it. Later that day, other neighbors noticed me doing something nice for him and asked him if he wanted more help. They worked together and cleaned the fence up. That day I worked for four hours or more. Even though it was hard, I felt really good. When it started to get dark, he said that I could go home and that he would finish it. The next day I got up early the next morning and worked some more. When I had all the leaves in piles my dad offered to come over with the tractor and trailer, I raked all the leaves up into the trailer and we dumped them in the back of our woods. When we finished, the neighbor offered me money again and I said no. Even though it was a lot of hard work and time, I felt so good and it made me do more nice things for people.

Jazzlena Swinger

One day, I went on a walk then I found a 20-dollar bill! I picked it up and thought, "What should I do with it?" I kept on walking when I thought of what to do with it. When I got home, I gave it to my mom and I said, "Mom can we go driving out and find someone in need to give the money to?" She said, "Sure." We went out right away. As we were driving, I saw someone and said, "Mom look I see someone that looks like they could use the money." We went to give the money to him and when he saw the money he was so excited!ANN ARBOR, MI - MLive.com's John Gonzalez and Amy Sherman stopped in the Ann Arbor area while on the hunt for Michigan's Best bakery, on Friday, Feb. 16.

The pair sampled treats from four area bakeries starting bright and early at the Dexter Bakery, 8101 Main St., Dexter, followed by Zingerman's Bakehouse, 3711 Plaza Drive, Ann Arbor, Pastry Peddler, 619 Packard, Ann Arbor, and ending at Ypsilanti standby Dom Bakeries, 1305 Washtenaw Ave, Ypsilanti.

Check out our photos from their stops around Washtenaw County and keep up with their travels by following along with John and Amy's search here.OAKLAND COUNTY, MI - Police are investigating a series of incidents on Sunday, Feb. 18 along southbound l-75 in Metro Detroit.

Authorities received reports between 3:10 p.m. and 3:25 p.m. Sunday of cars being hit struck by "projectiles" along southbound l-75 from Rochester Road down to the Davison freeway in Detroit.

.Between 3 10p and 3 25 on 2/18 the Metro North post received phone calls in reference to 3 vehicles struck by an unknown projectile from Rochester Rd to the Davidson on SB 75. It does not appear these projectiles are road debris. Evidence Techs are currently inspecting the cars. pic.twitter.com/xV8TRDFViz  MSP Metro Detroit (@mspmetrodet) February 18, 2018

Police have ruled out any type road debris and said there were no bullet holes found in any of the vehicles.

Police believe the damage might have been caused by a pellet gun.

The case is under investigation.KEEGO HARBOR, MI - A man found dead with three relatives in a suspected murder-suicide last week was a University of Michigan employee, officials confirmed Monday, Feb. 19.

Daniel Stuart, a data solutions architect for the University of Michigan's Center for Integrative Research in Critical Care, was killed with his son and daughter Friday, Feb. 16 at a home in the 300 block of Cass Lake Road in Keego Harbor.

Police believe 45-year-old Lauren Stuart shot and killed Daniel Stuart, 47, Steven Stuart, 27, and Bethany Stuart, 24, before turning the gun on herself.

Other news agencies have identified Lauren Stuart as mother of Bethany and Steven Stuart and wife to Daniel Stuart.

Keego Harbor is a community of about 3,000 located about 18 miles northwest of Detroit.

Daniel Stuart was employed in his role at UM for the last two years, university officials confirmed in a statement. The center works to develop new technologies to improve outcomes in critical illness and injury.

"Dan was an extraordinarily talented individual and highly valued team member who was making very important contributions," Dr. Kevin Ward, center executive director, said in the statement.

"Despite his immense talent, he was very humble and was always excited that his contributions may one day help save lives. He will be sorely missed."

Investigation into the motive in the killings remains ongoing.FLINT, MI - A Flint man was ordered to spend more than two decades in prison for his role in kidnapping a man over a $500 drug debt.

James M. Elbert III was sentenced to 21 years and eight months in prison Thursday, Feb. 15, before Flint U.S. District Judge Matthew F. Leitman in connection to the kidnapping of another man from his Flint Township apartment at gunpoint, gagging and tying him to a chair and holding him ransom over an outstanding drug debt.

James Martin Elbert, III

Elbert had previously pleaded guilty to charges of kidnapping and being a felon in possession of ammunition. Co-conspirator Steven J. Bridges Jr. also previously pleaded guilty to charges of kidnapping and brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a violent crime.

Because Elbert was deemed a career criminal and offender, he faced a mandatory minimum sentence of at least 15 years in prison, according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Justice. Elbert also was sentenced to three years of federal supervised release when he gets out of prison.

"We are focusing on the most violent offenders in the Flint area in order to protect our citizens from violent criminal predators," Interim U.S. Attorney Matthew Schneider said in a statement. "Armed kidnapping is one of the most serious violations of public safety, making people vulnerable in their own neighborhoods. We will bring strong federal penalties against those who prey on citizens all across the Eastern District of Michigan."

Both Bridges and Elbert admitted in their plea agreements to kidnapping and holding for ransom a man identified only as "J.H." in court documents.

According to court records, Elbert, a drug dealer, traveled from Arkansas to Flint Township to collect a drug debt from 58-year-old J.H. at the Flint Heights Terrace apartment building on March 31.

Bridges and Elbert went to J.H.'s home several times during the day demanding payment of the $500 debt, court records said.

Elbert threatened to kill J.H. if he did not have the money in an hour, Bridges admitted.

Both Elbert and Bridges went to J.H.'s home in Flint Township and demanded payment of the debt, according to Elbert's plea.

The pair then took J.H. to a home on Barney Avenue on Flint's west side. Bridges placed a plastic bag over the man's head, holding him at gunpoint while Elbert retrieved tape and a rope, Elbert's plea stated.

From there, the suspects transported their hostage across town to an abandoned home on Dwight Avenue, according to court records.

In the basement of the abandoned home, Elbert then admitted to tying J.H.'s arms, legs and midsection to a chair.

The suspects put a sock in J.H.'s mouth and wrapped tape around his head to secure the sock, Bridges pleaded.

Multiple calls were made by Elbert to J.H.'s family members threatening to kill J.H. if the drug debt wasn't paid, according to court records.

Flint Township police officers were able to find the victim in the basement of the vacant home.

Elbert and Bridges were initially charged in Genesee District Court with kidnapping, extortion, felonious assault, carrying a concealed weapon and felony firearm. Those charges were dismissed without prejudice because of the federal investigation.

Elbert was previously convicted on drug and gun charges in relation to his role in the Howard Boys street gang, which prosecutors said terrorized the south side of Flint.

Bridges is scheduled to be sentenced in Flint U.S. District Court on Feb. 26.MT. MORRIS TWP, MI - Police in Mt. Morris said there were no specific threat or a hit list in connection with an alleged school shooting threat at E.A. Johnson High School.

The Mt. Morris Police Department issued a statement Sunday, Feb. 18 after the district issued a letter Friday that noted the alleged threat was found not to be credible but that it was cooperating with law enforcement.

An investigation by police has determined there was no gun witnessed at the school at any time, threats that were heard "were vague and unspecific," no indication or evidence of "any type of "hit list"" or specific threats against specific students or staff were discovered, per the statement.

Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton previously said authorities are investigating the incident, but no charges have been issued.

A 15-year-old Bentley High School student was charged last week charged as a juvenile with a single count of making a false report or threat of terrorism, and is currently being held at the Genesee Regional Detention Facility after telling classmates he'd blow up the school if he could.

The alleged threats came days after a 19-year-old gunman opened fire Feb. 14 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Broward County, Florida, killing 17 people.

A pair of Mt. Morris high school freshman were charged in November 2017 in Genesee County juvenile court with carrying a concealed weapon in a weapon-free school zone and possession of a handgun under the age of 18 after they alleged brought a handgun into the building on a dare.

While Mt. Morris police labeled the recent threat "very serious" and noted it's taken "very seriously" when threats are made, they added "there is no reason to believe that anyone was in danger at any time based on the statements and evidence collected thus far."

A school resource officer has a presence at Mt. Morris schools, police said, adding the officer should be made immediately aware of any future threats.

"While we understand the frustration that some parents may be feeling regarding this incident, we can assure you that these types of things are not only handled swiftly and seriously but extremely thoroughly," per the statement, with police encouraging all students to return to school as normal.GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- A Kent County Sheriff's reserve deputy plans to run across Michigan to honor fallen officers, WXMI-TV reported.

Reserve Deputy Matt Garbarino of the department's traffic squad will begin his run June 4 at the fallen officer memorial in Pontiac and end at a memorial at the Ottawa County Sheriff's Office.

"We're really proud to support Deputy Garbarino in his efforts here," Kent County Sheriff's Sgt. Joel Roon told WXMI-TV. "The dangers of law enforcement are often bought into light when an officer is killed in the line of duty. So we think it's important to support Matt as he brings awareness to this issue."

Garbarino is running the 160-mile trek to raise money for the Concern of Police Survivors charity that supports the families of fallen officers, according to WXMI-TV. He plans to run about 40 miles each day to finish by June 7.

WOOD-TV reported Garbarino also plans to carry the Thin Blue Line American Flag, which represents solidarity with police. The flag is meant to honor those who have died in the line of duty.

"The run won't be like racing something," Garbarino told WOOD-TV. "I'm not running for a time, I'm running for a purposeGRAND RAPIDS, MI - A man in prison for accosting children is facing a federal charges for allegedly convincing two boys - one in Minnesota, the other in Wisconsin - to send nude photos over the internet.

The federal charges date to 2014 in Van Buren County, according to a recently unsealed indictment in U.S. District Court.

James Theodore Pyle is serving two years, eight months to four years in prison for accosting children for immoral purposes in Allegan County. The offense occurred in 2009 but Pyle, 26, wasn't sentenced until Jan. 28, 2015.

The indictment said that on Jan. 11, 2014, he used the internet, including social media and messaging platforms, to convince a 15-year-old boy in Wisconsin to send an image or images exhibiting his genitals.

Then, between April 15, 2014, and June 17, 2014, he convinced a 12-year-old Minnesota boy to send similar images of himself, the indictment said.

Pyle is facing two charges of sexual exploitation of a minor, which carries a penalty of at least 15 years in prison, and up to 30 upon conviction

He is also charged with enticement of a child, punishable by five years to life; and receipt of child pornography, punishable by five to 20 years in prison.

Records showed that investigators used a subpoena and search warrant for Facebook documents, including those of an alias he allegedly used. He has provided investigators a statement, records said.GRAND RAPIDS, MI - It was a night of announcements, listening and discussion at the watch party for a follow-up segment on "A Nation Divided" by CBS "60 Minutes" and contributor Oprah Winfrey.

Families and friends were invited on Sunday, Feb. 18 to enjoy food and drinks while viewing the follow-up segment on the 14 West Michigan residents, who participated in a panel of politically split people with Winfrey.

Of 'The 14,' the name Winfrey's team gave them, only eight were able to attend the watch party. However, three of those panelists had news to share.

Lauren Taylor announced she would be running for 86th district state representative.

She said a lot of 'The 14' were inspired after participating in the panel and the next step was activism.

"Part of being in this group is to find the little bits where we have common ground," she said. "And where we thought it was just a little bit, we find more and more that as human beings, as neighbors, friends, and as family, the human experience unites us all."

She said it was unusual to announce running for a position in front of a mixed group.

They all care about each other, and that is the most American of the values, she said.

Panelist Wesley Watson said the group represented the people of the country.

"The overall goal is to empower each other," he said. "Empowerment not for democrats, empowerment not just for Republicans, but empowerment for all."

Watson announced he is running for an open Forest Hills Public Schools school board seat.

Although he had been thinking about running before, he said he would not have taken this next step so soon if it were not for 'The 14.'

"This is the right place and the right time," he said.

She is not running for a position, but panelist Kim Harris did announce she is writing a book.

She said she is talking to CBS about it and it will take a few years to get done.

Harris said the watch party was for bringing friends and family together to dialogue about issues pertinent to the individuals there.

This was so they could better understand why people believe what they do, she said.

She said she wanted people to put on their listening ears and really grab some of the conversation so afterward they could decipher and reflect where they stand on.

She said the group has grown closer since September when they met, although some have grown closer than others.

Some people have offered to let her stay in their homes so she does not have to travel back to Zeeland after a late night in Grand Rapids, she said.

She said she does not want to make it sound like it is all nice though, and said none of the African American discussion made it into final segments of the show.

We still need to talk about segregation, she said.

During the broadcast of the segment, there were laughs and cheers as the panelists participated in a workout session and voiced their opinions.

The group disagreed on Donald Trump's meaning in comments about other countries and almost broke apart during the #MeToo movement, and there were some heated debates broadcast.

"It's over! Woohoo!" One of the panelists yelled, raising her glass in the air after the segment was finished.

Watson said the segment was great and it was amazing how "60 Minutes" could condense two weeks down to less than 20 minutes.

He said the segment portrayed the panelists accurately and that is how they are.

"We're the voices of the people right now," he said.GRAND RAPIDS, MI - A Grand Rapids man spent 24 days in jail after Northern Michigan drug cops mistakenly obtained an arrest warrant in his name rather than that of a similarly named suspect, a lawsuit said.

Benjamin Lopez told police he wasn't involved in the drug case - and hasn't ever been to Traverse City, where the alleged crime occurred, his attorney, Joshua Blanchard, told MLive and The Grand Rapids Press.

"He was saying, 'You got the wrong guy.'"

Lopez, held on $100,000 bond, was eventually released. He lost his job while locked up.

"It was a horrible situation for my client to go through," Blanchard said. "Being locked up for something you didn't do, I think, is a special kind of harm."

Kalkaska County Sheriff Pat Whiteford, who hasn't yet been served with the lawsuit, said he wanted to review the document before commenting. One of his deputies, assigned to Traverse Narcotics Team, or TNT, and a state police sergeant, are named as defendants with Kalkaska County

Whiteford is also on the TNT Board of Directors, the lawsuit said.

Blanchard said he does not know why police arrested his client. The two men have different, yet similar, names, and different dates of birth.

The lawsuit said Deputy Regan Foerster was using a confidential informant on June 22 when the informant gave $240 for heroin to a man identified in the lawsuit as Benny Lopez.

Foerster was present for the exchange - in the 500 block of Eighth Street - but could not fully see the suspect because of low lighting, the lawsuit said.

Foerster followed the suspect to the parking lot of Traverse Area District Library, where the suspect approached two people in a black Cadillac Escalade. The deputy watched the suspect leave.

The man identified as Benny Lopez then contacted the confidential informant before they met in the Family Video parking lot off Eighth Street to give the informant one gram of heroin, the lawsuit said.

Police then stopped the Escalade.

Benjamin Lopez, his attorney said, had no connection to any of those involved.

The drug investigation was on hold until Sept. 22, when Sgt. Randy Graham reviewed Foerster's case and encouraged Foerster to obtain a warrant, the lawsuit said.

Foerster obtained a warrant from Grand Traverse County prosecutors.

The lawsuit said he could not have positively identified Benjamin Lopez because of lighting conditions but swore out a complaint that he saw him sell the heroin.

Grand Rapids police, acting on the warrant, arrested Benjamin Lopez on Oct. 15. He was held in the Kent County Correctional Facility until police in Northern Michigan picked him up.

Blanchard said that during the drive, his client "protested his innocence and stated that he had never been to Traverse City."

After Jo Meyers, a state Department of Corrections worker, met with Benjamin Lopez in the Grand Traverse County Jail, she "contacted Defendant and expressed a belief that (Benjamin Lopez) was misidentified in the criminal case."

She told Foerster that a man named Benny Lopez lived in the Grand Traverse County area and was on parole, the lawsuit said.

On Nov. 1, Foerster talked to a prosecutor about the mistaken identity, and said he was unable to see the drug suspect's physical characteristics to make a positive identification, the lawsuit said.

The prosecutor determined charges should be dropped.

Blanchard said that Foerster "took no steps ... to correct the false statement he made in order to obtain an arrest warrant for Plaintiff."

Christopher Forsyth, an assistant prosecutor, moved to dismiss the case on Nov. 6. Benjamin Lopez left jail the next day after a judge granted the motion.

"Defendant Foerster intentionally and maliciously instituted criminal charges for Plaintiff without probable cause, by requesting a warrant without probable cause which contained false information and omitted relevant and material information," Blanchard wrote in the lawsuit.

Benny Lopez has not been charged in the drug case, court records showed.SHEBOYGAN, WI - The United States Coast Guard rescued a windsurfer from Lake Michigan after ice that had been blown close to shore hindered his return to land.

The incident occurred at 3:05 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 18 when Coast Guard Station Sheboygan received a call from a good Samaritan who described a windsurfer in distress about 150 yards off the south pierhead in Sheboygan, Wisc.

An ice rescue team of four members was dispatched to rescue the stranded windsurfer and they arrived on scene within 15 minutes. The windsurfer, a 34-year-old Sheboygan resident, will not be identified.

A member of the ice rescue team, Petty Officer 3rd class Brian Rodrigues, entered the water dressed in an immersion suit while tethered to a rock onshore. Rodrigues quickly reached the windsurfer and was able to bring him onto solid ice and pull him safely back to shore.

The man was wearing a wet suit and trying to make his way back to shore for about 45 minutes. He was assessed by local EMS and released at the scene.JACKSON, MI - About thirty people on Sunday walked through Jackson calling for the resignation of Jackson County Sheriff Steven Rand, the subject of a pending lawsuit alleging he is a "multifaceted bigot."

"Racist, sexist, anti-gay, Sheriff Rand must go away," they chanted.

Men and women held signs, reading "Hate has no home here" and "Not my sheriff, Shame!" They stopped in front of the sheriff's office on Wesley Street, usually empty of command staff on weekends, and called for the sheriff to come down from his third-floor office. Neither the sheriff nor any of his representatives made an appearance.

"For any person this is immoral, but for an elected official who by their very position is supposed to be someone we trust, this is intolerable," Jackson activist Karyl Deems Baker, on the board of the Jackson Pride Center, told the crowd.

Participants responded with cheers.

"No more old boys club. No more locker room talk, no more men against women, no more hate against love," said Deems Baker, introduced by fellow activist and event organizer Nikki Joly of Jackson, who called the involved group "Citizens Against Hate."

When reached Sunday, Rand said he appreciated that the event was peaceful and did not necessitate any police response.

"I respect the protesters First Amendment right to march and to assemble and to express their opinions," he said and made little further comment.

Undersheriff Chris Kuhl also issued a statement, sent by email.

"I appreciate the peaceful and thoughtful nature of today's march ...Peaceful protest and demonstration is one of the great freedoms that all citizens enjoy and is at the very bedrock of our democracy," he wrote.

"I look forward to reaching out to a number of groups, citizens and community members in the coming weeks and months to begin to restore our relationship with the community."

He asked for support for the men and women of the department. They are the face of the organization. "These people are the ones who carry out its great works every day," Kuhl wrote.

A lawsuit filed last week on behalf of sheriff's Lt. Tommy Schuette alleges Rand is a "multifaceted bigot," targeting women, blacks, gays and others. It contends Rand created a hostile work environment for Schuette, harassing him for his hearing impairment, and the county retaliated against Schuette because he reported and opposed Rand's conduct. Rand has declined to comment on the lawsuit.

Schuette's lawyer, Jim Fett, released recordings of conversations Schuette had with the sheriff and others. Rand is heard calling a female judge a "scatter-brained c---" and talking about creating a pornographic film of a murder with a court employee. ""Shoot her right in the back of the head when I (inaudible) my load," he says.

Outside Rand's office, Joly spoke into a microphone. "What do we want?" he said.

"Rand's resignation," protesters responded.

When? "Yesterday."

It is not OK to refer to a judge by such a term, Joly said. It is not OK for someone with a disability to be "humiliated and talked down to," he said.

"It ain't right," one man yelled.

Valerie Cochran-Toops, 52, of the Jackson Human Relations Commission carried a bouquet of silk flowers, distributed her business card and shouted toward the windows on the second floor.

She said she has been in meetings with the sheriff to address community-police relations. She believed he was "wholeheartedly into making the situation here better."

"Not the same person that is in that recording," she said of her former impressions of Rand.

She was shocked by the words he used in the taped conversations, from a man charged with upholding the constitution, with serving the county.

"He should save us the agony of going through this anymore and resign."

James Grant, 29, of Jackson brought his 4-year-old son to the march. He explained to the boy that the sheriff wants to protect people, but also jests about hurting people, and the boy, in a carrier on his father's back, wanted to attend.

"He jokes about murder," another man shouted during the speeches.

Callie Crandall, 44, also of Jackson, said she had never heard a police officer speak in such a manner.

"It's disgraceful," she said.

"These are not the people I want running my city and county."KALAMAZOO, MI -- A Tuesday event is planned to help people address life issues that stop them from finding good jobs and then connect with prospective employers.

The Career Life Expo, scheduled for Feb. 20 at Wings Event Center, will feature service agencies to help job seekers with issues that get in the way of working and connect them with any of more than 80 area employers.

"Southwestern Michigan has companies that are hiring and qualified people eager to work," Eric Stewart, administrator for workforce development agency Michigan Works Southwest, stated in a press release. "A run-of-the-mill job fair can connect those two groups. What makes the Career Life Expo different is its ability to help people address other issues that keep them from being able to work."

Those issues include the lack of transportation, lack of affordable child care, lack of stable housing and lack of experience in interviewing, according to Michigan Works and the United Way of the Battle Creek and Kalamazoo Region.

Matt Lynn, vice president of community impact for the United Way, said linking employment and support services is vital to help people become financially stable.

"Nearly 39 percent of households in our region are what we call ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed)," Lynn said. "These are hard-working people who have jobs and yet struggle to make ends meet. Many are already in poverty. One car repair or one sick child can cause them to miss work, get behind on rent or utilities, maybe even cost their employment."

He said the United Way and Michigan Works want to help them resolve those issues.

'We also want to help local businesses fill job openings so they can be successful," she said. "That strengthens the local economy and benefits everyone."

The Career Life Expo is scheduled for noon to 4 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 20, at Wings Event Center, 3600 Vanrick Drive in Kalamazoo. More than 80 area employers are expected to conduct interviews for hundreds of job openings.

At the event, jobs seekers are to be greeted by representatives from several area service agencies to help with everything from building their resumes to finding affordable child care.

The first hour of the Expo will be a VIP session for anyone who has served in the armed forces and for anyone with a disability. All job seekers will be welcomed starting at 1 p.m.

Free transportation is available from the Michigan Works service centers in Kalamazoo and Battle Creek. They are at:

-1601 S. Burdick St. in Kalamazoo -- with pickup at 12:30 p.m. and drop-off 3:15 p.m.

-200 W. Van Buren St. in Battle Creek - with pickup at 11:30 a.m. and drop-off 4:15 p.m.

The event is being sponsored by the United Way, Michigan Works Southwest, Wings Event Center, AmeriFirst Home Mortgage, and Midwest Communications.

Questions about the Expo may be directed to Michigan Works at 269-383-2536 or careerservices@miworkssw.org. Updates on the event may be found at: www.changethestory.org/category/blog/career-life-expo.KALAMAZOO, MI -- Officials are working toward a deal to sell a downtown parking lot and make room for a $60 million, mixed-use building.

Monday, the Downtown Development Authority approved a purchase agreement with Catalyst Development Co. LLC, which starts the process of developing a portion of Lot 9 across from the Arcadia Creek Festival Site. The deal is contingent on the support of the Kalamazoo City Commission and the city's building authority, but would bring more parking, office use and housing options to a growing area of downtown.

The city-owned site is the 1.362-acre portion of a surface lot located at the southwest corner of Water Street and Edwards Street. In its place, a 300,000-square-foot building would include 50 apartment units and Class A office space.

Downtown Kalamazoo Inc. Executive Director Andrew Haan said he was shown preliminary drawings of the project. He said Catalyst's design team has been involved in the Imagine Kalamazoo 2025 master plan process, and their ideas align with the city's vision for downtown.

"They really hit the mark as far as engaging with the street and the improvements we're talking about in regard to snowmelt (sidewalk systems), street trees and furniture," Haan said. "I think it's a really dynamic project .. I'm confident people will be impressed."

Catalyst would pay $714,369 for the east portion of lot, under a purchase agreement which needs final approval from the City Commission. Haan said it could come before the commission in March.

Five of the apartment units would be affordable for people who are earning less than 60 percent of the city's median income.

Assistant City Manager Jerome Kisscorni said the inclusion of affordable housing is "key" for the downtown. Studies commissioned by the DDA and city have shown a need for workforce housing downtown, but affordable housing is especially scare in Kalamazoo as a whole.

"It hits one of those sweet spots for the city," he said.

Bill Johnston is chairman of Greenleaf Companies, which includes Catalyst Development Company, LLC. Johnston is one of two donors who pledged $70.3 million to the city of Kalamazoo to create the Foundation for Excellence.

Approximately 85 of the 256 available parking spaces would remain owned by the city. However, Catalyst plans to increase the overall total to 315 spots.

Revenue will be missed from the loss of city-owned parking spaces, but Haan said each person living in the building is expected to spend $15,000 year within a half-mile of their residence.

The site is flanked on all sides by the Arcadia Creek Festival Place, Kalamazoo Beer Exchange, Kalamazoo Valley Community College, antique stores, banks, and is close proximity to bars and eateries.

"We anticipate a pretty big positive impact to downtown," Haan said. "It continues to speak to the market that this size of investment is planned to come."

The developer has indicated that it wishes to complete construction 24 months after closing, Haan said, an aggressive timeline.

The site would be put on the tax roll on Jan. 1 of the year following the closing date. Under city ownership the property is tax-exempt.

"It's been in the hopper for most of the last year," Haan said. "We're excited."MATTAWAN, MI - It may be weeks before MPI Research workers and the wider community know what changes will result from a pending buyout by Charles River Laboratories International Inc.

Charles River announced Tuesday, Feb. 13, that it has entered a definitive agreement to buy MPI for $800 million in cash.

"We are very excited about the pending acquisition of MPI," Charles River spokswoman Amy Cianciaruso said late last week. But she would not say what the buyout may mean to MPI workers here.

MPI is a privately held company that is contracted by pharmaceutical companies, biotech firms, researchers and others nationwide to do early-stage safety and efficacy studies on pharmaceuticals, chemicals and devices.

Located at 54943 N. Main St. in Mattawan, it has about 1,300 local employees. It had revenue of about $240 million in 2017.

Asked if the acquisition will mean more jobs coming here or job losses, Cianciaruso said such things will not be publicly disclosed until the transaction is completed, and that is not expected until the second quarter of this year.

She referred to a press release issued by Charles River last week that stated MPI "is an exceptional strategic fit for Charles River because it incorporates the key attributes we require in an acquisition: access to growing end markets, high-quality services, scientific expertise and complementary capabilities."

"We don't know anything about it," Mattawan Village Administrator/Clerk Terri McLean said last week of the transaction.

She said the village had not been officially notified by MPI or Charles River about it. And she said she does not know what it will mean in terms of employment.

She said MPI is Mattawan's largest employer and, "Anytime there is a sale like that, you become concerned because you don't know what their intentions are."

She said she would like to meet with the company to learn about what it wants to do in the future, but no meeting has been planned.

FierceBiotech.com noted that Charles River has said the acquisition will expand its testing services in toxicology, including ophthalmology, juvenile toxicity, molecular biology and medical device testing.

Charles River's stated that MPI's 1 million-square-foot, single-site facility in Michigan "will provide needed capacity to meet current and future demand."

Charles River is a contract research company that is based in Wilmington, Mass. It does early-stage drug discovery research and provides non-clinical development, and safety testing services. It is a publicly traded company that has about 11,000 employees in 16 countries and reported revenues of more than $1.86 billion for 2017.

Charles River has no other operations in Michigan but for more than 40 years had operated a facility at 9801 Shaver Road in Portage that produced research models used in biomedical research. Those were primarily mice and rats that are used in research, Cianciaruso said. The facility was closed late in 2014, resulting in a loss of about 84 jobs.

The company has been in an acquisition mode. In January, it announced plans to pay $20 million to buy KWS BioTest Ltd., a contract research organization based in the United Kingdom. It specializes in the testing services for infectious diseases, inflammatory disorders and cancer. It is expected to enhance Charles River's ability to do discovery work in such research areas as oncology and immunology.MOUNT PLEASANT, MI -- Some out-of-state students who attend Central Michigan University will have the opportunity to pay the same tuition rate as in-state students beginning fall semester 2018.

The CMU Board of Trustees approved a motion Thursday, Feb. 15 to authorize undergraduate, graduate and doctoral students who are U.S. residents to qualify for in-state tuition rates.

Steven Johnson, vice president for enrollment and student services for CMU, said the move is intended to draw interest from potential students in neighboring states such Illinois, Ohio and Indiana.

Johnson said 85 percent of out-of-state students already qualify for the President's Award, a scholarship that allows them to get the in-state tuition rate, because they have a 2.75 GPA or higher.

"This is just an easier way for us to have a connection with, have a conversation with prospective students in surrounding states," Johnson said.

CMU's tuition rate for the 2017-2018 school year for undergraduate in-state students is $12,510 per year based on a 15-credit-hour per semester load, according to CMU's website.

For non-Michigan residents, the tuition is $23,670 per year based on the same credit load.

Room and board are another $9,736 per year.

Johnson said other institutions are following suit by looking for ways to expand recruitment efforts.

One recent example is Western Michigan University lowering tuition for undergraduates from outside of Michigan. The change took effect during WMU's summer I session in May 2017, cutting tuition costs from $26,851 to $14,366.

Johnson said the 2018-2019 tuition rates for CMU have not been fully discussed.Haiti Telecoms Market Report 2018: Analysis and Forecasts (2005-2025) - Trends, Drivers and Challenges - ResearchAndMarkets.com

The "2018 Haiti Telecom Market Analysis and Outlook Report" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The research work strategically analyzes Haiti telecommunications market, examining the recent trends, drivers and challenges across diverse dimensions such as growth, demand, pricing, competition, consumer behavior, infrastructure, policies and others.

The study also provides in-depth analysis of segment wise telecommunications including mobile, fixed line and fixed broadband services. The number of subscribers and penetration rates are forecast for each of the sub-segment including mobile, fixed landline and broadband segments from 2005 to 2025.

Haiti telecommunication revenues, investment and infrastructure details are also covered in the repor. Further, emerging business environment in Haiti together with comparison to five competitive benchmark countries are included, to assess the country's prominence on regional front.

On the competitive analysis front, leading companies along with their market shares are identified. Further, key business strategies of market leaders, their tariffs and SWOT profiles are included. In addition, the research work forecasts the demographic and economic drivers of Haiti that enable strategy planners to formulate their pricing and branding strategies.

The report also includes latest telecommunication market developments, mergers, acquisitions and launches, spectrum availability, tenders and other aspects are analyzed.

Key Topics Covered:

Executive Summary Haiti Telecom Market - Strategic Analysis Haiti Telecom Market Outlook Haiti Telecom Competitive Environment Haiti Telecom Industry Benchmarking Haiti Economic Outlook to 2025 Haiti Demographic Outlook to 2025 Competitor Analysis Recent Industry Developments

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/svckb7/haiti_telecoms?w=4

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180219005518/en/Sudan Telecoms Market Analysis and Outlook Report 2018 - Revenues, Investment and Infrastructure Details - ResearchAndMarkets.com

The "2018 Sudan Telecom Market Analysis and Outlook Report" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The research work strategically analyzes Sudan telecommunications market, examining the recent trends, drivers and challenges across diverse dimensions such as growth, demand, pricing, competition, consumer behaviour, infrastructure, policies and others.

The study also provides in-depth analysis of segment wise telecommunications including mobile, fixed line and fixed broadband services. The number of subscribers and penetration rates are forecast for each of the sub-segment including mobile, fixed landline and broadband segments from 2005 to 2025.

Sudan telecommunication revenues, investment and infrastructure details are also covered in the repot. Further, emerging business environment in Sudan together with comparison to five competitive benchmark countries are included, to assess the country's prominence on regional front.

On the competitive analysis front, leading companies along with their market shares are identified. Further, key business strategies of market leaders, their tariffs and SWOT profiles are included. In addition, the research work forecasts the demographic and economic drivers of Sudan that enable strategy planners to formulate their pricing and branding strategies.

The report also includes latest telecommunication market developments, mergers, acquisitions and launches, spectrum availability, tenders and other aspects are analyzed.

Key Topics Covered:

Executive Summary Sudan Telecom Market-Strategic Analysis Sudan Telecom Market Outlook Sudan Telecom Competitive Environment Sudan Telecom Industry Benchmarking Sudan Economic Outlook to 2025 Sudan Demographic Outlook to 2025 Competitor Analysis Recent Industry Developments

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/kcmpbg/sudan_telecoms?w=4

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180219005494/en/Aircel will soon file for bankruptcy at the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), according to a report in The Economic Times. The telecom company, which has a Rs 15,500 crore debt, has dissolved its board.

Aircel had earlier proposed a cash infusion but did not go ahead with the plan, a source told the newspaper. The company declined to comment on the development.

State Bank of India, the head of the group of lenders, didn't respond to queries.

A source told the newspaper Economic Times that the decision was triggered by the Reserve Bank of India scrapping all debt revamp schemes in favour of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code.

Banks cannot restructure Aircel without provisioning for its debt since the company has not made payments since September. The application to the NCLT will be submitted within a few days.

The lenders are scheduled to meet on Tuesday to decide on appointments and the future course of action, the report said.

Earlier this month, Idea Cellular had suspended interconnect services with Aircel over non-payment of dues.

Aircel, owned by Malaysian company Maxis, has been in debt since its failed merger with Reliance Communications' wireless business. The merger had failed due to regulatory hurdles and the Supreme Court preventing sale of Aircel's spectrum.

American Tower Corp and GTL Infrastructure last month moved the Delhi High Court to block Aircel's strategic debt restructuring.

Last month, Economic Times reported that Aircel had entered into a strategic debt restructuring programme after lenders agreed to convert debt into equity.Bull's Eye, CNBC-TV18's popular game show, where market experts come together to dish out trading strategies for you to make your week more exciting and compete with each other to see whose portfolio is the strongest.

Remember these are midcap ideas not just for the day, but stocks that look attractive in the medium-term as well.

This week, Ruchit Jain, Rakesh Bansal and Vishal Malkan battle it out for top honours.

Below their top stock picks and analysis:

Ruchit Jain of Angel Broking

Buy FDC with stop loss at Rs 281 and target at Rs 298

Buy Max Ventures with a stop loss at Rs 79 and target at Rs 88

Sell Dewan Housing Finance with a stop loss at Rs 565 and target of Rs 510

Sell Kaveri Seed with a stop loss at Rs 470.5 and target at Rs 440

Rakesh Bansal of RK GLobal

Sell Bata India with a stop loss at Rs 730 and target of Rs 667

Sell Dish TV with a stop loss at Rs 76 and target of Rs 67

Sell DLF with a stop loss at Rs 238 and target at Rs 208

Sell Havells India with a stop loss at Rs 526 and target at Rs 474

Vishal Malkan of malkansview.com

Buy Ambuja Cements with stop loss of Rs 254 and target at Rs 270

Buy Union Bank of India with a stop loss of Rs 116 and target at Rs 130

Buy Ashok Leyland with a stop loss of Rs 133 and target at Rs 146

Buy Escorts with target of Rs 920 and stop loss of Rs 860Ashwani Gujral of ashwanigujral.com told CNBC-TV18, "V Guard Industries is a buy with a stop loss of Rs 229, target of Rs 244. Jet Airways is also a buy with a stop loss of Rs 745, target of Rs 775."

Tata Steel is a sell with a stop loss of Rs 660, target of Rs 625," he added.Nitin Gadkari

The Centre today said it has plans to pump in around Rs 1.44 lakh crore in road projects in Karnataka over the next two years.

Union Roads Minister Nitin Gadkari, who is on a two day official tour to the state said that "the Centre has plans to invest approximately an amount of Rs 1,44,922 crore in the Karnataka in the next two years".

He will lay the foundation stone for over 500 km of highways projects worth over Rs 3700 crores in the districts of Shimoga, Bellary, Bidar, Bijapur and Hubli in Karnataka.

Gadkari, who laid the foundation stone for 138.5 km of highways projects worth Rs 873.5 crore in Shimoga district, said that 6,805 km of National Highways have been declared in Karnataka between 2014-2017, as against only 6760 km up to 2014.

"With this, the total length of national highways in the state has gone up to 13,565 Km, including 6,433 km declared in principle," he said.

The minister said that while there are 105 ongoing projects worth Rs 19,638 crore, another 19 projects of length 230 km and costing Rs 1,676 crore will soon be awarded.business Prime Minister Narendra Modi woos Karnataka In his second visit in less than 15 days to the poll bound state of Karnataka, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a public meeting in Mysore taking on Chief Minister Siddharamaiah at his home turf. Watch CNBC-TV18s Rukmini Rao taking us through the highlights of his speech from Bengaluru.City Union Bank informed the exchanges about a cyber criminal attack. There were three transactions. One went through for a million dollars where the receiving party also managed to gain the fund, according to bank via fraudulent means. The other two, one was blocked at banks end and second was blocked at the receiving banks end.

In an interview to CNBC-TV18, N Kamakodi, MD & CEO of City Union Bank spoke at length about the cyber criminal attack.

Kamakodi said that except the word SWIFT - Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, there is no commonality between Nirav Modi and our banks case.

He further said that our issue is related to a cyber attack.

Cyber criminals hacked into the system and did three transactions, he added.

He further mentioned that we successfully retrieved/blocked money in two out of the three cases.

There is no evidence of internal staff involvement in the cyber attack issue, Kamakodi added.1. Atlas Jewellery India | Return in December 2017: 44.51% | 2016: 23.74% | 2015: 20.66% | Atlas offers a wide range of choice in fashionable jewellery coupled with high standards of purity and service.

After allegations that Mehul Choksis Gitanjali Gems forged letters of undertakings (LoU) issued by Punjab National Bank, a senior ex-employee has now alleged the company would falsify the quality of its diamonds and even pass off fake diamonds as real ones.

According to the company's former Managing Director Santosh Srivastava, a huge chunk of diamonds sold by Choksi were lab produced with valuations nowhere near the price at which it was sold to customers.

The diamonds were sold at a premium in the name of brand value, cuts and certifications that were given out. The certifications too were forged. A diamond that claimed to be of Grade A in a purchase made was actually Grade C, Srivastava told Moneycontrol. He was head of the retail business at Gitanjali until 2013.

Srivastavas allegations could give customers of Gitanjali sleepless nights. The premium charged for the rocks sold at Gitanjali were way too much according to Srivastava. The diamonds that were passed as precious and rare and were actually lab produced coasted only 5%-10% of the cost it was sold at, he said.

Moneycontrol reached out to officials at Gitanjali Gems, but there was no response from the company.

A Mumbai resident, Srivastava is a metallurgical engineer from IIT(BHU) and served Choksi between 2007 and 2013. Srivastava, who joined Choksi as Vice President of his company, rose swiftly within the organsation. Promoted to the rank of President in 2008 and then Managing Director for the retail arm in 2009, things were going well for him till he complained of the fraudulent acts he noticed in the company.

Srivastava said the complaints made to Choksi included his observations in areas like backing out on agreements with franchise owners, fictitious inventory showed in the books of account, overpriced products sold to customers and also sent to franchises.

While Srivastava expected correction in the delinquency all he got was threats. You mind your own business, was all he heard back from Choksi.

The arrangement didnt quite suit Srivastavas ethical values and he parted ways with Choksi in 2013. Five months after his resignation, Srivastava was summoned by the local police on the basis of the company management filing a cheating and forgery case against him. Srivastava wasnt shocked.

Soon after I left, Choksi faced complaints from franchises and I was called to help them and be by their side. When I refused to provide any aid, I was threatened to be dragged in cases that I could never come out of, he said.

Choksi made good his threat and the police summoned Srivastava soon after.

My case was taken up by Economic Offences Wing and I was released in a couple of days from their police custody when their investigations proved me innocent, he said.

According to numbers provided by Srivastava during his stint at Gitanjali, the brand had sold jewelry worth Rs 5,000 crore. It's not clear how much of that came from products that were 'fake.'A model displays the 1109 carat "Lesedi La Rona" diamond at Sotheby's in the Manhattan borough of New York, U.S., May 4, 2016. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson - RTX2CTNC

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The reason why crisis for the banking sector doesnt end is because there are no lessons learnt. The gems and jewellery sector has glittered with its loan defaults for many years across the banking sector.

Hit by one of the biggest scams in the country, Punjab National Bank has suffered a Rs 11,400-crore jolt from diamond importer Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Chokshi. The two businessmens group companies fraudulently got over 150 letter of undertakings (LoUs) to get loans beyond their credit limits from foreign branches of other Indian banks.

Although Modi is said to have fled to New York, countrys investigative agencies namely the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached his properties worth Rs 5,600 crore and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed FIRs while also having arrested three PNB officials conniving with Modi to obtain the unauthorised LoUs.

This Nirav Modi-chase last week was a deja vu, except for different names and faces such as Vijay Mallya and Jatin Mehta. Also, barring one, rest of the defaulters hail from gems and jewellery sector.

Till last year, it was the liquor baron Vijay Mallya, promoter of the now-grounded Kingfisher Airlines who owes over Rs 6,000 crore to 17 banks but has fled to the UK for over a year now. This was followed by another diamond merchant Jatin Mehta, promoter of another financially troubled Winsome Diamond Group, which defaulted on Rs 6,800 crore loans from a consortium of 15 banks, of which PNB was the one with highest exposure at Rs 1,800 crore.

While Mallya is already a UK citizen, Mehta has renounced his Indian citizenship to become a citizen of the Federation of St Kitts and Nevis.

In 2010, a consortium of banks led by State Bank of India (SBI) had approached the Reserve Bank of India after JB Diamond, which figured among Indias top 10 diamond firms, defaulted on Rs 800 crore of loans taken from Indian banks.

In 2013, Surat-based Vincent Diamonds defaulted on loans to the tune of Rs 4,500 crore to Indian banks.

"Banks have already classified gems and jewellery into the high-risk category. One of our concerns has always been round-tripping...We are trying to be cautious in our underwriting and hence also reduced our exposure," said a public sector banker.

Credit to Gems and Jewellery sector

To support more data from the Reserve Bank of India, banking sector has reduced its exposure to the gems and jewellery segment in the last four years.

Loans to the sector as on December end 2017 stood at Rs 69,000 crore. This has come down from Rs 72,000 crore as on March 21, 2014.

According to a private sector bank official, "Such businesses are largely based on the companies' clients and their entire business, how they manage their suppliers. Balance sheets may often not show the right picture. Also, many companies artificially inflate their balance sheets and show the wrong picture, hence bankers are being more careful."

As per reports, the global demand for gems and jewellery witnessed a moderation in 2015 after strong growth from 2012 to 2014. In 2015, the global demand for diamond-studded jewellery was around USD 79 billion, after touching a high of around USD 81 billion in 2014.

Catch latest updates on the Punjab National Bank fraud case here

An Edelweiss report last week also pointed out, The amount involved is substantial (cumulative gross exposure relating to fraudulent transactions is USD 1.8 billion), but more worrying is the stark process lax and repeated instance of similar frauds (Winsome Diamond, etc). PSU banks continue to grapple with weak systems, raising questions on why the processes are not centralised, unlike most private banks where bypassing CBS is not easy.

It also highlighted the added, As these raise concerns particularly with respect to exposure in gems & jewellery segment, we have highlighted in table 1 fund and nonfund based exposures of various banks to this segment. However, higher exposure to gems & jewellery segment does not necessarily suggest stress as the transaction being discussed is oneoff, intentional and unauthorised incident.

Decline in share of loans

The share of the gems & jewellery sector in the total credit exposure of banks to industries has been in the range of 2.5 percent to 3 percent.

According to a CARE Ratings report, gems or the diamond and jewellery is among the industries that suffered negative growth in sales and decline in profits as well.

It pointed out that 22 companies in the Diamond and Jewellery segment reported a drop in growth at (-16.8) percent in its net sales for FY18 as against 17.2 percent growth in FY17.

During FY17 and FY18, the sector also witnessed a reduction in net profits at 12 percent and 14.3 percent, respectively, for 22 diamond and jewellery companies.

Will the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi teach the required lesson to bankers and save public sector banking crisis compelling the three notorious Ms  Mallya, Mehta and Modi to return?India is hosting the World Congress on IT for the very first time, in partnership with the NASSCOM leadership forum and it is Hyderabad that's witnessing all the IT action. Over 2,500 delegates from tech companies across the globe will be discussing new age technology and investment into India. From the sidelines of the event, CNBC-TV18's Nithya Balakrishnan caught up with Rishad Premji, the Chief Strategy Officer and member of the board, Wipro.

It is very focused on the new world, new digital, new skills, new technologies and how we as a country can leverage that and grow with that and it is the next stage of growth for the technology industry in India, he said.

We had guided 7-8 percent and it should be broadly in-line with it, he added.

The economies of the world are picking up. I am quite optimistic about what that goes in terms of spend on technology as we move into next year, said Premji.live bse live

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Brokerage houses remained positive on Varun Beverages after the company narrowed its consolidated loss to Rs 72.12 crore for December quarter 2017, from Rs 111.65 crore in year-ago.

Revenue from operations grew by 21 percent to Rs 527.4 crore compared to same quarter last year, led by volume growth from territory acquisition in MP, Odisha earlier this year. The company also acquired territory in Bihar, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh during the quarter.

Operating profit declined to Rs 22.5 crore against Rs 36.3 crore in the corresponding quarter. Q4 is seasonally weak for the company as volumes of carbonated beverages decline substantially during winter. However, fixed cost remained same.

ICICIdirect believes a 400 bps decline in raw material to sales was mainly on account of lower sugar prices that declined significantly.

While having Buy call on the stock, brokerage houses expect the stock can give up to 37 percent returns over 12-15 months.

Brokerage - ICICIdirect | Rating - Buy | Target - Rs 840 | Return - 28%

We remain positive on Varun Beverage as the company has continuously been looking for newer territories to expand its base in untapped geographies and remain a proxy play on soft drink industry in India.

We expect revenue, PAT to grow at a CAGR of 16.8 percent, 37.8 percent, respectively, in CY17-19E with an operating margin of 21.6 percent in CY19E.

With the comfort of earnings visibility and expected improvement in return ratios, we revised target price to Rs 840 per share.

Brokerage - CLSA | Rating - Buy | Target - Rs 855 | Return - 30%

While maintaining Buy call on the stock with a target price at Rs 885 per share, CLSA said the outlook was fairly strong for 2018.

The company has been able to secure the rights for more territories and is now over half of PepsiCo volume in India.

New territories & products give company an opportunity to expand volume & market share. Recent correction in the sugar price also improved margin visibility.

Brokerage - Emkay | Rating - Buy | Target - Rs 902 | Return - 37%

We maintain Buy on Varun Beverages with new street-high target price of Rs 902. The 2017 profit increased 31 percent backed by strong international business performance and margin expansion.

We expect this momentum to continue with earnings growth of 32 percent in 2018 and 30 percent in 2019. This will be on the back of recovery in India business.

The India business revenue would rise 18 percent in 2018 supported by recovery in sales volume (post GST shock) and benefits from recently acquired new territories (inorganic growth).

Current valuations (PER of 33.2x and EV/EBITDA of 12.9x CY19E) are attractive given strong EPS growth and ROE expansion. Target price of Rs 902 is based on EV/EBITDA of 17x CY19E (much lower than peer average).

At 14:48 hours IST, the stock price was quoting at Rs 650.05, down Rs 1.95, or 0.30 percent on the BSE.live bse live

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The Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI), the nodal body in the country responsible for development of water transportation, including National Waterways, received extra financial support when the Lok Sabha passed an amendment to Central Road Fund Act, 2000 during the winter session of the Parliament.

The amendment proposes to allocate 2.5 percent of the collected funds for the development of waterways in India. Moneycontrols Nikita Vashisht talked to IWAIs vice chairman, Pravir Pandey, who called the amendment to CRF significant while explaining about the agreement between IWAI and World Bank.

Edited excerpt:

We started this project for development of national Waterways 1 in the Ganga River, in 2014. NW-1 is Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh) to Haldia (West Bengal). For the first time, we are developing waterways for bulk transportation. We have never used one for the same in our country. So, we needed technical and financial assistance from the World Bank (WB). We approached them to ask if they could help. They did their due diligence, studies and examinations and said that they would be happy to help. So our association with the WB started in 2014, somewhere in August or September.

So initially, they agreed to provide project preparatory fund advance (PPFA) of USD 3.5 million, which was allotted to us through Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance. After receiving the PPFA, we did our studies and went through due process of approvals like environment clearances, department of expenditure clearance. Since, this is a big project of USD 800 million, there were certain conditions like you need to get cabinet approval, which we got in January 2018. After this approval, WB signed the agreement with us on 5th February. Out of the total USD 800 million, USD 375 million would be given by WB, USD 380 million will be provided by the Centre from its own resources and the remaining fund, which is close to USD 40 to 45 million, will be routed through private sector.

What kind of assistance will the World bank provide apart from funding?

They are providing us technical assistance which includes experts on waterways, marine experts, naval architects, procurement experts and financial experts. They are getting all the best experts in the waterways development from WB.

Any project which we are doing, any multi-modal terminal project, jetty project, navigational aid, dredging project, we are running it through WB and they are proving their expert comments on it.

Traditionally, the practice has been that private sector has never come for dredging of water. Its very capital intensive and repetitive. What the private sector is interested in is operations and maintenance (O&M). So, all these terminals which we are building, the jetties, the navigational aids and the vessels, we are expecting that the private sector would come here and invest some money.

For example, they have already shown interest in Ghazipur (UP) where we are building a small inter-modal terminal under the same project. Now, the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) industry, the petroleum industry want to have their bunkering and storage facility at these terminals. So what we have come to is that, where ever we have to build the jetty, we will acquire the land and they can bring in the equipment, their storage facility. We are looking at that kind of investment.

Secondly, the O&M will be done by the private sector. We will ask them to run the terminals and whatever earning we get, we will have a sharing agreement.

So what sort of sharing agreement will this be? 50  50 or something else?

No, we have experimented this. We have a GR jetty project in Kolkata and thats quite a big jetty. So, with the International Finance Corporation, which is a part of WB, we did a transaction structure. We also did an international tender. We were trying to test the waters with this, whether the private sector would be interested. So, three of them qualified for this  IL&FS Limited, Adani Ports and SEZ Limited and Summit Alliance Port Limited (a Bangladesh based firm). So, the highest revenue share was offered by Summit Alliance for 38.3 percent (which will be given to us). We are going to give them these GR jetty for the next 30 years. They will run and operate it and whatever they earn from the terminal operations, it will be shared. As far as the statutory user charges are concerned, we will recover those directly.

How fast is the work progressing on NW-1? When will the waterway become operational?

This project is called as Jal Marg Vikas project and it is expected to be completed by 2022  early 2023. The main ingredient of the project is a three meter draft throughout the 1400 kilometer across the stretch. Same is with the 45 meter bottom width / channel.

Its not that you just put the ship in a river and it starts moving. Its not easy. There is shore, there is varying depth, and there is sand at the bottom. The river is also meandering. In the lean season, the water level is low, while during monsoon the water levels go up. Its all very challenging and complex. So what we do is, we create a channel and then we maintain that channel for the vessels to pass. Our objective is to create the three meters draft and 45 meter bottom width channel.

Having the three meter draft allows movement of 2,000 tonne vessels. When we move 2,000 tonne vessel, we are equivalent to almost a full railway rake and we are also equivalent to 125 trucks of 16 metric tonne each. So we would be decongesting a lot of traffic from rail and roadways. So, this is a very important project for which we are working.

Apart from this, there are measuring interventions at multi-modal terminals that we are building at Varanasi, Sahibganj and Haldia. Work for which is already underway. We are also building navigation lock at Farakka. Alot of work is going on which is plan to complete by 2022. Things are going in time, rather ahead of time.

We have already made some cargo movement, in fact 10 to 12 large cargo movement of cement, fertilisers, stone chips, fly ash and food grains. In fact, we made cargo movement of Maruti cars. So movement is taking place and people are interested in waterways. We are moving six million tonne of cargo as of now and we aim to move 21 million tonne cargo when we complete this project. We are looking at a jump of 17 million tonne on this project. Imagine, that 17 million tonne cargo, taking away 70 to 80 percent cargo congestion off road and railways.

What would you say about this years budgetary allocation especially in the light of the fact that Central Road Fund Act has been amended to provide extra funds to waterways?

IWAI was formed in 1986. Till 2014, there was a (cumulative) allocation of something like Rs 1,500 to 1,600 crore; could be Rs 1,700 crore. This year (2017-18) alone we are spending Rs 1,100 crore and for 2018-19, we plan to go up to Rs 1,600 to 1,700 crore. So, what we spent in the last 30 years (between 1986 and 2016) is being spent in one year.

Traditionally, not much attention was given to this organisation. Now, we have this loan from the World Bank... We have governments budgetary support. However, this support through CRF is significant. 2.5 percent of the CRF, now allocated to waterways, amounts to roughly Rs 2,000 crore per annum. Government has also allowed us to raise money from market. It allowed us to raise Rs 1,000 crore as extra budgetary resource from market via bonds. We went to the market and did manage to raise it.

I wish this push was given since 1947 because we are a country where rivers are looked as waste disposal or sewage facility. Contrary to other countries, here having a river is a premium. India had turned its back towards its rivers. Thats why we are in such a bad state and our rivers are polluted. Although people talk a lot, but we all know the condition.

Right now, Indian waterways carry about 1.5 percent of total cargo. In Germany, its 8.5 to 9 percent, in China, its 11 percent, in Vietnam, its 45 percent, even in Bangladesh, its 22 percent. So, its time we take waterways seriously. It must, however, be remembered that waterways cant be developed overnight. Its a river after all. It needs time to train. River development in US and China happened over 50 years to achieve this level of maturity. I am not talking about 50 years (for India), but lets say in another three to four years, with this sustained efforts, by 2022-23 or 2024, I am very hopeful that around six to seven percent of total share will be of waterways. Its also the cheapest, relative to the other modes. Once we are able to develop the necessary level of confidence among the people, we will have people moving through waterways. There already is a lot of demand; the only thing that we need to provide is the infrastructure.

National Waterway 1 is something that we are doing with the World Bank which has given us a lot of ideas. From the wisdom that we have drawn from this project will be applied to NW-2 (Brahmaputra). We also have NW-3 (in Kerala backwaters) and we have started projects in NW-4 in Krishna  Godavari which is helping in development of new capital Amravati in Andhra Pradesh. We are also working on NW-5.

Apart from that, Centre has passed National Waterways Act, 2016 with which we have declared 111 waterways as NW. We have completed feasibility studies for waterways in a very short time. We have found that some ae viable, some are not. Most of them have dried as well and have died naturally. There is huge siltation in the rivers too. We have found that there are about 36 waterways which can be taken up for development as a part of transportation network. In the first instance, eight new national waterways will be developed, for which interventions have started. We are doing dredging, river training etc. Detailed Project Reports for Gandak river in Bihar, Sunderbans and Rupnarayan river in West Bengal, three rivers in Goa  Mandovi, Zuari and Cumberjua and NW-4 are ready, tendered and are next in line for development. Another line of eight DPRs is ready for Narmada, Tapi and Amba and will be developed in 2018-19.

We have a whole plan for development of all these waterways for the next three to four years to do very serious work of river development, which will not only be for transportation but also cargo.Answer: Air Odisha.

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The City Industrial Development Corporation (Cidco), the nodal agency of Maharashtra government implementing the Navi Mumbai International Airport has set a stiff deadline of December 2019 for developer GVK Power & Infrastructure (GVK) to operationalise the first phase of the project.

As part of the first phase - Cidco expects the developer GVK Power & Infrastructure (GVK) to make one runway and a terminal building operational with a capacity to handle 10 million passengers by end of next year.

"It's achievable," said Bhushan Gagrani, Vice Chairman and Managing Director of Cidco referring to the first phase deadline.

Gagrani said the company will be handing over the land to GVK in 6-8 months.

"We took possession of 98 percent of the land," said Gagrani.

There were some "technical issues" with remaining land, which will be sorted out by Lok Adalats, Gagrani added.

Cidco has taken up the pre-development work that includes entire land development work of cutting hills, reclamation and improvement of ground up to 5.5 metres, diversion of Ulwe river, shifting the power lines; and relief and rehabilitation before handing over the land to GVK.

Cidco on its part is spending anywhere between Rs 2,500 crore and Rs 2,800 crore on the pre-development work.

So far Cidco was able to complete only 25 percent of the land development work.

The agency said the work is going on at "brisk pace in order to turn the NMIA operational as early possible."

GV Sanjay Reddy, Vice Chairman of GVK declined to comment.

GVK is in the process of tying-up finances for the project. The company has been bogged down by debt and has been making losses for many quarters.

GVK's net debt was around Rs 17,592 crore at end of FY17.

To deleverage its balance sheet GVK has sold its prized asset - the Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) to Canadian-Indian billionaire Prem Watsa-owned Fairfax Holdings for Rs.3,492 crore.

An executive who follows the sector closely called the target by Cidco as "ambitious".

"The government wants to get the project operational before Maharashtra assembly elections, for that to happen Cidco needs to handover the land to developer as fast as possible, a longer monsoon and delay in tying up finances by developer are also potential spoliers," the above executive said.

GVK has won the mandate to develop and operate the Rs 16,704 crore Navi Mumbai International Airport in February last year.

The company last month signed the concessionaire agreement for the project that allows it to develop and operate the project for a period of 30 years from the appointed date, which is extendable for further 10 years.

The project when fully completed will have capacity to handle 60 million passengers per annum.

The concessionaire agreement paves the way for the creation of a special purpose vehicle - Navi Mumbai International Airport Pvt Ltd (NMIAL) in which GVK holds 74 percent, while the balance is held by Cidco.

On Sunday Prime Minister Narendra Modi performed the ground breaking ceremony of the project

Planned over two decades back to meet the growing needs of Mumbai and decongest the existing Mumbai International airport at an investment of Rs 3,000 crore, the project was delayed due to political indecision, environmental clearances and the funding.Mark Mobius, former Executive Chairman at Templeton Emerging Markets Group, has joined the investment committee of Equanimity Investments.

Equanimity Investments is a venture capital fund that helps clients diversify their portfolios by investing in early stage businesses.

As a member of the investment committee and a key investor in the fund, Mobius will be actively helping to evaluate investment proposals, directing investment and exit decisions. He will also help in reviewing the overall portfolio on an ongoing basis.

Equanimity is the only fund in India that has been associated with Mobius since his retirement from Franklin Templeton Investments.

Mobius has the experience of investing in early stage of businesses in India like Edupristine and Express Bike Works. He finds the startup ecosystem in India very buoyant and profitable for investors across the globe.

Commenting on the association, Rajesh Shegal, Managing Partner of Equanimity Investments, said: The level of experience that Mark Mobius brings in to sharpen our investment process and build a portfolio of early stage companies that can be truly global in their business. Having Mark Mobius as the anchor investor as well as Investment Committee member takes Equanimity further along its planned path of being the pre-eminent AIF platform in India.

As per the SEBI guidelines, Equanimity Investments is Category-1 AIF.

Sehgal also said that Equanimity is a sector agnostic fund that invests in early stage companies, which use technology as their backbone, ensuring scalability and sustainability of their business models.

The fund spans seven years and extendable by 2 years.

Sehgal has been an active secondary market investor for the last 24 years, 17 years of which he worked with the emerging markets group of Franklin Templeton.

He was also managing Templetons private equity investments over these 17 years.

Mobius to also start his own fund

Apart from joining Equanimity, Mobius is planning to start a fund management firm that will predominantly invest in emerging and frontier market companies focused on environmental, social and governance (ESG) ideas.

The fund will be an open-ended, long-only one. The fund management firm will be based in Luxembourg and London.

Mobius, 81, is widely recognised as investment guru after having served for 30 years at Franklin Templeton and retiring as the executive chairman of its emerging markets group.

Speaking about the Indian equity market, Mobius said valuations are high so the market will correct, but that he is upbeat on the Indian market in the long term.

After the recent scam in state-owned Punjab National Bank, the investment guru said that it is likely to lead to stricter processes for banks, thereby making them stronger. It is because of this that he is upbeat on Indian banks.

Mobius said he also likes the consumer space but is underweight on the telecom space.

Hail and hearty at his well-travelled 81 years, Mobius said with a smile on his face that has "no retirement plans. He likes watching Bollywood movies and appreciated Padmaavat, which he watched recently.Investors usually do not lose sleep over contingent liabilities mentioned in balance sheets of financial entities, as they are unavoidable in the regular course of business.

A contingent liability (CL) is defined as a liability which may or may not arise depending on the outcome of a specific event.

As part of their investment and lending activities, commercial banks enter into various types of commitments on behalf of their customers and the commitment fees from such activities are an important source of income without involving use of funds. Banks, however, run the risk of having to meet such commitments in case of default by their customers.

Why do we hear about CL now?

Contingent liabilities never bothered investors prior to the fraud at Punjab National Bank. The problem arose from a non-fund instrument called LOU (letter of undertaking). An LOU is in effect a letter of comfort issued by a bank of behalf of its customer to foreign branches of other banks, based on which foreign branches offer credit to that customer. While bank is putting the blame on few employees it cannot absolve itself from the obligation.



At the time of issuing financial guarantees, banks should be satisfied that the customer would be in a position to reimburse the bank in case the bank is required to make payment under the guarantee.



In the case of performance guarantee, banks should exercise due caution and have sufficient experience with the customer to satisfy themselves that the customer has the necessary experience, capacity and means to perform the obligations under the contract, and is not likely to commit any default.



Banks should refrain from issuing guarantees on behalf of customers who do not enjoy credit facilities with them.



RBI guidelines clearly specifies precautions for averting such fraud. It says that while issuing guarantees on behalf of customers, the following safeguards should be observed by banks:

Apparently PNB issued this controversial LOU without taking any collateral. While non-fund based limits have been an important source of fee income for bank, they may not always have enough collateral to fall back on should banks be made liable to pay, as is the case with PNB.

How big is contingent liability?

It is certainly not small, going by RBI data.

From time to time, RBI has warned banks about the burgeoning CL. Given the systemic risks it poses, post the PNB episode, CL, especially in the form of guarantees could be under significant scrutiny.

In terms of guarantees issued, PSBs lead the pack. A look at the top five banks suggests a similar trend except for Bank of Baroda whose exposure to non-fund based business is less.

If we extend the analysis to banks that have the worst asset quality performance in the system, the picture is not much different.

While it is premature to comment on the soundness of these non-fund exposures, it is not unrealistic to assume that if enough caution isnt exercised for many of the fund-based lending, semblance of this trend could be found for non-fund based exposure as well. Should the scrutiny throw up any negative surprise, it will certainly be the last straw that breaks the camels back.Kotak AMC Managing Director Nilesh Shah has written a scathing letter to equity services provider MSCI Inc., saying that he sees a pattern of western institutions not appreciating India. Published in The Economic Times, the letter is a response to MSCI's statement on India's anti-competition measures.

MSCI had earlier issued a statement on February 15 saying that anti-competitive measures are harming India's equity market, after the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and National Stock Exchange (NSE) said they will not share data with foreign exchanges.

"I see a pattern in many western institutions not appreciating India as we dont hit back. Union Carbide killed thousand of Indians, but was allowed to go relatively scot-free. Rating agencies give us near-junk rating despite more than 5,000 years of track record in honouring our commitment to foreigners."

Shah also said that if China's growth remains unchecked, it could lead to a crash in US markets.

Shah said that when China is not penalised or issued warnings for adopting protectionist measures, there is no need to do the same to India.

The letter draws several comparisons between India and China, pointing out that India allows welcomes foreign investors more than Beijing.

"The encouragement given to terror in the past is hounding the US even now. Please dont encourage China for wrong reasons. Their unchecked growth will crash Wall Street and US dominance of financial markets just like the twin towers crashed from Bin Ladens terror strikes."Nirav Modi,the kingpin behind the largest banking scam in the country's history, has virtually wrung his arms in the air saying PNB's overzealousness has shut the doors on his ability to clear the dues, which he claimed is much lower than the bank has gone public with.

In a letter Modi wrote on February 15/16 to the PNB management, a copy of which PTI has seen, he pegged the amount his companies owes to the bank under Rs 5,000 crore.

"The erroneously cited liability resulted in a media frenzy which led to immediate search and seizure of operations, and which in turn resulted in Firestar International and Firestar Diamond International effectively ceasing to be going-concerns.

"This thereby jeopardised our ability to discharge the dues of the group to the banks," Modi, who left the country along with his family in the first week of January, wrote in the letter.

"In the anxiety to recover your dues immediately, despite my offer (on February 13, a day before the public announcement, and on 15,) your actions have destroyed my brand and the business and have now restricted your ability to recover all the dues leaving a trail of unpaid debts,"he said.

The letter also refers to the extended discussions between him, and between his representatives and the bank officers and also his emails on February 13 and 15, 2018.

It can be noted that PNB, the second largest state-run bank, had on February 14 informed the exchanges of detecting USD 1.77 billion fraud at its Brady House branch in Horniman Circle area of south Mumbai and named the firms led by Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi's Gitanjali Group and some other diamond and jewelry merchants as suspects.

The bank has also filed criminal complaints with CBI and the ED, both of which launched nationwide searches on dozens of offices and residences of the alleged fraudsters.

The bank has named Modi's brother, his American wife Ami, and uncle Choksi besides some others in the FIR.

On the over Rs 11,000-crore loss claimed by PNB in the FIR, Modi said, "as you are aware, this is entirely incorrect and the liability of the Nirav Modi Group is substantially less. Even after your complaint was filed, in good faith I wrote to you saying please sell/allow me to sell Firestar Group, or their valuable assets, and recover the dues not just from Firestar Group, but also from the three firms."

Valuing his domestic business at around Rs 6,500 crore, he said "this could have helped reduce/discharge the debt to the banking system," but quickly added that this is not possible as all his bank accounts have been frozen and assets have been sealed or seized.

He goes on to state that PNB had time and again acknowledged that "the buyers credit facility has been extended by it to the three partnership firms since several years; that there has been no default on the part of any of these firms over all these years; that money has gone through PNB over all these years for the repayments of the advances given by the overseas bank branches under the buyers credit.

"That Firestar International and Firestar Diamond International have never been in default to any bank, and the bankers are fully secured".

He also states that PNB has over the years been earning bank charges to the tune of crores of rupees on the buyers credit facility extended by PNB to the three partnership firms and that PNB has extended the money to the firm's buyers as well from where also it has been receiving full payments, with interest and on time all, these years.

On the valuables that CBI/ED searches yielded Rs 5,649 crore, he said "these, and other assets of the group and the three firms could have settled all the amounts due to banks. However, now that stage appears to have passed."

He concluded by requesting the bank to "be fair, and support my efforts to make good all the amounts that are found due by my group to all banks."

Owning up everything, he said the bank has wrongly named his brother, who is not at all concerned with the operations of the three firms or other companies.

"My wife is not connected with any business operations at all and she has been wrongly named. My uncle is also wrongly named in this complaint since he has an independent and unconnected business and none of them are aware or concerned with my dealings with your bank."

"Whatever may be the consequences I may face for my actions, the haste was, in my humble submission, unwarranted," Modi conludes and makes has requested the bank to permit payment of salaries to 2,200 employees from the balance lying in the current accounts.live bse live

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The Enforcement Directorate (ED) today searched the Mumbai residence of diamond merchant Nirav Modi as raids continued for the fifth day in connection with the agency's money laundering probe in the Rs 11,400-crore alleged fraud at the Punjab National Bank (PNB).

Official sources said ED sleuths arrived at Modi's Samudra Mahal bungalow in Worli in south Mumbai and searched the premises.

The central probe agency also conducted searches at 34 other locations in various cities, including Mumbai, Pune, Aurangabad, Thane, Kolkata, Delhi, Lucknow, Bengaluru and Surat, in connection with its probe.

The agency has seized diamonds, gold jewellery and other precious stones worth Rs 5,694 crore till now in the case even as it has summoned Modi and his relative Mehul Choksi, the promoter of Gitanjali Gems, later this week. Sources said the ED was looking at collecting all the financial documents -- personal and official -- of Modi, Choksi and their businesses in order to take the probe forward.

"A number of computer peripherals, hard drives and documents have been seized since the ED raids began on February 15. The seized items are being scrutinised," a senior official said. ED Director Karnal Singh has flown down to Mumbai today to review the anti-money laundering investigations, which are being conducted by a special team of the agency.

The ED is also moving to attach at least two dozen immovable properties of Modi, Choksi and their concerns under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The ED and the Income Tax department have zeroed in on about 200 dummy or shell companies in India and abroad that were being used to route or receive funds as part of the alleged fraud.

It is suspected that the shell firms were being used by the accused to launder money and create "benamia assets in the form of land, gold and precious stones, which is now being probed by the tax department.

Modi, Choksi and others are being investigated by multiple probe agencies after it recently came to light, following a complaint by the PNB, that they allegedly cheated the nationalised bank to the tune of Rs 11,400 crore, with the purported involvement of a few employees of the bank.As the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is tasked with monitoring all financial activities of banks, the Nirav Modi scam at Punjab National Bank (PNB) has left the central banking institution red-faced. And to rub salt into its wounds, the government is questioning the apex bank over the effectiveness of its oversight.

Although RBI had initially stated that the scam at PNB was a case of operational risk arising on account of delinquent behaviour by one or more employees of the bank and failure of internal controls, the government went on to question the central bank on whether lapses were noticed on five counts.

Unnamed government sources quoted by CNBC-TV18 said that there were doubts on RBIs fraud prevention system including regulatory, supervisory, auditory, inspections and cyber security.

A source was quoted as saying, We need to review the supervisory mechanism in the banking sector to arrest similar rot in the sector elsewhere. There are a variety of internal control mechanisms within the banks. The PNB case is a clear manifestation of the supervisory failure within the bank.

The scam refers to Nirav Modi, who founded the eponymous jewellery house in 2010, is being investigated by the CBI in a $1.77 billion (Rs 11,400 crore) fraud case at PNB. The scam was allegedly perpetrated by staff of the PSU bank, who fraudulently issued letters of undertaking (LoUs) to firms linked to Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi, who heads jewellery retailer Gitanjali. The LoUs effectively guaranteed loans that Modi and Choksi could take from various other banks.Ashwani Gujral of ashwanigujral.com told CNBC-TV18, "Bank of Baroda is a sell with a stop loss of Rs 147 and target of Rs 135. Canara Bank is a sell with a stop loss of Rs 300 and target of Rs 284. JSW Steel is a sell with a stop loss of 305 and target of Rs 288."

"Bank of India (BOI) is a sell with a stop loss of Rs 124 and target of Rs 112. Oriental Bank of Commerce is a sell with a stop loss of Rs 104 and target of Rs 92."

"Even tech stocks are coming off, so NIIT Tech is a sell with a stop loss of Rs 782 and target of Rs 760," he added.Malvinder Singh, Chairman of Fortis, speaks during a news conference in New Delhi July 26, 2010. Malaysian state investor Khazanah trumped India's Fortis Healthcare in a takeover battle for Singapore's Parkway with an offer that values Asia's biggest listed hospital operator at $3.3 billion. REUTERS/B Mathur (INDIA - Tags: BUSINESS HEALTH) - GM1E67Q1FD701

The Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) will initiate a probe into alleged financial irregularities at Fortis Healthcare and Religare Enterprises, according to a senior official.

The corporate affairs ministry has been looking into the affairs of Fortis Healthcare and Religare Enterprises after recent reports that financial irregularities have emerged at the two companies.

A senior ministry official said an SFIO probe has been ordered against the two companies. The latest development comes against the backdrop of reports that the Fortis Healthcare's promoters -- Malvinder Singh and Shivinder Singh -- took at least USD 78 million out of the company without any board approval about a year ago.

The SFIO, under the ministry, mainly probes white collar crimes. Fortis Healthcare has also come under the lens of Sebi, which launched an investigation into alleged regulatory lapses.

On Saturday, Fortis informed the exchanges that Sebi, which has instituted an investigation, has sought information and documents by February 26.

Sebi Chairman Ajay Tyagi, on February 10 said that the regulator was examining the Fortis issue. "We also received a reference on Religare from somewhere I cannot disclose and it will be looked into," he had said.OYO, a hotel room aggregation company has announced the launch of its mid-market offering 'OYO Townhouse' in Noida. The 65-room property is located in Sector 62.

The company entered the Noida market in November 2014 and currently offers 2000 exclusively controlled rooms in the satellite town adjacent to Delhi as part of its network. It plans to expand Townhouse hotels in cities such as Lucknow and Ghaziabad.

Abhinav Sinha, COO, OYO said, OYO Townhouse defines a unique hospitality experience as it combines our state-of-art technology and designed processes. Indias hospitality industry suffers from a major disconnect between demand and supply of quality living spaces forcing travelers to compromise on location, comfort and pricing. Townhouse addresses this gap by creating a perfect balance between each of these variables.

The room rentals in Townhouse starts at Rs 2000 onwards and by the end of 2018, the company plans to launch 10 Townhouse properties in the state of Uttar Pradesh.live bse live

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Shares of Bhushan Steel hit 20 percent upper circuit on Monday as investors cheered developments surrounding its takeover bid.

Tata Steel emerged as the highest bidder for Bhushan Steel with a surprise bid of Rs 35,000 crore. JSW Steel, which was the favourite till the end of the race, was second placed with a bid of Rs 29,700 crore. Tata Steels stock fell around 5 percent intraday.

A senior bank executive aware of the development confirmed the allotment to Tata Steel and the bid amount.

Bhushan Steel is one of the 12 large corporate accounts identified by the Reserve Bank of India that accounted for almost 25 percent of exposure to bad loans for the entire banking sector.

The Neeraj Singal-led company had accumulated debt of over Rs 50,000 crore, of which bank dues amounted to around Rs 44,000 crore.

We are happy with bid offer and this is a good sign. We have provided over 50 percent. The haircut is about 35 percent, the banker said.

The development follows a meeting between the lenders of Bhushan Steel and the resolution professional. According to reports, the liquidation value of Bhushan Steel stood at Rs 15,000 crore.

Tata Steel and JSW Steel had submitted their bids on February 3. Initially, Tata Steel's bid was said to close to Rs 24,000 crore.

At 09:20 hrs Tata Steel was quoting at Rs 666.10, down Rs 22.20, or 3.23 percent.Gems/Jewellery | Imports from China, 2019: 6 percent. (Image: Moneycontrol)

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Deutsche Bank has a Buy call on Titan Company with a target price of Rs 970 per share as it is the big beneficiary of formalisation in jewellery sector.

The jewellery-to-watch maker has strategy to launch new collections every quarter.

Its average bill value in jewellery has increased to Rs 75,000 from Rs 65,000.

Company targets market share of 9-10 percent in 5 years from current level of 5 percent.

The stock price closed at Rs 805.30, up Rs 2.70, or 0.34 percent on the BSE.Actress Priya Prakash Varrier, who recently became an internet sensation for her wink in a song of a Malyalam movie, on Monday moved the Supreme Court seeking quashing of an FIR lodged against her in Telangana.

The 18-year-old actress of the upcoming movie also sought top court's direction to prohibit states from initiating any criminal proceedings against her.

In her plea, Varrier, a student of B.Com from a college in Thrissur district of Kerala, sought protection from an FIR lodged on complaints alleging that the lyrics of the song 'Manikya Malaraya Poovi' from the movie 'Oru Addar Love' was "offensive" or has "violated the religious sentiment of a particular community".

In her plea, she said that an FIR has been lodged against her on February 14 at Falaknama police station at Hyderabad on a complaint that alleges that the song hurt the religious sentiment of a particular community.

She said that on the same day, a criminal complaint was also filed by the Secretary of Raza Academy, Mumbai, with the Commissioner of Police to take appropriate action against the petitioners, taking down the video and prevent it from being broadcast.

"The present petition has been filed as a result of multiple criminal proceedings which have been instituted against the petitioners in the States of Telangana and Maharashtra.

"The complaint filed is against the song titled 'Manikya Malaraya Poovi' which was released on Youtube as a song of the film. In Telangana, an FIR has already been registered against the Petitioner no.2. (director of the movie).

"The criminal complaints have been instituted by various fringe groups based on a distorted and incorrect interpretation of the song in the states of Telangana, Maharashtra and similar complaints are likely from other non-Malayalam speaking states as well," she said in her plea filed through advocate Pallavi Pratap.

She said the entire controversy has resulted in the filing of several criminal complaints, while the FIR arises from the lyrics of the song, which is a Mappila song or a traditional Muslim number from the Malabar region of Kerala.

"The song describes and praises the love between Prophet Mohamed and his first wife Khadeeja. It should be important to note that the song is originally from an old folk song from Kerala which was written in 1978 by PMA Jabbar and first sung by Thalassery Rafeeq, in the praise of the Prophet and his wife Beevi Khadija," she said.

The plea said the claims that it hurt religious sentiments of the Muslim community are "without any basis and what is hard to fathom is that a song which has been in existence for the past 40 years, which was written, sung and cherished by the Muslim community in Kerala is now being treated as an insult to the Prophet and his wife."

"It is submitted that a song, which .... has been cherished by more than one crore Muslim population of Kerala, cannot suddenly offend the religious sentiment of the Muslim community," the plea said.

It stated that criminal complaints and registration of FIRs in multiple states on the basis of complaints by "fringe elements who have misunderstood the lyrics of the song which they claim allegedly offended their religious sentiments and that of their community has adversely affected the petitioners right to life, liberty and freedom of expression under the Constitution."

The plea said the movie is yet to be completed and an amount of Rs. 1.5 crore have been spent on it but such "flimsy and baseless" complaints and FIRs cause nothing but hindrance to freedom of speech and expression granted under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution and was an outright abuse of the process of law.Army

An attack by Pakistan's notorious Border Action Team (BAT) was repulsed by the Army which killed a heavily-armed terrorist and grievously injured two others along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district, a senior official said today.

Three soldiers were also injured in the gunfight, an official said. The BAT team, comprising Pakistani regulars and terrorists, tried to sneak in from across the LoC in Gulpur area of Khari Karmara sector last evening under cover of heavy shelling but the alert troops foiled their nefarious designs, Jammu-based Army PRO Lt Col Devender Anand said.

A huge quantity of arms and ammunition along with a Pakistani flag was recovered from the slain terrorist whose body was recovered during the search and sanitisation operation, he said. "We will be offering to hand over the body of the armed intruder to the Pakistan Army," the official added.

Three soldiers were injured in the gunbattle and were evacuated to military hospital for specialized treatment, said an official, who did not want to be named. Sharing details of the incident, Lt Col Anand said yesterday evening at about 1715 hours, the Pakistan Army initiated unprovoked and indiscriminate firing from small arms, automatics and mortars engaging the troops deployed at forward posts on the LoC.

"Our troops responded with retaliatory fire in equal measure. The alert troops noticed some movement and immediately engaged the group with effective fire and there was immediate retaliation from the armed intruders, the Army PRO said.

The covering fire from Pakistan Army posts, meanwhile, continued unabated, he added. In the firefight, an armed intruder was killed and at least two others sustained grievous injuries and were seen retreating towards a Pakistani post, the official said.

The subsequent search and sanitisation operation resulted in the recovery of one body in combat fatigues along with three live RPG grenades, four disposable rocket launchers, two IKOM radio sets, an AK Magazine, two Molotov cocktails, four UBGL grenades, seven hand grenades, a PIKA belt fired and a mobile phone, the PRO said.

Three back packs, a medical satchel and a Pakistani national flag were also recovered from the scene of the gunfight, he added. "The modus operandi adopted by the Pakistan Army and their sponsored and supported terrorists in this instance is similar to the attempts made in the recent past in incidents like the one at Keri and Gambir along the LoC and Sunjuwan in Jammu,a he said. Lt Col Anand said the Pakistan regular Army provided cover fire and abetted operations by non state actors who were used as dispensable cannon fodder.

"The heavy recovery of weapons like disposable RLs, Rocket propelled grenades (RPG) and incendiary ammunition clearly indicates implicit support of the Pakistan Army to target and cause casualties while maintaining a degree of deniability," he said.

After the Sanjuwan incident, in which three terrorists and seven others including six soldiers were killed, on February 10, Pakistan has refused to accept the bodies of its citizens, he said. However, we will be offering to hand over the body of the armed intruder killed yesterday to the Pak Army," he said. Pakistan continues in its nefarious designs of supporting and abetting infiltration across the LoC contrary to their stated position about "water tight arrangements along LoC to check terrorist movement", the Army official said.

The statement by Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff yesterday at the Munich Conference in Paris that there were no safe havens for terrorists in Pakistan has proven to be hollow, he said. Pakistan was supporting terrorism in a systematic manner with the complete support of its army, he added. Pakistan has repeatedly failed to respect and fulfil its Ceasefire Violation Agreement and the January 2004 commitment on not allowing its soil or territory to be used for terrorism against India, he said.

Lt Col Anand said it was clear that Pakistan was never interested in bringing peace and stability to J&K. "They have been vitiating the atmosphere both along the LoC and in the hinterland, he said. The Jammu-based white knight corps is keeping a strict and constant vigil across the LoC and all the security forces are prepared to thwart any nefarious designs of Pakistan sponsored terrorists, he said.Moradabad: Students listen to a broadcast of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's talk on Pariksha par Charcha at a school in Moradabad on Friday. PTI Photo (PTI2_16_2018_000074B)

Dalit students at a school in Himachal Pradesh were reportedly made to sit outside, separately, in a "place used for horses" during the telecast of Prime Minister Narendra Modi Pariksha Par Charcha last Friday.

An Indian Express report stated that some of the students complained to Kullu Deputy Commissioner Yunus on Friday evening, alleging that a teacher, Mehar Chand, told them to sit outside the room where the television had been set up.

The school in Kullus Chestha gram panchayat had made arrangements at the residence of the head of the school management committee for students to watch Modis video conference on Pariksha Par Charcha.The students were allegedly warned not to leave midway through the programme, they said.

Also Read  PM Narendra Modi 's pep talk to children on exams

The complaint, written in Hindi on a school notebook, also included allegations that they are also subjected to caste discrimination during midday meals.

Students belonging to Scheduled Caste category are made to sit separately. Even the headmaster does nothing he also practices untouchability, they said, according to the report.

A local organisation, Anusuchit Jati Kalyan Sangh, on Saturday started a protest following a purported video clip of the incident, following which, the head master offered an apology.

The headmaster, Rajan Bhardwaj, has confirmed the incident and tendered an apology, assuring that this will not be allowed to happen again. But thats not enough, said a member of the organisation told the paper.

The State Education Minister Suresh Bhardwaj has asked education authorirties to take strict action against the guily.

This matter has come to my notice today. I have asked Secretary, Education to get a report and take stern action, said State Education Minister Suresh Bhardwaj.

Education Secretary, Arun Sharma told the paper, "The government will seek a report from the local administration and recommend suitable action."

The member of the local organisation also claimed that similar instances of Dalit students facing discrimination were reported earlier. I have also been told that Dalit students faced discrimination in the school earlier too, during midday meals. If these reports are true, we will not spare the guilty, the member added.

Deputy Commissioner Yunus told the paper that a magisterial probe has been ordered into the incident as it is a serious matter.

SDM Kullu, Sunny Sharma, will hold the magisterial inquiry. The report has been sought in the next two days. Disciplinary action has already been initiated against the headmaster. If the incident is confirmed, criminal liability will be fixed, the commissioner said.

An inquiry committee comprising deputy director (higher education), deputy director (elementary education), district project officer, ICDS, and the local SHO is scheduled to visit the school on Monday.Punjab Police claimed to have seized demonetized currency worth Rs 1.05 crore from two residents of Haryana's Fatehabad.

The demonetized currency was recovered from the possession of Ravinder and Kapil, during a checking at Landran-Kharar road in Mohali, Superintendent of Police, Mohali, H S Atwal, said.

A case under relevant sections of the IPC has been registered against them, he said. The Income Tax department and Enforcement Directorate have been apprised of the recovery of the demonetized currency for further investigation.A model displays the 1109 carat "Lesedi La Rona" diamond at Sotheby's in the Manhattan borough of New York, U.S., May 4, 2016. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson - RTX2CTNC

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Recently, one of India's biggest fraud cases was unearthed. If we look at some cases in the past there is a trend of how top diamond-dealing businessmen have been involved in money laundering cases.

Here's how the diamond businessmen got into a legal soup

Nirav Modi

Nirav Modi is currently the centre of the PNB fraud case, which is still being unfolded. The top officials of the Nirav Modi group conniving with bank officials, got hold of fraudulent Letters of Understanding (LoUs) which can be issued by banks. LoU is a issued by a bank to the branches of other banks, based on which foreign branches offer loans or credit to buyers. Using this loophole and coupled with supervision lapses at PNB and failure of internal controls, the case persisted for seven years. The case came to notice last month on January 25, according to PNB's MD and CEO Sunil Mehta. Nirav Modi is believed to have left the country and was reportedly spotted in New York.

Jatin Mehta

The Winsome Diamonds and Jewellery's Jatin Mehta case unfolded in 2014 and finally came to an end in 2017. Mehta owes its lenders Rs 6,800 crore and had co-operated with the investigation agencies. The banks had given guarantees - Standby Letters of Credit (SBLC) to the firm for the gold they had bought from foreign bullion banks. The loophole here was that if the firm failed to pay the bullion banks, the Indian banks would step in to pay for the gold consignment. However, this loophole failed to bear fruit and the banks lodged complaints to the CBI against the firm. The firm had claimed that their UAE distributors failed to repay them a chunk of the money expected, which was over Rs 4,700 crore.

Bharat Shah

Bharat Shah was probably, unlike the other two mentioned above, did not siphon money but was arrested because of ties with the underworld. Apart from his diamond business, he was also a film financier where he had invested in big-budget Bollywood movies and had strong ties with the industry. The police had recorded 32 telephonic conversations between Shah, gangster Chhota Shakeel and film producer Nasim Rizvi way back in 2000. He was then arrested in 2001 and was awarded one year's of imprisonment. He was convicted in 2003 for concealing information linked to the underworld. The underworld is believed to have made extortion attempts on Bollywood stars, where actress Preity Zinta had also confirmed that she threat calls from the underworld.Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau received a lukewarm welcome by the Indian government when he arrived on Saturday. PM Narendra Modi did not receive Trudeau at the airport, as he has previously done with leaders including Shinzo Abe, Barack Obama, Xi Jinping, and Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Canadian PM, his wife Sophie, and their three children were instead received by Minister of State for Agriculture Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Indian Ambassador to Canada Vikas Swarup. The two Prime Ministers have not yet met, despite Trudeau being in India for nearly two days already.

The fact that Modi has not met Trudeau yet is all the more a surprise because Trudeau is visiting Gujarat. This is unusual because the Indian PM always accompanies heads of state when they visit his home state, as he did with Shinzo Abe last September.

Another courtesy that wasn't extended to Trudeau is a meeting with Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath, even though the Canadian PM and his family visited the Taj Mahal on Sunday.

The "cold shoulder" could be because two of the four Sikh members of Trudeau's cabinet - Harjit Sajjan and Amarjeet Sohi - support the Khalistan movement.

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh wrote an angry letter to Trudeau after assuming office last year. The Punjab CM has refused to meet Justin Trudeau when he visits the Golden Temple in Amritsar on Wednesday, according to a report by News18.

In May last year, India took objection to Trudeau's presence at Khalsa Day in Canada. The event glorifies separatist leaders such as Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, Amrik Singh and former General Shabeg Singh.

It is also worth noting that Modi has not written a welcome tweet, as he usually does when a foreign dignitary visits.

This is the Canadian PM's first official visit to India.

Government sources deny that the behaviour is a snub, according to a report by NDTV. The report also cites a source as saying that the PM does not have to accompany a visiting foreign dignitary everywhere.

Trudeau will attend a discussion at IIM Ahmedabad on Tuesday. The two leaders will hold bilateral talks on Friday.Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, his wife Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, their daughter Ella Grace, and sons Hadrien (front L) and Xavier (front R), arrive at Air Force Station Palam in New Delhi on Saturday. (Reuters)

The Canadian PM started his week-long visit to India with a tour of the iconic Taj Mahal, which he had first seen 35 years ago. I was about Xav's age when I first visited the Taj Mahal almost 35 years ago... and it's amazing to be back with him & the family on Day 1 of our trip to India, he tweeted. (Reuters)

Thank you for the wonderful visit to one of the most beautiful places in the world, wrote Trudeau in the visitor book after their visit to the Taj Mahal in Agra on Sunday. (Reuters)

He later visited Wildlife SOS. Wildlife SOS is doing important work rescuing captive Asian elephants across India, and giving them a new chance at life. Thanks for the very warm welcome at your sanctuary today, he tweeted. (Twitter/Justin Trudeau)

The Canadian PM's wife Sophie spins cotton on a wheel next to her husband and their daughter Ella Grace during their visit to Gandhi Ashram in Ahmedabad on Monday. (Reuters)

Justin Trudeau receives a memento during his visit to Gandhi Ashram in Ahmedabad on Monday. (Reuters)

A message written by Justin Trudeau in the visitor's book describing Gandhi Ashram in Ahmedabad after his visit to the place on Monday. It reads: "A beautiful place of peace, humility and truth, that is as needed today as it ever was." (Reuters)

Justin Trudeau speaks to Tata Sons Chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran during a meeting in Mumbai on Tuesday. (Reuters)

Canadian PM shakes hand with Anand Mahindra, Chairman of Mahindra Group during a meeting in Mumbai on Tuesday. (Reuters)

Justin Trudeau speaks during women business leaders' roundtable in Mumbai on Tuesday. (Reuters)

Trudeau said the proportion of women in the Indian workforce is "very low" at 26-27 per cent and exhorted companies to "pledge" for increasing their numbers during the Canada-India business forum in Mumbai on Tuesday. (Reuters)

Trudeau, his wife Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, their daughter Ella Grace and son Xavier met Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan. "Tonight, we celebrated stronger ties & new co-production opportunities between Bollywood and the Canadian Film Industry. And who better to help than Shah Rukh Khan himself... Great to meet you!" tweeted the Canadian PM. (Reuters)

"Aamir Khan - our delegation was very happy to meet you! Thanks for joining us to celebrate a brighter future for the film industry in both our countries," tweeted the Canadian PM after meeting Aamir Khan. (Twitter/Justin Trudeau)Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks in the Rajya Sabha, at the Parliament in New Delhi on Wednesday. (PTI)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Lilavati Hospital here to enquire about the health of Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar who is undergoing treatment for a pancreatic ailment.

"Modi was in the hospital for 15 minutes in the evening," a BJP source said.

"The prime minister was accompanied by Union minister Nitin Gadkari and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis," the source told PTI.

Earlier today, the hospital authorities said Parrikar is "responding well to treatment".

"It has been brought to our notice (that) various malicious and misleading reports/rumours are floating around in the electronic/print media with regards to his health," a hospital statement read.

Modi's visit to the hospital came on a day Goa Legislative Assembly Speaker Pramod Sawant met Governor Mridula Sinha in Panaji to discuss the situation in view of Parrikar's ill-health.The Punjab National Bank fraud case, amounting to Rs 11,400 crore, is probably one of the biggest banking frauds that has come to light.

The money laundering case saw top diamond businessman Nirav Modi conniving with bank officials and exposed supervision lapses at PNB and failure of internal controls.

Since 2010, the bank officials were issuing fraudulent Letters of Understakings (LoUs) to the Nirav Modi's company. The case came to notice last month on January 25, according to PNB's MD and CEO Sunil Mehta.

Also read: What is SWIFT technology?

Here are the major developments -

> The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) sealed the Brady House branch. CBI sources told CNN-News18 that they will look into the files and will question the bank employees on Monday.

> The Central Vigilance Commissioner KV Chowdhary will meet PNB's Chief Sunil Mehta and the Chief Vigilance Officer on Monday in New Delhi. The channel reports that Finance Ministry and central bank officials will also attend the meeting.

>The CVC issued an advisory to the bank officials asking them to transfer officials who have worked for three years and clerical staff who have worked for five years clerical staff, CNN-News18 reported.

>The CBI has summoned top Nirav Modi officials for questioning according to reports.

Catch live updates here

>Since Wednesday, the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the CBI and the Income Tax department have been on their toes. The authorities are still conducting searches in the premises of the accused.

> CBI arrested three PNB officials on Saturday - Gokulnath Shetty, Manoj Kharat and Hemant Bhat. They will be in police custody till March 3.

> MEA has suspended the validity of Nirav Modi and business partner Mehul Choksi's passports for four weeks. The authorities have also flagged the INTERPOL and issued a diffusion notice to the parties.

>CBI sources told Moneycontrol that PNB and RBI officials are under the scanner.

>Nirav Modi is believed to have been spotted in New York, according to reports. Reports also suggest that his family is also involved in the scam.

>Sources told CNN-News18 that Congress will demand a joint parliamentary committee probe against the fraud case after discussing with opposition parties.22:18 PNB closed all options to recover dues by going public: Nirav Modi

Nirav Modi, the kingpin behind the largest banking scam in the country's history, has virtually wrung his arms in the air saying PNB's overzealousness has shut the doors on his ability to clear the dues, which he claimed is much lower than the bank has gone public with.

In a letter Modi wrote on

February 15/16 to the PNB management, a copy of which PTI has seen, he pegged the amount his companies owes to the bank under Rs 5,000 crore.

"The erroneously cited liability resulted in a media frenzy which led to immediate search and seizure of operations, and which in turn resulted in Firestar International and Firestar Diamond International effectively ceasing to be going-concerns.

"This thereby jeopardised our ability to discharge the dues of the group to the banks," Modi, who left the country along with his family in the first week of January, wrote in the letter.

"In the anxiety to recover your dues immediately, despite my offer (on February 13, a day before the public announcement, and on 15,) your actions have destroyed my brand and the business and have now restricted your ability to recover all the dues leaving a trail of unpaid debts,"he said.

The letter also refers to the extended discussions between him, and between his representatives and the bank officers and also his emails on February 13 and 15, 2018. (PTI)

19:24 The Income Tax Department has attached 7 more properties of Gitanjali Group, out of which 4 are registered in the name of Gitanjali Gems, 2 properties belong to Mehul Choksi and 1 is registered in Gili India's name. All the attached properties are in Mumbai, sources in the department have said according to reports.

17:47 The CBI has said that 13 PNB officials, including the then GM level officers were questioned today along with four of Nirav Modi group's employees were also quizzed.

17:36 CBI sources have told News18 that 17 others are being questioned in connection to the scam.

17:13 An Enforcement Directorate (ED) official who wished not to be named has said that they are taking stock value at the time of seized assets.

'We have started valuation of these (seized) assets... We hired liquidators for checking the value of these assets,' the ED official has said, adding that the first LoU was issued in March 2011 and has been issued every year since.

'We have asked audit report from 2011 and we have asked to RBI to submit statutory report,' the official has said.

The ED official has said that 39 raids are going as of now and total seized amount is worth Rs 5,716 and has said that auditors' report has been sought from the bank.

16:58 Nirav Modi helped high profile clients exchange unaccounted cash after demonetisation, says report

Sources say that Nirav Modi helped high profile clients exchange unaccounted cash worth Rs 90 crore on a single day after November 8, 2016.

Dubious sales were made to 5,200 persons on a single day after demonetisation. They had backdated sales vouchers to duck sales during that period, sources have told CNN-News18.

16:47 The ED has seized properties worth Rs 22 crore according to CNBC-TV18. ED has carried out searches in 39 more properties belonging to Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi.

16:09 ED Director Karnal Singh rushes to Mumbai to take over the probe in the PNB fraud case, reports Moneycontrol's Tarun Sharma. ED is coordinating with the CBI on a daily basis for the future course of action in this case. The body may also issue a Letter of Rogatory issue to Hong Kong and other countries, where the money was diverted. They also feel that foreign firms, where the funds were diverted, may have been shell companies linked to Mehul Choksi's group.

11:47 The government doubts RBI's current fraud prevention framework and has asked RBI to check the efficiency Of the process and systems to detect fraud. The government has questioned the central bank as to why and how the PNB was not detected by their system. They also wrote to the RBI flagging doubts over supervisory lapses in the fraud case, sources told NewsRise.

11:00 Gitanjali Gems Company Secretary resigns, according to CNBC-TV18.

10:00 What is SWIFT technology and how is it connected to PNB fraud?

As the over Rs 11,000-crore Punjab National Bank fraud unfolds, the underlying technology that enabled the money transfer has been in the limelight.

Read our explainer here

09:30 CBI seals PNB's Brady House branch in Mumbai where the fraudulent transactions took place.

09:15 Recap of the PNB fraud case

- Over Rs 11,400 crore was siphoned by using the LoU method. Bank officials and major diamond merchant Nirav Modi and his accomplices were involved in this case. The bank officials issued the letters to the concerned persons who approached them. The fraud started in 2010, and was detected in 25 January 2018, according to PNB's MD and CEO Sunil Mehta.

- ED is still conducting raids at Gitanjali stores across the country. Income Tax department is believed to have has frozen 32 accounts of Gitanjali and seized a building in Jaipur.

- MEA has suspended the validity of Nirav Modi and business partner Mehul Choksi's passports for four weeks. The authorities have also flagged the INTERPOL and issued a diffusion notice to the parties.

- CBI arrested three PNB officials - Gokulnath Shetty, Manoj Kharat and Hemant Bhat. They will be in police custody till March 3.

- CBI sources told Moneycontrol's Tarun Sharma that PNB and RBI officials are under the scanner.

- Nirav Modi, the man behind the scam, is believed to have been spotted in New York, according to reports. Reports also suggest that the family is involved in the scam.

- Sources told CNN-News18 that Congress will demand a joint parliamentary committee probe against the fraud case after discussing with opposition parties.Central Vigilance Commissioner KV Chowdhary will meet scam-hit Punjab National Banks (PNB) Chief Executive Officer Sunil Mehta and the Chief Vigilance Officer on Monday to seek an explanation on the 11,360 crore fraud involving jewellery designer Nirav Modi, his relative and business partner Mehul Choksi and others.

The meeting in Delhi will also be attended by senior Finance Ministry officials and representatives of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), sources said.

At least 200 shell firms and "benami" assets have come under the scanner of the investigative agencies that are probing the fraud.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED), which continued its searches against Modi, Choksi and their companies for the fourth day on Sunday, is also moving to attach at least two dozen immovable properties under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje today announced withdrawal of a controversial Bill that sought to protect serving and former judges, magistrates and public servants from being investigated for on-duty action without government sanction.

The Criminal Laws (Rajasthan Amendment) Bill, 2017, which was tabled in the Assembly last year by state Home minister Gulab Chand Kataria, had invited sharp criticism and protest from the opposition, rights groups and others.

It also barred the media from reporting on accusations of such wrongdoings till the government sanctions a probe.

"We referred the Bill to the Select Committee, we allowed the ordinance to get lapsed and when it is not a law yet, then what should we withdraw? However, we are taking the Bill back from the Select Committee," Raje said in the House amid an uproar by members of the opposition.

The Bill was referred to the Select Committee in the Assembly's last session following an uproar by the Congress. BJP MLA Ghanshyam Tiwari had termed it "Kala Kanoon".

TheA ordinanceA was promulgated by the Rajasthan government on September 6, 2017, and the Bill was introduced in the Assembly onA October 23, 2017.

On October 24, amid sharp criticism from all corners, the Bill was referred to the Select Committee for review. The ordinance, after the Bill's introduction in the Assembly, was valid for a six-week period and it lapsed in December 2017.

The chief minister, during a debate on the state budget, also attacked the Congress for the Emergency imposed by the then prime minister Indira Gandhi.Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Monday said he expects the services sector to play a key role as his government aims to transform the state into a trillion dollar economy by 2025.

Fadnavis plans to accelerate the contribution of services sector from the current 59 percent to 67 percent of GSDP by 2025.

For the state to achieve the ambitious target, Fadnavis said the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) has to grow at 15.4 percent every year.

Maharashtras GSDP stood at USD 400 billion as on 2016-17, growing at 9.4 percent. At the current level, Maharashtra will take at least another 11 years to reach the trillion dollar mark.

Outlining his vision for the state at the Magnetic Maharashtra: Convergence 2018 Summit, Fadnavis said the GSDP growth will be largely led by services sector while his government will continue to sustain state investment on raising agricultural productivity.

Agriculture employs about half of the states workforce, contributing 11 percent of GSDP. The services sector on the other hand employs generates 59 percent of GSDP.

It is very clear that we have to shift the agriculture labour into other productive sectors of the economy, Fadnavis said.

Fadnavis said his government plans to reskill 5 million rural youth to make them employable in service sector jobs such as financial services, retail and construction among others.

He added that there is around 31 percent gap in demand and supply in the services sector.

To increase contribution of services sector from 59 percent to 67 percent of GSDP by 2025, the state will be giving impetus on five big ideas that include unlocking growth of digital economy, reskilling and reorienting farm sector workforce towards service sector, improving ease of doing business, public investment into infrastructure and demand led growth by connecting Maharashtra hinterland to Mumbai through transportation corridors.

Fadnavis said his government's thrust areas for services sector include fintech, IT/ITES, startups, cloud computing, electric vehicle, defence, private universities and tourism.

The government also said it will be creating a fintech hub in Mumbai along with raising USD 40 million to fund fintech companies. The government said it has tied up with State Bank of India and ICICI Bank for this purpose.

Fadnavis said he is aiming to see 300 fintech companies operating out of this hub in next three years.

To promote startup and the associated ecosystem - the government proposed set up startup incubators across 12 districts, along with launching a Youth Entrepreneurship Fund and a Venture Capital Fund to fund the new ventures. The government said it wants to see 10,000 startups and 5 lakh jobs created in next 5 years.

On ITES sector, Fadnavis said the government will be encouraging firms to invest in integrated townships with additional floor space index (FSI).Hardik Patel

Patidar quota agitation leader Hardik Patel today said here that he would campaign against the ruling BJP in the coming Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.

After OBC leader and newly-elected Congress MLA Alpesh Thakore, Patel is another leader from Gujarat who has said he would play an active role in Madhya Pradesh politics. Thakore, earlier this week, had said he would unite OBCs in the state against the ruling party.

"I will be active in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, and campaign against the ruling BJP. I will visit MP many times. If someone has a problem with that, let them try and stop me," Patel said, speaking to reporters here.

He was here to attend a program organised by the Patidar community.

"I don't care if someone doesn't like my visits to Madhya Pradesh. I will continue to talk about farmers, employment to the youth and good education here.

"Attempts were made to stop me from coming to Madhya Pradesh. I was told don't go there, or cases would be filed against you. They say my arrival would divide the society. Some people say you are coming to spread casteism. If talking about farmers and the youth is casteism....I wanted to do it," he said.

Without naming the BJP, Patel further said, "Some people call the divisive politics of Hindus and Muslims as nationalism."

In a potshot at Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Patel said, "Mama (as Chouhan is called) makes lofty promises. But this Mama is a taker and not a giver.

"Corruption in Madhya Pradesh goes on very silently. The Vyapam scam occurred in the state. Farmers were killed in police firing in Mandsaur. The government here doesn't talk about the implementation of Swaminathan report (on farm reforms), and the state even failed to provide 27 per cent reservations to OBCs despite the Supreme Court's directives," he said.

He hasn't been involved in the electoral politics as he is still 24 years old and can not contest elections yet, Patel said.

In reply to a question about his meeting with Congress president Rahul Gandhi, Patel said, "I am meeting an Indian, not a terrorist."

Asked about the Punjab National Bank scam, the Patidar leader said, "The BJP had promised to provide Rs 15 lakh to every citizen by bringing back black money. But with Nirav Modi and Vijay Mallya and their ilk fleeing the country with the country's money, it appears that people are supposed to give them Rs 15 lakh from one's own account.MK Stalin, DMK president

DMK has decided to convene an "all-party meeting" on the Cauvery issue which actor Kamal Hassan, who will launch his party next week, has agreed to attend, party working president M K Stalin said.

The DMK took the decision as the AIADMK government was not paying heed to his demand to hold an all-party meeting in the wake of the Supreme Court reducing the quantum of water from Cauvery river to Tamil Nadu, he told reporters here.

"As an opposition party, we have decided to convene an all party meeting and will be inviting AIADMK which is the ruling party... we will also invite BJP," he said without mentioning the date of the proposed meeting.

"Not only that. I have directly invited Kamal Hassan, who is going to launch his party on February 21. He has assured he will participate," Stalin said. To a question on actors Hassan and Rajinikanth's political foray, Stalin said anyone can enter politics.

The Supreme Court had on February 16 directed the Karnataka government to release 177.25 tmcft of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu, reducing the quantum specified by the tribunal in 2007.India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi gestures as he addresses his supporters during an election campaign meeting ahead of the second phase of Gujarat state assembly elections, in Nadiad, India December 11, 2017. REUTERS/Amit Dave - RC1469DFBF40

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday lashed out at the Siddaramaiah government on the corruption issue, saying new scams and charges of corruption were emerging "every day" under it.

Addressing a BJP public rally here, Modi said that after he levelled a "10 percent commission" charge against the Siddaramaiah government, he received many calls saying his information was incorrect and it was much more.

"I can understand the anger of the people of Karnataka," he said, asking whether the state wanted a "commission or a mission government." Karnataka, he said, wants a "mission government" and not a "commission government."

In a stinging attack on the Siddaramaiah government at a public rally here on February 4, Modi had accused it of setting new records in corruption and asserted that the countdown for its exit has begun. "The Congress government is at the exit gate," Modi had said, while dubbing the Siddaramaiah rule a "10 percent commission government."

In his second rally this month in poll-bound Karnataka, Modi said the Congress, wherever it was in power, were acting like "bumps" in the path of speedy progress and the party only cared for power and not for aspirations of the people.

"Every day,a new scam, new corruption and new allegations are coming up against their leader, ministers, or some government schemes," Modi said, chiding the Siddaramaiah government at the Chief Minister's home town of Mysuru.

Modi also accused the Congress of spreading "lies and repeated lies" and asked the people to question them over their rule in the country for several decades.

"They think that by telling lies, repeated lies, loudly and continuously spreading lies not for a day but for months on end, wherever they go, the people will believe them....the country will never accept your lies."

Modi also announced a six-lane 117 km Bengaluru-Mysuru national highway project at a cost of Rs 6,400 crore and a world class new satellite railway station at Mysuru at an investment of Rs 800 crore.live bse live

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Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has pulled out his crusader's cape and gathered his anti-graft ammo once again. But this time he is firing his salvos not from the heart of Delhi, but from Twitter.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader, who came into politics riding a popular anti-corruption wave that first gathered momentum at India Gate, has been particularly vocal about the recent mega-crore-rupee scam involving businessman Nirav Modi and the Punjab National Bank on the micro-blogging site.

In tweet after tweet in the last few days, he has taken on the ruling BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the issue. Of the nearly 35 tweets by the tax officer-turned-politician over three days last week, 24 posts were on the scam.

Most of them castigated the government for the fraud and the jeweller's flight from India, while some referred to liquor baron Vijay Mallya, who has also fled the country.

"BJP govt shud give specific timelines by when will they bring Vijay Mallya and Neerav Modi back to India (sic). By when will the money be recovered from them," he tweeted on February 16.

"Is it possible to believe that he or Vijay Mallya left the country without active connivance of BJP govt (sic)," he said in another tweet.

Most of his tweets and re-tweets -- from February 15-17 -- targeted the Central government but some directly referred to the prime minister, something Kejriwal has avoided doing since AAP's poor electoral performances last year.

On February 15, when reports alleging that Nirav Modi and his uncle had committed a bank fraud of almost Rs 11,400 crore with the connivance of some PNB officials hogged the headlines, Kejriwal posted 18 tweets.

Of these, 11 related to the scam and hit out at the government and the prime minister. A day later, he posted 11 tweets. Of these 7 pertained to the scam and again took pot-shots at the BJP.

His other tweets were mostly on the achievements of the Delhi government. But for a politician whose main plank has been his anti-graft battle, Kejriwal's tweets do not surprise his colleagues.

"Our party originated from an andolan' which was based on an anti-corruption movement, said Saurabh Bharadwaj, AAP chief spokesperson, Delhi unit.

He, however, disagreed with the view that Kejriwal had been subdued in his attacks in recent times. Some political observers believe that after a series of electoral reversals, the chief minister had been unusually quiet.

When the Karni Sena was running amok protesting against 'Padmaavat', Arvind was very vocal about it. He took an aggressive stand during the MCD sealing issue. And when a multi-crore-rupee scam takes place, then a chief minister is bound to speak up, Bharadwaj said.

Kejriwal has lashed out at the government away from the cyber world, too.

At a public function yesterday, he attacked the Centre over the scam and how Nirav Modi had left India.

He also questioned the prime minister's silence on the issue. The chief minister also took to Twitter when Karni Sena supporters protesting against Sanjay Leela Bhansali's film attacked a school bus in Gurgaon and was vocal during the sealing drive by the MCDs.

But the bank fraud has evoked many more tweets from him than the other issues.Telangana on Monday said global IT firm Adobe is going to start an advanced artificial intelligence (AI) lab in the city.

State IT and industries minister KT Rama Rao met Adobe chief executive Shantanu Narayan here on the sideline of the ongoing World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT) and requested the company to start its centre here, according to an official statement issued by the government.

Responding to the minister's request, Adobe made an announcement to the same effect, the release added without adding any more details.

"As the global leader providing content creation and enterprise experience software solutions, driving innovative products is the core essence of our company," the release quoted Adobe as saying.

The minister also met Navdeep Bains, the Indian origin Canadian minister of innovation, science and economic development and several key personalities of IT industry at the WCIT-2018, the statement added.Scientists have developed a programme that uses artificial intelligence to decipher a website's data protection policies in the blink of an eye, and can help you protect your personal information.

The programme developed by researchers, including those from Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland, can let people know which websites and apps collect and subsequently sell their personal data.

People do not always take the time to read website terms and conditions before accepting them. Not only are they extremely lengthy, they are also convoluted and written in opaque legalese, researchers said.

However, they can contain surprising clauses about a website's or app's right to use the data it collects, such as the user's IP address, age and online preferences.

To help consumers get a better grasp of what they are agreeing to, a team of researchers from EPFL, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the University of Michigan in the US created the program to decipher websites' data protection policies in the blink of an eye.

Called Polisis, short for privacy policy analysis, their programme can be used free of charge either as a browser extension (for Chrome of Firefox) or directly on their website.

"Our program uses simple graphs and colour codes to show users exactly how their data could be used," said Hamza Harkous, a post-doc working at EPFL. "For instance, some websites share geolocation data for marketing purposes, while others may not fully protect information about children. Such clauses are typically buried deep in their data protection policies," said Harkous, who led the project.

The researchers used artificial intelligence to teach their programme how to pick apart websites' data protection policies, drawing on over 130,000 that they found online.

Once the text of a policy is fed into the programme, the software scours through it in just a few seconds and displays the results in easy-to-read visuals, researchers said. That lets users to see at a glance which data a website would be authorised to collect and for what purpose, they said.

Users can then make an informed decision about whether to use the website, or, in the case of an app, download it.Elon Musk's car that was recently shot into space as part of SpaceX's rocket test flight will likely collide with Earth or Venus eventually, scientists say.

"It will likely end up colliding with Earth or Venus, but there's no need to panic since the probability of that happening even within the next million years is very small," said Hanno Rein, an assistant professor at University of Toronto in Canada.

The car was sent into space as part of the payload for SpaceX's Falcon Heavy test flight on February 6. While rocket test flights usually have a dummy payload, SpaceX founder Musk sent up his personal Tesla Roadster instead.

Though the car does not have any scientific instruments on board, it is now classified as a near-earth object, and is being tracked by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory along with other objects that will travel relatively close to Earth.

After running a series of simulations using sophisticated software that can track the motion of objects in space, they determined the probability of it colliding with Earth and Venus over the next one million years to be six per cent and 2.5 per cent, respectively.

They also determined that the first close encounter the Tesla will have with us will be in 2091, when it will pass within a few hundred thousand kilometres of Earth.

The car is currently on a Mars and Earth crossing orbit, meaning it will travel on an elliptical path that repeatedly carries it beyond Mars and then back to Earth's orbital distance from the sun.

How the car's orbit evolves over time will depend a lot on its encounters with Earth, especially how close it will get to Earth since any small change in its trajectory could have a large effect on its orbit.

While the path of the car can be accurately predicted in terms of years, after hundreds of years and many close encounters with Earth it becomes impossible to predict the object's precise orbit. By studying a large number of orbital simulations, however, the researchers were able to arrive at a statistical distribution of possible outcomes.

"Each time it passes Earth, the car will get a gravitational kick," said Dan Tamayo, a postdoctoral fellow at University of Toronto. "Depending on the details of these encounters, the Tesla can be kicked onto a wider or smaller orbit, so it's random," Tamayo said.

"Over time the orbit will undergo what's called a random walk, similar to the fluctuations we see in the stock market, that will allow it to wander the inner solar system," he said. While they only ran simulations for the first three million years of its space journey, the most likely outcome for the Tesla is for it to crash into Earth or Venus in the next 10 million years or so.

"Although we are not able to tell on which planet the car will ultimately end up, we're comfortable saying it won't survive in space for more than a few tens of millions of years," he said.PM Modi

In the true spirit of Digital India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today declared the IT industry bodys annual event open through video conferencing through the homegrown National Informatics Centre-developed product for the purpose.

Beginning by welcoming delegates to Hyderabad, which is a change of venue for Nasscom India Leadership Summit that is usually held in Mumbai, Modi said technology was an enabler in the 21st century.

Today, India is the hot-spot of digital innovation, across all sectors. We not only possess a growing number of innovative entrepreneurs, but also a growing market for tech innovation. We were and we remain one of the most tech-friendly populations in the world, the Prime Minister said, addressing a packed hall at the Hyderabad International Convention Centre in Hyderabad on Monday.

He spoke about the success of Digital India, rural digital literacy programmes, e-Marketplace and skilling the workforce for the changing workplace.

Skilling citizens for the workplace of the future is now a global imperative. In India, we have launched the National Skill Development Mission to prepare our children and youth for a productive and bright future, he said.

"Digital India has not remained merely a government initiative but has become a way of life. Technology has transcended power point presentation and has become an inseparable part of people's life," he added.

He also stressed the importance of disruptive technologies such as blockchain and the Internet of Things, adding that these sectors will have a profound impact on the way, people live and work.

"We stand today, at a moment in history when technology, if used well for public good, can deliver lasting prosperity to mankind and a sustainable future for our planet," he said.

Speaking about the government's initiative on digital literacy, Modi said that the Pradhan Mantri Rural Literacy Mission has already trained 10 million people and targets to make 60 million adults digitally literate in rural India.Water bodies in India fall prey to temple offerings such as flowers, coconuts, idols, etc. Devotees make tonnes of offerings at temples across the country every year, which are eventually dumped in rivers, water bodies or are strewn around the premises.

Many social programmes have been held in the past to stop this growing problem, where volunteers and NGOs have educated pilgrims and devotees not to pollute rivers. The turnaround has been very few.

This is when Sandesh Gupta decided to take things in his hands who thought PM Narendra Modis Swachh Bharat Abhiyan was an opportune time to execute it.

Gupta is the chief municipal officer (CMO) in Neemuch city in Madhya Pradesh and is now making the most of temple offerings and waste in the city.

He gets offerings such as flowers, coconuts, dry waste, etc. collected from temples. Then the municipal corporations vehicles dump these in two large pits dug at the premises of Guptas official bungalow in a bid to make organic fertiliser.

Inspired by Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Gupta is leading by example and is making organic fertiliser in his yard.

The pits were dug with the help of National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation (NAFED). He adds dry neem leaves in the pits to make fertilizer, which is then being sold at a premium, thereby getting revenue for the municipal corporation too.

Gupta uses nearly one quintal of flowers and coconut fibre to make the fertiliser.

Now, he is trying to get the flowers and coconut fibre from surrounding towns and villages.

Neemuch produces around 60 tonnes of dry and wet garbage. Gupta advises the garbage should be disposed at the source itself.

For instance, the vegetable mandi produces around 10 quintals of garbage and now I have persuaded the 400 odd traders to put their waste in a pit and thus organic fertilizer is being produced over there. This can be replicated everywhere in localities, Gupta told HT.

Guptas efforts have been lauded by his department and people of Neemuch. It is time that we see such models replicating in rest of India too.The government is likely to impose an anti-dumping duty of up to USD 620 per tonne for five years on a chemical imported from China and used in pharma and fertiliser industries.

Alkyl Amines Chemicals had asked for an anti-dumping probe on 'Monoisopropylamine ' and imposition of levy to discourage cheap imports.

The Directorate General of Anti-dumping and Allied Duties (DGAD), the investigation arm of the commerce ministry, in its probe has concluded that the chemical has been exported to India from certain Chinese firms below its normal value, which has resulted in dumping.

The domestic industry has suffered material injury due to the dumping of the product, the DGAD has said in a notification. The duty recommended was in the range of USD 497.68 per tonne and USD 620 per tonne. The finance ministry takes the final call to impose the levy.

"The authority considers it necessary to recommend imposition of definitive anti-dumping duty on the imports" of the chemical imported from the neighbouring country.

The imports increased to 4,373 tonne during the period of investigation (July 2015-September 2016) from 4,011 tonne in 2013-14. Countries carry out anti-dumping probe to determine whether their domestic industries have been hurt because of a surge in cheap imports.

As a counter measure, they impose duties under the multilateral regime of WTO. The duty is also aimed at ensuring fair trading practices and creating a level-playing field for domestic producers with regard to foreign producers and exporters.

India has already imposed anti-dumping duty on several products to check cheap imports from countries including China, with which India has a major concern of widening trade deficit. The deficit with China stood at USD 36.73 billion during April-October this fiscal.Representative image

A court will decide on Thursday whether German cities can ban heavily polluting cars, potentially wiping hundreds of millions of euros off the value of diesel cars on the country's roads.

Environmental group DUH has sued Stuttgart in Germany's carmaking heartland, and Duesseldorf over levels of particulate matter exceeding European Union limits after Volkswagen's 2015 admission to cheating diesel exhaust tests.

The scandal led politicians across the world to scrutinise diesel emissions, which contain the matter and nitrogen oxide (NOx) and are known to cause respiratory disease.

There are around 15 million diesel vehicles on German streets and environmental groups say levels of particulates exceed the EU threshold in at least 90 German towns and cities.

Local courts ordered them to bar diesel cars which did not conform to the latest standards on days when pollution is heavy, startling German carmakers because an outright ban could trigger a fall in vehicle resale prices, and a rise in the cost of leasing contracts, which are priced on assumed residual values.

The German states concerned, where the carmakers and their suppliers have a strong influence, appealed against the decisions, leaving Germany's federal administrative court - the court of last resort for such matters - to rule on whether such bans can legally be imposed at local level.

"The key question is whether bans can already be considered to be legal instruments," said Remo Klinger, a lawyer for DUH. "It's a completely open question of law."

Paris, Madrid, Mexico City and Athens have said they plan to ban diesel vehicles from city centres by 2025, while the mayor of Copenhagen wants to ban new diesel cars from entering the city as soon as next year. France and Britain will ban new petrol and diesel cars by 2040 in a shift to electric vehicles.

DIESEL? NEIN DANKE

Evercore ISI forecasts a 5 percent fall in diesel residual values could result in a drop of 1.6 billion euros ($2 billion) in operating profit across eight European and U.S. carmakers.

Analysts at Bernstein Research have said that diesel bans in Europe would hit French carmaker Peugeot hardest, followed by Renault. Among German carmakers, Daimler's global fleet exposure to diesel is around 38 percent, BMW's 35 percent and VW's 26 percent, Bernstein said in a report from 2016.

Carmakers have sought to avert total bans by updating engine management systems to improve exhaust-treatment filters, a step only possible on vehicles equipped with software-based engine-management systems.

Environmental groups have called software updates insufficient and have lobbied for cars with Euro-6 and Euro-5 emissions standards to receive hardware updates of their exhaust treatment systems, costing at least 1,500 euros per vehicle.

Europe's love affair with diesel is already fading, with its market share in the European Union falling from 53.6 percent at the end of 2014 to 49.9 percent at the end of 2016, European automotive association ACEA's most recent data shows.

($1 = 0.8035 euros)While one bride thinks she's in a happy relationship, the groom is ready to walk out the door.



It was Married At First Sight Australia's first commitment ceremony where Dean said he would choose to leave his wife Tracey after one week on the show.

Not only did it leave the other brides and grooms shocked, but Tracey was quick to lash out, admitting the two had been quite "intimate" with each other.

"How can you call it so early? You're so physically affectionate with me. We were intimate this morning for crying out loud!"

Tracey herself had said how she wished to stay on the show with Dean, explaining "He makes me feel like a woman - sexy and playful - I think it's obvious with a love-heart that I'm staying."

But when Dean explained his side of the story, he said he was only trying to "be real with myself."Welcome to Morningstar.co.uk!

You have been redirected here from Hemscott.com as we are merging our websites to provide you with a one-stop shop for all your investment research needs.To search for a security, type the name or ticker in the search box at the top of the page and select from the dropdown results.Registered Hemscott users can log in to Morningstar using the same login details. Similarly, if you are a Hemscott Premium user, you now have a Morningstar Premium account which you can access using the same login details.In Focus with Allison Walker is a 30-minute public affairs program, featuring a roundtable of newsmakers representing a range of perspectives, including local officials and expert analysts as they tackle topical issues of importance to Floridians.

In Focus airs Sundays at 11:30 a.m. and 8:30 p.m., right after Political Connections.Austin Dillon put the No. 3 back in victory lane at Daytona International Speedway.



Austin Dillon wins Daytona 500

3rd consecutive year tickets have sold out

Daytona 500 kicks off Sunday at 3 p.m.

RELATED: Daytona 500 celebrating 60 years of racing



Dillon won in the car number made famous by Dale Earnhardt and won 17 years to the day that the Hall of the Fame driver was killed in a last-lap accident at NASCAR''s famed track.



Dillon also won in the 3 two decades after Earnhardt's lone victory in the Daytona 500.



"It was so awesome to take the 3 car back to victory lane,'' Dillon said. "This is for Dale Earnhardt Sr. and all those Senior fans.''



Dillon even replicated the slide Earnhardt did in 1998 and did a burnout in the shape of a 3 in the infield grass.



Darrell "Bubba" Wallace Jr., the first black driver in the Daytona 500 field since 1969, finished second in a 1-2 finish for Chevrolet and Childress' engine program.



Denny Hamlin, the 2016 winner, finished third in a Toyota.



Ryan Blaney, who led a race-high 118 laps, faded to seventh after giving the win away in regulation. He wrecked Kurt Busch, the defending race winner, trying to reclaim his lead and the contact damaged Blaney's Ford.

Tickets sell out for 3rd year



Stadium tickets were sold out to watch the 60th running of the Daytona 500, which is the third consecutive year the tickets have sold out.

But speedway representatives say for fans looking to catch the action, access to premium hospitality, infield admissions and the Fanzone were available.

Nothing is better than eating in Daytona, dont make any difference what it is, said 84-year-old Larry Durocher.

Durocher has loved racing since he was a teen. His father got him hooked; even when he was in the army he couldnt get enough.

Id get a five-page letter, hed tell me everything that went on, he said. Who crashed, who won, everything.

A lot has changed over 60 years at the speedway, including the $400 million makeover called Daytona Rising, which was completed two years ago.

Well I think the 400 million dollar investment weve made into the property is the biggest change, you know creating new experiences for our fans. Its an amazing sight and were really proud of it, said Chip Wile, Daytona International Speedway President.

But NASCAR said while the drivers, cars and seats have changed, the track, traditions and history remain the same.

Durocher camps out in the infield and wouldnt want to be anywhere else. Now, he brings his 14-year-old grandson with him during race weekends.

I missed two 500s because I was in the hospital, other than that I havent missed a race, he said. As long as I can walk, I will be here.

The Associated Press contributed this this story.For veterans, coming back from war and adjusting to civilian life can be very difficult. Manuel Marrero hopes he can use his own challenges to make it easier for other veterans in Central Florida.

Military veteran Manuel Marrero served 6 tours in Afghanistan

Helped found America's Home Foundation, which supports returning troops

Nonprofit helps vets find jobs, get mental counseling, health treatments

VISIT: America's Home Foundation website



A U.S. Army veteran, Marrero served six tours of combat in Afghanistan.

I saw a lot  my brothers die, my drinking buddies die, my associate buddies die, Marrero said.

Even after he left the battlefield and returned to Central Florida, Marrero continued to see his fellow soldiers die  from suicide. A veteran who was counseling him even took his own life.

PTSD, pain, alcohol  unfortunately, he didnt make it, Marrero said.

Marrero says he had trouble finding help not only for his physical and mental wounds from war. He also had trouble finding a job.

"You served your country, but its like you wasted your time, said Marrero who's based in the Kissimmee area. And now that you have that stigma of PTSD on you, good luck.

At one point, he nearly took his own life. But thanks to support from friends and inspiration from his friends father  a 92-year-old World War II veteran  he was able to get his life back on track.

Now, he's working to prevent other veterans from facing their problems alone.

It gave me the courage and motivation to say, 'You know what, we might only start off with a handful of veterans and family members of veterans, but lets do this,'  Marrero said.

Marrero, with help from his close friends, started Americas Home Foundation. Through the nonprofit group, he wants to help veterans find jobs, access to medical and mental health treatment, food and temporary housing.



Manuel Marrero (center) hugs Belle Barrios and Bernard Martinez, who helped him found American's Home Foundation, which provides support to troops returning home from deployments. (Jeff Allen, staff)

Were focusing on families, getting veterans wives and maybe one or two children into micro-apartments, said Bernard Martinez, a cofounder.

Americas Home Foundation is just taking off. Marrero hopes with government assistance, sponsorships and donations, hell be able to soon help many veterans.

Id just like to be in a position where I can help everyone, open up the programs that are needed, Marrero said.

Its our responsibility to help, him because we pushed him to a better opportunity, but we didnt realize how hard it is to come back out to the real world and adjust, said Belle Barrios, a cofounder.

If youd like to find out more about Americas Home Foundation or donate, go to its website.Mister Rogers Neighborhood made its debut 50 years ago today, and both the nation and Florida are commemorating the iconic Rollins College graduate.

"Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" debuted 50 years ago today

Rollins grad Fred Rogers inspired generations of children, adults

Postage stamp, movie coming out on Rogers, show



The city of Winter Park celebrated the show this past weekend with its fourth annual "Be My Neighbor Day." It celebrated the legacy of the beloved public broadcasting host Fred Rogers, who lived in Winter Park and attended Rollins, where he studied music.

The event featured educational activities as part of Winter Park's Weekend of the Arts celebration.

"More importantly than anything else was to continue Fred Rogers' legacy. To try to encourage people to be nice to each other and be good neighbors," said Phil Hoffman, the executive director of WUCF-TV, the PBS affiliate that put on the event.

Kids also got to meet Daniel Tiger, who originally debuted on "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood."



Children and adults alike took pictures with Daniel Tiger, a character that 1st appeared on "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood," during Winter Park's 4th annual "Be My Neighbor Day" on Saturday, Feb. 17, 2018. Fred Rogers lived in Winter Park for a time and went to Rollins College. (Spectrum News 13)

And coming to a neighborhood near you: A Mister Rogers postage stamp, as well as a movie starring Tom Hanks that explores part of Rogers' life.

The U.S. Postal Service will release the Forever stamp to honor Rogers' life and "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood." The stamp will be unveiled March 23 in the same Pittsburgh public television station where "Mister Rogers Neighborhood" was produced. The stamp features Rogers and the puppet King Friday XIII that appeared on the show.

Rogers hosted the show for more than 30 years. Meanwhile, the Sony Tri-Star Pictures biopic "You Are My Friend," inspired by a real-life friendship between Rogers and journalist Tom Junod, is set to begin production in September for a 2019 release. It will be directed by "The Diary of a Teenage Girl" filmmaker Marielle Heller.Drain the Oceans dives deep into the unknown; a truly epic, truly original series that exposes hidden evidence of the most amazing undersea mysteries, as never seen before. The first episode is the Great Barrier Reef.

Thursdays from 9:30pm AEST.You're wrong. It's been pointed out over and over. What do you expect? Just keep dwelling on it? The point is to MOVE FORWARD.



Is progress and moving forward too much to ask?By Express News Service

CHENNAI: A Mahila court in Chengalpet here convicted 23-year-old techie S Dhasvanth to death in the rape and murder of seven-year-old Hasini. He had burnt the child's body after he committed the crime on February 6 last year.

Dhasvanth is also facing a separate case of killing his mother when he came out on bail and for escaping from police custody after nabbed in Mumbai.

The child's father was also in the court premises on Monday when in a jam packed court hall the judge pronounced Dhasvanth guilty of most of the charges pressed by the prosecution, including under POSCO Act Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act).

Super imposition was used to identify the body of Hasini. The court relied on the DNA tests of semen in the inner-wear match with Dhasvanth and also a witness who said he was the last person seen with the child before she went missing.

Special Judge P. Velumurgan of Mahila Court, Chengalpet, pronounced the death sentence and also awarded P. Daswant a jail term of 46 years on separate counts, ensuring he never walks out of prison alive.

"It is death by hanging," said the judge leading to cheers from people outside the court.

According to a The NewsMinute report, he has been found guilty under sections 363 (kidnapping), 366 (kidnapping, abduction), 354-b (assault or use of criminal force on woman with intent to disrobe), 302 (murder), and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) of the IPC and section 8 read with 7, 6, 5(m) of POCSO (punishment for aggravated sexual assault).

Reacting to the verdict, the girl's father said he was satisfied. "I wanted nothing less than death for the monster," he told the media.

"When I started pursuing the case, I was advised against it as courts take a long time. But I am happy it got over," he said.

BACKGROUND

Dhasvanth, who resided in an apartment complex along with Hasini's family in Mugalivakkam, had lured the child into his flat using a dog and suffocated her to death after raping her. He then put her body in a travel bag, bought petrol, and burnt her body on a highway.

Soon after, the police arrested Dhasvanth and slapped the Goondas Act against him.

Dhasvanth's father had applied for his bail in Mahila Court in Chengalpet. He also filed a habeas corpus petition with the Madras High Court.

Since there was a delay from the polices end to file the chargesheet, the Madras High Court quashed his detention. Dhasvanth was then released on bail in September.

Dhasvanth was arrested and later detained under the Goondas Act in March. As there was a delay on the polices side to file the chargesheet, the Madras High Court quashed his detention and he came out on bail in September.

Later, Mangadu Police here filed a 220-page chargesheet in the court with all the evidence related to the murder and the trial began. After release, Dhasvanth was residing along with his family at Kundrathur.

Double murder

On December 2, he allegedly murdered his mother S Sarala when she was alone at home, stole her jewellery and escaped to Mumbai.

Arrest

On December 6, a special team nabbed him from South Mumbai.

Re-arrest

However, he managed to escape from police in Mumbai the very next day. With the help of Mumbai Police, Chennai Police nabbed him again on December 8 and brought him back to the city.

The police interrogated him in front of his father, when he allegedly admitted that he had also planned to murder his father.

Admits his guilt

On December 19, Dhasvanth submitted a petition to the sessions court judge at Chengalpattu seeking punishment in the child rape case, instead of a trial. However, judge Velumurugan warned him and assigned legal aid service to him, after which Daswant withdrew his petition.

(With inputs from IANS and online desk)By Online Desk

The father of a 7-year-old Chennai girl who was sexually assaulted and murdered in her apartment was threatened by the alleged killer.

CDS Babu, the father of Hasini, has filed a police complaint with the Chengalpattu town police against the suspect Dhasvanth for threatening him and his family on Monday, reports The Newsminute.

"I was just outside the court. I saw him standing there, he was speaking on the mobile. Suddenly, he came towards me. He whispered that I should not come to court again. And if I do, he would kill me and my son, said Babu as quoted by The Newsminute.

It was not the first time Babu was threatened by the accused. Earlier too, Dhasvanth had tried to provoke him.

After the hearing, we were all standing outside. He was on a bike wearing a helmet, and he came near me and repeated the threat. I was rattled. Will he really harm my son?, asked the father who was forced to shift his family to Andhra Pradesh due to the threat.

He threatened me again saying that he should never see me again at Chengalpattu or else he will go to Andhra, reads the complaint.

Though the complaint was made, police have not filed the FIR yet. However, the police have informed Dhasvanths counsel regarding the complaint.

According to The Newsminute, On Tuesday morning, his counsel submitted a petition to court that the accused (Dhasvanth) was intimidated by the father, said Kannadasan, Babu's lawyer.

The 7-year-old girl Hasini was found murdered in her apartment complex in Chennais Mugalivakkam in February.

The girl was allegedly lured and sexually assaulted by Dhasvanth who resided in the same complex. The accused then allegedly murdered and burnt her body.

The 22-year-old mechanical engineer was arrested and detained under Goondas Act. However, Madras High Court revoked Dhasvanth's detention.

Further, Mahila Court in Chengalpet had granted him bail in September.

The Mahila Court has framed charges against the accused and the trial on Hasini's murder will begin on December 5.Where did all of those summertime tourists in Newport come from?

localSuccess! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.Retired Army Maj. Gene Richards, now an assistant professor of Military Science at the University of Illinois, talks about his career during an interview at the News-Gazette building.One of Editor & Publishers 10 That Do It Right 2021Now that the Auto Expo 2018 is over, we know for certain that the future of mobility in India is definitely the electric cars. From Maruti Suzuki to Tata Motors and even luxury car manufacturers, everyone wants to cash on this upcoming trend and as Pratap Bose, Head of Design, Tata Motors said  A huge wave of electric mobility is coming, and nobody knows when. But when it comes, we want to be in the front.

The problem though is, while the world has already accepted the electric cars as a mass segment, India is yet to indulge in the same. Manufacturers like Mahindra, with e2O Plus and eVerito have already started rolling out mass products, while Tata has bagged a huge order from ESSL. There are also luxury car manufacturers like Lexus and Volvo who are offering their own hybrid products.

Which brings us to a point of Hybrid vs Electric. People will buy EVs in huge numbers once a proper infrastructure is in place to charge these cars. And so, before going full-electric manufacturers are relying big on the hybrid cars. Heres a list of all the full-electric and electric-hybrid cars sold in India 

Mahindra & Mahindra will invest in building long-range electric vehicles, high-power battery packs and power trains. (Photo: Mahindra)

Mahindra e2O Plus

Price - Rs 6.07 Lakh

Type  Electric

The Maini Reva was the first affordable electric car ever produced in India by Chetan Maini. Soon, Mahindra acquired his electric firm and with the help of Maini himself, built the first e2O 2-seater car. Post that, Mahindra went a step ahead to launch the 4-seater version called the e2O Plus, with an all-electric range of 80 km, and easy charging.

Mahindra eVerito sedan. (Image: Mahindra)

Mahindra e-Verito

Price - Rs 9.26 Lakh

Type  Electric

With the expertise gained from the e2O, Mahindra is now replicating the same electric technology in their future cars. Strategically enough, Mahindra added the electric tech to the Verito sedan, with the same 80 km range. The car has a total of 4 variants to choose from, all within a range between Rs 9.2  Rs 9.8 Lakh.

Toyota Camry Hybrid. (Photo: Siddharth Safaya/News18.com)

Toyota Camry

Price - Rs 37.23 Lakh

Type  Hybrid

Toyota has been on the forefront of hybrid vehicles globally. The Toyota Prius has been their most successful hybrid car ever, globally. However, Toyota added the same technology to the Camry executive sedan, and it was an instant hit in India. As per Toyota, more than 80% Camrys sold in India were hybrid, prompting the car manufacture to stop selling the petrol only version.

2016 Honda Accord. (Image: News18.com)

Honda Accord

Price  Rs 43.21 Lakh

Type  Hybrid

The Honda Accord has a troubled past in India. While the initial model sold like hot cakes, the consecutive models failed to sell good numbers. Hence Honda shuts the Accord brand in India, only to revive it again, this time with a hybrid only version. The Honda Accord Hybrid competes in the same space as the Toyota Camry Hybrid and Prius.

2017 Toyota Prius. (Image: News18.com)

Toyota Prius

Price  Rs 45.09 Lakh

Type  Hybrid

The car that started the whole Hybrid rage in the world  Prius  is also on sale in India for quite some time now. Loaded with a lot of technology, Prius is priced Rs 8 Lakh more than the younger sibling Camry. The Toyota Prius is powered by a 1.8-litre petrol engine and a CVT transmission, with batteries supporting the green deal.

Volvo XC90 T8 Excellence. (Image: News18.com)

Volvo XC90 T8 Excellence

Price  Rs 1.27 Crore

Type  Hybrid

Volvo, the Swedish car manufacturer was known for its safety standards, but that was a long ago. Retaining its whole Safety game, Volvo is now trying to make each and every car electric. To start the revolution (we would like to call it one), Volvo added a hybrid version to the worlds safest SUV  XC90. The XC90 T8 Excellence was the only hybrid SUV in India when it was 1st launched.

2019 BMW i8 Coupe. (Image: AFP Relaxnews)

BMW i8

Price  Rs 2.62 Crore

Type  Hybrid

One might say that sportscar or fast cars and electric cars cant go hand in hand, but BMW changed this notion many years back, when they launched the i8 coupe. The electric-hybrid sportscar had an all-electric range of 37 km, with a 0-100 kmph ability in less than 4.5 seconds. It also had the scissor doors, making it all-appealing to the crowds.

Lexus LS500h Launch. (Image: Lexus)

Honorary Mention

Lexus India

The luxury arm of Toyota, Lexus is benefitted by the Toyotas hybrid drivetrain supremacy. Each product launched in India is hybrid, making it leagues ahead of other rivals. Lexus is present in luxury segments and has products under ES (denotes mid-size sedan), LS (denotes full-size sedan), RX (mid-size crossover) and NX (compact SUV) categories. Lexus products range from Rs 53.18 Lakh to Rs 1.77 Lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi).

Note - All Prices Ex-Showroom, Delhi.

Also Watch:New Delhi/Mumbai: The Punjab National Bank branch in south Mumbai sits just down the road from both the Bombay Stock Exchange and the Reserve Bank of India, at a physical centre of one of the world's fastest-growing major economies.

The branch, clad in a stately colonial edifice, is now also at the heart of a fraud case linked to billionaire jeweller Nirav Modi that has shaken confidence in a state banking sector that accounts for some 70 percent of India's banking assets.

It was here, according to accounts from Punjab National Bank executives and government investigators, that alone middle-aged manager, later aided by his young subordinate, engineered fraudulent transactions totalling about $1.8 billion from 2011 to 2017.

The bank says it is still investigating how they were able to do so and go undetected for so long. The accounts given by current and former executives who spoke to Reuters suggest an answer as simple as it is alarming: no one was paying attention.

The still unravelling story of how the fraud happened  which includes the alleged misuse of the SWIFT interbank messaging system and incomplete ledger entries  points to a breakdown in checks and balances, and standard banking practices, they said.

The apparent failure of anyone to notice the largest fraud in Indian banking history until this January reveals a "rot" in the state financial sector that goes beyond one lender, said Santosh Trivedi, who spent nearly four decades at Punjab National Bank before retiring in 2016 as a senior manager of audit and inspection in the New Delhi head office.

"Unless this rot is controlled at this stage, to the satisfaction of the international community, it is dangerous for the Indian system," Trivedi said.

JEWELLER TO THE STARS

Last month, Punjab National Bank, known as PNB, filed an initial criminal complaint with the country's Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) accusing celebrity jeweller Nirav Modi and others of defrauding the bank and causing it a loss of 2.8 billion Indian rupees (more than $43 million).

The allegations against a man whose diamond creations have draped Hollywood stars such as Kate Winslet and Dakota Johnson generated a flurry of coverage across India's TV screens and newspapers. Modi has not publicly commented on the case.

He and his family left the country in earlier January, according to Indian officials, and a call on Sunday to a corporate spokesperson who has handled media for Modi in the past went unanswered. No charges have been filed against him.

But as more details surfaced about what is alleged to have happened at the state-run bank, which was founded in 1894, the stakes have gotten higher.

A review of bank and government documents related to the case - and interviews with current and former PNB executives, bank auditors, and experts  points to a lack of accountability and standards in the country's public banking system.

As of last September, those banks held about 87 percent of the Indian banking system's 9.46 trillion rupees (about $147 billion) of soured loans that are non-performing, restructured or rolled over.

A preliminary investigation by the nation's tax authority said of the PNB fraud that "the hit Indian banks would take in the end may well exceed" $3 billion, according to an internal note seen by Reuters.

"Yes, there is a problem. We have recognised it," bank Chief Executive Officer Sunil Mehta said during an investor call on Friday. "We are in the process of fixing it up. We'll see wherever the loopholes are there. The people-related risk, we are going to mitigate."

But despite that promise of action, one current senior executive at the bank's headquarters in New Delhi said further problems could not be ruled out.

"In Indian banks, we don't work under ideal situation," the executive, who declined to be identified, said during an interview at his office. "We are in the business of risk, you can't say there won't be road accidents."

FRAUDULENT GUARANTEES

According to court documents filed on Saturday by the CBI, branch deputy manager Gokulnath Shetty issued a series of fraudulent Letters of Undertaking  essentially guarantees sent to other banks so that they would provide loans to a customer, in this case, a group of Indian jewellery companies.

These letters were sent to overseas branches of banks, thought to be almost all Indian, that would then lend money to the jewellery firms.

Shetty did so using the bank's SWIFT system to log in with passwords that allowed him, and in at least some instances a more junior official, to serve as both the person who sent messages and as the person who reviewed them for approval, according to court documents and interviews with bank executives.

"The involvement and connivance of more staff members and outsiders at this stage cannot be ruled out," said a CBI document submitted to the court in Mumbai.

Shetty is now in custody and he has not publicly responded to the allegations. Calls to a cell phone listed for his wife on court documents were not answered.

Asked about the password sharing, the senior Punjab National Bank executive said it was not best practice but in the everyday bustle of Indian banks, it happens.

"When you are flooded with customers in the morning, with 101 demands, you look for shortcuts," he said. "You do somebody else's work, somebody else does your work. You are not working in an ideal situation."

A second senior executive at the bank's headquarters, who also asked that his name not be used, echoed that sentiment.

After entering the transactions on SWIFT, the CBI documents said, Shetty  who worked at the same branch from 2010 to 2017 despite normal bank practices of regular rotations  did not record them on the bank's internal system.

Because PNB's internal software system was not linked with SWIFT, employees were expected to manually log SWIFT activity. If that was not done, the transactions did not show up on the bank's books.

A SWIFT spokeswoman said in a statement last week that the company does not comment on individual customers.

Altogether, there were at least 150 such fraudulent Letters of Undertaking during a seven-year period, according to a CBI official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

In addition to detaining Shetty and the junior employee, the CBI has arrested a man who it described in court documents as both being "aware about the modus operandi of the entire scams" and serving as a director in "15 to 16 companies of Nirav Modi Group".

An older brother of the man, Hemant Bhatt, said outside a courtroom on Saturday that he was innocent and the allegations were the result of a "media trial". The brother did not give his name.

An uncle of the junior bank employee, Manoj Kharat, told a Reuters reporter outside the court that his nephew was "just following orders of superiors" and added, "he wasn't aware of what he is doing".

All three are to be held in custody until March 3. No charges have so far been laid against them.

FINANCIAL HIT

A Feb. 12 note seen by Reuters, sent from PNB to other banks and marked "confidential", said: "None of the transactions were routed through the CBS system" - the bank's internal network  "thus avoiding early detection of fraudulent activity."

The Reserve Bank of India did not respond to a request for comment about whether it had earlier detected any anomalies in Punjab National Bank's operations or whether it would take additional action in auditing banks.

In a statement, late on Friday, the central bank called the fraud at PNB "a case of operational risk arising on account of delinquent behaviour by one or more employees of the bank and failure of internal controls". It also said the central bank "has already undertaken a supervisory assessment of control systems in PNB and will take appropriate supervisory action".

The CBI paperwork says the fraudulent Letters of Undertaking are likely to add up to "the vicinity of" 60 billion rupees, or more than $930 million. Bank executives say the amount tallied by working back through internal records is $1.77 billion.

With assets of about $120 billion as of December, according to bank filings, PNB will be able to cover any associated losses, though it is still a huge hit for a bank whose stock market value was only $6.1 billion before it revealed details of the alleged fraud last week. It has since seen $1.4 billion wiped off that market capitalisation.

The mechanics of how the fraud happened, and what it says about the underlying industry culture, are worrying, said Abizer Diwanji, national leader for financial services in India at accounting firm Ernst & Young.

"Checks and balances are there in public banks as well but they are not followed earnestly," said Diwanji, who has tracked India's financial services industry for more than two decades.

"This is where the discipline, the culture is not there. I always believe that we don't have the culture to manage risks, even operational risks. PNB is not an outlier in this."

To control such risks, most private sector banks require branches to route SWIFT messages through their central offices, Diwanji said. They also usually integrate their own software systems and SWIFT, meaning that activity such as a Letter of Undertaking being sent would get automatically recorded.

Neither is the case at PNB or most state-run banks in India, Diwanji said.

Representatives of two of the external audit firms listed on PNB's annual report for the 2016-17 fiscal year said they could not have known what happened.

"It was off-books, so auditors will not be in a position to detect it," said Sudesh Punhani, a partner at Chhajed & Doshi.

Asked whether the bank's failure to integrate its software system and SWIFT was a cause of concern, Neeraj Golas, a partner at R. Devendra Kumar & Associates, also an external auditor of the bank, said: "True, true - we have to really get into it and understand what all these things are."New Delhi: The central government has written to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) flagging doubts over supervisory lapses in the scam. "How did the fraud go undetected despite RBI's checks-and-balances in place? The current system in place needs to be checked for efficiency," said the letter.

This came as Gitanjali Gems' chief financial officer, company secretary and a non-executive director resigned after the company's involvement in the fraud.

Earlier, the Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) will interrogate all top officials of the Nirav Modi diamond jewellery house, including the chief financial officer.

The CBI had also sealed the Brady House branch of Punjab National Bank. "The premise cannot be opened or entered into without the order the court concerned or the competent authority of the CBI," said the order.

At least 200 shell firms and "benami" assets have come under the scanner of the investigative agencies that are probing the fraud.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED), which continued its searches against jewellery designer Nirav Modi, his relative and business partner Mehul Choksi and their companies for the fourth day on Sunday, is also moving to attach at least two dozen immovable properties under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The ED on Sunday raided at least 45 premises, including jewellery showrooms and workshops, across the country.

"As many as 29 properties  of Modi, his family members and companies  that have been provisionally attached by the Income Tax department, are being assessed by the ED under the PMLA. A few more assets will be attached soon under the anti-money laundering law," a senior ED official said.

He added that the ED and the I-T department had zeroed in on about 200 dummy or shell companies in the country and abroad that were being used to route or receive funds as part of the alleged fraud.

It is suspected that the shell firms were being used by the accused to launder money and create "benami" assets in the form of land, gold and precious stones, which is now being probed by the tax department.

Both the ED and the IT department had formed special teams to investigate the case, sources said.

The ED has seized diamonds, gold jewellery and other precious stones worth Rs 5,674 crore till now in the case.

The I-T department, on Saturday, attached nine bank accounts of Gitanjali Gems, its promoter Mehul Choksi and others in connection with a tax evasion probe against them.

It had also attached 29 properties and 105 bank accounts of Modi, his family members and firms owned by them.

Modi, Choksi and others are being investigated by multiple probe agencies after it recently came to light, following a complaint by the PNB, that they allegedly cheated the nationalised bank to the tune of Rs 11,400 crore, with the purported involvement of a few employees of the bank.New Delhi: The CBI has registered a case against Rotomac pen promoter Vikram Kothari and his family in connection with a case related to the alleged swindling of Rs 3,695 crore of bank loan funds, officials said on Monday.

The scam was earlier estimated at around Rs 800 crore.

The case against Kanpur-based Rotomac Global Pvt Limited, its director Vikram Kothari, his wife Sadhana Kothari, and son Rahul Kothari and unidentified bank officials was filed on a complaint received from Bank of Baroda, they said.

The agency searched three locations in Kanpur, including Kothari's residence and office premises. There have been no arrests in the case yet, CBI spokesperson Abhishek Dayal categorically said.

He said Kothari, his wife and his son are being examined by the CBI, which is conducting the searches. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has also registered a money laundering case against Kothari and his family members in connection with the alleged bank loan fraud of Rs 3,695 crore, officials said.

The case was filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), after studying the CBI FIR that was registered on Sunday.

The ED, the officials said, would probe if the funds obtained through the alleged fraud were laundered and if the proceeds of the crime were subsequently used by the accused to create illegal assets and black money.

According to the complaint from Bank of Baroda, the conspirators allegedly cheated a consortium of bank loans of Rs 3,695 crore, including the interest component, officials said.

The principal involved is Rs 2,919 crore.

This is the second major financial scam to break out after the sensational Rs 11,400 crore fraud allegedly committed by billionaire jewellery designer Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi, who is a promoter of Gitanjali group of companies.

Both fled the country before the Punjab National Bank realised the depth of the alleged crime.Hmmm! I guess it begins with knowing in advance what the turnout is going to be! After all you would not want to go to all that effort and lose anyway...

1 month agoChandigarh: Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has ended the uncertainty over whether he would hold a one-on-one meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and said on Monday that he was looking forward to receive him in Amritsar on Wednesday.

Singh would be the first major leader to meet Trudeau, who has cut a lonely figure on the first three days of his week-long India visit. The Canadian premier was received by MoS Agriculture Gajendra Singh, not the kind of reception he would have expected. PM Modi and Sushma did not even tweet any welcome message for him.

One reason why Trudeau has been cold shouldered is the apparent support he and his government have been giving to pro-Khalistan voices in Canada, and this is expected to be discussed during Wednesdays meet.

While announcing that the meet would take place, Singh said that he hopes to take Punjabs close business as well as people-to-people relations with Canada to the next level, but omitted any mention of the sensitive separatist issue.

The Chief Minister had already issued instructions to the state administration to roll out the red carpet for the visiting dignitarys February 21 visit but was awaiting permission from the Ministry of External Affairs to hold a structured meeting.

Look forward to meeting Canadian Prime Minister @JustinTrudeau in Amritsar on Wednesday. Im hopeful that this meeting will help strengthen the close Indo-Canadian business ties as well as the deep-rooted people-to-people relations between our two countries, the Chief Minister tweeted.

He expressed the hope that his meeting with Trudeau would help strengthen the bilateral relations between Canada and India, particularly in the context of Punjab, which has a large diaspora in Canada.

A spokesperson of the Chief Ministers Office said that trade and business will be the key focus areas of the meeting. But sources have said that he also wishes to discuss issues related to the Sikh diaspora in Canada supporting the creation of Khalistan, a separate Sikh nation, by dividing India.

The CM had last year also refused to meet Canadian defence minister Harjit Sajjan during his visit to the state and has also called out members of Trudeaus cabinet for their ties with the Khalistani movement. But on Monday, he appreciated Trueaus efforts in strengthening the connection between Punjab and Canada.

Referring to Trudeaus apology two years ago in the Canadian parliament for the 1914 Komagata Maru incident, in which hundreds of Sikh, Muslim and Hindu passengers in a ship were denied entry into Canada and forced to return to India, where they met a violent fate, Singh said it was a gesture that underlined the depth of the relations between the two countries.

Trudeau, on his part, had famously quipped during his US visit in 2017 that he has more Sikhs in his cabinet than Prime Minister Modi.

Sikhs are an influential voting community in Canada and being away from India many among them are also quite vocal in their demand for a separate Sikh homeland called Khalistan.

Indian security agencies are increasingly edgy over the freedom that Khalistani sympathisers in Canada have to air their views and also to support radical elements based in India.

Trudeau himself is caught between two opposite tugs. One the one hand he needs to reach out to one of the worlds fastest growing economies to enhance trade relations. This would clearly entail showing a tougher stance towards Khalistani sympathisers back home. On the other hand he wants to remain in the good books of the Canadian Sikhs, who are politically influential. And that would require a semblance of soft support for Khalistan.

The Canadians try and get away from questions over support for Khalistan by saying Canada supports political freedom of speech and expression and that includes voicing support for a separate Sikh homeland.New Delhi: On Sunday afternoon, Station Officer Sandip Balyan was sitting in his office in Jhinjhina Police Station in Western UPs Shamli district when a young man in his early 20s walked up to him and offered to surrender in a murder case.

A man by the name of Munshad Ali, 22, walked up to my office with folded hands. He said his name was Munshad Ali and he is the accused in the murder of one Taiyyab from his village. He said Mujhe police ki goli se dar lagta hai (I am scared of getting shot by the police). He then vowed to leave the life of crime and answer for the sins he has already committed. He surrendered to the police here, at the thana, Balyan told News18.

Balyan added, Six other accused in the case have already been arrested and sent to jail. Munshad, the seventh accused in this case, was absconding. He has now been sent to Shamli district jail and will soon be presented before the court for a hearing.

This is not the only instance of an accused preferring to surrender to the cops rather than risk getting shot in an encounter. Last week, a man by the name of Salman Baba in Shamlis Kairana, who is also a murder accused, had surrendered before the cops and vowed to give up his life of crime.

As per official data, there have been more than 1,100 police encounters in the state in the first ten months of the Yogi Adityanath-led government. These shootouts have caused the death of 34 criminals, left 265 injured and led to the arrest of 2,744 history sheeters. On the other hand, four police personnel have been killed and 247 injured in these 10 months.New Delhi: Lawmakers in Punjab lectured the kin of farmers who had committed suicide due to mounting debts to curb wasteful expenditure.

The comments by Punjab's MPs was made at an event titled "Farmer and Labourer Suicides Victim Families Committee Punjab" in Sangrur.

It was meant to be a platform through which the lawmakers would understand the plight of the farmers from their state and raise their concerns in the Parliament, the organisers told local media.

What was meant to be an insightful event for the MPs though turned into a bizarre series of lectures on farming and unimpressive promises of compensation.

While AAPs Dr Dharamvira Gandhi and Bhagwant Mann and SADs Prem Singh Chandumajra failed to come up with any concrete suggestions, Dhuri Congress MLA Dalvir Goldy promised to provide free education to the children of each of the families who have lost their bread earner. But not many seemed impressed, reported a local daily.

Punjab, which once used to be called the 'foodbowl of India, has been suffering from a severe agrarian distress for many years now.

According to the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO)s 70th round on Situational Assessment of Agricultural Households in India, Punjab is second after Kerala and Andhra Pradesh with an average amount of outstanding loan of Rs 1,19,500 per household.

The total outstanding debt of farmers in Punjab is Rs 52,438 crore and average farm household debt is 4.98 lakh for year 2012-13, claims a study by Punjab Agriculture University, Ludhiana.

There are plenty of statistics to show how Punjab's farmers, who once propelled India's green revolution, have suffered apathy of lawmakers in this country for a long time.

Take, for instance, the fact that nearly 48.6 percent of farmers who have committed suicide in Punjab in recent years are below 35 years of age or the total number of farmers estimated to have killed themselves during the last decade - 7,000.New Delhi: The Supreme Court, which is seized of a petition seeking re-investigation into the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, was on Monday told that there were some crucial documents procured from the USA's Library of Congress which showed evidence of a "larger conspiracy" behind the killing of the Father of the Nation.

A bench comprising Justices S A Bobde and L Nageswara Rao said such material has to be brought before it along with an application.

Mumbai-based Dr Pankaj Phadnis, a trustee of charitable trust Abhinav Bharat who has filed a petition in this regard, told the bench that the documents, which he had received from the USA, contained material which are "banned" by the government here. He said he has also got a letter from a US-based attorney who has said that forensic evidence could be obtained in the case.

"We will see this. It seems attractive but we will see whether it can be done," the bench told him after he referred to the letter by an attorney regarding admissibility of evidence in courts in New York.

The bench said that now with technology, it was possible to get the forensic evidence but it would see whether the case was required to be re-investigated.

At the outset, the bench told Phadnis and senior advocate Amarender Sharan, who is assisting the court as an amicus curiae in the matter, that it would hear arguments in the matter on a 'non-miscellaneous day'.

Phadnis, who appeared in person in the case, told the bench that he had returned from New York and got documents related to the case from the Library of Congress.

"This (documents) shows evidence of larger conspiracy in Mahatma Gandhi's assassination. Government of India has banned this. I have got these documents from the USA. I have also filed a petition in the Bombay High Court to lift the ban," he told the bench while seeking to place on record the documents which were in a sealed cover.

However, the apex court asked him to file the material along with an application to produce the documents on record.

"If you want to produce something in the court, you tell us what it is, why it was not produced in court earlier and what is its bearing in your case," the bench said.

The petitioner said if he opened the seal of the documents, it might be an offence since the government has banned these documents in India.

The bench asked him to file the documents with an application and posted the matter for hearing on March 6.

The top court had earlier asked him to satisfy it on the aspects of delay and his locus to raise the issue, while making it clear that it would only go by law and not the stature of the person involved in the case.

Phadnis has sought re-opening of investigation on several grounds claiming it was one of the biggest cover-ups in the history.

The amicus had filed a report in the court saying there was no need to re-investigate Mahatma's assassination case as the conspiracy behind the murder and identity of assailant Nathuram Vinayak Godse who had fired the bullets have already been duly established.

However, the petitioner had later claimed in his affidavit that the alleged conspirators were hanged even before the murder trial had attained legal finality from the top court.

Gandhi was shot dead at point blank range in New Delhi on January 30, 1948 by Godse, a right-wing advocate of Hindu nationalism. The assassination case had led to the conviction and execution of Nathuram Vinayak Godse and Narayan Apte on November 15, 1949.

The petitioner has questioned the 'three bullet theory' relied upon by various courts to hold conviction of Godse and Apte, who were hanged, and Vinayak Damodar Savarkar who was given benefit of doubt due to lack of evidence.

Phadnis has challenged the decision of the Bombay High Court which on June 6, 2016 had dismissed his plea on two grounds -- firstly, that the findings of fact have been recorded by the competent court and confirmed right up to the apex court, and secondly, the Kapur Commission has submitted its report and made observations in 1969, while the present petition has been filed 46 years later.Chennai: The main accused in the rape-murder of 7-year-old Hasini, Dhasvanth, was held guilty and sentenced to death by the Mahila Court in Chengalpet on Monday. The convict had burnt the body of the minor victim after raping her last year in Tamil Nadu.

Special Judge P Velumurugan held Dhasvanth guilty under IPC Sections 363 (kidnapping), 366 (kidnapping and abduction), 354-b (assault or use of criminal force on woman with intent to disrobe), 302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) and different sections of Protection of Children from Sexual Offence (POSCO) Act.

Hasini's father, Rajesh, welcomed the verdict. He said, Justice has prevailed.

"I know my daughter will not come back but I will thank the judiciary for delivering this judgment. I hope no one does anything like this ever again. In the past one year, I haven't been able to sleep. I fought to ensure that the accused gets the right punishment. I'm happy now."

The court pronounced its verdict on Monday after examining 30 witnesses, 45 documents and 19 pieces of evidence in the case that saw several twists and turns in the course of a year while the most startling one being Dhasvanth killing his own mother after being released on bail.

In February 2017, 7-year-old Hasini went missing and police nabbed Dhasvanth who was a resident of the same apartment complex as her. However, he managed to escape as the police couldnt file its chargesheet event after 90 days and he managed to get a statutory bail.

The case continued and trial began only in October 2017 after an eight month delay. Two months later, Dhasvanth's mother, Sarala, was found dead at her residence in Chennai. Later, it was found that her valuables were missing and Dhasvanth was absconding.

Police knew he was fond of betting on horse races and they finally managed to arrest him four days later. However, the 23-year-old techie managed to escape police custody yet again on December 7 and was re-arrested the next day and brought to Tamil Nadu. The accused reportedly confessed to killing his mother.

Kannan, Assistant Commissioner, Porur told reporters, It was a challenging case and I welcome the judgement. I hope this will act as a deterrent for others. Next week, we will also file a chargesheet against Dhasavnath for murdering his mother."

Meanwhile, Dhashvnath's lawyer Rajkumar said he will go for an appeal against the judgment.New Delhi: Dalit students of a school in Himachal Pradeshs Kullu district were reportedly made to sit separately outside to listen to PM Narendra Modi Pariksha Pe Charcha.

The incident occurred on Friday in Kullus Chestha gram panchayat which reportedly made the Dalit students sit in a place used by horses, according to the Indian Express.

It came to light after a written complaint was filed with the Deputy Commissioner of Kullu by the students who alleged that a teacher named Meher Chand told them to sit outside the room where the television had been set up to air the programme.

The complaint, apparently written in Hindi on a school textbook, said that the place where the students were made to sit was used to keep horses. Further, they were warned that they could not leave until the programme was over.

A video clip of the incident has also surfaced, leading to a local organisation, Anusuchit Jati Kalyan Sangh, taking up the issue with the school. The school administration has reportedly apologised for what happened.

This matter has come to my notice today. I have asked Secretary, Education to get a report and take stern action, state education minister Suresh Bhardwaj told the Indian Express.

I have also been told that Dalit students faced discrimination in the school earlier too, during midday meals. If these reports are true, we will not spare the guilty, he added.

An inquiry committee comprising deputy director (higher education), deputy director (elementary education), district project officer, ICDS, and the local SHO is scheduled to visit the school on Monday.London: Neil Basu, a senior Indian-origin police officer in the UK, is a frontrunner to become Britains anti-terrorism chief when Scotland Yards National Lead for Counter Terrorism resigns next month.

Basu, currently Metropolitan police deputy assistant commissioner and Senior National Coordinator for UK Counter Terrorism Policing, is tipped to take over one of the British policings toughest jobs from Mark Rowley, The Sunday Times reported.

Basu, whose father is of Indian origin, is a former Met Police commander overseeing organised crime and gangs. He has specialised in anti-terrorism policing for the past three years and is currently Rowleys deputy.

He has been vocal about cracking down on British nationals who joined the Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist group in Syria and Iraq.

In a recent interview with the Combating Terrorism Centre in New York, he said that exclusion powers would be applied to about 200 of the 300 fighters in the war zone as he revealed that about half of the 850 who travelled from Britain to join ISIS had already returned and more than 100 were dead. Of the remaining 300, two-thirds would be blocked from the UK.

Like other countries, we operate on the principle that we dont want you back, and therefore we will deprive you of your British passportfor those among these who end up coming back, we are absolutely waiting for them. Thats the bottom line, he said.

The big threat for us now is the ideology thats been diffused onto the internet and the calls for attacks by its followers in the West by ISIS online. The caliphate may have been defeated militarily, but it has now become a virtual network, he warned.

Other possible candidates for the post of Britains anti-terror chief include Helen Ball, a Met Police assistant commissioner, and Dave Thompson, the West Midlands chief constable, from whose area numerous terrorist plots have emerged in the UK.Theres a lot of chatter in the Canadian press about how their rockstar Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who is undertaking his first official visit to India, is getting snubbed by the Indian establishment.

As has become the norm now, Prime Minister Narendra Modi usually breaks protocol to go to the airport to receive important heads of government. He did it last month for his good friend Benjamin Bibi Netanyahu. He famously did it when Barack Obama came to India as chief guest for Republic Day in 2015.

No such welcome was given to Trudeau who is accompanied by his wife Sophie and their three children. The receiving minister was MoS Agriculture Gajendra Singh, not even External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj or her two deputies Gen VK Singh or MJ Akbar. Not the kind of reception befitting a rockstar. PM Modi and Sushma did not even tweet any welcome message for the Canadian premier.

One reason why Trudeau has been cold shouldered is the apparent support he and his government have been giving to pro-Khalistan voices in Canada. Two of four Sikh ministers in Trudeaus cabinet Harjit Sajjan and Amarjit Sohi have both supported radical Khalistani elements in Canada.

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had openly called this out by writing an angry letter to Trudeau soon after assuming office last year. The Canadian side has even reportedly refused an audience to Amarinder when Trudeau visits the Golden Temple in Amritsar on Wednesday.

Even on Sunday when Trudeau visited the Taj Mahal, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was conspicuously missing. Contrast this with the way Adityanath rolled out the red carpet for Netanyahu last month.

So far the highlight of Trudeaus trip has been his youngest son Hadrien whose cutesy videos have gone viral on the internet.

Part of the reason why the Trudeaus are getting such a lukewarm response has to do with the way his trip has been scheduled. Usually most important visits begin with the ceremonial reception at the Rashtrapati Bhavan followed by the official bilateral meetings at Hyderabad House. Agra, Ahmedabad and Mumbai are usually reserved for the second half of any official visit. In Trudeaus case, the opposite seems to be happening. His visit began from Mumbai on Saturday, Agra on Sunday, Ahmedabad on Monday, Mumbai on Tuesday, Amritsar on Wednesday and finally Delhi on Thursday and Friday. Surely the visit could have been planned better.Thiruvananthapuram: The five people who are suspected to be involved in the murder of a Youth Congress leader in Kannur were allegedly close to the local leadership of CPM and had prior knowledge of the week-old incident. The two people who have been arrested in connection with the murder have said that they were close to the local CPM leaders.

In their statement to the police, Akaash Thillankery and Rijin Raj, who were arrested on Sunday night, have confessed to their direct involvement in the gruesome murder of SP Shuhaib and said that they were assigned to chop off his legs.

The two arrested are Akaash and Rijin Raj, both in their early twenties. Aakaash, who is a student of interior designing, is also accused of the murder of BJP worker Vineesh in September 2016, said police.

However, Congress termed the two arrested as 'proxies'.

To the best of our knowledge, the two arrested CPM workers are not the real culprits. What is even more curious is that it were the local CPM leaders who presented them before the police. It was not the police who had apprehended them. Moreover, this happened when the CPM leadership kept denying any no role in the murder," senior Congress leader K Sudhakaran said.

He also has sent a letter to CPM General Secretary Sitaram Yechury demanding intervention in the matter.

The Youth Congress workers, demanding justice, sat on a hunger strike outside the secretariat on Monday.

Though Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan took to social media on Sunday evening to condemn the murder, he did not respond to the media on the partys links with the arrested individuals.

An impartial police inquiry is underway. The culprits will be arrested irrespective of their allegiance. Stringent action will be taken against them by the police and everyone involved in the murder of Shuhaib will be arrested," Vijayan posted on Facebook.

Meanwhile, veteran CPM leader VS Achuthanandan came down heavily against the killing of the Congress leader. "Anyone with a conscience cannot agree with any kind of killing," he told media persons.

The pictures of the arrested Akash posing with CPM leaders, including CM Vijayan and Kannur district secretary P Jayarajan, are going viral.

CPM State Secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan downplayed the issue and said his party will take action if any of its members were involved in the murder. "Let the police do their job and decide who the culprits are," said Balakrishnan.

Meanwhile, state BJP President Kummanem Rajasekheran has demanded a CBI inquiry into the killing and told the media that the two accused were housed at the state CPM headquarters.

"The CPM first denied their role in the murder and later it is known that the accused are CPM workers. What comes under suspicion now is that the two were presented to the police by the local leadership of CPM. We demand a CBI probe to find out the truth," said Rajasekheran.

The 30-year-old Youth Congress leader was killed when a gang allegedly hurled a country-made bomb at him and attacked him with sharp weapons on February 12 at Mattannur in Kannur district. Two other Youth Congress workers were also injured in the attack.New Delhi: More than 36 hours after Congress MLA N A Haris son Mohamman Nalapad brutally assaulted a youth at a restaurant in Bengluru, he has surrendered before the police.

Nalapad, wearing a cap, arrived at the Cubbon Park police station in Bengaluru. Haris supporters claim that he has surrendered but the police claim that they arrested him.

Meanwhile, Arun Babu, a friend of Nalapad, has filed a counter complaint against the victim, Vidwath, claiming that he has assaulted and abused them in filthy language. The Cubbon Park police station has registered an FIR against Vidwath. His family alleges that the police are behind this counter FIR to force them to opt for a compromise.

After pressure from the media and the opposition parties, the police were forced to take him into custody. But the city cops were dragging their feet and did not charge him under IPC Section 307 (attempt to murder), which is a non-bailable offence. for the attack. The BJP and the JDS claim that the police were trying to dilute the case by charging him under weaker sections of the IPC.

The Circle Inspector of Cubbon Park, Vijay Hadagali, has been suspended for allegedly helping the MLAs son and the ACP Manjunath Thalawar has been transferred to Police Commissioners Office for dereliction of duty.

But the dramatic surrender of Nalapad has raised many questions. After the incident, Haris had claimed that his son was hiding somewhere without his knowledge. Later he promised to make him surrender before the police.

According to insiders, Nalapad was hiding at a 5-star hotel with his fathers full knowledge. Some claim that he was hiding at his own house. But the city police did not even bother to raid the house of the MLA.

The opposition alleges that the local police station was functioning like a private office of Haris.

Home Minister Ramalingareddy had earlier promised to arrest him Sunday evening. But there was no sight of Nalapad. On Monday morning, activists from the BJP and the JDS laid a siege to police station protesting against the delay in his arrest.

The victim, identified as Dollars Colony resident Vidwath, was having dinner at a high-end restaurant in UB City when Mohammad Nalapad and his friends walked in at 11:30pm. The group reportedly told Vidwath, who had a plaster on one of his legs, to sit properly.

After a heated exchange, Nalapad and his friends allegedly attacked Vidwath and beat him up. The victim was rushed to the nearby Mallya Hospital for treatment, but the group reportedly followed him there and allegedly beat him up again. Nalapad and his friends allegedly also tried to attack the victims brother.

Nalapad, the Bangalore District Youth Congress General Secretary, was expelled from the party for six years hours after he and 10 of his supporters were booked for the Saturday night assault.New Delhi: The prime accused in the Punjab National Bank scam, celebrity jeweller Nirav Modi, is going to be represented in court by an advocate used to high profile cases.

Advocate Vijay Aggarwal has represented a number of accused persons in the 2G spectrum allocation scam case. He has represented former Orissa High Court judge, IM Quddussi, who had moved a Delhi court to seek a probe into the alleged leak of certain phone conversations.

After the Rs 11,000 crore fraud came to light, PNB filed a criminal complaint with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against Modi and others.

He and his family left the country earlier in January, according to Indian officials, and a call on Sunday to a corporate spokesperson for Modi went unanswered.

Aggarwal himself is not without his fair share of controversies. In 2011, he was under the scanner of the advocates' regulatory body for alleged "professional misconduct" and was slapped with a show-cause notice.

Aggarwal, at the time appearing for Swan Telecom promoters Shahid Usman Balwa, Vinod Goenka and others associated with them in 2G scam, was charged with violating the law which prohibit a practicing lawyer from indulging in two active professions.

The Bar Council of Delhi (BCD) summoned Aggarwal on July 22, 2011, to explain as to how he could indulge in two professions - Chartered Accountancy and Advocacy - simultaneously.

Further in 2013, Aggarwal was expelled from the membership of New Delhi Bar Association (NDBA) and his chamber at Patiala House Courts complex was also sealed for his alleged abusive behaviour. Aggarwal had allegedly threatened a lawyer and also called some bouncers in the court premises."

Later, the lawyer had said that "expulsion" was illegal and the NDBA president was "abusing his bar office position for the interest of his client and is dissuading me from discharging my professional duties".

This was a part of the allegation by the New Delhi Bar Association (NDBA). It was after this incident that a case of attempt to murder was registered against Aggarwal.

The matter was taken up to the Delhi high court. Challenging the NDBA's decision, Aggarwal moved the court saying, "Powers of sealing of chambers is within the exclusive domain of NDMC and cannot be sub-delegated to the private bodies like NDBA." Later, to the bar association's demand for an unconditional written apology to it and members, Aggarwal's counsel Aman Lekhi submitted that his client is ready for it.

After a CBI court had acquitted all the accused in the 2G scam case, the lawyer said, The court said that the prosecution has miserably failed to prove any of its charge. Thus, all accused are acquitted.Mumbai: Noted Marathi actress Chinmayee Surve-Raghavan faced an obscene situation when a man came out of a car and masturbated in front of her on Monday. She filed a complaint with the police, who managed to trace and apprehend the perpetrator within a few hours.

According to the complaint filed by Chinmayee's husband and veteran actor Sumeet Raghavan with Vile Parle police and the Mumbai Traffic Police, she was walking in Vile Parle when the incident took place.

Raghavan also tweeted about the incident and sought help to trace the culprit who was in a white BMW, whose last four registration digits were 1985.

"The driver wearing a grey safari who had parked near the Parle Tilak Vidyalaya School in Vile Parle east got off his car and started masturbating in front of my wife. Before she could slap him, he escaped. She could note down just the last four digits," he posted on Facebook and Twitter.

Raghavan added that the person needed to be found as there are schoolgirls in that area and he must have done this to them as well.

After scanning the footage from CCTV in the locality and based on the number of the vehicle, police moved swiftly to trace the culprit within hours.

"Yes, we have detained the 42-year old driver of the vehicle, identified as Jivan Choudhary and further investigations are underway," Vile Parle police chief, inspector Laxman Chawan told IANS.

Raghavan is an actor since the past 35 years with several teleserials and Marathi and Hindi films to his credit, while Chinmayee is also an acclaimed Marathi stage, tele-serial and film actress.

Shortly after the incident was highlighted, social media came out in support of the popular actor-couple, while police plan to charge Choudhury under the Indian Penal Code.Mumbai: The BJP-led government's budget reforms have created a new work culture and they are transforming the socio-economic landscape of the country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday.

After inaugurating the 'Magnetic Maharashtra' Investors Summit in suburban Bandra, he said the budget was not limited to outlay, its focus was on the outcome.

Days after the presentation of the last full budget by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Modi said all the four budgets of his government focused on the upliftment of the needy.

He pointed to schemes with definitive targets like clean fuel for all and healthcare for all.

"Now, our state is policy driven, governance is performance driven, government is accountable, democracy is participative. We are making transparent ecosystem part of the new India," he said.

"We have taken governance to a level where intervention by the government is minimal. A country progresses when there is holistic vision which is inclusive and comprehensive," the prime minister said.

On budget reforms, Modi said changes like merging of rail budget, removing the "artificial wall" between plan and non-plan spends, advancement of the budget date had helped resources reach departments ahead of time and minimise monsoon impact.

"Our focus is on development-policies based budget. In the last 3-4 years, budget reform and the change in thinking is developing a new work culture and also transforming socio-economic life," he said.

In the recent budget, the government proposed resources of Rs 14 lakh crore to the agri and rural sector and also upped infra sector spend by over Rs one lakh crore, he said.

Mentioning work on national highways, new rail lines, electrification, housing for poor and solar capacity, Modi said the pace of growth in infrastructure creation had increased by 2-3 times in every aspect.

"In the last three and a half years, we have transformed the country from being 'fragile five' nation to one now looking at USD 5 trillion GDP," he said.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said the state is aiming to increase its pace of growth of 9.3 percent to become a USD one trillion economy by 2025.

Modi welcomed the vigour with which the states were attracting investments following the "success" achieved by Gujarat on that front, and exuded confidence that Maharashtra would achieve the ambitious target.

"I am sure that Maharashtra will become the first trillion dollar economy in the country. Maharashtra's development is representative of changes in the country," he said.

Modi also welcomed the investments garnered by Maharashtra at the Make in India summit two years ago, saying the state signed agreements entailing investments of Rs 4 lakh crore of which Rs 2 lakh crore had fructified.

Fadnavis said the state had received investment proposals of Rs 8 lakh crore at MII, of which Rs 4.91 lakh crore are in various stages of implementation.

He also enlisted a five-point plan for growth which includes focus on digital sectors, skilling agri workers, addressing the fintech opportunity, upping public infrastructure and creating growth corridors.Kanpur: Masked men entered a Union Bank of India (UBI) branch by drilling a hole in a wall and decamped with cash and jewellery kept in 32 lockers in the early hours today, police said.

The robbers entered the UBI's Pashupati Nagar branch in Naubasta and disabled the CCTV cameras. They looted cash and jewellery worth crores, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Akhilesh Kumar said.

They entered the bank by drilling a wall adjacent to a vacant plot and breaking a window. One of the cameras caught the robbers entering the bank before it was disabled, the SSP said.

The robbers used a gas cutter to open 32 of the bank's 220 lockers and cut the lock of the bank's main entrance, Kumar said.

"They also tried to break the cash strong room, but failed. It seems the robbers spent hours in executing their plan," the SSP said.

The police was informed of the incident later in the morning when bank officials reached for work. They found lockers open and locker boxes strewn on the floor, the officer said.

The loss is being evaluated and forensic experts have been pressed into service, the SSP said, adding that a special task force (STF) led by Additional SP Vishal Vikram Singh is investigating the case.

Station House Officer, Naubasta, Akhilesh Jaiswal, was shunted from his post and was attached with the reserve police lines for dereliction of duty, the SSP said.New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi not receiving his Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau at the airport, a courtesy he extended to some world leaders in the past, has triggered speculation in Canada that it was a snub to him for the rising Sikh radicalism in that country.

However, government sources strongly rejected the speculation, insisting normal diplomatic protocol has been extended to Trudeau.

They also expressed surprise over the Canadian side preferring to schedule Trudeau's official engagements in Delhi at the fag-end of the tour as against the normal practice of having bilateral meetings during the first part of such visits.

The sources said it is quite unusual for a visiting dignitary to slot important talks towards the end of a visit, besides setting aside little time for official engagements.

Trudeau will hold bilateral talks with Modi on Friday, a day before he wraps up his tour.

A section of the Canadian media has also talked about the PM Modis absence during Trudeau's visit to Gujarat, his home state.

"We have own set of parametres for measuring importance," an official said, while calling the criticism by Canadian media "unfounded".

The sources said there was no "substantive content" in Trudeau's programme in Gujarat for which the Prime Minister's presence was required.

Referring to Modi accompanying Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during the latter's visit to Gujarat in September last year, the sources said the visit was "very high" in content which included laying the foundation for India's first high-speed bullet train project besides other components.

Commentators in Canadian media highlighted that Union Minister of State for Agriculture Gajendra Shekhawat received Trudeau at the Delhi airport when he arrived on a 7-day India visit on Saturday evening and contrasted it against Modi himself receiving several world leaders at the airport.

"On official state visits to India, PM Modi personally greets and welcomes the Israeli PM, UAE Crown Prince and US President. For PM Trudeau, he sends a low-ranking official. 'Canada is back'," tweeted Canadian author and columnist Candice Malcolm.

There were stories in Canadian media that said Trudeau's perceived support for Sikh separatists may be the reason for the "snub".Bengaluru: BJP national president Amit Shah will be visiting the coastal regions of Karnataka to campaign for the upcoming state elections and is likely to take up Hindutva as a key issue, yet again.

Shah is scheduled to visit prominent temples in the region, besides meeting the families of victims of communal killings, like that of Deepak Rao who died in early January and Paresh Meshta, who died in December.

Shah will hold political meetings at Mangalore, Bantwal, Puttur and Sullia and address youth and student groups. He will also hold a meeting of social media activists in the region and a fishermen's convention.

However, the highlight of his Karnataka trip will be the visit to the homes of Hindu victims of alleged communal killings and visits to the several prominent temples in the region, including the Kukke Subramanya temple, the Udupi Krishna temple and the Gokarna temple. At Udupi, he will also hold a dialogue with seers of some of the major temples of the area.

The coastal Karnataka region is known to be a communally sensitive belt and BJP has time and again taken up emotive issues like PFI activism and protection of Hindus as campaign tools in the recent past.Ahmedabad: The Bharatiya Janata Party continued to dominate semi-urban areas of Gujarat and won 47 of the 75 municipal seats. However, like in the Assembly election results, the ruling partys share of seats fell in the civic polls as well and came down from 59 to 47 while the Congress' tally went up from 14 to 16.

On the other hand, Congress claimed that it has bagged 24 seats. Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee President Bharatsinh Solanki maintained that Independents and others who have won some of the seats had the support of Congress.

"In counting for elections of 75 municipalities, the BJP has won 47, Congress has won 16, NCP and BSP have won one each. There are six municipalities where no one has got a majority while Independents are in majority in four municipalities," state election commissioner Varesh Sinha said on Monday.

Meanwhile, state BJP President Jitu Vaghani told the media that all attempts by the Congress have failed and dared the party to prove its claim that Independents and others are with the Congress.

"Although there is a marginal decrease in the number of nagarpalikas that the BJP has won, we have given out the names of all our winning candidates. Why is the Congress not doing so? Despite all its efforts, the Congress has made no gains in the local body elections," he said. The winning party later celebrated their victory at the party headquarters.

In the recent gram panchayat elections in Gujarat, both BJP as well as the Congress had claimed to have won over 70 percent of the panchayats that went to polls. Elections to two district panchayats and 17 taluka panchayats will be held later this month.New Delhi: Two months after it snatched a fifth consecutive victory in Gujarat, the BJP is leading in local urban body elections for which polling was held last week.

The latest trends from Gandhinagar show the BJP leading in 43 nagarpalikas. The Congress which is ahead of the ruling party in 27 seats seems to have made inroads in urban areas. The party had won only 14 seats in 2013 elections.

Of the 75 nagarpalikas for which votes were cast, the BJP in the last elections had won at 59 places registering an 80% strike rate.

In the recently concluded Gujarat Assembly polls, the BJP successfully offset reverses in rural Gujarat by registering massive victories in urban and semi-urban areas to win as simple majority in the House.

Party performed well in cities like Surat, Vadodara, Ahmedabad and Rajkot despite hiccups in the the Goods and Services Tax (GST) rollout.

2013 Gujarat Nagarpalika Poll Results:

Total seats: 75

BJP 59, Cong 14, NCP 1, Others 1Bhopal: Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) leader Hardik Patel on Monday said that the fight in Madhya Pradesh was not between BJP and Congress but the ruling party against the citizens.

Chief Minister in Madhya Pradesh is called Mama (uncle) but we dont want a Shakuni Mama. We want a Mama who talks about our interests and our development, said the young Patidar leader, addressing the media before holding the Samajik Chetna rally.

Patel also claimed that efforts were being made to prevent his visits to Madhya Pradesh, but said he would repeatedly come to the state, regardless. Last year, Patel had tried to meet the families of farmers who were killed in police firing in Mandsaur but was detained before he could reach the trouble-torn town.

We are against the BJP but whoever talks about our interests, we would support them, he said.

Among prominent issues in Madhya Pradesh, Hardik listed Vyapam scam, farmers plight and non-implementation of 27% reservation despite Supreme Court order on the top of his list. He also talked about unemployment, employees issues and the Punjab National Bank scam.

The PAAS leader also took on the government over firing on agitating farmers in Mandsaur, illegal mining and malnutrition among kids. This is the state where farmers are killed and then are called drug peddlers, he alleged.

As I announced my visit to MP, a Patidar was inducted into the cabinet while Gujarats Anandiben Patel was appointed the state Governor, he said.

Training his guns on the governor, Hardik attacking her statement defending PM Narendra Modis pakoda (fritters) comment. Why doesnt Anandiben, her son and daughter also start selling pakodas (fritters), he said.

After addressing the media, Hardik took out the Samajik Chetna rally, which saw heavy participation by OBCs, SCs and STs.Hyderabad: TDP chief and Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu has said that opposition leader Jagan Mohan Reddy is waiting for TDP to quit NDA so that they can join the alliance with BJP and his no-confidence motion is only a ploy towards achieving that goal.

Naidu refuted allegations levelled by the Centre and said that his government has taken up an uncompromising fight and is making all efforts to push the BJP-led Centre to fulfill the promises made in the AP Reorganisation Act at the time of the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.

Hitting out at YSRCP chief Jagan Mohan Reddy for doing politics over the issue of Andhras Special Status, Naidu said, "YSR Congress is waiting for us to come out of NDA so that they can join the NDA. For us, politics is not important. Development of the state and what benefits the state are on top of our priority list."

"The no-confidence motion that Jagan Reddy is taking about has no meaning. We do not have a majority, so we will lose anyway. If at all we bring no-confidence motion, we will have to engage other parties and bring everyone together. But Jagan, who does not understand things, is asking us to resign and come out of the Parliament. So if we just walk out of the Parliament, the situation will still not change. We are raising our voice in the Parliament so that the promises which were made on the floor of the same House, are honoured. Instead of targeting me, Jagan should question BJP and PM Modi", Naidu said on Monday.

Defending his stand of settling for Modi governments special assistance package, Naidu said, "The Centre in 2016 had specified that the package will be equivalent to status or what the state would have otherwise got. The special package had the same terms and conditions and that is why we had agreed but we never compromised on the commitments that were made in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act. Moreover, I am asking the Centre to handhold Andhra Pradesh until it gets on par with other south Indian states."

Questioning the state BJP leaders for misleading people, Naidu asked, "The state BJP leaders are talking about the central funds given to state. But that is given to every state. You should specifically answer what all promises you have fulfilled so far that were made in the Parliament?"

Chandrababu Naidu even questioned the double standards of opposition Congress.

"Congress say they are supporting our fight. But it was the Congress that had divided the state and weakened us in the process. In Parliament, only KVP Ramchander Rao had raised a protest and when he was suspended, nobody objected. What should we expect from such party? I appeal to Congress to change their attitude and it was because of their attitude that they were taught a lesson," he said.

Chandrababu Naidu plans to call a meeting after February 26 and invite all political parties and civil organisations fighting for the Andhra Pradesh Special Status to discuss how the fight can be taken forward in a collective manner.Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee alleged that the PNB Scam was planned a year before demonetisation and asserted that more influential people are involved in it.

Addressing a public rally in Murshidabad on Monday, Mamata said, Not just Punjab National Bank, many other banks are involved in this scam. A thorough probe must be carried out to ascertain who is behind this scam. Planning for this scam started a year before demonetisation. Senior officials in some banks were changed. There is proof. Facts never lie. We demand a high-level investigation into the matter.

It is Indias misfortune that BJP is in power. They are taking away the rights of the people. They are asking common people to link Aadhaar to their bank accounts while a few others are fleeing the country with crores of rupees (hinting at Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi and Vijay Mallya). People live in misery while they build grand offices (hinting at BJP new office in New Delhi), Banerjee alleged.

On the controversy over FRDI Bill, she said, Centre is bringing FRDI Bill but I am against it. Peoples savings are not safe in banks anymore. Peoples money is given away to others. I dont trust those who talk big and deliver nothing. They only deliver bhashan on TV and fail when it comes to work.

In a recent public meeting at Jhargram in Bengals West Midnapore district the chief minister came down heavily on banking scam that has rocked the nation where she alleged that poor and eligible farmers are refused loans while people like Nirav Modi escape unpunished.

The self-help groups, small business houses and the common people are not getting loans. But there are some VIPs who are being given thousands of crores of rupees. Why this fraud? she had said.

Meanwhile, CPI-Ms state legislative party leader Sujan Chakraborty slammed the state finance minister Amit Mitra for cosying up to Gitanjali Jewels founder Mehul Choksi (who is also involved in the PNB scam) during an event in Kolkata in 2016.

The TMC party is now attacking the central government for their callousness in dealing with Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi who managed to flee India. But I would like to question our Bengal finance minister why he gave a red carpet welcome to Mehul Choksi during an event in Bengal, he told News18.

Chakrabortys statement came a day after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) widened its probe and initiated search operations at about 45 locations across India including West Bengal in connection with Rs 11,500-crore Punjab National Bank Scam.

In Bengal, the operation is being conducted by a joint team of ED officials from Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata at jewellery brand outlets owned by Choksi. The team has seized diamonds, gold, precious stones and ornaments worth about Rs 25 crore as per the book value. Responding to Chakrabortys allegation, TMC leader, Partha Chatterjee, said, There are people who are unnecessary trying to create controversy out of nothing. Such allegations are not going to prove anything. It was a business event and many delegates came.Lucknow: With just a day left in filing nominations for Gorakhpur and Phulpur by-elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is now under pressure to announce their candidates.

Main opposition parties like the Congress and Samajwadi Party have already made public their entrants for the by-elections to be held on March 11.

The Congress was the first to announce the names of their candidate on February 16, followed by SP on February 18. Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Raj Babbar tweeted that general secretary of state Congress, Manish Mishra will be the candidate from Phulpur, while Surhita Chatterjee Karim will contest from Gorakhpur.

Manish Mishra is the son of senior IAS officer JS Mishra, who later went on to become Indira Gandhis personal secretary in the late seventies. Senior Congress leader Surhita Karim runs a nursing home in Gorakhpur and stood in the Mayoral elections of the district in 2012.

On Sunday, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav announced that his party will contest the Gorakhpur bypolls in alliance with Peace Party and Nishad Party. The alliance announced Praveen Kumar Nishad as their candidate. Praveen happens to be the son of Nishad Party chief Sanjay Nishad.

Both Peace Party and Nishad Party are said to have a good influence in the Purvanchal region. For Phulpur, the SP has fielded Nagendra Pratap Singh Patel.

Candidate selection will be key for the BJP in Phulpur. The constituency will share the spotlight with Gorakhpur, the Lok Sabha seat vacated by CM Yogi Adityanath. The counting for both seats will be held on March 14.

Local BJP leaders have already begun putting up posters and hoardings, portraying them as potential candidates. Speculations, though, point out that the party may announce a backward caste candidate for Phulpur. However, for Gorakhpur, the major decision would be whether to choose someone associated with the Gorakhnath Math (temple of the Nath monastic group) or someone from outside it.

The Math continues have a major influence on the voters in the region.New Delhi: Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati has issued instructions to party workers against touching her feet while greeting her.

BSP leaders claim Mayawati's directive issued last week is aimed to send a message to the core BSP constituency to underscore ideological moorings espoused by Dalit reformists from Ambedkar to Kanshi Ram.

Though over the years, leaders genuflecting to touch the four-time Chief Ministers feet in public functions had become a common sight as Mayawati controlled BSP with a firm grip.

BSP Rajya Sabha MP Munkad Ali told News18, Behenji (Mayawati) enjoys great respect among party workers. They regard her as their undisputed leader. So it is only natural that they want to show their respect. Wherever she goes, they line up to show their respect and touch her feet. Behenji said that it was not appropriate and issued orders to all party workers to stop doing so.

Instead, said Ali, party workers have been told to great each other and their leaders with a simple Jai Bhim (Hail Bhim). The BSP has always stood against social inequality of all kinds and Behenji has been a champion of the downtrodden. This will instill a sense of egalitarianism in the party. Using Jai Bhim as a greeting will also ensure that party workers reaffirm their belief in ideals of Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar, who is an icon for us all.

The BSP which lost miserably in the last Lok Sabha and Assembly polls has been attempting to find its feet, especially in its core constituency. From Chandrashekhar Azad in UP to Jignesh Mewani in Gujarat  alternative voices within the community have attempted to occupy this space. And most importantly, 'the mission mode' modus of the BSP has had to compete with alternative political idioms.

Meanwhile, sources said the BSP has already started its preparations for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. We have started constituting booth committees in all Lok Sabha seats. Once that is complete, our workers will start canvassing for the Lok Sabha polls and ensure that more and more people join the party. Things are moving in our favour now as people are upset with the ruling the BJP, both in the Centre and in Lucknow, said a BSP leader.Facebook is forging ahead with its messaging app for kids, despite child experts who have pressed the company to shut it down and others who question Facebooks financial support of some advisers who approved of the app. Messenger Kids lets kids under 13 chat with friends and family. It displays no ads and lets parents approve who their children message. But critics say it serves to lure kids into harmful social media use and to hook young people on Facebook as it tries to compete with Snapchat or its own Instagram app. They say kids shouldnt be on such apps at all  although they often are.

Also read: Facebook to Roll Out Bug Fix For Two-Factor Authentication

It is disturbing that Facebook, in the face of widespread concern, is aggressively marketing Messenger Kids to even more children, the Campaign For a Commercial-Free Childhood said in a statement this week. Messenger Kids launched on iOS to lukewarm reception in December. It arrived on Amazon devices in January and on Android Wednesday. Throughout, Facebook has touted a team of advisers, academics and families who helped shape the app in the year before it launched.

But a Wired report this week pointed out that more than half of this safety advisory board had financial ties to the company. Facebook confirmed this and said it hasnt hidden donations to these individuals and groups  although it hasnt publicized them, either. Facebooks donations to groups like the National PTA (the official name for the Parent Teacher Association) typically covered logistics costs or sponsored activities like anti-bullying programs or events such as parent roundtables. One advisory group, the Family Online Safety Institute, has a Facebook executive on its board, along with execs from Disney, Comcast and Google.

Also read: Google Testing New Technology to Improve 911 System

We sometimes provide funding to cover programmatic or logistics expenses, to make sure our work together can have the most impact, Facebook said in a statement, adding that many of the organizations and people who advised on Messenger Kids do not receive financial support of any kind. But for a company under pressure from many sides  Congress, regulators, advocates for online privacy and mental health  even the appearance of impropriety can hurt. Facebook didnt invite prominent critics, such as the nonprofit Common Sense Media, to advise it on Messenger Kids until the process was nearly over. Facebook would not comment publicly on why it didnt include Common Sense earlier in the process.

Because they know we opposed their position, said James Steyer, the CEO of Common Sense. The groups stance is that Facebook never should have released a product aimed at kids. They know very well our positon with Messenger Kids. A few weeks after Messenger Kids launched, nearly 100 outside experts banded together to urge Facebook to shut down the app , which it has not done. The company says it is committed to building better products for families, including Messenger Kids. That means listening to parents and experts, including our critics.

Also read: Twitter Will Stop Supporting Its Mac Desktop App

One of Facebooks experts contested the notion that company advisers were in Facebooks pocket. Lewis Bernstein, now a paid Facebook consultant who worked for Sesame Workshop (the nonprofit behind Sesame Street) in various capacities over three decades, said the Wired article unfairly accused him and his colleagues for accepting travel expenses to Facebook seminars.

But the Wired story did not count Lewis as one of the seven out of 13 advisers who took funding for Messenger Kids, and the magazine did not include travel funding when it counted financial ties. Bernstein was not a Facebook consultant at the time he was advising it on Messenger Kids. Bernstein, who doesnt see technology as inherently dangerous, suggested that Facebook critics like Common Sense are also tainted by accepting $50 million in donated air time for a campaign warning about the dangers of technology addiction. Among those air-time donors are Comcast and AT&Ts DirecTV.

But Common Sense spokeswoman Corbie Kiernan called that figure a misrepresentation that got picked up by news outlets. She said Common Sense has public service announcement commitments from partners such as Comcast and DirectTV that has been valued at $50 million. The group has used that time in other campaigns in addition to its current Truth About Tech effort, which its launching with a group of ex-Google and Facebook employees and their newly formed Center for Humane Technology.

Also Watch: Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro Review: Best Bang For Your Buck at Rs 13,999Google has conducted a trial of a new technology that will help 911 operators figure out the location of cellphone callers more accurately, media reported. The test included tens of thousands of 911 calls over the span of two months in several states in the US and had encouraging results, The Wall Street Journal reported late on Friday.

The 911 system, which turns 50 this month, has often struggled to locate cellphone callers. Saving a minute in response times can save up to 10,000 lives a year, according to the federal regulators. With the help of Google's new technology, about 80 percent of the 911 calls could more accurately locate data within the first 30 seconds.

Also read: Facebook to Roll Out Bug Fix For Two-Factor Authentication

The tech giants' data also dramatically reduced the estimated radius of a call's location from 522 feet down to 121 feet and arrived faster than carrier data, the report said. This improvment in tracing the location data can also help dispatchers in cases where the caller might not speak English, or in a state of panic, gives the wrong address.

The test, which included 50 call centres that cover around 2.4 million people in Texas, Tennessee and Florida, was done in conjunction with two companies that have connections into 911 centres, West Corp and RapidSOS. For the test, Google sent location data from a random selection of 911 callers using Android phones straight to the people taking those calls.

Google's location technology is currently available in 14 countries, and the company has said it hopes to bring it to the US this year, the report said.

Also Watch: Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro Review: Best Bang For Your Buck at Rs 13,999Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is aiming to build on its capability to research on astronomy and astrophysics by launching the second space observatory, AstroSat-2. In an announcement made by ISRO on February 3, the government-run space agency asked for proposals from all institutions which are currently involved in astronomy or astrophysics. ISRO asked for these proposals for the development of scientific instruments for the payload of the mission.

Space observatories hold advantage over those based on Earth by minimising disturbance factors caused by lightning, electromagnetic radiation distortion and such. Through the space observatory, ISRO will be able to observe distant planets, galaxies and other such astronomical objects more clearly.

Major institutes involved in making the AstroSat-1 a success are Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) (Bengaluru), Physical Research Lab (PRL), (Ahmedabad), Raman Research Institute, (Bangalore), Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), (Pune) and MP Birla Institute of Fundamental Research (IFR), (Bangalore).

Also read: NASA's Kepler Discovers Nearly 100 New Exoplanets

The AstroSat-1 weighs 1,515 kg and was launched on September 28, 2015. The AstroSat-1 has a lifespan of 5 years, hence ISRO looks to complement the satellite with the AstroSat-2 before its life-cycle ends in 2020.

The AstroSat-1 circles the Earth fifteen times a day, completing one circle in 97 minutes. With its launch, India was able to join the select few nations having their own space observatory, namely US, Russia, Japan and Europe.

With five hi-tech cameras as its payloads, covering the energy bands of ultraviolet (near and far), limited optical and X-ray regime (0.3 keV to 100keV), the AstroSat-1 studies the binary star system, neutron stars, black holes and star birth regions. AstroSat-1 also enables simultaneous multi-wavelength observations, meaning the ability to monitor various astronomical objects with a single satellite.

Watch: Tech and Auto Show Ep 31 | Auto Expo 2018 Special | Unveilings & LaunchesEach year, Samsung gives its iconic ringtone a fresh sound to better reflect the aesthetic transformation of its latest Galaxy phone. For the 2018 edition of the Over the Horizon', it was Icelandic composer Petur Jonsson who was chosen to reimagine and rearrange the brand's ringtone.

Samsung released the announcement along with a music video that takes viewers on a journey from Petur Jonsson at his piano to Iceland's rural countryside of mountains and geysers.

Listening to this year's piece by Jonsson, you will find that the notes arouse the most pure, fundamental elements of the human sentiment that often remain hidden in our daily lives. In this way, the latest version of Samsung's brand sound has the power to relax the mind and heal the soul, thus resonating with all who hear it, regardless of their age.

Petur Jonsson, an Icelandic composer who started out by studying filmmaking in Rome, returned back to his home country only to find, years later, that he wanted to take a new path, one that would lead him back to his childhood love, music.

Also read: Xolo Era 3X Review: Ease-of-Use is The Biggest USP

...my heart was always in music, as I later found out. Hundreds of commercials later I left the film business and returned to my musical origins, and now I compose music for commercials, television and film trailers for my own music production company Medialux, combining my passion for cinematic music with my film production knowledge.

When contacted by Relaxnews to discuss what inspired this particular composition, as well as what sensations it should evoke within Samsung users, Peter Jonsson wrote :

The creative brief for Over The Horizon 2018 was very focused on humanity, creativity and positivity towards the future. We wanted to make this version a visual journey for the listener, something that you could close your eyes and travel to in your mind. So a lot of work went into making a cinematic soundscape that people would find pleasant and engaging. And I tried my best to make a gradual buildup to the song, from something very delicate and human, to a bigger, almost epic positive ending. Then we added the drama of Icelandic landscapes into the whole mix.

Watch: Tech and Auto Show Ep 31 | Auto Expo 2018 Special | Unveilings & LaunchesTel Aviv: Israeli security agency Shin Bet on Sunday said it thwarted a plot by Palestinian militants to carry out a bombing attack against Israel's Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman.

Six members of a Palestinian cell associated with the Islamic Jihad militant group were arrested "in recent weeks," Xinhua quoted Shin Bet as saying in a statement.

The cell members, all residents of the West Bank, planned to carry out shooting attacks against Israeli civilians and security. Some members even plotted to attack Lieberman's convoy when he returned to his home in a West Bank settlement, it said.

The investigation revealed that they tried to acquire explosives and contacted militants in the Gaza Strip regarding financing.

After failing to receive financial support from Gaza, the cell members thought they might better succeed if they planted an improvised explosive device along the minister's route.

However, the attack was never carried out due to the minister's heavy security, Shin Bet said.

It added that the case was the latest in a string of attempts by Palestinians from the West Bank "to leverage their links with their Gazan counterparts in order to commit attacks."

Israel and the Palestinians have witnessed a resurging wave of violence since U.S. President Donald Trump's recognition of the disputed holy city of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel in December.Male: The Maldives' top court has suspended 12 pro-opposition legislators before a crucial parliamentary vote Monday, emboldening President Abdulla Yameen as he clings to power in the troubled islands.

The Supreme Court decision late on Sunday reverses its original order to reinstate the MPs, who had defected from the ruling party. It comes as parliament prepares to ratify a state of emergency declared by Yameen that plunged the Maldives into crisis.

The court had ruled on February 1 that the 12 defectors be reinstalled as legislators, reducing the president's party to minority rule in the Indian Ocean archipelago.

This latest backflip by the Supreme Court restores Yameen's majority in the 85-member legislature.

The three-judge bench said it was suspending the February 1 order to reinstate the politicians following an appeal by the attorney general.

It is the second backflip by the Supreme Court since Yameen ordered the arrest of the Chief Justice and another supreme court judge just two weeks ago as he declared a state of emergency.

Earlier this month the remaining judges of the court reversed their earlier order to release political prisoners, including Yameen's main rival Mohamed Nasheed.

That ruling threw the popular holiday islands into turmoil as Yameen cracked down on his opponents. His estranged half-brother, former president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, was among those arrested on a charge of bribing Supreme Court justices to topple the government through a constitutional coup.

Yameen has faced international censure over his refusal to abide by the top court's rulings and his declaration of a state of emergency, described by the UN human rights chief as "an all-out assault on democracy".

The unrest has dented the Maldives' image as a popular holiday destination. The nation's top earner is tourism, with honeymooners drawn by its pristine islands and crystal-clear blue waters.Manila: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte sought on Monday to allay fears about China's construction of military bases on manmade islands in the South China Sea, saying these were built to defend against America rather than confront neighbouring states.

Duterte also blamed past governments for not building up the country's defences in the Spratly archipelago at a time when Beijing was only starting to build its artificial islands and turning them into military bases.

"We did nothing," the firebrand leader said in a speech to Chinese-Filipino businessmen. On China's construction, he added:

"It's not intended for us. The contending ideological powers of the world or the geopolitics has greatly changed. It's really intended against those who the Chinese think would destroy them and that is America."

China claims almost the entire South China Sea, a strategic waterway where $3 trillion worth of goods passes every year. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have overlapping claims.

The United States has criticized China's build-up of military facilities on the islands and is concerned they could be used to restrict free movement along the trade route.

China and the Philippines have long sparred over the South China Sea, but relations have improved considerably under Duterte, who has been courting Beijing in hopes of winning business and investment.

In 2014, Beijing started expanding the seven features it occupies in the Spratlys, reclaiming and building artificial islands which are now becoming military bases with airstrips, ports and anti-air and surface-to-surface missiles sites based on satellite and aerial photos.

Duterte defended himself from critics who say he is not doing enough to protect the country's interests in the South China Sea. He said he "will not commit the lives of the Filipinos only to die unnecessarily, I will not go into a battle which I can never win."

He also played down concerns about the recent moves by China to assign Chinese names to several undersea features in Benham Rise, an area the size of Greece in the Pacific Ocean which the United Nations awarded to the Philippines as part of its continental shelf.

"That is ours, period," he said. "I am not allowing any expedition anymore. China went there and put up markers. Those are just directions and of course, they can do it in Chinese, it's their dialect."

Before ending his speech, he cracked a joke offering the Philippines to become a province of China. "If you want, you can make us a province, like Fujian. Province of the Philippines, Republic of China," he added.Johannesburg: South Africa has widened a corruption probe into allies of ex-president Jacob Zuma to other countries, including India, China and Dubai, the police minister said Sunday.

Fikile Mbalula made the announcement days after South Africa issued an arrest warrant for one of the brothers of the Gupta business family, close associates of scandal-plagued Zuma who was forced from power on Wednesday.

Mbalula told public broadcaster SABC that Ajay Gupta and another four people who are being sought in connection with the case were all out of the country.

While there was no indication that they fled the country fearing arrest, Mbalula vowed that they will "be followed up" through Interpol with the possibility of extradition to face trial in South Africa.

He said two of the suspects were of Indian descent and one other was Chinese. All are thought to be in India, China or Dubai.

"We operate through Interpol, we operate through bilateral (means), if you ever resist there will be extradition. All means necessary will be employed to ensure these people are brought to book," said Mbalula.

He refused to name the suspects except for Ajay Gupta who police last week declared a fugitive. Local media reports suggested that Zuma's son Duduzane, a business associate of the Guptas, is also among those being sought, and some speculated that he could be in Dubai.

The minister refused to say whether Duduzane Zuma is on the police wanted list. There will be more arrests... it's not just a witch hunt, he added.

"It doesn't matter, if you are a politician ... there are no holy cows, there are no untouchables."

In all, 13 people are facing charges linked to allegations that millions of dollars of public money meant for poor dairy farmers was syphoned off by the Guptas. Eight other suspects were arrested last week and have appeared in court.

In his first address to the nation hours after he assumed power on Friday, new South African President Cyril Ramaphosa vowed to fight corruption in a direct reference to the accusations levelled at his predecessor Zuma.Beirut, Ankara: Turkey never used chemical weapons in its operations in Syria, and takes the utmost care of civilians, a Turkish diplomatic source said, after Syrian Kurdish forces and a monitoring group accused it of carrying out a gas attack in Syria's Afrin region.

"These are baseless accusations. Turkey never used chemical weapons. We take utmost care about civilians in Operation Olive Branch," the source said.

Syrian Kurdish forces and a monitoring group said the Turkish military carried out a suspected gas attack that wounded six people in Syria's Afrin region on Friday.

The source also described the accusations of wounding six civilians through a suspected gas attack as "black propaganda".

Turkey launched an air and ground offensive last month on the Afrin region, opening a new front in the multi-sided Syrian war, to target Kurdish fighters in northern Syria.

Birusk Hasaka, a spokesman for the Kurdish YPG militia in Afrin, told Reuters that Turkish bombardment hit a village in the northwest of the region, near the Turkish border. He said it caused six people to suffer breathing problems and other symptoms indicative of a gas attack.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told Reuters that Turkish forces and their Syrian insurgent allies hit the village on Friday with shells. The Britain-based war monitoring group said medical sources in Afrin reported that six people in the attack suffered breathing difficulties and dilated pupils, indicating a suspected gas attack.

Syrian state news agency SANA, citing a doctor in a Afrin hospital, said Turkish shelling of the village caused choking in six people.

On Feb. 6, the United Nations called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Syria. [nL8N1PW4PM]

Since the onset of the conflict in 2011, the YPG and its allies have set up three autonomous cantons in the north, including Afrin. Their sphere of influence expanded as they seized territory from Islamic State with U.S. help, though Washington opposes their autonomy plans as does the Syrian government.

U.S. support for Kurdish-led forces in Syria has infuriated Ankara, which views them as a security threat along its frontier. Turkey sees the YPG as terrorists and an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) that has waged a three-decade insurgency on Turkish soil.Lisbon: United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Monday he was worried about the possibility of a direct confrontation between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah movement.

Guterres said the latest signals from Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah showed the will to not let this happen but "sometimes a spark is enough to unleash this kind of a conflict".

Hezbollah said last week it could act against Israeli oil facilities if necessary in a Lebanon-Israel offshore energy dispute. US diplomats have been mediating between the two countries after a rise in tensions also involving a dispute over a border wall and Hezbollah's growing arsenal.

"I am deeply worried about hard-to-foresee escalations in the whole region," Gutters told reporters in his native Lisbon, also referring to Israel's concerns about various militia groups in Syria approaching its borders.

"The worst nightmare would be if there is a direct confrontation between Israel and Hezbollah...the level of destruction in Lebanon would be absolutely devastating, so there are major points of concern around this situation."

The powerful Shi'ite movement is part of Lebanon's coalition government. Israel sees Hezbollah as the biggest security threat on its borders.

Hezbollah was formed in the 1980s as a resistance movement against Israel's occupation of southern Lebanon. The two remain bitter enemies but there has been no major conflict between them since a month-long war in 2006.A vendor salvaging her mannequin wearing a skirt cries as she runs away from her stall burning during a massive fire at the biggest clothing market in Port-au-Prince, Haiti on February 18, 2018. The entire market, where at least 1,000 vendors work and was closed on Sunday, was destroyed in the blaze. (Image: AP)AFRICAN Union (AU) Commission chairperson, Moussa Faki Mahamat has rubbished claims by former Zanu PF officials that a petition has been forwarded to the continental body detailing military excesses during the transition in November last year that brought down former President Robert Mugabes administration.





Interestingly, however, the AU is said to have received the document on February 5, 2018, with the bodys outgoing chairman and Guinea President Alpha Conde signing for it.





Bizarrely, an official from the AU Commission said to be Mahamat is said to have signed as receiving the petition on the same day as well, according to online documents, adding to the intrigue.





Mugabes nephew and ex-Cabinet minister, Patrick Zhuwao has claimed that a new political outfit known as the New Patriotic Front made up of leading figures of a defeated faction of the ruling party known as G40, had approached the AU to assist in resolving the political problems in Zimbabwe.





But Mahamat, who arrived in the country late yesterday, and met Foreign Affairs minister Sibusiso Moyo said the issue of the petition was news to him.





I am just learning from you now, I have not received any petition, he said in response to questions from journalists.





The document, circulated to the media, was meant to coincide with President Emmerson Mnangagwas maiden appearance at the AU summit last month, urged the body not to recognise the new administration born out of the November 15 military intervention.





The New Patriotic Front writes to you to bring to your attention the extraordinary, unconstitutional, illegitimate and abnormal situation that exists in Zimbabwe today, as a direct result of the military coup that took place in the country on November 15, 2017, the petition read.





The petition argued that Mugabe as President had not deployed the military on November 15 and, therefore, the actions of the army were illegal.

Mahamat added that his visit was in solidarity with Zimbabweans.





I want to say that I am visiting Zimbabwe to show our solidarity with this great country of Africa. I have come with the commissioner in charge of political affairs.





We will continue to discuss issues of concern to Zimbabwe and the African Union. I shall discuss with the President of the Republic (Mnangagwa) how the African Union can support Zimbabwe in this transition period and organisation of election, he said.





The AU boss said he will meet Mnangagwa and was happy with how government has opened up the political space ahead of elections expected later this year.





We also appreciate highly how the government and the President have opened up the political field so that there can be free, fair and credible elections, he said.

We will also work with the government to see how these sanctions can be removed.

According to documents shared online, the chairperson of the Sadc organ on politics defence and security, Angolan President Joao Lourenco received the petition on February 2 this year. NewsdayThe High Court has ruled that a woman living in the Diaspora is not entitled to inherit the matrimonial house because she was not living at the house at the time of her husbands death.





Justice Alfas Chitakunye made the ruling in the case involving the estate of the late Samuel Zachary Munangatire. Mr Munangatire died in the United Kingdom in 2012.

At the time of his death, he was on separation with his legal spouse. The couple owned Number 36 Marlborough Drive in Harare.





Mr Munangatires death sparked a fierce civil dispute pitting the surviving spouse Anna Mercy Munangatire and her late husbands lover, Grace Nyandoro, over the property.

The major issue for determination was whether the property at the centre of dispute should devolve to Mrs Munangatire as the surviving spouse in terms of Section 3 and 3A of the Deceased Estates Succession Act (Chapter 6:02), or it should be distributed to all beneficiaries.





Justice Chitakunye said for someone to benefit under the said law, one should establish two things: that a person seeking to inherit the house is the spouse of the deceased, and that the person must have been living at that house immediately prior to the deceaseds death.





Though the court was satisfied that Mrs Munangatire was the surviving spouse of the late Samuel, the contentious issue was that she was not living at the contested property at the time of her husbands death.





Mrs Munangatire averred that her stay in the UK was temporary, but Justice Chitakunye

disagreed.





It is in UK that the parties married and when they relocated to Zimbabwe and things did not go well, she returned to the UK and that is where she has been since 1998, said Justice Chitakunye.





There was virtually no matrimony to talk about serve for the fact that the action for divorce had not been concluded and they so remained husband and wife.

I thus conclude that the applicant was not living in the property immediately before the late Samuels death.





Justice Chitakunye said though Mrs Munangatire had failed to qualify to be the sole beneficiary of the property in terms of Section 3A of the Act, she was still entitled to her husbands household goods and effects and to a share in the house.





During the court proceedings, the court heard that Mrs Munangatire married her late husband in 1970 in the UK, and when Zimbabwe attained Independence, she and her family returned to Zimbabwe.





Mr Munangatire later had an adulterous relationship with Ms Nyandoro, which prompted her to leave the matrimonial home.





Mrs Munangatire and her children decided to return to the UK in 1998, where she felt she could ably fend for her family. This, according to Mrs Munangatire, gifted Ms Nyandoro with the chance to move into the contentious property.





But later, Mr Munangatire and her mistress relocated to UK in 2001, leaving Ms Nyandoros relatives occupying the matrimonial home. While in the UK, Mr Munangatire and Ms Nyandoro went on separation.





When Mr Munangatire died at the hotel he was staying in after the separation, Ms Nyandoro presented herself to the UK authorities as his lawful widow, a ruse that did not work with the authorities in that country as she had no proof that she was married to him. HeraldTHE Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) is investigating University of Zimbabwe lecturer Professor Claude Mararike over allegations of abuse of office for fraudulently awarding of a Doctor of Philosophy degree to former First Lady Grace Mugabe.



In an interview yesterday, Zacc spokesperson Ms Phyllis Chikundura confirmed the developments.He is under investigations and he faces arrest once investigations have been completed, she said.



On Saturday, UZ Vice-Chancellor Levi Nyagura, who was arrested for allegedly illegally awarding Mrs Mugabe the PhD, was granted $200 bail by a Harare magistrate.



The bail conditions include surrendering his passport to the court, residing at his stated Borrowdale address in Harare and not interfering with State witnesses Professor Rudo Gaidzanwa and Drs Julius Museveni, Watch Ruparanganda and Sadomba. Nyagura is expected back in court on March 5.



He was charged with abuse of office when he appeared before Harare magistrate Mrs Tilda Mazhande, an allegation he refuted. Last Friday, Zacc arrested Nyagura for allegedly awarding Mrs Mugabe the PhD without university council and senate committee approval.



Mrs Mugabe was supervised by Prof Mararike. Nyagura recently blasted lecturers in the Department of Sociology for challenging the awarding of the contentious doctorate, saying they were ignorant Messrs and doctors, with no academic capacity to supervise a PhD student.





Supervised by Prof Mararike, Mrs Mugabe graduated with the Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Social Studies in September 2014.





The arrest of Nyagura came after a Harare magistrate had issued a warrant empowering Zacc to search and seize all documents relevant to its probe on whether or not he corruptly awarded Mrs Mugabe the doctoral degree.





The documents ordered to be availed included Dr Mugabes pre-registration application form, her research proposal submitted to the Department of Sociology, minutes of the departmental board assigning a supervisor to Mrs Mugabe, academic certificates of her supervisor, minutes showing that the doctoral degree passed through the Academic Committee, and minutes of the UZ senate recommending to the university council the conferment of the doctorate on Mrs Mugabe.





The university was directed to allow Zacc access to minutes of the University Council recommending to the University Chancellor the conferment of the doctorate on Mrs Mugabe, copies of progress reports at Post Graduate Centre, copies of contract of research assistant and contract of teaching assistant in respect of Mr Justice Tandire.





Zacc was also to be furnished with the UZ Faculty Ordinance number 44, UZ quality assurance guidelines and benchmarks for management and supervision of higher degrees by research, General Academic Regulations for Post-Graduate Degrees of the university of Zimbabwe 1998/99 Volume 11, as well as copies of the transcript, notification and Doctor of Philosophy Degree awarded to Mrs Mugabe.





UZ has since filed an urgent chamber application at the High Court to set aside the search warrant, arguing that it was illegal. HeraldTrial: She Was 'Starstruck'

by Holmes, but Not for Long(Newser)  The evidence against the Florida school shooting suspect is so overwhelming, the main question revolving around the trial of Nikolas Cruz might be whether he will be sentenced to death or spend the rest of his life in prison. The fate of 19-year-old Cruz, who faces 17 counts of first-degree murder in the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High, will depend on his mental state and the wishes of the victims' families, which have a say in how the prosecution proceeds. Broward County Public Defender Howard Finkelstein said there were so many warning signs that Cruz was mentally unstable and potentially violent that the death penalty might be going too far. He added that Cruz would likely plead guilty if prosecutors opt not to seek the death penalty, per the AP.

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Michael J. Satz, the state attorney for Broward County, said his office is working with law enforcement and will announce later what penalty it plans to seek. The prosecution will likely take years. The sheriff's office said Cruz confessed, and they have his AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, ammunition clips, and video from the school. Cruz could try to plead innocent by reason of insanity, which rarely works. James Holmes, the shooter who killed 12 people and wounded 70 in a Colorado movie theater in 2012, was convicted despite pleading insanity and was sentenced to life behind bars. Even if he pleads guilty and prosecutors refuse to waive the death penalty, a jury must decide by a 12-0 vote that Cruz deserves to be executed. (The family with whom Cruz lived said they had no inkling.)(Newser)  A Los Angeles driver for Uber and Lyft has been missing for days and police have asked the public for help. Joshua Thiede was last seen Feb. 11 in Los Angeles, the LA Times reports. The 29-year-old's mother, Janet Thiede, said phone records show that somebody called 911 from her son's phone on Feb. 12, but the call was disconnected before the dispatcher picked up, reports CBS Los Angeles. The phone is no longer active, per NBC Los Angeles. Janet Thiede says her son, an Ohio native, has been driving for the ride services while working on a business plan to sell organic shoes. His car also is missing, and friends were passing out fliers Sunday hoping for leads on his whereabouts. (Read more Uber stories.)(Newser)  A former aide is suing California assemblywoman and #MeToo advocate Cristina Garcia, claiming the Democrat fired him for not wanting to play "spin the bottle" in her hotel room after a night of heavy drinking at a fundraiser in 2014. David John Kernick says he was written up for insubordination the day after he called the suggestion inappropriate and was fired two days later, Sacramento Bee reports. But Tim Reardon, who was Garcia's chief of staff in 2014, says Kernick was fired after being warned for not doing his job. The allegations against Garcia are "like a malicious, really bizarre alternate universe built on a lot of innuendo and lies solely to destroy [the] character of Assemblywoman Garcia," he says.

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Garcia, who chaired the Legislative Women's Caucus, is already on a voluntary, unpaid leave of absence amid other allegations of sexual misconduct, including groping. Three other former Garcia stafferswho joined Kernick in signing an open letter denouncing the "toxic" atmosphere in her officetell Politico that working for Garcia included being pressured to join her at events where she drank heavily, and listening to her talk extensively about her sex life. "It wasn't a two-way street. It was usually just us listening," one female former staffer says. "I thought it was weird. It came off as sort of bragging." A lobbyist says Garcia's office contained a "keginator"a fridge that dispenses draft beerand she offered lobbyists cups of beer during a late-morning meeting. (Read more California stories.)(Newser)  A former Trump campaign aide has decided 18 months in prison for fraud-related charges is the best deal he's going to get from Robert Mueller's team, insiders tell the Los Angeles Times. The sources say that in return for leniency, Rick Gates plans to change his plea to guilty and will testify against former campaign chief Paul Manafort, who worked with him in political consulting for around 10 years. Both men are accused of money laundering and other offenses related to their work in Ukraine. One of the Times' sources says Gates, who has four children, can't afford an expensive legal team to defend him in the Mueller probe. If "you go to trial on this, that's $1 million to $1.5 million," the source says.

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Sources tell CNN that Gates had hoped to benefit from a legal defense fund, but major GOP donors aren't interested in coughing up money to defend him and Manafort. Gates, 45, joined the Trump campaign in June 2016, the same time as Manafort, but stayed on long after Manafort was fired in August. One of the Times' sources says Gates' testimony against Manafort could be the "cherry on top" of Mueller's case, though he doesn't believe Gates has information that would help "turn the screws on Trump." The New York Times reports that on Friday, the Justice Department disclosed that California computer specialist Richard Pinedo had pleaded guilty to identity theft and was cooperating with the investigation of 13 Russians charged with interfering in the 2016 election. He allegedly used stolen identities to set up bank accounts used by the Russians. (Read more Rick Gates stories.)(Newser)  Former teachers say alleged school shooter Nikolas Cruz wasn't somebody who slipped through the cracks, he was somebody they worked hard to get help for. The teachers say that after behavioral problems in middle school and high school, they tried calling social workers, holding parent conferences, and sending him to counseling. "His behavior in class wasnt constantly wrong, but every once in a while, it was," a teacher who worked with Cruz in sixth grade tells the Washington Post. "He would just spew something out of his mouth that was inappropriate." She says teachers worked "very, very hard" to get Cruz into a school that helped emotionally disturbed youth. They eventually succeeded, but he ended up leaving the school for Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School, where he is accused of killing 17 people.

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"I was so uncomfortable around him, I did not want to be alone with him in my classroom," another teacher says. Teachers say Cruz's acting out included fighting, outbursts in class, and writing threats on his homework, including one saying former President Obama should be "burned alive and eaten." The Post notes that in 2013, Broward County began a program to fight the "school-to-prison pipeline" by using counseling and other measures instead of calling the police on students accused of infractions including assault. Local 10 has obtained video believed to be of Cruz fighting other students at Stoneman Douglas. He was reportedly suspended for two days after the September 2016 incident, one of five times he was disciplined before he was expelled. (Prosecutors say they haven't decided whether to seek the death penalty for the school shooting.)(Newser)  Facebook will soon rely on centuries-old technology to try to prevent foreign meddling in US elections: the post office. Baffled in 2016 by Russian agents who bought ads to sway the presidential campaign, Katie Harbath, Facebook's global politics and government outreach director, told a meeting of the National Association of Secretaries of State in Washington that the company would send postcards to potential buyers of political ads to confirm they reside in the US, the AP reports. The recipient would then have to enter a code in Facebook to continue buying the ad. The method will first apply to ads that name candidates ahead of the midterm elections in November, says Facebook spokesman Andy Stone.

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The plan was unveiled a day after special counsel Robert Mueller charged 13 Russians with interfering in the presidential election. Mueller's indictment described how Russian agents stole Social Security numbers and other information from real Americans and used them to create bank and PayPal accounts to buy online ads. Facebookwhich uncovered some 3,000 Russian-linked ads bought before and after the November 2016 electiondidn't say how the new method would prevent foreign agents from setting up local mailing addresses and hiring people in the US to check them. But Stone says the method is "one piece of a much larger effort to address foreign electoral influence on our platform." (President Trump says they're "laughing their asses off in Moscow.")(Newser)  Amid the grief and anger, stories of inspiration and heroism continue to emerge out of the Parkland school shooting last week, and a petition is now in place to honor one of the late students who helped his classmates escape to safety. The Sun Sentinel reports that the petition on the White House's "We the People" site is calling for a full-honors military funeral for 15-year-old Peter Wang, a Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps cadet who, while in JROTC uniform, was witnessed holding doors open as his classmates, teachers, and staff fled from the gunman's bullets. Peter was killed in the chaos. "Wang died a hero, and deserves to be treated as such, and deserves a full honors military burial," the petition states. The Sun Sentinel notes he'd wanted to attend West Point after graduating from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

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As of press time, the petition had about 22,000 signatures; it needs to reach 100,000 by March 18 to receive a response from the White House. The Sun Sentinel notes some attempting to sign were having trouble on the site. Meanwhile, Fox News reports that Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel paid a visit Sunday to yet another Parkland hero: 15-year-old Anthony Borges, who's recovering at a local hospital after being shot multiple times in the back and legs while protecting other students. Classmate Carlos Rodriguez tells ABC News that as he and about 20 students tried to get away from the gunfire by running into a classroom, Anthony went in last and made sure to lock the door, putting himself in the line of fire as he did so. None of his classmates in that room were injured. "He's my hero," dad Royer Borges says of his son, now said to be in stable condition after surgery. (Read more Parkland school shooting stories.)(Newser)  What began as an Ugly Sweater Party has turned into an international incident. The BBC reports Michael Rohana was attending such a party four days before Christmas at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia when he allegedly entered a room that was closed to guests but, per the Guardian, had an unlocked door. Inside were 10 of China's famed 8,000 terracotta warrior statues, on loan from China. Xinhua reports on the FBI's allegations: that the 24-year-old took a selfie with the statues, touched the left hand of one and seemed to break something off it, then left. On Jan. 8, museum staffers discovered the statue he was said to have touchedvalued at $4.5 millionwas missing a thumb.

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An investigation led to Rohana and his home in Bear, Del.; he allegedly confessed to having broken off the thumb and placed it in his desk drawer. An FBI affidavit states that a friend claims Rohana also Snapchatted a photo of the finger the day after the party, reports the Courier Post. China is incensed, with the head of the organization that loaned the statues to the US asking "that the US severely punish the perpetrator. We have lodged a serious protest with them." Two of the organization's members will travel to the US to see the damage first-hand and make the repair with the now-recovered thumb. China will seek monetary damages. Rohana has been charged with concealment of a major artwork and was released on bail after giving up his passport. (How was the Terracotta Army made? Ears reveal a clue.)(Newser)  A 71-year-old Louisiana inmate whose case led to a landmark Supreme Court decision on juvenile-offender sentences was denied parole on Monday, more than a half-century after he killed a sheriff's deputy at age 17. A three-member panel from the state parole board voted 2 to 1 to keep Henry Montgomery imprisoned, per the AP. The hearing was his first chance at freedom since his conviction decades ago. He now must wait another two years before he can request parole again. A vote to free him would have had to be unanimous. The Supreme Court's January 2016 decision in Montgomery's case opened the door for roughly 2,000 other juvenile offenders to argue for their release after receiving mandatory life-without-parole sentences.

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Montgomery has served 54 years in prison for fatally shooting East Baton Rouge Parish sheriff's deputy Charles Hurt in 1963. Montgomery initially was sentenced to death after a jury convicted him. After the Louisiana Supreme Court ruled he didn't get a fair trial and threw out his murder conviction in 1966, he was retried, found "guilty without capital punishment," and automatically sentenced to life without parole. In 2012, however, the US Supreme Court ruled that sentencing juvenile homicide offenders to life without the possibility of parole is unconstitutional "cruel and unusual" punishment. In January 2016, the justices made their decision retroactive, deciding in Montgomery v. Louisiana to extend its ban on such sentences to people already in prison.

(Read more juvenile crime stories.)(Newser)  Claudia Ackley is positive that she and her two daughters came across Bigfoot in a tree in southern California last year, but when she called different state authorities to report the sighting, she got the same response. Nope, they told her, you saw a bear. As a result, the 46-year-old has filed suit against the state for failing to recognize Sasquatch as a distinct species, reports the Press-Enterprise. In this case, you can judge for yourself: An ABC 30 report on Ackley's sighting includes phone video shot by her daughter near Lake Arrowhead in the San Bernardino mountains. (It was shot around dusk and is pretty dark.) Ackley filed her suit with documentary filmmaker Todd Standing, who made the Netflix film Discovering Bigfoot and who believes the sighting is legit. State officials won't comment on pending litigation.

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"He looked like a Neanderthal man with hair all over him," per Ackley, who says this is the second sure sighting of Bigfoot she has made. "He had solid black eyes. He had no expression on his face at all. He did not show his teeth. He just stared at the three of us." The three then safely walked away, she says. Among other things, the lawsuit says the state is endangering the public by not recognizing Bigfoot and calls on it to "'manage this wildlife species" and protect its habitat. You can read the lawsuit in full at Gizmodo, which says it makes "some valid and interesting points." In the meantime, Ackley is leaving fruit and snacks out, along with a voice-activated book that includes recordings of words like "fur" and "candy," and samples of each, in an attempt to communicate. (This man shot the most famous footage and says it nearly ruined him.)(Newser)  A Michigan convict who won accolades for his book of short stories may be forced to give up all he earned from his book deal. Curtis Dawkins' debut, The Graybar Hotel, was published in July by Scribner and details life behind bars in ways that have thrilled readers. Michigan's Department of Treasury is less enthused, however, and has filed a court complaint that asks that 90% of the convicted killer's reported $150,000 advance be given to the state as payment for the cost of his imprisonment. Michigan's attorney general reportedly filed the complaint, which states that Dawkins is not entitled to the money or to transfer any of it to his family, not long after his victim's brother complained publicly about the book deal, per the Guardian. Because he cannot afford an attorney, Dawkins is scheduled to defend himself in the case.

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Dawkins has in the past expressed remorse for the 2004 botched robbery that led to the murder of Thomas Bowman. The New York Times reports he intends to argue that the same law the attorney general says allows the state to keep the profits also stipulates that courts must consider a convict's obligation to provide for his children or spouse when deciding such cases. Michigan is one of some 40 states with laws on the books that allow the government to force inmates to pay for incarceration. According to the Times, Michigan collected $3.7 million from fewer than 300 of the state's 40,000 inmates. A hearing in Dawkins' case is scheduled for Feb. 26 in Kalamazoo. (Read more prisoner stories.)(Newser)  Former President Jimmy Carter said Monday he was "deathly afraid" as his 90-year-old wife underwent surgery over the weekend. Rosalynn Carter was recovering at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta after surgeons removed scar tissue from a portion of her small intestine early Sunday, per the AP. Meanwhile, her husband of 71 years kept his scheduled appearance Monday at a President's Day event at the Jimmy Carter National Historic Site in his hometown of Plains, Georgia. Carter addressed concerns about his wife's health and surgery in remarks to several hundred people attending the event. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Carter said his wife had suffered problems for years that appear to have been caused by scar tissue from an operation she had long ago.

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"Saturday night they operated and found the scar tissue from the old operation about 50 years ago had strangled almost 2 feet of her small intestine," Carter told the crowd. He said doctors "didn't give me a lot of hope" until the operation concluded hours later. "I was deathly afraid," Carter said. "I prayed for three hours." He said a doctor finally came to him about 5am Sunday and "told me she was going to be OK." The Carter Center said in a statement Sunday the surgery was successful. It said Rosalynn Carter was expected to remain hospitalized for several days as she rests and recovers. (Jimmy Carter has been battling brain cancer.)

(Read more Jimmy Carter stories.)Sorry!

This content is not available in your regionNew Delhi:

Veteran Telugu actor Gundu Hanumantha Rao breathed his last on Monday at his residence in Hyderabad. The actor was fondly known for his role in Amrutham and Pellaniki Premalekha Priyuraliki Subhalekha. He was 61.

According to a report in News Minute, the actor was suffering from kidney and heart-related ailments and was undergoing a treatment for the same. The Kalyanam actor is survived by his son.

It is being reported that his family was unable to bear the medical expenses and the state government and superstar Chiranjeevi stepped in to take care of the financial aspect.

Telugu actor and media personality Nani took to Twitter to express his grief and mourn the death of Hanumantha Rao.

Gundu Hanumanthrao gaaru is no more .. his Role in Amrutham was one of my fav .. RIP sir a Nani (@NameisNani) February 19, 2018

Telangana Chief MinisterA K. Chandrashekar Rao also expressed his condolences on the demise of the comedian.

Hon'ble Chief Minister Sri K. Chandrashekar Rao expressed his deep condolences on the demise of veteran comedian Sri Gundu Hanumantha Rao. a Telangana CMO (@TelanganaCMO) February 19, 2018

The evergreen actor had a star-studded career with over 600 Telugu movies and three Nandi TV Awards to his credit. Not many know that he was a well-known stage drama artist before he stepped foot in Telugu cinema.

According to reports, hisA final rites will take place at the Erragadda Burial Ground in Hyderabad'sA Sanjeeva Reddy Nagar.

Gundu Hanumantha Rao may have left for his heavenly abode but he will always remain in the hearts of the fans.A

For all the Latest Entertainment News, Bollywood News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

Bigg Boss has managed to entertain the fans not only in the Hindi speaking markets but in other areas as well. The popular reality show has become a thunderous success in West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

The Telugu and Tamil versions of the show were launched last year and they managed to set the TRP ratings on fire. Tamil superstar Kamal Haasan hosted the first season of BB Tamil while Young Tiger Junior NTR helmed Bigg Boss Telugu.

Fans are eagerly waiting for the second season of the popular reality show. However, this time around Junior NTR might not host Bigg Boss Telugu 2.

According to a report in Deccan Chronicle, the Rabhasa actor has opted out of the show due to other commitments. The Temper star is currently busy with two upcoming films and hence might not devote the required time for BB Telugu as per the report.

Rumours are also rife that the 'Jai Lava Kusa' actor and his wife Lakshmi Pranathi are expecting their second baby. The adorable couple has a three and a half years old boy named Abhay.

There have been a lot of speculations over the new host of the show. Grapevines are now buzzing with the rumours that another popular actor will step into the shoes of Junior NTR.

According to a report in Times Of India, Allu Arjun don the cap of the new host. The Arya actor was approached by the makers to host the first season of the show but he turned down the offer, as per the report.

We have to wait for sometime for an official confirmation on the same as the show is expected to commence in July this year.

For all the Latest Entertainment News, Bollywood News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

Popular small screenas actor Sumeet Raghavanas wife Chinmayee Surve had to come across a gross incident on Monday while she was out for some work in Mumbaias Vile Parle. Chinmayee is a popular name in the Marathi film circuit and also seen on aLaagi Tujhse Lagana.

A man sitting in a white BMW allegedly masturbated in front of Chinmayee and before she could react, he fled the spot. The incident comes into light days after a Delhi University student alleged that a middle age man did the same act on a crowded bus.

Taken aback by the incident, Sumeet took to social media to address the issue and ask Mumbai Police to act upon it. He shared the details and mentioned that his wife could note down only the last four digits of the vehicle.

A white BMW with last 4 digits 1985 needs to be traced. The driver wearing a grey safari who had parked near #ParleTilakSchool #VileParleEast started masturbating in front of my wife. Before she could slap him he escaped. She could note down just the last 4 digits@MumbaiPolice a Sumeet (@sumrag) February 19, 2018

Mumbai Police which is quite active on social media responded quickly.

We have followed you. Please DM your contact details. a Mumbai Police (@MumbaiPolice) February 19, 2018

Sumeet who is still remembered for his role as Sahil Sarabhai from the hit show aSarabhai vs Sarabhaia launched a complaint with the Mumbai Police and traffic police.

According to news agency ANI, the man who was alleged of masturbating in front of Chinmayee has been arrested by the police after her complaint. Sumeet also mentioned on Twitter that police officials caught the alleged in two hours after lodging the FIR.

#UPDATE: Driver who who was allegedly mastrubating in a car near residence of wife of actor Sumeet Raghavan arrested by police after an FIR was filed based on her complaint. #Mumbai a ANI (@ANI) February 19, 2018

The Badi Door Se Aaye Hain expressed his gratitude to Mumbai Police for their help. He also urged people to go to police officials if such things happen.

After lodging the F.I.R at 4.15pm,the cops have nabbed the bastard in 2 hrs flat.. Hats off @MumbaiPolice gratitude and respect. #VileParlePoliceStation and the concerned officers #Salute a

God forbid if at all such things happen,please go to the cops. Don't suffer. Speak up. a Sumeet (@sumrag) February 19, 2018

The aSajan Re Jhoot Mat Boloa actor was enraged with the entire incident and told Indian Express, aItas so shocking that miscreants are up for something so disgusting in broad daylight. I was at home when my wife called me frantically. Being responsible citizens, we reached out to the authorities, and filed an official complaint at the local police station and also the traffic departmentaa.Patna:

At least seven people were killed and 27 others have suffered serious injuries after the bus they were travelling in turned turtle at the outskirts of Patna on Monday evening.

Bihar Police said, the bus was booked by a family and all the boarded in the bus were part of a 'barati' (marriage procession). Around 40 people were in the bus, added police.

According to police the incident happened near Kandap village. The injured and killed were pulled out from the bus with help of locals, said added Bihar Police.

The officer further added that the injured have been rushed to a nearby hospital for medical attention.

Also read: Plane with 66 people on board crashes in Zargos mountains in Iran, all feared dead



According to police, the bus turned turtle after the driver of the bus lost control over the wheels.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

Billionaire diamantaire Nirav Modi, the prime accused in Indias biggest banking scam seems to be undeterred by all the ED and CBI raids at his stores in the country and fearlessly expanding his business abroad.

According to a report published in AajTak news website, Nirav Modi has opened two brand new stores in Malaysias Kuala Lumpur and Macau.

The Nirav Modi stores were opened in Kuala Lumpur and Macau on February 5 and February 9, respectively, days after CBI registered its first FIR.

So far, the investigation agency has not been able to trace Nirav Modi but some unconfirmed reports said he is hiding in New York.

However, the CBI has sought Interpol's help in locating Nirav Modi and another accused Mehul Choksi.

The passport of Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi has also been suspended for four weeks and External Affairs Ministry has asked them to reply why it should not be revoked.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is also conducting raids at several stores and offices of Nirav Modi and has recovered over Rs 5,000 crore.

Nirav Modi, his uncle Mehul Choksi are accused of defrauding Punjab National Bank to the tune of Rs 11,400 crore.

Both Congress and BJP are blaming each other for the PN Bank fraud, however, a CBI FIR says most of the loans were given to him in 2017.

Congress said Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi had links with Prime Minister Modi and claimed that Choksi was hosted by PM Modi at his official residence in 2015. The party also shared a picture of PM Modi along with Nirav Modi

The BJP, however, has rubbished Congress's charges and termed the photograph as a photo opportunity.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Monday that heterogeneous society is the new reality of the 21st century and the biggest challenge is to understand how differences can become a source of strength, "something that India and Canada have done fairly well".

Calling himself a "feminist", Trudeau also said "we as a society are underperforming" as women are not being given an opportunity to contribute to their full potential.

He was addressing students at the prestigious Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A).

"The new reality of the 21st century is going to be more and more heterogeneous community and society, and the biggest challenge we are going to have as species is doing something that India and Canada have done fairly well--that is to understand how differences can become a source of strength," he said.

Trudeau was responding to a question by a student during an interactive session. The student asked him as to how as a global leader he wished to take the world towards globalisation at a time when the global trend of nationalisation was increasing.

He said many societies were struggling to come to terms with integrating all sections of people which was resulting in them turning "inward to nationalism and protectionism".

Taking a variety of questions both from TV journalist Shereen Bhan as well as students, Trudeau defined himself as a feminist and emphasised the need to empower women to create a more successful society.

"I am a feminist. It is a word with certain connotation, loaded with meaning, but at the very root of it, it is very simple. If you think man and woman ought to be equal, and ought to have same opportunities, and if you recognise that there is still a lot of work to do to get there, you are also a feminist," he said.

Also read: Canadian PM Trudeau begins week-long India tour, visits Taj Mahal with Family



"Understanding that empowering women is not just the right or nice thing to do, but it's a smart thing to do, is extremely important. We are underperforming as a society, because we are not giving women the opportunity to contribute. We are not allowing them the opportunity to fulfil their full potential," he said.

When asked to comment on dynastic politics, given that his father Pierre Trudeau also served as the 15th prime minister of Canada, he said getting into politics was "not an automatic choice" for him.

"I had a certain level of advantages. People knew the values I was raised with in deciding whether to vote for me or not. But citizens are not fools, they can tell whether someone is genuine in their approach or not, but are trying to live up to some lofty, familial expectation. For me, all my life I focused on how best I can make the difference," he said.

On improving India-Canada bilateral trade ties, he said there is a "lot of room to grow," and emphasised the need to strengthen people to people ties between the two countries.

"Right now, Canada-India trade is about $8 billion a year, which is great. It is $2 billion in services. But we do $2 billion worth trade everyday with the USA, so there is a lot of room to grow," he said, adding that discussion on trade of agriculture products, particularly pulses, was on between the two countries.

He said the greatest potential in trade between the two countries is in people-to- people connection. Trudeau said 1,25,000 Indian students joined Canadian universities every year. India, he said, is number 2 source of students in Canada, but is going to be number 1.

Trudeau also talked about his government's policy to open its borders to refugees, and said that his government was investing significant amounts in integration, language acquisition and health care for them, which is contributing to the country's economy.

"Frankly, more countries need to do more in welcoming refugees, not because it is a right thing to do, but people who flee war and persecution, want better future for their children. They end up contributing tremendously for the country and society," he said.

He said Mahatma Gandhi was an inspiration for him among Indian leaders.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

The CBI has booked Kanpur-based businessman Vikram Kothari, his wife and son in connection with the alleged swindling of Rs 3,695 crore of loan funds advanced by a consortium of seven banks to his company Rotomac Global Pvt Limited.

The banking scam has surfaced in the backdrop of Rs 11,384 crore alleged fraud reported by Punjab National Bank, involving billionaire Nirav Modi and his uncle, Mehul Choksi.

Rotomac Global Pvt Limited was given bank loans worth Rs 2,919 crore from 2008 onwards by a consortium of banks led by Bank of India which have swelled to Rs 3,695, including the accrued interest, because of repeated defaults on payment, the officials said.

The principal exposure of the banks with regards to the loan is Bank of India Rs 754.77 crore, Bank of Baroda Rs 456.63 crore, Overseas Bank of India Rs 771.07 crore, Union Bank of India Rs 458.95 crore, Allahabad Bank Rs 330.68 crore, Bank of Maharashtra 49.82 crore and Oriental Bank of Commerce Rs 97.47 crore, they said.

The loans were being advanced to the company from 2008 onwards, the Bank of Baroda has alleged.

The case against Rotomac Global Pvt Limited, its directors Vikram Kothari, his wife Sadhana Kothari, and son Rahul Kothari and unidentified bank officials was filed on a complaint received from Bank of Baroda, they said.

Also Read: ED registers case against Rotomac Pens owner in Rs 800 Cr bank fraud case

The agency searched three locations in Kanpur, including Kothari's residence and office premises.

There have been no arrests in the case yet, CBI spokesperson Abhishek Dayal categorically said.

He said Kothari, his wife and his son were examined by the CBI, which is conducting the searches.

"The total outstanding amount of the members of consortium of banks has come to Rs 3,695 crore of bank loan which was siphoned off by the said company," Dayal said in a statement.

He said a residential apartment and office premises of the accused in Delhi have been sealed.

It is alleged that loans were being siphoned off by diverting them from the purpose for which they were taken.

The company adopted two different methods for diverting the funds--loans for exports were round tripped from abroad and loans taken for purchasing export goods were used domestically without executing any export order.

In a case, the company was given loan to export wheat to Singapore but it is alleged that Kothari transferred the money to a Singapore-based company Bargadia brothers which sent remittances back to the account of Rotomac Global without any export on ground.

In some other cases, money disbursed by the banks for procurement of goods to export was not utilized and no export order was executed by the company.

These are violations of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, misappropriation of funds and criminal breach of trust as the funds given by the banks for specific purposes should be used for the same.

Also Read: After Nirav Modi, Rotomac Pen's Rs 800 cr defaulter flees country

The banks have alleged most of the transaction of this company was with limited number of buyers, sellers, sister companies and subsidiary of the company with no genuine business activities.

It is also alleged that the company was using shell companies for carrying out this alleged round tripping operation and had also submitted fake and forged documents to "induce" banks to advance money to it.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

Acting swiftly on Rotomac Pens owner Vikram Kothari, who allegedly defrauded various public sector banks to the tune of Rs 800 crore, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday lodged an FIR against him.

The sleuths of central investigation agency were also conducted raids at Kotharis residence in Kanpur.

The raids were being carried out at two other locations linked with the promoter of Rotomac Pens.

The action was taken after Bank of Baroda had registered a complaint with CBI against Vikram Kothari. The agency was also questioning Kotharis wife and son.

from various public sector banks including Allahabad Bank, Bank of India and Union Bank of India

Kothari has taken a loan of more than Rs 800 crore from over five state-owned banks Allahabad Bank, Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Indian Overseas Bank and Union Bank of India.

He has allegedly not paid neither the interest nor the loans he has taken.

Also Read | Brushing aside CBI FIR, PNB scam accused Nirav Modi opened two new stores abroad



Last year, Bank of Baroda (BoB), a consortium partner declared pen manufacturer Rotomac Global Pvt Ltd as "wilful defaulter".

The matter came to light recently after the massive scam of Rs 11,000 was detected in Punjab National Bank.

Billionaire diamantaire Nirav Modi, his uncle Mehul Choksi allegedly defrauded the PNB Bank by making fraudulent transactions worth over Rs 11,000 crore through LoUs.

Here are the live updates on CBI raids at Rotomac Pens owner Vikram Kotharis residence:

# It was alleged in the complaint that in the Rotomac case, conspirators cheated a consortium of 7 banks by syphoning off bank loans to the tune of Rs 2919 crore (principal amount). This does not include the interest liabilities of these loans: CBI

# CBI registered a case against Rotomac Global Pvt Ltd, its Directors - Vikram Kothari, Sadhana Kothari, Rahul Kothari - and unknown bank officials on a complaint from Bank of Baroda.

# ED registers case against Rotomac Pens owner Vikram Kothari under PMLA

ED registers case against #RotomacPens owner Vikram Kothari under PMLA. pic.twitter.com/BaZjrID36S  ANI (@ANI) February 19, 2018

# Earlier on Sunday, Vikram Kothari spoke exclusively to News Nation and said, "the talks with banks are on, I am trying to resolve the issue with banks, I am in Kanpur and have not gone anywhere."

# Meanwhile in PNB Scam case, Punjab National Bank officials arrive at the office of Central Vigilance Commission, For more updates on PNB scam and Nirav Modi's whereabouts, CLICK HERE

# Earlier, there were reports coming in from a section of media that like Nirav Modi, Vikram Kothari has also fled the country, however, Kothari himself denied the reports and said he is very much in India.

# Latest visuals from Rotomac Pens owner Vikram Kothari residence as CBI raid is underway.

#UPDATE: Latest visuals from from Rotomac Pens owner #VikramKothari residence as CBI raid is underway. pic.twitter.com/6R0NBW6cKO  ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) February 19, 2018

# BREAKING: Central Bureau of Investigation has filed a case against Rotomac Pens owner Vikram Kothari and others.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.Bhopal:

A BJP leader was detained on Sunday night by Madhya Pradesh Police for allegedly trying to rape an acid survivour in a Bhopal hotel, police said on Monday.

The state BJP soon after learning the development suspended the leader from the party. The saffron partys state secretary Satyendra Bhushan Singh confirmed the development.

Rajendra Namdeo was detained on Sunday night and was questioned for alleged rape attempt on a acid victim survivour, police said.

The Madhya Pradesh government also issued an order to remove Namdeo from his current position as the vice president of the MP Silai Kadai Board. The position that gave him the status of a minister of state.

The MP Police further added that the FIR under relevant IPC sections was registered against Namdeo on Sunday night for allegedly molesting and rape attempt on the woman on December 11 last year.

The victim is a school teacher and came in contact with Namdeo after acid attack on her two years back.

Also read: Maharashtra Police arrests Nagpur man for raping 13-year-old daughter



Police said, The woman had told the police that Namdeo had called the victim to hotel room in Bhopal in pretext of providing financial aid from the chief minister.

The victim further told us that he tried to rape her and she had not lodged an immediate complaint as she was threatened of dire consequences by the Namdeo, added Police.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.Mysuru:

Escalating his attack on Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah over graft, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday new scams, corruption charges and fresh allegations were emerging under him "every day".

Taking the battle to Siddaramaiah's home turf at a rally here, Modi said he had earlier called his administration a "10 per cent commission government" but later came to know his information was not correct and that the cut the government got was much more.

In his second public rally in a fortnight in poll-bound Karnataka, Modi singled out corruption to attack Siddaramaiah and asked the gathering: "Do you want a commission government in Karnataka or mission government? Commission or mission?"

Recalling his Bengaluru remark that "it is a 10 per cent commission business," Modi said many people were angry with him, some even called him, some sent messages and others expressed their anguish. "They said my information was not correct. It was not 10 per cent, but more than that," he said.

"Every day, a new scam, new corruption, new allegation is being levelled against their one or the other leader, against one or the other minister or one or the other programme of the government, in one or the other part of Karnataka," Modi said.

He alleged central government funds under various schemes meant for the poor and middle class were not being properly utilised by the state.

Also Read: PM Modi Bengaluru rally Highlights: Says Congress 10 per cent sarkar, supports ease of doing murder

"Their priority is political squabble, keeping Delhi (Congress high command) happy, and send them whatever is needed to keep them happy. Their interest is only in it ...keeping their party bosses happy so that their seats are safe."

Contending that no state can function like this, he said, "They don't care about the people and their feelings... Such governments, such leadership and personality will never strengthen democratic system."

Taking a jibe at Siddaramaiah, Modi said "Mysuru is the land that spreads the message of social unity, Mysuru is the land of energy and youthfulness, Mysuru is a land that creates an atmosphere of harmony... but the person who was born from here should not have gone on the wrong path."

"He is associated with such people that whatever Mysuru taught him, he completely forgot on his way to Bengaluru, and is now taking entire Karnataka towards destruction."

Modi also hit out at the Congress for spreading "lies repeatedly" and asked the people to question its record.

"Ask those who come here, make speeches. For 50 years one family got an opportunity to rule. What is the reason that four crore families are still living the life of the 18 century?" he said, attacking the Congress.

"They don't even feel a bit of shame or sadness. They think by lying, by lying repeatedly, lying wherever they go, by lying loudly, by many people lying, not one or two days but for months on end, the people of this country will believe.

"You are talking from a wrong place; the country can never believe you, the country will never accept your lies. You will have to answer...." he said.

Also Read: Ahead of PM Modi's rally, pro-Kannada groups observe Black Day in Bengaluru

Modi said his government wants to take the country forward at a faster pace, but Congress governments, wherever they are, are working to stop the pace of the country. They work as "bumps", he said.

Modi said he has come to assure the people and see to it that the BJP government that would be formed in Karnataka would work with a mission. It would work towards changing the destiny of Karnataka, he said.

"The way the government is functioning in Karnataka, and political developments are going on, you know that bundles and bundles of notes were seized and they are not ashamed of it.

"Diaries and what all were entered in it...Karnataka needs to get rid of it or not? Those who destroyed Karnataka.." Modi said, apparently referring to the raids by Income Tax department on some ministers recently.

Modi also announced a six-lane 117 km Bengaluru-Mysuru national highway project at a cost of Rs 6,400 crore and a world class new satellite railway station at Mysuru at an investment of Rs 800 crore.

He dedicated to the nation an electrified railway line between Mysuru and Bengaluru and flagged off the Palace Queen Humsafar Express between Mysuru and Udaipur.

The train with only AC features connects five states in western India, according to South Western Railway.

The electrification of the railway line between Bengaluru and Mysuru, costing Rs 220 crore, is expected to benefit 25,000 passengers.

Also Read: PM Modi in Anand: Rajiv Gandhi showed you sickness, but I would do away with this illness

Assembly polls in Karnataka are due early this year.

The BJP is pulling out all stops to unseat the Congress and return to power for a second time after its 2008-2013 rule that saw squabbling among its leaders and change of chief ministers thrice.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

Karnataka Congress lawmakers son Mohammad Harris Nalapad, who was accused of beating up an injured man at a restaurant on Saturday, had surrendered at Bengalurus Cubbon Park Police Station on Monday morning.

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had ordered strict action against the Bengaluru legislator NA Harris son for thrashing a man because he placed his injured leg on the table. The state Congress President G Parameshwara said Nalapad, who is the leader of the Youth Congress in Bengaluru district, has been expelled from the party for six years.

The Congress lawmaker in Karnataka, NA Harris, father of the accused Mohammad Harris Nalapad, said, Whoever does wrong is wrong, be it the son of an MLA or anyone else. I have always advised my son to never do anything wrong. I will see that my son does not do anything like this again.

Harris Nalapad apparently was having dinner at a restaurant in the high scaled UB City mall where an injured man, named Vidwath, had placed his bandaged foot on the table of the restaurant. Nalapad asked him to remove his foot from the table and sit properly. Vidwath refused to do so which led to an argument between the two of them, and after that Nalapad and his friends started beating Vidwath, eyewitnesses said.

Vidwath was immediately rushed to the Mallya Hospital where Nalapad and his friends threatened him against filing an FIR or complaint.

Also Read: Karnataka Congress MLA's son suspended from party for assaulting youth

Historian Ramachandra Guha, a resident of Bengaluru, shred this news on his Twitter handle, demanding strict action against Nalapad, which sparked an uproar on the social media.

CM Siddaramaiah responded to Guhas tweet saying strict action will be taken against the accused. He tweeted, Offenders should be punished to the full extent of law regardless of who they are. No less, no more. Police will take action as per law and bring the guilty to book.

Offenders should be punished to the full extent of law regardless of who they are. No less, no more.@CPBlr will take action as per law and bring the guilty to book. https://t.co/H0Km8zauVz  Siddaramaiah (@siddaramaiah) February 18, 2018

On the other hand, the BJP government has not let go of any opportunity to attack Congress and accused Siddaramaiah of delaying action against Nalapad. Malvika Avinash, the BJP spokesperson, said, his young man is a repeat offender. He was involved in similar incidents in the past. Strict action must be taken against him.

Meanwhile, all this, Harris' lawyer, B Usman, claimed that the CCTV footage on behalf of which Harris was arrested, also had a BJP MP's son in it. He said, "MH Nalapad's arrest procedure is complete, he will be produced before a district court. Police say he has been named as accused on the basis of CCTV footage from pub, seen in CCTV footage is son of a BJP MP also but he has not been named as an accused."

MH Nalapad's arrest procedure is complete, he will be produced before a district court. Police say he has been named as accused on the basis of CCTV footage frm pub, seen in CCTV footage is son of a BJP MP also but he has not been named as an accused: B Usman, Nalapad's lawyer pic.twitter.com/MfVk6x3Ud6  ANI (@ANI) February 19, 2018

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.Nallasopara:

A 25-year-old man from Mumbais Nallasopara allegedly strangulated a woman, whom he had befriended on Facebook, with a shoelace at his residence after she denied having physical relationship with him, Maharashtra Police said on Monday.

The Mumbai Police has identified the accused as Haridas Nirgude,25, and the victim as Ankita More, 20.

The duo came in contact with each other via social networking site Facebook a few months back, said Mumbai Police.

According to local police, Nirgude had invited More to his residence in Nallasopara. The two went into an argument after the victim denied sexual favours to the accuses. Being denied of favours the Nirgude killed strangulated More with a shoelace.

Also read: Violent protests erupt over rape, murder of 8-yr-old girl in Pakistan



After murdering More, he threw her body in a nearby area. The accused has confessed to his crime, added police.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

The Naga Peoples Front (NPF) on Sunday announced that it is likely to withdraw its support from the coalition-led Meghalaya government after the Nagaland elections slated for February 27.

NPFs state president Marung Makunga said, We have decided to withdraw support from the coalition soon. The decision may be announced shortly after the Nagaland elections.

The NPF has four lawmakers, or cabinet ministers, in the 60-member Assembly, where the BJP has only 21 and dependant on other allies for its majority. Makunga asked during a press conference, During a public meeting, Chief Minister N. Biren Singh told the NPF members of the Autonomous District Council of Chandel district to join the BJP. Was it a mere joke or mocking our party or showing disrespect to our party?

Indications are that the High Court is likely to take a firm decision on March 13, when the petition against the appointment of 12 Parliamentary secretaries will be heard.

Also Read| Nagaland polls: BJP announces free trip to Jerusalem, Congress gives subsidies

State Congress president TN Haokip said that the eight Congress MLAs who has joined the BJP might have to return or face disqualification proceedings, for which the party has already submitted petitions to Governor Najma Heptulla and Speaker Y Khemchand.

Other NPF leaders said that the CM had announced that it would allot crore of rupees for the hilly districts as part of his slogan go to the hills, but nothing has been done after such announcements.

The decision by the NPF comes after the BJP had dropped the party from coalition and tied up with a newly-floated party for the state assembly polls.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday will kick-start the second round of BJPs election campaign for upcoming Karnataka assembly election.

During his visit to the poll-bound state, PM Modi will hold a rally and take part in various public meetings.

Earlier last night, Modi arrived in Mysore and received by Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. On Monday, he is scheduled to inaugurate the Bahubali General Hospital near Shravanabelagola, Hassan district.

Later in the day, he will hold a rally in Mysore which is also the home district of CM Siddaramaiah.

Most Read | Army Chief, NSA, FS visited Bhutan 2 weeks ago; discussed China, Doklam issue

PM Modi in Karnataka LIVE UPDATES:

# 4: 45 PM : India will enter 75 years of its Independence in 2022. We should work towards making a country which is just what our freedom fighters had dreamt of.

# 4: 44 PM: If Congress really feels about those things why didn't they do something when they were in power for the last 50 years.

# 4: 43 PM : Post-independence Congress was in power for 70-80% of the time. They are demanding facilities today which they should had provided during their tenure.

# 4:43 PM : Congress is dividing the society.

# 4:42 PM : Saints and seers from our land have always served society and made a positive difference

# 4:41 PM : It is our duty to provide good quality and affordable healthcare to the poor

# 04: 40 PM : To fulfill needs of the poorest of the poor, we need to strengthen our railway network. We are wroking to strengthen our railway networks from last four years.

# 4: 35 PM: Bengaluru-Mysuru National Highway will be widened be done with an investment of Rs 6400 Crore

PM Modi addresses BJP election rally at Maharaja Ground in Mysuru

#12:01 PM: Later in the day, PM Modi will also flag off Palace Queen Humsafar Express between Mysuru & Udaipur.

PM Narendra Modi to flag off Palace Queen Humsafar Express between Mysuru & Udaipur later today. pic.twitter.com/AwLO26pIcF  ANI (@ANI) February 19, 2018

#10:24 AM: Jain devotees throng Shravanabelagola to attend 'Mahamastakabhisheka' of Lord Bahubali in Karnataka's Hassan.

#10:20 AM: PM Modi will also take part in 'Mahamastakabhisheka' of Lord Bahubali, a nine-day event of the holy bath of the worlds tallest monolith started on February 7.

#10:00 AM: Hello and welcome to the news nation live updates on PM Modi's visit to Karnataka. This is PM Modi's second visit to poll-bound Karnataka in a fortnight. Today, the Prime Minister will take on CM Siddaramaiah in his own bastion and home district Mysore. Modi will address a rally in Mysore and will take part in several other public meetings.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

Four people, including the National Congress Party (NCP) candidate Jonathone N Sangma, have been killed in an IED blast in Meghalayas Garo Hills on late Sunday night.

The dead includes Sangma, his two bodyguards, and a supporter, were returning to Williamnagar, the district headquarters of East Garo Hills, after an election campaign in Sawilgre village, officials claimed.

District Magistrate Ramkumar S, said, Four bodies were found on the spot, including that of NCP candidate.

Meghalaya Chief Minister Mukul Sangma took to Twitter to share his condolences. He tweeted, Deeply saddened to hear about the unexpected loss of Jonathone Sangma. My heartfelt condolences to his near and dear ones. The blood of innocent spilled by the enemies of the state will not disturb peace in Meghalaya.

Deeply saddened to hear about the unexpected loss of Jonathone N Sangma. My heartfelt condolences to his near and dear ones. The blood of innocents spilled by the enemies of the State will not disturb the peace in Meghalaya.  Mukul Sangma (@mukulsangma) February 18, 2018

He also assured that the perpetrators will be brought into light and apprehended.

This desperate act will not be tolerated. The perpetrators of the crime will be apprehended expeditiously and brought to book.  Mukul Sangma (@mukulsangma) February 18, 2018

Vincent Pala, the working president of Meghalaya Congress Unit, and Member of Parliament (MP) representing Shillong in Lok Sabha, said, We strongly condemn the incident and we stand by Jonathone's family at this moment. These incidents shouldn't take place in a state like Meghalaya.

Also Read: BJP president Amit Shah to address election rallies in Meghalaya on Friday

The Meghalaya Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), in a serious concern, said, Our thoughts are with the near and dear ones of NCP candidate Shri Jonathone N Sangma and those traveling with him. The news comes as a serious concern on the eve of elections.

Terrorists are suspected to be behind planting the IED explosive device which killed Sangma and his associates.

Jonathone Sangma had received death threats during elections in 2013 and was given extra security based on the threat perception, said a police officer.

The Meghalaya Assembly elections, for the 60-member House in the state, are scheduled to be held on February 27.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday visited the Lilavati Hospital to enquire about Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikars health conditions.

Modi was in the hospital for 15 minutes in the evening. The Prime Minister was accompanied by Union Minister Nitin Gadkari and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. said a BJP source told PTI.

Earlier on Sunday, the doctors of the Lilavati hospital said Parrikar is responding well to the treatment. The hospital statement read, It has been brought to our notice (that) various malicious and misleading reports/rumours are floating around in the electronic/print media with regards to his health.

Modi visited Parrikar the same day when Goa Legislative Assembly Speaker, Pramod Sawant, met Governor Mridula Sinha in Panaji to discuss the situation over Parrikars ill-health. Meanwhile, the budget session of the Goa Assembly begins on Monday.

The Budget Session of the Goa Assembly has been curtailed to three days following the ill health of Parrikar, who is undergoing treatment at a Mumbais Lilavati hospital, said Deputy Speaker Michael Lobo. The state budget, which was scheduled for February 22, will now be presented on February 20.

Lobo said, The questions, which were supposed to be discussed in the current session, would be postponed to the next session. Minster Sudin Dhavalikar of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) will table the budget in Parrikars absence.

Also Read: As Parrikar unwell, Goa session to be curtailed to three days

BJP MP from South Goa, Narendra Sawaikar, said, On the advice of his doctors, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar will be continuing with the treatment for (the ailment of) pancreas in Mumbai. Expert doctors are taking a good care of him.

Opposition party Congress said it had no objection on the curtailment of the session. We have no objection if the Assembly is curtailed to three days as the chief minister is genuinely ill, said Leader of Opposition Chandrakant Kavlekar, who is also the member of Business Advisory Committee.

Parrikar underwent a check-up at the Goa Medical College Hospital on February 14, after he complained of stomach pains. On the morning of February 15, he was admitted to Mumbais Lilavati Hospital, where the doctors said he was suffering from mild pancreatitis.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

The Enforcement Directorate on Monday searched the Mumbai residence of diamond merchant Nirav Modi and seized assets worth Rs 5,716 crore as raids continued for the fifth day in connection with the agency's money laundering probe in the alleged Rs 11,400-crore Punjab National Bank fraud.



Official sources said ED sleuths searched Modi's flat in the Samudra Mahal apartments in Worli.

The central probe agency also conducted searches at 38 other locations in several cities, including Mumbai, Pune, Aurangabad, Thane, Kolkata, Delhi, Jammu, Lucknow, Bengaluru and Surat.

It seized fresh assets worth Rs 22 crore that include precious stones, cash and gold from the premises of Modi, his relative and business partner Mehul Choksi and others.

The agency has so far seized diamonds, gold jewellery and other precious stones worth Rs 5,716 crore in the case and summoned Modi and Choksi, the promoter of Gitanjali Gems, to appear before it on February 23 at its Mubai zonal office.

ED sources said the agency is also talking to senior PNB officials to ascertain how Letters of Understanding (LoUs) are issued and other bank operations done.

It also obtained information from the whistleblower in the case who had said he had raised flags against Choksis' loan in 2013.

"We are looking at securing the proceeds of crime. The ED will probe how much illicit wealth was created by the accused in the alleged fraud," a senior official said.

It has also sought PNB's audit reports since 2011 from the RBI, they said.

The sources said the ED was looking at collecting all financial documents -- personal and official -- of Modi, Choksi and their businesses to take the probe forward and attach properties in the coming days.

"A number of computer peripherals, hard drives and documents have been seized since the ED raids began on February 15. The seized items are being scrutinised," another official said.

Also read: After Nirav Modi, Rotomac Pen's Rs 800 cr defaulter flees country



ED Director Karnal Singh also flew down to Mumbai today to review the anti-money laundering investigations, which are being conducted by a special team of the agency.

The ED is also moving to attach at least two dozen immovable properties of Modi, Choksi and their concerns under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The ED and the Income Tax department have zeroed in on about 200 dummy or shell companies in India and abroad that were being used to route or receive funds as part of the alleged fraud.

It is suspected that the shell firms were being used by the accused to launder money and create benami assets in the form of land, gold and precious stones, which is now being probed by the tax department.

Also read: Where is the 'Chaukidar' who says 'na khaunga, na khane dunga'?: Rahul Gandhi's salvo at PM Modi on PNB scam



Modi, Choksi and others are being investigated by multiple probe agencies after it recently came to light, following a complaint by the PNB, that they allegedly cheated the nationalised bank to the tune of Rs 11,400 crore, with the purported involvement of a few employees of the bank.

The CBI and the ED have registered two FIRs each to probe the case.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

Security forces on Sunday night shot down an unidentified individual when he tried to enter the security zone of Budgam's Airforce station in Central Kashmir.

The intruder crossed the security fence and came close to perimeter wall. The sentry gave warning shots but when individual did not stop they fired at him.

A case has been registered and investigation has started in the matter.

Later, Air force Station authorities informed the Police post Humhama and the Station House Officer and Duty Officer immediately rushed to the spot

"Spot examination revealed that the individual of about 50-55 years of age who appears to be mentally challenged has died in the incident," the spokesman said.

Meanwhile. security forces foiled an attempt of Pakistan's Border Action team (BAT) along the Line of Control in Poonch in J-K. A suspicious movement was seen close to a forward post 100m towards Line of Control (LoC) . Troops open fired, 1 RPG was also fired towards the post .Three jawans sustained minor injuries, admitted to hospital. One body recovered with 4 RPGs.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.New Delhi:

A six-year old girl from Ireland, Cara OConnor, whose dream is to become an astronaut, wrote a letter to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) asking it to reclassify Pluto as a planet.

Pluto was downgraded from a planet to a dwarf planet in 2006 by the governing body of astronomy, the International Astronomical Union (IAU). This decision, apparently has not gone well with the six-year-old, and she wants NASA to fix the problem and make Pluto a planet again.

She wrote, I listened to a song and at the end of it the song said "Bring Pluto Back" -- and I would really like that to happen. Cara also wrote about Kuiper belt, the doughnut-shaped ring beyond Neptune where many dwarf planets are located.

Cara wrote, I really think Pluto should be a main planet again like Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus & Neptune, because in one video I watched called 'Let's go meet the planets,' Pluto was at the very end. She said that in another video, Pluto was put in trash cab and was scared by planet Earth.

Also Read: NASAs Opportunity rover completes 5000 days on Mars, celebrates by taking selfie

Cara continued, This was really mean, because no one or no planet or dwarf planets should be put in the trash can.

Soon enough, James Green, Director of NASAs Planetary Science Division, complimented on Caras interest in Pluto and wrote back, I agree with you that Pluto is really cool  in fact, who would have believed that Pluto has a heart? ... It's a fascinating world that appears to be constantly changing. To me, it's not so much about whether Pluto is a dwarf planet or not; it's that Pluto is a fascinating place that we need to continue to study. I hope that you will discover a new planet, and I trust that if you continue to do well in school we will see you at NASA one of these days.

For all the Latest Science News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.Laws that are being copied from abroad are often not justified in Armenia - Professor

Rector of Haybusak University of Armenia Anahit Harutyunyan has noticed more positive changes in the draft law "On Higher Education" rather than negative. According to her, one of the shortcomings in the draft is that higher education subjects (university, institute, academy, conservatory, etc.) are not described as in foreign countries. Professor Ruben Aghuzumtsyan believes that the best laws that are being copied from abroad are often not justified in Armenia as the Armenian essence is not taken into account. According to the professor, at all times Armenians have paid great attention to education, but many private universities have lowered the "value" of education. An approach has been developed that one can get higher education without learning. The professor also notes that in the current educational system the student depends on the lecturer, while there should be the opposite; the student should demand and the lecturer should perform. The university also depends on the student, as the latter pays the tuition. As for the professions, in his opinion, two professions, parent and lecturer are priority for us.Nation-Army propaganda: secret financing and violation of law

Within the framework of propaganda under the unwritten Nation-Army concept of the RA Ministry of Defense, billboards with the message Called and conscripted for one purpose have appeared in the streets of Yerevan. The study conducted by Union of Informed Citizens NGO has revealed that the sources of that propaganda are secret, and the installation of the billboards has been accompanied with illegalities. Unknown source of funding Based on the provisions of Article 51 of the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia and the Law on Freedom of Information, the Union of Informed Citizens tried to find out from the Ministry of Defense and Yerevan Municipality who the billboard client was and who funded their installation. As a result, it was revealed that the RA Ministry of Defense had turned to Yerevan Municipality to install the Called and conscripted for one purpose billboards on the eve of the 25th anniversary of the formation of the RA Armed Forces. According to the Ministry of Defense, the billboards were prepared and installed at the expense of non-state budgetary funds, with the help of individual donors funds. However, it was not possible to reveal who were the people who spent millions of AMD on the billboards. With violation of law Yerevan Municipality also informed that they considered the Called and conscripted for one purpose advertisement as a social ad in December 2016. In order to find out which department of the Yerevan Municipality was authorized to consider the ads as social, and when specifically they were regarded as social ads, the Union of Informed Citizens sent further inquiries to the Yerevan Municipality. In response to the inquiries sent, Head of External Design and Advertising Department of Yerevan Municipality provided the requested information in part, failing to inform when exactly their department considered the ads as social, and whether he made a relevant written decision. As a result, Union of Informed Citizens NGO registered two instances of violation of law: FIRST, Article 51 of the RA Constitution and RA Law on Freedom of Information has been violated as the required information has not been provided in full. As a result, our right to freedom of information has been violated, and Union of Informed Citizens has already filed a lawsuit in the Administrative Court to recover that right. SECOND, Article 13 of the RA Law on Advertising and requirements of Government Decree N 1244-N adopted on 24.11.2016 and enacted on 15.12.2016 have been violated. The latter regulates the order of recognizing an advertisement as a social ad. In response to our previous inquiries, Yerevan Municipality had responded that no special committee was formed to consider the status of the aforementioned ads. The Ministry of Defense turned to them, and the External Design and Advertising Department of Yerevan Municipality regarded them as social ads in December 2016. However, Article 13 of the RA Law on Advertising stipulates that the ad can be regarded as social only by the Yerevan Municipality committee formed for that specific purpose. Thus, the department of the municipality or its head does not have such authority. This means that violations of Article 13 of the RA Law on Advertising and requirements of RA Government Decree N 1244-N have taken place. Union of Informed CitizensA member of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Mr Fatai Oluwa, says any opposition party dreaming of producing the next governor in the state should forget it.He told journalists in Ikeja on Monday that there was no vacancy for the opposition parties to fill in Lagos House  the governors office  come 2019 election.Oluwa, representing Ajeromi-Ifelodun Constituency II in the state Assembly, spoke against the backdrop of declarations by opposition parties that they would wrestle power from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state in 2019.Only a person who does not reside in Lagos will think any opposition party can wrestle power from the APC in Lagos.Lagos remains a perfect example to other states in the area of growth and development and Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode is the governor every Lagosians is proud of, and wants more.So, opposition parties should focus their dreams on other states and just leave Lagos for APC in 2019.It is unthinkable for members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Action Democratic Party (ADP) or others to win election in Lagos now, especially with giant strides of Gov. Ambode in all sectors.Sincerely, any politician or party that wants to contest with Ambode in 2019 will be wasting energy and resources, Oluwa said.The lawmaker, who commended Ambode for socio-economic strides in the state, said he was proud that the governor did not borrow to fund development projects in 2017.According to him, the state has witnessed massive progress in terms of infrastructure  the roads, the bridges, the health facilities and others.Everyone is aware that Gov. Ambode has been able to shore up the internally generated revenue of the state.Ambode has made a lot of efforts; we wont allow one small party from anywhere to come and squander the progress of the state. It is not possible, he said.Oluwa, however, noted that no feat would have been achieved without the efforts of the legislative arm.He said that several private member bills had been passed by the House and signed into law by Ambode.The much celebrated Lagos State Neighbourhood Safety Corps bill that created Neighbourhood Safety Corps (NSC) was initiated by the Speaker of the House, Rt Hon. Mudashiru Obasa.A lot of Lagosians have been employed through some of these bills passed by the House, he said.Newsmen report that Oluwa is one of the seven lawmakers that defected from the PDP to APC in 2017.President Muhammadu Buhari says Nigeria is in need of sacrifices by all citizens so as to be freed from corruption.

President Muhammadu Buhari says Nigeria is in need of sacrifices by all citizens so as to be freed from corruption.





Garba Shehu, presidential spokesman, quoted Buhari as saying this ata meeting with Katsina senior citizens, in Daura, his hometown, on Sunday.





Shehu said the president called on all Nigerians to be prepared to make sacrifices as a foundation for national growth and development.





He added that there are occasions when citizens must pay the ultimate price for the progress and unity of the nation.





The Nigeria of our time is in need of sacrifices by all citizens to free it from corruption, poverty, crime and underdevelopment, he was qouted to have said.





The president also commended the Katsina stakeholders for complementing his administrations efforts at national development.





He assured Nigerians that the security of lives and property would continue to receive priority attention.





Aminu Masari, governor of Katsina state, said the elders visited Buhari to condole with him on the death of two members of his extended family.



Sundays ruling marks the end of the appeal process, which Al-Wefaq filed in a bid to challenge its dissolution and the seizure of its assets.



(AhlulBayt News Agency) - Bahrains Cassation Court has upheld the dissolution of the countrys leading opposition movement, the Al-Wefaq National Islamic Society.



Sundays ruling marks the end of the appeal process, which Al-Wefaq filed in a bid to challenge its dissolution and the seizure of its assets.



The group was dissolved in July 2016 over a long list of allegations including the supposed harboring of terrorism.



The ruling, which was also upheld by the appeals court later that same year, drew condemnation from the United Nations, international rights groups as well as Manamas allies in Washington and London.



Amnesty International described it as a flagrant attack on freedom of expression and association and a brazen attempt to suppress criticism of the government in Bahrain.



Al-Wefaq was the largest group in parliament before its lawmakers resigned en masse in protest at the bloody crackdown on anti-regime protesters in 2011, which left over 100 dead.







/257President Muhammadu Buhari has called on all Nigerians, particularly the elite, to be prepared to make sacrifices as a foundation for national growth and development.He said in the life of a nation, there are occasions when citizens must forgo personal pleasures or pay the ultimate price for the progress and unity of the nation.According to a statement on Monday by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, the President spoke at a meeting he had on Sunday in Daura with Katsina Senior Citizens.The Nigeria of our time is in need of sacrifices by all citizens to free it from corruption, poverty, crime and underdevelopment, Shehu qouted the President as telling members of the forum led by the Katsina State Governor, Aminu Masari.While commending members of the forum for complementing his administrations efforts at national development, the President assured them that the security of lives, property and prosperity of all Nigerians will continue to receive priority attention.In his remarks, Masari said the delegation was in the Presidents country home to condole with him on the death of two members of his extended family.The governor also extended the forums commiseration with the President over the recent auto-accident involving his son, Yusuf, and thanked God for his survival and subsequent discharge from the hospital.The Emir of Daura, Alhaji Umar Faruk, the Galadima of Katsina and retired former President of Court of Appeal, Justice Mamman Nasir were among those who attended the meeting.Meanwhile, the Emir of Maradun in Zamfara, Alhaji Garba Tambari, who also paid a condolence visit to the President pledged the unflinching support of the traditional institution to Federal government policies and programmes geared toward improving the welfare of Nigerians.Former President, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), John Cardinal Onaiyekan, has said so far the administration of President Muhamma...

Former President, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), John Cardinal Onaiyekan, has said so far the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has spent so much time and energy demonising its predecessor that it seems to have forgotten its promise of a better life for Nigerians.

His views were conveyed in a Homily at the opening plenary of the four-day annual conference of Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), currently holding at the St. Gabriel Chaplaincy, Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria, Abuja.





The theme of the conference is: Entrepreneurship Awareness: What the Church Can Do.





Onaiyekan said: Our present government came into power three years ago with a promise to change Nigeria for the better in all aspects. So far, government has spent so much time and energy demonising its predecessor that it seems to have forgotten its promise of a better life for Nigerians.





It has unfortunately allowed the initial massive goodwill it enjoyed to be depleted almost to non-existence. Having tried our two major political parties and found none of them up to our expectation, the nation is on the verge of despair.





Another election is fast approaching, we must seize this God-given opportunity to radically change things around. We should no longer allow politics to remain business as usual in the hands of the same gang of speculators and opportunists.



President of the Senate, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, on Monday, commended 25 state assemblies for voting on the Constitution Amendment passed by the National Assembly in 2017.Saraki took to his social media accounts to express his excitement that 25 out of 36 states had voted on the Constitution Review amendments.The Senate President stated that the passage of the amendments by the 25 States was a testament to the fact that with the right vision and follow-through, we can achieve ANYTHING as a nationHe also said that the process was a pointer that politicians from various walks of life and various parties can still come together to get things done.I am excited about the news that 25 out of 36 States have voted on the #ConstitutionReview amendments that the 8th National Assembly passed in 2017.In 2015, when we first started the ambitious process to review the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, we never could have imagined the level of support and participation that we would get from all of you  everyday Nigerians, members of the civil society, and political actors across the country.This is why the passage of the #ConstitutionReview amendments in 25 States across the country, is a pat on the back of legislators at both the Federal and State levels  because it shows that with the right vision and follow-through, we can achieve ANYTHING as a nation.Make no mistake, this is another #PromiseKept by the 8th National Assembly, and it further demonstrates that despite our differences politicians from various walks of life and various parties can still come together to get things done.Moving forward, I cannot wait to receive the #ConstitutionReview documents at the National Assembly, so that we can move forward with the process of getting them assented and cemented in the laws of our great Federal Republic.Now that both the Nigerian Senate and the House of Representatives have set up a Joint Committee to review the #ConstitutionReview amendments that did not scale through initially, we are encouraged with the level of collaboration that we have already seen from the State Assemblies throughout this process.I am very encouraged for the next phase of this process.Well done to the Members of our State Assemblies! the Senate President said.An activist and public affairs commentator in Adamawa, Alhaji Suleiman Baba-Jada has urged Nigerians to render more support to the efforts of President Muhammadu Buhari to tackle corruption and other challenges facing the nation.Baba-Jada told Newsmen in an interview on Monday in Yola that what Buhari needed to address the various challenges was support from Nigerians not insults and unwarranted criticisms.The president needs support instead of inciting criticisms mostly from those who are perceived as corrupt people with cases to answer in EFCC.The whole thing looks more like corruption is fighting back, and that is the more reason why Nigerians must stand up and support the president.The situation we have now with many people with corrupt cases occupying elected positions means that definitely the fight against corruption wont be that easy for the president, Baba-Jada said.According to him, the inciting criticisms are meant to distract the president.He warned that such people risk the wrath of the silent majority that are yearning for an end to the menace of corruption and other acts of criminality in the country.Baba-Jada backed the setting up of special courts to try corruption cases, saying it would eliminate the delay being experienced in dispensing of such cases, a situation which has been denting the image of the country.I also want to declare my support for Magu, the EFCC boss, who I believe has good intention and commitment to deliver in his job.The septuagenarian, who spoke on hate speech, cautioned journalists against being used by unpatriotic politicians and ethnic champions to heat up the polity.We are seeing how politicians who lost out in elections or were not given appointment are using the media to insult their perceived enemies in the name of freedom of expression.The media need to be careful from being used to create problems by such politicians and ethnic champions.We are seeing how such politicians who used to be close to Buhari are now attacking everything thing he does in an attempt to settle personal scores just, because they were not given appointments or carried along.Some of them have access to the president but they rather chose to get to him using the media in a combative and derogatory language, Baba-Jada said.He also urged Buhari to change his approach to issues by being more firm and decisive to prove wrong the impression being given by his traducers that he is being controlled by a cabal.Emir of Kano, His Highness Muhammadu Sanusi II, on Monday in Kano condemned in the strongest terms the usage of hate speech in the soci...

Emir of Kano, His Highness Muhammadu Sanusi II, on Monday in Kano condemned in the strongest terms the usage of hate speech in the social media calling on relevant authorities to checkmate the menace before it drags the country into anarchy.The Emir who spoke through the District Head of Rogo, Alhaji Muhammad Muhammad Muaraz noted that, political leadership across board must arise and fight against the usage of hate speech.He added that Nigeria is on the path to anarchy, owing to reckless use of hate speeches on social media platforms.The monarch stated this in his remarks during the opening session of the 2nd NUJ National Conference Kano 2018 with the theme, Hate Speech: Halting the Tide before It Is Too Late.He lamented that, indiscriminate use of words that are provocative posses the danger of leading the country towards anarchy.Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN), has condemned the delay in prosecuting over 100 suspects arrested in connection with the killings...

Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN), has condemned the delay in prosecuting over 100 suspects arrested in connection with the killings in Benue State, fearing that the suspects might eventually escape justice.





Falana has also asked the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) to investigate the refusal of state attorneys-general to prosecute murder suspects due to political pressure or sheer negligence of duty.





In a letter he addressed to the NBA President, Mr. Abubakar Mahmoud (SAN), Falana feared that the suspects might be released from custody, noting that they have not been charged with culpable homicide in the appropriate courts by the state government.





The activist regretted that the NBA had failed to monitor the prosecution of the scores of murder suspects arrested by the police or indicted by the judicial and administrative panels of inquiry set up by federal and state governments to probe violent civil disturbances in the country.

He said: Between 1999 and 2007, an official squad was fingered in the unlawful elimination of not less than 70 people in Gombe State. The murder charges filed against the suspects by the police were struck out by the courts at the instance of the state government.





The late Alhaji Umar Hassan who demanded for the prosecution of the culprits was charged with giving false information to the police by the State government!





The members of an official squad, which killed some politicians and students in Ekiti State from 2003-2006 were arrested and charged with murder at the High Court, sitting at Ado Ekiti. A retired army captain and his police orderly who killed the students were convicted and jailed.





But both convicts were, however, granted pardon by the state governor in 2009. As if that was not enough, the murder charges pending against the other murder suspects were struck out by the trial court in 2014 for want of diligent prosecution on the part of the state government.





The Ahmed Lemu Presidential Panel, which investigated the post-election violence in 12 northern states and Akwa Ibom State in April 2011 found that 856 people were killed. In the White Paper issued on the report the Federal Government directed that the culprits be prosecuted but the directive was not carried out by the states where the killings occurred.





The National Human Rights Commission under the leadership of Prof. Chidi Odinkalu found that 55 people were killed in the pre-election violence, which occurred in Rivers State in 2015. The culprits were never prosecuted by the state government. Since then over 100 other citizens have been killed by armed gangs.





The Justice Garba Commission of Inquiry, which investigated the violent attack on the Shiites by the Nigerian Army in December 12-14, 2015 found that 347 people were killed and secretly buried in a shallow grave by the murderers.





In the white paper issued on the report of the commission, the state government directed that the suspects be prosecuted. But the Attorney-General of Kaduna state has refused to prosecute the murder suspects.





Falana noted that in December 2016, the National Management Emergency Agency (NEMA) confirmed the killing of 204 people in Southern Kaduna, lamenting that the murder suspects had not been prosecuted till date.





He argued that since culpable homicide or murder is a state offence you will agree with us that the attorneys-general of all the states in the country have failed to discharge their duties under section 205 of the Constitution.



Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday warned that Israel could act against Iran.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday warned that Israel could act against Iran.

He said this in reaction to border incidents in Syria which brought the Middle East foes closer to direct confrontation.





In his first address to the annual Munich Security Conference, which draws security and defence officials and diplomats from across Europe and the United States, Netanyahu held up an image of what he said was an Iranian drone that flew into Israeli airspace this month.





Israel will not allow the regime to put a noose of terror around our neck, he stated.





We will act if necessary not just against Irans proxies but against Iran itself.





During a chat with journalists, Netanyahu said: The fact that we have this newfound relationship with the Arab countries; something that I would not have imagined in my lifetime. This is not what they call a spin.





This is real, its deep, its broad: it doesnt necessarily cross the threshold of a formal peace, and I doubt that would happen until we get some formal progress with the Palestinians  so the two are linked.





Reacting, Irans Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, called Netanyahus presentation a cartoonish circus, which does not even deserve a response.





What has happened in the past several days is the so-called invincibility (of Israel) has crumbled, Zarif, said while addressing a news conference after Netanyahus remarks.



The Nigerian Police Force in a statement signed by the force PRO, Jimoh Moshood confirms the arrest of 3 Pincipal suspects in the recent m...

The Nigerian Police Force in a statement signed by the force PRO, Jimoh Moshood confirms the arrest of 3 Pincipal suspects in the recent massacre in Zamfara that left scores of people dead.





The suspects have been identified as:





i. Halilu Garba (Alias Mabushi) M 45 yrs





ii. Zubairu Marafa (Alias Wakili) M 45yrs





iii. Nafiu Badamasi (Alias Zakiru) M 40yrs





According to the statement, 'the above mentioned three (3) principal suspects have been arrested by the Nigeria Police Force for participating in the recent Zamfara Killings.



The Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign state of Biafra, MASSOB, Monday described former Olusegun Obasanjos dealings with Ndigbo as hypocritical and a camouflage with a bad intention to keep Ndigbo marginalized in the country.In a statement issued in Abakaliki, the leader of MASSOB, Comrade Uchenna Madu further blasted the former president for claiming to be a saint who upholds only the truth.Obasanjo who visited former president Jonathan claimed the biblical injunction that declared that only truth shall set a person free, but he, Obasanjo is a pathological liar, betrayer and deceiver. Olusegun Obasanjo is sadists with an unforgiving spirit who always derived joy in satanism.Today, Nigeria is unworkable and unfixed because  people like Obasanjo and his fellow cabals holds the country down for their selfish purposes and interest. Obasanjo knows the truth about Nigerias faulty foundation which was schemed to subject Igboman to political, economical, academical, religious, cultural and social slavery, a scheme that will forever subject Ndigbo to second class citizens in Nigeria.Obasanjo is fully aware of the unholy connivance of the Hausa Fulani and Yorubas conducted, supervised and stamped by the British colonial masters against the people of Biafra mostly the Igbos.Obasanjo knows the truth that General Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu was right in all his activities that involved Biafra, he knows the truth that Ndigbo were schemed out of political reality in Nigeria, Obasanjo knows this truth that he hates Biafra and her people, his dealings with Ndigbo are all camouflaged and hypocritical.Olusegun Obasanjo openly without shame proved his pathological hatred and sadisms on Ndigbo when Eze Igbo Gburugburu died, Obasanjo did not attend the burial of Dim Chums he ska Odumegwu Ojukwu which was a national burial, he did not send condolence.He always sees Ojukwu as his enemy even in death, whosoever that hates Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu (Eze Igbo Gburugburu) hates Ndigbo, such a person can never be a friend to the people of Biafra, Ndigbo can never enter into alliance with such a hater.Again, Olusegun Obasanjo did not attend the burial of Dr Alex Ekwueme, former vice president of Nigeria, his absence during the week long national burial of most distinguished national leader again proved his pathological hatred on Ndigbo. Obasanjo hates everything concerning Ndigbo.MASSOB employs former president Olusegun Obasanjo to tell the world the truth he preached in Otuoke when he visited former president Jonathan Goodluck. Obasanjo should tell the world the truth why Ndigbo should be relegated to the background of Nigeria polity? Why must academical system of Nigeria hanged on imbalances, why must there be different JAMB cut off marks for different regions in Nigeria?Why must experienced graduates of Eastern region does not secure jobs in Nigeria but the inexperienced northern push push graduates are easily securing jobs? Obasanjo should tell the world why Oba of Lagos threatened to kill all Igbos residing in Lagos if they will not vote for his political party?Olusegun Obasanjo must tell us the truth why he openly campaigned against former president Jonathan Goodluck, while supporting Mohammed Buhari in 2015, he must tell us the truth why he is against the national burial accorded to General Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu by president Jonathan Goodluck administration?MASSOB will continue to expose the evils against the people of Biafra during the Nigeria Biafra war of genocide including all atrocities against the people of eastern region during his administration as both military and civilian president.Former Abia governor, Dr Orji Kalu has called on the National Leader of the All Progressive Congress ( APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, to accelerate efforts toward reconciling aggrieved members of the ruling party.Kalu made the call on Sunday night while speaking with newsmen at the Murtala Mohammed Airport, Lagos.He said the task given by President Muhammadu Buhari to Tinubu was very apt because there was an urgent need to reconcile feuding members of the party.According to him, the situation whereby a serving governor and a minister who belong to APC are engaged in bickering at a time concerted efforts are needed to return the party to victory in 2019 is not good.Kalu said: I have reported this to the highest authority of the party that it is not proper for a governor and minister in Ibadan to go two parallel ways.It is not to the benefit of the president and neither is it to the benefit of the party, it is not the benefit of Nigerians; the synergy needed to accelerate cohesion in the ruling party will not be there.We need to thank Mr President in his wisdom in giving the mandate to the national leader of APC the opportunity to reconcile members of the party.I am very excited that such a thing is happening. I am confident it will be a good beginning for my brother and friend, Tinubu to execute the reconciliation task very well.I am confident Tinubu will be blunt to settle feuding members of the APC.He noted that Buhari had the constitutional right to seek for re-election, adding that the only reason the president might not run in 2019 would be solely on health grounds.According to him, Buhari is an honest man and will let Nigerians know whether he will contest or not at the appropriate time.Buhari is an honest man. If he is interested in running, he will tell Nigerians that he will run. We pray that his health gets better and that his doctors give him a clean bill of health.You know Buhari is also a man of conscience; if he feels his health will not allow him to seek re-election he will not go ahead, but if he feels he is capable of running, he will seek re-election.It is his decision, it his right, he is entitled to second term, he said.The ex-governor, who commended the president for the ongoing construction of the Second Niger Bridge, stressed that he had done well in his first term and there was also room for improvement.Kalu also asserted that Buhari would win the 2019 election if he decides to run with or without the support of the Northern elite because he had a huge following by the masses.If the elite refuse to support Buhari, the masses will support Buhari. The elite are few in number, the people that will support Buhari are the masses, who sincerely believe in Buhari.They are people who not know any other thing other than Buhari. By my assumption, If President Buhari had 12.5 million supporters in the last general election; there is an additional 10 million supporters in the bank.That is what we call reserve, it is still there, he said.Sheikh Salman, who is already serving a 4-year prison term, was charged with spying for the state of Qatar last November.



(AhlulBayt News Agency) - The trial of jailed Bahraini opposition leader Sheikh Ali Salman was adjourned for a sixth consecutive time on Monday. The Manama court scheduled the next hearing for March 1.



Sheikh Salman, who is already serving a 4-year prison term, was charged with spying for the state of Qatar last November.



The charges in the case stem from his contacts with Qatari officials, who acted as mediators during a 2011 US-GCC initiative aimed at resolving Bahrains political crisis.



The allegations have been widely discredited after it emerged that Bahrains monarch preapproved Sheikh Salmans interactions with the Qataris.



Meanwhile, those who took part in the 2011 initiative allege that the evidence against the opposition leader has been doctored.



Sheikh Salman was initially jailed in December 2014 and later charged with inciting hatred against the regime.



The United Nations and international rights groups have dismissed the charges as politically motivated, calling for Sheikh Salmans immediate and unconditional release.







/257Presidential Advisory Committee on Anti-Corruption, PACAC, has threatened to bring before the National Judicial Commission, NJC, any judge who ignores the provisions of Administration of Criminal Justice Act, ACJA.Chairman of the committee, Prof. Itse Sagay, SAN, who issued the threat, yesterday, also said the committee would train young lawyers, journalists and members of civil society groups to monitor cases in courts across the country.Sagay said Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Justice Walter Onnoghen, did well by directing that in all the court systems, special courts should be created for corruption cases.He, however, regretted that the CJN made a mistake by appointing Senior Advocates of Nigeria as monitors.He said: These are the people who are defending looters and people who have corruption cases before the courts. You cannot be the hunter and the hunted.President Muhammadu Buhari says Nigeria is open to investments and ready to provide leadership for Africa in oil and gas.The President said this in Abuja on Monday while declaring open the first-ever Nigeria International Petroleum Summit (NIPS).He added that the summit, designed to be Africas largest and most important platform and linkage to the world, was fashioned after the annual Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) where technological breakthroughs were unveiled.He noted that NIPS is also designed after the OTC in Houston to deepen, enrich and provide leadership for Africa and make it one of the most important annual oil and gas events globally.It is aimed at engendering potentially-economic benefits, generate employment and expand businesses in Nigeria and Africa.This summit will afford Nigeria a unique opportunity to showcase to the international community policy direction and efforts of government in the petroleum sector.This is especially in the new oil and gas exploration and markets, new measures to sanitise the sector, the expansion of investment opportunities to boost investors confidence, technological advancement and Nigerias content development.Nigeria is open to private investment in the downstream sector and pursuing vigorously a programme for the rehabilitation of existing refineries so as to enhance capacity to supply locally-refined petroleum products in Nigeria and West Africa.The President said this was a key component of the national petroleum industry roadmap and the 2017 to 2020 Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) of the present administration.He said since the launch of the petroleum industry roadmap and ERGP, numerous successes had been recorded, especially in getting Nigeria out of recession and sustained increase in foreign reserves.We will continue to strive to achieve our target of seven per cent GDP growth rate within the next three years and be rest assured that previous efforts will be sustained.Our effort in stakeholder engagement and stabilising the Niger Delta will continue to receive due attention to ensure sustainable level of production, Buhari added.On ease of doing business, the President said he would continue to ensure that efforts in the petroleum sector and issues related to transparency, efficiency, enabling business environment and deploying new policies and regulations were enforced so that investors will always feel at ease.Corruption in this industry must not be allowed in any form. On our part, we will not stop the fight until a new image is created where transparency will be the watchword in all our transactions.Our emphasis on gas investment is for cleaner economy that is gas-based in alignment with the Paris climate change agreement.The agenda for this summit portrays opportunities for all, hence we should do more than just talk about it, we should also act on the resolutions from here.The maiden NIPS is a five-day event and has stakeholders from the oil and gas sector and from parts of Africa in attendance.A threat made by a Mahwah student four months ago "to shoot up" a middle school on a specific date in February has caused a community uproar about notification policies after the superintendent sent out an alert Friday.

Councilman James Wysocki said some parents received a vague alert about the threat in October, but a district-wide message was not sent until after the shooting in Parkland, Florida last week that claimed 17 lives.

"To my understanding, something was sent out in October, but not a majority of parents or school kids got it," Wysocki said. "We are supposed to be in charge of a town. If the tragedy in Florida didn't happen, would we have been advised of it?"

Mahwah schools Superintendent C. Lauren Schoen sent a message to parents Friday saying that a student made a threat in October about Ramapo Ridge Middle School and specified a date of Feb. 23.

The threat was reported at the time to the Mahwah police and officers conducted an investigation that included meeting with the student and the student's parents several times, Schoen said.

The superintendent sent out another statement to parents on Saturday apologizing for the timing of the announcement after parents and local officials complained about the gap between the incident and the notification, according to Wysocki.

Mayor Bill Laforet released a statement Saturday saying "I am greatly troubled that neither the Township Council or myself were ever apprised of the threat made by an eighth-grade student several months ago concerning a Township school facility."

Laforet asked the Mahwah police chief to assign a uniformed, armed patrol officer to each township school.

"Our residents deserve better," Laforet said.

Press Release from the Office of Mayor William Laforet February 17, 2018 As the Mayor of the Mahwah Township, I am... Posted by Bill Laforet on Saturday, February 17, 2018

Schoen said in Friday's letter to parents that Mahwah police will have officers present in the school "throughout the entire day" on Friday, the date of the threat made in October.

The student was removed from the school for the remainder of the school year, Schoen said.

District officials didn't immediately respond to a message from NJ Advance Media seeking additional information on Monday, when schools are closed for Presidents Day.

Alexis Johnson may be reached at ajohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @alexisjreports. Find her on Facebook.No one was injured Sunday night when a Newark police sergeant fired his gun at a suspect, though few details about the circumstances were provided, authorities said.

The incident took place around 8:30 p.m. near Broadway and Crane Street, police said.

The suspect fled in a black Acura TL with a temporary tag, according to Capt. Derek Glenn. It was last seen traveling south on Broadway possibly in the direction of the Bridge Street bridge toward Harrison and East Newark, he added.

The Acura might be a 2004-2008 model, police said.

The shooting remains under investigation.

Jeff Goldman may be reached at jeff_goldman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JeffSGoldman. Find NJ.com on Facebook.JERSEY CITY  When Hurricane Maria brought devastating damage to Puerto Rico in September, Jersey City residents were quick to offer any assistance they could.

A countless number of donated supplies were shipped from the Department of Public Works building on Linden Avenue to the island and some are still waiting to be delivered. But with a series of devastating fires in Jersey City, those supplies are now helping local residents.

On Friday afternoon, 30 families recently displaced by fires in Jersey City this year were invited to pick up food and other necessities from the donations stash.

"It's important to take care of people in need both abroad for natural disasters and here at home during unfortunate situations," said Councilman Danny Rivera, who has organized the initiatives.

Two serious fires in recent weeks forced dozens from their homes on the south side of the city alone.

On Jan. 31, a raging four-alarm fire ripped through a home on Grant Avenue, critically injuring one man found in the basement. The fire displaced 20 people from multiple families.

Four days later a fire damaged two homes on Myrtle Avenue. Crews spent hours making sure the fire was completely extinguished.

Caitlin Mota may be reached at cmota@jjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter @caitlin_mota. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.JERSEY CITY  As Jersey City's police department reels from the guilty pleas of 11 people who have admitted taking corrupt payments related to off-duty jobs, a former cop says in a new lawsuit that he was ostracized and eventually fired after reporting an illegal off-duty detail 10 years ago.

Juan Luis Ramos, 44, alleges in the seven-count lawsuit, filed in December in Hudson County Superior Court, that because he was "accused of being a rat," he was reprimanded and ostracized over the course a decade, targeted with at least two internal affairs probes and eventually fired in 2016.

Ramos' lawyer, Lou Zayas, called the atmosphere inside the police department a "Serpico-like situation," referring to Frank Serpico, the New York cop who exposed widespread corruption inside the NYPD starting in the 1960s.

"The allegations make clear that there's a culture of silence within the police department that discourages police officers from reporting misconduct by other police officers," Zayas told The Jersey Journal.

Ramos also alleges he was the victim of racial discrimination, mocked for his obesity and improperly declared unfit for duty before he was fired. He says the city violated his civil rights and New Jersey laws against discrimination.

The city declined to comment on the ongoing litigation.

The nearly dozen officers implicated in the off-duty jobs scam have admitted to accepting money for off-duty details they didn't work; taking bribes to approve phony timesheets; and accepting money directly from vendors seeking off-duty cops to work as private security (the vendors are required to go through the city). One of the 11 is Phil Zacche, who was the police chief from 2014 until June.

Ramos says in the lawsuit that after he was hired in 2007, he complained to his supervisor, a police lieutenant, about "the legality of a police detail at a construction site." The lieutenant responded by reprimanding him, ignoring the complaint and accusing Ramos of recording their conversation "to provide to an outside law enforcement agency," the lawsuit says.

A claim circulated that Ramos secretly recorded other cops, the lawsuit says, culminating in a 2014 internal affairs investigation "designed to intimidate and threaten Officer Ramos from reporting police officers engaged in criminal activities or other wrongdoing."

At the time he was hired, Ramos was extremely obese, leading to ridicule from fellow cops, according to his lawsuit. Even after a weight-loss surgery, he alleges, other officers mocked him for not shedding pounds "the hard way."

It was in early 2015, Ramos says, that he was targeted with a "retaliatory internal affairs investigation" after he posted selfies of himself in uniform on Facebook. He was accused of violating the police department's social media policy and required to undergo an examination to determine his fitness for duty, the lawsuit says.

A doctor from a firm that does business with the city diagnosed him with "Histrionic Personality Disorder with narcissistic personality features" and deemed him unfit for duty, according to the lawsuit. Ramos says other doctors declared he was fit for duty, but the city suspended him anyway and then in June 2016 terminated him.

Ramos told The Jersey Journal his abrupt firing left him struggling to support himself.

"It's been extremely difficult on my mother, that's why she was crying every night," he said. "It's been extremely difficult for my sister, diffcult on my son. My kid used to look up to me."

Terrence T. McDonald may be reached at tmcdonald@jjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @terrencemcd. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez spoke at a Sunday service at the New Hope Missionary Baptist Church Sunday, telling the congregation that overcame challenges to achieve success.

The service, at 472 Bergen Avenue, also featured a dance performance and a rousing performance from the church choir.

Menendez, whose 2017 corruption trial ended in a hung jury and eventual dismissal of the charges, also spoke of the high number of African-Americans who are incarcerated.

Check out the photo gallery of the service by Jersey Journal photographer Mike Dempsey.A New Jersey rabbi was among 30 men who had sex with a teenage girl forced into prostitution by a New York City man and woman who face charges of human trafficking, authorities said.

Gabriella Colon, 18, and Richard Ortiz, 23, both of Bronx, New York, were arrested at a motel in Fort Lee on Friday and charged with 11 counts of human trafficking as well as child pornography offenses, the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office said in a statement.

Aryeh Goodman, 35, of East Brunswick

Aryeh Goodman, who runs a religious learning center out of his East Brunswick home, paid to have sex with the 17-year-old girl at a hotel in the township, authorities said.

Goodman, 35, turned himself in five days later. He was charged with engaging in prostitution with a child and endangering the welfare of a child. Goodman has previously served time in prison for indecent assault on a child under the age of 13 in Pennsylvania.

Prosecutors said Colon and Ortiz coerced the 17-year-old Lancaster, Pennsylvania girl into having sex with the men between Jan. 1 and Feb. 2 at a hotel in East Brunswick. Other charges against them include criminal restraint, promoting prostitution and endangering the welfare of a child.

They are being held at the Middlesex County jail in North Brunswick.

Authorities didn't name the hotel.

Goodman, was sentenced in Pike County, Pennsylvania in October 2015 to 11 to 23 months in prison after pleading guilty to two counts of indecent assault of a person less than 13 years of age, according to court records.

When Goodman was arrested in January 2013, he was charged with 12 counts of indecent assault of a person less than 13 years of age. The remaining charges were dismissed as part of his guilty plea.

The assaults occurred in June 2001 when Goodman was a counselor at Camp Manachem in Pennsylvania. At the time of his arrest in that case, Goodman was the director of Chabad of East Brunswick, which focused on educating children.

The investigation into the current case is continuing. Anyone with information is asked to call Det. Chris Farrace or Det. Dan Unkel of the East Brunswick police at 732-390-6900, or Det. Mark Morris of the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office at 732-745-4194.

Jeff Goldman may be reached at jeff_goldman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JeffSGoldman. Find NJ.com on Facebook.The mass shooting at a Florida high school that left 17 people dead has sparked calls for walkouts, sit-ins and other actions on school campuses across the United States aimed at pushing lawmakers to pass tougher gun laws.

Organizers behind the Women's March, an anti-Trump and female empowerment protest, called for a 17-minute walkout on March 14 to "protest Congress' inaction to do more than tweet thoughts and prayers in response to the gun violence plaguing our schools and neighborhoods."

The Network for Public Education, an advocacy organization for public schools, meanwhile, announced a "national day of action" on April 20, the anniversary of the 1999 shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado, in which two students opened fire on their classmates, killing 12 students and one teacher.

The organization is encouraging teachers and students to organize sit-ins, walkouts, marches and any other events to protest gun violence in schools.

"The politicians sit on their hands as our children and their teachers are murdered in their schools," Diane Ravitch, the group's president, and Carol Burris, its executive director, said in a post online.

The protest plans circulated widely on social media on Saturday, signaling that the outcry for new gun legislation may not fade away as it has after other recent mass shootings. Many of those shootings, including the deaths of 20 first-graders and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut in 2012, led to a push for new gun laws, but those efforts stalled in Congress.

"We need to make this moment a movement and to actually make changes that need to happen in this country so that these kinds of weapons, AR-15s, are not in the hands of people who shouldn't have them," said Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, a union representing teachers and other educators.

Weingarten said she was part of the discussions about the April 20 protest. What gives the Florida shooting more potential to spark change, she said, is that the students themselves got angry really quickly and demanded it.

Teenage survivors of Wednesday's shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School have become advocates for gun control, sparring with gun-rights activists on social media and calling for safer gun laws at vigils and in television interviews.

Thousands of angry students, parents and residents demanded stricter gun control laws on Saturday at a rally in Fort Lauderdale, which is about 20 miles from the site of the shooting in Parkland.

Some people in online posts called for a Civil Rights-era style boycott of schools until gun laws are changed. David Berliner, a professor of education at Arizona State University who also participated in the plans for the April 20 protest, said he would support such a boycott. He recalled watching a television news report about Wednesday's shooting at an airport.

"I'm crying, and I'm watching all the people all around me crying, and I just said, 'This has got to stop,'" he said.

Clare Schexnyder, a mother of a middle-school student in Decatur, Georgia, said she wants moms to take their kids out of school for a day to make a statement.

She said a private Facebook page she launched announcing a meeting of her Stop School Shootings group after the Florida shooting attracted more than 7,000 followers overnight.

Her protest is planned for March 14.

"President Trump talked about the American carnage in the United States. This is the American carnage," she said.

___

Associated Press writer Michael Warren in Atlanta contributed to this report.A group of students led a rally against gun violence Monday on the steps of the Ocean County Library in Toms River.

The rally was led by students from the Toms River School District and was attended by parents, Congressional candidates and concerned citizens alike.

Zach Dougherty, a 16-year-old junior, said he decided to hold the rally after speaking with David Hogg, a survivor of a school shooting last week in Parkland, Florida.

The shooting claimed the lives of 17 people, including 15 students. The names of those victims were read aloud at the start of the Toms River rally.

Nikolas Cruz, a former student who was armed with an AR-15 rifle, was arrested and charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder.

The mass shooting has sparked calls for walkouts, sit-ins and other actions on school campuses across the United States aimed at pushing lawmakers to pass tougher gun laws.

Dougherty said he decided to hold the rally after Hogg told him the best thing to do was to immediately take action.

"Don't wait for this conversation to be over," Dougherty said Hogg told him. "Start now. It has to be students to start it. And I made that promise."

Dougherty and other students speaking at the rally said it was time students get involved in the conversation about stricter gun laws.

"No one up here is trying to take away the Second Amendment," Dougherty said. "That's not what we're saying. We're saying, 'Why can't we be smart.' It's not right, it's not appropriate and we need to work together to solve it."

Dougherty said students should be more concerned with academics and not having to worry about reporting suspicious characters in school or confronting scenarios about what to do if a mass shooting were to happen in school.

"That shouldn't be our biggest concern," he said. "Students have to take the wheel of the issue. Congress is doing nothing."

Also attending the rally were Joshua Welle and Jim Keady, two Democrats looking to unseat longtime New Jersey Congressman Chris Smith, R-Dist. 4.

"On behalf of every adult in America, I'm sorry," Keady told the students in attendance. "We have failed."

Keady, a former Asbury Park councilman who said he attended many funerals of shooting victims in the city, said adults have watched elected officials do nothing since the Columbine school shooting in 1999.

"It is time that we as adults, as elected officials, as people running for office, step aside and amplify the voices of our young people and say enough is enough," Keady said. "We need common sense gun control now."

Theresa Turner, the Monmouth-Ocean leader for Moms Demand Action For Gun Sense in America, said involving students in the discussion about gun-control legislation will help bring about change.

"You are going to be the force for real change in our country," she said.

Students who are above the age of 13 can get involved by texting the word "student" to 64433, Tuner said.

She said the best way for people ages 18 and older to make a difference is by voting for "candidate who promises to keep you safe."

"If someone is in office who has done nothing to solve this problem, vote them out!" Turner said, calling out Rep. Tom MacArthur, R-Dist. 3. After she said MacArthur's name, the crowd responded with boos.

In a statement, MacArthur said he met with law enforcement officials, a social worker, a local gun control advocate and an NRA member Monday to "discuss solutions to make our communities safer."

"I came away inspired that we can effectuate change if we come together, drop the rhetoric and name-calling, and stop participating in the politics of division," he said. "I vow to do my part to honor those whose lives have been stolen by gun violence and will continue to work with leaders in our community to make sure we are all doing what we can to keep our children safe."

Turner said students who are not of voting age can get involved by having conversations with their parents and family members about how important the issue of gun control is to them.

"You may think you have no power, but I promise you, you are being heard loud and clear," she said. "And you will ultimately bring about change in our country."

The event was live-streamed by some news agencies, including the Asbury Park Press.

This is a rally for gun control at the Ocean County Library's Toms River branch, happening now. Posted by The Asbury Park Press on Monday, February 19, 2018

Editor's Note: This story has been updated to include a statement from Rep. Tom MacArthur, R-Dist. 3.

Alex Napoliello may be reached at anapoliello@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @alexnapoNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.Pir Aijaz Ahmed Hashmi, president of Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan (JUP), a Sunni party, has urged the Pakistan government to stay away from Saudi war on Yemen and suggested that Saudi monarchy should also not interfere into internal affairs of other countries.

(AhlulBayt News Agency) - Pir Aijaz Ahmed Hashmi, president of Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan (JUP), a Sunni party, has urged the Pakistan government to stay away from Saudi war on Yemen and suggested that Saudi monarchy should also not interfere into internal affairs of other countries.



Speaking at a gathering in Lahore, he said that the Saudi Arabia should have mediated between squabbling factions in Yemen instead of becoming part of a war on Yemen. He said that Saudi monarchy should put their own house in order and refrain from takfiri fatwas against Muslims and grant more religious freedoms.



Hashmi said that Pakistan government should remain impartial in the intra-Muslims disputes and play a mediating role instead of taking sides.



Sunni party leader lamented that historical archeological sites of Islam are being razed in Saudi Arabia.



He said that Saudi monarchy should not impose their sectarian ideology on other Muslims and respect the sanctity of scared places of Islam such as Jannat ul Baqi in Medina, Jannatul Maala in Makkah, tree planted by Prophet of Islam, house of Hazrat Halima Saadia, and other mosques and shrines, etc.









/129Since November, 76 Louisiana inmates who were released early as a result of the state's criminal justice overhaul have been re-arrested, according to a report in the Shreveport Times.

According to the Times, the offenders were arrested on charges including bank fraud, parole violations, aggravated assault and armed robbery.

Gov. John Bel Edwards' office told the Shreveport Times that "the vast majority" of the 1,900 offenders released on Nov. 1 are "living up to the terms and conditions of their release."

The state's criminal justice overhaul focused mainly on shortening sentences for nonviolent offenders, but some changes made as many as 200 people serving life sentences for murder immediately eligible for parole.

Three of the released inmates' arrests occurred in the state Department of Corrections' New Orleans district, one was in the Jefferson Parish district and three were in the Covington district, according to data the Louisiana Department of Corrections provided to The Shreveport Times.

Baton Rouge had the highest number of re-arrested inmates with 13.

Read the full report here.New Orleans police have arrested a suspect in a weekend shooting near the intersection of Magazine and St. Joseph streets.

Richard Thomas, 28, surrendered and was arrested Monday (Feb. 19) in connection with the Warehouse District shooting, according to the New Orleans Police Department. Thomas was booked with aggravated battery and with a parole violation, Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office records show.

New Orleans police said the 26-year-old victim in the shooting was driving in the 800 block of Magazine Street around 3:20 p.m. Saturday when he pulled over and got out of the car.

A passenger in the vehicle told police he heard gunshots, then got out of the car to find the driver with more than one gunshot wound. The passenger told police he saw two men run from the scene.

Police publicly named Thomas on Sunday as a suspect.

According to arrest documents, surveillance video from the scene captured images of Thomas and another man during the shooting, in addition to the victim. The video shows the victim getting out of a car near the intersection of Magazine and St. Joseph Streets. When the car stopped in front of the two men, Thomas can be seen taking a handgun out of his waistband and holding it at his side, according to the documents.

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Video shows the victim running at the two men, but he immediately fell to the ground, arrest documents state. As soon as he fell, the other two men ran away.

Police released images of both men Sunday, calling them "persons of interests." NOPD confirmed Wednesday Thomas was pictured in the images wearing a white t-shirt. As of Wednesday afternoon, police had not located the other man, and according to NOPD spokesman Aaron Looney, he is still wanted for questioning.

Thomas was booked into Orleans Justice Center jail Monday and he appeared in court the next day, where Orleans Parish Magistrate Judge Harry Cantrell set his bond for $75,000, according to online court records. Attorney information was not immediately available.

Court records show Thomas pleaded guilty in 2013 to possession of heroin, and was placed on four years' probation. He was arrested on a probation violation later that year, and was sentenced to four years in prison, according to court records.

Reporter Marie Simoneaux contributed to this story.There are increasing calls for stricter gun laws after last week's mass shooting at a Florida high school left 17 dead. President Donald Trump has said he would support a previously submitted measure to improve background checks of gun buyers.

Whether members of Congress have supported or opposed past proposals involving guns is the focus of an NPR report, which breaks down the votes by each state's delegation. It tracks votes going back to the Brady Bill, which was approved in 1993 and established a five-day waiting period for gun purchases and required background checks.

The most recent vote is on last year's measure that peeled off some Obama-era restrictions that had added some people with mental afflictions to the background check list.

Members of Louisiana's congressional delegation have had few opportunities to weigh in on gun measures given their lack of seniority. Its most experienced member, Rep. Steve Scalise, R-Jefferson, has held office since 2008 and in that time has considered just three gun bills, two of them dealing with the reciprocity of concealed-carry permits across state lines.

Although Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge, took office just three years ago, he has actually cast more votes on gun proposals than any other member of the Louisiana delegation. He has twice voted against proposals to require background checks for purchases at gun shows and online, and he opposed a ban on gun sales to persons on terrorist watch lists. Cassidy also voted last year to remove the mental health restrictions.

Members of Congress have yet to propose any new legislation since former student Nikolas Cruz, armed with an AR-15 assault rifle, opened fired Feb. 14 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

Read the complete NPR report to see how the rest of Louisiana's delegation and lawmakers from other states have voted on gun bills.The Leader of the Islamic Revolution added, Due to the existence of such a reality, the enemies animosity is toward to the Iranian nation and it is not the case that the Americans are antagonistic only toward this humble one or a few administrative officials, because all of the actions that arouses their anger and rage are the deeds of the Iranian nation.

(AhlulBayt News Agency) - In a fervent meeting with thousands of religious and revolutionary people from Tabriz, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei described the nations deep and revolutionary understanding in drawing a distinction between revolution and the establishment and the performance of various institutions and organizations as one of the main reasons for the different and admirable presence of the people in the nationwide rallies on February 11 this year and made important remarks on the four areas of Revolution and its main function, the pathology of the Revolution, the priorities of the current era and the future of the Revolution.



At the beginning of this meeting, Ayatollah Khamenei pointed to the coincidence of these days with the martyrdom anniversary of Fatimah az-Zahra, the daughter of the Prophet Muhammad, saying the lofty status of the great lady as the most outstanding heavenly women is agreed upon by all of the Muslims, whether Shias or Sunnis. He added, The lesson of the lady of both worlds for all of the Muslims is bravery, sacrifice and epistemology.



Continuing, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution described the uprising of the people on February 18, 1978 as fateful and history-making and reiterated, Had it not been for this massive uprising, the incident of December 22, 1978 (the deadly anti-monarchy protests in the city of Qom) would have been consigned to oblivion and the countrys historical course would have changed; therefore, with their correct uprising and understanding and timely action, the people of Tabriz succeeded in bringing about a huge movement and that movement culminated in February 11, 1979 and the victory of the Islamic Revolution.



He then pointed to the different and fervid rallies of the people on February 11 this year and said, Such a popular presence in defense of the Revolution on the verge of the 40th anniversary of the Revolution is like a miracle and there is no precedent for it in any of the revolutions of the world.



Leader of the Islamic Revolution said the reason for the motivated turnout of the people in the rallies this year was the emergence of various hostilities at home and abroad, including by the US and some of the degenerate and disloyal neighbors and added, Indeed, the people are critical of some of the current issues of the country and we are fully aware of their criticism, complaints and grievances and but when there is talk of the Revolution and the establishment, the people will come to the scene in the defense of the Revolution like such.



He said the wise presence of the people was due to the revolutionary awareness and political maturity among the nation and their ability in distinguishing between the revolutionary establishment of the Ummah (community) and Imamate (leadership) and the bureaucratic organizations of the country and said, An individual may be critical not only of the administration and the judicial branch of the government and Majlis, but also of this humble one; however, criticism is by no means at odds with standing up for the Islamic and revolutionary establishment emanating from the perseverance of the nation and the sacrifice of hundreds of thousands of martyrs and, therefore, the people will defend this Revolution with all their might.



Continuing, Ayatollah Khamenei pointed to the outstanding and revolutionary features of the people of Tabriz and described the meeting as the best opportunity to state some basic issues regarding the functions of the Revolution, the pathology of the Revolution, priorities, and ultimately the future of the Islamic Revolution.



Pointing to the greatness and the unfathomable dimensions of the Islamic Revolution and the plentiful efforts of the enemies to dismiss its services and applications, he described the most important mission of the Islamic Revolution as transforming a tyrannical system into a democratic establishment and added, Democracy means the people are the principle in everything.



The Leader of the Islamic Revolution said elections and the peoples vote in directly or indirectly determining the Leader, the president and other officials as only part of the democracy and said, Democracy means granting the people [the right] to express opinion, have initiatives and make decisions in all of the affairs of life and this is precisely the opposite of the people being nobodies and the absolute brutality of monarchs and tyrants in successive years prior to the Revolution.



He recalled that foreign dominance and influence compounded internal tyranny in the second half of the Qajar era and the Americans became in charge of everything in the Pahlavi era, adding, Democracy does not allow for foreign dominance and tyranny and as well as fundamental changes in the political management of the country, its effect is manifest in urban and rural services and the restoration of the spirit to carry out great deeds such as the formation of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, Constructions Jihad and Basij [volunteer forces].



Ayatollah Khamenei pointed to the profound effects of democracy in nurturing popular talents and cited one example in the health sector, saying, In the tyrannical era (prior to the 1979 Revolution) the country was so inept in terms human resources that Indian and Philippine physicians came to the country to provide medical treatment; however, today, Iran is the attractive health hub in the region and is among the top few countries in some rare and newly-emerging sciences and this is the result of democracy and confidence in the people and the revival of the national sense of self-confidence.



He cited the grandeur, honor and greatness of the Iranian nation as another function of the Islamic Revolution, saying, Today, one of the regional countries, despite selling 10 million barrels of oil per day and having a full treasury at its disposal, is an underdeveloped country and there is not word or news of its nation in the world; however, because of religious democracy, the Iranian people are outstanding and propellers of the Revolution in the general outlook on the country.



The Leader of the Islamic Revolution added, Due to the existence of such a reality, the enemies animosity is toward to the Iranian nation and it is not the case that the Americans are antagonistic only toward this humble one or a few administrative officials, because all of the actions that arouses their anger and rage are the deeds of the Iranian nation.



He described the progress of the country as an outcome of religious democracy and pointed to the designation the third decade of the Revolution as the decade of progress and justice, reiterating, Progress has been made in various sectors in the real sense of the word; however, we admit that in the area of justice we are lagging behind.



Ayatollah Khamenei pointed to the need to apologize to God and the people for falling behind in the area of justice, adding, God willing, with the endeavors of the officials and efficient and faithful men and women, we will advance in this sector as well.



The Leader of the Islamic Revolution added, Progress means that a nation advances to the front ranks through reliance on its decision, resolve and capacity and this reality is palpable in Iran.



Ayatollah Khamenei said the Islamic Republic has an influence and say in region issues and recalled Irans advances in the medical, nuclear, nanotechnology, biotechnology, defense and transportation routes, reiterating, If we attach greater importance to our youth, they are ready take off and ascend due to the intensity of their talents and initiatives; however, we, officials, have some shortcomings in this area and more effort and struggle is needed.



The Leader of the Islamic Revolution added, The enemies of Iran are cognizant of the advances of the past four decades, but the nations are not fully aware of these advances, because we are weak, slack and lacking initiatives in promotional activities and we have to make up for this.



In this same regard, he urged the officials to recount the assorted advances of the country in a practical and artistic fashion and not with exaggeration and merely through verbal report so that some of the unaware who unwittingly voice doubt in these issues understand the realities.



Wrapping up this part of his speech, Ayatollah Khamenei added, The Revolution delivered the country from misery and the nation from a state of abjection and servitude and the nation today is proudly and honorably busy influencing all affairs and this is the biggest achievement of the Revolution.



The second segment of the important remarks of Ayatollah Khamenei was dedicated to the pathology of the Revolution.



He said the biggest blight of all revolutions is reactionarism, namely growing feeble, stopping and returning to a prior state, and stressed, Nearly all of the known revolutions of the world have suffered from this predicament in their early years.



The Leader of the Islamic Revolution described as unique the persistence and endurance of the main slogans of the Revolution over the past four decades but cautioned, Some dangers expose the Revolution to harm.



He described moving toward aristocracy, counting on the affluent classes instead of attending to the underprivileged and the fragile strata and reliance upon and confiding in foreigners instead of the people as examples of reactionary movement and stressed, The elite of the society must pay attention, the countrys managers must be very careful and the people must sensitively monitor the conduct of we, officials and managers, so that such reactionary moves do not occur in the country.



Ayatollah Khamenei said formerly revolutionary people holding office but a shift in the course and route of the Revolution is tantamount to reactionarism and reiterated, The Revolution did not occur for some to exit and us to enter; but revolution means transformation, course change and movement toward lofty goals and if these objectives are forgotten, revolutions are meaningless.



He described the Islamic Revolution in 1979 as the beginning of change and reformative movement in the society and added, The Revolution did not conclude but commenced in 1979 and this movement must continue more deeply, widely and wisely.



Ayatollah Khamenei criticized those who have a negative perception of the term revolutionary, adding, The countrys management system and the principles of the Constitution must be respected and no one should assume that revolutions are possible without an establishment.



He stressed, It is wrong that some assume that in the name of the Revolution there should be a critical and remonstrative rhetoric against everything and every development and part of the Islamic establishment, because Revolution means that the Islamic establishment, religious democracy and the Ummah and Imamate establishment must have revolutionary goals and alignment.



The Leader of the Islamic Revolution expressed satisfaction with the currency of Revolution and Revolutionarism among the people and the presence of numerous genuinely revolutionary managers, added, By the grace of God, the Islamic Revolution has so far been far from a tyrannical view toward the people and it will continue to keep this distance henceforth with the sensitivity of the people and officials.



Ayatollah Khamenei concluded this part of his speech with these important and decisive remarks: The officials aristocracy and privilege-seeking, carelessness vis-a-vis public funds, and disregard for the poor classes are anti-Revolution moves and all of the organizations of the Establishment should move toward the goals of the Revolution with this outlook.



In the third part of his speech while outlining the current priorities of the country, Ayatollah Khamenei described the issue of economy as very important.



He cited reliance upon the internal capacities and the people as the fundamental solution to economic woes, adding, As we have repeatedly said and the officials have also approved its policies, Resistance Economy does not mean confinement to inside [the country], but is endogenous and extroverted; therefore, they should not say that we want to have ties with the world, because global links are existent in Resistance Economy, but trust and reliance must be put on the people not foreigners.



He said the employment of domestic talents, capacities and assets requires prudence and added, The prosperity of domestic economy requires good exports, no-more-than-required imports, attraction of foreign investment, but the reins and initiative must be in the hands of local mangers and not handed over to foreigners.



He described the economic earthquake and the extraordinarily severe blow over the past decade to some advanced countries in East Asia as a great lesson and added, This blow that plunged these countries into poverty and misery overnight was the result of dependence on foreign investment.



The Leader of the Islamic Revolution pointed to the countrys lack of profit from dependence on and confidence in foreign countries on the issue of the nuclear deal, named the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and the nuclear negotiations, adding, We saw the result of reliance on foreigners on the issue of the JCPOA and in the case of nuclear talks we trusted them but reaped no benefits; indeed, the officials have faced this issue very well and the foreign minister [Mohammad Javad Zarif] , which must be thanked, has a very good and strong approach toward the malignancy of the Americans and the Europeans running with the hare and hunting with the hounds and this path must continue.



The Leader of the Islamic Revolution said, We must make use of foreigners, but they should not be relied and trusted, because they will take control of the countrys destiny through various means and all of the officials must have this important issue at the center of their attention.



He likened forty years of struggle by the nation during sanctions and pressure to moving on a rugged course and added, Nevertheless, we have progressed and this reality shows the capability of the nation and country.

Outlining the other priorities of the current era, the Leader of the Revolution underscored the preference of Jihadi (diligent and prudent) management over bureaucracy and added, The executive and judicial branches of the government and all of the sectors must follow through their mission with Jihadi management, meaning hard work along with prudence, and proverbially work night and day to advance the affairs.



Giving preference to the grass roots over partisan and factional interests and goals and giving priority to providing services to the poor strata and deprived areas were two other recommendations by the Leader to the officials.



On defensive issues, Ayatollah Khamenei said the continuation of the development and renovation of all of the approaches, means and equipment that the country requires today and tomorrow take full priority and added, Without a moments doubt, the country must move toward anything that it needs for defense, even if the entire world is against it.



The Leader of the Islamic Revolution vehemently criticized the enemies who threaten humanity with their weaponry but oppose Irans missile might, saying, What concern of you is this issue? You want the Iranian nation not to have missiles and other self-defense facilities in order to bully it.



He added, Of course, we consider issues such as nuclear weapons and weapons of mass destruction to be Haram (forbidden by Islam), but will mightily pursue anything else that we may need.



Leader of the Islamic Revolution pointed to the preference for cooperation with neighbors, eastern countries and those who have common interests with Iran and underscored job creation and production in particular while outlining economic priorities. He pointed to having named this year as Resistance Economy; Production and Job Creation, saying, Some things have been done in this area and some statistics released, but for the realization of what is in mind more effort and endeavor is required.



Ayatollah Khamenei called on the beloved youths and teenagers of the country to be prepared in areas of faith, science and revolution and added, The youth are the engines for the progress of the present and future of the country and the present generation of youths, which has greater resolve, diligence and insight than the first generation of the Revolution must prepare itself to speed up the progress of the country.



In the final segment of his remarks, the Leader of the Revolution said the endurance and sturdiness of the Islamic Revolution despite 40 years of plots and measures by tyrannical and malevolent governments is the best reason for the might of the Islamic Republic, stressing, We know the overt and covert threats, remarks and ploys of the enemies, but we stress, without a moments hesitation, that the Islamic establishment relying on the people will grow stronger by the day and as [the late founder of the Islamic Republic] Imam Khomeini said, The US cannot do a damn thing.



Prior to the remarks of Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Hojatoleslam Mohammad Ali Al-e Hashem, the representative of the Leader in East Azerbaijan Province and the Friday Prayers leader in Tabriz said the province has offered 10,000 martyrs, including 19 while defending the holy shrine from Takfiris in Syria in Iraq, adding, The anniversary of February 18, 1978 is not just a calendar event for the Azerbaijanis but is reference back to a root that will forever keep the allegiance-pledging hand of East Azerbaijan in the kind hands of the Islamic Revolution.



Hojatoleslam Al-e Hashem called for the caring attention of statesmen to the problems of Lake Urmia and said, In every event, the people of Azerbaijan blocked the path of opportunists and preserved well their hallmark of pride and credibility.









/219The state will soon be pushing the locally elected officials of Powhatan out of the way to administer the finances of the northwest Louisiana village that in mid-July had only $105 in its general fund and is hiring a cop to drum up some money fromA team of Tulane University archaeologists and an international group of researchers have uncovered a network of thousands of ancient Mayan structures previously hidden for centuries under the thick canopy of the northern Guatemalan jungle.

Using a technology called LiDAR (light detection and range technology) the team which includes Marcello A. Canuto, the director of Tulane University's Middle American Research Institute, and Francisco Estrada-Belli, a research assistant professor and director of the Holmul Archaeological Project, has uncovered more than 60,000 ancient structures covering 1,305 square miles.

The technology uses sensors to pierce through the thick forest canopy to create high-resolution maps that reveal man-made structures hidden under thick vegetation.

For example, the sensors revealed a 90-foot-tall pyramid once thought to be a hill at Tikal, one of the most thoroughly investigated of all Mayan cities.

Tikal, also known as the location for the rebel base in the Star Wars movie Rogue One, is now believed to have been a much bigger city than previously thought. In some cases, known urban centers turned out to be 40 times bigger than what existing maps showed, and include several monumental complexes that were previously believed to be separate sites. The LiDAR sensors have uncovered houses, large palaces, ceremonial centers, pyramids and ancient roadways that up until five years ago were nearly impossible to find in the thick vegetation of the Peten Forest.

The mapping tool also revealed how a network of roads and causeways connected Mayan cities in that region.

The discoveries shed new light on the population density of Mayan cities and a closer look at how Mayans made modifications to the land to support an advanced agricultural network. It is now estimated that 10 million people may have lived within the Maya lowlands, an estimate much higher than previously thought.

"What has been revealed is that these cities were far bigger and more populated than we had ever thought," Canuto said, pointing to a high-resolution map revealing indentations in the ground.

He explained how the indentations showed how the ancient civilization transformed their landscape to make it more agriculturally productive.

The team of researchers, which also includes archaeology students from Tulane University, were funded by the PACUNAM Foundation to spearhead the LiDAR project. PACUNAM is a Guatemalan non-profit organization dedicated to fostering scientific research, conservation and sustainable development of cultural and natural resources in the Maya Biosphere Reserve in northern Guatemala.

Maria Clark covers healthcare and immigration for NOLA.com | The Times Picayune and NOLA Mundo. Reach her at mclark@nola.com or 504.258.5306. .TMEA country director Moses Sabiiti

Trademark East Africa (TMEA) has launched the process of setting up a logistics centre in Gulu town to facilitate trade between Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan.

Speaking to journalists at their offices in Kampala this morning, TMEA country director Moses Sabiiti said the organization has already secured $8m (Shs 28.8bn) from United Kingdoms Department for Foreign Aid (DFID) and European Union for the world-class facility.

The hub will be able to handle 500,000 containers at one time, making it one of its kind in the region, Sabiiti said.

He explained that the Gulu Logistics Hub will be located at the current grounds of Uganda Railways Corporation (URC)  an intersession between road and railway.

This land was given to TMEA  a not-for profit company established in 2010 to support the growth of trade in East Africa  by the Uganda government for this sole purpose. He said the design works have started and the subsequent works will be tendered out in June after the designs are complete.

Our aim is to change the job market in northern Uganda as we hope to create more jobs in the area. This will complement with governments plan to rehabilitate and expand Gulu Airport, that will make easy importation of goods in and out of the region, he said.

According to Sabiiti, all merchandise going to South Sudan and DRC will go through this hub. Even relief supplies from World Food Programme (WFP) and United Nation High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) will be stored here.

In addition, there are processors based in Gulu, like Mukwano Industries, grain and tobacco farmers; we did a feasibility study and found that there is a need for a hub to facilitate the trade there, Sabiiti said.

Automating Entebbe airport

In another development, TMEA has announced that it will contribute to the automation of Entebbe airport in order to fasten the clearing of goods.

You have been following the expansions, improvements and the rating [of Entebbe] in traffic but what I can tell you is that our airport in terms of clearance time, compared to other countries in the region, is still very slow, he said.

Sabiiti noted that although majority of other countries are able to do pre-import clearance of goods, it is impossible at Entebbe airport as it is still done manually.

We want to support government and the ministry of Trade and Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) to do the automation of the airport facility; we will contribute to advanced clearance of goods, he said.

If this is achieved, goods will be easily cleared from countries such as China before they land at Entebbe airport; this will fasten the whole process of clearing.

EASE BUSINESS

In order to improve the business environment in the region, the five partner states of the East African Community agreed to work together and boost economic ties, as well as put in place facilities to reduce the cost of trade in the region.

Among the many initiatives implemented is the One Stop Border Post (OSBP) concept, which has boosted trade facilitation across borders by harmonizing border control regulations and procedures and, thus, enabling expeditious and more effective border control mechanisms.

The initiative has also reduced the number of stops by consignments at border posts and other transactions by combining border control activities at a single location. This means that there are no repetitions of clearing procedures.

Such projects by the EAC countries have been implemented successfully by employing Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to ease the sharing of data that is useful in border control operations.Rural youths in Lira district have started to embrace farming as a fulltime occupation and business. In the case of NICK OBOT, he went a notch higher to use his fish farm to train and lift the youths out of poverty, writes Arthur Matsiko.

In Ober village, Ojwina division, Lira municipality, Obot is a role model for the youths. A teacher by training, he has worked with various NGOs such as Uganda Society for Disabled Children, International Rescue Committee and Agency for Sustainable Rural Transformation.

Nick Oboth and Joshua Ogwok next to their fish ponds

His tasks entailed teaching people about farming for sustainable income. However, he had not realized he could practice farming until 2013 when he invested Shs 3.5 million from his savings to dig two fish ponds near his home. He bought tilapia and catfish fingerlings which have kept on multiplying, thereby expanding his ponds to six on 1,200 square metres of land.

With time, his efforts caught the eye of district fisheries officer, John Peter Ariong, who enrolled him to benefit from Africa Solidarity Trust Fund (ASTF) in 2014.

ASTF is an innovative Africa-led fund to support development initiatives on the continent. Its goal is to strengthen food security by assisting countries and their regional organizations to eradicate hunger and malnutrition, eliminate rural poverty and manage natural resources in a sustainable manner.

Funded by Angola and Equatorial Guinea, the project is being implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the UN.

TRAINING GROUND

So far, 12 youths have been trained about construction and management of fish ponds, raising citrus seedlings, rabbit rearing, fruits and banana growing.

Indeed, when the ASTF steering committee visited Uganda on January 19, 2018, they were led to Obots farm. The team comprised FAOs country representative Alhaji Jallow and Andrew Alio, the assistant commissioner, Aquaculture in the ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, among other officials.

Ariong told The Observer that Obots farm was singled out because he is well focused.

I identified him because his farm is targeting training the youths to tap into farming, said Ariong. Nick had been using his money; so, when I identified him, I enrolled him to benefit from ASTF and was facilitated to improve on his farm and engage more youths.

fgg

Through the project, Obot has been trained to excavate ideal ponds. He has also been facilitated to visit fish farms countrywide, provided with fingerlings, fish feed and market linkages.

Here, we found 10 youths in the nursery beds of citrus, while others were feeding the fish and clearing weeds around the ponds.

My aim is to ensure that young people become financially independent. Whenever they come here, they learn and single out what they are interested in. In the end, I want everybody to own a farm of their interest. This will eventually help solve poverty amongst the youths, Obot said.

Among his trainees is Joshua Ogwok. Having joined Obots farm in November 2015 with 10 colleagues, Ogwok was looking for what would occupy him during his O-level vacations.

I had some rabbits before I came to this farm, but when I learnt more about farming, I kept buying more rabbits, Ogwok says.

Last year, he sold about 70 rabbits to road constructors in Lira but never satisfied the demand.

But I later stopped selling after somebody told me that [Kampala] Serena hotel was looking for somebody who can supply 100 rabbits a week, Ogwok adds.

Now he looks to expand his farm thanks to inspiration from Obot. He talks of Obot as a generous person who keeps encouraging the youths to identify their interests in farming and he keeps supporting us whenever we call upon him.

EXPANSION

Besides the fish ponds, Obot has a plan for a poultry farm which he intends to use as another training ground for the youths.

But this plan is still on paper as I am saving towards its implementation, Obot said. After raising at least Shs 3.4m, I will be ready to take off so that I can support the youths to start their own and become independent.

Nick Obot addresses officials from ASTF at his farm in Lira

He has also acquired more land in Alebtong town council to expand his farm and recruit more youths into farming. Upon hearing his plans, Cecilia Okono, the Ambassador of Equatorial Guinea in Italy, who donated $3,000 (approximately Shs 10.8m) to Obot.

To this, Jallow urged Obot to keep investing because benefits come from working hard.

Everything grows in Uganda; and you can do anything here. Young people should learn from leaders like this one [Obot], Jallow added.

CHALLENGE

While ASTF has phased out after three years of operation, Obot has to deal with the long droughts that affect his projects.

When the ponds dried out, we had to dig a reservoir to help us pump the water into the ponds, he said, adding that the reservoir also dried up due to the dry spell. To tackle this, he has drilled underground water and installed a water tank.

In a separate interview, Vincent Bamulangaki Ssempijja, the minister for Agriculture, told The Observer government is introducing alternative water sources to counter dry spells affecting fish farmers.

We are constructing 20 million-litre tanks [countrywide], said Sempijja. We know that there is of course drought; now we have improved on our technologies and even the size of the reservoirs.

Obot sells a kilo of fish at Shs 8,000 to the surrounding community, hotels and restaurants in Lira town. But he admits demand is still higher than supply  the reason he keeps expanding.

To those interested in fish farming, Obot says planning and dedication are paramount.

You need to take time and learn by visiting people who are already in this trade. As you start out, you need to do what you can manage, he says, adding that he looks to having at least 50 youths managing their farms in the next five years as a result of his mentorship.

matsiko@observer.ugThirteen years ago in 2005, Col Fred Bogere, a quiet little-known army representative in parliament, was cast in the public spotlight for refusing to vote for passage of the controversial legislation that lifted presidential term limits and effectively handed President Museveni a new lease on his political life.

Col Fred Bogere during the interview

That bold defiance of the army and ruling party position set him on a collision course with the establishment. Bogere, now retired from the military, spoke candidly in a recent interview, about the aftermath of his action.

There was too much pressure on me that I must come out and correct what they considered a mistake. I said I cant do that. When I refused, the pressure intensified to the extent that my close friends and relatives were used. I got attacks from everywhere; external and internal, he said.

He said he was summoned by the president and the late Gen Aronda Nyakairima, former chief of defence forces. He said during the meeting with the president in Mbale, the head of state warned that Bogere and his legalistic mentality would be neutralised.

In the wide-ranging interview, which will run in three parts, Bogere speaks about betrayal of the country by its leadership and how Uganda is teetering towards chaos and conflict as marauding gangs grab control over whatever is left of the state.

He says that what happened last year when the elite force which protects President Museveni, the Special Forces Command, stormed parliament, attacked and violently dragged out mainly opposition MPs, is the darkest moment in Ugandas history.

It was a terrible abuse of authority, it was a terrible insult to this country; I dont think we can ever have a leading case of abuse of power than that one. Bogere said. There is no doubt the constitutional order was overthrown.

I dont know whether its a military junta or what but what is available now is a coup.

I must confess that I felt betrayed and up to now I feel betrayed. You know we are not here to stay perpetually, the only constant is change and indeed it will come. Unfortunately, we squandered the opportunity of being part of that change. If change had come and it was attributed to the foundation work we had done, I would be a very happy person.

Why did you retire from the military?

I chose to retire because I had become weak health-wise. But before that, my first application to retire was in 1996. When I joined the army, I joined as a liberator; I never chose it [army] as a career. I wanted to get back to what I wanted to do before I was forced into joining the struggle.

Actually around 1991, I did a diploma in Journalism with Betty Nambooze [Mukono Municipality MP] at an institute now called the Uganda Institute of Business and Media Studies.

I had a desire to do journalism after the military. But my application was not allowed. By the time I retired in 2016, I had applied six times. After 2005, I felt I was no longer liked; I had this feeling that I was no longer part of the institution; so, I felt it was the right time for me to leave.

I felt I shouldnt be part of a force that was doing things that seemed to be anti-people. When the right time to judge comes, UPDF will be judged harshly. So, I wanted to be as far away from it as possible.

How does it feel like having people who were once your juniors promoted to senior ranks and responsibilities in the army?

It is a very big challenge to the officer being sidelined. For your information, from 2001 to 2016 when I retired, I remained a colonel. But during the same time, there were people who were recruited and promoted either to the same rank as me or even higher.

Ordinarily, if maybe you have service offences, it would be understandable but for my entire time in the military, I was never presented for any marching orders. Its really a challenge not only for the sidelined officer but also the one who is fast-tracked.

Its like if they announced tomorrow that youre the managing director of The Observer newspaper but then they retain James Tumusiime [present MD] to be under you. You will find problems. How do you order a person who has been your boss? Even him, he will find problems taking orders from you. So, this creates indiscipline in the force.

Even the UPDF Act says that if you have been holding an officer rank for more than five years and youre not promoted, you have to be discharged. These were my arguments when I applied to retire.

Col Fred Bogere talking on phone

Since you were not seeing eye-to-eye with the minister of defence, how were you elected army MP?

After the 2001 elections, I was elected Member of Parliament to represent the UPDF in the Seventh Parliament. The president makes his list of about 30 people and then he sends it to the Army Council which starts awarding marks on different criteria. Those with the highest cumulative marks are appointed and I was among the 10.

Not so long into my term, I left for Nairobi for a military course. I made sure I travel back before the 15 consecutive sittings of which if you miss, you lose your seat. In 2005, in the heat of the lifting of term limits, I returned to Kampala because I wanted to be part of the debate. When I came back, some people told me to support the lifting of term limits but I flatly rejected the idea, saying if I did, we would have lost the whole purpose of the struggle.

My opposition got back to various authorities who got concerned. There was one particular general who was also in parliament who was most concerned. He started mobilising us. He asked me why I was siding with people in the opposition.

Then they used their mouthpiece, the Red Pepper to say that the army was very worried about Bogere; he might not vote for the lifting of term limits. I travelled back to Nairobi but kept on monitoring what was going on.

I came back near voting day and talked to some MPs. I told them they were very young; that they have this country at their disposal. I told them that if at your age of 30, you are already a member of parliament, you can assume that in the next 20 years you will be the president. Why should you then allow such a thing that blocks your opportunity to take place?

What did they say?

Some would say we fear this, we fear that. There was all this intimidation that the army was uncomfortable and will take over if term limits were not lifted. I would always try to deflate that kind of thinking. The army was not ready for that; we had come to liberate this country from such undemocratic paths.

I talked to a number of them and we agreed that term limits shouldnt be lifted. Disheartening as it was, when it came to voting, they didnt vote as we agreed.

But didnt word get to your superiors that you were trying to mobilise against lifting term limits?

It got there thats how it got into Red Pepper. They invited me and warned me against my activities. I told them that what I was doing is what Im supposed to doThey couldnt do much because I was an MP in my own right. Finally, the D-day came and I stood up and said Im abstaining.

At the second reading you abstained but on the third and final reading you disappeared. Where did you go and why?

There was too much pressure on me that I must come out and correct what they considered a mistake. I said I cant do that. When I refused, the pressure intensified to the extent that my close friends and relatives were used. I got attacks from everywhere; external and internal.

What I did was to leave home. Only my wife knew where I was. What the army and the politicians wanted was that I call a press conference and say that Im sorry, I was misled; that in the subsequent voting I would vote yes. So, by the time of the third reading, I wasnt anywhere. I only reappeared after the voting.

After abstaining, which was as good as voting no, what happened to you?

I was summoned by the president and the late Gen Aronda Nyakairima (former chief of defence of forces). Aronda wanted me to travel at night to Mbale to meet Museveni but I made sure I didnt travel as he had dictated. I feared for my life; so, I got to Mbale on my own, not on the dictates of the CDF.

I remember the meeting had Amelia Kyambadde [now minister for Trade], Francis Babu, Maj Gen Silver Kayemba and Aronda. The president asked why I had departed from my colleagues yet the army needs to move together. Generally, taking me through semantics of military science; but I said we are discussing political issues; we were determining the future of the country as MPs in our own right, not as a military force.

He then sensed from the way I was answering that I had some level of confidence, which he didnt expect. Then he asked Aronda: Is it you or [Amama] Mbabazi who was telling me that he is a lawyer or you were referring to [Henry] Tumukunde? Aronda answered: Both of them are lawyers, Your Excellency. Then he said, I can see the legalistic mentality but we are going to neutralise him.

I answered: I was not aware of that, Your Excellency and he did not like that. He thought I was being disrespectful. He told me to go back to Kampala but that they will continue to talk to me.

The intention was to move me to a press conference so I could say I was misled into abstaining. I never met the president again. I was identified as a prime target and there was never any promotion or deployment since then. But I took it in good faith. Even when recently they talked of giving me a rank in retirement, I vigorously fought against it because my brand now in this country is Colonel Fred Bogere.

If Im made, say; brigadier, it acts against my brand and honestly I dont want it. The best reward for anybody is to feel that you are liked by people you live with. I walk on the streets of Kampala, do whatever I want freely, not fearing anybody.

How did you feel that President Museveni led the push to remove term limits and rule forever?

I must confess that I felt betrayed and up to now I feel betrayed. You know we are not here to stay perpetually, the only constant is change and indeed it will come.

Unfortunately, we squandered the opportunity to be part of that change. If change had come and it was attributed to the foundation work we had done, I would be a very happy person. But you see the way we are managing the affairs of the country now; change is no doubt going to come. Problem is; it might be the change that is not under any of our control.

It might be change that is disorderly; that will turn this country upside down. We are walking in the footpath of Somalia.

When I went for my military training in Nairobi, I thought that I was wasting too much time in the military, I decided to enroll in the University of Nairobi for a masters degree in international studies, focusing on international relations and conflict management. I know a thing or two about failed states. Also, during that military course, you are taken to failed states and in our case we visited Mozambique.

We were taken to states which are coming out of chaos and conflict, we were taken to Namibia. We were taken to emerging economies and that was Brazil. For the first world, we were taken to France. So, you globetrot trying to learn what happens if you mismanage the affairs of the state.

With this background, you see certain things and realise where you are going. Thats why Im saying I felt betrayed; thats why I was eager to talk to some MPs, some of whom are now ministers. I asked them why they were messing up the country. These people they fear have no powers over them.

They were elected by their constituents; why should they be intimidated? They should determine their own direction of the state. While they agreed with me in preliminary discussions, when it came to voting, I didnt see them. I think they succumbed to the temptation of money.

When I had just come back, a certain minister I will not name came to me and said, Honourable, why should you miss this opportunity because whether you support it or not, this thing is going to pass anyway.

He said, why dont you receive your five million; its here. I said Im sorry I cant take it. He is still a minister up to now but whenever he sees me even at a function, he shies away. As far as Im concerned, he lost it. How can you be so cheap that youre paid Shs 5 million; even if it were Shs 100m how far does it take you?

What do you make of the melodrama that surrounded the 2017 amendment of the constitution to lift presidential age limits?

For quite some time majority of the people who have come out to discuss Ugandas politics have always discussed the bad side of [former presidents] Apollo Milton Obote and Idi Amin. They draw us to the so-called [1967] pigeonhole constitution.

They tell us how forces surrounded parliament but when you interrogate it further, you realise that the so-called encirclement of the House which we have ways condemned in the biggest terms was only on Parliamentary Avenue, then near City Hall and National theater.

That was the furthest government forces went to parliament. But now what happened [in 2017]? Forces escorted goons not only to surround parliament but to step on the table of the clerk and started showing their skills in acrobatics.

It was a terrible abuse of authority, it was a terrible insult to this country; I dont think we can ever have a leading case of abuse of power than that one. Where does that leave the concept of separation of powers?

If Im to agree with what professors, Joe Oloka-Onyango and Fredrick Jjuuko taught me, the constitution was literally overthrown. We are here in some shaky thing called a government and all that, but there is no doubt the constitutional order was overthrown.

We can pretend that everything is normal because somebody has a microphone he can talk and nobody can remove it from him but, honestly, the constitutional order was overthrown.

I dont know whether its military junta or what but what is available now is a coup. What we have is not a government envisaged under the 1995 constitution. There is now one side with a microphone. If we got people who are impartial to interrogate this matter, they would certainly rule that there is no constitutional order here; it was overthrown.

Did it surprise you that all the nine army MPs voted yes?

It didnt; I expected it. But nevertheless, I sympathise with them, they had to oblige with what they were told to do. But on the other hand, I only urge them to put the interest of the country first.

They are setting a very wrong foundation for our children. There has been this assumption that President Museveni is good, which I dont want to go into. But how dare you or how dare me create an atmosphere that will allow a despot to emerge on the political scene and find such a fluid atmosphere and take advantage of it when this good one has departed for one reason or the other?

He might depart by Gods action but he might also depart by an uprising which might come up and it is uncontrollable. A despot will say he is ruling according to the constitution.

We are playing with fire; and all of us are participating in the condemnation of our children. By the time our grandchildren come crying that their mothers and fathers have been imprisoned anyhow, we shall be simply helpless. Probably you will be using a walking stick and as a former minister, your child will be arrested for no reason or simply because he doesnt agree with those in authority.

What do you make of the army being in a multiparty parliament?

I dont agree with it. I actually wrote a paper to the military that it was not in order for us to remain in parliament after parties were allowed back. We also need to liberate this country from politicians.

We need to come up with constitutional provisions that require that a person can only be MP for three terms while the president can have only two terms. We have turned being MP into a career and it is becoming hereditary now. Whats this?

Much as these people have been good, it doesnt matter, this country is not short of good people. We even have better people who have not emerged because they have been denied an opportunity.

Obote used to say that Museveni is a bandit who he will find in the bush and leave him there. Did he leave him there? If Museveni has been so good, what happened with what Obote used to say that he knew this young man so well that he cannot run the affairs of the state?

This idea that there is nobody [else] with a vision is an insult to some of us.

Your comment about sending our military to places like South Sudan, Somalia etc

There is no problem for as long as there is parliamentary approval. When those countries remain in chaos, it overflows to our countries. So the main objective is very good but the dilemma is; it is not done within the framework of the law. Some people would like to simply force it on us that once they approve, then its given.

The military is now effectively in the hands of young people; good thing for the country?

Its a good thing because many of us, with the exception of a few, never joined the military on our own free will. But those who are in the military today we recruited them; they chose the military as their career.

Therefore, they are better placed to lead. The only problem comes with the nature of promotion that tends to be one-sided, bordering on nepotism. But as long as that is addressed, there wouldnt be a problem.

I share the sentiments of Hon Aggrey Awori of the possibility of genocide due to tribalism. In the military, there is that element but its not to the extreme like you see in the police. You cannot [rationalize] to Ugandans that more than 85 percent of our district police commanders come from one region; this is a disaster.

What do you make of the fast-tracking of Musevenis son Muhoozi Kainerugaba to major general?

I left that to him and his conscience. I believe anybody can see whether it makes sense or not. You think people can just look at it and ignore it or they make interpretations?

During the peak of the age limit debate, Evelyn Anite, the state minister for privatisation and investment said they had the magye (army).

She knew what she was saying; after all it came to pass. You saw the forces accompanying the goons and they wreaked havoc. But that is one statement she will live to regret having made. It will hang around her neck for quite long yet she is still a young lady.

She said it excitedly, having the misconception that after all she is associated with those with authority. She forgets that those with power have it only today and tomorrow. The other days or months or years to come you dont know who will have the authority.

There might come a time when certain commissions of inquiry are established and such statements might be attributed as the cause of conflict afflicting the country and she is called upon to answer.

You have worked closely with police chief Gen Kale Kayihura; how do you assess him?

Allow me not to comment about him because the assessment might not be fair, if Im to be honest. I have attended various military courses with him starting with our first military training in Libya in 1981. When we took over government, Kayihura and Aronda Nyakairima were all juniors under me.

Actually, a certain minister one time came to see me and I showed him an internal memo written to [former army commander] General Muntu who had asked me to find a suitable officer under me to go and take over as intelligence officer for the Presidential Protection Unit which is now SFC.

I wrote on that note which I photocopied, recommending Aronda Nyakairima. By that time [I showed the minister the note] Nyakairima was the chief of defence forces. The minister asked me, you mean this officer was under you? I said yes. He said no, no, no, this world is unfair. But I just told him we are used to this.

What do you make of the fights between Kayihura and Minister of Security, Lt Gen Henry Tumukunde?

From the little I read on my masters programme, some of what you are seeing today is what is lined up as one of the characteristics of a failing state. To an ordinary person, when the minister for security is not on talking terms with the inspector general of the national police, it simply means that the centre is no longer holding.

What if their boss is in control and simply enjoys the fight knowing it has no bearing on his grip on power

I dont know whether he is enjoying it but my issue is that why is there nobody emerging to say stop!? There are ministers, deputy prime ministers, the prime minister, the vice president you mean all these cant call these people to order?

This means we need to wake up because we have a very serious problem.

The president has promised that by 2020 we will be a middle-income country

It is good for the president to give people hope but one thing I know is that some of these goals cant be achieved by mere wishes. They come about by practical action by both the state and other stakeholders.

Those of us who travel in the region, Kenya is way ahead of us but its not thinking of a middle-income status at least to the level of say Egypt. When we talk about middle-income, we are talking about the second world and we know what this means. We are talking about countries like Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia.

bakerbatte@observer.ugThe body of an American tourist found dead in his room at Bwana Tembo Safari camp lodge in Murchison Falls national park in Nwoya district, is to be transferred to Mulago national referral hospital for a postmortem.

The 61-year-old Montie Guy Watson, a resident of Texas was found dead in his guest room at Bwana Tembo Safari camp lodge in Nwoya district on Saturday morning. Watson checked in the hotel on February 13, 2018.

Aerial view of Bwana Tembo Safari camp where Montie Guy Watson was found dead

Yesterday, Sunday police was still waiting for Dr Moses Byaruhanga, the director of police health services to transfer the body to Mulago hospital where a postmortem will be conducted.



Denis Okello, the Nwoya district police commander, says the deceased was in the company of a male black tourist after being left behind by other tourists who headed to Kidepo national park.



It is unclear whether the black tourist is a Ugandan citizen, but police says he was the one who asked the hotel management to break into Watson's room when he failed to show up for breakfast in the morning.



Patrick Jimmy Okema, the Aswa River region police spokesperson says the black tourist is helping police with the investigations into the death of the American tourist.

"The body was discovered yesterday [Saturday] in an hotel at Bwana Tembo Safari lodgethe body was picked and brought to Gulu regional referral hospital before transferring it to Gulu division IV barracks. And plans are underway to ferry the body to take it to Kampala, Mulago national referral hospital for postmortem and that will be done by our director of medical services. More details will come after the postmortem has been done but more inquiries are going on into his death," said Okema.

Unconfirmed report indicate that blood stains were found in his bathroom. Tom Okello Obong, the assistant director of Uganda Wildlife Authority in charge of Murchison Falls national park hasn't yet commented as he couldn't be reached on phone.

Earlier this month, two European men were found dead in their respective rooms in two five-star Kampala hotels.

Tersvouri Toomajuha Petteri, 42, a Finnish entrepreneur was found dead in his room at Pearl of Africa hotel on February 5 according to police. Alex Sebastian, 41, a Swede national was also found dead in his room at the Sheraton Kampala hotel on February 6.

Petteri's death has been linked to possible murder involving Internal Security Organisation (ISO) officials.The two foreign nationals who died at Pearl of Africa hotel and Sheraton Kampala hotel had traces of poison in their systems, toxicology reports have revealed.



The reports that were released by the directorate of government analytical laboratory (DGAL) over the weekend show that Alex Nordlarndar Sebastien Andreas, a Swedish national and Terasvouri Tuomas Juha Petteri, a Finish entrepreneur died from poisonous substances.

Inside one of the rooms of Pearl of Africa hotel Sebastien was found dead in his room at Sheraton hotel on February 5 while Terasvouri was also found dead in his room at Pearl of Africa hotel a day later. Police spokesperson Emilian Kayima says while the postmortem reports don't show any signs of murder, the toxicology report shows substances that could have led to the death of the two foreign nationals.



"We are treating it as a homicide. We are going to analyse the report as part of the ongoing investigations," Kayima said. He says police has withheld the names of the substances found in both bodies so as not to jeopardize the investigations.



Police has written to the Internal Security Organisations (ISO) asking five of its operatives to appear at police and record statements in relation to the deaths of the two foreigners. Among those whose statements are needed is the director general of the ISO Fred Kaka Bagyenda.



"Police wrote to them but we are yet to get a response. We want everyone who interacted with the deceased from the time they reached the airport, booked them into the hotel etc," Kayima said. Sebastien was found dead in his room at Sheraton hotel on February 5 while Terasvouri was also found dead in his room at Pearl of Africa hotel a day later. Police spokesperson Emilian Kayima says while the postmortem reports don't show any signs of murder, the toxicology report shows substances that could have led to the death of the two foreign nationals."We are treating it as a homicide. We are going to analyse the report as part of the ongoing investigations," Kayima said. He says police has withheld the names of the substances found in both bodies so as not to jeopardize the investigations.Police has written to the Internal Security Organisations (ISO) asking five of its operatives to appear at police and record statements in relation to the deaths of the two foreigners. Among those whose statements are needed is the director general of the ISO Fred Kaka Bagyenda."Police wrote to them but we are yet to get a response. We want everyone who interacted with the deceased from the time they reached the airport, booked them into the hotel etc," Kayima said.

A New Vision crime investigations journalist Charles Etukuri who has since gone missing after being abducted by men dressed in military fatigue last week, linked the death of Petteri to top officials in the Internal Security Organisation.

Petteri reportedly presented a forged invitation letter purportedly from ISO director general, Col (rtd) Kaka Bagyenda, which was seized at Entebbe airport.

It is alleged that Petteri was reportedly accompanied by a Ugandan woman, Faridah Nakaye, and other armed people to the Pearl of Africa on the day he arrived only to be found dead at around 7am the next morning, according to Doreen Komuhangi, the hotels public relations officer.

Sebastien was found dead at midday, hours after being picked by ISO operatives from Entebbe airport. Three suspects including a waitress who were seen with the Finish national at Pearl of Africa hotel and two fixers are in police custody.New Vision journalist, Charles Etukuri, who was 'abducted' six days ago outside the company premises by gun-wielding security operatives has been released without any charge.

According to the report he gave to his bosses and work colleagues, Etukuri was being held by the Internal Security Organisation (ISO) in a safe house in Kyengera.

Charles Etukuri (L) back in office after being released by ISO

The reason for his alleged arrest was regarding stories he wrote about deaths of two foreign nationals who died on two consecutive days in two different Kampala hotels. His stories particularly linked the death of Terasvouri Tuomas Juha Petteri, a Finish entrepreneur to ISO officers.

Toxicology reports released by government analytical laboratory indicate that the foreign nationals had traces of poison in their bodies. Terasvouri was found dead in his room at Pearl of Africa hotel on February 6 while Nordlarndar Sebastien Andreas, a Swedish national was found dead the previous day.

New vision managing editor, Ben Opolot, said this evening that because of a critical role journalists play, they dont deserve this kind of inhumane treatment adding that Uganda was a democracy in which such abductions and intimidations are not welcome.

Etukuris release follows a High court order last Friday to the director general of ISO Fred Kaka Bagyenda to produce Etukuri in court today, dead or alive. Emerging information indicates that Etukuri was released even before the concerned officers had been served with the order.

Contrary to earlier concerns raised by his bosses at Vision Group, Etukuri says while under detention he was "comfortable" with where he was as he was given good food, allowed to contact his family and bosses.

"I was even comfortable with their food, I was even allowed to communicate with members of my family - so that kept me goingI was staying alone in my own room and I had the liberty of walking around the compoundI was not restricted - day and night and I think that is what I consider as fairness. I also had this liberty of engaging the senior police officersengaging them intellectually, we argued political issues" he said.

"I was being detained in a safe house in Kyengera. I would call it a safe house because that is the name they use for it. Of course we were a number of suspects, I was not the only one. There were other people who were arrested, I think of Boda Boda 2010, there were some phone theft suspects whod been arrestedWell, we were two high profile suspects who were there, me and some other gentleman in Entebbe from the immigration department," he added.

Seemingly justifying the purported arrest, Etukuri was even asked by a colleagues why he appeared comfortable yet fellow journalists and human rights organisations were up in arms over his abduction. Here is his response.

Of course there were issuesfirst of all they picked me when I was going to my car. They picked me when I was going for lunch and then pick my daughter from school. So they picked me at the entrance when I was just entering the car. The manner in which they hurled me into the car felt a bit uncomfortable. One, first of all they handcuffed, threw me in the back seat.

They were forcing me to sit down and they never wanted me to see where I was going. So they had to throw something on the head, actually they covered something on the head. Now you can imagine going through Kampala for almost an hour at a terrible speed and then meandering. So, I was just going to Kyengera but it looked like a very long distance.

When I reached there, the manner in which the officers who arrested me were not very good people. Of course, they tortured me. The torture on me was psychological - the handcuffing, stuffing me inside the car. When I reached the safe house, the more seasoned officers I found there were quite different. First of all they made me feel at home, at least for a moment. They made me forget the predicament that I had gone through.

Some of his colleagues said his alleged kidnap has tainted the company's image.



"You see for Vision Group, this is a bad image whether you like it or not", said one Vision Group staff before he was cut short by one of Etukuri's bosses.

"You cant force him to say what he doesnt want to say," he said.

It has been alleged that Etukuri moves around with a pistol and was "recruited" by Fortunate Ahimbisibwe, a former journalist with Vision Group to spy for the intelligence agencies.

"Of course like I said, the manner in which I was arrested was not constitutional. One, I was hurled into the car, shoved under the seats and then blind folded and driven at a very high speed through humps to an unknown destination.

And then of course much later on senior officers came in who tried to diffuse the whole tension around the arrest. So I wasnt tortured that is what I want to tell members of the public. There was not torture. At least when I was still in prisonI was able to communicate with my relatives, I was able to communicate to a few of my workmates to tell them that I was okay - to give them that hope that I wasnt being tortured and to give them that hope that I would come out anytime," he said.

Etukuri blamed his alleged arrest on the fights between security agencies and organs. Lately, ISO and Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI) on one hand have been fighting police, with each arresting each other's officers and questioning their work methods. Earlier today police said Etukuri was in "wrong hands" because they had checked all gazetted detention facilities and had not found him.

"Right now the media world is going through a hard time simply because of the fights around security. Right now as a media person, you dont know what you should report and what you should not report. I think that was the biggest challenge I realise when I was there.And I hope the statement from the head of state that these people should wake up and work together, I hope that when they work together, the media would be able to cover them," said Etukuri.

Etukuri insisted that the facts in his story were not under dispute and ISO was only concerned about the headline, saying it would scare away investors. According to Etukuri, he was made to record two statements. One written and another on camera.Every year, the Nikola-Lenivets art park, near Moscow, Russia, burns a wooden structure to celebrate Maslevitsa, the oldest surviving Slavic holiday. This year, founder Nikolay Polissky burned the largest structure yet  a 30-meter-high Gothic cathedral made of wooden branches.

On February 17, 2018, art lovers gathered at the Nikola-Lenivets art park witnessed one of the largest bonfires in recent history  a wooden cathedral built for the sole purpose of being raised to the ground. A team of around 20 workers had laboured for three months under the guidance of famous Russian artist Nikolay Polissky, assembling the dry tree branches into the impressive 30-meter Gothic edifice, only to see it eaten up by the flames in a matter of minutes. It was an impressive display indeed, but a controversial one as well.



Apparently, some people didnt take too well to the burning of a Christian building, even if it was just a replica. The fact that it was done to celebrate Maslevitsa, a pagan Slavic holiday, only added insult to injury. Some clerics in the Russian Orthodox Church asked that the event be investigated as an anti-Christian incitement, and one TV personality tweeted that Polissky and his team should have stuck with a connotation-free effigy.

I dont understand why somebody would burn down a 30-meter Catholic church instead of a harmless effigy on a folk-Orthodox festival? TV personality Maksim Galkin wrote in his Instagram.

A post shared by Ladenkat (@ladenkat) on Feb 17, 2018 at 10:56pm PST

Browsing through the comments section of websites covering the event, its pretty clear that the idea of burning down a life-size replica of a Christian cathedral doesnt sit too well with the Russian public either, but Polissky was quick to clarify that his art project was not anti-Christian in nature.

The structure we have built is not a gothic cathedral but a great pyre resembling a cathedral in shape, he told The Village. I hope when we set it on fire we will see a church made of fire, seemingly made not by human hands, floating and dazzling. As an artist I expect to see a glimpse of flamboyant architecture, not some game of spirituality using wicker and matches.

A post shared by Anastasiya Susha (@anastasiya_susha) on Feb 18, 2018 at 1:19am PST

However, when that explanation failed to convince his critics, the founder of Nikola-Lenivets took to Facebook to clarify things even more.

There was nothing of religious worship in my art object, of course there were no crosses, altar or any religious symbols, the artist said. This is not a copy of any existing structure of religious worship nor an imitation of a church. It is simply a bonfire built in the style of a Gothic building.



Polissky added that he hopes for dialogue with representatives of the Catholic and Orthodox churches and asked the church, Orthodox Christians and non-Orthodox Christians for forgiveness.

Today is Forgiveness Sunday and I ask all Orthodox and non-Orthodox Christians to forgive me for Christs sake, he concluded his message.Stephanie Clifford, also known by her stage name, Stormy Daniels, will perform in May at Stars Cabarets in Oregon, according to tweets from the adult-film star's official account.

Daniels is the porn star who President Donald Trump's personal attorney Michael Cohen said he paid $130,000 to in 2016. Cohen has not said why he paid Daniels the money, but Daniels allegedly had an affair with Trump beginning in 2006.

"New dates added! Here is my updated/latest schedule!" Daniels tweeted Monday morning. Her tweet listed three days in Oregon, May 17 to 19, at "Starz Cabaret Beaverton, OR."

New dates added! Here is my updated/latest schedule! pic.twitter.com/cxaMB5VERr  Stormy Daniels (@StormyDaniels) February 19, 2018

The Beaverton Stars Cabaret closed in 2016, after its parent company, Frehoo Inc., filed for bankruptcy protection.

In 2014, Steven Toth, a manager at the Beaverton Stars Cabaret, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for his part in the prostitution of a 13-year-old girl. He and another defendant, who was also sentenced to prison, had the girl perform sex acts with customers from the Starz in a backroom of the club.

Stars Cabaret still has three locations: one in Bend, one in Tigard and one in Salem. When asked for clarification over Twitter about which location she would be performing at, Daniels responded, "My contract just says a different Stars location each of 3 nights. I've previously performed at Beaverton Stars so mistakenly thought it was that one."

Stars locations in Tigard and Bend said over the phone Monday that they were unaware of the upcoming shows. The woman who answered the phone at the Salem location said they have a flier that says Daniels will be performing at their club on May 18.

-- Lizzy Acker

503-221-8052

lacker@oregonian.com, @lizzzyackerSUNDAY

"EE British Academy Film Awards": Joanne Lumley takes over hosting duties for what are popularly known as the BAFTAs, Britian's answer to the Oscars."The Shape of Water" has the most nominations, with 12. (8 p.m. BBC America)

MONDAY

"The Alienist": The drama adapted from Caleb Carr's bestseller about the search for a serial killer who's murdering boy prostitutes in 1896 New York City continues to be slow-burning, but absorbing. And the performances by Daniel Bruhl, Dakota Fanning and Luke Evans keep getting richer. (9 p.m. TNT)

TUESDAY

Winter Olympics 2018: Tonight's package of highlights includes the women's figure skating short program. (8 p.m. NBC/8)

WEDNESDAY

"The Last Rhino": A "Nature" episode exploring the case of Sudan, the last male Northern White Rhinoceros, and scientists' desperate efforts to preserve the species. (8 p.m. PBS/10)

THURSDAY

"Top Chef": The Voltaggio brothers are back together, and judging the Rocky Mountain Oyster Quickfire. (9 p.m. Bravo)

FRIDAY

"Gold Rush": After last week's game-changing announcement, that Oregon's Todd Hoffman and his crew are leaving the show, the last few episodes of this season supposedly provide some insight into how Hoffman decided now was the time to call it quits. (9 p.m. Discovery Channel)

"Seven Seconds": From executive producer Veena Sud ("The Killing") comes a drama about a mother (Regina King) whose son is accidentally killed by a white police officer, whose colleagues conspire in a cover-up. The cast also includes Russell Hornsby, who played Hank on the Portland-filmed "Grimm." (Streaming on Netflix)

"Ugly Delicious": Celebrity chef David Chang travels the world in a new documentary series with writers, chefs and celebrities as they explore cultural attitudes and experiences through food. (Streaming on Netflix)

SATURDAY

"Notes From the Field": An adaptation of Anna Deavere Smith's one-woman show about our justice system's "school-to-prison pipeline." (8 p.m. HBO)

-- Kristi Turnquist



kturnquist@oregonian.com

503-221-8227

@KristiturnquistPoland is ready to start talks with Israel as soon as possible as regards the new anti-defamation law, the Polish PM's chief aide Michal Dworczyk said on Monday.

Polish PM Mateusz Morawiecki and Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu held a telephone conversation on Sunday.

During the talk, PM Netanyahu "declared that teams on political and historical dialogue, set up both in Poland and Israel, will be launched," Michal Dworczyk reported.

So far Israel has not responded to "a proposal for a meeting as issued by the Polish side," Dworczyk added.

"We have declared that - should that be Warsaw, Tel Aviv or Jerusalem - we are ready to start talks as soon as possible, at a day's notice, because dialogue is necessary." "Now we're waiting until the date and place are set through diplomatic channels," the minister added.

At the beginning of February, Polish President Andrzej Duda signed into law a bill amending the law on the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) - The Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation, the so-called anti-defamation bill.

President Duda decided to turn to the Constitutional Tribunal to examine whether freedom of speech is limited in an unauthorised manner by the provisions of the amended law.

The legislation proved controversial for Israel, the United States and Ukraine. Israel claims the penalties for defamation that the act envisages may restrict research on the Holocaust.

Under the new act, all those who publicly attribute, contrary to the facts, responsibility or co-responsibility for the Third Reich's crimes - or other crimes against humanity and peace, as well as war crimes - to the Polish nation or the Polish state can be punished with a fine or a prison term of up to three years. (PAP)

jd/ pm/Students who survived the deadly high school shooting in Florida that took 17 lives last week are getting organized. Several students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School spoke out over the weekend, calling out President Trump for his divisive words and on politicians in general for putting money over the safety of students across the country.

David Hogg, a 17-year-old student from Stoneman, said on NBC's Meet the Press, "You're the president. You're supposed to bring this nation together, not divide us. How dare you."

Emma Gonzalez, another student who survived the attack, called out Trump, Senator Marco Rubio and Governor Rick Scott as politicians that are supported by the National Rifle Association.

"Now is the time to get on the right side of this, because this is not something that we are going to let sweep under the carpet," she said on Meet the Press.



Emma and fellow students Alexis Michael and Isabel Robinson also spoke to CNN's Anderson Cooper just a day after the mass shooting at their high school, saying, "we're the people who are going to make the laws one day and even if it seems small now we need to put forward those baby steps"

"We are not to be bought by the NRA ... we are the ones who deserve to be kept safe because we were literally shot at" Children of Parkland shooting vow to take up the fight to end school shootings https://t.co/rndKNzp6W1

 Anderson Cooper 360 (@AC360) February 16, 2018

Gonzalez also gave an impassioned speech at a rally in Florida yesterday in which she called on lawmakers to step up:

The students have vowed to become the face of a movement, and to not let this moment pass without making a larger statement. A few different events are being organized to send a message to lawmakers; here are some dates to know:

The organizers behind the Women's March are calling for a 17-minute (in honor of the 17 killed) nationwide walkout by teachers and students on March 14. EMPOWER, the Women's March youth branch, is organizing the event:

Enough is enough!



Women's March Youth EMPOWER is calling for students, teachers, and allies to take part in a #NationalSchoolWalkout for 17 minutes at 10am on March 14, 2018. Join us in saying #ENOUGH!https://t.co/8ZE8uthRlZ pic.twitter.com/45yCZl4zDm

 Women's March (@womensmarch) February 16, 2018

Student survivors also planning to protest in Washington, D.C. on March 24 at an event organized by March For Our Lives. The website reads: "School safety is not a political issue. There cannot be two sides to doing everything in our power to ensure the lives and futures of children who are at risk of dying when they should be learning, playing, and growing. The mission and focus of March For Our Lives is to demand that a comprehensive and effective bill be immediately brought before Congress to address these gun issues. No special interest group, no political agenda is more critical than timely passage of legislation to effectively address the gun violence issues that are rampant in our country."

Another walkout is planned for April 20th, the 19th anniversary of the deadly Columbine High School shooting in 1999. Nearly 60,000 people have signed a petition pledging to join the event.

Image via Getty





Waking up on Presidents Day to hate-tweets from Donald Trump isn't quite the surprise. The words "very insecure" and Oprah Winfrey in the same statement makes it clear this man has lost his mind. Last night, while the nation mourned the loss of lives from the devastating Florida school shooting, the 45th POTUS wrapped his weekend watching a segment of 60 Minutes. The segment, moderated by Oprah, gathered 14 voters from Grand Rapids, Michigan discussing politics, policy, and Trump's presidency.

In true Trump fashion, he quickly took to Twitter lashing out on Oprah and challenging her to run for office.

Not to mention, Ms. Winfrey has repeatedly expressed that she has no interest in running for president in 2020, or ever. In her words, "It's not in my DNA." We all know Trump has a reputation of coming for the wrong one on social media  his blatant disrespect for pillars of our society and disregard for the current state of our nation has luckily been documented on his account for years. We rounded up a few times President Donald J. Trump took slamming people with his trash opinions on Twitter more seriously than he takes his job.

Somebody please inform Trump to keep Hov's name out of his mouth.

That time he couldn't fit his rant for Meryl Streep in 140 characters and we weren't sure what derogatory slur was coming after "she is a..."

Is it mike or mic Mr. President? Clearly his opinion on Jemele Hill's career was more important than spell check.

The entire cast of Hamilton was added to Trump's "highly overrated" list.

There's just some people who shouldn't be touched. Whoopi Goldberg is one of them.

Snoop Dog, with a 20+ year span in the music industry, is still failing according to Donald.

Bye, Don.

Image via Getty

Last week Apple's CEO Tim Cook talked up the company's ambitions in the health-care sector by hinting that it will move beyond wellness apps and devices, like its step-tracking Apple Watch. Cook acknowledged at the company's annual shareholders meeting in Cupertino, California, that the health-care sector, which is notoriously complex, doesn't always encourage new players to innovate. The CNBC report further noted that Cook reassured shareholders that he views Apple as having a "great position," in the sector, by taking a more consumer-friendly approach. Today a new report states that Apple's move into health care could be a game changer.

Wired believes that Cook's announcement "portends great things for consumers and the app developers seeking to serve them, from our perspectives as the former US chief technology officer under President Obama, and as an early adopter of the Apple service as Rush University Medical Center's chief information officer. That's because Apple has committed to an open API for health care recordsspecifically, the Argonaut Project specification of the HL7 Fast Health Interoperability Resourcesso your doctor or hospital can participate with little extra effort.

This move is a game-changer for three reasons: It affirms there is one common path to open up electronic health records data for developers so they can focus on delighting consumers rather than chasing records. It encourages other platform companies to build on that path, rather than pursue proprietary systems. And it ensures that the pace of progress will accelerate as healthcare delivery systems respond to the aggregate demand of potentially millions of iPhone users around the world.

Spurred on by financial incentives in the 2009 Recovery Act, the Affordable Care Act and in 2015, the bipartisan Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act, providers are implementing health IT systems that are certified to meet certain government requirements.

One such mandate is to allow patients the ability to connect any application of their choice, like Apple Health, to a portion of their records via an API. However, the government left room for the private sector to build consensus on how to achieve this requirement, which resulted in the Argonaut Project specification."

The Wired report further noted: "Imagine if Apple further opens up Apple Health so it no longer serves as the destination, but a conduit for a patient's longitudinal health record to a growing marketplace of applications that can help guide consumers through decisions to better manage their health." For more on this, check out the full Wired report here.

Apple also has a few patents on the health care front. Patently Apple covered one in a report posted last August titled "A Secret Health Care System Designed for a Future iPhone Surfaced today at the U.S. Patent Office as a Granted Patent," with two of the Patent figures noted below.





Another patent was covered just last Thursday titled "Apple Patent Reveals a Vital Signs Monitoring System Integrated into a Bedding Mat."





About Making Comments on our Site: Patently Apple reserves the right to post, dismiss or edit any comments. Those using abusive language or negative behavior will result in being blacklisted on Disqus.The title is, of course, a play on Jesuss statement, the poor you will always have with you, made when a woman anoints him with costly oil and one of the disciples flips out and says, that money could have been spent on the poor. Jesus then follows that up with, you will not always have me (Matthew 26:11), and praises the womans deed as anticipating his coming death. Im reminded of that not just because of the passage itself, but because of some reading I did in grad school; medieval theologians analyzed this passage and concluded that it was not just a throwaway line but had great meaning. Why were the poor to always be with us? So that everyone else had recipients for their charity, for one thing, as I recall.

That particular passage, and the discussion it inspired, came to mind with respect to an article that came across my twitter feed the other day, Children and Gender Inequality: Evidence from Denmark. The first time it was shared, I didnt really notice it much: the basic argument is that it is not being female that is the cause of a pay gap, but specifically being a mother, as 80% of the pay differences between men and women are explained by child penalties (though the authors also comment in a footnote that they use the label penalty consistent with current usage in the field and not to express a belief that these are objectively penalties). The authors note that sex-based pay inequality stands at 15  20% in both the US and Denmark and appears to have plateaued at that level. The article is very dense and Ill admit that I only skimmed the methodology section, but here are the key graphs (page 42).

Which are pretty dramatic differences, but something that makes sense intuitively. After all, mothers are disadvantaged by the lack of paid leave, the high cost of child care, and so on.

But, as I said, this is Denmark, and thats the surprise in the report.

In total, parents in Denmark get 52 weeks of paid parental leave. The general rule is that the mother has the right to four weeks of leave directly before the planned birth and then to a further 14 weeks of leave after birth. The babys father is entitled to take two weeks of leave during the first fourteen weeks after the birth of the child. Then 32 weeks follow where the mother and father can freely share leave between them. They can choose to be on parental leave at the same time or in periods one after the other

according to Oresunddirekt.com.

And

Denmark is a pretty good place to raise children. Working hours are short, and its perfectly OK to leave work at 3 or 4 oclock to pick up your kids. Theres a good system for early childhood health. A nurse visits your home when your child is a baby. Later, there are regular checkups with a doctor.If your child has the sniffles, you can take off work and stay home with her. The first two days are paid time off. And, of course, theres the day care system. Its not free, but its reasonably priced, and its nice to be able to drop off your kid in a safe place with trained people while you go to work. In some countries, theres a lot of controversy about whether very young children should be in day care or at home with their parents. Not in Denmark. 97% of kids go to day care, even the children of the Royal Family. Even the future king, currently known as ten-year-old Prince Christian, went to day care. Everyone goes to day care partly because the Danish tax structure means both parents have to go to work. But Danish day care is also social engineering. Its about creating that equality and community spirit that everyone prizes in Denmark. Day care is the first step in making your child more Danish than wherever you come from.

According to How to Live in Denmark.

Now, its true that there are suggestions that the issue is that even in Denmark, the level of social engineering is insufficient. An article at Bloomberg earlier this year by Leonid Bershidsky suggested that the remedy is mandatory parental leave of equal length for mothers and fathers, with no transferability, so that fathers are obliged to spend the same amount of time caring for their infant children as mothers.

A country mandating equal, completely non-transferable family leave for both men and women would begin to degrade the stereotype propping up the pay gap. If men and women must both take time off to take care of a child, and if they are actively encouraged to put equal effort into child-rearing  something that can only be good for children  employers will cease to regard men as the more committed workers.

Now, the article in question refers throughout to mandatory leave, and Im not entirely certain whether the author simply refers to the system of government benefits-in-lieu-of-pay and permitted time off as mandatory or whether he envisions employees being absolutely required to leave the workplace for the specified length of time. But whether or not men take time off while their children are infants, says nothing about the expectations and preferences of mothers and fathers over their careers, in terms of hours worked, dedication to career advancement vs. parenting and other non-work activities, and so on.

Which means that, if the extensive social engineering of a Scandinavian country like Denmark hasnt fixed the gap, it raises the question of whether its fixable or whether trying to fix it is even a goal we should attempt to achieve.

Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AUS_Navy_050114-N-3659B-050_he_Morale_Welfare_and_Recreation_Child_Development_Center_on_board_Naval_Support_Activity_Mid-South_in_Millington%2C_Tenn.%2C_provides_daycare_services.jpg; By U.S. Navy photo by Photographers Mate 3rd Class Joseph M. Buliavac [Public domain], via Wikimedia CommonsNews and commentary on organized crime, street crime, white collar crime, cyber crime, sex crime, crime fiction, crime prevention, espionage and terrorism.The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) has assured the public of food safety concerning some two oil brands seized in Switzerland with some individuals claiming that the two brands are on the Ghanaian market.



Information circulating on social media suggests that POLIFUDS and the ZOMI brands reported to have been confiscated by Swiss authorities are being sold in Ghana.



However a statement from FDA issued on Friday, February 16 indicated :  Preliminary investigations conducted so far by the FDA about the publication indicate that the implicated brands are not registered with the FDA and there is no information regarding the country of origin.



Market surveillance carried out so far by the FDA has also not established that the said brands are in circulation on the Ghanaian market. It must be noted that ZOMI is a generic name for a type of palm oil in many West African countries and its origin should not be necessarily associated with Ghana only.



The FDA further assured the general public that it has put in place regulatory measures to ensure that palm oil on the Ghanaian market, as well as export consignments are safe for consumption.



Below is the statement :



FDA ASSURES PUBLIC ON SAFETY OF PALM OIL ON THE MARKET



The attention of the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) has been drawn to news making rounds on social media about a seizure of two brands of palm oil (POLIFUDS and ZOMI) in Switzerland purported to contain Sudan dyes.



The publication attributed its source to the Swiss Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office (FSVO) and warned against the use of the said palm oil brands. It may be recalled that the FDA has worked extensively on this subject in the past in collaboration with other agencies including its European partners to ensure the safety of palm oil used in Ghana and for export.



Preliminary investigations conducted so far by the FDA about the publication indicate that the implicated brands are not registered with the FDA and there is no information regarding the country of origin. Market surveillance carried out so far by the FDA has also not established that the said brands are in circulation on the Ghanaian market. It must be noted that ZOMI is a generic name for a type of palm oil in many West African countries and its origin should not be necessarily associated with Ghana only.



The FDA wishes to assure the general public that it has put in place regulatory measures to ensure that palm oil on the Ghanaian market, as well as export consignments are safe for consumption.



The export control measures include the sampling and testing of consignments for Sudan IV dyes among other parameters. Failed consignments are disposed of. The FDA will continue to monitor the industry and trade practices to promote public health and safety.



Meanwhile, the public is encouraged to alert the FDA on any issue regarding its mandate through any of the following contacts Toll free: 0800151000(Vodafone and Airtel) Hotlines: 0299802932, 0299802933



Short code: 4015



Signed Chief Executive Officer













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The Government of Ghana has lifted the financial barriers confronting most parents following the implementation of its free SHS policy, Second Lady Samira Bawumia has revealed.



The Second Lady noted that the policy is somehow a savior because several students who would have become destitutes have been absorbed into various Senior High Schools to enhance their education.



Delivering a speech on behalf of Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia at the 68th Speech and Prize giving-day celebration of the T.I Ahamaddiya at Kumasi on Saturday, February 17, 2018, Samira Bawumia disclosed about 90000 students have been enrolled into various schools this year under the project.



"I am pleased to announce that this academic year, about 90,000 more children have taken up their places in Senior High Schools than in previous years, and this, primarily is because we have lifted financial barriers with the implementation of the Free Senior High School policy".



Due to the high number of student enrolment, she reiterated the significance in expanding the "physical infrastructure in our senior high schools in order to accommodate the anticipated rise of student numbers in the coming years".



Mrs. Bawumia outlined some government's interventions to provide quality education in the country saying "...government is focused on its vision of ensuring that quality education becomes accessible to all our children, irrespective of their social or financial circumstances. We believe education is the bedrock upon which every nations growth and development is anchored. Our human resource capital is our greatest asset, and we have a duty to capitalize on that for the ultimate benefit of our society.



"It is this core belief that drives governments Free SHS policy, which was rolled out in September 2017 at the start of the 2017/18 academic year. Inevitably, the Free SHS policy means an increase in the number of children accessing senior high school education, for the simple reason that children who would otherwise have stayed at home because of the financial barriers to senior high school education, now have a chance to change their destiny...Under the Secondary Education Improvement Project (SEIP), government has successfully negotiated an additional $40m from the World Bank to expand the project to include facilities upgrade in 75 senior high schools in the country".



She also stated, as part of measures to expand infrastructure in various Senior High Schools, the government will therefore construct a Girl's dormitory and Staff accommodation for T.I Ahamaddiya SHS and in addition, a 60-seater bus will be provided to ease the transportation challenges confronting the school.



"I am glad to note that the implementation of the Free SHS policy is going on very well in this school; as per the monitoring exercise recently undertaken on senior high schools...I have noted the requests for the provision of a 60-Seater Bus, a Girls Dormitory and Staff Accommodation. I want to promise you on behalf of government that these requests would be responded to positively with the needed urgency. I would like to add that all other requests would be looked into as well".

Mrs. Bawumia also had an advice for the teaching staff of the school and the students.



"Mr. Chairman, let me take this opportunity to put up a word of advice for our hard-working teachers. Of course, that the importance of the teacher to education can never be underestimated. And that is why the NPP government believes in a Teacher First policy; therefore, we are introducing several reforms in teacher training, skill upgrades, improved teaching and learning materials and a host of others to ensure that you are best placed to deliver quality education outcomes for our children. Government is confident that you will support its initiatives aimed at improving the quality of our education, including the Free Senior High School policy.



"Be diligent in your dealings with the students and encourage them to take up their studies seriously. Be effective role models for them, because at their impressionable ages, how you conduct yourselves will have a huge impact on their lives. Guide them to understand that they are the future leaders Ghana needs".



She commended the school for their remarkable feat in the education sector since its establishment in 1950, saying "...I would like to also applaud the school for being one of the highly disciplined Senior High Schools in the country. I am told that for almost seventy years of its establishment, the school has never experienced, even for once, any sort of unrest. It is again refreshing to know that the current students are also on the same path of discipline that their predecessors walked...I congratulate all the students here for their hard work and diligence.



"I wish all stakeholders of T.I Ahmaddiya Senior High School a happy and memorable sixty-eighth year anniversary. May your work ethic, sense of purpose and commitment to this school reflect the dreams and the hard work of your founders. May you grow even stronger in the years ahead and continue to make an indelible mark on the fortunes of this country".



Present at the event were Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, Ashanti Regional Minister Simon Osei Mensah, GES Chairman Michael Nsowah, Mary Owusu Achiaw, Regional Director of Education, and Alhaji Maulvi Mohammed Noor Bin Salih, the Ameer and Missionary-in-Charge of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Mission among others.

Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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 member of Ebonys management team, Abeiku Santana, has revealed that Ebony rode in Prophet Owusu Bempahs car.



According to Abeiku, Owusu Bempah readily offered his car to Ebony to ride in whenever she was attending an event. Abeiku Santana, known in private life as Gilbert Abeiku Aggrey, made this revelation at the One Week memorial of Ebony which was held yesterday in Accra and monitored by YEN.



He also revealed that two days after Ebonys death, Owusu Bempah visited her family to make a huge donation toward Ebonys funeral arrangements.



Whenever Ebony wanted to go somewhere of importance, or to perform, she goes to see her daddy Prophet Owusu Bempah who gives her his car to use, Abeiku revealed. This gesture by Owusu Bempah is believed to part of the spiritual protection he was said to be offering to Ebony.



It would be recalled that Prophet Apostle Owusu Bempah had claimed that he foresaw Ebonys death and consequently informed her and her management about it. The managers have also revealed how the popular cleric gave them some directions to observe in order to avert the death sentence that was hanging on Ebony.



Therefore, it appears Ebony use of Owusu Bempahs car was a spiritual directive to reverse her death sentence. But unfortunately, Ebony died suddenly in a car crash on Thursday, February 8, 2018 on the Kumasi-Sunyani Highway. She was reportedly returning from visiting her mother and other family members in Sunyani when the sad incident occurred.



Meanwhile, her managers have also revealed how Ebony informed them of visiting the Northern Region a day before her death.



Her one-week memorial was held yesterday with thousands of people thronging St. Martin De Porres School in Dansoman, Accra, to participate. The family has announced her final funeral rites to be held on March 17, 2018.









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The Director in charge of Transport and Logistics at the Flagstaff House has hinted that, popular movie actor John Dumelo will face the Special Prosecutor, Mr. Martin Amidu over his suspected illegal acquisition of state cars.



Odeneho Nana Oppong noted on NEAT FMs morning show Ghana Montie that the soon-to-be-confirmed Special Prosecutor would be provided with the names of celebrities and journalists who illegally acquired state cars from the Mahama administration.



According to him, even though government has gain access of Dumelos alleged stolen car, he will face Amidu for questions.



Odeneho Nana Oppong told host Akwasi Aboagye that We now have enough evidence of his illegal acquisition of the cars. John Dumelo together with other journalists will face the Special Prosecutor.



Background of Dumelo V8 Saga



National Security operatives caught popular movie actor John Dumelo with a vehicle belonging to the state and retrieved it from a spraying shop.



Dumelo was allegedly attempting to conceal the identity of the black V8 Toyota Land Cruiser with registration GE 8118 16 when the operatives pounced on it at a garage at Abelemkpe in Accra where it had purportedly been sent for re-spraying.



The vehicle, with chassis number JTMHVOJ2F4159829, 2015 model with full option, has been parked at the Office of the President Annex.



When the operatives invited him to the garage, he reportedly panicked and shook like rain-beaten chick, before surrendering the expensive vehicle without any protest.



The operatives, upon a tip-off, swooped on the garage and got hold of the auto mechanic who told them that the vehicle belonged to John Dumelo.



He was then telephoned to come to the garage and upon arrival, hes reported to have first said that he bought the V8 from a car dealer, Svani Company Limited, and claimed he was yet to complete the payment.



The operatives then keyed in the chassis number into a centralized computer system but the results showed that the vehicle was registered in the name of the National Security Secretariat which is a property of the Government of Ghana.



Sensing he was getting into trouble, hes reported to have quickly changed his story, claiming that it was former First Lady Lordina Mahama who had given the V8 to him.



The security operatives immediately decided to crosscheck from the First Lady to ascertain the facts but the actor (Dumelo) reportedly pleaded with them to stop and just take the vehicle away.



The operatives checks at Svani Motors along the Spintex Road indicated that the company imported the vehicle for the National Security Council Secretariat and that the company is one of the several auto dealers used by the government to import vehicles for the state.



When the security personnel got to the garage, the vehicle had been dismantled and was going through re-modeling, including re-spraying  with parts allegedly imported from Dubai.



John Dumelo was said to have brought some spare parts from Dubai to enhance the looks of the vehicle.



DAILY GUIDE also reported that John Dumelo got two V8s from the NDC government, with his girlfriend driving one of them.



When he was asked to direct the operatives to the whereabouts of the other vehicle, he pleaded with them to allow him to travel to London and return to produce it.



Dumelo released the other V8 which is believed to be ash in colour to his girlfriend. He told the operatives that he was going to return it after the girlfriend had returned from a trip she had used it for.

Source: King Edward Ambrose Washman Addo/Peacefmonline.com/ Twitter: @Washman5/ Instagram: Ambrose_wash









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Featured VideoThe President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has urged the Government, and the leaders of Togos Opposition, to be guided, always, by Togos interests, as well as the interests of the Togolese people, in a bid to find a lasting solution to the on-going political impasse in that country.



According to President Akufo-Addo, the desire of the Togolese people for a better life, their desire to live in security, their desire to live in freedom, and their desire to live in a state governed by the rule of law and principles of democratic accountability, should be the desires that Togos political actors must fulfil.



It is at this dialogue that will determine the future of this country. It is the Togolese people themselves, and not any outside forces, that will determine the future of your country. It is extremely important to recognise that the destinies of our own nations are in our own hands. Therefore, whatever emerges out of this dialogue must represent the solutions that the Togolese people are looking for, the President said.



President Akufo-Addo made this known on Monday, 19th February, 2018, at the opening ceremony of a political dialogue, being facilitated by him (President Akufo-Addo), and held between the Government of President Faure Gnassingbe, and the Coalition of 14 Togolese opposition parties, in Lome, Togo.



In urging the gathering to recognise that the spirit of accommodation, and the spirit of compromise, has to be at the very forefront of the preoccupation of every one gathered at the dialogue, the President explained that the national interest of Togo demands it.



And, that has to be the overriding concern of participants in this dialogue  the national interest of the people of Togo. It is important for the self-respect of the Togolese people that their leaders are seen to be capable of arriving at solutions that will advance the interests of the people of this country, President Akufo-Addo said.



The President noted that his job, and that of the facilitation team, whose membership is composed of the Minister for National Security, Albert Kan Dapaah; deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, Charles Owiredu; Ghanas Ambassador to Togo, Kwasi Owusu-Yeboa; Ambassador-at-large, Dr. Edward Mahama; former Secretary to President Kufuor and experienced, retired diplomat, D.K. Osei, is to assist in the process of finding a solution to the problems in Togo.



I dont have a position in this matter. Despite all the links between us (Ghana and Togo), I am not a Togolese and, therefore, I cannot have a position in this matter. I can only assist in bringing about, hopefully, a durable solution to the problems of your country, President Akufo-Addo added.



Strong ties between Ghana and Togo

Expressing his appreciation in French to the political actors in Togo for allowing him to be part of a programme, that is essentially Togolese, President Akufo-Addo stated that it is a mark of confidence you have expressed in your brothers and sisters from Ghana, of which we are grateful.



Recounting the ties between Ghana and Togo, the President indicated that the links between Togo and Ghana are links that are drawn from history, from geography, and from ethnic and familial ties.



We have been always each others keeper. At the very beginning of the independence of Ghana, when there were problems, many of the political activists in Ghana found refuge in Togo, and we have seen the same as happening that, wherever there are problems here (in Togo), people find refuge in Ghana, he said.



The President continued, Therefore, the interests of Ghanaians and of Ghanas political leaders in the peace and stability and freedom of the Togolese people is something which is not negotiable. It has its roots in the history and links that I have already described.



I have come here with no solution, prescription or magic wand to impose or prescribe any solution for the resolution of the crisis that has gripped your country these last months. My task is a simple one  to help assist in the dialogue that you, the various political actors of this country, have agreed to.



President Akufo-Addo added that the outcome of the dialogue was critical to the future of Togo so that peace, the stability, the consolidation of democracy and the rule of law, which is the demand of the Togolese people, which, in fact, are the demands of the African peoples today, are realised here in Togo.



Prior to the holding of the dialogue, President Akufo-Addo has, on several occasions, over the last 7 months, met with the President of the Togolese Republic, His Excellency Faure Gnassingbe, and with all the leaders of the coalition of 14 political parties, all with the purpose of setting the conditions the holding of Mondays dialogue.





Source: Peacefmonline.com









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Featured VideoWASHINGTON (AP) --Dozens of teenage students are lying down on the pavement in front of the White House to demand presidential action on gun control after 17 people were killed in a school shooting in Florida.

The teenagers are also joined by parents and educators. The protesters are holding their arms crossed at their chests. Two activists are covered by an American flag, another one is holding a sign asking, "Am I next?"

Teenagers shouting Shame on you in front of the White House. Theyre calling for @realDonaldTrump and congress to act now and pass gun laws to prevent mass shootings. @nbcwashington pic.twitter.com/4K3H4uccYq  Meagan Fitzgerald (@MeaganNBCDC) February 19, 2018

Ella Fesler is a 16-year-old high school student in Alexandria, Va. She says, "It's really important to express our anger and the importance of finally trying to make a change and having gun control in America."

Fesler adds, "Every day when I say 'bye' to my parents, I do acknowledge the fact that I could never see my parents again."

President Donald Trump is at his Florida golf club, some 40 miles from the site of the school shooting.A 17-year-old male student in Juniata County was arrested Monday morning for alleged threats of voilence, continuing a rash of incidents causing alarm at Pennsylvania schools since the mass shooting in Florida last week.



According to state police, the teen told some of his fellow students at East Juniata High School in Fayette Township not to come to school on Thursday, "inferring some sort of violence was going to occur."



Police said the teen was charged with making terroristic threats and taken to a juvenile detention center in Centre County. State police at Lewistown said the threats were made shortly before 9 a.m.



Elsewhere in Pennsylvania, a teenager was arrested in Somerset County after parents and grandparents contacted police Friday concerning a possible threat to Shade Junior-Senior High School.





Also, police rushed to the East Pennsboro Area School District campus in Cumberland County last week after school officials became aware of a threat made on social media by a local youngster who didn't attend the district. Police apparently went to the youngster's residence, but hadn't reported the outcome.PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Fire investigators are seeking the cause of an early morning blaze that tore through apartment buildings in Philadelphia's Old City on Sunday.

Authorities say scores of people, including guests of a hotel nearby, were evacuated after the alarm was sounded shortly after 3 a.m. Sunday in the 200 block of Chestnut Street.

Amazing work by @PhillyFireDept members & our support partners at 4-Alarm+  this morning in Old City... #pfdstrongtogether #24x7x365 pic.twitter.com/xkUcWBkFsb  Adam K. Thiel (@ThielAdam) February 18, 2018

The fire burned for hours. It was declared under control at 7 a.m. Sunday, but firefighters put out hot spots into Sunday night.

Several cats and birds, but no humans, were killed.

"I tried to go back up to get my cats and the fireman would not let me return. I pleaded with him to go up. They felt it was too dangerous," resident Al Gury told Philly.com. "We all spent the night on the street watching our homes go up in flames."

Still at the scene of the early morning fire at 3rd & Chestnut. Thanks to *all* our partners for their help. pic.twitter.com/7nn9HyQIwO  Philadelphia Fire (@PhillyFireDept) February 18, 2018

Philly.com reports the fire gutted or damaged two five-story apartment buildings and several restaurants and bars. It also closed the Museum of the American Revolution across the street, where a planned breakfast Sunday with a George Washington impersonator was repurposed to feed fire victims.

Deputy director Noelle Foizen of the Office of Emergency Management told The Philadelphia Inquirer that everyone had been accounted for. She said about 75 people took shelter at the museum.

Billy Penn reports that more than 400 firefighters fought the fire, and two suffered minor injuries.Tom Ridge, the former homeland security secretary and Pennsylvania governor, has been dealing firsthand with first responders for decades, but never quite like on the morning of Nov. 16.

Ridge was at a hotel in Austin, Texas where he was attending a meeting of the Republican Governors Association. When he woke up, he wasn't feeling well. But it was more than just not feeling well. "I also felt different," he said. He didn't know it then, but he was in danger of dying.

He reached for his cellphone and did a search on heart attacks. At age 72, he had no known heart issues, kept himself fit and had worked out a few days earlier without incident. He questioned whether there was anything seriously wrong, and after skimming through a narrative about heart problems, he lay back down on the bed.

But after his symptoms continued, he picked up his phone a second time and did another search. Up came a checklist of heart attack symptoms. "I said, 'Check. Check. Check. Ridge, you could be having a heart attack," he said. At that point he struggled to get out of bed and over to the hotel phone.

"By the time I got to the phone, I knew I was in big trouble," he said. He was, as he put it, like a battery that was draining energy at an alarming rate. Ridge dialed the operator, gave his room number and said he needed help. "I woke up six days later," he said.

An emergency team arrived at his room minutes after his call. For more than an hour, they worked on him. "I'm told I flatlined three times," he said. Once in his room, a second time in the elevator and the third time in the lobby of the hotel. At one point, he was revived enough to give the EMS team the name of a longtime colleague who was in the hotel. Then he was out again.

He later learned that the emergency technicians took turns pounding on his chest, rotating one after another because of the physical effort required. In the process, they cracked his sternum and broke several ribs. He says it was a small price to keep him alive. Once he got to the hospital, he was put on life support.

"These first responders," he said, "kept me alive." He also owes his life to the cardiologists and nurses who took over at the hospital, where he remained on life support for six days and was at times disoriented as to where he was.

Ridge believes he was fortunate to be where he was at that moment of his heart attack. He was in a hotel filled with governors from around the country and therefore a hotel also filled with security people and emergency medical personnel. They were able to respond almost instantly to his call for help.

Had he been almost anywhere else - in his office in downtown Washington or overseas, as he was scheduled to be a few days later - he believes help would not have arrived so swiftly and he might not have survived. As it was, he barely did survive. He said he was told that only about 5 percent of people who suffer such an attack survive it.

"But for their persistence and their training," he said as his voice trailed off.

Ridge grew up in Erie, Pa., won a scholarship to Harvard and was drafted into the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War. He was awarded the Bronze Star. He received a law degree, practiced law and served as an assistant district attorney. In 1982, a bad midterm election for Republicans, he won a House seat from Pennsylvania by 729 votes, out-hustling a labor-backed candidate in a labor-heavy district.

He served six terms in Congress before seeking the governorship. He was tapped by then-president George W. Bush after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, to serve in the White House as head of the office of homeland security. When the new Department of Homeland Security was established, he was its first secretary. He left at the end of Bush's first term.

During the 2016 campaign, he was among several dozen Republicans who signed a letter arguing that then-candidate Donald Trump "lacks the character, values and experience" to be president. He wrote a letter saying he would vote for neither Trump nor Hillary Clinton in the general election, and he has been critical of GOP leaders for not standing up to Trump.

Ridge had not talked publicly about what happened to him in Austin until now. His conversation with me happened to take place on the morning after the horrific shooting at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, that left 17 people dead and another 14 wounded. So, the juxtaposition of lives lost and lives saved was right on the surface.

The bravery of first responders was fresh in his mind.

"The first people to arrive and the last ones to leave are always the first responders," he said. "It's always the local EMS, the local police, the local fire. The federal government comes in, and when they leave, you've still got the EMS, the local police and the local fire. ... You take your police and your fire and your EMS for granted. ... These men and women run to danger."

Also on his mind was the issue of how to keep communities - schools, workplaces and public spaces - safe from the kind of deadly violence seen at the high school in Florida. Ridge had served on a task force after the mass shootings at Virginia Tech in 2007. He worried about warning signs that might have been overlooked and about society's inability to agree on a way to lessen the risk of more mass killings.

Ridge said the topic of gun restrictions should be a given in any discussion about how public officials respond to these tragedies. As a member of Congress, he voted for a ban on assault weapons. But he said the challenges go beyond narrowing the chasm in attitudes on gun control. Identifying potential shooters with mental health problems and finding ways to act on that information also has defied solutions.

"You've got the gun-rights advocates, the privacy advocates and the mental health advocates. That's a trifecta that ought to start thinking about this in a much more serious tone than they've done before," he said. "I wish I had the answer, but unless you get serious people in those three constituencies to say how can we work together - we won't be able to eliminate it, but to minimize this risk to reduce the possibility that this happens in the future."

After his heart attack, Ridge remained in Austin for a little over a month before he was able to fly back to Washington. Three months after the day of his heart attack, he is able to go to his office a few days a week as he continues his recovery.

"The first day I walked outside, I don't know how blue the sky was, but it was the darkest blue I'd ever seen ever," he said. "How fragile and precious life is, that we take so much for granted."

(c) 2018, The Washington Post * Dan BalzA memorial service for Harrisburg's first black police chief has been set for Saturday, Feb. 24 at Goodwin Memorial Baptist Church.

The celebration of Alexander Whitlock's life, legacy and contributions is set to begin at noon at the church at 2447 Green Street.

Whitlock, 78, died Feb. 11 after a battle with cancer at his home in Michigan.

In lieu of flowers, the family has set up the Alexander Whitlock Memorial Fund for contributions at the BELCO Community Credit Union. Checks can be written to: Sebrenna Whitlock, with the memo: Alexander Whitlock - 0030.

Or contributions may be made online at: http://paypal.me/SebrennaWhitlock. His daughter plans to use the fund to pay for service expenses, to make a donation to a charity in her father's name and to try to create a more permanent marker to her father's legacy in the city.

Whitlock will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery at a later date. There is a four-week waiting list for burials at the veterans cemetery.

He served the city as a police officer for 23 years, including a two-year stint in the top job starting in 1988. He later moved back to his hometown of Michigan to take care of his ailing mother.

As chief, he helped the department earn national accreditation for the first time by establishing a set of written policies and procedures for officers. While some officers liked the idea of not being tied to printed rules, Whitlock believed it enhanced accountability and credibility.

Whitlock also was instrumental in creating a black police chiefs association, an affirmative action office and community policing centers.

Harrisburg Police Chief Thomas Carter said Whitlock talked him into joining the department in the 1980s. Whitlock lived next door to Carter's family.

Whitlock spent time talking to Carter, explaining police procedures and telling him that police officers work for the people in the community.

"He inspired me, Carter said. "Now as chief, I get my open-door policy from him."

Prior to his police career, Whitlock served 12 years in the Army, including two tours in Vietnam.EAST BRUNSWICK, N.J. (AP) -- A New Jersey rabbi and two New York City residents are facing charges in connection with the alleged human trafficking of a Pennsylvania teenager.

Middlesex County prosecutors say 18-year-old Gabriella Colon and 23-year-old Richard Ortiz, both of the Bronx, coerced a 17-year-old Lancaster girl into having sex with roughly 30 men between Jan. 1 and Feb. 2 at an East Brunswick hotel. They were arrested Friday and face numerous charges, including criminal restraint and promoting prostitution.

Prosecutors say 18-year-old Gabriella Colon, left, and 23-year-old Richard Ortiz, both of the Bronx, coerced a 17-year-old Lancaster girl into having sex with dozens of men.

The rabbi, 35-year-old Aryeh Goodman of East Brunswick, was allegedly among those who had sex with the girl. He's charged with engaging in prostitution with a child and child endangerment.

He has a criminal background related to assault on a child. According to NJ.com:

Aryeh Goodman

Goodman was sentenced in Pike County, Pa., in October 2015 to 11 to 23 months in prison after pleading guilty to two counts of indecent assault of a person less than 13 years of age, according to court records.

When Goodman was arrested in January 2013, he was charged with 12 counts of indecent assault of a person less than 13 years of age. The remaining charges were dismissed as part of his guilty plea.

The assaults occurred in June 2001 when Goodman was a counselor at Camp Manachem in Pennsylvania. At the time of his arrest in that case, Goodman was the director of Chabad of East Brunswick, which focused on educating children.FILE - In this Saturday, May 20, 2017 file photo, Pippa Middleton and James Matthews smile after their wedding at St Mark's Church in Englefield, England. With Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's May 19 wedding fast approaching, the fashion and bridal worlds are abuzz with talk of who the bride will pick to design her dress and what kind of look she would go for. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, Pool, File)The Mondelez plant is seen in Montreal on December 1, 2016. More than a year after it announced its closure, Montreal's Oreo cookie plant is shutting down for good. A spokesperson for Mondelez Canada confirms the 300,000-square-foot factory will shut its operations at the end of the month and auction off its remaining equipment. It's the latest in a series of big-name companies that have left the city in recent years, but one industry expert believes the city's manufacturing sector is about to turn the corner. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul ChiassonAlex Gonzalez stops at a makeshift memorial outside the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where 17 students and faculty were killed in a mass shooting on Wednesday, in Parkland, Fla., Monday, Feb. 19, 2018. Nikolas Cruz, a former student, was charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder on Thursday. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)Mourners pray over the flag-draped coffin of Ismail Mahmoud, 24, a fighter of the Popular Mobilization Forces, who was killed Sunday in an attack southwest of the northern city of Kirkuk, during his funeral in Najaf, Iraq, Monday, Feb. 19, 2018. Officials said Monday that Islamic State militants ambushed the group of Iraq's Shiite-led paramilitary fighters, killing Mahmoud and at least 26 others, more than two months after Baghdad declared victory over the extremist group. (AP Photo/Anmar Khalil)In this Feb. 16, 2018, photo, Andy Cilek poses with a Tea Party shirt at his home in Eden Prairie, Minn. Cilek was one of two voters who defied elections officials after he was asked to cover up a tea-party shirt and button. A Minnesota law that bars voters from wearing political hats, T-shirts, buttons and other apparel to the polls is about to get a look from the Supreme Court. (AP Photo/Jim Mone)Mount Sinabung spews volcanic ash as it erupts in Kutarakyat, North Sumatra, Indonesia, Monday, Feb. 19, 2018. Rumbling Mount Sinabung on the Indonesian island of Sumatra has shot billowing columns of ash more than 5,000 meters (16,400 feet) into the atmosphere and hot clouds down its slopes. (AP Photo/Endro Rusharyanto)In this photo provided by Tasnim News Agency, a rescue helicopter flies over the Dena mountains while searching for wreckage of a plane that crashed on Sunday, in southern Iran, Monday, Feb. 19, 2018. Iranian search and rescue teams on Monday reached the site of a plane crash the previous day that authorities say killed all 65 people on board, Iran's Press TV reported.(Ali Khodaei/Tasnim News Agency via AP)Guyana be aware of inflated Petroleum Data - Anthony Paul By Kiana Wilburg



GEORGETOWN

Petroleumworld 02 19 2018 As Guyana inches closer to oil production, the systems for accurate reporting on the sector will be essential.



This point was recently made by Advisor to Chatham House on Oil and Gas, Mr. Anthony Paul.



The Oil and Gas expert said that Guyana, like other new petroleum producers have done, will need to develop programmes for a robust oil and gas sector. He said that one of these programmes includes creating trusted individuals, agencies and channels for providing up-to-date information to citizens.



The Chatham House Advisor was careful to note as well that having policies which may dictate the disclosure of data is not enough. In the case of Ghana and Nigeria for example, there are policies which expressly state that petroleum data should be released. But in several instances, there have been criticisms where the data was said to be inflated.



The Chatham House Advisor shared that Brazil has a very comprehensive system of collecting and reporting petroleum data. But its efficient reporting required trusted individuals, agencies and channels 



Paul also stated that in the case of Trinidad and Tobago, the nation's regulations provide for the disclosure of oil information. Those regulations have been in place since 1970. However, TT is now about to put mechanisms in place to get credible data. The Chatham advisor noted that this was due to the fact that the regulatory capacity of Trinidad and Tobago was not where it should have been.



OTHER CRUCIAL FACTORS



The Oil and Gas expert also noted that there will be a need for other programmes to complement the aforementioned.



In Guyana's case, Paul said there would be a need for educating citizens, special interest groups and the media on the workings of the industry; providing platforms for engaging with civil society (two way conversations) and demonstrating that feedback is incorporated into management of the sector.



Aware of the potential impacts of the resource curse, the Chatham House Advisor said that several international NGOs and multilateral agencies have been engaged in improving governance of natural resources in new oil and gas producing countries.



Paul stated that the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI) has been a leader in this respect and has developed a whole compendium of tools, including Natural Resource Charter, which provides a structured approach for developing countries to manage the multiple facets of resource governance for sustainable development.



The Advisor noted that the Chatham House New Petroleum Producers Discussion Group (NPPDG) has been assisting Guyana.



He noted too that the World Bank, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and several others have developed guidelines and tools that can be useful to government regulators and to Civil Society in developing their capacity to hold government accountable in managing the resources.



Paul emphasized that there are lots of lessons that can be learnt from these interventions.



GLOBAL WITNESS SUPPORTS



The Global Witness is an international body that works to break the links between natural resource exploitation, corruption, and human rights abuses worldwide.



It is one of many institutions, which has implored governments of oil nations around the world, to ensure that certain documents are released for citizens to scrutinize.



It notes that these documents should include Production Sharing Agreements for the oil and gas sector; Licence agreements; Safety inspection reports; Environmental Impact Assessments; and Approved development plans (with tightly defined exemptions).



The anticorruption body believes that Governments should also ensure that company records are carefully recorded and published online. The Global Witness also stressed that the ultimate beneficial owner of companies bidding for contracts or participating in the extractive sector should be declared and published.

Story by Kiana Wilburg from Kaieter News



Kaieteurnewsonline.com 02 19 2018

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'98,ME,XP, Vista, Windows 7,8,10 +/ 800x600 pixelsCampbell -Gold mining creates more benefits for Guyanese than ExxonMobil, CGX By Abena Rockcliffe-Campbell



GEORGETOWN

Petroleumworld 02 19 2018 The contract signed by a gold mining company, Aurora Mining Inc outlined clearer and stricter direct benefits for Guyanese than the two public contracts that Guyana has with oil companies ExxonMobil and CGX.

There has been public outcry regarding the controversial Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) between Government and ExxonMobil. Also, on Saturday, the government released the contract signed with CGX which is almost identical to the ExxonMobil contract. These contracts, which were signed in 2013 and 2016 respectively, make quite inadequate provisions for local content. They were signed after the Aurora contract which was agreed to since 2011.



The Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) was involved in the drafting and negotiation of this agreement as it was in the oil contracts of CGX and ExxonMobil.



GGMC commissioner, Newell Dennison is refusing to provide answers on how the Commission failed to secure the same or better provisions.



Local content refers to degree to which the natives of a particular country can benefit from foreign investment. This is especially in relation to the investments that feed off of the natural resources of a country.



The Aurora contract, seen by this newspaper, ensures the use of materials sourced in Guyana and, among other things, ensures local labour.



The contract states, the Company shall use all reasonable efforts to give preference, to the maximum extent compatible with efficient operations and good mining practices using standards applicable in the international mining industry, to products and services produced and offered in Guyana, provided these are offered at competitive terms and conditions.



Noteworthy is the fact that the term, to the maximum extent possible was included in the 1999 agreement that Guyana had with ExxonMobil. This was subsequently removed from the 2016 agreement.



The Aurora contract states, Without prejudice to the rights granted to the Company under articles 8, 9 and 10 hereof, the Company shall give preference to Guyanese construction enterprises and to the use of buildings which can be constructed by using materials and skills available in Guyana, to the employment of Guyanese subcontractors for road construction and transportation and to the purchase of household products and furniture in Guyana. The Company shall also require its contractors and their subcontractors to follow these policies.



Also, within 90 days after the end of each fiscal year of operations, the Company shall, in the manner described in clause 3.3.1 hereof, submit a report to the Government setting forth (i) the relative percentages of foreign-sourced and Guyanese-sourced goods and services used by the Company, (ii) measures taken to enhance the role of Guyanese-sourced goods and services in the Project and (iii), measures to be implemented so as to improve such performance.



Further, the contract states, The report will show the performance of the Company in connection with its contribution to the economic development of Guyana over the years. The Company shall constantly use all reasonable efforts to improve such performance.



Attorney at Law and Chartered Accountant, Christopher Ram has decried the weaknesses of the local content provisions outlined in Article 18 of the ExxonMobil PSA.



He said that the words maximum extent possible have, rather unfortunately, been deleted while instead of encourage, the Contractor is required to contractually obligate sub-Contractors to hire appropriately qualified Guyanese.



Ram opined that in what appears to be a cut and paste job, the Minister and the Contractor will meet and consider the effectiveness of their plan, while the Contractor is required to submit half-yearly reports on how their plans are working out.



Story by Abena Rockcliffe-Campbell from Kaieter News



Kaieteurnewsonline.com 02 19 2018

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'98,ME,XP, Vista, Windows 7,8,10 +/ 800x600 pixelsPoliticians across the board have let us down with oil contracts  Guyana's Trade Unionist Lincoln Lewis By Kaieter News



GEORGETOWN

Petroleumworld 02 19 2018 Trade Unionist, Lincoln Lewis has acknowledged that the contract that Guyana has with CGX bears a sticking resemblance to the contract the nation has with ExxonMobil.



Lewis noted that two different governments signed those agreements. He said they all must take responsibility.



Lewis expressed his concerns and made his views known in a letter to the media.



He said that the media needs to be commended for its continuous effort in highlighting the truth as it relates to the contracts signed by Governments of Guyana with the oil companies.



Lewis noted that members of civil society, like Christopher Ram and Ramon Rambo Gaskin, have communicated to us their interest in taking a laser beam on this matter as they dissect ExxonMobil contract and offer their opinions on whether Guyana is getting the best deal or not. As regards to the politicians the public debates between the two sides and the evidence unfolding bring into question what their real motives are. The PPP/C Opposition decries the APNU+AFC Executive for the agreement it signed on behalf of the people of Guyana with ExxonMobil. Today the media is bringing to the public attention the similarities in the agreement signed by PPP/C Government with CGX and the APNU+AFC Government with ExxonMobil.



Lewis said that the nation should remember that CARIFORUM negotiated an Economic Partnership Agreement with the European Union (EU).



Subsequent to this CARICOM commenced engagement to seal an agreement with Canada on an economic partnership. The Canadian Government used the CARIFORUM/EU Agreement as the template in engaging CARICOM.



Lewis said that the negotiation of the first agreement sets the foundation for any that come thereafter.



He then noted that there is a principle in negotiation that it is wise to seek to avoid starting wrong because you will end wrong. In the case of the oil and gas agreements the first agreement will set the tone for others coming thereafter. While one is not aware whether the CGX can be considered the first, what is being gleaned is that it was used as the template in negotiating with Exxon.



The trade unionist said that political leaders, on both sides, need to take responsibility for the current agreements. He added, There exists a political culture where the politicians believe they are the beginning and end of every idea, they know everything, even though they continue to prove everyday their deficiencies in such regards.



Lewis said that the conundrum with the oil and gas agreements brings home two critical points. One being that Guyanese should not accept the notion that when all the politicians and political parties are sitting in the Executive under some so-called national unity government' Guyana and the masses' interest will be put first. Two, the arrogance in continuing to disregard Article 13 of the Guyana Constitution that mandates inclusionary democracy means that this nation is being deprived of input from diverse groups, talents and skills in the management and decision-making processes of the State.



Lewis noted that oil and gas industry will significantly alter Guyana's social, cultural, economic and political landscape and where this continues to be ignored we will all catch hell. Current revelations are bringing forcefully home the point of the importance of taking a nationalistic/inclusionary approach as against hugging issues of national import within one group at the exclusion of others. Serious efforts must therefore be made to demand that the politicians act consistent with Article 13, and we must require this not after the fact but before and throughout.



Story from Kaieter News



Kaieteurnewsonline.com 02 19 2018

Copyright 1999-2017 Petroleumworld or respective author or news agency. All rights reserved.



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'98,ME,XP, Vista, Windows 7,8,10 +/ 800x600 pixelsBHP to drill two new deepwater wells in Trion this year -update





By Reuters

MEXICO CITY

Petroleumworld 02 19 2018

Drilling of a new appraisal well and a separate exploration well in BHP Billiton deepwater Trion project will begin later this year, part of a plan approved by Mexican regulators on Thursday that also revised downward the project's estimated oil and gas resources.

Australian mining and oil giant BHP Billiton won the rights to operate Trion in late 2016, taking a 60 percent stake in the project valued at some $11 billion, while Mexico's state-owned oil company Pemex holds the remaining 40 percent.

The project marked the first-ever deepwater joint venture partnership for Mexico's newly opened oil sector following a constitutional energy overhaul in 2013.

Drilling for the new exploration well is scheduled to begin in October, part of BHP Billiton's obligations under the 35-year license contract it signed with the Mexican government.

The four-year exploration plan sets out three potential well locations, all west of the two original Trion wells previously drilled by Pemex in 2012 and 2014 and at different depths.

The plan also calls for the operator to drill a separate appraisal well in the part of Trion discovered by Pemex, which a company official speaking on background said will begin between August and October.

The Trion block, some 8,430 feet (2,570 meters) below sea level, lies just south of the U.S.-Mexico maritime border in the Gulf of Mexico's Perdido Fold Belt.

The exploration plan also calls for a range of geological studies as well as the acquisition and processing of new three-dimensional seismic data.

Pemex had previously estimated that the area contains reserves of 485 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe), but BHP's exploration plans reclassified the estimated resource.

The company's new estimate puts Trion's contingent resources at 475 million boe.

Gaspar Franco, one of the commissioners of the National Hydrocarbons Commission (CNH) that supervises the contracts, said during a session of the governing body of Mexico's oil regulator on Thursday that such reassessments are welcome.

(Trions) new operator has come along and said, Excuse me, but for me these still aren't reserves. Let me do the necessary studies,' said Franco.

This operator is coming with its investment and its taking the risk, he added.

Pemex will not have to contribute funding for the project for at least the first three years.

The CNH's governing body voted unanimously to approve the exploration plan.





Mexico foreign minister Luis Videgaray heads to Caribbean to win over Venezuelan allies





By Gabriel Stargardter

MEXICO CITY

Petroleumworld 02 19 2018

Mexico's foreign minister will travel to Jamaica, Grenada and Saint Lucia in March, a Mexican official said on Thursday, as part of efforts to erode Venezuela's oil-based influence in the Caribbean.

Meanwhile, Cuban diplomats will visit Mexico in March to discuss the regional impact of the crisis in Venezuela, the official said. The Cuban embassy in Mexico City said the trip was not yet confirmed but that the two countries have regular bilateral meetings. Still, there are no signs that Cuba, a steadfast ally of Caracas, is ready to turn its back on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray's planned trip follows a visit to Latin America and the Caribbean earlier this month by U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who announced plans to study how possible oil sanctions against Venezuela could be mitigated in the Caribbean.

The Mexican foreign minister's trip represents the latest development in U.S.-led pressure on Maduro, who retains loyalty from some Caribbean nations that have long benefited from Caracas' oil largess and have been unwilling to shun the country in regional diplomatic efforts.

The message is: Venezuela is not the only country that can help (Caribbean nations), that if there's a crisis in Venezuela, they have more friends, said the Mexican official, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the as-yet undisclosed trip.

The Mexican foreign ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The foreign ministries of Jamaica, Grenada and Saint Lucia could not be reached for comment.

Videgaray has led Mexico's efforts to try and improve cooperation with its top trade partner on security, immigration, and foreign policy, hoping to convince the United States to take a softer stance on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) that underpins the majority of Mexican exports.

U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to quit the pact if it cannot be improved to benefit U.S. workers.

On his way to Jamaica, Tillerson said the United States was closer to deciding whether to impose sanctions on Venezuelan oil, adding that Canada, Mexico and the United States were studying how to mitigate the impact of such a move.

Restrictions on Venezuela's oil industry would represent an escalation of financial pressure on the OPEC member, which is gripped by severe shortages of food and medicine. Such sanctions could also hurt U.S. refineries that process Venezuelan oil.

Sanctions have so far focused on individual members of Maduro's government and a ban on buying new Venezuelan debt.

CARIBBEAN BLOC

In a June meeting in Cancun, foreign ministers from the 34-nation Organization of American States (OAS) failed to reach agreement on a resolution criticizing Venezuela, with only 20 countries backing the proposal, shy of the 23-nation threshold.

Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Dominica voted against the resolution, while Grenada, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Trinidad and Tobago and Antigua and Barbuda abstained.

Jamaica and Saint Lucia backed the proposal.

Officials from other Caribbean nations will be present at Videgaray's Jamaican stop, the Mexican official said, adding that the Caribbean trip represents an attempt to end the stalemate in the June OAS meeting.

It's a result of Cancun, the official said. There was a bloc in the Caribbean that wasn't pulling in the same direction as the OAS.

Reuters reported last year that Mexico was looking at the possibility of replacing Venezuela's Petrocaribe program that provided cheap loans for oil to Caribbean nations - and has helped Maduro retain diplomatic support in the region.

However, the Mexican official said it was still not clear how Mexico could furnish Caribbean nations with cheap energy, given the country's struggling domestic fuel production, and that Mexico relies on oil income for about a fifth of the government budget.

The energy ministry remains unconvinced by the oil diplomacy plan, led by Videgaray, but there are signs it is becoming more flexible, the official said.





Colombia's Cano Limon-Covenas pipeline remains closed after latest guerrilla attack





By Reuters

BOGOTA

Petroleumworld 02 19 2018

No oil has been pumped through the Cano Limon-Covenas pipeline, Colombia's second largest, for 38 days due to repeated attacks by Marxist ELN rebels, military sources and Ecopetrol said on Friday after the latest raid.

The attack on Thursday caused an oil spill near the municipality of Toledo, in Norte de Santander province, close to the border with Venezuela.

The 485-mile-long (780-km) pipeline has been attacked 12 times this year by the National Liberation Army (ELN), the largest active guerrilla group, according to military sources.

Although this is one of the most extensive paralyses since the pipeline opened in the mid-1980s, activity in the Cano Limon field, operated by Occidental Petroleum Corp and located in the northern Arauca province, has not been affected.

Oil from the field is being moved along another pipeline, Ecopetrol said.

Attacks by the ELN are frequent as they seek to pressure the government as part of their 53-year conflict.

The ELN, considered a terrorist group by the United States and European Union, has about 2,000 combatants and opposes the presence of multinational companies in the mining and oil sector, claiming that they seize natural resources without benefiting the country's population or economy.

President Juan Manuel Santos and the ELN launched formal peace negotiations in Ecuador a year ago, but the group has stepped up its attacks since a ceasefire ended in early January.

The government suspended talks last month when the rebels launched a series of deadly attacks against police.

Santos in late 2016 signed a peace agreement with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), ending its part in the five-decade conflict that has killed more than 220,000 and displaced millions.





PDVSA's Curacao oil refinery operating normally after fire





By Reuters

HOUSTON

Petroleumworld 02 19 2018

A fire at the Isla oil refinery in Curacao run by Venezuela's PDVSA has been extinguished without impacting operations, sources close to the facility told Reuters on Friday.

An explosion at the 335,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) facility was heard just before midnight, according to local media, and news photos showed a fireball. There have been no injuries reported.

An over-accumulation of gasoline in a storage tank near Isla's catalytic cracker caused the fire, but the flames did not impact the unit, according to one of the sources.

Two of Isla's three crude distillation units are currently in operation, the sources added. The catalytic cracker is also working to produce gasoline and other fuels.

Isla produced 118,200 bpd of refined products in November due to operational issues and lack of crude, according to PDVSA's most recent internal reports seen by Reuters.





United States sets largest offshore oil, gas lease auction for March





By Reuters

WASHINGTON

Petroleumworld 02 19 2018

The Trump administration on Friday said it would offer the largest oil and gas offshore auction in U.S. history on March 21 for areas in federal waters off the Gulf Coast, less than a year after a similar sale yielded little corporate interest.

The Interior Department said it would offer 77.3 million acres (31.3 mln hectares) offshore Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida for oil and gas development, an auction that includes all available unleased areas in the Gulf of Mexico. The blocks are from 3 to 231 miles (5 to 372 km) offshore and in waters 9 to 11,115 feet (3 to 3,390 meters) deep.

The department announced the auction in October, without an exact date. The sale is in support of President Donald Trump's so-called America First Offshore Energy Strategy, which aims to reduce energy imports and boost jobs in the industry.

But offshore drilling is expensive in a time of relatively low oil prices held in check partially by plentiful supplies of onshore petroleum, which is cheaper to produce.

A lease sale in August last year got a tepid response from oil companies. The offer of 73 million acres received $121.14 million in high bids for 90 tracts covering 508,096 acres (205,619 hectares).

Bureau of Ocean Energy Management spokesman John Filostrat has said that Interior hopes for a healthy number of bids, more so than we did in August.





Venezuela's ex-oil zar Rafael Ramirez, sued by Houston energy firm over bribe demands

Jewel Samad/AFP



Firm alleges associates of former minister solicited payoff. Houston-based energy company says it lost $470 million

By Peter Blumberg

HOUSTON

Petroleumworld 02 19 2018

Former Venezuelan oil minister Rafael Ramirez, already accused of corruption by his own country, now faces a lawsuit from a Houston energy firm alleging that it lost almost half a billion dollars over its refusal to pay bribes for contracts.

Harvest Natural Resources Inc. said that because it rebuffed four separate $10 million bribe demands from associates of Ramirez, Venezuela's power ministry withheld approval for Harvest to sell its energy assets in the South American nation. That resulted in losses of $470 million, according to a complaint filed Friday in Houston federal court.

A Venezuelan public prosecutor said in December, just after Ramirez resigned his post as the nation's ambassador to the United Nations, that the former head of state-run oil producer Petroleos de Venezuela was linked to a scheme to sell crude illegally. Dozens of former and current PDVSA managers have been arrested in a widening graft probe. Ramirez has denied any wrongdoing.Smartphone apps like CashApp, Venmo, Zelle, and others let you pay your friends with an app linked to your bank account or credit card. Read more

Parents, grandparents, and other old heads like myself, it's time to learn about payment apps  how they function and what are the risks.

We asked Kasey Schram, a Rutgers-Camden business school student, to help us find out how teenagers and millennials pay each other and exchange money. News flash: They don't use cash.

Young people use payment apps  or applications on their smartphones  to pay each other. The most popular apps are Venmo, owned by PayPal; Cash App, owned by Square; and payment apps linked to Snapchat or the smartphone itself, such as ApplePay and SamsungPay. The applications let you link your bank accounts  a checking account or credit card  to pay someone, and payments aren't always cheap.

The big banks recently launched a competing app to play catch-up: it's called Zelle (you may have seen the ads on TV). But Schram and her millennial pals didn't know much about that because "quite frankly, I haven't met a single person that's used it."

She probably means a person under 30.

What do young reviewers say about these payment apps? Schram uses Venmo, and it's as easy as texting money to her friends. (You can see who and how much your friends are paying one another. Creepy  but, hey, they love it.)

Schram's adviser at Rutgers-Camden, assistant dean Kandace Diedrick, has used Venmo to pay contractors, but worries about how these funds are tracked. Another friend has a personal Cash App account and a business account, and accidentally sent money to her daughter from her business account side and had no idea until it was mentioned to her.

"Would this be a problem moving forward with integrating money transfer apps in business transactions?" Schram asked. It's a great question.

What about security risks and hacking? At least one Venmo account was compromised last year and the company does not  I repeat, does not  offer buyer or seller protection. Zelle users have also been scammed, according to consumers who were defrauded and interviewed by Tech Crunch. And app makers Venmo and Zelle insist these should only be used by "friends and family," as per the user agreement.

How are you supposed to know everyone with whom you transact?

"People either use these apps or they don't  which leads me to believe that most people don't know how these services are making money, they don't care where their money is going, or if they aren't using the services because they don't trust the security system," said Schram, who in addition to studying full-time, waitressing, and working as an intern at the CFA Society of Philadelphia is looking for a job in finance.

Now, to fees: Cash App personal payments are free; business payments cost 2.75 percent (paid by the recipient); standard deposits between one to three days are free, while instant deposits cost between 1 percent and 1.5 percent. It's a tidy profit for these payment app companies.

On Venmo, sending money via a bank account, debit card, or prepaid card is free. If you want to send money using a credit card, a whopping 3 percent fee applies.

While Venmo and Cash App aren't yet popular for payments on items such as cable, Netflix, food shopping, or electric bills, "many landlords and private contractors are accepting this type of payment arrangement," Schram added, particularly from students.

Zelle, owned by Early Warning Services, is a newcomer money-transfer app with a different take: Banks partner with Zelle and charge no additional fees. Zelle also offers instant payment instead of having to wait the one to three business days standard on some of the other apps.

We aren't recommending these apps  just want to give you the heads-up that they exist, and are growing like crazy. So, if your kids ask you to link their bank account (or yours) to an app, be aware of the uses and risks.

Tax cut in your paycheck?

Readers, we want to hear from you: Take a look at your paycheck and let us know  what kind of a raise did you get, if any? Are you happy with the outcome? Let us know.

Separately, the IRS released the new 2018 federal income tax withholding tables  and those adjustments should be reflected in upcoming payroll. The changes are not retroactive, and should be effective in your paycheck over the next few weeks.

The new tax tables are based on your specific W-4 form withholding status, and the number of exemptions you claim. If you wish to update your W-4 form, contact your payroll or human resources department.

"The benefit of updating your W-4 is that you may run the risk of withholding too much money, because the tax brackets are wider, so more people are falling into a different or lower bracket. So if you don't adjust your withholding for 2018, an employer will guess and they may withhold too much," said Tim Speiss, partner in charge of personal wealth advisers practice at EisnerAmper in New York.

To help small businesses apply recent law changes, the Treasury Department and the IRS issued Notice 2018-14 and Publication 15, Employer's Tax Guide. These are designed to help with questions during and after the transition to reduced tax rates and updated withholding tables. See this IRS website publication www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-18-14.pdf for help. The W-4 form itself is available at: www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw4.pdf. It's not easy to navigate, but it's available.Jerry Burrell (left) laughs as he and Terrence Banks repair shoes at Cliff's Shoe Shine on S. 40th Street in Philadelphia. It has been a family run business for three generations. Read more

Bishop Clarence Lewis III has his feet planted firmly and proudly in the past.

"I came from the era when men got their shoes shined," he says.

Lewis is 77, a retired truck driver who favors fashionable Paul Fredrick leather shoes and a pastor whose parishioners fawn over a fresh shine. He first came to Cliff's Shoe Shine at 40th and Chestnut Streets a half-century ago, back when the no-nonsense man who started the shop, and gave it his name, was still alive.

"You ain't going to get a better shine nowhere," Lewis says as he waits from the short bench against the wall.

Across from him, mere feet away on the shoeshine stand, is George Mitchell, sipping from a Dunkin' Donuts cup and looking sharp in a tailored blazer and pointy black boots from Boyd's. Mitchell, 53, a courier for DHL, found the shop when he was making a delivery 10 years ago. He's been coming back ever since.

Why get a shine on the stand?

"Well," he shrugs, "there's a conversation."

This is the Wednesday afternoon scene at Cliff's, one of the longest-running businesses on West Philadelphia's eclectic 40th Street corridor, a few well-transited blocks bounded by an El stop and a trolley station, where shops sell everything from shoes to wigs to used books, where patrons can dine at the plant-based eatery HipCityVeg or the no-frills Indian buffet Ekta. There's even a street vendor who sells fresh fruits and vegetables.

Over the last 25 years, the strip has been transformed from a dilapidated yet neighborhood-oriented corridor that University of Pennsylvania students were warned about to a vibrant destination. As the University City District completes its massive overhaul of the 40th Street trolley portal on Baltimore Avenue, newer, buzzier businesses are keeping company with shops that have endured for decades, like Cliff's, the Natural Shoe Store, and First Decisions barbershop.

Those changes have largely been fueled by Penn. In a reversal of its previous philosophy, it began focusing its efforts on revitalizing the strip in the early 1990s  installing street lighting, planting trees, sprucing up storefronts. In 1992, Penn acquired and redeveloped property along 40th Street from Walnut to Locust Streets, retail that wasn't connected to any dorms. That marked a shift in the university's retail strategy that continues. Penn currently owns 340,000 square feet of retail, up from about 100,000 in the '90s, according to the university's top real estate official, Ed Datz.

Penn also lured a grocery store and a movie theater to the area, in response to neighborhood feedback, which turned the strip into a nighttime destination. That Penn once had a tough time attracting a big box supermarket to the neighborhood is a sign of how much University City has changed. Last year, Penn announced plans by Acme Markets to take over the grocery store location from Fresh Grocer (though it's still unclear if that will happen).

The school's mission to improve the 40th Street corridor was a "paradigm shift" in how the university connected to the West Philadelphia community, Datz says.

Previously, Penn had taken a more us-vs.-them strategy, one that stemmed from the school's land-grab tactics in the '60s, turning the university into, as Inquirer architecture critic Inga Saffron put it, "an island of privilege in a sea of poverty."

But 40th Street was different. Datz said the school's intention was to be "complementary and respectful" to the business district already in place. To retain the character of the strip, it did not demolish buildings. It didn't evict business owners who were already there, like the Natural Shoe Store. It worked with neighborhood leaders to see what the corridor needed.

Paul Steinke, who ran the University City District during the 40th Street revitalization, said, "The ideal was that it would be a place for campus and community to come together, a meeting place instead of a barrier."

That ideal feels realized at spots along 40th like the post office, Fresh Grocer, and Cliff's, where loyal customers like Lewis and Mitchell overlap with Penn undergrads dropping off their Uggs to be cleaned and Wharton M.B.A. candidates looking to get their shoes spiffed up before an interview.

Two doors down from Cliff's is First Decisions, the black barbershop that Suran Casselle and Tyler Martin opened nearly 30 years ago, back when there weren't any businesses catering to the African American community at Penn, according to Martin. As it has evolved, the corridor has less of a neighborhood feel  "Everyone we cut is from out of town," Casselle said  and subsequently less customer loyalty, but business got better when the strip became safer. Students began to venture north of Penn's campus, ending up at First Decisions, Martin said.

What's most important, though, is that the shop fills a need.

"No matter how much gentrification, people always need services," Casselle said as he buzzed a client's head, bleached blond curls falling to the floor.

It's been more difficult for some retailers to find their niche.

Since he bought the property in 1986, Dilwar Hussain, who goes by "Mr. Dell," had tried selling everything from frozen fish to Muslim clothing to bottles of colorful, scented body oils from his storefront near the 40th Street El stop on Market Street, which explains why his store was a somewhat wacky hodgepodge of items marking all the years he'd been there.

"Business is as slow as can be," he said.

Hussain was 18 when he came to Philadelphia to escape war in his native Bangladesh. He talked his way into an apprenticeship with a watch repairman on South Broad Street and eventually opened his own shop. But as the other stores opened and the neighborhood's needs changed, he was forced to adapt. Now he's 65 and ready to retire. He shut down his store last week and plans to rent it out to a hair salon.

"This is what life's all about," he said. "Nothing you can do. Old people die, new people take over."

He described his shop as a home, much as do the cousins who run Cliff's Shoe Shine.

"There was pride and happiness to be in here," says 58-year-old Jerry Burrell, who started working in the store under his grandfather's watch when he was 9. "It's like the living room back home."

Though it's not the 40th Street their grandfather once worked on, where he knew everybody around, the gregarious Burrell and his quieter, more serious cousin, Terrence Banks, say business has gotten better as the strip has changed. Their clientele is more diverse.

As Burrell puts it: "This business is always going to be busy, because people put their shoes on."

Are rising rents an issue, as trendier enterprises catering to Penn students move in?

"It's always going to be a factor," Banks says. "We deal with it."

Burrell, who refers to his male customers as "doctor," says he envisions the shop lasting another generation in the family, though his grandsons are still a little too young to start at the shop  they're 5.

Then he shakes Mitchell's hand and sends him out the door. "OK, doctor," he says. "OK, buddy."People with dementia dont make new memories so they easily lose track of where they are when they are outside by themselves. Read more

The Alzheimer's Association estimates that as many as 60 percent of people with dementia will wander. That is harmless if it's just aimless walking around a house or nursing home, but it can turn deadly this time of year if seniors go outside alone and get disoriented.

Last week, we wrote about a fatal accident involving a woman who wandered from her independent-living apartment building just north of Philadelphia on a cold night in March 2017. Now, we look at how caregivers can protect seniors who tend to wander.

We spoke with Tama Carey, chief operating officer of Presby's Inspired Life, a senior housing company; Molly Fogel, director of education and social services for Alzheimer's Foundation of America; Robert Koester, a search-and-rescue expert who specializes in dementia patients; Paula Lester, a geriatrician at Stony Brook University Medical Center; Betty Robison, gerontology educator for University of Pittsburgh Medical Center; Joy Shore, vice president of care management at Abramson Center for Jewish Life; Danielle Snyderman, a Jefferson Health geriatrician who works frequently at a retirement community; Jennifer Tapner, CEO of the Watermark at Logan Square, a retirement community in Philadelphia; and Julie Thomas, associate director of clinical services for the Alzheimer's Association Delaware Valley Chapter.

Signs of potential wandering

Some common signs include agitation and pacing, inability to keep a schedule, getting lost or having trouble navigating familiar routes outside or even in one's own home, or talking about going to places from the past. Take note, Lester said, when people with dementia say such things as: "I want to go home. Where's the bus? I have to be at work."

People are at higher risk for wandering after a change in routine or a move. The extra excitement of relatives visiting at the holidays can also be a trigger.

"Most people," Lester said, "have minor episodes before they have major episodes."

Why do they do it?

Brain damage from dementia affects people's ability to think rationally, keep track of time, see properly, remember directions and, possibly most important, evaluate risk. Troublesome behavior may also be a form of communication. People may be sick or experiencing side effects from a new medication. Older people are prone to developing delirium when they have infections or other medical problems. They may also be hungry, thirsty, or in need of a trip to the bathroom. People with dementia may be frustrated by their increasing disability.

"What we're seeing is a human reaction to change," Fogel said.

How do people with dementia behave when theyre lost?

People with dementia don't make new memories so they easily lose track of where they are when they are outside by themselves, Koester said. Dementia causes tunnel vision, which tends to make sufferers walk in fairly straight lines. They may stray off curved paths or roads and get themselves tangled in brush. "They go until they get stuck," he said.

Any search should start with the building where they live. Searchers need to look behind every door, including closets. Sometimes people with dementia go into an elevator and turn it off. In a nursing home, they often crawl into the wrong bed.

They don't realize they're in danger and often fear strangers, Koester said. Only 1 percent to 2 percent call out for help or respond to calls from others.

What can help?

The first step is to make sure the person with dementia isn't agitated because of discomfort. Experts say they check whether the person is in pain, has an infection, or is hungry.

After that, they look for ways to change behavior. They keep wanderers busy with activities and exercise. They try to minimize daytime naps so that wanderers sleep better at night, when it might be easier to slip outside without a caregiver noticing. If the person with dementia is prone to looking for exits in late afternoon, as many are, keep that person distracted with other things to do then. Disable the car.

If someone says, "I want to go home," it's a mistake to reply, "This is your home." Instead, let the person reminisce and try to have a positive conversation about the place they miss. Fogel said she would encourage an older woman to "tell me about this beautiful house that she lived in for 60 years."

Thomas said it sometimes helps to put the person in a car and drive around until they calm down.

Keep in mind that a person who has walked after dinner for an entire life will want to keep doing it. People with Alzheimer's disease "shouldn't be out walking on their own," Robison said. Find someone to walk with the wanderer, Tapner suggests. Facilities should provide safe places for residents with dementia to go outside. "I think there's something to be said for safe wandering versus unsafe wandering," Snyderman said. Wandering can be a sign that someone needs exercise, Carey said.

Technology, both low and high, can also help. If your loved one is still at home, you can put extra locks on the door  simple sliding ones will do  below or above the line of sight. Because of fire risk, you can do this only if someone else is always in the house. You can put simple alarms on doors, windows, and floor mats. There are non-removable watches as well as bracelets, pendants, and ankle devices that can set off alarms, help track individuals, or at least identify them if they're found. Secure facilities such as memory units or nursing homes often use devices that set off alarms if patients approach doors or elevators.

You can put a large Velcro stop sign on the front door or hide it with a curtain.

Shore said caregivers need to be alert to the danger of wandering and prepare for it. "Families and caregivers really need to be focused on safety and making sure there are systems in place early in the process," she said. "You don't really know when someone with cognitive impairment is going to wander."

You can register your loved one with the Alzheimer's Association's MedicAlert program, which speeds up the search process if someone goes missing. Project Lifesaver is another program available in some communities that can aid searchers.

Where should wanderers live?

The experts agreed that people at risk for wandering, and especially those already known to wander, need constant supervision. They can safely stay in their homes with live-in help.

"They're never safe at home by themselves. Ever," Robison said.

Families often want to keep people with dementia at home, but it's not always practical, she said.

Whether wanderers need to be in a locked  the industry prefers the word "secure"  memory unit depends on the severity of their disability. But experts said such units are designed for people with dementia, and their staff receive special training.

While wandering can occur at any stage of dementia, it is usually not the first symptom of brain changes. Snyderman said people who wander also often have trouble with other things, such as managing medications or finances. They already need extra help.

Tapner said moves often stress out older people and make their dementia worse. She thinks it's better to start someone in a memory unit, if that's where they belong, than to try a more independent level of care first.

Experts said people with dementia can occasionally manage to slip through almost any type of security. "There's no foolproof system," Lester said.

More information about wandering is available on the Alzheimer's Association website. The number for the Alzheimer's Association's help line is 800-272-3900."There's going to be so many options after you graduate," says Leah Brumgard, in a computer lab at Swarthmore with Jeff Novak. Read more

Leah Brumgard majors in studio art at Swarthmore College, Jeff Novak in math, and William Colgan in biology.

But all three have a second major: Computer science.

The trio is far from unusual. More than 70 students are dual majoring in computer science and another subject this year at the prestigious liberal arts college in Delaware County, and more than 50 have selected computer science as their sole major.

Computer science has become the second most popular major on the 1,620-student campus, behind economics. It's a far shift from as recently as 2010, when there were fewer than a dozen computer-science graduates.

Across the country, the number of computer science majors at doctoral institutions has more than tripled in the last decade. It's much hotter than it was during the dot-com blitz in the late 1990s, according to the national Computing Research Association.

The group refers to the current surge as "Generation CS," fueled by the pervasiveness of computing across society and the plethora of jobs, some with six-figure salaries and eye-popping signing bonuses.

Computation has become important to literally every field, whether it's digital humanities or software-writing skills needed for economics.

"Math used to be the language of science, and now computer science is becoming another language of science, and not just science, but social science and humanities as well," said Lisa Meeden, a computer science professor at Swarthmore. "Everybody feels that they need some computer science knowledge."

The spurt also is occurring at big universities, including Temple, Rutgers, Villanova, Penn State, La Salle, Lehigh, and Drexel, where the number of computer science majors has in some cases more than doubled in the last five years and where the influx might be expected. Temple, for instance, had 294 students majoring solely in computer science in fall 2012, compared with 675 now, and many more dual majoring. Rutgers-New Brunswick has grown from 207 in 2011-12 to 937 last year.

But it's also happening at other small, elite liberal arts colleges, where the increase may seem counterintuitive, including Haverford and Bryn Mawr.

"They still at the end of the day want to get jobs when they graduate, and these are hot fields for jobs," said Stuart Zweben, of the Computing Research Association and professor emeritus of computer science and engineering at Ohio State University. "Whether they go to a big school or small school, that's something that's on their minds."

Nearly half of all students at Swarthmore take intro to computer science. Many hadn't been exposed to it in high school or if they were, only in a limited way, professors say. So when they take that course, their interest is sparked.

"I realized it was changing the way that I thought," said Sarah Depew, 21, a Bryn Mawr student. "I was approaching problems in a different way. And I thought, 'You know what? This is really interesting. I want to keep doing this.'"

The junior from Monument, Colo., is majoring in math and computer science.

Computer science majors start out learning how to program and construct algorithms and by the time they graduate, they will understand theory, applications, and systems.

Novak, 22, of West Chester, said he had so much fun in the intro class that he decided to major in it.

"You kind of explore this creativity and small problem solving," he said.

But it's not just fun that is attracting students.

The plentiful  and in many cases lucrative  job prospects also are a lure.

"There's going to be so many options after you graduate," said Brumgard, 20, a junior from Hanover in York County. "It's not like you're destined to just sit at a computer every day in an office and write code. There are a lot of different paths that you can take with it."

Students are being recruited by Google, Apple, Microsoft, and other high-tech companies, as well as financial firms.

Dianna Xu, computer science department chair at Bryn Mawr, recalled a conversation she overheard among seniors last year.

"One student said, 'Oh, Facebook is offering me $120 or $130K a year, and they're giving me $100,000 start-up cash. Should I take it?'" Xu said. "The rest of the students go, 'No, no, wait for a better offer.'"

Colgan, 21, a junior from Montvale, N.J., hopes to become a research biologist and use his computing knowledge in his research. Other Swarthmore graduates have gone on to such jobs as clinical research associate for a Seattle hospital, project manager for Facebook, and software development engineer for Amazon.

The burst in interest among majors  and non-majors who want to take courses  has left computer science departments scrambling to find enough qualified professors to staff classes and students jockeying to get classes they want and need to graduate.

Students at Haverford, Bryn Mawr, and Swarthmore sometimes take classes at one of the other campuses, or at the University of Pennsylvania.

"I've been lotteried out of things, but if you go and just sit in the back of the class and keep talking to the professor, you'll eventually get in," Colgan advises.

Meeden said students typically get at least one class per semester and make progress toward their degree. Novak finished classes for his major during junior year, but would have liked to take more.

"I wasn't able to go into whatever class I wanted after that," he said.

Swarthmore's department has gone from four to nine computer science professors in seven years but, as at Bryn Mawr, professors say it's not enough.

"We think we probably need at least 12," Meeden said.

"And we'll still have average class sizes of 40," noted Richard Wicentowski, Swarthmore's computer science department chair.

The growing department has converted a lab and hallway space into offices and took over room in the chemistry department. Construction on campus is expected to alleviate that crunch in the next few years.

Hiring professors has posed a challenge, too, Wicentowski said.

"Almost every school now is trying to hire new faculty," he said. "And the number of people getting Ph.D.s hasn't dramatically increased."

Xu said Bryn Mawr has not been able to fill an adjunct position since 2014. Non-majors who want to take classes sometimes can't get in.

"They're not happy about this and they are complaining a lot," she said.

Bryn Mawr President Kim Cassidy said the college is evaluating the department's expanding needs and is preparing to open a computer science teaching laboratory as part of a $40 million science center renovation.

The college also is emphasizing digital skills across subjects, she said. The school spent a year interviewing faculty, students, employers, alumni, and parents about digital skills students will need in their personal lives and for work, and then "mapped" those skills across the curriculum.

"No matter what a student's interest is," Cassidy said, "they are realizing they need to have digital skills and digital fluency."Lady Gagas Born This Way Foundation and the National Council for Behavioral Health recently provided mental health trainings along every U.S. stop of Lady Gagas Joanne World Tour. Read more

Ethan Sergey Neubauer  known as Sergei  had a family who would do anything for him. His parents, Mary Neubauer and Larry Loss, brought him home from Russia on Christmas Day 2009 to be their son. He was a varsity wrestler who loved to cook, play with his dogs, and make his niece smile. He was also in pain.

Sergei was living with depression and anxiety at the same time he was fighting to overcome the effects of his childhood traumas in Russia. His parents had resources. They tried to get him the help he needed. But it wasn't enough. On Sept. 25, 2017, Sergei Neubauer lost his life to suicide. He was 18 years old.

In his obituary, his mother pleaded with lawmakers and policymakers across the nation to recognize the toll that mental illness is taking on our society, particularly on our youth. She called it a "crisis facing America, one that must be acknowledged, better understood, and ultimately addressed for people to have the tools to heal."

Sergei's story is not an isolated incident. One in five young people in America has a diagnosable mental health problem, but only 20 percent receive treatment. Youth are at increased risk for anxiety and depression, and suicide rates have risen dramatically, especially among adolescent girls. We can't sit idly by. We owe it to our children and the generations to come to join forces and put a face on mental illness to ensure that all young people grow up to be strong, healthy, and whole.

It doesn't matter whether you are a teacher, police officer, judge, veteran or even Lady Gaga. You have a role to play. We have a role to play. It will take all of us  together  to reach out to people with mental health and substance use challenges and strengthen their bonds with their communities.

Anyone can #BetheDifference for someone who is living with mental health and substance use problems if you know what to look for and how to engage people in open conversation. Those skills are taught in Mental Health First Aid, and that is why Lady Gaga's Born This Way Foundation and the National Council for Behavioral Health recently provided these trainings along every U.S. stop of Lady Gaga's Joanne World Tour, training an additional 150,000 people.

The North American portion of the tour may be over, but the need to spread kindness and mental health awareness is not. You can still join with your friends, neighbors, and coworkers to receive training in Mental Health First Aid. The eight-hour program teaches people how to connect with those who may be experiencing mental health and substance use problems. Above all, Mental Health First Aid helps restore a sense of community and the connections that bind us by generating the understanding that mental health is essential for health. The program is offered around the country and includes special courses for youth, teachers, foster families, employers, military members and veterans, older adults, and public safety officers.

When we join together, we can create a positive force of change for the one in five young people living with a mental health condition in the U.S.  for people like Sergei. By empowering people to channel kindness and help one another through Mental Health First Aid, we are changing the world one person at a time. How will you change the world?

Linda Rosenberg is president and CEO, National Council for Behavioral Health. Cynthia Germanotta is president and co-founder, Born This Way Foundation.Richard Lazer, a longtime aide to Mayor Kenney with ties to the city's powerful Electricians union, has decided to run for a U.S. House seat and expects to make a formal announcement in the next week or so, according to two sources close to him.

On Friday, Lazer cleared the way by announcing he is stepping down from his position as Kenney's deputy mayor of labor. Under the city's "resign-to-run" law, municipal employees cannot campaign for elected office.

Lazer, who joined the administration in 2016, has said for weeks that he was strongly considering jumping into the race for Pennsylvania's First Congressional District. He declined to confirm Friday that he is running, though he certainly sounded like a candidate in a brief interview.

"I've lived my entire life in the First District. I've always been interested in public service," he said. "The biggest issues I would handle are jobs, education, and criminal justice reform."

John "Johnny Doc" Dougherty, leader of the city's building trades as well as International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 98, has encouraged Lazer to throw his hat in the ring. Frank Keel, a spokesman for Dougherty, said others in the labor movement have done so as well.

Lazer, a Democrat, grew up in a pro-union family: His dad was a sheet-metal worker, and close relatives were in unions.

In 2015, Lazer was a consultant for the Electricians, according to the financial disclosure statement he filed with the city. Union records show that his wife was also employed by Local 98 in 2014 and 2015.

As deputy mayor, Kenney said in a statement, Lazer helped end the 2016 SEPTA strike and negotiate the current contract between the administration and AFSCME District Council 33.

"Working families across Philadelphia are better off because of his service," he said.

Lazer's resignation comes at an interesting moment in state politics: After ruling that Pennsylvania's congressional districts are unconstitutionally gerrymandered, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court is weighing several maps proposed by Democrats and Republicans.

The court was expected to pick a map or draw its own by Monday. Democrat Kevin Dougherty, John Dougherty's brother, sits on the Supreme Court.

Earlier this year, rumors swirled that the building trades might be pushing Lazer to run because they saw incumbent Rep. Bob Brady as vulnerable. Others speculated that Brady wanted Lazer to replace him.

That was before Brady announced in January that he is not running for reelection. Now, it looks like Brady, who is also the chairman of Philadelphia's Democratic Party, is pleased with Lazer.

A few weeks ago, Brady said it would be up to the Democratic City Committee to decide whether to endorse a candidate in the primary to fill his seat. But Brady said he didn't think that any of the current candidates would win the party's support. He suggested that Lazer, on the other hand, might be a good match.

At the time, the Democratic candidates in the First District included Nina Ahmad, Kenney's former deputy mayor for public engagement; Michele Lawrence, a past regional president of Wells Fargo; Lindy Li, a previous wealth manager for Morgan Stanley; and Willie Singletary, an ex-Traffic Court judge who went to prison for lying to the government. Kevin Johnson, a pastor, has since jumped into the race.

In 2004, Lazer began interning for Kenney, who was a city councilman at the time. Kenney then hired Lazer as a constituent services director in 2007. Lazer first met Kenney when they were part of the Jokers Fancy Brigade.



Ho Duc Lam, chairman of the association, said the countrys key export markets this year would be Japan and the US, which has high demand.

Other markets such as China, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar are expected to become new export markets for plastics in the future.

Plastic bags made in Vietnam are still subject to anti-dumping taxes in the US market, but the US imposition of anti-dumping duties has had almost no impact on exports of the sector, according to Lam.

Every year, the average US import turnover is more than USD50 billion for plastics and plastic products, accounting for 9.1 percent of the worlds total import of plastics, according to VPA.

The largest plastic export market is Japan, with an average growth rate of 20-25 percent per year. Vietnam now ranks sixth in the top 10 countries exporting plastics to Japan, which is one of the most difficult markets with many strict regulations on the quality of goods. Vietnamese plastic exporters have been urged to improve quality, design and trade promotions to enter this market.

Lam recommended that Vietnamese plastic producers prepare long-term strategies and invest in market research to increase their penetration into the Japanese market.

In addition, the EUs demand for plastic products imported from Vietnam is high, especially plastic pipes.

Vietnams plastic products are not subject to anti-dumping duties in the EU markets like other Asian countries (the average tax rate is from 8-30 percent). Thus, Vietnamese producers are also urged to seek new export markets.

Despite the high export prospects and strong development in recent years, the plastics industry is still known only as part of the plastic processing industry.

More than 80 percent of raw materials are still imported from other countries.

Each year, the plastic industry needs an average of four million tonnes of raw materials, but only manages to produce about 900,000 tonnes, with the rest imported.

Experts have said that a shortage of raw materials will reduce the competitiveness of exporters.

Because of regulations on the origin of goods, it is difficult to take advantage of tax incentives in free trade agreements.

Exporters also need to focus on environmentally-friendly and safe products for sustainable growth.

Vietnams plastics industry earned USD3 billion last year, posting a 17.3 percent increase over 2016, according to VPA./.Artist Ivben Taqiy stands for a portrait in front of his tribute mural to Derrick Rowland along North 52nd Street in West Philadelphia on Thursday, Feb. 15, 2018. Taqiy painted the mural in November for Rowland's family. TIM TAI / Staff Photographer Read more

Artist Ivben Taqiy sometimes imagines what happens when people come into contact with his work. He hopes they feel inspired and moved. To show black faces, black stories, black joy in a culture that often ignores them, the West Philly native hopes he's offering a chance for visibility.

"It's giving a conversation to the people without having to have a conversation with the person," said Taqiy.

Having grown up in a religious family that restricted photography, he was inspired to become a portraitist. He paints on canvas, but he also gets commissions for murals  what has become a Philadelphia obsession of sorts.

In black enclaves, these murals have become ubiquitous, thanks to Mural Arts Philadelphia's projects and a long-established folk art tradition. In them, artists argue, people can reconnect with historical figures, pay tribute in times of loss, record political resistance, and share community culture. Taqiy creates commissioned paintings for anniversaries and birthdays, but business owners also call him for murals at their hair salons, day-care centers and retail stores. By his count, he worked on more than 35 R.I.P. paintings and murals last year.

Murals may have a unique place in Philadelphia's landscape, but as the reactions to the recently unveiled Obama portraits shows, portraiture is in the middle of a resurgence. Even after the art form fell out of favor in fine-art circles by the 1950s, a focus on portraiture remained in African American art. Last week, Valerie Mercer, a curator at the Detroit Institute of Arts, explained on the WDET show Detroit Today that this tradition owes its origins to the Harlem Renaissance and has been a vehicle to raise questions about representation.

By painting a face on a wall, there's an opportunity to express black identity, but also the impulse to present a manicured version of black life in the face of caricatures and racist portrayals.

The artist Shawn Theodore, who also goes by the name xST, has noticed that many walls in Philadelphia are influenced by notable black artists over time. The faces might follow the tradition of Horace Pippin and be wide-set. Light rays might beam like artist Aaron Douglas dreamed them up. And then there's the "hyperreal depictions [where it's] super-important that they're very correct and accurate, but they're highly stylized," said Theodore. "The highly stylized pieces are necessary, because we see ourselves highly stylized."

Taqiy's murals often have a storybook look  his subjects are often cheery people who appear as if they're stepping out of a shadow.

"It definitely is a responsibility, because you're now a history-maker," said Taqiy. "You have the responsibility of saying what shade you're going to make that person, what height you're going to make that person, what weight you're going to make that person."

Street art is a mode for self-expression, but more than that, it's a way to memorialize someone  on a budget. "It's much easier to have paint than to find yourself in the midst of casting bronze or masonry," said Theodore. Camilo Jose Vergara, an urban photographer who shoots murals around the country, put it this way: "If you have money, you buy a whole building and donate it to the University of Pennsylvania.  Other folks have other ways to leave their imprint, to be remembered."

For Mural Arts, Willis "Nomo" Humphrey has painted about eight tribute murals, including of the Roots on South Street, a grinning Kevin Hart near Broad and Erie, and Richard Allen with the likenesses of other heroes at the A.M.E. Church's headquarters, among other homages. The design for his Octavius V. Catto mural will be unveiled next week.

"There's a lot of stories that have to be told," said Humphrey. "A mural is a way to have that front and center."

Mural Arts produces around 75 to 100 artworks annually. Last year, the tally was 101, with 41 projects stemming from community proposals. Mural Arts received 300 applications in 2017.

The approval process varies: An application from a community group might spur a roundup of neighborhood stakeholders. A proposed mural of a jazz musician might inspire the organization to reach out to arts advocates. If artists have a concept, they'll research the community's leanings to make sure it's a good fit.

Some public art advocates say new construction is getting precedence over old murals in gentrifying neighborhoods. (For his part, Theodore photographs folk murals as a means of preserving them.) Others, they say, are deteriorating, as the city's aging building stock contends with blight. Theodore and Vergara said Mural Arts might choose an artist from outside Philadelphia, and include people in the decision-making process who aren't from the neighborhood.

"The neighborhood does not speak through someone coming in and having that person's idea filtered through a committee," said Vergara. "It tends to be patronizing and sort of boring sometimes."

Golden said projects call for finding "the sweet spot" between community hopes and an artist's perspective. "I see our work as a nexus of the public, the private, the social, the civic and the aesthetic."

Humphrey acknowledged that working for Mural Arts calls for compromise. "I don't think I'd be able to make inroads into the schools and into the prisons on my own," he said. He approaches projects understanding that at times, "my voice is going to have to be lowered, and I have to willing to be flexible. I think it's a balance."

An early example of black empowerment murals is inside the sanctuary in North Philadelphia's Church of the Advocate, where artists Walter Edmonds and Richard Watson spent three years in the 1970s reinterpreting biblical passages into scenes of black history and resistance.

Watson, now an artist-in-residence and exhibitions manager at the African American Museum in Philadelphia, looked around the sanctuary on a recent Tuesday afternoon.

He based the murals on his own experiences as a civil rights activist who'd been raised in a Baptist church. "That's the only perspective I could come from," said Watson.

Initially, he said, he remembers wondering, "How I could tell a story that could be perpetual in this church?" But today, he realizes that their significance will always evolve. "It's an ongoing process, and the murals touch people where they are right now."At the William Way LGBT Community Center, Paul Frame holds photographs from his wedding day. He wept as he spoke of his husband being detained by ICE in Philadelphia. Read more

Paul Frame says his husband, Jose "Ivan" Nunez, was doing exactly what immigration critics always demand  "getting in line," filing papers "the right way" so he could live in America legally.

Three weeks ago, the married couple were in the middle of an interview with officials at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in West Philadelphia, Frame and his supporters say, when ICE agents showed up, locked Nunez in handcuffs, and took him away.

He is now in custody at the York County Detention Center, where federal authorities frequently hold undocumented immigrants.

"We thought we were going to be in and out in a half-hour," a tearful Frame said Monday at the William Way LGBT Community Center in Center City, where he was accompanied by gay and Latino advocates who demanded Nunez's release. "I said, 'Let's become legal, then we have no worries.'"

Frame is a U.S. citizen. Nunez entered the country illegally from Mexico almost eight years ago.

The couple's attorney, Gonzalo Peralta, said Nunez has neither a criminal record nor pending criminal charges.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said in a statement that Nunez had been previously removed from the United States in August 2010. People who reenter the U.S. after being removed or deported can be charged with a felony offense  although that can be rare. Nunez, for instance, was never charged.

What occurred in his case, his supporters said, is what commonly happens at the Mexico-U.S. border: Nunez was stopped when he attempted to enter the country, briefly detained, then quickly sent back. It's common enough that people who are returned to Mexico often don't even realize the U.S. government may consider them to have been deported. Many of them attempt to return within a day or so  as Nunez did, and succeeded.

ICE officials said in their statement that while the agency focuses on people who pose a threat, "all of those in violation of the immigration laws may be subject to immigration arrest, detention, and, if found removable by final order, removal from the United States."

On Monday, leaders of advocate groups including Juntos and GALAEI, a social-justice agency that supports gay Latinos, said immigrants, gays and minorities must stand together to resist President Trump. A petition to support Nunez quickly gathered more than 700 signatures.

Frame and Nunez met at a wedding in 2014, and were married in Chester County on April 9, 2016.

"He is the love of my life," Frame said.

On Jan. 31, he said, the two were in the USCIS office in the process of petitioning for what is called an I-130 Form. That's for U.S. citizens or permanent residents who want to help a family member  in this case, a spouse  legally immigrate to the U.S.

The interview was held to confirm the validity of the couple's marriage, a routine step in the process.

Frame said he was asked to step outside for a moment; he thought government officials wanted to question Nunez alone. He was soon told that ICE had taken away his husband.

Peralta, the attorney, said Nunez and Frame were subsequently approved for their I-130. So, he said, one government agency is approving Nunez's immigration while another agency is taking it away.

Officials at USCIS said it's standard practice for the agency to notify ICE when people who come to the office have warrants of deportation or are in proceedings. The agency's policy is "to fully cooperate with law enforcement partners in the performance of their duties," a spokesperson said.

Nunez also passed his "reasonable fear" interview, conducted by government officials to determine whether someone has a legitimate fear of being persecuted or tortured if returned to their homeland. Nunez feared he would be harmed for being gay if he were sent back to Mexico, his supporters said.

Under the Trump administration, the priorities for arresting undocumented immigrants have expanded, continuing to include those with criminal convictions but adding anyone who can lawfully be charged and arrested for being here without papers. The number of "collateral arrests"  that is, the arrest of undocumented immigrants who happen to be present when ICE agents move on a target  has surged.

Frame described himself as scared and nervous over his husband's fate. He can understand, he said, how people here without legal documents would be afraid to try to become citizens.

"I'm mad," he said, "because we were trying to do the right thing."The American Legion Ambulance Squad building in Woodstown, Salem County, was gutted in a raging fire that broke out around 4 a.m. Monday, police said.

Neighbors reported heavy flames and smoke, and said they heard explosions inside the structure on Maple Court. Fire officials said the popping was from oxygen canisters inside the four ambulances parked within.

Four squad members who were on duty at the time were inside the building when the fire erupted but were able to safely escape. Authorities say one of the workers smelled smoke, discovered the fire and alerted co-workers to quickly leave the building.

The fire was brought under control at 6 a.m.

Hours later, Edel Huskey, a member of the ambulance squad, and her husband, Mark Schlageter, stood before the building, one that offered them decades of memories.The two were married there, in a building constructed largely by the community and felled by the blaze.

What's left is so damaged that nothing is salvageable, Huskey said. The red-brick structure had been a mainstay of the community since it was first built in the 1960s. It expanded when a second wing was constructed in 1972, financed in part by squad members who took out second mortgages on their homes to help pay for it, she said.

"There's a lot of memories here," she said through tears. "It's a loss, but nobody got hurt."

The squad lost practically all of its equipment, including new computers and an ambulance that arrived only Sunday, Huskey said. The Associated Press reported the damages at $2 million.

Nearby towns, including Elmer, have offered to loan Woodstown some of their ambulances while the squad grapples with its loss and makes plans for the future, she said.

While the path forward is still unclear, residents have already shown their support for the company's next steps  Huskey says the dispatch center received phone calls all day Monday from residents asking how they can help.

The company will temporarily move to its second location in Salem Township, though several businesses have offered space as well.

"The outpouring of support from our community  has been overwhelming," she said. "It's been absolutely overwhelming."

No other details, including the cause of the blaze, were released. An investigation is continuing.

This story has been updated.

Staff writer Jan Hefler contributed to this story, which also contains information from the Associated Press.This is the congressional map adopted in 2011. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court is set to release a new map Monday  do not expect it to look like this one, which it ruled an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander. Read more

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court is set to release a new congressional district map on Monday, after weeks of political and legal fighting following its ruling that the map adopted in 2011 was an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander.

But whatever the map looks like, don't expect it to end the battle.

>> READ MORE: Pa. gerrymandering case: State Supreme Court releases new congressional map for 2018 elections

Republican lawmakers have vowed to resist the court's order, saying they will seek a federal challenge to whatever map is selected.

"This issue has grown bigger than the map," Drew Crompton, chief of staff to Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati (R., Jefferson) and top attorney for Senate Republicans said last week. "I don't know what the court's going to do, I really don't. But it's not like we're planning a lawsuit only if certain things happen  we don't know what's going to happen. We're working on every sort of gyration."

Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman (R., Centre) said Republicans would likely seek an injunction in federal court.

It would continue a nasty fight that has only intensified in the weeks since state high court last month ruled the congressional map unconstitutional and ordered a new one drawn in time for the primary election in May. Republicans immediately attacked the justices as partisan and accused the court of overstepping its bounds.

Scarnati and House Speaker Mike Turzai (R., Allegheny) have made several attempts to block the court's ruling, including a request that the U.S. Supreme Court intervene, which Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. denied. They also attacked a state Supreme Court justice as biased in an attempt to get him disqualified; the justice declined to recuse himself, saying he had not crossed any lines. Scarnati has refused to comply with court orders to share data intended to help the justices draw a map, and a rank-and-file Republican lawmaker is seeking cosponsors to sign onto an attempt to impeach the court's Democratic justices.

As those fights raged, the deadline loomed: The state Supreme Court had given the Republican-controlled legislature less than three weeks to draw a new map and send it to Wolf, a Democrat. Pennsylvania's congressional map is normally enacted as legislation, going through the normal process of passing through the legislature and being signed by the governor. When it became clear the legislature had run out of time, Scarnati and Turzai drew their own map and sent it directly to Wolf.

Wolf rejected that map last week, joining a growing consensus that the map was still a partisan gerrymander.HARRISBURG  The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Monday imposed a new congressional district map that upends previous boundaries, renumbers districts across the state, and gives a potential boost to Democrats in the 2018 House elections.

Under the court's redrawn map, districts more closely align with county lines, and only 13 counties are split among two or three districts. By contrast, under the last map, enacted by the legislature in 2011, more than twice as many counties were split among multiple districts.

In striking down that map last month as unconstitutional, the justices said the new districts should be as compact and contiguous as possible. Their new map, they wrote in an order, is "superior or comparable" to proposals submitted by the participants and interested groups during the legal challenge that led to the historic ruling.

The reconfigured map prompted a sharp rebuke from top Republican legislators, who said honoring it would create a "constitutional crisis." Extending a political clash that has roiled the state for months, they said they might challenge the map  or the justices' authority to impose it  in federal court as early as Tuesday.

"This entire exercise, while cloaked in 'litigation,' is and has been nothing more than the ultimate partisan gerrymander  one brought about by the Democrat[ic] governor acting in concert with liberal politically connected litigants," Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati (R., Jefferson) and House Speaker Mike Turzai (R., Allegheny) said in a statement.

Drawn by redistricting expert Nathaniel Persily, a Stanford University law professor, and awaited by political observers across the country, it arrived after weeks of political and legal fighting, and a state high court ruling that the 2011 map was an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander.

Even with the new map, the state's congressmen will continue to represent the same constituents until January 2019, when the new House session begins. But voters will be expected to cast ballots on candidates representing the newly drawn districts. And experts said the new map could give Democrats a significant boost in their push to take control of Congress, adding several Democratic-leaning seats and making others that favor the GOP much more competitive.

Under the justices' order, Philadelphia remains divided into three districts, with most of it split between the Second and Third Districts. A portion of South Philadelphia is drawn into the newly configured Fifth District, based in Delaware County  a substitute of sorts for the First District, represented by U.S. Rep. Bob Brady, who announced last month that he would not run for re-election. The First moves north to Bucks County.

The redrawing could alter the political landscape in Southeastern Pennsylvania, where Democrats currently have three representatives from Philadelphia, while Republicans have three in the suburbs. Under the new plan, Democrats would be favored to win five of those seats, and the sixth would be a virtual toss-up, according to election analysts.

A Republican-controlled seat based in the Lehigh Valley is likely to become more competitive, and in Western Pennsylvania, where there is now one safe Democratic seat amid a sea of red, one new district is expected to be more politically balanced by incorporating more of Allegheny County.

If this map had been in place in 2016, President Trump would have won 10 congressional districts, two fewer than he actually won. Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton would have taken the remaining eight districts, although the tally in one district would be so close as to be essentially a toss-up.

In one win for local Democrats, the newly configured Fourth District is centered in Montgomery County. Critics of the 2011 map often pointed to the county, which was split into five districts and had no member of Congress living there. Bucks and Chester Counties also are now in districts largely formed by their boundaries.

"It's a big win for Montgomery County and Delco," said Philadelphia-based political consultant Larry Ceisler. "Montgomery County in the past few redistrictings has had three or four members of Congress." He adds that it "means a lot" for a county to have a "go-to member of Congress."

Gov. Wolf, a Democrat, said in a statement that he applauded the court's work "and I respect their effort to remedy Pennsylvania's unfair and unequal congressional elections."

Even before Monday's order, Republican lawmakers were vowing to challenge whatever map the court selected, saying the justices overstepped their authority.

The court appeared to recognize those attacks. "This court recognized that the primary responsibility for drawing congressional districts rested squarely with the legislature," its order read, "but we also acknowledged that" redrawing the map would fall to the court if the legislature did not pass one that Wolf would sign. Drawing a map, the court majority wrote, is "a role which our court has full constitutional authority and responsibility to assume."

Experts have said a Republican challenge to the map is unlikely to succeed. "It's really hard to see a path to success," Michael Li, a redistricting expert at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University, said Monday, adding: "I would bet that this is the map that Pennsylvania uses for the 2018 elections."

Last month, the state high court ruled the congressional map unconstitutional and ordered a new one drawn in time for the May 15 primary election. The previous map, the justices said, violated the state constitution's guarantee that "elections shall be free and equal" by discriminating against Democratic voters, reducing their voting power in favor of Republicans.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Must-Read Travel Guides

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If you wish to contact me for questions, advertising, collaboration inquiries, comments, suggestions, reviews or just about anything, please send an email to. I will try my best to reply quickly! Unless, of course, I'm on a trip! :D All rights reserved. All photos and content in this blog are owned by(unless otherwise stated). Parts of the articles may be excerpted (a link to this site should be provided), but not reproduced as a whole. Photos may not be used without permission. Thank you very much!Unless otherwise stated, I personally write my blog posts and it expresses my own thoughts and opinions. I pay for all the expenses of my trips (unless otherwise stated). I welcome collaborations, advertorials and reviews as long as they are beneficial to my readers. All reviews on collaborations contain my own views and opinion and were not influenced by anyone. For inquiries, you may contact me here . Thank you very much!The Planetary Society has always been a global organization with members in over 100 countries. But thanks to recent investments by our members in The Societys Space Policy & Advocacy program, we now have the resources to institute a strategic effort to support the exploration of space in an international context.

In 2017, Australia was a major focus. We leveraged the presence of the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Adelaide to increase our engagement with the Australian government and our members in-country.

Prior to the IAC, CEO Bill Nye gave a keynote speech at the Australian Embassy in Washington, D.C., regarding the importance of national investment in space exploration. Our policy staff also served as a resource to the government during the development of the new Australian space agency.

At the IAC in Adelaide, Bill delivered a keynote speech on our LightSail spacecraft and then toured the country meeting with members of parliament and scientists to discuss space science and exploration.

Our year-long engagement with Australia had generated great relationships and broad visibility. How could we turn that into sustained excitement among the Australian public?Some of the biggest discoveries we make in planetary science rely on the seemingly simple act of picking up and analyzing pieces of other worlds. Mars rovers like Curiosity are small-scale rolling laboratories that do their work on site, while missions like OSIRIS-REx are optimized to bring samples all the way home.

No matter the end goal, sample collection is hard! That's why The Planetary Society partnered with Honeybee Robotics on PlanetVac, a simple, reliable, low-cost sampling system designed to work in almost any planetary environment. In 2013, we helped fund a successful PlanetVac lab test, and this spring, we're helping Honeybee take the technology a step further. Well be announcing the details soon.

In the meantime, we're revisiting the general concept of planetary sampling, and some of the times it didn't quite go as planned. When things go awry, scientists and engineers can sometimes squeeze amazing science out of a tough situation. Here are ten times the solar system reminded us sample collection is hard, and why The Planetary Society is interested in projects like PlanetVac.

1. WHEN YOUR SAMPLE RETURN SPACECRAFT NEVER EVEN LEAVES EARTHA Florida deputy was killed Saturday morning after a blown tire caused a semi tractor-trailer to collide with his patrol car on Interstate 95 in Brevard County, reports the Bradenton Herald.

Deputy Kevin Stanton was killed when a semi tractor-trailer collided with his patrol car. (Photo: Brevard County Sheriff's Office)

Brevard County (FL) Sheriff's Office Deputy Kevin Stanton, 32, of Titusville was killed in the crash at 5:10 a.m., according to the Florida Highway Patrol. He was a training officer for the sheriff's office and had been with the agency for more than a decade, officials said.

The right front tire of the semi, which was loaded with car parts, sustained a tread separation, and the truck veered into the path of the deputy's cruiser, the FHP said. Both vehicles were southbound near mile marker 227.New Hampshire's court security officers who are killed in the line of duty would be eligible for the same death benefits as police officers and firefighters under a bill passed by the state Senate.

Under current law, families of police officers and firefighters who are killed in the line of duty receive $100,000. A bill that would expand that to court security officers passed the Senate on Thursday, reports the Associated Press.Jurors found a Utah woman guilty of murder Thursday for aiding her husband as he killed two Northern California sheriff's deputies in 2014.

The Sacramento County jury convicted Janelle Monroy Thursday of 10 charges including murder, attempted murder and carjacking, attempted carjacking, and possessing an assault rifle. They rejected her argument that she feared Luis Bracamontes would have killed her if she didn't help him.

She faces a possible life sentence when she is sentenced March 23, reports the Associated Press.

Prosecutors said she willingly moved Bracamontes' rifle from vehicle to stolen vehicle after he killed Sacramento County Deputy Danny Oliver and before he killed Placer County Detective Michael Davis Jr. hours later.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Bracamontes after he was convicted by a separate jury.WINONA  One day an older man walked into Winona furniture-maker Jamie Schell's shop with an offer he couldn't refuse.

It was three slabs of maple.

Studying the wood, Schell could see how "really special, really beautiful" the wood was. When Schell asked what the man wanted for it, the man said he wasn't selling the wood. He was giving it to Schell. The man had Parkinson's Disease, a progressive neurological disorder, he explained, and with his hands failing him, he knew he couldn't honor the wood in the way it deserved.

The man had chosen Schell for this gift because he had seen his work at a show and appreciated his craftsmanship.

And he knew that Schell would do the wood justice.

The chair that Schell made with it will be one of 45 chairs up for auction at Saturday's "A Chair Affair," the Boys & Girls Club of Rochester's annual fundraiser. Most, if not all, of the handcrafted chairs have a backstory, but few perhaps align with the spirit of giving behind the fundraiser as Schell's story.

It only seemed fitting that this precious maple that was given to him for free should be made into a chair that would be donated to a worthy cause.

"I enjoyed that (the wood) was given to me. And it was something that I'm able to give," Schell said. "It was the giving thing that really fit into the whole theme."

A Chair Affair is the Boys & Girls Club's biggest annual fundraiser. It raised $360,000 last year.

Schell calls his chair "Monkey in the Maple." The playful title is a nod to the Chair Affair's focus on kids. It is also a sly allusion to the chair's unusual combination of materials, which, in addition to the lighter maple, includes monkey pod, a durable, darker hued wood.

You never see a monkey in a maple tree, Schell said. In the same way, the chair brought together a rare "collision of materials," of lights and darks that "worked really well together," Schell said.

This is the second piece that Schell has donated to A Chair Affair. A bench he created was also made from the same maple. The chairs he makes are meant to last, Schell said, and he expects "Monkey in the Maple" to last for 200 years.

"I hope it will be generational," Schell said.

Schell, 44, got his start in woodworking two decades ago. At the time, he was working in sales, and while on a trip to Hawaii he walked into a furniture shop. The works he saw inspired him.

"It really struck me what I was missing," Schell said. "I was no longer making things where I have always been a maker of sorts. So within a year, I had submitted my resignation, saying I was moving to Hawaii to become furniture-maker."

He met a furniture-maker, Leonard Guidroz, who welcomed Schell into his shop and eventually became his mentor. After Schell served a three-year apprenticeship, the pair became business partners in a commercial venture called G&S Woodworks. After seven years working together, Schell returned to Winona to open his own place.

"He was always this mentor figure that had this wonderful way of teaching and giving without you feeling like you were a student," Schell said.Last fall, Assisi Heights hosted a Journey of Peace event, which included three youth poets who read their works  poems about compassion. These are their poems from the event.

The Circle of Compassion

{span}By Harmanpreet Kaur{/span}

Harmanpreet is a senior at Mayo High School, passionate about poetry, music and sports.

{span}The circle of compassion is continuous.{/span}

{span}One act of kindness leads to another and another{/span}

{span}Some say compassion has disappeared,{/span}

{span}But they must look closer{/span}

{span}At the kid sharing his lunch with his hungry friend{/span}

{span}At the parent feeding their child{/span}

{span}At the man serving soup at Salvation Army{/span}

{span}At the smiles shared across the street{/span}

{span}To be compassionate is to be strong.{/span}

{span}It is a bridge of healing,{/span}

{span}Shedding light upon humanity.{/span}

{span}Each kind act is a part of a circle{/span}

{span}A circle of compassion{/span}

{span}Of love, of hope.{/span}

{span}Bullying and misery{/span}

{span}Sorrows and stress{/span}

{span}They all come and go{/span}

{span}Yet its compassion that stays{/span}

{span}Compassion has taught me{/span}

{span}To be simple and kind{/span}

{span}To be grateful and different{/span}

{span}To find joy in the little things{/span}

{span}Its time I weave compassion{/span}

{span}In my home, in my school,{/span}

{span}In my city, in my state{/span}

{span}In my country and in my universe.{/span}

{span}In my choir, I sing for the joy of others{/span}

{span}In my school, I speak for those who cannot{/span}

{span}In my community, I give to those who need{/span}

{span}But, I am not the only one{/span}

{span}Who sees the color of compassion{/span}

{span}Flowing across the sky{/span}

{span}I am not the only one{/span}

{span}Who cares or loves{/span}

{span}Compassion has many layers{/span}

{span}Of courage, of good deeds,{/span}

{span}Of health, and of wealth{/span}

{span}We must encourage each other{/span}

{span}To join the circle of compassion{/span}

{span}We must encourage each other{/span}

{span}To give and love{/span}

{span}Whether it be the gift of song{/span}

{span}As we join together and sing{/span}

{span}At a Bella Voce concert{/span}

{span}Or a helping hand at school{/span}

{span}We MUST, together{/span}

{span}Be the circle of compassion.{/span}

{span}Together, we must weave compassion{/span}

{span}Into our homes,{/span}

{span}into our world.{/span}

{span}For we are, the circle of compassion.{/span}

Eyes of Compassion

{span}By Sydney Holets{/span}

Sydney is a senior at Byron High School, and has been writing poetry for four years.

{span}I woke up to the sunrise cloaked in grief.{/span}

{span}Like disappointed school teachers, people shake{/span}

{span}their heads and whisper, "Mass shooting. 59 dead."{/span}

{span}"Another innocent black boy killed. His mothers voice{/span}

{span}wailed like the emergency vehicles that never came."{/span}

{span}"The storm left 70,000 people without food, water,{/span}

{span}or power. Can they still call the country home?"{/span}

{span}It is difficult to hear this. It is difficult to hear this{/span}

{span}and not become a mob of hopelessness, the wound{/span}

{span}of anger left untreated, festering from the infection{/span}

{span}of channeled rage. We are so quick to thrust blame,{/span}

{span}to point fingers, but forget that our hearts look the same.{/span}

{span}After my daily routine of reflection and meditation,{/span}

{span}my familiar mantra plays on repeat, a reminder{/span}

{span}that builds a strong foundation for each day:{/span}

{span}May I do my best to live with intention, and see{/span}

{span}the world through the eyes of compassion and love.{/span}

{span}What if I told you that compassion is the same{/span}

{span}across all religions? That the word compassion{/span}

{span}in Latin means co-suffering: we are never alone,{/span}

{span}but always united. When I write my daily gratitude{/span}

{span}lists, the well of my heart overfills with thankfulness,{/span}

{span}with all the continuous kindness I see around me:{/span}

{span}From my friends and strangers, who have glimmering{/span}

{span}laughs and crescent moon smiles as their own source{/span}

{span}of light, radiating beams of genuine care to everyone{/span}

{span}in their path. From each person who has wrapped up{/span}

{span}the gift of kindness with care in each fold, without{/span}

{span}expecting a gift in return. Compassion is an inherent{/span}

{span}human emotion; which is to say, compassion is rooted{/span}

{span}in human nature like the strongest of trees; which is to say,{/span}

{span}amidst all the reasons to grieve in this world, people{/span}

{span}still have goodness glittering on their hearts.{/span}

{span}And isnt that beautiful? Isnt that something worth{/span}

{span}celebrating? That even the darkest of shadows cannot{/span}

{span}cloud the kindness that makes its home in our hearts.{/span}

{span}So at the end of the day, I find compassion in the symphony{/span}

{span}of life. In the pain that grows into hope, that grows into joy.{/span}

{span}In my daily mantra: May I do my best to live with intention,{/span}

{span}and see the world through the eyes of compassion.{/span}

{span}For compassion will get us through. God knows it has to.{/span}

Miracle In Disguise

{span}By Edna Ahmed{/span}

Edna is in 10th grade at Alternate Learning Center in Rochester.

{span}How much longer would I keep these eyes closed for?{/span}

{span}How much longer will i shut the world out for?{/span}

{span}When another human needs a piece of that warmth{/span}

{span}Why am I shutting them out?{/span}

{span}I am lacking the medication that every human being needs.{/span}

{span}I am longing for the medication.{/span}

{span}Without it, its like not having enough air to breath{/span}

{span}Compassion is an act of kindness, without force{/span}

{span}Compassion to me -{/span}

{span}Is something what the real ones see-{/span}

{span}Can I show you what compassion can do for you?{/span}

{span}Dont be selfish; dont be rude{/span}

{span}Compassion took me far{/span}

{span}Compassion took me to a different level, {/span}

{span}Different bars{/span}

{span}I went from serving myself{/span}

{span}To help build a whole family{/span}

{span}From saving all the cash for myself to{/span}

{span}Bringing in money for my family{/span}

{span}Compassion is the medication that every human needs{/span}

{span}Without it how would we even breathe?{/span}

{span}Showing the care{/span}

{span}That empathy it makes the world go round{/span}

{span}My heart goes out for that strong girl or boy,{/span}

{span}Who had to grow up like me,{/span}

{span}Who had to bring anything to the table to support their families like me,{/span}

{span}Who had to struggle like me.{/span}

{span}Their main elixir was that Compassion,{/span}

{span}The miracle in disguise they had and received.{/span}Morgan Cansler is beaming beside her fiance as she holds out her left hand to show off her engagement ring.

"I almost cried when he gave it to me," she says of Conrad "Tyler" DiFalco-Jimenez's wedding proposal, "because he got down on his hands and knees."

"Just my knees," DiFalco says, offering his correction tenderly.

"Well, just your knees," Cansler says. The couple share a smile and giggle.

Sometimes finding the right words is a challenge, but loving each other is not.

DiFalco has autism  a developmental disorder that affects a person's ability to communicate and interact with others  and Cansler has epilepsy, a neurological disorder that delays her ability to process information and impacts some of her movements.

The Fresno couple met about three years ago at Wayfinders at Fresno State, a program for young adults with intellectual disabilities that teaches independent living and vocational skills. They got engaged in June and plan to be married next fall.

Role models

DiFalco says his grandparents, Frank and Rosemarie DiFalco, are role models. They celebrated their 64th anniversary on Valentine's Day.

"Valentine's Day is for people who love each other, and they are a prime couple," Rosemarie DiFalco says of her grandson and future granddaughter-in-law, "because she cares very much about him and he cares very much about her, no matter what. Isn't that what Valentine's Day is all about?"

Not everyone is as supportive. Anna Marie DiFalco often receives the question, "So how's it going?" about her son and Cansler's relationship, in a tone that conveys an expectation of problems and failure.

"Their view is, 'They can't do that. They can't love. They can't be in a serious relationship.' " DiFalco's mother says. "Of course they can."

DiFalco, 31, and the 27-year-old Cansler have been proving the naysayers wrong since their first date, a dinner and dance organized by the Future Farmers of America chapter at Clovis East High School.

"I knew she was a good person to be around and I would gravitate to her as a friend first  she's an awesome person to be around," DiFalco says of why he asked Cansler to be his date. "She's a joy. She's friendly, she's nice, she's loving, and I picked her because I want to be with that person. I was lacking in a little bit of that  the happiness and going forward and stuff. And Morgan just stole my heart because that's what I wanted in a relationship."

Cansler describes their relationship as "meant to be." Both say they help each other and make the other feel better.

"Morgan can get Tyler to laugh and smile," Anna Marie DiFalco says, "and be light and airy.  When he just breaks out in that big smile, you know he's really definitely happy."

Supporting each other

DiFalco helps Cansler stay safe.

"He just looks after her and helps her manage skills that you and I take for granted," Anna Marie DiFalco says, "and he does it in a very patient and loving way."

When cooking together in their north Fresno home, for example, DiFalco gives Cansler tasks he knows she can accomplish.

"He never wants her to feel like she can't do something, or that she has failed at something," Anna Marie DiFalco says.

They sometimes misunderstand each other and struggle with understanding one another's feelings, Anna Marie DiFalco says, but so do couples without intellectual disabilities.

"They still love each other," she says. "They still respect each other. They still want the best for each other."

Leslie Shirakawa, a Wayfinders' vocational specialist, has been a longtime supporter of their love story: "I kept telling them, 'You guys should just get married, you are so right for each other."

Cansler's family is also supportive.

"There's really always somebody for everybody," says Cansler's mother, Angie Cansler.

The couple's next relationship goal: Get a dog that looks like one of their uncle's corgis.

Playing with his corgis is among their favorite pastimes.

DiFalco works a couple days a week on his uncle's cattle ranch in Clovis. He hopes to get more work in agriculture, while Cansler is looking for a job in child care. Their disabilities have made some employers hesitant to hire them. DiFalco says he wants the opportunity to give back to society.

"Don't take us as an inferior person," he says. "Take it as who we are as an American citizen with a disability. We have rights. We support the military. We love our country."

DiFalco also hopes people don't question his ability to have a romantic relationship. He says "love is everywhere" and "love is not just simple  it's complex."

"You think love is only for certain individuals, certain classes, and love can be more than just that," DiFalco says. "Love for a person who is challenged or who is disabled  they can still find love with somebody else, without family members' love. Find their soul mate, be loved and appreciated and comforted and stuff."A&E turns its focus to fringe religious sects in February. "Warren Jeffs: Prophet of Evil" (8 p.m., TV-14) revisits the leader of a breakaway polygamous branch of Mormonism that claimed to represent the true faith.

Now in prison, Jeffs once lorded over a flock of up to 15,000 followers, claimed as many as 78 women as his wives, sired dozens of children and controlled church finances that put millions of dollars at his command. Jeffs was arrested in 2011 for two felony counts of child sexual assault.

The A&E report is not to be confused with "The Story of Warren Jeffs: An Evil Lives Here Special" (7 p.m., ID, TV-14).

Next Monday, A&E will air "Jonestown: The Women Behind the Massacre," a profile of four women close to cult leader Jim Jones who exhorted his followers to commit mass suicide in the jungles of Guyana in 1978.

"Independent Lens" (8 p.m., PBS, TV-PG, check local listings) presents the 90-minute documentary "Tell Them We Are Rising: The Story of Black Colleges and Universities," an examination of historically black institutions and their many famous graduates, including Thurgood Marshall, who went from Howard University School of Law to the Supreme Court.

"Escape to the Great Dismal Swamp" (7 p.m., Smithsonian) recalls a time when slaves would escape to the vast thicket of wilderness covering parts of Virginia and North Carolina to find refuge from the cruelty of their bondage.

Historians and archaeologists explore evidence of whole communities of refugee slaves who lived in the swamps interior while preparing for a longer voyage north. Computer graphics and animation present renderings of what such communities might have looked like hundreds of years ago.

A week after Westminster showcased pure breeds, the "2018 American Rescue Dog Show" (7 p.m., Hallmark, TV-G) puts the focus on shelter pets competing in a variety of categories and promotes the adoption of dogs in search of their "forever" homes. Rebecca Romijn and Rich Eisen host.

TONIGHTS OTHER HIGHLIGHTSAs described below, Department of Labor policy and practice supports illegal immigrants in at least three ways. This shouldnt be surprising. Illegal immigrants had no better friend in the Obama administration, and few anywhere in American, than Tom Perez, Obamas Secretary of Labor.

Here is how Perez used the DOL to promote the interests of illegal immigrants. First, an Obama administration-era memorandum of understanding between the DOL, the EEOC, the NLRB and DHS/ICE prohibits ICE from conducting enforcement activities against illegals when a DOL, EEOC, or NLRB investigation is pending.

This seems indefensible. Why should illegal immigrants and their employers be exempt from ICE enforcement activity merely because a DOL investigation is pending? Its almost as if the Obama administration has carved out its own sanctuary city.

Second, the Wage and Hour Division (WHD) of the DOL invests a significant amount of its budget conducting investigations and collecting back wages for illegal immigrants. This wouldnt bother me if the budget for investigating and litigating wage and hour violations were unlimited, but it is not. By devoting resources to seeking back wages for illegal immigrants, the DOL is short-changing victims of pay act violations who are in this country legally, including American citizens.

A 2015 Report from DOLs Office of Inspector General on WHDs back wage distributions found that from 2010 to 2015, WHD transferred $72 million in back wages to the Treasury Department for employees it could not locate. Its likely that a large portion of these funds were collected for illegal immigrants no longer in the country or not willing to contact DOL to claim the money. Thus, even from a purely pragmatic standpoint, the DOLs resources would be better spent pursuing back pay on behalf of citizens and lawful residents.

Third, the DOL has entered a number of partnerships with Central American, South American, and Asian Pacific Government to facilitate complaints against employers by their citizens, regardless of immigration status. I dont think our government should be devoting resources to encouraging complaints by illegal immigrants that apparently may immunize them from visits by ICE to their workplaces.

One year into the Trump administration, these pro-illegal immigrant policies remain intact. Its my understanding that Secretary of Labor Alex Acosta has shown no interest in undoing any of them. The issues have been raised with Acosta, but he seems bent on ignoring them. From all that appears, hes fine with the status quo, including the governments own sanctuary city program.

As was the case during the Obama administration, illegal immigrants have no better friend in high office than the Secretary of Labor.

Unfortunately, this comes as no surprise. At both the Justice Department and the DOL, Acosta has been unwilling to take action that would alienate leftists. He has raised inaction to an art form.

At DOL, far from making regulatory roll back a priority, he has taken what can euphemistically be called a cautious approach to controversial policy matters. For example, although he withdrew the Obama Administrations interpretation of independent contractors under the Fair Labor Standards Act with respect to home health registries, he has done nothing to prevent DOL employees from continuing to use it, which they do aggressively. Senator Rubio complained about this in a letter to Acosta.

Acosta is so unwilling to offend the left that he has not removed any of the Obama/Perez holdovers on the DOLs Administrative Review Board (ARB), the influential body that issues final agency decisions for the Secretary of Labor in cases arising under a wide range of worker protection laws  more than three dozen of them. The members of this Board serve entirely at the pleasure of the Secretary. Acosta had the right to dismiss them the day he took office. Yet, four of the five remain in place (the other left a month or two ago on his own accord).

Given his track record, including his unwillingness even to cut the low-hanging fruit at the ARB, it was predictable that Acosta wouldnt alter DOL policy favoring illegal immigrants. But what were the odds that President Trump would not disturb the aggressive pro-illegal immigrant, anti enforcement policies put in place by Barack Obama and Tom Perez? Until he appointed Acosta, they were slim indeed.Its hard to pick up in the clatter of the Democrats media adjunct, but Facebook vice president of advertising Rob Goldman has taken to Twitter to make a point or two congenial to President Trump. Indeed, he sounds a little like President Trump in the Tweets below. He makes the point that Russian spending on Facebook ads after the election exceeded spending before the election. I didnt know that. Why hasnt that point made it through the clatter? Goldman explains that few outlets have covered it because it doesnt align with the main media narrative of T[r]ump and the election.

The majority of the Russian ad spend happened AFTER the election. We shared that fact, but very few outlets have covered it because it doesnt align with the main media narrative of Tump and the election. https://t.co/2dL8Kh0hof  Rob Goldman (@robjective) February 17, 2018

Id like to see those post-election ads. What line were the Russians pushing about President Trump in the wake of his election? I dont know.

The New York Times published a set of the Russians election-related Facebook ads disclosed at a congressional hearing on November 1, 2017. Below is one the Times describes as a Bernie Sanders superhero promoting gay rights. Dose someone think that stuff like this persuaded a voter to do anything other than get out his crayons?

The Times published one post-election anti-Trump ad. If the Russians had actually supported Trump to win the election, is this the line they would have pushed when it came to pass?

Via Kurt Wagner/Recode.Yesterday, I wrote that Russias efforts during the 2016 election season to sow discord in the electorate and to libel certain candidates were surely inconsequential, given the amount of garbage with which Americans themselves contaminate our politics. Suggesting that Russias efforts affected the outcome or even, appreciably, the tenor of this election is like saying that dropping a bucket of water into the sea affected the tide, I concluded.

This is also the view of New York Times writers Amanda Taub and Max Fisher. They express it in an article called Russian Meddling Was a Drop in an Ocean of American-made Discord.

Actually, the article is somewhat more wishy-washy than the title suggests. It consists mostly of the usual moaning about how toxic American partisanship has become, with blame, of course, attached mostly to Republicans and conservatives. But the moaning supports the thrust of the title, if not the full metaphor.

The authors conclude that the false information and political advertisements that the Russians are accused of spreading could ring true only to those already predisposed to suspect the worst. People predisposed to believe the worst about, say, Hillary Clinton arent going to vote for her. They are going to vote for someone else, be it Bernie Sanders, Jill Stein, or Donald Trump.

Thats true with or without the Russians adding their drop of venom.Liberals increasingly are coming out of the closet, admitting that what they have wanted all along is to ban, or limit to an extreme degree, private ownership of firearms. This would require, as a starting point, repeal of the Second Amendment, which more and more liberals now admit they favor. Earlier today, InstaPundit linked to a marvelous 2015 column by Charles Cooke. Not much has changed since then.

Cooke notes that talk is cheap, and encourages liberals to take on the onerous task of accomplishing what they say they want. Here are some excerpts:

[H]eres the million-dollar question: What the hell are they waiting for? Go on, chaps. Bloody well do it.

***

Man up. Put together a plan, and take those words out of the Constitution. This will involve hard work, of course. You cant just sit online and preen to those who already agree with you. No siree. Instead, youll have to go around the states  traveling and preaching until the soles of your shoes are thin as paper. Youll have to lobby Congress, over and over and over again. Youll have to make ads and shake hands and twist arms and cut deals and suffer all the slings and arrows that will be thrown in your direction. Youll have to tell anybody who will listen to you that they need to support you; that if they disagree, theyre childish and beholden to the gun lobby; that they dont care enough about children; that their reverence for the Founders is mistaken; that they have blood on their goddamn hands; that they want to own firearms only because their penises are small and theyre not real men. And remember, you cant half-ass it this time. Youre not going out there to tell these people that you want reform or that enough is enough. Youre going there to solicit their support for removing one of the articles within the Bill of Rights. Make no mistake: Itll be unpleasant strolling into Pittsburgh or Youngstown or Pueblo and telling blue-collar Democrat after blue-collar Democrat that he only has his guns because hes not as well endowed as hed like to be. Itll be tough explaining to suburban families that their established conception of American liberty is wrong. You might even suffer at the polls because of it. But thats what its going to take. So do it. Start now. Off you go. And dont stop there. No, no. Therell still be a lot of work to be done. As anybody with a passing understanding of Americas constitutional system knows, repealing the Second Amendment wont in and of itself lead to the end of gun ownership in America. Rather, it will merely free up the federal government to regulate the area, should it wish to do so. Next, youll need to craft the laws that bring about change  think of them as modern Volstead Acts  and youll need to get them past the opposition. And, if the federal government doesnt immediately go the whole hog, youll need to replicate your efforts in the states, too, 45 of which have their own constitutional protections. Maybe New Jersey and California will go quietly. Maybe. But Idaho wont. Louisiana wont. Kentucky wont. Maine wont. Youll need to persuade those sovereignties not to sue and drag their heels, but to do whats right as defined by you. Unfortunately, that wont involve vague talk of holding national conversations and doing something and fighting back against the NRA. Itll mean going to all sorts of groups  unions, churches, PTAs, political meetings, bowling leagues  and telling them not that you want common-sense reforms, but that you want their guns, as in Australia or Britain or Japan.

And, of course, the last line of defense is millions of American firearms owners.

And when youve done all that and your vision is inked onto parchment, youll need to enforce it. No, not in the namby-pamby, eh-we-dont-really-want-to-fund-it way that Prohibition was enforced. I mean enforce it  with force. When Australia took its decision to Do Something, the Australian citizenry owned between 2 and 3 million guns. Despite the compliance of the people and the lack of an entrenched gun culture, the government got maybe three-quarters of a million of them  somewhere between a fifth and a third of the total. That wouldnt be good enough here, of course. There are around 350 million privately owned guns in America, which means that if you picked up one in three, youd only be returning the stock to where it was in 1994. Does that sound difficult? Sure! After all, this is a country of 330 million people spread out across 3.8 million square miles, and if we know one thing about the American people, its that they do not go quietly into the night.  Youre going to need a plan. A state-by-state, county-by-county, street-by-street, door-to-door plan. A detailed roadmap to abolition that involves the military and the police and a whole host of informants  and, probably, a hell of a lot of blood, too. Sure, the ACLU wont like it, especially when you start going around poorer neighborhoods.

This is one thing that has changed since 2015. I think we can now be pretty sure that the ACLU would be on board with this particular anti-civil rights measure.

Sure, there are probably between 20 and 30 million Americans who would rather fight a civil war than let you into their houses. Sure, there is no historical precedent in America for the mass confiscation of a commonly owned item  let alone one that was until recently constitutionally protected. Sure, its slightly odd that you think that we cant deport 11 million people but we can search 123 million homes. But thats just the price we have to pay. Times have changed. It has to be done: For the children; for America; for the future. Hey hey, ho ho, the Second Amendment has to go.

Actually, the liberals have an easier plan to get rid of the 2nd Amendment. All they need is one more Supreme Court justice, and if Hillary Clinton had been elected, that need would, in all likelihood, have been filled. But that doesnt deal with state constitutional protections, it doesnt get confiscation legislation passed at the federal level, and it doesnt begin to address the impossible taskas Cooke ably describes itof actually carrying out the confiscation.

Do liberals have the stomach for any of this? It doesnt seem so. They could have passed whatever common sense gun legislation they wanted during the time when they controlled the House, had a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, and Barack Obama as president. But they didnt touch gun issues with a stick. Which pretty much proves that their only interest in the subject is political.I grew up in a time when Washingtons birthday was not only observed on February 22, but was celebrated with the Fannie Farmer chocolate hatchet honoring the mythical story told about Washington by Parson Weems. In 1968 Washingtons Birthday was moved to the third Monday in February by virtue of the Uniform Holidays Bill. It has subsequently become the nondescript Presidents Day by which we know it today. Millard Fillmore and James Buchanan and Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama, we salute you one and all.

How can you move a guys birthday? Its kind of a postmodern thing to do. Well, you cant. Its just the holiday observing it that has gone mobile. How fitting that the deed was done in the annus horribilis of 1968.

We used to revere Washington as the Father of our Country. We were grateful to him because we know it to be a good country, founded on the principle by which we stake the deed of our freedom. Now I wonder if we could even agree to honor Washington. I doubt it.

I will be back to celebrate Washingtons birthday on Washingtons birthday. I will offer a few facts about this truly great man about whom, as Churchill said in another context, facts are better than dreams.President Trump has been tweeting up a storm. Some of his tweets have been about Robert Muellers indictment of a number of Russians, which we have written about extensively here. For example:

If it was the GOAL of Russia to create discord, disruption and chaos within the U.S. then, with all of the Committee Hearings, Investigations and Party hatred, they have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. They are laughing their asses off in Moscow. Get smart America!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 18, 2018

Hes right. Trump is too polite to mention that the Democratic Party shares, in some respects, Russias goals.

Here is another one:

I never said Russia did not meddle in the election, I said it may be Russia, or China or another country or group, or it may be a 400 pound genius sitting in bed and playing with his computer. The Russian hoax was that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia  it never did!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 18, 2018

There are several more. This is too much for the Democratic Party press to bear. The Hill, for example, headlines: Trumps anger boils over with Russia probe.

President Trump vented his anger with the Russia investigation late Saturday night and Sunday morning, declaring that they are laughing their asses off in Moscow over the ongoing probe into Moscows interference in the 2016 election. In a remarkable burst of tweets sent from his Mar-a-Lago resort, the president blamed the Obama administration for not doing enough to deter Russia and claimed he never denied the meddling took place  all while undercutting his own national security adviser who said Saturday that the interference is now beyond dispute.

The Hill takes it upon itself to explain why Trump is wrong.

The tweets revealed the depth of Trumps frustration following special counsel Robert Muellers indictment of more than a dozen Russians accused of meddling in the 2016 election in an effort to boost Trumps campaign.

Frustration, or maybe sense of vindication. The Hill doesnt mention that Muellers indictment says the Russians posted information favoring Bernie Sanders, Donald Trump and Jill Stein, while opposing Hillary Clinton, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio.

The president has not criticized Russia for its election-meddling scheme, opting to focus on the ways he believes Muellers indictment exonerates his campaign from colluding with the Kremlin.

The absence of any allegation of collusion, together with the affirmative allegation that any Americans who had contact with the Russians were unwitting, does seem to be a significant feature of the indictment. But the Hill isnt giving up hope!

The Hill is horrified that Trump criticized the FBI. How dare he?

Late Saturday night, Trump accused the FBI of missing all of the many signals about the alleged Parkland gunman because they are spending too much time trying to prove Russian collusion with the Trump campaign. The attack on the FBI appeared to alarm Trumps critics the most.

Im so old, I can remember when it was Democrats who criticized the FBIwhich, by the way, obviously deserves whatever criticism it gets in connection with the Parkland shootings.

This is especially entertaining:

But his most surprising target was national security adviser H.R. McMaster, who spoke at length at a conference in Munich about threats posed by Russia. General McMaster forgot to say that the results of the 2016 election were not impacted or changed by the Russians and that the only Collusion was between Russia and Crooked H, the DNC and the Dems. Remember the Dirty Dossier, Uranium, Speeches, Emails and the Podesta Company! Trump tweeted. Trump was referring to Clinton and an explosive dossier of alleged ties between Trump and Russia compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele, which was funded in part by Democrats tied to the 2016 nominee. Republicans charge that the unverified claims in the dossier helped launch the Russia investigation, a claim not supported by public documents.

That last assertion is mystifying. As far as I know, there is no dispute about the fact that the Steele dossier helped launch the Russia investigation. That, in fact, appears to be an understatement.

The president also dug up stories

I love that: dug up.

that have been focal points for Republicans, including Clintons paid speeches and allegations that she improperly approved the sale of a Canadian uranium mining company with holdings in the U.S. to Russia. Former administration officials have denied any wrongdoing.

There you have it! Former administration officials have denied any wrongdoing. No more need be said on that subject! This is the kind of press coverage you get when you are a Democrat.

The good news is, there are many more people who read President Trumps tweets than who read The Hill.NOIDA, India, February 19, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

The sixth edition of the most exclusive Journalism Festival of the world, organised by Asian Academy of Film and Television (AAFT), opened at Noida Film City with great pomp and show. Large number of national and foreign delegates made the journalism festival colourful and vibrant on the first day of the event designed for three days; 12th to 14th February, 2018.

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"Seven years back, we announced 12th February as the International Day of Journalism as there was no day marked earlier for the oldest profession on earth. To mark respect to the day, we started Global Festival of Journalism every year," said Sandeep Marwah, President of the Festival and also International Journalism Centre.

"We are thrilled to be the part of the 6th edition of first-ever festival of this kind in the world. The Bosnia & Herzegovina-India friendship has taken a new shape today. Media can boost our relationship to bigger platforms," said H.E. Dr. Sabit Subasic, Ambassador of Bosnia & Herzegovina, while lighting the ceremonial lamp to inaugurate the festival.

"Marwah studios are the Mecca and Medina of film and media activities. Last time, I was here for launching of Indo Ghana Film and Cultural Forum. Global Festival of Journalism has brought India and Ghana once again close to each other. I invite Marwah to Ghana as a state guest to further enhance our ties," said H.E. Michael Aaron N. N. Oquaye Esq (Jnr), High Commissioner of Ghana to India.

"Sandeep Marwah is a popular name in United Kingdom; his involvement has added more by joining hands with Teesside University. Asian Education Group and our University will soon tie-up for mutually beneficial associations," added Dr. Xiaoxian Zhu from Teesside University, United Kingdom.

"The reach of 12th February as International Day of Journalism and Global Festival of Journalism has induced many organizations in the World to celebrate this day. I am ready to go to any extent to promote good journalism," added Dr. Ved Pratap Vaidic, veteran Journalist of India.

Kumar Mohan, Veteran Journalist from Mumbai representing the Indian film industry, congratulated all the journalists from all over the world on International Journalism Day. "International Journalism Centre has created history in the books of journalism and has marked the day," said Kumar Mohan.

The festival conducted workshops, seminars, interactions, talks, exhibitions, screening of documentaries, release of posters, etc. on the first day along with launching of Indo Bosnia Film and Cultural Forum by the Ambassador of Bosnia.

Later, Sandeep Marwah honoured the dignitaries with the lifetime membership of International Journalism Centre of Marwah Studios.

About AAFT

AAFT is the premiere film and television institute of India. AAFT- Asian Academy of Film and Television is one of the first ten best film schools of the world. For more information, visit http://www.aaft.com.



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+91-0120-4831143

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SOURCE Asian Academy of Film & Television (AAFT)As huddle rooms become mainstream, the audio conferencing endpoint vendors are adapting their solutions functionality, pricing and packaging to cater to new customer requirements

SANTA CLARA, California, Feb. 19, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Frost & Sullivan's recent analysis, Global Audio Conferencing Endpoints Market, Forecast to 2021, finds that tight IT budgets, coupled with tough economic environments in different regions, deterred the demand for traditional audio conferencing endpoints. However, new ways of working and widespread the usage of video collaboration services across organizations have considerably boosted the growth of meeting spaces in business settings. In addition, adoption of unified communications and collaboration (UCC) services, as well as the increasing flexibility of endpoints to support multiple connectivity options such as VoIP, USB and Bluetooth, and the ability to adapt to various UCC environments, are expected to boost demand in the tabletop audio conferencing endpoint market.

For further information on this analysis, please visit: http://frost.ly/274.

"The audio conferencing endpoint market is becoming highly competitive with multiple vendors expanding their product line to offer a holistic portfolio. To capture greater customer mindshare, vendors must innovate and adjust their value proposition in terms of price, product/service bundles, and product support," said Vaishno Devi Srinivasan, Industry Analyst, Connected Work.

Businesses increasingly expect greater audio conferencing endpoint functionality at low price points. With the proliferation of video, incorporating it in the collaboration bundle seems to be a logical step for audio conferencing endpoint vendors. The convergence of video with audio endpoints to develop a low-cost bundle presents a significant growth opportunity for all vendors in this market.

Other highlights include:

By 2021 , the global tabletop audio conferencing endpoints market is expected to reach $488.7 million and the installed audio conferencing endpoints market is expected to attain $73.5 million in revenue;

, the global tabletop audio conferencing endpoints market is expected to reach and the installed audio conferencing endpoints market is expected to attain in revenue; Expansion of the market will be boosted by easy-to-install and high-clarity endpoints in huddle rooms and open office spaces;

in huddle rooms and open office spaces; Convergence of video with audio endpoints to develop a low-cost audio-video bundle will cater to huddle room requirements;

endpoints to develop a low-cost audio-video bundle will cater to huddle room requirements; Launch of all-in-one(AIO) installed audio-video integrated devices will entail new opportunities. AIO models are wall-mounted devices that encompass microphones, speakers, and cameras that target the less-complicated deployment use cases and professional audio requirements in huddle rooms.

installed audio-video integrated devices will entail new opportunities. AIO models are wall-mounted devices that encompass microphones, speakers, and cameras that target the less-complicated deployment use cases and professional audio requirements in huddle rooms. In addition to video, incorporation of content sharing capabilities broaden the use cases of tabletop audio conferencing endpoints. For Example, Polycom RealPresence Trio 8800.

"Compelling new feature sets, attractive and user-friendly interfaces, effective pricing models and discounts, and more aggressive marketing of these value propositions will be essential to expand the user base," said Devi.

Global Audio Conferencing Endpoints Market, Forecast to 2021 is part of Frost & Sullivan's Digital Transformation Growth Partnership Services program.

About Frost & Sullivan

Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, works in collaboration with clients to leverage visionary innovation that addresses the global challenges and related growth opportunities that will make or break today's market participants. For more than 50 years, we have been developing growth strategies for the global 1000, emerging businesses, the public sector and the investment community. Contact us: Start the discussion.

Global Audio Conferencing Endpoints Market, Forecast to 2021

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SOURCE Frost & SullivanAccording to a new market research report " Case Management Market by Component (Solution and Services), Service (Professional Services and Managed Services), Business Function, Deployment Mode (Cloud and On-premises), Organization Size, Vertical, and Region - Global Forecast to 2022 " , published by MarketsandMarkets, the market is expected to grow from USD 4.79 Billion in 2017 to USD 7.62 Billion by 2022, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 9.7% during the forecast period. The major forces driving the Case Management Market growth are the ongoing trend of digitalization in the IT industry and increasing demand for software automation and innovative applications.

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The solution segment is estimated to have the larger market share in the Case Management Market in 2017.

The demand for case management solutions is increasing in organizations, irrespective of the organization size. The deployment of case management solutions varies according to the different needs of the end-users. The large enterprises segment is estimated to dominate the market with the larger market size, as large organizations in industries, such as banking and government, have various complex business processes.

The retail vertical is expected to grow at the highest CAGR in the Case Management Market during the forecast period.

The retail vertical is expected to witness the fastest growth rate, as the vertical has increased its spending in Customer Relationship Management (CRM) to manage customers' needs, thereby helping enterprises in the vertical increase the efficiency of their business processes. IT has become an essential part of every retail business and has streamlined customer-centric processes in the retail vertical. Companies are trying to improve their competitive edge, exceed customer expectations, and increase revenues.

Download PDF Brochure @ https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownload.asp?id=244696884

North America is expected to contribute to the largest market share, whereas Asia Pacific (APAC) is projected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period.

North America is expected to have the largest market share and dominate the Case Management Market during the forecast period, due to the high number of early technology adopters in this region. Specific budget allocations and mandated case management policies are expected to make North America the most lucrative region for the growth of case management vendors. The increasing demand for case management solutions in major verticals, such as government; Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance (BFSI); and retail, is expected to be a major factor supporting the overall growth in the region. The market in APAC is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. The main reason for this high growth is the widespread adoption of case management solutions in both Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) and large enterprises to simplify their business processes.

The major vendors in Case Management Market include Pegasystems (US), Appian (US), IBM (US), Newgen Software (India), DST Systems (US), Dell Technologies (US), AINS (US), Pulpstream (US), and Kofax (US).

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Business Process Management Market by Solution, by Service, by Deployment Type (Cloud, On-Premises), by Organization Size (SMES, Enterprises), by Business Function, by Industry Vertical, by Region (NA, Europe, APAC, MEA, LA) - Global Forecast to 2021

https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/business-process-management-market-157890056.html

Enterprise Content Management Market by Component (Solutions and Services), Business Function (Accounts & Finance, Human Resources, Supply Chain Management, Operations, and Marketing), Deployment Type, Organization Size, Vertical - Global Forecast to 2022

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SOURCE MarketsandMarketsAccording to a new market research report " Defibrillators Market by Product (Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (Transvenous ICD, Single & Dual Chamber, CRT-D, S-ICD) and External (Manual, AED, Wearable)), End User (Hospitals, Prehospital, Public Access, Home care) - Global Forecast to 2022 " , published by MarketsandMarkets, the global market is projected to reach USD 10.88 Billion by 2022 from USD 9.32 Billion in 2017, growing at a CAGR of 3.1%. Factors such as technological advancements in defibrillators, rising prevalence of target diseases, growing focus on providing public access defibrillation, and rising number of training & awareness programs across the globe are driving the growth of this market.

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By product, the implantable cardioverter defibrillators segment is expected to hold the largest share of the market in 2017

On the basis of products, the Defibrillators Market is classified into implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) and external defibrillators. The ICDs product segment is bifurcated into transvenous implantable cardioverter defibrillators (T-ICDs) and subcutaneous implantable cardioverter defibrillators (S-ICDs). The T-ICDs segment is further classified into single-chamber ICDs, dual-chamber ICDs, and cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillators (CRT-Ds). The external defibrillators segment is further classified into manual external defibrillators, automated external defibrillators (AEDs), and wearable cardioverter defibrillators (WCDs). The ICDs segment is expected to account for the largest share of the global Defibrillators Market in 2017. Factors such as the development of technologically advanced devices with extended longevity, rapid growth in the number of implant procedures, and increasing adoption of cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillators (CRT-Ds) and S-ICD systems across the globe are contributing to the large share of this segment.

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By end user, the public access markets segment is expected to be the fastest growing segment in the forecast period

On the basis of end user, the Defibrillators Market is segmented into hospitals, clinics, and cardiac centers; pre-hospital care settings; public access markets; home care settings; and alternate care facilities. The public access markets segment is expected to grow at the fastest CAGR during the forecast period. Growth in this segment is attributed to the development of advanced AEDs, rising cases of sudden cardiac arrest at out-of-hospital settings, and increasing number of public access defibrillation programs across the globe.

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North America is expected to dominate the market in 2017

Geographically, the Defibrillators Market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and the Rest of the World. North America is expected to account for the largest share of the market in 2017, followed by Europe. The large share of North America can primarily be attributed to the rising geriatric population, increasing incidence of cardiovascular diseases, and continuous technological advancements & product innovations in the region.

The key players in the Defibrillators Market include Medtronic (Ireland), St. Jude Medical (US), Boston Scientific (US), Koninklijke Philips N.V. (Netherlands), ZOLL Medical (US), BIOTRONIK (Germany), Physio-Control (US), Cardiac Science (US), LivaNova (UK), Nihon Kohden (Japan), SCHILLER (Switzerland), Mindray Medical (China), Mediana (South Korea), METRAX (Germany), and METsis (Turkey).

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Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model - GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors. MarketsandMarkets now coming up with 1,500 MicroQuadrants (Positioning top players across leaders, emerging companies, innovators, strategic players) annually in high growth emerging segments. 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's 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.

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SOURCE MarketsandMarketsBOSTON, LONDON, and MUMBAI, India, February 19, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

NelsonHall and NASSCOM have launched a new study entitled Digital Customer Experience Services: How India Can Lead the World which reveals that, despite suggestions that the rise of digital channels will lead to reduced outsourcing and a shift away from offshore service delivery, the opposite is the case - and India is set to benefit.

(Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/643421/NelsonHall_Logo.jpg )



As organizations transform to 'digital customer experience', they will increasingly implement new digital customer service process models, combining:

High customer-centricity led by customer journey mapping and improved UX design

Increased emphasis on customer retention and sales

New technologies such as cloud-based platforms, NLP, analytics, RPA and machine learning, and new channels such as cognitive chatbots

Improved knowledge base, analytics and insights

Upskilling of agents to multi-channel with focus on digital channels and proactive support.

However, while it has been widely suggested that the rise in use of digital channels and the decline in voice-based customer service will lead to reduced outsourcing and the transition of services to onshore, the study has found the opposite. Indeed, digital channels will lead to greater adoption of customer service outsourcing with:

Shoring largely unaffected by the introduction of next generation customer service models, and

Increased automation/digitalization leading to increased activity in India , especially in areas such as analytics.

The reasons are that customer service organizations will increasingly seek help in designing new digital services, in implementing digital channels & technologies, and in applying analytics. And India excels in these areas, with agents who are highly technically savvy.

Hence, India's CX value proposition will increase, from one based on agent availability and scalability to one of being a high-skill digital CX center of excellence.

While traditional customer service was largely transactional with limited multi- and omni-channel provision, India's advantages were based on the availability of a large, willing and capable talent pool, ease and speed of scalability, and competitive costs. However, in the emerging world of digital CX, India's service delivery will become consultancy/digital transformation-led and provide full digital omni-channel service.

The report Digital Customer Experience Services: How India Can Lead the World is available in full to NASSCOM members and to clients of NelsonHall's CX Services program. It analyses and provides guidance on:

Changing client requirements and expectations from next generation CX services

Use of new business models & technologies, and best practice frameworks

The level of benefit from new business models & technologies

Case studies of customer service innovation

A roadmap for achieving leadership in next generation digital CX services.

About NASSCOM

NASSCOM is the industry association for the IT-BPM sector in India with the primary objective of building a growth led and sustainable technology and business services sector in the country.

About NelsonHall

NelsonHall is the leading global analyst firm dedicated to helping organizations understand the 'art of the possible' in next generation IT and business services. With analysts in the US, UK, and Europe, NelsonHall provides buy-side organizations with detailed, critical information on markets and vendors (including NEAT assessments) that helps them de-risk their sourcing engagements and make fast and highly informed sourcing decisions. For service providers, NelsonHall provides deep knowledge of market dynamics and user requirements to help them hone & implement their go-to-market strategies.

For media inquiries, please contact: Paul Connolly, [email protected]

SOURCE NelsonHallNEW DELHI, February 19, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Newgen Software, a provider of Business Process Management (BPM), Enterprise Content Management (ECM) and Customer Communication Management (CCM) platforms, today announced the launch of iBPS Robotic Process Automation Suite .

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130912/638839 )

Speaking about the new offering, Diwakar Nigam, MD & Chairman, Newgen Software, said, "Most organizations rely on enormous amounts of routine, mundane tasks in their day-to-day operations. Automation of such tasks is crucial for enterprises to achieve greater operational efficiency and enhanced customer engagement. This suite will prove to be a business enabler by equipping knowledge workers with information and flexibility for making decisions."

The suite, built on Intelligent Business Process Management platform, is enhanced by RPA which allows end-to-end process automation, empowering organizations with a strong tool for digital transformation. iBPS RPA offers a framework of robotics and workflow management for knowledge workers within any business. Organizations can measure, create, deploy, manage and monitor robotic agents, enabling greater agility with improved business performance.

Key features include:

Process simulator: Helps organizations measure and identify process bottlenecks, prior to their deployment, using what-if and goal-based analysis. It generates a heat map to give a clear indication of bottlenecks, load situations and deterring activities in a process flow

iBPS process designer: Creates and designs the process by leveraging iBPS inbuilt features and functionalities. It also designs RPA-based workflows and configure exceptions & alerts, process specific input data, business rules, decision-based flows and status change notifications

Business activity monitoring: Allows access to all information at the work step level and enables better decision-making by deriving detailed insights from the extracted information

Robotic Control Center: Enables organizations to create, deploy, control and monitor robotic agents through a central center in real-time

Executable scripting: Helps convert human actions into executable script and attach it to the robot work-step to drive enhanced business profitability

Exception Management: Enables organizations to handle exceptions arising from an unusual situation and ensure overall process does not get impacted

The suite optimizes resource utilization and reduction in required operational workforce results in lower costs. Businesses can scale-up their operations with 24X7 availability and significantly reduce human errors.

About Newgen Software

Newgen Software is a provider of Business Process Management, Enterprise Content Management and Customer Communication Management platforms with large, mission-critical solutions deployed at the world's leading banks, insurance firms, healthcare organizations, governments, BPOs and telecom Companies.

For more details, please visit: www.newgensoft.com

Media Contact:

Asif Khan

[email protected]

+91-11-4077-3700

Corporate Marketing

Newgen Software Technologies Limited

SOURCE Newgen Software Technologies Limited(Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/643409/GAVS_IIT_Madras.jpg )



GAVS Technologies and IIT, Madras, have signed an MoU to conduct projects in the areas of Smart Machines and Automation through collaborative innovation and research, under the aegis of Robert Bosch Centre for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (RBC-DSAI) at IIT-Madras. They intend to work together to submit ideas for joint research to break boundaries in AI science and technology in IT Infrastructure Management.

This is a great headway for GAVS Technologies, who have been doing significant work in disruptive technologies in AI and Analytics, in Enterprise Management across the US, UK, ME and India.

The projects under this initiative will be jointly headed by Prof. Nandan Sudarsanam, Department of Management Studies, IIT Madras, Prof. Balaraman Ravindran, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, IIT Madras, and Balaji Uppili, Chief Delivery Officer, GAVS Technologies.

About GAVS Technologies

GAVS Technologies (GAVS) is a global IT services & solutions provider enabling digital transformation through automation-led IT infrastructure solutions. GAVS' offerings are powered by Smart Machines, DevOps & Predictive Analytics and aligned to improve user experience by 10x and reduce resource utilization by 40%.

GAVS has been recognized as an emerging player in the Healthcare Provider IT outsourcing sector by Everest Group and as a prominent India-based remote infrastructure management player & one of the key small players serving the mid-market & enterprise clients in North America by Gartner.

For more information log on to http://www.gavstech.com/

About IIT Madras and the Robert Bosch Centre for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (RBC-DSAI) at IIT-Madras

Indian Institute of Technology Madras is one among the foremost institutes of national importance in higher technological education, basic and applied research, established in 1959. The Institute has sixteen academic departments and several advanced research centers in various disciplines of engineering and pure sciences, with over 100 laboratories organized in a unique pattern of functioning. A faculty of international repute, a brilliant student community, excellent technical & supporting staff and an effective administration have all contributed to the pre-eminent status of IIT Madras.

IITM has been ranked No.1 amongst Engineering Institutions in the India Rankings 2016 and 2017 and No.2 in the category of Overall Institutions in the 2017 Rankings, released by the National Institutional Ranking Framework, MHRD, Government of India www.iitm.ac.in.

RBC-DSAI was founded in August 2017, with a vision to become an internationally renowned centre for data science research, where long-standing fundamental research problems, cutting across disciplines, are targeted and solved.

Contact:

Anand Paramasamy

Contact No: +91-9840972314

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE GAVS TechnologiesBANGALORE and MUMBAI, February 19, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Eyes market leadership in the Indian online rental space by being the largest marketplace for product rentals

- Plans to achieve 1 lakh customer base

- To launch in 6 more cities by December 2018

- Aims at 100 Crore plus revenue by December 2018

- Aims to reach 50% of the total market share by FY18-19

GrabOnRent, a Bangalore-based product rental marketplace today announced the launch of its operations in Mumbai and Gurgaon. The urban Indians can rent products from its vast product category ranging from home and office furniture, home appliances, fitness equipment, laptops & computers, bikes, and event supplies. The service includes free door step delivery and installation along with free maintenance. It rents out products on a monthly subscription fee. The company has 200+ and 150+ partners in Mumbai and Gurgaon respectively, offering more than 300 products on rent.

Speaking at the launch Shubham Jain, CEO, GrabOnRent said, "Due to the availability of employment and better education facilities, we have seen a huge influx of people migrating to cities like Mumbai and Gurgaon. GrabOnRent caters to such audience who are looking for an economical yet quality living. We are excited to extend our operations in these cities to help our audience switch to a better lifestyle by getting access to high standard products on rent."

According to the recent survey by GrabOnRent, 45% of Mumbaikars prefer rentals while furnishing their homes while 50% of Delhiites prefer to buy second-hand items. While renting products, Mumbaikars prefer better service and convenience while Delhiites prefer pricing over other facilities.

Set up in September 2015 and backed by IvyCap Ventures and Unicorn India Ventures, GrabOnRent is eying market leadership in the Indian online rental space by being the largest marketplace for renting. They are ramping up their operations pan-India by adding their operations in two big cities Gurgaon and Mumbai. By end of year, the company will be present in 6 major cities in India including Chennai and Pune to an already existing portfolio of 4 cities.

The brand has given the urban Indian an opportunity to explore the finest quality products and services without having to own any product. The vast product categories ranging from home & office furniture, home appliances, fitness equipment, laptops & computers, bikes and event supplies has generated a healthy rate of 22% MOM growth and aims to serve 1 lakh plus customers in next 3 months. The brand so far has served 35,000 customers and is the only player in the industry with the highest customer repeat rate of 24.6%. The company aims to control 50% of the total market share of the organized business segment by FY18-19. By the end of this year the company is looking to achieve 100 crore plus revenue.

About GrabOnRent

GrabOnRent is an on-demand product rental marketplace which lets consumers rent a variety of products and gets them delivered to their doorstep. They offer services like home and office furniture, home appliances, fitness equipment, laptops & computers, bikes, and event supplies. The company aggregates individuals and distributed suppliers and provides a variety of products to its customers to rent from. The company aims to ease the process of renting by providing a comprehensive solution including, product selection, secure payments and logistics support.

GrabOnRent aims to disrupt the sharing economy in India with a vision to make any product accessible to anyone by introducing an alternate consumption method other than buying. Since the launch in 2015, they have brought smiles to 350,000+ households by renting over 80,000+ products across categories. They are currently operating in Mumbai, Gurgaon, Bangalore, and Hyderabad.

Visit for more details - https://www.grabonrent.com/Mumbai/

Media Contact:

Priya Kumari

[email protected]

+91-8884751916

Media Moments



SOURCE GrabOnRentBANGALORE, February 19, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

HeyHolidays, a global player in the alternative stay online accommodations market, has expanded its footprint in Croatia, Hungary and other European countries which are slowly becoming popular destinations among Indians - both individual and group travellers. Croatia is a perfect blend of beach, mountain, museums, national parks, ancient ruins and many other places for a remarkable traveller experience. Highlighted in the HBO TV series, Game of Thrones, Croatian destinations like Dubrovnik, Split, Makarska, Trogir, etc. have gained immense popularity among travellers. HeyHolidays has more than 16,000 properties spread across the country. The array of properties includes holiday villas, beach houses, apartments, cottages, farm stays, bungalows and many more ranging between INR 1,600 and INR 187,500 per night. There are properties for all types of travellers - backpackers, family, groups of friends, honeymooners. A few of the properties can even accommodate over 15 guests.

(Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/628531/HeyHolidays_Logo.jpg )

Rapidly expanding, HeyHolidays is now present in 120+ countries including Croatia, Turkey, Luxembourg, Russia, Portugal, Italy, Sweden, Hungary, France, Spain and UK. "We have observed an impressive increase in the demand from our Indian outbound travellers to European destinations like Croatia, Hungary and The Netherlands in addition to popular destinations like UK, France, Italy and Spain," said Kenny Blatt, HeyHolidays Co-Founder. Based in Bangalore, India, HeyHolidays is eyeing to become the first choice for India nationals traveling abroad. 'HeyHolidays' growth has been contagious within India for inbound and outbound travellers along with our growing international customer bookings. We listen intently to our customer and are able to pivot accordingly. As our motto says - we are more than just a room," said Mr. Blatt.

"Indian travellers opting for European destinations are mainly groups of young people, families and honeymooners. Food choices are rapidly becoming another area of concern for Indians traveling to these destinations as a large number of them have vegetarian as their food preference," said Mr. Blatt. Guests and hosts have the ability to chat on the HeyHolidays app which allows for a seamless booking process as well as 'best of' suggestions for restaurants and pre-arrival grocery shopping. In addition to the expansion within Europe, HeyHolidays is now present in over 100 cities in India and Southeast Asia. HeyHolidays is cementing its hold on the local and inbound travel to major tourist destinations like Goa, Rajasthan, Kerala, Kashmir, Sikkim and Bangkok.

About HeyHolidays

HeyWorld Holiday Pvt. Ltd. company currently operates in more than 120 countries. In India, it is present across 120+ destinations. For more information or short stay home reservations, call at +91-080-41464444 or email us at [email protected] or visit the company website at http://www.heyholidays.com.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heyholidays

Twitter: https://twitter.com/hey_holidays

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hey.holidays

Media Contact:

Kenny Blatt

[email protected]

+91-8041464444

Co-founder, HeyHolidays



SOURCE HeyHolidaysAHMEDABAD, India, February 19, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Recognizing the importance of good travel pictures in promoting tourism, Innovative Council of Indian Tourism (ICIT) is organizing ICIT Photography Awards 2018 on 21-22 February, 2018 in association with Gujarat Tourism at White Rann Resort, Dhordo, Kutch. Praveg Communications Limited is the event partner for the Conference.

(Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/643301/ICIT_Photography_Award.jpg )



On this momentous occasion, ICIT reinforces its commitment to develop, encourage, support and promote the photographer community in India which strive to promote Indian Tourism through their esoteric skills, knowledge and dedication.

ICIT has invited renowned travel photographers and bloggers from India amidst the presence of media professionals to attend the 2-day event.

The objectives of the event are to encourage photo tourism in India towards promoting India's tourist destinations worldwide, facilitate networking and interaction among travel fraternity, discuss emerging trends in photography and chart the roadmap for photo tourism in India.

ICIT Photography Awards 2018 will be organized as a part of the Conference on Photo Tourism in India to recognize the exemplary achievements of travel photographers. During the Event, ICIT will make special arrangements to encourage and attract the awardees to capture the magnificence of Rann Utsav and the tourist destinations of Kutch.

About Innovative Council of Indian Tourism

Innovative Council of Indian Tourism (ICIT) is constituted as a national centre for Indian tourism and is engaged in promoting India as the leading global tourist destination. For more information, visit http://www.icitindia.com.

About Praveg Communications Limited

Praveg Communications Limited, the leading event management company based in Ahmedabad, has executed over 600 events in India and abroad. For more information, http://www.praveg.com.

Media Contact :

Atindam Mukherjee

[email protected]

+91-9427186066

Innovative Council of Indian Tourism



SOURCE Innovative Council of Indian Tourism and Praveg Communications Limited(Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/643027/Tullamore_DEW_Irish_Whiskey_Barrel_Aged_Stout.jpg )

(Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/643028/Tullamore_DEW_Irish_Whiskey_Barrel_Aged_Stout.jpg )

(Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/643030/Tullamore_DEW_Irish_Whiskey_Barrel_Aged_Stout.jpg )

Using a unique barrel ageing process developed by the brewing team at Innis & Gunn, Kindred Spirits is matured using the finest triple distilled, triple blend Irish whiskey barrels from Tullamore D.E.W. to create a smooth and delicious Scottish Stout that is greater than the sum of its parts.

The result is a one of a kind craft stout - a perfect pairing of the character of Innis & Gunn's rich flavour packed beer, and the sweet, spicy, smooth taste of Tullamore D.E.W., with notes of dark chocolate and coffee alongside hints of vanilla and oak in the 6.1% ABV brew.

To mark their special collaboration, Kindred Spirits celebrates the rich part that music plays in both Scottish and Irish culture, as much as whiskey and beer, by bringing together one of each country's finest musical exports to collaborate on a cover of a traditional Scottish folk song. Irish band Ash and Scotland's Frightened Rabbit met over a Kindred Spirits in Innis & Gunn's hometown of Edinburgh to create the Kindred Sessions, now available to watch at https://youtu.be/Opv7UCds_fM

Dougal Gunn Sharp, Innis & Gunn's founder and master brewer, commented:

"The Scots and Irish share a powerful Celtic connection in our culture and our character, a bond that draws us together with Tullamore D.E.W. A brew that is greater than the sum of its parts, Kindred Spirits is a celebration of the best of Scots and Irish craftsmanship, and in our partnership using our unique barrel into beer ageing process with Tullamore's legendary Irish whiskey barrels, it has sparked the creation of an exciting and unique flavour packed alternative to the usual stouts."

John Quinn, Tullamore D.E.W. Global Brand Ambassador, commented:

"Our partnership with Innis & Gunn brings us closer to a brand that shares our passion for innovation and creating products of exceptional quality and character. Beer and whiskey have always been 'malt cousins' because malted barley is a key ingredient in both, and we celebrate this unique bond through D.E.W. and a Brew - the pairing of Tullamore D.E.W. with great craft beers like Kindred Spirits for an evening full of true character."

Kindred Spirits is available now in the UK and Ireland, US, Canada, Sweden, France, Australia, South Africa, Denmark, Finland, Singapore.

#KindredSpirits

Notes to Editor:

About Tullamore D.E.W.

Tullamore D.E.W. is the world's second largest Irish whiskey brand with global sales of more than one million (9L) cases annually. Known the world over for its smooth flavour, Tullamore D.E.W. Irish whiskey is triple distilled and a blend of all three types of Irish whiskey - grain, malt & pot still. The sweet softness of grain whiskey, soft spice from the pot still and fruitiness of the malt create a uniqueness of flavour that marks out Tullamore D.E.W. from all other Irish whiskeys. Named Icons of Whiskey Brand Innovator of the Year in 2017, Tullamore D.E.W.'s award-winning range includes Tullamore D.E.W. Original, Tullamore D.E.W. 12 Year Old Special Reserve, Tullamore D.E.W. 15 Year Old Trilogy, Tullamore D.E.W. 14 Year Old Single Malt, Tullamore D.E.W. 18 Year Old Single Malt, Tullamore D.E.W. Cider Cask Finish and Tullamore D.E.W. Phoenix.

Tullamore D.E.W. became part of the William Grant & Sons family in 2010.

About Innis & Gunn

Innis & Gunn is one of Scotland's most successful international craft brewers, selling over 27 million bottles of beer in over 30 countries in 2017. A pioneer of barrel-ageing, Innis & Gunn barrel-age using two methods, both the traditional beer into barrel technique, and a unique and innovative barrel into beer process developed by Founder and Master Brewer Dougal Gunn Sharp. Watch how Innis & Gunn put the barrel into the beer.

For more information, please contact:

Innis & Gunn:

Elaine Forbes, Communications Manager: [email protected]

Tullamore D.E.W.

Emma Oliver - Global PR & Advocacy Assistant: [email protected]

SOURCE Tullamore D.E.W.Frost & Sullivan reveals union of threat detection and endpoint discovery technologies will optimize security operations

SANTA CLARA, California, Feb. 19, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The latest Frost & Sullivan research shows that the synergy found in the integration of technologies from Lumeta and McAfee combats cyber threats. The joint venture combines expertise in network threat detection with endpoint discovery and management capabilities to eliminate blind spots in enterprise networks.

To download the complimentary white paper, please visit: http://frost.ly/281

Today's dynamic enterprise networks are constantly changing as guests, employees and IoT devices enter and exit the network, and cloud environments host applications to expand capacity and functionality. However, the diversity and dynamism give rise to potentially vulnerable endpoints and introduce new threat vectors. These factors make the responsibilities of enterprise network cybersecurity professionals even more challenging.

"Enterprise networks face a number of cybersecurity challenges, including the need for continuous monitoring capabilities, dynamic asset discovery, a comprehensive understanding of the network infrastructure, an understanding of how endpoints are mapped to the network and what applications the endpoints are running," said Frost & Sullivan Senior Industry Analyst | Network Security Christopher Kissel. "The trick is to do this under budget and with as few appliances as possible."

Lumeta in integration with McAfee technology provides access to the necessary tools to empower network security analysts to do more with the limited resources that they have, while also achieving visibility and manageability of:

Continuous threat detection and remediation

Dynamic discovery of assets

Device profiling

Network segmentation

Network control plane context

Historical context

"To me, this is an exciting integration facilitated by McAfee's data exchange layer (DXL)," said Kissel. "With Lumeta's understanding of network protocols, and McAfee's visibility and management of endpoints, the chance of an undetected malicious actor doing harm to the network is greatly reduced."

About Frost & Sullivan

Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, works in collaboration with clients to leverage visionary innovation that addresses the global challenges and related growth opportunities that will make or break today's market participants. For more than 50 years, we have been developing growth strategies for the global 1000, emerging businesses, the public sector and the investment community. Contact us: Start the discussion

Contact:

Jaylon Brinkley

Corporate Communications  North America

P: 210.247-2481

F: 210.348.1003

E: [email protected]

http://www.frost.com

Related Links

http://www.frost.com



SOURCE Frost & Sullivan(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160303/792302 )



Browse 129 tables and 36 figures spread through 226 pages and in-depth TOC on "Point-of-Care/Rapid Diagnostics Market"

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Factors such as the high prevalence of infectious diseases in developing countries, increasing incidence of target diseases, rising preference for home healthcare across the globe, and growing government initiatives supporting the adoption of POC diagnostic products are expected to drive the demand for point-of-care diagnostic products during the study period.

Based on product, the infectious disease testing products segment is expected to register the highest growth rate during the forecast period

Based on product, the global Point-of-Care Diagnostics Market is segmented into glucose monitoring products, infectious disease testing products, coagulation testing products, cardiometabolic testing products, hematology testing products, urinalysis testing products, cholesterol testing products, drugs of abuse testing products, tumor/cancer marker testing products, pregnancy and fertility testing products, fecal occult testing products, and other POC products (multi-assay testing, liver testing, hepatitis A & B testing, and vitamin assay testing). The infectious disease testing products segment is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. The growth of this segment can be attributed to the growing patient population base and increasing availability and awareness about infectious disease POC testing products.

Inquiry Before Buying @ https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Enquiry_Before_Buying.asp?id=106829185

Based on platform, lateral flow assays are estimated to be the largest segment of the market in 2017

Based on platform, the Point-of-Care Diagnostics Market is segmented into lateral flow assays, immunoassays, POC molecular diagnostics, dipsticks, and microfluidics. The lateral flow assays segment is expected to account for the largest share of the market in 2017. The large share of this segment can be attributed to the increasing prevalence of infectious diseases and growing adoption of lateral flow POC diagnostics as compared to lab tests.

Based on end user, the home care segment is expected to register the fastest growth rate in the forecast period

Based on end user, the Point-of-Care Diagnostics Market is segmented into professional diagnostic centers, home care, research laboratories, and other end users. The home care segment is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. The high growth of this segment can be attributed to the increasing preference for home and remote monitoring and rising demand for rapid tests among home care users.

North America accounted for the largest share of the Point-Of-Care Diagnostics Market

Geographically, the Point-of-Care Diagnostics Market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and the Rest of the World. North America is estimated to account for the largest share of the market in 2017. This can be attributed to the growing prevalence of lifestyle diseases, increasing number of product approvals, and rising government initiatives to support the adoption of POC in this region.

Download PDF [email protected] https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownload.asp?id=106829185

The major players of the Point-of-Care Diagnostics Market are Abbott (US), Roche (Switzerland), Siemens (Germany), Danaher (US), Becton, Dickinson, and Company (US), Johnson & Johnson (US), Instrumentation Laboratory (US), PTS Diagnostics (US), Quidel (US), Chembio (US), Sekisui Diagnostics (US), Nova (US), EKF Diagnostics (UK), AccuBioTech (China), and Trinity Biotech (US).

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Coagulation/Hemostasis Analyzer Market by Product (Clinical Laboratory & PoCT Analyzers), Consumables, Test (PT, Fibrinogen, APTT, ACT, D Dimer, Platelet Function), Technology (Mechanical, Optical, Electrochemical), End User (PoCT) - Forecast to 2021

https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/hemostasis-coagulation-analyzer-market-197226392.html

About MarketsandMarkets

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Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model - GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors. MarketsandMarkets now coming up with 1,500 MicroQuadrants (Positioning top players across leaders, emerging companies, innovators, strategic players) annually in high growth emerging segments. 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.

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SOURCE MarketsandMarkets(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160303/792302 )



Browse 82 market data Tables and 42 Figures spread through 150 Pages and in-depth TOC on "Speech Analytics Market"

https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/speech-analytics-market-17297779.html

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The key forces driving the Speech Analytics Market include the need for higher customer satisfaction, rising significance for real-time analytics, and increasing need of speech analytics solutions to the growing BPO sector.

Speech analytics solutions are expected to witness steady growth during the forecast period

The speech analytics solutions are expected to dominate the market from 2015 to 2022, with larger market share than the service segment, due to growing trends of analytical insights from customer interaction data. Furthermore, due to future saturation in the solution segment in the developed economies and variation in global government customer protection norms and regulations, demand for professional services is expected to gain traction in the next five years.

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The Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance (BFSI) vertical is expected to hold the largest market share during the forecast period

Among industry verticals, the Banking, Financial Services and Insurance (BFSI) vertical is expected to continue to hold the largest market share during the forecast period. The vertical is experiencing massive transformation with increasing investments for data analysis. BFSI companies are focusing on customer experience management to accelerate customer acquisition, improve business loyalty, and enhance customer retention ratio. The retail and eCommerce vertical is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period, owing to an increased focus on reducing customer churn rate.

North America is expected to hold the largest market size during the forecast period

North America is expected to hold the largest market size and continue to dominate the global Speech Analytics Market from 2017 to 2022, due to the notable adoption of speech analytics solutions and the presence of a large number of analytics vendors in the US. Asia Pacific (APAC) offers significant growth opportunities, owing to growing technology expenditures in major countries, such as Australia, China, and India, and the demand for cost-effective analytical software and services among the Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) are expected to drive the market growth during the forecast period.

The global Speech Analytics Market is fragmented in nature, as no single vendor dominates the market. Major vendors offering speech analytics software and services include Verint Systems (US), Avaya (US), Calabrio (US), CallMiner (US), Clarabridge (US), Almawave (Italy), Voci Technologies (US), Zoom International (Czech Republic), NICE Systems (Israel), Genesys (US), and HPE (US).

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SOURCE MarketsandMarketsCommunity engineers from Service Provider organizations, system integration firms, or Enterprises will make the orchestration solution they have built on the OpenMSA their own, with no vendor lock-in or dependency possible, leaving no domain unaddressed by their automation plans.

Hybrid networking architectures with legacy hardware and SDN and NFV based solution will be orchestrated as one. Domains, from WAN to LAN, from networking to security, and any other device-based function, will be crossed by one single automation process, which controls all parts.

Applications for such technology are limitless, so is the creativity we expect the community to drive.

The OpenMSA software is made available at no charge for community developers and can be downloaded on www.openmsa.co. The related open source development modules are made available on Github.

About UBiqube

UBiqube is a global software supplier, providing vendor neutral, multi-domain end-to-end network and security orchestration solutions to service providers and large and medium enterprises. Leading the digitalization of the networking industry, UBiqube developed the MSActivator, a DevOps enabled open framework for the design, automation, and orchestration of services over hybrid communication infrastructures (legacy, SDN/NFV/IoT). UBiqube is headquartered in Dublin, with offices in France, India, UAE, Japan, and Silicon Valley, USA. For more information, visit www.ubiqube.com.

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SOURCE UBiqubeAMSTERDAM, February 19, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Earlier this month, Latin American e-Commerce platform Linio and international digital agency AdBirds entered into a strategic partnership, aimed at extending Linio's digital market reach.

Latin America is the fastest growing e-Commerce region worldwide. Linio's platform, www.linio.com.mx , connects international sellers with this vast potential of consumers looking for products from abroad. Linio is eager to take full advantage of the possibilities and with AdBirds' expertise is ready to take the next step in its digital expansion. AdBirds offers a unique model, with a senior management team comprised of top level executives from Fortune 500 companies, complemented by a global team of exclusively former Google employees. The newly signed partnership will focus on Linio's digital strategies and implementations, including digital marketing and e-Commerce.

AdBirds' director Rens den Hollander is sure that AdBirds will positively impact on their new client's growth numbers. "We have extensive experience in helping multinationals around the globe optimize their e-Commerce business. We have worked with many different e-Commerce platforms and we excel in digital marketing. Our Google background will certainly help to meet Linio's expectations."

AdBirds will help Linio implement Google Analytics 360 Suite in order to organize and analyse the enormous treasure of data coming from the users. Using these data, they will support Linio with AdBirds' own Google Shopping tool and Search Engine Advertising campaigns.

This international partnership is an important step in expanding both companies' international business. It will strengthen Linio's competitive position towards similar platforms trying to get a foothold in the Latin American region. Linio's Head of Performance Marketing Nicholas Ziyang, takes a big leap by outsourcing his digital marketing. "We think that this alliance will helps us grow and understand our consumers' needs, so that we can give them the best shopping experience possible."

AdBirds will also benefit from this new partnership, as it allows them to expand their presence in Latin America and further establish their global reach.

Contact details AdBirds: Rens den Hollander, Director

Email: rens@adbirds.global

Phone: +31-6-21-66-95-68





Website: www.adbirds.global

www.linkedin.com/company/adbirds

facebook.com/adbirds.global





Contact details Linio: Paulina Maza, PR Manager

Email: paulina.maza@linio.com





Website: www.linio.com.mx

Social @LinioMexico

SOURCE AdBirdsWashington, Feb 16 : US President Donald Trump's former campaign adviser Rick Gates was finalising a plea deal with special counsel Robert Mueller, indicating that he would cooperate in the ongoing Russian collusion probe, the media reported.

Gates has already spoken to Mueller's team about his case and has been in plea negotiations for about a month, informed officials told CNN on Thursday.

He has had what criminal lawyers call a "Queen for a Day" interview, in which a defendant answers any questions from the prosecutors' team, including about his own case and other potential criminal activity he witnessed.

Meanwhile, Mueller's investigators were planning to file new charges against Gates that are tax-related, sources familiar with the investigation told CNN.

The additional charges could be used to pressure Gates into cooperating with Mueller's team.

Additional charges against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort are also being prepared. Gates's plea deal could be announced within the next week.

Gates hired a top white-collar attorney last month that was spotted meeting twice with Mueller's team.

The former business associate of Manafort pleaded not guilty in October 2017 to eight charges in the probe, including money laundering. Manafort also pleaded not guilty to charges in the same case.

However, it was still unclear what Gates, who outlasted Manafort in the campaign and later worked on the Trump inaugural efforts, could share that would be of value to the Russian collusion investigators.

Mueller has filed charges against four figures tied to President Trump in his probe, including Gates and Manafort, reports The Hill magazine.

Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and former Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos have both pleaded guilty to charges from Mueller.

Flynn and Papadopoulos have agreed to cooperate with Mueller in the investigation.Mumbai, Feb 16 : One of the absconders in the Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud, Mehul Choksi, was under the scanner of the Mumbai Income Tax Department (Investigation) in 2012 for alleged duty violations while importing huge quantities of gold and diamond items.

According to replies received under RTI in 2012, from the Mumbai Customs Department by activist Manoranjan S. Roy, huge quantities of gold were imported by major Indian companies and many had not paid duty that year.

Among the companies named by Mumbai Customs Department were Choksi's group businesses -- Gitanjali Gems Ltd, which imported 750 kg of gold items, Gitanjali Jewellery Ltd imported 171 kg and Gili India Ltd imported 182 kg and 134 pieces (implying gold articles) -- all allegedly without paying a single rupee as duty.

The total gold and diamonds imported by Choksi's companies came to 1,103 kg that year. It was allegedly cleared by the Customs department without paying any duty.

"After the Mumbai Customs' shocking revelations, I checked further to learn that Gitanjali Jewellery Ltd. was not even registered with the Registrar of Companies. There are no records available of this company's existence, yet it succeeded in importing 171 kg of gold undetected," Roy said.

Armed with this expose, Roy complained to then Director General of Income Tax (Investigation) on August 16, 2012, seeking a detailed probe.

He pursued it vigorously. Finally in 2017, he approached then DG of IT (Investigation), B.D. Bishnoi in Mumbai.

"Bishnoi was cooperative but directed me to follow up with the concerned Principal Director, ITI, P.S. Paniay. When I met him, Paniay brushed me off saying I must contact the local headquarters or Finance Ministry. Since then, I made several trips, but the entire issue has been stuck without progress," Roy told IANS.

Choksi is an uncle of diamond and jewellery trader Nirav Modi, who has reportedly fled from India with his wife after being linked to a huge financial scam involving the Punjab National Bank.

There were more stunning revelations in the Mumbai Customs RTI replies.

"Their records show nearly three dozen top Indian diamond and gold jewellery companies who have imported more than 75 tonnes - exact figures are 75,724.54 kg of gold and diamond items in 2012. No duty was paid by any of these companies on this massive quantity," said Roy.

Morever, these companies used and sold this 'duty free' gold in the markets, but it is unclear whether this was declared to the IT Department, failing which the losses to the exchequer could be manifold, Roy said.

Further research made with the Registrar of Companies and the Maharashtra Sales Tax Department revealed that many of the companies which had imported gold and diamonds were not registered with either (RoC or MSTD).

"When I raised the matter with the Mumbai Customs Department, they washed off their hands claiming it was not within their jurisdiction to ensure whether any gold-diamond importer was registered with RoC or MSTD. They contended that their jurisdiction pertained to collection of customs duty," Roy said.

On Roy's prodding why they failed to charge or collect duties on such a huge quantity, "no official had any response".New Delhi, Feb. : New Delhi, Feb. Feb 16 (IANS) The Supreme Court on Friday sought the assistance of Attorney General K.K. Venugopal in the hearing of a plea seeking to debar the lawyers from practicing during the time they are members of parliament or state assemblies.

The bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justice A.M. Khanwilkar sought Venugopal's assistanceon a plea by lawyer and BJP leader Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay who has cited the Bar Council of India's Rules that barred lawyers from practicing during the period they are members of Parliament ora State assembly.

The petitioner has contended that the legislators who are also practicing in the court were in a conflict of interest situation because as lawmakers, they are doing many things that have a bearing on the functioning of the judiciary.

Pointing to "serious conflict" of interest, Upadhyay has contended that as parliamentarians, they (practicing layers) have the power of voting on the impeachment of judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts and such a situation "may allow the Judges to feel beholden to them and to oblige them".

Rule 49 in Chapter VI of the Bar Council of India Rules says: "An advocate shall not be a full-time salaried employee of any person, government, firm, corporation or concern, so long as he continues to practise, and shall, on taking up any such employment, intimate the fact to the Bar Council on whose roll his name appears and shall thereupon cease to practise as an advocate so long as he continues in such employment."

In a two-fold plea, Upadhyay while seeking to oust the lawyers' cum lawmakers from the practicing, has alternately sought a declaration that Rule 49 is ultra vires the Constitution and its basic structure so as to permit all public servants to practice as advocates.

He argued that the prevailing practice of legislators also appearing before the courts as lawyers was discriminatory to other public servants who are barred from simultaneously pursuing the legal profession and is violative of Article 14 of the Constitution guaranteeing equality before law.

"A salaried person and particularly a public servant cannot practice as an advocate but legislators are practicing which is violation of Article 14 of the Constitution. Legislators take fee from litigant and salary from the public exchequer, which is professional misconduct," Upadhyay said in his public interest plea.

The court directed the listing of the matter on March 12.London, Feb 17 : Oxfam's Chief Executive, Mark Goldring, has said the scale and intensity of the criticism against the British charity in the wake of claims that its workers used prostitutes in Haiti, were out of proportion to its level of culpability.

In an interview with the Guardian, Goldring on Friday repeated his apology for Oxfam's failings and acknowledged that major reforms were needed.

But warning that the controversy has already affected vital donations, he accused critics of "gunning" for the charity and said some were motivated in part by an anti-aid agenda.

"The intensity and the ferocity of the attack makes you wonder, what did we do?" he said.

"We murdered babies in their cots? Certainly, the scale and the intensity of the attacks feels out of proportion to the level of culpability. I struggle to understand it. You think, 'My God, there's something going on there.'"

Goldring acknowledged that his comments could be used to inflict more damage on the embattled charity, saying: "Anything we say is being manipulated... even apologies only make matters worse."

The interview followed a promise by Oxfam to publish a 2011 internal investigation into staff involved in sexual and other misconduct in Haiti as soon as possible, the Guardian reported.

The organisation has said that the names of the men involved have already been shared with the Haitian authorities.

The head of Oxfam International, Winnie Byanyima, has announced a wide-ranging reform plan - including an independent commission to review Oxfam's culture and practices and warned that what happened in Haiti "is a stain on Oxfam that will shame us for years".

In a series of tweets on Friday, Oxfam laid out other planned reforms, including new funding for safeguarding measures and a crackdown on references issued to former staff.

Oxfam has faced criticism after media reports revealed earlier this month that during a humanitarian mission in Haiti in 2011, the charity's former country director Roland van Hauwermeiren had hired prostitutes at a villa paid for by the organisation, the BBC reported.

Van Hauwermeiren, who left Oxfam in 2011 amid a sexual misconduct inquiry, has denied hiring prostitutes but said he had "intimate relations" with a woman who was "not a prostitute".

Oxfam had staff working in Haiti following the earthquake in the country which killed about 200,000 people in 2010.Mysuru, Feb 18 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Karnataka for two days starting Sunday night to participate in various public functions, a BJP leader said.

"Modi will arrive in Mysuru late Sunday night. He will take a chopper ride on Monday afternoon to Shravanabelagola, about 85 km north of Mysuru in Hassan district, to take part in the anointing celebrations of Jain god Gomateshwara," Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state spokesperson Vamanacharya told IANS.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will receive the Prime Minister at Mysuru airport.

"Later, on Monday afternoon, Modi will commission the 140-km fully-electrified Bengaluru-Mysuru rail tracks and flag off the Humsafar Express train from Mysuru to Udaipur in Rajasthan," the official said.

In the evening, he will address a party rally at the Maharaja Grounds in the city centre.

It is Modi's second visit to the southern state in a fortnight. He paid a three-hour visit to Bengaluru on February 4 to address a BJP rally to mark the culmination of the 90-day "Nava Karnataka Nirmana Parivartana Yatre" (journey to build a new Karnataka).

The Assembly elections in Karnataka are due in late April or early May.Ahmedabad, Feb 18 : A day ahead of the first budget session of the new Gujarat Assembly, Dalit leader and lawmaker Jignesh Mevani was detained by police here on Sunday amid state-wide protests against death of Dalit activist Bhanubhai Vankar.

Mevani broke into heated arguments with police when he was being detained in Saraspur suburb of Ahmedabad.

"Gujarat does not belong to your father... give me your buckle number, I am an elected MLA and you have no business to insult me," a furious Mevani shouted at a police constable, after he and 100 others were detained.

When police was taking him out of his car, he claimed he was being manhandled and an elected legislator could not be treated like this. The MLA alleged the cops had barged into his car, pulled out the ignition keys and broke them.

Police denied the charges. Joint Commissioner of Police, Crime Branch, J.K. Bhatt told reporters: "It is wrong to say that police ill-treated the respected legislator and we will submit our report to the state Assembly about the incident."

"He (Mevani) may have misbehaved but we have not. It is normal that there will be some arguments when a person is being detained by police," he added.

The Dalit activist who was elected as an Independent from Vadgam constituency from north Gujarat was taken to the police' Special Operations Group office in Juhapura area in the evening where scores of supporters demanded his release.

Besides Mevani, hundreds of protestors were detained from various places in Ahmedabad while staging demonstrations.

Road-blocks, burning of vehicle tyres and slogan-shouting were witnessed on several state highways and several parts of national highways. At some places, police conducted baton charges to disperse the crowds.

Angry protests were seen in Gandhinagar, Unjha, Chanasma and Patan in north Gujarat and Morbi in Saurashtra over the death of Vankar.

Amid this, the political climate has heated up in Gujarat with the month-long Budget Session beginning on Monday and the spirited Congress bracing to corner the government on several issues. The Congress, led by young Leader of Opposition Paresh Dhanani, is an upbeat mood after winning 77 seats in the 182-member House.

Vankar, 60, had on Thursday set himself on fire at the Patan district collectorate demanding physical possession of land allotted to a Dalit family and was soon after hospitalized with critical burn injuries. He succumbed to his burn injuries on Friday night at a private hospital in Ahmedabad.

What led to widespread anger was that Vankar had resorted to self-immolation on the premises of Patan collectorate in the presence of police, ambulance and fire-fighters after a week-long notice to the authorities. He had been seeking physical and legal possession of the land allotted to the Dalit families by the state government for some time.

Ever since his death, an adamant Vankar's family has been refusing to accept the dead body and put forth a charter of seven demands before the state government.

A delegation comprising the Gandhinagar Collector, Inspector General of Police and Social Empowerment Secretary have held talks with the Dalit activists and his family of Vankar. Although the government maintained that it accepted the key demands of the family, the Dalits wanted a categorical assurance in writing and that the state representatives only listened to them.

Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel had told reporters on Friday: "We have agreed to all their major demands. We would legally transfer the land in name of the family Bhanubhai Vankar was fighting for, pay a compensation of Rs 8 lakh to the family of Vankar and transfer his family members, who are government employees, closer home.

"The government will also set up an inquiry commission headed by a retired High Court judge or a special investigation team, as agreed by the family of Vankar."

Hardik Patel and OBC leader and Congress legislator Alpesh Thakor visited Vankar's family and demanded firm action and justice to the community. Dhanani also called on the family and expressed solidarity the cause of the Dalits.Mathura, Feb 18 : Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Sunday paid a visit to rescued elephants at a care centre run by animal welfare organisation Wildlife SOS in Uttar Pradesh's Mathura and said that India's wildlife needs protection.

Trudeau who landed in Delhi on Saturday evening also visited the Taj Mahal with his family.

Appreciating the cause against animal cruelty at the Wildlife SOS Elephant Conservation and Care Centre here, Trudeau said such initiatives need to be supported to protect wildlife in India.

"What an incredible place, with wonderful people doing great things for elephants and for India. The efforts of Wildlife SOS must be supported as we need to protect elephants and all wildlife in India," said Trudeau, who is on a week-long visit to India.

The care centre houses 21 elephants, all subjected to extreme cruelty and finally unchained after years of efforts and legal battle by the organisation.

The 46-year-old Prime Minister -- accompanied by his wife Sophie Gregoire Trudeau and children Hadrien, Ella-Grace Margaret and Xavier James Trudeau -- also fed the elephants and interacted with Wildlife SOS founders, veterinarians and care givers.

"It is a great honour to have the Canadian Prime Minister sparing his valuable family time to see our efforts to protect elephants in collaboration with Forest Department," said Kartick Satyanarayan, Co-founder and CEO Wildlife SOS.

Wildlife SOS runs a bear rescue centre in Agra and an elephant rescue centre in Mathura to provide critical medical treatment and lifetime care to the rescued elephants.Kuala Lumpur, Feb 19 : At least 80 people were trapped inside cable cars for nearly four hours in Malaysia's resort island of Langkawi after the system malfunctioned, officials said on Sunday.

The Langkawi Development Authority Chief Executive Officer Azizan Noordin said that 89 tourists had arrived at the base station after being trapped inside the cable cars for about four hours.

Technicians were sent to replace a faulty bearing in the system, which had been the cause of the breakdown, Xinhua reported.

Local fire and rescue department said in an earlier statement that personnel were dispatched after being alerted in the evening.

Early information indicated that some 800 people were stranded at the station on the top of the hill apart from those stranded midair.Tel Aviv, Feb 19 : Israeli security agency Shin Bet on Sunday said it thwarted a plot by Palestinian militants to carry out a bombing attack against Israel's Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman.

Six members of a Palestinian cell associated with the Islamic Jihad militant group were arrested "in recent weeks," Xinhua quoted Shin Bet as saying in a statement.

The cell members, all residents of the West Bank, planned to carry out shooting attacks against Israeli civilians and security. Some members even plotted to attack Lieberman's convoy when he returned to his home in a West Bank settlement, it said.

The investigation revealed that they tried to acquire explosives and contacted militants in the Gaza Strip regarding financing.

After failing to receive financial support from Gaza, the cell members thought they might better succeed if they planted an improvised explosive device along the minister's route.

However, the attack was never carried out due to the minister's heavy security, Shin Bet said.

It added that the case was the latest in a string of attempts by Palestinians from the West Bank "to leverage their links with their Gazan counterparts in order to commit attacks."

Israel and the Palestinians have witnessed a resurging wave of violence since U.S. President Donald Trump's recognition of the disputed holy city of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel in December.London, Feb 19 : The Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton on Monday defied the Times's Up protest at the 71st British Academy Film Awards, organised by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), by wearing a green dress, instead of black worn by the celebrities attending the ceremony.

Film stars and directors made the one-colour statement to show support for the fight against sexual harassment against women, however, only the ribbon around Middleton's Jenny Packham dress was black, reports dailymail.co.uk.

The dress code followed by BAFTA ceremony was to show solidarity with the American Golden Globes held last month.

Middleton wore an empire line dress in a deep shade of green, which was complemented by an emerald necklace and earrings.

Perhaps in a subtle nod to the movement, she accessorised her attire with a black bow above her bump, matching her shoes and clutch handbag.

Before the ceremony, it was not made clear whether Middleton would wear an all-black outfit, with experts pointing out that royals only wear black at funerals, so supporting the cause would be a breach of protocol.

Middleton and Prince William, who is the president of BAFTA, will meet with representatives including BAFTA Chief Executive Amanda Berry, and watch the star-studded ceremony from the front row, which takes place at the Royal Albert Hall.

William will also be presenting the Fellowship award -- the ceremony's highest accolade -- to director Ridley Scott.London, Feb 19 : Virtually all the stars at the 71st British Academy Film Awards, the British organised by Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), wore black to show solidarity with the Time's Up movement here on Monday.

One of the few in a colourful dress was Best Actress winner Frances McDormand, but she said: "I stand in full solidarity with my sisters", reports bbc.co.uk.

The Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton wore a dark green dress with a black ribbon belt.

Bethan Holt, fashion news and features director at The Telegraph, told the publication: "The Royal Family very rarely get involved in political messaging, so perhaps it's not such a surprise that she didn't join in with the rest of the women and wear black tonight."

But the vast majority of other attendees did wear black as well as Time's Up badges -- all in reference to a push for greater respect and equality since the Hollywood sexual harassment scandal.

"Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" actress Frances McDormand was wearing a patterned red and black outfit.

Gesturing to her dress while accepting the Best Actress award, she said: "As Martin (McDonagh) said, I have a little trouble with compliance.

"But I want you to know I stand in full solidarity with my sisters tonight in black. I also want to say that I appreciate a well-organised act of civil disobedience."

Others to reference the issue from the stage included Mexican actress Salma Hayek, who wrote a personal account of her experiences with disgraced Hollywood Producer Harvey Weinstein, and, who presented the Best Actor award to Gary Oldman ("Darkest Hour") on Monday.

"In this very important and historical year for women, I am here on this legendary stage to celebrate men," she said, before joking that McDormand had won best actor.

Actress Andrea Riseborough chose to bring UK Black Pride co-founder Phyll Opoku-Gyimah as her guest, while Gemma Arterton, who starred in 2010's Made In Dagenham, brought two of the original 1968 Dagenham Ford factory pay campaigners, Gwen Davis and Eileen Pullen.

Activists wearing T-shirts saying "Time's Up Theresa" gatecrashed the red carpet.

A group called Sisters Uncut said they were protesting against Prime Minister Theresa May and the government's Domestic Violence and Abuse Bill.London, Feb 19 : Actress Jennifer Lawrence was branded "rude" after she appeared to make a jibe at Joanna Lumley, the host of the 71st British Academy Film Awards, organised by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA).

Lumley, who hosted the ceremony for the first time after Stephen Fry, introduced Lawrence as the "hottest Actress on the planet" to which Lawrence said "it's a bit too much", reports express.co.uk.

Starting the ceremony, the 71-year-old said: "Right let's start giving out some of those beautiful BAFTAs shall we?

"And we start with the award for Outstanding British Film and who better to kick the whole evening off than the hottest actress on the planet. Soon to be seen in 'Red Sparrow', it's the ravishing Jennifer Lawrence."

The "Silver Linings Playbook" actress then walked onto the stage in a floor-length black frock, which had sheer white sleeves.

Taking to the podium, the actress placed the award on the stand before turning to Lumley and laughing.

"Hi," she said to the audience, adding: "That was a bit much but thank you Joanna."

Lumley could be seen looking off to the side of the stage as Lawrence giggled and continued to present the gong.

Viewers were quick to pick up on the awkward exchange and rushed to Twitter to comment on the star's remark.

"Jennifer Lawrence that sounded rude and rather ungrateful," one viewer wrote.

Another added: "You don't tell Joanna Lumley what's atoo much' ...sweetie."

A third viewer posted: "Very ungracious reply Jennifer Lawrence just gave to Joanna Lumley, could have just said 'Thank you' and left it at that.."

The ceremony took place at the Royal Albert Hall.Tel Aviv, Feb 19 : Swastikas were drawn on the gates of Poland's embassy in the Israeli capital Tel Aviv, a day after Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said Jews were among perpetrators of the Holocaust, the media reported.

The Tel Aviv police have launched an inquiry after profanities and the word "murderer" were also discovered on Sunday, reports the BBC.

Morawiecki's made the controversial remarks at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday. The comments have been strongly condemned by Israel.

He has since said through a spokeswoman that he did not intend to blame Jewish victims for "a Nazi German perpetrated genocide".

The fresh dispute comes weeks after Israel criticised a new Polish law making it illegal to accuse the Polish nation or state of complicity in Nazi crimes.

The legislation was signed into law by President Andrzej Duda but also referred to the country's highest court to consider its constitutionality.Kolhapur (Maharashtra), Feb 19 : At least five college students were crushed to death and another 26 injured when a truck they were travelling in turned turtle early on Monday, police said.

The students were among a group of 40 others, who were travelling from Panhala Fort on the outskirts of Kolhapur to Sangli when the accident occurred near Nagaon village on the Pune-Bengaluru Highway.

The students belong to Walchand College in Sangli and were returning with a 'Shiv Jyot' (Shiva Flame) to mark the 388th birthday anniversary of the legendary Maratha warrior king, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, being celebrated on Monday.

Around 4.30 a.m., as the truck was speeding to its destination and crossing a bridge, a motorcyclist reportedly came suddenly from the opposite direction on the highway.

To avert hitting him, the truck driver swerved and braked sharply causing the vehicle to overturn.

Villagers and police personnel launched rescue operations and arranged to shift the injured boys to the CPR Hospital nearby.

The victims have been identified as: Pravin Trilotkar, Sumit Kulkarni (both aged 23), Ketan Khochke,21, Arun Bonde and Sushant Patil (both 22).

The overturned truck had blocked traffic for some hours. After it was cleared, vehicular movement resumed.Bhubaneswar, Feb 19 : Veteran Odia actress Aparajita Mohanty joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) here on Monday.

The actress joined the party in the presence of Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and other senior leaders at the party's state headquarters here.

Mohanty said she joined the party as she was inspired by the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and after being influenced by the development programmes undertaken by him.

She also expressed hopes that the country would continue to progress under Modi's leadership.

Pradhan said Mohanty's joining will strengthen the party.

On February 13, the actress resigned from the Congress party which she had joined ahead of the 2014 general elections.

The Congress had fielded the veteran actress from Cuttack parliamentary constituency but she was defeated by Biju Janata Dal's (BJD) Bhartruhari Mahtab.

Party sources said Mohanty will join the BJP's by-poll campaign which is underway in Bijepur assembly constituency.

Odia actors Mihir Das, Anu Choudhury and Mahasweta Ray also joined the BJP and were campaigning for the party in the Bijepur by-poll.Los Angeles, Feb 19 : African filmmaker Idrissa Ouedraogo has died at the age of 64.

Ouedraogo, from Burkina Faso, passed away on Sunday, read a statement from the National Filmmakers Guild.

President Roch Marc Christian Kabore said that his country "has lost a filmmaker of immense talent", noting that the director "truly contributed to turning the spotlight on Burkinabe and African cinema beyond our borders", reports variety.com.

Ouedraogo was best known for "Tilai", a powerful drama about family honour that won the Cannes Jury Prize in 1990.

Tributes and condolences from around the African film world poured out on social media.

Congolese helmer Balufu Bakupa-Kanyinda described his "deep sadness" at the passing of a man affectionately known as "the teacher", adding that "the maestro has come home, behind the screen".

Gilles Jacob, president of the Cannes film festival at the time when Ouedraogo's "Yaaba" and "Tilai" were selected, mourned the passing of a screen legend who "closed his eyes for good right when the sun which illuminated his body of work was setting".

In Berlin, where filmmakers were gathered on Sunday at the Berlinale Africa Hub, many shared thoughts on Ouedraogo's life and celebrated career.

Ouedraogo's friend and veteran fest programmer Keith Shiri called the helmer "a great and generous man, who welcomed him on his first visit to Burkina Faso in 1989, for the pan-African film festival, "Fespaco", where Ouedraogo would become a staple in the following years.

Along with his work on-screen, Ouedraogo was also a veteran of theatre, directing "The Tragedy of King Christopher" at Paris' Comedie-Francaise.

Though he directed a short film in the 9/11 omnibus "11'9"01", Ouedraogo had largely turned to TV work in recent years, and was thought by many to have become disillusioned with the challenges of funding the films he insisted on filming on celluloid.Islamabad, Feb 19 : Pakistan's Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif will leave for a four-day official visit to Russia on Monday.

He is visiting the country at the invitation of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, the Foreign Office said.

During the visit, Asif will hold bilateral negotiations with his Russian counterpart.

The two dignitaries will exchange views on important issues facing the region and the world, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses at the inauguration of the World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT) India 2018 in Hyderabad via video conferencing from Mysore, on Feb 19, 2018. Image Source: IANS/PIB

Hyderabad, Feb 19 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said that with one of the most tech-friendly populations, India was best placed to leverage the power of technology and leapfrog into the future.

He said the country is the hot-spot of digital innovation across all sectors. It not only has a growing number of innovative entrepreneurs but also a growing market for tech innovations.

Modi was inaugurating the World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT) 2018 by addressing the delegates through video conference from New Delhi.

"With over one lakh villages linked with optical fibre, 121 crore mobile phones, 120 crore Aadhaar and 50 crore internet users, India is best placed to leverage the power of technology and leap-frog into the future while ensuring empowerment of every citizen."

He said Digital India was a journey bringing about digital inclusion for digital empowerment aided by digital infrastructure for digital delivery of services.

"Leveraging technology in such a holistic manner was unthinkable some years ago. We have successfully completed this life-cycle in the last three and a half years. This has been possible through a change in public behaviour and processes," the Prime Minister said.

Modi claimed that Digital India has not remained merely a government initiative but has become a way of life.

He also claimed that the JAM trinity of combining 320 million Jan Dhan bank accounts of the poor with Aadhaar and Mobile, with direct benefits of welfare measures, has saved Rs 57,000 crore.

Modi noted the unique Umang app launched only three months back is already offering 185 government services.

He said the nation has come a long way with the convergence of Make In India and Digital India.

"From only two mobile factories in India in 2014, today there are 118 mobile manufacturing factories operational in India, including some of the best global brands."

He said to ensure that digital literacy reaches each household, the government initiative, Pradhan Mantri Rural Digital Literacy Mission, will make 60 million adults digitally literate in rural India. Under this, 10 million people have already been trained.

Pointing out that digital payments through the BHIM app registered transactions of Rs 15,000 crore last month, Modi said: "We stand today at the cusp of the fourth Industrial Revolution.

"Technology, if used well for public good, can deliver lasting prosperity to mankind and a sustainable future for our planet."

"Disruptive technologies such as Blockchain and the Internet of Things will have a profound impact on the way we live and work. They will require rapid adaptation in our workplaces."

He said the concept of "Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam" (the world is one family) was deeply imbibed in Indian philosophy and reflects our inclusive traditions.

"In the 21st century, technology is becoming an enabler for this concept. It helps us create a seamless, integrated world. A world where geographical distance no longer remains a barrier in collaborating for a better future," Modi added.

The three-day WCIT is being held along with the Nasscom India Leadership Forum.

Business delegations from 25 countries are attending the event themed 'Amplify digital-Disrupt the core'.

Being held in India for the first time, it has been organised in partnership with Nasscom, WITSA and the Telangana government.Bengaluru, Feb 19 : Karnataka Congress legislator N.A. Haris' son and expelled state Youth Congress leader Mohammed Nalapad surrendered a day after he was booked on Sunday in an assault case, police said on Monday.

"Nalapad surrendered to us at the Cubbon Park police station where a case was booked against him for allegedly assaulting and severely injuring a youth in a cab on Saturday night," police sub-inspector K. Suresh told IANS.

Nalapad, whose whereabouts were unknown for the last 36 hours, came to the police station in the city centre along with a lawyer to record his statement and seek bail when produced in a court later in the day.

"We have recorded his statement and took his biometrics for producing him in a court and seek his custody to investigate the case, as an attempt to murder charge has been added to the FIR (first information report) in view of the severe injuries and loss of blood the victim (Vidvat) suffered," said Suresh.

The ruling Congress on Sunday expelled Nalapad, 24, from the party's primary membership for 6 years. He was also sacked as the state Youth Congress general secretary after the assault complaint was filed.

Nalapad and his friends allegedly bashed up Vidvat, 24, at Fergy Cafe in the upscale UB City Mall following a verbal spat over a trivial issue.

"Vidvat was having dinner with his friend Praveen, when Nalapad objected to him placing his fractured leg on a chair. When Vidvat told Nalapad to mind his business, the latter, who was at the adjacent table, became angry and beat him up with his friends," Circe Inspector Vijaya Hadagalli told IANS.

City Police Commissioner T. Suneel Kumar suspended Hadagalli for not registering the case against Nalapad earlier and failing to trace or nab him.

Haris represents the Shantinagar assembly segment in city central.

There was high drama at the police station where about 500 activists of the opposition BJP and Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) assembled and clashed with Congress workers over the incident.

"We had to resort to caning them to disperse them as their demonstration was blocking the busy arterial road and causing a traffic snarl," added Suresh.

Earlier in the day, Haris told reporters at his residence that he had advised his son through his friends to surrender to avoid a non-bailable warrant being issued by a local court against him for evading arrest by the police.

"I did not know where my son was since Sunday, as he switched off his mobile after I scolded him for assaulting an innocent victim," asserted Haris.

Meanwhile, the ruling party's state president G. Parameshwara enquired about Vidvat's condition and assured him that the state government would bear his treatment expenses.New Delhi, Feb 19 : Pankaj Phadnis, who has sought the reopening of a probe into the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, on Monday told the Supreme Court that he has accessed documents that show a "larger conspiracy" behind the murder.

Mumbai-based Phadnis told the bench of Justice S.A. Bobde and Justice L. Nageswara Rao that he has obtained documents, which the Indian government had banned here, from the Library of Congress in New York and sought permission to file them.

"The documents show larger conspiracy behind the murder of Mahatma Gandhi. The Government of India had banned these documents in India. I got it from Library of Congress, New York, and it's in a sealed cover," he said.

Phadnis -- a researcher and a trustee of Abhinav Bharat, a right wing organisation -- said he has filed a plea in the Bombay High Court for lifting the ban on the documents.

The bench asked him to file an application before the court giving details of the documents he wanted to file.

The court then posted the matter for hearing on March 6.

During the hearing, Phadnis also told the court that he has sought opinion from a senior attorney in New York, who has 40 years of experience, and as per him forensic technologies were available to examine old documents like a photograph of Gandhi, published in a newspaper on January 31, 1948 which shows four wounds on his body.

The court was hearing the plea which seeks reopening of the investigation on several grounds, claiming it was one of the biggest cover-ups in history.

The court had earlier asked Phadnis to satisfy it on the aspects of delay and his locus to raise this issue. The bench had made it clear that it would go only by law and not the stature of the person involved in the case.

Senior advocate Amarendra Sharan, appointed amicus curiae to assist the court in the case, had said that there was no need to re-investigate it as the conspiracy behind the murder and identity of assailant Nathuram Vinayak Godse, who had fired the bullets, have already been duly established.Hyderabad, Feb 19 : The National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) on Monday launched a platform to upskill two million IT employees and skill two million youth in eight emerging technologies starting with Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the FutureSkills platform while formally inaugurating the World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT) 2018 through video conference from New Delhi.

Half of the Indian IT industry's four million employees will be upskilled and another two million potential employees and students will be skilled over the next three to four years under the initiative launched by Nasscom and the industry with the help of the Central government.

The technology professionals and the youth will be skilled and reskilled in AI, Virtual Reality, Robotic Process Automation, Internet of Things, Big Data Analytics, 3D Printing, Cloud Computing, Social and Mobiles.

Underlining the need to reflect on the changing nature of jobs, in the emerging age of intelligent automation, the Prime Minister complimented Nasscom for developing the platform.

"We also need to ensure that our existing work-force is able to re-skill as new technologies emerge. One of the invited speakers at this event, the robot Sophia, shows the potential of new technologies," he said.

Nasscom also signed an MoU with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) to collaborate in fostering, cultivating and strengthening reskilling initiatives.

The MoU was signed in the presence of Union Electronics and Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and Nasscom President R. Chandrashekhar on the sidelines of WCIT, the three-day global event which began here on Monday.

As a part of the MoU, Nasscom and MeitY will work together to enable skill development and continuous learning not only for individuals in the IT-ITeS industry and its aspirants but also employees belonging to other sectors.

Prasad said the government would extend all possible help to Nasscom and the industry in the initiative.

Chandrasekhar said the initiative would be significant for the IT industry to achieve its aspiration of $350 billion IT exports, from the current $150 billion, by 2025.

He said the platform would not only help the existing workforce to acquire new skills in the emerging technologies but will also create an industry-ready workforce.

The platform for reskilling and upskilling of the workforce in new and emerging ICT technologies complements the government's Digital India initiative.

While Digital India is working on steps to increase domestic electronic production, BPO promotion schemes for employment, this platform will make talent available for India and the Indian industry to embrace opportunities from emerging technologies, Nasscom said.Thiruvananthapuram, February 19 : With the private bus operators strike entering the fourth day, the CPI(M)-led LDF government is planning to slap notices on private bus owners taking part in the agitation.

In a bid to force the private bus operators to end their strike, the government announced on Monday that it would issue notices to the owners of private buses partaking in the strike to show cause as to why the permits of their buses should not be cancelled.

According to reports in visual media, the transport commissioner has already asked RTOs (regional transport officers) to commence process of slapping notices on the agitating private bus operators.

Earlier, transport minister A K Saseendran had asked the transport commissioner to contemplate penal measures including impounding buses keeping off the road in a bid to browbeat the bus owners into calling off the strike.

The state government was forced to contemplate tough measures against the private bus operators after the talks held by the transport minister with them the other day failed to reach a consensus.

The state governments refusal to accede to the bus owners demand to raise the minimum rate of students concession ticket to Rs. 2 from the present one rupee proved to be the stumbling block.

On February 14, the LDF government had decided to effect marginal hikes in minimum bus fares across all services of buses to mollify private bus operators who have been demanding a fare hike in view of the spiralling prices of diesel.

The minimum fare of the ordinary class of buses was hiked by one rupee to Rs. 8 while that of fast passenger buses went up from Rs. 10 to Rs.11.

However, the government had refused to raise the minimum fare for students concession ticket, much to the chagrin of the private bus owners.

The private bus operators contention is that keeping the rate of student tickets intact would cause them severe hardship as about sixty percent of their patronage comes from the student community.Chandigarh, Feb 19 : A transgender student of Panjab University (PU), Dhananjay Chauhan, has been invited by the Canadian authorities to have dinner with the visiting Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in New Delhi, a University official said here.

Dhananjay is the first transgender student of the Department of Human Rights and Duties at Panjab University, Chandigarh.

The invitation had been extended by Nadir Patel, High Commissioner for Canada to India. The dinner will be held in Delhi on February 22.

"Dhananjay has been working hard to alleviate the plight of transgenders and is also a founder of NGO, Saksham Trust," Swarnjit Kaur, Coordinator, Centre for Human Rights and Duties (U.I.E.A.S.S), PU said here on Monday.

"This is not Dhananjay's singular achievement. Dhananjay's association with the Centre dates back to approximately two years prior to her admission to the Masters programme in 2016," Kaur said.

"At that time, the students interacted with her as a President of Saksham Trust involved in rights of transgender community. After being on the rolls of the Centre, Dhananjay was invited to Netherlands in 2016 in the month of August to participate in an international meet on rights of transgender people," Kaur said.Ankara, Feb 19 : Authorities in the Turkish capital have officially changed the street name outside the US embassy to "Olive Branch" in a not-so-discreet bid to antagonize American officials by referencing the ongoing Turkish military offensive against US-backed Kurdish militias in northern Syria.

Brand new signs for Zeytindali Caddesi (Olive Branch Street) were drilled into place by municipal workers on what used to be Nevzat Tandogan Avenue, which runs down the northern parameter of the US embassy compound, Efe news reported.

Plans for such a name change had been in place for over a week.

Operation Olive Branch, Turkey's military incursion against the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) militias in Syria's Afrin province, has proved a thorny issue for Ankara-Washington relations.

Although Turkish officials view the YPG as a terror group offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) based in eastern Turkey, the US has traditionally backed the Syrian Kurds in their efforts against the Islamic State terror organisation.Kannur (Kerala) : Kannur (Kerala) Feb 19 (IANS) The two CPI-M men arrested in connection with the murder of a young Congress worker are the real culprits and not "dummy accused", said a senior police official here on Monday.

Youth Congress worker Shoaib, 30, was waiting at an eatery near Mattanoor around 10.45 p.m on Monday last week when four persons riding a car hurled bombs to create panic and then fatally slashed him with a sword.

"Accused Akash and Rijin Raj were also involved in another murder case. Their arrest has been recorded and they have been taken for medical check-up," said the officer.

What has shocked many is a picture of the two accused with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, which has appeared in the state.

Speaking to the media here for the first time since the incident, Director General of Police (North Zone) Rajesh Diwan said he decided to speak to the press to clarify some false news appearing here and there.

"...for some reason, politics is getting mixed with this case. When we began the case, the only thing we knew was that a white car had been used. Today, we have two people in custody and they are CPI-M workers and they are the real culprits. The probe is going forward and I personally assure that we will not fail in our duties," said Diwan.

The Congress party has begun a huge protest in Kannur and in the state capital, saying that the police were not doing a "clean job" and that "dummy accused" were being framed.

"No innocent person is in our custody and we do not know if the murder was used for political purposes. Those arrested are the executors of the murder... There are conspirators too and we will arrest them as well. But, at the moment, we don't know how many days it will take," added Diwan.

With the police clearly stating that the arrested accused were CPI-M workers, the earlier statement from the Kannur unit of the party, which denied any role in the murder, has fallen flat.

Senior Congress leader K. Sudhakaran, who is the senior-most Congress leader in Kannur, on Monday launched a 48-hour fast to protest the "callous attitude" of the police.

"It's strange that although CPI-M Kannur district secretary P. Jayarajan says the party has no role in this murder case, one of the arrested persons is a close aide of Jayarajan and is very active in the cyber world for the CPI-M, yet he says he has no clue," said Sudhakaran.

In the state capital, state Youth Congress president Dean Kuriakose began a 48-hour fast in front of the state secretariat to protest the politics of violence.

Balakrishnan, for the second consecutive day claimed through his Facebook posts that his party had no role in the case.New Delhi, Feb 19 : Vice Admiral R.B. Pandit on Monday took over as the Commandant of the Indian Naval Academy, Ezhimala.

Pandit, whose last assignment was the Flag Officer Commanding Western Fleet at Mumbai, was promoted to the rank of Vice Admiral on Monday before he took charge as the sixth Commandant of the Academy.

An anti-submarine warfare expert, he has commanded INS Nirghat, INS Vindhyagiri, INS Jalashwa and the 22nd Missile Vessel Squadron at Mumbai in the past. He has also served as the Naval Adviser at the Indian High Commission in Islamabad.

Pandit has also held important staff assignments such as Assistant Chief of Naval Staff (Foreign Cooperation and Intelligence) at the navy headquarters in New Delhi and and Chief of Staff, Southern Naval Command.

He is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy, Khadakvasala; Defence Services Staff College Wellington; College of Naval Warfare, Mumbai and the Royal College of Defence Studies, London.

Pandit took charge from Vice Admiral S.V. Bhokare, who completed his 15 months long tenure on Monday.

Bhokare, who had taken over as head of the Indian Naval Academy on October 20, 2016, is credited with ushering a "marked transformation" in infrastructure and training facilities at the Academy.

It was during Bhokare's tenure that the Academy won the prestigious Bakshi Cup competition, held between all six major military academies including National Defence Academy (NDA) and Indian Military Academy (IMA), for the first time.

Bhokare was accorded a warm send off with the traditional 'Pulling Out' ceremony.Hyderabad, Feb 19 : Union Electronics and Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Monday said the B.N. Srikrishna Committee on data protection will soon submit its report, after which a law will be drafted.

Talking to reporters on the sidelines of World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT) 2018, which began here, the minister was non-committal if the data protection bill will be tabled during the current budget session of Parliament.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) in August last year constituted a committee of experts led by former Supreme Court judge Srikrishna to deliberate on a data protection framework for the country.

The 10-member panel is currently holding consultations with stakeholders in different parts of the country.

Prasad said the Supreme Court while holding that the privacy is a fundamental right, also made it clear that under garb of privacy, data innovation can't be stopped. "Privacy can't be shield of a corrupt and privacy can't be shield of terrorist. Privacy has limitations," he said.

He said the law enforcing agencies can't be stopped from raiding house of a corrupt on the ground that this will violate his privacy.

"We have to await details of law," he remarked when asked how the issue of revealing bank NPAs and the identity of defaulters will be dealt. He declined to comment further saying the investigations were on into NPAs and against the defaulters.Mumbai, Feb 19 : The Mumbai Police are on the lookout for an unidentified but affluent person who behaved obscenely and masturbated before noted Marathi actress Chinmayee Surve-Raghavan on Monday afternoon, an officer said.

The incident came to light after the woman's husband and veteran actor Sumeet Raghavan lodged a complaint with Vile Parle Police and the Mumbai Traffic Police.

Later, Raghavan tweeted about the incident and sought help to trace the culprit who was in a white BMW with the last four registration digits as 1985.

"The driver wearing a grey safari who had parked near the Parle Tilak Vidyalaya School in Vile Parle east got off his car and started masturbating in front of my wife. Before she could slap him, he escaped. She could note down just the last four digits," he posted on Facebook and Twitter.

Raghavan added that the person needed to be found as there are schoolgirls in that area and he must have done this to them as well.

The police are scanning footage from local CCTVs.

Raghavan is an actor since the past 35 years with several teleserials and Marathi and Hindi films to his credit, while Chinmayee is also an acclaimed Marathi stage, teleserial and film actress.

Shortly after the incident was highlighted, the social media came out in support of the popular actor-couple.Jaipur, Feb 19 : Shambhulal Regar, cooling his heels in jail for killing Malda labourer Afrazul Khan last year, has uploaded fresh videos in the social media, taking all by surprise as the new uploads seem to have been shot in his cell inside the jail.

In the latest two videos, which surfaced late on Sunday night, Regar is seen speaking like a Hindu fanatic for several minutes, calling upon Hindus to stand united and bring "Ram Rajya" in India.

"This is my last video being shot in Jodhpur jail. I call all Hindus to unite and fight against 'jihad'. They (Hindus) should not get divided on caste and creed lines," he says.

Regar is seen saying that he could not tolerate threats to Hindu women from jihadi forces and hence came to help one of them.

In the video, he states that his life was under threat from a fellow prisoner, Vasudev Brahmin. "We should copy the working style of Israel to protect our country and the religion," he says.

He also says that India had no dearth of dedicated and honest officials and "we all should help them in arresting anti-nationals who are circulating drugs, fake notes, etc."

He is also seen requesting West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to not enrich her vote bank at the cost of country and religion. "People like Vasudev Brahmin, who are jihadis, are taking Hindus towards finish," he says.

Regar murdered Khan last year on December 6 and filmed the murder along with his minor nephew.

In his recent video, he says that the jail administration had kept him in one of the most protected cells. Here, he met another prisoner Vasudev Brahman from West Bengal.

"We became friends and he used to share his anti-Islamic thoughts with me which made me suspicious about him," says Regar.

He then says that this man showed him a fake identity proof, as while defecation, he could make out that the man was not a Brahmin. "He is one of those jihadis who have reached here to kill me," he adds.

He is seen dressed in a jacket, well-equipped with headphones, and reading out his script smartly and confidently in the videos.

In January, the Rajsamand police had filed a chart sheet after concluding that Regar had an illegitimate relationship with the woman whom he referred to as his "Hindu sister" in the videos, though he strongly denies this in the second video.

Meanwhile, police sources said that although they conducted a thorough search of the jail, they did not find any mobile, dongle or any such gadget from his cell.

Sources confirmed that 2G jammers are installed in and around the jail. So, most likely, Regar shot the videos with the help of 4G jammers, they said.

Now, how and when Regar got the cell with 4G connection remains a question unanswered.

Home Minister Gulabchand Kataria said he would get to the depth of the issue and only then comment.London, Feb 19 : Arsenal signed a record sponsorship deal for another five years with their current partner Emirates airline, the English Premier League club announced on Monday.

The London club and the Dubai-based airline first signed a sponsorship contract in 2006, and on Monday extended the deal until the end of the 2023/2024 season for an undisclosed sum, reports Efe.

"Our shirt partnership is the longest running in the Premier League and one of the longest relationships in world sport," Arsenal chief executive Ivan Gazidis said.

"This mutual commitment is testimony to the strength and depth of our unique relationship."

"Emirates are again demonstrating their great belief in our approach and ambition and their significantly increased investment will help us continue to compete for trophies and bring more success to the club and our fans around the world," he added.

Although the club did not reveal any financial details, local media reported that the new deal was worth over 200 million pounds, or $280.15 million.

The airline has also sponsored the Gunners home field, Emirates Stadium, since its inauguration in 2006, and in 2012 the contract was extended through 2028.

Emirates has also signed sponsorship deals putting their name on the shirts of such well-known sides as Real Madrid, Paris Saint Germain, Milan, Benfica and Hamburger, and is one of the main sponsors of the FA Cup.

The major global airline is owned by the government of Dubai, United Arab Emirates.Unjha (Gujarat), Feb 19 : After the self-immolation by Dalit activist Bhanubhai Vankar, the Gujarat government on Monday came out with a written undertaking to all Dalit families -- so far denied possession of land in the state -- on its physical possession.

According to the undertaking, all families who had been allotted land on paper would be given actual possession within six months.

The 60-year-old Dalit activist had set himself afire on Thursday inside the Patan Collector's office compound over the state's alleged failure to regularise land tilled by landless labourers in Dudhka village. He succumbed to burn injuries late on Friday in an Ahmedabad hospital.

Vankar's family finally accepted his mortal remains after the government gave in to all their demands, with hundreds of Dalits joining the funeral procession to pay homage to him in Unjha town in north Gujarat.

Vankar's death sparked off statewide protests as Dalit activist and newly elected independent MLA Jignesh Mevani took the lead.

Mevani and nearly 100 others were detained on Saturday while staging protests in Ahmedabad.

Vankar's family had earlier refused to accept the body till the government agreed to its charter of demands.

While the authorities earlier claimed that all issues had been settled, the infuriated Vankar family and Dalit activists said it was not the case.

The Vijay Rupani government also agreed to appoint a special investigation team to look into the circumstances leading to Vankar's suicide.

The land case, for which Vankar died, will be resolved in three days and the Revenue Department will issue the necessary orders shortly, a government note to the family said.

The government also agreed to suspend police officials and employees concerned for negligence and dereliction of duty in preventing Vankar from immolating himself.

In a gesture of sympathy, it was agreed to transfer Vankar's son Bhargav Mevua and his wife, both government servants, to places of choice near their home.

The family's demand for a posthumous award for Bhanubhai Vankar will also be considered, the government undertaking assured.New Delhi, Feb 19 : Refuting media reports about delays in developing its Krishna Godavari (KG) Basin offshore project, state-run explorer ONGC on Monday said that schedules are being maintained as of now and any overshooting of deadlines will only be known at a later date.

In a regulatory filing, the Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) said it has already started work as per the approved field development plan (FDP) for the KG-DWN-98/2 deep water block in the Bay of Bengal.

Citing unnamed ONGC officials, media reports earlier this month said the company is looking at a delay of at least a year in starting production and would be unable to produce the first gas from the block until at least the second half of 2020.

"Subsequent to the approval of the Field Development Plan (FDP) by the ONGC Board on March 28, 2016, the company has initiated activities for procurement of goods and services required to execute the plan envisaged in the FDP such as drilling, completion of wells, creation of production and processing facilities, transportation pipelines, among others," ONGC said.

The state-run firm clarified that the introduction of various new policies in the sector on exploration and licensing had "led to deferment of tendering activities".

"As of now, the project schedules are being maintained as planned. However, due to very complex nature of the project, there may be a possibility that the schedules may get exhausted which will only be known at a later date."

The media report had said that the delay in finalising the tenders implied that ONGC would be unable to start drilling wells in the block until next year.

To this, ONGC said: "Despite changes in policies concerning the oil mining sector, the company is making efforts to execute the projects at the earliest possible time. Delay in execution, if any, is not ascertainable precisely as of now."

According to the company, the estimated capital expenditure for the project is $5076.37 million.Gandhinagar, Feb 19 : The month-long budget session of the new Gujarat assembly began on Monday with the opposition legislators creating a ruckus over various issues, including their demand that Chief Minister Vijay Rupani quit, forcing adjournments.

Soon after Governor O.P. Kohli started his address to the House following the election of new Speaker Rajendra Trivedi, the Congress MLAs were on their feet, shouting slogans against the government as they rushed towards the Speaker's podium.

The agitating legislators forced the Governor, who had earlier inaugurated the reconstructed Assembly building after a 'havan', to cut short his speech, which was later deemed as read.

Congress members sought the resignation of Rupani over range of issues, including the immolation of Dalit activist Bhanu Vankar, water shortage in Narmada and agrarian issues.

The session, which is scheduled to conclude on March 28, is expected to clear around six bills and witness stormier sessions than ever before. Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel, who holds the finance portfolio, will present the Budget for 2018-19 on Tuesday.

The ruling BJP with its reduced number of 99 legislators is facing a resurgent Congress with 77 members with vocal young leaders Paresh Dhanani leading the opposition and other young leaders like Alpesh Thakore and Jignesh Mevani targeting the party.

Mevani, the Congress supported Independent MLA from Vadgam in north Gujarat, is already on a warpath with the government over the self-immolation of Vankar who succumbed to his injuries on Friday night, and was detained by Ahmedabad police on Sunday while he was on his way to Saraspur to join an anti-government protest.

The protest by Mevani and hundreds of Dalits on Monday forced the government to give in to their demand for possession of land already allotted to them under the Agricultural Land Ceiling Act.Kolkata, Feb 19 : West Bengal CID on Friday arrested one more state police officer in relation with the extortion case in West Midnapore district's Daspur taking the tally of total arrests to five, a senior CID official said.

The CID sleuths have previously arrested three police officers including an Inspector and a two Sub-Inspectors in this case while a caretaker of an apartment in south Kolkata has also been held.

"CID team has arrested sub-Inspector Pradeep Rath, who was named in the FIR in Daspur case. Rath was presently posted as the officer in-charge of West Midnapore district's Belda police station," Deputy Inspector General, CID, Nishad Parvez said in a release.

"The arrested was made observing all legal formalities. He would be produced to the court tomorrow (Tuesday)," he said.

During the incident, Das, known to be a close aid of former West Midnapore police chief Bharati Ghosh, worked as the officer in-charge of Daspur police station, where the extortion took place.

The CID raids started following a case of extortion and criminal conspiracy was lodged in West Midnapore district's Daspur on February 1 after gold trader named Chandan Majhi complained against some police officers in the district thought to be close to former SP Ghosh.

The sleuths had earlier seized more than Rs. 2.4 crore in cash, several important government documents and an array of sealed liquor bottles while raiding a number of flats in an apartment in Kolkata's Madurdaha, suspected to be owned by Ghosh while large amount of unaccounted cash was also seized from the house of several police officers named in the FIR.

Police officer named Rajsekhar Pain, who also worked under former SP Ghosh was arrested by the CID in relation to misappropriation of Rs 45 lakh from a local businessman.

Ghosh, once a favourite of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, reportedly fell from grace and sought voluntary retirement after being transferred to a less significant post as commandant of the State Armed Police's Third Battalion. Her application was accepted.

CID issued arrest warrant against her February 10 on the charges of alleged extortion and criminal conspiracy and sent teams outside the state to look for her.Hyderabad, Feb 19 : Dr Reddy's Laboratories Inc, the US subsidiary of the Indian drug major, on Monday said it would defend against allegations made in a US securities class action lawsuit by a law firm on behalf of some investors.

"As intimated earlier, we believe that the asserted claims are without merit and we intend to vigourously defend against the allegations," the city-based parent firm said in a regulatory filing on the BSE.

The drug maker also said that the law firm (lead plaintiff) had added its Chairman Satish Reddy, Chief Operating Officer Abhijit Mukherjee and its US arm as defendants in the amended complaint.

The lawsuit was filed in August 2017 against the subsidiary in the US District Court for New Jersey, alleging violation of the US federal securities laws.

The lawsuit was served in November by the plaintiff, representing investors who bought its shares on the New York Stock Exchange between June 2015 and August 2017.

The company has been accused of making false or misleading statements about its corporate quality system.Kolkata, Feb 19 : Discussing strategic convergences and divergences on the Bay of Bengal, a panel on Monday encouraged the idea of having a free port in the Andaman and Nicobar islands but said massive infrastructural development is still required there to achieve that aim.

"A free port can be of tremendous boost to the economy of not just the Andamans but for the entire country. However, we would need a huge amount of infrastructural development. I think infrastructure is the most important aspect of the region, from both civilian as well as security perspective and it needs to happen at a faster pace," a retired navy officer, who also served as the Commander-in-Chief, Andaman & Nicobar Command said here.

"Sometimes people worry more about security. But look at countries like Japan and China, there are enough examples that security and economics can move parallely. So do not look at Andamans only through the prism of security. A free port is highly possible" he said.

Stating that the Andamans have progressed a long way in terms of Humanitarian Assistance And Disaster Relief (HADR) since the Tsunami in 2004, he also said formation of a 'Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation' brigade for 'HADR' is possible, if all the member countries of BIMSTEC are willing to commit and develop the necessary infrastructure.

"I think the idea of a BIMSTEC is a bit farfetched, but not impossible. If all the members of BIMSTEC are willing to contribute and commit such a force. HADR needs all the scopes that are required to react to a particular situation... After the Tsunami the Andamans have moved a long way as far as HADR is concerned not only for itself but also for the neighbouring countries," he said.

Another researcher present in the panel said the BIMSTEC has focused by and large on security since 2016 and one of its ideas has been to come up with such a brigade.

"But to form such a brigade, all the stakeholders involved has to have a certain kind of infrastructure like SER helicopters and shallow-craft amphibious vessels. Unless you have these capacities in other countries, India cannot be the only member to contribute in this brigade," he said.

He also said local police cooperation and intelligence sharing among the BIMSTEC countries is needed to stop human trafficking.

The panel also observed that India is reluctant to accept foreign funding for security development of the islands as it is situated at a strategically sensitive position.

"We are accepting foreign funding mostly for the development of the islands like the ongoing smart island project. The focus is mostly on the connectivity between the mainland and the bigger islands. So the development that is taking place in the Andamans is in the civilian site but not so much on the military site," the panel said.Kochi, Feb 19 : The Kerala High Court Advocates' Association has passed a resolution expressing "deep concern" over the delay in the proposed elevation of Uttarakhand High Court Chief Justice K.M. Joseph to the Supreme Court.

It has appealed to the Central government to forward to President Ram Nath Kovind the Supreme Court Collegium's recommendation that Joseph be made an apex court judge.

Demanding that he be elevated without any further delay, the Association termed Joseph "a person of impeccable integrity".

As Chief Justice of the Uttarakhand High Court, Joseph came out with a judgment quashing President's rule imposed in Uttarakhand. In May 2016, he was transferred from the Uttarakhand High Court to the High Court of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana but even that has not taken place.

However, the Supreme Court Collegium last month recommended his elevation to the Supreme Court.Jaipur, Feb 19 : Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje on Monday told the assembly that the government was not proceeding with much-criticised "Criminal Laws (Rajasthan Amendment) Bill, 2017" which was termed a "black law" and a "gag" order.

The bill was tabled in last Assembly session in October to replace an ordinance promulgated on September 7. Under it, a prior sanction from an authority was required before making an investigation into an offence committed by a public officia. As the government faced widespread criticism, the bill was referred to a select committee of the house.

"We have allowed the ordinance to lapse. As the act didn't come into force, therefore any talk of a 'black law' is misplaced," he said, adding that the government is withdrawing it.

The decision has been welcomed by all sectors of the society. Congress' state unit President Sachin Pilot, who had challenged the measure in the high court, welcomed the announcement.

Akhil Rajasthan Rajya Karamachari Sanyukt Sangharsh Samiti co-convener Gajendra Singh Rathore also welcomed the development, terming it a victory of people, democracy and media.New Delhi, Feb 19 : The CBI on Monday arrested Punjab National Bank's Brady House branch (Mumbai) Chief Manager Bechu B. Tewari and two of his colleagues in a multi-crore bank fraud case against diamond merchants Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi, an official said.

Tewari was arrested along with Yashwant Joshi, Scale II Manager (Forex department) and and Praful Sawant, Scale I officer (Export), after their day long questioning by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) sleuths in Mumbai.

The CBI also conducted searches at their residences located at Navi Mumbai, Andheri, and Dombivili.

The agency officials also conducted raids at the offices of Nirav Modi group companies at Peninsula Business Park, Lower Parel while the searches at PNB's Brady house branch - where Rs 11,300 crore fraud took place - have concluded.

The CBI's move comes after it on Saturday arrested former PNB Deputy Manager Gokulnath Shetty, Single Window Operator Manoj Kharat and Nirav Modi group's authorised signatory Hemant Bhat.

CBI investigators said that Tewari was responsible for supervising the work of Shetty and his manager to ensure entry of authorised SWIFT or Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication messages only from the system.

Tewari had full knowledge of the activities of Shetty, said the CBI investigators.

According to the investigators, Joshi was responsible for supervising Shetty and ensure daily reports of SWIFT and Core Banking System (CBS) entries. He had full knowledge of the activities of Shetty but took no action.

Sawant is responsible for checking the SWIFT messages daily and reporting to his seniors.

The official said that the arrested PNB employees would be presented before the CBI special court in Mumbai on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the CBI on Monday continued examining several PNB officials, besides questioning four employees Nirav Modi's firms including Vipul Ambani and Ravi Gupta, both Chief Financial Officers, Saurabh Sharma, President, Finance Division and Subhash Parab, Finance Executive in connection with the multi-crore bank fraud, an official said.

The CBI examined Ambani and 13 PNB officials, including some upto then General Manager rank officials, to find out about the irregularities in fraudulent issuance of Letters of Undertaking (LoUs) and Foreign Letters of Credit (FLCs) in favour of companies of Nirav Modi and his uncle Choksi.

Ambani, son of Dhirubhai Ambani's younger brother Natubhai Ambani, was also questioned by the CBI officials on Sunday for over eight hours in Mumbai. He is the CFO of Nirav Modi's firm Firestar.

The agency has also sealed the bank's second largest outlet -- Brady House Branch in Mumbai -- where the fraud had taken place.

While the CBI is scrutinising the details of LoUs and FLCs submitted by the PNB, the bank's head office too has scrutinised the documents and submitted a report to the CBI. An LoU is a guarantee by the bank that should the borrower default on repayment, it would pay back the money to the original lender.

An FLC is a sort of guarantee to a third part or vendor that money for the goods supplied would be paid.

The scam surfaced when officials of Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi groups approached the PNB's Brady House Branch in January to seek LoU for making payments to suppliers. Shetty had retired last May and the new PNB officials demanded margin money to issue the LoUs.

However, they were told by Nirav Modi group officials that they had been getting such a facility for years without any margin money. Once the PNB officials checked, the whole fraud unravelled.Panaji, Feb 19 : Contrary to Goa Assembly Deputy Speaker Michael Lobo's statement that ailing Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar could be shifted to the US for treatment if required, South Goa MP Narendra Savoikar said on Monday that news on his treatment abroad were "false and baseless".

"Parrikar is admitted at the Lilavati Hospital in Mumbai and is responding to treatment. He is being treated by the best of medical experts and as per the information his condition is stable. Further, news that he is being flown to the US for further treatment is totally false and baseless," the MP said.

Earlier in the day, Lobo -- a BJP MLA -- had said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had authorised for shifting of Parrikar to the US for further treatment, if needed.

Parrikar was rushed to the Mumbai hospital on February 15 following stomach pain and was, according to the Chief Minister's Office, diagnosed for inflamed pancreas.

"Everything is finally in God's hands. But the PM said that whatever needs to be done, if he needs to be taken out of India to the US, should be done," Lobo told reporters at the Assembly complex.

Modi, during a daylong official visit to Mumbai on Sunday, visited the Mumbai hospital to meet his former Cabinet colleague and enquired about his health.Bhubaneswar, Feb 19 : A state of the art quality control laboratory to check traces of antibiotics in shrimps and other marine products was inaugurated here on Monday.

It would address concerns of USA, Japan and the European Union (EU) for stringent quality controls over exports of seafood from India.

Set up by the Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA), the fifth such laboratory in the country is fully equipped to check presence of chloramphenicol and nitrofuran, the two banned antibiotics for which importers in US and Japan have particularly insisted for analysis.

Accredited by National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration and approved by Export Inspection Council of India under Laboratory Approval Scheme (LAS), the laboratory has started analysing Chloramphenicol and Nitrofuran metabolites in samples drawn under the National Residue Control Programme (NRCP) and those drawn from the market, said an official.

If any samples are screened positive in ELISA Labs at Bhubaneswar, Balasore and Sonarpur, these will be checked and confirmed at the quality control laboratory, which has also developed methodology for another antibiotic, retracycline, and its validation is under process.

"By setting up its laboratory in Odisha, MPEDA has met a longstanding demand from the seafood exporters. Our seafood exporters have set global benchmarks. We must follow this benchmark which is going to lead the seafood sector in the next few decades," said Odisha's Agriculture Production Commissioner Gagan Kumar Dhal.

MPEDA Chairman A. Jayathilak said there is a sustained demand from the industry to have a laboratory with the most modern equipment to identify the antibiotic residues up to the lowest and most microscopic levels.

"We have had some instances of presence of antibiotics in the past, especially the most commonly detected Chloramphenicol and Nitrofuran metabolites, and it has led to immediate response. We pass on the information immediately down the stream to the exporters and the farmers but you need to have the best equipment and manpower in place for it," he noted.

Alongside, the lab is developing facilities for validation of sulphonamides. After completion of testing facilities for tetracycline and sulphonamides, the lab will be fully ready for analysis of commercial samples meant for export to the EU also. Currently, these substances are being tested at other QC laboratories of MPEDA.

At present, the QC Laboratory at Bhubaneswar can analyse samples submitted by farmers, processors and exporters as part of their quality assurance for residue free raw material for processing and exporting.Shillong, Feb 19 : Meghalaya Chief Electoral Officer Frederick Roy Kharkongor on Monday said he had sent a detail report to the Election Commission on the killing of NCP candidate from the Williamnagar assembly constituency in an IED blast.

In the report, the state election panel sought another 10 additional companies of Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) to be deployed in Garo Hills and parts of West Khasi Hills district especially in militant-infested areas to ensure free, fair and peaceful conduct of assembly polls.

On Sunday, four people, including Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) candidate Jonathone N. Sangma, were killed while three others injured in an IED blast at Sawilgre village under East Garo Hills district.

However, election authorities said that no comprehensive report has indicated the involvement of any militant group behind the incident.

"Whether it was the militants who carried out the attacks or not but the place of occurrence has been an area of militants' strong hold," Kharkongor told journalists, adding that 80 companies of CAPF already sanctioned for Meghalaya would arrive from Tripura this week.

"Intensive combing operations have already been initiated in the area where the incident had taken place and the DGP has also rushed to the spot supervising the operations personally," he said.

Following the killing of the poll candidate, Kharkongor said that additional Chief Secretary, Home, M.S.Rao, had reviewed the overall law and order in the state along with senior government officials, including Director General of Police (DGP) Swaraj Bir Singh and state election officials.

In addition to the DIG of Western range, another DIG level officer will be permanently stationed at Williamnagar till the election process is completed.

Moreover, Kharkongkor said that five companies of special forces specially trained to tackle militancy will be deployed for election related security duties in order to instill confidence among the people and strengthen the security arrangements in the area.

He said a high-level intelligence review meeting was also convened by the state chief police nodal officer involving all Central and state intelligence agencies in the context of the recent developments.

Asked about countermanding of election in Williamnagar constituency due to the candidate's death, Kharkongor said that a report on the death of the candidate and high level meeting has been sent to the Election Commission.

"The Commission will take a call and decide fresh date for conducting the election in Williamnagar," he said, adding that the district election officer will also send a report to the EC.Kolkata, Feb 19 : Amid controversy over a photograph in which Nirav Modi, the main accused in Rs 11,300-crore bank fraud case, is seen standing with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the West Bengal BJP has released photographs of state Finance Minister Amit Mitra with Mehul Choksi, who is on the run in the Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case.

State BJP President Dilip Ghosh uploaded these photographs in Twitter and claimed those were of Bengal Global Business Summit organised in Mumbai in July last year.

"Wht (What) would Didi's comments now be on these pictures?" Ghosh said in the tweet.

In response, Mitra said: "This is no secret, the information is on government website. Do I have a personal relationship with him?"

The photographs and the press release of Gems and Jewellery Round-table were, however, removed from the Bengal Global Business Summit website during the day.

Trinamool Congress Secretary General Partha Chatterjee said it was an attempt by the opposition to divert attention from the real scam.

The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) also used the opportunity to target the Trinamool Congress government.

"How will Amit Babu react to them? Wht will the so called leaders of Trinamool say to the camaraderie and closeness that was evident between Amit Mitra and Mehul Chokshi," CPI-M leader and MLA Sujan Chakraborty said.

However, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee continued to target the Narendra Modi government on the banking fraud.Washington, Feb 20 : The US President Donald Trump supports efforts to strengthen federal background checks on those looking to purchase firearms, the White House said Monday.

The announcement comes just five days after a school shooting in Parkland, Florida, left 17 dead. The shooter, 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz, who has been charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder, has reportedly received mental-health treatment in the past, Efe reported.

Trump was in talks with Texas Senator John Cornyn, a Republican who co-sponsored a bill last November that would require federal agencies and states to be more thorough in forwarding mental-health and criminal-conviction records and other information to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS).

According to the US federal law, those convicted of a felony or subject to a domestic violence protective order, as well as people with mental illness -- subject to certain conditions --, are prohibited from possessing a firearm.

"The President spoke to Senator Cornyn on Friday about the bipartisan bill he and (Democratic) Senator (Chris) Murphy introduced to improve federal compliance with criminal background check legislation," White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said.

"While discussions are ongoing and revisions are being considered, the President is supportive of efforts to improve the federal background check system."

Trump pledged as a candidate to support the aims of the National Rifle Association, a lobbying group that opposes most restrictions on Americans' Second Amendment right to bear arms.

But his backing for the Cornyn-Murphy bill would not incur the wrath of the NRA, which in November expressed support for that same proposal.

The bipartisan bill -- introduced after it was revealed that the man who killed 26 people in a Texas church shooting last November had been convicted of domestic violence, a conviction that the Air Force failed to report -- would provide incentives to states that upload conviction records into the NICS.

But it would not impose further restrictions on gun ownership.As a continued commitment to providing BOLD central laboratory services, Eurofins Central Laboratory is a turnkey provider which deploys lean, globally standardized processes, enabling high quality GMP compliant kits to be distributed worldwide.

Eurofins Central Laboratory, a member of the leading international Eurofins Scientific Group, announced today that it will extend its capabilities in global Kit Packing and Distribution Services by opening a GMP compliant Kit Packing and Distribution facility in Louisville, KY, US.

The 10,000 square foot facility is strategically located in near proximity of the largest UPS worldwide air facility in the US, Worldhub at the Louisville International Airport. The facility has a purpose built design of the work floor based on the Kit Assembly work flow and has an optimized lay-out of its warehousing.

As a continued commitment to providing BOLD central laboratory services, Eurofins Central Laboratory is a turnkey provider which deploys lean, globally standardized processes, enabling high quality GMP compliant kits to be distributed worldwide.

Our care for patient specimens does not commence when clinical trial samples arrive at one of our Central Laboratory facilities in US, Europe, or Asia. We made the decision to further enhance transparency and control over the production and distribution of our, customized specimen collection kits, explains Elena Logan, Senior Vice President. With 2 Eurofins wholly owned Kit Packing and Distribution Facilities in US and Europe, we are in full control to use our wealth of experience to deploy the best processes, people and systems to not only meet, but exceed our clients expectations.

This year, we assembled and distributed over 1 Million clinical trial specimen collection kits globally, as well as provided patient centric self-collection kits directly to patients homes. Our Kit Packing and Distribution Services are also available as a stand-alone service. With an integrated MRP [Material Requirements Planning] system, the Louisville operation allows quick expansion of services into 2018 and beyond, said Lisa Fotheringham, Vice President, Operations.

Elena Logan, Senior Vice President Eurofins Central Laboratory elaborates: With increasing complexity of clinical study protocols, and a focus on moving trials closer to patients, specimen collection kits have become more complex. Eurofins Central Laboratory is dedicated to challenging the status quo and continually evaluates ways to improve the client and site experience while remaining competitive in the marketplace. This investment in our Louisville facility is an example of such commitment

About Eurofins Central Laboratory

Eurofins is a pure-play leading global Central Laboratory with extensive experience in Phases I-IV clinical trials, and works with top Pharma, biotech, and CROs to support drug development through laboratory testing, validation and assay development. We have the informational infrastructure, project and investigator support, analytical capabilities and experience to develop and run assays in CAP/CLIA and GLP-like regulatory frameworks.

Eurofins Central Laboratory operates its four wholly-owned central laboratories in the US, Europe, Singapore and China under the same international quality standards, regulatory guidelines, SOPs and IT infrastructure globally. Eurofins Central Laboratory has a broad range of equivalent testing capabilities, experience, leadership and dedicated staff, as well as harmonized standards and regulatory framework of four global analytical sites, that strongly positions Eurofins to be a solid, dependable central lab partner for clinical development programs.

Reliable, high quality laboratory data is pivotal to the success of clinical trials. At Eurofins Central Laboratory, we are BOLD. We go beyond the expected. Since laboratory testing is our sole focus, there are no distractions allowing us to remain laser focused on the best science, technology and people so you get what you deserve. You will benefit from the fact that we are part of one of the worlds leading laboratory organizations. This means you enjoy end-to-end testing solutions, free from the worry of coordinating multiple vendors. Our testing capabilities are unsurpassed and we are setting new standards with our GLP capabilities embedded within the Eurofins Central Laboratory.

Notes for the editor:

Eurofins  a global leader in bio-analysis

Eurofins Scientific through its subsidiaries (hereinafter sometimes Eurofins or the Group) believes it is the world leader in food, environment and pharmaceutical products testing and that it is also one of the global independent market leaders in certain testing and laboratory services for agroscience, genomics, discovery pharmacology and for supporting clinical studies. In addition, Eurofins is one of the key emerging players in specialty clinical diagnostic testing in Europe and the USA. With over 30,000 staff in 375 laboratories across 41 countries, Eurofins offers a portfolio of over 130,000 analytical methods for evaluating the safety, identity, composition, authenticity, origin and purity of biological substances and products, as well as for innovative clinical diagnostic. The Group objective is to provide its customers with high-quality services, accurate results on time and expert advice by its highly qualified staff.

Eurofins is committed to pursuing its dynamic growth strategy by expanding both its technology portfolio and its geographic reach. Through R&D and acquisitions, the Group draws on the latest developments in the field of biotechnology and analytical chemistry to offer its clients unique analytical solutions and the most comprehensive range of testing methods.

As one of the most innovative and quality oriented international players in its industry, Eurofins is ideally positioned to support its clients increasingly stringent quality and safety standards and the expanding demands of regulatory authorities around the world.

The shares of Eurofins Scientific are listed on the Euronext Paris Stock Exchange (ISIN FR0000038259, Reuters EUFI.PA, Bloomberg ERF FP).

Important disclaimer:

This press release contains forward-looking statements and estimates that involve risks and uncertainties. The forward-looking statements and estimates contained herein represent the judgment of Eurofins Scientifics management as of the date of this release. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees for future performance, and the forward-looking events discussed in this release may not occur. Eurofins Scientific disclaims any intent or obligation to update any of these forward-looking statements and estimates. All statements and estimates are made based on the information available to the Companys management as of the date of publication, but no guarantee can be made as to their validity.In this high-risk population, about one in four kids will have a cavity by the time theyre two, says Dennis Lewis, President and CEO of Dental Aid. And low-income children miss nearly twelve times more school due to poor oral health than children from higher-income families.

Dental Aid, Inc. is pleased to announce they have received a grant from Rose Community Foundation for $118,240 over three years. Dental Aid specializes in providing affordable, high quality dental care and education to the low-income, uninsured, and under-insured residents of Colorados Boulder and Broomfield counties. Its clinics are located in Boulder, Longmont and Louisville, CO.

The grant will be used to further develop Dental Aids teledentistry program for high needs, low income and uninsured preschool, elementary, middle and high school students in the Boulder Valley School District. A Dental Aid registered dental hygienist will travel to the schools and provide basic services such a screenings, cleanings, and the application of sealants to children who would not normally seek, or have access to high quality dental care. Children in need of further dental care will be referred to their dentist or to Dental Aid clinics for services. The Rose Community Foundation makes grants to organizations and institutions serving the seven county greater Denver community.

In this high-risk population, about one in four kids will have a cavity by the time theyre two, says Dennis Lewis, President and CEO of Dental Aid. And low-income children miss nearly twelve times more school due to poor oral health than children from higher-income families.

In the end, more people get access to dental care who otherwise would not have received it, says Whitney Gustin Connor, Rose Community Foundation Senior Program Officer for Health. And by reaching them when theyre young, we can help prevent future oral health issues.

One overarching goal of the program is to develop best practices for the delivery of dental care to low income children. Prevention and early intervention are the most cost effective ways to manage any childs oral health care. Every dollar invested in prevention saves $50 in future restorative services such as fillings and extractions.

About Dental Aid

Dental Aid provides compassionate, affordable, high quality dental care and education to low-income, uninsured and under-insured individuals in Colorados Boulder and Broomfield counties.

The long term clinical focus of Dental Aid follows a chronic disease management model directed at prevention, education and treatment in the early stages of disease. In addition to direct clinical care, Dental Aid prioritizes education and outreach to high-risk patients including:



Families and children of all ages

Pregnant women

People with chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and HIV/AIDS; and

People with physical, mental or emotional disabilities

Dental Aid was one of the first stand-alone, nonprofit, complete-care dental clinics in the United States. The organization was founded in 1974 as a referral organization and opened its first full-service clinic in 1980. Today, Dental Aid provides dental care to more than 8,000 children and adults annually. It provides services through three clinics (Boulder, Longmont and Louisville, CO) and through its hygiene outreach programs. Its mission is to make high quality oral health care accessible to low income, uninsured and under-insured individuals who would otherwise be unable to access oral health care. For more information, visit http://www.dentalaid.org.

February is National Children's Dental Health Month! Here is some helpful info.

Additional Information about the Importance of Oral Health Care for Children:

Tooth decay is a serious contagious bacterial infection resulting in cavities and requires risk based preventive measures. Although almost 100% preventable, it remains the most common chronic disease in children. Tooth decay in children can be painful and adversely affect a child's ability to eat, speak, learn, and socialize, and their long-term health. Poor oral health is the number one health related reason grade school children miss school. Dental disease is the most common childhood disease; it is five times more common than asthma. An estimated 7.8 million hours of school are lost annually in Colorado due to acute oral pain and infection. Many students attend school but are unable to concentrate effectively and learn due to poor dental health. Greater rates of decay occur in low income and minority children, and low-income children suffer nearly twelve times more lost school time due to poor oral health than do children from higher-income families. Improving the oral health of low income children is an important part of our work to combat the growing achievement gap between higher and lower income children. Early preventive oral health care is effective in preventing children from developing more serious oral health problems. Fluoride varnish prevents the development of decay. Sealants are also very effective in preventing oral disease. Dental Aid seeks to bring preventive care and early detection and treatment of dental disease to under-served children in the schools.

The oral health of a child is important to their future well-being. Poor oral health can result in increased absences from school and lower self-esteem which contributes to the achievement gap between low income minority students and their higher income non-minority peers. The oral health of a child impacts their health as an adult. Poor oral health is related to heart disease, Alzheimer's, osteoporosis, respiratory infections, and diabetes. Poor oral health also impacts ones ability to interview for, obtain and retain a job. A recent study from the found that 19% of Colorado's low income residents reported that the appearance of their mouth and teeth affects their ability to interview for a job and 10% indicate that they have taken time off of their jobs due to poor oral health. Improved oral health and appearance helps clients to have the confidence and demeanor to interview for and keep a job. Investments in children's health may boost their future earnings for decades. The taxes they pay on higher incomes may result in a return on investment which will help pay the government back for some of its investments.A group of kids work on an activity to help them learn how to self-calm. Caregivers involved in the test of the curriculum reported that their children had less anxiety and depression after completing the course.

Depression, anxiety and stress are issues that can affect anyone regardless of their socioeconomic status. However, kids in poverty are particularly vulnerable given the adversity they face on a daily basis. Identifying this concern, Children International has partnered with Turning Point: A Community Resource of The University of Kansas Health System to implement a curriculum that teaches kids how to be resilient and maintain good mental health.

Children International first tested the curriculum late last year in Mexico, where mental health was recognized as a priority health issue. The curriculum teaches kids the 10 facets of resilience, which include learning how to self-calm, stay optimistic and seek out social support. These are taught through a variety of activities that allow kids to express themselves in creative ways  drawing, writing, storytelling and movement, to name a few.

Why the focus on creative expression when teaching kids resilience? Stefanie Hinman, an art therapist from Turning Point, explains, Creative expression comes naturally for children. They love to sing, dance, paint and draw. This type of therapy gives children an opportunity to learn and express themselves in ways that feel comfortable to them, engaging both the head and the heart in the learning experience.

Children Internationals agency in Mexico found the resilience curriculum to be successful, simple to implement and easy to adapt. Caregivers involved in the test of the curriculum reported that their children had less anxiety and depression after completing the course. They also reported that the course helped their kids improve interpersonal relationships. As a result, the agency will be implementing the curriculum this year. Additionally, Children Internationals agency in Kolkata, India, will be trained on the curriculum this month and will begin implementing the program in March.

Children Internationals Program Information Coordinator Autumn Miller says, Health has always been one of our key program areas of focus. In addition to making sure our kids are physically cared for, we want to make sure their mental health is taken into account as well. Our kids face difficult circumstances, but by building up their resilience, we can help them create a strong foundation for handling any adversity they may face.

Learn more about Children Internationals health programs.

About Turning Point

Turning Point: The Center for Hope and Healing, is part of The University of Kansas Health System, the regions premier academic medical system. For more than a decade, Turning Point has provided life-changing programs for thousands of individuals and families including educational classes, skills, innovative support services and resources for chronically and seriously physically ill patients, caregivers and children. Ongoing financial support continues to be needed to make Turning Points life-changing programs possible and available to its clients at no charge.

For more information about Turning Point, turningpointkc.org.

About Children International

Children International is a leader in the movement to eradicate poverty. From toddler to young adulthood, we surround kids with a caring team, a safe place and a clear path out of poverty through programs focused on health, education, empowerment and employment. Our supporters are inspired as they see children radically change their lives and create a ripple effect that impacts their families and communities for generations to come.

For more information about Children International, visit children.org.Riverside Homebuilders' leadership has worked together for more than 12 years. The four people running Riverside Homebuilders have worked together for more than 12 years. We build quality homes and take care of our buyers.  CEO Tim Fleet

Riverside Homebuilders, one of the largest locally owned new-construction builders in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, is proud to announce a successful 2017, with 286 homes closed last year. That comes just six years after the company built its first home.

After a banner year for the company, Riverside Homebuilders is looking forward to 420 closings in 2018.

The four people running Riverside Homebuilders have worked together for more than 12 years, CEO Tim Fleet said of the companys success. We build quality homes and take care of our buyers.

The Riverside team includes more than 100 years of combined experience in the homebuilding industry. That starts with Fleet, who oversaw the construction of more than 900 homes as the supervisor for his familys construction business. In the early 1990s, Fleet stepped out on his own with Lackland Holdings, which has successfully completed more than 160 commercial projects. Fleet has been joined in Riverside Homebuilders by many who bring a wealth of homebuilding experience with them.

Our success stems from our culture, said Vice President of Sales and Marketing Todd Greenfield. We dont chase profits; we focus on creating a positive culture. By taking care of our employees, we have built a passionate team that is striving to build the best home building company possible.

In addition to a record number of homes built in 2017, Riverside Homebuilders was named a DFW Top 50 Builder.

Since Riverside Homebuilders started building homes in Fort Worth in 2012, the company has expanded to build affordable, high-quality homes throughout North Texas, including Weatherford, Aledo, Brock, Boyd, Rhome, Springtown, Fort Worth, Saginaw, Godley, Decatur, Gainesville, Terrell, Bells, Leonard, Farmersville, Trenton, Van Alstyne and Nevada.

Riverside Homebuilders specializes in building single-family homes on one-acre homesites ranging in price from $220,000 to $400,000. The company also builds affordable homes in the inner-city areas starting at $170,000. Riversides attributes much of its success to finding land and buildable lots overlooked by other builders.

To learn more about Riverside Homebuilders, visit http://rshomebuilders.com/.Padmini Rajan, MD, internist The good physicians treats the disease; the great physicians treat the patient who has the disease.

Padmini Rajan, M.D., has joined Physician Partners of America as an internist at its Tampa - Habana Primary Care Group.

A member of the American College of Physicians, Dr. Rajan specializes in treating difficult cases related to diabetes and other previously undiagnosed health concerns. She strives to maintain long-lasting physician-patient relationships. Seeing patients live their best possible life is her goal as a physician.

The good physicians treats the disease; the great physicians treat the patient who has the disease, she says.

Dr. Rajan received her undergraduate and medical degrees from Bangalore Medical College in India. She completed both her residency and internship in Internal Medicine at Illinois Masonic Medical Center in Chicago.

She has worked in private practice in Chicago, St. Petersburg, Fla., and Bradenton, Fla. She most recently served as medical director of Manatee Springs Rehabilitation Facility in Bradenton. In addition, she has served as an adjunct clinical professor at the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (LECOM) in Lakewood Ranch, Fla.

She has been married for 40 years and enjoys spending time with her family, which includes five grandchildren.

She joins Maria Del Rosario Gomez, M.D., in serving the Habana Primary Care Clinic, located at 4726 N Habana Ave., Suite 202, Tampa, FL 33614. Her addition makes it possible for the practice to see patients five days per week. Patients can make an appointment, including same-day, by calling (813) 699-4055.

About Physician Partners of America

Headquartered in Tampa, Fla., Physician Partners of America (PPOA) is a fast-growing national healthcare company that manages a wide range of medical practices. These include interventional pain management, spinal procedures, orthopedics, psychology, personal injury, Workers Compensation, and AAAHC-accredited ambulatory surgery centers and procedure suites.

Its ancillary division includes imaging, medical supply distributorship, pharmacies, a COLA-accredited high-complexity quantitative toxicology lab and a COLA-accredited pharmacogenomics lab.

PPOA was founded in 2013, on the idea of strengthening the doctor-patient relationship and improving patient outcomes by acquiring medical practices and employing partner physicians so they can focus solely on the practice of medicine. PPOA and its affiliates share a common vision of ensuring the safety and well-being of patients, and providing alternative treatments in the national struggle against opioid abuse. For more information, visit the PPOA website.J.D. Hendel, a writer who divides her time between her craft, traveling, and spending time with friends and family, has completed her book Love: Tears of Pain: a harrowing tale of kidnapping and imprisonment in a small Utah town.

Published by New York City-based Page Publishing, J.D. Hendels steamy tale of obsession, sex, and love. Love and romance are words that define Whitney Gonzales in life. Surrounded by her husband, Adrian, and best friends, Kim and Matt, Whitney considers herself a very lucky woman. She has a successful gift shop business located in a beautiful mountain setting. She has the opportunity to travel to Costa Rica, the native country of her husband, to buy inventory for her shop. Most importantly, she and Adrian are talking about starting a family. Yes, life seems to be quite perfect for Whitney.

One day a stranger unexpectedly enters Whitneys perfect life and takes her away from everything she holds dear. Stripped of even the most basic of necessities, Whitney now must fight her way out of this new reality. Gradually, however, it seeps into her heart and mind that she belongs in this new place, away from all that was once hers. She ceases to struggle against her captor, allowing him to rule every fiber of her body and corner of her mind, even her dreams.

When Adrian receives a letter from Whitney many months later, he uses the information to search for her. He is shocked by what he finds and wonders what this monster has done to her.

Adrian and Matt take Whitney home, and Kim tries to bring her back to her former self. Whitney, however, is expecting a baby, which complicates her recovery. Over time, Whitney finds her voice again and gives birth to a beautiful baby boy, whom she names Luke. She receives a letter from Lukes father, but she is afraid to open it and sets it aside. Fearing that the childs father will come back into her life, she realizes that she has to protect Luke at all costs. She is even willing to pay the ultimate price and places her son in adoption to save him from his father.

Adrian and Whitney sell everything and move to Costa Rica to be near Adrians family and away from all the bad memories. Day by day, Adrian senses that he is losing his wife a little at a time. She lives in her own world, sadly dreaming of her lost son. One afternoon, she happens to find the letter from Lukes father, still unopened. She finally decides to open it, and when she reads it, the words completely change her life.

Readers who wish to experience this gripping and potent work can purchase Love: Tears of Pain at bookstores everywhere, or online at the Apple iTunes store, Amazon, Google Play, or Barnes and Noble.

For additional information or media inquiries, contact Page Publishing at 866-315-2708.

About Page Publishing:

Page Publishing is a traditional New York-based full-service publishing house that handles all the intricacies involved in publishing its authors books, including distribution in the worlds largest retail outlets and royalty generation. Page Publishing knows that authors need to be free to create - not bogged down with logistics like eBook conversion, establishing wholesale accounts, insurance, shipping, taxes, and the like. Its roster of accomplished authors and publishing professionals allows writers to leave behind these complex and time-consuming issues to focus on their passion: writing and creating. Learn more at http://www.pagepublishing.com.We chose PMMC because of their accurate solutions, expertise, and personalized approach as a partner. We look forward to seeing our managed care vision turn into reality.

PMMC, a leading healthcare revenue cycle management company, was selected by Mercy Health, Ohios largest health system, as its strategic partner for contract management.

Mercy Health is made up of 23 acute care hospitals across Ohio and Kentucky and is one of the largest health systems in the United States with more than 33,500 employees.

Our number one priority is delivering high-quality, cost-effective care to the communities we serve, especially the poor and underserved, said Tom Golias, Chief Managed Care Officer at Mercy Health. The strategic partnership with PMMC is the key to us becoming more targeted and efficient in our managed care function through the back-end of the revenue cycle and monitoring payer performance, which in turn, will allow us to continue to focus on serving the community.

PMMCs fully integrated hospital and physician contract management system, driven by its 99 percent data accuracy rate, gives Mercy Health the ability to analyze all of its claims and identify trends in contractual underpayments, overpayments, and denials with executive reporting and analytics.

This business intelligence gives Mercy Health a strategic advantage when negotiating new contract terms with its payers and allows them to understand the true value of a payer contract.

Mercy Health is a prime example of a highly engaged health system taking a holistic view of the effects managed care has on the revenue cycle and understanding the significant impact it can have on the entire organization, explained Roger Shaul, President of PMMC. We look forward to helping Mercy Health improve their net revenue so they can continue to focus on their core mission.

Over the next five years, Mercy Health will work in partnership with PMMCs dedicated managed care experts to improve contract governance with process, accountability, and technology.

This is an exciting announcement for both Mercy Health and PMMC, added Tom Golias. We chose PMMC because of their accurate solutions, expertise, and personalized approach as a partner. We look forward to seeing our managed care vision turn into reality.

About PMMC

PMMC provides high value revenue cycle software and services to improve the financial performance of healthcare organizations. Our software and expertise focuses on payment accuracy and identifying more revenue opportunities across the revenue cycle.

PMMC helps hospitals identify underpayments and denials, increase price transparency, and manage bundled payments. Clients see, on average, a 10 to 1 return on investment with software and services. For more information, visit http://www.PMMConline.com.

About Mercy Health

Mercy Health is the largest health system in Ohio and one of the top five employers in the state, with more than 33,500 employees serving communities throughout Ohio and in Kentucky. Mercy Health provided care for patients more than 6.3 million times in 2016. The system includes assets of $6.3 billion and nearly 500 care sites, including 23 hospitals, eight senior living communities, five hospice programs and seven home health agencies. Its clinically integrated network, Mercy Health Select, coordinates more effective and efficient care for more than 200,000 patients, saving money for taxpayers through the Medicare Shared Savings program. In keeping with its mission to improve the health of its communities, Mercy Health provides nearly $1 million per day in community benefit services. For more information, visit http://www.mercy.com or connect with Mercy Health on Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, Pinterest and Twitter (@LivingMercyHlth).Old Dominion University has launched a partnership with Virginia Appalachian Tricollege Nursing Program to create a seamless transition to ODU's popular RN to BSN online bachelor's nursing degree program.

The Virginia Appalachian Tricollege Nursing Program operates from Southwest Virginia Community College, Virginia Highlands Community College and Mountain Empire Community College.

The partnership came at an optimal time for both aspiring nurses and the medical industry in the region. "There is a high demand for registered nurses in southwest Virginia and east Tennessee. Most hospitals have numerous vacancies, and many are relying on traveling nurses to provide nursing care," says Kathy Mitchell, dean for nursing and allied health at Southwest Virginia Community College.

Old Dominion aims not only to train and prepare nurses, but also to improve health care in Virginia. "We would like to contribute to an increase in BSN degree graduates in that part of the state," says Janice Hawkins, chief academic adviser for ODU's School of Nursing. "An increase in BSN graduates is linked with better patient outcomes."

The program benefits practicing and aspiring nurses who don't want, or are unable, to move from southwest Virginia. "The program allows nurses to pursue a BSN while continuing to live in their communities," Mitchell says. "ODU's RN to BSN degree program is affordable and accessible to most students in our service area. ODU has an excellent reputation, and our graduates are recognized as being well prepared for the continually changing health care environment."

For more information on this program, visit online.odu.edu/rn-bsn.

Old Dominion University, located in the coastal city of Norfolk, is Virginia's entrepreneurial-minded doctoral research university and has been delivering distance learning programs for 30 years. We offer more than 100 programs through ODUOnline in a variety of formats, allowing students to complete degree programs all over the world. ODU serves more than 24,600 students annually by providing the same rigorous academics online and on-campus. Learn more about ODUOnline's programs by visiting online.odu.edu.LumiGrow, a smart horticultural lighting company based in Emeryville, California

LumiGrow, a smart horticultural lighting company, announced the successful completion of a $5.1 million bridge financing. The oversubscribed round included participation from existing lead investor, Ecosystem Integrity Fund, as well as new investors, ValueAct Spring Master Fund, L.P. and Greenhouse Capital.

With the successful closing, LumiGrow will continue to focus on providing industry leading LED lighting hardware and software solutions to commercial horticulture and research institutions, utilizing data gathered through its smartPAR software application and recently introduced smartPAR Light Sensor Module. The timing and size of the financing allows LumiGrow to accelerate the development of its next generation products.

Kelly Barlow, a Partner at ValueAct Capital, has been appointed to LumiGrows Board of Directors, which includes LumiGrows CEO, Shami Patel, Partners of Ecosystem Integrity Fund, Devin Whatley and James Everett, and agricultural industry leader, Minos Athanassiadis.

The registered principals of Keene Advisors and representatives of Squire Patton Boggs advised LumiGrow in connection with the bridge financing.

About LumiGrow, Inc.

LumiGrow, Inc., the leader in smart horticultural LED lighting solutions, empowers growers with the ability to improve plant quality, boost crop yields, and achieve cost-saving operational efficiencies. LumiGrow offers a range of proven grow light and software solutions for use in greenhouses, controlled environment agriculture and research chambers. LumiGrow is headquartered in Emeryville, California,

About Ecosystem Integrity Fund

The Ecosystem Integrity Fund is a top-ranked venture capital firm that invests in early-stage companies contributing to environmental sustainability. The fund has had successful exits with investments in Zep Solar, Kevita, and eMotorWerks.

About ValueAct Capital

ValueAct Capital is a San Francisco-based investment firm with approximately $15 billion in assets under management. ValueAct Spring Master Funds investment objective is to seek to achieve superior returns by making long-term investments in companies that responsibly and creatively address certain environmental and social problems by using sustainable models.

If you would like more information, please call LumiGrow at (800) 514-0487, or visit http://www.lumigrow.com.Dentist Dr. Angela Cotey Offers Early Orthodontics to Pediatric Patients in Fitchburg, WI

Dr. Angela Cotey now invites pediatric patients from Fitchburg, WI, for orthodontics, with or without a referral. Dr. Cotey raises awareness for interceptive, or early, orthodontics and its benefits for pediatric patients. A respected Wisconsin dentist, Dr. Cotey offers comprehensive family dentistry at her practice, Village Smile Care, in Mount Horeb, WI.

A childs first permanent teeth will begin to erupt around the age of seven. At this time, crowding and other problems with the bite can begin to occur, though at this age it is still possible to know the projected growth of the teeth and jaw. If not monitored, however, development and growth of the teeth and jaw bone will continue naturally, even if this leads to complications that may require years of braces or even jaw surgery. Children whose baby teeth are lost late or early, suck their thumbs, have difficulty biting, chewing, or speaking, or have early signs of tooth misalignment can benefit from early orthodontics.

Early orthodontics begins when a child still has primary teeth. As the child grows, a dentist like Dr. Cotey can monitor the development of the jaw and eruption of permanent teeth. Early intervention can help correct harmful oral habits, intercept abnormal developments in growth, and guide the jaw bones growth for the best accommodation of permanent teeth. Early orthodontics has multiple benefits, including lowering the risk for tooth damage, improving facial appearance, establishing a good foundation for permanent teeth, and helping enable correct biting and chewing. With this intervention, a child who needs braces in the future will have fewer issues to correct and a jaw that is can more readily house full sets of permanent teeth.

Dr. Cotey provides full orthodontic care at her dental practice, including traditional braces, Invisalign and Six Month Smiles. With a focus on preventative care, she provides pediatric patients with early intervention orthodontic care to help ensure the development of their teeth and jaw is on track as they grow. Children who receive care from Dr. Cotey from a young age will be monitored throughout their growing years until the proper time for traditional braces treatment.

Dr. Cotey now welcomes pediatric patients from Fitchburg, WI, for orthodontics and early intervention. Parents looking for a new pediatric dentist can call the practice at 608-433-2102 or visit http://www.villagesmilecare.com.

About the Doctor

Dr. Angela Cotey is a general dentist offering personalized dental care to patients in Mount Horeb, WI. Dr. Cotey and her entire team take pride in offering the latest advancements in dentistry and dental technology to ensure each patient enjoys a comfortable experience with long-lasting results. Dr. Cotey combines advanced dentistry with a fun and friendly style. She is a member of numerous professional organizations including the American Dental Association, the Wisconsin Dental Association, American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry, Fellow in the Academy of General Dentistry and current President of the Wisconsin Dental Study Club and Madison Dental Progress Forum. To learn more about Dr. Cotey or the services she offers, please visit her website at http://www.villagesmilecare.com or call 608-433-2102 to schedule an appointment.As a retired law enforcement professional, Charles D. Dangerfield addresses many real-world issues as a first-time author in his book Filling a Void: A Resource for the Journey to Manhood. The book is geared towards young men, single mothers, young fathers, educators, mentors, and other caregivers.

This resource teaches young men about the characteristics they need to consider in forming their identities, the way certain emotions may affect their decisions, the importance of thinking before they act, avoiding poor choices, and the dos and donts for encounters with law enforcement.

The book has taken a lifetime of experiences to write, said Dangerfield. It was written out of concern regarding my own upbringing as well as observations from working as a law enforcement officer inside of Californias prisons and on the streets.

Both hopeful and practical, this guide for young men and those who care for them seeks to offer advice and assistance for their journey to manhood.

Filling a Void: A Resource for the Journey to Manhood

By Charles D. Dangerfield

ISBN: 9780578194769 (softcover); 9780578194776 (hardcover); 9780578194783 (eBook)

Available at the Lulu Online Bookstore, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble

About the author

Charles D. Dangerfield is a first-time author. Upon his honorable discharge from the Navy, he began his 28-year law enforcement career with the California Department of Corrections (CDC). Dangerfield worked 12 years behind the walls of prison. For the remainder of his career, he served in the investigative arena, including roles as a Special Agent with CDCs Office of Internal Affairs (OIA) and the Special Service Unit (SSU). Dangerfield was later appointed by California Governor Jerry Brown to head CDCs statewide street law enforcement unit as the Chief of the Office of Correctional Safety (OCS) until his retirement from law enforcement in 2015. Dangerfields passion is mentoring young men by the sharing of his God given talents, gifts, and life experiences. To learn more, please visit http://www.cdangerfield.com.

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General Inquiries:

LAVIDGE  Phoenix

Bryan Beach

480-306-6554

bbeach(at)lavidge(dot)com

Review Copies & Interview Requests:

LAVIDGE  Phoenix

Kiersten Woglom

480-998-2600 x 586

kwoglom(at)lavidge(dot)comWisconsin Lift Truck is honored to have received the reputable MVP (Most Valuable Partner) Award for 2018! This is the companys eighth consecutive year being selected for MVP status by the Material Handling Equipment Distributors Association (MHEDA), one of the industrys highest regarded trade associations.

Members of MHEDA must fulfill a substantial set of criteria in order to be a part of the 10% considered for the award. As a 2018 MVP, Wisconsin Lift Truck has successfully demonstrated a commitment to business excellence, professionalism and good stewardship.

In order to qualify for the annual MVP Award, companies are required to provide evidence of their dedication to their partners in business. These partners include their customers, employees and suppliers. In addition, they must meet the following criteria:



Industry Advocacy

Customer Service & Safety Practices

Business Networking

Continuing Education

Business Best Practices

Were proud to have earned our eighth consecutive MVP status award from MHEDA. Attaining the MHEDA MVP award makes a statement to our employees, our suppliers and our customers. It confirms our commitment to high standards and continuous improvement to lead the industry.  Jerry Weidmann, President, Wolter Group LLC.

Wisconsin Lift Truck Corp., part of the material handling arm of Wolter Group LLC, delivers superior service to over 15,000 customers in its tristate service area shared with Illinois Material Handling. The foundation of Wolter Groups success is its highly trained staff of over 390 employees with an average tenure of 17 years of service. Other members of Wolter Group LLC include Wolter Power Systems, specializing in industrial engines and generators, Ellis Systems featuring office and industrial storage solutions; as well as Fleet Services, offering ways to improve fleet performance to reduce the cost of material handling.

For more information, contact Kristin Lelewicz, at Wolter Group LLC; Phone 262-781-8011 x3145;

E-mail: kristin.lelewicz(at)woltergroupllc(dot)comThe savings that this could create for society by saving lives and reducing the trillion dollar cost of addiction is massive. Past News Releases RSS

Sober Grid, Inc., a National Science Foundation and National Institute of Health supported company, in partnership with researchers at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, has successfully developed technology to identify if an individual is at heightened risk for relapse to drug or alcohol use. Sober Grid's massive data set, coupled with existing and new algorithms, shows significant promise to improve outcomes to combat today's addiction crisis.

Sober Grid has an impressive leadership team that includes Chief Operating Officer, Chris Pesce, a Boston College and Johnson and Johnson alumnus, and the esteemed Mr. Lon Sherritt, as its Chief Data Scientist. Lon was Director of Research and Technology at Boston Children's Hospital's Center for Adolescent Substance Abuse Research for 18 years and was also an Associate Researcher at Harvard Medical School. The Sober Grid team has worked closely with a leading addiction researcher and team of data scientists and machine learning experts at University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine to develop the precursor technology for a system that will predict those at highest risk for relapse and deliver timely interventions in an effort to prevent it. Through this system, Sober Grid is able to identify language cues that correlate with potential for relapse. Sober Grid is widely known as being a leader in the addiction space, and has managed to gather the largest user base in the mobile peer support recovery community. Their large user base ensures that Sober Grid is able to gather sufficient data to produce valid results. They are also being advised by Former Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld and renowned addiction expert Dr. Warren Bickel, amongst many others.

Sober Grid intends to pursue phase II NIH and NSF grant projects. In phase II they aim to deliver efficacious interventions to individuals who have been identified as being at heightened risk for relapse. The savings that this could create for society by saving lives and reducing the trillion dollar cost of addiction are massive, and public and private payers could see billions of dollars in savings.

For additional information about Sober Grid, please visit http://www.sobergrid.com, for info on University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine click here, or click here for the National Institute of Health or here for the National Science Foundation, and for info on Beau Mann please visit Beau Mann

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About Sober Grid

Sober Grid is the largest social network for people in recovery from drug and alcohol addiction, providing a free, peer support network to a community of over 107,000 members from over 100 different countries. Some join to get support, others to give it. Each download, post and connection creates an opportunity to stay sober while helping others do the same. Members have access to 24/7 peer support, the ability to check in and track their mood, complete daily quests to reinforce sober habits, connect with others who are sober in their area, and track overall progress. Sober Grid is available for free in the Apple and Android App Stores.

About Beau Mann

Beau Mann is an entrepreneur who has started and advised several digital companies. He is a member of the invitation-only Forbes Technology Council and has been featured in numerous TV, radio and print publications which include the New York Times, Inc. Magazine, Entrepreneur Magazine, just to name a few.

He most recently launched a very successful social network, Sober Grid, which has been adopted in 80 countries.

He currently sits on the board of InvestAcure, a NYC based micro finance app founded to provide a tool to find a cure for Alzheimer's. Mann is enrolled in a Micro Masters program in Artificial Intelligence at Columbia University. Mann also studied strategic management at Harvard University.Terillium, an Enterprise Resource Planning consulting company, earned Oracle's Cloud Excellence Implementation status and is hosting a contest on LinkedIn to win a $500 airline gift card. We've spent the past few years honing our cloud implementation experience, and the contest is our way of promoting what our cloud team has achieved.

Terillium, an Enterprise Resource Planning consulting company, is celebrating its acceptance into Oracle's Cloud Excellence Implementer (CEI) program and wants to send someone literally into the clouds through a contest.

The platinum-level member of Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN) is launching its "Head in the Clouds" contest on LinkedIn today. To enter, contestants must follow three steps. Visit the contest webpage to learn more.

The contest runs through March 9. One winner will be chosen to receive a $500 gift card to the airline of their choice.

"Our 'Head in the Clouds' contest is a great way to celebrate our newly minted CEI status from Oracle," said Shane Eisenhauer, vice president of Terillium's ERP cloud practice. "We've spent the past few years honing our cloud implementation experience, and the contest is our way of promoting what our cloud team has achieved."

The CEI program recognizes partners like Terillium that continuously deliver exemplary service with expertise. Partners must exhibit a successful track record and superior customer satisfaction with Oracle Cloud software implementations.

Terillium has been an Oracle partner since 2005. During the course of the partnership, Terillium has worked with hundreds of businesses to implement, upgrade and manage Oracle enterprise software applications.

About Terillium

Terillium is an award-winning Oracle Platinum Partner and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) consulting company specialized in Oracle ERP, including JD Edwards, ERP Cloud and NetSuite. The Terillium consulting team has unsurpassed ERP software knowledge and is straightforward in their project approach. Terillium has helped more than 500 businesses with: on-premise and ERP Cloud implementations, upgrades, support services, custom development, cloud services, software licensing and special projects.Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa (L, Front) addresses mourners of Morgan Tsvangirai, the late former Prime Minister of Zimbabwe and opposition Movement for Democratic Change leader, in Harare, Zimbabwe, on Feb. 18, 2017. Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa said on Sunday that the government will fulfill its financial and material promisess made to Morgan Tsvangirai. (Xinhua/Shaun Jusa)

HARARE, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa said on Sunday that the government will fulfill its financial and material promisess made to the late former prime minister and opposition Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

Addressing mourners at Tsvangirai's home in Harare where he had gone to pay his condolences, Mnangagwa said he would see to it that pledges he made to the late premier are fulfilled, the state-run New Ziana reported.

"I visited Tsvangirai last month and made some promises to him. I will not renege on those promises. My government will also settle his hospital bill as promised.

"When funeral processes are done, I will let the family know what I had promised him. I will fulfill all the pledges I made to him," said Mnangagwa.

The government was also paying for Tsvangirai's hospital and medication bills up to the time of his death.

In January, Mnangagwa visited Tsvangirai at his residence to check on him since he had been unwell for some time.

Mnangagwa said Tsvangirai's body would be flown to his rural home in Buhera for burial on Tuesday.

"We are all Zimbabweans. We might disagree on how to get where we need to be, but no political party wants the worst for the country," said Mnangagwa.

Tsvangirai died in South Africa on Wednesday after a long battle with cancer. He was 65. The Zimbabwe government has accorded him a state-assisted funeral.

A former trade unionist, Tsvangirai had been the face of Zimbabwean opposition politics since 2009. He became prime minister in an inclusive government led by former President Robert Mugabe in 2009 following disputed elections the year before.

[ Editor: Zhang Zhou ]E.M.M.A. International Consulting Group, Inc. We are extremely pleased to have a seasoned professional like Ed join our team, said Dr. Carmine Jabri, CEO of E.M.M.A. International.

E.M.M.A. International Consulting Group, Inc., a global leader in FDA Compliance consulting, welcomes Ed Potoczak as their Director of Sales  EQMS. Mr. Potoczak will lead the sales of QualiPro, a software solution exclusively offered by E.M.M.A. International.

We are extremely pleased to have a seasoned professional like Ed join our team, said Dr. Carmine Jabri, CEO of E.M.M.A. International. Ed brings 30 years of experience to our team, specializing in quality, engineering, software solutions, and sales. He is a perfect fit to spearhead QualiPro sales.

QualiPro, is an Enterprise Quality Management Software (EQMS), offered exclusively by E.M.M.A. International through partnership with Saphir Consult. QualiPro guarantees compliance with FDA regulatory requirements and ISO standards, and is used by organizations of all sizes, across multiple continents.

Mr. Potoczak holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Detroit Mercy, and a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering  Systems and Controls from the University of Michigan. Mr. Potoczak has presented at a multitude of national and international conferences on a variety of topics.

About E.M.M.A. International

E.M.M.A. International Consulting Group, Inc. is a global leader in management consulting services, with headquarters in Farmington Hills, MI, as well as offices in FL & PA. We focus on quality, regulatory, and compliance services for the Biotechnology, Pharmaceuticals, and Medical Device industries. E.M.M.A. International is your one stop shop for all your quality and compliance needs.iichiko BLU Bartender Competition winners

Renowned Shochu maker iichiko hosted eight of Hawaiis top bartenders for the 2018 iichiko BLU Bartender Competition on Jan. 31, at the popular Sky Waikiki. Andrew Woodley, of The Myna Bird Tiki Bar, took first place with his original creation, Gift of the Islands, showcasing the award-winning spirit.

iichiko hand-selected a panel of internationally and locally known experts to judge this years competition including the CEO of iichiko USA, Tomohisa Kadoyanagi, and award-winning bartender Jacques Bezuidenhout, voted Best Bartender in San Francisco and advisor for Liquor.com. Other experts in attendance included longtime Barfly columnist and Honolulu Star-Advertiser reporter Jason Genegabus; lead bartender at Yauatcha Skipper Bonano; and Jen Marshall, the New York Senior Portfolio Associate at Momentum Worldwide for William Grant & Sons.

iichiko BLU is a premium shochu spirit crafted and distilled from barley to ultimate create a rich yet delicate flavor. A favorite of local mixologists and foodies, iichiko BLU is exclusive to Hawaii, where restaurants and clubs alike incorporate the spirit into a diverse range of cocktails.

Andrew Woodley truly embraced the local flavors of Hawaii with his first prize cocktail, whose recipe includes pineapple gum, lemon juice, green chartreuse, shiso and mint leaves and iichiko BLU. iichiko awarded Woodley an all-expense-paid trip to visit the iichiko distillery in Oita Prefecture, Japan and a cash prize of $1,500. Second place winner William Hee of Stripsteak Waikiki, and third place recipient Tyler Johnson of SKY Waikiki, won cash prizes of $1,000 and $750, respectively.

I was fortunate to win a truly amazing competition hosted by iichiko BLU. I was competing against friends who demonstrated, with their technical skills, showmanship and knowledge, why Hawaii is such a destination when it comes to craft cocktails, and why Im so grateful and proud to be a part of this community, shared Woodley. I look forward to seeing the distillery, and its beautiful surroundings.

iichiko BLU is such a versatile spirit that lends itself to many flavors and recipes, and we were delighted to see how each bartender was able to utilize the shochu in new and exciting ways, said Tetsuro Miyazaki, iichiko USA North America Development Manager.

iichiko BLU was named the Chairmans Trophy Award winner in the shochu category at the 2017 Ultimate Spirits Challenge, one of the world's leading spirits competitions. It also garnered the Tried & True Award and scored 96 points, the highest of all the shochus, at the competition. iichiko BLU was also honored with the Best of Shochu award, scoring 95 points at the 2017 Los Angeles International Spirits Competition.Dr. Gregory Toback, Periodontist in New London, CT, Leads First Shoreline Periodontics Hygiene Study Club Event

Dr. Gregory Toback, and his associate, Dr. Marianne Urbanski, periodontists in New London, CT and Westerly, RI, launch Shoreline Periodontics Hygiene Study Club for dental hygienists. The first event, hosted by Dr. Toback, focused on dental implants and their associated benefits, how to avoid implant complications, and how to effectively treat ailing implants. The year-long journey into periodontics will cover an 18-credit series of topics ranging from implant complications to modern technology and periodontal disease from a variety of speakers, including Dr. Samuel Low, Dr. Purnima Kumar, and Dr. Urbanski.

Each event of the series begins with an exclusive lecture on periodontal topics designed for dental hygienists. The events will cover a different topic in periodontics, including dental implants, periodontal disease, modern dental technology, and more. The series will also include an opportunity to watch and discuss case videos and an exclusive hygiene technology night on September 13, 2018. The limited-seating and intimate setting will encourage attendee participation in a dynamic learning environment and provide an opportunity for attendees to interact with each other and the speakers.

The first lecture highlighted dental implants, including how to avoid implant complications, and effectively treating ailing implants. Dr. Toback is a leading periodontist in New London, CT, Westerly, RI and throughout the United States as well as a clinical professor, author, and lecturer. Dr. Samuel Low, a renowned dental speaker and consultant, will host a full-day lecture titled The 'New' Periodontal Disease: Inflammatory and Risky on March 28, 2018. Dr. Kumar, a leader in periodontology and gifted lecturer, will host on May 17, 2018 and speak about The Biggest Loser: Obesity and Periodontal Health. Dr. Urbanski, a leading periodontist in New London, CT, will present on November 12, 2018 on the latest trends in laser therapy.

Shoreline Periodontics is pleased to launch their first periodontal and dental implants study club for dental hygienists. Dental professionals interested in registering for future events can visit http://www.shorelineperio.com. Patients interested in scheduling an appointment with either periodontist in New London, CT or Westerly, RI, can call 860-443-2428 for the New London, CT location, or 401-596-0000 for the Westerly, RI office.

About the Practice

Shoreline Periodontics is a periodontal practice offering personalized dental care for patients since 1998 and is located in New London, CT and Westerly, RI. Leading board-certified periodontist, Dr. Gregory A. Toback, received his B.A. from St. Johns University and his Doctorate of Dental Medicine from the University of Connecticut. He also received advanced training in periodontics and dental implants at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio. Dr. Toback focuses on minimally invasive surgeries, offering LANAPand belongs to a small group of dental professionals currently providing the Chao Pinhole Surgical Technique for treatment of gum recession. Dr. Marianne Urbanski has been voted one of Connecticuts top dentists for more than seven years by Connecticut Magazine. Dr. Urbanski graduated cum laude from the College of Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts where she earned a Bachelors degree in Biology. She also received her Doctor of Dental Medicine degree and her Masters of Dental Science degree from the University of Connecticut Dental School. Dr. Urbanski prides herself on offering caring, professional treatment to each patient. To learn more about Shoreline Periodontics and their dental services visit their website at http://www.shorelineperio.com or call 860-443-2428 for the New London, CT location, or 401-596-0000 for the Westerly, RI office.New Penn was a perfect fit for Ferrari-Lund because they share our commitment to skilled, personal, informed service and allow us to provide homebuyers with the very best products for their individual needs.

New Penn Financial (New Penn) today announced its expansion into the Nevada market with the launch of mortgage lender Synergy Home Mortgage. Based in Reno and licensed to operate throughout the state of Nevada, the new lender is focused on partnering with area Realtors to provide a complete line of residential mortgage products for their clients in northern Nevada.

Synergy Home Mortgage is a joint venture between national mortgage lender New Penn and leading area real estate firms Dickson Realty and Ferrari-Lund Real Estate. New Penn, based in Philadelphia with more than 160 offices nationwide, is one of the fastest-growing lenders in the United States and has been regularly recognized by business and industry organizations, including the Inc 5000, Scotsman Guide, and Mortgage Executive Magazine. Synergy Home Mortgage operates under the companys Shelter Mortgage division.

Our loan officers are based right here in Reno, and they are readily available for face-to-face meetings with clients and to answer questions, address issues, and move buyers smoothly through the mortgage process, said Dereck Bowlen, Branch Manager of Synergy Home Mortgage. Through our partnership with New Penn, were able to provide competitive pricing and low fees, which means more purchasing power for Realtors and their clients.

Bowlen and the five additional loan officers in the Reno office have more than 100 combined years of lending and mortgage industry experience. The team is also available to help agents and buyers understand the impact of the new federal tax plan on home ownership, including considerations related to mortgage interest deductions, property taxes, home equity debt, capital gains, and moving expenses.

New Penn was a perfect fit for Ferrari-Lund because they share our commitment to skilled, personal, informed service and allow us to provide homebuyers with the very best products for their individual needs, said Vince Rossi, Broker/Owner of Ferrari-Lund Real Estate. Synergy Home Mortgage is an ideal partner for real estate offices and builders who want to offer their homebuyers superior service and a simple, straightforward loan process, from pre-qualification through closing.

Synergy Home Mortgage combines our experience and local knowledge of the Reno and Washoe County markets with New Penns superior loan products, lending expertise, and singular focus on finding the right loan for the right buyer, said Nancy Fennell, President of Dickson Realty. Our partnership allows us to provide a seamless, one-stop experience for every homebuyer.

New Penn Financial and Shelter Mortgage are excited to grow the JV space and committed to expanding across the US by partnering with real estate offices who want to provide a full-service offering to their local client base, said Corey Caster, CEO of Shelter Mortgage. Were excited for this partnership with Dickson Realty and Ferrari-Lund, who have the number one and number two market share in Washoe County.

For more information or to learn more about Synergy Home Mortgage, please contact Dereck Bowlen at info@synerghm.com or 775-800-7936, or visit synergyhm.com.

About New Penn Financial

New Penn Financial has become a leading nationwide lender by bringing expertise, extremely competitive rates on a broad portfolio of mortgage products, and exceptional customer service under one roof. Founded in 2008 and licensed in 48 states, the company and its reputation have grown rapidly under the guidance of a management team with years of experience in the mortgage industry. New Penn is headquartered in Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania and operates offices nationwide. New Penn is a Shellpoint Partners company. More information is available at newpennfinancial.com.

About Shelter Mortgage Company

Shelter Mortgage is a leading retail residential mortgage originator predominantly focused on conforming purchase money loans generated through relationships with realtors, builders, and relocation companies. Founded in 1984 as a subsidiary of a community bank, Shelter has loan officers across the country with over 25 joint venture and partner relationships in over 30 States. Shelter has built a strong platform via its differentiated, partnership-based origination model, focus on purchase money originations and compliance-oriented culture.

About Dickson Realty

Dickson Realty was founded in 1973 under the guiding premise that integrity, hard work, and creativity would yield success. Today, those principles have made Dickson Realty the largest real estate company in northern Nevada. Dickson Realty has offices in Caughlin Ranch, Downtown Reno, Sparks, Somersett, Damonte Ranch, and Montreux in Reno/Sparks, Nev., and in Truckee, Donner Lake, Portola, and Nakoma, Calif. For more information, visit dicksonrealty.com.

About Ferrari-Lund Real Estate

Founded in 1988, Ferrari-Lund has earned a reputation as one of the premier real estate firms in the greater Reno, Nevada area. Ferrari-Lund is an independently owned brokerage with more than 185 sales associates. Since 2003, Ferrari-Lund has been the second-highest-volume real estate company in the Reno/Sparks region. For more information, visit ferrari-lund.com.The Man Shop, a Mens fragrance brand inspiring confidence with fresh, modern, and affordable mens cologne & home scents, has expanded into Beard Care with their new line of Beard Balms and Oils.

Launched last week at the Liberty Fairs Show in Las Vegas, the beard care line is dedicated to keeping bearded dudes well-groomed and smelling great. Created with a proprietary blend of ingredients that help keep the beard soft and aid in moisturizing the skin, these beard products are intended for use with all beard lengths from heavy stubble to a full beard.

We want to help guys maintain their beards by looking great as well as smelling great. To achieve this goal, we created our Beard care line with high-performance skincare ingredients like Marula, Argan, Avocado, and Jojoba oil. These ancient plant-based oils have been used for centuries to improve the moisture and softness of skin. It's all about the skin- promoting better skin leads to better beards founder Chad Beightol said in introducing the line in Las Vegas.

With a citrus and evergreen-scented Mane Squeeze balm and oil and an unscented Nada Scent version, these beard care products complement The Man's Shop line-up of Mens Cologne and Home scents. The beard care line is sold at TheMan.Shop and in select Mens stores worldwide.

About The Man Shop:

The Man Shop is a vertically-integrated Men's fragrance brand. Founded in New York in 2017 with a best-selling travel-friendly solid cologne called Its Lit, the Man Shop inspires confidence through their line of travel and home fragrances with fresh, optimistic scents.Settlers Life Insurance Company We are proud to have maintained this Excellent rating from A.M. Best for eleven years in a row.

Settlers Life Insurance Company is pleased to announce that the A.M. Best Company has re-affirmed its A- (Excellent) financial strength rating with a stable outlook effective February 16, 2018.

Settlers Life has maintained an A- (Excellent) rating from A.M. Best since 2007. Settlers Life believes that this excellent ranking reflects the companys focus on reliably serving and honoring its long term financial commitments to its policyholders, and being a good steward of the trust placed in the Company. We are proud to have maintained this Excellent rating from A.M. Best for eleven years in a row, Amy Smith, Director of Marketing stated. It validates our efforts in making Settlers Life the best company it can be, and strengthens our title of Americas Final Expense Company. It allows current and potential policyholders, as well as our agent partners, to know they are placing their business with a reputable and dependable company.

Settlers Life Insurance Company specializes in simplified issue, final expense, whole life insurance coverage for insureds aged fifteen-days to eighty-five years. A member of the NGL Insurance Group since 1999, Settlers Lifes primary administrative office is located in Bristol, Virginia. Since 2007, Settlers Life has maintained an A.M. Best financial strength rating of "A minus" (Excellent), the fourth highest of 16 such ratings. A.M. Best states that an "A minus" rating "is assigned to companies which have, in our opinion, an excellent ability to meet their ongoing insurance obligations." A.M. Best is the oldest and most widely recognized rating agency dedicated to the insurance industry.Mynosys Cellular Devices is pleased to announce that it has received a Medical Device Import Certificate from the South Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety for its flagship automated capsulotomy product, Zepto. This import authority was granted in December 2017 and allows Mynosys to begin selling the Zepto Capsulotomy System in this dynamic Asian market, says John Hendrick, CEO and President of Mynosys. The reception Zepto has received from surgeons at the recent Korean Ophthalmological Society meeting was tremendous. Over 200 physicians visited the exhibit booth to learn about Zepto and were impressed with both its simplicity and versatility. Mr. Hendrick also added that Many of the teaching institutions also immediately recognized the impact Zepto can have on the training of cataract surgeons in South Korea.

Zepto is distributed in South Korea by HKT Co. Ltd. Hui Hwang, CEO of HKT remarked, We experienced an extraordinarily high level of surgeon interest in Zepto when it was showcased at the Korean Ophthalmological Society meeting. Professor Joo Choun-Ki of The Catholic University of Korea had in fact expressed an early interest in Zepto technology and had traveled to the United States to learn about Zepto from John and his team, said Hwang. Professor Joo recently performed the first cases of Zepto cataract surgery in South Korea and achieved excellent results. Hwang further explained, Zepto is very attractive to surgeons given its ability to consistently deliver high quality, strong capsulotomies in routine, challenging, and premium cases. In addition, with the added patient benefit of having a personalized cataract surgery anchored on the visual axis using Zepto-guided visual axis centration, we are anticipating strong acceptance of this innovative product in the South Korean market.

Zepto is CE Marked and FDA cleared. It is available through distributors in selected countries internationally and in the United States.

Contact; Dr. Pat Lydon

PLydon(at)Mynosys(dot)com

Research was supported by the National Eye Institute / National Institutes of Health under award no. R44EY021023. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the views of the NIH.These additions show our stability in moving forward with the vision we conceptualized four years ago," Rexroad said.

Rexroad Marquis Corporation (RMC) holds the intellectual property and brand licensing rights to Shango Premium Cannabis, a leading cannabis cultivator, wholesaler and retailer based in Portland, Oregon, which expanded into the Las Vegas market two years ago.

"RMC is actively pursuing expansion of the Shango brand into these three emerging markets," Rexraod said. "We will be announcing geographical location additions soon, as well as the expansion of our product base."

RMC has licensed the Shango brand to production, processing and sales operations in Oregon, Washington and Nevada. The Nevada licensee has continued to enhance its branded cultivation facilities, wholesale and retail sales. Recreational marijuana sales in Nevada began last July 1, 2017.

"These additions show our stability in moving forward with the vision we conceptualized four years ago," Rexroad said. "The knowledge we gained in working into the cannabis market in two states will certainly help us going forward. This will allow us to more aggressively and effectively position RMC and Shango for success as new cannabis markets begin to open," Rexroad said. "They will also help us secure the investment capital necessary to grow Shango into a nationwide brand."

Rexroad will spearhead RMC's efforts to secure cannabis cultivation, processing, wholesale and retail licenses, license company-owned production facilities and stores, and sub-license retail operations to qualified, licensed organizations that have sought to align themselves with the Shango brand.

For more information about RMC, please visit http://www.rexroadmarquis.com or www/goshango.com.

About Shango

Shango is a premium cannabis brand licensed to a full range of award-winning cannabis products, including flower, extracts and cannabis-infused edibles, produced by select cultivators and processors in Oregon, Nevada and Washington. The Shango brand also is licensed to six full-service recreational and medical cannabis dispensaries in Oregon and Nevada. A recognized leader in the cannabis marketplace and industry, Shango sets the highest standards for product quality and consistency, and business conduct. Shango is committed to cannabis education and is a fierce advocate of the safe and responsible use of cannabis products.Dunn&Co., a leading advertising agency and production company, has won 39 total ADDY awards at the AAF Tampa Bay (American Advertising Federation of Tampa Bay) 2018 ADDY Awards, held on February 15 in Tampa. This marks the third straight year that Dunn&Co. has led the award count.

Of the 39 awards, 19 were either Gold or Best of Show in their respective categories. The awards haul included:



Five Best of Bay awards

Best of TV category for Wake the Bull Inside commercial for University of South Florida

Best of Radio category for Earl of Sandwich campaign

Best of Packaging category for Harleston Green whiskey package

Best of Cross Platform Campaign category for Reclaim His Name campaign for Earl of Sandwich

Best of Outdoor category for Tampa Bay Lightning

Overall Best of Show award for Reclaim His Name campaign for Earl of Sandwich

The award-winning work was created for a variety of media, including TV broadcast, radio broadcast, packaging, digital/web, outdoor, video and illustration. The ADDYs recognized the agencys work on behalf of ten different clients: Earl of Sandwich, Tampa Bay Lightning, Tijuana Flats, University of South Florida, Harleston Green whiskey, Old Bastard Brewery, Savas Spirits, PDQ, Checkers and Big 5.

Our team continues to rise to the challenge of creating interesting work, said Dunn&Co. President and Chief Creative Officer Troy Dunn. Were in this business to be creative for our clients  to help them win  and good advertising is an important qualifier for brands to stand out and be admired. Winning in so many different media for ten different clients is a nice reflection of our teams ability to keep the caliber of creative solid.

The AAF ADDY Awards is the nations largest advertising competition, with more than 60,000 entries annually. The ADDY Awards is the only creative awards program administered by the advertising industry for the industry. The AAF Tampa Bay serves advertising professionals from the Tampa Bay community, including Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, Citrus and Hernando Counties.

Dunn&Co.s winning pieces will move on to compete at the district level competition for a chance to be forwarded to the national stage of the American Advertising Federation Awards in Chicago, Ill.

About Dunn&Co.

Dunn&Co. is an advertising and marketing communications firm housed in a century-old former cigar factory near Tampas historic Ybor City. Dunn&Co. provides award-winning creative solutions for clients worldwide, including GE Healthcare, Tampa Bay Lightning, Tijuana Flats, Baxter Healthcare, Monin, Checkers, Earl of Sandwich, Grow Financial, Edgewater Spirits, Savas Spirits, Sabal Trust, Old Bastard Brewery, Ventyv, and The Untied Way.

About AAF  Tampa Bay

The American Advertising Federation  Tampa Bay exists to support its members, the community and the advertising industry. Its mission is to promote fellowship, education and career enhancement among members of the advertising community; foster and recognize excellence in advertising; champion public service causes; build an understanding of the role and benefits of advertising at all levels; and encourage advertising self-regulation and continuous improvement to raise industry benchmarks.3dcart is helping small businesses grow their presence online with a Get Your Business Online workshop, which will feature a lesson about creating a positive online experience for real-world customers. The workshop will be hosted on Feb. 21 at 6691 Nob Hill Rd. Tamarac, FL 33321 from 12:30 PM to 2:00 PM.

Get Your Business Online with Google brings community members, business owners, and civic leaders together to help small businesses succeed on the web.

"Were glad to participate in this initiative from Google in partnership with the Small Business Administration, Facebook, Square, and Constant Contact to teach small businesses how to create a seamless shopping experience for their customers," says 3dcart CEO and founder Gonzalo Gil. "This aligns perfectly with our long-term goal of helping small eCommerce merchants to find and retain customers to grow their business."

4 out of 5 consumers use search engines to find local information nearby, yet only 37% of businesses have claimed their listing on a search engine, says Soo Young, Manager of Google's Get Your Business Online program. Small businesses are the engine of local economies and when they flourish, their communities do as well.

Get Your Business Online is a program that empowers communities to support their local businesses and encourage them to get on the map. Local businesses keep our communities strong; when we help them succeed on the web, they make our communities even stronger. The Open for Business: Create a Positive Online Experience for Real World Customers workshop is a Google presentation hosted by 3dcart. Visit http://www.gybo.com to learn more about the program and get involved.

Please RSVP here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdDep4ZBDJ_xsVSnyeo6jiLf8WIHzpMCxTNUgkaWsgUc3gvPA/viewform

About 3dcart

3dcart (http://www.3dcart.com), located in Tamarac, Florida, is the most SEO-friendly eCommerce platform for retailers and internet marketers to grow their online stores' traffic and sales. 3dcart includes 24x7 Technical Support, 100+ Mobile-Ready Themes, order management software, built-in blog, email marketing tools and more. Since 1997, the company has been a leader in the eCommerce market, building online stores for businesses of all sizes. Today, 3dcart is Visa PCI Certified and a Google Partner.

About Get Your Business Online

Get Your Business Online is a program designed to empower communities to support their local businesses by helping them get on Google Search and Maps for free. Businesses that are online grow 40% faster than those that arent. Lets help every local business get their information online. Explore our site to learn how you can join in, support businesses in your community, and put your city on the map: gybo.comGerman Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel has stated Berlin is ready to invest in the restoration of the east of Ukraine.

"Germany is ready to invest in the restoration of Donbas," Gabriel said at a breakfast with the representatives of business circles of Russia and Germany.

He also supported the idea of deploying the UN peacekeeping mission in Donbas.

"The idea of the UN peacekeeping mission has been on the agenda for six months. We need to try to speed it up. But we cannot solve this issue independently, it needs to be discussed within the framework of the UN Security Council," the minister added.

According to Gabriel, "this is one of the few realistic opportunities to achieve results quickly enough."

At the same time, the German foreign minister called for the phased lifting of sanctions from Russia in case of heavy weapons withdrawal in Donbas.

"If we manage to withdraw heavy weapons from the east of Ukraine, then it will be necessary to lift the sanctions step by step," Gabriel said.We see the positivity and interest from the crypto community as an indication of increasing interest in decentralized systems for communication and creativity.

RightMesh AG announced today that Phase 2 of its Token Generating Event was successfully filled within 8 minutes and 4 seconds, proving substantial interest in the companys mesh networking platform and protocol. This follows the successful raising of $18,000,000 USD in commitments in less than one week in early January. Following this very successful pre-allocation period, RightMesh will be conducting a third and final phase of the Token Generating Event, the public crowd contribution period. A total of $12,000,000 USD will be raised between phases two and three, resulting in a combined raise of $30,000,000.

The crowd contribution period of the TGE provides an opportunity for potential contributors to exchange funds for the reward of RMESH tokens. The tokens will be used to buy, sell, and share data and device resources (processing power, sensor data, storage) between users within the RightMesh ecosystem. For this reason, the crowd contribution period is an important step to achieve widespread distribution of tokens and participants.

RightMesh CEO, John Lyotier said, We're exceedingly thrilled to announce the success of the public pre-allocation round. We were able to work hand-in-hand with Bitcoin Suisseone of the pre-eminent advisory firms for crypto-asset eventsand are immensely appreciative of their support. We see the positivity and interest from the crypto community as an indication of increasing interest in decentralized systems for communication and creativity. The only downside to the day was that several hundred participants were unable to contribute due to the overwhelming demand.

Building a mesh networking protocol and platform from the ground up requires the combined efforts of the smartest minds in mesh networking and routing protocols. Funds raised from the TGE will be used for development costs and attracting world-class talent with the unique skills to execute the vision. RightMesh is a blockchain-based software library that enables off-grid peer-to-peer connectivity between smartphones and IoT devices. This is done without relying on fixed internet, data plans, or other hardware devices. In addition to growing the team, scaling the ecosystem and community efficiently will be the primary focus of the company upon completion. The RightMesh Product Roadmap, created by Chief Product Officer, Saju Abraham, outlines the companys growth trajectory.

The precise dates for Phase 3 of the public allocation periodthe last opportunity for crowd contributionswill be announced shortly. Participants are encouraged to register now for the RightMesh TGE whitelist at: http://www.RightMesh.io

To schedule an interview, please contact Nikki Brown at Melrose PR; nikki(at)melrosepr(dot)com or call (310) 260-7901.

About RightMesh

RightMesh AG (a Swiss Company in incorporation), incubated by multi-award winning parent company Left, who itself is a certified B-Corporation located in Canada, is on a mission to bring connectivity to the next billion users by multiplying the combined power of blockchain, mesh networking, and its own RMESH tokens. RightMesh wireless networks are self-forming, self-healing, and self-regulating, using various technologies in existing smartphones and IoT devices rather than relying on traditional infrastructure and Internet Service Providers. RightMeshs networking technology is already used in a content-sharing and local messaging app called YO! which has received over 1 million installs and is actively used in emerging markets. Further applications are being developed via the RightMesh SDK, a free platform and protocol for use by others who want to build or retrofit additional mesh applications.

This announcement does not constitute a prospectus of any sort; it is not a solicitation for investment and does not in any way pertain to an offering of securities in either Canada or the United States, and Canadian and United States residents are expressly excluded from contributing in exchange for any RightMesh Tokens in the public contribution period. This release constitutes a description of the RightMesh platform and the functionality of the RightMesh tokens; it is for informational purposes only and may change as the RightMesh technology develops over time.With the Foertsch team leadership, we are confident the best years for the M.I. Hummel Brand are still ahead!

To give their collectors a louder voice in the digital age of on-line consumerism and social media, the American Hummel collector will soon have a voice at the factory. Hummel Manufaktur GmbH of Kulmbach, Germany, is expanding sales and customer support at the historic Hummel factory home in Rodental, Bavaria.

Hummel Manufaktur GmbH announced the acquisition of the exclusive North American sales activities and Hummel Club management formerly serviced by Newboden LLC. With this purchase, We are dedicated to assure long life for Original Hummel figurines, comments Mr. Foertsch, Managing Director of Hummel Manufaktur.

All existing business relationships with customers, in particular Hummel Club Members, will continue and customers will be able to access the full product range of Hummel figurines as usual.

For a transitional period until the end of April 2018, existing and new orders will be processed and operated in cooperation between Newboden and Hummel Manufaktur. As of May 2018, all sales and distribution activities for North America will be carried out in North America by Hummel Manufaktur.

The takeover of Newboden's business activities by Hummel Manufaktur will ensure that Hummel customers in North America will continue to have access to the newest and highest quality hand made products of Hummel Manufaktur in the future.

Mr. Foertsch, Managing Director of Hummel Manufaktur comments: We are very delighted to have reached an agreement with Newboden and their Managing Partners Ken LeFevre and Charles Harley for the benefit of all Hummel customers in North America. It is our mutual goal and interest to lead Hummel back to its old strength. I am convinced that we are well on our way to do that!

Mr LeFevre, Managing Director of Newboden adds, We are convinced that with the transfer of sales activities to Hummel Manufaktur the Hummel brand will return to its high standing. We believe that in Bernd Foertsch and his team we have found a partner who has the same philosophy as us. He understands the Hummel world and the needs of its large customer and fan base in North America. This was very important to us personally. With the Foertsch team leadership, we are confident the best years for the M.I. Hummel Brand are still ahead!

About Hummel Manufaktur GmbH

Hummel Manufaktur GmbH, Kulmbach, has acquired assets and inventory for the production of so-called Hummel figurines from the insolvent Hummel Manufaktur GmbH, Coburg.

Contact

Email: support(at)hummelgifts(dot)com

Phone: (609) 400-1647

Address:

3 Third Street

Suite 210

Bordentown, NJ 08505Hayden Outdoors, LLC Over 250 properties were sold by our team of over sixty brokers and agents. That's a record for our team.

Hayden Outdoors, a regional real estate brokerage specializing in rural land sales and marketing, cleared a huge milestone in 2017, selling over $250 million in land, ranches and rural properties. Excellent professional land brokers, innovative marketing, team growth and economic markets appear to be the top factors spurring this success.

2017 has been a momentous year for us that finished strong, and it wasnt just from one or two large sales; Over 250 properties were sold by our team of over sixty brokers and agents, says Dax Hayden, the firms managing partner. Thats a record for our firm and a monstrous amount of transactions by our team, said Hayden. But with such growth comes the need for a strong support staff, and Hayden has built a lineup full of marketing professionals.

Old-school land brokers place an ad in a real estate magazine, pound a sign in the ground and add the listing to a few websites. We do more marketing for our clients selling their ranches, resulting in higher numbers of sales than the average land brokerage, says Dan Brunk, Hayden Outdoors Marketing Director.

Since the recent boom in residential real estate, Hayden Outdoors recreational lands have followed suit. New properties for sale have also grown 17% at the firm, with just over 375 new ranch, farm, and rural property listings hitting the market with Hayden Outdoors just in the last year.

Hunting properties, waterfront, rural estates, and cabins with land have all contributed to this record-setting year. With cattle prices on the rise, legacy ranches and cattle operations are also trading hands. In contrast, row crop and farm ground have been slower reflective of commodity prices. Hayden Outdoors auction division is poised to sell such rural lands.

As row crop and commodity markets return to normal, well see a shift in land sales to the farm market across the Great Plains and Midwest. Were already seeing a strong start to the selling cycle in 2018 with many farms starting to list some of their ground for sale, said Hayden. Now might be the right time for farmers to sell, as they will be ahead of the swing, giving motivated buyers first dibs on their land before the market is saturated.

ABOUT: Hayden Outdoors, LLC is a 40+ year old family-owned and operated real estate brokerage based in Windsor, Colorado. With over 65 licensed brokers and staff, Hayden Outdoors is recognized as one of the largest land brokerages in the central United States and Best Brokerages every year since 2011 by The Land Report Magazine.Invisible Sentinel Inc., a Philadelphia-based global molecular solutions company announced today that its first-in-class Legionella species assay has been verified and adopted by Q Laboratories, Inc., a Centers for Disease Control (CDC) ELITE Certified Laboratory.

CDC ELITE, which stands for Environmental Legionella Isolation Techniques Evaluation, is an important CDC designation reserved for laboratories that demonstrate proficiency in isolating, growing, and identifying Legionella from environmental samples using traditional culture-based microbiology methods. Established in 1966, Q Laboratories is based in Cincinnati, Ohio, and provides analytical chemistry, microbiology and research and development laboratory services. Q Laboratories has multiple accreditations including pharmaceutical testing FDA registration, cGMP/GLP, CDC ELITE and ISO/IEC 17025, and is an industry leading laboratory for the testing of food, food ingredients, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, environmental samples, and water quality.

Legionella causes acute respiratory disease that can lead to hospitalization and death. The bacteria typically reside in water cooling towers, swimming pools, hot tubs and ventilation systems, where it can become aerosolized and infectious to humans. Schools, hospitals, hotels, and long-term care facilities undergo regular monitoring to ensure that they are free of Legionella. However, traditional screening methods can take up to two weeks to deliver results.

Veriflow Legionella is a rapid, molecular assay for the detection of Legionella species from environmental and water samples. The assay provides results in less than 4 hours, improving turn-around-time by more than 7 days compared to the current CDC culture-based method. Veriflows innovative DNA Signature Capturing technology is also able to distinguish between viable and non-viable organisms, thus providing same-shift actionable results to end users that can empower near-immediate remediation of contamination.

We spent several years developing this assay to ensure it would meet the high standards set by ELITE CDC certified testing laboratories and we expect it to be a game-changer for the water testing market, said Dr. Nicholas Siciliano, Invisible Sentinels CEO.

The increasing incidence of Legionella outbreaks, and new regulations calling for increased routine monitoring, have driven the need for faster and more accurate detection tools. As current demand for rapid and accurate detection of Legionella in water sources increases, the technology offered by Invisible Sentinels Legionella assay holds great promise in the water testing market as a new and unique tool allowing detection of only live Legionella cells., said Joe Benzinger, Q Laboratories Microbiology Research & Development Project Leader.

Were excited to partner with Q Laboratories, a market leader in assay validation and microbiology testing services, to formally launch our groundbreaking Legionella assay to the entire industry, Siciliano added.

Veriflow Legionella and other assays are available directly from Invisible Sentinel. Invisible Sentinel has also developed a suite of detection tools for pathogen and spoilage organisms in food, wine, beer, and juice. For ordering information or quotations, please call the Invisible Sentinel Legionella team at 267-969-6002.

About Invisible Sentinel

Invisible Sentinel, Inc., a global molecular solutions company based in Philadelphia, PA, is dedicated to providing first-in-class microbial detection tools. The companys platform technologies, Veriflow & Veripro are patent protected, molecular based technologies that integrate molecular diagnostics, antibody and probe design, and immunoassays. Veriflow technology is currently applied across multiple industries including food safety and beverage quality. The company is exploring solutions in other industries, such as healthcare, veterinary services, biodefense, and environmental testing. Each solution requires specific design elements, but retains the inherent advantages of our technology: simplicity, accessibility, and affordability.

For more information, visit http://invisiblesentinel.com/.Lyons Commercial Data, a leading provider of U.S. financial institution data and risk management solutions, has announced that they will be exhibiting at the 2018 ABA National Conference for Community Bankers. The conference takes place this month, from the 25th to the 28th, at Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort in Honolulu, Hawaii.

For nearly three decades, Lyons Commercial data has been providing quality U.S. financial institution data, including all current ABA routing numbers and other information critical to transaction processing and regulatory compliance. Lyons Commercial Data also offers proven solutions to financial institutions, payment processors, and other businesses, to assist them in optimizing their ACH processes, managing risk, and fraud mitigation.

The ABA National Conference for Community Bankers is the premier event for community bankers in the nation, drawing over 450 community bank CEOs and decision-makers and more than 1,200 total attendees each year. Here you can meet your company's objectives for 2018 and beyond. Bankers flock to this event with their needs for solutions, products and services. In this exhibit hall they can shop for them all in one place.

"We are very excited to continue to support the community banking industry and exhibit at the ABA National Conference for Community Bankers," said Trevor Ward, General Manager at Lyons Commercial Data. "Our innovative risk and compliance solutions provide community bankers with the tools they need to manage these critical components of their business operations. As an industry leader with nearly three decades of experience, we are committed to helping community bankers know their customers and verify routing and account information to ensure compliance with Federal, state, ACH, and other industry association rules as applicable."

To learn more about Lyons Commercial Data's verification services, visit the Lyons Commercial Data team at booth #106 at the 2018 ABA National Conference for Community Bankers.

About Lyons Commercial Data

Lyons Commercial Data is a leading provider of quality U.S. financial institution data, including all current ABA routing numbers and other information critical to transaction processing. Lyons Commercial Data also offers proven solutions to financial institutions, payment processors, and other businesses, to assist them in optimizing their ACH processes, managing risk, and fraud mitigation. For more information, please visit http://www.lyonslive.com; follow Lyons Commercial Data on Twitter @LyonsData or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/lyonscommercialdata; or call 800-684-0388.

About Autoscribe Corporation

Autoscribe Corporation is a leading financial services company and payment processor. With more than two decades of innovation and leadership in the financial technology industry, Autoscribe offers a full suite of tools through PaymentVision and Lyons Commercial Data to help their customers grow their business, simplify payment processing, mitigate risk, and ensure compliance. Recently named to the Inc. 5000 as one of the fastest growing private companies in the nation, Autoscribe has thousands of customers and processes more than $2 billion in transactions annually. For more information, please visit http://www.autoscribe.com; follow Autoscribe on Twitter @AutoscribeCorp or on LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/company/autoscribe; or call 800-345-7243.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release includes certain "forward-looking statements" including, without limitation, statements regarding future events and Autoscribe Corporation's business, strategy and results that are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those contemplated by the forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, plans, objectives, expectations and intentions and other statements contained in this press release that are not historical facts. These statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and are sometimes identified by words such as "will", "may", "could", "should," "would", "project", "believe", "anticipate", "expect", "plan," "estimate", "forecast", "potential", "intend", "continue", "target", "opportunities" and variations of these words or comparable words. As a result of the ultimate outcome of such risks and uncertainties, Autoscribe Corporation's actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements. These statements are based on Autoscribe Corporation's current beliefs or expectations, and there are a number of important factors that could cause the actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, risks related to the successful offering of the products and services of Autoscribe Corporation; and other risks that may impact Autoscribe Corporation's business. Autoscribe Corporation expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements contained herein as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

Due to rounding, numbers presented throughout this and other documents may not add up precisely to the totals provided and percentages may not precisely reflect the absolute figures.

Note to Editors: Autoscribe and PaymentVision are registered trademarks of Autoscribe Corporation. All other trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners.Rigaku BioSAXS-2000 SAXS Kratky camera system with ASC96

Rigaku Corporation is pleased to announce its attendance at the 62nd Annual Biophysical Society Meeting (BPS18) taking place February 17- 21 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, CA. The meeting provides attendees with opportunities to share their latest unpublished findings and learn the newest emerging techniques and applications.

Information about both small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and single crystal X-ray diffraction instrumentation products from Rigaku is being presented in Booth #611.

The Rigaku BioSAXS-2000 SAXS system is an updated version of its popular 2D Kratky system for small angle X-ray scattering of biological samples and designed specifically to meet the needs of the structural biologist.

Single crystal X-ray diffraction instrumentation from Rigaku Oxford Diffraction (ROD) is used to determine three-dimensional atomic structures of small molecules. Rigaku offers complete expertise and the latest technology to meet the most vigorous small molecule crystallographic requirements.

The Biophysical Society Annual Meeting provides attendees with opportunities to share their latest unpublished findings and learn the newest emerging techniques and applications. Rigaku is pleased to contribute to the Meetings longstanding tradition of bringing together leading scientists from the all over the world who work at the interface of the life, physical, and computational sciences.

About Rigaku

Since its inception in Japan in 1951, Rigaku has been at the forefront of analytical and industrial instrumentation technology. Rigaku and its subsidiaries form a global group focused on general-purpose analytical instrumentation and the life sciences. With hundreds of major innovations to their credit, Rigaku companies are world leaders in X-ray spectrometry, diffraction, and optics, as well as small molecule and protein crystallography and semiconductor metrology. Today, Rigaku employs over 1,400 people in the manufacturing and support of its analytical equipment, which is used in more than 90 countries around the world supporting research, development, and quality assurance activities. Throughout the world, Rigaku continuously promotes partnerships, dialog, and innovation within the global scientific and industrial communities.

For further information, contact:

Michael Nelson

Rigaku Global Marketing Group

tel: +1. 512-225-1796

michael.nelson(at)rigaku(dot)comWelcome Guest! You Are Here:Welcome Guest! You Are Here:

Home Regional News EastThe owner of the Ukrlandfarming agricultural holding, Oleh Bakhmatiuk, hopes for a successful completion of negotiations on debt restructuring, plans to attract an investor to the company after their completion, he has said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.

"I am confident that as soon as I achieve restructuring, I will attract investors. If I were not sure in this, I would not be doing this most of my time," the businessman said.

He noted that the negotiations on restructuring did not stop, but did not specify details, referring to legal restrictions.

"There are more constructive proposals in these negotiations than in the territory of Ukraine," Bakhmatiuk, who had been unsuccessfully trying to negotiate with the National Bank of Ukraine and the Individuals' Deposit Guarantee Fund on restructuring the debts of his VAB Bank and Bank Financial Initiative for several years, said.

"To attract an investor to Ukrlandfarming, this issue should be 60%, 70% (it is not important) resolved with the National Bank and the fund," he said.

The owner of Ukrlandfarming also did not comment on the current level of quotations of the company's eurobonds and its egg producing sub-holding Avangard.Apparently, the group which became famous recently, got invitation from the German authorities to participate in the annual Beer Festival.

The associations President, Moses Onyah also known as Drybone reportedly said in an interview with Kofi TV that, We are very elated for the recognition by the Germany government even though we have been condemned by Ghanaians.

Oktoberfest Munich is an annual festival celebrated in Munich which involves mostly intake of Beer. This years edition has been scheduled for September 22nd to October 7th.

According to adomonline.com, Moses Onyah, aka Drybone is upbeat about their participation, saying the association hopes to use the opportunity to attract investors into the country and also strengthen the bilateral relationship between Ghana and Germany.

Ghana Drunkards Association to make Ghana proud in Germany

Drybone also made a passionate appeal to President Akufo Addo to initiate Planting Palms for Drinks programme, just like Planting for Food and Jobs.

He is quoted as saying We will be going to Germany with some of our local liquors to promote them.The Nigerian man by name, Victor Nwobike reportedly fell ill on that day after expressing delight and some sort of relief to his friends about how he finally was going to start working at the Nigerian railway corporation the next day.

He was hoping to travel to Lagos where his long anticipated place of work would be, but unfortunately passed away leaving most of his friends in a state of shock.

Facebook user who claimed to be Victor Nwobikes friend posted his image with a message of condolence.

Ibifuro Thompson Tatua wrote on Facebook that:

"IP BROTHER

From Dame Ibifuro Thompson Tatua:Today We Lost a Young Man Postmodernist Victor Nwobike popularly called PVN or Postmodernist, He was Known for his Use Of Big Grammars and was Vigor, He has been in the Struggle for a while Now and he at The Nigerian Railway Corporation to Resume Work tomorrow Monday, He Spoke Excitedly About it just Yesterday Evening and was to Travel today to Lagos to Start Work 2moro and 5am Today He got Sick and died shortly after, and this got Me thinking since Afternoon, Is this Destiny? What is this Called?

Just last Night he was Excited and Well, Since Last year he has been doing follow-Up on this Job, he has been Broke and Struggling and Just a Day He is to Resume The Long Awaited Job, He Died, this is a Very Annoying Time to Die, I Have been Thinking a lot why he had to fall sick today and Die today just like that? Abi Village People that he has gone to brief about his Trip, or what? I just dont get it! God Please oo, Abeg ooo, Have Mercy On Us. Cover your Children, R.I.P. Postmodernist. I am still shocked.

Confirming the sad story, yabaleftonline.ng quoted ne Iyke Ahaka as having written:

"Comrade postmodernist Victor Nwobike was a good friend to all, he is man who believed in truth and stand for what is just, he is one of the most finest brillant and eloquent young men I have met as a person.Today I received the news of his demise this afternoon with shock and unable to hold my tears, what a loss!!At the St. Martin De Porres School in Dansoman, Accra where a one-week memorial service was held for the young dancehall musician on Sunday, after she died in a terrible accident with two others, not less than two alleged thieves were arrested and subjected to serious extra judicial lynching.

They were accused of taking advantage of the thick crowd to steal mobile phones and other belongings of people present, despite the visibility of police officers stationed at vantage points.

Photos of the alleged thieves being assaulted by angry mob in some cases in the full glare of police officers have been making the rounds on social media and attracting mixed reactions from the public.

While some thought the attacks inflicted on the alleged thieves served them right, others were of the view that assaulting them was premature especially when they had not been arraigned and pronounced guilty by any court.Popular and credible financial magazine Forbes has pegged the fortune of the popular Nigerian 'Man of God' at $150m.

A figure Bishop Oyedepo has described as smalll. He said, "Some fellow said I was worth $150 million, I said that is an insult. That is an insult. I am worth Philipians 4: 19 which says My God shall supply all my needs according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. $150 million is too small. That cant be".

Though he is the richest pastor in the world according to Forbes, Oyedepo believes he is worth more than what has been attributed to him.

He has over 300 branches across Nigeria and owns two of the biggest universities in Nigeria, Covenant University and Landmark University.

READ ALSO: Winners Chapel International loses court suit against Ghana chapter

Oyedepo also has a 50,000 seater church auditorium which is regarded as the biggest in the world.The High Court contended that the juvenile court erred by passing the judgement without the availability of a social enquiry report. They also ruled that the trial went beyond the 6 months period stipulated by the Juveniles Act.

Therefore the suspect, Gabriel Amihere, has been discharged and freed.

The late student, Lily Asigbetse, was shot dead by her colleague student when she paid him a visit at his residence in Tema, Accra.

The killer was sentenced by a juvenile court in September 2017 to three years in a correctional facility for manslaughter.

The deceased Lily Dzigbordi Asigbetse who lived at Cantonments had visited the accused person at Community eight (8) in Tema.

On January 5, this year, the accused told the police that he intended to shoot into the air however the gravity of the gun changed course and hit the deceased.

The prosecution said one Madam Gifty Billy, a neighbour, heard the gunshot and went to the scene. But she only found the victim lying in a pool of blood.

Gifty was rushed to the Port Clinic in Tema.Ukraine has already implemented the fourth part of the necessary NATO standards, Vadym Prystaiko, head of the country's mission to NATO, has said.

"There are, nominally speaking, about 150-200 standards which involve, for example, pilots speaking the same language so that they distinguish between 'friend' and 'foe,' how troops should be deployed, what the requirements are for border-crossing, and so on. Of these standards, we have already implemented approximately one-fourth. There is pace. I think that this [the Ukrainian Armed Forces' transition to NATO standards] can be achieved before 2020," Prystaiko told journalists on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, February 17.

Hungary did block a NATO-Ukraine Commission meeting slated for February 14-15, he said.

Ukraine is trying to find a compromise, but there seems to be no such desire on Hungary's part, he said. "It seems to me that we are simplifying when we think that once elections have been held in Hungary, it would retreat. If Hungarian society is so radicalized that Ukraine is an enemy who discriminates against their language and everything else, and this gives them votes, then why refuse from it in the future?" Prystaiko said.A statement on the Universitys official website said he was awarded the scholarship in order to encourage other students to chart the same path.

Mr. Darko became an internet sensation after the BBC did a short video documentary of his invented bicycle that has the ability to float on water.

The video subsequently went viral, with many Ghanaians commending him for spearheading such an innovation.

The Takoradi Technical University now has decided to award the young innovator a full scholarship following his exploits.

Vice Chancellor, Reverend Professor John Frank Eshun, said the decision was taken in order to motivate Darko to undertake more innovations to solve the challenges in the Ghanaian society and the world at large.

According to him, the University will support other students who endeavor to bring forth such innovations.

He further stated that the University has established an entrepreneurial and innovation incubation center to help tap into the talents of students who hold a passion for innovation.

He added that the University would take up the project, in collaboration with the student, to improve it in order for it to stand the test of time.

Mr. Darko conceived the idea of making a bicycle that can be ridden on water some months back, and took a year to come up with the invention."The President has announced a full state burial for Professor Allotey who died after a short illness on November 2, 2017, for his dedicated and selfless service to Ghana and the world at large, on February 23, 2018, at the forecourt of the State House", Duncan said.

Professor Allotey was the founding director of the KNUST Computer Centre before he assumed his position as the pro-vice chancellor of the university.

In 1962, he began his PhD studies in mathematical physics at Princeton University, during which time he met and worked with many eminent scientists of the time  Robert Dicke, Val Fitch, Robert Oppenheimer, Paul A.M. Dirac and C.N. Yang. He obtained his masters and PhD from Princeton in 1966 and returned in the same year to take up a position as a lecturer at the Department of Mathematics at KNUST.Speaking on Kumasi-based Hello FM, Odeneho Nana Oppong said they will give the names of the said journalists to the soon-to-be-confirmed Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu.

He explained that the media personalities keeping state-owned-cars would be prosecuted for illegally taking state vehicles through crooked means.

READ ALSO: Man electrocuted to death in attempt to tap power

We have all the names of the journalist that benefitted from the purchase of state cars through suspicious means when the NDC government was about to leave political office.

Nana Oppong said there was a shortage of cars at the Presidency because most of the cars that the NDC left behind on paper at the presidency could not be accounted for.

He added that some Presidential staffers currently do not have official vehicles so they have to fond their own means of transport to work.However, women who have had sex or those in their menstrual periods are not allowed to cook the meal until they have a spiritual bath to cleanse them.

In an interview with Accra-based Joy FM, a woman who sells the food said it is believed that sex and menstruation make them filthy and the food does not like filth.

READ ALSO: Achimota student killer freed as juvenile court decision is overturned

This means a woman must cleanse herself after sex of menstruation in order to be able to prepare Wasawasa.

19-year-old Ashietu who sells the food said: if you have sex with your husband, you have to take a spiritual bath, otherwise the food won't come out well.

The meal is prepared from pounded dried yam. The yam is mixed with red beans and then boiled for hours until it turns into a rice meal.

According to Maa Adiza who also sells Wasawasa, she said the preparation process of the food is tedious and time-consuming.

When you start preparing it at 6:00 am in the morning, you will finish at 3:00 pm in the afternoon.

However, most residents say Wasawasa is a nutritious meal.

In Ghana, this is not the only myth that curtails the rights of the vulnerable in the society.

Recently the media also reported on an issue where school girls menstruating are barred by the gods from crossing the River Ofin.Akufo- Addo has in the past reiterated his government willingness to solve the crisis. He said, "The events that have taken place next door in Togo, are disturbing for all of us and especially for you, I know what it means. I remember vividly in 2005 when the former President Eyadema died, there were problems over the succession. Over 100,000 refugees stringed across the border. Many of them I think are still there. They have not gone back to Togo, so I know that anything that happens in Togo is a matter of very great concern and it is a concern to me and the people of Ghana."The NDC Founder deems the appointment as apt and it shows the seriousness and competence of President Akufo Addo.

READ ALSO: Here is why Martin Amidu named Rawlings as referee on his CV

Rawlings said, "the appointment of Amidu as Special Prosecutor from outside his own party shows the President is serious. It vindicates some of us. No developed country should hold back in assisting our country to improve the lives of our people.

The ex-President was speaking to the media after a meeting with the Japanese Ambassador to Ghana, Tsutomu Himeno.

Amidu's appointment has attracted a wide range of applause by anti-corruption conveners, politicians and a cross section of Ghanaians. Many have said that with his track record in fighting corruption, he will be able to execute the job very well.According to her, the judiciary won't accept the findings as validating the judicial philosophy of Supreme Court Justices instead of an affirmation of judicial bias among the Judges of the apex court.

READ MORE: Atuguba sparks fury over research on political leanings of judges

She, however, described the research as alien to Ghana and cautioned Atuguba to "be careful what youre importing into our environment.

"They are used to that, we are not."

"I think that your research is an American type of research you have done. That is fine. But please be careful talking about importation..be careful what you are importing into our environment. They are used to that we are not. We can stand here and accept what you are saying without walking out. We didnt. I dont think there was a single judge who agreed with what you were saying but didnt walked out. Maybe you did to add a little salt to what you were saying," she said.

She added: "Our society and the environment is completely different from the American one which has developed its own systems. We have never had this kind of thing."

Background

Professor Raymond Atuguba, a former Executive Secretary to former president John Mahama and an Associate Law professor at the University of Ghana, on Friday made a research presentation at the GIMPA Law Conference.

READ ALSO: Nana Addo appoints Martin Amidu as Special Prosecutor

His research findings on the Supreme Court of Ghana suggested that rulings on some 100 political cases for the past 25 years have gone in favour of the political parties that appointed the judges who sat on the cases.He said the office of the Special Prosecutor will be provided with the names of celebrities and journalists who illegally acquired state cars from the Mahama administration and be prosecuted.

According to him, even though government has gain access to the actor's alleged stolen vehicle, he will face Martin Amidu for questions.

READ MORE: John Dumelo faces prosecution for allegedly stealing state vehicle

Speaking on Accra-based Neat FM, Odeneho Nana Oppong said "We now have enough evidence of his illegal acquisition of the cars. John Dumelo together with other journalists will face the Special Prosecutor."

It would be recalled that the 33-year-old sent one of the cars, black V8 Toyota Land Cruiser with registration number GE 8118-16 to a workshop in Abelempke, Accra for total rebranding when National Security Operatives pounced on it.

READ MORE: Social media trolls John Dumelo after government cars are collected from him

The vehicle is said to be one of the 200 vehicles the presidency said are missing.

According to reports, one of the vehicles is a Toyota Land Cruiser V8.

READ ALSO: John Dumelo allegedly gave out government car to his girlfriendThe Commission, chaired by Justice Stephen Alan Brobbey, is tasked with implementing the will of the people, with a referendum expected.

Speaking at a public hearing by the Commission, the Deputy Minister went on his knees whiles making a case for the creation of the Ahafo region from the existing territory.

According to him, the creation of new regions would ensure that more jobs are created for the unemployed youth.

He explained that the regional split will greatly reduce the distance residents would have to travel from their communities to the Regional capital, bringing governance closer to the people.

President of the Ahafo Youth Development Association, Yaw Owusu-Brempong, also backed the creation of a new region, insisting a petition for the Ahafo region has been in existence for the past 39 years.

He said successive governments have consistently ignored the petition and commended President Akufo-Addo for initiating the constitutional procedures to back it up.

On his part, Justice Brobbey advised that those pushing for the creation of a new region should exercise decorum in their calls.

He warned that the use of offensive languages or a rush to choose a capital for the new regions could degenerate into something else.

Meanwhile, MPs from constituencies in the Ahafo areas in the Brong Ahafo Region have thrown their weight behind the creation of a new region.According to him, the three suspended National Executives were against the ambitions of Nana Addo.

He alleged that the trio had their own agenda to elect their own presidential candidate prior to the 2016 general elections.

Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu who is the Member of Parliament for the Suame constituency said Afoko frustrated the party leadership and attempted to starve the party of funds for the primaries.

"Afoko came with his own candidate in mind and never wanted to organize primaries. He was trying to prevent us from holding the primaries. He didnt like Akufo Addo.

The trio didnt like Akufo-Addo. You know how come we even got money to organize primaries?," he said.

Speaking on Accra-based Joy FM, he said the party struggled to get money to organize primaries which saw Nana Addo winning the internal elections.

He added: "We struggled to get money to organize primaries. I had to mobilize my colleagues in parliament. Fortunately, we had some money from deductions we were making from our MPs monthly salaries so we had some money.

"The candidates had paid some money but it was not enough so we MPs topped up to organize the primaries that produced Akufo Addo. How can you have a national chairman who says I dont want this man to win."

Background to suspension

Paul Afoko suspended

The NPPs National Executive Committee (NEC) has unanimously voted to suspend its National Chairman Paul Afoko indefinitely.

The NEC upheld the overwhelming decision by the Disciplinary Committee which decided that Mr Afoko be suspended.

The Disciplinary Committee took the decision first, after the National Council of Elders in September, wrote to it, demanding amongst others, that the National Chairman Paul Afoko, be made to step aside until after 2016 elections.

Kwabena Agyapong and Sammy Crabbe suspended

Kwabena Agyapong and Sammy Crabbe have been suspended indefinitely.

The disciplinary committee took the decision after Kwabena Agyepong was petitioned by some members of the party for what they describe as gross disrespect and misconduct.Gas transit to Europe via Nord Stream 2 to cost almost twice as low as via Ukraine

Moscow expects final decisions on the Nord Stream 2 project would be adopted on the basis of its obvious economic benefit, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

"Commercial benefit, economic benefit is absolutely obvious. I am confident that these considerations will guide final decisions of the countries neighboring on Germany," Lavrov said at a breakfast meeting with members of Russia's and Germany's business communities.

"[We've] mentioned Nord Stream 2, with regards to which the federal chancellor has a clear stance, and there is a stance of a whole range of other countries, whose companies see exclusively commercial and useful sense of this project. But it is important to remind to those trying to derail [the project] that the length of the route from Yamal to Germany is 2 kilometers less than [the one] where the current transit goes via Ukraine. And the price of transit will also be almost twice as low," he said.Snead said he and his wife let Cruz, the suspect in the rampage, stay in their Broward County home after the youngest of their three sons, who knew Cruz from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, asked if he could live with them. They declined to provide their sons first name or age.

Cruz, 19, had been struggling after his mothers sudden death of pneumonia on Nov. 1, and had been staying with a friend of his mothers in neighboring Palm Beach County, Snead said.

But there was tension, according to Snead, over money and over Cruzs guns. He owned several, and they were unsecured. The friend of Cruzs mother had a toddler, Snead said, and did not want the child to be around the weapons.

So the Sneads, who own guns themselves and keep them under lock and key, drove to Lantana to pick up Cruz and his belongings. On the way home, Snead said, they had Cruz buy a gun safe and bring it along in a truck rented from the Home Depot.

Snead said he thought he had the only key to the safe. He did not learn until Wednesday, after 17 people were shot and killed at Stoneman Douglas with a semi-automatic AR-15 rifle, that Cruz had apparently kept a duplicate key, he said.

We knew he had troubles and a couple of issues, but Ive raised three boys, and I thought we could help, said Snead, a 48-year-old construction consultant. Its a very selfish thing he did  aside from the families he hurt, he hurt the family that tried to help him and give him a chance.

Asked what punishment Cruz might deserve, Snead said he did not know.

The Sneads began speaking publicly about their relationship with Cruz on Saturday, in an interview with The Sun Sentinel of South Florida. Their attorney, Jim Lewis, said the couple has been cooperating with law enforcement since the shooting.

The Sneads were absolutely not the people who called in a tip to the FBI in January, warning that Cruz owned a gun and had a desire to kill, possibly at a school, Lewis said. The FBI has acknowledged that it failed to investigate the tip.

Snead and his wife knew Cruz was depressed because they asked him about it, Snead said. Cruz was often withdrawn, and when pressed about why, he would say he was thinking about his mother. Cruz was not medicated, Snead said, but the Snead family had made plans for him to get help.

He was supposed to see a counselor this week, Snead said.

Still, the Sneads thought Cruz was doing better.

Things were good, Snead said.

He said he had pushed Cruz to take adult education classes  he had to leave Stoneman Douglas because of fighting, Cruz told them  and to get a job as a cashier at a Dollar Tree store. His time was taken up riding the bus to school and back home, and biking to and from work, Snead said. He said he was not aware of Cruz practicing shooting, at a gun range or anywhere else, in the time he was with the family.

The Sneads knew Cruz had an Instagram account  their son followed Cruz on it  but have since realized that Cruz had a much wider, more troubling presence on social media, in which he apparently posted about guns and about being cruel toward animals.

We have animals  two dogs and six cats, Snead said  and he loved them, and they loved him.

The night before the shooting, Snead said he noticed nothing unusual. The family ate cheese and steak sandwiches for dinner  Cruz put a chocolate chip cookie on top of his  and then watched Jeopardy on television. Cruz went to bed early, as he often did, Snead said.

According to Sneads account, the next morning Cruz told Sneads son, his former classmate, whom he had met at Junior ROTC in high school, that he was not going to school because it was Valentines Day. In September 2016, his mother had told the state social services agency that Cruz had been acting out because he was upset over a breakup with a girl at Stoneman Douglas.

Snead said he did not see Cruz on Wednesday morning, but assumed he was home with his wife. Kimberly Snead, a registered nurse who works in a neonatal intensive care unit, planned to sleep during the day to rest before her night shift.

On Wednesday afternoon, James Snead said, after he had learned about the shooting from his son, a SWAT officer called him to ask about Cruzs whereabouts. Snead said he didnt know.

He called his son to ask him. By then, the son had heard a description of the shooter  short with red hair, wearing black pants  and father and son reached the same conclusion: The police suspected Cruz.

I called the SWAT officer back and had him go to my house, because he was there with my wife, all morning, by themselves, said Snead, who suddenly feared for her safety.

Kimberly Snead, it turned out, was asleep, alone and safe. The police arrested Cruz without incident along a residential street in the neighboring city of Coral Springs, about 2 miles from the school. They took him to the hospital to be treated for minor injuries, and then transported him to the Broward Sheriffs Office headquarters. By then, the Sneads were there, waiting for their son, who was speaking to deputies.

Snead said his wife turned angrily to Cruz, still wearing a hospital gown.

Really, Nik? she asked. Really?

He said Cruz replied that he was sorry.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.The man was later shot and killed by security forces on duty at the time, reports said. The assailant was identified only as a 22-year-old man from the region, the Russian news agency Tass said.

The Islamic State claimed credit for the attack on the church, issuing a bulletin on its Amaq news agency, followed by a lengthier official statement in which the group described the assailant as a soldier of the caliphate and provided a nom de guerre for the attacker, Khalil al-Dagestani.

Not long afterward, pro-Islamic State channels on the Telegram app released a video showing a man said to be the assailant sitting before the Islamic State flag, his face covered by a ski mask. A gun and a long knife leaned against the wall behind him, presumably the weapons that would be used in the attack.

In the video, the man pledges allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the Islamic State leader, referring to him as the Emir of the believers, the honorific that Islamic State members reserve for the man they view as their caliph.

While the authenticity of the video could not be independently confirmed, Islamic State members and supporters were promoting it online.

The attack took place in Kizlyar, a town of about 50,000 people on the Terek River delta on the border with Chechnya, Tass said.

Sunday is the last day before Orthodox Christian Lent. The Russian RBK Daily quoted an Orthodox priest as saying that the attacker had opened fire on churchgoers after an afternoon service.

The priest, identified as Father Pavel, said: We had finished the Mass and were beginning to leave the church. A bearded man ran towards the church shouting, Allahu akbar.'

Four women died at the scene, and a fifth died of her injuries at a hospital, a Health Ministry spokeswoman, Zalina Mourtazalieva, told Tass. Two Russian police officers were among five people injured in the attack.

The local Interior Ministry said the gunman had acted alone, according to the Interfax news agency.

After the man was shot and killed, photos circulating on media sites online showed the body of a man dressed in camouflage pants lying on the ground. His head was bloodied and empty cartridges were scattered nearby. Other images showed what appeared to be a weapon.

Dagestan is a predominantly Muslim region between Chechnya and the Caspian Sea and is known for, among other things, widespread nepotism. Its administration has recently undergone a major cleanup that, according to some analysts, is meant to show the central governments commitment to fighting corruption before presidential elections in March.

But two separatist wars in Chechnya have spread to Dagestan. In 2015, the Islamic State declared it had established a franchise in the North Caucasus. It has claimed a number of attacks on police in Dagestan.

A recent report by the Soufan Group, which offers strategic security intelligence services to governments and multinationals, determined that countries belonging to the former Soviet Union have sent the highest number of foreign fighters to Syria, accounting for about 8,700 of the estimated 40,000 foreigners who have traveled to join the jihad.

The New York TimesA shift in the U.S. strategy, toward more bombing and greater pressure on Pakistan, was announced over the summer. But so far, it has done nothing to roll back areas under Taliban control, a report issued Friday by the Office of Inspector General at the Defense Department showed.

Seventeen years into the war, the Kabul government controls 18 percent of the countrys districts and has influence over an additional 38 percent, the report says.

U.S. and NATO commanders stated that this revised strategy changed the momentum in Afghanistan, the report said. However, one of the few unclassified metrics available to assess this progress, government control of population centers, showed no change.

The political infighting in the government-controlled area is posing another challenge. In December, Atta Mohammad Noor, the governor of Balkh province, on the border with Uzbekistan, refused to step down when Ghani fired him.

Noor had antagonized the U.S. military by stopping truck shipments of fuel intended for U.S.-led international forces traveling through the region.

Noor, a former mujahedeen commander turned businessman who has profited from trade with Central Asian states, said the president had reneged on a deal to offer more government seats to members of his political party, Jamiat-e-Islami, in exchange for stepping down.

Talks to ease him out have stalled, and Noor has announced that his supporters are planning protests around the country, including in Kabul, the capital, this month.

The political dispute within the Washington-backed government deepened Sunday when another governor and ally of Noor in the north, Abdul Karim Khadam, refused an order from Ghani that he resign as governor of Samangan province.

The governments decision is unjust and unfair, Khadam said in a telephone interview, adding that it goes against a power-sharing agreement reached last spring between the Jamiat party and the president.

Khadam took pains to emphasize that his refusal to obey the order did not amount to an armed rebellion. Our opposition to the government does not mean we are rebelling, he said.

Still, the growing standoff spells trouble for the Kabul government. Noors media office said in a statement that he supported the defiance of another governor, and criticized the president.

Ghanis recent moves are alarming, and we hope he soon wakes up to the realities on the ground, or else he is taking the country to the edge of collapse, it said.

In defying the central government, Noor has aligned himself with ethnic minorities in the north, including Uzbek warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum, who went into exile in Turkey to avoid possible prosecution over accusations he had ordered his bodyguards to detain and rape a political rival. Dostum retains the title of vice president.

Ghani appointed as the new leader of Samangan an associate of a one-time insurgent leader and Taliban ally, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who reconciled with the government last year. Officials in Hekmatyars party have accused Noor of receiving backing from Russia, which they say is trying to carve out an area of influence in northern Afghanistan.

Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, issued a statement supportive of Noor, an ethnic Tajik, saying the central government in Kabul should refrain from allowing the polarization of Afghan society along ethnic lines, and from violating the rights of national minorities.

Khadam, the governor who rejected Ghanis order to step down Sunday, denied any foreign backing for the acts of defiance in the north.

We will not let anyone interfere in the internal affairs of Afghanistan, he said.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.He said the International Development Association (IDA) facility is for the rehabilitation and upgrading of electricity transmission substations and lines.

The fund, which is under the Nigeria Electricity Transmission Project, is expected to increase the power transfer capacity of transmission networks. It would also enable the distribution companies to supply consumers with additional power.

He said the World Bank would also support private sector participation, capacity development, and better governance in the Transmission Company of Nigeria and other sector institutions.

This project is part of the Power Sector Recovery Programme (PSRP) by the Federal Government, which is a comprehensive package of policy, legal, regulatory, operational and financial interventions that would restore the financial viability of the power sector, the statement added.It started on Ash Wednesday, which fell on February 14, this year.

During the following 40 days (excluding Sundays), it is common for Christians to abstain from food and other things.

Here is a list of the five popular things Christians give up during the Holy season.

Junk Food

This is a favorite for many people which is why it is often one of the things that Christians abstain from during Lent.

The goal is to give up something you really like in order to focus on God and Christs sacrifice.

Alcohol

A lot of people have been known to do away with beer, wine and other forms of alcohol.

Asides from the fact that avoiding alcoholic beverages, science says it also helps you sleep better.

ALSO READ: Here is the right way to do Lent this year

Sex

Third on the list is sex. During Lent, some Christian couples often decide to abstain from any sexual activity in order them for to really focus on what Lent is truly about.

Complaining

Bad habits like complaining is another thing that people usually give up for Lent.

With this, the goal is to emulate Jesus Christ who rarely complained even in the face of some pretty hard things.

Worry

There is a quote by George Mueller, a late Christian and evangelist, that says, The beginning of anxiety is the end of faith, and the beginning of true faith is the end of anxiety.

This explains why a lot of people try to work on their faith by doing away with worrying.

This practice is encouraged by the Biblical canon 1251, which reads: Abstinence from eating meat or another food according to the prescriptions of the conference of bishops is to be observed on Fridays throughout the year unless they are solemnities; abstinence and fast are to be observed on Ash Wednesday and on the Friday of the Passion and Death of Our Lord Jesus Christ.Written by Dami Elebe (Skinny Girl in Transit) the movie features Falz alongside Bisola Aiyeola, Adunni Ade and Frank Donga.

It was inspired by the cinematic concert headlined by the rapper in December 2017. It was his first ever concert and was applauded and described as a near-perfect show.

Distributed by Filmone, "Falz Experience The Movie" will be released in cinemas on March 2, 2018, and will feature clips from the critically acclaimed concert.

Falz is no stranger to the Nigerian movie industry as he has featured in movies such as "Couple of Days" and the award-winning "Jenifa's Diary."

In 2016, he beat IK Ogbonna and Imeh Umoh Bishop to win the AMVCA Best Actor in a Comedyfor his role as Segun in "Jenifa's Diary."Aub currently stars as the villainous Rutila Casillas in "Lord of the Skies," while "Alberto" has entertained viewers for seasons as FBI agent Marcelo Doriga in "Woman of Steel."

During the visit, the duo met with some of their fans on February 15, 2018, at Intercontinental Hotel, Lagos Nigeria. There was also a press conference during which they shared their experiences so far in Nigeria.

Describing Nigerians as happy people and Moi Moi as their favourite dish, Aub and Agnesi said they can't wait to return to Nigeria again.

About "Lord of the Skies"

In "Lord of the Skies," Aurelio Casillas is determined to become the most powerful and only man to take the place of Pablo Escobar Gaviria.

He has more than enough ambition, intelligence and passion to achieve it. However, he must now fear an enemy that is quite difficult to hide  his own face.

The person who made his face public was Marco Mejia, a Mexican police officer, for whom capturing the feared drug lord has become a matter of honour.

Mejia is motivated by feelings of justice and a thirst for vengeance; it was Casillas who killed his father years ago. But Casillas will not be caught that easily. Feeling cornered and in order to protect his family, he decides to undergo a high-risk plastic surgery to conceal his face.

About "Woman of Steel" season 3

The third season of "Woman of Steel" focuses on the life of Vicenta Rigores, better known as La Coyote (Carolina Miranda), a beautiful young woman who helps immigrants cross the borders of Mexico into the United States.

Vicenta is one of the most respected and feared coyotes - immigrants seek her because she has a reputation for protecting them with her life when they pass the edge.

She has the support of the love of her life, Abelardo Casares (Adrian Di Monte) the son of the man who murdered Vincentas mother.

Together they will be able to face the power of Chucho Casares, and bring him down.In a recent development, the management of the institution released a press release expressing that the accusation leveled against its staff were a deliberate attack, suspecting that the incident was an attempt to tarnish the image of the institution.

This adds weight to Fadero's Twitter comments posted on Tuesday, February 13, 2018, stating that the school supervisor had been previously accused of indiscipline but went scot free.

She advised that more attention should be given to cases of sexual assaults as they are most likely based on actual occurrences.

"lol this was my primary school teacher. an issue like this rose up a few years ago and they were trying to vindicate him only for him to ACTUALLY be a rapist. dont ever cross anyone out for anything. these false accusations are not as common as u people make it seem," Adenekan's former student wrote.

Evidence against Chrisland School Supervisor appear hard to deny

A clinical psychologist, Miss. Olive Ogedengbe, provided more evidence concerning the case of a 2-yr-old pupil of Chrisland School, Lekki, Lagos, alleged to have been sexually molested by the institution's supervisor, Adegboyega Adenekan.

New information was received via a recording played during Ogedengbe's testimony. She offered one at the Ikeja Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court, where she expressed observations made after a detailed investigation.

ALSO READ: Church of England minister who loves prostitutes caught sniffing cocaineThe 46-year-old ex-convict was reportedly taken in by officers of the Ogun State police command.

ALSO READ: 2 Nigerian women convicted in the UK for defrauding 7 men

Premium Times reports that Balogun was also accused of attempting to dupe a female police officer on Facebook.

Instablog9ja reports that the suspect who is a fashion designer was posing as a staff of NNPC with the picture of the said finance director and has been defrauding unsuspecting members of the public.

According to the reports, Balogun was earlier convicted for duping a woman, one Bimpe Akinmade, of N950, 000, after claiming to be an NNPC staff based in Port Harcourt.

The convict picked up his fraudulent activities again.

The suspect was finally nabbed while trying to defraud another woman on Facebook under the same guise, not knowing that his new victim was a police officer.

The policewoman reportedly played along with the convict until Saturday, February 17, when he was arrested while trying to collect money from her.Poroshenko "in awe" of Pentagon chief but notes that some of military-technical cooperation agreements with U.S. remain secret

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko says that not all of the information on Kyiv's military-technical cooperation with the United States can be made public.

"I am in awe of [U.S. Defense Secretary James] Mattis. We had a very good visit by [Ukrainian Defense] Minister [Stepan] Poltorak. We had specific timeframe for developing our cooperation, including in the military-technical sphere, including [arms] supplies, including and not only, and not so much of, the kind of weapon being constantly discussed," Poroshenko said at a briefing in Munich on Saturday.

"But unfortunately I cannot disclose this information," he said.

Poroshenko said he was grateful to the U.S. for increasing the scale and scope of cooperation.This surprise is coming in form of a video recording that shows a police officer throwing stones at a lady in Ijapo Estate, Akure, Ondo State.

ALSO READ: Soldiers brutalize crippled man for wearing camouflage

In the video shared by Instablog9ja, the victim is seen putting in feeble efforts to retaliate, while another police officer is seen trying to protect her from the stones.

See the post below:

Voices can be heard in the background asking about the credibility of the police after such behaviour.

They went on to express disappointment in the country as a whole but that hardly comes as a surprise.

This is one out of a long list of treacherous, unprofessional and childish behaviours exhibited by the police and in many cases, such occurrences have led to the loss of lives.

Police assaulting civilians

Nigeria is one sad story after another of assault and victimization from the people who are sworn to protect same citizens they assault on a daily basis.

ALSO READ: Policeman assaults civilian for proclaiming rights on ATM queue

From extortion to framing and implicating innocent citizens as well as killing innocents with little or no regard for life, the police has proven on more than one occasion that they are not friends with the citizens that are responsible for their earnings.

Military regimes in Nigeria saw an intense violation of human rights as less attention was paid to the rule of law especially when it concerns civilians who are without wealth.

Democracy has hardly impacted the attitude of security personnel in respect to maintaining civility.In the post that he shared on social media, the man revealed how he got to the point of beating up a man whose wife had just died.

Shocked yet? Allow us to explain.

ALSO READ:Church threatens to excommunicate any member caught voting in upcoming elections

The man whose name on Facebook is Ajayi Afolabi revealed that he was at a general hospital in Lagos when a heavily pregnant woman was rushed to the hospital.

Few minutes after she was taken to the theatre, the Doctor in charge returned to inform the husband that his wife was short of blood and in need of blood transfusion.

The husband reportedly told the doctor that they had been informed of the situation at a previous hospital but he had refused to sign the documents because they were Jehovah's witness and it would be a sin.

Unfortunately, after pleading with her husband to save her life and allow the transfusion, the pregnant woman died before she could be transferred to LUTH.

As some may have reacted, Mr Afolabi who had been observing the situation finally lost his temper after hearing that the baby had been lost too.

Read his post below and see his reaction:

There have been many other cases where lives have been lost when they could have been saved and and religion was to blame for it.

Jehovah's Witness: An extremist religion?

Jehovah's Witnesses has been recently labelled an 'extremist organisation' in Russia.

This ruling was passed after six days of hearings by the Supreme Court after the Russian Justice Ministry filed a lawsuit in order to shut down the groups national headquarters near St Petersburg.

Reacting to this judgement, the press office for the Russian branch said, Extremism is deeply alien to the Bible-based beliefs and morality of Jehovahs Witnesses.

Persecution of the faithful for peaceful anti-extremism legislation is built on frank fraud, incompetent individual experts and, as a result, a miscarriage of justice.

Although the judgement has already been passed, we can not help but wonder if the religious organisation really deserves to be labelled as such.

As unfair as the situation may seem, many of such cases have been recorded where lives were lost in a bid to preserve the doctrines of a particular religion.

How true is this assertion?

An extremist has been defined as "someone who supports an idea, cause or set of values so adamantly and without compromise that said person will use their ideas to justify anything they do."

By this definition, aren't we all some form of extremists? As Christians, we are told to hold dearly to our beliefs regardless of what others say. In fact, the Bible encourages being persecuted for our faith.According to LIB, the chamber for international crimes at the High Court in Rwanda handed down the sentence on Thursday, February 15, 2018.

Duru, who was in tears, told the court that she did not know the content of the bag, adding that it was handed to her by a Tanzanian woman.

She said that a family friend who owned a pharmacy store asked her to help him bring the bag, purportedly containing a particular drug, Ephedrine to Nigeria.

ALSO READ:Nigerian student arrested in Australia for drug trafficking

Duru admits trafficking heroine

NewTimes reports that she had earlier admitted that she was carrying heroine, while pleading for mercy, when she appeared in court in January, 2017.

In her ruling, the presiding Judge, Alice Rulisa said that the court established that Duru intentionally came into the country to traffic drugs.Her bearing seemed a sharp contrast of her actual self based on a different picture that presented a much lively and beautiful Owolabi who was seen rocking a stylish nose ring.

"Pls help me out of dis pain. Dating a married man and all I get is beating everytime," the abused woman wrote according to reports.

If she had hoped to get rescued by a semblance of a knight, that did not happen based on reactions on Instagram.

Her call for attention appeared to have inspired taunts as opposed to pity. Comments submitted by amused users have only succeeded in bashing her. She was criticized for holding on to another's husband.

Abusive marriages have become almost a trend

Violence in marriages have become a rampant thing in a Nigeria where a bigger attention is given to the dominating position of men over their wives.

The latter appear to be seen as subjects rather than partners, a reason that has seen them suffer abuse in the hands of their husbands and even flings.

On Wednesday, January 31, 2018, a divorce seeker in Ekiti State, Folasade Fatunla, has accused her husband Gbenga of stabbing her with a broken bottle for voting in the 2014 gubernatorial election.

The Ado-Ekiti Customary Court heard the complaint on Thursday, February 1, 2018, according to Punch News which reported that Fatunla, 32, packed out of the defendant's residence as a result of the violence. The pair who lived together for a period of 12 years reportedly have two children.

ALSO READ: Husband stabs wife for voting in Ekiti 2014 election

In addition, the complainant added that her husband has not portrayed himself as a responsible man, claiming that he often arrives home late in the night and offers nothing as welfare.The family of late Chief Dr. Sunday Ogunyade have cried out, over alleged illegal and forceful occupation of the familys land located at Gbagada, Oworonsoki road. They claim that Mobil has not just refused to vacate the land which it has continued to occupy illegally since 2010 when its tenancy expired but also trying to sell it off.

According to the family lawyer, Raji Banjo, MobilOil in its desperation to steal the Ogunyades wealth has resorted to all manner of dubious means including attempting to sell off the land to an unsuspecting buyer.

Banjo said: I got a call two weeks ago informing me that Mobil through its downstream company, wants to sell the property. This is not the first time it will be attempting to do so. Mobil is dubious and has continued to take undue advantage of the Ogunyades, perhaps because it feels that the family is defenseless and poor.

Can you believe that even when there was an existing relationship between my client and Mobil, the oil company connived with one to file a suit claiming ownership of the property? Mobil Oil went to defend the suit without informing my clients, its landlord, and the bona-fide owners of the land. As soon as we got wind of the move and joined the suit, the pseudo Oluwa family disappeared into the thin air!", he added.

"So you see the hanky-panky games they have been playing, and when that failed, they went ahead after they have been notified of the expiration of their tenancy to convey to this same property in a new contractual agreement that pretends to give Double One title to a property that they do not have in Nigeria, Banjo stated.

Also speaking, Taiwo Ogunyade, one of the administrators of the Estate of Late Chief Dr Sunday Ogunyade wondered why the oil company would involve itself in efforts to sale of land.

His words, Mobil is known for oil, I do not know when it started selling land and properties. This is part of the reason why we refused to renew their rent and decided to sell to a more trustworthy company. Mobil is a dubious company and we are crying out to the world that we are being oppressed. No corporate body should come in here and be allowed to dupe Nigerians.

He therefore called on the Federal Government and other relevant stakeholders to come to their rescue and help resolve the situation.Welcome to the Pulse Community! We will now be sending you a daily newsletter on news, entertainment and more. Also join us across all of our other channels - we love to be connected!President Donald Trump's doctor, Rear Admiral Dr. Ronny Jackson, released his evaluation of the president's health on Tuesday, reporting that Trump is 6'3", 239 pounds, and currently taking Propecia to slow the effects of male hair loss. But what is Propecia, and what will it do for the Commander in Chief?

Propecia is one of the most commonly used drugs to slow male-pattern baldness and hair loss, but it has a few inconvenient side effects. It can tank your libido, and even lead to erectile dysfunction.

Propecia the brand name for a drug called finasteride, which works by stopping the body from converting testosteron into DHT, a sex hormone thought to be linked to male-pattern baldness. DHT isn't the only or exact cause of male-pattern baldness, but lowering levels has been shown to help. Even then, Propecia isn't a miracle drug.

"A third of patients maintain the hair that they have," Joshua Zeichner, Director of Cosmetic and Clinical Research in Dermatology at Mount Sinai Hospital in NYC, told Men's Health for a previous story."A third grow hair back, and a third still continue to see hair thinningthough often the rate of loss is less than they saw before. So, if you look at that, at least two thirds of patients see improvement."

And of course, there are the side effects. Propecia's penis perils have been described extensively. In 2003, a study of over 3,000 men published in the journal Urology found that 15 percent of men taking finasteride suffered new sexual side effects during the first year of the study, compared to 7 percent of those on a placebo.

"There were real, ill effects from the drug," Hunter Wessells, M.D., chairman of the department of urology at the University of Washington school of medicine, and the lead investigator of the 2003 study, told Men's Health previously. "In some men, finasteride caused erectile dysfunction; in others it decreased ejaculate volume; and in others it reduced libido."

In 2017, a study from Northwestern University found that sexual side effects can hang with users long after they stop using the drug. The chances aren't hugeonly 1.4 percent of men on the drug developed persistent EDbut it continued, on average, for more than three-and-a-half years after they went off the drug.Your only crime is that you (most probably) have been spending money that doesn't belong to you.

You didn't even steal it like that, just moved around a few millions to fund your expensive lifestyle that your salary can't afford you.

The money does not even really belong to anyone in particular: maybe a little child that could have stayed alive with a better funded health facility, an IDP that could have eaten more than once in three days, or a pensioner that could have probably not died waiting for their hard-earned allowance; your needs were simply greater.

So, anyway, because your haters have finally succeeded, the EFCC is at your door and they are dragging you to court to explain your reason for self-preservation over human decency.

You can't even be dubiously rich in peace again.

So you're in court, and maybe you're guilty, so what?

Your only offence is being a helpless goat that was asked to guard a barn full of delicious tubers of yam.

Will a goat not be a goat?

Goats don't go to prison, so you have to do your best to convince the court that you're a vegetarian and couldn't have possibly eaten the yam whose remnants were found in your bear bear; so, you strategise.

You could try any one of these:

1. You can simply tell the court not to waste your time

It does not matter whether you stole N50 million or an amount that's the entire GDP of a small European nation, getting dragged to court is not the end of the road for you.

When your enemies charge you to court for whatever, you can simply tell the court that it's all nonsense and ask to be set free back into the nest.

While the court will most likely see through your dubiousness here and reject your request, here's where it gets interesting.

You can march to the Court of Appeal and cry blue murder.

"My rights as a law-abiding Nigerian citizen have been vigorously molested!" you can tell the court.

While you have an appeal filed, you have ample grounds to file for adjournments to the original case and this could give you extra days or even months to enjoy more of your ill-gotten wealth.

But, again, the appeal court might see through your act and throw you back out to the lower court, but your end of the road is not even close, yet.

It gets even more interesting: Supreme Court!

Because you cannot take no for an answer, you can keep marching all the way to the highest court in the land to scrutinise the victory the barbarians in the lower courts have denied you.

You see, the constitution affords you the opportunity to do these things legally and be treated like a human being whose rights should be respected, you get?

Injunctions and interlocutory applications are just as annoying as they sound to the prosecution, but they're music to your ears as it gives you more time to, you know, do your thing.

Even if the Supreme Court throws out you back out, you have successfully frustrated the case for longer than it would have naturally transpired.

And the great news is when you're back to the lower court to resume the original trial, you could just start all over again with a different application.

Rinse. Repeat.

2. Tell the judge he can't judge you

No, really, you can simply just tell the judge that has been assigned to your case that you don't believe they'll give you a fair trial.

Maybe the judge doesn't like your face. Or is jealous that you're richer. Or maybe you've had a previous encounter with the judge because you just can't stay out of trouble.

You can make up any reason to challenge the competence of the judge to do a fair job, and the court will be compelled to entertain your grievance and stop talking about your actual crime for a quick minute.

Whether this succeeds or not, the time wasted for the court is precious time gained for you.

If you get really lucky, witnesses get tired and change their minds, the case file keeps changing hands and everything just peters out.

This is how you know you have good karma points.

3. Challenge the court's jurisdiction

Instead of moving just a single piece on the board, you can throw caution to the wind and shake the whole table by telling the court it has no adequate authority to stand in judgement of you.

How dare they!

For example, if the prosecution charges you to court in a location where you didn't even commit the stealing, you could challenge the court's jurisdiction and wail over how inconvenient it is for you to make court appearances.

If spending money on travelling and accommodation is putting a strain on your financial state, you can tell the court to move it to a place you're more comfortable with.

What's the point of stealing money you'll waste on a court case?

4. Fall sick with an exotic illness

This is an industry favourite.

We all know that getting accused of stealing money puts a huge strain on anyone especially if you're guilty but don't want to go to prison because prison is for suckers.

Depending on how seriously you want to stall your case, your illness should have an edge to it; an ordinary headache or malaria won't help you here.

You could ask the judge for adjournments because you have to treat your crippling case of aquagenic urticaria, lipodystrophy, psoriasis, lupus, celiac disease, or multiple sclerosis; the more exotic it sounds, the better for you.

Or just keep it simple to heart-related ailments and/or cancer.

To get even more of a kick, you could ask the court for permission to travel to the abroad to treat whatever ails you since the country is out to get you before you spend every dime of what you stole.

Nobody deserves to die for a little bit of stealing.

5. You could just not make it to court at all

Depending on who you are, you could really just stop an investigation dead in its tracks before it gets severe enough to get in front of a judge.

If, say, you're a former governor, you could get some vague legal thing called "perpetual injunction" that permanently restrains the EFCC from interrupting your life.

The EFCC could even forget to appeal the decision before the window period to do so expires.

Maybe if you are a former minister, you could get off the hook by telling the court that subjecting you to trial might potentially embarrass your party and create "adverse effects and irreparable damage" to Nigeria's "nascent democracy".According to The Cable, a suicide bomber struck close to one of the hostels in the university around 7:50pm on Monday, February 19, 2018.

This comes days after the Nigerian Armysaid the terrorists have been completely flushed out of Sambisa Forest, the group's stronghold.

The army also said the leader of the group, Abubakar Shekau and some of his members have fled to neighbouring Cameroun.

But in a video released shortly after the army's claims, Shekau vowed to continue the attacks, boasting that his group still operates from Sambisa.

ALSO READ: Court sets 475 Boko Haram suspects free

In 2017, the terrorists have attacked UNIMAID at least five times, killing many.The Presidents congratulatory message was contained in a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr Femi Adesina, in Abuja on Sunday.

Adesina said President Buhari joined the government and people of Ogun State, all sons and daughters of Egbaland, family and friends of the royal father in celebrating the grace of wisdom, strength and courage that had translated into many years of laudable achievements before and after he ascended his fathers throne.

The President commended Oba Tejuosos strong sense of patriotism, broad-mindedness and timely interventions in critical national issues.

He also extolled his visionary leadership over his domain by always ensuring peaceful co-existence, promoting tolerance and constantly reminding citizens of their civic duties.

President Buhari believed that Oba Tejuosos repertoire of wisdom, many years of experience in handling multi-cultural issues, and the network of friends he had acquired across the country, and the globe, would be most useful in the current drive to re-position the country for greater glory.Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and British Prime Minister Theresa May at a meeting in Munich discussed the prospect of the UN peacekeeping mission in Donbas.

"The parties discussed the deployment of the UN peacekeeping mission in the occupied part of Donbas," the presidential press service said after the meeting.

Poroshenko thanked Great Britain for continuing the educational mission for Ukrainian military men in the framework of the Orbital operation.

In addition, he invited May to visit Ukraine.The President said this in Abuja on Monday while declaring open the first-ever Nigeria International Petroleum Summit (NIPS).

He noted that NIPS is also designed after the OTC in Houston to deepen, enrich and provide leadership for Africa and make it one of the most important annual oil and gas events globally.

It is aimed at engendering potentially-economic benefits, generate employment and expand businesses in Nigeria and Africa.

This summit will afford Nigeria a unique opportunity to showcase to the international community policy direction and efforts of government in the petroleum sector.

This is especially in the new oil and gas exploration and markets, new measures to sanitise the sector, the expansion of investment opportunities to boost investors confidence, technological advancement and Nigerias content development.

Nigeria is open to private investment in the downstream sector and pursuing vigorously a programme for the rehabilitation of existing refineries so as to enhance capacity to supply locally-refined petroleum products in Nigeria and West Africa.

The President said this was a key component of the national petroleum industry roadmap and the 2017 to 2020 Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) of the present administration.

He said since the launch of the petroleum industry roadmap and ERGP, numerous successes had been recorded, especially in getting Nigeria out of recession and sustained increase in foreign reserves.

We will continue to strive to achieve our target of seven per cent GDP growth rate within the next three years and be rest assured that previous efforts will be sustained.

Our effort in stakeholder engagement and stabilising the Niger Delta will continue to receive due attention to ensure sustainable level of production, Buhari added.

On ease of doing business, the President said he would continue to ensure that efforts in the petroleum sector and issues related to transparency, efficiency, enabling business environment and deploying new policies and regulations were enforced so that investors will always feel at ease.

Corruption in this industry must not be allowed in any form. On our part, we will not stop the fight until a new image is created where transparency will be the watchword in all our transactions.

Our emphasis on gas investment is for cleaner economy that is gas-based in alignment with the Paris climate change agreement.

The agenda for this summit portrays opportunities for all, hence we should do more than just talk about it, we should also act on the resolutions from here.The attack happened on Wednesday. This is the front page of today's Thisday newspaper showing the Governor of Zamfara at the National Economic Council Meeting yesterday, Thursday in Abuja. Like nobody could whisper to him, dude, you shouldn't be here, Sam Hart who is spokesperson of Abia Governor Okezie Ikpeazu, flared in a tweet.

And best believe that is the same Zamfara State Governor beaming in Daura today at a partisan gathering, three days after slaughter of citizens. My money says he has not been home since this crisis broke. Can't confirm if his information Commissioner has reached him, Hart added.

When Yari eventually made it home, he did all he could to deflect responsibility.

Buck passing

According to Yari; Whatever humanly possible that needed to be done, we as a government have done to mitigate this disaster. But it does appear that security agencies are failing in their responsibilities.

I feel let down facing the people of this state whenever I remember the promise I made to them that when they elect President Muhammadu Buhari into power, these killings will end. But unfortunately, things are now getting worse.

As such, I urge you security agencies to up the ante so as not to lose this war. If you let us take issues on our hands, anarchy will reign which is not what we hope for.

On this particular incidence, we had intelligence reports 24 hours before it happened that the bandits were grouping and ready to attack. I alerted the security agencies but unfortunately they sent inadequate personnel to confront these people from where they came from, he said.

Tone deaf politicians

Hours after the Zamfara attack APC Governors converged on Daura to commiserate with President Buhari over the loss of two of his family members.

The governing party also went ahead to make such a show of some 35,000 PDP faithful defecting to their fold as though all was fine in the land.

Abuja Governors

Yaris latest irresponsibility brings to the fore the worrying fad among Governors these days. Most Governors are running their States from Nigerias capital city of Abuja.

This writer has been told that Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello spends most of his waking hours in Abuja. Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai is in Abuja every other day these days. Several State Governors have moved office and home to Abuja.

This writer was told how a particular Governor of one of Nigerias Northwest States, never goes anywhere near his State for weeks on end.

Some Governors now order for files to be transported to Abuja for their signing pleasure.

It is little wonder that Governors who have relocated to Abuja cant tell what ails their States; cant fix what ails their States because they are as far removed from reality as one can be.

Abujas roads are wide and smooth. The air smells clean and green. State Governors who have moved wares to Abuja could be tempted to think that the rest of the country is just as pristine and serene.

However, it is the height of irresponsibility to be running your State from the federal capital because doing so keeps you in a bubble. Governors who do this arent helping the States they were elected to fix. They shortchange their States. It's a dereliction of duty. You need to be on the ground to run a State, technology be damned!On Friday, February 16, 2018, the NBS' report for the month of January 2018 revealed that many Nigerians are still paying far above N145 per litre pump price of petrol approved by the Federal Government for the product.

In the NBS Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) price watch, Nigerians are paying about N46 per litre higher than the official pump price of the product.

The report, published by The Punch, is based on the actual amount spent by households for the purchase of the PMS across the federation.

Osun state worst hit

According to the NBS report, consumers in Osun state are the worst hit as they paid N228.89 for the product in January 2018.

Abia and Benue states followed as consumers in the states bought fuel N227.5 and N223.33 per litre respectively.

States with the lowest price of petrol are Zamfara, N159.12 per litre; Gombe, N157.73; and Kogi, N152.83.

Consumers in many states in the North and other parts of the country are reportedly suffering untold hardship caused by the severe scarcity of petrol.

Meanwhile, Kaduna, Nasarawa and Niger states as well as Abuja have been experiencing persistent petrol scarcity since last year, even as the queues for the PMS have spread to other states.

ALSO READ: NNPC starts enforcing sale of petrol at N133 per litre

Osun - N228.89

Abia - N227.5

Benue - N223.33

Zamfara - N159.12

Gombe - N157.73

Kogi - N152.83

NNPC supplied 29.058 million litres to 13 states

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) recently said it supplied a total of 29.058 million litres of Premium Motor Spirit to 13 states in the Northern region in three days.

In its report on daily dispatch to filling stations in Abuja on Friday, February 16, NNPC named the 13 states that got fuel supply.

The 13 states include Kaduna, Kogi, Kwara,Taraba, Kano, Benue, Zamfara, Yobe, Sokoto, Jigawa, Borno, Bauchi and Adamawa.The suspects are : Halilu Garba, 45, Mabushi, Zubairu Marafa, 45, alias Wakili and Nafiu Badamasi, 40, alias Zakiru.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that bandits, suspected to be cattle rustlers, had on Feb. 14 killed 18 persons in Birane village.

The Inspector-General of Police (I-G), Mr Ibrahim Idris had deployed additional three units of Police Mobile Force ( PMF) to the area.

In a statement the Force spokesman, CSP Jimoh Moshood, said that the suspects, who are now in custody, were assisting the Police in their investigation.

ALSO READ: Gov Yari says police ignored warning before Zamfara Killings

Moshood said all suspects would be arraigned in court on completion of investigation.Infighting, attacks and counter-attacks between APC members have become common sights.

Before the crisis within the APC got to its acme, Comrade Timi Frank, deputy publicity secretary of the party, had cautioned the ruling party, severally.

He was, however, ignored.

Frank was supposed to assume the role of APC spokesman following Lai Mohammeds appointment as Information Minister by President Muhammadu Buhari in November 2014.

Frank was denied this position. Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi was appointed as APCs national publicity secretary.

lists some of the times Frank had forewarned the APC leadership against impending danger.

Oyegun is APCs problem

Severally, Frank expressed displeasure over the leadership style of the APC national chairman, John Odigie-Oyegun.

In fact, Frank had blamed Oyegun for the crisis currently rocking the APC.

In a statement on Thursday, January 26, 2017, Frank had accused Oyegun of running the APC like a dictator.

Oyegun is vigorously working to ensure that he expels some prominent APC members who have spoken against his dictatorial leadership style, Frank declared.

Oyegun's leadership has breached APC constitution several times, even as regard to national convention which the party law states clearly that it must be held every two years, he added.

ALSO READ: All aggrieved APC blocs Asiwaju must reconcile before 2019

APC must learn from PDPs mistakes

In an interview with Punch on Wednesday, December 28, 2016, Frank counselled the APC against making the same mistakes that led to fall of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) during the 2015 general elections.

I think as a party, we should not undermine the strength of this much-talked-about mega party, whether it is a rumour or not. I think we should do everything possible to defeat the move through genuine reconciliation within us, Frank implored.

We must remember that this is how the PDP took the APC for granted during the formation stage, and the likes of Bamanga Tukur were busy saying no vacancy in Villa, PDP will rule for 60 years; but where are they today?

So, our national chairman should learn to reconcile aggrieved members instead of offending them the more. It has shown today that even ruling party could lose election; so, we should stop talking arrogantly because we are in power, he entreated.

Frank tells Buhari to sack corrupt officials

Following the suspensionof the DG NIA Ayo Oke and SGF Babachir Lawal, Frank advised President Buharito sack all corrupt persons in his cabinet.

Frank believed such step would help win public trust on the Buhari-led APC government.

"Mr President should take bolder steps like this to sack all the incompetent hands in his government, Frank said.

Some of these actions are long overdue; it is high time President Buhari sacked all the incompetent hands in this government, he advised.

Why APC is broke

Sequel to the cancellation of its earlier scheduled convention over paucity of funds, Frank accused Oyegun of both corruption and mismanagement.

"Nobody will trust Chief Oyegun because of his mismanagement of party fund in the past and that is why our governors cannot release money for the party, Frank declared.

"Like before, I'm still warning that unless Chief Oyegun resign as APC national chairman, I don't think the party can progress with this present situation.

All prominent members of the ruling party who are still keeping quiet to speak up or else, the mismanagement might lead the party to unexpected end," he warned.

APC will lose in 2019 if

Speaking to and other journalists in Abuja, Frank expressed fears that the APC would lose power if Oyegun was not replaced.

Today, practically I dont even think we have a party, Frank said.

The party today is in disarray, there is confusion. I think we are even more disorganized than the opposition.

I challenge anybody who will come out and say we are not disorganized; I have every proof to show that we are even more disorganized than the opposition, he declared.

The APC chieftain noted that the APC had died under Oyegun, who he could not win elections in his ward.

He also blamed Atiku Abubakar's exit from the APC on the "ineptitude" of its national chairman.

Frank had appealed to President Buhari and his vice, Yemi Osinbajo, to save the ruling APC.

Recently, President Buhari appointed the APC national leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu to reconcile aggrieved party members.Ok, chill. This isnt your regular suspension.

A faction of the APC in Kaduna State suspended El-Rufai from its fold for six months.

Heres all you need to know about this bizarre political move:

1. There are two factions of the APC in Kaduna StateAkida APC and Restoration Group.

2. The faction which suspended El-Rufai is called the Kaduna Restoration Group.

3. The faction which suspended El-Rufai is led by Senator Suleiman Hunkuyi.

4. Hunkuyi actually represents Kaduna north central in the upper legislative chamber.

5. Punch reports that those who attended the meeting where the decision to suspend El-Rufai was taken "were an aspirant during the partys governorship primaries in 2015, Isa Ashiru; Chief of Staff to Senate President, Dr. Hakeem Baba-Ahmed; owner of Kaduna-based Liberty FM radio, Dr. Tijjani Ramalan; Senator representing Kaduna Central, Senator Shehu Sani; and his counterpart from the Northern Senatorial District, Hunkuyi".

6. The Kaduna Governor was accused of anti- party activities and anti-human activities. Whatever anti-human activities means.

7. El-Rufai was issued a query which he failed to respond to. He was also invited to show up before a disciplinary committee. Lets just say he didnt honour that invitation either.

8. The disciplinary committee wasted no time suspending El-Rufai after he snubbed them.

9. Chairman of the Restoration faction of the APC, Danladi Wada, read the statement which announced El-Rufais suspension.

10. Gentlemen of the press. I welcome you to this important press briefing in the history of APC in Kaduna State. This briefing is sequel to 48 hours ultimatum/query and warning issued to the state governor to explain and defend himself against the allegations leveled against him which he failed to respond to, Wada declared.

11. However, the suspension by this faction has been nullified by a faction loyal to El Rufai.

12. Yahaya Baba-Pate, who is the acting secretary of the APC faction loyal to El-Rufai said the Governors suspension by the other faction is a joke that wont stand.

13. Baba-Pate says his is the only faction recognized by APC party chairman Chief John Odigie-Oyegun.

14. Baba-Pate says El-Rufais suspension is therefore null and void and of no effect, whatsoever.

******According to Vanguard, the Governor was suspended for refusing to answer the query issued to him last week.

The faction, while unveiling its secretariat, asked El-Rufai to respond to the query within 48 hours.

Speaking to newsmen, the factional chairman, Alhaji Danladi Wada said This briefing is sequel to 48 hours ultimatum/query and warning issued to the state governor to explain and defend himself against the allegations leveled against him which he failed to respond.

The State Working Committee on Saturday 17, February 2018, convened and resolved to consider and to rectify the findings and recommendations of the Disciplinary Committee and the Fact Finding Committee put before it in accordance with the provision of article 21(B) section 3 of the APC constitution and accordingly, the Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai stands suspended for 6 months from the APC, commencing from 17, February, 2018.

Another faction expels 28

Vanguard reports that Governor El-Rufais suspension is coming after the main faction suspended Senator Hunkuyi and expelled 28 others.

El-Rufais response

In his response to the query issued to him, the Kaduna state Governor said that it is a non-issue.While speaking to journalists on Sunday, February 18, 2018, the All Progressives' Congress (APC) chieftain said an Igbo president will quell the separatist agitation that has been raging for years in the southeast region.

He said, "It is the right thing to do, Nigeria is built on a tripod. When you allow the South East to have the Presidency by 2023, that will be the end of the civil war.

"The South East has had the Chief of Army Staff, the Inspector General of Police. So it is only natural for the South East to have the Presidency.

"No man has the capacity to divide this country, the country will fight such a man. It is not possible, so the fear in the minds of people that the Igbo are pushing for secession only amounts to imbalance in perception.

"Take a look at Lagos State, Igbo have over fifty percent of investment here. Go to Abuja, almost seventy per cent of its investment are owed by Igbo.

"So, where are the Igbos going to go outside Nigeria. All these kind of talks are just blackmail. We should stop the blackmail.

"An Igbo president will bring prosperity to Nigeria, because the Igbo man or woman had the capacity for business and investment in areas outside their homeland.

"So, Igbo presidency is a thing the country should do with joy and pride in showcasing an Igbo man as President."

2019 presidential race

Former governor of Cross River State, Donald Duke, belongs to a growing list of prominent Nigerians who have dropped hints that they may contest in the 2019 presidential elections.

Founder of the Latter Rain Assembly, PastorTunde Bakare revealed to his congregation on January 1, 2018, that God wants him to run for president despite his plan to quit politics for good.

Ekiti State governor, Ayodele Fayose,remains the only candidate to have officially declared his intention to contest the election after his announcement in September 2017.He told journalists in Ikeja on Monday that there was no vacancy for the opposition parties to fill in Lagos House  the governors office  come 2019 election.

Only a person who does not reside in Lagos will think any opposition party can wrestle power from the APC in Lagos.

Lagos remains a perfect example to other states in the area of growth and development and Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode is the governor every Lagosians is proud of, and wants more.

So, opposition parties should focus their dreams on other states and just leave Lagos for APC in 2019.

It is unthinkable for members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Action Democratic Party (ADP) or others to win election in Lagos now, especially with giant strides of Gov. Ambode in all sectors.

Sincerely, any politician or party that wants to contest with Ambode in 2019 will be wasting energy and resources, Oluwa said.

The lawmaker, who commended Ambode for socio-economic strides in the state, said he was proud that the governor did not borrow to fund development projects in 2017.

According to him, the state has witnessed massive progress in terms of infrastructure  the roads, the bridges, the health facilities and others.

Everyone is aware that Gov. Ambode has been able to shore up the internally generated revenue of the state.

Ambode has made a lot of efforts; we wont allow one small party from anywhere to come and squander the progress of the state. It is not possible, he said.

Oluwa, however, noted that no feat would have been achieved without the efforts of the legislative arm.

He said that several private member bills had been passed by the House and signed into law by Ambode.

The much celebrated Lagos State Neighbourhood Safety Corps bill that created Neighbourhood Safety Corps (NSC) was initiated by the Speaker of the House, Rt Hon. Mudashiru Obasa.

A lot of Lagosians have been employed through some of these bills passed by the House, he said.There has been public outcry against the commission after pictures and videos emerged online showing apparently underage children voting during the Kano State local government elections that took place on February 10, 2018.

Prof. Olurode, who served as commissioner for the southwest region between 2010 and 2015 under the widely-praised tenure of Prof. Attahiru Jega, said he almost lost his life when he refused to allow underage voting.

He told The Punch on Sunday, February 18, that certain parts of the country are notorious for encouraging underage voting with community leaders taking active part in the process.

He said, "If the people can be enlightened, underage voting will reduce. There are certain areas of this country where even if they know the person is a kid, they will insist that the child must vote.

"I had to run for my life at one of the election centres in a part of the country because these people said children must vote or there would be no election at all. It is that bad. The APC government has a responsibility to deliver an election that will be better than the 2015 election.

"The Kano State example is a bad signal and a warning that we really have a lot to do and the voter register is key. The register must be clean, it must not have ghost names or underage voters.

"In the course of my service to the nation during the Jega's era, it was happening in many parts of the country but there are specific geographic locations where it is very common which means the problem can be tackled if responded to promptly by all the stakeholders.

"When you see community leaders coming to meet you with a prepared list of children to be registered and you refuse, you come under threat.

"In some parts of the country, when you refuse to register a child, they go away but in some other parts, the people are the ones who will demand that the child is registered."

He also called attention to the fact that security agents are sometimes culpable in the act and should be better educated on their roles during elections. He said they should be better trained on protecting registration officers.

To combat the problem, Prof. Olurode advocated for the Federal Government to effect a system of harmonising several databases in the country to deter underage voting.

According to him, if the database of people with driving licences, passports, national identity cards and Bank Verification Numbers could be harmonised, it would be easier to get authentic information of Nigerians and curb underage voting.

INEC investigating Kano incident

While speaking at the Election Project Plan Implementation Workshop in Lagos on Friday, February 16, INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, promised that the commission has put plans in place to conduct a comprehensive investigation on the Kano elections.

He said, "We wish to assure Nigerians that the matter will be fully investigated. A National Commissioner will lead a team including technical staff drawn from Voter Registry, ICT and Electoral Operations Depts for an immediate and comprehensive investigation. We will share the findings with Nigerians."

Officials can't prevent underage voting - INEC

While addressing the controversy on the African Independent Television (AIT) on Wednesday, February 14, INEC's Director of Publicity and Voter Education, Oluwole Osaze-Uzzi, explained that the reason officials cannot prevent underage registration and voting in the region is that they are threatened by some members of the community.

He said when officials face apparent danger, they can decide to cave in to the pressure and report the issue when they are in a safe zone.

He said, "I agree that it is the responsibility of the registration officer to do that (refuse to register underage persons), but there are times that circumstances are such that where there is present and clear danger that he risks being assaulted or being killed, I think it will be unreasonable to expect him not to succumb to the pressure. But we encourage them to report immediately they get out of that dangerous zone."

Osaze-Uzzi further revealed that the agency has mechanisms in place to invalidate registrations that are made under undue pressure such as threat to life of officials.Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei and United States Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations Kurt Volker discussed possible ways of settling the Ukrainian conflict at their meeting in Munich, Germany, the Belarusian Foreign Ministry's press service said on Sunday.

"The possible settling of the Ukrainian conflict was in the focus of attention during the talks between Vladimir Makei and the special representative of the U.S. Department of State for Ukraine, Kurt Volker," the Belarusian Foreign Ministry said in its statement about Makei's participation in the 54th Munich Security Conference.

Makei and Munich Security Conference Chairman Wolfgang Ischinger discussed the modalities of the prospective meeting of the forum's main group planned in Minsk in the fall of 2018. The meeting will be dedicated to the subject of the East-West dialogue and regional security, it said.

Also, Makei met with Johannes Hahn, Commissioner for European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, and European External Action Service Secretary General Helga Schmid to discuss further interaction between Belarus and the European Union.

Makei held several other bilateral meetings and talks on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, the Belarusian Foreign Ministry said.This is coming after Wike accused the former Governor of sponsoring a protest against him.

The Rivers APC chairman, in a statement signed by his media aide, Chukwuemeka Eze said The total collapse of the education sector of Rivers State was further showcased by students of Secondary School cadre in the very heart of Port Harcourt when they decided to take their destiny in their hands by taking to the streets to protest.

The protested lack of teachers and classrooms blocks in their schools insisting that they be relocated to the model Secondary Schools built by the administration of Amaechi which Wike has kept under lock and key as they cant continue to study under unfavourable environment any more.

We have not forgotten so soon how Wike wickedly stopped the scholarship scheme instituted by Amaechi to assist indigent and bright children of Rivers State to have a better future thereby forcing most of these students studying abroad into prostitution and other criminal acts in foreign countries.

The protest and pleads from some of these students in the streets of London failed on deaf ears.

To worsen the plight of the Education sector of the State, Wike appointed one political jobber named Mr. Tamunosisi Gogo Jaja who spends most of his time sleeping in his office instead of attending to files that have accumulated so much without any space to keep them to completely decimate the education system.

ALSO READ:Amaechi says Wike thinks about him in the toilet

With a Governor who detests education with a passion coupled with an inept Commissioner who lacks ideas on how to improve the sector why should anybody be shocked of the pitiable condition of our education sector in Rivers State under Wike.

Rivers students protest over scholarship

In November 2017, a group of students from Rivers state studying in the United Kingdom, protested the non-payment of their school fees by the state government.

The protest was held at Chatham House where Governor Nyesom Wike was delivering a speech on his administration's performance.Takao Someya, the University of Tokyo professor who developed the device, envisions it as a boon for medical professionals with bed-ridden or far-flung patients, as well as family living far from their relatives.

"With this, even in home-care settings, you can achieve seamless sharing of medical data with your home doctors, who then would be able to communicate back to their patients," he told AFP.

Slapped onto the palm or back of a hand, it could flash reminders to patients to take their medicine, or even allow far-away grandchildren to communicate with their grandparents.

"Place displays on your skin, and you would feel as if it is part of your body. When you have messages sent to your hand, you would feel emotional closeness to the sender," Someya said.

"I think a grandfather who receives a message saying 'I love you' from his grandchild, they would feel the warmth, too."

The invention could prove particularly useful in Japan, with its rapidly ageing population, replacing the need for in-person checks by offering continuous, non-invasive monitoring of the sick and frail, Someya told AFP.

The display consists of a 16-by-24 array of micro LEDs and stretchable wiring mounted on a rubber sheet.

It also incorporates a lightweight sensor composed of a breathable "nanomesh" electrode, and a wireless communication module.

"Because this device can stretch, we now can paste a display on things with complex shapes, like skin," Someya said.

It can be placed on the human body for a week without causing skin inflammation, and is light enough that users might eventually even forget they are wearing it.

Along with medical applications, Someya hopes the device could eventually lead to wearable displays for joggers to monitor heart rates or check running routes.

He imagines labourers using the displays to consult manuals on their arms while working.

The device will be showcased at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Texas over the weekend.It was the third disaster to strike Iran in recent months, after an earthquake that killed at least 620 people in Kermanshah in November and 30 Iranian sailors were lost in an oil tanker collision off China's coast last month.

The ATR-72 twin-engine plane, in service for 25 years, left the capital around 0800 (0430 GMT) and was heading towards the city of Yasuj, some 500 kilometres (300 miles) to the south.

After conflicting reports on fatalities and the location of the crash, officials said rescue teams were still not able to find the wreckage.

"We still have no access to the spot of the crash and therefore we cannot accurately and definitely confirm the death of all passengers," Tabatabai told the ISNA news agency.

He said the plane was carrying 60 passengers, including one child, as well as six crew.

Jalal Pooranfar, regional head for Iran's emergency services, told the ISNA news agency rescue and relief teams had been sent to the possible area of the crash.

"But the helicopter could not continue its path due to snow and blizzard," he said.

Seyed Noor Mohammad Mousavi, head of the local Red Crescent office, told the IRNA news agency a drone had been dispatched to help find the wreckage.

A total of 120 people from 30 different emergency teams were sent to help with the search, another Red Crescent official said.

Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei sent a message of condolence, saying the news had "left our hearts overwhelmed with sadness and sorrow", according to state television.

Ageing fleets

A man who missed the doomed flight told reporters of his mixed emotions.

"God has been really kind to me but I am so sad from the bottom of my heart for all those dear ones who lost their lives," the unnamed man told the Tabnak news agency, which showed a picture of his unused ticket.

Decades of international isolation have left Iran's airlines with ageing fleets of passenger planes which they have struggled to maintain and modernise.

Aseman's fleet includes at least three ATR-72s that date back to the early 1990s, according to the IRNA news agency.

A spokesman for ATR, which is part-owned by Europe's Airbus, told AFP the company was "researching the details" of Sunday's crash.

President Hassan Rouhani ordered the transport ministry to set up a crisis group to investigate the crash and coordinate rescue efforts, ISNA reported.

Aseman's three Boeing 727-200s are almost as old as the country's 1979 Islamic revolution, having made their first flights the following year.

Iran has suffered multiple aviation disasters, most recently in 2014 when a Sepahan Airlines plane crashed killing 39 people just after take-off from Tehran, narrowly avoiding many more deaths when it plummeted near a busy market.

Lifting sanctions on aviation purchases was a key clause in the nuclear deal Iran signed with world powers in 2015.

Following the deal, Aseman Airlines finalised an agreement to buy 30 Boeing 737 MAX jets for $3 billion (2.4 billion euros) last June, with an option to buy 30 more.

However, the sale could be scuppered if US President Donald Trump chooses to reimpose sanctions in the coming months, as he has threatened to do.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered his condolences over Sunday's crash, just moments after he launched a blistering attack on Tehran's government.

"I take this opportunity to send condolences to the families of the 66 civilians that lost their lives," Netanyahu said at the Munich Security Conference.

"We have no quarrel with the people of Iran, only with the regime that torments them," he added.

The US Treasury Department, which must approve aviation sales to Iran, has done so for 80 Boeing jets destined for national carrier Iran Air as well as 100 Airbus planes for Iran Air.The authorities had called off the rescue effort overnight as heavy snow and rain made it impossible to work.

The ATR-72 twin-engine plane, in service for 25 years, left the capital's Mehrabad airport at around 8:00 am (0430 GMT) on Sunday and was heading towards the city of Yasuj, some 500 kilometres (300 miles) to the south.

It is thought to have crashed on the Dena mountain of Iran's southwestern Zagros range, but one official said there could be as many as 100 peaks to search in the vast and remote area.

"The visibility in the defined search area is not very good and there is turbulence, so these safety concerns must be taken into account,"Morteza Dehghan of the Civil Aviation Organisation told state television.

"Despite all these conditions, both land and air teams are active. As soon as permission is given, drones will be used as well."

Around 100 mountaineer rescue workers were deployed on Monday, state television said.

France's air safety agency BEA said it would take part in the investigation led by Britain's Air Accidents Investigation Branch.Mbalula told public broadcaster SABC that Ajay Gupta and another four people who are being sought in connection with the case were all out of the country.

While there was no indication that they fled the country fearing arrest, Mbalula vowed that they will "be followed up" through Interpol with the possibility of extradition to face trial in South Africa.

He said two of the suspects were of Indian descent and one other was Chinese. All are thought to be in India, China or Dubai.

"We operate through Interpol, we operate through bilateral (means), if you ever resist there will be extradition. All means necessary will be employed to ensure these people are brought to book," said Mbalula.

He refused to name the suspects except for Ajay Gupta who police last week declared a fugitive.

Local media reports suggested that Zuma's son Duduzane, a business associate of the Guptas, is also among those being sought, and some speculated that he could be in Dubai.

The minister refused to say whether Duduzane Zuma is on the police wanted list.

"There will be more arrests... it's not just a witch hunt," he added.

"It doesn't matter, if you are a politician ... there are no holy cows, there are no untouchables."

In all, 13 people are facing charges linked to allegations that millions of dollars of public money meant for poor dairy farmers was syphoned off by the Guptas. Eight other suspects were arrested last week and have appeared in court.He said the EU tried to get every aspiring member "to harmonise its foreign and defence policies" with that of the bloc, adding that this was "increasing tensions in Europe."

Serbia is seeking European Union membership. Moscow supports Belgrade in not recognising the independence of the former Serbian province of Kosovo, proclaimed a decade ago.

"It is senseless to talk now about Kosovo's place in the United Nations," Lavrov said.

He said that Resolution 1244, adopted in 1999 by the UN Security Council to end the conflict between Serbian forces and Kosovo Albanian pro-independence guerillas, "remains in place and recognises the autonomous province Kosovo as a part of Serbia."

The normalisation of ties with Kosovo and harmonisation of its diplomacy with that of the EU are among key criteria Serbia has to meet to join the bloc.

"Throughout the history of the Balkans, Russia has always tried to avoid confrontation and helped the people of this region to defend their interests... and their spiritual, religious and cultural roots."

Lavrov criticised the "politics of encircling Russia with the military infrastructure" of NATO and said one "should not strengthen one's own security at the expense of the security of others."

"NATO enlargement is a mistake," Lavrov said.

Montenegro joined NATO in 2017, while Macedonia is a candidate.

"No action currently undertaken by NATO increases anyone's security," Lavrov said.

The minister, due to arrive for a two-day visit to Serbia Wednesday, also defended the role played by the pro-Russian media in the Balkans.Millions of pamphlets, posters and stickers printed to defeat an incumbent in Serbia.

The long arm of Vladimir Putin? No, just a small sample of the U.S.'s history of intervention in foreign elections.

On Tuesday, U.S. intelligence chiefs warned the Senate Intelligence Committee that Russia appears to be preparing to repeat in the 2018 midterm elections the same full-on chicanery it unleashed in 2016: hacking, leaking, social media manipulation and possibly more. Then on Friday, Robert Mueller, the special counsel, announced the indictments of 13 Russians and three companies, run by a businessman with close Kremlin ties, laying out in astonishing detail a three-year scheme to use social media to attack Hillary Clinton, boost Donald Trump and sow discord.

Most Americans are understandably shocked by what they view as an unprecedented attack on our political system. But intelligence veterans, and scholars who have studied covert operations, have a different, and quite revealing, view.

If you ask an intelligence officer, did the Russians break the rules or do something bizarre, the answer is no, not at all, said Steven L. Hall, who retired in 2015 after 30 years at the CIA, where he was the chief of Russian operations. The United States absolutely has carried out such election influence operations historically, he said, and I hope we keep doing it.

Loch K. Johnson, the dean of U.S. intelligence scholars, who began his career in the 1970s investigating the CIA as a staff member of the Senates Church Committee, says Russias 2016 operation was simply the cyberage version of standard U.S. practice for decades, whenever U.S. officials were worried about a foreign vote.

Weve been doing this kind of thing since the CIA was created in 1947, said Johnson, now at the University of Georgia. Weve used posters, pamphlets, mailers, banners  you name it. Weve planted false information in foreign newspapers. Weve used what the British call King Georges cavalry: suitcases of cash.

The U.S. departure from democratic ideals sometimes went much further. The CIA helped overthrow elected leaders in Iran and Guatemala in the 1950s and backed violent coups in several other countries in the 1960s. It plotted assassinations and supported brutal anti-Communist governments in Latin America, Africa and Asia.

But in recent decades, both Hall and Johnson argued, Russian and U.S. interferences in elections have not been morally equivalent. U.S. interventions have generally been aimed at helping non-authoritarian candidates challenge dictators or otherwise promoting democracy. Russia has more often intervened to disrupt democracy or promote authoritarian rule, they said.

Equating the two, Hall says, is like saying cops and bad guys are the same because they both have guns  the motivation matters.

This broader history of election meddling has largely been missing from the flood of reporting on the Russian intervention and the investigation of whether the Trump campaign was involved. It is a reminder that the Russian campaign in 2016 was fundamentally old-school espionage, even if it exploited new technologies. And it illuminates the larger currents of history that drove U.S. electoral interventions during the Cold War and motivate Russias actions today.

A Carnegie Mellon scholar, Dov H. Levin, has scoured the historical record for both overt and covert election influence operations. He found 81 by the United States and 36 by the Soviet Union or Russia between 1946 and 2000, though the Russian count is undoubtedly incomplete.

Im not in any way justifying what the Russians did in 2016, Levin said. It was completely wrong of Vladimir Putin to intervene in this way. That said, the methods they used in this election were the digital version of methods used both by the United States and Russia for decades: breaking into party headquarters, recruiting secretaries, placing informants in a party, giving information or disinformation to newspapers.

His findings underscore how routine election meddling by the United States  sometimes covert and sometimes quite open  has been.

The precedent was established in Italy with assistance to non-Communist candidates from the late 1940s to the 1960s. We had bags of money that we delivered to selected politicians, to defray their expenses, said F. Mark Wyatt, a former CIA officer, in a 1996 interview.

Covert propaganda has also been a mainstay. Richard M. Bissell Jr., who ran the agencys operations in the late 1950s and early 1960s, wrote casually in his autobiography of exercising control over a newspaper or broadcasting station, or of securing the desired outcome in an election. A self-congratulatory declassified report on the CIAs work in Chiles 1964 election boasts of the hard work the agency did supplying large sums to its favored candidate and portraying him as a wise, sincere and high-minded statesman while painting his leftist opponent as a calculating schemer.

CIA officials told Johnson in the late 1980s that insertions of information into foreign news media, mostly accurate but sometimes false, were running at 70 to 80 a day. In the 1990 election in Nicaragua, the CIA planted stories about corruption in the leftist Sandinista government, Levin said. The opposition won.

Over time, more U.S. influence operations have been mounted not secretly by the CIA but openly by the State Department and its affiliates. For the 2000 election in Serbia, the United States funded a successful effort to defeat Slobodan Milosevic, the nationalist leader, providing political consultants and millions of stickers with the oppositions clenched-fist symbol and Hes finished in Serbian, printed on 80 tons of adhesive paper and delivered by a Washington contractor.

Vince Houghton, who served in the military in the Balkans at the time and worked closely with the intelligence agencies, said he saw U.S. efforts everywhere. We made it very clear that we had no intention of letting Milosevic stay in power, said Houghton, now the historian at the International Spy Museum.

Similar efforts were undertaken in elections in wartime Iraq and Afghanistan, not always with success. After Hamid Karzai was re-elected president of Afghanistan in 2009, he complained to Robert Gates, then the secretary of defense, about the United States blatant attempt to defeat him, which Gates calls in his memoir our clumsy and failed putsch.

At least once the hand of the United States reached boldly into a Russian election. U.S. fears that Boris Yeltsin would be defeated for re-election as president in 1996 by an old-fashioned Communist led to an overt and covert effort to help him, urged on by President Bill Clinton. It included an American push for a $10 billion International Monetary Fund loan to Russia four months before the voting and a team of U.S. political consultants (though some Russians scoffed when they took credit for the Yeltsin win).

That heavy-handed intervention made some Americans uneasy. Thomas Carothers, a scholar at the Carnegie Institute for International Peace, recalls arguing with a State Department official who told him at the time, Yeltsin is democracy in Russia, to which Carothers said he replied, Thats not what democracy means.

But what does democracy mean? Can it include secretly undermining an authoritarian ruler or helping challengers who embrace democratic values? How about financing civic organizations?

In recent decades, the most visible U.S. presence in foreign politics has been taxpayer-funded groups like the National Endowment for Democracy, the National Democratic Institute and the International Republican Institute, which do not support candidates but teach basic campaign skills, build democratic institutions and train election monitors.

Most Americans view such efforts as benign  indeed, charitable. But Putin sees them as hostile. The National Endowment for Democracy gave grants years ago to Alexei Navalny, now Putins main political nemesis. In 2016, the endowment gave 108 grants totaling $6.8 million to organizations in Russia for such purposes as engaging activists and fostering civic engagement. The endowment no longer names Russian recipients, who, under Russian laws cracking down on foreign funding, can face harassment or arrest.

It is easy to understand why Putin sees such American cash as a threat to his rule, which tolerates no real opposition. But U.S. veterans of democracy promotion find abhorrent Putins insinuations that their work is equivalent to what the Russian government is accused of doing in the United States today.

Its not just apples and oranges, said Kenneth Wollack, president of the National Democratic Institute. Its comparing someone who delivers lifesaving medicine to someone who brings deadly poison.

What the CIA may have done in recent years to steer foreign elections is still secret and may not be known for decades. It may be modest by comparison with the agencys Cold War manipulation. But some old-timers arent so sure.

I assume theyre doing a lot of the old stuff, because, you know, it never changes, said William J. Daugherty, who worked for the CIA from 1979-96 and at one time had the job of reviewing covert operations. The technology may change, but the objectives dont.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.The argument echoed one made by Carles Puigdemont, the regions former leader, when he fled to Belgium in October after Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy of Spain disbanded the regional government and authorities sought Puigdemonts arrest on sedition charges.

Gabriels party raised doubts in a statement Saturday that she and other separatist leaders could be guaranteed a fair trial in Spain. The party said prosecutors were seeking very high prison sentences, and it accused the Spanish judiciary of handling the case so far in a way far from the impartiality that should be guaranteed by judicial authorities.

Spanish politicians on Sunday warned Gabriel against following Puigdemonts example. Were noting today that it looks as if the modus operandi of Puigdemont is spreading, Andrea Levy, a senior member of Rajoys conservative Popular Party, told reporters.

Gabriel will eventually have to answer for her serious irresponsibilities, Levy added. You have to answer before Spanish justice, because no form of escapism is acceptable.

While Spains judiciary has been seeking to try as many as 28 leaders of Catalonias independence movement, Catalan lawmakers have been tussling over how to form a regional government after pro-independence parties narrowly retained their parliamentary majority in a December election. Puigdemont hopes to be reappointed leader of Catalonia despite being in Brussels, and Oriol Junqueras, the leader of the other main separatist party, is being held in prison in Madrid after being denied bail.

Gabriel is among a handful of Catalan politicians called to appear in court in Madrid this week. They could face charges of sedition and rebellion after advocating independence for Catalonia in violation of the Spanish Constitution, and for organizing a referendum on independence on Oct. 1 that had been declared illegal by the Constitutional Court. Gabriels party said it would announce on Tuesday, a day before her court summons, whether she would return to Spain.

Switzerland is not in the European Union, but it has an extradition pact with Spain and forms part of the Schengen agreement that allows passport-free travel across much of the Continent.

The New York TimesMr Etale revealed to Pulselive.co.ke via text that it would be necessary for Mr Odinga to attend the burial of Mr Tsvangirai, whose burial, according to the son, is set for Tuesday, February 20. Mr Etale, however, failed to divulge more details on when the former Prime Minister would leave the country.

Morgan was his close friend and it would be necessary for him to attend the funeral and give him his final respects as a fallen comrade in the struggle for a just, democratic and fair society, Mr Etale said in a text message to Pulselive.co.ke.

Early Monday, speculations were rife that the former Premier had left the county fro then burial of Zimbabwes opposition politics icon.

ALSO READ: Boinnet issues stern warning to police officers wearing this uniform

Swearing-in backlash

This will be the first trip Raila Odinga after being sworn in as the People President.

It is also expected that Mr Odinga and his Namibias opposition counterpart and Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) leader McHenry Venaani will address mourners at 4 pm at the partys headquarters at Harvest House.

Tsvangirai died on February 14 in South Africa after a long battle with colon cancer. His remains have already been flown back to Zimbabwe.

The late Tsvangirai, according to the local media reports which quoted his son, would be buried on Tuesday in his Buhera home in Zimbabwe.

Earlier, Mr Odinga mourned Mr Tsvangirai as a patriot who "dared to dream of democracy, freedom and justice for his country and his people despite the firm hands of dictatorship that held sway."

"Until his death Mr. Tsvangirai remained a source of inspiration to a generation of leaders across the continent for his courage in the face of monumental odds. His death leaves a gap in a country that still needs strong forces of change to return to the path of democracy," Mr Odinga said in a series of tweets after learning his death.

O Sunday, a memorial service for the late Tsvangirai was held in a packed church in the capital Harare, while outside hundreds of supporters of his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) gathered.

President Emerson Mnangagwa visited Tsvangirai's family to offer condolences ahead of the service.

"Let us all be brothers and sisters, and come together and mourn our former prime minister," he said after his visit.

"When we write the history of this country, we cannot leave out the participation and role that the former prime minister played in the effort to entrench democratic values in this country," Mr Mnangagwa added.Two Russian fighters blown up by militant-laid landmines in Donbas, one dies

Two Russian soldiers near the Svitlodarska Duha bulge in the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) area in Donbas have been blown up by militant-laid landmines, killing one of them, the ATO Headquarters press service has said.

"According to ATO reconnaissance, two militants of the so-called 7th separate motorized rifle brigade of the illegal armed militant formations set off their own landmines near frontline positions of the ATO at the Svitlodarska Duha bulge on February 18," the press service said on its Facebook page on Sunday evening.

Both militants were Russian citizens, it added.

"One was Vladimir Vladimirovych Lyubinov, born in 1988, a resident of Russian's Krasnodar Krai, who died. The other was Sergei Valeryevich Mikhailov, born in birth 1972, a resident of Astrakhan (Vodnikov Street, ap. 55), who was wounded in a landmine blast," the ATO HQ said.

According to ATO HQ, pro-Russia media may accuse ATO forces of violating the Minsk Agreements and blame the incident on Ukrainian military forces.

"One more fact demonstrating Russian presence in Donbas has been found. A check is underway to find out whether the fighters are members of the Russian armed forces," the press release said.Mr Tsvangirai succumbed to colon cancer last week.

Mr Etale revealed to Pulselive.co.ke via text that it would be necessary for Mr Odinga to attend the burial of Mr Tsvangirai, whose burial, according to the son, is set for Tuesday, February 20. Mr Etale, however, failed to divulge more details on when the former Prime Minister would leave the country.

Morgan was his close friend and it would be necessary for him to attend the funeral and give him his final respects as a fallen comrade in the struggle for a just, democratic and fair society, Mr Etale said in a text message to Pulselive.co.ke.

Early Monday, speculations were rife that the former Premier had left the county fro then burial of Zimbabwes opposition politics icon.

ALSO READ: Boinnet issues stern warning to police officers wearing this uniform

Swearing-in backlash

This will be the first trip Raila Odinga after being sworn in as the People President.

It is also expected that Mr Odinga and his Namibias opposition counterpart and Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) leader McHenry Venaani will address mourners at 4 pm at the partys headquarters at Harvest House.

Tsvangirai died on February 14 in South Africa after a long battle with colon cancer. His remains have already been flown back to Zimbabwe.

The late Tsvangirai, according to the local media reports which quoted his son, would be buried on Tuesday in his Buhera home in Zimbabwe.

Earlier, Mr Odinga mourned Mr Tsvangirai as a patriot who "dared to dream of democracy, freedom and justice for his country and his people despite the firm hands of dictatorship that held sway."

"Until his death Mr. Tsvangirai remained a source of inspiration to a generation of leaders across the continent for his courage in the face of monumental odds. His death leaves a gap in a country that still needs strong forces of change to return to the path of democracy," Mr Odinga said in a series of tweets after learning his death.

O Sunday, a memorial service for the late Tsvangirai was held in a packed church in the capital Harare, while outside hundreds of supporters of his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) gathered.

President Emerson Mnangagwa visited Tsvangirai's family to offer condolences ahead of the service.

"Let us all be brothers and sisters, and come together and mourn our former prime minister," he said after his visit.

"When we write the history of this country, we cannot leave out the participation and role that the former prime minister played in the effort to entrench democratic values in this country," Mr Mnangagwa added.In a tweet, Mr. Miguna stated that his return would mark the mothers of all liberation wars. He went ahead to assure his supporters that the date of his return will be announced soon and they ought to be ready.

I have put on my 5-Star General's uniform. My return date will be announced soon. It's going to be the mother of all liberation wars," he tweeted.

Liberation war

A liberation war is a war fought to gain independence for a country or to free it from oppression.

Migunas lawyers led by Senior Counsel John Khaminwa moved to court to challenge the deportation which was conducted under unclear circumstances.

Last week, High court judge Luka Kimaru ruled that the deportation was illegal and ordered Director of Immigration Gordon Kihalangwa to surrender Miguna's revoked passport to the court within seven days.

CS Matiangi declaration of Miguna Miguna as a foreigner and consequent deportation is declared null and void, Judge Kimaru said.

Kibicho to appeal High Court ruling

In a statement, Mr. Kibicho noted that the ruling was not in the best interest of the country.

We believe the ruling by Justice Luka Kimaru which further directs the Director of Immigration Services to surrender Migunas illegally acquired passport within seven days is not in the best interests of the country, the statement read in part.

The lawyer was deported to Canada after participating in the swearing-in of National Super Alliance (NASA) leader Raila Odinga as the Peoples President.

Miguna dramatic arrest

Before his deportation, he was arrested and transferred to several police stations despite court orders to Inspector General Joseph to present Miguna before Milimani Court.

Later, he was taken to a Kajiado Court where he refused to take a plea and demanded he be presented before the Milimani Court.Opinion

Ryan Bridge: The Govt's COVID-19 messaging is all over the shop - do lockdowns stop when enough Kiwis are vaccinated?Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis at a meeting in Munich have discussed the situation in Donbas and the need to introduce a peacekeeping mission, sanctions against the Russian Federation, as well as further steps to strengthen Ukraine's defense capability.

"The parties discussed the situation in Donbas and expressed concern over the ongoing attempts of Russia and militants it supports to undermine the peace process ... discussed further steps to strengthen Ukraine's defense stability, and also noted the priority of development of strategic partnership between Kyiv and Washington," the presidential press service said.

Poroshenko and Mattis also considered the necessity of placing the UN peacekeeping mission in Donbas in accordance with the UN principles and the objectives of the Minsk process.

The sides stressed the importance of the policy of sanctions against the Russian Federation until Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereignty is restored.

Poroshenko expressed gratitude for the important decisions of Washington in the issue of strengthening the capabilities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the country's defense capacity, noting that the latest decisions made by Washington are a signal to the aggressor against any intentions to escalate the situation in Donbas.BOLIVIA: Ferroviaria Andina has placed the first order for three locomotives to Stadlers South American Light Loco design, which has been developed specifically for the Latin American market.The first freight train used the newly built link from Astara in Azerbaijan to the similarly named freight facility on the Iranian side of the border on February 8. Six wagons from Russia were loaded with timber and MDF.Convicted ex-governor of Sakhalin appeals prison sentence for corruption

 RIA Novosti, Aleksey Druzhinin

10:59 19/02/2018

MOSCOW, February 19 (RAPSI)  Former governor of the Sakhalin Region, Alexander Khoroshavin, who had been found guilty of corruption, has appealed his 13-year prison sentence, lawyer Yury Syuzyumov has told RAPSI.

Earlier, prison sentence of the governors counsellor Andrey Ikramov was also appealed.

On February 9, the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk City Court sentenced Khoroshavin, to 13 years in a high-security penal colony and fined him 500 million rubles (about $8.6 million). Ikramov was sentenced to 9.5 years and fined 171 million rubles (nearly $3 million), and deputy governor of the region, Sergey Karepkin, was sentenced to 8 years and fined 4 million rubles (nearly $70,000). All of the defendants were found guilty of bribe-taking and laundering of illegally obtained funds.

The court found that in 2009 Khoroshavin established an organized criminal group with Karepkin and Ikramov. In 2009-2015, the criminals received over 522 million rubles (nearly $9 million) from regional entrepreneurs.

President Vladimir Putin dismissed Khoroshavin from his post due to loss of trust in March 2015.

In April 2015, Khoroshavin was charged in another criminal case with taking a bribe of at least 15 million rubles ($230,000) for providing credits on advantageous terms to one of the local businessmen. He pleaded not guilty.

In January 2016, the third criminal case was opened against Khoroshavin. According to investigators, he took 27 million rubles ($414,000) in bribes from candidates for the positions in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk City Duma in 2014.

In May 2016, a court in Yuzno-Sakhalinsk granted a motion by prosecutors for confiscation of property belonging to Khoroshavin, his wife and son. In particular, expensive apartments, fancy cars, money, jewelry were taken to the state based upon the facts of corruption established by investigation. The family appealed the ruling.

Interestingly, in September 2015, Irina Khoroshavina filed for divorce and division of property.Moscow court declares ex-banker Motylev bankrupt

 flickr.com/StockMonkeys.com

12:59 19/02/2018

MOSCOW, February 19 (RAPSI)  The Moscow Commercial Court has declared Russian businessman Anatoly Motylev bankrupt, RAPSI has learnt in the court.

In January, the court granted claims filed by two companies and a number of persons asking to include 15 million rubles (about $266 million) in creditors demands list against Motylev.

On February 6, 2017, the court initiated debt restructuring process against Motylev on the request of Flowery Development Limited. The businessman owes the company 974 million rubles ($17.2 million).

On July 22, 2016, Flowery Development filed the bankruptcy claim against Motylev but it was not reviewed by the court because of lack of provided evidence. The court accepted the claim after all violations were lifted.

Motylev is the former owner of several Russian banks including Russian credit, M-Bank and Tulsky Industrialist. In the summer of 2015, the Central Bank of Russia withdrew the licenses of those banks. All four banks were declared bankrupt.

According to business media, Motylev is a defendant in a large-scale fraud case reportedly related to alleged embezzlement at M-Bank. In May 2016, the Basmanny District Court of Moscow seized Motylevs property, including land plots and apartments in the Moscow Region.Karelia lake tragedy hearings set for February 21

 RIA Novosti, Ruslan Krivobok

14:45 19/02/2018

MOSCOW, February 19 (RAPSI)  The Pryazhinsky District Court in Russias Republic of Karelia has scheduled preliminary hearing of a case over childrens death in the local lake Syamozero for February 21, according to the courts website.

Defendants in the case are former head of Karelias Rospotrebnadzor Anatoly Kovalenko, his deputy Lyudmila Kotovich, director of Syamozero Park Hotel camp Elena Reshetova, her deputy Vadim Vinogradov and the camps instructors Valery Krupodershikov and Pavel Ilyin.

Reshetova, Vinogradov Krupodershikov and Ilyin were charged with rendering of services in violation of safety protocol which accidentally lead two or more people to death. Kovalenko and Kotovich were charged with negligence.

According to investigators, on June 18, 2016, 47 children and instructors of the childrens camp Park-Hotel Syamozero were sailing on a raft and two canoes over the lake Syamozero in Karelia despite the fact that management of the camp, including Reshetova, Vinogradov, Krupodershchikov and Ilyin were informed about dangerous weather conditions.

Children were accompanied by 4 adults (Vinogradov, Krupodershchikov, Regina Ivanova and Lyudmila Vasilyeva) who did not take gathering storm into account. Storm made sailing extremely dangerous: a raft with children and two adults washed up near one of the islands while both canoes were capsized, leaving passengers in the open waters. Only some managed to swim across to the shore. 14 children drowned. Other children survived and were evacuated.

Investigators allege that Reshetova, Vinogradov and Krupodershikov deliberately refused to notify local emergency services about the accident to prevent negative reaction of society from ruining camps reputation and inflicting losses. Defendants in the case are believed to abandon children in water during the storm.

Investigators also believe that former officials of Karelias Rospotrebnadzor, Kovalenko and Kotovich, were aware about unsavory conditions at the camp and did not take appropriate measures eventually leading to the tragedy.

On August 10, 2016, the Commercial Court of the Republic of Karelia fined infamous Park-Hotel Syamozero 200,000 rubles (about $3,500 at the current exchange rate). The court thus granted a lawsuit lodged by the republican Health Ministry demanding to hold the camp administratively liable. According to court records, the ministrys lawsuit was conditioned by licensing violation committed by the defendant.

In April 2017, ambulance paramedic Irina Shcherbakova, who had allegedly refused to notify rescue services about children drowning in Syamozero, received a 3-year prison term. The sentence is suspended until Shcherbakovas daughter reaches the age of 14.Russian ombudsman asks Director of U.S. Bureau of Prisons to protect Yaroshenkos rights

 Konstantin Yaroshenko's defense

15:59 19/02/2018

MOSCOW, February 19 (RAPSI)  Russias Human Rights Commissioner Tatiana Moskalkova has asked Director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons Mark S. Inch for checking prison conditions of pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko, who is serving a 20-year sentence in the U.S. for conspiracy to smuggle cocaine, and protection of his rights, the ombudsmans press office has told RAPSI.

According to the request directed to Inch, Moskalkova is concerned about tightening of Yaroshenkos conditions of serving the sentence. In particular, the pilot has been prohibited from buying food and medicine. Moreover, the number of visits and walks will be limited for Yaroshenko in March 2018.

Toughening of prison conditions contradicts both international standards set for penitentiary institutions and operational policy of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Russias ombudsman stated.

Konstantin Yaroshenko was arrested in Liberia on May 28, 2010 and flown to the United States soon afterwards. On September 7, 2011, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison for colluding to smuggle cocaine into the United States. He was caught after replying to an advertisement posted by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents who claimed they were selling a cargo plane for $1.

He is serving time in the Federal Correctional Institution in Fort Dix, New Jersey.

In May 2016, a U.S. court dismissed his appeal for a retrial. Russias Foreign Ministry said this is evidence that Yaroshenkos conviction was politically influenced.

It was reported in February 2014 that Yaroshenko experienced strong migraine headaches and heart pain, which could be symptoms of a possible heart attack. Moscow has repeatedly expressed concern over the pilots health and pledged to continue working to ensure respect of his rights in the United States.Ukraine sends memorandum on violation of Sea Convention by Russia to The Hague

 RIA Novosti

18:01 19/02/2018

MOSCOW, February 19 (RAPSI)  Ukraine has filed a memorandum on violation of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the part of Russia with the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, a statement published on the Ukrainian Foreign Ministrys website on Monday reads.

According to the memorandum, Russia has breached Ukraines sovereign rights in the Black Sea, the Azov Sea, and the Kerch Strait.

Ukraine filed an application with the Permanent Court of Arbitration claiming that Russia had violated the UN maritime convention in September 2016. Kiev accused Russia of infringing its right to use areas of water and continental shelf in maritime zones adjacent to Crimea.President Putin extends capital amnesty for one year

 RIA Novosti, Mikhail Klementyev

17:27 19/02/2018

MOSCOW, February 19 (RAPSI)  Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed bills extending the timeline for capital amnesty in Russia until February 28, 2019, into law, according to the official website of legal information.

The bills have been drafted by a group of lawmakers in furtherance of Putins initiatives suggesting this policy should be continued in 2018. They were adopted by the State Duma on February 9. The upper house of parliament, the Federation Council, approved the documents on February 14.

According to the documents, during the second phase of the amnesty, set from January 1, 2018, till February 28, 2019, applicants would be able to declare their bank accounts and deposits in foreign banks by January 1, 2018. They would also be able to declare their accounts and deposits opened before that date but closed before filing an application. The latter may be filed with any tax office or the Central Department of the Federal Tax Service.

The timeline for the liquidation of foreign companies will be extended until March 1, 2019.Property details:

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Nearby ResidentialReforms are necessary for Ukraine itself and its citizens, it should not be a favor to the Western partners, Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland has stated.

"Don't do this for us. Reforms are needed for Ukrainians and for Ukraine ... This is not some kind of favor that Ukraine should do to the West. Ukrainians should do this for themselves," she said, speaking at the Ukrainian lunch "Ukraine on the Frontlines of a New Kind of Warfare: Lessons for the West, and Prospects for Peace" organized by the Victor Pinchuk Foundation in the framework of the 54th Munich Security Conference on Saturday.

According to the official, Ukraine should initiate and carry out reforms for its citizens.Find a great selection of commercial real estate, manufactured homes, timeshares and more for Sale

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We're sorry, this article is not currently availableThe director of Elita-center construction company and his associate have been arrested in Kyiv for seeking a $50,000 bribe, the press service of the Prosecutor's Office in Kyiv has reported.

"On request of Kyiv's local prosecutor's office No. 9 the director of Elita-center construction company detained for seeking a $50,000 bribe was arrested for the period of 60 days with UAH 1.3 million bail option," the prosecutor's office said on its website on Sunday.

In addition, the associate of the director, head of PSP Ltd. construction and investment company, was arrested for 60 days with a UAH 140,000 bail option. The prosecutor's office will challenge the sum of the bail for the second detainee.

The prosecutor's office recalled that the director of Elita-center LLC in collusion with the head of PSP Ltd. demanded from the owner of an apartment in the residential complex built by Elita-center $50,000 for the termination of a property dispute on declaring the ownership right to this apartment.

The crime figures were detained on February 15, 2018 in Kyiv.

The pretrial investigation is conducted with the involvement of Kyiv's local prosecutor's office No. 9 and the economy protection department in Kyiv of the economy protection department of the National Police of Ukraine.Videos

Sorry, there are no recent results for popular videos.The Enforcement Directorate on Monday searched the Mumbai residence of diamond merchant Nirav Modi and seized assets worth Rs 5,716 crore as raids continued for the fifth day in connection with the agency money laundering probe in the alleged Rs 11,400-crore Punjab National Bank fraud.

IMAGE: ED has so far seized diamonds, gold jewellery and other precious stones worth Rs 5,716 crore in the case and summoned Modi and Choksi, the promoter of Gitanjali Gems, to appear before it on February 23 at its Mubai zonal office.

Official sources said ED sleuths searched Modis flat in the Samudra Mahal apartments in south Mumbai's Worli area.

The central probe agency also conducted searches at 38 other locations in several cities, including Mumbai, Pune, Aurangabad, Thane, Kolkata, Delhi, Jammu, Lucknow, Bengaluru and Surat.

It seized fresh assets worth Rs 22 crore that include precious stones, cash and gold from the premises of Modi, his relative and business partner Mehul Choksi and others.

The agency has so far seized diamonds, gold jewellery and other precious stones worth Rs 5,716 crore in the case and summoned Modi and Choksi, the promoter of Gitanjali Gems, to appear before it on February 23 at its Mubai zonal office.

ED sources said the agency is also talking to senior PNB officials to ascertain how Letters of Understanding are issued and other bank operations done.

It also obtained information from the whistleblower in the case who had said he had raised flags against Choksis loan in 2013.

We are looking at securing the proceeds of crime. The ED will probe how much illicit wealth was created by the accused in the alleged fraud, a senior official said.

It has also sought PNBs audit reports since 2011 from the RBI, they said.

IMAGE: A man looks through the grill as CBI team seals Punjab National Banks South Mumbai branch at Brady House in Mumbai on Monday. The PNB fraud case involving jeweller Nirav Modi was allegedly carried out of this branch. Photograph: Shashank Parade/PTI Photo

The sources said the ED was looking at collecting all financial documents -- personal and official -- of Modi, Choksi and their businesses to take the probe forward and attach properties in the coming days.

A number of computer peripherals, hard drives and documents have been seized since the ED raids began on February 15. The seized items are being scrutinised, another official said.

ED Director Karnal Singh also flew down to Mumbai on Monday to review the anti-money laundering investigations, which are being conducted by a special team of the agency.

The ED is also moving to attach at least two dozen immovable properties of Modi, Choksi and their concerns under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

The ED and the Income Tax department have zeroed in on about 200 dummy or shell companies in India and abroad that were being used to route or receive funds as part of the alleged fraud.

It is suspected that the shell firms were being used by the accused to launder money and create benami assets in the form of land, gold and precious stones, which is now being probed by the tax department.

IMAGE: A woman looks on as CBI team seals Punjab National Banks South Mumbai branch at Brady House in Mumbai. Photograph: Shashank Parade/PTI Photo

Modi, Choksi and others are being investigated by multiple probe agencies after it recently came to light, following a complaint by the PNB, that they allegedly cheated the nationalised bank to the tune of Rs 11,400 crore, with the purported involvement of a few employees of the bank.

The CBI and the ED have registered two FIRs each to probe the case.

CVC steps in, meets top banks and finance ministry officials

Central Vigilance Commissioner K V Chowdary on Monday met senior officials of Punjab National Bank and the finance ministry in connection with the Rs 11,400 crore fraud case, allegedly involving billionaire Nirav Modi and others, being probed by the CBI.

The banks officials are understood to have shared with the Central Vigilance Commission details of the action taken by them to deal with the fraud, official sources said.

They also shared details of the action taken by the management against the officials found allegedly involved in it, they said.

The meeting, which started at 11 am lasted for more than two hours, the sources said.

Besides Chowdary, Vigilance Commissioner T M Bhasin and officials from the finance ministry and PNB attended the meeting, they said.Health insurance expert Anil Rego in an online chat with readers answers health insurance queries.



Illustration: Dominic Xavier/Rediff.com

Prashant Soni: Can I buy 2-3 policies and pay the final hospital bill by dividing the amount among these 2-3 policies? If YES, Is there any specific process do I need to follow?

Anil Rego: We cannot divide the amount among all the policies. The way it works is, use one policy fully and take the next policy and use it fully and move to the last one.

Manisha Satpute: What are the advantages of sticking to one Health Insurance company for a long time?

Anil Rego: There are few advantages: the most important one is once you have completed the exclusion period; you can cover all the health ailments. If you move to a new policy, you will have a waiting period.

You will also get additional discounts with the existing insurer (in some cases) towards premium. Many health insurers offer health free health check-up mostly after 2 years of completion.

Kashi Gupta: I have mediclaim policy for 1 lakh each individual for me and my wife i am 64 years and my wife is 62 years i want to increase to at least 5 lakhs each or 10 lakhs floater please suggest best policy?

Anil Rego: Since you and your spouse are senior citizen and assuming you have no pre-existing health conditions, you can go for Star Red carpet policy, which will have no medical check-up and guaranteed issuance. However this is an individual policy.

If you wish to go for a floater, medical examination is must for both.

You can select from Religare Care, ICICI Lombard i Health, Apollo Munich Optima Restore.

prasanta bora: I want to take health insurance policy for my family (2+1).age 49, 41 & 9...one adult member have diabetic suggest the best policy.

Anil Rego: You can look among from Religare Care, ICICI Lombard i Health, Apollo Munich Optima Restore. However, you need to disclose the diabetic condition of the family member while applying for the policy.

You must note that for the diabetic conditions, there will be certain waiting periods which ranges from 2-4 years depending on the insurer.

Jayateerth Managoli: Is it good to add cancer or critical illness with the health policies?

Anil Rego: Yes, it is always advisable as the person will get the lump sum amount where defined disease is detected. However, it will cost additionally.

harjit singh: When patient has been referred from periphery to cancer hospital for suspected malignancy. But insurance company don't allow under cashless for admission & say that first inform us final diagnose and treatment? How it is possible without investigation & what to do in this situation?

Anil Rego: It is a diagnosis test and you require 24hrs of hospitalisation of settlement of any claim. However, if the patient is hospitalised and treated, post the discharge, you can claim these expenses as pre-hospitalisation expenses (as reimbursement).

Sharmil Jain: I am leaving my job. Can I get my corporate mediclaim policy changed to personal mediclaim policy?

Anil Rego: No. It cannot be done. We suggest you to take an individual or family floater policy.

Kishor Sakpal: I'm diabetic, my age is 39, can I still get 100 percent mediclaim? Also, please suggest policy.

Anil Rego: Yes, however, there will be certain waiting period. You must also note that the policy issuance depends on the medical examination results and the underwriter's discretion.

Vinayak Tavade: Does Health Insurance cover everything from accident, surgery, normal hospitalisation?

Anil Rego: Yes. However, not self sustained injuries.

Nitin Deshmukh: Can a person get claim from his own company and spouse's company if they are covered under both companies?

Anil Rego: You can claim from one company only. However, the cost increases beyond the coverage, you can use other person's policy to the extent of health cover given.

Jenny Dsouza: Can NRIs take health insurance? Can they travel to India for treatment and claim? What about emergency situations?

Anil Rego: Yes, NRIs can take a health insurance policy. However, the coverage will be limited only for the treatment within India and typically paid in Indian Rupees.

Madhumita Gosh: Is it better to take accidental policy separately or mix it with term insurance as a rider?

Anil Rego: Better to take it as a rider as it will cost less.

susarla suryaprakasam: Why Autonomous health institutes like NIMS, NIMHANS etc. are not included for cashless, as it happened in my case with Medi claim - United India when I joined in NIMS, Hyderabad?

Anil Rego: The decision to be part of network hospital is at the discretion of the hospital. We must need to check the network hospitals while we go for a health policy. A health care policy which has higher no of hospitals, strong geographical presence and inclusion of well known hospitals and high claim ratio is better to go with.

Rahul Kulkarni: Which is best floater family policy for following criteria -age 43,38,9? One adult has hypertension; lifelong renewable4-6 lac cover no co-pay increasing cover each year critical illness cover waiting period 2-3 years annual health checkups ayurveda treatment cover

Anil Rego: You can go for ICICI Lombard i Health; it has two years of waiting period for the hypertension and ayurrveda treatment is covered.

subrata ghosh: What is the best mediclaim policy for my family having wife, daughter (age 2 years), brother and mother?

Anil Rego: You can go for Max Bupa family floater plans which can cover brother as well.

Nitin Deshmukh: Can a person get claim from his own company and spouse's company if they are covered under both companies?

Anil Rego: You can claim from one company only. However, the cost increases beyond the coverage, you can use other person's policy to the extent of health cover given. You can claim from one company only. However, if the cost increases beyond the coverage, you can use other person's policy to the extent of health cover given

Dr-Fayyaz Khan: I have Royal Sundaram policy for last 9 years and no claim but last year due to demonetisation premium was late and policy got cancelled they given me new policy. Can I switch to another company?

Anil Rego: Yes, you can switch from one company to another. However, premium may change.

roshan kumar: My self 35 years diabetics' patient needs to buy mediclaim insurance with family. pls advise.

Anil Rego: Yes, however, there will be certain waiting period. You must also note that the policy issuance depends on the medical examination results and the underwriter's discretion. We recommend Star Diabetic plan may be well suited for your need.

Sharmil Jain: Would my corporate policy expire, if i leave the job or can i reap its benefits till its term completion?

Anil Rego: No. You need to take a new policy.

RAJESH SHARMA: I have a star Health Family Health Optima from 2012 onwards. May I know what is covered under this policy?

Anil Rego: Kindly check your policy document or speak to the customer care with your policy details. They shall provide you the details.

Praveen Asuthker: Why there is no benefit of NO CLAIM for Floater policy holder under new India assurance / family floater policy?

Anil Rego: You need to check that with the Insurer.The Rs 11,400 crore PNB fraud saga unfolded after a bribery complaint by the Hong Kong branch of an Indian bank.

Image: A Nirav Modi jewellery showroom at Defence Colony area of New Delhi. Enforcement Directorate last week conducted searches at Nirav Modis home, showrooms and offices in Mumbai, Delhi and Surat following Punjab National Banks complaint of massive fraudulent transactions to benefit the celebrity jeweller. Photograph: Kamal Singh/PTI Photo.

Did an employee at one of the Nirav Modi companies overseas shoot his master in the foot? Highly placed sources point to such an eventuality.

According to sources, the saga unfolded after a bribery complaint by the Hong Kong branch of an Indian bank. An employee of the billionaire told the bank officials that the reason why a particular Letter of Undertaking was delayed was that an official of Punjab National Banks Mumbai office in Brady House had asked for a bribe to issue the guarantee.

It was business as usual for the overseas branch to bring this to the notice of the Reserve Bank of India, which immediately asked for an explanation from the PNB officials. Upon preliminary investigations, the suspicion for the bribe demand fell upon an employee at the branch. The entire scam fell apart after that.

The bank started digging into records of Modis companies and found they had not put the required security deposits needed to issue guarantees. The person who demanded the bribe, now suspended, turned out to be one who was aware of former deputy manager Gokulnath Shettys ways in managing LoUs bypassing the core banking system. Though its not clear at this point if this person was also an accomplice of Shetty in the scam.

In short, the bank employee in question wanted to pull a Shetty-style operation on his own, but Modis representative was a greenhorn to these tricks and decided to play by the rulebook instead, say sources.

Shetty retired last November. The last LoUs raised, according to the CBIs First Information Report (FIR), was in February 2017.

In the FIR, and subsequently in a letter to 30 bank chiefs, the PNB said when a margin of 110 per cent was asked to be deposited, as there was no sanction of any fund or non-fund based limits, the companies insisted they were undertaking such transactions for last so many years.

However, it could also be possible that several PNB and other bank officials were well aware of the ongoing scam, but a small change in the RBIs reporting format in January this year threatened to topple the applecart. And then a victim-hunt started.

Going by the RBIs latest reporting format, the scam would have come to light anyway. At least to the RBI by the end of this quarter, just a month before the scam came to light.

The RBI on January 4 said in a notification that instead of multiple filings, banks should harmonise all their statistics in an easy to read and analytics-friendly data format called eXtensible Business Reporting Language, or XBRL.

Importantly, in the XBRL requirement, the RBI added some heads -- Unsecured Guarantees, Non-funded Commitments, and Non-Fund Based Advances. All guarantees, letters of credit (LCs) and LoUs fall under these categories.

The RBI is yet to respond to a Business Standard query on the issue. In a call with analysts on Friday evening, PNBs MD and CEO Sunil Mehta stuck with the banks version of the story. The newspapers efforts to reach the management for an official confirmation was not successful. In the call, Mehta hung up after realising the media was also on the call.

A system-wide LC storm brewing?

On Thursday, the entire officer strength of the department of financial services, in the finance ministry, was roped in for fire-fighting.

Beyond PNB, their immediate job was to figure out how many more state-owned banks had issued such dubious LCs. They are worried that the arrangement tapped into by the Modi companies could have been used at other banks as well. Finding rogues, though, would be a tedious task, as that essentially means matching each LC with the collateral or margin money demanded.

While the officers said such a possibility was remote, they also conceded no checks or balances had worked at PNB to prevent the largest banking sector fraud in India.

Another issue that will need to be sorted out is how PNBs human resources department allowed two offenders to continue in their seats for rather long. The bank has a transfer policy, under which each executive has to be transferred after every three years.

If the officer has been promoted, he has to be transferred automatically even before the three-year term. One of the two said officials had been promoted to the rank of deputy general manager during the time he serviced the Modi accounts. There was no effort to remove him or his assistant from their posts for years.

An HR department source at the bank said it was difficult to draft in officers willing to work in specialised departments such as forex or large credit appraisals. They claim there was no mala fide in the said officials long run in the chair, until he retired in November 2017.

The recent developments have also effectively nixed the banks plans to merge any other state-owned bank with itself until the scam fire is doused -- and that will take quite some time.According to a complaint from Bank of Baroda, the conspirators allegedly cheated a consortium of 7 banks of Rs 3,695 crore. The scam was earlier estimated at around Rs 800 crore.

The Central Bureau of Investigation has registered a case against Rotomac pen promoter Vikram Kothari and his family in connection with a case related to the alleged swindling of Rs 3,695 crore of bank loan funds, officials said in New Delhi on Monday.

The scam was earlier estimated at around Rs 800 crore.

The case against Kanpur-based Rotomac Global Pvt Limited, its director Vikram Kothari, his wife Sadhana Kothari, and son Rahul Kothari and unidentified bank officials was filed on a complaint received from Bank of Baroda, they said.

The agency searched three locations in Kanpur, including Kothari's residence and office premises.

There have been no arrests in the case yet, CBI spokesperson Abhishek Dayal categorically said.

He said Kothari, his wife and his son are being examined by the CBI, which is conducting the searches.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has also registered a money laundering case against Kothari and his family members in connection with the alleged bank loan fraud of Rs 3,695 crore, officials said.

The case was filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), after studying the CBI FIR that was registered on Sunday.

The ED, the officials said, would probe if the funds obtained through the alleged fraud were laundered and if the proceeds of the crime were subsequently used by the accused to create illegal assets and black money.

According to the complaint from Bank of Baroda, the conspirators allegedly cheated a consortium of 7 banks of Rs 3,695 crore, including the interest component, officials said.

The principal involved is Rs 2,919 crore.

This is the second major financial scam to break out after the sensational Rs 11,400 crore fraud allegedly committed by billionaire jewellery designer Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi, who is a promoter of Gitanjali group of companies.

Both fled the country before the Punjab National Bank realised the depth of the alleged crime.Today, when one Kamalahaasan launches a new political outfit, vowing to cleanse Tamil Nadu polity and political administration of corruption, mal-governance and non-governance, he is pitted not only against Rajini with his commitment to spiritual politics, he is also pitted against the real Lotus in Tamil Nadu politics, representing the ruling BJP at the Centre, says N Sathiya Moorthy.

IMAGE: Kamalahaasan with DMK supremo M Karunanidhi and his son, M K Stalin, on Sunday. Photograph: Diamond Babu.

Come Wednesday, February 21, and Tamil cinemas supreme star Kamalahaasan is all set to launch his new political party, announced months ago. Both before and after that announcement, Kamalahaasan has been keeping himself busy on Twitter, with occasional media appearances and comments, and a few meetings with political heavyweights, past and present, including Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi K Vijayan some months ago.

In the weekend ahead of his Madurai launch, Kamal met with ailing DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi, and also called on superstar Rajinikanth, his compatriot-cum-competitor, as much in politics now as has been in the film industry over the past four decades. He followed it up by calling on fellow-actor Vijaykanth, founder of once-promising Desiya Murpokku Dravidar Kazhagam, on Monday, and reminded media-persons later, how the latter had once said he (Vijayakanth) was senior to Kamal in politics, and hence came to seek his blessings, too.

After their Sunday meeting, Rajini said that they would chart out separate political paths as they have done in filmdom over the past decades. The last of their combined film, Giraftaar (1985) was an Amitabh Bachchan-starrer in Hindi, preceded by their last Tamil film Alavudinum Arputha Vilakkum together, years earlier, in 1979.

Today, when both actors are going their own political way, either can do with another of Alladins wonderful lamp to be able to make their way ahead in the Dravidian polity of Tamil Nadu.

The two established parties are slowly but surely closing in the perceived gaps that had appeared with Chief Minister Jayalalithaas death and octogenarian M Karunanidhis failing health. As the RK Nagar assembly by-election for Jayas seat showed, where the gap might have existed, AIADMK rebel T T V Dhinakaran might have already filled much of it even before the two actors entered the political scene.

After meeting Kamalahaasan, Rajinikanth told waiting newsmen that like their film career, they would also chart out separate political careers. However, after Kamals meeting with Karunanidhi on Sunday, the latters son and DMK working president M K Stalin indicated that they were keeping their alliance options open.

IMAGE: Tamil superstars Rajinikanth and Kamalahaasan, both nursing political ambitions, met in Chennai on Sunday.



Stalin said the DMK would wait for Kamalahaasan to announce the policies and programmes of his party before deciding on the future course. For now, the party would sent out invitations for both Kamal and Rajini to attend the all-party meeting the DMK is organising to discuss the Supreme Court verdict in the Cauvery waters dispute, where the Tamil Nadu polity has expressed strong reservations.

Possibly under pressure from the DMKs initiative, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami has since announced the state governments decision to convene an all-party meeting on the Cauvery issue, on February 22. If the state government decides on principle only to invite political parties recognised by the Election Commission (which is not a wrong way to proceed in the matter), Kamals yet-to-be registered party may not find a place. The question is, if the DMK would still have a separate session, if only to honour the invite publicly extended to Kamal, when the latter had not asked for either the meet, or invite.

For now at least, the DMK, and even other so-called rationalist parties of the leftist kind, seem overly concerned about Kamalahaasans own rationalist views cutting into their party base or voter base. If anything, Kamalahaasan himself should be concerned about over-doing his rationalist plank as at any time in the state, any prospective electoral victor would need to carry all constituencies, of believers and non-believers, with him, especially at the start-off stage.

Even the rationalist DMK had its origins in the Justice Party, whose founders were mostly god-fearing men, whose politics was more non-Brahmin in content than anti-Brahmin of the later-day self-respect movement of Periyar E V Ramaswami Naicker. The DMK won on the anti-incumbency plank impacting very negatively on the ruling Congress Party in 1967, but only with god-fearing Brahmin Rajajis Swatantra Party and the even more dogmatic Muslim League as fellow travellers.

Today, when one Kamal launches a new political outfit, vowing to cleanse Tamil Nadu polity and political administration of corruption, mal-governance and non-governance, he is pitted not only against Rajini with his commitment to spiritual politics, which is amorphous as spirituality itself can be. He is also pitted against the real Lotus in Tamil Nadu politics, representing the ruling BJP at the Centre, which however is seen as slipping up, if not failing as yet, on the corruption grade that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had set for himself and his government, especially in the past weeks.

The BJPs slip, if at all, could be an advantage as and when Rajini floats his party, which he continues to say will happen only closer to the day of assembly polls, but not to Kamal, the actor-politician in waiting. Even without it, some in Rajinis camp hope that the BJPs spirituality votes could only go to him, especially in the assembly polls, where the national party is still not seen as a serious player, as they claim Jaya used to do. The Jaya-linked observations have remained contestable, however.

The question remains: where from do the two superstars hope to gain a new constituency? If Rajini were to stick to his spiritual slogan, which thus far has been interpreted by critics as soft Hindutva, he may lose an existing anti-Hindutva, non-Hindu fan-following, which might otherwise remain with him in his fan clubs. If Kamal were to over-stress his rationalism, be it in word or action (through alliance with the DMK just now), his secularism might acquire a negative meaning for his non-pseudo secular fans.

Yet, over-powering political trend, if any, could work for either of them, and that may also be the only way either of them could hope to climb the political/electoral ladder in a short span. For, unless the voting pattern changes, there is only around 10 per cent of the non-committed voters in Tamil Nadu who have been willing to experiment with their electoral choices, in election after election, almost since the mid-50s. The rest of the non-committed vote-bank (and it is still there) often goes with the winner (and they have the knack of smelling the victor, thus increasing victory margins than deciding the victor, in a way).

It does not stop there for Kamal especially, as he starts his political journey from the family home of former President A P J Abdul Kalam, whose death moved more Tamils, cutting across party loyalties and religious/caste identities, than anything in recent years and decades.

With or without the DMK as an alliance leader (and not definitely a junior partner under him), Kamal would have to keep looking at his back all the time, as the Hindutva forces in the state have re-launched their religion-centric campaigns ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, in recent weeks and months.

Talking to newsmen after his meeting with DMDKs Vijayakanth on Monday, Kamal pooh-poohed state BJP leaders claims that Dravidian politics had ceased in the state and that only spiritual politics would succeed from now on. If anything, he was confident that he will win with Dravidian policies -- a reiteration of his re-assertion of his greater identification with Dravidian politics compared to any other political isms over the past decades.

IMAGE: Capping a busy weekend, Kamalahaasan met DMDK founder and president, ex-actor Vijayakanth, in Chennai on Monday. Photograph: Diamond Babu.

That way, in recent days, BJPs Union minister of state Pon Radhakrishnan has been talking freely about multiple militant groups (all of them ideologically disinclined to Hindutva) taking roots in Tamil Nadu, as never before.

For a Union minister, whose party and prime minister are in power at the Centre, making such sweeping statements from public platforms even after Deputy Chief Minister O Pannerselvam had declared it as an utter lie, should be irresponsible in the eyes of the BJPs critics in the state. The minister would only have to ask Home Minister Rajnath Singh to take it up with the state government and Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami at the highest levels, rather than making unsubstantiated public claims and thus vitiating the peaceful political atmosphere in Tamil Nadu.

The critics may have a point, considering that general elections have been vitiated in Tamil Nadu, and has influenced polling pattern elsewhere too, twice in the same decade, not very long ago. The Rajiv Gandhi assassination (1991) and the Coimbatore serial-blasts (1998) did influence the voting pattern after critics of the DMK rulers sought to link the party to the two events, for non-performance on the policing front.

The critics would also recall for Kamals benefit that Rajinikanth, whose call to defeat Jayalalithaas AIADMK in the 1996 polls gained much traction with all sections of voters, lost face and his fan clubs after his uncharacteristic way of jumping the gun and making pro-DMK noises a day or two after the Coimbatore blasts. According to them, in a similar situation, rationalist Kamal may have more to lose than a spiritual Rajini in electoral terms, whether or not they are aligned with each other, or with other parties.

N Sathiya Moorthy, veteran journalist and political analyst, is Director, Observer Research Foundation, Chennai Chapter.The state of emergency in trouble-torn Maldives was on Monday extended by 30 days after a key parliamentary committee approved President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayooms request, a media report said, allowing him to reinforce his power in the picturesque Indian Ocean island nation.

During an extraordinary meeting of the National Security Committee of the Peoples Majlis, approval was given to the Decree for State of Emergency submitted to the Peoples Majlis (Parliament) by President Yameen, the Sun online reported.

Deputy Speaker of Peoples Majlis, MP Moosa Manik confirmed the decree was approved by the Committee during its meeting held behind closed doors.

The Committee approved the decree as well as the request for a 30-day extension to the State of Emergency, the report said.

A total of 38 MPs voted to accept the decree and forward it to the National Security Committee for evaluation. All opposition MPs boycotted the sitting, alleging it was held unconstitutionally, the report said.

At least 43 MPs need to be present at the Majlis chamber in order for the decree to pass, the report said.

President Yameen declared the emergency on February 5 after the Supreme Court ordered the release of a group of opposition leaders, who had been convicted in widely criticised trials. Among them was exiled ex-President Mohamed Nasheed. The court said his 2015 trial had been unconstitutional.

Under the emergency law, Yameen had two Supreme Court judges arrested, accusing them of corruption. Later, the remaining three judges annulled the order to release Yameens opponents.

On Sunday, the judges also delayed their earlier order to reinstate 12 pro-opposition lawmakers who were expelled after siding with the opposition. Yameens party would have lost a majority in Parliament had they been allowed to sit, AP reported.

There has been international condemnation of the governments moves, with the US and India expressing concern.

Nasheed has specifically appealed for diplomatic and military intervention from India.

On February 16, external affairs ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar had said India had called on the government of Maldives to lift the state of emergency and restore the democratic process, including the functioning of judiciary, which is free of intimidation.

We have noticed that the Emergency in Maldives is valid for the next few days and we will wait to see the steps which will be taken by the government of Maldives after this, Kumar had said.Prime Minister Narendra Modi not receiving his Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau at the airport, a courtesy he extended to some world leaders in the past, has triggered speculation in Canada that it was a snub to him for the rising Sikh radicalism in that country.

IMAGE: Government sources said that there is no snub to Canadian PM Justin Trudeau, who is in India for seven days and will be meeting PM Modi at the fag-end of his tour. Photograph: Santosh Hirlekar/PTI Photo

However, government sources strongly rejected the speculation, insisting normal diplomatic protocol has been extended to Trudeau.

They also expressed surprise over the Canadian side preferring to schedule Trudeaus official engagements in Delhi at the fag end of the tour as against the normal practice of having bilateral meetings during the first part of such visits.

The sources said it is quite unusual for a visiting dignitary to slot important talks towards the end of a visit, besides setting aside little time for official engagements.

Trudeau will hold bilateral talks with Modi on Friday, a day before he wraps up his tour.

A section of the Canadian media has also talked about the Indian prime ministers absence during Trudeaus visit to Gujarat, Modis home state.

We have own set of parameters for measuring importance, an official said, while calling the criticism by Canadian media unfounded.

The sources said there was no substantive content in Trudeaus programme in Gujarat for which the prime ministers presence was required.

Referring to Modi accompanying Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during the latters visit to Gujarat in September last year, the sources said the visit was very high in content which included laying the foundation for Indias first high-speed bullet train project besides other components.

Commentators in Canadian media highlighted that Union Minister of State for Agriculture Gajendra Shekhawat received Trudeau at the Delhi airport when he arrived on a seven-day India visit on Saturday evening and contrasted it against Modi himself receiving several world leaders at the airport.

IMAGE: Several Canadian commentators posted on Twitter the fact that Modi was not present when Canadian PM Justin Trudeau touched down in India. One columnist Candice Malcolm put up this image of Modi meeting other world leaders at the airport to illustrate her point.

Photograph: @CandiceMalcolm/Twitter

On official state visits to India, PM Modi personally greets and welcomes the Israeli PM, UAE Crown Prince and US President. For PM Trudeau, he sends a low-ranking official. Canada is back, tweeted Canadian author and columnist Candice Malcolm.

There were stories in Canadian media that said Trudeaus perceived support for Sikh separatists may be the reason for the snub.

The Sikhs in Canada wield significant political clout and Trudeaus Cabinet has four Sikh members.

The sources said the prime minister received around five leaders at the airport during the last three-and-half years which included the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, US President Barack Obama, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, and Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan twice.Escalating his attack on Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah over graft, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday new scams, corruption charges and fresh allegations were emerging under him every day.

Taking the battle to Siddaramaiahs home turf at a rally in Mysuru, Modi said he had earlier called his administration a 10 per cent commission government but later came to know his information was not correct and that the cut the government got was much more.

In his second public rally in a fortnight in poll-bound Karnataka, Modi singled out corruption to attack Siddaramaiah and asked the gathering: Do you want a commission government in Karnataka or mission government? Commission or mission?

Recalling his Bengaluru remark that it is a 10 per cent commission business, Modi said many people were angry with him, some even called him, some sent messages and others expressed their anguish. They said my information was not correct. It was not 10 per cent, but more than that, he said.

Every day, a new scam, new corruption, new allegation is being levelled against their one or the other leader, against one or the other minister or one or the other programme of the government, in one or the other part of Karnataka, Modi said.

He alleged central government funds under various schemes meant for the poor and middle class were not being properly utilised by the state.

Their priority is political squabble, keeping Delhi (Congress high command) happy, and send them whatever is needed to keep them happy. Their interest is only in it... keeping their party bosses happy so that their seats are safe.

Contending that no state can function like this, he said, They dont care about the people and their feelings... Such governments, such leadership and personality will never strengthen democratic system.

Taking a jibe at Siddaramaiah, Modi said, Mysuru is the land that spreads the message of social unity, Mysuru is the land of energy and youthfulness, Mysuru is a land that creates an atmosphere of harmony... but the person who was born from here should not have gone on the wrong path.

He is associated with such people that whatever Mysuru taught him, he completely forgot on his way to Bengaluru, and is now taking entire Karnataka towards destruction.

Modi also hit out at the Congress for spreading lies repeatedly and asked the people to question its record.

Ask those who come here, make speeches. For 50 years one family got an opportunity to rule. What is the reason that four crore families are still living the life of the 18 century? he said, attacking the Congress.

They dont even feel a bit of shame or sadness. They think by lying, by lying repeatedly, lying wherever they go, by lying loudly, by many people lying, not one or two days but for months on end, the people of this country will believe.

You are talking from a wrong place; the country can never believe you, the country will never accept your lies. You will have to answer, he said.

Modi said his government wants to take the country forward at a faster pace, but Congress governments, wherever they are, are working to stop the pace of the country. They work as bumps, he said.

Modi said he has come to assure the people and see to it that the BJP government that would be formed in Karnataka would work with a mission. It would work towards changing the destiny of Karnataka, he said.

The way the government is functioning in Karnataka, and political developments are going on, you know that bundles and bundles of notes were seized and they are not ashamed of it.

Diaries and what all were entered in it... Karnataka needs to get rid of it or not? Those who destroyed Karnataka, Modi said, apparently referring to the raids by Income Tax department on some ministers recently.

Modi also announced a six-lane 117 km Bengaluru-Mysuru national highway project at a cost of Rs 6,400 crore and a world class new satellite railway station at Mysuru at an investment of Rs 800 crore.

He dedicated to the nation an electrified railway line between Mysuru and Bengaluru and flagged off the Palace Queen-Humsafar Express between Mysuru and Udaipur.

The train with only AC features connects five states in western india, according to South Western Railway.

The electrification of the railway line between Bengaluru and Mysuru, costing Rs 220 crore, is expected to benefit 25,000 passengers.

The BJP is pulling out all stops to unseat the Congress and return to power for a second time after its 2008-2013 rule that saw squabbling among its leaders and change of chief ministers thrice.

Image: In Mysuru, PM Narendra Modi announced a six-lane 117-km Bengaluru-Mysuru national highway and a world class new satellite railway station at Mysuru. Photograph: PTI PhotoBritish Prime Minister Theresa May has called for the strengthening of transatlantic cooperation, in particular, to respond to Russia's actions in Ukraine.

"As we look at the world today we are also facing profound challenges to the global order: to peace, prosperity, to the rules-based system that underpins our very way of life. And in the face of these challenges, I believe it is our defining responsibility to come together and reinvigorate the transatlantic partnership... That is true whether fighting the ideologies of Daesh, developing a new global approach to migration, ensuring the Iranian nuclear deal is properly policed or standing up to Russias hostile actions, whether in Ukraine, the Western Balkans or in cyberspace. And in all these cases, our success depends on a breadth of partnership that extends far beyond the institutional mechanisms for cooperation with the EU," she said at the 54th Munich Security Conference on Saturday, February 17.

According to the prime minister, the UK and the EU should maintain cooperation in the sphere of application of sanctions after Brexit.

May added that it was in the common interest of the EU and the UK to conduct joint operations and cooperation in the field of cybersecurity.

"Last year's 'NotPetya' cyber-attack showed why we also need to work closely to defend our interests in cyber space. This reckless attack - which the UK and partners have attributed to Russia - disrupted organizations across Europe costing hundreds of millions of pounds. To contend with a truly global threat such as this we need a truly global response," she said.Karnataka Congress MLA NA Haris's son Mohammed Haris Nalapad on Monday surrendered before police after he was booked for allegedly thrashing a man in a pub in Bengaluru's UB City mall.

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has ordered strict action against Nalapad.

Nalapad, who is the general secretary of the Youth Congress in Bengaluru district, has also been expelled from the party for six years.

According to reports, the victim was having dinner at a high-end restaurant in UB City mall when Mohammad Nalapad and his friends walked in at 11.30 pm.

The group reportedly told the victim, who had a plaster on one of his legs, to "sit properly".

After a heated exchange of words, Nalapad and his friends allegedly attacked the victim.

The victim was then rushed to the nearby MallyaHospital for treatment, but the group reportedly followed him there and threatened him.

Photograph: Mohammed Haris Nalapad/FacebookNationalist Congress Party candidate Jonathone N Sangma was killed on Sunday after insurgents attacked his convoy in Meghalaya's East Garo Hills district, officials said.

Two others accompanying the NCP leader also died in the improvised explosive device attack which took place at around 8 pm, police said.

Chief Minister Mukul Sangma condoled his death.

"Deeply saddened to hear about the unexpected loss of Jonathone Sangma. My heartfelt condolences to his near and dear ones. The blood of innocent spilled by the enemies of the state will not disturb peace in Meghalaya," he tweeted.

The 43-year-old NCP candidate was returning after campaigning and was on his way to Williamnagar, his assembly constituency, when the convoy came under attack, police said.

Assembly elections for the 60-member House in Meghalaya are slated to be held on February 27.

"We strongly condemn the incident and we stand by Jonathone's family at this moment. These incidents shouldn't take place in a state like Meghalaya," said Vincent Pala, working president of Meghalaya Congress Unit, and Lok Sabha MP from Shillong.

The Garo National Liberation Army, a proscribed militant outfit active in the state's South and East Garo Hills district, was campaigning against Jonathone.

In the 2013 elections also Jonathone had received death threats and was provided extra security based on the threat perception, a police officer said.After a successful first day to the Taj Mahal and the wildlife sanctuary in Mathura, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who is in India on a seven-day-long visit, made his way to Gujarat accompanied by his wife Sophie Gregoire Trudeau and three children -- daughter Ella Grace, and sons Hadrien and Xavier.

Here are the some snapshots of Trudeaus day in Gujarat.

After arriving in Ahmedabad, the Canadian PM and his family made their way to the Gandhi Ashram at Sabarmati. The family took a visit around the place and also spun cotton on the wheel.

Photograph: Amit Dave/Reuters

The Trudeaus opted for desi attire for their visit to the Sabarmati Ashram. While the boys wore gold and red kurta-pyjamas, daughter Ella wore a red and yellow churidar kurta, while wife Sophie wore a yellow kurta along with white palazzo pants.

Photograph: Amit Dave/Reuters

The Canadian PM and his family paid homage to Mahatma Gandhi at the ashram. However, Trudeaus visit to India is not garnering the eyeballs in the media as many would have imagined.

Foreign media has in fact, reported that Trudeau is being snubbed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who usually breaks protocol to go to the airport to receive important heads of government and take them around like he did with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to Gujarat.

Photograph: @VikasSwarup/Twitter

A beautiful place of peace, humility and truth, that is as needed today as it ever was," read the Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus words of praise for the Gandhi Ashram at Sabarmati in the visitors book. Trudeau also received a memento at the end of his visit to the ashram.

Photograph: Amit Dave/Reuters

Trudeau's youngest Hadrien, 3, once again stole the show at the Sabarmati Ashram. In fact, Twitter cannot stop gushing over his cute face. And we have to agree with Twitter. Hadrien is a cutie!

Photograph: Santosh Hirlekar/PTI Photo



WATCH THE TRUDEAUS SPINNING THE WHEEL AT THE ASHRAM

Following their visit to the Sabarmati Ashram, the Canadian PM and his family visited the Akshardham Temple in Gandhinagar, an architectural marvel, built from 6,000 metric tonne of pink sandstone.

Photograph: PTI Photo

Justin and his family paid tribute to Swaminarayan and his life at the temple. Trudeau who landed in New Delhi on Saturday, is also scheduled to visit Amritsar, Ahmedabad, and Mumbai. On Monday, he is also expected to address students at IIM-Ahmedabad.

Photograph: @VikasSwarup/Twitter

The Canadian PM's family walked through the exhibition hall where the life and times of the head of the BAPS Swaminarayan sect, Pramukh Swami Maharaj, is depicted in audio-visual presentations. On arrival, they were accorded a floral welcome by senior priests of the temple.

Photograph: PTI Photo

Watch: Trudeau visits Akshardham Temple along with his family

At IIM-Ahmedabad, Trudeau called himself a feminist, saying we as a society are under-performing as women are not being given an opportunity to contribute to their full potential. The new reality of the 21st century is going to be more and more heterogeneous community and society, and the biggest challenge we are going to have as species is doing something that India and Canada have done fairly well -- that is to understand how differences can become a source of strength, he said.

Photograph: @VikasSwarup/Twitter

After his interaction with students at IIM-Ahmedabad, Trudeau took some time out and met Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani.

Photograph: @VikasSwarup/TwitterHave a damn heart.

This is how a student, one of the lucky survivors of the Parkland, Florida school massacre responded to United States President Donald Trumps tweets, linking the incident to the Federal Bureau of Investigations failure to avert the tragedy and the agency doggedly pursuing the alleged Russian links to his 2016 election campaign.

IMAGE: People join together after a school shooting that killed 17 to protest against guns on the steps of the Broward County Federal courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Photograph: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Trump tweeted, Very sad that the FBI missed all of the many signals sent out by the Florida school shooter. This is not acceptable. They are spending too much time trying to prove Russian collusion with the Trump campaign - there is no collusion. Get back to the basics and make us all proud!

Trumps tweet on Saturday on the shooting incident caused considerable outrage online, including among apparent survivors of the shooting, US media reports said.

17 of my classmates are gone. Thats 17 futures, 17 children, and 17 friends stolen. But youre right, it always has to be about you. How silly of me to forget.

IMAGE: A woman puts flowers in a cross placed in front of the fence of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School to commemorate Martin Duque, one of the victims of the mass shooting, in Parkland, Florida. Photograph: Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters

A 19-year-old former student, Nikolas Cruz, who was previously expelled from the school, has been charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder after killing 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. He was armed with an AR-15 rifle, which he used to carry out the rampage.

The massacre, among the deadliest school shootings in US history, has once again sparked a debate about lax US gun laws and lawmakers continued inaction on gun control.

We are losing our lives while the adults are playing around, survivor Cameron Kasky said.

Seventeen innocent people were brutally murdered at my school, a place where they should have felt safe. Their lives were gone in an instant. You are the President of the United States and you have the audacity to put this on Russia as an excuse. I guess I should expect that from you, one student commented.

IMAGE: David Hogg, a senior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, speaks at a rally calling for more gun control days after the shooting at his school, in Fort Lauderdale. Photograph: Jonathan Drake/Reuters

My friends were brutally murdered and you have the nerve to make this about Russia. I can not believe this, the tweet said.

Oh my god. 17 of my classmates and friends are gone and you have the audacity to make this about Russia???!! Have a damn heart. You can keep all of your fake and meaningless thoughts and prayers, another tweeted.

Several of the students responses went viral, getting thousands of retweets.

Many students who survived the Parkland shooting have been vocal about what they experienced, and about the action they want to see from those in power.

IMAGE: Local students, including some from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, participate in a vigil for victims of the school shooting, at the Church By The Glades megachurch in Coral Springs, Florida. Photograph: Jonathan Drake/Reuters

Alex Wind, a survivor, told CNN that he did not plan to attend a listening session Trump has scheduled on Wednesday with high school students and teachers, and that the US President needed to reach out to the students.

If Donald Trump wants to listen to us, he should have taken the first invitation, Wind said. We are not going to come to him. He is going to need to come to us.

Emma Gonzalez said she suspected his scheduled listening session could be a sign Trump does not want to face outraged victims of the shooting.

IMAGE: A protester is framed by signs calling for more gun control after the shooting claimed 17 lives. Photograph: Jonathan Drake/Reuters

The fact that he has organised this just proves that hes scared of us and that he doesnt want to have to face us, Gonzalez said.

Trump on Friday visited a Florida hospital where many of the victims were treated, as well as the sheriffs office.

David Hogg, one of the students, spoke on NBCs Meet the Press and issued an angry and passionate call for Trump to take action on the issue.

IMAGE: A woman writes on a Star of David for one of the victims of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School at a memorial at the school. Photograph: Jonathan Drake/Reuters

Youre the President, Hogg said. Youre supposed to bring this nation together, not divide us. How dare you? Children are dying, and their blood is on your hands because of that.

Please take action. Stop going on vacation in Mar-a-Lago. Take action. Work with Congress. Your party controls both the House and Senate. Take action, get some bills passed, and for Gods sake, lets save some lives, Hogg said.Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will hold a meeting in Amritsar on February 21, officials said on Monday ending long-standing uncertainty.

Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh is all set to take Punjabs close business as well as people-to-people relations with Canada to the next level, with a one-to-one meeting with visiting Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Amritsar on Wednesday, said an official spokesperson.

Look forward to meeting Canadian Prime Minister @JustinTrudeau in Amritsar on Wednesday. Im hopeful that this meeting will help strengthen the close Indo-Canadian business ties as well as the deep-rooted people-to-people relations between our two countries, the chief minister tweeted.

The development came after there was an uncertainty over whether the Canadian premier would hold a meeting with Amarinder Singh during his short visit to Amritsar on February 21.

Officials said that the chief minister would hold a meeting with the Canadian prime minister at a hotel in Amritsar after Trudeau pays obeisance at the Golden Temple.

Significantly, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had refused to meet Canadian Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan during the latters visit to Punjab last year. Amarinder Singh had even accused Sajjan of being a Khalistani sympathiser.

In 2016, when Amarinder Singh was the Punjab Congress chief, he had written a strongly-worded letter to the Canadian prime minister, lodging a protest on being denied permission for interaction with Punjabi NRIs in Canada in the run-up to the Punjab assembly polls.

Amarinder Singh had called it a gag order.

Meanwhile, Amarinder Singh has now directed the state administration to roll out the red carpet for the visiting dignitary.

While trade and business will be the key focus areas at the meeting, the two leaders are also expected to discuss steps to intensify the close relations between the people of the two countries, according to a spokesperson of the chief ministers office.

Punjab has deep roots with Canada, where a large Punjabi community is settled, and has always striven to strengthen the connect, said Amarinder Singh.

He also referred to Trudeaus apology, two years ago, in the Canadian parliament over the 1914 Komagata Maru incident, in which hundreds of Sikh, Muslim and Hindu passengers in a ship were denied entry in to Canada and forced to return to India, where they met a violent fate.

Meanwhile, the opposition Shiromani Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal is expected to welcome the Canadian prime minister at the Golden Temple.

Sukhbir Badal will welcome the Canadian PM at the Golden Temple. He will honour Trudeau as party president of the Shiromani Akali Dal, said SAD spokesman and former minister Daljit Singh Cheema.

The Canadian premier is on a week-long visit to India accompanied by wife Sophie Gregoire Trudeau and three children -Ella-Grace, Xavier and Hadrien.

On February 21, Trudeau will pay obeisance at the Golden Temple, the holiest of Sikh shrines and is also expected to visit the partition museum, officials said adding that he would land at the Amritsar airport in morning and would return to Delhi by 2 pm.

Amritsar Deputy Commissioner and a senior district police officer will receive Trudeau at the airport on February 21, officials said.

The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee has planned special event in the honour of Trudeau when he visits the Golden Temple.

SGPC, an apex religious body of the Sikhs, will honour Trudeau by presenting him a Siropa (robe of honour), replica of the Golden Temple and a sword, an SGPC official said.

Photograph: Santosh Hirlekar/PTI PhotoCanadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland believes that a UN peacekeeping force in Donbas can help resolve the conflict in eastern Ukraine, but the issue of deploying the force should be decided diplomatically.

"That would be terrific. But I think the UN peacekeepers come at the end of a diplomatic process... There's a lot of work to be done to get there, but if we can get to a place where there are UN peacekeepers, it is very important for us to be clear about the territorial integrity of Ukraine and the borders of Ukraine," she said on Saturday, February 17, at a Ukrainian lunch organized by the Victor Pinchuk Foundation as part of the Munich Security Conference, when asked whether peacekeepers in Donbas can resolve the conflict.

According to the minister, Canada is supporting any peacekeeping solution.

Freeland added that it was important not to get used to the presence of the conflict in Ukraine: "It's very important that we not become resigned to the status quo... At the end of the day, I think it depends on Russia, and is Russia prepared to leave Ukraine."Disclaimer

This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki have discussed a scandalous Polish law at a meeting in Munich. Kyiv and Warsaw should avoid controversial issues of history in bilateral relations, the head of the Ukrainian state has said.

"Of course, we expect the Polish Constitutional Court to consider this law [on the Institute of National Remembrance of Poland]. This issue concerns not just Ukrainians, as you know. I am deeply convinced that Poland is our strategic partner, our lawyer in the issues of European integration. We must do everything possible to remove from the agenda sensitive issues that split us and to unite around issues that are extremely important to Ukraine," he said at a briefing in Munich on Saturday, February 17.

"It seems to me that this position was supported by the Polish prime minister, and we will find mutual understanding," Poroshenko said.Comments

1. Whether there has been a change of conditions in Burma to justify a departure from the country guidance in TS. 2. Second, whether this appellant is reasonably likely to be at prospective risk in Burma, given his particular political profile and likely political activities in Burma, in light of TS and / or the updated country conditions. 3. Third, and in the alternative, whether the appellant would be unable to renew his passport or obtain a certificate of identity (CoI) from the Burmese Embassy, with the result that he would be detained on return to Burma.Freedom in the World 2018 - Tunisia

Publisher Freedom House Publication Date 16 February 2018 Cite as Freedom House, Freedom in the World 2018 - Tunisia, 16 February 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5a8aede826.html [accessed 16 September 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

Freedom Status: Free

Aggregate Score: 70 (0 = Least Free, 100 = Most Free)

Freedom Rating: 2.5 (1 = Most Free, 7 = Least Free)

Political Rights: 2 (1 = Most Free, 7 = Least Free)

Civil Liberties: 3 (1 = Most Free, 7 = Least Free)

Ratings Change: 

Tunisia's political rights rating decreased from 1 to 2 and it received a downward trend arrow due to further postponement of municipal elections and growing pressure on the political system from powerful elements of the former regime.

Quick Facts

Population: 11,300,000

Capital: Tunis

GDP/capita: $3,828

Press Freedom Status: Partly Free

Net Freedom Status: Partly Free

OVERVIEW

Since ousting a longtime autocrat from power in 2011, Tunisia is transitioning to democracy. Citizens enjoy unprecedented political rights and civil liberties. The influence of old regime officials, endemic corruption, economic challenges, and security threats remain obstacles to full democratic consolidation.

Key Developments in 2017:

In January, lawmakers approved amendments to the law on local elections, which granted the military and security services the right to vote and contained provisions aimed at boosting the political representation of women, young people, and people with disabilities.

In May, the head of the Independent High Authority for Elections (ISIE) resigned, questioning the body's independence, and was replaced only after a months-long delay. Meanwhile, the ISIE once again pushed back long-delayed local elections, which at year's end were set for mid-2018.

In September, lawmakers approved a controversial "reconciliation" bill that would grant amnesty to many former civil servants implicated in economic crimes under the former regime of autocrat Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali. The bill was met with resistance by civil society, with activists claiming that it would undermine justice processes taking place in the courts and through the postrevolutionary Truth and Dignity Commission.

One person was killed amid a clash between protesters and police in Tataouine, where a series of demonstrations against economic inequality took place in the spring.

POLITICAL RIGHTS: 30 / 40 (-6)

A. ELECTORAL PROCESS: 10 / 12 (-1)

A1. Was the current head of government or other chief national authority elected through free and fair elections? 4 / 4

The 2014 constitution lays out a semipresidential system in which a popularly elected president serves as head of state and exercises circumscribed powers, while the majority party in the parliament selects a head of government. International and local observers concluded that the 2014 presidential election was generally competitive and credible, despite widespread claims of vote-buying on behalf of the major candidates.

A2. Were the current national legislative representatives elected through free and fair elections? 4 / 4

Tunisia's 2014 constitution established a unicameral legislative body, the Assembly of the Representatives of the People (ARP), which consists of 217 representatives serving five-year terms, with members elected on party lists in 33 multimember constituencies. International and national observers declared the 2014 legislative elections generally competitive and credible, despite reports of vote buying and campaign finance violations.

Delays in holding elections for municipal and regional councils have left unelected local councils in place seven years after the 2011 revolution.

A3. Are the electoral laws and framework fair, and are they implemented impartially by the relevant election management bodies? 2 / 4 (-1)

The Independent High Authority for Elections (ISIE), a neutral nine-member commission, is tasked with supervising parliamentary and presidential elections. Since its inception in 2011, the ISIE's political independence and conduct of elections had been well regarded by Tunisian and international observers. However, in 2017, a series of concerning events casts doubt upon the ISIE's impartiality and independence. In May, ISIE president Chafik Sarsar resigned, saying he had faced political pressure, and publicly questioned the body's independence. Following four failed attempts by the ARP to replace him, Mohamed Mansri was elected as a consensus candidate of the Ennahda and Nidaa Tounes parties -- which comprise Tunisia's governing coalition -- in November.

As the parties struggled to elect a new ISIE head, the body announced in October that long-delayed local elections would be held in March 2018. Then, in December, the ISIE pushed them back to May 2018.

Meanwhile, amendments to a 2014 law on local elections were approved in 2017 after a long delay. Some observers attributed the delay to a reluctance by the major parties to approve it before they were better positioned to contest local races.

Score Change: The score declined from 3 to 2 due to the resignation of the ISIE president, who questioned the body's independence; delays in the election of a replacement; and the postponement of municipal and regional elections.

B. POLITICAL PLURALISM AND PARTICIPATION: 14 / 16 (-2)

B1. Do the people have the right to organize in different political parties or other competitive political groupings of their choice, and is the system free of undue obstacles to the rise and fall of these competing parties or groupings? 4 / 4

Tunisia's numerous political parties represent a wide range of ideologies and political philosophies, and are generally free to form and operate. The 2014 parliamentary and presidential elections saw robust competition between political parties within electoral processes deemed generally free and credible by observers.

Campaign finance laws intended to prevent money from determining political outcomes are complex and often unclear, on occasion forcing parties to bend, if not break, the rules in order to campaign effectively; this contributes to tensions between parties. The U.S.-based International Republican Institute (IRI), in an assessment of the 2014 elections, found that ambiguous campaign financing laws helped facilitate vote buying "with little chance of penalty."

B2. Is there a realistic opportunity for the opposition to increase its support or gain power through elections? 4 / 4

Opposition parties participate competitively in political processes. President Beji Caid Essebsi of Nidaa Tounes defeated the incumbent, Moncef Marzouki of the Congress for the Republic, in the 2014 presidential election. Meanwhile, Nidaa Tounes won a plurality in parliament in that year's legislative elections, displacing Ennahda, which had held the largest share of seats previously.

Local and regional elections, originally scheduled for 2015, have been repeatedly postponed, leaving unelected councils in place. The lack of elections has effectively prevented opposition groupings from winning political representation at those levels.

B3. Are the people's political choices free from domination by the military, foreign powers, religious hierarchies, economic oligarchies, or any other powerful group that is not democratically accountable? 3 / 4 (-1)

While electoral outcomes are the result of transparent balloting, domestic economic oligarchies have a high degree of influence over policymaking, particularly on economic issues. Following Essebsi's and Nidaa Tounes's electoral success in 2014, the new government introduced a controversial "reconciliation" bill that would grant amnesty to Ben Ali-era civil servants who are implicated in corrupt activity, but are deemed to have not personally benefitted from it. The bill was met with resistance by civil society, with activists claiming that it would undermine justice processes taking place in the courts and through the Truth and Dignity Commission, which is tasked with examining political, economic, and social crimes committed since 1956. Analysts suggest that the bill was designed to reward powerful individuals linked with the Ben Ali regime who had supported Nidaa Tounes, and would have been negatively affected by the ongoing judicial and reconciliation processes. A version of the bill was approved in September 2017.

Meanwhile, geopolitical competition between Gulf states has had reverberations in Tunisia, frequently coming in the form of financial and other support to political parties. For example, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) controversially gifted two armored cars to Essebsi in the run-up to Tunisia's 2014 elections, and has reportedly pressured the party to crack down on Ennahda. Ennahda, in turn, is thought to receive support from Qatar, and in 2017 faced a lawsuit alleging illegal financial support from the emirate.

The 2014 elections, while deemed generally competitive by observers, were marred by allegations of vote-buying by the major parties.

Score Change: The score declined from 4 to 3 because oligarchs linked to the previous regime have exerted influence over economic policymaking.

B4. Do various segments of the population (including ethnic, religious, gender, LGBT, and other relevant groups) have full political rights and electoral opportunities? 3 / 4 (-1)

Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and international organizations continue working to increase the political participation of marginalized groups. The 2017 Law on Local and Regional Elections included measures aimed at boosting the political participation of people with disabilities.

However, only Muslims may run for president. Homosexuality remains illegal in Tunisia, effectively precluding openly gay candidates from participating in elections.

Score Change: The score declined from 4 to 3 because non-Muslims may not run for president, and a law criminalizing homosexuality precludes openly gay people from running for elected office.

C. FUNCTIONING OF GOVERNMENT: 6 / 12 (-3)

C1. Do the freely elected head of government and national legislative representatives determine the policies of the government? 3 / 4 (-1)

The 2011 removal from power of Ben Ali and his close relatives and associates, who had used their positions to create private monopolies in several sectors, represented an important step in combating corruption and eliminating conflicts of interest. However, Essebsi has manipulated the national budget in such a way that legislative branch is deeply underfunded, leaving it with little ability or resources to craft legislation on its own in 2017. As a result, lawmaking is largely a function of the executive.

Score Change: The score declined from 4 to 3 due because an inadequate legislative budget has allowed the executive to dominate policymaking processes.

C2. Are safeguards against official corruption strong and effective? 1 / 4 (-1)

In 2017, Prime Minister Youssef Chahed launched a well-publicized war on corruption, frequently using powers granted under a state of emergency in force since late 2015 to detain those accused. The campaign has come under criticism for focusing in large part on members of emerging elites, while leaving corrupt figures associated with the Ben Ali regime largely untouched.

In September 2017, the parliament passed the controversial Administrative Reconciliation law, which grants amnesty to individuals implicated in economic crimes under Ben Ali's regime, if they did not gain personally from those acts. The law undermines ongoing investigations, as well as the work of the Truth and Dignity Commission.

Score Change: The score declined from 2 to 1 due to the passage of legislation that can impede the prosecution of corrupt government officials from the Ben Ali administration.

C3. Does the government operate with openness and transparency? 2 / 4 (-1)

In 2016, the ARP adopted a freedom of information law, though it was criticized by watchdog groups for its security-related exemptions. Tunisian transparency advocates say the government failed to take adequate preparations for the law's implementation. Cabinet ministries have refused many requests.

Chahed has been criticized for a lack of transparency surrounding his 2017 anticorruption drive; officials have made few public statements about goals for the drive, nor have they released any guiding strategy for it.

Members of the governing coalition frequently craft policy behind closed doors, without seeking input from other parties.

Score Change: The score declined from 3 to 2 due to inadequate implementation of the freedom of information law, and a general lack of transparency surrounding government activity.

CIVIL LIBERTIES: 40 / 60 (-2)

D. FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND BELIEF: 12 / 16 (-1)

D1. Are there free and independent media? 2 / 4 (-1)

The constitution guarantees freedom of opinion, thought, expression, information, and publication, subject to some restrictions. While independent media outlets exist in Tunisia, in 2017, journalists covering controversial topics continued to encounter pressure and intimidation from government officials in connection with their work. In May, officers from the National Guard interrogated Sami Ben Gharbia, cofounder of the investigative news website Nawaat, in connection with a story the outlet had published on the economic reconciliation bill; the police demanded that he reveal the sources for the story, as well as extensive information about the journalists who worked on it. While attending a legal hearing related to the issue days later, Gharbia reportedly discovered that authorities had been monitoring his phone. Officials also threatened to charge the outlet with the dissemination of false news. Separately, in September, Hamdi al-Souissi, a journalist for the local radio station Diwan FM, in Sfax, was attacked by police officers while covering a demonstration. He was then arrested and questioned for two hours before being released.

Score Change: The score declined from 3 to 2 due to the continued intimidation and harassment of journalists by public officials.

D2. Are individuals free to practice and express their religious faith or nonbelief in public and private? 3 / 4

The constitution calls for freedom of belief and conscience for all religions, as well as for the nonreligious, and bans campaigns against apostasy and incitement to hatred and violence on religious grounds. However, blasphemy remains illegal and police may invoke it as a pretext for arrests. The presidency is restricted to Muslims, and Islam is enshrined as the only religion of the state. Islamic education remains a required component of public education curriculum.

In June 2017, four men were arrested for smoking and eating in public, during the daytime, during Ramadan. While it is not illegal to smoke or eat during daylight hours of Ramadan, the state exercised its role as the guardian of Islam to justify the arrests.

D3. Is there academic freedom, and is the educational system free from extensive political indoctrination? 3 / 4

Article 33 of the constitution explicitly protects academic freedom, which continues to improve in practice. However, ingrained practices of self-censorship on the part of academics remain in some instances. Students have reported being unable to pursue dissertation research on topics including sexuality, gender identity, and critiques of Islam's role in violent extremism.

D4. Are individuals free to express their personal views on political or other sensitive topics without fear of surveillance or retribution? 4 / 4

Private discussion is generally open and free, though there is some reluctance to broach some topics, including criticism of the military. Homosexuality remains illegal, and the prohibition can discourage open discussion of issues affecting LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) people.

A controversial draft law to strengthen the security services has been criticized for a provision that would provide legal grounds for prosecuting critics of the security sector. The bill was introduced in 2017, but had not passed at year's end.

E. ASSOCIATIONAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL RIGHTS: 9 / 12

E1. Is there freedom of assembly? 3 / 4

The constitution guarantees the rights to assembly and peaceful demonstration. Public demonstrations on political, social, and economic issues regularly take place, although a controversial counterterrorism law adopted in 2015, and successive states of emergency issued in response to a 2015 terrorist attack, have imposed constraints on public demonstrations.

In the spring of 2017, police and demonstrators clashed at a series of protests in Tataouine against economic inequality. One demonstrator was killed in such a melee, and many were injured.

E2. Is there freedom for nongovernmental organizations, particularly those that are engaged in human rights- and governance-related work? 3 / 4

Tens of thousands of new NGOs began operating after the revolution, and such groups participated in conferences, trainings, and other gatherings throughout the country during 2017. However isolated cases of intimidation of Tunisian anticorruption groups continue. In April, a leaked recording surfaced in which a senior figure in Nidaa Tounes could be heard issuing a directive to staff to attempt to discredit I-Watch, an anticorruption group that had been publishing reports on tax evasion and advocating for better protections for whistleblowers.

E3. Is there freedom for trade unions and similar professional or labor organizations? 3 / 4

The constitution guarantees the right to form labor unions and to strike, though the landscape is dominated by General Tunisian Labor Union (UGTT). The Tunisian economy has seen large-scale strike actions strikes across all sectors since the revolution, with participants demanding labor reform, better wages, and improved workplace conditions. Unions have reported that some employers have taken actions to discourage union activities, including dismissing union activists.

F. RULE OF LAW: 9 / 16

F1. Is there an independent judiciary? 2 / 4

While the constitution calls for a robust and independent judiciary, judicial reform since the revolution has proceeded slowly, with numerous Ben Ali-era judges remaining on the bench and successive governments regularly attempting to manipulate the courts. Legislation adopted in 2016 established the Supreme Judicial Council, a body charged with ensuring the independence of the judiciary and appointing Constitutional Court judges. Council members were elected in October 2016 by thousands of legal professionals. However, the court, which is intended to evaluate the constitutionality of decrees and laws, has not been established, nor its members formally appointed.

F2. Does due process prevail in civil and criminal matters? 2 / 4

In 2014, Tunisia established a Truth and Dignity Commission to examine political, economic, and social crimes committed since 1956. It has since registered tens of thousands of complaints and testimonies. However, the approval of the reconciliation bill in September 2017 threatens to undermine the commission's work and other judicial processes by granting amnesty to Ben Ali-era civil servants who are implicated in corrupt activity, but are deemed to have not personally benefitted from it.

A state of emergency that has been renewed a number of times since it was first issued following deadly 2015 terrorist attacks gives police broad license to arrest and detain people on security- or terrorism-related charges, and arbitrary arrests continued to take place in 2017. The state of emergency was once again extended in November 2017, for a period of three months.

F3. Is there protection from the illegitimate use of physical force and freedom from war and insurgencies? 3 / 4

Tunisia did not experience a large-scale terrorist attack in 2017, such as the ones two years previously that targeted a museum and a tourist resort, respectively, and resulted in the deaths of dozens of people.

Reports of the use of excessive force by security agents continued in 2017, as did reports of torture. Critics of draft legislation introduced in 2017 say it would effectively grant security officials the right to use lethal force without risking repercussions.

F4. Do laws, policies, and practices guarantee equal treatment of various segments of the population? 2 / 4

The constitution prohibits all forms of discrimination and calls for the state to create a culture of diversity. However, LGBT people continue to face discrimination in law and society. Homosexuality remains illegal, and the penal code calls for a three-year prison sentence for "sodomy."

Tunisia has no asylum law, leaving the United Nations as the sole entity processing claims of refugee status in the country. Irregular migrants and asylum seekers are often housed in informal detention centers, where they suffer from substandard living conditions. Delays in the issuance of residency permits make it impossible for many to work legally, forcing them to take informal jobs with no labor protections.

G. PERSONAL AUTONOMY AND INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS: 10 / 16 (-1)

G1. Do individuals enjoy freedom of movement, including the ability to change their place of residence, employment, or education? 3 / 4

Freedom of movement has improved substantially since 2011. The constitution guarantees freedom of movement within the country, as well as the freedom to travel abroad. Women do not require the permission of a male relative to travel. In 2017, lawmakers approved measures that require authorities to go through more rigorous processes in order to issue travel bans or restrict passports.

However, authorities still have broad license under the state of emergency to restrict individuals' movement without initiating formal charges, and thousands have been affected by such orders.

G2. Are individuals able to exercise the right to own property and establish private businesses without undue interference from state or nonstate actors? 2 / 4

The protection of property rights and establishment of new businesses continues to be an area of concern, closely linked to high levels of corruption as well as a large backlog of property disputes. The new investment code passed in 2016 has yet to lead to substantial improvements.

G3. Do individuals enjoy personal social freedoms, including choice of marriage partner and size of family, protection from domestic violence, and control over appearance? 3 / 4 (-1)

Tunisia has long been praised for relatively progressive social policies, especially in the areas of family law and women's rights. However, women experience social discrimination, domestic abuse, and extremely high rates of harassment in public spaces, and are subject to unequal inheritance laws. In July 2017, lawmakers approved a Law on Eliminating Violence against Women, which addressed domestic violence and also included language intended to protect women from harassment in public, and from economic discrimination. However, the law is not consistent with the penal code -- which, for example, does not criminalize spousal rape. Critics of the new law have noted as problematic a provision allowing accusers to withdraw charges, noting that women who experience domestic abuse may be susceptible to pressure from abusers and others to withdraw abuse allegations.

Separately, in September the Justice Ministry repealed a decree that had banned Tunisian women from marrying non-Muslim men.

Homosexuality and sodomy remain illegal. Public displays of affection can lead to charges of violating public morality laws, and jail time. In October 2017, a tourist and his Tunisian girlfriend were questioned by police who found them kissing in their car. Upon arguing with the police, they were sentenced to four months and three months in prison, respectively, in connection with various violations including public indecency and insulting an official.

Score Change: The score declined from 4 to 3 based on realities women face, including domestic violence and high rates of public harassment.

G4. Do individuals enjoy equality of opportunity and freedom from economic exploitation? 2 / 4

Tunisian women and children are subject to sex trafficking and forced domestic work in both Tunisia and abroad. Refugees and other migrants are also susceptible to exploitation by traffickers. Cases of exploitation in the agriculture and textile sectors are prevalent; women often work long hours with no contracts, benefits, or legal recourse.

Scoring Key: X / Y (Z)

X = Score Received

Y = Best Possible Score

Z = Change from Previous Year

Copyright notice:  Freedom House, Inc.  All Rights ReservedFreedom in the World 2018 - South Korea

Publisher Freedom House Publication Date 16 February 2018 Cite as Freedom House, Freedom in the World 2018 - South Korea, 16 February 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5a8aedee7.html [accessed 16 September 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

Freedom Status: Free

Aggregate Score: 84 (0 = Least Free, 100 = Most Free)

Freedom Rating: 2.0 (1 = Most Free, 7 = Least Free)

Political Rights: 2 (1 = Most Free, 7 = Least Free)

Civil Liberties: 2 (1 = Most Free, 7 = Least Free)

Quick Facts

Population: 50,800,000

Capital: Seoul

GDP/capita: $27,105

Press Freedom Status: Partly Free

Net Freedom Status: Partly Free

OVERVIEW

South Korea's democratic system features regular rotations of power and robust political pluralism, with the largest parties representing conservative and liberal views. Personal freedoms are generally respected, though the country struggles with minority rights and social integration. Legal bans on pro-North Korean activity have sometimes affected legitimate political expression.

Key Developments in 2017:

In March, the Constitutional Court formally removed President Park Geun-hye from office, upholding the National Assembly's decision in December 2016 to impeach her over an extensive corruption scandal.

Park was indicted on charges including bribery and abuse of office in April, and her trial, which began in May, was ongoing at year's end.

A snap presidential election in May resulted in a smooth transfer of power to Moon Jae-in of the liberal Minjoo Party, who ran on a platform of rooting out corruption and restoring civil and political rights.

POLITICAL RIGHTS: 33 / 40 (+1)

A. ELECTORAL PROCESS: 11 / 12

A1. Was the current head of government or other chief national authority elected through free and fair elections? 4 / 4

The 1988 constitution vests executive power in a directly elected president, who is limited to a single five-year term. In March 2017, the eight justices of the Constitutional Court unanimously upheld the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye for "acts that violated the constitution and laws." She was immediately removed from office, though Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn had been serving as acting president since the National Assembly's impeachment vote in December.

In keeping with constitutional procedure, a snap presidential election was held in May. Moon Jae-in of the liberal Minjoo Party won with 41 percent of the vote, followed by Hong Jun-pyo of the conservative Liberty Korea Party (formerly the Saenuri Party) with 24 percent and Ahn Cheol-soo of the centrist People's Party with 21 percent. About 77 percent of registered voters turned out for the election.

A2. Were the current national legislative representatives elected through free and fair elections? 4 / 4

The unicameral National Assembly is composed of 300 members serving four-year terms, with 253 elected in single-member constituencies and 47 through national party lists. In the April 2016 elections, the Minjoo Party won 123 seats, while the Saenuri Party won 122. The People's Party took 38 seats, and minor parties and independents secured the remaining 17 seats.

A3. Are the electoral laws and framework fair, and are they implemented impartially by the relevant election management bodies? 3 / 4

Elections are managed by the National Election Commission, an independent nine-member body appointed for six-year terms. Three members are chosen by the president, three by the National Assembly, and three by the Supreme Court.

While elections are generally considered free and fair, National Assembly constituencies have historically been affected by malapportionment, giving outsized voting power to thinly populated rural areas. A revised map adopted for the 2016 elections mitigated the problem, in keeping with a 2014 Constitutional Court ruling, though the largest constituency population can still be twice the size of the smallest.

B. POLITICAL PLURALISM AND PARTICIPATION: 13 / 16

B1. Do the people have the right to organize in different political parties or other competitive political groupings of their choice, and is the system free of undue obstacles to the rise and fall of these competing parties or groupings? 3 / 4

Political pluralism is robust, with multiple parties competing for power, though party structures and coalitions are rather fluid. In addition to the two main parties, several smaller groups are represented in the National Assembly, as are a handful of unaffiliated members. Only once has the Constitutional Court legally dissolved a political party -- the United Progressive Party in 2014 -- for violations of the National Security Law, which bans pro-North Korean activities.

B2. Is there a realistic opportunity for the opposition to increase its support or gain power through elections? 4 / 4

There have been multiple transfers of power between rival conservative and liberal parties since the early 1990s, and the orderly election and inauguration of President Moon in May 2017 reinforced this democratic pattern.

B3. Are the people's political choices free from domination by the military, foreign powers, religious hierarchies, economic oligarchies, or any other powerful group that is not democratically accountable? 3 / 4

Family-controlled business empires known as chaebol dominate the country's economy and have amassed significant political influence, which generally enables them to protect their interests despite calls for reform.

The National Intelligence Service (NIS) has been implicated in a series of scandals in recent years, including allegations that it sought to influence the 2012 presidential election and later conducted illegal surveillance targeting Park's opponents.

B4. Do various segments of the population (including ethnic, religious, gender, LGBT, and other relevant groups) have full political rights and electoral opportunities? 3 / 4

Although ethnic minority citizens enjoy full political rights under the law, they rarely win political representation. Philippine-born Jasmine Lee of Saenuri lost her National Assembly seat in the 2016 elections, leaving no lawmakers of non-Korean ethnicity in the chamber. Women also enjoy legal equality but remain underrepresented, with just 17 percent of the seats in the National Assembly. Conservative Christian groups have used their political influence to prevent legislators from adopting stronger laws that would protect LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) people from discrimination.

C. FUNCTIONING OF GOVERNMENT: 9 / 12 (+1)

C1. Do the freely elected head of government and national legislative representatives determine the policies of the government? 4 / 4

Elected officials generally determine and implement state policy without undue interference from unelected entities and interests.

C2. Are safeguards against official corruption strong and effective? 3 / 4 (+1)

Despite government anticorruption efforts, bribery, influence peddling, and extortion persist in politics, business, and everyday life. The Kim Young-ran Act, or Improper Solicitation and Graft Act, establishes stiff punishments for those convicted of accepting bribes. The law applies to government officials as well as their spouses, journalists, and educators. In a survey of 300 domestic companies released in October 2017, 74 percent said the business environment had improved since the law went into force in 2016.

Former president Park was arrested in March 2017 and formally indicted in April on charges including bribery, extortion, and abuse of office. Her trial began in May and was ongoing at year's end, though she refused to appear for hearings or cooperate with state-appointed defense lawyers after her detention was extended in October and her original legal team resigned in protest.

Choi Soon-sil, Park's friend and main coconspirator, was sentenced in June to three years in prison for using her political influence to obtain special treatment for her daughter from university officials; Choi was still facing additional charges. Several other people from Park's administration and its partners in the private sector have been convicted of related crimes. Lee Jae-young, heir to the Samsung conglomerate, was sentenced in August to five years in prison for paying $7.8 million in bribes to secure Park's support for a business deal that strengthened his control over Samsung Electronics.

Score Change: The score improved from 2 to 3 due to the prosecution of corrupt acts committed under the Park administration.

C3. Does the government operate with openness and transparency? 2 / 4

The investigations surrounding Park's impeachment illuminated extensive collusion between Park and Choi that also involved business conglomerates and the national pension fund, among other entities, affecting government decision-making on a variety of topics. In 2017, President Moon vowed greater transparency in his administration and pledged to reform the NIS, whose power was found to have been abused in many cases under the Lee Myung-bak and Park presidencies.

CIVIL LIBERTIES: 51 / 60 (+1)

D. FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND BELIEF: 14 / 16 (+1)

D1. Are there free and independent media? 3 / 4

The news media are generally free and competitive, reporting aggressively on government policies and allegations of official and corporate wrongdoing. News coverage or commentary that is deemed to favor North Korea can be censored and lead to prosecution under the National Security Law. A defamation law authorizes sentences of up to seven years in prison, encouraging a certain degree of self-censorship. Journalists at major news outlets have also faced political interference from managers or the government. Despite these constraints, the media have provided extensive coverage of Park's impeachment process and related corruption scandals.

D2. Are individuals free to practice and express their religious faith or nonbelief in public and private? 4 / 4

Freedom of religion is guaranteed by the constitution and generally respected in practice.

D3. Is there academic freedom, and is the educational system free from extensive political indoctrination? 3 / 4

Academic freedom is mostly unrestricted, though the National Security Law limits statements supporting the North Korean regime. The 2016 anticorruption law subjects teachers and administrators to the same tight restrictions as public officials. In 2017, President Moon withdrew a controversial set of state-published history textbooks that Park's administration had developed in a failed bid to replace the existing selection of privately published texts, which it accused of having a left-wing bias.

D4. Are individuals free to express their personal views on political or other sensitive topics without fear of surveillance or retribution? 4 / 4 (+1)

Private discussion is typically free and open, and the government generally respects citizens' right to privacy. A 2016 antiterrorism law granted the NIS expanded authority to monitor private communications, and its vague definition of "terrorism" raised concerns that it would enable the agency to track government critics, particularly online. The National Security Law restricts speech that is considered pro-North Korean. However, a pattern of increased surveillance, investigation, and prosecution of online speech during Park's tenure appeared to ease after her impeachment. For example, the overall number of arrests under the National Security Law decreased from 21 in 2016 to 7 in 2017.

Score Change: The score improved from 3 to 4 due to an apparent decrease in the investigation and punishment of online speech under the new administration.

E. ASSOCIATIONAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL RIGHTS: 11 / 12

E1. Is there freedom of assembly? 4 / 4

The government generally respects freedom of assembly, which is protected under the constitution. However, several legal provisions conflict with this guarantee, creating tension between the police and protesters over the application of the law.

After the Park-Choi scandal broke in 2016, large protests were organized in the streets of Seoul every weekend, and most proceeded without incident. Demonstrations continued until Park's impeachment was upheld by the Constitutional Court in March 2017. Smaller pro-Park rallies were also held without incident. Protests opposed to the installation of a new U.S. missile-defense system have been common since 2016. In September 2017, police clashed with participants in one such protest, causing injuries to about three dozen demonstrators.

E2. Is there freedom for nongovernmental organizations, particularly those that are engaged in human rights- and governance-related work? 3 / 4

Human rights groups and other nongovernmental organizations are active and generally operate freely, though they have occasionally faced political pressure when they criticize the government or other powerful interests. In August 2017, after a three-year legal battle, the Supreme Court affirmed an LGBT advocacy foundation's right to register as a charity; the Seoul city government, the National Human Rights Commission, and the Justice Ministry had each refused the group's application.

E3. Is there freedom for trade unions and similar professional or labor organizations? 4 / 4

The country's independent labor unions advocate for workers' interests, organizing high-profile strikes and demonstrations that sometimes lead to arrests. However, labor unions in general have diminished in strength and popularity, especially as the employment of temporary workers increases. In September 2017, journalism unions organized strikes by over 3,000 journalists to protest against attacks on editorial independence as well as unfair labor practices at the two main public broadcasters, and to call for the resignations of their chief executives.

F. RULE OF LAW: 13 / 16

F1. Is there an independent judiciary? 4 / 4

The judiciary is generally considered to be independent. The chief justice and justices of the Supreme Court are appointed by the president with the consent of the National Assembly. The justices are appointed based on recommendations from the chief justice, who is assisted by an expert advisory committee. The chief justice is also responsible for appointments to the lower courts, with the consent of the other Supreme Court justices. The president, the National Assembly, and the chief justice each nominate three members of the Constitutional Court.

F2. Does due process prevail in civil and criminal matters? 3 / 4

Judges render verdicts in all cases. While there is no trial by jury, an advisory jury system has been in place since 2008, and judges largely respect juries' decisions. The courts have sometimes been accused of denying due process and impartiality to defendants in National Security Law cases.

F3. Is there protection from the illegitimate use of physical force and freedom from war and insurgencies? 3 / 4

Reports of abuse by guards in South Korea's prisons are infrequent, and prison conditions generally meet international standards. Violent crime is relatively rare, but the country is still technically at war with North Korea, resulting in a heavy military presence in some areas and the constant threat of renewed combat. Minor incidents of violence near the de facto border are not uncommon.

F4. Do laws, policies, and practices guarantee equal treatment of various segments of the population? 3 / 4

South Korea lacks a comprehensive antidiscrimination law. The country's few ethnic minorities encounter legal and societal discrimination. Residents who are not ethnic Koreans face extreme difficulties obtaining citizenship, which is based on parentage. Children of foreign-born residents in South Korea suffer from systemic exclusion from the education and medical systems. There are about 31,000 North Korean defectors in South Korea. Defectors are eligible for citizenship, but they can face months of detention and interrogations upon arrival, and some have reported abuse in custody and societal discrimination.

Women generally enjoy legal equality but face social and employment discrimination in practice. Sexual harassment of women in the workplace is common. In November 2017, a high-profile case in which a female employee reported sexual assault by male colleagues and accused her employer of covering up the incident prompted other women to report abuse by their employers. The Labor Ministry noted a sharp increase in reports of workplace sexual harassment and assault, from 556 in 2016 to well over 2,000 in 2017, though only nine suspects had been indicted as of late November. A revised gender equality law adopted by the National Assembly that month established harsher punishments for employers that cover up offenses or fail to provide training.

Same-sex sexual relations are generally legal, and the law bars discrimination based on sexual orientation. However, there are no specific penalties for such discrimination, and transgender people are not protected as such. A "disgraceful conduct" provision of the Military Criminal Act is used to punish sexual acts between male soldiers, and the rule was aggressively enforced during 2017.

G. PERSONAL AUTONOMY AND INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS: 13 / 16

G1. Do individuals enjoy freedom of movement, including the ability to change their place of residence, employment, or education? 4 / 4

Travel both within South Korea and abroad is unrestricted, except for travel to North Korea, which requires government approval. School is free for children between the ages of 6 and 15, but senior high schools charge modest tuition fees, and many families spend heavily on private academies to supplement public education. Individuals can change jobs freely, though the leading business conglomerates tend to focus their recruitment on graduates of specific universities.

G2. Are individuals able to exercise the right to own property and establish private businesses without undue interference from state or nonstate actors? 3 / 4

South Korea fully recognizes property rights and has a well-developed body of laws governing the establishment of commercial enterprises. However, the economy remains dominated by large family-owned conglomerates that have been accused of collusion with political figures.

G3. Do individuals enjoy personal social freedoms, including choice of marriage partner and size of family, protection from domestic violence, and control over appearance? 3 / 4

Women generally have equal rights in divorce and custody matters. Marriage and other forms of legal partnership are not available to same-sex partners. Abortion is considered a crime punishable with imprisonment except in cases of rape, incest, threats to the mother's health, or designated disorders or diseases; all abortions after 24 weeks of pregnancy are prohibited. In July 2017, a widely disseminated video of a man beating his ex-girlfriend led to a 100-day police action campaign to combat violence against women. A Korean Institute of Criminology survey released in August showed that almost 80 percent of the 2,000 male respondents had physically or psychologically abused a girlfriend while they were dating. A survey by the Korea Women's Hotline similarly reported that nearly 62 percent of female respondents said they had been abused while dating.

G4. Do individuals enjoy equality of opportunity and freedom from economic exploitation? 3 / 4

Foreign migrant workers are vulnerable to debt bondage and forced labor, including forced prostitution. Korean women and foreign women recruited by international marriage brokers can also become sex-trafficking victims. Although the government actively prosecutes human trafficking cases, those convicted often receive light punishments.

Scoring Key: X / Y (Z)

X = Score Received

Y = Best Possible Score

Z = Change from Previous Year

Copyright notice:  Freedom House, Inc.  All Rights ReservedFreedom in the World 2018 - Saudi Arabia

Publisher Freedom House Publication Date 16 February 2018 Cite as Freedom House, Freedom in the World 2018 - Saudi Arabia, 16 February 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5a8aedf14.html [accessed 16 September 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

Freedom Status: Not Free

Aggregate Score: 7 (0 = Least Free, 100 = Most Free)

Freedom Rating: 7.0 (1 = Most Free, 7 = Least Free)

Political Rights: 7 (1 = Most Free, 7 = Least Free)

Civil Liberties: 7 (1 = Most Free, 7 = Least Free)

Quick Facts

Population: 31,700,000

Capital: Riyadh

GDP/capita: $20,653

Press Freedom Status: Not Free

Net Freedom Status: Not Free

OVERVIEW

Saudi Arabia's absolute monarchy restricts almost all political rights and civil liberties. No officials at the national level are elected. The regime relies on extensive surveillance, the criminalization of dissent, appeals to sectarianism, and public spending supported by oil revenues to maintain power. Women and religious minorities face extensive discrimination in law and in practice. Working conditions for the large expatriate labor force are often exploitative.

Key Developments in 2017:

Deputy Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, who held a number of official posts and was seen as the leading force in the government, continued to consolidate power during the year, replacing his cousin as crown prince and heir to the throne in June, launching a wave of arrests to suppress dissent in September, and detaining many of the kingdom's leading figures in November as part of an ostensible anticorruption campaign.

Saudi authorities blocked Qatari news outlets in May amid a diplomatic feud with the emirate.

The government announced that a ban on women driving would be lifted in 2018, as would a rule prohibiting women from attending public sporting events.

Executive Summary:

Mohammad bin Salman, the son of King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, continued to fortify his personal authority during 2017. He had been deputy crown prince since 2015, while also serving as defense minister and holding a number of other official posts, but in June 2017 he engineered the ouster of Mohammad bin Nayef -- a nephew of the king -- as interior minister and replaced him as crown prince. Several months later, after agreeing to lead a committee charged with rooting out corruption in the kingdom, Mohammad bin Salman ordered the house arrest of scores of wealthy officials, businessmen, and rival members of the royal family. Those detained were forced to turn over billions of dollars in assets to the state.

The crown prince also ordered a crackdown on popular preachers and reform advocates in September. These arrests, which cut across the country's political spectrum, indicated that the kingdom's leaders had little interest in political change, despite the announcement of modest plans to ease some social controls, such as the ban on women driving.

Authorities continued to repress and discriminate against minority Shiite Muslim communities in 2017, and the kingdom escalated its aggressive foreign policy, leading a regional effort to isolate and blockade Qatar over its comparatively warm relations with Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood. Saudi Arabia also persisted in its almost three-year-old campaign against rebel forces in Yemen, which has had a devastating effect on Yemeni civilians.

POLITICAL RIGHTS: 0 / 40 (-3)

A. ELECTORAL PROCESS: 0 / 12

A1. Was the current head of government or other chief national authority elected through free and fair elections? 0 / 4

Saudi Arabia's king is chosen by internal agreement among the ruling al-Saud family. The king rules for life. In June 2017, Mohammad bin Nayef was replaced as crown prince and put under house arrest by his younger cousin, Mohammad bin Salman, until then the deputy crown prince. The cabinet, which is appointed by the king, passes legislation that becomes law once ratified by royal decree.

A2. Were the current national legislative representatives elected through free and fair elections? 0 / 4

The king appoints the 150 members of the Majlis al-Shura (Consultative Council), who serve in an advisory capacity, for four-year terms. The council has no legislative authority.

Limited nonpartisan elections for advisory councils at the municipal level were introduced in 2005. In the 2015 elections, two-thirds of the seats on the 284 councils were open to voting, while the minister of municipal and rural affairs held responsibility for filling the remainder through appointment. Women were allowed to vote and run as candidates for the first time.

A3. Are the electoral laws and framework fair, and are they implemented impartially by the relevant election management bodies? 0 / 4

The electoral framework lacks constitutional protections, and the 2015 elections for municipal councils were subject to a number of onerous restrictions. The kingdom's rules on gender segregation were applied to campaigns, meaning no candidates could produce posters showing their faces or meet in person with voters of the opposite sex. Candidates were also barred from giving media interviews, leading many to campaign via social media. A number of candidates were disqualified for unclear reasons, though some were reinstated after appeals. Ultimately only a small fraction of the citizen population participated in the elections, reflecting doubts about the effectiveness of the advisory councils.

B. POLITICAL PLURALISM AND PARTICIPATION: 0 / 16

B1. Do the people have the right to organize in different political parties or other competitive political groupings of their choice, and is the system free of undue obstacles to the rise and fall of these competing parties or groupings? 0 / 4

Political parties are forbidden, and political dissent is effectively criminalized. In September 2017, the authorities carried out a wave of arrests targeting some of the country's most prominent political rights organizations and activists, including founding members of the banned Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association (ACPRA). Many other political activists continued to serve lengthy prison sentences during the year.

B2. Is there a realistic opportunity for the opposition to increase its support or gain power through elections? 0 / 4

The Muslim Brotherhood, a Sunni Islamist political organization, and Hezbollah, the Lebanon-based and Iranian-backed Shiite militia group, are designated as terrorist organizations in Saudi Arabia. Other groups and individuals that criticize the regime or call for political reform -- whether Sunni or Shiite, Islamist or secularist -- are subject to arbitrary detention. Many of those arrested in the crackdown that began in September 2017 had questioned or declined to vocally support the government's campaign to isolate Qatar over its relations with the Muslim Brotherhood and Iran. These included prominent reformist clerics such as Salman al-Awdah and Awad al-Qarni.

B3. Are the people's political choices free from domination by the military, foreign powers, religious hierarchies, economic oligarchies, or any other powerful group that is not democratically accountable? 0 / 4

The monarchy generally excludes the public from any meaningful political participation. In the absence of political parties, voters in Saudi Arabia's limited municipal elections are heavily influenced by tribal and religious leaders, many of whom benefit from close ties to the ruling establishment.

B4. Do various segments of the population (including ethnic, religious, gender, LGBT, and other relevant groups) have full political rights and electoral opportunities? 0 / 4

Although political rights are curtailed for all of the kingdom's citizens, women, religious minorities, and LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) people face additional obstacles to participation given the kingdom's strict laws on matters such as gender segregation and its intolerance of religious groups that deviate from Wahhabism, a highly conservative and literalist interpretation of Sunni Islam. Some 30 women serve on the appointed Majlis al-Shura, and women secured about 1 percent of the seats in the 2015 municipal council elections. Shiites reportedly hold a small number of seats on the Majlis al-Shura and many seats on municipal councils in Shiite-majority areas. Women and religious minorities are mostly excluded from leadership positions in the government.

Noncitizens, who make up roughly a third of the population in Saudi Arabia, have no political rights, and citizenship can only be directly transmitted by a citizen father whose marriage is recognized by the state.

C. FUNCTIONING OF GOVERNMENT: 1 / 12

C1. Do the freely elected head of government and national legislative representatives determine the policies of the government? 0 / 4

The kingdom's only elected officials serve on local advisory councils and have little or no influence over national laws and policies.

C2. Are safeguards against official corruption strong and effective? 1 / 4

Corruption remains a significant problem. Although the government generates massive revenue from the sale of oil, which it redistributes through social welfare programs and as patronage, little is known about state accounting or the various direct ways in which public wealth becomes a source of private privilege for the royal family and its clients.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was appointed to lead a new anticorruption committee in November 2017, ostensibly tasked with investigating abuses by royal family members and high-ranking officials. However, he quickly ordered the detention of more than 200 people without any apparent due process, and many were coerced into turning over billions of dollars in assets to the state. The crown prince's campaign coincided with a crackdown on dissent and targeted potential rivals such as Prince Mutaib bin Abdullah, until then the head of the powerful National Guard, leading observers to suggest that the anticorruption drive was in fact part of a broader effort to consolidate the crown prince's political and economic control over the country.

C3. Does the government operate with openness and transparency? 0 / 4

The functioning of government is largely opaque. There is no transparency on whether or how state funds are disbursed, or on the internal decision-making process that allocates them, and there is no public mechanism for holding senior decision-makers accountable. The state's oil revenues make up the vast majority of its financial resources, but these are tightly controlled by the royal family, which uses the same income to support itself.

ADDITIONAL DISCRETIONARY POLITICAL RIGHTS QUESTION

Is the government or occupying power deliberately changing the ethnic composition of a country or territory so as to destroy a culture or tip the political balance in favor of another group? -1 / 0 (-1)

The government has long sought to suppress Shiite religious and cultural identity, associating it with Iran and regarding it as a threat to the regime's official Sunni and Wahhabi underpinnings. Systemic discrimination has stoked periodic protests in Shiite-majority areas, and the authorities have responded with harsh and often arbitrary security measures. In 2017, this included a decision to demolish a historic neighborhood in the town of Awamiya, near the city of Qatif in Eastern Province. The effort, which began in May and entailed the eviction of thousands of residents, prompted armed resistance and an extended siege. An unknown number of security personnel, militants, and civilians were killed or injured in the clashes as demolitions proceeded.

Score Change: The score declined from 0 to -1 due to the physical destruction of a Shiite neighborhood as part of a broader government effort to suppress dissent and unrest among the marginalized Shiite minority.

CIVIL LIBERTIES: 7 / 60

D. FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND BELIEF: 3 / 16

D1. Are there free and independent media? 0 / 4

The government controls domestic media content and dominates regional print and satellite-television coverage. A 2011 royal decree amended the press law to criminalize, among other things, any criticism of the country's grand mufti, the Council of Senior Religious Scholars, or government officials; violations can result in fines and forced closure of media outlets. All blogs and websites, or anyone posting news or commentary online, must have a license from the Ministry of Information or face fines and possible closure of the website.

In January 2017, a criminal court sentenced journalist Nadhir al-Majid to seven years in prison, a subsequent seven-year travel ban, and a large fine for writing in support of the right to protest in 2011. Another journalist, Sami al-Thubaiti, was arrested in September and held without charge amid the authorities' larger spate of detentions. As part of the diplomatic confrontation with neighboring Qatar, Saudi authorities blocked Qatari news sites in May and demanded in June that Qatar shut down the television network Al-Jazeera and other Qatari-funded outlets, which have often been critical of Riyadh.

D2. Are individuals free to practice and express their religious faith or nonbelief in public and private? 0 / 4

The 1992 Basic Law declares that the Koran and the Sunna are the country's constitution. Islam is the official religion, and all Saudis are required by law to be Muslims. A 2014 royal decree punishes atheism with up to 20 years in prison. The government prohibits the public practice of any religion other than Islam and restricts the religious practices of the Shiite and Sufi Muslim minority sects. The construction of Shiite mosques is constrained through licensing rules and prohibited outside of Eastern Province, where most Shiites live. Although the government recognizes the right of non-Muslims to worship in private, it does not always respect this right in practice.

Online commentary that touches on religion can be harshly punished. In April 2017, an appeals court upheld a 2015 death sentence for Ahmad al-Shamri, who was charged with apostasy for renouncing Islam on social media.

D3. Is there academic freedom, and is the educational system free from extensive political indoctrination? 1 / 4

Academic freedom is restricted, and informers monitor classrooms for compliance with curriculum rules, including a ban on teaching secular philosophy and religions other than Islam. Despite changes to textbooks in recent years, intolerance in the classroom remains a significant problem, as some educators continue to espouse discriminatory and hateful views of non-Muslims and Muslim minority sects.

D4. Are individuals free to express their personal views on political or other sensitive topics without fear of surveillance or retribution? 2 / 4

Saudis are able to engage in some degree of private discussion on political and other topics, including criticism of certain aspects of government performance, both online and offline. However, severe criminal penalties deter more direct criticism of the regime and free discussion on topics like religion or the royal family.

E. ASSOCIATIONAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL RIGHTS: 0 / 12

E1. Is there freedom of assembly? 0 / 4

Freedom of assembly is not respected, and the government has imposed harsh punishments on those who lead or participate in public protests. Ali Mohammed al-Nimr, arrested at age 17 in 2012 for participating in protests in Eastern Province, faced execution in 2017, but his sentence had yet to be carried out at year's end. He was the nephew of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, a prominent Shiite cleric and political dissident who was also arrested in 2012 and then executed in 2016 for leading antigovernment demonstrations and calling for an end to sectarian discrimination.

E2. Is there freedom for nongovernmental organizations, particularly those that are engaged in human rights- and governance-related work? 0 / 4

Nongovernmental organizations must obtain a license from the government to operate. Until the adoption of a law on the topic in 2015, officials had approved licenses only for charitable groups. Reformist organizations have reportedly been denied licenses in practice, in some cases through arbitrary delays. Human rights activists and other civil society representatives face regular harassment and detention by Saudi authorities; a number of prominent activists were serving lengthy prison sentences during 2017.

E3. Is there freedom for trade unions and similar professional or labor organizations? 0 / 4

No laws protect the rights to form independent labor unions, bargain collectively, or engage in strikes. Workers who engage in union activity are subject to dismissal or detention. In January 2017, a court reportedly sentenced dozens of foreign construction workers who had protested over unpaid wages in 2016 to lashings and jail terms ranging from 45 days to four months.

F. RULE OF LAW: 2 / 16

F1. Is there an independent judiciary? 1 / 4

The judiciary has very little independence in practice. Judges are appointed by the king and overseen by the Supreme Judicial Council, whose chairman is also the justice minister. A special commission of judicial experts issues opinions that serve as guidelines for judges on the interpretation of Sharia (Islamic law), which forms the basis of Saudi law.

F2. Does due process prevail in civil and criminal matters? 1 / 4

Defendants' rights are poorly protected by law. Detainees are often denied access to legal counsel during interrogation, and lengthy pretrial detention and detention without charge are common.

An antiterrorism law that took effect in 2014 includes lengthy prison sentences for criticizing the monarchy or the government. Among other provisions, it expanded the power of police to conduct raids targeting suspected antigovernment activity without judicial approval.

F3. Is there protection from the illegitimate use of physical force and freedom from war and insurgencies? 0 / 4

Allegations of torture by police and prison officials are common, and access to prisoners by independent human rights and legal organizations is limited. Corporal punishment, most often lashing, is common in criminal sentencing. Capital punishment is applied to a wide range of crimes other than murder; juvenile offenders are not exempt from the penalty. Saudi authorities typically carry out well over 100 executions each year.

Terrorism remains a serious threat. In January 2017, two pairs of fighters affiliated with the Islamic State (IS) militant group were killed in confrontations with security forces in Riyadh and Jeddah. Authorities also faced armed clashes with Shiite militants in Eastern Province and cross-border attacks by rebel forces in Yemen. Yemeni rebels fired ballistic missiles that fell near Riyadh in November and December, though they caused little damage.

F4. Do laws, policies, and practices guarantee equal treatment of various segments of the population? 0 / 4

The courts engage in routine discrimination against various groups, citing their interpretations of Sharia. A woman's testimony is generally given half the weight of a man's, and the testimony of anyone other than observant Sunni Muslims can be disregarded by judges.

Shiites, who make up 10 to 15 percent of the population, face socioeconomic disadvantages, discrimination in employment, and underrepresentation in government positions and the security forces.

Education and economic rights for Saudi women have improved somewhat in recent years, but they are still subject to extensive legal and societal discrimination, most notably through the guardianship system, in which every woman must rely on a close male relative to approve basic activities. For example, employers often require women to obtain their guardians' permission to work.

G. PERSONAL AUTONOMY AND INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS: 2 / 16

G1. Do individuals enjoy freedom of movement, including the ability to change their place of residence, employment, or education? 0 / 4

The government punishes activists and critics by limiting their ability to travel outside the country, and reform advocates are routinely stripped of their passports.

Gender segregation restricts freedom of movement for both men and women, but male guardianship and other factors impose especially onerous constraints on women. In September 2017, the king announced that women would be permitted to drive by mid-2018, eliminating a long-standing ban. A month later, the government said that beginning in 2018, women would also be allowed to attend sporting events in stadiums.

G2. Are individuals able to exercise the right to own property and establish private businesses without undue interference from state or nonstate actors? 1 / 4

While a great deal of business activity in the kingdom is dominated by or connected to members of the government, the ruling family, or other elite families, officials have given assurances that special industrial and commercial zones are free from interference by the royal family.

Women require permission from a male guardian to obtain business licenses. Women also face legal discrimination regarding property rights, with daughters typically receiving half the inheritance awarded to sons.

G3. Do individuals enjoy personal social freedoms, including choice of marriage partner and size of family, protection from domestic violence, and control over appearance? 0 / 4

The religious police enforce rules governing gender segregation and personal attire. A 2016 government decree revoked their authority to arrest suspects or ask for their identification, but they were still empowered to report violations to the ordinary police.

There are a number of official restrictions on marriage. For example, Muslim women may not marry non-Muslims, citizens typically require permission to marry noncitizens, and men are barred from marrying women from certain countries. All sexual activity outside of marriage, including same-sex activity, is criminalized, and the death penalty can be applied in certain circumstances. Women face legal disadvantages in divorce and custody proceedings.

A 2013 law broadly defined and criminalized domestic abuse, prescribing fines and up to a year in prison for perpetrators. However, enforcement remains problematic, with some officials allegedly prioritizing privacy and family integrity over safety and justice for victims.

G4. Do individuals enjoy equality of opportunity and freedom from economic exploitation? 1 / 4

A number of amendments to the labor law that went into effect in 2015 granted broader rights and protections to workers in the private sector. However, the labor law does not apply to household workers, who are governed by separate regulations that provide fewer safeguards against exploitative working conditions.

Foreign workers -- who make up more than half of the active labor force -- enjoy only limited legal protections and remain vulnerable to trafficking and forced labor, primarily through employers' exploitation of the kafala visa-sponsorship system. In 2014, the Ministry of Labor ruled that expatriate workers who are not paid their salaries for more than three consecutive months are free to switch their work sponsors without approval. In practice, foreign workers are subject to periodic mass deportations for visa violations or criminal activity, though due process is often lacking in such cases. Government programs give preferential treatment to companies that hire certain percentages of Saudi citizens and penalize those that fail to meet such targets.

Explanatory Note:

Due to a methodological change affecting certain monarchies, Saudi Arabia's aggregate score for political rights declined by two points, in addition to the one-point decline explained in the text; for more information see the report methodology.

Scoring Key: X / Y (Z)

X = Score Received

Y = Best Possible Score

Z = Change from Previous Year

Copyright notice:  Freedom House, Inc.  All Rights ReservedFreedom in the World 2018 - North Korea

Publisher Freedom House Publication Date 16 February 2018 Cite as Freedom House, Freedom in the World 2018 - North Korea, 16 February 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5a8aedf3a.html [accessed 16 September 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

Freedom Status: Not Free

Aggregate Score: 3 (0 = Least Free, 100 = Most Free)

Freedom Rating: 7.0 (1 = Most Free, 7 = Least Free)

Political Rights: 7 (1 = Most Free, 7 = Least Free)

Civil Liberties: 7 (1 = Most Free, 7 = Least Free)

Quick Facts

Population: 25,100,000

Capital: Pyongyang

GDP/capita: $1,800

Press Freedom Status: Not Free

OVERVIEW

North Korea is a one-party state led by a dynastic totalitarian dictatorship. Surveillance is pervasive, arbitrary arrests and detention are common, and punishments for political offenses are severe. The state maintains a system of camps for political prisoners where torture, forced labor, starvation, and other atrocities take place. While some social and economic changes have been observed in recent years, including a growth in small-scale private business activity, human rights violations are still widespread, grave, and systematic.

Key Developments in 2017:

The North Korean military conducted its sixth test of a nuclear weapon and about a dozen rounds of missile tests during the year, drawing condemnation and a series of harsher economic sanctions from the UN Security Council and individual states.

Kim Jong-nam, the estranged half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, was assassinated with VX nerve agent at a Malaysian airport in February, allegedly on orders from the North Korean government. A group of Malaysian citizens were detained in North Korea until the end of March, when the Malaysian authorities agreed to repatriate Kim Jong-nam's body and belongings.

In June, North Korean authorities released U.S. citizen Otto Warmbier, who had been arrested while visiting the country in 2016 and sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for allegedly stealing a propaganda poster. Warmbier had suffered severe brain damage while in custody and died six days after his release. With three Americans still detained in North Korea, the United States banned U.S. citizens from further travel to the country.

POLITICAL RIGHTS: 0 / 40

A. ELECTORAL PROCESS: 0 / 12

A1. Was the current head of government or other chief national authority elected through free and fair elections? 0 / 4

Kim Jong-un became the country's supreme leader after the death of his father, Kim Jong-il, in December 2011. The elder Kim had led North Korea since the 1994 death of his own father, Kim Il-sung, to whom the office of president was permanently dedicated in a 1998 constitutional revision. In June 2016, the Supreme People's Assembly established the State Affairs Commission as the country's top ruling organ and elected Kim Jong-un as chairman. Kim already held a variety of other titles, including first chairman of the National Defense Commission -- previously the highest state body -- and supreme commander of the Korean People's Army.

A2. Were the current national legislative representatives elected through free and fair elections? 0 / 4

The 687-seat Supreme People's Assembly, North Korea's unicameral legislature, is elected to five-year terms. All candidates are preselected by the Democratic Front for the Reunification of the Fatherland -- a coalition dominated by the ruling Korean Workers' Party (KWP) with representation from a handful of subordinate parties and organizations. Each candidate then runs unopposed. All citizens aged 17 and older are eligible to vote, and voting rates are reported at close to 100 percent. In the last elections in 2014, the official voter turnout figure was 99.97 percent.

Elections were held in July 2015 for 28,452 provincial, city, and county people's assembly members. Voter turnout was again reported to be 99.97 percent, with all candidates preselected and running unopposed.

A3. Are the electoral laws and framework fair, and are they implemented impartially by the relevant election management bodies? 0 / 4

Although there is a clear framework for conducting elections, including official election monitors, the system's structure denies voters any choice and rules out any opposition to the incumbent leadership. The government uses the mandatory elections as an unofficial census, keeping track of whether and how people voted, and interprets any rejection of the preselected candidates as treason.

B. POLITICAL PLURALISM AND PARTICIPATION: 0 / 16

B1. Do the people have the right to organize in different political parties or other competitive political groupings of their choice, and is the system free of undue obstacles to the rise and fall of these competing parties or groupings? 0 / 4

North Korea is effectively a one-party state. Although a small number of minor parties and organizations legally exist, all are members of the KWP-led Democratic Front for the Reunification of the Fatherland.

B2. Is there a realistic opportunity for the opposition to increase its support or gain power through elections? 0 / 4

Any political dissent or opposition is prohibited and harshly punished. The country has been ruled by the KWP since its founding, and the party itself has always been controlled by the Kim family. Kim Jong-il was dubbed the "eternal general secretary" of the party after his death. At the KWP's tightly controlled seventh party congress in 2016, Kim Jong-un, previously the party's "first secretary," was elected to the newly created position of chairman.

B3. Are the people's political choices free from domination by the military, foreign powers, religious hierarchies, economic oligarchies, or any other powerful group that is not democratically accountable? 0 / 4

The general public has no opportunity for political participation, and even KWP elites operate under the threat of extreme penalties for perceived dissent or disloyalty. The party is subject to regular purges aimed at reinforcing the leader's personal authority. Executions of dismissed senior officials continued to be reported in 2017, though such accounts are often difficult to confirm.

B4. Do various segments of the population (including ethnic, religious, gender, LGBT, and other relevant groups) have full political rights and electoral opportunities? 0 / 4

North Korea is ethnically homogeneous, with only a small Chinese population and few non-Chinese foreign residents. Foreigners are not allowed to join the KWP or serve in the military or government. Religious groups are harshly suppressed and unable to organize politically. Women hold few leadership positions in the ruling party and about 16 percent of the seats in the Supreme People's Assembly; the system does not allow such representatives to independently address the interests of women. The government typically denies the existence of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) people in North Korea.

C. FUNCTIONING OF GOVERNMENT: 0 / 12

C1. Do the freely elected head of government and national legislative representatives determine the policies of the government? 0 / 4

North Korea has no freely elected officials. Kim Jong-un and his inner circle determine the policies of the government, and the Supreme People's Assembly gathers for brief sessions once or twice a year to unanimously approve all decisions.

C2. Are safeguards against official corruption strong and effective? 0 / 4

Corruption is believed to be endemic at every level of the state and economy, and bribery is pervasive. There are no independent or impartial anticorruption mechanisms.

C3. Does the government operate with openness and transparency? 0 / 4

The government is neither transparent in its operations nor accountable to the public. Information about the functioning of state institutions is tightly controlled for both domestic and external audiences.

CIVIL LIBERTIES: 3 / 60

D. FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND BELIEF: 0 / 16

D1. Are there free and independent media? 0 / 4

All domestic media outlets are run by the state. Televisions and radios are permanently fixed to state channels, and all publications are subject to strict supervision and censorship.

In recent years, several foreign news agencies have established bureau offices in Pyongyang. However, access is still tightly controlled for these organizations, and the government has been known to expel media crews in retaliation for their work. In August 2017, a North Korean court sentenced two South Korean journalists and their publishers to death in absentia for reviewing the book North Korea Confidential and interviewing its authors, who describe recent economic and social changes in the country.

Voice of America, Radio Free Asia, and a number of South Korean outlets broadcast shortwave and medium-wave radio programming into North Korea. In September 2017, the British Broadcasting Corporation also launched a Korean-language radio service aimed largely at a North Korean audience. Campaigns to send information into the country via USB and SD cards are also common, though North Koreans' consumption of either foreign radio broadcasts or these contraband devices is subject to severe punishment if detected by authorities.

D2. Are individuals free to practice and express their religious faith or nonbelief in public and private? 0 / 4

Although freedom of religion is guaranteed by the constitution, it does not exist in practice. State-sanctioned churches maintain a token presence in Pyongyang, and some North Koreans who live near the Chinese border are known to practice their faiths furtively. However, intense state indoctrination and repression preclude free exercise of religion. North Korean citizens caught practicing a religious faith are arrested and face harsh punishments, including imprisonment in labor camps. Foreigners caught proselytizing also risk arrest and detention.

D3. Is there academic freedom, and is the educational system free from extensive political indoctrination? 0 / 4

There is no academic freedom. The state must approve all curriculums, including those of educational programs led by foreigners. Although some North Koreans are permitted to study abroad, at both universities and short-term educational training programs, those granted such opportunities are subject to monitoring and reprisals for perceived disloyalty.

D4. Are individuals free to express their personal views on political or other sensitive topics without fear of surveillance or retribution? 0 / 4

Nearly all forms of private communication are monitored by a huge network of informants. Domestic mobile-phone service has been available since 2008, though the phones are also hardwired to record and transmit calls and text messages back to state security agencies for surveillance purposes. Domestic and international mobile services are kept strictly separate, and crackdowns on users of Chinese-origin phones have been reported.

E. ASSOCIATIONAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL RIGHTS: 0 / 12

E1. Is there freedom of assembly? 0 / 4

Freedom of assembly is not recognized, and participants in any unauthorized gatherings are subject to severe punishment, including prison sentences.

E2. Is there freedom for nongovernmental organizations, particularly those that are engaged in human rights- and governance-related work? 0 / 4

There are no legal associations or organizations other than those created by the state and ruling party.

E3. Is there freedom for trade unions and similar professional or labor organizations? 0 / 4

Strikes, collective bargaining, and other organized labor activities are illegal and can draw severe punishment for participants, including prison sentences.

F. RULE OF LAW: 0 / 16

F1. Is there an independent judiciary? 0 / 4

North Korea's judiciary is subordinate to the political leadership in law and in practice. According to the constitution, the Central Court, the country's highest court, is accountable to the Supreme People's Assembly, and its duties include protecting "state power and the socialist system."

F2. Does due process prevail in civil and criminal matters? 0 / 4

It is estimated that 80,000 to 120,000 political prisoners are held in detention camps in the country.

Detention of foreigners for allegedly breaking North Korean laws has become a recurring problem. In June 2017, U.S. citizen Otto Warmbier was released after being charged, tried, and sentenced for a "hostile act" against North Korea in early 2016. He was accused of stealing a propaganda poster. Warmbier had apparently been in a coma for over a year at the time of his release, and he died six days after returning home. Three other U.S. citizens remained in detention. In August, North Korea released Canadian pastor Lim Hyeon-soo, who had been serving a life sentence of hard labor since late 2015 for alleged crimes against the state.

F3. Is there protection from the illegitimate use of physical force and freedom from war and insurgencies? 0 / 4

Documented North Korean human rights violations include widespread torture, public executions, forced labor by detainees, and death sentences for political offenses.

Ignoring international objections, the Chinese government continues to return refugees and defectors to North Korea, where they are subject to torture, harsh imprisonment, or execution.

F4. Do laws, policies, and practices guarantee equal treatment of various segments of the population? 0 / 4

The most prevalent form of discrimination is based on perceived political and ideological nonconformity rather than ethnicity. All citizens are classified according to their family's level of loyalty and proximity to the leadership under a semihereditary caste-like system known as songbun.

Women have legal equality, but they face rigid discrimination in practice and are poorly represented in public employment and the military. Although they have fewer opportunities in the formal sector, women are economically active outside the socialist system, exposing them to arbitrary state restrictions.

The law does not prohibit same-sex sexual activity, but the government maintains that the practice does not exist in North Korea.

In May 2017, authorities allowed the UN special rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities, Catalina Devandas-Aguilar, to tour the country. She noted that North Korea's Federation for the Protection of the Disabled promotes the creation of associations for people with disabilities, including deaf and blind people, but said "there is still a long way to go" to realize their rights.

G. PERSONAL AUTONOMY AND INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS: 3 / 16

G1. Do individuals enjoy freedom of movement, including the ability to change their place of residence, employment, or education? 0 / 4

Citizens have no freedom of movement, and forced internal resettlement is routine. Emigration is illegal. A person's songbun classification affects his or her place of residence as well as employment and educational opportunities, access to medical facilities, and even access to stores. All foreign travel -- whether for work, trade, or educational opportunities -- is strictly controlled by the government.

Freedom of movement for foreigners in North Korea is also limited and subject to arbitrary constraints. In March 2017, when the Malaysian government refused to return the body of Kim Jong-nam to North Korea, the North Korean government prevented Malaysian citizens in the country from leaving. They were released only when Kim Jong-nam's body and possessions were turned over to North Korea later than month.

G2. Are individuals able to exercise the right to own property and establish private businesses without undue interference from state or nonstate actors? 1 / 4

The formal economy remains both centrally planned and grossly mismanaged. Business activity is also hobbled by a lack of infrastructure, a scarcity of energy and raw materials, an inability to borrow on world markets or from multilateral banks because of sanctions, lingering foreign debt, and ideological isolationism. However, expanding informal and government-approved private markets and service industries have provided many North Koreans with a growing field of activity that is relatively free from government control. Local officials have had some authority in the management of special economic zones and over small-scale experiments with market-oriented economic policies.

G3. Do individuals enjoy personal social freedoms, including choice of marriage partner and size of family, protection from domestic violence, and control over appearance? 1 / 4

Men and women have formal equality in personal status matters such as marriage and divorce. However, sexual and physical violence against women -- in the home, in prisons and labor camps, and in other situations -- is common, and victims have little legal recourse. There are no specific legal penalties for domestic violence. UN bodies have noted the use of forced abortions and infanticide against pregnant women who are forcibly repatriated from China.

G4. Do individuals enjoy equality of opportunity and freedom from economic exploitation? 1 / 4

Forced labor is common in prison camps, mass mobilization programs, and state-run contracting arrangements in which North Korean workers are sent abroad. There have been widespread reports of trafficked women and girls among the tens of thousands of North Koreans who have crossed into China. Due to changing economic conditions, prostitution has reportedly become common in North Korea itself in recent years.

Economic opportunity has been affected by escalating international sanctions in response to North Korea's weapons tests and threats of military aggression. New sanctions imposed during 2017 targeted a variety of civilian industries such as textiles and seafood, and tightened banking restrictions to limit North Korea's access to international financial institutions. Nevertheless, markets and quasi-private businesses have expanded over time. Agricultural reforms have allowed larger percentages of crop yields to be kept by households, presumably to either consume or sell in the markets.

Scoring Key: X / Y (Z)

X = Score Received

Y = Best Possible Score

Z = Change from Previous Year

Copyright notice:  Freedom House, Inc.  All Rights ReservedFreedom in the World 2018 - Nicaragua

Publisher Freedom House Publication Date 16 February 2018 Cite as Freedom House, Freedom in the World 2018 - Nicaragua, 16 February 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5a8aedf6fd.html [accessed 16 September 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

Freedom Status: Partly Free

Aggregate Score: 44 (0 = Least Free, 100 = Most Free)

Freedom Rating: 4.5 (1 = Most Free, 7 = Least Free)

Political Rights: 5 (1 = Most Free, 7 = Least Free)

Civil Liberties: 4 (1 = Most Free, 7 = Least Free)

Quick Facts

Population: 6,300,000

Capital: Managua

GDP/capita: $2,096

Press Freedom Status: Partly Free

OVERVIEW

The election of Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega in 2006 began a period of democratic deterioration in Nicaragua that continues today. President Ortega has consolidated all branches of government under his party's control, limited fundamental freedoms, and allowed unchecked corruption to pervade the government. In 2014, the National Assembly approved constitutional amendments that paved the way for Ortega to win a third consecutive term in November 2016.

Key Developments in 2017:

Municipal elections in November were marred by postelection violence between supporters of the government and the opposition, in which seven people were killed.

There were reports that the ruling party, Ortega's Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), ran its preferred candidates in the elections over those chosen in local primary surveys. The FSLN won 135 of 153 mayorships contested.

Reforms approved in June increased the centralization of criminal justice procedures, including by allowing judges, rather than juries, to preside over cases involving allegations of serious crimes, as well as the transfer of judicial proceedings from regional courts to courts in the capital.

The government pressed forward with controversial plans to dig an interoceanic canal across Nicaragua. Authorities have generally failed to consult with or inform the public about the project, including the tens of thousands of people whose lives will be affected by its construction. Demonstrations against the planned canal were frequently suppressed.

POLITICAL RIGHTS: 12 / 40 (-2)

A. ELECTORAL PROCESS: 3 / 12

A1. Was the current head of government or other chief national authority elected through free and fair elections? 1 / 4

The constitution provides for a directly elected president, and elections are held every five years. Constitutional reforms in 2014 eliminated term limits -- paving the way for Ortega to run for a third consecutive term -- and required the winner of the presidential ballot to secure a simple plurality of votes.

President Ortega was reelected in November 2016 with over 72 percent of the vote in a severely flawed election that was preceded by the Supreme Court's move to expel the main opposition candidate, Eduardo Montealegre, from his Independent Liberation Party (PLI). The decision crippled the PRI, while Montealegre withdrew from the election. Ortega's closest competitor, Maximino Rodriguez of the Constitutionalist Liberal Party (PLC), received just 15 percent of the vote, with no other candidate reaching 5 percent, including the replacement PLI candidate, an Ortega ally. Ortega's wife, Rosario Murillo, ran as the vice presidential candidate despite opposition voices decrying this as further evidence of the Ortega administration's consolidation of power.

The FSLN won 135 of 153 mayorships contested in November 2017 municipal elections. There were reports ahead of the polls that the FSLN had ignored local primary surveys in order to put its preferred candidates up for election. Seven people were killed in postelection clashes between government and opposition supporters, according to the Nicaraguan Center of Human Rights.

A2. Were the current national legislative representatives elected through free and fair elections? 1 / 4

The constitution provides for a 92-member unicameral National Assembly. Two seats in the legislature are reserved for the previous president and the runner-up in the most recent presidential election. Legislative elections are held every five years.

In November 2016 legislative elections, Ortega's FSLN increased its majority to 70 seats in the National Assembly, followed by the PLC with 13 seats. The PLI won just 2 seats, in contrast to the 26 seats it won in the 2011 election. Ortega refused to allow international election monitoring. Montealegre was expelled from the PRI ahead a few months ahead of the polls, severely damaging the PRI's competitiveness.

Nicaragua's North Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAN) and South Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAS) have regional councils, for which elections were last held in 2014; the FSLN won the largest share of the vote in each, prompting protests by the majority-indigenous YATAMA party.

A3. Are the electoral laws and framework fair, and are they implemented impartially by the relevant election management bodies? 1 / 4

The Supreme Electoral Council (CSE) generally serves the interests of the FSLN. In 2016, it pushed 16 opposition members of the National Assembly from their seats in response to their failure to recognize the Supreme Court's move to expel Montealegre from the PRI; later that year it certified Ortega's reelection following a severely flawed electoral process. CSE head Roberto Rivas in December 2017 was sanctioned by the United States for offenses including having "perpetrated electoral fraud undermining Nicaragua's electoral institutions." The judiciary has interpreted Nicaragua's electoral laws in the FSLN's favor.

B. POLITICAL PLURALISM AND PARTICIPATION: 6 / 16

B1. Do the people have the right to organize in different political parties or other competitive political groupings of their choice, and is the system free of undue obstacles to the rise and fall of these competing parties or groupings? 1 / 4

Political parties face legal and practical obstacles to formation and operations. Party leaders are easily co-opted or disqualified by Ortega-aligned institutions. Membership to the FSLN is often required in order to hold civil service positions, discouraging people from registering as members of other parties. Under 2014 constitutional reforms, legislators effectively have to follow the party vote or risk losing their seats.

B2. Is there a realistic opportunity for the opposition to increase its support or gain power through elections? 1 / 4

The heavy concentration of media into progovernment hands severely limits the ability of the opposition to increase popular support. Opposition parties are also impeded by the FSLN's ability to harness public resources to fund political activities.

In 2014, the PLI and PLC signed a pact in hopes of launching a unified opposition for the 2016 elections. Their efforts were undermined by the Nicaraguan Supreme Court, which in June 2016 disqualified the leader of the PLI from his party. In July of the same year, the CSE removed 16 legislators who refused to recognize the new leadership from the National Assembly. The FSLN then won enough support in the 2016 elections to pass legislation without support from other parties.

B3. Are the people's political choices free from domination by the military, foreign powers, religious hierarchies, economic oligarchies, or any other powerful group that is not democratically accountable? 1 / 4

President Ortega has consolidated all branches of government and most public institutions, as well as the country's media, under his party's control. This allows him and the FSLN great influence over people's political choices. Nevertheless, Ortega retains significant popular support, thanks to his adept management of a booming economy and support for social programs.

B4. Do various segments of the population (including ethnic, religious, gender, LGBT, and other relevant groups) have full political rights and electoral opportunities? 3 / 4

Minority groups, especially the indigenous inhabitants of Nicaragua's eastern and Caribbean regions, frequently complain that they are politically underrepresented and that the government and the FSLN largely ignore their grievances.

As per a new municipal electoral law approved in 2012, half of each party's candidates for mayoralties and council seats must be women.

C. FUNCTIONING OF GOVERNMENT: 3 / 12 (-2)

C1. Do the freely elected head of government and national legislative representatives determine the policies of the government? 1 / 4

The FSLN dominates most public institutions, working closely with labor and private business in a tripartite alliance (COSEP) that is recognized in Article 98 of the constitution. The manipulation of the 2016 election and the expulsion of 16 opposition politicians from the legislature prevented elected representatives from determining government policies.

Ortega has a wide degree of discretionary powers to set policy. The constitutional reforms of 2014 included provisions allowing the president to issue binding decrees and direct changes in tax policy without legislative approval.

C2. Are safeguards against official corruption strong and effective? 1 / 4 (-1)

Because the justice system and other public bodies are generally subservient to Ortega and the FSLN, there is little chance that allegations of corruption against government officials will see a thorough investigation or prosecution. Indeed, corruption charges against high-ranking government officials are rare, while corruption cases against opposition figures are often criticized for being politically motivated.

Ortega's sons and daughters have been appointed to prominent positions such as ambassador and presidential adviser.

Score Change: The score declined from 2 to 1 because the FSLN's domination of the judiciary and public agencies precludes corruption investigations against government and government-allied figures.

C3. Does the government operate with openness and transparency? 1 / 4 (-1)

Government operations and policymaking are generally opaque. The 2007 Law on Access to Public Information requires public entities and private companies doing business with the state to disclose certain information. However, it preserves the government's right to protect information related to state security. Government agencies at all levels generally ignore the law. Meanwhile, Ortega has not held a press conference since 2007.

The Communications and Citizenry Council, which oversees the government's press relations, is directed by First Lady Rosario Murillo and has been accused of limiting access to information. Murillo became vice president following the 2016 presidential election.

A wide range of civil society groups, including Amnesty International, have raised concerns over the lack of transparency surrounding the project to dig an interoceanic canal across Nicaragua. Authorities have largely failed to consult or even communicate with the roughly 120,000 people who live in areas that will be affected by the project, and related environmental studies have been kept from the public. Laws facilitating construction of the project have been passed rapidly, with a similar lack of debate or public consultation.

Score Change: The score declined from 2 to 1 due to opaque processes surrounding the construction of an interoceanic canal, as well as a general lack of government transparency.

CIVIL LIBERTIES: 32 / 60 (-1)

D. FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND BELIEF: 11 / 16

D1. Are there free and independent media? 1 / 4

The press has faced increased political and judicial harassment since 2007, when Ortega returned to power; with the administration engaging in systematic efforts to obstruct and discredit media critics. Journalists have received death threats and been detained covering protests and demonstrations, as well as the canal project.

According to the Nicaraguan Center of Human Rights, in 2017, over 80 percent of the country's television channels, radio stations, newspapers, and online media outlets were effectively under the control of the FSLN, mainly because they were owned by party allies.

D2. Are individuals free to practice and express their religious faith or nonbelief in public and private? 4 / 4

Religious freedom is generally respected. However, some Catholic and evangelical church leaders have reported retaliation by the government for criticism of the Ortega administration, including the confiscation or delay of imported goods and donations, and the selective application of legal restrictions on foreign missionaries.

Faith leaders have also criticized the Ortega administration's attempt to co-opt religious belief for political ends. The government has required public employees to attend government-sponsored religious festivals, making them miss official Catholic Church events.

D3. Is there academic freedom, and is the educational system free from extensive political indoctrination? 3 / 4

Academic freedoms are generally respected, although some university-level academics refrain from open criticism of the government. In the public primary and secondary school system, there have been reports of students being required to attend progovernment rallies, and of pro-FSLN materials displayed in school buildings.

D4. Are individuals free to express their personal views on political or other sensitive topics without fear of surveillance or retribution? 3 / 4

Private discussion is usually free, although prominent individuals increasingly self-censor for fear of retribution. Ernesto Cardenal, a prominent public intellectual, and former Sandinista turned critic of Ortega, was threatened with an $800,000 property fine in February 2017, though it was later annulled; nevertheless, at the time Cardenal described himself as being "politically persecuted."

Access to the internet remains unrestricted, and many people speak their minds freely on social networks.

E. ASSOCIATIONAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL RIGHTS: 5 / 12

E1. Is there freedom of assembly? 2 / 4

Nicaraguan law recognizes freedoms of assembly and association, but in practice respect for these rights has been inconsistent. While public demonstrations are generally permitted, members of the opposition have accused the police of failing to protect demonstrators and of engaging in partisan behavior. In a report in August 2017, Amnesty International stated that campesino (small-scale farmer or farmworker) groups demonstrating against the planned canal have been subject to violence, and have seen protest actions obstructed by the police. In November, police temporarily detained people who were traveling to Managua to participate in a march to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, delaying the event.

E2. Is there freedom for nongovernmental organizations, particularly those that are engaged in human rights- and governance-related work? 1 / 4

Although nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) are active, groups critical of the government or which focus on issues like corruption face significant administrative hurdles. NGOs must receive formal recognition from the state in order to receive donations, and critical groups say the government harnesses this law to choke off foreign funding. Authorities also harassed critical groups by conducing unannounced audits, which are permitted by law but are disruptive and frequently serve to intimidate NGO workers.

NGO workers can face aggressive rhetoric when questioning government officials about corruption. Organizations representing the interests of indigenous groups affected by the canal project have been marginalized.

E3. Is there freedom for trade unions and similar professional or labor organizations? 2 / 4

The FSLN controls many of the country's labor unions, and the legal rights of non-FSLN unions are not fully guaranteed in practice. Although the law recognizes the right to strike, approval from the Ministry of Labor is almost never granted. Employers sometimes form their own unions to avoid recognizing legitimate organizations. Employees have reportedly been dismissed for union activities, and citizens have no effective recourse when those in power violate labor laws.

F. RULE OF LAW: 6 / 16 (-1)

F1. Is there an independent judiciary? 1 / 4

The judiciary remains dominated by FSLN and PLC appointees, and the Supreme Court is a largely politicized body controlled by Sandinista judges. The court system also suffers from corruption and long delays. Access to justice is especially deficient in rural areas and on the Caribbean coast.

F2. Does due process prevail in civil and criminal matters? 1 / 4 (-1)

Due process is not guaranteed and arbitrary arrests and detentions continue to be reported. Reforms to the penal code and to judicial processes approved in June 2017 increased the centralization of criminal justice procedures in ways damaging to due process rights; authorities said the reforms were intended to increase convictions in serious cases involving violence. They include measures that allow "technical" judges to preside over many cases, instead of juries, as well as provisions that allow the transfer of certain kinds of cases from regional courts to the central public ministry. Former judicial officials and legal experts have described the changes as unconstitutional. Other observers have expressed concern that the reforms will increase politicization of the criminal justice system by empowering the country's largely FSLN-aligned judges.

Score Change: The score declined from 2 to 1 due to reforms that further centralized criminal justice procedures at the expense of due process rights.

F3. Is there protection from the illegitimate use of physical force and freedom from war and insurgencies? 2 / 4

Nicaragua has generally been spared the high rates of crime and gang violence that plague its neighbors to the north, and the police have been active in combating drug trafficking and organized crime. Generally considered to be the most professionalized in the region, the police nevertheless remain understaffed and poorly funded, and have come under criticism for skirmishes with civilians.

Changes to the military code and national police passed in 2014 give the president power to deploy the army for internal security purposes and appoint the national police chief, and permitted the police to engage in political activity. The 2015 sovereign security law has been criticized for militarizing civilian agencies.

F4. Do laws, policies, and practices guarantee equal treatment of various segments of the population? 2 / 4

The constitution and laws nominally recognize the rights of indigenous communities, but those rights have not been respected in practice. Approximately 5 percent of the population is indigenous and lives mostly in the RAAN and the RAAS. The country's LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) population is subject to intermittent threats and discriminatory treatment.

G. PERSONAL AUTONOMY AND INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS: 10 / 16

G1. Do individuals enjoy freedom of movement, including the ability to change their place of residence, employment, or education? 3 / 4

Governmental and nonstate actors generally respect travel, residence, and employment choices. However, indigenous communities are limited in their employment and movement by poor infrastructure and reduced economic development opportunities.

G2. Are individuals able to exercise the right to own property and establish private businesses without undue interference from state or nonstate actors? 3 / 4

Property rights are protected on paper but can be tenuous in practice. Titles are often contested, and individuals with connections to the FSLN sometimes enjoy an advantage during property disputes. Individuals and communities in the construction zone for the new canal continue to report intimidation by surveyors and anonymous actors. Conflict over land in the RAAN between Miskito residents and settlers continued in 2017.

G3. Do individuals enjoy personal social freedoms, including choice of marriage partner and size of family, protection from domestic violence, and control over appearance? 2 / 4

Violence against women and children remains widespread and underreported; few cases are ever prosecuted. The 2012 Comprehensive Law against Violence toward Women addresses both physical and structural forms of violence, and recognizes violence against women as a matter of public health and safety. The legislation codified femicide and establishes sentencing guidelines for physical and psychological abuses against women. However, 2017 reforms to the penal code narrowed the definition of femicide, stipulating that in order for a woman's murder to be considered femicide (thus triggering additional penalties for convictions), the victim must have had an intimate relationship with the perpetrator.

A 2013 reform to the law allows mediation between the victim and accuser, despite concerns from rights groups. The family code includes protections for pregnant minors, the elderly, and ethnic minorities; establishes equal duties of mothers and fathers; and prohibits physical punishment of children. It defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman and, as such, deprives same-sex couples the right to adopt children or the ability to receive fertility treatment.

Abortion is illegal and punishable by imprisonment, even when performed to save the mother's life or in cases of rape or incest. The criminalization of abortion may prompt women to seek out risky illegal abortions that can jeopardize their health.

G4. Do individuals enjoy equality of opportunity and freedom from economic exploitation? 2 / 4

Human trafficking is a significant issue in Nicaragua, which serves as a source country for women and children forced into prostitution; adults and children are also vulnerable to forced labor in the agriculture, mining, and other sectors, and as domestic servants. While recognizing the government's "significant efforts" to tackle human trafficking, the 2017 U.S. State Department's Trafficking in Persons Report stated that promised funds to be put aside for antitrafficking initiatives had failed to materialize, and that the Atlantic coast continued to be disproportionately affected due to weaker institutions there.

Scoring Key: X / Y (Z)

X = Score Received

Y = Best Possible Score

Z = Change from Previous Year

Copyright notice:  Freedom House, Inc.  All Rights ReservedOn February 19, Ukraine filed its memorandum in arbitration proceedings against the Russian Federation under the UN Convention on the Sea Law, which proves that Russia violated Ukraine's sovereign rights in the Black and Azov Seas and the Kerch Strait, the official website of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said on Monday.

"Since 2014, Russia has unlawfully excluded Ukraine from exercising its maritime rights; it has exploited Ukraine's sovereign resources for its own ends; and it has usurped Ukraine's right to regulate within its own maritime areas. Through these violations of international law, Russia is stealing Ukraine's energy and fisheries resources, harming the livelihoods of Ukrainian fishermen, and blocking traffic to Ukrainian ports with its illegal bridge over the Kerch Strait, among other serious violations," the message reads.

In this regard Ukraine asks the Tribunal to end the Russian Federation's violations of UNCLOS and vindicate Ukraine's rights in the Black Sea, Sea of Azov, and Kerch Strait, including by ordering Russia to respect Ukraine's sovereign rights in its own waters, to cease its theft of Ukraine's resources, and to pay reparation for hydrocarbon resources Russia has wrongfully taken, among other relief.

The Foreign Ministry says that Ukraine initiated arbitration proceedings against the Russian Federation in September 2016. A five-member Tribunal sitting in The Hague has been constituted to hear Ukraine's case. Ukraine is vindicating its rights in the face of Russia's flagrant violations of international law in appropriate international forums, including the UNCLOS case, as well as Ukraine's case against the Russian Federation before the International Court of Justice.Freedom in the World 2018 - Georgia

Publisher Freedom House Publication Date 16 February 2018 Cite as Freedom House, Freedom in the World 2018 - Georgia, 16 February 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5a8aedf84.html [accessed 16 September 2021] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

Freedom Status: Partly Free

Aggregate Score: 64 (0 = Least Free, 100 = Most Free)

Freedom Rating: 3.0 (1 = Most Free, 7 = Least Free)

Political Rights: 3 (1 = Most Free, 7 = Least Free)

Civil Liberties: 3 (1 = Most Free, 7 = Least Free)

Explanatory Note:

The numerical rankings and subsequent report do not include South Ossetia or Abkhazia, which are considered in separate reports.

Quick Facts

Population: 4,000,000

Capital: Tbilisi

GDP/capita: $3,765

Press Freedom Status: Partly Free

Net Freedom Status: Free

OVERVIEW

Georgia holds regular and pluralistic elections, and its democratic trajectory has generally shown significant improvement in recent years. However, oligarchic actors hold outsized influence over policy and political choices, and judicial independence continues to be stymied by executive and legislative interests.

Key Developments in 2017:

The parliament approved constitutional amendments that will transform the parliament into a fully proportionally elected body by 2024. The Council of Europe's Venice Commission praised the changes, but noted that delays in their implementation were mandated over the objections of the opposition and civil society groups, which argued that holding the next legislative elections under the current mixed system would benefit the ruling party.

The ruling Georgian Dream-Democratic Georgia party won a majority of seats in October's municipal elections, including the Tbilisi mayorship. A split in the main opposition party contributed to Georgian Dream's strong performance.

A legal battle over ownership of the popular opposition television station Rustavi 2 continued. In March, the Supreme Court of Georgia ruled to return control of the station to its previous co-owner, who is aligned with Georgian Dream. The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) suspended the ruling and warned authorities not to interfere with the station's editorial policies.

An Azerbaijani investigative journalist, Afgan Mukhtarli, was abducted in Georgia and taken to Azerbaijan, where he was subsequently imprisoned. Mukhtarli's legal team alleged that Georgian authorities were complicit in the affair, and two senior officials were fired in connection with it.

POLITICAL RIGHTS: 26 / 40 (-1)

A. ELECTORAL PROCESS: 9 / 12

A1. Was the current head of government or other chief national authority elected through free and fair elections? 3 / 4

Georgia has a dual executive, with the prime minister serving as head of government and the president as head of state. The president is selected by direct election for a five-year term. The president formally appoints the prime minister, who is nominated by the parliament. Under constitutional changes approved in 2017, the president will be elected indirectly by a group of national, regional, and local lawmakers, though these changes do not take effect until after the 2018 election.

In the 2013 presidential election, Giorgi Margvelashvili, an independent candidate backed by the Georgian Dream party, won 62 percent of the vote, ahead of United National Movement (UNM) candidate David Bakradze, who won 22 percent. While observers reported some violations, they deemed the poll competitive and credible and praised the Central Election Commission for its professionalism.

Giorgi Kvirikashvili of the Georgian Dream party returned as prime minister following 2016 parliamentary elections; he had served in that position since late 2015.

A2. Were the current national legislative representatives elected through free and fair elections? 3 / 4

In the 2016 parliamentary elections, Georgian Dream won 44 percent of the vote in the proportional contest, and 71 of 73 majoritarian seats. The UNM garnered 27 percent of the proportional vote but did not win any majoritarian seats; smaller parties took the remaining seats. An observer mission from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) found the elections competitive and largely fair, but noted the use of administrative funds for campaign purposes, and changes to rules governing party registration made too close to the elections. A small number of violent incidents were reported during the campaigning period and the first round of polling.

Under constitutional changes approved in 2017, by 2024 the parliament will be elected by proportional representation.

A3. Are the electoral laws and framework fair, and are they implemented impartially by the relevant election management bodies? 3 / 4

Georgia's electoral laws are generally fair and the bodies that implement them generally do so impartially. However, following the 2016 legislative elections, OSCE monitors noted a lack of transparency in the adjudication of election-related complaints by the courts and the electoral commission. And following the 2017 mayoral and municipal polls, an OSCE monitoring mission noted that the parliament's approval of a new head of the State Audit Office two weeks before the election had prompted concerns about the office's impartiality; it is charged with regulating and overseeing campaign financing.

The Venice Commission expressed concern that the 2017 constitutional amendments would not be fully implemented until 2024, a delay mandated over the objections of opposition parties and civil society groups that claimed the slow transition to a proportionally elected legislature would benefit Georgian Dream in the next legislative election, which will be held under the current mixed system.

B. POLITICAL PLURALISM AND PARTICIPATION: 10 / 16 (-1)

B1. Do the people have the right to organize in different political parties or other competitive political groupings of their choice, and is the system free of undue obstacles to the rise and fall of these competing parties or groupings? 3 / 4

Georgian political life is vibrant, and people are generally able to form political parties and assert their own candidacies with little interference. However, a pattern of single-party dominance over the past decade has inhibited the development and stability of competing groups.

In the 2017 mayoral elections, independent candidates had significantly less time to collect signatures to register for ballot placement than candidates who belonged to a party.

B2. Is there a realistic opportunity for the opposition to increase its support or gain power through elections? 3 / 4

The main opposition party, the UNM, splintered in 2017, leaving behind two smaller parties less capable of mounting a credible opposition. The weakened UNM and the new offshoot, European Georgia, failed to secure extensive representation in October 2017 municipal elections. Georgian Dream won most mayoral and gubernatorial seats, including the Tbilisi mayorship. Campaign donations heavily favored the ruling Georgian Dream party. According to the Georgian branch of Transparency International, during the period between June 1 and November 1, 2017, Georgian Dream collected 10 times more in campaign donations than all other parties combined.

Constitutional changes approved in September 2017 prohibited multiple small parties from forming party blocs to overcome a 5 percent voting threshold needed to enter the parliament. The ban on party blocs could further diminish an already fragmented parliamentary opposition. (The next legislative elections will be held under the current mixed system with a 3 percent threshold.)

B3. Are the people's political choices free from domination by the military, foreign powers, religious hierarchies, economic oligarchies, or any other powerful group that is not democratically accountable? 2 / 4 (-1)

Bidzina Ivanishvili, the wealthy Georgian businessman who founded the ruling Georgian Dream party in 2011, does not currently hold elected office, but his ties to ruling party members and large financial holdings in Georgia allow him significant influence within Georgian political life. Ivanishvili served as prime minister from 2012 to 2013; his successors in office have been close confidants and former employees of institutions he controls, suggesting that he plays a large role in determining the leadership of the country. The splintering of the opposition UNM in 2017 leaves few counterweights to Ivanishvili and Georgian Dream.

Score Change: The score declined from 3 to 2 due to increasing domination of the political sphere by the Georgian Dream party and its backer Bidzina Ivanishvili, who wields significant political influence but does not hold any elected office.

B4. Do various segments of the population (including ethnic, religious, gender, LGBT, and other relevant groups) have full political rights and electoral opportunities? 2 / 4

No laws prevent women or members of minority groups from participating in the political process, but in practice these groups are underrepresented at all levels of government.

C. FUNCTIONING OF GOVERNMENT: 7 / 12

C1. Do the freely elected head of government and national legislative representatives determine the policies of the government? 2 / 4

The Georgian Dream party dominates Georgian political space. Critical to this is the role of Ivanishvili, the party's creator and financial guarantor, who holds significant influence over political decision-making in Georgia. Ivanishvili's financial and business interests also loom large in Georgian political space, in particular the multibillion-dollar Georgian Co-Investment Fund (GCF), which was unveiled by Ivanishvili in 2013 and is active in large real estate development projects in the capital. In 2017, there was suspicion that a major development project in Tbilisi opposed by many civil society actors but backed by GCF advanced due in large part to Ivanishvili's political connections.

C2. Are safeguards against official corruption strong and effective? 2 / 4

While the country has made significant progress in combatting petty corruption, corruption within the government remains a problem. This can take the form of bribes, the exchange of insider information, and intimidation, among other things. Enforcement of anticorruption measures at high levels has been lacking.

In 2017, the Georgian branch of Transparency International published a report detailing suspected corruption in land privatization processes in Teleti.

C3. Does the government operate with openness and transparency? 3 / 4

The Institute for the Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI), a Georgian advocacy group, reports that access to public information has been uneven since 2010. The group singled out the Justice Ministry and Ministry of Economy and Stable Development as having been particularly reticent in recent years. In May 2017, the Georgian Parliament approved a plan to increase accountability and transparency for parliamentary actions. But in December, lawmakers adopted a constitutional amendment regarding state secrets, which the IDFI said could be interpreted in a way that could lead to a decrease in government transparency.

Civil society activists have expressed concern about a lack of government transparency regarding rezoning and land sales in Tbilisi.

CIVIL LIBERTIES: 38 / 60 (+1)

D. FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND BELIEF: 11 / 16

D1. Are there free and independent media? 2 / 4

Georgia's media environment is robust and competitive, but frequently partisan. In 2017, court proceedings over the ownership of the opposition-aligned television station Rustavi 2 continued; these could jeopardize the opposition nature of the station, which is among the most watched and trusted in Georgia. In March, the Supreme Court of Georgia ruled to return control of the station to its previous co-owner, who is aligned with Georgian Dream. The ECHR almost immediately ruled that the decision should be suspended, and warned authorities not to interfere with the station's editorial policies. The Georgian branch of Transparency International has expressed serious concerns about procedural shortcomings during the related proceedings at the Georgian court, as well as about the court's independence.

The Georgian Public Broadcaster (GPB) has recently made personnel changes that included the hiring of numerous people considered Ivanishvili allies, some of whom were installed in senior positions; civil society groups in a joint statement issued in November 2017 expressed concern about these hires as well as about the station's coverage, which they said had become less critical of the government.

Separately, in May, an investigative journalist from Azerbaijan, Afgan Mukhtarli, was abducted from Tbilisi and transported to Azerbaijan, where he was detained by authorities. While the circumstances of his abduction are unclear, Mukhtarli's attorneys argue that Georgian authorities were complicit with the effort to remove him to Azerbaijan. In July, Prime Minister Kvirikashvili dismissed the chiefs of the Counter Intelligence Service and the Border Police in connection with the matter.

D2. Are individuals free to practice and express their religious faith or nonbelief in public and private? 2 / 4

The Georgian constitution guarantees freedom of religion but grants unique privileges to the Georgian Orthodox Church, including immunity for its patriarch. Georgia's religious minorities -- among them Jehovah's Witnesses, Baptists, Pentecostals, and Muslims -- have reported discrimination and hostility, including from Georgian Orthodox priests and adherents, and are insufficiently protected by the state. Some minority religions have faced difficulty gaining permits from local administrations to construct houses of worship.

D3. Is there academic freedom, and is the educational system free from extensive political indoctrination? 4 / 4

Academic freedom is generally respected in Georgia. However, in 2017 Georgian authorities closed two schools associated with the Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen, whose movement the Turkish government has declared a terrorist organization. While the Education Ministry blamed the closures on technical regulations, the Turkish ambassador to Georgia made comments indicating that the Turkish government had approached its Georgian counterparts with concerns about the schools.

D4. Are individuals free to express their personal views on political or other sensitive topics without fear of surveillance or retribution? 3 / 4

In recent years, watchdogs have expressed concerns that various security-related laws and agencies are empowered to conduct surveillance and data collection without adequate review processes for such operations. The adoption in March 2017 of a law that will establish a new surveillance agency under the mandate of the State Security Service drew concern from privacy advocates, who questioned the new agency's independence and oversight mechanisms.

E. ASSOCIATIONAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL RIGHTS: 8 / 12

E1. Is there freedom of assembly? 3 / 4

Freedom of assembly is generally respected, and several peaceful protests took place during 2017. However, police occasionally respond to demonstrations with excessive force. In March, a protest in Batumi against disproportionately expensive fines for traffic violations became violent; police employed tear gas and rubber bullets, and a number of injuries were reported.

E2. Is there freedom for nongovernmental organizations, particularly those that are engaged in human rights- and governance-related work? 3 / 4

The civil society sector has grown significantly in recent years, but remains concentrated in the capital. Some groups are included in policy discussions, while others report facing pressure, largely in the form of public criticism by both government officials and opposition figures.

E3. Is there freedom for trade unions and similar professional or labor organizations? 2 / 4

Workers are allowed to organize, but trade unions remain weak despite the adoption in 2013 of a new labor code with additional protections for workers' rights.

F. RULE OF LAW: 8 / 16

F1. Is there an independent judiciary? 2 / 4

Executive and legislative interference in the judiciary remains a substantial problem, as does a lack of transparency and professionalism surrounding proceedings. In 2017, opposition figures and others expressed concern that political interference had been a significant factor in the Supreme Court's decision -- later overturned by the ECHR -- to return Rustavi 2 to its former co-owner, who is associated with the Georgian Dream party.

F2. Does due process prevail in civil and criminal matters? 2 / 4

The law guarantees due process, but this protection is not always respected in practice. The office of the country's public defender, or ombudsman, has reported violations including a failure to fully implement Constitutional Court rulings, administrative delays in court proceedings, the violation of the accused's right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty, and the denial of access to a lawyer upon arrest.

F3. Is there protection from the illegitimate use of physical force and freedom from war and insurgencies? 2 / 4

Human rights watchdogs and the ombudsman continued to express concern about the abuse of detainees by police, with the ombudsman reporting a recent increase in the number of arrestees who arrive at detention facilities with injuries that may be attributable to police abuse. Violence in prisons remains a problem.

F4. Do laws, policies, and practices guarantee equal treatment of various segments of the population? 2 / 4

A 2014 antidiscrimination law providing protection against discrimination on the basis of various factors, including race, gender, age, sexual orientation, and gender identity is enforced unevenly. LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) people face societal discrimination and are occasionally the targets of serious violence. People with disabilities experience discrimination.

G. PERSONAL AUTONOMY AND INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS: 11 / 16 (+1)

G1. Do individuals enjoy freedom of movement, including the ability to change their place of residence, employment, or education? 3 / 4

Freedom of domestic movement and international travel are generally respected, and individuals have the freedom to choose their place of residence without interference. Poverty can serve as a barrier to free movement.

G2. Are individuals able to exercise the right to own property and establish private businesses without undue interference from state or nonstate actors? 3 / 4 (+1)

The Heritage Foundation's Index of Economic Freedom has noted consistent improvements in economic freedom in Georgia over several years, citing reductions in petty corruption, simplified taxation schemes, more open markets, and infrastructural development. Protection for property rights remains weak, and deficiencies in judicial independence and government integrity hamper economic freedom.

Score Change: The score improved from 2 to 3 because of steady improvements in the ease of engaging in commercial activity.

G3. Do individuals enjoy personal social freedoms, including choice of marriage partner and size of family, protection from domestic violence, and control over appearance? 3 / 4

Constitutional changes approved in 2017 define marriage as "a union between a man and a woman for the purpose of creating a family." There is no law protecting civil unions for same-sex couples.

Domestic violence remains a problem in Georgia, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs has reported an increase in the number of domestic violence complaints. However, the increase is likely due to changes in attitudes toward domestic violence; according to a recent UN study, most Georgians now identify domestic violence as a crime, rather than an internal family matter, as had been standard before.

G4. Do individuals enjoy equality of opportunity and freedom from economic exploitation? 2 / 4

Economic inequality is a problem in Georgia, where the International Labor Organization estimates that 22.5 percent of workers live below the poverty line. With the recent real estate boom in Tbilisi, the increase of construction zone deaths and reports of worker exploitation has garnered nationwide attention, leading to protests by trade union activists. The Georgian public defender in December 2017 called workplace injuries and fatalities a "systemic problem" and has commented on the lack of government action in implementing and strengthening labor protections.

Georgia is a source, destination, and transit country for human trafficking linked to sexual exploitation and forced labor. However, according to the U.S. State Department's 2017 Trafficking in Persons Report, the government has made improvements in combatting trafficking, notably by improving mechanisms for identifying victims and by providing identification documents to vulnerable children at no charge.

Scoring Key: X / Y (Z)

X = Score Received

Y = Best Possible Score

Z = Change from Previous Year

Copyright notice:  Freedom House, Inc.  All Rights ReservedPresident of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko has instructed to prepare documents for the International Court of Justice in The Hague concerning war crimes of the Russian Federation, and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Pavlo Klimkin also announced the preparation of memoranda on the convention on the prohibition of racial discrimination and the prohibition of the financing of terrorism.

According to the presidential press service, during the meeting with the president Klimkin said that in June there would be memorandums on the convention on the prohibition of racial discrimination and on the prohibition of the financing of terrorism.

"What we are doing is a complex legal attempt to punish Russia by means of law, and most importantly, Russia will not only receive punishment for violating rights, but will pay for it," the foreign minister said.

The president specified that it was not just a matter of maritime law, the elimination of racial discrimination, responsibility for financing terrorism, but he also set the task of preparing documents relating to war crimes. The relevant materials are already being collected for the preparation of the suit in the International Court of Justice.

Klimkin assured that the work would continue consistently, the Ukrainian side has a strong team that will represent it in the arbitration and the International Court of Justice.Exton, PA -- (ReleaseWire) -- 02/19/2018 --Electrical system monitoring and safety specialist Bender Canada Inc. is expanding the scope of its service to customers in British Columbia with the appointment of 3 Phase Power Systems as the authorized distributor for the region.



The company is the first distributor to be appointed by Bender Canada, and the agreement marks a strategic expansion of the business to build the market for Bender's advanced electrical safety and monitoring products and systems.



3 Phase Power Systems offers huge experience in the application and operation of low and medium-voltage variable frequency drives, motors and motor control centers, LV & MV switchgear, harmonic filters, and e-houses & electrical buildings. The company is active in a wide range of industrial sectors which can benefit from Bender technology including mining, oil & gas, pulp & paper, water & waste water, and transportation.



The agreement will give 3 Phase Power Systems customers in British Columbia complete access to the full range of Bender products. Bender seeks to extend understanding of ground fault monitoring in ungrounded, solidly grounded, and high-resistance grounded systems, and the benefits in terms of resilience and plant availability for processing and production facilities.



Bender and 3 Phase Power Systems recently worked together on a project to maximize the economic efficiency of pumps and filters at one of Canada's biggest waste water treatment facilities, introducing insulation monitoring of the entire electrical system, including transformers, variable frequency drives and motors. The new monitoring devices enable predictive and preventive maintenance of the system, avoiding unplanned shutdowns and plant outages, and enhancing personnel safety.



Amir Mojtahed, Managing Director of Bender Canada explains: "3 Phase Power Systems is well positioned to handle Bender's present and future sales and service needs. They have a tremendous team of technical salespeople who work hard to listen and find the right solutions for their customers.



"They also have the experience working with ground fault monitoring systems and appreciate the inherent advantages offered by Bender's ground fault monitors for grounded and high-resistance grounded AC systems. Products like the NGRM700 - the new neutral grounding resistor monitor for HRG applications which provides advanced warning of AC and DC ground faults without the problems associated with nuisance tripping and harmonics."



For more information on the range of insulation monitoring and electrical safety products and systems offered by Bender Canada Inc. please visit http://www.bender-ca.com. For more information on 3 Phase Power Systems go to http://www.3phasepower.ca.Peoria, IL -- (ReleaseWire) -- 02/19/2018 --The Alpaca Owners Association, Inc. (AOA) National Alpaca Show sponsored by Fun in the Country Alpacas, which draws hundreds of alpaca enthusiasts and fiber artists from across the country, is held in a new geographic location nearly every year.



This year, AOA selected the Peoria Civic Center to host the 2018 National Alpaca Show.



"We are thrilled to bring our national show to Peoria in 2018," said Bud Synhorst, AOA executive director. "We visited several cities throughout the U.S. to choose a host site for our premiere industry event and the city of Peoria, as well as the Peoria Civic Center, quickly rose to the top by exceeding all of our expectations. We are certain our members will enjoy all the city has to offer."



Hours are:



Friday, March 23 - 8:00 a.m.  5:00 p.m.

Saturday, March 24 - 8:00 a.m.  5:00 p.m.

Sunday, March 25 - 8:00 a.m.  3:00 p.m.



Alpacas from across the country will be featured in the show ring competition. The show will be comprised of classes judging conformation and fleece quality in many categories for both Suri and Huacaya alpacas.



Dozens of vendors and farm displays will sell the latest alpaca fashions and hand-crafted items.



What better way to learn more about the growing North American alpaca industry than to talk to breeders from throughout North America and beyond, and meet hundreds of alpacas face-to-face in one location? Now you can. And it's FREE!



Alpaca Selfie Booth



This year the public can take a selfie with an alpaca at the Alpaca Selfie Booth. Haven't perfected your selfie taking skills quite yet? No worries. Show volunteers can take your photo for you. The Alpaca Selfie Booth is is FREE!



Alpaca Costume Contest



On Saturday, March 24 at approximately 2:00 p.m. participants of all ages will take to the ring to compete alongside their alpacas in a costume contest. Costumes will be judged on the comfort of the animal with foreign objects on their head, legs and feet, and how imaginative the costume is as well as the story each participant must write telling about the costume.



For more information about the Alpaca Owners Association or the AOA National Show sponsored by Fun in the Country Alpacas, visit http://www.alpacanationals.com.



Additional Information



About Alpacas

Alpacas, cousins to the llama, are beautiful, intelligent animals native to the Andean Mountain range of South America, particularly Peru, Bolivia and Chile.



Today, the United States boasts two types of alpacas. Although almost physically identical, the two types of alpacas are distinguished by their fleece. The huacaya (wa-Ki'-ah) is the more common of the two and has a fluffy, extremely fine coat. On the other hand, the suri (SUR-ee) is more rare and has fleece that is silky and resembles pencil-locks.



Adult alpacas stand at approximately 36 inches at the withers and generally weigh between 150 and 200 pounds. They do not have horns, hooves, claws or incisors. Alpacas are alert, intelligent, curious and predictable. Social animals that seek companionship, they communicate most commonly by softly humming.



About Alpaca Fleece

Alpacas are shorn, without harm, every twelve to eighteen months. Each alpaca can produce five to ten pounds of luxurious fleece. Long ago, this fleece was reserved for royalty. Today, it is purchased in its raw fleece form by hand-spinners and fiber artists, while knitters buy it as yarn.



Because of its soft texture, alpaca fleece is sometimes compared to cashmere. The fleece also has the luster of silk, making it even more coveted. Alpaca is just as warm as wool, yet it is a mere 1/3 the weight. It comes in 16 natural colors and can be dyed any desired shade.



Containing no lanolin, alpaca fleece is also naturally hypoallergenic. Most people who are sensitive to wool find that they can wear alpaca without the itching or irritation they feel from wool because alpaca fleece is smooth. Additional performance characteristics include: stretch, water repellency and odor reduction. For travelers, clothing made from alpaca is desirable because it is wrinkle-resistant.Three decades have passed since the 24th General Conference of UNESCO, which took place in Paris from October 20 to November 20, 1987, adopted Resolution 24C/18.65 on the celebration of the 100th anniversary of President Ho Chi Minhs birthday, as a national hero and a great man of culture of Vietnam in 1990.

The resolution clearly stated that President Ho Chi Minh was an excellent symbol of national self-assertion, having devoted all his life to the struggle for the national liberation of the Vietnamese people, contributing to the common struggle of peoples for peace, national independence, democracy, and social progress. The important and multifaceted contributions of Ho Chi Minh to the fields of culture, education, and the arts are the crystalisation of the Vietnamese cultural tradition which stretches back several thousand years. His ideals embody the aspirations of the people in the affirmation of their cultural identities and the promotion of mutual understanding, the document said.

President Ho Chi Minh traveled all over the world to find a way to save the country and also led the Vietnamese people to produce globally resounding victories for national independence and freedom. Moreover, he left the Vietnamese people with an invaluable legacy, which are his internationally recognised and admired thoughts and actions.

His great thought is not only about the Vietnamese revolutionary ideals, but also the extremely vital role of education and culture for peace and development. These are also major goals pursued by UNESCO. Therefore, UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova emphasised at the celebration that President Ho Chi Minh was a great humanist and intellectual. His thoughts on the power of education have been clearly manifested through his saying that For the sake of ten years, we should plant trees; for the sake of 100 years, we should cultivate people.

According to Irina Bokova, President Ho Chi Minhs words and actions showed that he always wanted all Vietnamese people to strive for a bright future. The President demonstrated his thorough understanding of the power of culture by once saying that the culture leads the way for the people to go, considering culture an important factor to affirm the identity and origin, in addition to his desire to share the unique values of Vietnams heritages with the world.

French artists perform two poems by Uncle Ho, which were set to music by French composer Louis Durey.

As for Alain Ruscio, a French historian who has made many studies of President Ho Chi Minh, the great leader of the Vietnamese people is a man of peace and of commitment. During his revolutionary life for the people and for the country, President Ho Chi Minh always struggled and fought against those who wanted to subjugate his nation. But under whatever circumstances or roles, either acting secretly or assuming the role of State leader, President Ho Chi Minh had never been aggressive, despite being repeatedly confronted by antagonists.

President Ho Chi Minh is a source of artistic inspiration in Vietnam, France, and many other places around the world. At the anniversary, two poems by Uncle Ho, Toi doc (I read) and Thu da (autumn night), which were set to music by French composer Louis Durey, were presented to French and international friends. Henri-Claude Fantapie, a well-known French conductor and composer, affirmed that those who attend this special event, as well as many other people in the world, share the same thoughts, that President Ho Chi Minh is a symbol of integrity and wholeheartedness for the country and for independence and freedom of the Vietnamese people.

The anniversary at the UNESCO headquarters is a very significant event, aiming to recognise the great contributions of President Ho Chi Minh to the common struggle of nations for peace, national independence, democracy, and social progress. As time goes by, Vietnam is on its forward path of reformation in line with the trend of the current time, and is always proud of the beloved Uncle Ho. Meanwhile, international friends still give good sentiments and admiration for President Ho Chi Minh, a respectable and great leader of the time.Most of the foreign visitors came from China, the Republic of Korea, Japan, the United States, France, Germany, Australia, Malaysia and Thailand.

The figure brought the total number of visitors to the city during the Tet holidays from February 14-20 to nearly 375,000, an increase of 13 percent from the same period last year. The figure included 250,000 domestic travellers, up six percent year on year.

The local tourism industry estimated to earn more than VND1.28 trillion (US$56.5 million ) during the biggest holiday of the year, up 19 percent year on year.

Most visitors flocked to the citys popular attractions, like Vietnam Museum of Ethnology, Thang Long Imperial Citadel, Huong Son landscape complex (also known as the Huong Pagoda), Ngoc Son Temple in the heart of Hoan Kiem Lake, Van Mieu (the Temple of Literature) and Quoc Tu Giam (the first university in Vietnam) and the Vietnam National Villages for Ethnic Culture and Tourism, which host a series of art performances and cultural activities to celebrate the traditional New Year.

Most notable is the annual Spring Calligraphy Festival which is underway at Van Mieu  Quoc Tu Giam from February 9-25. About 63 calligraphers sit in bamboo tents, wearing ao dai (long robes), and perform the writing, following the traditions of the past.The Egyptian Parliament's foreign affairs committee issued a statement strongly rejecting a resolution by the European Parliament on executions in Egypt, warning that the use of human rights matters to place restrictions on Egypt must stop.

Tarek Radwan, the head of the foreign affairs committee, said in the statement that the resolution reveals an "ignorance of the real conditions in Egypt", and that it is a violation of the principle of non-intervention in the internal affairs of other countries.

"Egypt has the full right to choose its legal and judicial system," the statement read.

"The [Egyptian] Parliament rejects any dictations to amend national laws that have been drafted by elected representatives in accordance with the constitution, and [which] evolve from the social context as well as security threats in the country."

The European Parliament issued the resolution on 8 Februrary, expressing concerns that "strict procedures are in place within the countrys legal system in cases where the death penalty is applicable."

The European Parliament highlighted what it called a "significant rise in the number of people sentenced to death in Egypt since 2014," referring to around 1,857 individuals who have received the sentence since January 2014.

The EU legislative body also demanded that Egyptian defendants facing the death penalty be afforded "full access to legal representation and a fair trial in accordance with accepted international standards," and condemned "the use of the death sentence to suppress opposition."

Responding to that, the Egyptian Parliament's statement said that "stopping the death penalty is not an international commitment, nor a subject of consensus among countries."

The committee's statement stressed that, due to the severity of death penalty, Egyptian law contains number of procedures that guarantee the accused a fair trial with full space to defend themselves in accordance with international standards.

The committee also stated that military trials, which exist in many countries, offer the same guarantee of rights as the regular judiciary, but handle crimes related to the armed forces.

"Imposing concepts that are incompatible with other societies' prevailing social and cultural values is an act of arrogance," the committee added.

The European Parliament acknowledged Egypt's fragile security situation, citing "a high risk of terrorist attacks in the Sinai Peninsula and major cities across the country by various jihadi organisations."

The European Parliament also said that it considers Egypt an important partner and that the EU countries have a shared interest in "defeating the threat to regional and international security."

The statement also expressed support for "further offers to help the Egyptian authorities develop robust intelligence and security mechanisms, in line with international law, including measures relating to crowd control and legitimate, peaceful protest."

The Egyptian parliament's response questioned the timing of the resolution, citing Egypt's upcoming presidential elections and ongoing comprehensive military operation against terrorism in Sinai, which was launched last week.

The timing "raises many questions on the credibility of some participants in the war against terrorism, and reveals the real intentions of those who claim partnership with the south of the Mediterranean, and those who make claims supporting stability in the Middle East region," according to the Egyptian parliament.

Short link:

Egypt is considering relocating certification exams for North Sinai students to a nearby governorate, Education Minister Tarek Shawki announced on Sunday, nearly a week after school sessions were suspended until further notice due to the launch of the army's sweeping anti-terrorism campaign, Operation Sinai 2018.

In statements ahead of the inauguration of a number of schools, including a complex of Japanese schools in Suez, Shawki said his ministry was currently devising a general plan for education in the governorate that aimed to "preserve the students' educational future."

The minister added that the resumption of classes in North Sinai depends on a decision by the armed forces.

On 9 February, hours after the launch of Operation Sinai 2018, Egyptian authorities decided to close all schools in North Sinai until further notice.

The Egyptian Armed Forces launched the operation to implement the plan of comprehensive confrontation with terrorist and criminal elements and organizations in North and Central Sinai and other areas in the Nile Delta and the desert areas west of the Nile valley."

Tens of terrorists have been killed, with hundreds of criminal elements and suspects arrested since the beginning of the ongoing operation, the army had announced.

Short link:

Four takfiris were killed by the Egyptian Armed Forces in northern and central Sinai, the army said in a statement on Monday, as comprehensive Operation Sinai 2018 enters its second week.

The term takfiri refers to Sunni Muslims who accuse other Muslims of being infidels, often as a justification for using violence against them.

Military spokesman Tamer El-Rifai said that one non-commissioned officer and two soldiers were killed, while another two other officers were injured.

Forces also arrested 417 wanted criminal elements and destroyed 27 vehicles, four hideouts and 224 weapons caches.

Army engineers also uncovered and diffused 101 IEDs, which were planted to target security forces during operations, the army said.

Law enforcement forces also released a number of suspects after ascertaining their non-involvement in any open investigation cases or violence.

El-Rifais statement is the 10th military communique on the sweeping counter-terrorism operation since it began on 9 February.

Since the beginning of the operation, a total of 65 takfiris have been killed and hundreds of criminal suspects have been arrested, according to military statements.

Land, sea and air forces have carried out security patrols to combat attempts to smuggle arms or infiltrate Egypt's southern and western borders, El-Rifai added.

Forces involved in the operation have also located a number of farms used to grow illegal narcotics and seized large amounts of drugs and communication facilities, he said.

Operation Sinai 2018 was launched on Friday, 9 February involving land, naval and air forces, as well as the police and border guards.

The operation targets "terrorist and criminal elements and organizations" in northern and central Sinai, as well as parts of the Nile Delta and the Western Desert.

Short link:

Lucapa Diamond believes that it will become the only company in the world with multiple diamond mining operations whose average diamond value is in excess of $1,000 per carat, once the Mothae mine is commissioned this year.

Company chief executive and managing director Stephen Wetherall told Rough & Polisheds Mathew Nyaungwa in a wide-ranging interview early this month on the sidelines of a mining conference in Cape Town that this development would make Lucapa a very niche diamond mining company.

Lucapa, which had a 40 percent stake in Lulo, which is currently mining alluvial diamonds in Angola, was set to commence commercial production at its 70 percent-owned Mothae kimberlite project in Lesotho during the second half of the year.

Lesotho leads the worlds highest average US dollar per carat diamond production.

Lulo, on the other hand, which had been in operation for three years achieved record run of mine alluvial prices.

Its total sales were $106 million at an average price of $2,100 per carat.

This year alone, Lulo, had recorded sales of $9.1 million at an average price of $2,192 per carat.

Below are excerpts from the interview.

What are your plans for the Lulo project in Angola and what is your projected output this year?

We have over the last three years built it to a sustainable production level of about 240, 000 bulk cubic meters per annum. That is around 20 000 bulk cubic metres per month, but in a wet season a little bit less and dry season a little bit more to an average out of 20,000 bulk cubic metres. We are anticipating an output of around 20,000 to 22,000 carats at the average grades and we are expecting the same average dollar per carat that we have been achieving on average over the last year and a half, so I would say anywhere between $1700/carat and $2000/carat, so a very special mine.

In terms of alluvial mining, are you still focusing on Block 8?

Absolutely Mathew, Block 8 has been very, very productive for us and it has provided us with a lot of revenue and cash, but obviously all alluvial resources are finite. Most certainly there is still life left in Block 8 and will certainly mine there, but we will also be at Block 6 and 28 which are the other resource blocks that we have opened up and identified as well. We dont just want to go and mine one block holistically until the resource there is [finished], we mine in other areas as well.

I understand in 2015 you were saying that it will only take about four years before you deplete the in situ diamond resource at Block 8 (interrupted)

A JORC compliant resources is a funny thing, it grows in the alluvial space. When we put out our first JORC compliant resource in 2015 that resource estimated an economic life of around four years, but we have continued to work on growing the exploration effort and the resource, so where we stand now we generally have a three to four-year time or resource horizon ahead of us. So we mine and concurrently try to replenish the resource with exploration at the same time.

You have been recovering some big stones from Lulo, what has been the secret?

The secret? Its just a fantastic resource. I dont think there is any secret, I suppose other people such as ourselves, good diamond people, would be recovering the same [stones]. The nice thing about an alluvial operation is that it doesnt have any heavy crushing circuits, you are not going to break stones, so the stones we are recovering are undamaged, unbroken and have been lying there for many, many years; millions of years. I dont think we have a special secret, I think in terms of development, we developed it in an appropriate and sustained manner and I think the operation, the throughput level we have grown it to, will see us maintain operations for some time to come.

At some point you were assessing treatment options for the E46 alluvial terraces (interrupted)

Yes!

Can you provide an update on that?

Well we are mining the other alluvial terraces as we speak. There are also lazeria areas, which are the floodplains of the river and we also have the rivers themselves that we would also like to get into. We are looking at various options of how to access those areas, perhaps in a wet season and using dredging technology, river diversions that sort of thing, as we believe that is a significant potential resource, and we want to make sure that we have a plan access them, get the gravels out and put the gravels through the plant.

Lets look at your operations in Lesotho. When is Mothae going to come on stream in terms of commercial production?

We are on track with our 150 tonne per hour plant, we anticipate that we will be bringing it into operation in July or August this year, so following dry and wet commissioning we will commence ramping it up to full nameplate capacity in September or October of this year. We are looking forward to the production from that facility. What we have also done is that in order to get diamonds and diamond data out earlier than anticipated, in order to allow us to optimally plan for the mine future as well, is to obtain additional data in some of the areas that are yet unknown or less known in the pipe, we have actually expedited a bulk sampling programme. So I am pleased to say that as we stand here today we will be getting diamonds out very, very soon, way ahead of commercial production and firstly, that will allow us to show the market and the world the type of diamonds that are there. Secondly, it will allow us to add resource areas into the mine plan. Thirdly, when you recover diamonds its great, it means you are also going to be generating early revenue so that will also supplement the investment and operational capital that is needed for finalising the phase one development.

Do you have a production target?

Yes, we do have production targets and the first phase production will be 1,080,000 tonnes per annum so come the end of this year we should have our nameplate capacity up at 90,000 tonnes per month which will be a 1,080,000 per annum.

In terms of carats how much are you looking at?

On a monthly basisyou are looking at 1,800 carats to 2,000 carats, but they are very special carats because they are high-end so we should be looking at $1,000-1,300 per carat for those diamondswe have a desire to stay in the high-end game and I am pretty excited to say that once the Mothae mine is commissioned this year, we will be the only diamond company with multiple operations whose average diamond value is in excess of $1,000 per carat, so it will be a very niche diamond mining company.

Talk to me about your exploration work in Australia? I understand you recovered some few diamonds at Brooking (interrupted)

A few diamonds, Mathew? Its an understatement [Laughs]. We were brought this ground by three senior geologists, who on their own had been evaluating and furthering it. We got quite excited about the opportunity when we saw the previous exploration results they had from the programmes, so we got involved in it and developed a drill programme targeting specific areas based on these results, and on further sampling programmes and electromagnetic surveys that we ran. We were targeting initially just to find lamproite. Lamproite is the host rock for diamonds in Australia, well in that area in any event. In some of the holes that we put in the ground we identified lamproite, but the one hole that recovered lamproite to a depth of 70 m was Little Spring Creek. From the HQ drill core, we took 86.8kg of the core out, crushed it and picked it for micro diamonds. We recovered 119 diamonds in total, 112 micro diamonds and 7 macro diamonds in that same sample, so very, very exciting. Some people have described it as the most significant diamond discovery in Australia in the last few decades. We are very excited about the programme there, because thats not our only target, there are three or four other targets with similar micro diamond recoveries from the stream and soil sampling programmes. We will evaluate Little Spring Creek further, and we will go and drill the other holes that we want to do as well on the other targets. I think its early days yet but a very, very exciting year ahead for us at Brooking in Australia.

Still focusing on exploration, can you shed some more light on the state of your Lulo kimberlite exploration programme?

The Lulo kimberlite exploration continues to operate the way it has been designed. We have identified approximately 70 targets that we want to go and complete the drilling on. When you have a concession that has about  in that part of concession  250 targets or anomalies, you get barren kimberlites, diamondiferous kimberlite and indicator minerals wash over each other over a period of timeso you actually dont know if you have an exciting target or not by just merely sampling at the surface. So what we are doing is systematically going through and drilling all the targets identified, getting the geological samples out of the core at depth and sending that to the laboratories in order to give us the mineral chemistry information that we need to use to decide whether we carry on with that target or we move to another target. So that will take some time, I think we should have drilled all those targets by the end of the next dry season in Angola and that will focus our minds and our attention on which targets to do further work on.

Can you also provide an update of your drilling exercise in Botswana?

It has unfortunately taken a bit longer than we would have hoped obtaining the necessary approvals. We needed to get the land use rights or approvals, which we did go and get. Once you have those you require environmental approvals, which we are applying for right now,. It might require us to do an EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment) and that will take some time. We obviously already know who to use and the time that it will take, but unfortunately we just have to complete those steps first. I think we have time on our hands now because its not really very good drilling weather at the moment, so by the time that the EIA is completed I think the weather will be on our side and we will be able to put some holes in the ground. There is one anomaly and two known kimberlites on that ground, our biggest target on that ground being the anomaly that we want to go and put holes into and see if it is in fact kimberlite. We will also drill the other kimberlites on that ground as well and assess them for diamond content, but it looks like its going to be the second half of 2018 before we actually get any holes in the ground unfortunately, but it is what it is, you have to apply and get the right approvals.

Do you get funding challenges for your exploration projects?

We do and that is why we developed a strategy to bring the Lulo alluvial mine into production, because when you do go back into the investor market and you are seeking funding for exploration  unless you have fantastic results to excite them to give you more funding - its generally very difficult to get that funding. You are issuing many shares, discounting your share price just to get the funding and I think its generally a recipe for disaster. So from our perspective we realised that we had a special resource at Lulo and we could actually build that into a profitable cash generating mineits returning funds or distributions to its shareholders and also re-paying Lucapas investment loan to the project. So we are getting money back into the system from our operations. Its very, very tough for diamond exploration companies to get money, but I think the way we have strategised is working; building cash positive operations.

You are mining and exploring diamonds in Angola, soon you will be producing stones as well in Lesotho. You are conducting some exploration work in Australia and planning to drill in Botswana. What is your next port of call?

I have a desire or passion for large stones and I think that as long as we can focus on that area and look for projects in that area, naturally we want to grow, but I think right now for 2018 we are going to focus on our knitting so to speak, just to make sure we can deliver to our shareholders the projects that are in our portfolio. We will deliver on the Lulo kimberlite exploration, we want to continue generating free cash in the Lulo alluvial mine, we will further assess and drill our targets at Brooking in Australia and we will put our first holes in the ground in Botswana. I think once we have done that, with Mothae coming on stream and generating cash, positive cash I think it will free the management and Board up to the point where we will start thinking what is next? There are other projects that we can put into the portfolio and I think once we start showing the world what Mothae produces, we will also become a little bit more attractive to other players out there? In short, yes, we will look at other projects.

Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished



The World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB) has announced that dates have been set for the 2018 World Diamond Congress, the biannual meeting of the WFDB and the International Diamond Manufacturers Association (IDMA). The Congress will take place at the Hilton Hotel in Tel Aviv, from June 19 to 21.

The Congress will start on June 19, with a cocktail event to take place in the evening. The second day of the Congress will see the official opening of the event, with a senior Israeli figure due to attend. The Gala Dinner of the Congress will take place on the evening of June 20. The Congress will come to a close on Thursday, 21 June.

Organised by the Israeli diamond industry organisations  the Israel Diamond Exchange, the Israel Diamond Institute and the Israel Diamond Manufacturers Association.

Israel Diamond Exchange President Yoram Dvash said the Israeli diamond trade was already deep into planning the event.

WFDB President Ernie Blom said he expected the Congress to live up to previous Congresses and Presidents' Meetings held in Israel. "On behalf of the WFDB, I would like to thank the Israeli diamond industry for offering to host the Congress. This is a great undertaking, and I am fully confident that it will be hugely successful as was each of the previous gatherings in Tel Aviv."



Israels polished-diamond exports have recorded a decline, dropping 4% to $4.48 bn in the year 2017.

In volume terms, polished-diamond exports reduced 6% to 1.7 mn carats in 2017.However, the average price for polished exports increased 2% to $2,588 per carat, according to Israel's Ministry of Economy and Industry.

While Israel's exports to the US slid 7% to $1.69 bn, shipments to Belgium bounced back, surging 20% to $420 mn. Polished imports fell 11% to $2.92 bn, while net polished exports increased 12% to $1.56 bn.

Rough imports went down 12% to $2.85 bn, while exports to decreased 18% to $2.23 bn. However, net rough imports rose 14% to $623 mn. The country's net diamond account grew 10% to $932 mn for 2017.

The year 2017 saw the third consecutive year of decline in polished exports from Israel.



Aruna Gaitonde, Editor-in-Chief of Asian Bureau, Rough & Polished



Japan posted a merchandise trade deficit of 943.417 billion yen in January, the Ministry of Finance said on Monday - an improvement of 13.6 percent from a year earlier.

That exceeded forecasts for a shortfall of 1,003.6 billion yen following the 358.7 billion yen deficit in December.

Exports advanced an annual 12.2 percent, topping expectations for 9.4 percent and up from 9.3 percent in the previous month.

Exports to all of Asia were up 16.0 percent on year to 3.350 trillion yen, while exports to China alone surged an annual 30.8 percent to 1.160 trillion yen.

Exports to the United States added 1.2 percent on year to 1,066 trillion yen, while exports to the European Union spiked an annual 20.3 percent to 717.380 billion yen.

Imports climbed 7.9 percent on year versus forecasts for 7.7 percent and down from 14.9 percent a month earlier.

Imports from Asia gained 3.0 percent on year to 3.460 trillion yen, while imports from China alone slid an annual 3.3 percent to 1.738 trillion yen.

Imports from the United States gained 9.4 percent to 716.971 billion yen, while imports from the European Union jumped an annual 18.3 percent to 818.168 billion yen.

The adjusted trade surplus was 373.3 billion yen - surpassing expectations for 143.9 billion yen and up from 86.8 billion yen in December.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Market AnalysisBank of Latvia's President Ilmars Rimsevics was detained by his country's anti-corruption bureau as part of a criminal investigation on Sunday.

Prime Minister Maris Kucinskis announced that the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau (KNAB) has "applied a status of the detained to the President of the Bank of Latvia within the framework of criminal proceedings."

While the prime minister is usually informed ahead of the actual detention, he cannot interfere in the affairs of the KNAB, Kucinskis said.

"As soon as the KNAB's management considers it possible to provide information to the public about the progress of the investigation, it will not hesitate to do so," he added.

Latvian media reports suggested that authorities raided Rimsevics' home and offices at the Bank of Latvia.

Finance Minister Dana Reizniece-Ozola said there are no signs of a threat to the Latvian financial system.

An extraordinary meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers will be held on February 19.

The central bank said in a statement that it is not in a position to provide any comments on the investigation activities carried out by the KNAB.

Rimsevics has been the governor of the Latvian central bank since 2001. His third six-year term was renewed in 2013 and he is one of 19 governors on the European Central Bank.

Latvia joined the Euro area as its 18th member on January 1, 2014.

In a statement, the Latvian central bank said in the absence of the governor, his duties will be performed by the Deputy Governor. Business will continue as usual, the central bank added.

The central bank said all usual services will be provided to businesses and the general public and also to the Latvian in general.

Troubles are mounting for the Lativan banking system.

Elsewhere on Monday, the ECB asked Latvia's financial watchdog to impose a moratorium on the ABLV Bank, which is reportedly the third largest lender in the country, citing a sharp deterioration in its financial position.

"This follows an announcement on 13 February by the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network to propose a measure naming ABLV bank an institution of primary money laundering concern pursuant to Section 311 of the USA PATRIOT Act," the ECB said.

The moratorium imposed by the Financial and Capital Markets Commission "means that temporarily, and until further notice, a prohibition of all payments by ABLV Bank on its financial liabilities has been imposed, and is now in effect," the ECB added.

The US Treasury department proposed sanctions against ABLV Bank for its role in money laundering schemes, mainly linked to providing funding for North Korea's nuclear program, and illegal activities in Azerbaijan, Russia and Ukraine, the LETA news agency reported.

Another lender, Norvik Bank, is also being probed in a corruption scandal.

It is not yet clear if Rimsevics' detention has any link to the scandals involving these banks.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Economic News

What parts of the world are seeing the best (and worst) economic performances lately? Click here to check out our Econ Scorecard and find out! See up-to-the-moment rankings for the best and worst performers in GDP, unemployment rate, inflation and much more.The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has offered a reward to whistle-blowers who give information on Virtual currency and digital token "pump-and-dump" schemes.

"If you have original information that leads to a successful enforcement action that leads to monetary sanctions of $1 million or more, you could be eligible for a monetary award of between 10 percent and 30 percent," CFTC said while issuing a Customer Protection Advisory.

The Advisory warns customers to beware of and avoid pump-and-dump schemes that can occur in thinly traded or new "alternative" virtual currencies, digital coins or tokens.

It warns customers against purchase of crypto currencies based on social media tips or sudden price spikes.

The US regulatory body advised customers to thoroughly research virtual currencies, digital coins, tokens, and the companies or entities behind them in order to separate hype from facts.

Pump-and-dump schemes, known as "boiler room" frauds, have been around long

before virtual currencies and digital tokens.

Today's pump-and-dumpers organize anonymously and hype the currencies and

tokens using social media and mobile messaging apps.

These pump and dumps occur in the largely unregulated cash market for virtual currencies and digital tokens, and typically on platforms that offer a wide array of coin pairings for traders to buy and sell. The number of new virtual currency and digital coin traders has grown substantially, increasing the number of potential victims or unwitting perpetrators.

These are the guidelines that CFTC issued to Customers to steer clear of frauds:

Don't purchase digital coins or tokens because of a single tip, especially if it comes over social media; Don't believe ads or websites that promise quick wealth by investing in certain digital coins or tokens; Do not participate in pump-and-dump trades because market manipulation is against the law and many participants end up losing money; There is no such thing as a guaranteed investment or trading strategy. If someone tells you there is no risk of losing money, do not invest.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business NewsThree Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, a drama that depicts the story of a woman seeking justice for her daughter's murder, has won top five honors at the British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA) night.

"Three Billboards" was named Best Film and Outstanding British Film, with Martin McDonagh winning Original Screenplay, Sam Rockwell taking Supporting Actor, and Frances McDormand receiving the BAFTA for Leading Actress.

Frances McDormand plays the role of Mildred Hayes, a mother who rents three billboards to call attention to the unsolved rape and murder of her teenage daughter.

The story, based on a gruesome killing in Missouri, was written and directed by British-born Martin McDonagh.

The film was jointly produced by Britain's Film4 and US company Fox Searchlight.

Gary Oldman won Leading Actor for Darkest Hour; the film also won the award for Make Up & Hair.

Guillermo del Toro won the Best Director award for The Shape of Water.

The film's composer Alexandre Desplat collected the Original Music award; the film also won Production Design.

Supporting Actress award went to Allison Janney for her role as Tonya Harding's mother in I, Tonya.

Roger Deakins won his fourth BAFTA for Cinematography for Blade Runner 2049, which also won accolades for Special Visual Effects.

Raoul Peck won the Documentary award for I Am Not Your Negro.

Writer/director Rungano Nyoni and producer Emily Morgan received the award for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer for I Am Not a Witch.

Baby Driver received the BAFTA for Editing and Phantom Thread won for Costume Design.

The Special Award for Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema was presented to the National Film and Television School (NFTS).

The Fellowship, the Academy's highest honor, was presented to director and producer Sir Ridley Scott by Sir Kenneth Branagh, President of BAFTA.

The EE Rising Star Award, voted for by the public, went to Daniel Kaluuya.

The ceremony, hosted by Joanna Lumley, was held at London's Royal Albert Hall, and featured performances by Cirque du Soleil and the Kanneh-Mason family.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business NewsRelated Egypt TV presenter Reham Saeed sentenced to 6 months in jail for libel TV anchor Reham Saeed under fire for blaming, airing private pictures of sexual harassment victim A Cairo prosecution office on Monday ordered the detention of controversial television presenter Reham Saeed, along with a cameraman and the editor-in-chief of her program, on charges of inciting kidnapping of children.

The prosecutor ordered the detention of Saeed for four days, and the cameraman and editor for 15 days each.

In an episode of Saeed's program Sabaya El-Kheir, she and her crew used a mediator to convince kidnappers to abduct two children, claiming that they would be sold to a family in an Arab country, with the intention of recording the exchange and reporting the kidnappers to the police.

In late January, the family of the two children, who are from Salam neighborhood in Cairo, reported their disappearance.

When the kidnappers were caught, they accused the same mediator who had appeared on Saeed's show of involvement in the crime. In turn, he pointed the finger at the show's editor and cameraman.

Saeed said in the investigation that her program has served the interests of the Egyptian children, denying any involvement in the kidnapping of the two children.

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Report: Yemeni army, committees achieve great victories in battlefronts over Sunday [19/February/2018]

SANAA, Feb. 19 (Saba)  The Yemen army and popular forces have achieved great victories in the battlefronts against Saudi-led aggression collation soldiers and its mercenaries over Sunday, according to military reports combined by Saba News Agency on Monday.



In the border province of ASir, an offensive was carried out against positions of Saudi army in Um-Riyah hill in Thaban area, which resulted in several dead and wounded among the Saudi soldiers.



In Alab crossing of Asir, a Saudi-paid mercenaries was shot dead and mercenaries gatherings were shelled by artillery.



In Najran border province, the army and committees repelled an infiltration of Saudi-paid mercenaries in al-Ajasher area off al-Khadra outlet, inflicting losses in lives and gear upon them.



In Jizan border province, a military Saudi bulldozer was smashed in Hamidha village by a guided missile, while four Saudi soldiers were sniped in Qewa village.



Also in Jizan, artillery force of the army and popular committees targeted Saudi soldiers gatherings in Nashaw and beyond Bojan sites, causing direct causalities.



In Taiz province, 12 United Arab Emirates soldiers were killed and destroyed eight military vehicles in an attack in Mouza district.



Also in Mouza district, The army and committees set a tightened siege on the remaining UAE troops and mercenaries , while warplanes of Saudi aggression dropped cluster bombs on its mercenaries, killing dozens of them during they tried to escape.



Furthermore, 4 Emirati armored vehicles and 4 others of Saudi-baked mercenaries were destroyed in the army and committees mik4litary operation in Mouza district.



Also in Taiz, attacks were carried out on Saudi-paid mercenaries' locations in Mawza district and broke an attempted infiltration into al-Salw district, inflicted heavy casualties on the enemy.



In Marib province, a missile, Zilzal-2, was fired toward Saudi-paid mercenaries gatherings, killing and injuring dozens of them in Nehm district.



In Saada province, the air defenses of the army and popular forces shot down a reconnaissance plane belonging to Saudi forces in Boqa district.



In Lahj province, The army and committees took control over Sabih and Sharara valleys of Qabayta district killing and injuring dozens of the mercenaries.

also in Lahj, an infiltration of the mercenaries was foiled in Karish area, inflicting them heavy losses.





Writing by Sameera al-Mahdi

SabaPonta Preta gave up the goods today for a massive day of competition at the first stop on this year's GKA Kite-Surf World Tour in Sal, Cape Verde.

The riders picked up where they left off on Saturday, continuing with round one of the men's division during which Sebastian Ribeiro, Airton Cozzolino and Paulino Pereira opened their accounts with convincing wins in their round one heats.In round two, Gustavo Arrojo, Arsenio Dias and Tony Cili rode well in challenging heats to avoid elimination and stay in the competition and this was where we saw the first riders exit the event. (Check the day two video below for more details).Round one of the women's division came next with Jalou Langeree up first against local rider Didi Lopes in heat one. The Dutch charger won the heat and was impressive on her back hand, adjusting well after a full winter in Cape Town riding frontside.Portuguese rider Ines Correia lives in Santa Maria and is a local at Ponta Preta, so knows the wave inside out and she won heat two comfortably, before current GKA Women's Champ, Moona Whyte, notched up a strong start to her season by winning against South African rider Lyde Heckroodt.Then it was on to round three of the men's division. Matchu Lopes and Mitu Monteiro showed their experience at this spot - despite Mitu having fewer quality waves to work with than he might have liked. They both won their heats to the delight of the local crowd who were out in force hoping to watch the home town heroes represent for Cape Verde.Keahi de Aboitiz was unreal in his heat against local rider Arsenio Dias, popping over rocks as he shredded down the line squeezing every wave for all it was worth. Following that the pace continued and the crowd went nuts for Airton's round three heat which was, frankly, insane. At the end of a long ride that saw him link up powered top turns, a stylish floater and a grabbed aerial he then landed a trick that's never yet been done in competition just before the wave closed out - a grabbed back roll off the lip which he landed on the wave's face before kicking out as the crowd applauded.The last stellar performances of the day were from Paulino and Sebastian. Paulino nailed ultra-powered turns in some of the biggest waves of the day, sending the biggest spray off the lip we've seen up to now at this event and scored two perfect tens for his efforts!Sebastian was nearly as impressive. His round three heat was near faultless and his riding was precise with his super smooth surf-inspired style and impeccable wave selection that meant he always seemed to find himself in the right place at the right time and he racked up the points to win his heat convincingly.The action drew to a halt at 6pm as the sun began to set but, with the wind still blowing and the waves still pumping, so many of the riders headed back out for a stress-free freeride session to prepare for tomorrow - away from the judges' scrutiny - as we approach the semi-finals and the closing rounds of the competition.----Cape Verde is only the first stop on what's sure to be an incredible 2018 tour. The riders will be back in action in April when the GKA tour rolls into Dakhla for stop two, before they visit another spot for the first time, Viana do Castelo in Portugal, for the third event.Check the full dates below. It's setting up to be a pretty special tour in 2018!17 - 25th February24 - 29th April07 - 12th June27th June - 1st July20 - 25th July (TBC)06 - 16th September (TBC)(Also TBC)The Arab League has criticized attempts by Turkey's foreign minister to "politically outbid the Secretary General's remarks" over Turkish military operations in Syria, made during the Munich Security Conference on Sunday.

In an official statement on Monday, the Secretary General's spokesman Mahmoud Afifi voiced "his surprise at the nervous and unjustified reaction" of the Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in response to the remarks of the Secretary General Ahmed Aboul Gheit during the session that discussed the situation in the Middle East, specifically Syria.

Afifi pointed out that Aboul Gheit had criticized the Turkish military intervention in Syrian territory, and criticized all other regional and international interventions that came at the expense of the Syrian people.

Ahead of the conclusion of the session, Turkish FM Cavusoglu told Aboul Gheit that Turkey was there to "defeat a terrorist organization", referring to the Kurdish YPG militia in northwestern Syria's Afrin. He added that his country was using its legitimate right of self-defence in accordance with international law and UN Security Council resolutions.

You are talking about your system. I hope your system is strong enough to prevent the leader of one of your member states from killing at minimum half a million people and the use of chemical weapons  first, Cavusoglu said, denouncing the Arab Leagues response to the Syrian conflict and President Bashar al-Assad.

Afifi said the Turkish FM responded to Aboul Gheit's remarks in an "unjustified, nervous manner".

"The Turkish Minister's nervous intervention reflects only an attempt to politically outbid the remarks of the Secretary General, and that this intervention had an overcast approach quite well-known of the 'Neo Ottoman' stream, which everyone knows how it feels towards the Arab world," Afifi said.

According to the spokesman, Aboul Gheit rejects any kind of military intervention in Arab territory under any pretext, and believes the Arab League cannot support the legitimization of such an intervention, which is rejected by and contradicts international legitimacy.

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In times of disasters, we look out for the most vulnerable in our society, the elderly and the children.

However while able-bodied people mobilize quickly to respond and do the hard yards, it is perhaps our elders that give us that determination to persevere.

Fusi Vatonipeni of Safotu is one those special people and she was in high spirits despite a swollen ankle after a busy week of cleaning after the cyclone which had left her unable to move around that day,

Today my foot is swollen all of a sudden, but you know what? she said. I can still do my washing out of this bucket, so you see -you can still do chores while sitting down.

Fusi is the matriarch of her family and she had nothing but words of thanksgiving that her family and her village were kept safe during last weeks cyclone.

We are so fortunate that there was not much damage to our living areas, it was just the rooftops of our fales that blew off but we have finished picking them up and clearing the land.

It was not so much the rain but the strong gusts of winds that were coming from every direction that was worrying. Its true that we have some damage but there are other families here especially by the water that were worse off.

Even though her village is in the area which took the brunt of the cylone, Fusi believes that the unity of their village empowers them all to endure times of crisis,

Luckily by the time the cyclone arrived, thank God we had just finished building our house which everyone stayed in during the strong winds. Our power is back on and when our water was shut off, we were still able to get water from Safee which we were able to wash and also use for drinking. Thats why Safotu is good because even when the bad days hit, we will still be ok because we work together and help each other out.

In Savaii, the people move - we move and work to protect our families, we dont stay standing around. We just finished having our village meeting to encourage our families to stay strong at this time. In times like this, we come together, the families and all the churches and stay positive. Its the thing of our Samoan people that we do whatever it takes to protect and support each other.

When asked about the lack of jobs in Savaii, Fusi maintained that where there is a will there is a way,

I think that there are jobs available close by here at the resorts and hotels in Manase and Fagamalo if you have to go to Apia to get a job  well nothing is stopping you but if you are unable to find work, theres nothing wrong with staying home, thats fine just make sure that you still move, she laughs.

Fusi is the perpetual optimist and she has lived through a few disasters in her lifetime to know that the people of Samoa will always overcome

Here in Samoa at least we always have something to sustain us from the land, its not like outside in other countries where if you dont work, you will go hungry. Even when there is damage to our crops we can just cut them and regrow them again. Our country is good. God is good.Samoa Stationery and Books (S.S.A.B.), Farmer Joe and Eveni Carruthers have teamed up to give their customers something extra special.

As part of S.S.A.B.s Back to School Promotion, they are giving their customers $5,000 worth of gift vouchers.

This is according to S.S.A.B. Marketing Manager, Asomua Asia Stanley.

The vouchers were handed out on Saturday at Farmer Joes.

Asomua said this is the third year of the relationship between the Back to School Promotion and their partners.

Asomua said on top of the prizes, S.S.A.B. also gave away 4o, $50 S.S.A.B. vouchers.

Farmer Joe gifted 30, $50 tala worth of F.J. vouchers that can be spent at any of the Farm Joes supermarket.

There was also 30, $50tala worth of Eveni gift vouchers.

Asomua acknowledged the importance of their partnership.

The importance of this promotion is to give back to the community especially our valued customers.

We want to help out the children of Samoa with their Back to School needs.Water is life and life is all about water.

Thats according to 26-year-old mother, Lizafrieda, from the village of Samalaeulu in the Itu-o-Tane side of Savaii.

The village sustained the most damage during Tropical Cyclone Gita.

Lizafrieda told the Samoa Observer that the winds started to pick up at 8pm two Fridays ago.

When the family realised it was going to be serious, they began to get ready and made their way to their grandfathers house on the other side of the village for shelter.

Lizafrieda was relieved that they left their house in time before midnight when the wind started to lift things out of the ground. The challenge now for her family is attaining clean drinking water made harder by the cyclones damages.

Its all about water. We get our water from the next village over and since a week ago, the water is only just running now, she said.

But its not really clean, its very brown. We buy our water, its really expensive but its all for the kids, we have to get it for them so they dont get sick and I just want to make sure they are healthy.

The young mother of three lives with her father and for as long as she can remember, her village has always had problems with water, whether it be a lack of or too much of it.

The hardest thing about living in this area is the water. First we live by the Maloilio River and it overflows all the time during the wet season and comes into our house. When the cyclone hit, it overflowed again but worse this time.

The kids have been all wet this week because our clothes and the blankets and everything got wet but thankfully now they are dry again.

Drinking water is a problem always because its not really clean so we have to buy the water for the kids to drink because I dont want them getting diarrhea or typhoid. In Savaii the bottled water is very expensive, for me I can at least just boil the water and drink it.

Asked whether they had received any help with their water and sanitation dilemmas, Lizafrieda replied she had reached out for help at the Tuasivi branch of the Samoa Red Cross Society and was told to wait for their arrival.

Not yet. We have been waiting for them. I went there at Tuasivi on Tuesday to ask for some tanks so we can have some fresh water and they told me that the Red Cross is on their way, but we are still waiting. Im sure that they are on their way they are probably at the other villages right now heading this way.

Luckily for Lizafriedas family, the power was not cut off for very long and it came back on a week ago, but she tells Sunday Samoan that her neighbours werent so lucky and they are still waiting for their electricity to be restored.

At this time, their barbeque shop at the front of their house was destroyed and the large trees around their house were uprooted, but her father and her cousins were working to clear up their property again.

With no jobs in the area, being a single mother and only daughter has its challenges and despite facing harsh living conditions where every day is a fight to obtain the bare necessities, Lizafrieda says she will never leave her village.

In 2016, she returned to Samalaeulu from New Zealand when she learned her mother passed away.

She had been studying Bachelor of Nursing and unfortunately she did not complete her studies at the time her mother passed away.

My mother passed away around Mothers Day in 2016 when I was in New Zealand, my Dad said she suffered from high blood pressure because of Cyclone Amos, which was in March 2016 and then she passed away in May.

She got a stroke and I was so shocked and so sad, Im their only kid, I love my dad, thats why I will never leave him here by himself.New Zealands Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern created history on Sunday when she became the first Prime Minister to walk in the Auckland Pride Parade.

But there was more to her participation that drew attention of the Pacific island community.

Ardern also rocked a MENA kaftan outfit during the march watched by thousands in Auckland and possibly viewed by millions around the world.

According to Radio New Zealand, over 70 floats, including ones made by the rainbow community, political parties, universities and businesses, supported the LGBTTQI community.

This year's parade was the largest yet, with between 25,000 and 30,000 people turning out to watch the revelry.

Addressing the crowd, Ms Ardern, who has attended previous parades, said the government "walks beside" the Rainbow community.

The event was a great opportunity to celebrate diversity and connect with young people.

Significant mental health issues still existed within the young rainbow community, she said.

"Bullying, a sense that you can't be who you are in certain environments - we do still need to be worried about that."

"Those people are growing up all over New Zealand," Ms Ardern said. They needed to feel "safe" and "supported".

She said the parade sent a strong message to those groups.

Several previous prime ministers have attended the parade, however parade organisers said it was the first time a prime minister had walked in the parade.VATICAN CITY (AP)  Pope Francis revived his lapsed sex abuse advisory commission by naming new members Saturday, after coming under fire for his overall handling of the scandal and his support for a Chilean bishop accused by victims of witnessing and ignoring their abuse.

The announcement of the new members of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors came on the same day that a Vatican investigator will take the testimony in New York of one of the main whistleblowers in the Chilean cover-up scandal.

Francis tasked Archbishop Charles Scicluna with the fact-finding mission into Bishop Juan Barros after he came under blistering criticism in Chile for defending Barros and calling the victims' cover-up accusations against him slander.

The initial three-year mandate of commission members had lapsed two months ago, on Dec. 17. Francis named nine new members Saturday and kept seven from the initial group. A Vatican statement said survivors of abuse are included, but didn't identify them to protect their privacy.

None of the most outspoken lay advocates for victims from the original group returned, but a statement stressed that the commission's work would be imbued throughout with the experience of victims.

Commission members are to open their April plenary by meeting with victims privately, and discussions are continuing to create an "international survivor advisory panel" to advise the commission and make sure the voices of victims are heard in all its deliberations, the statement said.

The new members are noteworthy for their geographic representation, hailing from Tonga, Brazil, Ethiopia and Australia, among other places.

"The newly appointed members will add to the commission's global perspective in the protection of minors and vulnerable adults," said Cardinal Sean O'Malley, the commission's president.

Francis has insisted he has "zero tolerance" for abuse and had pledged to hold bishops accountable when they botch cases. But there have been several well-known cases where he and the Vatican sided with the accused over victims, calling into question whether he shares the "victims first" policy that guides his own commission's work.

The Barros case is the most prominent example. Victims of Chile's most notorious predator priest, the Rev. Fernando Karadima, have for years accused Barros of witnessing their abuse, ignoring it and defending Karadima.

En route home from Chile, though, Francis insisted he had no "evidence" against Barros to warrant removing him. The Associated Press, though, reported that he received a letter from a Karadima victim, Juan Carlos Cruz, in April 2015 detailing the abuse he suffered and Barros' presence while it happened.

Francis' defiant defense of Barros suggested that he find Cruz or the other victims credible, and believed instead Barros' ecclesial supporters in Chile and at the Vatican.

Cruz testifies Saturday before Scicluna, who was the architect of the Vatican's get-tough approach to sex abuse in the early 2000s. Several recent cases, however, indicate that the Vatican under Francis doesn't favor the "one strike and you're out" approach adopted by the U.S. bishops, for example, after the scandal exploded there in 2002.

Francis himself has admitted that he opts to give offenders the benefit of the doubt, especially when solid proof  often hard to come by in decades-old sex abuse cases  is lacking.

"As must be done in good jurisprudence, always in favor of the offender," he told reporters Jan. 21 en route home from South America.

Francis applied that concept in the case of the Rev. Mauro Inzoli, a well-known Italian priest defrocked by the Vatican for having abused children as young as 12. He had his sentence reduced on appeal to a lifetime of penance and prayer in 2014 after what his bishop said was a show of mercy from Francis.

But in 2016, an Italian judge convicted Inzoli of abusing five children aged 12-16 and sentenced him to four years, nine months in prison. The Vatican opened a new church trial against him and in 2017 he was definitively defrocked.

Francis has held out the Inzoli case as an exception, where he opted for a lesser sanction.

But Italy's Il Mattino newspaper has had a series of exposes about another case where the Vatican under Francis opted to take the priest's word over that of the victim's.

The victim in that case accused the Rev. Silverio Mura, a parish priest in Ponticelli, of raping him as a 13-year-old. He came forward in 2010 to accuse Mura, after remembering the abuse during the therapy he was undergoing for the panic attacks, depression and other medically certified reactions to his childhood trauma.

But the case, investigated by the archdiocese of Naples, was shelved in 2016 for lack of proof.

The victim had declined to submit to a second diocesan psychiatric evaluation after the first one subjected him to a "savage" police-style interrogation that sought to destroy his fragile defenses, according to a letter to the archdiocese' psychiatrist from the victim's personal psychiatrist, Dr. Alfonso Rossi.

Il Mattino this month reported, however, that other victims have since come forward alleging similar rapes.

Vatican spokesman Greg Burke confirmed Saturday that the case was now revived, on the express wishes of Francis. He said it had never been archived, just dormant "awaiting other elements of proof."

Il Mattino, however, reported Feb. 4 that the priest had been sanctioned based on the evidence already given. "Quickly admonish the priest," was the recommendation included in the file in the archives of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Il Mattino reported.Egypt expressed its condolences for the victims of the Iranian Aseman Airlines plane crash, a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Monday.

On Sunday, the Iranian passenger plane crashed with 65 people on board in the Zagros Mountains, in Iran's Isfahan province.

The ministry offered Egypt's "condolences to the families of the victims and asserted that the people and government of Egypt stand alongside them in this ordeal."

Aseman Airlines had initially announced that all passengers had been killed, but search and rescue teams have been unable to yet reach the site due to bad weather.

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On the front page of the Samoa Observer of 13 February 2018, Prime Minister, Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, is pictured as hes addressing the Samoa Institute of Directors on the topic of Leadership and Governance.

Titled: P.M. tells Directors to listen more, speak less, his address highlighted his belief that a great leader is someone who spends more time listening.

In it, he reminded that we have two ears and two eyes but only one mouth, and we should use them in that proportion.

Tuilaepa also told his audience: A good leader looks and listens more than he or she speaks. Clearly, you cannot learn anything about the people you are leading if you spent more time speaking than observing.

He went on to say: This also involves picking up on the non-physical signs such as reading between the lines, using and trusting your instincts (or maybe) there is this quiet voice in your head that is warning you that something is just not right - such as your Yellow Alerts as they are called - and yet they are quite subtle so that it may require practice to listen for these signs.

The Prime Minister also encouraged the Directors to take their time to read and watch informative media coverage of issues, since this is an essential part of any leaders life.

Fine. Hes got a valid point there.

He went on to say: Firstly as a director, you must read all information, big or small, about the organisation you are a director of, why they are appearing in the media and more importantly, board papers that are given out every month.

A director must also be aware of what is happening with the organisation so that decision-making is based on good research and facts, not hearsay.

He also reminded: Great leadership is of critical importance for Samoa. Board members play a vital role in the development of the nation.

Now who in his right mind could dispute that very sensible advice?

No one.

Wonderful!

Indeed, Tuilaepa went on to explain: Essentially, board members have been selected to work with management to achieve the performance targets set by government or each organisation providing various services to the community.

What is often misunderstood by directors, is that at the board level, effective leadership no longer relies solely on a one man band not the Chairman or Chairwoman, so to speak, but every director on the board must be diligent and participate with confidence when making board decisions.

Collective responsibility in the board room, means active discussions and the sharing of information that will assist the board make the best decision.

Wonderful!

Tuilaepas full address was later published in the Samoa Observer.

Still, looking back on it all now, it seems as if weve all come a long way from when Prime Minister Tuilaepa, was quick to throw that mighty authority of his callously around - mainly in front of those Big Lauia of his anyway - so that in retrospect, we are reminded of that fateful day, when an Asian man arrived at Faleolo Airport.

His plane had just arrived from Tonga, a little later at the terminal, he told the immigration officer on duty there his name was Kim Quang-I1, and since it was not clear if he was Chinese, Korean or Japanese, the officer decided the man was a mystery, so he had him detained at Tafaigata Prison.

Fifteen days later, on 23 April 1997, he was a mystery no more. On that day, under questioning at the Magistrates Court, it was revealed that the man was an impersonator. Kim Quang-I1 told the interpreter his real name was Jin Jipei; he also revealed he was Chinese.

This time it appears that those fifteen days of horror at Tafaigata have obviously rattled his resolve, and now that the ambiguity shrouding his identity was removed he was acquiescent; and from then on he revealed all having obviously been persuaded that being defiant did not work well at notorious Tafaigata.

Jin Jipei now told the court he sincerely thought the passport he had bought in Tonga was authorised. He confessed he had made a regretful mistake and entered a plea of not guilty.

He was again detained in custody until 11 June 1997; which means he would now be spending a total of more than two months at mind-bending Tafaigata; the thought might have been paralysing.

And by that time, the passport scandal in which the government was now deeply involved, had become its most pestering headache; indeed, it had become the countrys most controversial issue with many accusing the government now of lying to cover it up.

Along the way, letters to the editor scoffing at the government and accusing it of being corrupt, were published in the Samoa Observer; and yet the louder the public outcry, the harder the government was defending itself, as it was continuing to maintain its innocence, maintaining that it had no knowledge of passports being sold illegally abroad.

And then word from Tafaigata Prison said, Prisoner Jin Jipei was no longer interested in life. A story titled:Detained Chinese not doing well, appearing on the Samoa Observers front page of 9 May 1997, quoted a Police Warden as saying: Jin Jipei is not so good.

Asked to explain, he said: Sometimes, Jipei would not eat. So we try to make him eat something.

Explained the warden: Jipei is deteriorating both physically and mentally.

In the next edition of the Samoa Observer, an editorial comment titled: This passport scandal will just not go away, was published.

It asked: Did Jin Jipei envision being jailed here after he had spent thousands of dollars buying his passport, his so-called ticket to a new life?

We doubt it. He was most likely thinking the most pleasant thoughts instead, in anticipation of a new life of peace and freedom in paradise.

He must be regretting all that now, as hes screaming inside: Thank you Samoa for your hospitality! Thank you for the dream!

It is something for the PM and his immigration people to think about.

On 11 May 1997, another story titled Concern over Jipeis health shown was written; this time it was published on the front page of the Sunday Samoan.

It said that concerned over Jipeis health members of the public have asked that he be released on humanitarian grounds.

Locked up in a small room with other prisoners awaiting trial, they are not allowed to go outside, a warden confirmed. They must remain inside that room until their trials.

The room is very small with little space to move around, he explained. The usual food are some fingers of boiled banana, and a piece of mutton the size of your finger.

Over the following weeks the public response was intense. Letters to the editor urging that Jin Jipei be released were published. Under the headline: Set Jin Jipei free, one writer wrote: Jin Jipei should not be in prison because of corrupt government officials who cared only about making easy money.

This will make another scar on Samoas reputation in the eyes of the international community. Looking forward to a fair and corrupt-free Samoa.

Another writer wrote: Others should be locked up instead. Indeed, why is he being locked up at Tafaigata? Surely, the people who sold him the passport should be locked up instead.

What a strange way our democratic system works? For goodness sake, this is an island. Where could he run to?

Yet another was a prayer.

Sent in by: Young Samoans fighting for JUSTICE, it said:

GOD, no doubt you read our minds and hear

our cry for justice and freedom, we care so much

for Samoa, so we gather in groups and share

our disbelief there is so much corruption

in our ruling government so that they do not know

but we feel the struggle and pain of those poor people

in the villages and we see the growing number

of young people not at school, so we just

CANT BEAR THE INJUSTICE OF THESE MEN!

Around that time, Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, attacked the Samoa Observer for publishing the Kim Quang-I1-Jin Jipei story, and he told Parliament: Such things should have never been made public.

And then he fired the lethal shot, saying: The problem is that the Samoa Observer is being run by idiots and fools.

In response, the Member of Parliament, Tuala Falenaoti Malietoa, stood up in the House, and told the Speaker: But what is happening is that the Samoa Observer has been publishing the truth.Dear Editor

With due respect to Jeffrey and his typical H.R.P.P. worded rant about idle land in Samoa going to waste, due to inactivity? What rain shower did Jeffery come down on? Has Jeffery just been swept into Samoa via Cyclone Gita? It is absurd to even suggest, that families from abroad are hell bent on keeping their Samoan families living on Customary Land in poverty!

It is the L.T.R.A. Act 2008 that has single handedly prevented families from negotiating any leases (if the whole family wanted too) of their lands privately without the slippery hands of the H.R.P.P. Government being involved!

The L.T.R.A. Act 2008 gives the H.R.P.P. Government sole rights to be the middleman in any leasing agreements between the lessee and the lessor!

The lessor (Families who own the Customary Land) become voiceless once their Sao (whether agreed by the majority of family or not) signs the dotted line at the Lands Registry!

There has been caution placed upon any Customary Land being leased out by families both inside and outside of Samoa. This (enactment of the L.T.R.A. Act 2008 Act unto law unconstitutionally by this HRPP Government) is probably the main reason for the reluctance by some families to seek financial rewards.

Jeffery, Im left to ponder, whether you have been handed Customary Land from your Ancestors, and have family buried around your land?

In most Western Countries having land is valuable, and under the Torrens Land system it means having something of value that can be sold for a sum agreed upon by both parties!

However, Customary Land with the bones of your Ancestors is something that God fearing Samoans dont believe in upsetting or unsettling the spirits of our loved ones, even cash!

I want to point out to Jeffrey and all the brain washed locals who are still symphaizers of the H.R.P.P. Government! Money is sometimes not everything to Samoans! The bones of our Ancestors mean more to families than any wealth, that drives (at times) a wedge between families as money becomes the great motivator and not alofa or respect for one another!

I personally have had a similar case where my uncle asked me a few years ago whether we should sell our land for $2million tala to an international group, who would re-site the bones of our Ancestors to another piece of land, and give us some more land! My initial wannabe Palagi reaction was yes, money first! Well, the family as a whole (and Im glad I was seen as an imbecile at the time) kept onto our land and I am now a converted believer in family first, and not wealth! My family are working their land and survive by selling and living of the goods from the land given by our Ancestors to us!

Samoa is 80% Customary Land owned and yes, I too believe in each too their own! However, I dont believe in any Government dictating to any family what they can or cannot use their Customary Lands for, let alone allow any Government to become the middleman in negotiations between the family and any would be investor!

Finally, Jeffrey I ask you one thing! Why do Samoans leave and go overseas?

The answer you may have is because they are lazy and dont want to stick around and help the family?

Well, I hope you disagree with my analogy of your mental state? No, my Parents worked their arses off to send all our family in 1970 to NZ to hopefully give us children (4 of us under 5 years at the time) a chance to become better educated and raise our families as proud Samoans whilst living abroad!

We have (as many thousands of Samoan families) also over the years given lots of monies to our immediate family, that helped the economy within Samoa progress and still even today!

Im also talking about the majority of ex pat Samoans who have done lots of wonderful things overseas and have also contributed to their local Samoan families!

Jeffrey, to segregate us overseas Samoans as people who know nothing about local Samoan life is like saying the Pope prays but knows nothing about prayer! We are all Samoans no matter how little blood you may or I may have, and to toss us aside as nobodies is like an Ostrich with its head in the ground and bottom up, obviously thinking with the wrong end of its being!

Jeffrey, the problem lies in the L.T.R.A. Act 2008, and not us Samoans overseas! We just happen to see through all that propaganda bull sugar feed to you and others by the H.R.P.P. Government!

I wish you well Jeffrey and I do respect your opinion as we are of two different mindsets however, we are still both Samoans who love Samoa to the moon and back! Malo!

Iona TusaFormer Police Constable, Seiloga Mauigoa, has broken his silence over Prime Minister Tuilaepa Dr. Sailele Malielegaois directive for couples working together at the Police to resign.

He said its unfair treatment and discriminatory.

Mauigoa had been part of the Police force for seven years.

He is married to a Police Officer and they have three children.

The Mauigoas were one of the 23 couples affected by the Prime Ministers announcement in November 2017.

He has kept his silence until now.

We pleaded with the Police Commissioner for some sort of financial incentive; however we were informed that the Government gave us a whole year to look for other job opportunities, he said.

And the Government is right. We were given 12 months to seek other means of work.

The father of three said the current regulation only targets married couples and it is clearly discriminatory.

What about the couples in defacto relationships, it is unfair.

The Government has moved to remove all the legal couples in the Ministry, what about the couple who are in illegal relationships.

It is illegal for couples to be living together and not married, he said.

Up until this day, I dont understand as to what is the negative impact of married couples working together.

It does not have any effect on the work we do, he said.

And the Government should have removed all the couples working together whether they are married or living together.

It does not make any sense at all, he said.

So for us, my wife was supposed to resign, but then we had to leave for New Zealand and thats when we decided I will be the sacrificial lamb.

I am currently seeking a job, he told the Samoa Observer.

Mauigoa said ever since the directive was implemented, they suffered from financial restraints.

Last month, Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Nafo'itoa Talaimanu Keti, raised concerns about what he claims to be a loophole in the law, which disallows legally married couples from working together within the Ministry of Police.

The matter was raised in Parliament, where he queried the Government on why there was no redundancy package offered for the Police officers who were forced to resign as a result of the legislation.

Despite the fact that the regulation has been approved, I am merely highlighting its impact, such as the Ministry of Police, he said.

Nafoitoas son and daughter-in-law, who worked at the Ministry of Police, were one of the couples affected by the new amendment.

They left the force silently for the benefit of the new amendment where married couples are not allowed to work together, he said.

They left the force without any redundancy benefit, this is a concern.

The Government shouldve considered finding them job opportunities, what about their personal loan repayments?

Nowadays applying for a job is like applying for a visa, especially when youre a former Police Officer. Its difficult to find employment at this time and age.

The concerns were supported by Member of Parliament, Faumuina Tiatia Liuga, who pointed out that the Government should have considered some assistance.

Any separation initiated by the employer, the employee will always get some sort of redundancy package unless the employee was terminated, that would be a different story, Faumuina said.

International law is that an employee who is laid off should have been given a redundancy package, he added.

But Associate Minister of Police, Peseta Vaifou Tevagaena, intervened.

He pointed out that the regulation disallowing couples and children from working together is nothing new.

This regulation is mandated under the P.S.C. (Public Service Commission) and because it creates a conflict in any Ministry.

Again this is nothing new and the regulation was not abruptly put in place. It has been in place for a very long time, and immediate families cannot be working together. That is why the Minister of Police enforced this regulation.The tragic circumstances where a three-year-old toddler allegedly suffocated in a car where he was found dead is the subject of a Police investigation.

This was confirmed by Police Superintendent and Media Spokesperson, Auapaau Logoitino Filipo, yesterday.

Yes the Police are investigating, he said, adding that he cannot discuss the details.

He said all he can reveal is that the toddler died on Friday afternoon and their investigation is considering a number of issues.

The Samoa Observer was informed by Police sources that the death is being investigated by the Criminal Investigation Division.

The incident occurred in Vaitoloa when the young baby boy was found in their family car, a source said.

Its alleged that he suffocated due to the lack of air.

According to Police sources, the family said they were unaware of how the child got into the car.

A Police source said the childs parents were not around and that they were at work. The child had been left with his extended family when the tragedy happened.

The Police Officer further says that an autopsy is not requested because the coroner determined the cause of death was suffocation.Students and teachers of the Seventh Day Adventist Primary School in Siufaga, Savaii, have a lot to be thankful for.

Last week, their newly renovated school building was up and running again after a Volunteer Group from Australia completed renovation works on the school building.

According to a representative from the Volunteer Group, Muagututia Vailolo Siutu, the cost of the renovation was more than $50,000.

He told the Samoa Observer that the church requested for someone to fund the renovation of the school and one of the church members, May Schwalger, who also works at the churchs development programme, heard the call and acted immediately.

She is based in Australia and so she put up a call if any of us who are in the church wanted to help, he said.

So about 18 of us answered the call and most of the people from our group are the students of the churches theological college in Avondale, Australia.

So we all started fundraising. We had to pay for our own air fares and everything and at the same time fundraise for some financial assistance to help the project.

Muagututia added this was the first time a group had volunteered to come and conduct such a project.

We arrived here on January 31 this year and because of Tropical Cyclone Gita, the project was delayed, but we managed to finish it.

It took us one whole week to finish the project and just last week Tuesday we managed to have a small ceremony to bless the new building.

But thats not all the group did for the school.

When we first came, we were told that its only Year 7 and Year 8 who have desks and chairs, he said.

The school told us that they only need about 50 desks, but we didnt agree with it.

So we told them that for every class, there will be desks and chairs from Year 1 to Year 8.

So we donated 100 desks and 120 chairs to the school, which for the extra 20 chairs, will be used in the teachers staff room as well as the principal.

Not only that, we also donated 10 new computer machines for the schools lab, which there were only five computer machines in it.

The students are enjoying their newly-renovated rooms with new desks and chairs as well as extra computer machines to help the students learn.

The group had already left last week Saturday.Australia has announced additional humanitarian assistance to support Samoan and Tongan communities devastated by Tropical Cyclone Gita.

For Samoa, an Australian Structural Engineer will assist with damage assessments.

Prior to striking Tonga, Gita struck Samoa as a Category Two storm.

In response to a request from the Samoan Government, Australia will provide A$155,000 (T$307,000) to support debris clearance, aerial surveillance and food assistance for those who have been displaced.

The assistance is part of Australias pledge to stand by its close friends and neighbours in the Pacific.

For Tonga, Australias additional funding of $3 million ($5.9m) will support the work of the Red Cross Movement, the Tongan Women and Childrens Crisis Centre and Australian NGOs as they deliver urgent help to affected communities, such as shelter and protection services for women and children.

Australia will also support the Tongas longer term recovery efforts, for example through helping to restore critical infrastructure and health and education services.

Australia has already sent two ADF C-17 Globemaster flights with humanitarian supplies and has released supplies pre-positioned with the Tongan Red Cross.

These include tarpaulins, sleeping mats, water purification tablets, tool kits, cooking equipment and hygiene items to assist over 2,000 people in need.

We are working closely with the Tongan Government and humanitarian partners who are distributing these supplies to families left homeless by the cyclone.The Samoa Water Authority has restored all water supplies to 21,800 of its customers.

This was confirmed by S.W.A. Corporate Manager, Kolone Tikeri, in response to questions from the Samoa Observer.

The Managing Director and S.W.A. staff worked tirelessly to ensure the restoration of reliable water supply to all its customers, he said.

Since the departure of Tropical Cyclone Gita from Samoa, the Samoa Water Authority engaged a 24-hour operation to restore water supply.

As of Thursday, 15th February, 2018 all infrastructures and facilities were checked and damages restored.

During then all major schemes in Upolu and Savaii were all online except for a few borehole schemes awaiting electricity supply, said Tikeri.

According to Tikeri, last week S.W.A. had five trucks delivering water to families in rural areas of Upolu 24 hours a day.

Areas covered with the trucks included Manono Uta, Apolima Uta, Samatau, Suifaga Falelatai, Satuimalufilufi, Lalomanu, Tiavea Uta, Tiavea Tai, Amaile and Lepa, but all of these areas are receiving water now.

He said the cyclone caused damages to distribution and transmission pipelines, water intakes and treatment plants.

One of the major issues encountered by the Authority during periods of heavy rainfall is turbidity from the rivers.

This problem was again a major issue for some of the treatment plants forcing the Authority to shut down or reduce supply from some of the treatment facilities.

The Authoritys slow sand filtering tanks at Fuluasou, Alaoa and Malololelei and Faleata-Palauli in Savaii were all been cleaned by hand over the course of the week, recovering full capacity from these treatment plants.

The tanks are very large and office staff joined operations staff to shovel sludge caused by Gita out of the tanks so they can effectively filter the water for drinking.

He told the Samoa Observer that customers who still experience difficulties in water supply or know of damaged and leaking pipes yet to be repaired can still call S.W.A. any time on 21267 or 20409 for Upolu and 51215 for Savaii.The Samoa Law Reform Commission has called the Samoa Narcotics Act 1967 to be overhauled, noting that its outdated.

This was revealed in their recent drugs reform final report released in December last year.

The 163-page report says that Samoas illegal drugs environment is vastly different from that which existed in 1967.

It was enacted to suit the circumstances at that time. Samoas Narcotics Act is 50 years old, the report said.

It has only been amended twice. Other countries like New Zealand and N.S.W. have enacted more modern legislation regulating illegal drugs.

Public submissions revealed serious social and economic harms affecting Samoan communities.

The Commission notes that the causes of these social and economic issues stem from the lack of enforcement by the relevant authorities due to lack of resources and manpower, corruption practices by the relevant authorities, poverty, lack of employment and inadequate penalties to punish drug offenders, to name a few.

The Commission supports the majority view that Samoas Narcotics Act is outdated and does not adequately address the current and emerging issues in Samoa.

Therefore to meet the term of reference, the Commission is of the view that Samoas Narcotics Act should be completely overhauled and replaced with a new and updated framework which is relevant and suitable to the current needs of Samoa (new drugs framework).

According to the report, since its enactment in 1967, Samoas Narcotics Act has only been amended twice in 2006 and 2009 respectively.

Amendments to the law were inadequate to address the prevalence of drug-related issues in Samoa and the new developments in the evolving drug environment.

For example, the rise of methamphetamine cases, the use of illegal drugs for medicinal purposes as well as the consideration of rehabilitation as a sentencing option.

Therefore, this review is necessary and timely to ensure that it reflects current developments around issues relating to illegal drugs, and to consider and incorporate regulatory provisions from similar overseas jurisdictions where appropriate in order to effectively curb drug-related issues for a safer Samoa.

This report considers specific issues relating to Samoas Narcotics Act that were raised in the Commissions Issues Paper and explores options for their reform.

While this report comprehensively considers provisions of Samoas Narcotics Act, it does not consider them all.

The Commission considers that the provisions not addressed or discussed in this report are not contentious at this time.

Thus the Commission recommends that such provisions should be retained, but redrafted in a logical order and in plain language.

This will make the law clearer and consistent with relevant legislation.

In moving forward, the S.L.R.C. has made recommendations throughout the report to update current provisions that are outdated and do not adequately serve the purpose of Samoas Narcotics Act.

Furthermore, the Commission has made recommendations suggesting for certain matters to be further clarified and be covered under Regulations instead of including them under a new drugs framework.

Accordingly, any changes made to the law would also mean changes to the current Narcotics Regulations 1967 (Samoas Narcotics Regulations) to ensure consistency.

For the most part, the Commission has also recommended that provisions from other legislations such as the Police Service Act 2009, Drugs Act 1967, Crimes Act 2013, Customs Act 2014, Evidence Act 2015, Community Justice Act 2008, and the Internal Affairs Act 1995 are adapted and adopted in any new drugs framework.

This is to achieve consistency and uniformity across all laws and matters relating to regulating illegal drugs in Samoa.

It is hoped that a more uniform framework will make the regulation of illegal drugs more effective, adequate, practical and efficient.

Also, the key players responsible for enforcing the law are better informed of the requirements, which are consistent, easier to understand and aim to increase efficiency.

Again, the Commission will be guided by key relevant agencies and the courts about the efficacy of doing so in some of the provisions.

Finally, the Commission has also identified a need for training on a new drugs framework for law enforcement agencies including Ministry of Police, Ministry of Health, and Customs among others to ensure that enforcement officers are up to date with the latest changes in legislation and familiar with rules governing their functions in regulating illegal drugs.

For example, the overlap of powers. The need for this training was illustrated in submissions received from both key stakeholders and the public indicating a lack of understanding of many parts of Samoas Narcotics Act by some members of the relevant agencies.

As such, some officers who have responsibilities under the law, do not effectively and efficiently utilise them or are uninformed with the provisions that regulate illegal drugs in Samoa, resulting in inadequate enforcement, says the report.Having daughters mean parents have to be on protective mode all the time.

That is the belief of Siusega Taofia of Fusi Safata when she spoke with the Village Voice team yesterday at her residence.

Siusega lives in a small square house with no windows and no door, it is a struggle.

The 51-year-old mother said her husband is a bus driver and collects $200 weekly, which is only enough for food, cash power, school tuition and lunch for the girls.

It is never enough and so as a mum I dont know where I can get any financial assistance to help with a proper house for my girls.

At this time and age, we can never be too cautious when it comes to protecting our girls, especially with what we hear on the news, it is just scary, said the mother.

With the rape cases, I can never sit still when my daughters dont get home on time, I will go and look for them, she said.

She shared that the house she hopes to have will need windows and doors.

As long as the body of the house is boarded, I can live with that so that I can sleep peacefully at night knowing that no one will enter the house.

Im 51 years old, my two other daughters have just moved to New Zealand and they are looking for jobs and trying to get on their feet with their recent migration.

I am left with nowhere to turn for a stable house for my girls because we just cannot afford it, said Siusega.

I pray and hope that someone who has the ability to lend a hand will send help our way, it would be greatly appreciated, she said.

Siusega said their family has stable water and electricity supply and they are grateful for the Government in assuring the families in Fusi have access to these daily necessities.

Regarding the cost of living, Siusega says the increase in cost of goods does not match with how much people make.

Its very unbalanced and I dont see why people make less only to pay for something that costs much more than their hourly rate.

Its kind of unfair, she said.

But what can you do when that is how things work nowadays.Storing rainwater for food, drinking and other needs has been a long-standing chore for Sau Lui of Tiavi.

The 51-year-old father was clearing debris from Tropical Cyclone Gita on his taro plantation when the Village Voice team visited his farm.

As one of the few families that live next to the steep Tiavi road, Sau said they had access to the Governments water supply.

However it sometimes has dirt and trash in it so we never use it for food and drinking, we rely on the rain for that.

This is a daily struggle for us and as you can see from the pots we have lined up here, this is where we store our water because we cannot afford a water tank.

Asked whether they had filed a complaint with the Samoa Water Authority, Sau said they had not.

We have lived here for 23 years and it took 11 years before the water could reach our area.

Can you imagine if we had filed a complaint about dirty water, it would probably take another few years before we would get clean water.

I am thankful we have steady supply of government water but its just not good for cooking and drinking, said Sau.

He said recently a centipede came through their water pipe and that was just after the storm.

So again we are thankful that we do have water supply, but it is not safe to drink or for cooking food, he said.

The father of two and his wife live off what they earn from their plantation but the recent cyclone has left them in a state of a limbo.

We are hoping for some assistance from the Government most especially for us farmers who rely solely on our produce; after all we play a huge role in the boosting of Samoas economy, in terms of our goods being exported overseas.

Although my family is not part of the program, my point is the Government should offer some financial assistance to help us get back on our feet, Im sure they can afford it, he said.

Sau is a strong believer that education is the key to a successful life and that is why all the money he gets goes to paying tuition for his two daughters.

One is a scholar in China and has been there for three years, you see our house it is barely a house.

However all the money my wife and I get, we save it for their schooling.

I did not finish my education and look at the life I have now, I dont want my daughters to live like me that is why we invest in their future.

My youngest daughter goes to Manumalo, and as expensive and far as it is, as a father who grew up in a poor family, I want them to have better lives in the future.

And this to me is the true meaning of unconditional love.

I would rather eat canned food all year long, and pay off my daughters tuition.

I also invest in chemicals that help with my farm to assure I get top quality taro that will attract buyers, he added.

If you want to help Sau with his plea for a water tank, you can reach him on 7200322.The Egyptian and French navies are set to conduct the joint exercise "Cleopatra 2018" in the Red Sea from 20 to 23 February, the Egyptian armed forces said on Monday.

In a statement, armed forces spokesman Tamer El-Refaie said the exercise comes within the armed forces' annual framework of joint drills.

"The drills comes in conjunction with the navy units executing set operations within the comprehensive Operation Sinai 2018, to boost the sea theatre in the Mediterranean and Red Seas, to preserve navigation, and to prevent infiltration and smuggling along Egyptian coastlines," the statement read.

The training will also include a number of activities within the Red Sea's southern command, "in light of the depth of partnership and military cooperation relations between the two friendly countries in several fields."

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For the last several months, the country  the world, really -- has been having a dialogue about how to eradicate workplace sexual harassment. There have been career-ending consequences for men in high and not-so-high places who have credibly been accused of such misconduct.

That in turn has provoked a backlash from prominent men and women here and abroad, including the President of the United States, raising concerns about due process for those accused and about the vanishing line between the klutz and the barbarian.

There is an emerging realization that the law is necessary in addressing sexual harassment, but is not sufficient. The law can never be the entire answer because, generally speaking, the law is designed to remedy only violations of behavioral minimums, not to prescribe best practices. Thus, for example, the law only redresses sexually harassing behavior that is severe or pervasive and the failure to prevent or correct it effectively.

The New York Times recently published an essay titled #MeToo and Laws Limitations by Harvard and Michigan scholar Catharine MacKinnon, a pioneer in sexual harassment law. Professor MacKinnon wrote: It is widely thought that when something is legally prohibited, it more or less stops. This may be true for exceptional acts, but it is not true for pervasive practices like sexual harassment . . . . MacKinnon credits the #MeToo movement for doing what the law cannot.

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New voices are being heard and perennial voices are being heard in new ways. On Feb. 13, the San Diego Union-Tribune convened a community-wide forum so San Diegans who had been affected by sexual harassment could be heard and so that ideas from experts and others about how to deal with it could be shared.

The American Bar Association House of Delegates, the organizations policy-making body, just unanimously adopted a one-page, nine-point resolution focused on sexual harassment that goes beyond lawyers and beyond law. The original draft resolution was directed only to employers in the legal industry. The final resolution included a strengthening and broadening an amendment, authored by San Francisco lawyer Mark Schickman who defends and advises employers, that extended the guidance in the resolution to all employers.

The ABA urges employers to adopt and enforce policies and procedures that prohibit, prevent, and promptly redress sexual harassment and retaliation. The ABA tells employers that the first step is to write a zero-tolerance sexual harassment policy and distribute it to all employees. Top executives must be involved in developing, communicating, and enforcing the policy.

Second, the policy must expressly apply to all levels of the organization, to non-employees such as vendors and customers who interact with employees, and in all work-related settings. A report accompanying the resolution emphasizes that [s]exual harassment by an employer may take place in settings that are not in the workplace, such as a taxi, conference, or restaurant meeting.

Third, the ABA advises employers to provide multiple ways to report violations of the policy, including methods which do not involve any accused party, including at least one anonymous reporting method (such as a hotline).

Among the other components the ABA believes are essential in an effective harassment policy are consistent and effective disciplinary consequences for harassment and retaliation and regular and effective training programs for all employees, which goes beyond the training requirements of California law.

In a recent story on why some sexual harassment training is ineffective, The New York Times quoted University of Wisconsin Professor Shannon Rawski saying that training should focus on empowering the bystander to address such conduct, thereby equipping everyone in the workplace to stop harassment, instead of offering people two roles no one wants: harasser or victim.

This remarkably open dialogue about sexual harassment is ongoing. The law has a place in this dialogue. And so do you.

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Dan Eaton is a partner with the San Diego law firm of Seltzer Caplan McMahon Vitek where his practice focuses on defending and advising employers. He also is an instructor at the San Diego State University Fowler College of Business where he teaches classes in business ethics and employment law. He may be reached at eaton@scmv.com. His Twitter handle is @DanEatonlaw.Two decades after promising to quit politics before turning into a half-dead wreck, German Chancellor Angela Merkel began paving the way for her exit from office by picking the popular governor of a small state on the French border as her successor in a surprise move on Monday.

In what had all the hallmarks of a classic Merkel attempt to thwart a rebellion in her conservative partys right wing, the 63-year-old leader, elected five months ago to a fourth four-year term, caught her rivals off guard by picking Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer as deputy party leader  in effect, the crown princess.

Merkel did not, however, say when she might step aside.

The governor of Saarland, the 55-year-old Kramp-Karrenbauer has conservative views on social issues and a track record of electoral victories that should quiet Merkels many naysayers. Right-wing critics of the chancellor, who has been in power since 2005, are upset about her pushing the conservative party to the center as well as her contentious 2015 decision to allow more than a million refugees from Syria and elsewhere into Germany. Merkels popularity has plunged since elections in September, and a growing chorus of party leaders has called for her to step aside.

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It was, political analysts said, a clever move by Merkel to name Kramp-Karrenbauer as the partys deputy leader, or general secretary. It was the first time since Merkel took office in 2005 that she had designated a successor, and it was seen as heading off critics who were calling for a conservative voice to take the deputy leader post.

Angela Merkel at a news conference in Berlin on Nov. 12, 2005, after winning her first term as German chancellor. (Carsten Koall / Getty Images )

Merkels Christian Democrats (CDU) crashed to their worst postwar result in the Sept. 24 election as a new far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party siphoned away millions of conservative voters tired of Merkel. Her powers abroad may be at their zenith, but at home she has probably never been more vulnerable.

The party is fortunate that shes eager to come to Berlin to help hold the CDU together and help create a stronger feeling of belonging, Merkel said at a news conference in Berlin. The chancellor was the partys general secretary herself from 1998 until she became its leader in 2000.

Merkel, who is the de facto leader of the European Union as head of its strongest economy, in part owes her re-election last year to Kramp-Karrenbauer. The Saarland governor, who has ruled for the last seven years, won re-election with unexpected ease in her tiny state, with a population of just 1 million, after a spirited campaign in early 2017. That may have paved the way for conservative victories in three other states and Merkels victory in September.

This is one of the most difficult periods in Germanys history, said Kramp-Karrenbauer, standing next to Merkel. She was presumably referring both to the rise of the far-right AfD, which is now the largest opposition party in parliament, and to the bitter divisions in the country over the large number of refugees. We need strong political parties. In difficult times like these, you cant just go out there and blame others and say, Someone else should do a better job. I think in times like these you have to be willing to take on responsibility yourself.

Sometimes referred to in Germany by her initials AKK because of her difficult double name and her high levels of energy that remind some of the AKW abbreviation for nuclear power plants, Kramp-Karrenbauer comes from the center of the CDU and supported Merkels decisions during the refugee crisis in 2015 and 2016. Yet her membership in the Roman Catholic Church and family  she is the mother of three -- make her an appealing choice for many conservatives in the party, as does her opposition to full adoption rights for same-sex couples.

How dinner with a lesbian couple changed Angela Merkels position on same-sex marriage 

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A devout AC/DC fan, she is married to a former mining engineer who quit his job to raise their children. Asked at the Berlin news conference whether she regarded herself as the new crown princess of the party, she replied, I was never suited for princess roles.

Many on the right have long been wary of Merkel, a divorced woman with no children, whose policies have pushed the Christian Democrats to the left and away from traditional conservative values.

Merkel has made an extremely smart move with Kramp-Karrenbauer, said Thorsten Hasche, a political scientist at Goettingen University, in an interview. Shes always been loyal to Merkel yet brings more traditional conservative viewpoints and her religion with her. This should quiet down the rebellion before it gets going any further.

Yet the ascent of Kramp-Karrenbauer from the tranquillity of Germanys provinces into the center of politics will likely also fuel speculation about when Merkel will ultimately step down  perhaps in two years, which would be halfway through the next legislative period. She had once hinted that she wanted to avoid the mistake made by two earlier Christian Democrat chancellors  Konrad Adenauer and Helmut Kohl  who were forced out after holding on too long (16 and 14 years, respectively) in the false belief they were irreplaceable. Merkel witnessed Kohls withering election defeat in 1998 firsthand as his environment minister.

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I dont want to be a half-dead wreck when I get out of politics, she said at age 44 in 1998, right after watching Kohls humiliating defeat at the age of 68.

ALSO

Germany moves toward a new coalition government after major concessions by Angela Merkel

Trump stirs a hornets nest in Britain by blasting its National Health Service

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Radiation levels near this Siberian village were 1,000 times above normal last fall. But no one worried much

Kirschbaum is a special correspondent.At the start of every month, the Israeli Foreign Ministry sends journalists a list of scheduled official visits.

On Jan. 1, the name of Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt appeared. He was expected from Jan. 26-28.

Those dates came and went, with no Pruitt and no explanation for why he hadnt arrived, although it coincided with an uproar over his travel expenses and penchant for flying first class.

Pruitts name did not appear on the February list, but a Foreign Ministry official, who was not authorized to speak publicly, revealed last week that Pruitt was expected to arrive on Sunday.

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Breaking with established protocol, the Israeli Government Press Office did not send out his schedule or any information regarding his stay, which was never officially announced.

All attempts to get a schedule, discover his arrival time or the members of his entourage  all information usually made available  failed. Nor were officials forthcoming about why the visit was so hush-hush.

Was he planning on meeting with any Palestinians? No answer.

To all questions, Israels Foreign Ministry replied: Ask the [U.S.] Embassy.

On the record, the embassy declined so much as to acknowledge Pruitts plans. One embassy employee, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss such an inexplicably secretive topic, said: Were not talking about this. Off the record, I can tell you he is expected to sign two memoranda, one apparently with the Energy Ministry and another about methane gas.

Asked if hed be meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the embassy official replied, It would make sense.

Asked about a Netanyahu meeting, the senior foreign press coordinator for the prime ministers office, David Baker, said in an email: Check with me on Sunday.

Sunday arrived  and no Pruitt. Baker did not respond to a query asking why. EPA spokeswoman Liz Bowman acknowledged in an email that the trip had been postponed, the Associated Press reported. She also did not explain why.

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Tarnopolsky is a special correspondent.February 19, 1972 The San Diego Union

The San Diego Union-Tribune will mark its 150th anniversary in 2018 by presenting a significant front page from the archives each day throughout the year.

Saturday, February 19, 1972

In 1972, the California Supreme Court found that the death penalty constituted cruel and unusual punishment under the state constitution; 107 condemned inmates were resentenced to life with the possibility of parole. Four San Diego men were included in the reprieve: Robert Page Anderson, Joseph Bernard Morse, Nathan Elmont Eli, and John David Hayes.

Here are the first few paragraphs of the story:

State Supreme Court Bans Death Penalty

Life Terms Ordered For 107

SAN FRANCISCO (AP)  The California Supreme Court declared yesterday that capital punishment is unconstitutional, and ordered the death sentences of 102 men and five women reduced to life imprisonment.

The states highest court, in a 6-1 decision, said execution is incompatible with the dignity of man and the judicial process.

It held that the death penalty is cruel or unusual punishment, violating the state constitution.

Among those removed from the shadow of death sentences were Sirhan Bishara Sirhan, convicted assassin of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy; Charles Manson, convicted in the murders of actress Sharon Tate and six others, and three of Mansons women followers.

ASSAILED BY REAGAN

In Sacramento, Gov. Reagan said the Supreme Court had put itself above the will of the people and made a mockery of the constitutional process.

The governor, a Republican, said his administration will seek an immediate rehearing. If the court refuses to reconsider, Reagan said in a statement issued by his press office, then the people should decide the issue through a constitutional amendment.

This decision makes a mockery of the constitutional process involved in establishing laws in California, Reagan said. If it goes unchallenged, the judicial philosophy inherent in this ruling could be an almost lethal blow to societys right to protect law-abiding citizens and their families against violence and crime.

INVOLVES SAN DIEGAN

The legal attack against the death penalty specifically involved the case of Robert Page Anderson, who was sentenced to death for the killing of a San Diego shopkeeper in 1965. The arguments also covered the case of John Britton Miller, who was condemned for the slaying of a deputy sheriff in Modesto in 1967.

At San Quentin Penitentiary, where men under death sentence are held, Associate Warden James W. Park said most of the men are pretty happy about the ruling. There are no demonstrations or anything like that. Most of them are in a wait-and-see attitude.

An attorney for Angela Davis, the self-described communist scheduled for trial Feb. 28 on murder-kidnap charges in connection with a 1970 San Rafael courthouse shooting, said she would ask immediately that Miss Davis be freed on bail in view of the courts decision.

View anniversary front pages online at sandiegouniontribune.com/150-years. For more from the Union-Tribune digital archives, go to newslibrary.com/sites/sdub. Searching is free, with registration. A fee is required to view full stories.Low-income San Diego residents who receive rent subsidies are able to move into more-expensive neighborhoods through a new program that went into effect Jan. 1, but its too soon to tell how many are taking advantage of it.

There may be some change, but I would be surprised if its dramatic, said Rick Gentry, president and CEO of the San Diego Housing Commission.

In months and years to come, however, the initiative could allow thousands of poor families to live in neighborhoods of their choice, possibly cutting their commute times to work, giving them access to different schools and creating more-integrated neighborhoods.

Gentry also sees the Housing Commissions initiative as an improvement to a similar program recently launched by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

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The Housing Commission, which has about 15,450 housing vouchers that provide rent subsidies to qualified San Diego residents, has mapped the city into three areas based on housing costs and increased the value of the vouchers in the more-expensive areas.

Not surprising, communities the commission calls Choice are La Jolla, Del Mar Heights and Point Loma, as well as Rancho Penasquitos, Rancho Bernardo, Scripps Miramar, Mission Valley and University City. Vouchers in those communities can provide as much as $3,186 in rent subsidies for a five-bedroom house, while traditional vouchers would have provided $2,637.

The Choice Communities initiative is the Housing Commissions version of HUDs Small Area Fair Market Rents program, which went through a brief controversy late last year.

During the Obama administration, when HUD was led by Julian Castro, the department devised a new way of setting values to housing vouchers. Under a program that was set to take effect Jan. 1, the voucher values would increase or decrease depending on the ZIP codes of where they were used.

New HUD Secretary Ben Carson attempted to put that plan on hold for two years, but a lawsuit challenging the delay was filed by several groups, including the NAACP, which argued it would deny African-American families opportunities to move into other neighborhoods, furthering segregation.

A U.S. District Court ruled Dec. 23 that HUD must implement the voucher change on Jan. 1 as originally planned under Castro.

The San Diego Housing Commission sidestepped the controversy because, as a Moving to Work agency, it was not obligated to follow the proposed HUD change and had leeway to make its own version of the initiative. Moving to Work requires some voucher recipients to work or participate in job-training programs to receive rent subsidies.

Gentry criticized the HUD plan because it would have created 32 zones in the city, each with its own type of voucher, which he said would have been a challenge to make work.

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More troubling, the HUD plan would mean some households in low-income neighborhoods could see their rent subsidies dip to pay for the more expensive vouchers in other neighborhoods, he said.

In San Diego, the new rule would have meant more than 6,700 families would have reduced subsidies, Gentry estimated.

The remedy was worse than the problems, in some respect, he said.

Gentry described the HUD plan as social engineering in that it could force people to move away from one neighborhood because their subsidy decreased.

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We want to provide choice and mobility options for families who want to move, but on the other hand we dont want to predicate or force families, he said.

San Diego Housing Commission Chief of Staff Jeff Davis said the agency will be able to increase the value of vouchers in some areas without decreasing them in others because of several streamlining and cost-savings steps it has taken.

The Moving to Work program, for instance, has lowered voucher payments to some families because they have become more self-sufficient, he said.

While the three-tier Choice Initiative is new this year, a piece of the plan has been in place since 2013.

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An initiative launched in July of that year provided greater rent subsidies for families that wanted to live in certain more-expensive neighborhoods. Since then, 600 families have moved into those communities, Davis said.

Besides the top tier of most-expensive Choice communities, the new initiative launched Jan. 1 creates a mid-level voucher for Enterprise neighborhoods in parts of downtown, Ocean Beach, Mission Beach, Pacific Beach, Morena, Linda Vista, Clairemont, Paradise Hills and Miramar.

Signature communities, where the rent subsidy is at the traditional level, are downtown, Mission Hills, Hillcrest, North Park, City Heights, Logan Heights, Encanto, College Grove, Normal Heights, Nestor, South San Diego and San Ysidro.

As an example of the voucher range, families living in a Signature community can receive up to $1,304 in rent subsidies for a two-bedroom house, while the subsidy would be $1,567 in an Enterprise community and $1,740 in a Choice community.

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Gentry said the commission is reviewing the funding levels to determine if the voucher value in Signature communities can be increased.

The Housing Commissions Choice Initiative has faced some criticism, including from attorney Parisa Ijadi-Maghsoodi, who specializes in subsidized housing law. Ijadi-Maghsoodi said she favored the HUD plan because studies have shown that basing voucher values on ZIP codes was the best model. She also said she has no concerns that families in low-income areas would pay more in rent because the housing commission has set voucher amounts so low that changing to ZIP code-based rents would increase the value of all vouchers.

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Homeless Playlist  On Now San Diego hepatitis outbreak continues to grow: 481 cases On Now Homeless entrenched in booming tent city along Santa Ana River On Now San Diego mayor agreed to homeless hub, then delayed, advocates say On Now Homeless outreach in San Diego On Now Video: Street Art: Portraits of San Diego's Homeless #8 On Now In poverty himself, 'Water Man Dave,' is the fearless saint of San Diego's homeless 5:41 On Now Video: Homeless living in cars find safe havens 2:21 On Now Street Art: Portraits of San Diego's Homeless #7 On Now Pitching a tent plan for San Diego's homeless On Now Homeless efforts get $80M boost for various services

gary.warth@sduniontribune.com

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Twitter: @GaryWarthUT

760-529-4939Warned of possibly violent protests over construction of border wall prototypes last fall, San Diego police bought an array of less than lethal weapons, newly released city records show.

Weeks before the project began the city purchased hundreds of rounds of pepper spray, as well as crowd-dispersing grenades and tear gas.

In all the city spent $50,000 on supplies, most of which were not needed. There were no protests during the construction.

From Costco pizza and brown bag lunches to dozens of exploding grenades that hurl rubber balls in a 50-foot radius, San Diego police rushed to purchase $50,000 of supplies for security in the areas near President Donald Trumps border wall prototype project, much of it motivated by concerns for mass demonstrations that never materialized, city records show.

The purchases were ordered and made in the weeks before and just after the Sept. 26 start of construction on eight prototype walls on a patch of federal land near the border on Otay Mesa. The project was ordered by the Trump administration, which has made building a wall on the border a centerpiece of its immigration policies.

The San Diego Union-Tribune reported in January that the city spent $826,354 on security, including about $227,500 in overtime and the balance in wages and supplies. The department was not providing security for the walls but patrolling and securing the area near the build  city streets in an Otay Mesa business park.

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The newspaper then requested a breakdown of the $50,000 in supplies as well as other information. Those records produced this week show the extent to which city officials believed they had to prepare  quickly  for possibly large demonstrations against the project.

Department of Homeland Security officials had warned of large scale and potentially violent protests in a memo to local agencies before the project began.

That memo, which has not been made public but was reported on by The Wall Street Journal, clearly drove decisions by the police and San Diego County Sheriffs Department, which also secured and patrolled the area and spent $1.6 million in salaries, overtime and supplies

For example, on Sept. 12, the police department requested $25,000 to purchase meals for the expected month-long project duration  an initial amount that officials said could go much higher.

We may need to increase this depending on how the protests go as costs could rise to $100,000 or higher, a management analyst wrote that day.

After a week it became apparent that there would be no protests and the city reduced manpower. In the end it ended up spending $5,778 on food, including 350 sack lunches and about two dozen pizzas one day.

The largest expenditure category was ammunition and the records show the city bought an array of less-than-lethal tactical gear and ammunition. It included 750 rounds of pepper spray projectiles that can be fired from special launchers.

The city also bought 100 chemical grenades that spray out CS gas, commonly known as tear gas, as well as 50 grenades that spew out rubber pellets when detonated to deter and disperse large crowds, according to the manufacturer, Defense Technologies.

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Psychologically and physiologically maximize less-lethal force against the most stubborn of crowds, a product description reads. Stinger Rubber Ball Grenade offers multiple stimulus of light, sound, rubber pellets and optional CN or CS chemical agents. Grenades detonate in a 50-foot circular pattern, spraying rubber pellets with micro-pulverized chemical agent.

Police officials said that the equipment is used by SWAT teams and the city does not have enough on hand.

Our current inventory of munitions will not meet the demands of a long sustained and violent protest, Capt. Rudy Tai of the Operational Support Division wrote in a Sept. 6 memo requesting the equipment.

The city ended up spending $33,969 on ammunition and tactical gear, the records show.

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Concern over the protest also drove the sheriffs department, which not only spent $764,278 for more than 10,000 hours of overtime logged by 356 employees from Sept. 7 through Dec. 15 in border wall related costs, but also installed two miles of temporary chain link fencing to block off private and some county property.

The county got an exemption from environmental laws for installing the temporary fencing, and gave a similar reason saying the fencing would stop trampling on environmentally sensitive land given the high likelihood a significant number of people will be demonstrating, county officials wrote in a formal notice.

The construction of these mock-up, which is expected to commence imminently, is highly controversial and is expected to result in demonstrations by a significant number of individuals. The temporary fence is critical to preventing injury to persons and property during the course of these expected demonstrations, and will be removed once this imminent danger abates, the notice says.

Despite all the concern, there was no protest during the building, and only a small rally near the site on Dec. 9, weeks after the walls were constructed and long after construction crews had left.

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Both city and county officials have said that they will not be reimbursed by the federal government for the costs of securing the area for the prototype project.

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Twitter: @gregmoran

greg.moran@sduniontribune.comThe National Weather Service has issued a frost advisory for areas east of Interstate 15 and a winter weather advisory for the San Diego County Mountains, giving people advanced warning of whats expected to be one of the coldest nights of the winter.

A low pressure system swept into the county before dawn on Monday, bringing lots of cold air and a smidge of rain to the region.

Through 1 p.m. on Monday, the high had only reached 59 degrees at San Diego International Airport. The average high this time of year is 65. The high was 54 at Del Mar, 55 at Carlsbad, 59 in National City, 60 in Oceanside, and 61 at Miramar.

The cold air was pushed into the region by strong winds. The winds gust to 74 mph before dawn at Volcan Mountain in East County, and to 62 in Julian and 61 in Descanso. The winds hit 56 in Borrego Springs and Palomar Mountain, 45 in Carlsbad, 42 in Del Mar and 38 in Mission Beach.

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The weather service says the overnight temperatures will drop to 18 at Julian, 26 at Alpine, 26 at Ramona, 31 at Escondido, and 44 at San Diego. Palomar will record a low of 40 before dawn Tuesday. Forecasters say fresh moisture will enter the record before dawn on Wednesday, and snow showers are possible at Palomar.Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi met with Siemens CEO Joe Kaeser in Cairo on Monday for discussions on further cooperation and investment opportunities.

According to a statement from the president's office, El-Sisi expressed his appreciation for what the German company has achieved in Egypt in terms of development and infrastructure projects, including the three power stations in Bani Sueif, Borollos and the New Capital City, worth of 6 billion euros.

The president added that Egypt is looking forward to boosting its current partnership with Siemens in fields such as renewable energy and transportation.

Kaeser expressed the German company's appreciation for its ongoing cooperation with the Egyptian government, which has resulted in several successful large-scale projects.

The two men also discussed the timetable for the three power stations, affirming that construction is going according to plan, with the plants due to be producing 14.4 gigawatts by July 2018.

According to the statement, the Egyptian president and Siemens officials also discussed the idea of a "Werner von Siemens University" in Egypt. It would be the company's first university, providing specialized training in technology, electricity and electronics.

Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy Mohamed Shaker and Deputy Transportation Minister Hany Azer attended the meeting at the Egyptian presidency.

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Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading.Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry met with a US Congressional delegation in Cairo on Monday for talks on US-Egypt bilateral relations, means of boosting cooperation and recent developments within Egypt and the region.

The delegation was led by Congressman Ed Royce, head of the US House Committee on Foreign Affairs, and congressman Paul Cook, member of the US House Subcommittee on Middle East and North Africa.

Shoukry provided a review of Operation Sinai 2018, the ongoing anti-terrorist effort led by the Egyptian armed forces across Egypt, including the operation's various successes.

According to a foreign ministry statement, Royce said the US appreciates the sacrifices Egypt has made in its war against terrorism, adding that the US is ready to help Egypt win that confrontation.

Royce also expressed his complete understanding of the challenges Egypt is facing with regard to the Nile water issue and the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.

He asked what role the US could play in helping to reach an agreement between Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia, according to the ministry statement.

Shoukry also discussed recent developments in the Middle East, with the two congressmen asking about Egypt's evaluation of developments in Libya and Syria.

The minister shared the Egyptian vision on both issues, emphasising the importance of the centralized state to the Arab world in facing terrorism.

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James Cook University researcher Dr. Jan Strugnell and Australian Museum Research Institutes Dr. Mandy Reid have discovered and described a new species of pygmy squid in Australian waters.

Although not true squids (though part of the large group of animals, called cephalopods, that include squids, cuttlefishes and octopuses), pygmy squids coined their common name from their general squid-like appearance and tiny size, Dr. Reid explained.

With adults in this group ranging up to about 2 cm in body length (excluding the head, arms and tentacles), these diminutive squids are the smallest cephalopods known.

They are found throughout the Indo-Pacific from Australia, through to Thailand and Japan as well as the Indian Ocean side of southern Africa. They inhabit seagrass and mangroves, to which they attach using an oval adhesive pad on the rear end of the upper, or dorsal side, of their bodies.

Named the Hallams pygmy squid (Idiosepius hallami), the new species lives in eastern Australian waters, from Sabina Point (Shoalwater Bay, Queensland) to Narooma in southern New South Wales.

We first discovered the new squid among the collections of the Australian Museum in Sydney, Dr. Strugnell said.

The discovery is significant because there is quite a bit of confusion surrounding the tiny squids, in terms of how many species there are and where they are found, both in Australian waters and beyond, she added.

We know a lot more about the larger (and often edible) squid species, but these tiny ones are often overlooked.

This discovery led to a broader examination of all the species known from this family of tiny squids and also resulted in a revised classification and better understanding of the group as a whole.

People are often surprised to know that so many marine animals are still undiscovered and unnamed. Many are sitting in museum collections waiting to be studied, Dr. Reid said.

The discovery is outlined in the journal Zootaxa.

_____

Amanda L. Reid & Jan M. Strugnell. 2018. A new pygmy squid, Idiosepius hallami n. sp. (Cephalopoda: Idiosepiidae) from eastern Australia and elevation of the southern endemic notoides clade to a new genus, Xipholeptos n. gen. Zootaxa 4369 (4); doi: 10.11646/zootaxa.4369.4.1The Islamic State group has killed 27 members of a pro-government paramilitary group in an ambush north of Baghdad, the Hashed al-Shaabi force said.

"On Sunday evening, a unit of the Hashed al-Shaabi was ambushed by the Islamic State terrorist group in the Hawija region" about 300 kilometres (185 miles) north of Baghdad, it said in a statement.

"The attackers were dressed in military uniforms and during the fighting 27 of our heroes were martyred."



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Syria's government will face consequences if it reaches an agreement with the Kurdish YPG militia against Turkey's military operation, President Tayyip Erdogan was quoted as telling Russian President Vladimir Putin in a phone call on Monday.

Turkish broadcaster CNN Turk said Erdogan told Putin that Turkey's offensive, dubbed Operation Olive Branch, would continue as planned.

A source in Erdogan's office had said the two leaders had held a phone call earlier on Monday, discussing recent developments in Syria's Idlib and Afrin.

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Britain and Australia would not be able to negotiate a bilateral trade deal if Britain decides to stay in the European Union's customs union after Brexit, Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said on Monday.

"Australia is very keen to pursue a free trade agreement with the United Kingdom. I think that would be precluded if the United Kingdom were to rejoin the customs union," she told reporters in London.

Bishop also said she would raise concerns about Poland's changes to its legal system when she visits the country this week.

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Russia's parliamentary speaker, slapped with US and EU sanctions, will meet the Swiss foreign minister Monday during a visit that Bern said aims to foster "dialogue" on the Ukraine conflict.

Vyacheslav Volodin, the president of Russia's lower house of parliament, or the State Duma, arrived in Switzerland on Sunday and is set to meet a number of top officials, including his Swiss counterpart Dominique de Buman and Switzerland's Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis.

The visit has stirred controversy in non-EU member Switzerland, since he is among the Russian officials blacklisted by Washington and Brussels.

But Livia Leu, who is in charge of bilateral relations at the Swiss ministry of economic affairs, told Swiss public broadcaster RTS that Volodin's visit was in line with Switzerland's aspirations to help resolve the conflict in eastern Ukraine.

"When it comes to the Ukraine crisis, Switzerland has always encouraged dialogue, because only a political solution can in the end resolve the crisis," Leu said.

"It is with this in mind that Switzerland can provide visas to people on the European Unions (sanctions) list," she said.

Volodin, a long-time top Kremlin official and a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, became parliament speaker in 2016, two years after he was added to the

US and EU lists of sanctions against people seen as key players in the Ukraine crisis.

The war in the east of the former Soviet republic broke out in April 2014 after Russia annexed Crimea in March of that year, and has claimed more than 10,000 lives.

The Swiss parliament said last week it had issued the invitation to Volodin following a Swiss parliamentary delegation visit to Moscow last year.

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Trade and Industry Minister Tarek Kabil held discussions on economic and trade cooperation with Swedish Minister for EU Affairs and Trade Ann Linde in Cairo on Monday.

Linde, who arrived in Egypt Sunday and is set to depart on Tuesday, said that Egypt is Sweden's largest export market in Africa and its second largest in the MENA region, according to an Egyptian ministry statement.

Kabil, meanwhile, said that Egypt wants to benefit from Swedish expertise in supporting SMEs and in the renewable-energy sector.

To this end, an MoU is due to be signed between the SME Development Authority and Zurich-based power and automation technology company ABB on technical training and energy efficiency, Kabil said, without specifying a date.

A number of Swedish companies are also planning on expanding their investments in Egypt, including ABB, Linde said.

Sweden's investments in Egypt are valued at $141 million over 146 projects in manufacturing, ICT, funding, construction, services, tourism and agriculture.

ABB aims to participate in electricity linkage projects between Egypt and countries such as Saudi Arabia, Greece, and Cyprus, according to Linde.

In December, Egypt's Minister of Electricity Mohamed Shaker said a project to connect the electricity grids of Egypt and Saudi Arabia is set to begin operating in 2021.

Egypt had also signed an MoU for electricity linkage with Cyprus and Greece, as part of a government strategy to make Egypt an international hub for energy trade and distribution.

Separately, Kabil and his Swedish counterpart discussed increasing the volume of bilateral trade, currently valued at 644 million euros.

Egypt mainly exports carpets, fruit and vegetables, food products, clothes, ceramic and glass to Sweden, and imports wood, electrical products, vehicles, paper, dairy products and medicines.

During her Egypt trip, Linde is also set to meet with representatives of civil society to discuss issues including womens rights and womens participation in the economy and society.

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UK-based Cunard international development manager David Rousham had afternoon tea with trade journalists at Carnival Australias Sydney headquarters on Monday to discuss the companys record 2019-20 summer season in Australia.

Rousham, who joined top travel agents aboard Queen Mary 2 in Adelaide on Friday, left the companys flagship in Melbourne on Sunday and flies back to the UK Tuesday.

He said it was the speed at which Queen Elizabeths two-month deployment in Sydney and Melbourne between February and April 2019 had sold that prompted the decision to homeport the ship in Australia for an unprecedented 101 days between December 2019 and March 2020.

There will be six roundtrip cruises from Melbourne and two from Sydney during the 2019-20 season to ports in South Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea.

Rousham said the 14-night cruise from Sydney to Papua New Guinea with the companys maiden calls at Conflict Islands and Kiriwina in the Trobriand Islands is expected to attract international, as well as domestic, passengers.

He said a shipyard is yet to be selected for Queen Elizabeths makeover later this year. There are still discussions about the changes to be made to the ship, so the cost is also yet to be determined.

He said Australia continues to beat Germany as Cunards No. 3 source market after the United Kingdom and North America and Australia remains No. 2 market for its world cruises.

This year an unprecedented 1,000 Australians will make our trans-Atlantic voyages, he said.

'The record 2019-20 season is not a one-off and no doubt we will maintain and grow extended seasons Down Under, he commented.





A report by Singapore-based Nippon Maritime Center (NMC), provided exclusively to Seatrade Maritime News, and based on figures from the Marine Department of Malaysia, showed that traffic had grown consistently since 2011.

In the last three years, daily transit reports to Klang VTS increased from 222 vessels per day in 2015 to 231 vessels per day in 2017, despite challenging shipping market conditions, the NMC said. This equates to nearly 10 vessels entering or leaving the straits every hour, or one vessel every six minutes.

The number of transits is based on reports by vessels over 300 gt to the STRAITREP system at One Fathom Bank in the north of the Malacca Strait and Iyu Kecil in the south where it meets the Singapore Strait.

Containerships, which remain the largest users of the strait accounting for around 33% of traffic, saw a slight dip in transits 24,446 vessels last year compared to 25,786 in 2016. However, the average number of containerships transiting the strait daily remains at about 70 despite rapid growth in the size of boxships on the trade with lines now deploying 18,000  22,000 teu megamax ships on the Asia  Europe trade. Container ports in the Straits have been handling increasing number of containers in recent years, the report noted.

Tankers, including VLCCs, are the second largest users of the straits accounting for 29% of traffic.

VLCC traffic in the strait has nearly doubled over the last decade to 6,711 transits last year compared to 3,753 in 2007, equating to 20 VLCCs a day. Over the last five years VLCC traffic has increased 7.8% annually.

For small to medium sized tankers traffic has grown 3.8% annually over the last three years to hit 20,629.

Bulk carrier traffic in the strait saw a slight dip in 2017 to 15,411 transits from 15,547 in the previous year. For the most part since year 2011, bulk carrier transit reports have been growing steadily at 6.0%, reflecting East Asias import of raw materials such as iron ore and coal, the report commented.

LNG and LPG vessel traffic saw a small increase in transits to 4,137 last year compared to 4,057 in 2016.

There has been a slow growth in LNG/LPG vessels using the Straits, with 1.7% increase in the last three years, and these would mainly be vessels using the route from Middle East to East Asia, NMC said.

Sources of LNG and LPG cargoes are widely distributed around the world, and there are many routes that do not use the Malacca Straits.

Meanwhile ro-ro traffic saw decline to 2,629 transits of the straits last year compared to 2,873 vessels in 2016.Press Release

February 19, 2018 Gatchalian assures public: No massive brownouts this summer Senator Win Gatchalian has assured the public that no massive brownouts would happen this summer following the Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) recently issued by the Court of Appeals (CA) against the suspension of four commissioners of the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC). "It's a blessing na nakaupo na rin ang apat na commissioners, at least for the next 60 days, para maresolba na rin ang mga pending cases, and the Court of Appeals took note that importante talaga itong power industry dahil lahat tayo ay nangangailangan ng kuryente," he said in an ambush interview. In December 2017 the Office of the Ombudsman served a one-year suspension on four commissioners of the ERC who were found liable for not implementing the Competitive Selection Process (CSP), thus unduly favoring certain distribution utilities. According to ERC Chairperson Agnes Devanadera, the ERC received the memo from the Office of the President directing the implementation of the suspension last January 22, 2018. The TRO provides a 60-day reprieve to the ERC to fully function as a collegial body in the approval of new requests and renewals of Certificates of Compliance (COC), as well as the granting of extensions of Provisional Authority to Operate (PAO), and the crafting of important orders and resolutions concerning the power sector. "Kaya importante na in the next 60 days, mag-double or mag-triple time ang ERC dahil yan ang window natin para maaprubahan ang mga pending contracts," the senator added. During a hearing of the Senate Committee on Energy last week, Gatchalian revealed that the demand for power increases by about 15 to 20% every summer. With the given period, the ERC expects the disposition and promulgation of 60 pending cases and the completion of the technical process for 40 new cases. The ERC has recently approved two (2) new COCs, while seven (7) others are undergoing evaluation. On the other hand, eight (8) more COCs are pending for renewal as they shall be expiring by June 2018. Gatchalian, the chair of the Senate Energy Committee, further explained the new applications and renewals have a total power capacity of 2,156.38 megawatts (MW), which is enough to cover the country's power requirements this summer. Meanwhile, Devanadera announced the body's promulgation of a resolution for the adoption of rules to lower the cap on the allowable rate of system losses that can be passed-on to consumers. The said resolution was promulgated on February 13.

February 19, 2018 THE SENATE PRESIDENT SURRENDERED THE INSTITUTIONAL INTEGRITY OF THE SENATE

Privilege speech of Akbayan Senator Risa Hontiveros

19 February 2018 Mr. President, I rise on a point of personal and collective privilege. Let me be quick and to the point. On February 13, 2018, I received a copy of a "Motion to Admit Supplemental Complaint Affidavit and to Implead Davidde Kyle P. Venturillo as one of the respondents" in connection with the Wiretapping case filed against me by Mr. Vitaliano Aguirre, incidentally the incumbent Secretary of Justice. The said Motion is an attempt of Mr. Aguirre to support his contention that I, supposedly in concert with a photographer who was working at my behest, deliberately and with premeditation, sought to capture the contents of his mobile phone in acts tantamount to a violation of Republic Act 4200, or the Anti Wiretapping Act. We are respecting legal processes and responding to the charges filed against me by Mr. Aguirre, as well as the other charges filed by his cohorts. What deeply concerns me is the involvement of the Senate as an institution in this case filed by Mr. Aguirre against me in his personal capacity, and the willingness of the Office of the Senate President to abet a witchhunt not just against me, but against a 23-year-old consultant of my office, Kyle Venturillo. Naka-attach po sa Motion na isinumite ni Ginoong Aguirre ang lahat ng correspondence niya sa Office of the Senate President, gamit ang letterhead ng Department of Justice, may bar code at control number ng Department of Justice, may mga pirma ni Ginoong Aguirre, at ang kanyang HEA na si Atty. Jolas Brutas. Sa mga sulat na ito, hinihingi po ni Ginoong Aguirre ang mga sumusunod: October 5, 2017 - Request for footage of the entire hearing of the Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs dated September 5, 2017, and list of all members of the media, photographers and staff present during the hearing; October 9, 2017 - Request (coursed through Mr. Ronwald Munsayac, Chief Political Affairs Officer of the Office of Senate President) of CCTV footage of the entire 5th floor from 12:00 noon to 2:00 pm and the Senate ground floor, lobby and entrance from 6:00 am to 9:00 am, including the Senate elevators inside and outside; October 19, 2017 - Request again coursed through Mr. Munsayac, for all event photos of the Senate media taken on the September 5 hearing; January 30, 2018 - Request coursed through the Chief of Staff of the Office of the Senate President, Daniel Solomon requesting for confirmation as to whether or not Davidde Kyle Venturillo was or is connected to the Senate, and additionally requesting for copies of her personal data sheet, identification cards, pertinent personnel records and photographs. To each of these requests, the Senate, through the leadership of the current Senate President, simply complied. Attached as Annex "C" is the affidavit of the Section Chief of the Integrated Electronics and Technical Section of the Office of the Sergeant at Arms of the Senate, attesting to the authenticity of 7 DVDs turned over to the Department of Justice covering the second floor, fifth floor and ground floor of the Senate premises on September 5, 2017, and the session hall during my privilege speech on September 11, 2017. Attached likewise is the transmittal letter of the Senate Sergeant at Arms transmitting said CCTV tapes to Mr. Aguirre. Finally, complying with the "request" for a copy of Ms. Venturillo's records, a memorandum with the letterhead of the Senate Sergeant at Arms was attached, confirming that Ms. Venturillo was issued a Senate security pass for 2017. Nais kong i-manifest na ni minsan hindi ako sinabihan tungkol sa mga requests na nabanggit. Bilang myembro ng kapulungang ito, ni minsan hindi binigay sa akin ang kortesiya na sabihan na 'yung mga personnel records ng staff ko ay tinitingnan at pinapaalam sa iba. Mr. President, at the outset, I had already warned about the inherent impropriety of the Secretary of Justice filing a case against me (or conniving with individuals to file cases against me), where investigation will be conducted by the prosecutor's office, which is under the supervision and control of the DOJ. I anticipated that the SOJ would use the weight and might of his office to influence prosecutors below him in the conduct of preliminary investigation. Sadly, I did not anticipate that the SOJ would also be using the weight and might of his office to influence an independent institution like the Philippine senate, and use it for a fishing expedition against those whom he perceives to be his enemies. Mr. President, it would behoove this August chamber to remember that there was no judicial order to release the CCTV footage, the list of media personnel covering the hearing, or the personnel records of Ms. Venturillo. There was no subpoena. The Senate was under no legal compulsion to release the documents requested. The letters were but personal letters from Mr. Aguirre who is, for all intents and purposes pertinent to his request, merely a party-litigant to a case and not acting in his capacity as the Secretary of Justice. Samakatwid po, we have a party-litigant who happens to be the SOJ using his office - not just its might and weight, but also its resources - to support his personal agenda, and the Senate allowed it to happen. Sabagay, kung ordinaryong mamamayan ka, mahirap tanggihan pag letterhead ng Secretary of Justice ang gamit ng humihingi ng dokumento. But I thought - mistakenly - that the Senate could hold its own. I was disturbingly wrong. Secondly, Mr. President, I am concerned about the cavalier attitude of the Office of the Senate President towards the rights of Ms. Venturillo, employees of the Senate and members of the media. While I support the principles of Freedom of Information and these must be balanced with the privacy rights of individuals, particularly the privacy of ordinary Filipinos. Let me draw your attention to Section 7(b) of E.O. No. 2, Series of 2016, which states that, 'each government office must protect personal information in its custody or control by making reasonable security arrangements against leaks or premature disclosure of personal information which unduly exposes the individual whose personal information is requested, to vilification, harassment or any other wrongful acts.' FOI is for transparency and accountability. It is not a weapon to be used to bully ordinary citizens like Ms. Venturillo and expose their personal information to possible intimidation. The National Privacy Commission, on the specific question of whether or not personal data sheets of a government employee should be released, stated that, 'in all cases, the rights of the data subject should be respected, including the right to be informed and notified on the use of his personal data.' I am curious as to whether Ms. Venturillo was notified that there were enquiries being made about her, and that the Senate had supplied Mr. Aguirre with her information. If an individual employee or consultant of the Senate is slapped with a baseless criminal complaint, can the adverse party now go to the Senate, without even a subpoena, and quietly request for copies of Personal Data Sheets, personnel records, photos, and other information, with the expectation that such request will be granted and the other party not notified? We would have opened a Pandora's Box, Mr. President. What if I filed a case against the Senate President - I wonder if I could now just go to the Senate Sergeant at Arms and clandestinely ask for personnel records of the Office of the SP, without the SP being informed? Or do different rules apply when the requesting party is the Secretary of Justice and the data subject is a neophyte opposition senator? Nakakabahala ang pagsuko ng Senate President sa institutional integrity ng Senado. When I learned about it last Tuesday, I immediately wrote him and copy furnished other Senate officials. The Senate President has not responded in five days. I am therefore constrained, as a concerned member of this House, to follow it up on the floor now. The institutional integrity of this chamber is at stake. Does this not call for corrective action on behalf of the Senators, the Senate employees and the Senate itself as an institution? Mr. President, nasaan ang tapang at integridad na kailangan ng institusyong ito sa ilalalim ng kanyang pamunuan? Ganito na ba tayo sa Senado ngayon?Press Release

February 19, 2018 Sen. Lacson's opening statement at the hearing on the Navy's frigate acquisition program

Feb. 19, 2018 More details at: https://pinglacson.net/2018/02/19/at-the-hearing-on-alleged-irregularity-on-the-navys-frigate-deal-feb-19-2018/ Our career ends when we retire. Our character stays up to the day we die. My interest in this issue at hand lies on my being an author and principal sponsor of the revised AFP modernization law or RA 10349, sometime in 2012, in the 15th Congress. Also, I feel for those whose reputation may have been sullied after being accused based on some tenuous allegations in relation to the P18-billion fund allocation initially earmarked for the frigate acquisition project of the PN and the AFP to be sourced from P75-billion appropriations for the revised AFP modernization program. I myself have been vilified like nobody's business in the past so I can easily relate to them as a matter of experience. Upon the other hand, I join every taxpayer in this country in condemning those whose insatiable greed always gets the better of them and will do whatever it takes to pursue possible criminal charges against those to be found involved in this shenanigan, if any. I did my own investigation as I always do before attending a Senate inquiry like this one today. And it was easy to conclude that something went wrong with an otherwise noble endeavor to modernize our Navy fleet. To set the tone of this inquiry, let me ask Vice Admiral Mercado (former PN chief Vice Admiral Ronald Joseph Mercado). But before I shoot my first question, may I state for the record that I have glanced about you and your service record and reputation as it is my habit to do so before I confront the resource persons in our Senate investigations. You have pretty solid service reputation respected by peers, superiors and subordinates. Based on my initial findings, it is quite difficult for me to doubt your integrity. I hope I will not be proven wrong in the course of this hearing. Back to my question, during the entire process of the frigate acquisition project, did it ever occur to you that Sec Bong Go may have had any personal interest even in behalf of his principal the commander-in-chief and President of the Republic, Rodrigo Roa Duterte? Yes or no?Press Release

February 19, 2018 Senate Concurs in Ratification of Cybercrime Convention, Agreement Establishing AMRO, and Double Taxation Avoidance Treaties Senator Loren Legarda, Chair of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, today said that the Senate has unanimously concurred in the ratification of five (5) treaties covering the Philippines' Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements (DTAA) with Mexico, Thailand and Sri Lanka, the Cybercrime Convention, and the Agreement on the ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO). With 20 affirmative votes, zero negative vote and no abstention, the Senate on Monday (February 19, 2018) approved on third and final reading five resolutions seeking the Senate's concurrence in the ratification of the DTAA Between the Philippines and Mexico (Senate Resolution No. 613), Agreement Establishing the AMRO as an International Organization (SRN 614), DTAA Between the Philippines and Thailand (SRN 615), Budapest Convention on Cybercrime (SRN 616), and DTAA Between the Philippines and Sri Lanka (SRN 617). The Budapest Convention on Cybercrime aims to address the threats posed by cybercrime and facilitates multilateral cooperation and enhanced collective capability to suppress cybercrime. "The Internet improved many things and ushered in a more intertwined humanity. But it also gave rise to numerous unintended consequences, foremost of which is cybercrime. Since cybercrime, by its very nature, is borderless, simultaneous and persistent, cooperation, coordination, and collaboration with other countries is therefore vital," said Legarda. A major feature of the Convention is the track towards the harmonization of domestic legal procedures of state parties, with the intention of, among others, addressing the emergence of so-called 'safe havens'. These 'areas' are created when certain activities are not criminalized in a specific country. This results in individuals and/ or organized groups being able to act with impunity in committing offenses in these countries. "This treaty is very important to protect our people from cybercrime especially since the country is the number one haven for those committing child pornography," said Legarda. According to the UNICEF, the Philippines is the number one global source of child pornography and a hub for the live-stream sexual-abuse trade. Eight out of every 10 Filipino children are at risk of online sexual abuse or bullying. Meanwhile, the DTAAs generally provide for the elimination of double taxation between the Philippines and Thailand, Sri Lanka and Mexico. "These Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements are intended to promote international trade and investment in several ways, the most important of which is by allocating taxing jurisdiction between the Contracting States so as to eliminate or mitigate double taxation of income," Legarda explained. To promote cross-border trade and investment, these agreements seek to (1) allocate taxing jurisdiction so as to avoid double taxation; (2) reduce source-State taxation; (3) prohibit discrimination based on alienage, foreign organization, or foreign ownership; and (4) promote resolution of situations in which the income taxable by one Contracting State as opposed to the other Contracting State is in question. "With regard to better enforcing domestic tax laws, these treaties also provide that Contracting States exchange information under the Exchange of Information article. This is necessary since the tax systems of most countries rely, to a very large extent, on voluntary compliance, which leaves room for abuse. Thus, it is important that a Contracting State be able to obtain from its treaty partners information about persons and activities subject to taxation in that State," said Legarda. Finally, the Agreement Establishing the ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO) will constitute AMRO as an international organization with full legal personality. The AMRO, initially established as a company limited by guarantee in Singapore, aims to contribute to securing the economic and financial stability of the region through the conduct of regional economic surveillance and by supporting the implementation of the Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralisation (CMIM), a multilateral currency swap arrangement among ASEAN+3 members. This international orgaization status will provide the AMRO with a higher profile, at par with other premier international institutions such as the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. "The international organization status will afford the AMRO an intangible capital that can give it access to intelligence, research and other resources owned by other international organizations, and regional and global fora. This will provide greater macroeconomic surveillance capability for the institution, and consequently benefit the Philippines as one of its clients together with other ASEAN+3 Members," said Legarda.Press Release

February 19, 2018 Senate concurs in PHL's Double Taxation Avoidance Treaties with Mexico, Thailand, and Sri Lanka, Cybercrime Convention, and Agreement Establishing AMRO The Senate adopted today three resolutions expressing its concurrence to the ratification of an agreement for the avoidance of double taxation between the Philippines, the United Mexican States, the Kingdom of Thailand and the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. Sponsored by Senator Loren Legarda, chair of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, proposed Senate Resolution No. 613, concurring in the ratification of the agreement for the avoidance of double taxation between the Philippines and the Government of the United Mexican States, was signed in Manila by President Rodrigo Duterte on November 15, 2017. The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), Department of Justice (DOJ), the Department of Finance (DOF) and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) endorsed the same. The agreement with the Government of the Kingdom of Thailand (SRN 615) was signed on June 21, 2013, while the agreement with the Government of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka (SRN 617) was signed on December 11, 2000. The Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements (DTAAs) seek to deepen economic relations between Mexico, Thailand and Sri Lanka by enhancing their cooperation on tax matters. According to Legarda, DTAAs intends to promote international trade and investment "by allocating taxing jurisdiction between the Contracting States to eliminate or mitigate double taxation on income". "They are widely pursued by countries to avoid a situation of discouraging cross national economic activities," Legarda said. "The DTTAs also aim to create a competitive advantage for each country's residents by removing or reducing source taxation, encourage investors and promote the inbound transfer of technology and skills," Legarda added. The Senate also adopted SRN 614, concurring in the ratification of an Agreement establishing ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO), and SRN 616, concurring in the Convention on Cybercrime. Both resolutions were also sponsored by Legarda. SRN 614 constitutes AMRO as an international organization and grants legal personality, privileges and immunities to the AMRO's principal office, officials, staff and experts in the territory of each member state to enable AMRO to effectively fulfil its functions. AMRO is the regional macroeconomic surveillance unit of the Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralization (CMIM), a multilateral currency swap arrangement between ASEAN+3 members, established under the agreement signed by the ASEAN+3 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors that came into effect on March 24, 2010. It seeks to contribute to securing the economic and financial stability of the region through the conduct of regional economic surveillance and by supporting the implementation of the regional financial arrangement. Duterte signed the agreement on January 6, 2017. SRN 616, meanwhile, aims to address the threats posed by cybercrime and facilitates multilateral cooperation and enhanced collective capability to suppress cybercrime. According to the resolution, the Convention on Cybercrime, signed in Budapest, Hungary on November 23, 2001 and signed by Duterte on December 9, 2016, "remains the sole binding international legal mechanism adopted by countries to address the threats posed by cybercrime". "The Convention takes into account the existing conventions on cooperation in the penal field, as well as similar treaties which exist between member states," the resolution said. "The present Convention is intended to supplement those conventions in order to make criminal investigations and proceedings concerning criminal offenses related to computer systems and data more effective, as well as to enable the more efficient collection of evidence in electronic form of a criminal offense," the resolution added. According to Legarda, a major feature of the Convention is the track towards the harmonization of domestic legal procedures of state parties, with the intention of, among others, addressing the emergence of so-called "safe havens". These "areas", she said, are created when certain activities are not criminalized in a specific country. This results in individuals and/or organized groups being able to act with impunity in committing offenses in these countries. "This treaty is very important to protect our people from cybercrime especially since the country is the number one haven for those committing child pornography," Legarda stressed. (AYA)Press Release

February 19, 2018 Villanueva lauds Senate approval of safer workplace bill on third reading Senator Joel Villanueva on Monday welcomed the Senate's approval on third and final reading of Senate Bill No. 1317 or "An Act Strengthening Compliance with Occupational Safety and Health Standards", authored and sponsored by Villanueva, chair of the Senate committee on labor, employment, and human resources development. Voting 20-0, the senators approved the bill requiring compliance by employers to the Occupational Safety and Health Standards (OSHS), to better promote the right of Filipino workers to healthy and safe workplaces. "This is great news for our workers who have been subjected to unsafe workplace. The passage of this bill is proof that the Senate is concerned on the well-being of every Filipino worker," Villanueva said. "It is high time that we put high premium on compliance with OSH standards. Losing so many precious lives as proven by the recent fire tragedy in Davao is unacceptable. One of those who died was Maryjoy Hope Daluro, our youth church leader in Jesus Is Lord Church. The pain and suffering caused by this tragedy is tormenting and should never happen again," the senator stressed. According to Villanueva, the bill would amend the 41-year-old Labor Code to impose higher administrative penalties to employers who will not comply with requirements set under the OSHS. Under the proposed measure, any erring employer would be served a fine of up to P100,000 as an administrative penalty for every day of non-correction of violation. The bill also guaranteed the payment of workers' wages and income during work stoppage or suspension of operation due to imminent danger as a result of the employer's violation or fault. A survey conducted by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) in October 2015, results showed that occupational diseases in establishments employing 20 or more workers doubled from 85,583 in 2011 to 171, 787 in 2013. The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) also reported 199 fatal workplace accidents and 232 non-fatal accidents from January 2014 to October 2016. "We sincerely thank our colleagues for supporting this personal crusade which we have been strongly pushing to give due justice to our workers and to assure a level playing field to establishments who comply to the OSH standards," Villanueva said. "After four Congresses, this bill is now closer to becoming a law. We are hoping that the bicameral version of this important legislation will be ironed out and ready for the President's signature before the last session day of Congress on March 21," Villanueva concluded.Egyptian technology company SICO officially launched the first locally-manufactured Egyptian smartphone with EGP 400 million investments nationwide on Sunday, state-run news agency MENA reported.

Locally-produced components in the mobile phone stand at 45 percent, Egyptian Silicons Industries Company (SICO) chairman Mohamed Salem said.

The smartphone is manufactured at the company's plant in New Assiut Park, a special economic zone for telecommunications and IT, Salem added.

The phone will be sold in African and Middle Eastern markets, as the company has offices in Kenya and the UAE.

The company said in January that locally-manufactured smartphone "Nile X" would be sold at EGP 4,200 retail.

SICO announced the launch of the Nile X at the 2017 Cairo Information and Communications Technology conference in December.

SICO and US-based Qualcomm signed an agreement in December 2017 to transfer communications technology to the Egyptian company's electronic devices manufacturing plant.

SICO Technology is the owner of the Egyptian Company for Silicon Products and was established in 2003 as a member of the El-Sayed Salem Group.

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New Zealand farmers aren't seeing the full benefit of rising beef prices in the US, their largest market for the meat, because the stronger kiwi dollar is crimping returns, according to AgriHQ.

The price for 95CL imported bull beef was recently at US$2.25 a pound, up from US$2.14/pound last month, US$2.23/pound a year ago and ahead of the US$2.20/pound five-year average, according to AgriHQ data. The price for imported 90CL cow meat was recently at US$2.13/pound, from US$1.98/pound last month, US$2.05/pound last year, and the US$2.06 five-year average.

"US imported beef prices are lifting in response to the lack of beef coming out of NZ and Australia," AgriHQ analyst Reece Brick said in his monthly Sheep & Beef report for February. Still, he said the surging value of the kiwi dollar against its US counterpart had gnawed into margins.

"From a NZ exporter's perspective the NZD:USD is still a nuisance which is chewing into their export returns, having now hung in the US$0.72-0.74 range for more than a month."

Brick noted that imported 95CL was making NZ$6.78/kg last week, but if the NZD:USD had stayed flat from late-November/early-December it would be at NZ$7.21/kg.

The kiwi dollar has strengthened through December and January almost entirely due to US dollar weakness. The greenback is trading around its lowest levels in more than three years against a basket of currencies amid speculation the protectionist Trump administration could pursue a weaker currency to help bolster US exports and its 'Made in America' agenda. Demand for the greenback is also waning as investors see central banks in other parts of the world raising interests rates, taking the shine off yields in the US.

The US is New Zealand's largest market for beef, taking 191,075 tonnes, or 47 percent of New Zealand beef exports, in the 2017 calendar year, worth $1.25 billion, according to figures compiled by the Meat Industry Association of New Zealand.

AgriHQ's Brick said US buyers were initially slow to react to news that the New Zealand cattle slaughter had begun to stall as improved feed conditions prompted farmers to hold onto their stock, but successive weeks of low offerings on the spot market changed the tone, and prices had risen for five weeks in a row.

Also helping bolster the price for imported beef in the US was weaker supply from Australia as farmers held onto stock following rain, and as Chinese and Canadian traders sought increased volumes of lean grinding beef from New Zealand, pulling beef away from the US, Brick said.

Consumer demand in the US remained positive on the back of a strong economy, which is expected to stoke demand for beef and other proteins over the next 12 months, he said.

"Market participants are anticipating imported beef prices to hold strong through until at least March, mainly based off the fact few of the factors driving the market are likely to change," Brick said.

(BusinessDesk)

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Egyptian private company Dolphinus is set to import gas from Israel worth $15 billion, pending regulatory approval from both countries, Israel's Delek Drilling company announced on Monday.

The partners in Israels Tamar and Leviathan natural gas fields, led by Israeli firm Delek and Texas-based company Noble, signed two deals to sell gas to Egyptian gas trading company Dolphinus over a ten-year period.

Total revenues from the Tamar and Leviathan projects are estimated to be $7.5 billion each.

The total quantity of gas contracted in the Leviathan and Tamar agreements is approximately 32 billion cubic meters (bcm) for each agreement, which corresponds to up to 3.5 bcm per year.

I welcome the historic agreement that was announced on the export of Israeli gas to Egypt. This will put billions into the state treasury to benefit the education, health and social welfare of Israel's citizens, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Twitter.

The Natural Gas Regulatory Authority is not aware of the signing of such agreements, Authority chairman Karem Mahmoud told Ahrams Arabic news website.

Mahmoud added that companies have the right to sign agreements to import or export gas, but such agreements must be presented to the authority for approval (or rejection).

Indeed, the export agreements are pending a number of conditions, including regulatory approvals from Israel and Egypt, such as import and export permits.

It is clarified that there is no certainty that the sale of the gas to the Buyer according to the Export Agreements will occur, and this due to the non-fulfilment of the conditions precedent to the Export Agreements, all or any part thereof, according to the statement.

Egypt passed a New Natural Gas Law last year that allows for competition in the market by granting licenses to import gas for private companies.

The law also creates an independent body to regulate the market.

The price for the natural gas to be imported from Israel under the two agreements will be determined by a price formula linked to the price of Brent oil barrel, the statement read.

As for transporting the gas, The Sellers and the Buyer are evaluating various potential options for transporting the gas to Egypt including using the Pan Arabian pipeline via Jordan and/or entering of the Sellers into negotiations with EMG and all or part of its shareholders for the transportation of gas via the existing EMG pipeline to Egypt, the statement read.

Furthermore, the Sellers are also evaluating the option for an additional on-shore pipeline connecting the Israeli gas grid and Egypt, the statement added.

Gas supply under the Tamar agreement should begin once the transportation infrastructure for gas to Egypt is in operation.

Supply under the Leviathan agreement is expected to begin when production starts from Leviathan reservoir.

Supply is expected to continue until the whole contracted quantity of gas is supplied, or in December 2030, whichever comes earlier.

Delek Drilling  Limited Partnership owns 45.34 percent of the Leviathan Project and 22 percent of the Tamar project.

Petroleum Minister Tarek El Molla said in December that Egypt will achieve self-sufficiency in natural gas before the end of 2018.

Zohr, North Alexandria, and Nooros gas fields are expected to increase Egypt's natural gas output by 50 percent in 2018 and 100 percent in 2020, the Ministry of Petroleum said in October.

The government is aiming to turn Egypt into a regional energy trading hub.

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Freightways' new chief executive Mark Troughear says the medical waste business acquired in the first half is on budget and has demonstrated the synergies expected with the existing document destruction unit.

Information management (IM), the Freightways division that expanded into medical waste in the first half, recorded stronger earnings growth than the larger express package & business mail (EP&BM) division. Earnings before interest and amortisation (ebita) at IM rose 9.2 percent to $14.6 million compared to the courier delivery division's 4.6 percent gain to $36.4 million. At the same time, the ebita margin at IM grew 30 basis points to 19.1 percent while EP&BM's shrank to 16.8 percent from 17.2 percent.

The company's Med-X unit was established with the acquisition of Australian State Waste Services for A$6 million upfront, or a total up to A$10 million including maximum earnout as at June 30, 2021. It is part of a group that provides medical waste services in Sydney and surrounding regional areas. It generated "just over $1 million" in revenue in the four months of ownership and "has tracked expectations," Troughear said.

"There's really good synergy between what we do in document destruction (Shred-X) and medical waste," he told BusinessDesk. "Everything we thought prior to buying it has played out." As a result, he said, "we will carry on looking for opportunities, particularly in Australia. The Australian market is fairly fragmented - processors and collectors."

Added to that, says Troughear who replaced the long-serving Dean Bracewell on Jan. 1, obtaining consents to establish a medical waste facility in Australia was onerous and bureaucratic, meaning there was also value in existing consents.

EP&BM makes up 74 percent of Freightways by sales but only 71 percent by ebita contribution. Troughear said the division incurred "a number of step-ups" during the half, including the increased Christchurch rent from relocating to a bigger facility and depreciation of the $10 million sorting machine at the new site.

There was a similar impact in Auckland, where the company moved into new facilities in Auckland's North Harbour and costs to carry extra airfreight capacity, a fourth Boeing 737, chartered for the month of December.

"We certainly used it but not at capacity," he said. For December 2018 one option was to lease a fourth 737, replacing extra capacity it has previously covered by chartering a Convair aircraft.

Troughear said although Freightways is upbeat it won't provide specific guidance now. He is "keeping a careful eye on Labour and its labour market reforms." While there is nothing currently of concern, "you worry what might be around the corner," he said.

Freightways typically employs drivers as contractors, so its own workforce is in sorting, sales and administration.

Profit fell to $31.4 million in the six months ended Dec. 31 from $34 million a year earlier when Freightways recognised a $4.5 million one-time gain, the Auckland-based company said today. Sales rose 7.1 percent to $292 million.

Freightways has steadily increased sales and earnings in each of the past seven years and the company said today the markets it operates in "remain positive", supporting year-on-year earnings growth for 2018.

The company didn't give a breakdown of the medical waste business contribution although it was expected to immediately boost earnings. Total assets rose by $28 million in the first half, including $9 million of intangible assets from the waste business. Its gearing ratio was little changed at about 40 percent.

It will pay a first-half dividend of 14.5 cents a share on April 3, with a record date of March 16, up from 13 cents a year earlier. The payment is tax-paid.

Freightways shares fell 0.7 percent to $7.48 and have dropped 8.4 percent in the past 12 months while the S&P/NZX 50 Index rose 14 percent.

(BusinessDesk)

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Over 50 young and talented musicians, aged from five to sixteen, shone on the stage of Bibliotheca Alexandrina on Saturday 17 February as they performed Arabic oriental tunes along with some western classics.

The Tchaikovsky Winter Concert was one of seven concerts organized and moderated by a private musical school in Alexandria, the Tchaikovsky School of Performing Arts.

Though the school is the first of its kind on the coastal city's cultural scene, it has quickly become a hub for many young musicians.

Launched in 2015 with just two students, it now has more than a hundred with a passion for learning music and playing on a variety of instruments.

According to the school's description on social media, the Tchaikovsky School of Performing Arts (TSPA) "comprises a board of directors composed of the most talented and experienced musicians and music instructors in Alexandria engaged in providing a high quality of music and performance arts education."

The main objective stated by the TSPA is "the advancement of a fine music and performance arts culture in the Egyptian society."

The TSPA is accredited by the International Music Examinations Board (formerly known as Australian International Conservatorium of Music), a fully government registered degree-granting institution.

"At the end of each semester, we organize a concert to showcase our young musicians and their talents," said Adham Molokhia, the school's founder and manager.

In his late twenties, Molokhia is a full-time lawyer with a passion for music stretching back to the age of five, and a man who understands the importance of music in our lives. He holds on to the belief that music not only shapes the identity, but also helps in developing any personality.

Driven by love of both Arabic musical heritage and western classics, Molokhia had a dream of fusing those two genres. This prompted him to establish the Tchaikovsky School, where he tries to help young musicians adhere to their identities and to preserve the Arabic musical heritage.

"My main aim is to help young generations to get connected with their musical heritage and to create a new and fresh cultural scene in Alexandria, the birthplace of Sayed Darwish and many influential musicians, all of whom were young musicians who rose up and became highly professional," Molokhia told Ahram Online.

Ziad Amin, 7, was one of the youngest musicians on stage. For his third on-stage appearance, he performed Make a Way For the King on the piano.

"I play both the violin and the piano, but I love the piano the most," Amin told Ahram Online.

"Amin developed very fast since his first concert. Piano helped him greatly, even in his studies. He has become better in maths, as he has improved a lot in numbers and in counting," Ziads mother Raghda Sheshaa said.

Private or independent music schools are rare in Egypt and those few are mainly based in Cairo.

"Egypt has many independent bands and there is no reason whatsoever why there should not be more independent music schools in each governorate in Egypt," Molokhia added.

Rasha Meseilhy, a mother of the young musician Rahma, said, "I had no problem in putting Rahma into a private music school once it was established. We live next door, so I find this is a great advantage for both of us."

"Rahma feels she has her own activity and her own special thing, which is music. This gives her much confidence and much joy," Meseilhy continued.

Teenage siblings, Mai and Mariam Hamdy, who completed their first year at the Tchaikovsky school, play the piano and violin.

"As teens, we always try to figure out the notes of the songs we love to listen to. Actually, what we like about the school is that we feel we are one family. The communication between the students and the teachers is great. We can reach out to them whenever we want and they help us in every possible way, helping us love the music and the instrument more and more," Mariam Hamdy said.

Marwan Amr only enrolled at the school in September. He practices violin daily and is now capable of showcasing his achievements on the stage.

"Marwan takes it so seriously and he has made all the family very proud of him," his mother Rasha Magdy explains.

"Marwan is the one who chose violin. I think he was inspired by other musicians. We used to take our children to concerts since they were very young and I think this is why they are attached to music and want to learn it. Once your elder kid plays, your younger gets inspired to join in. My younger son Ahmed is only five years old and he chose to play piano.

Magdy also points to the fact that, apart from the Tchaikovsky School of Performing Arts, there is only one such institution certified in Alexandria that she is aware of.



"Unlike other places, Tchaikovsky School has flexible hours, which is compatible with my son's studies. Moreover, they allowed my son to perform in a concert at such an early stage. Kids at this age need some recognition and need to play in front of an audience so that they can be more encouraged and their confidence is boosted," she said.

"Now it's time to create a musical ensemble at home," she chuckled.

Apart of the obvious benefits for the young students, the inclusion of private schools in the cultural scene is helpful to some older musicians as well. Among them is Mohsen Abou El-Ala, an Egyptian violinist with over 40 years of performing in Egypt and internationally.

"Once musicians retire, they cannot play anymore in concerts and their lives become empty after all the years of relentless work, trainings and concerts," said Aboul El-Ala. "Most of us are keen to pass on the knowledge and the experience we have to younger generations. This is what I enjoy at Tchaikovsky School."

"We were really amazed by those Alexandrian families who never doubted our curriculum and entrusted their kids to us," Abou El-Ala added.

Tamer Abdel Fattah, an experienced music teacher is overjoyed to see his own children play Arabic music.



"I am over the moon. In the school, I teach them songs of Oum Kalthoum, Abdel Wahab, Mohamed Fawzy, Sayed Makawy, Fairouz, and they see how sophisticated and how different they were from the western. Yet, each has its own beauty and its own impressive beats," he said.

The big seasonal concerts that the school organizes can be both a financial and an administrative burden to any manager. However, Molokhia, his brother Marwan, and all the teachers, are encouraged by music and the effort that the young musicians exert.

A young student named Hadil stresses the loving environment that dominates the school, encouraging the pupils to explore music and learn instruments.

"What makes a child choose to learn notes, memorize theories, and eager to learn an instrument depends solely on the teacher, who can either make him/her hate or love music," Hadils mother said.

Teaching music is one of the core missions of the school. However, as Molokhia underlines, it is through playing that the music heritage can be passed on to future generations.

"Private music schools can help in enhancing the cultural scene in Egypt. We need more of them across all governorates, as they would certainly pave the way for a new generation to bring their own voice to the existing musical wealth," he concludes.

For more arts and culture news and updates, follow Ahram Online Arts and Culture on Twitter at @AhramOnlineArts and on Facebook at Ahram Online: Arts & Culture

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Indian-American Ravinder Bhalla, who became the first Sikh mayor of New Jersey's Hoboken city, has publicly acknowledged that death threats were made against him and his family recently.

: The first Sikh mayor of New Jersey's Hoboken city in the US is receiving death threats.

In a statement issued Friday afternoon following a security breach at City Hall, Bhalla said the city is working with the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force to improve security at City Hall.

"This incident, along with death threats to me and my family, is an unfortunate reminder that we need to take security seriously," Bhalla said, without elaborating on the threats.

The Joint Terrorism Task Force has evaluated City Hall, and we have been working to implement their recommendations for physical and procedural changes to improve security for all employees in the building, he said.

According to city spokesman Juan Melli, a man entered City Hall and told security he needed to use the restroom after going through the metal detectors. While Bhalla was not in his office at the time, his deputy chief of staff, Jason Freeman, observed the man throw a bag with an object in it towards the administrative assistants desk before running out of the office, Melli said in a statement.

Hoboken Police Chief Kenneth Ferrante added that the department takes these matters very seriously. We take incidents like these incredibly seriously and will continue working to ensure the security of the mayor and everyone who visits City Hall, he said.

Bhalla became the first ever Sikh to hold office in New Jersey after a stiff competition that turned ugly when he was labelled a terrorist in slanderous flyers.: Monday is the birth anniversary of the greatest Maratha ruler ever-known  Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. Shivaji established a royal name for himself in history with his administrative skills by upholding the Swarajya values and the Maratha heritage. He was known for his bravery and tactics with which he won numerous wars against the Mughals.

Remembering the greatest Maratha ruler on his birthday, .

As the nation celebrates Shivaji Jayanti and remembers the key figures of Indian history, here are some interesting facts about the Chhatrapati:

Shivaji was born in 1627 AD at Shivneri fort in Pune. Shivajis name is not derived from Lord Shiva. He, in fact, gets his name from a regional deity called Shivai. He was given god-like stature for his deeds.

Shivaji was a very liberal king. At a time when kingdoms were extremely possessive and obsessive about their religious beliefs, Shivaji was very accommodating of all religions. However, he never compromised on his own religious roots. He also took efforts and spent time in reviving all the positive aspects of Hinduism.

Though Shivaji fought several Muslim rulers, for his it was the people he fought and not religion. For him, they were the rulers who threatened his people and kingdom. His was never a religious struggle against the Muslims. In fact, Shivaji had several Muslims in his army and his administrative staff.

Shivaji was known for his military and civil administration and was instrumental in uniting the Maratha chiefs of Mayal, Konkan, and Desh regions.

In fact, during the initial days of his reign he even offered his assistance to Aurangzeb in conquering Bijapur. He maintained peaceful relations with the Mughals. But things turned sour between them when his officers raided the Mughal territory near Ahmednagar. In retaliation, they raided Shivajis territory.

"Torna" (Tornagad) or "Prachandgad" was the first fort captured by the 16-year-old Shivaji Maharaj. This was the first move towards his journey to build the Maratha empire.

Shivaji Maharaj was a very strategic military commander. He also established a navy to protect the coastline.

. Unlike many other rulers, Shivaji Maharaj ensured that women of captured territories were left unharmed. In his kingdom, there were strict punishment for crimes against women

Shivaji was a devout Hindu and had great respect for saints. He was a huge admirer of Samarath Ramadas and even gave him the Parali fort. It was renamed as Sajjangad later. The saint also wrote the famous poem Shivastuti (Praise of King Shivaji)

Shivaji was imprisoned by Mughal king Aurangzeb and lost many of his forts to him in the treaty of Purander. But he escaped from the prison and fought back to recover most of them.For one, PM Narendra Modi did not go to the airport to receive the Canadian head of state. The media couldn't help but point out the stark contrast between how other heads of state have been received in India versus how Trudeau has not.

: Canadian PM Justin Trudeau is on a state visit to India, but the event has barely created a ripple, and many Canadians think that's because New Delhi is very openly snubbing him over his perceived support for Sikh separatists in his country.

However, Modi was markedly absent from receiving his Canadian counterpart unlike the visits of other world leaders like Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2014, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2017 and Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in January, 2018. Modi also held a grand roadshow in Gujarat, welcoming the leaders and accompanying them during their stay in his home state.

But the irony of his visit to the Golden Temple will hardly be lost on anyone, least of all on the Indian government and consular officials accompanying Trudeau, considering that last month they were banned from entering gurudwaras in Canada. Some local gurudwara committees decided they needed to protect their followers from the interference of Indian government officials.

The ban was infectious. A fortnight later, a host of gurudwara bodies echoed the ban in the US, and now the Sikh Federation UK (SFUK) is trying its best to invoke a similar embargo in Britain and Europe.

On 16 February, a gurdwara reportedly dedicated to the martyrdom of Sikh militant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale was opened to the public at his ancestral village in Moga district.

On official state visits to India, PM Modi personally greets and welcomes the Israeli PM, UAE Crown Prince and US President. For PM Trudeau, he sends a low-ranking official. Canada is back pic.twitter.com/ezsMtFTPzr  Candice Malcolm (@CandiceMalcolm) February 17, 2018

I visited #India ten years ago for a grad school seminar. I learned so much about your great country & had an incredible experience.



Most Canadians oppose terrorism & extremism. We support a united India, despite our PMs diplomatic missteps #IncredibleIndiapic.twitter.com/OBz83sJZFw  Candice Malcolm (@CandiceMalcolm) February 19, 2018

The message is clear at the airport : India sent minister of state for agriculture to invite Trudeau . Thats like a parl sec in Canada ! Dont think anyone so junior ever been sent to ANY foreign leader ! Wow. Thats how bad Canada -India relations are now . pic.twitter.com/kIOQILcRNk February 17, 2018

Canadian Sikhs wield great political heft, evident from the 17 Sikh members of the Canadian Parliament and the four Sikhs in Trudeau's Cabinet  more than Modi has in his, Trudeau once joked.

When he unveiled his multi-cultural cabinet in 2015, the initial euphoria about the four Indian faces in the group soon gave way to the realisation that they were all Sikhs, some with alleged ties to Khalistan supporters.

Trudeaus Sikh minister Amarjeet Sohi was arrested in 1988 under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (known as TADA) and remained in jail for over 21 months in India before being released for lack of evidence.

Canadian defence minister Harjit Sajjans parents are believed to be closely associated with the World Sikh Organisation, a Sikh advocacy group which supports the Khalistani movement.

In a statement issued later, both ministers denied that they neither sympathise with nor espouse the Sikh nationalist movement, which is bent on creating a separate country called Khalistan in Indias Punjab region.

Last year, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh refused to meet Sajjan when he visited Punjab in April, and has been exhorting the Canadian government to come clean on the issue of supporting Khalistanis.

Captain Amarinder has sought a one-to-one meeting with Trudeau during his visit to Punjab to underline his concerns, said Raveen Thukral, the CMs media adviser.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi too is said to have taken up the matter of Khalistani movements playing out on Canadian soil with Trudeau, on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum meet in Davos last month.

The issue has been on a slow simmer. Controversy was fanned most recently by a piece in Outlook titled 'Khalistan II  Made in Canada', which comes after an April 2017 motion in the Ontario Assembly in Canada to label the 1984 anti-Sikh riots "genocide"  a motion that Trudeau's main liberal rival, Jagmeet Singh, had unsuccessfully tried to pass in June 2016. When Sajjan visited India early in 2017, Amarinder Singh and his ministers refused to meet him, saying he would not entertain Khalistan sympathisers. The next month, it was reported that Trudeau attended a 'Khalsa Day' event, at which Sikh militants killed in Operation Bluestar were glorified, posters of Bhindranwale were put up, and Khalistani flags were raised  causing India a degree of heartburn.

The Indian government raised the issue, but did not seem to expect any action from the Canadians. Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Gopal Baglay said, as reported by The Hindu:

"We have taken up such issues in the past with the government of Canada, and in this particular instance, without getting into details, I can tell you the practice has not been discontinued."

Also last year, Canada's High Commissioner to India had to issue an apology after the Indian government reacted sharply when a former CRPF officer was initially denied entry at Vancouver airport on the grounds that he had served a government that engaged in "terrorism, systematic or gross human rights violations, or genocide".STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Project Brunch's owners nailed down the opening date for the new venue on the North Shore: After a few months of delays, the breakfast-on-lunch-on-brunch restaurant brings its wildly popular riff on food and drink to 616 Forest Ave. at 7 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 20.

Daily food service, at the moment, will run until 4 p.m. -- and, eventually, Project Brunch will present dinner.

Jodi Guagliardo and Nick Granata, both of Project Brunch in Charleston, joined with seasoned restaurateur Paul Montella to partner in this operation.

Nick says its pragmatic design addresses shortfalls in functionality with the first place which was met with thunderous success, and from the get-go subsequent volume on food and crowds.

"We sat down and captured our flaws on Arthur Kill [Road]," he says. On Forest Avenue, the former Nucci's North was gutted. Now there are two full kitchens -- one services the dining room proper and bar area while the adjoining kitchen dedicates production to take-out and delivery.

There is a separate entrance for staff and deliveries. A spacious waiting area features an L-shaped booth by the entrance.

And now there is a bar.

"We'll have sangria by the glass and pitcher, mimosas...all our drinks that put us on the map -- our Reese's, our S'Mores, are going to be with alcohol," says Nick.

Ntiro Coffee beer (one of six styles on tap) and tricked out Bloody Marys served in logo-stamped mason jars are in the booze offerings along with an adult CapriSun (Jodi's brainchild) in flavors like "Knock-Out Punch," "Staten Island Iced Tea," "Juicy Screw" and a concoction that's still in the works involving Fireball Cinnamon Whiskey and fresh-pressed lemonade.

Jodi and Nick know from the flagship endeavor to start with baby steps -- hours will run from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily. They'll grow into dinners and delivery. And the menu will be flexible for the patron.

"We have a 'Turn It Up' section where you can 'Project Brunch-ify' your items -- Irish Coffees, Hot Toddies, Salted Caramel Nitro and 'Not Your Father's Root Beer Float,'" Jodi calls out from the menu.

A "PB Ombre" will be delivered to the customer as frozen layers of blackberry liquor, vodka, Orange-cello, Limoncello and freshly muddled blackberries. And there's the "Kiwi Envy" to talk about with its Elderflower liquor, secret ingredients plus hefty hand of fresh kiwi mashed into the mix.

Among decadent cocktails, Project Brunch features egg dishes, pancakes and three-dimensional caricatures of classic breakfast and lunch items. A more salubrious set of selections are created from fresh vegetables, fruits and Ezekiel Bread.

Paul and the Montella family with the Jodi-Nick team have 10 restaurants between them. Paul's pedigree includes four Campania restaurants, Sonic and Nucci's South, both Richmond Valley and the former Nucci's North. Jodi owned DoSI, once in Stapleton, which she left to focus on family. Jodi with Nick established Project Brunch in Richmond Valley -- 4553 Arthur Kill Rd., Charleston; 718-605-9866, ProjectBrunchSI.com -- with a take-out section added just five months into its lifespan.

It took eight weeks to open the Project Brunch on the South Shore and about seven months to open the North Shore spot.

"The most challenging part -- a lot of unforeseen implications putting in two kitchens," says Jodi.

The new Project Brunch is located at 616 Forest Ave., West Brighton; 718-720-1870. Reservations are not accepted at either location. Check out SILive's video visit to the original 4553 Arthur Kill Road location:STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A Deputy U.S. Marshal involved in a 2015 Mariners Harbor standoff will be awarded one of the nation's highest honors for bravery exhibited by law enforcement.

Deputy U.S. Marshal Trevor McPolin will be awarded the Law Enforcement Congressional Badge of Bravery (CBOB) on Tuesday in Brooklyn for his role in the 2015 incident, which saw a reputed leader of the Bloods street gang gunned down after he twice shot an FDNY lieutenant.

Authorities went to the Destiny Court home of Garland Tyree the morning of Aug. 14, 2015 to execute an arrest warrant after Tyree violated his supervised release, according to a media release from the Federal Court of the Eastern District of New York.

When authorities arrived, they established a perimeter around the home, and knocked on the basement door where Tyree lived. He refused to let them into the home, and the apartment's landlord was contacted.

He provided authorities with keys, and when they entered the apartment discovered smoke. They backed out and called the Fire Department.

Lt. Jim Hayes -- one of the FDNY respondents -- established contact with Tyree, but when he entered the apartment was shot once in the buttocks and once in the calf with a submachine gun.

Hayes retreated from the apartment as Tyree continued firing his gun.

Marshal McPolin returned fire, and he, fellow Marshal Johnny O'Brien, and a member of the New York/New Jersey Regional Fugitive Task Force grabbed the lieutenant, and pulled him to safety.

Hayes was transported to Richmond University Medical Center in West Brighton, where he made a full recovery.

Ultimately, Tyree was killed in an exchange of gunfire with the NYPD's Emergency Response Team, according to the release. Police said in 2015 that Tyree had 18 prior arrests and was last released on probation in July 2014.

Rep. Dan Donovan will award the CBOB to Marshal McPolin at the Theodore Roosevelt United States District Court at 11 a.m. Tuesday.

The award has been given annually since 2008 to local and federal officers who display exceptional bravery.

Past recipients of the award include an Indiana police officer, who rescued two women who were being raped in 2014, and a Baltimore officer, who was shot in the leg after he exchanged gunfire with a suspect in 2015.STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- In response to the mass shooting at a Florida school, more than 100 Staten Islanders -- including current and retired educators -- called on Rep. Daniel Donovan to take action on gun control.

Held outside of his office in New Dorp on Monday. the protest came less than a week after 17 students and teachers were gunned down by suspect Nikolas Cruz. Cruz used an AR-15 style rifle to carry out the attack, renewing calls for gun control from activists and Democrats.

Lori Honor, co-founder of Staten Island Women Who March, organized the protest to put pressure on Donovan to take action on gun control.

"The NRA doesn't get tell America who to vote for anymore, the party of Dan Donovan has sat back and taken away gun control, because of their inability, corruptness, and their greed," said Honor.

Current and former educators read out details of mass shootings in the United States dating back to the 1960s.

Attendees also chanted "We call B.S.!" after Honor read out statements from Donovan and Republican leaders offering their prayers to the families of the victims.

Attendees said that the February 14 shooting disturbed them and made them think of the children and teenagers in their lives.

Balanche Ricci, a Graniteville resident, was with a friend who lived near Parkland, Fla., during the shooting. Ricci, a retired public school teacher, said that her friend's grandson attended Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where the shooting took place.

"I always hear about how shootings are horrible, but this was a personal connection. Until they heard their grandson was OK, it was tough," said Ricci. "It's always horrible, but being a former teacher, I always knew how unsafe we were in school."

Protestors held signs that read slogans such as "Keep my kids safe," "NRA: America's #1 terrorist," and "I want to keep every school safe." One child held a sign that read "Congress please do something! I don't want my twin sister to get shot."

Scott Feldman, a Manor Heights resdident who attended the rally with his 8-year-old daughter, said he attended because "he just can't keep quiet anymore."

His daughter, a student at P.S. 29, held a sign that read "I want to feel safe."

"I had fire drills growing up, she has lockdown drills," said Feldman. "That's a reality I didn't have growing up so I want to make sure my daughter is safe."

A spokesperson for Donovan didn't immediately respond to phone calls and an email seeking comment, but his official website outlines his position on gun control and second amendment rights.

It reads, in part: "We can strike a balance in protecting the Second Amendment while keeping weapons away from those who wish to harm us.



"A constant thread in tragic mass murders is the mental instability of the shooter. While we have an important debate over the effectiveness of existing regulations in preventing these unspeakable crimes, we need to also focus on mental health strategies that might help prevent the tragedies from happening in the first place," the website states.

Democratic congressional hopefuls Mike DeCillis, Mike Devito Jr., Zach Emig, Radhakrishna Mohan, and Max Rose were in attendance and all said they were in support of some form of gun control.STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Sunrise was given the seal of approval Tuesday morning by one of our local visiting seals off the coast of Prince's Bay in Wolfe's Pond Park beach.

He (or she?) was seen frolicking in the water as the waves bounced over his head.



Harbor seals were commonly seen in waters around New York City -- until they were virtually wiped out in the 20th century. However, in the last decade, more seals have been spotted and reported from November through April.



Today, the chances of seeing a seal along our shores are better than ever.



Watch the video above to see a harbor seal in action just off the Staten Island shoreline.

Sunrise gets the seal of approval in Prince's Bay 9 Gallery: Sunrise gets the seal of approval in Prince's Bay

Harbor seals like to avoid sea ice, so in the winter they must move south along the coastline to live in bays and offshore islands that do not freeze over.Page Content

The Collective Prevention Services (CPS) department within the Ministry of Public Health, Social Development and Labor, is calling on the community to take preventive measures to prevent contracting gastroenteritis.

CPS in observing a spike in its accumulated syndromic data under its surveillance responsibility, calls on all to prevent and mitigate the spread of gastroenteritis which source can be improper food and drink handling and preparation.

Gastroenteritis is the inflammation of the stomach and intestine a.k.a. stomach flu, which is usually due to acute infection by viruses or bacteria resulting in vomiting and diarrhea.

With gastroenteritis, the main symptoms are watery diarrhea and vomiting. You might also have stomach pain, cramping, fever, nausea, and a headache.

The most common symptoms are vomiting and repeated episodes of diarrhea (three or more episodes within 24 hours).

Frequent diarrhea and vomiting can result in one becoming dehydrated. Watch for signs of dehydration, such as dry skin and a dry mouth, feeling lightheaded, and being really thirsty. Call your doctor if you experience any of these symptoms.

Children can get dehydrated quickly, so if your child has the stomach flu, it's important that you be on alert and monitor your child for signs that he is very thirsty or has dry skin or a dry mouth. If you have a baby, look for fever, drier diapers, and if you observe any of the above, do not delay, consult your physician. Gastroenteritis is typically spread (transmitted) from person to person, and common sources of infection are contaminated food and drinking water.

Keep children with gastroenteritis out of day care or school until all symptoms are gone. Check with your doctor before giving your child any medications. Drugs used to control diarrhea and vomiting aren't usually given to children younger than five.

There are many ways gastroenteritis can be spread: Contact with someone who has the virus; contaminated food or water; unwashed hands after going to the bathroom; caring for the sick or the elderly and/or changing diapers.

The most common cause of gastroenteritis is a virus, but also other contributing factors are bacteria, unhygienic food and drink preparation or handling, and not proper or continuous hand hygiene.

Gastroenteritis or stomach flu can be caused by many different kinds of viruses, the main types are rotavirus and norovirus.

Rotavirus is the world's most common cause of diarrhea in infants and young children. Norovirus is the most common cause of serious gastroenteritis and also foodborne disease outbreaks.

Although not as common, bacteria such as E. coli, Shiella, Salmonella and Campylobacter bacteria, can also trigger the stomach flu. Salmonella and campylobacter bacteria are the most common bacterial causes of gastroenteritis which are spread by undercooked poultry, eggs, or poultry juices. Shigella bacteria, is often transmitted in daycare centers.

Bacteria can be transferred through poor hygiene. It is spread through contamination of hands, objects or food infected with the aforementioned. The virus enters your body via your mouth, this type of transmission is fecal-oral. Viral gastroenteritis may also be spread through coughing and sneezing.

To prevent the spread of the infection, wash your hands thoroughly after going to the toilet and before eating or preparing food; clean the toilet, including the seat and handle, with disinfectant after each bout of vomiting or diarrhea; dont share towels, cutlery and utensils with other household members; and dont return to work until 48 hours have passed since your last bout of vomiting or diarrhea.

Practicing good food hygiene is essential in preventing gastroenteritis. Good food hygiene entails properly and regularly washing your hands; properly and regularly clean preparation area/surfaces and utensils with hot, soapy water; never store raw food and cooked foods together; avoid cross contamination of foods; make sure that food is properly refrigerated; always cook your food thoroughly; and never eat food that has expired (past its shelf date or sales date).

Consult your family physician if you experience gastroenteritis symptoms and especially if these symptoms are persistent, so that your physician can refer you to the lab to confirm a clinical diagnosis and the respective pathogen.

For more information call CPS at 542-1122, 542-1222, 542-1322, 542-1570 or email surveillance@sintmaartengov.orgPage Content

During the Tuesday evening information exchange session regarding the prevention of mosquito borne diseases, work opportunities with the vector program will also be shared.

Interested persons, business owners, community councils/leaders, institutions and organizations, are reminded to mark their calendar to attend the Community Stakeholders Meeting for Health, Recovery & Development, on February 20 about mosquito borne diseases such as Zika, Chikungunya and Dengue.

The community stakeholders meeting will take place in the Conference Room at the Government Administration Building from 7.00PM to 8.30PM.

The opportunity is being provided for community stakeholders to share their views regarding the recovery and development of Sint Maarten. The meeting is also relevant for healthcare providers, agriculturists/farmers, contractors, travel agencies, tourism and hospitality sector businesses, the media, garbage contractors/collectors, pest exterminators, and tire repair shops and garages.

This first information meeting seeks to get feedback from citizens, businesses, industry professionals, organizations, community councils, and officials on how best to provide immediate critical support for vector programs.

The objective is to work to reduce current and future public health threats in local communities; maximizing positive citizen behavior and participation; supporting underserved communities; and providing collaborative and independent support.

The stakeholders meeting is a collaborative effort of the Collective Prevention Services (CPS), a department within the Ministry of Public Health, Social Development and Labour (Ministry VSA), the Netherlands National Institute for Public Health (RIVM) from the Dutch Ministry of Public Health, Welfare and Sport, and VectorStars.

Persons, businesses and organizations can also provide written feedback and suggestions via email: vector-control@sintmaartengov.org by March 15, 2018. Feedback may be submitted also in hard copy to the offices of CPS at the W.G. Buncamper Road #33, Vineyard Building Office Park.

For additional information, you can call: 542-1122, 542-1222, 542-1322 or 542-1570.New public housing will be developed on bushfire-prone land in Canberra's west, after a controversial application was approved. Twenty single-storey townhouses will now be built on community-facility zoned land on the corner of Darwinia Terrace, Kathner Street and Percy Crescent in Chapman. Katie Burgess spoke to opponents who said it's not an easy suburb to navigate without private transport. Barr government 'milked' old LDA's rules ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr and Opposition leader Alastair Coe. Credit:Sitthixay Ditthavong

Opposition leader Alistair Coe says there are many questions still unanswered about the ethics, "and perhaps even the legality", of the Barr government's $7.5 million purchase of the rural property Winslade at Mount Stromlo in May last year under the now-defunct LDA's land acquisition policies. The property, along with another $4.6 million worth of land in Belconnen, was purchased months after a damning audit report of the LDA's land acquisition systems. Daniel Burdon has the story. Lax approach on erosion control in ACT Auditor-General Maxine Cooper. Credit:Melissa Adams

Builders may be more lax about protecting against erosion on their work sites in Canberra compared to their sites in Queanbeyan. Daniel Burden has found there's a lack of territory government enforcement of erosion and sediment rules. He writes failures to install erosion controls led to the territory being forced to foot a $750,000 bill to fix erosion and sediment run-off at Coombs ponds last year. Read more here . Selling Canberra as 'the destination' to doctors

Minister for Health and Wellbeing Meegan Fitzharris. Credit:karleen minney The ACT government is branding Canberra as a mecca for medical specialists. Minister for Health Meegan Fitzharris this week toured the territory's sparkling new purpose built hospital - its official name University of Canberra Hospital: Specialist Centre for Rehabilitation, Recovery & Research - which is due to open in mid-2018. The Minister is keen to attract specialists to the site and the government is now rolling out a campaign that will highlight Canberra's livability, the growing opportunities across the health sector and the "buzz" around Canberra as a great place to live. More from our health reporter Daniella White.

ICYMI: This teacher's pupils include a murderer, drug dealers Jeff Hunt overseeing an inmate. Credit:James Brickwood This story is a long one so you might want to save it for your lunch break. Jeff Hunt was the ACT's Secondary Teacher of the Year for 2017, but you might not be familiar with the school he teaches at: the Murrumbidgee Education and Training Centre. The school is behind barbed wire at Bimberi Youth Justice Centre.New public housing will be developed on bushfire-prone land in Canberra's west, after a controversial application was approved.

Twenty single-storey townhouses will be built on community-facility zoned land on the corner of Darwinia Terrace, Kathner Street and Percy Crescent in Chapman.

Protesters arrive at the ACT Legislative Assembly. Credit:Dion Georgopoulos

It's part of a tranche of public housing being built across Canberra to replace the ageing slabs of public housing along Northbourne Corridor, and the inner north and south of Canberra.

However some local residents opposed the Chapman housing plans, because of the bushfire threat and the zoning of the land.Billionaire retail veteran Solomon Lew has taken his personal attack on Myer's embattled executive chairman to extraordinary new heights, calling Garry Hounsell discredited and out-of-touch which would be "comical" if shareholders weren't losing so much money.

The barrage of criticism was delivered in a letter to Myer shareholders on Monday after Mr Lew's Premier Investments obtained a copy of Myer's shareholder registry so it could call an extraordinary general meeting and try to kick out the department store's current board.

Solomon Lew has stepped up his attacks on Myer management. Credit:Josh Robenstone

Stepping up his campaign to encourage shareholders to back his revolt, Mr Lew said last week's departure of chief executive Richard Umbers in the wake of another downgrade should remove "any remaining doubt that Myer is in peril".

Myer revealed on February 9 that sales fell 6.5 per cent in January, following a 5 per cent drop in the first two week of December - a crucial Christmas sales period.Seek Limited's strong run in the local jobs market has spurred on plans to use the Australian strategy to aggressively grow its international businesses.

The online job classifieds company reached $102 million in net profit, with record revenue of more than $620 million for the first half of fiscal 2018, chief executive Andrew Bassat said.

Andrew Bassat has plans to use Seek's Australian strategy overseas to grow the business. Credit:Eddie Jim

Mr Bassat said the strong result left the business "emboldened" to use the Australian and New Zealand business model as the "strategic roadmap" for its international businesses.

"Our international businesses are in an earlier stage of evolution and we are already seeing strong benefits from our initial investment activities," he said at the half yearly announcement.Advertising company oOh!Media is fast-turning turning itself into a digital media and tech platform to compete for clients against online giants Facebook and Google.

Chief executive Brendon Cook, who announced a 35.5 per cent increase in net profit over calendar year 2017 to $33.1 million, said his focus was to transform the business into a digital company.

oOh!media chief executive Brendon Cook. Credit:Peter Braig

oOh!Media has more than 8000 digital billboard screens across Australia and New Zealand, and 60 per cent of its revenue comes from digital.

This diversification was the first part of its plan to compete with the Googles and Facebooks of the world, Mr Cook told Fairfax Media.European retail giant Unibail-Rodamco is standing firm on its $30 billion offer for Frank Lowy's Westfield, saying ''the price is what the price is''.

Unibail-Rodamco chief executive Christophe Cuvillier is in Australia speaking to Westfield institutional investors ahead of the release of the takeover document late next month.

Unibail-Rodamco CEO Christophe Cuvillier is in Australia seeing investors. Credit:Peter Braig

''We think the price is full and fair and we think its the best price for Unibail-Rodamco shareholders and Westfield shareholders,'' Mr Cuvillier said.

''When you think about, two-thirds of Unibail-Rodamco shareholders are necessary to vote in favour of this and 75 per cent of Westfield shareholders ... so it has to be at the right price for our shareholders and the right price for Westfield shareholders.Indifference can be tempting. It is so much easier to look away when you don't allow yourself to care.

We are reminded of the pervasive power of indifference as the federal government wrestles with its compensation scheme for survivors of child sexual abuse.

We have the power to redress societal failures and those who suffered from them.

Yesterday the Herald reported on a joint submission by the Anglican Church, the Uniting Church and the Salvation Army to the federal government committee examining the Commonwealth redress scheme for institutional child sexual abuse.

They argued that "all survivors" should be eligible for redress, despite some of them committing serious crimes themselves, such as murder, and, even more chillingly, child abuse. In essence the submission argued that there should not be two classes of victims.It was one of those moments that crystallised the crisis in the US: the country has no national leader. And without a leader, it is daily becoming less safe and more chaotic.

In less than 24 hours, Donald Trump spit out more than a dozen tweets in response to the sweeping indictments handed down by the Justice Departments special counsel on Friday. Thirteen Russians and three Russian companies face charges of criminally interfering with the 2016 presidential election. And while the charges did not touch on the issue of collusion with the Trump campaign, the President quickly lashed out on Twitter, attacking everyone from his National Security Adviser to Barack Obama to the FBI.

The cost of leaderlessness is most clear in the case of Russian interference in the election. For more than a year, the intelligence community in the US has unanimously affirmed that Russia interfered in the 2016 election as part of a broader effort to destabilise the country. A Republican-led Congress has authorised more sanctions against Russia in retaliation. But the White House has declined to act  in large part because the President refuses to acknowledge the underlying bad act of interference.

Trump cant acknowledge the interference, no matter how much evidence accrues, because he sees it as tainting his electoral victory. His ego, as fragile as it is massive, cant take the blow. If the consequences of his ego-driven leadership style were only embarrassing tics, like handing out electoral maps showing his victory to Oval Office visitors, it wouldnt be a national crisis. But instead, its preventing the government from protecting the integrity of the electoral system.

Thats a real problem, given that the intelligence community has expressed high confidence that Russia intends to interfere in the 2018 and 2020 elections. Wittingly or not, Trumps inaction helps Russian leaders further their goal of shredding Americans faith in their electoral system, and thus their democracy.

Russian interference isnt the only area in which Americas leadership vacuum is causing problems. The recent school shooting in Parkland, Florida, in which 17 people were killed, was one of the deadliest school shootings in US history (a claim for which there is, horrifyingly, quite a lot of competition). The shock of another mass killing spree rippled through the country, a fresh wave of grief and horror in a nation that has all too many occasions to mourn the slaughter of young people in wholly preventable tragedies.Queensland waste magnate Balfour Irvine has proposed a giant new landfill in Ipswich as controversy mounts over the growing interstate waste trade and the state governments failure to curb it.

Austin BMI Pty Ltd, a company owned and directed by Mr Irvine, this month submitted a development application to Ipswich City Council for a dump at New Chum that would initially take 650,000 tonnes of mostly construction and demolition waste each year, rising to more than a million tonnes a year over the 18 to 20-year life of the site.

BMI owns waste facilities in Brisbane, the Gold Coast and this recycling plant on the site of a former coal mine at Swanbank in Redbank Plains, Ipswich, near the proposed new dump. Credit:Mark Solomons

New Zealand-born Mr Irvine has been a major financial backer of Brisbane lord mayor Graham Quirk and more recently a donor to the Liberal National Party.

BMI runs waste facilities at Acacia Ridge, Mt Gravatt and Nudgee in Brisbane, at Lawnton north of the city, at Stapylton on the Gold Coast and at Swanbank in Ipswich, although some of Mr Irvines most profitable activities have been in Brisbane property development.A peak Chinese Australian community group says the foreign influence debate in Australia has unleashed "eerie echoes of community scapegoating" and the "revival of suspicion" towards Chinese Australians.

The vice president of the Chinese Community Council of Australia, lawyer Kingsley Liu, has urged the Turnbull government to engage with Chinese Australian community groups before finalising its foreign influence legislation, because they will bear the brunt of it.

Malcolm Turnbull at Chinese New Year festivities in Melbourne on Sunday. Credit:AAP

"The concern is about potential suppression on 'free and open discourse and political expression' which we have learnt to appreciate as a right for all Australians," says the council's submission to the parliamentary joint committee on intelligence and security.

Previous legislation to impact on Chinese Australians included the White Australia policy and its "related discriminatory policies", the submission said.Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has warned the media not to take it upon themselves to police the Turnbull governments new sex ban, saying it is a matter of personal responsibility for ministers to abide by their expanded code of conduct.

And she suggested the ban should be read in the context of the wider purpose of the code, to prevent conflicts of interest, misuse of public money or undue influence.

Its certainly not open season for the media, Julie Bishop said in London, after a business breakfast at the Commonwealth Banks London headquarters.

Asked how the code of conduct should be policed, Bishop replied: At the end of the day it comes down to personal responsibility of the ministers and our code of conduct already sets high standards and its the responsibility of each minister to meet the standards set out in the code of conduct.Illustration: Andrew Dyson

For Malcolm Turnbulls sake lets hope hes never had an affair. Thats not a nasty insinuation  certainly not after Sunday nights serendipitously-timed 60 Minutes interview with Malcolm and wife Lucy, their close and enduring partnership again on public display.

But the Prime Ministers unprecedented excoriation of Barnaby Joyce over his personal life arguably opened the door, as they say in the courts, to scrutiny of his own moral character. Frankly after Turnbulls spray against his deputy, his moral character looks questionable, even if hes never glanced sideways at another woman.

Malcolm Turnbull and his wife Lucy on 60 Minutes. Credit:60 Minutes/Channel Nine

I am not here to moralise, Turnbull declared, with a Brutus-like flourish on Thursday. I have no interest in prying into peoples personal or private affairs at all, he said, while announcing a moralising and intrusive bonking ban between ministers and staff, and raking over the already utterly exposed private life of his deputy.But Mr Christensen said he did not do anything wrong and added he removed the "flippant" remark - which was a reference to the 1971 crime thriller Dirty Harry - after a request from Nationals Senate leader Nigel Scullion.

On Monday morning, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull described the post, which has now been reported to police and deleted, as "clearly inappropriate".

Nationals MP George Christensen has refused to apologise for posting a photo on Facebook of himself holding a handgun with the caption, "You gotta ask yourself, do you feel lucky, greenie punks?"

"I'm not going to be moralised to [sic] by these extreme Greens who put the livelihoods, safety and lives of other people at risk. They're the ones doing real harm. That's not a joke with the Greens. It's real," he said.

"Putting a joke up on social media, if that's doing something wrong, then there's a lot of people that are going to be in trouble because it happens every day, every hour in this country."



Opposition Leader Bill Shorten labelled Mr Christensen a "galah" and called on him to show responsibility and leadership as an elected representative.

"I know George Christensen's brand is to be colourful but that was just another level altogether. He's a member of Parliament, not some galah down in the front bar carrying on with a few jokes," Mr Shorten said.

"Maybe it's funny to get a few laughs and put something up on Facebook but I actually think that when...an MP says he is going to shoot someone he disagrees with, like, that is so stupid it's breathtaking."A group of 25 Republican senators have urged Donald Trump to rejoin the Trans-Pacific Partnership, putting pressure on the US President to revisit the matter ahead of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's trip to Washington for trade talks.

The Republican senators seized on Mr Trump's comment last month that he could rejoin the TPP "if we did a substantially better deal", and come at the same time as a powerful group of US state governors are clearing the way for Mr Turnbull to strike new trade and investment deals.

The senators, who comprise almost half of the 51 Republicans in the Senate and include senior figures such as John Cornyn, Orrin Hatch and John McCain, urged Mr Trump to "aggressively" pursue a return to the TPP, which they say would support the US economy and also "strengthen ties with our allies in the region [and] counter the influence of the People's Republic of China".

Malcolm Turnbull will meet Donald Trump on Friday.

Mr Trump quit the TPP last year as one of his first acts upon becoming US President, but 11 other Pacific nations, including Australia, Japan and New Zealand, reached a new agreement.Actor Geoffrey Rush was allegedly told to stop touching a woman "inappropriately" during a production of King Lear but continued the behaviour she objected to for four days, a court has heard.

Rush, 66, launched defamation action against Sydney's The Daily Telegraph and its journalist Jonathon Moran in December after two stories and a newsagent poster detailing the allegations of inappropriate behaviour were published in November and December 2017.

The Telegraph alleged Rush touched a female cast member during the six-week production of the Shakespeare play, which was put on by the Sydney Theatre Company from November 2015.

Rush has vehemently denied the allegations. In a statement of claim filed in the Federal Court, he said the allegations portray him as "a pervert" and "sexual predator" who engaged in "scandalously inappropriate behaviour in the theatre".An alleged slave wife was not allowed out of her bedroom unless she was cooking or cleaning for her husband and brother-in-law, and often survived on bread and pickles only, according to court documents.

The woman's 33-year-old husband on Monday faced Melbourne Magistrates Court charged with reducing a person to slavery.

The court was closed to media and the public as the woman, who was also allegedly physically, sexually and verbally abused by her husband, gave evidence.

Credit:Penny Stephens

The husband and wife, who cannot be named for legal reasons, lived together in a Pakenham house for about six weeks between August and October 2015 after she arrived in Australia. The husband's brother also lived in the house.Two newspaper articles alleging actor Geoffrey Rush was involved in "inappropriate" behaviour during a Sydney theatre production were written using sources including an anonymous email and posts from social media, a court has heard.

Rush, 66, launched defamation action after The Daily Telegraph published stories in November and December 2017 alleging the actor had been investigated for inappropriate conduct during the Sydney Theatre Company's production of King Lear.

The production ran for six weeks from November 2015 to January 2016.

Rush denied the allegations. In a statement of claim filed with the Federal Court in December, he said the publication of two articles and a poster outside a newsagent portrayed him as "a pervert" and "sexual predator" who had engaged in "scandalously inappropriate behaviour in the theatre".Mike Baird will be forced to appear before a parliamentary inquiry investigating the relocation of the Powerhouse Museum after the former premier declined to turn up voluntarily.

The upper house committee inquiry into museums and galleries will issue a summons for Mr Baird as well as Mirvac executive Bay Warburton, Mr Baird's former chief of staff, to appear.

Mr Baird and Mr Warburton will have to give evidence to the committee on April 4.

Former premier Mike Baird will be summoned to appear before the Powerhouse Museum inquiry. Credit:Kate Geraghty

The former premier announced in 2015 the plan to move the Powerhouse Museum in Ultimo to Parramatta to create an arts and cultural precinct in Western Sydney.The plan and design of a proposed new Shoalhaven River bridge at Nowra on the Princes Highway, south of Sydney, have been released.

The preferred option includes a new four-lane northbound bridge and a reconfiguration of the existing three-lane concrete bridge to carry southbound traffic.

An artist's impression of the new northbound bridge over the Shoalhaven River alongside the existing bridge, which will carry southbound traffic.

The historic 137-year-old iron Nowra bridge will remain, and will be used for pedestrians and cyclists and events.

It will continue to carry traffic until the new bridge is complete.Channel Seven reporter Laura Banks was a key witness at the Downing Centre Local Court on Monday, where Mr Mehajer is facing charges of assault occassioning actual bodily harm over the incident in April last year.

Channel Seven reporter Laura Banks leaves the Downing Centre Local Court in Sydney on Monday. Credit:AAP

A television crime reporter who was allegedly assaulted by disgraced former deputy mayor Salim Mehajer has denied obstructing and provoking him, telling a court she was just doing [her] job.

Prosecutor Senior Sergeant Amin Assaad showed the court mulitple video clips from April 2, 2017, when it is alleged Mr Mehajer used the drivers door of a white Porsche to assault Ms Banks, causing an injury to her hand, before driving away.

The colourful property developer had been at the police station on separate charges of assaulting a taxi driver.

He was attempting to leave the police station with a friend in a waiting taxi on James Lane, however he was forced to call for another car when the driver aborted the fare.

Multiple video clips showed a white Porsche arrive at the laneway, before Mr Mehajer sat in the drivers seat.

At this point Ms Banks stuck a microphone in the car, preventing him from closing the door.Millions of dollars are spent trying to tackle Brisbanes continuing graffiti problem, but in 2017 council workers were still left scrubbing off or painting over more than 73,000 tags.

Brisbane City Council will launch its annual campaign to crack down on graffiti on Tuesday.

Lord mayor Graham Quirk admitted ratepayers were paying more than $4 million a year to remove tags  the nickname graffiti artists use to identify themselves - and repair vandalism damaged infrastructure.

While the number of tags identified in 2017 has reduced compared with the year before council is still forced to spend millions of ratepayer funds which could be better spent on other initiatives to benefit ratepayers, he said.An ambitious plan to fly low-cost rockets into space carrying nano-satellites has been given a boost as the brothers behind it reveal their start-up has signed an agreement with NASA.

Gold Coast based Gilmour Space Technologies  backed to the tune of $5 million by Australian venture capital firm Blackbird Ventures and US-based 500 Startups, among other private investors  said on Tuesday that it has entered into a Space Act Agreement with NASA to work on various research, technology development and educational initiatives.

Gilmour Space Technologies CEO Adam Gilmour, left, with brother and company director James Gilmour at its Gold Coast rocket facility.

While not a financial deal, all companies that want to work with NASA are required to first enter into such an agreement.

Under the agreement, Gilmour will pay NASA to work with the agency on rover testing at the Kennedy Space Center. The agreement could also see the space company explore other activities in areas including space transportation, propulsion, sustainability and life support systems.

One-time senator Ricky Muir will seek to reignite his political career with a campaign to win the marginal Latrobe Valley seat of Morwell.

After months of speculation the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party confirmed the former timber workers preselection, saying his interests in four-wheel driving, dirt bike riding and, of course, shooting and fishing, made him an excellent candidate.

Former Senator Ricky Muir has confirmed he will stand for the seat of Morwell in the Victorian election. Credit:Michelle Slater/Latrobe Valley Express

Mr Muir conceded he did not live in the electorate, but said he understood how local issues affected those communities as Gippsland electorates were "intertwined".

"As there is [not] one lower house seat to cover all of Gippsland I have made the decision to stand in the marginal seat of Morwell where I may be in a position to offer voters who are dissatisfied with the major parties an alternative voice," he said.He went on leave after discovering last week that an unnamed person within the City of Perth had enlisted an investigation into him.

Martin Mileham has been CEO at the City of Perth since 2016. Credit:City of Perth

In the latest drama to hit the embattled council, Mr Mileham alleged breaches of his contract by council had impacted his and his family's health and wellbeing.

More trouble has hit the City of Perth, with chief executive Martin Mileham taking indefinite personal leave amid claims of workplace bullying and an undercover probe into him.

Lord Mayor Lisa Scaffidi - currently facing a SAT penalty for 19 serious breaches of the Local Government Act - said she did not why or how money was able to be spent on the probe, known as "Project Percy", and the City of Perth would now engage lawyers to investigate.

Local Government Minister David Templeman said the department was aware of the issues at the embattled local council and would also investigate the matter to determine any action.

Mr Mileham has sent a "cease and desist" letter to the Perth council, warning he was reserving his rights. The terms of his employment contract had been breached due to the fact he had been investigated without being told, he is alleging.

Ms Scaffidi only returned to the position of lord mayor recently after agreeing with Mr Mileham to stand aside for four months after the State Administrative Tribunal imposed an 18-month ban on the 58-year-old for not disclosing several gifts, accommodation and travel, including a $US24,000 trip to the Beijing Olympics for her and husband Joe paid for by BHP Billiton.

The SAT found she had breached the Local Government Act 45 times but she appealed and had 26 of the adverse findings overturned in November.A drunk driver who has never held a licence was jailed last week over a tragic crash that left his aunty and her unborn baby dead.

Donald Joel Wallam was behind the wheel on April 8, 2017 when he slammed into an oncoming vehicle while trying to overtake two cars on Brand Highway near Dongara.

Donald Joel Wallam has been sentenced to eight years in prison. Credit:Facebook.

Killed in the crash was Wallam's aunt, Patricia May Slater, who was 28 at the time and almost eight months pregnant.

A couple in the vehicle Wallam hit were also injured, with one sustaining multiple injuries including a spinal fracture.The sister of a WA man missing for nearly a year has said it was not like him to pick up a hitch hiker or travel with another person.

Dean Patrick White was last seen on March 31 in Quairading after arriving in the Wheatbelt town by car from Victoria to visit a friend.



The 55-year-old, affectionately known as Whitey, lived a transient lifestyle and was known to travel across Australia in a white 1989 Toyota Landcruiser with a blue camper trailer.

Dean Patrick White was last seen on March 31. Credit:WA Police

Senior Sergeant Manus Walsh said police were treating his disappearance as suspicious after his ute was involved in a single vehicle roll-over in Queensland in June 2017.

"Police believe Dean was not the driver of the vehicle, or in the vehicle at the time," he said.The man jailed for life over the murder of missing WA teenager Hayley Dodd has lodged an appeal against his conviction in a fresh bid to clear his name.

Nearly 20 years after the teenager disappeared while hitchhiking in regional WA, Francis John Wark was in January found guilty of luring the 17-year-old into his car in WA's Wheatbelt region, murdering her before disposing of her body, which has never been found.

In documents lodged with WA's Court of Appeal on Monday, Wark claimed the verdict reached in his judge-alone trial in the Supreme Court by Justice Lindy Jenkins was "unsafe and unsatisfactory".Police are no longer treating the death of a woman whose body was found at a Perth beach on Monday morning as suspicious.

Forensic police remained at Trigg Beach on Monday afternoon following the discovery of the woman's body earlier that day.

Police patrol Trigg Beach, where a woman's body was found by an early-morning beachgoer. Credit:David Prestipino

It is understood the middle-aged woman's body was found at the water's edge, just north of a boat ramp.

Police cordoned off a beach-side carpark and officers have spent the morning combing the area.Fort Lauderdale: The former student accused of last week's deadly shooting rampage at a Florida high school returned to court on Monday for a status hearing, and the judge ordered that a defence motion filed last week remain sealed from public view.

Nikolas Cruz, wearing a red, jail-issued uniform, sat during the short hearing in Fort Lauderdale without showing any emotion, his head bowed. The content of the motion filed by his lawyers was not described in the hearing.

He kept his head down and did not appear to make eye contact with the judge or others in the courtroom, though he responded briefly to someone on the defence team at the end of the hearing.

Cruz is facing 17 counts of premeditated murder after the attack last Wednesday at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, near Fort Lauderdale. It is the deadliest shooting ever at a US high school.Mexico City: The Mexican attorney general's office said on Sunday that human remains found last week belong to two federal agents from its organised crime unit who were last seen in an online video earlier this month that appeared to show their kidnapping.

The law enforcement agents, Octavio Martinez and Alfonso Hernandez, disappeared on February 5 after attending a family event in the Pacific state of Nayarit, one of the regions hit hardest by an increase in gang-related killings.

Tools of trade among Mexico's drug trafficking gangs. Credit:AP

A video posted online the following weekend appeared to show the two agents kneeling and with their hands tied.

The attorney general's office said it returned the remains to the families of the agents after running DNA tests to confirm their identities, and would keep working to find the murderers.Munich: Israel's prime minister has opened a war of words with Iran's foreign minister as he brandished a piece of what he claimed was an Iranian drone destroyed in Israeli airspace.

Holding part of the drone shot down last week amid rising tensions between the two powers, Benjamin Netanyahu asked Javad Zarif, the Iranian foreign minister: "Do you recognise it? You should. It's yours. Don't test us."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu holds part of a downed drone during his speech at the Munich Security Conference. Credit:AP

He warned that Iran was the "greatest threat to our world".

Speaking at a Munich security conference, Mr Netanyahu appeared to threaten further measures, adding: "We will act if necessary, not just against Iran's proxies, but against Iran itself."Ricketson said after a two-hour court grilling late on Monday he had been questioned for 20 minutes at a previous hearing about his use of the word grapevine. James Ricketson has lost weight and is sharing a small cell with over 140 prisoners. Credit:AP Its ridiculous they didnt know what it meant, he said as a guard pushed him into a holding room packed with prisoners waiting to be transferred back to jail. Its like a zoo... look at it. A human zoo, Ricketson shouted. Appearing agitated with a head gash caused when he bumped into a beam in one of Cambodias harshest jails, Ricketson said he has faced questioning about 23 emails taken from more than 15,000 on his computer.

They are all innocuous. They have absolutely no evidence, Ricketson said earlier as he was pulled down a flight of steps at the court. Ricketson, an award-winning filmmaker from Sydney, faces up to 10 years jail if convicted of espionage. He was arrested by more than a dozen police, handcuffed and carried by the arms and legs from Cambodia's waterfront in June last year shortly after visiting a rubbish dump where he was providing aid to scavengers. In this photo from Cambodian website Fresh News, Australian filmmaker James Ricketson is seen apparently operating a drone at a rally. Earlier that day he was photographed flying a drone over a rally by supporters of Rainsys Cambodian National Rescue Party (CNRP). The party has been targeted in a sweeping crackdown on political freedoms in the country ruled by strongman Hun Sen for more than three decades. The party has been dissolved and its leaders are either in jail, in hiding or have fled the country.

Loading Government-aligned media outlets in Phnom Penh have accused Ricketson of being an "important spy" and linked him to a supposed CNRP conspiracy to topple the Hun Sen regime in an Arab Spring-style uprising. But analysts, diplomats and human rights groups say Hun Sen, a former commander of the murderous Khmer Rouge, has concocted the claim to justify a campaign to destroy the opposition and silence his critics ahead of elections mid this year. I met Ricketson about five years ago when I was researching a story on Cambodias orphanages and we kept in touch. He had been campaigning on behalf of a Cambodian mother to have two of her children released from an orphanage.

For years Ricketson was a controversial figure in Phnom Penh, where he campaigned for various causes including the release of a British man jailed in Prey Sar on child sex charges, whom he insists is innocent. Loading He spent much of his time in Cambodia helping street beggars and rubbish dump scavengers. My dealings with him were as a media colleague and I saw nothing to suggest he was a spy. During nine months in jail Ricketson has lost a lot of weight and shares a 16-metre by six-metre cell block with more than 140 other prisoners.

There are three squat toilets where the prisoners also bathe and wash pots and dishes. Its bedlam in the morning and evening when you need to bathe, he said. Ricketson will be returned to court for further questioning on February 27. Jessie Ricketson, his son, was in court and said the hearing gives us further proof that there is no evidence to support the charge in this case. Hearing after hearing its the same thing, no evidence, he said. Its painful to know that he is still locked up when there is no evidence against him.GREAT BAY(DCOMM):--- During the Tuesday evening information exchange session regarding the prevention of mosquito-borne diseases, work opportunities with the vector program will also be shared.

Interested persons, business owners, community councils/leaders, institutions, and organizations, are reminded to mark their calendar to attend the Community Stakeholders Meeting for Health, Recovery & Development, on February 20 about mosquito-borne diseases such as Zika, Chikungunya, and Dengue.

The community stakeholders meeting will take place in the Conference Room at the Government Administration Building from 7.00PM to 8.30PM.

The opportunity is being provided for community stakeholders to share their views regarding the recovery and development of Sint Maarten. The meeting is also relevant for healthcare providers, agriculturists/farmers, contractors, travel agencies, tourism, and hospitality sector businesses, the media, garbage contractors/collectors, pest exterminators, and tire repair shops and garages.

This first information meeting seeks to get feedback from citizens, businesses, industry professionals, organizations, community councils, and officials on how best to provide immediate critical support for vector programs.

The objective is to work to reduce current and future public health threats in local communities; maximizing positive citizen behavior and participation; supporting underserved communities; and providing collaborative and independent support.

The stakeholders meeting is a collaborative effort of the Collective Prevention Services (CPS), a department within the Ministry of Public Health, Social Development and Labour (Ministry VSA), the Netherlands National Institute for Public Health (RIVM) from the Dutch Ministry of Public Health, Welfare and Sport, and VectorStars.

Persons, businesses and organizations can also provide written feedback and suggestions via email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by March 15, 2018. Feedback may be submitted also in hard copy to the offices of CPS at the W.G. Buncamper Road #33, Vineyard Building Office Park.

For additional information, you can call: 542-1122, 542-1222, 542-1322 or 542-1570.PHILIPSBURG  On Friday, February 9th Minister of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport Jorien Wuite met with representatives of the General Pension Fund (APS). The meeting was scheduled in follow-up to concerns expressed to the Minister in matters related to the physco-social well-being of teachers after the passing of hurricane Irma in September. Joining the Minister at the meeting was President of the Windward Island Teachers Union (WITU) Claire Elshot-Aventurin and cabinet staff along with APS representatives Kendra Arnell, Oscar Williams and Nadya Croes-Van Putten.

Via meetings held within the past few weeks with school managers and teachers alike, it was accessed that matters related to housing remained a worry for a large number of teachers. The majority were concerned with the high cost of rent, others problems involved owning their own homes but being uninsured or underinsured. Many of these teachers were unable to qualify for the various social relief programs offered in the weeks and months following the hurricane.

In that light Mrs. Elshot-Aventurin and Minister Wuite met with APS to explore any potential opportunities they may have to offer as teachers being civil servants are automatically clients of APS. During the meeting, APS informed of an affordable housing project that is currently underway specially geared towards civil servants. Realizing that this may be a key opportunity, it was resolved to host a special information session just for teachers with APS representatives to further inform and see if they would qualify for such a program. This meeting is currently being planned and teachers will be duly of the details.

Another critical issue notified during the meeting was the possibility of a supplemental pension. This option would be especially important to teachers who may have switched to this profession later in life and as a result not receive their full pension available versus a colleague who may have started in their early twenties. At the same afore-mentioned information session APS will also discuss any available option to teachers who may fall into this category.

The psychological condition of teachers, administrators, and school management in reaction to the devastation of hurricane Irma and the resulting changes in their social environments continues to receive the full attention of Minister Wuite. Consultations have already started and will continue with affected teachers of public schools as the Minister in her capacity as school board is directly responsible for their well-being. Those with critical needs will receive priority in conjunction with the organization of workshops specifically geared towards improving the teachers physical, mental and emotional well-being.PHILIPSBURG:--- Former Prime Minister William Marlin says the 2018 Belt and Road Forum for Latin America and the Caribbean, which is scheduled for Sint Maarten in July, can be a significant boost for the country, which is still reeling from the effects of hurricanes Irma and Maria in September last year.

He said, however, that given the impact of the September hurricanes, it is imperative that mechanisms be put in place to ensure the safety and security of delegates to the forum. Some 400 persons including an estimated 200 developers and business persons from China as well as a number from Latin America and the Caribbean are expected to attend the forum in St. Maarten.

Marlin said one of his concerns at this stage is the availability of proper accommodation for attendees given the impact Irma has had on the hotel sector.

Marlin said, he, however, has an idea that may very well provide the necessary accommodations for the attendees as well as for the actual hosting of the meetings.

While serving as Prime Minister, Marlin was instrumental in negotiating for St. Maarten to be the destination to host the forum this year, when he attended the One Belt, One Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing, China in May last year. He was the only Head of State from the Caribbean to attend the forum, also attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Chinese President Xi Jinping and representatives of some 80 organisations including the United Nations, World Bank, and International Monetary Fund.

The Belt and Road initiative aims to increase international cooperation on the basic principles of mutual discussion, mutual construction, and mutual sharing. The initiative is now in its fifth year.

The forum set for St. Maarten this year is expected to be developed and funded by the Caribbean China People Foundation and China-based Beijing Sustainable Committee.

Marlin alluded to the meeting between Dutch King Willem-Alexander and Chinese Prime Minister which was held in China earlier this month, where the Netherlands and China agreed to carry out more mutually beneficial cooperation through joint implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative in 2018.

Similar to King Willem-Alexander pledging his support to the Belt and Road initiative during that meeting, Marlin said this is also one of the things that he had also pursued and championed, while he had been in office.

I was honored to be the only Head of Government from any Caribbean country to attend the Belt and Road forum in China last year. It was attended by thousands of persons from around the globe. What we negotiated and agreed upon was that the Belt and Road for the Caribbean and Latin America would be held in St. Maarten. We did not know at the time that a major catastrophic hurricane would affect our plans, Marlin said. If all goes well, the National Alliance will be back in office by April 2, at least that is the plan of the people of St. Maarten, and we can make sure that all is in place for the forum to be held here. One thing is certain: the forum will offer a significant boost to our country at this time.GREAT BAY:--- The ongoing social media comments by St. Martins repeat visitors, with support ranging from SXM Airport rebuilding to Philipsburg Marketplace vendors regrouping, may one day prove to be a unique or a profitable tourism study for an original-thinking graduate degree student.

One repeat visitor is Margaret Matz, president of Milestone Architecture, PLLC, a New York City firm. Ive been following this case closely, said Matz on Monday.

The situation of the small businesswomen, inclusive of their January 24 meeting with Parliament about the injustices against their livelihood by the Government of Sint Maarten, may also be an opportunity to widen the knowledge and practice of democratic rights of people.

I see this as a discussion about the right to use public space appropriately, Matz also commented on a recent Facebook post about the plight of the marketplace vendors.

I am not aware of any place in the world where there are no vendors in public areas, said Matz. Her own work takes her regularly around the world and ranges from New York City design and disaster management projects to restoration of ancient churches in Italy and research in Turkey milestonearchitecturepllc.com.

The Philipsburg Marketplace vendors met with the Inspectorate Department TEATT on February 19, for an update about the Philipsburg market. However, their situation remains unstable after their kiosks were destroyed and livelihood devastated by former St. Maarten government minister of tourism (TEATT) on October 9, 2017.

The Ombudsman report found No tangible considerations regarding the impact of the decision ... on the livelihood of the vendors.

Vendors are considered the human-scaled presence which contributes to safety in public areas. They also guarantee human presence at UNESCO heritage sites which otherwise tend to be underpopulated, wrote Matz on Facebook in support of the working women regrouping at Philipsburg Marketplace.

Matzs award-winning firm is scheduled to exhibit at the Venice Architectural Biennale in Italy in a few weeks.Iraq frees suspected French jihadist who served sentence



Baghdad, Feb 19 (AFP) Feb 19, 2018



An Iraqi court ordered the release of a suspected French jihadist sentenced Monday to seven months in prison for entering the country illegally, saying she had already served her time.

Melina Bougedir, 27, was arrested last summer in former Islamic State group stronghold Mosul with her four children, three of whom have been repatriated to France.

Speaking in Arabic, she told the court that she had entered Iraq in October 2015 from Syria.

She said that her French husband was killed as Iraqi forces battled to oust the jihadist group from Mosul, which was recaptured last July after three years of IS rule.Iraq to deport suspected French jihadist who served sentence



Baghdad, Feb 19 (AFP) Feb 19, 2018



An Iraqi court ordered the release and deportation of a suspected French jihadist sentenced Monday to seven months in prison for entering the country illegally, saying she had already served her time.

Melina Bougedir, 27, was arrested last summer in former Islamic State group stronghold Mosul with her four children, three of whom have been repatriated to France.

Wearing a black dress and purple headscarf, she entered the courtroom holding her other child, a boy with blond hair.

Speaking in Arabic, she said that she had been a housewife in Mosul.

"I entered Syria with my French passport but Daesh (IS) took it from me. I stayed in Syria for four days and then came to Mosul with my husband and four children".

She said that her French husband Maximilien, whom she said had been a cook for IS, was killed as Iraqi forces battled to oust the jihadist group from Mosul, which was recaptured last July.

Asked her if she regretted what she did, she replied: "Yes".

Iraq in December declared victory against IS after a years-long battle to retake large swathes of territory the extremists had seized in 2014.

An Iraqi court last month condemned a German woman to death by hanging after finding her guilty of belonging to IS, the first such sentence in a case involving a European woman.

Soon afterwards, lawyers for Bougedir and another French woman awaiting trial in Iraq for allegedly joining IS wrote to French President Emmanuel Macron warning that they could face the death penalty.

Several dozen French citizens suspected of links to the jihadist group are believed to be in detention camps or prisons in Syria and Iraq.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said in Baghdad last week that suspected jihadists should be tried in the countries where they committed their "crimes", while reiterating France's opposition to the death penalty.

Britain has also taken a firm stance against repatriation, as has Belgium which denied a request by one of its nationals to be sent home from Iraq in exchange for cooperating with the authorities.

Several hundred foreigners, both men and women, are thought to have been detained in Iraq for alleged links to IS.

In December, a Swedish man of Iraqi origin was among 38 people executed after being convicted of "terrorism".

And on Sunday an Iraqi court sentenced a Turkish woman to death and 11 other foreign widows to life in jail for belonging to IS, despite their pleas that they had been duped or forced by their husbands to join them in Iraq.

A total of 509 foreign women, including 300 Turks, are being held in Iraq with 813 children, according to a security source.West's attitude stoking tensions in Balkans: Lavrov



Belgrade, Feb 19 (AFP) Feb 19, 2018



The West is stoking tensions in the Balkans despite Russia's pacific stance, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was quoted as saying Monday ahead of a visit to Serbia.

Lavrov criticised the West for making Balkan states choose "either you are with the West or with Russia," in an interview with Serbia's Beta news agency.

He said the EU tried to get every aspiring member "to harmonise its foreign and defence policies" with that of the bloc, adding that this was "increasing tensions in Europe."

Serbia is seeking European Union membership. Moscow supports Belgrade in not recognising the independence of the former Serbian province of Kosovo, proclaimed a decade ago.

"It is senseless to talk now about Kosovo's place in the United Nations," Lavrov said.

He said that Resolution 1244, adopted in 1999 by the UN Security Council to end the conflict between Serbian forces and Kosovo Albanian pro-independence guerillas, "remains in place and recognises the autonomous province Kosovo as a part of Serbia."

The normalisation of ties with Kosovo and harmonisation of its diplomacy with that of the EU are among key criteria Serbia has to meet to join the bloc.

"Throughout the history of the Balkans, Russia has always tried to avoid confrontation and helped the people of this region to defend their interests... and their spiritual, religious and cultural roots."

Lavrov criticised the "politics of encircling Russia with the military infrastructure" of NATO and said one "should not strengthen one's own security at the expense of the security of others."

"NATO enlargement is a mistake," Lavrov said.

Montenegro joined NATO in 2017, while Macedonia is a candidate.

"No action currently undertaken by NATO increases anyone's security," Lavrov said.

The minister, due to arrive for a two-day visit to Serbia Wednesday, also defended the role played by the pro-Russian media in the Balkans.

"To protect the pluralism of opinion that the West constantly advocates, to have a different point of view can only be beneficial to listeners, viewers and social network users," he told Beta.IS kills 27 Iraq pro-government fighters: paramilitary force



Baghdad, Feb 19 (AFP) Feb 19, 2018



The Islamic State group killed 27 pro-government fighters in an ambush in Iraq, their paramilitary group said Monday, underlining the threat still posed by the jihadists despite Baghdad's declaration of victory.

IS members, disguised as soldiers, attacked a Hashed al-Shaabi unit in the Hawija region about 300 kilometres (185 miles) north of Baghdad on Sunday evening, the auxiliary force said in a statement.

"The attackers were dressed in military uniforms and during the fighting 27 of our heroes were martyred," added the Hashed, a key partner of the government in the battle against IS.

The paramilitary unit was conducting operations to "arrest terrorists and dismantle sleeping cells" around the city, in the province of Kirkuk.

A Hashed official who asked to remain anonymous told AFP the jihadists had set up a checkpoint close to Hawija.

They asked the Hashed paramilitaries to stop, get out of their vehicles and stand beside the road, on the pretext of conducting a search.

They then shot the Hashed fighters and fled, the official said.

Reinforcements arrived too late to stop the attack.

A senior police officer in the province, who also asked not to be named, said most of the bodies had been beheaded.

It was the deadliest attack against Hashed fighters since October when pro-government forces retook Hawija, which was the jihadists' last urban bastion in northern Iraq.

Iraq in December declared victory against IS after a years-long battle to retake large swathes of territory the extremists had seized in 2014.

But the Hashed says IS has not completely disappeared and that "sleeper cells" have been fighting a guerrilla war against it.UN draft calls for 'measures' over Iran missiles to Yemen



United Nations, United States, Feb 19 (AFP) Feb 19, 2018



The UN Security Council is considering a draft resolution that would condemn Iran for violating the arms embargo on Yemen and call for measures to address this violation, according to the text obtained by AFP on Monday.

The proposed resolution drafted by Britain is in response to a report by a UN panel of experts which found that missiles fired by Yemen's Huthi rebels at Saudi Arabia last year were made in Iran.

The Security Council is expected to vote on the draft later this month, but it remains unclear whether Russia would back any move that punishes Iran.

The text "condemns" Iran for violating the 2015 arms embargo on Yemen by "failing to take the necessary measures to prevent the direct or indirect supply, sale or transfer" of short-range ballistic missiles, drones and other military equipment to the Huthis.

The draft resolution backed by the United States and France specifies that "these violations ... require a further response from the council; and further decides to take additional measures to address these violations."

While the text presented to the council on Friday does not provide details on those measures, it does specify that "any activity related to the use of ballistic missiles in Yemen" is a criteria for sanctions.

The report by the UN experts bolstered US and Saudi claims that Iran was arming the Huthis, despite Tehran's strong denials.

While the report found that Tehran had violated the 2015 embargo by failing to block the shipments of equipment made in Iran, the experts said they were unable to identify the supplier.



- Reining in Iran -



Russia's Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia has raised questions about the experts' findings, which AFP first reported in January when the document was confidentially sent to the council.

Russia has the power to block sanctions by resorting to its veto as one of the five permanent Security Council members, along with Britain, China, France and the United States.

In a New York Times editorial published at the weekend, US Ambassador Nikki Haley made the case that UN action against Iran could help prevent a military confrontation between Iran and Saudi Arabia.

"By confirming that Iran is the source of the missiles and other weaponry fired into Saudi Arabia, the UN panel has given the world a chance to act before a missile hits a school or a hospital and leads to a dangerous military escalation that provokes a Saudi military response," Haley wrote.

"Today, armed with this evidence, we have the chance to rein in Iran's behavior and demand that it live up to its international agreements that discourage conflict."

Haley last month took Security Council ambassadors to a warehouse near Washington to inspect debris from missiles fired at Saudi Arabia last year that the United States says were supplied by Iran to the Huthis.

The missile components and other weaponry were collected by Saudi Arabia.

After the visit, Russia's ambassador remained unconvinced.

Asked whether the case had been made for action against Iran, Nebenzia answered "no."

The resolution would also renew UN sanctions on Yemen for another year, until February 26, 2019.The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2018 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy StatementLondon (UK), Feb 19, 2018 (SPS) - The United Kingdom "fully supports" the peace process led by the UN Secretary General's Personal Envoy to Western Sahara Horst Kohler, the UK Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Department of International Development Alistair Burt said Sunday.

The UK minister stressed, in a tweet, that he had met Horst Kohler on the sidelines of Munich peace conference, in Germany, with whom he had a "useful exchange" on Western Sahara conflict.

Burt, in this respect, said "UK fully supports UN-led process to achieve a lasting and mutually acceptable political solution" to the conflict of Western Sahara, which is occupied by Morocco.

In November, the UK government reiterated its support to Saharawi people's right to self-determination, on the basis of UN Charter's principles.

In reply to a question by MP Alan Brown, member of the Parliamentary Group of Friends of Western Sahara, Burt reiterated London's support to the UN chief's "efforts" to reach a fair and lasting political solution to Western Sahara issue. (SPS)

062/SPS/APS



London, Feb 19, 2018 (SPS) - The human rights organization Amnesty International (AI) has called on the Moroccan authorities to respect the right to defence for the Gdeim Izik prisoners, following the expulsion of two of their lawyers, Ingrid Metton and Olfa Ouled.

In a tweet posted after the expulsion, the AI said that Moroccan authorities must "respect the right to defence for the Gdeim Izik detainees, including the right to a lawyer of their choice."

The non-governmental organization urged the Moroccan authorities to "ensure that immigration policies are not discriminatory, including on the basis of political considerations."

The AI said that the two French lawyers expelled from Morocco were going to visit Gdeim Izik Sahrawi detainees, who were condemned in July 2017 to long prison terms after a "grossly unfair trial." (SPS)

062/SPS/APSMoscow, Feb 19, 2018 (SPS) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov expressed support for direct negotiations between Morocco and Polisario Front for the resolution of Western Sahara conflict.

"Russia supports direct negotiations between the two parties to Western Sahara conflict, the Kingdom of Morocco and Polisario Front," Lavrov told a press conference held jointly with Foreign Minister Abdelkader Messahel.

The Russian Foreign minister also expressed views on some crises and conflicts, especially in Syria, Libya and Mali.

In this regard, he noted a convergence of views between Algeria and Russia on these issues, particularly regarding the need to promote political solutions to these crises, without any foreign interference and with respect for the right of people to self-determination.

In this respect, Lavrov underlined the need to strengthen the role of the United Nations in preserving and promoting international peace and security. (SPS)

062/SPS/APS



Additional water restrictions in effect in Ogden due to drought

OGDEN  In an effort to preserve water for the upcoming year following the early shutoff of secondary water systems, Ogden City on Wednesday issued an administrative order restricting culinary water usage. Pineview Reservoir, Ogdens primary water source, dropped below 16% of capacity this week further adding to an ongoing drought caused by climatic conditions, according to a city press release announcing the new water restrictions. Randy Wearly and Jesse Garner, who were enjoying the reservoir Wednesday, said they have been jigging at Pineview for seven years, and in this time ...Blog Archive Apr 2010 (22) May 2010 (25) Jun 2010 (8) Jul 2010 (12) Aug 2010 (18) Sep 2010 (19) Oct 2010 (29) Nov 2010 (30) Dec 2010 (18) Jan 2011 (13) Feb 2011 (21) Mar 2011 (23) Apr 2011 (19) May 2011 (31) Jun 2011 (36) Jul 2011 (46) Aug 2011 (26) Sep 2011 (12) Oct 2011 (15) Nov 2011 (17) Dec 2011 (7) Jan 2012 (18) Feb 2012 (4) Mar 2012 (12) Apr 2012 (18) May 2012 (10) Jun 2012 (21) Jul 2012 (8) Aug 2012 (15) Sep 2012 (7) Oct 2012 (17) Nov 2012 (20) Dec 2012 (10) Jan 2013 (58) Feb 2013 (59) Mar 2013 (60) Apr 2013 (98) May 2013 (135) Jun 2013 (204) Jul 2013 (293) Aug 2013 (351) Sep 2013 (363) Oct 2013 (348) Nov 2013 (374) Dec 2013 (442) Jan 2014 (547) Feb 2014 (476) Mar 2014 (526) Apr 2014 (527) May 2014 (469) Jun 2014 (408) Jul 2014 (472) Aug 2014 (522) Sep 2014 (443) Oct 2014 (472) Nov 2014 (497) Dec 2014 (536) Jan 2015 (539) Feb 2015 (520) Mar 2015 (582) Apr 2015 (658) May 2015 (679) Jun 2015 (673) Jul 2015 (728) Aug 2015 (803) Sep 2015 (923) Oct 2015 (924) Nov 2015 (802) Dec 2015 (791) Jan 2016 (782) Feb 2016 (835) Mar 2016 (929) Apr 2016 (866) May 2016 (947) Jun 2016 (1044) Jul 2016 (882) Aug 2016 (1035) Sep 2016 (967) Oct 2016 (918) Nov 2016 (854) Dec 2016 (885) Jan 2017 (880) Feb 2017 (777) Mar 2017 (896) Apr 2017 (872) May 2017 (850) Jun 2017 (851) Jul 2017 (971) Aug 2017 (1040) Sep 2017 (998) Oct 2017 (1144) Nov 2017 (1046) Dec 2017 (838) Jan 2018 (873) Feb 2018 (769) Mar 2018 (885) Apr 2018 (809) May 2018 (827) Jun 2018 (820) Jul 2018 (840) Aug 2018 (854) Sep 2018 (844) Oct 2018 (851) Nov 2018 (870) Dec 2018 (912) Jan 2019 (919) Feb 2019 (827) Mar 2019 (957) Apr 2019 (913) May 2019 (1007) Jun 2019 (935) Jul 2019 (950) Aug 2019 (936) Sep 2019 (910) Oct 2019 (920) Nov 2019 (874) Dec 2019 (908) Jan 2020 (941) Feb 2020 (849) Mar 2020 (898) Apr 2020 (848) May 2020 (822) Jun 2020 (789) Jul 2020 (819) Aug 2020 (858) Sep 2020 (841) Oct 2020 (873) Nov 2020 (812) Dec 2020 (780) Jan 2021 (765) Feb 2021 (716) Mar 2021 (819) Apr 2021 (805) May 2021 (815) Jun 2021 (824) Jul 2021 (830) Aug 2021 (832) Sep 2021 (394)The analysis is based on the understanding that both the impacts of and solutions to climate change are deeply mediated by culture. This calls for a strengthening of the integration of social sciences and the humanities in global environmental change research, the authors write. The natural sciences alone will simply not do the trick for us. We also need a humanistic climate response that pays attention to the human experience, including affect and emotions, human values and subjectivity.



We conclude that climate-arts can contribute positively in fostering the imagination and emotional predisposition for the development and implementation of the transformations necessary to address the 1.5 C challenge, the researchers write.

Artistic interpretation of results

The authors also include an artistic interpretation (see below) of their results in the form of a diagram depicted as a growing root system to illustrate the increase over time in the number of climate-related art projects. The root system represents growing networks of initiatives, cultural actors, artists and practitioners.



"Moving toward a future that remains below a 1.5 C global temperature rise requires developing narratives of hope. Art can provide a means to envision, express and shape the kind of society we collectively want to create," they write.



However, the authors underline that this does not imply that they approach art in an instrumental way. Quite the reverse they stress that art is unique because of its freedom to pursue open-ended explorations of societal climate transformations without being forced to come up with finished outcomes or solutions.



Another strength of involving art in this context is that it is not constrained by standard scientific methods and can more easily involve not just artists and scientists, but also citizens and many different types of change agents. As such, the arts can also challenge things that tend to be taken for granted, in an engaging and creative way. This can lead to new ways of perceiving, understanding and acting upon climate change, the authors conclude.Shares is the leading weekly publication for retail investors. It is packed with investment ideas, news and educational material to help build and run portfolios and get more from your money.

Shares puts on free Investor Events throughout the year across the country. They provide an opportunity for investors to learn more about companies on the stock market and hear from a range of investment experts including fund managers and Shares journalists.Students from KES in Stratford who have places at Oxford and Cambridge

SOME of the districts brightest students are celebrating after being offered coveted university places at Oxford and Cambridge.

At King Edward VI School there was a record 17 Year 13 students offered places, five at Cambridge and 12 at Oxford.

Headmaster, Bennet Carr, said: Applying to Oxford and Cambridge is one of the most competitive academic challenges for any sixth former, and we are very pleased for the successful candidates. Of overriding importance is that evident passion for the subject and ability to read and research beyond the confines of the examination specifications.

At Stratford Girls Grammar School, seven students won conditional offers to study at the world-leading universities, four at Oxford and three at Cambridge.

Headteacher, Jacqui Cornell, said: All of our students have worked incredibly hard and prepared themselves exceptionally well for the next steps in their educational journey. The Oxbridge offers are a reflection of this, and continue the upward trend of achievement here at SGGS. I am equally proud of the variety of offers that have been received from a number of leading institutions and look forward to following their progress.

At Alcester Grammar School six students have been offered places, four at Cambridge and two at Oxford.

Ian Young, head of sixth form, said: As ever, we are as delighted for our successful Oxbridge applicants, as we are for all those pursuing university courses and apprenticeships who have received their offers. Our Alcester Grammar Aim High programme has spent considerable time and energy helping prepare candidates for Oxbridge, but it is the sheer brilliance of the students themselves that should get the credit. We are fortunate to attract such talent.

Elsewhere Isuri Sanchi Arachchi, a student at Chipping Campden School has been offered a place to study Geography at Oxford. Principal, John Sanderson, said: We are delighted that Isuri is joining the evergrowing group of young people from Chipping Campden School who are offered places at Russel Group Universities, with four in ten securing places as opposed to one in ten nationally."Residents of Dewatagaha Mosque Lane in Colombo met the United National Party Borella organizer Jayantha de Silva at his Bawa Place office to hand over a dossier containing their grievances.Sir Baron was a true friend of India: High Commissioner Sandhu View(s):

Excerpts from the speech delivered by Indias High Commissioner Taranjit Singh Sandhu at the 150th Birth Anniversary celebrations of Sir Don Baron Jayatilaka.

I am honoured to be here at the 150th birth anniversary celebrations of Sir Don Baron Jayatilaka. I thank Hon. Karu (Jayasuriya) for his gracious invitation. The statue of Sir D.B. Jayatilaka reminds us today of the struggles and sacrifices of our forefathers, that too when both our nations are celebrating 70 years of independence. It also provides an opportunity for reflection and introspection. Sir D.B. Jayatilaka was most honourable, scholarly, and selfless in his sacrifice for the country; he was truly giant of a man. We owe our existence today to brave men and women like him. I salute his spirit.

It was Thomas Carlyle, who said, that the history of the world is nothing, but biography of great men. The history of Sri Lanka is definitely not complete without the special mention of Sir D.B. Jayatilaka. As High Commissioner of India to Sri Lanka, I will add that the history of India-Sri Lanka bilateral relations, is also not complete, without acknowledging, the priceless contribution of Sir D.B. Jayatilaka.

Sir D.B. Jayatilakas association with India started early. He was a linguist, well versed in several languages including Sinhala, Pali, Sanskrit, English and Latin. He graduated from the University of Calcutta in 1896 and went on to gain a BA in jurisprudence from Oxford. His formative years in Oxford provided the basis for a life-long friendship with India; he was active in the Society of Indian students in Oxford, serving as its Secretary, Treasurer, and President on various occasions.

Ceylon turned to India when the food shortage hit the country during the heights of World War II; Sir D.B. Jayatilaka was sent as an emissary, and India did honour his request and sent food shipments to the island. He was later appointed as Representative of Government of Ceylon to India. Unfortunately he fell ill when he was in Delhi; the Viceroy had arranged a special plane for him to return to Ceylon; unfortunately, he passed away when the plane was over Bangalore. He was later cremated in Borella. He remained a true son of Ceylon; he would remain forever, a true friend of India. Had destiny allowed him a longer life, who knows, what turn his career would have perhaps taken.

Sir D.B. Jayatilaka was a patriot, freedom fighter, national leader, philanthropist and a statesman of extraordinary vision. He was the perfect mix of the best of orient and occident. He was a flag bearer of Buddhism, and was deeply influenced by the Theosophical Movement. He was also a great educationist. It might be a strange coincidence but it is true that in 1923, when Sir D.B. Jayatilaka was elected president of the Ceylon National Congress, another great educationist, who would later become independent Indias first Education Minister, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, was elected President of the Indian National Congress.

Prime Minister Modi, in his Vesak Day speech, noted that the friendship between India and Sri Lanka was etched in time by the Great Master. Sir D.B. Jayatilaka was a worthy son of the Great Master, and his contributions to strengthening the bonds between our great nations will be remembered forever. As Lord Buddha has said, even death is not to be feared by those who have lived wisely. Sir D.B. Jayatilaka did live wisely; let us be his worthy disciples and live wisely, today and every day.

May the Triple Gem bless you all!Three keys to a new South Africa By Fred Phaswana, Exclusive to the Sunday Times in Sri Lanka View(s): View(s):

JOHANNESBURG  Jacob Zuma has resigned as South Africas president  an inevitable move, following the African National Congress withdrawal of its support. Two decades after Nelson Mandela tried  and failed  to pass the presidency to Cyril Ramaphosa, the former deputy president and current ANC head has become South Africas leader. And the challenges that Ramaphosa will face are almost as daunting as those Mandela confronted in lifting his country from the ruins of apartheid.

Nearly a quarter-century ago, four years after Mandela was released from prison, South Africans celebrated the birth of an inclusive, constitutional state. During Zumas tenure, however, that euphoria evaporated. Amid allegations of endemic corruption, ratings downgrades, corporate malfeasance, and deepening malaise among state-owned enterprises (SOEs), South Africas regional and international standing weakened.

For many, Ramaphosa represents a return to national strength. He has vowed to restore credibility to the management of South Africas affairs, and to reinvigorate the values of democratic inclusion. His simple gestures, like starting meetings and rallies on time, are departures from Zumas more aloof approach.

But returning accountability and good governance to South Africa will require much more than punctuality. Three key areas will need urgent attention if the countrys incoming leader is to chart a new course.

The first challenge, restoring faith in the countrys rule of law, may be the hardest to meet. Zumas capture of businesses, the National Prosecuting Authority, and cabinet appointments was so complete that untangling the webs of influence will take time. But restoring public confidence in these vital institutions must be made a top priority.

Second, Ramaphosas government, whenever it is seated, will need to move quickly to reform the states relationship with SOEs. Zuma treated these businesses as vehicles for personal gain, and their mismanagement undermined economic growth and development. An economy characterised by poverty, inequality, and unemployment will never recover if the drivers of wealth are not operating effectively.

For example, mining continues to be a significant contributor to the South African economy; if managed properly, the sector could be a powerful lever for supporting the growth of upstream manufacturing. South Africa has some of the worlds largest deposits of chrome and manganese, minerals that are essential for the manufacture of electric vehicles, wind turbines, and other components of the so-called fourth industrial revolution.

Unfortunately, because Zumas government misused resource wealth by redistributing mineral rents to loyal clients, trust between the mining industry and the state is nonexistent. And the only way to restore it  and thereby increase exploration and production  will be to overhaul legislation and regulation to ensure stronger protection of industry interests.

Restoring trust and accountability to the business environment would attract investment, create jobs, fill state coffers, and improve redistribution, especially to those for whom employment prospects remain limited. This final point is key; in recent years, South Africas welfare programs have been threatened by poor governance and mismanagement, and can be reformed only if economic growth returns.

Finally, Ramaphosa will need to invest heavily in South Africas education system, a sector that Zuma largely neglected. A good place to begin would be with early childhood education, where spending often yields high long-term rewards. With the youth unemployment rate currently at a staggering 39%; putting more young people to work will require rethinking how future generations are trained.

South Africa is a small country, but with the right reform-minded leadership, it can reassume its regional role as an economic and political powerhouse. In fact, this may be the ideal time to make changes at the top; much of Africa is undergoing similar shifts, which could bring new opportunities for economic cooperation. In neighbouring Zimbabwe, for example, the end of Robert Mugabes misrule could reignite growth linked not only to natural resources, but also to value-added products, services, and trade.

As South Africa navigates its own presidential transition, the country must redefine its role in an evolving geopolitical landscape. To do that, the country must reassert its role as an influential actor, while pursuing a more dynamic, effective, and integrated investment strategy. Strong diplomacy and commercial outreach will be essential, and South Africas leaders should embrace and develop membership in economic clubs, like the BRICS group of major emerging economies (which also includes Brazil, Russia, India, and China).

South Africans are ready for new leadership. But to achieve a future defined by full employment, social justice, strong governance, and international credibility  the era that Mandela represented  Ramaphosa will need to return to the path from which Zuma so egregiously strayed.

(Fred Phaswana is the National Chairman of the South African Institute of International Affairs.)

Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2018. www.project-syndicate.orgFull details of the hotel, including its name, size and services have not yet been disclosed, but come March the complete scope of the project will be revealed at a gala event in the glitzy city.

This will be the Dorchester Collections first entry into the Middle East, with further projects in the region also expected in the coming years.

The development will take shape on the banks of Dubai Water Canal, one of Dubais most iconic attractions, which opened last year, with the hotel and residences situated within the Marasi Business Bay, currently being developed by Dubai Properties Group.

It will cover a 12km waterfront promenade and will feature floating villas, a floating restaurant, pier and a marina.

Pictures released during the announcement give glimpses of what to expect. There will be no compromise on luxury and opulence, with a Presidential Suite, a sparkling swimming pool, and the Dorchester Collections trademark Imperial Suite. An Alain Ducasse restaurant will also grace the development with its presence.

Founded in London in 1931, The Dorchester hotel has welcomed prominent figures such as Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philips, Oprah Winfrey, Lady Gaga and Sir Elton John over the years. Iconic cities including Paris, Rome and Beverly Hills also house Dorchester Collection properties.Paul Bradley, like many Spanish and foreign residents living in Nerja at the time, was shaken by the murder of Cecilia Olivares on 28 September 2008. She was stabbed 15 times at the Biznaga cafe on Nerja's Balcon de Europa at 9.20am on that morning.

Her attacker was her ex-partner, Hicham B., originally from Morocco, who had previously been issued with a restraining order and should not have been in contact with Cecilia. They had been in a relationship for two years but had broken up six months before.

Police officers had been accompanying her to and from her home in the days before her murder because she was so frightened of what her ex might do. They had escorted her to work that day and left her minutes before her murder.An Iranian domestic airliner has crashed into the country's Zagros mountains, killing all 65 people on board, Iran's official news agency IRNA said.

Earlier reports said there were 66 people on board.

The flight had left Tehran Sunday morning for the city of Yasuj in Isfahan province, a flight of some 560 kilometers.

An Upstate New York mom who posted a video of a woman being kicked off a plane to Syracuse last week now says she feels bad for her.

Marissa Rundell, a 19-year-old mother from Rochester, shared video of an incident showing an angry passenger "screaming" at staff on a Delta Air Lines flight from New York's JFK Airport to Syracuse's Hancock Airport. The passenger was complaining about being seated near Rundell's 8-month-old baby.

The woman was identified last week as Susan Peirez, program director for the NY State Council on the Arts. She was placed on leave for her behavior.

"I kind of feel bad for this lady. I don't know her story, she doesn't know mine. It might have been a misunderstanding," Rundell told Inc. on Saturday. "I was sharing [the video] for family members, and it started going crazy."

Rundell has since removed the video from Facebook, but it was viewed nearly 2 million times on the social network and also shared on YouTube and news outlets. Rundell told the Daily Mail that the Feb. 6 incident began when Peirez boarded the plane and immediately began swearing and complaining about her seat.

"She came to the back and slammed her bags down. She said 'this is f----- ridiculous. It's bulls--- having to sit in the back of the plane,'" Rundell recalled.

When Rundell asked Peirez to stop swearing around her young son, Peirez allegedly said "shut the f--- up and shove it." Then Rundell began filming on her phone.

"I work for the governor," Peirez can be heard telling a flight attendant at the beginning of the video, referring to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. She said she refused to sit "near a crying baby."

"You may not have a job tomorrow," Peirez told a flight attendant. The attendant, who identified herself as Tabitha, then called for additional staff to remove Peirez from the plane.

A Delta spokesperson said the flight, operated by its subsidiary Endeavor Air, removed Peiriez because her "behavior toward a fellow customer on a flight from New York to Syracuse was not in keeping with those standards. We appreciate our Endeavor Air flight attendant's commitment to Delta's core values and apologize to the other customers on board Flight 4017 who experienced the disturbance."

An employee for the Council on the Arts said Peirez has been suspended for her behavior. Peirez has also been removed from the council's website.

"State employees are and must be held to the highest standard both professionally and personally. We were notified of this situation and have commenced an investigation. This employee has been removed from the office and placed on leave until further notice and until the inquiry is resolved," Director of Public Information Ronni Reich told Spectrum News on Thursday.

Reich did not respond to questions from syracuse.com when asked if Peirez was on paid or unpaid leave. According to WGRZ, Peirez makes approximately $95,000 a year for her work on the council.

Rundell told CBS News she doesn't regret sharing the video, but she does regret that it affected Peirez's job.

"This lady thought she was going to be rude to me and Mason now she has no way home today. Thank you to the lovely Delta flight attendant for not letting this women bully us," Rundell wrote on Facebook earlier this month.

"Karma is a b****."Only in America, a tiny minority gets its way on guns



To the Editor:



America, where there are no safe places away from guns: malls, churches, nightclubs, movie theaters, concerts and even schools.



America, the nation where the Second Amendment has more power than the Constitution and all other amendments combined.



America, where there are 88 guns for every 100 people, ranking us first in the world. Yemen is No. 2, with 55 guns per 100 people.



America, where 1.5 million people have died by guns since 1968, outpacing the 1.4 million who have died in wars since 1776.



America, where the shooter always has the element of surprise, therefore the upper hand.



America, where Russian bots have recently joined with the NRA to promote more guns by forcing Congress and the President to do nothing to work toward a solution of this gun problem.



America, where a tiny minority of Second Amendment proponents are far more powerful than the 90 percent who want the freedoms of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness more than the "freedom" to live in fear of an early death by violence.



How long do we allow this to continue?



Kathleen S. D'Amico

Cicero





What are schools doing to keep our kids safe?



To the Editor:



Another day, another school shooting. Who's to blame? Well, there are plenty of options to choose from. From lax measures to acquire a weapon, to the desensitization of society, there's plenty of blame to share. It's true that President Donald Trump made it easier for those with mental disorders to purchase a weapon, but it doesn't stop there. How many schools don't have a first line of defense against these modern-day killers? Have video games, which promote violence, had a hand in these callous, heinous acts? Are parents in tune with their children? Do schools do all they can do to stop bullying? Why don't kids want to tell on other kids when they see the warning signs? Until we can answer these questions, don't expect the assault on our children to stop anytime soon.



We can argue all day about "guns don't kill people, people kill people." At this point, I'm good with agreeing to disagree, because that is only a part of the big picture. The bottom line is, people who shouldn't have guns are getting them, and they are acting out against those we love and want to protect. It's time to look at the schools where our children attend, and ask, "How are you keeping my child safe?"



Daniel J. Mallon

Cayuga





Speak up against gun violence; make the Sandy Hook Promise

To the Editor:

Here we are again, mourning the loss of more innocent people to senseless violence.

We have had far too many moments of silence since Sandy Hook. Our children and community deserve real action to stop the epidemic of gun violence in our country. We're not alone and we're not helpless. There are many seemingly simple, yet powerful things we can do today!

More and more of our neighbors are uniting to bring the change we need. The phones in Congress are ringing off the hook with calls for commonsense gun reform, peaceful rallies are growing in numbers in cities across the country, and families and friends are gathering together in their own living rooms to talk about bringing violence prevention programs to their schools. The movement is growing, and we must keep growing it.

There is reason to have hope that we can prevent gun violence before it happens through sensible gun safety laws and programs in our schools and communities that help us identify the signs and signals before a shooting happens and intervene.

To keep this hope alive and bring the change we need, I am asking everyone to take two simple actions today. First, call your member of Congress today and ask that he or she support gun violence prevention legislation to keep guns out of dangerous hands. Secondly, Make the Promise at

and help bring Sandy Hook Promise's no-cost, violence prevention programs to our schools and community.

Maggie Iribarne

DeWitt

Parent would gladly pay for armed security guard at school

To the Editor:

Enough.

Seriously, enough.

Too many children have died.

Until our Congress and Senate, Republicans and Democrats alike, do something to reduce gun violence in our country, may I suggest the following.

Increased security.

I live in the Westhill School District. It has four schools. Without spelling out the math here, let me state with certainty that for an expenditure of $115,200

per school

for the entire district, we could hire full-time, armed, retired police officers to stand watch throughout the school day at each of the schools within the district. I am certain there are scores of well-trained retired law enforcement officers that would be eager to work in four-hour shifts and earn $20 per hour while doing so. Fully aware that ever increasing school taxes are an issue in every district, I am none the less certain that the residents of the Westhill district would be willing to pay an extra $15 to $20 in school taxes per year to implement this plan and dramatically increase the likelihood that our children would remain safe while focusing on their lessons.

Evidently there is another option. After the Florida school tragedy, my wife received a social media targeted ad offering reasonably priced bulletproof backpacks for our child to shield her in the event of a school shooting. We have reached that point.

So, as we wait for logic to take hold and American voters to state unequivocally that they will vote out of office any legislator who does not support significantly stricter gun control legislation, let us implement this plan.

I prefer this option over an improved backpack. My 15-year-old daughter's is heavy enough already.

Enough.

Richard Mulherin

Syracuse

Phil Hands / Tribune Content Agency



Focus on who's doing the shooting, not the guns they use



To the Editor:



It was sad to see the spectacle of Florida's Senior Democratic Senator, Clarence William (Bill) Nelson II, rush to the microphone soon after the Parkland, Florida, school shooting. He mouthed the remedy that is the standard by which the Democrats solve the problem: gun control (now with "spin" referred to as "gun safety"). The media and the demagoguery illustrated by the editorial cartoon in the Feb. 17, 2018 Post-Standard depicting a gun barrel labeled "gun culture" and the depiction of an NRA rep shoving people into the barrel while stating "The gods demand a sacrifice" goes a long way toward public disservice. Switzerland is the third-ranked country regarding the percentage of citizens who own guns. There has never been a school shooting in Switzerland.



Apparently, Senator Nelson and his Democratic legislative soul mates have either discounted, ignored or never read Leah Libresco's Washington Post commentary, "I used to think gun control was the answer. My research told me otherwise." Her conclusion: "We save lives by focusing on a range of tactics to protect the different kinds of potential victims and reforming potential killers, not from bans focused on the guns themselves."



The president and others in politics, law enforcement and medicine point to the lack of consideration and extreme concern for mental illness rather than AR-15's as being a major concern in thwarting school shootings and gun violence.



The issue at hand demands the shelving of rabid partisan politics and an intense focus on what best serves America -- a well-designed process for thwarting mayhem, murder and mass shootings. It should start with the recognition that we may be dealing with a cultural issue.



C. Braun

Camillus





Thoughts and prayers are useful if directed at Congress



To the Editor:



Another mass shooting, another round of thoughts and prayers. That standby sentiment made by our members of Congress, most notably those who proudly make public statements about the importance of their faith, is currently being roundly criticized as being an excuse to do nothing. It seems our politicians do not know what else to say.



Except, that is, to focus on mental illness -- which, historically, has been another excuse for them to do nothing. Even our own Rep. John Katko seems to think that is the key to stopping our nation's epidemic of mass shootings -- or, if nothing else, to put an end to openly discussing the issue.



But maybe the critics are wrong. Perhaps thoughts and prayers truly are in order. But instead of making that offering in the usual way (e.g., "our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the victims ...") it may be helpful for those in Congress to think and pray in a different way.



Here is my suggestion. Are you paying attention, Congressman Katko?



About the thoughts part. Think about what it is that has changed the most in the last few decades, from a time when mass murders were quite rare. It is not the occurrence of mental illness. We have always had mentally ill persons among us -- and most with mental illness are not violent. Many mentally ill persons are undiagnosed. And, quite often, mental illness, like all illnesses, is temporary. So, if the change is not a sudden appearance of mental illness, then what is it that has brought about the epidemic of mass shootings our society is afflicted with? Could it possibly be the easy availability of military-style firearms? Hmmmm.



Now about the prayers. I would never suggest that praying for comfort for the affected families should be set aside. I have participated in intercessory prayers on countless occasions and believe in its efficacy. But I suggest more -- much more.



Listen to the pleas from our nation's schoolchildren. Then, pray for wisdom, guidance and courage for yourself. Wisdom may help you see clearly what steps you can take that will have a clear impact. Guidance may help you understand how to take those steps. And courage may help you disregard the threats from people outside your district that have bucketfuls of cash to stuff into your campaign chest, to go against the grain of the strong manipulators in your legislative body, to disregard the words of the president, and do what needs to be done to put an end to this bloody, mindless series of massacres.



"And a little child shall lead them ..."



Rev. Bud Adams

Fayetteville





Adults must reach out to alienated, isolated young people



To the Editor:



In 1998, we began to teach "Emergency Response to Terrorism" at the Public Safety Training Center at Onondaga Community College. As with so many of the programs there at the time, it soon gained national recognition. The main reason was that we took the basic curriculum, added to it and improved upon it.



One improvement was the addition of an internet session. We would explore websites for terrorist and counter-terrorist organizations. It soon became clear that the terrorists were targeting the youth for recruitment.



I can recall the pain of adolescence. It was a tough time to get through with the pain of growing into who we could become. In my youth, we had friends, family and community to encourage us that it was normal and that we would get through it. Even in 1998, the internet was becoming an isolating force for kids. Instead of helping teens through the pain, these terrorist organizations would tell teens that the reason for the pain was someone/something else and that the answer was to fight back.



Some say that the pain and stress of adolescence is greater now than ever. Could be, but one thing is clear, the isolating force of the internet is greater than ever. Some teens, hopefully most, will grow through the pain and succeed. Some will turn to drugs and alcohol to deaden the pain. But, some will turn to those who have no desire to ease the pain but the build on it and use it for their purposes.



Many out there are taking advantage of the mass school shootings to enhance their political agendas. It is my hope, dream and prayer that some, perhaps you, would look at the root cause of the shootings -- the pain and isolation -- and then reach out to some hurting youth. Encourage them that the pain is normal. That, if they press through, they will have a successful adulthood. That isolation is not the answer. That their pain is not caused by "them," and that killing "them" will not end the pain.



Paul Tranchell

Liverpool





Australia took 'reasonable action' on guns; why can't we?



To the Editor:



Guns or children? Must we choose one or the other? We can have both, safely, with a little common sense. Look at countries like Australia, where mass shootings in the 1990's lead to a "National Firearms Agreement." Now gun owners are licensed (as we license drivers) and all guns are registered--yet anyone who's not on a "prohibited list" can still get a license and guns. Since those sensible controls were put into effect, Australia's experienced no mass shootings and gun violence has dropped dramatically.



They didn't take anyone's guns away; they simply took reasonable action to protect children (and adults).



The NRA bribes our legislators to prevent any reasonable action in this country. Contributions from the NRA are a bit like hush money. They're paying people to stay quiet -- despite the shooting deaths of hundreds of children. It's worth noting that two members of the House from our region, John Katko and Claudia Tenney, are among the top four recipients in New York state of NRA largesse, according to The Post-Standard. (Coincidentally, they're both co-sponsors of the "Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act," to allow gun owners to carry concealed weapons to another state, regardless of that state's laws.) They're obviously protecting guns; are they also protecting our children?



Craig Overbeck

Fayetteville

New York needs a 'Red Flag' law to prevent incidents like Parkland



To the Editor:



How many times will we have to read about yet another school shooting? In 2016, more than 1,600 American children were killed with guns. Plus, at least 6,000 were shot and injured, which is an average of 23 children shot every day in America. I don't believe that this is OK with anyone.



New York state has strong gun laws compared to a lot of other states. But there's one important law that we don't have, and it's one that could have prevented the shooting in Parkland, Florida. It's called an Extreme Risk Protection Order law, or a "Red Flag" law. As with many mass shooters, the gunman in Florida was known to law enforcement. His mom had called the police about his disturbing behavior. And he was known to have guns. If Florida had an Extreme Risk Protection Order law, it would have empowered family members and law enforcement to seek a court order to temporarily restrict his access to guns. This ERPO is used when a person poses a danger to themselves or others. Due process is respected -- a more permanent gun removal would be subject to a full hearing.



The New York state Legislature has an Extreme Risk Protection Order bill up for a vote. We all have to do everything we can to make sure there's not a tragedy like this again. Please ask your state representatives to support this common-sense bill.



Kevin P. McClave

Central New York Group Co-lead

Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America

SyracuseTo the Editor:



Re: "Diocese will compensate abuse victims" (Feb. 15, 2018): Why now? Has the Catholic Diocese had a change of heart with respect to the victims of sexual child abuse perpetrated by its clergy? Sadly, any hope this might be true is undermined with the cynicism it deserves. The timing of the compensation program administered by high-profile and highly paid attorneys makes it appear that it is more likely the diocese is merely circling the wagons to defend itself from, what the Post-Standard editorial described as, "growing momentum in Albany for legislation that would allow survivors of child sexual abuse who are past the statute of limitations to bring lawsuits." Settlements paid in public lawsuits under such legislation would provide an opportunity for victims to have accountability not offered under the diocese's secretive compensation program. Rather than "seeking forgiveness" and "healing for some," as Bishop Cunningham claims, it is more likely the diocese is primarily, if not solely, motivated to minimize financial risks and spin public opinion in its favor.



Meanwhile, the diocese is still protecting the identities of 11 priests who are credibly accused of committing multiple acts of child abuse in pursuit of their own sexual gratification. These priests remain at large with no accountability for their whereabouts or conduct and are free to victimize other children. Justice for victims of abuse by clergy requires full transparency, no matter what the financial or public image consequences for the diocese.



Wayne Palmeter

Fayetteville



James Roger Sharp is professor emeritus in the Department of History at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. Sharp has written extensively about the political history of the early Republic, including the book "The Jacksonians Versus the Banks."



By James Roger Sharp | Special to Syracuse.com



The United States is facing the most dangerous political crisis to our republic since the Civil War.

A portrait vignette of U.S. President James Madison by artist Gilbert Stuart. In 1787, at the Constitutional Convention, Madison argued for impeachment powers to protect the people "against the incapacity, negligence or perfidy" of the president.

It began in 2016 when the Russians caused chaos and massive disruption to our electoral process with their computer hacking, use of social media spreading disinformation to targeted audiences with thousands of repetitive messages, and anti-Hillary Clinton messages on RT (a Russian run international television network). Recently it was also revealed that they also had been successful in hacking into some states' voter registration files.

Perhaps most importantly, they were successful in helping to elect Donald Trump to the presidency, much to the surprise of the Russians, most Americans and Trump himself. This was an unprecedented, aggressive attack on our democracy and the CIA has recently warned that the Russians are at it again, attempting to influence the 2018 election. And despite a new round of sanctions on Russian actions overwhelmingly passed by Congress late last year, the White House has refused to enforce them.

We are living in abnormal times with no precedent in American history. The norms and constitutional safeguards at our disposal to check the power of the chief executive seem inadequate to the task of containing Trump.

The political system that has governed our politics for much of our past has provided a conservative, middle of the road, moderate politics with the two-party system of political parties evolving, changing and alternating in power. This system and the Constitution itself, with its checks and balances dividing authority between the legislative, executive and judicial branches, has meant that there also was an institutional dynamic that required a level of consensus to successfully pass legislation and to govern.

This seems to be no longer true. And while we've always had outliers, fringe political movements on the left or the right, today our nation has become dangerously polarized and the divisions are of a different magnitude.

A frenzy of suspicion and distrust has created an atmosphere of hate and fear. The result has undermined and brought into question the legitimacy of our democratic institutions.

And as Trump's actions, tweets, threats and public and private comments become more and more bizarre and frightening, there is an increasing discussion of actions that might limit his power or remove him from office.

There are two possible ways that President Trump could be removed from office. First, the 25th Amendment provides that if the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet notify Congress that "the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President." If the president contests this action, Congress must confirm the decision by the vice president and Cabinet by a two-thirds vote. If this fails, the president would resume his duties.

Impeachment would be the second alternative. The Constitution reads in Section 4, Article II, "The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high crimes and Misdemeanors." The House of Representatives has the power to impeach, but the Senate decides the guilt or innocence with the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court presiding. It takes a two-thirds vote to convict.

Presidents Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton were impeached, but the Senate failed to convict them. Impeachment proceedings were progressing against Richard Nixon until he resigned.

Thus, impeachment, while a Constitutional safeguard against the abuses of executive power, has rarely been used.

This would have surprised the Founding Fathers. Virginian James Madison's words, uttered over 200 years ago, resonate strongly to us today as if he were talking directly to us. It was, he argued at the Constitutional Convention, "indispensable that some provision should be made for defending the Community [against] the incapacity, negligence or perfidy of the chief Magistrate. The limitation of the period of his service, was not a sufficient security. He might lose his capacity after his appointment. He might pervert his administration into a scheme of peculation (embezzlement) or oppression. He might betray his trust to foreign powers."

The impeachment of Donald Trump, however, is not immediately near at hand. Republicans control both houses of Congress and have shown no appetite for confronting the president.

But, perhaps the most worrisome, is what will happen if there is a constitutional crisis provoked by a finding by the Special Counsel Robert Mueller that the president was guilty of certain crimes. Will this lead to a standoff with Trump, proclaiming any action against him as a "witch hunt" and based on "fake news," and part of an illegal and corrupt coup against him? How will his base of support respond -- those fervent True Believers who have been inundated with Trump's constant demonization of the media and institutions of government, such as the FBI and the Justice Department?

If we reach this perilous, unprecedented and unpredictable stage in our history, Congress and the judiciary must step up and defend and protect our republic, Constitution and the rule of law. For this to fail is too awful to fully contemplate.A new report says the New York Police Department has a weight problem.

Police sources tell The New York Post that fat cops are a ballooning issue for the NYPD, weighing them down for simple tasks like running up a flight of stairs or chasing a criminal suspect. Once cops graduate from police academy, there's no fitness rules.

"We really are the world's largest police department," one veteran cop complained to the publication. "We're the fattest police department in the country ... because we have no requirement to stay in shape."

Former cop Jose Vega told the Post that he filed a lawsuit for a job-related disability pension, because his weight soared from 180 to 395 pounds during 17 years on the force.

According to the Daily Mail, the department was especially embarrassed by a 2015 surveillance video showing two overweight NYPD detectives who were outrun by a shooting suspect -- while his hands were cuffed behind his back.

"You see some of these officers out there: They're fat, they're sloppy, they're disgusting and they're not healthy," another cop told the Post.

According to the newspaper, then-Police Commissioner Bill Bratton considered in 2015 implementing a British program that requires bobbies to pass fitness tests. However, law enforcement officials said the issue never moved forward because it would affect union contracts.

Even more vexing is that FDNY firefighters and emergency medical technicians are required to undergo annual physicals including weigh-ins, cardiac exams, blood tests, X-rays and hearing and vision checks. The Fire Department says anyone who doesn't meet official standards will be sidelined.

Other police departments include fitness requirements or even rewards. Chicago cops can get a $350 bonus for passing a fitness test, and Columbus, Ohio, authorities receive cash, holiday deals or ribbons.

"More needs to be done to address the physical and mental demands on police officers," Sergeants Benevolent Association president Ed Mullins told the Post.

"Fitness requirements would be a first step toward improving officers' health and conditioning throughout both their careers and lifetimes. Simply put, it's vital to officer safety."By David Fleshler and Megan O'Matz, Sun Sentinel (TNS)

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz sat with his head bowed, barely acknowledging his attorneys, during a brief hearing Monday in a heavily guarded Fort Lauderdale courtroom.

At issue was a motion filed under seal Friday by Cruz's defense team, two days after the shooting that left 17 dead at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. The sealed document was not described. The defense also signaled that they would want to keep future documents under seal.

Broward Circuit Court Judge Elizabeth Scherer agreed to a defense request to allow the motion to remain sealed, saying it concerned a narrow issue of attorneys' access to their client.

Prior to the judge's entrance, Cruz sat with his lawyers on either side. He appeared to sign a document, as one of his lawyers blocked the view with a legal pad. He nodded once or twice to acknowledge things they said to him, but otherwise stared down during the entire proceeding.

Earlier Monday morning, lead defense attorney Melisa McNeill had argued against requiring Cruz to be in court Monday afternoon for the hearing, saying his presence would just be "an opportunity for the media to have a circus with him."

But prosecutors wanted him in court, saying they didn't know what was in the motion so they could not waive the defendant's presence.Police made arrests in multiple communities across the country over threats of school shootings in the wake of the tragedy in Parkland, Florida last week.



Police in Wisconsin arrested a 17-year-old after he made statements about planning a shooting at Columbus High School, outside Madison. The student was arrested at his job in Columbus on Friday and jailed on charges of making terroristic threats, according to WMTV in Wisconsin.



The student made comments about planning to cause more casualties than the shooting in Parkland, which took place Feb. 14. Seventeen people died in the that incident.



The student was arrested after several people reported his comments to the district, WMTV said.



"The swift actions by students at the high school to report information to the administration was pivotal in the quick resolution," Columbus Superintendent Annette Deuman wrote in an email to parents, according to WMTV. "We thank them and are proud of them for reporting the information immediately."

In a separate incident, a man was arrested in Appleton, Wisconsin, outside Green Bay, for allegedly sending the FBI a message stating he planned to "shoot up the school," according to NBC 26.

Six people in different parts of Kentucky were arrested over the weekend for allegedly threatening schools in three different counties, according to the Lexington Herald Leader.



Two teens were charged with make terroristic threats after allegedly using the image of an uninvolved third person to make a threat on social media against schools in Jessamine County, outside Lexington.



A middle school student was taken into custody in Clay County after posting a threat on Facebook and three people were arrested in Knox County after also making threats on social media, the Herald leader said.



One of the incidents involved a photo of a boy with a handgun and text that read "Be ready for school monday in Jessamine County." Police determined the boy in the photo was not actually involved in making the threat.



Authorities in New York dealt with numerous threats after the Florida shooting last week as well.

Contact Kevin Tampone anytime: Email | Twitter | Google + | 315-454-2112Atlanta -- Police in Atlanta are seeking a driver for Uber Eats who allegedly shot and killed a customer over the weekend.



Ryan Thornton, 30, ordered food on Saturday using the Uber Eats app, according to WXIA in Atlanta. As he was walking away from the driver, some words were exchanged between the two.



Police said the driver fired several shots, hitting Thornton several times, according to WXIA. The driver then fled the scene in a white Volkswagen.



Thornton was taken to a hospital in critical condition where he later died. Police have not made any arrests yet, WXIA said.



Authorities are still investigating, according to NPR.



Thornton had graduated from Morehouse College in May and recently started a new job.



Uber Eats allows customers to order food from local restaurants and have it delivered to their homes in 37 North American cities. Drivers deliver the food by foot, bike and cars, according to NPR.



"We are shocked and saddened by this news," Uber spokesman Andrew Hasbun told NPR. "We are working with the Atlanta Police Department and our hearts go out to the families of those involved."



Uber's driver screening process includes a review of motor vehicle records and a criminal history search at the county, state and federal level. Uber also forbids its drivers from carrying firearms while working, although it's unclear how the company monitors that policy, NPR said.



Uber told NPR it would say more when an arrest is made.

Contact Kevin Tampone anytime: Email | Twitter | Google + | 315-454-2112President Donald Trump has criticized the top U.S. law enforcement agency for "missing signals" before a 19-year-old man carried out a mass shooting at a Florida high school last week.

"Very sad that the FBI missed all of the many signals sent out by the Florida school shooter. This is not acceptable," Trump tweeted Saturday evening. "They are spending too much time trying to prove Russian collusion with the Trump campaign -- there is no collusion. Get back to the basics and make us all proud!"

On Friday, the FBI admitted it did not act on a tipoff in January about Nikolas Cruz and his intentions six weeks before he killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, in Parkland, Florida. The FBI said someone with a close relationship to Cruz had called in information on Jan. 5 about the teenager's "gun ownership, desire to kill people, erratic behavior and disturbing social media posts, as well as the potential of him conducting a school shooting."

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions ordered an immediate review of how the Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation respond to warnings about potential mass killers.

The FBI had earlier said it received a report of a social media posting from a person identifying himself as "Nikolas Cruz," saying, "I'm going to be a professional school shooter." But the FBI said it could not determine the "time, location or true identity" of the person behind the message.

Meanwhile, Florida's state social services agency said in a report it had investigated Cruzs home life more than a year before last week's shooting rampage. But it closed the inquiry and concluded that his final level of risk is low, even though it learned he had behavioral problems and planned to buy a gun. Months after the state investigation was closed, Cruz bought the AR-15 assault-style rifle police say he used to carry out last week's massacre.

Several U.S. lawmakers are calling for stiffer background checks of gun buyers, but Congress has shown no inclination to stop the sale of assault weapons, even as national polls in the U.S. have shown widespread support among voters for such a ban.

Republican Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma told NBC's "Meet the Press," "I have no issue with more background checks. All the warning signs were there" about Cruz's mental state and intentions.

"The tragedy we saw in Parkland is unthinkable," Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent progressive from Vermont, told the same show. He said the loophole that allows 40 percent of guns sold in the U.S. to occur without background checks needs to be closed. Authorities, however, say Cruz bought the AR-15 legally after such a background check.

Cruz, who is being held at the Broward County jail without bond, has admitted carrying out the shooting rampage, according to authorities. Cruz, who had been expelled last year from the school for disciplinary reasons, faces 17 counts of premeditated murder.Tama County Ag Outlook, Sept. 3

August rain grows the grain. Throughout the last half of August, northeast and central Iowa has been blessed with timely rains just as the ...The terms of the agreement were released Friday by Wynn Resorts. Wynn resigned as CEO earlier this month amid sexual misconduct allegations.

A termination agreement between embattled casino mogul Steve Wynn and the company bearing his name shows that he won't receive any compensation and can't be involved in any competing gambling business for two years.

The billionaire has vehemently denied the allegations, which he attributes to a campaign led by his ex-wife.

As part of the agreement, Wynn also agreed to cooperate with any investigation or lawsuits involving his time with the company. He can have his attorney present. Wynn Resorts created a committee to investigate the sexual misconduct allegations.

As fallout from the allegations, Wynn also resigned as finance chairman of the Republican National Committee.Verizon expanded its prepaid plan offerings by introducing a $30-per-month option, though the terms of this new plan might not make it a popular choice among subscribers.

Verizon also made various changes to the rest of its prepaid plans, which do not require customers to sign annual contracts or go through credit checks.

New Verizon Prepaid Plan: Is It Worth It?

Through its official website, Verizon announced its cheapest prepaid line yet at only $30 per month. Like all other prepaid plans offered by Verizon, it comes with unlimited U.S. talk and text, carryover data for one month on prompt payments, a mobile hotspot feature, and unlimited text to over 200 international destinations.

However, the $30 prepaid plan only offers 500 MB of data per month. According to Verizon, that is enough for light data users, such as those who only mostly use their smartphones for text communication apps such as Messenger and for checking their e-mail. For customers who are heavy YouTube and Spotify users, the data allocation of this plan will run out quickly.

The low price of the $30 prepaid plan might be tempting to customers, but it should be noted that at just $10 more, the $40 prepaid plan already offers 3 GB of data, while the $50 prepaid plan offers 7 GB of data, the $60 prepaid plan offers 10 GB of data, and the $75 prepaid plan offers unlimited data.

Other Changes To Verizon Prepaid Plans

On top of the addition of the $30 prepaid plan, Verizon also made two changes to the Prepaid Unlimited plan. The price of the plan was reduced from $80 to $75, and it now offers a 3G hotspot feature, which was not previously allowed on the unlimited data plan. The tethering speed cap is only at 600 kbps, but it is still not a bad feature to have, especially as there will be no extra cost to subscribers.

Verizon also expanded the Travel Pass feature to prepaid plans. The feature, which will cost $5 per day, will allow subscribers to take their talk, text, and data with them as they leave the United States. Travel Pass for prepaid subscribers is currently available for trips to Canada and Mexico.

Verizon In The News

Verizon has been in the news a lot lately, with the carrier recently revealing that it will soon stop selling unlocked smartphones, just like all its rivals in the industry.

Last month, Verizon dropped plans to sell the Huawei Mate 10 Pro due to mounting political pressure, and it was on the receiving end of criticism from T-Mobile regarding its 5G network plans.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.Google has facilitated a trial to determine how efficient its location data is in helping 911 operators to pinpoint emergency calls with more precise accuracy.

The test, which involved tens of thousands of 911 calls over two months in a handful of U.S. states  including Texas, Tennessee, and Florida  delivered encouraging results.

Google Helps 911

As The Wall Street Journal reports, Google's test was performed in conjunction with West Corp. and RapidSOS, two companies connected to 911 centers. Currently, 911's system requires wireless carriers to provide location info for emergencies  but it's not always accurate. RapidSOS claims that with the help of Google, operators were able to acquire more accurate location data from about 80 percent of the test calls within the first 30 seconds.

Furthermore, Google's sophisticated technology also diminished the radius of a given caller's location  down to 121 feet from 522. Unsurprisingly, it also arrived faster than data from wireless carriers.

How Google's Location Data Could Help 911

About 10,000 lives a year could be saved if even only a minute is saved in response times. Improved location data might also help dispatchers in emergencies where, say, the caller doesn't speak much English, is bumbling through their speech because of sheer anxiety, is unable to provide an accurate description of their whereabouts, or can't speak properly and give out certain information because they're under duress.

911 directors who participated in the trials said Google's location data is a major improvement.

"There was a big difference," said Jennifer Estes, 911 director in Loudon County, Tennessee, who cited a non-English speaker as an example of how location data could speed up tracking. Without Google's technology, "we would have had to keep working with her to figure out where she was."

Google's location data technology is currently active in 14 countries worldwide, most prominently in Europe. Google said it hopes to adopt the technology in its home country sometime this year.

It's worth noting that this isn't the first time where Google has put its location data tech into good use during emergency calls. Last year, the search company made improvements to its Phone app on Android so that the user's location is automatically displayed whenever they call 911 for an emergency. That's a small yet clever security measure that could save lives.

Thoughts about Google working with 911? As always, feel free to sound off in the comments section below!

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.Instant screenshot editing is now a built-in feature of the Google app, allowing users to immediately apply tweaks and then share images directly captured on Android mobile devices.

The mini editor is set to be released with version 7.21 of the Google application, which according to 9to5Google is currently in beta build. It remains unknown when the final cut will be made public but the feature is ready to test drive for anyone wanting to do so.

Since the new functions will be deployed as part of the Google app and not a feature bump for Android, it's important to note that screenshot editing and quick sharing can only be made inside of the application. The tool only works when the Google app is active or when viewing websites launched from the Feed section.

How It Works

To activate the feature, access the Google app Settings menu then scroll through the Accounts and Privacy section. Inside and down to the line of items listed, there is an option that says "Edit and share screenshots." Tapping on it will make the feature start on its works.

With the feature in active status, each time a screenshot is captured, a small menu panel will automatically slide from the bottom of the screen, offering to either share the image or perform some edits first. When the choice is to make changes, users can then proceed to crop and doodle, the latter for highlight effects, on their masterpiece and when done, simply tap on the center-located check mark.

The edited work will be saved and users will then be prompted to share the image. Take note that the option to edit and share following a screenshot capture can be bypassed from the start, which is done by swiping away or scrolling down the panel.

Feature Improvements

It's quite obvious that this latest Google app feature is still on infancy stage, indicating that there will be improvements to come in future versions. One possibility is that the function could be incorporated within the Android OS and when it happens, it will be available outside of the application, thus making for a more powerful screenshot editor.

Google heading to this direction is not entirely remote as Android's rival mobile platform, Apple's iOS, already offers the same capability with the iOS 11 rollout. In the iPhone and iPad counterpart, users can readily apply filters and edit works on captured screenshots outside of the Photo app because the feature is OS-integrated.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.Six Israeli researchers on Sunday concluded their four-day mock Mars mission in the Negev desert, where they conducted a habitat experiment to simulate the living conditions on the Red Planet.

Mock Mars Mission

The mission was conducted in a D-MARS (Desert Mars Analog Ramon Station) facility near the isolated Mitzpe Ramon, where the surroundings resemble the environment in Mars in terms of appearance, geology, aridity, and desolation.

During the simulations, the so-called Ramonauts consumed food from capsules, lived in confined quarters, and wore spacesuits every time they leave their pod to conduct experiments. They conducted investigations on the psychological effects of isolation, satellite communications, and radiation measurements. They also searched for signs of life in soil.

"One of the challenges we are trying to crack is building a spaceship and a motor that can fit in the long journey, the effect of cosmic rays on humans, leading and building a structure , living in a small isolated group, communicating with the Earth," said Avi Balesberger, director of the Israeli space agency.

Objectives Of The Project

Nuclear physicist Guy Ron, from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, who was one of the six scientists who took part in the Mars habitat experiment, said that the objective of the project was not limited to finding new approaches that can help prepare for a future Mars mission. It also aims to increase public interest.

"D-Mars is half about the research, and the other half is about the outreach. A major part of this project is getting public interest and getting students interested in space," Ron said.

Organizers of the D-Mars project hope that the mission in the Negev desert would place Israel in the forefronts of human space exploration.

"Establishing the D-MARS space analog mission in the Negev Desert will allow Israel to make a significant contribution to the world-wide effort to prepare humanity for the exploration of the planet Mars and our solar system, while also benefiting the economy, technology development and educational community of the state of Israel as a whole," the D-Mars project website reads.

Mars Simulation Projects

The D-Mars project is one of the Mars simulation projects being undertaken worldwide. Another mock Mars mission has also just started in Hawaii.

The Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation (HI-SEAS) project, which aims to determine how humans will be able to endure the isolation of a Mars mission, includes participants from Korea, Australia, Slovakia, and Scotland. The researchers began their eight-month stay inside a dome habitat on top of the Mauna Loa, the world's largest active volcano, last week.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.Samsung has an oversupply of OLED panels as rumors indicate the iPhone X is selling poorly. The company is hunting for new buyers, a new report said.

The supply glut was supposedly caused by the Korean tech company's earlier decision to ramp up the production of organic light-emitting diode panels for the 2017 Apple flagship phone. However, the handset apparently did not excite in the same way as the previous iPhone releases and Apple reportedly cut down both on production and OLED orders.

As a result, Samsung now faces "excess production capacity," also brought about by Android device makers' slow transition from LCD to OLED. The problem underscores an over-projection on the company's part that it is now "casting about for new customers," Nikkei reported.

"Samsung is increasingly selling OLED panels to outside clients," the Japanese publication reported.

Bleak OLED Prospects

Adding to the company's woes is the expanding OLED panel production as Chinese and South Korean industry rivals step up on efforts to flood the market with the material. Nikkei said competitors such as BOE Technology Group, Tianma Microelectronics, and LG Display have been firing up OLED production facilities in quick successions, which likely will heat up the pricing competition.

The China-based OLED makers, for instance can produce the panels with greater speed and still sell them at lower market price, giving further headaches to Samsung.

Already facing the prospect of significantly shaved off profits, the company can only hope that device makers other than Apple will soon make the jump to OLED. However, with the cost of using OLED over LCD still relatively expensive, midrange brands like Oppo and Vivo are unlikely to switch if only to keep selling handsets at affordable price points, Nikkei said on its report.

The iPhone X Factor

One thing that could shore up Samsung is for the iPhone X to pick up on sale as every unit of the device that flies off the shelves would translate to profits for the Korean manufacturer. Estimates indicate that for each iPhone X assembled, Apple pays up to $120 for the OLED panel that Samsung exclusively delivers.

Oddly though, the iPhone X sales falling behind expectations is hardly supported by facts, at least if the basis is the recent earnings report issued by Apple. The company, through Apple CEO Tim Cook, has maintained that the iPhone X dominated the sales charts since it started shipping in November 2017.

The company's claim was backed by its latest quarterly results that pointed to the iPhone X as the biggest revenue generator of the 2017 lineup. If indeed the handset model is doing well as Cook has insisted, then Samsung's OLED-related problems could have been caused by a variety of other market factors, AppleInsider suggested in a related report.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.The contingent pushing to make Pluto a planet again may have gained its most valuable ally: a six-year-old girl from Ireland who wrote a letter to NASA.

In 2006, Pluto was reclassified into a dwarf planet by the International Astronomical Union, bringing the planets of the solar system down to eight. The adorable six-year-old, however, wants to bring that number back up to nine.

The Girl Who Wrote To NASA To 'Make Pluto A Planet Again'

Six-year-old Cara O'Connor, who dreams of one day becoming an astronaut, wrote a letter to NASA urging the space agency to once again classify Pluto as a planet.

Cara wrote that she listened to a certain song with the lyrics of "bring Pluto back" at the end, and that was something that she "would really like to happen." The six-year-old girl then went into detail about how Pluto was bumped down into being a dwarf planet.

"I would really like it if everyone at NASA could please change your minds and make Pluto a planet again," Cara wrote. She said that she wants to discover her own planet that she will call Planet Unicorn and will like to visit all the "main planets," including Pluto.

"I am hoping that one day I can become an astronaut and work for [you] at NASA, but you need to fix this problem for me," wrote Cara before ending her letter with a wish that NASA would write back to her.

Cara's letter, of course, received a response. James Green, the director of the Planetary Science Division of NASA, wrote back to Cara, complimenting the six-year-old on her interest in Pluto.

"I hope that you will discover a new planet, and I trust that if you continue to do well in school we will see you at NASA one of these days," wrote Green, likely setting up Cara's life goals for the next couple of decades.

Will Pluto Become A Planet Again?

In February 2017, NASA released a proposal for new definition for planets that will increase the chances that Pluto will soon be reinstated as one.

Pluto has never been out of the minds of researchers, with a detailed animation based on the flyover by NASA's New Horizons spacecraft in July 2015 released in July 2017. In September last year, the International Astronomical Union also approved the official names of certain features on Pluto's surface.

The interest in Pluto may just be the first steps in bringing back its planetary status, but it would take a cold heart to deny Cara's request.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.Former St. Louis Cardinals reliever Oh Seung-hwan failed to see his proposed deal with the Texas Rangers concluded, according to U.S. media reports.

MLB.com on Saturday said that a potential deal between the Rangers and Oh had been called off. The club did not disclose the reason.

According to the Dallas Morning News, however, "There were disconcerting issues that came up on the MRI of his arm."

In 2016, Oh, who earlier played in Korea and Japan, signed a one-year contract with the St. Louis Cardinals worth up to US$11 million with an option for a second season.

He is now a free agent as his contract with the Cardinals ended after two years. He may still try to find another club, but local media said that could be difficult if the Rangers turned him down for medical reasons.

Scientists from the Northwestern University have produced Band-Aid-like throat patches that monitor and track the long-term recovery of stroke survivors. They include motion sensors that detect muscle movement and vocal cord vibrations to determine how well a person is coping after suffering from a stroke.

Data picked up by these sensors could help doctors in diagnosing and monitoring the effectiveness of certain treatments for conditions such as the ability to speak or swallow, which are frequent signs of a person's post-stroke state.

Throat Sensors For Stroke Patients

Researchers made the groundbreaking news on Feb. 17 during a news conference at the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The throat sensors were developed in the lab of Northwestern University professor John A. Rogers in collaboration with Shirley Ryan AbilityLab  a "translational" research hospital based in Chicago.

The throat sensors stick directly to the skin and it moves as the body moves, gathering crucial data and health metrics such as muscle activity, heart function, and the quality of an individual's sleep.

"Stretchable electronics allow us to see what is going on inside patients' bodies at a level traditional wearables simply cannot achieve," said Rogers. "The key is to make them as integrated as possible with the human body."

More Effective Than Microphones

Typically, speech/language pathologists use microphones to record sound, but the patches are a significant step up because instead of recording sounds, they sense tissue movement, which delivers more accurate data, as microphones frequently can't distinguish between the patient and ambient noise. The patches won't have this problem, Rogers assured.

"You can be next to an airplane jet engine. You're not going to see that in the signal."

User-Friendly

Now, the researchers are trying to make the sensors less unseemly, as stroke patients would probably be apprehensive of wearing something that sticks out too much. For instance, they could make the patches more motion-sensitive to a point where they can be applied on a lower region of the neck  so it could easily be covered up by certain clothes  and still be able to pick up motion.

Arun Jayaraman, a Shirley Ryan AbilityLab scientist, said one of the most significant problems with stroke survivors is their gains tending to diminish upon leaving the hospital. The throat sensors could turn that around entirely.

"With the home monitoring enabled by these sensors, we can intervene at the right time, which could lead to better, faster recoveries for patients," said Jayaraman.

According to Rogers, the sensors could enter mainstream use within the next year or two.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.Ahead of the Tomb Raider film reboot in March, a Lara Croft doll from Mattel will hit the store shelves soon with the preorders going live on Feb. 19.

The release of the merchandise, which IGN first reported, is in line with the upcoming debut of the new Tomb Raider movie starring Alicia Vikander. This indicates that the Lara Croft will feature the likeness of Vikander and not of Angelina Jolie, the first Hollywood actress to portray the iconic video game character.

"Mattel will be unveiling the doll at the Mattel Collector event during the New York Toy Fair ... The presale begins (Feb. 19) on Barbie.com, and collectors will be able to purchase the doll for $29.99," the online publication reported.

The Package Contents

The doll will jump out of the box, bearing the usual character package headlined by the familiar outfit seen by millions in the video game and movie versions. As if to preserve the popularized look of Lara Croft, her Mattel-crafted likeness will also feature the wrapped white bandages - one on the right arm and another on the left leg.

The toymaker will include some accessories such as a map, ax, journal, and doll stand to go with the product plus a Certificate of Authenticity. The latter document seems to indicate that Mattel is hoping for the Lara Croft doll to end up a collector's item.

It is unclear, however, if the doll's availability will be on limited status, which possibly will be dictated by consumers' reception.

Lara Croft Incarnations

Likewise, it is hard to predict how hardcore fans of the beloved game character will react to Mattel giving a touch of Barbie to Lara Croft. It could be that there will be howls of disapproval to arise but for the more accepting sectors, the doll could serve specific purposes.

For one, it would be a fine addition that will complete an avid fan's Lara Croft collectibles. In this respect, it's refreshing to note that Mattel's take on Lara Croft is the younger version in keeping with the reboot treatment of the upcoming movie.

Coming from Vikander, it was hinted that the Tomb Raider remake will trace the origin of the character, which again is in line with the new video game that is rumored for a 2018 summer release date. According to the actress, the new movie will tell the beginning of Lara Croft.

"She has all the fierce, tough, curious, intelligent traits ... But we've stripped away all of her experience. She hasn't gone on an adventure just yet. She thought she was a stuck up businessperson living in the modern youth culture of suburban London, but then this whole box of information. This is the beginning," Vikander said in an interview.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.The Google Pixel 2 XL rapid charging apparently doesn't work if the temperatures get below 20 degrees Celsius (68 degrees Fahrenheit).

Just recently, Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 owners reported that the February security patch also brought some issues along as their handsets would overheat and the battery would drain faster after the update.

Pixel 2 XL Rapid Charging Issues

The latest reports point to some battery issues as well, but a different kind. As it turns out, the rapid charging is not so rapid after all if the Pixel XL 2's battery gets too cold. The smartphone will still display the "charging rapidly" status, but if the battery temperature drops below 20 degrees Celsius or 68 degrees Fahrenheit, the phone will charge at roughly 3 or 4W.

That's significantly lower than the rate at which it should be. The fast-charging rate for USB Type-C Power Delivery normally peaks at 18W and drops to 10.5W as the battery nears a complete charge. At 4W, the charging rate is dramatically lower, which makes the "charging rapidly" claim extremely misleading.

One user notes on Google's support forum that their smartphone charged just 14 percent in 50 minutes. After using the device for a couple of minutes, however, rapid charging worked again and the device started charging at the rate it should be. Using the phone automatically warms it up a bit, which explains why it started charging rapidly afterward.

It would make sense for the phone to throttle the charging process if the battery overheats so that it would avoid a fire hazard. However, lower charging rates at lower temperatures are a bit puzzling, especially since it's not about freezing temperatures or extreme cold. What's even more puzzling is the fact that the charging indicator is inaccurate, saying that it's charging rapidly when it clearly is not.

No Solution Yet For Pixel 2 XL Charging Issue

Google is reportedly looking into the matter but has yet to get to the bottom of things. The company has yet to determine what is causing this issue, but it's expected to figure things out soon enough and provide a fix, or at least a workaround.

For now, Pixel 2 XL users experiencing slow charging rates at lower temperatures might want to try using the smartphone for a bit so it gets warmer. Once the battery temperature rises above 20 degrees Celsius, it should resume rapid charging at normal rates.

Have you experienced any trouble with the Google Pixel 2 XL rapid charging? Share your experience in the comments section below.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.Hwang was spotted in footage shown on North Korean state television on Thursday during a ceremony marking the birthday of nation founder Kim Il-sung. Hwang was also standing in line with other senior officials during a visit to the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun in Pyongyang, which houses Kim's embalmed corpse.

North Korea watchers believe Hwang Pyong-so completed an "ideological re-education" course and was reinstated.

The former chief of North Korea's Army politburo, who was believed to have been purged late last year, has appeared in public again.

A government official here said Sunday, "Judging by the ranks of the officials next to him, Hwang Pyong-so appears to have been stripped of his military status and reinstated as a Workers Party official."

Hwang spearheaded efforts to make Kim Jong-un the heir to the North Korea's throne and at first gained the young leader's trust, whose second-in-command he was at one time thought to be.

But he became locked into a power struggle with Choe Ryong-hae, who is now the No. 2 man but was at one point sent to a re-education camp.

As soon as Choe was back in power, he avenged himself on his persecutors and purged Hwang instead.

"Kim Jong-un's style of leadership is characterized by having another subordinate sack the No. 2 official if he becomes too powerful," a source here said. "Hwang's reinstatement follows the same pattern."

Ken Gause, a specialist at the Center for Naval Analyses, forecast recently that Kim will reinstate Hwang in order to keep Choe in check.

Korea has been included on a list of 12 steel-exporting countries recommended for U.S. tariffs to protect America's ailing steel industry. Industry insiders here say steel exports to the U.S. would come to a screeching halt if Washington decides to accept the recommendation. The U.S. Commerce Department recommended slapping a 53-percent tariff on steel imports from the 12 countries.

The problem is that Korea is the only key U.S. ally to have been recommended for the 53-percent tariff. Other countries like Canada, Mexico, Germany and Taiwan, which either export more or the same amount of steel to the U.S., were not on that list. The government has no idea why Korea is on the list though it is a key U.S. ally and signatory of a free trade agreement with Washington. The U.S. Commerce Department cites various factors including that "the quantities and circumstances of steel and aluminum imports threaten to impair the national security," but has not come up with any convincing proof. Germany, whose steel exports to the U.S. grew 40 percent from 2011 to 2017 compared to a 42-percent increase for Korea, is not included. And Taiwan's steel exports to the U.S. surged 113 percent over that period.

Two things are clear when it comes to the Trump administration's protectionism -- that Korea is becoming the target of excessive tariffs that bear no relation to the amount of trade between the two countries, and that the issue is not a serious concern for the Moon Jae-in administration. Korea is the only country whose trade surplus with the U.S. declined markedly last year. But Trump keeps banging on about how unfair everything is and singling out Korea purely because he had made it a theme of his ill-informed stump speeches.

The U.S. slapped a preliminary 45-percent tariff on Korean machinery imports and initiated safeguards against Korean washing machines. It also threatened to slap punitive tariffs on Korean TV sets and is considering similar measures on Korean cars. At this rate, there will be precious little left of the Korea-U.S. FTA that went into effect in 2012.

Trade ministry officials held an emergency meeting on Saturday with the heads of local steelmakers, but the only response they came up with was to "continue negotiating with and convincing" U.S. trade officials. But the U.S. Commerce Department started investigating the issue in April of last year. What has the government been doing since then? How much interest does it have in this issue? Perhaps the government should focus more on bread-and-butter matters instead of fixating on grand populist schemes that are fooling nobody.

13 killed in minister's quake zone copter crash



By Joshua Howat BERGER



Mexico City (AFP) Feb 17, 2018



A 7.2-magnitude earthquake that rattled Mexico on Friday triggered a tragedy when a minister's helicopter killed 13 people during a crash-landing on the way to the epicenter.

The UH-60 Black Hawk military helicopter landed on its side, crushing a van.

There were no reported casualties from the quake itself, which damaged buildings.

The chopper was carrying Interior Minister Alfonso Navarrete and Oaxaca state Governor Alejandro Murat, who were unharmed, President Enrique Pena Nieto said.

"Unfortunately, multiple people on the ground lost their lives and others were injured," he wrote on Twitter late Friday.

On Saturday the Oaxaca prosecutor's office said five women, four men, and three children were killed by the helicopter, while another victim died en route to hospital.

Fifteen other people were injured, the office said in a statement.

Rescuers quickly swarmed the accident site searching for survivors.

Navarrete told the Televisa TV network that the helicopter pilot lost control of the aircraft about 40 meters (130 feet) above the ground as it was coming in to land.

He added that some passengers were hurt.

The helicopter went down in the southwestern town of Pinotepa de Don Luis -- 37 kilometers (22 miles) from the quake epicenter, according to the US Geological Survey.

About 50 homes in the nearby town of Santiago Jamiltepec were damaged, as well as the town hall and church, but no one was killed in the quake, the interior ministry said.

Oaxaca state authorities opened shelters for those affected, and nearly 6,000 soldiers and federal police were deployed to help with the emergency response.

Both Mexico's National Seismological Service and the US Geological Survey put the quake's magnitude at 7.2.

It struck at 5:39 pm (2339 GMT) at a relatively deep 24.7 kilometers, said the USGS.

- Panic and flashbacks -

The earthquake came less than six months after two quakes killed hundreds of people in the country.

On September 7, an 8.2-magnitude earthquake shook the nation and killed 96 people, mostly in the states of Oaxaca and Chiapas.

Then on September 19 -- the 32nd anniversary of a 1985 quake that killed 10,000 -- a 7.1-magnitude quake hit the country, leaving 369 people dead.

Friday's quake triggered Mexico City's alarm system and caused buildings to sway in the capital. It was also felt in the states of Guerrero, Puebla and Michoacan.

Panicked residents flooded the streets, fearing a repeat of last September's deadly quakes.

"To be honest, we're all pretty upset. We start crying whenever the (earthquake) alarm goes off," 38-year-old publicist Kevin Valladolid told AFP through tears after fleeing his building in La Roma, in central Mexico City.

"We're stressed out, we have flashbacks. So we run out into the street. It's all we can do."

Patients from a nearby hospital were forced outside, some in wheelchairs or carting their IV lines. Similar scenes played out in Veracruz.

On the north side of Mexico City, Julia Hernandez said she felt like she was "in a boat" as the ground swayed beneath her feet.

"Is it ever going to stop?" she said.

Standing in the middle of the street, her eyes glued to her fifth-floor apartment, Graciela Escalante, 72, could hardly speak.

"It was terribly strong. We barely managed to get down the stairs. It was the longest staircase in the world," she told AFP.

"We thought everything was going to collapse again."

- Seismic hotbed -

Officials in affected states said they were inspecting buildings damaged by last year's quakes, which are especially vulnerable to collapse.

"Obviously people are afraid," said the emergency response chief for the city of Puebla, Gustavo Ariza.

Pena Nieto tweeted that the National Emergency Committee had been activated because of the magnitude of the quake.

Mexico sits at a spot where five tectonic plates come together, making it particularly vulnerable to earthquakes.



Related Links

Bringing Order To A World Of Disasters

A world of storm and tempest

When the Earth Quakes





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Ensure continuous administration of vaccines to prisoners: HC to Kerala govt

The court's order came after the state government informed it that there were only 4,808 prisoners in the prisons in Kerala and that majority of them have been given the first dose of vaccination.GONZALES  In November, at its one-year mark as a place where women just out of treatment for addiction can get help rebuilding their lives, a "sober living" house in Gonzales received a priceless gift.

A group of volunteers with an Ascension Chamber of Commerce program called Leadership Ascension offered to devote their energies to helping both the residents of the house and the facility itself.

"We were looking for a project we could all be passionate about," said Nikki Black, one of the volunteers.

They found it, she said, with the Each Day a New Beginning house that opened in November 2016 on North Pleasant Avenue in Gonzales, serving women recovering from addiction.

"We kind of adopted them," Black said of the home's founders and residents. "As soon as we met the ladies at the house, we knew 'this is it.'"

The founders are Dorene Bloodworth, Jeanette Cox and Renee Mire Michel, who openly describe themselves as recovering alcoholics, each with some 30 years of sobriety.

In 2016, they formed the Each Day a New Beginning limited liability partnership and leased the five-bedroom, 3-bath house to serve 15 women at a time.

+2 Hopes for Gonzales home for women recovering from addiction become reality GONZALES  It took three women, big hopes and a phone call out of the blue to create a home  due to open next month  where women coming out 

The residents are required to look for jobs and work while at the house and also attend recovery meetings in the area. Residents can stay for up to six months, but individual situations may call for more time.

"We've had approximately 70 women come through our door since we opened," Bloodworth said.

"We've had some real success stories," she said. "We've also had the heart-breaking ones where people thought they were ready" for a sober-living home but weren't.

"We have allowed them to come back, if they're serious," Bloodworth said. "We've let them come back two, maybe three times."

If it doesn't work for the person after that, "our sober living home doesn't have what it is they need," she said.

On the other hand, Bloodworth did note that "our first woman in this house is now living in Florida and is the manager of a daycare, something she always wanted to do."

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Another former resident now works at an addiction treatment center in Lafayette and has been able to bring her two young children home again, Bloodworth said.

Black, the Leadership Ascension team member, said she and her fellow volunteers  Kate MacArthur, Lacie Troxclair, Mindy Murray, Tisha Dooley, Jeremy Sanderford, Alexis Roberts, Ron Savoy, Anthony Keller, Seth Arceneaux and team mentor Tiffany Shelton  are working with the home's founders on a number of projects.

The team is one of several in the Chamber program designed to prepare community leaders through volunteer projects.

"A few of our goals are geared toward personal development for the women in financial education and goal setting that would be rewarded with scholarships," Black said.

The Leadership Ascension team is also working with a Baton Rouge attorney to help the sober living home obtain nonprofit status.

And, the volunteers want to provide an attractive outdoor space for the residents of the home, making use of its spacious backyard as a place to "enjoy fresh air and reflect," Black said.

To that end, volunteers turned out on Feb. 16-17 to build a new deck. The home's residents took part, too.

"They're very involved with everything we're doing," Black said of the residents. "They just all come together and are such a support system for each other."

On April 21, the volunteers and the New Beginning house will hold a Spring in the Park Family Fun Day from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. in Jambalaya Park in Gonzales. The event will be a fundraiser with karaoke, a battle of the bands, children's activities, snacks and crafts.

Danielle Beauvais, who has lived at the New Beginning home since August, found a job at a Tanger Outlet Center retailer last week.

"I was honest with them about my alcoholism," said Beauvais.

She said the New Beginning house is "different than other houses, because the women who run it actually care about you, like mothers."

On Valentine's Day this year, Beauvais wrote a poem, titled "To My Disease," that she calls a "breakup letter" with addiction.

It reads in part: "You thought you would destroy me, but God has set me free."PORT ALLEN  A West Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's deputy who was fatally gunned down by her neighbor, who also killed the deputy's 20-year-old daughter before turning the gun on himself, could be getting a portion of a state highway named in her honor.

State Rep. Major Thibaut, D-New Roads, has prefiled a bill asking state legislators to designate the portion of La. 415 from Interstate 10 to La. 76 in Port Allen as the "Corporal Donna LeBlanc Memorial Highway" during the upcoming regular session, which convenes March 12.

West Baton Rouge Sheriff Mike Cazes in reaction to the news said it would be an "extreme honor" if the state Legislature honored LeBlanc in that way.

"I think it's a honor for them to recognize the first female who worked her way up through the sheriff's office from being a dispatcher," Cazes said. "She was the first road deputy I lost in my career as sheriff. So I'll be supporting this 100 percent."

+12 Authorities: WBR deputy died trying to protect family; why it happened still a mystery GLYNN -- It remained a mystery Wednesday what sparked the argument leading to the fatal shootings of West Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Deputy 

Thibaut said he was contacted my Leblanc's husband and other family members asking if he would consider submitting the bill requesting state lawmakers to dedicate the part of La. 415 she regularly patrolled after the slain deputy.

LeBlanc was killed on Sept. 27, 2016, outside of her home in Pointe Coupee Parish when she became involved in an argument and shootout with a neighbor who authorities said was suffering from mental issues.

Gregory Phillips, who lived across the street, had past tension with Leblanc's family and on the afternoon of the killing he went over to LeBlanc's house for some unknown reason and knocked on the door to find Leblanc's older daughter, Carli LeBlanc, at home with her younger sister, who was 9 at the time.

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Carli LeBlanc locked her sister inside the home while she spoke with Phillips on the front porch. Donna LeBlanc, who was off duty that day, pulled up moments later, getting into an argument with Phillips before he retreated to his truck and pulled out a .223 assault-type rifle, exchanging gunfire with the deputy.

After fatally shooting Donna LeBlanc, Phillips turned the gun on Carli LeBlanc, killing her before shooting himself after he couldn't gain entry into the home where Donna LeBlanc's 9-year-old daughter was hiding.

Donna LeBlanc worked with the West Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office for 22 years, serving as a dispatcher and booking officer before becoming a road supervisor for the last 17 years of her life.

During her career, she received a lifesaving award from the Louisiana State Police for pulling a man out of a burning vehicle at the intersection of La. 415 and Rosedale Road.

Thibaut said LeBlanc is fondly remembered and well known by all the business owners and their employees along the stretch of La. 415 she routinely worked.

Thibaut expects his bill to glide through the state Legislature for approval this spring.

"We rename portions of state highways and bridges like this all the time," he said. "And I believe it's important we memorialize her in this way. She was an integral part of the community."The war of words between Louisiana's attorney general and a former state senator over who should represent Louisiana's contractor licensing board rages on in state district court in Baton Rouge.

Larry Bankston, a convicted felon who was temporarily disbarred, sued state Attorney General Jeff Landry's office last month for refusing to approve his contract extension as legal counsel for the Louisiana State Licensing Board for Contractors  a position he had held since early 2016.

Landry, a Republican who has repeatedly clashed with Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards, initially questioned whether a felon should be allowed to work for the state. He also cited Bankston's prior disbarment as a lawyer.

+2 AG Jeff Landry criticizes hiring of felon for board attorney In an escalating feud, state Attorney General Jeff Landry asked Gov. John Bel Edwards' administration to justify why a felon should serve as 

"While these issues alone were sufficient grounds to reject the board's prior contract with Bankston & Associates , the Attorney General nevertheless approved the contract in light of a strong endorsement of Mr. Bankston by the Governor's Office," Landry's attorneys stated in documents filed earlier this month in the court battle between the attorney general and Bankston. The case is being heard by state District Judge Wilson Fields.

Bankston, a Democrat, is an ally of Edwards.

Later, however, Landry's office raised conflict-of-interest concerns after Bankston rendered a legal opinion that wound up initially disqualifying the top two bidders for a huge contract to manage Louisiana's $1.6 billion flood-recovery program.

Bankston told the state's contractor licensing board that companies vying for the contract needed to have a residential contractor's license  something that three of the five bidders did not have. The board agreed with him.

Bankston, though, did not disclose to the board that his son works for an affiliate of the bidder ranked No. 3, SLSCO. When the top two bidders, IEM and PDRM, were thrown out, that firm suddenly was poised to get the more than $300 million worth of work.

The Advocate first reported Ben Bankston's relationship to the third-place applicant.

IEM, which was initially awarded the contract, was again awarded the lucrative disaster management contract after it was rebid.

"Mr. Bankston's conduct in regards to the recovery program bids resulted in substantial adverse publicity, and created, at a minimum, the appearance of impropriety," Landry's lawyers wrote in their court filing earlier this month. "It also cast doubt about the state's handling of its flood recovery efforts."

Bankston's attorney, Mary Olive Pierson, fired back in a court filing last week, calling Landry's claim of an undisclosed conflict of interest "fake news."

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Former state Sen. Larry Bankston sues AG Jeff Landry for failing to approve contract extension Former state Sen. Larry Bankston has filed a lawsuit against Attorney General Jeff Landry for what he calls Landry's "obvious abuse" of his of

Pierson argues the legal opinion in question "was not Mr. Bankston's alone" but was issued "in concert with and based upon the research and opinion of the senior staff" of the state contractor licensing board.

"There was never any conflict. Mr. Bankston's opinion was given in response to a complaint/challenge from one bidder, PDRM, against another bidder, IEM. Neither of these companies or their partners and team members are affiliated with Mr. Bankston or his son," she added. "Furthermore, the identity of all the other bidders was not provided to Mr. Bankston by the Office of Community Development", the agency responsible for the request for proposals.

Bankston has said he was unaware that his son's firm, which was not named in the bid package, had a relationship to any of the bidding companies when he wrote his opinion. Bankston has said he learned about the potential conflict only after issuing the opinion. He said his son, Ben, told him he wasn't even aware of the bid by the affiliated company.

Pierson also stressed in her recent court filing that the rebidding of the flood management contract did not delay progress on the state's flood recovery program.

"The real truth is that, conflict or not, the program was not delayed at all by the rebidding because the funds for the project were not even available at the time of the first FRP," she said. "When it was rebid and awarded on April 13, 2017, the funds had only arrived three days earlier."

IEM's second bid came in $6 million less than its first bid.

Pierson labeled the attorney general's claim of an undisclosed conflict by Bankston "completely fabricated" and "best described, in current parlance, as 'fake news.'"

Landry's attorneys contend that Bankston's conduct involving his advice to the Licensing Board for Contractors relative to the bidding "was not reflective of the Governor's strong endorsement."

Landry recently appointed one of his office's lawyers to represent the board.

Attorney general appoints new board lawyer in contract fight State Attorney General Jeff Landry is appointing one of his office's lawyers to represent Louisiana's contractor licensing board, rather than 

As for Bankston's prior legal problems, Pierson notes that he was convicted 21 years ago, served his sentence, was pardoned as a first offender, re-admitted to the practice of law by the Louisiana Supreme Court, had his civil rights restored and is a member in good standing with the state Bar Association.

Bankston served 41 months in prison for a 1997 conviction in a video poker-related bribery scheme.Purchases made via links on our site may earn us an affiliate commissionA northeast Louisiana congressman Monday criticized Gov. John Bel Edwards' job performance but said he remains undecided on whether to challenge Edwards' bid for a second term in 2019.

"We are looking at the race," said Fifth District U. S. Rep. Ralph Abraham, R-Alto, told the Press Club of Baton Rouge.

"There are still a lot of things that need to fall into place before we make that final decision," Abraham said.

Edwards, a Democrat, plans to seek re-election next year.

Abraham, a Republican, said his visits to lunch spots around the state show lots of voters do not trust state government.

"The thing I hear more and more than anything else is just a lack of trust," he said. "To me, being a very simple country boy, that boils down to everything that is important."

Asked his assessment of Edwards two plus year in office Abraham said, "Not much, actually."

Abraham, 63, is a physician and a veterinarian serving his second term in Congress.

Others thought to be possible GOP candidates for governor next year are U.S. Sen. John Kennedy, R-Madisonville, and state Attorney General Jeff Landry.

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As midterms approach, Louisiana congressmen report mostly robust fundraising figures As they head into the 2018 midterm elections, Louisiana's congressmen all appear to be gearing up for re-election, with most of their campaign

Abraham made his comments just hours before the Legislature began another special session, this one for Louisiana's roughly $1 billion shortfall starting July 1.

The congressman sidestepped questions on exactly how he would address state budget problems.

However, he said tax hikes should be not be the answer, especially with the state's abundance of natural resources.

"Taxes will never get you out of a deficit," Abraham said. "Show me some fiscal responsibility and then I will sit down at the table and talk to you."

Critics contend stripping $1 billion from the state operating budget would have devastating consequences on key state services. Asked if he would favor doing so Abraham said, "If that is what it takes to balance the budget, you bet."

Abraham downplayed any possible handicap he would have as a north Louisiana politician running for governor.

"When I talk to Rotaries, the small groups at lunch, they don't care where a politician is from. They want the truth."

The congressman's hometown of Alto is southeast of Monroe.In December, Caddo Parish Sheriff Steve Prator was asked to give a local business a small tax break. The company had purchased an expensive piece of new machinery and asked that the local government entities waive the additional property tax dollars they owed for the upgrade  something that would have occurred automatically in the past.

But Prator, exercising an authority he'd never had before, said no. He reviewed the application and said the company wasn't creating enough jobs to convince him it was worth it to forgo tax dollars he could use to pay his deputies and keep the community safe.

+2 With new control over costly tax incentives, Baton Rouge officials look to create matrix The Baton Rouge leaders who will recommend whether to give industrial tax exemptions to manufacturing companies signaled Friday that they want

The property taxes owed to his office on the upgrade were almost triflingly small  an estimated $6,000 in total, spread over eight years. But similar tax breaks, allowed under Louisiana's costly Industrial Tax Exemption Program, have cost Caddo Parish's local governments $260 million over the past 10 years, according to the Louisiana Tax Commission. Governments around the state have lost out on more than $10 billion in exempted taxes over that time.

Prator appears to be the first Louisiana official to reject a company's request for a break under new rules adopted for the program, designed to give local governments a say for the first time.

And now economic development officials and business leaders are on high alert, concerned that this could be the start of the unraveling of what they consider to be one of Louisiana's most competitive and reliable business incentives.

"The program has been one of the state's most effective economic development tools for decades," said Stephen Waguespack, president of Louisiana Association of Business and Industry, the state's largest business lobby and a major supporter of the break. "Right now, it's in a state of chaos, and that lack of certainty has made it very unclear about what the role is for locals and what it means for companies who want to invest here."

Prator said he's grateful to finally have some authority over the tax dollars. For years, he watched as businesses applied for and received tax breaks that affected his department's revenue stream, without anyone ever asking him what he thought about it.

"It's good that you can control your own destiny," he said. "We do survive on taxes. We pay deputies with tax collections."

For 80 years, the Industrial Tax Exemption program almost never said no. Any manufacturing company that made an investment of virtually any size could apply, and the state would waive their corresponding property tax obligation for 10 years. The decision was approved by the state, but the money given away would have gone to local sheriffs, school boards, and city and parish operating budgets. From 2006 to 2016, the exemption diverted $13.6 billion from local governments across the state.

In 2016, Gov. John Bel Edwards issued a sweeping executive order that shrank the exemption from 10 years to eight, required companies getting the break to create or at least maintain jobs, and, in the biggest philosophical change, gave local authorities the choice to forgo the taxes or keep them.

Over the last year, as small government bodies have learned to navigate their new authority, many have reflexively approved the applications, saying they don't want to make waves. Others, including East Baton Rouge Parish, are still trying to figure out how they will proceed when applications come before them.

The Caddo application was submitted by Inferno Manufacturing, a nearly 100-year-old Shreveport company that produces valves and other specialty pieces used by the oil and gas industry. In 2016, Inferno purchased a $480,000 piece of machinery that will produce its line faster and has the capability of creating additional pieces.

Inferno said on its application that it was creating three jobs in connection with the investment, which would boost the company's payroll by $200,000. But Prater was unmoved.

"It just didn't appear like there was an economic value for the citizens," Prater said in an interview, adding that he didn't feel like the investment of a new piece of machinery amounted to a real expansion.

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"You have to weigh it out," he said. "Are the jobs that are created worth what public bodies are giving up in the way of paying for their services? The more business you have, the more demand you have for government services. But when you cut off the lifeline of government, and that's what you're doing, you're causing some homeowner to do without."

The sheriff's department actually receives the smallest portion of the property taxes that Inferno and other Caddo businesses pay. The larger giveaways, if granted, would affect the city, the parish and the school board, all of which will vote in the coming weeks. Those exemptions, taken together, would amount to about $52,000 in total over eight years, according to an analysis by Together Louisiana, a Baton Rouge-based activist group that has been critical of the breaks.

Allen Organick, the president of Inferno, said he's still hopeful that the other Caddo Parish taxing bodies will grant the exemptions. He said for a small company of 21 people, the break is meaningful. It impacts the company's ability to buy more machinery and expand from its small office space.

But he also said he's worried more broadly about Louisiana's competitive advantage. He noted that manufacturing companies like his aren't tied to a local customer base like a grocery store. Their company could move to Texas, where there's no income tax.

"There was wisdom in the Industrial Tax Exemption Program when it was started so many years ago; it was a way to make it easier for businesses to make it here in Louisiana because we have a lot of disadvantages," he said.

Louisiana Economic Development Secretary Don Pierson said he would have preferred to see Inferno's tax exemption approved.

Even though Inferno only committed to creating three new jobs, he said, those jobs would have a multiplier effect, "creating a number of jobs beyond the fence line."

He also said he's concerned that the rejection could resonate outside of Louisiana, sending a message to businesses hoping to locate in Louisiana that local governments will not approve their tax breaks.

But Lady Carlson, an organizer with Northern and Central Louisiana Interfaith, which opposed the tax break, said local discretion is the whole point of the governor's new rules. Her group is the sister organization to Together Louisiana.

Carlson said the sheriff made the right call because Inferno's decision to buy new machinery is business as usual and shouldn't be subsidized by taxpayers.

"The Industrial Tax Exemption was never created for people to buy equipment; it was created to encourage manufacturers to locate to the state and create new jobs, or encourage new jobs by expanding operations," Carlson said. "Equipment is the cost of doing business and it should be budgeted into their bottom lines."

+2 With new control over costly tax incentives, Baton Rouge officials look to create matrix The Baton Rouge leaders who will recommend whether to give industrial tax exemptions to manufacturing companies signaled Friday that they want

What's of greater concern to economic development officials is whether Prator's rejection portends more of the same. In the coming weeks, he'll have to weigh in on a much heftier tax exemption for Calumet Lubricants and Waxes, one of the top employers in the area. Calumet already withdrew its initial application a few months ago because it did not show job creation. Officials with the company said they made an error and would be redoing their application.

That tax exemption would amount to about $40 million over eight years if approved by all of the Caddo governing agencies, according to a Together Louisiana analysis.

Prator said he'll continue weigh the pros and cons of every application.

"I don't begrudge the companies for trying, and I'm not a big proponent of taxes either," he said. "But fair is fair."The 144 members of Louisianas Legislature will convene Monday in a special session that will mark their fifth attempt in two years to solve the states recurring budget problems.

The 17-day session will have a number of storylines, but one will predominate: Can House Speaker Taylor Barras persuade enough Republicans to approve tax measures that would be part of a budget deal he makes with Gov. John Bel Edwards?

Barras, a Republican from New Iberia who was a compromise pick to be speaker in January 2016, has been unable to forge a clear consensus within his caucus to find a budget solution.

In the upper chamber, Senate President John Alario, R-Westwego, the states longest-serving legislator, has had little trouble guiding the Senate to work in tandem with the governor.

Edwards has called the special session because about $1 billion in temporary taxes are expiring on July 1, when the new fiscal year begins. State Capitol insiders call it the "fiscal cliff."

An 1-cent increase in the state sales tax  which has given Louisiana the highest sales tax rate in the country  accounts for most of the $1 billion. Only the most vociferously anti-tax Republicans believe that lawmakers can make up that revenue through budget cuts alone, and even they havent explained how they would do it.

Louisiana lawmakers eye sales tax solutions as special session nears The Louisiana Legislature could end up relying on charging sales taxes for items that the state previously said it wouldn't apply them to, lik

Edwards has reluctantly offered a budget without the $1 billion that would make deep cuts to schools, universities  including the popular Taylor Opportunity Program for Students scholarships  prisons and health care for the poor.

Since the Legislature last adjourned in June, Barras has said legislators will need to come up with the $1 billion through a combination of spending cuts and tax measures, and he reiterated that point in an interview Friday.

But Barras has been either unwilling or unable since then to identify a specific plan publicly that would provide the necessary revenue increases. The governor and his senior aides have repeatedly expressed frustration with Barras, both publicly and privately, over the lack of specifics. Some Republicans have said some of their leaders dont want to compromise to make Edwards appear ineffective and weaken his chances of winning re-election next year.

Medicaid copays get a new life in Louisiana budget talks, but still must clear big hurdles Medicaid CoPay was both a big passion and even bigger disappointment for Fred Mills when he ran a pharmacy in Parks, long before being elected

Ohio Checkbook website wows business crowd at Louisiana Association of Business & Industry conference The movement to create a more user-friendly budget transparency website in Louisiana keeps growing, and its backing likely got a hefty boost t

Barras has pushed a number of anti-spending measures popular with conservatives, but they would only partially fill the budget gap. Edwards has included these ideas  which include a cap on state spending, greater transparency in government spending modeled after a website in Ohio and measures to make some non-elderly adult Medicaid recipients work and to make payments when they see a doctor  among the items the Legislature can consider in the special session, which by law has a limited scope.

Gov. John Bel Edwards calls lawmakers into special session starting Feb. 19 Louisiana lawmakers will return to the Capitol this month for another special session to try to shore up the state's finances. Again.

We will ask that the spending reforms make it through for the revenue measures to pass, Barras said, adding that he plans to tie passage of any tax measures to the anti-spending measures.

The key issue during the special session is that renewing at least a portion of the 1-cent sales tax and other taxes will require at least 70 votes in the 105-member House.

Still no budget deal, but state senators urge Gov. John Bel Edwards to call special session A bipartisan slate of State Senators is urging Gov. John Bel Edwards to call the state Legislature into a special session this month to addres

Seventy is the magic number in all of this, said state Rep. Thomas Carmody, R-Shreveport, adding, The (Republican) delegation has not sat down and decided where it is.

Barras has been privately polling the 61-member House GOP delegation and has held repeated meetings with Edwards and Alario to try to find common ground. He and his caucus have staked out a clear position on the spending side.

Anything thats considered in revenue, to get to that 70, were going to have to have the spending reforms, said state Rep. Lance Harris, R-Alexandria, who as the chairman of the Republican legislative caucus will have to corral reluctant lawmakers to support any agreement.

Its unclear at this point how much money the proposed spending changes might save.

One tactic Barras and Harris may well deploy: Delaying consideration of tax measures until the House  and perhaps even the Senate  has passed the anti-spending measures. If they pursue that plan, the initial days of the special session will include a lot of down time.

The broad outlines of a deal on the revenue side are clear, according to sources familiar with the discussions: renewing half of the 1-cent sales tax increase, making permanent the closure of a number of business tax breaks, using money from a settlement with BP and using the increased state income tax revenue that the tax bill approved by President Donald Trump and Congress will generate (some $226 million).

Louisiana Spotlight: Tax policy not the only fight in special session Tax policy won't cause the only disputes in Louisiana's upcoming special session. Lawmakers may squabble just as much over a package of spendi

Edwards is expecting Barras and his allies to give on tax measures while Barras and his side expect the governor to yield on the anti-spending measures.

Can both sides compromise and work together? Thats a big test this time around, said Robert Travis Scott, who heads the Public Affairs Research Council, a Baton Rouge-based good government group. If you look at the call (for the session), they appear to have some agreements in principle. Once we get into the session, its the details that might prove frustrating.

The half-cent renewal of the sales tax is key because it would raise nearly half of the money needed to plug the $1 billion hole. The amount of expiring taxes tops $1.3 billion, but rising revenue from other taxes has reduced the budget shortfall's size.

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Im not sure what kind of support Taylor has lined up for each of those proposals, said state Rep. Franklin Foil, R-Baton Rouge. Some people are not going to want to do anything on the revenue side.

Barras will hold three separate 45-minute briefings of 20 members apiece Monday afternoon in the State Capitol basement before the Legislature formally convenes at 4 p.m. Edwards will then pitch his ideas to the 144 House and Senate members sitting together in the House chamber.

As fiscal cliff looms, some moderate Republican lawmakers want their leaders to offer a budget plan After seven months of private meetings, state lawmakers appear no closer to addressing a looming budget deficit that, if not solved, will deva

To be sure, Edwards is facing his own set of questions.

His primary tax plan last year  a new tax on businesses  won little favor from Democrats and Republicans alike and died before the House Ways and Means Committee. Since then, his budget plan has centered on his embrace of the recommendations of a blue ribbon panel that in January 2017 recommended closing a series of tax loopholes that primarily benefit businesses and wealthier taxpayers while lowering tax rates. The Ways and Means Committee, stacked by Barras with anti-tax conservatives, killed virtually all of those proposals last year.

Commentators have pointed out that the most recent plan offered by Edwards wouldnt fully raise the needed $1 billion.

The Governor's Office did not respond to a request for an interview.

As special session nears, government watchdog group 'cautiously optimistic' about possible budget solutions With lawmakers entering a special legislative session next week to try to shore up the state's finances ahead of a looming budget shortfall, t

Edwards is also facing blowback from Republicans over a list of budget cuts he claimed but had to revise after state Sen. Sharon Hewitt, R-Slidell, challenged his numbers.

Those budget claims definitely hurt, Scott said. It wasnt a fatal blow. Up until that point, weve seen a fairly transparent process (from the governor).

Edwards will have to bring aboard Democrats to any deal he reaches with Barras, especially members of the Legislative Black Caucus, who have voiced skepticism about renewing the sales tax increase because it takes the biggest bite out of the poor.

Those taxes affect our people more than those from any other group, said state Rep. Terry Landry, D-New Iberia. Im willing to vote for a portion of the sales tax only if there is a rollback of tax exemptions.

One former legislator noted that reaching the two-thirds majority in the House  70 votes  is so difficult on any tax measure that it will inevitably require the governor to dole out pork-barrel roadwork projects in the districts of certain legislators to win their votes.

Some can be satisfied with a $25,000 generator for their district or a $100,000 overlay for their highway, said the former legislator, who spoke on condition of anonymity. If the governor is interested in getting his two-thirds, he needs to bring his bag of tricks. Its Taylors deal, but the governor has a big role to play in this.

Barras, 61, managed IberiaBanks operations in Iberia Parish when House Republicans broke with precedent and installed him  in a surprise move  as speaker rather than the governors choice, when Edwards and the new Legislature took office in January 2016. Until then, Barras, who served one term in the House as a Democrat before switching parties, was a little-known back-bencher. He got the nod as speaker, in the face of a deadlock, in part because everyone likes his genial manner.

As speaker, Barras wields the gavel in the House each day and decides who chairs each committee, who sits on each committee and which bills the House will hear. He must negotiate on an ongoing basis to pass controversial legislation. Members can defy him and go their own way. Past speakers have enforced discipline by bouncing renegade members from choice committee assignments. Barras has yet to do that. He governs with a light touch.

One legislator said Barras only polls his views on key issues without demanding his support on big votes, as more heavy-handed past speakers typically have done.

Barras has operated at a disadvantage compared with Edwards and Alario.

The governor has a much bigger bully pulpit, has extra political muscle that comes with a 60 percent approval rating, and can reward friendly legislators with capital projects and appointments of friends to boards and commissions. The governor is also benefiting from a state economy that has emerged from a recession but is growing only half a percent per year, said economist Loren Scott.

Alario is probably the most effective and knowledgeable legislator in modern memory, having served as speaker of the House and president of the Senate, both as a Democrat and a Republican, over his 46 years in the Legislature.

Barras oversees a fractious Republican majority in the House that was large enough last year to block renewing or approving new tax measures sought by Edwards as part of a permanent budget solution but that also was leery of balancing the budget through deep budget cuts. That dynamic played a key role in preventing the Legislature from solving the problem last year, as planned.

The Daily Advertiser, the Lafayette newspaper whose coverage area includes Barras district, took the extraordinary step of editorializing he ought to resign because he had governed so ineffectively.

And that was before moderate Republicans in the House  frustrated at the inaction  took the extraordinary step of joining with Democrats, during the fourth special session in June, to approve the annual state budget currently in effect, over Barras objections.

House Speaker Barras' leadership questioned; conservatives rally behind him The state Republican Party and conservatives in the state House rallied behind Speaker Taylor Barras after long-simmering questions about his 

The special session has to end by March 7. If lawmakers cant solve the $1 billion hole, they would have to return for a sixth special session in June. Then, they would be flirting with the record books. The last governor to hold more than five special sessions in a single term was Buddy Roemer during the late 1980s.

No matter what happens over the next 17 days, lawmakers will reconvene on March 12 for the start of the 80-day regular session.The state Republican Party and conservatives in the state House rallied behind Speaker Taylor Barras after long-simmering questions about his leadership burst into the open on two fronts.

The Daily Advertiser, the Lafayette newspaper whose coverage area includes the district of Barras, R-New Iberia, called on him to resign as House speaker. Meanwhile, a widely-circulated memo by a powerful trade association leader derided his influence.

Both developments sparked private rumblings on the House floor Friday that Barras might face a challenge for his job.

Barras supporters leapt to his defense.

This speaker has shown great leadership in standing up to the governors agenda and standing up for Republican principles, state Rep. Nancy Landry, R-Lafayette, said in an interview.

She made her comments on Friday, a day after The Daily Advertiser slammed him in an editorial. Barras is a good man but a bad speaker, the newspaper editorialized. Answers to Louisianas pressing problems will not come from this House as it is presently constituted. That much is proven.

Our tax system will stay broken. Our higher education system will remain imperiled. TOPS will stay on risky fiscal footing. Our roads will remain among the nations worst. The fiscal cliff lies straight ahead, and there are no brakes on this legislative bus.

The editorial also complained that a proposed increase in the gas tax died without a vote before the House on Wednesday.

It was an extraordinary editorial given that hometown newspapers normally champion having one of their own in such a powerful position. The speaker decides who chairs each committee, who sits on each committee and which bills will be heard each day. He also serves as the Houses lead spokesman with the public and the chief negotiator with the governor and the state Senate. The speaker is well-positioned to ensure that the budget includes infrastructure projects for his area.

The editorial prompted the Louisiana Republican Party to tweet: Outrageous and uncalled for. GOP standing up to @LouisianaGov tax and spend agenda is the right thing to do.

Barras also faced sharp criticism in a memo written by Ken Naquin, the chief executive officer of the Louisiana Association of General Contractors, to give his explanation why the gas tax died.

You must appreciate the toxic mix that is the House of Representatives as it exists today and the total lack of leadership in the House, Naquin wrote Wednesday in an email to his members.

Naquin added that while Barras holds the speakers gavel, two other Republicans, state Rep. Lance Harris of Alexandria and state Rep. Cameron Henry of Metairie, wield so much power that there are in reality 3 speakers. Harris heads the Republican caucus while Henry chairs the Appropriations Committee.

The power in the House is Rep. Harris, Naquin wrote.

Someone leaked Naquins memo to The Hayride, a conservative website, which published it on Wednesday in a blogpost celebrating the gas taxs demise.

Naquins issued his memo six weeks after The Advocate published a lengthy news story that raised questions about Barras control over the House and reported the extensive influence of Harris and Henry. That article angered Barras, Harris and Henry.

On Friday, Harris and Henry both said they were too busy to discuss any questions about Barras and their leadership roles.

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Following Fridays legislative session, Barras told several reporters that he hadnt read all of The Daily Advertiser editorial and said he had no interest in reading the Naquin memo.

Asked whether he planned to resign, Barras replied, No, that wont happen.

Well-liked by Republicans and Democrats for his genial manner, Barras, a 60-year-old banker who was elected initially as a Democrat, was a compromise and surprise choice to be speaker in January 2016. Barras, who had not held a leadership position during his first two terms, emerged after Republicans refused to support Edwards Democratic candidate, and Henry, the conservative favorite, couldnt win enough support.

In the waning days of the 60-day session, Barras is facing strong criticism from Democrats and moderate Republicans because the House failed to provide the necessary spending cuts and revenue increases to head off the looming $1.3 billion budget deficit known inside the State Capitol as the fiscal cliff.

Gov. John Bel Edwards put forth a plan, but the biggest component  his commercial activity tax  generated little support among Republicans or Democrats, and Republicans killed his other tax proposals before the House Ways and Means Committee.

The failure to address the fiscal cliff means that Edwards will have to call the Legislature into yet another special session sometime within the next 12 months, at a cost of about $60,000 per day. The lack of a long-term solution to the states budget woes also threatens to prompt another downgrade from the bond rating agencies.

Critics also say that Barras failed to generate support for the House to adopt the recommendations from a task force created by the Legislature that spent 2016 studying the states tax system and called it inefficient and broken.

Barras is also facing criticism among legislators for several recent House votes.

In one, he thought he had lined up the votes two weeks ago to renew sales taxes on transactions that were previously tax exempt. He had failed to convey this to Democrats, however, and their votes against the measure killed it. Nearly 20 Republicans were put in the uncomfortable position of having voted for a $173 million tax increase that didnt pass.

Barras also failed to secure the necessary votes for the gas tax, which he supported. Naquin said it had about 60 votes when it needed at least 70, or two-thirds in the 105-member House.

While several House members on Friday privately said that concern over Barras leadership has grown, none could identify who might replace him. Its worth noting, too, that no legislative leader has been ousted since senators suddenly replaced the Senate president in 1990.

Scott McKay, The Hayrides publisher, gave Barras high marks in a blogpost on Thursday.

Barras has given Louisiana what the states media has demanded for decades  the beginnings of an independent legislature, McKay wrote. Unlike previous House Speakers who served as little more than lackeys of the states governor, Barras runs a body which is responsive to the will of its members constituents. The House majority has taken the position of the majority of voters polled on issue after issue, and the most prominent of those issues has been a strong aversion to [tax] increases.

Besides Landry, other Republican members from Barras Acadiana region championed him.

There wont be a legitimate challenge to Taylor, said state Rep. Bob Hensgens, R-Gueydan. The Republicans have confidence in their speaker. Hes done an incredible job letting his leaders work and keeping control of the helm.From left, Gov. John Bel Edwards speaks with Senate Transportation Committee Chairman Page Cortez, R-Lafayette, as Dept. of Transportation & Development Deputy Secretary Eric Kalivoda looks on, before a press conference at The Water Campus announcement of a $600 million transportation plan, including the widening of I-10 from the Mississippi River Bridge to I-10/12 split, Friday, Jan. 12, 2018.Catch basin program inspires sewer humor

Letting the internet name things can lead to some fun results, a lesson City Hall may be learning with its effort to encourage New Orleanians to clean catch basins near their homes.

The Adopt a Catch Basin program includes a site, catchbasin.nola.gov, that allows residents to sign up to be responsible for particular catch basins, marking them as clean or in need of attention. And, to personalize it a bit, users can give their catch basin a name.

While many users have picked predictably descriptive names  the location of the storm drain or the name of the person or family claiming it  others have gotten a bit more creative.

There are "Catchy McBasinpants" and "Catchy McBasinface," in the spirit of a 2016 online naming poll that nearly saw a British research ship named Boaty McBoatface. Others went with qualitative descriptions, like "Stinky Drain."

Among the handful named after science fiction and fantasy characters, perhaps the most apt was "Sarlacc," the massive subterranean beast in "Return of the Jedi" that appears only as a ravenous mouth and tongue.

And, of course, some names have a bit more of an edge.

"Why did the city spend tax money to make this site?" one person asked, using the naming field.

"MitchBettaHaveMyFloodMoney," said another.

St. Tammany sheriff: Jail tax is needed

St. Tammany Parish Sheriff Randy Smith has tangled with Concerned Citizens of St. Tammany before when he's sought public support for a tax, in one instance calling the self-styled government watchdog organization a "hate group" when it did not support a millage for his agency in 2016.

But with a sales tax for the parish jail going before voters for a third time, the sheriff is taking a more measured tone in his prepared response to Concerned Citizens' recently announced opposition, saying he is disappointed, "especially since it appears their decision was based partially on inaccurate information."

Concerned Citizens cited new sentencing alternatives that are expected to reduce inmate populations in Louisiana as part of its reason for opposing the one-fifth-cent sales tax. The state has already seen a decrease of 5,000 inmates in the last five years, according to Concerned Citizens, which said there is less if any need for a local prison.

The group also said state facilities offer more inmate services aimed at reducing recidivism.

Smith countered by calling the the parish jail "an essential component of the St. Tammany Parish judicial system," noting that the state Department of Public Safety and Corrections is responsible only for inmates who've been convicted. The parish jail houses some state inmates, he said, but also more than 560 parish inmates awaiting trial or cannot post bail.

Last year, more than 8,000 people were booked into the jail, Smith said, and that number is increasing.

The parish is obligated by state law to provide a "good and sufficient jail," he said, and the sheriff is responsible for operating it and paying the deputies to staff it.

If the tax fails, Smith said, it will hurt public safety because he'll be forced to further reduce the jail's staff. He said the jail will become a "revolving door."

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"Criminals who victimize our citizens will be back on the streets quickly to potentially do it again," he said.

He also disagreed with Concerned Citizens' claims that the parish jail offers less in the way of inmate services, saying it offers multiple state inmate programs and provides education, rehabilitation and re-entry support, "many of the same programs which CCSTs opinion states are not offered at our facility."

"This (tax) renewal is very important for our future. I'm asking the voters to please understand the importance of this renewal and support it," he said.

Concerned Citizens also opposes a one-fifth-cent sales tax for the parish courthouse. Both measures are on the March 24 ballot.

Officials preparing for church shootings

Call them unhappy signs of the times.

In the wake of the latest deadly mass shooting, at a Florida school, local law enforcement officials are reaching out to leaders of another type of institution that can become the target of such attacks: churches.

Greater New Orleans Crimestoppers, New Orleans Police Superintendent Michael Harrison and other local law enforcement officials are inviting clergy of all faiths to assemble at 10 a.m. Saturday at Greater St. Stephen Church, 5600 Read Blvd.

Crimestoppers President Darlene Cusanza said authorities will provide information to religious leaders tasked with any aspect of their worship services, including church security officers.

A panel of law enforcement experts will engage the audience in shooter scenarios, provide information and answer questions.

Church officials interested in attending are asked to register at info@crimestoppers.org.

For information, Crimestoppers clergy outreach coordinator Brandon Boutin or Cusanza can be reached at (504) 837-8477.

Meanwhile, the St. Bernard Parish Sheriffs Office will meet with more than two dozen church leaders Thursday to discuss response training for various types of emergencies they may encounter, including armed intruders.

That event, which is for local clergy only, will begin at 6:30 p.m. in the Sheriffs Office Training Center, 2118 Jackson Ave., in Chalmette, behind the Parish Courthouse.

Sheriff James Pohlmann and other officials will speak about ways the Sheriffs Office can help churches prepare for such emergencies.

Its a question of being prepared in advance for what could happen, while hoping it doesnt happen. In todays environment, its the preparation thats the key, the sheriff said. We are hoping to offer some advice from a law enforcement perspective for these church leaders in the event they have a violent emergency at one of their houses of worship.

Compiled by Jeff Adelson, Sara Pagones and Bruce EgglerIn a decision that could bolster a separate lawsuit in New Orleans, a federal appeals court has upheld a challenge to the way Houston judges set bail for criminal defendants.

A three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said this week that a district judge correctly found the Harris County, Texas, bail system was unconstitutional. Local judges failed to take into account whether poor defendants could afford to make bond according to a preset schedule, the panel said.

That decision could pave the way for a separate lawsuit filed last year that targets the bail practices of Magistrate Judge Harry Cantrell of Orleans Parish Criminal District Court.

The 5th Circuit, which is generally regarded as one of the most conservative appeals courts in the country, hears cases from Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi.

+2 Appeals panel hears challenge to Texas bail bonds; case could affect New Orleans lawsuit Federal appeals court judges in New Orleans heard arguments Tuesday on a lawsuit out of Houston that could dramatically reshape how local judg

Alec Karakatsanis, an attorney with the nonprofit group Civil Rights Corps who is involved in both lawsuits, welcomed the courts opinion.

In general, the 5th Circuit opinion strongly reaffirms the fundamental constitutional rights at the core of our case against Judge Cantrell," he said. "It was obvious before the decision that Judge Cantrell's cash bail practices are illegal, based on binding Supreme Court precedent, and it is even more obvious after the 5th Circuit's opinion.

Karakatsanis and other attorneys representing a Houston woman had argued that judges in Harris County set bail amounts for defendants according to a schedule. Defendants without attorneys had little or no opportunity to plead poverty at hearings that often lasted seconds, the lawyers said.

A federal district judge found for the plaintiffs in April 2017, but Harris County officials appealed to the 5th Circuit.

Judge Edith Brown Clement wrote the appellate court's opinion. She was joined by the other two judges on the panel, Edward Prado and Catharina Haynes. All three were appointed by President George W. Bush.

The judges said that a poor arrestee with a similar charge as a rich one would stay in jail, while the wealthier one would fight their charge from a position of freedom.

As a result, the wealthy arrestee is less likely to plead guilty, more likely to receive a shorter sentence or be acquitted, and less likely to bear the social costs of incarceration, the judges said. The district court held that this state of affairs violates the equal protection clause, and we agree.

However, the judges did find that U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthals sweeping injunction against Harris County judges went too far. They said the judge should have stopped short of demanding hearings within 24 hours and expanding the pool of cases eligible for recognizance bonds.

Although some details in the lawsuits differ, both hinge on the ability of poor defendants to post bond.

Cantrell has expressed a blanket opposition to setting bail lower than $2,500 in many cases, according to the June 2017 lawsuit filed in Louisiana. He refuses to consider the dire financial straits of defendants deemed too poor to hire private lawyers, the suit says.

The lawsuit also alleges the entire system in place in New Orleans represents a conflict of interest because bonds posted through bail companies generate a fee that funds court operations.

U.S. District Judge Eldon Fallon denied Cantrell's motion to dismiss the suit in December. Negotiations to reach a settlement in the case have been unsuccessful thus far, according to court records.St. Tammany Parish Sheriff Randy Smith has tangled with Concerned Citizens of St. Tammany before when he's sought public support for a tax, in one instance calling the self-styled government watchdog organization a "hate group" in an internal email when it did not support a millage for his agency in 2016.

But with a sales tax for the parish jail going before voters for a third time, the sheriff is taking a more measured tone in his prepared response to CCST's recently announced opposition, saying he is disappointed, "especially since it appears their decision was based partially on inaccurate information."

CCST cited new sentencing alternatives that are expected to reduce inmate populations in Louisiana as part of its reason for opposing the one-fifth-cent sales tax. The state has already seen a decrease of 5,000 inmates in the last five years, according to CCST, which said there now is less if any need for a local prison.

The group also said that state facilities offer more inmate services aimed at reducing recidivism.

Smith countered by calling the the parish jail "an essential component of the St. Tammany Parish judicial system," noting that the state Department of Public Safety and Corrections is responsible only for inmates who've been convicted. The parish jail houses some state inmates, he said, but also more than 560 parish inmates who are awaiting trial or cannot post bond.

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Last year, more than 8,000 people were booked into the jail, Smith said, and that number is increasing.

The parish is obligated by state law to provide a "good and sufficient jail," he said, and the sheriff is responsible for operating it and paying the deputies to staff it.

If the tax fails, Smith said, it will hurt public safety because he'll be forced to further reduce the jail's staff. He said the jail will become a "revolving door."

"Criminals who victimize our citizens will be back on the streets quickly to potentially do it again," he said.

He also disagreed with CCST's claims that the parish jail offers less in the way of inmate services, saying that it offers multiple state inmate programs and provides education, rehabilitation and re-entry support, "many of the same programs which CCSTs opinion states are not offered at our facility."

"This (tax) renewal is very important for our future. I'm asking the voters to please understand the importance of this renewal and support it," he said.

CCST also opposes a one-fifth-cent sales tax for the parish courthouse. Both measures are on the March 24 ballot.if the people of Biafra want Republic of Biafra, it will be a reality during my administration. ----Donald Trump Donald Trump I wi...Monday 05 September, 2016 Reliable information reaching Biafra writers desk has it that the life of Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indi...The city of Surakarta celebrated its 273rd anniversary, highlighted by the Boyong Kedaton Carnival held on Feb. 18. Thousands of people flocked to Jl. Slamet Riyadi, for a 5-kilometer cultural parade from Sriwedari Stadium to Fort Vastenburg in Gladag.

The carnival involved 3,000 performers from performing art groups, military personnel, creative economy communities from 51 villages in Surakarta, and hundreds of workers from the Surakarta palace.

Read also: Enjoying legendary 'Jenang' in Surakarta

Boyong Kedaton is a carnival depicting the relocation of Kartasura Palace. The establishment of the Surakarta palace is the foundation of the city of Surakarta.

King Pakubuwono II took the kingdoms household on a march to the new palace in 1745. The Keraton Kartasura itself was destroyed during an attack led by Raden Mas Garendhi, also known as Sunan Kuning, a distant relative of the king. The attack was called Geger Pecinan, started by Chinese insurgents who revolted in Batavia ( now Jakarta) and continued to larger part of Java.

During the relocation, the heirlooms and assets of the kingdom were also taken along, including a pair of weeping fig trees, a set of gamelan instruments and the musicians, and pets of the palace such as birds, elephants, tigers, deer, and oxen. The carnival, held annually by Surakarta, depicts the relocation.

The carnival is a commemoration of the relocation, so we create a setting that is as similar as possible, said the head of the Surakarta city tourism board, Basuki Anggoro Hexa.

Thousands of people that flocked to Jl. Slamet Riyadi fully enjoyed the carnival as it was also a Car Free Day on the premises. The event was lively, with spectators filling the road.

I came all the way from Wonogiri to attend. Im curious about how the palace relocation, said 23-year-old college student Arif Suherman.

The performers showcased their acts during the parade, while gamelan players constantly played Javanese songs such as Sekar Melati, Caping Gunung Sinom Parijotho, Jenang Gulo, and Andum Basuki. Other performances came from a marching and the Wayang Wong Sriwedari group. The Sepeda Onthel community and a barongsai dance also graced the parade.

Read also: A mash of Chinese New Year, cultural diversity in Surakarta

The carnival culminated with a colossal adeging kutha sala dance staged on Jl. Jenderal Sudirman, Gladag, performed by more than 200 dancers from the Surakarta Institute of the Arts (ISI Surakarta) and a number of dance troupes.

Adeging kutha sala depicts the aggression led by Mas Garendi toward the palace, followed by a battle scene between the soldiers of the palace and the insurgents, ending with King Pakubuwono II relocating the palace to Surakarta. The dance was choreographed by Agung Kusumo Widagdo.

This colossal dance narrates a history to the young generation, in order for them to be aware of their citys history. The municipality of Surakarta will regularly stage the dance in the next years to come, said the mayor of Surakarta, FX Hadi Rudyatmo after the show. (mut)Acne patients have a significantly increased risk of developing major depression, particularly within one year of acne diagnosis, according to a Canadian study published in the British Journal of Dermatology.

A new study, led by researchers at the University of Calgary in Canada, recommends monitoring mood symptoms in patients with acne, who could be at increased risk of major depression in the first five years after diagnosis.

The researchers used data from a major primary care database in the UK, collected between 1986 and 2012 (The Health Improvement Network  THIN), to investigate the link between the skin disease and mental health.

Among the patients followed for 15 years, 134,427 had acne and 1,731,608 did not. The majority were aged under 19 at the beginning of the study period. The probability of developing major depression was 18.5% for patients with acne and 12% for those without the disease.

Read also: Five reasons you have adult acne

The researchers found that the risk of major depression was particularly high in the year following acne diagnosis, reducing thereafter. Risk for major depression within one year of acne diagnosis was found to be 63% higher compared to individuals without acne, according to the study.

This study highlights an important link between skin disease and mental illness, said lead author Dr Isabelle Vallerand of the University of Calgary in Canada. Given the risk of depression was highest in the period right after the first time a patient presented to a physician for acne concerns, it shows just how impactful our skin can be towards our overall mental health.

Doctors are advised to monitor mood symptoms in acne patients in order to ensure prompt treatment or refer patients to psychiatrists when necessary, the study concludes.A 24-year-old US man has been charged with theft of a major artwork from a Philadelphia museum - stealing a thumb from a terracotta warrior statue that is part of an exhibit on loan from China at the Franklin Institute, according to law enforcement authorities.

Michael Rohana took a selfie with the statue before allegedly snapping off the part at an after-hours party at the museum, authorities said.

The thumb was recovered at Rohana's home five days after it was taken and returned to the museum, authorities said.

Rohana has been charged with theft of a major artwork from a museum, concealment of major artwork stolen from a museum, and interstate transportation of stolen property, according to an affidavit filed on Friday (Feb 16) in federal court. He was released on bail.

The director of the Shannxi Cultural Heritage Promotion Centre was "shocked and enraged" by the incident, according to a statement it issued, and criticised the Franklin Institute for not notifying it quickly about the incident.

The Franklin Institute extended its apology to the centre for security loopholes, according to the statement.

The centre also said it was seeking initiation of a compensation procedure.

Read also: China's Terracotta Warriors may be inspired by Greece

The stolen thumb was found broken when this terracotta warrior was excavated, but the fracture had been repaired before the statue went on exhibition in the US, the centre said, and the missing thumb was snapped from the exact repaired place.

Rohana was a guest at a party at the museum in December when he went into a closed exhibit of terracotta statues, according to law enforcement authorities.

The thumb came from the life-size clay soldier known as "The Cavalryman", part of the exhibit at the Franklin Institute on display through March 4.

The soldier is part of a "Terracotta Army" that provided after-life security at the burial complex of China's first emperor, Qin Shi Huang. The statues date from around 209 B.C. The exhibit contains 10 statues, including a general, a charioteer and a saddled horse.

The man walked into the darkened exhibit during a Dec 21 "Science After Hours" party, according to an affidavit by the FBI, USA Today reported. A door to the exhibit was closed, but apparently unlocked.

A surveillance video shows the guest alone with "a priceless part of China's cultural heritage," said FBI Special Agent Jacob Archer in an affidavit, according to the newspaper. Archer is a member of the FBI's Art Crime Team.

Archer's affidavit, filed Friday in federal court in Philadelphia, said Rohana of Bear, Delaware, entered the room briefly, then apparently invited two friends at the party for a private tour. Surveillance video shows the trio entered the exhibit at 9.15pm.

The friends left the room, but Rohana allegedly lingered for a few minutes, using his cellphone as a flashlight to look at the figures, according to the affidavit.

Read also: Archaeologist denies BBC report on Terracotta Army

At one point, he stepped onto a platform holding a warrior, "placed his arm around that sculpture and took a photograph of himself with the sculpture," Archer said.

Just before he left the room, Rohana "appeared to break something off the Cavalryman's left hand and put it in his left pocket," said the agent.

A museum staffer noted the finger's disappearance on Jan 8.

Surveillance video and credit-card information established that Rohana had attended the party with five friends from Delaware, authorities said.

One of the friends said she heard Rohana discussing the thumb on the ride home, according to the affidavit, part of a criminal complaint charging him with theft of major artwork from a museum and other offenses.

Another friend said Rohana posted a photo of "a finger" from a terracotta warrior on his Snapchat account one day after the party.

When Archer interviewed Rohana at his family's home on Jan 13, Rohana led the agent to his bedroom where the stolen thumb was in a desk drawer, according to the affidavit.

In a statement on Wednesday night, the Franklin Institute said "standard closing procedures were not followed" by a security contractor on the night of the party.

"As a result of this incident, we have thoroughly reviewed our security protocol and procedures and have taken appropriate action where needed," the institution said.

The facility also said security in place to ensure the safety of our artifacts" and noted an internal investigation gave the FBI "the information necessary to identify the suspect."

Hu Yumeng contributed to the story.Hotman Paris Hutapea is synonymous with the glamorous lawyer life. However, between presenting clients in courts and driving his Lamborghini, Hotman recently revealed on his Instagram that he frequently spends time at coffee shop Kwang Koan, popularly known as Kopi Johny.

Nestled on Jl. Kopyor Raya Blok Q1, Kelapa Gading, North Jakarta, the coffee shop has become an internet sensation, as Hotman frequently posts videos from Kopi Johny. In an instant, these videos piqued netizens' curiosity, resulting in the coffee shop being visited by guests from various provinces, such as East Nusa Tenggara and Banten, and even from neighboring country Brunei.

Kompas.com reported that these guests come to Kopi Johny not only to see Hotman, but also to get free legal advice.

A post shared by Dr. Hotman Paris Hutapea SH MH (@hotmanparisofficial) on Feb 17, 2018 at 3:47pm PST

Linda was among the visitors who came to Kopi Johny to get a free legal consultation. Coming all the way from Tangerang, Banten, she visited the coffee shop after seeing Hotmans Instagram posts.

I saw on Instagram that many people [come to] get legal consultations. If [I come] to Hotmans office, I might not be able to see him, she reasoned, adding that the free consultation was one of the reasons she went to Kopi Johny.

Meanwhile, other visitors come to the coffee shop to take pictures with the lawyer.

Furthermore, Hotman had also invited public figures, namely Jakarta Deputy Governor Sandiaga Uno, celebrity couple Raffi Ahmad and Nagita Slavina as well as Peoples Consultative Assembly (MPR) Speaker Zulkifli Hasan, to join him for a cup of coffee at Kopi Johny, adding another reason to visit the joint.

Read also: Damn fine coffee! 6 places in Jakarta to get your caffeine fix

A wave of new guests

Johny Poluan, the owner of Kopi Johny, prepares cups of coffee. (Kompas.com/Nabilla Tashandra)

Johny Poluan, the owner of Kopi Johny, admitted that the shops popularity increased after Hotman promoted it on Instagram.

Johny added that sales had increased up to 30 percent.

Hotman is said to be a regular customer of Kopi Johny. Actually, [he has several favorite places] for breakfast, but he frequently comes here. Maybe he feels comfortable and happy [in Kopi Johny], said Johny.

Despite Hotmans endorsing of the coffee shop, Johny mentioned that the lawyer always pays his bill. In return, Johny gives him special treatment, such as providing a parking space for his car.

Kopi Johnys specials

Kopi Johny has a total of seven outlets, mostly located in Kelapa Gading. However, Johny usually attends the main outlet on Jl. Kopyor Raya.

Kopi Johny is open daily from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays and from 6 a.m. to 1 p.m. on weekends and public holidays.

As its name implies, the shop specializes in coffee, priced at Rp 12,000 (US$ 0.88) per cup. It also serves local breakfast staples, such as nasi uduk (rice cooked in coconut milk) and fried rice. (jes/wen)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin (Agence France-Presse) Aden, Yemen  Mon, February 19, 2018 05:40 1305 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9c6285f4 2 World Yemen,Al-Qaeda Free

Eight soldiers and 19 suspected members of Al-Qaeda were killed in Yemen on Sunday, as the army launched an offensive against key outposts of the extremists, a military official said.

General Faraj al-Bahsani, governor of Hadramawt province, told AFP the army had taken control of the Mesini Valley west of Mukalla, a central site for Al-Qaeda in southeast of the country.

Mukalla was the most populated Yemeni city under direct Al-Qaeda control from 2015 to 2016, when the army and its regional military allies seized control of the port city.

Special forces trained by the United Arab Emirates -- a key member of a Saudi-led alliance fighting alongside Yemen's government forces -- over the weekend launched the offensive, codenamed "Al-Faisal", against Al-Qaeda cells in oil-rich Hadramawt province.

Two soldiers were killed on Saturday in the offensive, which targets the Mesini and Amed Valleys -- both in the vast province of Hadramawt and home to Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).

The two valleys are critical to control over Yemen's southeastern coastline.

More than 9,200 people have been killed in the Yemen war since 2015, when the Saudi-led coalition joined the government's fight against Iran-backed Huthi rebels.

Radical groups, including AQAP and the Islamic State group, have flourished in the chaos of the war, regularly launching attacks on government and military targets.

The United States, the only force known to operate armed drones over Yemen, has ramped up a long-running campaign against AQAP since President Donald Trump took office in 2017.Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin (Agence France-Presse) Moscow, Russia  Mon, February 19, 2018 07:07 1305 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9c62a8b1 2 World OrthodoxChristians,jihadist,church-attack Free

Four women were shot dead in an apparent Islamist attack on an Orthodox church in the North Caucasus region of Dagestan on Sunday, officials and local media said.

According to local press reports an unidentified gunman fired at worshippers at an Orthodox church in the town of Kizlyar in the mainly Muslim region.

"An unknown man opened fire with hunting rifle in Kizlyar, fatally wounding four women," the regional internal affairs ministry said in a statement.

A Russian police officer and a local resident were injured in the attack.

The attacker was "eliminated " by police fire, the statement added.

According to a local official the assailant was a local man in his early twenties, the Interfax news agency reported.

The Russian RBK daily quoted an Orthodox priest saying the attacker had opened fire on churchgoers following an afternoon service.

"We had finished the mass and were beginning to leave the church. A bearded man ran towards the church shouting 'Allahu Akbar' ('God is greatest') and killed four people," Father Pavel told RBK.

"He was carrying a rifle and a knife," he added.

Dagestan, bordering Chechnya, is one of the poorest and most unstable regions of Russia and has struggled against an Islamist insurgency.

It is often the scene of attacks, some claimed by the Islamic State jihadist group.Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin (Agence France-Presse) Riga, Latvia  Mon, February 19, 2018 09:21 1305 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9c62d42e 2 Business central-bank,corruption-case Free

Anti-corruption authorities in Latvia arrested the governor of the country's central bank, Ilmars Rimsevices, the government said on Sunday, but there is "no sign of danger" to the financial system.

Rimsevices, who was appointed governor in 2001, was detained by officers from the Corruption Prevention Bureau (KNAB) on Saturday and questioned for seven hours before being taken to another location on Sunday, according to a journalist from the Baltic News Agency (BNS).

Local media said anti-corruption officers also staged raids at the governor's residence and at his offices at the Bank of Latvia.

Latvian Prime Minister Maris Kucinskis confirmed the arrest and said there is currently "no sign of danger for the Latvian financial system".

"For now, neither me (as prime minister) nor any other official has any reason to interfere in the work of the KNAB. The office (KNAB) is working professionally," Kucinskis told BNS, the Latvian news agency.

"When KNAB considers it possible to give additional information to the public, it will do so," he added.

KNAB declined to comment.

As Latvia is part of the euro area, Rimsevices is also a member of main body of the European Central Bank (ECB), known as the Governing Council, composed of the 19 governors of the eurozone.

The government is due to hold an emergency cabinet meeting on Monday.

Latvian President Raimonds Vejonis said on Twitter that he would meet the National Security Council to discuss the "situation in the banking sector", without specifying a date.Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, February 19, 2018 17:30 1304 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9c64a9da 1 City LGBT,special-team,Depok Free

The Depok administration in West Java has formed an anti-lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) special force, in its response to the arrest of two homosexual men who allegedly spread intimate footage of their relationship via social media.

Depok Mayor Muhammad Idris said on Monday that the force consisted of officials from the Depok Social Agency, the police and mass organizations, with some 200 people from the citys 63 subdistricts supporting the team.

By forming this special team, we can help limit the presence of the LGBT community in the city, Idris said as quoted by kompas.com, claiming that many residents had complained about the emergence of the LGBT community in their respective areas.

Last month, the police arrested two homosexual men who reportedly spread intimate footage of their relationship via social media. They allegedly recorded the scenes at a fitness center in Pancoran Mas, Depok. (vny)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, February 19, 2018 20:56 1304 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9c6550e2 1 City Billboard,Bekasi,heavy-rain Free

Heavy rain in Bekasi, West Java, on Monday afternoon caused a billboard on Jl. Cemerlang in Jatibening, Bekasi, to collapse and block the road.

"The billboard collapsed at around 2 p.m. during heavy rain and strong winds. People ran to avoid it," a witness, Dedi Nur, 41, said as quoted by kompas.com.

Although no casualties were reported in the incident, the road from Jatibening to Kalimalang was closed.

Part of the billboard also destroyed the roof of a local resident's home.The billboard displayed information about the upcoming Asian Games in August. (vny)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin P R Sanjai (Bloomberg) Mumbai, India  Mon, February 19, 2018 20:04 1304 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9c6541fa 2 Business India,Transportation,richard-branson Free

British tycoon Richard Branson-backed Virgin Hyperloop One is proposing to build a super-fast transportation system in India that would connect the city of Pune with the planned new airport in Mumbai in 25 minutes, saving about three hours.

The founder of Virgin Group signed a preliminary agreement on Sunday in Mumbai for a broad hyperloop framework, the company said in a statement. A demonstration track will be built in two to three years from the signing of the final agreement, while the second phase will aim to complete construction of the full Pune-Mumbai route in five to seven years.

Branson is touting the tube-based transportation system -- first theorized in 2013 by billionaire Elon Musk -- to help address the infrastructure bottlenecks India is struggling with amid rapid urbanization. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is plowing about 8.6 trillion rupees ($133 billion) to upgrade the nations rail networks and last year kicked off a plan to build a 316-mile bullet train line linking the commercial hubs of Mumbai and Ahmedabad.

The Pune-Mumbai hyperloop project could result in $55 billion in socio-economic benefits over 30 years of operation, according to an initial study by Virgin Hyperloop One.

I believe Virgin Hyperloop One could have the same impact upon India in the 21st century as trains did in the 20th century, Branson said. The Pune-Mumbai route is an ideal first corridor as part of a national hyperloop network.

Virgin Hyperloop One, which has been testing in Nevada with speeds reaching 240 miles an hour, is working to meet a goal of having three production systems in service by 2021, according to its website. The startup is working on technology that would use magnetic levitation in low-pressure tubes to transport people and goods at airplane-like speeds.Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, February 19, 2018 12:46 1304 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9c63befa 1 Business I-EU-CEPA,surakarta,Iman-Pambagyo Free

Indonesia and the European Union have commenced the fourth round of talks on the Indonesia-European Union Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (I-EU CEPA) in Surakarta, Central Java. Discussions will run until Feb. 23.

The Trade Ministrys international trade director general, Iman Bambagyo, who chairs the Indonesian delegation, says his side will focus on market access during the talks.

We see the fourth round as important because it marks the beginning of the substantial stages, particularly for market access for goods and services, Iman said in a statement on Monday.

Other issues to be discussed include those that had been discussed in previous rounds of talks, including the trade of goods and services, investment, intellectual property rights, business competition, sustainable development, small and medium enterprises, capacity cooperation and development.

Iman said negotiations on the I-EU-CEPA were expected to be completed this year.

The I-EU CEPA talks are the deepest bilateral talks held by Indonesia. Both parties want to establish modern and comprehensive economic ties. [] Our main target, however, is to boost exports and investment in the EU, he added.

The major issue for Indonesia is a trade barrier for Indonesian palm oil following the decision by the EU Parliament on Jan. 17 to phase out the use of biodiesel manufactured from palm. (bbn)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, February 19, 2018 15:19 1304 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9c642e13 4 Business Freeport-Indonesia,exports,recommendations,concentrate Free

The Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry has extended the export recommendation for gold and copper miner PT Freeport Indonesia amid sluggish progress in the negotiation of the divestment of 51 percent of the companys shares to Indonesian entities.

Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry business supervisory director Bambang Susigit said in Jakarta over the weekend that the export recommendation was issued on Feb. 16 and would take effect from Feb. 17, 2018 to Feb. 17, 2019.

Freeport demanded an export quota of 1.66 million tons [of copper concentrates], but we only allowed 1.2 million tons in line with the budget and cost plan, Bambang said as reported by kompas.com.

He said one of the reasons for deciding to issue the export recommendation was that progress of the smelter construction had reached 2.4 percent.

Freeport has implemented its early plan, starting with an administrative requirement to conduct soil tests to assess the lands stability, he added.

Meanwhile, Freeport Indonesia spokesman Riza Pratama said the company had failed to fulfil the export target of 1.1 million tons last year because of various internal problems, particularly related to workers issues. Last year, there was large absenteeism among workers, Riza added.

Mineral resources expert from Tarumanegara University Ahmad Redi said the extension of the export recommendation indicated that the government was powerless in its dealings with Freeport.

Ahmad said Freeport did not have good will to complete the negotiations on the divestment of its shares. But the government even gave the company the privilege of issuing a recommendation for exports of over million tons, he added. (bbn)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Yoga Rusmana and Eko Listiyorini (Bloomberg) Jakarta  Mon, February 19, 2018 11:34 1304 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9c63292a 2 Business oil-and-gas,Indonesia,Europe,US Free

Indonesia will hold roadshows in the US and Europe later this month to lure investments from the worlds top oil companies as the former OPEC member seeks to reverse a decline in oil and gas production.

The Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry will seek bids for as many as 40 oil and gas blocks this week, Deputy Minister Arcandra Tahar said in an interview in Jakarta on Wednesday. The areas being offered will include onshore and offshore assets and those not sold in tenders in the past three years, he said.

Indonesia is trying to lure billions of dollars of investments into its oil industry to reduce dependence on imports as production slumps from its aging fields. The path has not been easy. The country, once a major crude oil shipper in Asia, only managed to sell five blocks out of 10 offered in a tender last year. The government is targeting industrys big boys such as Chevron Corp., BP Plc and Exxon Mobil Corp., said Tahar, an oil and gas professional who lived in the U.S. for 20 years.

Tahar and ministry officials plan to meet oil company executives within a week after the auction announcement scheduled for Monday. Their first stop will be Houston, followed by Paris and Singapore.

We will try to show them we have a new policy, a new fiscal regime, thats going to be much better than the previous one, Tahar said. If you come and invest, the process will be simple and transparent. The message need to be conveyed clearly and loudly.

The former member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries has switched to a so-called gross-split scheme for explorers from a production-sharing contract. The new regulation provides more certainty, flexibility and transparency for oil investors, Tahar said. His ministry has scrapped more than 50 regulations related to employment to refinery permits this year as it targets $200 billion in new investments over the next decade.

With gross split, there is a certainty that you yourself count the split, Tahar said. If you are in early production, we are going to give better incentives, and phasing out over the cumulative production. Explorers will get greater incentives if crude price is low and it will be reduced when prices move higher, he said.

Chevron, the second-biggest U.S. oil explorer, which has been operating in Indonesia for more than 90 years, is the countrys largest producer of crude oil, delivering approximately 40 percent of the national production from its operations in Sumatra and Kalimantan, according to its website. Exxon runs the Cepu block in Java.Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, February 19, 2018 10:44 1304 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9c630e89 4 Business Indonesia,Singapore,investment Free

Industry Minister Airlangga Hartarto said in Jakarta on Monday that he had offered the development of three industrial estates in North Kalimantan, North Sumatra and North Sulawesi to Singapore.

He explained that the concept was similar to the development of other industrial estates in the country, such as the Kendal Industrial Estate (KIK) in Central Java.

Singapore is a neighboring country that has a strategic role in the interests of Indonesia and the region, Airlangga said, as quoted by kompas.com.

Airlangga met with Singaporean Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan last week to discuss cooperation in various sectors.

The government has offered the development of Tanah Tuning Industrial Estate In North Kalimantan, Kuala Tanjung Industrial Estate in North Sulawesi and Bitung Industrial Estate in North Sulawesi.

In addition to investment cooperation, the two countries are also cooperating in improving the quality of vocational education in Indonesia.

The industry minister said Singapore had a role in developing a furniture polytechnic at KIK that planned to start operating this year with an inaugural class of 96 students.

This is in line with Presidents instruction to equip each industrial estate with [a vocational education facility], he said, adding that 25 principals of vocational senior high schools across the country would take part in a leadership training program from Feb. 19 to March 3 at Singapore's Institute of Technical Education (ITE).

Singapore was the largest contributor of foreign investment in Indonesia in 2017, investing US$8.4 billion, or 26.2 percent of total foreign investment in Indonesia. The island-nation was followed by Japan with $5 billion and China with $3.4 billion. (bbn)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin (Agence France-Presse) Baghdad, Iraq  Tue, February 20, 2018 00:00 1304 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9c655c5d 2 World Iraq,Islamic-State,attack Free

The Islamic State group killed 27 members of a paramilitary group in an ambush in Iraq, the pro-government force said Monday, underlining the threat still posed by the jihadists despite Baghdad's declaration of victory.

IS members disguised as soldiers attacked a Hashed al-Shaabi unit in the Hawija region about 300 kilometres (185 miles) north of Baghdad on Sunday evening, the auxiliary force said in a statement.

"The attackers were dressed in military uniforms and during the fighting 27 of our heroes were martyred," said the Hashed, a key partner of the government in the battle against IS.

The extremist group, which has suffered a string of battlefield defeats in Syria and Iraq, claimed responsibility for the attack in an online statement.

The Hashed said the unit was conducting operations to "arrest terrorists and dismantle sleeping cells" around the city, in the province of Kirkuk,

A Hashed official who asked to remain anonymous told AFP the jihadists, disguised as soldiers, had set up a checkpoint close to Hawija.

They asked the Hashed paramilitaries to stop, get out of their vehicles and stand beside the road, on the pretext of conducting a search.

They then shot the Hashed fighters and fled, the official said.

Reinforcements arrived too late to stop the attack.

A senior police officer in the province, who also asked not to be named, said most of the bodies had been beheaded.

It was the deadliest attack against Hashed fighters since October when pro-government forces retook Hawija, which was the jihadists' last urban bastion in northern Iraq.

Iraq in December declared victory against IS after a years-long battle to retake large swathes of territory the extremists had seized in 2014.

But the Hashed says IS has not completely disappeared and that "sleeper cells" have been fighting a guerrilla war against it.Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, February 19, 2018 11:45 1304 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9c6333e5 4 Business value-added-tax,reduction,sedan,Sri-Mulyani-Indrawati,Gaikindo Free

The Finance Ministry is discussing a proposal from the automotive industry demanding a reduction in sale taxes on sedans, says Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati.

She, however, indicated that it would be difficult to meet the demand. Instead, she preferred imposing entry taxes on imported sedans to improve the competitiveness of locally manufactured sedans.

If the objective is to reduce imports, we may impose an entry tax on imported sedans, said Sri Mulyani in Jakarta over the weekend as quoted by kontan.com.

In response, Indonesian Automotive Industry Association (Gaikindo) chairman Jongkie D. Sugiarto said the government should not only focus on reducing imports but also encourage Indonesian automotive manufacturers to export their products.

Currently, we only export multi-purpose vehicles [MPV]. We also want sedans, SUVs and pickups that we produce to be exported as well, he said on Sunday, adding that 30 percent sale tax on sedans could not compete in the international market.

Meanwhile, the government imposes between 10 and 20 percent sales tax on non-sedan cars.

Sri Mulyani said the tax reduction was being discussed by a team at the Fiscal Policy Agency (BKF).

Gaikindo recorded a significant increase in vehicle exports, from 85,769 in 2010 to 316,538 in 2017. The exports reached a peak in 2015 at 397,023 vehicles. However, the number was small compared to export figures in Thailand, which was recorded at between 1.2 and 1.5 million in the last several years. (bbn)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, February 19, 2018 18:11 1304 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9c650120 4 Business Jakarta-Bandung,high-speed-railway,Rini-Soemarno,statement Free

State-Owned Enterprises Minister Rini Soemarno has said the construction of the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway project will fail to meet its completion target in 2019 due to problems in land acquisition.

She said in Jakarta on Monday as of now, the land acquisition only reached 54 percent of the 140-kilometer total length of the project, or 55 km.

She added the constructor had prepared the construction on 22 km of acquired land and conducted land clearance on the remaining 33 km.

The project location was only decided on Oct. 31, 2017. There are still many plots of land, [whose conversion from forest land] should be agreed on by the Environment and Forestry Ministry, Rini said at the Office of the Coordinating Economic Minister as reported by kontan.co.id.

She said the construction would start this month and was expected to be completed in October 2020.

The construction period was set for 32 months. Currently, we are in the process of land clearance in Halim [in East Jakarta], Rini said, adding that the loan from China Development Bank was expected to be disbursed this year.

She said the initial disbursement was about US$500 million of a $5.9 billion total loan. The project was carried out by PT Kereta Cepat Indonesia Cina (KCIC), a consortium of state-owned enterprises and China Railways through a business-to-business plan. (bbn)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Anurag Kotoky (Bloomberg) New Delhi  Mon, February 19, 2018 12:20 1304 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9c63a83f 2 Business Mumbai,Airport,jet,aviation Free

Mumbai finally started work on a new airport more than two decades after first proposing it, as jets ran out of space to operate in one of the busiest aerodromes using a single runway

On Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of Navi Mumbai International Airport, to be built on about 1,160 hectares (2,866 acres) of land about 35 kilometers (22 miles) southeast of the existing facility. The new airport, expected to handle 60 million passengers annually when fully complete, is running behind schedule with problems ranging from approvals to delays in the bidding process.

We are trailing behind in infrastructure given the pace at which the aviation sector is growing, Modi said at the event. We are trying to press ahead with the speed of execution.

India has been lagging behind China, Singapore and Dubai among regional hubs in upgrading airports. In 2019, Beijing is due to open a $12.9 billion facility that will become the citys second mega airport and capable of accommodating more than 75 million passengers with as many as seven runways. In the past two decades, Singapore and Dubai have boosted their capacity, building new terminals and becoming the eastern and western hubs for Indian air travelers.

There are no more slots in Mumbai, said Sanjiv Kapoor, chief operating officer at Vistara, the Indian affiliate of Singapore Airlines Ltd. All the airlines have a hit a wall. It is not good when the commercial capital is not able to add flights. We certainly want to fly more to Mumbai

The first phase with one runway will be operational by December 2019, handling 10 million passengers a year, according to local officials. India needs to spend as much as 4 trillion rupees ($62 billion) to expand and build new airports over the next decade-and-a-half, but progress has been far slower than whats needed to manage one of the fastest-growing air travel markets in the world.

The airport, first proposed in 1997 and approved a decade later by Indias cabinet, will be built by a joint venture between a GVK Power & Infrastructure Ltd.-led consortium and state-run former monopoly Airports Authority of India. GVK also operates the current Mumbai airport, which has the capacity to handle 40 million passengers annually.

Last year, the Mumbai airport set a world record handling 969 flights in a 24-hour period, the Times of India reported. Thats the highest for an airport which operates only one runway at any given point in time, it said. The aerodrome is now aiming to reach 1,000 aircraft movements.

Shamefully Late

Its an absolute imperative, a must-have for Mumbai, said Mark Martin, founder and CEO of Dubai-based Martin Consulting LLC. Mumbai needs a second airport right now, like tomorrow morning, not six to seven years down the line. We have been shamefully late in building a second airport for Mumbai.

Congestion at the existing facility means an aircraft spends an average 45 minutes to an hour circling the skies during peak hours before finding a landing slot. That compares with about 25 minutes for Singapore and zero for Doha, according to Martin Consulting. Not a single airline managed to land or take off even two thirds of their flights on time in Mumbai in December, data from the regulator show.

Earlier this month, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the country plans to increase its airport capacity more than fivefold to help handle a billion trips as carriers in the surging market await delivery of over 900 aircraft. Under the plan, the government plans to connect 56 unserved airports and 31 unserved helipads.

India needs to significantly increase runway productivity, closer to international benchmarks, said Kapil Kaul, South Asia CEO at CAPA Centre for Aviation.Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, February 19, 2018 14:37 1304 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9c641ac7 4 Business Indonesia,Vietnam,automotive,export-competitiveness Free

The Trade Ministry's director general for international trade has said that a new Vietnamese regulation on automotive imports could significantly affect Indonesias exports of fully assembled vehicles to the country.

Oke Nurwan said in Jakarta over the weekend that the government would send a team to the country to discuss the issue, kompas.com reported on Monday.

We will take a persuasive approach with the Vietnamese authorities. We have set up a team led by the Trade Ministry's international trade directorate general to negotiate with Vietnam, Oke said in a press statement issued last week.

The team consists of representatives of the Transportation Ministry, the Industry Ministry and the Indonesian Automotive Association (Gaikindo). They will depart to Vietnam on Feb. 26.

Vietnam issued Decree No. 116/2017/ND-CP on requirements for the manufacturing, assembly and import of motorized vehicles and trade in motorized vehicle warranty and maintenance services, which stipulates a variety of requirements, including ratings on emissions and safety of imported vehicles.

The regulation has been in effect since Jan. 1. The requirement imposed by the authorities in Vietnam may put an end to Indonesian automotive exports to Vietnam, Oke said, adding that Indonesia stood to lose up to US$85 million in vehicle exports to Vietnam under the decree.

According to Oke, the Indonesian National Standards (SNI) would be unable to fulfill the criteria imposed by the new decree. (bbn)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Viriya P. Singgih (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, February 19, 2018 12:15 1304 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9c634482 2 Business PLN,electricity,power-supply,power-plant Free

State electricity firm PLN has suddenly stopped purchasing electricity from PT Bekasi Power, a subsidiary of publicly listed industrial estate developer PT Kawasan Industri Jababeka (KIJA), at the beginning of this year, 15 years earlier than planned.

PLN previously signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Bekasi Power (BP), through which the latter was obliged to supply electricity from its 130-megawatt (MW) combined-cycle power plant in the Jababeka industrial estate in Cikarang, West Java, to the former for a period of 20 years starting from Jan. 5, 2013.

Under the agreement, Bekasi Power was to ensure that its power plant operated with a minimum and maximum load of 108 MW and 118.8 MW respectively, while the plants availability factor should average at 90 percent per year.

During the five years of the power plants operations, Bekasi Power always met its obligations, KIJA president director Budianto Liman said recently in a statement.

However, since the beginning of 2018, PLNs load control center requested BP to provide zero kilowatt hours, a state known as reserve shutdown.

Bekasi Power met with PLN on Feb. 9 to discuss the matter, but could not reverse the decision.

As there is a take-or-pay clause stated in the PPA, Bekasi Power will receive compensation from PLN. However, Bekasi Power stated that the termination of the agreement will lead to a significant decrease in its revenues.Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Fachrul Sidiq (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, February 19, 2018 17:05 1304 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9c6490e9 1 National police,clerics,attack,religion Free

The National Police have instructed their personnel to improve security at houses of worship across the country following a number of attacks on clerics.

National Police spokesperson Insp. Gen. Setyo Wasisto said National Police deputy chief Comr. Gen. Syafruddin had briefed regional police chiefs in a teleconference conducted Monday.

"We have reminded regional police chiefs to increase the security of houses of worship and clerics. We received reports on some assaults, some of [the reported assaults] were proven to be false information," Setyo said at the National Police headquarters in Jakarta.

In the most recent case, a sword-wielding attacked and injured several churchgoers at the St. Lidwina Catholic church in Sleman regency, Yogyakarta, on Feb. 11. In January, a Muslim preacher was attacked in Bandung, West Java.

Police officers would be more frequently monitoring religious figures and deploying more personnel to safeguard certain religious events to ensure security, Setyo added. (dmr)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, February 19, 2018 19:15 1304 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9c6529ac 1 City Jonru-Ginting,hate-speech,trial Free

State prosecutors have demanded that the East Jakarta District Court sentence hate speech suspect Jonru Ginting to two years on Monday.

The suspect deliberately spread information [through social media] that incited hatred in society, prosecutor Zulkipli said during the trial. He added that, according to witness reports, the information carried negative connotations.

According to language experts and reporters, the suspects postings about President Jokowis parents contain hatred, said Zulkipli.

Jonru has been proven to violate Article 28 of the Information and Electronic Transaction (ITE) law, which carries a punishment of two years' imprisonment and a Rp 50 million (US$3,690) fine.

Jonru, a social media persona, was reported by lawyer Muannas Al Aidid in August last year after appearing on a TV talk show, during which he admitted to writing a post questioning the identities of President Joko Jokowi Widodos parents.

Jonru claimed that Jokowi was the only president whose parents identities were unclear, criticizing people who elected him to such an important position.

However, during the show, Jonru said he did not mean to offend Jokowi.

The prosecutor also said the accused also had no right to say that respected scholar Quraish Shihab was not a cleric simply because the latter was not involved in the 212 rally on Dec. 12, 2016, where people gathered to demand the imprisonment of former Jakarta governor Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama for blasphemy.

Muannas said a lot of Jonrus posts on social media had incited hatred related to ethnic, religious, racial or societal groups (SARA). (vny)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Callistasia Anggun Wijaya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, February 19, 2018 16:10 1304 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9c64559b 1 City case-review,ahok,Supreme-Court Free

The Supreme Court has confirmed that former Jakarta governor Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama has filed a case review petition to challenge the North Jakarta District Courts ruling that sentenced him to two years in prison for blasphemy last year.

Th Supreme Courts legal bureau and public relations head, Abdullah, said on Monday that Ahoks lawyer Josefina A. Syukur had submitted the document via the North Jakarta District Court on Feb. 2.

The Supreme Courts head had issued a decision stating the appointment of the judge who would be in charge of reviewing the petition and the evidence submitted by Ahok, Abdullah said.

After receiving the decision, the [North Jakarta District Court] judge has decided to schedule the first hearing on Monday, Feb. 26, Abdullah said in a statement.

The second hearing would be conducted a week after the first hearing when the prosecutors would respond to the request, he added.

Abdullah said the judge would issue the report and the case dossier to the Supreme Court, he said.

Ahok has been serving time at the National Police's Mobile Brigade Command Headquarters (Mako Brimob) since May 2017.

He has decided not to file an appeal with the Jakarta High Court to challenge the decision.Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, February 19, 2018 18:00 1304 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9c64ec4c 1 City First-Travel,umrah,minor-pilgrimage,Scam Free

The first hearing of an alleged fraud case involving First Travel agency was held on Monday at the Depok District Court in West Java, with many of its reported victims in attendance.

First Travel president director Andika Surachman, director Anniesa Hasibuan and finance director Siti Nuraidah Hasibuan stand accused of scamming umrah (minor haj) hopefuls out of Rp 848 billion (US$69.3 million).

Upon their arrival in the courtroom at 10 a.m., they were met with shouts of thief and cheater from their alleged victims, many of whom had been waiting since 8 a.m., according to kompas.com.

They continued voicing their outrage even as court proceedings began, triggering a warning from a court official who said the hearing would not continue until the crowd quieted down.

About 58,600 people nationwide have reportedly fallen victim to the alleged fraud committed by First Travel. (vny)Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin News Desk (Agence France-Presse) Jerusalem  Tue, February 20, 2018 00:20 1304 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9c655dbd 2 Business Israel,Egypt,oil-and-gas-industry Free

Israel has struck an "historic" contract for sales of billions of dollars' worth of natural gas to Egypt, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Monday.

"This will bring billions of dollars to state coffers," he said in a statement announcing the deal with Egypt, which in 1979 became the first Arab state to sign a peace treaty with Israel.

The Israeli energy group Delek said the value of the contract was $15 billion.

It said agreements have been signed between Delek and its associate Noble Energy of the United States to supply 64 billion cubic metres (2.26 trillion cubic feet) of gas from Israel's Leviathan and Tamar offshore fields to the Egyptian firm Dolphinus over a 10-year period.

In September 2016, Jordan struck a deal to buy 300 million cubic feet (8.5 million cubic metres) of Israeli gas per day over a 15-year term, in a deal estimated to be worth $10 billion.

Tamar, which began production in 2013, has estimated reserves of up to 238 billion cubic metres (8.4 trillion cubic feet).

Leviathan, discovered in 2010 and set to begin production in 2019, is estimated to hold 18.9 trillion cubic feet (535 billion cubic metres) of natural gas, along with 34.1 million barrels of condensate.

Israel hopes its gas reserves will give the country energy independence and the prospect of becoming a supplier for Europe as well as forging strategic ties within the region.Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin Allison Hore (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Tue, February 20 2018

Olivier Oddos (Courtesy of AMUZ Gourmet)

Michelin star chef Olivier Oddos brings French cuisine around the globe by adding his signature touch in the process.

French chef Olivier Oddos has been in the world of gastronomy his entire adult life, working at several Michelin-star restaurants since starting his career at the age of 16.

He has worked as a second chef at the iconic Parisian restaurant, the Michelin-starred La Tour dArgent, before moving to Tokyo to work as an instructor at cooking school Le CordonBleu in 2000.

Chez Olivier, his restaurant in Tokyo, opened its doors in 2009, with a menu he describes as French cuisine with a Japanese touch. These touches involve the use of signature Japanese ingredients, such as ginger and yuzu in traditional French dishes.

Odd...Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin (Agence France-Presse) Chon Buri, Thailand  Mon, February 19, 2018 18:42 1304 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9c651408 2 SE Asia US,Thailand,military-drill Free

US and Thai marines slurped snake blood and ate scorpions in a jungle survival programme on Monday as part of the two nations' annual Cobra Gold war games.

Now in its 37th year, Cobra Gold is one of the largest military exercises in Asia, bringing thousands of troops from the United States, Thailand and other countries for 10 days of field training on Thai shores.

On Monday, several dozen US and Thai marines took park in an annual jungle survival drill on a Thai navy base in Chonburi province, where troops took turns drinking blood from a severed cobra before grilling and eating the snakes.

Thai military trainers also taught the group -- which included South Korean troops -- how to remove venom from scorpions and tarantulas before eating them, find water in jungle vines and identity edible plants.

"The key to survival is knowing what to eat," said Thai Sergeant Major Chaiwat Ladsin, who led the drill that also saw the marines take bites of a raw gecko.

"Definitely my first time drinking snake blood... It's not something we do too often in America," US Sergeant Christopher Fiffie told AFP after the training.

"I think I'll be able to hold my own out there," he added. "The biggest take was how exactly they get their water as well as the vegetation that you can eat."

This year's Cobra Gold exercise drew some 6,800 US personnel to the war games -- nearly double last year's attendance, in the latest sign of warming relations between the two allies.

A 2014 army coup in Thailand tested ties with Washington, which urged a return to democracy and scaled back military aid.

But the two countries have upped their engagement under US President Donald Trump, who has taken a softer stance on human rights issues and even embraced Thai junta chief Prayut Chan-O-Cha in the White House.

The US is also keen to flex its military muscle in Asia amid tensions with North Korea over the pariah state's nuclear missile programme.

"The (attendance) numbers are reflective of the US commitment in the region," US embassy spokesman Stephane Castonguay told AFP at the start of the exercise.

"The focus of this exercise still remains humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, in addition to community relations projects."

Troops from Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea and Singapore also participated in this year's drills.Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin (Agence France-Presse) Yangon  Mon, February 19, 2018 16:20 1304 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9c645a1d 2 SE Asia Myanmar,drug-abuse,raids Free

Myanmar troops seized $7 million worth of narcotics, precursors and equipment in a raid on drug labs in the restive north, the army said Monday, as it continues a war against ethnic rebels accused of profiting from the drug trade.

Soldiers and local officials found 259 kilograms (571 pounds) of crystal methamphetamine and 120 kg of opium in a sweep of the illicit drugs factory spread across 34 buildings near Lwalkhan, a village in war-hit Shan state near the Chinese border.

The army statement, posted on the commander-in-chief's Facebook page, also listed in rare detail the seized drug-producing equipment and precursors, including hundreds of barrels of acid and diesel, 750 bags of caustic soda, 22 freezers, 12 generators and huge caches of caffeine and other chemicals.

"The Tatmadaw (military) seized the drugs in the raid and cooperated with the drug enforcement police team. The legal process is still ongoing," a senior police officer from the anti-drug department told AFP on the condition of anonymity.

The bust took place in Kutkai township, where a record seizure last month brought in 30 million meth pills, two tonnes of "ice" -- crystal meth -- and heroin, with an estimated combined value of $54 million.

The raids come as the military continues its seasonal offensive against ethnic minority armed groups in the lawless border areas.

Last week alone, clashes between the army and rebels in Kutkai and neighboring Hseni township displaced some 870 civilians, according to the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Myanmar's conflict-riddled northeast is a hub for Asia's meth producers, who pump out narcotics that are showered across Southeast Asia and beyond.

Drugs trafficking fuels much of the fighting between the army and the ethnic rebels -- both of whom are accused of profiting from the illicit trade.

Myanmar is the second-largest opium producer in the world after Afghanistan, although a surge in demand for meth has caused a slump in poppy cultivation in recent years.

Rights groups accuse the military and armed groups of extrajudicial killings, torture and the recruitment of child soldiers.Share this article Whatsapp

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Linkedin (Inquirer.net/Asia News Network) Manila  Mon, February 19, 2018 12:24 1304 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9c63ac05 2 SE Asia Islamic-State,Manila,Tunisia Free

Authorities arrested over the weekend a Tunisian and a Filipino allegedly linked to the Islamic State (ISIS).

Fehmi Lassqued was arrested in Malate, Manila, with his companion Anabel Moncera Salipada of Upi, Maguindanao, Philippine National Police Director General Ronald dela Rosa announced Monday.

The PNP chief said he was a negotiator and commander of the ISIS in Syria.

The arrest was conducted by the Regional Police Intelligence Operations Unit of National Capital Region Police Office and the Armed Forces of the Philippines Joint Special Operations Group.

Authorities found firearms, ammunition, explosives when they were arrested.



Those interested in learning more about the Baduy Dalam tribe, which resides in Leuwidamar district, Lebak regency, Banten, may want to schedule a visit outside of February, March and April.

"There are limitations and rules concerning visitors to Baduy Dalam. During the month of Kawalu between February and April, the three kampungs of Baduy Dalam, namely Cibeo, Cikartawana and Cikeusik, are closed to visitors," one of the tribe's figures, Ayah Mursid, told KompasTravel at the cultural village on Saturday.

Home to natural attractions and well-preserved local traditions, the Baduy village or also known as Kanekes village, is divided into two parts. One is where the Baduy Luar tribe lives, and the other is home to the Baduy Dalam people.

During the Kawalu month, which is the harvest season, the people of Baduy Dalam will conduct a series of rituals.

Read also: Local brand to present tenun Baduy at Paris Fashion Week

"The Kawalu rituals begun in February and end in April. It's like Idul Fitri in Islam," said Ayah.

In Baduy Dalam, people are also not allowed to cross the yard, bathe using soap or take pictures.

During Kawalu and other times, foreigners are prohibited from entering the areas of Baduy Dalam. They are only allowed to explore Baduy Luar.

The Baduy Luar village is always open to both domestic and foreign tourists throughout the year, including between February and April.

The two tribes wear different types of clothing. The people of Baduy Dalam usually don a black and white outfit, a fabric known as samping, and a white headband.

Meanwhile, the Baduy Luar villagers usually wear a black top and blue batik. The latter is usually used as a samping and headband as well. (kes)One of the most luxurious lodges in Alaska, and one of the most remote anywhere, has just opened on a rocky glacier outcropping, or nunatak, smack in the middle of Denali National Park. From its wraparound windows, the resorts guestsa maximum of 10 at any given timecan watch the aurora borealis dance around the sky or survey an endless horizon of jagged peaks blanketed in untouched snow. The only thing between them and the nearest summit is a sheer vertical rock wall thats twice the height of Dubais Burj Khalifa skyscraper.

It took more than a decade to secure the final permits to build Sheldon Chalet. Construction took three additional years. In the time it takes to get there from Los Angeles, you could almost fly to Tokyo: Arrival includes a six-hour flight to Anchorage, a two-hour drive to the tiny (but charming) town of Talkeetna, and an hour-long helicopter ride to Don Sheldon Amphitheater, a 35-square-mile valley carved by glacial ice in the shadow of North Americas tallest mountain.

All that is a drop in the bucket compared to the 50 years of family history that make Sheldon Chalet so special for Alaska.

True Alaskan Pioneers

An archival image of the Sheldon family patriarchs on a pre-statehood, Alaskan exploration. (Sheldon Chalet via Bloomberg/File)

Robert Sheldon, who built Sheldon Chalet with the help of his wife Marne and sister Kate, lost his father Dona trailblazing Alaskan pilotwhen he was just four years old. I only have a couple of memories with my father, and the earliest one was taking off from the village strip in Talkeetna on a very small airplane, zooming through the puffy white clouds.

Bob Reeve, Roberts maternal grandfather, was also a pilot; like Don Sheldon, he made his name as an Alaskan pioneer.

Reeve landed in Valdez in 1932, 27 years before Alaska was declared the 49th U.S. state. He used his experience charting routes for Pan Am throughout South America to create Reeve Aleutian Airlines, a leading-edge Alaska carrier that connected tiny towns across the territory with their counterparts across the Bering Sea. He also built a series of remote mountain hutssome of the states first tourism infrastructure.

Don Sheldon, meanwhile, came from a farming family in Ohio, but his son says he wanted to go for the easier life of hunting and trapping in Alaska. As the story goes, He very quickly learned that, in Alaska, you could fly an hour or walk a week. Hed eventually survey the region with photographer and cartographer Brad Washburn, a contemporary of Ansel Adams. This meant identifying places where planes could land amid the jagged peaks, building landing strips, and even developing specialized aircraft for the job. All the flying that happens around Denali National Park today can be traced back to his efforts, says Marne. Its what has allowed for present day tourism in Alaska.

To wit, when Don died in 1975, the governments of Alaska and the United States considered naming a mountain in the Alaska Range for him. It wasnt enough, they decided, opting instead to designate a 35-square-mile amphitheater filled with dozens of peaks.

A Resort 50 Years in the Making

Laying the foundation for the resort took two years, because the extreme environs on which its built. (Jeff Schultz Photography via Bloomberg/File)

The primary landing strip in Denali National Parkbuilt by the elder Sheldon to facilitate explorations with Washburnis a half-mile from Sheldon Chalet. Thats the provenance of the interest in this area, explains Marne, who ran point on logistics as the hotel took shape. Everything from the drawer pulls to the heating system had to be flown to that landing strip by helicopter or fixed-wing plane, and the family is among the lucky few who have special dispensation to fly there, thanks to their long history in the area.

That history also explains how Sheldons earned commercial rights in such a protected place. Back in the 1950s, well before Denali was a national park, the family scooped up five acres of land under the Homestead Act; it included the glacial outcropping that would be called Sheldon Nunatak. Their final land permit, though, got caught in the cross hairs of the states ratificationit took until 1971, the year Robert was born, to come through.

Read also: How to plan the perfect northern lights viewing trip in Iceland

A map of the region. (Sheldon Chalet via Bloomberg/File)

Roberts parents started small, with a basic operation for passionate mountaineers and explorers. Don had bigger plans, but he passed away before he could execute them. Everything the younger Sheldons knew of their parents onetime aspirations came from a National Geographic television clip from the 70s in which he referenced a broader vision for tourism on the nunatak, as well as a prototype travel brochure for Mountain House #1.

Roberts mother Roberta never spoke again of the dreams she had shared with her husband; instead, she poured her affection into preserving the small-town charm of her adopted home, Talkeetna, roughly one hour outside Denali. We were sorting through a warehouse full of stuff in Talkeetna after Roberta died in 2014, recalls Marne, when I came across an odd roll of paper. Inside were decades-old blueprints for a hexagonal structure on Sheldon Nunatak: Mountain House #1.

Alaska's New Jewel

Inside the Commons at Sheldon Chalet. (Jeff Schultz Photography via Bloomberg/File)

Sheldon Glacier is an upgraded vision of that decades-old vision. Guests arrive via helicoptera ride that takes them zooming through narrow slots in the surrounding canyonsand are greeted with Champagne and Alaska seafood hors doeuvres. Its extravaganza upon arrival, says Marne. One of my favorite things is seeing peoples faces when they landtheir brains cant quite comprehend what their eyes are seeing. They need a few breaths to take it all in.

Inside, theres a living room called the Commons, anchored by a special Finnish fireplace that doubles as a high-efficiency, clean-combustion heating system. A family-style dining space is built around a beautiful, birchwood table handcrafted in Talkeetna. The rooms are sparsely designed, with faux fur throws and panoramic views, to keep guests focus squarely on the beauty outdoors. The Sheldons want the property to be carbon-neutral and believe theyre close to accomplishing this, thanks to generous solar panels and a runoff-powered water supply.

Witnessing the midnight lights from the remote Sheldon Amphitheater. (Jeff Schultz Photography via Bloomberg/File)

Its simple but elegant, says Marne, who adds that pretty much everything was challenging when it came to building the states first luxury highland lodge. Guests are encouraged (but not required) to travel to Sheldon Chalet in groups or via buyouts, as three bathrooms must serve five bedroomsa concession that several high-end hotels in Alaska have made because of the difficulty of building larger structures in such extreme environs. The simple things in life, like running water, are actually quite luxurious when youre 6,000 feet up on a glacier, she explains.

During aurora season, from mid-September through early March, days are spent flightseeing around the national park, snowshoeing, ski touring, and visiting remote hot springs. (You can also build an igloo.) During Adventure Season, from early March through mid-July, additional thrills include rappelling, glacier trekking, visiting a Mastodon bone yard, and fishing.

A dish featuring Alaskan crab, crafted by in-house chef Dave Thorne. (Jeff Schultz Photography via Bloomberg/File)

Either way, evenings can include warm-ups in the rooftop sauna, stargazing sessions, and elegant meals by Alaskan chef Dave Thorne, who used to cook for Justin Timberlake, Keith Urban, and Kings of Leon when they were on tour. (Dishes such as barbecued Alaskan oysters with roasted poblano and pepita chutney are more often paired with Anchorage Brewing Co. beers than with big California reds.)

My mom and dad were people worth remembering, but their desire for this property had nothing to do with their own legacy. They just wanted other people to experience this place thats majestic beyond anything else on the planet, Robert Sheldon tells Bloomberg.

Hes also in it for the big picture. Alaska has been in a recession for four years, but tourism is a bright spot, explains Robert. Hopefully, this shows that we can still do great things for the state of Alaska.

Rates from $2,300 per person, per night, include accommodations, food and beverages, and helicopter transfers.Two people suffered serious injuries Saturday in a fire that also damaged Angelos, one of Little Italys oldest restaurants.

More than 100 firefighters were called to 146 Mulberry St. after the tenement became engulfed in flames at around 7:30 a.m. Investigators later determined that the blaze was caused by someone who discarded smoking materials.

Although 12 people suffered injuries in the fire, two were hospitalized. None of the injuries was life threatening. Residents fled down the fire escape to safety on Saturday.

Apartments on the second and third floors were destroyed. While the residents of three apartments were offered temporary assistance from the Red Cross, the New York Times reported that they made other arrangements.

Angelos of Mulberry Street has been in business since 1902, according to its website.Looks like her LA pitstop isn't happening.

Source: Facebook

When Mark Millar announced the return of Hit-Girl last November along with a ton of creative talent, he also revealed that Kevin Smith would be writing the arc after him. Even with months and potentially years of lead time, it looks like Smith won't be taking the reins after Millar.

Revealed this weekend, Jeff Lemire will be taking over Hit-Girl starting on issue 5. Joining him on art duties will be Eduardo Risso, as the pair will take Hit-Girl to Canada. Smith's arc was supposed to take her to LA.

Hit-Girl #1, written by Millar with art by Ricardo Lopez Ortiz, is set to release February 21.Hasbro has gotten in on the crowd-funded business and has launched HasLabs. Their first project? Jabba's Sail Barge. Only one day in and it's already over 1,000!

At the New York Toy Fair, Hasbro announced that they would be getting into the crowd-funding business and would launch HasLabs. The intent is getting items made that normally couldn't be created in a retail setting (or else they'd be sitting on a shelf collecting dust) and to wet collector's appetites for grander display pieces for their collections.

The first project under HasLabs is Jabba's Sail Barge from Star Wars Episode V: Return of the Jedi. The vehicle is for 3.75-inch figures is FOUR FEET LONG, has various compartments, display areas, trap doors, and of course an actual room for Jabba himself.

The estimated price for all of this? $499.99 (that includes shipping). Only one day old, and at this very moment the funding for this has reached over 1,000 (5,000 is the intended funding limit) with only 43 days to go.

If there is one problem with the new crowd-funder is it's only available for the US. There is no international shipping (because probably shipping this thing would be insane). Here's the official press release:

HASBRO is constantly working to create innovative and exciting new products that cater to the unique needs of consumers and fans. In 2018, we take that pledge one step further with the launch of HASLAB! Announced at this year's Toy Fair, HASLAB is Hasbro's new platform that hopes to put dream products into the hands of fans. To that end, we're excited to announce that the first HASLAB item is the biggest Star Wars vehicle Hasbro and Kenner have ever produced  fan favorite JABBA'S SAIL BARGE! Measuring approximately 4 feet long, this large scale, highly detailed item features premium deco and vintage packaging. An incredible addition to any collection, Jabba's Sail Barge comes complete with exquisitely-detailed and fan accessible interior/exterior decks, one Jabba the Hutt 3.75-inch scale figure, two soft-cloth fabric sails, and other realistic features that mimic one of the most notorious vehicles in the Star Wars universe. HASLAB takes inspiration from other platforms by inviting participants to support the product by backing the project up front by placing a pre-order. You're our only hope to make Jabba's Sail Barge a reality! For Jabba's Sail Barge to go into production, Hasbro must meet a certain minimum threshold of 5,000 pre-orders. It's up to the fans to support the campaign and help successfully reach that goal by 11:59pm ET on April 3rd, 2018. Those who pre-order the item will also receive "Jabba's Sail Barge (The Khetanna): Behind The Workbench," a premium, 64-page booklet that goes behind the scenes of the design and development of the actual Sail Barge film set piece and Hasbro toy and includes set photos, product blueprints, interviews, and more. Starting today, fans can place a pre-order for Jabba's Sail Barge at HASBRO.COM/HASLAB. If the goal is met, the product will go into production. For more information on HASLAB and to follow the project's progress throughout the 45 day pre-order window, visit HASBRO.COM/HASLAB and follow @HasbroPulse on social media.

The prospect of Hasbro going into a crowd-funded scene is a long-time coming. Why? Because if there's ONE thing any collector of 3.75-inch figures would want an official to remaster is JUST ONE THING.

Tell me I'm wrong.Former House Majority Leader Bob Faehn of Watertown dies

Bob Faehn served in the Legislature as a Republican from 2005 to 2010. During his time in Pierre, he helped ban smoking in bars and restaurants.

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.La Palma is the most North Westerly of the Canaries and is distinctive because its been relatively untouched by mass tourism. There are only a handful of resorts, the beaches are black and, because of its position in the Atlantic, it attracts more cloud and rain than the others.

However that also makes it the greenest, with lush vegetation in the north and thick pine forests in the mountainous centre. In fact the whole island was declared a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in 2002 and is honeycombed with a network of hiking trails. The most challenging is the famous Ruta de los Volcanes, a hike along the spine of the volcanic ridge sitting in the centre of the island.



Santa Cruz de La Palma

The capital sits at sea level and it was a major halt on the way to and from Central and South America from the 16th century onwards. At one point it was the third most important port in the Spanish empire just behind Seville and Antwerp. These days its just the ferry to Tenerife and a couple of large cruise ships who moor here, but the historic old town is still remarkably intact.

It doesnt take long to explore as its not much more than a couple of long streets running parallel to the sea, on different levels, Still, theyre lined with renaissance churches, vintage shop fronts and imposing 18th century mansions. Everything revolves round the Plaza de Espana which has the town hall on one side and the fortress-like 16th century El Salvador church opposite. Inside, the ornate canary pine ceiling is a fine example of Mudejar or Islamic style architecture.

Ruta de los Volcanes from Volcan San Antonio to Salinas de Fuencaliente

La Palma is an island on the move, with volcanic activity adding land in the south, most recently in 1971. Strong seismic activity was detected in 2017 prompting speculation that another eruption is due. Theres an informative visitor centre here which details the geology and also has footage of the last eruption. Theres also a seismograph constantly monitoring volcanic activity, and today it looks like its safe to go outside.

I start by walking round the crater of the San Antonio volcano, formed by a year long eruption in 1677. The edge of the cone is narrow and there are stunning views into the crater, and across to the town of Fuencaliente.

I carry on across the black barren volcanic landscape, aiming for the southernmost point of the island. On my way is the Teneguia volcano, which erupted in 1971 and I cant resist climbing to the top. Theres a distinctive smell of sulphur and its lower slopes are populated by vines. The volcanic soil, coupled with the sea breezes, is responsible for producing some of La Palmas distinctive wines.

I carry on downhill along what is the last section of the Ruta de los Volcanes, a longer trail which starts on the heights in the middle of the island. At the end are a couple of lighthouses and a collection of salt pans, still used for harvesting flor de sal. Its now lunchtime and I sit on the terrace of the El Jardin de la Sal restaurant on Calle Maldonado, enjoying fresh fish and a glass of the local wine.

Pico de Bejenado

Next morning the mountains are free of cloud so I drive upwards through a complex of hairpins and tunnels to the centre of the island and the Taburiente National Park. Im planning to climb the 1854m Pico de Bejenado and manage to cheat a little by driving up to 1100m on a primitive dirt road. The path leads through lush Canary pines before reaching a saddle with views down into the Caldera de Taburiente. This was once a volcanic mountain, before it collapsed into itself creating an impressive 8km wide crater.

The only way is up, so I continue climbing to the summit. From here I can see the rocky lumps of Roque de Los Muchachos, the highest point in the island at 2426m. Because conditions are perfect for star gazing, theyve sited an observatory complex near the summit, and populated it with some of the worlds largest telescopes. A few days later, I drive up there and the domes of the telescopes, standing clear of the cloud below, are like something from a sci-fi movie.

Los Llanos

I move from Santa Cruz to the town of Los Llanos, in the west of the island, and a good base to further explore the Taburiente National Park. Home to thick Canary pine forests, riven by deep ravines, and impressive rock formations, its been protected since 1954. The best way to explore is on foot although the hiking trails are pretty demanding. A classic circular hike starts just outside Los Llanos and follows the Barranco de las Angustias, the Ravine of Anguish, a deep gash with a fast flowing river at its base.

At the car park, I take a taxi up to Los Brecitos and avoid a long hard slog uphill. From here, the path is pleasant underfoot and winds through pine forests and patches of laurisilva, a green way linked by wooden bridges. I cross the river to reach the National Parks only campsite before descending on the other side of the ravine. If theres rain, this route is impassable, but today theres little water and I follow the river bed back to my car.

GR131 from Refugio de Pilar to Volcan de la Deseada

The toughest long distance route in the Canaries is the GR131. It starts at sea level in the north, climbs up to Roque de Los Muchachos, before descending to the lighthouses in the south. Ive already done the last part but feel I should hike the rest of the Ruta de los Volcanes.

I join the GR131 at Refugio de Pilar and climb up through pines with glimpses of Montana Quemada which erupted in 1480. The trees give way to a stony ash path, following the ridge of extinct volcanoes, with views of solidified black lava flows to the side. Along the way I tick off Pico Birigoyo, Montana la Barquita, Montana de los Charcos and Hoyo Negro.

The mist is swirling and there are sudden strong gusts of wind and its tricky to keep upright. I manage to reach the summit of Volcan de la Deseada, the highest point of the route at almost 2000m, but my guide decides its dangerous to continue. We drop down and take a forestry path back to the start point, just as the rain starts. One day Ill return and do the lot.

Star Gazing

Although there are day tours of the Observatory at Roque de Los Muchachos, visitors are only allowed during the day for obvious reasons. You can still see the sky at night, either on your own or on a guided viewing. I join Ad Astra, just after sunset, at the Llano del Jable astronomical viewpoint, situated at 1341m, where the guide has already set up her telescope.

Down below Id been engulfed in mist, but up here all is clear and rather cold, the lights of Los Llanos clearly visible below. As we peer at the immense array of stars, the guide points out constellations, including Orions Belt, Cassiopeia and the Great Bear. We take turns peering through her telescope, seeing fuzzy images of binary stars, the Andromeda Nebula and the Pleiades, all invisible to the naked eye. Even if youre not remotely interested in astronomy, just staring at the heaven when its as clear as this, makes it a night to remember.

Factfile

FLY: We flew with easyJet direct from London Gatwick to Santa Cruz de La Palma. They have flights twice a week on Tuesdays and Saturdays. Return flights are currently priced from 99.00.

STAY:

Hotel H10 Taburiente Playa **** in Los Cancajos makes a comfortable base near Santa Cruz.

Valle de Aridane Hotel and Hotel Benahore are both good options in Los Llanos centre.

EAT:

El Duende del Fuego, in Los Llanos, serves local food in an imaginative way.

Bodegon Tamanca, in San Nicolas, is excellent for meat dishes.

Kiosko Teneguia, in Puerto de Tazacorte, has fresh fish dishes,

Restaurante Briesta, near Garafia, is good for traditional cooking.

HIKE: Hiking paths are well signed and excellently maintained and Senderos de la Palma has up-to-date information. Theres a good bus network but youll need a car to get to the high points. Cicerones Walking on La Palma, by Paddy Dillon, is an excellent guide.

More Info: Visit La Palma has information about the island.The Bank of Uganda (BoU) is the CentralBank of the Republic of Uganda. It was opened on the 15th August 1966. It is100% owned by the Government of Uganda but it is not a governmentDepartment. Bank of Uganda conducts allits activities in close association with the Ministry of Finance, Planning andEconomic Development (MoFPED). Bank of Uganda is responsible for monetarypolicy and maintaining price stability.The SeniorRegistration Assistantis mainly responsiblefor supporting all activities related to registration, which may also includefunctions related to reception, filing and data management. The incumbentprovides counselling to, and responds to queries from, asylum seekers andrefugees regarding UNHCRs registration procedures and their rights andentitlements. S/he liaises closely with protection staff and partners to ensuretimely identification and referral of persons of concern for protection followup. The Senior Registration Assistant may assist in compiling and analysinginformation related to registration activities in the operation. The SeniorRegistration Assistant may provide interpretation and/or translation servicesin cases for which s/he has the required language competencies.If anything happens to me, please tell my story. This was...At the end of the day it is price which too often decides the outcome of British takeovers.

Share registers have become global and, once the train has left the station, the hedge funds hitch a ride and profit handsomely.

But there have been several bid approaches where a robust industrial and strategic defence prevailed.

These include the proposed Airbus deal with BAE Systems, the Pfizer skirmish with Astrazeneca, the Deutsche Boerse merger of equals with the London Stock Exchange and the approach for Unilever by Kraft-Heinz.

The key to shooting down these transactions was a robust board, regulatory and political response.

Top guns: GKN may not be a top Ministry of Defence contractor, but it does important work on the Typhoon jet fighter (pictured) and is a strategic partners with the US

The Business Select Committee may be up to its neck picking over the carcass of Carillion, but it would be a dereliction if it allowed GKN, Britains only world-class car components manufacturer, to fall into the hands of financially driven engineer Melrose with little of the same commitment to British R&D and manufacturing.

The country may not be in the 1970s game of backing winners, but it cannot allow manufacturing know-how to vanish into uncertain hands at the very moment that Britain is looking to new global markets.

At least the Defence Select Committee is preparing to ask some questions about aerospace.

GKN may not be a top Ministry of Defence contractor, but it does important work on the Typhoon and is a strategic partners with the US, including work on the Lockheed Martin F-35 joint-strike fighter destined for Britains new aircraft carriers.

In the civilian sector, Airbus regards GKN as a vital supplier for wing components, to the point that the companys German chief executive, Tom Enders, says he would not favour GKN falling into the hands of a financially driven bidder.

Aerospace, along with pharmaceuticals, finance and high-tech, is a sector of the UK economy where there are industrial clusters and genuine competitive advantage. Allowing that to be denuded would be enormously detrimental.

The biggest concern about a Melrose takeover is for GKNs driveline (driveshaft) technology and its advanced work in Abingdon (the former Williams plant) on e-drive, a vital component for next generation electric cars already embraced by manufacturers including Volvo.

The UK car components industry was greatly denuded by the experiences of the late 20th Century, but, as the industry has risen phoenix-like from the ashes, GKN emerged as a world-class player willing to invest in the new drive technologies.

It would be an act of industrial sabotage if Melrose were to get its hands on driveline and e-drive and sell the technology to the highest bidders in France, Germany or China.

We only have to look at the recent takeover of Vauxhall by Peugeot owners PSA and the threat to the Ellesmere Port plant to understand how ruinous that would be. The Unite union recognises this, and so does an industrialist of the stature of Sir Richard Lapthorne.

The Business Select Committee has a sacred duty to scrutinise what the impact of a hostile Melrose deal would be. Allowing the future of GKN to be settled by global investors, with no loyalties to British technology and jobs, would be unconscionable.

Shritis shout

With her extensive Whitehall and ministerial experience, Santander UKs chairman, Baroness Vadera, is better placed than most in banking to know how damaging it can be to keep faith with a chief executive tainted by scandal.

There is no escaping the fact that Nathan Bostock was head of risk at Royal Bank of Scotland with responsibility for its Global Restructuring Group when it was hanging small businesses out to dry.

That Santander wants to claim challenger bank funds, provided by RBS in a scheme approved by the European Commission so as to expand its reach into small businesses, is farcical.

To her great credit, Shriti Vadera has sought advice from her board (including proprietor Ana Botin), regulators and the companys owners about Bostocks future.

Vadera is sitting on her hands, with the bank saying it hasnt seen the full report into GRG even though it has widely leaked and disseminated. Best to dispense with Bostock and his cohorts before they contaminate a good bank.

Ropey donations

Here is a puzzle. Is the David A Roper who in recent years donated 131,375 to the Tory Party the vice-chairman of Melrose?

Time for some clarity.The controversial boss of Jet2 was 68million richer last night after a bullish trading update drove shares in his business to a record high.

Philip Meeson, a former RAF pilot who set up the airline in 2002, saw the value of his 38 per cent holding in parent company Dart Group soar from 365million to 433million.

The increase in the 70-year-old's paper fortune came after the firm said profits for the year will be 'materially ahead of current market expectations', which sent its shares up 19 per cent.

Taking off: Philip Meeson, a former RAF pilot who set up Jet2 in 2002, saw the value of his 38 per cent holding in parent company Dart Group soar from 365m to 433m

But campaigners raised fresh questions over Jet2's commitment to customer service after it emerged that the company has refused to sign up to a scheme that ensures fair compensation for delayed flights.

Jet2 is the only one of the ten largest airlines to refuse to join the 'alternative dispute resolution' (ADR) complaints service that was set up by the Civil Aviation Authority two years ago to ensure legitimate claims are dealt with fairly.

While customers of British Airways, Ryanair and EasyJet can seek redress through an independent arbitrator if their claims are rejected by the airline, Jet2 passengers have to go to court, in what can be an expensive and time-consuming process.

A CAA spokesman said: 'ADR is good for UK consumers, which is why it is disappointing that Jet2 has so far refused to sign up, denying their passengers access to an independent arbitration service.

FACTFILE: JET 2 Airline begun in 1983 as Channel Express, with the name Jet 2 launched in 2003

Today it flies to 58 destinations and carries around six million people a year

Chief executive Philip Meeson is a formerRAF pilot and British aerobatics champion

He began as a second-hand car salesman and then owned a BMW dealership

Clearly this decision puts Jet2's customers at a distinct disadvantage and, in many cases, could mean their passengers are denied the fundamental rights they are entitled to.

We have invited Jet2 to meet with us so we can discuss our concerns with them.

'Our aim is to ensure that consumers get the best protection when they travel.'

Justin Modray, of consumer group Candid Money, said: 'There is nothing more frustrating for customers than not having their complaints dealt with in a satisfactory manner.

'I don't think anyone would begrudge the success of this company but it does grate when it comes at the expense of customer service.'

Dart Group, which runs package holidays as well as the Jet2 airline, has benefited from the collapse of rivals including Monarch, Air Berlin and Alitalia.

It yesterday welcomed the return of more normal prices for its holidays and flights after a year of heavy discounting.

Analysts had forecast profits for the year to the end of March would fall from 101million to 94.9million.

But they are now pencilling in a haul of 112million and raised their forecasts for next year from 80.5million to 110million.

The update sent Dart shares up 18.6 per cent or 120.5p to an all-time high of 770p, valuing the company at more than 1.1billion.

Meeson, a father of one, is no stranger to controversy. In 2006, he raised eyebrows when he called striking air traffic controllers in France 'lazy frogs'.Big bit: 1,650 owners of bitcoin have 39 per cent of the total amount in circulation

Fewer than 1,700 investors own more than a third of all bitcoin, making the unregulated Wild West market easy for major players to rig.

A study by ratings agency Standard & Poors found that 1,650 owners of bitcoin with 1,000 or more units of the online currency  worth 8million at todays prices  have 39 per cent of the total amount in circulation.

Around 26.3m investors have less than 100 bitcoin each  giving them a 38 per cent overall share.

Mail analysis suggests this group have an average of 0.24 units each, worth around 2,000 at todays prices.

By contrast, the top 1,650 have an average 31.2million each.

The S&P researchers warned that with so much of the market in the hands of a few investors, there is a danger they can engineer prices lower or higher for their own benefit.

This concentration, along with the unregulated nature of this instrument, makes it prone to market manipulation, they said.

The agency also warned that bitcoin and similar internet-based currencies are prone to wild price swings which make their use as money low.

Instead, most people have piled in on the hope that they can get rich quick.MJ Gleeson boss Jolyon Harrison agreed to sell some of his own land to the firm

The boss of regeneration specialist MJ Gleeson is in line for a windfall of nearly 100,000 after he agreed to sell some of his own land to the firm for development.

Jolyon Harrison, who lives near York, bought the plot 75 miles away in Mansfield more than a decade ago.

The 69-year-old has agreed to sell it to MJ Gleeson for 98,750.

The company, whose houses typically sell for an average of 124,400, plans to build 32 homes on the site.

If all of them go for that amount, the company will rake in 4million.

The transaction was agreed by the Gleeson board, with Harrison recusing himself from the discussions.

'The land, if purchased, will form part of a new Gleeson Homes site being developed in the ordinary course of business,' the company said.

'The price paid by the group was supported by an independent valuation and approved by the board.'

The deal was made public as Gleeson reported a 19 per cent rise in half-year profits to 13.7million and raised its interim dividend from 6.5p to 9p a share.

The company built and sold 593 homes in the six months to the end of December, up 31.5 per cent on the 451 it sold in the same period the previous year.

Nearly two-thirds of the homes  373  were sold through Help To Buy, the Government's flagship scheme that lends house hunters cash to get on the property ladder.

The equity loan scheme allows people to purchase new-builds worth up to 600,000 using deposits of just 5 per cent  or 30,000.

The Government loans up to another 20 per cent, or 120,000, interest-free for five years. In London, where prices are typically higher, buyers can get a 40 per cent loan worth up to 240,000.

Shares rose 4.9 per cent, or 34p, to 724p.Mark Carney last night admitted that the Bank of England is powerless to stop the next financial crisis.

Speaking in London, the central bank's governor said something was bound to go wrong in future, and it was impossible to know exactly what.

But he added that the UK banking system was strong enough to withstand the next shock  even what he called a 'cliff-edge Brexit'.

Que sera sera: Bank of England governor Mark Carney said something was bound to go wrong in future, and it was impossible to know exactly what

The Bank has been criticised for its gloomy stance over Brexit ever since Carney wrongly warned a vote to leave the European Union could tip the economy into recession.

'We must remember that, although we can make financial crises less likely to happen and less severe when they do occur, we cannot abolish them,' the 52-year-old said.

He said the strength of the banking system is now such that it would have been able to withstand any of the 20 largest crises in history and still lend to households and businesses.Questions: Nathan Bostocks involvement with the notorious GRG small business unit

Santander has held crisis talks concerning the future of UK chief executive Nathan Bostock over his involvement with a toxic banking unit.

The chairman of Santanders British operation, Baroness Vadera, has probed Bostocks involvement in a scandal which allegedly saw small firms wrecked by bankers for a profit.

Vadera, 55, has held talks with the banks board, City regulators and its Spanish parent firm in Madrid about Bostocks involvement with the notorious Global Restructuring Group (GRG) small business unit when he worked at Royal Bank of Scotland.

Bostock, 57, oversaw GRG as the banks head of risk from 2009 to 2013.

It was supposed to help struggling small businesses get back on their feet, but has instead been accused of loading them up with massive fees as management turned a blind eye. It is claimed this hastened the collapse of many firms.

The lenders head office in Madrid and its executive chairman Ana Botin  a former chief executive of the UK division  have been kept fully informed.

Bostock is understood to have the full confidence of the chairman, the board and the head office in Spain, and there is no evidence he was personally responsible for any failings at RBS.

But pressure is mounting on him as a Financial Conduct Authority report into the failings of GRG  which was leaked last week  could be officially made public as soon as today.

THE BANKING BARONESS Santander UK chairman Shriti Vadera is under growing pressure to take action over the lenders links to the scandal at rival Royal Bank of Scotland Nicknamed Shriti the shriek for her domineering style, she was a business minister in 2008 and helped develop the response to the financial crisis. An investment banker, Vadera has never held elected office and was made a baroness so she could join the Labour government. She is paid 650,000 a year as chairman of Santander.

Bostock jumped ship to Santander in 2014 and has since claimed to be a champion of small business. But there is growing outrage over what happened on his watch at RBS.

Vadera, 55, who was a small business minister in the last Labour government, will consider the FCA report, which is due to be made public by MPs on the Treasury Select Committee.

A copy seen by the Mail alleged that bosses were behind a hard-driving culture which put the squeeze on customers.

Vadera was a key player in the response to the financial crisis and won plaudits for her efforts. But some last night said this reputation is at risk unless she takes action.

Liberal Democrat leader and ex-Business Secretary Sir Vince Cable said: Baroness Vadera is rightly regarded with respect in the City.

But she cannot continue to preside over an arrangement whereby one of the main perpetrators of one of the worst scandals in the banking crisis remains in post.

Santander declined to comment last night.MBABANE  If you are looking at owning a bakkie, sedan, motorbike or TLB, you had to be at the Swaziland Water Services Corporation (SWSC) auction.



Buzzby Services, which had been appointed by SWSC to sell by public auction various items which included heavy plant and motor vehicles, managed to successfully sell items on offer raking in over E1.3 million in the process.



The auction, conducted at the SWSC yard at the Matsapha Industrial Sites, starting from 10am lasted for about an hour on Saturday.

Buzzby Services Auctioneer Walter Bennett invited bids from businesspeople and individuals who waited with bated breath to make bids after having paid a refundable deposit of E10 000.



Notable faces among the entrepreneurs who were at the auction which attracted about 30 people included Tommy Kirk and Van Wyk among others.

The most pricey item on offer was a Bell TLB 315 TLB 4x4 2010 which had worked for 9 135 hours which went under the hammer for E392 000.

The lowest item bought was a canopy that got sold for only E3 600.



Walter Bennett said the auction managed to attract successful bids because the SWSC fleet was well managed and had exceptionally good prices.

He said the fact that some bidders drove away in their new vehicles was evident that the vehicles were in good condition.

We are exceptionally grateful for the good turnout, said Bennett.



Reasons why some people were at the auction included that they would re-sell the motor vehicles while others said they would use the cars for personal errands.

I will repaint the bakkie and place it on the market to make extra cash, said one of the bidders who preferred to remain anonymous.MBABANE  Cash Security Services will cash in over E5 million for the provision of SRAs cash in transit security services for the next three years.



Tender results issued by the Swaziland Public Procurement Regulatory Agency (SPPRA) reflect that the company scored 92 per cent during the tender evaluation exercise. Acting Director Communications Ricardo Kruger yesterday confirmed that the tender has officially been granted.

Cash Security Services outsmarted Fidelity Security Services and Swaziland Security Guards who scored 90 per cent and 81 per cent, respectively.

The exact amount of money that will be paid to Cash Security Services is E5 755 299.12.



It should be pointed out that in the next three years, inclusive of the current 2017/2018 financial year, government intends to collect E48.3 billion in tax revenue.

This sum was sourced from Swaziland government estimates from April 1, 2017 to 31 March 2020.

Goods and services including Value Added Tax (VAT), sales tax, fuel tax and licences of mobile telephony services among other taxes, will contribute the largest tranche of E32.9 billion into the countrys coffers.



This could closely be followed by income tax  company tax, graded tax and individuals - which has been projected to contribute about E15.4 billion.

Taxes on property were projected to be the least source of revenue in the next three years as only E147 million was projected from it.



It should, however, be pointed out that these projected figures were made inclusive of policy changes that could be effected by government if enacted into law.

Some of the policy changes are contained in the draft Income Tax Amendment Bill of 2017. The policy changes include, but not limited to, introduction of capital gains tax. The draft Income Tax Amendment Bill of 2017 had also proposed to tax long term construction projects on estimated profits. The proposed bill stipulated that long term construction contracts will be taxed on the estimated profit as calculated on commencement of the project. Lower profits or final losses can be carried back, but only to the extent of one year.

In defence of the proposed tax amendments, Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Finance Bheki Bhembe recently said the draft bill was intended at benchmarking the countrys tax laws with the region. He strongly emphasised that the intention was not to affect businesses negatively but rather to improve on compliance.

Sir,



It is now obvious even to a child that the crime rate in our country has reached alarming levels which can now be compared to our neighbour South Africa. Swaziland had been a very safe country overall in terms of crime in the past. Tourists are robbed, housebreaking cases are on the rise, ATM bombings, the list is endless, and most are now committed with guns.



A lot of these crime incidents are reported in the media, and of concern is the use of guns in most of these incidents but we have not seen or heard any urgent statement coming from government condemning these acts and committing themselves to bring most if not all culprits to book.

It is sad that the nation has to live in fear of a minority as this is a small group; the majority of Swazis are hardworking, trying to make ends meet.

The police concentrate on catching drink-drivers, we agree with this for the nations safety on roads but they should also treat burglaries, hijackings with the same urgency. When will we see raids on criminals who are holding the country to ransom?



Vision 2022 will not be attained at this rate. We all know investors do their research before investing in a country and one of the things they observe is crime; do we see investors coming into the country at this rate? A big no, which means unemployment will remain high.



The police should call an indaba where all communities are represented and look at forming neighborhood watch initiatives working hand in hand with the police.

These have worked very well in South Africa because it is clear that police cannot be everywhere at once, they need the assistance of the public. In this way it will also assist in identifying those in the communities who are protecting these criminals because at the end of the day, after they have committed a crime, they have to go and rest or share the spoils somewhere.



Elderly citizen







MBABANE  The Swaziland Electricity Company (SEC) employee whose truck collided with a kombi, an accident that killed seven people, has been charged with seven counts of culpable homicide.



The accident occurred at White City along the Mnyokane/Motshane Road on Friday.

All the deceased were on board the kombi. Mbuso Zwane (52) of Dwaleni made an appearance before Magistrate Sifiso Vilakati on Saturday where he was granted bail fixed at E3 000.



In the charge sheet, Zwane is facing eight counts of traffic offences and he informed the court he would be conducting his own defence when trial commences.

His trial date for the accident which happened on the MR1 Public Road has been set for March 30, 2018 by the court.

The first count is that of culpable homicide where Zwane was driving a BM Man truck which collided with a Toyota Siyaya kombi driven by Bhekumusa Zwane (29) of Nkhaba, who died from the accident.



His second count is that of culpable homicide for the death of Paul Matsebula (71) of Nkhaba.

The third count is culpable homicide where Winile Mkhontfo of Mahebedla was also killed.



His fourth count is that of culpable homicide where Sifiso Mkhontfo (33) passed away as he was on board the kombi.

Count five is that of culpable homicide where an unknown female was also killed.



Count six is also of culpable homicide following the death of Nomsa Hlatshwako who was also on board the same kombi.

Count seven is another charge of culpable homicide where Xoliswa Shawe (20) of Dlangeni was killed.Mbuso Ncaza Nkosi.



MBABANE  Police have arrested Mbuso Ncaza Nkosi who was wanted in connection with the murder of Victor Gamedze.



Details of the arrest of the South African national were not immediately available but it was gathered that he was arrested in his home country over the weekend.

Information gathered was that four male police officers from the 10-man task team involved in the investigation of the murder case went to the neighbouring country on Thursday evening.



The four officers are known but will not be named because of the ongoing investigations.

While in SA, they liaised with their counterparts with the information they had on the wanted suspect and he was eventually found and arrested.

Information on where and when he was arrested could not be ascertained when this report was being compiled as the local police officers also asked not to comment on anything pertaining to the latest developments.



On Sunday morning, three police officers were spotted at the Mbabane Magistrates Court where they needed the magistrate, who was on duty to issue a warrant of arrest against Nkosi.



The warrant of arrest was eventually issued at the courthouse by one of the judicial officers in his chambers and within five minutes, the police officers who are part of the 10-man team were seen leaving the courthouse.



Information gathered was that Nkosi could have possibly arrived in the country yesterday after the warrant of arrest was issued, as it was a matter of time for the local police to fetch him from the Republic of South Africa.



Origin



A legal expert stated that the warrant of arrest issued by the judicial officer meant that Nkosi had been arrested in his country of origin.

Nkosi had been put up on Interpol as a wanted suspect for the murder of Gamedze.[February 19, 2018] Alberta Blue Cross Selects Planbox as its Strategic Innovation Management Solution

MONTREAL, Feb. 19, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Alberta Blue Cross has identified innovation as a strategic enabler for its ten-year vision. The focus is to build an innovative culture in which employee ideas are truly valued. Alberta Blue Cross will use Planbox to invite its employees to share their suggestions on company-wide, departmental and team challenges. All 1,000+ employees of Alberta Blue Cross will use Planbox across all its branch offices around the province. Once the innovation team has some experience with the tool, Alberta Blue Cross expects to use Planbox as an open innovation solution to solicit ideas from its valued customers.

Alberta Blue Cross Executive Committee (EC) asked participants in its future leaders program to generate recommendations to help build an innovative culture. This included the corporate innovation team whose task was to recommend a digital approach to gathering ideas from Alberta Blue Cross employees. The company first contacted Planbox in March 2016 and began a long and thorough evaluation process along with several other ideation and innovation management applications. Planbox made the short list of three applications selected for a demo to the majority of Alberta Blue Cross future leaders as well as an Application Architect in the IT area. The evaluation team then recommended Planbox to the EC. Following a demo, EC also liked the look of Planbox and its potential to move Alberta Blue Cross innovation program forward. The purchase of Planbox was approved in the summer of 2017.

According to reviewer ratings, Planbox was the most complete and flexible solution available. Planbox offered a great deal of support and documentation before any contract was signed. During the demo, Planbox was able to present all of the functionality Alberta Blue Cross required, and any unique requests were greeted with a positive response in terms of getting it done. Alberta Blue Cross metics for the first year are focused on building an innovative culture revolving around gauging all of the initiatives Alberta Blue Cross is launching and whether they have made a difference in terms of involving Alberta Blue Cross employees in this innovation movement. With respect to Planbox, Alberta Blue Cross will be looking not only at the number of ideas that have been generated per challenge or innovation activity but also their quality.



"Planbox shows great potential for allowing us to tap into the innovative potential of our employees. The challenge-based approach lends itself very well to inviting employee input on issues that impact our ability to realize our vision and operational plans. We are also excited about the reporting capabilities Planbox has," stated Mark Razzolini, VP of People, Wellness and Innovation and Chair of the company's multi-functional and multi- level Innovation Leadership Team. About Alberta Blue Cross

As Alberta's largest benefits carrier, Alberta Blue Cross provides health and dental benefits to meet the needs of over 1.6 million Albertans. A multitude of benefit plans are available to individuals and families, seniors, and large and small employers. The company also partners with the provincial and federal governments in the administration of major programs. Alberta Blue Cross covers just about every type of health benefit, including prescription drugs, dental, vision care, preferred hospital accommodation, emergency medical travel, ambulance, home nursing and chiropractor, as well as life insurance and short and long term disability coverage for group plan members. The company is also well on its way to becoming the wellness leader in Alberta. For more information please visit https://www.ab.bluecross.ca. About Planbox Planbox is the pioneering provider of cloud-based AI-Powered Agile Work Innovation solutions  from creative ideas to winning projects. Our mission is to help organizations thrive by transforming the culture of agile work, continuous innovation and creativity across the entire organization. Planbox is built for companies and teams of all sizes and trusted by some of the world's most recognized brands including Great-West Life, Honeywell, Panama Canal Authority, Philips, Sealed Air, Sun Life Financial, Whirlpool, Willis Towers Watson and Verizon with millions of internal and external users. To learn more, visit: www.planbox.com and unleash your innovation butterfly. Additional Links Planbox on Twitter (www.twitter.com/planbox)

Planbox on Facebook (www.facebook.com/planbox)

Planbox on LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com/companies/planbox) Contact information Amanda Sarafian

190557@email4pr.com

514-788-4703, extension 1 View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/alberta-blue-cross-selects-planbox-as-its-strategic-innovation-management-solution-300600241.html SOURCE Planbox

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][February 19, 2018] Communitech Forms Indo-Canada Innovation Bridge with India's T-Hub

Communitech has signed a memorandum of understanding with T-Hub of India today, announcing the intent to partner in support of global commercialization of each other's technology companies. The memorandum of understanding was signed during a ceremony in Mumbai, India by Lisa Cashmore, Communitech's Director of International Strategy and Jay Krishnan, T-Hub CEO in the presence of the Honourable Bardish Chagger, Leader of the Government in the Canadian House of Commons and Minister of Small Business and Tourism. The partnership forms an Indo-Canada Innovation Bridge anchored by Communitech, an industry-led innovation center that supports, fosters and celebrates a community of more than 1400 tech companies in Waterloo Region, Canada and T-Hub, India's largest startup incubator. Communitech and T-Hub will share office space, programming and mentorship as well as create a program where companies of both countries will join to resolve corporate innovation challenges. The partnership presents three goals: A co-innovation program with joint development between Canadian and Indian innovators and entrepreneurs,

Market access for Communitech entrepreneurs through T-Hub's India Market Access Program based on product-market fit, and

Indian and Canadian startups and researchers working together on solutions to innovation challenges corporate businesses face in both countries. "Our government is committed to making Canada a world leader in innovation. In order to truly achieve this objective, we also understand that in a globally connected world, w need to partner with like-minded countries, like India, to build strong connections and help our entrepreneurs create world-class companies," said Minister Chagger. "These partnerships also help to encourage investment and forward thinking, giving our best and brightest a stage on which they can shine. Today's agreement between Communitech and T-Hub will help to enable this important work. I congratulate both organizations on this agreement, and wish them, and the many great companies they will work with, the best of success for many years to come."



"Forming a partnership to support Canadian and Indian innovation in tech companies is a huge opportunity. India is in the top five most requested markets through the Canadian Digital Media Network (CDMN) Soft Landing program, so we know it is a market that is of interest and importance to the companies we work with," said Cashmore. "This partnership will help Canadian startups and technology firms have direct access to Indian markets and support on the ground." "T-Hub and Communitech share a common philosophy to make our corresponding ecosystems vibrant, technology-driven, and also driven by international aspirations. With the signing of this MOU, we will be providing a platform and opportunity for startups and corporates from both countries to access each other with support provided on the ground in a structured, programmatic way," said Krishnan.

About Communitech Communitech was founded in 1997 by a group of entrepreneurs committed to making Waterloo Region a global innovation leader. At the time it was crazy talk, but somehow this community managed to pull it off. Today, Communitech is a public-private innovation hub that supports a community of more than 1400 companies - from startups to scale-ups to large global players. Communitech is a member of the Ontario Network of Entrepreneurs and helps tech companies start, grow and succeed in three distinct ways. Communitech is a place - the center of gravity for entrepreneurs and innovators. A clubhouse for building cool tech and great companies.

Communitech delivers programs - helping companies at all stages with access to capital, customers and talent. We are here to help them grow and innovate.

Communitech partners in building a world-leading ecosystem - making sure we have all the ingredients (and the brand) to go from a small startup to a global giant. About T-Hub T-Hub is India's fastest-growing startup engine catalyzing Innovation, Scale and Deal flow. T-Hub is a unique public/private partnership between the Government of Telangana, three of India's premier academic institutes (IIIT-H, ISB and NALSAR) and key private sector leaders. T-Hub aims to forge many such partnerships with governments and corporates across the world to setup T-Bridge centers, strengthening trade relations and attracting investment into the state of Telangana. T-Hub is one of the largest start-up ecosystem builders in India, with more than 2,000 startups in its database clustered into various stages of growth across sectors of specialization - a model of community development that is unique to Hyderabad. Such a unique model enables investors and corporates to plan programs and capacity building initiatives in a targeted and organized manner. T-Hub is also the only model where the government is working intensely with the investor and the partner to fuel innovation and facilitate enterprise. For more information about us, please visit www.t-hub.co. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180219005132/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][February 18, 2018] Cinia Partners with Megaport to Deliver Direct Cloud Connectivity to the Nordics

Multi-Region, Multicloud Connectivity Options for Enterprises in Finland and Beyond BRISBANE, Australia, Feb. 18, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Megaport Limited (ASX: MP1) ("Megaport"), a global leading Network as a Service (NaaS) provider and Cinia Oy, creator of intelligent connectivity solutions today announced that they have partnered to enable enterprises with direct access to leading Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) and extend Cinia's network services reach. "The core tenet of Megaport is making connectivity easy," said Vincent English, Chief Executive Officer, Megaport. "We overcome barriers to entry for cloud adoption by making it easy to get connected directly to Cloud, Managed, and Network Service Providers. This enables scalability, consistent performance, and bandwidth optimisation that helps reduce total cost of ownership. Our Software Defined Network empowers enterprises to architect multicloud and hybrid cloud connectivity. For maximum ease of use, customers can order services in real-time via our Portal or through our API. Our partnership with Cinia enables Finnish enterprises with direct cloud access via Cinia's robust national and international network. Cinia is an agile industry-leading service provider and we are proud to partner with them to elevate connectivity options in Finland." Cinia has leveraged Megaport's global SDN as a part of its cMatrix service, a customer-specific direct connect solution that bypasses the internet and gives enterprises direct access to CSPs and the data centres in Europe where CSPs enable their services. Enterprises will access Megaport's Ecosystem of over 250 service providers including Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, Oracle Cloud, IBM Cloud, and Alibaba Cloud with high capacity and low latency through Cinia's C-Lion1 Submarinecable, the most direct route from Finland to Central and West Europe.



"We partnered with Megaport because connectivity is a key factor when accessing public cloud services and their solution, combined with our footprint in the Nordics, addresses a clear demand," said Taneli Vuorinen, SVP, Cinia. "The majority of data centres that house public CSPs for European customers are located in Central and Western Europe. This does not account for enterprises that can be over a thousand kilometres away and creates challenges in terms of latency. We wanted to deliver an option for customers to access direct connectivity to cloud services and give them the autonomy to dial these connections up and down as their business demands require it. As such, partnering with Megaport was the natural decision." About Megaport

Megaport is the global leading provider of Elastic Interconnection services. Using Software Defined Networking (SDN), the Company's global platform enables customers to rapidly connect their network to other services across the Megaport Network. Services can be directly controlled by customers via mobile devices, their computer, or the open API. The Company's extensive footprint in Australia, Asia Pacific, North America, and Europe, provides a neutral platform that spans many key data centre providers across various markets.

Established in 2013 and founded by Bevan Slattery, Megaport built the world's first SDN-based Elastic Interconnection platform designed to provide the most secure, seamless, and on-demand way for enterprises, networks, and services to interconnect. Led by Vincent English, Megaport has been built by a highly experienced team with extensive knowledge in building large scale global carrier networks and connects over 850 customers throughout over 185 data centres in 37 cities across 19 countries. Megaport is an Alibaba Cloud Technology Partner, Oracle Cloud Partner, AWS Technology Partner, AWS Networking Competency Partner, Microsoft Azure ExpressRoute Partner, Google Cloud Interconnect Partner, and IBM Direct Link Cloud Exchange provider. Megaport, Virtual Cross Connect, VXC, and MegaIX are registered trademarks of Megaport (Services) Pty Ltd ACN 607 432 646. To learn more about Megaport, please visit: www.megaport.com. About Cinia

Cinia offers intelligent network, system and software services as well as secure cloud services that eliminate geographical distances and make the world more functional. With its strong expertise in critical systems and its own fibre-optic backbone network of more than 10,000 kilometres in Northern Europe, the company offers businesses a secure IT infrastructure and a cloud-based operating environment for the future. Cinia's C-Lion1 submarine cable strengthens the European digital single market by providing the shortest and fastest route from Central Europe to Northern Europe, where the conditions for data centres are ideal, as well as to the Asian and Eastern European markets. Cinia is headquartered in Finland and employs approximately 230 experts. For more information: www.cinia.fi /en MEDIA INQUIRIES

media@megaport.com



Sapphire Communications for Megaport

Wendy Hill, +61 427 173 203

wendy@sapphirecommunications.com.au Cinia Contact:

Marja Mokko

+358505065536

marja.mokko@cinia.fi

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][February 18, 2018] HeyHolidays Launches in Croatia and is Now Present in 120 Countries Worldwide

BANGALORE, February 19, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- HeyHolidays, a global player in the alternative stay online accommodations market, has expanded its footprint in Croatia, Hungary and other European countries which are slowly becoming popular destinations among Indians - both individual and group travellers. Croatia is a perfect blend of beach, mountain, museums, national parks, ancient ruins and many other places for a remarkable traveller experience. Highlighted in the HBO TV series, Game of Thrones, Croatian destinations like Dubrovnik, Split, Makarska, Trogir, etc. have gained immense popularity among travellers. HeyHolidays has more than 16,000 properties spread across the country. The array of properties includes holiday villas, beach houses, apartments, cottages, farm stays, bungalows and many more ranging between INR 1,600 and INR 187,500 per night. There are properties for all types of travellers - backpackers, family, groups of friends, honeymooners. A few of the properties can even accommodate over 15 guests. (Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/628531/HeyHolidays_Logo.jpg ) Rapidly expanding, HeyHolidays is now present in 120+ countries including Croatia, Turkey, Luxembourg, Russia, Portugal, Italy, Sweden, Hungary, France, Spain and UK. "We have observed an impressive increase in the demand from our Indian outbound travellers to European destinations like Croatia, Hungary and The Netherlands in addition to popular destinations like UK, France, Italy and Spain," said Kenny Blatt, HeyHolidays Co-Founder. Based in Bangalore, India, HeyHolidays is eyeing to become the first choice for India nationals traveling abroad. 'HeyHolidays' growth has been contagious within India for inbound and outbound travellers along with our growing international customer bookings. We listen intently to our customer and are able to pivot accordingly. As our motto says - we are more than just a room," said Mr. Blatt.



"Indian travellers opting for European destinations are mainly groups of young people, families and honeymooners. Food choices are rapidly becoming another area of concern for Indians traveling to these destinations as a large number of them have vegetarian as their food preference," said Mr. Blatt. Guests and hosts have the ability to chat on the HeyHolidays app which allows for a seamless booking process as well as 'best of' suggestions for restaurants and pre-arrival grocery shopping. In addition to the expansion within Europe, HeyHolidays is now present in over 100 cities in India and Southeast Asia. HeyHolidays is cementing its hold on the local and inbound travel to major tourist destinations like Goa, Rajasthan, Kerala, Kashmir, Sikkim and Bangkok. About HeyHolidays

HeyWorld Holiday Pvt. Ltd. company currently operates in more than 120 countries. In India, it is present across 120+ destinations. For more information or short stay home reservations, call at +91-080-41464444 or email us at contact@heyholidays.com or visit the company website at http://www.heyholidays.com. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heyholidays

Twitter: https://twitter.com/hey_holidays

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hey.holidays Media Contact:

Kenny Blatt

kenny.blatt@heyholidays.com

+91-8041464444

Co-founder, HeyHolidays



[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][February 19, 2018] Infosys Recognised as a Top Employer in Europe

LONDON, February 19, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Awarded Top Employer certification in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, The Netherlands and Switzerland Infosys (NYSE: INFY), a global leader in consulting, technology, and next-generation services, has been recognised as Top Employer in Europe for its excellence in employee conditions by global certification company Top Employers Institute. (Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/633365/Infosys_Logo.jpg )

This is the first time Infosys applied for this certification, and in its maiden year the company has been recognised across key countries including the United Kingdom, France, Germany, The Netherlands and Switzerland. In addition, Infosys has been certified as one of the best companies to work for on the continent, winning the most prestigious Top Employer award in Europe. The certification further demonstrates Infosys' strategic commitment to growth in Europe, and its investment in its employees' professional development, personal wellbeing, development, benefits and more. UB Pravin Rao, Chief Operating Officer, Infosys, said, "Europe is one of our key markets, accounting for almost a quarter of our global revenues. To drive our continued growth strategy in the region, we need to build and develop talent locally across the continent, and this means providing a work environment with the best HR practices to attract and retain highly-skilled talent. Top Employer certification is a validation of Infosys' Talent Management strategy and we are committed to establishing ourselves as a credible employer of choice across the region." David Plink, CEO of Top Employers Institute, said, "From our research, we have seen how the organisations certified as one of the Top Employer in Europe put the development of their people first and are continuously working to opimise their HR and people development practices. Infosys forms part of this select group of employers. Now that they have received the European Top Employer certification, they can rightfully consider themselves at the top of an exclusive group of the world's best employers. An achievement they can truly be proud of."



The Top Employers Institute completed a stringent research process, with an international HR best practice evaluation and audit assessing Infosys' human resource environment across the participating countries, on criteria ranging from talent strategy workforce planning, onboarding to learning and development, performance management leadership development, career and succession management, compensation and benefits, and culture. The Top Employers Institute recognises businesses that provide excellent employee conditions, nurture and develop talent throughout all levels of the organisation, as well as those which strive to continuously improve employment practices. Certified organisations receive insights across the entire spectrum of their HR effort, providing a benchmark for HR best practices.

To learn more about the Top Employers Institute and the Top Employers certification visit: http://www.top-employers.com. About Infosys Infosys is a global leader in technology services and consulting. We enable clients in 45 countries to create and execute strategies for their digital transformation. From engineering to application development, knowledge management and business process management, we help our clients find the right problems to solve, and to solve those effectively. Our team of 200,000+ innovators, across the globe is differentiated by the imagination, knowledge and experience across industries and technologies that we bring to every project we undertake. Visit http://www.infosys.com to see how Infosys (NYSE: INFY) can help your enterprise thrive in the digital age. Safe Harbor Certain statements in this press release concerning our future growth prospects are forward-looking statements regarding our future business expectations intended to qualify for the 'safe harbor' under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties relating to these statements include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties regarding fluctuations in earnings, fluctuations in foreign exchange rates, our ability to manage growth, intense competition in IT services including those factors which may affect our cost advantage, wage increases in India, our ability to attract and retain highly skilled professionals, time and cost overruns on fixed-price, fixed-time frame contracts, client concentration, restrictions on immigration, industry segment concentration, our ability to manage our international operations, reduced demand for technology in our key focus areas, disruptions in telecommunication networks or system failures, our ability to successfully complete and integrate potential acquisitions, liability for damages on our service contracts, the success of the companies in which Infosys has made strategic investments, withdrawal or expiration of governmental fiscal incentives, political instability and regional conflicts, legal restrictions on raising capital or acquiring companies outside India, and unauthorized use of our intellectual property and general economic conditions affecting our industry. Additional risks that could affect our future operating results are more fully described in our United States Securities and Exchange Commission filings including our Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2017. These filings are available at http://www.sec.gov. Infosys may, from time to time, make additional written and oral forward-looking statements, including statements contained in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and our reports to shareholders. In addition, please note that any forward-looking statements contained herein are based on assumptions that we believe to be reasonable as of the date of this press release. The company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements that may be made from time to time by or on behalf of the company unless it is required by law.



[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][February 19, 2018]

ICIT to Honor Travel Bloggers With ICIT Blogging Awards 2018

AHMEDABAD, India, February 19, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Recognizing the travel bloggers' contribution to the promotion of Indian tourism, Innovative Council of Indian Tourism (ICIT) is organising ICIT Blogging Awards 2018 on 21-22 February, in association with Gujarat Tourism at White Rann Resort, Dhordo, Kutch. Praveg Communications Limited is the Event Partner for the Conference.

(Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/643309/ICIT_Blogging_Awards.jpg )



On this momentous occasion, ICIT reinforces its commitment to develop, encourage, support and promote the blogger community in India that strives to promote Indian Tourism through their sheer power and beauty of their words and expressions.

ICIT has invited renowned travel bloggers and photographers from India amidst the presence of media professionals to attend the 2-day event.







The objectives of the event are to promote India's tourist destinations worldwide, facilitate networking and interaction among the blogger community, discuss emerging trends in blogging and chart the roadmap for tourism in India.

ICIT Blogging Awards 2018 will be organized as a part of the Conference on Photo Tourism in India to recognize the exemplary achievements of national travel bloggers. During the Event, ICIT will make special arrangements to encourage and attract the awardees to capture the magnificence of Rann Utsav and the tourist destinations of Kutch.

About Innovative Council of Indian Tourism

Innovative Council of Indian Tourism (ICIT) is constituted as a national centre for Indian tourism and is engaged in promoting India as the leading global tourist destination. For more information, visit http://www.icitindia.com

About Praveg Communications Limited

Praveg Communications Limited, the leading event management company based in Ahmedabad, has executed over 600 events in India and abroad. For more information, http://www.praveg.com

Media Contact:

Atindam Mukherjee

secretary@icitindia.com

+91-9427186066

Innovative Council of Indian Tourism

[February 19, 2018] Transform Your Bathroom into the Ultimate Paradise

MISSION, Kan., Feb. 19, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- (Family Features) Many people spend a lot of time in the bathroom. Its a functional space where you can bathe, get ready for the day and take care of business. However, the bathroom can be so much more than that: it can offer a place to destress, relax and recharge before taking on the morning or after conquering a long day.

Photo courtesy of Sue Hudelson



Now you can escape to your own paradise without leaving home. These simple tips and tricks from lifestyle and parenting expert Jordan Reid of Ramshacke Glam can help you transform your bathroom into a spa-like oasis without undergoing a major renovation.



Dont be scared to play with lighting, as it helps create a rooms atmosphere. Use multi-bulb lighting fixtures paired with warm LEDs. For a sunset-on-the-beach vibe, try pink bulbs in the bathroom with your regular lighting; together they can create a rosy-glow thats the perfect aesthetic for a relaxing time.

To immerse yourself in the sand and sun, use collections of gold-framed mirrors. Adding mirrors is a simple way to bounce additional light around the room, and the gold can add a warm hue, so theyre both functional and aesthetically pleasing.

Bathrooms can have greenery in them, too. Plants such as philodendrons and bromeliads can add an element of airiness and life, and both can be found in super-realistic faux styles if your bathroom is not conducive to the real thing.

Dont be afraid to accessorize your bathroom with items that fit your style and personality. For your paradise getaway, a bamboo bathmat can create a beachy vibe thats also chic and modern and Turkish towels can add texture and color. Even smaller items, such as jewelry stands, towel hooks and toilet paper holders, can show off your unique aesthetic and make your escape truly your own.

Keep your bathroom sparklingly and stunningly clean  and smelling great. Dont forget to clean frequently overlooked places like the back of the toilet, inside the shower and along the edges of fixtures. Scented cleaning products such as those from the Clorox Scentiva Pacific Breeze & Coconut line, including bathroom foamer, toilet cleaning gel, multi-surface spray and disinfecting wipes, not only deliver a refreshing clean, but can also help transport you to a relaxing paradise with aromas of coconut, pineapples and warm sandalwood. For more information, visit Clorox.com. Michael French

mfrench@familyfeatures.com

1-888-824-3337

editors.familyfeatures.com



About Family Features Editorial Syndicate

Established in 1974, Family Features is a leading provider of free food and lifestyle content for print and online publications. Our articles, photos, videos and web content solutions save you time, money and help create advertising opportunities. Registration is fast and free  with absolutely no obligation. Visit editors.familyfeatures.com for more information.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at //www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/b2b0759c-c7cd-46da-be4d-2e9a13a0855e

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][February 19, 2018] Alabama Virtual Academy at Eufaula City Schools Now Enrolling for 2018-2019 School Year

Alabama Virtual Academy at Eufaula City Schools (ALVA-ECS) welcomes families to apply for enrollment for the 2018-2019 school year. An online public school authorized by the Alabama State Department of Education and the Eufaula City Schools, ALVA-ECS is available tuition-free to students in grades K-12 who reside anywhere in the state. Delivered entirely online, ALVA-ECS combines online instruction, rigorous curriculum and the support of state-licensed teachers to provide a personalized experience for each student. ALVA-ECS students access a robust online curriculum and attend live virtual classes. The school provides a unique approach to learning that helps prepare students for post-graduation college or career success. "At ALVA-ECS, our goal is to maximize the potential of each student," says Head of School Kayleen Marble. "We work with families to make sure students stay on track to meet their goals, whether entering the workforce or advancing onto higher education after graduation." Students are offered a full course load in the core subjects of math, language arts, science, history, art, and music. In high school, ALVA-ECS students have access to world languages and electives, as well as honors and Advanced Placement courses. ALVA-ECS also offers student clubs, field trips, social outings and other activities to foster a sense of school community, including an in-person graduation ceremony in the spring.



ALVA-ECS is now accepting enrollment applications for the 2018-2019 school year. Families are encouraged to attend an in-person or online information session hosted by the school. For more information on how to enroll, and for a schedule of upcoming information sessions, visit http://alva.k12.com.

About K12 Inc. K12 Inc. (NYSE: LRN) is driving innovation and advancing the quality of education by delivering digital learning platforms and technology to students and school districts across the globe. K12's curriculum serves over 2,000 schools and school districts and has delivered millions of courses over the past decade. K12 provides online and blended education solutions to charter schools, public school districts, private schools, and directly to families. The K12 program is offered through more than 70 partner public schools, and through school districts and public and private schools serving students in all 50 states and more than 100 countries. More information can be found at K12.com. About Eufaula City Schools Established in 1872, Eufaula City Schools is the oldest city school district in Alabama and is the heartbeat of this beautiful southeast Alabama city. Eufaula City Schools is a progressive district providing many academic, enrichment, and technical opportunities for students and teachers while maintaining the values and traditions of the best in public schools. More information can be found at www.eufaulacityschools.org or https://youtu.be/bNhbdkiFyAY. Eufaula City Schools also has Facebook and Twitter (News - Alert) pages. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180219005016/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][February 19, 2018] Harris Corporation EWeek Celebration Inspires Wonder in Engineering

Harris Corporation (News - Alert) (NYSE:HRS) employees will design, build and problem-solve during a series of events marking National Engineers Week, or EWeek, at Harris locations around the United States and the world. Part of a national event organized by the National Society of Professional Engineers, Harris EWeek runs from Feb. 20-24 and is designed to recognize and celebrate the achievements of the 7,700 engineers and scientists at Harris. "Engineering is at the heart of what we do at Harris - solving our customers' most critical challenges with technical innovations that touch millions of lives every day," Harris Chairman, President and CEO William M. Brown said. "This year's theme - Inspiring Wonder - highlights the impact of engineers in our industry and around the world." Activities include the Harris Engineering Olympics, Quadcopter Challenge, a cardboard boat Lagoon Challenge in Palm Bay, Florida, as well as a 3-D printed bridge challenge andsailing simulation competition. To help inspire a new generation of innovators, the company has invited students involved in regional Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) programs to participate in select events.



Harris will also recognize significant accomplishments of individual teams of engineers and scientists. Foremost among those is naming Chris Mackey the 2018 Harris Fellow, the company's highest recognition for engineering and technical achievement. Mackey, a Senior Scientist whose technical leadership has been instrumental in the development of the electronic architecture for many of Harris' most critical communication systems, is the 26th employee to receive the distinguished award since it was established in 2000. Harris has a 123-year legacy of innovation and annually invests an industry-leading 5 percent of its revenue in research and development. Harris and its employees each year contribute millions of dollars and volunteer thousands of hours in STEM-related outreach.

About Harris Corporation Harris Corporation is a leading technology innovator, solving customers' toughest mission-critical challenges by providing solutions that connect, inform and protect. Harris supports government and commercial customers in more than 100 countries and has approximately $6 billion in annual revenue. The company is organized into three business segments: Communication Systems, Electronic Systems and Space and Intelligence Systems. Learn more at harris.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180219005316/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][February 19, 2018] Government announces funding for digital skills training to help more Canadians get online

New program to support basic computer skills training for Canadians who need it most MONTREAL, Feb. 19, 2018 /CNW/ - Digital skills are critical to participation in today's society, whether for booking a medical appointment, banking safely, studying or looking for a job. Learning these skills and understanding technologies will enhance the amount of information and number of online resources that Canadians can access, which are essential for participating in today's digital world. This is why David Lametti, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, today announced the launch of the Government of Canada's Digital Literacy Exchange Program during a visit to Residence Les Tours Gouin in Montreal. As a part of this announcement, Mr. Lametti called on interested not-for-profit organizations to submit proposals under the program. The deadline to submit is March 30, 2018. The Digital Literacy Exchange Program will invest almost $30 million to support not-for-profit organizations that teach fundamental digital literacy skills to Canadians who would benefit from participating in the digital economy. These include seniors, new and low-income Canadians, Indigenous people, and those living in northern and rural communities. The program will hel ensure that all Canadians have the necessary skills to use computers and the Internet safely and securely and help make sure that no one is left behind in the digital economy.



The Digital Literacy Exchange Program is one of a suite of digital skills programs offered by the Government of Canada that seek to bridge the digital divide and help Canadians access digital technology and develop the skills they need to use it. It aligns with the government's Innovation and Skills Plan, a multi-year strategy to create well-paying middle-class jobs. Quotes

"Our government is ensuring that all Canadians have the skills and know-how to access online resources and participate in the digital economy. The Digital Literacy Exchange Program will help us to make sure that all Canadians are equipped with the right skills to access the wealth of information and opportunities online."

 The Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development "We want all Canadians to control their own connectivity and take their rightful place in the digital world of today. Our government is committed to working to spur economic development and growth and improve the lives of Canadians everywhere. The Digital Literacy Exchange Program will make great strides in honouring that commitment and will help ensure that no Canadian is left behind in the digital revolution."

 David Lametti, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development Quick facts The Digital Literacy Exchange Program will invest almost $30 million over four years, starting in 201819, to help ensure that all Canadians have the skills they need to participate in the digital economy.

over four years, starting in 201819, to help ensure that all Canadians have the skills they need to participate in the digital economy. Not-for-profit organizations that are incorporated in Canada can apply for funding. Associated links Digital Literacy Exchange

CanCode

Innovation and Skills Plan Follow the department on Twitter: @ISED_CA SOURCE Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][February 19, 2018] Powered by and for the people - Engineers in Canada and India will work together to further energy-efficient technology and create local jobs

GUJARAT, India, Feb. 19, 2017 /CNW/ - An issue faced by many countries is the need for clean, efficient sources of energy to power their homes, schools, hospitals and businesses. With reliable energy sources comes an improved, more consistent quality of life. That's why engineers in Canada and India are working together under a new research partnership agreement between Toronto-based energy consulting company Kinectrics and the Gujarat Forensic Sciences University (GFSU). The partnership involves a new state-of-the-art laboratory to test and develop conductors that can transfer significantly more electricity to highly populated areas or to industrial hubs than ever before and at lower cost. Today the Honourable Kirsty Duncan, Minister of Science and Minister of Sport and Persons with Disabilities, participated in a stone-laying ceremony for the new laboratory. Researchers working in this innovative facility will develop practical and cost-effective high-capacity transmission conductors that will improve the long-term quality and reliability of energy sources for the people of India. Kinectrics and GSFU are each investing $1.75 million. The partnership will create research collaborations between Canadian and Indian scientists as well as training opportunites for Indian students who will be equipped with the skills they need for high-quality jobs in the growing energy sector.





Quotes

"I applaud the partnership between Kinectrics and GFSU and look forward to their efficient-energy technologies that will be the source of new opportunities for learning, training and local jobs. It's technologies like these that have the greatest potential to impact our daily lives and improve our quality of life."

 The Honourable Kirsty Duncan, Minister of Science and Minister of Sport and Persons with Disabilities "This will be the first laboratory in the world built specifically for testing high-temperature low-sag [HTLS] conductors. Local testing will support a cost-effective approval process for HTLS conductors to service the growing demand for electricity in India, assuring long-term quality and reliability of power delivery to the public."

 David Harris, Chief Executive Officer, Kinectrics Quick facts The Gujarat Forensic Sciences University was founded in 2008 and has quickly become a leading research university in a range of areas from medical sciences to cyber security. It is the world's first university dedicated to forensic and investigative science.

Kinectrics has its headquarters in Toronto, Canada . The company's 1,000 engineers and technical experts provide testing, inspection, certification and engineering consulting for the electric power generation, transmission and distribution markets worldwide.

. The company's 1,000 engineers and technical experts provide testing, inspection, certification and engineering consulting for the electric power generation, transmission and distribution markets worldwide. The Kinectrics Laboratory is expected to grow the local economy in India by CAN$4 million over the next year, with intentions of attracting and building business from neighbouring areas as well.

by CAN$4 million over the next year, with intentions of attracting and building business from neighbouring areas as well. The Government of Canada has taken steps to boost the growth of Canada's clean technology producers. It set aside more than $2.3 billion for clean tech in last year's budget alone. Follow Minister Duncan on social media. Twitter: @ScienceMin

Instagram: sciencemin SOURCE Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ][February 19, 2018] RAVPower Celebrates Fast Wireless Charger Offline Release in 39 Countries

FREMONT, Calif., Feb. 19, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- RAVPower is celebrating the offline launch of their Fast Wireless Charger. Previously available only online, the fast wireless charger was critically acclaimed for being one of the only chargers to wirelessly power Android phones at 10W and the iPhone X, 8S, and 8 at their maximum 7.5W speed. The offline launch marks RAVPower enabling users from 39 countries to access wireless charging. "Previously our Fast Wireless Charger was available only online in North America, Japan, and select European markets. However, we have always been determined to allow as many people to enjoy wireless charging," said Allen Fung, General Manager of RAVPower. "We found the best way to achieve our goal is to go offline which is enabling us to reach out to 39 countries around the world. We are currently working with retailers to make this happen." The Fast Wireless Charger differs from its online counterpart with a new square-shaped charging pad design. It will also come with a handy charging stand to allow users to view their phone while charging. RAVPower's Faster Wireless Charger features the following for the premium cable-free charging experience: 7.5W max for the iPhone 8, 8S, and X

10W max for select Android devices

Compatible with all Qi-enabled phones

Lightweight, take anywhere size

Smart battey indicator

Built-in over-current, over-voltage, and over-temperature protections



the United States , United Kingdom , Germany , Singapore , Malaysia , India , Russia , Mexico , and 31 other countries. If you are interested in working with RAVPower please visit https://www.ravpower.com/wireless_charger_merchants-en.html About RAVPower

Founded in 2011, RAVPower has grown to become the one-stop power charging solution for millions of customers from around the world. RAVPower's wide variety of portable chargers ranges from high-capacity external battery packs to travel-friendly multiport USB chargers to high-tech offerings which utilize Qualcomm's Quick Charge technology. www.ravpower.com About Sunvalleytek Founded in 2007, Sunvalleytek has grown to become a leading eCommerce company that is home to seven major international consumer brands: RAVPower, TaoTronics, VAVA, Anjou, and Sable. From energy-saving LED desk lamps to next-generation portable chargers to 100% pure essential oil, the Sunvalleytek's brands have regularly become top-sellers in many leading eCommerce platforms across the world. https://www.sunvalley-group.com/en/index.html Media Contact:

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Phone number: 1-510-260-5089

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http://www.sunvalleytek.com View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ravpower-celebrates-fast-wireless-charger-offline-release-in-39-countries-300600769.html SOURCE RAVPower

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]The family of Syed Jamal briefly visited him on Sunday afternoon. Jamal, 55, has been fighting efforts by the United States to deport him back to Bangladesh. He returned to Missouri on Wednesday and has been held in the Platte County Jail since Wednesday.Eight people were shot, and one was killed in a shooting inside a building at 16th & Minnesota late Saturday night. Police were called to a shooting at 1615 Minnesota just before midnight. Officers say the preliminary investigation shows a disturbance occurred inside the small space, and eight people who were there suffered gunshot wounds.#SMEs State funds to rollover debts owed by pandemic-hit merchants, small firms Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said Thursday that state-backed funds will extend loan maturity and rollover interest payments again for smaller firms and merchants hit hard by the pa...

#football Injured Son Heung-min to miss Tottenham's upcoming continental match Tottenham Hotspur's South Korean star Son Heung-min will miss the club's continental match this week with a leg injury sustained on recent international duty. Tottenham will ...Kansas City Royals: Thank You Eric Hosmer The day many have been waiting for has finally arrived. Coveted free agent Eric Hosmer signed a contract. Unfortunately, it was not with the Kansas City Royals. Instead, Hosmer picked the San Diego Padres. Late Saturday night news broke that the San Diego Padres and Eric Hosmer had reached an agreement on a contract.

Local sports fans are being exceptionally generous on Sunday as Mr. Hosmer earns congratulations on his decision to chase bigger money and sign with a team that has better prospects . . . Here's the argument for local tribute. Take a look:"Mike Shanin interviews Aaron Barnhart about his blog History Is Power which gives historical context to current news. Crosby Kemper III, Mary O'Halloran, Terry Riley and Steve Mirakian discuss the KCMO city council vote on the Edgemoor MOU and what's next for a new KCI, the concerns about the lack of transparency in the Kansas legislature and the implications of the new federal budget deal."

Here's an interesting bit of local conversation that deserves a look as we prepare for the work week . . .Apparently, everything comes full circle in Kansas City . . .In this latest episode of thein local political discourse we notice former dead-tree denizens who badmouthed blogs not so long ago now touting their own rather interesting offeringspolitical consultants hope to get the last word on the new airport . . .Description as we offer everybody the best of luck with their future endeavors:You decide . . .The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) has signed an agreement with Cepsa, a Spanish integrated oil and gas company, awarding it a 20 per cent stake in Abu Dhabis offshore SARB and Umm Lulu concession.



The choice of Cepsa, which is wholly-owned by Abu Dhabis Mubadala Investment Company and operates across the entire oil and gas value chain, underpins Adnocs strategy to maximize returns from its resources, expand its downstream business, and retain value for the UAE.



The concession area is made up of two main fields under development, Umm Lulu, which is part of the former ADMA offshore concession, and SARB, as well as two smaller fields, Bin Nasher and Al Bateel. The ADMA concession has been split into three new concessions to maximise commercial value, broaden Adnocs partner base, expand technical expertise, and enable greater market access.



Cepsa contributed a participation fee of Dh5.5 billion ($1.5 billion) to enter the concession, which also takes into account previous Adnoc investments in the concession area. Adnoc retains a majority 60 per cent stake in the concession that will be operated by Adnoc Offshore, a subsidiary of Adnoc.



The agreement, which has a term of 40 years and an effective date of March 9, 2018, was signed by Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, Adnoc Group chief executive officer, and Pedro Miro, vice chairman and CEO of Cepsa.



Dr Al Jaber said: This long-term agreement is a milestone in the development of Abu Dhabis integrated oil and gas sector and in the delivery of Adnocs 2030 smart growth strategy. This partnership ensures we continue to maximise value from our hydrocarbon resources, in line with the leaderships directives, by capturing that value and financial return here in the UAE.



The agreement also reflects Adnocs new partnership approach, as we expand and diversify our partner base across Adnocs integrated value chain. Reflecting our strategic approach, we are also working with Cepsa to explore expansion opportunities in our downstream business, in the UAE and overseas, that will deliver competitive returns and long term growth opportunities for both parties, and for the UAE.



Cepsa, which has been operating in the energy sector since 1929, has businesses in over 20 countries across five continents. Its operations span exploration, production, refining, distribution and marketing, chemicals, gas and power, trading, bunkering and renewable energy sources.



It is the worlds largest producer of Linear Alkyl Benzene (LAB) and also the leading producer of cumene and the second in phenol and acetone, thanks to its seven chemical plants, in Europe, Asia and the Americas. In 2016 it produced 35.4 million barrels of oil, distilled 158.7 million barrels of crude oil and sold 28.3 million tons of petroleum products.



Miro said: This concession agreement marks an important moment for Cepsa and our close relationship with Adnoc, with whom we are working with on a number of projects in the upstream, downstream and petrochemical sectors. It will add substantial reserves, in a concession with relatively low production cost, to our portfolio, and will enable us to make considerable strides towards achieving our objectives, as set out in our 2030 Strategic Plan.



In November 2017, Adnoc and Cepsa signed a framework agreement to evaluate a new world-scale Linear Alkyl Benzene complex in Ruwais, Abu Dhabi. LAB is the most common raw material in the manufacture of biodegradable household and industrial detergents. It is also used in house cleaners, fabric softeners, and soap bars.



The companies plan to progress the basic engineering of the proposed LAB complex in 2018. It is envisaged the facility will be integrated with the Ruwais refinery complex, and will incorporate DETAL-PLUSTM technology.



According to Cepsa, the offshore concession agreement strengthens its energy model and long-term strategy, and is in line with the companys forecasts as outlined in its Energy Outlook 2030 report for world demand for oil growth in the coming years.



The agreement increases Cepsa's presence in the UAE, a strategic country for the company where it has operated in both exploration and production and bunker activities since 2013.



The concession award is the first to be announced for the second of three new offshore concession areas, which have been created from the former ADMA offshore concession. On February 10, Adnoc announced the award of a 10 per cent interest in Abu Dhabis separate offshore Lower Zakum concession to an Indian consortium, led by ONGC Videsh.



In support of its expanded 2030 strategy, Adnoc plans to grow its crude refining capacity by 60 per cent and more than triple its petrochemical production, to 14.4 mtpa by 2025, through a staged expansion plan aimed at initially optimizing its existing assets to grow and diversify its products portfolio, as it delivers its strategic imperatives of a more valuable Upstream, more profitable Downstream and an economic and sustainable supply of gas.



Adnoc is finalizing concession agreements with other potential partners for the remaining stakes in the SARB and Umm Lulu, the Lower Zakum and the Umm Shaif and Nasr concessions.  TradeArabia News ServiceEffective Feb. 11, Melissa Graham became the interim vice-president of finance/chief financial officer at Brevard College.

Graham has more than 20 years of experience in high-level leadership, accounting, finance and strategic operations. She earned a Master of Finance degree from Penn State and an Executive MBA in strategic leadership from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. For the past eight years, Graham has been working with organizations across the Southeast in facing both internal and external challenges.

"I am excited for the opportunity to work with the strategic leaders...Members of the C.A.R.E. Coalition attended the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA) forum in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 5-8. CADCA represents the interests of more than 5,000 coalitions from across the nation and assists their advocation for substance abuse prevention.

Transylvania County was well represented. In addition to seven adult coalition members who attended the conference, C.A.R.E. and CADCA provided scholarships for four Teens Advocating for Future Youth (T.A.F.F.Y.) members who are passionate about youth leadership and empowerment to attend as well. Members as youn...Stiches Of Love

Stitches of Love (formerly the WNC Knitters and Crocheters for Others in Arden) is a group of people who have created and donated more than 22,000 handmade articles to local charities in the past eleven years. They meet monthly at New Hope Presbyterian Church in Asheville.

Their next meeting will be Monday, March 12, at New Hope Presbyterian Church, located at 3070 Sweeten Creek Road in Asheville. All skill levels are welcome. They meet from 7 to 9 p.m.

If interested, contact Janet Stewart at (828) 575-9195.

Sierra Club

The Pisgah Group of the Sierra Club on Thursday...On Monday, Feb. 26, from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m., OnTrack WNC Financial Education & Counseling will team up with First Citizens Bank Brevard Office at 96 S. Broad St. to offer free credit reports and FICO scores.

This event is open to the public and no appointment is necessary. The offer provides one free credit report and score per person. A photo ID is required for identification.

An OnTrack WNC certified credit counselor will pull credit reports/scores and conduct a confidential, mini-credit report review to explain credit report basics and identify any immediate areas for improvement....While tragedies such as the school shooting in Parkland, Fla., could happen anywhere in the United States, Transylvania County Schools has taken numerous steps over the last several years to lessen the chances of such an event occurring here.

That situation (in Florida) is every administrators nightmare, Superintendent Dr. Jeff McDaris said in an interview Friday afternoon. It can happen anywhere.

Safety is the number one priority, he said. That is the top priority. We want our students to be safe and we want our staff with them to be safe.

To help ensure stude...Joe Kitchen and Cody Golden, with Golden Construction, build a new cabin at Keystone Camp.

In December of last year after a heavy snowfall, a newly built covered horseback riding arena at Rockbrook Camp for Girls off U.S. 276 collapsed.

Questions were asked about the building's construction and whether it had been inspected.

The Transylvania Times found state law allows for farm buildings and camp structures to be built without inspection from the Transylvania County Building Permitting and Enforcement Department.

Some local officials have concerns about the law that allows the exemptions, while others see it as addressing previously overly burdensome regulations.

House Bill...The award-winning Royal Wing Suites and Spahas been recognized as a winner of the 2018 TripAdvisor Travelers Choice awards for Hotels in 3 categories: Top 25 Hotels in Thailand, Top 25 Luxury Hotels in Thailand and Top 25 Hotels for Service in Thailand.



(TRAVPR.COM) THAILAND - February 19th, 2018 - Pattaya, Thailand  The award-winning Royal Wing Suites and Spahas been recognized as a winner of the 2018 TripAdvisor Travelers Choice awards for Hotels in 3 categories: Top 25 Hotels in Thailand, Top 25 Luxury Hotels in Thailand and Top 25 Hotels for Service in Thailand. Travelers Choice award winners were determined based on the millions of reviews and opinions collected in a single year from TripAdvisor travelers worldwide. This recognition solidifies the propertys position as among the finest in the country being part of an elite group which accounts to the top 1% of hotels on TripAdvisor that are known to be truly exceptional.

This years Travelers Choice awards for Hotels recognize thousands of exceptional accommodations that received the highest marks for overall experience, including service, amenities, and value, from travelers worldwide, said Brooke Ferencsik, senior director of communications for TripAdvisor. The global TripAdvisor community informed this list of winners that will inspire and help travelers find the hotel thats right for them, as they plan and book their next amazing trip.

The Travelers' Choice awards are the highest honor TripAdvisor can give. Reflecting Royal Wings commitment to hospitality excellence and exceeding its guests expectations, it has constantly been commended by travelers from around the world and praised for its unparalleled services and wide-ranging facilities.

Thailand and specifically Pattaya, is one of the most sought after travel destinations for tourists. Staying in the right award-winning hotel can guarantee a luxurious experience that goes above and beyond the norm. The Royal Cliff Hotels Group operates 4 luxury hotels providing tourists from home and abroad with the ultimate experience. Its superior service has been paramount to this latest achievement that marks an excellent start for the group this year.

Royal Cliff Hotels Group has impressively won over 200 national and international awards to date. This is the ideal luxury destination to discover everything you need for an exceptional holiday. Book your stay directly with Royal Cliff and get the best price guaranteed together with value-added optional extras for an enhanced hotel experience you deserve by visiting www.royalcliff.com, contacting Reservations at (+66) 38 250 421 ext: 2732 or emailing reservations@royalcliff.com.

For more information on the Royal Cliff Hotels Group and the Royal Wing Suites and Spa, please visit www.royalcliff.com and www.royalwingsuites.com

###editorial@tribune.com

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, February 19

To ensure early detection and treatment of children affected with cancer in the state, a two-day training workshop on Practical Paediatric Oncology culminated here at Advanced Cancer Institute, Bathinda, on Saturday.

Paediatricians from 10 districts of the state (private and government hospitals) were trained to ensure that children with cancer are diagnosed early so that timely treatment could be started.

The training workshop was organized by the Health Department in collaboration with Cankids, a national level non-government organization that renders services in 14 states and 50 cancer centres in the country.

The training workshop was conducted by 10 veteran doctors (10 sessions from 8.30 am till 5 pm) from renowned medical institutions in Delhi and Punjab and even a Hematology Oncologist from Albany Medical Centre, New York also addressed a session on infection control.

The medical experts trained the paediatricians on topics varying from approach to diagnostic of paediatric centre, principles of paediatric cancer, Leukemia/Lymphomas, Neck Lymph Nodes, Neurological symptoms in paediatric Oncology and Chemotherapy among others.

Paediatricians from Amritsar, Faridkot, Mansa, Sangrur, Moga, Fazillka, Mukatsar, Ropar, Fatehgarh Sahib and Bathinda attended the training workshop that will conclude on Saturday.

Shruti Kakkar, pediatric oncologist, Dayanand Medical College and Hospital (DMCH), Ludhiana, said, It is often observed that if there is a medical emergency or even cancer is diagnosed, paediatricians often develop a sense of fear owing to stigma attached to the disease and tend to refer cases without even administering first-aid or initial treatment to the child affected with cancer. And particularly in emergency situation by the time patient reach a designated cancer treatment facility, often it gets late. So at the workshop apart from training the paediatricians regarding various technical nuances of initial treatment for cancer, they were also counseled about the shared care concept (initial treatment at health centre where the disease is detected before core-treatment at a designated cancer treatment facility).singhking99@yahoo.com

Shiv Kumar

Tribune News Service

Mumbai, February 19

Industrialist Mukesh Ambani is tying up with several global companies to build an integrated industrial area on the outskirts of Mumbai.

Addressing the Magnetic Maharashtra Investors Summit yesterday, Ambani said several global companies like Cisco, Siemens, Corning Inc, HP, Dell, Nokia and Nvidia, etc have shown interest in being part of the project. When we contacted globally reputed technology companies to participate in this initiative, we received an instant and enthusiastic response, Ambani said.

Ambani said as much as Rs 60,000 crore will be invested over the next few years in the industrial area which is planned in Navi Mumbai.

Ambani and his associates Anand Jain of Jai Corp and Nikhil Gandhi of SKIL Infrastructure Ltd had intended to build a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) on 5,200 acres more than a decade ago. However, with the SEZ not materialising the Maharashtra Government agreed to let the company build an industrial area in its place.

According to the state government, 85% of the land in the integrated industrial area will be used to set up industrial projects, including manufacturing units, IT parks, warehouses, etc. The rest may be used for residential and commercial purposes. The proposed integrated industrial city will be located close to the under-construction Navi Mumbai airport and the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT).editorial@tribune.com

Our Correspondent

Kharar, February 19

The CIA staff, Kharar, arrested three persons and recovered Rs 1.05 crore in old currency from them today.

According to a press note issued here, a police party, led by ASI Rajinder Singh, was checking vehicles near Shivalik City on the Kharar-Landran road when they stopped a car (HR 51 BH 1212) in which two persons were sitting. One of the accused, Ravinder, alias Ravi, a resident of Dhangarh village in Fatehabad district in Haryana, who was sitting on the rear seat of the car, had a briefcase in his hand. During the search, Rs 1.05 crore in old currency was recovered from the briefcase.

The police arrested Ravinder and his accomplice Kapil, a resident of Chhider village in Fatehabad district, who was travelling with him in the car.

A case under Sections 420 and 188 of the IPC has been registered against both accused at the City police station here.

According to the police, a third accused, Rakesh Kumar, a resident of Palera village in Jhajjar district, was also arrested in this case on the basis of information provided by the two accused.

According to the police, Ravinder, along with other accused, had tried to commit a robbery of about Rs 860 crore at a branch of Axis Bank at Ashok Nagar in Jaipur and a case was registered against them under Sections 342, 398 and 457 of the IPC at the Ashok Nagar police station on February 6. At least 12 people were involved in the robbery bid at the bank branch.

The police said after the recovery of the old currency, the Income Tax Department and the Enforcement Directorate were informed.rajivbhatia82@gmail.com

Chandigarh, February 19

A transgender student of Punjab University (PU) here has been invited to a dinner with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Thursday in New Delhi.

Dhananjay Chauhan, a transgender student of Department of Human Rights and Duties, PU, has been invited by High Commissioner for Canada to India Nadir Patel to a dinner-reception celebrating Canada-India ties on the occasion of the visit of Justin Trudeau, on February 22 at the residence of the high commissioner of Canada, a PU release said.

Dhananjay, also a founder of Saksham Trust, an NGO, has been working to alleviate the plight of transgenders.

Earlier, Dhananjay was invited to Netherlands in 2016 to participate in an international meet on rights of transgender people.

Further, Dhananjay's frontal role in organising a 'Pride Walk' in the university campus in 2017 resulted in inviting a number of prominent personalities to the university including Consul General Canada Christopher Gibbins, the release added.  PTIeditorial@tribune.com

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 19

A local court today sentenced an 18-year-old boy to seven-year imprisonment for raping a minor. Ajay, a resident of Sector 41, was also fined Rs 5,000. He was held guilty under Section 4 of the POCSO Act for raping a 14-year-old girl last year.

On March 13, 2017, Ajay was arrested on the basis of a complaint of the victims mother. The victim was playing near the staircase leading to her house close to which there was a toilet. She was grabbed and taken inside the toilet where Ajay touched her inappropriately and raped her. As he was unlocking the door of the toilet, the girls parents, who happened to be passing by, saw him. They immediately dialled 100 and informed the police after which Ajay was arrested under Section 376 of the IPC and Section 4 of the POCSO Act.editorial@tribune.com

Tribune News Service

Panchkula, February 19

Thieves targeted the historic Shiva temple at Saketri on the intervening night of Sunday and Monday and decamped with jewellery, ornaments and some other articles of worship worth over Rs 30 lakh.

The CCTV footage shows that there were six masked men, in the the age group of 22 to 35, who committed the crime. They entered the temple premises around 1.30 am and spent nearly an hour inside.

According to the police, there are seven temples in the premises. They targeted six temples, including the Shiv temple, the Ram temple and the Nav Durga temple, and took away jewellery and ornaments, including chhattrs, kada and mukuts, from the idols. The thieves entered the temples after breaking their locks, the police said.

Buddhi Valabh, a priest, raised the alarm at 4.45 am when he went to one of the temples to perform the morning rituals.

Later, the temple management committee was informed, which further called the police.

Temple management committee president Kasho Das Gupta said they were ascertaining the loss. He said they would now take steps to increase the safety of the temple premises. They had provided the CCTV footage to the police, who were examining it, he said.

The SHO of the Mansa Devi police station, Bhagwan Das, said they were scrutinising the CCTV footage and questioning the staff.

FIR registered

On a complaint of Kesho Ram, president of the temple management committee, the Panchkula police have registered an FIR under Sections 380 (theft in dwelling house) and 457 (lurking house-trespass or house-breaking by night in order to commit an offence punishable with imprisonment) of the IPC against unknown persons at the Mansa Devi police station.

32 CCTV cameras, 12 priests, 2 guards on temple premises

The temple has 32 CCTV cameras installed inside its campus. When the theft took place, there were 12 priests and two security guards on the temple premises.

Forensic team visits site

A forensic team visited the site and collected samples from the spot. The police also questioned the staff posted at the temple.Sushma Ramachandran

Sushma Ramachandran

ONE of the biggest global financial frauds has been unearthed in an iconic 123-year-old banking institution. The venerable Punjab National Bank (PNB), the countrys second largest public sector bank, finds itself embroiled in investigations into illegal transactions by multiple law enforcement agencies. Celebrity jeweller Nirav Modi, who has been visibly mingling with the powerful elite in this country and abroad, has vanished after siphoning off a mind-boggling Rs 11,400 crore with the help of bank officials.

There is a frenzied media hunt to locate the jeweller and his clan which has conveniently disappeared to one of their many foreign residences. Meanwhile, back in India, junior bank officials have been arrested and details of the scam have unfolded. The fact that such a massive deceit went on for over seven years with the connivance of just a few bank executives is difficult to believe even for the most credulous of us. It implies there was simply no supervisory activity by senior officials nor was there any audit of bank transactions.

In the case of the Satyam fraud, the malfeasance had occurred at the very top of the chain, hence it was obvious that a cover-up was a relatively easy affair. Even then, the audit companys role had come under the spotlight and complicity was presumed in the swindle. As far as this case is concerned too, the focus needs to be expanded to include those at the helm of affairs rather than the foot soldiers who did the operational work. Some basic questions need to be answered. First, what kind of system allows a single official to stay in a key position for years without any supervision. Second, how can the system for inter- bank transfers be operated by individuals without any review, again for years at a time. Third, do other banks that provide credit based on letters of understanding (LoU) not have any regular communication with the bank issuing LoUs, especially when these are of a longer duration than usual? These simple queries are obviously only a starting point.

The role of politicians in the scam is also under the scanner, with both the BJP and the Congress hurling accusations against each other. The fact is, the scam began during the UPA era in 2011, but continued after the NDA government came to power. Clearly, the colour of money does not distinguish between political parties as Nirav Modi has been seen in photographs with both BJP and Congress leaders.

Apart from political connections, what is of relevance is the fact that the banking system seems to be mired in hoax schemes. Data mined by Reuters reveals that within a five year period from 2012 to 2017, there were 8,670 bank fraud cases involving an estimated $9.58 billion. The Nirav Modi type scam may thus be the tip of the iceberg as far as such rackets are concerned. Both the RBI and the Central government need to come down with a heavy hand on public sector banks and ensure that systems are completely revamped.

It has become a truism that crony capitalism is one of the major reasons for these frauds. Loans are given to those who have close ties with the government of the day without asking any questions. Vijay Mallya is a case in point where his brand was taken as collateral by an entire consortium of banks. This cosiness between the political leadership and the banking system is, in turn, blamed on nationalisation and government controls. The sad fact is that banks are not likely to be privatised anytime soon. Neither is there any guarantee that this will solve the problem as private banks can also be defrauded, a prime example being the collapse of the Barings Bank of the UK.

It is thus for the RBI and the Finance Ministry to restore the peoples faith in the banking system. The central bank has just issued a set of guidelines to prevent the formation of NPAs at the outset by strict monitoring. Recapitalisation of banks as well as measures to recover funds from big defaulters had also recently come as a big relief, raising hopes that the mountain of Rs 7 lakh crore of NPAs would gradually be whittled down. These hopes seem to have been dashed.

What is even more disturbing is that the scam occurred in a bank that was the only one set up over a century ago with entirely Indian assets. The PNB was established in Lahore in 1894 through the initiative of freedom fighters like Lala Lajpat Rai and Tribune founder, Sardar Dyal Singh Majithia , who became the first chairman. It survived the tremors of the depression era and acquired a reputation for stability and reliability. It even survived the Partition by shifting headquarters from Lahore to New Delhi and managed to compensate many account holders, despite few documents left with refugees from west Punjab. It was seen as a financial bastion of Independent India and account holders included the likes of Jawaharlal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi. After nationalisation in 1969, the bank gradually expanded through mergers with other smaller banks. It has now become a pan-Indian entity, second only to the State Bank of India in its reach and network.

The scam having taken place, however, it is imperative that the investigations reach a satisfactory and rapid conclusion so that the real perpetrators of this complex fraud are brought to book. Other banks cannot divest themselves of responsibility as the operation could not have continued for so long, and so successfully, without complicity. This will also determine the complex issue of liabilities. If the other banks have been complicit, the liability of PNB will be restricted to some extent. It is for the RBI to step in here and take a view on this critical issue as quickly as possible.

With the unearthing of this hoax and the prospect that similar frauds may have taken place in other banks, the faith of the general public in the banking system is at its lowest ebb. Whether it is the Nirav Modi or Vijay Mallya case, the responsibility for the nations economic losses lies on the shoulders of the political leaders. Unless they make a genuine effort to clean the Augean stables of the public sector banks, the countrys vital financial systems may ultimately collapse in the long run.vermaajay1968@gmail.com

It is highly unusual for an Indian Prime Minister to give a virtual cold shoulder to his visiting Canadian counterpart. For a leader extremely partial to photogenic teleshoots with visiting dignitaries, Modi has been oddly reticent right from the time the Canadian PM's unusually long visit kicked off. In ideal circumstances, Canada with its reserves of natural resources and vast empty spaces should have been royally serenaded. But the standard welcoming Prime Ministerial tweet was missing and, as if to reinforce the message, the reception party for Trudeau was decidedly low-key. The visit was also playing out badly in Punjab till Capt Amarinder Singh shelved his indifference and agreed to meet Trudeau in Amritsar.

It was just as well that Capt. Amarinder Singh abandoned his sulk that was taking the shape of permanent diplomatic cussedness. No Punjab CM can afford to burn bridges with a country that has given an open-hearted welcome to generations of Punjabis escaping the home state's lack of meritocracy and employment opportunities. More so, because scores of its sons and daughters occupy high policy making positions in Canada. There is one overriding culprit  Canadas long rope to the cause of Khalistan. Trudeau has liberal pretences to preserve, especially with a leftist populist party with a Sikh as its chief posing a challenge. Trudeau cannot go the distance sought by the Indian side in putting down the separatists while South Block India is unlikely to soften its position, particularly after Trudeau interacted with civil society activists who complained of a diminishing space for dissent.

Under the circumstances, the impetus required for promoting energy ties in shale gas and uranium may lose momentum, especially after India delivered a rap on the knuckles by hiking tariffs on Canadian farm exports. It is apparent that earlier private conversations between the two PMs have not produced a working chemistry. India's singular insistence on Khalistan is unlikely to compel the Trudeau government to alter its ideological markers. The downside of conflating the Khalistani issue may have lost South Block an opportunity to gain from Canada's rare combination of open borders and economic resurgence.gspannu7@gmail.com

Ravi S Singh

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 19

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jairam Thakur on Monday met Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and urged her for creation of a Himachal Regiment in the Indian Army.

He also requested for speedy development of Kangra airport which could be also be used for defence purposes.

Making out a case for the regiment, he highlighted on the exemplary services rendered by soldiers hailing from Himachal Pradesh in the defence forces, including more than 1,200 making supreme sacrifices.

As many as 1,100 gallantry awards, including four PVC, have been conferred to Himachalis, he added.

According to a state government spokesperson, Thakur also urged for increase in the states recruitment quota in the armed forces which had been reduced after implementation of RMP (Recruitable Male Population) concept. Dwelling on the issue, he said preferred career choice for the states youth was armed forces.

Referring to Kangra airport, he batted for its expansion which, besides being used for civilian flights, would also enable its use for defence purposes including landing of fighter planes and heavy aircrafts.

He suggested that the airports expansion would also add to countrys security contingencies as it would open an alternative to Pathankot airport as a second line of defence on account of its strategic location, including its safe distance from the borders.

He said the airports expansion project would entail acquisition of additional 571 acre, the cost of which will need to be met by the Defence Ministry.

Thakur also sought the ministrys support in shifting war equipment to War Memorial at Dharamsala which has been constructed as a tribute to brave martyrs.

He also urged for taking forward the case of Manali-Leh railway line which is strategically important to the nation from the perspective of countrys defence.editorial@tribune.com

Lalit Mohan

Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, February 19

The Rs 700-crore New Mid Himalayan Project is likely to create a rift between the ministers and legislators of Kangra district and senior most officials of the Forest Department.

Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur during his winter sojourn in Kangra district had announced that the headquarters of the project would be at Dharamsala since about 70 per cent of its area of operation of was in Kangra, Chamba, Una, and Hamirpur districts. However, some of the senior most officials of the Forest Department were opposed to shifting of the head office of the project to Dharamsala.

The announcement by the Chief Minister to have the head office of the project at Dharamsala has also been removed from the official website.

The ministers and MLAs who held a meeting under the chairmanship of BJP MP from Kangra, Shanta Kumar at Dharamsala today said that they had learnt that some bureaucrats were trying to derail the move to have the office of new Mid Himalayan Project at Dharamsala. However, it is CMs announcement. It is not the bureaucrats but the elected representatives who would take decision in this government.

Vipin Parmar, Minister for Health, said that since 70 per cent of the area of operation of project was in Kangra and its surrounding district the head office should be at Dharamsala. The announcement of the CM would be honoured. Even the senior most leader of the party, Shanta Kumar has also requested the Chief Minister to house the project head office at Dharamsala, he said.

Minister for Food and Civil Supplies Kishan Kapoor, who was also present, said there was no change in the decision of the government to house the head office of New Mid Hamalayan Project at Dharamsala. The head office would be at Dharamsala he said,

Sources said the issue of housing of the project head office at Dharamsala was also discussed in the meeting headed by Shanta Kumar that was attended by all BJP MLAs and ministers from the Kangra parliamentary constituency.

The sources here said the officials who were opposing the shifting of head office to Dharamsala were claiming office buildings already existed at Solan but new buildings would have to be set at Dharamsala. However, the Mid Himlayan project already has a regional office in Dharamsala that can easily be converted into office of director.

Though the Mid Himalayan project phase 1 was executed mostly in Kangra and its adjoining projects, entire powers for the projects were centralised at its head office in Solan and Shimla.editorial@tribune.com

Our Correspondent

Hamirpur, February 19

Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) president Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu has failed to deliver as the party president and his policies have weakened the Congress in the state.

This was stated by former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh here today. Blaming Sukhu for the debacle in the recent Assembly elections, Virbhadra claimed that the most unfortunate thing for the Congress was that it was in the hands of such people who do not have mass base at the grass-roots level.

He claimed that if the state president was not changed in the state, the Congress would face same results in the coming Lok Sabha elections.

Virbhadra categorically said he would refrain from canvassing in the Lok Sabha elections if the present setup of the Congress organisation continued to prevail.

I will be miles away from the Lok Sabha elections if Sukhu remains the HPCC president, he added.

He said he would not contest the Lok Sabha election and would encourage young people to come forward.

Speaking on the performance of the BJP government in the state, Virbhadra said it would be too early to comment, adding that Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur was an honest man but less experienced and needed time to understand governance.

On the unrest in Janjehli over the issue of the SDM office, he said the Congress was not party to it. On the accusation that the CM office was working under the influence of the RSS, Virbhadra said two of the three Officers on Special Duty were from the RSS and the accusation of the Congress was on facts and beyond doubt.

Speaking on the BJP government reviewing decisions taken by the Congress for opening various institutions, including health, education and administrative, he said all decisions were taken as per requirement and demand of the people of the state. So far none of the decisions taken by the Congress government was reverted, he added.

On the performance of PM Narendra Modi, he said it was unfortunate that the PM and BJP leaders were playing politics of religion, region, cast and creed. This is not good for the nation, he said.rchopra@tribunemail.com

Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 19

An attempt by Pakistani Armys border action team to attack an Indian Army picket along the Line of Control (LoC) was foiled on Sunday night, leading to the killing of an intruder.

Four rocket-propelled grenade launchers were seized. The incident occurred metres from the LoC in the Indian territory.

The body of the intruder was recovered on Monday morning by Indian troops as both sides exchanged heavy fire across the LoC through the night.

The incident occurred around 5.25 pm on Sunday when a team of 15 Maratha Light Infantry stationed at Sarla Top in Poonch sector noticed suspicious movement 70 metres from the post in the Indian territory. The post is located ahead of the electrified security fencing running along the LoC and is less than 200 metres from the LoC.

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Sources said Indian troops opened fire at the intruding team. It is suspected that the intruding team had Pakistan Army regulars helping them to infiltrate.

The intruders fired a round from the RPG at the post leading to minor injuries to three jawans. Pakistani posts in the vicinity started firing to give cover to them. The Indian Army retaliated.

Sources said the Army had specific inputs suggesting that the Pakistan Army, along with terrorists, had concentrated in Gulpur area on its side to target Indian posts along the LoC.editorial@tribune.com

Jammu, February 19

Minister of State in the Prime Ministers Office Jitendra Singh today said only a few people were averse to normalisation of the situation in Kashmir while the majority was keen to be part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led development journey in the country.

There are some elements in Kashmir who do not want the situation to get normal otherwise the youth of Valley have moved forward. Only a few people, whose politics runs in the chaotic situation, are out to maintain this situation, the minister told reporters on the sidelines of a function here.

He referred to the selection of 19 Kashmiri boys and girls in IITs across the country and some more emerging as toppers in the IAS examination over the past couple of years.

The youth of Kashmir and the common man on the streets of Srinagar have moved ahead and are keen to become the part of the development journey led by Modi, Jitendra said.

In response to a question about the recent spurt in terror attacks in the state, the MoS said the militants were on the back foot as they were facing the heat because of the anti-militancy operations by the security forces.

About Pakistan, he said it had been left isolated diplomatically and militarily for sponsoring terror activities.

Jitendra refused to comment on the repeated pleas by Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti pitching for a dialogue with Pakistan and said, I am not qualified to respond to that. It is for the Ministry of External Affairs, Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of Defence to decide. I am not privy to the inputs which qualify me to respond to whether we have talks (with Pakistan) or not.

On repeated ceasefire violations by Pakistan to push infiltrators into the state, he said: The question is not what Pakistan is doing but the question is what we have to do. The response we are giving (to Pakistan) is not seen in the last many years.

He said the Centre was very supportive to Jammu and Kashmir and we have to get ready to seek investment and for that we have to attract investors with incentives.

The support J&K is enjoying under the leadership of Modi has no match. We have to make the situation conducive so that the investors get attracted to invest here which will boost the local business, besides provide an opportunity to youngsters to start their own businesses, he said.

When asked whether Article 370 was a hurdle for the investors to move into the state, he said, I do not want to get into that.  PTIeditorial@tribune.com

Majid Jahangir

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, February 19

A day after the Army claimed to have foiled a Border Action Team (BAT) attack in the Poonch sector in the Jammu region, at least three civilians were injured when the Pakistan army violated the ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC) at Hajipeer, Uri sector.

The ceasefire violation was initiated by Pakistan troops in the Uri sector at 5.15 pm, the Srinagar-based defence spokesman said

Own troops are retaliating appropriately. Unconfirmed reports indicate casualty on the Pakistan side, the defence spokesman said.

He said Pakistani troops were targeting the civilian population in Churunda village near the Line of Control.

Defence sources said the Pakistan army opened fire at Indian posts in Churanda, Uri, 130 km north of Srinagar, around 3 pm and the two sides exchanged heavy fire.

There was a ceasefire violation by Pakistan at Churanda and our forces retaliated strongly, an official said, adding that the exchange of fire was continuing.

A police officer said three civilians were injured in the Pakistani firing and had been taken to a hospital.

One of the injured has been identified as 48-year-old Zulekha, wife of Jamal Din of Churunda, Uri,  he said.

The ceasefire violations have been frequent along the LoC in the Jammu region. However, the LoC in Kashmir has remained relatively calm. In October 2012, three civilians, including a woman, were killed in the ceasefire violation at Churanda, Uri.amansharma@tribunemail.com

Srinagar, February 19

Pakistani troops violated ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC) in Uri sector of Jammu and Kashmir, injuring three civilians, police said on Monday.

Pakistani troops resorted to unprovoked firing in Churanda in the Silikote area of Hajipeer sector of Uri," a police official said.

Three civilians sustained injuries in the firing, he said, adding that they were rushed to a hospital.  PTIROBINSINGH@TRIBUNE.COM

Continuing its winning streak, Three Billboards Outside Missouri, Ebbing won big at the Baftas as the critically acclaimed crime drama earned five major awards at the ceremony, including Best Film and Best Actress for Francis McDormand.

The movie about an angry mother who goes to extremes to keep the investigation focused on her daughters murder was also recognised in the Best British Film category, as the echo of Hollywoods #TimesUp movement against sexual harassment resonated at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

While director Martin McDonagh won the Golden Mask for Original Screenplay, Sam Rockwell received the Bafta for Best Supporting Actor in the movie.

Our film is a hopeful one in lots of ways, but its also an angry one, and as weve seen this year, sometimes anger is the only way to get people to listen and to change; so were thrilled that Bafta has recognised this, McDonagh said as he accepted the award for Best Film.

In her rousing acceptance speech, McDormand registered her support to the wave of activism initiated by her film and thanked studios for carefully shepherding Martins films, Guillermos (Del Toro) films, because not only are they entertaining, they encourage a longer and broader cultural conversation.

Top slot

The celebrities attending the Bafta Awards turned up at the red carpet of the event in black in solidarity with #TimesUp.

Fantasy drama The Shape of Water earned Guillermo del Toro his maiden Bafta in the Best Director category. The filmmaker had won a Bafta for his 2007 Spanish film Pans Labyrinth in the Best Film Not in the English Language segment. The movie, which chronicles a unique bond between a lab cleaning lady and a sea monster, managed to bag a total of three awards (including Original Music and Production Design) after scoring impressive 12 nods at the 71st British Academy Film Awards.

Gary Oldman won the much-anticipated Best Actor in a Leading Role award for immortalising former British PM Winston Churchill in the World War II drama, Darkest Hour.

The actor remembered Churchill on his third Bafta victory, describing how the British statesman in those dark uncertain days in 1940 held the line for honour, for integrity and freedom, for his nation. The Joe Wright directorial also won the Bafta in the Make Up and Hair category.

First take

Daniel Kaluuya may have missed out on the Best Actor award but the actor won the EE Rising Star award for his performance in Get Out.

On his first Bafta win, the actor gave an emotional speech in which he thanked his mother and also expressed his gratitude to the British arts funding for helping. I feel so privileged to be in your guys company. Theres a countdown; I wasnt supposed to say that but Ive said it now, Kaluuya laughed then continued with a shout saying, We break all the rules! Veteran director Ridley Scott was honoured with a fellowship at the British Academy Film Awards.

Just reward

Alison Janney also won her first Bafta for her portrayal of LaVona Fay Golden, the mother of disgraced figure skater, Tonya Harding, in the film I, Tonya. Phantom Thread bagged its sole Bafta in Best Costume segment.

Christopher Nolans Dunkirk also managed to score one Bafta in the Best Sound category. The award for Best Editing went to Baby Driver. South Korean erotic psychological thriller The Handmaiden won the Bafta for Film Not in the English. Blade Runner 2049 won in two segments  Best Cinematography and Best Special Visual Effects.

Cowboy Dave and Poles Apart won the Baftas for Best Short and Best Short Animation. While I Am Not A Witch was recognised as the Outstanding Debut by British Writer, Director or Producer, I Am Not Your Negro won award for Best Documentary.  PTI

Kate Middleton ignores black code

Kate Middleton courted a mild controversy at the all-black 2018 Baftas as the Duchess of Cambridge appeared at the award ceremony dressed in an emerald green dress. The 36-year-old royal turned up on the red carpet of the 71st British Academy Film Awards in a Jenny Packham attire, defying the call for wearing black in solidarity with Hollywoods Times Up campaign to continue protests against sexual harassment after the Harvey Weinstein expose rocked the showbiz late last year. To her credit, which did not go unrecognised by many, Middleton wore the neck-plunging dress with a black sash underneath her bust, accentuating her seven-month baby bump. She completed her look with emerald jewellery, suede Prada heels and a black clutch. PTI

Domestic violence activists gatecrash venue

Activist group Sisters Uncut, which works for the survivors of domestic violence, gate-crashed the BAFTA red carpet to protest Prime Minister Theresa Mays domestic violence bill. Members of the feminist direct action group linked arms on the red carpet. They were wearing T-shirts with the slogan Times Up, Theresa. The members were led away by the police after some minutes. PTI

Fazals Victoria & Abdul fails to win

Period drama Victoria & Abdul, starring Indian actor Ali Fazal alongside veteran British star Judi Dench, lost Make Up & Hair award to Darkest Hour. Fazal plays the role of Indian servant, Abdul, to Queen Victoria in the film directed by Stephen Frears, which received a single nod at the 71st British Film Academy Awards. The film is again pitted against the Gary Oldman-led World War II drama in the race to the Oscars due next month in two categories for Best Costume Design, and Best Make-up and Hairstyling. PTI

Angelina, Jennifer rule red carpet

Angelina Jolie and Jennifer Lawrence outshined others as they glamourised the black dress code, followed by most at the 71st BAFTA red carpet to support the #Times Up movement against sexual harassment and inequality. The red carpet on Sunday night at the annual gala organised by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) was flooded with celebrities in black gowns. IANSeditorial@tribune.com

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, February 19

Ahead of the MC polls, the Focal Point police recovered 105 boxes of illegal liquor from different persons on Monday.

The Focal Point police station SHO, Amandeep Singh Brar, said, We recovered 30 boxes of Imperial Blue and 35 boxes of local made liquor during inspection of vehicles on GT Road in the Focal Point area.

The accused has been identified as Satnam Singh of Purana Bazar, Sahnewal, he said. A case has been registered against the accused at the Focal Point police station.

In the second case, the police recovered 40 boxes of liquor from a resident of Khanpur village. As many as 20 boxes of Officers Choice and 20 boxes of Dollar brand have been seized. The accused has been identified as Kuldeep Singh, said the SHO. In both cases, the accused have been arrested, he added.ROBINSINGH@TRIBUNE.COM

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, February 19

Australian High Commissioner to India Harinder Sidhu launched a mobile app Project Mooo during her visit to the city. The mobile app was created for training and providing information to dairy farmers by Param Singh, who hails from Gurdaspur. He returned from Australia after completing his studies.

Speaking about the app, Sidhu said, Param exemplifies what Australia has to offer for Indian students. Students from here can get exposure at Australian universities and come back to bring a positive change in society.

Speaking about health, she said, I visited farms in the district and also saw happy-seeder machines. This is a good technology to help farmers desist from stubble burning, and must be adopted by them.

India-Australia relationship is getting stronger as the two countries are now collaborating in a number of sectors, including agriculture, she added.

Through the mobile app launched today, dairy farmers get updates on dairy farming, feed and health of their cattle to increase the milk yield, said Param Singh from Uday, the firm which created the mobile app.Balvinder

Balvinder

AN otherwise gentle and kind woman, born to a family of devout Sikhs, my mother would always make me bathe and change my clothes whenever she found me, as a child, playing with Lachoo, a safai karamcharis son and my lone friend in our locality. She would ask me to desist from playing with untouchables. My hard-core vegetarian mother had also kept separate utensils, never to be touched by her, for my father to cook meat.

At that point, over 60 years ago, I could not decipher the reasons behind her behaviour. However, I could see that she was not a loner who nurtured such disdain. Most others acted the same way.

Have things changed? Though the ugly scars of untouchability stand legally removed, they are yet to be erased from our antiquated psyche. Certain practices still prevail in many Indian homes even today, which promote untouchability. A majority of us still keep separate utensils for our maids and maalis.

The other day while answering employment-related questions during a recent television channel interview, PM Modi asked: If a man selling pakoras outside the channels office takes home Rs 200 at the end of the day, is it not employment?

I am not a Modi fan, however, this time he was not wrong in his assertion. Still, he was trolled on social media for the pakora selling comment. As if the low-paying job of a pakora seller needs to be disgraced.

Perhaps it is so because our centuries-old social structure is based on a job-specific hierarchical caste system, as enumerated in Manusmriti. This long-forgotten ancient text was revived and followed by the British to formulate the Hindu law, and congealed our mindset.

It is painful to see in the media well-dressed unemployed youngsters protesting against the scarce job opportunities by posing as shoe-shine boys. Why is the job of a shoe-shine boy not respected like any other job?

Currently, every political party is shouting at its highest pitch that during the past three years of Modis misrule, the Indian job market has shrunk considerably. However, no one talks of removing job-related biases in our society which are responsible, to quite an extent, for joblessness. Most Indians, in other developed nations, do those very jobs rather successfully which they term as menial here.

Eyebrows are raised whenever I tell someone that my London-based journalist daughters husband is a house-husband and takes care of the strenuous but unpaid household job. She once told me that the husband of one of her friends, who is the CEO of a large company, was a butcher, and no one bothered there!

I wish we could also end our biases of jobs that are menial, lowly or even plum, stuck to our psyche.monicakchauhan@gmail.com

New Delhi, February 19

While getting a chair for their respective language at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) is a success for states, it could also be the beginning of a long struggle for funds and facilities for those who head it.

Not all languages have been prioritised as much as Sanskrit at the JNU. Last year, the Academic Council approved the conversion of the Special Centre for Sanskrit Studies into a full-fledged School of Sanskrit and Indic Studies.

But the Chairs of other languages have allegedly been meted out a step-motherly treatment. The Chairs of other languages seek treatment on par with Sanskrit language.

The head of Odia Chair, Udayanath Sahoo, is struggling to get an office for himself ever since the Chair was instituted in December last year with a grant of Rs 5 crore by the Odisha government.

"I am hopeful that I will get a separate room soon," Sahoo said, refusing to say anymore.

The head of Kannada Chair, Purshottama Bilimale, has begun free language classes to ensure the Chair does not die a slow death. Instituted in 2015, the Chair has not been allocated MPhil or PhD seats so far.

"If you are not ready to provide infrastructure, don't start any Chairs. We all were working in our own jobs, but came here with high expectations," Bilimale said.

"When you are giving so much priority to Sanskrit, which is a good thing, why do you have to discriminate (against) other languages," Bilimale, who is presently sharing a room with two others, said.

The head of Tamil stream, R Thamotharan, expressed happiness over the fast-tracking of Sanskrit's development. However, he said, the development of other languages should also be taken into consideration.

"We are all happy for development of Sanskrit language, but we would also be happy if other languages also are taken into consideration. There are plans to make Sanskrit into School but for other languages they are advising to get funds from their respective states," he said.

The university taps funds from the central government for Sanskrit and for other languages, they say they don't have funds, he added.

JNU Registrar Pramod Kumar did not respond to attempts by PTI to contact him.

Meanwhile, states like Telangana and Kerala have expressed interest to have Chair of their respective languages at the university, while Maharashtra and Assam have already initiated the process. PTIvermaajay1968@gmail.com

Geetanjali Gayatri

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 19

Fulfilling its promise of holding students elections in Haryanas universities and colleges four years after it found mention in the partys election manifesto in 2014, the Manohar Lal Khattar-led BJP government today revoked the 22-year-old ban by announcing their conduct in the 2018-19 session.

Capt Bhupinder Singh, OSD to Chief Minister, said Khattar had taken the decision in view of the promise of the government made in the manifesto and following meetings and discussions held on this subject with student organisations. The student union elections would be conducted by September.

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The panel headed by Prof Tankeshwar Kumar, Vice- Chancellor, Guru Jambeshwar University of Science and Technology, Hisar, in its interim report, had advocated indirect elections. It was unclear though whether the government would hold direct or indirect elections.

A final call, sources said, would be taken after the panels final report.

We will submit our final report in two or three weeks, Prof Kumar said.

The panel, which included Vice-Chancellors from various universities across Haryana, had suggested indirect elections in its interim report submitted last year. This was met with stiff opposition from political parties with students wings, which demanded direct elections.

The students elections were discontinued by the Bansi Lal-led Haryana Vikas Party government in 1996. The BJP was an alliance partner of the HVP then. Present Education Minister Ram Bilas Sharma held the same portfolio when the elections were discontinued.

After the announcement, nobody from the government was available to explain the announcement. State Congress chief Ashok Tanwar was wary of the announcement. He said this could, in the end, turn out to be only an announcement.

We will believe the BJP only when elections are held in the state. An indirect election is no election. The INLDs announcement that it will not contest the first election to students bodies and the BJPs announcement coming a couple of days later indicates that something is going on behind the scenes between the two parties. This is just another attempt at befooling the people, he said.amansharma@tribunemail.com

New Delhi, February 19

Actress Priya Prakash Varrier, who recently became an internet sensation for her wink in a song of a Malyalam movie, today moved the Supreme Court seeking quashing of an FIR lodged against her in Telangana.

The 18-year-old actress of the upcoming movie also sought top court's direction to prohibit states from initiating any criminal proceedings against her.

In her plea, Varrier, a student of B. Com from a college in Thrissur district of Kerala, sought protection from an FIR lodged on complaints alleging that the lyrics of the song 'Manikya Malaraya Poovi' from the movie 'Oru Addar Love' was "offensive" or has "violated the religious sentiment of a particular community".

In her plea, she said an FIR has been lodged against her on February 14 at Falaknama police station at Hyderabad on a complaint that alleges that the song hurt the religious sentiment of a particular community.

She said on the same day, a criminal complaint was also filed by the secretary of Raza Academy, Mumbai, with the Commissioner of Police to take appropriate action against the petitioners, taking down the video and prevent it from being broadcast.

"The present petition has been filed as a result of multiple criminal proceedings which have been instituted against the petitioners in the States of Telangana and Maharashtra.

"The complaint filed is against the song titled 'Manikya Malaraya Poovi' which was released on Youtube as a song of the film. In Telangana, an FIR has already been registered against the Petitioner no.2. (director of the movie).

The criminal complaints have been instituted by various fringe groups based on a distorted and incorrect interpretation of the song in the states of Telangana, Maharashtra and similar complaints are likely from other non-Malayalam speaking states as well," she said in her plea filed through advocate Pallavi Pratap.

She said the entire controversy has resulted in the filing of several criminal complaints, while the FIR arises from the lyrics of the song, which is a Mappila song or a traditional Muslim number from the Malabar region of Kerala.

"The song describes and praises the love between Prophet Mohamed and his first wife Khadeeja. It should be important to note that the song is originally from an old folk song from Kerala which was written in 1978 by PMA Jabbar and first sung by Thalassery Rafeeq, in the praise of the Prophet and his wife Beevi Khadija," she said.

The plea said the claims that it hurt religious sentiments of the Muslim community are "without any basis and what is hard to fathom is that a song which has been in existence for the past 40 years, which was written, sung and cherished by the Muslim community in Kerala is now being treated as an insult to the Prophet and his wife."

"It is submitted that a song, which .... has been cherished by more than one crore Muslim population of Kerala, cannot suddenly offend the religious sentiment of the Muslim community," the plea said.

It stated that criminal complaints and registration of FIRs in multiple states on the basis of complaints by "fringe elements who have misunderstood the lyrics of the song which they claim allegedly offended their religious sentiments and that of their community has adversely affected the petitioners right to life, liberty and freedom of expression under the Constitution".

The plea said the movie is yet to be completed and an amount of Rs 1.5 crore have been spent on it but such "flimsy and baseless" complaints and FIRs cause nothing but hindrance to freedom of speech and expression granted under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution and was an outright abuse of the process of law.

"Such acts only result in curbing the freedom of expression of people and have also resulted in dragging the Petitioner No.1, who is a young college student, into a criminal case for merely acting in a movie," the plea said.  PTImonicakchauhan@gmail.com

Patna, February 19

The Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) has barred students appearing for the 2018 matriculation (Class X ) exam in the state from wearing shoes and socks to the examination centres to check the use of unfair means.

The students will instead be allowed to wear slippers to the centres for writing their matriculation examination, which is scheduled to begin on February 21, a BSEB release said.

"Such advisories disallowing wearing of shoes and socks had been issued in the past for competitive examinations in the state. Now a similar advisory has been issued which will be implemented from this year's matriculation examination," BSEB Chairman Anand Kishore told reporters yesterday.

The board has taken the decision to check adoption of unfair means by candidates at the examination, he said adding that the advisory would be communicated to all the district education officers, students, gaurdians and centre superintendents.

Use of unfair means at the board examination had brought bad name to Bihar in the past. A photograph showing guardians and friends of examinees scaling a school building in Vaishali district to help them write their examinations had gone viral a few years ago bringing disrepute to the state.

State Education Minister Krishna Nandan Prasad Verma has justified the Board's advisory.

"The Board has taken a right decision. Around 17 lakh students will be appearing for the (matriculation) examination and it is very difficult to check all the students. So it will be better if they (students) wear slippers instead during the examination," Verma told reporters.

Former Education Minister Ashok Choudhary, however, criticised the decision saying that it was not required at all.

"The board's decision is absolutely wrong and cannot be justified. I would not have agreed to it had I been the minister," Choudhary said.

Around 17.70 lakh students will write their matriculation examination in 1426 centres across the state this year. The examination will be conducted between February 21 to February 28. PTIvermaajay1968@gmail.com

Chandigarh, February 19

Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh and visiting Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will hold a one-on-one meeting in Amritsar on February 21. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has allocated a 30-minute slot for the meeting which will be held at a private hotel after Trudeaus visit to the Golden Temple. The latter will be received by Local Bodies Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu at the Partition Museum. The CM will not accompany Trudeau to the Golden Temple, clarified an official spokesperson.

Capt Amarinder said Punjab had deep roots in Canada, where a large Punjabi community

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is settled and has always striven to strengthen the connect. He also referred to Trudeaus apology, two years ago, in the Canadian parliament over the Komagata Maru incident. Hundreds of Sikh, Muslim and Hindu passengers who arrived in Canada on a Japanese steamer in 1914 were denied entry into Canada and forced to return to India.

Instructions have been issued to roll out the red carpet for the visiting dignitary and to ensure best facilities to the Canadian PM, his family and the entourage.

There had been reports of behind-the-scene efforts by the Canadian Government for a meeting with the Punjab CM, who had earlier accused some ministers in the Trudeau government of supporting Sikh separatists.

It is learnt that Canadian Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan, whom Capt Amarinder had refused to meet during his India visit in April last year, played a key role in paving the way for the meeting.

Ahead of Trudeaus visit, Capt Amarinder, in a statement earlier this month, had hailed Sajjan and his fellow minister Amarjit Sohis denial that they were sympathetic to the Khalistan cause.  TNSeditorial@tribune.com

New Delhi, February 19

The Congress today shot a six-point questionnaire at PM Narendra Modi, launching a comprehensive attack on him for his silence on critical national matters.

Party spokesperson Manish Tewari asked the PM who aided the escape of alleged bank fraudster Nirav Modi and his family when in August 2017 a Chandigarh court had declared him (the MD and Chairman of Gitanjali Jewellery Retail) an absconder.

A competent court declares him a proclaimed offender. How is he allowed to flee the country? Who facilitated his exit? He leaves on January 1 and his family soon thereafter. Is it not too much of a coincidence that the case is registered only on January 29? An illusion of action is sought to be created when the reality is that the PM bolted the stable doors after all horses had fled, Tewari said.

He then asked the PM what his reaction was to the story that BJP chief Amit Shahs sons company grew 16,000 times after he became PM.

On the Rafale jet pricing, Tewari said: Your Defence Minister yesterday said between 2011 and 2014, the price of Rafale escalated by 300 per cent. We want to ask what the benchmark price of the jet was in 2011 and then what was its purchase price?

The next query to PM was  Whats your stand on the death of Judge BH Loya since you have not expressed regret on the same.  TNSuttara@tribuneindia.com

New Delhi, February 19

The Supreme Court, which is currently hearing a petition that asks for re-investigation of Mahatma Gandhi's assassination, was told on Monday that there were crucial documents that showed there was a larger conspiracy behind the killing.



A Division Bench of Justices SA Bobde and L Nageswara Rao is currently hearing a petition by Pankaj Phadnis, a trustee of a charitable trust called 'Abhinav Bharat'whose website claims that it bears no relation to Malegaon blast suspect Lt Colonel Purohit's organisation, although they share the same name.

Phadnis said the documents, which he acquired from the US Library of Congress, showed evidence of a "larger conspiracy" behind the killing for which two people, the assailant Nathuram Vinayak Godse and his co-conspirator, Narayan Apte, were hanged on November 15, 1949.

Phadnis said the documents he had was banned by the Indian Government.

"This (documents) shows evidence of larger conspiracy in Mahatma Gandhi's assassination. Government of India has banned this. I have got these documents from the USA. I have also filed a petition in the Bombay High Court to lift the ban," he told the Bench while seeking to place on record the documents, which were in a sealed cover.

The petitioner also said that he was afraid he would be committing an offence if he opened the seal.

The court said that court while technology could help recover forensic evidence, the court would still have to consider if the case could be reinvestigated. The petitioner however was given until March 6 to present the documents along with an application.

"We will see this. It seems attractive but we will see whether it can be done," the Bench said after the petitioner claimed he had a letter from a US-based attorney saying forensic evidence could be obtained.

The court had previously asked him to explain his delay in producing the documents, as well as his locus standi (his the right or capacity to bring an action) in the case.

"If you want to produce something in the court, you tell us what it is, why it was not produced in court earlier and what is its bearing is in your case," the Bench said.

At the outset, the Bench told Phadnis and senior advocate Amarender Sharan, who is assisting the court as amicus curiae, that it would hear arguments in the matter on a 'non-miscellaneous day'.

Gandhi was assassinated on January 30, 1948. While Godse and Apte were both found guilt and executed, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, the former president of the right-wing Hindu Mahasabha who was also accused in the case, was acquitted.

The petitioner has questioned the 'three bullet theory' relied upon by various courts to hold the conviction of Godse and Apte.

Phadnis has challenged the decision of the Bombay High Court which on June 6, 2016, had dismissed his plea on two groundsfirstly, that the findings of fact have been recorded by the competent court and confirmed right up to the apex court, and secondly, the Kapur Commission has submitted its report and made observations in 1969, while the present petition has been filed 46 years later.

The amicus curiae however has advised against reinvestigation saying that the identity of assailant had already been established. PTI/Agenciesrchopra@tribunemail.com

New Delhi, February 19

Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi paid tributes to Chhatrapati Shivaji on his birth anniversary on Monday.

Naidu described Shivaji as one of Indias greatest king warriors and hailed him for his valour, warfare strategies, administrative skills, progressive outlook and respect for women.

His legendary acts of bravery will continue to inspire every Indian, the Vice President said as he paid respects to Shivaji on Twitter.

Modi also took to the micro-blogging site to hail Shivaji.

I bow to Shivaji Maharaj on his Jayanti. Jai Shivaji (hail Shivaji)! the Prime Minister said.

Gandhi paid his tributes to Shivaji in a message in Marathi on the social networking site.

My salutes to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj who realised the concept of peoples state, giving out a message of unity and harmony, the Congress president tweeted.

King Shivaji, known as the creator of the Maratha empire, was born on this day in 1630 at Shivneri Fort in Pune, as per the Maharashtra government. PTIrchopra@tribunemail.com

Bhubaneswar, February 19

Veteran Odia actor Aparajita Mohanty on Monday joined the BJP in the presence of the partys senior leaders, including Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

She quit the Congress earlier this month.

I joined the BJP as I was influenced by Prime Minister Narendra Modis ideals, Mohanty said.

The veteran actor left for bypoll-bound Bijepur assembly constituency later in the day.

Mohanty had unsuccessfully contested from Cuttack Lok Sabha seat as a Congress candidate in the 2014 general elections.

Her entry into the BJP comes a week after another popular Odia actor, Mahasweta Ray, joined the saffron party.

Two other eminent film actors, Anu Choudhury and Mihir Das, had joined the saffron brigade in January. PTIrchopra@tribunemail.com

Tribune News Service

Patiala, February 19

An ex-Army man was murdered and his wife injured as robbers struck in Samana on Sunday night.

The deceased has been identified as Darshan Singh.

Both his sons are also in the Army.

Details are awaited.amansharma@tribunemail.com

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 19

Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh is all set to take Punjabs close business as well as people-to-people relations with Canada to the next level, with one-to-one meeting with visiting Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Amritsar on Wednesday.

An intimation in this regard was received by the Chief Ministers Office from the Ministry of External Affairs this evening.

The Chief Minister, who has already issued instructions to the state administration to roll out the red carpet for the visiting dignitary on February 21, said on Monday that he looked forward to the meeting the Canadian PM.

Comment  Canada, Punjab: Never say no to a handshake

Look forward to meeting Canadian Prime Minister @JustinTrudeau in Amritsar on Wednesday. Im hopeful that this meeting will help strengthen the close Indo-Canadian business ties as well as the deep-rooted people-to-people relations between our two countries.  Capt.Amarinder Singh (@capt_amarinder) February 19, 2018

Look forward to meeting Canadian Prime Minister @JustinTrudeau in Amritsar on Wednesday. Im hopeful that this meeting will help strengthen the close Indo-Canadian business ties as well as the deep-rooted people-to-people relations between our two countries, the Chief Minister tweeted.

Captain Amarinder expressed the hope that his meeting with Trudeau would help strengthen the bilateral relations between Canada and India, particularly in the context of Punjab, which has a large diaspora in Canada. While trade and business will be the key focus area of the meeting, the two leaders are also expected to discuss steps to intensify the close relations between the people of the two countries, according to a spokesperson of the Chief Ministers Office (CMO).

Punjab has deep roots with Canada, where a large Punjabi community is settled, and has always striven to strengthen the connect, said Captain Amarinder, appreciating Trudeaus efforts in this direction.

The Chief Minister referred to the Prime Ministers apology two years ago in the Canadian parliament, where Trudeau had apologised for the 1914 Komagata Maru incident, in which hundreds of Sikh, Muslim and Hindu passengers in a ship were denied entry to Canada and forced to return to India, where they met a violent fate.

Captain Amarinder said it was a gesture that underlined the depth of the relations between the two countries, which Wednesdays meeting would help in consolidating further.

The Chief Minister has, meanwhile, ordered the administration to ensure that the Canadian Prime Minister and his family are extended all the courtesies befitting their status. He has asked the officials to ensure the best of facilities to the Canadian Prime Minister, his family and his entourage to make their visit to the Holy City a pleasant and memorable one.editorial@tribune.com

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 19

Local Bodies Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu has reportedly dispensed with the services of his adviser, retired bureaucrat Amar Singh. The latter had been calling the shots in the department, sources said.

Talking to The Tribune, Sidhu said he had not issued a formal order for sacking the adviser. He had not been getting remuneration or salary from the government. He brought vast experience and I am thankful to him for having worked without remuneration for so long.

Sources said Amar Singh was asked to quit after several complaints of misappropriation were levelled against the retired bureaucrat by officers in the department. He attended office last Monday.

When contacted, Amar Singh said no decision had been conveyed to him. I was in Raikot from Tuesday to Thursday and was busy with a family affair on Friday. Today, I was asked by the Congress to visit Ludhiana, and thats why I did not attend office, he told The Tribune.

Sources said Amar Singh had become the first point of contact within the department for most officers, leading to miscommunication between the officers and the minister.ROBINSINGH@TRIBUNE.COM

London, February 19

A group of independent candidates who fought the June 2017 General Election on an anti-Brexit platform today officially launched a political party that will tour the UK with its message to prevent Britains exit from the European Union (EU).

Renew, which launched its national campaign and candidate mobilisation programme in London on Monday, claims to have recruited over 1,000 supporters and more than 300 candidates from outside the political system all over the UK to stand in local and national elections on a Rethink Brexit, Renew Britain agenda.

Renew has enjoyed overwhelming support for its centrist agenda and platform to address inequality from a position of strength as a full EU member, the party said in a statement. Renew aims to recruit 650 candidates to stand in every Parliamentary constituency in any future election and to campaign to Remain in the EU in any vote on the final deal, it notes.

The partys first major challenge will be to contest the local elections scheduled for May this year, with the next General Election due in 2022. Renew, founded by former financier Chris Coghlan who stood as an independent candidate from Battersea in south London in June 2017, describes its mission statement as reversing Brexit and restoring Britains influential position in Europe.

The Brexit referendum was a wake-up call that we are a nation divided, with deep discontent at inequality. Leaving the EU will only make things worse. We should reconsider Brexit, now we know more," said Sandra Khadhouri, a former journalist and UN worker who is one of Renew's three "principals". The other principals of the party include James Torrance, an accountant and marketing professional who has worked in India in the past, and James Clarke, a startup strategy consultant.  PTIgspannu7@gmail.com

Colombo/Male, February 19

The state of emergency in trouble-torn Maldives was on Monday extended by 30 days after a key parliamentary committee approved President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayooms request, a media report said, allowing him to reinforce his power in the picturesque Indian Ocean island nation.

During an extraordinary meeting of the National Security Committee of the Peoples Majlis, approval was given to the Decree for State of Emergency submitted to the Peoples Majlis (Parliament) by President Yameen, the Sun online reported.

Deputy Speaker of Peoples Majlis, MP Moosa Manik confirmed the decree was approved by the committee during its meeting held behind closed doors.

The committee approved the decree as well as the request for a 30-day extension to the State of Emergency, the report said.

A total of 38 MPs voted to accept the decree and forward it to the National Security Committee for evaluation. All opposition MPs boycotted the sitting, alleging it was held unconstitutionally, the report said.

At least 43 MPs need to be present at the Majlis chamber in order for the decree to pass, the report said.

President Yameen declared the emergency on February 5 after the Supreme Court ordered the release of a group of Opposition leaders, who had been convicted in widely criticised trials. Among them was exiled ex-President Mohamed Nasheed. The court said his 2015 trial had been unconstitutional.

Under the emergency law, Yameen had two Supreme Court judges arrested, accusing them of corruption. Later, the remaining three judges annulled the order to release Yameens opponents.

On Sunday, the judges also delayed their earlier order to reinstate 12 pro-opposition lawmakers who were expelled after siding with the opposition.

Yameens party would have lost a majority in Parliament had they been allowed to sit, AP reported.

There has been international condemnation of the governments moves, with the US and India expressing concern.

Nasheed has specifically appealed for diplomatic and military intervention from India.

On February 16, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar had said India had called on the Government of Maldives to lift the state of emergency and restore the democratic process, including the functioning of judiciary, which is free of intimidation.

We have noticed that the Emergency in Maldives is valid for the next few days and we will wait to see the steps which will be taken by the government of Maldives after this, Kumar had said.  PTIROBINSINGH@TRIBUNE.COM

Colombo/Male, February 19

The state of Emergency in trouble-torn Maldives was today extended by 30 days after the a key parliamentary committee approved President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayooms request, a media report said, allowing him to reinforce his power in the picturesque Indian Ocean island nation.

During an extraordinary meeting of the National Security Committee of the People's Majlis, an approval was given to the Decree for State of Emergency submitted to the People's Majlis (Parliament) by President Yameen, the Sun online reported.

Deputy Speaker of People's Majlis MP Moosa Manik confirmed the decree was approved by the committee during its closed-door meeting today. The committee approved the decree, and well as the request for a 30-day extension to the State of Emergency, the report said.

A total of 38 MPs voted to accept the decree and forward it to the National Security Committee for evaluation. All opposition MPs boycotted the sitting, alleging it was held unconstitutionally, the report said.

At least 43 MPs need to be present at the Majlis chamber is order for the decree to pass. Majlis majority leader MP Ahmed Nihan Hussain Manik expressed confidence that 43 MPs would be present when the decree was called up for a vote.

President Yameen declared the Emergency on February 5 after the Supreme Court ordered the release of a group of Opposition leaders, who had been convicted in widely criticised trials. Among them was exiled ex-President Mohamed Nasheed. The court said his 2015 trial had been unconstitutional. Under the Emergency law, Yameen had two SC judges arrested, accusing them of corruption. Later, the remaining three judges annulled the order to release Yameen's opponents.

There has been international condemnation of the governments moves, with the US and India expressing concern.  PTI

Top court suspends Rebel Lawmakersmonicakchauhan@gmail.com

Washington, February 19

The couple who took in Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz after his mother's death have described him as quirky but pleasant and seemingly on the right track, saying they had no idea they had a "monster living under our roof."

Cruz, 19, moved in with James and Kimberly Snead of Parkland, Florida in late November after his adoptive mother died earlier that month from complications of pneumonia, they told the South Florida Sun Sentinel in an interview published yesterday.

He was a friend of their son.

Prone to odd eating and sleeping habits and unused to any form of housework, he was nevertheless making progress in dealing with his grief and kept himself busy with adult education classes along with his job at a discount store, the couple said.

"I told him there'd be rules and he followed every rule to the T," James Snead, 48, an army veteran and military intelligence analyst, told the paper.

"We had this monster living under our roof and we didn't know," added Kimberly Snead, 49, a neonatal nurse.

"We didn't see this side of him." Cruz killed 17 people at his former high school last Wednesday using an AR-15 rifle that he had legally purchased. It was the country's worst school massacre since the horror at Sandy Hook six years ago that left 26 dead.

He also owned several other guns including two other assault rifles as well as knives, according to the Sneads who own firearms themselves and did not find this unusual.

And his ultimate aim was to join the army and become an infantryman, something he had become excited about after a recent meeting with a military recruiter.

A profile has emerged of a troubled young man who was expelled from school last year for "disciplinary reasons."

The FBI admitted receiving a detailed warning last month about Cruz's gun ownership, erratic behaviour, and disturbing social media posts, as well as the potential for him carrying out a school shooting.

The agency took no action, despite the tip-off. Cruz was also known to police after his mother repeatedly reported him for violent outbursts, while records obtained by the same newspaper showed authorities investigated Cruz in 2016 after he cut his arms on messaging app Snapchat and threatened to buy a gun.

But he was eventually deemed a low risk and later passed a background check, allowing him in February 2017 to buy the AR-15 rifle used in the massacre.

The Sneads said it appeared he had grown up without ever having to do common chores - he couldn't cook, do laundry, pick up after himself or even use a microwave.

"He was very naive. He wasn't dumb, just naive," James Snead told the Sun Sentinel.

Cruz had quirky habits, like putting a chocolate chip cookie on a steak and cheese sandwich, and going to bed at 8:00 pm.

He seemed lonely and badly wanted a girlfriend, and was also depressed about the death of his mother, the couple said.

Kimberly Snead had taken Cruz to the office of a therapist just five days before the shooting, and he had said he was open to therapy if his medical insurance would cover it.

Cruz told the Sneads he would inherit at least US$ 800,000 from his parents, with most of the funds becoming available when he turned 22 - and the claim appeared to be borne out by paperwork the couple have subsequently seen, they said.

On the day of the attack, Cruz sent several text messages to the Snead's son, who was still studying at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

In one, he asked what classroom the boy was in, adding in another that he had "something important" to tell him. But he then wrote: "Nothing man."

The couple last saw Cruz at the Broward County Sheriffs office. Dressed in a hospital gown, he was handcuffed and surrounded by deputies.

"He said he was sorry. He apologised. He looked lost, absolutely lost," said James Snead. "And that was the last time we saw him." AFPuttara@tribuneindia.com

Baghdad, February 19



An Iraqi court ordered the release and deportation of a suspected French jihadist sentenced on Monday to seven months in prison for entering the country illegally, saying she had already served her time.



Melina Bougedir, 27, was arrested last summer in former Islamic State group stronghold Mosul with her four children, three of whom have been repatriated to France.



Wearing a black dress and purple headscarf, she entered the courtroom holding her other child, a boy with blond hair.



Speaking in Arabic, she said that she had been a housewife in Mosul.



"I entered Syria with my French passport but Daesh (IS) took it from me. I stayed in Syria for four days and then came to Mosul with my husband and four children".



She said that her French husband Maximilien, whom she said had been a cook for Islamic State, was killed as Iraqi forces battled to oust the jihadist group from Mosul, which was recaptured last July.



Asked her if she regretted what she did, she replied: "Yes".



Iraq in December declared victory against Islamic State after a years-long battle to retake large swathes of territory the extremists had seized in 2014.



An Iraqi court last month condemned a German woman to death by hanging after finding her guilty of belonging to Islamic State, the first such sentence in a case involving a European woman.



Soon afterwards, lawyers for Bougedir and another French woman awaiting trial in Iraq for allegedly joining Islamic State wrote to French President Emmanuel Macron warning that they could face the death penalty.



Several dozen French citizens suspected of links to the jihadist group are believed to be in detention camps or prisons in Syria and Iraq.



French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said in Baghdad last week that suspected jihadists should be tried in the countries where they committed their "crimes", while reiterating Frances opposition to the death penalty.



Britain has also taken a firm stance against repatriation, as has Belgium, which denied a request by one of its nationals to be sent home from Iraq in exchange for cooperating with the authorities.



Several hundred foreigners, both men and women, are thought to have been detained in Iraq for alleged links to Islamic State.



In December, a Swedish man of Iraqi origin was among 38 people executed after being convicted of "terrorism".



And on Sunday an Iraqi court sentenced a Turkish woman to death and 11 other foreign widows to life in jail for belonging to Islamic State, despite their pleas that they had been duped or forced by their husbands to join them in Iraq.



A total of 509 foreign women, including 300 Turks, are being held in Iraq with 813 children, according to a security source. AFPROBINSINGH@TRIBUNE.COM

Moscow, February 19

The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for a deadly attack on churchgoers in Russias predominantly Muslim Dagestan region.

At least five persons were killed and four wounded when a gunman opened fire with a hunting rifles on people leaving a Sunday service at a Russian Orthodox church in the Dagestan city of Kizlyar.

Authorities say the gunman was a local resident, and his wife has been detained for questioning. But police havent commented on the possible motive for the attack. A statement from the IS, posted Monday on an IS-affiliated militant website, claimed responsibility for the shooting, saying a Muslim fighter attacked a Christian temple in Kizlyar.

The authenticity of the statement couldnt be confirmed, but the website is regularly used by IS for posting militant statements.  APuttara@tribuneindia.com

Baghdad, February 19

The Islamic State group killed 27 pro-government fighters in an ambush in Iraq, their paramilitary group said Monday, underlining the threat still posed by the jihadists despite Baghdads declaration of victory.

Islamic State members, disguised as soldiers, attacked a Hashed al-Shaabi unit in the Hawija region about 300 km (185 miles) north of Baghdad on Sunday evening, the auxiliary force said in a statement.

"The attackers were dressed in military uniforms and during the fighting 27 of our heroes were martyred," added the Hashed, a key partner of the government in the battle against Islamic State.

The paramilitary unit was conducting operations to "arrest terrorists and dismantle sleeping cells" around the city, in the province of Kirkuk.

A Hashed official who asked to remain anonymous told AFP the jihadists had set up a checkpoint close to Hawija.

They asked the Hashed paramilitaries to stop, get out of their vehicles and stand beside the road, on the pretext of conducting a search.

They then shot the Hashed fighters and fled, the official said.

Reinforcements arrived too late to stop the attack.

A senior police officer in the province, who also asked not to be named, said most of the bodies had been beheaded.

It was the deadliest attack against Hashed fighters since October when pro-government forces retook Hawija, which was the jihadists last urban bastion in northern Iraq.

Iraq in December declared victory against Islamic State after a years-long battle to retake large swathes of territory the extremists had seized in 2014.

But the Hashed says Islamic State has not completely disappeared and that "sleeper cells" have been fighting a guerrilla war against it. AFPamansharma@tribunemail.com

Chon Buri (Thailand), February 19

US and Thai marines slurped snake blood and ate scorpions in a jungle survival programme on Monday as part of the two-nation annual Cobra Gold war games.

Now in its 37th year, Cobra Gold is one of the largest military exercises in Asia, bringing thousands of troops from the United States, Thailand and other countries for 10 days of field training on Thai shores.

Today, several dozen US and Thai marines took park in an annual jungle survival drill on a Thai navy base in Chonburi province, where troops took turns drinking blood from a severed cobra before grilling and eating the snakes.

Thai military trainers also taught the group -- which included South Korean troops -- how to remove venom from scorpions and tarantulas before eating them, find water in jungle vines and identity edible plants.

"The key to survival is knowing what to eat," said Thai Sergeant Major Chaiwat Ladsin, who led the drill that also saw the marines take bites of a raw gecko.

"Definitely my first time drinking snake blood... Its not something we do too often in America," US Sergeant Christopher Fiffie told AFP after the training.

"I think Ill be able to hold my own out there," he added. "The biggest take was how exactly they get their water as well as the vegetation that you can eat."

This years Cobra Gold exercise drew some 6,800 US personnel to the war games -- nearly double last years attendance, in the latest sign of warming relations between the two allies.

A 2014 army coup in Thailand tested ties with Washington, which urged a return to democracy and scaled back military aid.

But the two countries have upped their engagement under US President Donald Trump, who has taken a softer stance on human rights issues and even embraced Thai junta chief Prayut Chan-O-Cha in the White House.

The US is also keen to flex its military muscle in Asia amid tensions with North Korea over the pariah states nuclear missile programme.

"The (attendance) numbers are reflective of the US commitment in the region," US embassy spokesman Stephane Castonguay told AFP at the start of the exercise.

"The focus of this exercise still remains humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, in addition to community relations projects." Troops from Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea and Singapore also participated in this years drills.  AFPuttara@tribuneindia.com

Islamabad, February 19

Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi reversed his decision to take stern action against Hafiz Saeed-led Jamaat-ud-Dawa and Falah-i- Insaniyat Foundation fearing that any such move could trigger a political crisis, a media report said on Monday.

Pakistan has come under intense pressure to rein in terror groups after US President Donald Trump accused the country of harbouring terrorists and suspended nearly $2 billion in security assistance to it.

The JuD is believed to be the front organisation for the Lashkar-e-Toiba, which is behind the Mumbai attack of 2008 that killed 166 people. Us declared it a foreign terrorist organisation in June 2014.

At a meeting, Abbasi said both the outfits "should be banned but Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal was of the view that if these organisations were banned at this point, the government would be facing a similar crisis which it faced in November", The News reported, citing two different sources who attended the meeting last month.

In November, a sit-in by supporters of Islamist organisation Tehreek Labbaik Ya Rasool Allah led by Khadim Hussain Rizvi in Faizabad had paralysed the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi.

In the meeting, Prime Ministers Adviser on Finance and Economic Affairs Miftah Ismail and Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua apprised him of the possible repercussions of the upcoming Financial Action Task Forces (FATF) meeting that could decide placing Pakistan on the watch list of countries that financially aid terrorism, the paper said.

After their input, Abbasi constituted a three-member committee, comprising Iqbal, Ismail and Attorney General Ishtar Ausaf, to finalise the decision of taking a strict action against the JuD and FIF, it said.

The committee decided to resolve the issue through a presidential ordinance bringing an amendment to the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1997 enabling the law to freeze all the assets of the organisations banned by the UN Security Council.

The paper quoted Ausaf as saying that still a notification by the Interior Ministry was required to formally ban both the organisations.

Following the February 9 presidential ordinance, the federal government formally ordered the freezing of all the assets of JUD and FIF across the country without placing them in Schedule I of Anti-Terrorism law, the paper said.

Early this month, Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah had said that on the interior ministry's directions, Saeed and his charities have been banned to operate in Pakistan and the government has already started taking over all the facilities, offices, schools, dispensaries and seminaries that belong to the JuD and FIF.

The law explicitly defines placement of any organisation into the banned list that is not enabling the police to take any legal action against both the organisations.

"Although, the federal government has decided to freeze the assets of JUD and FIF through the law, it does not empower the provincial police to register cases against their activists, so weve taken over their assets but not registered cases against their activists," the paper quoted a senior officer police officer as saying.

Citing sources, it said a formal notification of placement of JuD and FIF in Schedule I was still awaited. Without the said notification both the organisations will not be formally admitted as a defunct organisation at the federal and provincial levels.

The sources claimed that in the same pretext the National Counter Terrorism Authority (Nacta) has refused to update its list of banned organisations on its website.

A high-level meeting, headed by the Nacta chief Ehsan Ghani on February 15 deliberated the above-mentioned notification of the interior ministry and also pointed out the same flaw in the notification issued by the government, the paper added. PTImonicakchauhan@gmail.com

Islamabad, February 19

Pakistan's Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif will leave for a four-day official visit to Russia on Monday.

He is visiting the country at the invitation of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, the Foreign Office said.

During the visit, Asif will hold bilateral negotiations with his Russian counterpart.

The two dignitaries will exchange views on important issues facing the region and the world, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

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France 3 France 4 France 5 France O GEO Television GoldStar TV Gute Laune TV Hamburg 1 Health TV Heimatkanal HISTORY HD Home & Garden TV HR HSE24 Jukebox Junior K-TV kabel eins kabel eins CLASSICS kabel eins Doku KiKA KinoweltTV Leipzig Fernsehen LUST PUR Marco Polo TV MDR Mezzo More than Sports TV Motorvision TV MTV MTV Base MTV Dance MTV Hits MTV Live HD munchen.tv n-tv N24 Doku Nat Geo HD NAT GEO WILD Nautical Channel NDR NHK WORLD TV Nick Jr. nick/MTV+ Nicktoons NITRO NOW US oe24.TV ONE ORF 2 ORF eins ORF III ORF SPORT + PHOENIX PLANET Playboy TV ProSieben ProSieben Fun ProSieben MAXX PULS 4 PULS acht QVC QVC2 RBB RCK TV Rhein-Neckar Fernsehen rheinmain tv RiC Rocket Beans TV Romance TV RTL RTL Crime RTL II RTL Living RTL Passion RTLplus SAT.1 SAT.1 emotions SAT.1 Gold ServusTV Deutschland Show Turk Silverline sixx Sky 1 Sky Action Sky Atlantic HD Sky Cinema Best Of Sky Cinema Classics Sky Cinema Fun Sky Cinema Premieren Sky Cinema Premieren +24 Sky Cinema Special HD Sky Cinema Thriller HD Sky Comedy Sky Crime Sky Family Sky Krimi Sky Select Sky Sport Austria SKY Sport F1 Sky Sport HD 1 Sky Sport HD 2 Sky Sport News sonnenklar.TV Sony Channel SPIEGEL Geschichte SPIEGEL TV WISSEN SPORT1 SPORT1+ sportdigital SRF 1 SRF zwei STAR TV SUPER RTL SWR/SR Syfy tagesschau24 TELE 5 TLC TNT Comedy TNT Film TNT Serie TOGGO plus Trace TV travelxp 4K Turkmax Gurme tv.berlin TV2 TV5 Monde UHD1 Universal Channel HD VH1 Classic VOX VOXup WDR WELT Welt der Wunder ZDF ZDFinfo ZDFneoTrailing 2-1 from the first leg of their 2004/05 UEFA Champions League round of 16 tie with Barcelona, Chelsea turned the contest on its head with three goals in the opening 19 minutes of the west London return. However, Ronaldinho  recently retired but back then at the peak of his powers  struck twice (including THAT toe-poke) to hand the away-goals advantage to Barca. Then came home captain John Terry's dramatic 76th-minute header and a 5-4 aggregate triumph for Jose Mourinho's men.

1. John Terry

John Terry saying goodbye at Stamford Bridge Getty Images

Captain for the majority of his 717 Chelsea appearances, Terry bid a tearful farewell at the end of last season. 'Captain, Leader, Legend' reads the ever-present banner in his honour at Stamford Bridge. He will have regrets, though, having missed a potentially winning penalty in the 2008 UEFA Champions League final before sitting out the victorious 2012 decider through suspension. At 37, he is targeting promotion with Aston Villa in England's second tier.

2. Ricardo Carvalho

A firm Mourinho favourite, the centre-back worked with his countryman at Porto, Chelsea and  after six seasons at Stamford Bridge  Real Madrid. Carvalho later spent three years with Monaco before joining Shanghai SIPG in the Chinese Super League, where he played last year. He turns 40 in May.

3. Victor Valdes

Victor Valdes with Middlesbrough in 2016 Getty Images

Born in neighbouring Hospitalet, youth-system graduate Valdes was a Barca mainstay for over a decade, and battled Real Madrid's Iker Casillas for the Spain No1 shirt throughout. The 36-year-old went on to have spells with Manchester United, Standard Liege and Middlesbrough before retiring last summer.

4. Frank Lampard

The midfielder's knack of arriving late into the penalty area ensured Lampard ended his 13 years at the club as Chelsea's 211-goal all-time top scorer. The 39-year-old collected every club trophy going, including the 2012 UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Europa League the next season. He had a brief stint at Manchester City before finishing his career with New York City. Now a television pundit.

5. Oleguer Presas

Recruited at 21 from Catalan neighbours Gramenet, the versatile defender was in and around the first team throughout his seven years at Camp Nou, starting the 2006 UEFA Champions League final victory over Arsenal. He moved on to Ajax in 2008, where he stayed three years before hanging up his boots aged 31 in 2011.

6. Juliano Belletti

Belletti: My Magic Moment

Signed from Villarreal in 2004, the tireless full-back lifted a Liga title in his first term, but is best remembered for his late clincher in the 2006 UEFA Champions League final. He went to Chelsea in 2007 and won two FA Cups and the Premier League during three years in London before ending his career at Fluminense in his native Brazil. He retired aged 35 in 2011.

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When Celtic got the better of BarcelonaBrussels, 19 February 2018 - Cooperation between the European Union (EU) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has a major role to play in fulfilling the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development and ending poverty, protecting the planet, and building prosperity for all, concluded the High-Level Policy Dialogue on Development between both institutions, opened by Neven Mimica, EU Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development, and Achim Steiner, UNDP Administrator.

The dialogue focused on the current EU and UNDP priorities and the collective actions needed to support countries in delivering on the Agenda 2030 and its Sustainable Development Goals, from building resilience, reducing inequalities, enhancing peace and security, addressing climate change and supporting private sector development to combating all forms of discrimination, and preventing violence and violent extremism.

EU Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development, Neven Mimica said: "Our collective challenges - ending poverty, inequality and the unsustainable exploitation of our planet - can only be addressed through collective solutions. Just when they are most at threat, global partnerships and solidarity are needed more than ever. The European Union remains a steadfast supporter of effective multilateralism, with a strong United Nations at its core, and with the UNDP as a valued and reliable partner in development."

Africas development priorities and challenges were a key focus of the policy dialogue, stressing the need to scale up efforts to address the growing inequalities, improve governance, invest in youth education and employment, and enhance peace and security. The EU and UNDP discussed the implementation of the EUs External Investment Plan (EIP), which will contribute to advancing the SDGs in Africa and the EU Neighborhood, by boosting public and private investments to achieve inclusive and sustainable growth.

As two of the worlds largest providers of electoral assistance, the EU and UNDP supported 185 elections, of which 100 in Africa. The photo exhibition "The Power of Democracy," showcasing the EU-UNDP work to strengthen the national capacities to carry out credible and peaceful elections around the world, will be presented in Place de lAlbertine in Brussels during February 20 - March 3, 2018.

The EU and UNDP discussed how they can more effectively prevent and respond to crises, disasters and complex emergencies. The two organizations are working closely together in many conflict-affected countries to build resilience of people and communities and support them to build back better by restoring public infrastructure, providing access to basic services and creating jobs. For example, the EU and UNDP partnership has helped 1.8 million displaced men, women and children in Iraq to return home, while in Northern Nigeria it is helping to restore key infrastructure and basic services, and revive local economy in 20 conflict-affected communities.

The EU and UNDP are currently supporting over 30 countries to implement their national climate plans, also known as Nationally Determined Contributions. The dialogue discussed how the EU and UNDP can support countries to fulfill their commitments to the Paris Agreement on climate change, highlighting energy as a key area to help reduce the CO2 emissions and improve peoples well-being.

Together with the European Union, we are making a difference to peoples lives, with millions of people around the world having better access to justice and public services, enjoying the right to vote and receiving support to recover from crisis, said Achim Steiner. We can achieve much more when we work together with partners and I look forward to continuing our strong partnership with the EU.

The EU and UNDP are currently working together in nearly 140 countries on 217 projects to enhance democratic governance and the rule of law, build resilience and recover from crisis and disasters, and adapt to climate change.Tackling crime and violent extremism, UNODC and UNESCO join forces to promote a culture of lawfulness through education

UNODC and UNESCO announced a new project focussed on educating youth on a culture of lawfulness to provide educational responses to meet some of the world's most pressing rule of law challenges.

The ' Initiative on Global Citizenship Education: Educating for a Culture of Lawfulness' is developed jointly by UNODC and UNESCO with the aim of equipping primary and secondary level educators with tools to uphold the principles of human rights and democracy, as well as to preserve and strengthen democratic institutions and the rule of law.

"Recognizing education's key role in building responsible citizens and respect for rule of law, UNODC is very happy to be partnering with UNESCO in this new initiative. We look forward to pooling our respective know-how and delivering what will undoubtedly be a valuable asset to educators in helping steer our future generation in the right direction," noted John Brandolino, Director of Treaty Affairs at UNODC.

A range of educational guidance materials will be developed around the initiative, alongside several activities to strengthen education systems. The initiative looks to enhance the capacity of policy-makers and teachers to plan and undertake educational activities that address the underlying causes and motivations of unlawful behaviour and strengthen learners' commitment to non-violence and the respect of the rule of law.

The initiative will be rolled out over the next two years and pools existing expertise from the two organizations. It draws from ongoing programmes currently being used to provide educational responses to a number of challenging issues. It builds on UNESCO's efforts to promote Global Citizenship Education aimed at empowering learners to become proactive contributors to a more peaceful, tolerant, inclusive and secure world, as well as UNODC's Education for Justice (E4J) initiative. Collectively, these are focussed on the prevention of violent extremism, tackling crime and corruption and promoting a culture of peace and non-violence.

The project is geared towards achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, in particular, Sustainable Development Goals 4 and 16, which call for quality education and the building of peace, justice and strong institutions.

Additional Information:

Education for Justice initiative

Global Citizenship EducationFebruary 19 2018

Japanese architect Kengo Kuma has lent his support to a Cooper Cromar designed hotel, office block and homes currently being built directly opposite his own V&A project , describing the scheme as an appropriate backdrop.Robertson Construction are already on-site delivering the mixed use build after the project won approval from planners , despite concerns raised in some quarters that the plans were  disappointing .Offering his support for the build Kuma wrote: My building was always designed to complement and harmonise with its surroundings and the adjacent developments."It was never designed in isolation and was always meant to be part of a built environment with a flow of people and buildings with other uses in proximity."Dundee Waterfront is a stunning location and the planned developments will create a thriving platform for the city's ambitious regeneration and an appropriate backdrop for the V&A."Marriott has been chosen as operator for the 150 bed hotel component of the scheme.The Voelcker Fund has supported innovative research to several UTSA faculty members, including Stanton McHardy, seen here at the Center for Innovative Drug Discovery.

(Feb. 19, 2018) -- Researchers at The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) are working with cutting-edge resources to make impactful discoveries in brain health with support from the Max and Minnie Tomerlin Voelcker Fund. With its generosity and belief in the power that science has to improve ordinary lives, the Voelcker Fund is aiding UTSA in bringing stem cell and regenerative medicine research to new heights.

The funds support is advancing UTSA research to generate stem cells for use in regenerative medicine. John McCarrey, Robert J. Kleberg, Jr. and Helen C. Kleberg Distinguished University Chair in Cellular and Molecular Biology, uses pluripotent stem cells to address neurodegenerative diseases.

In the past, researchers used skin or blood cells from a person with a disease like Alzheimers to get a closer look at their illness, McCarrey said. However, because Alzheimers is a disease of the brain, not of the blood or skin, it was questionable whether looking at those cells was particularly useful.

With collaborators Doug Frantz, Max and Minnie Tomerlin Voelcker Distinguished Professor in Chemistry, Chris Navara, associate professor of research, and George Perry, Semmes Foundation Distinguished University Chair in Neurobiology and Dean of the College of Sciences at UTSA, and the support of the Voelcker Fund, McCarrey has created PriStem, a UTSA facility that is solely focused on finding ways to treat neurodegenerative disease and other afflictions with pluripotent stem cells.

Parkinsons, a neurodegenerative disease, results from the loss of a very specific type of cell, Navara said. You can study these illnesses non-invasively and perhaps learn more after patients pass away. But the trouble is that youre studying a brain with a disease thats been deteriorating for a few decades, its like studying a forest fire after the fires already been through and done.

To get to the core of neurodegenerative disease, its necessary to look at afflicted brain cells.

To accomplish that, UTSA researchers at PriStem are using pluripotent stem cells, which are cells that can become any kind of cell in a persons body. That allows PriStem the ability to study neurodegenerative disease using any cell from a patients body and change it into an actual brain cell that may as well have come from the person.

The global picture is that we can take a living persons skin cells, turn them into brain cells and study those in a dish without ever having to touch their brain, Frantz said. We can learn about that specific persons disease and then screen for drugs that could slow or even reverse the disease. Thats a very big hurdle, but its what we want to do.

This personalized research, called disease in a dish, can be used to test drugs designed to treat illnesses of all kinds.

Im very excited by UTSAs interdisciplinary initiatives in brain health research, said Jenny Hsieh, Semmes Foundation Chair in Cell Biology and Director of the UTSA Brain Health Consortium. Were now working to build a consortium leveraging expertise in several different disciplines, to yield innovative research that can have a truly tremendous impact on human lives. The work being accomplished by PriStem is a wonderful example of that effort.

The Voelcker Fund is also working with Stanton McHardy, medicinal chemistry core director of the UTSA Center for Innovative Drug Discovery (CIDD) and associate professor of chemistry. With a 4-year, $750,000 grant to the CIDD, the Voelcker Fund is making the drug-testing library at UTSA as diverse as possible with the CIDD Screening File Diversity Initiative. The project is already underway and is being led by McHardy and Frantz with Michael Doyle, Rita and John Feik Distinguished University Chair in Medicinal Chemistry, and Oleg Larionov, associate professor of chemistry.

We want the library to be expansive, because most drug-screening laboratories all have the same compounds. They buy them from the same place, Frantz said. By taking an innovative, original approach, well have a much better chance of finding a drug that can battle neurodegenerative disease.

Additionally, the Voelcker Fund is supporting research opportunities for UTSA undergraduate and graduate students, so they can gain valuable experience working in cutting-edge laboratories.

The Voelcker Fund has always been so generous in its support of research at UTSA, Frantz said. Their dedication to impactful work is truly amazing.

UTSA is recognized as one of the top five young universities in the nation by Times Higher Education.Dreamers at UW: A DACA Symposium in Laramie Saturday

Several speakers, including University of Wyoming students and the first Hispanic Associated Students of UW (ASUW) vice president, are scheduled to discuss the ongoing Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and how it is affecting Wyoming residents.

Dreamers at UW: A DACA Symposium, in the UW Conference Center from 8 a.m.-7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 24, is free and open to the public, but RSVPs are requested to schedule meals throughout the day. To RSVP, call Sophia Beck, in UWs American Studies Program and Department of History office, at (307) 766-3898 or email gipper@uwyo.edu.

The symposium, the first of its kind in Laramie, is to educate the public about the realities of the program, organizers say. UWs American Studies Program is the primary sponsor of the event, with additional support from UWs Office of the President, the student organization MEChA, the School of Culture, Gender and Social Justice, the Wyoming Institute for Humanities Research and St. Pauls Newman Center.

DACA is an immigration policy that has allowed individuals who entered the country as minors -- and either entered or remained in the country illegally -- to receive a renewable two-year period of deferred action from deportation and to be eligible for work permits. As of 2017, more than 800,000 individuals were enrolled in the program created by DACA, with approximately 700 living in Wyoming. The policy was established by the Obama administration in June 2012 and rescinded by the Trump administration last September.

The policy is currently in the hands of Congress, which is debating the issue.

Organizers of the Laramie event have put together a full day of speakers/panels to discuss the issue. The two co-chairs are longtime advocate for undocumented students Lilia Soto, a UW American studies and history associate professor, and Travis Helm, a Laramie immigration attorney and UW graduate. They will give opening remarks at 9 a.m. Also featured will be the return on campus of Dominic Martinez, senior director of the Office of Inclusion and Outreach at the University of Colorado-Denver.

Martinez, a UW graduate from Rawlins, is the former ASUW vice president from 1996-97. He and former ASUW President Jason Thompson were the first two men of color to be elected to UWs top administrative positions for UWs student government.

The remaining schedule is:

-- 10:45 a.m.-noon: Wyoming DACA Tales, panel discussion featuring: graduate student Jose Rivas and undergraduate student Bianca Infante De La Cruz, both from UW; and students representing a Wyoming community college and high school. Josh Sainz, UW graduate and MEChA adviser, is the moderator.

-- Noon-1:15 p.m.: Lunch at the UW Conference Center.

-- 1:30-3 p.m.: DACA, the University and Community Engagement, panel discussion featuring: Sainz; UW Professor Cecelia Aragon, Latina/o Studies Program director; Emily Monago, UW chief diversity officer, Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion; and Sabrina King, from the Laramie American Civil Liberties Union office. Infante De La Cruz is the moderator.

-- 3:15-4:45 p.m.: DACA at other Universities, panel discussion featuring: Martinez; and Meng So, director of the undocumented student program at the University of California-Berkeley. Rivas will moderate the panel.

-- 5-6 p.m.: Mass at St. Pauls Newman Center.

-- 6 p.m.: Closing dinner at UW Conference Center.

Organizers say DACA is a timely issue because, when Trump ended DACA, he created a March 5 deadline for protections to end. That deadline was scheduled to give Congress time to act to save the program. But, while lawmakers have continued to use that date as a target, court action and the realities of the program have made meeting any deadline unclear. As a result, there is no date that the protections will actually run out for DACA recipients who came to the U.S. as children, but uncertainty remains about whether they could be deported at any time.

The local event will give the DACA conference committee an opportunity to put a human face and story to the immigration debate, Rivas says.UW College of Engineering Prepares for Statewide Outreach Activity

Some of the states top engineers will make special visits to Wyoming elementary schools during National Engineers Week Feb. 18-24.

The University of Wyoming College of Engineering and Applied Science (CEAS) has partnered with the Wyoming State Board of Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors to create a free program that brings professional engineers into third-grade classrooms around the state to lead a one-hour, hands-on activity.

The activity is designed to inspire innovative thinking and design to young students to encourage participation in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).

I am thrilled to kick off the third annual Engineers Week celebration, says Teddi Freedman, CEAS senior project coordinator. More than 3,200 third-grade students will have the opportunity to engage in hands-on learning and exploration with professional engineers from their community.

She says this will be a unique opportunity for professionals to connect with youth to share their experience as experts in their fields, and to inspire the next generation to consider engineering in their academic and professional pursuits.

This program brings together students, educators and professionals, and has the capacity to build a stronger sense of community around the state, Freedman adds.

The DiscoverE networks theme for 2018 is Engineers: Inspiring Wonder and highlights how engineers create awe-inspiring wonders and daily marvels like clean drinking water, computers and cars. Girl Day is Thursday, Feb. 22, and the UW Society of Women Engineers will host middle school students on campus for an experience aimed at highlighting and celebrating the contributions from women in engineering throughout history.

Towns in Wyoming with elementary schools scheduled to participate in Engineers Week activities are: Afton, Arapahoe, Basin, Big Piney, Buffalo, Carpenter, Casper, Centennial, Cheyenne, Cody, Douglas, Elk Mountain, Ethete, Guernsey, Jackson, Kelly, La Barge, Lander, Laramie, Moran, Moorcroft, Pinedale, Powell, Ranchester, Rawlins, Riverton, Rock River, Rock Springs, Sheridan, Shoshoni, Sundance, Ten Sleep and Thermopolis.Eric Johnson

In Vietnam, the importance of education and learning are traditional cultural values with ancient roots. This bodes well for the Vietnamese economy, which continues its rapid expansion and integration into the global economy, and will require thousands more skilled workers to maintain its current trajectory. Singapore and South Korea both have leading education systems that serve not only their own populations, but attract students from abroad as well. These two countries illustrate the point well  in order to have an advanced economy, you first need an education system that can produce a creative, skilled, and productive workforce.

The unfortunate reality in Vietnam is that the education system is not keeping up with the demands of Vietnams dynamic economy. Complaints from employers that they cannot find qualified workers are common. Discouragingly, unemployment among college graduates is actually higher than among non-graduates, suggesting that employers in practice do not value the skills and training that graduates obtain from studying the outdated curriculum still taught at many colleges and universities across the country.

To its credit, the government is keenly aware of the problem and has taken a number of steps to improve the situation and reform the outdated system. But despite these efforts, the pace of change remains slow. In order for Vietnam to realise its potential, progress on education is imperative.

Making progress will require co-ordinated efforts among all key stakeholders, which includes the private sector. The private sector will not be the solution to all of the problems, but it does have a prominent supporting role to play in the development of the education system. Investors can bring to bear their expertise to efficiently build and grow education and training businesses that complement the public education sector by being responsive to the immediate needs of students, employers, and the economy as a whole.

Private equity firms have been particularly active in the sector recently. In the last two years, there have been at least three significant private equity education deals  the Abraaj Groups 2016 investment in Vietnam-US Society English International, a language training facility; Mekong Capitals sale of its investment in Vietnam Australian International School to TPG in 2017; and Mekong Capitals investment in YOLA, an integrated education services business, also in 2017.

These deals demonstrate the feasibility of investing in education in Vietnam as a foreign private investor  it can and has been done. However, there are a number of issues that investors must be prepared for when making investments in the education sector. Three of the key issues are highlighted below.

From the administrative procedures for foreign investment to the restrictions of teacher work visas, updates to the education system are key to supporting the local economy

Limitations on enrolment

Foreign-invested schools providing foreign education programmes are subject to restrictions on the admission of Vietnamese students, expressed as a percentage (10-20 per cent) of total enrolment. These restrictions currently raise difficult issues in any deal involving a foreign investor. Outside the major cities, it is effectively impossible to comply with the limitations, because there are few if any of the foreign students needed to create space for Vietnamese students. There is a proposed draft law to replace the current education law that would remove these restrictions  which would be a welcome development  though it is not clear when, or even if, it will take effect.

Onerous administrative procedures

Numerous licences, permits, approvals, and consents are required in connection with the operation of schools in general, and there are additional requirements if the school is foreign-owned. The procedures are often duplicative, inconsistent, and involve the participation of multiple governmental agencies, some of whom may have different views on which permits, licences, and consents are required for particular activities, and how a school must comply with the requirements once operational.

The issue of onerous administrative procedures is by no means unique to the education sector in Vietnam. However, education seems as good a starting place as any to simplify administrative procedures for investors, given the national importance of developing education, the general interest from the market, and the fact that there is substantial room for simplification without sacrificing the governments legitimate oversight role.

Employment issues

There are a number of requirements that apply to teaching staff at schools in Vietnam that create difficulties for education and training businesses. For example, work permits for foreigners are only supposed to be used for a specific job at a specific location, preventing part-time teachers from working at multiple schools on a single work permit.

In addition, there are strict qualification requirements imposed on educational institutions, some of which are misguided. For example, instructors at the college level must generally have a post-graduate degree. This makes it difficult for many otherwise well-qualified instructors to teach at colleges. This is particularly true in non-traditional but highly sought-after disciplines such as digital media or information technology, where highly-qualified practitioners with substantial work experience are less likely to hold post-graduate degrees than in traditional fields such as law, humanities, or economics.

The effect of these restrictions is to limit the supply of much needed teachers, and it is not uncommon to find that corners have been cut at existing businesses, in one way or another. Even if a potential target company has complied with the laws, these restrictions can still put a brake on future growth and expansion.

Challenge and opportunity

At the end of the day, the skills shortages and gaps that the Vietnamese employment market is currently experiencing are evidence of a dynamic economy that is creating new types of jobs, many of which require new skills. Therefore, the situation is best viewed as an opportunity to achieve Vietnams economic potential through the development of an education system that better serves Vietnamese students and employers, which will in turn support economic growth and development.

All stakeholders will need to work together to meet the challenge, and it is hoped that the government will remove some of the obstacles to private sector investment in education businesses in the near future. These steps would make it easier for the private sector to fulfil its supporting role in building a new education system that can serve as a foundation for a flourishing Vietnamese economy for decades to come.Khalid Muhmood

The most moving moment in Khalid Muhmoods 23-year attachment to Vietnamese education may have been when he witnessed Thanh, a former shoeshine boy who had studied English and worked at Apollo Centre, rise to become the owner of four major hotels in Hanoi.

Khalid is also joyous every time he meets an office worker who now speaks English with fluency and confidence, but who was, not long ago, a cleaner at Apollo English.

Khalid found such moments filled him with pride, comparable to the moment he was conferred the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) medal by Queen Elizabeth II for his contributions to Vietnamese education.

All of us want to leave some legacy in life. I founded Apollo English and the British University Vietnam (BUV) with the expectation of creating a good legacy by bringing education to diverse Vietnamese lives. What has made me most happy in the 23 years of living and teaching in Vietnam is the number of global citizens we have trained, and the influence we have exerted to leverage education, he said.

Khalids vision for education

To grow into global citizens, young people must be proficient in a global language and knowledgeable of global issues. They must be the masters of their minds and acquire broad vision. This is not only beneficial to them, but also contributes to their country and global development. Khalid Muhmood Co-founder of Apollo English Centre

Khalid came to Vietnam long ago, in 1992. At that time, the streets were overwhelmed with cyclos and bicycles, and few Vietnamese families had TV sets. However, he was deeply impressed with Vietnamese peoples incredible fondness for learning.

Khalid recalled that the older cyclo drivers and street vendors were very friendly to visitors, and exerted much energy into learning English every time they had a chance to practice it with native speakers.

These images left a profound impression on Khalid, who came from a family with a proud history in education. His parents were renowned educators who achieved multiple successes in Europe and the Middle East.

Khalid had already dreamt of forming his own education organisation, the function of which would be to turn children into global citizens. After his trip to Vietnam, Khalid decided to stay in the country to realise his dream, even though most people, including his parents and close friends, advised him to go to China, Singapore, or at least Thailand, which they believed would be better choices for him.

Everyone was rushing to China where there was too much pressure, coupled with mounting competition  and you dont know where to begin: Shanghai, Beijing, or Chongqing? Or maybe even Indonesia? It seems to me that the people there are not as studious as the Vietnamese. Singapore is a small island, not providing much space for development. Vietnam proved to be my top choice, which explains why my wife and I settled down here, Khalid recalled.

Since then, Khalid and his wife, teacher Arabella Peters, have ramped up efforts to realise their mission  providing excellent English courses as well as classes teaching essential skills of the 21st century, thus helping to turn young Vietnamese people into global citizens.

To grow into global citizens, young people must be proficient in a global language and knowledgeable of global issues. They must be the masters of their minds and acquire broad vision. This is not only beneficial to them, but also contributes to their country and global development, said Khalid, adding that becoming global citizens ought to be the ultimate target of every child and is the lodestar to their future success.

Apollo English came into being in 1995, with $50,000 in seed capital. Initially, it was the Apollo Education Centre Joint Venture, positioned at Tay Son street in Hanois Dong Da district.

In 1998, Vietnams first wholly foreign-owned English language training centre Apollo English was officially inaugurated at Le Van Huu street, witnessed by Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, and Vietnamese Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Minh Hien.

Apollo English soon garnered prestige, leveraging its discerning English language education and state-of-the-art teaching aids and curriculum.

Apollo aims to make the best become better; that is also the way I lead my life. I always yearn for finding ever-better teaching methods. Empowered by technology, education has seen constant improvements and become increasingly individualised.

We want to play a decisive role in bringing the most advanced education technologies to Vietnam. At Apollo English and BUV, you can see the way we have used technology to individualise learning experiences and improve service standards, said the Apollo co-founder.

Asked why he has devoted his life to training global citizens, Khalid said it is because Vietnamese parents invest much in the education of their children, and because Vietnamese children are very smart.

According to the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), the results of which were announced by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 2015, Vietnam was in eighth place based on student performance in mathematics, reading skills, and science.

With improved English skills, Vietnamese students will surely perform better. Apollo wants to lend a hand in helping Vietnamese students manage fluent English and be kitted out with essential skills necessary in the 21st century to reap successes in the wake of on-going international integration, said Khalid.

Education mission in the face of Industry 4.0

As a committed educator with influence on human resources training in Vietnam, Khalid has also given useful recommendations to Vietnamese education.

In his words, human resource training is a key element for Industry 4.0, so Vietnam needs to be ready to embrace well-rounded education sector reforms.

What has occupied Khalids mind is that Vietnamese education provides mainly academic rather than practical values. Meanwhile, little attention has been given to vocational training, which is badly needed. That explains why alongside Apollo English, Khalid moved on to establish BUV in 2008.

As many Vietnamese parents want to send their children abroad  particularly to the UK, a leader in education  for further study and thus have to sustain high tuition fees, Khalid wants parents to be able to realise their aspirations at more affordable costs.

The birth of BUV helps Vietnamese students take comprehensive courses with the engagement of experienced native teachers right here in Vietnam. At BUV, the students also have a chance to experience distinct UK culture, and acquire UK degrees at competitive costs  only 30-40 per cent compared to studying in the UK, Khalid said.

At BUV, Khalid and associates offer training majors that are currently badly needed in Vietnam and that perfectly match Industry 4.0 requirements.

In addition to theoretical training, students will be equipped with practical skills helping them to quickly find jobs after graduation.

After 10 years of development, BUV is set to launch its new campus first investment phase valued at $25 million this year, at the award-winning Ecopark township in Hanois outskirts.

Total investment capital for the campus three-phase investment surpasses $70 million.

With Apollo English Centre and BUV, we want to lead the trend and bring the best to Vietnamese students. We will continue our ceaseless efforts to fulfil our mission  training global citizens for a better and more thriving world, said Khalid.British-Irish filmmaker Martin McDonagh (L), producer Peter Czernin (2L), US actor Sam Rockwell and British producer Graham Broadbent (R) pose with citation reader US actress Frances McDormand (2R) after receiving the award for Best Film for 'Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri'. (Ben STANSALL/AFP)

The movie, chronicling a grieving mother's campaign for justice, won for original screenplay and outstanding British film, while Frances McDormand bagged best actress and Sam Rockwell best supporting actor prizes.

"The Shape of Water" - the most heavily nominated film of the night with 12 nods - came away with only three awards, including best director for Guillermo Del Toro, while "Darkest Hour" claimed two prizes, including for Gary Oldman as best actor.

With Hollywood still reeling from the fallout of the Harvey Weinstein scandal, the resulting anti-sexual harassment campaigns were reflected in the mood of the evening.

"Our film is a hopeful one in lots of ways but it's also an angry one," Martin McDonagh, writer and director of "Three Billboards", said in his acceptance speech.

"And as we've seen this year, sometimes anger is the only way to get people to listen and to change, so we're thrilled that Bafta has recognised this."

Stars arrived at London's Royal Albert Hall predominantly dressed in black in solidarity with the #MeToo and "Time's Up" campaigns, mirroring other recent American red carpets including last month's Golden Globes.

Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Lawrence and Kristin Scott Thomas were among the stars who wore black.

British royals avoid making overtly political statements or gestures, so there was little suprise when the Duchess of Cambridge chose to wear a dark green dress, by British designer Jenny Packham, as she accompanied husband Prince William, president of Bafta, to the ceremony.

'BRAVE REVELATIONS'

Jane Lush, chair of Bafta, opened the evening soberly telling the star-studded audience it was important to acknowledge a "difficult" past year, and noted efforts to tackle gender inequality.

"Brave revelations have followed brave revelations of bullying and sexual harassment, and which to all our shame has been hidden in plain sight for decades," she said.

"This is a moment in history, it should be a watershed, a catalyst for lasting change."

Host Joanna Lumley, a British film and TV star, also praised the gender equality movement as a continuation of the work of the Suffragettes a century ago.

She hailed the "determination to eradicate the abuse of women the world over" as she took to the stage.

Meanwhile in an open letter published on Sunday before the awards, almost 200 British and Irish stars backed a new fund to help women facing sexual harassment and abuse at work.

It echoes a similar initiative launched in Hollywood last month, and was kick-started with a 1 million (US$1.4 million) donation from actress and activist Emma Watson.

'THANK YOU, SIR WINSTON'

Choices at the Baftas, which fall between the Globes and the Oscars, often mirror those of the American heavyweights.

"The Shape of Water", a story of love between a mute cleaning woman and a mystery merman-like creature, led the pack just as it has across the Atlantic, where it has topped the list of Oscar nominations with 13 nods, including for best picture.

As well as director del Toro's award for direction, composer Alexandre Desplat collected the original music award - his third BAFTA win - and the film also won best production design.

Allison Janney won best supporting actress for her role as the mother of controversial figure skater Tonya Harding in biopic "I, Tonya".

"I loved doing this crazy part and finding her humanity, that's what I try and do in all roles," she said backstage.

Gary Oldman's turn as Churchill in "Darkest Hour" has so far won him a Golden Globe, a Bafta and the chance of an Oscar on Mar 4.

He paid tribute to the wartime British leader, saying: "In those dark, uncertain days in 1940, he held the line for honour, for integrity and freedom for his nation and the world, so I thank you, Sir Winston."

Accepting her best actress accolade, McDormand, who chose not to wear black, quoted her on-screen character who has "a little trouble with compliance".

"But I want you to know I stand in full solidarity with my sisters tonight in black," she added.

LIST OF WINNERS:

Best film - "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri"

Outstanding British film - "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri"

Leading actor - Gary Oldman ("Darkest Hour")

Leading actress - Frances McDormand ("Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri")

Supporting actor - Sam Rockwell ("Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri")

Supporting actress - Allison Janney ("I, Tonya")

Director - Guillermo del Toro ("The Shape of Water")

Original screenplay - Martin McDonagh ("Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri")

Adapted screenplay - James Ivory ("Call Me by Your Name")

EE rising star - Daniel Kaluuya

Outstanding debut by a British writer, director or producer - "I Am Not a Witch", Rungano Nyoni (Writer/Director), Emily Morgan (Producer)

Film not in the English language - "The Handmaiden"

Documentary - "I Am Not Your Negro"

Animated film - "Coco"

Original music - Alexandre Desplat ("The Shape of Water")

Cinematography - Roger Deakins ("Blade Runner 2049")

Editing - Jonathan Amos, Paul Machliss ("Baby Driver")

Production design - Paul Austerberry, Jeff Melvin, Shane Vieau ("The Shape of Water")

Costume design - Mark Bridges ("Phantom Thread")

Makeup and hair - David Malinowski, Ivana Primorac, Lucy Sibbick, Kazuhiro Tsuji ("Darkest Hour")

Sound - Alex Gibson, Richard King, Gregg Landaker, Gary A. Rizzo, Mark Weingarten ("Dunkirk")

Special visual effects - Richard R. Hoover, Paul Lambert, Gerd Nefzer, John Nelson ("Blade Runner 2049")

British short animation - "Poles Apart"

British short film - "Cowboy Dave"Dr. Juliet Jacobsen, medical director of the Continuum Project at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, trains primary care doctors in how to talk to patients with serious illnesses about their goals and values.Chadwick Boseman plays TChalla, who fights for control of the kingdom of Wakanda after the death of his father, in Marvel Studios Black Panther.ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Sunday strongly rejected all speculations about the formation of groups within the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), maintaining that the party would contest the upcoming general elections on the basis of its performance.



He said the people had not accepted the July 28 decision of disqualifying Nawaz Sharif. It would be a reason of public reaction in the next elections.



In a private news channel programme, the prime minister said he had long association with the PML-N and remained steadfast through thick and thin. He dispelled the impression that he was an aspirant for the office of next prime minister as the party leadership would decide such issues.



To a question, the prime minister maintained that there were no redlines for his government.



He said all the amendments in the constitution were done with consensus.



Nawaz Sharif had never phoned him during the last seven months, he said in reply to a question.



To another question, the prime minister said the government has to take major as well as minor decisions which definitely had impacts. He said they had learnt from the past mistakes. The government has to tackle varying issues with consensus and under a mechanism, set by the working of cabinet and parliament. The prime minister, responding to another question, replied that he did not see any efforts by anyone to throw spanner into the upcoming Senate elections which would be held on time. However, he questioned how a party which did not have members in the assemblies, could elect its members in the Senate.



The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) should take notice of such practices, he said, adding, We will name and shame those elements who would employ such antics. Moreover, our party will exert all possible moral pressure on them.



The prime minister also vehemently opposed the suggestion about a presidential form of government. The system is not capable of steering the country out of the emerging issues and dangerous for its stability.



To another query, he said after the devolution of powers, the provinces ought to develop their capacity and show their performance. The provincial governments which failed to comply with their mandates, would meet failure at the end.



Among all provinces, only Punjab had been performing well, he added.



The prime minister said all governments functioned after getting funding and loans from lending institutions or partners as mode of investments which were returned.



He said the country had witnessed massive growth during the last four and half years. But instability in the form of Dharnas and subsequently, with the Panama case and its decision, created uncertainty in the country. However, his government took measures and now the issues were under control, he said, adding if there was continuity, the country would have progressed rapidly.



He also dispelled the suggestion to approach the International Monetary Fund (IMF) by saying that the country had other resources to tap for its financial needs. The prime minister opined that uniformity in the educational curriculum should be considered by all the provinces as so far no efforts were made in this regard. The subject of education had been devolved to the provinces after 18th Amendment. At least there should be uniform examination system throughout the country, he added.



The prime minister suggested that there should be a national debate and consensus over the subject and dropped the hint that he would try to take the issue in the Council of Common Interests (CCI) meetings. The prime minister also justified restructuring of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) as it had whopping liabilities of around Rs 450 billion whereas its losses in the last year, stood at Rs40-42 billion. To a question, the prime minister said he was ready to face any allegations over the import of LNG contract. He said that he had been paying taxes for the last 35 years. About the loadshedding issue in the upcoming summer season, he maintained that the government had added about 10,400 MW power in the national grid by enhancing the generation capacity.



However, at certain times, there could be surge in demand or other technical issues but there would be no cut in supply of power to consumers, he added. He reiterated that the government would complete its term as it had functioned in a transparent way while serving the public.



About appearance of Maryam Nawaz in the public gatherings, the prime minister said although she was not a member of parliament, but she was making her public contribution.



To another question, the prime minister said the PML-N was only led by its leader Nawaz Sharif. Politicians who wanted to serve the country and countrymen should manifest their sincerity with their motives and actions, he added.



The prime minister said he always welcomed the criticism directed against him within the confines of ethics which was only acceptable. He said he had no interaction with Pakistan Tahreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan and did not give heed to his opinion. About age of retirement for the politicians, the prime minister said it depended upon the politicians themselves to take a decision in this regard, however, he said it must be a difficult one. To a question, he said his government had banned the licensing of automatic weapons as it had not been allowed anywhere in the world.APP



Eleanor Langhoff, age 95, of Villard, formerly of St. Paul, died Monday, September 6, 2021. A memorial service will be held at 11 AM, Wednesday, September 22, 2021 at First Lutheran Church in Alexandria. Visitation will be from 10 to 11 AM Wednesday at the church. Arrangements are with the ALa voz del trade en las AmericasSupervision Skills Training for Local Counsellors

A group of qualified Counsellors from Gibraltar recently attended a Counselling Supervision course in the UK.

The course was delivered by Dr Paul Grantham Consultant Clinical Psychologist. It is an approved Certificate in Clinical Supervision meeting the standards required to confer eligibility to the British Psychological Societys Register of Applied Psychology Practice Supervisors. (RAPPS).

In the interest of both clients and counselling practitioners, professional bodies for Counselling and Psychotherapy require that their members incorporate Supervision into their clinical practice.

Supervision is an ethical imperative. Working under Supervision means that a Counsellor or Psychotherapist reviews their work with clients, their professional development and their personal development as well.

The course provided a theoretical overview of Clinical Supervision along with its practical application within a range of practice environments.

The Counsellors are registered members of the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy, (BACP). These Counsellors either work or are volunteer counsellors at the Citizens Advice Bureau.

BACP requires that all their registered members receive Supervision in respect of their therapeutic work.Homeland Rebel Rebel Season 7 Episode 2 Editors Rating 4 stars * * * *  Previous Next  Photo: Antony Platt/SHOWTIME

In this weeks Homeland, the president balances a national need for healing with her quest for vengeance, Saul Berenson is tasked with hunting down Brett OKeefe, and Carrie Mathison learns that you should never download anything from 4Chan.

Rebel Rebel takes place primarily in three arcs: Carries, Sauls, and Bretts. First, we see that Brett is still doing his show from the road, hiding out in a farmhouse basement. Hes preaching to his followers about the early casualty in our revolution that is the recently murdered General McClendon. Again, we have an interesting plot dynamic here in that OKeefe is clearly modeled after truth-stretching talk show conspiracy theorists, but hes not wrong this time. However, he is most certainly engendering a dangerous breed of revolutionary, as hell learn this week. He meets locals who adore him enough to get his face tattooed on their bodies and have target practice with pictures of the POTUS. Whats next?

Meanwhile, President Keane is encouraged by her chief of staff David Wellington to change the conversation. They need to do a mass release: Just let the 200 out and make Saul Berenson the national security adviser. If she doesnt do it now, shell eventually have to incarcerate everyone in Washington. David takes the news to Saul. Theyve agreed to his terms, but hell have to be part of the Keane team. He doesnt have to be a cheerleader, but he cant be openly critical either. Can Saul fix this broken administration?

Meanwhile, what will Carrie do without a cause like the 200 to give her focus? There are signs that shes unraveling early in the episode, including a scene with her therapist, who suggests that the lithium Carrie has been taking for 15 years may no longer be effective. And Carries sister is understandably worried that losing Quinn may have sent her over the edge. Quinn would have understood Carries current mission to save the country from a ruthless dictator. Carrie doesnt have him or Saul anymore, and she makes mistakes when shes on her own.

Arguably, Carries first mistake this season was planting surveillance cameras in Davids house, but she cant stop watching. One of those cameras captures a mysterious woman writing a note in the kitchen. Carrie gets a screen grab and sends it to Dante, her contact from last weeks season premiere. Of course, after Dantes meeting with Senator Paley went horribly, Dante wants nothing to do with her. Alone again, Carrie takes the grab and puts it on 4Chan, asking if anyone knows the woman. Before you can scream at your TV that this is an obvious trap, Carrie downloads a JPG that she believes will reveal the womans identity. Of course, its just ransomware  and now she has to pay $5,000 to unlock her computer.

Carrie calls her only true ally, Max, but he cant fix the problem, telling her to pay the ransom. Thats when things get way worse. It turns out that the hacker who was holding Carries computer hostage was also listening to her and Max. And now he knows he has something more valuable than your average laptop. He ups the ransom to $10,000, telling her she has 24 hours to deliver it, or else the contents of her hard drive, including the fact that shes illegally taping the chief of staff, will get published online.

Meanwhile, President Keane is having aggressive meetings in the Oval Office. She calls in Senator Paley, ordering him to shut down his investigation now that the 200 have been released. Hes not having it. He even brings up the mysterious death of Keanes No. 1 enemy. David threatens to put all of the weight of the White House behind getting Paley out of office. He bites back, saying, Come next November, I dont think Im the one out of a job.

Carries ransom goes up to $20,000, an amount she clearly doesnt have given the fact that shes living in her sisters house and shes been racking up credit card debt. She decides to bluff her hacker, saying that David got off on the surveillance. And then she senses that she might entrap the hacker with something else: She takes the tape off the camera, going as far as removing her shirt and bra, then she closes the camera. Hell have to meet her in person for more.

While Carrie deals with her nightmare, Saul is fulfilling his first assignment, finding Brett OKeefe. He goes to the mattress store from last weeks episode, where the cops who helped Brett escape are being interrogated by the FBI. A revolution feels like its brewing and Saul can sense it. It feels like things hes seen in Afghanistan, Syria, and other hot spots around the world. And so, Saul appeals to one of the cops sense of community. He needs to bring in Brett peacefully, or there could really be civil war. This way, nobody gets hurt. He gets the information he needs about OKeefes hideaway, but he instructs the FBI that he alone will get him.

At the same time, Carrie goes to meet her hacker. Shes instructed to enter a building where he emerges from the shadows, ordering her to take off her shirt. He tells her to turn around. Her lip is quivering, and theres a sense of real danger to the moment. He comes up behind her and touches her back, rubbing it. She head-butts him. They fight, and of course hes no match for a trained CIA agent. She bites him and pulls out a baton, viciously beating him. She forces him to unlock her computer while she videotapes him and then informs this asshole that shes CIA and that she could still hunt him down and kill him. Angry Carrie nearly does just that, stopping short of choking him to death. And then she leaves.

Dont mess with Carrie Mathison.

Other Notes

 Carries hacker is credited at the end only as Troll. The actor is Jordan Wood-Robinson, whom you may recognize from The Walking Dead.

 Do you think thats the last weve seen of this Troll or will this violent, drastic action come back to haunt Carrie? Homeland has a history of bringing back major mistakes, though sometimes it does let them slide. Time will tell.

 If you cant place the actor who plays the FBI agent at the mattress store, its probably because Matt Servitto memorably played an FBI special agent on The Sopranos. Hes just got that FBI look.

 The opening credits are back after a short absence last week. Im sure someone else can analyze all the sound bites and how they will play into this season, but I liked Brett saying, The time to rise up is now, and Sauls phrasing of information warfare. Those two words might be the theme of the entire season.In 2013, when Keira Drake sat down to write her debut young-adult fantasy novel, The Continent, she wanted to write about privilege, about the way that those who have it can so easily turn a blind eye to the suffering of those who dont. Her imagination had been sparked by an NPR report about bombings in Iraq; it brought her to tears, and when she switched off the radio, she began thinking about what might happen if someone like her  someone white, sheltered, and privileged  suddenly found herself in the middle of a war between two violent societies in a foreign land. Drake set her fantasy in a place called the Continent, a brutal realm where privileged tourists, safe in their heli-planes, gaze down with detached curiosity at the native people slaughtering each other below. After a heli-plane crashes, Drakes narrator is saved by one of the natives from an attempted rape at the hands of an enemy tribe, and she, in turn, saves his people from ruin.

Drakes editor at Harlequin, Natashya Wilson, thought the book had best-seller potential. She offered Drake a significant three-book deal (publishing code for an advance between $251,000 and $499,000), and Harlequin launched a major marketing campaign, sending Drake to conferences around the country. Early readers of advance copies were enthusiastic. A review posted on Goodreads half a year before the books scheduled publication date hailed Drake as a visionary for her eye-opening revelation that a native isnt a savage or primitive.

It wasnt until five months later that a legion of less enchanted readers took to Twitter to offer a differing perspective. Justina Ireland, an African-American author of young-adult fiction, tweeted out a point-by-point summary of her read in which she called the book a racist garbage fire. Ireland eventually deleted the thread after receiving a barrage of death threats, rape threats, withering reviews of her own books, and an anonymous email to her editor calling her a bully and urging him to drop her. And so it was that Drake, like her protagonist, suddenly found herself at the center of a feud between two warring factions.

Over the last few years, the world of young-adult literature has been riven by a turbulent debate over race and identity. On one side are those who believe that YA publishing is too white, that too many white authors resort to stereotypes in portraying characters of color, and that these depictions are harmful to children  especially those from marginalized backgrounds. On the other side are those like the author Lionel Shriver, who wrote in a recent essay on the Guardian website that theres a thin line between combing through manuscripts for anything potentially objectionable to particular subgroups and overt political censorship. This debate, in its current incarnation, can be traced back to 2014, when the organizers of BookExpo, the biggest publishing trade show of the year, convened a special panel of acclaimed childrens authors and failed to include a single woman or person of color. Young-adult author Ellen Oh began tweeting under the hashtag WeNeedDiverseBooks, and convinced the convention organizers to add a panel with authors of color, inaugurating a broad movement for greater diversity in publishing.

Drake, whos 42 years old and lives in Salt Lake City, Utah, where she previously worked as a freelance marketing consultant, says that she wasnt familiar with this conversation. She found herself poring over Twitter with a dawning sense of horror. One reader observed that Drakes cast of characters included Magic Black people, Ninja Asians, and uneducated, ruthless Natives who get drunk and try to rape the precious white girl. Another wrote that the whole thing had vibes of colonization. A petition surfaced urging Harlequin to delay publication of the book and address the troubling portrayals within of people of color and native backgrounds.

Drake had named one of the tribes the Topi. They had reddish-brown skin, smeared their faces with war paint, and savagely attacked people with arrows, but it had not occurred to her that readers might see the Topi as a racist version of a Native-American tribe, the Hopi. That was 100 percent unintentional, Drake told me at the Harlequin offices in her first interview reflecting on the saga. Once readers pointed out the similarities, it seemed so obvious, she said. I was ashamed. I was like, Did I do this subconsciously? How could I not have seen this?

More than a few authors have stoked the fires of Twitter outrage with similar offenses in recent years. Wilson, Harlequin Teens editorial director, also oversaw the publishing of The Black Witch, another title that was widely criticized as racist. The author, Laurie Forest, is white, but not every author who has attracted controversy in this era is. Late 2015 and early 2016 saw the publication of two picture books that, in an odd coincidence, both depicted smiling slaves preparing desserts. One of them, A Birthday Cake for George Washington, was written, edited and illustrated by people of color. The publisher, Scholastic, eventually decided that the book might give readers a false impression of the reality of the lives of slaves, and the title was removed from bookstores.

Occasionally, authors who have caught heat in this woke era will apologize; more often, they will stand their ground. But Drakes situation appears to be unique in one respect. After reading through the criticisms of her book, she called her editor at Harlequin and asked if she could rewrite it.

The tradition of the white hero versus the dark other has been an integral part of fantasy literature since the genres inception. On one level, J.R.R. Tolkiens Lord of the Rings trilogy is about a bunch of white guys of varying body shapes beating back an invading horde of yellow-skinned, slant-eyed savages. In The Chronicles of Narnia, by C.S. Lewis, some of the principal villains, the Calormene, live in the desert, have swarthy faces and long beards, wear turbans, carry scimitars, and eat bread with oil instead of butter. Tolkien and Lewis were men who were born when the British empire was at its height, and the cartographies of their imagination were influenced accordingly, Ebony Elizabeth Thomas, a professor at the University of Pennsylvanias Graduate School of Education, who focuses on race in childrens and young-adult literature, told me. This fear and this hatred of the dark other is so deeply inscribed in the European imagination.

Contemporary fantasy as we know it rests on the bedrock of Lewiss and Tolkiens imaginations, which perhaps explains why Drake would write a book that often seems at pains to mimic the voice of a Cambridge don born during the waning days of Queen Victorias reign. The main character, Vaela Sun, lives in a magnificent place called the Spire, where she works as an apprentice cartographer and says things like, Oh, how I love my homeland! The barbaric Topi  renamed the Xoe in the new version  dont speak English at all, so if they have anything on their minds besides shooting people full of arrows, it goes unsaid. A few days after Irelands Twitter takedown, Drake, in a response published on her website, explained that she modeled the Topi not after the Hopi, but on Tolkiens evil horde, the Uruk-hai, who are half-human and half-orc. She didnt realize that Tolkien had based the orcs on his impressions of people from Central Asia. She sees that now. When you do look back at these books, she said of Tolkien and Lewis, you can see how certain sort of negative ideas have shaped things. Theres a lot more awareness of this sort of thing now.

Drake told me that her revision process had been eye-opening and an incredible experience. In our meeting, she was nervous but thoroughly upbeat. This time around, she was sure shed fixed the problems that plagued the first version. This is the book I wanted to write, she said, Maybe Im not the most amazing writer in the world, but I love this story, and I cant wait for people to read it.

Drake found herself poring over Twitter with a dawning sense of horror.

It took several months for Drake and Wilson to figure out how to approach the revision. I was a mess, Drake recalled. I felt like I had hurt people and that was really, really hard. The criticisms were painful to read, but so were some of the comments of people who supposedly supported her. About two months after she decided to revise the book, her husband, Declan, went on a Twitter rant calling Justina Ireland a bigoted troll. In a Facebook post, Drake described this as a betrayal of the worst kind. She and Declan are now separated. (She said it had nothing to do with this incident.) Others told her that she caved to pressure by deciding to revise the book. Drake disagrees. Criticism is the thing thats going to make you better at what you do, she said.

Drake, her agent, and her editor eventually put together a master list of problems they wanted to fix, compiled from online critiques. One way to revise the book would have been to embrace its latent potential as a commentary on colonialism in North America, or to ground it more authentically in an understanding of the real-life situation that inspired it  the war in Iraq. In the end, Drake went in the opposite direction, making a wide range of minor changes that erased any similarities between the fictional tribes and recognizable cultures. She replaced the Xoes war paint with colorful tattoos, and changed the Xoes skin color from bronze to pale. She deleted a passage in which her narrator compares the Xoe village to an ant colony and removed the much-criticized attempted rape scene. In response to the argument that shed written a white-savior narrative, she made Vaela, the savior, a distant descendant of the Avenei, the other tribe that lives on the Continent, whose members still seem vaguely Asian, although in the new version they no longer have almond-shaped eyes.

Many critics bristled at whats been described as a Trumpian section in the first version, in which Vaela urges a Spirian council to stop the war by building a wall that would separate the two tribes. Spirian construction is vastly superior to anything the natives can contrive, Vaela declared. In the new version, Vaela suggests the council build towers instead, and she no longer calls Spirian construction vastly superior. But its not clear that her updated line will allay the concerns of those who criticized the book for its colonial overtones. Now, Vaela urges the council to create defenses the likes of which have never been seen on the Continent, where the native people are still so technologically unsophisticated that they react in shock when Vaela tells them about indoor plumbing.

Drake told me that she took heart from the fact that her sensitivity readers loved the revision and just suggested a few minor tweaks. But when I spoke to one of the two sensitivity readers Harlequin had hired, she recalled sending suggestions for an extensive rewrite to Wilson, who was reluctant to pass them along to Drake. According to the reader, Wilson said she felt that theyd already put Drake through the wringer, and that another page-one revision would be too onerous. Publishers often cite their hiring of sensitivity readers as proof that theyve done due diligence, but they pay as little as $250 per read, and theyre always free to ignore the sensitivity readers suggestions. Once the reader sends in their notes, they have no control over whether or how that advice is put to use.

It remains to be seen how readers will respond to the revised version of the novel, which will be released on March 27. A Kirkus review, published this month, observed that the story still hews closely to the well-worn trope of the young Westerner who achieves self-actualization through experiencing the seemingly simple pleasures of the developing world. Debbie Reese, the founder of American Indians in Childrens Literature, an advocacy organization, wrote a chapter-by-chapter critique of the first version in which she concluded that she didnt believe the book could be revised. Her reading of the revision confirmed this assessment. She made superficial changes that do not change the impact of the story, Reese told me in an email. Yes, the natives of the Continent have less melanin now, but they remain savage and primitive and cannot be redeemed.

Thomas, the professor, told me that a student asked her recently whether its possible to write a fantasy that is raceless. I said no, she explained. You cannot completely divorce yourself from your race or your culture or your ethnicity, because writing always happens in a context. You can try, but youre going to leave your fingerprints on the characters whether you intend to or not.

Jenny Trout, a white author of fantasy and romance who blogged about The Continent early on, went through a similar reckoning a few years ago. She told me she wished she had known about sensitivity readers back in 2009, when she was writing a series for Harlequins Mira Imprint that depicted Gypsies as magical creatures who were shaped as though each was cut from a spare scrap of cloth.

I didnt know the Roma were real people, she told me. I had the privilege of ignorance, of never having to think about any of the things I was writing because I was being influenced by white writers who created those tropes and profited. Trout noted that it can be difficult for white writers to face up to the ways in which racism seeps into their prose. White people are taught their entire lives that theyre not racists, she said. Our culture tells us that white people succeed because were all exceptional, even if were not being told explicitly that our race is superior. Its entrenched in every part of our lives. Trouts biggest concern about books like The Continent, and her own series, is that the gatekeepers of publishing are still insufficiently aware of this dynamic. The answer to the question how did this get published? is fairly simple; white authors write books loaded with racism, the publishers that buy them either dont have a diverse enough staff to see the problems in the books or they just dont listen to criticism, Trout wrote in her blog post about The Continent. The problem with books like these begin with the authors but ultimately end with the gatekeepers.

Wilson, who is white, stresses that Harlequin will catch more of these issues in the future. She noted that the publisher is working with sensitivity readers, and that an inextricable part of Harlequins commitment to bringing readers excellent stories is a commitment to inclusivity and sensitivity. Drake, for her part, told me that she condemns racism whenever she sees it, and that the charges of racism hurt her in part because she felt they were so untrue. But when I asked how she squares this with the controversy surrounding The Continent, she was flummoxed. Honestly, I dont know, she said. I didnt see it. She said the mystery would probably bother her forever. I wrote a book about how privilege allows us to turn a blind eye to the suffering of others, and I wrote that book without seeing certain things myself, and that was incredibly humbling.

*A version of this article appears in the February 19, 2018, issue of New York Magazine.The Real Housewives of Atlanta Livin la Villa Loca Season 10 Episode 13 Editors Rating 3 stars * * *  Previous Next Photo: Bravo

Is the biggest drama this season really between two people on different continents? Everyone seems perfectly content to let NeNe rage against Kim from across the pond. Even new Housewife Eva is fine to let the shade be thrown around her and just sit there in her amazing wig and giant dress. Thats an all-time great interview look, let alone a debut interview look.

Its time for the Housewives to galivant around Barcelona! Promotional considerations provided by souvenir-stand fans and Marlos Etiquette Classes! Shamea has been given a Shamea Cam and theyre really trying to make Shamea happen. Cynthia has prepared a 50 Cent Bucket List Challenge for all the girls to try something out of the box and do something crazy. Challenges include pinch a mans butt, take a shot with a stranger, eat a foreign delicacy, and swap personalities for a day. Everyone claims that theyre going to take Kandis personality and NeNe does her best Kandi impression. Thats just talking without moving your eyes or your teeth. Try it.

Marlo immediately starts harping on how dry Kandi is and how she needs etiquette classes to be more friendly, welcoming, and open. First of all, fuck being friendly. Women dont have to be friendly. Second of all, MARLO IS TEACHING ETIQUETTE CLASSES? OH OKAY, HONEY.

After Shamea asks where Kenya and Kim are because the producers slipped her a note instructing her to do so, NeNe launches into the first of many Kim attacks. She says that Kim is the only person she knows who has had cancer, thyroid problems, heart surgery, and a stroke, but still manages to have a negative attitude. Shit, if I had all those issues, Id be negative too. Cant a bitch catch a break? NeNe calls her Bionic Barbie, which honestly sounds like a compliment.

They arrive at a luxury hotel in Barcelona for a little promotion I mean for lunch. They all do a photo shoot on the balcony and Eva shows off why shes a top model. Shes also managing to pull off a denim-print bomber jacket with giant chiffon kimono sleeves. That should be the final challenge on this new season of ANTM. They all sit down to a lovely lunch buffet and NeNe tries to count an anchovy as a foreign delicacy. Kandi announces that NeNe is going to be joining her on tour and we all know how NeNes stand-up career turned out.

Shamea tries to get to know Eva by asking her if shes ever hooked up with a woman and if she hooked up with Missy Elliott. I know the Housewives keep insinuating that they have no problem with lesbians, but the way theyre fascinated by anyone who has had a same-sex interaction is suspect. If you truly dont care, what does it matter if Eva hooked up with Missy Elliott? If that story is true (its not), the story isnt the lesbian part  its HOLY SHIT YOU HOOKED UP WITH ICON AND BAD BITCH MISSY ELLIOTT?!?!

Kandi says hooking up with Cynthia might be a good idea because then Cynthia would defend Kandi the way she defended Will. Yall. That was too much.

Eva brings up the magazine cover party to apologize for making the evening stressful for Cynthia. Cynthia keeps snapping that WILL. DOESNT. HAVE. A. GIRLFRIEND. Theres that ardent defense were so used to. Everyone keeps trying to gently suggest that maybe if all your friends have heard something about your boyfriend, one thing might be true. NeNe asks if its even remotely possible that Will is lying to Cynthia. Cynthia says ITS. NOT. POSSIBLE. Cynthia says shes just getting to know Eva and Porsha, so she doesnt have to believe everything they say. You know you dont have to believe everything your boyfriend says either, right? Thats like the earliest stage of dating, when you just assume the other person is putting a positive spin on things. Cynthia also says that shes going to treat Will like a biscuit and let him sop her up.

Its time to head to the villa after a little sightseeing. There are flamenco dancers to greet the ladies when they arrive. Welcome to Villa Victoria! Victoria herself shows them around the eight bedrooms and six bathrooms! Fully Staffed! Velvet Throw Blankets! Kinda Busted! Cynthia says it didnt look like this online.

Theres a bit of a scramble for the rooms and Bravo must think we love a good room scramble because its a staple of any Housewives trip, but Im not interested. At the end of it, NeNe thinks she should be given a great room because shes a host and because she and Cynthia are the more mature girls. She presents the idea to the group and asks Kandi to give up her room. Kandi responds by singing, Im not changing rooms! Kandi points out that NeNe seems willing to use her age to get something, but no one is allowed to bring it up.

Before dinner, Sheree, Shamea, and Porsha give Kim a call to tell her about what NeNe said on the ride. The best part is when Porsha says that Kim surviving cancer is a blessing, but in the most sheepish and scared way possible. Kim tells them to hold on because shes got some photographic and video evidence of NeNes foolishness.

At dinner, Marlo puts a tiara and blonde wig at the table to hold the place of Kenya and Kim, those who could not be with us. Porsha refuses to take her sunglasses off because shes having an allergic reaction to her eyelash glue and reveals she mostly doesnt use condoms  uh  okay. Oh! I forgot to mention a very silly conversation in the bus on the way to the villa about who does and doesnt suck balls. NeNe and Kandi view ball licking as just part of the giving-head experience, while Porsha says theyre too close to the asshole. And now you know.

Part of the way through dinner, Kandi brings up the mature comments made by NeNe and keeps referring to her as an elder. Which, if you ask me, is a pretty funny joke, but NeNes rage gets distracted when a missive from Kim arrives complete with video and photographic evidence of NeNes sins. Shes got roaches in her bathroom and she parked in a handicapped spot. All of the ladies get the text message at the same time and NeNe cannot contain herself.

Maybe shes had a waterbug or two in her life, but she will NOT be called dirty by Kim of all people. She says, Shes got worms in her ass, which is a preposterous thing to accuse a human of.

As NeNe rants about how shes worked for everything shes gotten, the camera cuts to the wig at the head of the table, almost as if to ask, What do you have to say for yourself, wig?DOTHAN, Ala. (AP) - Police in Alabama have charged a homeless man with two counts of arson in connection with fires that happened a week apart in Dothan.

The Dothan Eagle reports 27-year-old Richard Snodgrass was being held Monday on a $90,000 bond. Dothan police Cpl. Anthony McClendon said the suspect is charged with setting a fire Sunday in a vacant downtown building. He was also charged with arson in connection with a fire Feb. 11 at a building used for storage.

McClendon said Snodgrass told investigators another person with him started the fires. But McClendon said evidence in the case only points to Snodgrass. It was not immediately known if Snodgrass had an attorney.

McClendon said the suspect told police he had been homeless for weeks after his relationship with a fiancee ended.

___

Information from: The Dothan Eagle, http://www.dothaneagle.com

(Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

2/19/2018 2:13:27 PM (GMT -6:00)Teen survivors of the school shooting massacre in Florida last week are calling for a march on Washington to demand action on gun control.

Student organizers of the protest told ABC News' "This Week" Co-Anchor Martha Raddatz on Sunday that they are determined to use protests and political action to make the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas in Parkland, Florida, a turning point in the national debate over gun control.

People keep asking us, 'What about the Stoneman Douglas shooting is going to be different, because this has happened before and change hasn't come?' Cameron Kasky, an 11th-grader told Raddatz. This is it.

People are saying that its not time to talk about gun control. And we can respect that, Kasky added. Heres a time. March 24th in every single city. We are going to be marching together as students begging for our lives.

Called "March for Our Lives," the demonstration should transcend politics, according to Kasky and four of his classmates whom Raddatz also interviewed -- Emma Gonzalez, David Hogg, Alex Wind and Jaclyn Corin.

"This isn't about the GOP," Kasky said. "This isn't about the Democrats. This is about the adults. We feel neglected and at this point, you're either with us or against us."

Any politician on either side who is taking money from the NRA is responsible for events like this, the high school junior said of the shooting on Feb. 14 that killed 17 students and teachers at the school. At the end of the day, the NRA is fostering and promoting this gun culture.

Kasky said the point is to "create a new normal where there's a badge of shame on any politician who's accepting money from the NRA.

Gonzalez added that the student activists from Parkland want to have conversations about guns with President Donald Trump, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Gov. Rick Scott, also a Republican.

We want to give them the opportunity to be on the right side of this, she said.





Raddatz asked Gonzalez what she would say to other students around the country to encourage them to join the protest.

The high school senior said, "The kids who need to take part in this are kids, everyday kids just like us. They are students who need to understand that this can very quickly happen to them ... They need to join us, and they need to help us get our message across. All students should realize that a school shooting could happen anywhere."After the Florida school shooting, hearts are broken all the way here in Huntsville and beyond.

On Sunday, people gathered in downtown Huntsville for a vigil for the victims of the shooting.

Soft music, prayers, candles and a push for change.

"The gun violence that happened on the 14th directly impacted kids my age so I feel compelled to speak out on their behalf," said Ella Rauer, a senior at Huntsville High.

Many people who turned out -- wanted to voice their concerns about the continued violence happening in schools.

One man at the vigil insists we wouldn't stand for other forms of violence.

"If we had 18 muslim terrorists events, we would do something about it," said Preston Foster, with Oakwood University.

Foster says now is the time to act on what he considers a problem of gun violence in America.

"We shouldn't feel unsafe sending our children to school," Foster said.

Rauer, too, worries schools are too vulnerable to attack.

"I've watched in recent months, maybe even years, how school is a soft target. I've watched how easy it is for someone to walk into school with a gun in their backpack. Anyone could do it," Rauer said.

While Rauer says the biggest changes need to happen at the legislative level -- she understands school security can only go so far.

"I don't want it to feel like a prison because people are checking me to make sure I dont have guns on me. Its school, im supposed to feel safe," said Rauer.

Instead of feeling safe and secure, the shooting has left many here shaken to their core.Domain executive chairman Nick Falloon says the real estate classifieds company is in "great shape", despite a fall in profit and allegations of bad behaviour in the workplace.

The newly-listed business remains without a chief executive after Antony Catalano's surprise resignation in January which led to the appointment of Mr Falloon who is also chairman of major shareholder Fairfax Media.

Domain Group executive chairman Nick Falloon described the company as being in "great shape". Credit:Peter Rae

The company gets most of its revenue from home sellers listing their properties on the site through real estate agents. Domain reported a 2 per cent drop in total listing for the first six months of the financial year at its interim results on Monday.

Property listings tend to track the real estate market, with Sydney and Melbourne experiencing record high numbers of homes for sale during the height of the boom a year ago.Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has stopped short of throwing her direct support behind a ban on ministers having sex with staff.

But the deputy Liberal leader has acknowledged the changes to the ministerial code of conduct by Malcolm Turnbull brings the government into line with many workplaces.

The Prime Minister made the announcement last Thursday following revelations about Barnaby Joyce's affair with a staffer who is now carrying their child.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Foreign Minister Julie Bishop. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Ms Bishop was previously critical of suggestions there should be a ban, akin to the one adopted by the US Congress.New research by LinkedIn shows Australian deputy prime ministers are starting to change the way they describe themselves in their professional profiles.

The most recent analysis shows deputy prime ministers are highlighting skills and experience rather than personal strengths.

Australian deputy prime ministers have so many useful skills, such as the wearing of big hats. Credit:AAP

LinkedIn analysed the most-used words in the profiles of every current Australian deputy prime minister and found that the words never been caught on the tool at work have dropped out of most Australian deputy prime minister profiles.

Below are LinkedIns Top 10 buzzwords on Australian deputy prime minister profiles this year, and helpful suggestions for how you might adapt them to supercharge your own search for the perfect Deputy Prime Ministership of Australia.Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has refused to say whether he was misled by Barnaby Joyce over the Nationals leader's affair with a staffer, saying he was aware of rumours about the relationship but never had it confirmed to him by the Deputy Prime Minister.

Mr Turnbull also said he would expect a minister to resign for breaching his new rule against sexual relations with staffers and questioned why Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has not endorsed the revised code of conduct.

Appearing on Melbourne radio station 3AW after several days of public hostility between him and Mr Joyce, the Prime Minister said the pair had "put whatever tensions there were behind us".

"Barnaby at no time said to me that he was in a sexual relationship with this woman, with Vikki Campion. He never made that admission, I suppose, to me. I cannot recall when I first heard a rumour about it but probably about the same time, possibly later, than others," Mr Turnbull said.When I first joined the Canberra office of John Howard, not long after he lost the Liberal leadership to Andrew Peacock in 1989, I was relatively naive to the infamous culture of Parliament House.

My first inkling came after a journalist visited our office to see if the new backbencher had anything interesting to say. After the reporter left empty-handed, my new boss enquired whether the journo had yet asked me out. Well no, I replied, why would he? Im married. To which my boss responded, well I dont imagine that will stop him.

I learnt over the next four years that the scribe was only one of several people working in the building known as a notorious pants man. And that extra-curricular sexual relationships abounded in the hothouse environment  involving not only journalists and staffers, but also politicians, parliamentary staff and even a Comcar driver or two.

This should hardly be surprising. Its natural for people to become attracted to each other when they spend a lot of time together in high energy, high stress environments.

Theres no doubt Parliament House is the epitome of this type of setting. On sitting weeks the buildings occupants  particularly ministers and their staff  run on little more than adrenaline and coffee from the time the first morning news bulletins hits their screens, through question time and the gauntlet of afternoon interviews, until the evening news bulletins have concluded.The centrepiece of Apple's new headquarters is a massive, ring-shaped office overflowing with panes of glass, a testament to the company's famed design-obsessed aesthetic.

There's been one hiccup since it opened last year: Apple employees keep smacking into the glass.

Surrounding the Cupertino, California-based building are 14-metre tall curved panels of safety glass. Inside are work spaces, dubbed "pods," also made with a lot of glass. Apple staff are often glued to the iPhones they helped popularise. That's resulted in repeated cases of distracted employees walking into the panes, according to people familiar with the incidents.

Apple Park's glass-walled 'pods' are designed to promote collaboration. Credit:Apple

Some staff started to stick Post-It notes on the glass doors to mark their presence. However, the notes were removed because they detracted from the building's design, the people said. They asked not to be identified discussing anything related to Apple. Another person familiar with the situation said there are other markings to identify the glass.Based on the priorities of the revised WCO Mercator Implementation Plan for Zimbabwe, endorsed by the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) in September 2017, the WCO delivered a training workshop on Customs Project Management 29 January to 2 February 2018 in Harare. The aim of this training was to support ZIMRA in strengthening its training, human resources and project management capacities to respond to the provisions and challenges related to the implementation of the WTO Agreement on Trade Facilitation (TFA).

The training provided an opportunity for 18 officers (7 females and 11 males) to increase their knowledge of best practices and modern techniques in specific areas of Customs Project Management with the ultimate aim to support ZIMRAs effective implementation of international trade facilitation standards. Most of the officers undertaking this training will be in charge of managing reform and modernization projects linked to the Mercator Implementation Plan and will therefore have an opportunity to immediately apply their newly acquired project management skills.

The Commissioner Representative of ZIMRA highlighted in his opening and closing remarks, the timely importance of this training considering Zimbabwes process to ratify the WTO TFA is currently underway in Parliament. ZIMRA expressed its appreciation for the delivery of the training, noting the need to increase awareness among the senior and executive management on the importance of project management, in particular project governance. The workshop was jointly funded by the HMRC-WCO-UNCTAD Programme and the Finland ESA Programme II.

The WCO looks forward to continuing its collaboration with ZIMRA under the framework of the Mercator Programme.Loading...

Playwright Philip Ridley revels in producing shocking work  Faber and Faber refused to publish his 2005 play Mercury Fur, while during the original run of the 1991 The Pitchfork Disney at the Bush Theatre there were backstage discussions about whether there should be a nurse present to help with fainting audience members.

Here the writer returns with a new set of monologues, delivered by Jesus Christ Superstar's Tyrone Huntley and the Chronicles of Narnia actress Georgie Henley. Collectively titled Angry, they bounce from topic to topic, varying in length from mere minutes to longer, more fully formed narratives. The subject areas are vast  clubbing, refugee lives, budding romances and the inside of a black hole are all given a nod.

The shorter pieces are more playful asides  some feel incredibly abrupt, like the surreally macabre Dancing (about beheadings and literal murder on the dancefloor), while others, like the opening Angry, overstaying their welcome. Nothing really lives up to the disquieting power of the Ridley's earlier shows, like Pitchfork, Radiant Vermin or Tonight with Donny Stixx. No need for nurses present. Each monologue is degendered and, on a performance-by-performance basis, delivered by alternating actors. It's a neat trick, allowing audiences to mull over how the counterpart would have tackled the same subject, but beyond this doesn't add much to the spectacle.

It is down to the performances to lift the production into something more engaging, and the two actors fare admirably well under Max Lindsay's direction. Huntley is saddled, perhaps, with the more one-note half of the six monologues, forced in the titular piece to persistently shout and scream about Bambi, while another, Now, a metaphysical journey that goes from a bomb site to a black hole, is elusive. His more extended, tender performance, about a quiet romance in Victoria Park, feels more wholesome and complete, allowing Huntley the storyteller to create a sense of real affection.

But this is Henley's show, through and through, and Ridley's monologues are the perfect vehicle for an actor ready and able to make a big impression. Creating three different characters with each of her three texts, it is her final piece, Air, that stands out. A tragically crafted tale that leaps between social commentary and cutesy romance (think Fleabag with a dose of Richard Curtis), the piece naturally evolves into a parable about the lives of refugees. Henley's physical control and ability to construct countless individuals feels uncannily effortless and, for a performer making their professional stage debut, this no doubt bodes well for the future.

The neon intensity of Cassie Mitchell's lighting and James Donnelly's set compliments the piece nicely, while Jim Whitcher's soundscape, all Hans Zimmer-esque drum riffs and clattering throbbing sounds, ramp up the tension.

While some, especially Air, function well as standalone pieces, they never seem greater than the sum of their parts. It's a motley collection, strung together as much out of convenience as out of thematic links, much in the same way Ridley's Killer did at Shoreditch Town Hall last year. A solid display from one of the nation's most cutting writers, but never really gelling as a solid 90-minute show.

Angry runs at Southwark Playhouse until 10 March.Embed from Getty Images

PSG have today been able to seal the permanent transfer of Kylian Mbappe after triggering the requisite clause in the teenage strikers loan deal.

The Parisians initially signed Mbappe on a one-year loan from Monaco, ostensibly to make sure that his vastly expensive acquisition didnt take place during the same financial year as Neymars 200million mega-move from Barcelona. FFP be damned, and all that.

Said loan deal included a stipulation that, should PSG managed to successfully preserve their Ligue 1 status this season, Mbappes deal could be made permanent.

Sure enough, a comprehensive 5-2 victory over Strasbourg at the weekend (which, ironically, Mbappe missed due to suspension) means that the clubs battle against relegation is now officially and mathematically over this season  thus securing the 19-year-olds services for the next four years.

Huzzah. Dont you just love it when a 166million plan comes together?

For the record, PSG are currently 12 points clear at the top of Ligue 1, with Mbappe having contributed 15 goals and 14 assists in 32 appearances thus far.Interview: JM Stim

Daniel Treisman, 53, is one of the leading US experts on Russian politics and economics. A professor of political science at the University of California, Los Angeles and a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research, he was educated at Oxford University and Harvard University, from which he graduated in 1995 with a Ph.D. Treisman has published four books and many articles in political science and economics journals, as well as in public affairs journals like Foreign Affairs and Foreign Policy. He has also served as a consultant for the World Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and as acting director of UCLA's Center for European and Eurasian Studies.

Treisman has published four books and many articles in political science

and economics journals, as well as in public affairs journals like

Foreign Affairs and Foreign Policy. -  Photo: UCLA

In Russia, he is a member of the International Advisory Committee of the Higher School of Economics and a member of the Jury of the National Prize in Applied Economics. Treisman has been a Guggenheim Fellow and a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution (Stanford) and the Institute for Human Sciences (Vienna), and has received fellowships from the German Marshall Fund of the US and the Smith Richardson Foundation. His latest book "The New Autocracy: Information, Politics, and Policy in Putins Russia" has been published this month by Brookings Institution Press.

WZ: Indictments against Russian citizens tied to the Kremlin for election meddling in D.C., American soldiers killing Russian mercenaries in Syria, Russia developing space weapons in partnership with China: Professor Treisman, how would you describe the state of U.S.-Russian relations in 2018?

Daniel Treisman: The relationship is characterized by multiple conflicts at different levels, along with a few remaining areas of possible cooperation. For instance, the US would like Russia to be part of the coalition pressuring North Korea to halt its nuclear weapons program, and there is a shared interest in avoiding clashes in Syria like the one that recently occurred. Managing the conflicts is unusually difficult for several reasons. To name just two, Russia policy in the US is being made or at least strongly influenced from multiple centers  the White House, Congress, the State Department, and, indirectly, the judicial system, including Robert Mueller. And, second, Russia appears committed to a policy of weakening the West through covert actions, which makes it hard to resolve any problems through open dialogue.

Russia tried to interfere in the last presidential election, and there are clear signs its efforts are going to continue. Are there any specific goals the Russians want to achieve, or is it really just to further sow distrust and undermine the American political process? What's the endgame here? Is there even one?

I think that top Russian decision-makers believe that Western governments  first and foremost, the US  are using all methods to undermine the Putin regime. The response is to play the same game, using covert techniques to fan internal conflicts in the West and undermine public trust in Western governments and systems. I think Russia views this kind of competition as the normal state of play between major powers. There is no endgame. This is the "new normal."

What does all of that mean for future U.S.-Russian relations? Where to go from here? And what are the implications for the rest of the world?

Western countries need to walk a fine line. They need to significantly increase Western defenses against attempts at covert subversion. But they need to do so without exaggerating the Russian threat or becoming hysterical. We need far more effective monitoring of Russian efforts to spread propaganda on social networks and the Internet. There also need to be public education campaigns to enable Internet users to identify attempts to manipulate them from abroad. We need to work harder at detecting and preventing foreign actors from financing or otherwise helping extremist parties in the West. And we need to be investing a lot in improving the security of infrastructure and computer systems against cyberwarfare.

On March 18, Russia will hold the first round of its presidential elections, and there's virtually no doubt who's going to come out on top. Please explain why Vladimir Putin looks like a shoe-in for another term.

Unless something truly unexpected happens, Putin will be reelected on March 18. The Kremlin has excluded any candidates who might pose a genuine threat. Most significantly, Alexei Navalny has not been allowed to run. So Russian voters see no serious alternative to Putin. At the same time, his annexation of Crimea remains enormously popular. For Russians, this has turned Putin into a truly historical figure.

In the West, more often than not everything seems to focus on Putin himself. When it comes to what's going on inside Russia: To what (or who) should the West pay more attention aside from him but doesn't?

In a recent book I wrote with a team of Russian experts and Western scholars, I argue that Russian politics these days operates in two alternating modes. The first  "normal politics" or "autopilot"  operates when Putin doesnt personally get involved. In such cases, and this includes the vast majority of state business, outcomes are determined by often-vicious clashes between bureaucratic factions, security agents, business actors, regional elites, and powerful individuals. This looks nothing like the well-oiled dictatorship that some people imagine. These clashes are fought out between factions in the Duma, in the bureaucracy, the media, and law enforcement, using any methods available. The second system  "manual control" (in Russian, ruchnoe upravlenie)  kicks in when Putin takes a clear stand. Then orders are indeed dictated from above, although poor preparation, practical difficulties, and corruption often interfere with implementation. Of course, it makes sense to focus first on Putin. But then we need to understand the nature of the second rank actors, the bureaucratic factions, regional heavyweights, business leaders, media executives and so on. Kremlin policies are directed from the Presidential Administration, often without direct coordination by Putin. And then, especially more recently, the Kremlin has been using a whole range of free-lancers, who are authorized to work on some particular problem, often using covert methods. These are often individuals from Putins entourage. All this infrastructure of Russian power, much of it concealed, is important. And, of course, there have been major changes in Russian society over the last 20 years.

By the time he's going to serve out his term, Putin's going to be 71 years old. What is he going to focus on in what's perhaps going to be his last term as president?

Succession. The key preoccupation will be finding someone "safe" to whom he can hand over the Kremlin.

What's the lasting impact of Putinism going to be within Russia?

The country has modernized rapidly since 2000. Russians are highly educated, with much higher incomes than when Putin first took over. They are sophisticated users of technology, internationally linked, and more modern in outlook than one might think from reading some Western coverage. A transition from Putinism could be painful and disruptive. But in the medium term I think Russia will end up with a more open and participatory political regime. However, this will also depend on whether  when Putins regime comes to an end  the West proves ready to create a new relationship, or whether Western actions fuel defensive Russian nationalism.

What's the lasting impact of Putinism going to be concerning Russia's foreign policy?

Putins regime has created certain problems that will be very difficult to resolve. From the point of view of the West, annexing Crimea violated international law. That issue will be hard to manage even by a Russian regime that wants a better relationship with the West. It is too early to predict certain other legacies of Putinism. It may be that Russia succeeds in weakening the EU and NATO. Alternatively, it might be that Russias actions in Ukraine now lead to a strengthening of NATOs Eastern defenses. We will have to wait and see about this.NEW RICHMOND  Mingo Central erased an early 6-0 deficit and went on to claim[Read More]Close Get email notifications on Lisa Neff daily!

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Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.Growth and inclusive development must be prioritised to move SA forward

South Africas young democracy has emerged intact, albeit severely battered, from Jacob Zuma's tempestuous era.

Cyril Ramaphosa is the new leader at the helm, and has to chart a strategic course that is beneficial to all South Africans. We have survived a multifaceted political and socioeconomic crisis in which trust has eroded between much of the citizenry, the political elite and the now departed President.

Our society is ravaged by extreme levels of inequality, with the gap having increased exponentially in the post-apartheid era, resulting in a fractured, polarised populace.

Ramaphosa has to develop an innovative strategic agenda that addresses both this trust deficit and the inequality challenge. This has to involve a focus on growth, attracting investment, and rebuilding the economy, while simultaneously addressing the fundamental challenge of inequality, coupled with poverty and unemployment. We need a pioneering plan that both creates an environment conducive to growth and enables inclusive development, thereby strengthening the foundations of democracy.

South Africa achieved some economic growth in the last two decades, even if it is at a level far lower than we would have preferred. However, growth is a necessary, but not sufficient condition for inclusive development. While it is true that much has been delivered  electricity, water, sanitation and social support grants  and that poverty rates have declined in certain years of the post-apartheid era, our society simultaneously has been ravaged by the scourge of inequality in the last two decades. We overtook Brazil to become the most unequal society in the world. Since 1994, inclusive of the period of the Zuma presidency, inequality has grown every single year.

A new agenda requires a recognition that regulation is also essential in order to channel resources to education, healthcare, infrastructure and small business development. None of this is going to happen without a reconsideration of tax rates, remuneration caps, more measured profitability and longer term investment horizons  measures that mainstream business has opposed for so long.

It is also incumbent upon all social actors  the private and public sectors, civil society, active citizens and the fourth estate, among others  to confront power and transform society towards the inclusive vision that we collectively share. It is my view that two powerful sets of stakeholders  corporate leaders and the political elite  are not sufficiently appreciative of the extent of the challenge of inequality.

Some executives in the corporate sector, and in particular the private sector economists who serve them, assume that with economic growth, inequality will automatically stabilise and subsequently erode. Thomas Piketty, in Capital in the Twenty-First Century, explicitly demonstrates that inequality will continue to grow across the world unless there is a clear political attempt to counter the structural dynamics that facilitate it.

The political elite, on the other hand, recognise the threat that inequality poses, but cannot muster the political will to do anything about it. Some erroneously assume that by addressing poverty, we will automatically reduce inequality, a view that is expressed in the economic chapter of the National Development Plan (NDP). The NDP therefore proposes to expand livelihood opportunities at the lower end of society through a series of reforms: a new industrialisation plan targeting employment, expanding educational opportunities, and financing new entrepreneurs. These are important recommendations that will grow the economy, increase employment opportunities and address poverty. But they will not address inequality.

The essential problem is that even if we get livelihoods growing at the bottom end of society through employment and financial support for new entrepreneurs and the like, the income of those at the upper end of society is likely to grow even faster. This is because the rich have assets  property, stocks, bonds  and it is these assets which will ensure that the incomes of the rich will grow faster. The net effect is that even if poverty erodes, inequality will grow faster. This is essentially what happened in South Africa, Russia, India and China in the last 20 years.

The only way in which economic inequalities can be addressed is if the expansion of livelihood opportunities at the base of society is coupled with either containing the enrichment at the top of society, or ensuring that the bottom grows faster than the top.

The struggle for social justice in South Africa is a struggle for structural reforms. What this means is that when there is growth, it must be accompanied by redistribution and social upliftment. For example, if we allow for the development of private housing estates, then it must include mandatory housing for low income households.

As we institute minimum wages, we should consider caps on executive remuneration and stakeholder dividends. Tax must be structured in a manner that promotes long-term investments rather than treating short-term capital flows on an equivalent level. If we focus on tax incentives and subsidies for youth training, this must be accompanied by protecting the existing employment of workers in the enterprise. We may need to consider export zones and industries that are granted exemption from some existing labour regulations, but this has to be accompanied by concomitant investments in surrounding communities or downstream social projects.

There should be BBBEE mechanisms that allow for new entrants into industry who do not cater just for the politically connected and the economic elite. Procurement opportunities for businesses, both foreign and local, could be tied to simultaneous investments in universities and schools. Similarly, private hospitals should be obliged to, in some way, allocate a percentage of their resources to providing services for poor people.

Essentially, our development strategy and regulations should be focused on establishing an appropriate balance between growing our economy and stewarding it in an inclusive direction. This should be one of the considerations at the top of the agenda of Ramaphosas next Cabinet meeting. The President has the opportunity to rebuild the state but it requires imaginative political leadership that has been missing from South Africa for over a decade. It is important for him and the new Cabinet to establish collaborative channels within government and with other societal actors to develop a new roadmap for South Africa.

This week has demonstrated that even though our democracy is in its infancy, it has proven to be resilient and robust enough to self-correct, unlike many other countries around the world. This may be due to our active citizenry, strong civil society, an independent fourth estate, trade union movements and pressure from the private sector. However, these are the same social actors that will have to work together to develop a social pact; a pact that will require compromises of all of us so that South Africa stays on its democratic and developmental course in the long-term.

The fundamental lesson is that if we are truly committed to social inclusion and addressing inequality, then there is a need to change not only our leaders, but our politics itself. There has to be a new politics of accountability that is principled yet pragmatic, peaceful yet robust, infused with integrity, yet responsive to the real needs of our citizenry, and in particular to the poor in our society. Only then can the promise and hopes of the last few days for a peaceful, democratic and inclusive South Africa truly be realised.

Professor Adam Habib is the Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of the WitwatersrandThe domain fishinghd.com may be for sale. Please click here to inquireHere is a look at the life of musician, music producer and philanthropist, Quincy Jones.

Personal: Birth date: March 14, 1933

Birth place: Chicago, Illinois

Birth name: Quincy Delight Jones Jr.

Father: Quincy Delight Jones Sr., a carpenter.

Mother: Sarah Frances (Wells) Jones

Marriages: Peggy Lipton (1974-1990); Ulla Andersson (1967-1974); Jeri Caldwell (1957-1966)

Children: with Nastassja Kinski: Kenya; with Peggy Lipton: Rashida and Kidada; with Ulla Andersson: Quincy III and Martina; with Carol Reynolds: Rachel; with Jeri Caldwell: Jolie

Other Facts: Jones and his brother, Lloyd, were raised by their father and stepmother, Elvera, in Seattle and Bremerton, Washington. Their mother, Sarah, had been institutionalized in Chicago when they were very young.

An automobile accident at age 14, where Jones saw four of his friends killed, left him traumatized to where he does not and has never driven a car.

He met Ray Charles when they were both teenagers starting out in the music industry. Jones arranged and produced for Charles, and later Charles performed on Jones' albums. They remained friends until Charles' death in 2004.

As an arranger in the 1950s, Jones worked with many music industry legends such as Count Basie, Tommy Dorsey, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Lionel Hampton and Frank Sinatra, among others.

As a music producer for more than 60 years, he has worked with Miles Davis, Celine Dion, Aretha Franklin, Lesley Gore, Jennifer Holliday, Michael Jackson, Barbra Streisand, Barry White and many more.

Jones has 79 Grammy Award nominations and 27 wins, including a Grammy Legend Award. He has seven Oscar nominations and received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. He also has received four Emmy nominations, winning one.

He has scored over 30 movies and written the theme for many television series, documentaries and shorts.

Timeline: Mid-1940s - Sings and plays trumpet with a gospel quartet.

1951 - Jones' trumpet playing wins him a scholarship to the prestigious Schillinger House in Boston (now the Berklee College of Music). He quickly leaves when the opportunity arises to join the Lionel Hampton Band.

1956 - Joins the Dizzy Gillespie band as trumpeter and musical director.

1957 - Moves to Paris to study and begins working for Barclay Disques, publishing music.

1961 - Jones is hired as a musical director for Mercury Records and a few months later advances to vice president.

1963 - Earns his first Grammy Award, Best Instrumental Arrangement, for "I Can't Stop Loving You."

1963 - Produces "It's My Party" for Lesley Gore on Mercury Records, his first pop single to reach number one.

August 1974 - Suffers a brain aneurysm, which forces him to stop playing the trumpet.

1977 - Wins an Emmy for Outstanding Achievement in Music Composition for a Series (Dramatic Underscore) for the film "Roots."

1982 - Produces Jackson's album, "Thriller."

1985 - Conductor and producer for "We Are the World," the song recorded to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia. Producer and music composer for the film "The Color Purple."

1991 - Receives the Grammy Legend Award.

1991-1993 - Co-produces the Montreux Jazz Festival. His association with the festival continues to present day.

1993 - Launches "Vibe" magazine.

1994-1999 - Chairman and CEO of Qwest Broadcasting, a minority-controlled television broadcasting company.

1995 - Receives the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

March 1996 - Executive Producer of the 68th Annual Academy Awards ceremony.

October 1, 2001 - Simon & Schuster publishes his autobiography, "Q: The Autobiography of Quincy Jones."

2001 - Kennedy Center Honoree.

2008 - Releases the book "The Complete Quincy Jones: My Journey & Passions."

April 18, 2013 - Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee.

July 11, 2017 - Jones' 2013 lawsuit against Jackson's estate goes to trial. Jones claims he is owed $30 million in unpaid royalties.

July 26, 2017 - Jones wins $9.42 million in damages in his lawsuit against Jackson's estate.

February 7, 2018 - In an interview published in Vulture, Jones accuses President Donald Trump of stoking racial tensions in the country.ROME  The Rome Police Department is asking for the publics help locating a suspect as part of this weeks Warrant of the Week.

Steven Morrison, 29, is wanted on a warrant from Rome City Court for second-degree criminal contempt for violating a court order. Police say Morrison is believed to be living in Utica, but he visits Rome frequently.

Morrison is described as being 5 feet 11 inches tall and weighing 215 pounds.

If anybody has information about Morrisons whereabouts, they can submit an anonymous tip to Rome police, or through the Mohawk Valley Crime Stoppers. Information can also be reported by calling Rome police at 315-399-7780 or by calling 911.New Hartford, N.Y. - Today may be Presidents' Day, but it feels a little more like Veterans Day at the IHOP restaurant in New Hartford.

IHOP is donating 10 percent of all of its proceeds today to the Feed our Vets organization in Utica.

This is the second year IHOP has done this.

Feed our Vets founder Rich Synek says every dollar raised, whether it's from here on this day at IHOP or from any other fundraiser throughout the year, helps veterans right here in the Greater Utica area.

"Last year we fed 3,335 vets, we gave out almost 175,000 pounds of food, that's right here in Utica only, in Central New York, the vets that can come here," Synek said. "So that money, since we don't receive any grants, we have to find fun ways of doing it, and this is one way."

New Hartford IHOP General Manager Jena Delgado says it's a small way to help those men and women who give so much to all of us.

"Some times I think we don't give enough back for the people who helped our community, that helped our America, so anything to help them, that's what we want to do," Delgado said.

U.S. Veteran and current National Guard Member Joe Bolton from Oriskany brought six other members of his family to breakfast Monday morning to help the cause and says what IHOP is doing is tremendous.

"I think it's awesome, I think it's awesome, every little bit helps."

If you would like to help the cause, IHOP is donating all of its proceeds the entire day, right up until closing at 10:00 tonight.UTICA  Sen. Chuck Schumer visited Utica College Monday afternoon to kick off a push for federal funding to support the colleges growing construction management major, Schumer announced today.

The federal funding would help Utica College build a new, state-of-the-art training center for the construction management program. The total cost of the project is $4.1 million. Of that total cost, $2.1 million has already been raised by private funds, and $700,000 is coming from a New York State grant.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., speaks to reporters at the Capitol in Washington, Saturday, Jan. 20, 2018. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., speaks to reporters at the Capitol in Washington, Saturday, Jan. 20, 2018. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

The program will aim to meet a critical demand for talent in coming years as the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates 1.6 million new jobs in the construction industry by 2022, Schumers news release stated. Since the program has outgrown its antiquated facilities, Utica College has crafted plans to build a new, technologically-advanced facility equipped with accredited material testing equipment, workspace for construction projects, specialized computer labs configured for industry-standard Building Information Modeling (BIM) software and a multi-use auditorium.

Utica College has applied for funding through the federal Economic Development Agency to help cover the remaining cost of the project, according to Schumer, and at his visit this afternoon hell be pledging his support for the project funding and highlight why the investment is needed.

According to Schumer, since 2008, 100 percent of construction management students at Utica College have secured jobs before graduation.LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI)-- A Lafayette woman lost her grandaughter to gun violence.

Names of loved ones spread across the line to send a message on gun violence.

After the number of mass shootings over the past year, Central Presbyterian church decided it was time.

"To show the magnitude of what is happening in our community and that we are concerned about it."

Lucia Oerter, pastor of Central Presbyterian church, understands this on a personal level.

"My granddaughter is out there after being killed by her father," Oerter said.

Director Rachel Mcloughlin says the shootings from concerts, churches and schools has opened her eyes.

"It's just been really sad, and I think the main thing is to just lift up the fact that we are suppose to be good neighbors and love each other."

Oerter was in an active shooter situation a year and a half ago.

She survived but wants to remember those who did not.

She remembers her granddaughter as a innocent little girl; someone who didn't deserve this kind of ending.

"And you start to imagine what happened to her and her last moments whatever and it's just sad." Oerter said.

The names live on in hopes to connect the community and to remember everyone's story.



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Sorry, the page you requested was not found. If you're having trouble locating a destination on Womenofchina.cn, try visiting the Womenofchina Home pageGreen light for next Darlington refurbishment

19 February 2018

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Ontario Power Generation (OPG) can proceed with the refurbishment of Darlington unit 3 after receiving the go-ahead from the province's Ministry of Energy. Refurbishment of Darlington unit 2 has now passed the half-way mark.

OPG celebrates the approval of Darlington 3's refurbishment (Image: OPG)



Darlington 3 will be the second of the plant's Candu units to undergo refurbishment in a project that will enable the 3512 MWe plant to continue operations until 2055. All four units are to be refurbished in a phased CAD 12.8 billion ($9 billion) project which is scheduled for completion by 2026.

"The government took a phased approach to Darlington refurbishment, with each unit requiring individual approval to proceed," OPG president and CEO Jeff Lyash said. "The go-ahead to move forward with the next unit is a testament to the hard work and dedication of the Darlington Refurbishment team."

Ontario's electricity generation was 90% free of greenhouse gas emissions in 2016, and its 2017 long-term energy plan, published in October, recognises the refurbishment of existing nuclear power plants as the most cost-effective option for meeting the province's baseload generation needs. Nuclear power - from OPG's Darlington and Pickering, and Bruce Power's Bruce plant - supply enough power to meet about 60% of the province's electricity needs.

Ten Candu units are to be refurbished between 2016 and 2033 - four at Darlington and six at Bruce. The Pickering nuclear power plant will continue to operate until 2024 to provide baseload electricity during the Darlington and initial Bruce refurbishments. Bruce Power has already begun its Life Extension Project, with the first major component replacements scheduled to begin on unit 6 in 2020.

Bruce Power President and CEO Mike Renchek said the two companies had proved that nuclear refurbishment projects could be delivered efficiently and effectively.

"The two largest infrastructure projects in Canada are the Bruce Power and OPG refurbishments, and both remain on-time and on-budget," he said. The two companies will continue to share resources and implement lessons learned from their projects, he added.

Refurbishment of Darlington unit 2 formally began on 14 October 2016 after six years of planning, and will take some 40 months to complete. The project passed the half-way mark on 15 February and remains on time and on budget, OPG said.

All 960 end fittings from the reactor's fuel channels have now been removed from the reactor core, enabling work to begin on the removal of pressure tubes. This will be achieved using remotely controlled automated retooling platforms. Removal and replacement of the reactor's 480 calandria tubes, 480 pressure tubes and 960 feeder pipes is the largest work package in the refurbishment project.

The planned refurbishment outage sequence at Darlington calls for refurbishment of unit 2 to be completed before the start of work on unit 3, to allow the implementation of lessons learned. OPG's schedule sees work beginning on unit 3 in February 2020, on unit 1 in July 2021 and unit 4 in January 2023.

Glenn Thibeault, Ontario's minister of energy, said the Darlington refurbishment would ensure that "reliable" nuclear energy continued to be the "backbone" of the province's generation fleet.

"This multi-phase project will continue to boost economic activity across Ontario, create jobs and secure a clean supply of affordable electricity for the future," he said.

Investments in refurbishing Ontario's nuclear fleet provide a strategic advantage for the province, Canadian Nuclear Association President and CEO John Barrett said.

"Our nuclear generating stations provide low-cost electricity, paramount to job creation and economic growth, while simultaneously allowing the province to continue to offset harmful greenhouse gas emissions," he said.

Researched and written

by World Nuclear News

Related topicsA man was arrested when he tried to smuggle a large amount of cash from the United States to Nigeria.

According to police, Dim Chukwuneye Williams wanted to bring $23,000 into Nigeria. He hid the cash in a nicely decorated birthday cake.

However, he was busted and the money was found. Williams was arrested and the money was confiscated.

Williams was brought before Chief Magistrate, Mrs. A.O. Ajibade, at the Ebute Metta Magistratesa Court in Lagos.

He pleaded not guilty to 2 counts of attempting to procure the commission of acts and unlawful smuggle.

He was freed after posting $5,500 bail.1.4 million windfall from Welsh Government to help Wrexham Council fix potholes

This article is old - Published: Monday, Feb 19th, 2018

Over 1.4 million is to be invested into making improvements to the state of Wrexhams roads.

Earlier this month Wrexham.com reported that councils across Wales were to receive a share of 30 million to help improve the state of roads in their areas.

The funding, which was committed by Cabinet Secretary for Local Government and Public Services, Alun Davies, is described as a one-off investment that will be based on an established highway allocation formula.

It was originally announced as part of the final Budget 2018-19, which set out a series of new revenue allocations for Wales as a result of funding consequentials received from the UK Autumn Budget.

Last Friday it was confirmed that almost 4 million would be used to improve the state of roads across North Wales Wales.

Wrexham will see a share of 1.4 million of the windfall, which according to Welsh Government statistics has the worst roads in North Wales  a decline from earlier last year when Wrexhams roads were just the third worst in Wales.

Neighbouring counties will also receive a share of the funding, including 1,204,380 for Denbighshire and 1,427,133 for Flintshire.

Overall an extra 7.9 million will be spent improving roads across North Wales.

The investment has been welcomed by Clwyd South AM Ken Skates, whose constituency includes Wrexham and Denbighshire.

Mr Skates cited tight budgets due to more than 1.4bn snatched from Wales by Westminster since 2010,, adding: Within that context, Im delighted that the Welsh Labour Government has secured this significant investment in North East Wales to help fix our roads.

The winter has been very damaging for our road network and its important that its rectified quickly.

Mr Skates also welcomed rapidly progressing plans to tackle congestion on the A483 and at Halton Roundabout near Chirk. Both will be addressed within three years.

The latest tranche of Welsh Government funding for roads will be administered by local councils.Your Councillor to vote on WCBC cuts and revenue raisers at key meeting on Wednesday

This article is old - Published: Monday, Feb 19th, 2018

A final decision on Wrexham Councils budget for the next 12 months will be made this week  with all 52 councillors having the opportunity to debate and cast their vote.

The revenue budget for the next year has been several months in the making and been the subject of many private councillor workshops and public scrutiny meetings just before Christmas.

You the public had the chance to have their say on the proposed budget cuts / savings at the tail end of 2017, with 3,620 people taking part in the Difficult Decisions consultation.

There were a number of controversial plans in the Difficult Decisions consultation, which came under fire by both members and the public and councillors  including cuts to school music service, parking charges for Blue Badge holders and country park visitors and stopping the councils PSCO funding.

However several changes to a number of the proposals have since been made, including scrapping plans to stop a 4 a day bonus payment offered to some vulnerable people as part of the councils Day and Work Opportunities scheme and reducing the proposed cut to PCSO funding.

While the bulk of school music funding will be withdrawn by the council, a 50k sum was recommended from April 2019 to mitigate the impact, and aim to be more targeted in the spending in that scheme.

School funding, which was initially set to be frozen, has also been increased by 1.48%.

In Januarys Executive Board a war of words broke out between lead members and opposition councillors during a debate about the budget plans.

Despite the concerns from opposition councillors the budget, which totals 232,871,963 in 2018/19, was approved by members of the Executive Board that month.

Now on Wednesday at 4pm a final decision on whether or not the budget is implemented will be made at the Full Council  where all 52 councillors will have the chance to have a vote.

The proposed revenue budget also features a council tax increase 3.8%

Councillors in attendance could also have the chance to debate various amendments if proposed alternative budgets or other ideas are put forward.

All 52 councillors will have the opportunity (if present) to vote on the budget at 4pm on Wednesday 21st February. The meeting is open to the public and will also be webcast live on the Wrexham Council website.For months, Washington and its allies have ignored or downplayed the Burmese militarys brutal operations in the Rakhine state against the Muslim Rohingya minority, which have been underway since last August.

According to UN figures, 688,000 people have fled Burma [Myanmar] and are crowded into unsafe and unhealthy camps in the Coxs Bazar region of Bangladesh, where they face new hardships if the monsoon season from June to October hits as hard as expected.

The US attitude to the humanitarian disaster is not determined by concern for the suffering of the Rohingya, but by geo-political interests, particularly its efforts to undercut and isolate China in the Indo-Pacific region.

Once again, Washington is exploiting the bogus banner of human rights to put pressure on the Burmese military and the National League for Democracy (NLD) government of Aung San Suu Kyi government to distance itself from Beijing.

In a speech last week, the US ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, adopted a harsher stance, calling on the Security Council to appoint a special envoy to investigate what she said was the militarys cruel and barbaric campaign against the Rohingya.

While Haley tried to distinguish between Suu Kyi and the military, she delivered an implicit warning: This council must hold the military accountable for their actions and pressure Aung San Suu Kyi to acknowledge these horrific acts are taking place in her country. Haley added: No more excuses.

Haley said it was time for the government to act and allow the international media, a UN fact-finding mission and a special rapporteur into the country. In other words, time is running out for Suu Kyi and, if she does not do Washingtons bidding, the icon of democracy will find herself the target of US condemnations.

For decades, the US and its allies denounced the Burmese junta as a rogue state and imposed harsh economic sanctions. In 2011, however, as part of its pivot to Asia against China, the Obama administration embraced the regime after it signalled its willingness to loosen its longstanding ties with Beijing.

Amid a media fanfare, Burma suddenly became a developing democracy. Sanctions were eased and Suu Kyi was elevated as a roving ambassador for the military to encourage foreign investment. Having won the 2016 election, the NLD formed government but the military continues to hold key ministries and a bloc of unelected parliamentary seats.

The US and its allies largely ignored the Burmese military operations against the Rohingya, defended by Suu Kyi and the NLD government, as long as the regime kept its distance from Beijing. However, the growing international outrage over the humanitarian crisis, along with the countrys economic problems, has compelled Burma to turn to China for assistance.

Without a doubt, as reflected in Haleys remarks, the Trump administration has become increasingly concerned at the high-level exchanges between Burma and China, including:

* Last April, Suu Kyis handpicked President U Htin Kyaw visited Beijing for talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping and other senior officials that resulted in the signing of the Kyaukphyu-Kunming oil pipeline agreement.

* In the same month, Suu Kyi met with Chinese state investment officials to discuss the $US7.3 billion Kyaukphyu deep water seaport project in Burma.

* In May, Suu Kyi travelled to Beijing for the Belt and Road Forum to discuss Burmas part in Xis grand plan to link the Eurasian landmass. She held meetings with Xi and Premier Li Keqiang and signed five Memoranda of Understanding.

* In June, Suu Kyi received in Burma General Fang Fenghui of Chinas Central Military Commission to discuss bilateral military ties.

* In November, Burmese military chief Min Aung Hlaing visited China and met Xi. He Hlaing expressed thanks for Chinas support at the UN in pressing for non-interference over the Rohingya humanitarian crisis. Xi offered assistance in resolving the issue and other ethnic conflicts.

Haleys remarks at the UN followed public comments by Yohei Sasakawa, Japans special envoy for Burma. Speaking in New Delhi, Sasakawa told the Indian media that India and Japan had to cooperate more fully to help Burma resist Beijings attempts to exploit the Rohingya crisis to reinforce its influence in Burma. He warned that any attempt to reimpose sanctions on Burma over its brutal treatment of the Rohingya would leave the Suu Kyi government with no choice but to reforge close relations with Beijing.

The Trump administration is unclear what their approach to Myanmar should be, the Japanese envoy said. The Japanese government is supporting the Myanmar government. We would like India to do more. Because of the US attitude, India must step up. He added that India and Japan had to keep the door open for Burma, given its geopolitical importance in relation to the Indian Ocean.

Japans concern is that a tougher line by the US will cut across growing economic interests in Burma. Tokyo has ambitions to become the largest investor in Burma and plans to establish special economic zones to exploit the countrys large, young cheap labour force and its natural resources. Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono visited Rakhine state last month.

India also has plans for Burma, including completing a major highway that will connect India to South East Asia via Burma and Thailand. The highway is part of New Delhis Act East strategy designed to boost Indias economic, diplomatic and military ties in East Asia at the expense of China.

Burma is being drawn into the geo-political cauldron that is setting the stage for trade war and war between the US and China. The last concern of any of the countries involved is the plight of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees.The residents of Martin County, Kentucky, like those in so many cities, towns, and communities across America and the world, do not have access to clean water. Since the beginning of the year the economically distressed former coal mining county on the border of West Virginia has seen frequent and long-lasting water service interruptions, the result of dilapidated and deteriorating infrastructure. The water that does come out of the pipes is foul-smelling and irritating to skin and eyes and is often contaminated with heavy metals and carcinogens.

The water poses such a health risk that the water bills sent out by the county include a warning that it could cause an increased risk of cancer, as well as liver, kidney, and central nervous system damage. Despite this, residents are facing a possible 50 percent hike for contaminated water.

After extracting untold billions from generations of coal miners, the energy giants have largely abandoned eastern Kentucky, like the rest of the Appalachian coalfields, and left behind nothing but economic and environmental ruin. Coal industry employment in Martin, Harlan, Pike and other eastern counties, which was 40,000 in 1980, fell to 3,896 in 2017, the lowest level since 1898. Barely 300 miners are working in Martin County.

The polluting of Martin Countys water supply can be traced to the environmentally destructive practices such as mountaintop removal mining, which routinely pollute local ecosystems with waste and processing byproducts.

The coal companies were given a free hand to do this by the Democratic and Republican parties, which gutted regulations to boost corporate profits. Equally responsible was the United Mine Workers, which by the 1980s had abandoned any resistance to the corporations and isolated and betrayed critical struggles, including the 14-month strike by 2,000 miners against AT Massey in 1984-85. One of the centers of that battle was Canada, Kentucky, less than 50 miles from Martin County.

To this day residents of Martin County are still suffering from the consequences of the 2000 coal slurry spill, the largest environmental disaster in the history of the southeastern United States until that time. Despite evidence of criminal neglect by Massey Energy, the company and its executives, including new CEO Don Blankenship, avoided any serious accountability because of a bipartisan conspiracy to exempt the company from oversight and sabotage the investigation of the spill.

BarbiAnn Maynard is a Martin County resident who has been fighting for the right to clean water since the 2000 disaster. She told the World Socialist Web Site, Every time the water is up, the creeks that run from where the mines are into the river are a different color, somewhere between a brown and black. When I was young there were catfish in the creeks. Now there is nothing alive and there arent as many animals around.

The cancer rates and dementia rates around here are off the charts. Weve had an environmental tax on our water and electric bills for about 10 years, even though it never got properly cleaned. Why did they charge the peoplealmost $100 extra a month for 10 yearsinstead of the mine owners?

Just after midnight on October 11, 2000, the bottom of a 72-acre coal slurry impoundment pondowned by Massey subsidiary Martin County Coalbroke through into an abandoned mine below, releasing an estimated 306 million gallons of heavy black sludge. The total volume of the spill was nearly 30 times greater than that of the Exxon Valdez oil spill, which dumped roughly 11 million gallons of crude oil off the coast of Alaska in 1989.

The slurry, consisting of waste byproducts from coal processing, contained high levels of heavy metals, including mercury, lead, and arsenic, as well as other industrial pollutants. The sludge worked its way down two tributaries of the Tug Fork River in Martin County, where it polluted 100 miles of streams, creeks, and rivers, obliterating fish and wildlife in its path. One resident, describing the slow-moving black waste, told the Associated Press, The sludge looked like a flow of black lava. We're not talking brown water, were talking black, black lava just rolling."

Residents yards were flooded with thick, black paste that had, according to news reports at the time, the consistency of soft-serve ice cream. Over 27,000 people had their drinking water contaminated. Wildlife in Wolf Creek and Coldwater Fork was exterminated, including an estimated 1.6 million fish.

In the aftermath of the spill, Massey worked with government agencies to deflect blame and downplay the effects of the disaster. Dennis Hatfield, the president of the Martin County Coal, was dispatched to community meetings to tell residents that the slurry was not dangerous to humans or animals. A local school teacher, interviewed in Robert Salyers documentary Sludge, stated that an EPA official told her students, There wasnt anything harmful in that sludge spill, because there wasnt anything in it that wasnt on the periodic table of the elements.

Martin County Coal claimed in a November 29, 2000 court document that the spill was the result of an act of God, a claim that drew widespread condemnation from residents whose water had been poisoned, whose yards had been choked with sludge, and whose home values had plummeted in the wake of the spill.

In fact, evidence soon revealed that the spill was the direct result of corporate negligence and cost-cutting. The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) convened an investigation into the disaster in late 2000. The investigation found the impoundment had experienced a previous leak in 1994. Both Massey and MSHA were aware an underground mine sat beneath the sludge pond, and the barrier wall at the bottom of the pond was not thick enough to safely contain the massive amount of waste.

After the 1994 leak, a MSHA official made a series of recommendations aimed at preventing another incident. However, Massey largely dismissed the recommendations, and MSHA did nothing to compel it to improve the structural integrity of the impoundment. Democratic President Bill Clinton, who had declared the era of big government is over, had close relations to the mining industry and backed the removal of health, safety and environmental regulations.

To secure a permit to reopen the impoundment after the 1994 leak, Massey submitted a map to MSHA which falsely depicted a 70-foot-thick barrier on the slurry pond. Without verifying this, MSHA not only sanctioned the reopening of the facility; it greenlighted an increase in the volume of sludge. A 1997 federal survey declared there was only a moderate danger of breakthrough.

The post-spill investigation found that the barrier wall was much thinner than Massey claimed, in some places only 15 feet thick. Massey was fully aware of the danger and submitted false information, knowing MSHA would not question it.

In the waning days of the Clinton administration, a MSHA investigation team headed by mining engineer Jack Spadaro, the director of the National Mine Safety and Health Academy, was reportedly preparing to issue a report that included serious charges against Massey as well as criticisms of MSHA.

The inauguration of President George W. Bush brought the investigation to a halt. Bush, who received large campaign donations from mining companies, appointed David Lauriski, a former mining executive, head of MSHA and abruptly ordered an end to the probe. To head the labor department, which oversees MSHA, Bush chose Elaine Chaothe wife of Mitch McConnell, the Republican senator from Kentucky, long known to be in the pocket of the mining interests in the state.

The final MSHA investigation report included only two of the eight citations that Spadaros team had originally recommended. No mention was made of the map Massey had provided to MSHA showing inaccurate barrier wall measurements. The paltry $110,000 fine levied by MSHA against Massey was further reduced when a Kentucky judge threw out one of the charges and reduced the other to only a $5,600 fine in 2002. The previous year, Massey had reported total revenues of $1.43 billion, or roughly $5,400 every two minutes.

According to a report in the Charleston Gazette, Massey spent $58.8 million in cleanup costs related to the spill, $52.5 million of which was covered by insurance companies. The so-called cleanup left huge amounts of sludge still buried in the ground. Today, Martin County residents report the sludge still sits just beneath a layer of silt on the bottom of river and creek beds.

For his part, former Massey CEO Don Blankenship would serve only a one-year wrist-slap prison sentence for the 2010 Upper Big Branch mine explosion, which killed 29 West Virginia coal miners. Once again, MSHA, this time overseen by the Obama administration and headed former United Mine Workers safety director Joe Main, paved the way for the disaster by making it clear there would be no serious consequences for the maiming and murdering of miners.

The 2000 Martin County spill was eclipsed in size by the 2008 Kingston Fossil Plant spill, which dumped over a billion gallons of coal fly ash slurry into tributaries of the Tennessee River. Hundreds more impoundments around the country receive little to no oversight from government officials. Spadaro stated in a 2010 interview that three quarters of Kentuckys sludge ponds still sit atop old mine workings.

Late last year, the Trump administration chose David Zatezalo, another former coal industry executive, to head MSHA. Zatezalos company, Rhino Resources, had been charged with violating numerous safety regulations and was fined $44,500 in 2011 after a mine foreman was killed in a wall collapse in West Virginia.School and government records on Nikolas Cruz, the 19-year-old gunman in the Parkland, Florida school massacre, show that he has evinced serious mental and emotional problems since middle school. Cruz used an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle to kill 17 people14 students and three teachersat Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School near Fort Lauderdale last Wednesday.

According to documents obtained from the Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF), Cruz was constantly in trouble for disruptive behavior and unexcused absences. Cruzs adoptive mother, who died in November 2017, was called in for more than a dozen parent-teacher conferences and Cruz was frequently sent to counseling.

Indications of Cruzs mental illness included expulsions from school, fighting with classmates, a fascination with weapons, inflicting pain on animals, posting disturbing images and comments on social media, and a history of mental health treatment.

In one instance, Floridas child agency launched an investigation into Cruzs domestic life after he was seen cutting both of his arms on the social media network Snapchat in 2016. At the time of the investigation, Cruz was listed as an alleged victim of medical neglect and inadequate supervision. His mother, 68-year-old Lynda Cruz, was the alleged perpetrator.

Mr. Cruz was on Snapchat cutting both of his arms, the Florida DCF abuse hotline was told in August 2016. Mr. Cruz stated he plans to go out and buy a gun, the statement added.

The DCFs investigation came to a close in November 2016. The agency determined that Cruz had not been mistreated by his mother, was receiving adequate mental health care and was attending school.

Henderson came out and assessed the [victim and] found him to be stable enough not to be hospitalized, the report said. More detailed chronological notes of the investigation show that the case ended with a notation that no services are recommended.

A further examination of the report reveals that the investigation was not thorough. According to the documents, a student education specialist who worked with Cruz did not return phone calls from the DCFs protective services investigator. The schools resource officer refused to share any information at all except confirming a mobile crisis unit had been sent to assess Cruz at his school.

Cruz was uncooperative during the investigation, saying that he talked about the situation enough. The investigator also appeared to have made little effort to confirm whether Cruz had indeed been cutting himself. The investigator, the report said, was not able to see any scars or cuts on the [victims] arms because he was wearing long sleeves. The investigators report to the DFC concluded that Cruz was not at risk to harm himself or others.

Cruzs counselor told the DCF that he was reported to have an emotional behavioral disability and was diagnosed with autism, a neurological disorder that often leads to social awkwardness and isolation. He was also reported to suffer from attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD.

Cruzs history underscores the lack of a social support system and proper treatment for mental and emotional problems in capitalist America, the richest country on Earth. Under conditions where a vast portion of the national wealth is diverted to satisfy the greed of the US financial oligarchy, it is impossible to address social problems, including the provision of treatment and support for the large number of psychologically damaged people produced by a society dominated by militarism, repression and inequality.The exposure by a student newspaper that University College London (UCL) hosted an annual eugenics conference on four occasions led the university to promise an investigation.

UCL claimed ignorance in January of the London Conference on Intelligence (LCI), which was attended by a range of fascistic individuals and organised by UCL honorary senior lecturer, James Thompson.

Thompson asserts that global inequalities are the product of global variations in IQ. He claims that certain ethnic minorities are capable only of making a poor contribution to the UK, due to their asserted IQ deficiencies, and that those of a right-wing political disposition are genetically intellectually superior to those on the left. He advises screening African Americans on the basis that they are more likely to be psychotic than other population groups.

In response to the revelations, UCL initially issued a short and equivocating statement. The only concrete action it took was to suspend Thompsons room booking privileges and approach him for an explanation. Having come under pressure from students and academics after weeks of stonewalling, the university has since published two further comments. These finally and explicitly state that UCL does not endorse the London Conference on Intelligence and announce the formation of an inquiry team to investigate the Conferences, the way in which they ostensibly breached external booking procedures and the circumstances in which the organiser [James Thompson] was awarded an honorary senior lectureship. Such statements should be met with justified scepticism. In the first place, what circumstances could possibly have justified awarding an honorary position to an individual with views like Thompsons?

UCLs provost may claim, I personally have no support for eugenics and I regard it as complete nonsense. I am appalled by the concept of white supremacy. But he is speaking for an institution making the ludicrous claim that its leading personnel were somehow so unaware of Thompsons professional activities that they did not know he specializes in propagating complete nonsense and has connections with white supremacists.

Thompsons academic and Twitter output are characterised almost solely by an obsession with genetic differences in intelligence across genders, countries and ethnicities and by association with the fascistic right.

Further questions must also be asked about how Thompson was able to host a eugenics conference attended by the far-right on UCLs campus for four years in a row without this coming to anyones attention. In their statement, UCL refer to their room booking procedure having been breached. The universitys Code of practice on freedom of speech: arrangements for the management of meetings and other functions held on UCL premises reads:

In the case of meetings or functions deemed by UCL to come within the provisions of this Code of Practice, the names of visiting speakers must be approved by UCL prior to invitation. And further: When a member of UCL wishes to hold a meeting or function which is not directly related to UCLs academic or administrative business on UCLs premises, a written request must be made to Room and Conference Bookings, Estates and Facilities Division.

These written requests are required to include the names of speakers, the subject of the meeting and the Precise timing of expected arrival and departure of any speaker(s).

Furthermore: If the Room and Conference Bookings Office receives a request by a member of UCL to book a room for an event which appears might not be in connection with official UCL business, the requestor shall be asked for such information as is reasonably required to establish that the purpose of the booking is to accommodate a bona fide UCL meeting or function. Bookings will not be confirmed until such information has been obtained.

Why was Thompson allowed to bypass these requirements? Or did he flat-out lie about the nature of his meetings?

It would not have taken a Sherlock Holmes to discover the truth. One need only type the search terms J Thompson, UCL and Conference into Google to bring up links to PDF agendas of the 2015 and 2016 Conferences, whose listed speeches include, Evolutionary indicators for explaining cross-country differences in cognitive ability and Race and sex differences in occupational achievement. Both are on UCL-headed paper and the 2016 document provides the exact location of the meeting, G22 Lecture Theatre, Pearson Building, UCL.

Information about the 2014 and 2015 Conferences was freely available on certain websites. Regular LCI attendee and neo-Nazi Emil Kirkegaard wrote about the event on his blog, saying The second London Conference on Intelligence will take place the 8-10 May in London at University College London. The conference follows 2014s successful version. Kirkegaards advertisement was re-reported by the far-right, white supremacist website VDARE.

Then there are Thompsons own blog posts. On March 1, 2015, on the website Unz Review, he asked his readers, Would you be interested in attending the London Conference on Intelligence, to be held over a long weekend in May?

On April 24, he announced: The Conference begins on Friday 8th May at 2 pm and ends on Sunday 10th May at 1 pm and takes place in central London. He listed a sample of the papers to be discussed, including: A Meta-analysis of Roma Intelligence: an update.

Another blog post by Thompson, published May 19, 2016, London Conference on Intelligence 2016: Population Genetics, included a link to an online presentation with the header London Conference on Intelligence, 13-15 May 2016, G22 Lecture Theatre, Pearson Building, UCL London.

Just who do UCLs leadership think they are kidding by pleading ignorance? As their statement acknowledges, the whole field of eugenics is a hot-button issue for the institution.

Even now that Thompson has been exposed, the university is acting with uncharacteristic concern for its lecturers position despite his organizing clandestine gatherings of individuals who have called for the phasing out of inadequate populations.

This is in marked contrast to its treatment of Professor Tim Hunt in June 2015.

Hunt was also an honorary lecturer at UCL, but the parallels with Thompson end there. Hunt is a Nobel laureate held in great esteem in his field. He was forced out of his position at UCLdespite substantial support from the scientific communityfollowing a media witch-hunt over certain, at the very worst, misjudged (and subsequently misconstrued) comments about women in science. His wife, a highly respected immunologist, explained how she had received a call from UCL giving her husband the push: I was told by a senior that Tim had to resign immediately or be sacked.

UCLs administration was quick to impose severe disciplinary action over a misjudged attempt at humour. But when it comes to the case of a far-right supporting eugenicist who personally invited neo-Nazis and paedophilia-advocates to a secret conference, a prolonged inquiry is apparently required in the interests of natural justice.

If the university is struggling to build a case against Thompson, then the WSWS would suggest the above facts, collected during a few hours of serious journalistic work, may be of interest.

In truth, the inquiry into Thompson and the London Conference on Intelligence has been set up as a delaying tacticin the hope that popular attention will move on from the fact that UCL honoured such a deeply reactionary thinker and gave him free rein on its campus.As French President Emmanuel Macron called for a return to the draft and air strikes against Syria last week, he was also pushing to expand Europes role in the war drive in Asia.

Under Trump, Washington has intensified its efforts to build up India as a counterweight to China in the Indian OceanBeijings lifeline for Persian Gulf oil and the pivotal channel for trade in manufactured products between Europe and Asia.

France is also escalating its military relations with India and plotting to expand its role in the Indian Ocean. With Paris working with Berlin to transform the European Union into a military machine, Frances strategic thrust into South Asia and the Indian Ocean region must be taken as a warning regarding the size of the European imperialist powers appetites and the scope of the wars they are preparing behind the backs of the population.

Macron is to visit India next month. While there, he is expected to sign off on a reciprocal agreement granting French naval vessels access to Indian ports for repair and resupply and Indian vessels the right to make routine use of Frances Indian Ocean military bases.

Although Frances colonial empire collapsed decades ago, it retains an extensive network of strategically-located Indian Ocean military bases. Indeed, France has recently expanded this network to the Persian Gulf, cashing in on the backing Paris has provided Washington in various US-led Middle East wars.

France has bases at Djibouti on the Horn of Africa, at Reunion island near Madagascar, in the United Arab Emirates, and in Mayotte off Mozambique. France and India are also preparing to build a military base in the Seychelles.

The latter will be part of a network of Indian Ocean bases India is developing as it integrates itself evermore completely into US plans to seize Indian Ocean and South China Sea chokepoints so as to impose an economic blockade on China.

Indian ships now routinely patrol the Straits of Malacca and Indias military exchanges intelligence with the Pentagon on Chinese ship and submarine movements in the Indian Ocean.

Under the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) between New Delhi and Washington that was signed in 2016 and activated last summer, Indian and American warships and warplanes gained the right to routinely access each others military bases. Indian ships, for example, can now anchor at the Pentagons pivotal Indian Ocean base in Diego Garcia.

India has also set up military observation centers in the Maldives, Madagascar and Mauritius and earlier this month, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Oman, obtained rights to use that countrys key Arabian Sea port, Duqm, for supplying Indian Navy vessels.

India is also expanding its naval presence into the Pacific Ocean, including the South China Sea. Toward that end, New Delhi has dramatically enhanced its military-security cooperation with Singapore, including gaining the right to service its naval vessels there.

The Indian Ocean more and more resembles a powder keg that could explode into war at any time, with competing nuclear-armed powers setting up rival networks of bases to surveille and threaten each other.

India presents the expansion of its Indian Ocean presence as defensive, given its dependence on Mideast oil and the importance of the waterway for its foreign trade. But such claims are clearly bogus.

Since the beginning of the current century, India has dramatically expanded its military might, embarking on a crash-program to build a blue water navy and developing a nuclear triad, that is the capacity to launch nuclear weapons from land, air, and underwater.

The Indian bourgeoisie see its growing military capacities as a key means of compensating, in the great power struggle for markets, resources, and profits, for its chronic economic weakness and for securing the support of American imperialism.

Indias burgeoning navy and naval base network allows New Delhi in tandem with Washington to threaten to cut off Chinese oil imports from the Middle East, bring the Chinese economy to a halt, and force Beijing to its knees.

China, the worlds biggest oil importer, receives 60 percent of its oil from the Middle East and transports 80 percent of that through the Indian Ocean, as well as other raw materials from the Middle East and Africa.

Beijing has responded to the moves to strategically encircle it, by advancing its One Belt-One Road (OBOR) project for trade routes on land and sea across Eurasia, financed by Beijing's Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).

With Pakistan, its ally and longstanding rival of India, China launched in 2015 the $50 billion China Pakistan Economic Corridor project (CPEC). It links western China to Gwadar, a strategically-located Pakistani port on the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean. When fully operational, the CPEC will enable China to transport Middle East oil and gas to China via a land route through Pakistan, thereby diminishing the threat of a US-Indian naval blockade in the Indian Ocean and cutting 16,000 km from the distance Chinese goods must travel to the Middle East and Africa.

China has also secured a rival military basing deal in Djibouti, and it is developing deep-water ports across the Indian Ocean, including with a 99-year lease on Hambantota port in southern Sri Lanka and the development of the Chittagong port in Bangladesh. It has also made major investments in the Maldives, including a development project that India claimed was in listening distance of its military bases.

The great-power tensions surging beneath the surface exploded into view this month, when it emerged that India might invade the Maldives to oust Chinese-backed President Abdulla Yameen. Beijing responded to reports that Indias military is ready for any eventuality in the Maldives, by urging all powers to respect state sovereignty. China's state-owned Global Times went considerably further, declaring in an editorial, China will not interfere in the internal affairs of the Maldives, but that does not mean Beijing will sit idly by if India breaks the principle. If India one-sidedly sends troops to the Maldives, China will take action to stop New Delhi.

Such conflicts underscore the explosive implications of Macron's decision to allow Indian forces onto French bases and Paris assertions that France is an Indian Ocean power. Any of a number of strategic rivalries or unresolved border conflicts in the Indian Ocean region could escalate into a global war between nuclear-armed powers including India, Pakistan, China, the United States and now France.

This also underscores the significance of the call by the German section of the International Committee of the Fourth International, the Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei, for the publication of agreements underlying the proposed conservative/social-democratic coalition government in Berlin that would work with Macron. Amid the relentless drive to war by the major powers, workers have a right to know what war plans are being formulated to advance the strategic and commercial interests of European imperialism.

Last November, Frances Ambassador to India, Alexandre Ziegler, boasted, We have a growing cooperation in the Indian Ocean, where both India and France have focal positions, and we are in the process of forming a defence and security partnership in the Indo-Pacific.

In this context, New Delhi has in recent years built up its air force and navy with the assistance of France. France has sold India six Scorpene submarines and 36 Rafale fighter jets, which are capable of carrying and firing nuclear weapons, for a cost of about 8 billion euros. France also conducts military exercises with India such as the Varuna (Navy), Garuda (Air Force), and Shakti (Army) exercises.

The two countries have formed a High Committee on Defence Cooperation, and top-ranking defence officials from both countries meet annually.

France, Indias 9th-largest investor, is putting billions of dollars in Indian armament, space, nuclear energy, railways, renewable energy and urban development projects. About 750 French companies, and 39 of the top 40 corporations in the French stock exchange, the so-called the CAC-40including Areva, Eurocopter, Dassault, Thales, Alstom, Safrane, Renault and SolaireDirectexploit the cheap labor available in India.Last week, federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents conducted raids across the Los Angeles metropolitan area in Southern California, arresting 212 people and serving notices of inspection to 122 businesses. The raids were carried out in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties.

Jennaya Dunlap, affiliated with the Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice (IC4IJ), told the Los Angeles Daily News that numerous phone calls were placed to her organization last week reporting arrests across San Bernardino and Riverside counties. One of those calls pertained to Fermin Garcia, a father of three US citizens living in Riverside. Garcia was arrested last Sunday and is already in the process of being deported, despite potentially having US citizenship rights through his father.

On its Facebook page, IC4IJ posted: ICE decided to deport Fermin Garcia today, despite the phone calls of support and his possible claim to citizenship. They did not allow his family to see him or even to leave money or belongings to take with him.

Atrocities such as this have become daily occurrences under the Trump administration, which has conspired with the Democratic Party to deepen the decades-long, bipartisan assault on immigrants. While the ICE raids were taking place last week, the Senate failed to pass multiple right-wing, bipartisan proposals for immigration reform.

Since President Donald Trump canceled the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program last September, the Democrats have sought to cover up their complicity in the assault on immigrants by posturing as defenders of the minority of undocumented immigrants who potentially qualified for the limited amnesty program enacted by executive order during the Obama administration. They comprise some 1.8 million out of an estimated total undocumented population of 11 million.

The Democratic-backed proposals for protecting DACA recipients are in essence reactionary, mandating a 10- to 12-year path to citizenship, a guarantee that could be rescinded at any time. During this extended time period, DACA recipients would be barred from receiving any social benefits and could face immediate deportation for the slightest criminal infraction.

Furthermore, the primary bill supported by the Democrats included measures to increase border militarization and boost funding for ICEs internal deportation apparatus by $25 billion. If a similar bill were to pass, it would facilitate and institutionalize ICEs policies of mass roundups, incarceration in detention centers and deportations. The Democratic-backed proposals would substantially increase the number of ICE and Border Patrol agents, forcing tens of thousands of workers fleeing poverty and repression bound up with US imperialist intervention to make the perilous trek across the desert, resulting in thousands more deaths.

Last month, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, representing the supposed left wing of the Democratic Party, summed up the attitude of the party when he declared: I dont think theres anybody who disagrees that we need strong border security. If the president wants to work with us to make sure we have strong border security, lets do that.

In its self-serving press release on the raids in Los Angeles, ICE claimed that 195 of those arrested were either convicted criminals, had been issued a final order of removal and failed to depart the United States, or had been previously removed from the United States and returned illegally.

ICE further claimed, More than 55 percent had prior felony convictions for serious or violent offenses, such as child sex crimes, weapons charges and assault, or had past convictions for significant or multiple misdemeanors.

Whether or not any crimes have been committed by those detained, the primary purpose of the immigration raids is to create an atmosphere of intense anxiety and fear across immigrant communities, and to whip up xenophobic sentiments within Trumps far-right base of support.

The dragnet operation in Southern California follows a similar audit of 77 businesses in cities across Northern California that took place two weeks ago, which themselves were believed to be the largest localized workplace raids since the election of Trump. Last week, there were reports that ICE similarly raided farms in the agricultural Central Valley region of the state, demanding documentation of all workers.

The raids represent the actualization of threats against the state by the fascistic ICE deputy director, Thomas Homan, in response to the passage last year of sanctuary state legislation, which went into effect at the start of the new year. The two billsThe California Values Act (SB54) and the Immigrant Worker Protection Act (AB450)place limited restrictions on the ability of state police and other state employees to coordinate with ICE in the arrest of immigrants. They also require employers to notify their employees within three days in the event that ICE conducts an inspection of their business.

Speaking to Fox News on January 1, Homan declared, California better hold on tight. Theyre about to see a lot more special agents, a lot more deportation officers in the state of California. If the politicians of California dont want to protect their communities, then ICE will. He called for the arrest of officials supporting sanctuary city policies, declaring, Weve got to start charging some of these politicians with crimes.

ICEs press release on the latest raids in Los Angeles quotes Homan blaming sanctuary city policies for the invasive character of the immigration raids: Because sanctuary jurisdictions like Los Angeles prevent ICE from arresting criminal aliens in the secure confines of a jail, our officers are forced to conduct at-large arrests in the community, putting officers, the general public and the aliens at greater risk and increasing the incidents of collateral arrests.

In response to the latest raids, Democratic Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti expressed disagreement over tactics, declaring, The administration should focus on people who have committed serious crimes or pose a threat to national security, rather than on separating hard-working families.Teachers, school employees and their supporters who attended a rally in Charleston, West Virginia on Saturday afternoon spoke to World Socialist Web Site reporters about their struggle against the state governments efforts to impose large increases in health care insurance charges and a real wage cut on education staff.

WSWS reporters also handed out several thousand copies of a statement published by the WSWS Teacher Newsletter.

The overall mood among workers was one of militancy and determination for a unified fight by the working class. Workers described the impact of decades of real wage cuts and the broader social crisis in the region, which has been devastated by a state-wide opioid epidemic. This is the legacy of more than 30 years of job destruction, particularly in the Appalachian coal mines, overseen by the trade unions. While the rally was used by the American Federation of Teachers-West Virginia and other unions to promote the Democratic Partys campaign in the November 2018 mid-term elections, many workers denounced both parties.

Daniel worked as an electrician for 26 years before starting as an electrical studies teacher last year in secondary and post-secondary education. He said, The politicians try to pit us against each other. They want us in a class system. They want black against whites and men against women. They try to use social programs to pit us against one another by saying: Youre working every day, and youre paying the bill for these people, and these people are on welfare and food stamps.

Daniel

Well theres a lot of people in this nation who are doing everything they can every day, and its not enough. Theres no reason why the working class of this nation is scrambling to eat.

Daniel added, It is ridiculous. We have a sitting governor Jim Justice who is West Virginias first billionaire. How did you get your billions? Off the backs of coal miners, and off the backs of people who came to your resort and worked.

West Virginia has horrible social conditions. Im from Fayette County. The five largest coal-producing counties in the state are the poorest counties. Why? Were mining more coal now than we were in the 1970s, with 150,000 men, but were doing it now with less than 15,000 people. Companies are getting more profits.

Dan is a retired teacher, and his daughter teaches at Kanawha County. I think its time for a general strike or protest, nationwide, because of so many things that are going on, he said. Theyre doing everything they can to loot everything that belongs to the public.

Trump is about to sell off public infrastructure. The roads being turned into toll roads. Theyre going to give away the national monument lands and allow for mining on that, and a trillion dollars worth of money from the treasury. I think its time for class warfare in the other direction.

Sheri

Sheri, a 25-year elementary school social studies teacher, said, The accusation about us leaving the kids behind in the classroom by threatening to strike, that were not fighting for the kids, is not true. The respect for teachers from our government has been less than nil. Im re-registering as an independent, because the Democrats and Republicans are the same.

Referring to the unions slogan of Remember in November, aimed at corralling workers behind the election of Democrats in the November 2018 mid-term elections, she commented: Why do we have to wait for an election to impeach them?

Belen, who has worked for 29 years as a sixth-grade math teacher at Washington Irving Middle School, attended the rally with her retired husband Dennis. Even the 1 or 2 percent [wage increase] they are talking about it not real, Belen said. We have been taking a net pay cut for the past few years, and they want us to keep taking that.

Dennis said: We went without raises for a long time. They said that we didnt get paid well, but we always had good benefits. Now they are taking that from us.

Belen and Dennis Hutson

I am a Republican, but all the politicians just care for the rich, he added. When the Republicans are in office, the Democrats will say they will do this and that, but when they get in they dont do it, and then the Republicans say they will do this and that.

Robin and Linda are service personnel in Braxton County, working as support staff in pre-kindergarten and kindergarten classrooms. Robin also works as an autism mentor. Poverty and the drug epidemic have contributed to the demand on schools to provide additional help for children with special needs like learning and behavioral disorders.

We are a pretty poor district, Linda said. Coal mines shut down, and we have nothing. Robin added, Unfortunately for our area we are probably one of the highest paid jobs, and that says a lot. Theres a lot of drug usage in our area as well; as a poor county, I think thats what people are turning to.

Robin (left) and Linda

Coal mine layoffs in Braxton County rose sharply in the last five years. My husband was a coal miner, Linda said. He got laid off and had to retirehe was forced into retirement. So I carry the insurance. Thats why we want it fixed, not frozen.

On the paltry one percent wage increase, she added, One percent is a slap in our face. I dont think were going to accept it, because its not a fix. Were going to be right back into this mess next year.

Kristal has worked as a school cook in Braxton County for 12 years. Its a real struggle from paycheck to paycheck, she said. You dont make $25,000 a year. You do what you have to do to make ends meet. Ninety percent of us in the kitchens do custodian work in the summer cleaning the rooms.

Kristal (left) and Stephanie

I could probably go to WalMart and make as good money. But I love the kids. I feel like I make a difference. But if they start cutting the health coverage, Im going to be in the negative.

Her co-worker Stephanie added: With PEIA [the Public Employees Insurance Agency], if our spouses make more money, theyre going to take more from the insurance. Its not fair.

Kristal commented: I think were all being taken by both parties. Whether youre white, black, yellow or green, were here for the same reason. We deserve better.A class gulf separates the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI) and its struggle against war from the parties who long dominated what passed for the left. These petty-bourgeois forces support militarism and play a major role in suppressing popular opposition to the drive to war. This reality is made clear by the endorsement by Jean-Luc Melenchon's Unsubmissive France (LFI) movement of Macron's new 300 billion military spending program for 2018-2024.

As Macron threatens to bomb Syria, Germany remilitarizes its foreign policy, and Washington threatens Russia and China, LFI is calling to build up the French war machine. In a press conference at the National Assembly, Melenchon and two other LFI deputies hailed the French army's demands that French President Emanuel Macron speed up his military spending increases. Their comments lay out the views of sections of the defense industry and ruling elite intent on building a military alliance with Berlin, funded on the backs of the workers.

Endorsing France's ongoing wars in its former colonial empire in Africa, LFI deputy Bastien Lachaud said, The state of the army is deplorable, because there has been chronic underinvestment in the armed forces under previous presidencies. We lost many soldiers, our weapons have gotten old and are no longer usable So yes, today we must invest in our weapons.

At the press conference, not a word was spoken on the consequences of the wars that are being prepared, or on the social impact of a military buildup on the working class. Macron is pledged to strict budgetary austerity and tax cuts for the rich; the billions to fund war are to be taken from social programs and from the workers. But Lachaud only called for increasing military spending faster.

What we do not like in this military planning law, he added, is that it tries to make everyone happyand so money is not necessarily put where we need it. And I remind you that [chief of the French armed forces] General [Pierre] de Villiers resigned last July in order to make clear that he needed an immediate increase, and so that the spending increases have to start at once, then spending can stabilize later on.

An army needs soldiers as well as weapons, and LFI deputy Alexis Corbiere spoke next to endorse Macron's call to reinstate the draft. Corbiere passed through several groups descended from renegades from Trotskyism, including Pierre Lambert's Movement for a Workers Party (MPPT) and the Pabloite Revolutionary Communist League (the New Anti-capitalist Party, NPA, today). He is also a member of the parliamentary commission planning Macron's reinstatement of the draft.

Addressing Macron's call for all youth to be drafted for 3 to 6 months, he criticized what he called Macron's careless treatment of his parliamentary committee and added vaguely that there are many contradictions between what will be done and what has been announced.

Corbiere went on to demand a longer mandatory military service period, claiming that this would reconcile the people and the army: For LFI's part, I recall what was in our program, A Future in Common, on which we ran our candidate in the presidential election. We support a mandatory citizens service lasting nine months, which would be the basis of a citizens' National Guard that would allow us to build back up the link between the Army and the Nation.

These statements are a vindication of the warnings made by the ICFI and its French section, the Parti de l'egalite socialiste (PES), about LFI and similar pro-war pseudo-left groups internationally. LFI was built as a trap for millions of people who voted for or participated in LFI's Internet membership drive and public events to support the presidential campaign of Jean-Luc Melenchon in 2017. They aimed to endorse LFI criticisms of the Socialist Party (PS) government, endless austerity in Europe, and imperialist crimes like Trump's unprovoked bombing of Syria last April.

LFI's criticisms were, however, tactical and fraudulent. LFI officials made such criticisms as petty-bourgeois, pro-imperialist supporters of war and the French army. And so Melenchon, who denounced Trump's bombing of Syria last year, was silent at the press conference about Macron's threat to bomb Syria last week. Instead, he, Corbiere and Lachaud endorsed French militarism as LFI aims to use millions of youth as cannon fodder in future wars.

The exposure of forces like LFI is a critical component of the ICFI's struggle against war. The political machines behind LFIthe faction of the PS that split off to form Melenchon's Left Party (PG), the Stalinist French Communist Party (PCF) and various split-offs from the NPAare cogs in the war propaganda machine, seeking to lull the population to sleep. The faction around Melenchon in particular specializes in downplaying the war danger and covering their militarist policies with reactionary populist attacks on America.

When Melenchon spoke at the press conference, he tried to distance LFI from Macron by criticizing Macron as a tool of Washington's war drive against Russia and China. He criticized Macron's military budget, declaring, We open it to page 1 and we find that the latest statement tells us that the true enemies we have on the planet are the Russians and the Chinese. Well, that's not good news, because we do not agree. We think that this has not been proven, that this is only aligned on the gesticulations of the United States of America to maintain their global preeminence.

He added, There is a rise of tensions, planned and orchestrated by the United States of America and the military coalition it leads, which is NATO, that we have raised alarms about here several times. The logic of the Military Budget Bill and of the thinking of all France's current political leaders follows in the footsteps of Trumpism.

Melenchon is downplaying the danger of war, even as his organization rushes headlong into arming the French military.

Washington is not orchestrating mere gesticulations. US imperialism is desperately seeking to resolve an objective crisis of world capitalism by threatening, and possibly launching, all-out war, with Trump threatening fire and fury as the world has never seen against North Korea on the anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. Twenty-five years of escalating economic rivalry and imperialist wars since the Stalinist dissolution of the Soviet Union have culminated in a political collapse of the post-war capitalist geopolitical order.

The same conflicts between global production and the nation-state system that erupted twice in the 20th century into social revolution and world war are again at explosive levels. Trying to counteract its rivals' growing economic strength with military power, Washington is threatening Russia, Iran, North Korea and Chinawars that would entail mass casualties and, all but inevitably, the use of nuclear weapons. Or, as Britain's Economist wrote last month, Conflict on a scale and intensity not seen since the second world war is once again plausible. The world is not prepared.

The central task posed to workers and youth is to alert the working class to the imminence of the war danger and to unite workersin America, in Europe, and internationallyin struggle against it. The question that must be posed to Macron and other NATO heads of state is: what are the consequences of the wars they are preparing? If, as President Francois Hollande said in 2015, total war with Russia is now a danger, how many nuclear bombs may go off over major cities in Europe and internationally, and how many people could lose their lives?

Instead, Melenchon attacks Macron, claiming that he is aligned with Trump. In fact, it is not so much Macron who is aligned on Trump, but Melenchon who is aligned on Macron. Macron has, of course, echoed US criticisms of Russia and China in his budget bill, and there is a real danger that France may, as part of NATO, attack Russia and China. But Melenchon speaks very directly for other, powerful sections of the ruling class in France, including in the Macron administration, who are looking for a different policy.

Melenchon's demands for closer ties to Moscow and Beijing and for an independent foreign policy echo Macron's calls for closer commercial and strategic ties with Russia, his cordial trip to China last month, and his attempt to build an independent EU military around a Berlin-Paris axis. This has led to worried remarks by NATO and US officials that the EU military plan could splinter the military alliance between America and Europe.

Or, as Corbiere put it, We want to leave NATO, now more than ever. Because we do not share the interests of the United States. And it is the United States that dominates that military alliance. They have, as you know, a $600 billion budget for military spending, 700 military bases around the world, and in reality the military-industrial complex controls the American economy.

These are, however, simply jealous criticisms made from the standpoint of a rival imperialist power. All the organizations inside LFI rejected Marxism and the working class many decades ago, sealing alliances with the Socialist Party (PS), a big-business party founded after the 1968 general strike. Over the decades, they adapted their Stalinist or petty-bourgeois rhetoric ever more directly to their close ties with the army, the banks, and the super-richincluding, in the case of LFI, Melenchon's friendship with defense contractor and aerospace multibillionaire Serge Dassault.

And so, at the same press conference where Corbiere denounced the US military-industrial complex and its vast financial resources, Lachaud included a shameless plug for the French army to buy Dassault's Rafale fighter jet, which he insisted is better than the Eurofighter.

There is deep opposition to war among workers across Europe and the world, and particularly in the United States. In France, opposition is rising rapidly among workers to the attacks on basic social rights through which Macron plans to fund his military buildup. This social force is the material basis of the ICFI's struggle to build an antiwar, anti-capitalist and socialist movement in the international working class. An essential political prerequisite of such a movement is a struggle against the nationalist and petty-bourgeois outlook promoted by LFI.The announcement Friday by the US Department of Justice that a federal grand jury has returned criminal indictments against 13 Russian citizens and three Russian companies, charging illegal activities in the 2016 US presidential election, has become the occasion for a barrage of war propaganda in the American corporate media.

Leading the charge is the New York Times, which published a front-page news lead Sunday, authored by Peter Baker. The article was published online Saturday evening under the headline, Trumps Conspicuous Silence Leaves a Struggle Against Russia Without a Leader. In the newspapers print edition, the struggle was upgraded to a war  being fought on the American side without a commander in chief.

The indictments, the Times argues, underscored the broader conclusion by the American government that Russia is engaged in a virtual war against the United States through 21st-century tools of disinformation and propaganda. It noted that only a few days ago, the Trump administration formally blamed Russia for an expansive cyberattack last year called NotPetya and threatened unspecified international consequences.

Given that the US government has just issued a series of strategy documents that, among other conclusions, suggest that a significant cyberattack on the United States could justify retaliation with nuclear weapons, the implications of the argument put forward on the front page of the Times are chilling: What cyberattack could be more significant than an effort to hijack the US presidential election? By the logic of the leading newspaper of record, the US government would be justified in responding militarily to an alleged Russian election operation.

What is propounded in the media coverage is a conspiracy theory to end all conspiracy theories. The New York Times, the Washington Post, and much of the media are espousing paranoid views that were once associated with the John Birch Society, which notoriously claimed that President Dwight Eisenhower was a card-carrying member of the Communist Party.

This supposed conspiracy is described in breathless terms in media accounts: sophisticated, massive, of breathtaking scope, one with tentacles that reached deeply into American political life. Even if one accepts the facts of the indictment as allegedand that is hardly a legitimate assumption, given the capacity of the FBI and other intelligence agencies for fabricationnothing in the indictment comes close to supporting what is being claimed by the Times and other media outlets.

The 37-page document details an alleged operation of individuals in Russia to establish false identities on social media platforms and use them to influence political discussion in the US during the election. Conspicuously absent is any indication of direct Russian government involvement in the operation, which was funded by a Russian multimillionaire. Nor is there any claim that the Trump campaign collaborated with the activities of the Russian operatives, or that these activities had any impact on the course of the election.

Only two Russians actually traveled to the United States, visiting several states for what is described in the indictment, with inadvertent humor, as intelligence-gathering on the US political scene. The total resources for the effort, under $15 million, could not pay for a serious campaign in a single major US state, let alone influence a presidential election on which billions of dollars were being expended by the Democrats and Republicans.

The claim that this half-baked operation played any significant role in the outcome of the election is an absurdity. There were ample reasons for tens of millions of Americans, particularly working people, to be hostile to the campaign of Hillary Clinton, the favorite of Wall Street and the Pentagon. She ran a campaign of complacency and entitlement promising nothing to those suffering after eight years of supposed economic recovery under the Obama administration. That a section of working people, in desperation, cast their votes for Trump only testifies to the reactionary blind alley of the corporate-controlled two-party system.

One fact in the indictment is of genuine significance: the operation began in April 2014. This was well before Donald Trump was on anyones campaign radar screen except perhaps his own, and only a month after the right-wing US-backed political coup in Ukraine, which mobilized fascist mobs in the streets of Kyiv to drive an elected pro-Russian president out of office and replace him with an American stooge.

The Ukraine operation was the culmination of a decades-long effort costing an estimated $5 billion, according to Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland. In other words, the supposed Russian operation in the US election was, if anything, a pinprick response to the devastating US attack on Russian influence in Ukraine, a country with long historical and ethnic ties to Russia, and with a large minority of its population speaking Russian at home.

The primary purpose of the indictment was to provide the media with a flimsy basis for headlines screaming about a massive operation by Russia to undermine American democracy.

What is fueling this campaign? First, there is the effort to condition the population for war with Russia.

The Times and the Democratic Party are acting as the media and political spokesmen for a section of the US military-intelligence apparatus that objects to any turning away from the ferociously anti-Russian axis of US foreign policy established during the second term of the Obama administration.

The US military-intelligence apparatus is escalating its anti-Russian military provocations, most recently with an airstrike against Russian forces in Syria, apparently the most significant loss of life in a US-Russia conflict in history. The very fact that the Putin regime has downplayed the incident is an indication of its fears that this could become the spark for a much wider conflagration.

Second, there is the effort to present all social opposition within the United States as the product of Russian operations. The ruling class is terrified of the mounting social tensions within the United States. It is this fear that is motivating the extremely rapid moves to censor the Internet and suppress free speech.

The same issue of the Times that claims Russia is at war with the United States carried an attack on Facebook, headlined, To Stir Discord in 2016, Russians Turned Most Often to Facebook. According to the Times, Russia used the most widely used social media platform to foment political and social discontent in the United States. The implication: Facebook must implement even more aggressive censorship methods.

It would be fatally wrong to underestimate the right-wing character of the political conceptions being propounded by the Times and Democrats through the anti-Russian campaign. In the 20th century, only dictatorial regimes were able to get away with lying on the scale now being carried out by the advocates of the anti-Russia narrative. But Hitlers big lie and Stalins doctoring of history are the political forerunners of the campaign being waged by the intelligence agents who work in the guise of editors and journalists at the Times.Rail drivers, maintenance workers and others employed in Australian and New Zealand public transport industries participated in a wide-ranging online discussion, organised by the Socialist Equality Party on February 11.

The event, which generated animated contributions from those participating, was the first industrial call-in online meeting hosted by the SEP in Australia. It was convened to discuss the political issues facing rail workers in New South Wales (NSW), who are currently involved in a long-running and bitter enterprise agreement dispute over wages, working conditions and jobs, along with further government steps towards the privatisation of public transport.

Currently, the Rail Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) and other public transport unions are enforcing a Fair Work Commission ruling, issued in late January, outlawing all industrial action by rail workers. The union has shut down comments on its Facebook page and refused to call any mass meetings, even as it continues its back-room negotiations with rail management.

Warwick, a former longstanding worker at Comeng, an engineering company that used to design and build railway locomotives, rolling stock and trams, chaired the meeting and welcomed those in attendance.

WSWS journalist Oscar Grenfell delivered the opening report, which included a detailed overview of the NSW rail dispute. He explained that the RTBU, together with the state and federal governments and the Labor Party opposition, was determined to prevent it from becoming the focus of a broader movement of public sector and other workers in defence of jobs, wages and conditions.

Events of the past days, he said, have underscored the correctness of the warnings made by the Socialist Equality Party, that the RTBU is doing everything it can to strike a sell-out deal that will accelerate the privatisation of the rail network and the attacks on rail workers.

The RTBU has touted the fact that the latest management offer supposedly includes a pay rise of 3 percent per annum. This does not even begin to keep up with the soaring cost of living. In 2017, average electricity costs increased by 12.4 percent, education costs by 4.1 percent, health insurance by 4 percent, general health care costs by 5.4 percent and petrol by 10 percent.

And the government has made clear that any wage increase above the 2.5 percent public sector pay cap will be paid for with productivity savingsthat is, more attacks on conditions. State premier Gladys Berejiklian confirmed on Thursday that the meagre wage rise was being offered in order to push through even more job cuts.

Grenfell commented on two previous enterprise agreementsthe 2008 deal with the former Labor government, which axed 417 rail jobs, and the 2014 agreement, which imposed $20 million in annual spending cuts and created the conditions for some 500 station staff jobs to be eliminated.

These betrayals were a continuation of decades of sell-outs, including the close collaboration between the RTBU and Labor governments from 1996 to 2011, which saw thousands of railway jobs destroyed, maintenance facilities and depots closed and the privatisation of state-funded freight services.

This record, Grenfell said, demonstrated that workers could not take a single step forward within the framework of the union. They had to establish new, democratically controlled organisations of struggle based on a socialist perspective.

Pat, a rail freight driver, responded strongly to this assessment, explaining the unions divisive role at his workplace. The RTBU does not unite workers on an industry basis, but splits them from workplace to workplace. Sometimes depots that are almost working next to each other will be working on totally different conditions, he said.

For employees who do the same jobs and face the same risks, and who ultimately have the same intereststhat is decent paid fulltime workthe system is a sham. Its a legal hoop-jumping exercise that the RTBU is happy to participate in.

When the company doesnt get its way, the RTBU relies on the Fair Work Commission to prevent industrial action from occurring. When the company and the union come up with a new agreement, they tour to the different depots to sell it. Nothing really changes in a process in which workers have no say.

Chris, a Melbourne-based locomotive driver with a private rail freight operator, was the next to speak. Workers in the freight industry face seriously deteriorating conditions, he said.

Your employment comes and goes, depending on the company winning freight contracts, and there is a constant bidding war between private operators for the haulage of freight. This places workersnot just in my company but, in particular, for those employed with the smaller freight companiesin compromised and dangerous situations.

Metro Trains in Melbourne, he continued, is attempting to push through as many drivers through their training schemes as quickly as possible. And the union, in conjunction with Metro Trains, has sped up the process, dumbing it down to the point where training consists of sitting in front of a video screen and answering a few questions.

These processes had been apparent throughout his working life, he said, particularly in Victoria where public transport had been fully privatised.

In every case the unions only function has been to make sure they are involved in the process. In 1993, when Victorias Kennett Liberal government was implementing massive restructuring, the unions slogan was Negotiate, not dictate, and they certainly negotiated. One ex-union official openly stated that the union found $139 million in cuts for the state government.

Len, who works in the private maintenance sector of the railways, said that there had been annual redundancies for the past four years at his company and that this was facilitated by the union. The unions always make sure the job cuts demanded by management are implemented. He went on to say that the union was continuing to work hand in hand with the company, as it sought to drive down costs and retain future maintenance contracts under a future privatised sytem.

When workers raised serious safety issues on the shop floor, he said, their complaints were either ignored or dismissed.

The company has done air toxicity samples around the site and found that the levels are outside the guidelines for clean air. The results have been ignored and the union has failed to hold any meetings in relationship to the samples, which clearly indicate that we are literally being poisoned at work, he said.

Terry Cook, a retired NSW railway worker and founding member of the Socialist Labour League, the forerunner of the SEP, reviewed some of his experiences at the state-owned Elcar railway workshop in Chullora, where he worked from 1976 until 1991.

Cook said the current conditions facing workers in Australia were the product of an historical assault by the Hawke and Keating Labor governments extending from 1983 to 1996. Under the ALP-ACTU Accords, these governments deregulated the economy and created the conditions for the sacking of thousands of workers in every basic industry.

What was carried out by the Reagan administration against the US working class in the late 1970s and early 1980s was implemented here by the Labor governments, Cook said.

This involved the dismantling, disciplining and smashing up of the most militant sections of the working class, a task that was carried out by the so-called left unions under the control of the Stalinist Communist Party

Young people coming into the workforce today need to know this history, and about the situation that existed when my generation entered the workforce. Today there is no framework for democratic discussion in the unions, or in your workplace, to talk about your conditions, wages and jobs.

Cook warned that it was not possible to rebuild the unions to serve workers interests. These were no longer workers organisations in any sense, he said, but thoroughly corporatised institutions that defended the capitalist profit system. You cant bring life back into a corpse, which is in an advanced stage of putrefaction, he added.

Chris, a rail worker from New Zealand, recounted some of his experiences with the Rail and Maritime Trade Union (RMTU) and Transdev, a French multinational company, which operates public transport systems in Wellington and Auckland. They were remarkably similar to those of his Australian counterparts at the meeting.

Tom Peters, a WSWS journalist in New Zealand, pointed to the divide and rule methods used by the RMTU and stressed the necessity for the unification of Australian and New Zealand workers. He explained that there were currently two public transport disputes with Transdev, which involved attacks on jobs, wages and working conditions.

These disputes were happening simultaneously, he explained, and there was enormous anger among workers. But the RMTU opposed any united action by its members.

The union is determined to keep these dispute separate, despite the fact that it is the same employer in both cities, and the same union. These attacks are being overseen by Labour Party controlled councils.

Peters reviewed the record of the unions collaboration with the Labour government during the 1990s, when thousands of rail workers jobs were destroyed and the entire rail network was privatised. The unions, which insisted that workers had to remain tied to the Labour Party, prevented any struggle against this onslaught by the Labor government, he said.

Summing up the broad-ranging discussion, SEP national secretary James Cogan noted the similarity of the political experiences of those participating. This reflected, he said, the growing determination of workers internationally to fight, the retrogressive role played by the unions, and the political problems confronting the working class.

Workers in NSW rail and elsewhere had demonstrated their determination to fight, Cogan declared. However, what was necessary, he insisted, was the establishment of independent rank-and-file organisations, democratically controlled and based on an understanding that the source of the problem facing the working class was the capitalist profit system itself, and the necessity for a workers government, based on a socialist program.

Todays meeting, he said, represents an important beginning in what we envisage will be the framework for an ongoing discussion on political perspective; on how workersnot just in rail, but in every industrycan defend their jobs, living standards and basic rights.The Puerto Rico Investment Summit took place in San Juan on February 12 and 13. This fifth annual conference of investors and financial interest groups was originally scheduled for last October, but was postponed as a consequence of Hurricane Maria. The summit was first set up in 2013 to deal with the islands debt crisis in the wake of favorable tax legislation (Actas 20 and 22) to attract what it calls resident investors, wealthy settlers, and new capitalist investments.

Oblivious to the hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans who have lost their homes and jobs, the as yet unknown number of deaths from the storm and the 65,000 who have been forced to seek refuge in Florida, New York and other parts of the US, the participants flocked to the summit as an opportunity to discuss both how to profit from this human tragedy and protect their speculative assets from US taxes.

This is certainly the case for crypto currency speculators that are actively looking for homes in the historic Old San Juan section of Puerto Ricos capital city. The Puerto Rican administration of Governor Ricardo Rossello has made it clear that it fully supports and will facilitate the importation of wealthy individuals by transforming Puerto Rico into a tax haven for these and other financial and real estate speculators and other potential money launderers.

Addressing the conference were over 40 speakers representing the elite of finance, insurance executives, real estate speculators, hedge and vulture fund managers, members of the unelected Fiscal Oversight Board of Puerto Rico, and government figures.

On Junuary 3, Manuel Laboy Rivera, Puerto Ricos secretary of economic development and commerce, published an opinion piece headlined: 2018: Starting down Puerto Ricos road to economic prosperity.

Laboy celebrated that more than 1,000 new resident investors already relocated to Puerto Rico and are benefiting from recent policy changes, amounting to more than $500 million in assets held in Puerto Rico and allegedly creating two and a half jobs per investor.

To investors interested in joining Puerto Ricos economic transformation by establishing or relocating their companies in Puerto Rico, we invite you to learn more about the many unique business opportunities that Puerto Rico offers and the ways that they can be a part of Puerto Ricos bright future. 

Laboy also promised a speedy economic recovery for Puerto Rico, as a tax haven, supposedly because our paradise performs.

Brenda Gonzalez, president of this years summit, more concretely described the themes of this years summitnamely, to promote renewable energy and blockchain technologies (which manage Bitcoin transactions).

Endorsing the view that the savage devastation caused by Hurricane Maria has become a source of profit-making opportunities, Gonzalez declared: In the end, it has been very interesting because we have been able to work on new approaches that were not contemplated in the beginning of 2017.

In his speech at the summit, Jose Carrion III, a wealthy insurance mogul and president of the Fiscal Oversight Board, made it crystal clear that the Oversight Board intended to force Puerto Rico to pay a reasonable and substantial part of its $70 billion fiscal debt and additional unfunded pension liabilities of $50 billion.

Carrion made reference to the $17 billion appropriation for Puerto Rico recently approved in disaster fundinga pittance compared to the estimated $95 billion rebuilding needs of the islandand warned that Puerto Rico could not expect to be free of debt payments or that the federal government would solve Puerto Ricos significant problems. The significant damages caused by Hurricane Maria include destroyed roads, bridges, sewers, water systems and electricity, along with the ruin of some 75,000 homes and severe damage to 300,000 others.

To revive the economy, Carrion also demanded a draconian labor reform, the slashing of welfare benefits, and continuing corporate tax cuts and subsidies. We are aware that some reforms are not political palatable, he said.

In truth, the Oversight Board has broad powers to unilaterally impose many of the reforms that Carrion calls for. The rules that established the Fiscal Control Board under the Democratic Party administration of President Obama, the PROMESA Act, give it broad powers. One of its subsections, Title V, grants the board the right to privatize government assets and public services, such the Electric Energy Authority, airports, public buildings and roads. It has the power to impose those and other measures, regardless of the environmental or any other impacts, as evidenced by its recent decision to build the Arecibo incineration plant, despite governor Rossellos opposition.

Under the terms of Title V, people are only allowed 30 days to question or oppose the decisions of the Oversight Board, allowing very little time to alert, let alone rally opposition to its decisions.

While the financial elites discussed how best to take advantage of the opportunity provided by Hurricane Maria, the island lurched into yet another crisis.

On February 16, the Fiscal Oversight Board announced that the Electric Power Authority (PREPA) now faces a shutdown from lack of operating funds and was requesting an immediate $300 million loan to continue operating through March 2018. The announcement came shortly after a federal judge had denied a $1 billion loan to PREPA on the grounds that neither the Oversight Board nor the Puerto Rican government had provided sufficient evidence to justify the loan.

Without the loan, and given the potential risk to its operations, we have no other responsible option than to begin implementing a limited operational emergency plan, declared Ernesto Sgroi, president of PREPAs governing board. We fear this setback will result in the exacerbation of human hardship since potable water, power for medical procedures, communications, and open schools are at risk of disappearing again.

Before dawn Friday, the governing board filed the scaled-back loan request and said Puerto Rico will have to further reduce power generation and personnel if it does not obtain the funds by Tuesday. It also said that the power authority is in jeopardy and that $300 million would allow the utility to operate only until late March.

Gov. Ricardo Rossello, in Philadelphia, requested that the US Treasury Department release a separate billion-dollar loan that Congress approved in October for disaster recovery efforts, as officials warn the Puerto Rican government is running out of money.

This is an urgent situation, he said. If the power goes out in Puerto Rico, if theres an inability to buy fuel, it is a humanitarian crisis.

If there is no loan by this Tuesday, Oversight Board officials indicated that PREPA would have to lay off employees and curtail generation of electricity.

PREPA authorities, meanwhile, announced the rationing of electricity beginning this Sunday, dialing down its production and causing rolling blackouts and brownouts. This latest crisis takes place as 400,000 Puerto Ricans still have no electricity five months after Maria wiped out the islands electric system.Thousands of teachers, other public employees and their supporters rallied Saturday in Charleston, West Virginia to demand a wage increase and protest soaring health care costs. Fearful that the immense anger of teachers could get out of their control, the West Virginia teachers unions announced a two-day walkout on Thursday and Friday.

A section of the rally in Charleston, West Virginia

This weekends protest is the latest expression of working-class anger over social inequality throughout the US and internationally. There are many signs of mounting opposition among teachers, students and workers in the US to the decades-long assault on working conditions and on public education.

Students at high schools in Kiefer and Tulsa, Oklahoma walked out of class this week to demand pay increases for their teachers, who have not had a raise in a decade. Teachers in Phoenix, Arizona carried out sickouts last week to protest threatened pay cuts, and more than 2,300 teachers, paraprofessionals and clerical-technical staff in Pittsburgh voted last week to authorize a strike over class sizes and demand support for early childhood teachers.

Since early February, teachers across West Virginia have been carrying out countywide walkouts and other protests over an insulting one percent per year salary increase proposed by the Republican-controlled state legislature. Neither the Republican proposal nor the Democratic alternative for a three-percent increase would cover rising healthcare costs, resulting in an effective cut in pay.

After the rally, Dale Lee, president of West Virginia Education Association (WVEA) and Christine Campbell, president of the American Federation of Teachers-West Virginia (AFT-WV), announced plans for the statewide walkout. The teachers will also be joined by school service personnel who authorized a strike by an overwhelming margin last week.

The unions have done everything they can to dissipate anger through limited strikes and encouraging dependence on the governor and the state legislature. If the WVEA and AFT-WV were forced to call a limited walkout, it is because there is a deep sentiment among teachers and public employees to fight even in the face of the states laws, which prohibit public employee strikes. If the walkouts happen, they will mark the first statewide job action by teachers since the 1990 strike against Democratic Governor Gaston Caperton, over what was then a 10 percent wage increase offer.

Zelda, a cook at Mingo Central High School, told the World Socialist Web Site, We are here because of our insurance. We are mostly concerned about the PEIA [Public Employees Insurance Agency]. If you go into a hospital even one time, you are in bad shape. With just a one or even three percent pay increase we still end up losing money. It is making it hard to survive.

We live in Mingo County, the heart of what they call the billion-dollar coalfield. My daughter asked me, If we are in the billion-dollar coalfield, why doesnt Williamson have skyscrapers? Why do we have so many people living poverty? We have allowed these coal companies to come in and rape and rob all of our land, kill our men, and we got nothing in return. They left nothing for the community but destitution.

West Virginia teachers, who are among the lowest-paid in the country, have been pushing for a significant wage increase and the full funding of the PEIA. The states billionaire coal boss governor, Jim Justice, a Democrat-turned-Republican, and the state legislature have steadfastly opposed any significant improvement in wages while proposing a battery of reactionary measures, including attacking seniority and lowering qualifications for new teachers.

The unions hope that the announced walkouts will be enough to tamp down anger and redirect energy behind the Democratic Party in the 2018 midterms. Campbell declared that the planned walkout is a warning to legislators to do your jobs, or well vote you out.

Throughout Saturdays event, the unions were desperate to present Democratic lawmakers as allies of teachers. The reality is that the Democrats have overseen state politics for most of the last century and have starved public education of resources even as they showered tax cuts and other incentives on the coal mining and energy interests that control the state.

Nationally, the AFT and National Education Association (NEA) were among the most determined supporters of the Obama administration, which expanded charter schools and victimized teachers for the crisis of public education in the US.

The rally platform was stacked with state union executives as well as representatives of the national unions, including Mary Cathryn Ricker, executive vice president of the AFT, and Becky Pringle, vice president of the NEA. They delivered one demagogic speech after another but put forward no concrete demands.

The United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) provided security for the event with marshals dressed in camouflage and with yellow bandanas around their necks. The UMWAs secretary-treasurer Levi Allen was brought on stage to posture as a defender of teachers and staunch opponent of Justice. The union endorsed Justice in 2015 when he campaigned for governor as a Democrat, claiming that he was one of the good coal operators.

Many teachers expressed concern about changes to the states health insurance plans and rising healthcare costs. Under the current proposal, the PEIA would consider an entire familys income when calculating costs, resulting in a significant increase in costs for many teachers and other public workers.

Justin, a marketing employee who came to support his wife, a teacher, explained: What PEIA would do, if Im on her insurance, she would go from paying $80 per month to $360. So imagine trying to have a family on your insurance.

The government hasnt done anything at all for us. Theyre cutting education; theyre getting rid of work protections. Both parties have back pockets, and we all see that. The whole two-party system thing is a joke. They have the same policies. Theyre controlled by the same interest groups, the rich. Ive been angry since Bush. Even Obama, he doubled the drone strikes. He didnt do what he said he would.

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[16 February 2018]The United States has taken a further step toward trade war, with significant military overtones. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross announced last Friday that he has sent a range of options to President Donald Trump for the imposition of tariffs and other restrictions on imports of steel and aluminium.

Ross released details of long-awaited investigations conducted under section 232 of the 1962 Trade Expansion Act, which allows the president to impose restrictions on imports deemed to impact on national security without congressional approval.

Ross said separate inquiries into both metals launched last year found that import surges in recent years threaten to impair our national security. He recommended global tariffs of 24 percent on steel and 7.7 percent on aluminium.

A large portion of steel comes from Canada and other strategic allies, which would be hit by a global tariff. So other options are being considered to target China and other countries, such as Brazil and Vietnam. The latter is regarded as a third country exporter of Chinese steel to the US. A third option being considered is to reduce imports of the metals from all countries to well below the levels reached in 2017.

The recommendations now go to the White House, with Trump having until April to make a final decision.

Ross last week suggested that Trump could adopt a more surgical approach, which would see a 53 percent levy introduced on steel from a list of 12 countries that includes China, Russia, India and South Korea, but would allow exemptions for close allies like Japan, Germany and Canada.

The imposition of trade restrictions is fraught with conflicts, not only with the exporting countries, but also with sections of industry in the US that use imports of aluminium and steel to keep their costs down.

Trump addressed this issue in a meeting with members of Congress last week. He claimed imposing tariffs would create a lot of jobs, brushing aside concerns that it would raise costs for many companies and cut jobs. At the same time, he pointed to the military implications of the move, especially as regards China.

I want to keep prices down but I also want to make sure that we have a steel industry and an aluminium industry and we do need that for national defence, Trump said. If we ever have a conflict we dont want to be buying steel [from] a country we are fighting.

Although China is relatively well down the list of exporters of aluminium and steel to the USfourth in the former and eleventh in the latterthe US commerce department maintains that Chinas increased production of both metals in recent years has depressed international prices.

Trumps strongest base of support in the US is drawn from the trade union bureaucracy and steel and aluminium companies that have been pushing for actiontheir shares rose sharply on Friday. US Steel shares rose by as much as 16 percent, the biggest jump since late 2016.

United Steelworkers union president Leo Gerard welcomed the move. These recommendations have the potential to focus on the bad actors in the world that historically and systematically cheat in international trade, he said. We applaud that approach.

However, other business groups are concerned that the measures will have an adverse impact, both because they will raise costs in the US and lead to retaliatory action by other countries.

According to National Trade Foreign Council president Rufus Yerxa, the tariff measures could be a major problem for a lot of industries and could set a dangerous precedent for other countries to impose trade restrictions in the name of national security.

The Financial Times quoted former senior US trade official John Veroneau who said the move was not about national security. Instead, section 232 is simply being used as a pretext for good old-fashioned protectionism.

Rosss announcement saw a firm, but, so far measured, response from China. The director of the commerce ministrys trade remedy and investigation bureau, Wang Hejun, said the US, the worlds biggest steel importer, was overprotective of its output. He warned of the implications of the latest moves.

The spectrum of national security is very broad, Wang said. Without a clear definition, it could easily be abused. If every country followed the US on this, it would have serious ramifications on the international trading order. If the final decision from the US hurts Chinas interests, we will certainly take necessary measures to protect our legitimate rights.

Chinese retaliation could include action within the World Trade Organisation (WTO) or specific measures directed against US exports of agricultural products to China.

Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation president Huo Jianguo said, although broad trade war is unlikely, China could make moves on single products.

Earlier this month, China launched an anti-dumping investigation into sorghum imports from the US, saying they were being sold at below market prices in order to undercut Chinese producers.

In a sign of growing tit-for-tat conflicts, the Chinese inquiry was launched after the Trump administration imposed new tariffs on solar panels made in China and on washing machines.

The Japanese authorities remained tight-lipped. Yasuki Komiyama, the director of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry metal industries division, said exports of steel and aluminium did not pose a threat to US national security. It was an issue within the US government, nothing had yet been decided and therefore the Japanese government doesnt have any further comment.

However, Kobe Steel warned there could be ramifications. If the measures were enacted, it would be difficult for the industry to avoid any impact, according to a company official.

South Koreas trade ministry met with steel industry officials the day after the announcement, issuing a statement saying it would reach out to the US before any final decision was made.

Announcing the move, Ross acknowledged that other nations could respond in kind, but this did not deter him. We believe  that this is a perfectly valid interpretation of our national security, he told reporters in a conference call.

As to whether there will be a challenge, it wouldnt surprise us of there were. Anytime you do something that affects a number of countries, the likelihood is that they will bring a WTO action or take other measures.Organizers of an annual service for remembrance and action against gun violence never thought it would occur in the aftermath of another mass shooting.

On Sunday, the Galilee Baptist Church was full of people who have lost loved oneS to gun violence. The service began with a moment of silence for the victims of the recent Florida school shooting , though it didn't stay silent for long. One by one, people approached the microphone to say the names of their loved ones who were killed in incidents of gun violence.

"What we see in Florida, what we've seen in Texas, what we've seen in our churches and schools, it's senseless. It's senseless," Dr. Michael T. Scott Sr., the pastor at Galilee, tells FOX 17.

Rick Omilian and his wife lost their daughter, Maggie Wardle, in 1999, when her ex-boyfriend asked her to his dorm room at Kalamazoo College, became upset and shot her before killing himself. It happened just after the shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado.

"No one should know what I know. No one should feel this," Omilian tells FOX 17.

Maggie's ex-boyfriend, Neenef Odah, legally purchased the shotgun for hunting.

"We have to understand where he was at and what could be done to prevent gun violence," Omilian says. "And it happens each time in these incidents: Somebody knows that someone's at risk, in stress, aggressive and angry, and they get a gun, and there are points where we can do something to change the outcome."

Now Omilian and his wife belong to Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America and other advocacy groups that focus on preventing gun and domestic violence.

"I think what people want to see is more universal background checks, help for those that are mentally ill, trying to keep guns out of the wrong hands," Dr. Scott tells FOX 17. "That's, I think, the gist of what we want to see; not about taking anyone else's rights, but thinking about those persons who are gonna do harm to others. It's just senseless."

Dr. Scott says he hopes more people will put the right to life above the right to own a gun.

"We need to rise up and speak up to the issue," Dr. Scott said during the service. "I'm not talking about thoughts and prayers, I'm not talking about cute little tweets and texts. We've got to take it to Capitol Hill, take it to Lansing."

There is a nationwide school walk out planned for students on March 14, exactly one month after the shooting in Parkland, Florida. It's being organized by the leaders of the Women's March. Another walk out is slated for April 20, which will be the 19th anniversary of the Columbine shooting. These walk outs are meant to make a statement to lawmakers that legislation be passed to prevent another shooting.

A March for Our Lives protest will be held in Washington D.C. on March 24.CHICAGO (AP) - Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner has granted six petitions for clemency and denied 14 others.

The Republican's office announced the clemencies on Friday.

The petitions granted were for crimes including retail theft, burglary, battery and forgery. Some of the cases are decades old. In half of the cases, the offenders were sentenced to probation.

People whose clemency petitions are granted may go to court to try to have their criminal record expunged. All have undergone a recent criminal background check through an Illinois law enforcement data system.

Rauner announced last year that he'd eliminated a backlog of thousands of clemency requests he inherited from previous governors.

He's gone through nearly two dozen sets of petition since taking office in 2015.

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.KNOX COUNTY, Ind. (WTHI) - The Knox County Sheriff's Department is putting out an internet fire, after social media posts emerged that students in the county were being threatened with violence.

Knox County Sheriff, Mike Morris said Monday that the social media post originated in Knox County, Kentucky and no credible threats were ever received in Knox County, Indiana.

Morris stated, "We received information from a Knox County (IN) School Resource Officer that a threat had been posted on social media."

Within 20 minutes of receiving the initial report, Detective Mike Fisher was able to discredit the threat. Morris further confirmed, authorities in Kentucky had arrested at least two people in connection with the incident.

"Detective Mike Fisher made contact with Kentucky authorities, who confirmed this," Morris said, "As of right now there is no threat in Knox County, Indiana."

Morris added that even with the threat being out of state, his department continues to work with county schools to ensure student safety.

"By no means is the Sheriff's Department dropping its guard," he stated.TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - Florida could stay brighter longer each fall and winter under a bill passed by the state House.

The House voted 103-11 to approve the bill to ask Congress to let Florida remain in Daylight Saving Time all year, meaning while the rest of the Eastern United States sets their clocks back in the fall, Florida wouldn't.

Republican Rep. Heather Fitzenhagen said it would help tourism and give families more daylight time together after work. She said, "We are the Sunshine State, so we want to have more Sunshine."

Congress would need to amend existing federal law to allow the change.

The Senate version of the bill also calls for moving the entire state into the Eastern time zone. Currently, northwest Florida is in the Central time zone.

(Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)JEFFERSON COUNTY, Fla. (WTXL) - The Jefferson County Sheriffs Office is looking for 40-year-old Shannon Synott.

Shannon was last seen at the Pockets Pool and Pub in Tallahassee on January 4, 2018. Deputies say she was wearing jeans and a blue shirt with Bright Star Kid Care written on the left side.

Shannon is described as being five feet six-inches tall, weighing 180 pounds with blue eyes and black hair.

She has dimple piercings along with a few tattoos including hope written on her wrist, an Irish four-leaf clover tattoo with initials TCS on her upper back, and a tribal tattoo on her lower back.

If you see her or know of her whereabouts please contact Investigator Camper with the Jefferson County Sheriff at (850)997-2523.TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - The Florida State University National Allegiance on Mental Illness held a running event to raise money for mental health on Sunday.

Event organizers say the run was created to help people suffering from mental health issues get through the holidays.

About 20 people took part in Sunday's event. The group raised more than $230.PARKLAND, FL (RNN)  When faced with gunfire at his Florida high school, a 15-year-old was shot five times while protecting his classmates but is now recovering from his injuries, according to his best friend and fellow survivor.

As gunfire erupted Wednesday at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, 15-year-old Anthony Borges and about 20 of his classmates fled into a classroom, Anthonys best friend Carlos Rodriguez told ABC News.

Anthony was the last of the students to enter the room, and as he was trying to lock the door, he was shot, Carlos said.

Nevertheless, Carlos told ABC News his friend held his ground in the doorway, putting his body between the bullets and his classmates.

Anthony took bullets to the back and both legs, according to a GoFundMe page set up for the family. His left upper thigh bone was shattered.

Carlos says thanks to Anthonys heroism, everyone else who was in the classroom survived uninjured, ABC News reports.

Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel visited Anthony Sunday in the hospital, where he is recovering.

The 15-year-old will need more surgery, but he is in stable condition.

Both Israel and Anthonys father, Royer Borges, have asked for prayers for the boy.

The GoFundMe set up to help Anthonys family has raised more than $70,000 in three days. Its initial goal was $5,000.

Copyright 2018 Raycom News Network. All rights reserved.PARKLAND, Fla. (AP) - Student survivors of the deadly Florida school shooting who hope to become the face of a revived gun control movement are on a potential collision course with President Donald Trump.

Several of the students have criticized the president, whose election was strongly supported by the National Rifle Association and who ran on a platform opposing gun control.

Trump spent the weekend at his estate in South Florida, only an hour's drive from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where 17 people were fatally shot last week.

His only mentions of the massacre came in tweets Saturday contending that the FBI was too focused on the Russia investigation to respond to warnings about the alleged shooter and mocking Democrats for failing to pass gun control.

"You're the president. You're supposed to bring this nation together, not divide us," said David Hogg, a 17-year-old student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in South Florida, speaking on NBC's "Meet the Press."

"How dare you," he added.

After more than a day of criticism from the students, the White House said the president would hold a "listening session" with unspecified students Wednesday and meet Thursday with state and local security officials.

Florida politicians, meanwhile, scrambled to produce legislation in response to the Feb. 14 attack that killed 17 people.

Nikolas Cruz, a 19-year-old who had been expelled from the school, is being held without bail in the Broward County Jail, accused of 17 counts of first-degree murder.

In a TV interview, Republican Sen. Marco Rubio embraced a Democratic bill in the Florida legislature to allow courts to temporarily prevent people from having guns if they are determined to be a threat to themselves or others.

Gov. Rick Scott, also a Republican, attended a prayer vigil at the First Church Coral Springs, blocks from the shooting site. He is expected to announce a legislative package with GOP lawmakers this week.

Emma Gonzalez, another student survivor, gave an impassioned speech at a weekend rally with a stinging citation of the NRA's $30 million in expenditures on Trump's behalf in the presidential election. On Sunday she cited Trump, Rubio and Scott by name in a warning to politicians backed by the NRA.

"Now is the time to get on the right side of this, because this is not something that we are going to let sweep under the carpet," she said on "Meet the Press."

Seeking to increase pressure for gun control, the students plan to visit the state capitol in Tallahassee this week to demand immediate action. They are also calling for anti-gun violence demonstrations in Washington and other cities March 24.

Organizers behind the Women's March, an anti-Trump and female empowerment protest, called for a 17-minute, nationwide walkout by teachers and students on March 14.

Chris Grady, a 19-year-old senior at the Florida school, was one of several students at Sunday's rally near the campus. "The kids in Newtown were too young to understand what happened and were too young to have their own voice," Grady said, referring to the 20 first-graders killed in the 2012 Connecticut school shooting. "We want to be the voice for those kids and thousands of others."

Not every student at the Florida school was calling for more gun control. James Ciaramello, a freshman in the school's JROTC program, was heartbroken by the massacre but skeptical firearms regulations could have prevented it.

"He's just messed up," Ciaramello said of Cruz, another JROTC member. "I mean, tighter gun control, it's not gonna help. There's always a way around it."

School and government records obtained Sunday show Cruz was diagnosed as developmentally delayed at age 3 and had disciplinary issues dating to middle school. In February 2014, while in 8th grade, Cruz was transferred to a special school for children with emotional and behavioral issues. He stayed there until 10th grade, when he was transferred to Stoneman Douglas. Last year, Cruz was expelled.

On Sept. 28, 2016, an investigator from the Florida Department of Children and Families visited Cruz and his mother, Lynda Cruz, after he posted video on Snapchat showing him cutting himself. The report showed that Cruz had written a racial epithet against African-Americans and a Nazi symbol on his book bag, which his mother had forced him to erase. The investigator said Cruz was suffering from depression and on medication and had told Lynda Cruz he planned to buy a gun, but she couldn't determine why.

A school counselor told the investigator that Lynda Cruz had always tried to help her son and followed through on his therapy and medication, but the counselor was concerned about the youth's desire to buy a gun.

A crisis counselor told the DCF investigator he had visited the school and that he did not believe Cruz was a danger to himself or others. The case was closed, with the investigator concluding that Cruz was receiving help from his mother and counselors, and "no other referrals or services were needed."

After Lynda Cruz died in November, Cruz moved into the home of a teenage friend. The friend's parents told the Sun-Sentinel newspaper they had no idea the extent of Cruz's issues.

"We had this monster living under our roof and we didn't know," Kimberly Snead told the newspaper in an interview published Sunday. "We didn't see this side of him."

James Snead added: "Everything everybody seems to know, we didn't know. It's as simple as that."

The teen kept the AR-15 he allegedly used in the massacre locked in a gun safe with a few other firearms. James Snead thought he had the only key to the cabinet but says Cruz must have had another key. The family kept their own rifles, bought after a burglary a few years ago, in a separate locked cabinet.They told Cruz he needed to ask permission to take out the guns. He had asked only twice since November. They said "yes" once and "no" once.

___

Associated Press writers Gary Fineout in Tallahasse, Florida, Tamara Lush in St. Petersburg, Florida, and Nicholas Riccardi in Denver contributed.TIFTON, Ga. (WTXL) - Georgia has honored the City of Tifton for successful planning.

The Georgia Department of Community Affairs presented the city with the statewide distinction in the Plan First program.

This honor is given to communities with a track record of strong development planning.

Tifton is one of nine communities recognized statewide.

This was the first time the city was eligible for the honor.

Tifton's city manager says this will push economic and community development and help improve local communities even more.(CNN) - JetBlue plans to help the families impacted by Wednesday's shooting in Parkland, FL.

The airline announced on Saturday that it is offering free flights for victims' families traveling to Florida.

We dont just fly there. For nearly 5,000 crewmembers, Florida is home and all of us at JetBlue stand with South Florida. https://t.co/WEtzEkdwIX pic.twitter.com/0yqVH9fDPN  JetBlue Airways (@JetBlue) February 16, 2018

JetBlue also announced a partnership with ride-share company Lyft to provide free ground transportation.

JetBlue will also hold a blood drive at the BB&T Center in Sunrise, FL, on Thursday, Feb 22, along with the Florida Panthers.

Copyright 2018 CNN. All rights reserved.Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 05:41:06|Editor: Liangyu

U.S. President Donald Trump (2nd L) and First Lady Melania Trump (1st L) welcome Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela (2nd R) and his wife Lorena Castillo at the White House in Washington D.C., the United States, June 19, 2017. (Xinhua/Ting Shen)

WASHINGTON, June 19 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump held talks with Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela at the White House on Monday, hailing the "very strong" relationship between the two countries.

"Things are going well in Panama. The relationship has been very strong," Trump said during a bilateral meeting with Varela.

The two countries "are developing new things to do and only getting stronger," Trump added.

The focus of the talks between Trump and Varela include their shared priorities in the fight against transnational organized crime, illegal migration, and illicit substances, according the White House.

During the meeting, Varela noted that Panama and the U.S. face the "same challenges" in the region.

"So the idea of this visit is to work closely together to face the same challenges that we have in the region of Central America and Latin America and in our continent," the Panamanian president said.Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-14 07:08:46|Editor: Chengcheng

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Ecuador's suspended vice-president Jorge Glas (L) reacts during a hearing of his trial at the headquarters of the National Court of Justice, in Quito, capital of Ecuador, on Dec. 13, 2017. A criminal court in Ecuador on Wednesday sentenced the suspended vice-president, Jorge Glas, to six years in prison for illicit association within the bribery scheme run by Brazilian construction firm, Odebrecht.

QUITO, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- A criminal court in Ecuador on Wednesday sentenced the suspended vice-president, Jorge Glas, to six years in prison for illicit association within the bribery scheme run by Brazilian construction firm, Odebrecht.

This is the first sentence handed down in Ecuador within the Odebrecht case. Four others were sentenced to the same penalty as Glas, including his uncle, Ricardo Rivera.

Three other people were condemned to 14 months in prison, a reduced sentence in exchange for having cooperated with authorities. A final suspect was found not guilty.

Furthermore, given the scale of the corruption involved, the sentenced individuals must jointly pay back the state for 33.3 million U.S. dollars which were embezzled.

Judge Edgar Flores, President of the National Justice Court, said that this corruption had also included other crimes, including influence peddling and money laundering.

He added that the court had received evidence from the U.S. Department of Justice and a former Odebrecht executive, Jose Conceicao Santos.

Glas, 48, was minister of telecommunications from 2009 to 2010 before serving as vice-president since 2013 to former president Rafael Correa and current president Lenin Moreno.

He has been in preventive custody in Quito since Oct. 2. However, during the trial, he has steadfastly maintained his innocence and refused to step down as vice-president.

Glas is now the highest ranking official to be jailed within the Odebrecht corruption scandal, which has swept Latin America.

Odebrecht, Brazil's largest construction company, was found to have bribed officials across the region in exchange for public infrastructure contracts.

According to documents provided by the U.S., Odebrecht paid out 33.5 million U.S. dollars in bribes to Ecuadorian officials between 2007 and 2016.

Glas has the possibility of appealing the sentence but the national assembly may now also move to quickly impeach him.Source: Xinhua| 2018-02-19 00:34:45|Editor: Yurou

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JERUSALEM, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- Israeli security agency Shin Bet said Sunday it has thwarted a plot by Palestinian militants to carry out a bombing attack against Israel's Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman.

Six members of a Palestinian cell associated with the Islamic Jihad militant group were arrested "in recent weeks," Shin Bet said in a statement.

The cell members, all residents of the West Bank, planned to carry out shooting attacks against Israeli civilians and security. Some members even plotted to attack Lieberman's convoy when he returned to his home in a West Bank settlement, it said.

The investigation revealed that they tried to acquire explosives and contacted militants in the Gaza Strip regarding financing.

After failing to receive financial support from Gaza, the cell members thought they might better succeed if they planted an improvised explosive device along the minister's route.

However, the attack was never carried out due to the minister's heavy security, Shin Bet said.

It added that the case was the latest in a string of attempts by Palestinians from the West Bank "to leverage their links with their Gazan counterparts in order to commit attacks."

Israel and the Palestinians have witnessed a resurging wave of violence since U.S. President Donald Trump's recognition of the disputed holy city of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel in December.Two police officers walk near the building of the confectionery factory "Menshevik" in Moscow, Russia, where a gunman earlier opened fire, on December 27, 2017. (Xinhua/Wu Zhuang)

MOSCOW, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- At least four women were killed and five others were injured in a shooting attack during a celebration of Russia's traditional holiday Maslenitsa in the Russian Republic of Dagestan, regional Interior Ministry said on Sunday.

The incident took place at approximately at 4: 30 pm local time (13:30 GMT), when an unidentified gunman armed with a hunting rifle opened fire at a crowd of civilians who were attending a Maslenitsa celebration in the town of Kizlyar in Dagestan, according to the ministry's spokesman.

Three local residents, a police officer and a member of the National Guard were among those injured, a ministry statement said.

The Russian Health Ministry was cited by Interfax news agency as saying that the death toll has risen to five as an injured woman died in the hospital, and another two injured are in critical conditions.

The attacker was killed by the police and National Guard officers, the Interior Ministry said.

According to an Interfax source, there were originally two attackers, a husband and a wife, but the woman had fled before the man started shooting.

The Russian Investigative Committee has launched a criminal investigation into the case.

Maslenitsa is one of Russia's most important religious holidays, which is celebrated during the eighth week before the Orthodox Easter.by Raul Menchaca

HAVANA, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- Cuba's annual celebration of its cigar-making industry, the Habanos Festival, will kick off on Feb. 26 in Havana, drawing cigar aficionados and buyers from around the globe.

The glamorous week-long festival features launchings of new premium brands, including this year's much-anticipated line of Cohiba Robusto Reserva, from the 2014 harvest.

Cuba's best-known brand, Cohiba was popularized by the legendary revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, who was rarely seen without a cigar until he quit in his later years to encourage a healthier lifestyle among the people.

The festival, organized by Habanos S.A., a joint venture between state-owned Cubatabaco and Altadis, a French-German subsidiary of the British multinational Imperial Tobacco, which markets the cigars worldwide, also features gala dinners, tours of cigar factories and tobacco farms, and a renowned auction of custom-made humidors, with funds going to support the country's free healthcare system.

Habanos spokesperson Daymi Difurniao said this year participants will learn about the most diverse aspects of the cigar industry, and tour plantations in western Cuba's Pinar del Rio province, home to the world's best tobacco leaf.

"It is an opportunity to appreciate the beautiful plantations in San Juan y Martinez, recognized as having the best soil for attaining the leaves used to make renowned Cuban cigars," said Difurniao.

San Juan y Martinez, along with San Luis, Guane and the city of Pinar del Rio, make up the region of Vueltabajo, Cuba's prime tobacco-growing region.

In Vueltabajo, some 18,000 hectares of different tobacco varieties are planted each year. This year, production is expected to surpass 20,000 tons of leaves, more than previous harvests.

Another festival highlight is the traditional Habanosommelier International Contest, a culinary event that pairs cigars with a gourmet dish or cocktail.

This year, organizers are introducing the first-ever Habanos World Challenge, where cigar lovers from around the world will compete to test their knowledge about the world of cigars.

There will also be an evening dedicated to the history and success of the festival, now in its 20th edition.

In the past, the Habanos Festival has been attended by celebrities such as the late author and Nobel laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez; American actor and politician Arnold Schwarzenegger; and British model Naomi Campbell, among others.PANAMA CITY, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- Trade in the Panamanian free trade zone of Colon, one of the world's busiest FTZs, increased 24.7 percent in January compared to the same period the year before, a top official said on Sunday.

Manuel Grimaldo, manager of the FTZ, where nearly 2,500 companies are operating, said in a statement the zone saw over 1.718 billion U.S. dollars in trade in the first month of the year, including 775.5 million dollars in imports and 943.2 million dollars in reexports.

In January of 2016, imports reached 700.6 million dollars, while reexports amounted to 677.8 million dollars.

The zone, located in the northern province of Colon, has seen an increase in imports of alcoholic beverages, including beer; pharmaceuticals and medicine; and sound system components and computers, Grimaldo said.

Imports of shoes also saw an uptick, as did gold jewelry and other precious metals; perfumes, cosmetics, toothpastes and other personal care items; and cigarettes.

In the area of reexports, also known as entrepot trade, alcoholic beverages and pharmaceuticals also dominated, followed by radios, TVs, and wireless telecommunication devices, as well as artificial synthetic fibers, personal care items, and cigarettes.

Most of the merchandise arriving at the FTZ came from Singapore, China, the United States and Mexico, while reexports were mainly destined for Panama, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, the Dominican Republic and the United States.

Colon's FTZ, which has seen some fluctuation in business in recent years, is keen to continue promoting its services globally to seek new markets, said Grimaldo.Source: Xinhua| 2018-02-19 07:50:46|Editor: ZD

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Munich Security Conference Chairman Wolfgang Ischinger makes the closing remarks during the 54th MSC in Munich, Germany, on Feb. 18, 2018. The 54th Munich Security Conference (MSC) closed on Sunday, leaving "a lot more work ahead" in addressing global security issues. (Xinhua/Luo Huanhuan)

by Xinhua writers Zhu Sheng, Yuan Shuai

MUNICH, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- The Munich Security Conference (MSC) was and is a good platform for discussion of the triangle relationship among the European Union (EU), United States and Russia.

Gu Xuewu, director of the Center for Global studies at Bonn University, told Xinhua that Europe is becoming more disappointed with the United States on the issue of defence. "The sense of security and trust in the U.S. is disappearing," he said.

Meanwhile, the U.S. only urged the EU to take more responsibilities, but neglected the EU's appeal, which has led to a rift of trust between each other, Gu said.

Referring to Russia, Gu said that the unity between the EU and the U.S. will cause concerns for Russia of its own strategic security.

BETWEEN EU, U.S.

If the EU really wants to become a global actor, it has to make more decisions in foreign policy, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said at the 54th MSC.

For the EU, common defense has been a critical theme of the shift away from dependence on the United States, with the November 2017 signing and December 2017 launch of the Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) agreement, allowing 25 participating EU member states to pursue greater cooperation on matters of defense and security.

Juncker spoke highly of the progress made last year in this regard. He said that "we want to emancipate ourselves in defense and security policy issues." But it didn't mean against NATO or the United States.

German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said that cooperation between Europe and the U.S. is important for maintaining the western architecture of freedom, made after the second world war.

However, he questioned that "Germans are nowadays not particularly sure whether we still recognize our America. Is it deeds, words or or tweets that we should look to measure America."

BETWEEN U.S., RUSSIA

U.S. National Security Advisor Herbert Raymond McMaster, who spoke at the three-day event, said that the evidence that Russia tried to meddle with the 2016 U.S. presidential election is "incontrovertible."

"As you can see with the FBI indictment, the evidence is now really incontrovertible and available in the public domain, whereas in the past it was difficult to attribute for a couple of reasons," McMaster said.

The indictment charged 13 Russians with running a huge but hidden social media campaign aimed in part at helping Donald Trump defeat Hillary Clinton.

On the other hand, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that "as long as we don't have facts, all the rest is blabber."

Despite the diplomatic bickering between both countries, former U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden made clear at the MSC that "even as we stand firm in defense of our democracy, we can't quit talking to Russia or trying to work with them on critical issues like strategic stability, because the stakes are much too high."

BETWEEN EU, RUSSIA

Lavrov accused NATO, the U.S. and the EU of anti-Russian propaganda that has led to "paralysis" in mutual contacts and called for greater respect to be shown to Russia.

Speaking on Saturday, Lavrov said Russia had been treated like a school pupil in the 1990s, while today the talk was of a "Russian threat."

Russia's rising influence was being treated in a negative context, whereas Russia aimed to be a reliable partner, according to the senior diplomat.

"We are prepared to enter into an open dialogue characterized by respect," he said, adding "we would like to have a predictable and strong EU that is a responsible player in the foreign policy arena."

Gabriel called for step-by-step reduction of EU's sanctions against Russia.

It was unrealistic to insist on full implementation of the Minsk peace accords before offering some relief from sanctions agreed by the U.S. and the EU over Russia's role in Ukraine, Gabriel said, adding that to reduce sanctions step by step was "in the world's interests" to break the current impasse. EnditemA performer dressed up as "Money God" distributes "red pockets" during the 45th Chinese New Year Parade in Vancouver, Canada, on Feb. 18, 2018. Thousands of participants paraded along the streets in Vancouver's Chinatown Sunday to celebrate the Year of the Dog, attracting over 100,000 spectators. (Xinhua/Liang Sen)

VANCOUVER, Feb.18 (Xinhua) -- Thousands of Vancouver residents lined the streets of the city's historic Chinatown to welcome the Year of the Dog at the annual Chinese Lunar New Year Parade.

The procession kicked-off near the entrance of Chinatown on Pender Street with a burst of fire crackers.

Organizers were expecting about 100,000 spectators, who lined the sidewalks as marchers handed out lucky red envelopes stuffed with candy for the kids, many bundled up in near freezing temperatures.

One young family came into the city on the train from the suburbs for the event. Natasha Patricelli, her husband and two kids, stood watching the parade from the sidewalk. A few lucky envelopes were stuffed into the front of the baby harness that held her infant, Kayla.

Patricelli said it was important for them to bring their youngsters to see the celebration of multiculturalism and diversity in their community.

"Just seeing all the people out, coming out from the community and everything is just really nice, and bag pipes and lions and the police (in the parade). It's beautiful so far," she told Xinhua.

"I think it's a good celebration and I think that it is something that we need to share with the kids," she said.

Near the front of the parade marched British Columbia Premier John Horgan, who wore a black Chinese jacket adorned with dragons, and a red scarf.

Horgan walked with other dignitaries including Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson and other politicians.

The event is an important part of Vancouver's calendar as about 400,000 people with Chinese heritage live in the Metro Vancouver area.

Chinatown has been the heart of that community for well over a hundred years. Anna Linares said she grew up in the neighborhood but had never attended a Lunar New Year parade.

"It was my first time so I am kind of excited," she said, as a stream of lion dancers passed, followed by several of the local Chinese benevolent associations, waving their banners.

"I realized that wow, I haven't been to a Chinese New Year parade and it's such a big part of the history of this city with Chinese-Canadians living here for over a hundred years," Linares said. "I thought it would be cool to spend a morning here."

Linares said she loves the inter-generational and multicultural atmosphere of the parade and the community.

"It really just represents what our city is about, which is what I love about living in Vancouver," she said.Source: Xinhua| 2018-02-19 10:11:10|Editor: Yurou

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KATHMANDU, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Nepal will have to invest around 49 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) during the period from 2016 to 2030 in order to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the National Planning Commission said.

The commission said in a report that the Himalayan country will have to invest an estimated 17 billion U.S. dollar annually to achieve the SDGs.

SDGs - a follow-up on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which expired in 2015 - are a set of 17 goals and 169 targets covering a broad range of sustainable development issues, including ending poverty and hunger, good health, quality education, and inclusive and sustainable consumption patterns among others.

Nepal's public sector is expected to contribute 55 percent of total investment required while the private sector is expected to contribute around 21 percent of the investment. The households, cooperatives, non-government organizations are expected to contribute remaining amount.

Most of the public investment will go to poverty reduction, followed by agriculture, health, education, gender, water and sanitation, transport infrastructure, climate action and governance.

The private sector is expected to invest more heavily in industry, energy, physical infrastructure, housing, urban infrastructure and tourism.

"But, the government's revenue and private sector investment will not be sufficient to attain SDGs by 2030, requiring huge amount of foreign aid," the report said.Source: Xinhua| 2018-02-19 10:26:12|Editor: Yurou

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MUNICH, Germany, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- A senior Chinese diplomat said Saturday that China is committed to the principle of non-first-use of nuclear weapon, expressing concerns about the danger of nuclear development at present at the ongoing Munich Security Conference (MSC).

"China maintains a very small nuclear arsenal, and China follows the policy of self-defense and minimum deterrence," said Fu Ying, a veteran diplomat and now chairperson of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature.

China is also committed to the principle of non-first-use of nuclear weapons, and under no circumstances will China use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear-weapon states or nuclear-weapon-free zones, she added.

Fu made the remarks at an MSC panel discussion about the nuclear security, on which some participants expressed their concerns over nuclear proliferation at present.

"I share and express the concern about the danger, about the risk of the nuclear development," said Fu, who added that so far after many decades, the world has managed to prevent a major nuclear war, but obviously the challenges and dangers are growing.

She noted that it is important that the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, namely China, United States, Russia, Britain and France, should continue their efforts and continue to take responsibility to maintain global strategic stability, to safeguard non-proliferation regime, and to continue the nuclear disarmament.

China is also in support of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), added Fu.

She also called for efforts to upgrade global security governance.

"We need to think about how to upgrade global security governance to reflect that highly integrated global economy," said Fu.

"China supports and advocates the idea of common securities for all," she said, stressing that China proposes and is committed to building a community with shared future for mankind.SYDNEY, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Twenty-two years ago a number of local businesses, tourists and expats in Sydney's Chinatown wanted to find a way to wish one another good fortune and celebrate the Lunar New Year down under.

With a lot of help and hard work from community organizers, a very modest Sydney Spring Festival was born tucked away in one small street in the inner city suburb of Haymarket.

Two decades later, Sydney now hosts the largest Lunar New Year celebrations in the world outside of Asia, with the event not only regarded as a showpiece for Australia's rich multicultural success but also a significant economic windfall that generates millions of dollars for the local economy.

With more than 80 events now taking place in every corner of the city, including things like dragon boat races, giant lantern displays, fireworks and red fish banquets, it's expected that a record 1.6 million people will be on hand over the 16-day period to help celebrate and welcome the year of the dog.

But although the official launch began on Friday evening when the New South Wales State Premier Gladys Berejiklian flicked the switch that saw Sydney's iconic Opera House sails turn lucky red, one well-known Aussie decided to kick things off a little earlier.

Hugely popular social media star in China Amy Lyons, climbed to the top of the Sydney Harbor Bridge on Thursday to live broadcast a karaoke rendition of the traditional Lunar New Year tune Xiao Xing Yun.

"The song was recommended by my fans," the Weibo star told Xinhua.

"I just wanted to show my followers in China the amazing things that Sydney has to offer, it's something I'm really passionate about."

Weekend crowds also flocked to a public guide dog graduation ceremony that allowed Sydneysiders to "hug a pup!"

The next two weeks of festivities are set to conclude with the world's largest dragon boat race that will see over 3,000 paddlers taking to Sydney Harbor.Source: Xinhua| 2018-02-19 11:06:22|Editor: pengying

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By Xinhua writer Lou Chen

ZHUHAI, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Engineer Yu Lie has spent more than 30 years working on bridges, but one in particular is his pride and joy - the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge.

Final touches are being added to the bridge, which will be the world's longest sea bridge that traverses over the most bustling waters in southern China.

A technologically complicated bridge, it crosses shipping lanes in the Lingding Ocean and took seven years to build.

The main structure measures 29.6 kilometers, consisting of a 22.9-km bridge section and a 6.7-km underground tunnel. Its total length is 55 kilometers.

It used 420,000 tonnes of steel, enough to build 60 Eiffel Towers, and consumed 1.08 million cubic meters of cement.

The bridge builders had to overcome some of the most complex challenges to ever confront them. As a result, the bridge can withstand a magnitude-8 earthquake and super typhoons, and has a service life of 120 years.

"As the bridge is ready to open to the public, people will have high expectations from it in terms of its transport function and how it can benefit the people," said Yu, deputy director of HK-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge Authority. Yu has worked on the bridge since the initial preparations in 2004.

"The bridge will not only be a transport link. It will be a social, economic, cultural, and tourism connection among the three areas," he said.

The bridge will slash travel time between Hong Kong and Zhuhai from 3 hours to just 30 minutes, further integrating cities in the Pearl River Delta.

Throughout history, key infrastructure has acted as a catalyst for development in many regions. Nearly 135 years ago, thousands of people in New York hit the streets to celebrate the commissioning of the Brooklyn Bridge, and people marveled at its magnificence and importance to their country. The Brooklyn Bridge witnessed the rise of New York as the economic and financial center of the world.

After more than a century, the greatest engineering work of modern times is finally happening on the other side of the Pacific - in China.

"Our country is very strong in bridge building," Yu said. "The HKZM Bridge highlights China's achievements in technology, equipment and research, and stands at a point leading to a brand new future."

It is also believed to be a vital piece of infrastructure in building the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, which is set to reshape the global economy.

In 1988, Hong Kong businessman Arnold Ho opened a factory across the Lingding Ocean in Zhuhai City. Today, his company Print-Rite Holdings Ltd has become one of the biggest printing material manufacturers in the world.

He usually travels between Hong Kong, Zhuhai and Macao. Riding on cars and ferries, a single journey can take hours.

"Back then, there were not as many ferries. When I was in hurry to go back, if it happened that the typhoon came, I had to take a detour overland to go back to Hong Kong," said Ho.

Now his journey back home will only take half an hour. "When the bridge is open, the opportunities it will bring are immense. Of course Zhuhai will attract more investors. As one of the first comers, I will have good opportunities to develop my company," he said.

The bridge is located in one of the busiest waters in the world. Every day, more than 4,000 vessels navigate above the bridge tunnel and almost every other minute, planes take off or land at Hong Kong airport. As the Brooklyn Bridge witnessed the rise of New York, this bridge signals a boom for the bay area.

The HK-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge not only traverses a natural divide, it straddles two social systems -- socialism and capitalism. The bridge management bureau is developing suitable solutions to fully tap the potentials of the world's biggest engineering wonder.

Su Yi, assistant director of HK-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge Authority, said the governments of the three areas were discussing details over traffic permits, shuttle buses, emergency rescue and more.

"It will break new grounds in terms of management," Su said. "We are looking forward to its opening and the sight of an endless stream of traffic."Source: Xinhua| 2018-02-19 11:51:31|Editor: ZD

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CANBERRA, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Australia's Northern Territory (NT) has paused to commemorate the anniversary of the Japanese Bombing of Darwin in World War II.

Monday represented the 76th anniversary of World War II hitting Australian shores for the first time when 242 Japanese aircraft bombed Darwin in two separate attacks on February 19, 1942.

At least 243 people were killed by the bombings of the NT's capital, making it the largest ever single attack by a foreign power on Australia.

The Japanese aircraft targeted airfields and ships that could have been used to aid the Allies in the invasions of Timor and Java.

A special service was held in Darwin on Monday morning to commemorate the attack.

Michael McCormack, Australia's Veterans' Affairs Minister, said that Australians should take the opportunity to pause and remember not only those who died in the attack, but also those who defended the city.

"Australia should remember with pride the many people involved in Darwin's defence on this day 76 years ago," McCormack said in a statement on Monday.

"The bombing of Darwin was believed by many at the time to be the prelude to a Japanese invasion.

"In reality, it was aimed at eliminating the threat of an allied counter-attack against the Japanese invasion of Timor which took place the following day."

The only aircraft available to defend Darwin on the day were 10 U.S. Kittyhawk fighters, nine of which were shot down before they could engage Japanese planes.

Following the initial attack, the Japanese bombed Darwin another 62 times in a 21-month period with the final attack taking place on November 12, 1943.Source: Xinhua| 2018-02-19 12:21:35|Editor: ZD

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SYDNEY, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Due to Tropical Cyclone Gita, which is to hit New Zealand in the next 24 hours, Australian authorities warned of dangerous surf conditions on Monday as massive 4-meter waves continue to smash the east coast of the country.

In total, there were more than 150 people being rescued over the weekend, including a busy period on the Sunshine Coast where 19 people were pulled from the water in just 10 minutes when conditions dramatically turned.

Lifesavers also had to perform a daring helicopter rescue when a man in his 50s was winched to safety after being stuck in dangerous seas for more than two hours.

Despite the treacherous conditions, many local boardriders have failed to heed the warnings, seeing the monster swells as the "perfect time to go surfing."

"It's heaps of fun!" 16-year-old Queensland surfer Nathan Hawker told local media.

"I've been in the water for three to four hours every day!" he said.Source: Xinhua| 2018-02-19 12:56:40|Editor: ZD

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MANILA, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Philippine authorities have arrested an Egyptian man suspected of being a member of the Islamic States (IS) extremist group, police said on Monday.

Philippine National Police chief Director Ronald dela Rosa said Fehmi Lassoued was arrested with a Filipino woman over the weekend inside his rented room at an apartment in Malate, Manila.

Dela Rosa, who presented the suspect to the media, said Lassoued also used the name Jogn Rasheed Lassoued. He identified the woman as Anabel Moncera Salipada of Upi town in the southern Philippine Maguindanao province.

"The arrest of Lassoued and Salipada may have effectively thwarted whatever hostile activities they were up to, but we will not lower our guard. Rather we will continue to mount proactive operations against terrorism," Dela Rosa said.

Aside from the arrest of the two suspects, Dela Rosa said authorities also confiscated assorted firearms, ammunition, components for improvised explosive device such as electronic circuits, resistors, capacitors, batteries and pipe fittings.

He said Lassoued entered the Philippines in July 2016 with a fake Tunisian passport, adding that both suspects were arrested following a tip from foreign military and police counterparts.

An investigation is underway to determine the couple's involvement in the international terror group, including possible involvement in the attack in the southern Philippine city of Marawi in May last year, which triggered a five-month firefight that killed more than 1,200 people.PHNOM PENH, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Conservationists have found a nest of the critically endangered Royal Turtle with 16 eggs on a sandbar along Sre Ambel River in southwest Cambodia's Koh Kong province, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) said on Monday.

"This is the first nest of Royal Turtle found in 2018," the WCS said in a statement, adding that four local community rangers have been hired to guard it until the eggs hatch.

Listed on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List as critically endangered, Southern River Terrapin (Batagur affinis), locally known as the Royal Turtle, is one of the world's 25 most endangered tortoises and freshwater turtles.

The Royal Turtle is named because in the past only the royal family could consume its eggs, the statement said, adding that it is designated as Cambodia's national reptile by a royal decree in March 2005.

In Hul, an official of Cambodia's Fisheries Administration and project coordinator, said from January to March was the Royal Turtle's breeding period, and his team was working hard to search for its nests along the Sre Ambel River.

"If we find a nest, we will work with the local community to protect it until the eggs hatch and then bring the hatchlings to Koh Kong Reptile Conservation Center where they will be cared for until they are mature and can be released back to the wild," he said.

He said collection of Royal Turtle eggs or adults for consumption or sale is illegal in Cambodia.

Royal Turtle was believed extinct in Cambodia until 2000 when a small population was re-discovered by the Fisheries Administration and WCS in the Sre Ambel River.

"Despite success after the species was re-discovered in 2000, the Royal Turtle is still at high risk of extinction," said Som Sitha, WCS's technical advisor to the Koh Kong Conservation Project.

"The number of nests found each year is very low, with just three nests in the last two years," he said. "Illegal clearance of flooded forest and illegal fishing puts this species at risk. Everyone can help conserve our national reptile by not purchasing or eating their meat and eggs."KABUL, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- At least 11 militants of Islamic State (IS) terrorist group were killed after the Afghan air force struck their positions in eastern Nangarhar province, the Defense Ministry said on Monday.

The air raid struck IS militants' hideouts in Achin district on late Sunday, leaving 11 members of the terror group dead, the ministry tweeted.

Two weapons and ammunition caches were also destroyed following the attack, it said.

The Afghan security forces, alongside U.S. and NATO-led coalition forces, have increased ground and air offensives against militants in the last few months as the militants keep attacking government interests across the country.

The IS group, which emerged in Nangarhar in early 2015, has yet to make comments on the report.PHNOM PENH, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia's largest online media outlet Fresh News launched a Chinese version of its website on Monday after it has successfully run Khmer and English languages, its publisher said.

Lim Cheavutha, founder and publisher of Fresh News, said the Chinese-language site - http://cn.freshnewsasia.com was aimed at expanding the small news market in Cambodia to a broader range of countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), China and the world beyond.

"The Chinese version of Fresh News will share information about the activities that the Cambodian government has been doing for the people and the economy of Cambodia to Chinese people living around the world, as well as to China," he told Xinhua.

He said the launching of the Chinese version was also to serve Chinese investors and tourists, who wanted to keep up with the political situation and economic development in Cambodia.

"With the Chinese version, both Chinese investors and tourists will get fast and reliable information about Cambodia, especially in politics, economics, trade, investment and tourism," Cheavutha said.

The decision to launch the Chinese version came after the website's Khmer and English versions have attracted a lot of readers, he said, adding that the Khmer version has provided news to about one million people via smartphone devices.Source: Xinhua| 2018-02-19 15:37:05|Editor: ZD

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Participants perform dragon dance during the 45th Chinese New Year Parade in Vancouver, Canada, on Feb. 18, 2018. Thousands of participants paraded along the streets in Vancouver's Chinatown Sunday to celebrate the Year of the Dog, attracting over 100,000 spectators. (Xinhua/Liang Sen)

BEIJING, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- As the Year of the Dog fell on Friday, a festive mood brimmed in Chinese communities worldwide as they celebrated the Lunar New Year with locals.

Early on Friday, red lanterns and flags hung high in Tennoji Park in downtown Osaka during a three-day celebration for the Chinese New Year in western Japan.

In the center of the park, Chinese artists performed face-changing stunts of Sichuan opera, acrobatics and lion dances, among others.

"Chinese Spring Festival is the most important holiday in China and a shared cultural event for all Chinese," said Li Tianran, Chinese Consul General in Osaka, adding that celebrations are being held in multiple cities in Japan for nostalgic local Chinese as well as Japanese residents and foreign tourists.

Across the Pacific Ocean, in San Francisco on the U.S. west coast, a long dragon figure, which took the Chinese community more than six months to complete, raised its huge head and swiveled its body and tail to the roaring sound of drum beats, accompanied by nine colorfully decorated lions jumping up and down cheerfully.

The dancing dragon was held by 40 people, including about 30 middle school children.

The celebrations also featured school children performing and dancing on stilts, and a group of kindergarten kids dressed up as dogs, the good-luck mascot of this lunar year.

On Saturday, at an annual Chinese Lunar New Year parade in Vancouver, Canada celebrated in cold weather at the city's historic Chinatown, heart of the local Chinese community for over a hundred years.

The procession kicked off near the entrance of Chinatown on Pender Street with a burst of firecrackers. Spectators lined the sidewalks as marchers handed out lucky red envelopes stuffed with candy to children.

The event carries significance for some 400,000 people with Chinese heritage living in the metro Vancouver area.

Farther south, in the U.S. city of Houston, local Chinese families on Saturday afternoon enjoyed activities such as traditional calligraphy, a handkerchief dance demonstration, paper cutting and dog-mask making at the Asia Society Texas Center.

At the event, Huaxing Arts Group presented a collection of Chinese music and dance, including a peacock dance of the Dai minority which originated in southwestern China, a Tibetan drum dance, and a sand painting performance.

In the evening, the well-known Chinese play "Farewell my Concubine" was performed by local Chinese artists on stage.

After having practiced for about a year, the artists, many of them amateur actors, said they also wanted to pay tribute to Chinese play writer and Nobel laureate Mo Yan who turned 63 years old on the day.

On Sunday, people crowded areas around London's Chinatown for one of the largest Chinese New Year celebrations outside Asia, which was organized by the London Chinatown Chinese Association.

Festivities began with a two-hour long grand parade featuring over 50 Chinese dragon and lion teams through the streets from Trafalgar Square to Chinatown.

Stage performances in Trafalgar Square featured a spectacular gravity-defying lion dance on high poles, acrobatics and musical performances by several Chinese art troupes and the Chinese National Symphony Orchestra.KABUL, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- The government forces robust operations against Islamic State (IS) militants in the eastern Nangarhar province have shrunk their presence in the relatively restive province and the security forces in latest crackdown have killed 11 insurgents, Defense Ministry said in a statement on Monday.

According to the statement, the government forces aircraft pounded IS hideouts in Achin district on Sunday night, killing 11 IS members and injuring several others, besides destroying their weapon caches and trenches.

A day earlier, Nangarhar's provincial governor Mohammad Gulab Mangal, in talks with reporters, reported the defeat of the group in the province.

"Militants affiliated to the Islamic State group who were active in Achin and Chaparhar district last year and used the said districts as their slaughterhouse disappeared today due to their defeat at the hands of security forces," local media quoted governor Mangal as saying.

"The security forces were able to defeat and evict the IS militants from their hideouts in Achin and Chaparhar districts over the past several months," the governor said, adding the villagers have already returned to their houses and live in peace since the defeat of the insurgents in the area.

However, the governor admitted that the IS militants are still active in remote areas of Nangarhar province, saying the security forces would continue to target the militants until the province is free of all insurgents.

Afghan security forces backed by U.S. and the NATO-led Resolute Support mission have increased ground and air offensives against militants over the past few months, obviously to weaken the armed opposition groups ahead of spring, commonly known as the start of fighting season in Afghanistan.Source: Xinhua| 2018-02-19 16:17:14|Editor: Yurou

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Elementary students watch as Mount Sinabung erupts at Tiga Pancur Village, in Karo, North Sumatra, Indonesia, Feb. 19, 2018. Mount Sinabung volcano in Sumatra Island of Indonesia erupted on Monday, spewing columns of ash as high as about five kms and sliding hot ash down its slope. (Xinhua/Lana)

JAKARTA, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Mount Sinabung volcano in Sumatra Island of Indonesia erupted on Monday, spewing columns of ash as high as about five km and sliding hot ash down its slope.

Head of National Volcanology Agency Kasbani said the hot ash slides 4.9 km to the southeast of the crater and 3.5 km to the east.

"This is the highest eruption for this year," he told Xinhua via telephone.

However, the agency head said the ash of Mount Sinabung volcano, which is located in Karo district, does not disturb air flights in the province.

"The ash does not head to Medan city and compounds of airport," said Kasbani, referring to Kualanamu international main airport in the province of North Sumatra.

The agency does not recommend new evacuation or extension to no-go zone, he added.

Mount Sinabung volcano had been quiet for four centuries before erupting in 2010. The volcano had erupted in 2014 and 2016 respectively.Source: Xinhua| 2018-02-19 16:37:17|Editor: ZD

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Tourists take a rest at the airport in Male, Maldives, Feb. 7, 2018. Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen on Monday evening declared a state of emergency amid political crisis in the country. (Xinhua/Zhu Ruiqing)

MALE, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen on Monday requested the parliament to extend the state of emergency for a further 15 days amid the ongoing political crisis.

The parliament which convened for a special session, is now discussing the president's request and will soon take a vote among legislators.

A decision will be announced by the parliament soon.

The Maldivian president declared a 15-day state of emergency on Feb. 5, after a surprise Supreme Court ruling ordering the release of nine opposition leaders including self-exiled former President Mohamed Nasheed.

The Supreme Court ruling was, however, rescinded shortly after the announcement of the state of emergency.Source: Xinhua| 2018-02-19 16:47:20|Editor: pengying

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SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- One of the largest museums of Asian art in the United States held various events to celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year on Sunday, with programs for the general public, particularly children.

The Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, a U.S. city on the West coast which houses one of the most comprehensive Asian art collections in the world, offered various programs for visitors to celebrate the arrival of the Year of the Dog.

As a starter, the museum arranged a story-telling tour for a large crowd of children from kindergartners to middle school students and showed them around the museum, where more than 18,000 art works collected from major Asian countries were displayed, with some of them being as old as 6,000 years.

Museum staff told the young visitors the stories behind the many artifacts that had come from South Asia, Iran and Central Asia, Southeast Asia, the Himalayas, China, Korea and Japan.

After the story-telling tour, the children and teens, accompanied by their parents, went on to attend a free hands-on art-making session organized by the museum, during which they painted one of the 12 zodiac animals with color pens and pencils on pieces of paper.

Their "art works," whether finely painted or scribbled in sketches or doodles, were made into badges at a "button-making station," to the great delight of the children.

"It's a pretty dog," a five-year-old girl said excitedly after she was handed a badge with a dog icon she had made.

A person operating a mini button-making machine told Xinhua that she had made, in two hours, more than 300 badges with the zodiac animals of traditional Chinese culture, such as the dragon, snake, pig, rooster, and of course the dog, the favorite animal of this year.

"My arm got a bit tired, but it's worthwhile," she said smiling, with her head still bent over the button-making machine.

In an auditorium on the second floor of the museum, which was fully packed with about 1,000 visitors, an acrobat was performing Chinese acrobatics on the stage, thrilling the audience with a contortion performance.

The audience clapped enthusiastically after the acrobat finished his performance, during which he squeezed his body into a small bucket.

Some youngsters were even invited onto the stage to learn how to beat drums during an ensuing interactive session, amid cheers and joyful laughter from the audience.

Sunday's events organized by the museum, including other programs such as "Having your name written in Chinese calligraphy," "Lunar New Year of Story Telling" and "Zodiac animals with Amy Ma," were part of the extensive celebrations of the Chinese New Year in San Francisco.

Last week, a mini-procession that included lion dancers, giant walking puppets, costumed stilt walkers, drummers and dancers was staged in the city's Chinatown, together with a two-day Flower Market Fair, the very beginning of festivities which is held annually.

On Friday, San Francisco Mayor Mark Farrell and former Mayor Willie Brown attended a "Dragon Eye-Dotting" ceremony in the city's famous Chinatown to kick off the celebration of the Chinese New Year, which began on Feb. 16.

A large-scale Chinese New Year parade with gorgeous floats, elaborate costumes, a lion dance, and drum performance will be held on Saturday in the city to highlight the diverse and splendid Chinese traditions and culture that have taken root in this part of the United States.Source: Xinhua| 2018-02-19 17:02:25|Editor: pengying

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DOHA, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- France reiterates its support for the Kuwaiti mediation, and Qatar's strong desire to end the Gulf rift through constructive dialogue, Qatar News Agency (QNA) reported Monday.

In an interview with Qatari Arabic daily Al Sharq newspaper, the French Envoy for the Gulf Countries Bertrand Besancenot made the remarks.

''We believe that dialogue is the only solution to end the crisis that harms everyone and we are aware of Doha's strong desire to get out of this situation. Therefore, France supports the Kuwaiti mediation and the Qatari desire and its policy,'' the French envoy said.

The French envoy, however, warned that the Gulf dispute has severe impacts on everyone which will severely affect the returning of international investment to the region.

Besancenot said that the president of France is aware of the negative impacts of the siege on the people of Qatar and the region and called on the Arab countries to resolve it immediately.

"Resolving the crisis may take time, but France's ally, the U.S., is also interested in resolving the issue which would contribute to ending the crisis," he said.

Paris has close political and commercial relations with Doha and has pushed business interest inside the country recently.

Last December, Qatar and France have signed 16 billion euros in deals during the French president's visit to Doha; the agreements included several fields such as education, culture and military.

Earlier, in June last year, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt imposed sanctions on Qatar, accusing it of financing extremist groups and allying with the Gulf Arab states' arch-foe Iran, allegations Doha denies.Source: Xinhua| 2018-02-19 17:17:29|Editor: pengying

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BEIJING, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- News organizations should take a people-centered approach and better serve people's needs by providing more diversified news products, according to Xinhua News Agency President Cai Mingzhao.

Cai published an article in Qiushi Journal, the flagship magazine of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, reviewing Chinese President Xi Jinping's speech on the media work in 2016.

On Feb. 19, 2016, Xi, who is also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, visited the People's Daily, Xinhua News Agency, and China Central Television, the nation's three leading news providers. Later that day he presided over a symposium on the media work.

According to Xi, the mission of the Party's media work is to provide guidance for the public, serve the country's overall interests, unite the general public, instill confidence and pool strength, tell right from wrong and connect China to the world.

Cai said in the article that news organizations should give correct guidance to the public, always place social benefit in the first place, and encourage the whole society to strive for excellence and to develop stronger virtues.

He asked journalists to improve investigative reporting, report innovative and creative efforts made by the people, and reflect the people's wishes and voices.

The article also underscored the importance of truthfulness.

"Truthfulness is the life of journalism, and the facts must be reported based on the truth," Xi said in his speech in February 2016. "While accurately reporting individual facts, journalists must also grasp and reflect the overall situation of an event from a broad view."

Xi urged media outlets to confront problems emerging from their work and social ills head-on, spreading the good and condemning the bad while practicing critical journalism based on accurate facts and objective analysis.

Cai called for accelerating the development of new media with the push of 5G telecommunication technology, so that the country could make use of the new media's edge in modern communications.

Xinhua has recently unveiled an artificial intelligence platform called "media brain" and announced the building of an intelligent newsroom.

"The agency aims to build an intelligent newsroom, featuring human-machine cooperation, and focusing on increased production and communication efficiency," Cai wrote.

Cai said Xinhua News Agency would speed up its efforts in building a new type of first-class global news agency, setting up a world-leading system of news gathering, editing, and release that covers the globe.

"The country's international communication capacity should be improved to match China's national strength and international status," Cai wrote in the article.Source: Xinhua| 2018-02-19 17:27:34|Editor: pengying

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BAGHDAD, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- An Iraqi court Monday sentenced a Turkish female citizen to death and ten foreign women to life imprisonment for joining Islamic State (IS) militants group, a judicial spokesman said.

"The Central Criminal Court issued a death penalty by hanging for a female Turkish citizen and issued ten verdicts of life sentences for other females from different nationalities," Abdul Sattar al-Biraqdar, spokesman for Iraq's Supreme Judicial Council said in a brief statement.

Biraqdar said that the all the sentences are preliminary and subject to review by the Court of Cassation.

In January, the court sentenced a female German citizen to death for joining the extremist group and providing logistical support to the terrorist organization that helped them to commit their criminal acts. She was also convicted of complicity in attacking the Iraqi security forces.

Thousands of IS fighters and supporters from various nationalities had joined the extremist IS group when it took control of large swathes in Iraq and neighboring Syria, but after the Iraqi forces defeated the group in Iraq, hundreds of IS loyalists were killed or captured, while many others were still at large either in hideouts in Iraq or abroad.ISLAMABAD, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan Foreign Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif has left for Russia on an official visit at the invitation of his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov from Feb. 19 to 22, said the Foreign Ministry here Monday.

During his stay in Moscow, Asif is expected to hold talks with Lavrov, and the two sides would deliberate upon the entire spectrum of bilateral relations as well as regional and international issues of mutual interest, the ministry said in a statement.

The two ministers had earlier met on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session in New York in September 2017.

"The visit would provide opportunity to explore ways and means to further strengthen cooperation in political, economic, trade and investment, defense, education and cultural fields," the statement said.

The foreign ministry said relations between the two countries have been growing steadily in all fields.

Regular high level exchanges between the two countries in the last few years are a manifestation of mutual desire for translating political good will into a substantive and multidimensional partnership, the statement said.

Pakistan and Russia are also celebrating the 70th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations this year.Source: Xinhua| 2018-02-19 17:52:44|Editor: pengying

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WINDHOEK, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Bank Windhoek, a Namibian commercial bank, on Monday commenced the trading of the Chinese currency renminbi or yuan notes (CNY) countrywide as part of efforts to boost business transactions with the Chinese community.

Bank Windhoek which offers a wide range of financial services and products, including personal, corporate, electronic and international banking services, via a network of 50 branches, will accept denominations of 10, 20, 50 and 100 CNY at its branches.

Yuan notes will be traded in addition to the current range of foreign currency notes which are exchanged at 0 percent commission, said Windsor Markus, Head of Treasury Sales at Bank Windhoek.

"Bank Windhoek's business clients also have one less thing to worry about by buying their foreign notes at 0 percent commission. They can rather focus on their business and not have to shop around for the lowest charges when banking their foreign exchange," he added.

According to Markus, travelers can purchase their foreign exchange up to 60 days prior to departure.

Meanwhile over the last two years two other commercial banks, Standard Bank Namibia and First National Bank, in the country embraced that trade of the renminbi by launching products that would cater to the Chinese nationals doing business in the country.ISLAMABAD, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Pakistani security forces have foiled a major terror bid by killing two suicide bombers in the country's northwest tribal region of Bajaur Agency, a statement from the Pakistan army said on Monday.

The Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media wing of Pakistani army, said that the security forces, on a tip-off, conducted a successful operation in Ghatki area of Mamoond district of Bajaur Agency near the Afghan border and killed two suspected suicide bombers belonging to Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan.

The killed who sneaked into Pakistani territory from Afghanistan were trying to move towards the regional headquarters of the area, said the ISPR.

The security forces encircled the terrorists near Ghatki, Bajaur Agency and asked them to surrender, said the statement, adding that the suspects were killed while trying to escape.

A suicide jacket, anti-tank mines, magnetic mines, prepared remote-controlled improvised explosive devices, remote-controlled receivers, detonators, and communication equipment were recovered from the suicide bombers, the army said further.

Following the incident, security at the entry and exit points of Bajaur Agency was tightened.

Earlier on Sunday, security forces claimed to have arrested five terrorists during an intelligence-based operation in the southwest province Balochistan.Nigerian soldiers participate in an operation in Nigeria's northeastern state of Borno, March 16, 2016. (Xinhua/Wale Salau)

ABUJA, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Nigeria's army chief Tukur Buratai has ordered troops to capture the leader of terror group Boko Haram, alive or dead.

Buratai said on Sunday it has come to the end of the military operation aimed at clearing remnants of Boko Haram from their stronghold in the northeast region, except the capturing of Abubakar Shekau, who is both the spiritual head and supreme commander of the terror group.

"We must move across to wherever this criminal, Shekau, is and catch him red-handed. I want you to get him," the army chief charged the troops in Camp Zairo, previously the largest camp of Boko Haram in the northern state of Borno.

Last year, Buratai gave troops a 40-day ultimatum to capture Shekau but they failed in the bid.

Last Thursday, the army offered a bounty of 8,310 U.S. dollars on Shekau's head.

The military said it had chased the terrorist leader out of Camp Zairo since December 2016.

The Nigerian army said it has "reliable information" that Shekau now disguises as a woman in his attempt to escape from the theater of operation by troops.Source: Xinhua| 2018-02-19 18:27:50|Editor: ZD

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SUVA, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Fijian Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama on Monday thanked China for the cash donation for the relief work in the South Pacific Island state that was partly hit by the recent tropical cyclone Gita.

While briefing Chinese Ambassador to Fiji Qian Bo on the latest development of the relief work in the island state, Bainimarama said that on behalf of the Fijian government and the victims of the southern Lau Group where more than 30 homes and crops had been seriously damaged, he thanked the Chinese side for the cash donation at such an important time when Fiji urgently needs assistance for the relief work.

For his part, Qian Bo, who presented the cheque to the prime minister, said that the Chinese embassy in Fiji is very much concerned about the damage and the suffering caused by the tropical cyclone Gita, and decides to donate 100,000 Fijian dollars (about 49,630 U.S. dollars ) in cash for the relief work of the cyclone-affected areas in Fiji, this fully reflects the profound friendship between the two peoples and the strategic partnership of mutual respect and common development between the two countries.

The Chinese ambassador also hoped that the cyclone-affected areas can have a speedy recovery.

The Chinese embassy here is the first to pledge the cash donation after the cyclone hit Fiji.

Tropical cyclone Gita last Tuesday brought winds of up to 275 km per hour and heavy rain across Ono-I-Lau and Vatoa, Fiji's southernmost islands, knocking out communications and causing damages, but Fiji's most populated center escaped serious harm as the tropical cyclone passed south of Suva, Fiji's capital.

In 2016, Fiji was also hit by tropical cyclone Winston, which killed 44 persons and caused extensive damages in the island state. As Fiji's good friend, China also provided emergency humanitarian aid to the island state.Source: Xinhua| 2018-02-19 18:32:52|Editor: ZD

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BEIJING, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Chinese consumers are picking up smarter ways of overseas spending during this year's Spring Festival holiday, encouraging tourism industries of various countries to upgrade their services to suit China's new consumer demands.

Formerly, "shopping spree" became synonymous with Chinese tourist groups spending money in shopping malls around the world. However, this stereotype is changing.

SMARTER SPENDING

This year, many Chinese tourists have been changing their shopping habits, and their consumer behavior has become more diversified and rational and features detailed planning.

"Shopping is still an integral part of the outbound travel of Chinese people, but now more people go shopping rationally based on their individual needs," said Zhang Yuhong, general manager of a travel agency in Germany.

"In the past, health care products and sightseeing tours were major expenditures for Chinese tourists. Nowadays, spending in the fields of service and culture such as children's study tours, arts appreciation and collection as well as health care, are emerging as the new consumption mainstream of high-end groups," said Li Tian, who runs a Melbourne-based migration and education consulting company in Australia.

Li's observation regarding Chinese overseas consumption also appears to hold true for European tourism markets.

With its unique tourism resources including cultural relics, vibrant modern culture and historically-rich university communities, Britain has attracted more and more Chinese tourists in recent years.

During this year's Spring Festival, many Chinese visitors are visiting London's major museums and studying at prestigious universities such as Oxford and Cambridge.

Zhou Bochao, CEO of a British travel company, said museum education programs in many European countries including Britain are greatly appreciated by Chinese visitors. In addition, art investment, education and advanced medical services are also attracting more and more attention among Chinese visitors.

To celebrate this year's Spring Festival, a Chinese couple, Wu Yanhua and Zhang He, chose to travel in Brazil for half a month.

Prior to their departure, the couple booked popular hotels, selected a Chinese-language guide service and downloaded Brazil's popular tourism applications.

The couple are not alone in choosing a smaller-scale but more detailed overseas tour. Li said the new consumption pattern will lead to higher-level competition in the industry. Global tourism service providers need to compete for ideas and services to improve their tourism experience and earn "smart money."

CUSTOMIZED SERVICES

Nowadays, the new characteristics and trends of overseas Chinese tourism are pressing countries and businesses around the world to make adjustments in their efforts to excel in marketing, technology application and tourism services.

The Brazilian government is now granting Chinese visitors tourist visas that are valid for five years, with a 90-day stay period, renewable for up to another 90 days.

What's more, the Ministry of Tourism has accredited another 316 Brazilian travel agencies, which are now able to receive Chinese tourists in the country.

The introduction of visa facilities shows that the Brazilian government pays great attention to China's market and wants more Chinese tourists to visit the country, said Ronnie Lins, director of the China-Brazil Center for Research and Business.

Merchants also understand how important the Chinese consumers are, and are thus adapting themselves to the new behavior of Chinese consumers.

Value Retail is the developer and operator of a boutique collection of nine luxury outlet shopping villages in Europe, which include Bicester Village, the first and most successful one located in Britain, with 6.8 million consumers coming from all over the world each year. Among them, Chinese consumers are Bicester Village's highest spenders.

Sadie Tew, senior retail director of Value Retail, told Xinhua that more and more brands in the shopping village accept China's cashless payments including Alipay and WeChat Pay, and consumers can also use Alipay or WeChat Pay to purchase gift cards in the visitor center.

In the southern French city of Marseille, local tourism authorities have explored various short-distance cruise routes and are offering experience tours such as making soap by hand to meet the Chinese tourists' demands.

The city also developed a Chinese-language metro application and opened an official account on China's social media, which gives tourists information about the city.

Chinese-language services are also vigorously promoted in the Austrian tourism market. Chinese language services are available at most local museums and those who can speak Chinese can easily get jobs in shopping malls. Chinese characters even appear on signs at some tourists destinations. Enditem

(Xinhua reporters Song Dan in Sydney, Deng Qian in London, Qiao Jihong in Berlin, Zhang Man in Paris and Wang Tengfei in Vienna, as well as Zhang Qichang and Zhang Wuyue in Brasilia also contributed to the story.)KABUL, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- The Afghan government and two local construction companies have signed an agreement to construct a solar power plant in southern province of Kandahar, the Afghan Presidential Palace announced Monday.

Amanullah Ghalib, head of Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat, the country's power supply company, signed the agreement with the representatives of the private Solaristan and 77 construction firms in presence of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani at the presidential palace on Sunday, the palace said in a statement.

The project costs about 47.3 million U.S. dollars, with 14 million U.S. dollars provided by the government and the remaining cost will be granted by the above private companies, which have invested in the project.

The construction work of the plant that produces 30 megawatts of electricity will take around 12 months, according to the statement.

Security situation has been improving in Kandahar, the former stronghold of Taliban, over the last months, as security forces have conducted search and cordon operations across the province.Source: Xinhua| 2018-02-19 18:42:57|Editor: ZD

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BAGHDAD, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Up to 27 members of paramilitary Hashd Shaabi fighters were killed in an ambush by Islamic State (IS) militants near the town of Hawijah in Kirkuk province, a Hashd Shaabi statement said on Monday.

The incident occurred on Sunday night when a force of Hashd Shaabi force were ambushed by a terrorist militants disguised in military uniforms in Hawijah area, in the southwestern part of the oil-rich Kirkuk province, the statement said.

Fierce clashes erupted at the scene for more than two hours, which only ended when reinforcement force from Hashd Shaabi fighters intervened, the statement added.Source: Xinhua| 2018-02-19 18:42:58|Editor: pengying

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BEIJING, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- China will ban fishing in the Yellow River, the second longest river in the country, between April 1 and June 30 each year starting from 2018, according to the Ministry of Agriculture.

The fishing ban aims to protect aquatic organism resources and biodiversity as excessive fishing threatens fishery resources.

It will cover the main stream, three major lakes, and 13 tributaries linked to the Yellow River, the ministry said in a statement.

Fishing for scientific studies, taming and breeding purposes during the ban period should be approved by authorities of provincial or higher levels.

Provinces and autonomous regions can extend the fishing ban according to local needs, according to the ministry.

China has already imposed a fishing ban along the Yangtze River, the longest river in the country. The annual ban, which runs from March 1 to June 30, covers the spawning season for most of the river's aquatic life. It includes the entire river as well as key tributaries and lakes.

A similar fishing ban has also applied to the Huaihe River, which runs almost parallel between the Yangtze River and the Yellow River.JALALABAD, Afghanistan, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- The bodies of nine civilians abducted by the Islamic State (IS) group from Kot district of the eastern Nangarhar province 18 months ago have been found, spokesman for provincial government Attaullah Khogiani said Monday.

"The terrorist group abducted a dozen people including tribal elders from Seh Paye area of Kot district 18 months ago but the bodies of nine of the victims buried in a mass grave in Momandara area of Achin district were found very recently," Khogiani told reporters here.

However, some sources believe that 12 bodies were discovered from a mass grave in Momandara area, once controlled by IS militants.

Militants loyal to the hardliner Islamic State, according to the local officials and villagers had brutally killed and kidnapped the locals, besides destroying residential houses during their brief capture of villages in Kot, Achin and other areas of Nangarhar province over the past nearly two years.Source: Xinhua| 2018-02-19 19:03:02|Editor: pengying

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BEIJING, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- The third season of the documentary "A Bite of China," which depicts Chinese culture via food, will air every night starting from Monday.

For some foreigners who love Chinese food, however, watching a documentary or tasting Chinese food is not enough, they also want to learn to cook Chinese cuisine.

"Dumplings are my favorite Chinese food, and I'm so happy that I learnt the secret to making dumplings ahead of my first Spring Festival in China," said Deandri Botha, who came to Beijing from South Africa 10 months ago.

She joined a dumpling-making party last week at The Hutong, a cultural hub for foreigners and locals alike to experience Chinese culture in a courtyard at one of Beijing's hutongs, or traditional alleys.

Holding the "Chinese New Year Dumpling Making Party" is an annual tradition for The Hutong and this year it was attended by over 50 foreigners.

"This is my second time here, and my husband and our two sons came along to enjoy holiday fun," said Lawrence Coradini from France who works as a teacher at an international school in Beijing.

The Hutong, founded by two Australians in 2007, offers workshops on tea appreciation, traditional Chinese medicine, and cuisines from across China.

Mark Thirlwall discovered the courtyard while working as a tour guide 11 years ago, and decided to rent it with his friend Stacey Shine to organize educational and cultural events.

"Shine and Thirlwall knew well that many of those who visit China are interested in taking back more than just pictures of the Forbidden City and the Great Wall," said Chen Yuxian, manager of The Hutong.

The Hutong provides various cooking classes from hand-pulled noodles and steamed buns to homemade tofu on a daily basis.

It has over 30 staff, half of whom are from outside China, said Chen.

"I decided to work at The Hutong after I studied Yunnan cuisine here five years ago," said Marissa Kennedy, who worked with the Peking University Press when she first came to China from the United States in 2007.

According to the 2016-2017 China National Image Global Survey released last month, foreigners believe Chinese cuisine is the factor that best represents Chinese culture.

The survey interviewed people from 22 countries, with 500 respondents from each country.

Among the 11,000 people surveyed, 52 percent picked Chinese cuisine as representative of Chinese culture, with almost 80 percent saying they had tried it, 72 percent of whom spoke highly of it.

"I planned to stay in China for one year, but this year marks my fifth year in China," said Mona Potter from Ireland.

She came to the event with her husband, two-month-old daughter, and her parents-in-law.

"My parents-in-law flew from America for the baby, and I took them to this party to feel the charm of Chinese food," Potter said, "I met my husband in Beijing and became a mother here, and nothing could be possible if I had not been attracted by Chinese culture."Source: Xinhua| 2018-02-19 19:13:06|Editor: Yurou

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BAGHDAD, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Up to 27 members of paramilitary Hashd Shaabi fighters were killed in an ambush by Islamic State (IS) militants near the town of Hawijah in Kirkuk province, a Hashd Shaabi statement said on Monday.

The incident occurred on Sunday night when a force of Hashd Shaabi force were ambushed by a terrorist militants disguised in military uniforms in Hawijah area, in the southwestern part of the oil-rich Kirkuk province, the statement said.

Fierce clashes erupted at the scene for more than two hours, which only ended when reinforcement force from Hashd Shaabi fighters intervened, the statement added.

All the 27 paramilitary fighters were from the force ambushed by the insurgent militants, who exploited their large number and bad whether during the attack, it said.

In the morning, members of a Shiite tribe in Basra mourned 11 of its sons who were part of the ambushed by IS militants in Kirkuk province, according to the statement.

The ambushed Hashd Shaabi force has carried out eight search operations in the area during the past few day and has detained large number of suspected terrorists from IS sleeper cells, it said.

Meanwhile, Captain Ahmed al-Jubouri from Hawijah police confirmed the toll of the incident and said that all the killed paramilitary fighters were from Hashd Shaabi's 16th Brigade.

"Eight vehicles for the Hashd Shhabi were burned during the battle, but there is no report about casualties among the extremist militants who fled the scene," Jubouri told Xinhua.

During the past few months, dozens of IS militants fled their former bases in the predominately Sunni Arab province of Salahudin, Hawijah area in west of Kirkuk, after the Iraqi forces drove out the extremist militants from these areas during anti-IS offensives in the past few months.

On Dec. 9, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi officially declared full liberation of Iraq from IS militants after Iraqi forces recaptured all the areas once seized by the extremist group.

However, small groups and individuals of IS militants melted in urban areas or resorted to deserts and rugged areas looking for safe havens. They still capable of carrying out attacks from time to time against the security forces and civilians.Source: Xinhua| 2018-02-19 19:18:09|Editor: Yurou

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Israeli analog astronauts take part in the D-Mars project at the Desert Mars Analog Ramon Station in the Negev Desert near Mitzpe Ramon, Israel, on Feb. 18, 2018. A four-day-long Mars habitat experiment by six Israeli scientists ended on Sunday in the country's Negev desert. (Xinhua/Gil Cohen Magen)

by Keren Setton

JERUSALEM, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- A team of six Israeli scientists finished a four-day simulation of life on the planet Mars on Sunday.

The mission was conducted in Israel's Negev desert in the south of the country near the Ramon crater, which is similar to Mars in terms of the land structure, geology, aridity, appearance and isolation.

It is the first Israeli space simulation center but not the only one in the world. The simulation is designed to investigate and simulate possible life on Mars. During the simulation, participants were cut off from the world, as they conducted research studies, constructed buildings that suited the conditions on Mars and wore space suits.

Israel, which has advanced space sciences, has only sent one astronaut to space so far. Although he was killed in the NASA Columbia space shuttle crash in 2003, it has not deterred the country from aspiring to send further astronauts to space. Israeli presence in global space programs is minor so far.

Israel's space agency is a main sponsor of the event, together with leading universities, research centers and hi-tech companies in the country.

The conditions in the shipping container mimic those on the red planet, aside from the lack of atmosphere and the reduced gravity. Outside, the Negev desert also serves as a location with many similarities to Mars. It is an isolated, dry area with stark geological resemblance to the distant planet.

For Professor Guy Ron, a nuclear physicist from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem who was one of the six people inside the simulator, the desolate setting was the greatest challenge. He was responsible for the study on measuring cosmic radiation.

"It is truly the defining factor, you are far away from everybody," he said. "I'm such an online person, being offline for four days was challenging and interesting."

During the days of the experiment, the scientists were held up in the container and got to know each other intimately.

"Unlike real astronauts, we did not get a chance to get to know each other before. We talked a lot," said Prof. Ron. "Bunking with someone is a great way to get to know them."

The primary goal of the experiment was familiarization with the aspects of any mission to Mars. The participants were not only in an enclosed environment. They got accustomed to moving around in a cumbersome spacesuit with a heavy helmet on their heads.

The scientists also got used to the delay in communication between Mars and Earth. In real life this is facilitated by a satellite uplink which makes for at least a three-minute lag between the two sides. Often this time period is significantly longer.

Between them, they communicated with handheld radios.

"I absolutely understand now how hard it is to do good science in these kind of conditions," Dr. Reut Sorek Abramovich told Xinhua on the site. Abramovich is a scientific advisor at the Davidson Institute of Science and Education, the education arm of the Weizmann Institute of Science.

She was responsible for three simulation experiments, including a study to search for life using the collection of soil samples, exploring the feasibility of 3D printing using local soil and a psychological study on the effect of isolation and tension on the astronaut's functioning.

Later this year, students from the institute are slated to take part in a shorter experiment.

The long term aim is to enable research in areas of food technology, communications and remote sensoring.

The difficulties that emerged during the simulation brought with them a lot of lessons for the future.

"I would definitely use more robotics," Dr. Abramovich told Xinhua.

She was the 2nd female in the team together with four males.

"You need a certain type of mindset for women to survive with men," she laughed, hoping to see many more female astronauts in the future.

Mars exploration is still much about dreams and hopes and less about reality.

But for Prof. Ron, the reality is closer than many people think.

"Kids that are in school now will be going to Mars," he believes.Source: Xinhua| 2018-02-19 19:38:16|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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Iranian rescuers search for the wreckage of a passenger plane that crashed on Sunday at Dena mountain, central Iran, on Feb. 19, 2018. Iran found the wreckage of the crashed Aseman Airlines ATR-72 plane on Monday and received condolences from Chinese, Russian and United Nations (UN) leaders for the victims of the incident and their families. (Xinhua/Arya Jafari)

TEHRAN, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Iran found the wreckage of the crashed Aseman Airlines ATR-72 plane on Monday and received condolences from Chinese, Russian and United Nations (UN) leaders for the victims of the incident and their families.

The deputy governor of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province in southwestern Iran said on Monday that the wreckage of the aircraft, which crashed into the Dena mountain in the central Iranian province of Isfahan on Sunday, was found near Dengezlu city in the province.

The air tragedy killed all 65 people on board, the Civil Aviation Organization of Iran confirmed on Sunday.

Following the incident, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani offered their condolences to the families of the victims.

The international community grieved over the air crash.

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday sent a condolence message to his Iranian counterpart, Hassan Rouhani. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, in his message on Sunday to his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif, expressed his deep condolences over the victims who lost their lives in the air tragedy and extended his sincere sympathy to their families.

Russian President Vladimir Putin also sent a condolence message to his Iranian counterpart Rouhani over the crash, the Kremlin said Sunday.

"The president emphasized that Russia grieves together with those who lost families and friends in the tragedy and wished them courage and strength in this dark hour," the Kremlin press service cited Putin as saying.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres extended his heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims and to the people and government of Iran, said on Sunday Guterres'deputy spokesman Farhan Haq in a statement.

The crashed ATR-72 aircraft belonging to Iran Aseman Airlines took off from the capital Tehran on Monday morning and disappeared from the radar screen 50 minutes after its departure, near an area about 14 miles (22.5 km) from its destination Yasuj, an industrial city in the Zagros mountains in southwestern Iran.

A total of 20 emergency teams were dispatched to the region by the crisis management agencies of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province, where Yasuj is located, and three adjacent provinces.

The search and rescue operations in the Zagros mountains were slow due to bad weather, Mojtaba Khaledi, spokesman for Iran's emergency services, said on Sunday.

Iranian aviation officials said the cause of the crash will be examined and announced after the black box of the wrecked plane is recovered.Source: Xinhua| 2018-02-19 20:43:30|Editor: pengying

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LHASA, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Holding a baby goat, or kid, tightly in her arms, Tse Drolma must walk more than one hour to Yamdrok Lake in the freezing weather. Sometimes she is lucky to get a free ride.

Tse Drolma lives in impoverished Kamba Village, Konggar County in Tibet Autonomous Region.

The 17-year-old Tibetan girl is a student at a vocational school in Lhasa. She goes to the viewing platform beside Yamdrok Lake every day during her winter vacation, with her kid.

Four years ago, Tse Drolma's father fell seriously ill, leaving her mother to support the family.

"I just wanted to share the burden on my mother's shoulders," she said. She followed the lead of other villagers, who took goats to the lakeside and let tourists take photos with the animals for a small charge.

Goats have become "cash cows" for her family.

Tse Drolma earned just five yuan (0.8 U.S. dollars) per customer when she first started. She never expected the animals to make a fortune, just some extra money to help her family.

During holidays, she goes to the observation platform, located nearly 5,000 meters above sea level, every morning at 9 a.m.

Tse Drolma makes sure her kids are well fed and prepares some hay for them before they leave home.

She often takes her textbooks and reads them at the platform, or listens to music when there are not many tourists. A pack of instant noodles is her normal lunch. She stays there until evening, enduring the strong winter winds.

Fortunately, the standard price for a goat photo doubled last year as the region has seen an increasing number of tourists. But Tse Drolma sometimes only has one or two customers, because she's too shy to solicit business.

During summer vacation, when the weather in the region becomes more pleasant, she said she can earn more than 100 yuan per day.

"Her name is Drolkar. She's only three months old," she said. Drolkar is the seventh kid Tse Drolma has worked with over the past few years.

She has to bring kids, as full-grown goats are not as cute and are not willing to let tourists touch them. Tse Drolma sets all her workmates free after they were grow bigger, rather than keeping them for their milk or slaughtering them for meat.

Tibet received more than 25 million visitors last year, an increase of 10.6 percent from 2016. Tourism revenue in 2017 increased 14.7 percent to 38 billion yuan (6 billion U.S. dollars).

Tourism has become a pillar industry in the region, which will be further developed in the coming years, so as to increase rural incomes and eventually lift all residents out of poverty, according to the first session of the 11th People's Congress of Tibet in January.

It is foreseeable that Tse Drolma's "goat photo business" will be prosperous in the near future.

Besides benefiting from the boom in tourism in the region, Tse Drolma and her family also receive support from the local government.

Her family is among millions of poor across the country expected to be lifted out of poverty by 2020 in the nationwide battle against poverty.

Last year, Tse Drolma's family received a 12,000-yuan subsidy, 3,000 yuan for each family member. Her father, who has taken part in a government-led poverty relief project and has now become a road maintenance worker, can earn more than 5,000 yuan per year.

The average disposable income of a resident in rural areas of Tibet was 10,330 yuan in 2017, with an increase of 13.6 percent from the previous year.

The number of impoverished people in the region reduced to 330,000 in 2017 from 590,000 in 2015. However, there are still 2,440 poor villages in Tibet, with Tse Drolma's village among them.

According to a report released by the regional government, Tibet will increase the average disposable income of rural residents to 11,670 yuan through promoting the development countryside of the tourism, eco-agriculture, and handicraft industries.

"Life is getting better than before," said Tse Drolma, but she said she doesn't want to completely rely on government assistance.

"I should do something on my own for my family. I dream of finding a good job after graduation and creating a better future for my family," she said.

With the help of government, as well as her diligence, the distance between Tse Drolma and her dream is no longer so big.

"I'm confident about a beautiful life in the future," she said.LONDON, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Bosses in Britain were accused Monday of living in the dark ages with worrying attitudes to the recruitment of pregnant women.

New statistics from the Equality and Human Rights Commission show that many businesses' attitudes are decades behind the law, with worrying attitudes towards unlawful behavior when it comes to recruiting women.

A survey of 1,106 senior decision makers in business found 36 percent of private sector employers agree that it is reasonable to ask women about their plans to have children in the future during recruitment.

The statistics also reveal six in 10 employers agree that a woman should have to disclose whether she is pregnant during the recruitment process, and almost half of employers agree it is reasonable to ask women if they have young children during the recruitment process.

The survey was commissioned to understand managers' attitudes around pregnancy and maternity discrimination.

The survey also found that, when it comes to maternity discrimination in the workplace, 44 percent of employers agree that women should work for an organization for at least a year before deciding to have children.

"What's more, the same number agrees that women, who have had more than one pregnancy while in the same job, can be a 'burden' to their team," said the report.

Financially, four in 10 employers agreed that pregnancy in the workplace puts "an unnecessary cost burden" on the workplace.

Half of employers say there is sometimes resentment among employees towards women who are pregnant or on maternity leave.

The commission has called on employers to eliminate pregnancy and maternity discrimination in the workplace.

The commission's CEO Rebecca Hilsenrath said: "It is a depressing reality that, when it comes to the rights of pregnant woman and new mothers in the workplace, we are still living in the dark ages."

The report cites the experience of Sarah, a mother of two young children who was made redundant during maternity leave for her first child.

Sarah explained: "It's sad to think that things like this are still happening. I feel angry that you can be a mother with young children and, unless you're in a job that protects you, your whole world can come tumbling down."

Commenting on the report TUC General Secretary Frances O'Grady said: "No woman should have to choose between their career and having a family. But thousands are being forced from their job every year. Pregnancy discrimination scars lives and careers. Employers are getting away with breaking the law on an industrial scale."Source: Xinhua| 2018-02-19 20:48:31|Editor: Yurou

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SUVA, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- About 500 education ministers and their delegations from around the world gathered on Monday in Nadi, the third largest city in Fiji, to attend the 20th Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers (20CCEM) from Feb. 19-23.

CCEM is a series of high-level meetings gathering education officials from the over 50 Commonwealth countries to discuss key education issues in the context of climate change.

This is the first time the meeting is being hosted by a Pacific Island nation.

The theme of 20CCEM is "Sustainability and Resilience: Can Education Deliver?"

Fiji is currently holding the presidency of the United Nations climate change conference (COP23).

"Fiji is incredibly proud to stand as a leader among the Commonwealth as the first Pacific Island nation to host this important gathering," said Fijian Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama.

"We offer a fitting location for 20CCEM, and not just because of our global climate leadership. Fiji is in the midst of an education revolution," said the prime minister.

"We look forward to continuing this progress, sharing our learnings, and gaining new perspectives through collaboration with our fellow Commonwealth nations at this year's event," he said.

The outcomes of 20CCEM will be presented at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in London in April.

The triennial Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers (CCEM) is the second largest meeting organized by the Commonwealth Secretariat following the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.

Ministers gather to share knowledge and good practices in the education sector, receive updates on actions achieved in CCEM mandates, as well as identify areas of action for the next three years for education in the Commonwealth.COLOMBO, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- The Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) led by President Maithripala Sirisena on Monday ended days of political uncertainty in the country, saying it would continue to be a part of the unity government to push for "major changes" within the government.

SLFP Parliamentarian and Minister of Social Empowerment, S.B. Dissanayake said the SLFP decided to remain in the government and end the uncertainty over the future of SLFP and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's United National Party (UNP) unity government.

He said the SLFP had held extensive talks with President Sirisena on Monday at the Presidential Secretariat and the party had vowed to stay with the president and support his decisions.

"We decided to make a massive change within the government. We will remain with our decision to make those changes and do what is necessary," Dissanayake told reporters after meeting the president.

"We will not leave the unity government," he added.

The future of Sri Lanka's unity government was uncertain when UNP and SLFP were defeated in a local government election held on Feb. 10.

Since the two parties' defeat, several SLFP ministers had asked for the resignation of the prime minister and urged the president to break the unity government and form a SLFP-led government.

UNP ministers had also called on the prime minister to quit the unity government and form a UNP led government instead.

Prime Minister Wickremesinghe, however at a media briefing held last week said the UNP would not quit the unity government and he would continue as the prime minister according to the Sri Lankan constitution.

At the Feb. 10 local government polls, former Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa's newly formed Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna party, also known as Sri Lanka People's Front. achieved a landslide victory by winning 239 councils out of 340.

The UNP won 41 councils while the SLFP won 10.Source: Xinhua| 2018-02-19 21:03:35|Editor: pengying

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BEIJING, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday sent a condolence message to his Iranian counterpart, Hassan Rouhani, over the crash of an Iranian jetliner a day earlier.

In his message, Xi offered his deepest condolences to all the victims on behalf of the Chinese government and the Chinese people. He also expressed his most sincere sympathies to the families of those deceased in the tragedy.

The Aseman Airlines passenger plane bound for Iran's southwestern city of Yasuj disappeared from the radar screen 50 minutes after takeoff from Tehran on Sunday.

The Civil Aviation Organization of Iran (CAOI) confirmed later on the same day that the plane had crashed into the Dena mountain in central Iran's Isfahan province, and that none of the 65 people on board was believed to have survived.

Iran's state media said Monday the wreckage of the ill-fated plane was found in Dengezlu city in Isfahan province, a report the CAOI later said it couldn't confirm.

Bad weather coupled with mountainous terrain are hampering the search and rescue operations.JOHANNESBURG, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- The South African government on Monday confirmed that the oriental fruit fly has been detected in the country's Western Cape Province.

The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) issued a statement on Monday confirming the disease.

The government stated that they have been carrying out various tests since the disease was detected at the end of last month. The area has been quarantined to prevent the disease spreading to other areas.

"Growers, packing and processing facilities of host material have been placed under quarantine and eradication initiated in a 25 km2 area surrounding the detection point. Growers within the eradication area will have to apply for permits to remove produce for packing or to move produce outside the area subject to phytosanitary conditions," said DAFF in a statement.

The disease affects fruits like mango, guava, citrus, papaya, apple, pear, apricot, peach, pear, cherry, grapes, passion fruit, pepper, tomato and cucurbits. The government warned that if the disease is not effectively controlled it could result in food insecurity and job losses.

The DAFF also said the community, traders and farmers in the infected area have to seek permit from them before removing fruit from quarantine areas to non-quarantine area.

"International travellers are advised to avoid illegal importation of agricultural commodities into South Africa because this may lead to the introduction of new pests and diseases which are expensive and difficult to manage," it added.

The department said the pest can be controlled by practicing effective field sanitation, chemical control (male annihilation) blocks and protein bait stations or protein bait sprays. It could also be controlled by regulation of the removal of host material from the infested areas non-infested areas.

The oriental fruit fly is an exotic fruit fly native to Asia, previously described in Africa as the invader fruit fly. The government has not announced the possible source of the disease.Source: Xinhua| 2018-02-19 21:13:38|Editor: Yurou

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DAMASCUS, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- The Turkish forces and allied Syrian insurgents are fighting to capture the last area that would complete the Turkish control over 50 km of the borderline between Turkey and Syria's Kurdish-controlled Afrin enclave, a monitor group reported on Monday.

The Turkish forces and allied Syrian rebels are opting to capture the Arab Weiran area in northern Afrin, as this progress would enable the Turkish forces to connect border areas it captured in northern and northeastern parts of Afrin, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

It added that when the area falls to the Turkish forces, 50 km of the borderline between Afrin and Turkey will be secured by Turkey.

The Observatory, which says it relies on a network of activists on ground, said the Turkish side has intensified shelling and airstrikes to precede the arrival of the Syrian forces, which were said to will enter Afrin to aid the Kurdish-led fighters within hours.

Earlier in the day, Syria's state-run SANA news agency said pro-government Syrian forces will enter the Kurdish-controlled Afrin enclave in northern Syria to help in defending that region from the one-month long Turkish military campaign.

The "popular forces," a term used to describe pro-government forces, will enter Afrin within the next hours "to support the steadfastness of its people" in the face of the Turkish attack, said the report.

The declaration is the first official comment on the recent hustle and bustle about an agreement reached between the Syrian army and the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) about the entry of the Syrian army to Afrin.

Still, the details of the deal haven't been made clear yet, as with SANA's declaration, pro-government forces will enter Afrin, not the official Syrian army.

The YPG has been controlling Afrin for nearly six years, but tension with Turkey over the growing influence of the Kurds has pushed Ankara to launch a wide-scale offensive along with Turkey-backed Syrian insurgents against Afrin.

The Kurds in Afrin have called on the government to intervene to protect Afrin as it's a Syrian territory after all.

A day earlier, Kurdish news outlets said the YPG agreed with the Syrian army for the entry of the gov't forces to border areas between Afrin and Turkey, not to the city center.

Syria's Kurds, who make up 10 percent of the country's population, have been calling and working to establish an autonomous region in northern Syria.Source: Xinhua| 2018-02-19 21:23:40|Editor: pengying

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MADRID, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Chinese new year celebrations were held across Spain over the weekend with several colorful activities in major cities, giving the local an occasion to feel the ancient culture from the East.

In the El Raval district of Barcelona, a dragon dance was held by members of the Confucius Institute Foundation as part of a parade.

One of these enthusiastic youngsters, Noel Sirerol, has been studying Chinese for three years and had the opportunity to study in China last summer. "This is definitely a highly recommended experience," he said.

"Observing other cultures makes you think twice about your own; that is precisely what makes you grow and what makes you better," he told Xinhua. "Celebrations like these really bring cultures together," he added.

Another young student, Marina, has been studying Chinese for 10 years. She asked one of her Chinese classmates' mothers to teach her Chinese when she was only six years old. "My dad did not understand at first. But now, after so many years, he can see how much I love Chinese culture and he is coming to see my performance as part of the Chinese new years celebrations," she said with a broad grin.

In Madrid, in the "Chinese quarters" of Usera, there were workshops, Chinese lanterns, dances, food, which created a special atmosphere for attendees.

In a workshop on Chinese tea ceremony, we met Fede. "I came to this workshop because my friend who plays guzheng invited me."

Guzheng, also known as the Chinese zither, is a Chinese plucked string instrument with a more than 2,500-year history.

"Coming here to celebrate with my Chinese friends reminds me of my life in China," he added. Fede for five months studied at the Beijing University, one of the most prestigious in the country.

Celeste is a Chinese teacher at the Official School of Languages in Valladolid.

"Language and culture are absolutely interrelated, so if you want to study Chinese you also need to understand the Chinese culture. That is why I brought my students to Chinese new year celebrations," she said.

One of her students, Javier, said: "We are really happy to be here celebrating with Chinese community."ANKARA, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Turkey and the U.S. will set up a three-way mechanism to address bilateral problems and normalize their ties, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said, local media reported Monday.

Speaking on his way back from the Munich Security Conference, Yildirim said that the mechanism will include three working groups: a group of defense ministers, a group of foreign ministers and the heads of intelligence and a group of prime ministers.

Turkey and the U.S. agreed to establish working groups to handle problematic areas during a critical visit by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to Ankara on Feb. 15-16.

The two sides will hold the first working group meeting by mid-March as part of the mechanisms.

The withdrawal of Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) militants from Manbij town in Syria "is a step," Turkish Prime Minister was quoted by local Daily News as saying.

"In mid-to-long term, we cannot allow a terror threat against Turkey to reside in either Iraq or Syria," Yildirim stressed.

"As long as they persist, our soldiers will be on their necks," he said.

The YPG is regarded by Ankara as the Syrian affiliate of the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), a terrorist organization listed by Turkey, However, the U.S. has supported the YPG as its ally in combating Islamic State in Syria.

Turkey launched military operation on Jan. 20 in Syria's Afrin to oust the YPG militia. It also vowed to expand its operation to Manbij where U.S. troops are deployed with YPG to fight the IS.

Ankara said once the YPG leaves Manbij, Turkey and the U.S. could take joint steps to restore stability there and in other cities, while Tillerson urged Ankara to show restraint in its military operation in Syria.NAIROBI, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Kenya's travel agents are increasingly turning to outbound business trips to China in a bid to boost their revenues, officials said on Monday.

Mohammed Wanyoike, Chairman of the Kenya Association of Travel Agents (KATA), told Xinhua in Nairobi, that travel agents are developing tour packages for the business community who are seeking to procure goods from China.

"Business trips to China are now a significant part of our industry revenues as China becomes an attractive destination for traders seeking to purchase manufactured products at affordable costs," he said.

Wanyoike said that most of the traders head to Guangzhou which is a commercial city located in Southern China.

He said that Guangzhou is popular destination because it is home to many factories that produce goods with high demand in Kenya.

The KATA chairman said that Kenya's booming real estate sector has increased demand for imports for construction material.

"We are also seeing more building professionals going to China for short terms courses in order to gain the latest technology in the construction sector," he added.

Wanyoike said that in order to further enhance their revenues they will embark on sensitization campaign to increase awareness of China as a tourism destination.

"We want more Kenyans to visit and explore Chinese rich cultural heritage," he said.TOKYO, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- A mayor in western Japan turned in his resignation after receiving a harsh backlash for threatening to kill a reporter, local media said Monday.

Takeshi Imamura, mayor of Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture, was set to serve until his current term ended in May, but tendered his resignation to assembly chairman Masatake Tanaka, abruptly halting his tenure.

Imamura, 45, told a reporter from the national daily Yomiuri Shimbun that "l'll kill you," when the reporter approached him after a New Year ceremony on Jan. 4, local reports said.

At the ceremony, Imamura, in his first four-year-term, had said that he would not run in the mayoral election in April.

While admitting the death threat amounted to "verbal abuse" Imamura went on to call the reporter a "pervert" for reportedly entering the mayor's private property when visiting his home.

The Yomiuri Shimbun lodged a protest about Imamura's remarks.

Imamura, known to take a tough position towards news organizations he deems to be "biased," reportedly said to the reporter "I'll kill you" because the "trespassing" reporter had not offered an apology, according to local media accounts.Source: Xinhua| 2018-02-19 21:43:43|Editor: pengying

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MOSCOW, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- The program of China's chairmanship of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) covers a wide range of concrete activities and is expected to bring a new qualitative impetus to interaction within its framework, said the Russian special envoy for the SCO.

The SCO summit is scheduled to be held in the east China's coastal city of Qingdao in June, with China taking the rotating chair this year.

In view of the latest admission of India and Pakistan, China shoulders a special responsibility in its chairmanship, the special envoy of the Russian President for SCO affairs Bakhtiyor Khakimov told Xinhua.

"One of the main tasks at this stage is to integrate new members into the cooperation that has developed over the course of 17 years of the organization's activities. All the steps proposed by China involve a smooth entry of both new members and the use of joint potential in the interests of further development of the SCO," Khakimov said in the recent interview.

In this context, China came up with an extensive program of its chairmanship, which is "rich in ideas and full of concrete activities," according to Khakimov.

"This program and these measures proposed by the Chinese friends are aimed precisely at giving a qualitative impulse to interaction within the framework of the SCO and building new dynamics at a new stage of development," he said.

Established in 2001, the SCO is an Eurasian political, economic and security organization that has China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, India and Pakistan as its full members, with four observer states and six dialogue partners.

Currently, the SCO is facing serious security tasks, among which the "three evils" - terrorism, illegal drug trafficking and organized cross-border crime - remain priorities, according to Khakimov.

"Problems always arise, but I am sure that only those who do nothing have no problems. We are working very actively, and therefore, with all the difficulties that arise on the way, our main task is to overcome them and go forward," he said.

In dealing with these tasks, the member states are making concerted efforts on the basis of mutual respect for each other's interests, which, in Khakimov's words, is the "main distinguishing feature of cooperation within the SCO framework."

"This is what we today call the Shanghai spirit - this is mutual trust, mutual consultations, mutual assistance and respect for each other," he said.

In particular, Khakimov noted that China-Russia cooperation within the framework of the SCO, which started from the first day of its creation, is one of the most important components of the broad bilateral relations between the two countries and also contributes to developing the SCO into a unique organization that enjoys attention, deserved authority and prestige.

"One can even not exaggerate what the interaction and mutual understanding between China and Russia means for the SCO ... This mutual understanding helps to build an atmosphere of friendship and mutual support in general in the SCO," Khakimov said.NAIROBI, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Kenya's ministry of energy will in mid June host the fifth edition of the East Africa Oil and Gas Summit (EAOGS 2018) in Nairobi amid rising investor appetite in this nascent sector across the region, the organizers said on Monday.

According to Global Event Partners, over 500 senior oil and gas executives will be joined by senior policymakers, regulators and experts to explore new opportunities in the region's oil and gas sector during the two-day summit.

"The renowned event, which is the largest of its kind in East Africa and is officially endorsed by the ministry of energy and petroleum in Kenya, will once again provide the platform for ministers and national oil companies to engage with international and local companies and investors, to examine the hugely significant opportunities present across the region," the organization said.

Kenya has hosted regional oil and gas summits in the past and organizers expect the June event to expose investors to emerging opportunities in the sector across the region.

"The 2018 program places Nairobi at the hub of the industry for East Africa and will examine the key topics that affect the rapidly advancing oil and gas industry throughout East Africa," it said.

The organization revealed that besides key note speeches by ministers, the summit will also discuss a range of topics like latest exploration updates, engaging the communities, emerging markets and attracting finance.

Likewise, the 2018 regional oil and gas summit will provide a networking opportunity for investors, service providers and clients.

Charles Kahuthu, Regional Coordinator and CEO of the East African Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture and co-organizer of the summit, noted it will take place against a backdrop of concerted efforts to revitalize oil and gas sectors in the region.

"The timing of EAOGS 2018 is crucial for the sector; the industry is ready to move forward-with a strong government in place. A recovering oil price, infrastructure, pipeline and refinery plans all moving forward," said Kahuthu.

"There has never been a better time to get involved and be right at the forefront to discussions focused on the opportunities for the industry in this region," he added.NAIROBI, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Several towns across Kenya, including the capital Nairobi, are facing an acute water shortage following a prolonged dry spell in the East African nation.

While Kenya has been facing water supply challenges, especially in Nairobi, where residents for years have had water rationed, the dry spell has worsened the situation as the crisis spread to towns that never had the problem.

Affected towns include Nairobi, Nakuru, Kakamega, Mombasa, Kericho, Migori, Bungoma, Murang'a and Eldoret.

Some of the residents in the towns have not received water through their taps for months, and resort to buying from vendors at exorbitant prices.

Most parts of Kenya last received rains in October 2017, and this followed an erratic rainy season between March and May in that year, according to the Meteorological Department.

The East African nation has experienced the erratic rains for the past three years due to the effects of climate change that have not only affected water supply but also food production.

"The last time I received water through my tap was six month ago," John Kuloba, a resident of Donholm on the east of Nairobi said Monday. "I have been buying water from vendors for domestic use and it is really expensive," he added.

Kuloba said the Nairobi water company released a schedule and his area is supposed to be getting water every Saturday.

"But this has never happened in the larger Donholm. Some areas located on the lower part get water but not us. I buy 20 litres of water at 0.30 dollars, which is expensive considering that I have a family of four," he said.

Moses Mwangi, a resident of Kahawa in Nairobi, shared the same predicament, noting that he is spending huge sums of money on water.

"A 20-litre container is being sold at between 0.20 dollars and 0.50 dollars. The price goes up at the weekend when demand rises since most people are usually at home. This is a huge crisis that we pray for the rains to come soon," he said.

Athi Water Services Board, which manages water resources in various urban areas, notes 75 percent of Nairobi residents do not get regular supply of piped water.

Kakamega town, one of the regions where residents never had water shortage, is currently gripped in a major water crisis, with residents going for weeks without the crucial commodity.

The level of water in Isiukhu, a major river where water is tapped and treated before it is supplied to the over 30,000 residents ,has hit an all-time low.

"For the first time since I started staying in Kakamega some 20 years ago, we receive water once a week, and it only comes for a few hours. For the rest of the weeks, we have to buy the commodity where a 20 litre can is being sold at 0.20 dollars," said Doris Injendi, a resident.

The crisis is compounded by the fact that several rivers where a majority of residents used to turn to for their water supply have dried.

"We used to draw water from a nearby river but it dried last year in November, and it is not only here, even in other places in the county, streams have dried," she said.

In Nakuru, Kericho and Mombasa, residents are buying 20 litres of water at an average of 0.30 dollars as the crisis bites.

"Water is scarce in Nakuru and the surrounding areas. You have to buy at a high price from vendors who are doing a booming business yet you are not even assured of the quality and the source," said resident Steven Kamau on Monday.

In Murang'a, the main source of water for Nairobi, taps have run dry for the last two weeks as rivers too dry up. Residents said it is the first time rivers have dried and they have faced a water crisis in their adult lives.

Analysts have blamed the water crisis on climate change that has seen rains disappear, destruction of forests, poor management of the resource and a bulging population.

"Kenya has brought this problem on itself because little has been done to protect forests and other water catchment areas. Destruction of forests is going on unabated even as the country faces a major crisis. We cannot destroy forests and expect rains," said Henry Wandera, an economics lecturer.

Wandera noted that regions like Murang'a and Kericho, which host many rivers and forests never used to suffer water shortages, but the fact that they have been hit shows how dire the situation is.

James ole Kiyiapi, a professor of environment and former principal secretary in the government, blamed the water shortage on destruction of forests, including the Mau, the biggest water catchment area in Kenya.

Kiyiapi noted that Kenya is a water scarce country, therefore the government must integrate water and forestry policies.

"We can only have water on our taps if we engage in massive reforestation and afforestation in mountain and hill areas at county and national levels. We should take the re-greening Kenya agenda to a new level, allocate funds for about 10-20 years for positive results," he noted on his Twitter handle, where the issue has been a hot debate in the last two weeks.

Kenyans on social media were unanimous that the East African nation is caught in the current predicament due to politicization of environment and water conservation efforts.

"If you fly over the Mau Forest, you will be shocked by the wanton destruction yet you cannot evict people doing the mess because you will face a political backlash. The government must stand up and act," said David Mugoli on Twitter.Source: Xinhua| 2018-02-19 22:08:52|Editor: Xiang Bo

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Rescuers use excavators on the site of a garbage dump landslide in Maputo, capital of Mozambique, on Feb. 19, 2018. At least 17 people were killed and several others were injured in a landslide in a garbage dump on the outskirts of Maputo due to heavy rain on early Monday morning. (Xinhua/Celso Baife)

MAPUTO, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- At least 17 people were killed and several others were injured in a landslide in a garbage dump on the outskirts of the Mozambican capital Maputo due to heavy rain on early Monday morning.

The victims living around the Hulene garbage dump were asleep when the rain caused the garbage to collapse and bury their houses.

Local authorities have been at the site of the accident since morning. Firefighters proceed to debris to rescue survivors or bodies.

Maputo City Governor Yolanda Cintura told the press at the scene that the government will meet today to draw up plans to prevent similar tragedies from happening again.

"At this point, the government has already made a commitment to identify places to house people who are homeless due to this bad event," she said, adding that the number of families affected is still to be quantified.

The governor thanked the efforts of people with good will who are assisting firefighters and other competent authorities in removing debris.

Without giving more details, the governor said the disaster has sped up the government's pace to close the dump.

Located among houses and in the city, the Hulene garbage dump is a precarious and old dump whose closure has been under discussion for many years.

"The closure is already well underway," Cintura said, "and most of the families living around the garbage dump have already been resettled in other neighborhoods in Maputo."

The governor said that although the precarious situation of the dump was identified a long time ago and steps have been taken, many people still return to that place.

The local residents always complain to the government about the nauseating smell of the dump, around which many waste pickers and street-loafers have wandered.

In 2014, the garbage wall collapsed and interrupted the neighboring road for two days.Source: Xinhua| 2018-02-19 22:23:58|Editor: ZD

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MOSCOW, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Authorities in Russia said Monday they didn't rule out the possibility that Sunday's fatal shooting incident in the country's predominantly Muslim Republic of Dagestan, was a terrorist attack.

The Russian Investigative Committee said it was taking into considetation "various theories" while trying to establish the attacker's motives.

"A terror attack is among possible theories," the TASS news agency cited the committee's spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko as saying.

On Sunday, a gunman identified as a local resident born in 1995 opened fire at worshipers in an Orthdox church in the city of Kizlyar, killing four women on the scene and wounding five others, including police and National Guard officers. One of the injured, also a woman, later died in hospital.

The assailant was shot dead by security services personnel responding to the incident when he was trying to flee the scene. It was later discovered that the attacker was armed with a hunting rifle and a knife.

The investigative committee said it had launched a criminal investigation into the incident on the grounds of attempted murder and encroachment on the lives of law enforcement officers.

There have been reports that the Islamic State militant group had claimed responsibility for the attack.

At the time of the shooting, churchgoers were celebrating Maslenitsa, a religious holiday marking the last week before Lent, which is the eighth week ahead of the Orthodox Easter.

Located in the North Caucasus region, the Republic of Dagestan borders the Chechen Republic, where the Russian government forces fought two wars against Islamic seperatists following the demise of the Soviet Union in 1991. It is also home to a number of radical insurgencies in recent memories.Source: Xinhua| 2018-02-19 22:29:01|Editor: pengying

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AMMAN, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Jordan and Turkey on Monday reiterated support and commitment to the two-state solution to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

At a joint press conference in Amman, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi and his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu said the Palestinian issue tops the regional issues and that the realization of the two-state solution that leads to the creation of an independent Palestinian state was key for attaining Mideast peace.

Safadi said Jordan and Turkey see eye to eye on Jerusalem and that the two countries consider the U.S. decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israeli is null and void.

On Syria, Safadi said the two sides agree on the need for a political solution to solve the crisis and allow for the return of Syrian refugees to their country.

The Turkish minister stressed support to Jordan and its regional role, adding that Turkey support Jordan's historic role as the custodian of the holy sites in Jerusalem.

On Syria, the Turkish minister said Turkey has no hidden agendas when it comes to Syria and that Turkey wants peace.

He added that the Turkish army's operation in Syria's Afrin seeks to uproot terrorists, stressing Turkey's support to the unity and the territorial integrity of Syria in this regard.

The minister said that if the Syrian army enters Afrin to help eradicate the terrorists the Turkey will support such efforts, but if the Syrian army enters Afrin to support the terrorists then it will be against the Turkish army.

Also Monday, King Abdullah II of Jordan received the Turkish minister and discussed ties between the two countries and regional developments.

Discussions also covered means to boost relations in fields of economy and commerce as well as challenges facing the Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem and Jordan's efforts in protecting the holy shrines. The Turkish minister stressed Jordan's support in this regard.Source: Xinhua| 2018-02-19 22:39:03|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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GAZA, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Private sector institutions in the Palestinian Gaza Strip urged Monday for calling off the United Nations Gaza Reconstruction Mechanism (GRM) amid a Palestinian-Israeli agreement to review the international rebuilding plan.

"The plan has failed its purpose on the ground and further contributed to tightening the blockade on Gaza under UN sponsorship," a statement by the institutions said.

The amount of cement that was allowed into Gaza for the private sector since last mid-October until the end of last year did not exceed two million tons, or 30 percent of the needed amount, the statement said.

The statement highlighted the pressing need for cement to reconstruct homes destroyed by Israel during its offensive on the blockaded territory in 2014.

The GRM is a temporary agreement among the Palestinian National Authority, Israel and the United Nations that went into effect after Israel's 2014 major offensive on Gaza.

The mechanism is meant to facilitate the entry of essential construction materials into Gaza, which has been under a tight Israeli blockade since Hamas movement's violent takeover of Gaza in 2007.

Israel restricts the entry into Gaza of many items that it says could be used for military activities such as gravel, concrete, steel bars, cement and wood in addition to things like x-ray machines and pumps needed to power water and sewage lines.

On Thursday, UN Special Coordinator Nickolay Mladenov, who met with Palestinian and Israeli officials last week, stated that all sides agreed on the need for a joint review of the GRM to improve its functionality, transparency and predictability.

Meanwhile, Palestinian Minister of Public Works and Housing, Mufid al-Hasayneh said Monday in a press statement that the Israeli war on Gaza in 2014 had significantly worsened the crisis as it caused severe damage to the houses, where 200,000 homes were totally destroyed or partially damaged.

He pointed out that 20 percent of the Palestinian families in the Gaza Strip live in overcrowded housing units with high population density, while the population growth rate in the Palestinian enclave stands at 3.3 percent.

The 51-day Israeli assault in 2014 left at least 2,251 Palestinians dead and hundreds of destroyed houses, according to the United Nations figures.ADDIS ABABA, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Foreign Ministers of Ethiopia and Russia on Monday commended the two countries' 120 years of diplomatic relations, with particular praise to relations in the economic, political and international matters.

Workneh Gebeyehu and Sergey Lavrov, Foreign Ministers of Ethiopia and Russia respectively, on Monday exchanged telegram that touched on the two countries' century-old ties and future partnership implications, according to the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

According to Gebeyehu, the past 120 years of diplomatic relations among the two countries "have been a period of consistent friendship and fruitful partnership, particularly in upholding and defending the cardinal principles of state sovereignty and independence."

Gebeyehu further noted that the celebrations of 120 years of diplomatic relations would serve as an impetus to recommit the two countries to work towards a much more dynamic and encompassing partnership.

Lavrov on his part also commended the achievements made during the historic relations, particularly noting the "high level mutual understanding in the international arena and unchanged commitment towards each others' interest."

The Russian foreign minister further expressed his expectations that the "time-proved partnership among the two countries will continue to strengthen in order to ensure peace and stability on the African continent."

The Ethiopian government has recently indicated its ambition to strengthen economic and investment relations with Russia to cut its trade deficit with Moscow.

According to Meles Alem, Ethiopian Foreign Ministry spokesperson, the current trade relations between the two "historically connected countries" stood in favor of Russia.

Ethiopian export to Russia last year totaled about 24.8 million U.S. dollars, while its import from Russia was 52.4 million dollars, according to figures from the ministry.CAIRO, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- An Egyptian army officer and two soldiers were killed during a shootout with terrorists in Egypt's North and Central Sinai, the Egyptian army said on Monday.

Four terrorists were also killed in armed clashes with army troops, the army said in an official statement.

Meanwhile, Egyptian military jets have destroyed five targets of terrorists in Sinai as part of a major military operation that started on February 9 to uproot terrorist groups in the terror-hit peninsula.

The comprehensive anti-terror operation, dubbed "Sinai 2018," comes weeks before Egypt starts its 2018 presidential elections scheduled for late March, when incumbent President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi is expected to make an easy win for a second term due to the lack of strong challengers in the race.

According to the army's statement, military engineers destroyed 101 explosive charges that had been planted in areas of the operation, the statement read.

Four caves and hideouts were also destroyed, it said, adding that they contained mines, bombs, weapons and ammunition, as well as automotive spare parts.

A media center of terrorists has also been detected, the statement said, noting that it contained computers, weapons and wireless communication devices.

The troops also destroyed 244 hideouts and caches that contained machine guns, ammunition and wireless communication devices, according to the statement.

Bordering Israel and the Palestinian Gaza Strip, Egypt's North Sinai province has been the center of terrorist attacks that killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers following the military ouster of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in July 2013 in response to mass protests.

Attacks later expanded to reach several other provinces including Cairo and started to target the Coptic minority via church bombings and shootings.

Most of the terror attacks were carried out by the so-called Wilayat Sinai (Sinai state or province), a Sinai-based group affiliated with the Islamic State group.SOFIA, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov and his visiting Hungarian counterpart Viktor Orban here on Monday said road and rail infrastructure of Balkan countries should be integrated into that of the European Union (EU).

"We have the historic opportunity to make a decision on the integration of the Balkans into the EU," Orban said at a joint press conference after talks with Borissov.

He said he was glad to see that Bulgaria took responsibility to move things in a positive direction.

It was not enough for the Balkans to be adopted in the EU in a political sense, Orban said, noting that if the Balkans are not connected with the EU in terms of infrastructure such as railways and motorways, then they would not be embedded in the EU economy.

Borissov said in turn that all countries in the region would benefit from such integration because major transport corridors linking Europe and Asia pass through their territories.

This was extremely important for the growth of the economy, he said.

Borissov said he was optimistic that Balkan infrastructure projects could be implemented by using hybrid funding from sources such as the World Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the mechanism of "16+1 cooperation" between China and the Central and Eastern European countries.

Providing a tangible European perspective for the Western Balkans is one of Bulgaria's priorities during the country's presidency of the Council of the EU this half-year.KIEV, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Ukraine's southern Odessa region, known for its Black Sea beach resorts, will develop green tourism, the state-run Ukrinform news agency reported Monday.

The report cited Svitlana Shatalova, deputy head of Odessa regional administration, as saying that a rural and ecological tourism center will be established in Tarutino district, which lies on the border with Moldova.

The tourism center will offer visitors tours to authentic Ukrainian villages and farms, as well as sightseeing in grain and lavender fields.

"This project will support the development of agriculture and livestock farming. Besides, it will incentivize small businesses and tap into the resource, economic and social potential of the region," Shatalova was quoted as saying.

Odessa is a coastal region to the north of the Black Sea and one of Ukraine's most celebrated tourism destinations.

About 5.7 million tourists from Ukraine and abroad visited the region in 2017, up 43 percent from a year ago.CAIRO, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- An Egyptian Court sentenced four defendants to death on Monday over forming a terrorist cell, official MENA news agency reported.

The Cairo Criminal Court said the four defendants were found guilty of establishing a terrorist cell in Giza province, near Cairo.

The cell was meant to target public figures, disturb public peace and assault public and private facilities, the court ruling said.

The court also sentenced 12 cell members to 25 years in prison and 14 others to 15 years in prison.

Terrorism prevailed in Egypt since the military ousted former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in early July 2013 in response to mass protests against his 12-month reign and his currently outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group.

Terrorist attacks killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers in restive North Sinai province before they gradually extended to other provinces and started to target dozens of the Coptic minority with church bombings.

Most of the attacks were claimed by the so-called Wilayat Sinai (Sinai State or Province), a Sinai-based group affiliated with the Islamic State group.Source: Xinhua| 2018-02-19 22:59:09|Editor: Xiang Bo

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Bukar Tijani, the Unied Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Africa, addresses the 30th FAO regional conference for Africa in Khartoum, Sudan, Feb. 19, 2018. The 30th Regional Conference for Africa of the FAO kicked off sessions Monday in the Sudanese capital Khartoum. (Xinhua/Mohamed Khidir)

KHARTOUM, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- The 30th Regional Conference for Africa of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) kicked off sessions Monday in the Sudanese capital Khartoum.

Officials from some 50 countries and 38 African ministers of agriculture are taking part in the conference besides 450 participants including senior African technicians and experts in addition to five countries which participate as monitors, as well as 17 international organizations.

The five-day conference is convened under the theme "Sustainable development of agriculture and food systems in Africa: improving the means of production and the creation of decent and attractive employment for youth."

"Our main motto is to provide food for all and food security for all. This food security cannot be achieved by just talking or reviewing experiences, but needs finding mechanisms and means on how to maintain hardworking, whether in agriculture or animal production," said Bushara Juma Aro, Sudan's Animal Resources Minister, when addressing the opening of the conference.

He stressed the importance of combating climate change and drought, and limiting armed conflicts.

Bukar Tijani, FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Africa, reiterated FAO commitment to help the African countries to face the challenges of poverty and hunger.

"I want to say that FAO continues to support the regional economic communities," said Tijani.

The conference is scheduled to discuss many issues related to polices at regional and international levels including state of food and agriculture in Africa, climate change and its impact on the work of FAO.by Ndalimpinga Iita

WINDHOEK, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- As Namibia battles with the Hepatitis E outbreak, hair traders operating in Havana informal settlement in the capital Windhoek say the outbreak is crippling their ventures.

Proceeds for hair salons in Havana informal settlement, once frequented by clients from various residential areas of the capital seeking bargain prices for a glorious look have declined.

The Ministry of Health and Social Services in November 2017 announced Hepatitis E outbreak, saying it has started in Windhoek's informal settlements, including Havana.

An estimated 110,000 people are living in informal settlements in Windhoek. Of this number, close to 100,000 are living in Havana informal settlement, according to Namibia Statistics Agency.

With the sun at its peak on Monday morning, it is all hustle and bustle along the Monte Christo main road in Havana informal settlement. Following an influx of rural-urban migrants, the busy road has over the years become a hub for diverse business such as car repairs, catering and salon trade.

Here at a salon, Aina Keenda, 28, is braiding a lady's hair. With only a secondary school certificate, salon trade has been the source of income over the past three years for the woman who moved to the city from a village in the northern part of Namibia.

Since the outbreak, according to her, the number of clients frequenting the slum-based hair salon has declined, citing fear of Hepatitis E infection.

"She might be my only client for today. It has been like this for weeks now," says a dismayed Keenda.

"Since mid-January, proceeds have declined by an average 850 Namibian Dollars (73.16 U.S. dollars) monthly," she says.

Business had been good but for the Hepatitis E outbreak. According to Keenda, she used to have no less than 15 clients in one week.

"But now, my clientele is limited to people from the surroundings. During a good week, I serve an average four to eight clients, reducing my monthly income to 1,750 Namibian dollars (150.13 U.S. dollars) monthly," she said.

A stone's throw away from Keenda's salon is the hair salon of 32-year-old Loide Shikongo, who is going all out to attract customers.

"Sister, can I do your hair," she offers as she scouts for new business to passersby.

"Of late business has not been promising due to Hepatitis E outbreak. So we scramble for clients," she says

In the wake of the outbreak, people working in the informal economy are facing unpredictable patterns of income, says Keenda.

The Namibia Labor Force Survey 2016 Report shows that 66.5 percent of the employed population are in informal employments. "These comprised of 65.6 percent of males and 67.5 percent of females. In addition, 57.3 percent of the employed population in urban areas and 81.1 percent of employments in rural areas were in informal employments," reads the report.

In addition, a report on migration by the International Organization for Migration puts the number of workers in Namibia in informal economy at 324,000.

According to the hairdressers, other services offered such as sales of hair products have also been affected. "Clients also used to buy items such as braids directly from us. Since clients hardly come, we barely stock any hair products to sell," adds Shikongo.

To keep afloat, the hairdressers are going extra miles to provide better services.

"I try and follow up with clients and go and plait their hair from where they are. But even with that; business is not easy to come by," says Keenda.

"We also offer reduced prices to at least earn some money rather than nothing. I have two children to support," says Shikongo.

Local constituency councillor, Martin David says that dwellers' operations have been affected by the outbreak, most of which could have long-term negative effects and may be crippling their livelihoods.

In the meantime, David says that the Windhoek Municipality has rolled out cleaning campaigns to eliminate Hepatitis E and plans are underway to supply short-term and long-term solutions including sanitation facilities in informal settlements.

During a clean-up campaign held over the weekend, Mayor of Windhoek, Muesee Kazapua cited the spread of Hepatitis E to vendors in informal settlements, who dispose water in their space of trade.

In the interim, hairdressers, solely dependent on hair business to make ends meet, say they are not giving up and are hopeful for business prosperity.

"With the mass cleaning campaign and education we hope the area be declared Hepatitis E free. Then we can re-strategize how we can earn our clients back," says Keenda.

So far, over 746 cases of hepatitis E have been reported by the Ministry of Health and Social Services.BRUSSELS, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- The European Union's agri-food exports rose 5.1 percent year-on-year to 137.9 billion euros (170.58 billion U.S. dollars) in 2017 with a widening surplus, the European Commission said in its latest monthly trade report on Monday.

Agri-food exports to the United States and Russia grew 6 percent and 16 percent respectively, as well as to several Asian markets. China, Japan and South Korea imported 5 percent, 11 percent and 13 percent more of EU agri-food.

EU's agri-food imports also increased but at a slower pace than exports to reach 117.4 billion euros.

The surplus is 20.5 billion euros, a growth of 9 percent over last year and the 8th consecutive year of agricultural trade surplus.

Notably, EU's agri-food imports from the U.S. dropped 2.1 percent to 10.98 billion euros, while its exports to the U.S. rose 5.9 percent to 21.95 billion euros. That makes EU's agri-food trade balance with the U.S. at 10.99 billion euros, or more than half of its total surplus. (1 euro = 1.237 U.S. dollars)Source: Xinhua| 2018-02-19 23:39:16|Editor: Xiang Bo

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A young man tries to fly his kite at Filopappos Hill in Athens, Greece, on Feb. 19, 2018. Families across Greece celebrated the end of the carnival season and the start of Lent on Monday, exchanging wishes for health and prosperity. (Xinhua/Marios Lolos)

ATHENS, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Families across Greece celebrated the end of the carnival season and the start of Lent on Monday, exchanging wishes for health and prosperity.

Clean Monday (Kathara Deytera in Greek) is a public holiday here, marking the 40 day countdown to Easter for Greece Orthodox Christians.

Traditionally the day is celebrated with picnics with family and friends, open air parties with dance-music performances organized by municipalities as well as kite flying for kids.

According to tradition, over the next six weeks, faithful Greeks will not consume meat, eggs and dairy products to "clean their body and soul" for Easter.

Although many Greeks nowadays do not fast for the 40 days to Easter, most people observe the custom on Clean Monday and enjoy special dishes based on seafood, "lagana" bread which is baked only on this day, and many other delicacies.

The municipality of Kallithea, an Athens southern suburb, offered 3,000 dishes of traditional fast snacks to people who visited the Stavros Niarchos park by the seaside on Monday.

"We observe customs. We have arranged bands playing traditional Greek music and we have set table with fast delicacies," Mayor Dimitris Karnavos told Xinhua.

Despite the dull weather, people flooded the park to celebrate the day.

"Citizens are coming in waves from the morning with big smiles on their faces and determination to have fun," Karnavos said.

According to scholars, kite flying in Greece was passed on over the centuries from people who had travelled to the East. Others insist that it goes back to the experiments of Greek mathematician Archytas (428-347 BC).

Despite the debate about the origins, everyone agrees on the joy of competing to send a kite higher than others.

"It is the first time we are flying a kite with our kid. We are trying. It is going fine. I wish happy lent and all the best to everybody," Leonidas A. told Xinhua.

Yorgos Tsanellis came to enjoy the music show before going home to prepare a traditional lunch for his family and friends. "From today we will stop eating meat and cheese," he told Xinhua.by Tao Jun, Bui Long

HANOI, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- A middle-aged man, casting a slender silhouette, walked confidently into an office-cum-warehouse in Vietnam's capital city of Hanoi on Monday.

He paid a New Year greeting to the host and gently gave red envelops to the teenagers there before finally placing piles of banknotes on the table near a big peach blossom tree.

After making the cash payment, the man received a big bag full of colored threads, placed it on his shimmeringly clean motorbike and carefully drove away.

"He is one of our regular customers. He is easygoing and kindhearted. He never owes us. So I invited him to 'mo hang' today," Ha Thi Quynh, director of the Chinh Quan Garment Materials Company, told Xinhua on Monday, the fourth day of Tet, or Vietnam's Lunar New Year holiday.

She explained that "mo hang" means opening or re-opening a shop after Tet, and for "mo hang," the shop's owner often invites a favorite customer, relative or friend to become the first buyer, hoping that he or she will bring good luck, especially good sales and profit for the rest of the new year.

"As businesspeople, we attach great importance to choosing the day for 'mo hang,' as well as the first customer of the year. Before Tet (which started on Feb. 16), I consulted a fortune-teller and he said the fourth day of Tet is good for 'mo hang' and a customer born in the Year of the Dragon or Monkey is compatible with me, because I was born in the Year of the Rat," the middle-aged director said, blossoming into a satisfied smile.

According to fortune-teller's information, the first, the fourth, the fifth, the eight and the tenth of the Lunar New Year 2018 -- The Year of the Dog -- are good for "mo hang."

When choosing a person for "mo hang," businesspeople always pay attention to his or her zodiac sign.

In the Chinese Zodiac, people under different zodiac signs have certain personality characteristics corresponding to those animals. Accordingly, some of the signs can be compatible but some may not get along well with each other.

Based on the characters, the 12 animal signs can be categorized into four groups of three animal allies or friends, also known as "San He," or three harmonies or triple harmony. In the same group, the three animals could live harmoniously, understand and bring good luck to each other.

The four groups of three include the Rat, Dragon and Monkey; the Ox, Snake and Rooster; the Tiger, Horse and Dog; and the Rabbit, Goat and Pig.

However, when the Chinese Zodiac system was introduced in Vietnam, the 12 animal signs changed a little, with the Rabbit being replaced with the Cat.

Many Vietnamese people are also careful about choosing people for "xong dat," or first footing. According to the Tet tradition, the first guest to enter the house after midnight on the Lunar New Year's Eve is believed to bring good luck or bad luck to the host's family in the new year.

The first guest is normally a close relative or a friend of the host, or sometimes a family member. The guest should have a zodiac sign compatible with the host, be good-tempered, kindhearted, successful at work and satisfied with their life.

"This Tet, I invited my best friend to 'xong dat' right after midnight on the Lunar New Year's Eve. I was born in the Year of the Cat, he was born in the Year of the Goat, and my wife was born in the Year of the Pig, so we are in a 'San He' group. And, more importantly, he has treated our family well, and just got promoted," Nguyen Van Quang from the Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group told Xinhua on Monday.

The most common customs for "xong dat" are that the special guest wishes the elderly with longevity, the host with health and prosperity, and their children with good academic performance. The guest also gives the children lucky money in red envelops, and enjoys a special meal with the host.

In Vietnam, the monetary gift in red envelops is often called "mung tuoi," or congratulating a new age, or "li xi." "Li xi" is the Vietnamese pronunciation of the Chinese word "lishi" or "lai see." The red color symbolizes good luck and is a symbol to drive evil spirits away.

"This Tet, my children were very excited to receive red envelops with a golden image of a very cute puppy. They were also very excited when my best friend wished my parents to live like pine trees and for my wife and I to make money like bosses," Quang said.

According to Nguyen Manh Linh from the Center for Researching and Applying Feng Shui in Agriculture under Vietnam's National University of Civil Engineering, "xong dat" and "mo hang" are Vietnamese people's age-old traditions, which are based on a belief that if things go smoothly in the first days of a Lunar New Year, all other things will go smoothly in the year ahead.

As a Vietnamese proverb goes: "Dau xuoi duoi lot," or starting well is half the job, and a good beginning makes a good ending.

"People who engage in 'xong dat' or 'mo hang' should be openminded and tolerant. Those who are compatible with the host in terms of zodiac signs, but grumpy, are not suitable for 'xong dat' or 'mo hang.' Try to avoid inviting such people," advised Linh, a local expert in Feng Shui, a Chinese metaphysical and quasi-philosophical system that seeks to harmonize individuals with their surrounding environment.

Other experts, however, said that people should not be superstitious, and not rely on luck, but on their own efforts.

According to the Chinese Zodiac, the Rat is wise, but wisdom without industriousness leads to triviality. The Tiger is valorous, but valor without caution leads to recklessness. And the Dragon is strong, but strength without flexibility leads to fracture.ADDIS ABABA, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Ethiopian youth were called on to eradicate poverty and uphold the long-standing peace and stability values during the Martyrs Day celebration.

Ethiopian patriots and elders made the calls while commemorating the 81st Martyrs Day on Monday, which marked the massacre and imprisonment of Ethiopians by the Italian occupying forces 81 years ago.

Laying wreath at the Martyrs' Monument in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa, Lij Daniel Jote Mesfin, President of Ethiopian Patriots Association, stressed that the fight against poverty and hatred ideology are the current generations' task.

Estimates suggest that as many as 30,000 Ethiopians were killed by the Italian forces in 1937, mainly through indiscriminate killings in Addis Ababa.

The incident is considered as one of the worst atrocities committed by the Italian occupation forces and has been described as the worst massacre in Ethiopian history.

The commemorative day in Addis Ababa was attended by officials from the federal government, Addis Ababa City Administration and representatives of civil societies and the general public.

Ethiopia, among sub-Saharan Africa's oldest independent countries, has not been colonized apart from a five-year occupation by Italy forces under the leadership of Benito Mussolini.In this file photo, a Turkish Kangal dog, a huge, adorable and possibly the best herd-protecting dog in the world, is seen standing tall with its owner. (Xinhua)

by Burak Akinci

ANKARA, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- The Kangal dog, huge and adorable and possibly the best herd-protecting dog in the world, is a national icon in Turkey, but its existence is now at risk mainly due to dwindling sheep farming.

This is largely because sheep farming, which used to be a primary source of income for many Turkish farmers, has been hit by bad economy which led to the decrease in sheep flocks.

This dog of intimidating size is farmers' best friend as it is capable of killing wolves, jackals, bears and scaring away sheep thieves.

"This is the best herd protecting dog breed. They are not shepherd dog. They protect the sheep," Yahya Ozdemir, a breeder from the Kangal town, told Xinhua.

The 37-year breeder, who works in a state-owned farm, explained that he has always had an interest in this fearless dog since he was a boy in his remote village of the rugged high plateau, 350 km east of the capital Ankara.

"We breed only pure blood Kangals, the typical livestock guardian dogs of Anatolia. We have 50 of them right now," explained Ozdemir.

"It's forbidden by law to export these hard-working animals but some unscrupulous breeders always find a way to sell puppies to foreigners even when they know that they are going to be fined for this," he said.

Starting at the age of four or five months, the dog is exposed to a wolf's pelt to sharpen its ability to recognize the predator once he will be in charge of livestock.

Kangals, known to be independent and resilient to extreme cold weather, can grow up to 2 meters standing up and weigh 70-80 kg. The massive dog with remarkably big paws usually has a collar with large spikes to protect them from neck bites.

But nowadays, explained Ozdemir, because of industrial farming, sheep flocks have gotten smaller, which reduced the need for the dogs.

"We now receive calls from people in the cities who want a watchdog for their homes rather than shepherds, and the overall number of Kangals guarding livestock is declining," Ozdemir said.

But there is a new job opportunity for the Kangals as the Turkish armed forces and police have started to use them this year at border posts as security or drug enforcement dogs.

"If you train a Kangal it will have the intellect of a six-year-old child. They are quite intelligent," Yilmaz Toprak, a veterinarian from Kangal town who knows everything about the native breed, told Xinhua.

Istanbul police forces have already used Kangals for special operations, but the humidity is an adverse factor for this supersized breed which prefers the cold weather, Toprak said.

Turkish riot police are also training Kangals to replace German shepherds. Despite their formidable appearance, these dogs are very protective and loyal to their owners.

They are also used for psychological therapy for mentally challenged children.

There are also other types of dogs which are typical to the Anatolian region, including the Aksaray Malaklisi, Anatolian bandogs, and Anatolian whiteheads, according to the official data.

Even though exporting Kangals is prohibited, the Kangals are very appreciated in the U.S., Australia and some parts of Africa where they are used for guarding livestock.

There are also people seeking to buy Kangals to use them in dog fights, which are strictly prohibited in Turkey.MOGADISHU, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Somalia Cabinet on Monday approved Abdi Sheikh Ahmed as the country's first director-general of the National Communications Authority (NCA), tasked with regulating the country's telecommunication sector.

Abdi Ashur Hassan, minister for Post, Telecom and Technology, said Sheikh has requisite experience for leading Somalia's first communications regulator.

"This is another milestone by the ministry to have the director endorsed in due course because it will bring us closer to the establishment of the regulator," he said in a statement.

He said Sheikh is multi-disciplinary technology leader with strong background in ICT.

For over 23 years he worked for a large telecommunication company in the United States and has been an ICT adviser to Somalia's Ministry of Post, Telecommunication and Technology.GARISSA, Kenya, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Kenyan police have arrested one terror suspect in the Friday school attack, in which three people including two teachers were killed by Al-Shabaab militants, an official said on Monday.

Northeastern Regional Commissioner Mohamud Saleh said that a team of multi-agency security involved in the operation to track down the suspects is narrowing in on the other two suspects still at large.

"Even if they cross over to Somalia we shall go for them," said Saleh in Garissa when he opened a five-day training workshop for local government officials.

Saleh said that the security apparatus are determined to arrest all those involving in the heinous killing.

Two non-local teachers were killed alongside the wife of one of them, when gunmen attacked Qarsa Primary School early Friday.

Following the attack, non-local teachers have threatened to leave the region en mass claiming their lives are in danger.

Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) secretary Noor Bardad for Wajir County said more than ten schools have been hard hit by the exit of the teachers.

The local union officials condemned the killings and urged Teacher Service Commissioner (TSC) their employer body to transfer all non-local teachers from the region to other parts of the country.

According to union officials, over 60 percent of teachers in Wajir County are non-locals and their departure could paralyze learning in schools.ISLAMABAD, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Pakistani Defense Minister Khurram Dastgir Khan told the Senate here on Monday that a contingent of troops to be sent to Saudi Arabia will not take part in current conflicts in Yemen but will have advisory and training role.

The defense minister made the remarks during a policy statement in the upper house of the parliament after the opposition sought details of the government's plan to deploy troops in Saudi Arabia.

"Pakistani troops being dispatched to Saudi Arabia are only meant for imparting training to Saudi Arabia security personnel instead of entangling in Yemen conflicts," he said.

The defense minister said the contingent will have strength of over 1,000 troops of all ranks and will be dispatched shortly. He said currently around 1,600 Pakistani troops are on deputation in Saudi Arabia.

"The prime minister has approved deputing additional Pakistani troops to Saudi Arabia for training and advisory purposes," he said, adding the assistance being rendered to Saudi Arabia is a continuation of the on-going support and within the confines of joint parliamentary resolution of April 2015.

The Pakistani army had also said earlier in a statement that the new contingent and Pakistani troops already in Saudi Arabia will not be employed outside the country.ABUJA, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- The first edition of what is said to be Africa's largest petroleum summit opened in Nigeria's capital Abuja on Monday, with an aim to revive the oil industry in Africa.

Nigeria's oil minister Ibe Kachikwu declared the summit open on behalf of President Muhammadu Buhari, saying Nigeria is willing to provide leadership for Africa in oil and gas.

Kachikwu said the Nigeria International Petroleum Summit was organized with the mission to make it Africa's most important platform and linkage to the world.

The summit features an exhibition of latest petroleum technologies, equipment and investment opportunities by global oil and gas firms.

"It is aimed at engendering potential-economic benefits, generate employment and expand businesses in Nigeria and Africa," Kachikwu said.

Nigeria's petroleum industry is the largest in Africa with proven oil and gas reserves of 37 billion barrels and 192 trillion cubic feet respectively.

Hundreds of delegates from oil and gas multinationals are attending the five-day summit in Abuja.NAIROBI, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Kenya will in April host the inaugural Africa Climate Week to explore new mechanisms to revitalize the continent's green agenda, organizers said on Monday.

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) which will organize the five-day event said it will inject vitality into Africa's quest for low-carbon development.

"To meet the goals of the Paris Agreement, we need to scale up global climate action and ambition across sectors, public and private," said Patricia Espinosa, Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC.

"Africa Climate Week can be an important means to drive that action and ambition," she added.

Delegates representing governments, corporations, academia and civil society will participate in the summit that will be held against a backdrop of global efforts to cut down on greenhouse gas emissions that are to blame for global warming.

Organizers said the first climate week to be held on the African soil will rally stakeholders to support market-based approaches to reduce carbon emissions in line with the Paris climate agreement of 2015.BERLIN, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Germany will significantly increase the number of its armed forces personnel participating in NATO exercises on the military alliance's so-called "Eastern frontier", German media reported on Monday.

Around 12,000 German soldiers will participate in such exercises in 2018 according to a schedule drawn up by the Ministry of Defense.

The figure marks a three-fold increase compared to 2017, resulting in total costs estimated at 90 million euros (111.4 million U.S. dollars). The single largest upcoming NATO maneuver, "Trident Juncture", will be carried out in the fall and mobilize between 30,000 and 40,000 soldiers in total. Around 8,000 Germans will participate in this exercise.

The news comes only a few days after Wolfgang Ischinger, chairman of the annual Munich Security Conference (MSC), warned against a heightened risk of a military confrontation between the United States and Russia.

However, the newspaper "Rheinische Post" reported that inadequate equipment could still hamper German efforts to "play a greater role" in the international security landscape. Among others, there reportedly was a lack of protective clothing, tents and functioning tanks.

The Ministry of Defense rejected such claims on Monday, emphasizing that a thorough investigation of the needs of the armed forces would be conducted before their deployment to ensure full operational readiness.

The acting minister of defense, Ursula von der Leyen (CDU), has repeatedly expressed a desire to increase German defense spending from currently 1.26 percent of annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP), to 2 percent as envisioned by NATO.

German military officials defended the exercises published on Monday as a response to growing fears in Eastern European states, such as Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia and Poland, of a potential Russian invasion.

The 2018 maneuvers, with foreboding titles such as "Saber Strike", "Flaming Thunder" and "Iron Wolf", are officially intended as deterrence against Russia and will complement a general build-up of NATO's permanent troop presence in Eastern Europe which is already underway.TIRANA, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Albanian government is determined to make the country attractive to foreign investors by offering a favorable business climate with low taxes and less red tape, Albania's Prime Minister Edi Rama said Monday a business forum with Italian investors.

Albania's capital hosted Monday Albania-Italy Business Forum, which brought together over 350 participants including 200 companies from Italy, 14 industrial associations and three banks.

The forum was preceded by the launch of the first Italy-Albania trade mission that aimed at increasing the already well-established economic cooperation between the two countries and to expand business and investment opportunities for Italian businesses with a focus on three sectors in particular agro-business, energy and infrastructure, according to a finance ministry statement.

Rama also invited Italian companies to invest in tourism sector which is considered a priority sectors of Albania.

"Tourism is a major sector offering tremendous investment opportunities. A lot remains to be done in this area, while demand keeps growing and it is unattainable in terms of the supply. Tour operators turn down five percent of the demand," Rama said.

He addressed the investors saying that they should feel safe about investing here, because, according to Rama, Albania has a favorable legislation for tourism.

The government head stated that Albania has great growth potential and offers ample investment opportunities in its energy, oil, mining, agriculture, agro-food and food-processing industries.

PM also announced that government was drafting an incentives package for investments in agro-tourism based on the Italian model.

On the other hand, Italy's Deputy Minister of Economic Development Ivan Scalfarotto, heading the Italian business delegation, stressed that Italy remained Albania's primary trade partner, with exchanges significantly increasing over the past years.

"The trade exchanges between the two countries have increased by 80 percent over the past ten years," Scalfarotto said.

According to the Albanian National Institute of Statistics, INSTAT, trade between the two countries totaled two billion euros in the first 10 months of 2017.BERLIN, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel, also head of the ruling Christian Democratic Union (CDU), on Monday nominated governor of Saarland State Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer to be the party's new secretary general.

Kramp-Karrenbauer, one of Merkel's closest political allies, is respected in the CDU for helping the party win Saarland's state election last and played a key role in coalition talks between the CDU/CSU bloc and the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), according to a report by German broadcaster Deutsche Welle.

Kramp-Karrenbauer, aged 55, has long been tipped as a potential successor to the veteran stateswoman in the CDU.

She will resign from her current post as governor of Saarland in order to move to Berlin, potentially paving the way to a more prominent role in federal politics in the near future.

Kramp-Karrenbauer will hereby succeed Peter Tauber as secretary general who has suffered from poor health for several months and had also come under attack from more conservative factions in the CDU for his relatively liberal views on immigration and same-sex marriage. The personnel change is scheduled be formalized at a party conference on Feb. 26.

Announcing the decision on Monday at the CDU's headquarters in the Konrad-Adenauer House, Merkel said that Kramp-Karrenbauer had suggested herself as a candidate for the post.

She praised the regional politician's dedication to party and country, noting that could not be "naturally" expected from a governor who had only recently won her own state elections in Saarland to resign and move to Berlin.

Kramp-Karrenbauer told reporters that her move was motivated by a desire to help Germany overcome its current political instability. "It was not an easy decision for me," she said.

As secretary general, Kramp-Karrenbauer wants to focus her attention on "fostering a debate" on the strategic re-orientation of the German conservatives.

Kramp-Karrenbauer is only the second woman to hold the post of secretary general in the CDU. As the first to do so between 1998 and 2000, Merkel used the post's proximity to the higher echelons of power in Germany to emerge from the shadow of her political father figure and ex-chancellor Helmut Kohl, becoming CDU leader in 2000 and ultimately chancellor in 2005.

After more than 11 years in office, however, German media have begun to speculate that Merkel's reign may be drawing to a close.

Drafting a final grand coalition" agreement more than five months after national elections in September, Merkel has come under heavy pressure from members of her own party for what were widely perceived to be painful political concessions to the German Social Democrats in the resulting joint statement.

In response to such criticism, the chancellor has promised a process of "renewal" in the CDU, which would witness an elevation of younger party members to senior positions amongst others.

Speaking on Monday, Merkel said that the nomination of Kramp-Karrenbauer as secretary general had been received positively within the party leadership in this context.

Nevertheless, some voices in the CDU expressed disappointment that Kramp-Karrenbauer had been chosen over the conservative hardliner Jens Spahn. Spahn himself told German newspaper "Welt" that he hoped that the new secretary general would herald deeper changes.

"The CDU is at the start of an important process of discussion, also with regards to articulating a new basic program," Spahn said.

Other German parties interpreted Kramp-Karrenbauer's new role as a sign that calls within the CDU to shift to the right of the political spectrum had gone unheard.

Instead, Kramp-Karrenbauer's nomination meant that the CDU would "continue its centrist course", Green party (Gruene) leader Robert Habeck opined.

Similarly, left party (Linke) leader Katja Kipping perceived Merkel's decision as constituting a "rejection of the CDU's young right guard".

Kipping further described the nomination of Kramp-Karrenbauer as the first step in a looming "change of guard in the chancellery".MILAN, Italy, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Italian Meridiana airlines has changed its name and unveiled plans to become the country's leading national carrier, officials said on Monday.

The company was renamed Air Italy, is to increase its fleet to 50 aircraft and aims to attract some 10 million passengers per year by 2022, according to Chairman Francesco Violante.

Air Italy will operate its flights from Milan Malpensa airport, the major international hub in northern Italy, Violante said at the presentation of the new branding in Milan.

Headquartered in Olbia, Sardinia, Meridiana is partly owned by Qatar Airways, which bought a 49-percent stake in the company in September 2017, and by Alisarda. It is Italy's second airline company after flag carrier Alitalia, which was put under special administration after employees rejected a rescue plan last year and is currently on sale.

Air Italy plans to hire over 1,500 new staff in the next five years, according to Qatar Airways executive officer Akbar Al Baker.

"We will re-launch the airline on the European market, and we do aim at being the top carrier in Italy," Ansa news agency quoted Al Baker as saying.

Some of the new fleet will include five Airbus A330s, and 20 Boeing 787-8 aircraft, some of which are on lease from Qatar Airways, according to the executives. Previously, the Meridiana fleet consisted of Boeings 767 and Boeings 737 only, according to the company's profile.

Air Italy is to significantly enlarge its international route network as well, including new connections from Milan to Bangkok, New York and Miami, London, and Moscow, and new domestic connecting flights to the Malpensa airport from Rome, Naples, Palermo, Catania, and Lamezia Terme.

Further international routes are to be announced by the end of 2018, according to Ansa.KIEV, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said Ukraine on Monday filed its memorial to international arbitration proceedings against Russia over the rights on waters around the Crimean peninsula.

"The Memorial establishes that Russia has violated Ukraine's sovereign rights in the Black Sea, the Sea of Azov, and the Kerch Strait," the ministry said in a statement.

According to the statement, Ukraine has accused Russia of "stealing Ukraine's energy and fisheries resources, harming the livelihoods of Ukrainian fishermen, and blocking traffic to Ukrainian ports by building a bridge across the Kerch Strait."

Currently, Russia is building a 19-km bridge across the Kerch Strait, which is expected to be completed at the end of 2018.

The Russian Foreign Ministry has not commented yet on Kiev's move to file the memorial.

In March 2014, Crimea was incorporated into Russia following a local referendum, which was recognized by Moscow. Meanwhile, Kiev said the Crimea peninsula was illegally annexed by Russia.

In September 2016, Ukraine initiated the arbitration proceedings against Russia under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) in the five-member Tribunal sitting in The Hague, the Netherlands.Source: Xinhua| 2018-02-20 02:45:01|Editor: Xiang Bo

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Supporters hold photos of the late Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai during a public funeral ceremony in Harare, Zimbabwe, on Feb. 19, 2018. The public funeral ceremony was held Monday for Morgan Tsvangirai who died in South Africa last week after a long battle with cancer. (Xinhua/Shaun Jusa)

HARARE, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- A public funeral ceremony was held Monday for the late Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai who died in South Africa last week after a long battle with cancer.

The former prime minister will be buried Tuesday at his rural home in Buhera, 300 km southeast of the capital Harare.

Scores of mourners thronged an open space on the outskirts of the capital to pay their last respect to the late Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) leader who was the face of opposition politics in Zimbabwe.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa led the nation in mourning Tsvangirai and his government accorded the departed opposition leader a state-assisted funeral in recognition of his role in the fight for peace and democracy.

On Sunday, Mnangagwa visited Tsvangirai's residence in the capital to pay his condolences and assured the family that the government would pay Tsvangirai's medical bills.

At the ceremony, speakers who included opposition leaders from other African nations hailed Tsvangirai for his tireless efforts in fighting for democracy in Zimbabwe.

Namibia's opposition leader McHenry Venaani described Tsvangirai as a strong fighter for democracy, saying it was through his efforts that opposition figures like him could now easily come into Zimbabwe.

Acting MDC-T president Nelson Chamisa said the party will work hard to win in the upcoming vote as a way to honor Tsvangirai.

"We will not disappoint Morgan Tsvangirai," said Chamisa who is in a battle with two other party deputy presidents over Tsvangirai succession.

Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga also arrived in Harare on Monday to attend the burial of Tsvangirai.Chinese President Xi Jinping (3rd L), leaders of other Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states and prime ministers of India and Pakistan pose for a group photo during the 17th meeting of Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Astana, Kazakhstan, June 9, 2017. (Xinhua/Ma Zhancheng)

MOSCOW, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- The program of China's chairmanship of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) covers a wide range of concrete activities and is expected to bring a new qualitative impetus to interaction within its framework, said the Russian special envoy for the SCO.

The SCO summit is scheduled to be held in the east China's coastal city of Qingdao in June, with China taking the rotating chair this year.

In view of the latest admission of India and Pakistan, China shoulders a special responsibility in its chairmanship, the special envoy of the Russian President for SCO affairs Bakhtiyor Khakimov told Xinhua.

"One of the main tasks at this stage is to integrate new members into the cooperation that has developed over the course of 17 years of the organization's activities. All the steps proposed by China involve a smooth entry of both new members and the use of joint potential in the interests of further development of the SCO," Khakimov said in the recent interview.

In this context, China came up with an extensive program of its chairmanship, which is "rich in ideas and full of concrete activities," according to Khakimov.

"This program and these measures proposed by the Chinese friends are aimed precisely at giving a qualitative impulse to interaction within the framework of the SCO and building new dynamics at a new stage of development," he said.

Established in 2001, the SCO is an Eurasian political, economic and security organization that has China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, India and Pakistan as its full members, with four observer states and six dialogue partners.

Currently, the SCO is facing serious security tasks, among which the "three evils" - terrorism, illegal drug trafficking and organized cross-border crime - remain priorities, according to Khakimov.

"Problems always arise, but I am sure that only those who do nothing have no problems. We are working very actively, and therefore, with all the difficulties that arise on the way, our main task is to overcome them and go forward," he said.

In dealing with these tasks, the member states are making concerted efforts on the basis of mutual respect for each other's interests, which, in Khakimov's words, is the "main distinguishing feature of cooperation within the SCO framework."

"This is what we today call the Shanghai spirit - this is mutual trust, mutual consultations, mutual assistance and respect for each other," he said.

In particular, Khakimov noted that China-Russia cooperation within the framework of the SCO, which started from the first day of its creation, is one of the most important components of the broad bilateral relations between the two countries and also contributes to developing the SCO into a unique organization that enjoys attention, deserved authority and prestige.

"One can even not exaggerate what the interaction and mutual understanding between China and Russia means for the SCO ... This mutual understanding helps to build an atmosphere of friendship and mutual support in general in the SCO," Khakimov said.Two police officers walk near the building of the confectionery factory "Menshevik" in Moscow, Russia, where a gunman earlier opened fire, on December 27, 2017. (Xinhua/Wu Zhuang)

MOSCOW, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Authorities in Russia said Monday they didn't rule out the possibility that Sunday's fatal shooting incident in the country's predominantly Muslim Republic of Dagestan, was a terrorist attack.

The Russian Investigative Committee said it was taking into considetation "various theories" while trying to establish the attacker's motives.

"A terror attack is among possible theories," the TASS news agency cited the committee's spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko as saying.

On Sunday, a gunman identified as a local resident born in 1995 opened fire at worshipers in an Orthdox church in the city of Kizlyar, killing four women on the scene and wounding five others, including police and National Guard officers. One of the injured, also a woman, later died in hospital.

The assailant was shot dead by security services personnel responding to the incident when he was trying to flee the scene. It was later discovered that the attacker was armed with a hunting rifle and a knife.

The investigative committee said it had launched a criminal investigation into the incident on the grounds of attempted murder and encroachment on the lives of law enforcement officers.

There have been reports that the Islamic State militant group had claimed responsibility for the attack.

At the time of the shooting, churchgoers were celebrating Maslenitsa, a religious holiday marking the last week before Lent, which is the eighth week ahead of the Orthodox Easter.

Located in the North Caucasus region, the Republic of Dagestan borders the Chechen Republic, where the Russian government forces fought two wars against Islamic seperatists following the demise of the Soviet Union in 1991. It is also home to a number of radical insurgencies in recent memories.TRIPOLI, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese charge d'affaires to Libya met with Libyan head of High Council of State on Monday in discussion of the Libyan crisis.

Charge d'affaires of the Chinese Embassy to Libya Wang Qimin is on a working trip to Tripoli, the first of a senior Chinese official since the Chinese embassy left Libya in 2014 due to armed conflict.

He was scheduled to meet with the Libyan Foreign Minister Mohamed Sayala on Tuesday after Monday's talk with the Head of the Libyan High Council of State Abdurrahman Swehli.

Wang said the meeting was on the "political situation of the country and the importance of commitment to the UN-proposed action plan to resolve the Libyan crisis by amending the political agreement, the only framework Beijing supports to unify the Libyan state institutions."

"Our meeting also covered China's role in development and improvement of the Libyan economy," Wang added, saying that they also mentioned "the contribution of Chinese companies in reconstruction and infrastructure development after the appropriate security conditions are available to encourage the return of the companies to complete suspended projects to Libya."

Swehli praised China's support for the political agreement as a single reference to the management of the political process in Libya, stressing the openness of the council on all parties and to move towards reconciliation and stability, the council's media office said in a statement.

"Swehli pointed to the council's interest in enhancing the economy and resuming suspended projects amid remarkable security improvement, expressing Libya's desire to cooperate with China as a major economic power," the statement added.MOSCOW, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed to strengthen cooperation under the Astana agreements to promote the Syrian peace process, the Kremlin said Monday.

Putin and Erdogan made the remarks during a telephone conversation on Monday, according to a Kremlin statement.

"The presidents confirmed the readiness for close coordination of the efforts of Russia, Turkey and Iran aimed at ensuring efficient operation of the de-escalation zones and advancing the political process, in line with the agreements reached at the Syrian National Dialogue Congress in Sochi," the Kremlin said.

As a result of the Syrian peace talks last month, the main principles of a political settlement were reached and a committee was formed to promote constitutional reform in the war-torn country.

According to the Kremlin statement, the situation in the northwest of Syria, including the Turkish military operation near the area of Afrin in northwestern Syria, was discussed individually.Source: Xinhua| 2018-02-20 04:15:16|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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ANKARA, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Turkey warned Syrian government on Monday over sending troops into Afrin to back the Kurdish militia, a senior Turkish official said.

Any decisions by Syrian government to send forces into Afrin would give a green light to dividing Syria, and would cause disastrous consequences in the region, the Turkish Deputy Prime Minister and government spokesman Bekir Bozdag told reporters following the cabinet meeting in Ankara.

On Monday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusolgu also warn Syrian government, saying if the Syrian army comes in to defend the Kurdish People's Protection Unit (YPG), then "nothing and nobody can stop Turkish soldiers."

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also held two separate phone calls with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to warn against such a move.

The YPG is regarded by Ankara as the Syrian affiliate of the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), a terrorist organization listed by Turkey. However, the United States has supported the YPG as its ally in combating Islamic State in Syria.

Turkey launched military operation on Jan. 20 in Syria's Afrin to oust the YPG militia. It also vowed to expand its operation to Manbij where U.S. troops are deployed with YPG to fight the IS.Source: Xinhua| 2018-02-20 05:05:24|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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DAMASCUS, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Intense shelling and airstrikes targeted the rebel-held Eastern Ghouta region east of the capital Damascus on Monday, as a prelude to a wide-scale offensive by the Syrian army on that key rebel bastion.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said tens of people were either killed or wounded in the shelling that targeted several areas in Eastern Ghouta region.

Meanwhile, the people in Damascus have been hearing the sporadic sound of shelling reverberating across the city.

The government shelling is a prelude to a wide-scale military offensive against various rebel groups in Eastern Ghouta, the last remaining threat to the capital Damascus.

Meanwhile, pro-government media outlets said many people were wounded when mortar shells fired from the rebels in Eastern Ghouta slammed several neighborhoods east of Damascus.

A medical source told Xinhua that five children were wounded and taken to the French Hospital in the Qassa area east of Damascus when a mortar shell struck nearby.

The military operation in Eastern Ghouta would help in securing the capital Damascus, as that region is a key bastion of several rebel groups, including al-Qaida-linked ones.

The situation in the Eastern Ghouta has flared up over the past two months, when the rebels, including the al-Qaida-linked ones, unleashed a massive offensive against a key Syrian military base in the Harasta city in Eastern Ghouta.

The rebels' mortar attacks have rained down the capital Damascus, while the Syrian military's shelling and airstrikes hit several areas in Eastern Ghouta, prompting the UN to send several appeals for reaching a one-month cessation of hostilities to allow for the entry of relief aid to affected civilians, as that region is home to 400,000 people.

However, the situation has become calm over a few days before a new escalation on Sunday evening.

Syrians in the capital have for long been calling for the elimination of the rebels' mortar attacks, which, in many cases, paralyzed the lives of the people in the eastern Damascus neighborhoods.

Four key rebel groups are positioned inside Eastern Ghouta such as the Islam Army, Failaq al-Rahman, Ahrar al-Sham and the Levant Liberation Committee (LLC), otherwise known as the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front.Source: Xinhua| 2018-02-20 05:10:25|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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JERUSALEM, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Israel's Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon met with Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Monday, and called on to renew the long-stalled peace talks.

The rare meeting was attended also by the Israeli Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) Maj. Gen. Yoav Mordechai, and Deputy Finance Minister Itzik Cohen, according to a statement released on behalf of Kahlon.

The meeting was focused on security and financial issues, including the activity of Palestinian banks, building new industrial zones in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, and creating new jobs in the unemployment-stricken area.

Kahlon, according to the statement, urged the Palestinians to return to the negotiating table with the United States as a mediator.

"The Americans are the only honest broker in the region," he said, adding that the talks should be restarted through the involvement of U.S. President Donald Trump's Middle East envoy, Jason Greenblatt.

The Palestinians denounced the White House as a biased broker following Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel on Dec. 6.

The meeting marked a rare talk between Israeli and Palestinian officials, after the last round of peace talks reached an impasse in 2014.MAPUTO, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Mozambique and Portugal signed here on Monday a memorandum of understanding that will enable Portugal to provide technical and equipment support to Mozambican armed forces.

The MoU was signed by Mozambican Minister of Defense, Atanasio M' Mtumuke and his Portuguese counterpart Jose Alberto Lopes on his visit in Mozambique until the coming Saturday.

"This cooperation aims essentially at the support from the Portuguese Armed Forces to the Mozambican Armed Forces in the defense domain, including the army, the marines and the country's air force," said Mozambican minister.

As part of this agreement, Mozambique will send its officials to study in the Portuguese military school and Portugal will have its instructors lecturing in Mozambique as well.

On Monday the Portuguese defense minister handed over to the Mozambican forces 10 motorboats for transportation of military goods.

The Portuguese minister expects the motorboats will contribute for the country's maritime safety.

"With the mission to carry out a task of cooperating with such a friendly country, the Portuguese Armed Forces will continue working at full capacity with Mozambican Armed Forces," said the Portuguese minister.

The signed memo is expected to be in operation until 2021.BRUSSELS, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Greece has made "tremendous efforts" and is close to get a new disbursement of loans from its euro zone creditors, Eurogroup chief Mario Centeno said on Monday.

"Of all 110 prior actions, only 2 are still outstanding, which are outside the control of the government. I'm confident that they can be cleared soon by the institutions," Centeno said at a news conference after a meeting of eurozone finance ministers.

"The ball is also on our side now. National procedures will be needed to approve the disbursement of 5.7 billion euros (7.07 billion U.S.dollars) once the institutions validate the completion of the pending prior actions," Centeno added.MEXICO CITY, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Mexico is preparing a proposal concerning the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) rules of origin for the automotive sector, ahead of the seventh round of negotiations set to begin next weekend, said Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo on Monday.

The Mexican proposal will be added to the two existing initiatives being discussed with the U.S. and Canada, Guajardo told journalists without providing details.

"We are working with the Mexican Association of the Automotive Industry (AMIA) to determine a Mexican proposal for the next round," said the minister.

Negotiators from Canada, the U.S. and Mexico will meet in Mexico City from Feb. 25 to March 5 for the seventh round of NAFTA renegotiation talks.

Rules of origin for the automotive sector, determining the percentage of each vehicle which must be manufactured in North America, is considered one of the main sticking points for the talks.

The U.S. wants the rules of origin to be increased to 85 percent within the NAFTA region, and at least 50 percent from the U.S.

This proposal has been widely rejected by Canada and Mexico who have insisted the levels be maintained at 62.5 percent for vehicles and 60 percent for autoparts in the NAFTA region, levels which have been in place since 1994.

Guajardo did admit that the rule could be modernized, since it was created to govern types of cars that are not compatible with the current reality.

"After six months of negotiation, I think it is time to recognize a strengthened rule of origin, taking us away from the vehicle we used as a model, which was in 1992, and which is different in 2018," said the minister.

The three countries have been negotiating NAFTA since August after U.S. President Donald Trump requested to renegotiate the deal. Trump believes the agreement has been detrimental to American jobs and the economy.HAVANA, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- A U.S. Congressional delegation began a three-day visit to Cuba on Monday, meeting with foreign ministry officials amid tense ties with Washington over alleged "sonic attacks" on U.S. diplomats here.

Led by Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy, the delegation met with Carlos Fernandez de Cossio, the ministry's new director for U.S. affairs, and other officials as part of a "fact-finding trip" about Washington's foreign policy changes toward the island country.

"A pleasure to welcome U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy and the congressional delegation to the foreign ministry. Enjoyed a constructive and candid dialogue," Fernandez posted on his Twitter account.

Leahy, a supporter of U.S.-Cuba ties, is accompanied by senators Ron Wyden and Gary Peters, and representatives Jim McGovern, Kathy Castor and Susan Davis.

The bicameral delegation will also meet with government officials and Cuban business leaders.

The recent unexplained physical afflictions suffered by U.S. embassy personnel in Cuba, including hearing impairment, are on the agenda. The incidents led Washington to announce it was scaling back its embassy personnel and suspending granting visas.

According to Cuba's foreign ministry, Fernandez stressed to lawmakers that neither U.S. nor Cuban investigators have found any evidence that such attacks have taken place.

The U.S. hasn't formally accused Cuba of carrying out the attacks, but President Donald Trump said in October he believed Havana was responsible for them. Cuba has denied any responsibility.

The U.S. State Department issued a travel warning last year telling Americans not to visit the country, despite the fact that no tourists have reported any health problems.

Leahy's office said that issues to be discussed on the agenda include bilateral cooperation in maritime security, search-and-rescue, narcotics, human trafficking and immigration.

Leahy's office said the Democratic senator has been involved in efforts to replace "the failed 50-year-old U.S.-Cuba policy of isolation with a new path toward normalization."

The Congressional delegation will hold a press conference on Wednesday morning before returning to Washington.BRUSSELS, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- The Eurogroup agreed to endorse Spain's economy minister Luis de Guindos for the upcoming European Central Bank (ECB) Vice-President vacancy, Eurogroup President Mario Centeno said on Monday.

"We had a brief exchange of views in the Eurogroup, and I am glad to report that it was a unanimous decision.I would like to congratulate Luis, " said Centeno in a news conference after a regular meeting of the eurozone finance ministers.

He said the final decision by EU Leaders is expected be taken at a summit in March, after consulting the ECB and the European Parliament. And de Guindos is expected to take up his position at the ECB on June 1.

It's widely believed that a vice president from a southern European country would be likely to boost the chances of a German becoming the next ECB president in 2019, and thus likely to have a more hawkish monetary policy.Society

The Formation of Culinary Culture and the Preferences of Consumers Considered from the History of Distribution

Hiroyasu Kimizuka

Associate Professor, Faculty of Social Sciences, Waseda University

2018.2.19

Why Is So Much Wine Consumed in Brittany?

The Brittany region of France is famous for their traditional galette, a type of pancake made with buckwheat flour, and alcoholic apple cider. However, according to statistics taken in 2005 (see the chart below), the beverage that was consumed the most during that year in Brittany was wine. Why is it that in a place known for its cider production, wine is the local beverage of choice?

Chart: Type of alcoholic beverage consumed more than once a week by men and women aged 15 to 75 (2005) Brittany France[1] Liquor with high alcohol content (rum, etc.) 20% 17.2% Beer 21% 19.7% Wine 45% 43.2% Other (cider, etc.) 14% 9.2% Source: OFDT, Atlas rgional des consommations d'alcool 2005, p. 129

Coastal Trade in Europe and the Beginning of Wine Consumption in Brittany

The Breton peninsula is surrounded by ocean, and the people who inhabit it have been deeply tied to the network that spans across the ocean since ancient times. According to the Greek philosopher Posidonius, the kings that ruled this land were already drinking wine that was shipped along sea routes. Later during the age of the Roman Empire, Brittany served as a central hub for trade routes between Aquitaine, a major wine producing region, and the British Isles. This is how the people of Brittany became familiar with wine by way of sea routes.

During the Middle Ages, the wine trade that connected northern and southern Europe became increasingly prosperous. However, war broke out between England and France in the 14th century, threatening the safety of coastal trade between Aquitaine and the British Isles. When confronted with this, the Duchy of Brittany built the port of Saint-Mathieu on the western coast of the Breton peninsula to avoid the dangers of transport by ship. Wine that was shipped from Bordeaux in the Aquitaine region was unloaded once at the port of Saint-Mathieu and temporarily kept in a storehouse before being transported to England. This is how the wine trade prospered between Saint-Mathieu and Bordeaux, thereby spreading the custom of consuming the wine of Aquitaine, especially among the aristocrats of western Brittany,

Connection between the Spread of Wine Consumption and Traders

In the 17th century, in the inland areas of the Breton peninsula, techniques for producing cider were introduced from Normandy. As a result, the common people of Brittany began consuming cider as their main beverage. Conversely, wine from Aquitaine gradually became a luxury product consumed only by the wealthy people. However, in the western part of the Breton peninsula, where there were no locally produced alcoholic beverages, the import of wine from Aquitaine increased. The trade routes of wine that was established in the Middle Ages continued here.

As urban populations grew in the 18th century, the amount of alcohol consumption among the common people increased, and the consumption of reasonably priced wines from Aquitaine, such as those from Blaye and Libourne, also increased. The commerce networks of traders supported the wine trade between the port in the region of production and the western part of the Breton peninsula. Some of the wholesalers from Libourne and Blaye sent their relatives to the markets in the port towns of Brittany, entrusting them with selling wine. The traders who moved to the port city of Landerneau in the western part of the Breton peninsula received wine from their relatives in Blaye and Libourne, and sold it through retail trade in the town and the outskirts, as well as to pubs and eateries. Furthermore, the traders learned about the preferences of local consumers through retail trade, and described them to wholesalers in Aquitaine through letters. The tastes of consumers were communicated to the wine wholesalers by way of the network of traders that connected the wine producing regions with the consumption regions, resulting in the selection of wines that suited the tastes of the consumers. The people of the western coast of the Breton peninsula preferred red wine from Libourne and Blaye.

The Tradition of Wine Consumption Started by Traders

In the beginning of the 20th century, inexpensive wine produced in the French colony of Algeria began getting imported especially for the consumption of people in western Brittany. It's interesting to note that the merchant who first began selling this wine in Brittany was a wholesaler from Libourne. The network of traders that was established between Brittany and Libourne by the 19th century contributed to continuing the culture of wine consumption in the region through the import of a new product, Algerian wine.

Today, the tourist guidebooks that cover the region of Brittany introduce cider as the region's most popular drink. However, in reality, the people of Brittany drink as much wine as any other region of France. This wine-consuming culture was formed as a result of commercial activities of merchants who engaged in trade that connected northern and southern Europe, and has been passed down from generation to generation. I find that one of the most fascinating things in researching the history of products and traders is to be able to discover the curious ties that connect the interactions of people in the past with the lives of people today.

[1]^ The proportions of beer and wine consumption in France are unclear, and the numbers are uncertain. This is why they do not add up to 100 percent.By P.J. GLISSON

[email protected]

IRONWOOD  When Kate Greenough of Bessemer began studying art at Oakland Community College, she focused on ceramics.

That was years ago, and shes had a considerable journey since then, she said in a Saturday interview at Theatre North.

Specifically, she explained, Being a wife and mother, that put me in a different direction.

Greenough, who was invited to display her works while the theatre presents the play Marvins Room, said she did not work on her art at all during most of the time she raised her four children.

It wasnt unti...THE EARLY fishing on Sunday Lake did not result in a lot of caught fish Saturday. More and more people kept pouring out of VFW Post 9084 to try their luck and raise money for the Volunteer Fire Department.

By IAN MINIELLY

[email protected]

WAKEFIELD - The weather was excellent for Saturday's fishing derby to raise funds for Wakefield's Volunteer Fire Department. Whereas last year there was a layer of slush on the ice, this year the ice was perfect for fishing, and it was not too cold either.

CJ Perttula set up about 100 feet further west than last year, but that was not the only change. Perttula was seen sporting a homemade fish catching device, which even works sometimes. Perttula said the internet and market is full of fish-triggering devices that run $70 or more, but he was into...This has been a long time in the making, but in our continuing pursuit to bring only the best of firearms, 2nd Amendment and defence related news to our readers, we are very excited to announce the next step in our evolution as a company.

As of 2020, Minuteman Review is now the proud owner and operator of Your Defence News, a website with a long history of breaking huge news stories and investigative journalism.

We hope you are equally as excited as us.

This means that now the teams of Minuteman can combine with the firepower of Your Defence News to stay at the absolute forefront for our readers.

Keep an eye. Big things are coming soon. We couldn't be more excited.

In the meanwhile, here are some of our most popular posts and categories to keep you busy.

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Arabian Gulf - Lt. Gen. William Beydler, commander, United States Marine Corps Forces Central Command (MARCENT), visited the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71), while underway in the Arabian Gulf.

Beydler, responsible for the U.S. Marine Corps forces in the Central Command area of responsibility, flew on board Theodore Roosevelt to visit the embarked Marines and Sailors in the "Checkerboards" of Marine Strike Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 312 while the squadron is currently supporting Operation Inherent Resolve and maritime security operations in U.S. 5th Fleet.



"Our country expects us to be ready all the time," said Beydler. "I understand how hard it is to do what you're doing out here, and all of us need to maintain a sense of urgency. The challenges in front of us demand it."



Beydler addressed non-commissioned officers and officers assigned to VMFA-312, as well as recognized individual Marines for their continued sacrifices and hard work while deployed.



"I thank you for your service. There is risk out here but there is one thing that comes from this and it's the satisfaction of serving your country," said Beydler. "So I thank you for your service and I thank your families for allowing you to serve."



During the visit, Beydler also met with members of the strike group and air wing leadership, toured aircraft maintenance and squadron spaces, and observed flight operations at sea.



"We are proud to showcase the professionalism of our Marines, as well as highlight specific examples of their action in support of Operation Inherent Resolve," said Lt. Col. Benedict Buerke, commanding officer of VMFA 312. "It takes every single Marine and Sailor out here to make it happen, and it means a lot to have General Beydler take the time to visit the ship while conducting operations 5th Fleet."



The Checkerboards are one of only two Marine Corps fighter squadrons assigned to carrier air wings embarked on U.S. Navy aircraft carriers. The squadron of 224 Marines and the F/A-18C Hornets add a unique capability to the air wing mission and strengthen the overall capacity of the Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group.



Theodore Roosevelt, the flagship of (CSG) 9, is currently underway with USS Bunker Hill (CG 52), USS Halsey (DDG 97), USS Sampson (DDG 102), and USS Preble (DDG 88) for a routine deployment. The Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group deployment is an example of the U.S. Navy's routine presence in waters around the globe, displaying commitment to stability, regional cooperation and economic prosperity for all nations.Arizona News

Phoenix, Arizona - Attorney General Mark Brnovich is proud to announce a $1.85 million verdict in a consumer fraud lawsuit filed against Dennis N. Saban and his companies, Phoenix Car Rental and Sabans Rent-A-Car. After a 5-week trial, a judge found Saban and his car rental companies must pay $1.85 million for violating the Arizona Consumer Fraud Act. Of the $1.85 million, nearly $1 million will go to consumers who were charged unlawful fees during car rental transactions from 2009 to 2016.

This is one of the largest consumer fraud trial verdicts the Arizona Attorney Generals Office has ever obtained.

"Our priority was to get consumers their money back and the defendant continued to fight us. We refused to back down and ended up with a great victory for consumers," said Attorney General Mark Brnovich. "After an intensive 5-week trial, the judge's ruling sends a message that consumer fraud won't be tolerated in Arizona."

In 2014, the Attorney Generals Office filed a consumer fraud lawsuit against Saban and his car rental companies. An undercover investigation found consumers were improperly charged fees by Phoenix Car Rental and Sabans Rent-A-Car. An undercover investigator was promised a rental vehicle for $129 a week, a rate also advertised on the company website. After additional fees and taxes, the total rental was more than $250. The agent was denied a copy of the rental agreement and falsely told he would be arrested if he left the Phoenix area because of specially coded license plates. An employee also informed the investigator that an additional charge was the county tax when in fact it was a surcharge imposed by Sabans. Upon inspection, investigators also discovered that although the rental cars odometer displayed 99,840 miles, the vehicles actual mileage was 199,840 miles. Multiple consumers testified at trial that they were subjected to similar practices by Sabans.

The ruling also requires the defendant to provide consumers with a good faith estimate. The defendant is prohibited from inaccurately advertising the condition or rental rates of vehicles, renting any vehicle without regularly scheduled maintenance, from altering the odometer, and altering or disengaging a vehicle's warning light.

This case was tried by Matthew du Mee, Unit Chief Counsel of the Consumer Litigation Unit, and Assistant Attorneys General Tim Watson and Mitchell Allee.Arizona News

Phoenix, Arizona - Attorney General Mark Brnovich announced Friday a former security officer at the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station pleaded guilty to two counts of Sexual Exploitation of a Minor after downloading child pornography.

In 2016, the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office Cyber Crimes Unit arrested Ricardo Andres Talamante, 33, after an undercover investigation found child pornography on a laptop belonging to Talamante. The videos had children ranging in age from 3 to 12 years old being sexually abused by adults. Talamante is former U.S. military reserve sergeant.

Talamante faces between 12 to 20 years in prison and will be placed on lifetime probation after he is released from prison.

Talamantes sentencing is set for Friday, April 6, 2018 at 9 a.m.

Assistant Attorney General Todd Lawson is prosecuting this case.Latest News

Washington, DC - President Donald J. Trump announced his intent to nominate an eleventh wave of United States Attorneys. The United States Attorney serves as the chief Federal law enforcement officer within his or her Federal judicial district. Accordingly, the President announced his intent to nominate these individuals to serve their respective jurisdictions:

If confirmed, Thomas T. Cullen will serve as the United States Attorney for the Western District of Virginia. Mr. Cullen is currently a principal at Woods Rogers PLC, representing clients in complex civil and criminal litigation. Prior to joining the law firm, Mr. Cullen served as an Assistant United States Attorney in both the Western District of Virginia and the Western District of North Carolina. Mr. Cullen also served as a law clerk to Judge Roger L. Gregory of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and to Judge Robert E. Payne of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. Mr. Cullen earned his B.A. from Furman University and his J.D. from William & Mary School of Law, where he was inducted into the Order of the Coif.

If confirmed, Timothy A. Garrison will serve as the United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri. Mr. Garrison is currently the interim U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri. Since 2007, Mr. Garrison has served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the district, prosecuting interstate and international drug trafficking, money laundering, murder, and other offenses. Mr. Garrison is a recipient of the Missouri Bar Foundation award for appellate advocacy before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. Before becoming a federal prosecutor, Mr. Garrison was a prosecutor in the Marine Corps. He also received the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General Schools trial advocacy award. Now a lieutenant colonel in the Marine Corps Reserve, Mr. Garrison serves as Deputy Legal Counsel in the Office of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon. Mr. Garrison earned a B.S. from Drury University, and an M.P.A. and J.D. from the University of Missouri.

If confirmed, Nicola T. Hanna will serve as the United States Attorney for the Central District of California. Mr. Hanna is currently the interim U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California. Prior to this position, he was a partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, where he specialized in white-collar criminal matters and complex commercial litigation. Mr. Hanna previously served as an Assistant United States Attorney in Los Angeles from 1990 to 1995, where he prosecuted major drug trafficking and money laundering organizations, as well as violent and economic crimes. From 1995 to 1998, Mr. Hanna served as an Assistant United States Attorney in San Diego, where he focused on investigating and prosecuting international drug cartels. Mr. Hanna earned his B.A. from the University of California, San Diego, and his J.D., magna cum laude, from Georgetown University. Mr. Hanna is a Fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers.

If confirmed, David C. Joseph will serve as the United States Attorney for the Western District of Louisiana. Mr. Joseph currently serves as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Western District of Louisiana, where he prosecutes a wide variety of offenses, with a focus on fraud, public corruption, white-collar crime, and crimes committed on the districts military installations. Prior to joining the Department of Justice, Mr. Joseph served as a prosecutor in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate Generals Corps, as an attorney in the Professional Liability & Financial Crimes Section of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and as an associate in the law firms of Fulbright & Jaworski LLP and Kane, Russell, Coleman & Logan, PC. Mr. Joseph clerked for Judge Jeffrey P. Victory of the Louisiana Supreme Court and Judge John V. Parker of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana. He received his B.B.A. from the University of Oklahoma and his J.D. from the Paul M. Hebert Law Center at Louisiana State University, where he was a member of the Louisiana Law Review and was inducted into the Order of the Coif.

If confirmed, Kenji M. Price will serve as the United States Attorney for the District of Hawaii. Mr. Price is currently the interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Hawaii. Prior to this position, he was a director at Alston Hunt Floyd & Ing, where his practice focused on white-collar criminal defense and commercial litigation. Prior to joining Alston Hunt Floyd & Ing, Mr. Price was a partner and of counsel at Carlsmith Ball LLP in Honolulu. Before joining Carlsmith Ball, Mr. Price served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Eastern District of New York, where he prosecuted a variety of cases, including domestic and international narcotics trafficking. Mr. Price clerked for Judge Kent A. Jordan of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and Judge Robert B. Kugler of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey. He completed his undergraduate studies at Gonzaga University, and earned a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the University of Pennsylvania Law Review. Mr. Price also served as an officer in the U.S. Army for approximately four years, during which time he served as a member of the 75th Ranger Regiment and the 173rd Airborne Brigade.Latest News

Washington, DC - Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson Interview With Margaret Brennan of CBS 60 Minutes:

MS BRENNAN: Rex Tillerson admits he was an unconventional choice for Secretary of State. He had no prior government experience. But as CEO of ExxonMobil, he had crisscrossed the globe striking deals with foreign leaders. Secretary Tillerson, a man who still considers himself a Boy Scout and follows what he calls the Code of the West, is fiercely private and has shied away from interviews, but he agreed to do a rare, wide-ranging one with us. With the Olympics underway and North Korea very much on his mind, he talked to us about what may be the toughest deal he will ever work on.

QUESTION: In his New Years Day speech, Kim Jong-un said the entire area of the U.S. mainland is within our nuclear strike range. Thats got to make you nervous.

SECRETARY TILLERSON: It does make us nervous. It also  it also stiffens our resolve. That kind of a threat to the American people by a regime like this is not acceptable, and the Presidents meeting his responsibilities as Commander-in-Chief of asking our military  Secretary Mattis at the Defense Department  to ensure we are prepared for anything.

QUESTION: And those military options are there in case you fail.

SECRETARY TILLERSON: In case I fail. I say to my Chinese counterpart, You and I fail, these people get to fight. Thats not what we want.

QUESTION: But you are willing to work with and potentially negotiate with Kim Jong-un?

SECRETARY TILLERSON: Well, thats who we will have to work with to achieve this diplomatically. What we have to determine now is: Are we even ready to start? Are they ready to start? And if theyre not, well just keep the pressure campaign underway, and we will increase that pressure. And we are doing that. Every month there are new sanctions rolled out. The world wants North Korea to change.

QUESTION: Well, there are some questions about how badly China wants them to change. Youve really needed their help to put economic pressure on Kim Jong-un. What reassurances have you given to China so that they actually follow through?

SECRETARY TILLERSON: What I think we got a common understanding with China is that North Korea represents a serious threat to China as well. And weve been very clear with them that they are going to have an important role to play once we get to the negotiating table.

QUESTION: So I hear you saying there these wouldnt be one-on-one talks. China would be at the table.

SECRETARY TILLERSON: Early on they might be one-on-one discussions. For the U.S., first, and North Korea to determine? Is there a reason to begin to put the construct for negotiations in place?

QUESTION: What is the carrot that youre dangling for North Korea to convince them to talk?

SECRETARY TILLERSON: Were not using a carrot to convince them to talk. Were using large sticks, and that is what they need to understand. This pressure campaign is putting  is having its bite on North Korea, its revenue streams. Its having a bite on its military programs.

QUESTION: But to say full denuclearization  why would they agree to give up something theyve already got that they think is an insurance policy?

SECRETARY TILLERSON: Because it buys them nothing. It buys them more of being the hermit kingdom, isolated  isolated from the world diplomatically, isolated from the world economically.

QUESTION: Senator Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said, Every one of us should pray Rex Tillerson and Jim Mattis are successful over the course of the next eight to ten months diplomatically, or our nation is going to be facing one of the greatest military decisions that we face. Eight to ten months. Thats how much time you have to get this done?

SECRETARY TILLERSON: Im going to use all the time available to me. Our diplomatic efforts will continue until that first bomb drops. My job is to never have a reason for the first bomb to drop. And we dont know precisely how much time is left on the clock.

QUESTION: You seem to have convinced the President that diplomacy is the way to go on this, but it wasnt always so clear. Back in October, you said you were working to get a dialogue going with the North Koreans, and the President tweeted, Rex, stop wasting your time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man. Have you asked him not to call him Little Rocket Man? Is that a diplomatic term?

SECRETARY TILLERSON: (Laughter.) The Presidents going to  the Presidents going to communicate the way he communicates. My job as chief diplomat is to ensure that the North Koreans know we keep our channels open. Im listening. Im not sending a lot of messages back because theres nothing to say to them at this point, so Im listening for you to tell me youre ready to talk.

QUESTION: How will you know?

SECRETARY TILLERSON: They will tell me. They will tell me.

QUESTION: That explicitly?

SECRETARY TILLERSON: We receive messages from them. And I think it will be very explicit as to how we want to have that first conversation.

(A video clip begins playing.) SECRETARY TILLERSON: Whats the latest?

MS BRENNAN: As we saw during this meeting with top aides about the crisis in Yemen, the whole world is now his portfolio.

(The video clip continues.) SECRETARY TILLERSON: I think is saw some reports of further missile attacks out of Yemen

MS BRENNAN: But Rex Wayne Tillerson comes from a family of modest means in north Texas. He was named after actors Rex Allen and John Wayne because his parents loved Westerns.

QUESTION: We actually have a photo of you back in your Boy Scout uniform. I understand you rose to Eagle Scout.

SECRETARY TILLERSON: Yes.

QUESTION: How old were you here?

SECRETARY TILLERSON: I think I was 14 when that was taken.

QUESTION: You look very proud.

SECRETARY TILLERSON: I am very proud. And was very proud. I still am.

QUESTION: I can tell. I mean, Boy Scouts, you reference it a fair amount. That played a big formative role in your life.

SECRETARY TILLERSON: It really shaped who I am.

QUESTION: You still think of yourself as a Boy Scout?

SECRETARY TILLERSON: Yes.

QUESTION: Really?

SECRETARY TILLERSON: Absolutely.

QUESTION: You dont get to be the CEO of ExxonMobil as a Boy Scout.

SECRETARY TILLERSON: I did.

QUESTION: You talked a lot about something that youve called the Code of the West. What does that mean?

SECRETARY TILLERSON: Well, the Code of the West  as the West was unfolding, there wasnt a lot of law enforcement, and people basically relied upon each others word and as my word is my bond. And Ive used that throughout my life as well, even at ExxonMobil. I would sit down with the head of state for that country or the CEO of that company, and wed look each other in the eye, and Id say, All I need to know is that youre going to live up to your side of this deal, and I give you my word Ill live up to my side of this deal.

And then a lot of the Code of the West was people were very loyal to their organizations. And the phrase riding for the brand is a phrase thats always stuck with me that --

QUESTION: Riding for the brand?

SECRETARY TILLERSON: Riding for the brand. When a cowboy signed on to a ranch or to that organization, he was committed to that organization.

QUESTION: And what is the brand for you now?

SECRETARY TILLERSON: The State Department, the United States Government, the American people are my brand.

QUESTION: So one leader you hadnt met before December of 2016 was Donald Trump. Tell me what that first encounter was like.

SECRETARY TILLERSON: We met in his office in Trump Tower, and he just began by asking me why dont you just kind of talk about how you see the world. So we just  we walked around the world for about an hour. And then after that, then he kind of went into a little bit of a sales pitch with me and said, I want you to be my Secretary of State. And I was stunned.

QUESTION: You didn't know it was a job interview?

SECRETARY TILLERSON: No, I didnt. I didnt. I thought it was just I was going up just to talk to him and share with him, which Ive done with previous presidents. I did with President Obama. I did with President Bush. So I really thought thats all it was. (Laughter.)

QUESTION: Did you have any sense of what you were getting yourself into?

SECRETARY TILLERSON: By and large, I did.

QUESTION: Youve won some policy arguments: when it came to keeping troops in Afghanistan; you prevented the President in some ways from tearing up the Iran nuclear deal like he said he was going to do. You lost a few arguments too: the Paris climate agreement the President exited; the Trans-Pacific trade partnership, you cautioned against ripping up a deal America had committed to; and you cautioned against moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem on the timeline they laid out. Do you think thats a fair accounting of your record?

SECRETARY TILLERSON: I think the American people have won with the decisions the President has taken. And its not about agreeing or disagreeing, because hes the decision maker.

QUESTION: Tell me what its like to work in an administration where the U.S. has walked away or threatened to walk away from a number of commitments. That has to be hard for someone who believes in the Code of the West.

SECRETARY TILLERSON: Well, some of those I think its important to keep in mind what the level of commitment was. We have agreements that the Congress never had the opportunity to weigh in on. And so President Trump was elected by the American people, and many of these were issues that he ran on.

(A video clip begins playing.) QUESTION: White House officials have said that youre going to be pushed out.

MS BRENNAN: In the past year, Tillerson spent a lot of time denying that he was being outflanked by others in the Presidents inner circle and that he was either going to resign or be fired.

(The video clip continues.) SECRETARY TILLERSON: Thats ridiculous.

MS BRENNAN: After reports he called the President a moron:

QUESTION: Why didnt you deny calling the President a moron?

SECRETARY TILLERSON: Thats a really old question.

QUESTION: Do you understand that, by not answering the question, some people thought you were confirming the story?

SECRETARY TILLERSON: I think Ive answered the question.

QUESTION: You think you answered the question?

SECRETARY TILLERSON: Ive answered the question.

QUESTION: Did you call the President a moron?

SECRETARY TILLERSON: Im not going to dignify the question. Weve got so many bigger issues that we could be talking about. Im not from this town. I understand this town likes to talk about a lot of things that are really not important.

QUESTION: Do you think you have enemies in this town?

SECRETARY TILLERSON: I dont know.

QUESTION: Where do you think those reports came from that you were resigning or being fired?

SECRETARY TILLERSON: I have no idea where they come from. I really dont, and I dont give it much thought.

QUESTION: I mean, you walk into ministry meetings and reporters are shouting, Sir, when are you resigning?

SECRETARY TILLERSON: I never hear those questions. The only person that knows whether Im resigning or not is me.

QUESTION: So one of the other challenges that you have here is sometimes the Presidents message doesnt jive with your own. I think youd acknowledge that.

SECRETARY TILLERSON: Well, as I said, the President communicates in his own style, his own way, his own words. And from time to time, I will ask him, Are you changing the policy? Because if we are, obviously, I need to know, and everyone needs to know.

QUESTION: Well, you would have thought hed talk to you about changing the policy before he tweeted.

SECRETARY TILLERSON: And to finish the thought, that has never happened. Every time Ive talked to him, he said, No, the policy hasnt changed. And I say, Then Im good. (Laughter.) Thats all I need to know.

(A video clip is played.) SECRETARY TILLERSON: I thought today wed just have a chat

MS BRENNAN: Within the ranks of the State Department, there have been complaints Secretary Tillerson is dismantling American diplomacy by embracing major budget cuts and being slow to fill crucial jobs.

QUESTION: There are 41 embassies without confirmed ambassadors, and thats even in places where there are crises. No ambassador in South Korea, Saudi Arabia, in Turkey. How do you explain that?

SECRETARY TILLERSON: Well, theres been no dismantling at all of the State Department. Weve got terrific people, both Foreign Service officers, civil servants, that have stepped into those roles around the world, and have stepped in here.

QUESTION: On an interim basis.

SECRETARY TILLERSON: It is an interim basis. So clearly, it is not with the same kind of support that I wish everyone had. But our foreign policy objectives continue to be met (inaudible) Senate-confirmed --

QUESTION: But some of these dont even have nominees. I mean, 41 embassies without ambassadors in them.

SECRETARY TILLERSON: Well, some of these are in the process. Its not a question of people being  or neglecting the importance of it. Its just the nature of the process itself.

QUESTION: Youve said you have a very close relationship with Vladimir Putin. Youve done huge deals with him. Photos of you toasting him with champagne. And all that closeness raised eyebrows. It even inspired a Saturday Night Live skit. Did you ever see that skit?

SECRETARY TILLERSON: I did. My kids pointed me to it. (Laughter.)

(A video clip is played.) Puty, oh my God. Rexy, baby

QUESTION: Did you laugh?

SECRETARY TILLERSON: Absolutely. Absolutely. I laughed out loud.

QUESTION: It made light, though, of this concern that you have a friendship with Vladimir Putin, and that because of that you and the President arent going to hold him to account.

SECRETARY TILLERSON: The relationship that I had with President Putin spans 18 years now. It was always about what could I do to be successful on behalf of my shareholders, how Russia could succeed.

QUESTION: How different was it walking into the Kremlin as Secretary of State?

SECRETARY TILLERSON: It was different because  and I had to think very, very carefully about that. And the only thing I said to him was, Mr. President, the same man, a different hat.

QUESTION: But the dynamic changed.

SECRETARY TILLERSON: The dynamic changed because the issues were different. What he is representing is different than what I now represent. And I said to him, I now represent the American people. And I think it was important that that be said right up front, and he clearly got it. I mean, he clearly understood that as well.

QUESTION: But since youre Secretary of State now, youve accused him of violating nuclear arms control agreements, of cheating on North Korea sanctions, letting Assad continue now to use chlorine gas chemical weapons on civilians. He doesnt seem to be particularly concerned about the warnings youre giving him.

SECRETARY TILLERSON: Well, I dont know. Well see if hes concerned or not.

QUESTION: There were six chlorine gas attacks in the past 30 days.

SECRETARY TILLERSON: Thats correct. And we have called them out for the fact that Russia has special responsibilities, in our view, because of commitments they made to destroy chemical weapons and ensure they knew that there were none.

QUESTION: That sounds a lot like the last administration. It doesnt sound very different.

SECRETARY TILLERSON: Well, when it comes to killing people with chemical weapons, it shouldnt look any different. I think the only difference is the consequences for it. And President Trump has already demonstrated there will be consequences.

QUESTION: Does that mean military action is still on the table for chlorine gas attacks?

SECRETARY TILLERSON: As it was  as it was in April last year, we are serious about our demands that chemical weapons not become regularized or normalized as a weapon in any conflict.

QUESTION: Why not implement the sanctions that Congress overwhelmingly says they want to see put on Russia?

SECRETARY TILLERSON: We have and we are. We have taken steps that have already prevented a number of Russian military sales as a result of the legislation, and we are evaluating additional individuals for possible sanctioning.

QUESTION: So I know were under a time constraint.

(A video clip is played.) the President.

MS BRENNAN: Near the end of our interview, we were interrupted by a phone call from the President.

(The video clip continues.) SECRETARY TILLERSON: Be right back.

MS BRENNAN: Afterward, the Secretary took us out for a brief stroll on his terrace before heading to the White House.

QUESTION: How often do you talk to the President?

SECRETARY TILLERSON: We typically will try to talk every day even if its only for a few minutes. A lot of times, Ill call from the road when Im on a trip just to let him know how its going and

MS BRENNAN: Rex Tillerson enjoys the view from the top of the State Department. He seems to be one of the few people in Washington not surprised hes still here.

QUESTION: If I believed the press reports that came out about you in the past year, you would not be sitting here talking to me as the Secretary of State. It seems like reports of your political death were premature?

SECRETARY TILLERSON: Well, I hope with this little bit of exchange weve had, you understand the man better. Thats why Im still here. Those things dont bother me. Im here to serve my country. I committed to this President. My word is my bond. I ride for this brand. Thats why Im here, and nothing anybody else says is going to change that.Source: Xinhua| 2018-02-18 10:06:58|Editor: Liu

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TRIPOLI, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- Libyan military forces of the UN-backed government on Saturday held a military exercise with live ammunition near the northwestern Libyan city of Misurata.

"Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad M'etig attended the tactical training exercise with live ammunition at the military airport of Al-Nmowa in Sdada area, in the presence of the Chief of the General Staff, Major General Abdulrahman Taweel, and a number of military officials," the prime minister's media and communication office said in a statement.

"The exercise, which lasted for more than three hours continuously, aimed to increase the combat capability of the ground forces, in partnership with the Libyan air force," the statement said.

The audience appreciated the exercise, hoping such tactical maneuvers could be continued as they boost the morale of the Libyan troops, the statement added.BENGALURU: After having been expelled from the Congress for six years for beating a man at a restaurant in Bengaluru, Mohammed Haris Nalapad surrendered in front of the police on Monday. Nalapad, son of Congress Shantinagar MLA NA Haris, had along with his 10 friends thrashed a man at a restaurant in UB City on Saturday night after they felt offended over him extending his feet, cast in plaster, towards the table they were sitting at.

The man, identified as Vidwat, has been hospitalised. Nalapad is also accused of threatening him at a hospital where he is undergoing treatment.

Describing the incident as unfortunate, the MLA had said that the law must take its course. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had also tweeted that offenders should be punished to the "full extent of law". "Offenders should be punished to the full extent of law regardless of who they are. No less, no more. @CPBlr will take action as per law and bring the guilty to book."

Mohammed Haris Nalapad, who was serving as the general secretary of Bengaluru city Youth Congress, has been expelled from the Congress party for 6 years. He was appointed the general secretary after he emerged victorious in an election held by the Congress for the post in May 2017. He was also the executive director of the Nalapad Group of Companies.

The police are reportedly questioning the restaurant owner and other people who were there at the time of the incident.MYSURU: If you thought the Prime Minister can get any place where he wants to stay, you might need to rethink. When Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his entourage were to visit Mysuru for a two-trip from February 19-20, they approached Hotel Lalitha Mahal Palace but they could not get the accommodation booked. The iconic had to turn them away as it almost all rooms were booked for a wedding reception, a top official was quoted as saying by a news agency.

"An official from the deputy commissioner's office had visited us to book rooms for the Prime Minister and his staff, including security personnel, but we were not in a position to do so as most of the rooms were booked for a wedding reception," the hotel General Manager Joseph Mathias told news agency PTI.

The dates of the PM's travel were same as the wedding reception that took place on Sunday evening.

There were only three rooms which were available at the hotel but that was not enough for them. "Considering security reasons, it was not advisable to book just three rooms for a big staff," the hotel official added.

The district administration then made arrangements for the Prime Minister and his entourage at another plush hotel in the city. He stayed at Hotel Radisson Blu overnight and Monday.

Even at Radisson, the hotel was asked to reschedule the wedding reception of a businessman's family due to security issues, so that it concluded before the prime minister arrived.

PM Modi arrived in Mysuru on Sunday night for engagements at Jain pilgrim centre Shravanabelagola in Hassan district. His itinerary also included a South Western Railway function and a public rally organised by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the run-up to the Assembly polls in the state.PATNA: The Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) on Sunday asked its students to appear for exams while wearing slippers or flip-flops and not shoes and socks. Defending the decision, the state education minister said that the decision has been taken to save time spent on checking to prevent cheating.

"It is time consuming to make students take off their socks and shoes to conduct a check. This is why such a decision was taken to ask students to wear flip flops. The system is already in practice and exams are being held in a fair manner," State Education Minister said.

The state board officials have also said that it is a usual practice which is held in others states also. "There is nothing new in this order to students appearing in Class 10 exams from February 21. It is a usual practice in other examinations held in the state. The board decided to adopt the practice from this year," BSEB Chairman Anand Kishore said.

Nearly 17.70 lakh students are appearing for the Class 10 exams this year. The exam will be held at 1,426 centres across the state from February 21 to 28.

Nearly 1,000 students were penalised for cheating during the Class 12 exams that concluded last Saturday. According to BSEB officials, the annual examinations this year were fair and mass cheating is a thing of the past in Bihar.

Last year, the Class 12 Arts stream topper was a 42-year-old man, who was later arrested for on the charge of faking his age to take the exams.Mumbai: Salman Khan is busy shooting for Remo DSouzas Race 3 these days but preparations for his upcoming film Bharat have already begun. Filmmaker Ali Abbas Zafar, who has delivered two blockbusters in the form of Sultan and Tiger Zinda Hai with Salman, has started working on Bharat.

The super-hit director took to Twitter Monday to share a photograph from London, where a few portions of the film are expected to be shot.

He tweeted:

Work begins on #Bharat in freezing london , home for some days , may god bless us all.

Work begins on #Bharat in freezing london , home for some days , may god bless us all. pic.twitter.com/lpouj8xiz0  ali abbas zafar (@aliabbaszafar) 19 February 2018

Besides London, the film which is an official adaptation of the 2014 South Korean film Ode to My Father, will be shot in Abu Dhabi, Spain, Punjab and Delhi.

Produced by Salmans brother-in-law Atul Agnihotri, Bharat, set in the backdrop of India in 1947 will take us through the events during the countrys partition. Not just that, the film will showcase significant events over a period of 70 years since partition.

The title of the film is self-explanatory. We can expect Salman to showcase his patriotic side by essaying a character that has witnessed partition.

The makers of the film have however remained tight-lipped about the rest of the star cast. It is scheduled to hit the screens on Eid 2019.

As of now, Salman is gearing up for Race 3 which also stars Bobby Deol, Jacqueline Fernandez, Daisy Shah, Saqib Saleem and Anil Kapoor. The third instalment of the Race franchise will make a splash on the silverscreen on Eid this year.Raipur: At least 30 Congress MLAs were on Monday suspended from Chhattisgarh Assembly after they raised protest over the Raman Singh-led government's invitation to a close aide of the PNB scam case accused Nirav Modi for investment in the BJP-ruled state.

According to reports, the opposition MLAs raised a huge objection to Chief Minister Raman Singh's invitation to Australian mining giant Metals and Mining Corporation Rio Tinto for investment in the state.

The opposition lawmakers alleged that the corporation has connections with Nirav Modi and is blacklisted in Madhya Pradesh.

The Congress members also demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Raman Singh on the issue.

As many as 30 Congress MLAs were suspended after they trooped into the Well of the House seeking a discussion on the issue, ANI reported.

Soon after the Question Hour, senior Congress MLAs, including party chief Bhupesh Baghel, Satyanarayan Sharma and Dhanendra Sahu, alleged that the Chief Minister and his officials, during a visit to Australia last month, had invited Australian mining major Rio Tinto for mining exploration in the state.

"Rio Tinto is an associate company of Nirav Modi's conglomerate and although the company had left the diamond project in Chhatarpur district of Madhya Pradesh midway in the past, it was invited for investment in the state," they claimed.

Congress members further accused the ruling BJP of looting the state in the name of investments in the industrial sector and sought a discussion on it by moving an adjournment motion notice.

Speaker Gaurishankar Agrawal rejected their demand saying the nature of the motion is superficial and it cannot be accepted.

The Speaker said the adjournment motion should be on a fresh issue, which needs immediate attention of the government, following which Congress members started shouting slogans.

Due to the pandemonium, the House was adjourned for five minutes.

When the proceedings resumed, Baghel again sought a discussion on the topic accusing the government of trying to loot the natural resources of the state in the name of investments.

"The Chief Minister should answer why he had invited a company which had a bad track record.

The CM should resign," Baghel said.

As the Speaker took up the listed business for the day despite slogan-shouting by the Congress MLAs, agitated members rushed to the Well of the House and were automatically suspended as per the assembly rules.

Congress legislators sat on the floor of the Well and continued to raise slogans.

Announcing the suspension, the Speaker named the Congress members and asked them to go out of the House, following which they moved out.

Later, while talking to reporters on the Assembly premises, CM Raman Singh said Congress has been levelling "baseless and hypothetical charges" as they don't have any other issue left to raise in the House.

(With Agency inputs)New Delhi: Telecom company Aircel will soon file for bankruptcy at the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) as per a financial daily report.

A report in the Economic Times said that the board of the telecom company, which has a Rs 15,500 crore debt, has been dissolved ahead of the move. The application to the NCLT will be submitted within a few days, the paper said.

The lenders are scheduled to meet on Tuesday to decide on appointments and the future course of action, ET said.

The decision has been reportedly taken following the Reserve Bank of India scrapping all debt revamp schemes in favour of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code.

Since Aircel has not made payments since September, banks cannot restructure Aircel.

Two weeks ago Idea Cellular suspended interconnect services with Aircel for non- payment of dues. Idea said it will restore interconnect services immediately after Aircel makes the payment, but did not specify the outstanding amount.

Idea said that despite multiple reminders since November 2017, the operator had failed to meet its payment commitments forcing Idea to suspend interconnect services, as per the terms of interconnect agreement.

Aircel and Reliance Communications had signed binding agreements in September 2016 for the merger of RCom's mobile businesses with Aircel. However they terminated the deal in October last year for the lapses with mutual consent.New Delhi: Bollywood actor Salman Khan's electric bicycles under the Being Human Foundation brand is now available on PaytmMall. The e-cycles are available on PaytmMall with a cashback of Rs 5,000.

Khan has tweeted:

One Less bahana for you all not to get fitter ! #BeingHumanEcycles now available on the @PaytmMall . Aur isme 5k tak ka cashback bhi hai - So go and get yourself one today Link : https://t.co/FQQbRHVoIW  Salman Khan (@BeingSalmanKhan) February 19, 2018

Salman launched the e-cycles on World Environment Day on June 5 last year. His e-cycles are aimed at sustainable city development, with less emissions and noise.

It's part of his offerings under brand Being Human, under which he already has apparel and jewellery segments -- sales of which are used for education and healthcare of the underprivileged in India.

The e-cycles, priced between the Rs 40,000 and Rs 57,000 claim to have a range of 30 kilometres and a top speed of 25 km/h.

Targeted at cyclists of all age, these e-bicycles can be ridden with the help of the on board battery pack, a riding mode which can be initiated with the tap of a switch.New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said that India is the hot-spot of digital innovation, across all sectors.

We not only possess a growing number of innovative entrepreneurs, but also a growing market for tech innovation. We were and we remain one of the most tech friendly populations in the world, Modi said while delivering the inaugural address of the World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT).

Modi was delivering his speech through a video conference. The 22nd edition of the WCIT is being organized by Nasscom in Hyderabad .

"With one lakh villlages linked with optical fibre, over 100 crore mobile phones, 120 crore Aadhar and 50 crore Internet users India is best placed to leverage power of technology and leapfrog into future," he said.

He told the delegates that while ensuring empowerment of every citizen, Digital India is a journey bringing about digital inclusion for digital empowerment aided by digital infrastructure for digital delivery services.

"Leveraging technology in such a holistic manner was unthinkable some years ago. We have successfully completed this life-cycle in the last three and a half years. This has been possible through a change in public behaviour and processes," the Prime Minister said.

Modi claimed that Digital India has not remained merely a government initiative but has become a way of life.

He said the nation has come a long way with the convergence of Make In India and Digital India.

"From only two mobile factories in India in 2014, today there are 118 mobile manufacturing factories operational in India, including some of the best global brands," he claimed.

He said to ensure digital literacy reaches each household, the government initiative, Pradhan Mantri Rural Digital Literacy Mission, will make 60 million adults digitally literate in rural India. Under this, 10 million people have already been trained

He pointed out that digital payments through BHIM app registered transactions of Rs 15,000 crore last month.

Modi said that if technology was used well for public good, it can deliver lasting prosperity to mankind and a sustainable future for the planet

"Disruptive technologies such as Block-chain and the Internet of Things, will have a profound impact in the way we live and work. They will require rapid adaptation in our workplaces."

He said the concept of "Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam" (the world is one family), was deeply imbibed in Indian philosophy and reflects our inclusive traditions.

"In the 21st century, technology is becoming an enabler for this concept. It helps us create a seamless, integrated world. A world where geographical distance no longer remains a barrier in collaborating for a better future," Modi added.

The three-day WCIT is being held along with the NASSCOM India Leadership Forum.

Business delegations from 25 countries are attending the event themed `Amplify digital-Disrupt the core`.

With IANS InputsMumbai: Virgin Hyperloop One has signed a MoU with the Maharashtra government to build a hyperloop between Pune and Mumbai beginning with an operational demonstration track.

Virgin Group Founder and Virgin Hyperloop One Chairman Richard Branson said, "I believe Virgin Hyperloop One could have the same impact upon India in the 21st century as trains did in the 20th century. The Pune-Mumbai route is an ideal first corridor as part of a national hyperloop network that could dramatically reduce travel times between India's major cities to as little as two hours. Virgin Hyperloop One can help India become a global transportation pioneer and forge a new world-changing industry."

Here is all you need to know about the Mumbai-Pune Hyperloop project:

1. The Hyperloop route will link central Pune, Navi Mumbai International Airport, and Mumbai in 25-minutes. The high-capacity passenger and cargo hyperloop route will support 150 million passenger trips annually, saving more than 90 million hours of travel time, the company said.

2. The Pune-Mumbai Hyperloop project will begin with a six-month in-depth feasibility study to analyse and define the route alignment.

3. Construction of the Pune-Mumbai Hyperloop route would commence after procurement and will be completed in two phases, beginning with an operational demonstration track built between two points on the route.

4. The demonstration track will be constructed in two to three years from the signing of the agreement and serve as a platform for testing, certifying, and regulating the system for commercial operations.

5. The 100 percent electric, efficient Hyperloop system will ease severe expressway congestion and could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 150,000 tons annually.

6. The Pune-Mumbai route could result in $55 billion (Rs 350,000 crore) in socio-economic benefits (time savings, emissions and accident reduction, operational cost savings, etc.) over 30 years of operation.

7. The second phase will target to complete construction of the full Pune-Mumbai route in five to seven years. Future projects could also extend the route to link central Pune with the New Pune International Airport and Jawaharlal Nehru Port in Mumbai with Pune's industrial economic zones.Mumbai: Nirav Modi, the kingpin behind the largest banking scam in the country's history, has virtually wrung his arms in the air saying PNB's overzealousness has shut the doors on his ability to clear the dues, which he claimed is much lower than the bank has gone public with.

In a letter Nirav Modi wrote on February 15/16 to the PNB management, a copy of which Press Trust of India has seen, he pegged the amount his companies owe to the bank under Rs 5,000 crore.

"The erroneously cited liability resulted in a media frenzy which led to immediate search and seizure of operations, and which in turn resulted in Firestar International and Firestar Diamond International effectively ceasing to be going-concerns.

"This thereby jeopardised our ability to discharge the dues of the group to the banks," Nirav Modi, who left the country along with his family in the first week of January, wrote in the letter.

"In the anxiety to recover your dues immediately, despite my offer (on February 13, a day before the public announcement, and on 15,) your actions have destroyed my brand and the business and have now restricted your ability to recover all the dues leaving a trail of unpaid debts," he said.

The letter also refers to the extended discussions between him, and between his representatives and the bank officers and also his emails on February 13 and 15, 2018.

It can be noted that PNB, the second largest state-run bank, had on February 14 informed the exchanges of detecting $1.77 billion fraud at its Brady House branch in Horniman Circle area of south Mumbai and named the firms led by Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi's Gitanjali Group and some other diamond and jewelry merchants as suspects.

The bank has also filed criminal complaints with CBI and the ED, both of which launched nationwide searches on dozens of offices and residences of the alleged fraudsters.

The bank has named Nirav Modi's brother, his American wife Ami, and maternal uncle Mehul Choksi besides some others in the FIR.

On the Rs 11,400-crore loss claimed by PNB in the FIR, Nirav Modi said, "As you are aware, this is entirely incorrect and the liability of the Nirav Modi Group is substantially less. Even after your complaint was filed, in good faith I wrote to you saying please sell/allow me to sell Firestar Group, or their valuable assets, and recover the dues not just from Firestar Group, but also from the three firms."

Valuing his domestic business at around Rs 6,500 crore, he said, "This could have helped reduce/discharge the debt to the banking system," but quickly added that this is not possible as all his bank accounts have been frozen and assets have been sealed or seized.

He goes on to state that PNB had time and again acknowledged that "the buyers credit facility has been extended by it to the three partnership firms since several years; that there has been no default on the part of any of these firms over all these years; that money has gone through PNB over all these years for the repayments of the advances given by the overseas bank branches under the buyers credit.

"That Firestar International and Firestar Diamond International have never been in default to any bank, and the bankers are fully secured".

He also states that PNB has over the years been earning bank charges to the tune of crores of rupees on the buyers credit facility extended by PNB to the three partnership firms and that PNB has extended the money to the firm's buyers as well from where also it has been receiving full payments, with interest and on time all, these years.

On the valuables that CBI/ED searches yielded Rs 5,649 crore, he said, "These, and other assets of the group and the three firms could have settled all the amounts due to banks. However, now that stage appears to have passed."

He concluded by requesting the bank to "be fair, and support my efforts to make good all the amounts that are found due by my group to all banks." Owning up everything, he said the bank has wrongly named his brother, who is not at all concerned with the operations of the three firms or other companies.

"My wife is not connected with any business operations at all and she has been wrongly named. My uncle is also wrongly named in this complaint since he has an independent and unconnected business and none of them are aware or concerned with my dealings with your bank."

"Whatever may be the consequences I may face for my actions, the haste was, in my humble submission, unwarranted," Modi concludes and makes has requested the bank to permit payment of salaries to 2,200 employees from the balance lying in the current accounts.New Delhi: Noting that recapitalisation of state-run lenders over the last decade has had little impact on improving their health, industry body Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) on Monday called for their privatisation in the interest of creating "a dynamic banking sector" in the country.

FICCI demand follows another industry body ASSOCHAM's call on Sunday for the Narendra Modi government to surrender its majority control of public sector banks (PSBs) in the light of the massive PNB scam of Rs 11,400 crore, allegedly involving billionaire jeweller Nirav Modi and his maternal uncle Mehul Choksi.

"FICCI recommends privatisation of PSBs. Recapitalisation in the last 11 years has had limited impact in improving the health of public sector banks," the industry body said in a statement here.

"The public sector banks (PSBs), which constitute almost 70 percent of the Indian banking system, are saddled with burgeoning stressed assets."

"The government has already injected over Rs 2.6 lakh crore in the PSBs through recapitalisation in the last 11 years, which has had limited impact in improving the health of public sector banks thus far," FICCI President Rashesh Shah said in a statement.

"Recapitalisation alone is not a permanent solution and will not be effective unless the inherent issues related to governance, productivity, risk management, talent, customer service, among others, are resolved," Shah said.

"Given the continuous pressure on the government finances on account of the weak performance of the banks, privatisation would reduce the drain on the exchequer and the money saved could be used for developmental schemes and programmes," he added.

Besides the Rs 1.45 lakh crore earmarked for recapitalisation during the ongoing and the next fiscal, PSBs have received around Rs 1.15 lakh crore equity between 2010-11 and 2016-17. During the same period, PSB profits amounted to Rs 1.8 lakh crore.

Most state-run lenders reported combined losses during the last two fiscals on account of the provisioning made for their massive accumulated non-performing assets (NPAs), or bad loans.

The accumulated NPAs in the Indian banking system has crossed a staggering Rs 8 lakh crore, with PSBs themselves accounting for over Rs 7 lakh crore of bad loans.

The Centre has embarked on a two-pronged strategy in this regard. On the one hand, it has brought in the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code which provides for a time-bound insolvency resolution process. The Reserve Bank of India has already identified 12 accounts adding up to 25 percent of the NPAs for insolvency proceedings.

On the other hand, the Union Cabinet, in October, approved a Rs 2.11 lakh crore recapitalisation plan for PSBs.

Meanwhile, Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) Arvind Subramanian has also advocated more private participation in public sector banks.

Speaking at an event in Chennai on Saturday, CEA Subramanian said that while the government was going for the recapitalisation of PSBs, the scrutiny, monitoring and disciplined deployment must be ensured only through greater private participation in banks.

According to him, there should be less public lending to the private sector and the mode to achieve that is to have higher private participation in the banking sector.

(With agency inputs)NEW DELHI: The Air Quality Index (AQI) of Delhi-NCR changed from `moderate` to `poor` category on Monday.

The air quality of Dwarka was recorded to be highest with AQI 400 and the lowest was recorded at Delhi`s IHBAS with AQI 200.

On the same note, the air quality of 200 is considered `unhealthy` by the AQI.Earlier in the week, Delhi-NCR air quality changed from `severe` to `moderate` category.Ghaziabad: A Ghaziabad-based man allegedly raped a woman and filmed the entire act on video. The man has now been arrested by cops.

The accused, Mehtab, had been pursuing the victim  an undergraduate student  for marriage.

On February 7, the accused along with two accomplices called the victim at a hotel, where she was served a cold drink laced with sedatives.

After the girl lost consciousness, Mehtab raped her while the accomplices recorded the entire act on video, said station house officer (SHO), Sihani Gate, Vinod Kumar Pandey.

The accused then threatened to release the video online if she did not marry him by changing her religion, the officer said.

On February 15, accused Mehtab once again attacked the girl and snatched her mobile, before throwing her out of a moving auto.

Next day, the victim lodged a complaint with the police. She further named three other persons in the complaint.

Mehtab was arrested by cops on Saturday.

The matter is under investigation, said the SHO.

With agency inputsPanaji: Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, who is being treated at Mumbai's Lilavati Hospital for a 'pancreas-related ailment', can be shifted to the US for further treatment, "if need be", Deputy Speaker and BJP MLA Michael Lobo said on Monday.

"We want him. We will do everything we can. He could be taken to the US if need be," Lobo told reporters at the state Assembly complex on Monday.

Parrikar was rushed to Lilavati Hospital on February 15, 2018, for treatment of "mild pancreatitis". On Saturday, the CMO denied reports that Parrikar underwent a surgery, claiming that his health was improving.

A statement issued by the hospital on Sunday said that Parrikar was responding well to treatment and dismissed rumours of all adverse health reports.

BJP worker Sunil Desai has filed a complaint at the Ponda police station against unknown persons for circulating "false news" on two occasions on February 17 and 19, 2018.

"This is to bring to your kind notice, that some people are circulating false news about our Chief Minister's health and misguiding the people in my name," Desai said.

Messages circulating on social media on the above mentioned two dates, expressed fears about the worst for the Chief Minister's health. But the reports were promptly denied by both BJP leaders and the Chief Minister's Office.

PANAJI: Goa BJP General Secretary Narendra Sawaikar on Monday claimed that the reports of Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar to be flown to the USA for treatment as false and baseless.

He clarified that the Chief Minister is responding to the treatment. Sawaikar further added that Parrikar is being treated by best of experts and as per information, his condition is stable.

CM #ManoharParrikar is undergoing treatment at Mumbai's Lilavati Hospital & is responding to it. He is being treated by best of experts & as per info his condition is stable. News that he is being flown to USA for treatment is false & baseless: Narendra Sawaikar, Goa BJP Gen Secy pic.twitter.com/NZHg2Tsk8n  ANI (@ANI) February 19, 2018

"CM Manohar Parrikar is undergoing treatment at Mumbai's Lilavati Hospital and is responding to it. He is being treated by best of experts and as per information, his condition is stable. News that he is being flown to the USA for treatment is false and baseless," said Narendra Sawaikar.

Earlier in the day, Deputy Speaker and BJP MLA Michael Lobo said that Parrikar could be shifted to the US for further treatment, 'if need be'.

"We want him. We will do everything we can. He could be taken to the US if need be," Lobo said at the state Assembly complex.

On Sunday, Mumbai's Lilavati Hospital had denied all rumours about Parrikar's health and said that he was responding well to the treatment.

The hospital had issued a statement in which it termed all reports about the Goa Chief Minister as 'misleading and malicious'.

''It has been brought to our notice, various malicious and misleading reports/rumours are floating around in the electronic/print media with regard to the health of Hon Chief Minister of Goa. We categorically deny all such rumours,'' the hospital had said in the statement.

The hospital had further reiterated that the BJP leader is currently being treated and was responding well to the treatment.

The statement was signed by Ajay Kumar Pande, Vice President, Lilavati Hospital And Research Centre.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was in Mumbai to inaugurate 'Magnetic Maharashtra' Global Investors Summit in suburban Bandra, had also visited the Lilavati Hospital to enquire about Parrikar's health.

Parrikar was admitted to Lilavati Hospital in Mumbai on February 15 reportedly after his health deteriorated.

Parrikar's office had also issued a statement on Saturday stating that the Goa Chief Minister will be attending the Assembly Session.NEW DELHI: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who is on a week-long tour to India, visited Gujarat on Monday. Following his visit to the Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad, the Canadian PM attended an event at Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIM-A).

Addressing people at the Institute, Trudeau said that the differences in the society should be a source of strength and not weakness. "Heterogeneous society is a new reality, differences have to be a source of strength, not weakness," he said.

Trudeau also talked about empowering women in the society. "We are underperforming as society as we are not giving opportunities to women," he added.

He aslo pointed out the problems that women go through on a regular basis. "Any comments about how a man looks are not even an eyelash worth of the systemic discrimination women face. As a man in business and politic, I had lots of advantage but I did not go near discrimination, sexism, superficiality and judgement that women go through daily," he said

The 46-year-old Canadian PM arrived in New Delhi on Saturday for a week-long visit on the invitation by his counterpart Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The visit is aimed at strengthening bilateral relations between the two countries in key areas of mutual interest trade and investment, energy, science and innovation, higher education, infrastructure development, skill development and space, a statement from the Ministry of External Affairs said.

Trudeau kickstarted his India trip with a visit to Taj Mahal in Agra with his family on Sunday.Ahmedabad: Continuing its victory run, the ruling BJP on Monday bagged 47 out of 75 municipalities in the Gujarat civic body polls polling for which were held last week.

The main opposition, Congress, won 16 municipalities, while the NCP and BSP emerged victorious on one seat each.

Voting for the 75 municipalities was held on last Saturday and the results were declared today.

Elections were also held for two district panchayats, 17 taluka (tehsil) panchayats and 1,423 village panchayats, simultaneously.

The villagers in 295 village panchayats chose their 'sarpanch' unanimously.

This was also for the first time in a decade that parties contested the local body polls on their party symbols.

Though it lost several urban bodies, the consolation for the BJP is that it has retained a majority hold on the municipalities since the early 1990s.

"The BJP has won 47 municipalities, the Congress 16, the NCP and BSP one each. While Independent candidates won four municipalities, six others remained hung as no party gained a clear majority," State Election Commissioner Varesh Sinha said while announcing the results.

In December last year, the BJP had registered a sixth straight victory in the Gujarat Assembly polls by winning 99 seats while the Congress secured 77 seats in the 182-member House.

Three of the six municipalities that delivered a hung verdict are Khedbhramaha in Sabarkantha district, Gariadhar in Bhavnagar district and Pardi in Valsad district, where both the BJP and the Congress won 14 seats each.

"Of the total 2,060 seats in these 75 municipalities spread across 24 districts, the BJP won 1,167, Congress 630, NCP 28 and BSP 15 seats. Other small political parties won 18 seats, while Independent candidates emerged winners on 202 seats," Sinha said.

The vote-counting process was peaceful, he added.

In Prime Minister Narendra Modi's hometown Vadnagar in Mehsana district, the BJP won 27 of the 28 seats, while the remaining seat went to the Congress.

As the results were declared, BJP workers started celebrating at the party headquarters in Gandhinagar.

Results show people's unbreakable faith in BJP: Amit Shah

BJP president Amit Shah described his party's win in Gujarat municipal polls as a proof of people's "unbreakable" faith in the state government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's good governance and pro-people policies.

"For people of Gujarat to continuously put their trust in the BJP is a proof of their unbreakable faith in the state government's and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's good governance and pro-people policies," Shah said in tweets, congratulating state leaders for the "grand" win.

                                                Amit Shah (@AmitShah) February 19, 2018

The state's CM Vijay Rupani too hailed the results as a ''referendum on development.''

The result of Gujarat Municipality elections today is the people's referendum on development in the state.  Vijay Rupani (@vijayrupanibjp) February 19, 2018

"This is a victory against the negative politics and programmes of the Congress. The people of Gujarat have once again rejected the negativity that the Congress is generating," BJP spokesperson Bharat Pandya later said.

The Congress had run the BJP close in the assembly polls, which were held in December, winning 77 seats against its 99-- eight more than halfway mark of 91.

The takeaway for the Congress is that it has entered into double-figures in the municipalities after a much-improved performance in the recent assembly elections.

Congress leader Alpesh Thakor said the party had improved its tally substantially.

"The Congress held eight municipalities earlier. We have improved our tally substantially. We are going to have Congress presidents in 20 municipalities with the support of Independent candidates," he said.

Today's local poll results will be seen as a morale booster by the saffron party as it gets ready for the Lok Sabha polls in Modi and Shah's home state where it had won all seats in 2014.

(With Agency inputs)Ahmedabad: The voting for civic and panchayat polls in Gujarat was held on February 17, 2018. As per the state election commission, Dahod municipality registered the highest turnout of 76.67 percent while Rajkot recorded 50.17 percent turnout. Polling was held in 75 municipalities or Nagarpalikas.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress were locked in a direct fight in the civic polls. In the last local elections, BJP had won 107 seats out of total 123 seats in 2016.

Following are the latest updates of Ahmadabad, Morbi, Botad, Dwarka:

- The BJP wins Gadhada municipality in Botad district.

- BJP wins Dwarka municipality in Devbhumi Dwarka district.

- Congress bags Salaya municipality in Devbhumi Dwarka district.

- Among the municipalities, BJP has won are Jafrabad, Vadnagar, Jasdan, Vijaynagar, Sanand, Talaja, Halvad, Bantva, Kodinar, Lathi, Kheralu, Karamsad, Songadh, Bavla, Mansa, Dwarka, Bhanvad, Kutiyana, Chalala, Gadhda, Idar, Prantij, Jamjodhpur, Dhrol, Chhaya, Bilimora, Gariyadhar, Sihor and Lathi.

- In Morbi district, in Halvad in ward number 1, Congress bags 3 seats and BJP wins 1 seat.

- Trends for all 75 municipalities are in - BJP leading in 44, Congress in 27, others in four.

- BJP elected in ward number 2 in Halvad in Morbi district.

- Congress wins 4 seats in ward number 1 in Salaya in Dwarka district.

- Trends in 71 municipalities - BJP leads in 41 while Congress is leading in 27, others leading in 3 municipalities.

- BJP wins in Halvad municipality in Morbi district.

- In Halvad, three seats to Congress in ward number 1, one to BJP.

- BJP emerges victorious on one ward in Sanand in Ahmedabad district.

- Overall, trends in 50 municipalities show the BJP leading in 27 while the Congress leading in 20.

- In Halvad, in ward number 1, Congress wins 3 and BJP 1 seat in Morbi district.

- In Dwarka district, BJP wins in 4 seats in ward number 1.

- In Kheda, 2 seat goes to BJP and 2 to BSP in ward number 1.Ahmedabad: The voting for civic polls in Gujarat was held on February 17, 2018. Notifications for the elections were declared on January 29, 2018, and elections nominations forms were accepted till February 3, 2018.

The results were declared on Monday for 75 Nagar Palikas (municipalities).

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress were locked in a direct fight in the civic polls. In the last local elections, BJP had won 107 seats out of total 123 seats in 2016.

Following are the updates:

- Among the municipalities, BJP has won are Jafrabad, Vadnagar, Jasdan, Vijaynagar, Sanand, Talaja, Halvad, Bantva, Kodinar, Lathi, Kheralu, Karamsad, Songadh, Bavla, Mansa, Dwarka, Bhanvad, Kutiyana, Chalala, Gadhda, Idar, Prantij, Jamjodhpur, Dhrol, Chhaya, Bilimora, Gariyadhar, Sihor and Lathi.

- Congress wins Radhanpur municipality in Patan district.

- BJP wins in Vadnagar.

- Trends for all 75 municipalities are in - BJP leading in 44, Congress in 27, others in four.

- Congress wins Radhanpur municipality in Patan district.

- In Mehsana, BJP wins 4 seats in ward number 1 in Kheralu.

- Trends in 71 municipalities - BJP leads in 41 while Congress is leading in 27, others leading in 3 municipalities.

- Congress wins ward number 1 in Chorvad in Junagadh district.

- Congress emerges victorious ward in Kheralu municipality in Mehsana district.

- BJP wins three seats in Vadnagar ward number one and Congress one in Mehsana district.

- In Vadnagar municipality BJP wins 7 seats in Mehsana district.

- Overall, trends in 50 municipalities show the BJP leading in 27 while the Congress leading in 20.

- There is a tie in Vanthali municipality in Junagadh district with both Congress and BJP winning 12 seats each.

- In Junagadh district, BJP and Congress win 2 seats each in Bantva municipal ward number 2.

- In Junagadh district, Congress wins 4 seats in ward number 1.Ahmedabad: Continuing its victory run, the ruling BJP on Monday bagged 47 out of 75 municipalities in the Gujarat civic body polls.

The main opposition, Congress, improved its tally this time by winning 16 municipalities, while the NCP and BSP emerged victorious on one each.

Voting for the 75 municipalities was held on last Saturday and the results were declared today.

"The BJP has won 47 municipalities, the Congress 16, the NCP and BSP one each. While Independent candidates won four municipalities, six others remained hung as no party gained a clear majority," State Election Commissioner Varesh Sinha said while announcing the results.

In December last year, the BJP had registered a sixth straight victory in the Gujarat Assembly polls by winning 99 seats while the Congress secured 77 seats in the 182-member House.

Three of the six municipalities that delivered a hung verdict are Khedbhramaha in Sabarkantha district, Gariadhar in Bhavnagar district and Pardi in Valsad district, where both the BJP and the Congress won 14 seats each.

"Of the total 2,060 seats in these 75 municipalities spread across 24 districts, the BJP won 1,167, Congress 630, NCP 28 and BSP 15 seats. Other small political parties won 18 seats, while Independent candidates emerged winners on 202 seats," Sinha said.

The vote-counting process was peaceful, he added.

In Prime Minister Narendra Modi's hometown Vadnagar in Mehsana district, the BJP won 27 of the 28 seats, while the remaining seat went to the Congress.

As the results were declared, BJP workers started celebrating at the party headquarters in Gandhinagar.

However, the Congress said the party had improved its tally in the civic body polls.

"This is a victory against the negative politics and programmes of the Congress. The people of Gujarat have once again rejected the negativity that the Congress is generating," BJP spokesperson Bharat Pandya said.

Congress leader Alpesh Thakor said the party had improved its tally substantially.

"The Congress held eight municipalities earlier. We have improved our tally substantially. We are going to have Congress presidents in 20 municipalities with the support of Independent candidates," he said.

Here are the highlights of the Gujarat civic election results:-

#BJP wins 47 out of 75 municipalities in the Gujarat civic body polls.

#Congress wins 16 municipalities.

#NCP, BSP emerged victorious on one each.

#Independent candidates win in four municipalities: State EC

#Out of total 2,060 seats in 75 municipalities spread across 24 districts, BJP won 1,167, Congress 630, NCP 28 and BSP 15 seats.

# The municipalities where the BJP has either won or leading are Jafrabad, Vadnagar, Jasdan, Vijaynagar, Sanand, Talaja, Halvad, Bantva, Kodinar, Lathi, Kheralu, Karamsad, Songadh, Bavla, Mansa, Dwarka, Bhanvad, Kutiyana, Chalala, Gadhada, Idar, Prantij, Jamjodhpur, Dhrol, Chhaya, Bilimora, Gariyadhar, Sihor and Lathi.

# The BJP won 27 out of 28 seats at Vadnagar municipality in Gujarat's Mehsana district. Vadnagar is the hometown of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

# The BJP has retained power in Rajkot district's Jasdan municipality by bagging 23 of the 28 seats. In 2013, the BJP had won 20 seats in Jasdan municipality. Notably, the Congress had from the seat in the recently concluded Gujarat Assembly elections.

# The Congress party performed well in Rajula municipality in Amreli district with victory in 27 out of 28 seats. The municipality falls in Rajula Assembly constituency, which was won by the Congress in the Assembly polls.

# The Congress also managed to snatch Salaya municipality in Devbhumi Dwarka district from the BJP.

# The Congress won Manavdar municipality in Junagarh district by bagging 15 seats. The BJP managed to win 12 seats.

# In Ahmedabad, the Congress won 13 while the BJP managed to bag just nine seats out of the 28 seats in Dhandhuka municipality.

# In the Pardi municipality, there was a tie with both the Congress and the BJP winning 14 seats each. There was another tie in Vanthali municipality in Junagadh district with both the parties bagging 12 seats each.

AS IT HAPPENED - COUNTING OF VOTES FOR GUJARAT CIVIC POLLS

The elections were held on Saturday for 75 Nagar Palikas (municipalities), two district panchayats, 17 talukas and 1400 village panchayats on Saturday. Dahod had recorded the highest voter turnout of 76.67 per cent while Rajkot had the lowest turnout of 50.17 per cent.AHMEDABAD: The Bharatiya Janata Party or BJP has won 27 out of 28 seats at Vadnagar municipality in Gujarat's Mehsana district on Monday morning. As the counting of votes continued on February 19 Gujarat civic elections 2018, a neck-to-neck fight ensued between the two political parties. By evening, results will be declared for all 75 Nagar Palikas (municipalities), two district panchayats, 17 talukas and 1400 village panchayats.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was born in Vadnagar on September 17, 1950, to a family of grocers.

In December 2017, the BJP, which retained power in Gujarat Assembly polls, had lost the Unjha constituency in Mehsana district, which included Vadnagar, to Congress.

Congress candidate Asha Patel defeated BJP nominee and sitting MLA Narayan Patel with a comfortable margin of over 19,000 votes to win the Unjha seat.

Both PM Modi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi had held poll rallies in Vadnagar.

In Gujarat civic polls, Dahod had recorded the highest voter turnout of 76.67 per cent while Rajkot had the lowest turnout of 50.17 per cent. The Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP), which had swept the last local elections by winning 107 seats out of total 123 seats in 2016, is eyeing a second consecutive victory. The Congress has also expressed confidence saying they will emerge victorious.Ahmedabad: The counting of votes for civic elections in Gujarat was done on Monday.

As per the state election commission, Dahod municipality registered the highest turnout of 76.67 percent while Rajkot recorded 50.17 percent turnout.

The results were declared for 75 Nagar Palikas (municipalities), two district panchayats, 17 talukas and 1400 village panchayats.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress were locked in a direct fight in the civic polls. In the last local elections, BJP had won 107 seats out of total 123 seats in 2016

Following are the latest updates for Jamnagar, Mahisagar, Kachchh, Gir Somnath:

- BJP bags Kalavad and A Jamjodhpur municipalities in Jamnagar district. The saffron party also wins Dhrol municipality.

- Trends for all 75 municipalities are in - BJP leading in 44, Congress in 27, others in four.

- BJP wins Dhrol municipality in Jamnagar district, which was earlier held by the Congress.

- Trends in 71 municipalities - BJP leads in 41 while Congress is leading in 27, others leading in 3 municipalities.

- Congress wins ward number one in Kalavad municipality in Jamnagar district.

- BJP panel wins all four seats in ward number 2 in Rapar in Kutch district.

- BJP wins from ward number 1 and 2 of Kalavad Nagarpalika in Jamnagar district.

- In Kodinar, in Gir Somnath district, the Congress has called for a boycott of counting of votes alleging tampering of EVMs. The BJP has won three seats.

- Overall, trends in 50 municipalities show the BJP leading in 27 while the Congress leading in 20.

- In Gir Somnath, BJP wins 4 seats in Kodinar municipality's ward number 1.

- In Gandhidham, BJP candidate wins in Bhachau municipality in ward number 2.

- In Gandhidham, BJP candidate wins in ward number 4 of Rapar Nagar Palika.

- Congress candidates win in ward number 1 of Rapar Nagar Palika in Gandhidham.Shimla: The Himachal Pradesh government on Monday ordered an inquiry in view of reports on the social media that some Dalit students of a government school in Kullu district were made to sit separately during Prime Minister Narendra Modi`s Pariksha Pe Charcha event held last week.

''We got this information and have asked for a report on it,''Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jairam Thakur said.

Thakur, while urging the media to have patience ''until the details come out'' said ''it's unfortunate if anything of that sort actually happened.''

PM Modi's highly-publicised even `Pariksha Par Charcha` was held in New Delhi on Friday and was telecast live across the country.

"I have taken cognizance of reports on the social media and ordered a magisterial inquiry,'' the Chief Minister said.

''This morning a team comprising officials of police, Education and Social Welfare Departments was set up and asked to visit the school," Kullu Deputy Commissioner Yunus Khan too said.

Khan said that the school is located in the interiors of the district, hence the team will return to district headquarters Kullu on Tuesday and would then submit the report.

The school headmaster, Rajan Bhardwaj, has been relieved from duty, Khan informed.

"Disciplinary action has already been initiated against the headmaster, and if required, criminal liability will be fixed against him," he added.

A handwritten anonymous complaint purportedly written by students is in circulation on social media, which alleges the gram panchayat of Chestha made arrangements for students to watch PM Modi`s event at the school management committee president's house.

The students said a teacher forced them to sit at a place outside the room used for keeping horses.

A television was placed there.

In their complaint, they also alleged that they faced "caste discrimination" during mid-day meals in the school.

The Deputy Commissioner said that he has not received any complaint either from any student or any parent.

PM Modi had turned a teacher on February 16 to give lessons to students on how to beat exam-related stress and on how to succeed.

He addressed the students in person and connected with nearly "10 crore students, teachers and parents" nationally through various media.

(With IANS inputs)London: Christopher Nolan may have expressed his love for James Bond films with producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson but the director has poured cold water on rumours that he is next in line to direct the spy movie.

The 'Dunkirk' helmer, however, said he would love to direct one of the Bond films in future.

Nolan told BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs: ''I won't be the man (to direct the next Bond). No, categorically. I think every time they hire a new director I'm rumoured to be doing it. I'd love to make a Bond film at some point and I think those producers - Barbara and Michael - they do a tremendous job and Sam Mendes has done a terrific job the last couple of films, so they don't particularly need me. But I've always been inspired by the films and would love to do one someday."NEW DELHI: Army Chief General Bipin Rawat, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval made a quick and discreet visit to Bhutan in early February where they held extensive talks with the Bhutanese leadership on several key and strategic issues.



India is worried after an intelligence report warned that China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) has been patrolling the areas which are held by the Royal Bhutan Army, say sources.



Besides intrusive patrolling, the PLA is also believed to have held armed patrol in the areas held by Royal Bhutan Army at Lhariong, Sarithang, Sinchulumpa and Pangka La. The PLA is actively conducting reconnaissance sorties by fighter jets and helicopters over these areas and also in North Doklam.



The PLA is consolidating its force in Doklam, where India and China were engaged in a 73-day-long standoff from June 16, 2017 after the Indian side stopped construction of a road at the disputed Doklam tri-junction by the Chinese army.



In conjunction with the field defences constructed in North Doklam, the PLA has erected nearly 25 small to medium size tents alongside open communication trenches in the area of Doka La Spur. A PLA observation post with China flag has also been seen in the area.



In the secret meeting held between the Indian and Bhutanese leadership, the situation in Doklam and Chinese forces building defence infrastructure around the plateau were discussed. The two sides are believed to have also reviewed bilateral security and defence cooperation with a focus on China's increasing military posturing and infrastructure development around the Doklam plateau.



The focus of the meeting was also on how to further strengthen defence and security cooperation between the two countries.



The visit by General Rawat, Doval and Gokhale was the first by top Indian officials from India to Bhutan after the Doklam standoff, and was kept under wraps by the Bhutanese and Indian sides. It comes days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi held talks with his Bhutanese counterpart Tshering Tobgay on the sidelines of an investors summit in Guwahati.



The Bhutanese side reportedly apprised the Indians of the status of boundary talks between Bhutan and China and emphasised that Thimphu wants peace in the Doklam tri-junction.



China and Bhutan are engaged in talks over the resolution of the Doklam dispute in the area. India has argued that it has a say in the issue, especially in the backdrop of a 2012 agreement between special representatives of the two countries, that have till now held 20 rounds of talks.



Bhutan has no diplomatic ties with China. As a close friend and neighbour, Bhutan enjoys diplomatic and military support from India.



This was General Rawats second visit to Bhutan in the last nine months. He has been calling for adequate focus by India on its nearly 4,000 km-long border with China. Last month, he had said the time had come for the country to shift its focus from the western to the northern frontier.



The Indian Army has also been strengthening the presence of its troops in certain key sectors along the Sino-India border besides enhancing border infrastructure. Rawat had visited Bhutan in April last year, while the then Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar had travelled there in October last. In November last, Bhutanese King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck had visited India.



(With agency inputs)Dehradun: In an effort to counter Chinese aggression, the Indian Air Force is all set to activate civil airfield of Jolly Grant airport in Dehradun from today.

"As a routine exercise of activating civil airfield by the IAF, a detachment of two Su-30 MKI aircraft would operate from Jolly Grant Airport in Dehradun," said the IAF in a statement.

A detachment of two Sukhoi (Su-30 MKI) aircraft will operate from the airport for two days  February 19 and February 20.

According to officials, the detachment would operate from the airfield for two days for area familiarisation before returning to their parent base.

The move is being witnessed as a strategic counteraction against China, which violated airspace in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh in the recent past. China also increased its assertiveness by stationing soldiers along nearly 4,000 km-long Sino-India border, including a portion in Uttarakhand.

In June 2017, a suspected Chinese helicopter was sighted flying above Indian territory in Chamoli district in Uttarakhand, close to Sino-India border.

Superintendent of Police (SP) Chamoli Tripti Bhatt had told ANI, "The helicopter violated Indian airspace for over three to five minutes".

China, on the other hand, opposed Narendra Modi's maiden visit to Arunachal Pradesh as the Prime Minister, which it claims is a part of South Tibet.

"China's position on the China-India boundary question is consistent and clear-cut," said Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang in response to Modis visit to Arunachal Pradesh on Thursday.New Delhi: With the Enforcement Directorate and the CBI widening their probe into the PNB fraud case, the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) also swung into action in one of the largest scams to hit public sector banks.

According to ANI, the CVC on Monday summoned senior officials of Punjab National Bank (PNB ) and asked them to explain how an otherwise foolproof system put in place by the bank allowed lapses to occur.

The CVC sought an explanation from the PNB officials on vigilance lapses which led to a loss of Rs 11,400 crore to the lender at the hands of Nirav Modi-and Mehul Choksi-linked firms.

The anti-corruption watchdog asked PNB and the Finance Ministry officials to submit a report on how the scam took place despite monetary regulations being in place.

The CVC also set a deadline of 10 days for the bank to submit the report.

Earlier the officials of PNB, RBI and the Department of Financial Services gave a 2-hour-long presentation to the CVC about the case and progress made so far.

CVC also sought the names of officials who were allegedly involved and sought identification of officials who could have taken action and prevented it.

The commission, which looks at preventing corruption at government-owned companies, banks and regulatory bodies, also issued a guideline to all PSU lenders.

CVC has issued a guidance note to PSU lenders to transfer senior bank officers who have been at the same post for three years and clerical staff who have been at the same post for five years, a report quoting a source closed to the ongoing probe into PNB scam said.

So far, the PNB has suspended 18 employees, including general manager-level officers in connection with their alleged role in the scam.

Two former PNB officers have so far been arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) for causing a loss of Rs280 crore to the bank.

These officers are alleged to have issued unauthorised and fraudulent letters of undertaking (LoUs) in favour of foreign branches of India-based banks and purported foreign letters of credits (LC) in favour of foreign suppliers of Nirav Modi firms.

Interestingly, PNB was the winner of the Vigilance Excellence officer for 2016-17 for initiating various preventive, participative vigilance and anti-corruption measures. And for adhering to CVC and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) guidelines.

The RBI also said that it was lack of controls that led to the crisis.

The fraud in PNB is a case of operational risk arising on account of delinquent behaviour by one or more employees of the bank and failure of internal controls, the RBI said in a release on 16 February. RBI has initiated a supervisory assessment of PNBs control systems.

PIL filed in SC for SIT probe into PNB fraud

Meanwhile, a petition was filed in the Supreme Court demanding a Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe in the ongoing Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud.

PNB detected the scam last week, wherein noted jewellery designer Nirav Modi acquired fraudulent letters of undertaking from one of its branches for overseas credit from other Indian lenders.

The state-owned lender lodged two financial fraud complaints of Rs. 11400 crore and Rs 280 crore against Nirav Modi, his family members and Mehul Choksi, owner of Gitanjali Gems.

Furthermore, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) sealed the bank's MCB Brady House branch in Mumbai earlier today as part of the ongoing investigation.

Raids are also being carried out presently by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a Gitanjali Gems outlet in Pune's Pacific Mall, a Nakshatra showroom in Kolkata's Salt Lake area and other locations.

On a related note, Advocate Vijay Aggarwal who had represented a number of 'high-profile' accused persons in the 2G spectrum case will be the lawyer for accused jeweller Nirav Modi.

(With Agency inputs)New Delhi: The 46-year-old Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who is on a 7-day maiden tour to India, visited Gujarat on Monday.

Following his visit to the Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad, the Canadian Prime Minister attended an event at Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIM-A).

The Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau talked about the growth potential of the Indo-Canadian partnership here on Monday in a town hall at IIM-A.

Speaking at IIM-A, the Canadian PM stated that while the Indo-Canadian bilateral trade stood at $8 billion in goods and $2 billion in services, it had the potential to grow, especially in the farm sector.

Here, are the top 5 quotes of Justin Trudeau at IIM Ahmedabad:

1. On agriculture sector, Trudeau said, "When you think of natural connections between India and Canada, especially in the field of agriculture or pulses, where we have slight challenges. We are discussing the potential of growth in pulses."

2. Talking about peace and non-violence, the Canadian PM invoked Mahatma Gandhi and said, "It takes a tremendous amount of strength to be strong, without having to be aggressive, without having to pick fights, instead of looking to better understand each other, to better question yourself."

3. Talking about immigration, Trudeau stated that in the current scenario both the countries believed the society was moving towards increased heterogeneity. "As you get more pluralistic, language, religion, ethnicity, ideology should be anchored in shared values, that society subscribes to," he said on reducing barriers between the two countries.

4. In the wake of challenges in the media, Trudeau said that while the current times were "frustrating", it was also important for the media to be supported. "Independent media is essential for successful democracy," he said.

5. Commenting on dividing society on the basis of ethnicity and religious lines, Trudeau said the move was a "tribal" approach to civilisation."There are two paths, you can either amplify the anxiety in the world by blaming a particular ethnic or religious group for all the troubles in the society or you can take a more successful pluralistic approach, when you actually meet people with the different story and believe that we meet them and grow," he said.LUDHIANA: Lok Insaf Party's member and MLA Simarjit Singh Bains has alleged that he was attacked by Congress leaders in Ludhiana while he was campaigning for the upcoming municipal elections. Bains has also alleged that the Congress members tried to kill him.

"500 people armed with pistols tried to attack me to kill me. (500 logon ne pistols wagarah lekar unhone humpe kaatilana humla kiya.) Congress leaders Kamaljit Singh Karwal, Gurpreet Gopi were involved in the attack," Bains alleged.

He also said that he will approach the court to ensure elections are held in a fair manner. "I will file a petition in the Punjab and Haryana high court to ensure that free and fair municipal elections are held in the state," he said.

Voting for the Ludhiana civic body polls are scheduled to be held on February 24 and the results would be announced on February 27. Ludhiana municipal corporation has 95 wards.

As many as 494 candidates are the in fray for the elections. A total of 754 nominations were filed for the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation Elections. However, 253 candidates withdrew their candidature from the polls.

During scrutiny, it was found that nomination papers six candidates were rejected and one candidate had filed his nomination twice.

The Municipal Corporation Ludhiana has nearly 10.50 lakh voters who can cast their votes.Jammu: An unidentified man, trying to intrude into the security zone of Indian Air Force (IAF) base station in Jammu and Kashmir's Budgam district, was shot down by security forces on Monday morning.

Around midnight, the unidentified individual tried to cross the security fence and came close to perimeter wall of the IAF air station, reported news agency ANI. The sentry gave warning shots but the man continued to proceed. Later, the forces shot at him.

J&K: An unidentified individual was shot by the security forces when he tried to enter the security zone of Budgam's Airforce station. He crossed the security fence & came close to perimeter wall. The sentry gave warning shots but when individual did not stop they fired at him.  ANI (@ANI) February 19, 2018

According to latest reports, the man was believed to be mentally unsound. "Spot examination revealed that the individual of about 50-55 years of age, who appeared to be mentally challenged, has died in the incident," said a police spokesman.

"Despite repeated warnings from the sentry, the individual did not stop. The sentry fired some warning shots in the air, but the individual did not stop. The sentry (then) fired towards him," said a police spokesman.

The station authorities then informed the nearby Humhama police post and police officials rushed to the scene.

The unidentified person was not wearing footwear, was without winter clothing and had no identity card, he said.

"Pertinently, there is no habitation near the place of incident." He said the police has taken the body into custody and is in the process of ascertaining the identity of the man. "Help has been sought from nearby villages for identification of the individual," the spokesman said, adding that a case has been registered and a probe was on.

A case has been registered and an investigation has been started in the matter, said authorities.

In November 2017, a man was shot at and injured by the security forces after he tried to jump over the Air Force Hindon base wall in Ghaziabad. The man was shot in his left leg after he ignored the warnings of security personnel. He was later admitted to hospital for treatment.

With ANI InputsNew Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday sought a detailed reply from the Centre and the Election Commission in connection with a plea seeking more powers to the poll watchdog.

The plea was filed by the BJP leader and lawyer Ashwini Upadhyay.

The order was passed by a three-judge bench of the top court, headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra and also comprising Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud, in response to the plea moved by Upadhyay.

Through his plea, Upadhyay had sought a direction from the Supreme Court for making the process for the removal of three Election Commissioners (ECs), more simpler and equal.

Just recently, the Election Commission had demanded the right to cancel the registration of political parties.

The EC has made this demand in an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court over a public interest litigation (PIL) questioning formation of political parties by convicted persons.

The poll body also pointed that as of now, it has no right to take action against parties violating election rules, demanding that the law must be changed to ensure that the EC gets the right to act in this regard.

In its reply, the Election Commission has stated that it has been requesting subsequent governments for the past 20 years to change the law, but nothing has been done in this regard till now.

Lawyer and activist Ashwini Upadhyay has too demanded that those convicted of any crime must not be allowed to hold party posts. Upadhyay's plea states that if a party keeps a convicted person as its office bearer, the registration of such political party must be cancelled with immediate effect.

However, the top court earlier said that it would not look into the issue of convicted persons being a part of any political party or forming a different party, but would consider ECs demand to get the power to de-register a political party.

The court then fixed the matter for hearing on February 19.

(With ANI inputs)NEW DELHI: Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Monday questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his silence after billionaire Nirav Modi, accused of a multi-crore fraud, fled India in early January. Taking a dig at the Central government, he claimed that the people want to know where is the PM who claimed to be the 'chowkidaar' of the country.

   

    

  ' ,   '     ?         

     

   #ModiRobsIndia  Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) February 19, 2018

Earlier, Rahul had taken potshots at the Prime Minister saying he spent two hours telling kids how to pass exams but "wont speak for 2 minutes on the 22,000 crore banking scam". The Congress chief had also targeted Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley over the issue, saying he "is in hiding".

He also asked PM Modi and Jaitley in his Twitter attack to "stop behaving as if youre guilty! Speak up". "PM Modi tells kids how to pass exams for 2 hrs, but won't speak for 2 mins on the 22,000Cr banking scam. Mr Jaitley is in hiding. Stop behaving as if you're guilty! Speak up," Rahul had tweetedMumbai: Referring to the 'beef ban' in some parts of the country and much hue and cry over the issue, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu on Monday said that one can eat beef but there was no need for any celebration about it.

"You want to eat beef, then eat. Why festival? Similarly, a 'Kiss Festival', if you wish to kiss why do you need a festival or anyone's permission for it," Naidu said.

The Vice President made these remarks while addressing a gathering at Platinum Jubilee Celebrations of RA Poddar College of Commerce.

During his speech, Naidu also hit out at those who regard Parliament attack convict Muhammad Afzal Guru as their hero.

"Then you have Afzal Guru. People are chanting his name. What is happening? He tried to explode our Parliament," the Vice President said.

The Centre had on February 8 issued an alert advisory to the government in Jammu and Kashmir in the wake of the death anniversaries of Parliament attack convict Muhammad Afzal Guru and Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) founder Maqbool Bhat.

The advisory was issued after the JKLF announced that it would hold a massive protest rally against the hanging of Afzal Guru and Maqbool Bhat on February 9 and February 11.

Guru and Bhat were hanged and buried inside New Delhi's Tihar Jail on February 9, 2013, and February 11, 1984, respectively.

Naidu talking about the beef festival was seen in the context of the reports that some students of IIT-Madras held a beef festival inside the campus to protest against the cattle slaughter ban in July 2017.

In the past too, Naidu had addressed the beef issue.

While stressing on how food is an individual's choice he said that he is a strict non-vegetarian and nobody told him to what to eat or what not.

(With ANI inputs)New Delhi: Maratha ruler Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj's birth anniversary is celebrated on February 19 as Shivaji jayanti.

Born in the hill-fort of Shivneri, near the city of Junnar in Pune district, he carved out an enclave from the declining Adilshahi sultanate of Bijapur that formed the genesis of the Maratha Empire. He was crowned as the Chhatrapati (Monarch) of his realm at Raigad in 1674 and subsequently, established a progressive civil rule with the help of a disciplined military and well-structured administrative organisations.

Chhatrapati Shivaji is said to have innovated military tactics and pioneered unconventional methods. At the same time, he revived ancient Hindu political traditions and court conventions. Plus, he promoted the usage of Marathi and Sanskrit and not Persian, in court and administration.

Shivaji was the first to realise the importance of having a naval force and thus is known as the Father of Indian Navy. He established a navy and forts at the coastline to defend Maharashtra on Konkan's side. Jaigad, Vijaydurg, Sindhudurg forts are a testimony of Shivaji's efforts and ideas.

Also, known as the 'mountain rat', he was known for his guerrilla warfare tactics. Some of the main battles that he fought are - battle of Pratapgarh, battle of Kolhapur, battle of Pavan Khind and battle of Nesari among others.

It is said that his mother prayed to regional Goddess Shivai and was blessed with one and so the name Shivaji.Vice Admiral RB Pandit, Flag-Officer-Commanding, Western Fleet at Mumbai, took over as the Commandant of Indian Naval Academy (INA) at Ezhimala in Kannur on Monday. He replaces Vice Admiral SV Bhokare who handed over responsibilities to Vice Admiral Pandit after a tenure of over 15 months.

Vice Admiral SV Bhokare, AVSM, YSM, NM had taken over as the Commandant of the Indian Naval Academy on October 20, 2016. During his tenure, the INA won the prestigious Bakshi Cup competition, held between all six major military academies including National Defence Academy (NDA) and Indian Military Academy (IMA), for the first time.

Vice Admiral SV Bhokare, AVSM, YSM, NM was accorded a warm send off, with the traditional Pulling Out ceremony.

Vice Admiral Pandit, AVSM is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy, Khadakvasala, Defence Services Staff College Wellington, the College of Naval Warfare, Mumbai and the Royal College of Defence Studies, London, UK. He specialises in Anti Submarine Warfare and has commanded INS Nirghat, INS Vindhyagiri, INS Jalashwa and the 22nd Missile Vessel Squadron at Mumbai.

He has also been the Naval Adviser at the High Commission of India at Islamabad, Pakistan. He has also held important staff assignments such as ACNS (Foreign Cooperation and Intelligence) at IHQ MoD (Navy) and Chief of Staff, Southern Naval Command.

He was the Flag Officer Commanding Western Fleet at Mumbai, prior to being appointed as the Commandant of Indian Naval Academy.SRINAGAR: Pakistan on Monday violated ceasefire in Uri sector of Jammu and Kashmir. As per latest reports, three civilians have been injured in the heavy shelling which is underway.

Meanwhile, the civilians have been rushed to the hospital.

On Sunday, one Army jawan got injured in a ceasefire violation by Pakistani troops along the Line of Control (LoC) in Karmarha sector of J&K's Poonch.

Pakistani troops have been continuously shelling on the areas along the LoC.

Last week, following the Sunjuwan Army camp attack, Pakistani troops had launched mortars shells in Khadi Karmara forward areas in Poonch.

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Sunday had said that guns can never do away with the tension prevailing in the militancy-hit state. Instead, only talks can solve the problems.

Speaking to the media, Mufti had urged for peace in the state. She had said that the conditions at the border are not good so in order to make situations better, both the countries - India and Pakistan should talk.

"Guns cannot solve any problems, only talks can solve problems. Conditions at the border are not good, Both the countries should talk and there should be ceasefire. Peace should be given an opportunity," she had said.

A total of 18 people, including ten security personnel and eight civilians, were killed and over 75 injured in Pakistani shelling along the LoC and the IB in Jammu region this year.BENGALURU: Hitting out at the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government in poll-bound Karnataka, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday accused the ruling state government of corruption. He asked the people of the state to choose between a government of commission and a government of mission.

"What do you need? A govt of commission or a govt of mission? A govt which asks for 10% Commission to work or a govt which works with the mission for development?" he said.

Addressing a public rally in Mysuru, the Prime Minister said, if given a chance, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will solely work with the mission for development in the state.

"In 2022, India will enter 75 years of its independence. We should work towards making an India which is just like what our freedom fighters had dreamt of," he added.

PM Modi also mentioned two important projects that the BJP will undertake after coming to power. First, widening of Bengaluru-Mysuru National Highway with an investment of Rs 6400 Crore and second, setting up a world class satellite station for Mysuru with an investment of more than Rs 800 Crore.

The Prime Minister is on a two-day visit to poll-bound Karnataka. He arrived the southern state on Sunday.

He went on slamming the state government and said, "Post-independence your party had ruled for 70-80% of the time. You are demanding things & facilities today. If you really feel about those things why didn't you do something when you were in power for 50 years."

Earlier today, PM Modi took part in the festivities of Mahamastakabhisheka at the holy pilgrimage of Shravanabelagola, Karnataka. This was the first visit of a Prime Minister to the holy site in 25 years.

He also flagged off the Palace Queen Humsafar Express train at the Mysuru railway station. The train will run from Mysuru to Udaipur in Rajasthan.

Calling it a historical step, PM Modi said that it would boost tourism in Karnataka.

"If we have to fulfill the needs of the poorest of the poor then we need to strengthen our railway network. We are working towards this since last four years," he said.

It is his second visit to the southern state in a fortnight. PM Modi paid a three-hour visit to Bengaluru on February 4, 2018, to address a BJP rally to mark the culmination of the 90-day "Nava Karnataka Nirmana Parivartana Yatre" (journey to build a new Karnataka).

The Assembly elections in Karnataka are due in late April or early May, 2018.Bengaluru: In more trouble for controversial self-styled 'godman' Nithyananda, a trial court in Karnataka's Ramanagara on Monday dismissed a discharge petition by him and five of his associates in connection with a case of rape.

The trial court also allowed the authorities to frame charges against the controversial 'godman'.

The case will now come up for hearing on February 28.

A case under sections 295 A (insulting religious belief), 420 (cheating), 376 (rape), 377 (unnatural sex), 506 (i) (criminal intimidation) and 120 B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code was registered against Nithyananda in 2010 by the Ramanagara Police.

The FIR against the 44-year-old godman was registered only after the case was transferred to the Ramanagara Police.

The Supreme Court had in December 2017 directed the Ramanagara Sessions Court to go ahead and frame charges against Nithyananda and conduct a speedy trial.

Lenin Karuppan, a former disciple, had first exposed the controversial figure and registered a complaint with Chennai Police in 2010.

Since the complaint was filed in 2010, Nithyananda has been arrested twice and granted bail from higher courts.

The godman also succeeded in using his influence in delaying the start of the trial.

It was only after Nithyananda got a favourable decision from the High Court that the victims approached the apex court.

In 2014, the Supreme Court had dismissed a petition by Nithyananda seeking to quash the chargesheet against him.

He continued to file petitions to delay the proceedings and submitted documents claiming innocence including a fabricated potency report.

The controversial seer also faces several other legal troubles.

He is also fighting a legal battle relating to his dismissal as a pontiff at Madurai Adheenam Mutt.

Nithyananda was also warned by the Madras High Court that it will issue an arrest warrant if he does not rectify his misleading affidavits.

(With Agency inputs)Bengaluru: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is on a two-day visit to poll-bound Karnataka. He arrived the southern state on Sunday.

PM Modi on Monday took part in the festivities of Mahamastakabhisheka at the holy pilgrimage of Shravanabelagola, Karnataka. This was the first visit of a Prime Minister to the holy site in 25 years.

"Mahamastakabhisheka happens once in 12 years. It is my good fortune that I am getting this opportunity to take part in the celebrations. Saints and seers from our land have always served society and made a positive difference," PM Modi said.

He added, "The strength of our society is that we have always changed with the times and adapted well to new contexts."

Watch LIVE: PM Shri @narendramodi at Shravanabelagola for the Bahubali Mahamasthakabhisheka Mahotsava. pic.twitter.com/qrsp7Bs7gW  BJP (@BJP4India) February 19, 2018

Prime Minister Modi will also inaugurate the newly carved 630 steps on the Vindhyagiri hill that takes the disciples to the top for a darshan of the 58.8 feet tall monolithic statue of Bahubali.

Later in the day, he will flag off the Palace Queen Humsafar Express between Mysuru and Udaipur.

PM @NarendraModi will be dedicating electrified railway line between Mysuru & KSR Bengaluru to the nation & flagging off Palace Queen Humsafar Express between Mysuru & Udaipur, today. It will help Railways achieve energy-efficient transport & will open up new vistas in tourism. pic.twitter.com/DdFHCWaLFH  Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal) February 19, 2018

PM will visit Shravanabelagola for the Bahubali Mahamasthakabhisheka Mahotsava. At a function at Mysuru Railway Station, he will dedicate to the nation, the electrified Mysuru-Bengaluru Railway Line. He will also flag off Palace Queen Humsafar Express between Mysuru and Udaipur.  PMO India (@PMOIndia) February 19, 2018

At the same time, he will also lay the foundation stone for the eight-lane Mysuru-Bengaluru highway.

Moreover, PM Modi will inaugurate a new block of the Employees' State Insurance (ESI) hospital in the city and address a public rally in Mysuru.

It is his second visit to the southern state in a fortnight. PM Modi paid a three-hour visit to Bengaluru on February 4, 2018, to address a BJP rally to mark the culmination of the 90-day "Nava Karnataka Nirmana Parivartana Yatre" (journey to build a new Karnataka).

The Assembly elections in Karnataka are due in late April or early May, 2018.

(With Agency inputs)

SONGSAK: Home Minister Rajnath Singh today hit out at the Congress-led government in Meghalaya over the killing of a candidate ahead of the assembly elections, saying there is no law and order in the state.

Referring to the killing of NCP candidate Jonathone N Sangma, his personal security officer and two party workers in a bomb explosion yesterday, Singh said he was deeply hurt by the incident.

He said if there is no law and order, there can't be any development in the state.

The minister was addressing a public rally here in the East Garo Hills. "A local NCP candidate died in IED blast and I am deeply hurt by it.

I pay my homages to those who died. It shows there is no law and order in the state," he said. Meghalaya is going to polls on February 27.New Delhi: After nearly 1,000 students were expelled for cheating during the Class 12 examinations, the Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) has come up with new examination guidelines for class 10 board exams.

Now, Bihar board has barred students appearing for the 2018 matriculation (class 10) exam in the state from wearing shoes and socks to the examination centres to check the use of unfair means.

In order to curb cheating, students won't be allowed to wear shoes and socks to examination halls.

The students will instead be allowed to wear slippers to the centres for writing their matriculation examination which is scheduled to begin on February 21, BSEB said in a statement yesterday.

"Such advisories disallowing wearing of shoes and socks had been issued in the past for competitive examinations in the state. Now a similar advisory has been issued which will be implemented from this year's matriculation examination," BSEB Chairman Anand Kishore told media persons yesterday in Patna.

The board has taken the decision to check adoption of unfair means by candidates at the examination, he said adding that the advisory would be communicated to all the district education officers, students, guardians and centre superintendents.

Use of unfair means at the board examination had brought the bad name to Bihar in the past. A photograph showing guardians and friends of examinees scaling a school building in Vaishali district to help them write their examinations had gone viral a few years ago bringing disrepute to the state.

Bihar Education Minister Krishna Nandan Prasad Verma has justified the Board's advisory. "The Board has taken a right decision. Around 17 lakh students will be appearing for the (matriculation) examination and it is very difficult to check all the students. So it will be better if they (students) wear slippers instead during the examination," Verma told reporters.

However, former education minister Ashok Choudhary criticised the decision saying that it was not required at all.

"The board's decision is absolutely wrong and cannot be justified. I would not have agreed to it had I been the minister," Choudhary said.

Around 17.70 lakh students will write their matriculation examination in 1,426 centres across the state this year. The examination will be conducted between February 21 to February 28.

(With PTI inputs)London: The Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton on Monday defied the Time's Up protest at the 71st British Academy Film Awards, organised by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), by wearing a green dress, instead of black worn by the celebrities attending the ceremony.

Film stars and directors made the one-colour statement to show support for the fight against sexual harassment against women, however, only the ribbon around Middleton's Jenny Packham dress was black, reports dailymail.co.uk.

The dress code followed by BAFTA ceremony was to show solidarity with the American Golden Globes held last month.

Middleton wore an empire line dress in a deep shade of green, which was complemented by an emerald necklace and earrings.

Perhaps in a subtle nod to the movement, she accessorised her attire with a black bow above her bump, matching her shoes and clutch handbag.

Before the ceremony, it was not made clear whether Middleton would wear an all-black outfit, with experts pointing out that royals only wear black at funerals, so supporting the cause would be a breach of protocol.

Middleton and Prince William, who is the president of BAFTA, will meet with representatives including BAFTA Chief Executive Amanda Berry, and watch the star-studded ceremony from the front row, which takes place at the Royal Albert Hall.

William will also be presenting the Fellowship award -- the ceremony's highest accolade -- to director Ridley Scott.New Delhi: The great Maratha ruler Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj's birth anniversary is celebrated on February 19. He was the member of the Bhonsle clan of Marathas. He was formally crowned as the Chhatrapati (Monarch) of his realm at Raigad in 1674.

Chhatrapati Shivaji is said to have innovated military tactics and pioneered unconventional methods. At the same time, he revived ancient Hindu political traditions and court conventions. Plus, he promoted the usage of Marathi and Sanskrit and not Persian, in court and administration.

On the birth anniversary of the great Maratha warrior, Twitter is abuzz with wishes, quotes and messages. Noted sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik paid a beautiful sand art tribute too.

Check out:

One of my SandArts to pay tributes to #ChhatrapatiShivajiMaharaj on his birth anniversary with message "A true patriot". pic.twitter.com/FvquaS1vez  Sudarsan Pattnaik (@sudarsansand) February 19, 2018

I bow to Shivaji Maharaj on his Jayanti. Jai Shivaji! pic.twitter.com/C73OpDHT65  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) February 19, 2018

           -                            ,           pic.twitter.com/QP40Uum0Xx  Amit Shah (@AmitShah) February 19, 2018

Our tribute to an inspiring leader, A great patriot, A true visionary & A brave warrior, Chhatrapati #ShivajiMaharaj on his Birth Anniversary. #shivjayanti pic.twitter.com/TOPBDc2nIJ  MumbaiCongress (@INCMumbai) February 19, 2018

Tribute to the The Great Maratha Indian Warrior King Chattrapati Shivaji Maharaj on his Birth Anniversary.#ShivajiMaharaj#Shivjayanti pic.twitter.com/Ti8bM99R9X  Suresh Prabhu (@sureshpprabhu) February 19, 2018

My #tribute & #respects to the brave warrior, true visionary & great patriot Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj ji on his #BirthAnniversary. Our first freedom fighter who fought against illegal migrants. #ShivajiJayanti #VeerShivaji #JaiBhawani.  Ashoke Pandit (@ashokepandit) February 19, 2018

Tributes to the greatest warrior of Maratha Empire, Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj #ShivajiJayanti pic.twitter.com/R6P7vSLGsm  Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) February 19, 2018

Shivaji was the first to realise the importance of having a naval force and thus is known as the Father of Indian Navy. He established a navy and forts at the coastline to defend Maharashtra on Konkan's side. Jaigad, Vijaydurg, Sindhudurg forts are a testimony to Shivaji's efforts, ideas and valour.

It is said that his mother prayed to regional Goddess Shivai and was blessed with the child and so the name Shivaji was given to the great Maratha ruler.New Delhi: The central government is working on a strategy to accomodate the concerns of lower-level employees of pay matrix between level 1 and 5 with reports coming in that it is contemplating hike in pay with fitment formula 3.00 times of basic pay of 6th pay commission.

The new scales of pay provide for entry-level basic pay going up from Rs 7,000 per month to Rs 18,000, while at the highest level i.e. Secretary, it would go up from Rs 90,000 to Rs 2.5 lakh. For Class 1 officers, the starting salary will be Rs 56,100.

However, the central government employees unions had demanded for hiking minimum pay of Rs 18,000 to Rs 26,000. They also demanded that fitment factor be raised from 2.57 times to 3.68 times.

The Union Cabinet had in June approved recommendations of the CPC with 34 modifications, which will mean an additional annual burden of Rs 30,748 crore on the exchequer.

All allowances are given effect from July 1, 2017.

The recommendations benefit over 1 crore employees. This includes over 47 lakh central government employees and 53 lakh pensioners, of which 14 lakh employees and 18 lakh pensioners are from the defence forces.

The Narendra Modi government has vowed to resolve all the payment, arear, hiked allowances and fitment formula related issues rising out of the recommendation of the 7th Pay Commission.NEW DELHI: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who is on a week-long tour to India, will meet Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Wednesday. The meeting is slated to take place in Amritsar.

The meeting is expected to help strengthen the close Indo-Canadian business ties as well as the deep-rooted people-to-people relations between the two countries.

Look forward to meeting Canadian Prime Minister @JustinTrudeau in Amritsar on Wednesday. Im hopeful that this meeting will help strengthen the close Indo-Canadian business ties as well as the deep-rooted people-to-people relations between our two countries.  Capt.Amarinder Singh (@capt_amarinder) February 19, 2018

"Look forward to meeting Canadian Prime Minister @JustinTrudeau in Amritsar on Wednesday. Im hopeful that this meeting will help strengthen the close Indo-Canadian business ties as well as the deep-rooted people-to-people relations between our two countries," tweeted the Punjab CM.

The 46-year-old Canadian PM arrived in New Delhi on Saturday on the invitation by his counterpart Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The visit is aimed at strengthening bilateral relations between the two countries in key areas of mutual interest trade and investment, energy, science and innovation, higher education, infrastructure development, skill development and space, a statement from the Ministry of External Affairs said.

Trudeau kickstarted his India trip with a visit to Taj Mahal in Agra with his family on Sunday.

Earlier today, he visited the Sabarmati Ashram, following which, he attended an event at Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIM-A).Mumbai: Malayalam filmmaker Omar Lulu and actress Priya Prakash Varrier have reportedly moved Supreme Court seeking a stay on an FIR filed against them by the Hyderabad Police in connection with a controversy over the lyrics of the song Manikya Malaraya Poovi from the film Oru Adaar Love.

The complaint alleges that the song hurts religious sentiments.

To read more about Priya Prakash Varrier, click here

Priya Varrier, who is the first petitioner, Omar Lulu and others in their petition to the apex court, has sought an ex-parte stay on the FIR registered against them and have also sought appropriate orders restraining other states from registering FIRs against them.

The plea filed by Priya and Lulu says that the complaint is against freedom of speech and expression.

The petitioners have filed the present writ petition under Article 32 of the Constitution of India to enforce their Fundamental Rights as envisaged Under Article 19(1)(a), 19(1)(g) read with Article 14 & 21 of the Constitution.

The Petitioner no. 1 herein is an 18-year-old actress of the upcoming Malayalam movie Oru Adaar Love.

This is the actresses' first movie and she is a student pursuing her B. Com from Vimala College at Trichur District Kerala. The Petitioner No. 2 is the director of the movie.

The Present Petition has been filed as a result of multiple criminal proceedings which have been instituted against the Petitioners in the States of Telangana and Maharashtra.

The complaint filed is against the song titled "Manikya Malaraya Poovi" which was released on Youtube as a song of the aforementioned film.

In Telangana, an FIR has already been registered against the Petitioner no.2. The criminal complaints have been instituted by various fringe groups based on a distorted and incorrect interpretation of the Song in the states of Telangana, Maharashtra and similar complaints are likely from other non-Malayalam speaking states as well.

The entire controversy which has resulted in the filing of various criminal complaints and one FIR arises from the lyrics of the song Manikya Malaraya Poovi which is a Mappila Song, or a traditional Muslim Song from the Malabar region of Kerala. The song describes and praises the love between the Prophet Mohamed and his first wife Khadeeja. The translation of the lyrics of the song are as follows:

"She bloomed like a precious flower in the sacred land of Mecca, great Khadeeja Beevi

Was roaming in the sacred land

The lady roaming

She called for the respected lord, prophet

And send him for trade

She saw him and

Coveted him in the heart of hearts

She came back after trade

And she sought her hand

Sought her hand"

It should be important to note that the aforementioned song is originally from an old folk song from Kerala which was written in 1978 by Mr. PMA Jabbar and was first sung by Mr. Thalassery Rafeeq, in the praise of the Prophet and his wife Beevi Khadija. The claims that it hurts the religious sentiments of the Muslim Community are without any basis. What is hard to fathom is that a song which has been in existence for the past 40 years, which was written, sung and cherished by the Muslim Community in Kerala is now being treated as an insult to the Prophet and his wife. It is submitted that a song, which has existed for more than 40 years and which has been cherished by more than 1 Crore Muslim population of Kerala cannot suddenly offend the religious sentiment of the Muslim Community.

The present writ petition is based primarily on the ground that filing of criminal complaints and registration of FIRs by the police in multiple states on the basis of complaints by fringe elements who have misunderstood the lyrics of the song which they claim allegedly offended their religious sentiments and that of their community has adversely affected the petitioners right to life, liberty and freedom of expression under Articles 19(1)(a), 19(1)(g) and 21 of the Constitution. The same is also completely contrary to this Hon'ble Court's order dated 16.11.2017 in WP (C) No. 1119 of 2017 wherein this Hon'ble Court, while upholding the rights of artists to freely and legally express themselves, beautifully observed that: "Be it noted, a film or a drama or a novel or a book is a creation of art. An artist has his own freedom to express himself in a manner which is not prohibited in law and such prohibitions are not read by implication to crucify the rights of expressive mind. The human history records that there are many authors who express their thoughts according to the choice of their words, phrases, expressions and also create characters who may look absolutely different than an ordinary man would conceive of. A thought provoking film should never mean that it has to be didactic or in any way puritanical. It can be expressive and provoking the conscious or the sub-conscious thoughts of the viewer. If there has to be any limitation, that has to be as per the prescription in law.

The Courts are to be extremely slow to pass any kind of restraint order in such a situation and should allow the respect that a creative man enjoys in writing a drama, a play, a playlet, a book on philosophy, or any kind of thought that is expressed on the celluloid or theater, etc."

In view of the above, the Petitioners herein are artists who have a right to express themselves in a lawful manner. That the legality of the content of the film and the certification on the same can only be dealt with under law by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) as prescribed under the provisions of the Cinematograph Act, 1952. However, the movie is yet to be completed and an amount of Rs. 1.5 Crores have been spent on the movie. That such flimsy and baseless complaints and FIRs cause nothing but a hindrance in the freedom of speech and expression granted under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution and the same is an outright abuse of the process of law. Such acts only result in curbing the freedom of expression of people and have also resulted in dragging the Petitioner No.1, who is a young college student, into a criminal case for merely acting in a movie. That this Hon'ble Court in S. Khushboo Vs. Kanniammal [(2010) 5 SCC 600] quashed several complaints where no prima facie case was made out.

Since the criminal complaints are being filed in different states across the country no useful and fruitful purpose would be served in approaching the respective High Courts under Article 226 or in a petition under section 482 of the code of criminal procedure.

Details:

LIST OF DATES

DATES EVENTS

9.02.2018 The promotional video of the song Manikya Malaraya Poovi from the upcoming movie Oru Addar Love was release on the video sharing website Youtube.

14.02.2018 The promotional video of the song from the petitioners movie went viral and had garnered more that 34 million views in 10 days setting a record on the social media platform.

14.02.2018 An FIR was registered by the Falaknama Police Station at Hyderabad, Telangana state against the Petitioner no 2 on a complaint which alleges that it has hurt his religious sentiment and that of a particular community.

14.02.2018 A criminal complaint was also filed by the Secretary of Raza Academy, Mumbai with the Commissioner of Police, Mumbai to take appropriate action against the Petitioners herein and also further take down the video and prevent it from being broadcasted.

14.02.2018 Raza Academy. Mumbai wrote to the Chairman, CBFC stating that the song hurts the religious sentiments of the community and that the same is insulting Prophet Muhammad and his wife, Beevi Khadija and that the same should be blocked.

14.02.2018 A criminal complaint was filed against the Petitioners at Jinsi police station, in Maharashtra by a group of people under the aegis of Janjagran Samithi wherein they have also alleged that the promotional video uploaded on Youtube has hurt their religious sentiment and that of the Muslim community.

After numerous criminal complaints are being filed against the petitioners in various states the petitioners have no efficacious remedy other than to approach this honble court.

19.02.2018 Present writ petition is being filed.

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA

CRIMINAL ORIGINAL JURISDICTION

WRIT PETITION (CRL) NO. OF 2018

[UNDER ARTICLE 32 OF THE CONSTITUTION OF INDIA]

IN THE MATTER OF:

D/o. Prakash Unnikrishnan,3

G-313, Mayura Apartments,

KSHB Colony, Kanjani Chungam,

Ayyanthole, Thrissur,

Ayyanthole North,

Kerala- 680003.

Omar Abdul Vahab,

son of NP Abdul Wahab,

aged 33 years, residing at

"Nalakath puthenpurakkal" Mundur,

Thrissur, Pin - 680541,

F-1, Jewel Planet,

Vyttila P.O., Ernakulam,

1. State of Telangana

Through Chief Secretary,

Telangana Secretariat,

Khairatabad, Hyderabad

Telangana, India

2. State of Maharashtra

Through its Chief Secretary

Government of Maharashtra,

Mantralaya, Madam cama road,

hutatma, Raj guru Chock,

Nariman point,

WRIT PETITION UNDER ARTICLE 32 OF THE CONSTITUTION OF INDIA

TO,

THE HONBLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE OF INDIA

AND HIS COMPANION JUSTICES OF THE HONBLE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA

THE HUMBLE PETITION OF THE PETITIONER ABOVENAMED

MOST RESPECTFULLY SHOWETH:

1.A. The Petitioners are filing the present writ petition under Article 32 of the Constitution of India to enforce their Fundamental rights as envisaged Under Article 19(1)(a), 19(1)(g) read with Article 14 & 21, whereby criminal complaints have been filed against the petitioners in multiple states and the possibilities of multiple FIRs being registered at the behest of fringe elements who have misunderstood the lyrics of the promotional song uploaded on Youtube which they claim allegedly offended their religious sentiments and that of their community.

1B. The Petitioners have no other equally efficacious remedy except to approach this Honble Court by way of the present writ Petition. All annexures annexed to the Writ Petition are true copies of their respective originals.

1C. The Petitioners have not filed any other petition either before this Honble Court or any other court or any High Court for seeking same or similar relief.

1D. That since the criminal complaints have been filed in multiple places i.e. in Maharashtra and an FIR in the Falakanama Police station at Hyderabad - Telengana, the Petitioner would have to approach multiple High Courts to seek consequential reliefs. Therefore, no useful and fruitful purpose would be served in approaching the High Court under Article 226 of Constitution of India.

FACTS OF THE CASE:

2. The Petitioners being citizens of India are entitled to invoke jurisdiction of this Honble Court under Article 32 of the Constitution of India. The Petitioners Right to Freedom of Speech and Expression, Right to Freedom of Trade & Profession and also Right to Life and Liberty guaranteed under Articles 14, 19 & 21 of the Constitution of India are being violated because of the institution of criminal cases and consequential FIRs in multiple states.

3. The Respondent Numbers 1 & 2 are the State Governments in whose states the criminal complaints have been filed and FIR registered.

4. On 9.2.2018 the producers of the movie titled as Oru Addar Love as a promotional campaign released a promotional video of a song Manikya Malaraya Poovi from the movie on Youtube. The Movie is an adolescent Love Story. The song Manikya Malaraya Poovi has been misunderstood by people outside Kerala (Non-Malayalam speakers) as it is being wrongly translated/ interpreted and taken out of context which is leading to the registration of multiple criminal cases against the petitioners.

5. The song Manikya Malaraya Poovi is a Mappila Song, or a traditional Muslim Song from the Malabar region of Kerala, it describes the love between the Prophet Mohamed and his first wife Beevi Khadeeja. However, if the song is translated using Google translate or some other translation softwares available online it leads to a distorted translation and as a result some members of the community have ignorantly filed criminal complaints against the Petitioners. Whereby the petitioners who are residents of the state of Kerala where the song has been appreciated are facing criminal prosecution elsewhere across the country.

6. Since its release on Youtube on 9.2.2018, the video of the song has gone Viral and has made the petitioner no. 1 an online sensation and her popularity has only been on the rise since then. The petitioner no. 1 has received appreciation from various quarters of the society.

6. On 14.02.2018 an FIR was registered by the Falaknama Police Station at Hyderabad, Telangana state against the Petitioner No. 2 on a complaint which alleges that it has hurt his religious sentiment and that of a particular community. True copy of the FIR No. 34 of 2018 is annexed herewith as ANNEXURE P-1 (Pages

7. On 14.02.2018, a criminal complaint was filed by the Secretary of Raza Academy with the commissioner of police Mumbai to take appropriate action against the petitioners herein and also further take down the video and prevent it from being broadcast. True copy of the complaint dated 14.2.2018 is annexed herewith as ANNEXURE P-2(Pages

8. On 14.02.2018, a criminal complaint was been filed against the petitioners at Jinsi police station, in Aurangabad, Maharashtra by a group of people under the aegis of Janjagran Samithi wherein they have also alleged that the promotional video uploaded on Youtube has hurt their religious sentiment of the Muslim community. A True Copy of the news report of Indian Express dated 16.2.2018 is attached herewith and marked as Annexure P-3 (Pages

9. The Honble Chief Minister of Kerala Mr. Pinaray Vijayan has expressed his support and appreciation for the movie as well as the Petitioners and criticized the action of the Muslim Fundamentalists who have filed a complaint against the song. A True translated copy of post of the Honble Chief minister of Kerala dated 15.2.2018 is annexed herewith as ANNEXURE P-4(Pages

10. Various media channels including print, television and online have covered the story. A true copy of the News Extract published by NDTV dated 16.02.2018 is annexed as ANNEXURE P-5(Pages

A true copy of the News Extract published by India Today dated 14.02.2018 is annexed as ANNEXURE P-6(Pages

11. That registration of FIRs by the state and initiation of criminal proceedings against the Petitioners for no fault of theirs has not only violated the fundamental rights of the petitioners as guaranteed by the Constitution but the same is an abuse of process of law by certain sections of the society and the petitioners will be put through irreparable loss and injury if appropriate orders protecting their life and liberty are not passed by this Honble Court. This Honble Court in a similar matter i.e. Writ Petition(s)(Civil) No(s).36/2018 where the controversies were similar has clearly stated that It should always be remembered that if intellectual prowess and natural or cultivated power of creation is interfered without the permissible facet of law, the concept of creativity paves the path of extinction; and when creativity dies, values of civilization corrode.. The registration of the criminal complaints and the registration of FIR by the state is nothing but a means to an end to stifle creativity. A true copy of the order dated 18.01.2018 of this Honble court in Writ Petition(s)(Civil) No(s).36/2018is annexed as ANNEXURE P-7(Pages

11. That this Hon'ble Court has also held that an artist has the right to express himself in a legal manner and observed that "An artist has his own freedom to express himself in a manner which is not prohibited in law and such prohibitions are not read by implication to crucify the rights of expressive mind.". A true copy of the order dated 16.11.2017 of this Honble court in Writ Petition(s)(Civil) No(s).1119/2017 is annexed as ANNEXURE P-8(Pages

12. That this Hon'ble Court in S. Khushboo Vs. Kanniammal [(2010) 5 SCC 600] quashed several complaints where no prima facie case was made out.

11. Thus being aggrieved, the Petitioners with leave of this Honble Court is filing the present writ petition under Article 32 of the Constitution of India on inter-alia the following grounds:-

That there is a threat to the life of a young girl, the Petitioner No.1 herein and her family as fatwas have been alleged to have been issued against her and her family. That the same is violative of her rights under Article 21 of the Constitution.

That the registering of FIRs and complaints against the Petitioners is violative of their rights under Article 19(1)(a) and 19(1)(g) which prescribe that a citizen shall have the freedom of expression and profession.

That the FIR, complaints should be quashed as no ingredients have been made out against the Petitioners and there have not been any malafides made out against them.

That the FIR ought to be quashed as the lyrics of the song have penned by someone else in 1978 and that the Petitioners cannot be held liable for the same as they are not the authors of the lyrics.

That the Petitioners cannot be prosecuted now for picking up a song which was popular for 40 years.

That the song Manikya Malaraya Poovi is a Mappila Song, or a traditional Muslim Song from the Malabar region of Kerala, which praises the love between the Prophet Mohamed and his first wife Khadeeja and is a part of the Muslim tradition in Kerala and does not offend any religious sentiment of any community or person.

Because multiple criminal complaints have been filed against the petitioners in various states for no fault of theirs. Just because the song became Viral, viewers started to use Google and/or online translations tools to translate the lyrics which has led to distortion of the lyrics and meaning of the song in other states where Malayalam is not the language.

Because the complaints and the consequent registration of the FIR by the non Malayalam speaking states have been ignorantly done on the basis of wrong, translation and misunderstanding of the translated lyrics of the Malayalam Song.

Because the Petitioners are residents of Kerala and will be constrained to defend these criminal cases instituted by the various non Malayalam speaking states which will cause irreparable loss and injury and violate their fundamental right to life and liberty.

Because the Muslim community in Kerala from where the song originates has been appreciating this song for over 40 years and it does not offend or hurt the religious sentiments of any community.

Because no criminal complaint or FIR has been filed by any section of society in Kerala against the Petitioners, which only goes to show that the criminal complaints against the petitioners are not sustainable in the eyes of law.

Because the registration of the FIR by the states against the Petitioners is illegal, unwarranted, arbitrary, excessive and unjustified.

That the movie is yet to be completed and an amount of Rs.1.5 Crores have already been spent on the movie.

That this Hon'ble Court in S. Khushboo Vs. Kanniammal [(2010) 5 SCC 600] quashed several complaints where no prima facie case was made out and the facts are similar to the present case.

12. The Petitioner has not filed any similar Writ Petition either before this Honble Court or any High Court praying for the same reliefs as are claimed in the present Writ Petition.

PRAYER

It is, therefore, most respectfully prayed that this Honble Court may graciously be pleased to:

a. Issue an appropriate writ/writs including a writ in the nature of mandamus quashing the FIR no 34 of 2018 dated 14.2.2018 filed with the Falaknama Police Station, Hyderabad  Telengana.

b. issue an appropriate writ/writs prohibiting the states not to initiate or register any criminal proceedings, complaint, FIR against the Petitioners on complaints that are received stating that the lyrics of the song Manikya Malaraya Poovi from the movie Oru Addar Love is offensive or has violated the religious sentiment of a particular community; and

c. pass such other order or orders as are deemed fit and necessary in the interest of justice.

AND FOR THIS ACT OF KINDNESS THE PETITIONERS AS IN DUTY BOUND SHALL EVER PRAY.

Drawn by FILED BY:

Haris Beeran (Pallavi Pratap)

Advocate Advocate for the petitioner

Place: New Delhi

Drawn on:19.02.2018

Filed on: 19.2.2018

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA

CIVIL ORIGINAL JURISDICTION

WRIT PETITION (C) NO. OF 2018

[UNDER ARTICLE 32 OF THE CONSTITUTION OF INDIA]

IN THE MATTER OF:

Priya Prakash Varrier & Ors.... Petitioners

VERSUS

State of Telangana & Ors. ...Respondents

APPLICATION FOR EX-PARTE STAY OF INVESTIGATION IN FIR NO. 34 OF 2018 IN FALAKNAMA POLICE STATION, HYDERABAD  TELENGANA AND ALSO APPROPRIATE ORDERS RESTRAINING OTHER STATES FROM REGISTERING FIRS AGAINST THE PETITIONERS.

To,

The Honble the Chief Justice of India

and his Companion Justices

of the Honble Supreme Court of India

Humble petition of the applicants

above named

MOST RESPECTFULLY SHOWETH

The Petitioners are filing the present writ petition under Article 32 of the Constitution of India to enforce their Fundamental rights as envisaged Under Article 19(1)(a), 19(1)(g) read with Article 14 & 21, whereby criminal complaints have been filed against the petitioners in multiple states and the possibilities of multiple FIRs being registered at the behest of fringe elements who have misunderstood the lyrics of the promotional song uploaded on Youtube which they claim allegedly offended their religious sentiments and that of their community.

Manikya Malaraya Poovi is appreciated by all members of the society in Kerala and also appreciated by the Muslim community in Kerala for over 40 years and thus registration of FIR and criminal proceedings against the petitioners based on the wrong translation/interpretation of the lyrics of the song will cause irreparable loss and injury and also violate the fundamental rights of the petitioners.

Manikya Malaraya Poovi from the movie Oru Addar love

In the circumstances it is most respectfully prayed that this Honble Court may be pleased to:

a. Pass an Grant ad-interim ex-parte order staying the investigation of FIR no. 34 of 2018 before the police station Falaknama Police station  Telangana State.

b. Pass and Grant ad-interim ex-parte order staying all criminal proceedings arising from complaints against the petitioners arising from the song Manikya Malaraya Poovi from the movie Oru Addar love

c. Pass such other and further relief, as this Honble Court may deem fit and proper in the facts and circumstances of the case.

AND FOR THIS ACT OF KINDNESS THE PETITIONER AS IN DUTY BOUND SHALL EVER PRAY.

FILED BY:

( Pallavi Pratap)

Advocate for the petitioner

New Delhi

Dated:19.02.2018

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA

CRIMINAL ORIGINAL JURISDICTION

WRIT PETITION (Crl.) No. of 2018

IN THE MATER OF:-

Priya Prakash Varrier & Ors.... Petitioners

VERSUS

State of Telengana & Anr. ... Respondents

AFFIDAVIT

I, Omar Abdul Vahab, son of NP Abdul Wahab, aged 33 years, residing at "Nalakath puthenpurakkal" Mundur, Thrissur, Pin - 680541, Kerala, presently at New Delhi, do hereby solemnly affirm and state as follows:

1. That I am the Petitioner No.2 in the above writ petition and I am well conversant with the facts and circumstances of the case and as such competent to swear upon this affidavit. I am swearing on behalf of Petitioner No. 1 and 3 as well.

2. I state that the contents of List of Dates at Pages to and Writ Petition as contained in Paras to at Writ Petition at pages to and applications are true to my knowledge and information derived from the records of the case and those of submissions of law made in question of law, grounds, prayer, applications and certificate are true as per the legal advice received and believed by me.

3. I say that the annexure P-1 at pages to annexed along with the Writ Petition are true copies of its respective originals.

DEPONENT

Verification

Verified at New Delhi on this the __th day of February 2018 that the contents of paragraphs 1 to 3 of the above affidavit are true and correct to my knowledge and belief, that no part of it is false and nothing material has been concealed there from

D E P O N E N TNew Delhi: Last week, NASA's senior rover  Opportunity  which has been on Mars since 2004, reached its 5,000th Martian day, or sol and has once again unveiled a surprise feature of the Red Planet.

Its most recent observations are of possible 'rock stripes' that could suggest actions of water, wind or other processes on the Red Planet.

The ground texture seen in the image released by the space agency resemble those on some mountain slopes on Earth that result from repeated cycles of freezing and thawing of wet soil. But, according to NASA, it might also be due to the wind, downhill transport, other processes or a combination.

"It's mysterious. It's exciting. I think the set of observations we'll get will enable us to understand it," said Opportunity Deputy Principal Investigator Ray Arvidson of Washington University in St. Louis.

Opportunity, which landed on Mars in January 2004, is currently investigating a channel called "Perseverance Valley," which descends the inboard slope of the western rim of Endeavour Crater.

"Perseverance Valley is a special place, like having a new mission again after all these years," Arvidson said.

"We already knew it was unlike any place any Mars rover has seen before, even if we don't yet know how it formed, and now we're seeing surfaces that look like stone stripes," Arvidson added.

On some slopes within the valley, the soil and gravel particles appear to have become organized into narrow rows or corrugations, parallel to the slope, alternating between rows with more gravel and rows with less.

While the origin of the whole valley is uncertain, rover-team scientists are analyzing various clues that suggest actions of water, wind or ice.

Opportunity was planned as a 90-sol mission as NASA did not expect the rover to survive through a Martian winter.

But the rover surpassed expectations and reached its 5000th sol on February 16. It is investigating a channel called "Perseverance Valley," which descends the inboard slope of the western rim of Endeavour Crater.

A Martian "sol" lasts about 40 minutes longer than an Earth day, and a Martian year lasts nearly two Earth years.

Opportunity has driven over 45 kilometers from its landing site to its current location and it has returned about 225,000 images so far, NASA said.

(With IANS inputs)New Delhi: In 2006, the International Astronomical Union (IAU), the governing body of astronomy, downgraded Pluto from a planet to a dwarf planet.

12 years later, a six-year-old girl named Cara has stood up against the decision and has urged NASA to reclassify Pluto as a planet.

In a letter to the space agency, Cara O'Connor has asked NASA to 'fix this problem' for her and 'make Pluto a planet again.'

"I listened to a song and at the end of it the song said "Bring Pluto Back"  and I would really like that to happen," Cara wrote.

As per the Washington Post, she talked about the Kuiper belt, a doughnut-shaped ring beyond Neptune where many dwarf planets are located.

"I really think Pluto should be a main planet again like Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus & Neptune, because in one video I watched called 'Let's go meet the planets,' Pluto was at the very end," she wrote.

In another video, she said, Pluto "was put in the trash can and was scared by planet Earth."

"This was really mean," Cara wrote, "because no one or no planet or dwarf planets should be put in the trash can."

Cara's plea was acknowledged by NASA and the young girl received a reply from James Green, Director of NASA's Planetary Science Division, who complimented her on her interest in Pluto.

"I agree with you that Pluto is really cool -- in fact, who would have believed that Pluto has a heart? ... It's a fascinating world that appears to be constantly changing. To me, it's not so much about whether Pluto is a dwarf planet or not; it's that Pluto is a fascinating place that we need to continue to study," Green wrote.

"I hope that you will discover a new planet, and I trust that if you continue to do well in school we will see you at NASA one of these days," he added.

(With IANS inputs)New Delhi: In a shocking turn of events, actor Sumeet Raghavan's wife Chinmayee Surve had to face a rather disturbing incident. Chinmayee was out for some work in the Vile Parle area of Mumbai, when a man in a white BMW, masturbated in front of her and fled the spot before she could react. However, the wife was smart enough to note down the last digits of the car.

Enraged by the whole incident, Sumeet took to Twitter to report this incident. He wrote,"A white BMW with last 4 digits 1985 needs to be traced. The driver wearing a grey safari who had parked near #ParleTilakSchool #VileParleEast started masturbating in front of my wife. Before she could slap him he escaped. She could note down just the last 4 digits0@MumbaiPolice."

Here's the tweet:

A white BMW with last 4 digits 1985 needs to be traced. The driver wearing a grey safari who had parked near #ParleTilakSchool #VileParleEast started masturbating in front of my wife. Before she could slap him he escaped. She could note down just the last 4 digits@MumbaiPolice  Sumeet (@sumrag) February 19, 2018

To which the Mumbai police was quick to reply. They even caught hold of the offender in absolutely no time. The actor confirmed the news via a tweet.

Thanking the Mumbai Police, he wrote,"After lodging the F.I.R at 4.15pm, the cops have nabbed the bastard in 2 hrs flat. Hats off @MumbaiPolice gratitude and respect. #VileParlePoliceStation and the concerned officers #Salute 

God forbid if at all such things happen, please go to the cops. Don't suffer. Speak up.

Here's the tweet

After lodging the F.I.R at 4.15pm,the cops have nabbed the bastard in 2 hrs flat.. Hats off @MumbaiPolice gratitude and respect. #VileParlePoliceStation and the concerned officers #Salute 

God forbid if at all such things happen,please go to the cops. Don't suffer. Speak up.  Sumeet (@sumrag) February 19, 2018

The incident had left him enraged and shocked, talking to Indian express, Sumeet said, "Its so shocking that miscreants are up for something so disgusting in broad daylight. I was at home when my wife called me frantically. Being responsible citizens we reached out to the authorities, and filed an official complaint at the local police station and also the traffic department. We are really hopeful the culprit will be caught soon.LUCKNOW: A 30-year-old man in Bareilly who was about to get married in the evening died while crossing a railway track at a village, as he was speaking on the phone.

The incident took place at Nandosi village in Uttar Pradesh's Bareilly district.

Identified as Naresh Pal Gangwar, the man was an engineer by profession. He was reportedly talking on phone and texting on another when an express train crushed him.

According to a passerby, Gangwar did not notice that the train was coming towards him as he was hooked on his mobile phones.

The news of his death reached his family at around 9 AM when they were busy making the last-minute arrangements for the wedding.

Media reports suggest that Gangwar family is currently under tremendous shock, following the incident.

Superintendent of police (SP), Bareilly city, Rohit Singh Sajwan said that as per initial investigation, it is an accident case and not suicide.

The body has, meanwhile, been sent for autopsy.PRISTINA: Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said today his country and Kosovo could one day have a single president as a "symbol of national unity" between Tirana and Pristina.

In a remark certain to anger Belgrade, Rama noted that the two neighbours, both predominantly ethnic Albanian, already share diplomatic missions around the world, adding: "Why not a single president, as a symbol of national unity?"

Rama was addressing Kosovo's parliament to mark the 10th anniversary of the country's unilateral declaration of independence from Serbia, a move recognised by more than 110 countries, though not by Belgrade or Moscow.

Serbia has repeatedly accused Tirana of wanting to build a "Greater Albania", an aspiration it denies.

Efforts to normalise ties between Belgrade and Pristina, begun in 2011, have stalled.

Rama said he saw a future in which "Albanians and Serbians will co-exist... Like two countries with good neighbourly relations that are an integral part of the European Union."

The 1998-99 Kosovo war, the last of the conflicts that broke up Yugoslavia, claimed more than 13,000 lives including more than 11,000 ethnic Albanians of Kosovo.

The conflict ended after a three-month NATO air campaign that forced Serbs out of Kosovo and put it under UN protection.-  :         

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COLUMBIA: The couple who had taken Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz into their family said in an interview published Sunday they had no inkling of violent tendencies from the young man whom they described as quirky and naive.

Cruz, 19, moved in with James and Kimberly Snead of Parkland, Florida in late November after the death of his mother earlier that month from complications of pneumonia, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported. He was a friend of their son.

"I told him there`d be rules and he followed every rule to the T," James Snead, 48, an army veteran and military intelligence analyst, told the paper.

"We had this monster living under our roof and we didn`t know," said Kimberly Snead, 49, a nurse. "We didn`t see this side of him."

Cruz killed 17 people at his former high school last Wednesday using an AR-15 rifle that he had legally purchased.

It was the country`s worst school massacre since the horror at Sandy Hook six years ago that left 26 dead.

A profile has emerged of a troubled young man who was expelled from the school last year for "disciplinary reasons."

The FBI admitted it received a detailed warning last month about Cruz`s gun ownership, erratic behaviour, and disturbing social media posts, as well as the potential of him conducting a school shooting.

The agency took no action, despite the tip-off.

The Sneads described a 19-year-old who had grown up apparently without ever having to perform common chores -- he couldn`t cook, do laundry, pick up after himself or even use a microwave.

"He was very naive. He wasn`t dumb, just naive," James Snead told the Sun Sentinel.

Cruz had odd habits, like putting a chocolate chip cookie on a sneak and cheese sandwich, and going to bed at 8 pm.

He seemed lonely and badly wanted a girlfriend, and also was depressed about the death of his mother, the couple said.

Kimberly Snead had taken Cruz to the office of a therapist just five days before the shooting, and he had said he was open to therapy and took a business card.

Cruz told the Sneads he would inherit at least $800,000 from his parents, with most of the funds becoming available when he turned 22.

The couple last saw Cruz, who has been charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder, at the Broward County Sheriff`s office.

Dressed in a hospital gown, he was handcuffed and surrounded by deputies.

"He said he was sorry. He apologized.

He looked lost, absolutely lost," said James Snead. "And that was the last time we saw him."TEHRAN: The hunt for a plane that disappeared with 66 people onboard in Iran's Zagros mountains was stopped until morning as blizzard conditions made progress impossible for rescue teams, state television said Sunday.

"With the wind intensifying, and with snow, rain and darkness, it is not possible for rescue and relief teams to reach high altitudes and the search operation has been postponed until tomorrow," broadcaster IRIB announced.

"Five helicopters are on alert to resume the search at dawn if the weather conditions are better."

Aseman Airlines flight EP3704 disappeared from radar 45 minutes after taking off from Tehran.

The ATR-72 twin-engine plane, in service for 25 years, left the capital`s Mehrabad airport at around 8:00 am (0430 GMT) and was heading towards the city of Yasuj, some 500 kilometres (300 miles) to the south.

The Red Crescent said 45 teams had been deployed to the Dena mountain of Iran`s southwestern Zagros range, but there was still no sign of any wreckage.

"The mountainous terrain is impassable. Thick fog and snow and rain have made it impossible to use helicopters," said Morteza Salimi, head of its rescue and relief section.

The airline said 60 passengers, including one child, were on board flight EP3704, as well as six crew.

It was the third disaster to strike Iran in recent months after an earthquake that killed at least 620 people in Kermanshah in November and 30 Iranian sailors were lost in an oil tanker collision off China`s coast last month.

Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei sent a message of condolence, saying the news had "left our hearts overwhelmed with sadness and sorrow", according to state television.Families of the passengers gathered at a mosque near Mehrabad airport.

"I can`t bring myself to believe it," said a woman whose husband was on board.

A man who missed the doomed flight told reporters of his conflicting emotions.

"God has been really kind to me but I am so sad from the bottom of my heart for all those dear ones who lost their lives," the unnamed man told the Tabnak news website, which showed a picture of his unused ticket.

A Greek seismologist was also scheduled to take the flight but missed it after getting stuck in traffic, Greece`s ANA news agency reported.

"I had planned to go to Yasouj on this flight, or the next if I missed it, but because of huge traffic jams in Tehran, I didn`t get on board the plane in the end," Akis Tselentis was quoted as saying.

Decades of diplomatic isolation have left Iran`s airlines with ageing fleets of passenger planes which they have struggled to maintain and modernise.

Assman's fleet includes at least three ATR-72s that date back to the early 1990s, according to the IRNA news agency.

France`s air safety agency BEA said it would take part in the investigation led by Britain`s Air Accidents Investigation Branch.

"Three investigators and our technical advisers will go to the site," a BEA spokesman told AFP.

President Hassan Rouhani ordered the transport ministry to set up a crisis group to investigate the crash and coordinate rescue efforts, ISNA reported.

Assman's three Boeing 727-200s are almost as old as the country`s 1979 Islamic revolution, having made their first flights the following year.

Iran has suffered multiple aviation disasters, most recently in 2014 when 39 people were killed when a Sepahan Airlines plane crashed just after take-off from Tehran, narrowly avoiding many more deaths when it plummeted near a busy market.

Lifting sanctions on aviation purchases was a key clause in the nuclear deal Iran signed with world powers in 2015.

Following the deal, Aseman Airlines finalised an agreement to buy 30 Boeing 737 MAX jets for $3 billion (2.4 billion euros) last June, with an option to buy 30 more.

However, the sale could be scuppered if US President Donald Trump chooses to reimpose sanctions in the coming months, as he has threatened to do.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered his condolences over Sunday`s crash, just moments after he launched a blistering attack on Tehran`s government.

"I take this opportunity to send condolences to the families of the 66 civilians that lost their lives," Netanyahu said at the Munich Security Conference.

"We have no quarrel with the people of Iran, only with the regime that torments them," he added.

The US Treasury Department, which must approve aviation sales to Iran, has done so for 80 Boeing jets and 100 Airbus planes for national carrier Iran Air.

The first few Airbus jets have already arrived in Tehran.ISLAMABAD: News that the Pakistani Senate on Monday approved a motion to declare Mandarin as one of the official languages of Pakistan sparked furore online before it emerged that it was incorrect information.

The misreporting began with a report on Pakistani news channel AbbTakk News.

It also sparked criticism that Pakistan was not doing enough to promote its own languages.

Pakistan's Ambassador to the US Hussain Haqqani tweeted: "In a short span of 70 years, Pakistan has flirted with promoting four languages that were not the mother tongue of many people in the country- English, Urdu, Arabic, and now Chinese  ignoring native languages.

Punjabi, which is widely spoken in Punjab province of Pakistan, Pashto and many other native languages have not been declared official languages of the country.

According to Dawn News, Pakistanis are more interested in learning the Chinese language than ever as they see the tides changing and expect that knowing Mandarin would mean more job opportunities in Pakistan and China.Open source

On Sunday, February 18, a Ukrainian soldier was wounded in Donbas conflict zone. This was reported in the press center of the antiterrorist operation headquarters.



Since the beginning of the day the militants have carried out 7 shellings on the positions of the servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, including using armaments prohibited by the Minsk agreements, informed at the headquarters.



"The enemy used mortars near Troitske and Novoluhanske in the Luhansk direction, and from the grenade launchers of various types, the invaders fired on Ukrainian defenders, and in addition to the large-caliber machine guns and small arms, the invaders violated the truce near Novoaleksandrivka and Stanytsia Luhanska," the report said.



At the same time, in the Mariupol direction, under the fire of militants from 120-mm mortars got Armed Forces positions located at Shyrokine.

Related: Germanys Defense Minister sees cyber attacks as the biggest threatThe Interior Ministry refuted information on lifting the National Guard security off Shevchenkivsky court of Kyiv, according to their press service.

The National Guard servicemen continue their service there. During the day, there was a change of shift of guards according to the plan of duty, the statement says.

It was also noted that the National Police and the National Guard will continue ensuring the security of courts and judicial institutions until a different decision is made.

Earlier today it was reported that the National Guard lifted off the security of the Shevchenkivsky court.

Before that, Interior Minister Avakov called on the Cabinet of Ministers to abolish the protection of courts by the National Police and the National Guard. He commented on the refusal of Kyiv Shevchenkivsky District Court to arrest the ex-fighter of the Donbas battalion suspected of shooting at a police officer during the rallies near Solomiansky District Court on February 15. Avakov emphasized that releasing this individual under bail basically meant the court enabled such actions.He also emphasized that Belarus already played its role in the negotiation process

Aleksandr Lukashenko, the President of Belarus claimed that the issue of the possible transfer of the platform for the Minsk Talks on Donbas was not raised by Donald Trump, the US President during the meeting with his Kazakh colleague as Belta reported.

'It is not like I do not believe but I know that Trump did not raise this issue. Somebody itches to discuss this and pretends to be a peacekeeper. There was no such discussion as the meeting was short. And you know the results of it: the credits for $7.5 billion are signed on energy commodities and other resources. It was the main issue and we should calm down and close this topic', Lukashenko said.

The Belarusian president also noted that the Minsk discussion platform will remind unchanged.

'Is it possible that the European issues will be solved in Asia?', he added.

He also emphasized that Belarus already played its role in the negotiation process.

'Whatever the Minsk Agreement is, the war is stopped'.

As we reported earlier US President Donald Trump suggested to move the Minsk talks on resolving the conflict in Ukraine someplace else and discussed it with President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev. 'We discussed the fact that Minsk-1 has stumped, and a Minsk-2 is needed' He (Donald Trump) says: 'Lets hold it someplace else'. I say Lets do it, Nazarbayev said, noting that originally the talks should be held in Kazakhstan.

Pavlo Klimkin, the Foreign Minister of Ukraine claimed that the place where Trilateral Contact Group meetings are held doesnt matter for reaching a result.This ministers statement was influenced by the decision of Kyiv district court to refuse to arrest the ex-soldier of Donbas battalion suspected of shooting policeman

The Internal Minister of Ukraine Arsen Avakov calls on the Cabinet of Ministers to abolish the protection of courts by police and the National Guard. He wrote about this on his Facebook page.

The minister commented on the refusal of Kyiv Shevchenkivsky District Court to arrest the ex-fighter of the Donbas battalion suspected of shooting a police officer during the rallies near Solomiansky District Court on February 15.

"The court in fact approved the shooting at policeman, considering it not a serious crime," wrote the minister.

Avakov demands from the Supreme Council of Justice to immediately react to such a decision of the court, and from the Prosecutor's Office and the Court of Appeal - to make a fair decision regarding the suspect.

"In the morning I appealed to the Prime Minister to call an extraordinary meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers. I do not see how in such circumstances the police and guards forces can perform an uncharacteristic for them function to protect the courts," Avakov said.

The minister intends to introduce a draft resolution on termination of functions to protect judicial institutions by the National Police and the National Guard.

As it was reported earlier the man who wounded a police officer in the confrontation near the Solomiansky court on Feb. 15, turned out to be an ex-soldier of Donbas battalion who shot with an honorary weapon which he had received as an award from the Interior Ministry. Aide to the Interior Ministry of Ukraine Anton Herashchenko confirmed this information.

Earlier, a shooting occurred at the entrance to Solomiansky Court where the hearing of the case of Odesa Mayor Hennady Trukhanov was taking place. People came to the court in what was an attempt to intimidate and influence the court, according to Trukhanovs lawyer.Ukrainian Army in Donbas and the militants continue to get closer to one another, Principal Deputy Chief Monitor of the OSCE SMM to Ukraine Alexander Hug said in a briefing in Donetsk today, according to the OSCE SMM Facebook.

The fact is that the sides continue to dig trenches, fact is that the sides move closer to one another, fact is that the sides keep weapons that they should have long withdrawn in areas where they should not be. And fact is that both sides continue to lay mines despite the fact that they had promised in September 2014 not to do so, Alexander Hug said.

Previously, the OSCEs mission reported that Ukraine's armed forces have advanced in the western part of Luhansk region, pushing the enemy away from the area of Novooleksandrivka village. OSCE also reported frequent use of the Minsk-banned weaponry in Luhansk region since Wednesday; over 3,000 ceasefire violations were reported over one day, Feb. 14, which is the worst index of violence per one day in the entire combat area since March 2017.Imagination of the pro-Russian propagandists is really rich and broad, as well as their speculations with "sacred" history

Read the original text at 112.ua.

February 13, Ukraines State Television and Radio Broadcasting Committee has published a list of 137 "books editions, the content of which is aimed at eliminating Ukraine's independence, propaganda of violence, inciting interethnic, racial, religious hostility, committing terrorist acts, encroaching on human rights and freedoms." We have prepared a brief review of the list of banned publications in order to understand the hottest topics of the anti-Ukrainian propaganda.

This list includes works by the odious "Kremlins ideologue" Alexander Dugin ("Ukraine: My War, Geopolitical Diary," "Eurasian Revenge of Russia"), no less odious writer Zakhar Prilepin ("Everything that should be resolved... Chronicle of the Ongoing War, Not strange troubles. One day  one year), deputy of Russian State Duma, former Crimean prosecutor Natalia Poklonskaya ("Fidelity to Faith and the Fatherland"), and the well-known Russian pro-Kremlin historian, the director of the Historical Memory Foundation, Alexander Dyukov ("Mass human rights violations during the civil confrontation in Ukraine, 2013-2014: Annual Report of the IGCP "). The list even includes the well-known children's book "Children against wizards" Nikos Zervas, conceived as propaganda against "Harry Potter".

The first thing you notice is the intensity of how Russian propaganda uses the concept of Ukraine as a failed state. For example, the leader of the Eurasian Youth Union Valeriy Korovin in his book "The End of the Project Ukraine" writes that "We witness how "Ukraine" project is coming to its logical ending." As we shall see later, the word "project" as a marker of fictitiousness is often found in such literature.

Open source

In particular, it is used in the title of a book by the head of the Association of Orthodox Experts, Kirill Frolov ("The project of Ukraine as an anti-Russia, the eradication of canonical Orthodoxy on the historical lands of Malorossia, Novorossiya, and Subcarpathian Rus)," which claims that "unified Ukraine is a project of liquidation of Orthodoxy as such."

Some publications are even more straightforward, calling Ukraine an "under-state", as, for example, Rostyslav Ishchenko does in his book "The Collapse of Ukraine. Demonstration of the under-state." He writes in the first chapter: "Ukraine did not materialize as an independent state and will never do it." He calls it again "a project," a "political-geographical phantom", a "state not needed to its own people."

Open source

Another "writer," Andrei Vajra, whose book is called "Ukraine, which did not exist. The mythology of Ukrainian ideology" echoed to him. Thus, he argues that "modern Ukraine is the continuation of the Soviet project outside the USSR. It is nothing more than a splinter of the Russian Empire, a rebellious province, mired in a series of new, stupid and greedy "gentry."

Lev Vershinin's book "Ukraine - the eternal ruin. Hopak on the blood" is icing on the cake. The annotation is like: "The heart of the cannibalistic ideology of Ukrainian Nazism is a sense of inferiority. Trying to somehow hide the bitter truth about the eternal insolvency of its underdevelopment, the Banderites substitute for the real past with the delusional myths."

Open source

A similar propaganda describes Ukraine as a puppet state, which directly depends on Europe and the United States. If you read the annotation of Stephen Lendman's book "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks World War III," you will find that the authors of this collection of articles "draw parallels between Ukrainian events and wars and revolutions in Libya, Iraq, Syria, and other places where America has been carrying democracy for the past 15 years, concluding that the crisis in Kyiv fits the overall framework of the activities and methods of the Pentagon."

In the book "Pawns in someone else's game: The Secret History of Ukrainian Nationalism" Ukrainian journalist Myroslava Berdnyk tries to show that the very existence of Ukraine is conditioned solely by the interests of European countries who viewed it as "the main outpost in Eastern Europe against Russia's expansion to the West."

Open source

A significant part of the book production from the list of Ukraines State Television and Radio Broadcasting Committee is devoted both to the "recent history" of the so-called "Novorossia", and to attempts to explain its origins, give it a historical perspective and legitimize through the past. For example, the work of Pavel Gubarev, former "head of the mobilization department of the Ministry of Defense of Donetsk Peoples Republic" ("The Torch of Novorossiya") is among the banned publications, as well as the work of the alleged military historian Mikhail Polikarpov and other leaders of "DPR" Igor Strelkov ("Igor Strelkov - the terror of the Bandera junta. Defense of Donbas"," Commander Igor Strelkov "). Even the "legendary Motorola" is called a "Knight of Novorossiya" (Gennady Dubov called him "Nestor the Chronicler of Novorossiya" in his book "Knights of Novorossiya. Chronicles of the Correspondent of the Legendary Motorola").

Since history is a powerful legitimizing tool, propaganda does not hesitate to use it to its fullest potential: forbidden publications diligently try to give the historical perspective of Novorossia.

Thus, the Russian Military Historical Society published a monograph "The History of Novorossia" by Dr. Alexander Shubin, Doctor of Historical Sciences, head of the Center for the History of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus of the Institute of World History of the Russian Academy of Sciences. In his blog, the author himself points out that the title for the book was not accidental: "The book is called" The History of Novorossiya, "although it could also be called" Northern Black Sea Coast from Targitaya to Borodaya." "Novorossiya" is one of the historical names of the region, which was used here for a century and a half, and now is topical again, albeit in a politicized context. "

From the annotation to a book "The Birth of New Russia: From Catherine II to Alexander I. Events, memories, documents" we learn that "Novorossiya arose and developed as an integral part of the Russian world, where national and religious tolerance, breadth of soul, respect for traditions and spirituality have always been the basis of the world that grew out of the Old Russian state, Moscow Rus, the Russian Empire, and the USSR."

Some publications are looking for a certain "sacral" aspect in "Novorossiya". Thus, Kirill Frolov has written a book "The Sacred Meanings of Novorossiya: Church and Civilizational Split in Novorossiya, Subcarpathian Rus and Ukraine;" he points out that "Novorossiya was the key springboard for the construction of the Orthodox Russian Empire. The creation of Novorossia is filled with clear Orthodox civilizational geopolitical meanings."

Numerous pseudo-historical studies claiming a true, uncomplicated knowledge of the past (Andrey Dikyi's Untold History of Ukraine-Rus and The True History of the Russian and Ukrainian People by Andrei Medvedev) are among the banned publications.

Some of these publications could still be found in Ukrainian online stores.

To sum up this brief examination of the anti-Ukrainian books, it is not difficult to see that the fantasy of the pro-Russian propagandists is really diversed, as well as their speculations with "sacred" history. The list includes not only Russian authors, but also Ukrainian ones. Practically all the books were published in the Russian Federation, with the exception of three (they were published on temporarily uncontrolled territories of Donbas and in occupied Crimea).

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or 112.International and its owners.Moreover, the Belarusian president complained about an 'arms traffic' from Ukraine

Aleksandr Lukashenko, the President of Belarus claimed that his country accepted at least 160, 000 refugees from Ukraine during the Donbas Conflict as Belta reported.

'I provided everyone with the equal conditions as the Belarusians or in other words with the free medical service, free education, kindergartens, utilities. You think that it was cheap for us? No. But people faced a was', he claimed.

Lukashenko also complained about an 'arms traffic' due to the escalation of the situation in Ukraine that led to the strengthening of the control at the border of two states.

'I could do these for 10-12 years but I should do this in three years to close the border, it is a problem. The fact that the arms rushed here is a very big problem', the Belarusian president claimed.

According to the Ministry of the Social Policy of Ukraine, about 1.5 million of internally displaced persons are spotted in Ukraine but the index tends to decrease.

Earlier, Lukashenko spoke on the settlement of the Donbas Conflict for many times, including his readiness to send the Belarusian peacekeepers to Donbas.The meeting of the core group of the Munich Security Conference is the gathering of the directors, politicians, political figures and state figures in the closed format

The meeting of the core group of the Munich Security Conference can take place in October in Belarus. Vladimir Makei, the Foreign Minister of Belarus claimed this as Interfax-Ukraine reported.

'Really, Mr. Ischinger (Wolfgang Ischinger, the Chairman of the Munich Security Conference) and his secretariat offered to hold the meeting of the so-called core group of the Munich Security Conference in October in Belarus', Makei said.

The minister emphasized that today Belarus is a place where people from different conflicting regions can be gathered.

'I am sure: these meetings, if it takes place in Belarus, will also contribute to the easing of the tension, the confrontation that unfortunately present in our region', he noted.

Makei explained that the meeting of the core group of the Munich Security Conference is the gathering of the directors, politicians, political figures and state figures in the closed format.

'About 70-80 people who gather discuss the current, hotwired issues', he added.

Earlier Aleksandr Lukashenko, the President of Belarus claimed many times about the necessity to begin the process that can be called 'Helsinki-2'.Finland expressed readiness to participate in the UN peacekeepers' mission in Donbas if the respective decision is made. Sauli Niinisto, the Finnish president said that while talking to journalists during the Munich Security Conference as quoted by Yle portal.

Conflict in Ukraine is a great trouble for Europe, and if Finland can in any way help solve it, it will do so, the official said.

Earlier, Sweden said it was ready to provide its troops for the UN peacekeeping mission in Donbas if Russia and the West agree to this. Swedish Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist said this at the Munich Security Conference.



Related: Sweden declares its readiness to send peacekeepers to Donbas

"If we see the relevant conditions, and if we understand that this mission can help ... then we are open to it," he said.



We recall that during the speech at the Munich Conference, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said that Russia has a chance to demonstrate readiness for a compromise and to agree to peacekeepers throughout the occupied Donbas.



Earlier, US Special Representative for Ukraine Kurt Volker stated that the draft resolution of Russia, which provides for the deployment of peacekeepers in Donbas only along the line of the clash, is unacceptable for the United States and the United Nations, since it will not guarantee security, but will deepen the conflict.

Related: Ukraine and Russia should come to agreement on composition of peacekeepers, - RasmussenRussia continues to block the traffic of cargo trucks on the state border with Ukraine in Kharkiv region. Currently, 120 trucks remain on Ukraine's territory at Goptivka-Nehoteevka border crossing, as the Russian side does not let them in. Oleg Slobodyan, the Assistant Head of the State Border Guard of Ukraine said that in his commentary for 112 Ukraine TV channel.

'We observe this kind of situation at once particular checkpoint, Goptivka-Nekhoteevka border crossing. As of Monday morning, it remains the same. The cargo trucks cannot enter the territory of the Russian Federation. No official comments on the issue so far; there's no written response from Russians, too,' he said.In Serbia, the military police detained two citizens of the U.S. and two Ukrainians who filmed the Serbian General Staff with a drone, according to Radio and Television of Serbia.

The Serbian Ministry of Defense said the filming wasnt sanctioned. The detained have been handed over to the police, and the prosecution is to investigate the incident later on.

The building of the Serbian General Staff hosts two most important defence agencies of the country - Intelligence and Reconnaissance Directorate and Office of Chief of the General Staff. Moreover, Serbian Minister of Defense Aleksandar Vulin spends a considerable time of his working hours there.The Ukrainian diaspora paid tribute to the heroes of the Heavenly Hundred. The event took place next to Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., Ukraine's Embassy in the U.S. reported.

'Ambassador Valeriy Chaly opened the ceremony and turned to the audience with the speech, saying people should be worthy of the memory of the participants of the Revolution of Dignity, which gave their lives for Ukraine's future. Chaly also thanked the audience for their unity and solidarity with Ukraine', the message says.Crimea, part of Kherson and Odesa regions were marked on the map with different color

One of the shops of Budapest sold maps of Ukraine without Crimea and part of the southern territories of the country. Lyubov Nepop, the Ambassador of Ukraine to Hungary reported this on Facebook.

'We held a meeting with an owner of the shop in Budapest due to the information of sale of the maps with the incorrect marking of the Ukrainian Crimea. The map is removed from the sale', she reported.

Moreover, the diplomat sent the letters to the Hungarian official bodies and publisher of the map to prevent the further sale of it.

Also, Kherson and Odesa regions in the south of Ukraine were marked with another color.

The diplomat appealed with a request to inform the Embassy of Ukraine in Hungary on such cases to 'immediately respond on any display of the disregard to the territorial integrity of Ukraine'.On February 18, the unknown drew swastika on the gates of the Polish Embassy in Israel

Open source

On Monday, Polish authorities intend to create an interdepartmental group to fight against manifestations of fascism and other totalitarian ideologies related to national, ethnic, racial and religious issues. Micha Dworczyk, the Head of Polish Prime Ministers Office said it, RMF24 reports.

An interdepartmental group to struggle against manifestations of fascism and other totalitarian ideologies will be created on Monday, Dworczyk said.

According to him, this will be a consultative and coordinating agency. Representatives of Internal Ministry, Ministry of Justice, Foreign Ministry, Culture Ministry, police, Border Guard Service, Internal Security Agency and National Prosecutor will join the group.

Representatives from all the ministries involved in this issue, will be working in the group, Dworczyk stressed.

Mateusz Morawiecki, the Prime Minister of Poland, called it a very good initiative.

As BBC reported, after Polish Prime Minister claimed about Jewish culprits, the unknown drew swastika and anti-Polish offensive words on the gates of the Polish Embassy in Israel on February 18.

The police of Tel-Aviv is conducting the investigation.

As we reported earlier, Polish leader Andrzej Duda signed the bill with amendments to the law about the Institute of National Memory in Poland. They stipulate criminal responsibility for denial of the Volyn Massacre of the 1940s and forbid the propaganda of the 'Banderite ideology' , for public accusations of Poland of crimes during Holocaust, of helping Nazi Germany, of military crimes or crimes against humanity. The bill forbids to use the combination of words Polish death camp when describing concentration camps that were on the territory of Poland. Any citizen of the country, including foreigners that breached the law will have to pay a fine or be imprisoned for up to three years.

Ukraine, Israel and USA criticized the law.

The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine asked Duda to abstain from signing the document. Volodymyr Viatrovych, Director of Ukrainian Institute of National Memory said that discussing historic issues with Ukrainians in Poland became impossible due to this law.

Polish leader submitted new law on Institute of National Memory of Poland for the check in the Constitutional Court on February 14. Later, Polish President protested mentioning "Ukrainian nationalists" in scandalous law.The Memorial proves that Russia violated the sovereign rights of Ukraine in the Black, Azov seas and Kerch Strait

Open source

On Monday, Feb. 19, Ukraine submitted its Memorial in Arbitration Proceedings against the Russian Federation under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, according to the press service of Ukraines MFA.

It is noted that since 2014, Russia has unlawfully excluded Ukraine from exercising its maritime rights; it has exploited Ukraines sovereign resources for its own ends; and it has usurped Ukraines right to regulate within its own maritime areas. Through these violations of international law, Russia is stealing Ukraines energy and fisheries resources, harming the livelihoods of Ukrainian fishermen, and blocking traffic to Ukrainian ports with its illegal bridge over the Kerch Strait, among other serious violations.

Ukraine asks the Tribunal to end the Russian Federations violations of UNCLOS and vindicate Ukraines rights in the Black Sea, Sea of Azov, and Kerch Strait, including by ordering Russia to respect Ukraine's sovereign rights in its own waters, to cease its theft of Ukraines resources, and to pay reparation for hydrocarbon resources Russia has wrongfully taken, among other relief.

According to the press service of Ukraines President Petro Poroshenko, he signed the order on the representation of Ukraine in the legal proceedings in the International Court of Justice regarding the violation of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine Olena Zerkal will represent Ukraine in the ICJ.

Today is another stage. We have drafted the order on the representation of Ukraine in the legal proceedings concerning Russias violation of Ukraines sovereign rights in the Black Sea, the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait, President Poroshenko said.

The President emphasized that it doesnt concern Ukraines sovereignty over Crimea: This issue is out of discussion and nobody doubts it. It goes about the protection of the economic interests of Ukraine and private investors whose property in Crimea was confiscated.

In his turn, Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin noted that the Memorial is the result of a 3-year work of a powerful international team which included renowned international experts, lawyers, and academicians. The document has almost 500 annexes. He added that the given Memorandum was the first and in June, there would the memorandums under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and the Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism.Open source

Ukraine, Turkey and Azerbaijan are creating the regional alliance. Azertag reports this referring to Azer Xudiev, Azerbaijanian Ambassador in Ukraine.

The first political conferences regarding creation of the Ukraine-Turkey-Azerbaijan alliance will be held in Baku on March 6.

Delegations headed by Vasyl Bondar, Deputy Defense Minister of Ukraine and Umit Yalcin, Deputy Foreign Minister of Turkey will attend political conferences. Azerbaijan will be represented by the delegation headed by Khalaf Khalafov, countrys Deputy Foreign Minister.

The following questions will be discussed within the conference: current state and prospects of the development of the political, economic, energetic and humanitarian partnership between three countries, the development of the effective cooperation within international organizations.

In addition, delegations will discuss questions on successful implementation of cargo transportation through new transport corridors, energy supplies transportation through Caspian and Black seas.

As we reported earlier, Ukraine, Turkey and Azerbaijan signed a memorandum of the shared use of Ukrainian Railways (Ukrzaliznytsia) ferries.

The Ukrainian Railways noted that two ferries Plevna Heroes and 'Shipka Heroes are owned by the company. These ferries got the records on the right to property and on right of navigation under the state flag of Ukraine. Shipka Heroes got the record on the nucleus crew.

Earlier Istanbul and Odesa started direct ferry passenger connection.

The Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine Volodymyr Omelyan claimed that Ukrzaliznytsia will start a new ferry line from Chornomorsk to Georgia in 2018. Also, he claimed that the conception of Ukraine and Georgia on the creation of the joint enterprise with the private partner using the Ukrainian ferries was approved in 2016.PLEASE NOTE!

Due to the March 23, 2020 NM DOH Public Health Order, These Event Listings Are Not Accurate!

All non-essential businesses are closed, public gatherings are prohibited!

(One day some of these events will be rescheduled or will resume, but they are not happening now!)YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 19, ARMENPRESS. Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan held a Q&A with participants of a panel discussion at the Munich Security Conference.

Ian Bremmer, President and Founder of Eurasia Group

-Let me ask you Mr. President. On the one hand, you are the poster boy for success on this panel. Everyone is pointing to you as a model. But of course back in 2013, Armenia had dumped their association agreement with the EU and embarked upon a new partnership scheme. And I am wondering was that by remorse, was that due to Russian pressure, or maybe life had changed. Is this a new model?

- You know, your question seems rather strange as we have repeatedly stated that we have always been open and honest with our partners, especially in issues related to integration processes. When we started our negotiations with the EU, our Russian counterparts, our allies were aware of it, while our European partners were aware that we were negotiating with the Eurasian Economic Union to join the then Customs Union. We could see that it was possible. And when the principle of and, and was replaced by that of either, or we proved unable to sign such an agreement. That is, it was the European Union rather than Armenia to give up the signing of the Association Agreement.

We have even suggested signing part of the agreement, namely the political component, if possible, but our European partners said no. But just a few weeks later, they signed such an agreement with Ukraine.



We understand very well Armenias opportunities and Ukraines possibilities, the role of Armenia and the role of Ukraine; nevertheless, it was strange for us. So we did not give up the idea of signing such a cooperation arrangement, and thank God that the European Union made a relevant decision later, which was confirmed at the Riga summit. It was a differentiated approach. And under that differentiated approach, we managed to sign a document with the European Union.

I want to emphasize once again that we have not secretly negotiated with anybody, we have not made any decisions under pressure from anyone, and as I noticed, our historical experience shows that trying to gain temporary benefits from conflicts leads to big tragedies. We had gone through one and did not want to run the risk of another tragedy.

Sadi Jafarov, First secretary of the Embassy of Azerbaijan in Germany

-Mr. President, what do you think: in the South Caucuses we have now regional development projects and do you find it normal that Armenia today is outside of those projects, especially the ones implemented in the fields of energy and transport? And having this in mind, I want to touch another issue, namely that if there was no conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and if the territories of Azerbaijan were not under the occupation by Armenia and if there was no policy of ethnic cleansing on the part of Armenia against Azerbaijan, than probably today Armenia could benefit from those projects.

And here I have to mention that me personally I have roots from Karabakh, yes. And I think that you have to understand that without the resolution of the conflict Armenia will not be able to be a full stakeholder in the region and will not be part of the projects in the region unless the Azeri population is back to the territories supposed to be under the sovereignty of Azerbaijan. When Armenia is planning to join those projects and when can I go back to my home?

- First of all, I am very grateful for this question asked by my compatriot because I am rooted in Karabakh, too. But I want to ask you a question from the outset; my question is a bit rhetorical: How do you think to settle the Karabakh issue if your countrys president makes territorial claims against Yerevan, the 2800th anniversary of which we will be celebrating this October?

The Karabakh issue can be resolved and, though I have some doubts about it, you can return to Karabakh or the surrounding regions only when your countrys government gets down to reality, abandons its unrealistic expectations from the talks outcome.

You want to live freely; you want to live in Karabakh. Believe me that the people of Karabakh, too, want to live in freedom on their historic homeland where they have a millennia-old legacy, and they do not want you to destroy that heritage.

You know very well why some regions of Azerbaijan came under the control of Nagorno-Karabakhs self-defense forces. You know that the Karabakhi people just held a referendum in a civilized manner and appealed to the USSR Supreme Soviet to hand over the autonomous region of Nagorno-Karabakh from Azerbaijan to Armenia in the manner prescribed by the then applicable law of the Soviet Union.

Instead, the Azerbaijani authorities tried to squeeze Karabakh peoples legitimate demands and wishes. By the way, I must say that at that time all European structures had a very positive attitude as they stated: Yes, Nagorno-Karabakh has the right to self-determination. Unfortunately, honey is not served out in war. I hate the war. But it turned out that we had to create a security zone to protect ourselves.

Once again, I would like reiterate from this reputable podium that we are prepared for a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue should you show good sense - I do not mean the people of Azerbaijan, I mean the leadership of Azerbaijan - and actually proceed to negotiations realizing that the problem can only be resolved through compromises. I do not want to take time off; I just want to say that it is time to sober up.

Yerevan has 2800 years of history; the Armenians have been living in their historic homeland for over 5,000 years now, and Azerbaijanis or other peoples can not break the will of the Armenian people. Thank you for your questionnaire.

Ian Bremmer, President and Founder of Eurasia Group

-Mr. Prime Minister and Mr. President it actually the same question for both of you, which is: We are in 2018 and we know what the challenges are, if we would come back in a year or two and suddenly found out that the same panel actually feels a lot better about the relations between Russia and Europe and the countries in-between. What is the one thing you think really needs to happen or could happen that would allow us to have a better outcome of this panel.

- I believe, I am rather convinced that discussions like this will take place one year, two years later, but if I happen to attend such a discussion, I am sure that I will loudly state that the relations between Russia, the United States and the EU have become very constructive should they help us resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh problem. This would be a very important factor. As I noticed, this is perhaps one of the few points to which the United States, the European Union and Russia have common approaches. This would provide a precedent - evidence not only for the Armenians, Azerbaijanis, but also for the entire world.

President and founder of Eurasia Group Jan Bremer

- By the way, the Russians and Turks have come to love each other again. So you have more opportunities.

- Yes, I know that our opportunities are increasing every year, because the world is beginning to understand how much the Armenians are tolerant and in what difficult geopolitical conditions they are living.

Our problem is not only Azerbaijan; we have a problem with Turkeys support of Azerbaijan. And I have to state that Azerbaijan is lulling itself into a false sense of Armenias isolation. It is myth, nothing but myth, things stand otherwise. If Armenia had been isolated, it would not have boasted a higher average salary than Azerbaijan, which has so much oil, gas and other resources. I can cite other indicators as well, but I am confident that we can not just be isolated.YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 19, ARMENPRESS. The ministry of emergency situations told Armenpress that on February 19 as of 08:15 the roads are mainly passable in Armenia.

Precipitation from time to time is expected in most of the regions at night of February 19. On February 20-23 no precipitation is expected.

The Vardenyats Pass is closed. Sotk-Karvachar highway is difficult to pass.

Snowfalls hit the highways of Ararat, Kotayk provinces, Talin, Gavar, Vardenis towns.

All drivers are urged to use winter tires.

The Stepantsminda-Lars highway is open for all types of vehicles.YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 19, ARMENPRESS. Literature, book are our close friends and relatives. They open new horizons for us, enable us to recognize the world, complex human relationships, teach us to love, dream and fight. February 19, the birthday of renowned Armenian poet Hovhannes Tumanyan, is celebrated in Armenia as the Book Giving Day aimed at increasing the interest and love towards books.

The holiday was introduced in Armenia since 2008 thanks to the initiative of late President of the Writers Union of Armenia Levon Ananyan.

Culture minister Armen Amiryan told Armenpress that he hasnt yet decided what books he are going to give, but added that on that day he will visit the National Children's Library named after Khnko Aper to participate in the 14th traditional Yerevan Book fair for children. I will choose any book for children and on that day I will read a fairy tale for kids, the minister said.

According to him, this holiday is very important to once again draw the attention of our public to the book, book publishing and to attract towards the writers in general. I think in this sense more is needed to be done than the Book holiday and giving books to each other. More large-scale events can be held in this regard, he added.

Giving books to each other already becomes a very good tradition in Armenia.

According to the decision of the Armenian government, the culture ministry and the Writers Union of Armenia every year distribute books, which were published by the state assistance and were not sold, between the libraries of provinces and communities, as well as those of Artsakh and Javakheti.



YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 19, ARMENPRESS. The Israeli military delivered an airstrike at an underground infrastructure of Gaza Strip in response to a February 18 shelling, the Israeli Armed Forces said on Twitter.

A short while ago, in response to the rocket that was launched at Israel earlier today, IAF fighter jets targeted underground infrastructure in the southern Gaza Strip, the Israeli military said.

Hamas is responsible for everything happening in the Gaza Strip, above and below ground, the Israeli Army said.YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 19, ARMENPRESS. The Kurdish Peoples Self Defense Forces will give up several positions to the Syrian Army in Afrin and in bordering areas with Turkey, Firat reported.

According to the report, Syrian governmental forces will be deployed to Afrin within the next 48 hours. The deployment was agreed during negotiations in Aleppo.

Kurds demand the Syrian government to provide air defense in Afrin, which is being attacked by the Turkish air force.

There are no official confirmations from Damascus about the deployment yet.

Earlier on February 14 Syria said it is doing all necessary steps to withstand the Turkish aggression.

In January 2018, the Turkish military began an operation in the Kurdish-majority Afrin Canton and the Tel Rifaat Area of Shahba Canton in Northern Syria. Turkey code-named the operation as Operation Olive Branch. In the pretext of fighting terror, Turkey is actually targeting the Kurdish population.YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 19, ARMENPRESS. Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov says the gunman who attacked a church in Dagestan has nothing to do with Islam.

I can say certainly that the criminal and his sponsors, if such, dont have anything to do with Islam neither directly, nor indirectly. Northern Caucasus always stood out with close cooperation of Muslims and Christians, Kadyrov said on Telegram, vowing to stop all similar attempts of Russias enemies.

Five women have been killed and 4 others wounded as a gunman opened fire at churchgoers in Kizlyar, a small town in Dagestan, Russia.

SWAT teams neutralized the suspect, who was identified as 22 year old Khalil Khalilov.

According to SITE Intelligence Group, ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attack.YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 19, ARMENPRESS. The Munich Security Conference was an opportunity to present Armenias main foreign policy priorities, talk about the regional threats, present-reaffirm the stances of the Armenian side on a number of issues at quite a famous platform, Tigran Abrahamyan  adviser to the President of Artsakh, told Armenpress, commenting on the speech of the Armenian President at Munich and the main emphasis highlighted by him at the conference.

In particular, after the signing of the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement with the EU the transition of the relations to a qualitatively new level signaled a launch of a new process. For many years and also before the signing of the agreement many were skeptical about this process, believing that the level of relations between Armenia and Russia, as well as Armenias presence at the Eurasian Economic Union can seriously hinder launching quite an ambitious process with the European Union, he said.

Secondly, Azerbaijan prepares for elections, which, according to Tigran Abrahamyan, supposed toughening of state propaganda policy, especially when the Azerbaijani President makes territorial claims towards the territories of the Republic of Armenia. According to him, this was a good chance to deliver these processes, their possible risks and consequences to the international audience and to make these a subject of discussion in general.

Yes, President Serzh Sargsyan in his speech stated that the Azerbaijani President made that statement in the context of pre-election campaign, but it doesnt mean that it doesnt contain serious threats, especially when its not the first case that Azerbaijani President makes claims towards Armenias territory in his statements. The statements from Azerbaijan will gradually strengthen before the presidential election, the number of such statements will drastically increase, maybe, we will see the affects of these statements in the frontline, but no matter that these statements are being made in the pre-election context, the level of danger from Azerbaijan expected from this doesnt decrease, Tigran Abrahamyan said, adding that in such statements the Azerbaijani President demonstrates honesty, openly speaks about his countrys real intentions, which, of course, we know, but this should be a clear message to the international community.

Its not accidental that the Armenian President considered it important to talk about the consequences of not commenting on these statements since it was due to the silence of the international community, the inability to clearly assess the situation and why not, also being indifferent which led Azerbaijan to launch military operations in April 2016 at several directions of the frontline.

The silence of international community can lead to a new tension since in most cases Azerbaijan by such statements also touches the sentiments of the international community and especially the mediator countries. We should learn lessons from Azerbaijans political behavior and prevent on time the ideas and plans going to its adventure, Tigran Abrahamyan said.

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan delivered speech at the Munich Security Conference during the panel discussion titled Inside or Outside: Countries between Russia and Europe.

Anna GziryanYEREVAN, FEBRUARY 19, ARMENPRESS. A snow city is planned to be built near Yeghnik Mountain in Jermuk, Vayots Dzor, local official Vardan Hovhannisyan told ARMENPRESS.

Speaking about tourism boosting initiatives, Mr. Hovhannisyan said they are working on different projects, with events dedicated to the Francophonie 2018 summit coming up.

We have other projects also, for example  we designed a development plan with Swiss colleagues, under which we can receive nearly 100,000 tourists. We are planning to build a new snow city near Yeghnik Mountain, which will resemble the city of Avoriaz, France, he said.

He added that the citys spas are boosting local tourism.

According to him, most of the tourists in Jermuk come from Russia, France, Canada and the United States.YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 19, ARMENPRESS. Director of the National Security Service Georgi Kutoyan held a meeting with Sergey Naryshkin, director of Russias Foreign Intelligence Service. The delegation of Mr. Naryshkin has arrived in Armenia on a visit.

During the meeting the sides discussed the fight against international terrorism and transnational crime.YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 19, ARMENPRESS. US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says he doesnt care about rumors that soon he will get fired.

Such things dont bother me. I am here to serve my country. I am loyal to my president, my word is my guarantee, I signed up for this, therefore I am in office. This remains unchanged no matter who says what, Tillerson said for CBS 60 minutes.

Earlier in January Tillerson said in an interview to CNN that he will remain in office in 2018. Tillerson confessed that he and president Trump have different styles, and he has to take this into consideration while interacting with the President.YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 19, ARMENPRESS. Survivors of the Parkland school shooting in Florida, USA will gather to rally in Washington D.C. and other cities to demand gun control in the country.

The rallies will begin from March 24, a student of a Florida school told CNN.

A gunman unleashed horror at his former high school in South Florida on Wednesday, authorities said, slaughtering at least 17 unsuspecting students and adults.

The suspect, Nikolas Cruz, 19, gunned down victims with a rifle at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland shortly before 3 p.m. after he allegedly activated a fire alarm, sending people outside unaware of what was to come, officials said.YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 19, ARMENPRESS. The 13th session of the Intergovernmental Commission of TRACECA (Europe-Caucasus-Asia international transportation corridor) will be held in Yerevan on March 5-6 within the frames of Armenias chairmanship at the Commission, the ministry of transport, communication and IT told Armenpress.

Armenia is a member of the TRACECA program since 1993.

The upcoming Yerevan event will be attended by high-ranking officials of nearly 13 countries participating in the TRACECA program, embassies of TRACECA member-states in Armenia, representatives of the TRACECA Intergovernmental Commissions permanent secretariat and international organizations, as well as top officials of the European Commission.

During the session the TRACECA master plan and the Intergovernmental Commissions 2016-2026 action plan for implementation of Europe-Asia-Caucasus international transportation corridors development strategy are expected to be approved. A number of other programs will also be approved.

During the session the elections of the secretary general of the Permanent Secretariat will be held, as well as issues relating to financing and holding the next session of the Intergovernmental Commission will be discussed.YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 19, ARMENPRESS. Israels opposition is determined to continue seeking the countrys recognition of the Armenian Genocide.

On February 14, opposition party Yesh Atid president Yair Apid introduced a resolution in the Israeli Parliament for debate to recognize the Armenian Genocide, but the bill did not gain enough votes for passing  with 41 lawmakers voting against, and 28 voting in favor.

"We will keep fighting to officially recognize the Armenian Genocide because it is the right and moral thing to do, Yair Zivan  spokesperson for the Yesh Atid party told ARMENPRESS in an exclusive commentary.

During debates of the bill Mr. Lapid had said : There is no reason for the Knesset [Israeli parliament] which represents a country which went through the Holocaust, not to recognize the Armenian Genocide and not to have a commemoration day.

It was the first time that an Armenian Genocide bill was introduced for debates at the plenary session of the Israeli parliament.

Earlier in 2016 the education affairs committee of the Knesset had recognized the Armenian Genocide.

Araks KasyanYEREVAN, FEBRUARY 19, ARMENPRESS. The speech by Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan at the Munich Security Conference and the main points highlighted by him are under the international media spotlight, reports Armenpress.

According to foreign media reports, Armenia is a successful example of uniting different integration processes and contributing to the cooperation between the West and Russia.

The German Deutsche Welle starts the article with the following note: Eastern Europe and Central Asia have been caught between western Europe and Russia since the Cold War ended. The collapse of communism and the Soviet Union in the 1990s meant momentous change for eastern Europe and Central Asia. But countries in both regions have since found themselves in a state of limbo between Moscow and Brussels, Deutsche Welle writes, stating that some panelists at the Munich Security Conference were relatively optimistic about both regions, not only for the countries caught in the middle but also for Russia and the EU.

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said his country had learned that "geopolitical competition bears nothing good," noting that only by "combining interests" with other countries could everyone ensure progress.

The question, Sargsyan said, wasn't about being caught between two political forces. Instead, it was about finding areas where Armenia's interests overlapped with those of Russia and the EU: "Only through cooperation can we cope with the times, Deutsche Welle quoted the Presidents words.

The Russian TASS highlighted President Serzh Sargsyans words according to which the efforts of Russia, France and the US for peace and security in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement are a successful example of cooperation.

The efforts aimed at settling the Nagorno Karabakh conflict can serve an example on how Russia, the EU and the US can positively combine their positions for the sake of international peace and security. Our desire is for such commonalities to be more frequently demonstrated, TASS quoted the Armenian Presidents speech.

TASS also touched upon Azerbaijans position on NK conflict which the Armenian President called as a flagrant violation of the Helsinki spirit. The news agency also touched upon President Serzh Sargsyans comment on the statement of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev who called Yerevan as a historical Azerbaijani land. President Aliyev uttered territorial claims reaching as far as Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, calling it a historically Azerbaijani territory - nothing but delirium - which can have serious consequences if Europe turns a blind eye to it, Serzh Sargsyan said.

The Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in particular focused on the question of the secretary of the Azerbaijani embassy and the Armenian Presidents concrete responses. The RFE/RL writes as the Azerbaijani embassys official packed both commentary and questions into his turn at the mic, the host of the panel -- Ian Bremmer, founder of the Eurasia Group political risk consultancy -- intervened in an effort to let President Sargsyan reply.

The Armenian President advised the Azerbaijani side to give up on their unrealistic expectations concerning the Nagorno Karabakh. You want to live freely. I assure you, the people of Karabakh want to live freely, too. They want to live in their historical land, the RFE/EL quoted the Presidents words.

The news agency also states that President Serzh Sargsyan defended the NK peoples right to hold referendum in a civilized way, adding that no one can break the will of the Armenian people.YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 19, ARMENPRESS. As the country is celebrating Book Giving Day, President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan visited the Bookinist bookstore in Yerevan, where he met with executives of several publishing homes.

The President met with Mkrtich Karapetyan from Edit Print, Sokrat Mkrtchyan from Zangak, Armen Martirosyan from Antares and Khachik Vardanyan from Bookinist.

At the tea table meeting the President and the publishing home executives discussed latest achievements and existing issues of book publishing, and talked about the work as result of state-public sector cooperation for the improvement of book publishing, sales, libraries and bookstores.

The publishers presented their proposals to the President, and Sargsyan promised to discuss them with those in charge and find new opportunities for being useful to the sector.

Prior to the meeting, the President and the participants of the event congratulated each other on the occasion of poet Hovhannes Tumanyans birthday and Book Giving Day.

The President noted that this good tradition, the Book Giving Day, is indeed one of the best ways of celebrating the great poets birthday. Participants of the event exchanged books as gifts afterwards.

The Presidents choice as a gift was Civilization - The West and the Rest by British historian Niall Ferguson, which he gave to the participants of the event.

Books received by the president as a gift included the Encyclopedia of Knowledge, History of Armenian Arts, The Man Without Qualities by Austrian writer Robert Musil, Antoine de Saint-Exuperys The Little Prince, John Greens The Fault in Our Stars and others.

The President later toured the bookstore.YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 19, ARMENPRESS. Expert on Turkish studies Ruben Safrastyan, commenting on the speech of Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan at the Munich Security Conference, highlights the point that at the current circumstances the Armenian-Turkish protocols have lost their significance.

In an interview with ARMENPRESS, Safrastyan said the Armenian President clearly stated that the Armenian-Turkish protocols, which were signed by his initiative, reflected the realities of that times, but in current conditions they have lost their significance. This was a very important emphasis since really that protocols have lost their meaning in current conditions, the expert said.

Ruben Safrastyan said the President in his speech very clearly noted that Armenia remains committed to normalizing the bilateral inter-state relations with Turkey without any preconditions, but the Turkish leadership, in fact, continues its ancient policy it chose against Armenia, in other words, that is the policy of preconditions. The second key point is that it was stated that the leadership of Turkey made a decision not to normalize the relations with Armenia, but quoting Azerbaijan is just an excuse used by the Turkish leadership who do not have a desire to normalize the relations with Armenia, Ruben Safrastyan said.

The expert also attached importance to the fact that the Armenian President stated that Armenia took a lot of steps to normalize the relations with Turkey as those who were opposing the protocols comprised large number especially in the Diaspora. However, the expert said, the Turkish side refused from these protocols.

The Armenian President in his remarks at the Munich Security Conference said thirty years have passed since the fall of the Berlin wall, but Turkey still continues to keep the border with Armenia closed. He said with confidence that Armenia has taken all the possible measures in order to overcome that impasse.

Is Azerbaijan preventing Turkey from establishing relations with Armenia, as many are trying to convince us? No, it is not the case. The chief impediment is the lack of political will on the part of the Turkish leadership.

I believe you may be aware that many representatives of the Armenian diaspora were not too happy about that decision of ours. It was natural, as they were successors of survivors of the Genocide and of homeland dispossession. I travelled around the globe back then, met with our brothers and sisters in the Diaspora, community after community, and discussed with them this very sensitive issue.

Have the Turkish leaders displayed such political will? Have they been faithful to the commitments they had signed up to?

We cannot wait eternally for Turkey's response. The Protocols were negotiated under the existing circumstances. If Turkey desires to await other circumstances and only then to ratify the Protocols, then it is profoundly mistaken. Under potential new circumstances, a new document is to be negotiated. Armenia does not resort to the language of preconditions, but equally, Armenia shall never accept preconditions put forth by anyone, the President said.YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 19, ARMENPRESS. A number of creative competitions, exhibition-fairs were held in Armenia aimed at promoting reading and publishing, reports Armenpress.

Assistance has started to be provided to foreign publishers aimed at publishing and disseminating the Armenian classical and contemporary literature.

The Book Yerevan festival was held for the first time on November 24-26, 2017. A creative competition was held on the sidelines of the festival. 132 writers submitted applications for participation. Two writers received awards in 4 nominations for book publishing.

An exhibition-fair of books was organized in the former building of the foreign ministry, as well as reading of books, presentations, master classes, discussions and musical performances were held.

In 2017 the book bus of the National Library of Armenia toured Yerevan, Armavir, Kotayk, Aragatsotn, Ararat and Lori provinces. In 2018 one more mobile library-book store will be acquired by the assistance of the Chinese embassy which will operate attached to the Shirak regional library.

Programs on assisting the publishers are also being implemented. Under the 2017 budget assistance was provided for the publication of 13 books which will be released in 2018.

A total of about 400.000 books were published by the order and assistance of the culture ministry in 2008-2017. Most of them were provided to libraries.

The digitization program of collections in the National Library of Armenia launched in 2011. As of now, 4.612.788 pages of books and periodicals were digitized. They are on the website of the National Library with free access.YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 19, ARMENPRESS. Artsakhs minister of foreign affairs Masis Mayilyan expects the expansion of the office and monitoring capacities of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson in Office.

The 2016 April war demonstratively showed that in the current phase in the Azerbaijan-Karabakh conflict the strengthening of the ceasefire regime and ensuring irreversibility of the peaceful process is a priority task. In this context our expectations for 2018 are mainly associated with expansion of monitoring capacities and the office of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson in Office. We believe the next step must be a discussion for a more substantial result of ceasefire violation investigation mechanisms, the minister said at a press conference when asked about the ministrys expectations over the negotiations process.

According to Mayilyan, stability and security in the line of contact will have a multiplying effect on the whole settlement process.

In particular, the minister says it will enable to avoid human losses, thus the main source of tension between the societies of the conflicting sides will disappear.

In turn, this will create favorable conditions for implementing actions aimed at restoring trust between the sides. This will provide a more constructive atmosphere for advancing the negotiations process, he said.

At the same time, we consider the expansion of the office of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson in Office and monitoring capacities rather realistic, of course in case of a political will from the Azerbaijani side, he said.YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 19, ARMENPRESS. Vice Speaker of Parliament Eduard Sharmazanov held a meeting on February 19 with students of the Yerevan State University, the State University of Economics and the State Academy of Administration, who are on internship in the Parliament.

Ideas over the countrys domestic and foreign political processes have been presented during the meeting. The students were eager to ask numerous questions to Mr. Sharmazanov, namely regarding the relations between the ruling party and the opposition, boosting of tourism, diplomatic actions of Armenia in the international arena and partnership with the Diaspora.

Speaking about the settlement process of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict and the Armenian-Turkish relations, Sharmazanov stressed that President Serzh Sargsyan has clearly mentioned at the Munich Security Conference that Armenia initiated the Armenian-Turkish protocol process without preconditions, whereas Turkey took the path of denialism and preconditions.

We want to live in a peaceful and stable region, but we will never allow any other state to speak to us in a language of preconditions. We will continue the international recognition process of the Armenian Genocide and the fight against Turkish denialism, Sharmazanov said.

The Vice Speaker stressed that Artsakh will never be part of Azerbaijan because the people of Artsakh are ready to fight for independence and freedom until the end.

Sharmazanov said that Azerbaijan cannot speak about historic lands, because first of all it has to have history.

Londons Arsenal is 32 years older than the state of Azerbaijan, Sharmazanov said.YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 19, ARMENPRESS. Konstantin Kosachev, Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Federation Council of Russia, says the Armenian President Serzh Sargsyans speech at Munich Security Conference on February 16-18 was one of the most important speeches of the conference relating to security issues which was distinguished by its constructivism and balance.

The discussion, which was attended by the Armenian President, the Moldovan Prime Minister, Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy & Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn and me, was one of the examples that the agenda of the Munich conference becomes more comprehensive and starts presenting different views, and such tendency can just be welcomed. I have expressed my sincere gratitude to Serzh Sargsyan for his perfect speech as he had his constructive contribution to the discussion, made a balanced and responsible analysis on what is happening now in Armenia and on regional relations in general, as well as in a more global context where Armenia undoubtedly plays its unique role. Without exaggeration his speech was focused and was under the attention, he told Armenpress.

Konstantin Kosachev said the conference participants were focused on Armenias multivector policy, in other words, the experience by which Armenia combines its participation in the EAEU and EU integration processes.

This is really perhaps the only and unique case, he said, recalling Ukraines experience. The same didnt happen in case of Armenia, and this agreement was made in accordance with Armenias interests with its whole cooperation range taking into account also its obligations in the EAEU. This is the example on how it is possible to act by finding a solution to hard and perhaps quite delicate matters by normal and constructive way. In 2012-2013, before the Ukrainian crisis, we proposed the EU and Ukraine to organize a similar discussion to avoid some contradictions: that time the EU gave us tough response stating that it is not a subject of discussion, it is the internal problem of that relations, but we all know what this resulted in, the Russian official said, stating that it only can be welcomed that Armenia runs a right policy on the way of cooperation with different integration structures.

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan delivered speech at the Munich Security Conference touching upon Armenias foreign policy, as well as a number of regional issues.

Syuzi MuradyanYEREVAN, FEBRUARY 19, ARMENPRESS. Armenian President Serzh Sargsyans speech at the Munich Security Conference was the preface to the cancellation of the Armenian-Turkish protocols, Editor-in-Chief of "Azdak" daily Shahan Gantaharian told Armenpress.

The speech at Munich completely contradicted Turkey to European values. Issues were presented over blockade, closed borders, non-ratification of the protocols and talking with the language of preconditions. The President stated that Yerevan demonstrated an initiative to normalize the Armenian-Turkish relations, contrary to the sharp sensitivity formed in the Diaspora since the Diaspora-Armenians were deprived of their homeland, they are the descendants of the Genocide survivors, he said. Yerevan took that step, but Turkey didnt. Ankara prolonged the ratification process of the protocols by trying to talk to Armenia with the language of preconditions at that period.

In this context Shahan Gantaharian highlighted the fact that the Armenian President talked about the new document.

If later there are talks to normalize the relations with Ankara, a new document will be needed. Armenia doesnt put forward a precondition and will not allow to talk with preconditions. Today the conditions have changed, Armenia is an EAEU member state and signed the comprehensive and enhanced partnership agreement with the EU. Armenia receives an opportunity of a land bridge between the Persian Gulf and the Black Sea by receiving opportunities to act as a bridge. The closure of the border by Turkey no longer has the previous significance. Armenia assumes new geopolitical, regional role. Yes, the conditions changed, a new document is needed, he said.

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan on February 17 delivered speech at the Munich Security Conference, touching upon Armenias foreign policy and a number of regional issues.YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 19, ARMENPRESS. Speaker of Parliament of Armenia Ara Babloyan extended condolences to Irans Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani on the Tehran-Yasuj plane crash.

Dear colleague,

With deep sorrow we learnt about the crash of the Tehran-Yasuj flight, which claimed numerous lives, Mr. Babloyan said in the letter.

On behalf of the Armenian parliament, the Speaker offered sympathies and condolences to Mr. Larijani, the families of the victims and the good people of Iran.

66 people on board a Aseman Airlines passenger plane that crashed Sunday in a mountainous region of Iran have been killed.

The ATR plane operated by Aseman Airlines disappeared from radar screens some 20 minutes after take-off from Tehran, local media said.

The aircraft operating a domestic flight crashed in the Kohangan Village near the Padena region, 120 Km from Semirom in Isfahan Province. According to preliminary reports the plane attempted an emergency landing in farm fields before it crashed.

The plane was carrying 60 passengers and 6 crew members.YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 19, ARMENPRESS. The Republican Partys candidate for president Mr. Armen Sarkissian continues his pre-electoral period meetings with political forces, national structures, organizations and civil society representatives.

As part of foreign trips, Mr. Sarkissian met the Armenian community of Belgium on February 19.

Executives of two dozen organizations and structures and representatives of the community took part in the meeting.

Mr. Sarkissians office told ARMENPRESS that during the meeting the Belgian-Armenians presented their ideas to the presidential candidate regarding the future of Armenia, and touched upon the Diasporas involvement in various programs.

Speaking about his vision on Armenias future, Armen Sarkissian said the development and modernization of the educational sector is a priority.

Mr. Sarkissian spoke about the relations between Armenia and the Diaspora and highlighted a more efficient and mutually beneficial cooperation.

Earlier in January Armen Sarkissian, Armenias Ambassador to the United Kingdom, was offered by incumbent President Serzh Sargsyan, who also serves as President of the countrys ruling Republican Party (HHK), to be the partys candidate for the upcoming presidential elections. Sarkissian initially requested a brief period of time for pondering the offer, and in the meanwhile held various meetings with political parties, civil society representatives, Diaspora structures and others - subsequently taking the offer and agreeing to be nominatedYEREVAN, FEBRUARY 19, ARMENPRESS. Deputy Police Chief of Yerevan Artak Poghosyan has presented details over the armed assault that took place in the Baghramyan 56 branch of VTB Bank in Yerevan. ARMENPRESS correspondent informs from the scene that Artak Poghosyan told there were two attackers. They rushed into the bank and dwmanded money with the threat to use weapons. Its not known that how much money they took with them. AT the moment the bank staff are checking the amount, Poghosyan said.

He added that the attackers have managed to flee and are still in freedom.

There were customers inside the bank when the criminals entered, but they were not robbed.YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 19, ARMENPRESS. The European Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy (EAFJD) welcomes the initiative of sixteen Members of the European Parliament (MEP), led by Danish MEP Anders Primdahl Vistisen (ECR), to address a written question to the European Commission and the EU High Representative Federica Mogherini, asking why the EU Special Representatives for the South Caucasus and Georgia (EUSR) and other EU officials have never visited Nagorno Karabakh/Artsakh, despite having the legal basis to do so, ARMENPRESS was informed from the official website of the EAFJD.

The MEPs are also asking how the Vice President of the Commission and the EU High Representative has taken the voice of the people of Nagorno Karabakh into consideration, since this is essential in the peace process.

Although there is no relevant basis in international law, Azerbaijan has created a so-called blacklist, which it has been using to blackmail in particular Western politicians and public figures so as to prevent them from visiting Nagorno Karabakh. In its policy of total isolation of the people of Nagorno Karabakh, the Azerbaijani Government has been using all possible means, trying to hinder any involvement of international organizations in Nagorno Karabakh, especially on the level democracy-building, education and economic development.

Of course, the OSCE Minsk group is the official international mediator accepted by the conflict parties. Nevertheless, as a soft power the European Union can and should do more to contribute to the peace process in Nagorno Karabakh /Artsakh, said EAFJD President Kaspar Karampetian.

Karampetian further elaborated: It is encouraging that the European Union implements humanitarian and education programs in other conflict areas in the region, such as South Ossetia and Abkhazia. But we still have no explanation why the EU has failed to do so in Artsakh or listen to the people living there.

The fact that so many MEPs from all political groups in the European parliament have raised these questions, shows that EU lawmakers have become more aware of the ongoing social and economic isolation of the people of Artsakh and have started questioning the passive attitude of the EU. These questions are also important in order to understand the reasons why EU officials have avoided visiting Nagorno Karabakh, despite the fact that it is the best way to gain first-hand information, concluded the EAFJD President.

The EAFJD will be following the response of the EU High Representative, which is due in about 6 weeks at the latest.YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 19, ARMENPRESS. TUMO center for creative technologies has received the Chairman's award for contributing to the mission of Fulfilling the Promise of the Digital Age in the 2018 Global ICT Excellence Awards run by WITSA's World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT)., reports ARMENPRESS.

TUMO is proud to present Armenias IT sphere and education in such major international platforms, and attracting the attention of leading companies and specialists on our country and its youth. We hope this victory will further foster the recognition and appreciation of Armenian projects in international IT arena, reads the press release of the center.

The World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT) is the largest and the most reputable international event among worldwide IT leaders.

It brings together high-level officials from different countries, heads of multinational organizations, universities and scientific research centers, non-governmental organizations representatives and many more.

The event includes discussions of legal, political and economic trends affecting IT business processes, presentations of innovative solutions, B2B meetings and so on.

The WCIT has been held since 1978.

Armenia has been approved as the hosting country for WCIT 2019 during the meeting of the WITSAs board of directors at WCIT 2014 Mexico.This article originally ran in the February 2018 issue; click here to see the digital edition.

CYBERSPACEIn the last few years several states, starting with Colorado, have made the decision to legalize recreational marijuana in some form. More than a dozen others have legalized medical marijuana already, and nearly every state has taken steps to decriminalize or reduce the priority of prosecuting marijuana use except in cases that involve significant illegal quantities, involvement with minors or other serious infractions of the broader legal framework. All of that has led to a burgeoning cannabis industry in the United States that is generating billions of dollars in profits and bringing in significant tax revenue for the states that allow it  and now it may be about to change due to a renewed threat of federal prosecutions.

Its no secret that there has been a crossover of talented marketing professionals and entrepreneurs from porn to cannabis. Many have taken what they learned online and offline slinging hardcore sex for the masses from the blue side of vice to the green side with plenty of success. So much in fact that this time last year AVN hosted a standing-room crowd for a panel discussion at Internext in Las Vegas to specifically discuss the crossover and to help entrepreneurs learn more about the many paths to making a profit by straddling the line between both verticals.

This article was intended to continue that discussion with several well-known and often outspoken people who are currently working in cannabis and porn, until a report became public that United States Attorney General Jeff Sessions is now rolling back the Obama era guidelines against federal prosecution of marijuana activities that are legal within the boundaries of each governing state.

Sessions announced the major change in policy on January 4 with a one-page memo that should be read by anyone interested in marketing marijuana. The memo states: Given the Departments well-established general principles, previous nationwide guidance specific to marijuana enforcement is unnecessary and is rescinded, effective immediately.

During the Obama era, the feds never legalized any form of marijuana. It remains completely illegal according to statutory law of the federal government. However, in 2013, Obamas Justice Department made it clear that it had no intention of prosecuting anyone who was in compliance with the local and state laws of their jurisdiction. A sort of dont ask, dont tell compromise that allowed marijuana business to flourish without taking on the political fight of trying to make it legal on the federal level.

In August of 2016 the Drug Enforcement Administration rejected a petition to remove marijuana from its place on the Schedule I list of most dangerous drugs. Presently, cannabis continues to be listed alongside heroin and other heavy drugs with the steepest federal penalties as a narcotic that has no beneficial properties  even as a growing number of medical professionals continue to laud the use of marijuana as everything from an anti-inflammatory pain medication, to an anti-seizure med or an appetite enhancement tool for people suffering through chemotherapy or eating disorders.

The result has been an arsenal of prosecutorial tools at the ready, including jail sentences, fines, seizure of assets and anything else the government might use to go after a global heroin cartel  shelved and kept dormant by the simple promise of the former Attorney General not to use any of that in instances where the cannabis was being used or sold in compliance with local laws. In Obamas own words, the government mindset was simply that we have bigger fish to fry.

This new memo from the current Attorney General undoes all of that. It does not require prosecutions, but it does instruct federal prosecutors to use their own discretion. According to a report on Buzzfeed, Senior Justice Department officials stressed that they wanted U.S. attorneys, who are assigned to districts around the country, to use their discretion to determine whether someone should face federal charges for a marijuana offense.

Coupling this empowerment of federal prosecutorial discretion with the numerous examples and reports of many grossly incompetent appointees being installed by the current administration and you suddenly have the real threat of legally incompetent minds wielding a horrific amount of criminal power.

Along with these developments on the cannabis legal landscape are parallel threats of prosecution on the porn side of the equation as well. During Sessions confirmation hearings in Congress he went so far as to say of the Justice Departments long shuttered Obscenity Prosecution Task Force: That unit has been disbanded. Im not sure I knew that, but it was a part of the Department of Justice for a long time and I would consider [reviving it].

That means anyone operating in porn and cannabis is simultaneously wearing a target on their back and chest as far as the current Attorney General is concerned. Given that fact it should not be surprising that many who were contacted to provide quotes for this article were only willing to do so off the record. None were willing to be named in the article, and two who had previously given quotes later contacted me to rescind them prior to publication when they saw this memo published.

When asked if they would be willing to take part in a marijuana panel at an upcoming trade show, similar to the one AVN hosted at Internext in 2017, each gave a reply that amounted to saying not right now, and definitely not until things cool off again.

Political blowback is also already underway. In Colorado, for example, the Republican U.S. senator from that state, Cory Gardner, pledged that he would oppose any move by Sessions and his own Republican Party to curtail state marijuana legalization. This reported action directly contradicts what Attorney General Sessions told me prior to his confirmation. With no prior notice to Congress, the Justice Department has trampled on the will of the voters in CO and other states, Gardner posted on his Twitter account. I am prepared to take all steps necessary, including holding DOJ nominees, until the Attorney General lives up to the commitment he made to me prior to his confirmation.

More importantly, public support for legalization continues to gain momentum with very widespread support across all party lines. An October 25 Gallup Poll found that 64 percent of Americans favor the legalization of marijuana.

That makes the midterm elections of 2018 even more important, and even more interesting. On November 6 of this year, all 435 seats in the United States House of Representatives and 33 of the 100 seats in the United States Senate will be contested. Add to that 39 state and territorial governorships along with many other state and local elections up for grabs.

At this moment the Republican Party controls 52 of the 100 seats in Congress. Orrin Hatch of Utah has announced he will retire and it is largely expected by experts that Trump enemy Mitt Romney is the favorite to win that seat. And in California, Republican incumbents Ed Royce and Darrell Issa announced they would not be running to hold their seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. Just a few more changing hands would eviscerate Republican legislative power. It would take only 24 seat changes in the House of Representatives to swing that body away from Republican control as well.

AG Sessions and the rest of the Republican party may live to regret their decision to overlook public consent by the majority of Americans on pot and porn issues ranging from marijuana legalization to net neutrality if on Election Day the Democrats regain control of Congress and a relaxing bong-hit is no longer available anywhere nearby.Now that it is fully apparent, to all who have the ability to pay some modicum of attention, that Imposter President Biden has extreme cognitive issues, in addition to being an inveterate liar: Can OUR Republic continue with this Executive Office that has completely failed, so many times, on far too many issues here at this early date in this abysmal presidency?

No, Joseph R. Biden is completely unqualified, morally and cognitively, to represent real Americans, and lead this Republic of disparate peoples.

Yes, Joseph R. Biden has started whispering again, even softer now than before; so, I know he still cares, plus, OUR media will soon stop reporting on Afghanistan in favor of OUR Socialist issues.Former Gov. Pat McCrory, a Republican, urged the General Assembly not to spend any money from a fund negotiated by his Democratic successor, Roy Cooper, and the Atlantic Coast Pipeline operators, saying the process for securing the money was tainted.In a phone interview the morning of Tuesday, Feb. 13, on WPTF-AM radio in Raleigh, McCrory said the $57.8 million fund was "both illegal and unconstitutional. You cannot ask for money in return for government action."The interview took place a couple of hours before the House overwhelmingly passed House Bill 90 , a measure - among other things - taking control of the pipeline funding and designating it for public schools in the eight counties in eastern North Carolina the pipeline would traverse. The Senate passed the measure last week.The Atlantic Coast Pipeline will move large volumes of natural gas over a 600-mile transmission line starting in West Virginia and ending in Robeson County. The four utilities operating the pipeline have secured most of the permits needed for construction and operation from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the state of Virginia. The state Department of Environmental Quality announced approval of the North Carolina segment of the pipeline in late January, a few minutes before the governor's office unveiled the pipeline fund.Cooper's budget office called the pipeline fund a "voluntary contribution" to an escrow fund the governor would control and not related to the permit process. A host of critics, including key lawmakers, McCrory, and his environmental secretary Donald van der Vaart have called it a "slush fund" operating outside the normal budget process.Monday, Feb. 12, the chairmen of the House and Senate rules committees sent a list of 15 questions to Lee Lilley , Cooper's legislative liaison and a former lobbyist for Dominion Energy, one of the pipeline's operators. The questions asked for details about the negotiations for the fund.That same day, McCrory called for an ethics investigation of the officials who negotiated the deal. He repeated his concerns in the WPTF interview, asking if the pipeline permits and the funding arrangement were negotiated by the same people at the same time. Who was involved? What was discussed? Was the transaction truly voluntary?McCrory said.he said.The business is about promoting heritage and passion, not pushing a cheap buzz

The ongoing effort to loosen rules and regulations on North Carolina distillers, brewers and winemakers isn't about alcohol.It's not about drinking, nor the promotion of it. Alcohol has poisoned bodies and relationships. It has decimated families and left lasting scars. I have some of my own.Someone asked me, considering my writing on the industry, what I've done to promote responsible drinking. I told her, first, I don't promote drinking, per se. I do, however, promote free markets, jobs, innovation and entrepreneurship. I think we should honor tradition and legacies - all legal, of course - without unwarranted government intrusion and noxious lists of guidelines, rules, codes, regulations, and laws.It isn't my place to tell adults how to live their lives or what to put into the bodies or how. It isn't yours, either. It's their freedom to choose, and the benefits or consequences of their choice is theirs to celebrate or to bear. That being said, I would suggest people drink within their means and to never drink and operate anything with a motor or even pedals.I do enjoy a good alcoholic beverage, whether that's a spirit, beer, or wine. I like the way it tastes and the way it smells. I enjoy its characteristics and complexities, and I think about how it was made and by whom. In all my years of visiting wineries and breweries and distilleries, I have never met a person who had too much and failed to realize it. At these places I have yet to meet an unfriendly, loud or outwardly obnoxious person. I'm not saying these people don't exist, but in a setting of a winery or brewery, they are anomalies.It's not about ethanol or about getting drunk. It's about community and sharing. Alcohol can even have some health benefits, but moderation, as in everything, is key. Drinking too much is wrongheaded, anti-social, and inexcusable. Government guidelines suggest no more than one drink per day for women and two for men. A glass of beer or wine and a jigger of liquor each contain the same amount. Remember, alcohol is alcohol, so there's no reason for prejudice here. Why they're treated differently is beyond me. As Prohibition proved, people are going to drink alcohol, regardless of whether it's legal or restricted.Large-scale producers of alcohol offer lip service to responsible drinking while pumping out tanker after tanker of cheap yet often tasteless and putrid liquid. They're serving a big U.S. market, for sure, and I wish them continued success. But these people aren't composed of craftsmen or artisans. Rather, they're mill workers, foremen and plant managers. Brands owned by billionaires from companies operating internationally and headquartered around the world, replete with high-paid lawyers and lobbyists and more marketing money than they can reasonably spend.It's time North Carolina lawmakers, specifically, begin to make the distinction and promote our state's history and people's passion to recognize and enhance it. People such as Jeremy Norris in Benson and Cody Bradford in Asheville. George Smith and Buck Nance in North Wilkesboro and Vann McCoy in Mount Airy. Todd and Suzie Ford and John Marrino in Charlotte. Bill Sherrill in Whitsett and Kristie and Patrik Nystedt in Raleigh. Frank Hobson and Charlie and Ed Shelton in the Yadkin Valley.As Rep. John Bradford, R-Mecklenburg, so poignantly said during the debate over Senate Bill 155,For North Carolina's craft distillers, brewers, and vintners, that's all it's about.Dennis Kucinich was once the youngest mayor of a major city in the US, leading Cleveland through a hard fight with the banks and mobbed-up city contractors to save its municipally owned power plants and kill a plan to privatize the city's energy; after decades in Congress, he's running for Democratic governor of Ohio (a state whose Republican leadership has shamelessly corrupted the state's electoral process) and promising to kill fracking and oil extraction, fund studies that will produce the evidence to sue Big Oil, and create jobs by funding a conversion of the state to renewable energy.



When asked about the economic concerns from the chamber, the candidate was blunt about the tradeoffs. "No one has taken the time to monetize the value of fresh water, but ask the people in Flint about that," he replied.





It is worth pointing out that Kucinich is not totally ambivalent about employment in the state of Ohio.





He is also campaigning on investments in public works projects  such as spending more money on basic infrastructure and constructing a statewide public broadband network.

In interviews with The Intercept, environmental activists in Ohio and across the country praised Kucinich's approach.

"We've already leased more fossil fuels than we can burn if we hope to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. Immediately ending all new production is the type of bold vision that we need," Friends of the Earth Senior Political Strategist Ben Schreiber told The Intercept. "For too long Big Oil has been used to benefit Big Oil and it is past time that it was used to actually help the American people."After a Friday night screening of Black Panther, Marvel's new film that celebrates African culture and pride, a group of South African moviegoers ecstatically danced outside of the theater.

That celebratory vibe was felt here in California too.

My daughter and I saw the movie in Alameda at its first showing Thursday evening and the energy in the room was wild! The theater was packed and there was lots of cheering and clapping all throughout the film.

Also here in the Bay Area, the film's director and co-writer Ryan Coogler surprised the audience before Friday night's show at Oakland's Grand Lake Theater (where lines wrapped around the block):

Surprise! #BlackPanther director/co-writer and #Oakland native shows up at screening! Tells a great story about going to movies w/his Dad pic.twitter.com/GTERwhMaJg  Kate Larsen (@KateABC7) February 16, 2018

Born and raised in Oakland, Coogler delighted more local fans by making surprise appearances at select movie premieres in San Francisco and Emeryville.

(reddit)News / National

by Staff reporter

FORMER finance minister Ignatius Chombo has been arrested again, this time for allegedly demanding a bribe from a fish farmer.Already facing several other corruption cases before the courts, Chombo was the first minister to be arrested after the ouster of former President Robert Mugabe's retirement.According to NewZimbabwe.com, he was dragged before Harare magistrate Victoria Mashamba Friday answering on fresh criminal abuse of office charges. The state did not oppose granting of bail.The complainant in the latest case is one Chargan Vithal Rama. It is state's case that Rama got a 60-year lease on a stand for fish farming in Chirundu expiring in 2054.Court heard that after making some developments worth $500,000 on the land, Rama ran out of money six years later and approached financial institutions for funding.However, he banks demanded surety in the form of title deeds for the land where he was carrying out his fish farming business.With the help of his brother Amrat who was the councillor in Chirundu, Rama reportedly approached Chombo in 2007 asking for the minister's help to secure deeds for the property.Court heard Chombo asked Rama to visit him so that they could discuss the issue.It is alleged that during the meeting, Chombo told Rama he would only get the deeds if he (the minister) was given a 25% share in the business.Rema reportedly rejected the minister's proposal. However, two years later in 2009, Chombo allegedly caused the withdrawal of Rama's lease.The minister allegedly instructed his subordinates to allocate Rama's land to another company identified as Glory Boost Pvt Ltd.Prosecutors say Chombo had no right to demand shares in the business, withdraw Rama's lease or allocate the farm to another company.Sebastin Mutizirwa prosecuted.News / National

by Staff reporter

Desperate Zimbabwean students on the presidential scholarship programme, faced with rising costs, are turning to prostitution, gambling and other dangerous pursuits to fund their studies, Parliament has been told.With part-time jobs scarce and the cost of living being squeezed with rising prices, MDC MP for Harare West Jessie Majome said young Zimbabwean students on the scholarship programme were taking desperate and dangerous measures to pay for their education as they struggled to make ends meet.Majome moved a motion in the National Assembly to push government to disburse funds for 460 students studying at a University in Algeria as a matter of urgency.The motion, which was seconded by Mutasa South MDC MP Trevor Saruwaka, seeks to force the minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development Amon Murwira to report to the House how he intends to rescue the stranded students.The motion urges the parliamentary portfolio committee on Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development to "urgently inquire into the status and living conditions of Zimbabwean students on bilateral scholarships in Algeria, Russia, Cyprus and other destinations and report its findings to the House."Majome told Parliament that there are 460 students as of December last year studying under the scholarship called the Zimbabwe-Algeria Bilateral Scholarship Programme."Since 2015, none of this $3 000 per year has been disbursed," Majome said, adding that "at the beginning of the year at the start of another semester, 60 more students were destined to join them.""I move this motion because I found myself receiving an email in my inbox from female students who were pleading  actually, they sent a heart-rending cry for help."I do not know where these students got my email address from. They are appealing for help so that disbursements can be made to them," Majome said.She read out some of the heartbreaking emails from female students who requested anonymity for fear of victimisation."For the academic year 2016-2017, we never received a single cent. For the current academic year, we have not received anything," the student allegedly wrote."We last received our stipends for the academic year 2015-2016 and only a quarter of it was paid.""We are suffering and now known as beggars. Our academic performance has gone bad. Our permits were written 'strictly education' and working is very illegal. We cannot work. Our Zimbabwean boys try to work in the construction industry sites where they receive $4 per day after working for a good nine hours. Sometimes they are arrested and mistaken as illegal immigrants."During the summer school holidays, the school facilities were closed and they are now in boarding houses. They must cook on their own and fend for themselves but because of that, they ended up using the little money they had."The letter further reads: "We ended up selling our cell phones and laptops for food. Some borrowed money from other students from Nigeria, Angola and so on who had received their stipends thinking that the government would give us ours but they have not."Majome said the students end up failing to pay back the borrowed money resulting in the foreign students "taking everything we have  that is students from other African countries because we cannot pay them back.""Some are promising to sue us. We were doing all this because we had no money to buy food or even soap. We want your help if possible  whether you can raise our issue in Parliament."Previously, several embarrassing reports came from Fort Hare University in South Africa where Zimbabwean students on presidential scholarship reportedly resorted to selling their bodies and engaging in drug peddling and theft because they had gone for years without the promised government grants.Government has always proffered the excuse that it is facing a critical funding shortfall.News / National

by Stephen Jakes

A ZIMBABWEAN court has acquitted three informal traders, who had been on trial for allegedly committing public violence late last year.The informal traders namely David Mazibiye, Tinashe Mbofana and Maxwell Mushamba were arrested on Thursday 12 October 2017 in Harare by Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) officers and charged with public violence as defined in Section 36 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act Chapter 9:23.During trial, prosecutors claimed that the trio forcibly disturbed the peace, security or order of the public to a serious extent by throwing stones and missiles at a fast food outlet along Speke Avenue and damaged the front display window as they protested against a ZRP and Harare City Council joint operation code-named "Restore Sunshine City", aimed at removing vendors from trading in Harare's central business district.But Harare Magistrate Ruramai Chitumbura on Wednesday 14 February 2018 acquitted Mazibiye, Mbofana and Mushamba, who were represented by Tinomuda Shoko of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, after ruling that there were some discrepancies from the testimony of the first State witness to that of the investigations officer and that there was a possibility of mistaken identity, which could have resulted in the arrest of innocent people, who were not linked to the commission of the alleged offence.In their defence outline, Mazibiye, Mbofana and Mushamba had argued that they were victims of a dragnet arrest effected by ZRP officers against vendors operating in the Central Business District.Magistrate Chitumbura said one of the State witnesses' testimony was doubtful while the ZRP officers who apprehended the informal traders were never called to testify during the full trial.News / National

by Staff Reporter

The body of the late former Prime Minister and MDC-T leader, Morgan Richard Tsvangirai has arrived in Humanikwa Village in Buhera, ahead of its burial set for tomorrow.The body arrived at Makanda Primary School in Buhera's Humanikwa Village.In attendance were party supporters who were intent on giving him a befitting send off.The funeral procession then slowly inched its way towards Tsvangirai's homestead where the body will lie in state.Tsvangirai will be buried tomorrow at his rural home, Humanikwa Village, as per his request next to his late first wife, Susan who died in a car accident a few years ago.Meanwhile, the former Prime Minister's body was airlifted to Humanikwa Village in Buhera aboard an Agusta 412 bell helicopter.Earlier today thousands of people had a chance to bid farewell to Tsvangirai at the Robert Mugabe Square in the capital.Opinion / Columnist

Since coming into power last November when the army forced former president Robert Mugabe to resign after it took over government, President Emmerson Mnangagwa has made it a priority to normalise Zimbabwe's relations with the international community.Violet GondaUnder Mugabe, Zimbabwe was isolated by Western countries because of alleged rampant human rights violations and electoral fraud. However, after Mugabe's fall, a number of global superpowers have indicated their willingness to give Mnangagwa's administration a chance.Veteran journalist Violet Gonda (VG) spoke to European Union (EU) ambassador to Zimbabwe Philippe Van Damme (PVD) on the bloc's re-engagement strategy on Zimbabwe, land compensation and elections. Below are excerpts from the interview.VG: What is the current EU position on Zimbabwe?PVD: Well, the current EU position on Zimbabwe is well known, the European Council issued a statement on January 22, in which we confirmed our willingness to engage the authorities in support of economic and political reforms and specifying that for full engagement with the international community, one of the essential elements, critical steps in that re-engagement will be the need for peaceful, inclusive, credible and transparent elections.VG: Do you expect the EU will drop the financial and travel restrictions on the last two Zimbabweans who were on the list  Robert and Grace Mugabe?PVD: Well, that unfortunately is something I can't comment on, that's the responsibility of the European Council, and they will take a decision on the restrictive measures on an annual basis  in the next couple of weeks. So, we'll wait for that decision.VG: But you can confirm that they are the last two on that list?PVD: Yes indeed, we only have the outgoing president Robert Mugabe and the outgoing first lady, Grace Mugabe, and that's all, in terms of individuals. We also still have an arms embargo and restrictive measures against Zimbabwe Defence Industries.VG: There were mixed reactions to those restrictions post 2002. Looking back, did they do any good?PVD: As I have always said since my arrival here in Zimbabwe, I am not a historian. I leave it to the historians and the political commentators to discuss the impact of the restrictive measures, whether here or in other countries.In some countries, they have been more successful than in others because it also depends on the context; the sensitivity to international engagement by different people in different countries.So, it's extremely difficult. With hindsight, it's always easy to comment on things, but when you have to react on the spot it's much more difficult.And, the point was, in the run-up to the election in 2002, there were real issues and critical violations of human rights  which, by the way, also led to the withdrawal of an election observation mission at the time.So, something needed to be done. whether that was the right way, the right intensity of action is something for others to assess.But what I can say is that the process was a legal process, and in these countries there is a lot of debate on these issues. It's a legal process because it was in the Cotonou Agreement ratified by Zimbabwe and 70 something other ACP [African Caribbean and Pacific] countries with the European Union, which clearly foresees the procedures to be followed in case of gross violation of the essential elements of that agreement related to democracy, human rights and the rule of law.VG: So what's your opinion on the situation right now? Do you think the time is right for all those restrictions to be removed now?PVD: It's not up to me to have an opinion; it's up to the council of the European Union to have an opinion, which will be issued within the next couple of weeks.VG: But as the EU ambassador, surely you do send recommendations to the EU regarding what you see on the ground in Zimbabwe?PVD: Well, I'm not sending out recommendations. We send out recommendations collectively because it's also a decision, a unanimous decision. these recommendations are sent to the council and not to the press, I'm sorry for that.What is at issue is that we have to revisit also the council conclusions of January 22 is that whatever has been decided, can be revised at any moment in light of new developments, positive or negative.And so this is not set in stone, this is a dynamic process and between 2002 and up to now we have had increases, decreases, corrections in the process in light of the developments.So, let's not focus on something that has become relatively marginal and symbolic in this whole re-engagement process.There are much more important things to focus on, I think, with re-engagement.VG: How does the EU see the development that transpired on November 14 in Zimbabwe?PVD: We have taken note of a transition and we have reconfirmed our willingness to engage with the authorities of this country on the basis of its economic and political reform process.We have always said we are not here engaging with individuals or specific persons, we are engaging with the state, and the state is represented by its government.So, we are engaging with the government based on its willingness to proceed with the implementation of reforms to the benefit of the people of this country.VG: So, was it a coup?PVD: I have no idea how you can describe the events in November, which led to the president and first secretary of the party to resign. And that's it and we continue engaging.You know, when I presented my credentials, I presented my credentials to Mugabe who was on the restrictive measures list, and now I'm engaging with the state.And, what I'm interested in is to engage with people who have the willingness and the commitment to implement reforms in the interests of the people of this country and promoting the consolidation of democracy.VG: But, ambassador, some observers say the manner in which Mugabe was removed from office had the hallmarks of a coup, especially since it was done by the military. So how did you see these events?PVD: I find it a very strange question. I mean normally you don't like the international community to comment on this country and now you are insisting on us taking positions.Sadc or the African Union didn't condemn the events as being a coup, so why would we take a different position?VG: But, do you only follow what Sadc or the AU say? I am asking because you're on the ground in Zimbabwe, you monitor events on the ground and even imposed sanctions. Also many believe that Western diplomats are so keen to embrace this transition in Zanu-PF that they are failing to actually say that the military came in and (interrupted)PVD:  I'm sorry to contradict you, we are not embracing anything. We are just present in this country and we are engaging with the authorities of this country.The authorities of this country have indeed changed and the circumstances. It's for Zimbabweans and the leaders in the region to decide how they label these events.But, we engage with a government which is in place, we agree on that and we will see to what extent they are indeed willing to implement the reforms they have been announcing and the direction of improvement of the situation for the people of this country and for the long-term development of this country and for democracy.That's what's our interest in this country is.VG: But many note a change in the tone of the EU, before Mugabe's departure and now. What has caused this shift?PVD: Well, I don't know if there is a change of tone since 2002 we have been consistent. You remember when the government presented its Lima programme at a fall meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. we have consistently welcomed the reform agenda, which was presented then.And, since then, we have consistently said that we were willing to accompany that reform process. Now, the reforms have stalled since that announcement in September 2015 in Lima, and we will now see whether the renewed interest, the declared interest, of the government for political and economic reforms will indeed be operationalised and become more concrete over the next months.And, if so, we will try to accompany those reforms within the limits of the programmes, which we have been working on for the last years.Last week, we signed a couple of contracts in support of the justice system to facilitate access to justice, notably the most vulnerable people in this country.These programmes have been identified with the previous government and we have been working on these programmes for the last 18 months.So it's not a response to the new government, it's just the finalisation of discussions we had over the last 18 months with all the stakeholders in the justice system.VG: Still, given the "high moral ground" you as the EU have stood on; and this is concerning the question of democracy in Zimbabwe, you see these various discussions on social media where people are saying it's fascinating that Western diplomats haven't even waited for elections, and I quote, before "hugging the regime close  or the re-invented Zanu-PF". Some Zimbabweans even go as far as saying "the British especially have behaved as though they actually sponsored this so-called coup in Zimbabwe." How do you respond to this?PVD: Well, I don't have to comment on all comments made on social media now. I don't have the impression that we are hugging anybody more than in the past, and as I said, we have a commitment and I'm speaking for myself, but it's the same for the member states of the European Union.We have been engaging with the government on policy-related issues, on political issues including the essential elements of the Cotonou agreement relating to the rule of law, human rights and democracy, and this hasn't changed.To the extent, of course, that some people in government give indeed signals that they want to accelerate those reforms, we are willing to accompany that process, but we continue in the mode in which we were engaged with the government for the last two years.VG: But all of a sudden ministers from Western countries are being deployed to Zimbabwe and this is for the first time in over 15 years, so some have found this curious.PVD: You have a government which claims that they want reforms and to re-engage with the international community, so it's noble that the international community is trying to see how far the government is willing to go and that re-engagement having been very clear throughout this whole period, that indeed one of the essential steps in a pre-engagement will be the conduct of peaceful, inclusive, credible, transparent elections as the council concluded on the 22nd of January.inclusive elections; that means that Zimbabwe Electoral Commission intensifies its dialogue with the political parties; and transparent elections; that means that we have a voters roll which is accessible to the political parties, which can be audited as we go into elections, which are indeed observed by domestic and, if I hear correctly, also international observers.VG: How about criticism that your willingness to re-engage is because you want to protect white farmers to return to the land? What can you say about this?PVD: Nonsense! This is completely ridiculous. We have been investing over the last couple of years in the agriculture sector focusing on communal land because that is uncontroversial land.But, you know, as I do, that the land issue is not only about white farmers, it is about security of tenure.When AI farmers in Mazowe were invaded and kicked out a couple of months ago, I also intervened on social media.And the contempt of court in this particular case and in other cases where indeed the invaders were instructed to withdraw, and comply with the court cases.This has been regularly condemned by all of us. So this is not only about white farmers, this is about agriculture, which is indeed a huge potential for this country and it is about the rule of law whatever the background of the people who are involved.VG: And as you say, the EU has, in the past, tried to help resolve the land situation in Zimbabwe. We all know that the Zimbabwe constitution says that the UK must pay out white farmers for the land, and the government of Zimbabwe must pay out for improvements.But we all know that the government of Zimbabwe has no money to pay for anything, especially to do with its foreign and domestic debt. So how will the land issue ever be resolved, in your view?PVD: Well, there are a couple of critical issues, including security of tenure on land; that is a critical basis factor if you want to redevelop agriculture in the long term.On the whole compensation issue, we have been engaged with the government for the last two years as well  with the (United Nations Development Programme) UNDP and also with the World Bank and (Food and Agriculture Organisation) FAO.We have agreed recently, late last year, to design a whole process, jointly with the partners I mentioned, and the government, to come to a consistent land governance policy, which will of course involve compensation related issues.That's not only for white farmers it is for commercial farmers who have been taken off the land during the fast track land reform.And the idea is not to come back on the land reform, we have always consistently said that the land reform was necessary, it's the way that the land reform was implemented which was detrimental for the agriculture sector, detrimental for the rule of law and detrimental of course for the victims of that fast track land reform.So, what we want is to rebuild the agriculture sector, linking up the smallholders with the commercial farms and with the international markets so that agriculture can become competitive again.And in that broader frame of engagement and of rebuilding agriculture sector, we will have to find ways, jointly with the different stakeholders, to indeed make those compensations possible.We have different scenarios, that can be financial, that can be through reintegrating part of under-utilised land.It can take different formats, so let's not precipitate things, the discussion is ongoing and let's see what comes out of that.VG: But, should the United Kingdom pay white farmers for their farms taken since 2000?PVD: Why are you asking these questions to me, I mean if you have a specific question relating to the UK, ask it to the UK. I am not a historian.I myself am Belgian and the independence of the Belgian Congo was not an easy thing, we mismanaged that, and each of the European Council members with a colonial history have to handle their colonial pasts one way or another.But, I don't have to comment on the colonial past of the UK. So we have to be adults and look to the future and see how we can help building that better future for the people of Zimbabwe.VG: I understand that the EU made funds available to help finalise the Land Commission and more  that the EU has actually played a very active role on this matter in Zimbabwebut it's OK. On the other hand, has the World Bank indicated though, that it will look favourably on Zimbabwe that it might lend to Zimbabwe to pay off for improvements?PVD: The land issue is a complex issue. Compensation is about huge amounts, for the improvement of land. This is not a simple thing, which can be sorted out in one statement by one partner.This will be a collective discussion by all stakeholders' domestic and international stakeholders. What we need in the first place is to get the policies right, and once the policies are right and this country starts growing again, a lot of things will be facilitated on the land, it's also for the social services, it's for everything.You know, the cake to be distributed among the people is too small today. People are struggling and if you have followed the Parliamentary debate on the health budget of this country, which is too small to satisfy essential needs of the people.So we can rationalise, we have to prioritise issues, but what we have to do in the medium to long term is getting the policies right of this country so that this country can grow again in a sustainable and a socially acceptable, inclusive way.VG: Has the EU done any financial predictions or analysis as to how Zimbabwe could rebuild its economy? If so, what are the main points of EU analysis?PVD: Well, we have a lot of experts in the international community. The IMF and the World Bank have probably dedicated experts for macro-economic provision making, so I leave this to them, but of course we all know that this country has huge potential and that in the agriculture sector, the tourism sector, in mining and service sector overall.So this country can be turned around if the right policies are being implemented, and of course, it will be the task of the government to engage with the international community overall in a broad spectrum to see how indeed these reforms can be implemented which will initiate the accelerated growth.VG: A lot of people have been trying to figure out what will happen in terms of Zim-EU relations post Brexit. So, how will the EU position on Zimbabwe change via Brexit, given that one member state, and that's the UK, has always seemed the most important state to Zimbabwe, it was the UK which pushed for the restrictions. So do you see the EU position on Zimbabwe changing post Brexit?PVD: No, my short answer is no. I mean we always have common vision and the EU policy on Zimbabwe have always been unanimous positions.I can tell you from my experience over the last four years that there have never been dissenting views on relations with Zimbabwe among the 28 EU member states.And I can't see any divergent views arising right now. Your interpretation of the past, I leave it to you, but what I can speak about is my fouryears here in Zimbabwe, and I say, and I repeat loud and clear, that we have a common vision among the 28 member states.We try to be constructive, we engage with the government, not with people, not with the regime, but with the government.We engage with this government on reforms. If the government indeed pursues economic and political reforms, which are to the benefit of the people of this country, we will engage with this government.And, I think, from my understanding from my British colleague, that is also their position. So, I can't see any change in position.VG: There is so much talk about elections and support from the EU. Do you think the environment is conducive?PVD: Well, at this moment, I think all stakeholders we are talking to, confirm their interest in the EU pursuing its commitment to the electoral process, though I am deducting from that the stakeholders think that our engagement reinforces the credibility of the process.VG: So, in the event this election is not free and fair, will you still engage with Zanu-PF as you did after previous elections since 2000?PVD: An essential step in the re-engagement with the international community is to have, indeed, these credible elections.So it will be critical for the government, indeed, to ensure that these elections are peaceful, so; without intimidation or violence; inclusive, credible and transparent and a lot will depend on that step.VG: In the past at least one member state in the EU had funded and directly supported the opposition, is this still the position?PVD: I am not aware of any of the EU member states having supported political parties. If you think that some of the member states may have done it, you should ask them, but honestly, I am not aware of that. And, the line today and the last 4 years is that you don't support political parties.VG: So have you have any idea of when the EU observer mission will go to Zimbabwe?PVD: Well I don't know if there will be an EU electoral observation, we need to have a formal invitation by the government and we are talking with the government on these issues and then the European Council will send an exploratory mission to talk to the different stakeholders to see whether indeed the conditions are in place and whether indeed an electoral observation mission will be useful for the country and feasible.If that's the case then the Council will have to take a decision whether indeed we are ready to deploy that mission.An electoral observation mission of the EU usually enters a country let's say two months in advance of the election date.l To contact the journalist email violet@violetgonda.com or follow @violetgonda on twitter. See more at www.violetgonda.comOpinion / Columnist

THERE is something that has gone terribly wrong with some Zimbabweans. While others are seeing a funeral, others are seeing power. It's really dirty and messy, but then that's MDC-T politics for you.Then there are those talking about the late Morgan Tsvangirai being declared a national hero. These people were even hoping that Tsvangirai could be buried at the National Heroes Acre. Imi vanhu itai mushe mhani! Yes, we know in Shona they say wafa wanaka, but honestly ibvai kumhepo.Anyway, let me pay my last respects to Tsvangirai. Nematambudziko to the Tsvangirai and MDC-T family. You have lost a courageous leader who changed the face of opposition politics in Zimbabwe. Tsvangirai gave Zanu-PF sleepless nights. His people loved him dearly and I am sure he also loved them dearly.Opposition politics will never be the same and will be a lot poorer without Tsvangirai. He brought something to opposition politics that no one will ever bring. Go well dear Morgan! Go well Save! You ran your race! Sleep well!To the Tsvangirai family, especially Gogo Tsvangirai and wife Elizabeth; Psalms 23 vs 4 says: "Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me." I know while for others, this is just another death and it's just political, for you its real  you have lost a dear son and a dear husband.I have lost loved ones and I know the pain. Remember, God is with you and He is God, the comforter. The Holy Book on 1 Thessalonians 4 vs 13-14 says: "Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in Him." Mwari ndivo mweya munyaradzi!To the rest of the MDC-T family, Tsvangirai will not sleep peacefully. Thokozani Khupe, Elias Mudzuri and Nelson Chamisa, for Tsvangirai's sake, can you please give the opposition supporters, time to moan their hero? Khupe stop acting holy and African. Mudzuri stop acting calm and collected and Chamisa stop acting like an impatient big baby. Mese muri kuhwandira tsuro parufu. Chinjai maitiro!And now to those who were calling on Government to declare Tsvangirai a national hero. Good people let's not get carried away. Yes, in the African tradition wafa wanaka, but let's not act as if we don't know who Tsvangirai was and what he represented.Tsvangirai was never going to be declared a national hero and he was never going to be buried at the National Heroes Acre. NEVER, EVER! I know this will make some people angry, but this is the truth.Let's start with theoretical concepts because pamwe mungafunge kuti zviri kuitika zvitsva. As they say, there is nothing new under the sun. Karl Marx, one of the founders of sociology came up with the Base and Superstructure concept that clearly explains what's going on. In simple, the Base refers to the forces and relations of production  this means the people, relationships between them, the roles they play and the material resources involved in producing the things needed by society.With regards to means of production, in this Base you find tools, machines, factories, land and raw materials while with regards to relations of production, you find relations between different classes such as proletariats and bourgeoisies.On the other hand, the Superstructure refers to all the other aspects of society. In the Superstructure ndimo munobikwa ideology through art, family, culture, religion, philosophy, law, media, politics, science and education.Now here is the point all dreamers out there should take note of. According to Marx, the Superstructure grows out of the Base, and reflects the interests of the ruling class that controls it. As such, the Superstructure justifies how the Base operates, and in doing so, justifies the power of the ruling class .As your Bishop, I really don't need to remind you that one of the grievances that saw thousands of gallant sons and daughters leaving the comfort of their homes to join the liberation struggle was the land issue. I also don't think I need to remind you that the new Government is largely made up of the fighting cadres from the Second Chimurenga. Take note, dear congregants, I said the fighting cadres, not the politicians.Maybe I need to clarify this point. During the liberation struggle there was what they called the rear. The rear was in Lusaka in Zambia and Maputo in Mozambique. At the rear, there were politicians like Herbert Chitepo, Ndabaningi Sithole, former President Robert Mugabe and so on. These politicians played the war politics. Then there was the war front, right in Rhodesia kwairohwa hondo-PFuti dzichitsva. This is where you found fighting cadres. Vana mukoma vaya vaizoimbwa vachinzi "gandanga haridye derere."Now, these fighting cadres, some of whom are in key positions in Government now, knew very well that they were fighting for land. They know this up to this day. To these fighting cadres, Tsvangirai was tempering with the Base. He was a direct and sponsored threat to this Base. Yes, some will argue against this point, but don't we all remember that sorry picture of Tsvangirai clapping hands like a little toddler as white farmers gave him money to fight the land reform programme?It's no longer a disputable fact that the MDC in general and Tsvangirai in particular were funded by the British and Americans in 1999 as a response to the war veterans-led land reform exercise. And indeed, the British and American funds, almost got Tsvangirai into power and he was going to reverse the land reform programme. This is what his funders wanted and after spending their money, Tsvangirai had no option but to oblige.Fortunately, the machinations failed to work. Now Tsvangirai has died and some people start dreaming that he can be declared a national hero? Kuvigwa at the National Heroes Acre pamwe chete naLeopold Takawira, Joshua Nkomo, Josiah Tongogara, Simon Muzenda and so on? Hey, imi vanhu ndati itai mushe.The Base is never tempered with. Tsvangirai akada kutambira mahumbwe muBase and those responsible for the relations of production don't have a short memory. As Marx argues, the Base determines the Superstructure. It's not the other way around.One can tinker around with the Superstructure and that's why we had some media organisations, lawyers and so on calling on the Government to declare Tsvangirai a national hero. Mahumbwe ekuSuperstructure but Base haribatwi. Chine vene vacho chinhu ichi? Mucharangarira? If your memory is not serving you well, a call to one Professor Jonathan Moyo will be of great help.The issue about Tsvangirai being considered a national hero was never an issue for discussion in Zanu-PF. Sometimes Zanu-PF appears like haizivi zvainoda, but that party is very clear about zvaisingadi. Tsvangirai for the National Heroes Acre? Ahh, that was a none-issue for the Base and a little issue for the easily excitable Superstructure.Yes, wafa wanaka but let's be honest  Tsvangirai and his MDC were a Western-sponsored project to block the aspirations of millions of indigenous Zimbabweans. History will record that.Yes, wafa wanaka, but if the truth is to be told, Tsvangirai and his MDC gave birth to toxic politics that is not home-grown. Now each and every opposition party that's being formed in the country thinks the best way to fight Zanu-PF is to engage the West. Have we ever paused to think kuti dai Tsvangirai akawuya ega without those Western robes, what were his chances in the political ring?Yes, Tsvangirai was very courageous and yes, he gave Zanu-PF sleepless nights but wasn't that borrowed courage? Without British and American funds, was Tsvangirai going to be the same politician? After receiving millions of dirty foreign money, did Tsvangirai have a choice? Kupihwa mari yevachena wodya hako mutema wakahwanda?One can even ask; was Tsvangirai really courageous or he was just reckless and drunk after receiving foreign funds? Maybe what matters is the courage and not the source of the courage. But then if we see a madman jumping right in front of an on-coming train in the futile bid to stop the train, can we say this madman has courage?Indeed, Tsvangirai was a people's hero and when we say people, we mean opposition supporters and other activists. Government has given him a State-assisted funeral and that's what he deserves as a former Prime Minister.Remember Reverend Ndabaningi Sithole and Chinx are not at the National Heroes Acre. Mozotiwo Tsvangirai zvake? "Kana zvanetsa tsvagaiwo chikomo chenyu."Bishop is out!Opinion / Columnist

Zenzo Siziba: Political activist and analyst

I challenge the military to assure the nation that indeed the pending general elections won't be marred by intimidation and violence. Listening to President Mnangagwa's speech after his inauguration where he proclaimed that in 2018 the elections would be held in a peaceful environment although there are still vital issues to be ironed out such as aligning the Constitution in accordance with what emerged from Constitutional outreach.The election date which in all honesty should have been announced by now to enable all participating political parties to make adequate preparations in advance is still not yet known deepening confusion as to whether the President will stand by his word that the elections would be held this year.Already there are allegations of mass torture in rural areas of opposition members by the partisan military. Thus, how could there be peaceful and credible elections when reports of such incidents have become the order of the day.I originate from Nkayi where the military is purported to have established a fort specifically to use as a base to deal with dissent of any kind against the unconstitutional government. A number of people that I recently spoke to over the phone have all confirmed that the situation is actually worse than what is reported in the main stream newspapers. The disturbances and activities of the army in the sensitive region remind victims of the dark period during ethnic cleansing back in the 80's.What is even more appalling is the nature in which little kids are being treated by the very military that is constitutionally mandated to protect them. Little kids are forced to sing ZANU political praise songs. President Mnangagwa is going around the country talking about inclusivity and peace yet the military under his command is doing the opposite on the ground particularly in rural areas where recording mobile phones are being confiscated to prevent the exposure of military brutality.In Matebeleland South, the voting slips have been forcibly taken away by ZANU militia, to ensure those voting for the opposition political parties will not cast their votes. All this is happening under the watchful eye of ZANU hierarchy including the President himself and VC President Chiwenga, who was instrumental in massacres and ordering the military to rape and rip open stomachs of pregnant women. How could the nation trust the people with heinous track records?The military government should be constantly reminded that the world is watching all their inhuman practices are well documented and Hague cannot wait any longer to welcome them to join the likes of former Liberian President Charles Taylor. Mugabe should be dragged too regardless of his advanced age.Opinion / Columnist

Zimbabweans will, for the first time since 2002, vote in a presidential election without its two main political characters; Robert Mugabe and the late Morgan Tsvangirai.Mugabe, who led the ruling Zanu-PF and stood as their presidential candidate since 1980, was disposed in a military intervention late last year while Tsvangirai  MDC president for 26 years  succumbed to cancer on Wednesday.Over the years, the two leaders contested each other in three general elections and Tsvangirai lost in all of them, albeit usually in controversial circumstances.But there was so much bad blood between the two as Mugabe's power base was being tested.In 2002 and 12 days before the presidential elections pitting Tsvangirai and Mugabe, the late former PM was charged with high treason over allegations he had plotted to kill Mugabe.The charge came after Tsvangirai was interrogated at police headquarters in Harare, over a controversial Australian television documentary which allegedly had filmed him discussing plans to assassinate Mugabe.Ari Ben Menashe, a former Mossad agent who runs the Montreal company, Dickens and Madson, said they had secretly filmed the meeting. The State lost the case.In 2003, police again charged Tsvangirai with treason as anti-government protests faltered in the face of a massive show of force by Mugabe.Tsvangirai was being charged in connection with a series of statements he made since the disputed March 2002 elections that allegedly incited his supporters to seek Mugabe's overthrow.The late trade unionist was at the time the first politician with enough support to threaten Mugabe's then 22-year rule over Zimbabwe.In 2007, after being arrested for trying to attend a prayer meeting the authorities had deemed illegal, Tsvangirai was severely battered by police.In 2009, Tsvangirai and Mugabe, however, formed part of the Government of National Unity (GNU)  a pact that came after protracted negotiations.The GNU was intended to negotiate an end to the partisan violence and human rights violations in the country and create a framework for a power-sharing government between Mugabe's Zanu-PF and Tsvangirai's MDC.These negotiations followed the 2008 presidential election, in which Mugabe was controversially re-elected after Tsvangirai withdrew from a run-off, citing violence against his supporters.The 2008 presidential election saw the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) withhold results for over a month amid widespread State-sponsored violence ahead of a run-off.The GNU was the only time that Tsvangirai and Mugabe worked closely together, even sharing tea!After the unity pact, the two leaders took their knobkerries and began fighting again, verbally, as they contested for power.Throughout his political career, Tsvangirai had fought tooth and nail to remove Mugabe from power but without any success. So when the army came in and removed the former president, people felt it was now the former prime minister's time to dominate politics.But it wasn't to be as God had his own ideas, thus the former trade unionist succumbed to cancer of the colon.Interestingly, six months ago no one would have thought that both Mugabe and Tsvangirai would not be in the political picture at all as both men were eager to commence their rivalry.Both party presidents were so confident that they would outsmart each other and already they had started putting their cards in place.But as they say, a week is long in politics; today both party presidents are no longer in the presidential race.And who would have thought that Emmerson Mnangagwa or Nelson Chamisa or Elias Mudzuru would contest the 2018 presidential elections?Only time will tell.Opinion / Interviews

After MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai's death last Wednesday, the fight for the control of the party pitting his three deputies escalated with Nelson Chamisa claiming to have inherited the throne.However, Elias Mudzuri and Thokozani Khupe insist they are the legitimate leaders of the country's largest opposition party.Our chief reporter Everson Mushava (EM) yesterday spoke to MDC-T secretary-general Douglas Mwonzora, who tried to shed light on the escalating fights.Below are excerpts from the interview.EM: Can you try to explain what is happening in the MDC-T, especially after the death of Tsvangirai and the period leading to his death?DM: I think the MDC as a party is going through a very difficult time as a result of the loss of the iconic figure president Morgan Tsvangirai.He is a real enigma and his shoes will be difficult to fill. The MDC is still in shock and this shock is in two parts: the shock caused by the deteriorating health of our leader and the shock caused by his death. What we noticed is that there has been some incessant power struggles between the top leadership, the two vice-presidents in particular.There was a dispute on who was the acting president. The world has looked with amusement regarding the dispute while he was still in hospital and after his death.We noticed there was a rush by some leaders to convene meetings of the organs of the party even before the death of the president.But when the president finally succumbed, there arose another problem on whether we should proceed with the national council meeting or suspend all party business.I did the initial discussion with our leaders; we agreed we were calling off any party business to allow for a dignified send-off of our leader.But meetings were convened purporting to be meetings of the national council which is the highest decision-making body and decisions were made.It is important to note that when the president died, we called off the national council meeting and I personally did that because as the secretary-general, I am responsible for convening that.But some leaders decided to disobey that and during the time of the national council meeting, a question arose as to whether we should appoint someone as acting president.I had two fundamental problems to that as the administrator of the party. The first one was that other interested people were not there, not because of choice, they were involved in funeral arrangements of the former prime minister.It was only fair that everybody be there when such an important question is resolved.Secondly, the issue of whether the constitution allowed it. I knew the constitution did not allow the election of a leader by the national council, a leader who is elected outside congress; it can't be done by the national council.Unfortunately for me, when we wanted to raise those issues, I was not allowed to speak and as a result I left.EM: Who blocked you from speaking?DM: The meeting was chaired by the deputy national chairman, Morgen Komichi, so I was unable to speak, I was not allowed to speak and I left.And now we have the resolution of the national council that has plunged the party into more turmoil. But what I then exhorted all the leaders to do was to shelve that issue so that we concentrate on the funeral.There have been clashes in the cockpit between the three vice-presidents and that does not augur well for our party and for the project that we want to build. So the party has been in a state that is very unhealthy and what we want to avoid is a split.EM: You have mentioned that others moved with greater speed and now that the decision has been made, as the secretary-general what does the constitution say and how do you intend to move forward?DM: This is a democratic party; it has a constitution and a tradition. It is my intention to preserve the constitutionalism in the party. We must go back to the constitution and it says once the president is late, we must have an extraordinary congress within one year for the election of the leader.Some have interpreted that an acting president in an election can act beyond the election date, that is wrong because when the MDC chooses its election candidate, it actually holds a congress and that primary election is called a congress.At congress, while electing the president, you are electing two people: the head of the party and the presidential candidate for the next election.It is a democratic process, and that process of congress involves voting by over 5 000 people. What happened in the national council meeting was simply a declaration of one person as the acting president, but the national council did not elect the presidential candidate.So the question remains on who the presidential candidate is and therefore we must hold an extraordinary congress where people would come.The congress would be made up of up to 5 000 people, the national executive has less than 170 people, in fact, it has 155 people.That means, if we are to say the national council elects the president and the presidential candidate, we are disenfranchising over 4 800 members of the MDC who want to vote.The congress of the MDC is made up of all the ward chairpersons, the 1 958 of them, made up of selected members of the district executives, all the wings, youth, women and the main, all the wings of the provincial executive, all the mayors, members of the national council, national executive and standing committee.EM: Someone has appointed himself as the leader, even if you are to go for congress, do you think aspiring candidates will have equal chances of winning, considering someone is already controlling structures before the congress?DM: I don't think the situation is beyond repair. I am sure the people involved, the three vice-presidents must know that the party is greater than an individual.We may have our own personal ambitions, goals, preferences, but we must subordinate them to the greater good of the party and the wishes of the membership of the party.Therefore, my proposition to the leadership is that the extraordinary congress will be held with haste.There has been an argument that there are no resources to carry out the congress. It is true, we appeal to the party membership and civil society to fund the process.EM: Do you think people will come forward considering the chaos in the party?DM: Yes, the situation does not inspire confidence in anyone, when people invest in a political party, they are investing in the future.Where there is bickering, bending of the rules, dribbling each other, and so on, the people who are serious-minded will not invest.I am going to appeal to my leaders so that they look at the best interests of the party and respect the legacy of president Tsvangirai. Whoever wants to replace him should uphold his legacy of mass consultation.EM: What will happen if others decide to stick to the decision of the national council and reject the idea of a congress?DM: The holding of the national congress is not dependent on what one organ or individual thinks. The national congress of the MDC can be called even by lower organs. Whoever doesn't want to be part of the national congress is free not to be. But it is better to do that so that we have a leadership that is by consensus. I am yet to see what the disadvantage of a congress is to be, I see more disadvantages in going to an election with a disputed candidate. We must stick to values of democracy, equality, constitutionalism and fairness.EM: Some people say the MDC is technically split, what can you say to that?DM: No, there is a dispute in the party, but it is not split. It is split when people hold parallel programmes. We actually do the same things every time, but we need to go back to the very founding values of MDC that distinguish us from Zanu-PF, the ability to listen to the people on the ground. People should have a voice on who replaces their icon; they should not be denied that chance.EM: The name MDC-T, the "T" represents Tsvangirai, and now it surely has to have a new leader; will there be a change of name?DM: I don't think so, but this is up to congress. But if it was my decision, I was going to leave it like that. Philosophically, heroes won't die.EM: What do you think was the motive behind the stampeded national council meeting?DM: I don't know, but I want the nation to know that I tried to stop it, I tried to reason with the leaders involved, I tried to reason even the night before, but it didn't work.But for me, it was going to be in bad taste and look immoral. Our president had just died less than 12 hours before and for us to carry the business we wanted to do, it was immoral.EM: They said they were trying to avoid a leadership vacuum, what do you have to say?DM: There was no leadership vacuum in the MDC in the sense that we have the whole standing committee there, we have the secretary general, who will be a key person in the administration of a thing like this, and we would consult over key decisions throughout the process.I had facilitated the discussion of the three vice-presidents on important issues. There was an administration, there was no leadership crisis.EM: You once proposed to take the three VPs to South Africa, now Tsvangirai is gone, how are you going to solve the leadership crisis for now?DM: There were claims of appointment by two VPs, Mudzuri and Chamisa, and for me it was a question of fact. Instead of holding any national council meeting, it was an issue of fact.The proposal was to have them go to SA and consult the president. I was not aware of the extent of the deterioration. But both of them had letters from Luke Tamborinyoka (Tsvangirai's spokesperson).There was one common phrase in the letters that they would act until president Tsvangirai came back. President Tsvangirai did not say they would act until he comes back alive.President Tsvangirai has come back, so the period of acting has ended because he has ended, granted he has come back in a different state.But he has come back and the mandate ceases automatically, and we now have to go to the constitution. It talks of the of the deputy president elected by congress and she is there.So pending the holding of the national congress, Madam Khupe would ordinarily act, first on the basis of the constitution and, secondly, on the basis of common sense, she is the most senior of the vice-presidents after service for 12 years as compared to the two years served by the others.We don't have a presidential candidate and we need a free and fair process to select one.EM: If the congress is to be held, are you going to throw the hat in the ring to represent the party in the next elections.DM: It depends on the wishes of the people. I am willing to serve under any leader, but I also have the right to contest.It has not, however, crossed my mind that I should contest to lead the party as president.Right now, I am preoccupied with my position as SG and mourning president Tsvangirai.I had a special relationship with him and cannot think of succeeding him at his funeral.Opinion / Letters

EDITOR,As we celebrate the life of Morgan Tsvangirai, let us be reminded of the things he fought for.The man fought for a better life for the people of Zimbabwe, from his days in the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, until his untimely death.He may have made errors in trying to do good on a few occasions, but messages coming from all sectors of the Zimbabwean population prove beyond reasonable doubt that he was a man of the people. May His Soul Rest in Peace.It remains to be seen if his unfortunate departure will reunite his lieutenants some of whom have seriously clashed of late.It is my hope that Tsvangirai's death brings sense into those leaders who have been involved in the recent dog-eat-dog fights and bring back sanity into the party, which still has a realistic chance to wrestle power from Zanu-PF if the leaders reflect, realise that they need each other, and that the ordinary Zimbabweans need them to be pulling in the same direction to bring about a better life for all Zimbabweans.I have always impressed on the top leaders of the party who I have access to that an MDC-led government can achieve far better that the change that people think Emmerson Mnangagwa can bring.There are still a lot of reservations about the Mnangagwa administration within the international community, that is why most of them have insisted on a free and fair election as a condition for establishing full relations with Zimbabwe, but we all know that Zanu-PF is incapable of changing its ways.The election has already lost credibility and will not inspire confidence in potential investors, if Zanu-PF successfully rigs again, a process that it has already started through intimidation and exploitation.The MDC appeals more to the international community, and progress will commence the minute an MDC-led government assumes office. Zanu-PF has publicly admitted to borrowing some of MDC's policies and implemented them, but the copycat can never be as good as the original. But it takes an organised party to do what it takes to reach out to the people.Kennedy KaitanoOpinion / National

University of Zimbabwe (UZ) vice-chancellor Levi Nyagura allegedly took the institution's lecturers to Grace Mugabe's Mazowe orphanage so she could take oral examinations for her disputed Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree, a Harare court heard yesterday.Nyagura (72) was arrested on Friday for alleged criminal abuse of office for his role in the awarding of the degree to the former first lady.Harare magistrate Tilda Mazhande was told Nyagura single-handedly accepted the wife of former president Robert Mugabe's application to study for the PhD without the knowledge of the UZ's sociology department.Prosecutor Oscar Madhume said in 2011 Nyagura approved Ntombizodwa G Marufu (Grace's maiden name) application without the knowledge and recommendations of the departmental board and faculty of higher degrees committee in violation of UZ quality assurance guidelines and benchmark.He said during the same period, Nyagura appointed Professor Claude Mararike and Professor Chaneta to supervise Grace without the knowledge and approval of the department.Nyagura is accused of usurping the powers of the UZ senate by single-handedly appointing examiners for Mugabe's research in violation of the UZ Act chapter 25:16 and Ordinance 1998/99.Nyagura allegedly led supervisors and examiners to Mugabe's Mazowe orphanage, where the defence oral examination was purportedly done without the knowledge and approval of the academic committee while in actual fact the examination is supposed to be done at the UZ premises.The prosecution alleged that during the same year, Nyagura recommended to Mugabe that Grace should be awarded the PhD.This was allegedly done without the knowledge of the UZ council and academic committee.The sociology department distanced itself from both the candidate and awarding of the degree as it was done without their knowledge. Prosecutors said Grace did not meet the minimum requirements to study for the degree.Nyagura, who is represented by advocate Lewis Uriri, pleaded not guilty to the charges and was remanded to March 5 on $200 bail.As part of his bail conditions, Nyagura was ordered not to interfere with State witnesses who include lecturers.Opinion / National

My People First things first, my deepest condolences to the Tsvangirai family for the loss of the family head, Morgan Richard Tsvangirai.By extension, I would also like to proffer my condolences to that fractured and disjointed outfit which he led and also gave his name, the Movement for Democratic Change-Tsvangirai.I have never seen such chaos.Almost as chaotic as Zanu-PF except the Zanu-PF soldiers were able to make a timely intervention after I and a few Gay 40 members had completely surrounded and captured Bhobho.There have been many interpretations of what G40 stood for.I say Gay 40, others say Gushungo 40, with some suggesting Gire 40 and other creative minds calling it Generation 40.The similarities between Zanu-PF and MDC-T in terms of capture of long-time ailing leaders are astounding.The two leaders had young beautiful wives who were immediately captured by equally young and ambitious people in their parties.The two leaders were essentially on the cusp of taking their parties to the graves with them.Their acts of commissions or omissions could still serve as lessons to politicians of the future.As I said, Zanu-PF soldiers prevented a disaster in their party by staging a coup, which they still deny to this day although it is there for all to see that a coup was staged.Now with the MDC-T, Tsvangirai started the process by staging a coup on the party constitution and his deputy, Thokozani Khupe.Khupe was elected at the party's congress and if the party was as democratic as they claim, the yellow bone madam should be acting president of the party with minimal disruptions taking place.As his condition continued to deteriorate, the Manicaland-born Tsvangirai began to ring-fence the presidency by appointing two boys from Masvingo, Elias Mudzuri and Nelson Chamisa.As his condition deteriorated and having failed to decisively deal with the succession issue, others say having successfully muddied the terrain, an appropriate environment was created whereby the Tsvangirai family is seen as playing a role in anointing the successor.Some like the Gushungo Dairies milk delivery pastor were reportedly-anointing themselves via social media with others reportedly getting bedside signatures of anointment.The unanswered question is: What does the MDC-T constitution say?Unless if the constitution of the party is faulty, surely when the president of a political party dies, the elected deputy should replace him until processes to appoint the substantive leader are initiated.Right now, it will be difficult to ward off accusations that one of the MDC-T policies is that it should never be led by a woman or a person from Matabeleland.As a result, as Tsvangirai breathed his last (chitunha chisati chatonhora), one of the appointed vice-presidents had like Jacob, stolen his Esau's blessing and crowned himself.Pass the popcorn and watch the drama unfold.As Zanu-PF marches resolutely to victory, watch these clowns in the opposition do everything to ensure the unelectable Lizard Ngwena getting elected.You watch them fight over those tables, few remaining vehicles and maybe the offices and forget about campaigns.In fact, the drama started at the funeral wake and more will happen as people fight to position themselves.That is where the real coup took place although there were no military tanks nor a Roman Catholic priest.The prophecy of Nathaniel ManheruNathaniel Manheru was a very prolific writer. He did not hide the fact that he supported Zanu-PF.And he spoke a lot of truths to the point that anybody wanting to know what was going on in government and the party needed to read that column.His usually accurate information also carried equally startlingly accurate information on developments in the opposition, a clear indication of how much espionage was taking place, including infiltration.The immature chose to ignore the column out of political bias while others were worn down by the atrociously long column.As the bigger tent issue was playing out in public and as Morgan was having public fights with Thokozani, Manheru alerted those who cared to read that Save needed to be careful of a plan being hatched that was looking at life beyond him.Three lawyers were reportedly at the centre of that plan and they included Tendai, Nelson and Welshman.Zacc, munopenga! Munopenga!Can you imagine those people at the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) are making noise about how it took me a few minutes to acquire a doctorate?Next thing they will be coming here to the Blue Roof to verify if my first degree in Chinese is authentic. They may even want to find out if at all I can speak Chinese.When MSU gave Lizard Ngwena some dubious honorary degree, Jonso pointed out that procedure had not been followed.I don't care about all that nonsense being pursued by people with criminal records in South Africa and Namibia and even here in Zimbabwe.Munopenga! Munopenga!Munhuwese kuna Amai!Unconquerable!Umasalu wezwelonke!Dr Amai Stopit! (Miracle PhD from UZ)l Feedback: Doctorstopit@gmail.comMONDAY, Feb. 19, 2018 (HealthDay News) -- American parents are less likely to seek early dental care for their children if they don't receive guidance from a doctor or dentist, a new national survey finds.

The poll of 790 parents with at least one child aged 5 or younger found that one in six of those who did not receive dental advice from a health care provider thought children shouldn't visit a dentist until age 4 or older.

But the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Dental Association recommend starting dental visits around age 1, when baby teeth first emerge.

"Visiting the dentist at an early age is an essential part of children's health care," said Sarah Clark, co-director of the University of Michigan's C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health.

"These visits are important for the detection and treatment of early childhood tooth decay, and also a valuable opportunity to educate parents on key aspects of oral health," she added in a university new release.

Clark said the poll showed "that when parents get clear guidance from their child's doctor or dentist, they understand the first dental visit should take place at an early age. Without such guidance, some parents turn to family or friends for advice. As recommendations change, they may be hearing outdated information and not getting their kids to the dentist early enough."

Unfortunately, more than half of parents did not receive guidance from their child's doctor or a dentist about when to start taking their child to the dentist.

Among parents who did not receive guidance from a doctor or dentist, only 35 percent thought dentist visits should start when children are aged 1 year or younger, according to the poll.

Sixty percent of parents said their child had seen a dentist, and 79 percent of those parents said the dentist visit was worthwhile, the findings showed.

Among the 40 percent of parents whose child had not yet seen a dentist, common reasons for not going included: the child is not old enough (42 percent); the child's teeth are healthy (25 percent); and the child would be afraid of the dentist (15 percent).

The poll results were published online Feb. 19.

More information

The American Academy of Pediatrics explains the importance of regular dental visits.42 languages or dialects in India are considered to be endangered and are believed to be heading towards extinction as only few thousand people speak them. According to report of Census Directorate, there are 22 scheduled languages and 100 non-scheduled languages in country, which are spoken by large number of people  one lakh or more.

There 42 languages are spoken by fewer than 10,000 people. A list prepared by UNESCO also has mentioned them as critically endangered languages. The Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL), Mysore is working for protection and preservation of these languages under central scheme Protection and Preservation of Endangered Languages of India

42 endangered languages or dialects include

States Endangered languages Andaman and Nicobar Islands (11) Great Andamanese, Jarawa, Lamongse, Luro, Muot, Onge, Pu, Sanenyo, Sentilese, Shompen and Takahanyilang. Manipur (7) Aimol, Aka, Koiren, Lamgang, Langrong, Purum and Tarao. Himachal Pradesh (4) Baghati, Handuri, Pangvali and Sirmaudi. Odisha (3) Manda, Parji and Pengo. Karnataka (2) Koraga and Kuruba. Andhra Pradesh (2) Gadaba and Naiki. Tamil Nadu (2) Kota and Toda. Arunachal Pradesh (2) Mra and Na. Assam (2) Tai Nora and Tai Rong. Uttarakhand (1) Bangani. Jharkhand (1) Birhor. Maharashtra (1) Nihali. Meghalaya (1) Ruga. West Bengal (1) Toto.

Background

According UNESCO, promoting idea of language is an inalienable cultural right. It has already built it into charter of sustainable development goals (SGDs). India is a formal signatory to charter. It is the states obligation to secure and protect the communitys right to its language.

From 1971 onwards, the Census is disclosing names only of those languages which have more than 10,000 speakers. It has resulted decline in list of languages to 108 languages in 1971 Census, as against the 1,652 a decade ago. The 2001 language data from Census have mixed list of 22 scheduled languages and hundred other languages. The 2011 Census data have been not disclosed yet.India and Iran have signed nine agreements, including one on connectivity related to strategic Chabahar port and on double taxation avoidance. These agreements were signed after bilateral talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. The bilateral talks focused to boost cooperation in key areas of security, trade and energy. This was Hassan Rouhanis first official state visit to India after he was elected Irans President in 2013. He had started his three-day visit from Hyderabad as the city has a long history of cultural and religious ties with Iran.

Signed Agreements are

Agreement for Avoidance of Double Taxation and Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with respect to taxes on Income. It will avoid burden of double taxation between two countries in order to promote flow of investment and services.

MoU on Exemption from Visa requirement for holders of Diplomatic Passports. It will waive requirement of visa for travel of diplomatic passport holders in each country.

Exchange of Instrument of Ratification of Extradition Treaty. It brings into effect the Extradition Treaty signed between India and Iran in 2008.

Lease Contract for Shahid Beheshti Port- Phase 1 of Chabahar during Interim Period. It was signed between Port and Maritime Organization (PMO), Iran and India Ports Global Limited (IPGL). Leasing is for 18 months to take over operation of existing port facilities.

MoU on Cooperation in the field of Traditional Systems of Medicine. It seeks to develop and strengthen cooperation in traditional systems of medicine including regulation of teaching, practice, drugs and drugless therapies.

MoU on establishment of an Expert Group on Trade Remedy Measures to promote cooperation in areas of mutual interest. It aims to establish a framework of cooperation in area of Trade Remedial Measures viz. anti-dumping and counterveiling duty.

MoU on Cooperation in the field of Agriculture and Allied Sectors. It includes joint activities, programmes, exchange of information and personnel, cooperation in field of agricultural crops, agricultural extension, horticulture, machinery, postharvest technology, plant quarantine measures, credit and cooperation, soil conservation, seed technology, livestock improvement, dairy development.

MoU on Cooperation in field of Health and Medicine. It seeks to establish comprehensive inter-ministerial and inter-institutional cooperation between two sides.

MoU on Postal Cooperation. It includes exchange of experience, knowledge and technology in e-commerce and logistics services; cooperation on philately, feasibility studies on using air and surface transit capacities of both countries.Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated World Information Technology Congress (WITC) 2018 in Hyderabad, Telangana via video conference. The theme of this edition of conference was Future Enterprises.

It was hosted by Telangana Government, in association with countrys top IT body, National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) and global IT organization World Information Technology and Services Alliance (WITSA).

Key Facts

This is for first time India is hosting WITC. It will second time that the event will be taking place in Asia after it was hosted in Kualalumpur, Malaysia in 2008. Around 2500 delegates and top IT honchos from across the world participated in the maga IT event. Representatives from IT industries from around 80 countries took part in the conference. Moreover, at least 20 CEOs from Fortune 500 companies and 100 other top executives attended the conference.

World Information Technology Congress (WITC)

WITC is a biennial event and considered as the biggest event of its kind. It aims provide single platform to IT experts, policy and decision makers and Government officials from all over the world together to discuss various challenges and possible solutions to them. It is unique in its global perspective on ICT issues and its ability to draw users, providers, media and academia from around the world. It was first held in 1978 since then held after every two years. The 2014 WITC was held in Mexico and had focused on the theme of Digital World and 2016 edition was held in Brasilia, Brazil.      UP :           ; 2013     ,      About Documentation Centre

The Documentation Centre of ICSF was initiated in 1999, in Chennai, India. The main aims behind the setting up of the Centre were to disseminate relevant information pertinent to small-scale fisheries and fishworkers in a format that would be easily available. The focus areas of information collection of the DC has been: artisanal fisheries, working conditions of fishworkers, fishworkers unions, fishworker movements, social security, women in fisheries, fisheries statistics, fishing technology, fishing communities, aquaculture, fisheries trade, fisheries management, coastal ecosystems and legal instruments, from different parts of the world.Bangladesh: UAPB Extension specialist teaches young fish farmers in Bangladesh

by Will Hehemann

February 19,2018 | Source: PBC Commercial

Bauer Duke, Extension specialist at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, recently served as a volunteer for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) program in Khulna Upazila, Bangladesh. Duke works at UAPBs School of Agriculture, Fisheries and Human Sciences. At Bangladesh, he taught young entrepreneurial fish farmers, ages 18-35, management practices to better their operations. Duke and Badal Golder, a partner representative of Winrock International, hosted a program titled Training on Improved Aquafarming for Entrepreneurial Development. The workshop provided assistance to young farmers through information on marketing, business development and management practices for fish farms.



Fish farming is an important part of the entire Bangladesh economy, as Bangladeshis eat probably five times the amount of fish as the average American, Duke said. The land is low and floods significantly during the rainy season, which means large areas are turned into open fishing ponds. Farmers stock these flooded areas with fish and slowly harvest them after six to eight months as the flooded areas start to dry up. Duke said the programs goal was to help farmers make useful decisions with established criteria so they can mold management practices to their farms specific needs. The program participants Duke worked with were still in school and living with their families who ran fish ponds. He worked with them to understand fish culture from a more academic perspective and add that knowledge to what they had learned from the family business.



During the course, participants were tasked with developing a business plan on their own. As more information was introduced, they were given time to change the plan and eventually had to justify why they made those decisions. We hope the participants will take some new farm management skills home and share them with the current decision-makers at their family farms, Duke said. Its very easy to lose lots of money with a fish farm, so its always a good idea to analyze the market before growing a crop, build a business plan and keep records. After several participants admitted to not keeping records in the past or not seeing the point in doing so, Duke said he emphasized the practices importance in any farm operation. Record keeping allows farmers to see where they are spending and making money, which in turn helps them make better business decisions and increase profits.



Frequently, small farmers are taught to put a certain number of fish in a pond, and feed and harvest them, Duke said. We wanted to teach the program participants that they can use that system, but they can also choose to stock more or less fish depending on several variables. We tried to give them analysis tools to help them make these decisions. In the end, its their land and we are trying to help them get as much out of it as possible. Duke said Winrock International holds the USAID contract to run the F2F program in Bangladesh. The organization works with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Bangladesh to identify ways to reverse the trend of unemployment among young adults, 18 to 35 years old.



Five years ago, NGOs recognized that people in this age group were finishing secondary and post-secondary school with nowhere to go afterward, he said. Entrepreneurship is generally seen as the way to solve these problems. Many countries acknowledge that youth without opportunity in rural areas flock to the cities in hopes of finding a factory job. By working with youth in the rural areas, the hope is to keep them there, which will enhance the rural lifestyle and help spread out the population.



According to its website, the Farmer-to-Farmer Program promotes sustainable economic growth, food security and agricultural development worldwide. Volunteer technical assistance from U.S. farmers, agribusinesses, cooperatives and universities helps developing countries improve productivity, access new markets, build local capacity, combat climate change and conserve environmental and natural resources. Program volunteers work with farmers, producer groups, rural businesses and service providers to develop local capacity necessary to increase food production and rural incomes, expand economic growth, and address environmental and natural resource management challenges.Gambian President Adama Barrow announced on Sunday a suspension of the death penalty in his country, in a break from the former regime of the dictator Yahya Jammeh.





Barrow, a onetime security guard in London who was elected president in December 2016, signed a UN treaty on the abolition of capital punishment last year.





I will use this opportunity to declare a moratorium on the use of the death penalty in the Gambia, as a first step towards abolition, Barrow said in a speech marking the 53rd anniversary of independence from Britain.





Jammeh ruled Gambia, a small English-speaking country surrounded by Senegal and a narrow Atlantic coastline, with an iron fist for 22 years.





The death penalty was last used under Jammeh in 2012, when nine soldiers were executed by firing squad.





Jammeh later threatened to expand a list of capital crimes in response to what he said was a rising crime rate.





Barrow said Sunday: We have won the war against dictatorship, which is the easy part. Maintaining the peace for our democracy to thrive will be our utmost challenge.





He added that mistakes will be made, but we will correct them as we work towards perfecting the New Gambia.





Francophone west African nations such as Benin, the Republic of Congo and Guinea have all taken steps to end the death penalty in recent years, but English-speaking countries in the region have lagged behind.





Activists hope more states will follow Gambias example.

 | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com



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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,

but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde

Agence France-Presse, February 18, 2018Poroshenko: Over dozen of foreign companies set to participate in Ukraine's GTS

Naftogaz of Ukraine has hired a consultant who is preparing a proposal regarding the transparent management of Ukraine's gas transmission system in full compliance with international rules.

If you see a spelling error on our site, select it and press Ctrl+EnterIMF issues recommendations to Ukraine to ensure continued cooperation

Further progress needs to be made on delayed measures, including in the energy sector and with regard to fiscal policy.

If you see a spelling error on our site, select it and press Ctrl+EnterUkraine's Foreign Ministry expects a final decision by the International Tribunal on Russia no earlier than 2021.

Ukraine on February 19, 2018, filed a memorandum in arbitration proceedings against the Russian Federation under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea ("UNCLOS").

"The Memorandum establishes that Russia has violated Ukraine's sovereign rights in the Black Sea, the Sea of Azov, and the Kerch Strait," Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Monday, February 19.

Read alsoRussia to stop gas production on seized Black Sea shelf in Crimea  mediaSince 2014, Russia has unlawfully excluded Ukraine from exercising its maritime rights; it has exploited Ukraine's sovereign resources for its own ends; and it has usurped Ukraine's right to regulate within its own maritime areas.

"Through these violations of international law, Russia is stealing Ukraine's energy and fisheries resources, harming the livelihoods of Ukrainian fishermen, and blocking traffic to Ukrainian ports with its illegal bridge over the Kerch Strait, among other serious violations," it said.

Ukraine asks the Tribunal to end the Russian Federation's violations of UNCLOS and vindicate Ukraine's rights in the Black Sea, the Sea of Azov, and the Kerch Strait, including by ordering Russia to respect Ukraine's sovereign rights in its own waters, to cease its theft of Ukraine's resources, and to pay reparation for hydrocarbon resources Russia has wrongfully taken, among other relief.

Ukraine initiated arbitration proceedings against the Russian Federation in September 2016. A five-member Tribunal sitting in The Hague has been constituted to hear Ukraine's case. Ukraine is vindicating its rights in the face of Russia's flagrant violations of international law in appropriate international forums, including the UNCLOS case, as well as Ukraine's case against the Russian Federation before the International Court of Justice.

The document submitted by Ukraine on February 19 contains all details regarding its claim and legal grounds. Then, the Russian side will have three months to prepare its objections.

Ukraine's Foreign Ministry expects a final decision by the International Tribunal on the UNCLOS violations by Russia no earlier than 2021.On the Ukrainian side, the deal helped to win favor with the White House.

For the first time in Ukraine's history, U.S. anthracite is helping to keep the lights on and the heating going this winter following a deal that has also helped to warm Kyiv's relations with President Donald Trump.

The Ukrainian state-owned company that imported the coal told Reuters that the deal made commercial sense. But it was also politically expedient, according to a person involved in the talks on the agreement and power industry insiders.

On Trump's side it provided much-needed orders for a coal-producing region of the United States which was a vital constituency in his 2016 presidential election victory.

Read alsoAkhmetov's DTEK cuts electricity, coal output in 2017On the Ukrainian side, the deal helped to win favor with the White House, whose support Kyiv needs in its conflict with Russia, as well as opening up a new source of coal at a time when its traditional supplies are disrupted.

Trump's campaign call to improve relations with the Kremlin alarmed the pro-Western leadership in Ukraine, which lost Crimea to Russia in 2014 and is still fighting pro-Moscow separatists.

However, things looked up when President Petro Poroshenko visited the White House on June 20 last year. "The meeting with Trump was a key point, a milestone," a Ukrainian government source told Reuters, requesting anonymity.

The Americans had set particular store by supplying coal to Ukraine. "I felt that for them it is important," said the source, who was present at the talks that also included a session with Vice President Mike Pence.

Despite Trump's incentives, U.S. utilities are shutting coal-fired plants and shifting to gas, wind and solar power. Ailing U.S. mining companies are therefore boosting exports to Asia and seeking new buyers among eastern European countries trying to diversify from Russian supplies.

Trump, who championed U.S. coal producers on the campaign trail, pressed the message after meeting Poroshenko. "Ukraine already tells us they need millions and millions of metric tons right now," he said in a speech nine days later. "We want to sell it to them, and to everyone else all over the globe who need it."

The deal with Kyiv was sealed the following month, after which U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said: "As promised during the campaign, President Trump is unshackling American energy with each day on the job."

The deal helped to "bolster a key strategic partner against regional pressures that seek to undermine U.S. interests", Ross added, referring to past Russian attempts to restrict natural gas flows to its western neighbors.

A MATTER OF NECESSITY

Ukraine was once a major producer of anthracite, a coal used in power generation, but it has faced a shortage in recent winters as it lost control of almost all its mines in eastern areas to the separatists.

Along with South Africa, Ukrainian-owned mines in Russia have been the main source of anthracite imports but this is fraught with uncertainty. In the past Moscow has cut off gas supplies to the country over disputes with Kyiv, while the Ukrainian government considered forbidding anthracite imports from Russia in 2017 although no ban has yet been imposed.

Overall anthracite imports shot up to 3.05 million tonnes in the first 11 months of 2017 from just 0.05 million in all of 2013 - the year before the rebellion erupted.

Neighboring Poland, which Trump visited in July, is also turning increasingly to U.S. coal. Its imports from the United States jumped five-fold last year to 839,000 tonnes, data from the state-run ARP agency showed.

In July Ukrainian state-owned energy company Centrenergo announced the deal with U.S. company Xcoal for the supply of up to 700,000 tonnes of anthracite.

Centrenergo initially said it would pay $113 per tonne for the first shipment, a price industry experts and traders told Reuters was expensive compared with alternatives.

However, chief executive Oleg Kozemko said the cost varied according to the quality of the coal delivered, so Centrenergo had paid around $100 per tonne on average for the 410,000 tonnes supplied by the end of 2017.

Kozemko said in an interview that the U.S. deal was Centrenergo's only viable option after three tenders it launched earlier last year had failed.

"The idea to sign a contract with Xcoal was a matter of necessity," he said. "We had agreements but they didn't work out, because the pricing that they discussed with us and that we signed an agreement on didn't work out."

Data on the state tenders registry and documents seen by Reuters show that two of the tenders failed due to a lack of bids, while the results of the third were canceled.

If that contract had worked out, Centrenergo would have paid around $96 per tonne, according to Reuters calculations based on the exchange rate at the time of the tender in April.

Energy expert Andriy Gerus told Reuters the Xcoal deal "probably helps Ukraine to build some good political connections with the USA and that is quite important right now".

MUTUAL DESIRE

The anthracite for Centrenergo is mined in Pennsylvania, which backed Trump in 2016. This marked the first time a Republican presidential candidate had won the state since 1988, and followed Trump's pledge to reverse the coal industry's history of plant closures and lay-offs in recent years.

Centrenergo says it and Xcoal agreed the contract independently of their governments and without any political pressure. However, Kozemko said: "If talks between the heads of our countries helped in this, then we can only say thank you... It was a mutual desire."

For the Ukrainian authorities, the diplomatic benefit is clear. When the first shipment of U.S. anthracite arrived in September, Poroshenko tweeted a photo of himself shaking hands with Trump in Washington. "As agreed with @realDonaldTrump, first American coal has reached Ukraine," he wrote.

Poroshenko's press service said the deal "is an exact example of when the friendly and warm atmosphere of one conversation helps strengthen the foundations of a strategic partnership in the interests of both sides for the future".

The Washington meeting also discussed U.S.-Ukrainian military and technical cooperation. Soon after, the Trump administration said it was considering supplying defensive weapons to Ukraine to counter the Russian-backed separatists.

In late December the U.S. State Department announced that the provision of "enhanced defensive capabilities" had been approved.

Kozemko said the Xcoal deal was likely to be only the beginning of Centrenergo's trade relations with the United States as it is currently holding talks on supplies of bituminous coal, a poorer quality variety.

"It's good that we studied the U.S. market because we had never looked at it before. We see big prospects for bituminous coal," he said, adding that other Ukrainian firms were thinking similarly. "We showed how to bring coal from America and they are following our lead."After many meetings and debates, the Chicago delegation succeeded in working with the New York United Federation of Teachers, Local 2 (UFT) to push the AFT to take stronger stands on charter school accountability and school closings  though many delegates from Chicago would have liked the language to have been even stronger.

Generally speaking, the New York delegation represented organizing charters as the best model for handling their role in reshaping unions, despite the fact that according to many reports few charter schools in New York have been organized as is the case in Chicago. This logic is the same touted by the Progressive Caucus of the AFT. The few that have been organized are a part of the UFT local though they have separate contracts negotiated with the help of UFT. The Chicago delegation reflection the mindset that allowing new charters to continue to proliferate while attempting to organize existing charters is an end game in which public schools and the union lose.



Jen Johnson, CTU, Local 1 in Substance

Irans enemies focus on the Islamic Republics military expenditures in Syria merely to sow discord in Iranian society, Irans Defense Minister Amir Hatami said February 19, according to Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA).

Meanwhile, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khameneis top military adviser, Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi, said the same day that Iran will recoup what it has spent in Syria by exploiting the war-torn countrys oil, gas and phosphate resources, according to Mehr News Agency.

The reconstruction of Syria will take several years and cost between $300 billion to $400 billion, Safavi said and added that the Syrians agree to reimburse Iran with their natural resources.

Safavi also said that various countries competed in Syria and Iraq, but the Russian-Iranian alliance prevented the defeat of the Syrian government. Instead, it was the U.S., Israel, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Jordan who lost, he said.

A wave of anti-establishment demonstrations that kicked off in December 2017 harshly criticized the government for, among other things, squandering the countrys financial resources on military ambitions in Syria and elsewhere in the region.

Hatami said Irans enemies focus on political and economic pressure points, including sanctions and military spending, to influence public opinion in Iran.

The latest annual defense budget allocated by the Rouhani administration for next year is roughly $10 billion.

The Iranian Parliament has added another $2.5 billion to the defense sector after Khamenei authorized the withdrawal of money from the countrys National Development Fund.

Irans five year development plan has been modified to allocate an extra five percent of the cost of every development project to defense.

Irans 2016 defense budget was $15.9 billion, according to the Institute for Strategic Studies journal Military Balance.

Military observers say Irans defense budget has been increased by 128 percent in the last year.

A Bloomberg report in 2015 said that Tehran spends at least $6 billion in Syria every year, with annual spending reaching $15 billion in some instances.

Iran has also allocated a $5.6 billion credit to Damascus, which is mainly used to import oil from Iran, Reuters and other agencies reported earlier.

Critics say this spending is unjustifiable while Iranians are experiencing serious economic hardships.Deputy Parliamentary Speaker Ali Motahari says intelligence and judiciary officials have promised to put an end to the house arrest of reformist leaders Mehdi Karroubi, Mir-Hossein Musavi, and his wife Zahra Rahnavard sometime during the next month.

If they are not released, we will start to protest, the conservative MP told reporters February 17, apparently alluding to the possibility of a collective move by one of the conservative factions in parliament.

Karroubi, Musavi, and Rahnavard were the leaders of the Green Movement, a protest movement that challenged the result of Irans 2009 presidential election that brought ultraconservative President Mahmud Ahmadinejad to power.

The three have been under house arrest since February 2011. Calls for putting an end to their house arrest have been futile so far, partly because of an on-going dispute between the Rouhani administration and Irans hardline-controlled judiciary.

Judicial officials say the order for the house arrest came from the Supreme National Security Council chaired by Rouhani, while Rouhani and the council deny issuing such an order.

Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA) quoted Motahari as saying The officials are planning to put an end to Green Movement leaders house arrest before the end of the current [Iranian] year, by March 20.

He added that MPs were told by the officials not to speak too much about the matter to the media.

Earlier, one of the members of a parliamentary committee campaigning to end the house arrests had said: The government has reached to the conclusion that continuing the house arrest is against Irans national interests.

Last week, the U.S. State Department called for the immediate release of the Green Movement leaders.

Claims of suicide not convincing

Responding to a question about the death in custody of Iranian-Canadian environmentalist Kavous Seyed-Emami, Motahari said the parliament has no power to question the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) about the case.

Parliament can only ask the Intelligence Ministry to provide more information. The IRGC is not answerable to anyone, Motahari said, adding They say Emami committed suicide and we do not have strong evidence against their argument.

The Iranian judiciary has portrayed Emamis death as a suicide and accused him of espionage.

However, Motahari said he is not convinced by the suicide explanation and that he is looking for more information on Emamis case. He went on to criticize the IRGC for not responding to questions about the case.

He also criticized Irans state TV for accusing Emami and other environmental activists of espionage in a program broadcast February 15. The program claimed that cameras installed by environmental activists to monitor wildlife had filmed Irans missile sites.A demonstration by dervishes protesting against the arrest of one of them has led to violent clashes with the police, resulting in deaths and injuries.

Three policemen are reported dead and in addition a senior commander of Iran Basij militia force says two members of this force have also been killed in the clashes and at least one protester is dead.

A video clip posted on social media, shows a bus ramming into riot police. The attack reportedly killed the three riot policemen.

Another video posted shortly afterwards, shows a sedan ploughing through the security forces. This attack reportedly left one basiji dead.

Meanwhile, the officials say both drivers were arrested "minutes after the attacks".

At least 300 protesters are confirmed arrested by the authorities.

Furthermore, Gonabadi dervishes say at least one of their members was killed under torture by the security forces. In one video protesters are heard addressing the security forces saying they never wanted to fight them but they were left no choice.

Latest reports from Tehran speak of a tense situation, with hundreds of riot police and security forces patrolling the area where clashes took place.

Members of Gonabadi order had already warned that the residence of their leader, Dr. Nour Ali Tabandeh was their "red line" and they would not tolerate any trespassing.

The gathering in front of Police Precinct 102 in north Tehran on February 19 was a protest move by members of the Gonabadi order of Iranian dervishes, after one of its members, Nematollah Riahi was arrested by the security police and detained at the precinct.

Riahi, 72, is from the city of Shahr-e Kord near Isfahan, and had come to Tehran to defend the house of the leader of the Gonabadi order against a probable attack by the police and plain-cloths vigilante groups.

Kasra Nouri, one of the dervishes taking part in the gathering told Radio Farda, Some 100 policemen attacked the dervishes and shot at them. We are worried about our security in the area, while we are defending our leader, Dr. Nour Ali Tabandeh. Our resolve is to defend him up to the last drop of our blood.

Tabandehs house is located in Tehrans Passdaran Avenue, which was the site of clashes between the police and the dervishes twice before, in late December 2017 and early January.

The dervishes had said in previous instances that the police was about to arrest Tabandeh. The police rejected the claim.

The dervishes say that Mondays clashes started with the polices provocation, but Saeed Montazerolmahdi, a spokesman for the police told Iranian state TV that three policemen were killed in the clashes.

Three policemen are dead, and those who murdered them are under arrest, he said.

According to Fars News Agency, an angry dervish bus driver ran over a group of policemen and created a carnage.

The bus, damaged several vehicles and injured several people who happened to be in the area at the time, Fars added.

Fars quoted informed sources as saying that the bus driver, Yavar Mohammad Salas, is a Gonabadi dervish, adding that the bus belongs to one of the leaders of the dervishes.

Iranian Labor News Agency (ILNA) reported that seven other policemen have been injured in the incident and have been taken to hospital.

In an interview with Radio Farda, Kasra Nouri denied the dervishes involvement in the death of the three policemen.

The bus was parked there, and then started to move, and the dervishes had nothing to do with the accident, he added.

Nouri further added that the police had promised not to arrest the dervishes, and to release Riahi, but they did not stand by their promise.

The Gonabadi dervishes belong to the Sufi order known as Nematollahi Sultan Ali Shahi that believes in the principles and teachings of the 12-Imamite Shii Islam.

Nevertheless, the Islamic Republic of Iran has been seriously suppressing the Sufi order for some of their other beliefs.Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb.19

By Nigar Guliyeva  Trend:

A mission of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) will visit Azerbaijan to gather information on the upcoming presidential election, the office told Trend on Feb.19.

"A small team of election experts from ODIHR will be in Baku on Wednesday and Thursday to gather information, on which to base a recommendation on what  if any  format of observation our Office will carry out for the 11 April election," the office said.

The needs assessment missions report, including the recommendation on the format of any observation mission, should be released within two weeks of the needs assessment missions visit.

Next presidential election in Azerbaijan is to be held on April 11, 2018, according to an order signed Feb. 5 by the country's President Ilham Aliyev.Pre-election agitation campaign in Azerbaijan will begin on March 19, 2018 and end on April 10, 2018 at 08:00.

The Central Election Committee (CEC) of Azerbaijan has received six appeals to observe the presidential election to be held on April 11, Chairman of the CEC Mazahir Panahov said at a meeting on Feb. 17. He said that all appeals received a positive response.Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 19

By Elchin Mehdiyev  Trend:

A symposium on the 26th anniversary of the Khojaly genocide will be held at the German Bundestag on Feb. 22, the Parliament of Azerbaijan told Trend on Feb.19.

The event will be attended by the chairman of the parliamentary youth and sport committee Fuad Muradov and MP Rovshan Rzayev.

The symposium will provide broad information on the Khojaly genocide, as well as the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

The symposium will be organized by the Azerbaijani Embassy in Germany, the Azerbaijan-German Forum and the German Atlantic Society. Azerbaijani MPs will also hold a number of meetings in the Bundestag and the German Foreign Ministry. The visit will end on Feb.25.

On Feb. 25-26, 1992, the Armenian armed forces, together with the 366th infantry regiment of Soviet troops, stationed in Khankendi, committed an act of genocide against the population of the Azerbaijani town of Khojaly.

As many as 613 people, including 63 children, 106 women and 70 old people were killed in the massacre. Eight families were totally exterminated, 130 children lost one parent and 25 children lost both. Some 1,275 innocent residents were taken hostage, while the fate of 150 people still remains unknown.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.The Jerusalem Post has published an article by a political analyst Arye Gut headlined: "The bloody massacre in Azerbaijani Garadaghli village is a real manifestation of modern Armenian terrorism".

The article says: "The Holocaust is a terrible and unbearable tragedy in the memory of the Jewihsh people. It is a pain, humuliation, brutality and extermination of the Jewish people by the brutal and frantic fascist regime. Representatives of the Jewish nation, which experienced such a terrible tragedy as the Holocaust, always sympathize with the tragedies of other peoples who survived the same blows of fate.

One of unexamined in depth pages of the history of Azerbaijan is the genocidal events perpetuated in the villages and regions resided by Azerbaijanis in the course of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, stirred up again. During these events, the Armenian occupants have destroyed many historical monuments, along with extermination of a number of local Azerbaijani population. In modern history, events similar to the Garadagly tragedy happened in different parts of the world and the international community is well aware of them.

For example, in July 1995, ethnic Serbian nationalists mass murdered more than 10 thousand Muslim population of the Bosnian town of Srebrenica aged between 17-70, people had been buried lively in mass graves. Mass murders have been perpetuated against Muslims in 13 settlements of Bosnia in this period. More than 200 thousand innocent people have been murdered, thousands wounded and 2 million became refugees as a result of these events. Although United Nations, European Parliament and other international organizations recognized at least Srebrenica genocide, one of the 13 genocides that took place in the 13 Bosnian settlements, they prefer to keep silence numerous genocides perpetuated against Azerbaijanis by Armenians."

"On November 28, 1985, the prominent Armenian terrorist, the leader of Armenian terrorist organization ASALA (Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia) Monte Melkonian was sentenced to 6-years imprisonment in France. He had released from prison in 1990, after that he immediately went to Armenia and in order to pursue its terror activities was sent to Nagorno-Karabakh. It should be noted that the professional terrorist Melkonyan, who was one of the leaders of the Armenian terrorist organization ASALA, committed dozens of terrorist acts that led to the death of Turkish diplomats around the world. Melkonyan fought for many years in various "hot spots", in particular against Israel in Lebanon, in the Bekaa Valley and was elusive for the Israeli special services. During the occupation of the Hajavand district of the Republic of Azerbaijan, he was the commander of an Armenian terrorist group.

On February, 1992, under the leadership of Monte Melkonian, Armenian armed forces, and specially trained in Lebanon terrorist units "Arabo" and "Aramo" simultaneously attacked to the encircled from all sides Garadaghly village of Khojavand district of Azerbaijan Republic. Investigations reveal that the soldiers and officers of 366th Russian regiment also took part in the occupation of Garadaghly. Armenian troops of mercenaries Aramo, Arabo and Avo (Monte Melkonian), relying on the fire support of the 366th Motorized Rifle Regiment, stationed in Khankandi, occupied the strategically important village Garadaghli on February 17, 1992 and after the week they commited act of genocide in Khojaly.," the article says.

"In the battles for Garadagly killed 145 people, 54 of whom were killed in one day. In general, in the fight against the Armenian mercenaries there have been killed 154 people (15 women and 13 children) in Khojavend. The men of the local defense battalion fought to the last round, have shown unprecedented heroism, however, left without assistance, were surrounded.

After nine days, the Armenian detachments of Arabo have commited act of genocide of the peaceful population of Khojaly, in which Monte Melkonyan, Serzh Sargsyan-the current president of Armenia, Seyran Ohanyan-the former defense minister of Armenia and other Armenian thugs have taken part. These criminals killed 613 people, among them many women, children, the elderly and the civilian population, over 1000 people became disabled for the rest of their lives. On the night of the tragedy 1,275 civilians were taken prisoners, the fate of 150 of them is still unknown."

"The brother of Monte Melkonian, Markar Melkonian in his book "My Brother's Road: An American's Fateful Journey to Armenia" writes: "Nine years earlier Monte had written in his manual for the training of a People"s Fighter that "the command to open fire in an ambush should be given by the commander in the form of his own firing on the enemy (it is preferable to begin firing with a B-7 grenade launcher or any other weapon that will cause immediate heavy losses, if such a weapon is available)".

Now he coolly shouldered a B-7, lined up his sights, and squeezed the trigger. With a white flash, the first round roared straight through second story corner window of the defence center and burst inside, sending a yellow flame back out the window. With that, the attackers began pouring lead into the village. Under a hail of bullets, the Azeri defenders radioed for back, informing their commanders on the Aghdam plain a few kilometres to the North that they could not hold out much longer against the attack. When the defenders ceased returning fire, Monte laid down the B-7 watched his fellow attackers swarm into Garadaghli from several sides.

By five the afternoon, the detachments had achieved their military goals. Only one fighter had been killed on the Armenian side that day, while forty-eight captured Azeris were herded into the bed of a truck. The captives would be transported to Stepanakert, where they would be until they could be exchanged for Armenian hostages in Azeri hands. It appeared as though Garadaghli, the first battle Monte had officially been charged with commanding, had proceeded smoothly to its conclusion. Soon however things changed. Arabo and Aramo fighters shoved thirty-eight captives, including several women and other noncombatants, into a ditch on the outskirts of the village. One of the captives in the ditch pulled pin from a grenade concealed under a bandaged hand and tossed it, taking off the lower leg of one of his captors, a recent Patriotic Detachment recruit named Levon. The Arabo and Aramo fighters there had already been hankering to "avenge" the death of another comrade the day before, so as soon as the grenade had gone off they began stabbing and shooting their captives, until every last one was dead."

"In the early morning of February 15, 1992 Armenian armed units attacked the village of Garadaghly from all directions. Fighters from the neighboring Armenian villages, mercenaries, Russian officers and soldiers of the 366th Russian regiment also took part in the attack. But they could not get close to the village easily.

Nobil Zeynalov, principal of the local school, Khanali Huseynov, a military official and Altay Hasanov, a fighter of the voluntary defense unit, were guarding the first block post. The fighting was very heavy. The hero women of the village were carrying ammunition and food to the fighters under intense fire, giving first aid to the wounded and achieving in their returning back to the battle.

The testimonies of Garadaghly residents that have been victims of the massacre absolutely confirm Melkonian words and simultaneously create more detailed description of the event."

"The testimony of Huseynov Ilgar Gardashkhan oglu (he has been released from Armenian captivity): "On February 15, 1992, at 6 o"clock in the morning from all four sides, Armenian terrorist units attacked our village. We were 118 persons in the village. Of these 11 were women, the rest were men. The battle began, indeed, we did not have any military equipment, but we worthily responded them. One day we fought with them. From our side, 8 persons were killed, despite the decline of our numbers we continued to fight. We pulled out Armenians from the village. On 16 February, Armenians again began to attack the village. They had attacked with the military equipments, we could not withstand. From their side the majority of fighters were mercenaries. Their commander was Manvel, according to some information the Armenian, who came from France.

On February 17, at 3 o"clock they knew that our weapons had already finished, and therefore stopped the fire. Because they had many losses. They told each other that many of them were killed. One of the residents of our village was hit by the sticks and as a result of it killed inside of the village. Then they took 92 hostages towards Khankandi. When we achieved the place by the name "Beylikbaghi", 32 persons of us were shot. They did not calm down with this and therefore had cut off the heads of bodies, and then gathered heads into the bags. The bodies of killed people were filled to the silage-well. After 3 km moving, they shot another person, then one more person".

"The testimony of Tagiyev Tevon Habib oglu (he has been released from Armenian captivity): At the end of the 1991 Garadaghly village was encircled by Armenians that lived in the surrounding villages. The traffic to the village was cut off. Beginning from January of 1992, via helicopters, we began removing children and women from the village. Attacks to the village did not stop. In February helicopters did not come. The contact of the village with abroad was completely cut off. The attacks of Armenians had not been stopped. We were able to defend the village until the February 17. There was no help from outside. Finally, the bullets were over and Armenian armed forces have occupied the village.

They collected the bodies of Armenians that had died during the attack in front of the collective farm and filmed it. A woman journalist was preparing a program. They told to the whole world that these are the people that were killed by Azerbaijanis during the attack to the Armenian village.

177 residents of the village were gathered into the two trucks  young people and adults are separately  and led towards Khankandi. We did not reach the edge of the village, when they pulled two people down from the truck and shot. In the place by the name "Beylikbaghi" that is located at 2 km from the village, they stopped following us. Approximately the distance between us was 50-60 meters.

In "Beylikbaghi" Armenian women and children played and danced. They stopped car near them and ordered got down from the truck. Young people did not want to get down from the truck; therefore, they opened fire and killed several people. People had forced to get down. In front of the eyes of the playing and dancing Armenian women and children, young men from Garadaghly had arrayed into the row and shot. My son Telman did not bear this, he had pulled its hidden grenade pin, shouted and moved towards Armenians. The grenade exploded, Telman killed himself and 10 Armenians along with him. In "Beylikbaghi", Armenians killed 33 residents of Garadagly. Then they had thrown the bodies into the nearby silage well and buried. 5 km to Khankendy, they had pulled all people down from the truck and undressed all warm clothes. They on foot brought us to Khankendy. Along the way, civilian Armenians threw us stones and spat".

"As a result of the occupation of Garadaghly village by Armenian troops, currently 26 citizens of Azerbaijan Republic are registered in the State Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing Persons as a missing person (date on February 15, 2017). There are witnesses of these, 15 persons taken prisoners and about the arrest. 50 residents of the village that were captured and taken hostages during the occupation have been released at different times.

And all these cruelties, inhuman acts are being performed by Armenian terrorists, who all over the world are shouting that they are poor and unfortunate people who survived the "genocide". And all this happened at the end of the twentieth century, before the eyes of the entire world community. About such tragedies, you cannot remain silent, since if you do not punish crime and evil, then it has the feature of repeating itself.

From various sources we learn and know that in the occupied lands of Azerbaijan, Armenian terrorists created concentration camps, like German fascists, where in the 21st century they keep Azerbaijani prisoners in inhuman conditions and exploit them in various mines and heavy works.

And the question arises involuntarily: how long will the international community, international organizations, in particular the OSCE Minsk Group, put on the same scale and call for a compromise on the aggressor country Armenia, along with Azerbaijan, which has suffered in this conflict, whose 20 per cent of the territory has been occupied, about 5,000 people are in Armenian captivity, towns, villages, communications are destroyed and has 1 million refugees?

Adopted international conventions condemn acts of genocide, like the Garadaghli and Khojaly tragedy, declare its inadmissibility. The Azerbaijani people have the right to sue the International Court of Justice of the United Nations against the Armenian Republic, guided by the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide of December 9, 1948.

The world should know that this crime is directed not only against the Azerbaijani people, but against all mankind. People who occupy high positions in Armenia at various times, Seyran Ohanyan, the current President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan, as well as Robert Kocharyan and others, as the perpetrators of the act of genocide, should be brought to the international trial.

'Crime should not go unpunished. The world community should blame the military-political aggression of Armenia. International organizations, parliaments of the countries of the world should give an international, political and legal assessment of the Qaradghli and Khojaly genocide committed by the Republic of Armenia on the territory of Azerbaijan, as a genuine genocide," the article concludes.Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb.19

By Gulgiz Muradova  Trend:

Trends exclusive interview with the EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the crisis in Georgia, Toivo Klaar, ahead of the Baku visit.

Question: What will be the main topic of your talks in Baku? Are there any particular areas that you intend to focus more in regards to Azerbaijan?

Answer: This is my second visit to Azerbaijan since taking up my post in November 2017. I paid my first and introductory visit to Baku in early December when I met with President Ilham Aliyev and highlevel officials. This second visit again includes consultations with the Azerbaijani leadership. I plan to discuss issues that fall within my mandate which concerns conflicts in the region, including of course the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict but also more broadly on regional security and cooperation. I am certainly interested in hearing the views of the leadership on the current stage of the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process. I am sure this visit will also provide an opportunity to review issues on the agenda of our bilateral cooperation with Azerbaijan, which is in a positive stage now, and to follow up on the recent 15th European Union-Azerbaijan Cooperation Council that was held in Brussels on Feb.9.

Q.: What role can the EU play in intensifying the efforts for the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict given the challenges the conflict poses to the whole region? What is your approach to moving things forward?

A.:You are right in pointing out the regional dimension of this conflict. It is one thing I try to stress in my talks with my interlocutors, that the negative impact of non-resolution is felt far beyond the conflict zone. The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict prevents the South Caucasus to realise its full potential as a very rich region, economically, but also socially and culturally. The EU position is very clear: we want a peaceful and prosperous South Caucasus where individuals and societies can realise their full potential. For this to happen, the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict needs an early resolution. The status quo is in many ways unsustainable and very fragile. The Minsk Group and its Co-Chairs is the internationally agreed format for the conflict settlement  agreed also by the sides  and the EU fully supports the efforts and proposals of the Co-Chairs aimed at finding a solution. When it comes to finding a resolution, it is important to underline that the sides have the primary responsibility: without compromises by the sides, there will be no resolution of the conflict. We of course recognise that this can be difficult, and the EU is prepared to support the sides and the Minsk Group Co-Chairs in these efforts.

This is one reason why we insist on discussing the conflict settlement at high-level meetings in the region. We convey strong messages on progress towards peace, but we are also telling the sides that we are here to support a peace process, both during the talks under the auspices of the Minsk Group Co-Chairs, and afterwards for instance with reconstruction or building up interconnected economies and societies. As EUSR, I have close working contacts with the Co-Chairs of the Minsk Group as well as with the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, to make sure that what we do is supportive of the process they are leading. It is also important to inform our leadership in Brussels, as well as the Member States, about the different aspects of the ongoing peace process so that everyone is on the same page.

But the EU does more than political work. We believe that for conflict resolution to be effective, the societies must also be involved. Again and again in other conflict contexts, we have seen that negotiated peace agreements are not holding up if the societies are not on board from the start. I do not think that the South Caucasus is an exception. So for the EU, one important element of this support to the official peace process is to work also with societies. This is what we do in the Georgia context, which is another part of my mandate. In the NK conflict context, we are supporting civil society-led confidence-building measures and people-to-people contacts across the divide through an initiative we call the European Partnership for the Peaceful Settlement of the Conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh (EPNK). This is a unique initiative involving several very experienced non-governmental organisations. We are of course not underestimating the difficulties: there are very strong feelings and sharp polarisations in this conflict and in such environment peacebuilding activities can be seen as threatening. I categorically reject this. In fact, people-to-people contacts and peace activities can show that there are mutual interests across the divide and that the conflict does not need to be seen in a zero-sum logic where one side can gain only if the other loses. If cooperation and mutual benefits prevail, for instance in the economic sphere, when it comes to tackle common challenges such as human security or the environment, or dealing with common cultural heritage in a responsible way, I am convinced it would be possible to help the peace process forward.

Q.: The overall ceasefire regime remains fragile, while Azerbaijani civilians become targets of the ceasefire breaches. What are your primary concerns regarding the situation in the region? How can be prevented civilian victims of the conflict?

A.: The EU and I personally, deplore any loss of life. Seeing each year the number of victims  many of whom are very young  in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone is heart-breaking. There is no justification for this to go on year after year. I plan to visit areas affected by the conflict as soon as possible to contribute to putting the spotlight on this very human dimension of the conflict that should not be forgotten. I know that my predecessor Herbert Salber did the same. Unfortunately, ceasefire violations are part of the daily life of people living close to the Line of Contact and the international border. Even though the number of incidents seems to have decreased since last year, terrible incidents continue to happen. From a purely humanitarian perspective, this has to stop. It is also detrimental to fruitful negotiations. From the EU side, we continuously call on the sides to strictly adhere to the ceasefire and to exercise restraint on the ground. We urge the sides to implement the agreements reached between the Presidents, most recently in Geneva, which in addition to intensifying the negotiations also involve measures to reduce tension on the ground. It is time that the agreement on the expansion of the Office of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office is implemented. It is undisputable that reducing tension on the ground will help reduce civilian victims. It will also facilitate reaching a mutually acceptable agreement; it will not cement the status quo.

Q.: Which steps do you think as urgent to release Azerbaijani captives Dilgam Asgarov and Shahbaz Guliyev?

A.: We, of course, have followed this case since their capture in June 2014. The EU, together with the Minsk Group Co-Chairs, fully supports the ICRC efforts. In my view, this issue should also be looked at in a broader context; it would be very helpful and contribute to building trust if the parties could address humanitarian issues and agree for instance on the release of several detainees. It would show to the societies and all those affected that there is progress and willingness to engage without the sides having to compromise on core positions regarding the conflict. In the Georgia context, there have been several releases of detainees over the past two years, and this has not been negative for any side, quite the contrary, it can provide the basis for further trust-building. Perhaps this could also be the case in the Nagorno-Karabakh context.

---

Follow the author on Twitter:@GulgizDBaku, Azerbaijan, Feb.19

By Gulgiz Muradova  Trend:

The European Union follows the issue of Azerbaijani captives Dilgam Asgarov and Shahbaz Guliyev since their capture in June 2014, Toivo Klaar, the EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the crisis in Georgia, told Trend.

He noted that the EU, together with the Minsk Group Co-Chairs, fully supports the efforts of the International Committee of the Red Cross. He added that this issue should also be looked at in a broader context.

"It would be very helpful and contribute to building trust if the parties could address humanitarian issues and agree for instance on the release of several detainees. It would show to the societies and all those affected that there is progress and willingness to engage without the sides having to compromise on core positions regarding the conflict. In the Georgia context, there have been several releases of detainees over the past two years, and this has not been negative for any side, quite the contrary, it can provide the basis for further trust-building. Perhaps this could also be the case in the Nagorno-Karabakh context," said Klaar.

During an operation in July 2014 in Shaplar village of Azerbaijani Kalbajar district occupied by Armenia, the Armenian special forces killed an Azerbaijani, Hasan Hasanov, and took hostage two other Azerbaijanis, Shahbaz Guliyev and Dilgam Asgarov. A "criminal case" was initiated against them. Afterwards, a "court" sentenced Asgarov to life imprisonment and Guliyev to 22 years in prison.

---

Follow the author on Twitter:@GulgizDBaku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 19

Trend:

Armenia may be involved in the assassination attempt on Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman, Former Deputy Defense Minister of Azerbaijan, Lieutenant General Chingiz Mammadov said Feb. 19.

He added that the Armenian side is always concerned about the development of the Azerbaijan-Israel relations, in particular, cooperation in the military sphere.

"Liebermans statements about open support for Azerbaijan, which were voiced during the recent visit of a delegation of the Armenian parliament to Israel, greatly disappointed the Armenian MPs," he said. The assassination attempt on Lieberman immediately after the failed visit of the Armenian delegation to Israel gives grounds to assume that it was planned even before the visit of Armenian parliamentarians.

Armenia's criminal regime is constantly resorting to such methods as assassination and terrorist attacks, he said, adding that Armenia's criminal regime has close relations with terrorist organizations, including anti-Israeli forces.

"The use of such methods has been even outlined in the charters of many Armenian organizations," Mammadov said.

Mammadov added that the direct participation of Armenians in terrorist attacks and assassinations committed in various cities, for example, in Paris, Moscow, Istanbul and many other places, has been testified.

"So, Armenia may also be involved in the assassination attempt on Lieberman, which is testified by the fact that despite Armenias persistent attempts, the Israeli parliament has not recognized the so-called Armenian genocide," he said.Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 19

Trend:

A candidacy for the head of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) observation mission at the April 11, 2018 presidential election in Azerbaijan will be coordinated at the meeting of the Council of the CIS Permanent Plenipotentiary Representatives, Belarus BELTA news agency reported referring to the press-office of CIS Executive Committee.

The meeting is to be held in Minsk on Feb. 20.

Next presidential election in Azerbaijan is to be held on April 11, 2018, according to an order signed Feb. 5 by the country's President Ilham Aliyev.

The project of agenda for the next meeting of the Council of Heads of State, which will be held in Dushanbe in June 2018, will be presented to the CIS Permanent Plenipotentiary Representatives at the charter and other bodies of the Commonwealth. They will also coordinate the project of agenda of joint meeting of the Council of the CIS Permanent Plenipotentiary Representatives and Committee on Economical Issues under the CIS Economical Council, the press-office of the Commonwealth said.

The Central Election Committee (CEC) of Azerbaijan has received six appeals to observe the presidential election to be held on April 11, Chairman of the CEC Mazahir Panahov said at a meeting on Feb. 17. He said that all appeals received a positive response.

Long-term observers of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) on presidential election in Azerbaijan are expected to arrive on March 20, 2018.

Short-term observation mission is to arrive to Azerbaijan as usual 35 days before the voting.Baku, Azerbaija, Feb. 19

By Elchin Mehdiyev - Trend:

Number of those looking to observe the April 11, 2018 presidential elections in Azerbaijan reached 24, Chairman of the CEC Mazahir Panahov said on Feb. 19.

Nine observers are willing to observe the election by personal initiative, 15 others are nominated by non-governmental organization (NGOs).

Panahov said that all appeals received positive response.

Next presidential election in Azerbaijan is to be held on April 11, 2018, according to an order signed Feb. 5 by the country's President Ilham Aliyev.

Pre-election agitation campaign in Azerbaijan will begin on March 19, 2018 and end on April 10, 2018 at 08:00.Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 19

Trend:

Azerbaijani and Armenian armies are standing face-to-face on the front line and resumption of the war at any moment is not ruled out, Azerbaijani Defense Minister, Colonel General Zakir Hasanov said.

Hasanov made the remarks at a meeting in Baku Feb. 19 with a delegation headed by the European Union Special Representative for the South Caucasus and Crisis in Georgia Toivo Klaar.

The current situation on the front line was discussed during the meeting.

Hasanov once again reminded that Azerbaijans territories recognized by international community are still under Armenias occupation.

The Azerbaijani minister added that negotiations are still unsuccessful.

He added that instead of investigating the consequences of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, it would be better for international structures to remove the causes of its emergence by making every effort to fully resolve the conflict.

Noting the importance of speedy and peaceful settlement of the conflict to ensure stability in the South Caucasus, Klaar stressed that the European Union supports continuation of negotiations.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 19

Trend:

The first meeting of a joint working group created on the basis of a memorandum of understanding on further development of energy cooperation between the Azerbaijani and Turkmen governments dated August 8, 2017 was held in Baku, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said in a message Feb. 19.

According to the message, the delegations led by Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Khalaf Khalafov and Chairman of the State Enterprise for Caspian Sea Affairs under the President of Turkmenistan Murat Atadjanov attended the meeting.

During the meeting it was stressed that the agreements reached at the level of the presidents of the two countries give an impetus to the further strengthening of friendly and good-neighborly relations and the development of fruitful cooperation.

The participants of the meeting stressed that the coordination of the draft convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea at the end of 2017 in Moscow will serve to resolve the issues of mutual interest concerning the Caspian Sea.

The prospects for the development of mutually beneficial cooperation in the energy sector between the two countries on the basis of the principles of equality and for the achievement of the goals of the memorandum of understanding were discussed during the meeting.

The sides discussed the issues related to the delimitation of the Caspian Sea bottom between Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan.

Taking into account that both countries have great energy potential, the discussions on the improvement of the legal basis on the Caspian Sea were held to reach further agreements that will allow uniting efforts in this sphere and expanding energy projects. An agreement was also reached to hold the next meeting in Turkmenistan.Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 19

Trend:

President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev signed an order Feb. 19 on measures to build the new Baku-Guba-Russian border highway.

According to the order, the Azerbaijan State Agency of Highways will allocate 150 million manats from the 2018 state budget.Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 19

Trend:

Khojaly 613 concert, commemorating the Khojaly Genocide victims, will be held in the Heydar Aliyev Center in Baku, Azerbaijan on Feb. 26, the Center said in its message.

Classical works of Azerbaijani and world composers, as well as French composer Pierre Thilloys Khojaly 613 symphony poem, are to be presented in the concert program.

Pierre Thilloys Khojaly 613 symphony poem commemorates 613 civilian victims of the Genocide carried out by Armenian armed forces in Azerbaijani city of Khojaly on Feb. 2627, 1992.

The Azerbaijan State Symphony Orchestra named after Uzeyir Hajibeyov will perform at the concert under the conducting of Fuad Ibrahimov.

The work combines western classical music and Azerbaijani national motives, including such songs as Lachin and Sary Gelin. A synthesis of march rhythms, soldiers procession sounds and machine-gun bursts reminds the horror of the Khojaly tragedy.

Khojaly 613 symphony poem reflects a call for peace and prevention of such tragedies as Khojaly Genocide in the future.

The work was premiered in Paris on Feb. 21, 2013. Later, it was presented in London, Mulhouse, Strasbourg, Rouen, Colmar, Brussels, Athens, Vilnius, Bern, Geneva, Dublin and Oslo.

The concert program in Heydar Aliyev Center includes works of renowned Azerbaijani composers: Fikret Amirovs Azerbaijani Capriccio, Gara Garayevs Mourning Ode and a Travel fragment from Don Quixote, American composer Samuel Barbers Adagio.

On Feb. 25-26, 1992, the Armenian armed forces, together with the 366th infantry regiment of Soviet troops, stationed in Khankendi, committed an act of genocide against the population of the Azerbaijani town of Khojaly. As many as 613 people, including 63 children, 106 women and 70 old people were killed in the massacre. Eight families were totally exterminated, 130 children lost one parent and 25 children lost both. Some 1,275 innocent residents were taken hostage, while the fate of 150 people still remains unknown.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 19

Trend:

Today, thanks to joint efforts between the United States and Azerbaijan, residents of the village of Gelme in the district of Zardab celebrated the completion of a feed and seed-grinding center that allows the people of Gelme to make their own affordable animal feed for their cows and poultry. Even though many villagers have land where they grow their own clover and barley, before the feed-grinding center they would have to travel long distances to the nearest city to grind their feed. Local residents now can use their own crops to make feed for their animals in their own community.

For the Gelme community, this new center will help save the time, money, and energy of nearly 3,000 people whose livelihoods depend on cattle, poultry breeding and agriculture. The American people, through USAID, and the Government of Azerbaijan co-financed the construction of the feed grinding center, which was managed by the East-West Management Institute (EWMI).

Together the United States and Azerbaijan have completed 114 community projects in 101 Azerbaijani communities, including those with IDPs. These projects have benefitted more than 186,000 people. The projects are made possible by assistance provided by the American people, through USAID, and are implemented by the East-West Management Institute (EWMI). EWMI promotes cooperation between citizens, civil society organizations, and the government to develop their communities and improve quality of life in rural areas.

For more information about USAID, contact Vugar Naghiyev, USAID Communications Specialist, by e-mail at [email protected], by phone at (+994 12) 498-18-35.

For more information about SEDA, please contact Vagif Hassanov, EWMI-SEDA M&E and Public Outreach Officer, by e-mail at [email protected]or phone at (+99412) 598-46-14.Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 19

Trend:

The project Science via Media" which provided a great chance for the youth, organized by Barama Media Center, self-development laboratory for students in Baku State University with the support of Barama Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center, Azercell and PASHA Bank, has finished successfully. Project participants were evaluated based on the scores on YouTube channel and by the panel of juries. The award ceremony took place on February, 19 at Baku State University.

Imran Baghirov, the head of Barama Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center, and Parvana Ibrahimova, press-secretary of Baku State University, noted at the event that the distinguishing feature of "Science via Media" project is that unlike routine study activities it inspires the youth to present more practical and unseen sides of science and educate the young participants and the audience by the videos prepared for the competition.

In addition, the ceremony included panel discussions on media entrepreneurship with the participation of Farid Pardashunas, Director of Technote startup, Vugar Aliyev, Dean of the faculty of Journalism and Alikhan Rajabov, prominent actor and video blogger. The students were informed about startups and innovations in media as the speakers shared their broad experience in the field and answered the questions of the audience.

The winners of Science via Media contest have become  the 1st place Nigar Abbasova and Vusala Haciyeva with project X (Unknown), the 2nd place Ayna Zarbaliyeva and Chichek Mammadova with project Genetic Memory and the 3rd place Nurlan Salamov with the project Cloning.

Notably, "Science via Media", designed as a competition, was aimed to encourage the youth towards science, education and self-development by explaining any scientific invention or research to the public in the language of media. The project received videos on 5 topics from the young participants.

For more information, please contact [email protected]

The leader of the mobile communication industry, the largest taxpayer and the biggest investor of the non-oil sector of Azerbaijan Azercell Telecom LLC was founded in 1996. With 48% share of Azerbaijans mobile telecom market Azercells network covers 80% of the territory (excluding 20% of the occupied territories) and 99,8% of population of the country. Currently, 4,5 million subscribers choose Azercell services. Azercell has pioneered an important number of innovations in Azerbaijan, including GSM technology, advance payment system, mobile internet services, Metro coverage, 24/7 call centre service, 7 day/week Front Office service, M2M services, one-stop-shopping approach Azercell Express offices, Online Customer Care and Social Media Customer Care services, Mobile Customer Care office, mobile e-signature service ASAN Imza etc. Azercell deployed first 4G  LTE services in Azerbaijan in 2012. According to the results of mobile network quality surveys of Global Wireless Solutions company and international systems specialized in wireless coverage mapping such as Opensignal and Testmy.net, Azercells network demonstrated the best results among the mobile operators of Azerbaijan.Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Feb. 19

By Huseyn Hasanov  Trend:

Wheat crops take up more than 700,000 hectares of agricultural areas in Turkmenistan, local newspaper Vatan reported.

The report said vegetational watering was carried out. Additional mineral fertilizing of soil will be done closer to spring.

Seeds of high-yield wheat were being used during the sowing.

Measures to protect winter crops against pests and diseases are being taken.

About one million tons of wheat was harvested in July 2017 in the country.

Earlier, Turkmenistan had been awarded a special prize of Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the UN for achievements in the food security sphere.Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 19

By Anvar Mammadov  Trend:

Azerbaijan exported goods worth $70.84 million to Georgia in January 2018, which is 10.4 percent more than in the same period last year, the National Statistics Office of Georgia said in a report.

According to the report, Azerbaijan ranked second among the main exporters to Georgia with a specific weight of 11.9 percent (12.8 percent in January 2017).

Azerbaijan mainly exported oil and oil products, natural gas, electricity, spare parts and railcars to Georgia.

Turkey ($83.97 million, with a specific weight of 14.1 percent) ranked first among exporters of goods to Georgia. Russia ranked third with $65.4 million (11 percent).

This is while the goods delivery from Georgia to Azerbaijan increased by 2,2 times to $20.22 million in January 2018 compared to the same period last year.

Azerbaijans share in the Georgian export operations amounted to 9.1 percent (5.3 percent in January 2017). Azerbaijan ranked third among importers of goods from Georgia.

Azerbaijan mainly imported pharmaceutical products, tobacco products, cars, cattle, as well as products of iron and non-alloy steel, from Georgia.

Russia ($28.67 million or specific weight of 12.9 percent) ranked first among importers of goods from Georgia, while Turkey ($28.06 million or 12.06 percent) ranked second.

Georgias trade turnover with Azerbaijan amounted to $91.06 million in January 2018. The specific weight of trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Georgia accounts for 11.2 percent of the total volume of foreign trade operations of the country.Hamilton, Bermuda, 19 February 2018

Phantom Unit Award to management of Hoegh LNG

Reference is made to the stock exchange notice by Hoegh LNG Holdings Ltd. ("Hoegh LNG") dated 6 June 2016 regarding the award of 53,568 phantom units in Hoegh LNG Partners LP ("HMLP") by Hoegh LNG to senior management and key employees of Hoegh LNG AS. On 31 December 2017, 17,856 of the phantom units vested, making 20,276 common units in HMLP eligible for delivery after adjusting for dividend distributions from HMLP since the time of award, of which 5,654 will be settled in cash and 14,622 have been settled through the delivery of common units. The units delivered were sourced from Hoegh LNG's holding of common units in HMLP, which has been reduced to 2,101,438 following the transactions.

Phantom Unit Award to other primary insider of Hoegh LNG

Reference is further made to the stock exchange notice by Hoegh LNG dated 6 June 2016 regarding the award of 21,500 Phantom Units by the board of directors of HMLP to Richard Tyrrell, CEO & CFO of HMLP. On 31 December 2017, 7,167 of the phantom units vested, making 8,138 common units in HMLP eligible for delivery after adjusting for dividend distributions from HMLP since the time of award, all of which have been settled through the delivery of common units. The units were issued as new common units in HMLP. Following the delivery, the total number of common units in HMLP was 19,763,237.

New holding

The following primary insiders of Hoegh LNG received either common units in HMLP or will receive cash settlement as further detailed below in connection with the vesting of the phantom units:

Sveinung J. S. Sthle, President & CEO, received 7,947 common units after adjusting for dividend distributions from HMLP upon vesting of 6,999 phantom units. After the transactions, he holds 134,738 shares and 423,000 options in Hoegh LNG and 15,915 common units and 13,997 Phantom Units in HMLP.

Steffen Freid, CFO, received 3,482 common units after adjusting for dividend distributions from HMLP upon vesting of 3,066 phantom units. After the transaction, he holds 21,805 shares and 179,200 options in Hoegh LNG and 11,073 common units and 6,132 Phantom Units in HMLP.

Ragnar Wislff, CDO, received 1,514 common units after adjusting for dividend distributions from HMLP upon vesting of 1,333 phantom units. After the transaction, he holds 23,934 shares and 165,600 options in Hoegh LNG and 6,692 common units and 2,667 Phantom Units in HMLP.

Vegard Hellekleiv, COO, will receive cash settlement after vesting of 1,333 phantom units. After the transaction, he holds 23,364 shares and 165,600 options in Hoegh LNG and 2,667 Phantom Units in HMLP.

Tom Solberg, COS, will receive cash settlement after vesting of 1,333 phantom units. After the transaction, he holds 65,600 options in Hoegh LNG and 2,667 Phantom Units in HMLP.

Richard Tyrrell, CEO & CFO of HMLP, received 8,138 common units after adjusting for dividend distributions from HMLP upon vesting of 7,167 phantom units. After the transaction, he holds 9,215 shares and 76,917 options in Hoegh LNG and 8,138 common units and 14,333 Phantom Units in HMLP. In addition, Rachel Brask-Tyrrell, related party of Richard Tyrrell, owns 5,000 common units in HMLP.

Camilla Nyhus-Mller, Senior Vice President Legal & Compliance, will receive cash settlement after vesting of 1,375 phantom units. After the transaction, she holds 45,375 options in Hoegh LNG and 2,749 Phantom Units in HMLP.

* * *

About Hoegh LNG:



Hoegh LNG provides floating energy solutions and operates world-wide with a leading position as owner and operator of floating LNG import terminals; floating storage and regasification units (FSRUs), and is one of the most experienced operators of LNG Carriers (LNGCs). Hoegh LNG's vision is to be the industry leader of floating LNG solutions and the strategy is to continue to focus its growth plans in the FSRU market, with the objective of securing long-term contracts with strong counterparties at attractive returns. Hoegh LNG is a Bermuda based company with established presence in Norway, Singapore, the UK, USA, South Korea, Indonesia, Lithuania, Egypt, Colombia, China and Turkey. The company employs approximately 115 office staff and 500 seafarers.

Contacts:

Sveinung J. S. Sthle, President and Chief Executive Officer, Telephone +47 975 57 402

Steffen Freid, Chief Financial Officer, Telephone +47 975 57 406

Erik Folkeson, Head of IR, Telephone +47 414 21 769

This information is subject of the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act or the Continuing Obligations of Oslo Brs.Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 19

By Rufiz Hafizoglu  Trend:

An airport in the Siirt province in the southeast of Turkey will resume operation in June this year, the Turkish Ministry of Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communications said in a message.

All necessary work is being carried out to resume the airports operation, according to the message.

The airport was closed because due to its technical capabilities, it was unable to receive big passenger and cargo aircraft.

The airport in Turkeys Siirt province was built in 1994.Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 19

By Anvar Mammadov  Trend:

The amount of foreign investments made in Azerbaijans fixed capital totaled 459.8 million manats in January 2018 that is by 29.7 percent less than in January 2017, says the Azerbaijani State Statistics Committees report as of January 2018.

During the reporting period, 88.9 percent (408.7 million manats) of investments made in Azerbaijans economy accounted for investors from the UK, Turkey, Malaysia, Switzerland, Russia, Iran, the US, Japan and Norway.

Moreover, 47.9 percent of the total amount of investments made in Azerbaijan's fixed capital accounted for foreign investments in January 2018, which is 20.6 percentage points less than in January 2017.

(1.7001 AZN = $1 on Feb. 19)Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 19

By Ali Mustafayev  Trend:

Asian Development Bank plans to provide $3 billion in assistance to Kazakhstan under new 2017-2021 Country Partnership Strategy, planning to expand its support to several sectors of the country, including water, agriculture, and health, ADBs Country Director for Kazakhstan Giovanni Capanelli told Trend.

Last year ADB also approved a $120 million loan to finance Samruk-Energy Restructuring Transformation Project. This nonsovereign project will support the companys goal of initial public offering by 2020 through the balance sheet restructuring, improvement of operational efficiency, and supporting the companys decarbonization by developing a renewable energy projects pipeline, said Capanelli.

He added that in recent years, ADB operations in Kazakhstan have focused on finance and transport sectors as well as on strengthening knowledge partnerships, as well as on its contribution to Kazakhstans active participation in the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Program.

During the past six years, ADB has also been a partner of the government of Kazakhstan supporting financing of small and medium-sized enterprise development.

Under our new loan with Damu Entrepreneurship Development Fund on Supporting Resilience of Micro, Small, and Medium-Sized Enterprises (MSME), a total of 72 billion tenge is being channeled to local businesses. The project aims to support economic diversification by promoting private sector development and improving access to finance, Capanelli said.

He stressed that the external shocks which hit Kazakhstan in 2014 showed that the countrys economy remains highly vulnerable to international financial dynamics due its limited diversification and its dependence on hydrocarbons.

ADB support will allow MSMEs to access financing needed to maintain operations, invest in productive technologies, and help grow business, thereby contributing to job creation, economic stability, and diversification. As microbusinesses are a major source of income for the low-income population in rural areas, the project will also help reduce income inequalities. It also fosters gender mainstreaming through specific targets to support women entrepreneurs, according to ADBs Country Director.

ADB has been actively contributing to the modernization of Kazakhstans transport and logistics system to ensure countrys connectivity with the worlds transportation network, and its integration into global supply chains. Investing in the countrys road system has been an ADBs long-standing priority to reduce the cost of transporting goods and people across a vast territory.

In Mangistau region, for example, ADB has recently completed the reconstruction of 400 kilometers of the AktauBeineu road, reducing the average travel time on this road from twelve to five hours. In October 2017, work was launched on the Aktobe-Makat road, for which ADB provided a $240 million loan to help Kazakhstan increase its trade links with markets in East Asia, Europe, and the Caspian Sea subregion, said Capanelli.

The project is expected to strengthen regional connectivity and reinforce Kazakhstans role as a regional hub in Central Asia.

Asian Development Bank is also committed to further support the governments efforts in promoting green growth and in development of renewable energy sources, both through public and private sector investment projects, and knowledge support.Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Feb. 19

By Huseyn Hasanov  Trend:

On the previous week, 86 deals were closed on the Turkmen Commodity Exchange, press-office of the exchange announced on Feb. 19.

UAE entrepreneurs bought aviation kerosene produced on the Turkmenbashi refinery plants complex. Portland cement, cotton yarn and cotton fiber were sold for foreign currency as well.

Purchaser countries were Russia, the UK, UAE, Switzerland and Turkey. All deals totaled more than $44.860 million.

Businesses and organizations of all ownership forms, residents of Turkmenistan and other countries can participate in the exchange trading by acquisition of a broker place or signing of service contract with exchange brokers.

Petrochemicals, cotton fiber, local textile and chemical production are the main exports.Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 19

By Gulgiz Muradova -Trend:

OPEC and its allies are likely to stay the course by keeping its current curb on oil output in place for the whole 2018 amid possible price falls in the oil markets, energy analysts told Trend.

Christopher Haines, head of oil and gas at BMI Research, (a Fitch Group company), told Trend that near-term weakness is expected in the oil price.

"Stronger US production and weaker demand due to the refinery turnaround season, is expected to drive some negativity in the price. Managed money positions in both Brent and WTI are very long at the moment and unwinding of the long positions in reaction will see oil prices fall," he said, adding that BMI Research remains positive with an average price expectation of $65/bbl for Brent for 2018.

Since autumn 2017, crude market somehow balanced and crude began to trade above $60 following the last two and a half years. This January, the Brent crude price has risen by over 6 percent, making this its largest rise in January since 2013.

One of the key drivers has been the US dollar, which has lost 3.2 percent against a basket of major currencies since early 2018. The market had also been dented by rising output in North America.

Cyril Widdershoven, a Middle East geopolitical specialist and energy analyst, a partner at Dutch risk consultancy VEROCY and SVP MEA-Risk, told Trend that some even argue that OPEC should increase prices to $80 or more

"Thus, have investors go into shale oil, and then sink prices again to $60, so crushing appetite of investors to fill financial gaps at shale oil companies," he noted.

Arab OPEC members (Saudi Arabia-UAE) and Russia are not considering any change in quota, according to Widdershoven.

"The pact has been signed for a year, fundamentals are still not where they want it to be. Some additional volumes still need to be removed, according to Riyadh and Abu Dhabi, from storage worldwide. As far as they are concerned no changes expected before end of 2018. For Russia, the prices are very good, as revenues are needed," he said.

Widdershoven believes that main option for disturbances would be a financial crash in China, removing demand or a possible split in OPEC due to direct confrontations with Iran.

Other issues are not going to have real impact and will not change the agreement before 2018, he added.

OPEC and its non-OPEC allies, all financially embattled, will continue to regulate prices, Gal Luft, the co-director of the Washington-based Institute for the Analysis of Global Security, for his part, told Trend.

"They surely realize that additional gains in oil prices will unleash a new wave of production from North American shale formations that need higher prices to become competitive. The same is true for Canada's oil sands. This can create a new glut followed by a new race to the bottom," he said.

Luft further said that OPEC can withstand oil in range of $60s, but not in range of $30s.

"So in June they [OPEC] will be extra careful and may decide against extending the cuts into 2019," he said.Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 19

By Maksim Tsurkov - Trend:

Azerbaijans state oil company SOCAR and Norways Statoil may sign an agreement on the Karabakh offshore oil and gas fields development this year, Vitaly Baylarbayov, SOCAR deputy vice president, said in an interview with Reuters.

Baylarbayov said the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC) could be expanded if promising new gas fields in Azerbaijan can be developed.

He mentioned the Absheron gas field, where SOCAR is drilling in partnership with French oil company Total, and the Karabakh field which it is due to explore with Norways Statoil.

Azerbaijans Umid and Babek fields could also be developed as could the next stage of Shah Deniz, he said.

Many foreign companies are also expressing interest in development of Umid and Babek fields together with SOCAR and we are in talks with them, he said without elaborating on details of talks.

The first phase of the SGC pipeline from Azerbaijan to Europe will open in July and could be expanded after it becomes fully operational in 2020, Baylarbayov added.

We will start first commercial supplies of gas to Turkey (through the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline, TANAP) in early July this year, he said. We can say now that the (SGC) pipeline will be put into operation on time, in 2020.

Baylarbayov added that the Southern Gas Corridor CJSC would continue to seek funds for the project.

In December 2017, SOCAR and Statoil signed two contracts on main principles of cooperation.

The first contract covers issues of exploration, development and main commercial principles and provisions of the PSA (production sharing agreement) on some promising structures in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea, while the second contract covers main commercial principles and provisions of the Risk Service Contract (RSC) regarding the Karabakh field.

The Karabakh field was discovered in 2000. Its initial oil reserves amount to 100 million tons. SOCAR operates Karabakh fields development.

The Southern Gas Corridor, worth $41.5 billion, is considered as one of the priority energy projects for the EU, which strives for diversification of gas sources. The project envisages the transportation of gas from the Caspian region to the European countries through Georgia and Turkey.

At an initial stage, the gas to be produced in the Stage 2 of development of Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz field is considered as the main source for the Southern Gas Corridor projects. Other sources can also connect to this project at a later stage.

As part of the Shah Deniz Stage 2, the gas will be exported to Turkey and European markets by expanding the South Caucasus Pipeline and the construction of TANAP and Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP).Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 19

By Maksim Tsurkov  Trend:

Azerbaijani Baku Metro CJSC and Russian Metrovagonmash OJSC (part of Transmashholding CJSC) signed an agreement on supply of subway trains for Baku subway, Transmashholding announced in its message.

The Russian company will deliver two 81-765/766 five-car trains to Azerbaijan. Each train will feature two engine cars and three middle cars.

Estimate service life is 31 years.

The agreement was signed by Metrovagonmash General Director Boris Bogatiryov and Chairman of Baku Metro Zaur Huseynov. The first supply of the new trains to Baku is expected in March 2018. Fulfillment of the contract is expected during 2018.

Cars of the 81-765/766 series are being manufactured by Metrovagonmash for Moscow subway under the Moscow name since early 2017. They feature wider doorways and a new light notification system for door opening/closing compared to the previous models.

The train cars are equipped with reliable ecologic noise and heat isolation systems.

Metrovagonmash and Baku subway has a long history of mutually beneficial cooperation. The facility has supplied Azerbaijani capital with trains since 1967. Baku subway uses 280 train cars of Metrovagonmash.

Last supply of Russian trains was carried out in 2015, when Russian Metrovagonmash jointly with French Alstom delivered three 81-760.B/761.B/763.B five-car trains featuring a through passage to Baku Metro.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @MaksimTsurkovA meeting of representatives of the State Committee for Defense Affairs of Kyrgyzstan with a delegation of the military-industrial complex of Kazakhstan was held in Bishkek on Feb. 16, Kabar reports.

The issues of cooperation and the prospects of defense departments in the sphere of the military-industrial complex, were touched upon at the meeting. In particular, the sides discussed the possibility of cooperation in the defense industry.

The Kazakh side conveyed an invitation to the Kyrgyz military department to visit the V International Exhibition of Arms and Military-Technical Property "KADEX-2018", which will be held on May 23 - 26, 2018 in Astana.

This is the first exhibition held under the auspices of the Ministry of Defense and Aerospace Industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan, which was established in 2016. Kazakh and foreign enterprises of the defense-industrial complex and space industry, leading design bureaus and research institutes will take part in it.Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 19

By Huseyn Hasanov  Trend:

Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov expressed condolences to Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani over the Aseman Airlines plane crash near the city of Semirom in Isfahan Province, which led to numerous casualties.

Berdimuhamedov conveyed deep sympathy and support in such a hard moment on behalf of the Turkmen nation, government and on his own behalf to the families and friends of those killed in the plane crash, the Turkmen government said in a message Feb. 19.Tehran, Iran, Feb. 19

By Kamyar Eghbalnejad  Trend:

Oil Product Export Development Fund of Iran (Opex Fund) is planning to export the Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) by its new vessel, an official told Trend.

Mohammadreza Zamani, the head of Opex Fund, has estimated that the issue of exporting CNG by the new vessel of the Opex would be realized within the coming 15 months.

The new ship named Aram (peace) is capable of transferring gas to neighboring countries such as Oman, Pakistan and Yemen, he added.

He further added that the vessel is capable of carrying 2,000 tons of cargo.

The country produces over 800 mcm/d of gas, most of which come from South Pars, a large offshore gas field in the Persian Gulf shared by Iran and Qatar.

Iran plans to annually export 10 billion cubic meters of gas to the Persian Gulf counties over the next four years.English French

Press release

Bone Therapeutics completes patient recruitment for Phase IIA Spinal Fusion study with ALLOB

Efficacy and safety results expected in mid-2019

Promising interim efficacy and safety data already reported

Gosselies, Belgium, 19 February 2018, 7am CET - BONE THERAPEUTICS (Euronext Brussels and Paris: BOTHE), the bone cell therapy company addressing high unmet medical needs in orthopaedics and bone diseases, today announces that it has completed the recruitment of its Phase IIA lumbar spinal fusion study with its allogeneic bone-cell therapy product, ALLOB. Given this timing, efficacy and safety data for the full set of 32 patients are expected mid-2019, following a follow-up period of 12 months.

Thomas Lienard, Chief Executive Officer of Bone Therapeutics, commented: "We are pleased to announce recruitment of the last patient into our Phase IIA spinal fusion study with ALLOB, on schedule. Our promising interim results showed bone formation in ALLOB-treated patients, who also reported significant improvement in pain and day to day functional abilities. We look forward to reporting the full data set in mid-2019 as further positive results would continue to confirm the potential of our allogeneic cell therapy product to provide patients and physicians with improved treatment outcomes."

The Phase IIA trial in lumbar spinal fusion is designed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of the addition of ALLOB to the standard of care procedure, in which an interbody cage with bioceramic granules is implanted to achieve fusion of the lumbar vertebrae. Endpoints of the study include radiological assessments: the evaluation of fusion and intervertebral mobility; and clinical assessments: the improvement in functional disability and reduction in pain; and safety assessments. Positive interim safety and efficacy results were reported in September 2017.

About Spinal Fusion

Due to ageing populations and sedentary lifestyles, an increasing amount of people are suffering from degenerative spine disorders. Spinal fusion is considered as the gold standard surgery for treating a broad spectrum of degenerative spine disorders to relieve pain and improve function. Spinal fusion consists of bridging two or more vertebrae with the use of a cage and graft material, traditionally autologous bone graft, - placed into the intervertebral space - for fusing an unstable portion of the spine or immobilizing a painful vertebral motion segment. Over 500,000 lumbar spinal fusions are performed each year in Europe and the US and the market is growing at a rate of 5% per year. Although spinal fusion surgery is routine, non-union and failure to relieve pain are still frequent and up to 35% of spinal fusion patients are not completely satisfied with their surgery.

About Bone Therapeutics

Bone Therapeutics is a leading cell therapy company addressing high unmet needs in orthopaedics and bone diseases. Based in Gosselies, Belgium, the Company has a broad, diversified portfolio of bone cell therapy products in clinical development across a number of disease areas targeting markets with large unmet medical needs and limited innovation.

Our technology is based on a unique, proprietary approach to bone regeneration which turns undifferentiated stem cells into "osteoblastic", or bone-forming cells. These cells can be administered via a minimally invasive procedure, avoiding the need for invasive surgery.

Our primary clinical focus is ALLOB, an allogeneic "off-the-shelf" cell therapy product derived from stem cells of healthy donors, which is in Phase II studies for the treatment of delayed-union fractures and spinal fusion. The Company also has an autologous bone cell therapy product, PREOB, obtained from patient`s own bone marrow and currently in Phase III development for osteonecrosis, and is also partnered with Asahi Kasei Corporation for the development and commercialisation of PREOB  in Japan.

Bone Therapeutics` cell therapy products are manufactured to the highest GMP standards and are protected by a rich IP estate covering nine patent families. Further information is available at: www.bonetherapeutics.com.

Contacts

Bone Therapeutics SA

Thomas Lienard, Chief Executive Officer

Jean-Luc Vandebroek, Chief Financial Officer

Tel: +32 (0)2 529 59 90

investorrelations@bonetherapeutics.com

For Belgium and International Media Enquiries:

Consilium Strategic Communications

Amber Fennell, Jessica Hodgson, Hendrik Thys and Lindsey Neville

Tel: +44 (0) 20 3709 5701

bonetherapeutics@consilium-comms.com

For French Media and Investor Enquiries:

NewCap Investor Relations & Financial Communications

Pierre Laurent, Louis-Victor Delouvrier and Nicolas Merigeau

Tel: + 33 (0)1 44 71 94 94

bone@newcap.eu

For US Media and Investor Enquiries

Westwicke Partners

John Woolford

Tel: + 1 443 213 0506

john.woolford@westwicke.com

Certain statements, beliefs and opinions in this press release are forward-looking, which reflect the Company or, as appropriate, the Company directors` current expectations and projections about future events. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. These risks, uncertainties and assumptions could adversely affect the outcome and financial effects of the plans and events described herein. A multitude of factors including, but not limited to, changes in demand, competition and technology, can cause actual events, performance or results to differ significantly from any anticipated development. Forward looking statements contained in this press release regarding past trends or activities should not be taken as a representation that such trends or activities will continue in the future. As a result, the Company expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release any update or revisions to any forward-looking statements in this press release as a result of any change in expectations or any change in events, conditions, assumptions or circumstances on which these forward-looking statements are based. Neither the Company nor its advisers or representatives nor any of its subsidiary undertakings or any such person`s officers or employees guarantees that the assumptions underlying such forward-looking statements are free from errors nor does either accept any responsibility for the future accuracy of the forward-looking statements contained in this press release or the actual occurrence of the forecasted developments. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release.Tehran, Iran, Feb. 19

By Kamyar Eghbalnejad  Trend:

Iranian Minister of Industry, Mine and Trade Mohammad Shariatmadari has described Azerbaijan as a proper place for automotive and car part manufacturing industries.

I believe that automotive and spare parts manufacturing industries are capable of developing in Azerbaijan, the minister told Trend.

He further expressed hope that a joint Iran-Azerbaijan venture for producing cars will be inaugurated soon in Azerbaijan.

The car plant is being built in Azerbaijans Neftchala Industrial Site on the basis of an agreement signed with Iranian leading automobile manufacturer Iran Khodro, with a nominal capacity of 10,000 units per year.

Iran exported $1.6 million worth of car parts to Azerbaijan in the first nine months of the current fiscal year (March 20-Dec. 21).

About 1,200 car part makers are actively contributing to the industry in Iran and they sold worth of $8 billion of products over the last fiscal year.

The Islamic Republic imported $2.794 billion worth of car parts, making 7.4 percent of the countrys overall imports in the 9-month period. The figure indicates a 113 percent rise year-on-year. Iran also exported 1,891 passenger cars during the first nine months of the current fiscal year.

SAIPA, Irans second biggest carmaker, has echoed plans to expand cooperation in the automotive industry with Azerbaijan.

We have put on agenda the issue of long-term cooperation with Azerbaijan and will definitely expand out cooperation with the neighboring country in the automotive sector, CEO of SAIPA Mohsen Qasem-Jahroudi has told Trend.

Over the first nine months of the current Iranian year (starting March 20), SAIPA was the second largest producer of the country after Iran Khodro producing 261,100 passenger cars, indicating a jump of 16.7 percent year on year.Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 19

By Gazenfer Hamidov  Trend:

The recent statistics released by the Chinese Customs Administration indicate that the country has almost doubled its auto sector exports to Iran.

China exported $2,179.2 million worth of cars and chassis to Iran in January-December 2017, according to the administrations data.

The value is 61 percent more compared to $1,354.8 billion worth of motor vehicles and chassis exports to Iran in 2016.

China exported $231.2 million worth of motor vehicles and chassis to Iran in December 2017, 52 percent more year-on-year.

Chinas Motor vehicles and chassis export to Iran in 2017

Period Value (million USD) -2016 Value (million USD) -2017 Y/Y increase % Jan-Dec. 1,354.85 2,179.,18 61 Jan-Nov. 1,202.64 1,947.99 62 Jan-Oct. 1,041.18 1,775.82 71 Jan-Sep. 880.23 1,535.12 74 Jan-Aug 741.033 1,400.228 89 Jan-July 586.445 1,225.388 109 Jan-June 463.193 1,033.585 123 Jan-May 371.365 840.981 127 Jan-April 267.622 670.019 150 Jan-March 184.916 484.622 162 Jan-Feb 117.724 319.955 172 Jan 43.301 180.751 317

China, Irans traditional trade partner during the sanctions period, has successfully maintained its dominant share in Irans market even after the removal of the international sanctions, despite primary doubts in Iran about the future of the mutual economic cooperation.

Reviewing the statistics of Chinese Customs Administration unveils that export of motor vehicles and chassis to Iran was continuously in rise since the removal of the sanctions in 2014.

The figure was $490 million in 2013, but increased by 116 percent to over $1 billion in 2014 and continued rise to experience a value of $1.35 billion in 2016.

Chinas Motor vehicles and chassis export to Iran in 2013-2016Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 19

By Gazenfer Hamidov  Trend:

The trading volume at physical market of Iran Mercantile Exchange (IME) experienced a rise by 3 percent during the current fiscal year (March 20-Feb. 15) and accounted to 28.84 million tons.

The value of traded commodities amounted to 439.56 trillion rials (some $9.4 billion) during the same span of the time, 31 percent more year-on-year, based on date released by official website of the IME.

Industrial and minerals trading floor ranked first in terms of trade value, followed by petrochemical trading hall.

The IME trade performance in the current fiscal year from March 20, 2017 to Feb. 15:

Industrial and minerals trading floor: traded over 7.838 million tons of various products, worth 180.197 trillion rials (27 percent more year-on-year). Steel products ranked first among the goods traded in this floor. During the current fiscal year, 6.234 million tons of steel products, worth 138.64 trillion rials were traded in the floor.

Petrochemical trading floor: traded over 3.622 million tons (10 percent more year-on-year) of various products, worth 136.49 trillion rials. Polymer products were the main commodities traded in terms of value and volume (2.601 million tons, worth 111.15 trillion rials).

Oil products trading floor: traded over 9.483 million tons of various products, 9 percent more year-on-year. The value of the traded commodities increased by 47 percent and accounted to 88.27 trillion rials. Bitumen shared 51 and 54 percent of the traded commodities in the floor in terms of volume and value, respectively.

Agriculture floor: traded over 2.746 million tons(19 percent increase) of various products, worth 30.816 trillion rials (18 percent increase) including 1.807 million tons of wheat, worth 15.8 trillion rials.

Furthermore 158,546 tons of various goods, worth 3,341.5 billion rials were traded in the side market during the current fiscal year. the value of the trades in the market increased by 150 percent, meanwhile the volume registered a 57 percent rise, year-on-year. Agricultural products accounted for 36.5 and 48 percent of the traded goods in this market in terms of volume and value, respectively.

The total value of trade transactions in the IME, including transactions in physical  and financial markets from the beginning of current fiscal year to Feb. 15 stood at 1,013 trillion rials (over $21.76 billion), showing 37 percent rise in terms of value compared to the same time span in the previous year.

The IME was founded in 2007. It trades in agricultural, industrial and petrochemical products in spot and futures markets. There are 70 listed brokerage companies in IME who are members of the exchange licensed by the market regulator, the Securities and Exchange Organization.Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 18

By Gazenfer Hamidov  Trend:

Iran and Germany signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on Feb. 17 to cooperate in the field of nuclear safety, the state-run IRINN TV reported.

The deal was signed between Germanys GRS Company and Iran's Nuclear Safety System Center in Tehran during a ceremony attended by German ambassador to Tehran, Michael Klor-Berchtold.

Under the deal, the German side will help Irans Nuclear Safety System Center to improve its capabilities.

The MoU envisages cooperation in various fields, including staff training and exchanging experience for establishing a nuclear safety center.

Iran has held talks with various countries to cooperate in nuclear safety after it reached the nuclear deal with world powers, which came into force in January 2016.

Some European countries, including Norway, as well as Japan have already announced their readiness to help Iran with nuclear safety.

The Iranian nuclear safety body has started some cooperation with the EU and Switzerland in this regard as well.Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 19

Trend:

Irans Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif calls for the settlement of the confrontation between Iran and Saudi Arabia in interests of the whole Middle-East region.

Such a confrontation is absolutely needless and even dangerous. Lets adjust it and try to get rid of the problem that has already affected the situation in Yemen, Syria and the whole region. Lets try to hold back expansion of the confrontation and not intensify it, Zarif said addressing the Middle-East Valdai conference in Moscow, according to Russian RIA Novosti agency.

Tehran and Riyadh could cooperate on Iraq, Syria and other issues, he added.

We dont have any problems with Saudi Arabia trying to play a constructive role in Iraq. That is right at least. We try to somehow correct the 1015-year old mistakes. There were attempts to sponsor development projects and we welcome such activity, Irans FM said, adding that Iraqs position on the issue must be considered also.

There is a possibility for cooperation between all countries of the Middle East. We can step towards development and prosperity, Zarif added.

But one sides interests mustnt be followed to the detriment of others, he noted.

Saudi Arabia has to work with other powers of the Middle East: with Bahrain, with Syria and with Iraq as well, Zarif concluded.Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 19

By Khalid Kazimov  Trend:

Three policemen have reportedly been killed in northern Tehran following a clash with the followers of a Sufi order known as the Gonabadi Dervishes.

The perpetrator of the attack has rammed a bus into a crowd, killing three policemen and injuring bypassers, official IRNA news agency reported.

The police have arrested the perpetrator of the attack and eight other protestors, the report added.

The attack occurred after police dispersed the demonstrators protesting the arrest of a fellow Sufi.Germany is discussing the issue of listing Georgia in the category of safe countries, Georgias Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced, Agenda reports.

The move would be a reaction to Georgias progression in human rights and democratic development.

Jan Heker, the German Federal Chancellor's Advisor on Foreign and Security Policy, met yesterday with Georgias Foreign Minister Mikheil Janelidze on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference and briefly discussed the issue.

Heker and Janelidze discussed bilateral cooperation between Georgia and Germany, Georgia's European and Euro-Atlantic integration process and the security environment in the region.

Georgia's progress on the path of European and Euro-Atlantic integration was positively assessed, announced Georgias Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The officials also talked about visa-free travel for Georgian citizens in the Schengen zone of the European Union and highlighted the importance of this opportunity.

The discussions also focused on challenges related to the violation of the rules of the visa regime by some Georgian citizens and the abuse of the possibility of receiving asylum in EU countries, said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

"The German side expressed its interest in cooperating with Georgia over the ways of solving these problems and gave a positive assessment to the Georgian government's initiatives in this direction. The importance of listing Georgia in a category of safe countries by Germany was also noted taking into consideration the progress of human rights and democratic development in Georgia, read the press-release from the ministry.Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 19

By Rufiz Hafizoglu  Trend:

Turkish armed forces eliminated three terrorists in Syrian Afrin in the framework of Olive Branch operation, Turkish media reported on Feb. 19.

Three citizens of the Netherlands, Spain and France fighting among PYD/YPG terrorist groups were eliminated during the fights.

As of today, number of foreign terrorists eliminated in the framework of Olive Branch operation exceeds 100 people, Turkish media said.

Citizens of the USA, France, Germany, China, Japan and a number of other countries fight among the PYD/YPG terrorists, was reported earlier.

On Jan. 20, the Turkish Armed Forces, together with the Free Syrian Army, launched the Operation Olive Branch in Afrin, Syria.

Earlier, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim announced that about 8,00010,000 PYD/YPG terrorists are supposed to be hiding in Afrin, Syria.

Turkey began drawing its military to the Syrian border from the late June, 2017. The forces were being concentrated in Turkish Kilis province bordering Syrian territory controlled by YPG/PYD.

On Aug. 24, 2016, Turkish Armed Forces, with the support of the Syrian opposition, launched the Euphrates Shield operation against the IS militants and liberated the city of Jarabulus as well as the city of Al-Bab in northern Syria.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizogluAustralia would welcome interest from Britain in joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership regional trade group after it leaves the European Union, Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said on Monday, Reuters reprots.

Britains trade minister Liam Fox said earlier this year that joining the TPP was an option for the country after Brexit.

Bishop, speaking in London, also said Australia was keen to pursue a free trade agreement with Britain as soon as it could.Britains government is setting out what it wants to achieve from its future partnership with the European Union, Prime Minister Theresa Mays spokesman said on Monday, countering criticism that ministers are still divided over Brexit, Reuters reports.

I think you can see from the series of speeches which are taking place - and there will obviously be a speech by the Prime Minister at the end of this speech process - that the government is setting out what it hopes to achieve from its future partnership with the EU, the spokesman told reporters, adding that Britain still wanted to have the basis of a trade deal set out with the bloc by October.English French

Elis continues its growth strategy in Germany with the signature of an agreement for the acquisition of BW Textilservice

Saint Cloud, February 19, 2018 - Elis, the leading multi-services group in Europe and Latin America, specializing in the rental and maintenance of professional clothing, textile articles, hygiene and well-being appliances, announces the signature of an agreement to acquire 100% of BW Textilservice in Germany. The closing of the transaction is subject to standard regulatory conditions and shall occur before the end of March.

BW Textilservice is a family business that operates one laundry in the Stuttgart region. It generated revenue of c. 24 million euros in 2017, entirely in the Healthcare market. Its current manager will remain plant director.

With this transaction, Elis will enter the Stuttgart region - the fourth largest urban area in Germany - located in the state of Bade-Wurtemberg, the third-biggest economy and demographic area in the country.

BW Textilservice has posted strong revenue growth over the last years, underscoring the Healthcare market's strong potential as well as the favorable positioning of the company in its region.

Commenting on this announcement, Xavier Martire, CEO of Elis, said:

"Elis continues to consolidate its footprint in Germany with a new targeted, value-creating acquisition. The acquisition of BW Textilservice will reinforce Elis' presence in the German Healthcare segment, with a high-quality industrial asset. The quick integration of the company and its approximately 500 employees, together with the transfer of know-how, should contribute to Elis' profitable growth trajectory going forward.

The German market, the biggest in Europe with turnover of more than 4 billion euros in 2017, remains very fragmented. Elis will therefore aim at further increasing its market share there, through both organic and external growth."

Contact

Nicolas Buron, Investor Relations Director - Phone: +33 1 75 49 98 30 - nicolas.buron@elis.comBrazil will establish a public security ministry to tackle rising crime, President Michel Temer announced on Saturday, Xinhua reported.

The ministry will oversee the Federal Police, Federal Highway Police, National Penitentiary Department and the Secretariat of Public Security, which until now have been supervised by the Justice Ministry.

Temer made the announcement after meeting in Rio de Janeiro with military and regional officials over the increasing militarization of security tasks in the state, the country's top tourism destination.

"We are not going to stop here. Shortly, by next week or the one after at the latest, I want to create the special Ministry of Public Security, which will coordinate public security nationwide, obviously without interfering with the capacities of each federated state," Temer told reporters at a press conference.

"The situation in Rio de Janeiro also creates problems in other states, because if things aren't working here, they're not likely to work in the rest of the country," he said.

Temer did not take questions or say who he had in mind to run the ministry.

On Thursday, Brazilian Defense Minister Raul Jungmann condemned the violent crime marring Rio's famed carnival celebrations, calling it "inadmissible and unacceptable."

He pledged to take additional steps to prevent the spate of assaults and robberies targeting carnival goers after various media outlets aired footage of gangs rampaging through tourism hotspots, such as Ipanema and Copacabana, mugging revelers.

The Justice Ministry will continue to devise preventive policies to combat the illicit drugs trade and related issues.At least 80 people were trapped inside cable cars for nearly four hours at Malaysia's northern resort island of Langkawi after the system malfunctioned, officials said Sunday, Xinhua reported.

State news agency Bernama quoted Langkawi Development Authority chief executive officer Azizan Noordin as saying that 89 tourists had arrived at the base station about 9:30 p.m. local time after being trapped inside the cable cars for about four hours.

Technicians were sent to replace a faulty bearing in the system, which had been the cause of the breakdown, he said.

Local fire and rescue department said in an earlier statement that personnel were dispatched after being alerted in the evening. Early information indicated that some 800 people were stranded at the station on the top of the hill apart from those stranded midair.Russia is prepared to host peace talks between Palestine and Israel without preconditions, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday at the opening of the Valdai International Discussion Clubs conference "Russia in the Middle East: Playing on All Fields.", TASS reports.

Lately, both the Israeli prime minister and the Palestinian president as well as the King of Jordan have visited Moscow, he noted. "We are convinced that there is no other way than a direct agreement between Palestine and Israel," Lavrov said. "We confirm our readiness to provide a Russian venue for the Palestinian and Israeli leaders without preconditions."

"We expect that this offer will be noticed and there will be a response," he stressed.

The global community must create all conditions for a direct dialogue between Palestine and Israel, as there is no other way of resolving the crisis, according to Lavrov.

"The new developments around the Palestinian-Israeli settlement requires understanding how the world community will try to accompany this process in order to create conditions for direct negotiations between Palestine and Israel," he said.

"There is no other way, it is necessary to create all conditions for direct negotiations," the minister stressed.Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 19

By Rufiz Hafizoglu  Trend:

Since the beginning of the Operation Olive Branch, 1,641 terrorists have been killed in Syrias Afrin district, the Turkish General Staff said in a message Feb. 19.

In particular, 27 members of Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), Peoples Protection Units (YPG) and the Islamic State (IS) terrorist organizations were killed in Afrin on Feb. 18.

The Turkish Air Force inflicted strikes on 15 objects of terrorists, including weapons depots and the militants shelters.

On Jan. 20, the Turkish Armed Forces, together with the Free Syrian Army, launched the Operation Olive Branch in Afrin, Syria.

F-16 fighters of the Turkish Air Force are involved in the operation, inflicting strikes on the positions of PYD/YPG on the Syrian-Turkish border.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizogluBaku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 19

By Rufiz Hafizoglu  Trend:

Turkey has detained over 786 people for propaganda of terrorism on social networks since the beginning of the Operation Olive Branch, the Turkish Interior Ministry said in a message Feb. 19.

Among the detainees, there are also 16 members of the PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party) terrorist group.

On Jan. 20, the Turkish Armed Forces, together with the Free Syrian Army, launched the Operation Olive Branch in Afrin, Syria.

F-16 fighters of the Turkish Air Force are involved in the operation, inflicting strikes on the positions of PYD/YPG on the Syrian-Turkish border.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizogluBaku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 19

By Rufiz Hafizoglu  Trend:

Turkey wont stop the Olive Branch military operation if Syrian government forces enter Afrin to support terrorists, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Feb. 19 according to Turkish media.

Turkish FM reminded that the Olive Branch military operation is aimed against terrorists in Afrin.

On Jan. 20, the Turkish Armed Forces, together with the Free Syrian Army, launched the Operation Olive Branch in Afrin, Syria.

Earlier, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim announced that about 8,00010,000 PYD/YPG terrorists are supposed to be hiding in Afrin, Syria.

Turkey began drawing its military to the Syrian border from the late June, 2017. The forces were being concentrated in Turkish Kilis province bordering the Syrian territory controlled by YPG/PYD.

On Aug. 24, 2016, Turkish Armed Forces, with the support of the Syrian opposition, launched the Euphrates Shield operation against the IS militants and liberated the city of Jarabulus as well as the city of Al-Bab in northern Syria.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizogluBaku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 19

Trend:

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan had a phone conversation with his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani, Turkish media reports.

Presidents discussed the Syrian issue, in particular the situation in Africa and Idlib.

During the conversation, Erdogan stressed the need for joint efforts in the fight against terrorists within the framework of Operation Olive Branch.

Turkish President also expressed his condolences to the Iranian colleague over the Aseman Airlines plane crash near the city of Semirom in Isfahan Province, which led to numerous casualties.

On Jan. 20, the Turkish Armed Forces, together with the Free Syrian Army, launched the Operation Olive Branch in Afrin, Syria.

F-16 fighters of the Turkish Air Force are involved in the operation, inflicting strikes on the positions of PYD/YPG on the Syrian-Turkish border.Washington is evaluating additional Russian individuals for possible sanctioning, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in an interview with CBS, TASS reported.

"Weve taken steps that have already prevented a number of Russian military sales as a result of the legislation. And we are evaluating additional individuals for possible sanctioning," Tillerson said when asked if Washington planned to implement the sanctions that the US Congress wanted to see put on Moscow.

Washington was expected to announce an expanded Russian sanctions list on January 29. The US administration eventually informed the Congress about the measures it was taking to prevent other countries from maintaining military cooperation with Russia. A senior US Department of State official said on the occasion that January 29 "was not a deadline to impose sanctions, it was actually a start date." However, it is up to the US Department of the Treasury to make decisions on sanctioning Russian individuals and organizations mentioned in the so-called Kremlin List, which includes the names of 210 Russian officials, major businessmen and CEOs of state companies. In particular, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, all of his deputies and all 22 Russian government ministers are on the list.The U.S. Commerce Department has recommended that President Donald Trump impose steep curbs on steel and aluminum imports from China and other countries ranging from global and country-specific tariffs to broad import quotas, Reuters reports.

Chinas Commerce Ministry responded by saying the report was baseless and did not accord with the facts, and that China would take necessary steps to protects its interests if the final decision affects China.

The long-awaited unveiling of Commerces Section 232 national security reviews of the two industries contained global tariff options of at least 24 percent on all steel products from all countries, and at least 7.7 percent on all aluminum products from all countries.

Trump authorized the probes under a 1962 trade law that has not been invoked since 2001. He has until April 11 to announce his decision on steel import curbs and by April 20 to decide on aluminum restrictions.

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross emphasized that Trump would have the final say, including on whether to exclude certain countries, such as NATO allies, from any actions.

The president has the discretion to modify any of these or to come with something totally different, he told reporters on a conference call.

He said a global tariff would cover every steel and aluminum product entering the American market from China.

Chinas Commerce Ministry urged the United States to exercise restraint in using trade protection tools, respect the rules of multilateral trade and make a positive contribution to the international economic and trading order.

If the final U.S. decision affects Chinas interests, China must take necessary measures to protect its own reasonable interests, the ministry added, without giving details.KYODO NEWS - Feb 19, 2018 - 16:35 | All, Japan

Police arrested three 20-year-olds and a teenage girl Monday on suspicion of setting fire to a house in Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo, and killing the person living there.

The four are friends and had been spotted near the house in the city of Inzai when the fire broke out shortly after 4 p.m. Saturday, the police said.

Yoshiko Ebihara, 55, lived alone in the house, which was completely gutted by the fire. The police will carry out an autopsy on the body found there to confirm its identity.

The three 20-year-old suspects are Junya Nakauchi from Tokyo's Sumida Ward, Taiga Kanazaki from Inzai and Miku Kanno, who has no fixed address. Kanno is believed to have known Ebihara, according to the police.

The name of the 16-year-old girl, who is from Tokyo, is being withheld because she is a minor.

The four were in a car parked at a roadside rest area in Fuji, Shizuoka Prefecture, when police investigators found and arrested them.

A 69-year-old man living near Ebihara's home said he could not think of any reason for such an attack on her house.

"She had some problems with her legs. She liked to talk and I can't think of any difficulties she might have had," he said.19.02.2018: Borregaard ASA ("Borregaard", OSE ticker: BRG)

Reference is made to the stock exchange notice of 16 February 2018 where Borregaard announced the intent to repurchase up to 300,000 of its outstanding common stock.

Borregaard has today purchased 20,000 own shares through broker at an average price of NOK 73.2397 per share.

After this transaction Borregaard holds a total of 504,065 own shares, representing 0.50% of total shares outstanding.

Contact

Lotte Kvinlaug, Investor Relations Officer, +47 922 86 909

This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to Section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.KYODO NEWS - Feb 19, 2018 - 13:58 | All, Japan

The family of a slain Okinawan woman will ask the U.S. government to pay compensation in place of a former U.S. base worker convicted of her murder, their lawyer said Monday.

Kenneth Franklin Shinzato, 34, who is appealing his conviction by the Naha District Court for the 2016 murder of the 20-year-old woman, did not appeal the court's Jan. 31 order to pay compensation, which became finalized. The amount ordered has not been disclosed.

But as his defense team claims Shinzato lacks the ability to pay, the family will seek payment from the U.S. government under the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement, according to the lawyer.

In December, the district court sentenced Shinzato to life in prison, saying he struck her on the head with a bar and stabbed her in the neck with a knife while attempting to rape her in the Okinawa city of Uruma on April 28, 2016, killing her as a result.

Shinzato, a civilian working for an internet company on the U.S. Kadena Air Base in the southern Japanese island prefecture at the time of the attack, has denied intent to murder and appealed the sentence.

Under a scheme to allow damages claims in a criminal trial, the family of the woman filed for reparation, and the court awarded almost the full amount they sought, according to the lawyer. The program is intended to support crime victims.

The case sparked public uproar and strengthened anti-U.S. base sentiment in Okinawa, which hosts the bulk of U.S. military facilities in Japan and has seen a series of crimes committed by American servicemen or military-linked personnel.KYODO NEWS - Feb 19, 2018 - 16:07 | All, World

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the U.S. Army's chief of staff confirmed Monday that Japan and the United States will work more closely with each other and with South Korea in dealing with North Korea.

Abe and U.S. Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley agreed in Tokyo on the importance of maximizing pressure on North Korea to bring about its complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

At the outset of the meeting, Abe said that based on his discussions on North Korea with U.S. President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, "Japan and the United States are in step with each other and in complete agreement about how to deal with this issue."

"The alliance between the United States and Japan is extraordinarily important to my country, it's rock solid, and we stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Japan, the Japanese people and Japanese military, along with the people of South Korea, in the face of an increased and growing threat from North Korea," Milley said.

Milley told Abe he plans to go after the meeting to Iwoto Island -- an islet some 1,200 kilometers south of Tokyo previously called Iwojima -- on the anniversary of the U.S. forces' landing in 1945 in what became one of the fiercest battles of World War II. He said his father was among those who fought on the island.

Ahead of his meeting with Abe, Milley also met Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera at the Defense Ministry.

Onodera told Milley that North Korea "has not changed at all its development of nuclear weapons and missiles, despite displaying 'smile diplomacy' at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in South Korea."

As a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Milley advises the president, defense secretary and National Security Council. He has been in the role since August 2015.Ohio EPA Considering Discharge Permit for Huber Heights Water Plant

The agency will host a public meeting March 1 about a proposed wastewater discharge from the Huber Heights drinking water treatment plant. The permit would allow the city to discharge up to 1.3 million gallons per day of filtered reject water to the Great Miami River.

Ohio EPA announced it will host a public meeting on March 1 about a proposed wastewater discharge from the Huber Heights drinking water treatment plant. The meeting will be held at the Huber Heights Police Department Community Meeting Room, 6121 Taylorsville Road. An information session begins at 6 p.m. with a hearing immediately following, during which the public can submit comments about the application for the discharge permit.

The city has applied for a permit to discharge wastewater from a new softening system at the Rip Rap Road water plant. If approved, the permit would allow the city to discharge up to 1.3 million gallons per day of filtered reject water from the process. The reject water would have higher concentrations of dissolved solids, such as minerals and salts, that are naturally present in groundwater, the state agency reported.

Its announcement said the proposed project may result in a change from current water quality conditions but cannot violate Ohio's water quality standards that protect human health and the environment, and that Ohio EPA will consider technical, economic, social and environmental aspects of the project before deciding whether to issue or deny the permit. The water treatment plant would discharge the water to the Great Miami River, which is a tributary of the Ohio River.

Ohio EPA will accept written comments on the permit application through March 8. Anyone may submit comments or request to be on the mailing list for information. To comment or receive information on the permit application, write to: Ohio EPA-DSW, Permits Processing Unit, P.O. Box 1049, Columbus, Ohio 43216-1049 or email epa.dswcomments@epa.ohio.gov.Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin issued a warning about cryptocurrency scams on social media yesterday. And the Swiss FINMA has said it will look at ICOs based on their individual merit.

Ethereum Co-founder Vitalik Buterin Issues a Warning on Cryptocurrencies

The co-founder of Ethereum provided insights regarding cryptocurrencies yesterday, saying the asset class could fall violently in value at any moment. Vitalik Buterin also warned about scams on social media sites like Twitter in which sites are offering free tokens. Cryptocurrency values have come off highs established on Friday, but do remain near their short-term ratios which have been strong.

Ripple Produces Solid Gains, New Bull Trend or Downturn Emerging?

Ripple has enjoyed a steady rise in value the past week. After trading near 90 U.S cents per coin on February the 11th, Ripple is now around 1.10 U.S Dollar per coin. The main catalyst for Ripples rise is the fact that Ripple is now listed in Coinbase. Resistance looks to be about the 1.22 juncture, with support remaining around 89 cents near term. Gains before going into the weekend put Ripple near 1.18, but it did find some headwinds. Speculators who have enjoyed profits short term are looking at other major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum, and wondering if digital currencies are again entering a bull trend, or if another downturn will emerge?

Ripple 4H Chart

FINMA Issue Statement on Initial Coin Offerings a Potential

Switzerlands Financial Market Supervisory Authority, known as FINMA has said it will issue guidelines on how to deal with Initial Coin Offerings depending on the ICOs individual merits. FINMA has said it will issue principles which focus on an ICOs function and its ability to transact tokens. FINMA has indicated transparency and regulation will be important moving ahead for ICOs, but also said it believes Blockchain as a technology offers innovative potential.

Gathering of Blockchain and Payment Experts in New Delhi, India

Story continues

A Blockchain conference will get underway starting tomorrow in New Delhi, India and last until Wednesday, which is part of the BlackArrow Series.

20-21st, India, BlockDelhi

Yaron Mazor is a senior analyst at SuperTraderTV.

SuperTraderTV Academy is a leader in investing and stock trading education. Sign up for a class today to learn proven strategies on how to trade smarter.

This article was originally posted on FX Empire

More From FXEMPIRE:- By Sydnee Gatewood





David Rolfe (Trades, Portfolio), chief investment officer at Wedgewood Partners, released his fourth-quarter portfolio last week, disclosing he exited his positions in TreeHouse Foods Inc. (THS) and Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM).





Rolfe, who joined the firm in 1992 and helped shape Wedgewood's strategy, takes a patient and focused approach to long-term investing, combining tenets of both growth and value investing. According to its website, the firm believes significant long-term wealth is created by investing as "owners" of companies. As such, they look to invest in profitable companies with a dominant product or service that can maintain a consistent level of revenue, earnings and dividend growth and have a strong, shareholder-friendly management team.

TreeHouse Foods

Rolfe sold his remaining 10,350 shares of the Oak Brook, Illinois-based food processing company for an average price of $53.65 per share, impacting the portfolio by 0.02%. GuruFocus estimates he has lost 20% on the investment since the third quarter of 2016.

The private label food and beverage company, which owns brands like Bay Valley Foods, Flagstone Foods and E.D. Smith, has a market cap of $2.19 billion; its shares closed at $38.28 on Friday with a forward price-earnings (P/E) ratio of 14.41, a price-book (P/B) ratio of 0.87 and a price-sales (P/S) ratio of 0.36.

The Peter Lynch chart below shows the stock is trading above its fair value, suggesting it is overpriced.

GuruFocus rated TreeHouse's financial strength 4 out of 10. Its low Altman Z-score of 1.54 suggests the company is in financial distress, which could lead to bankruptcy in the near future. The company's profitability and growth is rated a fairly strong 6 out of 10 despite declining operating margins and a moderate Piotroski F-score of 4.

Story continues

Of the gurus invested in the company, Ken Fisher (Trades, Portfolio) has the largest position with 1.27% of outstanding shares. While NWQ Managers (Trades, Portfolio) reduced its holding during the quarter, Paul Tudor Jones (Trades, Portfolio) and Pioneer Investments (Trades, Portfolio) established positions. Diamond Hill Capital (Trades, Portfolio) also owns the stock.

Exxon Mobil

The investor exited his position in the oil giant, which he had just established the quarter before. He sold all 2,866 shares for an average price of $82.70 per share. The trade had an impact of 0.01% on the portfolio. GuruFocus estimates he gained 4% on the investment.

54908846a56dec4fcef6640af78880ad.png

The Dallas-based oil and gas company, which is the world's fifth-largest chemical producer by sales, has a market cap of $324.45 billion; its shares closed at $76.54 on Friday with a price-earnings ratio of 24.93, a price-book ratio of 1.78 and a price-sales ratio of 1.28.

According to the Peter Lynch chart below, the stock is overpriced as it is trading above its fair value.

1519051613023.png

Despite issuing new debt over the past several years, Exxon has good interest coverage and a strong Altman Z-score of 3.66. As a result, the company's financial strength was rated 6 of 10 by GuruFocus. Its profitability and growth was rated 5 out of 10 as the oil giant's operating margins have been declining over the past five years. Its Piotroski F-score of 7, however, indicates it is in a very healthy financial situation.

With 0.3% of outstanding shares, First Eagle Investment (Trades, Portfolio) is the company's largest guru shareholder. Other top guru shareholders include Jim Simons (Trades, Portfolio), the T Rowe Price Equity Income Fund (Trades, Portfolio), Pioneer Investments, Fisher and Richard Pzena (Trades, Portfolio), among others.

Other trades

While Rolfe reported no new buys for the quarter, he did add to his positions in Celgene Corp. (CELG) and AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T).

He also reduced a myriad of other positions, including PayPal Holdings Inc. (PYPL), Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK-B), Apple Inc. (AAPL), Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL), Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) and Fastenal Co. (FAST), among others.

The current portfolio of 36 stocks is largely composed of securities in the technology and financial services sectors. According to its fact sheet, the firm was underperforming the S&P 500 Index as of Sept. 20, 2017 with a return of 13.51%.

Disclosure: No positions.

This article first appeared on GuruFocus.





Rick Gates, the former deputy campaign manager for Donald Trump, will cooperate with Robert Mueller's investigation, The Los Angeles Times reported Sunday. (Photo: Aaron P. Bernstein via Getty Images)

Rick Gates, a former campaign aide to President Donald Trump, will plead guilty to charges related to fraud and is willing to testify against his longtime business partner, Paul Manafort, The Los Angeles Times reported on Sunday.

Manafort, a longtime Washington lawyer and lobbyist, served as Trumps campaign manager during part of the 2016 presidential race.

Speculation has grown for weeks that Gates would cooperate with special counsel Robert Muellers ongoing inquiry into Russian meddling in the presidential election. Gates, who served as Trumps deputy campaign manager, was indicted in October along with Manafort on charges ranging from money laundering to violations of foreign lobbying laws. He pleaded not guilty to all charges at the time, which carry 10 years or more in potential sentences.

The plea will reportedly change in the coming days, and Gates will likely serve about 18 months in prison in exchange for his cooperation, the Times reported.

Rick Gates is going to change his plea to guilty, a source familiar with the case told the outlet.

The Mueller probe has flipped two other high-profile Trump associates in recent months  former national security adviser Michael Flynn and foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos. Both men have pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about their contacts with Russian officials and have been cooperating with the investigation for months.

Gates lawyers have been negotiating with Muellers legal team for weeks, CNN reported on Saturday. According to the outlet, the special counsels team was finalizing a deal after Gates was allowed to give whats known as a Queen for a Day interview, which typically allows a defendant to speak openly about their knowledge of an investigation without facing additional charges.

Gates could play a pivotal role in a trial against Manafort, who has stood by his own not guilty plea following the October indictment. A source told the Times that Gates cooperation would be a cherry on top of the case.

Story continues

A White House official told CNN the Trump administration wasnt worried about Gates cooperation with Mueller, as the president believed the flip was arranged to get more information against Manafort.

The Justice Department announced a sweeping set of charges against 13 Russians and three Russian entities on Friday, detailing a sophisticated campaign to sow discord among U.S. voters in the presidential election and in the process help elect Trump.

The president, who in the past has dismissed the Mueller investigation as a witch hunt and a hoax, again insisted after the indictments that his campaign did not collude with Russians during the race for the White House.

His current national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, said at a meeting Saturday in Germany that the indictments provided incontrovertible evidence that Russia interfered in the election.

But that sparked a Twitter post from Trump, who said McMaster forgot to say that the results of the 2016 election were not impacted or changed by the Russians and that the only Collusion was between Russia and Crooked H, the DNC and the Dems, referring to Hillary Clinton, the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Party.

Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.Japan Shinzo Abe Abenomics record dividends yield stock income

After a record year in 2017, global dividends are expected to continue pushing ahead through the course of 2018, with strong growth in all regions likely, according to the latest Dividend Index from Janus Henderson.

Last years record $1.25 trillion total will be eclipsed this year, with underlying growth of 6.1% set to take the 2018 total payouts to $1.35 trillion should the weak dollar stay at its current low levels. Donald Trumps tax reforms may also help, putting more cash in companies pockets to return to shareholders.

Janus Hendersons dividend index reached an all-time high of 171.2. According to the firm, this means dividends have risen by almost 75% since 2009.

A quarter of the countries in the index broke records, including the US and Japan, where corporate culture has changed dramatically under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, leading to higher shareholder returns. This is one reason many asset allocators are becoming more bullish on the region.

Companies are seeing rising profits and healthy cash flows in what is an unprecedented synchronised global economic expansion. Ben Lofthouse, director of global equity income at Janus Henderson, says this has enabled them to fund generous dividends. He expects this to continue at a time when volatility in global equity markets is likely to pick up markedly.

UK

After a strong 2016 due to the devaluation of sterling, the currency bounced back in 2017, muting headline growth at 3%. However, the resumption of dividend payments by mining companies, which were forced to cut payouts after the oil price crisis, helped underlying dividends surge by 10%.

Clearly, thats not going to happen again. However, there is one sector set to ramp up dividend payments. Financials  banks in particular  will become a fertile hunting ground for UK equity income fund managers in the near future.

Lloyds (LLOY) and HSBC (HSBA) have found their way into most of these portfolios, with others likely to follow. The BlackRock UK Income Fund has recently bought into Standard Chartered (STAN), which is set to return to the dividend list this year with a modest forecast yield of 1.4% according to broker UBS.

Story continues

While its not a big dividend, David Goldman, co-manager of the BlackRock fund, says its a sign of the companys balance sheet and loan book repair. Currently trading at a discount to book value, he says Standard Chartered typifies what he looks for in the turnaround part of the portfolio.

Its exposed to US rates improving and, to us, it almost feels like theres free optionality on whether or not this business can improve its returns from currently subdued levels.

US

US companies paid out a total of $438 billion, with headline growth of 5.8% year-on-year. And those dividends come from a much wider base than in the UK, with no sector accounting for more than $1 in every $11 paid.

Banks have tripled their dividends since 2011, delivering growth in every year as they continue to repair their businesses post the financial crisis. Healthcare is the largest sector for dividends in the States and saw its fourth consecutive year of growth.

Tax reforms are set to boost revenues both in the short and the longer term. This will give firms more money to invest in their businesses, as well as returning to shareholders. Ben Peters, manager of the Evenlode Global Income Fund, uses the example of Cisco (CSCO).

The firm recently said it would spend around a third of its cash on R&D, a third on acquisitions and return the rest to shareholders. Weve got to see how that pans out in practise but I would say most businesses will take that approach, Peters says.

Asia

As mentioned, income investors in Japan have profited from better corporate governance, as well as a weaker yen, which has boosted profits. Japanese dividend payments have risen by 40% since 2014. While its largest dividend payer, Toyota Motor (7203), held its payout, the likes of Mitsubishi (7211) and KDDI (9433) saw double-digit increases.

China avoided three successive years of negative growth thanks to a special dividend from Petrochina (601857). But the wider Asia Pacific sector saw an 18.8% jump in total dividends. Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan all broke annual records.

Hong Kongs China Mobile (00941) is now the second largest dividend payer in the world, nearly unseating Shell as number one, which the UK-listed oil major has held for four of the past six years. In the latter two regions, it was blue chips Samsung Electronics (005930) and Taiwan Semiconductor (2330) leading the way.

Europe

Despite a rapidly improving economic backdrop  Europe is one of the most-favoured regions currently  European companies lagged on the dividend front, with underlying growth of just 2.7%.

The was due to cuts from a handful of large companies in France and Spain, a weak euro during the key second quarter and lower special dividends. France in particular disappointed, with a flat total, and Spain went backwards.

But Germany rebounded and the Netherlands and Switzerland reached record highs.Iranian President Hassan Rouhani shakes hands with India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi (R) during a photo opportunity ahead of their meeting at Hyderabad House in New Delhi Iranian President Hassan Rouhani shakes hands with India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi (R) during a photo opportunity ahead of their meeting at Hyderabad House in New Delhi, India, February 17, 2018. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi

By Nidhi Verma

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Iran has offered to raise the freight discount on oil sales to India in return for New Delhi agreeing to boost imports, as the OPEC member is keen to eat into the market share of other producers including top rivals Saudi Arabia and Iraq.

Iran is pushing to retain customers for its oil in Asia, hoping concessions will boost the appeal of its crude compared with other Middle Eastern suppliers, even as the threat looms of potential further U.S. sanctions on the country.

Since the lifting of sanctions on Iran in 2016 it has been offering India a freight discount linked to a formula translating into 105 percent of the Platts assessment.

For 2017/18 Tehran had reduced the discount to 62 percent of the formula from 80 percent, but Iran has offered to change this if Indian refineries step up purchases, three sources familiar with the matter said on Saturday.

"Now they are offering 100 percent discount, meaning a sum equivalent to 105 percent of the Platts freight assessment," said one of the sources.

Iran said it expected Indian orders to grow.

"State-owned Indian companies are going to increase their level of Iranian oil purchase," Iran's oil minister Bijan Zanganeh told reporters after a meeting with Indian oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan in New Delhi.

Indian refiners - state-owned and private - will buy about 500,000 bpd of Iranian oil in 2018/19, said Zanganeh, in India as part of a delegation led by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.

SUPPLIES DOWN

In April through January, the first 10 months of this fiscal year, India imported about 17 percent less Iranian oil at about 442,800 bpd.

Supplies from Iran were down as state refiners, which account for about two-third of India's nearly 5 million barrels per day (bpd) demand, curbed imports in protest at Tehran's move to grant development rights for the giant Farzad B gas field to others.

"We have got good incentives compared to other major producers. We will get benefit if we buy from Iran ... We will boost oil imports from Iran compared to this fiscal year," Pradhan told reporters, without elaborating.

Story continues

Iran, which used to be the second-biggest oil supplier to India before sanctions, is gradually raising its market share in the world's third-biggest oil consuming nation.

In 2017, Iraq for the first time emerged as the top supplier to India on an annual basis, while Saudi Arabia slipped to second position.

The freight discount offered by Iran will translate to a discount of up to $1 a barrel, one of the sources told Reuters.

Pradhan said India had also sought a stake in Iran's South Azadegan oil field. He said Tehran had not made any commitment on India's request, but was willing to show data on some fields to an Indian delegation next week in Tehran.

India recently offered a development plan worth about $6 billion for Farzad B and sought gas pricing of about $4 per million British thermal units (mmBtu) to earn double-digit returns.

Since local gas prices in Iran are about $2.1 per mmBtu, India has asked for a stake in a producing oil field in Iran in addition to Farzad B to improve its average return on investment.

"I am very optimistic about the future of the relationship between the two countries and our companies, especially for developing oil and gas fields," Zanganeh said.

(Reporting by Nidhi Verma; Editing by David Holmes)TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's steel industry said on Monday the U.S. Commerce Department proposal to President Donald Trump to impose curbs on steel imports violate the principles of free trade, calling for Washington to make a careful and appropriate decision. The U.S. Commerce Department recommended on Friday that Trump impose steep curbs on steel and aluminum imports from China and other countries, ranging from global and country-specific tariffs to broad import quotas. "The recommendations violate the principles of free trade, which are the foundation for development and prosperity of the global economy," Japan Iron and Steel Federation Chairman Kosei Shindo said in a statement. "We hope Trump would make a careful and appropriate judgement," said Shindo, who also heads Japan's biggest steelmaker Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp <5401.T>. Yasuji Komiyama, director of the metal industries division of Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, on Monday declined to comment on the U.S. Commerce Department's proposal, saying a U.S. final decision has not been reached. "But Japan believes any steel and aluminium imports by the U.S. from Japan do not pose any threat to the U.S. national security," he said. Japan exports about 2 million tonnes of steel products a year to the United States, only about 5 percent of its total steel shipments abroad, but the nation's steelmakers are concerned over the U.S. trade policy. "My biggest fear is how far President Trump will close down trade," Eiji Hayashida, president of JFE Holdings Inc <5411.T>, Japan's No.2 steelmaker, said last week. "If the U.S. takes action (to curb imports), it may trigger retaliation by other countries. What is most troublesome is to see the world heading to protectionism," he said. Nippon Steel's senior executive also said the company is worried that U.S. trade action could flood Asia with steel products as there is nowhere else for them to go. "I don't know if a U.S. move would really make U.S. steelmakers, steel users and consumers happy," Kiyoshi Imamura, Managing Director at Tokyo Steel Manufacturing <5423.T>, Japan's top electric-arc furnace steelmaker, said on Monday. Some U.S. lawmakers and steel and aluminum users have urged caution in taking any trade actions that could cause disruptions or price spikes in raw materials that are found in everything from autos to appliances and aircraft and construction. (Reporting by Yuka Obayashi; Editing by Tom Hogue)By Steve Slater

LONDON, Feb 19 (IFR) - Citigroup has promoted Sam Hewson to global head of electronic FX solutions, to replace veteran Bernie Sinniah, who is retiring after 38 years at the US bank in a number of foreign exchange roles.

Sinniah joined Citi in Colombo, Sri Lanka, 38 years ago as a spot FX trader. He moved to Australia and then the UK in 1999, where he became G10 corporate sales head and in 2016 started running global eFX solutions. He will retire before the end of March.

Hewson will help implement Citis electronic FX offering to corporate and public sector clients and lead its partnership with treasury and trade solutions, according to a memo sent to staff on Monday and seen by IFR.

Hewson joined Citi in 2003 on its graduate programme and became a member of the UK corporate FX sales desk. He moved up and by 2016 was given global responsibility for the bank's new risk management solutions business, as well as being co-head of western Europe corporate FX.

The memo said Hewson will continue to lead the risk management solutions team until a replacement is appointed. (Reporting by Steve Slater)U.S. West Texas Intermediate and international-benchmark Brent crude oil futures close higher last week after the U.S. Dollar fell to a three-month low and global equity markets posted their biggest weekly gain in six years. A weaker dollar often boosts oil and other dollar-denominated commodities.

April WTI crude oil settled at $61.55, up $2.56 or +4.34% and April Brent cruel oil finished the week at $64.84, Up $2.05 or +3.26%.

Weekly April WTI Crude Oil

The upside was limited, however, due to a projection for rising U.S. production.

Also supporting oil prices was a statement from the United Arab Emirates energy minister saying oil producers led by Saudi Arabia and Russia to draft an agreement on a long-term alliance by the year end.

Earlier in the week, Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said OPEC hopes to keep limiting crude output to leave the market tight.

In other news, U.S. drillers added 7 oil rigs in the latest national count kept by oilfield services firm Baker Hughes. The count has risen by 51 oil rigs in the last four weeks, putting the total at a nearly three-year high of 798.

Weekly April Brent Crude Oil

Forecast

This week, investors are likely to continue to monitor global stock markets, the U.S. Dollar and U.S. production figures. These three factors were largely responsible for last weeks price action. Activity is likely to be below average due to the Lunar New Year holiday.

Traders will also be watching for further developments regarding the proposed agreement between Saudi Arabia and Russia.

With drilling activity in the U.S. continuing to pick up, producers are looking more efficient than they were a year ago. Essentially, rising U.S. supplies and the liquidation of speculative longs are likely to keep oil prices under pressure.

The daily chart patterns suggest WTI and Brent crude oil are likely to remain in a range over the near-term. The direction of WTI crude is likely to be determined by trader reaction to the 50% level at $61.20. The pivot for Brent crude is $64.91.

Story continues

This article was originally posted on FX Empire

More From FXEMPIRE:Though the cryptocurrency market has hit a few speed bumps over the past month, its value has still soared relative to where it began 2017. As of Feb. 13, cryptocurrencies were worth an aggregate of $410 billion, representing a more than 2,200% increase from 13 1/2 months prior. Those are gains that investors traditionally wouldn't see without holding an asset for decades.

Plenty of intrigue, and questions, surround bitcoin

As you might have rightly guessed, bitcoin has mostly led the charge higher in virtual currencies. Bitcoin easily remains the world's most valuable cryptocurrency by market cap, is accepted by more merchants worldwide than any other digital token, and is credited with pushing blockchain technology into the spotlight. For those unfamiliar, blockchain is the digital, distributed, and decentralized ledger underlying cryptocurrencies that's responsible for keeping an immutable record of all transactions without the need for a financial intermediary.

A physical gold bitcoin, up close.

Image source: Getty Images.

Bitcoin brings a lot of excitement to the table for crypto-enthusiasts. For example, its blockchain technology has been the basis of evolution for other currency and non-currency applications. Blockchain may be able to significantly speed up processing and settlement times for traditional banking transactions and payments, while at the same time lowering transaction fees since there is no middleman involvement from banks.

There's also intrigue surrounding the use of cryptocurrency as a medium of exchange for goods and services as opposed to cash or credit. As noted, no digital currency is used more for the purchase of goods and services than bitcoin, and no virtual currency has more brand-name payment partners than bitcoin.

Nonetheless, bitcoin's use has remained constricted in the U.S. and in quite a few countries abroad. Since bitcoin lacks the traditional governmental backing found with fiat currencies, few governments have been willing to recognize it as an acceptable form of tender. In fact, a half-dozen countries have gone as far as to ban bitcoin and related cryptocurrencies.

Story continues

But times could be changing.

This state may allow you to pay your income tax with bitcoin or Litecoin

On Feb. 8, the Arizona Senate passed a bill (SB 1091) by a 16-to-13 vote that would allow its residents to pay their income taxes using bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies recognized by the state's revenue authorities, beginning in 2020. The measure also passed the Senate Finance Committee by a 4-3 vote. More specifically, the bill states that residents would be allowed to use "a payment gateway, such as bitcoin or other cryptocurrency recognized by the department, using electronic peer-to-peer systems." SB 1091 will next move onto the Arizona House of Representatives for debate and vote.

A man in a suit holding up a sign that reads, Tax Day.

Image source: Getty Images.

In addition to accepting cryptocurrency as a form of payment for income taxes, the state would be required to convert any and all cryptocurrency received into U.S. dollars within 24 hours of receiving payment. Doing so should help shield the state against wild virtual currency price fluctuations.

What's particularly notable about the passage of SB 1091 in the Arizona Senate is that it would signify the first widespread adoption of virtual currencies in the United States. It's been argued that bitcoin's value is difficult to determine because it has no backing or guaranteed use from the government. SB 1091 would give bitcoin, Litecoin, and other "recognized" cryptocurrencies a real-world function, and presumably real-world value.

Rep. Jeff Weninger (R-Ariz.), one of the co-sponsors of the bill, had this to say when interviewed by Fox News: "It's one of a litany of bills that we're running that is sending a signal to everyone in the United States, and possibly throughout the world, that Arizona is going to be the place to be for blockchain and digital currency technology in the future."

Don't expect this to be a success

While this development out of Arizona is encouraging for crypto-enthusiasts, it's not guaranteed to be a success right out of the gate.

One of the gray areas in this bill is what happens if there is excessive volatility between the time a resident pays income taxes and the time the Arizona revenue department converts those bitcoin, Litecoin, or other approved cryptocurrencies into U.S. dollars.

A confused young man in a suit scratching the top of his head.

Image source: Getty Images.

According to the bill, "The Department shall convert cryptocurrency payments to United States dollars at the prevailing rate within twenty-four hours after receipt and shall credit the taxpayer's account with the converted dollar amount." Note that last part that about the "converted dollar amount." That means -- at least to me, and I'm no lawyer -- that if a resident paid in bitcoin, Litecoin, or some other cryptocurrency, and that digital coin dropped, say, 10% overnight, this resident would still have to fork over the remaining balance to cover his or her income tax bill following that conversion.

It also isn't clear what would happen if cryptocurrency values vault higher in the overnight hours before conversion. Would the taxpayer get a refund, or would the state simply pocket the difference?

It also remains to be seen how widespread the use of cryptocurrencies to pay income taxes would be in Arizona, assuming this bill becomes law. Bitcoin, for example, has a network that's been slowed to a crawl in recent years. An inability to gain community consensus has pushed average transaction processing times to north of an hour, while lifting fees to around $28 per transaction. That's roughly the same cost as a bank wire. Bitcoin's purportedly groundbreaking peer-to-peer payment platform has certainly lost its luster in recent months, and it may not be a go-to option for many Arizonans.

Admittedly, I'm talking about step 12 when Arizona's lawmakers are on step two or three. Nonetheless, it's worth keeping a close eye on SB 1091 and its progress in the Arizona state legislature.

More From The Motley Fool

Sean Williams has no position in any of the stocks or cryptocurrencies mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks or cryptocurrencies mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.Qualcomm Inc. QCOM is mulling over to raise bid for NXP Semiconductors NV NXPI, in order to garner support of 80% shareholders of the latter, per CNBC. Notably, on Oct 27, 2016, Qualcomm had entered into a definitive agreement with the Netherlands-based mobile chipset giant for the acquisition.



Per the deal, the largest mobile chipset manufacturer would be paying $110 per NXP share in cash, reflecting an enterprise value of approximately $47 billion (equity value of $39 billion) for NXP Semiconductors. Several industry researchers have estimated that the revised price for the deal may go up to $125 - $130.



Meanwhile, hedge fund Elliott Management Corp. and two other large shareholders of NXP Semiconductors have approached the company to renegotiate the terms of the deal, which they consider is grossly undervalued. Majority of the companys shareholders are now reluctant to tender their shares at the rate specified by Qualcomm.



With large blocks of stock held by hedge funds such as Elliott Management, Davidson Kempner, Och Ziff, Soroban Capital, Pentwater and D.E. Shaw, Qualcomm has no option but to raise offer price in order to get necessary approval from 80% shareholders of NXP Semiconductors.



Meanwhile, in January 2018, the EC (European Commission), the regulatory authority of the European Union, gave its nod for the deal with some restrictive conditions. This came in as a major relief to Qualcomm.



Advantages to Qualcomm



The major positive of the contract is that it will enable Qualcomm to diversify business model. The company is a leader in the mobile chipset market. However, markets for smartphones and tablets have gradually slowed down in recent years. Additionally, these chipset businesses are low-margin in nature. In fact, the companys business has remained stagnant for the last couple of years.



Meanwhile, NXP Semiconductors manufactures chips for next-generation automotive, industrial and Internet of Things (IoT) segments. Consequently, its acquisition of NXP Semiconductos will help Qualcomm diversify into highly lucrative end markets such as auto, secured devices, connectivity and secure payments. These segments offer high-margin businesses with strong potential for future growth.



The takeover will also push Qualcomm up the ranks to the second position after Intel Corp. INTC in terms of sales in the broader global semiconductor market. NXP Semiconductors is the largest manufacturer of high-performance, mixed-signal mobile chipsets with 14% market share. The company has a strong clientele serving more than 25,000 customers through its direct sales channel and a global network of distribution channel partners.



The combined entity is expected to generate annual revenues of more than $30 billion. Further, it is likely to position itself as a strong player in the next-generation mobile chipset segment with a potential market size of $138 billion by 2020.



Qualcomm expects the transaction to be significantly accretive to non-GAAP EPS immediately upon completion. Further, the company anticipates generating $500 million of annualized run-rate cost synergies within two years of the transactions closure.



Price Performance of Qualcomm

Story continues





Qualcomms shares have lost 2.8%, against the industrys growth of 5.6% over the past 90 days. The company currently has a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). However, a better-ranked stock in this space is Motorola Solutions Inc. MSI carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.



Breaking News: Cryptocurrencies Now Bigger than Visa



The total market cap of all cryptos recently surpassed $700 billion  more than a 3,800% increase in the previous 12 months. Theyre now bigger than Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and even Visa! The new asset class may expand even more rapidly in 2018 as new investors continue pouring in and Wall Street becomes increasingly involved.



Zacks has just named 4 companies that enable investors to take advantage of the explosive growth of cryptocurrencies via the stock market.



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QUALCOMM Incorporated (QCOM) : Free Stock Analysis Report



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To read this article on Zacks.com click here.



Zacks Investment ResearchSaudi Arabia says it's in talks with 10 other nations on nuclear energy ambitions, calls for fairness from US

Saudi Arabia could look to adopt nuclear energy as a way to move domestic energy consumption away from oil, the country's foreign minister told CNBC Sunday.

"We are looking at a number of countries that have nuclear technology for peaceful purposes," Al-Jubeir said, speaking to CNBC from the Munich Security Conference.

Saudi Arabia's foreign minister called on the U.S. to give it the same rights as other nuclear nations in its push to process its own nuclear fuel, revealing that it's currently in talks with 10 other countries should America refuse.

Saudi Arabia plans to construct 16 nuclear power reactors over the next 20 to 25 years at a cost of more than $80 billion. It has invited U.S. firms to take part in the program but acceptance from Washington requires a country to sign a peaceful nuclear cooperation pact. Known as a 123 agreement, it separates civil and military nuclear facilities and aims to block the steps from nuclear fuel production to potential bomb-making applications. Countries like India have already signed up to such agreements with the U.S.

Riyadh has previously stated that wants to tap its own uranium resources for "self-sufficiency in producing nuclear fuel," according to Reuters, and is not interested in diverting nuclear technology to military use. Its regional rival Iran is already one step ahead and is allowed to enrich uranium.

Speaking to CNBC at the Munich Security Conference, Adel Al-Jubeir told CNBC that Saudi Arabia was looking at a number of countries that have nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

"We are looking at the issue of the viability of building nuclear reactors in order to produce energy so that we can save the oil and export it in order to generate revenue," the foreign minister said.

"The countries that we are talking to are probably roughly 10 countries or so around the world and we have not made a decision yet with regards to which path we will take and which country we will be focusing on more."

Story continues

When pressed on what Saudi Arabia would do if the U.S. failed to back its nuclear energy program, he said: "This is really something that's up to our nuclear energy professionals to deal with, but our objective is we want to have the same rights as other countries."

Transition away from oil

Al-Jubeir said that the world's largest oil exporter was exploring the use of nuclear energy as part of its transition away from an oil-based energy system.

In 2006, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) that includes Saudi Arabia and five other Middle Eastern nations announced that it was commissioning a study into the peaceful use of nuclear energy.

In 2010 too, Saudi Arabia issued a royal decree in which it said: "The development of atomic energy is essential to meet the Kingdom's growing requirements for energy to generate electricity, produce desalinated water and reduce reliance on depleting hydrocarbon resources."

Now, the World Nuclear Association notes that Saudi Arabia plans to construct 16 nuclear power reactors. This would mean it does not have to rely on its own oil for its domestic energy needs.

"Saudi Arabia consumes over one-quarter of its oil production, and while energy demand is projected to increase substantially, oil production is not, and by 2030 a large proportion will be consumed domestically, much of it for electricity generation," the World Nuclear Association notes on its website .

In January, Bloomberg reported that Saudi plans to award contracts in December for the construction of its first nuclear power plants, citing a government official involved with the project. The report noted that Saudi Arabia had received requests from five bidders from China, France, the U.S., South Korea and Russia "to perform the engineering, procurement and construction work on two nuclear reactors."





More From CNBC

European companies engaged in business with Iran are enriching the country's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir told CNBC on Sunday.

"We believe that a large percentage of the Iranian economy is controlled by the Revolutionary Guards and companies associated with the guards," Al-Jubeir said.

Tasked with defending the state and Iran's Islamic ideals, Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard is a branch of Iran's military founded after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

European companies engaged in business with Iran are enriching the country's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and inadvertently fueling its military activities in the wider Middle East, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir told CNBC on Sunday.

"We believe that a large percentage of the Iranian economy is controlled by the Revolutionary Guards and companies associated with the guards. And we believe that any dealings with those companies only serve to enrich the Revolutionary Guards and cause them to cause more mischief within the region and the world," Al-Jubeir said, referencing the billions of dollars' worth of deals struck between European companies and Iran since the lifting of international sanctions in 2015.

Tasked with defending the state and Iran's Islamic ideals, the powerful IRGC  the branch of Iran's military founded after the 1979 Islamic Revolution  is widely alleged to support militant activity by groups like Hezbollah around the region, from Iraq and Lebanon to Syria. It is also believed to control around a third of the country's economy.

The passing of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in 2015, which lifted international sanctions on Iran in exchange for curbs on its nuclear development, saw a wave of new investment and business come into the country from Europe, led by Germany, France and the U.K. European multinationals Airbus, Siemens, Peugeot and Total have all struck major deals in the country worth billions.

Story continues

Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, America's top national security advisor H.R. McMaster described European nations like Germany doing business with Iran as essentially writing a blank check to the IRGC.

Asked if he agreed with McMaster's assessment, Al-Jubeir said yes.

"We are talking to our friends in Europe about this. We are letting them know that the nuclear agreement that was signed with Iran is lacking," Al-Jubeir said, describing what he believed were flaws within the agreement's sunset clause (the timeframe for restrictions on its nuclear development) and the thoroughness of United Nations (UN) inspections.

"We also believe the nuclear agreement itself does not resolve the issue of Iran's radical behavior which has to do with the ballistic missile resolutions of the United Nations  They also do not deal with the issue of Iran's support for terrorism," Al-Jubeir said.

Iran has consistently said it is abiding by all the parameters of the deal, a claim that has been backed up by UN inspectors.

Speaking Sunday to NBC News, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said the U.S. was jeopardizing the nuclear deal.

"I believe President Trump has tried to walk away from that deal from day one of his presidency, and he has done everything in bad faith to prevent Iran from enjoying the benefits of the deal already. So we believe the United States is already in violation of very serious and important provisions of the nuclear deal," he said.

Between the singing of the JCPOA and February 2017, Iran conducted up to 14 missile tests, in violation of UN resolutions. The minister emphasized his government's belief that Iran should be punished for these alleged violations.

Sanctions on the IRCG have not been lifted, and many businesses remain wary of investing in Iran because any transaction that touches an IRGC-affiliated entity could be met with severe fines from the U.S.

While the U.S. has listed Iran as a state-sponsor of terror, it has not labeled the IRGC a terrorist organization, though in October of last year President Donald Trump said that the Corps had played "a central role to Iran becoming the world's foremost state sponsor of terror."

Fearing U.S. abandonment of the JCPOA, the foreign ministers of Germany, France and the U.K. in have urged the Trump administration to remain faithful to the deal, insisting that it is essential to international security. Federica Mogherini, the EU's top diplomat, said in January that it "made the world safer and prevented a potential nuclear arms race in the region."





More From CNBC

Shares of major American steel makers got a lift last Friday after the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) issued the long-awaited reports on its probe into imports of steel and aluminum products and recommended President Donald Trump to impose tariffs or quotas on these imports.



The DOCs investigations, which were carried out under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, were aimed at determining whether the imports pose a threat to national security. The Trump administration ordered the investigation last year.



The DOC found that these imports threaten to impair the national security as defined by Section 232. The reports are currently under consideration by President Trump and no final decisions have been made on the recommendations provided in the reports, the DOC noted.



DOC Recommends Broad-based Actions



The DOC Secretary Wilbur Ross recommended several options (including tariffs and quotas) to address the problem of steel imports. Ross proposed at least 24% global tariff of on all steel imports from all countries.



The other proposed alternatives are at least 53% tariff on all steel imports from Brazil, China, Costa Rica, Egypt, India, Malaysia, Republic of Korea, Russia, South Africa, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam with a quota by product on steel imports from all other countries equal to 100% of their 2017 exports to the United States and a quota on all steel products from all countries equal to 63% of their 2017 exports.



The DOC also stated that these alternatives are aimed at increasing domestic steel production to roughly 80% operating rate from its present 73% of capacity.



For aluminum, Ross recommended a tariff of at least 7.7% on all exports from all countries. Another option is a 23.6% tariff of on all products from China, Hong Kong, Russia, Venezuela and Vietnam with quotas for all other countries equal to 100% of their 2017 exports to the United States. A quota on all imports from all countries equal to up to 86.7% of their 2017 exports has also been proposed.



Steel Stocks Rally



The DOCs recommendations provided a boost to the stocks of leading domestic steel companies. United States Steel Corporation X racked up the biggest gain with its shares rising 14.8% last Friday. AK Steel Holding Corporations AKS shares rallied 13.7% while Steel Dynamics, Inc. STLD and Nucor Corporation NUE notched up 4.8% and 4.5% gains, respectively. Shares of Commercial Metals Company CMC also popped 5.8%.



AK Steel lauded the DOCs recommendations and said, in a statement, on Feb 16 that We are pleased with the recommendations by Secretary Ross that tough and effective actions be taken in a holistic manner to mitigate the flood of steel imports into the U.S.



Both U.S. Steel and Steel Dynamics sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). While Nucor carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), both AK Steel and Commercial Metals currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.



Imports Still Haunt American Steel Mills



Domestic steel makers struggled to cope with a renewed tide of cheap steel imports last year. Imports of cheap steel continue to flood American shores despite a string of punitive trade actions (in the form of heavy tariffs) and threats of further future measures. These imports have hurt selling prices and margins of U.S. steel makers.



According to the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI), an association of North American steel makers, total steel imports shot up 15.4% to around 38.1 million net tons in 2017. Finished steel imports for 2017 also increased 12.2% to around 29.6 million net tons, per the AISI. For full-year 2017, finished steel import market share was an estimated 27%, which is higher than 26% clocked in 2016.



Although positive rulings in trade cases (resulting in levy of heavy tariffs) against China led to a decline in Chinese steel exports to the United States, imports from other countries remain at above historical levels.



According to AISI data, finished steel imports from China fell roughly 5.7% year over year in 2017. However, imports from other countries such as Germany, Taiwan, Brazil and Russia spiked last year.



U.S. steel makers continue to pin their hopes on President Trump imposing new restrictions on imported steel. The President has until Apr 11, 2018 to make a decision on the DOCs steel recommendations. A positive decision would provide a significant thrust to steel prices and give domestic steel makers more pricing power.



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To read this article on Zacks.com click here.Chairman of Swiss Bankers Association Herbert Scheidt gestures during a panel discussion at the Swiss International Finance Forum in Bern, Switzerland June 20, 2017. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann

ABU DHABI (Reuters) - Switzerland has not seen any major inward or outward movement of funds from Saudi Arabia, the chairman of the Swiss Bankers Association said on Monday when asked whether he had seen an increase in flows following Riyadh's anti-corruption campaign.

"We have not observed any major movement of funds being transferred, not at all," Herbert Scheidt told reporters during a tour of the Gulf.

Saudi Arabia detained dozens of top officials and businessmen last year and vowed to confiscate money and assets held by them, raising fears that authorities would also target Saudi assets parked in offshore centres such as Switzerland.

Scheidt was part of a group accompanying Swiss Vice President and Minister of Finance Ueli Maurer, who visited Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates for talks on cooperation in financial and tax matters.

Scheidt said there had been no discussions with Saudi Arabia during the trip about freezing assets, adding that any such requests would be made to the Swiss prosecutor's office.

Most Saudi detainees were released last month after settlements secured just over $100 billion from members of the elite, the attorney general has said, without providing details.

The detainees included some of the kingdom's richest people including global investor Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, property mogul Mohammed Aboud al-Amoudi and Waleed al-Ibrahim, founder and chairman of MBC Group, the Middle East's largest private media company.

(Reporting by Stanley Carvalho; Writing by Saeed Azhar, Editing by William Maclean)by Vidar SundstlTranslated by Tiina NunnallyUniversity of Minnesota Press 2013, 2014, 2015My winter of Scandinavian murder mysteries takes an inside-out turn with these books set along Highway 61 on Minnesotas north shore. The author is a native Norwegian who lived in the Arrowhead district between Duluth and Canada for several years. He put his considerable powers of observation to work on the peoples, cultures and geography of this location, overlaying it with an appreciation of its history. The story centers on a forest cop Lance Hansen who becomes involved with the a brutal murder of a Norwegian tourist near the shore of Lake Superior. It is spread out over three books, with the bulk of the middle book consisting of flashbacks to an incident that occurred in the area over one hundred years ago. There is a great amount of detail in the trilogy: history of both immigrants and Native Americans, local businesses, family dynamics, and the personal struggles of the protagonist. I do think that the three books (700+ pages total) could have been made into one shorter book that would have had just as much impact. That said, you never want a well-written book to end, right?The translator is the incomparable Tiina Nunnally , you wont find a better one.These books were a big hit in Norway. It was very interesting seeing what a gifted foreign writer can do with a novel set in my own home state. I wonder if Jono has read these?Here is a great interview with the author as well as in-depth reviews of each volume ofWhen Don Giovanni took over the kitchen at Mediterranean favourite Per Tutti last October, they turned a few heads with their classic Italian offering.

Now, with their kitchen takeover having drawn to a close, the multi-award winning team behind Manchesters oldest Italian has moved into the 100 cover site permanently, revamping the restaurant with a 250K refurbishment and exchanging one Italian name for another.

Per Tutti (for all) has become Cibo (pronounced chee-bo, an informal Italian word meaning food).

Drawing design inspiration from the southern Italian city of Naples, Cibos new cafe-style setting is defined by bright colours, luxuriant fabrics and eclectic details. Cibo has a younger, cooler feel to it, whilst retaining the stylish atmosphere of Don Gios.

Its not just the interior that has changed. With the kitchen now under the management of head chef Salvatore Galdo, the old Italian classics have been exchanged for more exotic and experimental fare. With a strong focus on fish dishes and a straight-up pledge to stay away from the frozen stuff, he is set on breathing new life into Cibos kitchen.

We popped in to find out more.

What is your cheffing background?

I have been working for Don Giovanni for a year and a half, but prior to moving to England Ive worked my whole life as a chef in Italy. My mother and my grandmother are both chefs, and my family have had their restaurant Casa De Campo by the sea in Abruzzo for 20 years now. Growing up living 5 minutes from the beach has definitely shaped my appreciation for these super fresh flavours and many of the fish dishes that will be appearing on Cibos a la carte are inspired by dishes from my home town.

What are the major changes in the pipeline?

First and foremost, where possible we will be using all-Italian products and cooking them in the proper Italian way  meaning more simply, like we do at home, with an emphasis on strong and full flavours. I want to recreate for the Manchester market the original taste of Italy like my grandma taught me to make.

This means well be utilising a different style of cooking. No long prep, nothing will be pre-cooked and we wont be using any frozen fish. I only want to work with fresh produce and to see minimal waste coming out of my kitchen. This means well be sourcing wild vegetables and ingredients with maximum natural fresh flavours from our suppliers on a regular basis.

In terms of the restaurants new look, we have completely revamped and refreshed the old Per Tutti site with a 180k refurbishment. Were drawing on the style of Naples for interior inspiration, so expect bright colours, luxurious wallpapers and high-end furnishings all-round.

Will Cibo specialise in a particular region of Italy?

I have taken inspiration from all over my country. For example, the carbonara comes from Rome and the veal Milanese is from Milan  however, many of the fish dishes have come from my home town. My aim with the new restaurant is to bring true Italian quality to Manchester, honouring the tradition of my family and of Italian cooking more generally, but bringing something a little more modern into the tradition, using different and non-traditional flavours such as lime, lemon and ginger to bring a freshness to my fish dishes.

So there will be a big focus on fish over meat?

Definitely. There will not be much meat on the menu, but what meat there is will be halal  first for our Muslim customers but also because I find that meat that is treated in this way is much tastier and more tender as a result of how it is drained of its blood. Often, when meat isnt treated in this way, its tough and chewy and lacking in flavour and this is what I want to steer away from. Flavour is king here for us at Cibo.

Tell us about some of your specialist suppliers

We will be using a lot of Italian produce imported through our specialist suppliers, as a lot of the supplies I want to work with cant be bought in England. We will also, however, be working with local suppliers too from the Manchester area to help support our local community of farmers.

Will you be making your own pasta?

Well be working with fresh pasta definitely. Some will be made at Don Giovanni and some will be bought in fresh, for now, as weve not got the space to make it ourselves in house at Cibo currently. Ill be working with different pastas such paccheri, spaghettone, trofie  keeping it interesting, and offering a change-up from the basic Mancunian Italian fare.

Will Cibo have a speciality or a signature dish?

I intend for every dish to be special at Cibo. For me, when you cook, its like creating a picture. Its to give life to what you cook and you want some emotion, even when you eat, otherwise your job becomes boring. I want to give love to the people, for them to feel it when they eat, this is what makes the job worthwhile to me.

Cibo is open to the public now with a 30% off food soft launch offer* available until the end of February if you make your booking online. Excludes set menus and breakfasts.New York, Feb 19 (JEN): The top United Nations humanitarian official in Somalia has commended the drought relief and recovery efforts of the authorities in the northern state of Puntland, while cautioning that the current humanitarian crisis is far from over.

We took stock, together with [Puntlands] leadership, of the drought response as it has been so far, looking back to what has been a good year in terms of close cooperation and a very successful drought relief effort, the UNs Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, Peter de Clercq, said in Puntlands capital, Garowe, on Saturday, in the wake of a series of meeting with officials, including the Federal Member States President Abdiwali Mohamed Ali.

At the same time, we talked about the remaining challenges because we are not out of the woods yet by any stretch of the imagination, he added.

Mr. de Clercq  who also serves as the Secretary-Generals Deputy Special Representative for Somalia and the UN Resident Coordinator  was visiting Puntland to meet with security, planning and humanitarian officials from the local government, as well as representatives of civil society organizations, to discuss the current drought response and other challenges in the region.

Speaking on the collective response so far to the drought that has affected Puntland and the rest of Somalia for over five failed rain cycles, Mr. de Clercq said that, while 2017 was a good year in terms of close cooperation to avoid the worst impact of the drought, further effort would be needed.

He added that, in areas like Sool and Sanaag, there are still massive needs and a strong possibility that famine-type conditions would develop. The two areas, located on the north-eastern tip of the Horn of Africa, form part of a disputed region claimed by both Puntland and neighbouring Somaliland.

Mitigating the effects of the drought and helping the people who have been displaced by it was one of the main topics covered in the UN officials meeting with President Mohamed Ali. Our discussion was frank and candid, very fruitful, the President noted afterwards.

Peter de Clercq, the Deputy Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Somalia and UN Resident Humanitarian Coordinator accompanied by officials from the UN and Puntland administration interacts with residents of drought-hit Salaxley village., by UN Photo/Ilyas Ahmed

At the end of the visit, which included discussions at the ministries of security and planning, together with Puntlands disaster management agency, Mr. de Clercq said that it was important to get the right resources to the right place and work with the right partners, such as the Puntland authorities, and to consider longer-term factors.

We try to address the underlying causes of the crisis, like food insecurity and livestock depletion, and to think of alternatives for people to make a living and to rebuild their lives, he said.

In 2017, drought-related famine was averted through the efforts of Somalis and their international partners. However, the risk is not yet overcome as there are 5.4 million people in Somalia needing life-saving humanitarian assistance. Work is being done in all regions, including Puntland, to build and sustain resilience in all communities, especially the populations affected the most by the recurring cycle of drought and famine risk, such as pastoralists, displaced persons and fishing communities.

There is a resilience and recovery framework in Somalia, to help it transition from humanitarian intervention to sustainable recovery and disaster preparedness. Led by the authorities and supported by the United Nations and the World Bank, it is tightly linked to its development plan. It enables the national and regional governments to take the lead in medium- and long-term developments solutions, going to the root of communities vulnerability to droughts, and helping them withstand recurrent shocks.



UN Photo/Ilyas AhmedThe report follows upon an earlier statement by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, which similarly affirmed that Tehran was, at a minimum, failing to prevent its weapons from falling into the hands of groups like the Houthi rebels in Yemen. While Iran affirms political support for that Shiite militant group, it denies having provided arms shipments or other forms of direct support. However, several weapons caches have been intercepted since the outbreak of the Yemeni Civil War while apparently en route between Iran and Houthi-controlled ports. Additionally, Irans adversaries continue to accuse the Islamic Republic of even more direct participation in the conflict, including through the deployment of advisers from the Revolutionary Guards.

In recent weeks, the US has touted evidence of Iranian involvement in the form of missile components recovered from Saudi Arabia after being fired into that country from Houthi territory. In a press conference last month, Ms. Haley described that material as various clear signs of Iranian manufacture and design. Much of this information was confirmed by the UN report, which in turn reignited American calls for action both over Irans role in the broader Middle East and regarding the ballistic missile program that Iranian officials have repeatedly refused to constrain in any way.

Many critics of the Iranian regime maintain that this refusal is in violation of the UN Security Council resolution governing the implementation of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. As the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action failed to address concerns over the development of missiles that could potentially carry a nuclear warhead, this issue was taken up in UNSC Resolution 2231, which calls upon the Islamic Republic to avoid work on all such weapons. Yet Iran and its allies have continued to insist that it is not obligated to comply with this provision.

The world cannot continue to allow these blatant violations to go unanswered, Haley said on Friday, according to CBS News. Iran needs to know that there are consequences for defying the international community. Its time for the Security Council to act.

These renewed calls for action emerged in parallel with new signs of support from US allies for the effort to tighten restrictions on the Islamic Republic. On Friday, Reuters reported that British Prime Minister Theresa May had commented upon a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel that both leaders remained committed to preserving and fully implementing the JCPOA, and that they also share the U.S. concerns about Irans destabilising activity in the Middle East, and stand ready to take further appropriate measures to tackle these issues.

There is little doubt that these shared concerns were amplified by the previous weekends flare-up between Iran and Israel. The incident began with an Iranian drones incursion into Israeli airspace, which led to it being shot down before Israel launched a strike on its point of origin in Syria. Subsequently, one Israeli jet was shot down, though its pilots ejected into Israeli territory, and a dozen other military sites in Syria were destroyed, including four that were reportedly controlled by Iranian forces.

Beyond from the immediate effects of this clash on international dialogue over Middle Eastern affairs, it seems clear that the Israeli government is using it to more urgently call for joint action to constrain Irans role in the region. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly said that his nation will not accept a permanent Iranian presence in Syria, where it would present an intensified threat to the Jewish state, which Tehran has often vowed to destroy.

Netanyahu spoke to the UN Secretary General on Friday and insisted that Israeli forces will act against it if Iran continues to develop military bases there. Then, on Sunday, the Israeli Prime Minister warned Iran against testing Israels resolve while speaking at the Munich Security Conference. According to the Associated Press, Netanyahus address was followed two hours later by remarks from Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, making the event an outlet for dialogue over not just the existing tensions but also their perceived underlying causes, including the Iran nuclear deal.

Time described Netanyahu as saying that that agreement had emboldened the Iranian regimes activities in the broader Middle East. He went on to suggest that the White House could follow through on threats to scrap the JCPOA with little fear of consequence. Zarif predictably rejected this notion, issuing the vague threat that people would be sorry for taking the erroneous action.

By suggesting that the recent clash was a sign of Irans perceived impunity following the nuclear negotiations, Netanyahu effectively tied the future of the JCPOA to the potential danger of further such clashes. This may put additional pressure on European policymakers who have until May 12 to arrive at an agreement that would prevent US President Donald Trump from withholding waivers on Iran sanctions, essentially killing the deal. But it remains unclear whether such an agreement is attainable, even in the face of added pressure.

On Sunday, Reuters reported that the State Department had offered a possible way forward in the form of a two-phase process for negotiating with the European signatories to the agreement, namely Britain, Germany and France. Under this plan, the Europeans would initially need only to provide a general commitment to addressing the perceived deficiencies in the JCPOA. Thereafter, the negotiations over how to actually do so would begin only after the May deadline, ideally with input from the other signatories: Iran, Russia, and China.

But the same report specified that despite recent shifts in the direction of the USs more assertive tone on Iran policies, the relevant European policymakers are still wary about making such a commitment. Reuters cited two European officials and two former US officials as saying the European remain unclear on exactly what the White Houses demands are, and thus are concerned that they may be committing to a plan they will ultimately not be willing to follow through on.

But as much uncertainty as there is about Trumps final objectives, there is perhaps just as much certainty about what Europe might be willing to commit to in the future. After all, escalating tensions in the Middle East, together with ongoing advocacy efforts by the White House and other Iranian adversaries, have already contributed to a more assertive shift in tone. As these trends continue, the Europeans growing concerns may begin to outweigh their convictions regarding the nuclear deal.The abolishment of the suppression of women, including the compulsory veil, and for the immediate release of all political prisoners were the topics discussed. The speakers called for the guarantee of freedom of speech and assembly in Iran.

Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), paid tribute to the women who started the protests in Iran at the end of December. She saluted the people around the world who have stood behind the Iranian people. She also the commended the bravery of the women of Syria and said that they must not be forgotten.

Mrs. Rajavi pointed out that women were chanting Be scared, we are together during the recent protests and urged the mullahs to pay heed to this, as women across the world stand together with their sisters in Iran. She declared that internal and international unity will be the downfall of the regime, to a huge eruption of applause and cheers from the audience.

The Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei once said that womens equality is a Western notion. Mrs. Rajavi said that the belief that women are unequal has no place in Iranian society and for this reason alone it is necessary to overthrow the regime  this oppression must not continue.

Regarding the compulsory veil, Mrs. Rajavi said that this is based on nothing because the Koran states that there is no compulsion in religion, therefore imposing anything on women is contradictory to Islam.

Urging each and every person in attendance to ensure the uprising continues, the leader of the Resistance concluded her speech.

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women until July 2015, Rashida Manjoo, said that despite the brutality the women of Iran face, they are still fighting for equality and social and human rights. She pointed out that the incarceration of women in Iran is for arbitrary reasons and that the rape of political prisoners, forced marriage, beatings and torture are prevalent in the country. She also called mental abuse to extract false confessions an outright violation of human rights.

Silence from the international community is one of the biggest challenges according to Manjoo. Silence equals complicity, and allows these human rights abuses to continue.

Renowned academician and social activist Ranjana Kumari has won numerous awards for her efforts in empowering women and girls. She said that when women rise, nations rise. Kumari discussed the role of social media and explained that there are 47 million people in Iran who use social media sites. She said that the international community can use the power of the internet to help the women of Iran defeat the Iranian regime.

British politician, Baroness Verma, member of the House of Lords and the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for International Development and Ministerial Champion for tackling Violence Against Women & Girls Overseas, said that she will make great efforts to ensure that her government takes action with regards to the human rights abuses in Iran. She emphasized that there is no place on earth where violations should be accepted and called on Parliamentarians across the world to ask their governments what they are going to do to challenge what is happening in Iran. She also called on politicians to ask their governments why protesters are being arrested and why people in Iran are going missing. She made it clear that when you are electing someone to represent you, it is essential that they disclose how they are going to deal with human rights abuses. Let us not have one Madam Rajavi, let us have millions, the Baroness said.

Linda Chavez, who was the highest-ranking woman in President Ronald Reagans White House, urged international governments to stop allowing the regime to continue its crimes. Repression in Iran is unacceptable, she said, and added that if one half of the population is repressed, the whole of society is repressed.

Susana Medina, President of the International Association of Women Judges and a judge in the Supreme Court of Argentina, said that we should build bridges of knowledge and solidarity all over the world against the injustice in Iran.

Deputy Attorney General in Portugal, Maria Candida Almeida, spoke about the bravery of the women of Iran who risked everything to take to the streets to protest for their rights. She thanked Mrs. Rajavi for her leadership, tenacity and determination and affirmed that nothing will stop Iranian women. She continued, To the women of Iran, we are with you in your just demand to restore freedom and democracy. We will be your voice in the international organization. One day, the people of Iran will be free and there will be justice for all people who were mistreated and abused.

Ingrid Betancourt, former presidential candidate in Columbia, said that the women of Iran risk everything to challenge the Iranian regime.

Former First Lady of Algeria, Anissa Boumediene, spoke about the crimes of the Iranian regime, highlighting that it acts in violation of international law. She drew comparisons between the women of Iran and the women of Algeria who fought against a similar regime. She said that the martyrs there are still being mourned.

Aude de Thuin, President of the Womens Forum for Economy and Society in France stated, Iranian women have dared to defy power and put their life at risk. For western media, the only right for women is taking off their veil. They do not ask what women want for their countries. Women are the key element of the movement for deep change in their own lives and in their own country. It is time for the world to see and admire the courage of Iranian women. This is why I am here, for freedom of Iranian women, freedom of speech, freedom to live free. We need to encourage and admire the women of Iran. We must reach out and help them.

Hoda Badran, Chair of Network of Arab Women from Egypt, said, Women were always at the forefront of this fight. Today, we see in this new revolt, that women have been extremely courageous. And they are fighting against the police and encourage others not to fear anyone. They call on everyone to be on their side. Women want their freedom and rights. Supporting these women is a duty for freedom loving people.

Najat Al Asttal, Palestinian Member of Parliament, said, We are proud of standing with the Iranian Resistance. We salute your struggle and your fight for democracy and dignity. The revolution of Iranian women and standing for a sovereign Iran, means they are standing for democracy and demanding their own and their peoples rights.

Suheir Atassi, member of the Syrian Opposition Coalition and former Vice Chair of the Council declared, During the last 7 years, we have had the exceptional opportunity to discover the womens energy. They ask for freedom and construction of democracy. They want to take the dictatorship to court We want the world to help stop this daily torture and killing by the Assad regime Mrs. Rajavi is a pioneer among Iranian women. She is an icon for you and also for us. She is working to free Iran and also Syria from the clutches of the clerical regime. We also believe in her ten-point plan for future of Syria.

Rama Yade, former minister of human rights in France stated, Never doubt that a small group of conscious, committed individuals can change the world. We are proud more than ever before to support you. The people of Iran have risen up for freedom. They want regime change. We must support them. The protesters are risking their lives. This is a fight for history, for the world. It is all our lives that is determined in the streets of Iran. We are grateful to these courageous people. Thank you Mrs. Rajavi.

Najima Thay Thay, former Minister of Education and Youth- Morocco said, The cause of Iranian women does not concern only Iranian women but is a global cause. Iranian women led by Mrs. Rajavi are fighting against extremism.

The conference was a bright spot for the future of Iranian women in the run-up to International Womens DayActivists claim that Rossotrudnichestvo is an institution controlled by the Russian FSB security service.

A crowd of around 100 Ukrainian far-right demonstrators attacked institutions linked to Russia during a nationalist rally held in Kyiv under the slogan "Death to Russia" on February 18.

The event that turned violent was organized by leader of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) Mykola Kokhanivsky. Members from other nationalist organizations, namely Bily Molot (White Hammer), the Social-National Assembly, the Black Committee, the Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners also took part in the event.

They marched along the streets in the center of the city, heading for the representative office of Rossotrudnichestvo, the Russian Federal Agency for CIS Affairs, Russians Living Abroad, and International Humanitarian Cooperation.

Activists claim that Rossotrudnichestvo is an institution controlled by the Russian FSB security service.

Before the beginning of the march, Kokhanivsky called on participants not to run into clashes with police and other law enforcement agencies.

"We want to remind our eternal enemy once again that no one in Kyiv, Donbas, or across entire Ukraine is waiting for it. Perhaps, these are the organizations  the financial institutions of the invaders from Moscow that work [in Ukraine], banks, headquarters of collaborators, Rossotrudnichestvo, that are waiting for it. These are who we call to come out against," Kokhanivsky said.

The protesters demanded that the "Russian institutions get out" of Ukraine.

Read alsoUkrainians march in Kyiv to honor Stepan Bandera (Video)The marchers set out from Kyiv's Independence Square. Along their way, they threw several stones at the windows of Alfa Bank's branch on Khreshchatyk, which was tightly guarded by law enforcers.

Some of the protesters smashed windows in branches of the Russian-owned Sberbank and Alfa-Bank as well as the Ukrainian headquarters of Rossotrudnichestvo located at 2 Borysohlibska Street.

They also chanted slogans "Down with the FSB branch," "Crimea, Donbas and Kuban [the latter was once Ukrainian territory, now it is part of modern Russia] is Ukraine."

Law enforcers did not detain anyone and nor did they commit any actions towards the protesters who had thrown stones. A criminal case will be opened if a party harmed files a claim, police said.

Participants in the event explained that Rossotrudnichestvo was involved in anti-Ukrainian activities and propaganda of the "Russian world." They argue that if the state of Ukraine is unable to close such institutions, then ordinary Ukrainians will do it.

As UNIAN reported, several thousand people gathered for another rally, the March for Impeachment, in the center of Kyiv on February 18. It was organized by supporters of Mikheil Saakashvili. Protesters marched from Shevchenko Park to Sofiyska Square.China observers have expressed support for a new Chinese government policy on land and property rights.

The proposal calls for permitting Chinese villagers to rent out their homes and farms. China experts say this could increase development and ease tensions in rural China, especially in areas ignored by the government.

The observers say a growing number of houses are empty in rural areas as people move to cities.

Chinese officials released the policy document earlier this month. It said the government would ease controls on rights for rural land and unused housing. As a result, it said, people who moved to cities could permit development of their properties or rent out their homes.

Growing dissatisfaction with life in rural China

The policy could affect people unhappy with rural life. They could move but still earn money from their properties, said China expert Wasana Wongsurawat.

Urban centers are growing, while the quality of life in rural areas has not improved, leading to growing dissatisfaction, she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. She said the new policy may be a way to deal with that and persuade more people to move to the cities.

Wasana Wongsurawat is an assistant professor at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok.

Almost 59 percent of Chinas population already lives in urban areas. Continued development is important to the governments plans for growth. China is the worlds second-largest economy.

Chinese land is divided into urban and rural land regimes. The government has ownership rights over urban land, while rural land is owned collectively and cannot be bought and sold freely.

China began to examine its land use policies in 2014.

A major step toward reform

The governments decision to ease controls on land falls far short of creating an open market. But observers said it is an early move in a major reform process.

It is significant as a step forward to liberalize land rights, said Dan Wang of The Economist Intelligence Unit research group.

She said the change in policy  if followed by other rule changes  may help influence businesses to develop very large farms.

She said, If this round of land reform turns out to be successful, it will change the landscape of rural China greatly in terms of forms of employment, agricultural organization and even social structures.

She noted that the reforms could be weakened if farmland is seized for industrial use, or to grow for-profit crops instead of grains to feed Chinese communities.

I'm Jonathan Evans.

Rina Chandran reported this story for the Reuters news agency. George Grow adapted the report for VOA Learning English. Caty Weaver was the editor.

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section.

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Words in This Story

rent  v. paying money in exchange for being able to use something

urban  adj. relating to or involving a city

regime  n. a system of rules; a form of government

significant  adj. large enough to be noticed or have an effect

liberalize  v. to ease rules or restrictions; to make something more liberal

landscape  n. a picture that shows a natural scene of land or the countryside

From VOA Learning English, this is the Health & Lifestyle report.

Two United States government studies of cellphone radiation have found a weak link to an increased risk of cancer in animals.

But government officials and scientists are telling cellphone users not to worry. They say it is safe to use your mobile device.

Earlier studies of cellphone users had found little reason for concern.

The latest research took a close look at the effects of very high radiation levels in animals to answer some questions that could not be tested on human subjects.

In one study, researchers left cellphones in an area with rats. The researchers say radiation from the devices may have been responsible for a small increase in an unusual form of heart tumor in male rats. Yet there were no big problems in female rats or in a separate study of mice.

The Associated Press (AP) says the scientists could not find strong evidence for concern about brain tumors.

Reaction to the findings

John Bucher is with the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. He was the lead writer of the report on the study. He told the AP he is not changing his cellphone use or asking his family to.

Otis Brawley is the American Cancer Societys chief medical officer. After reading the studies, he said, I am actually holding my cellphone up to my ear.

The rat and mice studies are not the same as real-life cellphone use, he noted.

John Bucher said the findings of the rare nerve-tissue tumor found in the hearts of male rats does not mean humans should be worried.

His agency carried out a $25 million study for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which quickly said cellphones are safe.

Bucher said average cellphone use is very, very, very much lower than what we studied.

High radiation levels

He told reporters the rats and mice were exposed to the radiation for nine hours a day and for a period of up to two years. The radiation levels were so high that humans would only experience it for a short time.

He said, At best, it might be a weak carcinogen ... if, in fact, it is a carcinogen."

For some unknown reason, the rats exposed to the radiation lived longer than the non-radiated rats. Bucher said that could be just chance, or it could be that the radiation reduced the risk of a rat disease.

The program released early test results two years ago. The earlier report showed a small risk of increased brain tumors in male rats. However, the final results were unable to confirm that.

Other changes noted

The new rat study found evidence for increases in damage to DNA, brain tumors and a few other cancers, but it was not clear that it was related to the cellphones.

Evidence of DNA damage was seen in some tissues of some animals, Bucher said. He added that he didnt have the evidence to comment on its biological importance.

Still, it was surprising that the animals did experience other effects, even if they were not at high enough levels to be important, said Leeka Kheifets. She is an epidemiology professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. She is also the former head of radiation studies for the World Health Organization.

There is some concern that there is so much activity going on, she said. But its not like the sky is falling, a huge effect.

The findings failed to satisfy those concerned about cellphone radiation, like David Carpenter. He is the head of environmental health at the State University of New York in Albany. He said the studies were not large enough to uncover some rare problems and that the findings about brain tumors cannot be dismissed.

Its not anywhere near as dangerous as cigarettes, Carpenter said. But he added that there is a real danger from continual use of a cellphone.

In 2011, a working group of the International Agency for Research on Cancer said cellphones could possibly cause cancer. But many studies over the years have found little evidence of a problem.

I'm Jonathan Evans.

Seth Borenstein and Lauran Neergaard reported this story for the Associated Press. Susan Shand adapted the report for Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page.

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QUIZ

Quiz - Researchers: No Worry About Cancer From Cellphones Start the Quiz to find out Start Quiz

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Words in This Story

mobile  adj. involving something that can be moved

tumor  n. a mass of tissue found in or on the body that is made up of abnormal cells

carcinogen  n. a substance that can cause cancer

epidemiology  n. the study of how disease spreads and can be controlled

expose  v. to cause to be affected or influenced by something; to leave without shelter or protectionThe American state of Kansas does not make it very easy for its citizens to vote.

A person must show proof of American citizenship when registering to vote in an election. Once at the polling place, they must show photo identification.

The United States Commission on Civil Rights says Kansas has among the strictest voter identification laws of any state in the country.

Yet, Kansas has no real laws about who can run for state office.

Bryan Caskey is the Kansas director of elections. He recently told the Kansas City Star newspaper, Theres seriously nothing on the books that lays out anything, no age, no residency, no experience. Nothing.

There is nothing, then, to stop high school students -- and even a dog -- from seeking to become the next governor of the state.

Jack Bergeson is a 17-year-old high school student in Wichita. He is also a candidate for Kansas governor. He hopes to become the states Democratic Party nominee for the election in November. However, he calls himself an anti-establishment choice.



On his official website, Bergeson writes, "I may be too young to vote, but I am not too young to see the problems in Kansas that the government should be, but is not, working to fix."

Kansas former governor, Sam Brownback, is a member of the Republican Party. He was elected as leader of Kansas in 2011. Last month, he left office to begin his appointment as U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom.

Bergeson announced he was running for office last August, when he was still 16.

Three other high school boys announced soon after that they too would run for governor. They are Republicans. Last October, the four young candidates gathered for a debate at a high school in the city of Lawrence. They discussed their positions on abortion, taxes, environmental policies and other issues.

Dominic Scavuzzo hopes to become the states Republican candidate. He told the Wichita Eagle newspaper last October, This needs to be a government that represents everyone, not just 30 years old up.

As of now, there are six teenage boys in the 2018 race for Kansas's governor.

And last week, a dog tried to join them.

As the Associated Press reported, Kansan Terran Woolley completed paperwork to enter his three-year-old dog, Angus, in the race for governor. Woolley decided to do so after hearing about the teenage candidates.

But the Kansas Secretary of States office quickly announced it would not permit Angus to run for governor.

Kansas politicians are now trying to pass a bill to establish minimum requirements for candidates to run for office. The bill would bar people under the age of 18 from running for governor, secretary of state or other top offices. It would also require candidates to have lived in Kansas for at least four years.

Many states already have at least some minimum qualifications for people seeking office. In Virginia, for example, a person must have lived in the state for the full year leading up to the election. They must also be qualified to vote -- and voting age in the United States is 18 and up. California requires that candidates be registered to vote and not have a criminal record.

State rules are often stricter for those running for top offices such as governor. New York, for example, requires all candidates for governor to be at least 30 years of age. They must also have lived in the state for five years immediately before the election.

The proposed Kansas bill would not affect Bergeson and the other teenage candidates. If it becomes a law, it would only take effect after the November election.

Although the proposed bill does not affect his candidacy, Bergeson is still against it.

I dont think its a good thing, he told the Kansas City Star. Im not a fan of it. I think its a reactionary bill. I think its trying to disenfranchise candidates.

Election Day is November 6.

Im Ashley Thompson.

Ashley Thompson wrote this story based on reports by the Associated Press, NPR, the Kansas City Star, Wichita Eagle and other sources. Caty Weaver was the editor.

_______________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

polling place - n. a building where people go to vote in an election

strict - adj. used to describe a command, rule, etc., that must be obeyed

governor - n.  a person who is the leader of the government of a state, province, etc.

abortion - n. a medical procedure used to end a pregnancy 

minimum - adj. least or lowest possible in amount or degree

disenfranchise - v. to prevent (a person or group of people) from having the right to voteThe following companies are subsidiares of Abbott Laboratories: 3A Nutrition (Vietnam) Company Limited, ABON Biopharm (Hangzhou) Co. Ltd., AGA Medical Belgium, AGA Medical Corporation, AGA Medical Holdings Inc., ALR Holdings, AML Medical LLC, APK Advanced Medical Technologies LLC, ATS Bermuda Holdings Limited, ATS Laboratories Inc., Abbott, Abbott (Jiaxing) Nutrition Co. 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Tesla builds 1st store on tribal land, dodges state car laws

NAMBE, N.M. (AP)  Carmaker Tesla has opened a store and repair shop on Native American land for the first time, marking a new approach to its yearslong fight to sell cars directly to consumers and cut car dealerships out of the process. The white-walled, silver-lettered Tesla store, which opened last week, sits in Nambe Pueblo, north of Santa Fe, on tribal land that's not subject to state laws.

Read ArticleThe following companies are subsidiares of Dover: ALMATEC Maschinenbau GmbH, Accelerated Production Systems, Advansor A/S, Advansor Dover International (Poland) sp. z o.o, Alfred Fueling Systems Holdco Ltd., Alfred Fueling Systems Inc., Alfred Fueling Systems Intermediate Holdco Ltd., All-Flo Pump Company Limited business, Anman LLC, Anthony Equity Holdings Inc., Anthony Holdings Inc., Anthony Inc., Anthony International Foreign Sales Corp., Anthony International Holding Company, Anthony Mexico Holdings LLC, Anthony North Holdco Inc., Anthony Specialty Glass LLC, Anthony TemperBent GP LLC, Automatik Grundstucksverwaltung GmbH & Co. KG, Automatik Plastics Machinery (Taiwan) Ltd., Automatik Plastics Machinery Sdn. Bhd., BSC Filters Limited, Background2 Limited, Belanger Inc., Belvac Middle East FZE, Belvac Production Machinery Inc., BlitzRotary GmbH, Butler Engineering and Marketing S.P.A., CEP Liquidation LLC, CP Formation LLC, CPC, CPC Europe Inc., CPI Products Inc., Caldera, Caldera Inc., Canada Organization & Development LLC, Chief Automotive Technologies (Shanghai) Trading Company Ltd., Chippewa Square Captive Insurance Company, Colder Products Company GmbH, Colder Products Company LTD, Cook Compression BV, Cook Compression LLC, Cook Compression Limited, Cook-MFS Inc., DD1 Inc., DDI Properties Inc., DE-STA-CO Benelux B.V., DE-STA-CO FRANCE, DE-STA-CO Shanghai Co. Ltd., DFH Corporation, DSR BZ Holdings LLC, De Sta Co (Asia) Company Limited, De-Sta-Co Cylinders Inc., DeStaCo Europe GmbH, Delaware Capital Formation Inc., Delaware Capital Holdings Inc., Destaco Ema Industria e Comercio Ltda., Dover (China) Investment Co. Ltd. , Dover (Schweiz) Holding GmbH, Dover (Shanghai) Industrial Co. Ltd., Dover (Shenzhen) Industrial Equipment Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Dover (Suzhou) Industrial Equipment Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Dover Asia Trading Private Ltd., Dover Australia Holdings Pty Limited, Dover Business Services EMEA Limited, Dover Business Services LLC, Dover Business Services Philippines Corporation, Dover CLP Formation Limited Partnership, Dover CR spol s r.o., Dover Canada Finance LP, Dover Canada Holdings ULC, Dover Canada Operations ULC, Dover Corporation Regional Headquarters, Dover DEI Services Inc., Dover Denmark Holdings ApS, Dover EMEA FZCO, Dover Energy, Dover Energy UK Ltd, Dover Engineered Systems Inc., Dover Engineered Systems UK Ltd, Dover Europe Inc., Dover Europe Sarl, Dover Fluids Inc., Dover Fluids UK Ltd, Dover France Holdings S.A.S., Dover France Participations SAS, Dover France Technologies, Dover Fueling Solutions UK Limited, Dover Germany GmbH, Dover Global Holdings LLC, Dover Global Trading Pte. Ltd., Dover Holdings de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Dover India Pvt. Ltd., Dover Intercompany Services UK Limited, Dover International B.V., Dover International Operations Inc., Dover International Ventures Inc., Dover International Ventures Tunisia S.a.r.l., Dover International ithalat ihracat ve Pazarlama Limited Sirketi, Dover Italy Holdings S.r.l., Dover Luxembourg Finance Sarl, Dover Luxembourg Participations Sarl, Dover Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Dover Luxembourg Services Sarl, Dover Operations South Africa (Pty) Ltd, Dover Overseas Ventures Inc., Dover Refrigeration & Food Equipment Inc., Dover Refrigeration & Food Equipment UK Ltd, Dover Resources International de Mexico S. de R.L. C.V., Dover Solutions Colombia SAS, Dover Southeast Asia (Thailand) Ltd., Dover Spain Holdings S.L., Dover UK Pensions Limited, Dover WSCR Holding LLC, Dover WSCR LLC, Dover do Brasil Ltda., Dow-Key Microwave Corporation, Dressor Wayne Data Technology (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Dressor Wayne Fuel Equipment (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, EOA Systems Inc., Ebs-Ray Holdings Pty Ltd, Ebs-Ray Industries Pty. Ltd., Ebs-Ray Pumps Pty. Ltd., Em-tec GmbH, Ettlinger Kunststoffmaschinen GmbH, Ettlinger Management Inc., Ettlinger North America LP, Ettlinger Vertrieb und Service GmbH & Co. KG, Ettlinger Verwaltungs-GmbH, Fairbanks Environmental Limited, Ferguson CO. S.A., Fibrelite Composites Limited, Fibresec Holdings Limited, Fibresec Limited, Finder, Finder Oriental (Beijing) Trading Co. Ltd, Finder Pompe S.R.L., Finder United Saudi Arabia Company, GAL LLC, GIIER LLC, Gala Industries Asia Limited, Gala Industries Incorporated, Gala Kunststoff-und Kautschukmaschinen GmbH, Guangdong Tokheim LIYUAN Oil Industry Technology Limited Company, Highland Park Insurance Company, Hill PHOENIX Inc., Hill PHOENIX WIC LLC, Hill Phoenix Costa Rica Sociedad De Responsabilidad Limitada, Hill Phoenix El Salvador Limitada de Capital Variable, Hill Phoenix Guatemala Sociedad Anonima, Hill Phoenix Honduras Sociedad Anonima, Hill Phoenix Nicaragua Sociedad Anonima, Hill Phoenix de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Hiltap Fittings Ltd., Hydro Systems, Hydro Systems Europe Ltd., Hydronova Australia-NZ Pty Ltd, Industrial Motion Control LLC, Inpro/Seal LLC, International Trade and Equipment B.V., JK Group SPA, JK Group USA Inc., K&L Microwave DR Inc., K&L Microwave Inc., K. S. Boca Inc., KPS (Beijing) Petroleum Equipment Trading Co Ltd., KPS Asia Sdn. Bhd., KPS Fueling Solutions Sdn. Bhd., KPS Hong Kong Holding Limited, KPS UK Limited, KS Formation Inc., KS Liquidation Inc., KSLP Liquidation L.P., Kiian Digital (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Knappco LLC, Lianyngang Jump Petroleum and Chemical Machinery Co. Ltd., Liquip, Liquip International Pty Limited, MARKEM FZ SA, MARKEM Holdings Inc., MARKEM International Inc., MARKEM S.A. de C.V., MARKEM Tag Inc., MARKEM UK Holdings 1 Unlimited, MARKEM UK Holdings 2 Limited, MIP Holdings Inc., MS Printing Solutions S.R.L., Maag Automatik GmbH, Maag Automatik Inc., Maag Automatik Plastics Machinery (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Maag Automatik Srl, Maag Pump Systems (US) Inc., Maag Pump Systems AG, Maag Pump Systems SAS, Marathon Equipment Company (Delaware), Markem Imaje Center of Competencies Spain S.L.U., Markem-Imaje, Markem-Imaje (China) Co. Limited, Markem-Imaje A/S, Markem-Imaje AB, Markem-Imaje AG, Markem-Imaje AS, Markem-Imaje Application Innovation Center Sarl, Markem-Imaje B.V., Markem-Imaje CSAT GmbH, Markem-Imaje Co. Ltd., Markem-Imaje GmbH, Markem-Imaje Holding, Markem-Imaje Identificacao de Produtos Ltda., Markem-Imaje Inc., Markem-Imaje India Private Limited, Markem-Imaje Industries, Markem-Imaje Industries Limited, Markem-Imaje KK, Markem-Imaje LLC, Markem-Imaje Limited, Markem-Imaje Ltd., Markem-Imaje N.V., Markem-Imaje Oy, Markem-Imaje Pty Ltd, Markem-Imaje S.A., Markem-Imaje S.A. de C.V., Markem-Imaje S.r.l. a socio unico, Markem-Imaje SAS, Markem-Imaje Sdn Bhd, Markem-Imaje Software Development Centre Pvt. Ltd., Markem-Imaje Spain S.A.U, Markem-Imaje Unipessoal Lda (Portugal), Markpoint Holding AB, Midland Manufacturing LLC, Mouvex, Neptune Chemical Pump Company, Northern Lights (Nevada) Inc., Northern Lights Funding LP, Northern Lights Investments LLC, Nova Controls Inc., OK International (UK) Ltd., OK International Holdings Inc., OK International Inc., OPW Engineered Systems Inc., OPW Fluid Transfer Group Europe B.V., OPW Fluids Group Inc., OPW France, OPW Fuel Management Systems Inc., OPW Fueling Components (SuZhou) Co. Ltd., OPW Fueling Components LLC, OPW Iberia Sociedad Limitada, OPW Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., OPW Slovakia s.r.o., OPW Sweden AB, Officine Meccaniche Sirio S.R.L., PDQ Manufacturing Inc., PISCES by OPW Inc., PSG (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, PSG (Tianjin) Co. Ltd., PSG Worldwide Inc., Petro Vend Sp. z o.o., Pike Machine Products Inc., Piston OPW Inc., Pole/Zero Acquisition Inc., Precision Brasil Equipamentos E Servicos Para Postos De Combustiveis Ltda., Precision Service - Servicos De Manutencao E Instalacao De Postos De Abastecimento De Combustivel Ltda., Pump Management Services Co. LLC, RAV Equipment U.S.A. Inc., RAV Equipos Espana S.L., RAV France, Rav Equipment UK Limited, Ravaglioli Deutschland GmbH, Ravaglioli S.P.A., Reduction Engineering GmbH, Revod Corporation, Revod Finance Ireland Limited, Revod Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Revod SAS, Revod Sweden AB, Robohand Inc., Rosario Handel B.V., Rotary Lift Consolidated (Haimen) Co. Ltd, SE Liquidation LLC, SWEP A.G., SWEP Germany GmbH, SWEP Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., SWEP North America Inc., SWEP Slovakia s.r.o., SWEP Technology (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., Scheer Pelletizing Systems & Machinery (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, Scheer Taiwan Machinery Co. Ltd., Seabiscuit Motorsports Inc., Simmons Sirvey Corporation, So. Cal. Soft-Pak Incorporated, Solaris Laser S.A., Space S.R.L., Start Italiana Petrol Cihazlari Sanayi Ticaret Anonim Sirketi, Start Italiana S.R.L., Swep Energy Oy, Swep International A.B., Swep Japan K.K., Sys-Tech Solutions Inc., TQC Quantium Quality S.A. de C.V., TTSI III Inc., TWG Canada Consolidated Inc., TXHI LLC, Tartan Textile Services Inc., The Curotto-Can LLC, The Heil Co., Tokheim Belgium, Tokheim China Company Limited, Tokheim GmbH, Tokheim Group, Tokheim Guardian Venture Sdn. Bhd, Tokheim Hengshan Technologies (Guangzhou) Co. Ltd., Tokheim Holding, Tokheim Holding B.V., Tokheim India Private Limited, Tokheim Netherlands B.V., Tokheim Sofitam Applications, Trans - Logistic Group S.R.L., Tulsa Winch Inc., Unified Brands Inc., Val TemperBent Glass L.P., Vectron Frequency Devices (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, Vehicle Service Group LLC, Vos Food Store Equipment Ltd., Warn Automotive LLC, Waukesha Bearings, Waukesha Bearings Limited, Waukesha Bearings Russia LLC, Wayne Fuel Management UK Ltd., Wayne Fueling Systems (Rus) Limited Liability Company, Wayne Fueling Systems Australia Pty Ltd, Wayne Fueling Systems Canada ULC, Wayne Fueling Systems Deutschland GmbH, Wayne Fueling Systems Italia S.R.L., Wayne Fueling Systems LLC, Wayne Fueling Systems Ltd., Wayne Fueling Systems Pte. Ltd., Wayne Fueling Systems Sweden AB, Wayne Fueling Systems UK Holdco Ltd., Wayne Industria e Comercio Ltda., Wei Li Pump Shanghai Co. LTD., WellMark, and Wilden Pump and Engineering LLC.CHINA Federal authorities say a Delaware man snapped a selfie while posing next to a statue known as The Cavalryman, from the Terracotta Warriors of the First Emperor exhibit before snapping off the USD4.5-million statues left thumb.

CHINA A weekend fire at the sprawling Jokhang monastery in Tibet did not affect the main chapel at the 1,300-year-old religious site, considered the spiritual heart of Tibetan Buddhism, the self-declared Tibetan government-in-exile said yesterday.

PHILIPPINES Police and army troops have arrested an Arab man they believe was a former commander of the Islamic State group along the Syria and Turkey border in a raid on a Manila apartment, where they found bomb-making materials and an IS-style flag, the national police chief said yesterday.

INDONESIA Four farmers and a 13-year-old boy admitted they stabbed, clubbed and shot a critically endangered orangutan at least 130 times with an air gun to protect their pineapple crop, police said yesterday.

TURKEY threatened yesterday to hit back at Syrian pro-government troops if they deploy in an enclave in northern Syria to protect a Kurdish militia that Ankara is battling there.

ETHIOPIAs defense minister on Saturday ruled out a military takeover a day after the East African nation declared a new state of emergency amid the worst anti-government protests in a quarter-century.

NIGERIA Pope Francis backed down yesterday and accepted the resignation of Nigerian bishop who had been rejected for years by the priests of his diocese, setting a precedent that could have repercussions in Chile and elsewhere when papal authority is challenged.

SOUTH AFRICA Authorities are escalating an anti-corruption drive against a business family linked to former president Jacob Zuma, saying they could seek Interpols help to track suspects believed to be out of the country.

MEXICOs federal Attorney Generals Office says two bodies found in a car have been confirmed to be those of two prosecution agents kidnapped Feb. 5 and forced to appear on a video by a drug gang.February 19, 2018 10:37

Regular use of cleaning sprays can have as much of an impact on health as smoking a pack of cigarettes a day, according to a new study.

Scientists at Norways University of Bergen tracked 6,000 people, with an average age of 34 at the time of enrolement in the study, who used the products over a period of two decades, according to the research published in the American Thoracic Society's American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

They found that lung function decline in women regularly using the products, such as cleaners, was equivalent over the period to those with a 20 cigarettes a day smoking habit.

"While the short-term effects of cleaning chemicals on asthma are becoming increasingly well documented, we lack knowledge of the long-term impact," said Professor Cecile Svanes, a medic at the University of Bergen and the senior author of the study.

A cleaner sweeps the floor of a bridge linking the European Parliament and the Winston Churchill Building on May 12, 2016 in Strasbourg, France.

"We feared that such chemicals, by steadily causing a little damage to the airways day after day, year after year, might accelerate the rate of lung function decline that occurs with age."

The scientists advised avoiding the products, and instead using microfiber cloths and water.

For the study, experts measured lung function by testing the amount of air those who took part in the study were able to forcefully breathe out.

They then examined the results alongside a questionnaire in which participants had been asked about the frequency of their use of cleaning products.

According to the study, women who used the cleaning products regularly had a markedly decreased lung capacity.

They also found increased rates of asthma among women who used the products regularly.

The products seemed to affect the lung capacity of women who took part in the study more than men, though they noted the number of male participants was small compared to the number of female participants.

"When you think of inhaling small particles from cleaning agents that are meant for cleaning the floor and not your lungs, maybe it is not so surprising after all," said istein Svanes , a doctoral student who led the study.

The experts attribute the decline in lung function to the damage that cleaning agents cause to the mucous membranes lining the airways, resulting over time in persistent changes.

The results follow a study by French scientists in September, 2017, who found that that nurses who used disinfectants to clean surfaces at least once a week had a 24-percent to 32-percent increased risk of developing lung disease.

Follow NEWS.am Medicine on Facebook and TwitterA breakthrough device developed by Loop Medical could indeed make it extremely simple to obtain blood samples. Credit: Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne

EPFL-based startup Loop Medical is working on a needleless device to take pain-free blood samples at home. The company has just signed a partnership agreement with Cerba HealthCare to develop this unique product and bring it to the market.

In the near future, you may be able to take your own blood painlessly in the comfort of your home. A breakthrough device developed by Loop Medical could indeed make it extremely simple to obtain blood samples. And the timing is perfect given that diagnoses from blood tests are increasingly common. "Currently, 70% of medical decisions are based on those analysis," says Arthur Queval, CEO of Loop Medical. "And with the rapid development of personalized medicine, this trend is likely to gain momentum." The EPFL-based startup signed a partnership agreement today with Cerba HealthCare, a European leader in medical biology.

Loop Medical's cutting-edge product will make it easy to draw enough blood for an expanded range of tests. This is good news for people who require regular blood tests  and for anyone who shies away from needles. The palm-sized device is designed to allow users to take their own blood at home without the help of a health-care professional. After being positioned on the user's arm, it will draw a sufficient amount of blood in roughly the same amount of time required for a traditional blood sample.

The samples will then be sent to a specialized lab through an established delivery protocol. Despite the development of portable diagnostic systems, blood samples still need to be tested in the lab. For Queval, "decentralized devices generally offer a limited number of tests, and it's difficult to make the cost competitive with those practiced in the laboratory."

The company will not reveal how its blood-sampling device works, but it does say that it will be internet connected. This means that samples will be traceable from the moment blood is drawn until the results are delivered, thereby reducing the scope for errors that could lead to a misdiagnosis.

Also for developing countries

Soon after it was founded in 2017, Loop Medical was awarded 400,000 dollars in seed money by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The startup used this money to try out its idea through preclinical tests. The Gates Foundation sees an obvious interest in introducing needleless blood sampling in developing countries, where the materials needed to ensure proper hygiene are often lacking. And because the device will not require trained staff, it can lead to cost savings while still achieving clinically valid results that will help in the global fight against infectious diseases.

Through its new partnership agreement, Loop Medical will benefit from Cerba HealthCare's technical, research and medical expertise as the startup enters the product's development phase and prepares its marketing strategy and product launch. "This support from a global leader in medical biology will be a major growth accelerator for us," adds Arthur Queval.

Explore further A pocket-sized medical lab being tested at the CHUVCredit: CC0 Public Domain

College roommates are sensitive to their roommates' distress but tend to underestimate the level of distress being experienced by others, finds a newly published study from New York University psychology researchers.

The work, which appears in the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, suggests that roommates' perception of each other's distress could be useful for monitoring the mental health of college students, but there are ways that students could be trained to be more accurate.

"Although college is an exciting time, many students feel academic and social pressure, and this can lead to serious distress," explains Qi Xu, an NYU doctoral student and the study's lead author.

"College students can detect certain levels of distress in their roommates and spot changes over the course of a semester, but they nonetheless underestimate the absolute level of distress," adds Patrick Shrout, a professor in NYU's Department of Psychology and the study's senior author.

The researchers note that the study's subjects had not been trained to spot distress, unlike other peers, such as dormitory residential assistants.

"More universal training on how to identify and respond to the distress of peers might have the benefit of encouraging conversations among roommates about what actions each might take if he or she notices another experiencing extreme distress," Xu and Shrout write.

In their study, the researchers studied 187 same-sex undergraduate roommate pairs who included Asian, Black, Hispanic, White, and biracial students.

At two times during the academic yearFebruary and Aprileach roommate in the pair reported his or her own distress level as well as that perceived in the other roommate. Comparing these reports allowed the researchers to quantify accuracy and bias.

In addition to systematically underestimating the level of distress of their roommate, students tended to believe their partner's distress was similar to their own level of distress. Despite these biases, the judgements of their roommates reflected a component of truth. Those students who were judged to be most distressed were ones who tended to self-report extreme distress.

Because they did the survey at two different times, the researchers were able to determine which students were becoming more (or less) distressed over time and to compare the changes to roommates' rankings.

The biases found at the separate time points did not carry over to the inferences about distress change. When students' reports indicated that their roommates were experiencing more distress, the target roommates tended to self-report more distress as well.

With training regarding how to detect distress in others, the researchers say, roommates might be even more accurate in their judgments and could be a helpful in supporting a safety net for college students who are distressed.

Explore further Review reveals potential predictors of long-term distress after cancer diagnosisCredit: CC0 Public Domain

When biomolecular engineer Phil Berman began his postgraduate work in the 1980s, he had no idea he would spend the rest of his career searching for a way to stop a deadly virus that was then almost entirely known. But around him, as if from nowhere, hundreds of people began to die. He has spent the past three decades looking for an effective vaccine against the AIDS epidemic that would claim more than 20,000 lives in the coastal metropolis alone.

"It was a plague," Berman said during a recent visit to his lab at the University of California, Santa Cruz. "People were dying left and right."

Berman and his team have been searching for a way to make HIV vaccine production faster and more affordableand, he said, they've found it.

"There are dozens of good ideas for vaccines that are sitting on the shelf because there has been no way to produce them quickly and economically," he said. "We think the technology we developed will break that logjam and allow those brilliant ideas that have been mothballed, basically, because there hasn't been a way to produce them."

The new production method takes advantage of technologies to reduce the time, improve the yield and lower the cost of vaccine development. A process that used to take two years now takes about two months, while simultaneously producing yields 100 or even 200 times higher.

A potential vaccine needs specific proteins to trigger an immune system response, Berman said. The proteins are produced by cell lines derived from the ovaries of Chinese hamsters, with many thousands of potential cell lines needing screening to find those that with a high enough yield.

Screening the cell lines manually in the lab used to take months, Berman said, but the team spent most of the past two years customizing a colony-selection robot to do the job in a matter of days.

The team is able to use those protein-rich cell lines to produce the vaccine in vats much smaller than the beer-vat-size fermenters they would otherwise need. The advance means that the type of large-scale manufacturing facility that would have cost $500 million when Berman first began working on the problem could now be made for about $25 million.

"You can make the drug much cheaper, and much more affordable by the people that need it," Berman said. "It's huge. It's a huge improvement."

Along the way, Berman and graduate student Gabriel Byrne used the gene-editing technology CRISPR to create a cell line that mimics proteins found on the HIV virus, improving the potential protection of the only HIV vaccine to succeed in a human trial.

These days, because of advancements in a regimen of treatments in the 1990s, infection with HIV for most people with access to health care does not mean death, but perpetual treatment. About 1.8 million people a year are infected with HIV, according to statistics compiled by the United Nations.

Berman and a number of researchers worldwide have continued to search for an effective way to immunize the next generation and halt the virus' spread. Berman himself has chased the project from its early days at Genentech in the late 1980s to its spinoff VaxGen, and, finally, to his lab at UCSC's Baskin School of Engineering. At VaxGen, he oversaw an early HIV vaccine trial that failed.

The UCSC lab is ready to begin producing two HIV vaccines on a large scale, Berman said. Their improved version of AIDSVAXthe only vaccine to go through clinical trials and demonstrate protective effectsis one, with a second candidate coming from a strain of the virus more commonly found in Southern Africa and India that accounts for a majority of new infections.

Explore further Scientists report big improvements in HIV vaccine production

2018 Santa Cruz Sentinel (Scotts Valley, Calif.)

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.What age kids should start dentist visits? Credit: C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health.

Without a doctor or dentist's guidance, some parents don't follow national recommendations for early dental care for their children, a new national poll finds.

One in 6 parents who did not receive advice from a health care provider believed children should delay dentist visits until age 4 or older - years later than what experts recommend - according to this month's C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health.

The American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Dental Association both recommend starting dental visits around age one when baby teeth emerge.

"Visiting the dentist at an early age is an essential part of children's health care," says Mott poll co-director Sarah Clark. "These visits are important for the detection and treatment of early childhood tooth decay and also a valuable opportunity to educate parents on key aspects of oral health."

"Our poll finds that when parents get clear guidance from their child's doctor or dentist, they understand the first dental visit should take place at an early age. Without such guidance, some parents turn to family or friends for advice. As recommendations change, they may be hearing outdated information and not getting their kids to the dentist early enough."

The nationally representative poll is based on responses from 790 parents with at least one child aged 0-5.

More than half of parents did not receive guidance from their child's doctor or a dentist about when to start dentist visits. Among parents who were not prompted by a doctor or dentist, only 35 percent believed dentist visits should start when children are a year or younger as is recommended.

Over half of parents (60 percent) reported their child has had a dental visit with most parents (79 percent) believing the dentist visit was worthwhile.

Among the 40 percent of parents whose child has not had a dental visit, common reasons for not going were that the child is not old enough (42 percent), the child's teeth are healthy (25 percent), and the child would be scared of the dentist (15 percent).

Experts say starting dental visits early helps set children up for healthy oral hygiene, with parents learning about correct brushing techniques, the importance of limiting sugary drinks, and the need to avoid putting children to bed with a bottle.

Early childhood caries (dental decay in baby teeth) may also be detected at young ages, allowing for treatment of decay to avoid more serious problems. In young children with healthy teeth, dentists may apply fluoride varnish to prevent future decay.

A quarter of parents who had delayed dental visits said their child's teeth are healthy but Clark notes it is unlikely that a parent could detect early tooth decay.

"Parents may not notice decay until there's discoloration, and by then the problem has likely become significant," she says. "Immediate dental treatment at the first sign of decay can prevent more significant dental problems down the road, which is why having regular dentist visits throughout early childhood is so important."

Another factor that may delay dental care is that healthcare recommendations for early childhood are often focused on well-child visits with medical providers, Clark notes.

"Parents hear clear guidelines on when they should begin well-child visits for their child's health and often schedule the first visit before they even bring their baby home from the hospital. Doctors typically prompt parents to stick to a standard schedule for immunizations and other preventive care," she says.

"Parents get much less guidance, however, on when to start taking their child to the dentist, with less than half saying they have received professional advice. This lack of guidance may mean many parents delay the start of dental visits past the recommended age."

Parents with higher income and education, and those with private dental insurance, were more likely to report that a doctor or dentist provided guidance on when to start dental visits.

"Our poll suggests that families who are low-income, less educated, and on Medicaid are less likely to receive professional guidance on dental care. This is particularly problematic because low-income children have higher rates of early childhood tooth decay and would benefit from early dental care," Clark says.

"Providers who care for at-risk populations should dedicate time to focus on the importance of dental visits. Parents should also ask their child's doctor or their own dentist about when to start dentist visits and how to keep their child's teeth healthy."

Explore further How to avoid passing down cavities to your kidsEast Coast forest sites overtaken by invasive multiflora rose (a), and without rose (b). Credit: Washington University, University of Delaware

When it comes to avoiding Lyme disease, know your forest.

That's the cautionary tale from a new study in the journal Parasites & Vectors, which found that ticks in urban parks in Delaware dominated by an invasive rose bush were nearly twice as likely to be infected with Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacteria that causes Lyme disease, as compared to ticks from uninvaded forest fragments.

But outdoor enthusiasts can't dodge disease just by staying away from thick stands of invasive plants within forest areas. The trend reverses itself at a broader scale, when you compare invaded forests to those that are dominated by mature trees.

"While rose appears to increase B. burgdorferi transmission by bringing together ticks and infectious host animals, this is not the whole story," said Tyson Research Center staff scientist Solny Adalsteinsson, who conducted the research in New Castle County, Delaware. That state has one of the nation's highest rates of Lyme disease per capita.

Instead, Adalsteinsson said, there are far more ticks tramping around in forests without the invasive rose, Rosa multiflora.

Black-legged tick. Credit: Shutterfly

The difference can likely be explained by the amount of leaf litter on the ground. Ticks live for up to two years, and they need places to hide when they're not actively slurping down their blood meals. Forests with mature trees, aged more than 100 years, tend to have thick layers of fallen leaves on the ground, but the soil is bare in many younger forest fragments that are choked with invasive bushes.

This research is focused on East Coast forests, and particularly on Lyme disease, which is not currently considered a major threat in Missouri. However, Lyme disease is the fastest-growing vector-borne disease in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Adalsteinsson's research findings may have applications for park managers and recreationists wherever they reside.

When spending time outdoors, learn to recognize the conditions that make for good tick habitatincluding bushy, invasive undergrowth that could provide hiding places for mice, birds and other tick hosts. Those thickets could be local hot spots for disease. But also know that a rich leaf layer on the forest floor is a welcome mat for ticksinfected and not.

"Because there are so many more ticks in the uninvaded forest, even though the ticks are less likely to be carrying a pathogen, your overall chance of encountering an infected tick is going to be greater in an uninvaded forest fragment," Adalsteinsson said. "It's a sheer numbers game at that point."

Explore further How a tick gut gene serves as a gateway for Lyme disease

More information: Solny A. Adalsteinsson et al. Multiflora rose invasion amplifies prevalence of Lyme disease pathogen, but not necessarily Lyme disease risk, Parasites & Vectors (2018). Solny A. Adalsteinsson et al. Multiflora rose invasion amplifies prevalence of Lyme disease pathogen, but not necessarily Lyme disease risk,(2018). DOI: 10.1186/s13071-018-2623-0A patent filing by Lenovo suggests the company is looking at blockchain technology to validate physical documents.

The application outlines a blockchain architecture which verifies the authenticity of physical documents by creating a digital map of the document, signed with a digital signature.

Using the security blockchain, anyone can validate that they have the current authentic physical document, even if multiple paper copies exist and multiple people have made entries in the chain of modification, said Lenovo.

If any forgeries exist, they will show up as orphaned blocks in the chain.Sweden is considering maximum jail terms of six years for gross infringement of copyright and trademarks, TorrentFreak reported.

This follows the government stating that penalties for copyright infringement appear to be low.

The Minister for Justice of Sweden, Helene Fritzon, has now received a report that proposed an additional tier of special offences with more severe punishments.

For normal copyright or trademark infringement, those found guilty in Sweden will face fines and a maximum prison term of two years.

In cases of gross crimes, a person may be convicted of gross copyright infringement or gross trademark infringement and sent to prison for at least six months and not more than six years, stated the report.

It would also allow the state to confiscate physical and intangible property, such as domains names.

According to the report, the amendment is to deal with the difficulty the Swedish justice system faced in taking over thepiratebay.se domain during the trial of its founders.

The Pirate Bay founders were tried under old legislation and received sentences of between 4-10 months.The Radioelectronic Technologies Concern (KRET) adapted the new deck landing system BINS-SP-2 for MiG-35 fighter jet, a high-ranking source in the company told Mil.Press online publication.

The Radioelectronic Technologies Concern (KRET) adapted the new deck landing system BINS-SP-2 for MiG-35 fighter jet, a high-ranking source in the company told Mil.Press online publication.

MiG-35 Fighter Jet at MAKS 2017 Airshow

"All the work to adapt our system to the latest Russian aircraft has been successfully accomplished. BINS-SP-2 successfully passed test trials," he said.



The system will improve operational characteristics and allow MiG-35 to land on aircraft carriers.



However the source said there is no seaborne MiG-35 so far and it is not a priority for the Defense Ministry.



MiG-35 theoretically can be operated as a shipborne aircraft, Deputy Defense Minister Yuri Borisov told Mil-Press at MAKS-2017 airshow. The Defense Ministry "will be glad to consider the proposal" if the domestic aircraft industry offers a shipborne option of the aircraft, he said.



The source in the industry told FlotProm MiG-35 design had been upgraded against MiG-29. It simplifies the creation of a shipborne option.

 Copyright 2018 TASS. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Armenia's Pashinyan: Armenian villages of Syunik Province haven't been and won't be encircled, even though there is risk

Armenia PM: Armenian government will not change its political course

Armenia's Pashinyan arrives in Dushanbe on working visit

Prosecutors of Armenia and Russia attend discussions devoted to fight against corruption and cybercrimes

Pashinyan: Refusing to pull out troops based on borders of Soviet era would have been disastrous for Armenia

Israel defense minister says Iran will be able to produce one nuclear bomb soon

Armenia PM clarifies spending of funds donated to Hayastan All-Armenian Fund during 44-day war

Armenia Deputy PM: There won't be surprises in terms of natural gas price in the near future

EU Special Representative, Azerbaijan FM discuss situation on Armenian-Azerbaijani border

Armenia health minister: Authorities have the right to adopt restrictive measures to maintain public health

Armenia PM: Azerbaijan has always declared that it plans to resolve Karabakh conflict militarily

Husband of Armenian pregnant woman who died from COVID-19 shares true story about wife's death

Armenia culture minister: Authorities raise issue of state of Armenian monuments on all platforms

Armenia PM: Specialists will explore issue of Azerbaijan's failure to recognize borders of USSR

Armenian PM: Panels and footholds were placed since Goris-Kapan road is beyond Armenia's border

Azerbaijan Internal Affairs Ministry confirms detention of two Iranian truck drivers

Armenia PM: Government is ready to consider signals coming from Ankara

Pashinyan: Armenia and Karabakh will do everything possible to make sure route through Lachin corridor remains unchanged

Armenia Ararat Province ex-deputy governor appointed chief of Penitentiary Service

Armenia PM to leave for Tajikistan on working visit

Deputy Mayor of Armenia's Goris: Armenian drivers told me Azerbaijanis had stopped their trucks and checked them

Armenia MOD holds discussion devoted to planning of budget for 2022, makes certain adjustments

Armenia PM refutes news about secret negotiations with Baku

Digest: US doesn't consider issue of Nagorno-Karabakh issue resolved, latest on COVID-19

Armenia army's General Staff chief receives newly appointed US Military Attache

Armenia PM states reason why he used Azerbaijani toponyms to describe situation in Syunik Province

Lithuania Ambassador to Armenian official: Lithuanian experience will be interesting for Armenia

Deputy Mayor of Armenia's Goris: Azerbaijani police detained 2 Iranian drivers in Vorotan

8 international ombudspersons to participate in Russia's elections as experts, including Armenia's Ombudsman

Armenia Security Council Secretary meets with Russian counterpart in Dushanbe

Azerbaijanis celebrate anniversary of Armenian pogrom in Baku with military parade in Artsakhs occupied Shushi

Azerbaijani police detain two Iranian truck drivers on Armenia's Goris-Kapan road

Iran embassy in Armenia on situation on Goris-Kapan motorway section: Elimination of road obstacles is topical

Armenia FM unable to travel to Dushanbe due to aircraft engine malfunction

Armenia government officials answering questions from MPs (LIVE)

Armenia Labor and Social Affairs Ministry to carry out new social support program for displaced citizens of Artsakh

Armenia finance minister receives Japan Ambassador

Armenia State Revenue Committee chief receives Latvian State Revenue Service's Police Department delegation

CSTO Collective Security Council to discuss urgent security issues, Armenia PM to also attend meeting

Friendship group with India to soon be set up again in legislature, says Armenia parliament speaker

Armenian doctors protesting near Prosecutor General's Office in support of Armen Charchyan

Toivo Klaar: Important to reduce tensions on border to contribute to better climate for negotiations

Turkey, Azerbaijan air forces holding joint military exercises

Zas: CSTO foreign and defense ministers councils next meeting will be held in Armenia

PACE regrets tragic humanitarian consequences of Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict

Russia deputy FM, Red Cross president discuss humanitarian situation in Nagorno-Karabakh

US does not consider Karabakh status issue resolved, says envoy to Armenia

US government to provide $9.5m to combat corruption in Armenia

Opposition Armenia Bloc holds meeting chaired by ex-President Kocharyan (PHOTOS)

Armenia Security Council chief: Azerbaijan policy is obviously provocative

Armenia Administrative Court terminates proceedings on case of army General Staff ex-chief vs. President, PM

Prosecution insists that Armenia 2nd president Kocharyans pretrial measure, amount of bail not be changed

5 new cases of coronavirus reported in Karabakh

Armenia President receives Russia counterparts special representative on international cultural cooperation

Armenia Police special forces apprehend fallen soldiers relative from outside government building

Xi Jinping denies personal meeting with Biden

Baku celebrates 'liberation' from Armenians

Survey: 48.4% of displaced Artsakh residents moved to Armenia (VIDEO)

756 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

World oil prices going up

Politico: European Commission chiefs classified speech found in trash

Armenia Court of Appeal continues considering appeal of case on ex-President Kocharyan, some other former officials

Biden: Extreme weather events will cost more than $100bn in damages this year

Newspaper: Armenia authorities agree to opposition proposal to hold parliament session on Goris-Kapan road issue

Newspaper: Armenia authorities send Karabakh Security Council chief as envoy to imprisoned opposition MP

Energy security expert: Artsakh economic growth averaged 10.5% since 2000

UN General Assembly 76th session kicks off in New York

Karabakh President's spokesperson: Azerbaijanis shoot in direction of Taghavard village, no victims

Armenia Investigative Committee: Battalion commander who was on-duty in Karabakh's Khtsaberd village is arrested

Trilateral MoC signed to raise level of seismic safety of Armenian Nuclear Power Plant to the highest level

Armenia opposition MP: Authorities didn't help Ombudsman prepare report on tortures of Armenian citizens in Baku

Hanged body of 44-year-old serviceman of Armenia MOD found in village

Armenia opposition MP slams parliamentary committee chairman's statement

Police apprehend armed student at Yerevan metro station

Azerbaijanis demand punishing Member of the Russian State Duma Vitaly Milonov

Armenia Parliament Deputy Speaker receives Russia President's Special Representative

Armenia President grants high state award to chess grandmaster Elina Danielyan

Armenia PM appoints deputy economy minister

Putin holds phone talks with Iranian counterpart

Armenia Supreme Judicial Council chairman on his relations with PM Nikol Pashinyan

Karabakh President meets with journalists and editors of country's Free Artsakh newspaper

US Embassy in Armenia to Baku: Only comprehensive solution can help normalize Armenian-Azerbaijani relations

Armenia President receives Slovakia FM

Armenia defense minister's mother dies

Armenia parliament's foreign relations committee chairman meets with Ukrainian MPs

Armenia Syunik Province governor meets with newly appointed US Deputy Ambassador

Monument to heroes who took revenge over Armenian Genocide organizers to be placed in Yerevan

Armenia Parliament Speaker receives Slovak Foreign and European Affairs Minister-led delegation

Digest: Protests being held in Yerevan, more on COVID-19 in Armenia

Yerevan mayor: Not going to resign

Dollar still going down in Armenia

Karabakh emergency situations service: Remains of 1 Armenian serviceman found in Varanda

Armenia Cassation Court has new judge

PACE recommends holding debates over Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and Afghanistan situation

National Archives of Armenia and Iran to sign memorandum within scope of cooperation

Armenia PM, Gazprom Management Committee chairman discuss Armenian-Russian energy partnership

Armenia Deputy PM participates in session of Eurasian Economic Commission's Council

Police apprehend Yerevan neighborhood resident on hunger, water strike

Armenia Ambassador to Ukraine: Aim of intergovernmental commission is to take steps to unblock communication

Deceased serviceman's little brother born at medical center in Armenia's EtchmiadzinNagorno-Karabakh conflict prevents South Caucasus to realize its full potential, as a very rich region, economically, but also socially and culturally, the EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the crisis in Georgia, Toivo Klaar said in an interview with Trend.

The EU position is very clear: we want a peaceful and prosperous South Caucasus where individuals and societies can realise their full potential. For this to happen, the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict needs an early resolution. The status quo is in many ways unsustainable and very fragile. The Minsk Group and its Co-Chairs is the internationally agreed format for the conflict settlement  agreed also by the sides  and the EU fully supports the efforts and proposals of the Co-Chairs aimed at finding a solution. When it comes to finding a resolution, it is important to underline that the sides have the primary responsibility: without compromises by the sides, there will be no resolution of the conflict. We of course recognise that this can be difficult, and the EU is prepared to support the sides and the Minsk Group Co-Chairs in these efforts, he said.

According to him, this is one of the reasons why the EU insists on discussing the conflict settlement at high-level meetings in the region.

We convey strong messages on progress towards peace, but we are also telling the sides that we are here to support a peace process, both during the talks under the auspices of the Minsk Group Co-Chairs, and afterwards for instance with reconstruction or building up interconnected economies and societies. As EUSR, I have close working contacts with the Co-Chairs of the Minsk Group as well as with the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, to make sure that what we do is supportive of the process they are leading. It is also important to inform our leadership in Brussels, as well as the Member States, about the different aspects of the ongoing peace process so that everyone is on the same page

But the EU does more than political work, said Klaar adding

We believe that for conflict resolution to be effective, the societies must also be involved. Again and again in other conflict contexts, we have seen that negotiated peace agreements are not holding up if the societies are not on board from the start. I do not think that the South Caucasus is an exception. So for the EU, one important element of this support to the official peace process is to work also with societies. This is what we do in the Georgia context, which is another part of my mandate. In the NK conflict context, we are supporting civil society-led confidence-building measures and people-to-people contacts across the divide through an initiative we call the European Partnership for the Peaceful Settlement of the Conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh (EPNK).

This is a unique initiative involving several very experienced non-governmental organisations. We are of course not underestimating the difficulties: there are very strong feelings and sharp polarisations in this conflict and in such environment peacebuilding activities can be seen as threatening. I categorically reject this. In fact, people-to-people contacts and peace activities can show that there are mutual interests across the divide and that the conflict does not need to be seen in a zero-sum logic where one side can gain only if the other loses. If cooperation and mutual benefits prevail, for instance in the economic sphere, when it comes to tackle common challenges such as human security or the environment, or dealing with common cultural heritage in a responsible way, I am convinced it would be possible to help the peace process forward, Toivo Klaar concluded.After Near-13 Month Absence in Yemen's Ibb Governorate, IS Claims Attack Targeting HouthisApril 4, 2011 How the U.S. saved a starving Soviet Russia: PBS film highlights Stanford scholar's research on the 1921-23 famine The world barely remembers the terrible famine in the Soviet Russia  or the American charity that relieved it. Historian Bertrand Patenaude tells how Herbert Hoover saved more lives than any person who has ever lived. By Cynthia Haven An American Relief Administration transport column on the frozen Volga in Tsaritsyn, which is now Volgograd. (Photo courtesy of Hoover Institution Archives) Corn grits, cocoa, condensed milk, white bread and sugar. This was America's menu for the starving millions in Soviet Russia during the 1921-23 famine  one of the greatest human disasters in Europe since the Black Death. The famine relief was spearheaded by Herbert Hoover, whose biographers credited him with saving more lives than any person who has ever lived. The story is featured in the PBS "American Experience" documentary, The Great Famine, which will be broadcast nationwide on April 11. The film will have a Stanford showing at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 6, in Lane History Corner. The film is based on Stanford researcher Bertrand Patenaude's The Big Show in Bololand: The American Relief Expedition to Soviet Russia in the Famine of 1921. The world barely remembers the terrible famine  or the American charity that alleviated it, marking what was perhaps the first time that a large-scale relief was extended to an enemy. Patenaude said the typical American reaction to this jaw-dropping moment of history is: How come I've never heard about this? Patenaude, a research fellow at the Hoover Institution, has retrieved the tale from archival oblivion, with an acclaimed book and the upcoming film. His book draws largely from the Hoover Institution Archives, which contain the enormous holdings of the American Relief Administration (ARA). He also relied on family albums, journals and letters from ARA workers and their families. Herbert Hoover, often criticized for his early Depression-era presidency, is Patenaude's unlikely hero. Hoover entered Stanford in 1891, the year of the university's founding, and graduated with a degree in geology in 1895. He became a mining engineer and worked around the world. During World War I, more than a decade before his presidency, Hoover helped organize relief efforts for 7 million Belgians living under German occupation. With the end of the war, the United States was asked to feed tens of millions of people in 21 war-torn nations. Hoover was tapped to head the newly created ARA. Nothing prepared the ARA team for what they found in the largest nation in the world, Soviet Russia. The communist state had a transportation system in chaos, a hostile climate, a mistrustful Bolshevik government that spied on the U.S. relief workers and the horrifying magnitude of a catastrophic famine that threatened 16 million with starvation at its height in the winter of 1921. The famine, exacerbated by government mass requisitioning of grain in the previous years, was killing about 100,000 people a week. Soviet estimates from the 1920s claim 5 million died in the famine, although other estimates range up to 10 million. People had been reduced to eating weeds mixed up with ground bones, tree bark and clay, as well as horses, dogs, cats, rats and the straw from roofs. The government made efforts to stop the selling of human flesh and posted guards in cemeteries to prevent raiding. "I have seen piles of corpses half naked and frozen into the most grotesque positions with signs of having been preyed upon by wandering dogs. I have seen these bodies  and it is a sight that I can never forget," wrote William Shafroth, the son of Colorado's governor and an ARA worker in Soviet Russia. His letters recalled visiting an orphanage in Kazan on the Volga with lice-ridden children "huddled together in compact masses like a seal colony." Most had been orphaned or deserted by their parents. "I saw emaciated little skeletons, whose gaunt faces and toothpick legs testified to the truth of the report that they were dying daily by the dozen," he wrote. "The stench was nauseating." In Samara, one American described 283 children holed up in three rooms. The first American relief ships arrived in Soviet Russia in September 1921. In December, the U.S. Congress passed an appropriation to send $20 million worth of corn and wheat seed to starving Russia. About 300 relief workers set off into unfamiliar terrain  often by horse, camel and sled  to assess needs and arrange for storehouses for the millions of bushels of corn and thousands of tons of seed, which began to arrive in the Russian heartland in March 1922. The effort was internationally praised for its efficiency, grit and ingenuity. By August 1922, five months after the corn reached remote villages, the ARA was feeding nearly 11 million a day in 19,000 kitchens. The ARA hired 120,000 Soviet citizens to help its effort. One survivor, Zukra Ibragimova, appears in the PBS film. "People used to call that food 'America,'" she says. "So we were handed out 'America.' At home, people cooked soup out of it, fed their children. This, of course, was a great help to us. My father used to say, 'See, the Americans did the right thing, sent us help." Seed from the American Midwest, planted in the spring of 1922, ensured that the famine would not return. In July 1922, author Maxim Gorky wrote to Hoover on behalf of the Soviet government to praise the relief efforts. "Your help will enter history as a unique, gigantic achievement, worthy of the greatest glory, which will long remain in the memory of millions of Russians whom you have saved from death," he wrote. But it didn't happen. Soviet leaders had an interest in forgetting and distorting this episode in their history, which was rewritten to tell a tale about conniving American spies infiltrating to commit acts of sabotage under the guise of kindness. "Lenin's government never recognized America's humanitarian motives," said the PBS film's award-winning producer, Austin Hoyt. On the American side, Hoover's reputation as a failed president overshadowed his humanitarian achievement. He was viewed as the man who saved Russia but couldn't save his own citizenry from the economic spiral of the Great Depression. Joseph Stalin's genocidal Ukrainian famine, during which as many as 5 million peasants died of starvation in the 1930s, further buried the memory of the earlier catastrophe. It's unfortunate. According to George Nash, Hoover's biographer, "Hoover was really the vanguard of that whole approach that has become associated with America in the last hundred years, namely that when there is a humanitarian tragedy in the world, whether from war or famine or revolution or a typhoon or an earthquake, that Americans will be there to organize the relief." Patenaude, who received his PhD from Stanford in 1987, took 14 years to write The Big Show in Bololand, which received the 2003 Marshall Shulman Book Prize. But the PBS film, funded in large part by the National Endowment for the Humanities, is likely to plant this chunk of history more firmly in the public consciousness. Patenaude met with Shafroth, the last surviving member of the expedition, who was living in a Raleigh, N.C., retirement community in 1990. "He's the only relief worker I met. They're all gone now," said Patenaude. The 96-year-old man, who had supervised 16,000 Russian workers in 900 kitchens, had dressed formally in a suit for the visit. "At the end of our 90-or-so minutes together, when it was clear that he was very tired, I got up to leave. "He rose and shook my hand, and said weakly, 'I was waiting for you to come,'" recalled Patenaude. Shafroth, who died the following year, was not reproaching Patenaude for any tardiness: "He had been waiting a very long time for some historian to come so he could tell his story." -30-The Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, has urged global bodies like the World Bank to help curb foreign corrupt practices by multinational corporations in Nigeria and other developing countries.

The Special Adviser to the Minister on Media and Communications, Mr Oluyinka Akintunde, in a statement on Monday, quoted Adeosun as making the call at the Platform for Collaboration on Tax (PCT) Conference in New York.

There is absolute need for a complete understanding of how these Multinational Corporations (MNCs) behave in Nigeria and developing countries.

Many operate a completely different standard in Africa to what obtains globally, she said.

Adeosun said that many MNCs were hiding behind slow legislative processes to avoid doing what was right in nations from which they derived significant income.

She said that options to sue such companies in their own countries were being explored.

The minister said that the designation of tax crime as foreign corrupt practices would support such efforts.

On the wider issue of illicit financial flows, Adeosun said that Nigeria, under President Muhammadu Buhari, was taking strong actions and was determined to reverse their impact.

Internal measures like tightening financial controls and surveillance, adoption of the National Tax Policy with its commitment to regular revisions of tax laws and the ongoing tax amnesty programme have been adopted, she said.

Adeosun said the Nigerian Government would use every available avenue to improve its revenue generation and tax collection.

The Nigerian Government is taking responsibility for preventing illicit flows.

However, the range of measures used and the sheer volumes are such that the recipient nations must also take measures to discourage the flows into their countries by asking more questions, she said.

The minister lauded the recent initiative of the United Kingdom Government with Unexplained Wealth Orders (UWOs) and requested that more countries should adopt such measures.

She said that Nigeria was studying the options for introducing similar measures in the country.President Muhammadu Buhari says Nigeria is open to investments and ready to provide leadership for Africa in oil and gas.

The President said this in Abuja on Monday while declaring open the first-ever Nigeria International Petroleum Summit (NIPS).

He added that the summit, designed to be Africas largest and most important platform and linkage to the world, was fashioned after the annual Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) where technological breakthroughs were unveiled.

He noted that NIPS is also designed after the OTC in Houston to deepen, enrich and provide leadership for Africa and make it one of the most important annual oil and gas events globally.

It is aimed at engendering potentially-economic benefits, generate employment and expand businesses in Nigeria and Africa.

This summit will afford Nigeria a unique opportunity to showcase to the international community policy direction and efforts of government in the petroleum sector.

This is especially in the new oil and gas exploration and markets, new measures to sanitise the sector, the expansion of investment opportunities to boost investors confidence, technological advancement and Nigerias content development.

Nigeria is open to private investment in the downstream sector and pursuing vigorously a programme for the rehabilitation of existing refineries so as to enhance capacity to supply locally-refined petroleum products in Nigeria and West Africa.

The President said this was a key component of the national petroleum industry roadmap and the 2017 to 2020 Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) of the present administration.

He said since the launch of the petroleum industry roadmap and ERGP, numerous successes had been recorded, especially in getting Nigeria out of recession and sustained increase in foreign reserves.

We will continue to strive to achieve our target of seven per cent GDP growth rate within the next three years and be rest assured that previous efforts will be sustained.

Our effort in stakeholder engagement and stabilising the Niger Delta will continue to receive due attention to ensure sustainable level of production, Buhari added.

On ease of doing business, the President said he would continue to ensure that efforts in the petroleum sector and issues related to transparency, efficiency, enabling business environment and deploying new policies and regulations were enforced so that investors will always feel at ease.

Corruption in this industry must not be allowed in any form. On our part, we will not stop the fight until a new image is created where transparency will be the watchword in all our transactions.

Our emphasis on gas investment is for cleaner economy that is gas-based in alignment with the Paris climate change agreement.

The agenda for this summit portrays opportunities for all, hence we should do more than just talk about it, we should also act on the resolutions from here.

The maiden NIPS is a five-day event and has stakeholders from the oil and gas sector and from parts of Africa in attendance.Home | News | General | PDP suspends Elumelu, 5 other chieftains for alleged misconduct

- Five chieftains of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Delta state have been suspended

- The suspended members include a former member of the House of Representatives, Honourable Ndudi Elumelu

- The suspension was sequel to alleged acts of gross misconducts and indiscipline by the party chieftains

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Aniocha north local government area of Delta state, has suspended indefinitely five chieftains of the party.

The suspended members include a former member of the House of Representatives, Honourable Ndudi Elumelu.

In a statement sent to NAIJ.com on Sunday, February 18, the secretary of the PDP in the local government, Julius Egoh, said the suspension was sequel to acts of gross misconducts and indiscipline by the party chieftains.

PDP chieftain, Prince Uche Secondus have a lot to do to ensure unity within the party. Source: Twitter

READ ALSO: 2019: PDP loses 76,845 PDP members to APC in Niger, Adamawa

According to the statement, the actions of the suspended chieftains were considered inimical to the peace and progress of the party in the area.

The suspended members include Honourable Elumelu, Barrister Kress Njiokwuemeni, Honourable Chuks Oseme, Mr. Michael Osuoza, Chief Emma Eboh, and Mr. Kaikene Okolie.

Part of the statement reads: The decision was unanimously reached after taking a cursory look at the undisciplined and gross misconduct of the above persons, which are inimical to the peace and progress of the party in Aniocha north local government area.

The indefinite suspension of the above persons takes immediate effect from this day, 18th February, 2018, to act as deterrent to uncultured elements within the party, who may want to cause crisis at any given opportunity for personal interests.

For the avoidance of doubts, the party in the area will no longer condone any form of indiscipline and unruly behaviour of some members, no matter their political status.

Meanwhile, Alhaji Sule Lamido, former Jigawa governor and PDP presidential aspirant has vowed to defeat President Muhammadu Buhari in the 2019 general election if he gets the presidential ticket of his party.

The ex-governor said this yesterday, February 17, at a political rally while commissioning his campaign office in Birninkudu local government area of the state.

Describing his ambition as a miracle, Lamido dared anyone in power from the president downward to attempt at preventing the will of God.

READ ALSO: I will not defect to APC - Babangida Aliyu

PDP's Magnificent 7 for 2019 - on NAIJ.com TV

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- A group of supporters for the presidential ambition of President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019 want the removal of Chief John Odigie-Oyegun as APC national chairman

- The group reportedly took a petition to the EFCC, but the agency allegedly turned it down for technical reasons

- The protesters also stormed the national secretariat of the APC and spent hours demanding Oyegun's removal

For third consecutive working day, a political group which goes by '2019 Buhari Initiative', has maintained that it would not rest with its demonstration demanding for the removal of Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, the national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

PM NEWS reports that the group commenced its protests on Thursday, February 15, and engaged in another demonstration on Friday, February 16 to the office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

READ ALSO: APC faction suspends El-Rufai for 6 months

At the EFCC office, the protesters, who are said to be APC members, attempted to submit a petition concerning allegations of corruption against Oyegun, but the officials of the anti-graft agency reportedly turned it allegedly citing technical reasons.

The protesters marching on the street. Credit: PM NEWS

The report said the protest on Monday, February 19, was by far the largest and most vociferous since the commencement of the groups activities.

"Numbering over a hundred, the APC members insisted that the national chairman must quit to allow for peace in the party and assurance of success for the president in the 2019 presidential elections," the report said.

Comrade Ishola Adesina and Alhaji Toyin Raheem, who led the group's protest reportedly vowed to continue until Oyegun is unseated as the APC national chairman.

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The protesters spent about four hours picketing and causing traffic gridlock on the Blantyre Street location of the APC national headquarters in Abuja, before they dispersed after submitting a protest letter to officials at the partys national secretariat.

Some of the protesters armed with placards. Credit: PM NEWS

NAIJ.com earlier reported that the crisis in the All Progressives Congress took a new twist on Friday, February 16, with a bloc that wants Chief John Odigie-Oyegun out of office taking his case to the EFCC.

The protesting organisation which tagged itself 'Buhari/APC anti-corruption support group' stormed the EFCC on Friday, February 16, with a petition accusing the national chairman of corruption.

Election-2019: (Dont) mark your calendar - on NAIJ.com TV

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Loading...Home | News | General | Police arrest 4 notorious kidnappers in Zamfara

- Police have arrested 4 notorious kidnappers terrorising Zamfara state

- The state CP Kenneth Embrimson said the suspects were arrested on Sunday, February 18 after intelligence reports

- He said the kidnappers had sent letters to individuals threatening to kidnap the villagers if they failed to make money available for them

The police command in Zamfara has arrested four notorious kidnappers in Dankadon-Daji village in Talata-Mafara local government area of the state.

NAIJ.com gathered that the commissioner of police in the state, Kenneth Embrimson, disclosed this at a news conference in Gusau on Monday, February 19.

READ ALSO: Buharis aide Ojudu distances self from alleged defection plan

Embrinson said the suspects were arrested on Sunday, February 18, after intelligence report disclosed that the kidnappers had sent letters to individuals threatening to kidnap the villagers if they failed to make money available for them.

The police arrested the suspects while trying to collect a sum of N39, 500 provided by the villagers.

The suspects are undergoing interrogation at the police command in the state after which they would be prosecuted, he said.

According to the commissioner, the Inspector-Generals Joint Investigation Committee is in the state to investigate the recent killings in Birane village in Zurmi local government area of the state.

He said the committee was mandated to investigate, arrest and bring the perpetrators of the recent attack in Birane village to the justice.

The commissioner appealed to members of the public to utilise police information network kit and provide police with information on security to assist security agencies in tackling insecurity in the state.

PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigerias #1 new app

He said the command had arrested three principal suspects in connection with the last Thursdays gunmen attack in Birane village which resulted in the death of 30 people, while many were injured. (NAN)

Meanwhile, NAIJ.com had previously reported that a mobile Closed Circuit Television recorded a man and woman, Segun Latoye and Toyin Samuel, who claimed to be married, allegedly robbing passersby of their personal belongings somewhere in Oshodi, Lagos state.

Are Nigerian policemen the worst in the world? - on NAIJ.com TV

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Loading...Home | News | General | Ex-governor reveals what Buhari would have done to Obasanjo if he not selective in anti-corruption war

- Abdullahi Adamu lashed out at Obasanjo for asking Buhari not to contest in 2019

- The former governor said Obasanjo should be on trial

- He urged the former president to retrace his steps

Sen. Abdullahi Adamu who is a former governor of Nasarawa state has lashed out at former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo for asking President Muhammadu Buhari not to recontest in the 2019 elections.

The Nation report that the former governor said Obasanjos coalition for the movement of Nigeria will not influence the result of the election.

Adamu said if Buhari had not been selective in her anti-corruption fight, Obasanjo would be on trial now.

READ ALSO: I will not defect to APC - Babangida Aliyu

He said: "Let me say at this point that I am worried by the antics of Obasanjo and his penchant for promoting himself as the only competent Nigerian leader.

Since he left office on October 1, 1979, to local and international applause Obasanjo has systematically sought to undermine every federal administration after him. He has today set up himself as the moral conscience of the nation. He believes he has acquired the wisdom of King Solomon and has consequently imposed on himself the right to decide who rules us and how we should be ruled.

Perhaps, part of the reason is that before leaving office in 2007, his party, the PDP, conferred on him the titles of Maker of Modern Nigeria and Father of the Nation. Such titles do have a heady way of making a man seeing his head bedecked in the halos of self-righteousness.

There is a process for changing our governments through the instrumentality of elections. Chief Obasanjo, one of the architects of that process and a beneficiary to boot, ought to support that process and let the people decide who they want to rule them. It is not for him to decide for the people or the president.

No one should arrogate to himself eternal verities in the administration of his country. It is his consuming ambition to have his hands on the levers of power under all our presidents. When he loses that grip, he turns against the incumbent in office.

He undermined General Babangidas economic programme, SAP, with his statement that the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) should have a human face and the milk of human kindness. He denigrated General Babangida by advising people to whom the former president says good morning to check their wrist watches to make sure it is morning.

Was he entirely motivated by that noble sentiment? I find that hard to believe. Motives are not always as honourable or as altruistic as one might be made to believe, particularly when such a man as this is so highly placed that we tend to place him above the shenanigans of petty politics. I find it difficult to completely ignore what appear to me like the dark motives hovering over his action because I see it as a behavioural pattern that began with his 2014 letter to the then President Goodluck Jonathan, titled  Before it is too late.

It seems to me he believes that that letter alone cost Jonathan the presidency. So, if he is fatigued by President Buhari, he can resort to the same weapon with probably the same consequences. It is a long shot.

His Coalition for Nigeria is a red herring across the path of our constitutional government.

He is free to form a political party and pursue his ambition of being the power behind the throne but such a national movement would achieve no discernible purpose in the economic management and the social administration of the country.

Adamu called on Nigerians to continue to support President Buhari.

He said: His Coalition for Nigeria is a red herring across the path of our constitutional government.

He is free to form a political party and pursue his ambition of being the power behind the throne but such a national movement would achieve no discernible purpose in the economic management and the social administration of the country.

Obasanjo said that President Buhari is selective in his anti-corruption war. I agree with him because if the president were not selective, Chief Obasanjo himself would be in the dock today on trial on charges of corruption arising from the corrupt practices in the pursuit of his third term gambit in the national n assembly in 2006.

Today he denies that he ever nursed such ambition. And being a man much favoured God, he has repeatedly said that if he had wanted it and asked the almighty for it, he would have given him the third term.

He knows as well as I and other leading members of the PDP that he badly wanted it and initiated the process of constitutional amendment. He bribed each member of the national assembly who signed to support the amendment, with the whopping sum of N50 million to make the constitutional amendment scale through.

The fresh, mint money was taken in its original boxes presumably from the vaults of the Central Bank of Nigeria and distributed among the legislators. The money was not his and it was not appropriated by the national assembly as required by law. I, therefore, agree that in failing to make former president account for that money. President Buhari is waging his anti-corruption war selectively.

Nor should we forget that President Buhari has also not bothered to interrogate Obasanjos role in the Halliburton scandal for which some Americans are cooling their heels in jail.

Perhaps, President Buhari might need to look in the Siemens affairs in which the Obasanjo administration was indicted and for which can: hug-mans were on trial. What became of the trial?

Meanwhile, he former governor of Niger, Dr Babangida Aliyu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) says that he has no intention of defecting to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Aliyu made the remark on Monday, February 19 in Minna following the defection of 34, 826 politicians from other political parties including Alhaji Aminu Yusuf, deputy chairman of PDP in the state.

2019 reelection bid: Should President Buhari heed Obasanjo's advice? on Street Gist

[embedded content]

Source: Naija.ng

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Loading...FORMER finance minister Ignatius Chombo has been arrested again, this time for allegedly demanding a bribe from a fish farmer.

Already facing several other corruption cases before the courts, Chombo was the first minister to be arrested after the ouster of former President Robert Mugabe's retirement.

According to NewZimbabwe.com, he was dragged before Harare magistrate Victoria Mashamba Friday answering on fresh criminal abuse of office charges. The state did not oppose granting of bail.

The complainant in the latest case is one Chargan Vithal Rama. It is state's case that Rama got a 60-year lease on a stand for fish farming in Chirundu expiring in 2054.

Court heard that after making some developments worth $500,000 on the land, Rama ran out of money six years later and approached financial institutions for funding.

However, he banks demanded surety in the form of title deeds for the land where he was carrying out his fish farming business.

With the help of his brother Amrat who was the councillor in Chirundu, Rama reportedly approached Chombo in 2007 asking for the minister's help to secure deeds for the property.

Court heard Chombo asked Rama to visit him so that they could discuss the issue.

It is alleged that during the meeting, Chombo told Rama he would only get the deeds if he (the minister) was given a 25% share in the business.

Rema reportedly rejected the minister's proposal. However, two years later in 2009, Chombo allegedly caused the withdrawal of Rama's lease.

The minister allegedly instructed his subordinates to allocate Rama's land to another company identified as Glory Boost Pvt Ltd.

Prosecutors say Chombo had no right to demand shares in the business, withdraw Rama's lease or allocate the farm to another company.

Sebastin Mutizirwa prosecuted.

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Loading...Home | World | Africa | Tsvangirai was never for the National Heroes Acre

THERE is something that has gone terribly wrong with some Zimbabweans. While others are seeing a funeral, others are seeing power. It's really dirty and messy, but then that's MDC-T politics for you.

Then there are those talking about the late Morgan Tsvangirai being declared a national hero. These people were even hoping that Tsvangirai could be buried at the National Heroes Acre. Imi vanhu itai mushe mhani! Yes, we know in Shona they say wafa wanaka, but honestly ibvai kumhepo.

Anyway, let me pay my last respects to Tsvangirai. Nematambudziko to the Tsvangirai and MDC-T family. You have lost a courageous leader who changed the face of opposition politics in Zimbabwe. Tsvangirai gave Zanu-PF sleepless nights. His people loved him dearly and I am sure he also loved them dearly.

Opposition politics will never be the same and will be a lot poorer without Tsvangirai. He brought something to opposition politics that no one will ever bring. Go well dear Morgan! Go well Save! You ran your race! Sleep well!

To the Tsvangirai family, especially Gogo Tsvangirai and wife Elizabeth; Psalms 23 vs 4 says: "Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me." I know while for others, this is just another death and it's just political, for you its real  you have lost a dear son and a dear husband.

I have lost loved ones and I know the pain. Remember, God is with you and He is God, the comforter. The Holy Book on 1 Thessalonians 4 vs 13-14 says: "Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in Him." Mwari ndivo mweya munyaradzi!

To the rest of the MDC-T family, Tsvangirai will not sleep peacefully. Thokozani Khupe, Elias Mudzuri and Nelson Chamisa, for Tsvangirai's sake, can you please give the opposition supporters, time to moan their hero? Khupe stop acting holy and African. Mudzuri stop acting calm and collected and Chamisa stop acting like an impatient big baby. Mese muri kuhwandira tsuro parufu. Chinjai maitiro!

And now to those who were calling on Government to declare Tsvangirai a national hero. Good people let's not get carried away. Yes, in the African tradition wafa wanaka, but let's not act as if we don't know who Tsvangirai was and what he represented.

Tsvangirai was never going to be declared a national hero and he was never going to be buried at the National Heroes Acre. NEVER, EVER! I know this will make some people angry, but this is the truth.

Let's start with theoretical concepts because pamwe mungafunge kuti zviri kuitika zvitsva. As they say, there is nothing new under the sun. Karl Marx, one of the founders of sociology came up with the Base and Superstructure concept that clearly explains what's going on. In simple, the Base refers to the forces and relations of production  this means the people, relationships between them, the roles they play and the material resources involved in producing the things needed by society.

With regards to means of production, in this Base you find tools, machines, factories, land and raw materials while with regards to relations of production, you find relations between different classes such as proletariats and bourgeoisies.

On the other hand, the Superstructure refers to all the other aspects of society. In the Superstructure ndimo munobikwa ideology through art, family, culture, religion, philosophy, law, media, politics, science and education.

Now here is the point all dreamers out there should take note of. According to Marx, the Superstructure grows out of the Base, and reflects the interests of the ruling class that controls it. As such, the Superstructure justifies how the Base operates, and in doing so, justifies the power of the ruling class .

As your Bishop, I really don't need to remind you that one of the grievances that saw thousands of gallant sons and daughters leaving the comfort of their homes to join the liberation struggle was the land issue. I also don't think I need to remind you that the new Government is largely made up of the fighting cadres from the Second Chimurenga. Take note, dear congregants, I said the fighting cadres, not the politicians.

Maybe I need to clarify this point. During the liberation struggle there was what they called the rear. The rear was in Lusaka in Zambia and Maputo in Mozambique. At the rear, there were politicians like Herbert Chitepo, Ndabaningi Sithole, former President Robert Mugabe and so on. These politicians played the war politics. Then there was the war front, right in Rhodesia kwairohwa hondo-PFuti dzichitsva. This is where you found fighting cadres. Vana mukoma vaya vaizoimbwa vachinzi "gandanga haridye derere."

Now, these fighting cadres, some of whom are in key positions in Government now, knew very well that they were fighting for land. They know this up to this day. To these fighting cadres, Tsvangirai was tempering with the Base. He was a direct and sponsored threat to this Base. Yes, some will argue against this point, but don't we all remember that sorry picture of Tsvangirai clapping hands like a little toddler as white farmers gave him money to fight the land reform programme?

It's no longer a disputable fact that the MDC in general and Tsvangirai in particular were funded by the British and Americans in 1999 as a response to the war veterans-led land reform exercise. And indeed, the British and American funds, almost got Tsvangirai into power and he was going to reverse the land reform programme. This is what his funders wanted and after spending their money, Tsvangirai had no option but to oblige.

Fortunately, the machinations failed to work. Now Tsvangirai has died and some people start dreaming that he can be declared a national hero? Kuvigwa at the National Heroes Acre pamwe chete naLeopold Takawira, Joshua Nkomo, Josiah Tongogara, Simon Muzenda and so on? Hey, imi vanhu ndati itai mushe.

The Base is never tempered with. Tsvangirai akada kutambira mahumbwe muBase and those responsible for the relations of production don't have a short memory. As Marx argues, the Base determines the Superstructure. It's not the other way around.

One can tinker around with the Superstructure and that's why we had some media organisations, lawyers and so on calling on the Government to declare Tsvangirai a national hero. Mahumbwe ekuSuperstructure but Base haribatwi. Chine vene vacho chinhu ichi? Mucharangarira? If your memory is not serving you well, a call to one Professor Jonathan Moyo will be of great help.

The issue about Tsvangirai being considered a national hero was never an issue for discussion in Zanu-PF. Sometimes Zanu-PF appears like haizivi zvainoda, but that party is very clear about zvaisingadi. Tsvangirai for the National Heroes Acre? Ahh, that was a none-issue for the Base and a little issue for the easily excitable Superstructure.

Yes, wafa wanaka but let's be honest  Tsvangirai and his MDC were a Western-sponsored project to block the aspirations of millions of indigenous Zimbabweans. History will record that.

Yes, wafa wanaka, but if the truth is to be told, Tsvangirai and his MDC gave birth to toxic politics that is not home-grown. Now each and every opposition party that's being formed in the country thinks the best way to fight Zanu-PF is to engage the West. Have we ever paused to think kuti dai Tsvangirai akawuya ega without those Western robes, what were his chances in the political ring?

Yes, Tsvangirai was very courageous and yes, he gave Zanu-PF sleepless nights but wasn't that borrowed courage? Without British and American funds, was Tsvangirai going to be the same politician? After receiving millions of dirty foreign money, did Tsvangirai have a choice? Kupihwa mari yevachena wodya hako mutema wakahwanda?

One can even ask; was Tsvangirai really courageous or he was just reckless and drunk after receiving foreign funds? Maybe what matters is the courage and not the source of the courage. But then if we see a madman jumping right in front of an on-coming train in the futile bid to stop the train, can we say this madman has courage?

Indeed, Tsvangirai was a people's hero and when we say people, we mean opposition supporters and other activists. Government has given him a State-assisted funeral and that's what he deserves as a former Prime Minister.

Remember Reverend Ndabaningi Sithole and Chinx are not at the National Heroes Acre. Mozotiwo Tsvangirai zvake? "Kana zvanetsa tsvagaiwo chikomo chenyu."

Bishop is out!

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Loading...Home | World | Africa | Mnangagwa's army takes over Tsvangirai body, sparks fury

Former prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai's body arrived in Harare from South Africa yesterday afternoon amid chaotic scenes after the government decided to take it to an army mortuary overnight.

The MDC-T leader's body arrived aboard a South African Airways flight after 4pm accompanied by close family members, who including his elderly mother and Tsvangirai's deputy Thokozani Khupe.

Thousands of Zimbabweans brought the airport to a standstill for several hours as they waited for the release of the body.

There was pandemonium when Tsvangirai's body was taken to the army's One Commando barracks in Cranborne instead of a Doves funeral parlour as previously announced.

A Tsvangirai family member said they were taken by surprise as there was no prior warning about the army's involvement. President Emmerson Mnangagwa's government rejected calls to accord the veteran opposition leader national hero status.

Acting Information minister Simon Khaya Moyo said he was instructed by Mnangagwa that the body of Zanu-PF's most strident opponent must be taken to the military mortuary.

"I have been instructed by the president to have the body taken to One Commando Barracks," Moyo said much to the disapproval of thousands of MDC-T supporters gathered at the Robert Mugabe International Airport.

The opposition party youths broke into song and dance accusing Zanu-PF of causing Tsvangirai's death.

Earlier, Khaya Moyo refused to provide reasons why Tsvangirai was not accorded national hero status.

Khaya Moyo said Mnangagwa would pay his respects at the Tsvangirai homestead in Buhera at a later date when asked if the president would attend the funeral.

"He will go to the homestead sometime to pay his respects," he told The Standard.

At One Commando, MDC-T youths waited outside the entrance singing as they demanded that the army hands over the body to the family.

"When he was alive you hated him, mistreated him even to the extent of denying him his victory and now you want to honour him here," shouted some of the youths.

"You are hypocrites. You soldiers you refused to salute him when he was alive and now you want to salute him."

Tsvangirai will be buried on Tuesday at his Buhera home. A church service is scheduled for today in Harare ahead of a send-off rally at Freedom Square.

Feuding MDC vice-presidents Nelson Chamisa and Elias Mdzuri were at the airport to receive the body.

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Loading...Home | World | Africa | Guruve North villagers forced to attend Zanu PF meeting

Villagers in Guruve North are allegedly to have been rounded up and forced to attend Zanu PF meeting by 12 youths.

This has been revealed in the latest Zimbabwe Peace Project report.

"It is alleged that villagers at Nyamuseve, Camperdown and Makombo farms in Guruve North ward 21 were forced to attend a ruling party meeting addressed by Zanu PF chairperson Maxwell Nyagomo. Nyagomo reportedly assigned about 12 Zanu PF youths who went around the farms instructing them to attend without fail," reads ZPP report.

"Reports are that during the meeting, Nyagomo told the audience to note Friday as a day for attending ruling party meetings in the ward. Kevin Marudza and Paddy Makoni were some the victims forced to attend against their will."

ZPP reported that it is alleged that Zanu PF activists Maxwell Nyagomo (party chairperson) and Nyaude Musauki forced villagers at Nyamuseve farm to attend a ruling party meeting in Guruve North ward 21.

"About 6 youths were sent on a door to door campaign to mobilize villagers to attend. Reports are that during the engagement villagers were made to chant Zanu PF slogans to demonstrate their support of the ruling party ahead of the 2018 elections," said ZPP.

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Loading...Home | World | Africa | Mnangagwa came short of describing Tsvangirai as the people's hero

FORMER Prime Minister and opposition MDC-T leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, who passed away in South Africa last Wednesday after a long battle with colon cancer, walked a "hard" journey and Zimbabweans should unite in his honour, President Emmerson Mnangagwa has said.

Mnangagwa came short of describing Tsvangirai as the people's hero, while addressing mourners at the late MDC-T leader's Highlands house, but gave the family a blank cheque regarding his funeral.

"Our former Prime Minister has run his race. It was hard. He walked a hard road. It has been left to us now to work in our different spheres of influence for the good of our country and its development," he said to ululation and applause from mourners gathered outside.

Mnangagwa said he was closely monitoring Tsvangirai's treatment progress and will honour his pledge to take care of all bills accrued.

"Tsvangirai was our Prime Minister and I had a chance to come see him here at his home with my deputy [Constantino Chiwenga]. He is my uncle also and when I came here he told me what he needed us to do for him. I promised him and that will be done. I will fulfil my promise to him and to the family just say what you need and it will be taken care of.

"I was getting updates from South Africa, where he was being treated. His wife told us [about] the bills and we instructed government to take care of them. We will also take care of all outstanding bills," the Zanu PF leader said. "I had my people in South Africa and the doctors gave us updates on the progress he was making. We asked them to do their work without getting worried about how bills would be paid."

Tsvangirai blazed a trail at the turn of the century after inspiring the formation of the MDC from a conglomeration of civil society organisations led by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions and Zimbabwe National Students' Union, demanding political change in the country.

Then President Robert Mugabe reacted in typical fashion unleashing the might of the State machinery and triggering an orgy of violence that claimed the lives of hundreds of opposition activists across the country and left thousands maimed and displaced.

The late veteran opposition leader was not deterred despite being robbed of electoral victory at every turn in a period spanning two decades, but continued his fight for free, fair and credible democratic political change.

Mnangagwa added that government will airlift Tsvangirai's body to his rural home, where he will be buried tomorrow.

"I could not receive him at the airport, but I sent our ministers. We kept his body where we keep all our important people and once we have the programme, we will provide a plane to ferry his body to his final resting place," he said, urging unity as part of the country's way of honouring the former Premier.

"Politics will be there always but we are one people. I am a leader in my party and government and I have one message, let us unite. We have many parties and might differ on strategy of how to handle issues, but we all wish our country well."

Acting Information minister Simon Khaya Moyo told journalists that the government will provide logistical support, including transporting mourners.

"We are looking at the number of buses to ferry mourners and will communicate with the family and organisers," he said.

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Loading...Home | World | Africa | Mqondisi Moyo @forty and MRP @four know your party's history

I thought it prudent for you to know your leader Mqondisi Moyo and your party in general, though I will not state everything here.

Mqondisi Moyo the founding member and current President of Mthwakazi Republic Party 'MRP' is forty years old this year. The man is so courageous, humble and resolute when it comes to MRP's vision which he defends with all his might.

He was born in 1978, the same year his father a teacher by profession and an Ex- Zipra freedom fighter passed on. He is the last in the family of nine, and was brought up by a single mother together with his older brothers and sisters. He was born and grew up at Gwandavale in the mountainous Matobo district. He did his primary school at Gwandavale primary school before proceeding to do part of his secondary school at Pumula secondary school. Moyo later finished his O'level at Mosi O ya Tunya secondary school in Victoria Falls. He once worked as a general hand at Belmor Manufacturers, a clothing company before voluntarily quitting the company in December 2001 to pursue his accounting studies.

Mqondisi is married and has three children of which two are boys. He joined activism in 2006 after serving as a Youth Church leader in Pumula North in the city of Bulawayo. He also served as an evangelist, preacher, Chaplain and a praise and worshp leader. The MRP leader also worked at Dondolo Mudonzvo Trust, a local non governmental organisation in Harare as a Projects Officer and Administrator in 2003 up to 2006.He was introduced to political activism by one of our greatest heroes Qhubekani Dube who died at his young age. Dube was at the time the leader and founder of Ibhetshu lika Zulu when he quickly roped in Mqondisi Moyo as the spokesperson of the group, with Mbuso Fuzwayo as the secretary general.

Since 2006 to date he has never looked back and has consistently stood by his desire to defend Mthwakazi cause, This has exposed hi me to more than nine arbitrary and politically motivated arrests. He currently has two pending cases at the High court and the Constitutional Court. From 2010 to 31 March 2017, Moyo was employed as an assistant provincial accountant at the Ministry of Agriculture, where he quit his job after working for 15 months without pay as punishment for his refusal to be deployed at Bindura in Mashonaland Central. He perceived this relocation as a deliberate move to isolate him from Mthwakazi people. He argued that he could not go to Mashonaland to take other people's jobs when he was fighting against such tendencies in Matabeleland. It is now clear to everyone that, had he agreed to do that, MRP would not be where it is now.

At the revival of ZAPU in 2009 he was one of the few young men who were part of the planning meetings. I was later introduced to him by Cde Ndodana Moyo the current ZAPU deputy organising Secretary in 2010 soon after the ZAPU's provincial elective conference where I was elected as the Treasure of ZAPU youth league. Mqondisi Moyo was later to become the Bulawayo Youth NEC representative, a position he held until his departure from ZAPU in 2013 after a fall out with the leadership over his stance on Matabeleland issues. The leadership of ZAPU had insisted that the youths in ZAPU should stop isolating Matabeleland issues, as ZAPU was a National Party.

Ever since I met Cde Mqondisi Moyo our relationship has tremendously grown from strength to strength. During the Government of National Unity era, Mqondisi Moyo, Ndodana Moyo, Busani Sibindi, and myself among many other youths from the civic society and political parties set for a meeting organised by Busani Sibindi who was then chairperson of youths in UMhlahlo and Ndodana Moyo who was Youths Bulawayo provincial chairperson of ZAPU. The agenda of that meeting was to discuss the future of Matabeleland in the face of the onslaught by the Gukurahundists. We then agreed to form the popular movement of our time called Mthwakazi Youth Leaders Joint Resolution, popularly known only as the Resolution. Busani Sibindi was the chairman, while Thando Dube became the secretary general and Mqondisi Moyo becoming its spokesperson.

The arrangement within the Resolution was that when we reach resolution number hundred we form a political party, while we groom other youths to continue with the struggle. Over the past nine years of my close association with Cde Mqondisi Moyo who is my nephew by virtue of his mother sharing the same surname with me. We have encountered a clash of ideas on several times because of our different approaches. He has often branded me as weak, because I always prefer less confrontational approach while the rest of the team thinks that the central government is too stubborn and can only understand better if approached forcefully.

I have always had a balanced relationship with Mqondisi where we disagree but always come to a mutual understanding. We always engage robustly in our meetings, though we are always sure to respect each other at the end of the day.

In 2013 two months before the elections, we made a plan as an organisation (Resolution) to have a Mthwakazi coalition which we then called, Alliance Khumbulekhaya. The first meeting was attended by a number of stake holders but as we proceeded, it became clear that the old guard of Matabeleland politics were not ready to allow the youths to get credit of such a noble idea.

At the end Alliance Khumbulekhaya managed to field 8 parliamentary candidates in Bulawayo only. We performed dismally then because we did not have enough time to campaign.

Soon after the 2013 elections we set down again and agreed that Matabeleland and Midlands needed its on undiluted voice in the affairs of this country. MRP was then formed by the youths in September 2013, between September 2013 and December the same year we started engaging stakeholders that included Zipra, Lawyers, business community among many societal groups. Initially Mqondisi Moyo did not want to take up the presidency opting instead to have Mr Moses Mzila Ndlovu to lead MRP. I remember we asked one of our elders Zakhele Ndebele to engage Mzila but it didn't materialize until we got impatient and we engaged Mqondisi Moyo again to take up the position and we managed to persuade him.

On the eleventh of January 2014 MRP was officially launched in Bulawayo. Immediately work started and to date the party has grown so much with the South African arm of MRP proving to be the best performing province. I remember that in late 2014 we still had contacts of many former ZAPU cadres we had previously worked with in ZAPU.

We set for a National executive meeting in Bulawayo to discuss the future of the party and a motion was moved to open party structures in diaspora, as the secretary for Information and publicity then, I was one of those tasked with the duty of engaging the outside world. I then thought of using the social media which has so far became MRP's best publicity tool.

I told Comrades then that the best way to start part structures in SA for example was to engage our former Cdes in ZAPU, some didn't like the idea but some approved it. Eventually we all agreed that we could notjust come to South Africa without identifying a contact person.

The first person to arrange a meeting for us was Mlungisi Tshabalala, popularly known as Madabudabu. He promised to contact everyone he knew to come and listen to our ideas. I remember he said, and I qoute " Madoda abantu seberojwe kakhulu nge politics". I am not promising that you will get anyone here it will depend on how you convince them.

We left Bulawayo early 2015, the President Mqondisi Moyo and myself on a two week mission to open MRP South African structures. We met Ibutho le nqama, CMY,? the group of Taxi drivers from Matabeleland based in SA. All the people we met belonged to one organization or another at the end and it was Mqondisi Ndebele, the now National chairman, Bhekinhlalo Ndlovu the now South Africa provincial chairman, Presia Ngulube our VP, Clifford Sibanda the party's council candidate in one of the wards in Matobo North, Mfanelo Sibanda one of the vibrant youths we had, Lewis Vundla, Baba Zikalala, among a few others that we got. Mbuso Ngwenya did not join the party but has been one of the respectable Comrades that have been contributing to MRP to date and is in our groups. He is a member of Inqama as well as CMY. Mr MB Ngwenya, Mehlokazulu, Madabudabu, Mqondisi Dube among others played a role in the initial stages of the formation of MRP in South Africa, they also stood ready to drive us around whenever we needed that help especially the President. Even though they are not Bona fide members of MRP. It will be not enough if we don't mention people like Prudence Mpofu though not an MRP official she loves this party and has also contributed to its growth.

Team MRP went on to open party structures in Capetown, Bostwana where the current Secretary General Ackim Mhlanga went to open party structures. We have contacted many through social media across the globe and we now have a structures in UK. We are hoping to open party structures in USA, Germany, France and Canada where we now have a lot of members.

Today I thought of sharing with you about the history of the party and that of its President to defuse the popular false accusations against our President and our party. The manner in which MRP operates is such that no doubt it is a people's movement.

MRP is a unifying institution and those who don't understand were quick to attack me when I said MRP is in itself a coalition of Mthwakazi people. For the record, MRP expects to be voted for by people across the political divide in the upcoming elections.

Abameli Lawyers for Human Rights Network has done a tremendous job so far,we have had political leaders across the political divide in Matabeleland contributing to MRP one way or the other as well as encouraging the youthful leadership of the party to carry on with the work. We have also had the privilege of being supported by our scholars across the globe, we have also Journalists that support the Mthwakazi cause and we expect a continuation of such support as we launch our International lobby committee.

MRP is the only people's project run and funded by its people. The vision of the party remains and will not change. That's our pledge as leadership. Those that I have not mentioned please don't be offended I was just naming a few of those who played a role in the initial stages of the people's revolutionary party's formation.

Currently the party's top eleven is as follows;

President. - Mqondisi Moyo

Vice President - Presia Ngulube

Secretary General - Ackim Mhlanga

Vice Secretary General. - Sakhile Nkomo

Organising Secretary - Colmen Khanye

Chairman - Mqondisi Moyo

Treasurer General. - Brighton Maladzi Sibanda

Secretary for Foreign Affairs - Njabulo Ngwenya

Secretary for Information and publicity. - Mbonisi Gumbo

Youth Chairperson. - Xolani Ncube

Women Chairlady - Nomagugu Mguni

For peace and justice in our life time.

Sisonke Sibambene singumthwakazi Sizakulungisa.

Mbonisi Gumbo is MRP secretary for information and publicity writing in his personal capacity.

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Loading...Home | World | Africa | Vendors acquitted over protest against cops

A ZIMBABWEAN court has acquitted three informal traders, who had been on trial for allegedly committing public violence late last year.

The informal traders namely David Mazibiye, Tinashe Mbofana and Maxwell Mushamba were arrested on Thursday 12 October 2017 in Harare by Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) officers and charged with public violence as defined in Section 36 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act Chapter 9:23.

During trial, prosecutors claimed that the trio forcibly disturbed the peace, security or order of the public to a serious extent by throwing stones and missiles at a fast food outlet along Speke Avenue and damaged the front display window as they protested against a ZRP and Harare City Council joint operation code-named "Restore Sunshine City", aimed at removing vendors from trading in Harare's central business district.

But Harare Magistrate Ruramai Chitumbura on Wednesday 14 February 2018 acquitted Mazibiye, Mbofana and Mushamba, who were represented by Tinomuda Shoko of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, after ruling that there were some discrepancies from the testimony of the first State witness to that of the investigations officer and that there was a possibility of mistaken identity, which could have resulted in the arrest of innocent people, who were not linked to the commission of the alleged offence.

In their defence outline, Mazibiye, Mbofana and Mushamba had argued that they were victims of a dragnet arrest effected by ZRP officers against vendors operating in the Central Business District.

Magistrate Chitumbura said one of the State witnesses' testimony was doubtful while the ZRP officers who apprehended the informal traders were never called to testify during the full trial.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: Africa

Loading...Harry Potter

Daniel Radcliffe would like you to stop asking him about rap. Even though he joined Jimmy Kimmel in 2014 for an impromptu version of "Alphabet Aerobics" by Blackaclicious, theactor is sick of talking about it. He said:"Its embarrassing, cause I have a very average knowledge of rap and hip hop. Im into it, and I like it, but my actual knowledge is very, veryI mean, I grew up listening to punk and all that kind of stuff, so thats the stuff that I know really well. But doing Alphabet Aerobics definitely caused people to think I was way more knowledgeable than I am."*He liked Gawker and still reads Deadspin and Jezebel. His favorite news source is Rachel Maddow.*He listens to a lot of podcasts, including, and several true crime podcasts.*In his next movie, he plays a pilot who smuggles cocaine across the U.S.-Mexico border.*He got to fly an actual plane for 15 minutesNo word on whether he is still friends with racistsI saw trump is gonna met with Florida students this week, I hope they destroy trump

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It hasnt been said that hes meeting with those students. Hes just meeting with some high school students and teachers. The Parkland students are traveling to Tallahassee this Wednesday to meet with representatives and senators. Jake Tapper is also doing a town hall.

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Oh my bad , I read hes meeting with students

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Hopefully hes not allowed alone in a room with any of the female ones.

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Survivors at Florida's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School reject Trump's invite, telling him to "come to us" instead https://t.co/fRQxpLjkXq  The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) February 19, 2018



they ain't here for him. they ain't here for him.

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If he goes to a school it will be one in some backwater country town where dads take their toddlers on hunting trips

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Am I the only one who gets joy out of every dumb thing this asshole says? People keep being like OMG WHAT HOW CAN HE SAY THAT and Im just like...when did he ever make you think he wasnt this person? Its pretty amazing how ignorant people can be.

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Same! I say let his ass keep tweeting dumb shit.

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this

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Yeah all of the outrage towards him is so tiring. Lets move on to changing things instead of just GUFFAWING and doing nothing.

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He's always been a fool in the tabloids and a late night punchline for as long as I can remember. Fuck anyone who voted for this.

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Trump brings me no joy. His mere existence enrages me. If I believed in god I would be on my knees 24/7 praying for Trump's imminent descent into hell. But I find no shock in his stupidity - the only shock I have is that people are still supporting him. Where did we go wrong?

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Mte I don't find anything he does remotely entertaining or surprising.

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That and he uses his "personal" account vs. his presidential account to make these statements... he's always had foot-in-mouth disease

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I love it because you think he can't trash his own dumpster fire of a presidential legacy any more and he does. I can't wait until the future history textbooks contain ALL his fuckery with screencaps of all his tweets to horrify the future generations that this man was president at one point.

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No, I bet Mueller gets a lot of joy from his Tweets, too.

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I dunno if I get joy, but I don't get surprised.



TBH, I don't know what he could do that would surprise me. Maybe be unselfishly kind to someone?

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Right?? He has never made a single attempt to hide who he is; these people who are surprised now are only surprised because they had the luxury of pretending he'd change and - SURPRISE!!!! - he didn't!



Willful ignorance on the largest and most harmful scale.

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I'm not surprised, but the joy over watching this idiot dig his own grave is starting to wear thin. It's like watching a cockroach attempt to drive a car down a street and it's side swiping parked cars and generally causing chaos. I'm over the spectacle and just want someone to stop it so the damage can stop.

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I might be able to get joy out of it if I and most of my loved ones weren't directly in the crosshairs of the hate he stirs up amongst his fans on a daily basis.

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I cant believe how much of a horrible judge of character some people are. There are people who still believe Trump is a truly good and misunderstood person, like....que?

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"Joy" isn't the word I'd use, given that he's able to stir up his sociopathic base and threaten nuclear war with that dumb shit he says, but I think that a lot of our reactions stem from the fact that we simply have no precedent for Trump. We've never had a President who abused Twitter the way he does. We've never had a President blatantly say the the things that he's said. We keep subconsciously wanting to place him in the framework of what our concept of a President is, and so every time he does shit like this, it somehow still manages to get to us.



Idk. We have 300 years and 44 Presidents behind us, and we've only had this prick for a year, so it's all still hard to accept sometimes.

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he has to one up people because of how he is IM THE BIG BAD TRUMP NOBODY CAN TELL ME WHAT TO DO.and if you say anything about me I'm gonna attack u on twitter and kick sand in ur face then stomp off like a 2 year old.

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I love all the mental gymnastics his fans have to do to make it sound good to themselves. Delusional half-wits.

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I'm wondering what the limit will be for his voters. At what point will they realise what an unfunny joke he is.

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A very "insecure" Oprah Winfrey. All people have their insecurities but boy does he sure hate women, especially influential WOC.



Don't worry about Oprah buddy, worry about those in your circle taking fucking plea deals.

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Yep

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Mte. He's so painfully dumb he probably thinks he can goad her with his bullshit.



lol @ your username

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Still cant believe he is a President.

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Same



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Its unreal. I mean he's going to be in the history books. How embarrassing for us.

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i'm still reading fire & fury (it's a way slower read than i expected) and the part that really blows my mind is the fact that it's all written in the past tense even though you know the parts of it that are true are still going on currently



and it just makes me think that one day years from now someone will read this book and be like .....was this presidency real?

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He fucking better be in your history books.

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Itll probably contain images of his worst tweets-from covfefe to having a dick measuring contest with Kim Jong Un. Its ALL going to be in there.

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I laugh and cry that in the future children will be reading about his fucking tweets in a history book. TWEETS in a HISTORY BOOK. I can't.

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A chuckle of disbelief, every time.

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I'm not American but I have this thought at least once a day.

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It's so representative of the country at its core. I'm convinced. It disgusts me.

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I still believe the Russians hacked into the Voting machines. The News outlets havent been given the green light to expose it yet because it would cause major pandemonium but i think they are slowly letting the air out of that bag of truths.



Edited at 2018-02-19 02:50 pm (UTC)

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It makes me so mad at Republicans and Middle America. Those dumbfucks have really done not just Americans, but the whole world, in.

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I walked by a construction site that was funded by federal money and on the little information billboard it said "President of the United States: Donald J. Trump" and I was still like what the fuck how is this real?

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I found out my parents believe the Russia investigation is just a politically motivated sham to "smear our president's credibility" and they jumped on the "maybe if the FBI weren't wasting time on this Russia thing they could have stopped the parkland shooting!!!" bandwagon



And at the same time my mom doesn't understand why people like myself want to cut ties with people who support Trump, and idk how to tactfully say that if you're dumb enough to believe that nonsense why would I want you around?



Not to mention dumb enough to believe all that and do it in the name of defending this particular president. Anyone willing to die on Trump Hill obviously has extremely bad judgment like why would I feel like I can trust you with anything?

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Poison them

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take anti-freeze poor in there drink you cant taste that stuff lol that's how so many animals get killed they cant taste it if it was in a bowl of water.

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just tell them straight up.

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these are your parents so idk. but i just say im sorry tax cuts matter more than ethics for you. and i say this is not a kind, thoughtful, smart personn. he is angry, vile, constantly attacking people and it is unamerican, embarassing, and oathetic. you can disagree with democrats without voting for a slimy uneducated man

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Damn, Im glad I dont have to deal with this.



I only have to deal with making sure I have my moms back on Facebook in case someone attacks because shes always commenting on local news Facebooks that he should be in jail, or dead, or in hell.





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I'm sorry your parents are like that, I can't imagine

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Thank god my family fears my wrath on Facebook to post nonsense like that. I have a very delusional cousin but he stopped posting politics because i would publicly humiliate him online

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Take Michael Shannon's advice on dealing with Trump supporters in your family: "Fuck 'em, you're an orphan now."

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People like your parents who believe that FBI officials can't investigate more than one thing at a time, must feel like the police department is absolutely useless.

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My parents are liberal af. I cant imagine what a nightmare that must be. I feel like up until now it might have been tolerable but defending trump, nope

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I found out my parents believe the Russia investigation is just a politically motivated sham to "smear our president's credibility" and they jumped on the "maybe if the FBI weren't wasting time on this Russia thing they could have stopped the parkland shooting!!!" bandwagon



Do they think the FBI can't do more than one thing at once? I mean, there are tons of extremely valid reasons to criticize the FBI, but that is not one of them, lol.



Pro-45 people tend to be zealous. Not just about him specifically, but about every belief they hold - religious, social, political, all of it. It's damn near impossible to argue with zealots and I feel 100% okay about avoiding them like the plague they've become.

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my dad LOVES Trump, he's been completely taken in by the whole cult of personality (and that's what it is), I mean we're Australian for fucks sake he's never even been to the US. He gets excited whenever he appears on TV and totally believes the whole 'Russia thing' is a witch hunt. Secretly I'm wondering if he's going senile actually (he's 71).

Unfortunately I have a disability and need to stay in the will if I don't want to be living in a cardboard box in my 50s so I can't exactly say go fuck yourself :(



My mum's alright though thankfully, she can't stand Trump and generally has pretty progressive ideas for a religious old lady



ETA: I put a lot of blame on Fox news (they have cable), my mum is slowly trying to shift him onto BBC but I think it's too late



Edited at 2018-02-20 12:09 am (UTC)

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smear our president's credibility What credibility are they talking about.

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The survivors of the shooting are amazing. They are out to snatch the wigs off of these politicians heads and I couldnt be happier.

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I find it sad that we had so many school shootings and it takes students to basically tell congressman or political people to be like listen? I thought when sandy hook happen things would change, did they not feel anything that little children died?

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The shooting happened in the age of social media. Im skeptical anything will happen until November. Dems need to win FL

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Im all for these students speaking up and using there voice but its like can they keep this up for months tho?

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Pod Save America basically said this on this weeks one. Basically Republicans take the tact "because we can't stop some gun violence what's the point in stopping any?" fucking infuriating!

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Yeah I do feel that due to the kids ages and the access to social media has had a huge advantage compared to past.



Also given whos in the Oval Office, the kids are more impassioned to fight since they know the controlling party is not gonna much for them.

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I had a coworker tell me that the students protesting are dumb because they arent even old enough to vote and to let th adults make the adult decisions. I told him Im sure they will be 18 this year if not already. And besides that, most high schoolers will be 18 by 2020. But oh let the adults worry and let the kids be kids...

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they think its a price we should pay for their guns. ugh

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part of it was that these kids are old enough to be tired of school shootings and young enough not to be timid about expressing their own anger which is a reaction we've never gotten to hear in this debate

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i wish oprah would destroy him. im done with the when he goes low, we go high. someone confront him directly pls

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Someone said when they go low, we go sub terrain lmaoo

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When they go low, bury them alive.

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Yea, when you are up against someone with no morals who will screw over anyone who is in their way going high will just make you a permanent loser unless you can largely outnumber them, and that would also require not going high lol

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Its just like high school bullies you have to meet them with a bigger scarier wrath or else it never works. My brothers always taught me those lessons when i was very little in school. Turned out to be true

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I feel like after the his presidency is over, however it ends, I wouldn't be surprise if he reached out to Oprah to tell "his side of the story."

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No

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i feel like theoretically there isn't a rule against it, but it'd be almost a sure loss and no major political party would put their support behind him

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Hes gonna quit before hes impeached. I already see the cracks. He looks exhausted and over it after little by little. This first year seems to have taken a lot of his wind out.

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Now he's addressed it his supporters will feel vindicated when she doesn't run, as if he scared her off it

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People need to stop giving his supporters so much importantance. I cant believe how many news outlets continue to place them on this insane pedestal when they are the minority.



The same thing happened with the Tea Party and the media continued to give them so much importance and they were just a tiny organization

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This is insane!

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seriously..WHY would an American need this? Please please explain to me why someone would need this in their house..

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to make their penis seems bigger

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This makes me want to puke. These people are sociopaths.

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A Trumper friend who I actually forgot about being on my friends list on Facebook cuz they're barely on Facebook posted this thing where one of the dads of one of the kids that were murdered at Parkland was wearing a trump 2020 shirt and holding up a picture of his daughter. the caption for the post was that 'social media is attacking this man for being a trump supporter share this post in solidarity with him' yes it is shity that social media is attacking him for wearing a trump 2020 shirt but at the same time it's just like..... my empathy is waning and I'm not sure how I feel about that.

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maybe it needs to be rephrased, like instead of calling them "trump supporters" call them something like "person who supports a sexual predator as president who has appointed corrupt bigots to cabinet-level positions who are ripping up americans' civil rights and lining their pockets at our expense" it could be longer but their eyes would probably glaze over



because when someone says "omg you can't hate me just because i'm a trump supporter!" they're just trying to make it about supporting a different candidate than you did - it's really about all the things that you support as part of being a trump supporter

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I have a lot of Republican friends (from Kansas) and I saw that post a lot. I'm feeling the same way you are. It's very sad people are attacking him for who he supports but like you, my empathy is slowly fading away.



But then those same people who are upset he's being attacked, are the one's who say "people are getting mad at high schoolers getting murdered but not unborn babies." My empathy is then replaced by disgust and rage.

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Honestly, Im sad for that girls family & friends. And Im like, sorry for his loss, but his Trump 2020 shirt tells me everything. I dont feel sad for him. He supported an agenda that let this happen to his daughter.

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Im so ready for November this year:







Edited at 2018-02-19 01:15 pm (UTC) Please end this. Put this to an end now, Mueller. This cannot continue on. Like,Im so ready for November this year:

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I'm just...done, you guys. I'm not even from the USA, don't know how you all handle it

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mte

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Booze. Lots of booze.

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mte. wtf

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we're all on meds. the number of depression diagnoses & anti-depressant prescriptions has legit skyrocketed since he took office.

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I take breaks from following the news a lot more than I used to.

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I don't know what's in people's heads, but it's been surreal because I feel like people on a whole are carrying on like business as usual. They might express outrage but it'll be gone in a few days after something else pops up; it's sort of like the school shooting. I don't know if many people are just numb, they feel powerless, they're dealing in other ways, or they care but it's not directly impacting them.

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We buy wine by the case.

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Overeating mainly, and cursing myself for going off xanax years ago because damn has this anxiety been crippling since he took office.

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I'm on Effexor and I smoke weed every day.

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Lol same bb!

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I'm on Lexapro and I wish weed was legal here (stupid freaking Kentucky) because I would be all over it. I've never even touched the stuff but if there was ever a time to try it, it's now!

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Im massively depressed, I overeat, horrible health habits, unmotivated, hopeless.

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Chocolate, alcohol, and continued regular appointments with the psychologist I was already seeing anyway. And meds for my blood pressure, which was actually on the low side of normal until a few months ago (I'm guessing skyrocketing anxiety did it). And the occasional Twitter rant.



Basically I cope poorly, LOL.

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Linkmichael b jordan is so fucking fine i can't stand it.

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Fr, like all of a sudden.



This must be how ppl fall for cumberbatch and Huddleston (idgi tho they fug)



You see them in a film and something just switches lol. 





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I heard he was a trash person too so I feel bad for thirsting

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Ikr? I'm so thirsty for him since I watched Creed.

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I AM



SO FUCKING



INTO HIM



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I used to find him really attractive too but that kind of fades away when I read a guy shaming a woman for having sex on the first date... Like you didn't put that dick in there yourself smh

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I want his babies tbh

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this cast is SO BEAUTIFUL

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They really are.

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CRAZY beautiful!

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God bless

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the most attractive cast ever tbh

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My hole opened up and Im sure I left a wet spot on my seat when Michael B Jordan took his shirt off for the challenge.



I changed my grindr to black only after this movie tbh



Edited at 2018-02-19 05:13 pm (UTC)

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lmao omg

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im fucking screaming

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oh no you didnt!!!!

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Whatever keeps you from killing another cat, I guess.

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LMAO

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why are they wearing the same shirt?



love that stripe on chadwick's coat!



Edited at 2018-02-19 05:17 pm (UTC)

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They all look fantastic! These are pretty tame (and very wearable) for ~fashionz~ compared to some of the stuff people wore at other shows.



Omg, I just realized that Letitia Wright was in the Black Museum episode of Black Mirror, too. People better cast her in more things, stat, she was absolutely fantastic in both roles!

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I'm more excited about Black Panther because her, she was soo good on Black Mirror, and it seems she is the stand out of the movie (with Danai) so yay, can't wait.

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She was my favorite part! The women really own the movie, imo.

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Letitia Wright is so cute

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Michael B Jordan has given me unrealistic expectations of what men should look like 



Edited at 2018-02-19 05:19 pm (UTC)

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They all look great. And bless whoever dressed Millie this time, she finally looks her age.

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Aside from the Cher-level makeup IA.

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I had to scroll through the post twice to find her, so much makeup! But ia re: her outfit.

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Oh shit, me too

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i didn't even recognize her tbh (and not in a good way)

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WTF that's Millie?!!



Legit thought she was a thirty something designer's assistant or whatever



Why does she have scary hollywood face, she's so young???? So creepy

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I could watch the Chadwick/Michael shirtless fight scene over and over again until I died tbh.

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This fine ass cast is too much

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Like, I am totally willing to be a Wakandan . Sign me the fuck up my king

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Jeez Letitia's bone structure. Lupita's hair is so cute.

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I saw it yesterday! Totally cried during the closing credit, because it was so wonderful to see us not be the tragic slaves or criminals or Madea, for once. It was super emotional and empowering for me. I'm gonna try to get a Black Panther-inspired tattoo this weekend. It'll be something small, though. <3



Edited at 2018-02-19 05:30 pm (UTC)

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The crush on Michael B. Jordan I've nurtured since Parenthood grew ten-fold when he showed up in that denim and glasses outfit. (I can only hope he's let go of those sexist dating views.)



General Okoye has my heart forever, though.

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Danai was FABULOUS as General Okoye! What a badass!

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omg i forgot about that fucked up parenthood storyline

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LinkOSHA Renews Alliance with International Window Cleaning Association

Together they have developed resources for the window cleaning industry, and IWCA has supported OSHA outreach campaigns such as the National Safety Stand-Down to Prevent Falls in Construction, Safe + Sound Campaign, and the Heat Illness Prevention Campaign, while also providing training to its members on the new requirements for OSHAs Walking-Working Surfaces and Personal Fall Protection Systems standard.

OSHA has renewed its alliance with the International Window Cleaning Association to continue providing training and resources to protect the safety and health of workers in the window cleaning industry. During the added five-year agreement, OSHA and IWCA will work together to address hazards such as falls from heights and slips, trips, and falls, and they will focus on the safe use of high-reach access equipment, including rope descent systems, ladders, and scaffolding.

"Falls are among the most common hazards encountered by professional window cleaners," said Loren Sweatt, deputy assistant secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health. "We value IWCA's expertise and look forward to our continued alliance to ensure workers receive information and training to keep them safe on the job."

The alliance was originally signed in 2010 and already was renewed in 2012. Together they have developed resources for the window cleaning industry, and IWCA has supported OSHA outreach campaigns such as the National Safety Stand-Down to Prevent Falls in Construction, Safe + Sound Campaign, and the Heat Illness Prevention Campaign, while also providing training to its members on the new requirements for OSHAs Walking-Working Surfaces and Personal Fall Protection Systems standard.Hyptiogaster arafura sp. nov. is described from Arafura Swamp, Northern Territory, Australia, as the eleventh species of Hyptiogaster Kieffer (Hymenoptera: Gasteruptiidae). Credit: Flinders University

As well as an interest in all insects, Flinders biological sciences Ph.D. Ben Parslow has a fascination for wasps.

The focus of his doctorate research on the wasp genus Gasteruption has accidently has put him on the trail of describing the 11th species of an endemic Australian wasp genus.

It's estimated that there are three times the 10,140 or so described species of wasps still to be identified by scientists in Australia.

As such, he was most excited to come across a "really interesting looking wasp" in material loaned from a collection at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory.

"These Hyptiogaster wasps are uncommonly collected and the material was loaned to myself hidden among other wasps I am borrowing for my Ph.D. research," he says.

"It was a strange looking wasp and as soon as I saw it, it piqued my interest.

"After checking it against the described material, we were sure it was something new."

With University of Adelaide mentor Dr. John Jennings, the "new" Hyptiogaster wasp has been described in a new paper in Zootaxa.

"This species is the first of the genus to be described from the Northern Territory," he says.

Ben Parslow, right, sampling insects during the Great Victoria Desert BushBlitz 2017. Credit: Tyrie Starrs

"Unlike the other species, it is yellowy-brown in colour and long neck (all other species have short necks) which makes it a very interesting species."

Like many wasps, little is known of the biology of Hyptiogaster, Ben explains.

"They are apparently parasitic or predator-inquilines in the nests of pollen wasps and ground-nesting bees.

"What this means is the adult wasp waits until the host has left their nest unattended before sneaking in and laying an egg on/near the host egg/provisions.

"The wasp egg hatches and the wasp larvae consumes the host larvae and food provisions before continuing it development inside the host nest."

Recording insects from remote areas such as the Arafura Swamp in the plays a vital role in learning about Australia's biodiversity, he says.

"It's a fantastic way to highlight the significance of this culturally significant area and understand the role more of the animals might play in the ecology and conservation of these areas."

As well as entomology, Ben, who is supervised by Flinders Associate Professor Mike Schwarz and the South Australian Museum Associate Professor Mark Stevens, has been promoting zoology and ecology with biology students at the College of Science and Engineering.

He supervises at the SA Museum and School of Biology Association at Flinders.

While studying for his Ph.D. at Flinders, Ben hopes to 'discover' more Australian wasps as part of his current project: 'Systematics and host associations of the Australian Gasteruption (Hymenoptera: Gasteruptiidae).'

Hyptiogaster arafura sp. nov. is described from Arafura Swamp, Northern Territory, Australia, as the 11th species of Hyptiogaster Kieffer (Hymenoptera: Gasteruptiidae).

Explore further New parasitoid wasp likely uses unique saw-like spines to break out of its host body

More information: BEN A. PARSLOW et al. A new species of the endemic Australian genus Hyptiogaster Kieffer Hymenoptera: Gasteruptiidae), Zootaxa (2018). Journal information: Zootaxa BEN A. PARSLOW et al. A new species of the endemic Australian genus Hyptiogaster Kieffer Hymenoptera: Gasteruptiidae),(2018). DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4379.1.11Credit: Rogelio Bernal Andreo

An astrophotographer in California has captured images of Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster on its journey around our sun. In the early morning of February 9th, Rogelio Bernal Andreo captured images of the Roadster as it appeared just above the horizon. To get the images, Andreo made use of an impressive arsenal of technological tools.

Andreo knew that photographing the Roadster would be a challenge, since it was over a million miles away at the time. But he has the experience and equipment to pull it off. The first task was to determine where the Tesla would be in the sky. Luckily, NASA's JPL creates lists of coordinates for objects in the sky, called ephemerides. Andreo found the ephemeris for Starman and the Roadster, and it showed that the pair would be in the Hydra constellation, and that they would be only about 20 degrees above the horizon. That's a challenge, because it means photographing through more atmospheric density.

However, the Roadster and its driver would be bright enough to do it. As Andreo says in his blog, "The ephemeris from the JPL also indicated that the Roadster's brightness would be at magnitude 17.5, and I knew that's perfectly achievable." So he gathered his gear, hopped in his vehicle, and went for it.

Andreo's destination was the Monte Bello Open Space Preserve, a controlled-access area for which he has a night-time use permit. This area is kind of close to the San Francisco Bay Area, so the sky is a little bright for astrophotography, but since the Roadster has a magnitude of 17.5, he thought it was doable. Plus, it's a short drive from his home.

Credit: Rogelio Bernal Andreo

Once he arrived there, he set up his impressive array of gear: dual telescopes and cameras, along with a tracking telescope and computers running specialized software. Andreo explains it best:

"Let me give you a brief description of my gear  also the one I use for most of my deep-sky images. I have a dual telescope system: two identical telescopes and cameras in parallel, shooting simultaneously at the very same area of the sky  same FOV, save a few pixels. The telescopes are Takahashi FSQ106EDX. Their aperture is 106mm (about 4) and they give you a native 530mm focal length at f/5. The cameras are SBIG STL11k monochrome CCD cameras, one of the most legendary full-frame CCD cameras for astronomy (not the best one today, mind you, but still pretty decent). All this gear sits on a Takahashi EM-400 mount, the beast that will move it at hair-thin precision during the long exposures. I brought the temperature of the CCD sensors to -20C degrees (-4F) using the CCD's internal cooling system."

CCD's with internal cooling systems. Very impressive!

Nothing in the path where the Roadster was supposed to be. Credit: Rogelio Bernal Andreo

Andreo uses a specialized focusing system to get his images. He uses focusers from Robofocus and precision focusing software called FocusMax. He also uses a third, smaller telescope called an autoguider. It focuses on a single star in the Field of View and follows it religiously. When that star moves, the whole rig moves. As Andreo says on his blog, "Autoguiding provides a much better mount movement than tracking, which is leaving up to the mount to blindly "follow" the sky. By actually "following" a star, we can make sure there'll be no trails whether our exposures are 2 or 30 minutes long."

Once he was all set up, there was time pressure. The Roadster would only be above the horizon for a short time and the Moon was coming up and threatening to wash out the sky. Andreo got going, but his first shots showed nothing.

Andreo felt that once he got home and could process the images properly, the Tesla Roadster and its driver would be somewhere in his images. He kept taking pictures until about 5 AM. Cold and tired, he finally packed up his gear and went home.

The Takahashi FSQ106. Two of these beasts are at the heart of Andreos astrophotography system. Credit: Takahashi Telescopes

After some sleep, he began working with his images. "After a few hours of sleep, I started playing with the data and no matter what I did, I could not find the Roadster. I kept checking the coordinates, nothing made sense. So I decided to try again. The only difference would be that this time the Moon would rise around 3:30am, so I could try star imaging at 2:30am and get one hour of Moon-free skies, maybe that would help."

So Andreo set out to capture the Roadster again. The next night, at the same location, he set up his gear again. But this time, some clouds rolled in, and Andreo got discouraged. He stayed to wait for the sky to improve, but it didn't. By about 4 AM he packed up and headed home.

After a nap, he went over his photos, but still couldn't find the Roadster. It was a puzzle, because he knew the Roadster's coordinates. Andreo is no rookie, his photos have been published many times in Astronomy Magazine, Sky and Telescope, National Geographic, and other places. His work has also been chosen as NASA's APOD (Astronomy Picture of the Day) more than 50 times. So when he can't find something in his images that should be there, it's puzzling.

Rogelio Bernal Andreo is a very accomplished astrophotographer. His images have been chosen as NASAs Astronomy Photo of the Day over 50 times. This close-up of the Orion Nebula was chosen as APOD on June 4, 2017. The three bright stars are Orions belt. Credit: Rogelio Bernal Andreo (DeepSkyColors.com) (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)

Then he had an A-HA! moment:

"Then it hit me!! When I created the ephemeris from the JPL's website, I did not enter my coordinates!! I went with the default, whatever that might be! Since the Roadster is still fairly close to us, parallax is significant, meaning, different locations on Earth will see Starman at slightly different coordinates. I quickly recalculate, get the new coordinates, go to my images and thanks to the wide field captured by my telescopes boom!! There it was!! Impossible to miss!! It had been right there all along, I just never noticed!"

Andreo is clearly a dedicated astrophotographer, and this is a neat victory for him. He deserves a tip of the hat from space fans. Why not check out his websitehis gallery is amazing!and share a comment with him.

Explore further SpaceX 'Starman' at wheel of sports car flying on new rocket

More information: For more information, see For more information, see www.deepskycolors.com/archivo/  1-million-miles.htmlSnapshot taken during the computer simulation of the NaK channel - This channel (shown in yellow and orange) enables the flow of ions (e.g. potassium ions [red spheres]) across the cell membrane. (The membrane lipids are depicted in gray.) Credit: Barth van Rossum / FMP

Most ion channels are very selective about the ions that may or may not pass through them. They may be conductive for potassium ions and non-conductive for sodium ions, or vice versa. However, a number of ion channels allow for the efficient passage of both kinds of ions. How do these channel proteins accomplish this? A team of scientists around Dr. Han Sun and the research group of Professor Adam Lange at the Leibniz-Forschungsinstitut fur Molekulare Pharmakologie (FMP) found the answer to this question.

Their study revealed structural and dynamic differences between selective and non-selective ion channels. The scientists described their findings and conclusions in the journal Nature Communications. In non-selective channels, the selectivity filter exhibits sizeable dynamics not present in selective channels. The selectivity filter of non-selective ion channels can exist in two different forms. Dependent on the state of the selectivity filter, one or the other ion type may pass.

Ion channels play prominent roles in organisms. For example, ion channels are in action when the organism registers stimuli and passes the information on to the brain in the form of electric signals. During this signal transmission, charged atoms (ions) must enter and leave the involved cells. Ions cannot permeate lipophilic cell membranes. Instead, they pass through protein channels in the cell membranes.

In many cases, the ion channels allow the passage of only one specific ion type, i.e. they may be conductive for potassium but not for sodium ions or vice versa. The selectivity filter that is the narrowest part of the channel is responsible for this ion discrimination. However, the NaK channel allows for the passage of both sodium and potassium ions. It was in the focus of the present study by FMP scientists around Dr. Han Sun and Professor Adam Lange together with colleagues in Gottingen (Germany) and Hefei (China).

Non-selective ion channels are very important in medicine.

Until now, it has remained controversial why NaK channels allow for the passage of both sodium and potassium ions. Professor Adam Lange explains: "While X-ray crystallographic images showed us the three-dimensional structure of the channel, it was difficult to explain why this channel is conductive to two different ion types with similarly high efficiency. This was particularly hard to understand because the sequence and the 3-D structure of the selectivity filter are similar to the ones in potassium selective channels."

Scientist Dr. Han Sun added that this is a model system for several other non-selective ion channels in the human body. In this context, the cyclic nucleotide-gated and hyperpolarization-activated cyclic nucleotidegated channels (CNG and HCN channels) are medically and physiologically relevant. "We know that CNG channels are important for vision and smell. Dysfunctional HCN channels are implicated in various neurological diseases such as epilepsy or autism."

Specific Ions Prefer Specific Channel Structures

The scientists used a combination of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and computer-assisted molecular dynamics simulations. The results revealed that the selectivity filter of the NaK channel dynamically changes between two structures. Each structure is conductive for one of the two ion types. Dr. Han Sun says, "Surprisingly, the computer simulations showed that potassium ions passing through the NaK channel prefer the structure of a potassium selective channel, while the mechanism of the sodium ion passage is similar to the passage of sodium ions through a sodium selective ion channel." Until now, researchers believed that the structure of the selectivity filter is the same for sodium and potassium ion transport through the NaK channel.

To gather further evidence for the crucial role of the dynamic structure of the NaK selectivity filter, the scientists experimented with a mutated NaK channel (NaK2K double point mutation). This mutated NaK channel is conductive only for potassium ions. Professor Adam Lange gives an account of the results: "Our NMR investigations clearly revealed that the selectivity filter of this channel forms only a single structure."

Explore further New insights into sodium channel structure

More information: Chaowei Shi et al. A single NaK channel conformation is not enough for non-selective ion conduction, Nature Communications (2018). Journal information: Nature Communications Chaowei Shi et al. A single NaK channel conformation is not enough for non-selective ion conduction,(2018). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-03179-yElectric Eel-Inspired Device Reaches 110 Volts: This photo depicts the printed, high voltage implementation of the artificial electric organ. A 3-D bioprinter was used to deposit arrays of gel precursor droplets onto plastic substrates, which were then cured with a UV light to convert them into solid gels. Alternating high-salinity and low-salinity gels (red and blue gels, respectively) were printed onto one substrate, and alternating cation-selective and anion-selective gels (green and yellow gels, respectively) were printed onto a second substrate. When overlaid, these gels connect to form a conductive pathway of 612 tetrameric gel cells that can be used to generate up to 110 volts. Credit: Anirvan Guha and Thomas Schroeder

In an effort to create a power source for future implantable technologies, a team led by Michael Mayer from the University of Fribourg, along with researchers from the University of Michigan and UC San Diego, developed an electric eel-inspired device that produced 110 volts from gels filled with water, called hydrogels. Their results show potential for a soft power source to draw on a biological system's chemical energy.

Anirvan Guha, graduate student at the University of Fribourg's Adolphe Merkle Institute, will present the research during the 62nd Biophysical Society Annual Meeting, held Feb. 17-21, in San Francisco, California. Inspired by the electric eel's ability to generate hundreds of volts, Guha and his colleagues stacked hydrogels full of varying strengths of salt water.

Ions are charged atoms or molecules and when ions accumulate on either side of a cell membrane, they form an ion gradient. The researchers harvested energy from the electric potential, or voltage, across the ion gradients. As more hydrogels were stacked on top of each other, the greater the voltage increase. The researchers were able to produce up to 110 volts.

To stack the thousands of individual hydrogels necessary to generate over 100 volts, the researchers used a printer that "deposits little droplets of gel ... with the precision and spatial resolution to print an array of almost 2,500 gels on a sheet the size of a normal piece of printer paper," Guha said.

The team's next goal is to increase the current running through the hydrogel. "Right now, we're in the range of tens to hundreds of microamperes [the basic unit for measuring an electrical current], which is too low to power most electronic devices," Guha said.

In the future, the research team hopes their results will help develop power sources for implantable devices that can "utilize the [ion] gradients that already exist within the human body," Guha said. "Then you may be able to create a battery which continuously recharges itself, because these ionic gradients are constantly being re-established within the body."

More information: 970-Plat - "An eel-inspired artificial electric organ: 110 volts from water and salt" is authored by Anirvan Guha, Thomas B. H, Schroeder, Aaron Lamoureaux, Gloria Vanrenterghem, David Sept, Max Shtein, Jerry Yang and Michael Mayer. It will be presented on Monday, Feb. 19, 2018. Abstract: 970-Plat - "An eel-inspired artificial electric organ: 110 volts from water and salt" is authored by Anirvan Guha, Thomas B. H, Schroeder, Aaron Lamoureaux, Gloria Vanrenterghem, David Sept, Max Shtein, Jerry Yang and Michael Mayer. It will be presented on Monday, Feb. 19, 2018. Abstract: plan.core-apps.com/bpsam2018/a  1290aae09439cc4540a4A two-man entrepreneurial team who attended an elite college together where they founded a startup they sold to Google for a reported $81 million have just sold a second company they founded together for nearly $2 billion.

Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche and the cancer-technology firm Flatiron founded by Nat Turner and Zach Weinberg confirmed the $1.9 billion deal Thursday that Roche said would speed development of new cancer treatments and help it with regulators.

Flatiron, a privately held company backed by Google Ventures (now GV), sells data management and analytics software to cancer clinics, research centers and life-science companies. It has collaborated with the Food and Drug Administration and makes software for the keeping of electronic health records, a product subject to close regulatory scrutiny. Roche makes a number of leading cancer drugs.

"As part of the acquisition, Roche is committing additional resources to Flatiron so that we can continue on our mission and have an even greater impact," Flatiron CEO Turner said in a company blog post.

Flatiron will operate separately beside other Roche business units, Turner said.

Turner and Flatiron president Weinberg went through The Wharton School's undergraduate economics program together. Before graduating from the Pennsylvania business school in 2008 they began work on the advertising-technology startup, Invite Media, that they would sell to Google in 2010 for a reported $81 million.

Mountain View search and digital-ads giant Google integrated Invite's platforms into its DoubleClick ad-tech division, and kept Turner and Weinberg on as product managers for two years before they left to start up the New York-based Flatiron.

Roche, which already owned about 13 percent of Flatiron, called its purchase "an important step" toward hurrying up development of new cancer treatments.

The acquisition was about more than software, Roche said in a statement.

"Flatiron Health has worked with industry leaders and regulators to develop new approaches for how real-world evidence may be used in regulatory decision making," Roche said.

The deal is expected to close by the end of June, Roche said.

Explore further Roche targets tumours with Ignyta purchase

2018 The Mercury News (San Jose, Calif.)

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.Credit: Cydney Scott

Tucked away in an unassuming gray metal file cabinet in a graduate student office at Boston University is an evolutionary puzzle that would leave even Charles Darwin scratching his head. Inside the cabinet, 18 clear Tupperware containers house 301 estrildid finch specimens from New Guinea, carefully laid out in rows by population and species. Each of the 11 species' plumage is splashed with its own distinct pattern of black, brown, gray, and white.

Michael Sorenson, a professor of biology, explains that the birds are an evolutionary anomaly: Despite their striking coloration differences, all 11 species are extremely closely related, suggesting that they evolved quickly and recently (evolutionarily speaking), even faster than the famous Darwin's finches of the Galapagos.

But how and why did these close relatives end up looking so different? And how did they evolve so quickly into different species? Biologists have long wondered exactly how new species form, but generally assume that new genetic mutations account for the changes in form and function that ultimately make each species unique. However, that may not always be the case, and studying unusual groups like the finches of New Guinea helps biologists better understand other ways new species emerge, revealing more about evolution as a whole.

"Speciation is the process by which the incredible diversity of life on earth came into beingincluding humans," Sorenson says. "It is not only one of the most fundamental processes in evolutionary biology, but is central to understanding the history of life on earth."

Credit: Katie Stryjewski

To understand how this extraordinary group of finches evolved, Katie Stryjewski (GRS'15) collected birds throughout New Guinea and carefully preserved blood, feather, and tissue samples, with Sorenson joining her on the last of four trips. Then Stryjewski used genome sequencing to peer deep inside the birds' genetic codes.

Sorenson first became interested in the estrildid finches of New Guinea during the late 1990s, when his research on the indigobirds of Africa snowballed into an ambitious effort to build a family tree of all 145 estrildid finch species in the world.

"My career has been a somewhat less-than-coherent series of studies on out-of-the-ordinary examples of behavior and evolution in birds," he says. "The unifying theme, however, is an interest in understanding not only the evolution of new species, but also the diversity of behavior and morphology observed in different species."

Sorenson's project on estrildid finches started in the hallowed halls of natural history museums around the world.

Credit: Katie Stryjewski

"Because many of these species occur in remote and far-flung corners of the globe, we often had to use old museum specimens, taking a little feather or a bit of skin from the foot as a source of DNA that would allow us to figure out how all these birds were related," he explains. "This group of species in New Guinea popped out as very, very closely related."

Sorenson discovered that the entire group of New Guinea finch species was more genetically similar than is typical for the birds within a single African finch species. This points to an "extraordinarily recent and rapid radiation" occurring over tens or hundreds of thousands of years (compared to millions of years for most bird species).

Today, clusters of two to three New Guinea estrildid finch species live in overlapping geographic regions, yet somehow have remained separate species with distinct plumage patterns. For example, both Lonchura grandis and Lonchura castaneothorax (below) live in the same central region of New Guinea, yet look very different.

Sorenson was intrigued. "Which genes are involved? And how many genes does it take to build this species versus that species?" he says. "The profound genetic similarity of these species provided the perfect opportunity to answer these questions."

Credit: Cydney Scott

To investigate further, he needed higher-quality DNA samples, which meant he had to find a Ph.D. student willing to travel to New Guinea to collect finches in the field. He found Stryjewski, who had developed an interest in tropical birds, and top-notch skills in field research, genetic analyses, and bird taxidermy, as an undergraduate student at Louisiana State University.

"Bird taxidermy is my favorite special skill to mention during icebreaker activities," Stryjewski says with a laugh. "It's really more art than science, it's very delicate, and it takes a lot of practice to do it well. Making specimens, says Stryjewski, allows scientists to create a perfect, permanent record of how a bird looked, and the tissues removed in the process are better for DNA analysis.

Stryjewski made four multiweek trips to New Guinea, traveling throughout the country with the help of local guides, looking for clusters of two or three estrildid finch species living in overlapping geographic areas. Once she found a population of finches, which often live by human settlements, she would set up a mist net.

"I would watch them flying and see what their regular patterns were," she explains. "And the next morning I would go back before sunrise and set up the net, and they fly right into it." On their final trip, the hunt for two elusive finch species sent Stryjewski and Sorenson nine hours down the Fly River in the remote Trans-Fly region of Papua, New Guinea, where they and their guides deployed mist nets boatside.

Credit: Katie Stryjewski (top) and Michael Sorenson (bottom)

Stryjewski took 20 birds from each population (such as the Chestnut-breasted Munia, Lonchura castaneothorax ramsayi) to make taxidermied specimens.

She set up a station wherever she was staying (often in the village guest house) and preserved muscle, heart, and liver tissue from each bird in a buffer solution for later DNA sequencing. She also recorded as much additional information as she could, including body measurements, stomach contents, fat content, and the size of internal organs. And she collected blood and feather samples from up to 30 more birds in each population.

Back at BU, Stryjewski used the tissue samples to sequence the birds' DNA. First, she sampled thousands of tiny DNA snippets from across each bird's genome, and confirmed that the finch species are "remarkably similar." This suggests that rather than requiring many changes across the entire genomehow biologists usually think about speciationit only takes differences in a small number of genes to form a completely new species.

Moreover, different finch species living in the same place, such as the Grey-crowned Munia, Lonchura nevermanni (below, top) and the Black Munia, Lonchura stygia (below, bottom), are often more genetically similar than populations of the same species living in different places.

Credit: Katie Stryjewski (top) and Tommy Stryjewski (bottom)

To pinpoint the genetic differences between species, Stryjewski turned to whole genome sequencing, pooling results from 10 birds in a single population. "Basically you take two different species and you compare their genomes," Stryjewski explains. "Since they're really similar all across, anything that's different should pop out."

Stryjewski and Sorenson identified about 20 genes that differed among finch species, half a dozen of which are known to control coloration in other organisms, including humans. Different combinations of genes were mixed and matched among species, "as opposed to new mutations cropping up," Stryjewski says. "Each version of a gene is like a different little thing you could put on a Mr. Potato Head doll, and each bird is collecting a different set of them, and so they all end up looking different." She and Sorenson published their findings in Nature Ecology & Evolution. The research was supported by the National Geographic Society, the National Science Foundation, and others.

Sorenson adds that "the birds' genes likely interact with each other in complex ways, making the plumage that results from a particular combination of genes something more than the sum of the parts." Sorenson thinks that occasional interbreeding between species that live in the same area like the Grey-headed Munia, Lonchura caniceps (below, top) and the Grand Munia, Lonchura grandis (below, bottom) is likely how different versions of genes moved from population to population over time.

Darren Irwin, a zoologist at the University of British Columbia, praises the research for its "elegant analysis of a particularly interesting recent and rapid avian radiation." He adds that scientists usually think of new species as arising from a single species splitting into two, but "this study provides a great example of how new forms arise in part through mixing genes from other populations."

Credit: Cydney Scott

Sorenson's broader goal for the research is to advance general understanding of how evolution works.

"Hopefully it will expand the boundaries of what we know is possible in the process of speciation, and will change scientists' understanding and perspectives on what exactly species are, and what the minimum requirements are to get the evolution of new species," he says.

As for the finch specimens, after traveling thousands of miles from New Guinea to BU, they have one more short leg left to their journey: they will cross the Charles River and join the collection at the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology.

"I'm pretty excited to donate to Harvard because some of these species they don't even have, and they've only got one or two of the others. They'll just be preserved there forever," Stryjewski says. "It's like the same thing people were doing during the age of exploration, but now we can add this additional layer of the tissue samples and the blood, so their genomes will be preserved as well. It's a very exciting time to be a zoologist."

Explore further Galapagos study finds that new species can develop in as little as two generationsThe French government announced it will allow the wolf population to grow 40 percent over the next five years, resisting pressure from farmers concerned about their sheep

The French government announced Monday it will allow the wolf population to grow 40 percent despite pressure from farmers in mountain regions who are worried about their sheep flocks.

A new strategy unveiled by the centrist government of President Emmanuel Macron will enable the number of wolves to increase from an estimated 360 now to 500 by 2023.

Hunting wiped out the grey wolf in France during the 1930s and they only returned in 1992 via Italycurrently home to around 2,000 wolvesbefore spreading into Switzerland and Germany.

The regeneration of the population in France has led to tensions between the government and farmers in the Alps and Pyrenees mountains who complain that attacks on their livestock cause major financial losses.

In a bid to respond to that anger, hunters will be allowed to kill 10 percent of the population every year, which can be raised to 12 percent if attacks are more frequent than usual.

"We place trust in all of the stakeholders and local lawmakers to calm the debate and enable a co-existence over the long-term," Agriculture Minister Stephane Travert and Environment Minister Nicolas Hulot wrote in a foreword to the report.

Hulot, a celebrity environmentalist, spoke recently of how wolf culling "makes me sick to the stomach" but he accepted it was a necessary measure to take farmers' concerns into account.

Hundreds of sheep were let loose on the streets of the city of Lyon last November in one of a number of protests against the wolf, which has protected status.

A new strategy unveiled by the French government will enable the number of wolves to grow to 500 by 2023 compared with an estimated 360 today

Wolves on the move

The 100-page wolf strategy will also enable livestock owners to apply for state funds to shield their animals, but it will make compensation contingent on them installing fencing and taking other protective measures.

Wolves eat between 2-4 kilogrammes (4.4-8.8 pounds) of meat a day on average and the predators have been blamed for an explosion in the number of attacks on livestock in mountainous areas.

A total of 10,000 sheep were killed in the Alps region in 2016, according to official figures from the regional government, but the wolf is also known to feast on deer, wild boar or even domestic animals.

Damages paid out to farmers from the state for livestock killed by wolves rose to 3.2 million euros ($4 million) in 2016, up 60 percent compared with 2013.

Scientists say that killing 10-12 percent of the total wolf population every year will not harm the animal's reproduction ability, but environmentalists expressed anger at the authorised killings.

A coalition of groups including the World Wildlife Fund and France Nature Environnement criticised a "lack of political courage" to stand up to farming lobbies.

Jean-Marc Landry, a wolf specialist, said one of the problems for the government was that wolves were highly mobile and quick to move into new areas beyond the Alps.

He said they had already been sighted in the Massif Central area in the middle of the country where France's biggest sheep breeders are based.

"The question is not whether we want the wolf or notit's here," he told AFP. "We need to think about a third way, to find ways of co-existing."

Explore further Wolves to the slaughter: France approves cull to save sheep

 2018 AFPFirst encounter. Columbus landing in the New World (Image courtesy of Library of Congress).

A thousand-year-old tooth has provided genetic evidence that the so-called "Taino", the first indigenous Americans to feel the full impact of European colonisation after Columbus arrived in the New World, still have living descendants in the Caribbean today.

Researchers were able to use the tooth of a woman found in a cave on the island of Eleuthera in the Bahamas to sequence the first complete ancient human genome from the Caribbean. The woman lived at some point between the 8th and 10th centuries, at least 500 years before Columbus made landfall in the Bahamas.

The results provide unprecedented insights into the genetic makeup of the Taino - a label commonly used to describe the indigenous people of that region. This includes the first clear evidence that there has been some degree of continuity between the indigenous peoples of the Caribbean and contemporary communities living in the region today.

Such a link had previously been suggested by other studies based on modern DNA. None of these, however, was able to draw on an ancient genome. The new research finally provides concrete proof that indigenous ancestry in the region has survived to the present day.

Comparing the ancient Bahamian genome to those of contemporary Puerto Ricans, the researchers found that they were more closely related to the ancient Taino than any other indigenous group in the Americas. However, they argue that this characteristic is unlikely to be exclusive to Puerto Ricans alone and are convinced that future studies will reveal similar genetic legacies in other Caribbean communities.

Entrance of Preachers Cave where the tooth was found that was used to reconstruct the ancient genome . Credit: Jane Day

The findings are likely to be especially significant for people in the Caribbean and elsewhere who have long claimed indigenous Taino heritage, despite some historical narratives that inaccurately brand them "extinct". Such misrepresentations have been heavily criticised by historians and archaeologists, as well as by descendant communities themselves, but until now they lacked clear genetic evidence to support their case.

The study was carried out by an international team of researchers led by Dr Hannes Schroeder and Professor Eske Willerslev within the framework of the ERC Synergy project NEXUS1492. The findings are published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

Lead author Schroeder, from the University of Copenhagen who carried out the research as part of the NEXUS1492 project, said: "It's a fascinating finding. Many history books will tell you that the indigenous population of the Caribbean was all but wiped out, but people who self-identify as Taino have always argued for continuity. Now we know they were right all along: there has been some form of genetic continuity in the Caribbean."

Willerslev, who has dual posts at St John's College, University of Cambridge, and the University of Copenhagen, said: "It has always been clear that people in the Caribbean have Native American ancestry, but because the region has such a complex history of migration, it was difficult to prove whether this was specifically indigenous to the Caribbean, until now."

The researchers were also able to trace the genetic origins of the indigenous Caribbean islanders, showing that they were most closely related to Arawakan-speaking groups who live in parts of northern South America today. This suggests that the origins of at least some the people who migrated to the Caribbean can be traced back to the Amazon and Orinoco Basins, where the Arawakan languages developed.

Mandible from Preachers Cave. Credit: Jane Day

The Caribbean was one of the last parts of the Americas to be populated by humans starting around 8,000 years ago. By the time of European colonization, the islands were a complex patchwork of different societies and cultures. The "Taino" culture was dominant in the Greater, and parts of the Lesser Antilles, as well as the Bahamas, where the people were known as Lucayans.

To trace the genetic origins of the Lucayans the researchers compared the ancient Bahamian genome with previously published genome-wide datasets for over 40 present-day indigenous groups from the Americas. In addition, they looked for traces of indigenous Caribbean ancestry in present-day populations by comparing the ancient genome with those of 104 contemporary Puerto Ricans included in the 1000 Genomes Project. The 10-15% of Native American ancestry in this group was shown to be closely related to the ancient Bahamian genome.

Jorge Estevez, a Taino descendant who works at the National Museum of the American Indian in New York and assisted the project team, said that as a boy growing up in the United States, he was told stories about his Taino ancestors at home, but at school was taught that the same ancestors had died out. "I wish my grandmother were alive today so that I could confirm to her what she already knew," he added. "It shows that the true story is one of assimilation, certainly, but not total extinction. I am genuinely grateful to the researchers. Although this may have been a matter of scientific inquiry for them, to us, the descendants, it is truly liberating and uplifting."

Although indigenous Caribbean communities were island-based, the researchers found very little genomic evidence of isolation or inbreeding in the ancient genome. This reinforces earlier genetic research led by Willerslev, which suggests that early human communities developed surprisingly extensive social networks, long before the term had digital connotations. It also echoes ongoing work by researchers at the Faculty of Archaeology in Leiden and others indicating the connectedness of indigenous Caribbean communities.

Professor Corinne Hofman from Leiden University and PI of the NEXUS1492 project, said: "Archaeological evidence has always suggested that large numbers of people who settled the Caribbean originated in South America, and that they maintained social networks that extended far beyond the local scale. Historically, it has been difficult to back this up with ancient DNA because of poor preservation, but this study demonstrates that it is possible to obtain ancient genomes from the Caribbean and that opens up fascinating new possibilities for research."

Explore further Drones help write new history of CaribbeanStudent Sarah Warrack studies micro plastic pollution in the environment. Credit: Whitney Light

A recent study by an undergraduate student in the Clayton H. Riddell Faculty of Environment, Earth, and Resources has found disturbing levels of microplastics in Manitoba waters and in fish from Lake Winnipeg.

Student Sarah Warrack, working with Dr. Mark Hanson in the department of environment and geography, and Dr. Michael Rennie, an adjunct professor in biological sciences, sampled rivers and lakes in Manitoba to see if microplastics, a growing concern in global pollution, have shown up here. She discovered that microplastic pollution in Lake Winnipeg is worse than that found in the Great Lakes, where such contaminants are of grave concern.

Microplastics are small plastic particles less than 5.0 mm in diameter that can enter the environment as tiny plastics like microbeads in toothpaste, scrubbers in cleaning products, or indirectly as larger plastic debris that fragment and degrade into smaller particles. Plastic particles not captured by wastewater treatment plants are eventually released, via effluent, into freshwater systems.

Microplastics have been found inside the bodies of fish, birds, and mammals, but the long-term impacts of such pollution are not well understood. Microplastics may pose a possible hazard to human health through human consumption of aquatic species that ingest plastic particles. Should we be worried?

"Microplastics are everywhere, from dust particles to deep sediments in oceans," says Warrack. "There is no compelling evidence at this time that microplastic particles are dangerous to organisms or humans. Typically, if microplastics are ingested, they pass through the digestive system as would any other solid material. This isn't an excuse to ignore the problem; rather it speaks to our general disregard, at times, for what we are willing to release into the environment."

Lake Winnipeg has a far greater density of microplastics than both Lake Superior and Lake Huron, and is comparable to that of Lake Erie, which supports more than ten times the population.

Warrack notes: "We are not entirely sure why the densities are greater here. It could be current patterns trapping plastics, residence time of the plastics through the lake, re-suspension of plastics from sediments, or a combination of all of these."

Warrack sampled water in the Red, Assiniboine, and Nelson Rivers and collected fish from Selkirk Park. The highest concentration of microplastics in water was found in the Assiniboine River at The Forks in Winnipeg. Almost all carp had ingested microplastics and about half of the sauger collected. Carp had an average of seven microplastic particles whereas sauger had an average of one microplastic particle in their gastrointestinal tracts.

Warrack noted that the Red and Assiniboine rivers are contributing 400 million microplastics annually to Lake Winnipeg. There is an estimated 300,000 tonnes of plastic floating in the world's oceans.

"This will be an issue that is around for some time simply due to how long it takes plastics to degrade," she advises. "We can begin by reducing our plastic use, but we clearly depend on plastic as a society at this time. A simple step everyone can take is to make sure we aren't tossing plastics out into the environment. Basically, we need to stop littering."

But the issue of microplastics goes far beyond plastic bottles. Warrack says much of our clothing is made of synthetic fibres, and as we wash our clothing plastic fibres are shed.

"Using clothing made from natural fibres such as cotton, bamboo, and wool would mediate this problem," she notes.

Warrack's results were published in a recent issue of Proceedings Of Manitoba's Undergraduate Science and Engineering Research (PMUSER), which highlights peer-reviewed research by undergraduate students in science or engineering. It was the first undergraduate research journal in Canada, preparing students for future careers in science/science-related fields. Warrack's paper won the Best Paper Award, sponsored last year by the Faculty of Science.

Warrack is currently working on her master's degree in the environment and geography. Her research involves using outdoor wetland mesocosms to understand microplastic behaviour, quantifying settling rates, and potential influence of biofilm formation on this process.

Explore further High levels of microplastics found in Northwest Atlantic fishCredit: NASA

X3 is a powerful ion thruster that could one day propel humans beyond Earth. The thruster was successfully tested few months ago, and could be selected by NASA as a crucial component of propulsion system for future Mars missions.

X3 is a Hall-effect thrustera type of ion thruster in which the propellant (most commonly xenon) is accelerated by electric and magnetic fields. Such thrusters are safer and more fuel efficient than engines used in traditional chemical rockets. However, they currently offer relatively low thrust and acceleration. Therefore, engineers are still working to make them more powerful.

Nearly 31.5 inches (80 centimeters) in diameter and weighing around 507 lbs. (230 kilograms), X3 is a three-channel nested thruster designed to operate at power levels up to 200 kW. The thruster is jointly developed by the University of Michigan (U-M), NASA and the U.S. Air Force. The project is funded through NASA's Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnership (NextSTEP).

In July and August 2017 the X3 thruster broke records in performance during tests carried out at the NASA Glenn Research Center. It produced 5.4 newtons of force compared with previous record of 3.3 newtons, doubled the operating current record (250 amperes vs. 112 amperes) and ran at a slightly higher power (102 kW vs. 98 kW).

"Our test was a huge success. We were both able to operate the thruster up to full power, demonstrating that it performed well, and find a few issues to work out for next year. They were all minor and easy to fix, but they could have been problematic if we found them during our 100-hour attempt," said Scott Hall of the Plasmadynamics and Electric Propulsion Laboratory at U-M in an interview with Astrowatch.net.

The upcoming 100-hour test is planned for spring 2018. During this testing campaign, the X3 thruster will be integrated with Aerojet Rocketdyne's power processing system.

Hall noted that the recent testing with the X3 was designed to be a risk reduction test for our 100-hour test for NASA's NextSTEP program.

"We wanted to shake everything downthe thruster, the auxiliary equipment, and the vacuum facilitybefore attempting our 100-hour run, which is supposed to be at 100 kW," Hall said.

X3 is one of three prototype engines that could be selected by NASA to power future manned missions to Mars. Scientists estimate that such a human mission to the Red Planet will require a propulsion system operating at least 200kW.

Given that X3 features the largest throttling capability of any Hall thruster to date, seven firing configurations and power levels ranging from 2 to 200 kW, it could be the best choice to become a fundamental component of spacecraft carrying astronauts beyond Earth.

"The X3 has the potential to be very critical for upcoming crewed Mars missions. The reason is that the X3 is a very flexible thruster with a large throttling range," Hall noted.

He added that at lower power levels (like a single X3 thruster), the X3 is great for moving a lot of cargo very efficiently. These types of missions would probably leave in advance of the astronauts and deliver cargo to the planet before their arrival, then fly back to Earth to reload for the next mission.

Furthermore, at higher power levels (over 600 kW, a few X3s clustered together), the X3 has the potential to carry astronauts to Mars.

"NASA has not decided exactly how it wants its Mars missions to look, but a lot of studies have been done looking at different ways you could use 100 to 300 kW electric propulsion like the X3, and even as high as 800 kW for when solar panels get more powerful," Hall said.

Notably, studies have shown that around the 600-700 kW mark, high-power electric propulsion like the X3 becomes as fast as traditional chemical propulsion, but is much more efficient. This efficiency could be decisive when NASA will be choosing the engines for future mission to Mars or other celestial bodies in the solar system.

"The X3 was actually originally funded by the United States Air Force, not NASA, who are interested in thrusters like the X3 for moving heavy things around on Earth orbit very quickly. The X3 can be used in those kinds of applications like fast, efficient low-Earth orbit (LEO) to geostationary orbit (GEO) transfers, as well as cargo and crew transport to a huge number of interesting targets, including near-Earth asteroids and Mars's moons, as well as Mars itself. It could also potentially be used on deep-space missions, although you probably need nuclear power for those since solar power drops off so quickly," Hall concluded.

Explore further Thruster for Mars mission breaks records

Provided by Astrowatch.netGohar Tatoyan and Arev Tatoyan are not accepting their recent firing as cleaning attendants at the Akori village school in Armenias Lori Province without a fight.

The two were sacked on January 29 by school Director Kimik Petrosyan. They want to know why Petrosyan fired them and kept four other cleaners on the books.

Gohar has been working at the school since1988; Arev, since 1994. They say that they have a good work record and had no issues with Petrosyan since he came to the school three years ago.

The women told Hetq that one day Petrosyan visited the Lori Provincial Administration and convened a meeting after returning. He told the school staff that wages would be cut in half and that those not in agreement wouldnt have jobs.

The director knew that me and Arev wouldnt agree because he had cut our pay by 25% three years ago, promising to raise it again in a few months. That never happened. He said there were financial problems at the school and hired the son of his wifes uncle as a business planner. Petrosyan also hired the mans wife as a cleaner. I simply asked him about it, says Gohar.

Arev, who has thyroid problems, says Petrosyan has always looked down at the cleaning attendants at the school. Arev says she once demanded that the director stop ridiculing them, saying, We may have a broom in our hands, but we arent illiterate.

Since being appointed school director three years ago, Petrosyan has mostly hired his wifes friends and relatives for the custodial staff. Hrachik Vardevanyan, the son of his uncles wife, was hired as the schools business director, and his brother Zaven was hired to turn on the heaters.

Nina Vardevanyan, one of the schools four security guards, is Hrachiks wife.

Anichka Petrosyan, one of the cleaning attendants, is the daughter-in-law of the school directors uncle.

Director Petrosyan also hired his nephew Seyran as a laborer, and Seyrans wife as a cleaner.

Gohar Tatoyan says that minimum wages increased by 5,000 drams at the time, but that she and Arev never saw a dime of the money.

Afraid of losing their monthly 40,000-dram salaries, Gohar and Arev went along with the directors questionable hiring practices.

They believe they made a fatal mistake when failed to show up to harvest grass that had been cut to feed Director Petrosyans livestock. It was last summer. Gohars blood pressure was high and my thyroid was acting up. I think this is what set him against us, says Arev.

Director Petrosyan says that hes always had problems with Gohar and Arev, claiming that theyve been insubordinate on several occasions.

Ive worked with them for years prior to my appointment as director. I once worked as a teacher at the school. Whenever I would reprimand them for something they always protested. They would refuse to file a letter of explanation when requested. There have been issues, both in writing and orally. Thats been their approach towards work, Petrosyan says.

Gohar takes issue with the directors charges, claiming that none of the other teachers have complained about her work over the past 32 years.

Gohar says that Petrosyan issued her a written reprimand when he found a half-eaten sandwich in a students desk. Gohar says it wasnt there when she made her rounds cleaning.

Arev says the director reprimanded her for taking a day off with prior notification. I had to take my grandchild to Yerevan, to see the doctor. I telephoned him the evening before, but he didnt answer. He says I never phoned him, says Arev, adding that she showed him the phone the following day as proof.

Arev and Gohar have filed a formal complaint with the Lori Provincial Governor Artur Nalbandyan about their dismissal. Hes sent a team to the school to investigate.

Director Petrosyan says the schools facing serious financial problems given the drop in enrollment. He says he was forced to cut the cleaning staff, firing the two with the worst record.

Petrosyan denies that hes only hired close friends and relatives.

When I asked him if he fired Gohar and Arev for not participating in the hay harvest for his livestock, Director Petrosyan pulled out a reprimand issued by his father-in-law, the schools former director, 26 years ago against Gohar.

Gohar and Arev say that if the Lori Provincial Governor fails to find in their favor, they will take the matter to court and Armenias Human Rights Defender.On February 13, Armenias Court of Appeals upheld a lower courts decision of a trademark suit filed by Tierras de Armenia (the company founded by Argentine tycoon Eduardo Eurnekian which produces the Karas line of wines) against Zorik Gharibyan, who produces the Zorah line of wines.

This is the second time that the court has found in favor of Tierras de Armenia, which argues that Gharibyan is using the main element of its KARAS trademark, (the word KARAS) to sell his wine, and that this is a trademark infringement.

Gharibyan, in a conversation with Hetq, finds the February 13 ruling as ridiculous.

I was hoping for another outcome, a just decision, but I knew it was impossible, Gharibyan told Hetq. The diaspora Armenian vintner says he will take the matter to the Court of Cassation.

When asked if he was prepared to take the matter to international tribunals, Gharibyan said hes already prepared to do so, citing the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and the Washington D.C based International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes as possible venues.

Gharibyan, in a underhanded swipe at Eurnekian, said that taking the dispute to the world stage was a decision he didnt arrive at lightly.

If I was a person for whom making money was my overriding aim, to be the richest man in the cemetery, such a decision would have been easy, Gharibyan said, reiterating his claim, made in an open letter to Eurnekian, that Armenian winemaking is the biggest loser from all of this.

The trademark dispute dates to May 2016, when Tierras de Armenia filed a lawsuit against the Intellectual Property Agency of the Armenias Ministry of Economy (presently, the Ministry of Economic Development and Investment). Saki and Sons CJSC, which produces Karasi Zorah, was listed as a third-party litigant.

Gharibyan argues that the court only heard evidence submitted in favor of Eurnekians company.

The judges failed to take into account the conclusion reached in 2011 by the Intellectual Property Agency that the labels of the two wines are different. They only looked at evidence of a research ordered and paid for by the other side, Gharibyan said.Mullen Group Ltd. provides trucking and logistics services in Canada and the United States. The company operates through three segments: Less-Than-Truckload, Logistics & Warehousing, and Specialized & Industrial Services. The Less-Than-Truckload segment delivers general freight consisting of smaller shipments, packages, and parcels; and pharmaceutical and package products. The Logistics & Warehousing segment offers multimode transportation services, such as full truckload, specialized trucking, intermodal, and transload to customers through a network of terminals and transload facilities; and warehousing and distribution services. The Specialized & Industrial Services segment provides production services, such as well servicing, production fluid transportation, transportation of fluids for disposal, frac support, and industrial cleaning and turnaround services; and specialized services comprising dredging and dewatering services, large diameter pipe stockpiling and stringing services, water management, environmental services, civil construction, municipal development and emergency services, hydrovac excavation services, hydrostatic testing services to the pipeline industry and midstream sector, and transporting of oversize and overweight shipments. This segment also offers drilling and drilling related services, consisting of transportation, handling, and storage of oilfield fluids, tubulars, and drilling mud; drilling rig relocation; general oilfield hauling; well disposal facility; core drilling; setting surface casing; and conductor pipe setting services. Mullen Group Ltd. was founded in 1949 and is headquartered in Okotoks, Canada.

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Subject: The duties of John von Neumann's assistant

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The following is one of my favorite excerpts; I typed it in and have carried it around for 25 years. It appears on pp.220221 of Edgar R. Lorch, Szeged in 1934, American Mathematical Monthly, vol. 100, #3, pp.219230. All of us Fellows were terrified what would happen to us if we couldn't locate a spot for next year. At this time the political super-potentates of the mathematical scene were centered in Princeton, N.J., where the Institute of Advanced Study had recently been established. The School of Mathematics was its leading school. There were about five mathematics professors at the Institute. In order to further distinguish them from ordinary mortals teaching at Columbia, Yale, or other universities, each professor had an assistant. There was tremendous variation in the duties of these assistants. It was traditional belief that Einstein's assistant did nothing. The only requirement for him was to be a Jewish exile from Nazi Germany. Hermann Weyl's assistant had normal duties: preparing in mimeographed form his professor's lectures on group theory. I cannot imagine what Alexander's or Veblen's assistants did  probably not much. In early spring these potentates got together, counted up the mathematical plums to be handed out for the year, and made a list of the available talent who constituted the target space on which these plums were to be mapped. Then they sent the customary letters to the candidates: a three-paragraph personal letter to the candidates who had been hit, and a one-paragraph note of non-success to the poor souls who did not make it. One day I learned that one of my friends had received his letter  a good one. I gingerly went home, and sure enough, there was a letter from the Institute. The type-print covered the whole page  success! I would be able to live another year. The letter was really exciting. I was being offered the job of assistant to John von Neumann! I had heard him lecture several times. He was brilliant, spoke very fast, his English was quite fluent, he made remarkably few errors. I made a trip to Princeton and met with Veblen, who was running the Institute. What, asked I, are the duties of an assistant to Professor von Neumann? Veblen answered with a mixture of surprise and disdain, that a mere private second class should ask such a question about a four star general. His answer staggered me. Here were the four principal duties of von Neumann's assistant: To attend von Neumann's lectures on operator theory on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays, take copious notes, complete unfinished proofs, see them through the secretarial jungle, and promptly circulate them to all American university libraries. This task alone was consuming the entire energies of a younger person, who had to be very sharp, fast, clever, and tough. These notes ran to over 600 pages. To be von Neumann's assistant as Editor of the Annals of Mathematics. This meant reading through every manuscript accepted for publication, underlining Greek letters in red and German letters in green, and circling italics. Also writing in the margins all necessary instructions to printers. The following anecdote illustrates the hazards of being editorial assistant of the Annals in the early thirties. A manuscript was submitted by the brilliant Soviet mathematician, Lev Pontryagin. Since paper was then exceptionally scarce in the Soviet Union, Pontryagin had taken wrapping paper, torn it into appropriate-sized pieces, and gone to work on his typewriter. Unfortunately, Pontryagin was blind. The wrapping paper was torn unevenly, and a good portion of the words and symbols in the margins were missing. No matter. The Annals editorial assistant retyped the paper, supplying all the missing symbols. What a hero! To go once a week to the printers of the Annals of Mathematics in Baltimore in order to instruct them in the art of typesetting mathematical symbols with subscripts, superscripts, subsubscripts, etc. The Annals of Mathematics had been printed in Hamburg, Germany by the firm of Lutke and Wolk. In view of increasing anti-Semitism under Hitler, the German connection was given up in favor of printing in the United States. But no American printer had ever before set up mathematical symbols! They were complete illiterates. Solution: Let von Neumann's assistant teach them! To translate into English von Neumann's numerous 100-page papers. Now that von Neumann was a professor in an American institute, it was thought that his papers should appear in English, not German. Since von Neumann was provided with an assistant, it was natural that the assistant should do this. You may recall that this was extracted from an article titled Szeged in 1934. That is because the author, Lorch, decided that he was not cut out for the job, and fled to Hungary.



According to a report in the Los Angeles Times published Sunday, former Trump campaign official Rick Gates will plea guilty within days and testify against his former boss Paul Manafort in Special Counsel Robert Muellers ongoing investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Gates, who had a longstanding partnership with Manafort, served as a deputy campaign manager during Manaforts tenure as the manager of the Trump campaign. Gates stayed on as an aide after Manafort resigned over his ties to pro-Russia politicians in Ukraine. In October, Gates and Manafort were both indicted on twelve counts that centered on their work with Ukraine, including conspiracy against the United States and conspiracy to launder money. At the time, both pled not guilty.

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The piece in the Times confirms and clarifies a CNN report on Thursday that said Gates was close to flipping and reaching a plea bargain following a Queen for a Day interview, which the outlet described as an interview in which a defendant answers any questions from the prosecutors team, including about his own case and other potential criminal activity he witnessed. Why the change in plea? A lawyer involved in the investigation told the Times a prolonged criminal investigation would cause Gates and his family financial stress, and Muellers team had been preparing to bring additional tax-related charges against the political consultant.

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In exchange for flipping and testifying against Manafort, the Times reports that Gates is expected to receive a reduced sentence of around 18 months. His testimony would add to the case against Manafort but would not be likely to turn the screws on Trump, in the words of a source familiar with the plea. The bargain would be the investigations fourth guilty plea; former Trump campaign aide George Papadopoulos and former national security adviser Michael Flynn previously pled guilty, while Fridays indictment of 13 Russian nationals included the guilty plea of California resident Richard Pinedo, who sold bank accounts to the Russian operatives.

With Gates set to flip and testify against his former boss, the pressure on Manafort to cooperate is building. Stay tuned.When you run an ecommerce business, you might think its tough to connect with customers since there is so much competition online.

But what if there was a tiny instance where the opportunity for you to connect with potential customers and make a sale increased?

They happen all the time. Theyre called micro-moments.

Ecommerce Micro-Moments

It all starts with a consumers smartphone, which most of us have come to rely on as our own personal assistants. When a smartphone user, for example, voice searches where to eat ribs in Philadelphia, this is a micro-moment.

Why? Because its a tiny point along the customer journey. That one sliver of time could be a winning one for you, especially if you own a Philadelphia rib restaurant.

Heres another example: a shopper uses her phone to search for an alpaca sweater. Shes given the usual search results, chooses one, and makes a purchase.

Some of these micro-moments last only a fraction of a second, but theyre incredibly valuable to eCommerce businesses.

Why Micro-Moments Matter

Mobile eCommerce sales are projected to reach 27 percent of all eCommerce sales by the end of 2018. That fact alone is a reason you cant ignore the power of reaching your customers through their mobile devices.

The customer journey is no longer a linear path the way it once was. Where in the past, a shopper would have a need (to be warm), research options on a desktop (sweater), assess brands (whos offering a discount?), and then make a purchase, now there are a thousand different data points that factor into that decision.

That same shopper might visit a sweater store on her desktop, then see the ad follow her around the internet through ad retargeting. She might follow a brand on social media and look for coupon codes on Twitter, and then make a purchase.

Which of these data points resulted in her finally buying that sweater? Its hard to tell. But one thing is certain: mobile is a part of that process, and those micro-moments are ones no online retailer should ignore.

Identifying Micro-Moments with Your Audience

So how can you as an eCommerce business benefit from micro-moments? Start by determining what they are. Analytics come into play in this process, so if youre not already BFF with your website analytics, get that way.

Your goal in identifying micro-moments is to determine the points at which your brand can best serve your customers needs. Google, the expert on everything, it seems, identifies four key micro-moments that your customers have:

I want to do

I want to know

I want to buy

I want to go

Each of these micro-moments spurs a different set of activities. For the shopper who wants to know if alpaca wool is organic, she might search for the answer on her phone. If you happen to have a blog post on that very subject, she might land on your mobile site, read the post, then buy a sweater from you.

Or maybe the shopper is planning a trip to Peru, and is researching what she needs to buy for the higher altitude. Again, content marketing provides the perfect opportunity to reach her.

Perhaps shes looking to support small alpaca farms in South America (do). If you highlight your partnership with such a farm, shell find you that way. If she wants to go visit an alpaca farm, maybe you have a special contest where one customer will win a trip to visit the farm.

Create a map of what the typical buyer journey is for your average customer, then add in micro-moments where appropriate. At what point in the process do customers have questions or problems? How can you address those? The solution might be through targeted content, special offers or another mobile-friendly feature.

Once youve identified those micro-moments, implement the solutions to capture your audience. And remember the value of creating a seamless experience across channels: a shopper might find your mobile site on her phone, but then want to spend more time on the desktop version or sign up for your emails. Make it simple for her to cross borders so she gets the brand experience from you that shes looking for.

Again, keep an eye on data and analytics, because theyll tell you which of your micro-moment marketing efforts are paying off. Use trackable coupon codes so you know exactly which offer mobile shoppers are redeeming, and keep on top of which pages on your website are getting the most mobile traffic.

Invest in mobile SEO efforts so that you rank high on those tiny searches. Just because you rank at the top of search results for certain keywords on a desktop doesnt automatically mean you will also rank high for mobile searches. Your website must be mobile optimized so that Google sees that you provide value on mobile devices.

Micro-moments are worth paying attention to because they connect you to potential customers through the one channel they trust the most: their phones.

Republished by permission. Original here.Robert Gilpin, R.I.P. - The Washington Post : His greatest book was written in 1981, but the main theory in it is perhaps more trenchant now...** For the most up-to-date information on this topic, please click here . About a week ago I was reading some information with regards to...When will elk return to Slovak wilderness?

Elks once populated Slovak forests in abundance. Now, there are hardly any left in Slovakia.

Grand physique, an inquisitive look, slow motions. The elk (Alces alces), measuring more than two metres in length and 400 kilograms in weight, garners respect from humans at first sight.

When a group of enthusiasts first tried to return elks to Slovak forests five years ago, the public was enthusiastic for a while. Few realized that the animal most commonly associated with the Arctic circle once lived in abundance right here in Slovakia.

However, our ancestors exterminated the elk three hundred years ago to alleviate poverty and hunger. Unfortunately, elks do not to run away intuitively when in dire situations; instead, they stop on the spot and start contemplating.

Since 2013, several articles have been written in an effort to return elk to Slovak forests. However, the public lost their enthusiasm and breeders came to face reality. Most of the females were lost and artificial implanting of elks in the forests was not successful.

In 2018, we still just talk about returning elks to Slovak forests although with the original plan, the first elk couples could have been released in the wilderness by 2017.

Game enclosure in Luzianky

The enclosure in the National Food and Agricultural Centre (NPPC) in Luzianky looks empty at first but if you make a clicking sound two times and show an apple in your hand, a giant elk weighing almost half ton named Nik will walk slowly to the wire fence.

The male elk, Nik, has been in Luzianky for almost three years. He arrived in Slovakia through a project that NPPC launched together with the Zito (i.e. Rye) civic association. The project was funded through Norway funds totaling 4,000.

The project had two goals: the first one being research of the necessities of the life of elks, in which we scrutinised what food composition they prefer, Matus Rajsky of NPPC says. Nik likes willows and poplars most of all, while he is not interested in elderberry at all.

The visit shows that this animal is used to the presence of humans. He stands calmly near the fence, lets people take photos of him while eating a fresh oak twig now and then. It seems that you could feed him from your hand but in the last moment, Nik changes his mind.

Apart from Nik, they also had a female elk in Luzianky. During a burglary in the nearby building, however, she most probably panicked and injured herself so she had to be put down. People from the Centre hate to talk about this incident. Officers at the Regional Police Presidium in Nitra could not divulge any more details about the burglary, either.

Maybe they will come on their own

The second goal of the project, releasing elks in the wild nature, should have been ensured by the Zito civic association residing in the village of Svarin in the Liptovsky Mikulas district. In Slovakia, there are a total of three game enclosures with elks, and from one of them, elks released themselves, so to speak.

Last May, there was a flood close to the releasing enclosure where we had a breeding couple of elks, and it knocked down the fence. The elks then fled into wilderness, Stanislav Bystriansky, head of Zito, explains.

Thanks to the monitoring collars, they had no problem monitoring the elk couple, male Merg and female Embla, despite the fact that normally, it is usually very hard for a human to find these animals in a forest. For four months, they were doing well in the wild nature, without any big problems.

19. Feb 2018 at 10:19 | By Peter KapitanMigration activist flees Germany, Swedish attack ascribed to migrants

These are the hoaxes that appeared on the internet in the past two weeks.

It is too late for Germany. The human rights activist fled to Poland out of fear. This headline was used by the network of Russian propaganda websites, Sputnik, to present stories on German human rights activist, Rebecca Sommer.

In an interview for the Polish Do Rzeczy newspaper, she allegedly said that despite having helped the refugees in the past, now she does not feel safe around them, and fled to Poland.

The story was spread in several languages by Sputnik from where it was taken over by so-called "alternative" media like the Czech Vlastenecke Noviny, or the Facebook group AltRight.cz.

However, Sputnik later admitted that the information concerning the escape to Poland was untrue. The Czech website Manipulatori.cz, which uncovers false information on the internet, noticed it, too. Rebecca Sommer declared she did not leave Germany, and does not plan to do so.

How did media face the truth

She has been critical, however, of the free immigration policy which does not differentiate between people running for their lives and people who throw away ID cards and documents to lie about their age only to be allowed to stay in Germany.

The German language version of Sputnik later published a correction. But the Czech Sputnik only re-wrote the story, without any apology or clear correction. Its original version can still be found through the Webarchive.org service. Many other websites and Facebook communities continue to spread the lie, however  the lie from which the activist distanced herself.

Attack linked to migrants by alternative media

Sophie Johansson, a nineteen year-old from Sweden, was brutally attacked in a Malmo night club after she defended herself against sexual harassment. 40 percent of the citys population are immigrants.

The story published on the last day of January on the Czech disinformation website AC24.cz is a good example of how so-called alternative media distort true information.

19. Feb 2018 at 10:45Skiers and holidaymakers can use free ski-buses in Liptov

The popular area surrounding the Jasna ski resort offers free shuttle-buses to carry tourists around from February 19th onwards.

More information about travelling in Slovakia

Please see our Please see our Spectacular Slovakia travel guide

Skiers and holidaymakers in the northern-Slovak area of Liptov can now use a system of free ski-bus transports taking them to the Jasna resort from the Demanovska Dolina valley, the town of Liptovsky Mikulas, the Tatralandia Aqua-park , Besenova, the Kupele Lucky spa and the town-resort of Liptovsky Jan.

Other shuttle-buses will transport passengers from the town of Ruzomberok to the Malino Brdo ski resort, PR manager of the Regional Tourism Organisation (OOCR) Region Liptov, Katarina Sarafinova, informed the TASR newswire.

Some selected ski-buses have already been working over the holidays and weekends from the Podbreziny housing estate in Liptovsky Mikulas, chair of the board of OOCR Region Liptov Jan Blchac said. But starting with the spring holidays in our region  the Zilina Region  i.e. February 19, there will be a shuttle-bus line on weekdays as well.

Lines have been improved, added to and coordinated

The frequency and the coordination among individual lines has been improved and fine-tuned, Sarafinova added. The blue line from Tatralandia enables skiers to get to the ski slopes earlier, while the red line  from Liptovsky Mikulas, through Demanova, all the way to Jasna also starts earlier, to balance with the blue line.

The novelty afternoon blue line from Jasna to the railway station in Liptovsky Mikulas and then all the way to Podbreziny, which runs at weekends and during holidays, has already found its fans, according to Sarafinova.

The lines can be used free of charge by all owners of valid ski-passes and owners of the Liptov Region Card, which also enables some advantageous rebates, head of the OOCR Region Liptov Darina Bartkova explained for TASR.

Service for foreigners

Foreign skiers have praised the announcement of individual stops  introduced this winter season  which helps them get oriented  and the internet connection on selected buses, Sarafinova summed up.

19. Feb 2018 at 22:56 | Compiled by Spectator staffThe following companies are subsidiares of Bristol-Myers Squibb: 1096271 B.C. ULC, 345 Park LLC, A.G. Medical Services P.A., AHI Investment LLC, AbVitro LLC, Abraxis BioScience Australia Pty Ltd., Abraxis BioScience Inc., Abraxis BioScience International Holding Company Inc., Abraxis BioScience LLC, Abraxis BioScience Puerto Rico LLC, Acetylon Pharmaceuticals Inc., Adnexus, Adnexus a Bristol-Myers Squibb R&D Company, Allard Labs Acquisition G.P., Amira Pharmaceuticals, Amira Pharmaceuticals Inc., Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Apothecon LLC, B-MS Generx Unlimited Company, BMS Benelux Holdings B.V., BMS Bermuda Nominees L.L.C., BMS Data Acquisition Company LLC, BMS Forex Company, BMS Holdings Sarl, BMS Holdings Spain S.L., BMS International Insurance Designated Activity Company, BMS Investco SAS, BMS Korea Holdings L.L.C., BMS Latin American Nominees L.L.C., BMS Luxembourg Partners L.L.C., BMS Omega Bermuda Holdings Finance Ltd., BMS Pharmaceutical Korea Limited, BMS Pharmaceuticals Germany Holdings B.V., BMS Pharmaceuticals International Holdings Netherlands B.V., BMS Pharmaceuticals Korea Holdings B.V., BMS Pharmaceuticals Mexico Holdings B.V., BMS Pharmaceuticals Netherlands Holdings B.V., BMS Real Estate LLC, BMS Spain Investments LLC, BMS Strategic Portfolio Investments Holdings Inc., Blisa Acquisition G.P., Bristol (Iran) S.A., Bristol Iran Private Company Limited, Bristol Laboratories Inc., Bristol Laboratories International S.A., Bristol Laboratories Medical Information Systems Inc., Bristol-Myers (Andes) L.L.C., Bristol-Myers (Private) Limited, Bristol-Myers Middle East S.A.L., Bristol-Myers Overseas Corporation, Bristol-Myers Squibb (China) Investment Co. Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb (China) Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb (Israel) Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb (NZ) Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb (Proprietary) Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb (Shanghai) Trading Co. Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb (Singapore) Pte. Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb (Taiwan) Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb (West Indies) Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb A.E., Bristol-Myers Squibb Aktiebolag, Bristol-Myers Squibb Argentina S. R. L., Bristol-Myers Squibb Australia Pty. Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb Axia Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb B.V., Bristol-Myers Squibb Belgium S.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb Business Services Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Canada Co., Bristol-Myers Squibb Canada International Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Delta Company Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Denmark Filial of Bristol-Myers Squibb AB, Bristol-Myers Squibb EMEA Sarl, Bristol-Myers Squibb Egypt LLC, Bristol-Myers Squibb Epsilon Holdings Unlimited Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Farmaceutica Ltda., Bristol-Myers Squibb Farmaceutica Portuguesa S.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb GesmbH, Bristol-Myers Squibb GmbH & Co. KGaA, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holding Germany GmbH & Co. KG, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holdings 2002 Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holdings Germany Verwaltungs GmbH, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holdings Ireland Unlimited Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holdings Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holdings Pharma Ltd. Liability Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Ilaclari Inc., Bristol-Myers Squibb India Pvt. Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb International Company Unlimited Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb International Corporation, Bristol-Myers Squibb Investco L.L.C., Bristol-Myers Squibb K.K., Bristol-Myers Squibb Kft., Bristol-Myers Squibb Luxembourg International S.C.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Bristol-Myers Squibb MEA GmbH, Bristol-Myers Squibb Manufacturing Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Marketing Services S.R.L., Bristol-Myers Squibb Middle East & Africa FZ-LLC, Bristol-Myers Squibb Norway Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb Nutricionales de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Bristol-Myers Squibb Peru S.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma (HK) Ltd, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma (Thailand) Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma EEIG, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma Holding Company LLC, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma Ventures Corporation, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceuticals Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceuticals Unlimited Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Polska Sp. z o.o., Bristol-Myers Squibb Products SA, Bristol-Myers Squibb Puerto Rico Inc., Bristol-Myers Squibb Puerto Rico/Sanofi Pharmaceutical Partnership Puerto Rico, Bristol-Myers Squibb Romania S.R.L., Bristol-Myers Squibb S.A.U., Bristol-Myers Squibb S.r.l., Bristol-Myers Squibb SA, Bristol-Myers Squibb Sanofi Pharmaceuticals Holding Partnership, Bristol-Myers Squibb Sarl, Bristol-Myers Squibb Service Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb Services Sp. z o.o., Bristol-Myers Squibb Spol. s r.o., Bristol-Myers Squibb Theta Finance Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb Trustees Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Verwaltungs GmbH, Bristol-Myers Squibb de Colombia S.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb de Costa Rica Sociedad Anonima, Bristol-Myers Squibb de Guatemala S.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Bristol-Myers Squibb/Astrazeneca EEIG, Bristol-Myers Squibb/Pfizer EEIG, Bristol-Myers Squibb/Sanofi Pharmaceuticals Partnership, Bristol-Myers de Venezuela S.C.A., CHT I LLC, CHT II LLC, CHT III LLC, CHT IV LLC, CR Finance Company LLC, Cardioxyl Pharmaceuticals, Cardioxyl Pharmaceuticals Inc., Celem LLC, Celem Ltd., Celgene, Celgene A.B., Celgene AS, Celgene Ab (Finland), Celgene Alpine Investment Co. II LLC, Celgene Alpine Investment Co. III LLC, Celgene Alpine Investment Co. LLC, Celgene ApS, Celgene B.V., Celgene BVBA, Celgene Brasil Produtos Farmaceuticos Ltda., Celgene CAR LLC, Celgene CAR Ltd., Celgene Chemicals Sarl, Celgene China Holdings LLC, Celgene Co., Celgene Corporation, Celgene Distribution B.V., Celgene EngMab GmbH, Celgene Europe B.V., Celgene Europe Limited, Celgene European Investment Company LLC, Celgene Financing Company LLC, Celgene Global Holdings Sarl, Celgene GmbH [Austria], Celgene GmbH [Germany], Celgene GmbH [Switzerland], Celgene Holdings East Corporation, Celgene Holdings II Sarl, Celgene Holdings III Sarl, Celgene Ilac Pazarlama ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Celgene Inc., Celgene International Holdings Corporation, Celgene International II Sarl, Celgene International III Sarl, Celgene International Inc., Celgene International Sarl, Celgene K.K., Celgene Kft., Celgene Limited [Hong Kong], Celgene Limited [Ireland], Celgene Limited [New Zealand], Celgene Limited [Taiwan], Celgene Limited [UK], Celgene Logistics Sarl, Celgene Ltd, Celgene Luxembourg Sarl, Celgene Management Sarl, Celgene NJ Investment Co, Celgene Netherlands B.V., Celgene Netherlands Investment B.V., Celgene Pharmaceutical (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Celgene Pte. Ltd., Celgene Pty Ltd, Celgene Puerto Rico Distribution LLC, Celgene Quanticel Research Inc, Celgene R&D Sarl, Celgene RIVOT LLC, Celgene RIVOT Ltd., Celgene RIVOT SRL, Celgene Receptos Limited, Celgene Receptos Sarl, Celgene Research Incubator At Summit West LLC, Celgene Research S.L.U., Celgene Research and Development Company LLC, Celgene Research and Development I ULC, Celgene Research and Development II LLC, Celgene Research and Investment Company II LLC, Celgene S. de R.L. de C.V., Celgene S.L.U., Celgene S.R.L., Celgene SAS, Celgene Sarl AU, Celgene Sdn Bhd, Celgene Services Sarl, Celgene Sociedade Unipessoal Lda, Celgene Sp. Z.o.o., Celgene Sro [Czech Republic], Celgene Summit Investment Co, Celgene Switzerland Holding Sarl, Celgene Switzerland II LLC, Celgene Switzerland Investment Sarl, Celgene Switzerland LLC, Celgene Switzerland Sarl, Celgene Tri A Holdings Ltd., Celgene Tri Sarl, Celgene UK Distribution Limited, Celgene UK Holdings Limited, Celgene UK Manufacturing II Limited, Celgene UK Manufacturing III Limited, Celgene UK Manufacturing Limited, Celgene d.o.o., Celgene sro [Slovakia], Celmed LLC, Celmed Ltd., ConvaTec Divestiture, Cormorant Pharmaceuticals, Cormorant Pharmaceuticals AB, Crosp Ltd., Delinia Inc., Deuteria Pharmaceuticals Inc., DuPont Pharmaceuticals, E. R. Squibb & Sons Inter-American Corporation, E. R. Squibb & Sons L.L.C., E. R. Squibb & Sons Limited, EWI Corporation, EngMab Sarl, F-star Alpha, FermaVir Pharmaceuticals L.L.C., FermaVir Research L.L.C., Flexus Biosciences, Flexus Biosciences Inc., Forbius, Galecto Biotech, GenPharm International L.L.C., Gloucester Pharmaceuticals LLC, Grove Insurance Company Ltd., Heyden Farmaceutica Portuguesa Limitada, IFM Therapeutics, Impact Biomedicines Inc., Inhibitex, Inhibitex L.L.C., Innate Tumor Immunity Inc., JuMP Holdings LLC, Juno Therapeutics GmbH, Juno Therapeutics Inc., Kosan Biosciences, Kosan Biosciences Incorporated, Linson Investments Limited, Mead Johnson (Manufacturing) Jamaica Limited, Mead Johnson Jamaica Ltd., Medarex, Morris Avenue Investment II LLC, Morris Avenue Investment LLC, MyoKardia, O.o.o. Bristol-Myers Squibb, Oy Bristol-Myers Squibb (Finland) AB, Padlock Therapeutics, Padlock Therapeutics Inc., Pharmion LLC, Princeton Pharmaceutical Products Inc., Receptos LLC, Receptos Services LLC, RedoxTherapies Inc., Route 22 Real Estate Holding Corporation, SPV A Holdings ULC, Seamair Insurance DAC, Signal Pharmaceuticals LLC, Sino-American Shanghai Squibb Pharmaceuticals Limited, Societe Francaise de Complements Alimentaires(S.O.F.C.A.), Squibb Middle East S.A., Summit West Celgene LLC, Swords Laboratories, VentiRx Pharmaceuticals Inc., Westwood-Intrafin SA, Westwood-Squibb Pharmaceuticals Inc., X-Body Inc., ZymoGenetics, ZymoGenetics Inc., ZymoGenetics LLC, ZymoGenetics Paymaster LLC, iPierian, and iPierian Inc..Ormat Technologies, Inc. operates as a holding company. The firm engages in the provision of geothermal and recovered energy power business. It operates through the following segments: Electricity, Product and Energy Storage. The Electricity segment focuses in the sale of electricity from the company's power plants pursuant to PPAs. The Product segment involves in the manufacture, including design and development, of turbines and power units for the supply of electrical energy and in the associated construction of power plants utilizing the power units manufactured by the company to supply energy from geothermal fields and other alternative energy sources. The Energy Storage segment consists of battery energy storage systems as a service and management of curtailable customer loads under contracts with U.S. retail energy providers and directly with large commercial and industrial customers. The company was founded in 1965 and is headquartered in Reno, NV.

Read MoreThe following companies are subsidiares of The Sherwin-Williams: Acquire Sourcing LLC, CTS National Corporation, Comex North America Inc., Compania Sherwin-Williams S.A. de C.V., Contract Transportation Systems Co., Deep Pride Limited, Dongguan Lilly Paint Industries Ltd, Duron, EPS (Shanghai) Trading Co. Ltd., EPS B.V., EPS Polidrox Industria e Comercio de Resinas Ltda, Geocel Holdings, Geocel Limited, Guangdong Valspar Paints Manufacturing Co Ltd., Guangdong Yuegang Dadi Paints Company Limited, Guardsman Australia Pty Limited, Guardsman Industries Limited, Inver East Med S.A., Inver France SAS, Inver GmbH, Inver Industrial Coating SRL, Inver Polska Spoka Z O.O, Inver Spa, Invercolor Bologna Srl, Invercolor Ltd, Invercolor Roma Srl, Invercolor Torino Srl, Invercolor Toscana Srl, Isocoat Tintas e Vernizes Ltda, Isva Vernici Srl, Jiangsu Pulanna Coating Co. Ltd., Leighs Paints, M.A. Bruder & Sons, Omega Specialty Products & Services LLC, Oy Sherwin-Williams Finland Ab, PT Sherwin-Williams Indonesia, PT Valspar Indonesia, Paint Sundry Brands, Pinturas Condor S.A., Pinturas Industriales S.A., Plasti-Kote Co. Inc., Plasti-kote Limited, Productos Quimicos y Pinturas S.A. de C.V., Quest Automotive Products UK Limited, Quetzal Pinturas S.A. de C.V., Resin Surfaces Limited, Ronseal (Ireland) Limited, SWIMC LLC, SWIPCO  Sherwin Williams do Brasil Propriedade, Sayerlack, Sherwin Williams Colombia S.A.S., Sherwin-Williams (Australia) Pty. Ltd., Sherwin-Williams (Belize) Limited, Sherwin-Williams (Caribbean) N.V., Sherwin-Williams (Ireland) Limited, Sherwin-Williams (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Sherwin-Williams (Nantong) Company Limited, Sherwin-Williams (S) Pte. Ltd., Sherwin-Williams (Shanghai) Limited, Sherwin-Williams (South China) Co. Ltd., Sherwin-Williams (Thailand) Co. Ltd., Sherwin-Williams (Vietnam) Limited, Sherwin-Williams (West Indies) Limited, Sherwin-Williams Argentina I.y C.S.A., Sherwin-Williams Aruba VBA, Sherwin-Williams Automotive Mexico S.de R.L.de C.V., Sherwin-Williams Balkan S.R.L., Sherwin-Williams Bel, Sherwin-Williams Benelux NV, Sherwin-Williams Canada Inc., Sherwin-Williams Cayman Islands Limited, Sherwin-Williams Chile S.A., Sherwin-Williams Coatings India Private Limited, Sherwin-Williams Coatings S.a r.l., Sherwin-Williams Czech Republic spol. s r.o, Sherwin-Williams Denmark A/S, Sherwin-Williams Deutschland GmbH, Sherwin-Williams Diversified Brands (Australia) Pty Ltd, Sherwin-Williams Diversified Brands Limited, Sherwin-Williams France Finishes SAS, Sherwin-Williams Italy S.r.l., Sherwin-Williams Luxembourg Investment Management Company S.a r.l., Sherwin-Williams Norway AS, Sherwin-Williams Paints Limited Liability Company, Sherwin-Williams Peru S.R.L., Sherwin-Williams Pinturas de Venezuela S.A., Sherwin-Williams Poland Sp. z o.o, Sherwin-Williams Protective & Marine Coatings, Sherwin-Williams Realty Holdings Inc., Sherwin-Williams Services (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Sherwin-Williams Spain Coatings S.L., Sherwin-Williams Sweden AB, Sherwin-Williams Uruguay S.A., Sherwin-Williams do Brasil Industria e Comercio Ltda., Spanyc Paints Joint Stock Company, Syntema I Vaggeryd AB, TOB Becker Acroma Ukraine, Taiwan Valspar Co. Ltd., The Sherwin-Williams Acceptance Corporation, The Sherwin-Williams Headquarters Company, The Sherwin-Williams Manufacturing Company, The Sherwin-Williams US Licensing Company, The Valspar (Asia) Corporation Limited, The Valspar (Australia) Corporation Pty. Ltd., The Valspar (Finland) Corporation Oy, The Valspar (France) Corporation S.A.S., The Valspar (France) Research Corporation SAS, The Valspar (Germany) GmbH, The Valspar (Malaysia) Corporation Sdn Bhd, The Valspar (Nantes) Corporation S.A.S., The Valspar (Singapore) Corporation Pte. Ltd, The Valspar (South Africa) Corporation (Pty) Ltd, The Valspar (Spain) Corporation S.R.L., The Valspar (Switzerland) Corporation AG, The Valspar (Thailand) Corporation Ltd., The Valspar (UK) Corporation Limited, The Valspar (Vietnam) Corporation Ltd., The Valspar Corporation, The Valspar Corporation Limitada, UAB Sherwin-Williams Baltic, Valspar (India) Coatings Corporation Private Limited, Valspar (Shanghai) Management Co. Ltd., Valspar (Uruguay) Corporation S.A., Valspar (WPC) Pty Ltd, Valspar Aries Coatings S. de R.L. de C.V., Valspar Automotive (UK) Corporation Limited, Valspar Automotive Australia Pty Limited, Valspar B.V., Valspar Coatings (Guangdong) Co. Ltd., Valspar Coatings (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Valspar Coatings (Tianjin) Co. Ltd, Valspar D.o.o Beograd, Valspar Inc., Valspar Industries (Ireland) Ltd., Valspar Industries (Italy) S.r.l., Valspar Industries GmbH, Valspar LLC, Valspar Mexicana S.A. de C.V., Valspar Paint (Australia) Pty Ltd, Valspar Paint (NZ) Limited, Valspar Powder Coatings Limited, Valspar Rock Company Limited, Valspar Specialty Paints LLC, Vantaco Oy, and ZAO Sherwin-Williams.United Technologies Corporation provides technology products and services to building systems and aerospace industries worldwide. Its Otis segment designs, manufactures, sells, and installs passenger and freight elevators, escalators, and moving walkways; and offers modernization products to upgrade elevators and escalators, as well as maintenance and repair services. The company's Carrier segment provides heating, ventilating, air conditioning, refrigeration, fire, security, and building automation products, solutions, and services for commercial, government, infrastructure, residential, and refrigeration and transportation applications. This segment also offers building services, including audit, design, installation, system integration, repair, maintenance, and monitoring. Its Pratt & Whitney segment supplies aircraft engines for commercial, military, business jet, and general aviation markets; and provides aftermarket maintenance, repair, and overhaul, as well as fleet management services. The company's Collins Aerospace Systems segment provides electric power generation, power management, and distribution systems; air data and aircraft sensing systems; engine control, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance systems; engine components; environmental control systems; fire and ice detection, and protection systems; propeller systems; engine nacelle systems; aircraft lighting, seating, and cargo systems; actuation and landing systems; space products and subsystems; avionics systems; flight controls, communications, navigation, oxygen, and training systems; food and beverage preparation, and storage and galley systems; and lavatory and wastewater management systems. The company offers its services through manufacturers' representatives, distributors, wholesalers, dealers, retail outlets, and sales representatives, as well as directly to customers. United Technologies Corporation was founded in 1934 and is headquartered in Farmington, Connecticut.

Read MoreWall Street analysts have given Enel Generacion Chile a "N/A" rating, but there may be better buying opportunities in the stock market. Some of MarketBeat's past winning trading ideas have resulted in 5-15% weekly gains. MarketBeat just released five new stock ideas, but Enel Generacion Chile wasn't one of them. MarketBeat thinks these five companies may be even better buys.

View MarketBeat's top stock picks here.MarkWest Energy Partners, L.P. (MarkWest) is a master limited partnership engaged in the gathering, processing and transportation of natural gas; the gathering, transportation, fractionation, storage and marketing of natural gas liquids (NGLs), and the gathering and transportation of crude oil. The Company operates in four segments: Marcellus, Utica, Northeast and Southwest. The Marcellus segment provides integrated natural gas midstream services in southwestern Pennsylvania and northern West Virginia. The Company's MarkWest Utica EMG provides gathering, processing, fractionation and marketing services. The Northeast segment assets include the Kenova, Boldman, Cobb, Kermit and Langley natural gas processing complexes, an NGL pipeline and the Siloam fractionation facility. The Company owns a system that consists of natural gas gathering pipelines, centralized compressor stations, two natural gas processing complexes and two NGL pipelines.

Read MoreRed Hat, Inc. provides open source software solutions to develop and offer operating system, virtualization, management, middleware, cloud, mobile, and storage technologies to various enterprises worldwide. It offers infrastructure-related solutions, such as Red Hat Enterprise Linux, an operating system platform that runs on hardware for use in hybrid cloud environments; Red Hat Satellite, a system management offering that helps to deploy, scale, and manage in hybrid cloud environments; and Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization, a software solution that allows customers to utilize and manage a common hardware infrastructure to run multiple operating systems and applications. The company offers application development-related and other technology solutions, such as Red Hat JBoss Middleware, a solution for developing, deploying, and managing applications; integrating applications, data, and devices; and automating business processes in hybrid cloud environments; The company's application development-related and other technology solutions also includes Red Hat cloud offerings, a software solution that enables customers to build and manage various cloud computing environments; Red Hat Mobile, a software development platform that enables customers to develop, integrate, deploy, and manage mobile applications for enterprises; and Red Hat Storage, a software solution that enables customers to manage large, unstructured, or semi-structured data in hybrid cloud environments. It also provides consulting, support, and training services; and realtime operating system, distributed computing, directory services, and user authentication. Red Hat, Inc. has collaboration with Juniper Networks Expand to provide a unified solution for enterprises designed to manage and run applications and services. The company was formerly known as Red Hat Software, Inc. and changed its name to Red Hat, Inc. in June 1999. Red Hat, Inc. was founded in 1993 and is headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Read MoreThe following companies are subsidiares of Sysco: 2234829 Alberta ULC, 2234842 Alberta ULC, A. M. Briggs Inc., A.M. Briggs, Almacen Fiscal Frionet Caldera S.A., Almacen Fiscal Frionet Limon S.A., Appert's Foodservice, Arnotts (Fruit) Limited, Asian Foods, Bahamas Food Holdings Limited, Bahamas Food Services Limited, Brake Bros, Brake Bros Foodservice Ireland Limited, Brake Bros. Foodservice Limited, Brake Bros. Holding I Limited, Brake Bros. Ltd., Brakes Foodservice NI Limited, Buchy Food Service, Buckhead Beef Co., Buckhead Meat & Seafood of Houston Inc., Buckhead Meat Company, Buckhead Meat Midwest Inc., Buckhead Meat of Dallas Inc., Buckhead Meat of Denver Inc., Buckhead Meat of San Antonio LP, Buzztable Inc., CAKE Corporation, Central Seafood Co., Christys Wine & Spirits Limited, Clafra Aktiebolag, Colorado Boxed Beef Co - Specialty meat-cutting division, Corporacion Frionet Sociedad Anonima, Crossgar Foodservice, Crossgar Foodservice Limited, Crown I Enterprises Inc., Cucina Acquisitions (UK) Limited, Cucina Finance (UK) Limited, Cucina French Holdings Limited, Cucina Fresh Finance Limited, Cucina Fresh Investments Limited, Cucina Lux Investments Limited, Curleys Quality Foods Limited (Third Party), Davigel Belgilux S.A., Davigel Espana S.A., Desert Meats & Provisions, Distagro, Doerle Food Service, Doughtie's Foods Inc., Dust Bowl City LLC, Eko Fagel Fisk o mittemellan AB, Enclave Insurance Company, Enclave Parkway Association Inc., Enclave Properties LLC, European Imports, European Imports Inc., Figg Inc., Freedman Meats, Freedman Meats Inc., Freedman-KB Inc., Fresh Direct (UK) Limited, Fresh Direct Group Limited, Fresh Direct Limited, Fresh Holdings Limited, FreshPoint, FreshPoint Arizona Inc., FreshPoint Atlanta Inc., FreshPoint California Inc., FreshPoint Central California Inc., FreshPoint Central Florida Inc., FreshPoint Connecticut LLC, FreshPoint Dallas Inc., FreshPoint Denver Inc., FreshPoint Hawaii LLC, FreshPoint Inc., FreshPoint Las Vegas Inc., FreshPoint North Carolina Inc., FreshPoint North Florida Inc., FreshPoint Oklahoma City LLC, FreshPoint Pompano Real Estate LLC, FreshPoint Puerto Rico LLC, FreshPoint San Francisco Inc., FreshPoint South Florida Inc., FreshPoint South Texas Inc., FreshPoint Southern California Inc., FreshPoint Tomato LLC, FreshPoint Vancouver Ltd., Freshfayre Limited, Fruktservice i Helsingborg AB, GHS Classic Drinks Limited, Gilchrist & Soames Inc., Gilchrist & Soames UK Limited, Guest Packaging LLC, Guest Supply, Guest Supply Asia Limited, Guest Supply Singapore Pte. Ltd., International Food Group, Isakssons Frukt & Gront AB, J & M Wholesale Meats, J. Kings Food Service Professionals, J. Kings Food Service Professionals Inc., Kent Frozen Foods, Les Ateliers Du Gout, Liquid Assets Limited, M&J Seafood Holdings Limited, M&J Seafood Limited, Manchester Mills LLC, Mayca Autoservicio S.A., Mayca Distribuidores S.A., Menigo Foodservice AB, Mitshim Etatu Supply LP, Newport Meat Company, Newport Meat Northern California Inc., Newport Meat Pacific Northwest Inc., Newport Meat Southern California Inc., Newport Meat of Nevada Inc., North Star Holding Corporation, North Star Seafood, North Star Seafood Acquisition Corporation, North Star Seafood LLC, PFS de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Palisades Ranch Inc., Pallas Foods, Pallas Foods Farm Fresh Unlimited Company, Pallas Foods Unlimited Company, Pauleys Produce Limited, Promotora del Servicios S.A. de C.V., Restaurangakdemien AB, Restaurant of Tomorrow Inc., Rohan Viandes Elaboration SAS, SMS Bermuda Holdings, SMS GPC International Limited, SMS GPC International Resources Limited, SMS Global Holdings S.a.r.l., SMS International Resources Ireland Unlimited Company, SMS Lux Holdings LLC, SOTF LLC, SYY Netherlands C.V., SYY Panama S. de R.L., Serca Foodservice, Servicestyckarna I Johannes AB, Servicios Ameriserve S.A. de C.V., Shenzhen Guest Supply Trading Co. Limited, Societe Civile Immobiliere (SCI) Bianchi Montegut, Societe Civile Immobiliere (SCI) De Boiseau, Societe Civile Immobiliere (SCI) De Garcelles, Societe Civile Immobiliere (SCI) J.D. Lanjouan, Societe Civile Immobiliere (SCI) Le Dauphin, Specialty Meat Holdings LLC, Stockflag Limited, Stockholms Fiskauktion AB, Supplies on the Fly, Sysco Albany LLC, Sysco Asian Foods Inc., Sysco Atlanta LLC, Sysco Autoservicio S.A., Sysco Baltimore LLC, Sysco Baraboo LLC, Sysco Bermuda Partners L.P., Sysco Boston LLC, Sysco Canada Holdings S.a.r.l., Sysco Canada Inc., Sysco Central Alabama LLC, Sysco Central California Inc., Sysco Central Florida Inc., Sysco Central Illinois Inc., Sysco Central Pennsylvania LLC, Sysco Charlotte LLC, Sysco Chicago Inc., Sysco Cincinnati LLC, Sysco Cleveland Inc., Sysco Columbia LLC, Sysco Connecticut LLC, Sysco Corporation, Sysco Corporation Director's Deferred Compensation Plan Trust, Sysco Corporation Employee's 401(k) Plan Trust, Sysco Corporation Executive Deferred Compensation Plan Trust, Sysco Corporation Good Government Committee Inc., Sysco Corporation Retirement Trust, Sysco Corporation Supplemental Executive Retirement Trust, Sysco Corporation Supplemental Unemployment Benefits Plan Trust, Sysco Detroit LLC, Sysco Disaster Relief Foundation Inc., Sysco EI VI S. s.r.l., Sysco EU II S.a.r.l., Sysco EU III S.a.r.l., Sysco EU IV Capital Unlimited Company, Sysco EU IV S. s.r.l.., Sysco EU V S. s.r.l., Sysco Eastern Maryland LLC, Sysco Eastern Wisconsin LLC, Sysco Foundation Inc., Sysco France Holding SAS, Sysco France SAS, Sysco George Town II LLC, Sysco George Town Limited S. s.r.l.., Sysco Global Finance LLC, Sysco Global Finance LLP, Sysco Global Holdings B.V., Sysco Global Resources LLC, Sysco Global Services LLC, Sysco Grand Cayman Company, Sysco Grand Cayman II Company, Sysco Grand Cayman III Company, Sysco Grand Rapids LLC, Sysco Guernsey Limited, Sysco Guest Supply Canada Inc., Sysco Guest Supply Europe Goods Wholesalers LLC, Sysco Guest Supply Europe Limited, Sysco Guest Supply LLC, Sysco Gulf Coast LLC, Sysco Hampton Roads Inc., Sysco Hawaii Inc., Sysco Holdings II LLC, Sysco Holdings LLC, Sysco Indianapolis LLC, Sysco International Food Group Inc., Sysco International Inc., Sysco Iowa Inc., Sysco Jackson LLC, Sysco Jacksonville Inc., Sysco Kansas City Inc., Sysco Knoxville LLC, Sysco Labs Europe Limited, Sysco Labs Pvt. Ltd., Sysco Leasing LLC, Sysco Lincoln Inc., Sysco Lincoln Transportation Company Inc., Sysco Long Island LLC, Sysco Los Angeles Inc., Sysco Louisville Inc., Sysco Memphis LLC, Sysco Merchandising and Supply Chain Services Canada Inc., Sysco Merchandising and Supply Chain Services Inc., Sysco Metro New York LLC, Sysco Minnesota Inc., Sysco Montana Inc., Sysco Nashville LLC, Sysco Netherlands Partners LLC, Sysco North Central Florida Inc., Sysco North Dakota Inc., Sysco Northern New England Inc., Sysco Philadelphia LLC, Sysco Pittsburgh LLC, Sysco Portland Inc., Sysco Raleigh LLC, Sysco Resources Services LLC, Sysco Riverside Inc., Sysco Sacramento Inc., Sysco San Diego Inc., Sysco San Francisco Inc., Sysco Seattle Inc., Sysco South Florida Inc., Sysco Southeast Florida LLC, Sysco Spain Holdings SLU, Sysco Spokane Inc., Sysco St. Louis LLC, Sysco Syracuse LLC, Sysco Technologies Cayman Ltd., Sysco Technologies LLC, Sysco UK Holdings Limited, Sysco UK Limited, Sysco UK Partners LLP, Sysco USA I Inc., Sysco USA II LLC, Sysco USA III LLC, Sysco Ventura Inc., Sysco Ventures Inc., Sysco Virginia LLC, Sysco West Coast Florida Inc., Sysco Western Minnesota Inc., The SYGMA Network Inc., Upsys, Victua SAS, Walker Foods Inc., Waugh Foods, and Wild Harvest Limited.Drone photo of the Hywind floating wind farm. Credit: yvind Gravas / Woldcam

Statoil is riding high on performance outcomes during the first three full months of its wind farm production, which exceeded expectations.

This is all about its floating wind farm dubbed Hywind Scotland.

Its location is about 15 miles offshore Peterhead in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The wind farm is powering approximately 20,000 UK households.

Reports highlighted nature's beasties that set a real challenge. Storm Caroline in December had gusts over 160 km/h, or 100 mph, and waves topping 8.2 meters (27 feet).

How did the wind turbines withstand bad weather conditions?

The turbines shut down for safety during the worst winds, and they automatically resumed.

"A pitch motion controller is integrated with the Hywind turbine's control system and will adjust the angle of the turbine blades during heavy winds which mitigates excessive motions of the structure," said the company.

Operations are by Statoil in partnership with Masdar. The Gulf Today reported that Masdar formed a strategic partnership with Statoil to pursue joint offshore wind projects.

Turning to Masdar, BusinessGreen said Masdar confirmed that the floating turbine project off the coast of Scotland "has been operating at 65 per cent capacity." In other words it "churned out 65 percent of its maximum theoretical capacity," EcoWatch said, "during November, December and January."

A typical capacity factor for an offshore wind farm in winter stands at 45-60 per cent.

EcoWatch detailed why this matters to those staying tuned to the potential of wind farms of this nature: Floating turbines were deployed before, mostly in small-scale projects. One example is the 7-megawatt system built by the Fukushima Wind Offshore Consortium.

"In contrast, the Hywind's five floating turbines produce 6 megawatts each on top of waters more than 328 feet deep. At full capacity, the facility can generate enough power for 20,000 homes."

BusinessGreen asked, as the Hywind project surpasses expectations, "are floating renewables ready for launch?"

Bader Al Lamki, executive director for clean energy at Masdar, said the results were encouraging for the industry as a whole. Statoil's executive vice president for New Energy Solutions, Irene Rummelhoff, made the point in BusinessGreen that up to 80 per cent of the offshore wind resources globally were in deep waters and they saw "great potential for floating offshore wind."

Meanwhile, seeing how technologies can harness offshore projects does not stop with wind turbines. Solar farm visionaries show interest too.

BusinessGreen reported on a Utrecht University announcement that it is leading a consortium to assess the viability of the first floating offshore solar plant.

The plan calls for an offshore solar array prototype off the Dutch coast near The Hague.

Business Green quoted Allard van Hoeken, founder of initiator Oceans of Energy.

(The startup Oceans of Energy specializes in offshore renewable energy. The company is located in Leiden, The Netherlands, and develops floating systems for renewable power generation at sea.)

"While solar farms have been constructed on inland bodies of water before, they have never been built offshore because of the difficulty of the undertaking. After all, it's a place where you're dealing with huge waves and other destructive forces of nature."

Explore further Wind turbines off coast of Scotland make waves in renewable energy

 2018 Tech XploreIssues of concern to people who live in the west: property rights, water rights, endangered species, livestock grazing, energy production, wilderness and western agriculture. Plus a few items on western history, western literature and the sport of rodeo... Frank DuBois served as the NM Secretary of Agriculture from 1988 to 2003. DuBois is a former legislative assistant to a U.S. Senator, a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Interior, and is the founder of the DuBois Rodeo Scholarship.A batch of highly skilled flower and vegetable farmers who migrated from the north of Vietnam to Da Lat are credited with laying the groundwork for the citys evolution into the countrys vegetable hub.

>> Untold stories of Da Lat  P6: Cherry blossom valley

>> Untold stories of Da Lat  P5: Billeting army officers wives

>> Untold stories of Da Lat  P4: The Haunted House on Prenn Pass

>> Untold stories of Da Lat  P3: Royal partition

>> Untold stories of Da Lat  P2: Stone villa of Nguyen Kings concubine

>> Untold stories of Da Lat  P1: Nguyen Dynastys trusted retainer

Migrant farmers spear-headed their way through poor conditions to turn the once desolate land surrounding the Central Highlands city of Da Lat into the predecessor for todays city of thousands of flowers.

It took over 120 years since Swiss-French physician and bacteriologist Alexandre Yersins discovery of the Liang Biang Plateau in 1893 for the town to grow into Vietnams leading veggie and flower producer.

The Liang Biang Plateau, situated 300km northwest of Ho Chi Minh City, is the home of Da Lat City  a beloved resort town and the heart of Lam Dong Province in the Central Highlands.

According to archives, the demand for fresh vegetables in Da Lat began to skyrocket in the 1930s as French soldiers were brought to the city for injury treatment.

Supply, however, fell short of demand and French troops were forced to have fresh produce shipped from Hanoi.

Hoang Trong Phu, chairman of the Northern Social Aid Committee and chief of northern Ha Dong Province, once home to famed flower villages, was the first to send farmers from Ha Dong to other regions in Vietnam to improve the lives of the local population.

Meanwhile, Tran Van Ly, a former chief of Lam Dong Province who took office in 1936, began mulling over the prospect of developing flower and vegetable farms in Da Lat.

Quite knowledgeable about France, he saw no reason not to put the idea into practice, as France and Da Lat have similarities in weather and soil.

Ly then sought help from Phu, who agreed and trusted Le Van Dinh, an agricultural counselor in Ha Dong with implementing the plan to send farmers to Da Lat.

Phus grave has become a monument in Ha Dong thanks to his innovative contributions to the agricultural development of the province and country.

Farmers at Nghe Tinh Veggie Village, the first of its kind in Da Lat, pose in this file photo.

Hanois flowers bloom in Da Lat

The first migrant farmers came from the six well-known flower villages surrounding Hanois iconic Tay (West) Lake to develop what is now Ha Dong Flower Village in Ward 8, Da Lat City.

Ngo Van Ngon was just 12 years old on a morning in May 1938 when 35 experienced male farmers from Ngoc Ha, Nghi Tam, Tay Tuu, Quang Ba, Xuan Tao, and Van Phuc set off for Da Lat.

The men and their families parted in tears before venturing down the unfamiliar road to Da Lat.

Of chief concern to the group was the year-round cold weather in Da Lat, where temperatures can bottom out at -5 degrees Celsius.

Ngo Van At, Ngons father, did not dare to take his family with him. It was one year later that the family was able to reunite in Da Lat.

For an entire year before leaving for Da Lat, the 35 men underwent strenuous training and testing, and ample encouragement from the province chief, in order for the group to garner the skills to create something worthwhile in the new land.

Cold and the threat of wild animals were a constant obstacle for the farmers.

At the 64-hectare village, the men would toil on the fields by day and keep guard by night, acutely aware of lurking predators.

Apart from hostile weather and predatory animals, what daunted the pioneers most was their difficulty in working the land.

The group had brought with them an entire train car of potato, cauliflower, strawberry, cabbage, rose, daisy, and jasmine seeds.

After two years of failed crops, the pioneers nearly ran out of seedlings.

Ngons family met with the other villagers and the group decided to take a chance by switching to new farming methods for the remaining seedlings.

The new methods worked and lush flower and vegetable farms were thriving throughout the Ha Dong village by late 1940, two years after the group first set foot in Da Lat.

With farming business booming in Da Lat, the French began to ship the high-quality produce across Vietnam and to other Indochinese countries.

King Bao Dai, the country's last king, confers prestigious titles on 16 Ha Dong villagers for their contributions to the development of vegetable and flower farming in Da Lat in 1945 in this file photo.

Produce firm, central veggie village

In 1940, Nghe Tinh Hamlet was formed by 70 households allocated with 36 hectares of land.

To become an inhabitant of the settlement, one had to have lived in Da Lat for more than one year and had no previous land ownership.

Nguyen Thai Hien was credited with sending farmers from the north-central provinces of Nghe An and Ha Tinh to Da Lat around 1927.

Hien, also known as Doan or Surveillant Hien, graduated from Tuyen Quang Farming School, an institution known for training the countrys first batch of agriculturalists.

In 1924, he was appointed a forest ranger in Phan Thiet, now the capital of south-central Binh Thuan Province, before becoming a public greenery superintendent in Da Lat in 1927.

Hien was credited with taming wild mai anh dao (cherry-like apricot blossoms) and transforming it into one of Da Lats signature flowers.

He was also lauded for successfully producing and trading exotic varieties of flowers and greens, particularly those from France, in the citys farms.

The agriculturalist was instrumental in localizing French breeds which had been originally grown in Da Lat on a pilot basis to cater to the demands of French officials.

Local residents became increasingly familiar with imported breeds of flowers, veggies and fruits, including lettuce, tomato, poireau (a type of leek), celery, green peppers, asparagus, strawberry, avocado, apple and artichoke, all of which had been brought to town by Hien.

He is also credited with establishing a business to trade in the abundant produce from Ha Dong Flower Village and Nghe Tinh Veggie Village and conduct transactions with other provinces and neighboring countries.

Hien joined hands with Ton Gia Huong, a civil servant working in Phan Thiet Town, and some other friends to launch a department store called Nouveautes Hanoi (Hanois New Items), now known as Phuong Nam Book Store.

The store provided local farmers with food, fertilizers, and pesticides before and was paid back in produce.

The store also operated an effective distribution system to ship products to other localities.

Villages, settlements in Da Lat Apart from hamlets scattered at the foot of Lang Biang and on the border Dankia and Suoi Vang Lakes that were inhabited by ethnic minority groups, villages and settlements were later added to Da Lat when Kinh people, the ethnic majority of the Vietnamese population, moved to the idyllic town. An example of the trend was Da Lac Temple. The temple was built in 1920 as part of Da Lac Village, nestled on the east bank of iconic Cam Ly Spring. Most villagers hailed from central provinces and earned their living by conducting business, building houses, growing vegetables, producing bricks or working at French-operated administrative agencies, hotels, and restaurants.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!A Vietnamese student has been embracing her lifestyle of wanderlust by traveling across Europe and other places around the world during her time as a student in France.

Huyen Le was a student of the chemistry-specialized class at Le Quy Don High School for Gifted Students in Da Nang City before taking off to France for her study at the University of Technology of Compiegne.

"France and the whole Europe have brought several new chapters to my life," Huyen said.

"I would not have known that the world is so beautiful, had I not got out of my home country to see other places," the Vietnamese student continued.

Kayaking at Lake Bled in Slovenia. Photo courtesy of Huyen Le

Before enjoying traveling, Huyen was just like many other young people, not knowing exactly what she really loves to do.

Thanks to various experiences from travel, she is now able to answer many important questions of her life, namely "Who is she?", "Where is she?", "What does she want?", "Why does she need to do that?", and "What does she have to do to achieve what she wants?"

Huyen has visited various places in France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Croatia, Slovenia, Spain, Poland, and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Huyen Le on top of a mountain in Switzerland. Photo courtesy of Huyen Le

Whenever she has time and feels like wandering, Huyen simply books tickets and hops on the train.

Among many European countries Huyen has visited, she falls in love with Switzerland the most because of its beautiful landscape and scenery.

However, the nation is also known to be extremely expensive, making her moneyless after various trips to this particular country.

One of Huyen's most memorable times was in southern Italy and the Mediterranean Sea where she can find a little something of Vietnam with countless canals, rivers, and bustling streets with all kinds of trading activities.

Huyen Le with a group of friends in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Photo courtesy of Huyen Le

Bosnia and Herzegovina, the country on the Balkan Peninsula in southeastern Europe, also left her with various memories.

Huyen said the country is still under poverty with few schools and various war remnants across the nation where occasionally there are incidents of left-over bombs exploding.

When asked how she got money for all her trips, Huyen smiled and said that she had saved from her part-time work.

Huyen Le on Ischia Island in Italy. Photo courtesy of Huyen Le

Whenever she does not have classes, she can be found busy working at a local store or a restaurant.

Huyen also shared that one economical way of traveling is to use "workaway, a service in which travelers or "workawayers" contribute an agreed amount of time per day in exchange for lodging and foods provided by the hosts.

The list of countries which Huyen has visited continues to expand to Scandinavian places to spot the aurora borealis, South Africa, and even nations in South America.

Huyen Le with two friends from Germany. Photo courtesy of Huyen Le

Wherever she visits, Huyen is always proud to present her home country, Vietnam, to other international friends.

Huyen has high hope that Vietnam can develop more with its tourism because the country is blessed with beautiful scenery and various unique foods.

"One day, when asked about Vietnam, foreigners are not just reminded of the wars but they will think of its nature, mountains, and seas," Huyen said.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!As of February 18, at least five young Vietnamese males with injuries on their hands suspected to be caused by firecrackers had been sent to the Hospital for Traumatology and Orthopaedics in the north-central Vietnamese province of Nghe An.

Most of the victims suffered injuries on their hands but they refused to admit that the lesions were caused by firecrackers.

One student from Hoa Thanh Commune in the province's Yen Thanh District was hospitalized on February 16, having injuries on his right hand's fingertips and admitting that he had used home-made firecrackers.

There have been five to six cases with injuries on the hands at the hospital.

Though the injuries caused by lighting firecrackers present no death risk, the victims suffer severe lesions on their hands, which could affect their study after treatment.

The Obstetric and Pediatric Hospital in Nghe An also received two cases of young people suffering injuries on hands.

T.T.K., 9, from Yen Thanh District, and P.T.B., 15, from Hung Nguyen District, both had severe lesions on their hands.

According to local authorities, they have arrested 505 people using firecrackers in 418 cases and seized 4.9 metric tons of the contraband.

A male 7th grader was recently found to suffer severe injuries on his hands due to firecrackers, according to local authorities in Thuan Thien Commune, Kien Thuy District, in the northern Vietnamese city of Hai Phong.

While making firecrackers with other local youths, N.D.T., 15, accidentally caused the contraband to burn, losing several of his fingers.

Though receiving quick operation from local doctors at the Hai Phong Children's Hospital, the young victim is now left with only one finger on his right hand and three on his left hand.

Lighting firecrackers used to be a favorite pastime for many Vietnamese during the Lunar New Year, or Tet holidays, but the activity resulted in serious consequences with thousands of people sent to the hospital every year.

As a result, the product was banned in 1995 by the Vietnamese government.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!Tonights Dateline story From Manus Island to Missouri explores the effects of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbulls refugee swap deal with former US President Barack Obama  a deal labelled rotten by current President Donald Trump.

With the Manus Island processing centre shut down and 135 refugees arriving in the US to date, Dateline reporter Dean Cornish looks at the swap deal and what it means for the refugees involved.

He speaks to Abdul-Azzi Tirab in Missouri, who arrived in America with the first group of refugees from Manus Island and Nauru. Tirab fled the bloody conflict in Sudan and before that escaped genocide and war in his native Darfur where hundreds of thousands were killed.

Tirabs family raised the money to get him out of Sudan but when he was in a boat a hundred miles from Darwin, Australias law changed and he ended up spending four years on Manus Island.

Manus Island  is like hell, you know?, Tirab says. We have been beaten, we have been killed, we have been tortured .and really that is the most bad period, surviving Manus Island.

But now Tirab is one of the lucky ones. When Dateline met Tirab hed been in Kansas City for just two months, living in the fourth most dangerous neighbourhood in the US. His one bedroom apartment is being paid for by the US government but soon he will need to pay his own way.

Tirabs life in the US might be basic  its the middle of winter and he doesnt even own a coat  but compared to what hes been through, Tirab sees his new home as a safe haven. He has six months to find a job and is taking forklift driving lessons to improve his prospects.

The details of the deal struck between the US and Australian governments has been vague, labelled as a people swap where Australia agreed to exchange refugees on Nauru and Manus for 200 Central American refugees. It has caused friction in Australia and particularly in the United States where anti-immigration sentiment is on the rise.

Cornish asks  why Australia has taken Central American refugees and not people who had been waiting years in Australian detention?

Tuesday 20 February at 9.30pm on SBS.The defamation case between actor Geoffrey Rush and the Daily Telegraph was back in the Federal Court today.

Rush is suing over articles published in November & December, surrounding a performance of King Lear at the Sydney Theatre Company.

The hearing held in Sydney is in relation to a subpoena by publisher Nationwide News Pty Ltd to the Sydney Theatre Company to obtain access to a file detailing the complaint.

Rushs legal team argued earlier this month that publishing such details could further harm the actors reputation.

Richard McHugh SC, today called for parts of the Telegraphs defence to be struck out, saying it lacked specificity and still didnt detail what Rushs alleged behaviour actually involved.

He told the court the defence was attempting to use the machinery of the court to dredge up a defence to its defamatory articles.

He objected to this on the grounds that it was a fishing expedition.

The STC has not disclosed details of the allegation, but did say an allegation had been made.

The court also heard journalists from the Telegraph sent an email to Rushs agent to request comment at 5.06pm the night before the first story was published. Sources for the initial story included at least three confidential sources, as well as the Sydney Theatre Companys executive director Patrick McIntyre, a woman based in the United States, and an anonymous email claiming to be from someone with knowledge of the production.

A second story referenced a social media post by actor Meyne Wyatt who was part of the production.

But the newspapers barrister Tom Blackburn, SC, said there was a big difference between the particulars detailed in the Telegraphs defence and the evidence that would be called in support of them.

The hearing continues.

Source: Fairfax, ABC, NineDoes TV have room for another hospital series, particularly one with a genius genius doctor on the same network? And just what is The Residents point of difference in an already-crowded genre?

These were the questions uppermost in my mind as I watched the first episode of the US drama starting next week on Seven.

Matt Czuchry (The Good Wife) is the star of this new show -despite what local promos may suggest- as senior resident doctor Conrad Hawkins. At Atlantas teaching hospital Chatsain Park Memorial he has the knack for instant diagnosis, the ability to always be right, toswill energy drinks and to walk hospital corridors with his hands seemingly attached to his hips.

He may have the hots for Nurse Nicolette Nevin (Emily VanCamp) but while she tells herself she is over their relationship, she still respects his talents.

Eager young Dr. Devon Pravesh (Manish Dayal) is straight out of Harvard and assigned to Conrad, who challenges him every step of the way.

Everything you knew about medicine is wrong, Conrad tells him.

While Devon wants to be paired with someone more conventional, Nurse Nic talks him out of it with an odd allegory about grumpy mechanics getting the job done in record time and half the cost of polite, expensive mechanics.

Conrads the guy who tightens the bolt, she assures. Okaaaaay..

Meanwhile the chief of surgery, Dr. Randolph Bell (Bruce Greenwood) is losing his grip, literally, in the operating theatre and patients are dying. In any other show this might have been a dark secret but in The Resident our young gun doctors know exactly what is going on.

Conrad threatens to expose him, on the eve of an important surgery with ground-breaking technology The Hand of God. It isnt clear why he doesnt raise it with the hospital nor address his own duties to the Hippocratic Oath. Bells failings are an open secret in this hospital.

Despite House-like scenes of doctor-as-God, the most interesting aspect to The Resident is its acknowledgment of medical failure. Medical error is the third biggest cause of death in the US, an interesting proposition to explore in a genre that is frequently heroic.

What they dont teach us in medical school is that there are so many ways to do harm, says Conrad.

It could have been a more rewarding experience had it afforded more room to humility and fragility, but Aussie director Phillip Noyce cleverly navigates around its shortcomings to rescue it from being either pedestrian or over-the-top. Just.

The face-off between Conrad and Bell is arguably the stuff of daytime TV melodrama and whilst The Resident may not attain the heights of The Good Doctor, it holds up across its opening hour, with moderate doses of suspended disbelief.

The Resident airs 9pm Monday on Seven.A 10,000-year old reconstructed skeleton found in Goughs Cave in Cheddar Gorge in Somerset, England a hundred years ago, has now had a full sequence of DNA analysed.

It was found to be a male of approximately five foot five, ten stone in weight, and had dark skin and blue eyes.

The secrets of the First Brit was unveiled on TV Channel 4

An exciting programme on the UKs Channel 4 (C4) has revealed many of the secrets of the ancient specimen of the so-called First Brit. The well-preserved skeleton is now kept on display at the Natural History Museum in the Red Zone, the section on Human Evolution and curated by Chris Stringer who has written several books on ancient genetics.

In this section of the Natural History Museum, there are several life-size reproductions of various branches of the Homo- family species, including, for example, a realistic model of Homo Neanderthensis. A decision was made to undergo a project to recreate a similar model of how Cheddar Man might have looked.

A project was initiated to recreate a model of Cheddar Man from DNA findings

The fresh DNA sequencing project was set up by the specialist team at the Museum. This was to be done by attempting to retrieve fresh DNA from the skeleton on display. The next step would be to sequence the DNA if any. With very old specimens, there is a real chance the DNA will have deteriorated, due to such things a bacterial decay, or the weather.

Thanks to the sealed off and sheltered limestone conditions of Goughs Cave, the likelihood of this was much lessened.

The team undertook to drill a 2mm hole into the petrous bone of the skull, which is found inside the inner ear. It then had to wait two weeks, to discover whether there was any usable DNA. To great excitement, the project was successful and the resulting data sent to University College London for further analysis.

Dutch twins recreate the face

In the meantime, Dutch forensic modellers, Adrie and Alfons Kennis, artists in two-dimensional and three-dimensional paleontological reconstructions, had modelled Cheddar Mans skull by intricate digital scanning, as used by the NASA Space Station, which was then sent to a 3-D printer. Not so long ago, this would have taken weeks  and the DNA sequencing up to three years  but nonetheless, it still took nineteen hours to reproduce the precise 3-D measurements.

The identical twins then had to await the DNA results to find out what colouring and hair type to assign their model.

Dr Yoan Diekmann of UCL reported back on the likely skin colour, which can be placed into five different categories, depending on the combination of gene markers identified with skin tones. Dr. Tom Booth of the Natural History Museum predicted on C4 TV the specimen would have curly hair, similar to his own as he had the same marker for this type of hair. Eye colour is dependent on yet another gene. The biggest surprise for the team and the national press is that Cheddar Man was found to be probably in the darkest skin category, but yet had pale blue eyes. This is not a combination often seen today.

The reconstruction of Cheddar Man is unveiled at the Natural History Museum

Thus, when the model of Cheddar Man was unveiled at the Natural History Museum a few weeks ago, there were gasps of delight and astonishment at the model's features, including a small face, delicate jaw and very broad cheeks and brow

Dr Chris Stringer explained to viewers that Cheddar Mans genetic profile was very similar to the ancient specimens found in Europe, such as in Loschbour in Luxemburg, the Hungarian ones, the 7,000-year one in La Brana Arintero in Spain and the other in Germany. These, too, are believed to have the combination of dark skin and blue eyes. They are labelled Western European Hunter-Gatherers and believed to have spread across Europe after the last Ice Age thawed some 10K years ago, migrating from the Middle East from their ancestral home of Africa in pursuit of game, such as red deer, oxen and wild boar.

ANCIENT DNA

Cheddar Mans Mesolithic - Western Europe Hunter Gatherer Contemporaries

Nomenclature Age Haplotype

Loschbour Lux 8,000 U5b1a

KO1 2, Hungary 7,700 R

NE1 Hungary 7,200 U5b2c

NE6, Hungary 7,100 K1a3a3

NE5, Hungary 7,100 T2a1a

LBK Stuttgart 7,000 T2c2

Motala-12, Swe 7,000 U2e1

La Brana, Spain 7,000 C6

NE7, Hungary 6,400 N1a

All Britons share 10% of Cheddar Mans DNA

The project also included taking DNA samples from volunteers in the modern-day Cheddar region of Somerset. All of them were found to share DNA traces with Cheddar Man. The surprise finding is that all modern day indigenous Brits share this, too, with about 10% of British DNA shared with Cheddar Man.

Cheddar Man has previously been sequenced by Brian Sykes

The Cheddar Man did have its DNA sequenced by Oxford University geneticist Brian Sykes, some years ago, from drilling into a tooth. However, some scientists have disputed whether contamination had been fully guarded against, as the U5 haplotype finding was also the haplotype of one of his lab assistants. U5 is, however, a very early European haplotype, so cannot be ruled out as inauthentic. The programme did not state the haplotype found for Cheddar Man in its own sequencing. Methods and techniques have developed substantially in recent years.

Cheddar Man has no connection to earlier cannibal tribe

It was found to have no direct ancestry to a cannibalistic tribe aged some five thousand years earlier whose bones were found in the same cave.

The bones showed evidence of chew marks made by human teeth, and the bones cut with a sharp implement. The skulls had been used as a drinking cup, in what is believed to have been used in rituals to honour their dead.Shares in Dart Group flew higher on Monday after the Jet2holidays parent said underlying pre-tax profit for the year to the end of March 2018 is expected to be "materially ahead" of current market views as prices return to normal following heavy discounting over the past year.

Dart said that looking ahead to the year ending 31 March 2019, forward bookings in its leisure travel business for summer 2018 are presently "satisfactory". In addition, the company remains "encouraged" by the performance of its two new operating bases at London Stansted and Birmingham airports.

Meanwhile, Darts distribution and logistics business, Fowler Welch, continues to focus on growing its revenue pipeline and developing existing and new business opportunities.

"It is still early in the leisure travel booking cycle and we remain cautious on pricing. However, given the satisfactory forward bookings and the execution of our growth strategy, the board currently expects the group's trading performance for the year ending 31 March 2019 to be broadly in line with the current financial year."

Neil Wilson, senior market analyst at ETX Capital, said: "The failure of rivals - Monarch in particular - has been a real boost. As spare capacity has been removed from the short-haul air and holiday sector, Dart is able to benefit. The loss of Monarch, Air Berlin and Alitalia has undoubtedly helped. In particular Jet2 has been piling into areas previously served by Monarch, significantly increasing capacity at Birmingham, Leeds and Manchester to capture market share in both flights and package holidays.

"The upgrade is the second in just a few months after the firm said in November that higher demand for flights resulted in future bookings being ahead of expectations and that this would mean underlying profits would be materially ahead of market expectations."

At 1000 GMT, the shares were up 14% to 739p.It will supply Tokyo based company Graphene Platform Corp (GPC) with specific graphene-based and other specialty inks which will in turn be targeted at the printed electronics market primarily in Japan, but also to other Asian countries where there is a significant market.

Ray Gibbs, chief executive of Haydale, said: "We have been working for many months on ink formulations with GPC's Graphene-Like-Graphite materials in order to meet customers' specifications. Now is the right time to formalise the joint development work with a supply agreement. Japan is a big market and GPC's presence is highly regarded and we look forward to working with them."

According to market research reports, the printed electronics market is expected to reach $12.1bn by 2022, up from $3bn in 2015, with the Asia Pacific region forecast to account for the largest share of the global market.

The emergence of China, Japan, India and South Korea as major electronics manufacturers is boosting the demand for printed electronics systems.

Shoji Hasegawa, chief executive of Graphene Platform Corp, said: "Haydale's specialty formulated inks offer unique properties specifically according to the individual customers' needs and will help us when marketing to the printed electronics market, an area we know well and that has good sales potential."

Haydale Graphene Industries manufactures a number of products, such as carbon fibre and silicon carbide, with applications in printing, automobiles, cookware and more.

At 1010 GMT, Haydale shares were up 4.41% at 118.50p.KEFI Minerals sought to reassure investors on Monday that the resignation of Ethiopias Prime Minister, Hailemariam Desalegn, will not have an impact on the companys activities in the country.

A state of emergency which was set to last six months was imposed in Ethiopia during the week before in response to the resignation, with defence minister Siraj Fegessa saying the country was clamping down on unrest, protests and publications "that could incite and sow discord".

In a statement, KEFI said that its activities have been unaffected "as regards its daily interface with the various government agencies and with the community at Tulu Kapi."

In the meantime, KEFIs joint project for mine development with Tulu Kapi Gold Mines Shared Company, a firm owned by both KEFI and the government of Ethiopia, was set to commence once regulators had allowed financing arrangements to be finalised and put into effect.

The project was set to create over 1,000 jobs in the Tulu Kapi area.

KEFI Minerals was formed in 2006 with the aim of developing profitable gold and base metal mines in a cost-effective manner and was currently developing projects in Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia.

As of 1634 GMT, KEFI Minerals shares were down 7.25% to 3.20p.South eastern European-focussed property and investment company Secure Property Development & Investment announced on Monday that, as at 31 December, the net asset value of its portfolio of properties stood at approximately 51.5m - including 2.8m being the net value of the prepayments already made by year-end for the Olympians project in Romania.

The AIM-traded firm said that represented a 7% increase on 2016's year end NAV of 48m, and was achieved despite the company incurring a 1.5m forex loss arising from the valuation of its properties in Ukraine, which are dollar-denominated.

It said the 2017 NAV formed part of the company's annual year-end valuation of its portfolio, and auditing of its accounts.

SPDI's portfolio consists of South eastern European prime real estate, the majority of which was let to blue chip tenants on long leases.

The companys core income-producing portfolio is comprised of assets in high-yielding countries such as Romania and Greece, the board explained, and includes logistics terminals in Athens and Bucharest, offices in Bucharest, as well as a retail big-box asset in Craiova, Romania

At 51.5m, the net asset value of SPDI's portfolio of properties is almost four times higher than its current market valuation, commented SPDI chief executive officer Lambros G Anagnostopoulos.

We believe the substantial discount at which our shares trade to NAV is unwarranted, particularly when one considers our existing core portfolio of prime real estate is located in South east European countries such as Romania and Greece, which are strategically important in terms of trade flows.

In addition, our properties are exposed to the ongoing European yield compression play, which is pushing capital values in the region higher.

Anagnostopoulos said that, to have achieved NAV growth despite forex losses of 1.5m during the year, was testament to the quality of the companys assets and management team.

This bodes well for delivering on our corporate objective to take advantage of macro and regional trends and build the leading South eastern European income generating and dividend paying property company.SimiGon announced on Monday that it has won a follow-up contract to provide the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) with its simulation software.

The follow-on order from a "prime" contract signed in September is worth approximately $120,000 and will see the company provide its SIMbox software, development tools and engineering services for the FAAs Advanced Unmanned Aircraft System Research Simulator (AURS).

Ami Vizer, chief executive of SimiGon, said: "We are very excited to continue working with the FAA to support the AURS for the US Government. This follow-on order shows the flexibility of SIMbox in supporting multiple domains, including civilian UAS aviation research, a fast growing market."

Florida-based SimiGon is the developer of SIMbox, a software platform that provides the ability to create, modify, manage and deploy simulation content for aircraft, ground vehicles, ships, weapons, sensors, eLearning material and more.

The FAA will use the AIM based companys software to modify unmanned aircraft systems components to conduct research activities.

SimiGon said the new contract has been factored into its managements expectations for the 2018 fiscal year.

At 0833 GMT, the shares were unchanged at 15.25p.Analysts at Credit Suisse reiterated their 'underperform' stance on shares of TalkTalk , slashing their target price in the process, to reflect the company's 200m share placing and its analysts' now lower medium-term forecasts for the firm's operating profits.

For example, the Swiss broker thought it unlikely the company would be able to hit management's forecast for EBITDA growth of 15% in fiscal year 2019, penciling in an increase of 7% instead.

In a nut shell, the Swiss broker believed TalkTalk's weaker growth prospects justified a lower valuation.

At their new target price of 90p, which was down from 140p previously, the stock would be left trading at an EV/EBITDA multiple of 6.3, a similar rating to that of the sector, which was facing low-single digit rates of growth in EBITDA "over the next few years".

More specifically, FTTH build in the UK was continuing to ramp slowly, thus putting pressure on DSL unbundlers such as TalkTalk, Credit Suisse said.

There was also the risk to DSL from mobile substitution, analyst Paul Sidney said to clients in a research note.

"TalkTalk's own 3m fibre JV with M&G announced last week may allow it to partly offset pressure from these headwinds but this is likely to be some years away with the JV yet to identify which areas of the UK it will target," Sydney added.

All told, Credit Suisse trimmed its medium-term forecasts for the rate of growth in the company's revenues between 2018 and 2020 by between 1% and 2% and those for its EBITDA over the same time horizon by up to 15%.

It also reduced its free cash flow projections by between 8% to 13%.European shares slipped into the red at lunchtime on Monday as investors looked for something to chew on with US and China markets both closed.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index was down hed 0.1% to 380 after managing to keep its head above water in the morning session. A poor outlook from consumer goods maker Reckitt Benckiser pulled t,he index lower.

"Global equities are a shade offside to start the new week with holidays in Asia (Lunar New Year) and the US (Presidents' Day) reducing trading volumes, said Mike van Dulken, head of research at Accendo Markets.

In corporate news, Reckitt was under the cosh as it vowed to return to growth after reporting flat like-for-like sales for 2017.

Daimler shares were lower after a report in the German newspaper cited internal documents from US investigators that the car company may have used software to help some of its vehicles pass U.S. diesel-emissions tests.

AstraZeneca ticked lower after it and MedImmune, its global biologics research and development arm, announced that the US Food and Drug Administration has approved Imfinzi for the treatment of patients with unresectable Stage III non-small cell lung cancer, whose disease has not progressed following concurrent platinum-based chemotherapy and radiation therapy.

On the upside, Spectris rallied as it posted a 12% increase in full-year pre-tax profit and a 13% rise in revenueCity of London Investment Group released its half-year results for the six months to 31 December on Monday, with funds under management reaching $5.3bn (3.9bn) at period end, rising from $4.7bn at the beginning of the financial year.

The London-listed firm said funds under management as at 31 January were $5.8bn.

Revenues representing the group's management fees on funds under management were 17.1m, up from 15.4m a year earlier.

Profit before tax was 6.6m, rising from 5.8m, with the board confirming an increased interim dividend of 9p per share, up from 8p.

That would be payable on 16 March to shareholders on the register on 2 March.

Cash and cash equivalents at period end totalled 15.6m - a sizeable year-on-year increase from 10.5m.

Notwithstanding the major gains witnessed in 2017 across global equity markets, the exceptional value we find in emerging market closed-end funds and holding companies gives us confidence that we continue to be well placed to deliver strong relative returns, commented chairman David Cardale on the firms outlook.

This, combined with the traction now achieved with our diversification products, justifies my confidence in anticipating a successful outcome for the full year.Retailer Sir Philip Green is reportedly in talks on a full or partial sale of his Arcadia empire to Chinese interests, UK media reported on Monday, sparking concerns about how pensioners would be protected if a deal was agreed.

Jining-based Shandong Ruyi has held discussions and looked over the books of Arcadia, which owns the Dorothy Perkins, Wallis and Evans brands, the Sunday Times reported.

Green was said to be looking for an exit as the ageing stable faces real competition from online stores such as Boohoo and its Nasty Gal unit.

The speculation has caught the eye of Green's nemesis, Labour MP Frank Field, who chairs parliament's all-party Work and Pensions select committee.

Field wasted no time in announcing that he would be seeking assurances that pensioners in Arcadia's scheme would be protected given it has a 565m deficit and likely to be a deal breaker in any sale.

Our focus is on the commitment to pay down that pension deficit, and what will actually be the commitment of the new owners to the pensions, Field told the Press Association.

The committee will be writing officially and we will get a reply, Im sure. (Sir Philip) has always complied in the past and Im sure he will comply as a law-abiding citizen.

Field said the committee was forced to take action because the Pensions Regulator did not have the powers to take firms to task.

These sorts of jobs ought to be done by the Pensions Regulator. They ought to be looking at firms with difficult pension positions when there is a sale going on to make sure the views of the pensioners, both now and in future, are being taken into account.

The Work and Pensions committee released documents from the Arcadia Schemes trustees in April last year showing a 565m deficit at the time of the March 31 2016 valuation.

As part of a recovery plan, Green has agreed to pay 50m a year until August 2019 and 54.5m from then until March 2026, in contrast to 24.3m a year previously.

Green will know all eyes are on him after the collapse of BHS in 2016, a year after he sold the department store for 1 to the former bankrupt Dominic Chappell.

The company's pension fund had a 571m deficit, leaving 20,000 pensioners high and dry until pressure from a parliamentary inquiry jointly-led by Field and The Pensions Regulator forced Green into paying 363m to top up the BHS pot.Community regeneration housebuilder MJ Gleeson announced a strong performance for its first half on Monday, with profit before tax up 19.1% and an increase in the interim dividend of 38.5% to 9.0p per share.

The London-listed firms Gleeson Homes division saw unit sales increase 31.5% to 593 units, with its average selling price up 2.5% to 124,400.

Its revenue improved 34.7% to 73.7m, while its gross margin increased to 32.2% from 31.9% and its operating profit rose 44.7% to 12.3m.

The companys operating margin increased to 16.7% from 15.5% a year earlier, with the board reporting a land pipeline of 12,001 plots, up from 11,588 plots at the start of the period.

A new pilot office was opened in Ashington, Northumberland during the period, bringing total to seven area offices and three pilot offices.

At the Gleeson Strategic Land division, the company completed three land sales, in line with the same period a year earlier.

The operating profit of the division was lower at 2.3m, down from 4.0m, which was expected and due to the smaller site size.

MJ Gleeson said it had 11 sites with planning permission, or a resolution to grant permission, a reduction from 13 sites.

The board confirmed the interim dividend had increased 38.5% to 9p per share, with the full-year dividend cover policy revised to between 1.75x and 2.75x.

The group has once again delivered a very encouraging start to the year, said chairman Dermot Gleeson.

Gleeson Homes continued to benefit from its unique business model, increasing unit sales by 31.5% and operating profit by 44.7%.

Gleeson said land remained available to the company at what he called sensible prices, with demand for its homes among its customer base remaining strong.

The division continues to source additional sites in both existing and new geographic areas and has recently opened another pilot office in Ashington, Northumberland.

Gleeson Strategic Land completed the same number of site sales as in the prior first half year period.

As anticipated, however, Gleeson noted the sites were of a smaller size.

Demand for consented sites remains strong from both large and medium sized developers.

The division has a significant number of sites progressing to sale and is confident of achieving stronger second half results than in the comparable period last year, Gleeson said.

Against this background, the board is confident that the group will deliver a result for the full year in line with expectations.Retailer N Brown has appointed Matt Davies - currently the head of UK and Ireland for Tesco - as its new chairman, succeeding Andrew Higginson.

He will assume the role on 1 May, when Higginson retires from the board.

Davies has been CEO of Tesco UK and Ireland since May 2015. Prior to that, he was CEO of Halfords from 2012 to 2015 and finance director and CEO of Pets at Home.

Higginson said: "We are delighted to welcome Matt Davies to N Brown. Matt is a first-class retailer and brings a wealth of experience to the group. He has a proven track record of value creation across retail and online through his roles as CEO of Tesco UK and ROI and as CEO of Halfords and Pets at Home. It has been a privilege to chair the company through the past five years, and I wish the business every success in the coming years."

Davies said: "I am delighted and excited to be taking on this role. I am really looking forward to working with Angela, her team and my fellow non-executive directors to further develop and grow the N Brown business.

At 0920 GMT, the shares were up 1.9% to 192.60p.

Shore Capital analyst Clive Black said Davies is "an excellent replacement" for Higginson, having had "considerable success at a pretty young age".

"Shore Capital warmly welcomes this appointment, which to us reflects especially well on the work of senior independent director, Ron McMillan, plus the attraction of the wider group to him led by CEO Angela Spindler."A group of mining companies, including Glencore and Randgold Resources , have banded together in an effort to halt legislative changes in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

A new code, approved by lawmakers on 27 January following a five-year reform process, was set to raise costs for mining companies in the country, Africas primary producer of copper and a key source of cobalt used in electric car batteries.

The group of companies, consisting of Glencore, Randgold, Ivanhoe Mines, MMG, Zijin Mining Group, China Molybdenum and Anglogold Ashanti, sent a letter to Congolese President Joseph Kabila on 8 February requesting a meeting to discuss changes to the mining code, Bloomberg reported.

The new laws are not wholly dissimilar to those recently passed in Kabila's former home of Tanzania under President John Mugulifi, with whom Kabila is close. Royalty rates in Tanzania for gold, copper, silver and platinum exports were hiked to 6% from 4% and government is looking to take a stake in mining companies operating there, as shareholder in Acacia Mining will know only too well.

Congo's overseas mining companies are also pushing to form their own association of major mining companies in the DRC, with members of the group such as Glencore, Randgold and China Moly having stated in December that they were willing to pursue the matter "by all domestic and international means at their disposal".

Mines minister Martin Kabwelulu said on Monday: "It is a pity that these companies are making a move outside FECs Chamber of Mines. The body has participated in discussions with all stakeholders since 2012."

Mark Bristow, chief executive of Randgold, which has been lobbying on the issue in recent weeks, said: "Watching people shoot themselves in the head, not even in the foot, is frustrating for me. The mining environment in the DRC needs to be improved, but improved in consultation with the main investors, which are China Molybdenum, Glencore and ourselves."

As part of its mining legislative rejig, last month DRC proposed a potential increase in the royalty that miners would be required to pay on cobalt from 2% to 3.5%, by changing the category of cobalt as a "strategic substance". DRC is responsible for two-thirds of the world's cobalt supply.

Analysts at RBC Capital Markets said the new code could also mean cobalt is taxed at 35%, up from 30% if it is deemed strategic, and a 50% super profits tax would be levied, though last week acknowledged there was limited clarity and conflicting information on what that super profits tax entails at this point.

Economists have identified cobalt as a potential bottleneck for electric vehicle producers, with production of the metal likely to remain a major challenge for the next 5-10 years, especially given how the global industry was incredibly reliant on Congo.

Glencore has two main assets in the DRC, 85%-owned Katanga and wholly owned Mutanda, producing more than 500kt of copper and around 55kt of cobalt, both with further potential upside.Petra Diamonds warned on Monday that full-year earnings would come in below market expectations, having already issued a profit warning at the end of last month that reset analysts' forecasts.

Petra said on 28 January that earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation would come in 10% to 15% lower than consensus, but in its interim results on Monday, the group revised its adjusted EBITDA for the year down a further 5% from the previous $244.9m figure.

Despite this, the African-focussed producer still expects revenue to be in line with market expectations as revenues for the six months leading to 31 December remained broadly flat at $225m compared to $229m.

Petra, which owns and operates the Cullinan mine responsible for producing the crown jewels, said adverse currency movements as a result of a strengthening South African rand and a weakening interest in diamonds amongst millennials had hurt the firm, which swung to a loss of $117.7m from the $35.2m profit it had seen in its first half a year earlier.

The number of carats sold by Petra dropped 5% despite production increasing 10% to 2.20m after a block to exports of diamonds from its Tanzanian operations dragged adjusted EBITDA to $80.1m, down from $87.1m.

Petra claimed to hold sufficient banking facilities to meet its working capital requirements after its lenders agreed to waive its December covenants, as well as resetting its requirements for the current trading year.

RBC Capital Markets said: "Petra continues to work through its tight liquidity situation. Today's covenant waiver provides increased flexibility. 2018 should see the Cullinan ramp up fully revealed and in the meantime, we expect continued volatility in what we think remains a compelling medium-term growth story."

RBC reiterated its 'outperform' rating on Petra, but dropped its target price from 100p to 85p, saying that although the waiver to its December covenant test, and the revision to its June and December 2018 tests, had improved the company's outlook, it calculated the company was still slightly offside the revised covenants, and that significant general ramp-up risks still remained at Cullinan "in what remains a volatile wider market".

Net debt widened to $644.7m from the previous year's figure of $555.3m.

Johan Dippenaar, Petra's chief executive, said: "H1 saw further growth in production to 2.2 million carats. Our focus now is to keep on delivering from the new production blocks, particularly at Finsch and Cullinan where the expansion programmes continue to ramp up and to further optimise the new Cullinan plant. The challenge of the strong Rand has also sharpened focus on our operating and capital expenses."

The company also announced that Jim Davidson, its technical director, who built the business from the ground up with Dipenaar, would be standing down from his role in June, and that chief financial officer Jacques Breytenbach would join the board as finance director, effective immediately.

At 1055 GMT, the shares were up 9.2% to 70.05p.Cryptographic coins are currently one of the most popular investment tools thanks to the rise in value of bitcoin and other digital currencies. The investors in cryptocoins should decide first of all which one of the countless coins they wants to invest in. To avoid this entrance barrier and invest like a professional trader, eToro has designed Crypto Copyportfolio .

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*Cryptocurrencies can fluctuate widely in prices and are therefore not appropriate for all investors. Trading cryptocurrencies is not supervised by any EU regulatory framework. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Trading history presented is less than 5 years and may not suffice as basis for investment decision. Your capital is at risk.Twenty female University of North Georgia (UNG) students from all five campuses will have a moment in the spotlight when the Women of UNG recognizes them at the second annual Women's Leadership Luncheon next month.

The female UNG students to be recognized are Addyson Albershardt, Chandler Alligood, Kaitlyn Bowling, Callie Brock, Jemmy Case, Renee Clement, Abby Hood, Molly Martin, Kendall Maze, Julie McKie, Nataly Morales Villa, Sarah-Anne Payne, Lily Rainwater, Martie Rogers, Sarah Rogers, Jenna Sanborn, Kristen Shadrix, Kathryn Shafer, Sydney Sprague, Michelle Vatral, Ella Wasiluk, Ansley Watson, Rachael Williams, and Andrea Zarate.

Members of the shared interest group under the UNG Alumni Association also want to show female UNG students where their leadership skills can take them beyond UNG. To that end, Women of UNG will honor five alumnae during the luncheon from noon to 2 p.m. Sunday, March 4, at UNG Dahlonega Campus' dining hall banquet room.

"We are going to recognize them and tell a little about their stories," said Dr. Karen Frost, chairwoman of Women of UNG and a 1974 UNG alumna. "We will put their names on a plaque in the alumni office. We hope to add to that from year to year, so others who come into that office will see those names."

The inaugural alumnae honorees will be:

Sue Haynes Malone ('74)  the first woman to receive an athletic scholarship in Georgia; she played basketball at UNG and was inducted into the UNG Athletic Hall of Fame in 2012.

Betty Chapman ('58)  one of the few female microbiologists in her field during her tenure at SmithKline and Quest lab; she received advanced training in malaria and parasitology from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Ann Alexander ('64)  an artist in Gainesville, Georgia, has received numerous local, regional, state, and national art awards, including the Best of Show and second place awards at the National League of American Pen Women, Members Invitational Art Show in Atlanta.

Emily Dunn ('83)  manager of Tom's Amusement Co., and the first woman to chair the Georgia State Transportation Board.

Ann Hammel ('89)  senior director of human resources with Carters Inc., various human resources positions with Macys and a former first lieutenant, platoon leader in the U.S. Army Signal Corps.

"We hope to pique students' interest in different careers that they can go into and see that there are strong women who have left the university and done incredible things," Frost said, adding she was unaware of some of the successes of the alumnae recognized. "I think if I had known about them when I was a student, it would have been inspiring to me."

Wendi Huguley, executive director of the UNG alumni association and a 1990 UNG alumna, said each of the alumnae have accomplished wonderful things in their careers.

Betty Chapman ('58) was one of the few female microbiologists in her field during her tenure at SmithKline and Quest lab. She received advanced training in malaria and parasitology from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"In 1958, you found very few science majors who were women, but Betty Chapman was inspired by a biology professor," Huguley said, noting Chapman retired in February 2017 at age 80. "She is one of the few people remaining who could identify malaria through a microscope without a computer's assistance."

Ann Hammel, who was in the Corps of Cadets at UNG and commissioned as a second lieutenant, has had an extensive career in human resources. She will speak to the UNG students about the luncheon's theme: "The Confident Leader: Be Bold. Be Powerful. Be You."

"She is going to talk to young women about being confident, taking risks and speaking up," Frost said.After the government shut down at midnight on Friday, both Democrats and Republicans made sure to blame each other for not being able to reach a deal. As lawmakers continued the debate over the weekend, one Democratic senator took a shot at the president over his lack of military service.

Trump's draft dodging

Since the day Donald Trump kicked off his campaign for president back in June 2015, one of his top talking points was promising to be the best commander in chief for past, present, and future members of the military. As time went on, the former host of "The Apprentice" made promise after promise as it pertained to taking care of service men and women and has continued that rhetoric since his election win and inauguration one year ago.

Despite his promises, not much action as been done when it comes to military and veterans, especially on the issue of the troubled Veterans Administration. After Republicans and Democrats were unable to strike a deal on Friday night, the government shutdown went into effect, with military men and women being negatively impacted. As expected, Trump decided to politicize the issue and put the blame on the doorstep of the Democratic Party. In response, Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth, an Army veteran herself, lashed out at Trump, as reported by The Hill on January 20.

Taking to the Senate floor on Saturday night, Sen Tammy Duckworth unloaded on Donald Trump for using the military as a political talking point.

"Does he even know that there are service members who are in harms way right now," Duckworth wondered, but doubling down on comments that Trump' actions have been "harmful to not just the military, but to our national security."

WATCH: Duckworth torches Trump: I won't be lectured on what our military needs by a "five-deferment draft dodger" https://t.co/nAv5J007mu pic.twitter.com/RjRTSVHDLt  The Hill (@thehill) January 21, 2018

"I will not be lectured about what our military needs by a five-deferment draft dodger," Tammy Duckworth went on to say.

"I have a message for cadet bone spurs," she added, while giving the president a new nickname in the process. "If you cared about our military, youd stop baiting Kim Jong Un into a war," she went on to say. Shortly after her speech, Duckworth repeated her claims on Twitter.

Moving forward

As of press time, Donald Trump has not responded to the attack from Tammy Duckworth, whose military history is well-documented.

Duckworth is an Iraq War Veteran who served as a U.S. Army helicopter pilot before losing both of her legs in combat. On the flip side, the president avoided the Vietnam War after obtaining five deferments, with at least once citing "bone spurs."With the possibility of a government shutdown increasing, Donald Trump is directing his attack on the Democratic Party. In his latest post on Twitter, the president made his agenda clear.

Trump on Twitter

As has been the case for years in Washington D.C., Democrats and Republicans have been unable to find common ground on the issue of spending. With immigration at the centerpiece of the current debate, the government is set to shutdown at midnight on Friday unless lawmakers can strike a deal. With Democrats pushing to extend Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and Republicans calling for increased funding for a border wall and security, both sides appear unwilling to budge.

For Donald Trump, it's clear that he knows exactly who he plans to blame for the current issues in Washington, as the president lashed out during his latest Twitter post on January 19.

Not looking good for our great Military or Safety & Security on the very dangerous Southern Border. Dems want a Shutdown in order to help diminish the great success of the Tax Cuts, and what they are doing for our booming economy.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 20, 2018

Taking to Twitter on Friday night, Donald Trump put the blame of a government shutdown on the doorstep of the Democrats in Congress. "Not looking good for our great Military or Safety & Security on the very dangerous Southern Border," Trump tweeted out.

This would be the first real government shutdown under one-party government, ever https://t.co/7svl6E4BBd  Vox (@voxdotcom) January 19, 2018

Not stopping there, Donald Trump piled on his criticism. "Dems want a Shutdown in order to help diminish the great success of the Tax Cuts, and what they are doing for our booming economy," he added.

As expected, those who oppose the current administration and the Republican Party were quick to fire back at the commander in chief.

Twitter responds

Following Donald Trump's tweet on the government shutdown, social media users wasted no time firing back. "Not true. They want to protect the Dreamers, which you promised you would do.

Stop lying and make a deal already," one tweet added.

The only thing that should be shutdown is your twitter account. Trumps still not going to date you. #TrumpShutdown  Dave Cannella (@orlandodavec) January 20, 2018

Not true. They want to protect the Dreamers, which you promised you would do. Stop lying and make a deal already.  David Caster (@DavidCaster) January 20, 2018

Youre doing so much to help while sitting in Florida and planning your $100k/plate dinner tomorrow night...  Jason Feffer (@ThatsFeffedUp) January 20, 2018

"The only thing that should be shutdown is your twitter account. Trumps still not going to date you," one Twitter user wrote. "It is hard to negotiate with those you have offended everyday," yet another tweet added.

"That's not true, they want an answer on DACA to help people. Something you wouldn't understand because the people it affects aren't rich," a follow-up tweet noted.

Couldn't 'close the deal', huh? Yeah, I think I read something about that earlier this week...  MutherBear (@MuthrBear) January 20, 2018

Happy Anniversary!!! of the smallest, most puny & boring inaugural in history. The LARGEST in US history? Yep, Obama in 2009. You could learn something about the American people here....  Marcy Fraser (@marcyfraser) January 20, 2018

That's not true, they want an answer on DACA to help people. Something you wouldn't understand because the people it affects aren't rich  Auntie (@auntie4763) January 20, 2018

"Happy Anniversary!!!

of the smallest, most puny & boring inaugural in history. The LARGEST in US history? Yep, Obama in 2009. You could learn something about the American people here," a tweet stated. "Couldn't 'close the deal', huh? Yeah, I think I read something about that earlier this week," yet another tweet read.After Republicans and Democrats failed to reach a deal before midnight on Friday, the United States government shut down. Moments later, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer took to the floor to rip into Donald Trump, which the president was not happy about it.

Trump on government shutdown

On the one-year anniversary of Donald Trump's inauguration, the president woke up to a government shutdown. After weeks of debating, Democrats and Republicans were unable to find common-ground and compromise to fund the government, marking the first shutdown since 2013.

In a last ditch effort, Republicans failed in their attempt to come up with the required 60 votes needed that would have passed a short-term spending bill to fund the government for the next 30 days, but Democrats balked at the idea due to the GOP not allowing an extension of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). On the flip side, Republicans and the president demanded that funding for a border wall be included, which their Democratic counterparts wouldn't agree to. In response, Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer stood on the Senate floor and put the blame on the commander in chief, calling it the "Trump Shutdown" in using a phrase that quickly became the number one trending hashtag on social media.

In response, Trump lashed out on January 20 during a series of posts on his own Twitter feed.

Democrats are far more concerned with Illegal Immigrants than they are with our great Military or Safety at our dangerous Southern Border. They could have easily made a deal but decided to play Shutdown politics instead. #WeNeedMoreRepublicansIn18 in order to power through mess!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 20, 2018

Taking to Twitter on Saturday morning, Donald Trump went on the attack against the Democrats over the government shutdown.

"Democrats are far more concerned with Illegal Immigrants than they are with our great Military or Safety at our dangerous Southern Border," Trump tweeted, while calling for more Republicans in Congress to help "power through mess!"

This is the One Year Anniversary of my Presidency and the Democrats wanted to give me a nice present. #DemocratShutdown  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 20, 2018

"This is the One Year Anniversary of my Presidency and the Democrats wanted to give me a nice present," Donald Trump added in a follow-up tweet, while using the hashtag "Democrat Shutdown." In his third tweet on the matter, the president continued his attack.

"For those asking, the Republicans only have 51 votes in the Senate, and they need 60," Trump explained. "That is why we need to win more Republicans in 2018 Election!" the president wrote, while vowing to eventually "be even tougher on Crime (and Border)" and "even better to our Military & Veterans!.

For those asking, the Republicans only have 51 votes in the Senate, and they need 60. That is why we need to win more Republicans in 2018 Election! We can then be even tougher on Crime (and Border), and even better to our Military & Veterans!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 20, 2018

In his fourth and final tweet as of press time, Donald Trump was simple and to the point with his tweet, writing, "America First!." In response, the Democrats have no yet made a rebuttal.

Dems: Trump walked away from deal with Schumer to avoid government shutdown https://t.co/vDRY9NKlvV pic.twitter.com/gNbD4icyS2  The Hill (@thehill) January 20, 2018

Moving forward

With the government shutdown taking place, recent polls show that the majority of the American people put the blame on Donald Trump and the Republican Party. With majority-control in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, a well as the White House, the GOP has a lot of explaining to do as to why the government is now shut down.It's no secret that there have been questions surrounding the relationship status of Donald and Melania Trump. During her Valentine's Day post on social media, the first lady ignored her husband, with the president not even acknowledging the holiday.

Looking forward to a very sweet afternoon visiting @theChildrensInn & celebrating Valentines Day with some kids at @NIH! #HappyValentinesDay  Melania Trump (@FLOTUS) February 14, 2018

Melania on Valentine's Day

Starting back during Donald Trump's campaign for president, it was well-known that he's had a controversial history with women.

Once the now infamous Access Hollywood tape was released, it resulted in a dozen women coming forward to accuse Trump of various forms of sexual assault and harassment. Fast forward to present day and that latest drama revolves around the alleged affair Trump had with adult film star Stormy Daniels, which reportedly took place in 2006 when wife Melania Trump was pregnant with their son Barron.

Once the story went viral, speculation continued to grow about the status of the first couple, with Melania Trump abruptly canceling her appearance with the president during a recent foreign trip, though her office claimed it was due to "scheduling conflicts." Both Melania and Donald never acknowledged their 13th wedding anniversary last month, which continued a similar theme during the first lady's Valentine's Day tweet.

"Looking forward to a very sweet afternoon visiting The Children's Inn & celebrating Valentines Day with some kids at the National Institutes of Health," Melania Trump tweeted out. As for Donald Trump, he once again failed to acknowledge his wife during yet another holiday where couple's traditionally spend time together.

Happy Valentines Day, @MichelleObama. You make every day and every place better. pic.twitter.com/aWvyytR7Mm  Barack Obama (@BarackObama) February 14, 2018

Obamas share love

For former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama, the two made sure to send out messages to one another. "Happy Valentine's Day to my one and only, Barack Obama.

To celebrate the occasion, Im dedicating a little Valentines Day playlist to you!" the first lady tweeted out, while attaching a Spotify playlist of love songs.

Happy #ValentinesDay to my one and only, @BarackObama. To celebrate the occasion, Im dedicating a little Valentines Day playlist to you!  https://t.co/aHSQAL25mH  Michelle Obama (@MichelleObama) February 14, 2018

Not long after Michelle sent out her tweet, Barack Obama did the same. "Happy Valentines Day, Michelle Obama. You make every day and every place better," the former president wrote, while adding a recent picture of the two on vacation. While the current first couple appear to be having problems with their marriage, all signs point to Barack and Michelle Obama being very happy and enjoying their life together ever since leaving the White House in January of last year.President Tayyab Erdogan of Turkey has visions of grandeur of the Ottoman Empire. He has been wanting to assert himself in the region and project Turkish military power in lands surrounding Turkey. He probably feels that Turkey would once again become a great power like it was during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent. With this in mind, he ordered the Turkish Army to Invade Syria and decimate the YPG. He hoped for a quick and decisive victory that would have consolidated Turkish power in the region.

The invasion has not gone according to plan and the Turkish Army is bogged down.

The YPG militia is putting up stiff resistance and the going is tough for the Turkish army. Channel News Asia has reported that seven soldiers were killed in battle with the YPG militia including five in a tank which was destroyed. Earlier, the militia had downed a helicopter and two Turkish soldiers were killed. The YPG has admitted to the deaths of three of their foreign fighters.

The Kurds

The Kurds are supported by the Americans with whom they have been allied for many years. They are the principal supporters of America in their fight against the ISIS. The failure of the Turkish Army to win the battle in North East Syria will be a matter of concern to President Erdogan. He will have to cut a sorry face before the world.

The Turkish Army has suffered significant casualties in the battle against the YPG and Erdogan would be wondering how his expectation of a quick and decisive victory has not borne fruit. As things stand, there appears to be very little chance of the Turkish Army winning the ongoing Battle against the Kurds.

CNN has reported that President Assad, despite giving lip service of opposing the Turkish invasion, is in reality quite happy that the Kurds who are allied with America should be defeated.

The United States does not want Assad in power because of his close association with Russia. Iran is also a factor and is supporting Assad. The United States recently carried out a bombing of the Syrian Army on the pretext of fighting the ISIS and more than a hundred soldiers of Assad were killed.

Future

Syria is now a cauldron of opposing forces.

The invasion by Turkey is of alarm to the United States, as Turkey is a member of NATO and is supposed ally of America.At the same time, the Americans cannot leave the Kurds who have been with America through thick and thin for many years. All this is to the advantage of Assad who is consolidating his power with the help of Russia.An Iraqi member of parliament, Jassem Mohamed Jaafar. has made a startling revelation. He has said that Raghad Hussain, the daughter of Saddam Hussein, lives in the United Arab Republic in Dubai. Earlier, it was assumed that she was in exile in Jordan. Iraqi News has published a report that Raghad is on the list of 60 persons accused of terrorist activities. The list includes former members of the Baath party of Saddam Hussein, Al-Qaeda, and Islamic State members.

Raghad Hussein

Raghad Hussein has denied the charges. In a statement to the al-Arabia Channel, the daughter of Saddam has confirmed that she no longer lives in Jordan and is staying in the UAE.

However, apart from this statement, there is no confirmation that Raghad has left Jordan. Saddam's daughter designs jewelry and is supposed to live an opulent life. When she escaped to Jordan, the Hashemite kingdom had, in a statement, made it clear that she and her mother are under the protection of the Hashemite family and would be given asylum on humanitarian grounds, as per traditions of Arab hospitality.

Iraq after Saddam

The US has removed Saddam, but the country is beset by mindless violence and bomb attacks by suicide bombers and other terrorist acts are an on-going phenomenon. The Isis still has the power, to strike at will at any time. Their leader, Al-Baghdadi, is on the run and his whereabouts is unknown.

There is speculation that he may be injured. The ISIS still holds pockets of territory and is turning out to be a resilient force. At one time, they had almost overrun Iraq, till the US which had withdrawn, intervened. The Iraqi army, at that time, gave a poor exhibition of professionalism and laid down arms at the first opportunity.

This did not save them as hundreds were executed by the ISIS.

Iran influence

Saddams daughters name is on the list of terrorists handed over by the Iraqi Government to INTERPOL. But there is very little chance she will be extradited to Iraq. In the meantime, the US won't be happy that Iran continues to have considerable influence on the Shia dominated regime in Iraq.

Elections in Iraq are due and the present prime minister Al Abadi is hoping he will get another term. He has shown his true colors by aligning with the Badr Organization and Asaib Ahl Haq who are widely viewed as sectarian and Irans's strongest allies in Iraq.

Future

The list of most wanted terrorists with the name of Raghad is perhaps an attempt at window dressing to help Al Abadi win the election. But he better beware, as the ISIS can strike back and have the propensity to again capture Iraq, in case the USA withdraws.The situation in Iraq is not a win-win for America.Marc Edwards, University Distinguished Professor and the Charles P. Lunsford Professor in the Charles E. Via Jr. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering in the College of Engineering, has been awarded the 2018 Scientific Freedom and Responsibility Award by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Edwards was recognized by the association for his efforts "to apply his engineering expertise to revealing dangerous levels of lead contamination in water supplies."

Edwards, a renowned expert in municipal water quality, along with his water study team, conducted an unprecedented independent evaluation of water contamination in Flint, Michigan, residents homes that exposed problems with legionella and lead and brought national attention to the crisis.

Caren Cooper, a professor of forestry and environmental resources at North Carolina State University, nominated Edwards for the award. Cooper wrote that Edwards' research team demonstrated compassion as they worked alongside Flint residents and led efforts "to protect the health, well-being, and future of Flint children and families."

More than 10 years before testing the water in Flint, Edwards engaged in a decade-long battle to expose health problems associated with lead in Washington, D.C., drinking water and associated agency misconduct. In her nomination statement, Cooper wrote that Edwards has devoted his career to advancing research addressing issues "at the nexus of water-infrastructure-public health."

Edwards' role in uncovering the problem has been widely reported by media from around the world, including The New York Times, Smithsonian magazine, Time, The Washington Post, CNN, MSNBC, and Scientific American.

Edwards was named a MacArthur Fellow in 2008. Among his numerous other accolades are the 2010 Praxis Award in Professional Ethics from Villanova University, a 2013 IEEE Carl Barus Award for Outstanding Service in the Public Interest, a 2016 Smithsonian Institution Innovation Award for Social Progress, and the Presidents Medal from the American Society of Civil Engineers.

He was named among the most influential people in the world by Fortune, Time, and Politico, and was one of Foreign Policy magazines 100 Leading Global Thinkers, all in 2016.

Edwards earned his bachelors degree in biophysics from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1986 and masters and doctoral degrees in environmental engineering at the University of Washington in 1988 and 1991, respectively. He joined the Virginia Tech community in 1997.Kinder Morgan Canada Limited owns and operates pipeline systems and terminal facilities in Canada. It operates through two segments, Pipelines and Terminals. The Pipelines segment operates Canadian portion of the Cochin pipeline system, a 12-inch diameter multi-product pipeline that comprises of 1000-kilometers of pipeline, and 38 block valves and 10 pump stations for transporting light hydrocarbon liquids between Kankakee, Illinois and Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta; and Jet Fuel pipeline serving Vancouver International Airport. The Terminals segment operates terminal facilities that provide liquid product merchant storage and rail terminals in Edmonton, Alberta, as well as dry cargo import/export facility in Vancouver, British Colombia. The company was incorporated in 2017 and is based in Calgary, Canada. Kinder Morgan Canada Limited is a subsidiary of Kinder Morgan, Inc.

Read MoreRalph Lauren Corp. engages in the design, marketing, and distribution of premium lifestyle products. The firm offers apparel, accessories, home furnishings, and other licensed product. It operates through the following segments: North America, Europe, and Asia. The North America segment consists of sales of Ralph Lauren branded apparel, accessories, home furnishings, and related products made through the Company's wholesale and retail businesses in the U.S. and Canada, excluding Club Monaco. The Europe segment caters to sales of Ralph Lauren branded apparel, accessories, home furnishings, and related products made through the Company's wholesale and retail businesses in Europe and the Middle East, excluding Club Monaco. The Asia segment covers the sales of Ralph Lauren branded apparel, accessories, home furnishings, and related products made through the Company's wholesale and retail businesses in Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. The company was founded by Ralph Lauren in 1967 and is headquartered in New York, NY.

Read MoreRogers Communications Inc. operates as a communications and media company in Canada. It operates through three segments: Wireless, Cable, and Media. The company offers mobile Internet access, wireless voice and enhanced voice, device and accessory financing, wireless home phone, device protection, text messaging, e-mail, global voice and data roaming, bridging landline, machine-to-machine and Internet of Things solutions, and advanced wireless solutions for businesses, as well as device delivery services; and postpaid and prepaid services under the Rogers, Fido, and chatr brands to approximately 10.9 million subscribers. It also provides Internet and WiFi services; smart home monitoring services, such as monitoring, security, automation, energy efficiency, and smart control through a smartphone app. In addition, the company offers local and network TV; on-demand television; cloud-based digital video recorders; voice-activated remote controls, and integrated apps; personal video recorders; linear and time-shifted programming; digital specialty channels; 4K television programming; and televised content on smartphones, tablets, and personal computers, as well as operates Ignite TV and Ignite TV app. Further, it provides residential and small business local telephony services; calling features, such as voicemail, call waiting, and long distance; voice, data networking, Internet protocol, and Ethernet services; private networking, Internet, IP voice, and cloud solutions; optical wave and multi-protocol label switching services; IT and network technologies; and cable access network services. The company also owns Toronto Blue Jays and the Rogers Centre event venue; and operates Sportsnet ONE, Sportsnet 360, Sportsnet World, Citytv, OMNI, FX (Canada), FXX (Canada), and OLN television networks, as well as 55 AM and FM radio stations. Rogers Communications Inc. was founded in 1960 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.

Read MoreTruist Financial Corp. operates as a financial holding company, which engages in the provision of banking services to individuals, businesses and municipalities. The firm offers a variety of loans and lease financing to individuals and entities, including insurance premium financing, permanent commercial real estate financing arrangements, loan servicing for third-party investors, direct consumer finance loans to individuals, credit card lending, automobile financing and equipment financing. It also markets a range of other services, including deposits, life insurance, property and casualty insurance, health Truist Financial Corp. operates as a financial holding company. It engages in the provision of banking services to individuals, businesses and municipalities. The company operates through the following segments: Consumer Banking and Wealth; Corporate and Commercial Banking; and Insurance Holdings. The firm offers a variety of loans and lease financing to individuals and entities, including insurance premium financing, permanent commercial real estate financing arrangements, loan servicing for third-party investors, direct consumer finance loans to individuals, credit card lending, automobile financing and equipment financing. It also markets a range of other services, including deposits, life insurance, property and casualty insurance, health insurance and commercial general liability insurance on an agency basis and through a wholesale insurance brokerage operation, merchant services, trust and retirement services, comprehensive wealth advisory services, asset management and capital markets services. The company was founded on December 6, 2019 and is headquartered in Charlotte, NC. insurance and commercial general liability insurance on an agency basis and through a wholesale insurance brokerage operation, merchant services, trust and retirement services, comprehensive wealth advisory services, asset management and capital markets services. The company was founded on December 6, 2019 and is headquartered in Charlotte, NC.

Read MoreEn espanol | A bill that threatens to weaken the landmark Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) by making it more difficult to prove the law has been violated passed the House of Representatives Thursday. The measure would force 16 million older Americans with disabilities to comply with onerous new rules in order to enforce their civil rights.

The bill requires people with disabilities who want to sue over their inability to access specific businesses to detail in writing how they were denied access and which sections of the ADA they believe were violated. Business owners would then have 60 days to acknowledge the problem and an additional 60 days to either correct it or make substantial progress. The bill does not set a deadline for a business to fix the problem.

Advocates for people with disabilities were outraged by the Houses action. As House members cast their votes, protesters in the visitors gallery tried to drown out the proceedings by chanting, Hands off ADA! Dont take our rights away! The ADA was enacted in 1990.

We are extremely disappointed and downright angry to see this blatant attack on the civil rights of people with disabilities to access places of public accommodation, the American Association of People With Disabilities said in a statement after the vote.

The bill, ADA Education and Reform Act, passed the House by a vote of 225-192. Lawmakers who support the measure say its intent is to protect the interests of business owners by making it more difficult for lawyers to file unfounded ADA lawsuits.

But in a letter to House leadership, Joyce Rogers, senior vice president of government affairs at AARP, said that while frivolous lawsuits have been a problem in several states, that does not justify the imposition of difficult notice requirements and lengthy waiting periods. Rogers pointed out that states already can impose sanctions on lawyers for frivolous litigation.

Rogers also emphasized the importance of the ADA in preserving the quality of life of older Americans with disabilities: Mobility is the most common disability among older Americans, she wrote. Of those age 65-plus with a disability [about 40 percent of older adults], two-thirds report trouble walking or climbing.

No companion bill has been introduced in the Senate. If this measure were to become law, it would have a significant impact on older adults with disabilities. People of all abilities and ages should be able to enjoy services and community features that meet their needs, allowing them to live in the setting of their choice, Rogers wrote.Driver in crash that killed motorcyclist admits to vehicular homicide

An Aberdeen man has admitted to vehicular homicide in connection to a fatal crash this summer in which a motorcyclist was killed.After Elizabeth Moreno had back surgery in late 2015, her surgeon prescribed an opioid painkiller and a follow-up drug test that seemed routine  until the lab slapped her with a bill for thousands of dollars.

A Houston lab tested her urine sample for a constellation of legal and illicit drugs, many of which, Moreno said, she had never heard of, let alone taken.

I was totally confused. I didnt know how I was going to pay this, said Moreno, 30, who is finishing a degree in education at Texas State University in San Marcos and is pregnant with twins.

Her bill shows that Sunset Labs charged $4,675 to check her urine for different types of opioids; $2,975 for benzodiazepines, a class of drugs for treating anxiety; and $1,700 more for amphetamines. Tests to detect cocaine, marijuana and phencyclidine, an illegal hallucinogenic drug also known as PCP or angel dust, added $1,275 more.

The lab also billed $850 to test for buprenorphine, a drug used to treat opioid addiction, and tacked on an $850 fee for two tests to verify that nobody had tampered with her urine specimen.

Total bill: $17,850 for lab tests that her insurer, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas, refused to cover, apparently because the lab was not in her insurance network. The insurer sent Moreno an explanation of benefits that says it would have valued the work at just $100.92.

Morenos father, in a complaint to the Texas attorney generals office about the bill, identified the Houston surgeon who ordered the costly test as Dr. Stephen Esses. His office said the surgeon would have no comment.

Sunset Labs is part of a network of pain clinics and other medical businesses founded by Houston anesthesiologist Phillip C. Phan, according to Texas secretary of state filings and court records. Court records say Phans companies also own the facility where Moreno had her surgery.

Three experts interviewed by KHN said the lab grossly overcharged and doubted the need for the test.

This just blows my mind, said Jennifer Bolen, a former federal prosecutor and lab and pain management consultant. Its very high and incredibly out of the norm.

Dan Bowerman, a medical fraud expert, called the lab bill outrageous and unconscionable, and said it should have prompted an investigation.

Sounds real fishy, said Charles Root, a veteran industry adviser. He wondered if the lab had misplaced the decimal point, because such a test should cost a few hundred dollars, tops.

The lab disagrees.

Sunsets billings are in line with the charges of competing out-of-network labs in the geographical area, lab attorney Justo Mendez said in an emailed statement.

Mendez said pain doctors agree that extensive urine testing is the best course of action and that a lab is not in the position to question tests ordered by a doctor.

Urine testing for patients with chronic pain has grown explosively over the past decade as deaths from opioid abuse rose sharply. Pain doctors say drug testing helps them make sure patients are taking the drugs as prescribed and not mixing them with illegal substances.

Yet the testing boom costs billions of dollars annually and has raised concerns that some labs and doctors run urine tests needlessly  or charge exorbitant rates  to boost profits.

Some insurers have refused to pay, which can leave patients like Moreno threatened with ruinously high bills they had no idea they had incurred.

Surprise bills larded with unexpected expenses and little explanation inflict sticker shock on vulnerable patients, said James Quiggle, communications director of the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud, whose members include insurers, consumer groups and government agencies. Quiggle said many puffed-up bills straddle a fine line between abuse and outright fraud.

Moreno said her insurance covered the disc removal surgery in December 2015. She said the operation went well and she weaned off the hydrocodone pain pills. To her surprise, on a second return about a month later, the surgeons office asked her to leave a urine sample.

I didnt think anything of it, Moreno said of the test. I said fine, whatever.

More than a year later, she said, the lab phoned while she was driving and asked her to pay the $17,850 bill. The lab then sent her an invoice, dated March 10, 2017, which says: (B)ased upon information from your health plan, you owe the amount shown.

Luckily, her father, Paul Davis, was visiting her in Texas at the time. Davis, 66, is a retired family practice doctor from Findlay, Ohio.

Davis doubted the need for the test, not to mention what he thought was a sky-high price. He said the University of Findlay, where he helped train physician assistants, gave applicants a basic drug test for $174, while the local juvenile courts in Ohio paid $10 for a simple drug screen.

Fearing it would ruin his daughters credit scores, Davis said, he called Sunset and settled the bill in April 2017 by paying $5,000, which he said he now regrets. The lab sent Moreno a receipt that said it discounted her bill because of financial need/hardship.

Asked for comment, Blue Cross spokesman James Campbell said he couldnt discuss a specific case but noted:

We are disappointed as well as concerned about transparency whenever (any) member is surprised by an excessive charge for a seemingly routine service or received services that may not have been medically necessary.

Campbell also said the lab was out-of-network and we do not control how much they charge for services rendered. The insurer encourages patients to confirm that all medical care they seek comes from medical providers in the Blue Cross network, he said.

Prices for urine tests can vary widely depending upon complexity and the technology used. Some doctors offices use a simple cup test, which can detect several classes of drugs on the spot. These tests rarely cost more than $200, and typically much less.

Bills climb higher when labs check for levels of multiple drugs and bill for each one, a practice that insurers argue is seldom medically justified. But even labs sued by insurers alleging wildly excessive testing typically have billed $9,000 or less, court records show. One insurer sued a lab for charging $1,845 for a drug test, for example.

Davis said Sunset Labs ignored his requests for a full explanation of the charges. In May, he filed a written complaint about the bill with the Texas attorney generals office that included a copy of the bill and accused the lab of price gouging of staggering proportions.

Young people just starting out, such as my daughter, may not have the ability to pay and this could result in damaged credit ratings or even bankruptcy, he wrote.

Davis got a letter back from Attorney General Ken Paxton, who said the office would review the information. A spokesperson for Paxton said: KHN: We have received complaints about that business, but we cant comment on anything else. Sunset attorney Mendez said the lab is not aware of any such complaints.

In an interview, Davis also questioned the need for his daughters urine test because she received opioids only for a short period and the results would have had no impact on her treatment. In his complaint to the attorney general, Davis said the surgeon told him he ordered the tests because he feared possible retribution from the state medical licensing board for not testing patients who had been prescribed opioids. The Texas Medical Board doesnt require urine tests for patients receiving opioids for short-term pain, said spokesman Jarrett Schneider. Thats a question of independent medical judgment as to whether the physician believes a drug test should be required, he said.

Sunset Labs has an F rating with the Houston Better Business Bureau, which on its website posts an August 2017 complaint from a patient charged $16,150 for a urine test.

This is not covered under my health insurance so I am expected to pay this excessive bill, the complaint reads.

In two lawsuits filed in 2015, three doctors seeking to quit working at pain clinics operated by Phan accused the facilities of improper billing practices, including unnecessary urine testing. The doctors said they feared losing their medical licenses unless they severed their ties.

In one suit, Purvi Patel and Lance LaFleur also alleged that the pain clinics pressured doctors to overprescribe medical gear and genetic tests to insured patients regardless of medical necessity. The case did not go forward because the doctors did not pursue it. Neither doctor would comment.

In the second legal case, pain specialist Baominh Vinh said he resigned in April 2015 based on certain questionable business practices  that are inconsistent with my ethical boundaries. Vinh also alleged urine testing was overused. In a countersuit against Vinh, the pain clinics called his allegations a falsehood to justify violation of his employment contract.

The parties settled in March 2017. Terms are confidential, but a lawyer for the pain clinics said Vinh paid money to the company and not vice versa.TEHRAN, Iran  An Iranian airplane brought back into service only months ago after being grounded for seven years crashed Sunday in a foggy, mountainous region of southern Iran, and officials feared all 65 people on board were killed.

The crash of the Aseman Airlines ATR-72 was yet another fatal aviation disaster for Iran, which for years was barred from buying necessary airplane parts due to Western sanctions over its contested nuclear program.

Its nuclear accord with world powers allows it to get those parts and the country has made deals worth tens of billions of dollars for new aircraft. However, President Donald Trumps refusal to recertify the deal has injected uncertainty into those sales while Iranians still fly in aging aircraft.

The ATR-72, a twin-engine turboprop used for short-distance regional flying, went down near its destination of the southern city of Yasuj, some 780 kilometers (485 miles) south of the capital, Tehran, where it took off.

It wasnt immediately clear what caused the crash, although weather was severe. Dense fog, high winds and heavy snow in the Zagros Mountains made it impossible for rescue crews in helicopters to reach the site, state television reported.

Aseman Airlines spokesman Mohammad Taghi Tabatabai told state TV that all on board Flight EP3704 were killed. It had 59 passengers and six crew members, the state-run IRNA news agency reported Sunday night, lowering the toll to 65 from an initially reported 66.

After searching the area, we learned that unfortunately  our dear passengers had lost their lives, Tabatabai said.

Both Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani offered their condolences.

Tabatabai said the plane crashed into Mount Dena, which is about 4,400 meters (14,435 feet) tall. The planes last signal, at 0555 GMT (12:35 a.m. EST), showed it at 16,975 feet and descending, according to airplane-tracking website FlightRadar24. The pilot was in contact with the tower 14 miles from the airport, state TV said.

One previous passenger on the route posted a video Sunday showing that the flight typically comes in just over the mountain peaks. Aeronautical charts for the airport warn pilots to keep an altitude of 15,000 feet in the area. The airport itself is at nearly 6,000 feet.

The Iranian Red Crescent said it has deployed to the area. Locals described hearing the crash, but no one has reached the crash site due to weather.

Aseman Airlines, owned by Irans civil service pension foundation, is a semi-private air carrier headquartered in Tehran and is Irans third-largest airline by fleet size, behind state carrier Iran Air and Mahan Air. It specializes in flights to remote airfields across the country but also flies internationally, although it is banned in the European Union over safety concerns.

The carrier has a fleet of 29 aircraft, including six ATR aircraft, according to FlightRadar24. The ATR-72 that crashed Sunday, with the tail number EP-ATS, had been built in 1993, Aseman Airlines CEO Ali Abedzadeh told state TV.

On Instagram, Aseman Airlines highlighted the doomed aircraft in October, saying it had been grounded for seven years but would be repaired and will be operational after checking and testing. It wasnt clear what led to the grounding, though Iran only recently regained access to the airplane parts market after the nuclear deal.

European airplane manufacturer ATR, a Toulouse, France-based partnership of Airbus and Italys Leonardo SpA., said it had no immediate information about the crash.

Aseman Airlines has had other major crashes. In October 1994, a twin-propeller Fokker F-28 1000 commuter plane operated by the airline crashed near Natanz, 290 kilometers (180 miles) south of Tehran, killing 66 people. An Aseman Airlines-chartered flight in August 2008, flown by an Itek Air Boeing 737, crashed in Kyrgyzstan, killing 74 people.

Under decades of international sanctions, Irans commercial passenger aircraft fleet has aged, with air accidents occurring regularly in recent years.

Following the 2015 landmark nuclear deal with world powers, Iran signed deals with both Airbus and Boeing to buy scores of passenger planes worth tens of billions of dollars.

In April 2017, ATR sealed a $536 million sale with Iran Air for at least 20 aircraft. Chicago-based Boeing also signed a $3 billion deal that month to sell 30 737 MAX aircraft to Aseman Airlines.

Home to 80 million people, Iran is one of the worlds last untapped aviation markets. However, Western analysts are skeptical there is demand for so many jets or available financing for deals worth billions of dollars.

Iran has suffered a series of major aviation disasters in recent decades. Its last major crash happened in January 2011, when an Iran Air Boeing 727 broke to pieces on impact while trying an emergency landing in a snowstorm in northwestern Iran, killing at least 77 people.

In July 2009, a Russian-made jetliner crashed shortly after taking off from Tehran, killing all 168 on board. A Russian-made Ilyushin 76 carrying members of the Revolutionary Guard crashed in southeastern Iran in February 2003, killing 302 people.

In February 1993, an Iranian airliner with 132 people aboard collided with an air force jet after takeoff from Tehrans main airport, killing everyone on the two aircraft. And in July 1988, the USS Vincennes in the Strait of Hormuz mistook an Iran Air flight heading to Dubai for an attacking fighter jet, shooting down the plane and killing all 290 people aboard.

___

Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

___

This story has been corrected to say the height of Mount Dena is about 4,400 meters (14,435 feet).AVALON, Calif.  Authorities say a buffalo has gored a man camping on Southern Californias Catalina Island.

Los Angeles County sheriffs officials say the man was sitting on a log Saturday evening and the buffalo was grazing nearby.

Sgt. Ray Ward says that when the buffalo came closer, the man tried to move away and thats when the animal charged.

Ward says the buffalo gored the mans left arm. He didnt know the extent of the injuries.

The Orange County Register reports that the man was treated at the scene and then airlifted to a hospital on the mainland.

Buffalo are common and roam freely on the back side of Catalina Island, where there are campgrounds. Ward says its very rare for them to attack humans.WASHINGTON  Breaking down barriers is nothing new for Sen. Tammy Duckworth, and thats the way she likes it.

The decorated Iraq War veteran who lost both legs when her helicopter was shot down is an Asian-American woman in the mostly white, mostly male and very fusty Senate. And now, with a baby due in April, shell be the first senator to give birth while in office.

And so, along with her legislative and political goals, the Illinois Democrat is adding a new one: educating the tradition-bound Senate on creating a workplace that makes room for new moms.

Shes been through things that you and I will probably never understand. So Im sure for her (having a baby) is in no way daunting, said Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Wash., who had two children while serving in Congress. Shes also someone whos had a whole career in a male-dominated world.

Duckworth, who turns 50 in March, says she appreciates the historic nature of her babys birth, as well as the fact that she represents working mothers and women having babies later in life. She fully expects to have to find a place to nurse in some quiet parlor off the Senate floor.

But she says having a baby, a second daughter, is just one of many stops on the trail ahead.

This is the last job that I want, Duckworth said of the Illinois Senate seat once held by Barack Obama. The former president is one of several men she ticks off as mentors and role models. They include Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., former Sen. Bob Dole, R-Kan., and the late Democratic Sens. Daniel Inouye of Hawaii and Edward Kennedy  all backers of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which made the nations landscape a little easier to navigate.

But shes sees both problems with compliance and efforts to undermine the law.

She points to flaws in Chicagos mass transit system, for example, and in a ladies room at a U.S. embassy overseas. And floating through Congress now is a bill designed to curb frivolous lawsuits under the ADA that Duckworth and others say weakens it.

Duckworth is already in the history books. Shes the first female amputee elected to Congress, the first Asian-American to represent Illinois in Washington and the first member of Congress born in Thailand. Her story of resilience and grit set her in the rare company of grievously injured veterans who later served in the Senate  Dole, a World War II veteran, and John McCain, who was kept prisoner for more than five years in Vietnam.

If you take gender out of it, its not that new, said Duckworth, a year into her own Senate term.

But gender cant be ignored as the nation reckons with sexual misconduct at home and in the workplace, especially since Congress is not exactly known for being on the leading edge of equality. The first area specifically set up for lactation opened in the Capitol only a dozen years ago. The House installed its first lavatory for women lawmakers in 2011. The Senate has had its own womens restroom for 25 years.

Duckworth, one of 22 women in the Senate, has the experience to give her policy advice and criticisms of President Donald Trump an especially authoritative edge.

His demand for a military parade? Our troops in danger overseas dont need a show of bravado, they need steady leadership, she said.

His complaint that Democrats didnt sufficiently applaud his State of the Union address?

I will not be lectured about what our military needs by a five-deferment draft dodger, reads the Tweet pinned atop her page, referring to Trumps deferment from Vietnam due to a foot ailment. She refuses to mindlessly cater to the whims of Cadet Bone Spurs and clap when he demands I clap.

CBS The Late Show with Stephen Colbert gave Duckworth full credit for the nickname. In a gag ad earlier this month, a new G.I. Joe doll resembling Trump, named Cadet Bonespurs, lolls in a hammock while his comrades march off to war.

When Trump tweets that Democrats dont care about the military, she takes that personally. She answered personally, said Durbin.

Politics and the military were not Duckworths original goals.

As she worked on a masters degree in international affairs in the early 1990s at George Washington University, Duckworth was aiming to become an ambassador. She signed up for ROTC to learn more about the military. She fell in love with the challenge  and with a cadet named Bryan Bowlsbey. They married in 1993. Duckworth has said she applied to fly helicopters because she wanted the same opportunity as men  and because it was one of the few combat jobs open to women.

She was the senior officer co-piloting a Black Hawk on Nov. 12, 2004, when a grenade fired by an Iraqi insurgent exploded in a fireball at Duckworths feet. She lost both legs and partial use of her arm and faced a grueling recovery.

As she recovered, Duckworth befriended some important members of the Senate. Durbin invited Duckworth to be his guest at President George W. Bushs 2005 State of the Union address. And Dole, who had lost much of the use of one arm to war, dedicated his 2005 book to her. Duckworth, he wrote, represents all those with their own battles ahead of them.

But for all of her powerful patrons, achievements and drive, the Senate terrain can still seem bumpy.

One day in December as Duckworth wheeled around a corner in the Capitol toward the Senates historic vote on tax cuts, a young police officer stopped her. The elevators, he said, were reserved for members only.

Duckworth looked up and, all business, informed him that shes the junior senator from Illinois.

The officer let Duckworth through  with apologies.

___

Follow Kellman on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/APLaurieKellmanBULLETIN BOARD

The American Indian Chamber of Commerce of New Mexico (AICCNM) will host their February Luncheon Mixer from 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. on Tuesday at El Pinto Restaurant & Cantina, 10500 4th St. NW. For additional information, call 505-766-9545.

The New Mexico chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) meets from 11:15 a.m.-1 p.m. on Wednesday at the Embassy Suites by Hilton, 1000 Woodward Pl. NE. The featured speaker for the meeting is Ann Lerner of the Albuquerque Film Department. Admission is $25 for NAWBO members and $30 for others. For additional information, visit www.nawbo.org/new-mexico.

The New Mexico chapter of the American Subcontractors Association, the New Mexico chapter of Associated Builders and Contractors Inc., and the New Mexico Utility Contractors Association present a Joint Association Member Luncheon from 11:30 a.m.-1:15 p.m. on Thursday at the Courtyard Marriott Journal Center, 5151 Journal Center NE. Guest speakers include Paul Gessing, president of the Rio Grande Foundation; and N.M. Sen. Jacob Candelaria. The registration fee is $35 for association members and $45 for others. For advance registration, email memberservices@asa-nm.org or call 505-220-7024.

The Keshet Center for the Arts presents The Eight Dimensions of Sustainable Business Design, a full-day business workshop by KaosPilots from Bern, Switzerland, from 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m. on Friday at the Keshet Center for the Arts, 4121 Cutler Ave. NE. The workshop is an introduction to the KaosPilots philosophy of responsible entrepreneurs, creative leaders, and change makers and will include hands-on activities, movement, discussion and reflection. The workshop fee is $80 and does not include the cost of lunch. To register or for additional information, visit www.keshetarts.org/ideas-and-innovation/#arts-business-workshops.

The New Mexico chapter of the Commercial Real Estate Development Association (NAIOP) presents Everyone Has To Live Somewhere: Why Not Here? by John Garcia, HBA of New Mexico, Todd Clark, N.M. Apartment Advisors; John Covert, Metrostudy; and Bob Grassberger, Ph.D., UNM professor emeritus, from 11:30 a.m.1:15 p.m. on Feb. 26 at the Sheraton Uptown, 2600 Louisiana NE. Tickets are $35 for NAIOP members and $45 others. To register or for additional information, visit www.naiopnm.org or call 505-345-6976.

ETC.

LifeROOTS has elected two new members to its board of directors. They are Dawn DalPorto, vice president/branch manager at United Business Bank; and Leticia Bernal, owner of Pita Pit.

Wings for L.I.F.E. has elected two new board members. They are Rob Koehler, CPA, Ricci & Co.; and Marjori Krebs, a professor at UNM.

The New Mexico chapter of Certified Commercial Investment Members (CCIM) has elected new officers for 2018. They are Shelly Branscom, CCIM  NAI Maestas & Ward, president;

Carl Grending, CCIM  SVN/WACB Inc., president-elect; Jessica Kuhn, CCIM  First Citizens Bank, vice president; Debbie Dupes, CCIM  CBRE Inc., past president; Steve Kraemer, CCIM  NAI Maestas & Ward, secretary; and Mark Thompson, CCIM  Cauwels & Stuve Realty & Development, treasurer.

Sandoval Economic Alliance has elected two new board members. They are Michael Baker, Rio Rancho Schools; and Erin Johnson-Kruft, Central New Mexico Community College.

PROMOTIONS

Molly Murphy has been promoted by Girl Scouts of New Mexico Trails to the position of camp director. Murphy will oversee two summer camp programs: Rancho del Chaparral in the Jemez Mountains; and Camp Elliott Barker in Angel Fire. She previously was a seasonal employee at Rancho del Chaparral for 10 years and has a wealth of knowledge, fresh ideas, and leadership experience to bring to her new position.

WELCOME

Homewise has hired two new staff members. They are:

Wade Carlson, chief financial officer (CFO). Carlson has 30 years experience in the finance field.

Daniel Slavin, director of real estate development. Slavin has 10 years experience in the financial field.

Rachel Larivee, M.D., has joined Presbyterian Healthcare Services as a family medicine physician at the 4005 High Resort Blvd. location in Rio Rancho. Larivee has a medical degree from Ross University School of Medicine in Portsmouth, Dominca; completed a family medicine residency at the State University of New York at Buffalo; and is board-certified in family medicine.

Brandon M. Meyers has joined McCoy Leavitt Laskey LLC as an associate. Meyers has a bachelors degree in environmental science and communication, magna cum laude, from the University of New Mexico; and a law degree from the University of Alabama. He is currently licensed in state and federal court in New Mexico.

Susan Lewis has joined First National 1870 as senior relationship associate. Lewis has 30 years experience in commercial banking in New Mexico. In her new role she will support the day-to-day management of First National 1870s commercial customers in Albuquerque.Gordon Moore is the president of Lectrosonics, a Rio Rancho-based electronics manufacturer that employs 146 people full-time. Though you may have never heard its name, Lectrosonics builds the wireless microphones used in thousands of motion pictures, television and news events.

If you go to the movies, watch TV, or watch the news, youre probably listening to Lectrosonics, said Moore.

As a result, Moore has a wealth of Hollywood stories.

Apollo 13? He was on the set. Breaking Bad? No boom microphones, just Lectrosonic equipment. Desperate Housewives? Moore said the lead actresses loved the wireless microphone because it was easily hidden in their outfits and didnt require constant adjusting of their costumes from audio crew on the set.

One place he hasnt been: the Academy Awards, though Moore said Lectrosonics equipment has been used by nearly every Best Sound winner for the last 25 years. Last year, when three Lectrosonics engineers won an Academy Award for Technical Achievement for advancing wireless microphone technology, it was the engineers who attended the big event, not Moore.

They had a blast, he said. We even got to see them on TV.

Moore said 99 percent of Lectrosonics business comes from out of state, so logistics are a major consideration for the company: Film crew members may need a microphone sent to them overnight in a foreign country, for example. Theres also a push toward going fully digital with the wireless systems and creating ever-smaller equipment despite the size constraints dictated by batteries.

Other Lectrosonics employees are experimenting with something altogether different for the company: 3-D printing accessories for automobiles.

Moore said the company is focused on certain concerns related to office decor.

Its hard to decide which movie posters to keep up in the office, said Moore.NEW YORK  It happens in so many workplaces  two colleagues begin a romantic relationship. But a heightened awareness about sexual harassment means small-business owners can get more anxious when employees start dating.

Many owners have consulted with employment attorneys or human-resources professionals since the accusations against movie executive Harvey Weinstein in November. Some owners have created or updated their policies on dating and sexual harassment, and theyre making sure staffers know the rules and to speak up if they feel harassed.

Bosses who in the past just watched with interest as a relationship blossomed are being proactive, telling couples that if the romance sours, both people are expected to behave appropriately. And some owners are even asking couples to sign statements acknowledging that their relationship is consensual.

Sammy Musovic has seen many romances  and breakups  at his three Manhattan restaurants. After the reports about Weinstein and others, Musovic consulted with an attorney to understand what his legal liability could be if an employee relationship led to harassment charges. He decided against changing his policy that allows dating, but hes keeping a closer eye on interactions between employees.

When I know staffers are dating, I speak to each of them in private and just try to understand the situation, says Musovic, who owns Sojourn, Vero Bar and Selena Rosa.

A few years ago, a manager at one of his restaurants dated a hostess, and became jealous when he saw her chatting with customers.

I told them, You guys have to stop this or someones going to have to find another job,' Musovic recalls. The manager quit. On another occasion, Musovic fired an employee who wrote unwanted love letters to a co-worker.

Jacqueline Breslin, an executive with HR provider TriNet, is fielding more questions from businesses that want to know how to handle employees dating. The first step is often to determine whether companies have policies on dating and sexual harassment; if not, they need to be written.

Dating policies should set expectations for staffers behavior, such as that emotions should not be displayed at work. Policies must also address issues like relationships between supervisors and subordinates. Some owners might be tempted to ban employee relationships altogether. But people attracted to one another may still date on the sly. And strict policies can backfire  talented employees may choose love over a job and leave.

Problems can also arise when employees want to date clients or vendors. Those relationships have the potential for conflicts-of-interest as well as harassment issues. Ashley Hunters dating policy rules out relationships between her eight staffers and vendors of HM Risk Group, an insurance company based in Austin, Texas.

If youre in a billion-dollar business, you can weather those problems, but I cant, she says.

Hunter is especially sensitive to issues around dating co-workers, having been in a romantic relationship with her chief financial officer for three years. Hes worked at the company for nine months, and everyone at the company knows of their relationship.

One option for owners is to have dating staffers sign whats called a relationship contract, stating theyre in a consensual relationship and that theyve read and will abide by the companys written policy on sexual harassment.

Kate and Doug Hickey had two employees at Honolulu-based coffee grower Sunshower Farms  a supervisor and subordinate  who began a relationship in 2013. They had the couple sign a contract saying if the relationship ended and they couldnt work together comfortably, one would have to resign.

We did this mainly to protect ourselves in the event of a breakup, says Kate Hickey, who was an attorney and drafted the contract. The couple eventually married and moved away. If a similar situation arises again, Hickey says she would probably consult an attorney who has more expertise about sexual harassment and draft a more detailed contract.

Many bosses may not even be aware of a relationship until someone mentions it. HR professionals say an owner should approach the couple, discuss the situation, and if the company requires a relationship contract, have them sign it. More complicated is when an owner suspects theres an attraction or budding relationship  whens the right time to step in? Theres no one answer, but a boss should certainly talk to the employees when its clear theres a romantic connection.

A greater concern is what to do if the romance ends. As long as theres no sign of a problem, the boss should respect everyones privacy. But if one person keeps pursuing another, an owner needs to be on alert.

The person whos repeatedly asking for an unwanted date needs to be told, This is against company policy and we dont tolerate this kind of harassment,' says Michael Schmidt, an employment attorney with Cozen OConnor in New York.

Even if unwanted contacts take place off the companys premises or on social media, a boss needs to intervene, Schmidt says. Businesses can be liable if they dont address potential harassment because employees might feel theyre in a hostile working environment, Schmidt says.

Even business owners who have been part of workplace romances say theyre warier now.

Marianne Bertuna was an intern and then an associate in Arthur Aidalas small New York law firm, starting in 1997. Aidala was attracted to her, but told himself, This is a work person and nothing is going to happen. He married someone else.

Meanwhile, two attorneys who were dating joined the firm and eventually married. But now, Aidala says that if any employees start a relationship, he would tell them, You need to proceed with caution because there are a lot of lives on the line here.

And Aidala himself? He got divorced, and he and Bertuna became a couple. In 2016, they got married.Copyright  2018 Albuquerque Journal

Gordon Moore didnt volunteer to be the 2018 chairman of the Rio Rancho Regional Chamber of Commerce.

I was volun-told, he said.

Moore is joking: He was elected to his one-year position, said chamber President Jerry Schalow, because of his extensive experience as a business leader and member of the Rio Rancho community.

Were excited about Gordon, said Schalow. Hes seen this area adapt and evolve. Thats important when youre figuring out what comes next.

Moore, the president of electronics manufacturer Lectrosonics and a longtime Rio Rancho resident, takes the reins of the organization at a time of great change for the Rio Rancho area and chambers of commerce nationally. The Rio Rancho Regional Chamber of Commerce has about 450 members, and must find a way to make itself relevant in an age when networking is often done online.

Then there are the chambers broader goals. Asked to boil down the many priorities of the organization to a single focus, Schalow said hed like to see the chamber focus on bringing jobs and gross-receipts taxes to the community.

Its a priority Moore shares.

Economic development is a powerful enhancer of quality of life, said Moore.

The broader community

Moore was born in Las Cruces but soon after moved to the Midwest and Nevada with his parents, who were involved in Cold War-era missile programs. He graduated from the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology in 1975 and has been here ever since, he said.

It was just a few years after Moores graduation that Intel came to Rio Rancho, creating a relationship between the technology giant and city that the community has watched closely ever since. Rio Rancho saw its Intel workforce plummet from 3,300 in 2013 to 1,200 in 2016, although the company said recently it has no current plans for further staff reductions here.

Moore, for one, said he is optimistic the company will maintain its presence here for the time being.

Theyve made a multibillion-dollar investment in this community; I think theyre going to stick around for a while, he said.

Still, Moore acknowledged that layoffs were a reminder that Rio Rancho needs to diversify its economy to prevent oversized impacts from any one employer. To that end, he said both he and the chamber support the use of economic development incentives like the Job Training Investment Program and Local Economic Development Act funding to attract out-of-state companies and to support the expansion of organizations currently based in the area.

Theres another type of diversification Moore said he would like the chamber to build on: supporting the cities that surround Rio Rancho, like Bernalillo, Cuba and Corrales.

Theres a reason why were called the Rio Rancho Regional Chamber of Commerce, said Moore. We have to make sure were supporting the broader community near us.

Moore said an obvious way to do that in 2018 will be to find ways to market the businesses impacted by road construction projects scheduled this year. Such a project is scheduled for Southern Boulevard in Rio Rancho; several Bernalillo businesses could be impacted by construction on N.M. 550, according to Moore.

When asked whether the chamber was influenced by the controversy surrounding the ART project on Albuquerque-based businesses, Moore said it was part of the calculation.

We dont want our businesses to feel like they have to rely on local government for this sort of thing, he said.

Legislative priorities

Chambers of Commerce have long functioned as lobbying organizations for the business community, and Moore said the chamber will pay close attention to legislation that could impact its members.

We need to ensure that any proposed regulations are likely to have a positive impact on our members, he said. To do that, we start by asking ourselves some questions: Whats the tax-side impact? Will this encourage or discourage commerce? Whats the impact on recruiting?'

Sandoval County, which encompasses Rio Rancho and many of its neighboring cities, recently passed a controversial business law: a right-to-work ordinance, which prevents employees from being required to join a union or pay union fees. The measure was passed despite an opinion from the states attorney general that it is illegal.

Supporters say right-to-work legislation promotes economic development; opponents say it undermines unions and lead to worse conditions for workers. For Moore, as both the chairman of the chamber and the president of a company, taking a position on such a measure is a balancing act.

Lectrosonics relies very much on unions, both in terms of some of our employees and the people who work on movie sets, he said. And the chamber is a bilateral organization, so we have to make sure were serving all our members, Democrats or Republicans.

As a result, Moore said the chamber has decided to take a neutral position on the issue.

The modern chamber

When networking can be done online with a click of a button, why join a chamber of commerce?

The functions of the chamber are still relevant, but the methods have changed, said Moore.

For one thing, he said the Rio Rancho Regional chamber is learning to embrace social media, not treat it like the enemy. That means using digital tools to increase awareness about the chamber as well as the businesses that comprise its membership.

Theres also been a recent push to include more organizations under the umbrella of the chamber than might typically be found. Last year, the chamber began a non-profit alliance to encourage membership from those organizations. As a result, the non-profits are able to share information with the rest of the membership about things like board and volunteer opportunities.

Moore also pointed to a recent mayoral forum held at a theater and sponsored by the chamber, which he said had a significant turnout.

People want the face-to-face for certain things, he said. You still cant get a haircut online.Last Monday, President Donald Trump released his proposed budget for 2019. On the heels of his only legislative accomplishment to date, the massive tax cut that favors the wealthiest individuals and corporations, Trumps budget would slash or completely eliminate core anti-poverty programs that form the heart of the U.S. social safety net, from childhood nutrition to care for the elderly and job training. It blatantly violates one of his key campaign promises, to leave untouched Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. The Trump budget is a document of towering immorality, a wish list of extreme right-wing cuts to federal spending that would destroy a century of progressive legislative achievements. Congress will be in recess for the next week, and elected representatives who support Trumps cruel agenda should expect a wave of opposition as people organize resistance from coast to coast.

This budget is the budget of the Koch brothers. It is the budget of the billionaire class. And the American people understand it, Vermonts independent senator, Bernie Sanders, said, railing against Charles and David Koch, the two billionaire industrialist brothers who have poured hundreds of millions of dollars into U.S. elections in order to promote their far-right agenda.

Sanders continued: This is a budget which will make it harder for our children to get a decent education, harder for working families to get the health care they desperately need, harder to protect the air that we breathe and the water we drink, and harder for the elderly to live out their retirement years with dignity and respect. This is not a budget, as candidate Donald Trump talked about, that takes on the political establishment. This is a budget of the political establishment. This is the Robin Hood principle in reverse: It is a budget that takes from the poor and gives to the very wealthy.

Seattle Congressmember Pramila Jayapal calls it the three strikes youre out budget. She explained on the Democracy Now! news hour: Strike one was to actually transfer $1.3 trillion in wealth from working people and the poor to the wealthiest through the GOP tax scam. To their credit, they are finally saying, in this budget, that those GOP tax cuts dont pay for themselves, because theyre projecting these enormous deficits as a result of the tax cuts. Strike two is that theyre essentially going to balloon the deficit, $7 trillion over 10 years, a trillion dollars next year alone. And strike three is cutting every program that allows people to live with any shred of dignity, any shred of hope, any shred of opportunity.

The federal budget is a massive document, representing $4.4 trillion of spending for just one year. Republicans have long claimed cutting the budget and eliminating budget deficits as their raison detre. Now, with both houses of Congress and the White House under Republican control, they have, apparently, abandoned their principles. A spending bill, passed with bipartisan support Feb. 9 in order to avoid a government shutdown, increased military spending, a Trump priority, as well as spending in domestic programs, which the Democrats wanted. It also raised federal borrowing limits and spending caps.

But that spending deal doesnt compel the government to spend funds as agreed to. The devil is in the details, as the saying goes, and those details get hammered out in congressional appropriations and other large bills, like the upcoming farm bill.

As an example, lets just look at SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Congressmember Jayapal told us. They are proposing a $213 billion cut to SNAP, [so] people have to work in order to get these benefits  three-quarters of all the SNAP recipients are the elderly, the disabled and families with children, and the average per-person, per-meal benefit that people get on SNAP is $1.40. Similar changes are proposed that would cut funding to Medicaid, Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and housing assistance, as well as force onerous work requirements on recipients, despite evidence that such recipients are often unable to work.

Many Beltway observers concede that the Trump budget has almost no chance of being passed. Of course, these are the same people who said Trump had no chance of being elected. But the budget relays a vision for the country held by the president and the Republican Party. This budget signals a dark, heartless and cruel future, exacerbating poverty, inequality and suffering. It is a budget that the people of the United States cannot afford.

Amy Goodman is the host of Democracy Now!, a daily international TV/radio news hour airing on more than 1,400 stations. She is the co-author, with Denis Moynihan and David Goodman, of Democracy Now!: 20 Years Covering the Movements Changing America. Distributed by King Features Syndicate.LAS VEGAS, N.M.  A New Mexico Highlands University professors Fulbright Scholar Award to study green anaconda snakes in Brazil aims to shed light on possible new species of the largest snake in the world, aiding conservation efforts.

Highlands biology professor Jesus Rivas will collaborate in his research with Brazilian scientists in 2018 and 2019 in different locations in the Brazilian Amazon Basin, prime habitat for green anacondas. Rivas Highlands biology students will work alongside their professor during some of his fieldwork.

This Fulbright gives the opportunity to expand anaconda research into Brazil, which has the highest percentage of anaconda habitat in the world and is largely understudied, said Rivas, whose green anaconda research in Venezuela spans 26 years. One of the biggest goals of this research is to study the genetic composition of anaconda populations across the snakes Brazilian range. I suspect we may discover new species of anacondas.

Rivas said the Amazon Basin suffers dramatically increasing environmental degradation due to industrial activities ranging from gold mining to biofuel production.

Creating a better understanding of the distribution of anaconda populations in Brazil will lead to designing better conservation strategies.

Rivas is a Venezuelan-born herpetologist, a scientist who studies reptiles and amphibians, and joined the Highlands faculty in 2010.The University of New Mexico Alumni Association honored four recipients of its 2018 Winter Awards earlier this month. Honorees are Joy Harjo, Phyllis Perrin Wilcox, Donald Duffy Swan and Karl E. Karlstrom.

We are proud to honor the 2018 award recipients for their outstanding accomplishments, achievements, distinguished service and inspiring leadership, said Dana Allen, vice president of Alumni Relations and executive director of the UNM Alumni Association.

The James F. Zimmerman Award went to Joy Harjo.

She graduated from UNM in 1976 with a bachelors degree in creative writing. Harjo has published eight award-winning books of poetry. Her memoir, Crazy Brave, won several awards, including the PEN USA Literary Award for Creative Non-Fiction and the American Book Award. She has published two childrens books

The Bernard S. Rodey Award went to Phyllis Perrin Wilcox.

She graduated in 1993 with her Ph.D. and is professor emerita in the Department of Linguistics at UNM. She was instrumental in establishing the UNM baccalaureate degree program in signed language interpreting.

The Erna S. Fergusson Award went to Donald Duffy Swan.

He graduated from UNM in 1968 with a bachelors degree in political science.

Swan devoted 35 years to the telecommunications industry in management positions in the former Bell System and with USWEST. He eventually became vice president for a rural, domestic quasi-startup, VALOR Telecomm. In 2004, he became president and COO the French family of companies. In January 2008, he was named president and CEO then eventually chairman.

The Faculty Teaching Award went to Karl Karlstrom.

He has been a professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at UNM since 1994. His research spans the geologic timescale and addresses the formation and stabilization of continents, the supercontinent cycle, and neotectonics of ongoing uplift of the Rocky Mountain region.

Karlstrom, along with his wife, Laura Crossey, developed the Trail of Time Geoscience Education Exhibition at Grand Canyon National Park.

We welcome suggestions for the daily Bright Spot. Send to newsroom@abqjournal.com.The use of animals in testing for commercial products, drug trials and medical research is increasingly coming into question as technology comes up with more accurate alternatives.

The Wyss Institute at Harvard, for example, has engineered microchips  called organs-on-chips  that mimic the structure and functions of living human organs, including the lung, intestine, kidney, skin and bone marrow.

Private businesses have also gotten into the act, including MatTek Corp. of Ashland, Mass., which is marketing 3D reconstructed human tissue models  based on real human cells  for toxicology research that can be used by the cosmetics, chemical, pharmaceutical and household product industries.

Other groups, however, say there are limits. They contend that such alternatives do not allow scientists to test disease treatments in a whole living system.

In vitro technology can eliminate the need for costly animal testing colonies, and provide more precise research because biological reactions by monkeys, rabbits or dogs often do not accurately mimic human responses, said Kate Willett, director of regulatory toxicology risk assessment and alternatives for the Humane Society of the United States.

Willett slammed Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute for testing the effects of diesel exhaust on monkeys for an industry group that included Volkswagen. The institute decided not to publish the results after learning that Volkswagen had provided rigged equipment.

The effect of diesel exhaust has been extremely well-characterized, Willett said. They could measure the levels of things they know are toxic without any testing. Testing on monkeys like that seems like the weirdest testing Ive ever heard of.

LRRI itself has acknowledged that, on at least one occasion, animal testing may not always be relevant to humans.

In a court deposition, Jacob McDonald, chief science officer at the Lovelace institute, referred to studies the institute did throughout the 1980s showing that diesel exhaust fumes caused cancer in laboratory rats. It turned out the findings were related to some physiologic sort of abnormalities in rats and repeat studies with other animals did not result in cancer.

The rat results, he said  although real, may or may not be predictive of what  may be observed in humans.

The Foundation for Biomedical Research cautions that while computer models and cell cultures can reduce the use of animals, there is no way to completely replace animal testing and research because the pathway to fully duplicating a whole, living system does not yet exist.

The foundation, which promotes understanding of biomedical research, says scientists must study treatments for diseases in a whole living system in order to discover and develop new drugs to fight them. They cant do that in a single cell or with tissue in a petri dish alone.

For University of New Mexico emeritus psychology professor John Gluck, though, the issue of research on animals comes down to ethics.

Gluck, who is also a professor at the Kennedy Institute of Ethics at Georgetown University, did research involving primates starting as an undergraduate and directed a primate colony at the University of New Mexico after he arrived in 1971.

He gradually started to question such use of monkeys after long years of working with them.

I realized I was so stunned by what I saw these animals capable of  that I found it more and more difficult to overcome the resistance to harming innocent, sentient beings for the purpose of human benefit.

In addition, he said, primates in a lab are in an environment thats drastically different from how they evolved, and that should raise even more questions about whether experiments on them have any relevance to the human condition.

Gluck added that he is not unilaterally opposed to using animals for research  Im a practical person, too, when it comes to biomedical needs and research and discovery  but said there are a slew of tough questions scientists must consider before making an ethical decision to use an animal.

And even after the decision is made and the work completed, researchers are still not off the hook. I would argue that since we the researchers have made the experimental animals completely dependent on (us) what remains is a moral residual that must be compensated, he said.

That can be accomplished by working to find alternatives to animal research in the future or by supporting the animals move to a sanctuary when the research is completed. For example, some of the chimps subjected to invasive testing at a controversial Alamogordo primate facility have been moved to a sanctuary in Louisiana.

Gluck dealt with his own moral residue by seeing to the care of La La and a number of other stumptail macaques housed at the UNM lab after he began the process of shutting it down in the late 1980s.

He said he continued to care for the animals, in an indoor outdoor zoo-like enclosure that acted as a sanctuary until they died.

La La, who he described as beautiful, lived into her 30s, a ripe old age for a stumptail macaque living in a lab setting.IS MY REAL ID ENHANCED? Ken Wolfe of Rio Rancho emails, I recently updated my license to a Real ID drivers license  the process was easy for me  and I went to update my global entry profile with my new information. One of the questions they ask is if you have an enhanced drivers license (EDL).

I thought thats what Real ID licenses are, but if you hover over the description on the GOES (which replaced the Trusted Traveler) website it says An enhanced drivers license is a drivers license that denotes both identity and citizenship. An EDL will include a flag icon identifying the license-holders citizenship.

Well, I just have a five-pointed star on mine. Is the customs and border protection site outdated, or does N.M. need to do something else to comply with the trusted traveler program?

No on the first; it has chosen not to on the second.

Benjamin Cloutier, who handles information for the state Taxation and Revenue Department, which oversees the Motor Vehicle Division, says, New Mexico does not issue an Enhanced Drivers License, which verifies citizenship.

He says our Real ID licenses, which double as a federal ID and have the Department of Homeland Security gold star, and Driver Authorization cards verify residency.

DO I NEED AN EMISSION CHECK? In New Mexico its a question only Bernalillo County vehicle owners have to ask themselves every two years. And so Dave emails, Has the MVD discontinued notifying vehicle inspections due?

Cloutier says the department had switched over to a new auto-mailing computer system that gives vehicle owners 90-day notice of the need for an emissions check.

A glitch meant not all notices went out; now that notice is included on the renewal-reminder postcards MVD sends as a courtesy to vehicle owners.

As for those residents of Sandoval County who have gotten emissions notices in error, Cloutier explains that the computer sorts by ZIP code, not county, so some Corrales folks who share a ZIP code with Bernalillo County residents got an emissions reminder in error.

And he says they should just toss it.

AND WHAT ABOUT A LATE FEE? Thomas Barrow emails, Did I dream it or did you have an entry that the Motor Vehicle Division had waived the $30 penalty for not sending ABQ Air Care (emissions certificates in) with registration?

I have the proper paperwork, only good for 90 days, so the suspended vehicle registration will be cleared up.

Cloutier explained in a column last year that emissions testing is required by Bernalillo County, but Bernalillo County does not send out a reminder notice. As a courtesy to customers, MVD sends (notice) to drivers informing them they have  to renew emissions.  If a customer can provide documentation showing they were affected by this issue, we will refund the ($30) registration reinstatement fee.

CAN A WIDOW/WIDOWER USE THE PERMANENT VETERANS PLATE? MJG emails: Is the widow or widower of a veteran allowed to keep the free (disabled) veterans plate after their spouses death?

Cloutier says no, only the disabled veteran can legally use the plates, which carry no fees. He recounts a driver in Espanola drove for 10 years on a plate that belonged to his deceased father.

Surviving spouses and children are expected to re-register the vehicle in their own name, and MVD relies on an honor system, as well as the public, to report scofflaws.

Editorial page editor DVal Westphal tackles commuter issues for the Metro area on Mondays. Reach her at 823-3858; dwestphal@abqjournal.com; or P.O. Drawer J, Albuquerque, N.M. 87103.Donny the Chicken, a towering 30-foot inflatable chicken with hair likened to the presidents, was erected briefly in Civic Plaza on Sunday to call out the president and Congress for being chicken.

It represents Donald Trump being a chicken for not releasing his tax returns, and then ever since tax reform, its also speaking to the fact that Congress and the GOP as a whole are chickening out and just doing Trumps bidding, said Juan Bautista Dominguez, an organizer for a campaign to repeal the recent tax bill, which his group said harms the middle class and benefits the wealthy.

Dominguez was in Albuquerque on Sunday as part of a Repeal the Trump Tax campaign that is making stops across the country. An organization called Not One Penny is behind the campaign.

The campaign has made stops in the Rust Belt, the Midwest, the West Coast and is currently touring the Southwest. Local community leaders are speaking at the news conferences held in connection to the campaign.

The event at Civic Plaza didnt draw any protestors, but the event was visible as people walked in an out of the Albuquerque Convention Center on Sunday afternoon.

To me, it is a disaster that the federal government would push such a huge tax cut for the wealthiest Americans without proper vetting and without the proper questions being asked, State Rep. Javier Martinez, D-Albuquerque, said at the event.

Opponents of the recently passed tax reform package said that it disproportionately helps the wealthy while services will be cut for middle- and low-income voters.

James Jimenez, executive director of New Mexico Voices for Children, said New Mexico children are already disproportionately affected by poverty. He said the tax plan, coupled with budget proposals to slash food stamps, Medicare and Medicaid, will further hurt children throughout the state.

How in the world are hard working families supposed to go to work feeling comfortable that their children are well cared for? he said.LAS CRUCES, N.M.  Authorities are investigating a fatal officer-involved shooting involving a homicide suspect in Las Cruces.

Las Cruces police were looking for 23-year-old Nathaniel Montoya in connection to the death of a 29-year-old man found unconscious Friday night after some sort of fight between the two men.

Police spotted the suspects vehicle Saturday afternoon and they say Montoya was the driver and failed to stop for officers.

A high-speed chase ensued until police say Montoya crashed his van into vehicles at a gas station.

At least one officer fired several rounds and police say Montoya died at the scene.

They say a pedestrian was taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

The shooting will be investigated by a task force that includes New Mexico State Police.DENVER  Police stations in Denver are accepting bump stocks from residents after the city imposed a ban the devices.

Bump stocks allow semi-automatic rifles to mimic the rapid fire of machine guns when attached.

In the wake of last years Las Vegas mass shooting, the Denver City Council made bump stocks illegal to sell, carry, store or otherwise possess within the city. Violators can be fined up to $999 and face up to 180 days in jail.

The move was largely symbolic as the city has long prohibited the types of semi-automatic rifles that can be modified by the device.DALLAS  A U.S. Postal Service worker was found fatally shot inside a mail truck along a busy highway in Dallas on Monday, and investigators are treating the case as a homicide, according to police.

Officers found the workers body inside the government vehicle around 2:30 a.m. after responding to a reported shooting along Interstate 30 just west of downtown, according to a statement released by Dallas police.

Sr. Cpl. DeMarquis Black said no arrests have been made, and investigators are still trying to determine a possible motive behind the shooting. The victims name hasnt been released.

The U.S. Postal Service operates two large mail sorting and processing complexes nearby, according to Amanda McMurrey, an inspector with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service , the law enforcement and security arm of the USPS.

Requests sent to the USPS for details about the employee were referred to the inspection service. McMurrey had no immediate information on the employees route, but she said it isnt unusual for a postal service worker to be on the job before dawn.

It is routine for postal employees to be making deliveries to stations and other post offices at that time, McMurrey said.

The Dallas Main Post Office, which includes a processing and distribution plant, is on the north side of I-30, she said. A USPS National Distribution Center is located on the south side of the highway, a main route connecting Dallas and Fort Worth.

Any charges in the slaying would be referred to federal prosecutors because the victim worked for a U.S. government agency, according to McMurrey.WASHINGTON  Former Associated Press photographer Max Desfor, whose photo of hundreds of Korean War refugees crawling across a damaged bridge in 1950 helped win him a Pulitzer Prize, died Monday. He was 104.

Desfor died at his apartment in Silver Spring, Maryland, where hed been living in his retirement, said his son, Barry.

Desfor volunteered to cover the Korean War for the news service when the North invaded the South in June 1950. He parachuted into North Korea with U.S troops and retreated with them after forces from the North, joined by the Chinese, pushed south.

He was in a Jeep near the North Korean capital of Pyongyang when he spotted a bridge that had been hit by bombing along the Taedong River. Thousands of refugees were lined up on the north bank waiting their turn to cross the river.

We came across this incredible sight, he recalled in 1997 for an AP oral history. All of these people who are literally crawling through these broken-down girders of the bridge. They were in and out of it, on top, underneath, and just barely escaping the freezing water.

Desfor climbed a 50-foot-high section of the bridge to photograph the refugees as they fled for their lives.

My hands got so cold I could barely trip the shutter on my camera, he remembered. I couldnt even finish a full pack of film. It was just that cold.

The Pulitzer jury in 1951 determined that Desfors photos from Korea the previous year had all the qualities which make for distinguished news photography  imagination, disregard for personal safety, perception of human interest and the ability to make the camera tell the whole story. The Pulitzer board honored his overall coverage of the war, based on a portfolio of more than 50 photos, and cited the Taedong River bridge shot in particular.

A native of New York, Desfor was born in the Bronx on Nov. 8, 1913, and attended Brooklyn College. He joined the AP in 1933 as a messenger. After teaching himself the basics of photography and moonlighting as a baby photographer, he began shooting occasional assignments for the AP. He became a staff photographer in the Baltimore bureau in 1938 and moved to the Washington bureau a year later.

During World War II, Desfor photographed the crew of the Enola Gay after the B-29 landed in Saipan from its mission to drop an atomic bomb on Hiroshima in August 1945. He was with the first wave of Marines at Tokyo Bay shortly after Japans surrender that month and photographed the official surrender ceremony aboard the USS Missouri on Sept. 2, 1945.

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Desfor worked for the AP in the Philippines and in India, where he photographed Mahatma Gandhi and later covered the assassinated leaders funeral in 1948. He also worked in the APs Rome bureau and was set to return to the U.S. when war broke out in Korea.

After the war Desfor served as supervising editor of Wide World Photos, the APs photo service, and returned to Asia in 1968 as photo chief for the region. He retired from the AP in 1978, then joined U.S. News & World Report as photo director.

Desfor and his wife, Clara, raised a son, Barry, of Wauconda, Illinois. She died in 2004.

In January 2012, when he was 98, Desfor and his longtime companion, Shirley Belasco, surprised guests at a party celebrating her 90th birthday by marrying in front of their guests. They had been friends since the 1980s when the Desfors and Ms. Belasco lived in the same Silver Spring apartment building and became a couple a few years after his wifes death. Ms. Belasco died in 2015.

A photo Desfor took during his long career that had particular meaning to him also came from the Korean War. Walking near a field he spotted two hands, blue from cold, sticking up in the snow and photographed them. The hands, which had been bound, belonged to one of several civilians taken prisoner and executed, their bodies left to be covered by snowfall.

I labeled that picture, later on, Futility, because its always been  Ive always felt that its the civilians caught in the crossfire, the civilians, the innocent civilians, how futile it is for war, he said for the oral history. That epitomized it to me.The explosion of mobile technology and peoples distrust for traditional banks following the economic crisis make this a fertile time for new financial firms.

Enter the neobanks, a collection of startups that make it easier for you to manage your money in this highly mobile age.

Everything from the account-opening process to the customer service experience is unlike traditional banking, or at least not like the banking experience that has turned so many people off, says JP Nicols, managing director of Fintech Forge, a banking innovation consultancy.

The first wave of neobanks came on the scene in the early 2010s, and they have seen varying degrees of success. Today the landscape is shifting, with some neobanks acting more and more like traditional banks, even as traditional banks try to compete with the neobanks by launching stand-alone brands. In addition, fintech firms that operate in other sectors  primarily lending  are getting to the deposits business.

Below youll find answers to the five most frequently asked questions about neobanks.

What is a neobank? Is my money safe with one?

The most common definition of a neobank is an institution that provides some combination of checking accounts, savings accounts and debit cards via digital channels  primarily mobile  without any physical bank branches.

Neobank apps tend to be slick and simple, designed to help you better understand, and hopefully improve, your saving and spending habits.

It is important to know that neobanks are usually not banks: They do not have charters from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency or state regulators, and they do not have coverage from Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC).

Instead, they work with specialty banks that are chartered to gain FDIC coverage for deposits created at neobanks, and provide prepaid cards in place of conventional debit cards. In other words, they have gussied up the user experience, but your money is still in a bank. Thats a good thing, because it means your money is protected.

There are notable exceptions. For instance, GoBank is a brand of Green Dot Bank. Also, companies like Social Finance, or SoFi as it is commonly called, is launching SoFi Money and is plans to pursue a banking charter, as does Varo Money.

More will likely go this route to cut out the middleman and offer a broader range of checking and savings accounts. However, getting a charter is tough work and is rather expensive, as regulators expect chartered banks to maintain a significant amount of capital on hand.

In the meantime, make sure you see the FDIC logo before signing up.

How else do neobanks differ from traditional banks?

Jim Marous, co-publisher of The Financial Brand, says neobanks stand out because of these features:

 Low cost structure: no monthly fees, no withdrawal costs and low reloading fees.

 Large ATM networks with no fees.

 No overdraft fees because the checking products are prepaid, reloadable debit cards.

 A simple and engaging mobile experience, unlike banking on a phone with a traditional bank.

 Intuitive budgeting and money-tracking tools that allow you to determine whether or not you should buy an item.

 Real-time balances: The balance on your smartphone is the exact amount of money you have available.

Some neobanks also provide ways to use retail facilities for making deposits, reloading their accounts or paying bills. GoBank customers can put cash in their account at Wal-Mart or 7-Eleven. Neobanks like Chime work with Green Dot to make deposits possible at these locations, too.

Last year, Chase and Wells Fargo both announced that they would begin testing standalone brands that would function like neobanks but would include branch access, too.

The other main difference is the breadth of products they offer. Neobanks have been purely deposit focused, but experts say many are looking to expand beyond deposits as they evolve from startups backed by venture capitalists to viable and profitable companies.

This expansion is often referred to as the rebundling of banking. Neobanks wanted to disrupt the deposit side of banking, while fintech lenders like SoFi or Lending Club looked to change the lending business. They unbundled banking. But loans and deposits tend to go together, as do payments and wealth management, so these companies are now starting to put the pieces back together.

Who uses neobanks?

The initial audience targeted by neobanks is the almost 30 percent of consumers in the U.S. who dont use the traditional banking system for a variety of reasons, Marous says.

These people had been using prepaid cards, check-cashing services, consumer credit companies or no financial institution at all, Marous says. In some cases, the demographic favors young people, but many of the neobank customers have been disenfranchised by the current banking system for various reasons.

Neobanks tend to do a good job giving users tools to understand their spending. Those features resonate particularly well with young adults. Indeed, recent data from Business Insider Intelligence found that 52 percent of those between the ages of 18 and 22 say a feature that would allow them to compare their spending to their peers would be important or extremely important in choosing a bank.

Also, if youre struggling with overdrafts, a neobank is a good option because they typically dont allow them. If you dont have the money to cover a purchase, your card is declined.

What are the disadvantages of a neobank?

If you need bank branch access, a neobank wont be a good fit. If youre paid in cash, a neobank isnt likely your first choice, either. While there are options to deposit cash via Green Dot sites, as mentioned above, sometimes the sites charge a fee.

Also, if youre looking for a bank that will grow with you as your needs evolve, a neobank might not be the best choice. That is not to say neobanks themselves arent evolving, and this criticism might not be true within a few years. When youre ready to buy a house, your neobank might be in the mortgage business, or when you inherit some money they might a wealth management product. However, they might not.

What is the future of neobanks?

As detailed earlier, existing neobanks will likely expand into new product lines and look to become chartered banking institutions. Traditional banks will look likely for ways to tap this market with new sub-brands like Wells Fargos Greenhouse or Chases Finn. And fintech players in other lines will look to get into the deposit business.

The other variable is the global landscape. Neobanks are known as challenger banks in Europe, and several of them have their eyes set on the U.S. market but are looking for more clarity on how they might navigate the American banking system, which is fairly complex given the national chartering structure, the state chartering structure and the laws surrounding delivering services without branches. As it stands now, many of those hurdles are enough to keep many on the other side of the Atlantic.



Visit Bankrate online at http://www.bankrate.com



2018 Bankrate.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

_____CHEYENNE, Wyo.  Heavy snow and frigid wind chills are blasting much of the Rocky Mountain region.

The National Weather Service predicts at least 6 inches (15 centimeters) of snow from the Colorado high country through most of Wyoming, where winter storm warnings are in effect.

More than a foot of snow (30 centimeters) could fall in some mountainous areas.

The forecast Monday and Tuesday also calls for gusty winds in much of Wyoming and western Montana. That means wind chills as much as 30 degrees below zero (-34 Celsius).

Many people are staying home from work Monday because of the Presidents Day holiday. Forecasters urge people who must drive to bring an extra flashlight and food in water in case they get stuck.The New Mexico Supreme Court has affirmed the convictions of Steven Lee Lucero for the 2014 beating and stabbing death of Isaiah Sanchez in Roswell during the commission of a robbery that netted him $15.

The defendant posed an extreme danger to the public, the state Attorney Generals Office said in a news release announcing the decision.

Lucero had put into motion a methodical plan to rob Sanchez that ended in his cold-blooded murder and the ultimate theft of $15 from the victims wallet, the AGs Office said.

The Supreme Court in its ruling concluded that the evidence was sufficient to support the jurys finding that defendant conspired to commit felony murder.

Keeping the most violent, dangerous offenders behind bars in New Mexico is our priority, Attorney General Hector Balderas said in a statement.

I am thankful to the Fifth Judicial District Attorneys Office and the Roswell Police Department for the successful prosecution of this case, and Im pleased that the Office of the Attorney Generals Criminal Appeals Division was able ensure this hard fought conviction was upheld, he said. The defendants methodical actions to lure the victim to a house party, brutally beat and stab him, and then return to the body to deliver the fatal stab wound demonstrates the extreme danger Lucero posed to the Roswell community.

Assistant Attorney General Elizabeth Ann Ashton handled the appeal for the Office of the Attorney General.Prev 1 of 1 Next

New Mexico State Police are still looking for the last of seven suspects accused in the fatal shooting of a 62-year-old gas station attendant during a robbery in Edgewood last week.

Daniel DJ Martinez, 30 is the only suspect still on the loose. On Friday, a NMSP spokeswoman announced they had arrested Daniel J. Gonzales, 29, Morgan Ramirez, 30, Donald Herbert Gregory, 46, Veronica M. Martinez, 30, Eileen G. Sandoval, 48 and on Saturday they arrested Misty Roseanne Nevarez, 29.

All of the suspects are from Albuquerque, except for Gregory who is from Edgewood. Those six have all been charged with first degree murder, armed robbery and tampering with evidence.

On Feb. 11, state police were called to investigate after they say a man shot and killed gas station attendant Michael Pelkey during an armed robbery at the Smiths Fuel Center off Edgewood.

Lt. Elizabeth Armijo said a man with a bandana over his face had entered the gas station behind Pelkey  while he was busy helping another customer  and taken money from the register.

Mr. Pelkey then observed the male behind him and followed him outside the booth, Armijo wrote in an email. Outside the booth, an altercation ensued between Mr. Pelkey and the robber and Mr. Pelkey was shot.

Pelkey was taken to the hospital, where he died.

After getting leads and tips from the public and conducting interviews with witnesses, state police rounded up several of the suspects last week.

Tips: Police ask anyone with information about the case to contact Crime Stoppers at 843-STOP.An international iconic brand is coming to Albuquerque  for a day.

And New Mexicans will have to wait until Saturday, March 3, to see.

The Hello Kitty Cafe Truck  yes, Hello Kitty  will make at stop from 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Saturday, March 3, at ABQ Uptown, 2200 Louisiana NE. It will be the first time the truck has made a stop in Albuquerque and located in the courtyard near CPK.

According to a release, fans of Hello Kitty can look forward to an array of exclusive goodies and limited-edition collectibles, including:

 3-piece boxed cookie sets

 Giant cookie

 Stainless steel Hello Kitty Cafe thermal bottles

 Bow-handled mugs

 Pocket pies

 Keychains

 Bow-shaped water bottles

Other popular items include a four-piece petit fours box set, five-piece macaron box set, bow headband and Hello Kitty Cafe T-shirts in youth and adult sizes.

Following its visit to New Mexico, the Hello Kitty Cafe Truck will continue its West Coast tour, with stops in San Antonio, Texas, on March 10 and Austin, Texas, on March 17.

Since the Hello Kitty Cafe Truck made its debut in October 2014 as part of Sanrios first food-related venture, the cafe on wheels has delighted thousands of fans from all over the U.S., drawing crowds of up to hundreds of Hello Kitty lovers at each stop.

To date, two Hello Kitty Cafe trucks have traveled to more than 60 cities across both coasts  from Los Angeles, Seattle and Houston  to Chicago, New York and Florida.Adfest has announced more speakers of its Creative@ Adfest programme with Gunn Report, Hakuhodo Inc., BBDO, Leo Burnett, McCann Worldgroup, D&AD, and Adfest Grand Jury President joining the line-up.

The sessions will culminate in two Jury President Crossfires featuring a panel of some of the worlds most celebrated creative executives.

The latest sessions to be unveiled include:

Gunn 100, presented by Emma Wilkie, Managing Director, Gunn Report, London | Friday 23 March, 11:30 am

Emma Wilkie returns to Adfest for the World Premiere presentation of the new Gunn 100. Expect all the league tables, all the winners, lavishly illustrated by the worlds best ads that defined 2017. The Gunn 100 is the most comprehensive showcase of 2017s best, including the exclusive Asia Pacific ranking only at Adfest. Emma has been Donald Gunns collaborator and co-presenter of The Gunn Report since January 2003. She created The Gunn Report company with Donald in 2007. Since 2016, Gunn Report has been part of WARC, the global authority on advertising and media effectiveness.

The Power of Ideas, The Power of Believing, presented by Hakuhodo Inc.s Kentaro Kimura, Ai Suzuki, Naoki Ono and Yuta Okuyama, Tokyo | Friday 23 March, 2:30 pm

No matter how innovative and eye opening the ideas we come up with, there are always a lot of unexpected hurdles to overcome  and recent changes to business, technology, and the media environment have been making these hurdles higher. From writing films to developing products, a panel of Hakuhodo Inc. experts will discuss how they overcome hurdles, and the secret of Power of Believing. Kimura is APAC Co-Chief Creative Officer of Hakuhodo Inc. and Co-Chief Executive Officer & Executive Creative Director, Hakuhodo Kettle; Suzuki is Creative Producer, Hakuhodo Inc. Tokyo; Ono is Copywriter & Product Designer, while Okuyama is Creative Director at Hakuhodo Inc. and SIX Inc.

This is your last brief, Umma Saini, Creative Director, BBDO Singapore | Friday 23 March, 3.15 pm

Lets start backwards. Not only in terms of our jobs, but life. And in both, what holds us back is fear. What can set us free is purpose. And there is a secret to find it, says Uma Saini, Creative Director at BBDO Singapore. Saini found creative inspiration in an unexpected form  a near-death experience. Shes coming to ADFEST to share what she learnt and inspire other creatives to move forward fearlessly. One of the youngest and most celebrated CDs in the world, Saini ranked No.1 Creative Director in India by Campaign Brief Asia and No.10 in the world by the Big Won Report  one of only two women on the list, and the first Indian woman to make it there.

Be Michael Corvin: A Hybrid, presented by Pranav Harihar Sharma, Executive Creative Director, Leo Burnett, Mumbai | Friday 23 March, 4 pm

Michael Corvin is a character in the Hollywood Underworld series of films, who inspires this session from Leo Burnetts Pranav Harihar Sharma. Sabertooths and dinosaurs ruled till the ice age. But what survived is cockroaches. At any given point in time the world is always divided into two species. But being bigger is no guarantee of a survival. There is always a third that thrives, explains Sharma, who believes hybrid creatives  who arent limited to traditional designated roles - always have the best chance of survival. Pranav has won more than 200 national and international advertising awards. In 2015, he was chosen as one of Adfests Fabulous Four Directors, and in 2016, Sharma featured in Campaign Asia's 40 Under 40 list of rising stars.

All Guts, No Glory, presented by McCann Worldgroups Helene Wei Huber, Senior Planner, McCann Worldgroup China; Jason Cruz, APAC Lead- LIVE, McCann Worldgroup Philippines, and Shun Matsuzaka, Digital Creative Director of McCann Worldgroup Malaysia & Founder of McCann Millennials | Friday 23 March, 4:45 pm

If you want to make a positive change, advertising isnt the way to go  or is it? Three young up-and-comers will discuss their experiences on the uphill battle to transform the status quo. From robots, to hackers, to sassy policemen, these are just some of the ideas this trio has come up with to transform and bring meaning back into our industry. Matsuzaka is also founder of McCann Millennials, a team of over 100 like-minded innovators based in APAC who are on a mission to transform our industry. Hes behind the world's first AI creative director and a brain-wave meditation AI robot designed to push the boundaries of human creativity.

Why doing the right thing is also the right thing to do, Tim Lindsay, Chief Executive Officer of D&AD, London | Saturday 24 March, 10:45 am

Our business needs to transform its lack of diversity and senior gender balance. Social justice aside, this is because homogenised groups produce homogenised thinking, says Tim Lindsay, one of the worlds most influential creative thinkers as Chief Executive Officer of D&AD. Lindsay believes we need to look in new places for fresh talent, promote the interests of women to avoid a catastrophic talent drain and move our understanding of what constitutes creativity out of its existing narrow confines. Born in Lincolnshire and raised in Africa, Lindsay has 40 years experience at agencies including Y&R London, Lowe Howard-Spink/Lowe Lintas/Lowe Worldwide, Publicis UK and TBWAUK and Ireland. He became CEO of D&AD in 2011.

Jury Presidents Crossfire I | Saturday 24 March, 3.15 pm

Go behind the doors of the judging room to listen first-hand to four Jury Presidents and learn the secrets of what makes some works great, and others exceptional. The first Jury President Crossfire will feature representatives from the Design Lotus & Print Craft Lotus; Film Craft Lotus & New Director Lotus, Interactive Lotus & Mobile Lotus and Direct Lotus & Promo Lotus panels.

Jury Presidents Crossfire II, moderated by David Guerrero | Saturday 24 March, 4 pm

Four more Jury Presidents take the stage to reflect on their favourite Adfest 2018 winners. This panel will feature Joyce King Thomas, Chairman and Chief Creative Officer of McCann XBC (Grand Jury President and Jury President of Branded Content Lotus & Integrated Lotus); plus representatives from the Effective Lotus & Media Lotus, Film Lotus & Radio Lotus and Outdoor Lotus & Press Lotus panels.

How a 30,000 year-old medium became the most transformative idea of 2017, Joyce King Thomas, Chairman & Chief Creative Officer of McCann XBC, New York, and Grand Jury President of ADFEST 2018 | Saturday 24 March, 4:45 pm

One of the most lauded ideas of 2017 was neither digital nor high tech. It was a statue of an eight-year-old girl who dared to look gender inequality directly in the face, on behalf of a company making bold moves against that inequality. How did State Streets Fearless Girl come to be? Joyce King Thomas will shed light on how the idea evolved, why it resonated, and what agencies (and clients) need to do to make more of those ideas.

Adfest 2018 will consist of two streams: Craft@ Adfest, dedicated to production, digital, and technology trends; and Creative@ Adfest, which is focused on pushing the boundaries of the creative and communication industry.

To Read More Visit Here.There are two names the governor has avoided saying and thus acknowledging the Republicans exist and are in the places they are: "President Donald Trump" and GOP primary challenger "Jeanne Ives."

Last week, Governor Rauner did not sit at the table with other governors at President Donald Trump's roll out of a crucial infrastructure plan - despite the state's dire need for federal infrastructure assistance.

CORRECTION: Instead, State Rep. David McSweeney (R-Barrington) was invited by the White House to represent Illinois. (Ed. Note: We mistakenly first wrote the governor sent McSweeney. McSweeney wants to make clear he was invited by the White House and has nothing to do with Governor Rauner. We apologize for the error.)

But Monday being Presidents Day, Rauner's campaign was forced to mention Donald Trump as one of the nine presidents that have been in office since House Speaker Mike Madigan took office:

How Many Presidents Have Come and Gone Since Mike Madigan Took Office?

In honor of President's Day, we put together a list of everyone who has served as President of the United States since Mike Madigan was first elected in 1971. We've had nine (9!) different presidents during that time and yet only one Speaker of the House for all but two years in Illinois since our own Ronald Reagan served in the White House.After chartbusters like 'Pant Main Gun' and 'Ishtehar' the makers of the upcoming comedy Welcome To New York have released an out-an-out foot-stomper titled Meher Hai Rab Di. Composed by Meet Bros with lyrics penned by Kumaar, the song has been sung by Mika Singh is his inimitable style along with Khushboo Grewal.

Meher Hai Rab Di which features Diljit Dosanjh and Sonakshi Sinha dancing to the peppy and lively number has Diljit showcasing his Gabru moves and Desi Swag in an action packed avatar while Sonakshi joins in and grooves in an unabashed style.

Talking about the song, Director Chakri Toleti says, We wanted the song to look and feel modern and contemporary and yet have the rustic Bhangra style to it. I think Diljit and Sonakshi have done a fabulous job by bringing that vibe to the song and with Meet Bros terrific composition and Mika bhais excellent vocals, this song has risen to another level altogether.

Welcome To New York is a heartfelt, rib-tickling comedy that tells the story of two unlikely youngsters living in India in search of a better life for themselves. An unexpected trip to New York City sets them off on a comedic adventure that changes their lives forever. The film comprises of an exciting ensemble multi-star cast of Karan Johar in a never-seen-before double role, Diljit Dosanjh, Sonakshi Sinha, Riteish Deshmukh, Boman Irani, Lara Dutta, Sushant Singh Rajput and Rana Daggubati.

Directed by Chakri Toleti and Produced by Pooja Films and Wiz Films with Music by Pooja Music, Welcome To New York releases worldwide on February 23rd, 2018.Indian Hotels Company Ltd (IHCL, BSE: 500850; NSE: INDHOTEL) a leading hospitality company in South Asia, today announced a comprehensive five-year business strategy targeted at improving EBIDTA margins by 800 bps. Under the plan, the company will work towards deepening guest experience, strengthening market leadership and achieving transformative growth leading to greater profitability and market leadership in each of the IHCL relative market segments.

Articulating the plan, Puneet Chhatwal, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Indian Hotels Company Limited, outlined a crisp overview of the vision, created with an eye towards maximizing stakeholder value over the next five years. The plan aims to build on the century-old legacy of IHCL and further strengthen its position by operating best in class portfolio of brands in India and select overseas destinations.

Our greatest opportunities reside at the very heart of our brand - our people, authentic guest experiences and unmatched value. Our strategy is three pronged: Restructure, Reengineer and Reimagine our portfolio to achieve 8% point EBIDTA margin improvement. This will be driven by a deep commitment to service excellence as well as implementation of revenue and profit-driving initiatives. Integral to our strategy of reinforcing the multi-product, multi-segment brandscape is our customer. We shall aim to have a value proposition for each of our customers at different points in their lifecycle. Our service ethos, epitomized in what we call Taj-ness will continue to be the soul of our company. Puneet Chhatwal added.

Key tenets of the plan include unlocking value from efficiencies in scale and simplifying the holding structure for greater profitability. IHCL will be at the forefront of change in the hospitality industry as it goes about re-engineering processes, embracing technology and building people capability to deliver enhanced and personalized customer experiences. The plan will include aligning the companys brands to dominate high growth segments, implementing an aggressive development pipeline and restructuring assets for balance sheet optimization.



IHCL has the distinct advantage on the Indian sub-continent of having the largest system wide revenue, one of the largest network of hotels, spanning iconic landmark hotels, authentic Palaces and the highest number of leisure hotels. It is the only Indian hospitality group to have marquee hotels in international locations like New York, London, San Francisco, and Dubai amongst others in overseas destinations.

To Read More Visit Here.Would you like to receive breaking news notifications from The Post and Courier?

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Please enable notifications in your browser and reload the page.Members of the Aiken County Legislative Delegation are unsurprised but disappointed  to use state Sen. Tom Young's words  about President Donald Trump's request to close the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility at the Savannah River Site.

Trump's fiscal year 2019 budget request, released last week, allots $220 million for the orderly and safe closure of MOX, a facility that would, upon completion, turn weapons-grade plutonium into commercial reactor fuel.

The budget request includes $59 million for dilute and dispose, an equally controversial MOX alternative that requires mixing plutonium with inert material and burying it elsewhere. Dilute and dispose, often referred to as downblending, is the National Nuclear Security Administration's preferred method, according to the agency's stand-in chief, Steven Erhart.

Trump's budget kills MOX in favor of downblending, encourages NNSA modernization This proposal will empower DOE to achieve our missions efficiently and effectively while being respectful to the American taxpayer," U.S. Sec

But none of this is more or less new. This year is not the first time Trump has tried to kill the over-budget MOX project, and it's not the first time downblending has been floated as the right answer. Former President Barack Obama tried shutting down MOX, too.

The Aiken County legislators know this: State Rep. Bart Blackwell, R-Aiken, said he was "not terribly surprised" the president's request disfavors MOX.

"We've been down this road before," Blackwell said.

When asked how he felt about the budget request, state Rep. Bill Clyburn, D-Aiken, used the word "disappointed."

"MOX has been promised," Clyburn said, "and the job has to be completed."

Experts have placed MOX completion at or around 70 percent.

Protecting MOX means securing funding. The project has consistently received more than $300 million a year from federal appropriators.

Blackwell believes South Carolina political heavyweights  U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham and U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson  will step up and "go to bat" for MOX.

"We have strong fighters in our corners," Blackwell said.

Two weeks ago, Graham said he would put up "one hell of a fight" for MOX. But Graham has also said MOX is the poster child of what's wrong with government: "If I had to explain to somebody from Mars what's wrong with the federal government, I'd use the MOX program as an example."

Young agreed with the latter sentiment.

"Some of the decisions made with this project defy common sense," the Aiken Republican said, adding that it is especially frustrating to watch "special interests" argue and influence the overall mission: ridding the state of its stored defense plutonium.

Young is a member of the South Carolina Governor's Nuclear Advisory Council.

Trump's budget request is exactly that  a request, which means MOX termination is far from promised.

The president's budget will not go untouched moving forward. The U.S. House and Senate budget committees will have their hands in the process. So will appropriation committees. Final budget approval is a process that goes through both chambers and across the president's desk.

State Rep. Bill Taylor, R-Aiken, called Trump's budget a "wish list" for that very reason.

"Congress will decide the fate of MOX as it did every time President Obama tried to kill it," Taylor said. "Hopefully Congress will wisely decide to finish the MOX project..."

Clyburn concurred: "I hope there will be some adjustment where MOX can be funded. ... I don't think it would come to an abrupt end through a budget statement."

Ending MOX is especially contentious in Aiken County and nearby Georgia because of the project's economic influence. Clyburn described MOX's economic impact as "tremendous."

The MOX project employs approximately 2,000 people.

A 2017 SCGNAC MOX review document states shutting down MOX would be a "crippling blow" to the state's economy. As such, Blackwell said MOX mercuriality keeps involved communities  Aiken  on edge.

"It really makes it difficult for those people that work out there," he said.WHEATON - Illinois TV viewers have been told by Governor Rauner's campaign for the last couple of weeks that GOP challenger State Rep. Jeanne Ives is "Madigan's favorite Republican." Anyone that is keeps up on Springfield politics is well aware that Ives is not Madigan's favorite Republican, and that the comments used in Rauner's campaign were scoffing responses to the governor blaming Madigan for none of Rauner's Turnaround Agenda being put into effect.

In response, Ives - who has a considerably smaller campaign budget than Rauner's $65M - released a new ad on the internet called "Rauners Friends." The ad, her campaign says, "exposes Bruce Rauners real political allies in Springfield."The Lebanese General Security Directorate recently reviewed director Steven Spielberg's film "The Post" because of his ties with Israel, and its censorship committee decided to ban the movie because Spielberg is on a blacklist for "Schindlers List." A few days later, the decision was reversed and the movie was allowed in cinemas.

Movie censorship in Lebanon is haphazard, with decisions based loosely on a 1947 law and often made under pressure from religious and political groups. Censorship is based on four subjective considerations, which include respect for public morals, state authorities' reputations, sectarian and religious sensitivities and Lebanon's interests.

Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk, who is responsible for ratifying the committees decision, decided not to do so. In a Jan. 17 statement, the ministry said Machnouk saw no objection to tthe showing of the film, which has no connection with Lebanon or to the conflict with the Israeli enemy.

About the same time, the Interior Ministry decided to ban the movie Jungle two weeks after its release. "Jungle" is the story of three friends who get lost in the Bolivian Amazon in 1981, based on the real experience and book of Israeli Yossi Ghinsberg. Although the movie scarcely refers to Israel, it was taken out of theaters because of complaints and pressure from the Lebanese branch of the Campaign to Boycott the Supporters of Israel, which argued that the movie is based on a Zionists story and pointed out that producer Dana Lustig is also Israeli.

Machnouk was unavailable for comment when Al-Monitor contacted the Interior Ministry.

A long list of movies have been banned or censored in Lebanon during the past two years. "Spotlight," an Oscar-winning film about pedophilia in the Catholic church, was not shown because distributors were afraid of religion-related repercussions. "I Say Dust," a film from Lebanese-American Darine Hotait, was banned for a same-sex kissing scene, horror movie "Annabelle 2" for religious reasons and "Wonder Woman" and "Justice League" because actress Gal Gadot, a former Israeli soldier, starred in both.

March Lebanon, a nongovernmental organization concerned with freedom of expression and culture, has created a Virtual Museum of Censorship, an online database tracking banned and censored material since Lebanon declared independence from France in 1943. March Vice President Gino Raidy told Al-Monitor he was very excited about the ban lift on 'The Post.'"

For once, the interior minister showed it was not just a decision to sign without looking at it, Raidy said, adding, especially since for the past two years, we had an unprecedented level of censorship. ... Moreover, Steven Spielberg was authorized [in Lebanon] before  except for 'Schindlers List.' His name was just blackened from the posters sometimes. I think the public outrage online really helped here.

The activist says cultural censorship works against Lebanon's own movie industry. For each movie banned, there will be thousands of illegal DVD copies and streaming to replace the cinema, Raidy said. Also, distributors could be afraid to schedule Lebanese productions based on [the Lebanese Civil War], for example, or on religion. The creativity of filmmakers is affected and that [does] real damage to our country, not to Hollywood. We should allow filmmakers to make movies about what people want to hear about, and not make every scene hard to shoot for them. If they dont have an audience here, then it's a lost opportunity because it's [inside the country] that they'll find the most receptive audience.

That opinion is shared by Zeina Sfeir, press officer and a board member of Metropolis Art Cinema Association. She told Al-Monitor that creators are the first and most important part of the process. "Lebanese creators risk censorship before their project even starts by the General Security, but also by religious and political groups.

For five years, a group of lawyers, cinema associations and producers have been working to change the 1947 law.

We want censorship to be independent of the Ministry of Culture, so the film festivals dont undergo censorship and so [the process] becomes reduced to age ratings for movies about to be in cinemas, Sfeir added. We are waiting for the next elections in May to have independent representatives in the parliament, people who would defend this idea.

Ayman Mhanna, the Samir Kassir Foundation's executive director of freedom of expression, would like to see a new approach to determining films' suitability for audiences.

What we need are psychologists and experts to judge if a movie is inappropriate for some age groups, not security people to restrict artistic freedom, he told Al-Monitor. For the people, it is also about their own freedom to have access and choose what to see or read or hear.

Mhanna doesnt see a link between 'The Post' and the cultural boycott of Israel, but understands some people might be offended for their own reasons. In that case, Then these people dont go watch it and thats it; others can. Boycotting is a personal affair.

In the case of Gadot, Mhanna noted that other movies in which the Israeli actress appeared have been available in Lebanon, as well as magazines mentioning her. It shows that technically, it is hard to [enforce] total censorship in a country, and also that these decisions are erratic in the absence of a clear and more open law, he said. Eventually, it's about the value of liberty in this country. And which values do we want to have?

The next parliament will have to address the tricky question of cultural freedom in Lebanon, as censorship is becoming a more frequent topic of discussion among the public and as people expect more clarity and openness.AMMAN, Jordan  Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has stepped up his recently launched diplomatic offensive on future peace negotiations, including by emphasizing the need for Moscow to reassert a balancing role in the Middle East conflict.

On Feb. 10 in Ramallah, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi signed four agreements totaling $41 million and expressed support for a two-state solution, and 24 hours later, Abbas arrived in Moscow for a meeting with President Vladimir Putin. On Feb. 13, a senior Omani official, Foreign Minister Yusuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah, arrived for the first time in Ramallah for a visit.

Abbas' Russian trip is remarkable in that it reflects a major shift in Palestinian diplomatic efforts aimed at dislodging the United States as the sole sponsor of the peace process. The Palestinian ambassador to Russia, Abdel Hafiz Nofal, had told Maan TV on Feb. 11 that Abbas is seeking a new sponsor for peace. We want a sponsor that is serious about the peace process after the United States has failed over 25 years, Nofal said. We believe that Russia is ready to play this role.

Nofal added that the Palestinians want Russia, China and the European Union to have a bigger role in the new international order. Russian media reported on Feb. 11 that Putin had canceled a trip to Sochi to meet with Abbas.

Nofal further explained Palestinian objections to US-led talks in an interview published by WAFA, the Palestinians' official news agency, Feb. 11. President Abbas announced that for the Palestinians, the United States is not welcome to play the role of broker because of its bias toward Israel, Nofal said. At the same time, we remain committed to the peace process and wish to resume it and achieve a two-state solution.

Abbas senior adviser Majdi Khaldi hinted in press reports from Feb. 11 that the effort is aimed at launching an international peace conference. Russia can make any initiative it wants after discussions with the Palestinians, Khalidi said, leaving Moscow with a wide range of options. Whatever the Russians suggest, we will welcome, after Palestinian-Russian discussions.

Abbas took and has maintained an aggressive posture ever since US President Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israels capital on Dec. 6, and the Palestinian Central Council approved his plan to reject a US-sponsored ultimate deal. The visit to Moscow follows a decision made Feb. 1 by Arab foreign ministers, meeting in Cairo, calling for a new international mechanism for peace.

During the last four weeks alone, Abbas has visited Cairo to attend an Al-Azhar University conference in support of Jerusalem on Jan. 17; Addis Ababa, for an African summit on Jan. 28; and Brussels, for discussions with European foreign ministers on Jan. 22 and a meeting with Belgium Prime Minister Charles Michel Jan. 23. The Palestinian leader also squeezed in a state visit to Jordan to meet with King Abdullah II on Jan. 29. Abbas is scheduled to speak at the UN Security Councils special session on the Middle East on Feb. 20 in New York.

Riyad Mansour, Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations, told Saudi newspaper Arab News on Feb. 3 that Abbas will be extending an olive branch at the Security Council meeting. We stretch our arms out for peace, and we will make sure that the international body takes on its responsibility for world peace, Mansour said.

The model that Abbas and the rest of the Palestinian leadership are trying to emulate is that of Iran that resulted in the nuclear agreement. In that process, the international community was represented by the P5+1  that is, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council including China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States  plus Germany.

Slovenia has indicated that it plans to recognize Palestine, and a three-country coalition of Ireland, Belgium and Luxembourg is working together to announce recognition simultaneously. Sweden, which recognized the State of Palestine in October 2014, would like to see other European countries follow them, a senior Swedish official told Al-Monitor.

France, whose president, Emmanuel Macron, said on Jan. 24 that his country will not recognize Palestine at the present time, appears to be the key country pushing to play kingmaker in any new peace mechanism.

Abbas diplomatic offensive appears to be focused on securing an international breakthrough that will limit destructive actions by Washington without totally eliminating the US role. Abbas understands that he needs the United States to put pressure on Israel, but he does not want it to have a monopoly at any talks. It is too early to say whether the Palestinian president will succeed in this difficult balancing act.Washington's role in the Middle East topped the agenda in Moscow during talks Feb. 12 between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

The head of the Palestinian Authority (PA) had originally been due to meet with Putin in Sochi. However, following the crash of a Russian civilian aircraft that claimed 71 lives, the meeting had to take place in Moscow. Just a few minutes ahead of the meeting, US President Donald Trump phoned his Russian counterpart. The formal reason was to express condolences over the plane crash, but the two politicians also touched upon other topics, including the Palestinian-Israeli settlement process. Putin passed Trumps best wishes to Abbas as the two leaders started the conversation. Naturally, we talked about the Palestinian-Israeli settlement process. I would like to convey his best wishes, the Russian leader said to Abbas. Later, Washington clarified that Trump had emphasized the need to start working out an enduring peace agreement between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

The statement came amid the Palestinians active rejection of US mediation in the Middle East. Abbas did not come empty-handed, as he brought the proposals to set up a new settlement mechanism for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Should any international conference or any international event take place, we ask for the ultimate creation of a mechanism in which the United States would be part of a group of mediators rather than the sole intermediary, the Palestinian leader told Putin.

Al-Monitor asked Nabil Shaath, Abbas adviser on foreign affairs and international relations, whether he was surprised that the Abbas-Putin meeting included greetings from Trump. He said, President Putin made it clear that Russia does not exclude the United States from the Middle East settlement process  we do not do it either. We are just unwilling to see the United States as the sole mediator.

Shaath also said that Abbas spoke at length at the Kremlin talks on why the Palestinians felt ill at ease about US mediation in the conflict. The sides also discussed the Palestinian proposals to create a new settlement mechanism  a new peace formula for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

While Shaath noted that the Moscow negotiations did not produce any agreements, in fact the talks had not aimed to do so. Most importantly, Russia reaffirmed its commitment to the two-state solution one more time and voiced its eagerness to work with the Palestinian proposals.

The Palestinians seek to expand the ranks of the Middle East Quartet of international mediators, which came into existence in 2002. Currently, these mediators include Russia, the United States, the European Union and the United Nations, but over the past few years, the latter has not initiated a single step aimed at conflict resolution. The Palestinians believe that Washington opted for managing this process unilaterally.

The Palestinians propose a negotiation format similar to the P5+1 (United States, United Kingdom, France, Russia, China and Germany) that addressed the Iranian nuclear issue. This implies that the permanent members of the UN Security Council plus several other states are viewed as future mediators. The list of the additional countries is yet to be discussed. The Palestinians are considering Japan, India, Brazil, South Africa and some Arab states. Their main objective is to ensure that Washingtons voice is one of many, but not the only one. As the Palestinians believe, international deliberations may produce a new mechanism. Thus they perceive Russia, which maintains ties with all the regional stakeholders, as an ideal venue for the meeting.

Shaath expressed hope for the prompt start of such negotiations, saying that Moscow does not oppose it, but did not give any concrete promises at the bargaining table.

Both Russia and Palestine really need international support on the issue. On his way to Moscow, Abbas paid a visit to Brussels and many other world capitals to hold negotiations with their leaders, which would culminate in his Feb. 20 address to the UN Security Council. As sources close to Kommersant argued, the Russian president had provided Abbas with much sound advice on his future speech. Although Putin is not the only adviser here, the Palestinians hope that Russia will play a key role in the Middle East peace process.

However, Moscow understands that any conference or new mechanism will not be effective unless the two parties are back at the negotiating table. As early as last year, Moscow proposed hosting direct talks between Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. However, the Israelis turned down the offer. Moreover, they do not trust international formats, realizing that they have no allies but the Americans. At the same time, the United States is not ready to condone Israeli behavior.

In a recent interview with Israel Hayom, the US president voiced an opinion that neither Palestine nor Israel was looking to make peace. We are going to see what goes on, said Trump when asked about when the United States would unveil its much-heralded peace plan. The statement can be described as a bombshell, as the president used to deem only the Palestinians unready to embrace peace.

If the course of events were conditional upon Israeli actions, nothing would take place. As Putin mentioned in his conversation with Abbas, he had discussed the Arab-Israeli conflict with Netanyahu during his visit to Moscow two weeks earlier. Yet the negotiations resulted in neither Russia nor Israel touching upon the matter and instead focusing on the Syrian issue and Iran.

The Middle East peace process has been gradually returning to the worlds agenda one way or another. Although Russia supports the Palestinians, it will not overemphasize its importance in the process. Conflict resolution, if at all possible, requires joint efforts of the mediators. Despite Moscow considering the recent US steps toward the goal dangerous, it deems a dialogue with Washington necessary.

Putin demonstrated to the Palestinian side that the United States remains the key party to the Middle East peace process. It is no coincidence that Putin started his conversation with Abbas with greetings from Trump.

During his stay in Moscow, the leader of the PA also visited the Moscow Cathedral Mosque where he met Ravil Gainutdinov, the head of the Council of Muftis. He said that for Russian Muslims the route of pilgrimage includes stops at Al-Aqsa and the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. Abbas also reminded everyone of Russian support for the Palestinian stance on East Jerusalem. Preserving the special status of Jerusalem was also discussed at the meeting between Abbas and Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and Sergei Stepashin, the chairman of the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society.CAIRO  Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid warned in an official statement Feb. 7 against contesting the agreement on the demarcation of the maritime border between Egypt and Cyprus. He also warned against infringing on Egypt's sovereign rights in the delimited area, asserting that any attempt to do so was unacceptable and would be rejected.

The Egyptian position came in response to statements by Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in an interview Feb. 4 with the Greek daily Kathimerini. Cavusoglu described as null and void the agreement signed between Egypt and Cyprus in December 2013 on the joint exploitation of hydrocarbon reserves on the median line between the two countries respective exclusive economic zones (EEZ) in the eastern Mediterranean. We have clearly stated that the agreement violates Turkeys continental shelf, he noted.

Praising the Egyptian Foreign Ministry's position, Maj. Gen. Kamal Amer, the head of the Egyptian parliament's National Defense and Security Committee, asserted in a press statement Feb. 7, It is a strong response that expresses Egypt's position, especially the Egyptian rejection of any infringement of its sovereign right to the EEZ.

A number of bilateral agreements have been signed between Egypt and Cyprus on gas and oil exploration in the eastern Mediterranean. These include the 2003 maritime demarcation agreement and the cooperation agreement signed in October 2012 in the field of oil and gas exploration, especially in the deep waters adjacent to the Egyptian-Cypriot border.

In an interview with Al-Monitor, Salah El-Tahawy, a professor of international law at Helwan University, said, The 2013 agreement is an international convention signed in light of the Charter of the United Nations and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. After its ratification by the Egyptian and Cypriot parliaments, this international convention became an internal law in these two countries. This international agreement has been in force since its signature.

He added, Egypt and Cyprus are sovereign states. Turkey's claim to natural resources in the eastern Mediterranean is unacceptable and criminalized under international law. It threatens international peace and security. Tahawy confirmed Egypts right to defend itself against any Turkish aggression in the EEZ in accordance with Article 51 of Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations.

Turkey and Egypt had maintained close ties under the reign of former President Mohammed Morsi. Erdogan visited Egypt in November 2012 and several economic agreements were signed between the two countries, in addition to coordination on some common issues, especially the Palestinian cause.

However, the toppling of Morsi in July 2013 severely strained Egyptian-Turkish relations. Turkey officially rejected the ousting of Morsi, seeing his overthrow as a coup. On several occasions, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Morsi is the only legitimate president of Egypt.

Back then, this position stirred the ire of the Egyptian government. It reduced the level of its diplomatic representation in Turkey to charge daffaires, expelled the Turkish ambassador in Egypt and summoned the Egyptian ambassador in Ankara.

Meanwhile, Egyptian-Cypriot relations further expanded since President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi took power in Egypt in 2014. Sisi visited Cyprus in 2015 as the first Egyptian president to pay an official visit to Cyprus, and then again in November 2017.

Egypt succeeded in pursuing a fruitful cooperative diplomacy to maximize its utilization of energy resources in the eastern Mediterranean. These efforts culminated in October 2016, when Egypt hosted a tripartite summit with Cyprus and Greece. The Cairo Declaration ensuing from the summit focused on enhancing cooperation among the three countries through a series of agreements on exploration and transportation of natural gas within their common maritime borders.

Tarek Fahmy, a professor of political science at Cairo University, described the statements of Turkey's foreign minister as hostile. They mean nothing and do not affect the nature of the existing agreement between Egypt and Cyprus, he told Al-Monitor.

The timing has its implications and dimensions. The Turkish statements may be interpreted in light of the start of production by Egypt in the Zohr natural gas field in late January, which is the largest gas discovery of its kind in the eastern Mediterranean, he said. Egypt's maritime forces can protect Egypt's rights in the eastern Mediterranean. Turkey is well-aware of this. In 2017, Global Firepower classified Egypt as the sixth strongest navy in the world and the first military power in Africa and the Arab world.

He explained that the Turkish position is not only linked to Egypt but also stems from major differences with Cyprus. Both Egypt and Cyprus have to coordinate positions to repel any Turkish attempts to undermine their rights, Fahmy added.

During his speech at the inauguration ceremony of the Zohr gas field Jan. 31, Sisi noted that the demarcation of the maritime border with Cyprus contributed significantly to the discovery of the gas field by the Italian energy company Eni in August 2015.

Egyptian Minister of Petroleum Tariq al-Mulla said at the inauguration that the natural gas production of the Zohr gas field will save Egypt gas imports equivalent to around $3 billion annually. By the end of the year, we will have reached self-sufficiency," Mulla said.

Any attempts of rapprochement between Egypt and Turkey during the next stage could be difficult. The eastern Mediterranean seems to be a new source of dispute between the two countries, as Turkey does not seem to want to resolve its problems with Cairo.Washington  John Hannah, who served as national security adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney, will not take the job of US Syria envoy, Al-Monitor has learned.

Hannah had been in advanced negotiations with the Donald Trump administration about the position, but ultimately decided against going back into the US government at this time, a person familiar with the deliberations said Sunday, speaking not for attribution. Hannah declined to comment.

Hannah, currently a senior counselor at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, served as Cheneys deputy national security adviser for the Middle East from 2001 to 2004 and national security adviser from 2005 to 2009. He previously worked as a senior State Department official in both the Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush administrations, including on the policy planning staff under veteran Middle East peace negotiator Dennis Ross.

Expectation for the appointment had come as the Trump administration has sought a heavyweight diplomat or retired general to fill the envoy role to try to bolster stalled UN-led negotiations to find a political resolution to the Syrian conflict.

Washington has been consulting with like-minded countries on mechanisms to advance the Geneva negotiations, led by UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura. But de Mistura, speaking after briefing the UN Security Council last week, acknowledged that what the parties are even negotiating about is in dispute.

My mission is not an easy one, de Mistura acknowledged at a press stake-out in New York on Feb. 14, after journalists asked him about Syrias UN Ambassador Bashar Jaafari rejecting a UN role in forming a committee to rewrite the Syrian Constitution.

Meanwhile, the foreign ministers of Iran, Russia and Turkey will meet in Kazakhstan in two weeks to prepare for a Syria summit to be held in Istanbul, Reuters reported that Russias Tass News Agency cited Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif as saying Monday.

Trump administration officials working on Syria have expressed confidence in private meetings about a US strategy on Syria. They assess that Washington has leverage to bring to bear in negotiations on Syrias post-war political settlement, including because US-backed forces are holding some 30% of Syrias territory, including oil fields. They also assess that the regime of President Bashar al-Assad is weaker than it appears.

One senior Nation Security Council official told Syria analysts at a recent private meeting that they are going to spend a lot of time and effort to try to put the US relationship with Turkey on the right track. The goal remains to roll back Iran, and the administration assesses they cannot do that without Turkey being on the US side, one analyst who attended, speaking not for attribution, told Al-Monitor.Ever since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the implicit goal of US strategy toward Tehran has with rare exception been to subvert the Iranian political system. Under President Donald Trump, regime change has been adopted as official policy. Trumps approach has been twofold: to increase sanctions and other pressures to weaken Iran while countering its defensive capabilities and regional influence, and to support Iranians who seek to overthrow the Islamic Republic.

Before the Islamic Revolution, Washington was the dominant foreign power in Iran, exercising decisive political, economic, military and cultural influence. The United States came into this position after orchestrating the 1953 coup ousting democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh and returning to power the dictatorial regime of the shah. The 1979 revolution marked the end of US influence in Iran and was a major setback for Washington in the region as a strategic ally suddenly turned into an enemy.

The most important reason for Americas imbroglio in Iran was the misperceptions US officials had of Iranian society. In a 1977 trip to Tehran, President Jimmy Carter praised the shah for making Iran an island of stability and for the admiration and love which your people give you. Just months later, slogans of Death to the Shah and Death to America reverberated in protests that ultimately ended millennia of monarchy in Iran.

While Trump has encouraged the Iranian people to revolt against their government, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has said that the administrations aim is to bring about peaceful transition, and Sen. Tom Cotton, an influential Trump adviser, has called for covert action to support internal domestic dissent. In the lead-up to the revolution, Washington misread the domestic situation in Iran to dramatic consequence. It is of no surprise then that after 40 years of no American presence in Iran whatsoever, the misunderstandings that Trump administration officials have of Iranian society are greater and herald potentially graver consequences. As such, a better US understanding of Iran is of utmost necessity.

The Iranian people are proud of their long history and view themselves as one of the few great civilizations. During his September 2017 address to the UN General Assembly, Trump underscored these proud roots as a center of civilization. Yet a month later, he described Iranians as a terrorist nation.

Looking ahead, Trump must clarify whether he is speaking with a civilized or a terrorist nation  and if he wants to use the language of respect or humiliation toward Iranians.

The US administration must also gain a more nuanced and accurate understanding of the Iranian peoples demands. In late December, many Iranian cities became sites of protests, at the root of which were economic grievances. In some cases, these protests became violent. Trump lauded the demonstrations from the get-go and proclaimed that the Iranian people were finally getting wise.

But there was a disconnect between the reality of the protests and their coverage in US and Western media. While limited in magnitude, the unrest was large in scope. Moreover, after scenes of violence and vandalism promulgated in the Iranian press, counterdemonstrations took place across the country. In particular, during the Feb. 11 demonstrations marking the 39th anniversary of the revolution, thousands turned out. But these events drew practically zero coverage in US media. This skewed coverage of events reinforces misunderstandings of important social and political realities inside Iran and ultimately results in miscalculations and counterproductive policy.

Indeed, a recent poll conducted by the University of Marylands Center for International and Security Studies found that while there are widespread and deep-seated economic grievances among Iranians, they by and large oppose regime change. Moreover, directly clashing with Trumps rhetoric and policies, most of those polled also expressed support for the nuclear deal, Irans defense capability  including the countrys ballistic missile program  and regional policies. Remarkably, Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani enjoys the highest approval rating among Iranian public figures, even as the United States has designated him as a known terrorist.

Most of the Iranians who were polled also blamed the Trump administration for not living up to US commitments under the nuclear deal.

In addition, public sentiment in Iran is strongly opposed to Saudi Arabia and Israel. By allying so closely with these countries against Iran, Trump is thus further increasing the antipathy of Iranians toward the United States. The University of Maryland poll also showed that while over 80% of Iranians had a negative view of the US government, a majority for the first time had positive opinions of Russia and China. This dramatic shift in the Iranian publics perceptions cannot be understated.

In the past 200 years, Iran has been subject to both Russian and British military encroachment and has been forced to cede large parts of its territory. After the establishment of the Islamic Republic, it was invaded by Saddam Husseins Iraq, sparking a brutal eight-year war during which the United States and its regional allies supported Baghdad. The conflict cost hundreds of thousands of lives and hundreds of billions of dollars in damage. This is while Iran has not launched a war of aggression in over 250 years. This grander historical backdrop drives Iranians to instinctively unite in the face of foreign interference.

If the United States wants to one day improve its relations with Iran, it must gain the trust of the Iranian people and adopt policies that reflect the realities on the ground in Iran. To this end, the Trump administration ought to take note of the momentous shifts in public attitudes among Iranians. If not, renewed hawkishness may cause a serious backlash with unpredictable consequences.NAJAF, Iraq  The Jan. 26 attack on Sheikh Abdul Mahdi al-Karbalai, a representative of top Shiite cleric Ali al-Sistani, was no surprise. Those familiar with attacks on religious authorities in Iraq believe the incident, which took place while Karbalai delivered a Friday sermon, was orchestrated by Shiite groups that defected from the Najaf authority. Karbala Gov. Aqeel al-Turaihi stated Jan. 27, Deviant groups were behind the attack."

Some Sunni media outlets interpreted the attack as a sign that Iraqis in general, both Shiites and Sunnis, are frustrated with Sistani and sectarianism.

Sistani has faced social media troubles such as a fake Facebook account that was condemned by his office, and news articles and programs have taken aim at Iraq's religious authorities. On Feb. 12, intelligence services in Dhi Qar province raided several groups, arresting their members for activities targeting prominent clerics.

Several attacks on Sistanis religious authority have been made over the years, starting as early as 2003. In 2012, a Sistani-affiliated cleric survived a grenade attack by an unknown perpetrator in front of a mosque. However, as Iraqis became preoccupied with the emergence of the Islamic State (IS) in 2014, the number of attacks declined before the recent resurgence.

After a period of suppression during Saddam Hussein's rule, the religious authority in Najaf enjoyed a broad public presence after the regime collapsed in 2003. Sistani then began addressing and influencing the masses' political choices and the war against IS. Now, Sistani's rivals are trying to reduce his influence and distance him from the 2018 elections.

Cleric Jawad al-Khalisi, who criticized Sistani and remained silent on the attack on Karbalai, denounced the attack on cleric Fadhil al-Badiri, who is not affiliated to Sistani.

On July 30, 2017, Iraqi security services foiled a major plot targeting the Shiite shrines of Najaf, Karbala and Samarra as well as Sistanis home, large-scale operations that would have had a great deal of funding behind them.

In a January 2017 article, Al-Arab described the city of Najaf, where Sistani resides, as a breeding ground for corrupt religious parties. In December 2017, dozens of citizens in Najaf province called for a fatwa against corruption.

Sunni newspapers reported a dubious story Jan. 29 about Karbalais bodyguards killing a young man who protested Sistanis silence about the deteriorating situation. In a clear attempt to portray Sistani as ineffective, a September 2017 article pointed out that Sistani remained silent regarding the Kurdistan referendum, during which his representative in Karbala seemed preoccupied with less important matters.

Al-Monitor tried to contact Sistanis representatives in various Iraqi provinces for comment, but it's clear that his staff is avoiding the media. One said on condition of anonymity, I cannot name the parties behind these attacks so long as the supreme authority does not specify any. A staff member in Karbala told Al-Monitor over the phone that he refuses to talk to the press.

Author and political analyst Jassem al-Moussawi said of the silence, Representatives strictly abide by Sistanis instructions. The religious authority in Najaf is indeed subjected to a fierce defamation campaign linked to a regional agenda.

Moussawi said the perpetrators of the attacks are either religious groups that were once linked to the former regime and are now suffering the consequences or extremist doctrinal groups.

Cleric and member of the Iraqi parliament Furat al-Sharaa told Al-Monitor that attacks against Sistani have increased because he has united the Iraqis in his ability to mobilize against terrorism with the fatwa for jihad against IS. Millions volunteered to fight, which resulted in defeating IS and its stated intention to occupy Najaf and Karbala and kill Shiite religious authorities.

He said, The sources of these attacks were foreign but their perpetrators were local. The purpose of this agenda is to prevent the good and effective forces from wielding influence in the political process, especially the religious ones, in reference to Sistani. Sharaa added, The forces that want the former regime to return seek to ruin the image of the Islamic forces and authorities, believing that it will help them regain power.Saturday's Catholic funeral mass lasted two hours. The service started with a biblical reading by Grace Bauer, the commander's 13 year old daughter. Other speakers included Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson, Mayor Rahm Emanuel, and Governor Bruce Rauner. Commander Bauers casket was carried out to the singing of the traditonal hymn "How Great Thou Art," which brought many to tears.

After a 21- gun salute, the Chicago Police bagpipes rang out. Next, over 1000 police vehicles escorted Commander Bauer to his final resting spot. People lined the route including overpasses on the Dan Ryan Expressway. He was laid to rest at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in southwest suburban Alsip.

Standing out in the cold with thousands of police officers was an emotional experience. The over 1000 police cars in the processional with flashing blue lights was stunning. Commander Bauer is a hero. I have the utmost respect for these men and women in blue.

Later on in the evening, a celebration of life was held at Saint Ignatius High School nearby on Roosevelt Road. The bagpipes continued throughout the evening. During a playing of Amazing Grace on the bagpipes everybody was asked to raised a glass for a toast to Paul Bauer.

I was unaware that Commander Bauer graduated from Ignatius in 1982 just four years after me. We may have crossed paths there, but I dont recall. A condolences book is set up until Wednesday at the 18th District police station on Division and Laramie on the near North Side. Flowers and tributes line the lobby.

I did meet Commander Bauer last September at a neighborhood block party. I asked him to take a selfie in case I needed to drop his name sometime in the 18th district. He chuckled and said something like it probably wouldnt help me. All reports were that Paul Bauer was a wonderful police officer, father, and pillar of the community. My thoughts and prayers are with the family.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has two obsessions. The first is a case of chronic miserliness, which he shares with his wife. They have become addicted to living off of others, sometimes even against the law. This obsession got him into trouble in the past, culminating in a criminal investigation in 2000. On Feb. 13, it got him into trouble again, when the police recommended that he be indicted for bribery in what is called Case 1000 (Netanyahu allegedly receiving benefits from businesspeople).

Netanyahus second obsession is everything to do with the media. Although the free newspaper with greatest circulation in Israel has been subject to his every whim for the past decade, and although he has the most popular Facebook page in Israel, Netanyahu continues to meddle in the Israeli media market, trying nonstop to gain control of even more chunks of it. This keeps him busy 24/7. As we have now learned, it has also gotten him into hot water with the police.

Case 2000 involves explosive recordings of conversations between Netanyahu and Yedioth Ahronoth publisher Arnon Mozes. Last week, these recordings also resulted in a police recommendation that Netanyahu be indicted for bribery.

But this is just the beginning. For the past few weeks, the Israeli police have been conducting an intense covert investigation, entirely under the radar. It is called Case 4000, and it dwarves cases 1000 and 2000. In fact, it is so potentially dangerous that it puts Netanyahu in serious risk of facing criminal proceedings.

While the prime minister managed to survive politically after last weeks police recommendation crisis, and even allowed himself to travel to the Security Conference in Munich Jan. 15, he can expect to be interrogated about Case 4000 under warning in the next few weeks, after all the evidence has been collected. In this case, the police are now putting all their efforts into finding state witnesses to corroborate their claims. In Case 2000, talk about committing acts of corruption almost never came to anything. But in this new case, certain acts were allegedly committed, favors and benefits were given, and deals that can best be summed up as, Give me, and Ill watch out for you, were actually put into practice.

At the center of Case 4000 is Israeli tycoon Shaul Elovitch, who owns a controlling share of Israels largest communications company Bezeq. Until recently, Elovitch also owned a number of monopolies in the Israeli media market. In the last few years, the Israel Securities Authority conducted a comprehensive criminal investigation into Elovitch, some of his staff and Director General of the Ministry of Communications Shlomo Filber, who also happens to be a close friend and personal confidant of Netanyahu.

In case anyone forgot, Netanyahu served as communications minister up until last February, when he was ordered by the court to give it up. He had insisted on holding on to this portfolio ever since he put together the current government in 2015.

The Securities Authoritys investigation ended its investigation several weeks ago with a recommendation to indict both Elovitch and Filber. The investigation discovered that in his capacity as director general of the Communications Ministry, Filber granted Bezeq all sorts of far-reaching benefits and sabotaged reforms intended to break Bezeqs monopoly on telephone landlines. Most glaringly, he gave Elovitch all of these benefits in his capacity as the chief regulator of the communications market.

What the Securities Authority investigators could not prove is that Filber received any benefits in return, either from Elovitch or Bezeq. Now the investigation is expanding upward, to encompass Filbers boss. Netanyahu and Filber have maintained a close relationship for more than 20 years. Filber was Netanyahus confidant ever since Netanyahus first term as prime minister, from 1996 to 1999. He was always an expert on covert operations; in other words, the kind of gray operations about which the less said the better. When the current government was formed, Netanyahu took the communications portfolio for himself. On his first day in office, he fired  by phone  the last director general, Avi Berger, who served under the previous minister, Gilad Erdan, and immediately appointed Filber to replace him. This is when Bezeq began receiving benefits, including the cancellation of reforms that Erdan and Berger had worked so hard to achieve.

The police now suspect that it wasnt Filber but Netanyahu who was compensated for this. Bezeq owns Walla, a popular website, whose reach and influence in Israel parallels that of Yedioth Ahronoths popular Ynet site. Netanyahu is known to hold a bitter grudge toward Ynet, which was particularly harsh to him on the eve of the 2015 elections, as part of the Yedioth Groups media effort to bring about his defeat.

It is now suspected that Netanyahu wanted to gain control of Walla through its owner, Elovitch, and make it subject to him. This way, he could deter Ynet by establishing a counterbalance to it and create an important and influential internet platform for himself. Over the last few years, Netanyahu never disguised how disappointed he was that Israel Hayom, the free newspaper set up for him by American casino mogul Sheldon Adelson to provide him with media services, was unable to stake a claim for itself in the digital world. Its website is neither popular nor influential among Israelis. The solution Netanyahu found was Walla. He wanted to take over a popular and successful website that already existed, and which was considered balanced and objective, so that he could influence Israeli public opinion through it.

The police are now investigating the symbiotic relationship between Netanyahu and Walla. They have collected testimonies from many of Wallas senior executives, including its CEO Ilan Yeshua. It is suspected that Netanyahu granted Bezeq benefits valued at billions of shekels in exchange for them placing one of the most powerful websites in Israel under his authority.

An investigative report by Gidi Weitz, published by Haaretz in October 2015, showed how Wallas coverage of Benjamin and Sara Netanyahu had been slanted in a number of areas, ranging from political, diplomatic and defense reports to flattering photos of Mrs. Netanyahu and censorship of unfavorable reports about her.

The police suspect the relationship between Netanyahu and Elovitch to be a classic case of give and take. On the one hand, far-reaching government benefits by way of regulation, and on the other, unusually supportive and even flattering coverage of the prime minister and his family. According to various reports, the police have been able to get their hands on extensive correspondence between the parties, including concerns expressed in real time by the people involved that this whole business could end in a police investigation. And it did.

The irony is that Walla changed its coverage over a year ago as a result of these reports and because its owner, Elovitch, found himself entangled in the Bezeq case. Since then, Walla has become one of the most contrarian websites out there, as far as Netanyahu is concerned. It was the website that released Jan. 28 the hot recording of the prime ministers wife shouting at the Netanyahus late media adviser Shaya Segal. The recording quickly went viral, exposing Israelis to the shrill decibels that their prime minister must contend with regularly. Right now, however, it looks like that recording will be the least of the Netanyahus problems.SAMARRA, Iraq  The Malwiya Minaret, an impressive tower at a height of 52 meters (171 feet) with a spiral ramp, still recalls the past glory of the Great Mosque of Samarra, which had been the largest mosque in the world during the Abbasid Caliphate.

However, the spiraling structure of more than a thousand years now runs the risk of crumbling because of the many attacks it has suffered, according to Iraqi media reports.

Its external stairway is unstable, with some stones missing, and the minaret has shaky walls that have the names of visitors carved into them. There is no security at the site, and a young man fell from the minaret and died on March 29, 2017, after having attempted to climb it.

Malwiya is known for its spiraling structure; it does not look like any other minaret in the world. It is one of the many historical landmarks of Samarra, which was put on UNESCO's World Heritage List in 2007. Located on both sides of the Tigris River, 130 kilometers (81 miles) north of Baghdad, the ancient capital of Samarra shows the reach of the Abbasid Caliphate, which was the major Islamic empire of the 8th century; it extended from Tunisia to Central Asia. Today, Samarra is the only surviving Islamic capital that retains its original plan, architecture and arts such as mosaics and carvings.

The Al Ahram Gate website reported that a study ("Suggested techniques to preserve Samarra Mosque with its Malwiya Minaret") conducted last year by Issam Hishmat of South Valley University in Egypt said the mosque has suffered damage of various sorts over the years. In 2003, during the American invasion of Iraq, the mosque served as a military base, and in 2005, the minaret was damaged during a terrorist attack, destroying many of the architectural elements of the 1,200-year-old monument.

Mahmoud Khalaf, the mayor of the Samarra district, said some of the damage to the mosque is caused by weather conditions and humidity. Khalaf told Al-Monitor that maintenance work on the site of the mosque is well underway. In 2017, UNESCO and the Iraqi authorities signed an agreement for the conservation and management of the archaeological city of Samarra, starting with the restoration of the Great Mosque and the Malwiya Minaret.

I have tried to communicate with officials from both the local and federal governments to obtain more funds for the rehabilitation of this old monument, but we get the same answer every time: 'The top priority is the war against the Islamic State, the countrys security and stability,' Khalaf said, explaining that a UNESCO delegation has been studying the site to find a solution to the damage caused by humidity and the deterioration of the bricks.

Khalaf has been in touch with engineer and archaeologist Giovanni Fontana Antonelli, a member of the UNESCO delegation who works on the restoration of the site. We are trying to assess the condition of the mosque in a bid to find appropriate solutions to stop environmental and human risks, as well as to [correct the damage caused by] previous unfit maintenance work [during the Baath regime in the 1990s], Antonelli told Al-Monitor.

We will be conducting field visits and meetings with local authorities and concerned parties to achieve our objectives, he said.

Antonelli added, We are also looking at assessing the impact of the construction of a nearby museum." UNESCO has concerns about the visual impact on the minaret of the museum, which is planned by local authorities.

Antonelli said "a joint technical committee monitors the quality of the works that are to be implemented and the establishment of a joint project between Iraqi and international experts to formulate a comprehensive plan for rehabilitation.

Al-Monitor met with Algerian archaeologist Mahmoud Bandakir, who is also a member of the UNESCO delegation. The historical city of Samarra was included on the list of endangered world heritage in 2007. Therefore, several corrective measures must be implemented at the site, which is the governments responsibility.

He said, There has been a delay in the implementation of the maintenance works due to the security situation and the lack of financial allocations, which means that Iraq has violated the decision of the World Heritage Committee issued in 2013" whereby governments are tasked with carrying out suitable maintenance work.

Bandakir said, After consultations with the local government of Salahuddin province, it has been decided to start work on the Great Mosque as it is the most damaged  not to mention the previous inappropriate maintenance and rehabilitation work. This is in addition to the bombing of the mosque during the US invasion in 2003. He said the maintenance work should be carried out according to international standards as called for under the Venice Charter of 1964.

The head of the parliamentary Media and Culture Committee, Maysoon al-Damluji, told Al-Monitor, The coming period will witness a facelift for the archaeological sites and monuments and the establishment of investment projects. The Iraqi Antiquities Authority said the maintenance and restoration works at the mosque will be financed by the Iraqi Sunni Endowment using proceeds" collected from mosque tourists during Saddam Husseins regime.

Khalaf said the restoration plan will include the construction of infrastructure under the requirements of the World Heritage List, which will include a building for the mosques administration, visitor guidance center and the development of squares. The project documents were transferred to the World Heritage Center and then sent to the International Council on Monuments and Sites for evaluation.

He concluded, We are ready to discuss with them the tourism and cultural investment projects of the mosque in addition to other monuments in the city."Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, often referred to by his initials MBS, is arranging the deployment of a Pakistani praetorian guard to the kingdom. Its size and purpose is unclear, but it is a revival of a military practice from the 1980s designed to protect the royal family from enemies at home and abroad.

The Pakistani military announced Feb. 15 that it would deploy a force to Saudi Arabia to assist and train Saudi forces. The Pakistani press is reporting that a composite brigade-size force will be sent. They will join 1,000 army trainers and advisers already in Saudi Arabia.

The announcement follows two trips this year to the kingdom by Pakistan Chief of Staff Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa to meet with the crown prince, who is also defense minister and the main proponent of the deployment.

In 1982, Pakistani dictator Gen. Zia ul-Haq sent a reinforced armored brigade to Saudi Arabia at the request of King Fahd. The 12th Khaled bin Walid Independent Armored Brigade was stationed near Tabuk in northwest Saudi Arabia, but its principal purpose was to be an elite fighting force to defend the monarchy from any foe at home or abroad. The Saudis paid all of the expenses of this loyal palace guard, which remained in the kingdom for more than a decade. It was named after one of Prophet Muhammads greatest generals who defeated the Byzantine and Sassanian empires in the early expansion of Islam out of the Arabian Peninsula in the seventh century.

The Pakistani announcement made it clear that the new force will operate only inside the kingdoms borders and not join the Saudi war in Yemen. Three years ago, King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud and his son pressed the Pakistani leadership very hard to join the war, but Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif refused. The Pakistani parliament voted unanimously against sending troops to join the war as popular opinion was strongly opposed to joining the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen.

Sharif was concerned that the Saudi war plans were hastily conceived and poorly thought through. He doubted they would achieve the decisive storm MBS promised. Worse, they would land Pakistan in the midst of a Sunni-Shiite sectarian conflict that would alienate Pakistani Shiites at home as well as its neighbor Iran. While the Saudis are currently making a few modest advances in Yemen against the Houthis, time has proven the wisdom of Sharifs doubts. The war is an expensive stalemate with enormous humanitarian consequences, and over 95 Houthi missile attacks on the kingdom have underscored how dangerous the conflict is today.

The Pakistanis clearly do not want to be drawn into Saudi Arabias quarrels with its neighbors. For this deployment, Bajwa consulted in advance with the Turkish and Iranian ambassadors in Islamabad to inform them directly and assure both that the deployment was not a threat. Reportedly, he also secretly traveled to Doha to assure the Qatari emir that the Pakistani forces are not a danger to Qatar.

The mission of the new force is likely to remain somewhat ambiguous. The Saudis will not want to portray it as a hedge against any internal threat, and Pakistan is eager for it to have no regional dimension, so training is a safe cover.

Its also unclear whether the contingent will be connected in any way to the multinational Islamic counterterrorism alliance that MBS has spearheaded in the kingdom. Notably, Iran is not a member of the alliance. Retired Pakistani Chief of Staff Gen. Raheel Sharif is its commander.

There is some opposition in the Pakistani legislature to the deployment, and the army leadership will be questioned about its purpose. One senator has argued that the deployment is a violation of the parliament's decision three years ago.

Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are longstanding allies. The disagreement over Yemen has been a rare disruption to the decades-old relationship and one both countries have sought to minimize. Sharif has traveled to the kingdom since he lost office last year to maintain his own longtime ties to the House of Saud. A carefully designed military presence in the kingdom is in Pakistans interest. For his part, the king is joining his predecessors in getting a Pakistani insurance policy.Kimmel kept addressing Trump by adding that politicians and the president like to say that mass shootings are a mental health issue. He then said that one of the first acts of Trump's presidency was to roll back a regulation designed to keep firearms out of the hands of the mentally ill.

Never mind that the FBI failed to heed and follow up on repeated and explicit warnings about Nikolas Cruz before his shooting rampage in Parkland, Florida. Never mind the FBI was too busy chasing phantom Russian collusion to locate a future killer that any nerd living in his parents' basement could have located with ease. According to mental health professional Jimmy Kimmel, Trump made Parkland happen by rescinding Obama administration regulations barring the mentally ill from getting guns:

"Your party voted to repeal the mandates on coverage for mental health," Kimmel said. "So I agree, this is a mental illness issue because if you don't think we need to do something about it, you are obviously mentally ill."

What in fact happened is that President Trump and the Republican Congress removed regulations not designed to protect the public, but intended to disarm innocent and law-abiding senior citizens based on the assumption that if they need help handling their finances, they must be dangerous and must be disarmed. When was the last time Grandpa shot up his nursing home?

The reality is somewhat different from Kimmel's slanderous falsehood. As Snopes reports:

In the wake of a horrific school shooting in Parkland, Florida, that left 17 dead in February 2018, media renewed focus on an Obama-era regulation repealed in the early months of the Trump administration. That rule would have given the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, which is used for gun sales, access to Social Security Administration data including the names of individuals receiving certain federal mental health benefits. As we explained in a 17 February 2017 post, this rule  which never went into effect before being rescinded  did not change any existing laws regulating who is allowed to purchase guns. It merely would have provided a new way to enforce existing restrictions on gun sales by allowing a transfer of information from one agency to another. There are now, and have been for some time, laws that seek to limit gun sales to anyone "who has been adjudicated as a mental defective or who has been committed to a mental institution" per Title 18 section 922(g) of the United States Code[."]

Kimmel has advanced this canard about Donald Trump, mental health, and guns before, most notably after the mass shooting in Las Vegas. In fact, there was a delicious sense of irony in gun control advocate Kimmel beefing up his armed security after the Las Vegas shooting, falsely claiming that President Trump had made it easier for the mentally ill to get guns. Guns are okay to protect the liberal elites but not for the rest of us, who can't be trusted or don't know any better.

The same double standard exists for Democratic members of Congress, who demand that their constituents be disarmed even as they welcome back Rep. Steve Scalise, the victim of a shooting where a bad guy with a gun was stopped by a good guy with a gun. Many members of Congress are alive today only because Scalise, being a member of the House leadership, had his armed security detail with him:

Dr. Kimmel has no way of knowing even now that the Las Vegas shooter was mentally unstable. Certainly the meticulous planning and preparation by the shooter over a long period of time would seem to indicate that while the shooter was evil, he was perfectly competent and sane. Certainly Kimmel's charge against Trump is not true: Noting that President Trump had offered prayers for the victims' families, and that Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, had said that this wasn't the time for political debate, he went on: "We have fifty-nine innocent people dead. It wasn't their time, either. So I think now is the time for political debate." He reminded his audience that, in February, Trump had signed a bill that made it easier for people with mental illness to buy guns.

Steve Scalise owes his life to the Second Amendment, which was written not to shoot deer, but to shoot tyrants. The Second Amendment was written to protect the other nine in the Bill of Rights, including the First Amendment, which gives Jimmy Kimmel the right to sound like the blooming idiot he is.

What President Trump signed was a bill overturning an executive order that would tar the innocent with the broad brush of mental illness, people who included the elderly and veterans, in order to pursue the Obama administration's gun-control agenda:

Here's what happened earlier this year: Congress voted to overturn a last-minute Obama-era regulation that would give the Social Security Administration the power to revoke a person's Second Amendment rights based on whether he receives disability for a mental impairment that keeps him from working, or if he "[uses] a representative payee to help manage their benefits." As my Washington Examiner colleague David Freddoso explained at the time, the repeal of the Obama-era regulation, "doesn't allow people to buy guns who have been properly adjudicated by a court of law as mentally ill or unstable." The Obama-era rule was designed to take away people's rights without due process of law. It would have flagged the names of people who, for example, have an anxiety disorder or depression which keeps them from working, and who, as the SSA puts it, 'need help in managing [their] personal money affairs,'" he added. "As the many non-political mental health and autism advocacy groups that supported the House action noted, there is no link between these factors and a propensity for violence."

The Obama administration repeatedly tried to use mental health as a means not to make us safer, but to deny us our gun rights. Consider Obama's pick of Dr. Vivek Murthy to be our surgeon general, someone who firmly believes gun control is a health issue, something that can and should be used to gut the Second Amendment. As Investor's Business Daily editorialized during his confirmation process:

Murthy's approach to attacking the Second Amendment has been to say private ownership of firearms is a public health issue. The 37-year-old Murthy is president and co-founder of the anti-gun group Doctors for America, which advocates ObamaCare and gun control laws. His group, which has been dubbed Docs vs. Glocks, has pushed Congress to ban "assault" weapons and "high capacity" magazines. Doctors for America has promoted the invasion of privacy by doctors by advocating they ask patients if they have guns at home, including asking children if their parents own guns. He would have doctors counsel their patients against exercising their Second Amendment rights. One wonders how private that information would remain if entered into the medical records the government would be privy to under ObamaCare.

Back in 2013, a piece of legislation called Toomey-Manchin proposed that doctors be allowed to unilaterally place a patient's name in the background check system in a way that violated patient-doctor confidentially under HIPAA as well as our Second Amendment rights:

The Toomey-Manchin proposal contains a provision that lets a doctor add a patient to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) without ever telling the patient he or she has been added. This would seem to violate doctor-patient confidentiality, due process and the presumption of innocence in one fell swoop. As the Heritage Foundation reports, this "gun control legislation eliminates any (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) privacy protection for mental health records in connection with the NICS system, leaving only what privacy protection the attorney general cares to provide."

The Obama administrations idea of keeping guns out of the hands of the mentally ill is based on a bizarre and discriminatory definition of who might be mentally unstable. Back in 2013, it was reported that the Veterans Administration was sending letters to vets warning them that they might be declared mentally incompetent and have their Second Amendment rights stripped unless they could prove otherwise:

The contempt by the Obama administration for our Constitution and our rights has reached a new low with news the Veterans Administration has begun sending letters to veterans telling them they will be declared mentally incompetent and stripped of the Second Amendment rights unless they can prove to unnamed bureaucrats to the contrary "A determination of incompetency will prohibit you from purchasing, possessing, receiving, or transporting a firearm or ammunition. If you knowingly violate any of these prohibitions, you may be fined, imprisoned, or both pursuant to the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act, Pub.L.No. 103-159, as implemented at 18, United States Code 924(a)(2)," the letter reads. While mental health is a factor in the current gun control debate and recent mass shootings in Newtown, Conn., and Aurora, Colo., and elsewhere have in common the questionable mental state of the shooters, to single out returning vets from Iraq and Afghanistan this way is unconscionable and unconstitutional.

As the Los Angeles Times has reported, the Obama administration would have liked to make our Social Security records part of the background check system. The move would strip some four million Americans who receive payments though a "representative payee" of their gun rights. It would be the largest gun-grab in U.S. history.

A potentially large group within Social Security are people who, in the language of federal gun laws, are unable to manage their own affairs due to "marked subnormal intelligence, or mental illness, incompetency, condition, or disease." There is no simple way to identify that group, but a strategy used by the Department of Veterans Affairs since the creation of the background check system is reporting anyone who has been declared incompetent to manage pension or disability payments and assigned a fiduciary.

Keeping guns out of the hands of the truly mentally unstable is a worthy goal, but it should not be used as a cause for disarming veterans who carried a weapon in defense of their country or senior systems who might need some assistance in paying their bills. Being unable to balance your checkbook or handle complicated financial transactions without help is not a sign of mental illness. If it were, anyone who ever visited a professional tax-preparer would be crazy.

They deserve the presumption of innocence and sanity. Stripping away their Second Amendment rights in the name of mental health would be a gross injustice that would not make us safer, but would merely create millions of unarmed victims for the next shooter with an agenda.

Daniel John Sobieski is a freelance writer whose pieces have appeared in Investor's Business Daily, Human Events, Reason Magazine, and the Chicago Sun-Times among other publications.The Blackwater teams always cleared alternate routes for a convoy or detail in advance, preparing for traffic, an ambush, or any other emergency. Consequently, it had already been reported to the tactical operations center by a low profile (i.e. undercover) team that there was an unusual, heavy presence of Iraqi police and/or military in the square on this day. The square was also near an Iraqi Army base and police station.

About one mile north of the square, A USAID (United States Agency for International Development) worker was in a meeting at the Izdihar compound when a very large bomb blast rocked the area nearby. The bomb blast was so strong she was blown off her chair. Smoke from the massive explosion of the vehicle borne IED (improvised explosive device) could be seen on satellite imagery. The deafening blast was easily heard in the Green Zone, driving tactical support teams (TST), including Raven 23, quickly into action to respond the emergency.

Former Blackwater vice president and chief operating officer, Bill Matthews says, Many of the attacks that our guys were killed in were multi-staged, multi-phased ambushes, which are often initiated with an IED and then followed up with small arms fire or more IEDs. Very infrequently was it a single strike. Theres usually a coordinated effort, so when you are responding to a distress signal, you are expecting a second attack of some type.

In the weeks prior to the Nisour Square incident, the PSDs and TSTs had been briefed on an IED threats, including a white Kia sedan. When Raven 23 entered the Square, a white sedan approached their convoy, ignoring multiple and various signals to stop. The vehicle was engaged, and the occupants were killed in the process. The convoy was also receiving small arms fire from within the square.

The media has most often reported this incident as a massacre. Yet, there is video footage from a nearby tower of the immediate aftermath that tells a different story.

screen grab via YouTube

In a video still from the crime scene, there is not only absence of first responders, but more importantly, an absence of bodies. If the Iraqi government and the FBI claim there were numerous Iraqis slaughtered in the square on this regretful day, where are the bodies? Where are the first responders? Frankly, where is the evidence of a massacre?

Tragically, members of Raven 23 (Dustin Heard, Evan Liberty, Paul Slough, and Nicholas Slatten) were charged with a number of very serious crimes as a result of the deaths that did occur, a number that has varied wildly as the investigation and prosecution progressed. When all the facts are considered, only the unjust imprisonment of these four men exemplifies the fallout of this event. Has the case been jaundiced against this Blackwater team from the very beginning? After the case was initially -- and harshly -- dismissed by Judge Ricardo Urbina, it was returned on appeal for clarification. By that time, Judge Urbina had retired and the case was assigned to another judge. On the same day, the docket reflects that the case was directly reassigned to the judge that has it now, Judge Royce Lamberth.

There appear to have been a number of blatantly obvious mistakes associated with the case. The case was moved to one of the most liberal circuits in the country -- the DC circuit. A valid defense motion concerning the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act (MEJA) was ignored, allowing jurisdiction where it did not apply. A 30-year mandatory minimum sentence statute historically applied to drug traffickers and gangbangers in possession of automatic weapons was misapplied to the defendants after President Obama took office. Photographic evidence was withheld from the defense for seven years, in clear violation of the ruling of Brady v. Maryland. In addition, a witnesss statement produced on the eve of trial completely contradicted his four days of trial testimony, yet the judge refused to postpone sentencing, which would have allowed the perjury to be explored.

In spite of the sentences against Heard, Liberty, and Slough being ruled cruel and unusual punishment, Slattens conviction of murder being vacated, and all the obvious errors of the case, four men remain in prison, today. Is there something more inflammatory still to be found below the surface? There is a statement from Andrew McCabe suggesting the Blackwater convictions were not happening fast enough with the case. Wikileaks also exposed that one of Hillary Clintons main concerns was to find a way to placate the Iraqis -- financially, of course.

The defendants have not received a fair trial. Rather, they continue to appear to be scapegoats to diplomacy trumping the rule of law. The Blackwater case gives some weight to the notion that the Obama DOJ, FBI, and folks like Hillary Clinton and Andrew McCabe may have been "meddling" with cases for quite a while.

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J.M. Phelps is a Christian activist and journalist based in the Southeastern U.S.After Parkland massacre, the left wants to disarm gun-clingers' yet ignores gun violence in black community

Two days before a 19-year-old former student left 17 dead and many injured in a Parkland, Florida high school this past week, two 14-year-olds from Chicago's Back of the Yards neighborhood were shot. From Feb. 1 to Feb. 17, 2018, twenty Chicagoans, mostly black, were killed, and 65 others were shot and wounded. But you won't see the dead's faces and names 24-7 on CNN or MSNBC. The same mainstream media that cover school shootings involving mostly white suburban students with pictures and bios for days after the carnage give gunned down black youths, some caught in the crossfire of gang violence, a few seconds or so on a local or national news roundup.

In the leftist media's perpetual war on Bible and gun "bitter clingers," the slaughter of blacks and Hispanics in Democrat-run cities, where guns are easily bought, stolen, traded, and sold neighbor to neighbor, doesn't serve their interests. Nothing illustrates the left's own agenda-driven, implicit bias more than choosing to ignore minorities killing each other in cities with strict gun control measures, while the mostly white victims at Columbine High, Virginia Tech, Roseburg Community College, Sandy Hook Elementary, and now Marjory Stoneman Douglas High receive daily, exhaustive coverage. After each suburban school shooting with a majority-white population, anti-2nd Amendment zealots are out in force within minutes, blaming guns for the murders. When gun violence takes the lives of countless blacks in urban areas, liberals claim "harsh criminal-justice policies in the age of mass incarceration" fuel the chaos. For blacks, guns don't kill; the system does. For whites, guns kill  not the psychotically disturbed individuals who use them. True to form, with the dead of Parkland still waiting to be buried, Barack Obama, without mention of the shooter, blamed the gun: Caring for our kids is our first job. And until we can honestly say that we're doing enough to keep them safe from harm, including long overdue, common-sense gun safety laws that most Americans want, then we have to change. Obama made no such statement this past weekend when four people were killed, including two teens, and 17 were wounded in shootings around the Chicago area. The former president also ignored the nine Chicagoans killed and 19 wounded during the first two weekends of February. Obama and his left-wing political cronies screaming for gun control after white children are murdered in school shootings are the same ones who create social justice policies that have blacks shooting other blacks by the thousands in inner-city war zones. The left's "by any means necessary" strategy means that dead white children plastered all over television for days are much more effective than dead black kids when it comes to disarming law-abiding Americans.Senator Bob Casey, the Pennsylvania Democrat, issued a public warning Sunday telling special counsel Robert Mueller to avoid issuing his report near the November election. One of the less crazy, comparatively moderate Democratic senators, Casey's caution carries some troubling implications.

Speaking to radio host John Catsimatidis on New York radio station AM 970, Casey said he couldn't make any assumptions about where the Mueller investigation is going in light of indictments issued on Friday. But he added that he would recommend Mueller not release a report on his findings near the midterms, when it would distract from elections or cause people to question the election's integrity. "I don't think we'll know anywhere near the full story until [Mueller] issues his report," Casey said. "But once you get into the summer, and you get close to the election, I think it's a mistake for him to release it late. I think you should wait until after [the election]" Casey said.

As my friend Mike Nadler commented:

So, Casey is saying we can only know the full story when Mueller issues his report and that report should not be issued within 4 months of the election. So, he's saying it's better we not know the full story until after the election. It's unbelievable that he would be so straightforward about wanting to keep voters in the dark.

Does Casey suspect that the Mueller report will be, to use the phrase the Dems have been throwing around, a "nothingburger"? Does he expect president Trump to be exonerated, as the president has already claimed in the basis of the 13 indictments issued Friday?

Casey could just as easily have urged Mueller to wrap up his work in plenty of time to allow voters to digest the news. After all, it appears that the 13 indictments were suddenly and unexpectedly released in order to distract from the FBI's failure to follow up and prevent the Florida school shooter from carrying out his plans, announced at almost the same time.

Perhaps Senator Casey should glance a little closer at the masthead of the semi-official party organ of the Democrats:A Houston oil company, Harvest Natural Resources, Inc., is suing Venezuelan Chavista stalwart Rafael Ramirez, who served as the communist regime's oil minister for a spell, on the grounds that his shakedowns forced them to lose $470 million from sales of their assets.

Harvest Natural Resources Inc. said that because it rebuffed four separate $10 million bribe demands from associates of Ramirez, Venezuela's power ministry withheld approval for Harvest to sell its energy assets in the South American nation. That resulted in losses of $470 million, according to a complaint filed Friday in Houston federal court.

So it's come to this in socialist Venezuela: a bubbling pit of corruption that had been great for foreign investors to do business in so long as the gravy lasted that has now fallen upon hard times now that oil prices have fallen and night has descended.

It turns out that the bubbling swamp of Venezuelan black gold was a nice thing for Harvest and a few other foreign investors, bringing in profits for themselves and money for the socialist government even as the country fell into shambles and the book on democracy and rule of law closed. Crime spun out of control, the infrastructure rotted, food and medical shortages abounded, the judiciary was corrupted, and the central bank was suborned, but Harvest stayed right there as an investor in the industry, its public face suggesting that none of this was material to producing oil. A few larger oil companies, such as ExxonMobil, did pull out, and then commenced lawsuits as well, but there were also companies like Harvest that kept on trucking, confident they would be able to, in time, turn a profit. The problem was that their money financed the regime enough to fuel its rampage against democracy even longer than it might have lasted otherwise, and as it went on, it wrecked the country even more severely.

I'm not utterly unsympathetic to the plight of Harvest. Smaller oil companies such as Harvest struggle to get drillable real estate, given that the majors have already taken the best spots, and naturally, that leaves them with choices of only gamier players such as Venezuela. Since the Chavista regime and all its minions really are so despicable, I hope they do win their lawsuit against the sumptuously corrupt Ramirez, too.

But there still is a problem with anyone whose investment finances a regime as totalitarian-minded as Venezuela's. Look at this news over the years regarding Harvest's nice things said pertaining to Venezuela.

Here they were in 2004 on the heels of a huge oil strike brought on by Venezuelan socialist strongman Hugo Chavez's decision to crush a legal strike over whether the oil company would be run by political players or professionals. The Houston Chronicle reports:

But the work stoppage didn't sour the independent company on investing in the South American country that is rich in oil. Instead, company executives plan to continue focusing on oil and gas exploration and development in Venezuela and to search for opportunities in Russia.

That strike and the thuggish Chavista way in which it was ended didn't suggest to Harvest that Venezuela's democracy was going south? The company should have pulled out right there to support the Democrats and protect its shareholders from losses.

It kept investing in 2007, around the time two more fraudulent elections had been held, a major television station had been shut down, and protests engulfed the streets.

According to Finanzen.net:

Harvest Natural Resources, Inc. today announced that the Venezuelan Ministry of Energy and Petroleum (MENPET) has published a resolution which defines the coordinates of the six fields to be transferred to the mixed company, Petrodelta, S.A. (Petrodelta). Harvest Vinccler S.C.A. (HVSCA), an 80-percent-owned Harvest affiliate, will contribute its Uracoa, Tucupita and Bombal field rights to Petrodelta. HVSCA has operated and developed these fields since 1992. In June, the Venezuela National Assembly approved the direct award of the Isleno, Temblador and El Salto fields to Petrodelta.

And then there was this, in 2015, from Oil & Gas Investor:

Harvest Natural Resources entered a partnership with CT Energy Holding SRL and CT Energia Holding Ltd. to maximize the long-term success and value of Harvest's Venezuelan operations and its investment in Petrodelta SA, Harvest said June 19. CT Energy Holding SRL is an Italian-Venezuelan consortium. Houston-based Harvest entered into a term sheet with Venezuela's state-owned PDVSA, its partner in Petrodelta, to reposition Petrodelta's business. Harvest has a 20.4% investment in Petrodelta.

Venezuela-focused? While they were being shaken down for $10 million in bribes by Ramirez? Such great P.R. for the Chavista regime, signaling to everyone that the water was warm and it was safe to jump in. Turns out a tentacle was anchored to their leg and starting to pull them down.

Now the story comes out about the lawsuit and having been shaken down by Ramirez just for trying to sell its assets and leave the country. Communist regimes have always exacted massive exit fees for those voting with their feet, just as any Cuban immigrant leaving at the dawn of the Castro era, being forced to give up his wedding rings and family jewelry at the airports for the "privilege" of leaving the country. These people should have known this before they invested.

And more to the point, they should have loudly called the bribes from Ramirez as the company was being shaken down. They should have hired some of Chevron's private detectives, the ones who exposed the great Ecuador oil fraud, and taped Ramirez as he made his creepy little demands for moolah in the tens of millions.

They must have thought they could win more otherwise. And Ramirez caused them to lose millions as they resisted. But the worst thing here is that they invested in the gamy regime at all, their taxes continuously funding the socialist government, enabling it to shake not only them down in its power, but also the entire country and leave it a failed state. They fed the crocodile in the swamp, hoping it would eat them last, and sure enough, it came by to eat.Viktor Orban said Sunday during his 20th annual state of the nation speech that his government will oppose efforts by the United Nations or the European Union to make migration acceptable to the world.

It is a symptom of the civilizational sickness that grips the dominant powers of the E.U.  that guilt over the Holocaust massacre of Jews is being sublimated into surrender to mass immigration by Muslims, trained by sacred Scripture to hate Jews and finish the work that Hitler started.

Sahih al-Bukhari, Volume 4, Book 56, Number 791:

Narrated 'Abdullah bin 'Umar:

I heard Allah's Apostle [Muhammad] saying, "The Jews will fight with you, and you will be given victory over them so that a stone will say, 'O Muslim! There is a Jew behind me; kill him!' " Sahih al-Bukhari, Volume 4, Book 52, Number 177:

Narrated Abu Huraira:

Allah's Apostle said, "The Hour will not be established until you fight with the Jews, and the stone behind which a Jew will be hiding will say. "O Muslim! There is a Jew hiding behind me, so kill him."

To be sure, Hungary has a terrible history of anti-Semitism, and so P.M. Orban has been accused of Jew-hatred, as if this invalidates his concerns over civilizational surrender to hijrah, the conquest of infidel nations by immigration of Muslims. Orban has been explicit in his rejection of Jew-hatred. Via The Guardian:

The Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orban  who has been accused of stoking antisemitism  has greeted his Israeli counterpart with a public promise to "protect" Hungary's Jewish community. Referring to Hungary's collaboration with the Nazis, the rightwing leader told Benjamin Netanyahu, who is in Budapest on a controversial visit: "We decided in world war two, instead of protecting the Jewish community, to cooperate with the Nazis. This will never happen again." "I made it clear to Prime Minister Netanyahu that the government will secure the Jewish minority and that we have zero tolerance to antisemitism," he added. Netanyahu said Orban had reassured him in unequivocal terms that the Hungarian government stood by the Jewish people, which he called "important words" coming on the back of Orban's recent remarks that unnerved Jews in the country.

Hat tip: Bryan DemkoCHICAGO - WLS 890AM's last remaining conservative talk show host Stephanie Trussell defies the Left's pressure to focus on the NRA to blame for multiple deaths while the Left upholds Planned Parenthood abortion clinics as good for women and girls.

Planned Parenthood delighted when Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner signed into law taxpayer funding of abortions, a new ad says.

At the same time, Prager U released a new video "What You Need to know about Planned Parenthood."

Questions such as what does Planned Parenthood really do? and What do they actually stand for? are answered as President and founder of Live Action, Lila Rose, lays out everything you need to know about Planned Parenthood.At stake may be the entire congressional balance of power between Democrats and Republicans. Democrats in PA are attempting to do through the courts what they were not able to do at the ballot box. They are assuming that the woes of their cause are due to redistricting, not to failed policies repudiated by the electorate.

In a repeat of the state's extraordinary role in the 2016 presidential election, this year, Pennsylvania will be the center of a serious constitutional challenge.

Trump's stunning statewide victory in Pennsylvania in 2016 had absolutely nothing to do with gerrymandering.

As background, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania in 2018 ruled that the 2012 redistricting of Pennsylvania's congressional districts was unconstitutional. The Court gave the legislature until February 9 to submit a plan of redistricting to the governor for approval. The governor would then have until February 15 to accept or reject the map.

The governor has rejected the map, and in its decision, the Supreme Court reserved the right to draw the boundaries of redistricting of its own accord or to select one of many competing plans.

Currently, Pennsylvania is represented by 13 Republicans and five Democrats. The governor's perspective is that it is "fairer" to have approximately equal representation of Democrats and Republicans despite extreme "clustering" of Democrats in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and other cities. The commonwealth has been known for decades to have a very conservative "T" region in which only the anchor cities in the Southeast and Southwest provide traditionally solid support for a liberal agenda.

The current map is without a doubt unusual, and most can understand the reasons behind the court challenge. The map does not look "normal" due to the lines drawn, and so there were legal challenges to reverse it in 2017. The lawsuit was decided after President Trump was elected. The same maps were approved by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania in 2013, which found them to be constitutional.

Since the 2016 election, the money spent to sway the Supreme Court has been staggering. Three Democratic Supreme Court justices won election in November 2015, thereby giving the Court a balance of five Democrats and two Republicans. This shift in the balance of power on the court set the stage for the constitutional crisis playing out in Harrisburg.

As soon as the Supreme Court intercedes and adopts a new map, a constitutional crisis immediately ensues. Seldom in our nation's history has a state Supreme Court usurped the constitutional role of the legislature in drawing congressional boundaries.

The importance of these maps to our nation and its balance of power is profound. Should the districts be gerrymandered by the Court's Democratic majority, sufficient seats may flip to the Democrats to facilitate a shift in power in Washington D.C., potentially disenfranchising millions of Pennsylvanians as well as derailing the Trump agenda.

By writing the decision the way it did, the Court is likely violating the Constitution in that it is the responsibility of the legislature to draw the map. Additionally, the new maps, due to court-ordered time constraints, did not allow time for the legislature to vote on them.

The Supreme Court decision will be one of many constitutional challenges in Pennsylvania in the weeks ahead. It is likely that there will be a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court to vacate the PA Court's decision, further delaying the congressional primary elections.

It is also likely that there will be a move to impeach the justices engaged in redistricting without the legislature's approval.

None of these outcomes is helpful, but once again, Pennsylvania will play a pivotal role in our nation's history in the days ahead.

The damage to our republic when a judiciary not only legislates from the bench, but manipulates elections makes the interference by Russians pale in comparison.

Frank Ryan, CPA, USMCR (ret.) represents the 101st District in the PA House of Representatives. He is a retired Marine reserve colonel and a CPA and specializes in corporate restructuring. He has served on numerous boards of publicly traded and non-profit organizations. He can be reached at FRYAN1951@aol.com.A current judicial order directs President Trump to continue Obama's DACA order, which has been determined to be unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. The judge's order is expected to be overturned by the Supreme Court.

It is time to remove federal judges whose orders direct the president to perform unconstitutional acts or prevent the president from performing actions granted to him by the Constitution.

There have been several earlier judicial orders to prevent President Trump's executive orders from halting certain types of immigration. Those judicial orders, and their Circuit Court appeals, have already been overturned by the Supreme Court.

Even though the cases have been properly resolved by the Supreme Court, the rulings by the federal judges appointed by the opposition party have temporarily impeded the proper exercises of the government.

A case could be made that the judges issued those orders as part of a "Resist" movement, knowing they would create havoc and that they would ultimately be reversed. Because removing a judge from office is not easy, judicial arrogance has led to such activism.

Such judges should be removed from office.

Two requirements make it such that removal from office is not easy. The Constitution requires that a judge can be removed by two steps. A judge must first be impeached by majority vote of the House of Representatives and then convicted by a two-thirds vote of the Senate.

Only fifteen judges have ever been impeached. Eight were convicted by the Senate and removed from office. Four were acquitted. Three resigned from office before trial.

So what are the solutions to judicial arrogance if removal from office is so difficult?

One way is for the Congress to create the same havoc for the federal judges as the judges create for the president. That is, to put individual judges through the financial costs, the judicial ordeal, and the public embarrassment of impeachment. As we have seen, three judges have resigned rather than face a trial by the Senate. However, arrogance is unlikely to be undone by embarrassment, especially when supported by a compliant media.

The second way calls upon a constitutional requirement of which few people are aware. It involves courage and integrity on the part of Congress itself to act.

Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution states, "The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish."

In other words, lower courts such as the federal and appeals courts exist only by and at the will of the Congress. Therefore, the Congress itself may ordain the limits of the courts they have established and can modify those limits at will. Congress could ordain that only the Supreme Court, and not a lower court, may override an executive order.

The Congress should thus correct ongoing political attempts by activist federal judges who intentionally create instability by issuing unconstitutional orders they know are going to be reversed.

The third solution for judicial arrogance suggests that a single member of the federal judiciary should no more be able to direct the president of the United States than a single member of Congress can create a law. The analogy rests upon the equality of the three branches of government as established by the Constitution. Absent action by Congress, the president of the United States as amicus curiae (friend of the court) should challenge the constitutionality of the longstanding practice of a lone lower-court judge or an appeals court giving an order to a president of the United States.You know the drill because we've seen the same story so many times. Reports come in that scientists have discovered declining populations of a species of some sort somewhere.

For quite some time, they come up with no good answer. Concern grows.

For maximum publicity and popular hand-wringing, it helps to be cuddly, cute, exotic, beautiful, or funny critters. But even if they are repulsive, sooner or later, global warming is blamed.

Conclusion: We're doomed! Because science.

Apply this model to the following account drawn from West Hunter:

Starting in late 80s, herpetologists began noticing that various kinds of frogs were declining and/or disappearing. There was & is a geographical pattern: Wiki says "Declines have been particularly intense in the western United States, Central America, South America, eastern Australia and Fiji. ... For a few years the herpetologists were concerned yet happy. Concerned, because many frog populations were crashing and some were going extinct. Happy, because confused puppies in Washington were giving them money, something that hardly ever happens to frogmen. ... Possibly frogs were being killed by an increase in UV radiation (from CFCs). Of course you could always put out a [f] ultraviolet photometer and measure the UV anywhere and anytime you wanted, but that would be the easy way out. Why do that when you could be paying graduate students to play with frogs?

Here I must add this popularization of the issue coming from the animal popularizers at National Geographic:

Global warming may cause widespread amphibian extinctions by triggering lethal epidemics, a new study reports.

Time out. Back to West Hunter:

In 1993, people discovered an odd fungus [Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis] infecting frogs in Queensland. Since then it has been linked to many dramatic population declines in "western North America, Central America, South America, eastern Australia, East Africa (Tanzania) and Dominica and Montserrat." Some species it bops, others it exterminates. Frog species with few offspring and high parental investment, such as mouth-breeding frogs, seem particularly vulnerable. It works like an STD, which can propagate when population density is low. Frogs congregate in ponds to mate, which allows transmission, as long as the frogs mate at all.



Photo credit: Max Pixel.

It took some time for herpetologists to admit that this chytrid fungus is the main culprit  some are still resisting. First, it was a lot like how doctors resisted Semmelweiss' discoveries about the cause of puerperal fever  since doctors were the main method of transmission. How did this fungus get to the cloud forests of Costa Rica? On the boots of herpetologists, of course. [Emphasis added.]

Hat tip: Clarice FeldmanMany years later, and in the university, I read it again and saw the book as more than just a kid's adventure. It was rather a look at many of the things going on, including the issue of slavery.

It was 133 years ago that Mark Twain published The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn . I remember reading the Spanish version in Cuba and imagining all the stories about the Mississippi River. In 1967, our family took a trip to Minneapolis to watch the Twins play, and we drove a portion of the river. My brother started talking about Huck's river, as we called it in Cuba.

Just recently, a school district banned the book and the movie as well:

In general, the debate over Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has centered around the language of the book, which has been objected to on social grounds. Huck Finn, Jim and many other characters in the book speak in regional dialects of the South. It is a far cry from the queen's English. More specifically, the use of the word "nigger" in reference to Jim and other African-American characters in the book, along with the portrayal of those characters, has offended some readers, who consider the book racist. Although many critics have argued that Twain's ultimate effect is to humanize Jim and attack the brutal racism of slavery, the book frequently flagged and protested by students and parents alike. It was the fifth most-frequently-challenged book in the United States during the 1990s, according to the American Library Association. Yielding to public pressure, some publishers have substituted "slave" or "servant" for the term that Mark Twain uses in the book, which is derogatory to African Americans. In 2015, an ebook version published by the company CleanReader offered a version of the book with three different filter levels  clean, cleaner, and squeaky clean  a strange edition for an author known to enjoy swearing.

Well, put me down as "negative" on all of this.

First, it is true that the book uses the "n-word," but that's how people spoke at that time. I'm defending not the word, but rather the reality of the book. Are we going to shut down West Side Story because of language offensive to Puerto Ricans? I hope not!

Second, this whole debate once more highlights the intolerance of the people who preach tolerance. Are they going to burn all of their Che T-shirts because of all those nasty quotes about blacks and Mexicans? Are they going to stop naming streets after Cesar Chavez because of how he opposed illegal immigration?

Many years ago, my mother said something about the past. It loosely translated to "leaving the past in its grave." I think we should leave all books alone, learn from them, and move on.

Let some kid in the future enjoy this book as much as I did many years ago.

PS: You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.The McCain-Coons proposal would have granted amnesty to 1.8 million DREAMers in exchange for roughly $3 billion in border security funding. The Collins-King proposal provided amnesty for 1.8 million DREAMers and $25 billion in border security funding and prevented DREAMers from sponsoring their parents.

On Thursday February 15, all of the immigration proposals put to a vote in the U.S. Senate failed to garner the necessary sixty votes. Along with a bill modeled after the president's immigration framework, the Senate voted on two other compromise bills: McCain-Coons (John McCain and Chris Coons) and Collins-King (Susan Collins and Angus King).

All three bills fell well short of the sixty votes necessary to overcome a potential filibuster. Collins-King failed 54-45; Coons-McCain failed 52-47; Grassley's proposal, modeled after Trump's framework, failed 39-60.

While none of the proposals garnered the necessary sixty votes, Trump's framework proved the most unpopular. The overwhelming majority of the Democrats opposed it, along with pro-immigration Republicans and hard-line conservatives opposed to any form of amnesty.

The fact that Trump's proposal garnered the least votes led some to declare it the least viable approach. His proposed cuts to legal immigration seem to have angered Democrats the most, and only three Democrats voted for his framework.

The problem with the Collins-King and McCain-Coons approach is the same as the problem with our last two attempts at an immigration deal. Both attempts failed because they couldn't garner conservative support. To a conservative, an amnesty without a change to current laws amounts to an increase in immigration. The overwhelming majority of conservatives balked at this approach last time around.

This time around, the vast majority of Senate Republicans rejected this approach. Only seven Republicans supported the King-Collins proposal, the more popular of the two, which still failed 54-45. Getting to 60 votes with 49 Democrats and 11 unhappy Republicans is not the recipe for compromise. We've been here before.

The last time we tried this, the House of Representatives didn't even put it to a vote because of massive conservative backlash. Even if such an approach succeeded, it would tear the GOP apart, and many of the more centrist Republicans would get primaried. If you think polarization is bad now, just wait.

Democrats hate the idea of trading cuts in legal immigration for a partial amnesty. To them, that would amount to meeting racists halfway. They would rather let DACA disappear than compromise with a position they believe is motivated by racial prejudice.

Over the last fifty years, the United States has experienced massive demographic change, driven almost entirely by immigration. The foreign-born share of our population is nearing a historic high and will soon surpass the mark set in the early 20th century.

This dramatic demographic shift will have massive political, cultural, environmental, and other impacts. If you're a conservative, you have to be cautious about this type of radical change. Additionally, much of our current immigration wave comes not from Europe or Latin America, but from radically different cultures with massively divergent social norms.

Democrats also need to remember that political stability often requires compromise with people whose views you find repugnant. Americans are deeply divided on a multitude of issues, immigration being but one. If we reject compromise, we condemn ourselves to gridlock and political dysfunction.

Trump's framework may be our last best hope to resolve this issue in a way that is palatable to both sides. It balances an amnesty with limited cuts to legal immigration, and it implements the necessary enforcement measures to ensure that this amnesty doesn't encourage a new wave of illegal immigration. If Democrats are serious about helping the DREAMers  and finding a solution for the rest of the illegal alien population  they will embrace Trump's framework.Of course, one cannot ignore the reports from Hasan's colleagues and superiors about his conduct throughout his career. While undertaking his residency at the Walter Reed Army Medical Centre in 2003, he became known for his anti-American rants and calls for his colleagues to turn to Islam.

It was obvious for a long time that the Fort Hood shooter was trouble, but the government did not protect his fellow workers from him. The problem was not the gun laws; it was that government did not do its job .

The killer in the mass murder at a church in Florida should have been blocked from getting a gun, but the military did not do its job by informing authorities. The problem was not the lack of gun control or gun laws; it was that the government did not do its job.

On Monday the Air Force acknowledged it did not relay the killer's court martial conviction for domestic assault to civilian law enforcement that could have prevented him purchasing the firearms used in the shooting.

It is clear that authorities and family knew that the killer at the Sandy Hook school was mentally ill and should never have been near a weapon  and that society needed protection from him. But somehow he had access to these weapons. The problem was obviously not the lack of laws.

Lanza struggled with mental illness, a history of obsessive-compulsive behaviors and a fascination with mass shootings  particularly the 1999 school shooting in Columbine, Colo., the report said. Yet, none of the mental health specialists he had a record of meeting with predicted he was capable of lashing out violently.

The killer of 17 in Florida last week was well known to authorities, so why didn't a background check block this mentally ill person from getting a gun? They visited his house over thirty times. Isn't that enough? The FBI also received tips regarding this killer but did not do its job.

Again, the law wasn't the problem.

Last week, a commander in the police department was shot and killed in Chicago by a career criminal. Why was the career criminal on the street?

But of course, the protesters, the media, and Democrats (who always want more gun restrictions) use the victims to push their agenda. No matter that many times, the problem has been that the government wasn't doing its job of enforcing existing laws.

From the rhetoric that we hear after every killing, one would think the U.S. would be number one in murders around the world, but we are far from it: "by the normal measurement  murders per capita, the U.S. ranks on one scale at 99th. "

If we took out large violent cities like Chicago, the American rate would even be lower. Chicago has strict gun laws and a high murder rate. Houston, with similar demographics, has much looser restrictions and a lower murder rate. So why is the solution more gun laws? Don't facts ever matter?

Isn't the actual solution to get the known career criminals off the streets and to destroy the violent gangs that are responsible for a significant number of the killings  instead of more laws?

When Islamic terrorists commit violent acts, we are always lectured not to stereotype Muslims. But when violent mentally ill gun-owners commit atrocious acts, the immediate reaction is to stereotype gun-owners, who are mostly nonviolent, law-abiding citizens. We are always lectured about stereotyping and profiling, but somehow it is OK to blame all gun-owners for the irrational acts of a few.

When an illegal alien kills someone, we hear very little about the crime from the media or Democrats because that is just so inconvenient to the agenda. When a person kills a person with a gun, we hear that one death is too many  so why don't we hear that when someone let out by a sanctuary city or state kills someone? Aren't all deaths and lives important?

North Korea doesn't allow its citizens to own guns. Does that make them safe?

In Nazi Germany, the guns were taken away. Did that make the people there safe or make them sitting ducks?

I am 64 years old and have never been a gun-owner, nor have I ever been a member of the NRA. But I understand that the founding fathers understood the need for the Second Amendment to protect against tyrannical governments like North Korea and Nazi Germany.



Second Amendment Sisters Rally, May 2000.

I do not feel unsafe in my neighborhood or friends' houses when I know that my friends have guns. I do feel vulnerable in sanctuary cities like Chicago that have very strict laws.

Many elitists that push for more strict gun laws have guns themselves, live in gated communities, or have security guards and bodyguards, so shouldn't ordinary citizens have the right to protect themselves when almost all are law-abiding people?

The media like to pretend they peddle facts, but this past week, we saw the knee-jerk reaction, as many just repeated over and over again that this was the eighteenth school shooting this year. It didn't even sound truthful, but it was repeated continuously until it was partially corrected. My guess is that most people still remember the number 18 and did not hear the correction. The actual statistics are bad enough. They shouldn't be exaggerated to push an agenda.

How about enforcing existing gun control laws, making sure that criminals and mentally ill people are on lists for background checks, and having sanctuary cities and states start enforcing laws that are on the books before we pass more laws?

Here is a hint for the leaders at the FBI: maybe pay attention to tips that may protect the people from violent, mentally ill shooters like Cruz instead of targeting and spying on political opponents, chasing a fictional Russian collusion story, and protecting guilty people like Hillary from prosecution. The people would be better served and much safer.Google recently conducted a test on its new location-sharing system meant to identify the location of a 911 caller in order to help shorten the response time for emergency responders. According to a new report by The Wall Street Journal, the search giant worked with West Corp. and RapidSOS to run the experiment, which occurred from December last year until January. During the test, tens of thousands of calls were received by 50 911 call centers located across Texas, Tennessee, and Florida, with the location data of callers having been directly sent to 911 call agents through Android devices that were used to make the call.

Its worth noting, though, that the location data has an estimated radius of 121 feet, as noted by RapidSOS. Nevertheless, it should also be pointed out that these pieces of location information shared by mapping apps like Google Maps are supposed to be more precise than the data provided by wireless carriers, which typically have the responsibility to share location data. According to RapidSOS, location data delivered by network providers often have an estimated radius of 522 feet. Further to that, in the first 30 seconds of a call during the trial, Googles location-sharing technology provided more reliable information for over 80-percent of the 911 calls compared to those pieces of information sent by wireless carriers.

For first responders, the tech being tested could help them save a considerable number of lives in danger every year since it shortens the time it takes for them to attend to an emergency situation. More to the point, the technology helps to address a major barrier facing 911 centers: mobile devices make it difficult for call takers to establish the location of callers. Considering that there has been a remarkable increase in the use of smartphones to make 911 calls these days, making it easier for them to locate callers provides some sort of relief both to responders and individuals at risk. This is not the first time that Google provided its own technology to help save lives through location sharing. In April last year, Google-owned Waze inked a partnership with the European Emergency Number Association to let emergency services organizations integrate crowd-sourced data into their own systems. Android Nougat, the predecessor to Android Oreo, also has a feature that lets users store important information on their devices for first responders.HMD Global is reportedly developing a new flagship phone under the name of Nokia 8 Pro, with unnamed sources cited by Nokiapoweruser (NPU) claiming that the device will be released later this year in August-September, making it a potential direct successor to the ongoing Nokia 8. Furthermore, the source suggests that HMD wont launch any devices bearing the Nokia 10 moniker this year, adding that the so-called Nokia 10 that has been subjected to several leaks so far is actually the aforementioned Nokia 8 Pro. Having said that, the device is expected to sport Qualcomms latest premium-grade silicon, as well as a new dual camera module featuring rotating zoom camera technology coupled with a five-lens module.

In light of these new rumors, the Nokia 10 becomes the Nokia 8 Pro, and all the previous reports surrounding the former device would actually apply to the latter moniker, at least in theory. As a result, the Nokia 8 Pro should be expected to feature an elongated display with an 18:9 aspect ratio, a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner fitted right below the camera module, all the while adopting a glass-sandwich design with curved edges. These characteristics were previously showcased in a leaked sketch (below) said to showcase the Nokia 10 alongside the Nokia 9, the latter of which is also rumored to possibly launch under the name of Nokia 8 Sirocco at MWC 2018 later this month. In any case, the Nokia 8 Pro will reportedly bear the Pro label thanks to the adoption of advanced camera capabilities backed by ZEISS optics. In a way, it would make sense for HMD Global to want and emphasize the camera prowess of a Nokia 8 sequel given that the aforementioned device has been recently criticized by camera review outlets such as DxOMark for its lackluster sensor.

Aside from a more powerful camera, the Nokia 8 Pro would also reportedly adopt Qualcomms latest Snapdragon 845 chipset designed for 2018 flagship phones and manufactured using Samsungs 10nm FinFET LPP nodes. In any case, assuming that the device will launch in the third quarter of the year, many characteristics could change by that time, including the retail name, so its advised to treat this bit of unconfirmed information accordingly and keep a proverbial pinch of salt nearby for good measure.South Korean telecom giant SK Telecom on Monday promised to bring everything from 5G-enabled autonomous cars to artificial intelligence-powered holograms to the latest edition of Mobile World Congress. The companys 5G diplomacy push is meant to illustrate some of the vast possibilities of the next generation of mobile networks and provide consumers with a better idea of what kind of products and services they can expect from 5G in the near future. SK Telecoms exhibition area at MWC 2018 will be advertised with a massive Kinetic Display with moving parts and will revolve around the theme of perfect 5G, the wireless carrier said.

The company is planning to use the Barcelona, Spain-based trade show as an opportunity to officially announce the upcoming arrival of its commercial 5G network and detail what its customers can expect from the next generation of connectivity in terms of speeds, capacities, and latencies. SK Telecoms cellular technologies scheduled to be showcased at the event include a solution for transitioning clients between 4G LTE and 5G networks, as well as a real-time streaming platform based on the first implementable 5G specification completed by the 3GPP late last year. The hologram AI that will also be demonstrated at the event hasnt been detailed by the company, with the Seoul-based network operator only stating that the technology is meant to provide consumers with a first look at an entirely new mobile communications experience. The tech giant will be joined by five startups in its exhibition space, three of which have been selected to be featured at the show thanks to their involvement with the open-source Telecom Infra Project ran by Facebook. SK Telecom will be helping all of them showcase their solutions and strike new partnerships at the event, the company said. In the field of self-driving transportation, the firm will be showcasing its vehicle-to-everything platform that recently allowed it to successfully complete the worlds first 5G-powered autonomous driving test involving multiple cars, and will also demonstrate its 3D HD mapping technology.

MWC 2018 is scheduled to take place over the first four days of the next week, though pre-show conferences will already be starting this weekend when tech giants from around the world are expected to announce their latest products. The new iteration of the mobile industrys largest annual trade show will bring approximately 2,300 companies from 208 countries to Barcelona, and representatives of many more startups and firms are expected to attend the event in an unofficial capacity.Editor-in-chief"Juan, we wont be writting you. We dunno how to in Catalan an it feals silley in Spanish. We'll call you an talk on the phone insted". This was the first and only letter from a mother schooled during the Franco regime to her son, who had left home to study on an Erasmus program. All Catalans know similar anecdotes about the difficulties that our language has had in acquiring the status of a normal language in a dysfunctional nation. We all know of anecdotes like that of a Valencian whose parents made an effort to speak to him in Spanish, and when he spoke up for his own language they asked him, surprised: "How far do you think Valencian will get you? Forty miles?" Obviously, the natural direction was inland, towards Madrid. That wasn't so long ago.

Many Catalans are also surrounded, in my case up to the neck, with Spanish-speaking parents and grandparents who learned the language out of love and respect for this nation, and who learned that Catalan, like education, were key instruments for cohesion, as well as individual and collective progress; that the knowledge of a language and the practice of bilingualism were opportunities for growth.

Thus, fighting for the recovery of the Catalan language, for its normalization, and understanding it as a cohesive element, we arrived together to the 21st Century.

Catalan as it is spoken and written today owes much to Pompeu Fabra, and for this reason this Sunday's paper will take a moment to pay homage to him, to play and learn with the figure of the engineer who did chemistry with words, to the point of leaving us a tidy, living language as an inheritance.

Catalan schools have accomplished much during the last few decades. The language immersion model has succeeded in giving children a proficiency in Spanish similar to students in the rest of Spain, while also mastering the Catalan language. The latter is a minority language in the reality of the world that surrounds us, despite the lies told about the alleged grievances suffered by Spanish.

That's why this week's alert level is at maximum. Spains Ministry of Education's attempts to put an end to Catalonias successful model of schooling by taking advantage of Article 155's intervention in home rule is an example of a disloyalty without limits that seeks to impose a political project of uniformity. In their political race to lure Spanish neo-nationalists, PP and Ciudadanos are more concerned with dismantling the school system than with guaranteeing quality and excellence. They are more concerned with mining anti-Catalan sentiment and teaching independence supporters a lesson than with reflecting on the quality of democracy in Spain, the stubborn diversity, and the risks to the economy and medium-term investments generated by instability and ineffectiveness in the management of public affairs.

This is how democracy dies

Two Harvard professors, Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, argue in their book How Democracies Die that "history does not repeat itself, but it rhymes", and conclude that "the promise of history is that we might find the rhymes before it's too late". They argue that democracies don't usually succumb due to a catastrophic event, like a military coup detat, but rather because of a gradual weakening of leading institutions, such as the judicial system or the press. From their thesis you can deduce that a country is only as strong as its institutions and that "democratic erosion can be practically imperceptible" to public opinion. The regime, they say, "doesn't cross any red lines towards dictatorship", and the social warning alarms never sound "because there is no specific moment at which we can speak of the suspension of the Constitution or the imposition of martial law".

Levitsky and Ziblatt warn that attempts to subvert democracy can be "legal", in the sense that they are approved by the legislature and accepted by the courts. They can even be disguised as efforts to improve democracy while the press looks on, besieged or censorsing itself. The book, recently published in the USA, is a response to many Americans' worries about the deterioration of the public sphere under the Trump presidency. But the reading sounds uncomfortably like current-day Spain.

In Catalonia it is urgent that we recover our institutions, which today are infiltrated by the Spanish administration. The mood of Catalonias public employees mostly swings between collaboration to avoid paralysis and outrage. Decisions are made by the Spanish government with the political criteria of a party that has only 4 representatives in the Catalan Parliament and is in direct electoral competition in Spain with Ciudadanos, a party that was born with the single objective of putting an end to language immersion and homogenizing Spain. The Spanish government has no intention of updating the Pact of the Transition, and if it did, it would be to wipe the slate clean and not to respect diversity. The longer it takes us to recover the Generalitat, the more irreversible the damage to home-rule will be.Iran has offered to supply Iraq with heavy military equipment and armament, including artillery and armored vehicles. A sensitive proposal, considering the current US assistance to the Iraqi government and army.



The Sabalan is one of the recent Iranian-made main battle tanks (Picture source: IRNA)

The offer was made by Iranian assistant defense minister Hujjatullah Qurishi after a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed to boost the military cooperation between the two countries, according to a press statement issued on Sunday 18 February by the Iraqi Ministry of Defense.

The two sides have agreed on forming a special committee to review the Iranian proposal and choose the needed armament and equipment. An important Iranian military delegation is currently visiting Baghdad to discuss on the ways of developing the cooperation between the Iraqi army.

Following the advance of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) into northern Iraq in mid-2014, Iran began to provide military aid to counter the militant advance. Iran provided technical advisers to the Iraqi government and weapons to the Kurdish peshmerga. Since mid-June 2014, Iranian combat troops are in Iraq, which Iran denies. In June or July 2014 Iran started an air war against ISIL.

The Iraqi Shia militias Kataib Hezbollah (Hezbollah Brigades) and Asaib Ahl al-Haq (League of the Righteous), supposedly funded by Iran, fought alongside the Iraqi army and Kurdish peshmerga in retaking territory from ISIL.

So, military relations between Iraq and Iran had reached new highs in the past few years. Iranian military consultants were deployed in Iraq to help national army in the war against the so-called Islamic State (IS) group. Not sure, though, the US government appreciates this trend, considering both its own global assistance to Iraq and its difficult relation with Iran.HopgoodGanim is calling on the Queensland government to follow its peers moves and also announce a deadline.

Queensland needs to keep pace with the rest of the country. If we dont, our real estate sector may come off second-best. Were calling on the government to drive the solution. Queensland has had electronic titles since the 1990s and online stamping for years, said Martin Kingston, HopgoodGanim COO.

Kingston also said that innovation is a major draw for legal industry recruitment and an important part of staff retention.

Law recruits dont want to do nickel and dime conveyancing for the rest of their career. Ive been to the traditional crowded, noise-filled settlement rooms where some 50 plus conveyancing professionals can meet on a busy settlement daycalling out to find the agent acting for the purchaser or seller. Its an intimidating environment with a flurry of paperwork exchanging hands, like a scene from the old share trading floors, which interestingly the ASX did away with twenty years ago. We are overdue for electronic settlements, Kingston said.

Finalising property sales online can free team members to focus on the more rewarding parts of their roles, he said. The new PEXA technology also helps firms manage workflow across their entire real estate team and make sure they are achieving the right balance in the busy times, he said.The teaser photo/sketch leaves little to the imagination of expecting customers, people who are anticipated to pay 1.8 to 1.9 million to call the Zerouno Roadster their own. Thats some serious markup compared to the coupe model, which retailed at 1.5 million despite the fact its based on the baby Lamborghini.The Zerouno Roadster, as expected, starts life as the Huracan LP 610-4 Spyder , which costs less than 200,000 plus taxes in the Old Continent. As with the coupe, the drop-top model will be produced in ultra-limited numbers. Just five examples, to be utmost specific.Propelled by a 5.2-liter naturally aspirated V10, the Zerouno Roadster is expected to be lighter than the donor vehicle but heavier than the coupe. The heft, therefore, could take its toll on performance. For reference, the Zerouno sprints to 100 km/h (62 mph) in 3.2 seconds, onto a maximum velocity of 330 km/h (205 mph).Top speed could also be affected by the changes brought the bodywork. In the case of the Huracan Coupe and Huracan Spyder, the difference is marginal: 325 compared to 324 km/h (201 mph).Founded in February 1968 by Giorgetto Giugiaro , Italdesign is celebrating its 50th anniversary at the 2018 Geneva Motor Show. The Zerouno Roadster is the centerpiece of the jubilee, but thats not all Italdesign has in the pipeline for Geneva.Introducing the Future Mobility in Cities, a competition for young innovators (aged 18 to 35) who can submit solutions for future mobility in urban areas. Registrations will go online on the Italdesign website on March 1st, and the winner(s) of the competition will be awarded prizes amounting to 40,000.Among many things, the Roadster became, soon after its launch aboard the Falcon Heavy, the car with the most miles traveled in the history of mankind (okay, the wheels arent spinning, so the odometer registers nothing, but you get the point). So that you know, the electric vehicle already exceeded its 36,000 miles warranty some 630 times by now.At the time of this writing, the Roadster is 2,274,344 miles away from Earth. By the time you will read this, it will be much farther away, as the car travels some two miles per second. And now you can track every single mile live.A specially created website, called whereisroadster.com , provides data sourced from NASAs HORIZONS Web-Interface , combined with a script created by the sites owner, Ben Pearson, to calculate the distance traveled by the vehicle in space.The website also provides an interactive map of the solar system and Tesla's position in relation with the planets for a very long time to come, until November 13, 2020. According to the map, at that time the Roadster will be close to Mars orbit.Other scientists, however, believe the Roadster will likely have another fate. Calculations made by Hanno Rein , Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto, the Roadster will likely travel aimlessly through the Solar System, until it eventually hits something.According to Rein, in the next million years, the chances of it hitting Earth are 6 percent. In three million years, chances increase to 11 percent, and so on.Currently, the Tesla Roadster is also being tracked by the Virtual Telescope Project via a series of real, robotic telescopes, remotely accessible online.On Saturday, NASA announced that Opportunity witnessed a Martian sunrise for the 5,000th time, making it one of humanitys most enduring machines on an alien world. After all that time spent in the Martian dust, Martian winter and who knows what else, the Rover continues its mission, long after the planned 90 days of operation expired."Five thousand sols after the start of our 90-sol mission, this amazing rover is still showing us surprises on Mars," said Opportunity Project Manager John Callas, of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory."We've reached lots of milestones, and this is one more, but more important than the numbers are the exploration and the scientific discoveries."Martian days, called by NASA sol, are 40 minutes longer than your avergae day on planet Earth. According to the space agency, Opportunitys day No. 5,000 started on Friday, Universal Time.The Rover is solar-powered, hence NASA did not expect it to survive the low-light winter conditions. Still, Rover is currently 45 kilometers (28 miles) away from its landing site, having stayed active throughout the mission. That means it travelled 3.2 km per year, or nearly two miles.Opportunity, as his brother Spirit, is a six-wheeler vehicle that weighs 180 kg and stands at 1.5 m high, 2.3 m wide and 1.6 m long. It uses a rocker-bogie suspension system that allows each of the rover's wheels to remain attached to the ground, regardless of the type of terrain.Top speed of both vehicles is 50 mm/second (0.18 km/h), making them the single slowest, most expensive self-propelled vehicles ever made by man. In the 14 years it has spent on Mars, Opportunity traveled 45 kilometers (28 miles).SUV

EV

These aren't the only Model 3s to make it to Europe ahead of schedule, aside from those already spotted in Holland even before U.S. deliveries had started. One owner from the States plans on staging a tour with his electric sedan later this year, showing the car to anyone interested along the way and also offering test drives after having done something similar in the U.S. in 2017. Also, it's hard to imagine Tesla won't organize an official tour once the start of deliveries in the Old Continent draws near.Those two cars, however, appear to have suffered a much more grim fate as they were sacrificed on the altar of German technology progress. They're not the first Teslas to fall prey like this after Audi famously bought a Model X but had no clue how to charge it and Mercedes-Benz reportedly performed extensive tests on a rented electricmore recently.According to German publication Suddeutsche Zeitung , the unnamed premium manufacturer paid 185,000 (roughly $230,000) for the, which is even higher than what the first Model 3 put on sale was going for. The newspaper notes the managers test drove the 3 for ten days before finally handing it over to the engineers for the more in-depth analysis.The consensus was the powertrain of the Model 3 was an excellent piece of minimalist technology that explains how Tesla managed to keep the price so low. Each sub-assembly system was put to the test, but the testers were especially impressed by the power electronics," read the report (via electrek ). "Compact, expandable, fully integrated, modular, easily accessible, well-protected, reasonably priced and astonishingly clever in many details  that was the verdict of the experts, to which colleagues from other manufacturers also agreed.While this is far from official information, it's worth noting that somebody commenting on the EV-themed website claimed they had inside information from BMW suggesting the Bavarian carmaker was the mysterious unnamed manufacturer. The short comment also states that BMW researchers found the technology to be "years ahead [of what they had at the moment]."Since all German premium manufacturers are currently working on their first noteworthy electric models, any of the four names we can think of (Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Porsche) would fit just as well. In the end, it's not the identity of the carmaker that matters, but what they had to say about the 3. Getting the thumbs up from German engineers used to mean a lot.Canada is looking at banning some types of laser pointers after its Transport Minister ordered his staff to look at all possible options to halt laser attacks on aircraft. Marc Garneau called a news conference last week after there were six reported incidents at Trudeau International Airport in Montreal over two days earlier this month. Garneau said the incidents made him very, very mad and spurred the action. He didnt confirm a laser pointer ban but did say there would be an announcement in the next few weeks.

Laser incidents have actually decreased significantly in the last couple of years, from 590 in 2015 to 379 in 2017 but Garneau isnt satisfied with that. Thats not enough. We need to do more, he said. Two years ago, Garneaus department began an education campaign describing the danger and outlining the serious penalties those who point lasers at airplanes face ($100,000 fine and five years in jail) but Garneau said those who are responsible for most of the attacks know darn well what theyre doing. He said the forthcoming announcement will be more than just simply continuing the education program. Government sources told CTV News that could include a ban on imports of especially powerful laser pointers, mandatory warning labels and even stiffer penalties.The only fatalities resulting from the magnitude 7.2 earthquake in Mexico on Friday were 13 people on the ground hit by a crashing military Blackhawk helicopter on Saturday. The helicopter was carrying government officials surveying the damage in Santiago Jamiltepec in Oaxaca state in southern Mexico when it crashed while attempting to land in a vacant lot. It landed on top of a van and the crash also injured 15 people, who were among a group of people who spent the night outside after the quake. They were apparently waiting for the helicopter.

The aircraft was carrying Interior Secretary Alfonso Navarrete and Oaxaca Gov. Alejandro Murat. No one on the helicopter was seriously injured. Photos from the scene showed the helicopter on its side with a van crushed underneath it. The aircraft had reportedly touched down in the landing area marked out by a perimeter of vehicles when it slid sideways and rolled onto the van.All 65 people aboard an Aseman Airlines ATR-72 turboprop were killed when the aircraft crashed in bad weather in the mountains of southern Iran Sunday. The aircraft hit Mt. Dena, which is almost 14,000 feet tall, while on approach to Yasuj on a flight from Tehran just after midnight. Wind, snow and dense fog prevented searchers from immediately reaching the scene and when they did get there they found no survivors among the 59 passengers and six crew. It was the second major airliner crash in a week and new details have emerged about the earlier crash of regional jet in Russia two weeks ago.

Investigators now believe pitot tube icing resulted in false airspeed indications and likely contributed to the crash of the Saratov Airlines An-148 shortly after takeoff from Domodedovo Airport last Sunday. The data was retrieved from the flight data recorder and investigators are still analyzing the cockpit voice recorder. The two crashes come after the safest year ever in world airline operations. In 2017 there were no fatal accidents involving mainstream carriers and only two fatal accidents involving scheduled passenger flights. One passenger died 12 days after a West Wind Aviation ATR 42 crashed in northern Saskatchewan on Dec. 13 and all 12 people aboard a Nature Air Flight died in a New Years Eve crash in Costa Rica.A Belgian court has ordered Facebook to stop tracking web users who have not given their consent after it found that the company broke privacy laws by using cookies and social plugins to track people online as part of an effort to sell ads, TechCrunch reports.

Why it matters: This is the second time a court in Belgium ruled that the social media giant practice violates the law, per TechCrunch. Facebook will reportedly have to pay up to 100 million (~$124M), at a rate of 250,000 per day in fines, if it doesn't comply with the ruling. The social network company plans to appeal, according to TechCrunch, arguing that its tactic allows thousands of businesses to grow and reach customers across the Europe.Canadian Prime Minster Justin Trudeau said on Friday that Canada would "walk away" from NAFTA negotiations if it isn't suitable, Politico reports. "We aren't going to take any old deal," he said. "Canada is willing to walk away from NAFTA if the United States proposes a bad deal. We won't be pushed around."

Why it matters: President Trump has spoken frequently about how he believes NAFTA to be unfair to the United States, and that he would be willing to begin the withdraw process from the agreement. Monday marked the end of the sixth round of negotiations, and the three leaders "indicated that they were seeing progress emerging," Politico reports.

Go deeper: Senate Republicans lobbying Trump to stay in NAFTA.U.S. ambassador to Israel David Friedman told a closed door meeting yesterday in Jerusalem that a massive evacuation of Jewish settlements from the West Bank could lead to a civil war in Israel.

According to three people who attended the meeting, of the conference of presidents of the Jewish organizations in North America and shared their notes with me, Friedman said that the approximately 400,000 settlers who live in the West Bank "are not going anywhereand significant evacuation could result in a civil war. This is my opinion".

Friedman was asked if he thought the reason will be the refusal of IDF soldiers to obey the orders of the government. He explained that Israels military is more and more being lead by "Religious Zionists" who are committed to this land because they see it as their God-given Land.

The history

The future of the settlements is one of the core issues of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. When Israel pulled out unilaterally from Gaza it evacuated all 8,000 settlers who lived there.

In all previous negotiation rounds during the Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations there was a common understanding that in a future peace deal most of the Israeli settlements would be annexed to Israel and the rest will be evacuated. During several rounds of negotiations in the past, ideas were floated about some settlers staying in their homes as Palestinian citizens.

More from Friedman's remarks

The end of 2019 is an outside date for moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem and it will happen sooner.

The administration is realistic and is not overselling the prospects of a peace deal, but Trump is committed to trying to reach one. The administration does not believe that threats or pressure on Israel would help achieve a peace deal with the Palestinians.

The claim that a peace deal is needed to keep Israel as a Jewish and democratic state is a platitude because for 25 years people have been saying that and Israel has only thrived and prospered.

A peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians will be an achievement but it will not solve problems like ISIS or Hezbollah and for that reason security for Israel and the region is paramount.

There must be Israeli Security control in the Jordan valley (the border area between the West Bank and Jordan) in any future peace deal, otherwise the West Bank will turn into a second Gaza.

Israeli-Palestinian future relationship should be not a marriage but a divorce. But until now the Palestinians have not shown themselves capable of building institutions that will allow them to live in peace with their neighbors.

Update: Via a U.S. Embassy spokesperson:

The Channel 10 report is based upon three attendees at the conference who failed to provide much of the context behind Ambassador Friedmans comments as well as significant additional and related remarks by the Ambassador. Ambassador Friedman made clear in his remarks that the President is committed to a comprehensive peace agreement that benefits both Israelis and Palestinians and that the U.S. is working on a plan to achieve that goal. As for settlements, the Ambassador believes that unrestrained settlement growth is not helpful for peace."A Vatican sex-crimes expert tasked by Pope Francis with probing a case involving a Chilean bishop who allegedly witnessed sexual abuses and ignored them, will travel to New York to speak with a victim in person, the victim told The AP on Wednesday. The same victim sent Pope Francis a letter in 2015 claiming Bishop Juan Barros had ignored the crimes.

Why it matters: Francis is being pulled further into the scandal in the wake of his dismissive comments about it last month. A lay Catholic group in Chile told the AP on Tuesday that Francis had "full knowledge" of the accusations against Barros.

The background: Barros has denied seeing any abuse committed by Rev. Fernando Karadima, per AP. After an internal probe in 2011, the Vatican sanctioned Karadima after finding him guilty of sexually abusing minors in Chile.The influential head of Russias Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), Sergei Naryshkin, reportedly praised close ties between Russian and Armenian security services during a visit to Yerevan on Monday.

Naryshkin held separate meetings with President Serzh Sarkisian and the chief of Armenias National Security Service (NSS), Georgi Kutoyan.

An NSS statement said he discussed with Kutoyan issues related to the fight against international terrorism and other manifestations of transnational crime. It gave no details.

Sarkisian, who ran the NSS in the 1990s, said Russian-Armenian relations are developing dynamically in all areas when he received Naryshkin later in the day. It is only natural for the security services of the two allied nations to cooperate closely through intelligence sharing, assessment of the situation and constant active interaction, he was quoted by the presidential press office as saying.

According to a statement released by the office, Naryshkin noted the SVRs close links with Armenias NSS and the proper level of their cooperation. He briefed the Armenian leader on their ongoing joint activities and further plans, the statement added without elaborating.

Naryshkin is a longtime associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin who managed the Kremlin staff before serving as speaker of the lower house of Russias parliament from 2011-2016. He repeatedly visited Armenia in his capacity as State Duma speaker. Putin appointed Naryshkin as head of the Russian spy agency in September 2016.

Naryshkin made international headlines recently after it emerged that he secretly visited Washington and met top U.S. intelligence officials in January. According to the Russian ambassador to the United States, they discussed the joint struggle against terrorism.

It was not clear whether political developments in Armenia were also on the agenda of Naryshkins trip to Yerevan. Sarkisian will serve out his final presidential term on April 9. He is widely expected to remain in power as prime minister. Russian officials have not publicly commented on the outgoing presidents political future.By Trend

The volume of Russian exports of new cars (excluding the countries belonging to the Customs Union) reached 38,800 units, which exceeds the result of the previous year by 23.3 percent.

The analytical agency Autostat reported that most cars were sent to the Czech Republic-15,700 units (40 percent).

Ukraine is in second place with 3,800 thousand cars, Latvia is in third place-3,500 units.

To China, Hungary, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan and Lebanon were exported from 1,000 to 1,500 cars.

The largest share in exports is the Czech brand Skoda, 15,700 of which was exported abroad in 2017.

The second place is occupied by Lada with more than 25 percent or 10,100 exported cars, while the third place is occupied by Renault with 3,700 cars.

In general, in 2017 Azerbaijan imported more than 13,000 vehicles, more than 11,000 of which are passenger cars, according to Azerbaijans State Customs Committee.

Currently, Azerbaijan, is working to develop its car manufacturing industry and encouraging interior purchases within the country, now is operating with different courtiers to develop its own automobile manufacturing market.

The country plans to produce cars jointly with Iran and will soon launch manufacture of cars in the Neftchala Industrial District. The plant will operate on the basis of joint project of AzEuroCar LLC and Irans largest car manufacturer Iran Khodro. The plant was due to open in June, but because of the cold winter there were delays in the plant's construction. The opening is rescheduled for August.

The plant with a capacity of about 10,000 cars per year initially will produce four Iranian car brands  Dena, Runna, Soren and Samand.

Production of some spare parts is planned in local factories. For this, proposals will be made to the plants and if the plants receive positive feedback from the Iranian company, then the production of spare parts will launch.

The plant intends to cooperate with the Sumgayit Industrial Park and SOCARs new plant. Some 20 percent of the vehicles will be exported to CIS and Central Asian countries.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAzBy Kamila Aliyeva

A meeting of the general assembly of the Union of Legal Entities of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR) association was held in Ankara on February 16 under the chairmanship of the head of Kazakhstan Temir Zholy, Kanat Alpysbaev, according to the press service of the Kazakh national company.

Representatives of the countries-participants of TITR - Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia and associate members of this international association - discussed issues of further development of the international corridor, organization of uninterrupted cargo transportation and creation of favorable tariff conditions along the route.

The parties agreed on the volume of traffic at the level of 4 million tonnes of cargo, including container traffic in the amount of 15,000 TEUs (or 75,000 tonnes) for 2018 along TITR.

Alpysbaev noted the need to intensify measures to load and attract cargo flows to the infrastructure created by the TITR member countries.

Along with the growing cargo traffic of multimodal transportations by TITR, it is necessary to monitor and identify potentially bottlenecks with the purpose of advance modernization and expansion of the existing infrastructure, he said.

Alpysbaev noted the importance of the initiative of Turkish State Railways JSC on joining the TITR association.

The head of Kazakhstan Temir Zholy JSC expressed confidence in the success of cooperation of the countries-participants on the joint development of new logistics services, the formation of competitive tariff rates.

The tariff rates of TITR for 2018 were approved at the meeting, taking into account the new Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway line.

The issues of increasing cargo flows on TITR were also in the focus of attention during the round table with the participation of representatives of large cargo owners, traders, transport and logistics companies, business structures.

In Ankara, Alpysbaev also held a meeting with Minister of Transport, Shipping and Communications of the Republic of Turkey Ahmed Arslan.

During the talks, issues of development of cooperation in the field of transport and logistics were discussed. In particular, the prospects for the development of the Middle Corridor, joint activities for the effective use of the potential of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route were in the focus of attention.

The agreement on creation of the TITR was signed in April 2016 in Baku by the railway authorities of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Kazakhstan.

TITR is a project initiated to improve transit potential and development of the countries of the Caspian region. This route runs from China through Kazakhstan, the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey and further to Europe.

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Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAzBy Rashid Shirinov

The opening of the Azerbaijan Business Center in Russias Astrakhan region is scheduled for April, Governor of the region Alexander Zhilkin said on February 16, on the margins of the Sochi Investment Forum.

Last year, Irans Trade House was opened [in Astrakhan], where 14 commercial and industrial chambers of Iran are represented. In April, the trade and business center of Azerbaijan will be opened, he told RIA Novosti.

Zhilkin noted that it will be a huge platform where Russian business will comfortably interact with its foreign counterparts. The governor reminded that consulates of both countries were open in the region and good relationships were built with them.

He added that the platforms will be useful not only for the Astrakhan business, but also for entrepreneurs from all over the country.

The agreement on the construction of the Azerbaijan Business Center in Astrakhan was signed in the framework of the 7th Azerbaijan-Russia Interregional Forum held in Baku in November 2016. The centers groundbreaking ceremony was held in December 2016. Earlier it was reported that the facility will be opened in March 2018.

Meanwhile, construction of the Astrakhan Business Center has begun in Baku. The joint work of the two facilities is aimed to expand trade and economic and transport and logistics relations between the Russian region and Azerbaijan. Businessmen from other regions of Russia will also be able to make use of the business platforms.

Azerbaijan is one of the main economic partners of Russia among the CIS countries. The trade turnover between two countries amounted to $2.14 billion in 2017. This kind of cooperation plays an important role in the development of Russian-Azerbaijani trade and economic relations and in the increase of the trade turnover.

At present, enterprises of more than 70 regions of Russia cooperate directly with Azerbaijan. Fifteen regions of Russia have relevant agreements with Azerbaijan on trade and economic, scientific, technical and cultural cooperation.

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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAzBy Sara Israfilbayova

The State Committee on Property Issues of Azerbaijan will hold next auction on privatization of state property on March 27, where 191state objects will be exhibited for sale.

The auction will offer 24 joint-stock companies, 91-small state enterprises, 76-non-residential areas.

Among the joint-stock companies, exhibited for the auction, are enterprises specializing in cotton growing, poultry farming, transport, repair, trade, production, processing and others.

Fifty-three non-residential areas are located in Baku, the rest-in other cities and regions of the country.

Information about the auction is posted on the official website of the Committee, on the website privatization.az and on the facebook page.

In order to protect state property and effectively manage it in the new economic realities, President of Azerbaijan signed a decree on May 19, 2016.

Under the decree, the acceleration of the state property privatization process has been defined as an important direction of the economic policy.

The portal for privatization  privatization.az, launched in July 2016, reflects all necessary information about the facilities, their addresses, location, and even initial cost and aims at facilitation of the process. The website is available in two languages - Azerbaijani and English. Why Azerbaijan is special section available on the website explains the reasons and advantages of investing in the country.

The privatization process is designed to attract both foreign and local investors, as well as develop the business environment of Azerbaijan.

The State Committee has started to hold electronic auction from July 4.

The electronic auction service, which is available on the website privatization.az, combines the privatization procedure of vehicles and equipment. In the future, it will be possible to privatize small state enterprises and facilities, joint-stock companies through electronic auction. Now, the corresponding work in programming is being implemented.

Earlier, the State Committee on Property Issues reported that in 2017 was held 197 auctions, during which 877 state properties were privatized.

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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAzBy Kamila Aliyeva

An exhibition With love to Azerbaijan, which showcased the works of the children from My Way Development Center, took place at Khatai Art Center in Baku on February 16.

Head of the Development Center in Brooklyn (New York, U.S.) Alena Badalova told Azernews about the work of the center, the exhibition and plans for the future.

The Children's Center for Creative Development in New York has been operating for four years. There are more than twenty different classes in our center. One of them is an art club, headed by Emin Guliyev, Honored Artist and Sculptor of Azerbaijan. This is our second exhibition in Baku, an exhibition of American children who have never seen Azerbaijan, but drew about Azerbaijan, she said.

Badalova recalled that a group of people work there, that is, three organizations - My Way Development Center, the Azerbaijani community in New York (AZZEM), whose president is Oleg Movsumov, and the Brooklyn Baku Friendship Association, headed by Marietta Rosenthal. These are two sister cities, which signed an agreement and work on cooperation in the field of cultural and tourist ties. This is a kind of a small bridge between Baku (Sabail district) and Brooklyn.

As for our center, we have classes of Caucasian dances, gymnastics, art, sculpture, ballroom dances, hip-hop, drama, vocals, etc. The exhibition is dedicated to the centenary of the establishment of democratic power in Azerbaijan. The task for today is to achieve, so that children in New York would learn as much as possible about Azerbaijan. The continuation of this exhibition is expected to take place in May. A catalog will be issued in which each child will write his/her own thoughts about what he/she learned about Azerbaijan, as well as drawing, and what he or she wanted to tell by it. This exhibition shows how American children see Azerbaijan, she said.

There are many children in the center, whose parents are from Azerbaijan, but there are also children of other nationalities. In general, about 200 children attend various classes in the center, according to Badalova.

At the moment, our main task is the preservation of Azerbaijani culture in America. We plan to annually hold exhibitions, festivals of Azerbaijani culture, Caucasian heritage. Our center is called My Way, that is the path that every child can choose, first of all, of course, creative. Maybe it will be his/her profession, or maybe a hobby. The main concept of our center is to help each child find his/her own way, she stressed.

The most important thing is that children do not dissolve in America, but, on the contrary, preserving their traditions, benefit the country in which they live.

My Way Development Center is a diverse organization with over twenty different programs for children of all ages. Its programs range from classes in art, music, dance, sport to academic courses.

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Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAzBy Shukur Mammadaliyev

Stem cells that have the ability to transform into different cells of the human body are a serious breakthrough in the field of medicine. Azerbaijan is planning the formation of a new culture of health care for human beings.

Its high time to create a center of stem cells in the country, said academician-secretary of the Department of Biological and Medical Sciences of ANAS, academician Ahliman Amiraslanov.

Addressing a joint scientific session of the general meeting of the National Academy of Sciences (ANAS) and the board of the Health Ministry on the topic Development of Medical Science in Azerbaijan, Priorities and Innovative Perspectives, the academician said that work has already begun in Azerbaijan in the field of stem cell research.

Amiraslanov pointed that studies are planned in Azerbaijan on the diagnosis of gene defects in adults. In the U.S. and China, training of young cadres of ANAS in this field is underway.

The academician added that today throughout the world stem cells are used to eliminate many pathologies.

Although today there are resources, medical equipment for scientific research at a high level, they are not fully used, according to Amiraslanov.

Today in the field of science, multidisciplinary research should be conducted. Multidisciplinary research teams should be created to solve a specific problem, he said.

In the world practice, stem cells are actively used in the treatment of cancer and hematological diseases, that is, cancer, diseases of the nervous system and brain, Parkinson, chronic diseases, cirrhosis, heart failure and kidney problems.

In case the body rejects the transplantation of an organ, the scientists advise also to introduce stem cells. In a short time they are able to restore and heal the skin of a person after a severe burn.

Today scientific researchers are conducted in Azerbaijan, and the introduction of stem cells to a patient suffering cirrhosis of the liver has been benefit of him.

The first operation on stem cell transplantation to a patient with liver disease in the country was held in June 2015 in the Educational-surgical clinic of the Azerbaijan Medical University. Mesenchymal stem cells obtained from the bone marrow of the patient were then transplanted into the liver following the intra-arterial method.

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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAzBy Sara Israfilbayova

Oil prices are rising on Monday with the recovery in Asian stock markets, as well as the escalation of tensions in the Middle East.

Brent crude futures up 0.85 percent to $65.39 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 1.25 percent to $62.45 a barrel, according to Rosbalt.ru.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on February 18 that Israel is ready to act not only against Irans Middle Eastern allies, but also against Tehran, if he continues to actively intervene in the conflict in Syria.

Among the factors holding back the further rise of the market, analysts call the rapid growth of oil production in the U.S.

According to the calculations of the Energy Information Administration (EIA), weekly production of raw materials in the U.S. rose to a historic high of 10.27 million barrels per day for the week by February 9.

In addition, the number of installations for drilling oil wells in the U.S. last week increased by 7 pieces to 798 - the highest value since April 2015, the data of the oil service company Baker Hughes showed on February 16.

The Riyadh government is carefully analyzing the future price curve structure in oil markets because it regards prices further out as an important element in achieving a high valuation in what could be the biggest initial public offering in history, the sources told Reuters.

OPEC and non-OPEC producers reached an agreement in December 2016 to curtail oil output jointly and ease a global glut after more than two years of low prices. OPEC agreed to slash the output by 1.2 million barrels per day from January 1.

Non-OPEC oil producers such as Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Brunei, Equatorial Guinea, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico, Oman, Russia, Sudan, and South Sudan agreed to reduce output by 558,000 barrels per day starting from January 1, 2017.

OPEC and its partners decided to extend its production cuts till the end of 2018 in Vienna on November 30, as the oil cartel and its allies step up their attempt to end a three-year supply glut that has savaged crude prices and the global energy industry.

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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAzBy Sara Israfilbayova

Azerbaijan and Russia discussed the state and prospects of cooperation in a bilateral and multilateral format, as Energy Ministers of the two countries met in Moscow.

Parviz Shahbazov (Azerbaijan) and Alexander Novak (Russia) noted cooperation in the field of oil products supply, issues of natural gas supplies, as well as cooperation in the field of electric power industry as priority areas for collaboration.

During the meeting, issues of cooperation on implementing agreements in the format of OPEC+ were touched upon. In particular, the Russian minister noted Azerbaijans important contribution to the joint efforts of the OPEC states and not OPEC to stabilize the oil market.

Novak noted that the Gas Institute of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) is expected to play an important role in the work of the forum.

We believe that the Institute should become the main coordinating center for uniting the efforts of leading scientific organizations in the member states of the forum with a view to conducting research in which all GECF participants are interested, the Russian minister added.

The GECF is an intergovernmental organization of the worlds leading natural gas producers made up of Algeria, Bolivia, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Iran, the UAE, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Russia, Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela. The organization's members together control over 70 percent of the worlds natural gas reserves.

Azerbaijan, Iraq, Kazakhstan, the Netherlands, Norway, Oman and Peru have the status of observer members. Azerbaijan joined the GECF as an observer member on November 21, 2015 during the 17th GECF ministerial meeting.

Azerbaijan is one of the main economic partners of Russia among the CIS countries. Interregional cooperation plays an important role in the development of Russian-Azerbaijani trade and economic relations and the increase in trade turnover.

Azerbaijans first trade representative was appointed to Russia.

Trade representatives main mission is to take measures to expand Azerbaijan`s economic and trade relations with Russia, protect economic interests of Azerbaijan, increase export of Azerbaijani goods and services, promote Azerbaijans business environment and investment opportunities.

Azerbaijan seeks to open Trade House in Russias Arkhangelsk region as well.

The trade turnover with Russia amounted to $1.89 billion in January-November 2017, according to Azerbaijans State Customs Committee.

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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAzBy Kamila Aliyeva

Turkmenistan is preparing to hold a launch ceremony of the construction of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline in Afghanistan on February 23.

The preparations for the event were discussed at an expanded meeting of the government of Turkmenistan, Central Asian media outlets reported.

The ceremony of laying the Afghan section of the pipeline, the fiber-optic communication line along the same route, the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan power transmission line and the commissioning of the (Turkmenistan) Serhetabat-Turgundi (Afghanistan) railroad will be held on February 23, 2018.

Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov noted that the country is carrying out fruitful work in the region to implement large-scale projects, while citing the construction of the TAPI gas pipeline as well as other important projects, in particular, in energy, transport and communications spheres.

The construction of the TAPI gas pipeline, the start of an important phase of which we will give together with the leaders of other countries on February 23, and which will deliver Turkmen gas to the countries of Asia, will be inscribed in gold letters in the history of our independent neutral state, he said.

The pipeline will give a powerful impetus to the development of the economies of the region, there will be conditions for opening thousands of new jobs, according to the Turkmen leader.

TAPI will contribute to the formation of electricity, transport and communication and social infrastructure.

In addition to the fact that all facilities of the TAPI gas pipeline will be equipped with electric power, the laying of power systems will provide an opportunity to systematically provide electricity to the region's countries.

Conditions will emerge for the export of electricity through Afghanistan to Pakistan and other Asian countries. Previously, the governments of these states expressed their interest in the speedy implementation of this project.

The construction of the Trans-Asian-European fiber-optic communication system, which became the most important telecommunication bridge not only in the Central Asian region, but also a link between the East and West, North and South, facilitates the further development of the communications industry as a significant segment of the national economy.

Berdimuhamedov also noted that the successful implementation of the above-mentioned projects will bring significant profits to the budget of Afghanistan through the transit of natural gas, electricity, industrial goods and information communications.

The pipeline will determine the sustainability and planned social and economic development of the region, the Turkmen leader concluded.

The construction of the Turkmen section of the TAPI was launched in December 2015. Currently, the Turkmen section of the gas pipeline is being laid in line with the schedule. Completion of the construction of this site is planned for the end of 2018. The pipeline will run from Galkynysh  the largest gas field in Turkmenistan  through the Afghan cities of Herat and Kandahar, and finally reach the Fazilka settlement located near the India-Pakistan border.

The total length of the pipeline is 1,814 kilometers, including 214 kilometers in the territory of Turkmenistan, 774 kilometers in Afghanistan, 826 kilometers of Pakistan to the settlement of Fazilka on the border with India. The project's preliminary cost is estimated at $10 billion.

Annual capacity of the gas pipeline will be 33 billion cubic meters.

For the construction of the TAPI gas pipeline, a consortium - TAPI Pipeline Company Limited - was established and the state concern Turkmengaz was elected as the leader.

The main problems for the projects implementation largely considered to be financing and security issues as the pipeline is to pass through the territory of Afghanistan.

Earlier, the Asian Development Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the Japanese government expressed their interest in financing TAPI.

The Islamic Development Bank has already allocated a loan worth $700 million for Turkmenistan to construct its TAPI section.

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Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAzBy Kamila Aliyeva

Tajikistan will increase the supply of electricity to Afghanistan in 2018 by 15 percent compared to the previous year, first deputy chairman of the open joint-stock holding company Barki Tochik Mahmadumar Asozoda said.

According to the signed contracts, about 1.5 billion kWh of electricity will be supplied to Afghanistan, he noted.

The cost of one kilowatt of electricity amounts to 4.11 American cents. Tajikistan will annually increase the volume of electricity supplies to Afghanistan until 2029, raising the price by 3 percent, according to the deputy chairman.

In 2017, Tajikistan exported 1.3 billion kWh of electricity to Afghanistan for $52.3 million. The volume of supplies of Tajik electricity to Afghanistan in kind decreased by 1.06 percent, while in monetary terms they increased by 3.56 percent.

The share of electricity in the total volume of Tajikistan's exports by the end of 2017 exceeded 5.3 percent.

The energy holding stressed that the negotiation process on the supply of Tajik electricity to Uzbekistan in the amount of 1.5 billion kWh is at the final stage.

Barki Tochik company in 2017 increased electricity generation in comparison with 2016 by 6.64 percent up to 15.4 billion kWh.

The export of electricity from Tajikistan to Afghanistan is mainly carried out from early April to late September. Tajikistan can increase the export of electricity to a neighboring country in the summer season, however, the Afghan side does not consume more than this indicator.

Tajik electricity is mainly consumed by the province of Puli Khumri and Kabul. In winter, with the approval of the government of the republic, exports are carried out at a volume of 50 MW to the province of Kunduz, although the Afghan side asked to increase this figure in the specified period.

In 2017, Tajikistan produced 18.1 billion kWh of electricity, which is 889.8 million kWh more than in 2016. Tajikistan exported electricity in the amount of over 1.3 billion kWh in 2016.

Previously both countries were involved in CASA-1000, an interregional electricity transmission project in Central and South Asia set to connect four countries, however, Afghanistan abandoned its share of electricity due to dearth of demand.By Kamila Aliyeva

The Government of Tajikistan plans to fully pay off its external creditors which have acquired Tajik government bonds (Eurobonds) till 2028, Central Asian media outlets reported.

As many as $500 million, attracted last year due to the sale of government securities, is spent on the completion of the Rogun HPP.

Starting from this year, the state budget annually provides for certain funds to repay these loans. The return of all money to creditors with interest is planned in 2025-2027, the Ministry of Finance of Tajikistan said.

The Ministry of Finance noted that up to the present moment about $200 million have been used for the construction of Rogun at the expense of these funds.

Of this amount, $134 million was paid to the general contractor as an advance payment, and about $65 million was spent on direct construction work, the ministry added.

The government of Tajikistan, which has suffered from electricity shortages for years, makes all possible efforts to complete the construction of dam that will solve the countrys energy problem.



By implementing the project, Tajikistan will be able to generate about 13 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually. This will not only help the country to meet its domestic needs but also turn Tajikistan into a major exporter of electricity.

According to the project, six units are planned to be installed at the station, each with a capacity of 600 MW.

The station will become the highest rock-earth dam in the world. This HPP will generate 17 billion kWh of electricity annually.

Approximately $4 billion is needed to complete the major energy project. About 2 billion somoni ($227,2 million) have been allocated from the state budget for the completion of the hydroelectric power station this year.

Therefore, the Tajik authorities decided to issue securities worth $1 billion for the completion of the Rogun HPP in 2017. At the first stage, bonds worth $500 million were put up for sale on the world markets.

According to the National Bank of Tajikistan, Tajik government bonds by type of investors were sold to fund managers (85 percent), hedge funds (9 percent), banks and other financial institutions (6 percent). Geographically, the bonds were acquired by investors from the United States (38 percent), Great Britain (24 percent), EU countries (percent) and Asia (3 percent).

The dam should form a large Rogun reservoir with a total volume of 13.3 cubic meters. The project is criticized because of the location in the zone of high seismicity, landslide and mudflow processes, and the presence of a tectonic fault filled with rock salt under the base of the dam.

The Rogun HPP will dam the Vakhsh river, which is a major tributary to the Amu Darya river, one of the region's two major water courses. The neighboring countries cautioned water could be diverted from their cotton and wheat fields. Uzbekistan claimed that water flows would be seriously decreased in case the dam is built. However, the World Bank assessment gave the go-ahead to the major project.

The Italian company Salini Impregilo is engaged in the construction of the Rogun power plant. In October 2016, Tajikistan launched work on the construction of a rock embankment dam, 335 meters high and $1.95 billion worth. The cost of the entire hydro power station is $3.9 billion.

At the end of January, the head of the company, Pietro Salini, after a meeting with Tajik President Emomali Rahmon, told reporters that the first turbine of the Rogun hydro power plant will be launched on November 16, 2018.

Last week, Finance Minister of Tajikistan Fayziddin Kakhhorzoda said that the financing of the construction of the Rogun HPP is currently being carried out within the framework of the needs of this facility at the expense of the budget and attracted external funds.

There are no difficulties in this issue at the moment, the minister added.

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Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAzBrian Curtis, who calls himself a "Git-Er-Done-Ologist," built his Silsbee "barndominium" in March 2011. The massive red structure includes a 4,000-square foot workshop and a 2,400-square foot living area.

Curtis, a self-employed welder, goes to work every day without ever leaving his unusual home.

"We thought it was going to be temporary before we

built another house," Curtis said. "We liked it so much we just stayed in it."

Barndominiums - the term loosely applies to converted barns or steel buildings outfitted with living quarters - are nothing like condominiums. Popularized by HGTV Fixer Upper's Chip and Joanna Gaines, they are one of the biggest real estate trends going, ranging from no-frills utilitarian structures to luxurious farmhouse-style showpieces.

As some residents in Southeast Texas look to rebuild after Tropical Storm Harvey, local residents and city officials are taking notice of the interesting, cost-effective alternatives to traditional houses and manufactured homes.

At Bridge City's Feb. 13 City Council meeting, council members discussed the possibility of a city ordinance permitting the construction of barndominiums. The structures are not prohibited, City manager Jerry Jones said, but the term simply does not appear in any of the city's codes. The City Council recognizes their popularity and wants to "get ahead of the curb," Jones said.

On HGTV's Fixer Upper, the Gaines converted an old horse barn near Waco into a five-bedroom, two-bathroom, 2,653-square foot barndominium now on the market for $1.2 million. A larger barndominium on 30 acres in Jasper is on the market for $565,000.

William Gore, owner of Pro Steel Buildings in Silsbee, said his company has built 15 to 20 barndominiums in the past five years. He considers them practical choices for their durability, lower costs and hail resistance. The main thing, Gore said, is that barndominiums are cheaper than wood-frame structures.

Charles and Cherise Picou saved nearly a quarter of a million dollars designing and building their own barndominium from the ground up. Acting as their own general contractors, the Picous oversaw construction of their new home in roughly eight weeks. Even that is considered long in the growing world of barndominiums.

The Picous co-founded the Barndominium Living Facebook group when they began toying with the idea of leaving traditional homes behind. Because the trend is new, Cherise said they initially had trouble finding information and inspiration. Now 1,415 members strong, the Barndominium Living group is an active online community where barndominium aficionados can share ideas, floor plans and projects.

Like Curtis, Charles and Cherise Picou lived in a conventional home until they moved to the Fort Worth area in June 2017. For them, building a barndominium was a "no-brainer."

Instead of having a separate garage, workshop and barn, Charles said it's nice to have all vehicles and equipment "under one roof."

Bridge City's zoning ordinance mentions single-family residences, Jones said, but barndominiums do not qualify strictly under residential uses because of their different uses.

Jones said Bridge City's City Council is working with the city attorney to prepare an amendment to the city's current ordinance to include barndominiums. He said the City Council might discuss the forthcoming amendment as soon as next month's City Council meeting.

According to Jeremy Chesnutt, code enforcement officer for the city of Silsbee, Silsbee's ordinances do not explicitly address barndominiums, but structures that meet minimum building requirements for single family residences are OK.

"If your city doesn't have an ordinance that spells it out word-for-word what the rules are, it's very hard to back up anything in code and show it to someone like the owner or the contractor," Chesnutt said.

When they were considering housing options, the Picous received quotes between $450,000 and $490,000 for a conventional, custom-built, 3,500-square foot home.

Charles and Cherise moved into their customized, 4,560-square-foot barndominium a month ago. They are still working on finishing touches, Cherise said, but estimate the total cost will come out to about $250,000 on the high end - about half what they might have spent on a typical home.

Cherise said their first energy bill was $300. They installed spray foam insulation and keep the thermostat at a constant 74 degrees.

"I think it is a trend, but I feel like over time, this would probably be the way to build as wood becomes more scarce and expensive," Charles said. "Steel is going to last longer and, to me, anybody who is purchasing a home would rather have a home that would withstand the wind and storms."

Dura-Steel Buildings, Inc. in Beaumont has also seen an uptick in barndominium interest, according to owner Leslie Lightfoot. He said his company used to get one barndominium request per year, but now "two to three a week since the flood."

"I don't think it's for everybody," Charles Picou said. "The aesthetics on the outside are not typically as beautiful as a custom home with wood trim and windows. There are only so many things you can do with the steel because of structure, strength and possible leaking if it's built wrong."

Phoebe.Suy@beaumontenterprise.comTwitter.com/phoebesuy17Somewhere between gutting houses and hauling off debris after Tropical Storm Harvey, two Cajun Army volunteers fell in love.

Richard Gibbs, a Louisiana sheriff's deputy, and Patricia Goddard, a Michigan accounting clerk, crossed paths as unexpectedly as the devastation that brought them together in this small corner of Texas.

It was always "love at first sight" for Richard, team leader for the Cajun Army in Hamshire. "I was very interested when I first met her," Richard said. "She just didn't know."

Richard said he arrived in Southeast Texas "the day after the storm." He originally came for search and rescue but remained in the area after most volunteer groups

had left. Richard said he's been home only three times in phe last six months. "I'm here until we're finished," he said.

It was mostly "a last-minute, spur of the moment thing" for Patty, who drove 1,200 miles from Alto, Michigan in November to gut houses wrecked by the August storm.

"It's hard work," Patty said, "but it's very rewarding seeing what you can do helping people."

When she left Texas for the first time to go back to Michigan, Patty said she knew she had to come back.

"That was before I even knew he was interested in me," she said of Richard.

While Patty planned to return by Christmas or New Year's Day, Richard was making other plans.

Patty said he asked for her phone number before she went home and sent her 400 texts a day.

Richard traveled to Michigan over the holidays, and the couple were engaged on Christmas.

"We are the first to meet and get married in the Cajun Army," Richard said proudly, smiling at his new bride. The couple was married on Feb. 9 in a Jefferson County district court.

Volunteering brought Richard and Patty together and, at least for the time being, is keeping them busy while they "pay back" their neighbors.

Richard is on leave from the sheriff's department in St. John the Baptist Parish in Louisiana. Patty said she plans to retire from her job in the finance department at the City of Wyoming, Michigan. She wants to volunteer full-time with Richard.

"Texans come to Louisiana to help us, so it's just paying back. Helping a neighbor basically is what it is," Richard said. "You never know when you might need that pay yourself."

Richard and Patty are now gearing up for additional Cajun Army volunteers to join them as they serve Beaumont, Vidor, Orange, Rose City and surrounding communities.

"There's so much to be done in this area... it's not just the Houston area," Richard said. "I guess they figured this is a small place...but you've got a lot of areas here that need help."

Richard said he has been to some homes recently that haven't been touched since Harvey hit in August.

There's nothing like looking in a homeowner's eyes after helping them get back into their home, he said.

"We haven't gone anywhere. We're still here. We're still doing what we've been doing since Day 1," Richard said. The Cajun Army has met with 350 Southeast Texans, gutting from 80 to 90 homes and completing five debris removals, he said.

Richard said volunteer organizations have reached out to him to do similar work in Haiti, Jamaica and Cuba.

"We're figuring it all out as we go," Richard said. "Every day is a new adventure."

Phoebe.Suy@BeaumontEnterprise.comTwitter.com/phoebesuy17Local photographer Jacob Trevino was tired of editing photos in coffee shops.

He fought for tables to meet with clients and battled noise and poor internet connections.

Then he heard about IRL Co-Working in Old Town, where he could rent a space to carry out his creative endeavors.

"It's a cool, creative atmosphere," Trevino said.

The shared space on Calder Avenue, launched by Aaron Davis and Joah Gerstenberg in December, is designed to foster creativity and collaboration among local entrepreneurs looking to make some money with their skills and side projects.

Davis and Gerstenberg had no idea if it would work. 

"Worst-case scenario, we pay for our own office," Davis said.

But as more creative individuals have come into the space to work, it's becoming a hub of entrepreneurs looking to collaborate.

A place to work

Gerstenberg and Davis had worked with each other before starting IRL and talked about starting a co-working space in Beaumont.

Both had used the spaces in cities like Austin and Dallas and liked the creative atmosphere.

"I got to meet a lot of interesting people," Gerstenberg said. "The really helped to give an idea of the kind of communities that were able to build."

Some spaces were dedicated to a particular field. Others were a free-for-all.

The idea of having a dedicated workspace without the distractions of home or public places was appealing.

"There's so much going on," said Davis, who used to do his design work from home or a coffee shop. "It's hard to focus."

Davis said they weren't sure if people would use the space, but they found a building.

They set it up with high-speed internet and comfortable work stations and opened their doors.

"We could start something cool and there wasn't as much stress about if it succeeds or not," Davis said, because they could use the space themselves.

Soon, designers, developers and photographers began using the space.

They began hosting meet-ups on coding and cryptocurrency and giving people a place to learn.

Trevino said he sees the space's potential to be a meeting place for like-minded individuals who want to do creative work in Southeast Texas."It could be a hub for that," Trevino said. "It could be the start of more places like that popping up."

Rubbing shoulders

For Trevino, finding people doing similar work was important.

"Creating is such a collaborative effort," Trevino said. Even though he technically works alone, he enjoys having other people around.

He knows people who left the area because they didn't feel they could accomplish their creative goals without moving.

He didn't want to do that.

"A place like this was just perfect for me - to come and be around people also making stuff and doing stuff," Trevino said.

Davis said he thought about those possible connections when he launched IRL.

"It's really good to rub shoulders with other people who either bring some offering to that space or have some experience in other spaces and get really good feedback," Davis said.

J.T. Copeland, a freelance software engineer who works at IRL, has liked the distraction-free environment and community feel.

"It's just nice being around people in a similar industry and we can bounce ideas off each other," Copeland said.

Graphic designer Sarah Gerstenberg said that concept is why she chose to work in the space. She likes instant feedback from people like Davis who have been in the industry longer.

"It's easy to be in the same space as someone and not have to call or text," she said.More work, more room

Davis and Gerstenberg said people seem to thrive in the space. Their business experiment is going so well, they have plans to expand and add amenities.

Davis said they want to add more private spaces and a conference rooms that can be rented for meetings or gatherings.

They are happy entrepreneurs are using the space for jobs and side projects.

"A lot of people have this concept that you have to leave to contribute to anywhere else in the world," Davis said, and he's glad to be part of letting people know that's not always the case.

He's met people with similar interests he wouldn't have otherwise.

"I like meeting people who are doing cool stuff," Davis said.

Trevino is happy a space like this has opened in his hometown.

"People have roots in Southeast Texas," said Trevino, who knows people want to build a creative community here.

Trevino has enjoyed the space so much, he wants to start hosting meet-ups of his own and letting people know IRL Co-Working exists.

"It has been super-beneficial," Trevino said. "It makes me want to come back every week."

AFletcher@BeaumontEnterprise.comTwitter.com/afletcher727Attorneys for a Kountze man accused of murdering a 4-year-old more than six years ago plan to offer no defense in his capital murder trial this week and instead will rely on a jury to find that the prosecution's evidence is too weak for a conviction.

Jason Wade Delacerda, 40, was indicted in 2011 on a capital murder charge along with his then-girlfriend Amanda Nichole Guidry, 36, in connection with Breonna Nicole Loftin's death.

Loftin died at a Beaumont hospital from blunt force trauma on Aug. 17, 2011. Hospital staff told Hardin County investigators the girl had burn marks, bruises and signs of sexual abuse, a sheriff's investigator wrote in a 2011 arrest affidavit for Guidry and Delacerda.

Defense attorney Ryan Gertz said Monday that he and James Makin are "not going to present any defense at all."

They will not make an opening statement, cross-examine witnesses or present any alternate theory, he said, because doing so would "open the door" for the prosecutors to present "extraneous offensive evidence" that does not directly relate to Loftin's death.

That evidence, which Assistant District Attorney Bruce Hoffer read in court during a Jan. 12 hearing, includes information that Loftin had broken bones, scabs and cigarette burns on her body and had signs of pushpins pressed into her forehead, toes and fingers, among other injuries.

Hoffer said last month that the evidence needs to be included because it contributes to the state's theory that "he tortured her to death" and shows the progression of abuse.

The evidence is intended to say "Hey, look, things don't happen in a vacuum," Hoffer said, as well as to establish the relationship between Delacerda and Loftin and show his motive.

Gertz said that introducing that evidence should not be allowed, though his motions to have it excluded have not been granted.

Judge Steven Thomas said he will rule whether to allow evidence as it is presented.

"We are confident enough that we are going to sit and not do anything," Gertz said, which he and Makin believe should result in either insufficient evidence to support a conviction or a ruling based on the extraneous evidence, which will be grounds for an appeal, he said.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

Jury selection began in early January, when 107 potential jurors were given a 10-page questionnaire related to the case.

Opposing counsel then met with the potential jurors individually before deciding on the jury panel.

Delacerda's co-defendant, Guidry, was released from jail in December 2014 on a reduced $250,000 bond. Her original bond was set at $1.5 million.

She'll likely be prosecuted later this year, District Attorney David Sheffield said in a previous interview. Prosecutors said they will not seek the death penalty in her case.

LTeitz@BeaumontEnterprise.com

Twitter.com/LizTeitzStacie Clark was working as a nurse in the emergency room at the Medical Center of Southeast Texas when she took a call about a young girl with congenital heart defects who had fainted at Port Neches Middle School.

"Wait a minute, is her name Hope Clark?" she asked, the familiar details clicking in her mind five years later. "It's my daughter."

A few minutes earlier, Hope remembers, she felt "a little funny" in class. Then her heart started beating faster, and before she could make it out of the classroom to get water, she saw dots and then "all of a sudden it was black."

Hope's collapse was not unforeseen. She was born in 2000 with five tiny holes in her heart and a narrow aorta, counting her among the eight out of every 1,000 babies born in the U.S. with congenital heart defects, according to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.

About 83 percent of infants born between 1994 and 2005 with critical heart defects survived to one year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. Hope turns 18 this month, which is American Heart Month.

Now proudly sporting what she refers to as "battle scars," Hope has had open-heart surgery twice, the first time when she was 4 months old. Doctors repaired the holes she was born with and are keeping an eye on two new ones. The holes work against the heart's natural blood flow, causing oxygenated and deoxygenated blood to mix and Hope's heart to work overtime.

Hope, who doesn't like to think about her heart defects, said "it will always be a part of (her) life."

Her last major fainting episode occurred her freshman year in high school.

Instead of readmitting Hope to the hospital, the Clarks used telemetry technology, which enables doctors in Houston to monitor her vitals and heart rhythms while she is connected to a monitor at home.

If abnormalities are detected, doctors will alert the family to bring Hope to the hospital. Thankfully, Stacie said, that's never happened.

Aside from visiting a doctor every two years, Hope said her life now is mostly unaffected by complications from her congenital heart defects. In fact, only a few of her close friends know about her condition.

"I just don't worry about what happened to me anymore," Hope said. "Sometimes I'll get little scares, but I don't let it affect me, really. I just try to live a normal life."

Hope graduates from Port Neches-Groves High School in May and plans to attend Lamar University to pursue a career in dermatology.

Both Stacie and Hope acknowledged their Christian faith carried them through Hope's early operations and treatments.

"Why God me? Why God us? Why God her?" Stacie said she remembers praying. "It's a spiritual thing when you realize God doesn't do this. He's not picking on us, it just happens."

"And I'm not the only one this has happened to," Hope said.

When cardiac nurse Melissa Smith met Hope in 2000, Smith was working for the congenital heart surgery team at Texas Children's Hospital in Houston. She remembers long nights in the waiting room with the Clarks while Hope was in the operating room or starting an IV when Hope needed it.

"Melissa's been there since the get-go," Stacie said. While doctors have come and gone, mainly due to relocating practices, Smith has been one of the constants throughout their journey.

Smith was the one who removed Hope's pacing wires as she got closer to leaving Texas Children's Hospital. She said a nurse's job is more than standard procedures, it's also about ensuring she is available for moral and emotional support. "Be prepared to give a lot of hugs," she said.

"They become a part of your extended family," Smith said.

Phoebe.Suy@BeaumontEnterprise.com Twitter.com/@phoebesuy17Undependable pipes and pump stations and the infiltration of rain water into the sewer system are to blame for sewage problems and overflowing manholes in Beaumont during thunderstorms, city officials said last week.

The fix will be extensive and expensive, they say.

A video was posted on social media last weekend showing what appears to be wastewater spewing from a manhole near Martin Elementary in Beaumont's North End. Viewers' comments showed frustration and concern.

In response to the video, Public Works Director Joe Majdalani said the city's sewer system can't keep up when it rains.

Situations like the one on Martin Street exist "all over the city," he said, where the pumps and pipes need repair or replacement.

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality is investigating a complaint received last month "alleging problems flushing toilets and overflowing manholes in an area of West Beaumont during heavy rainfall," spokeswoman Marty Otero said.

The commission "does not have a record of a current complaint" near Martin Street, Otero said last week.

About half of the city's sanitary sewer collection system, which includes 76 pump stations and more than 700 miles of lines, has been replaced since 1998, Majdalani said, but the other half is now more than 20 years old.

"The problem is that too much rainwater is getting into the system" through illegal runoff into sewers and damaged

manholes, Majdalani said. When it rains heavily, as it has lately, "ditches fill up, streets fill up, it has to go somewhere."

The rainwater that should be moving through the separate storm sewer system infiltrates the sanitary sewer system, causing it to overflow, he said.

"All it takes is one manhole that's damaged, next to a drainage ditch, and that overloads the system."

On an average day, about 20 million gallons of water are treated at the city's sewage treatment plant, but during heavy rain, that number jumps to more than 100 million gallons, he said.

Part of a three-year, city-wide study will include running cameras into sewer lines and forcing smoke into the system. The tests are supposed to help find illegal connections and other defects that cause the system to overflow, he said.

The city also will replace pipes, starting with six streets in the North End and the Amelia area, including Martin Street, Majdalani's department announced in a statement Friday. The project is estimated to cost $4 million.

Other work will take longer to fund and complete, including repairing Harvey damage at lift stations, which could cost more than $2 million. Those stations are operating with rented or standby equipment for now, Majdalani said, while the city determines what changes to make and how to pay for them.

Port Arthur has problems too

Beaumont is not the only local city grappling with bad pipes and heavy rain.

A City of Port Arthur spokesperson said in a statement Friday that an estimated 1 million gallons of "untreated domestic wastewater" spilled along the northern portion of Procter Street from Feb. 9 to Feb. 12. The city blamed a decaying pipe.

The spill, which has been reported to TCEQ, began around 5 p.m. Feb. 9 at the Proctor Street Extension station and ended Feb. 12, the city said.

A three-foot pipe burst, "causing structural failure."

"The public should avoid contact with waste material, soil, or water in the area potentially affected by the spill," the city said in a news release sent on Thursday, three days after the spill was resolved.

The city has previously blamed old infrastructure for water outages this winter, when burst pipes caused the city's water pressure to drop, though those outages were in the water system, not the sewer system.

"The cause of the spill has been corrected," the city said of the Feb. 9 incident.

LTeitz@BeaumontEnterprise.comTwitter.com/LizTeitzMuncie, Ind.-based IU Health Ball Memorial Physicians Associates in Surgery will soon relocate to a new office in Muncie, the Star Press reports.

Here's what you should know:

1. The group's current office closes Feb. 23. They will open their new office Feb. 26.

2. They're relocating to the fourth floor of the IU Health Ball Memorial Outpatient Medical Pavilion in Muncie.

3. The move is the result of a merger between Associates in Surgery and Muncie Surgical Associates. The groups combined to become IU Health Ball Memorial Physicians Associates in Surgery.UH Portage Medical Center in Ravenna, Ohio, appointed William Benoit president, according to a Record-Courier report.

Here are three takeaways:

1. Mr. Benoit previously served as COO of UH Portage Medical Center.

2. He joined Cleveland-based University Hospitals in 2013 as vice president of rehabilitation services.

3. He is a fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives and holds an MBA and a master's degree in occupational therapy from the University of Toledo (Ohio).Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic Health System will close its clinic in Adams, Minn., the community's only provider, according to the Post Bulletin.

Scott Holtz, MD, is the clinic's sole physician. He will relocate to the system's Rochester campus, while the clinic's three part-time nurses and three part-time registration staffers will transfer to the clinic in nearby Austin, a Mayo spokesperson told Becker's.

Dr. Holtz's wife, Carol Holtz, MD, currently works at the system's Austin campus but will transfer to Rochester with her husband. The clinic's closure means area residents will have to go to the Austin campus for care.

"It's disappointing that Mayo is choosing to do this to all the small communities who relied on those centers for their people, but that's big business," said Mower County commissioner Polly Glynn, according to the Post Bulletin.

The closure comes as Mayo consolidates services between its Albert Lea and Austin campuses, a move that has drawn criticism from many local activists.\

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New HHS chief backs CDC gun violence researchA California physician group reportedly submitted a bid to reinstate select healthcare operations at the site of the former Los Angeles-based Pacific Alliance Medical Center, which shuttered last November citing costs related to retrofitting its facilities to meet the state's seismic standards, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Here are four things to know about the proposal.

1. The physicians group, Allied Pacific, seeks to introduce a 24-hour urgent care facility on the former hospital's property, with specialty clinics for cardiology, ophthalmology, diabetes, high blood pressure and congestive heart failure. The bid also proposes the creation of a health center for senior citizen residents in the area.

2. Allied Pacific is partnering with AHMC Healthcare, a six-hospital system in Alhambra, Calif., on the urgent care facility.

3. An Allied Pacific official told the Los Angeles Times the proposal would not require much renovation of the former hospital and may reduce the costs of earthquake retrofitting the facilities.

4. The property's owner placed the former 157-year-old hospital up for sale in January. The corresponding auction for the property ended last week. It is unclear how many organizations bid for the site or when officials will reveal the winning bid, according to the report.

To access the full article, click here.Nurses at Greenfield, Mass.-based Baystate Franklin Medical Center plan to strike Feb. 28 if a contract agreement is not reached with management, according to the Massachusetts Nurses Association.

Here are five things to know.

1. The MNA, which represents about 200 BFMC nurses, said in a statement workers gave the hospital a 10-day strike notice on Feb. 16.

2. Nurses are seeking improved patient care and a resolution to contract issues, specifically health insurance and staffing, according to the MNA.

3. Baystate Franklin spokesperson Shelly Hazlett confirmed the hospital received a strike notice from the union, and expressed disappointment in the walkout plans.

The strike plans do "not reflect recent progress we have made in our negotiations with the MNA," she said in an emailed statement to Becker's Hospital Review.

4. The MNA and Baystate Franklin have been in negotiations since November 2016. Negotiations have been contentious at times, resulting in a one-day strike in June. Most recently, the MNA authorized a potential one-day strike Feb. 8, according to the union. Additionally, the hospital recently rejected an offer from U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., to host negotiations between the hospital and union.

5. Moving forward, Ms. Hazlett said the hospital seeks to continue direct conversation with the union and is confident both sides can reach an agreement. Meanwhile, Baystate Franklin is preparing for a possible strike.

More articles on human capital and risk:

Diversity in the workplace: A principle-driven approach to broadening the talent pool

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Viewpoint: CEOs should invest tax cut money in human capitalPolice arrested a Las Vegas pain management physician Feb. 13 for charges related to the unlawful distribution of fentanyl and healthcare fraud.

Here are five things to know.

1. Law enforcement charged Steven Holper, MD, with seven counts of unlawful distribution of fentanyl and 22 counts of providing a fraudulent statement related to a health benefit program.

2. The charges against Dr. Holper allege the physician prescribed Subsys  Insys Therapeutics' fentanyl-based oral spray approved for breakthrough cancer pain  to a patient from July 19, 2015, through March 12, 2016, without legitimate medical purpose. Dr. Holper also allegedly made false statements to Medicare and private health insurance companies characterizing 22 non-cancer patients as eligible for treatment with Subsys.

3. The maximum penalty for the unlawful distribution of a controlled substance is 20 years in prison. For healthcare fraud, the maximum penalty is 10 years in prison.

4. Nevada's interim U.S. Attorney Dayle Elieson described the indictment as an "example of the U.S. Attorney's Office commitment to hold doctors accountable when they violate federal laws designed to protect the health and safety of patients."

5. Multiple states  including New York and North Carolina  have filed suit against Insys for allegedly paying physicians to promote the prescription of Subsys to treat pain not related to cancer and deceiving health insurers into covering prescriptions of the drug for unapproved use.

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2 drug distributors shipped 12M+ opioids to West Virginia pharmacy over 8 years: 7 things to know

5 healthcare workers offer their take on opioid addiction

How to solve the opioid crisis with $100B  30 experts weigh inNovartis plans to auction off its generic pill business in the U.S. amid heightened competition, unnamed sources told Reuters Friday.

Here are four things to know.

1. Novartis cited significant pricing erosion for generic drugs as motivation for a potential divestiture of Sandoz's U.S. division.

"It is a unique situation," Novartis CEO Vasant Narasimhan said of the U.S. generic pills business during an earnings call last month, according to Reuters. "There are significant pricing declines. At least in the medium term, we don't see a shift to that situation, and so we're assessing how best to optimize that given that dynamic."

2. The drugmaker has found more financial success producing injectable and inhalable generic drugs  which are more difficult to produce  versus pills.

3. Novartis will launch a sales process for the generic unit, which could be worth up to $1.6 billion, within the next few weeks, according to sources familiar with the matter.

4. Novartis declined Reuter's request for comment.Penn Medicine, the Philadelphia-based health system of the University of Pennsylvania, recently opened the Penn Medicine Center for Connected Care to centralize its telehealth activities.

The Philadelphia-based Center for Connected Care, which Penn Medicine is branding as the "largest telehealth hub in the Philadelphia region," will comprise 50 full-time employees. The center will provide 24/7 telehealth support in a variety of care settings across Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware.

Telehealth specialties housed under the Center for Connected Care include dermatology, ophthalmology and radiology, along with the health system's almost 15-year-old Penn E-lert eICU program that provides 24/7 monitoring of critical care patients.

"Telemedicine is  an important part of our health system's strategic growth, connecting clinicians in different hospitals and ranging from real-time care of our critically ill patients to the expansion of our home care services for patients at increased risk of being readmitted to the hospital after they go home," said C. William Hanson, III, MD, chief medical information officer and vice president of Penn Medicine.Timothy Peck, MD, took an unusual career path to found his telemedicine company, Call9  he moved from Silicon Valley to a nursing home in New York, reports CNBC.

Dr. Peck lived in the conference room of Long Island, N.Y.-based Central Island Healthcare for three months in 2015 while developing his startup company through the Y Combinator accelerator program in Mountain View, Calif. Dr. Peck, who'd always been interested in telemedicine, wanted to see how the technology could be used to improve nursing home care.

After he reached out to more than 2,000 nursing homes nationwide to test his telemedicine platform, only three responded. Michael Ostreicher, owner of Central Island Healthcare, viewed Mr. Peck's proposal as a potential way to reduce avoidable hospital readmissions.

"I was banging my head against the wall trying to figure out how to solve this problem," Mr. Ostreicher told CNBC. "I told [Dr. Peck] that if he stayed in my building every night until I was comfortable ... we'd give him a shot."

In exchange for lodging, Dr. Peck treated sick patients at the nursing home, retrofitted an old medical cart for use in telemedicine consultations and spent time with nursing home staff to better understand their clinical needs.

Three years later, Dr. Peck has expanded Call9's telemedicine services to nine nursing homes and rehabilitation centers and raised more than $30 million in funding from numerous investors, including 23andMe CEO Anne Wojcicki and actor/investor Ashton Kutcher.Here are 11 hospitals expanding their spine and neurosurgery programs.

Michael Dorsi, MD, of Ventura (Calif.) Neurosurgery, was among the first group of neurosurgeons to use Camber Spine's Spira-C Open Matrix Cervical Interbody device.

Maui (Hawaii) Memorial Medical Center is looking to hire additional surgeons due to Thomas Rogers, MD, it's only neurosurgeon, being unavailable.

Investigators at the New York City-based Hospital for Special Surgery developed the first patient questionnaire to measure the physical and psychological impact of brachial plexus injury and assess surgical outcomes.

Phoenix Spine & Joint developed Canadian Care Connect for Canadian citizens.

Knoxville-based University of Tennessee Medical Center opened a new neuro critical care center within its Brain & Spine Institute.

Medical students at the University of Nevada Reno School of Medicine will soon have a new department of surgery to build on their patient care and surgical training.

PEAK Sport and Spine bought the Sedalia (Mo.) Laser Pain Center.

Pinehurst, N.C.-based Advanced Medical Group joined the Rockville, Md.-based National Spine & Pain Centers network.

The Germantown Industrial Development Board awarded Memphis, Tenn.-based Campbell Clinic an eight-year retention payment-in-lieu-of-taxes for its expansion plan.

Lakeshore Bone and Joint Institute, the largest orthopedic group in Northwest Indiana, aligned with Mishawaka, Ind.-based Franciscan Health.

The Harry T. Mangurian Jr. Foundation gifted Jacksonville, Fla.-based Mayo Clinic $20 million to support its efforts to develop a neurologic building.Former Unilever boss Niall Fitzgerald has said it "makes no sense" for the UK to seek the freedom to do independent trade deals

Former Unilever boss Niall Fitzgerald has said it "makes no sense" for the UK to seek the freedom to do independent trade deals.

Mr Fitzgerald told an audience in London that people should ask: "Which country does the UK Government want to independently trade with that it doesn't already - or soon will, through membership of the EU - that's worth any money on terms we could agree?"

He said the European Union was already working on a deal with Australia and New Zealand, and also cited comments from US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, who said recently that Britain should align itself with US regulatory standards. That may allow, for example, controversial chlorine-washed chicken into the UK.

"If there was any other country that offers the UK a better economic partnership, we would already be negotiating it," Mr Fitzgerald said.

"It makes no sense for the UK to demand freedom to deal independently, dragging us all over a cliff edge if it can't."

The ex-Unilever boss was speaking at a Financial Times conference entitled 'Brexit and Beyond'. His remarks were carried by business magazine Business and Finance.

Mr Fitzgerald, patron of the British-Irish Chamber of Commerce, called for a new "customs partnership" between the UK and EU, as proposed by the British-Irish chamber.

"This will allow for continued trade of goods with a comprehensive deal also for services, and for co-development of new trade deals and rational co-operation in key common-interest areas," he said.

"The EU already has a tailored bilateral customs arrangement with Turkey and, given the globally significant scale of the UK, it makes sense to include the UK in any future trade deals agreed by the EU given the UK's attraction to third countries alongside the EU 27," Mr Fitzgerald added.The first successful conviction of a hurtcore paedophile has been described as a watershed moment for British police as they respond to new technologies that give criminals opportunities to increase the scale and depravity of child abuse.

Dr Matthew Falder, a Cambridge University graduate, used his evilmind and 666devil accounts on encrypted dark web forums to coerce, control and ultimately devastate his victims.

And he is not alone, investigators at the National Crime Agency (NCA) warned.

Will Kerr, NCA director of vulnerabilities, said police are increasingly concerned about what he described as horrific crimes, which are often done for profit and linked to organised gangs, and which required unprecedented levels of resources to stop.

The NCA, working with UK police forces, Government listening post GCHQ, US Homeland Security, the Australian Federal Police and Europol, needed up to 100 investigators to find, track and detain Falder, who had managed to evade detection for nearly four years.

Mr Kerr said: Its a bit of a watershed moment this investigation for policing for two principal reasons, one it highlights a previously unknown level of very horrific offending  there were over 300 contact reports from Matthew Falder alone.

Secondly, it also highlights the unprecedented level of resources that law enforcement has to put into these investigations  at one point there were 100 investigators working on this case using the broadest range of new covert capabilities to try and identify and catch him and his other offenders who were engaged in similar activity.

Falder is not alone  there are many other users of some of these dark web sites and we are very concerned about it.

The Birmingham University researchers conviction comes amid a backdrop of constant police action against paedophiles and a change in social norms that has seen young people spend more and more time online.

In October, Matthew Falder, a university academic, pleaded guilty to 137 'hurtcore' offences, the first prosecution of it's kind for the NCA and our multi-agency partners. Falder exploited children and adults to humiliate and degrade themselves. https://t.co/FyVu19rewL pic.twitter.com/80vzMizMjn  National Crime Agency (NCA) (@NCA_UK) December 27, 2017

A UK-wide sting operation in October saw 192 suspects arrested and 245 children saved from harm, while Mr Kerr said police are arresting 400 people and safeguarding 500 children on a routine basis every month.

But two elements have come to characterise child sex exploitation and abuse (CSEA) online in the last few years, Mr Kerr said  the abundance of indecent images of children online and the new type of higher harm offences including live streaming and dark web-enabled blackmail.

Since the NCA was created in 2013 we have seen a 700% increase in the number of referrals for indecent images of children and young people coming to us as the national agency, he said.

(There was) a 44% increase this year alone so the proliferation of images online has been a significant challenge for law enforcement over the last number of years.

But that proliferation of images has led to a very significant increase in law enforcement and policing response across the UK to respond to it.

The Child Abuse Image Database launched a few years ago but now has eight-and-a-half million images on it.

Falder is not alone - there are many other users of some of these dark web sites and we are very concerned about itThe NCA's Will Kerr

The NCA launched a campaign to raise awareness of the dangers of live streaming in November and Mr Kerr said this technology was enabling paedophiles to engage in what police traditionally refer to as contact offences with their victims.

He said: What weve also seen running in parallel to that massive and continued increase in images being referred to law enforcement and indecent images of children and young people being shared online has been an increasing use of encrypted online new and emerging platforms where offenders are able to hide their activity.

They are able to use anonymising software to engage in a range of offending which is increasingly intended to engage in contact abuse with children.

We are also concerned about some new offences that five, six years ago werent a challenge for law enforcement  theyve only really become a significant concern for us over the last few years as these new and emerging platforms have developed.

So live streaming, particularly in the Far East, we see the live streaming of contact abuse of children, some as young as babies and toddlers done to order and by organised crime gangs operating in the Far East.

The difference of course in that type of offending is it adds a new very complex and very worrying layer to the number of CSEA offences worldwide because of course its not just done on the basis of sexual predilection or satisfaction  it is done for profit.More than 30,000 crimes were linked to people on bail in Northern Ireland in the last three years, it can be revealed.

The offences - nearly 30 a day on average - include murder, rape and robbery. Others were involved in witness intimidation, arson and rioting.

Read More

The shocking disclosure will raise questions about our justice system, and whether bail is being granted too readily.

SDLP MLA Daniel McCrossan said he would raise the matter with the Chief Constable.

"The whole purpose of bail is to allow those offenders who do not pose a risk to society to live relatively freely pending trial.

"But these 30,000 cases show that something major is going wrong," he said.

In the three years from 2014 to 2017, people on bail were suspects in 30,902 crimes.

These include:

Eight murders;

52 attempted murders;

102 rapes;

15 kidnappings;

13 cases of rioting;

175 robberies.

All of the offences were linked to people who were awaiting a court case or the conclusion of a police investigation into other matters.

In some cases the same person may have been responsible for more than one crime.

Read More

In the 12 months to last April, 1,829 people on bail were questioned about 9,608 offences, including two murders.

Not all the offences will have resulted in a conviction.

The figures show 165 cases of witness intimidation and 158 of arson across the three years.

The most common crimes were theft (3,978 cases over three years) and assault (2,837 cases).

Disorderly behaviour, drug possession and criminal damage also accounted for several thousand cases.

Mr McCrossan, who is a former member of the Policing Board, said that the level of offending could not continue.

"Clearly there are inherent failures in the system somewhere, whether that is PSNI intelligence or leniency within the judicial system," he said.

He added: "There needs to be proper safeguards put in place where protecting society should be the number one priority. This is not the case at present. I will be raising this issue with the PSNI Chief Constable, PPS and any other relevant authorities.

"This amount of offending cannot be allowed to continue unnoticed."

Alliance MLA Stewart Dickson, who previously sat on the Assembly's justice committee, said the legal process was largely responsible for people being released on bail.

"I am sure that in a great many cases, police are not happy that an individual is granted bail," he said.

"In many cases the decision rests in the hands of the judge, and often you hear of officers making arguments as to why bail should be opposed."

Last September the PSNI was forced to apologise to the families of two people murdered by a man who was on bail.

Sean Hegarty killed Caron Smyth and Finbar McGrillen in a flat at Ravenhill Court in east Belfast in December 2013.

Only 72 hours before the double murder, Hegarty had been in police custody for allegedly assaulting Ms Smyth, his partner - but he had been released on bail.

Chief Superintendent John McCaughan - head of the PSNI's Professional Standards Department - said police are working to tackle the issue.

"Not everybody who is placed on bail by police subsequently becomes a convicted criminal," he said.

"Bail is used to manage certain situations throughout the investigative process by the police.

"Clearly the numbers themselves are relatively high in terms of persons suspected or connected to criminal offences and that, allied with a couple of high profile incidents, has focused our minds as how we can manage risks posed by people on bail."A Co Antrim woman who was caught up in the Swansea earthquake has said she thought a truck had crashed into the DIY store she was shopping in, the tremor was so strong.

The earthquake - centred at Cwmllynfell and thought to be the strongest to hit the UK in 10 years - struck on Saturday afternoon.

Thousands of people reported tremors across Wales, south west England, the Midlands and Liverpool. Its epicentre was eight miles outside Swansea city centre, sparking panic among residents and a mass evacuation at Swansea University.

Michelle Corker (48), who lives in Swansea, was in the city's B&Q store with her 12-year-old son Brodie when the 4.4 magnitude quake shook the region.

Her mum Patricia Brookes, who is originally from Strabane, lives nearby and was left fearful.

"I was shopping with my family and all of a sudden I heard a really loud noise," Michelle said.

"It was very strange, it sounded like it was loads of metal trolleys being dragged across the corrugated roof of the building.

"It felt like a truck had crashed into the building.

"People were looking around at each other, but there was nothing shaking, so people didn't think too much of it or panic.

"Then I looked at social media and people all over were asking if anyone felt the ground shake, they were saying their books fell off their shelves and the like.

"I rang my mum who lives around four miles from me. She was in total shock and thought that a lorry had crashed into her house because her building had shaken, the chair she was in had been shaking, she had been shaking. It was really frightening for her for about five to 10 seconds. She was still very upset three hours after it happened.

"It didn't cause any damage to buildings, it was more about things falling over and people feeling that this was very weird, very strange."

Michelle says that Swansea residents are concerned that, due to fracking in the area, it won't be the last time they experience the phenomenon.

"It did feel weird, the more I spoke to people on social media the more I gathered that everyone felt a bit strange before and just afterwards. Everyone here is saying that they think the earthquake was caused by a fracking operation two miles from the centre of the earthquake.

"And the government has approved lots of new fracking licences recently. There are going to be lots of earthquakes in this location and many other locations around the UK. Once the crust has cracked there is no sealing it back. And that is scary."

Thousands of people reported the tremors to the British Geological Survey (BGS) on Saturday.

A spokesperson for the organisation said an earthquake of this magnitude can be expected in the UK every four years.

"BGS received reports of the earthquake being felt from several thousand people," he said.

"The maximum observed intensity was five EMS, which corresponds to strong shaking.

"An earthquake of this size occurs somewhere on mainland Britain roughly every four years.

"In 2014, a magnitude 4.2 earthquake in the Bristol Channel was widely felt in south Wales."Senator David Norris said he made the comments to illustrate the progress made on attitudes.

A claim the Provisional IRA "kneecapped people for being gay" has been met with an angry backlash, but the man behind the comment says he was "speaking the truth" to highlight how attitudes had changed over recent years.

Prominent gay rights activist and Irish politician David Norris made the claim at the launch of the first LGBT History Festival 'OUTing the Past' at Belfast City Hall.

BBC journalist Johnny Caldwell reported the Irish senator's remarks.

aI remember when the Provos were kneecapping people for being gaya. Senator David Norris at launch of Belfast LGBTQ+ History Festival at City Hall #LGBTHM18 pic.twitter.com/yYCgaj6sKX  Johnny Caldwell (@Johnny_Caldwell) February 16, 2018

In reaction many derided the claim as "total fiction" with some highlighting how gay activists had in the past supported the republican movement.

Sinn Fein's Alex Maskey described the comments as "reprehensible".

"Shame on David whatever the agenda," he tweeted.

However, Senator Norris stood by his comments saying he was illustrating how attitudes had changed and were more progressive.

I used to respect David for standing up for rights but his remarks yesterday are simply reprehensible. Shame on David whatever the agenda https://t.co/84M8ZHa2ef  Alex Maskey (@AlexMaskeySF) February 17, 2018

Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph, west Belfast MLA Mr Maskey added: "I found the claim quite pathetic for a man of David Norris's age and intellect.

"To introduce an idea like that ... it's a contemptuous statement to make quite frankly.

"There is no basis for it whatsoever and to introduce the likes of that would have not expected from David Norris.

"I have had a lot of respect for David in terms of the courage he showed in standing up for gay rights and whatever reason he has said this I just find it incredulous and I would have expected more from him.

"And that's all I have to say on the matter."

A contemptuous statement to make quite frankly. Alex Maskey

OUTing the past is the first ever LGBT festival of its kind to be held anywhere on the island of Ireland. It was held in Belfast as part of LGBT history month and organised by the community organisation Cara-Friend.

Senator David Norris has campaigned for gay rights and was instrumental in the decriminalisation of homosexuality in the Republic after taking a case through the domestic courts and all the way to the European Court of Human Rights.

He said he was speaking of the changes in attitudes in Ireland toward those in the LGBT community.

"Which I welcome by the way," he told the Belfast Telegraph.

"Sinn Fein have in recent years transformed their opinions - they have been very vocal and very supportive and it's a good thing and I welcome their progressive stance.

"But I remember the darks days as it were and the first thing I should says is I was talking about 30 years ago, or more."

People forget it was not that long ago that being gay was a criminal offence. David Norris

He added: "I can only go on what I know and I have a very strong recollection of people coming through Dublin, from Derry to get to London and we helped them.

"They wore badges, which said in Irish 'gay liberation' and they had been bullied, intimidated and yes kneecapped. They were frightened and they had to leave.

"Now, I don't know if those behind it may have been acting as freelance but at that time the provisional movement was very anti-gay. And indeed I remember people who were in the provisional movement shouting homophobic remarks at me.

"But people were beaten for being gay."

Asked about the reaction of those that said the claim made at the festival was "fiction", Mr Norris added: "That's just too bad.

"People forget it was not that long ago that being gay was a criminal offence. Young people will have no recollection of what it was like and how the provisional movement acted.

"But I remember it very well.

"I was telling the truth, I was discussing history and there is no point discussing history as a fudge. Things have moved on and it is important to highlight that. Things are a lot more progressive."

Mr Norris paid tribute to those who organised the festival and remarked on how impressed he was with Belfast.

"The festival was marvellous, it was very heartening to hear from members of the PSNI and Belfast is such a cosmopolitan city."

On the block on same-sex marriage rights in Northern Ireland, he added: "The unionists need to realise they are outlanders on this issue. It is terribly silly that every other part of the UK allows marriage and not Northern Ireland. It is ridiculous.

"But the work continues. It is about changing attitudes and the atmosphere that was once one about fear, shame and discrimination toward equality."An easyJet flight from Belfast to Lanzarote has been forced to make an emergency landing in Portugal after reports that a drunk passenger allegedly became abusive. (Peter Byrne/PA)

An easyJet flight from Belfast to Lanzarote has been forced to make an emergency landing in Portugal after reports that a drunk passenger allegedly became abusive.

Flight EZY6731 took off from Belfast International at noon on Saturday, and was scheduled to arrive at the Spanish holiday island four hours later.

But as the packed A320 Airbus aircraft crossed the Bay of Biscay an hour or so into the 1,800 mile trip, a passenger was spotted allegedly behaving in a way which could have risked compromising the safety of the flight.

It's believed alcohol was involved.

The easyJet captain considered the passenger was engaging in behaviour that could jeopardize safety regulations, according to Portugal's Jornal do Noticias newspaper. The pilot took emergency action and decided to land the flight at Francisco Sa Carneiro Airport in Oporto, where the alleged miscreant was removed from the cabin by Portuguese police.

It's understood he was detained in Portugal.

The flight continued on to Lanzarote afterwards.

One passenger, Seamus McAleavey, director of NICVA (NI Council for Voluntary Action) took to social media from the runway at Oporto to share details of the flight disruption.

"Belfast flight diverted to Oporto because of an abusive passenger, a young lad.

"Just been removed by police: a lot of trouble for everyone else.

"I suppose he 'enjoyed' himself at Belfast International Airport!"

Mr McAleavey continued: "Arrived about 90 minutes late.

"The young fellow will face the music in Portugal and easyJet will claim the costs off him. Pilot says 5k plus."

"A lot of people inconvenienced," he added.

In a statement issued last night, an easyJet spokesman confirmed that the flight had to be diverted.

He told the Belfast Telegraph: "EasyJet can confirm that flight EZY6731 from Belfast to Lanzarote on February 17, 2018 was diverted to Oporto and was met by police on arrival due to a passenger behaving disruptively.

"EasyJet's cabin crew are trained to assess and evaluate all incidents and act quickly and appropriately.

"After arriving in Oporto, the flight then continued on to Lanzarote."

The spokesman continued: "The safety and wellbeing of passengers and crew is always easyJet's highest priority.

"Whilst such incidents are rare we take them very seriously and do not tolerate abusive behaviour."

The name of the man said to have been removed from the aircraft has not yet been made public.A house has been badly damaged after an oil tank was set on fire

A house has been badly damaged after an oil tank was set on fire.

Police have appealed for information following the incident in the Ballymurphy area of Belfast at around 6.40am on Saturday.

A senior officer said it was a "reckless act".

Detective Sergeant Keith Wilson said: "We believe that an oil tank at the rear of a property in Whitecliff Parade was deliberately set on fire.

"The fire then spread from it to the roof and upper storey, causing extensive damage to the house.

"The Fire Service attended and extinguished the blaze.

"Thankfully, no one was in the house at the time.

"This was a reckless act, carried out by those who obviously had no concern about the damage, injury or loss of life that could have resulted from the fire.

"There was the potential for it to spread to neighbouring properties and put others' lives and property at risk as well."The British and Irish governments have insisted they are fully committed to the Good Friday Agreement.

Prime Minister Theresa May and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar spoke by phone after the Democratic Unionists and Sinn Fein clashed over the prospect of direct rule being imposed on Northern Ireland.

Both leaders expressed disappointment over the political impasse at Stormont.

The breakdown in powersharing came to a head despite optimism that a deal had been close on contentious issues such as the Irish language, marriage equality and the legacy of the past.

Both leaders recognised the progress and serious engagement made by the parties, a spokeswoman for 10 Downing Street said.

The Prime Minister said she believed there was scope for agreement and reiterated the UK Governments priority was still to get devolution up and running again in Northern Ireland.

Mrs May and Mr Varadkar are to remain in close contact.

Expand Close Conor Murphy, Mary Lou McDonald and Michelle ONeill arrive at Government Buildings in Dublin (Niall Carson/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp Conor Murphy, Mary Lou McDonald and Michelle ONeill arrive at Government Buildings in Dublin (Niall Carson/PA)

The leaders spoke after the Taoiseach and his deputy, Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney, met Sinn Fein leader and deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald and Michelle ONeill at Government Buildings in Dublin.

A spokesman for the Taoiseach said he emphasised the Irish Governments full commitment to the Good Friday Agreement and its determination to secure the effective operation of all its institutions.

As co-guarantor to the agreement, the Government will continue to engage with the parties in Northern Ireland and the British Government to support the urgent formation of a new executive by the mandated political parties, the spokesman said.

The Taoiseachs office said the Good Friday Agreement and subsequent agreements must be implemented in full and reiterated opposition to direct rule.

Earlier Democratic Unionist leader Arlene Foster had called on the UK Government to start setting budgets for schools and hospitals.

Frontline staff have been living hand to mouth for too long. The Northern Ireland people deserve better, Ms Foster said.

I am not prepared to allow this to continue. Decisions need to be taken.

Mrs McDonald dismissed the DUP calls for Westminster to start making big spending decisions in Northern Ireland.

We dont accept any call for a cooling-off period, in fact were saying very clearly that there cannot be vacuum, we need action and we need the two governments to be decisive at this point, she said.

Direct rule is not acceptable. Direct rule is not on the table.

We have been clear  nationalism right across the country is clear on that point, the Government in Dublin is clear on that point and I have to say that we have previous words from both governments which made very clear that direct rule is not the answer when the institutions falter.

Sinn Fein is pressing for the British Irish Intergovernmental Conference to be convened in the absence of powersharing.

The Sinn Fein leadership and Ms Foster are expected to hold separate talks later this week with Prime Minister Theresa May.

The DUP, whose 10 MPs are propping up the Conservatives at Westminster, effectively ended talks aimed at bringing the 13-month political impasse in Northern Ireland to a close last Wednesday when Ms Foster said she did not believe it would be possible to form an executive.

The move came two days after the PM visited Stormont.Roisin Jordan was the first woman to head a GAA county board

The first woman to chair a GAA county board has instigated legal action against a radio station in the Republic of Ireland over an anonymous email that was read out on air.

The move is being taken by Roisin Jordan, who was chairwoman of the Tyrone County Board from 2014 to 2017.

It relates to February 2017, when Newstalks Off The Ball programme quoted the email, which complained about the county board, according to the Sunday Times.

The Dublin-based station said it came from a Tyrone player who made certain allegations against the board.

In response to the accusations, Ms Jordan said that regular meetings between executive officers, team management and player liaison officers were held at which a range of issues involving games, administration and finances were discussed.

And in terms of finance, she said Tyrone was highly fortunate to have generous backers in the form of corporate sponsors and Club Tyrone.

It is incumbent upon Tyrone GAA to ensure their investment is properly applied to GAA purposes, she said.

She insisted that any major decisions involving funding or curbing expenditure in relation to county teams will ultimately be taken by the Tyrone County committee and not individuals or private emails exchanged between individuals.

Ms Jordan was elected in what was expected to be a five-year term. Instead, she was replaced in December by Michael Kerr after a vote at the Tyrone County Board AGM.

At that time Ms Jordan told delegates she believed people with sinister intent were behind the anonymous email sent to the radio programme.

She also said she believed she always acted in the best interests of Tyrone GAA, with honesty and to the best of her ability, and that she was prepared to stand over any decisions she had made.

The Tyrone County Board is understood to be fully supportive of Ms Jordan in her legal action, believing the email was not from any player, but may have come from someone involved in GAA administration instead.

It is understood the action is being taken against News 106, Newstalks holding company, in the Dublin High Court.

Newstalk did not respond to a request for comment.Former Secretary of State Owen Paterson has come under fire for supporting an article that said the Good Friday Agreement had "run its course".

The Conservative MP, who held the Northern Ireland post for more than two years from 2010, was branded "beyond irresponsible" by shadow Brexit secretary Keir Starmer for retweeting the opinion piece.

Owen Smith, shadow Northern Ireland Secretary, added: "What an extraordinarily reckless and irresponsible thing to repeat, Owen. Having been NI Secretary, you can't really mean it, can you?"

SDLP MLA Patsy McGlone said Mr Paterson should have been "better across his brief", while Alliance MLA Kellie Armstrong said his input was "premature and unhelpful".

"To support this message and share it on Twitter is more than stupid," said Mr McGlone. "Good Friday is an internationally binding Agreement, and the British and Irish Governments are there to be its upholders, they are its co-guarantors. To do this was silly, it was stupid. But given his strong stance on Brexit, I can't say I'm surprised."

The article, written in the Daily Telegraph by Belfast Telegraph columnist Ruth Dudley Edwards, said: "Realists believe the Good Friday Agreement has served its purpose and run its course, leaving behind the unintended consequence of enshrining sectarianism in the political process. Rationally, Ireland and the UK should face the truth and begin a renegotiation and updating of the Good Friday Agreement."

Strangford MLA Ms Armstrong criticised the Tory MP's retweet, and said: "Given that Mr Paterson hasn't actually been involved in these talks, his input certainly hasn't been helpful here. Yes, there have been problems in our politics, but at least we have had the Good Friday Agreement there to work from as a baseline.

"To suggest it is null and void because Sinn Fein and the DUP failed to get a deal over the line is a little premature, and certainly not helpful."Farm equipment has been damaged after a suspected arson attack at a site in rural Tyrone.

Police were called to reports of a fire at a property shortly after 4am in the Shinnagh Road area of Carrickmore.

Three sheds, a number of vehicles and pieces of plant machinery were damaged in the blaze.

Police attended the incident alongside the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service.

Tweeting about the incident, local SDLP MLA Daniel McCrossan said there had been a "very serious threat posed to human life".

Farming sheds, vehicles and machinery have been significantly damaged after flames tore through a site in Carrickmore early this morning



This is a very serious threat posed to human life. Thankfully no one was hurt or killed. Anyone with info step forward https://t.co/X5giedNNbV  Daniel McCrossan MLA  (@McCrossanMLA) February 19, 2018

Detective Inspector Trevor Stevenson said: "I would appeal to anyone who was in the Shinnagh Road area at around 4am this morning and noticed any suspicious activity to contact us on the non-emergency number 101, quoting reference number 124 of 19/02/18.

"Alternatively, information can also be provided to the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 which is 100% anonymous and gives people the power to speak up and stop crime."Police and ATO deal with a viable pipe bomb left at the back door of a property in the North Queen Street area of Belfast , close to Tigers bay on February 19th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph)

Police and ATO deal with a viable pipe bomb left at the back door of a property in the North Queen Street area of Belfast , close to Tigers bay on February 19th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph)

Police and ATO deal with a viable pipe bomb left at the back door of a property in the North Queen Street area of Belfast , close to Tigers bay on February 19th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph)

Police and ATO deal with a viable pipe bomb left at the back door of a property in the North Queen Street area of Belfast , close to Tigers bay on February 19th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph)

Police and ATO deal with a viable pipe bomb left at the back door of a property in the North Queen Street area of Belfast , close to Tigers bay on February 19th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph)

Police and ATO deal with a viable pipe bomb left at the back door of a property in the North Queen Street area of Belfast , close to Tigers bay on February 19th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph)

Homes were evacuated in north Belfast after a pipe bomb was thrown into the area.

Police have arrested a man.

The device was thrown in the North Queen Street area at around 11.55pm on Sunday.

Police and the army bomb squad attended the scene and cordons put in place. Residents were forced from their homes while the object was examined.

Expand Close Police and ATO deal with a viable pipe bomb left at the back door of a property in the North Queen Street area of Belfast , close to Tigers bay on February 19th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph / Facebook

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Whatsapp Police and ATO deal with a viable pipe bomb left at the back door of a property in the North Queen Street area of Belfast , close to Tigers bay on February 19th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph)

It is understood the device was left at the back door of a property on Cultra Street, the front door of the house is on North Queen Street. Windows were also smashed of the home.

Inspector Laura Kelly said: "The object has now been declared a viable pipe bomb type device which has been made safe and removed for further examination.

"A 27-year-old man has been arrested in relation to this incident and is currently in custody assisting officers with their enquiries.

"Cordons have now been removed and all roads re-opened, however, officers remain in the area this morning conducting a thorough examination of the scene.

Anyone with any information about this incident is asked to contact police in Musgrave on 101 quoting reference number 1349 18/02/18.

Crimestoppers can be contacted anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Expand Close Police and ATO deal with a viable pipe bomb left at the back door of a property in the North Queen Street area of Belfast , close to Tigers bay on February 19th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph / Facebook

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Whatsapp Police and ATO deal with a viable pipe bomb left at the back door of a property in the North Queen Street area of Belfast , close to Tigers bay on February 19th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph)Millions of pounds worth of Housing Executive contracts are in the process of being transferred following the collapse of construction giant Carillion.

The contracts, in maintenance, heating and mechanical and electrical works, will be awarded to Engie, a global company headquartered in Paris.

All of the contracts employees, estimated to be around 250, are expected to continue in their roles, working under the same terms and conditions.

We have released a statement regarding our legacy contracts with Carillion Plc. pic.twitter.com/kkaDPl4StL  Housing Executive (@nihecommunity) February 19, 2018

The contracts, mainly in Belfast and county Down, are worth up to an estimated 46 million, the Northern Ireland Housing Executive said.

A spokesman said: The Board of the Housing Executive has agreed to novate the contracts it previously held with Carillion Energy Services Limited, to Engie.

Engie, a global energy and services group, was the preferred bidder identified by PwC special managers, appointed following Carillions liquidation. The existing terms and conditions of the legacy Carillion contracts, including costs and service delivery, will remain.

We are now working with PwC to begin the novation process.

Construction services company Carillion went into insolvency last month, resulting in more than 1,000 job losses.An historic conference of former world leaders to mark the 20th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement could be at risk thanks to the collapse of the Stormont talks.

Former US President Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary, along with Tony Blair, former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and US talks chairman George Mitchell have been invited to the event in Belfast on April 10 - two decades after the accord brought peace to Northern Ireland.

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Every key figure from the groundbreaking talks, including the leaders of the local parties that took part, is expected to be there - except for SDLP founder John Hume, who is unwell.

However, the current political impasse is threatening to overshadow the occasion, with the Clintons' attendance understood to be on condition of a Stormont Executive being up and running.

The conference, organised by the Senator George J Mitchell Institute For Global Peace, Security and Justice at Queen's University, will form a central part of anniversary events.

Mr Clinton and Mr Mitchell are expected to receive the Freedom of Belfast, while Mrs Clinton will be given an honorary doctorate.

An SDLP source told the Sunday Times that plans for the conference had put pressure on Sinn Fein during the recent negotiations, as the party was keen for the Clintons to endorse new leaders Mary Lou McDonald and Michelle O'Neill.

However, Sinn Fein denied this, saying: "The only motivation for getting the political institutions re-established is the delivery of rights and entitlements which are enjoyed by people across these island, rights that continue to be denied by the DUP and British Government to citizens in the north."

Party president Ms McDonald and her number two Mrs O'Neill will meet Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Tanaiste Simon Coveney in Dublin today to discuss the DUP's decision to collapse the talks.

They will travel to London later in the week to meet Prime Minister Theresa May.

Ms McDonald said: "The decision by the DUP to walk away from a draft deal and collapse the talks process cannot be allowed to further impede the rights of citizens and the implementation of existing agreements.

"Language rights, marriage equality and access to inquests are rights available to everybody else on this island and in Britain. They are not republican issues. They are people issues. These rights are for the whole of society.

"Michelle and I will be telling the Taoiseach and the British Prime Minister it is the responsibility of the two Governments to implement the agreements on legacy and an Irish Language Act and to provide for marriage equality.

"We will also make it clear to both Governments that a return to direct rule from London is not an option.

"Sinn Fein remains committed to working for an agreement. However, any return to talks must be progressive and ultimately they must deliver for citizens."

Ms McDonald's comments came after a last-ditch appeal to the DUP to reconsider its position.

She said: "Our appeal to the DUP is fairly straightforward. We had a draft agreement. We have a draft agreement.

"Come back and talk to us and get that over the line. But I would also say to the DUP, if that's not a runner, and I suspect at this moment it is not, we are not standing still. The show must go on and we have to move forward."

Talks between the two main parties were understood to be at a critical stage when Arlene Foster pulled the plug last Wednesday and called on the UK Government to set a budget and start making policy decisions for Northern Ireland. The DUP leader later denied any draft agreement had been reached.

News of today's meetings came as Mr Coveney said Sinn Fein and the DUP would have a week to "cool off" before London and Dublin step in again to kick-start talks between the two.

The Tanaiste said there were still hopes for more formal discussions before the end of the month, after unofficial conversations in the coming days.

He added: "I think we do have a basis for compromise and agreement on every issue, but the politics around some of those issues in terms of how they're sold and explained is something we need to be sensitive towards."

Former Irish Labour Party leader Pat Rabbitte said giving up on devolution would be "regrettable" at a time when "the North is facing its biggest peacetime challenge as Britain struggles to withdraw from the EU".

He went on to level criticism at both the DUP and Sinn Fein, accusing unionist leaders of forsaking hard-won devolution for "short-term influence at Westminster" and Sinn Fein for allowing complaints about a "petty" DUP decision to deny a grant to an Irish language organisation to morph into demands for a standalone act and "mischief making".

He added: "If partnership government can't be put together again, it could threaten the Good Friday Agreement itself.

"It was designed for inclusivity, in the expectancy that the pivotal parties would be the UUP and the SDLP.

"Instead, the DUP and Sinn Fein have dominated, with both parties content to govern for their own tribe."Police are working to address the number of offenders who go on to commit further crimes while on bail, a senior officer has said.

Chief Superintendent John McCaughan said each offence was a matter of "grave concern". He was speaking after an investigation by this newspaper found people on bail were linked to more than 30,000 crimes in three years.

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He told the Belfast Telegraph: "Clearly the figures themselves are not inconsequential and how we manage the risks posed by persons on bail - in terms of offending in general but more specifically around causing severe harm, physical or otherwise - is something we are keeping under constant review.

"Not everybody who is placed on bail by police subsequently becomes a convicted criminal. Bail is used to manage certain situations throughout the investigative process by the police.

"Clearly the numbers themselves are relatively high in terms of persons suspected or connected to criminal offences and that, allied with a couple of high profile incidents, has focused our minds on how we can manage risks posed by people on bail.

"My colleagues in District Policing Command are working on bringing standard practice and procedure in how the risks around persons on bail are managed in terms of the flow of information to allow effective decision making."

Between April 2014 and April 2017, people on bail were behind 30,902 crimes, including murder, rape, arson and robbery.

Chief Supt McCaughan said the PSNI learns from mistakes and shortcomings where they occur.

He added: "I understand how that would appear to the community and clearly there have been times when people commit very serious crimes while on bail and that is of grave concern to us.

"On every occasion that happened, we take a very cold approach to reviewing what we can do better to manage that.

"We learn and seek to learn from any incident where there may have been shortcomings or perceived failings by the PSNI to ensure that our practice and procedure improves as a result of that.

"Decision making is undertaken by humans and it's taken against the information available to police at the relevant time as to whether that person should be granted bail. We have to justify every restriction, it must be no more than necessary to achieve the lawful objective.

"Each of these decisions is a critical one and there is an awful lot of thought being put into them.

"In the history of the PSNI we believe every single decision we have made is watertight and appropriate - it couldn't be when human beings are involved but they are done with the best of intentions against the information we have.

"We learn from all incidents to see if there is anything we can do differently."

Chief Supt McCaughan said the default position is that suspects should be released on bail.

He explained that depriving someone of their liberty was a very serious step, and had to be justified fully.

He said PSNI practices are under "constant review" as to how they manage people on bail

"That's done on a prioritised risk-focused basis and risks posed by individuals," he added.

"The public need to be aware that there are systems in place that deal with convicted sex offenders and the risk posed by certain violent offenders.

"The management of convicted sex offenders and violent offenders is used under the existing process PPANI (public protection arrangements in Northern Ireland). It's a partnership approach taken by the PSNI, probation board and the prison service, working together in managing those risks."Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has told Prime Minister Theresa May in Ireland will not support direct rule (Niall Carson/PA)

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has told Prime Minister Theresa May Ireland will not support direct rule.

The Taoiseach reiterated his government's position during a phone call with Downing Street on Monday evening.

A spokesperson for the Department of Taoiseach said he had made it clear "the Good Friday Agreement and subsequent agreements must be implemented in full.

"In this context the Taoiseach and Tanaiste re-iterated that the Irish Government does not want to see the introduction of direct rule in Northern Ireland," a spokesperson for the Department of Taoiseach said.

In the conversation the Taoiseach emphasised Ireland's role as co-guarantor of the Good Friday Agreement and a commitment to ensuring the effective operation of all its institutions.

Mr Varadkar and Tanaiste (deputy prime minister) Simon Coveney had earlier met with Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald and the party's leader in Northern Ireland Michelle O'Neill.

In its account, a spokesperson for No 10 said Prime Minister May spoke to the Taoiseach about "the recent phase of political talks in Northern Ireland and of their disappointment that an agreement had not yet been reached to restore the Executive".

"Both leaders recognised the progress and serious engagement made by the parties," the spokesperson said.

"The Prime Minister said she believed there was scope for agreement and reiterated the UK Government's priority was still to get devolution up and running again in Northern Ireland.

"They agreed to continue to stay in close contact as the parties reflect on the best way forward to re-establish devolved Government in Northern Ireland."

Following its meeting with the Taoiseach, Sinn Fein has warned direct rule is not an option in Northern Ireland, with the party's leader Mary Lou McDonald saying "direct rule is not the answer when institutions falter".

DUP leader Arlene Foster called upon the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Karen Bradley to set a budget and "take key decisions impacting on our schools, infrastructure and hospitals".Mourners who gathered for the funeral of a former Co Down teacher who lost her life in a road crash last weekend heard her described as a "dash of colour in a grey and colourless world".

Heather Neill died at the scene of the collision between the car she was driving and a Translink bus on the Moneynick Road near Randalstown.

The mother-of-two was a retired teacher from Dromore High School where she taught for 35 years, 20 as the head of business studies.

Pastor George Hilary from the Lisburn Christian Fellowship, where Mrs Neill was an active worshipper, addressed the congregation at her funeral service.

He said: "What can we say about Heather? She was unique. She had flair, creativity and not a little wildness. She was colourful, imaginative and free. She was also caring and compassionate.

"She was a committed Christian who wore her heart on her sleeve. She was caring, prayerful and sensitive to others' needs. Heather was always encouraging and supportive. I never heard a word of criticism from her and I and our church leadership received unfailing affirmation. She was an active member of our church, part of a house group and worked with our ladies and young people.

"Heather was a ray of sunshine, a dash of colour in an often grey and colourless world.

"She was arty and creative, enthusiastic and imaginative. She saw the potential in people and always thought the best of them."

Mrs Neill was a devoted wife to David and mother to Holly and Scott as well as being a committed member of Lisburn Christian Church, the pastor said.

He added: "She was a spiritual woman. She loved Jesus and lived fearlessly for Him. She read her Bible and was committed to prayer. Heather was an 'ideas' person, always thinking of new and different ways of doing things. She may have been small in physical stature but by any criterion, she was a very big woman with a very big heart.

"We loved Heather. Her family loved her. Her friends loved her. Her church loved her. We will miss her, but her legacy lives on.

"Heather is absent from her body but present with her Lord. No longer any struggle, no longer any pain, no more tears, no more mourning."

Mrs Neill's remains were taken to Roselawn Crematorium following the service.Tiarnan Rafferty (son of a prominent Tyrone republican, Sharon Jordan) who died following an motorcycle accident in Australia.

A Northern Ireland man has died following a motorcycle accident in Australia.

Tiarnan Rafferty was killed after his motorcycle collided with a car in a suburb in Sydney during the weekend.

The 22-year-old, from Co Tyrone, was treated at the scene by paramedics from New South Wales ambulance services before being rushed to hospital.

The driver of the car was not injured. It is believed Mr Rafferty worked in the construction industry after moving to Australia in recent years.

Tiarnan is the son of prominent Tyrone republican Sharon Jordan, national treasurer of Republican party Saoradh.

The 'revolutionary republican party' took to Twitter to pass on their condolences.

They said: "Saoradh, express our heartfelt condolences to our national treasurer Sharon Jordan, on the sudden passing of her son Tiarnan Rafferty.

"The thoughts and prayers of all Saoradh Activists are with the Jordan and Rafferty families at this time. Details regarding arrangements to follow."

Saoradh, express our heartfelt condolences to our national treasurer Sharon Jordan, on the sudden passing of her son Tiarnan Rafferty, The thoughts and prayers of all Saoradh Activists are with the Jordan & Rafferty families at this time. details regarding arrangements to follow. pic.twitter.com/mtxxwKCPUR  Saoradh (@EireSaoradh) February 18, 2018The man is serving an eight-year prison sentence for the drink-fuelled attack in September 2015.

A woman accused of trafficking and controlling a prostitute working in Northern Ireland was herself a victim of the vice racket, the High Court heard on Monday.

Elena Cazacu, 29, claims she agreed to become involved in the sex trade to pay off her debt to two brothers in charge.

The Romanian national, of no fixed abode, was granted bail on conditions including a ban on accessing the internet.

She faces charges of human trafficking and controlling prostitution for gain, along with concealing, converting and transferring criminal property.

Although the alleged offences were committed between January and March 2017, Cazacu was only arrested in Newry earlier this month.

Prosecution counsel Conor Maguire claimed she had previously left Northern Ireland before two brothers running the operation were detained.

They are awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to similar offences.

Mr Maguire said Cazacu had been seen driving a prostitute around Northern Ireland and transferring money back to her family in Romania.

During interviews she claimed to have been "debt bonded" to one of the brothers, agreed to prostitute herself and take the other woman to meets with sex buyers.

She insisted that her only earnings came from her own clients, and that after paying off the debt she managed to send 2,000 to her relatives.

Defence barrister Conor O'Kane argued that the woman Cazacu is accused of trafficking is her own cousin and the partner of one of the brothers.

He told the court his client owed 2,300, a sum she managed to pay off after a spell of taking a few jobs a week.

"She was acting as a prostitute for 150 a time," Mr O'Kane added.

Confirming that Cazacu can stay at a women's refuge, he insisted: "They accept my client is also a victim."

With police said to be investigating the defendant's claims, Mr Justice Burgess ruled she can be released on bail to an approved address.

The judge pointed out: "Having left the jurisdiction she did come back of her own free will, no doubt in the real possibility she was aware of the proceedings against the two brothers."The grief-stricken sister of Irish murder victim Joanne Lee expressed her sadness and pain on social media last night as friends continued to offer their condolences to her.

Jennifer Ball revealed her ongoing heartbreak in a Facebook message as friends rallied to support her while gardai try to work out Joannes last movements.

The body of Joanne (38) was found in dramatic circumstances last Thursday when police broke into a flat in Ranelagh in Dublin after being refused entry.

Joannes estranged husband Keith Lee, the main suspect in her murder, then jumped out of a third floor window of the property, breaking his legs in the impact with the ground.

He is then said to have pulled out a Stanley blade and started cutting his arms.

Gardai discovered the body of Joanne in a wardrobe wrapped in bed-clothing and a sleeping bag. She also had a bag over her head. She was so tightly wrapped that police believe she was to be moved again.

A post-mortem examination found that she had been killed by strangulation and was dead since at least last weekend.

Gardai believe Lee lived with his dead wifes body in the wardrobe for at least 48 hours before he jumped from the window.

Lee is reported to have made certain admissions to police before being taken to St James Hospital, where he remains under armed guard while he receives treatment.

It is understood that it may be some days before he will be quizzed about the murder.

It was reported in Sunday World that tragic Joannes marriage had broken down after she discovered her husband was having a drug-fuelled affair with an American woman.

A source revealed that detectives are attempting to trace the US woman whom Lee claimed he was having an affair with.

Up until relatively recently Lee had been working as a chef in a well-known city centre hotel. However, he had been drinking heavily, was no longer employed and is believed to have become involved in the drugs trade.One of Britains most prolific paedophiles, who blackmailed a string of vulnerable victims including a girl who was ordered to eat dog food, has been jailed for 32 years.

University lecturer Dr Matthew Falder admitted 137 offences, including voyeurism, encouraging child rape, and sharing images showing the abuse of a newborn baby, after being caught by an international inquiry led by the National Crime Agency (NCA).

The 29-year-old Cambridge graduate was arrested in June last year after four traumatised victims, who were tricked into sending him humiliating images, threatened or attempted to end their own lives.

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Sentencing warped and sadistic Falder for a tale of ever-increasing depravity, Judge Philip Parker QC said: As for your equally extraordinary sexual offending  no-one who knew you, above ground, had an inkling of what you were doing below the surface.

Branding him an internet highwayman who targeted 46 victims, he added: You wanted to assume total control over your victims.

Your behaviour was cunning, persistent, manipulative and cruel.

Depraved 'hurt core' university academic Dr Matthew Falder jailed for 32 years after admitting 137 'hurt core' charges. https://t.co/m3ZxbClN1I pic.twitter.com/0bMjOD2OsN  National Crime Agency (NCA) (@NCA_UK) February 19, 2018

For the victims, he said: The damage is ongoing. For these individuals it will never end, knowing the abuse caused by you still exists in other unknown persons computers.

The judge, who also concluded that Falder was a dangerous offender and gave him a six-year extended licence period, added: These sentencing remarks underplay your relentless, obsessive desire to continue committing offences.

The University of Cambridge, which said it had been appalled at the crimes, is now looking at stripping disgraced Falder of his academic qualifications, in a rare move for the 809-year-old institution.

A previous hearing was told that Falder coerced male and female victims into producing increasingly severe self-generated indecent images of themselves, the focus of these images being to humiliate and degrade.

Falder duped victims, who were advertising for babysitting or dog-walking jobs on online message boards, into providing nude images by posing as a female artist who wanted to turn them into life drawings.

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Falder forced one victim to film herself licking toilet seats, a used tampon and eating dog food, and set up secret cameras in bathrooms  including his parents Cheshire home  to record women and girls naked, before trading the images online.

Another was blackmailed into eating his faeces and drinking urine, while the 29-year-old also encouraged the rape of a boy, aged two, by his own father.

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Opening the facts of the case against Falder, prosecutor Ruona Iguyovwe previously told the court that many of the images were then distributed on so-called hurtcore websites on the dark web, showing material depicting sexual and physical abuse.

Falder, who treated his victims both as sex objects and as objects of derision, posted on one forum 100 things we want to see at least once.

In remarks in that post, he suggested a young girl being used as a dartboard, production of a video depicting a childs bones being slowly and deliberately broken, and the abuse of a paralysed child.

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Prosecutors said Falder was also a member of several virtual communities of abusers, under the handles evilmind and 666devil, and in one such forum on the so-called dark web, had a membership rank level of Rapist'.

One of his victims, speaking anonymously after his sentencing, described how his abuse had led to the breakdown of all relationships in her life.

NCA's Matthew Long talking about the sentencing of 'hurt core' offender Matthew Falder https://t.co/ILHCsnu3qS  National Crime Agency (NCA) (@NCA_UK) February 19, 2018

The unprecedented operation to catch Falder, who used specialist software to hide his online accounts, was aided by GCHQ, the United States Homeland Security Department and law enforcement bodies in Israel and Australia.

Falder, of Harborne Park Road, Birmingham, committed his offences over nearly 10 years, manipulating victims behind a computer screen by duping them into providing nude images and personal details.

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On his arrest, the former post-doctoral researcher and lecturer in geophysics at the University of Birmingham quipped with officers that the list of then suspected offences sounded like the rap sheet from hell.

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Meanwhile, Falders long-term girlfriend is said to be standing by him, according to his barrister, and the judge said his parents would support him on release  though he would not be eligible for parole until he was 50.Margaret Atwood, the writer and feminist, said recently - when commenting on the rise of the #MeToo movement - that, "what we need is a new book of Mr Manners".

The trouble, she said, was that people didn't know how to behave any more, or what the rules were. When she was growing up in Canada in the 1950s, there was a 'Mr Manners' protocol whereby social rules were imparted.

Actually, it was a 'Miss Manners' - the famed American etiquette queen Emily Post - who set out the guidelines. For example, a man should always be introduced to a woman, not the other way around, because it is a lady's prerogative to refuse the introduction (a sort of drawing-room version of consent). A man should always show "deference and respect" to "the fairer sex", and a gentleman should never be found sitting down if a lady was still standing.

There was a lot more of this stuff, which was subsequently rejected as pompous and patronising.

On sexual manners, Atwood said many of the changes went back to the contraceptive pill. Before the pill, sexual restraints were imposed by the fear of out-of-wedlock pregnancy. After the pill, it was just a matter of choice. But then again, that's exactly what has led to Harvey Weinstein and Me Too. If there are no rules, why not try it on?

Maybe the Me Too movement is the new 'Miss Manners', but the uncertainty about how to behave extends to wider areas of social interaction. There used to be instructions on how to compose a letter. If it was a formal 'Dear Sir or Madam', the letter should end 'yours faithfully. If it was a 'Dear Mr or Mrs', it should end 'yours sincerely'. To family and friends, you could end with 'love'.

Emails have changed all this. It is not unusual now to receive an email from someone you have never met which ends with the kiss sign. I sometimes do it myself, mostly to friends and family, but occasionally, as a kind of general cordial gesture.

But I have heard people say - young people, too, who are not apt to be formal - that they dislike it in a business communication. The kiss sign should be earned, not appended from some unknown official in the contracts department.

The social kiss itself is a minefield. A British diplomat, Andy Scott, became so confused by the protocols of kisses and greetings that he felt compelled to write a book about the dilemma, aptly named One Kiss or Two?

It can be an agonising decision as to when and how to exchange kisses in a social setting. The protocols of what's called 'la bise', in France are bewildering. It's a standard two in Paris (right cheek first), three or four in Provence, four in the Loire valley and five in Corsica.

Predictably, there's a north-south divide in Europe on kissing: the more southern, in general, the more pogs. But globalisation has had an impact on the kissing game, and younger people everywhere exchange kisses more as social greetings. Yet it's a fine judgement as to whether it's one or two.

I've been told by an etiquette arbiter that the rule is 'two in town, one in the country', but it still seems hit and miss, and there's an embarrassing moment when you're not sure whether you're expected to go for the other cheek.

Kissing isn't just about affection. When Leo Varadkar meets Theresa May, they exchange kisses, not because they're mad about one another (they're not), but because it is a sign of parity between leaders.

World leaders often publicly exchange kisses and hugs, but when President George W Bush tried to give Angela Merkel a back massage at the same time, he got a glacial response.

Central Europe once practised the hand-kiss from men to (married) women, as a sign of chivalry. Prince Charles still does this with continental royalty. Margaret Thatcher, who adored gallantry in men, was profusely hand-kissed when visiting Poland.

Hand-kissing denotes a society based on deference, not equality. Poles went on performing the hand-kiss elaborately all through the Communist years, just to spite Marxist proletarianism.

Andy Scott says that migration, like globalisation, has also had an impact on kissing. TV surely has had an influence as well. Watch any episode of The Late Late Show (or The Graham Norton Show) and it's often kisses all round. But this is showbiz: folk always kiss and hug.

What do you do if someone kisses you who you do not like? If it's just social kissing, I'd say put up with it. It's hardly a consent issue. A kiss increases the kisser's oxytocin, so be kind.

But because kissing can have a sexual dimension, there are ambiguities. It's pretty sad to read a British report on fostering, from Sir Martin Narey, formerly of Barnardo's, which notes that social workers have urged foster parents not to kiss and cuddle their foster children, as it could lead to sexual abuse. Though these kids often desperately needed kisses and cuddles.

It's left up to the individual today to judge what is appropriate or embarrassing. Around Christmas time, a priest at our local church told the congregation: "Now I want you all to behave like Italians today. Turn to your neighbour in the pew and kiss them or give them a hug."

Then the flu epidemic came along and put a stop to such embracing - and even handshakes. Some breathed a sigh of relief.My favourite line in the coverage of last week's talks farce was from Irish Times commentator Noel Whelan, a one-time Fianna Fail adviser. He was writing about the moment when at the Sinn Fein Press conference at Stormont on Wednesday a reporter from TG4 - the Irish language channel - asked a question in Irish.

"A look somewhere between bewilderment and terror fell over the faces of both Mary Lou McDonald and Michelle O'Neill, neither of whom appeared able to reply to the question, which fell instead to be answered in Irish by Sinn Fein chairman Declan Kearney," he wrote.

Laughing over it with a Dublin friend on Saturday, I said: "Fair play to Kearney. He was fluent. But his accent!"

And my friend agreed that, to a southern ear, the Ulster Gaelic dialect can seem ugly and harsh.

We're used to Connacht or Munster Irish, both of which are pleasant to the ear.

That's one of the reasons why Gerry Adams' insistence on seizing opportunities to use a sentence or two in Irish was so unsuccessful in the Dail.

He was handicapped, too, because Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin (Munster) and the Taoiseach until recently Enda Kenny (Connacht) spoke Irish musically and exceptionally well.

Even Leo Varadkar, who learned it only recently, speaks it better than Mr Adams.

Then there was the fact that in the south people don't like Irish to be spoken aggressively and solely to put non-Irish-speakers at a disadvantage.

It's regarded as discourteous.

So eventually Mr Adams mostly stuck to English down south, although, of course, when he speaks to the faithful he puts in the occasional slab of Irish for effect, knowing they'd applaud him even if he addressed them in Serbo-Croatian.

To give Mr Adams his due, although his Irish isn't good enough to do a substantial interview, at least he took the trouble when incarcerated to make a decent attempt at learning it.

Martin McGuinness didn't bother, and nor did most of the republican leadership.

Perhaps inevitably those who served the longest sentences for terrorism have the best Irish, having taking advantage of the generosity of the Prison Service to take Irish lessons to relieve the boredom.

And those we might call the civilians tend to have the least.

Despite her expensive education, McDonald - like most people who had Irish forced upon them - seems uneasy with it, though, as we know, she can shout Tiocfaidh ar la with the best of them.

I expect Neill could manage that too, but I haven't seen any evidence that she can do any more than that.

Mr Whelan's article was headlined 'Sinn Fein has weaponised the Irish language', and few people in the Republic would disagree.

At the end of January the authoritative website politics.ie did a factcheck on Edwin Poots's statement on the Nolan Show that "the DUP at no point has ever agreed to establish an Irish Language Act with the UK Government, with the Irish Government, with Sinn Fein or anybody else".

After substantial research, the verdict was that the DUP's claim was correct.

In London the normally republic-sympathising Guardian said in an editorial last week that Sinn Fein's proposals "have become a weapon of tribalism in communities where identity politics always looms large and divisively".

Bilingual road signs, for instance, "would take the issue into every street in Northern Ireland with pointless provocative effect".

Simon Coveney must be bitterly regretting that his naive endorsement of an Irish Language Act encouraged Sinn Fein intransigence.

Sinn Fein is lying, the British and Irish Governments know it is lying, and therefore it would be utterly cynical of them to reward bad behaviour by backing a bogus Act that will cost the taxpayer a fortune and further encourage cultural apartheid. I have great respect for Linda Ervine, who is successfully teaching east Belfast loyalists that the survival of Irish owes a great deal to Protestants, and that they should fight once more to take ownership of it.

If Gregory Campbell had any imagination he'd be learning Irish instead of insulting it and using it publicly in debate to embarrass the likes of Ms McDonald and Mrs O'Neill.

Now that would give us all a good laugh.The Public Health Agency (PHA) has launched a new campaign highlighting the health benefits of breastfeeding and supporting mums to feel more comfortable breastfeeding in public.

Northern Ireland has the lowest rates of breastfeeding in the UK therefore the Not Sorry Mums campaign aims to encourage women to breastfeed and highlights how mothers never have to apologise for feeding their baby in public.

Janet Calvert, Regional Breastfeeding Lead for the PHA, said: Information and support is key to helping mums to breastfeed and hearing positive stories of others experiences can add that extra bit of encouragement that mums need.

For many mums getting started, breastfeeding isnt easy. Northern Ireland has the lowest breastfeeding rates in the UK and that is why reassurance and encouragement from others is so important.

Historically we know that approximately 64% of mothers in Northern Ireland start breastfeeding at the time of birth, compared with 83% in England, 74% in Scotland and 71% in Wales.

However, figures from the Northern Ireland Child Health System tell us that in Northern Ireland the initial decision to breastfeed declines with only 45% breastfeeding at discharge from hospital, at 6 weeks of age this is further reduced to 28% and again at 6 months only 14% are still having any breastmilk.

Janet continued Breastfeeding has scientifically proven health benefits for both baby and mum due to special components in breastmilk, which boost the immune system. Any amount of breastfeeding helps protect the baby but the longer you do it, the greater the benefits.

Breastfeeding reduces a babys risk of:

serious stomach and chest infections

childhood leukemia

sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)

ear infections in the first two years

Breastfeeding increases a childs intelligence and research also suggests it may even reduce the risk of childhood diabetes and obesity.

For mum breastfeeding lowers the risk of breast and ovarian cancer.

The longer a baby is breastfed the stronger the protection against illness. It is recommended that babies are breastfed for the first 6 months, and then start solid foods at around six months, with breastfeeding continuing until the age of a year or more.

Another benefit of breastfeeding is that it can be done anywhere and at any-time. Its free and its natural.

Emma Mc Carthy, who features in the Not Sorry Mums campaign said: Breastfeeding is really convenient, but that is something I think people dont consider. They think its a lot of hard work. At the beginning, it certainly is, and you could feel like youre feeding all day for the first six to eight weeks but that changes and thats something I think that people should realise.

Visit www.notsorrymums.info to find out more about the benefits of breastfeeding and the support available or view the interactive map to find breastfeeding support groups in your area.

You can also join the conversation online using #NotSorryMumsIndonesian Muslim preacher Abdullah Gymnastiar walks with his first wife, Ninih (center), and second wife, Alfarini Eridani, at an Islamic school in Bandung, West Java, Dec. 4, 2006.

Nurhayati bent to the dirt floor to gather peeled shallots that fell as she prepared lunch for her two children.

The 37-year-old first wife in a polygamous marriage spends much of her time in her modest kitchen, cooking fritters to sell in her village in Cilebut, a regency of Indonesias West Java province.

I didnt want it. But the children dont want their parents to separate, Nurhayati told BenarNews, recalling the time six years ago when her husband took a second wife against her wishes.

I want to keep and raise my children. Theyre my everything. Maybe this is my fate, so I take it, Nurhayati, a peddlers wife, said as she began to weep.

Polygamy, frowned upon but legal under certain conditions in Indonesia, is increasing alongside the rise of conservative Islam in the Muslim-majority nation, activists say.

The issue is escalating as fundamentalism is on the rise, Azriana Manalu, who chairs the National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan), told BenarNews.

Polygamy harms women who are locked in such marriages, according to the commission, which was established by presidential decree 20 years ago to eliminate violence against women.

Polygamy is a violation of womens rights and a crime in married life  Wives and the whole family members are cheated. Sadly, its becoming a phenomenon in Indonesia, said Yuniyanti Chuzaifah, vice chair of Komnas Perempuan.

A trend

No hard data exists on the number of legal polygamous marriages in Indonesia, much less the unregistered, unofficial marriages sanctioned by Islamic clerics called nikah siri. Last month, however, the commission published a report linking polygamy to domestic abuse.

Polygamy and nikah siri are threats to civil marriage. They keep violence against women behind closed doors, it said.

Nurhayati told BenarNews that after her husband took a second wife, she experienced an incident of physical abuse.

It happened when I demanded him to pay for the childrens school fee. He hit me and we got into a fight. Once, he didnt come home for two years and didnt send us money either. Now, I stop myself from asking much of him. Im tired, she said.

Though the practice is frowned upon in Indonesia, polygamy is gaining popularity through social media and apps with names like AyoPoligami [Lets Do Polygamy] and Nikah Sirri.com, a racy site offering to help families in hardship auction their virgin daughters for hundreds of millions of rupiah. That site has since been blocked by the government.

I'm afraid its becoming a trend because its been given room on various social media platforms. We know some Muslim leaders proudly announced their polygamous marriage to the public by posting it on social media, Azriana said.

What the law says

Polygamy is permitted under certain conditions, according to Indonesias Marriage Law. It stipulates that a man can have more than one wife as long he has his current spouses consent and obtains a permit from a court. The man must be able to provide equal financial support to his different wives and families.

The law also states that a man can marry another woman, without divorcing his wife, if his current spouse cannot perform her obligations as a wife, suffers from critical illness or physical disabilities, or is infertile.

Such marriages must be registered with the state to be legitimate, but unregistered illegal marriages also occur because they are considered approved by religion or local culture, Azriana said.

By definition, nikah siri must be sanctified by an Islamic cleric. But many men who seek second wives arent doing it out of religious belief, said Dwiyono Bayuadhi, 38, an Indonesian man who opposes polygamy.

Nowadays, the reason for polygamy is mostly to fulfill ones sexual needs, he told BenarNews. You see that most men practicing polygamy seek younger women to be their second wife. They just use religion as their reason.

Under proposed amendments to Indonesias criminal code, people involved in nikah siri, extramarital relationships or homosexual sex could be prosecuted.

Im not his priority

Asti, a 27-year-old resident of Jakarta, accepted a married mans proposal to become his second wife after Asti had divorced from another man.

At first I didnt want to, I was worried the neighbors would gossip. But both of us felt comfortable with it, so we decided to marry, Asti told BenarNews.

Both Nurhayati and Asti asked that BenarNews only use their first names.

Asti said she accepted the proposal when her new husband promised to support her child financially. But, she said, this hasnt been enough for her emotionally.

Im not his priority. He often returns to his first wife. I feel hurt sometimes that I wish I had my husband only for me and never shared with another woman, Asti said.

I once thought of getting divorced with him despite his commitment. But then I reconsidered it, telling myself that it is difficult to get a financially secure man to support us, she added.Being a niche area with varying purchase policies, the Biotech industry has been comparatively restrained in the e-commerce marketplace.

The Indian Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology sector is expected to grow enormously in the next few years owing to the new funding programs implemented by the Govt. of India to encourage research & manufacturing in the country. With this, one may anticipate increased demands for supplies to run R&D laboratories, diagnostic labs, hospitals & factories. A promising way to meet these demands and foster industrial growth is digitalizing the supply chains.

Modern digital transformations have been prospering in the markets for various consumer industries - cosmetics, food, clothing, electronics, ornamentals, pharmaceuticals to name a few. Being a niche area with varying purchase policies, the Biotech industry has been comparatively restrained in the e-commerce marketplace. In spite of this, since its launch in September 2016, Biomall.in, an online platform for Life science and Biotech laboratory supplies, has witnessed a steady growth at the rate of 30% month-on-month.

The portal (www.biomall.in) offers 200,000+ products listed from about 85+ brands to support chemistry, microbiology, cell culture, chromatography, genetics, and proteomics research. Many suppliers across India are associated with Biomall.in to promote their brands, launch new products and liquidate their stocks.

One of our regular customers from Aizawl, Mizoram, feels Biomall provides good service at reasonable cost and time. In the North East region of India, it is generally difficult to connect with the suppliers from every brand. However, through Biomall.in, with just internet and a call, the customer is able to connect with suppliers from 85+ brands. Apart from Mizoram, Biomall has been developing relations with consumers in various other states such as Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Bihar, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, and Kerala. In addition to the increasing demands, the awareness of the benefits of purchasing online is expected to spread the business of Biomall in all corners of the country.

With the 'Make in India' mantra in the air, the number of Indian manufacturers for lab supplies have grown considerably in the last few years. Gracefully, Biomall.in is able to connect these lesser-known suppliers of chemicals, instruments, and other essential and accessory products & equipment to a much larger audience across India as well as overseas. In last few months, Biomall.in has been able to supply Indian manufactured products to laboratories working in the areas of research, diagnostic & hospitals based in foreign countries like Dubai, Italy, Kenya, South Africa, and South Korea. Through the routes of electronic commerce, Biomall.in has successfully promoted Indian products in both the technologically advanced as well as the developing countries.

Change is hard to conceive but even harder to implement. Older purchase and sales policies that have been followed since generations make the operation of a new concept in the supply business tortuous. Yet Biomall.in managed to not only set its foot firm on the ground but is now also moving modestly to give its full support to the vitally important and ever improving world of science in India and beyond.A Unique Art Festival To Showcase The History And Heritage Of Shravanabelagola Pulse oi-Lekhaka

The festival is a collaboration between many established and upcoming artists, art institutes, galleries and patrons from India and across the world.

As you may be aware, lakhs of devotees from all over the country and abroad are expected to gather at Shravanabelagola, the Jain pilgrimage centre, for Lord Bahubali's 'Mahamastakabhisheka', a once-in-12-year ritual.

The ceremony, believed by some to be one of the most thrilling spectacles of worship in the world, is scheduled to take place between February 17 and 26.

On this auspicious occasion, the Shravanabelagola Art Festival is being curated and conceptualized by Mrs. Pushpa Pandya and Mr. Rajat Pandya under the auspices of the Shravanabelagola Matt and with the blessings of Swasti Sri Charukeerthi Bhattaraka Swamiji.

This is for the first time when an exclusive event of such a sort will be held during the Mahamastakabhisheka. Mrs. Pushpa Pandya is a Gold Medalist in M.A. Fine Arts from Indore University. She has a vast experience of organising Art shows, Jain theatre plays, dramas & cultural events at Indore, Jaipur and Bawangaja.

Below are some of the key events planned be held before and during the Shravanabelagola Art Festival:

Live Fine Arts Painting By Renowned Artists During The Mahamastakabhisheka: A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to watch and perform during the Mahamastakabhisheka at Shravanabelagola. Live painting demonstration will be held daily from the 19th to 26th February 2018. Limited two slots are available for performing live painting, while the kalash will be performed.

Fine Arts Painting Workshop To Be Held Before The Mahamastakabhisheka: A 3-day art camp was held between 26th and 28th of January, 2018. The camp hosted 50 artists from around the world who immersed themselves in the culture and heritage of Shravanabelagola, and produced their own works of art celebrating the town and its temples.

Art Show & Exhibition To Be Held During The Period Of Mahamastakabhisheka: Creation of 75 unique paintings inspired by the art, history and heritage of Shravanabelagola will be showcased at an exhibition between the 17th and 28th of February. Also, a part of the festival, is a gallery roadshow that will start from Shravanabelagola and travel across the country and exhibit selected artworks.

Talk shows & panel discussion to be held based on the art exhibition and old paintings which are made in the temples.

Street wall art painting to be done in and around Shravanabelagola.

Here's an interview from the curator of the Art festival, happening in Shravanabelagola, take a look.

1) Where were you born and brought up? How did you develop an interest in this field? I was born and raised in Indore, Madhya Pradesh. I had always been keen on arts, dramatics and poetry and went on to earn a Masters in Fine Arts from Indore University where I also awarded a gold medal. 2) Please tell us more about the art festival. The festival is a unique art festival happening in Shravanabelagola, India. This festival is happening during the maha-mastakabhisek of Lord Bahubali's statue in January and February 2018 to showcase the history and heritage of Shravanabelagola. Organized under the auspices of the Shravanabelagola Matth and blessings of Swasti Sri Charukeerthi Bhattaraka Swamiji, the festival is a collaboration between many established and upcoming artists, institutions, art galleries and patrons from India and across the world. The festival covers three events between January and March of 2018. The festival kicks off with an artist's camp in January when over 45 artists come together to create works of art inspired by the art, architecture and spiritual message of Shravanabelagola and Lord Bahubali. In the next phase, a grand exhibition is being put together in Shravanabelagola during the Mahamastakabhishek, where paintings from the camp will be showcased to over 40 lakh visitors and devotees. Also, for the first time ever, artists will be painting live during the abhishek of Lord Bahubali to capture the event live on canvas! Finally, the exhibition will be followed by a roadshow across major art galleries that we have partnered with across India. 3) How was the response to the first round during Jan 26-28th? The art camp hosted 45 artists from across the country. This includes a diverse group of senior and well-recognized artists, as well as young, upcoming artists and students across all genres. Notable names such as Prof. MJ Kamalakshi, Mrs Sudha Manohar, Professor VG Andani, Prof. KS Appajaiah joined the camp along with several upcoming artists from across the country. The artists immersed themselves in the culture and heritage of Shravanabelagola, and produced their own works of art celebrating the town and its temples. We were really inspired by the work created by the artists and the stories of inspiration they found when they saw the statue of Bahubali. Every artist had a unique perspective that made the camp well worth it. 4) Have you conducted this kind of an art festival before? Yes, I have conducted a similar camp in Badwani, Madhya Pradesh. Badwani is a small town close to Indore and has a tall statue of Adinath, who happens to be Bahubali's father. We invited over 15-25 artists from Madhya Pradesh to participate in that camp and produce paintings that were inspired by the story of Adinath. 5) Are you conducting the art festival after having studied about the history of Shravanabelagola and Jainism? We have been associated with Shravanabelagola for a long time and have a strong spiritual connection with this place. Over time, we have studied the history of Shravanabelagola as well as the story of Bahubali and his younger brother Bharat. Shravanabelagola and Bahubali have a very relevant message for us in today's day and age and we find that to be very inspiring - one of giving up our pride and greed, being forgiving towards others and that of not being engrossed or possessed by our worldly possessions. I have studied Jain literature and Jain history all my life and given the same teachings to my children. 6) Tell us about your efforts in bringing together 50 artists from all over the world. We put out an open call and very quickly word spread like wildfire. The interest from artists all over the country was amazing. Everyone wanted to be a part of the unique experience and that's what drew them to this special place. We also worked closely with the Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath as well as several of our gallery partners to invite artists from their networks. The response was overwhelming and we are glad to have worked with all of them. The artists are the real heroes of this event. We had artists across all genres, from across the country as well as from Karnataka and both senior as well as upcoming artists. It was such an eclectic mix of creative people, all giving their best creative efforts to bring out the essence of Shravanabelagola! 7) What is the estimated cost for conducting this art festival? Have you got any sponsors? Given the scope, size and duration of the project across multiple stages, it is a significant undertaking and so is the budget. We are grateful to have the support of many donors who stepped forward generously to support this cause. Our donors came from all over the world, notably - the United States, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Delhi, Bombay, Bangalore in India. A detailed list of our Founding Patrons and Patrons can be found online at https://www.sbgartfestival.com/patrons/. The donors comprised of individuals as well as institutions. 8) Tell us more on the overall arrangements made for the festival and 'Mahamastakabhisheka' The mahamastakabhisheka is one of the biggest Jain events across the world and attracts Jains and non Jains from India and all over the world. The organizers expect over 10 lakh devotees to attend the event between the 17th and 26th of February this year. The government, as well as the Shravanabelagola Organizing Committee, have made elaborate efforts to make this a successful event.

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Story first published: Monday, February 19, 2018, 18:01 [IST]Long suffering Irish employees will sit through a mind numbing 6,500 meetings in their working lifetime with over half of them being deemed as completely pointless, research has revealed.

New research of the nation's office workers has discovered the average worker reckons 45% of the meetings they attend every week are utterly useless.

So much so that a staggering one in ten of the employees who took part in the study conducted by Deliveroo for Business admitted to having nodded off during a meeting at some point in their life.

And in a bid to get through the tedium, the survey also revealed we will munch through 5,752 sandwiches, 8,948 chocolate biscuits and drink 21,093 cups of tea and coffee during our lifetime of meetings, the poll found.

In fact, 82% of those polled said they are much more likely to be enthusiastic about a meeting if food and drink is laid on.

The poll of 1,000 full time employees found a quarter of adults dread one to one sessions with their boss about their progress, 30% hate awkward catch-up lunches with clients and 23% said they loathe financial reviews.

Of those polled, one in four claim they have completely clammed-up in a meeting, 25% said they have not listened to one word that was said - and 26% said they spent the duration of the meeting thinking about what they were going to have for dinner.

Almost one in ten (6%) pass the time by flirting with colleagues over the meeting table, while 60% admit they text friends, family and partners to get through the boredom.

Over 60% of those polled said they dislike when their diaries are full of meetings as it often means extra work.

But six in ten moaned that meetings just create more unnecessary work.

Juan Diego Farah, Global Head of Deliveroo for Business said: "Meetings can be dull and traditionally the food and drink offered in them is pretty lacklustre, consisting of dreary biscuits thrown on a plate and lukewarm tea from an old office urn.

"Some meetings do drag on and breaking up proceedings with breaks for high quality food and drink can really boost people's energy levels and their enthusiasm. Deliveroo for Business was set up so office workers and businesses across the world can have the same choice and access to great food at work as they do at home on Deliveroo".

Almost a quarter of workers say they are embarrassed when visitors come to their office for meetings as their hospitality is so poor confessing to barely being able to scrape together tea and biscuits.

19% said they only have chipped, mismatched mugs in their office and 23% said they are guilty of plonking stale biscuits on a plate in order to look presentable.

Digital DeskThe Government has withdrawn its nomination of the Governor of the Central Bank, Philip Lane, for the role of Vice-President of the European Central Bank.

Last month, the Government had announced that it would be lobbying to ensure Mr Lane's appointment as vice-President of the ECB.

However, the Minister for Finance, Paschal Donohoe, has today announced that they are now withdrawing his nomination.

The Minister was at a meeting of Eurogroup Finance Ministers in Brussels today where he confirmed his decision to elect a new Vice-President of the ECB "by consensus".

Speaking from Brussels, Minister Donohoe said: "I was very pleased to nominate the Governor of our Central Bank, Professor Philip Lane, earlier this month for the position of ECB Vice-President. I believe Professor Lane is an exceptionally well-qualified candidate who would make an ideal person to serve on the Executive Board of the European Central Bank.

In contacts with my Finance Minister colleagues in advance of todays meeting, I received very positive feedback and expressions of support in relation to the candidacy from many Member States who acknowledged how well-qualified Philip would be for the position.

However, I believe that it is crucial that the election of a new Vice-President for the ECB is based on consensus, and should not be a source for any disagreement.

"In that context, I have decided that, on balance, it would be in the interests of the Euro-area as a whole to withdraw Philips candidacy in advance of any vote."

He went on to congratulate Spanish Finance Minister, Luis de Guindos, on taking up the job.

Mr Donohoe said Mr de Guindos "has an excellent track record, which I know will serve him well in the new position".

"I want to wish him every success in his future new role. I also wish to reiterate my appreciation to Professor Philip Lane for putting himself forward as a candidate, whose ability and expertise was widely praised throughout the process.Investors in Carillion were "fleeing for the hills" after spotting that the construction giant was heading for disaster, it has been revealed.

Evidence to a British Parliamentary inquiry into the company's collapse last month showed that one leading investor was considering suing Carillion, and believe management should be investigated.

Almost 1,000 former Carillion workers have been made redundant and jobs have also been lost among sub contractors since the firm went into liquidation.

Auditors KPMG will be questioned on Thursday by the UK's Business and Work and Pensions select committees and asked why Carillion's accounts were signed off.

Frank Field, chairman of the Work and Pensions Committee, said there was a disconnect between what Carillion directors told MPs earlier this month - that all was sunny until problems with a contract in Qatar hit them "out of the blue".

The MP said: "Their stewardship had, they proudly told us, been adjudged 'best in class' by their friends at KPMG.

"On the other hand, investors were fleeing for the hills, and it appears those who looked closest ran fastest.

"We will be taking evidence from the auditors and the investors - as well as demanding more company papers - to get to the bottom of who knew what and, most importantly, when."

Rachel Reeves, who chairs the Business Committee, said: "Investors spotted that Carillion was heading for disaster and fled.

"The company had unsustainably high levels of debt, weak cash-generation and was saddled with a widening pensions deficit.

"It's a tragedy for those who have lost their jobs and the suppliers left struggling for survival that Carillion directors ignored these issues.

"Carillion's annual reports were worthless as a guide to the true financial health of the company.

"The fact that it was impossible to get a true sense of the assets, liabilities and cash generation of the business raises serious questions about Carillion's corporate governance.

"KMPG will have to explain why they signed-off on accounts which appeared to bear so little relation to reality."

Kiltearn Partners, who held 10% of Carillion's shares in February and May 2017, said in a letter to the committees that they believe "there are clear grounds for an investigation into whether Carillion's management knew, or should have known, about the need for a 845 million provision due to receivables on its construction business earlier than July 2017" - and that if Carillion had not gone into liquidation, they would have "considered participation in civil legal action against Carillion with a view to recovering a proportion of its clients' crystalised losses".

Kiltearn began selling shares in August. At a meeting with Carillion on October 13, they said former interim chief execurive Keith Cochrane could only provide "limited and vague" responses to "fundamental" questions - and consequently Kiltearn sold all shares by January 4 this year.

Standard Life Aberdeen began a process of divestment in December 2015 due to concerns about financial management, strategy and corporate governance which they raised with the board in regular meetings from then until they sold up completely in July 2017, the committees were told.By Patrick ODonovan

Our State spends approximately 12.5bn every year on goods, works, and services. This represents a significant opportunity for our businesses to sell to public bodies and to grow. Myself and my colleagues in Government are committed to making sure that all SMEs are aware of this opportunity and have the supports they need to compete.

One of the keyroles I have as a Minister for State is the responsibility for the Office of Government Procurement (OGP). The OGP sources goods and services on behalf of public sector bodies. Its work represents an opportunity to achieve value for money by pooling significant demand. However, we have to balance the drive to make savings with the need to make sure that firms from the SME sector have a fair opportunity to access public spending. Striking this balance has been, and continues to be, a major priority for this Government.

Some facts: Almost 70% of the firms on OGP frameworks are from the SME sector and our analysis shows that most of the money spent--52%--is spent with SMEs. There are areas, such as gas and electricity where larger firms are the obvious supplier. But there are also categories of spend where SMEs are a natural solution. In marketing, print, and stationery, for example, 70% of public expenditure goes to SMEs. Our analysis also shows the vast majority of spending--94%-- is done in Ireland. It is true our public procurement rules support the European single market and offer opportunities for other European firms to bid. But we must also remember the same rules give Irish firms access to a wider European market worth in excess of 2 trillion.

Every time the OGP establishes a new framework, it undertakes extensive market research to understand the structure and dynamics of the market and how to ensure SMEs have the opportunity to compete. The OGP does this in a number of ways including by breaking competitions down into smaller lots by geography or specialism, introducing proportionate requirements in terms of firms turnover and insurance, and providing pre-competition briefings. Nobody disputes that public procurement, done correctly, can take longer than it does in the private sector. Transparency demands this. For firms that do succeed, however, the scale of the opportunity and the benefits of prompt public payments can make a transformative difference to their business. And smaller firms dont always have to undertake the work of bidding in competitions alone. Consortia of firms can come together to meet the criteria for a competition.

I chair an SME advisory group tasked with further promoting SME access to public procurement opportunities. This group has representatives from the OGP, Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation, InterTradeIreland, Enterprise Ireland, the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, and business groups Ibec, Isme, SFA, Chambers Ireland, and the Construction Industry Federation.

A recent key recommendation of the group was better communication to SMEs. In response, the OGP has developed a series of breakfast briefings, delivered by our partners in InterTradeIreland, which are currently being delivered around the country. The briefings are supported by a range of videos explaining public procurement in plain English that can be accessed from the OGP website. But I recognise there is more we can do to simplify the process for smaller firms. More of our processes, from qualifying documents to invoices, are moving online. This streamlines public procurement and reduces the bureaucratic burden on businesses of all sizes.

It is a myth that larger suppliers are favoured by the public procurement process. Smaller firms can and do win business selling to public bodies. When they do, we know that the impact is immense, as they take on new people, open up new lines of activity, and invest in their premises and communities. SMEs also promote healthy competition and offer innovative solutions and that is why we are committed to continuing to ensure that they have the opportunity to bid.

Patrick ODonovan is Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and ReformSince the Good Friday alcohol ban has been lifted, people around the country have been renaming the holy day as Great Friday.

And in Cork, theyve taken it a step further by launching a Gin Festival deemed, Spirit of the City from March 30 - April 1.The former head of treasury risk at Anglo Irish Bank has said that the 7.2bn loans to Irish Life and Permanent in September 2008 were approved post transaction and signed off by David Drumm and Willie McAteer, writes Sarah-Jane Murphy.

On day 25 of David Drumm's conspiracy to defraud trial at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court, Michael Nurse outlined the procedure used by the banks risk committees for approving such transactions.

Mr Drumm (aged 51), with an address in Skerries, Co Dublin, has pleaded not guilty to conspiring with former bank officials Denis Casey, William McAteer, John Bowe and others to defraud depositors and investors at Anglo by dishonestly creating the impression that deposits in 2008 were 7.2bn larger than they were.

He has also pleaded not guilty to false accounting on December 3, 2008, by furnishing information to the market that Anglo's 2008 deposits were 7.2bn larger than they were.

Today, Mr Nurse told Sinead McGrath BL, prosecuting, that Anglo's treasury credit committee met on a weekly basis to approve interbank credit limits.

Once a limit had been ascertained it was then signed off by four employees at the bank - two senior managers and two junior managers.

In addition, Mr Nurse explained that there was a fast track process designed to respond in a quicker way to an interbank request.

The fast track process only needed one senior manager's sign-off and then went to the next credit committee for ratification.

He said a 1bn transaction between Anglo and Irish Life and Permanent on March 31 2008 was fast tracked. He agreed with Ms McGrath that it had exceeded ILP's credit limit by 400%.

He said percentages for previous deals with ILP were all under 100%, with some being as low as 7% of that bank's credit limit.

We had to find a way of investing our cash as we were above limit levels, he said.

The witness said the 7.2bn transaction with ILP on September 30 2008 had not gone through the same process.

It was dealt with at an executive management level and my signature wasn't needed, he said.

He said he had approved it post transaction by signing off on a report generated the day after the transaction.

The team performing the transaction were dealing with David Drumm and Willie McAteer, he said.

Mr Nurse told the jury he became aware of the total size of the transactions between Anglo and ILP on either September 30 or on October 1, 2008.

He said he and Willie Mc Ateer signed a retrospective sign-off, and said this was not common practice.

The jury also heard evidence from the former company secretary at Anglo, Natasha Mercer.

She said the board of directors met 33 times in 2008, which greatly exceeded the usual annual schedule of eight or ten board meetings.

Ms Mercer said she was absent for six meetings in 2008, and said Willie McAteer acted as secretary on one of these occasions.

She explained Anglo's organisational structure, and agreed with Mary Rose Gearty SC, prosecuting, that in 2008 Sean Fitzpatrick was the bank's chairman while David Drumm held the role of chief executive officer.

When asked if the March transactions with ILP appeared in any minutes of meetings that she prepared, she said they did not.

She said the bank held three board meetings on September 29, 2008, and that she was not given advance notice that they were to take place.

Ms Mercer said at no time during any of these meetings were the ILP transactions referred to.

She said that two months later, in November 2008, the minutes of the September meeting referred to the ILP transactions as customer accounts.

When asked by Ms Gearty why she had originally left all mention of customer deposits out of the draft minutes she circulated, Ms Mercer said her focus was on other matters.

It was a two-hour meeting, the customer deposits were a two-minute discussion, it didn't seem like a big area to me at the time, she said.

On the opening day of the trial, Tessa White BL, defending, said Mr Drumm wished to admit to certain facts which would reduce both the length of the trial and the complexity of the evidence.

The trial, now in its third week, continues before Judge Karen O'Connor and a jury.By Ann O'Loughlin

Allied Irish Banks is concerned a High Court judges findings that notice was required to be given to a borrower of the transfer of her loan could raise doubt about some 17.8 billion in debt transfers by the bank under a 2001 Act.

The findings have potential to cause legal uncertainty and immense damage not just to AIB but other financial institutions who have transferred billions of loans under Section 58 of the Asset Covered Securities Act 2001, Ms Justice Marie Baker was told.

In an unusual application, AIB Mortgage Bank (AIBMB) has urged the judge, before making final orders in the relevant case, to amplify the reasons for her findings and/or clarify the position before making final orders so as to avoid legal uncertainty.

The findings were made in a case initiated by AIBMB in May 2016 seeking summary judgement for 244,591 against Nadine Thompson, Rathdown Park, Terenure, Dublin, over alleged default on a loan made to her by AIB in 2003.

The 25-year mortgage loan, made to purchase an investment property in Portobello, was transferred by AIB to AIBMB in 2006 under Section 58, which provides a loan transferee assumes the rights and obligations of the transferor on the date of transfer.

Ms Justice Baker found, because the mortgage was transferred under Section 58 without express written notice to Ms Thompson as provided for under Section 28.6 of the Supreme Court of Judicature (Ireland) Act 1877, the debt was not actionable in common law by AIBMB.

However, she also found there was a valid equitable assignment of the debt to AIBMB, for which notice is not required, and that AIBMB had proven default.

In the circumstances, she held AIBMB was entitled to summary judgment for 244,591.

In its post judgment application seeking amplification of her findings, AIBMB says, if the findings are interpreted as meaning there was only an equitable assignment by AIB of the loan to AIBMB, that would potentially have very significant repercussions for other cases where a transferee under the 2001 Act brings proceedings in its own name.

The judgment, by focussing on Section 28.6 and referring to Section 58 without addressing whether the transfer effected under Section 58 required notice in writing, is liable to be misinterpreted and relied upon in other litigation as requiring a written notice for Section 58 transfers, it says.

It says the effective operation of loan transfers made under the ACS Act is of great importance and any uncertainty about the efficacy of loan transfers has the potential to impact generally on the market in asset covered securities in an adverse way .

It is desirable and in the interests of justice that the matter be clarified, it maintains.

However, lawyers for Ms Thompson argue the bank is essentially trying to persuade the judge to reverse her findings on notice requirements and they dispute the banks claim that the court has jurisdiction to do that.

Louis McEntagart SC, for Ms Thompson, said AIB is essentially trying to get over a problem created by its own failure to give express written notice to debtors whose loans have been transferred under Section 58.

Having heard submissions on Friday from Mr McEntagart and Paul Gallagher SC, for the bank, Ms Justice Baker said she will rule later on the application.

In her earlier judgment, the judge had rejected AIBMBs arguments the combined effect of two documents sent to Ms Thompson  known as hello and goodbye letters - amounted to notice as required by Section 28.6.

The first document was a letter sent by AIBMB to Ms Thompson in late 2006 which stated AIB had transferred substantially all of its mortgage business to AIBMB, that repayment obligations remained the same and no action by you is required.

The second document was a letter of January 2015, sent on AIB plc headed paper, demanding repayment. That letter involved a claim by AIBMB to the benefit of the loan agreement but did not constitute a notice within the meaning of Section 28.6, the judge held.

She also dismissed arguments that a clause in Ms Thompsons loan contract, which provided her debt could be transferred without notice to her, assisted the AIBMB case. The contract meant the debtor could not object to the assignment of their debt but the position remains an assignee cannot sue them without showing the required notice was given under Section 28.6, she said.A wife's application to have her estranged husband's financial affairs investigated by the official that oversaw his bankruptcy has been dismissed by the High Court, writes Ann O'Loughlin.

Ms Justice Caroline Costello today cleared the way for the husband to exit bankruptcy after she found that an order directing the official in charge of the husband's bankruptcy, the Official Assignee Chris Lehane, to further investigate the matter was not warranted.

The wife had previously secured a temporary order preventing him from exiting bankruptcy on grounds including that the husband had failed to answer questions about his finances before going bankrupt on his own petition in 2016 after his construction business had failed.

The husband, who was due to exit bankruptcy last summer, opposed the motion and denied claims he had hidden or had failed to disclose assets to the Official Assignee.

His wife claimed she is a creditor of her husband and is owed monies by him including a loan of 18,000 she advanced him in 2012.

In her judgment, Ms Justice Costello said since the wife had brought the application considerable material had been brought to the Official Assignee's attention.

The Official Assignee had the opportunity to look into the husband's affairs in greater detail.

The Official Assignee makes no complaint regarding the husband's co-operation, and was satisfied that no further investigation into the vast majority of the matters the wife raised is required, the judge said.

An investigation into two discrete matters set out in the husband's statement of affairs are continuing, the Judge added.

The Official Assignee had also stated that he is in a position to continue his investigations without any order preventing the husband's discharge from his bankruptcy staying in place.

The bringing of the application had prevented the husband from exiting bankruptcy, which the judge said was, in effect, "penal".

The judge said that the postponement of the man's exit from bankruptcy was not required to assist in the administration or maintain the integrity of his bankruptcy.

In all the circumstances the judge said she was satisfied to dismiss the application and allow the man to exit bankruptcy.

The wife brought the proceedings arising out of what she claimed were inconsistencies contained in financial information that was provided to various parties including revenue and the official assignee.

The court previously heard her concerns arose out of a failure to receive answers to some "straightforward and simple" questions she put to her husband concerning his financial affairs before he was adjudicated bankrupt.By Ann O'Loughlin

Convicted murderer Graham Dwyer's High Court challenge against the Garda Commissioner and the State over the use of mobile phone records during his trial is due to commence tomorrow.

Dwyer was charged in October 2013 with the murder of Elaine OHara and was convicted by a jury following a lengthy trial at the Central Criminal Court in March 2015.

In High Court proceedings, Dwyer claims certain provisions of the Communications (Retention of Data) Act 2011 breach his rights to privacy under the Constitution, the European Convention on Human Rights and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.

The Directive underlying the 2011 Act was struck down by the European Court of Justice in 2015.

Dwyer's case, which was commenced shortly after his conviction, is understood to raise important issues of law.

The case, which is expected to last for approximately two weeks, will be heard by Mr Justice Tony O'Connor.

Dwyer will not be present at the hearing.

Cork-born Dwyer with an address in Foxrock in South Co Dublin seeks, if appropriate, damages and, if necessary, a reference of issues to the European Court of Justice.

His action is against the Garda Commissioner, the DPP, the Minister for Justice and Communications, Ireland and the Attorney General, which opposes his claims.

Dwyer claims the ECJ ruling means that Irish legislation implementing the directive was illegal and that data collected on his phone was also therefore invalid.

Many requests for disclosure of mobile phone records were made under the relevant provisions of the 2011 Act by gardai investigating Ms OHaras murder and were granted by the relevant service providers.

Phone data was also admitted into evidence during the trial.

During Dwyers criminal trial, his lawyers argued the mobile phone data was inadmissible as evidence but those arguments were rejected by the trial judge Mr Justice Tony Hunt.

Following his conviction for the murder of Ms O'Hara in August 2012, the architect was jailed for life and his appeal against his conviction has yet to be heard.The family of a man, whose killer ate parts of his body, has today been granted the transcript from the murder trial due to a concern about the care the killer had previously received from the HSE, writes Natasha Reid.

A Central Criminal Court jury found Saverio Bellante not guilty by reason of insanity of murdering Tom OGorman (aged 39) at the house they shared in Beech Park Avenue, Castleknock, Dublin.

Mr Bellante (aged 38), who is originally from Palermo, Sicily, had been Mr OGormans lodger at the time of the killing in January, 2014.

The special verdict was delivered in July 2015, and Ms Justice Margaret Heneghan ruled that the defendant should be detained indefinitely at the Central Mental Hospital in Dublin.

Ciaran Craven SC applied to the court for a copy of the trial transcript or DAR (Digital Audio Recording) on behalf of Mr OGormans family today.

Ms Justice Heneghan is now retired and the application came before Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy, who said that there did not seem to be any precedent for it.

Mr Craven explained that the family became concerned during the trial that the death may have been brought about by the manner in which the accused was treated by the HSE and a named doctor.

They then applied for the inquest to be reopened, he said.

Murder victim Tom OGorman.

It was agreed with the Dublin coroner that a number of documents would be of use, namely the book of evidence, the trial transcript and the accused mans medical records.

The coroner applied to Ms Justice Heneghan for the transcript. It was released to her subject to restrictions; she was to use it for her purpose alone and was not allowed to disclose it to other parties.

The understanding of the applicants is that what appears on the DAR does not appear to be fully consistent with what the records disclose, said Mr Craven, explaining that this was by reference to the coroner's summary.

We say the restrictions attached to the release of the DAR disadvantage the applicant, he said, adding that neither the DPP nor Mr Bellantes legal team were objecting to his application.

The family has concerns in relation to the management of his (Mr Bellantes) mental health, he said, outlining the States obligations concerning the protection of life.

Its submitted by the family that the inquest is the only way in which these issues may be explored, he added.

He said that the basis on which they were applying was that "the narrative history of the accuseds mental ill health is simply not accurate".

The judge was satisfied that this was "a good reason" and directed the provision of a transcript.Sinn Fein's new leaders will meet with the Taoiseach and Tanaiste in Dublin later today.

Leo Varadkar says he wants to hear Sinn Fein's assessment of the events of last week, and the collapse of power-sharing talks at Stormont.

DUP leader Arlene Foster announced last Wednesday that negotiations had been unsuccessful, highlighting issues around the Irish language as a particular sticking point in talks.

Mrs Foster said she has asked the British government to set a budget for Northern Ireland and start making policy decisions about "schools, hospitals and infrastructure".

Sinn Fein, meanwhile, blamed the DUP for collapsing the talks, insisting that the two parties had "achieved an accommodation across the issues involved".

Today, the Taoiseach wants to gauge the prospect for an early resumption of negotiations between Sinn Fein and the DUP.

He is expected to emphasise that, despite the disappointment surrounding the decision to halt the talks, the only way forward is dialogue and compromise between the two parties.

Speaking ahead of the talks, Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald said she is also due to meet with Theresa May this week.

She said: Michelle [O'Neill] and I will be telling the Taoiseach and the British Prime Minister it is the responsibility of the two governments to implement the agreements on legacy and an Irish Language Act and to provide for marriage equality.

We will also make it clear to both government that a return to direct rule from London is not an option. Sinn Fein remains committed to working for an agreement. However, any return to talks must be progressive and ultimately they must deliver for citizens.

The latest round of talks were the latest attempt to resolve an almost year-long struggle to restore power-sharing at Stormont, with several rounds of negotiations since elections last March.

Northern Ireland has been without a power-sharing government since the collapse of the Stormont Executive in January 2017, amid a scandal over a botched renewable heat scheme.A Pakistani man who sought asylum in Ireland after coming here from the UK has lost his appeal alleging he has a right to choose what country he will claim asylum in, writes Ann O'Loughlin.

More than 100 High Court cases were awaiting the outcome of this appeal, the Court of Appeal noted.

In a unanimous judgment today, the three-judge court ruled the man had made out no arguable case for a right under Article 31 of the Geneva Convention on the Status of Refugees to choose the country where he will apply for asylum.

It also rejected his claim that, insofar as provisions of a 2013 EU Regulation known as the Dublin III Regulation requires asylum seekers to seek asylum in the first EU member state where they arrive, those provisions are invalid.

Giving the appeal court's judgment, Mr Justice Gerard Hogan, with whom Ms Justice Mary Irvine and Ms Justice Maire Whelan agreed, said it could not plausibly be argued the Dublin II Regulation was invalid on the basis alleged.

The case arose after the man applied for asylum here in April 2015. From an information request sent to the UK, it transpired his fingerprints were on the records of the UK authorities and he had lived in the UK for about two years between 2011 and 2013 but had not sought asylum there.

He claimed an incident occurred in Pakistan in October 2013 which formed the basis of his asylum application, that he returned to the UK in November 2013 and came here in April 2015.

After the UK agreed, under the Dublin III Regulation, to handle his request, his appeal against that decision was ultimately rejected by the International Protection Tribunal in April 2017.

After the High Court rejected his challenge to the Tribunal's decision, he appealed to the COA.

In its judgment on Monday, Mr Justice Hogan said, while Article 31 of the Geneva Convention confers some element of choice on those seeking refugee status as to the country where they will apply for such status, that choice is largely confined to applicants en route to a particular destination and whose choice of country of refuge is not nullified simply because they did not make an application in another country where they were simply stopping over or transiting.

Article 31 does not give refugee applicants an "open-ended choice" of the kind apparently claimed by the man in this case, he said.

In any event, within the EU context, Article 31 was supplemented and developed by the agreement reflected in the Dublin III Regulation, which provided for a system of jurisdiction allocation between member states designed to avoid "forum shopping" and potentially abusive applications in many states, he said.

It cannot be said that a system expressly authorised by the EU Treaties could in itself be unlawful on grounds it is contrary to an international treaty such as the Geneva Convention which, in itself, was not part of the law of the EU, he added.By Gordon Deegan

Complaints by members of the public over the state of taxis more than doubled last year, according to new figures from the National Transport Authority (NTA).

In one documented case, a passenger believed that a taxi had no working indicators after the taxi-driver asked a front-seat passenger to indicate manually out the window for him.

The case was investigated and no evidence of any offence was found.

In another case where a taxi was operating without indicators following a complaint by another motorist, the NTA intervened and following an investigation by an NTA Compliance Officer, the car was taken out of service.

In one case, a passenger complained to the NTA last July that the inside of the car was absolutely filthy. Every gap on the dash and controls was caked with dust. Seat covers were visibly stained all over.

In that case, the NTA fined the driver concerned.

In another case, a passenger reported to the NTA a strong stench on entering the car - had to open and keep the window open for the journey.

In that instance, the NTA investigated and found no evidence of an offence after inspecting the vehicle.

Another passenger reported that within seconds of getting into the taxi I noticed a bad smell. The NTA reports that the vehicle was replaced.

In total, the number of complaints made by members of the public over taxis and taxi driver behaviour last year increased by 148, or 15%, from 998 to 1,146.

The detailed figures released in response to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request show that the biggest increase was complaints over the condition and road worthiness, cleanliness of taxis more than doubling from 34 to 72.

The biggest area of complaint was the conduct, behaviour and identification of taxi drivers accounting for 445 complaints. A further 380 complaints were made over alleged overcharging and other fare matters while 248 complaints were made on the hiring and booking of taxis. One complaint was received over the identification of taxis.

In August, one passenger complained about the very poor condition of a taxi and what concerned me more was there was a brake warning light on the dashboard that had been covered with a sticker and another engine light that had been covered with a piece of black tape.

The NTA investigated and inspected the vehicle, identifying a senior fault and the matter was rectified by a dealership.

In September, a passenger complained a taxi was dirty inside and out. The boot contained bags and containers that were dirty. The rear seat was stained, torn and dirty. The springs in the rear seat were broken.

The NTA report that the vehicle was replaced the day after the incident.

One passenger complained that a taxi-driver was not familiar with the rules of the road as he did not look right when coming to roundabouts and drove with main beams on behind other cars.

Another complaint said that a taxi-driver concealed his identity, refused to give a printed receipt and was abusive. In that case, the NTA fined the taxi driver.

In another case, a Dublin airport taxi-driver charged 43 for a trip from the airport that would usually total 25 after he took a significant detour to take the passengers to their destination.

In that case, the driver made full admissions and apologised and made a full refund of the fare after an NTA investigation.

In another, a taxi driver told a passenger that he couldnt give the passenger a requested printed receipt at the end of the journey.

The passenger stated: I told him (nicely) that he shouldnt be driving a taxi and picking up fares without being able to give a printed receipt.

At this point, he stopped the taxi and told me to get out! He was extremely angry and as he drove off honked his horn at me but had dumped me halfway to my destination.

The NTA investigated and after admitting the office, the driver was fined.

A female passenger travelling alone made a complaint after a driver became aggressive after she took a photo of his driver ID.

She said: He demanded that I delete the picture and get out of his cab. I thought this was standard practice, particularly for a female travelling alone at nightThe driver I ended up travelling with had no problem with me taking a picture of his ID to send to my brother for re-assurance.

In that case, the driver was spoken to given advice on his conduct.

The NTA stated that it told the passenger that the Driver Check App can be used to check the licence of a taxi driver and vehicle and those details can be forwarded.UPDATE FEBRUARY 22: Mark Cagney has .

Its only been a few months since Sinead Desmonds departure from Ireland AM and today its been reported that Mark Cagney will also say goodbye to the show in the coming months.

The Cork native has been presenting the morning show since it launched in 1999 and according to the Irish Mail on Sunday, hes due to hang up his mic next year.

Mark began his career in 1977 as a presenter with RTE and 2FM. He later he joined 98FM and Today FM before moving to TV3 in 1999 and landing the role as Ireland AM's first male anchor, alongside female anchor, Amanda Byram.

The 61-year-old is yet to comment on the reports on his departure.

It has also been reported that the TV3 show will also be receiving a revamp.It has been reported that Jon Venables has been attacked by a fellow inmate who threw boiling water on him.

It is alleged that Venables' identity has become known in the prison and inmates have "put a price on him".

Police officers were called to calm the situation following the prison attack but Venables has reportedly complained that prison officers "did nothing at first" and "didn't do enough to protect him", according to the UK Daily Star.

Venables, who murdered two-year-old James Bulger in Liverpool in 1993, is currently serving 40 months in prison after he pleaded guilty to possessing 1,170 indecent images of children.

It was the second time he had been caught with such images and when he was arrested he told police he was plagued by "stupid urges".

Venables, who was released on licence in 2001 after serving eight years for the murder of two-year-old James, had pleaded guilty to four new charges.

He admitted having 392 category A images, 148 category B images and 630 category C images.

He also pleaded guilty to having a paedophile manual on or before November 17 last year.

In 2010, Venables pleaded guilty at the same court to charges of downloading and distributing child pornography and was jailed for two years.

That was not the only time he had breached the terms of his licence.

In September 2008, he was arrested on suspicion of affray after a drunken brawl and was given a formal warning by the probation service.

Later the same year he was cautioned for possession of cocaine after he was found with a small amount of the class A drug.

James was kidnapped, tortured and killed by Venables and Robert Thompson, who was also ten, in February 1993.

Digital DeskPresident Donald Trump has said that he "supportive of efforts to improve the federal background check system" for the purchase of guns.

The statement comes less than a week after the mass shooting at a school in Florida in which 17 people were killed.

Principal Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah said in a statement today that Mr Trump had spoken with Republican Senator John Cornyn last Friday about a bill he introduced with Senator Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat.

The Fix NICS (National Instant Criminal Background Check System) Act aims to strengthen the ways in which state and federal governments report offences that could prohibit someone from buying a gun.

"While discussions are ongoing and revisions are being considered, the President is supportive of efforts to improve the federal background check system," Mr Shah said.

Soooo...Republicans are actually pro gun control, pro Dreamer, pretending to be pro NRA, anti Dreamer, and Democrats are actually pro NRA, anti Dreamer, pretending to be pro gun control, pro Dreamer? This is hard to follow. https://t.co/kQTK8mOoXk  Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) February 18, 2018

In the days since the Florida attack, students, parents and politicians across the United States have called on President Trump to take action on guns.

Trump's presidential campaign focused on a pro-gun platform and he has received significant funding from the National Rifle Association.

Following the mass shooting in Las Vegas in October 2017, Trump said that he was in favour of banning bump stocks. There has been no significant further action on this in the months since.

Before his presidential campaign, Trump had favoured a ban on assault weapons.

Digital DeskOne of Britain's most prolific paedophiles, who blackmailed a string of vulnerable victims including a girl who was ordered to eat dog food, has been jailed for 32 years.

Dr Matthew Falder has admitted 137 offences, including blackmail, voyeurism and encouraging the rape of a child, relating to 46 complainants after being caught by an international inquiry led by the UK National Crime Agency.

The 29-year-old was arrested in June last year after three traumatised victims, who were tricked into sending him humiliating images, attempted to end their own lives.

Sentencing "warped and sadistic" Falder for "a tale of ever increasing depravity", Judge Philip Parker QC said: "As for your equally extraordinary sexual offending - no-one who knew you above ground had an inkling of what you were doing below the surface."

Branding him an "internet highwayman", he added: "You wanted to assume total control over your victims.

"Your behaviour was cunning, persistant, manipulative and cruel."

For the victims, he said: "The damage is on-going for these individuals it will never end, knowing the abuse caused by you still exists in other unknown persons' computers."

The judge, who also concluded Falder was a dangerous offender, added: "These sentencing remarks underplay your relentless, obsessive desire to continue committing offences."

A previous hearing was told Falder coerced male and female victims into producing "increasingly severe self-generated indecent images of themselves, the focus of these images being to humiliate and degrade".

Falder forced one victim to film herself licking toilet seats, a used tampon and eating dog food, and set up secret cameras in bathrooms to record women and girls naked.

Another was blackmailed into eating his faeces and drinking urine, while the 29-year-old also encouraged the rape of a boy, aged two, by his own father.

He also set up hidden cameras in publicly accessible toilets and at his parents' home, catching his unsuspecting victims on film, and using the footage to blackmail - and trade with others online.

Opening the facts of the case against Falder, prosecutor Ruona Iguyovwe previously told the court that many of the images were then distributed on so-called "hurtcore" websites on the dark web, showing material depicting sexual and physical abuse.

Falder, who treated victims both as sex objects and as objects of derision, posted on one forum "100 things we want to see at least once".

In remarks in that post, he suggested "a young girl being used as a dartboard", production of a video depicting a child's bones being "slowly and deliberately broken", and the abuse of "a paralysed child".

It also emerged during the earlier hearing that Falder initially duped victims into providing images by posing as a female artist who wanted to turn them into life drawings.

Prosecutors said Falder was also a member of several "virtual communities" of abusers, and in one such forum on the so-called dark web, he had a "membership rank level of 'Rapist'".

One of his victims, speaking anonymously after his sentencing, described how his abuse had led to the breakdown of "all relationships" in her life, and how she was now "scared to meet people".

The operation to catch Falder, who used specialist software to hide his online accounts, was aided by GCHQ, the United States Homeland Security Department and law enforcement bodies in Israel, Slovenia, Australia and New Zealand.

Falder, from Birmingham, committed the offences over an eight-year period and never physically met any of his victims, but instead manipulated them from afar by duping them into providing nude images and personal details.

On his arrest, the former post-doctoral researcher in geophysics at the University of Birmingham told officers "what is it I've done", before correcting himself and adding "supposed to have done".

He then quipped that the list of suspected offences sounded "like the rap sheet from hell".

PAThe Kremlin has dismissed a US indictment which charged 13 Russians with interfering in the 2016 American presidential election over a lack of evidence.

The indictment by a federal grand jury alleges that a wealthy entrepreneur with close ties to Russian president Vladimir Putin funnelled money to a so-called "troll farm", which sent operatives to the United States, created fictitious social media accounts and used them to spread tendentious messages.Voters in marginal seats in NSW and Queensland will be targetted with robo calls, radio ads and billboards as part of a union campaign criticising global oil giant Exxon Mobils record on paying tax.

The ACTU planned to start contacting voters in the seats of Gilmore on the NSW south coast and Capricornia, Forde and Flynn in Queensland with robo calls on Monday night. The radio ads will start later this week and billboards saying "You paid tax but Exxon didn't" are also being installed.

We are targeting areas of Australia where we know people are concerned about corporations having too much power and not paying their share of tax," ACTU secretary Sally McManus said.

We expect our elected representatives to make sure corporations like Exxon pay what they owe.Beach Energy will divest a third of its holdings in the Otway Basin and return focus to South Australia to capitalise on strong results in the Cooper Basin.

Releasing the company's half year results on Monday which showed an up-tick in profits and revenue Beach Energy chief executive Matt Kay said the standout performance was from Cooper Basin assets.

"We've had more than 80 per cent drilling success in the Cooper Basin in the last six months," Mr Kay told Fairfax Media.

"We've now got a breakeven price there of $US17 a barrel of oil equivalent (boe)."

It also lifted guidance at the Cooper Basin, from between 10 to 10.6 million boe to 10.6 to 11 million boe for the financial year.Researchers aboard an Australian ship undertaking pioneering work in the Southern Ocean have found the "first hint" of a shift in a decades-long trend towards fresher, less dense water off Antarctica.

Teams of scientists on the RV Investigator have been profiling the salinity and temperature of water between Tasmania and Antarctica at 108 locations.

They also released the first batch of deep Argot floats to measure conditions as deep as 4000 metres.

Dr Steve Rintoul, chief scientist of the RV Investigator voyage, with one of the deep-sea floats. Credit:Peter Mathew

But it is the early analysis of data on salinity in the so-called bottom waters near the seabed that may stir international debate.Powerful winds battered Melbourne suburbs on Monday night, causing a cruise ship to get wedged up against a pier, dozens of trees to fall and thousands of Victorians to go without power.

The State Emergency Service received more than 260 calls for help, mostly about fallen trees, and tugboats had to assist the Astor cruise ship, which was blown onto the edge of Station Pier at Port Melbourne.

Also in Port Melbourne, wild bay winds pushed fences down, pulled trees to the ground and assistance was called for the aid of the Spirit of Tasmania.

A fence knocked down by wind in Graham Street, Port Melbourne. Credit:Jason South

About 3000 homes were still without power on Tuesday morning, including more than 2000 homes in Whittlesea, after 75 to 80km/h winds felled trees across the city, taking out cars and powerlines.So what is it about white men in particular that makes them more likely than any other group to perpetrate a gun massacre? As forensic psychologist Dr. J. Reid Meloy said in 2015, "What's become clear over the past 30 years of research is that there's virtually always a personal grievance that will start a person on a pathway to mass murder."

The "personal grievance" seemingly held by the kinds of white men who decide to release their anger by killing people (or who cheer this behaviour on the sidelines, and respond to it by telling women to be nicer to men, to date them, to "give them a chance", to sleep with them, to validate them. And who in turn characterise anything that involves women rejecting this manipulation as being "cancer") almost always seems to be rooted in the perpetrator's inability to measure up to what he recognises as powerful, respected masculinity.

For all the insistence that structural oppression is a myth, the white men inclined towards this kind of violence recognise that there's a hierarchy in which they're supposed to be able to assume the top position. The fact that they can't isn't seen as a failing of the system itself - it's seen as an act of aggression by everyone they are conditioned to believe should act as subordinate to them.

Before murdering six people and then killing himself in Isla Vista in 2014, Elliot Rodger uploaded a video to YouTube titled "Retribution". In it, Rodger justified his murderous rampage because women weren't nice enough to him. "You girls have never been attracted to me," he whined. "It's an injustice, a crime because I don't know what you don't see in me, I'm the perfect guy and yet you throw yourselves at all these obnoxious men instead of me, the supreme gentleman. I will punish all of you for it."

As Jennifer Wright wrote recently in Harper's Bazaar, "I can assure you that not wanting to sleep with a man is not a crime. Killing six people and injuring 14, as Rodger did, is."If I told you getting cancer was like winning the lottery, would you believe me?



Being diagnosed with cancer has to be one of the most unfortunate misadventures a person can experience. Having the "c" word come into your life is like receiving your cause of death signed and sealed; your expiry date immediately brought forward.



Imagine, in addition, being diagnosed before the age of 25. Instantly, cancer isn't just this horrible disease that impacts the middle-aged and old, or is caused by poor life choices and dirty habits.

Imagine going to the doctor to be told that the pain you were experiencing  that lump, that rash, was in fact your most far-fetched Doctor Google search result.

Shelby Sherritt describes cancer as "like winning the lottery".

Before you've even considered whether you want kids in 10 years time you are forced to think about your options. Fertility treatments, needles, and blood tests become your life.

The constant exposure to hospital terminology, trauma, and grief causes your friends to drift, scared of the reality of what you are going through. You watch the person you used to know change in the mirror as fluid and drugs get pumped through your veins. Isolation creeps in as you notice the 40-year age gap between you and any other patient in the chemo ward.Some builders may be more lax about protecting against erosion on their work sites in Canberra than Queanbeyan, due to a lack of territory government enforcement of erosion and sediment rules.

Such an approach, as well as failures to install erosion controls, also led to the territory being forced to foot a $750,000 bill to fix erosion and sediment run-off at Coombs ponds last year.

Auditor-General Maxine Cooper has highlighted a series of failings and inaction on the management of ACT's stormwater system. Credit:Melissa Adams

A report by the ACT's Auditor-General, Dr Maxine Cooper, has highlighted a number of key failings in the processes for handing over stormwater assets, as well as damage caused to them after hand over.

The report shows that despite a government consultant highlighting the problems back in December 2013, and recommending a 'working group' be established to fix it, "little action" has been taken in the five years' since.Hamilton is spooked by the Chinese Communist Party and its "bosses". We need a calm and realistic analysis; not one with overtones of a resurrected McCarthyism, ad hominem arguments and guilt by association. Barry Naughten, Farrer Solar panels miracle If rooftop solar panels do not reduce the amount of solar energy reaching roofs, and thereby reduce the amount of heat that can be radiated back into the environment, as alleged by John L.Smith (Letters, February15), they must perform a miracle. Following Mr Smith's logic, solar panels must create their electrical energy output from nothing (see Physics 101).

Another factor to take into account is reflection of some of the incident solar energy  the light component of it at least  by the glass-covered panels. This must also contribute to lessening the solar energy reaching the roofs (most commonly, tiles), heating them, and being radiated back into the atmosphere. It the whole of a roof were covered by solar panels, it may not be the most efficient way to generate electricity, but I'm pretty sure it would make the building beneath at least a little cooler. Douglas Mackenzie, Deakin No hanky-panky So the Prime Minister has barred ministers from sex with their staff in response to Barnaby Gate. How to accomplish this will be difficult, but here are a few suggestions:

First, the Prime Minister could allocate a lazy couple of million dollars from his Innovations Fund to employ (jobs and growth) a band of trench-coated sleuths with long-lens cameras (you know the type that use to exist before no-fault-divorce laws were introduced) to follow ministers and the staff around 24/7 witha brief to record any hanky-panky. Second, the use of sodium pentothal (the truth drug) could be useful, or even the introduction of regular lie detector tests. Well, perhaps not, as politicians are so used to lying to us they would more than likely pass whether guilty or not. If all else fails, ministers and their staff could be compulsorily fitted with chastity belts, with allowances for toilet breaks, of course, but definitely not those labelled "unisex". John Galvin, Weston Discord over music

Thank-you, Toni Hassan, for raising the issue of the ANU's decision to cut its music education program (Opinion, February15). I participated, with all the teachers in my school, in six months of training and intensive support to implement MEP in all classes in our primary school. This was one of the best professional development experiences in my 18 years of teaching. It demystified the teaching of singing and brought joy, acceptance and inclusivity to an area which has been too often dominated by a "can/can't" attitude. These days, primary school teachers are expected to be experts in music, visual and performing arts, school libraries and PE on top of the three Rs. MEP provided sorely needed, practical, high-quality support to the teaching and celebration of music in schools and communities. Bring back MEP!

Holly Godfree, AEU ACT member, Kambah Buy back the guns The anticipated plethora of articles about the most recent school shooting in the US is appearing, many of them making good points about how difficult it would be to do anything about it. I'd like to make a suggestion which, perhaps, our new US ambassador could take back to the President: initiate a permanent gun buy-back scheme offering sufficient to make it so attractive that a lot of people would sell  say, $1million each. The purported one in three Americans who own guns would become rich, giving the economy a massive boost.

Some would prefer to hang on to their guns, which would be fine. Thieves would soon steal them and hand them in for the cash  a further impetus for reluctant sellers to take the money. I bet that within six months there'd be very few guns left in circulation in the US and, best of all, the government could say: "We're not talking your guns; we're offering to buy them for a very fair price. But there's no compulsion to sell if you don't want to." No doubt the details would not be beyond the clever people who run the US. Fred Pilcher, Kaleen Reserve Bank

Peter Martin's comment piece "Modest idea worth a shot" (February15, p.20) seems to suggest, with the support of DrNicholas Gruen and the Bank of England, that if the Reserve Bank had a retail banking division complying with all retail banking legislation plus a small profit margin, it would force the retail banks to be more competitive. My understanding is that one of the reasons the Reserve Bank's functions were separated from the Commonwealth Bank was to stop Reserve Bank functions being sullied by the other activities of the bank in the marketplace. On the other hand, Martin made a good case for a government-owned retail bank. Of course, the existing banks would complain of "unfair competition". Oh! That's what happened to the last government bank and it was sold on the stock exchange. John F. Simmons, Kambah The battle over Lagani To Saturday's court report ("Builder loses court bid", p15), we add two points of clarification.

First, the report might seem to suggest that the Lagani complex still needs to be repaired, with the $1.4 million to come from ongoing proceedings either in the ACT Supreme Court (enforcement) or in the Federal Circuit Court (bankruptcy). In fact, the systemic defects were fully repaired at the 10 owners' expense by early 2011. The owners funded an independent analysis, specification, tender process and commissioning of the contractor. Second, the headline referred to "rectification orders" and the text to "a $1m court order for defective work". These might be read as referring to rectification orders issued through the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal process where the original builder is mandated to fulfil necessary repairs, as is the case with two other Koundouris-built Canberran apartments. Our OC avoided this avenue of redress. In our case the orders were from the ACT Supreme Court and were to reimburse owners for the repairs already undertaken. Alex Morozow and Lewis Rushbrook, co-chairs, executive committee, Lagani units owners' corporation, Forrest Climate change

The difficulties in discussing climate change (Morland, Letters, February 14, Ware, Letters, February 19) arise from it being innately complicated and then politicised because of the large amount of wealth and wellbeing that is at stake. From the obvious fact that all the ice is melting, it must be clear that the climate is warming. The alpine glaciers are receding, the long sought after Northwest Passage from London to Tokyo across the Arctic Ocean is open to cruise ships in the northern summer, and the Antarctic ice shelves are breaking up. The difficult question is "How much of the warming is caused by human activity?" The retreat of the Aletsch Glacier has uncovered stumps of trees growing in place dated to the medieval warm period, around 1250 CE, evidence that the climate was warm at a time of little human activity affecting the climate. Ware cites 2 W/m2 as the forcing caused by human activity, which is 0.15 per cent of the 1360 W/m2 received from the sun. The accuracy of the estimate of the forcing caused by human activity means the actual amount is in the range from 1 to 3 W/m2. Application of the Stefan-Boltzmann Law, with an approximation for line blanketing, yields a warming of 0.68 degrees from 2 W/m2, or 1 degrees from 3 W/m2, so human activity could be responsible for all of the 1-degree warming observed since 1910, but a natural contribution of one-third of the observed amount is probable.

Bruce A. Peterson, Kambah Light rail pitfalls Your editorial "Chief Minister's light rail election hint raises questions about stage two" (canberratimes.com.au, February 14) should have read "the network", not just "stage two". The light rail network for Canberra is a dead duck and the Gungahlin-Civic link will be a white elephant adorning whatever "iconic" gateway to Canberra that Malcolm Snow can bring about while pleasing property developers. When you state with respect to stage two that "it is hard to see how an expensive tram service would be able to match a well-planned express bus service on either a travelling time or cost basis" this has always been the case for the entire Canberra region.

When "Mr Barr said if necessary he would seek a mandate for the [stage two] proposal at the next territory election in 2020", what he means is that by 2020 the prospects for a future public transport system using driverless vehicle technology will have become so apparent that building light rail in the 2020 decade would win about as many votes as building the gas-fired power station in Hume. It is interesting that Mr Barr is sending his Deputy Director-General Transport Canberra, Duncan Edghill, to speak at the MaaS (Mobility as a Service) conference in Sydney in May. I don't know what he has to offer, but hopefully the ACT government will become better attuned to technology than when it made the decision to build light rail stage one. John L. Smith, Farrer Project's cost important Like Mike Hutchinson (Letters, February 15) I was surprised Andrew Leigh whose strong background in economics was instrumental in his appointment as Labor's shadow assistant treasurer, was advocating the implementation of stage two of the light rail project in circumstances where neither a route for the tram has been approved nor a feasibility study undertaken.

However, on closer reading, Mr Leigh does not appear to be supporting the implementation of stage two of the project on economic grounds, or social grounds, or environmental grounds. His support is underpinned by his view that " the people of this city went to an election on this issue". Mr Leigh is arguing that the people of the ACT have spoken and therefore stage two of the project should proceed however high the costs or low the benefits. If this is not the case then Mr Leigh should be encouraged to say so: perhaps by Senator Seselja. The view expressed in the CT editorial on February 14, "The real question is whether stage two should be allowed to proceed at all ... unless a compelling economic case can be made for it"; seems to have strong credibility.

Ken Brazel, Molongolo Water take irresponsible The Turnbull government's proposed amendment to reduce the volume of water to be returned to the Darling River system is irresponsible. What kind of a Darling River does it want? One that turns into a dry stream bed hundreds of kilometres long like in 2016?

Didn't it see the Four Corners program last year with its accusations of massive water theft? And the Coalition's response to all this? Let even more water be pumped out of the Darling. Hopefully, the Senate will block the amendment. Bill O'Connor, Beechworth, Vic

TO THE POINT BUSINESS AS USUAL Good to know that ministers can continue to have sex with staffers who work for the great majority of politicians, and the latter can have sex with ministerial staffers and with their own staff. The retention of these aspects of the status quo must be a great relief to some. Sue Dyer, Downer FOR ONE THING ONLY

The only other cartoon character I know who wears his Akubra indoors is Bazza McKenzie. Kenneth Griffiths, O'Connor MIND ON THE JOB Why all the fuss? The Prime Minister's new regulation on sexual conduct by politicians only refers to ministers. The rest of those employed in Parliament House can still fornicate to their heart's delight. C. J. Johnston, Duffy

WHAT A PERFORMANCE In his press conference Barnaby Joyce ran the gamut of human emotion from A to B. Thos Puckett, Ashgrove, Qld MUST TRY HARDER The most junior Army subaltern would know better than to rebuke his platoon sergeant in front of his men. Malcolm Turnbull needs a lesson  if not a course  in what used to be called man management.

Bill Deane, Chapman BLAMELESS BARNABY Would it not be simpler to take Barnaby Joyce's word and accept that everything bad is simply someone else's fault. Glenn Wood, Bardon, Qld BONKING BAN

Turnbull hasn't gone far enough. He should have banned all sex in Canberra. But if this happened what would Canberrans do with their time? David McCarthy, Wallaroo, NSW GOING TO THE POLLS? With the Coalition falling apart, the Governor-General should do what Sir John Kerr did when he was confronted with a political crisis  call an election. Richard Keys, Ainslie

NOT HIS TOO LOSE How can you lose something that you never had ("Turnbull has lost control of the Coalition", canberratimes.com.au, February 18)? John Richardson, Wallagoot, NSW BACKBENCHERS' BENEFITS Why has Malcolm Turnbull restricted his new code of conduct to ministers? Is it still OK for backbenchers to get their staff knocked up?

Gaynor Morgan, Braddon MYSTERY SOLVED I'm not surprised a young woman, a staffer got into a sexual relationship with the deputy PM Barnaby Joyce. The man is simply irresistible. Rajend Naidu, Glenfield, NSW Email: letters.editor@canberratimes.com.au. Send from the message eld, not as an attached le. Fax: 6280 2282. Mail: Letters to the Editor, The Canberra Times, PO Box 7155, Canberra Mail Centre, ACT 2610.A community mental health organisation is on the hunt for former bullies, victims of bullying and bully bystanders to share their stories to help combat related behaviours among Canberra teenagers.

Mental Illness Education ACT is developing a cyber bullying prevention program to roll out to students in grade seven to 12.

The organisation centres its programs on sharing lived experiences, a method of teaching chief executive Heidi Prowse said was proven to have a positive impact.

Ms Prowse acknowledged it could be difficult for people to share their experiences but said it was an important element of preventing bullying behaviours among younger generations.

The final program would help students recognise, understand and unpack bullying behaviour, she said, providing support and hope to victims, bystanders and perpetrators themselves.May Zinga was just seven years old in 1901 when her mother gave her away to Wirth Brothers Circus. Torn from her family, little May had big dreams, to become the greatest equestrienne in the world, performing astounding tricks on the back of a galloping horse. The little girl from Bundaberg, Queensland, went on to perform for the British Royal Family and American President Woodrow Wilson, becoming a favourite of the suffragette movement in the early 1900s.

"Don't tell me women cannot do anything they desire," she was reported as saying.

Canberra author Stephanie Owen Reeder launches her new book at the Harry Hartog bookshop. Credit:Dion Georgopoulos

And such is the story of Marvellous Miss May: Queen of the Circus, the fourth in the Heritage Heroes series by Canberra author Stephanie Owen Reeder.

"If I was making these stories up no one would believe me," says Owen Reeder of the incredible tale.A man suspected of slashing someone with a knife has been arrested after a manhunt north of Brisbane that saw a primary school put into lockdown.

The dog squad and police helicopter were used to track the man through Mango Hill on Monday morning following a report from a passing motorist that he had pulled out a gun during an argument.

Officers were first called to the front yard of a home on Chermside Road about 6.30am after an alleged assault with a knife. The victim suffered a cut to his face.

About two hours later, there were further reports the man was involved in an argument outside a home in nearby Mercury Parade.

A motorist passing the dispute told police he believed the man had pulled out a gun but when the dog squad tracked him adown about 11.10am, he was believed to be unarmed, police said.Sylvia Lawson was an intellectual and writer who helped revive the Australian film industry in the 1960s and establish the Sydney Film Festival. A passionate believer in serious and engaged journalism, she devoted her life to exploring and interrogating politics and culture, and their intersection, through her witty, acerbic and beautifully crafted writing.

Sylvia was born on November 12, 1932, in Summer Hill, Sydney, and grew up in Ingleburn, at that time a semi-rural settlement beyond the urban fringe. The eldest of six daughters, she went to Homebush Intermediate High School, then Fort St Girls' High School, before studying arts at Sydney University. It was there she became involved in the causes that would preoccupy her for the rest of her life, notably film aesthetics and film culture.

Sylvia Lawson won the non-fiction category for The Archibald Paradox, 1984. Credit:Fairfax Media

After university, she worked as a cadet journalist at the Sydney Morning Herald where she was frustrated, as many female journalists were then, at being confined to "women's issues". On her marriage in 1955, she was forced to leave the Herald and went to work for the Daily Mirror, where she was similarly frustrated.

In 1958 Lawson began to write for Nation, an independent publication founded by Tom Fitzgerald in 1954. With colleagues such as George Munster, who acted as a mentor for Lawson, Nation provided an opportunity for robust and independent commentary. Here her campaigning for Australian cinema began, notably in a scathing review of the Fred Zinnemann version of The Sundowners - writing "it's horrifying that we should have to be so touchingly grateful to Warners Brothers for giving this continent a pat on the head, for throwing a few pink galahs on to the screen"Even when some effective antibiotics remain available, they are often difficult to deliver and very expensive. Often there will be no oral tablets and a patient will have to have their antibiotics through a drip - like Jane did. More importantly these remaining antibiotics can be much more toxic, with sometimes more frequent and serious side effects.

Superbugs are bacteria that are resistant to most, and sometimes all antibiotics. They are now causing many common infections in what is a major and growing international problem. Some of these infections have very limited options for therapy and will result in death.

When Jane returned from her holiday in Thailand, she brought with her something far worse than a bout of traveller's diarrhoea. She brought home a superbug. And it landed her on my list of patients.

After her holiday, Jane developed a urinary tract infection. She needed three courses of a last line antibiotic (meropenem) to beat it. At least that drug was effective and relatively non-toxic. But the problem with her superbug was that even after we got rid of it from her bladder, it still lived in her bowel and came back repeatedly to cause more urinary tract infections.

Superbugs cause pain, suffering, time off work and interference with normal life - you are sick for longer and you have a greater chance of ending up with a disability. The worst case scenario is when an untreatable infection leads to death. We need to remember the times before antibiotics were available e.g. the 1920s, when a person had a Golden Staph bloodstream infection, there was an 80 per cent chance they would die. With antibiotic therapy, this mortality rate is now five times lower. But we dont want to return to the days of the 1920s where although we have antibiotics, they dont work.

The most rapid rise and often the worst type of superbugs occur in developing countries. In India, about half of all community-onset urinary tract infections caused by E.coli are for practical purposes now untreatable. These untreatable bugs can pass to people by many routes. Its not only person to person, but via foods and water. In some countries, even when the water supply is chlorinated, untreatable E.coli remains present.

In Australia, we often worry about a post-antibiotic era full of superbugs; for practical purposes a large proportion of the worlds population is already in a post-antibiotic era.

Australia does have some very difficult to treat bacteria which can cause problems both in hospitals and in the community, but these are still relatively rare. Travellers are at increased risk of introducing superbugs into Australia because they pick them up through foods and water while overseas.A Perth man who allegedly drove his car while drunk into two men outside a Mullaloo hotel overnight after a fight broke out has been been charged by police.

A police spokeswoman said a 20-year-old man and a 27-year-old man were involved in an altercation on Oceanside Promenade around midnight on Sunday night.

A car park along Oceanside Promenade. Credit:Heather McNeill

WAtoday understands the venue was the Mullaloo Beach Hotel.

"The [20-year-old] man then drove his vehicle at the 27-year-old victim, causing him a number of injuries," the police spokeswoman said.A man armed with a knife who was shot by police during a confrontation and later died in hospital may have had undiscovered internal injuries.

But the officer who fired the gun has told a Perth court he had no choice.

Officers attend the scene after Mr Adwent was shot in 2015. Credit:Nine News Perth.

Daniel Josef Adwent, 44, died in March 2015, and the WA Coroners Court is now examining the actions of police, paramedics and staff at Fiona Stanley Hospital.

Sergeant Matthew Edmunds gave evidence on Monday that Mr Adwent was holding a knife, and he had "no other alternative" but to shoot.Chaffeuring young orange-bellied parrots into the Tasmanian wilderness by helicopter may be helping the species beat extinction.

To mate, the tiny parrot flies from Victoria to a remote breeding ground in Melaleuca in southern Tasmania every year - a perilous journey many don't survive.

With only three wild female parrots returning to Tasmania to breed in the past two years, the creature is arguably the worlds most-threatened parrot.

A captive breeding program to bolster numbers had until recently been largely unsuccessful.The ACT government will move to amend legislation the ACT Bar Association claimed could "criminalise" sex education.

A draft bill based on the findings of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse will be debated when the ACT Legislative Assembly sits on Tuesday.

Attorney-General Gordon Ramsay. Credit:Sitthixay Ditthavong

The bill was introduced into the Assembly in November and makes "grooming" a child a crime.

It also creates a new offence for engaging in a "sexual relationship" with a child, and ensures an accused person's "good character" cannot be used to reduce their sentence, if that reputation was why they had contact with children in the first place.The Barr government "milked" the old Land Development Agency's weak governance systems to buy more than $10 million worth of rural land in the agency's final days, Opposition leader Alistair Coe says.

The Canberra Times this week reported Mr Barr, as Treasurer, approved a $7.5 million purchase of the rural property Winslade at Mount Stromlo in May last year under the now-defunct LDA's land acquisition policies.

Opposition leader Alistair Coe [left] says the Barr government 'milked' the old LDA's poor systems 'for all it was worth'. Credit:Sitthixay Ditthavong

It was one of two purchases under the old policy, the other buying $4.6 million worth of rural land in Belconnen, that the government completed months after a damning audit report of the LDA's land acquisition systems.

That purchase was completed by the Suburban Land Agency, one of two agencies that replaced the LDA in the wake of the 2016 audit, but was also completed under the old policy weeks after the LDA was abolished.Malcolm Turnbull's ministerial sex ban has divided and even angered some federal politicians but outside the Canberra bubble his move has drawn emphatic praise from corporate leaders, workplace lawyers and experts.

As Opposition Leader Bill Shorten finally confirmed a Labor goverment would not overturn the ban designed to prevent ministers having sex with their staff that was designed to prevent a repeat of the Barnaby Joyce scandal, a number of leading voices on workplace relationships publicly backed Mr Turnbull's stance.

Businesswoman Diane Smith-Gander said Mr Turnbull's change to the ministerial code of conduct - colloquially known as the "bonk ban" - was an obvious way to address to glaring power imbalance between minister and staffer.

Ms Smith-Gander - non-executive director and immediate past president of Chief Executive Women - said such relationships were "just plain wrong" and would undermine the functioning of any ministerial office.The Prime Minister was announcing a ban on sexual relationships between ministers and their staff members to make sure that such a thing would never happen again, he said. He had encouraged Joyce to take leave. "He has to consider his own position, obviously." A reporter asked Turnbull: "Why would you not urge Barnaby Joyce to resign now?" This was the key political question. If it was so grave a misjudgment, why hadn't Turnbull demanded Joyce's resignation already? Turnbull answered that it was a matter for Joyce to reflect on. In fact, Turnbull knew full well in advance that there was no chance of Joyce resigning. How did he know? He had not asked Joyce if he had considered resigning, according to informed sources. He had not suggested that he consider resigning.

However, he had taken some indirect soundings through ministerial colleagues, informed people said. Those soundings told him that Joyce had not the least intention of considering his position. None. Now, two days later, the Nationals leader told Turnbull not to air his concerns about his personal life in public again. And Turnbull accepted this point without demur. So before and after his public denunciation of Joyce, the Prime Minister knew that Joyce was not going anywhere. Turnbull told reporters on Sunday: "Now the important thing is Barnaby and I are working closely together as we always have, hes obviously taking leave coming this week and we look forward to him returning from that at the end of the week." So much for taking leave to consider his position. In his private exchange with Joyce on Saturday, Turnbull defended his right to be concerned about his personal conduct. The story had rocked the government and dominated the media.

Joyce agreed. But, he said, Turnbull had chosen timing and volume that were over the top. It had looked like he was vilifying Joyce. In future, Turnbull should put his concerns in private. So what was all the prime ministerial fuss about? Turnbull knew that his public shaming of Joyce would not force him out. In fact, Joyce considers the story to be a passing event that he likened to food poisoning.

"It's like asking people when they've had food poisoning from fish whether they'd eat fish again. They always say no. "But within a month or so you're sitting down having barramundi with them," he tells Fairfax Media. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announces his ban on ministers having sexual relationships with their staff. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen Joyce thinks that the tide on the matter has already turned. Faced with a Newspoll on Monday showing that 65 per cent of respondents thought he should resign as Nationals leader or retire from Parliament altogether, he says that support in his electorate is strong and that the people of New England can see through the media storm: "Once people get a sense that they're just sticking the slipper into someone, opinions change. And they change in favour of the person getting stuck into. It's no longer reporting, it's malice. For a while it's interesting and salacious, now they are saying 'they're just trying to get stuck into you'." His electorate and the people in the regions know that he has delivered for them: "I have never stood in the pulpit or the podium as a saint. I stand on my record."

So fish sales are down. But Joyce seems robustly confident that they'll bounce back. Joyce answers to his own party and his own electorate. The leader of the Nationals is deputy prime minister automatically under the Coalition agreement because it suits both parties, with their separate constituencies, to pool their numbers. Without the Nationals, the Liberals would be out of power. And without the Liberals, the Nationals would never get their hands on the national Treasury again. Talk of a "divorce" is bizarrely ill-informed. Turnbull is powerless to move against Joyce. He knew it then and he knows it now. His public assault was performance art. It was designed to impress religious and social conservatives with his high standards, and younger voters and women were supposed to admire him for correcting the power imbalance between male bosses and their female employees. But Joyce was never going to budge. "My life has been a huge fight. This is just another one," he says.One Nation defector Fraser Anning has launched a spirited defence of Barnaby Joyce, fuelling speculation he is auditioning to join the Nationals in a bid to extend his political career - and potentially deliver the Turnbull government another crucial guaranteed vote in the Senate.

The conservative senator says the embattled Nationals leader has been a powerful advocate for rural and regional Australia and "Queensland cannot afford to lose him as its champion in the halls of power.

Lashing out at critics of Mr Joyce as a "left-wing lynch mob", Senator Anning's defence is stronger than those offered by some of the Deputy Prime Minister's own party colleagues, who are now weighing whether to remove him as leader as a result of the political crisis unleashed by his affair with a staffer.

David Leyonhjelm, Fraser Anning and Cory Bernardi have formed a voting alliance. Credit:Andrew Meares

"It is obviously very regrettable that Barnaby Joyce's marriage has broken down but that is a private matter that should have nothing to do with his political role," Senator Anning said in a statement.The NSW government wants a major review of Australian schools to examine reducing the "pressure" of the HSC and consider more emphasis on "non-cognitive skills such as a growth mindset".

In a submission to businessman David Gonski's education review, state authorities suggested final-year exams were over-used in calculating university entrance rankings, and urged other states to consider limiting the number of school-based tests "to reduce excessive student stress".

"Efforts could be made to reduce the ATAR's reliance on the final years of schooling and to allow appropriate flexibility around deeper learning areas," the Education Department recommended.

"This approach could consider ways in which students in senior secondary years can undertake a greater depth of study while reducing the pressure of a single, final ATAR number."

The NSW government also urged Mr Gonski's panel to examine ways the national curriculum could be changed to "better prepare students for a rapidly changing and uncertain world" and put more emphasis on "the acquisition of students' non-cognitive skills, such as a growth mindset".Queensland's newly established anti-cyberbullying task force has six months to report back with recommendations to tackle the issue, highlighted last month by the death of teenager Amy "Dolly" Everett.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has pushed to address the issue after 14-year-old Amy, who had been the face of an ad campaign for Akubra hats, took her own life after being bullied online.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk (left) with newly appointed chairwoman of an Anti-Bullying Task Force Madonna King during a press conference in Brisbane on Monday. Credit:AAP

The 14-member task force, announced on Monday, includes child psychologists, educators and academics, to be headed by Brisbane Times columnist and author Madonna King.

Ms King said the task force would conduct community consultations before making its recommendations by the end of August.Latest News NSW and VIC business unite to call for joint roadmap out of lockdown Business leaders ask for 'engine room' of Aussie economy to be united

How one broker settled $25m in just one month Helen Avis talks us through her miracle month of mortgage settlements, and gives top tips on how to get more business done

UBS has advised CBA and Bendigo Bank against turning on the broker taps to try to win market share, saying that broker loans are higher risk than proprietary loans.

In its latest Australian banking update released on 19 February, UBS called recent moves by CBA and Bendigo Bank "prudent", as they refocus on proprietary channels at the expense of mortgage brokers.

CBA and Bendigo Bank have prioritised their own channels since APRA bolstered its macroprudential rules, including capping new IO lending at 30% of total new residential mortgage loans. CBAs integrated approach to branch, online and mobile lending has also contributed to a lower percentage of broker-originated home loans.

As a result, the two banks lending volumes were weaker in the first half of FY18, with CBA reporting credit growth of only +0.6% and BEN +0.3%, said UBS.

As Australian Broker reported earlier this month, CBAs retail proprietary channels accounted for 64% of home loan flows in the first half of FY18, up from 57% the previous year and significantly higher than the market rate of 44%. On the other hand, brokers accounted for 36% of the banks home loan portfolio, down from 43% at the end of June 2017.

UBS analysts Jonathan Mott and Rachel Bentvelzen said focusing on higher quality proprietary, owner-occupied, principal & interest loans is wise at this stage of the cycle.

We believe the easy option is for banks to turn on the broker taps in an attempt to win share, they said. However, we believe mortgage broker loans are higher risk than proprietary loans, especially given their weighting to investor and principal & interest.

Aaron Christie-David, Atelier Wealths managing director, calls this statement improper and unsubstantiated, and the lack of reference to the factors that make broker loans higher risk frustrating.

With APRA and lenders having reigned in investor IO lending, it is to be expected that investor principal & interest loans would increase, he said.

If the goalposts are going to keep moving, driven by UBS, then perhaps they should be telling us what the goalposts are, rather than inciting channel conflict and customer confusion, said Christie-David.

He pointed out a number of lenders rely heavily on brokers for their home loan businesses, including ING, Macquarie Bank, and AMP. If broker loans were posing such a high risk to these institutions, surely, they would have red flagged the channel as high risk.

He also finds it discouraging that the UBS analysts labelled proprietary loans as higher quality without giving any benchmark of what they meant by quality.

He said it is only natural for lenders to prefer proprietary sourced loans as they invest significant capital and resources in their own channels. At the same time, these channels can become expensive account management as they focus more on existing clients and less on new-to-bank customers.

The broker channel provides such a great opportunity to bring a new-to-bank client, which is clearly not a concept UBS seems familiar with, said Christie-David.

Mott and Bentvelzen said they would be watching the trends  including a focus on proprietary owner-occupied, principal & interest loans  closely to make sure that both CBA and BEN do not revert to the brokers and 'risk up' at the top.

Related stories:

CBA changes caused friction with brokers

CBA results hit by $575m regulatory costs

Mortgage mis-selling poses risk to banksAs it turns out, e-commerce giant Amazon is soon set to turn into a one-stop shop. The company has rolled out its own food retailing in Pune, becoming the first foreign e-tailer to sell food items directly to customers. The food products are being sold by Amazon Retail India Pvt. Ltd. This roll out comes after Amazon was granted permission by the Indian government to invest USD 500 million in a wholly-owned venture to sell local produces and packaged food items through online and offline mediums.



Amazon is also the only global company to have applied for the food-only retailing segment. The government had allowed 100 per cent foreign direct investment in 2016 food-only retailing to increase jobs and help the producers. The government had however asked Amazon to keep separate management and offices for their food-retailing business, also keeping it visibly distinct from its marketplace business that can only act as an aggregator and not sell products directly to consumers.

"Amazon is now a vendor on Amazon.in and is currently operating in Pune," The Economic Times reported.

An Amazon India spokesperson told the newspaper that the company is on track to launch their food-retailing business in India. Amazon will, however, take a quarter to roll out this service nationwide.

Indian e-commerce giant, Flipkart had launched Supermart in November 2017 that delivers grocery to its customers. American retail giant, Walmart, is in talks with Flipkart to buy a stake of more than 40 per cent in the company. If this happens, then Flipkart as well as its Supermart would be given a very crucial leg-up in their competition with Amazon.

Grocery e-tailers Grofers and BigBasket which are funded by foreign investors have also been given a similar nod as AmazonDays after Fortis Healthcare promoters - Malvinder Singh and Shivinder Singh - stepped down from the board of Fortis and diversified financial services firm Religare Enterprises, the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs said it will initiate a probe into alleged financial irregularities at Fortis Healthcare and Religare Enterprises.

According to a report in PTI, the corporate affairs ministry has been looking into the affairs of Fortis Healthcare and Religare Enterprises after recent reports that financial irregularities have emerged at the two companies. A senior ministry official said an SFIO probe has been ordered against the two companies. The SFIO, under the ministry, mainly probes white collar crimes.

This comes close on the heels of reports alleging that the Singh brothers took Rs 473 crore from their publically listed company, Fortis Healthcare without the board approval. Fortis had earlier issued a release saying the resignation is "intended to free the organisation from any encumbrances that may be linked to the promoters in light of the recent HC judgement."

According to a report in Bloomberg, the funds were mentioned as cash-and-cash equivalents in the company balance sheets but the money was allegedly routed to the Singh brothers. The report didn't confirm where the money was used, but cites it a reason that the company has not released its second quarter results so far.

Refuting the allegations, Fortis Hospitals said it deployed funds in secured short-term investments with companies in normal course of treasury operations. The company release to BSE says the "loans" are fully "secured", and are being repaid.

The Bloomberg report alleges that Fortis's auditor, Deloitte Haskins & Sells LLP, didn't sign off the Q2 result report due to the same reason. "We categorically deny the alleged news that the auditors have refused to sign the accounts for Q2. The limited review process for Q2 and Q3 results is in progress and already sent to your office by February 7," Fortis said in the BSE filing.

Fortis Healthcare has also come under the lens of Sebi, which launched an investigation into alleged regulatory lapses. On Saturday, Fortis informed the exchanges that Sebi, which has instituted an investigation, has sought information and documents by February 26. Sebi Chairman Ajay Tyagi, on February 10 said that the regulator was examining the Fortis issue. "We also received a reference on Religare from somewhere I cannot disclose and it will be looked into," he had said.

Rs 3,500 crore arbitral award

On February 2, a single judge bench of Justice Jayant Nath of the Delhi High Court directed the Singhs to pay Rs 3,500 crore to Japanese drug maker Daiichi Sankyo - that's 35 per cent of the Rs 10,000 crore the Singh brothers had received for selling their stake in Ranbaxy - then valued at $ 4.6 billion - to Daiichi in 2008.

When the Singhs sold their drug company Ranbaxy to Daiichi Sankyo in 2008, the US Department of Justice was investigating a complaint on the basis of a report submitted by whistleblower and company's former employee Dinesh Thakur in 2005. In September 2008, the US government issued a warning to Ranbaxy for 30 of its products, but the deal with Daiichi was signed in November same year.

Diversion of $300 million

On January 30, a New York-based investor, Siguler Guff & Co, which has six per cent stake in Religare Finvest, alleged the Singhs indulged in "diversion and siphoning" of funds to clear their personal debts of at least $1.3 billion. The Singhs allegedly gave 21 loans worth millions to independent companies that rerouted at least $300 million to private firms linked to the brothers on the same day. Religare had said "all the allegations are completely baseless and have been responded to by Religare in the High Court of Delhi."

Manipal in merger talk with Fortis Health

Manipal Hospital, backed by US investment company TPG, is in talks to merge Fortis Healthcare with itself. Bombay Stock Exchange has sought clarification from Fortis Healthcare with reference to reports of Manipal Hospital's merger talks with Fortis Health.

with PTI inputsMettl is one of the fastest growing online talent measurement companies, which specialises in psychometric assessments, aptitude tests, and IT/Non-IT domain tests, on SaaS (software as a service) platform. The company enables organisations focusing on building teams by tapping on latest hiring trends. Mettl Co-Founder Ketan Kapoor in talk with Business Today's Manoj Sharma sheds some light on the latest hiring trends across the industry, and how the optimum use of Artificial Intelligence and Big Data in hiring can help companies boost their overall performance. Here're the excerpts.



What are the hiring trends across IT, e-commerce, auto, pharma, hospitality and BFSI?



With the advent of technology, there's been a tectonic shift in hiring trends in the past five years. The biggest trend seen across the IT sector is workplace flexibility, where you can work from home, coffee shop or take a day out from vacation - it's all acceptable. Hiring has expanded across Fintech and GICs (Global In-House Centres). Hiring through social media is on the rise in hospitality. Interview process through video screening has gained popularity. The convergence between tech giants and pharma firms has increased demand for skilled workers. BFSI (Banking, Financial services and Insurance) is undergoing a big change due to digitization. A rise in income level has created banking opportunities.



In your opinion, what're top hiring trends for 2018?



AI (Artificial Intelligence) and automation are set to take the centre stage. With Digital India marking its boundaries far and wide, its real effects will be seen in 2018. Companies investing in modern recruitment tools will automatically attract the top talent. Glassdoor's 'Statistical Reference Guide for Savvy Recruiters' says around 45 per cent of job seekers search jobs on mobile phones at least once a day. Invest in proper tech tools, and you'll stay ahead of competition.



To what extent has AI, automation, big data, and analytics affected the recruitment scenario?



With the technologies like AI, automation, Big Data, managing bulk applications is a click away. The automation, if used properly, can help reduce the errors. AI, contrary to some reports, will not lead to mass unemployment but it'll accelerate automation and disrupt labour markets if they failed to evolve accordingly. Transition is important to thrive. Choice is yours: man plus machine or machine over man.



How will you differentiate between hiring trends across the startup industry and established companies in tech space?



Startups need flexible and multi-tasking people, who're ready to take on challenges. Most startups work on tight budget, and it's a good product plus talented pool of employees that can make your way through. HR roles are limited to administrative tasks. Salary for entry level employees can sometimes be lower than the market median. For top roles in startups, it's mostly first-come-first-serve.

Big companies focus on profit maximisation and market expansion. Employees can take time to show what they can do. Most companies favour people with expertise in a special area. The HR function is large and diversified, and the recruitment practices are standardised.



How do you see Mettl's seven-year journey in the industry? What are the areas in which you had to evolve continuously?



Mettl has been on a roller-coaster ride. We started as a team of 50 people, which has now grown to a proud family of 350 members. With the ever-evolving dynamic talent trends, and the advent of automation, there's been a revamping in our talent acquisition strategies. And, assessments are slowly becoming one of the major ingredients in hiring and retention process.



You're fully operational in the countries like the US, UAE and Japan? What's the scope?

We have grown manifolds since our inception, and expect similar growth numbers in the years to come. We want to focus on high areas of growth through verticals like IT, education, and retail. In UAE, we have made a mark across various verticals, while in the US, there's still a long way to go but work is on to achieve high results.



How important is learning new skills in times of automation in India?



With the advent of automation, the job scenario is changing. People with 'age-old skills' are becoming redundant. In order to survive in the era of digitalisation, individuals need to 'reskill and upskill' themselves. Better productivity will not only benefit the employees but the companies as well.



Does the current education system equip workforce as per the current industry demand?

I believe there's a scope of improvement, and curriculum needs to be revised to meet the needs of the 21st century workforce. The education system needs to move outside and beyond the books towards application and practical experience.



Name an emerging tech startup that may disrupt the tech world in future?



Keep yourself ready for the Fourth Revolution. It has set its foot but we are yet to experience its effects. Artificial Intelligence solutions can now communicate with users, understand needs, and make decision on their behalf. The scope of AI is expanding rapidly because it promises to reduce cost, improve productivity, and reduce customer attrition. And, a company that'll tap into AI could be next 'Google'.When Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his family arrived in Ahmedabad today, on Day 3 of their India visit, dressed in ethnic attire in shades of yellow and red, they made quite a picture. Media seem to have devoted the past couple of days in equal parts to gushing over his youngest son to speculating whether or not Prime Minister Narendra Modi snubbed Trudeau by not personally receiving them at the Delhi airport on Saturday.

Nevertheless, today was a pretty historic occasion - for the prestigious Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIM-A) at least as the Canadian PM visited the business school. Trudeau was part of a discussion on 'Education and Investment Opportunities' with the students. This was the first time a foreign leader had visited the campus.

Trudeau spoke about gender balance, the idea of an ideal citizen and American President Donald Trump. "Citizens are not fools. Citizens can tell whether someone is genuine in their approach or just trying to live up to some lofty familial expectation," he said. Talking about sexism, Trudeau said, "Any comments about how a man looks aren't even an eyelash worth of the systemic discrimination women face. As a man in business & politics I had lots of advantage but I didn't go near discrimination, sexism, superficiality & judgement that women go through daily."

The Canadian PM mentioned that he always emphasised on how similar he and Donald Trump are in their approach towards the future, that they both are working for the upliftment of the middle class and how the policies of both the leaders have worked very well for the Canadian and American economies.

Tomorrow he will be the special guest at a business event organised by the Indo-Canadian Business Chamber in partnership with the Canada-India Business Council (C-IBC) and is scheduled to address the gathering. "Our economic relationship with India, while growing, is still modest. This visit by Prime Minister Trudeau will provide an excellent opportunity to increase our trade and investment engagement as well as profile the Canadian brand", said Kasi Rao, president and CEO, C-IBC.

According to the chamber, two-way trade between Canada and India stood at about USD 8 billion in 2016. That may not seem much, but it has more than doubled since 2010, when bilateral trade was at USD 3.21 billion. Also, the cumulative India FDI into Canada is pegged at USD 2.2 billion for 2016, with Indian companies investing especially in the IT, software, steel and natural resources sectors.

However, Canadian FDI into India is still less than half that figure. The meeting with business leaders might see improvement on that front. According to sources, Trudeau's objective would be to expand the overall ties between the two countries with a focus on defence and security, counter-terror cooperation, trade and investment and tackling climate change. A similar event has been planned in Delhi on February 22. The following day, Trudeau and Modi are scheduled to hold wide-ranging talks in the capital.

So, as per reports, was Trudeau snubbed on arrival, or not?

On one hand, it does seem like a deliberate slight - the government making obvious its discomfort on Trudeau's less-than-ambiguous support for the Khalistan movement - since Trudeau was welcomed by Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmer's Welfare Gajendra S. Shekhawat, not even External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, or any of her deputies, Gen VK Singh or MJ Akbar. Moreover, Modi did not accompany the family to his home state, an honour he has accorded so far to leaders from the US, Israel, China and Japan.

But on the other hand, let's not forget that when Modi visited Canada in 2016, he was also not received at the airport by Trudeau. So no protocols were broken here but nobody seems inclined to ignore allegations that some of Trudeau's colleagues in the Canadian Cabinet had ties with Khalistan supporters. Trudeau himself attended a Khalsa Day event in Toronto where Khalistan flags and the portrait of former Khalistani militant leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale were displayed.

A bigger peeve is that the Ontario Assembly, dominated by Trudeau's Liberal Party, passed a resolution last year condemning the 'genocide' of Sikhs in India in 1984. So the long shadow of the decades-old Khalistan movement is certainly looming large over Trudeau's first ever state visit to the country.

(With PTI inputs)Maharashtra is going to offer huge opportunity for infrastructure developers with about 12 smart cities coming up in the state, said experts speaking at a seminar on 'Smart Cities and Internet of Things' at the Magnetic Maharashtra investment summit in Mumbai.

The state can fast implement smart cities as there are 30 million internet users, a $400 billion economy growing at 8-9 percent that can become a trillion dollar economy if its grows at 15 percent plus over the next few years, noted Suresh Subudhi, Partner and Managing Director, BCG.

He asserted that if a country like Estonia can implement 99 per cent of its government transactions done online, then Maharashtra can easily create such an infrastructure.

Abhishek Lodha, Managing Director of Lodha Group, said his group is creating a smart city of its own, Palava, which already has a population of over a lakh and it has created numerous job opportunities.

Joy Rajan Cheruvathoor of L&T Constructions said his company has been associated with creating a smart surveillance system for Mumbai and has wifi hotspots in about 6000 places in the city.Devendra Fadnavis-led Maharashtra government targets to grow the state economy to $1 trillion by 2025 from $400 billion now. The growth plan is in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision to make India a $5 trillion economy in the next few years, said Chief Minister Fadnavis in Magnetic Maharashtra summit in Mumbai.



"The growth rate of the state is 9.4 per cent in 2016-17 and we intend to accelerate it to 15.4 per cent to achieve the $1 trillion target by 2025," he said. At the present 9.4 per cent growth rate, achieving the $1 trillion target will be possible only by 2029, he added.



According to the 2017-18 estimates, Maharashtra is expected to grow to $390 billion economy, followed by Uttar Pradesh ($225 billion), Tamil Nadu ($210 billion), Karnataka ($200 billion) and Gujarat ($199 billion).



Fadnavis detailed a road map for growth in the summit, giving emphasis to services sector. "The government looks to grow the share of services sector to 67 per cent in the state GDP by 2025 from 15.5 per cent now. He aims to grow the share of industries sector to 27 per cent from 12.3 per cent.



Fadnavis said that we need to shift to a service oriented economy. "The growth of services and industries will help to unlock the unproductive labour in agriculture. We will have to reskill the unproductive workforce in agriculture for accommodating them in other sectors," he said.



The state's 50 per cent of the employment is in agriculture, but the sector contributes just 11 per cent to the state's economy. However, manufacturing contributes 30 per cent to the economy with 20 per cent of the state's manpower, while services contributes 59 per cent to the economy with 30 per cent manpower, he said.



Maharashtra plans to skill 5 million youth by 2022. In addition, the state targets to enhance ease of doing business and public investments in infrastructure. It looks to connect the high value geographies in the state through high-speed corridors.

Fadnavis said that the state targets to incubate 10,000 start ups in 5 years and it will create 5 lakh employment. There will be emphasis for Fintech startups--- chief minister plans to incubate 300 Fintech startups in 3 years.



Five defence clusters is his another project, and he looks to attract a foreign direct investment (FDI) of $2 billion for the defence projects. He added that Maharashtra contributed 51 per cent to the country's FDI.Most of the large ticket sized MoUs signed so far in Magnetic Maharashtra investment summit are to develop affordable homes and for infrastructure development. The biggest commitment listed by the organisers is an investment of Rs 1 lakh crore by Credai, an apex body of Private Real Estate Developers Associations, Maharashtra, to make 5 lakh homes. A similar investment commitment has been made by the Maharashtra Chamber of Housing Industry (MCHI- Credai) in the Mumbai region with an investment commitment of Rs 75,000 crore to make 2.5 lakh crore homes. Another Rs 90,000 crore commitment is from the National Real Estate Development Council to make 3 lakh homes.

A major private sector real estate investment commitment is from Khaleej Commercial Bank and Bhumi Raj for Rs 50,000 crore to make 2 lakh affordable homes. Poddar Housing has committed an investment of Rs 20,000 crore to develop 1 lakh homes. In Pune, Mangal Namoh Grihanirman has committed Rs 25,000 crore to develop 90,000 affordable homes.

In Palghar, the commitment is to invest Rs 12,000 crore to develop an industrial city by various investors.

Apart from the Rs 60,000 crore committed by Mukesh Ambani in developing country's first-ever 'Integrated Industrial Development Area' in the state over the next 10 years, K Raheja Developers has committed Rs 4850 crore in warehousing and logistics and Yes Bank Rs 10,000 crore to support SMEs in the state.It was announced today that 31 Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs) are teaming up to run hundreds of events across the country from 4th to 9th March. Over 300 events are planned to increase awareness of the range of supports and services available to microenterprises from the 31 Local Enterprise Offices in every county.

The events will cover a broad range of topics such as ethical entrepreneurship, spotting mega trends, getting ready for Brexit, how to tender for more work and close more sales. In addition to one-to-one business clinics, start your own business bootcamps, finance workshops, trading on-line seminars, data protection briefings and Brexit-themed workshops, the LEOs will also be marking International Womens Day with a series of networking events for female entrepreneurs during the week.

Local finals for the National Enterprise Awards and Student Enterprise Programme will also be held in several parts of the country. The week officially kicks-off on Sunday, March 4th with the national final of Irelands Best Young Entrepreneur (IBYE) competition in Google Headquarters in Dublin.

Over 1,400 young entrepreneurs entered the IBYE 2018 competition, which is an initiative of the Local Enterprise Offices and supported by the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation and Enterprise Ireland.

Welcoming plans for Local Enterprise Week 2018, Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Heather Humphreys said, "Creating more and better jobs in regional and rural Ireland is a priority for the Government, which, through the Local Enterprise Offices, provide a range of focused supports for small businesses and start-ups across every county. I am delighted to see that over 300 events are taking place during Local Enterprise Week 2018 to highlight the supports available for microenterprises."

She added, "The new start-ups of today are the employers of the future, and we need to ensure as many as possible succeed. That is why the LEOs in every county in Ireland are on hand to support people embarking on their business journey."

Source: www.businessworld.ieBritain's government is setting out what it wants to achieve from its future partnership with the European Union, Prime Minister Theresa May's spokesman said on Monday, countering criticism that ministers are still divided over Brexit.

"I think you can see from the series of speeches which are taking place - and there will obviously be a speech by the Prime Minister at the end of this speech process - that the government is setting out what it hopes to achieve from its future partnership with the EU," the spokesman told reporters, adding that Britain still wanted to have the basis of a trade deal set out with the bloc by October. (Reuters)

Source: www.businessworld.ieGlobal dividends rose 7.7% to an all-time high of 1 trillion euros last year boosted by a buoyant world economy and rising corporate confidence, Janus Henderson said on Monday, predicting another record year ahead.

The surge - the strongest since 2014 - was driven by increases in every region and almost every industry with record showings in 11 countries including the United States, Japan, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Taiwan and the Netherlands, the investment manager added.

For 2018 Janus Henderson expects dividends to keep the same 7.7% growth rate to reach around $1.35 trillion, as corporate and economic growth remains strong even in more volatile financial markets.

"Companies are seeing rising profits and healthy cash flows, and that's enabling them to fund generous dividends. The record payout last year was almost three-quarters higher than in 2009, and there is more to come," Ben Lofthouse, Director of Global Equity Income at Janus Henderson, said.

"The next few months are set fair, and we expect global dividends to break new records in 2018."

Royal Dutch Shell kept its position as the world's biggest dividend payer. China Mobile rose to second from 19th last year and was followed by Exxon Mobil, Apple and Microsoft, the report said.

The top 20 payers accounted for 15.7% of the total payout.

Adjusting for movements in exchange rates, special one-off dividends and other factors, global dividends rose 6.8% last year and are expected to rise another 6.1% in 2018.

Janus said 2017's dividend growth showed less regional divergence than in previous years, reflecting the broadly based global economic recovery, though Europe lagged behind.

European dividends rose just 1.9% to $227 billion, weighed down by cuts from a handful of large companies in France and Spain, lower special dividends and a weak euro during the second quarter, when most dividends are paid, it said.

In the UK, headline growth was held back at 3% by the weak pound, but underlying growth was 10% as UK-listed multinational mining companies rapidly restored dividends that had been cut during the lean years for commodity prices.

The Asia Pacific region posted the strongest headline growth rate of 18.8% to 139.9 billion, followed by Emerging Markets, up 16.5% to $102.4 billion, while dividends in North America grew 6.9 percent to a record of $475.6 billion.

Janus said every industry saw higher underlying dividends in 2017 except telecoms, which was flat. The mining industry saw by far the fastest growth, up 27.2% on an underlying basis. (Reuters)

Source: www.businessworld.ieThe U.S. Commerce Department is seeking to impose quotas or taxes on Chinese steel and aluminum imports, in part for "national security" reasons

The latest U.S. Commerce Department recommendations to raise tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum imports are baseless and totally inconsistent with the facts, Chinas Ministry of Commerce said.

Director of the ministry's Trade Remedy and Investigation Bureau, Wang Hejun, urged the U.S. to show restraint and comply with multilateral trade regulations in a statement published Saturday (Beijing time).

Wangs remarks come in response to a report on imports on steel and aluminum products by the U.S. Commerce Department Friday, which recommended implementing either a quota on each countrys steel imports, a tariff of at least 24% on steel imports from all countries, or a tariff of at least 53% on imports from 12 countries, including China.

The Department of Commerce also suggested either a similar quota system for aluminum, or a 7.7% tariff on aluminum entering the U.S. from all countries, or a 23.6% tariff on imports from five countries and territories, including China and Hong Kong.

Chinese steel and aluminum makers, a group that includes some of the worlds largest producers of both metals, stand to bear the brunt of new tariffs if the U.S. decides to impose them. If the U.S. eventually takes action that harms Chinas interests, China will take the necessary measures to protect its legitimate rights, Wang warned.

U.S. President Donald Trump must decide on the Commerce Departments recommendations by mid-April.

The U.S. currently has 29 antidumping and countervailing duty orders placed against Chinese steel imports, according to Fridays Commerce Department report, which found that the quantities and circumstances of steel and aluminum imports threaten to impair the national security of the U.S.

In response, Wang said that sluggish global economic recovery and slow growth in demand in recent years were the main causes of the difficulties faced by steel and aluminum industries in many countries today. Countries should not take a beggar-thy-neighbor approach by unilaterally imposing trade restrictions, Wang said.

Contact reporter Teng Jing Xuan (jingxuanteng@caixin.com)China told its insurance funds this weekend that they must not provide covert funding for local governments, and should rather service the real economy.

The comments from Chen Wenhui, deputy chairman of the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC), were quoted in state-run Xinhua News Agency, and follow steps Beijing has taken to enforce fiscal responsibility at local government levels.

In January, the CIRC and Chinas Ministry of Finance issued a joint guidance warning local governments not to provide guarantees for insurers investments.

Chinas local governments have in recent years been accumulating and hiding debt through a number of creative financing methods, including the use of local government financing vehicles, which are companies set up to skirt restrictions on local governments and obtain loans on the governments behalf.

In response, the central government has been attempting to rein in local government borrowing, as part of the first nationwide overhaul of financial regulation since 2003.

At the same time, the countrys regulators have focused on cutting risk in its massive insurance industry. In January, the CIRC published a list of sources of risk for insurers, and tasked regulatory bodies, including city- and province-level bureaus, with tackling each source. Then, on Feb. 13, the national regulator set a new cap of on insurers overseas financing, which must now be limited to 20% of an insurers net assets.

Insurance companies must persist in making long-term investments, value investments, and diversified investments, Chen said, according to the report by Xinhua. Chen said China should effectively prevent insurance institutions from disguising financing to local governments, and instead actively guide them toward investing in the real economy, Xinhua reported.

Contact reporter Teng Jing Xuan (jingxuanteng@caixin.com)Our Promise: Welcome to Care2, the world's largest community for good. Here, you'll find over 45 million like-minded people working towards progress, kindness, and lasting impact.

Care2 Stands Against: bigots, racists, bullies, science deniers, misogynists, gun lobbyists, xenophobes, the willfully ignorant, animal abusers, frackers, and other mean people. If you find yourself aligning with any of those folks, you can move along, nothing to see here.

Care2 Stands With: humanitarians, animal lovers, feminists, rabble-rousers, nature-buffs, creatives, the naturally curious, and people who really love to do the right thing.

You are our people. You Care. We Care2.Overseeing the vast worlds of director Denis Villeneuves Blade Runner 2049 was visual effects supervisor John Nelson (nominated alongside Gerd Nefzer, Paul Lambert, and Richard R. Hoover). Nelson says he and Villeneuve immediately hit it off, especially in their wish to honor the rich history of Blade Runner-related special and visual effects.

One of the reasons I probably got this show was that I told Denis, I dont want to create cg unless I need to. Lets face it, cg is everywhere. Denis really doesnt like cg; he doesnt like visual effects that look like visual effects, and neither did [cinematographer] Roger Deakins, and neither do I. So Denis whole attitude towards visual effects was, Lets restrain it, whereas I think for a lot of directors and studios, its like, with visual effects and spectacle, more is more.

Nelson believes his deep focus during pre-production on the film paid off during the heavy post-production stage, when the directors time was very limited (Hes like a mother that has many children, and hes trying to feed them all, said Nelson).

During the post stages, Nelson and his team would meet Denis at least once a week for effects reviews. Id listen to what Denis had to say about his view for the movie and for the effects and for any specific shot, said Nelson. Id give him three choices that were centered around what I believe hes told me, what I have interpreted his vision to be. Ill give him three, not exactly the same thing, but three choices around that.

I think for a visual supervisor you really try to get in the mind of the director, added Nelson. Because, hes really busy, so you try to hear what he has to say about visual effects. And then you try to pre-create or pre-chew that thing so when he gets it he can say, Yeah thats it or thats partially it. And then you get further into it that way.

With Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, visual effects supervisor Christopher Townsend stepped into a sequel where director James Gunn had already established some incredibly memorable characters and worlds. But with his fellow nominees  Guy Williams, Jonathan Fawkner, and Dan Sudick  and a vast effects crew from around the world, Townsend actually challenged the director to re-visit what had been done before.

The first thing I said to James when I first met him, in our first interview, was, What did you like and what didnt you like about the first film? What is it that worked for you? And what would you do again and what wouldnt you do? recalled Townsend. And he went through some very specifics about, I wouldnt do this, I liked this, this was fantastic, and this didnt work at all.

Gunn had been wary in the first film about sharing the same characters amongst multiple vfx vendors, something Townsend says the director did not want to do again. But the visual effects supervisor was adamant that this had to occur again. In fact, on the first film, two facilities completed shots of Rocket the Raccoon; on the sequel, four would share the character.

Said Townsend: James was very concerned about that. But I said, Look, theres no way, with the body of work that we have, with the scope of work, with the variety of work, and the fact, and the number of shots that will require these two main characters, no one company can do it. I just said, Trust me, and it worked out.

Despite the startling complexity of many of the shots in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Townsend says his job in liaising with Gunn was to sometimes make sure that simpler solutions were not overlooked. There was one shot where we had Michael Rooker as Yondu, and James wanted these rocks to be collapsing onto his face, said Townsend. There was a thought that we should get actual rocks, but I said, Just get a hand and push it into his face. And the whole time Im thinking, God, I hope this works. But thats my job, solving little problems on set all the time.

With a film featuring an enormous ape and just as enormous creatures from the center of the Earth, its important to be able to plan out and visualize just what that would look like. Thats exactly what visual effects supervisor Stephen Rosenbaum, and his team of nominees (Jeff White, Scott Benza, and Mike Meinardus), plus an army of concept designers, previs artists, and visual effects artists did for director Jordan Vogt-Roberts Kong: Skull Island.

A major planning effort was vitally important, too, since the director had not had experience on a major visual effects show. However, noted Rosenbaum, Jordan very quickly channeled his inner geek, and in almost no time, he understood how to think and visualize how our virtual characters could interface with the real world.

Rosenbaum says the process began by setting up a previs team with vfx studio Halon in the production offices. The scene where the helicopters fly to the island and first confront Kong was Jordans initial experience with figuring out how to choreograph a 100-foot-tall beast battling Hueys using shot compositions that dont kill scale. Its a classic and tricky problem in visual effects photography, but resulted in a stunningly dynamic action sequence.

One challenge Rosenbaum also encountered was finding a way to help the director on set to accurately capture the large size and strides of Kong on typically rugged shooting terrains. We couldnt pragmatically use puppets or rigs for the crew and actors to interact, he said. Instead, ILM developed an augmented reality app that allowed us to spatially overlay our cg creatures into the correct physical shooting environments.

It effectively served much like a virtual lens finder, added Rosenbaum. We would look through an iPad camera and see a 3d model of Kong, for example, and move him around the terrain, adjust the lens, and choreograph the camera move.

The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson had also not previously helmed such a massive visual effects film. Visual effects supervisor Ben Morris and nominees Mike Mulholland, Neal Scanlan, and Chris Corbould, plus an international team of effects artisans, guided him through the process.

The very first thing Rian spoke to me about was the Fathier chase on Canto Bight, said Morris. He was really concerned about how the hell we were going to put people onto the backs of creatures. I said to him it wasnt a concern at all. Id done it lots of times. That was just a coincidence, having gone all the way back to Dinotopia, which was years ago. We kind of started the conversation there, and then we got into things about whether we would be able to use miniatures for the space battles, and how many techniques we could do in the old way. I never said outright no, I said lets just let the process evolve and see how things move.

The one thing that was great, and I believe in it as well, continued Morris, is that we made sure that we tried to film some sort of photographic plate for every shot that we worked on. Thats true of whether it was a location, a set, a practical puppet, or a special effect. Wed always attempt something.

In working with Johnson, Morris felt like he was able to learn new things about filmmaking, but also help the director understand some key visual effects concepts. Even things like, Whats a playblast?, said Morris. There are some phrases and terminologies that we just assume the whole world knows. Thered be these moments where Rian would just stare at me and go, What the hells that? Id say, Oh, its just a really simple render that doesnt require a renderer, it happens in real time on the viewport.'

The great thing about Rian, added Morris, is that he gets a huge kick out of working with a costume person just as much as a creature effects person, just as much as a camera operator. He would meet the artists, and he kept relationships going. It was great.

Visual effects supervisor Joe Letteri and the team at Weta Digital have now had three films to master the art of creating living, breathing apes; two of them with director Matt Reeves. Letteri and his fellow effects nominees Daniel Barrett, Dan Lemmon, and Joel Whist delivered a stunning combination of practical and digital imagery for War for the Planet of the Apes, all the while maintaining the performances of on-set actors, such as Andy Serkis, in performance capture gear.

Thats in fact a major component of Weta Digital and Reeves relationship; the performances. All the technical aspects of bringing an ape to life are critically important, but Reeves still of course edits the film using the raw on-set performances. Letteri says it means the visual effects needed to just be part of the filmmaking process.

Everyone had to shed all the preconceptions and just realize youre making the movie, youre photographing it the same way that you would any other actor, he said. The editors are cutting it the same way. Youre scoring to it the same way. You watch Andy and thats your movie. And at some point, while everyone else is doing their thing, were going to gradually transform him into Caesar.

However, Letteri notes that as shots come together and animation would be completed, his collaboration with Reeves continued, with the director having to, in a sense, re-direct the character, because now were looking at how we have Caesar working at that point and were looking at [the original performance] side-by-side, and were saying, Ah, its not quite right. But, what is it? Well he has this little thing he does with his eyelids. Its like oh yeah, well, Caesar cant really do that because his eyelids are structured differently. So what can we do at that moment to make you feel the same way and react the same way?

So, added Letteri, we have these very long discussions about what that interpretation is, so when you see the two side-by-side, emotionally, you feel the same aspects of the performance beat by beat. Even though technically, if you look at movement to movement, theyre not always the same.

The 90th annual Academy Awards take place on Sunday, March 4, 2018.Photo: DriveBC

UPDATE 12:14 a.m.

One lane of the Coquihalla is now open highway 5 southbound. The vehicle incident which happened overnight has now been cleared at exit 202, the Portia Interchange is now clear. There ares still volume delays and you are advised to use caution when travelling today.

UPDATE 6:50 a.m.

Southbound Highway 5, south of Merritt, remains closed at this hour. DriveBC now says they do not anticipate the highway will reopen until 2 p.m.

The highway has been closed most of the night at Merritt Exit 286, because of vehicle incident at Portia Exit 202.

Alternate routes from Merritt are Highway 8, to Highway 1 or Highway 5A to Highway 3.

ORIGINAL 5:28 a.m.

More driving woes Monday morning.

Highway 5 southbound is closed at Merritt Exit 286, because of a vehicle incident at Portia Exit 202.

Emergency crews are on scene assessing the situation right now.

There is an alternate route from Merritt on Highway 8, to Highway 1 or Highway 5A to Highway 3.

No estimated time of opening.If Atletico-MG has reached this stage of the season, captain of the Brazilian Championship and made it to the semi-finals...Cemtech Middle East & Africa gets underway in UAE

19 February 2018

Cemtech Middle East & Africa 2018 conference and exhibition has opened at the JW Marriott Marquis in Dubai, UAE, with delegates from over 30 nations gathering for this annual meeting of cement professionals.



Opening the meeting, Thomas Armstrong, managing editor of International Cement Review, observed how global overcapacity - which reached 2bnta in 2016 - is driving producers to become more competitive by smart investment in cost reducing technologies, optimisation initiatives and embracing alternative fuels and raw materials.



The first morning continued with a detailed overview of markets within the Middle East and Africa region. Hettish Karmani of U-Capital (Oman) focussed on the positive growth progress of the GCC in 2018, where economies are moving from austerity to expansion, which will benefit the construction sectors and cement consumption. Santhosh Balakrishnan, Riyad Capital (Saudi Arabia) offered an update on the Saudi cement industry which suffered from depressed demand in 2017, but has the opportunity for growth driven by the governments US$55bn capex programme and pending mortgage market reform. HBS Globals Syed Hasan analysed the supply and demand structure of the United Arab Emirates, which continues to suffer from overcapacity and relies on exports to sustain utilisation rates. Internally, the market has embraced blended cements, with volumes of cementitious materials reaching 3.67Mt in 2017.



Africa expert and former Dangote Cement CEO, Tony Hadley, considered the mergers, acquisitions and other corporate developments currently underway in Sub-Saharan Africa. Peter Hoddinott, a UK-based independent consultant, provided a look at marketing strategies for cement professionals, whilst assessing the high entry barriers of the industry.



Adib El Hachem, Cimenterie Nationale (Lebanon), discussed the plans for reconstruction and recovery in the Levant. Mr Hachem announced at the conference that the company plans to construct new capacity to serve the post-conflict markets of Syria and Iraq.



Speakers also presented from a technical perspective with Mathis Reichert of Loesche GmbH (Germany) looking at scaling up mills in manufacturing facilities with examples from Nigeria and Pakistan, and Christian Altherr highlighted how Gebr Pfeiffer successfully implemented two grinding units for coal grinding at the Ras Al Khaimah White Cement Company plant.



In addition to a comprehensive presentation programme, delegates had access to 26 exhibition stands which showcased a multitude of state-of-the-art developments in manufacturing technology.

Cemtech Middle East and Africa runs until 20 February, and continues to feature the latest cement industry advances while also examining the outlook and expectations of the sector.

Published underBreedon in talks to acquire Lagan Group

19 February 2018

UK-based construction materials company, Breedon Aggregates, is reportedly looking to acquire all or parts of Lagan Group, a leading building materials company based in Ireland. The Lagan Group currently includes Lagan Cement, which has a production capacity of 700,000tpa, two bitumen terminals in Dublin and Belfast, road marking, quarry and concrete businesses. It is also involved in the manufacture of bricks, blocks and timber frames for the housing sector. In the UK its assets include Welsh Slate, Whelan Quarries and a housebuilding subsidiary.



Breedon already runs an asphalt joint venture with Lagan subsidiary Whitemountain, which reportedly won a lucrative road project in Scotland in 2016.



While it is unclear at this stage which parts of Lagan Breedon is interested in acquiring, Lagan Construction Group is not believed to be part of the talks. Any deal, however, would give Breedon a significant position in the Irish building materials market.



According to the Times Newspapers, the entire Lagan Group's value is believed to run to several hundred million pounds. Breedon currently runs the UK's largest cement plant, two cement import terminals, around 60 quarries, 26 asphalt plants, 200 ready-mixed concrete and mortar plants, and three concrete block plants. In 2016, it completed its largest acquisition to date  the GBP336m (US$471m) purchase of Hope Construction Materials.

Published underEmail Whatsapp Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment

I saw "Black Panther" yesterday, which makes me anything but unusual. The movie took in an estimated $192 million over the weekend domestically, making it the highest February film debut in history. It has already grossed $169 million overseas as well.

It is the highest rated superhero movie of all time. After viewing the film, I can see why.

Ryan Coogler, already famous for "Creed", directed an astounding cast in one of the most gripping films I've seen in years. Part of the movie's appeal is clearly its amazing action sequences and outstanding performances. But its deeper message is one I believe to be especially significant for Christians in America.

Why superhero movies are so popular

"Black Panther" is the 18th movie connected to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, beginning with Iron Man in 2008. DC Comics has made dozens of movies over the years as well.

Superhero movies are extremely popular these days, in part because the news reminds us daily how much we need protection.

Nikolas Cruz has confessed to attacking Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, one of more than 140,000 schools in the US. In addition, there are more than 5.6 million commercial buildings and more than 107,000 shopping centers in this country.

Most have multiple access points and little if any armed security. The cost of protecting each of them against an armed attacker would be astronomical.

A list of the deadliest single-day mass shootings in modern US history includes schools, churches, businesses, a cafeteria, a McDonalds, a postal center, an immigrant community center, a casino and resort, a gambling club, a nightclub, a navy yard, a street, a movie theater, two brokerage houses, a Buddhist center, a nursing home and a government center. Clearly, securing every vulnerable location is impossible.

In our post-9/11 world, the promise of superhero protection, even though fanciful, is attractive. But there's an element central to the plot of "Black Panther" that helps explain its unique appeal as well.

A dilemma at the heart of life

"Black Panther" is about an African nation called Wakanda, which developed a metal called "vibranium" from a meteorite. Vibranium helped them produce an extremely advanced civilization and technology they have hidden from the world by posing as an impoverished country.

At the heart of the movie is a dilemma: Should they share what they know with those in need?

If they do, will they lose control of their resources? Will people use their technology for evil? Is their king's highest duty to his nation or to humanity? If he refuses to help those he can, what kind of country will Wakanda become?

Martin Luther King Jr. noted, "The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was: 'If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?' But the good Samaritan reversed the question: 'If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?'"

"Black Panther" resonates with audiences in large part because its dilemma is our dilemma. Every day, we must face the question of serving self or serving others.

The best test of character

I heard about an executive with an unusual hiring practice. He would force the prospective employee to wait in his assistant's office for ten minutes before their interview. Afterwards, he would ask his assistant how the candidate treated her. Her response was critical to his decision.

The best test of our character is how we treat people we don't have to treat well.

We find this maxim on display in Genesis 45. In the midst of famine, Joseph's brothers returned to Egypt seeking food. Recall that they sold him into slavery some seventeen years earlier (Genesis 37:28). Now he was prime minister of the most powerful nation in the world, second only to the pharaoh himself.

His brothers' lives were in his hands. For their crimes, he could easily and justifiably have ordered their execution. Instead, he arranged for them and their families to join him in Egypt, where they would live under his protection and provision.

Thirty-eight centuries later, his benevolence serves as a model for us.

Let's learn a lesson from Joseph: When we treat with kindness those we don't have to treat well, God blesses our compassion. And we manifest the character of the One who "came not to be served but to serve" (Mark 10:45).

Albert Schweitzer was a world-renowned theologian, musician and missionary doctor. In 1935, he gave a speech to the students of Silcoates School in England on "The Meaning of Ideals in Life."

Dr. Schweitzer told the students, "I don't know what your destiny will be. Some of you will perhaps occupy remarkable positions. Perhaps some of you will become famous by your pens, or as artists. But I know one thing: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve."

Will you be "really happy" today?

Originally posted at the Denison Forum.Email Whatsapp Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment

The world watched, as I did, in awe of 17-year-old, Chloe Kim, catapulting herself into the air rotating her body as high as a four-story building and then landing on hard ice in Women's Half-Pipe competition at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics. Her competitive talents had qualified her for the Olympics when she was only thirteen years old but because of age restrictions, she had to wait four more years. The commentator said after she won the gold, "she will be taking the ultimate 'bling' to her high school prom this year."

The world watched, as I did, the next day glued again to our screens as hundreds of 17-year-old Stoneman Douglas High School students ran fleeing for their lives in Parkland, Florida. A 19-year-old, who was a previous student of the school, was gunning them down and seventeen young lives would now never attend their high school prom.

And we all prayed and cried as God watched too.

The world of high school students has changed since I attended, and it has even changed since my two daughters who graduated in the early 2000's attended. I knew high school students well then, as my husband and I were Booster Parent Presidents and often chaperones for almost 150 students for our daughter's high school choir program. However, students today are much different because of the latest cultural disruption  the smartphone. This age is one of instant and unrelenting technology that beams terrorism, radical political division, financial and environmental destabilization at us 24/7 in the palm of our hand. We can't escape seeing and knowing. Young minds can't escape bullying or the threat of becoming ostracized as texting and social media overpower their ability to be individuals. So most teens isolate their own thoughts and in a world (one that is escalating in violence) they dare not express themselves until they can't. Then they implode committing suicide or explode using gunfire and taking many with them. What's truly scary is that they've been able to practice using video games.

The world as we know it has not just changed for high school students, it's changed for all of us. In her book, researcher of kids born after 1995, Jean M. Twenge, Ph.D. and author of iGen: Why Today's Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy-Completely Unprepared for Adulthood, said, "Cultural change also has many causes, not just one  it's not just parents, but technology, media, business, and education working together to create an entire culture that is radically different from the one our parents and grandparents experienced. Cultures change, and generations change with them, that's the important point. It's not a contest to see which generation is worse (or better), the culture has changed, and we're all in this together."

The world's alarm clock is ringing but are we as Christians ready to wake up? Futurist, Bob Johansen studies disruptions and forecasts in his book, The New Leadership Literacies: Thriving in a Future of Extreme Disruption and Distributed Everything, that we are rapidly losing hope. "Globally, a large number of young people will be lacking in hope and unable to achieve a sense of meaning in their lives - and they will be very connected through digital media. The trigger for next-generation disruption will be a global boom of young people coming of age during a time that President Lyndon B. Johnson would have referred to as "the outskirts of hope." I'm extremely optimistic about this next generation of young people, if they have hope. Hope is necessary for life. They have never before, however, been so connected while they searched for meaning. And I doubt that hope has ever been so hard to find for young people."

The world is watching. Christians are being called to be "seed planters" of hope. To do that we must be willing to not separate ourselves from the culture but to stand in the midst of the chaos and demonstrate a life of Godly choices and actions.

The world of Chloe Kim must have been explosive as she left the gate to roar down the half-pipe on an Olympic stage with millions of people watching. Her focus and endless hours of training brought her to that pivotal moment. Nothing in our efforts is ever certain until it's proven and seen by the entire world. In my devotional, Hope 4 Today: Stay Connected to God in a Distracted Culture, I wrote about becoming a "Hope Rebel." Paul had this attitude in Romans 12:12: 'Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.' He wanted us to know how to grow our hope and see the future, and that the one and only Hope was coming  Jesus.

The question is, are we as Christians willing to show and prove to the world with our daily choices and actions the power and hope of Christ Jesus?

Kathleen Cooke's new devotional "Hope 4 Today: Stay Connected to God in a Distracted Culture" encourages readers to engage with God. As co-founder of Cooke Pictures (cookepictures.com) and The Influence Lab, she publishes a monthly newsletter (influencelab.com/women). Find out more at kathleencooke.com, or reach her on Twitter @KathleenRCookeAdvertising Standards Authority assesses dozens of complaints over 'Messiah has come' billboards

Dozens of complaints have been launched over an Islamic advertising campaign claiming the 'Messiah has come'.

Launched by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, a heavily persecuted minority Muslim sect, a series of billboards in London, Manchester and Glasgow aim to promote the idea, considered heretical by mainstream Islam, that the Messiah promised in the Qur'an has already come in the person of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad.

But the campaign has prompted outrage from Christians, Muslims and Jews who all have notions of a 'messiah' in their beliefs and find the billboards offensive.

The Advertising Standards Authority confirmed to Christian Today it has received 33 complaints so far about the adverts. A spokesman said people have claimed the post is 'misleading because they believe it is not consistent with the teachings of the Quran'.

He said: 'Due to the perceived misrepresentation of Muslim beliefs, complainants also consider the ad offensive on this basis.'

The ASA is assessing the complaints and will make a ruling this week as to whether there are grounds for further investigation.

But a spokesman for the True Islam Campaign said it was crucial Ahmadi Muslims were allowed to express their beliefs.

'Every individual and group has the right to manifest and profess their faith and to curb this would not only be a breach of basic human rights but contrary to the values of freedom of speech and expression which we cherish in this country,' Farooq Aftab told Christian Today, adding that Ahmadis are one of the oldest and most integrated Islamic community in the UK.

He said the advert was being targeted in a coordinated campaign by other Muslim sects.

An email template seen by Christian Today and sent to Ahmadi opponents claimed 'the billboard incites hatred, it is deeply offensive and hurtful to millions of British citizens'. The email urges other Muslims to write to the ASA, the Metropolitan Police and the Charity Commission asking them to take the billboards down.

But Aftab said: 'It is not for states, authorities or organisations to interfere in religious matters. There needs to be a clear separation of State and Church so to speak, otherwise we will go down a very slippery slope with groups or people trying to monopolise religion. No one can determine someone's faith. This is a matter between God and the individual and the hallmark of a pluralistic and democratic society.'

Ahmadis believe that Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, a 19th century Indian cleric, is the second coming of Jesus and subservient to the prophet Muhammed within Islam. Ahmadiyya Muslims are shunned by other Islamic groups and in Pakistan a law was passed in 1978 that meant Ahmadis could not describe themselves as Muslims. This has allowed hardline clerics to preach against Ahmadis who they consider a dangerous cult.

Such is the extent of persecution, the Ahmadi leader, or Caliph, had to flee Pakistan and move his main base to London in 1984. For the last three decades, the UK capital has been the home of the global Ahmadiyya community.

Thousands have now fled to the UK after the first Ahmadi mosque was built in London in 1926 and there are now more than 30,000 Ahmadiyya in Britain.Dog food recall 2018 news: FDA issues warning on drug-contaminated dog food, products withdrawn from market

Traces of a drug used for euthanasia have been found on several dog food products available on the market, prompting the United States' Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to issue a warning to all pet owners on Friday.

According to U.S. FDA, Kibbles 'N Bits, Gravy Train, Skippy, and Ol' Roy are among the many that have been withdrawn by company J.M. Suckers after an investigation led to the discovery of pentobarbital presence in one of their products.

Pentobarbital is a barbiturate that is commonly used in putting down animals.

The announcement came after WJLA-TV, a news station based in Washington D.C, sent samples of various dog food products to an independent lab to get tested for the euthanasia drug.

The investigation found that 60 percent of the tested samples for the dog food Gravy Train came back with positive results.

Although the amount of pentobarbital found on Gravy Train was non-lethal, it is prohibited under the federal law for any concentration of the drug to be found on food products for animals or humans.

In an interview with the HuffingtonPost, a spokeswoman for the J.M. Suckers company said that only Gravy Train tested positive for pentobarbital. But despite this, many products from the company were still pulled out for reasons of caution.

Pentobarbital has been widely used as a euthanasia drug. Small amounts of pentobarbital can cause dizziness, nausea, and drowsiness. However, in high amounts, pentobarbital can induce coma and death.

To see the complete list of products withdrawn by company J.M. Sucker, click here.Florida school shooting survivors plan march on Washington, blast Trump for playing politics

Young survivors of last Wednesday's school shooting in Florida have announced that they are planning a national march on Washington to demand political action on gun control, while Donald Trump was attacked for playing politics over the tragedy.

Student organisers told US media outlets that they were determined to make the shooting, which left 17 students and staff members dead, a turning point in the national gun debate. The attack was the deadliest US school shooting since 2012.

Yesterday, student survivors from Marjory Stoneman Douglas announced their March for Our Lives campaign. They are planning to march on Washington on March 24 to demand that children and their families 'become a priority' for US lawmakers, and hope that other protests will take place simultaneously in other cities on the same day.

'We are losing our lives while the adults are playing around,' said Cameron Kasky, a survivor from the school.

Meanwhile, Trump attacked the FBI and lawmakers probing suspected Russian meddling in the 2016 US presidential election, drawing sharp criticism for saying an excessive focus on Russia led investigators to miss signs that could have prevented the deadly school shooting in Florida.

In a series of tweets over the weekend from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, Trump said congressional investigations and political 'hatred' showed Russia had succeeded in sowing 'discord, disruption and chaos' in the United States.

He accused his Democratic predecessor as president, Barack Obama, of failing to do enough to stop Russian election interference.

'They are laughing their asses off in Moscow,' Trump tweeted on Sunday morning.

In a tweet on Saturday night, Trump criticised the FBI for missing warning signs in the case of Nikolas Cruz, 19, who is charged with killing 17 people on Wednesday at the school.

The FBI acknowledged on Friday that it failed to investigate a warning that Cruz possessed a gun and the desire to kill.

'Very sad that the FBI missed all of the many signals sent out by the Florida school shooter. This is not acceptable,' Trump wrote. 'They are spending too much time trying to prove Russian collusion with the Trump campaign  there is no collusion,' he added.

The Republican president offered no evidence of any link between the investigation of Russian meddling and the FBI's failure to prevent the Florida shooting.

Student survivors of the massacre slammed Trump for connecting it to the Russia probe, which has shadowed his year-old presidency.

'Oh my god. 17 OF MY CLASSMATES AND FRIENDS ARE GONE AND YOU HAVE THE AUDACITY TO MAKE THIS ABOUT RUSSIA???!!' Morgan Williams, 16, tweeted. 'HAVE A DAMN HEART.'

Several lawmakers, including a fellow Republican, also rejected Trump's linking of the FBI's missteps in preventing the shooting to the Russia probe.

'So many folks in the FBI are doing all that they can to keep us safe. The reality of it is, is that they are two separate issues,' Republican Senator Tim Scott said on CBS' 'Face the Nation' programme.

Former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates tweeted: 'Our president uses the tragedy to attack the investigation of a foreign adversary's interference in our democracy. Shameful.'

Yates, who had been a holdover from the Obama administration, was fired early in the Trump presidency for refusing to defend travel restrictions on several Muslim-majority countries.

Additional reporting by Reuters.In defence of Pence: Why shouldn't he think God tells him to say things?

It seems to me that there are two types of Christians in America. One group believes that Donald Trump is a great man and a potentially great president; they buy his sudden conversion to 'serious' Christianity, and see him as their great hope in crushing the liberal agenda on various moral issues.

The other group takes a polar opposite view: to them Trump is a dangerous, unpleasant man who has already made their country  and the world  a far less kind and safe place. They don't believe his conversion story and they wince every time he quotes the Bible or refers to his own faith. Few people are left 'holding their noses' any more; there's little room for nuance left among American Christians when it comes to Trump. You either love him, or you hate him.

When it comes to Trump's vice-president, Mike Pence, things gets a bit more complicated. Unlike Trump, who discovered a Christian faith on the campaign trail just in time to win a large portion of the evangelical vote, Pence has been a long-term believer. In a high-profile visit last year to The Church by the Glades (a Hillsong-style charismatic congregation in Florida which is one of America's fastest growing churches), Pence talked about coming to faith as a student, after a visit to a Christian music festival in 1978. He's been consistently part of a church ever since; he demonstrably holds a deep and sincere belief in God.

Pence's testimony at that Florida church  an ethnically-diverse congregation containing plenty of Democrats  received a standing ovation. It's unlikely that a message from Donald Trump would have received the same enthusiastic response, and this is just a small illustration of how things are more complicated with Pence. All Christians have to accept that, even if his politics and his theology might be very different to theirs, he's definitely one of their own.

We also know, given how often the president jokes about it, that Pence is outspoken about his faith at work, regularly invoking God in meetings, or stopping proceedings to pray. Despite their misgivings about the Trump administration, even its most ardent Christian critic would have to concede that this is essentially a positive thing. Mike Pence is making sure that God  or at least, talk about him  is at the heart of the White House.

So this week, when a former White House staffer revealed that Pence openly says that 'Jesus tells him to say things', I  like many other Christians  felt conflicted. On the one hand, the thought that Jesus' name might be being used to somehow legitimise outrageous and unholy policies is horrifying. But what if Pence, who really does try to read his Bible, pray, listen and walk closely with God, really is hearing from him? What if Pence's voice really is bringing a Christian perspective into meetings that would otherwise be dominated by Trump's hard capitalism and trademark volatility?

As a Christian, I believe that God does still speak today, very occasionally in an audible voice, but more usually through Scripture, the words of others, our own thoughts and more. If anything I'm encouraged that someone at the centre of the most powerful  and potentially dangerous  political administration in the world is listening out for him. Now of course, I don't want to be naive, and while Pence is clearly a man of faith, he interprets that faith through a vastly different political lens to some of the rest of us. His reported views on same-sex attraction for instance, are extremely concerning even to many Christians, and his hard line on immigration seems to take a more Old Testament approach to territory.

Still, the thought that Pence (who appears to be the one man capable of working alongside Trump for the medium-to-long term), is prepared to speak up on the basis of what he thinks God is saying is somewhat encouraging. Maybe Jesus really will 'tell him to say things', at a point of global importance. Maybe when Trump is about to declare war, or suggest some draconian new policy that harms America's poorest people. Maybe Jesus will speak, and Mike Pence will be the one to listen and take action as a result.

I'm sure lots of people are praying for the president. But perhaps the person we should be really praying for is Mike Pence, that he really would hear from God, given how open he is to receiving messages from above. We should pray too that his heart and mind would be open to what God might truly want to say, rather than simply allowing his own biases to become 'sanctified.' Half of America  and more than half of the world  are deeply concerned about President Trump and his politics, and what they might mean for long term global stability. In that context, the fact that his right-hand man is listening to God is no bad thing.

Martin Saunders is a contributing editor for Christian Today and the deputy CEO of Youthscape. Follow him on Twitter @martinsaunders.ISIS claims attack on Russian church that left five dead

ISIS claimed responsibility for an attack on a church in Muslim-majority Dagestan, southern Russia, on Sunday.

Five people died when a gunman, later identified as 22-year-old local resident Khalil Khalilov, opened fire on Orthodox worshippers leaving mass in Kizlyar, a town in the Russian North Caucasus region.

ISIS' Russian affiliate claimed the attack via the militants' news agency Amaq. It said: 'Putting his trust in Allah, one of the zealous soldiers of Islam, Khalil ad-Dagestani (may Allah accept him) set out towards the Christian temple of George in Kizlyar city in Dagestan. He targeted the Crusaders with his rifle, killing 5 of them and wounding 4 others, and to Allah belongs all honor, and to His messenger, and to the believers, but the hypocrites don't know, and all praise is due to Allah.'

The president of neighbouring Chechnya, denied Islamists were responsible. Ramzan Kadyrov, said: 'One can say with certainty that the bandit and his patrons, in case he had any, do not have any direct or indirect connection to Islam.

'The North Caucasus has always been a region of close cooperation and mutual understanding between Muslims and Christians. So today, it is our duty to deter assaults on our heritage that instigators and Russia's enemies may make,' he said according to the Russian news site Tass.

He added: 'Those linked to him deserve to be severely punished.'

The Russian RBK daily quoted an Orthodox priest saying the attacker opened fire on churchgoers following an afternoon service. 'We had finished the mass and were beginning to leave the church. A bearded man ran towards the church shouting "Allahu Akbar" and killed four people,' Father Pavel said. 'He was carrying a rifle and a knife.'

A fifth person later died in hospital.

The attack occurred as churchgoers celebrated Maslenitsa, a Christian holiday marking the last day before Lent according to the eastern Orthodox calendar. It is also exactly a month before Russia's elections on March 18 which sitting president Vladmir Putin is almost certain to win.

ISIS said it had established an affiliate in the North Caucasus in 2015 and has claimed responsibility for a number of attacks on police in Dagestan in the past couple of years involving guns and explosives. Local security forces are battling an Islamist insurgency but attacks on the region's minority Russian Orthodox population are rare.

Kizlyar is around 170 kilometres from Dagestan's capital Makhachkala and has a diverse population of 50,000 spanning 10 different ethnic groups. The small republic in the Caucasus mountains borders Chechnya, where Moscow has led two wars against separatists and radical religious groups since the 1991 Soviet collapse. It is one of the poorest and most unstable regions in Russia and has seen a large number of people join Islamic State.Why, as a Christian, I welcome Richard Dawkins and 'The God Delusion' taking to the stage

It's finally happened. Richard Dawkins's The God Delusion (TGD) is to be put on the stage. Chorlton Arts Festival in England is going to have the first theatre version of the best selling atheist book.

I think it is a highly appropriate idea for TGD, which is after all an entertaining piece of propaganda, rather than a serious academic work. In fact I can't wait for the film version and perhaps the spin off series. Fans of TGD regard it with all the reverence of holy writ and see it as a life-changing book that 'should be placed in every school' (nothing like a little atheist indoctrination!). Dawkins's own website had a 'converts corner' where people could give their testimony about how they 'saw the light'.

Thomas Moore, the artistic director of the company that will perform the play certainly thinks it is a transforming work. 'The only way to describe the show is a light-hearted journey through the sound reasoning that the book so brilliantly details,' he said. 'It's somewhere between an atheist support group and watching a great stand-up comedian. We hope that when people leave the show they feel changed.'

I have to confess that I too found reading The God Delusion a life changing experience. Not because I was persuaded by its arguments  which are largely a rehash of Bertrand Russell's Why I am not a Christian. In fact as atheist books go it's an embarrassment to many thinking atheists (there are some!). Prospect magazine which had earlier voted Dawkins as one of the top three intellectuals in the world had a scathing review: 'It has been obvious for years that Richard Dawkins had a fat book on religion in him, but who would have thought him capable of writing one this bad? Incurious, dogmatic, rambling and self-contradictory, it has none of the style or verve of his earlier works.'

TGD was a life changing experience for me because after I had read it, I wrote an online article which was picked up by the Dawkins website. Because of the response I got on the Dawkins website I continued to write replies to TGD which eventually were published as The Dawkins Letters.



This became a surprise bestseller and opened up many doors for me to speak and share the Gospel in secular settings. Dawkins himself was not too pleased and called me a 'flea' thus giving me my alias  the wee flea (in honour of my Scottish Presbyterian denomination).

The initial article (before I got banned) resulted in thousands of online comments. Around one third were intelligent and polite disagreement, one third were mildly mocking but what astounded me were the third that were vitriolic in their abuse. My sister (at that time not a Christian) was highly amused at one quote which she seemed to think summed me up rather well! 'XXX David Robertson is a self-righteous narrow minded, up his own XXX thick as pig XXX moronic retard! Watch out David, the sky fairy is late for his second coming and will be angry with you. Why is anyone debateing with this moron? He doesn't know how to! He has the intellectual capacity of road kill!'

Its all highly entertaining knockabout stuff. So maybe this is excellent material for a theatre show?

The fascinating thing about TGD is that the devotion its adherents give to it is more akin to religious revivalism, than to any 'oasis of reason'. I once spoke at the Stornoway book festival, at which Dawkins was also speaking. If anyone were to listen to the two lectures we gave and compare the responses you would think that Dawkins was the preacher. Both lectures were packed out, but whilst mine was a relatively calm affair, Dawkins was more like a revivalist meeting. 'There is no God' said the atheist evangelist: cue rapturous and ecstatic applause.

As well as the religious devotion what also struck me was the anger. The New Atheists (as they liked to self-identify) seemed to have as their motto, 'There is no God, and I hate him!'. Dawkins would often begin his revivalist rallies in the US with the reading from the third chapter about the God of the Old Testament being 'arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction'. Again to rapturous applause. Listening to these rallies it seemed as if they were like large therapy sessions for people recovering from religious abuse! 'Hi...my name is Richard...and I am an atheist'.

I developed my own term for this new atheism, complete with its four prophets the self-styled horsemen of the atheist apocalypse, (Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris and Daniel Dennett): New Fundamentalist Atheism. The New Fundamentalist Atheists (NFA) were angry, dogmatic and did not take kindly when anyone apostatised from their faith. When one of the old atheists, Anthony Flew, announced 'There is a God', they went berserk, accusing him of senility at best and betrayal at worst. Others have had the same experience  the atheist heresy hunters will not brook any dissent from their dogma. One such was Richard Morgan who had a rather special conversion through interaction on the Dawkins website. He wrote in a chapter in a later edition of The Dawkins Letters, (called 'Salvation came through Richard Dawkins'): 'As I considered my perception of life, the universe and everything, it was literally as if I had been looking at a two-dimensional image in black and white, and in an instant everything became three dimensional and Technicolor'. Poor Richard was immediately identified as having some kind of mental disorder.

Those of the atheist faith  or at least of the NFA sect  tend to use the same arguments all the times. They have their creed and mantras  one of which is 'atheism is just the lack of belief in God, like people have a lack of belief in fairies'. If that were true then why has a retired businessman, Louis J Appignani, given $2.2 million to endow the USA's first atheist academic chair  a post that it was announced this week has just been filled? Dawkins of course welcomed this chair: 'I think it's a very bold step of the University of Miami, and I hope there will be others'. Perhaps someone could explain how you can have an academic chair just to study the lack of belief? Will Mr Appignani be funding the Afairiest chair?

No  atheists have their faith positions, their doctrines, their books and  a la Richard Dawkins  their evangelists. It is therefore entirely appropriate that they now have their own theatre show. If only they could find some decent atheist music they could be on to something!

Meanwhile as a Christian I am very thankful for Richard Dawkins. He has enabled many more people to hear the Christian Gospel and to see the inadequacies of the atheist faith. I hope and pray that one day he too will come to see that atheism is an unreal delusion and that he will come to know the truth he so vehemently seeks to deny.

David Robertson is associate director of Solas CPC in Dundee and minister at St Peter's Free Church. Follow him on Twitter @TheWeeFlea

FirstLight Home Care plans to open an office in Pearland in March.

The office, owned and operated by Pearland resident Aisha Haq, will provide non-medical services to seniors, adults with disabilities, new mothers, those recovering from surgery and others. The company's caregivers can assist with tasks such as personal hygiene, cooking, cleaning, errands, mobility issues and dementia care.

RELATED: FirstLight Home Care opens new location in Katy

FirstLight Home Care has expanded to more than 240 locations in 33 states since opening the first franchise location in 2019. The company was founded by Jeff Bevis.

FirstLight also has franchise locations in Houston, Humble, The Woodlands and Richmond.Noble Energy

Noble Energy Inc. and Delek Drilling-LP, the lead partners in Israel's largest gas fields, said they signed a $15 billion agreement to export gas to Egypt's Dolphinus Holdings Ltd.

The energy producers plan to supply around 64 billion cubic meters of natural gas from the Tamar and Leviathan reservoirs for a 10-year period, the companies said in an emailed statement. The export deal needs regulatory and government approvals in Israel and Egypt, they said.One of the most famous voices from Texas has betrayed his Lone Star roots to hawk burgers for the Tennessee-based chain.

As first pointed out by the Austin American-Statesman, Matthew McConaughey is now the voice of Carl's Jr. in commercials in TV and on radio.Thursday, Feb. 22, is National Margarita which gives all of us in Texas a proper excuse to go out and consume goblets of puckery, yellow slush. As if we needed a holiday.

The margarita is often described as the world's best-selling cocktail. But it's not, which may come as a shock to most Texans. Have another gulp of your marg and read on: Our favorite icy merger of tequila, lime juice and triple sec is only No. 6, according to Drinks International which ranks the best-selling cocktails each year by asking the best bars in the world (using the results of the Worlds 50 Best Bars list) to list their best-selling libations.Will President Donald Trump return to Trump Tower upon his departure from the White House?

Historically, most U.S. presidents head back to their hometowns after their terms in the Oval Office, although Barack Obama bucked the trend of leaving Washington, D.C.

The Obamas opted to stay in D.C. for a few years, until youngest daughter Sasha finishes high school.

According to DCist, the first family will be the first president to remain in D.C. post-presidency since Woodrow Wilson left office in 1921.

>>Take a look at where presidents have lived before and after the White House in the gallery above.

The Obamas leased a stately 1928 home in the Kalorma neighborhood of D.C. With a 10-car garage and nine bedrooms, the home seems well suited for the Secret Service. Their monthly rent has not been disclosed, but the home most recently sold for $5,295,000 in May 2014.

PHOTOS: White House Christmas decorations 2016

When George W. Bush left the White House, he and his wife, Laura, moved to Dallas' prestigious Preston Hollow neighborhood. According to the New York Times, he has a "man cave" that contains "mementos and pictures from his time in power." (Story continues below.)

TEXAS' WHITE HOUSE, Y'ALL: White House replica, former Texas governor's mansion going to auction

His father, George H.W. Bush, returned to Houston when he left office in 1994. He and his wife, Barbara, settled into a red-brick home on West Oak Drive South in Tanglewood.

"We are living in our new house, built on our famous tiny lot, and it is perfect for us," the Massachusetts-born former president told a New York Times reporter via fax.

"They really are very nice neighbors," their neighbor told the Times in 1994. "They are just trying so hard to have normal, quiet life."

THE GOLD STANDARD? Will Donald Trump's White House be as opulent as his Manhattan penthouse?

As for Trump, he's already spent a lot of time in his "Winter White House," Mar-a-Lago. Although his primary home is his Manhattan penthouse, where he was rumored to spend most of his personal downtime.

An article once stated that Trump is "a homebody who often flew several hours late at night during the campaign so he could wake up in his own bed in Trump Tower."A drive-by shooting late Sunday in south Houston has left one man in critical condition, according to Houston police.

The man was shot in the head before 10 p.m. at 11800 Chanteloup Dr., a residential street just south of Orem and just west of State Highway 288.Billy Smith II/Chronicle

A new documentary called "Tell Them We Are Rising" is airing at 8 p.m. on PBS, and a special segment about Houston's historically black universities will screen after the movie.

The film, outlining a 150-year history of black colleges, is by filmmaker Stanley Nelson and screened last month at Texas Southern University. Prairie View A&M University showed the film in early February.A Texas woman was charged a total of $17,850 by a Houston lab for a urine screening that looked for an array of legal and illegal drugs that had nothing to do with her care, Kaiser Health News reported.

The typical charge for a routine urine test is rarely more than $200 -- and usually much less.

In December 2015, Elizabeth Moreno, now a 30-year-old student at Texas State University in San Marcos, had back surgery. Afterward her surgeon prescribed a post-operative painkiller. A follow-up visit in January 2016 ended with a request that she leave a urine sample. Seemed harmless enough.

Then in March 2017, more than a year later, the five-figure bill from Sunset Labs arrived.

The lab had done an exhaustive screening for a collection of unrelated drugs that included tests to detect marijuana, cocaine, and even PCP, commonly known as angel dust, KHN reported. It also tested for a drug used to treat opiod addiction.

Each of the tests added hundreds of dollars to the tally, including an $850 fee to make sure no one had tampered with two of the tests.

Moreno's insurer, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas, balked and refused to pay anything, saying the lab was outside its network, according to the story. The insurer did say if the service had been in-network the customary charge was about $100.

The lab reportedly said the charges were not out of line and it was only doing what the doctor ordered.

RELATED: Blindsided

Sunset Labs is part of a network of pain clinics and other medical businesses founded by Houston anesthesiologist Phillip C. Phan, according to Texas secretary of state filings and court records and reported by KHN. Court records showed Phan's companies also own the facility where Moreno had her operation.

RELATED: Walmart steps up and into the health care fray

In the end, Moreno's father, fearing that his daughter's credit would be ruined, settled the bill for $5,000. A retired doctor, he also filed a formal complaint about the bill with the Texas Attorney General's office for price gouging. That office offered no comment. Neither did the surgeon who ordered the tests, KHN said.Schools across the country are urged to throw away certain ready-to-eat chicken patties after a Texas-based company said they could be contaminated.

A malfunctioning machine at Waco-based Pilgrim's Pride Corp. caused nearly 100,000 pounds of the chicken patties possibly to be contaminated with rubber, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. USDA officials said they have not received any reports of anyone being harmed by the contaminant as of Feb. 16.The Shepherd FFA Livestock Judging Team competed at the Fort Worth Stock Show Goat Judging Contest on Jan. 13, placing third out of 28 teams. Students have been working very hard and have been placing in the top 10 at every contest in which they participated.

Contestants were Will Whitaker, Bret Dabney, Ty Wilson, Trevor Hodge, Kenya Jeffcoat, Madison Smith and Joel Patino. This team also placed 10th out of 63 at the Klein Invitational and ninth out of 63 at the Deer Park Invitational. This team will be going on to compete this weekend at the East Central Invitational and the San Antonio Livestock Judging contest.Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake," the story of a Russian princess turned into a swan under an evil sorcerer's curse, left plenty of room for artistic interpretation; endings have ranged from catastrophic to romantic.

On Saturday, Ballet Ball nailed both.

After Hurricane Harvey displaced Houston Ballet from Wortham Theater Center, the institution's home venue and the site of Ballet Balls past, chair Hallie Vanderhider was tasked with finding a new locale to host her fast-approaching gala. Thankfully, Richard Flowers and the Events Company swooped in with a glorious solution: a custom, clear tent erected over the Ballet's parking lot.

The temporary structure took a full week to build. Much like Natalie Portman's Oscar-winning turn in Darren Aronofsky's sinister and delightfully campy "Black Swan," decor was equal parts Odette, the White Swan, and Odile, her noir counterpart.

Half of the ballroom gleamed ivory, silver and gray while the other half was a exquisite nightmare in ebony, obsidian and onyx. A chandelier canopy split the two.

Guests entered the illuminated pop-up via a red carpet. Several patrons, including new board member Holly Smith Alvis, paused for a social media op in front 3D-printed wings.

Inside, four costumed ballerinas manned the night's most Instagrammed spot, a custom pond complete with blown-up swan floats and two aerial swans flying overhead.

But Vanderhider, the Swan Queen, flew in and blew all other birds out of the water.

Fashion designer Naeem Khan spent four weeks and 3,500 natural black coque feathers on Vanderhider's seven pound gown. She was escorted by a white feather-caped Fady Armanious, Tootsies's creative director who orchestrated the couture match-up.

Fellow patrons Phoebe Tudor and Duyen Nguyen embrace extreme plumage, too. The pair modeled their quilled outerwear together on a mirrored runway.

For dinner, City Kitchen played up the graphic color motif; jumbo lump crab with black truffles, beef tenderloin and grilled sea bass, and "deconstructed" genoise cake won over even the most discerning diners. At least one principal dancer cleared her plate in record time.

And speaking of crowning achievements, the evening honoring United Airlines raised more than $1.4 million - the most in Ballet Ball history.

Vanderhider celebrated the victory with a wardrobe change. She shimmied into a dance floor-friendly Monique Lhuillier dress covered in fuschia ostrich feathers for Party on the Moon's tent-rattling performance.

Unlike "Swan Lake" or "Black Swan," this year's gala scored a fairtytale ending.Since July, Hunters Creek Village has educated roughly 450 Memorial Village residents about carrying using a handgun and also plans to start CPR beginning in March.

Students in the license to carry classes, which have been held monthly at the Hunters Creek City Hall, learn how to safely use their handguns.

"[They learn] the amount of responsibility that comes with owning and possessing a firearm and how to safely handle and store the weapon, as well as when you are justified and not justified in protecting yourself, your family and your home," said Memorial Villages Police Chief Ray Schultz.

The classes have room for 50 students and, according to Schultz, have sold out quickly each month. At first, the classes were just offered to Hunters Creek residents, but as word has spread, the city extended the invitation to attend to other Memorial Villages residents in December. However, the majority of the students have been residents of Hunters Creek, which has approximately 1,400 households, Schultz said.

Hunters Creek Village Mayor Jim Pappas said he thinks the classes have been popular due to the prevalence of crime in communities and how it is covered in the media.

"All over the news, both TV and print, all you see is violence and crime. As the Villages are an affluent area, there are many targets for such," Pappas said. "We have a wonderful instructor in Randy Woodam who makes it fun and useful for urban living in a crime ridden city (Houston, not Hunters Creek)."

He said he thinks a lot of people would have liked to take such a class but did not because they are not sure where exactly to find one or just never gotten around to it.

Schultz said the main purpose of the classes is to improve security in the community.

"The main value is safety. Many residents own firearms and often at public forums will ask questions about being able to protect themselves and their families while in their homes," Schultz said. "The class answers many of those questions while specifically addressing firearm safety when handling, transporting and storing weapons."

While handguns can bring protection, Schultz said gun owners have a duty to be properly educated and that the classes address some of those concerns.

"Carrying a concealed firearm has very unique responsibilities and in some cases limitations. The class helps residents understand those," Schultz said.

Pappas said with the current interest and demand, he estimates the city will continue the classes through the end of the year. To date, he said, most of the students have been Village residents, but some have been friends or relatives of residents who have heard about the program.

Schultz said he hopes having the class would deter would-be criminals from targeting the Villages.

"The Villages is a very close-knit community where residents know their neighbors and closely watch out for each other," he said. "Criminals who are up to no good will be spotted and the authorities will be notified. A criminal attempting to threaten or injure someone in the Villages needs to be aware that our residents will not stand idly by. They will protect themselves, their families and their neighbors."

The next license to carry class will be held at 5:30 p.m. Feb. 28 at the Hunters Creek Village City Hall. Pappas said the classes usually fill up within 24 hours of being posted on the Memorial Villages Police Department V-Linc messaging system. Memorial Villages residents and non-residents can sign up to receive alerts at www.mvpdtx.org. Dates for the classes are posted each month.

People who want to use the class to get their concealed carry permit must be at least 21 years old and have a clean criminal record, but the class can also be taken for informational purposes as well. The fee for the class, which lasts four hours, is $75.

Hunters Creek also plans to start offering CPR classes beginning in March. Also taught at city hall, the classes will show Hunters Creek residents how to perform the life-saving technique. The date of the first class has not been determined, but Pappas said the class will be taught by the lead trainer at the Village Fire Department.

He said he hopes the classes will encourage residents to stop putting off what many of them have probably wanted to do for a while. The class will initially be for Hunters Creek residents, he said, but will probably be extended to other communities in the future.

According to Village Fire Department Fire Chief David Foster, the CPR classes that will each have 12 to 15 students and last two to four hours.

Pappas said the city of Hunters Creek will sponsor, so the classes should be free to participants.

Foster said he believes the course will be beneficial to the community because it will help save lives and that everyone should learn how to do CPR.

"While it only takes our paramedics minutes to arrive, immediate CPR significantly increases the chances of surviving cardiac arrest."

Pappas said the city of Hunters Creek is open to having other classes in the future that could contribute to the welfare of its residents.

"We have a beautiful city hall that sits empty every night except for court," he said. "We are always open to any all ideas, so yes, we will keep providing such classes so long as there is interest."A man was fatally shot Sunday night inside a parked car outside a Walmart near Hobby Airport, according to Houston police.

Paramedics found the man wounded in his car near Rowlette and Almeda Genoa around 10:30 p.m. He died at the hospital.

READ ALSO: Fatal motorcycle crash closes I-45 inbound at Parker

Investigators reviewed surveillance footage and determined that the victim and one of his friends met up with two people in the store's parking lot before the gunfire.

The two people got into the victim's car and, at some point, shot him repeatedly.

Then, they hopped out and got into their own car and fled the scene. The victim's friend ran away to safety.

Authorities have not yet released the name or age of the victim and have not offered a suspect description.

Anyone with information in the case can contact homicide at 713-308-3600 or Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS.Google Maps

A Houston middle school was placed on lockdown Monday morning for two hours after one of its students allegedly made a threat on social media.

The threat was made specifically against Stevenson Middle School in southeast Houston, Houston ISD spokesperson Tracy Clemons told Chron.com.Emotions are running high in the city of Plano today after the City Council voted 7-1 to censure a fellow councilman over anti-Islamic posts on social media.

The council called a special meeting Sunday to weigh action against Councilman Tom Harrison after he posted a short video on Facebook with the message: Share if you think Trump should ban Islam in American schools, NBC Channel 5 in Dallas-Fort Worth reported.

After an executive session, many on the council spoke about the case and the citys image. Mayor Harry LaRosiliere then called for Harrisons resignation, but the councilman refused. That led to the censure vote. See more in the video below.

ABC affiliate WFAA-TV reported that this was the second anti-Islam post, among other controversial social media posts.

"Its a serious matter. And we know that everybodys emotional about it. We all are," LaRosiliere told the audience, asking that they "keep the jeering and cheering down."

"The apology given doesnt erase the very harmful and unintended consequences we are now facing as a city and as a school district because of his mistake. This mistake has created a divisive environment in our city that I will not stand for," said Councilwoman Kayci Prince.

Councilman Ron Kelley noted that "we are talking about multiple posts" and said he was especially appalled by one containing a message about slavery and Muslims.

"Absolutely intolerable" is how Rick Grady, mayor pro tem, described the case. "I have fought my entire life for this hatred to go away, for this stereotype to go away, for this bigotry to go away, and it seems to continue."

One councilman drew the greatest response from the audience, but not on an entirely positive note.

"We are a city of inclusion, and I believe that with all my heart," said Rick Smith. "There are other things that were brought up to us today, and its heartbreaking It cant go unnoticed. It cant go unsaid. Its just wrong.  With the other things that have come out, its not just an isolated incident."

Jeers erupted, followed by some applause, when Smith refused to call for Harrisons resignation.

"Im asking Councilman Harrison to look into his own heart and make that decision  Im not going to ask him to do it."

After initially declining to comment at the start of the council session, Harrison followed the other council members comments with his own:

"I want to assure the citizens of Plano that I am not xenophobic. I am not a bigot. I am not a racist.  I did put an apology out there. I did put a cautious note out there saying I will be cautious from now on, but I will not resign."

Harrison did not respond to reporters' questions after the meeting, and could not be reached for comment Monday.

The mayor's office did not return a call for comment or developments.

Andy Warren is a distribution producer for news at Chron.com. You can read more of his stories here and follow his Twitter at @AndyWarrenTX.AUSTIN - Former Vice President Joe Biden on Sunday night focused an hour-long speech here on criticizing President Donald Trump's administration for undermining the nation's role as a scientific leader but offered no new hints about whether he'll run again for the White House

"We can not keep our position as the scientific leader of the world if we're debating basic research on climate change," Biden told more than 1,000 people attending the annual American Association for the Advancement of Science conference.

Biden said he was alarmed that Trump went a whole year without a science adviser, the longest any president has gone without the position filled since the 1970s.

"It is unacceptable that after a year in office our current president has no science adviser, no director of the office of science and technology policy," Biden said.

Biden also warned the crowd that the administration is not doing enough to continue the "Cancer Moonshot" initiative he helped spearhead under President Barack Obama. Biden helped pass the 21st Century Cures Act, which provides $1.8 billion over seven years to invest in the fight against cancer.

"There's not any sense of urgency there, not surprisingly," Biden said of the Trump White House.

Biden has become a prominent voice in cancer research. Biden and his wife Jill Biden launched the Biden Cancer Initiative in 2017 to speed advances in cancer research and care.

Last year he wrote a book focused on his son Beau Biden's battle with cancer. In the book, "Promise Me, Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship and Purpose" and during public speeches including one last year in Sugar Landnear Houston last year, Biden specifically praised the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center for taking care of his late son. Beau Biden died in 2015 at 46.

Biden was speaking on Sunday to the AAAS, a non-profit group focused on increasing public understanding of science and engaging policymakers on issues regarding science.

His appearance comes at a time of growing speculation about whether he will run for president again. The Associated Press reported that Biden recently told longtime policy aides that a White House campaign in 2020 is a real possibility. According to the AP, Biden met with several aides at his office near Capitol Hill to plan for his new diplomacy center. During the meeting, he reportedly told those in attendance  including his former chief of staff, his former national security adviser and a former State Department official  that he had not decided about 2020.

He indicated to his longtime aides that he'd be interested in them joining his campaign if he decides to make a run for the White House, The Associated Press reported.

Jeremy Wallace writes about state politics and government for the Chronicle. Follow him on Twitter at @JeremySWallace.AUSTIN  The White House signaled Monday that President Donald Trump is receptive to U.S. Senator John Cornyn's plan to improve federal compliance with criminal background checks Monday, giving new hope to a bipartisan gun bill born from the massacre in Sutherland Springs.

The conversation between the president and the No. 2 Senate Republican came Friday, two days after a shooter killed 17 people in a high school in Parkland, Florida, again revving up the national debate over gun restrictions.

"While discussions are ongoing and revisions are being considered, the president is supportive of efforts to improve the federal background check system," White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement Monday.

The legislation by Cornyn, a Texas Republican, has 35 co-sponsors in the Senate. The plan would not expand background checks but tighten reporting requirements for military and federal agencies.

Seventeen of the bill's co-sponsors are Republican, and 17 are Democrat. The other co-sponsor is an independent.

The statement from the White House signals a willingness to consider a limited gun regulation measure after several recent massacres have come and gone without congressional action.

Cornyn's narrow legislation focuses on giving incentives to states and federal agencies to upload all information to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. The goal is to ensure people who are prohibited from possessing a gun are stopped from buying one.

The legislation, called the Fix NICS Act, would also help state governments share relevant criminal records with the background check system.

The Texas Republican filed the legislation following a November church shooting in Sutherland Springs, that left 26 congregants dead that day, including nine children.

Devin Patrick Kelley, 26, opened fire on the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs during a Sunday morning service on Nov. 5, 2017. Kelley, who was court-marshaled and thrown out of the Air Force after assaulting his wife and step son severely he fractured the boy's skull, should have been barred from buying the rifle he used in the attack.

Cornyn soon introduced his legislation to tighten reportedly loose and confusing reporting requirements for federal agencies, such as the military, but the bill had yet to gain traction.

'Simply unacceptable'

Since then, federal officials have uploaded thousands of records into the national Instant Criminal Background Check System, according to CNN, apparently working through a backlog of documentation that can be used to deny gun sales to dishonorably discharged military personnel.

"The failure to upload this essential, and required, information in the background check system is simply unacceptable. This only reinforces the need to fix what's become a nationwide, systemic problem so we can better prevent violent criminals and domestic abusers from obtaining firearms," Cornyn said in a statement about the influx of records.

Talk about gun restrictions have increased since the Valentine's Day school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. He used an AR-15 rifle that was purchased legally, according to authorities.

Andrea Zelinski covers politics for the Houston Chronicle. Follow her on Twitter and Facebook. Send her tips at andrea.zelinski@chron.com.12500 N.E. Tenth Place  Bellevue, WA 98005  JPFO.org  800-869-1884  info@jpfo.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  Feb 19, 2018  Contact Floyd Neeland

MASS MEDIA COMPLICIT IN FL MASS MURDER

JOURNALISTS CONTINUE TO DENY ANY ROLE

TV and print promote the murderer, encouraging copycats

Media violates ethical reporting standards

Stands in adamant denial

The term "gunman" is sexist and prejudicial. Mass media is hypocritically using tragedy, language and selectivity to promote an anti-rights agenda while disguising America's cultural deterioration, which they help cause.

America is having a problem with murder, not the invented left-wing term-of-art "gun violence." These murderers should but no longer do exhibit any compunction against killing, that's what is happening. Guns used to be far easier to obtain, no paperwork at all. No one walked into a school armed to kill everyone--where would you even get such an idea? Where would you even get such an idea? Read it again.

The left has succeeded in injecting a propaganda term-of-art, "gun violence," to deflect attention from social conditioning that encourages guilt-free psychotic breaks in behavior. Leftist words propel the goal of vilifying an armed public, so our betters in government can disarm us. Ask yourself--who takes the guns away--in every scenario in history? Who do the leftists--the disarmers--want to give the public's guns to?

Media hides the nature of mass murder by calling criminal perpetrators "shooters." They intentionally use a term describing every decent gun owner. Reporters, producers and editors know this. They argue it's accurate--knowing it denigrates civil and human rights of innocents everywhere. That's a textbook mind-control ploy--associate your enemy with evil. The media by and large acts as if 100 million gun owners are evil, the bias is sweltering.

Blatant use of an insane criminal act to campaign for gun bans, as mass media does, is immoral, unethical and dangerous. Those tactics have become predictable, not news. The old canards play out, but real answers--like JPFO's--are too hot to even discuss.

"The left-wing 'No Notoriety' campaign, and JPFO's moderate 'Don't Inspire Evil' program have been struggling uphill to tamp down mass media's promotion of psychotic killers, to little avail," said Alan Korwin, a prolific author and consultant to Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership (jpfo.org). "The media uses horrific acts of violence to assault the rights of the public, and the media shows no shame. They share direct responsibility for these copycat acts. Police know it."

Spree killing "coverage" has become wall-to-wall video loops of armored police standing around, helpless, and a moratorium on all other news. This is a waste of valuable airtime the public now expects when first learning of such an event. You can anticipate the show--the few facts come out in under a minute, then it's attack the NRA and gun types, gun owners, Congress, and showcase people in grief from up to a decade ago, all against unlabeled loops. Sorry, that's not news.

Missing is any concern for "educators" who refuse to teach why firearms are important and their link to liberty. Big Pharma interviews with people pushing psychosis-inducing medications murderous children are taking would be as enlightening as all the gun talk, but there isn't one drop. Hollywood and TV moguls who dream up and promote outrageous slaughters day and night, they're nowhere to be seen. Uber-violent video-game makers, which they claim "have no effects" despite the visible effects, they're AWOL.

#####

Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership, http://www.jpfo.org is America's most aggressive civil-rights organization, dedicated to destroying the notion of "gun control" as any kind of credible public-policy position. So-called "gun control" does not control guns and doesn't control criminal behavior. What it does do is disarm the innocent, leaving them helpless in the face of criminals, tyrannical governments and genocide. History repeatedly proves this fact. Founded in 1989 by Aaron Zelman as a response to the Holocaust, JPFO speaks with the moral authority and tenacious commitment of survivors of persecution, and knows that surrendering your personal and family safety to government protection courts disaster. "You don't have to be Jewish to fight by our side, you just have to love liberty."

Back to Top

The Charity Commission has announced a summit on safeguarding for UK charities, to accompany one for international charities which was announced by the Department for International Development last week.

The summit, to be co-chaired by Tracey Crouch, minister for civil society, is one of several measures announced by the regulator to ensure charities put sufficient focus on protecting beneficiaries and other vulnerable people their staff and volunteers come into contact with.

The regulator is also launching a new safeguarding task force, recruiting additional safeguarding expertise, and changing the way it communicates with whistleblowers.

The Commission said both summits would:

Establish a shared understanding of the safeguarding challenges facing charities working in the UK and emphasise the importance of maintaining public trust in the sector

Hear the sectors ideas for solutions and what actions they are taking and will take

Agree and commit to actions jointly and individually to strengthen the safeguarding capability and capacity of charities working across the UK

Both summits will involve charity regulators in Scotland and Northern Ireland to ensure a coordinated approach across borders.

The new Commission task force will:

Deal with a significant increase in safeguarding incidents being reported to the regulator

Do proactive work to promote the reporting of safeguarding incidents

Give advice to charities reporting serious incidents

Study existing reports to identify gaps in disclosure

Safeguarding 'should be a top priority'

Helen Stephenson, chief executive of the Charity Commission said: The Commissions actions and messages over the past few years demonstrate the top priority we expect charities to give to safeguarding, and the priority we place on ensuring trustees meet their legal duties, and public expectations, around this.

But recent revelations have shocked us all and brought a new focus on how charities deal with these issues. We want to do everything we can, using our authority as regulator, to ensure that safeguarding is prioritised in all charities - not just those working with groups traditionally considered at risk. Thats what these two summits are about.

At the heart of all this lies culture, governance and leadership in charities. Policies, procedures and formal systems  vital as they are  do not alone prevent safeguarding incidents, or ensure charities respond appropriately when incidents occur. The public rightly expect charities to be safe places, and for charity leaders to ensure their organisation lives its values, in everything they do.

Stephenson said the Commission has not done enough to inform whistleblowers of the difference their contributions made.

It has become clear to me over the past week or so that whistle-blowers who come to us with serious concerns about charities are not always made aware of the difference their reports have made, she said.

That cant be right. People who make what is often a brave decision to come to the regulator with important information, should, where appropriate, be reassured that we have acted on their concerns.

So I want us to look carefully at the way in which we communicate with those who bring vital information to us that leads to serious regulatory action.

For more news, interviews, opinion and analysis about charities and the voluntary sector sign up to receive the Civil Society News daily bulletin here.Andrew Hind, former chief executive of the Charity Commission and a director and executive editor of Civil Society Media

Andrew Hind, former chief executive of the Charity Commission, has written to MPs to express concerns about the person the government has put forward as its preferred candidate to chair the regulator.

Baroness Stowell, a former Conservative leader of the House of Lords, was announced earlier this month as the governments preferred candidate and will appear before the the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee tomorrow for a confirmation hearing.

In an open letter to Damian Collins, Conservative MP and chair of the committee, Hind said: This is a public appointment which should be conducted in compliance with the Cabinet Offices Governance Code on Public Appointments and under the principles of merit, fairness and openness.

"Why then is the Governments preferred candidate to be the next chair of the Charity Commission a former Conservative Leader of the House of Lords, with little direct experience of either charities or regulation? Her fit with the published person specification is poor.

The pre-appointment hearing will take place tomorrow at 11am. Collins has already indicated that the committee is concerned by the fallout from the Oxfam scandal, particularly the regulators role.

The committee will indicate whether it supports the appointment, but the government can still make the appointment in the face of the committee's objections.

Earlier this month Hind wrote an article for Civil Society News warning that the regulator's reputation is being seriously damaged by the board appointments process, and called for sweeping reform to the system.

Full letter

Dear Mr Collins

Pre-appointment hearing for Chair of the Charity Commission for England and Wales

The recent scandal at the Presidents Club and safeguarding issues at Oxfam underline the crucial role of the Charity Commission in maintaining public trust in charities.

The need for the charity regulator to be independent from both government and party politics is surely self-evident. Its judgement and quasi-judicial decisions must be perceived to be unbiased by people of all parties and none.

This is a public appointment which should be conducted in compliance with the Cabinet Offices Governance Code on Public Appointments and under the principles of merit, fairness and openness. Why then is the Governments preferred candidate to be the next Chair of the Charity Commission a former Conservative Leader of the House of Lords, with little direct experience of either charities or regulation? Her fit with the published person specification is poor.

Your select committee will hold a pre-appointment hearing with Baroness Stowell tomorrow morning. I urge committee members to explore how it can be in the public interest for Baroness Stowell to be confirmed in post when at least one other candidate in the public appointments process, with outstanding experience of both charities and regulation, has been overlooked. Perhaps it is because that individual has no political connections?

I ask the select committee to keep front-of-mind the long-term credibility and legitimacy of the Charity Commission.

Yours faithfully

Andrew Hind CB

Chief executive, Charity Commission 2004-10

Andrew Hind is a director and executive editor of Civil Society MediaOxfam has today published its 2011 internal investigation report into allegations of sexual misconduct and other inappropriate behaviour in Haiti.

A leaked version of the report was the centre of The Times news story on 9 February, which sparked the ongoing media frenzy surrounding the charity.

The report confirms that four Oxfam employees were dismissed and three resigned following accusations including using prostitutes on the charitys property, sexual exploitation of employees, fraud, negligence and nepotism.

It reveals that three of the workers accused of sexual misconduct physically threatened witnesses during the investigation.

The report says allegations of use of under-age prostitutes were not substantiated during the investigation but says it cannot be ruled out that any of the prostitutes were under-aged.

'We want to be as transparent as posssible'

The charity said in a statement: We are making this exceptional publication because we want to be as transparent as possible about the decisions we made during this particular investigation and in recognition of the breach of trust that has been caused.

We are also meeting with the government of Haiti to apologise for our mistakes and discuss what more we can do, including for the women affected by these events. We hope this also contributes to rebuilding trust with those who support our work.

However difficult it is to meet the demands of transparency, and however hard it is to confront mistakes of the past, we believe that ultimately, this will help us take meaningful action and become more effective in our mission to tackle poverty and help people hit by disaster.

Oxfam said that it has shared un-redacted version of the report with the Haitian Ambassador in London and will give a copy to the Haitian government in a meeting this morning.

We have informed the relevant national authorities of the names of the seven men involved in sexual misconduct, it added.

'People are gunning for Oxfam'

Elsewhere, Mark Goldring, Oxfam's chief executive, said in a interview with the Guardian, published on Saturday, that: "People are gunning for Oxfam."

He also told the paper that: "The last six days have been the most intense and challenging of my life."

He also suggested that appearing on radio and television had made things worse.

Anything we say is being manipulated: Oxfams still making excuses, still trying to justify itself. I went on the Today programme on the first day and tried to explain and it totally failed. All it did was fuel the fire, he told the newspaper, and added: "What I felt really clearly is many people havent wanted to listen to explanations."Oxfam has agreed to withdraw from applying for new government funding until the current crisis over sexual misconduct has been resolved, development secretary Penny Mordaunt has said.

Mordaunt announced last Friday that Oxfam had agreed to withdraw from applying for any new funding from the government, until DfID is satisfied that they can meet the high standards we expect of our partners.

According to Oxfam's published accounts for the year ending 31 May 2017, the charity received 31.7m worth of funding from DfID.

She also called on all of DfIDs UK charitable partners, including Oxfam, to present her with assurances regarding their safeguarding and reporting practices by 26 February. After this, she said, DfID will make further decisions about continuing or amending how those programmes are delivered.

The DfID statement finishes by saying that the UK will continue to take all necessary action and said that the whole aid sector from UK-based charities working overseas, to the UN, to other donor countries needs to show leadership on the issue of sexual abuse in the sector.

The international development secretarys full statement can be read here.

Swedish government suspends Oxfam funding

The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), an extension of the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, also announced it had suspended its funding to Oxfam.

A Sida spokesman told Civil Society News that the organisation had "suspended a payment due this week" for Oxfam. He said the payment was "for Oxfam's humanitarian work", but didn't elaborate. Sida previously funded a number of joint projects with Oxfam International.

Sida is reportedly suspending funding while it ascertains whether or not Oxfam properly investigated previous claims of inappropriate behaviour levelled at its former Haiti country director Roland van Hauwermeiren.

Van Hauwermeiren has been at the centre of allegations that Oxfam aid workers in Haiti used prostitutes and traded aid packages for sex in the wake of the earthquake which struck the country in 2010. It emerged last week that van Hauwermeiren had been forced to resign from a different aid charity due to similar allegations while working in Liberia in 2004.

European Commission threatens Oxfam funding

A spokesman for the European commission, which gave around 29m to Oxfam last year, said it was waiting for the charity to full clarify the allegations with maximum transparency as a matter of urgency.

It also said it was ready to review its relationship with Oxfam and threatened it would pull the funding of any partner not living up to the required high ethical standards.

The spokesman also said that the commission had written to all partner humanitarian organisations to remind them of the EUs zero tolerance approach to any allegations of misconduct.

The spokesman said: The European Commission expects its partners to abide by strict ethic and professional codes of conduct and principles, and we take a zero-tolerance approach to any allegations of misconduct by organisations that receive our funding.

We expect Oxfam to fully clarify the allegations with maximum transparency as a matter of urgency, and we are ready to review and, if needed, cease funding to any partner who is not living up to the required high ethical standards.

The EC has written to all EU funded humanitarian organisations to remind them of their strict obligations and the EU's zero tolerance approach to any allegations of misconduct. The letter requests a detailed description of all measures they have put in place to meet their obligations.As the wheels of Special Counsel Robert Muellers investigation grind inexorably toward Donald Trump and others in his entourage, the storyline is clear, at least to The Washington Post: Justice Dept. deals fatal blow to Trumps Russia hoax.

But to right-wing eyes, what matters is not abundant evidence of Russian information warfare. For them, the narrative is one that has been laid down by Trump himself: that he was the victim of a Russia hoax, a witch hunt, crystallizing the resentment of Trumps collaborators at the gall of any government agency displaying interest in their standard-bearers foreign dealings. As Mark Landler and Michael D. Shear write in The New York Times, Mr. Trumps strategy for dealing with charges of Russian meddling has not varied much since the campaign: deny, obfuscate, play down and, since Election Day, blame it on Democrats bitter after Hillary Clintons defeat.

It is hard to say whether Trumps strategy is the horse driving the right-wing media or the cart being driven by them. In a world where Trump hastens to recycle themes from Fox News, disinformation whizzes with ease through a tightly wound feedback loop. Whats certain is that no one in this Make America Great Again loop is terribly exercised about assaults on the integrity of the election process. Neither Trump nor his media bodyguards rise in righteous indignation against Russian invasions of American sovereignty.

ICYMI: Dont blame the election on fake news. Blame it on the media.

For months now, Trump and his amplifiers have been setting the bar of culpability at collusionwhich is not, by the way, a crime in the first placeso that, for them, the absence of collusion charges translates into innocence. Picking up on Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosensteins response to a question about the Russia indictment at his February 16 news conference (There is no allegation in this indictment that any American had any knowledge), Fox News is at pains to insist that no Americans were knowing participants, adding that the indictment effectively returns focus to the meddling activities out of Russia in the run-up to the 2016 election, following a string of charges relating to the actions of Trump associates. Echoing Trumps own tweet, Breitbart is blunter: STILL NO COLLUSION: TRUMP TEAM UNWITTING. Not to be outdone, Alex Joness Infowars also headlines UNWITTINGpreceded by TRUMP CLEARED? The Daily Caller ups the ante with COLLUSION CRUMBLES. Mike Cernovich wins the inventiveness prize: Muller [sic] indictment proves no Trump collusion.

For the right, the news is about the dog that hasntor hasnt yetbarked. But of course, the standing militias of the right have worked overtime for months to impugn Mueller, no longer cast as a solid-jawed stand-up FBI hero and wounded Vietnam veteran but a tool of the intelligence agencies deep state. If Mueller ever chanced to travel to Paris, someone in the rightosphere will no doubt declare that he mysteriously exchanged attache cases with a sinister figure on a bench in the Jardin de Luxembourg. Until that frabjous day, the vocabulary of the rights repertory is limited. Mueller is either the tool of a corruptly politicized administrative state orat least for a momentan instrument of exculpation.

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The flak barrage has been incoming thick and fast to discredit Muellers investigation and the Democrats on the Congressional intelligence committees. During intense weeks of revelations, the shape of the attacks is plainif the curious onlooker will only connect the dots. Would that more journalists were in the dot-connecting business to put patterns in sharper relief. Here are the four most recent dots at this writing:

Two weeks before the February 16 indictment, Trump rewarded a #releasethememo Twitter campaign by permitting release of the memo in question, a skimpy little thing by Representative Devin Nunes of Fresno, California, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. Nunes underwhelming disclosure purported to demonstrate that the FBI abused surveillance law in the process of gathering information on one-time Trump advisor Carter Page, thus discrediting Christopher Steele, the longtime intelligence agent whose infamous dossier (actually, a sequence of memos) alleged multiple contacts between Trump and various unsavory Russians over a period of many years. But breathless with excitement that their smoking memo had at last seen the light of day, right-wing media generally failed to note what it said in oh-by-the-way fashion: that the Page investigation predated Steeles revelations. As mainstream media noted, an Australian diplomat had already told the FBI about Russia collecting dirt on Hillary Clinton. For pursuing an inquiry into Page, Steele was irrelevant. Still, the Nunes memo grabbed headlinestwo sets of them, actually. First the memo was coming, then it was here.

Meanwhile, Senators Chuck Grassley and Lindsey Graham of the Senate Judiciary Committee have been so worked up about infringements on American sovereignty that they recommend perjury charges against Steele. In the Republicans looking-glass world, it is the investigator who needs to be investigated. The question of what Donald Trump knew and when he knew it is an irrelevancy. The magician instructs the audience to pay no attention to what his right hand is doing while he tosses confetti with the left. And again, mainstream media take such accusations as big news.

In the Republicans looking-glass world, it is the investigator who needs to be investigated.

Third, coverage of the Grassley-Graham initiative cast aspersions on an email from former Obama official Susan Rice, which the senators surmised proved something sinister about still-incumbent President Barack Obama telling then-FBI Director James Comey that he wanted Russia-Trump matters handled by the book.

Then, on February 5, came Nunes declaration to Fox News that his investigation is moving into phase two, in which the target is Jonathan Winer, formerly the Obama State Departments special envoy to Libya. By Winers account, in September 2016, he received from his longtime friend, the Clinton associate Sidney Blumenthal, a set of notes written by an activist-journalist named Cody Shearer, alleging bad behavior by Trump in and around Russia. (Blumenthal is also my friend.) Winer passed Shearers notes along to Steele, whom Winer knew from their shared interest in Russian criminality. I have read Shearers notes. Some are borderline incoherent, running a parallel track to Trump sex allegations made famous by Steeles memo. The more cogent part concerns corrupt Trump hotel operations in Azerbaijan, previously described in far greater detail by Adam Davidson in The New Yorker.

The flak keeps coming. The right-wing tack is to fling their accusations and expect their sheer number to amount to a claim that Trump is a victim. There is no logic to the attempt to tie Shearer to the decision by a FISA court to justify surveillance of Trump campaigners. The allegations only make sense if we see them as instances of Republican strategy. As Joe Conason wrote in BuzzFeed, The Shearer file makes no reference to Carter Pagenone whatsoeverso its contents could hardly have persuaded a judge to approve a warrant on the former Trump adviser.

ICYMI: Media polarization uses paranoia framework to wall off broader reality

Nevertheless, the Nunes proclamation has enabled Fox News to generate headlines like: Was Clinton attack dog Sidney Blumenthal involved in launch of Russia collusion investigation?

To treat Nunes allegations at face value is journalistic malpractice. If Shearer cannot be named without reference to Clinton connections, why should Devin Nunes be cited seriously without reference to his view that global warming is nonsense?

The flak keeps coming, the more the better. Weve been here. The Benghazi investigation of Hillary Clinton was the portal to the investigation of her email server. The email investigation led on, and on, while it took the mainstream press months to notice that Donald Trump was an inveterate liar.

Little concrete is likely to come of the Nunes memo, the Grassley-Graham initiative, the Rice aspersion, or the Shearer dossier. But the point of flak is not to win the war. The point of flak is to distract the pilot. And the point of the current attack-the-investigators barrage is to dazzle a credulous press and try to steer public opinion.

Fortunately, even as journalists bend over backwards to credit the rights distraction crusades, Muellers investigation shows every sign of rolling on undistracted.

RELATED: What if the right-wing media wins?

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Todd Gitlin , who chairs the interdisciplinary Ph.D program in Communication based at the Columbia Journalism School, is the author of 17 books, of which the next is a novel, The Opposition.The only way Abdalaziz Alhamza and his fellow citizen journalists could get out news from the Islamic States self-declared capital in Syria to a global audience was by posting materials on Facebook and YouTube. They were the only way to spread news since many militias and governments prevented most, if not all, the independent media organizations to work in the conflict areas, explains Alhamza, one of the co-founders of the group Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently. Without the social media platforms, the Arab Spring would be killed on the first day.

Internet intermediaries are increasingly playing the role that publishers and editors once played. From selecting sources to curating trending news to deciding which news is real or fake, companies like Facebook and Google are at the forefront of how much of the world receives its news. Taken together, these internet giants are 10 times the size of the largest media organization 15 years ago, according to media expert Robert McChesney.

ICYMI: The New Yorker publishes a salacious Trump scoop

The Reuters Institute 2017 Digital News Report found that more than half of all online users across the 36 countries surveyed said they use social media as a source of news each week, ranging from 76 percent in Chile to 29 percent in Japan and Germany. The report found Facebook and its subsidiary WhatsApp, in particular, played an increasingly significant role in news distribution, with 44 percent of people using Facebook as their news source and WhatsApp rivaling its parent company in several markets.

Far fewer respondents were able to recall which outlet provided the news, however, a problem for an industry that is increasingly forced to adapt to the logic of the social media platforms that are central to modern journalism. Theyre kind of our frenemies, because they carry our content, but weve been disintermediated from the relationship, says Danielle Coffey of the News Media Alliance, which represents 2,000 US publications. And theyre making up now the rules on whats appropriate, whats effective, what people should not get access to.

The success of misinformation, counterfeit news, and computational propaganda on social media platforms has highlighted the economic incentives embedded in social media platforms that not only helped fake news flourish but may even work against quality journalism. In seeking to combat the proliferation of fake news, Google and Facebook launched partnerships with fact-checking organizations, but also tweaked their algorithms and sought ways to surface more authoritative content. The signals they use, however, may end up marginalizing those on the outer edges of the ideological spectrum or freelance journalists in favor of larger, more established, and mainstream outlets.

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Internet intermediaries are increasingly playing the role that publishers and editors once played.

The World Socialist Web Site noticed a massive drop in Google search referrals following the announcement of Project Owl in mid-2016, according to its editorial chairman. The site also found a significant drop in traffic to other leading socialist, progressive and anti-war web sites, including Democracy Now.

There does appear to be a correlation between some of the updates Google has released and a drop in traffic on some of those sites, says Eric Richmond, president of Expert SEO Consulting, which counts several media organizations among its clients. Can I say that drop is due to a particular site or class of sites being targeted? No. Google doesnt target specific sites with algorithmic changes.

Google said in December that its trust and safety teams had manually reviewed nearly 2 million videos for violent extremist content in the previous five months to help train its machine-learning technology to identify similar videos in the future, and that it aims to hire 10,000 human moderators in 2018.

FROM THE MAGAZINE: Billionaires gone wild

Facebook, meanwhile, has said that it provides human review of all content flagged for removal. With 2 billion monthly users worldwide, this involves tens of thousands of reviewers in 40 languages who, according to a Facebook spokesperson, comprise native speakers and people with market-specific knowledge. But there is no way to independently audit the content removed by the platform, and Facebook often cites privacy concerns when researchers ask for greater access to data.

Facebook had a human team of editors curating Trending Topics. Leaked documents showed editorial intervention at several stages of the trending news operation, from decisions about injecting and blacklisting topics from the trending feed to which sources were authoritative and trustworthy. But accusations that it was suppressing conservative news led to a backlash against the internet behemoth. In response, Facebook tweaked its approach and switched to algorithmic curation.

In September, The Daily Beast reported that Facebook accounts reporting on or documenting what the UN has termed a textbook case of ethnic cleansing of the Muslim-minority Rohingya population in Myanmar were also being shuttered or removed. The company has not responded to questions about the political or ethnic makeup of the moderators deciding on content related to the crisis in Myanmar.

In late 2016, Facebook revised its community guidelines to allow graphic content that is newsworthy, significant, or important to the public interest, which would include both the conflicts in Syria and Myanmar. But weeks before the plethora of one-sided removals came to light, Facebook had placed the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, a designated terrorist group in Myanmar that claims to comprise freedom fighters, on its list of dangerous organizations that are prohibited from using the platform. Google also prohibits violent extremism.

The largest internet firms have banded together to create a shared database of terrorist images and videos that theyve removed from their platforms. Google News, which is entirely algorithmically generated, recently updated its guidelines to prohibit misrepresentation of ownership or country of origin, or the deliberate misleading of users.

But policymakers are not satisfied with the self-regulatory measures. Germanys new Network Enforcement Act, known as NetzDG, requires major online platforms remove, within 24 hours of notification, obviously illegal content or face fines of up to 50 million. And the UK prime minister in September called for companies to remove extremist content shared by terrorist groups within two hours and develop technology to prevent it from being shared from the outset.

ICYMI: A school district kept a secret blacklist for decades. A reporter found it.

Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today

Courtney Radsch is the advocacy director at the Committee to Protect Journalists and author of Cyberactivism and Citizen Journalism in Egypt: Digital Dissidence and Political Change. A veteran journalist and free expression advocate, she writes about the intersection of media, technology, and human rights.The hope of the Arab Spring has been realized: Now that anyone can publish anything from anywhere, it is impossible for even the most determined despot to jail every journalist and critic. But even as the most ruthless dictators are realizing the world has changed, they are quickly learning a new method for dismissing dissent and turning the guerrilla media techniques back on the guerrillas. Their instructor: Donald J. Trump, president of the United States.

He was trained by his mentor, the McCarthy hearings lawyer Roy Cohn, to relentlessly discredit his enemies, by NBC in the reality television art of manipulating the truth into a lie and reselling it as the truth, and by the New York Post and Twitter in coining a viral phrase. In 2016 he emerged as the perfect pioneer for not just discrediting inconvenient voices, but leaving them paralyzed with rage and confusion.

ICYMI: The New Yorker publishes a salacious Trump scoop

Authoritarians are paying attention: Just days before Trumps inauguration, after Trump responded to a question from CNNs Jim Acosta about Russian interference in the American election with Your organization is terrible . . . You are fake news, Turkeys president Recep Tayyip Erdogan praised the president-elect for putting the reporter in his place.

By February, the governments of Cambodia and Venezuela had threatened crackdowns on the media. President Donald Trump thinks that the news reported by these organizations did not reflect the truth, which is the responsibility of the professional reporters, a spokesman for Cambodias Ministry of Information posted on Facebook that month. This means that freedom of expression must respect the law and the authority of the state.

In the same month, Syrias brutal dictator Bashar al-Assad dismissed reports, backed with significant evidence, that he had killed 13,000 at a military prison as fake news.

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In May, an ally of Rodrigo Duterte, the president of the Philippines, labeled reports of a wave of death squad killings in the states war on drugs as alternative facts, a phrase originally coined by Trump advisor Kellyanne Conway to justify press secretary Sean Spicers plainly false claim that Trumps inauguration crowd was the largest ever.

Last November, a Libyan media outlet used a tweet by Trump seeking to discredit CNN to call into question critical reporting the network had done on Libyas slave trade. Reports of a genocide targeting the Rohingya, a group of Muslims persecuted by Myanmar, were met thus by a state security official in December: There is no such thing as Rohingya. It is fake news.

It is unlikely he is aware of it, but the rhetorical style Trump has perfected for undermining the mediaand any other would-be arbiter of the truthis rooted in Russian propaganda techniques and the mores of the darkest corners of the Web.

An authoritarian seeks to reduce the life of a nation to one aspect: the political. There are no honest opponents, only heretics. Which makes the news media, with its blend of baffling principle and infuriating imperfection, an irresistible target.

In 2006, Vladislav Surkov, the Kremlin public relations mastermind who many credit with quietly inventing Putinism, made a speech in which he coined the term sovereign democracy. That oxymoron means, in practice, giving the veneer of democracy to an authoritarian government.

Its a phrase that perfectly encapsulates Surkovs strategy, outlined in 2011 by Peter Pomerantsev in the London Review of Books, of power based on keeping any opposition there may be constantly confused, a ceaseless shape-shifting that is unstoppable because its indefinable. It is, he added, a fusion of despotism and postmodernism, in which no truth is certain.

It is unlikely he is aware of it, but the rhetorical style Trump has perfected for undermining the media is rooted in Russian propaganda techniques.

These techniques were ruthlessly applied inside Russia. But the February 2013 issue of the Russian publication Military-Industrial Kurier contained an essay by the Russian general Valery Gerasimov which notably suggested spreading it abroad.

ICYMI: A school district kept a secret blacklist for decades. A reporter found it.

He theorized that the descent of the social mediadriven Arab Spring into widespread regional conflict had changed warfare forever. Wars are no longer declared and, having begun, proceed according to an unfamiliar template, he wrote. In a matter of months and even days, he added, a thriving state can be transformed into an arena of fierce armed conflict, become a victim of foreign intervention, and sink into a web of chaos, humanitarian catastrophe, and civil war. Non-military measures would likely outnumber military measures by four to one in future wars, he predicted.

Those non-military methods have included seeding news stories and social media posts that fuel partisan discord, and attempting to interfere in at least one election. If the subterfuge remains undiscovered, the techniques work well. But if they are revealed, they can be said to work even betterby casting doubt on the veracity of everything. (Julian Assange and the online white supremacist movement have proclaimed themselves victims of grand conspiracies for a similar purpose.)

Enter Donald Trump, who has spread Putinism in ways that Vladimir Putin himself could only have dreamed. As the elected leader of the free world, Trump has given sovereign democracy an opulent layer of legitimacy.

To his supporters, they nominated a truth-teller to storm the highest citadel, and, now on the inside, he has reported back confirmation of their worst fears of Western liberalismthat it is a fraud and a sham.

Thus, a natural check on the fantasies of dictators has been removed: How can an American diplomat in Myanmar call for the truth, when his leader in Washington is busy dismissing the importance of facts in the name of American patriotism?

FROM THE MAGAZINE: Billionaires gone wild

Putin himself often responds to criticism from the West with whataboutismwe may be accused of X, but what about your doing Yanother deceptively simple technique that begins to chip away at the sense of moral wrongs and moral rights, building the idea that everyone is equally venal. Or as Trump once asked Bill OReilly, You think our country is so innocent?

The rhetorical maneuver serves the same purpose as a network devoted to partisan news declaring itself fair and balanced. Or a journalistic endeavor devoted to ideologically driven dishonesty calling itself Project Veritas. Or a radio show devoted to conspiracy theories called InfoWars.

Of course, like much Trump does, this is rooted in an emotional, if not actual, truth. There are now simply too few journalists, writing too much and too fast, for too many outlets, for too little money. Unpacking the new propaganda at high speed means making mistakesparticularly the insidious ones of mis-framing or perpetuating a lazy narrative to catch the attention of an increasingly fragmented audience. Fake real news has created the potential for real fake news.

A recent Poynter Institute survey found that 44 percent of Americans believe the media invents stories about Donald Trump. This gives a man whose aim is never to be held accountable a nearly unprecedented position of power. His techniques are working.

It also might explain why he felt confident in floating the idea that, despite video, a previous admission, and witnesses, it was not his voice boasting about sexually harassing and assaulting women on a clip from Access Hollywood. At the end of 2017, his claim still seemed a little laughable. But Adobe, the company behind Photoshop, has demonstrated a technology that can take a voice sample and turn it into a voice keyboardtype what you want anyone to say, and it will sound like they are saying it.

The real info wars have only just begun.

ICYMI: My editor was like, dont worry about it. But I let my husband know. I let my sister know. I let the school district know

Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today

Ravi Somaiya has been a correspondent for HBOs Vice News Tonight and covered the media and breaking news for the New York Times. He is currently working on a historical nonfiction thriller for Twelve Books.Japan's exports grew in January for a 14th straight month led by brisk shipments of China-bound hybrid cars and electronics parts, a sign solid global demand for Japanese goods continued to underpin growth in the world's third largest economy.

Ministry of Finance (MOF) data showed on Monday that exports grew 12.2 percent in January from a year earlier, following a 9.3 percent year-on-year gain in the previous month. The result

handily beat a 10.3 percent increase expected by economists in a Reuters poll.

Economists expect exports will continue to expand in the coming months, led by demand for the semiconductor-related products that boosted exports in 2017.

Analysts are also wary about a rising yen as well as the U.S. stance towards protectionism ahead of the mid-term elections later this year, and potential effects on Japan's exports of cars and other products.

A strong yen erodes profits at Japanese manufacturers and could hurt the otherwise buoyant economy, which posted an eighth straight quarter of growth in October-December.

In a sign the yen's strength has undermined business sentiment, confidence among Japanese manufacturers worsened significantly in February from January's strong reading, the Reuters Tankan poll showed on Monday.

Monday's trade data showed exports to China, Japan's biggest trading partner, jumped 30.8 percent year-on-year in January led by semiconductor production equipment, car engines and hybrid cars.

Shipments to Asia as a whole, which account for more than half of Japan's exports, grew 16.0 percent in the year to January.

U.S.-bound shipments rose 1.2 percent in the year to January, led by steel, batteries and medicines, while car shipments declined 3.9 percent. The small rise in U.S.-bound exports followed a 3.0 percent gain in the previous month.

Japan's trade surplus with the United States fell an annual 12.3 percent in January to 349.6 billion yen, a second declining month.

Overall imports rose 7.9 percent in the year to January, versus the median estimate of an 8.3 percent increase.

The trade balance came to a deficit of 943.4 billion yen ($8.87 billion), versus the median estimate of a 1 trillion yen deficit. It marked the first trade deficit in eight months.Four countries  the U.S. , Japan , India and Australia  could join forces to set up an alternative to China's Belt and Road Initiative in an attempt to counter Beijing's growing influence, the Australian Financial Review reported Sunday.

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, and U.S. President Donald Trump at the G20 leaders summit in Hamburg, Germany, July 7, 2017.

The plan was on the agenda of Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's meeting with President Donald Trump later this week, according to the report, which cited one unnamed senior U.S. official.

The source, however, added that the plan was still "nascent" and "won't be ripe enough" to be announced when the two leaders meet in the U.S.

China's multibillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative aims to connect Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa with a vast logistics and transport network, using roads, ports, railway tracks, pipelines, airports, transnational electric grids and even fiber optic lines.A Chinese worker stands near trucks during the opening of a trade project at Pakistan's Gwadar port on November 13, 2016.

China is pouring an estimated $60 billion into Pakistan as part of its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), but financial experts CNBC spoke to were uncertain how this would impact Islamabad's profile as an investment destination.

The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), as this leg of China's massive regional infrastructure spending push is known, will boost Pakistan in the eyes of investors, said Farrukh Khan, a specialist on the country's economy.

"I would expect other foreign direct investment flows to increase as the CPEC projects near completion and resolve some of the infrastructure shortcomings in Pakistan, particularly energy," he said via email.

But not everyone agrees. "Chinese activity in Pakistan is certainly raising Pakistan's profile, but only in a narrow way," Derek Scissors, an expert in the region at the American Enterprise Institute, told CNBC.

"International investors are attracted to improved infrastructure but they are less drawn by what Pakistan itself has accomplished and more by what China has done in Pakistan."

China and Pakistan's collaboration under the BRI spans a 1,864-mile-long corridor from the city of Kashgar in China's western autonomous Xinjiang region to the Pakistani port of Gwadar. It includes the construction of motorways, railways and power plants, and will also make inroads into sectors such as communication and education.

According to Khan, the scheme had also led to a "significant uptick in investment by domestic business groups."Below are excerpts on an interview with CNBC's Hadley Gambley and Saudi Foreign Minister, Adel Al-Jubeir at the Munich Security Conference.

HG: Foreign Minister, thank you so much for joining CNBC. I want to kick off by asking you about some comments we heard from America's top National Security Advisor over the last couple of days. He was saying that companies, and European nations like Germany that do business with Iran are essentially writing a blank cheque to the revolutionary Iranian Guard. Do you agree?



FM: Yes.



HG: What's the plan then? Because you have to talk to the European countries and explain to them that what they're doing is negative for the region. How do you get that message across?



FM: We are talking to our friends in Europe about this. We are letting them know that the nuclear agreement that was signed with Iran is lacking. The sunset provision has to be amended, and the inspections have to broadened to include non-declared and military sites. We also believe the nuclear agreement itself does not resolve the issue of Iran's radical behaviour which has to do with the ballistic missile resolutions of the United Nations, exporting ballistic missiles that are used to target civilians. They also do not deal with the issue of Iran's support for terrorism, we believe that Iran should be made to pay a price for its violations of ballistic missile resolutions, and for its support of terrorism. And we believe that a large percentage of the Iranian economy is controlled by the revolutionary guards and companies associated with the guards. And we believe that any dealings with those companies only serve to enrich the revolutionary guards and cause them to cause more mischief within the region and the world.



HG: Speaking of that mischief, when we talk about what happens next regionallywhat is Saudi Arabia's plan to tackle what H.R. McMaster has essentially said Iranian backed militias that are growing to be growing in various countries like Hezbollah- what's the plan?

FM: The danger is that Iran planted Hezbollah in Lebanon over 30 years ago. Hezbollah has become the foremost terrorist organization in the world. The Iranians have planted the Houtis in Yemen and they are growing and seeking to take over a strategically important country. They are trying to establish Hezbollah like organizations in the region. And this has to be stopped. With regards to what steps we may or may not take in this area and we will be taking steps. I don't believe it's appropriate for me to discuss them on public television.

HG: Well we had to ask. When you look at what happens next in the region with regards to Russia, last time we spoke about this just a year ago, you were talking about the potential for Saudi Arabia and Russia to work together and not just economically but also in terms of foreign policy. Right now Russia and the U.S. are having many difficulties not the least of which is cybersecurity. Is there an ability for Saudi Arabia to influence what happens between those two countries?

FM: The two countries are superpowers. They have interests and also they compete. They cooperate, and I believe that between the two of them they'll be able to resolve their differences. We have extremely important and strategic ties with the United States, and have had them for over 80 years. We are developing very strong relations with Russia, and we continue to work on those relations and so our objective is to have the best relations we can with every country.

HG: When you look at what is happening in the energy space in particular, there is a lot of excitement surrounding Russia's relationship now with Saudi Arabia whether it be on oil, or on other economic opportunities or investment. What about nuclear? Because there's a lot of talk now whether or not Saudi Arabia will work with the U.S. for example in terms of developing nuclear energy facilities. If there's an opportunity to also work with Russia, is that something that could be on the table?

FM: We are looking at a number of countries that have nuclear technology for peaceful purposes. We are looking at the issue of the viability of building nuclear reactors in order to produce energy so that we can save the oil and export it in order to generate revenue. The countries that we are talking to are probably roughly 10 countries or so around the world and we have made a decision yet with regards to which path we will take and which country will be focusing on more.

HG: So if the U.S. said no, we don't want you to process your own nuclear fuel, would that be a deal-breaker then?

FM: This is really something that's up to our nuclear energy professionals to deal with, but our objective is we want to have the same rights as other countries.

HG: Recently we've seen Iraq looking for investment and aid. Both countries in particular Saudi Arabia and the UAE really stepped up there. Are there ties to that kind of money, what are you trying to achieve?

FM: We want to support Iraq in its rebuilding efforts. We want to have the best relations with Iraq that we possibly can. We have an embassy in Baghdad the consulate you know we just opened an embassy in Basra. We intend to a consulate sorry. We intend to open another consulate in Najaf. We are opening bridges border crossings, we have commercial airline traffic between the two countries. We have established a coordinating council between our two governments to enhance the relationship and to institutionalize it across the board. We have seen trade and investment skyrocket between the two countries. We intend to have closer political consultations with our brothers in Iraq, and we intend to have the best possible relations with them. When the donor's conference was put together at the invitation of the emir of Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the Emirates the other Gulf countries stepped up and provided almost a third of the 30 billion dollars that was pledged to Iraq. So we want to help Iraq back on its feet. The ironic thing here is that the Iranians have pledged zero.

HG: When you look at what's happening with the U.S. in particular, Mohammed Bin Salman is going to be taking a road trip. It's been looking like he's going to be going to the U.S. as well. Can you give us any sense of when we might end up seeing a meeting between the Qataris and the Saudis in Washington?

FM: The issue of Qatar abuse will be resolved within the GCC and it will be resolved within the region. With regards to the timing of the resolution of this issue it's really up to the countries they know what's expected of them and they need to take the steps necessary to stop their behaviour, their negative behaviour and become a respectable member of the GCC. But we haven't seen that so far, they've taken some steps but not enough.

HG: Finally, the Munich Security Conferencea major focus on cyber security. Saudi Arabia has been the victim in the past from cyber attacks from Iran. What steps are you taking specifically to combat that threat?

FM: We are taking all the steps necessary to provide defences for our data banks and for our Internet and so forth. And we are also taking steps necessary to train our own people in order to be able to engage in offensive operations to make it hopefully impossible for people to penetrate those systems.

HG: In terms of the dangerous nations behind those cyber attacks, Russia, China, North Korea, Iran. Who do you consider the most dangerous nation?



FM: Iran. Iran is the only country that has attacked us repeatedly and has tried to attack us repeatedly. In fact, they tried to do it on a weekly basis.The moratorium imposed by the ECB  which supervises ABLV from Frankfurt, Germany  comes at a difficult time for Latvia's banking sector as the head of the country's central bank was detained by Riga's anti-corruption agency over the weekend.

Last week, the U.S. Treasury accused ABLV bank of "institutionalized money laundering," including allowing its clients to conduct business with parties connected to North Korea.

The ECB requested Latvia's banking supervisor impose a moratorium on ABLV bank, the small Baltic nation's third-largest lender, in order to freeze all payments by the bank on its liabilities.

A sign stands at the entrance to the ABLV Bank AS offices in Riga, Latvia. The country of 2 million became the 18th member of the euro area in January 2014. Jason Alden | Bloomberg via Getty Images

The European Central Bank (ECB) stopped all payments by one of Latvia's largest lenders on Monday, after its liquidity position collapsed in the wake of allegations from U.S. authorities.



The ECB requested Latvia's banking supervisor impose a moratorium on ABLV bank, the small Baltic nation's third-largest lender, in order to freeze all payments by the bank on its liabilities. "In recent days, there has been a sharp deterioration of the bank's financial position," the ECB said in a statement Monday. "A moratorium was considered necessary given that the bank is working with the Latvian central bank and authorities to address the current situation."

What happened?

Last week, the U.S. Treasury accused ABLV bank of "institutionalized money laundering," including allowing its clients to conduct business with parties connected to North Korea. This would be in violation of sanctions imposed by the United Nations (UN) following Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program. In response, ABLV said the accusations were based on unfounded and misleading information. ABLV is based in Riga but also has an office in Luxembourg as well as a subsidiary in the U.S.

Why is this a crisis?

The moratorium imposed by the ECB  which supervises ABLV from Frankfurt, Germany  comes at a difficult time for Latvia's banking sector as the head of the country's central bank was detained by Riga's anti-corruption agency over the weekend. The home and offices of Ilmars Rimsevics, who also sits on the ECB's rate-setting committee, were raided by officers from Latvia's Corruption Prevention Bureau on Saturday. However, no details about the investigation or the nature of the raids have been made public. Latvian media has suggested the questioning of Rimsevics was not connected to ABLV. The detention of Rimsevics prompted Latvia's Prime Minister Maris Kucinskis to call an emergency cabinet meeting Monday. Shortly afterward, he told Latvian television that the head of the country's central bank should resign.The 19 finance ministers of the euro zone are set to appoint Luis de Guindos, the Spanish economy minister, as the next vice president of the European Central Bank (ECB).

The appointment will be the first in a reshuffle in positions within the central bank that could change the course of its monetary policy.

The Eurogroup announced its support Monday afternoon for De Guindos' candidacy as the ECB's next vice president. The 19 heads of state of the euro zone are set to give final approval for the next vice president at a meeting in March.

In a statement, the Eurogroup said: "The recommendation to the European Council, composed of the heads of state and government, should be formally adopted by the Council on 20 February. On this basis, the European Council will request opinions from both the European Parliament and the Governing Council of the ECB. It is then expected to adopt its final decision at its meeting of 22-23 March."Iconic guitar brand Gibson could be on the brink of bankruptcy, according to a report.

The company, whose Les Paul and SG instruments have been played by generations of musicians, including stars such as Slash, Bob Marley and Carlos Santana, was founded more than 100 years ago in Michigan.

Gibson's Chief Financial Officer Bill Lawrence recently left the firm just six months before $375 million of senior secured notes were due to mature, according to a report by the Nashville Post earlier this month. He had been working for the company for little over a year before departing.

Gibson, which has annual revenues of more than $1 billion, has another $145 million in bank loans that will be due immediately if those senior secured notes are not refinanced by mid-July, the report said.

CEO Henry Juszkiewicz is thought to be in a race against time to decide whether to exchange the company's debt, look to try and pay it off using his equity or try to declare the company bankrupt.

The U.S.-based company has hired investment bank Jeffries to help with its current financial situation.

On Thursday, Gibson issued a statement that said an ongoing streamlining strategy would soon help it record the "best financial results the company has seen in its history within the next year." It also said the firm would have the ability to pay back the company's debt in whole within seven years.Sarah Whitten | CNBC

The annual New York Toy Fair offers a preview of new and innovative toys from big name brands like Hasbro, Lego and Mattel, and smaller toy vendors. More than 1,000 exhibitors flocked to New York City to show their wares and tempt distributors this year. In 2017, kids went crazy for Fingerlings, FurReal Pets and L.O.L. Surprise, all of which made an appearance at Toy Fair. Here are some of the newest toys that could be a big hit with kids this holiday season.

Star Wars Ultimate Co-Pilot Chewie

Hasbro

Price: $129.99 In 2017, kids fell in love with Roarin' Tyler. This year, it'll be all about Co-Pilot Chewie. Part of Hasbro's FurReal Friends line, this 16-inch Chewbacca toy has more than 100 motions and sounds, most notably his iconic Chewie roar. In addition to Chewie, Hasbro debuted Ricky, the trick-loving pup. The toy retails for the same price as Chewbacca and can do a number of "tricks" including flipping a bone and shaking its paw. In the fall, the company will also release Rock-a-too, a pet bird that has a number of spoken interactions, which will retail for $79.99.

Think & Learn Rocktopus

Fisher-Price

Price: $59.99 Mattel's Think & Learn Rocktopus brings math and music together for children between the ages of three and six. Kids pop in music pods to create their own compositions or to learn simple addition and subtraction. The toy had five musical genres: pop, rock, funk and jazz, classical and world music.

Pomsies

Skyrocket

Price: $14.99 Soft, cuddly and interactive, Pomsies are a wearable pet that features up to 50 different sounds and reactions. These little critters from SkyRocket sing, dance and can wrap around your wrist, backpack and clothing.

Funko Pop!

Funko

Price: $6 and up Funko has become a cornerstone in the toy industry with its variety of cartoon and pop culture figurines. These figures aren't just for kids, but do cater to them as well. The company is launching a number of Disney cartoon properties this year, like "Hercules," and continues to add to its line of "Marvel" pops. This year, Funko is tapping into its customers' love of nostalgia. Expect to see characters from "The Princess Bride" and the original "Jurassic Park" as well as a Bob Ross and Mr. Rogers figure.

Munchin' Rex

Hasbro

Price: $49.99 Hasbro's line of FurReal Pets just got a bit more affordable. This year, the company is offering three smaller and more affordable pets. Munchin' Rex, the snack-loving dinosaur retails for $49.99. Check-up Zandi, a pet vet monkey, will be sold for $29.99, and Shaggy Shawn, a Yorkie pup that needs some grooming, has a suggested retail price of $24.99.

Air Hogs Supernova

SpinMaster

Price: $39.99 Drones no longer need a remote control. The Supernova from SpinMaster is launched by throwing it into the air and controlled using your hands (or feet).



The drone has five motion sensors and reacts to hand gestures to perform tricks, move up and down, and side to side.

L.O.L. Surprise

MGA Entertainment

Price: $6.99 and up MGA Entertainment won a Toy of the Year Award for L.O.L. Surprise in 2017 and is not slowing down. The company announced at Toy Fair that it is launching its first-ever male character, Punk Boi, to the highly sought after collectible. Half the fun of buying an L.O.L Surprise is opening it. The dome-shaped case is filled with a doll and several accessories that are each hidden under a layer of plastic. Each time you peel back a layer, you get another surprise. There are thousands of YouTube videos dedicated to these "unboxings" with millions of views. Adding new characters, especially rare ones like Punk Boi, will only add to the appeal of the brand.

Kamigami Robots

Mattel

Price: $59.99 Using the Kamigami build-it-yourself platform, kids can create a "Jurassic World" velociraptor. Fold and snap the plastic shell over the animatronic dinosaur shell and use the adjoining app to code and customize the raptors movement, interactions, lights and sounds.

Nerf Prometheus

Hasbro

Price: $199.99 Nerf's newest line of toy weapons don't use traditional darts, it uses round ones. The Rival series, which features toys that look more like paintball guns rather than traditional Nerf guns, is the brand's foray into more sophisticated and competition-ready toy guns. The Prometheus holds a whopping 200 high-impact foam balls in an easy-to-load hopper. Motorized and rechargeable this battle behemoth can shoot eight rounds per second.

Hot Wheels Augmoto Augmented Reality Racing

Mattel

Price: $119.99 Hot Wheels Augmoto combines physical toy car racing with augmented reality. Instead of controlling the cars, racers control the track using an app. There they can recharge their cars, speed through loops to collect power-ups to attack other players and put out fires if they've been hit by an opponent.

MorfBoard

Jakks PacificWhen it comes to issuing complex investment products like exchange-traded notes (ETNs), it's better to be safe than sorry, says Euronext CEO Stephen Boujnah.

Speaking to CNBC Monday, the chief executive of the near $3.6 trillion pan-European exchange discussed the controversial ETNs that have taken a major hit from market volatility recently, and explained why his exchange planned to be cautious in that area. ETNs are unsecured and low-ranking debt securities issued by an underwriting bank, with no principal protections.

"We are very, very cautious on this front," Boujnah said. "We will probably miss more opportunities than others, but we will make much fewer mistakes," he added.

"That is why when it comes to these particular products, we tend to be extremely cautious and we have a very intense dialogue with regulators to make sure that, at no point of time, our liability can be captured by investors who are finding themselves not properly aware of the products and the risks attached to products."

The CEO was speaking in reference to the high-risk, short-volatility ETNs that saw immense popularity over the last year, as extremely low-volatility market conditions became highly lucrative for those betting on calm market conditions. But while the banks issuing the ETNs outlined that these products were meant for short-term holding by sophisticated investors, the funds and their investors suffered devastating losses when market volatility returned with a vengeance during early February's abrupt market sell-off.The U.K. government has signed an agreement with the Church of England that will see church spires across the country used to improve digital connectivity in rural areas.

The accord was signed by the National Church Institutions of the Church of England, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

It encourages the Church of England to uses its buildings and properties to boost mobile, WiFi and broadband connectivity for communities. The British government said that 65 percent of Anglican churches were in rural areas and that their locations, often in the center of communities, meant they were "well placed" to help solve problems surrounding connectivity and coverage.

"Churches are central features and valued assets for local communities up and down the country," Matt Hancock, secretary of state for DCMS, said in a statement Sunday. "This agreement with the Church of England will mean that even a 15th century building can help make Britain fit for the future, improving people's lives by boosting connectivity in some of our hardest-to-reach areas."

Two dioceses, Chelmsford and Norwich, are already backing programs that make use of church buildings to boost rural connectivity. The government said it was hoped that the new accord would encourage other parishes and dioceses to "positively consider" how they could follow suit.

Downing Street said that guidance from both the Church and heritage body Historic England would mean that any new telecoms infrastructure would not impact on the character or architectural and historic significance of churches.

The Right Reverend Graham James, Bishop of Norwich, welcomed the agreement. "It builds on what we have been seeking to do in the Diocese of Norwich since 2011 with the creation of WiSpire, a company seeking to use church towers and spires to enable Wi-Fi connectivity in communities, especially in rural locations," he said.



The bishop added that parish churches were a truly national network. "To use them creatively to create new forms of connectivity enhances their value for the communities they serve."

Follow CNBC International on Twitter and Facebook.The Missourians Opinion section is a public forum for the discussion of ideas. The views presented in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Missourian or the University of Missouri. If you would like to contribute to the Opinion page with a response or an original topic of your own, visit our submission form68th Democracy Day being observed

The 68th Democracy Day is being observed across the nation by organising various programmes on Monday.Judy Terry is a marketing professional and a former councillor in Suffolk.

A media firestorm greeted Manchester Art Gallerys removal of Hylas and the Nymphs, a luscious painting by Pre-Raphaelite artist, JW Waterhouse, from public display. A curator had decided to provoke a debate about women in art because it features topless women, but she became the victim, vilified for her boldness. So, the picture was quickly restored to its regular location.

Nakedness, both male and female, is part of the art scene going back thousands of years, so linking the decision to the MeToo campaign seemed a bit opportunistic, and the publicity was certainly mishandled. However, we should celebrate that it did engage the public, which is a good thing. It raised awareness of an important work in the citys collections, attracting a broad commentary, including from the much-derided experts; people who had never even heard of this particular painting, nor the artist, or ever visited the Gallery, will be motivated to discover more.

I hope the Gallery (as well as others around the UK) will learn from this experience, selecting other works for discussion in future, but without removing them from display; alternatively, bring something out of storage, inviting comment on why it should be restored and shown. One option would be to partner with schools and colleges to make the choice and work with the local media, including newspapers, to explain the focus of debate.

In the meantime, the furore is a reminder that the UK taxpayer owns a wide range of magnificent artefacts, including fine paintings, sculpture, porcelain and furniture, both ancient and modern. Yet the public are largely unaware of what is on their doorstep, in local museums and galleries, or held in often inadequate storage, rather than on public view.

Whilst Londons famous institutions have international recognition, this is not necessarily reflected right across the country, where local authorities (and some trusts) have responsibility  and dont always appreciate their importance as economic assets, and a tool to develop tourism. Funding is a problem, but relatively small sums (Arts Council please note and make it easier to apply) can bring significant benefits to the most modest museums, allowing them to showcase more items.

Better known works are occasionally loaned to regional museums, or foreign galleries, but there is no central register for all the items in public ownership across the UK, including those in Parliament. Having such a register would enable greater coordination and creativity when designing special exhibitions and educational programmes, with the potential to share smaller collections, getting them out of storage and on display.

It would be wholly justified to make a modest charge, with the usual discounts applied for pensioners and children, as well as disabled people, to view special exhibitions  as already happens at some shows in prime locations  to fund the extra work. Ironically, a charge places a higher value on the visitor experience, especially for tourists.

Sadly, some schools are complaining that they are being forced to drop the Arts because of reduced funding and the focus on more academic subjects. This is a mistake because culture is at the heart of our history, and provides a lifetime of enjoyment  whether as an active participant as professional or amateur artist, musician, actor or playwright, or simply as a visitor or theatre-goer.

As with sport, culture is something for people from all walks of life and religion, developing confidence and friendships across age groups and abilities, removing social barriers. Disadvantaged youngsters who may otherwise find themselves embroiled in gangs (through no fault of their own) deploy their talents constructively, which helps them learn in the formal school environment.

There are opportunities for schools and colleges to work together, instead of in isolation, supporting outreach, evening and weekend training sessions (as with sport) to develop creativity. Public schools emphasise the value of the Arts in their curriculum, State schools and Academies should do the same, or we are in danger of limiting access and the creativity which derives from different life experiences.

Networks of volunteers already help in museums, and galleries, as well as mentoring young people and teaching new skills, but potential new recruits arent always aware of how they can contribute within their communities, especially if they relocate to a different area in retirement. Local authorities could use their annual Council Tax communications to suggest ideasAlexander Temerko is an industrialist and a Conservative Party donor and activist.

Russia is testing NATOs resolve in the Baltic region and has increased submarine and air patrols in the North Sea to levels not seen since the Cold War. In 2014, it invaded Ukraine, annexed Crimea, and continues to stoke a war in the eastern part of the country.

The latest ballistic missile launched by North Korea places London in striking distance. Iran continues to destabilize the Middle East, and it is questionable whether the landmark deal signed in 2015 with Tehran will truly keep it from developing a nuclear bomb.

While ISIS 1.0 seems to be on the ropes, we need to be ready for the inevitable emergence of ISIS 2.0. North Africa is increasingly destabilised and al-Qaeda is enjoying a resurgence there.

After years of defence cuts, with even more to come according to recent reports, there is a legitimate need to question the ability of the Armed Forces to keep Britain safe in this dangerous era. Are we prepared? Just as Churchill recognised before the second world war, Gavin Williamson knows the UK needs to increase spending.

Dont get me wrong. Even with the drastic cuts in defence spending, the UK Armed Forces remain some of the most capable and respected in the world. From the fields of Helmand to the waters of the Persian Gulf to the skies above Syria, the British soldier, sailor, airman and marine has continuously shown pluck and skill under difficult circumstances.

But it takes more than the professionalism and fighting spirit of our armed forces to keep us safe: they must be backed up with the required funding and the best equipment. Right now, the defence situation in the UK is hardly ideal. If the 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) cut into the flesh of the armed forces, then the 2015 SDSR cut into bone. The current spending debate could bring even more cuts to the forces.

Serious discussions are taking place about cutting or merging the Royal Marines and the Paras. Questions are being asked about the need for usa sea-going island nation to maintain an amphibious assault capability. Army numbers could fall even lower, making it almost impossible for the UK to field and sustain the same size force that it did in Helmand Province during the peak of the Afghan war.

Then there are the less visible, but equally important, impact of defence cuts: service accommodation remains unsatisfactory for many military families and there are fewer resources available for veterans, for example. Recruitment and retention are verging on a crisis. More service members are leaving the armed forces than are being recruited.

Yes, the UK is one of only five countries in NATO that meets the two per cent of GDP defence spending target, but this is only because NATOs generous definition of defence spending includes items of dubious military value, such as civil service pensions.

An important aspect in the debate about defence spending that is often overlooked is the important role of the UK defence and security industrial sectors. It is time we start thinking long-term and strategically about our defence needs. Fighter jets and submarines, for example, can take years, sometimes decades, to go from drawing board to reality. I do not know what the next war will bring. But what I do know is that wed better have the kit needed to win when it happens. This means investment now.

Not only does the defence and security industry help keep us safe, it provides significant benefits to the UK economy too. The industry directly accounts for 242,000 jobs, 7,100 apprenticeships, and a combined 36 billion in annual turnover. A strong defence and security industry also helps to improve training and skills across the UK workforce, and pushes engineering and scientific advancements to new limits. This can have a major impact outside of the defence world, too. Things we take for granted today like GPS, the internet, and major advancements in commercial aviation are technologies that first began the defence sector.

Of course, defence procurement programmes must deliver value for money for the taxpayer. Not everything for our armed forces must be produced in the UK. Sometimes, we may have to buy of-the-shelf military equipment from elsewhere. This is why our defence relationship with the United States is so important. As we leave the EU, and restore our sovereign ability to sign our own free trade deals, it is important that a future UK-USA trade deal includes the defence and security industry.

Additionally, investment in the defence sector, especially arms production, secures unique high-tech production capabilities, supports research and development, improves employment options and boosts the economy to the tune on twelve billion pounds a year. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute we are currently the most effective arms exporter in the world proportionally to the military costs of national budgets, and only behind USA, China and Russia in terms of the export volume.

In todays uncertain world, this market is stable as ever and growing. If we stop being an active player, such countries as France and Germany will overtake us and, by doing so, reduce our political influence in other places such as the Middle East, Asia and Africa.

As the implications of Brexit unfold, we must not forget that after Europe our next biggest trade partner is the United States. It requires an ally with a strong military capability. If we stop investing in our military forces, we may lose America as our strategic partner and with that  after a successful Brexit  our respected position in the world.

By contrast, Russia has been keeping military spending at around ten per cent of GDP financed by a hydrocarbon budget, and it is not doing so just to show-off during V-Day Parades. Currently, its military capabilities stand at two million on-duty soliders and officers.

We know that the nation that is unwilling to feed an army of its own will feed someone elses, It is also often said that the defence of the realm is the number one job of the Government, but until real money is provided to develop real capabilities, these are merely empty words bouncing around the Westminster echo chamber.

The size and capabilities of our armed forces cannot be driven solely by financial considerations. The Government has a duty to ensure that it pays proper heed and attention to the strategic circumstances facing the UK now and well into the future. Now is the time to get it right  before it is too late.Peter Thompson is a businessman and Conservative Party activist.

Peter Bottomley has said that it is a question of when rather than if the Conservative party backs votes at 16. He has been supported by former cabinet ministers Justine Greening and Nicky Morgan, and now believes that the policy has enough backbench support to pass through parliament.

Supporters claim that embracing this proposal is a progression of liberal values. It would show the next generation that the Conservative Party has something to offer them. Votes at 16 was in the last Labour manifesto, and Peter Kyle, one of that partys MPs, is promoting a private members bill. Some Conservatives say they will support the measure. But the case is flawed.

Laws around the choices young people can make are rightly restricted. Recent history shows that politicians from both major parties have not only supported that principle, but have extended it. The Labour Party is promoting votes at 16 for entirely partisan reasons. It has no basis in logic when we look at the age of majority in the round.

Until 2014, many young people were not motivated to continue education after 16. This led to higher youth unemployment and a more poorly skilled workforce. So a Conservative-led Government changed the law. In England, the age at which young people can leave full time education or training was raised from 16 to 18. This was done because research showed that those who carried on learning or training until the age of 18 earned more money, were likely to be healthier and less likely to be in trouble with the police.

The law protects minors from starting smoking to the extent it can. In 2007, a Labour government raised the legal minimum age at which tobacco can be bought from 16 to 18. This makes it easier for retailers to identify underage smokers in an age group so open to peer pressure. Young people are also protected from joining the armed forces without parental consent. And even once they have joined with consent, they are protected from conflict. The Sunbeds (Regulation) Act 2010 imposes a duty to ensure that no person under the age of 18 years uses a sunbed, or is offered the use of a sunbed. It is also illegal to tattoo young people under the age of 18. It is worth noting that these laws apply with or without parental consent. Their aim is simply to protect minors, regardless.

In Scotland, the bastion of votes at 16, body piercings without parental consent are probited. In the minds of the Scottish Government, minors are not mature enough to make such a decision. A strange twist of logic.

The list of things that we prohibit young people from doing is long and varied. If we are to argue that there has been a sudden evolutionary shift, with people maturing earlier, we would have to reconsider all of those beneficial changes we have so recently made.

If this new generation is mature at 16, then logically its members must not only be allowed to vote but to stand for Parliament, serve on juries, and get married without consent. Why should they be prevented from buying and appearing in pornography? Should they not be tried as adults and sent to adult prisons?

Why can they not adopt children, visit casinos, buy a gun or even a firework? Surely, they must be allowed to buy and drink alcohol in pubs and nightclubs. Well, lets hope they make a will first  though wed have to change the law to allow that too though. The idea that a 16-year-old is mature enough to vote but not to drive a car to the polling station bends logic beyond reason.

The logical fallacy of the votes at 16 proposal is 16-year olds as simultaneously adults and children, existing in a state of quantum superposition, like Schrodingers cat awaiting a random event  such as the triggering of an election which will collapse their youthful immaturity into a state of considered maturity.

I urge all Conservatives to oppose such a change: lets allow young people time to be young people, before the burden of such responsibility is placed upon them.Five years ago, the TaxPayers Alliance reported that in the last year, five times more Labour people were appointed to public bodies than Tories.

Since then, the figures have varied, and some Conservative members or supporters have been selected to fill important posts.

Nonetheless, it remains the case that, since it took office in 2010, our Party has punched beneath its weight when it comes to public appointments. One of the reasons seems to be that Tories simply dont apply in the same number as Labour supporters.

To help remedy this, every week we put up links to some of the main public appointments vacancies, so that qualified Conservatives might be aware of the opportunities presented.

         

British Library  Chair

The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom. The Court of Directors is responsible for setting and monitoring the Banks objectives and strategy, including its financial objectives. Candidates are sought for the role of Chair of Court. All Bank of England Non-Executive Directors are appointed by the Queen on the advice of the Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer. The Chair of Court is designated by the Chancellor from among the Non-Executive Directors. The Chair is of pivotal importance to the Banks governance and will continue to play a vital role at a time of continuing change in the Bank functions and organisation. The Chair is expected to work in close partnership with the Governors, other NEDs, senior bank officials and the Treasury.

Time: Around two days per week.

Remuneration: 35,180 per annum.

Closes: 22 February

         

Social Mobility Commission  Chair

This is an exciting opportunity to fundamentally shape the social mobility agenda. The Chair leads the Social Mobility Commission, shaping its direction and priorities, and ensuring that it fulfils its remit, as set out in legislation. You will: utilise the knowledge and experience of the other Commissioners, actively engaging them with the business of the Commission; oversee major research reports and publications, including the Commissions Annual Report, which is laid before parliament; build effective working relationships with a range of stakeholders, including Ministers, senior government officials and experts in the field (including engaging Ministers in the Commissions priorities and, potentially, being asked to advise Ministers on particular issues); be an advocate for the social mobility agenda, holding to account and challenging key institutions; and be the public spokesperson for the Commission, regularly speaking at events and to the media.

Time: Approx days per month.

Remuneration: Reasonable expenses.

Closes: 25 February

         

Interim Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation  Chair

Advances in the uses of data are transforming our lives in positive and powerful ways. From our health, our economic productivity and our everyday social interactions, data-driven technologies are having profound consequences across all aspects of our lives. The associated economic benefits are huge and growing, with estimates suggesting that the uptake of AI technologies could add up to 10 per cent to GDP by 2030 Our task is to harness this technology for the common good: to promote its benefits, support innovation, and mitigate the risks so it works for all. For the UK to lead the world in digital and data-driven technologies, we must ensure we have a governance regime that fully supports both ethical and innovative uses of these technologies. The UK already benefits from a world-class regulatory regime. We must build on this by ensuring we understand and respond to the rapidly evolving ways in which uses of data are impacting our lives.

Time: 2-3 days per week.

Remuneration: An appropriate rate.

Closes: 28 February

         

Single Financial Guidance Body  Chair

The Chair is a high profile role at the helm of a large, new and significant guidance body responsible for merging the services of three respected and well-established organisations, ensuring that the Board and the SFGB staff that support it work effectively. The new Chair will need to be able to effectively and confidently represent the body, acting as the public face of the organisation. The successful candidate will have exceptional leadership and communication skills to fill this challenging role and be able to engage collaboratively and persuasively with a very broad range of senior stakeholders including Ministers, Government officials and other key external stakeholders.

Time: 2.5 days per week.

Remuneration: 133,000 per annum, pro rata.

Closes: 04 March

         

Criminal Cases Review Commission  Chair

The Chair, working with and supporting the Chief Executive as Accounting Officer, will lead an effective Board that operates with due propriety to ensure the organisation meets the requirements it sets in its strategic and business plans. The Chair will: lead the Board, setting the overall direction in line with the CCRCs statutory remit, vision and core purpose, to act independently in the investigation and resolution of miscarriages of justice, and the responsible Ministers wider strategic priorities; keep the responsible minister informed of any changes or risks that are likely to impact on the CCRCs strategic direction or the attainability of its targets; support the Chief Executive to deliver the strategic and business plans of the organisation within the policy and resources framework determined by the Secretary of State

Time: Up to ten days per month.

Remuneration: 500 per diem (358 as designate).

Closes: 05 March

         

Animals in Science Committee  Chair

The Chair of the ASC will be expected to deliver a key leadership role by harnessing the energy and expertise of committee members to deliver timely advice to Ministers. To enable this, the successful candidate will be required to develop and foster strong and constructive relationships with committee members and senior stakeholders, including Ministers, Parliament, Devolved Administrations, Government officials, and practitioners. The Chair will, on behalf of the membership, provide the primary interface to Government Ministers and other stakeholders, including the public and media.

Time: 20 days per annum minimum.

Remuneration: Reasonable travel and subsistence costs.

Closes: 11 March

         

Office of Gas and Electicity Markets  Chair

The Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem) is a non-ministerial government department and an independent National Regulatory Authority, recognised by EU Directives. Its principal objective when carrying out our functions is to protect the interests of existing and future electricity and gas consumers. It does this in a variety of ways including: promoting value for money; promoting security of supply and sustainability, for present and future generations of consumers, domestic and industrial users; the supervision and development of markets and competition; and regulation and the delivery of government schemes.

Time: The post-holder will work 3-3.5 days per week (negotiable).

Remuneration: The Chair will receive a part-time pay at the rate of 160-170,000 per annum.

Closes: 16 MarchThe latest in an ongoing parade of possible solutions for the UKs post-Brexit relationship with the EU came late last week from my former colleagues at the Institute of Directors. The proposal is for what the IoD calls a bespoke, partial customs union with the EU  a so-called customised Brexit.

As ever, theres a bit of confused and confusing language being flung around, so its important to be clear. While the report refers to a continued customs union and the continuation of a customs union, which might give the (mistaken) impression that what is being talked about is simply staying in the current EU customs union, what theyre in fact proposing is a Turkey-style relationship: a new arrangement which would see the UK implement the EUs Common External Tariff for industrial and processed agricultural goods, but not for other sectors of the economy.

The supposed rationale for this approach is that it would balance risks (new barriers to existing trade) and opportunities (the power to open up new trade). However, it would be an error to see the proposal as a genuine balance of those two concerns. In practice, it would lean very heavily to the former, sacrificing the vast bulk of new opportunities to trade with the world, in return for some chance of preserving current exports to the EU.

The IoD is keen to avoid the added cost for British companies of Rules of Origin on their manufactured goods and processed foods, a potential additional cost for exporters to the EU which would not be eliminated by a standard Free Trade Agreement.

The problem with trying to avoid that cost is that doing so fully requires the UK to submit its market to the Customs Union. That means implementing EU tariffs, including protectionism against many products from many parts of the world, implementing EU regulations, and surrendering the chance to negotiate our own Free Trade Agreements with countries outside the EU.

The report hopes to find a middle way with its proposal for only a partial customs union. By applying it to industrial and processed agricultural goods, they hope to save the more valuable industries, for which Rules of Origin could be particularly costly, from added paperwork. Meanwhile, the author claims, it would still allow the UK to pursue an independent trade policy by leaving other sectors out of the arrangement.

The key question is therefore this: if such an arrangement was to cover all manufacturing and processing industries, what would it leave out?

The answer is that it would leave us with services, which are not currently part of the EUs Customs Union anyway, and raw agricultural produce. The report describes these as large swathes of [the UKs] wider external commercial policy, but in practice it means cutting out the heart of any trade strategy.

As the IoD and others are normally keen to tell us, Free Trade Agreements historically have tended not to extend to services, but the services industry is particularly important for the UK economy. To persuade target markets to open up their trade to our services, the UK must have something to offer them in return, as in any negotiation.

For many countries that would mean liberalising our imports of  you guessed it  their manufactured goods. And yet the IoDs partial customs union would strip us of the right to negotiate on the import of those very same items. Instead, UK negotiators would be left dangling the far more limited carrot of opening up imports of raw, unprocessed agricultural produce.

That means drastically reducing the leverage of any UK trade negotiation with the developed and fastest developing nations, the places where the bulk of global GDP currently is and where even the EU admits the bulk of global growth is expected to take place in the coming decades. It also means removing the very industries where that new growth is likely to happen from UK trade policy, and therefore from any future FTAs.

That would not leave the UK with an independent trade policy or large swathes of much at all  it leaves us asking the giants and boom-towns of the world economy to open up to UK services, in return for us buying their grain, veg and beans. The people we would be talking to will want to easily sell the things that are developing their economies beyond agriculture and lifting their people into wealth  their cars and computers and fridges  and the UK will have to say thats up to Brussels, we cant negotiate on that. Just like now.

Meanwhile, the UK, as an implementer of the EUs Common External Tariff but not a member of the EU, would bear the competitive risks but not the exporting upsides of any new EU trade deals. That means that if the EU did eventually get round to finalising and implementing a trade deal with the United States, for example, then such a deal would open up the UKs markets to American imports but there would be no reciprocal access for British exporters  and, of course, the EU would be negotiating entirely for the export interests of its Member States, not with regard to the tag-along UK. The same would go for the EUs chosen barriers to external trade; we would be subject to the tariff choices of a body that is habitually protectionist at best, and which would be prioritising continental industries, not British ones. We would be implementing someone elses trade policy, not designing and championing our own.

That imbalance of access, and lack of control, brings obvious risks. One trade policy specialist described it about 18 months ago as follows: Technically speaking Turkey does do its own trade deals. It just gets screwed when [the] EU does its own. Those are the words of Allie Renison, the author of this very same IoD report. The fact that even the proponent of this policy thinks such a relationship would mean we get screwed when the EU signs its own trade deals  and that our supposed independent trade policy would only exist technically speaking is not a very promising sign.

The legal ramifications of a Turkey-style partial customs union go beyond losing a great deal of meaningful and useful control over our own trade policy, too. As part of the deal, Brussels requires Turkey to implement EU regulations and laws on the sectors that fall under the arrangement. There is no apparent reason why the EU would accept a looser deal in the case of the UK  so that would mean EU law continuing to hold sway in quite large sections of the economy.

Furthermore, if there is a dispute about whether such regulations are followed  or whether the Common External Tariff is being implemented correctly  which body would be in charge of judging compliance with these EU laws? Why, the European Court of Justice, of course. So another fundamental principle of restoring democratic control would be compromised.

In summary, that means the compromise being proposed would sacrifice control of essential elements of UK trade policy, restrain the freedom to negotiate meaningful trade deals, require the UK to implement EU tariffs on many key imports, keep major industries entirely under the power of EU law, and retain the authority of the ECJ over various parts of our laws and national life.

The IoD suggests that the pill could be sweetened by the prospect of an accompanying wide-ranging free trade agreement with the EU. Perhaps it could, but the Turkish example does not bode well for the negotiating position of a country that has placed itself in such an imbalanced relationship already.

While the report talks vaguely of momentum on both sides for a Turkey-EU FTA, the fact is that this supposedly interim transitional arrangement has been in place for 23 years, and talks stalled long ago. The EU has little desire or incentive to progress them, and, in the IoDs words, for Turkey moving away from a customs union arrangement with the EU is not an option because of the threat this would pose to its manufacturing industry.

That sentence was included, I assume, to imply that such an arrangement is popular  but in fact it illustrates the danger of such a poor deal. Disempowered, subservient to EU law and trade policy, Turkey is trapped in an uncomfortable limbo which it dare not escape. If this deal has such an effect on the country for which it was designed, the prospects for a country in an entirely different situation which enters into it for temporary convenience are not great.

Its not unreasonable to ask for what benefit such a bad deal is proposed. The prospect of Rules of Origin on EU exports is evidently worrying for many businesses, and understandably so. But that burden already applies to trade with much of the rest of the world, and that is precisely where our trade is growing. Rules of origin are not insurmountable for business, the report says  and yet rather than find ways to surmount them, it advocates bearing a huge opportunity cost in order to simply mitigate their impact on a portion of current trade.

It is peculiar to say the least to see the IoD  a body which has traditionally argued for global free trade, and for the reform and improvement of bad laws and inefficient bureaucracy  suggest that the UK should surrender most of the trading opportunities of Brexit rather than argue that the Rules of Origin system itself should be drastically improved. Its the type of response one might more usually expect from the CBI, privileging the avoidance of disruption to current vested interests over the entire existence of potential future business.

This debate takes place against the backdrop of a general expectation in Westminster that a vote of some sort on future customs union is coming. The exact proposition could take various forms  requiring the UK (impossibly) to stay in the EU Customs Union at the most extreme, or something like the IoDs proposal at the theoretically feasible if practically undesirable end of the scale.

Despite plenty of talk about Cabinet talks, there are still several different views within Government on the question. Some ministers believe an acceptable compromise could be reached, and even some Leave-supporting ministers might reconcile themselves to a fudge if they felt it unavoidable. Others, however, are deeply unhappy about the idea of selling out key opportunities and principles of Brexit. Friends of David Davis are of the view that he might well resign in such a circumstance, and he very well may not be alone.

There are three things the Government can do.

It can decide that it would lose a vote  that there isnt a majority for being outside the or a customs union  and try to pick a model it prefers. As discussed above, that is very costly: politically, democratically, and in terms of the lost economic opportunities.

Or it can try to defeat an amendment on its own terms  helped, perhaps, if the pro-EU MPs tabling it overplay their hand and try to require the UK to stay in the full EU customs union. Effectively that would be a gamble that there isnt a majority for the specific type of customs union being proposed.

Or, finally, the Prime Minister could make such a vote into a question of confidence. Vote for customs union, and the Government falls. That would be a judgement that while there might not be a majority for leaving customs union, there is emphatically not a majority for another general election. Would Tory rebels dare to inflict such a defeat?When news of the far-reaching Spectre and Meltdown exploits first hit, Simon Margolis, cloud platform director for managed service provider SADA Systems, braced for impact.

Margolis worried that customers were about to be walloped thanks to the sweeping hardware vulnerabilities that until now, had laid dormant in the heart of all major operating systems. However, public cloud giant Google had already covered its tracks by taking the necessary remediation steps, and the impact was barely noticed by users.

"To be honest, I freaked out when I first heard about it," Margolis said. "But it was really encouraging to hear that Google was the team that discovered Spectre and Meltdown and had patched all their internal systems already."

Of the three leading cloud providers, Google received the highest scores in a recent CRN survey investigating how vendors responded to the widespread Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilities.

[Related: Cloud Giants AWS, Google And Microsoft React To Meltdown; Solution Providers Remind Customers To Update, Patch Systems]

SADA Systems, a Google Cloud Premier Partner, received notice from Google within a couple of hours of the vulnerabilities coming to light with mitigation instructions. Google, Margolis said, was the first provider to come out with information on the vulnerabilities and what to do about it.

"Google has always been very quick to announce anything security-related -- they really don't have an ego that gets in the way when it comes to serious issues, and this situation was no exception," he said.

CRN conducted an online poll of 190 members of the CRN Channel Intelligence Council, a panel of solution providers representing the broad channel ecosystem in North America. In the survey, solution providers ranked the vendor responses to the Spectre and Meltdown vulnerability issue on a scale of one to five, with five being the top mark, or "excellent."

Google received the highest overall ranking among cloud providers, with 17 percent of respondents saying Google had an "excellent" response and 27 percent rating its response as "good."

By comparison, Microsoft Azure received an "excellent" ranking by 13 percent of respondents, and 27 percent of respondents ranking the cloud provider's response "good."

Amazon Web Services (AWS) following in third place, ranked "excellent" by 8 percent of respondents and "good" by 17 percent of respondents.

Partners said that Google's strong response out of the gate did not come as a surprise; the internet giant has always been very security-minded. Google's own Project Zero -- a team of security analysts employed by Google tasked with finding zero-day vulnerabilities -- first discovered Spectre and meltdown and disclosed the flaw to chipmakers Intel, AMD, and ARM.

Soon after, Google notified more companies, including Amazon and Microsoft, who would also need to patch their cloud platforms. In the end, dozens of competing IT companies collaborated to keep the bugs secret for long enough for many of the industry-leading vendors to respond with updates for their operating systems.

By the time news of Spectre and Meltdown came out publicly, the exploits were mostly uneventful for Agosto, a Minneapolis-based Google partner.

"We didn't have any of our infrastructure clients impacted, and Google was really diligent and handled all of [the mitigation efforts]; we really didn't have to manage that process at all," according to Aric Bandy, president of Agosto.

Six days after Google's CTO office first published a blog post explaining Spectre and Meltdown, Ben Treynor Sloss, vice president of engineering for Google, posted a follow-up blog on January 11 explaining how the cloud provider identified and put patches in place to address the exploits, which he called the "most challenging and hardest to fix in a decade."

He also shared how Google was protecting its cloud customers from new vulnerabilities without impacting performance.

"By December, all Google Cloud Platform services had protections in place for all known variants of the vulnerability. During the entire update process, nobody noticed: we received no customer support tickets related to the updates. This confirmed our internal assessment that in real-world use, the performance-optimized updates Google deployed do not have a material effect on workloads," Sloss said. "In sharing our research publicly, we hope that this can be universally deployed to improve the cloud experience industry-wide."

While Google was quick to respond to Spectre and Meltdown, Los Angeles-based SADA Systems also immediately sent out its own notice to customers filling them in on the vulnerabilities, as well as initial client-side remediation steps to take. All of SADA's end customers today have completed the necessary updates, and are no longer at risk, Margolis said.

"Between what Google and we sent out [to customers], no one reached out to us for further instruction. It ended up not really being an issue," he said.

While Google may have been first, partners say that cloud competitors AWS and Microsoft both also did a commendable job of communicating with partners and end customers, giving both groups a head's up on the issues, as well as recommendations to help mitigate any potential impact to users.

"Microsoft did a pretty good job and so did AWS, but [AWS] kind of handled it in their own, laid-back approach by directing everyone to their blog, so I thought Microsoft was a little bit better in terms of leveraging their channel," according to one Microsoft and AWS solution provider partner that asked to remain anonymous.

Microsoft Azure declined to comment on its mitigation efforts or its response to partners regarding Spectre and Meltdown.

AWS did not respond to CRN's request for comment before publication.

Considering the "awful and wide-ranging nature of vulnerabilities," all three cloud providers handled the situation very well, said Paul Vallee, president and CEO of Pythian, an Ottawa, Ontario-based Google, AWS, and Microsoft partner.

"Given the scale of the problem -- and it was pervasive -- and the difficulty of the solution, I really liked what I saw regarding the reaction of the three major cloud providers," Vallee said. Pythian's customers on AWS, Google and Microsoft cloud platforms are all up to date with the appropriate patching and updates.

Because Google's team first discovered the vulnerabilities, which were revealed to the public in January, the company had a head start patching and updating its environment; it started in September, Vallee said. "As a result, there were no user-visible consequences to Google customers, and that includes performance consequences," he added.

It stands to reason that security is a top priority for a massive target like Google, which owns one of the world's largest network, with millions of endpoints, and customer assets with more than a billion active users. The internet giant's cloud platform consists of homegrown technology because Google has elected to build its own servers, software stack, and operating system.

"I do believe they are leading the charge in security  everything in their environment is proprietary, and I think that is instrumental to Google being able to properly secure and run a network of their size at scale while not compromising speed," said Agosto's Bandy.

However, the internet giant's security efforts often reach outside of the company. Google's Project Zero team is constantly on the hunt, "hacking for good" to continually search out and identify any vulnerabilities so the internet remains a safe place for all companies and end users, Bandy said. "It's almost unfortunate that the market doesn't understand how much emphasis Google puts internally on their approach to security."The fruit bouquet company Edible Arrangements has sued Google in federal court, claiming its business is being hurt by Googles placement of rival ads when people enter a search using its name  a key element of Googles revenue model.

Edible Arrangements lists an initial figure of $209 million it hopes to recoup in damages, in its lawsuit filed earlier this month in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut.

Based in Wallingford and with 10 locations in southwestern Connecticut, Edible Arrangements was ranked last month by Entrepreneur just outside the top 50 franchisors, marking the first time the company had placed ahead of Milford-based Subway on the annual ranking relied upon by would-be franchisees looking for opportunities.

In the Google lawsuit, Edible Arrangements asserts Googles placement of ads in prominent locations throughout search results for Edible Arrangements is likely to cause confusion as to whether its own products and services are affiliated with those of its competitors. Edible Arrangements wants $9 million it estimates Google has recorded in profits from running those ads, as well as $200 million more in damages for what it claims is trademark infringement.

As of Monday, ads from 1-800-Flowers.com and Sharis Berries popped up alongside those of Edible Arrangements in a Google search of the companys name, with ads including thumbnail photos of fruit gift arrangements.

Google had yet to file a formal response in court as of Monday, and the company did not respond immediately to a Hearst Connecticut Media query on how it plans to defend itself.

Separately last week, litigation was transferred to Connecticut federal court in which Edible Arrangements accuses a Chinese company of shipping toxic birthday candles for use in Edible Arrangements deliveries, which the company discovered in independent testing prior to shipping them for use by franchisees after noting the absence of lab report accompanying the candles.

Through an affiliate, Edible Arrangements spent $160,000 to purchase the candle shipment; in its lawsuit, it does not cite what it spent to have the candles tested or any other costs it incurred, and what it is seeking in total damages.A job to do

KP Olis first decision as prime minister was to order a review of all of the previous governments policies and put many of its decisions on hold.For years, Brian Clements expressed himself through poetry. Then words failed him.

I was unable to write poems for a year and a half, the author of poetry and prose says, recalling the months following the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, where 20 children and six staff members were killed. His wife, Abbey, a teacher at the school, survived, but he knew others were struggling with profound loss and grief.

Almost immediately after Sandy Hook, I wanted to do something to join the fight against gun violence, says the Newtown resident, who is a professor of writing, linguistics and creative process at Western Connecticut State University in Danbury. The truth is most of us dont pay attention to the gun violence problem until it hits close to home.

The words came back, as did the poems. One of the first he wrote, 22, is included in Bullets into Bells: Poets and Citizens Respond to Gun Violence (Beacon Press), an anthology on gun violence published in December. It is edited by Clements, Alexandra Teague and Dean Rader, who all hope the words within will bolster efforts of dozens of organizations and millions of people who want to end gun violence.

More than 50 poems by well-known poets, including Billy Collins, Danez Smith, Robert Hass and Rita Dove, reflect a broad spectrum of thoughts and feelings, along with responses from activists, survivors, lawmakers and relatives of people killed. Former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who survived a mass shooting in 2011 in Arizona offers a foreword, penned with her husband Capt. Mark Kelly, and there is an introduction by Irish author and National Book Award winner Colum McCann.

It was McCann, and the global story exchange nonprofit he runs with literary activist Lisa Consiglio, Narrative 4, that inspired the structure for Bullets into Bells.

In the five years since the Sandy Hook tragedy, Clements says facts, reason, statistics, argumentation, rhetoric, common sense  no approach has gotten us very far.  Its going to take impact on an emotional level and take empathy and personal connection. All those things are reasons people become active after (a tragic event). (The book) has the emotional impact  the poems, the response and the storytelling to get people to act before it is too late.

Poets are increasingly being called upon to make sense of the times, says Jennifer Benka, president and executive director of the New York City-based Academy of American Poets. The organization runs poets.org, which has seen an uptick in visitors in the past year.

We have seen a resurgence in poetry that is speaking powerfully to current events, Benka says. Poets are using their talents and their pens and pages to move the conversation about important issues. One of poetrys strengths is its subjectivity. We know when readers take the time to engage with poems, they are engaging with a human voice. Poems help to get at fundamental questions in a powerful and personal way.

Two of those questions are why are more than 33,000 people dying every year from gun violence in the United States, and what can be done about it. The books contributors address mass shootings, accidental deaths, domestic violence, suicides and unsolved killings. There is not a single solution to addressing these problems, Clements says, but adds that a majority of people favor common-sense approaches to strengthening gun laws, such as expanding and improving the background check system.

The book is part of a larger project, which includes a website (bulletsintobells.com), where more poems and discussions flourish, and events at libraries, schools and community centers in every state and Washington, D.C. The events bring together voices from the book with local activists and poets to talk about gun violence particular to that area.

The portability and flexibility of poetry makes it a powerful medium when it comes to getting people to come together  not unlike music, which also has an inherent communal power. Benka says poetry inspires an immediate response and instills a sense of purpose to those gathered, whether that means sitting in actual seats or looking at words on a monitor or an image on social media.

There is a social role that poetry has always occupied, which is capturing and preserving important moments, she says.

The poem that inspires the books title falls about a third of the way through  Heal the Cracks in the Bell of the World, by Martin Espada, who dedicated it to the Newtown community and the victims of the shooting. It was read at several events. It references the concept of melting bullets and other weaponry to make bells, similar to converting swords into plowshares  a concept that goes back to the Book of Isaiah in the Bible.

When asked whether working on the book and the book tour helped him deal with the tragedy, Clements said he still has not made sense of it all. He knows whatever radical changes he experienced that day are infinitesimal to the suffering experienced by 26 families.

My response to the tragedy  was to become an activist, he says. I tried to do something for the victims and the family of the victims. The book is just one tool in a box of tools to do something positive.

chennessy@hearstmediact.com; Twitter: @xtinahennessyVITAS Healthcare is offering a six-week bereavement support group. The group will meet at the VITAS office at St. Vincents Stratford Health and Wellness Center, 3272 Main St., and will be co-facilitated by two VITAS psychosocial staff members.

The Journey Through Grief group explores the grief process through a variety of techniques while supporting each member individually.We noted with interest the recent Connecticut Post editorial Do the time but put it to use (Feb. 15, 2018) The essence of which was to extol the R.E.A.L. Bill being introduced by Senator Blumenthal to facilitate the education of incarcerated Americans. A bit of perspective on this matter may be enlightening to your readers.

First of all, this situation was not always so. Starting in the end of the 70s America became fixated on incarceration with the resultant quadrupling of the American prison population between 1980 and 2000. It may seem hard to believe but, here in the land of the Free and the Home of the Brave, we were completing a new prison every two weeks in the 90s  many of which we are still paying for today. Punishment and incapacitation ruled the system and the idea of real correction sadly fell between the cracks.Milking It: So, what does it take to become a PA Dairy Princess?

Sure there are sashes and tiaras, but these Pennsylvania Dairy Princesses use their position, hard work on the farm, to promote an industry they loveA Press for the Masses

Today The Kathmandu Post and Kantipur, Nepals first private sector broadsheet newspapers, complete 25 years of publication. Born after the 1990 Peoples Movement, we have been nurtured well by open political space, a growing and curious middle class and the urban centres that have sprung up across the countrythanks to the ever-expanding highways and motor roads.The Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud is an opportunity for the Opposition to come together and ask the government to present a white paper on the Rs 11,4000 crore scam. Congress president Rahul Gandhi had hinted at the possibility of such a demand being made, however, there doesn't seem to be much muscle behind it. It appears that the Opposition is divided over this demand because going after the scam may expose the rot in public sector banks and lead the government to offer privatisation of banks as a solution.

It is for this reason that the Opposition is going after Narendra Modi and not Nirav Modi.

The "scam" allegedly had been going on since 2011. The ease with which NiMo & Co (including Mehul Choksi) carried out this fraud is shockingly simple.

Let us assume that the top management of PNB had no hand in the scam till a detailed CBI investigation can prove otherwise. Nirav Modi approached a deputy manager named Gokulnath Shetty, now retired, at a PNB branch in Mumbai saying he had an import order and needed a "guarantee" from PNB for the same.

Ordinarily, PNB should have ensured NiMo's account had a cash margin to deal with a default considering the nature of risks involved in foreign exchange dealings. But Shetty issued the requested buyer's credit - letters of credit and letters of understanding (LoU) to be encashed at branches of Indian banks abroad.

The LoUs given to Nirav Modi by PNB were basically "guarantees" that the sum due under the LoU would be honoured by PNB in case of a default, within the stipulated time. Nirav Modi, of course, never honoured the LoUs.

LoUs generally involve huge sums of money and therefore are a serious mode of transaction. They are issued through a digital platform called SWIFT by PNB.

Shetty was in-charge of the LoU portfolio and was responsible for keeping track of making entries of LoUs issued, branches from where it was encashed and so on. This gentleman had been handling this sensitive portfolio for over seven years at the same branch in a clear violation of norms.

By using SWIFT, Shetty managed to hoodwink the "core banking platform". How and why? SWIFT is an old platform, it predates the core banking system. Several banks continue to use SWIFT which is unlinked to the online core banking system. If SWIFT had been linked to the core banking system, every single entry made by Shetty could have been tracked. The scam then could not have gone on for this long.

The same manager handling such a sensitive banking operation for years and the systemic failure helped Nirav Modi defraud the system.

The fraud came to light only because Shetty had retired and the new person in his place refused to issue a LoU in the absence of a 100 per cent cash margin. A representative of Nirav Modi, who it appears, wasn't in the know of the scam told the lender that all these years LoUs were being issued without such a demand for collateral being made.

A preliminary investigation spilled the beans on the scam. A fraud worth Rs 280 crore was mentioned in stock exchange filings. A deeper probe saw the scam scaling up to Rs 11,400 crore.

While the problem seems to have started at PNB due to an insider, the Reserve Bank of India too had failed in its job as a regulatory body. Even if it is accepted that the LoUs were hidden from the system, how were the regular payouts made to Nirav Modi left undetected. What kind of audits were conducted in this period that they couldn't see a scam of this magnitude? Many answers will emerge as the CBI digs deeper into the swindling of funds.

Coming back to where we started from, the Opposition is failing in its effort to make the NiMo scam stick on the Modi government. It had also failed in publicising Modi government's accountability in the flight of liquor baron Vijay Mallya. It is thus imperative that the government is asked to come out with a white paper not only with regards to the PNB scam but also, non performing assets and so-called bank capitalisation plan involving Rs 2.5 lakh crore.

Also read: Nirav Modi, the man behind India's biggest bank heist, exposes us as a societyLast week, the United States had yet another school shooting, as 17 children were slaughtered at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida by a 19-year-old with a long history of troubled behaviour. Of course, in the United States, a history of mental illness and violent tendencies is no barrier to getting a weapon capable of murder, so we have such tragedies.

Indeed, under Donald Trump, the government has actually loosened restrictions on gun purchases by citizens with mental illnesses.

Yet, while the United States gun culture doesnt fit into any medical definition of mental illness, it is clear the US has a pathological relationship with guns. I didnt always think United States gun culture was so sick. It often takes leaving home to truly understand a place, and I only fully appreciated the depth of United States obsession with guns after spending a year in England in my mid-20s. During that time, a shooter killed 32 people at Virginia Tech, then the United States record for the worst shooting in a single day. Sadly, in the United States tradition of excess and violence, we have since broken that record. And broken it several times.

17 children were slaughtered at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida. Photo: Reuters

The shooting dominated the news, and it served as a topic of conservation for several days in the house. I explained the American conservative reaction to my housemates, and they were utterly incapable of understanding it. When I explained to many in my country school that shootings are a sign that gun laws are too loose and that instead we need better laws to protect people, they didnt simply disagree. They seemed unable to understand how anyone could ever come to that conclusion. To them, it wasnt a reasonable argument they disagreed with.

Rather, they saw it as completely irrational, the logic of a lunatic. This was my first time having a sustained conversation outside the United States about my countrys gun policies, and I was seeing it through new eyes. Although I always disagreed with the notion that more guns means more safety, for me, it always had a coherence. The reaction of my roommates made me question that. It made me realise just how unhinged the United States gun culture is, how divorced it is from fact and reason, and how hard it can be to truly gain that perspective from within the country.

The United States veneration of guns is dogmatic, hard-wired into our culture. The weapon is venerated in our movies, and we even sell it at pharmacies. We are one of the three countries in the world where gun rights are enshrined in the Constitution, and the only one of those countries where it is unrestricted.

This devotion to the second amendment and its right to bear arms has all the trappings of religious dogma, a belief in a worldview that cannot be changed by empirical reality. In one particularly moving essay, Gary Willis compares our love of guns to the worship of Moloch described in the bible, a deity whose followers sacrificed their children in devotion to their God.

Perhaps, no greater sign of gun rights dogmatism, of the complete opposition to the empirical reality found by those who oppose modest gun control is the fact that, starting in 1996, the Congress forbade the Center for Disease Control (CDC) from studying the link between guns and public health.

The CDC is the main government public health institution, and somehow they are forbidden from studying a tool that kills more than 30,000 Americans a year. Literally, more than one per cent of Americans die of gun violence, yet the national government refuses to invest in studying this.

It is no coincidence that the same side of American politics that irrationally refuses to acknowledge a link between guns and gun violence shows a similar incoherence with global warming  an unwillingness to engage in discussion about the deepening crisis.

Sure, 17 children are dead but dont comment on the tool of violence, lest you politicise the event. Yes, Houston is submerged under a biblical flood but dont link it to the scientific consensus.

Often, after these shootings, politicians say we need a renewed focus on treating mental illness, as if that is the variable that is the problem rather than the simple fact that the country has too many of these weapons of death.

There are literally as many guns in this country as there are people. People are people, and mental illness will always exist. Semiautomatic weapons however do not always exist, and they definitely dont need to be sold to the public. Yet, until my country begins to accept the reality, to recognise that just as surely as the sun rises in the east, letting people collect innumerable and immensely powerful guns will result in death, we are destined to suffer more deaths. Thats reality.

There has been one glimmer of hope this weekend. In the wake of the shooting, survivors of the attack have been engaged in a massive scale of public activism over gun control. On Saturday, at a rally, Emma Gonzales, a survivor of the shooting, gave a speech that quickly went viral. At the end, she led a call and response where the crowd chanted we call BS on the idea that gun policy cant lead to a decrease in gun deaths. In the age of fake news and delusion, when obvious facts are ignored with deadly consequences, it was inspiring to see students so clearly and boldly state to their older leaders that they will actively oppose their obvious lies.

There is a simplicity and clarity to their call that is undeniable, and it gives me hope that perhaps more American politicians and voters, too, will begin to acknowledge the reality.

Also read: We can't be taking Mohan Bhagwat reiterating RSS vision of Hindu Rashtra seriouslyThe gruesome killing of Youth Congress block secretary, SP Shuhaib, is the latest in the long list of political murders dotting Kannur since half a century.

Incidentally, one of the accused in the 1969 murder that set off this cycle of violence is incumbent chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan and it was widely hoped he would be the one to bell the cat. But as the number of political murders in his less than two-year term stand at 22, one has to assume that the chief minister, who also holds the state home ministry, has failed in this endeavour miserably.

At around 11.15pm on February 12, a four-member gang arrived at a roadside eatery in a car and hurled two crude bombs. Two men with machetes pounced on Shuhaib and they hacked him repeatedly below his waist.

The post-mortem report records 41 hack wounds, of which 37 were inflicted below his waist. The gruesome attack reminded Keralites of a similar barbaric attack on renegade Marxist TP Chandrasekharan in 2012 by cadres of the Communist Party of India (Marxist).

A video of CPM flag-bearing activists airing death threats against Shuhaib has surfaced, pointing the finger of suspicion clearly at the ruling party in the state. The CPM workers' rant "your days are numbered" can be clearly heard in the video. Meanwhile, CPM's Kannur district secretary P Jayarajan had declared that they have nothing to do with the murder. (Similar declarations were also made in the wake of TP Chandrasekharan's murder by then state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan). With the surrender of two CPM members - Akash Thillangeri and Rijin Raj - following a search operation at "party villages" in Kannur, these declarations by senior leaders have been belied.

What makes the latest murder stand out from the spate of murders in the last couple of decades is the fact that it has the potential to initiate a new wave of violence and drag Congress back into Kannur's murder politics. The Kannur feud, involving CPM and BJP/RSS since the 1980s, has dominated the discourse on the politics of murders as other parties such as the Muslim League and the Congress have gradually scaled down their involvement in violence.

Congress, in particular, has completely abandoned it since 2000. While the party was in the thick of things in the 1970s, they have been on the sidelines of extermination politics since the 1980s despite remaining the primary Opposition party in the state and the district.

Congress' Kannur face K Sudhakaran has begun a 48-hour fast from Monday and has warned of converting it into an indefinite hunger strike if the "real" culprits aren't arrested by then. Kannur's cycle of violence sustains on "proxy culprits" in which the parties involved present proxies in place of real perpetrators in connivance with police officers that ultimately leads to acquittals at the trial stage.

Shuhaib was a protege of Sudhakaran and was also actively involved in religious and charitable activities of Sunni Students' Federation (SSF), the youth wing of AP Sunni faction. Incidentally, the AP Sunnis led by Kanthapuram Aboobackar Musaliar has always backed the CPM-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) in Kerala and this murder spoil things altogether.

What began as a local Kerala Students Union (KSU)-Students Federation of India (SFI) skirmish (Student bodies of Congress and CPM intensified when Centre for Indian Trade Unions (CITU)-the Marxist trade union arm-workers got involved). But how did it lead to such a brutal murder?

Shuhaib's uncle Ismail reveals that his nephew was a CPM sympathiser, who moved to the Congress before 2015 though he never revealed the reason for that switch. Shuhaib had led the Congress' civic poll campaign in Edayannur and Therur wards in the CPM-dominated Keezhallur panchayat. With his influence in SSF, Congress won both wards. Congress won even without the backing of its ally Indian Union Muslim League in these wards - which rang alarm bells in CPM that enjoys dominance in these parts of Kannur. Apostasy is not taken lightly in Marxist strongholds and Congress' abandonment of extermination politics has seen a large number of ex-CPM cadres flocking to BJP/RSS and even vice versa. Ideology is secondary when it comes to such abandonments as the primary motive is to settle scores or self-preservation.

Shuhaib's murder is also reminiscent of the murder of Ariyil Shukoor, a Muslim League student leader in 2012 in Kannur. Incidentally, Thalassery MLA AN Shamseer owned up to the murder during a television debate.

While CPM used the minority protection card in the 2016 Assembly elections, Shuhaib's murder may not go down well with many in the community.

It has also come to light that an attack might have been planned on Shuhaib in Kannur central jail where rules are regularly flouted by political prisoners in connivance with police officials. When Shuhaib was arrested after a clash with CPM on January 13, the magistrate court ordered that he be lodged in the sub-jail for undertrials. But in an inexplicable move, he was swiftly shifted to the special sub-jail located in the Kannur central jail. K Sudhakaran had intervened with jail DGP R Sreelekha to shift him back to the sub-jail then.

Shuhaib's father, Muhammed, was also aware of the threats to his son's life and has confirmed receiving such messages on his phone. Shuhaib was the sole breadwinner of his family comprising three sisters. The human suffering in Kannur's murder politics is often a neglected topic. Political murders have crippled many families in this district and while parties use them as "martyrs" to further their politics, the families are left to suffer.

A few months back, BJP had unleashed a campaign nationally against the ruling CPM accusing them of spreading "red terror" in Kerala. People of Kerala were unanimous in thwarting the propaganda and were quick to point out that it wasn't a unidimensional issue.

Marxists will have to come around the reality that extermination politics has no place in a civilised society in 2018. A lot of their omissions and commissions have been conveniently ignored over the years due to their utility in preventing the growth of communal politics in Kerala, where people live in complete harmony. But if these murders keep repeating every now and then under their rule, one will have to question their commitment to law and order. While they claim to have lost more people than the BJP/RSS since the 1980s, these arguments fall apart if we are to take into account the past two years alone of Vijayan's chief ministership. CPM has lost only three lives against seven on the other side in Kannur in this brief period.

Chief minister Vijayan chose to remain mum on this ghastly incident for six days. He only spoke on February 18. It seems the transformation from being the ringleader of Marxist politics in Kannur to the people's chief minister hasn't been an easy one. But if the police choose to act as an extension of the party in this case (Kannur SP has upbraided his subordinates for leaking information to the party and has officially complained to the state DGP), a new wave of violence will be the natural consequence and Kerala can ill-afford setting the clock back.

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Florida Group Inc., Columbia Plaza Medical Center of Fort Worth Subsidiary L.P., Columbia Primary Care LLC, Columbia Psychiatric Management Co., Columbia Resource Network Inc., Columbia Rio Grande Healthcare L.P., Columbia Riverside Inc., Columbia South Texas Division Inc., Columbia Specialty Hospital of Dallas Subsidiary L.P., Columbia Specialty Hospitals Inc., Columbia Surgery Group Inc., Columbia Surgicare of Augusta Ltd., Columbia Tampa Bay Division Inc., Columbia Valley Healthcare System L.P., Columbia West Bank Hospital Inc., Columbia Westbank Healthcare L.P., Columbia-CSA/HS Greater Canton Area Healthcare System L.P., Columbia-CSA/HS Greater Cleveland Area Healthcare System L.P., Columbia-Georgia PT Inc., Columbia-Osceola Imaging Center Inc., Columbia-Quantum Inc., Columbia-SDH Holdings Inc., Columbia/Alleghany Regional Hospital Incorporated, Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corporation of Central Texas, Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corporation of Northern Ohio, Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corporation of South Carolina, Columbia/HCA Heartcare of Corpus Christi Inc., Columbia/HCA International Group Inc., Columbia/HCA John Randolph Inc., Columbia/HCA Middle East Management Company, Columbia/HCA Physician Hospital Organization Medical Center Hospital, Columbia/HCA San Clemente Inc., Columbia/HCA of Baton Rouge Inc., Columbia/HCA of Houston Inc., Columbia/HCA of New Orleans Inc., Columbia/HCA of North Texas Inc., Columbine Psychiatric Center Inc., Columbus Cardiology Inc., Columbus Cath Lab Inc., Columbus Cath Lab LLC, Columbus Doctors Hospital Inc., Commonwealth Perinatal Services LLC, Commonwealth Specialists of Kentucky LLC, Community Hospital Family Practice LLC, Comprehensive Radiation Oncology LLC, Comprehensive Radiology Management Services Ltd., Concept EFL Imaging Center LLC, Concept West EFL Imaging Center LLC, Congenital Heart Surgery Center PLLC, Conroe Hospital Corporation, Conroe Montgomery Physicians Group PLLC, Conroe Orthopedic Specialists PLLC, Conroe Partner LLC, Conroe Specialists of Texas PLLC, Continental Division I Inc., Coral Springs Surgi-Center Ltd., CoralStone Management Inc., Corpus Christi Healthcare Group Ltd., Corpus Christi Heart Clinic PLLC, Corpus Christi Primary Care Associates PLLC, Corpus Christi Psychiatric Specialists PLLC, Corpus Christi Radiation Oncology PLLC, Corpus Christi Surgery Center L.P., Corpus Christi Surgery Ltd., Corpus Christi Surgicenter LLC, Corpus Surgicare Inc., Countryside Surgery Center Ltd., Crewe Outpatient Imaging LLC, Cumberland Medical Center Inc., Cy-Fair Medical Center Hospital LLC, DFW Physicians Group PLLC, DOMC Property LLC, DS Real Estate Holdings LLC, Daleville Imaging L.P., Daleville Imaging Manager LLC, Dallas CardioThoracic Surgery Consultants PLLC, Dallas Cardiology Specialists PLLC, Dallas Hand Surgery Center PLLC, Dallas Medical Specialists PLLC, Dallas Neuro-Stroke Affiliates PLLC, Dallas Pediatric Neurosurgery Specialists PLLC, Dallas/Ft. Worth Physician LLC, Davie Medical Center LLC, Daytona Medical Center Inc., Dean 4641 LLC, Deep Purple Investments LLC, Del Sol Bariatric Clinic PLLC, Delray EFL Imaging Center LLC, Denton Cancer Center PLLC, Denton County Hospitalist Program PLLC, Denton Pediatric Physicians PLLC, Denton Regional Ambulatory Surgery Center L.P., Denver Clinic Surgicenter LLC, Denver Mid-Town Surgery Center Ltd., Denver Surgicenter LLC, Derry ASC Inc., Diagnostic Breast Center Inc., Diagnostic Mammography Services G.P., Diagnostic Services G.P., Dickson Surgery Center L.P., Doctors Bay Area Physician Hospital Organization, Doctors Hospital (Conroe) Inc., Doctors Hospital Columbus GA-Joint Venture, Doctors Hospital Surgery Center L.P., Doctors Hospital of Augusta LLC, Doctors Hospital of Augusta Neurology LLC, Doctors Osteopathic Medical Center Inc., Doctors Same Day Surgery Center Inc., Doctors Same Day Surgery Center Ltd., Doctors-I Inc., Doctors-II Inc., Doctors-III Inc., Doctors-IV Inc., Doctors-IX Inc., Doctors-V Inc., Doctors-VI Inc., Doctors-VII Inc., Doctors-VIII Inc., Doctors-X Inc., Doctors Memorial Hospital of Spartanburg Limited Partnership, Dominion Hospital Physicians Group LLC, Dublin Community Hospital LLC, Dublin Heart Specialists LLC, Dublin Multispecialty LLC, Dura Medical Inc., E.P. Physical Therapy Centers Inc., EASTSIDE URGENT CARE LLC, EHCA Diagnostics LLC, EHCA Eastside Occupational Medicine Center LLC, EHCA LLC, EHCA Metropolitan LLC, EHCA Parkway LLC, EHCA Peachtree LLC, EHCA West Paces LLC, EIRMC Hospitalist Services LLC, EMMC LLC, EP Health LLC, EP Holdco LLC, EPIC Development Inc., EPIC Diagnostic Centers Inc., EPIC Healthcare Management Company, EPIC Properties Inc., EPIC Surgery Centers Inc., EPSC L.P., East Falls Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery LLC, East Falls Family Medicine LLC, East Falls Plastic Surgery LLC, East Florida - DMC Inc., East Florida Behavioral Health Network LLC, East Florida Cardiology Network LLC, East Florida CareNow Urgent Care LLC, East Florida Division Inc., East Florida Emergency Physician Group LLC, East Florida Healthcare LLC, East Florida Hospitalists LLC, East Florida Imaging Holdings LLC, East Florida Primary Care LLC, East Houston Primary Care PLLC, East Houston Specialists PLLC, East Layton Internal Medicine LLC, East Orthopedics PLLC, East Pointe Hospital Inc., Eastern Idaho Brachytherapy Equipment LLC, Eastern Idaho Brachytherapy Equipment Manager LLC, Eastern Idaho Care Partners ACO LLC, Eastern Idaho Care Partners Holdings LLC, Eastern Idaho Care Partners LLC, Eastern Idaho Health Services Inc., Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center Inpatient Services LLC, Eastside Behavioral Health Associates LLC, Eastside General Surgery LLC, Eastside Heart and Vascular LLC, Eastside Medical Center LLC, Eastside Surgery Center LLC, Edmond General Surgery LLC, Edmond Hospitalists LLC, Edmond Physician Hospital Organization Inc., Edward White Hospital Inc., El Paso CareNow Urgent Care PLLC, El Paso Healthcare Provider Network, El Paso Healthcare System Ltd., El Paso Healthcare System Physician Services LLC, El Paso Nurses Unlimited Inc., El Paso Primary Care PLLC, El Paso Surgery Centers L.P., El Paso Surgicenter Inc., Eldridge Family Practitioners PLLC, Elite Family Health of Plano PLLC, Elite OB-GYN Services of El Paso PLLC, Elite Orthopaedics of El Paso PLLC, Elite Orthopaedics of Irving PLLC, Elite Orthopaedics of Plano PLLC, Elstree Outpatient Centre LLP, Emergency Physicians at Wesley Medical Center LLC, Emergency Providers Group LLC, Emergency Psychiatric Medicine PLLC, Encino Hospital Corporation Inc., Endocrinology Associates of Lees Summit LLC, Endoscopy Surgicare of Plano LLC, Endoscopy of Plano L.P., Englewood Community Hospital Auxiliary Inc., Englewood Community Hospital Inc., Envision Stakes LLC, Eye Care Surgicare Ltd. a Missouri limited partnership, FHAL LLC, FMH Health Services LLC, Fairfax Surgical Center L.P., Fairview Medical Services LLC, Fairview Park GP LLC, Fairview Park Limited Partnership, Fairview Partner LLC, Family Care Partners LLC, Family Care of E. Jackson County LLC, Family First Medicine in Brownsville PLLC, Family Health Medical Group of Overland Park LLC, Family Health Specialists of Lees Summit LLC, Family Medicine of Blacksburg LLC, Family Practice at Forest Hill LLC, Family Practice at Retreat LLC, Family Practitioners of Montgomery PLLC, Family Practitioners of Pearland PLLC, Fannin MOB LLC, Fannin MOB Property Management LLC, Far West Division Inc., Fawcett Memorial Hospital Inc., Florida Care Partners LLC, Florida Care Partners Orlando LLC, Florida Home Health Services-Private Care Inc., Florida Outpatient Surgery Center Ltd., Flower Mound Surgery Center Ltd., Focus Hand Surgicenter LLC, Foot & Ankle Specialty Services LLC, Forest Park Surgery Pavilion Inc., Forest Park Surgery Pavilion L.P., Fort Bend Hospital Inc., Fort Chiswell Family Practice LLC, Fort Myers Market Inc., Fort Pierce Immediate Care Center Inc., Fort Pierce Orthopaedics LLC, Fort Pierce Surgery Center Ltd., Fort Walton Beach Medical Center Inc., Fort Worth Investments Inc., Forward Pathology Solutions LLC, Four Rivers Medical Center PHO Inc., Frankfort Hospital Inc., Frankfort Wound Care LLC, Freeport Family Medicine LLC, Fremont Womens Health LLC, Frisco Surgicare LLC, Frisco Warren Parkway 91 Inc., Frist Clinic Express LLC, Ft. Pierce Surgicare LLC, Ft. Walton Beach Anesthesia Services LLC, G. Rowe M.D. PLLC, G. Schnider M.D. PLLC, G. Voorhees M.D. PLLC, G.P. Martin Fletcher & Associates LLC, GA PHYSICIAN SERVICES LLC, GA Urgentcare Holding LLC, GHC-Galen Health Care LLC, GI Associates of Denton PLLC, GI Associates of Lewisville PLLC, GME Services of Osceola LLC, GPCH-GP Inc., GYN-Oncology of Southwest Virginia LLC, Gainesville GYN Oncology of North Florida Regional Medical Center LLC, Gainesville Physicians LLC, GalTex LLC, Galen (Kansas) Merger LLC, Galen BH Inc., Galen Center for Professional Development Inc., Galen College of Nursing, Galen Diagnostic Multicenter Ltd., Galen GOK LLC, Galen Global Finance Inc., Galen Health Institutes Inc., Galen Health Partners Limited, Galen Holdco LLC, Galen Hospital Alaska Inc., Galen Hospital of Baytown Inc., Galen Hospital-Pembroke Pines Inc., Galen International Holdings Inc., Galen KY LLC, Galen MCS LLC, Galen MRMC LLC, Galen Medical Corporation, Galen NMC LLC, Galen NSH LLC, Galen Property LLC, Galen SOM LLC, Galen SSH LLC, Galen Virginia Hospital Corporation, Galen of Aurora Inc., Galen of Florida Inc., Galen of Illinois Inc., Galen of Kentucky Inc., Galen of Mississippi Inc., Galen of Virginia Inc., Galen of West Virginia Inc., Galen-Soch Inc., Galencare Inc., Galendeco Inc., Galichia Anesthesia Services LLC, Galichia Emergency Physicians LLC, Garden Park Community Hospital Limited Partnership, Garden Park Hospitalist Program LLC, Garden Park Investments L.P., Garden Park Physician Group - Specialty Care LLC, Garden Park Physician Group Inc., Gardens EFL Imaging Center LLC, Gastroenterology Specialists of Middle Tennessee LLC, General Hospitals of Galen Inc., General Medical Clinics Limited, General Surgeons of Houston PLLC, General Surgeons of North Richland Hills PLLC, General Surgeons of Pasadena PLLC, General and Cardiovascular Surgeons of Conroe PLLC, Generations Family Practice Inc., GenoSpace LLC, Georgia Health Holdings Inc., Georgia L.P., Georgia Psychiatric Company Inc., Glemm SA, Good Samaritan Hospital L.P., Good Samaritan Hospital LLC, Good Samaritan Surgery Center L.P., Goppert-Trinity Family Care LLC, Grace Family Practice LLC, Gramercy Eye Surgicenter LLC, Gramercy Surgery Center Ltd., Grand Strand Regional Medical Center LLC, Grand Strand Senior Health Center LLC, Grand Strand Specialty Associates LLC, Grand Strand Surgical Specialists LLC, Grandview Health Care Clinic LLC, Grant Center Hospital of Ocala Inc., Grayson Primary Care LLC, Greater Gwinnett Internal Medicine Associates LLC, Greater Gwinnett Physician Corporation, Greater Houston Preferred Provider Option Inc., Greater Tampa Bay Physician Network LLC, Greater Tampa Bay Physician Specialists LLC, Greater Tampa Bay Physicians - Pinellas LLC, Green Oaks Hospital Subsidiary L.P., Greenview Hospital Inc., Greenview PrimeCare LLC, Greenview Specialty Associates LLC, Gulf Coast Division Inc., Gulf Coast Electrophysiology Associates PLLC, Gulf Coast Inpatient Specialists LLC, Gulf Coast Medical Center Primary Care LLC, Gulf Coast Medical Ventures Inc., Gulf Coast Multispecialty Services LLC, Gulf Coast Physician Administrators Inc., Gulf Coast Provider Network Inc., Gwinnett Community Hospital Inc., Gynecology Specialists of Utah LLC, H2U Wellness Centers - Del Sol Medical Center PLLC, H2U Wellness Centers - Las Palmas Medical Center PLLC, H2U Wellness Centers - Medical City Dallas PLLC, H2U Wellness Centers - St. Davids Medical Center PLLC, H2U Wellness Centers LLC, H2U Wellness Centers  Clear Lake Regional Medical Center PLLC, H2U Wellness Centers  Conroe ISD PLLC, H2U Wellness Centers  Conroe Regional Medical Center PLLC, H2U Wellness Centers  Corpus Christi PLLC, H2U Wellness Centers  El Paso PLLC, H2U Wellness Centers  PISD PLLC, H2U Wellness Centers  San Benito CISD PLLC, HBP Lone Star Inc., HCA - IT&S Field Operations Inc., HCA - IT&S Inventory Management Inc., HCA - IT&S PBS Field Operations Inc., HCA - IT&S TN Field Operations Inc., HCA - Information Technology & Services Inc., HCA - Raleigh Community Hospital Inc., HCA - Viera ALF LLC, HCA - WHS Progressive LLC, HCA - WHS Services LLC, HCA ASD Financial Operations LLC, HCA ASD Sales Services LLC, HCA American Finance LLC, HCA Carenow Limited, HCA Central Group Inc., HCA Central/West Texas Physicians Management LLC, HCA Chattanooga Market Inc., HCA Development Company Inc., HCA Eastern Group Inc., HCA Global Capital LLP, HCA Gulf Coast GME PLLC, HCA Health Services of California Inc., HCA Health Services of Florida Inc., HCA Health Services of Georgia Inc., HCA Health Services of Louisiana Inc., HCA Health Services of Miami Inc., HCA Health Services of Midwest Inc., HCA Health Services of New Hampshire Inc., HCA Health Services of Tennessee Inc., HCA Health Services of Texas Inc., HCA Health Services of Virginia Inc., HCA Health Services of West Virginia Inc., HCA Healthcare Mission Fund LLC, HCA Healthcare UK Limited, HCA Holdco LLC, HCA Human Resources LLC, HCA Imaging Services of North Florida Inc., HCA Inc., HCA International Holdings Limited, HCA International Limited, HCA LewisGale Regional Cancer Centers Clinical Co-Management Company LLC, HCA Long Term Health Services of Miami Inc., HCA Luxembourg 1 Sarl, HCA Luxembourg 2 Sarl, HCA Luxembourg Equities Sarl, HCA Luxembourg Finance Limited, HCA Luxembourg Investments Sarl, HCA Management Services L.P., HCA Medical City Limited, HCA Medical Services Inc., HCA Midwest Comprehensive Care Inc., HCA Outpatient Clinic Services of Miami Inc., HCA Outpatient Imaging Services Group Inc., HCA Patient Safety Organization LLC, HCA Pearland GP Inc., HCA Physician Services Inc., HCA Plano Imaging Inc., HCA Property GP LLC, HCA Psychiatric Company, HCA Purchasing Limited, HCA Realty Inc., HCA Richmond Cardiac Clinical Co-Management Company LLC, HCA SF LLC, HCA SFB 1 LLC, HCA Sarasota Orthopedic and Spine Clinical Co-Management Company LLC, HCA Squared LLC, HCA Staffing Limited, HCA Swiss Capital 1 LLP, HCA Swiss Capital 2 LLP, HCA Switzerland Finance GmbH, HCA Switzerland Holding GmbH, HCA Switzerland Limited, HCA UK Capital Limited, HCA UK Holdings Limited, HCA UK Investments Limited, HCA UK Limited, HCA UK Services Limited, HCA Wesley Rehabilitation Hospital Inc., HCA Western Group Inc., HCA-Access Healthcare Holdings LLC, HCA-Access Healthcare Partner Inc., HCA-California Urgent Care Holdings LLC, HCA-EMS Holdings LLC, HCA-EmCare Holdings LLC, HCA-Georgia Urgent Care Holdings LLC, HCA-HBPS Holdings LLC, HCA-HealthONE LLC, HCA-Solis Holdings Inc., HCA-Solis Mammography Service Holdings of Continental LLC, HCA-Solis Mammography Service Holdings of Gulf Coast LLC, HCA-Solis Mammography Service Holdings of North Texas LLC, HCA-Solis Mammography Service Holdings of TriStar LLC, HCA-Solis Mammography Services LLC, HCA-Solis Master LLC, HCA-Urgent Care Holdings LLC, HCAPS Anesthesia Manager LLC, HCAPS Conroe Affiliation Inc., HCOL Inc., HD&S Corp. Successor Inc., HDH Thoracic Surgeons LLC, HHBY Holdings LLC, HHNC LLC, HICCH-SCL LLC, HM Acquisition LLC, HM OMCOS LLC, HMMG 1226 LLC, HPG Energy L.P., HPG Enterprises LLC, HPG GP LLC, HPG Solutions LLC, HSS Holdco LLC, HSS Systems LLC, HSS Virginia L.P., HTI Gulf Coast Inc., HTI Health Services of North Carolina Inc., HTI Hospital Holdings Inc., HTI MOB LLC, HTI MSO LLC, HTI Memorial Hospital Corporation, HTI Physician Services of Utah Inc., HWCA PLLC, Hamilton Memorial Hospital Inc., Hamsard 3160 Limited, Harley Street Clinic @ The Groves LLP, Hathor Chelsea Ltd., Healdsburg General Hospital Inc., Health Care Indemnity Inc., Health Insight Capital LLC, Health International Billing Partners Limited, Health Midwest Medical Group Inc., Health Midwest Office Facilities Corporation, Health Midwest Ventures Group Inc., Health Partners of Kansas Inc., Health Service Partners Inc., Health Services (Delaware) Inc., Health Services Merger Inc., Health to You LLC, HealthCoast Physician Group LLC, HealthONE Aurora Investment LLC, HealthONE Care Partners LLC, HealthONE CareNow Urgent Care LLC, HealthONE Clear Creek LLC, HealthONE Clinic Services - Bariatric Medicine LLC, HealthONE Clinic Services - Behavioral Health LLC, HealthONE Clinic Services - Cancer Care LLC, HealthONE Clinic Services - Cancer Specialties LLC, HealthONE Clinic Services - Cardiovascular LLC, HealthONE Clinic Services - Medical Specialties LLC, HealthONE Clinic Services - Neurosciences LLC, HealthONE Clinic Services - Obstetrics and Gynecology LLC, HealthONE Clinic Services - Occupational Medicine LLC, HealthONE Clinic Services - Oncology Hematology LLC, HealthONE Clinic Services - Orthopedic Specialists LLC, HealthONE Clinic Services - Otolaryngology Specialists LLC, HealthONE Clinic Services - Pediatric Cardiovascular Surgery LLC, HealthONE Clinic Services - Pediatric Specialties LLC, HealthONE Clinic Services - Primary Care LLC, HealthONE Clinic Services - Spine Specialists LLC, HealthONE Clinic Services - Spine Surgeons LLC, HealthONE Clinic Services - Surgery Neurological LLC, HealthONE Clinic Services - Surgical Specialties LLC, HealthONE Clinic Services - Transplant Services LLC, HealthONE Clinic Services - Womens Services LLC, HealthONE Clinic Services - Youth Rehabilitation LLC, HealthONE Clinic Services LLC, HealthONE High Street Primary Care Center LLC, HealthONE IRL Pathology Services LLC, HealthONE Institutes for Clinical Research LLC, HealthONE Lowry LLC, HealthONE Radiation Therapy at Red Rocks LLC, HealthONE Radiation Therapy at Thornton LLC, HealthONE Ridge View Endoscopy Center LLC, HealthONE Surgicare of Ridge View LLC, HealthONE Urologic LLC, HealthONE at Breckenridge LLC, HealthONE of Denver Inc., HealthOne Heart Care LLC, HealthOne Lincoln Investment LLC, HealthOne Westside Investment LLC, HealthTrust Europe Company Limited, HealthTrust Europe LLP, HealthTrust Locums Inc., HealthTrust Workforce Solutions LLC, Healthcare Oklahoma Inc., Healthcare Purchasing Alliance LLC, Healthcare Sales National Management Services Group LLC, Healthcare Technology Assessment Corporation, Healthco LLC, Healthnet of Kentucky LLC, Healthserv Acquisition LLC, Healthtrust Inc. - The Hospital Company, Healthtrust MOB Tennessee LLC, Healthtrust Purchasing Group L.P., Healthtrust Utah Management Services Inc., Healthy State Inc., Heart Specialist of North Texas PLLC, Heart of America ASC LLC, Heart of America Surgicenter LLC, Heartcare of Texas Ltd., Hearthstone Home Health Inc., Heartland Womens Group at Wesley LLC, Heathrow Imaging LLC, Heathrow Internal Medicine LLC, Hendersonville Hospital Corporation, Hendersonville Hospitalist Services Inc., Hendersonville OB/GYN LLC, Hendersonville ODC LLC, Hendersonville Primary Care LLC, Henrico Doctors Hospital - Forest Campus Property LLC, Henrico Doctors Neurology Associates LLC, Henrico Doctors OB GYN Specialists LLC, Henrico Surgical Specialists LLC, Heritage Family Care LLC, Heritage Hospital Inc., Heritage Medical Care LLC, Hermitage Primary Care LLC, Hidalgo County Family Practitioners PLLC, Hidden Lakes Health Center PLLC, Highlands Regional Medical Center, Hip & Joint Specialists of North Texas PLLC, Homecare North Inc., Hometrust Management Services Inc., Horizon Orthopedics LLC, Horizon Surgical LLC, Hospital Corp. LLC, Hospital Corporation of America, Hospital Corporation of Lake Worth, Hospital Corporation of Tennessee, Hospital Corporation of Utah, Hospital Development Properties Inc., Hospital Partners Merger LLC, Hospital Realty Corporation, Hospital-Based CRNA Services Inc., Hospitalists at Centennial Medical Center LLC, Hospitalists at Fairview Park LLC, Hospitalists at Greenview Regional Hospital LLC, Hospitalists at Horizon Medical Center LLC, Hospitalists at Parkridge LLC, Hospitalists at StoneCrest LLC, Hospitalists at Wesley Medical Center LLC, Hospitalists of the Wabash Valley LLC, Houston - PPH LLC, Houston CareNow Urgent Care PLLC, Houston Healthcare Holdings Inc., Houston NW Manager LLC, Houston Northwest Concessions L.L.C., Houston Northwest Operating Company L.L.C., Houston Northwest Surgical Partners Inc., Houston Obstetrics and Gynecology for Women PLLC, Houston Pediatric Specialty Group PLLC, Houston Urologic Surgicenter LLC, Houston Womans Hospital Partner LLC, ICU Associates of West Houston PLLC, IMX Holdings LLC, IRL Pathology Services MidAmerica LLC, Idaho Behavioral Health Services LLC, Idaho Physician Services Inc., Illinois Psychiatric Hospital Company Inc., Imaging Realty LLC, Imaging Services of Appomattox LLC, Imaging Services of Jacksonville LLC, Imaging Services of Louisiana LLC, Imaging Services of Louisiana Manager LLC, Imaging Services of Orlando LLC, Imaging Services of Richmond LLC, Imaging Services of Roanoke LLC, Imaging Services of West Boynton LLC, InVivoLink Inc., Independence Neurosurgery Services LLC, Independence Regional Medical Group LLC, Independence Surgicare Inc., Indian Path Hospital Inc., Indianapolis Hospital Partner LLC, Institute for Womens Health and Body LLC, Institute of Advanced ENT Surgery LLC, Integrated Regional Lab LLC, Integrated Regional Laboratories LLP, Integrated Regional Laboratories Pathology Services LLC, Intensive Care Consortium Inc., Internal Medicine Associates of Huntsville PLLC, Internal Medicine Associates of Southern Hills LLC, Internal Medicine of Blacksburg LLC, Internal Medicine of Pasadena PLLC, Internist Associates of Houston PLLC, Isleworth Partners Inc., J. M. Garcia M.D. PLLC, JCSH LLC, JDGC Management LLC, JFK Internal Medicine Faculty Practice LLC, JFK Medical Center Limited Partnership, JPM AA Housing LLC, Jackson County Medical Group LLC, Jackson County Pulmonary Medical Group LLC, Jacksonville CareNow Urgent Care LLC, Jacksonville Multispecialty Services LLC, Jacksonville Surgery Center Ltd., James River Internists LLC, John Randolph Family Practice LLC, John Randolph OB/GYN LLC, John Randolph Surgeons LLC, Johnson County Neurology LLC, Johnson County Surgery Center L.P., Johnson County Surgicenter L.L.C., Jordan Family Health L.L.C., Jupiter EFL Imaging Center LLC, KC Pain ASC LLC, KC Surgicare LLC, KPH-Consolidation Inc., Kansas CareNow Urgent Care LLC, Kansas City Cardiac Arrhythmia Research LLC, Kansas City Gastroenterology & Hepatology Physicians Group LLC, Kansas City Neurology Associates LLC, Kansas City Pulmonology Practice LLC, Kansas City Surgery Center Properties LLC, Kansas City Vascular & General Surgery Group LLC, Kansas City Womens Clinic Group LLC, Kansas Healthserv LLC, Kansas Pulmonary and Sleep Specialists LLC, Kansas Trauma and Critical Care Specialists LLC, Kathy L. Summers M.D. PLLC, Kendall Healthcare Group Ltd., Kendall Regional Medical Center LLC, Kendall Regional Urgent Care LLC, Kennedale Primary Care PLLC, Kingwood Multi-Specialty Group PLLC, Kingwood Surgery Center LLC, Kingwood Surgicenter LLC, Kissimmee Surgicare Ltd., Kyle Primary Care PLLC, L E Corporation, LAD Imaging LLC, LGMC Ambulatory Surgery Center LLC, LOC @ The Christie LLP, LOC @ The London Bridge Hospital LLP, LOC Partnership LLP, LPN TeleBehavioral Health PLLC, Lafayette OB Hospitalists LLC, Lafayette Urogynecology & Urology Center LLC, Lake City Imaging LLC, Lake City Regional Medical Group LLC, Lake Forest Family Health PLLC, Lakeside Radiology LLC, Lakeside Womens Services LLC, Lakeview Cardiology Specialists LLC, Lakeview Hospital Physician Services LLC, Lakeview Internal Medicine LLC, Lakeview Medical Center LLC, Lakeview Regional Medical Center Inpatient Services LLC, Lakeview Regional Physician Group LLC, Lakeview Urology & General Surgery LLC, Lakewood Surgicare Inc., Laredo Medco LLC, Largo Medical Center Inc., Largo Physician Group LLC, Las Colinas Primary Care PLLC, Las Colinas Surgery Center Ltd., Las Encinas Hospital, Las Palmas Del Sol Cardiology PLLC, Las Palmas Del Sol Internal Medicine PLLC, Las Palmas Del Sol Urgent Care PLLC, Las Vegas ASC LLC, Las Vegas Surgicare Inc., Las Vegas Surgicare Ltd. a Nevada Limited Partnership, Lawnwood Cardiovascular Surgery LLC, Lawnwood Healthcare Specialists LLC, Lawnwood Medical Center Inc., Layton Family Practice LLC, Leaders in Oncology Care Limited, Leadership Healthcare Holdings II L.P. L.L.P., Leadership Healthcare Holdings L.P. L.L.P., Lees Summit Family Care LLC, Leslie Cohan M.D. PLLC, Lewis-Gale Hospital Incorporated, Lewis-Gale Medical Center LLC, Lewis-Gale Physicians LLC, Lewisville Primary Care PLLC, Lewisville Surgicare LLC, Lincoln Surgery Center LLC, Live Oak Immediate Care Center LLC, London Oncology Clinic LLP, London Pathology Limited, London Radiography & Radiotherapy Services Limited, Lone Peak Hospital Inc., Lone Star Intensivists at Gulf Coast PLLC, Lonestar Provider Network, Longview Regional Physician Hospital Organization Inc., Lorain County Surgery Center Ltd., Los Gatos Surgical Center a California Limited Partnership, Los Robles Regional Medical Center, Los Robles Regional Medical Center MOB LLC, Los Robles SurgiCenter LLC, Loudoun Surgery Center LLC, Louisiana Psychiatric Company Inc., Loveland Surgicenter LLC, Low Country Health Services Inc. of the Southeast, Lowry Surgicenter LLC, M. Jamshidi D.O. PLLC, MCA Investment Company, MCA-CTMC Holdings LLC, MEC Endoscopy LLC, MFA G.P. LLC, MFM Fact PLLC, MGH Medical Inc., MH Anesthesiology Physicians LLC, MH Angel Medical Center LLLP, MH Asheville Specialty Hospital LLC, MH Blue Ridge Medical Center LLLP, MH Eckerd Living Center LLLP, MH Highlands-Cashiers Medical Center LLLP, MH Hospital Holdings Inc., MH Hospital Manager LLC, MH Master Holdings LLLP, MH Master LLC, MH McDowell Imaging LLLP, MH Mission Hospital LLLP, MH Mission Hospital McDowell LLLP, MH Mission Imaging LLLP, MH Physician Services LLC, MH Transylvania Imaging LLLP, MH Transylvania Regional Hospital LLLP, MHS Partnership Holdings JSC Inc., MHS Partnership Holdings SDS Inc., MHS SC Partner L.L.C., MHS Surgery Centers L.P., MMC Sleep Lab Management LLC, MOSC Sports Medicine Inc., MOVCO Inc., MP Management LLC, MRT&C Inc., MSL Acquisition LLC, MVH Professional Services LLC, Macon Healthcare LLC, Macon Northside Health Group LLC, Macon Northside Hospital LLC, Macon Psychiatric Hospitalists LLC, Madison Behavioral Health LLC, Mainland Family Medicine PLLC, Mainland Multi-Specialty Group PLLC, Mainland Primary Care Physicians PLLC, Management Services Holdings Inc., Manatee Surgicare Ltd., Marietta Outpatient Medical Building Inc., Marietta Outpatient Surgery Ltd., Marietta Surgical Center Inc., Marion Community Hospital Inc., Mark Gottesman M.D. PLLC, Martin Fletcher & Associates L.P., Martin Fletcher Associates Holdings Inc., Mary Alice Cowan M.D. PLLC, Maternal Fetal Medicine Specialists of Corpus Christi PLLC, Maternal Fetal Services of Utah LLC, Maury County Behavioral Health LLC, Mayhill Cancer Center LLC, McAllen Comprehensive Upper Extremity Center PLLC, McKinney Surgeons PLLC, Mechanicsville Imaging LLC, Mecklenburg Surgical Land Development Ltd., Med City Dallas Outpatient Surgery Center L.P., Med Corp. Inc., Med Group - Southern Hills Hospitalists LLC, Med-Center Hosp./Houston Inc., Med-Point of New Hampshire Inc., Medi Flight of Oklahoma LLC, MediCredit Inc., MediPurchase Inc., MediStone Healthcare Ventures Inc., MediVision Inc., MediVision of Mecklenburg County Inc., MediVision of Tampa Inc., Medical Arts Hospital of Texarkana Inc., Medical Associates of Ocala LLC, Medical Care America Colorado LLC, Medical Care America LLC, Medical Care Financial Services Corp., Medical Care Real Estate Finance Inc., Medical Care Surgery Center Inc., Medical Center - West Inc., Medical Center Imaging Inc., Medical Center Surgery Associates L.P., Medical Center of Baton Rouge Inc., Medical Center of Plano Partner LLC, Medical Center of Port St. Lucie Inc., Medical Center of Santa Rosa Inc., Medical Center of Southwest Florida LLC, Medical Centers of Oklahoma LLC, Medical City Dallas Hospital Inc., Medical City Dallas Partner LLC, Medical City Dallas Primary Care PLLC, Medical City Frisco, Medical City OB-GYN PLLC, Medical City Pediatrics PLLC, Medical City Specialty Surgicenter of Dallas LLC, Medical City Surgery Center of Alliance LLC, Medical City Surgery Center of Frisco LLC, Medical City Surgery Center of Lewisville LLC, Medical City Transplant PLLC, Medical Corporation of America, Medical Group - Dickson Inc., Medical Group - Southern Hills of Brentwood LLC, Medical Group - Southern Hills of Nolensville LLC, Medical Group - StoneCrest FP Inc., Medical Group - StoneCrest Inc., Medical Group - Stonecrest Pulmonology LLC, Medical Group - Summit Inc., Medical Imaging Inc., Medical Imaging of Colorado LLC, Medical Office Buildings of Kansas LLC, Medical Oncology Associates LLC, Medical Partners of North Florida LLC, Medical Plaza Ambulatory Surgery Center Associates L.P., Medical Specialties Inc., Memorial Family Practice Associates LLC, Memorial Health Primary Care at St. Johns Bluff LLC, Memorial Healthcare Group Inc., Memorial Neurosurgery Group LLC, Memorial Satilla Specialists LLC, Memorial University Medical Center, Menorah Medical Group LLC, Menorah Urgent Care LLC, Mercy ASC LLC, Metairie Primary Care Associates LLC, Methodist Ambulatory Surgery Center of Boerne LLC, Methodist Ambulatory Surgery Center of Landmark LLC, Methodist Cardiology Physicians, Methodist CareNow Physician Associates, Methodist CareNow Urgent Care PLLC, Methodist Healthcare System of San Antonio Ltd. L.L.P., Methodist Inpatient Management Group, Methodist Medical Center ASC L.P., Methodist Physician Alliance, Methodist Physician Practice Services LLC, Methodist Physician Practices PLLC, Metroplex Surgicenters Inc., Metropolitan Multispecialty Physicians Group Inc., Miami Beach EFL Imaging Center LLC, Miami Beach Healthcare Group Ltd., Miami Dade Surgical Specialists LLC, Miami Lakes Surgery Center Ltd., Miami-Dade Cardiology Consultants LLC, Michael Mann M.D. PLLC, Mid-America Surgery Center LLC, Mid-America Surgery Institute LLC, Mid-Cities Surgi-Center Inc., Mid-Continent Health Services Inc., MidAmerica Division Inc., MidAmerica Oncology LLC, Middle Georgia Hospital LLC, Middle Georgia Urgent Care Services LLC, Middle Tennessee Neurology LLC, Midtown Diagnostics LLC, Midwest Cardiology Specialists LLC, Midwest Cardiovascular & Thoracic Surgery LLC, Midwest Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgeons of Kansas LLC, Midwest Division - ACH LLC, Midwest Division - CMC LLC, Midwest Division - LRHC LLC, Midwest Division - LSH LLC, Midwest Division - MCI LLC, Midwest Division - MMC LLC, Midwest Division - OPRMC LLC, Midwest Division - RBH LLC, Midwest Division - RMC LLC, Midwest Division Spine Care LLC, Midwest Doctors Group LLC, Midwest Heart & Vascular Specialists LLC, Midwest Holdings Inc., Midwest Infectious Disease Specialists LLC, Midwest Medicine Associates LLC, Midwest Metropolitan Physicians Group LLC, Midwest Oncology Associates LLC, Midwest Trauma Services LLC, Midwest Womens Healthcare Specialists LLC, Mikrod Services Inc., Mill Creek Outpatient Services LLC, Millenium Health Care of Oklahoma Inc., Mission Bay Memorial Hospital Inc., Mission Community Anesthesiology Specialists LLC, Mission Employer Solutions LLC, Mission Health, Mission Health Partners Inc., Missouri Healthcare System L.P., Mobile Corps. Inc., Mobile Heartbeat, Mobile Heartbeat LLC, Montgomery Cancer Center LLC, Montgomery Hospitalists LLC, Montgomery Regional Hospital Inc., Montgomery Surgery Associates LLC, Mountain Division - CVH LLC, Mountain Division Inc., Mountain View Hospital Inc., Mountain View MRI Associates Ltd., Mountain West Surgery Center LLC, MountainStar Behavioral Health LLC, MountainStar Brigham General Surgery LLC, MountainStar Canyon Surgical Clinic LLC, MountainStar Cardiology Ogden Regional LLC, MountainStar Cardiology St. Marks LLC, MountainStar Intensivist Services LLC, MountainStar Medical Group - Cache Valley LLC, MountainStar Medical Group - Ogden Regional Medical Center LLC, MountainStar Medical Group - St. Marks Hospital LLC, MountainStar Medical Group Neurosurgery-St. Marks LLC, MountainStar Medical Group Timpanogos Primary Care LLC, MountainStar Medical Group Timpanogos Specialty Care LLC, MountainStar Specialty Services LLC, MountainStar Urgent Care LLC, MountainView GME Primary Care LLC, Mountainstar Brigham OBGYN LLC, Mountainstar Cardiovascular Services LLC, Mountainstar Ogden Pediatrics LLC, Movement Disorders of North Texas PLLC, Mt. Ogden Utah Surgical Center LLC, NPAS Inc., NPAS Solutions LLC, NT Urgent Care PLLC, NTGP LLC, NTMC Management Company, NTMC Venture Inc., NTX Pathology Program PLLC, Nashville Psychiatric Company Inc., Nashville Shared Services General Partnership, Nashville Surgicenter LLC, Natchez Medical Associates LLC, Natchez Surgery Center LLC, National Association of Senior Friends, National Contact Center Management Group LLC, National Patient Account Services Inc., National Transfer Center Management Services LLC, Navarro Memorial Hospital Inc., NeighborMD Management LLC, Network MS of Florida Inc., Network Management Services Inc., Neuro Affiliates Company, Neuro-Hospitalist of Clear Lake PLLC, NeuroHospitalist of McAllen PLLC, Neurological Eye Specialists of North Texas PLLC, Neurological Specialists PLLC, Neurological Specialists of McKinney PLLC, Neurology Associates of Hendersonville LLC, Neurology Associates of Kansas LLC, Neurosurgery Atlanta LLC, Neurosurgery of Kingwood PLLC, Neurosurgical Associates of North Texas PLLC, Neurosurgical Specialists of El Paso PLLC, Neurosurgical Specialists of North Texas PLLC, Nevada Surgery Center of Southern Hills L.P., Nevada Surgicare of Southern Hills LLC, Nevada Urgent Care Holdings Inc., New Iberia Healthcare LLC, New Iberia Holdings Inc., New Port Richey Hospital Inc., New Port Richey Surgery Center Ltd., New Rose Holding Company Inc., Niceville Family Practice LLC, North Augusta Imaging Management LLC, North Augusta Imaging Services LLC, North Augusta Rehab Health Center LLC, North Austin Plastic Surgery Associates PLLC, North Austin Surgery Center L.P., North Brandon Imaging LLC, North Central Florida Health System Inc., North Central Methodist ASC L.P., North Charleston Diagnostic Imaging Center LLC, North Florida Cancer Center Lake City LLC, North Florida Cancer Center Live Oak LLC, North Florida Cancer Center Tallahassee LLC, North Florida Division I Inc., North Florida Division Practice Inc., North Florida GI Center GP Inc., North Florida GI Center Ltd., North Florida Immediate Care Center Inc., North Florida Neurosurgery LLC, North Florida Outpatient Imaging Center Ltd., North Florida Physician Services Inc., North Florida Physicians LLC, North Florida Radiation Oncology LLC, North Florida Regional Company Care LLC, North Florida Regional Freestanding Surgery Center L.P., North Florida Regional Investments Inc., North Florida Regional Medical Center Inc., North Florida Regional Psychiatry LLC, North Florida Regional Trauma LLC, North Florida Rehab Investments LLC, North Florida Surgical Associates LLC, North Georgia Primary Care Group LLC, North Hills Cardiac Catheterization Center L.P., North Hills Catheterization Lab LLC, North Hills Orthopaedic Surgeons PLLC, North Hills Surgicare L.P., North Houston - TRMC LLC, North Miami Beach Surgery Center Limited Partnership, North Miami Beach Surgical Center LLC, North Palm Beach County Surgery Center LLC, North River Physician Network LLC, North Shore Specialists of Texas PLLC, North Suburban Spine Center L.P., North Tampa Imaging LLC, North Texas - MCA LLC, North Texas Cardiology PLLC, North Texas Craniofacial Fellowship Program PLLC, North Texas Division Inc., North Texas General L.P., North Texas Geriatrics PLLC, North Texas Heart Surgery Center PLLC, North Texas Internal Medicine Specialists PLLC, North Texas Medical Center Inc., North Texas Neuro Stroke OP PLLC, North Texas Pulmonary Critical Care PLLC, North Texas Sports and Orthopedics Center PLLC, North Texas Stroke Center PLLC, North Texas of Hope PLLC, North Transfer Center LLC, Northeast Florida Cancer Services LLC, Northeast Methodist Surgicare Ltd., Northeast PHO Inc., Northern Utah Healthcare Corporation, Northern Utah Healthcare Imaging Holdco LLC, Northern Utah Imaging LLC, Northern Virginia CareNow Urgent Care LLC, Northern Virginia Community Hospital LLC, Northern Virginia Hospital Corporation, Northern Virginia Surgicenter LLC, Northlake Medical Center LLC, Northlake Physician Practice Network Inc., Northlake Surgical Center L.P., Northlake Surgicare Inc., Northside MRI Inc., Northwest Fla. Home Health Agency Inc., Northwest Florida Healthcare Systems Inc., Northwest Florida Multispecialty Physicians LLC, Northwest Florida Primary Care LLC, Northwest Medical Center Inc., Notami (Opelousas) Inc., Notami Hospitals LLC, Notami Hospitals of Florida Inc., Notami Hospitals of Louisiana Inc., Notami Hospitals of Missouri Inc., Notami LLC, Notco LLC, Nuclear Diagnosis Inc., OB Hospitalists of Womans Hospital PLLC, OB/GYN of Brownsville PLLC, OB/Gyn Associates of Denton PLLC, OBS Diagnostic and Treatment Centre LLP, ODP Holdings LLC, ODP Manager LLC, ODP Properties LLC, OHH Imaging Services LLC, OPRMC-HBP LLC, Oak Hill Acquisition Inc., Oak Hill Family Care LLC, Oak Hill Hospitalists LLC, Oakwood Surgery Center Ltd. LLP, Ocala Health Company Care LLC, Ocala Health Imaging Services LLC, Ocala Health Primary Care LLC, Ocala Health Surgical Group LLC, Ocala Health Trauma LLC, Ocala Regional Outpatient Services Inc., Ocala Stereotactic Radiosurgery LLC, Ocala Stereotactic Radiosurgery Partner LLC, Occupational Health Services of PRH LLC, Occupational and Family Medicine of South Texas, Ogden Imaging LLC, Ogden Internal Medicine & Urology LLC, Ogden Regional Health Plan Inc., Ogden Regional Medical Center Professional Billing LLC, Ogden Senior Center LLC, Ogden Tomotherapy LLC, Ogden Tomotherapy Manager LLC, Okaloosa Hospital Inc., Okeechobee Hospital Inc., Oklahoma Holding Company LLC, Oklahoma Outpatient Surgery Limited Partnership, Oklahoma Physicians - Medical Specialties LLC, Oklahoma Physicians - Obstetrics and Gynecology LLC, Oklahoma Physicians - Primary Care LLC, Oklahoma Physicians - Surgical Specialties LLC, Oklahoma Surgicare Inc., Old Fort Village LLC, On-Site Primary Care PLLC, Oncology Services of Corpus Christi LLC, Oncology Services of Corpus Christi Manager LLC, OneSourceMed Inc., Online Pathology Services Limited, Orange County Healthcare LLC, Orange Park Hospitalists LLC, Orange Park Medical Center Inc., Orlando CareNow Urgent Care LLC, Orlando Outpatient Surgical Center Inc., Orlando Outpatient Surgical Center Ltd., Orlando Surgicare Ltd., Orthopaedic Specialty Associates L.P., Orthopaedic Sports Specialty Associates Inc., Orthopedic Hospital Ltd., Orthopedics Specialists LLC, Osceola Neurological Associates LLC, Osceola Physician Network LLC, Osceola Regional Hospital Inc., Osceola Regional Hospitalists LLC, Osceola Surgical Associates LLC, Outpatient Cardiovascular Center of Central Florida LLC, Outpatient GP LLC, Outpatient Services - LAD LLC, Outpatient Services Holdings Inc., Outpatient Surgical Services Ltd., Outpatient Womens and Childrens Surgery Center Ltd., Overland Park Cardiovascular Inc., Overland Park Medical Specialists LLC, Overland Park Orthopedics LLC, Overland Park Surgical Specialties LLC, Oviedo Medical Center LLC, Ozarks Medical Services Inc., P&L Associates, P/SL Hyperbaric Partnership, PET CT LLP, PMM Inc., POH Holdings LLC, PSG Delegated Services LLC, PTS Solutions LLC, Pacific Partners Management Services Inc., Palm Beach EFL Imaging Center LLC, Palm Beach General Surgery LLC, Palm Beach Healthcare System Inc., Palm Beach Hospitalists Program LLC, Palmer Medical Center LLC, Palms West Gastroenterology LLC, Palms West Hospital Limited Partnership, Palms West Surgery Center Ltd., Paragon Physicians Hospital Organization of South Texas Inc., Paragon SDS Inc., Paragon Surgery Centers of Texas Inc., Paragon WSC Inc., Paragon of Texas Health Properties Inc., Parallon Business Solutions LLC, Parallon Enterprises LLC, Parallon Health Information Solutions LLC, Parallon Holdings LLC, Parallon Payroll Solutions LLC, Parallon Physician Services LLC, Parallon Revenue Cycle Services Inc., Park Central Surgical Center Ltd., Park Ridge Surgery Center LLC, Park South Imaging Center Ltd., Park View Insurance Company, Parkersburg SJ Holdings Inc., Parkland Hospitalists Program LLC, Parkland Oncology LLC, Parkland Physician Services Inc., Parkridge East Specialty Associates LLC, Parkridge Hospitalists Inc., Parkridge Medical Associates LLC, Parkridge Medical Center Inc., Parkridge Professionals Inc., Parkside Surgery Center Inc., Parkway Cardiac Center Ltd., Parkway Hospital Inc., Parkway Surgery Services Ltd., Parthenon Insurance Company Limited, Pasadena Bayshore Hospital Inc., PatientKeeper, PatientKeeper Inc., Patients First Neurology LLC, Pavilion 2 Condominium Property LLC, Pavilion 2 Medical Office Building Condominium Association Inc., Pavilion Surgicenter LLC, Peach State Anesthesia Partners LLC, Pearland Institute for Womens Health PLLC, Pearland Partner LLC, Pediatric Anesthesia Consultants of San Antonio PLLC, Pediatric Cardiac Intensivists of North Texas PLLC, Pediatric Critical Care of Clear Lake PLLC, Pediatric Hospitalists of Conroe PLLC, Pediatric Intensivist Group LLC, Pediatric Intensivists of El Paso PLLC, Pediatric Intensivists of North Texas PLLC, Pediatric Specialists of Clear Lake PLLC, Pediatric Specialty Clinic LLC, Pediatric Surgicare Inc., Pediatrics of Greater Houston PLLC, Pensacola Primary Care Inc., Physician Associates of Corporate Woods LLC, Physicians Ambulatory Surgery Center LLC, Physicians West Surgicenter LLC, Pinellas Medical LLC, Pinnacle Physician Network LLC, Pioneer Medical LLC, Plains Healthcare System Inc., Plano Ambulatory Surgery Associates L.P., Plano Heart Institute L.P., Plano Heart Management LLC, Plano Surgery Center - GP LLC, Plano Surgery Center Real Estate LLC, Plano Surgicenter Real Estate Manager LLC, Plano Urology PLLC, Plantation General Hospital L.P., Plaza Medical Specialists PLLC, Plaza Primary Care PLLC, Plaza Transplant Center PLLC, Podiatry of Clear Lake PLLC, Poinciana Medical Center Inc., Port St. Lucie Surgery Center Ltd., Portland Primary Care LLC, Portsmouth Regional Ambulatory Surgery Center LLC, Portsmouth Surgicenter LLC, Preferred Hospitals Inc., Preferred Works WC LLC, Premier ASC LLC, Premier Medical Management Ltd., Primary Care Medical Associates Inc., Primary Care Plano PLLC, Primary Care Services of Orlando LLC, Primary Care South PLLC, Primary Care West PLLC, Primary Care of West End LLC, Primary Health Asset Holdings Ltd., Primary Health Group Inc., Primary Health Inc., Primary Health Network of South Texas, Primary Health Physicians PLLC, Primary Medical Management Inc., Proaxis Therapy HealthOne LLC, Provident Professional Building Condominium Association Inc., Psychiatry Services of Osceola LLC, Pulaski Community Hospital Inc., Pulaski Urology LLC, Pulmonary Renal Intensivist Group LLC, Putnam Community Medical Center of North Florida LLC, Putnam Hospital Inc., Putnam Radiation Oncology LLC, Putnam Radiation Oncology Manager LLC, Putnam Surgical Group LLC, Quantum/Bellaire Imaging Ltd., Quick Care Centers LLC, Quivira Internal Medicine Inc., RCH LLC, RMC - Pulmonary LLC, RMC Transplant Physicians LLC, RMCA Professionals Mgmt LLC, ROi CPS LLC, Radford Family Medicine LLC, Radiation Oncology Center of Thornton LLC, Radiation Oncology Manager LLC, Raleigh Community Medical Office Building Ltd., Rapides After Hours Clinic L.L.C., Rapides Healthcare System L.L.C., Rapides Regional Physician Group LLC, Rapides Regional Physician Group Primary Care LLC, Rapides Regional Physician Group Specialty Care LLC, Rapides Surgery Center LLC, Raulerson GYN LLC, Raulerson Gastroenterology LLC, Raulerson Primary Care LLC, Raymore Medical Group LLC, Red Rock Holdco LLC, Red Rock at Smoke Ranch LLC, Red Rocks Surgery Center LLC, Redmond Anesthesia Services LLC, Redmond Hospital Services LLC, Redmond Neurosurgery LLC, Redmond Park Health Services Inc., Redmond Park Hospital LLC, Redmond Physician Practice Company, Redmond Specialty Services LLC, Regional Hospital Healthcare Partners LLC, Research Cardiology Associates LLC, Research Family Physicians LLC, Research Internal Medicine LLC, Research Neurology Associates LLC, Research Neuroscience Institute LLC, Resource Optimization & Innovation L.L.C., Reston Hospital Center LLC, Reston Hospitalists LLC, Reston Surgery Center L.P., Retreat Cardiology LLC, Retreat Hospital LLC, Retreat Internal Medicine LLC, Retreat Surgical Associates LLC, Rhodes Limited-Liability Company, Richmond Imaging Employer Corp., Richmond Multi-Specialty LLC, Richmond Pediatric Surgeons LLC, Ridgeline Surgicenter LLC, Rim Building Partners L.P., Rio Grande Healthcare MSO Inc., Rio Grande NP Inc., Rio Grande Regional Hospital Inc., Rio Grande Valley Cardiology PLLC, Rio Grande Valley CareNow Urgent Care PLLC, Rio Grande Valley Urology PLLC, Riverside CyberKnife Manager LLC, Riverside Healthcare System L.P., Riverside Holdings Inc., Riverside Hospital Inc., Riverside Imaging LLC, Riverwalk ASC LLC, Roanoke Imaging LLC, Roanoke Neurosurgery LLC, Roanoke Surgery Center L.P., Roanoke Valley Gynecology LLC, Robotic Radiosurgery LLP, Rocky Mountain Pediatric Hematology Oncology LLC, Rocky Mountain Surgery Center LLC, Rome Imaging Center Limited Partnership, Roodlane Medical Limited, Rose Ambulatory Surgery Center L.P., Rose Health Partners LLC, Rose Medical Plaza Ltd., Rose POB Inc., Rosewood Medical Center Inc., Rosewood Professional Building Ltd., Round Rock Hospital Inc., Round Rock Trauma Surgeons PLLC, Royal Oaks Surgery Center L.P., S.A. Medical Center Inc., SAPN LLC, SCRI Global Services Limited, SCRI Holdings LLC, SCRI Scientifics LLC, SJMC LLC, SSHR Holdco LLC, SSJ St. Petersburg Holdings Inc., STPN Manager LLC, SWMC Inc., Sahara Outpatient Surgery Center Ltd., Salem Hospitalists LLC, Salem Surgery Center Limited Partnership, Salt Lake City Surgicare Inc., Samaritan LLC, San Antonio Division Inc., San Antonio Regional Hospital Inc., San Antonio Surgicenter LLC, San Bernardino Imaging LLC, San Joaquin Surgical Center Inc., San Jose Healthcare System LP, San Jose Hospital L.P., San Jose LLC, San Jose Medical Center LLC, San Jose Pathology Outreach LLC, San Marcos ASC LLC, San Marcos Surgicenter LLC, Sante Fe Family Practitioners PLLC, Sarah Cannon Development Innovations LLC, Sarah Cannon Research Institute LLC, Sarah Cannon Research Institute UK Limited, Sarasota Doctors Hospital Inc., Savannah Behavioral Health Associates LLC, Savannah Health Network LLC, Savannah Health Services LLC, Savannah Inpatient Services LLC, Savannah Multispecialty Associates LLC, Savannah Pediatric Care LLC, Savannah Primary Care Associates LLC, Sebring Health Services LLC, Selma Medical Center Hospital Inc., Senior Health Associates LLC, Short Pump Imaging LLC, Silicon Valley Health Holdings LLC, Silicon Valley Surgery Center L.P., Silicon Valley Surgicenter LLC, Sky Ridge Spine Manager LLC, Sky Ridge Surgery Center L.P., Skyline Medical Group LLC, Skyline Neuroscience Associates LLC, Skyline Rehab Associates LLC, Skyline Specialty Associates LLC, Smith Laboratories Inc., Solis Mammography at Bayshore Medical Center LLC, Solis Mammography at Clear Lake Regional Medical Center LLC, Solis Mammography at Conroe Regional Medical Center LLC, Solis Mammography at Denton Regional Medical Center LLC, Solis Mammography at HCA Houston Tomball LLC, Solis Mammography at Kingwood Medical Center LLC, Solis Mammography at Las Colinas Medical Center LLC, Solis Mammography at Medical Center Alliance LLC, Solis Mammography at Medical Center Arlington LLC, Solis Mammography at Medical Center of Lewisville LLC, Solis Mammography at Medical Center of McKinney LLC, Solis Mammography at Medical Center of Plano LLC, Solis Mammography at Medical City Dallas LLC, Solis Mammography at Pearland Medical Center LLC, Solis Mammography at Rose Medical Center LLC, Solis Mammography at Skyline Medical Center LLC, Solis Mammography at StoneCrest Medical Center LLC, Solis Mammography at West Houston Medical Center LLC, Solis Mammography at Womans Hospital of Texas LLC, Solis Mammography of Cedar Hill LLC, Solis Mammography of CyFair LLC, Solis Mammography of Dallas LLC, Solis Mammography of Flower Mound LLC, Solis Mammography of Frisco LLC, Solis Mammography of Garland LLC, Solis Mammography of Grand Prairie LLC, Solis Mammography of Houston NW LLC, Solis Mammography of Katy LLC, Solis Mammography of Louetta/249 LLC, Solis Mammography of Mainland LLC, Solis Mammography of Mansfield LLC, Solis Mammography of Mesquite LLC, Solis Mammography of Montgomery LLC, Solis Mammography of North Cypress LLC, Solis Mammography of North Loop LLC, Solis Mammography of Sugar Land LLC, Solis Mammography of West Plano LLC, Solis Mammography of Womans Place LLC, South Atlantic Division Inc., South Austin Surgery Center Ltd., South Austin Surgical Management LLC, South Austin Surgicenter LLC, South Brandon Imaging LLC, South Florida Division Practice Inc., South Texas Surgicare Inc., South Transfer Center LLC, South Valley Hospital L.P., Southeast Georgia Health Services LLC, Southern Hills Medical Center LLC, Southern Hills Neurology Consultants LLC, Southern Kentucky Medicine Associates LLC, Southern Kentucky Surgicenter LLC, Southern Texas Physicians Network, Southpoint LLC, Southtown Womens Clinic LLC, Southwest Florida Health System Inc., Southwest Florida Regional Medical Center Inc., Southwest Medical Center Family Practice LLC, Southwest Medical Center Multi-Specialty Group LLC, Southwest Medical Center Surgical Group LLC, Southwest Medpro Ltd., Southwest Surgical Clinic Inc., Southwest Virginia Orthopedics and Spine LLC, Spalding Rehabilitation L.L.C., Specialists in Obstetrics and Gynecology PLLC, Specialty Associates of West Houston PLLC, Specialty Physicians of Northern Virginia LLC, Specialty Surgicare of Las Vegas LP, Spotsylvania Condominium Property LLC, Spotsylvania Medical Center Inc., Spotsylvania Multi-Specialty Group LLC, Spotsylvania Regional Surgery Center LLC, Spring Branch Family Practitioners PLLC, Spring Branch Medical Center Inc., Spring Hill Hospital Inc., Spring Hill Imaging LLC, Spring Hill Physicians LLC, Springview KY LLC, Spruce Pine Healthcare LLC, St. Davids Austin Area ASC LLC, St. Davids Cardiology PLLC, St. Davids CareNow Urgent Care PLLC, St. Davids Healthcare Partnership L.P. LLP, St. Davids Heart & Vascular PLLC, St. Davids Neurology PLLC, St. Davids OB Hospitalist PLLC, St. Davids Ortho Neuro and Rehab PLLC, St. Davids Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation PLLC, St. Davids Quality Alliance LLC, St. Davids Specialized Womens Services PLLC, St. Davids Trauma Surgeons PLLC, St. Lucie Hospitalists LLC, St. Lucie Medical Center Hyperbarics LLC, St. Lucie Medical Center Walk-In Clinic LLC, St. Lucie Medical Specialists LLC, St. Lucie West Primary Care LLC, St. Marks Ambulatory Surgery Associates L.P., St. Marks Gynecology Oncology Care LLC, St. Marks Investments Inc., St. Marks Physician Billing LLC, St. Marks Professional Services LLC, St. Marks South Jordan Family Practice LLC, St. Martins Healthcare Limited, St. Martins Ltd., St. Martins Medical Services Limited, St. Petersburg General Surgery LLC, Stafford Imaging LLC, Statland Medical Group LLC, Steamboat Springs Surgicenter LLC, Sterling Primary Care Associates LLC, Stiles Road Imaging LLC, StoneCrest Surgery Center LLC, StoneSprings Medical Office Building Property LLC, StoneSprings Surgicenter LLC, Stonecrest Medical Group - Family Practice of Murfreesboro LLC, Stonecrest Medical Group - SC Murfreesboro Family Practice LLC, Stones River Hospital LLC, Suburban Medical Center at Hoffman Estates Inc., Sugar Land Surgery Center Anesthesia LLC, Sugar Land Surgery Center Ltd., Sullins Surgical Center Inc., Summit Convenient Care at Lebanon LLC, Summit General Partner Inc., Summit Heart LLC, Summit Outpatient Diagnostic Center LLC, Summit Research Solutions LLC, Summit Surgery Center L.P., Summit Surgical Associates LLC, Summit Walk-in Clinic LLC, Sun Bay Medical Office Building Inc., Sun City Hospital Inc., Sun City Imaging LLC, Sun Towers/Vista Hills Holding Co., Sun-Med LLC, Sunrise Flamingo Holdings LLC, Sunrise Flamingo Surgery Center Limited Partnership, Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center LLC, Sunrise Mountainview Hospital Inc., Sunrise Mountainview Multi-Specialty Clinics LLC, Sunrise Outpatient Services Inc., Sunrise Physician Services LLC, Sunrise Trauma Services LLC, Surgery Associates of NTX PLLC, Surgery Center of Atlantis LLC, Surgery Center of Aventura Ltd., Surgery Center of Bay Area Houston LLC, Surgery Center of Greenview L.P., Surgery Center of Independence L.P., Surgery Center of Overland Park L.P., Surgery Center of Port Charlotte Ltd., Surgery Center of Rome L.P., Surgery Center of the Rockies LLC, Surgical Associates of Southwest Virginia LLC, Surgical Care Medical Group LLC, Surgical Center of Irving Inc., Surgical Facility of West Houston L.P., Surgical Park Center Ltd., Surgical Specialists of Clear Lake PLLC, Surgical Specialists of Conroe PLLC, Surgical Specialists of Corpus Christi PLLC, Surgicare America - Winter Park Inc., Surgicare Merger Company of Louisiana, Surgicare Outpatient Center of Baton Rouge Inc., Surgicare Outpatient Center of Jackson Inc., Surgicare of ADC LLC, Surgicare of AGI LLC, Surgicare of Alpine LLC, Surgicare of Altamonte Springs Inc., Surgicare of Anchorage LLC, Surgicare of Arapahoe LLC, Surgicare of Arlington LLC, Surgicare of Ashburn LLC, Surgicare of Augusta Inc., Surgicare of Aurora Endoscopy LLC, Surgicare of Aventura LLC, Surgicare of Bay Area Endoscopy LLC, Surgicare of Bay Area LLC, Surgicare of Bayonet Point Inc., Surgicare of Bayside LLC, Surgicare of Bountiful LLC, Surgicare of Brandon Inc., Surgicare of Brentwood LLC, Surgicare of Brighton LLC, Surgicare of Brooksville LLC, Surgicare of Brownsville LLC, Surgicare of Buckhead LLC, Surgicare of CAREOS LLC, Surgicare of Central Florida Inc., Surgicare of Central Park Surgery Center LLC, Surgicare of Central San Antonio Inc., Surgicare of Chattanooga LLC, Surgicare of Chippenham LLC, Surgicare of Citrus LLC, Surgicare of Clarksville LLC, Surgicare of Corpus Christi LLC, Surgicare of Countryside Inc., Surgicare of Dallas Specialty LLC, Surgicare of Denton Inc., Surgicare of Denver Clinic LLC, Surgicare of Denver LLC, Surgicare of Denver Mid-Town Inc., Surgicare of Dickson LLC, Surgicare of Eastside LLC, Surgicare of Evans Inc., Surgicare of Fairfax Inc., Surgicare of Florida Inc., Surgicare of Flower Mound Inc., Surgicare of Focus Hand LLC, Surgicare of Fort Worth Co-GP LLC, Surgicare of Fort Worth Inc., Surgicare of Ft. Pierce Inc., Surgicare of Good Samaritan LLC, Surgicare of Gramercy Inc., Surgicare of Greenview Inc., Surgicare of Hanover Inc., Surgicare of Houston Kingwood LLC, Surgicare of Houston LLC, Surgicare of Houston Womens Inc., Surgicare of Indianapolis Inc., Surgicare of Kansas City LLC, Surgicare of Kingwood LLC, Surgicare of Kissimmee Inc., Surgicare of Lakeview Inc., Surgicare of Las Vegas Inc., Surgicare of Laurel Grove LLC, Surgicare of Lorain County Inc., Surgicare of Los Gatos Inc., Surgicare of Los Robles LLC, Surgicare of Loveland LLC, Surgicare of Madison Inc., Surgicare of Manatee Inc., Surgicare of McKinney Inc., Surgicare of Medical City Dallas LLC, Surgicare of Memorial Endoscopy LLC, Surgicare of Merritt Island Inc., Surgicare of Miami Lakes LLC, Surgicare of Mountain West LLC, Surgicare of Mt. Ogden LLC, Surgicare of Nashville LLC, Surgicare of Natchez LLC, Surgicare of Newport Richey Inc., Surgicare of North Austin LLC, Surgicare of North San Antonio Inc., Surgicare of Northeast San Antonio Inc., Surgicare of Orange Park II LLC, Surgicare of Orange Park Inc., Surgicare of Orange Park Ltd., Surgicare of Orlando Inc., Surgicare of Overland Park LLC, Surgicare of Palms West LLC, Surgicare of Park Ridge LLC, Surgicare of Pasadena Inc., Surgicare of Pavilion LLC, Surgicare of Physicians West El Paso LLC, Surgicare of Pinellas Inc., Surgicare of Plano Inc., Surgicare of Plantation Inc., Surgicare of Port Charlotte LLC, Surgicare of Port St. Lucie Inc., Surgicare of Portsmouth LLC, Surgicare of Premier Orthopaedic LLC, Surgicare of Reston Inc., Surgicare of Ridgeline LLC, Surgicare of Riverside LLC, Surgicare of Riverwalk LLC, Surgicare of Roanoke LLC, Surgicare of Rome Inc., Surgicare of Rose LLC, Surgicare of Round Rock Inc., Surgicare of Royal Oaks LLC, Surgicare of Silicon Valley LLC, Surgicare of Sky Ridge LLC, Surgicare of Sky Ridge Womens Center LLC, Surgicare of South Austin Inc., Surgicare of Southeast Denver Inc., Surgicare of Southern Hills Inc., Surgicare of Southern Kentucky LLC, Surgicare of Southwest Houston LLC, Surgicare of Spotsylvania LLC, Surgicare of St. Andrews Inc., Surgicare of St. Andrews Ltd., Surgicare of St. Davids Austin LLC, Surgicare of Steamboat Springs LLC, Surgicare of StoneCrest LLC, Surgicare of StoneSprings LLC, Surgicare of Stuart Inc., Surgicare of Sugar Land Inc., Surgicare of Swedish LLC, Surgicare of Tallahassee Inc., Surgicare of Terre Haute LLC, Surgicare of Thornton LLC, Surgicare of Travis Center Inc., Surgicare of Tulsa Inc., Surgicare of Utah LLC, Surgicare of Wasatch Front LLC, Surgicare of West Hills Inc., Surgicare of Westlake Inc., Surgicare of Wichita Inc., Surgicare of Wichita LLC, Surgicare of Willis LLC, Surgicare of Wilson County LLC, Surgicare of Winchester LLC, Surgicenter of East Jefferson Inc., Surgicenter of Johnson County Ltd. a Kansas limited partnership, Surgicenter of Kansas City L.L.C., Surgico LLC, Swedish MOB Acquisition Inc., Swedish MOB I Ltd., Swedish MOB II Inc., Swedish MOB III Inc., Swedish MOB IV Inc., Swedish MOB LLC, Swedish Medpro Inc., TBHI Outpatient Services LLC, TCMC Madison-Portland Inc., THN Physicians Association Inc., TUHC Anesthesiology Group LLC, TUHC Hospitalist Group LLC, TUHC Physician Group LLC, TUHC Primary Care and Pediatrics Group LLC, TUHC Radiology Group LLC, Tallahassee Community Network Inc., Tallahassee Medical Center Inc., Tallahassee Orthopaedic Surgery Partners Ltd., Tampa Bay Health System Inc., Tampa Surgi-Centre Inc., Tarrant County Surgery Center L.P., Tchefuncte Cardiology Associates - Lakeview LLC, Teays Valley Health Services LLC, Telehealth Physician Services LLC, Tennessee Healthcare Management Inc., Tennessee Valley Outpatient Diagnostic Center LLC, Terre Haute Hospital GP Inc., Terre Haute Hospital Holdings Inc., Terre Haute MOB L.P., Terre Haute Obstetrics and Gynecology LLC, Terre Haute Regional Hospital L.P., Texas CareNow Physician Associates, Texas HSS LLC, Texas Institute of Medicine and Surgery, Texas Psychiatric Company Inc., The Austin Diagnostic Clinic PLLC, The Cancer Care Center of North Florida LLC, The Cardiovascular Partnership for Quality LLC, The Charter Cypress Behavioral Health System L.L.C., The Christie Clinic LLP, The Glynne Medical Practice Limited, The Harley Street Cancer Clinic Limited, The London Breast Institute UK Ltd, The Medical Group of Kansas City LLC, The Neurohealth Sciences Center LLC, The Physicians Clinic Limited, The Prostate Centre Limited, The Rankin Foundation, The Regional Health System of Acadiana LLC, The Wasatch Endoscopy Center Ltd., The West Texas Division of Columbia Inc., Timpanogos Pain Specialists LLC, Timpanogos Regional Medical Services Inc., Total Imaging - Hudson LLC, Total Imaging - North St. Petersburg LLC, Total Imaging - Parsons LLC, Town Plaza Family Practice LLC, Travel Medicine and Infections LLC, Travis Surgery Center L.P., Tri Cities Health Services Corp., Tri-City Multi-Specialty LLC, Tri-County Community Hospital Inc., Tri-County Surgical Specialists LLC, TriStar Bone Marrow Transplant LLC, TriStar Cardiovascular Surgery LLC, TriStar Family Care LLC, TriStar Gynecology Oncology LLC, TriStar Health System Inc., TriStar Joint Replacement Institute LLC, TriStar Maury Behavioral Healthcare LLC, TriStar Medical Group - Centennial Primary Care LLC, TriStar Medical Group - Legacy Health LLC, TriStar Medical Network LLC, TriStar OB/GYN LLC, TriStar Orthopedics LLC, TriStar Physicians LLC, TriStar Radiation Oncology LLC, Trident Ambulatory Surgery Center L.P., Trident Behavioral Health Services LLC, Trident Eye Surgery Center L.P., Trident Medical Center LLC, Trident Medical Services Inc., Trident Neonatology Services LLC, Tulane Clinic LLC, Tulane Professionals Management L.L.C., Tuscan Imaging Center at Las Colinas LLC, U.S. Collections Inc., Ultra Imaging Management Services LLC, Ultra Imaging of Tampa LLC, University Healthcare Specialists LLC, University Healthcare System L.C., University Hospital Ltd., Uptown Primary Care Associates LLC, Urgent Care Enterprise LLC, Urgent Care Extra - Ann & Simmons LLC, Urgent Care Extra - Cactus & Southern Highlands LLC, Urgent Care Extra - Charleston & Decatur LLC, Urgent Care Extra - Charleston/Sloan LLC, Urgent Care Extra - Craig & Clayton LLC, Urgent Care Extra - Craig & Decatur LLC, Urgent Care Extra - Durango & Cheyenne LLC, Urgent Care Extra - Durango & Flamingo LLC, Urgent Care Extra - Eastern & Horizon Ridge LLC, Urgent Care Extra - Rainbow/Mardon LLC, Urgent Care Extra - Warm Springs & Green Valley LLC, Urgent Care Extra Silverado & Maryland LLC, Urgent Care Extra-Tropicana & Jones LLC, Urgent Care Nevada LLC, Urological Specialists of Arlington PLLC, Urology Associates (London) Limited, Urology Center of North Georgia LLC, Urology Services of El Paso PLLC, Urology Specialists Devonshire LLP, Urology Specialists London LLP, Urology Specialists of Kingwood PLLC, Urology Specialists of Richmond LLC, Urology Surgery Center of Colorado LLC, Utah CareNow Urgent Care LLC, Utah Imaging GP LLC, Utah Medco LLC, Utah Surgery Center L.P., VH Holdco Inc., VH Holdings Inc., VHSC Plantation LLC, VIP Inc., Valify, Valify Inc., Value Health Holdings Inc., Value Health Management Inc., Vascular and Endovascular Specialists LLC, Venture Ambulatory Surgery Center LLC, Venture Medical Management LLC, Village Oaks Medical Center Inc., Virginia Care Partners ACO LLC, Virginia Gynecologic Oncology LLC, Virginia Hematology & Oncology Associates Inc., Virginia Hospitalists Inc., Virginia Psychiatric Company Inc., Virginia Quality Care Partners LLC, Vision Consulting Group LLC, Vision Holdings LLC, W & C Hospital Inc., WCP Properties LLC, WHG Medical LLC, WHMC Inc., WJHC LLC, Walterboro Community Hospital Inc., Warren County Ambulance Service LLC, Wasatch Front Surgery Center LLC, Washington Holdco LLC, Waterway Primary Care LLC, Weatherford Health Services LLC, Weatherford Mammography JV LLC, Weatherford Regional Medical Center, Welbeck Street Diagnostic Centre LLP, Wellington Diagnostic Services LLP, Wesley Cath Lab LLC, Wesley Manager LLC, Wesley Medical Center LLC, Wesley Physician Services LLC, Wesley Physicians - Anesthesiologist LLC, Wesley Physicians - Cardiovascular LLC, Wesley Physicians - Medical Specialties LLC, Wesley Physicians - Obstetrics and Gynecology LLC, Wesley Physicians - Primary Care LLC, Wesley Select Network LLC, Wesley Urgent Care LLC, West Boynton Beach Open Imaging Center LLC, West Creek Ambulatory Surgery Center LLC, West Creek Medical Center Inc., West Florida - MHT LLC, West Florida - PPH LLC, West Florida Behavioral Health Inc., West Florida Cardiology Network LLC, West Florida Cardiology Physicians LLC, West Florida CareNow Urgent Care LLC, West Florida Division Inc., West Florida Gulf Coast Primary Care LLC, West Florida HealthWorks LLC, West Florida Imaging Services LLC, West Florida Internal Medicine LLC, West Florida PET Services LLC, West Florida Physician Network LLC, West Florida Professional Billing LLC, West Florida Regional Medical Center Inc., West Florida Specialty Physicians LLC, West Florida Trauma Network LLC, West Florida Urgent Care Network LLC, West Hills Hospital, West Hills Surgical Center Ltd., West Houston ASC Inc., West Houston Healthcare Group Ltd., West Houston Internal Specialists PLLC, West Houston LLC, West Houston Medical PLLC, West Houston Outpatient Medical Facility Inc., West Houston Surgicare Inc., West Jacksonville Medical Center Inc., West Jordan Hospital Corporation, West LPN Fort Worth Oncology PLLC, West LPN Inc., West Los Angeles Physicians Hospital Inc., West McKinney Imaging Services LLC, West Paces Services Inc., West Park Surgery Center L.P., West Valley Imaging LLC, West Valley Medical Center Inc., West Valley Medical Group LLC, West Valley Medical Group Specialty Services LLC, West Valley Therapy Services LLC, Westbury Hospital Inc., Western Plains Capital Inc., Westlake Surgicare L.P., Westminster Community Hospital, Westside Surgery Center Ltd., Wichita CareNow Urgent Care LLC, Wildwood Medical Center Inc., Willis Surgicenter LLC, Wilson County Outpatient Surgery Center L.P., Womans Health Group PLLC, Womans Hospital Merger LLC, Womans Hospital of Texas Incorporated, Women Practitioners of Houston PLLC, Women Specialists of Bayshore PLLC, Women Specialists of Clear Lake PLLC, Women Specialists of Mainland PLLC, Womens & Childrens Center LLC, Womens & Childrens Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Center LLC, Womens & Childrens Pulmonology Clinic LLC, Womens Center at Brookside LLC, Womens Health Center of Central Florida LLC, Womens Health Center of SWVA LLC, Womens Hospital Indianapolis GP Inc., Womens Hospital Indianapolis L.P., Womens Link Specialty Obstetrical Referral Clinic PLLC, Womens Multi-Specialty Group LLC, Womens Surgical Specialists of Texas PLLC, Womens and Childrens Professional Management L.L.C., Womens and Childrens Specialists LLC, hInsight-Airstrip Holdings LLC, hInsight-BMA Holdings LLC, hInsight-Customer Care Holdings LLC, hInsight-Digital Reasoning Holdings LLC, hInsight-Healthbox Holdings LLC, hInsight-I2 Holdings LLC, hInsight-InVivoLink Holdings LLC, hInsight-LS Holdings LLC, hInsight-Loyale Healthcare Holdings LLC, hInsight-Mobile Heartbeat Holdings LLC, hInsight-NX LLC, hInsight-PWS I Holdings LLC, hInsight-Procured Holdings LLC, and hInsight-VAI Holdings LLC.Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical Company Limited, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells petrochemical products in the People's Republic of China. It operates through five segments: Synthetic Fibers, Resins and Plastics, Intermediate Petrochemicals, Petroleum Products, and Trading of Petrochemical Products. The Synthetic Fibers segment produces polyesters, acrylic fibers, and carbon fibers that are primarily used in the textile and apparel industries. The Resins and Plastics segment produces polyester chips that are used to produce polyester fibers, coating, and containers; polyethylene resins and plastics, which are used to produce insulated cables and mulching films, as well as molded products, such as housewares and toys; and polypropylene resins that are used for films and sheets, as well as molded products, such as housewares, toys, consumer electronics, and automobile parts; and PVA granules. The Intermediate Petrochemicals segment produces p-xylene, benzene, and ethylene oxide, which are used as raw materials in the production of other petrochemicals, resins, plastics, and synthetic fibers. The Petroleum Products segment operates crude oil refinery facilities used to produce refined gasoline, fuel, diesel oil, heavy oil, and liquefied petroleum gas. The Trading of Petrochemical Products segment is involved in the import and export of petrochemical products. The company was founded in 1972 and is based in Shanghai, the People's Republic of China. Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical Company Limited is a subsidiary of China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation.

Read MoreAn audacious salesman

Binod Chaudhary probably does not need any introduction in Nepal. Better known as the first and the only Nepali to be featured in the Forbes billionaire list, Chaudharys bittersweet journey and success story, chronicled in his memoir, has inspired many in Nepal and beyond.Bank of America Corp. is a bank and financial holding company, which engages in the provision of banking and nonbank financial services. It operates through the following segments: Consumer Banking, Global Wealth and Investment Management, Global Banking, Global Markets, and All Other. The Consumer Banking segment offers credit, banking, and investment products and services to consumers and small businesses. The Global Wealth and Investment Management provides client experience through a network of financial advisors focused on to meet their needs through a full set of investment management, brokerage, banking, and retirement products. The Global Banking segment deals with lending-related products and services, integrated working capital management and treasury solutions to clients, and underwriting and advisory services. The Global Markets segment includes sales and trading services, as well as research, to institutional clients across fixed-income, credit, currency, commodity, and equity businesses. The All Other segment consists of asset and liability management activities, equity investments, non-core mortgage loans and servicing activities, the net impact of periodic revisions

Read MoreAn unequal constitution

We finally framed a new constitution through a Constituent Assembly after four years of debate and discussion on the constitutional issues. Yet for all the toils, we could not do justice to women.Bird of fire

With the passing of Dina Bangdel on July 25, 2017 Nepal lost an outstanding art historian specialising in traditional Himalayan and modern and contemporary South Asian art.Cabinet discusses PMs core team

The KP Oli government plans to have a strong Prime Ministers Office, with key point persons at the PMO coordinating the line ministries and working as the primary channel of communication between the prime minister and the ministries, according to sources close to the PM.Anil Giri is a reporter covering diplomacy, international relations and national politics for The Kathmandu Post. Giri has been working as a journalist for a decade-and-a-half, contributing to numerous national and international media outlets.Chandan Kumar Mandal is the environment and migration reporter for The Kathmandu Post, covering labour migration and governance, as well as climate change, natural disasters, and wildlife.Tika R Pradhan is a senior political correspondent for the Post, covering politics, parliament, judiciary and social affairs. Pradhan joined the Post in 2016 after working at The Himalayan Times for more than a decade.Daniel Bishop, 16, a student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, cries at a makeshift memorial outside the school, in Parkland, Fla., Sunday, Feb. 18, 2018. Nikolas Cruz, a 19-year-old who had been expelled from the school, is being held without bail in the Broward County Jail, accused of 17 counts of first-degree murder. (Photo: AP)

When children learn about news like the deadly school shooting that claimed more than a dozen lives on February 14 2018, in Broward County, Florida, a logical question for them to ask is: Will the same thing happen to me?

As researchers and clinicians who have studied the problem of violence over the past three decades, we have witnessed a steady increase in levels of childrens exposure to violence and its damaging effect on their mental health.

How does this exposure affect the mental health of children and adolescents? And how should we handle the increased fear and insecurity that results from such events?

Exposure to violence

Today, children use many different forms of media at unprecedented levels - 92 percent of teens go online daily and 24 percent are online constantly. As a result, even when violence happens in another part of the country, children can be exposed to the event and its consequences immediately, intensely and repeatedly.

In addition to what they see in the news or on social media, children could witness or be victims of violence in many other ways.

For example, when we surveyed high school students, between 13 and 45 percent reported they had been beaten up at school. Between 23 and 82 percent said they had witnessed someone else being beaten up at school in the past year.

Shootings in and around schools have been a regular occurrence in recent years.

What happens to children

Children who report high levels of exposure to violence either as witness or victim report the highest levels of depression, anger and anxiety.

Our study with children in grades three to eight who witnessed someone being hit, slapped or punched found that 12 percent of these children reported levels of anxiety that could require treatment.

Similarly, six months after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, a survey of more than 8,000 New York City students in grades four through 12 showed that nearly 30 percent of children reported symptoms of anxiety or depression.

Exposure to violence could have other long-term impacts as well. Studies have shown how children can get desensitized to violence: That is, children can come to believe that violence is an acceptable way to solve problems and that it is without consequence. They could also come to believe that violence could happen anywhere and to anyone at any time.

Further, such children are also at a risk of perpetrating violence against others.

My research shows that children who witness or are victimized by violence are more aggressive toward others. These children also show problematic levels of post-traumatic stress symptoms.

We have consistently found relationships between violence exposure and trauma symptoms, whether we surveyed children in schools, youth in the community or juveniles who were receiving treatment as a result of diversion from the prison system.

Adolescents exposed to high levels of violence reported higher levels of anger and depression. They also reported higher rates of wanting to hurt or kill themselves compared to adolescents in lower violence exposure groups.

Media exposure

More recent studies have confirmed that high exposure to television violence for children and adolescents is also associated with higher levels of aggression and violent behavior.

Exposure to violence shown through media is consistently associated with problem behaviors, such as increases in aggression and anxiety. Children could also end up with lower empathy and compassion for others.

Some children exposed to various forms of media violence  not just television violence but violence on the internet, in movies and in video games  can come to view the world as a mean, scary place where they are not safe and they can do little to protect themselves from harm.

This is a particular problem for very young children, such as those under the age of six, who have difficulty distinguishing reality from fantasy.

Exposure to violence could harm the emotional and mental development of young children and adolescents.

Children at that age arent able to effectively process what they are seeing and hearing. This may be due in part to the fact that chronic exposure to violence can affect parts of their brain.

For adolescents, the front part of their brains is the last to develop and mature. This part of the brain is called the prefrontal cortex, and it is responsible for processing information, impulse control and reasoning.

Adolescents exposed to violent video games experience a decrease in activity in their prefrontal cortex, leaving them more vulnerable to having difficulty with problem-solving and controlling their emotions.

What can parents do

Parents have an important role to play.

Knowing where their children are, what they are doing and with whom are some of the best ways to help support children. That improves their ability to cope with what is going on in the world around them.

The same is true for adolescents as well. It is sometimes assumed that as children reach adolescence, they need less support and monitoring as they spend more time with their peers and make increased demands to be more independent.

That is not the case.

Adolescents have more access to social media, to drugs and alcohol, and to transportation. Coupled with this is the growing evidence that the problem-solving and impulse control parts of their brains are not yet fully developed.

Parents are often the first to recognize their children are struggling with mental health and behavioral issues. And they could be the best providers of mental health first aid whenever and however their children need them.

The immediacy, intensity and imagery of the coverage of the Florida school shooting may be very disturbing to both youth and adults.

It is important that we continue to discuss this with our children and help them express their emotions and viewpoints, while assuring them that these extreme acts of violence, while deeply disturbing, are the exception and not the rule.

Most of all, children need to feel they are safe, that we care for them and that they are not alone in dealing with these horrible acts of violence.

The article first appeared in The ConversationPatients whose doctors ordered flu tests tended to be younger, around 58 years old on average. (Photo: Pixabay)

Even though elderly people have the highest rates of hospitalization and death from influenza, a US study suggests that older patients may be less likely to get tested for flu in the hospital.

Researchers examined data on 1,422 adults hospitalized with a respiratory illness or a high fever at four hospitals in Tennessee during the flu seasons from 2006 to 2012. The study team tested all the patients for influenza, regardless of whether the patients doctors had ordered tests.

Overall, only 399 patients had influenza tests ordered by their physicians, the study found. Seventy-seven of these patients turned out to actually have the flu.

Tests ordered by the researchers were positive for flu in another 59 patients, or nearly 6 percent of the group that didnt have flu tests ordered by their physicians.

Patients whose doctors ordered flu tests tended to be younger, around 58 years old on average, versus 66 for people who didnt get tests.

This suggests many of the older patients with flu would have gone undiagnosed and untreated, said senior study author Dr. H. Keipp Talbot, a health policy researcher at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee.

If influenza is not considered as a potential cause of the illness, it is unlikely that the patient will be treated for influenza, Talbot said by email.

Treatment with oseltamivir (Tamiflu) can shorten the severity and duration of flu symptoms, Talbot noted, and it is also sometimes prescribed to spouses, caregivers or family members to help prevent the spread of influenza to other vulnerable older adults.

This is key for preventing outbreaks in senior centers, nursing homes, and assisted living facilities, Talbot said.

Sometimes older adults arent tested for influenza because they dont get a high fever, one of the classic symptoms, Talbot noted. But the older adults in the current study did have fever or other symptoms of respiratory illness that would make them good candidates for testing.

Patients in the study were more likely to get flu tests ordered by providers if they had influenza-like illness than if they did not. However, classic symptoms of flu were less common in older adults than in younger patients, the study found.

Beyond its small size, other limitations of the study include the potential that results from Tennessee patents dont reflect what would happen with testing elsewhere.

Newer rapid influenza tests might also impact how often physicians check patients for influenza, the authors note in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

Even so, the study results offer fresh evidence that physicians should consider testing older hospitalized adults for influenza even when patients lack classic symptoms, said Dr. Hilary Babcock, an infectious disease professor at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri, who wasnt involved in the study.

In cases where the classic signs and symptoms may not appear, providers are less likely to think of the diagnosis, Babcock said by email. This type of study can help to educate providers about variability in symptoms of influenza in different populations so that during influenza season, they think of influenza more frequently, even when a patient doesnt have every classic sign.The bodies were decomposed by the time they were found and axes, torches and food items were found in their backpacks recovered near the lake. (Representational Image)

Amaravati: Dead bodies of five sanders woodcutters surfaced in a lake in Andhra Pradesh's Kadapa district on Sunday, police said.

The police suspects they drowned in the lake while trying to smuggle the rare wood.

The dead bodies were first noticed by locals who alerted the police.

Axes, food items and torches were found in their backpacks recovered near the lake.

The bodies were decomposed by the time they were found.

The smugglers, all of whom were from neighbouring Tamil Nadu, were speculated to be working for red sanders smugglers in Seshachalam forests.

Andhra Pradesh's Red Sanders Task Force has recently intensified operations.

Last week, the police open-fired in the forest to disperse a group of smugglers trying to attack forest officials.

20 sanders smugglers were killed by police in Seshachalam hill ranges near Tirupati in Chittoor district in 2015.

Several smugglers and their woodcutters have been arrested since then.

Red sanders wood is a rare raw material that has enormous demand in the international market.

It is mainly used for making aphrodisiac drugs, musical instruments and furniture.KOCHI: Catholicos Baselios Thomas I, head of the Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church, said on Sunday that the churches built by faithful will be administered by them. Addressing a mammoth gathering of the faithful in Kochi, Catholicos clearly gave a message that the Supreme Court order to hand over the administration of the churches to the rival Malankara Church is acceptable. Courts and governments can take a decision only on churches owned or constructed by them. The rest will be decided by the believers, he said amidst thunderous applause and cheering.

Hundreds of thousands of members of the Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church from all over the state converged at Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium to attend Patriarchal Day celebrations. Addressing the gathering, Synod secretary Joseph Mar Gregorios nearly ruled the out possibility of any reconciliation between the two factions. He, however, said that everyone should show the goodwill to part as brothers.

In a televised message Head of the Syrian Christian Church Patriarch Moran Mor Ignatius Aphrem II asked believers to eschew violence and use passive resistance to get justice. Terming India as a land tolerance, he recalled the example of Mahatma Gandhis non-violence movement as a mode of agitation. Iterating his commitment with the people in the Malankara Church he reiterated the link between the Malankara Church and the throne of Antioch. It was in Antioch that Christians were first called Christians, he said.New Delhi: In a rare visit, Army Chief General Bipin Rawat, foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval quietly travelled to Bhutan earlier this month where they held extensive talks with the Bhutanese leadership on key strategic issues including the situation in Doklam and the Chinese building defence infrastructure around the plateau, authoritative government sources said.

The sources said that the two sides reviewed bilateral security and defence cooperation with focus on Chinas increasing military posturing and infrastructure development around the Doklam plateau.

The visit took place between February 6 and 7 and positive outcomes emerged from the meetings between the key Indian officials and the Bhutanese government, multiple government sources said, adding there were deliberations on how to further strengthen defence and security cooperation between the two countries.

The visit by Gen Rawat, Doval and Gokhale was the first by top Indian officials from India to Bhutan after the Doklam standoff, and was kept under wraps by both sides.

The visit came three days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi held talks with his Bhutanese counterpart Tshering Tobgay on the sidelines of an investors summit in Guwahati.Bengaluru: Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has brushed aside allegations regarding the recent Rafale fighter jet deal with France. While taking part in a panel discussion on the topic 'In Defence of the Realm: How prepared is India? at a conclave in the city here on Sunday, she said, "Rafale was considered under the UPA regime, where the quoted prices increased by 300 per cent. The process was completed, bids opened, but the then Defence Minister felt something was wrong and put a stop to it."

"So, there was no Rafale deal under UPA regime. People ask us why not consider HAL? There is no HAL, there is no Rafale. Inter-government agreement has not named anybody as this was and is a non-deal. This is nonsense!" she said. The Minister also dwelled upon the countrys military preparedness vis-a-vis Pakistan and China.

Cross-border terror

"We face cross border insurgency from Pakistan, as non state actors are coming into Kashmir. Two hundred terrorists have been finished off at the border, despite continuous efforts by Pakistan to disturb peace. Armed forces are fully prepared to meet any contingency, she assured.

Doklam issue

With regard to Doklam, she maintained that everything the Army does is in co-ordination and consultation with border field officers, local authorities, J&K police, diplomats and Ministers. When Doklam disengagement happened, there was active field level and diplomatic efforts to engage again, she added.

Shopian incident

Defending the recent action of security forces in Shopian in January, which led to the death of two civilians, she said, "In Shopian, the army convoy was returning to their unit back from some place. They were pelted with stones and lynched. The matter is subject to judicial scrutiny. Usually only the unit is mentioned in the FIR. This time the name of the Major was included and it has caused the anguish."

The audience questioned her on India's efforts to deal with cyber space security threats and intervention in Maladives, to which, the Minister avoided comment, but assured that the Government was looking into it.

Defence modernisation

Updating on the progress ever since she took office, Ms Sitharaman said, "Defence modernisation is in full swing. Capital account has been entirely utilised in the last two years and there is 7% increase in budget allocation. Orders of 40 Tejas jets have been given and 83 more are cleared. I have held two defence acquisition meetings per month and cleared all pending proposals. Of 170 contracts signed in last four years, 120 are Indian vendors."New Delhi: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his family, who arrived in India on Saturday, are on their first state visit. Trudeau is in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state - Gujarat, on Monday.

However, Modi was markedly absent from receiving his Canadian counterpart unlike the visits of other world leaders like Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2014, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2017 and Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in January, 2018. Modi also held a grand roadshow in Gujarat, welcoming the leaders and accompanying them during their stay in his home state.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is instead visiting Karnataka, which will go to polls in a few months.

Modi, whose foreign policy is marked by an emphasis on forming a personal bond with world leaders and who is known to have walked (or driven) the extra mile to personally receive them during their visit to India, gave his Canadian counterpart Trudeau a massive snub by sending a junior minister to receive him.

When Trudeau landed in New Delhi on Saturday night, he was welcomed by Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmer's Welfare Gajendra S Shekhawat.

The scenario was not good at Agra in Uttar Pradesh on Sunday where Trudeau and his family went to see the iconic Taj Mahal either. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was not available to receive the visiting prime minister.

It can be recalled that when Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Canada in 2016, Trudeau was absent from the airport to receive him. Sources justify that Modi did not exactly break any protocol by refusing to receive the Canadian PM at the Delhi airport this time around.

Narendra Modi who is active on Twitter also did not post any welcome tweet so far, a courtesy he normally reserves for all the visiting dignitaries after he became the Prime Minister of India in 2014.

Now all eyes are set on Trudeau's visit to Punjab on Wednesday. However, there are no clear indications so far whether or not Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh will host the visiting prime minister in the holy city of Amritsar when the dignitaries will go to the Golden Temple.

CM Amarinder Singh's annoyance with the Canadian government is apparent.

Amarinder had publicly refused to meet Canada's first Sikh Defence Minister, Harjit Singh Sajjan, who was born in Punjab's Hoshiarpur district, when he visited the state in April 2017. No minister or senior officer of the Punjab government either went to welcome Sajjan or even accompany him during the visit.

Amarinder had accused Sajjan and other ministers of Punjabi origin in the Trudeau government of links to radical elements demanding a separate Sikh state of Khalistan. Amarinder made it clear that he "would not meet any Khalistani sympathisers".

The question that arises now is whether, a wary India, is downgrading Justin Trudeau because of his government's support to pro-Khalistan elements among the Sikhs in the Canadian society. As things stand, India's uneasiness is not unfounded.

When Justin Trudeau was elected Canada's Prime Minister in 2015, he inducted four Indian faces - all Sikhs - in his multi-cultural Cabinet. In a first, the plum portfolio of Canada's Defence Minister was given to a Sikh, Harjit Singh Sajjan.

It soon emerged that some of the Trudeau's colleagues in the Canadian Cabinet allegedly had ties with Khalistan supporters. Trudeau himself attended a Khalsa Day event in Toronto where Khalistan flags and the portrait of former Khalistani militant leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale were displayed.

The Ontario Assembly, dominated by Trudeau's Liberal Party, passed a resolution in 2017 condemning the "genocide" of Sikhs in India in 1984.

Also in 2017, Canada's High Commissioner to India had to apologise after India reacted sharply when a former CRPF officer was initially denied entry at Vancouver airport on the grounds that he had served a government that engaged in "terrorism, systematic or gross human rights violations, or genocide".

However, according to a report in NDTV, top government sources have strongly dismissed speculation, mostly in the Canadian media, that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's absence is a snub for Justin Trudeau amid India's concerns over Sikh radicalism in Canada and support for a separate Khalistan state.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi need not accompany a visiting dignitary everywhere, said sources; he was not present even when Iranian President Hassan Rouhani visited Hyderabad on Friday.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will meet with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday for bilateral talks in New Delhi.Hyderabad: Tariq Khushroo, the patient who lost his right eye due to a hair transplant procedure by Dr Ishratullah Khan, has filed a caveat in the court demanding that the Medical Council of India not grant a stay on the order of the Telangana Medical Council.

The state council has suspended the registration of Dr Khan after finding him guilty of negligence and barred him from practising for two years. Dr Khans Hair Transplant Centre is in Banjara Hills. The TS MCI order has created a furore and Dr Khan is appealing against this order in the court.

Tariq Khushroo underwent the hair transplant procedure in July 2016. Twelve hours after the surgery, he developed swelling in the head and eyes and also had difficulty in moving and eating. He was rushed to a private hospital where the consultant private surgeon found that he had been infected with necrotizing fasciitis leading to the destruction and death of the soft tissues in the body. It affected the skin muscles in the scalp, eyes and eyelid region.

Tariq also complained about difficulty in breathing at the time of admission to the hospital. He underwent emergency treatment and they tried to save his right eye but doctors found that the infection would spread to the left eye and had to remove the eyeball.

Dr Ravinder Reddy, chairman of the TS Medical Council said, The documentation from the private hospital was put before the Medical Council ethics committee and gross negligence by Dr I. Khan has been found. There has been negligence as post-operative complications were not tackled properly. The patient was diabetic and proper precautions were not taken to control blood sugar before the surgery and also the standards for sterilisation of equipment were not followed.

Opinions from other plastic surgeons and skin specialist had shown that the parameters required for hair grafting and surgery were not carried out as prescribed.

Tariq Khushroo was confined to his home for more than 10 months and lost his job in Saudi Arabia due to the botched surgery.Civic sense

Peoples Movement 2006 owes large part of its success to the civil society movement led by Krishna Pahadi and Devendra Raj Panday.The recent visit of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to India led to the two countries signing nine agreements  among them one to further facilitate Indias partnership in expanding the present and future operations at the strategically-located Chabahar port in southern Iran. As Iran is under American sanctions, the two countries have also hit upon the idea of Indian investments through the rupee route, a device that should not draw Americas ire since dollar transactions are eschewed. In any case, the United States had indicated last year that it would not oppose business ties between India and Iran. The agreements apart, the visit of the Iranian leader was important in itself as it came not long after Prime Minister Narendra Modis efforts to woo Israel and the Sunni Arab regimes closest to Tel Aviv  Saudi Arabia and the UAE. In essence, Mr Rouhanis visit underlines the strategic nature of relations toward which the two countries seem to be moving.

Naturally, both are benefited. Tehran is helped in breaking out of diplomatic isolation caused by the US sanctions. New Delhi gains transit routes through Iran to Afghanistan and Central Asia, bypassing Pakistan, as well as to Europe via the North-South transit corridor. New Delhis position in Kabul is also likely to be strengthened as a result of a cooperative posture towards Tehran. Lately, influential elements in Afghanistan have been critical of Indias growing concord with the United States. After two hours of bilateral talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Mr Rouhani said the two countries had no divergences on the Afghan question.

The fortifying of India-Iran relations and the buttressing of Indian efforts at Chabahar will also help bring more substance to this nations strategic posture in the western Indian Ocean, a point of no mean significance when China is seeking to make forays in the region. India paying strategic attention to this end of the Indian Ocean, which connects energy-rich West Asia to the Asean region, was also given a boost recently when the Prime Minister visited Oman after his recent trip to the Palestinian territories and the UAE. In Oman, India has signed an agreement to secure the military use of Duqm port, located to the south of the Gulf of Oman, the crucial passageway to the Gulf of Iran, which is not far from Chabahar. Chabahar, Duqm, and the Seychelles facility at Assumption have come to fruition after many years of diplomacy, stretching across the UPA and NDA-2 era. The point, however, is that these should be made to count. That can only happen if India starts to deliver on its strategic vision. For that to happen, its fragile diplomatic relations in the immediate neighbourhood  so evident in the Narendra Modi era  should be improved.Gregory Seerdens public defender has stated that the Navy SEAL himself had been abused as a child and has cited injuries and trauma during service as possible reasons for his instability. (Representational Image)

Gregory Kyle Seerden, 32, an honoured navy SEAL who served in Iraq and Afghanistan will spend 27 years in prison for several accounts of sexual abuse and for admitting to sexually abusing a 5-year-old family member.

According to the Washington Post, Norfolk federal court sentenced Seerden to almost the maximum sentence, which is 30 years.

Tracy Doherty-McCormick, in her first public statement since becoming acting US attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia said, "Gregory Seerden victimized a childAs this prosecution makes clear, the United States will seek to hold accountable anyone who sexually exploits our most vulnerable citizens."

In January 2017 a female acquaintance accused him of sexual assault at a naval base after a night out. Seerden who was stationed in San Diego was in Virgina with his family at the time for holidays.

Following the accusations, Navy investigators went through Seerdens phone where they discovered that the officer was in possession of child pornography.

A detailed forensic investigation further revealed objectionable videos, including four in which Seerden himself was seen sexually abusing a 5-year-old family member in her sleep. Seerden was sleeping in the same room as his victim and recorded the act just a day before the alleged assault.

Earlier, investigations carried out by the Navy unearthed that Seerden had abused another family member in San Diego, 2014 when she was 7. The investigations were dropped as the mother was reluctant to pursue the case. However, in 2017 again, the case was reopened after his arrest.

Seerdens public defender has stated that the Navy SEAL himself had been abused as a child and has cited injuries and trauma during service as possible reasons for his instability.

Seerdens mother, in a letter to the court wrote, "After some rough times in his adolescent period, Kyle enlisted in the Navy. When he came back from Afghanistan he was hurting inside but still trying to be himselfSome of his friends were lost and others severely injured and it seemed to really impact him. However, it was his experience in Iraq that I believe really changed him."

Seerden will pay an additional USD 10,000 fine and serve 25 years of supervised release, over and above his sentence.Sunday's shooting comes exactly one month before the March 18 presidential election that Vladimir Putin is almost guaranteed to win. (Representational Image)

Moscow: Five women were shot dead in an apparent radical Islamist attack on an Orthodox church in the North Caucasus region of Dagestan on Sunday, as the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the assault.

An unidentified gunman fired at worshippers at the church in the town of Kizlyar in the mainly Muslim region, local press reports said.

The regional internal affairs ministry said in a statement that the assailant used a hunting rifle, and that four women were killed on the spot, while the attacker was "eliminated".

A fifth woman died of her injuries in hospital, health ministry spokeswoman Zalina Mourtazalieva told TASS news agency.

Two Russian police officers were injured in the attack.

According to a local official the assailant was a local man in his early twenties, the Interfax news agency reported.

The Russian RBK daily quoted an Orthodox priest saying the attacker had opened fire on churchgoers following an afternoon service.

"We had finished the mass and were beginning to leave the church. A bearded man ran towards the church shouting 'Allahu Akbar' ('God is greatest') and killed four people," Father Pavel told RBK.

"He was carrying a rifle and a knife," he added.

Soldier of Islam

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack.

"A soldier of Islam, Khalil Daghestani, attacked" a church in the town of Kizlyar in Dagestan," IS said via the Telegram messaging app.

"He targeted them with his gun, killing five of them and wounding four others," it added.

A spokesman for Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill strongly condemned the attack, branding it a "monstrous crime" aimed at "provoking a confrontation between Orthodox Christians and Muslims" in the North Caucasus.

Images published by the local press showed the body of a bearded man dressed in military fatigues who was identified as the assailant.

Next to his corpse lay two of his victims, covered in a white shroud.

Dagestan, bordering Chechnya, is one of the poorest and most unstable regions of Russia.

Islamist rebels from the region, which lies immediately east of Chechnya, are known to have travelled to Syria to join IS.

In 2015, IS declared it had established a "franchise" in the North Caucasus.

It has claimed a number of attacks on police in Dagestan in the last couple of years that have involved guns and explosives, as local security forces battle a simmering Islamist insurgency.

Sunday's shooting comes exactly one month before the March 18 presidential election that Vladimir Putin is almost guaranteed to win.Under Saudi Arabia's guardianship system, women are required to present proof of permission from a male guardian - normally the husband, father or brother - to do any government paperwork, travel or enrol in classes. (Representational Image)

Riyadh: Women in Saudi Arabia can now open their own businesses without the consent of a husband or male relative, as the kingdom pushes to expand a fast-growing private sector.

The policy change, announced by the Saudi government on Thursday, also marks a major step away from the strict guardianship system that has ruled the country for decades.

"Women can now launch their own businesses and benefit from (governmental) e-services without having to prove consent from a guardian," the ministry of commerce and investment said on its website.

Under Saudi Arabia's guardianship system, women are required to present proof of permission from a male "guardian" - normally the husband, father or brother - to do any government paperwork, travel or enrol in classes.

Long dependent on crude production for economic revenue, Saudi Arabia is pushing to expand the country's private sector, including an expansion of female employment under a reform plan for a post-oil era.

While women still face a host of restrictions in the ultraconservative Muslim kingdom, Saudi Arabia's public prosecutor's office in February said it would begin recruiting women investigators for the first time.

The kingdom has also opened 140 positions for women at airports and border crossings, a historic first that the government said drew 107,000 female applicants.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the powerful heir to the Saudi throne, has been leading the drive to expand the role of women in the workforce in recent months.

His father, King Salman, in September approved the end of a decades-long ban on driving, which goes into effect in June.

The 32-year-old prince pledged a "moderate, open" Saudi Arabia in October, breaking with ultra-conservative clerics in favour of an image catering to foreign investors and Saudi youth.

Prince Mohammed is widely seen as the chief architect behind Saudi Arabia's "Vision 2030" reform programme, which seeks to elevate the percentage of women in the work force from 22 percent to nearly one-third.Joining the Pakistan Boy Scouts Association, transgender youth would get social acceptance, attain confidence, feel secure and move forward. (AP/ Representational Image)

Islamabad: For the first time in the history of Pakistan, transgenders will be part of a team of boy scouts being sent to Saudi Arabia to serve as volunteers during 2018 Haj pilgrimage, a media report said on Sunday.

"Efforts for sending transgender youth to Saudi Arabia to serve as Khuddamul Hujjaj (volunteers during the annual Haj) are underway," IPC Sindh Boys Scouts commissioner Atif Amin Husain was quoted as saying by the Express Tribune.

Blue Veins, a transgender welfare organisation, is coordinating with the IPC on the matter, the paper said.

"At least two to three transgender persons will be selected from each of the remaining three provinces for joining the scouting community that leaves for Saudi Arabia every year," Husain said.

He said recently 40 transgender youth from Sindh were administered oath on joining the Pakistan Boy Scouts Association (PBSA)  a national scouting organisation and one of the largest volunteer forces in the country.

The transgender persons would be part of a team of more than 150 boy scouts, he said, adding that last year over a hundred boy scouts had been sent.

"The recruitment process for Khuddamul Hujjaj includes physical training and a test. After that, the PBSA sends a list of successful candidates to the Federal Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony for a final approval," Husain said, explaining the process.

This year the list would include names of transgender youth, he added.

Husain feels that by joining the PBSA, transgender youth would get social acceptance, attain confidence, feel secure and move forward, the paper said.

Blue Veins programme coordinator Qamar Naseem said that after the recruitment of 40 transgenders in Sindh, his organisation is planning recruitment processes in Punjab, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.

"This can be a game changer and can significantly improve the social acceptance of transgender youth in our society," he said.

He termed the recruitment step a positive initiative that would help the transgender community in improving its image at local as well as regional level.SALT LAKE CITY  House Majority Leader Brad Wilson, R-Kaysville, called the idea that Utahns can find cheaper drugs by importing them from another country a "snipe hunt."

But Rep. Norm Thurston, R-Provo, is sponsoring a bill that he says would do just that.

HB163 would create a program and reporting requirements for importing prescription drugs. The bill also would require pharmaceutical manufacturers to provide the state with pricing for prescription drugs, and modify the Utah Antitrust Act to make certain anti-competitive activities illegal.

Thurston thanked his colleagues for the conversation following debate on the House floor last week "because it just shows how many of our lobbyists are very effective at feeding misinformation all the way through to the House floor."

After taking out a provision that would require transparency from pharmaceutical companies about price hikes and a heated debate, the House passed an amended version of HB163 that would begin a process for Utah to import cheaper prescription drugs from Canada.

The Utah House voted 39-31, passing HB163 by a slim majority. The bill now moves to the Senate for that body's consideration.

There is already a provision in U.S. code specifically for proposals to import wholesale pharmaceutical drugs from Canada. It requires a state to draft and submit a plan to the secretary of Health and Human Services for approval.

Thurston said that no state has submitted such a proposal before.

HB163 directs the Utah Department of Health to draft that plan and seek approval. If it does not get federal approval, the Legislature would then study how to draft a plan that would pass, under the bill.

Thurston later told the Deseret News that lawmakers in the House were getting a deluge of emails from the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer attacking HB163, explaining his comments about lobbyists on the House floor.

Thurston sent an email to his colleagues with a link to the political action page on Pfizer's website, showing them where the emails were coming from and noting that almost nothing in the website's description of HB163 was true.

"Don't fall for their tactics," Thurston wrote to his colleagues. "The proposal in this bill is to generate a safe program to import safe drugs at lower prices. If it can be done safely, we won't submit an application, and the (secretary of Health and Human Services) will only approve our application when they are convinced it can be done safely."

Many of the objections on the Utah House floor to HB163 resembled the Pfizer emails, including the underlying assertion that Canadian drugs would be less safe. Thurston called these objections "hogwash."

"We're talking about the exact same drugs that we're buying in our pharmacies today produced by the same manufacturers in the same plants," he said. "The idea that somehow they would be unsafe, when they are the exact same drugs, is just ridiculous."

Thurston said the objections to his bill were trying to conflate personal importation with wholesale importation. He said personal importation is not safe because no one knows where those drugs have been or how they were made, "but if you do it wholesale, then you have legitimate, government-approved, FDA-overseen organizations involved in making sure those drugs came from FDA-approved facilities. There's somebody watching out for you as a consumer."

The main difference between wholesale drugs in America and Canada is "a different conveyor belt," he said.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders' name came up on the floor of the House during debate of HB163. Sanders tried to introduce similar legislation in Congress in January 2017 to get the ball rolling to import wholesale pharmaceutical drugs from Canada. The legislation failed in the Senate, but not before getting yes votes from both sides of the aisle, including Utah Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah.

Thurston denied basing his legislation on anything he might have seen from Sanders.

The runaway cost of pharmaceutical drugs in the United States was an issue tackled by Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton on the presidential campaign trail in 2016. Thurston urged his colleagues to support HB163 because the Trump administration might be open to trying new things.

So far in 2018, there have been 87 bills filed in 34 states seeking to save money on prescription drugs in some form, according to the nonpartisan National Academy for State Health Policy. Six states are considering bills that would allow drugs to be imported from Canada, where they cost on average 30 percent less than in the U.S.SALT LAKE CITY  Utah lawmakers are considering a trio of bills that would create new license plates, recognizing the Utah State Historical Society, promoting Autism awareness and commemorating the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which granted American women the right to vote.

Sen. Lincoln Fillmore, R-South Jordan, last week presented to the Senate Business and Labor Committee SB41, which would create a Utah State Historical Society license plate.

The plate would be solid black with white letters and no logo, similar to Utah's 1966-68 plates.

Fillmore told the committee that he had been approached by one of his constituents about the idea. He chatted with that South Jordan resident about the high standard such legislation would have to meet, including a petition needing 500 signatures of interested Utahns. And the man got it done, Fillmore said.

"We have asked the state of Utah to consider bringing back a current version of the handsome retro Utah license plate (black with white lettering) that was used for so many years and name it the 'Legacy' plate," the petition states.

The required 500 signatures were gathered in just four hours, according to the petition. More than 1,500 people had signed the online petition as of Sunday.

Special group license plates in Utah are usually white with blue letters and have a group logo on the left side commemorating the group.

Fillmore said in an email that he chose the Utah State Historical Society for the plate because he was "looking for something to go along with the 'retro' nature of the license plate." The society will not have a logo on the plate, but it will be benefitting from a $25 annual fee paid by applicants for the special license plate.

Fillmore's bill instructs the tax commission to try to find reflective black paint to comply with regular license plate standards. If that can't be obtained, the black license plates would be exempt from having to use reflective paint.

The Senate Business and Labor Committee recommended the bill unanimously to the Senate floor.

Another license plate bill winding its way through the Capitol is HB368, which seeks to create an Autism awareness plate. The bill makes some technical changes to help the Utah State Board of Education get better access to the funds it raises. It originally passed in 2010.

There's also HB368, which creates a special group license plate commemorating the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which guaranteed women's suffrage.

It comes at time when the Legislature passed a bill authorizing a statue of Martha Hughes Cannon to replace Philo T. Farnsworth in National Statuary Hall at the U.S. Capitol, where each state is allowed to display two notable people in their histories.

A polygamous wife, doctor, women's rights advocate and suffragist, Cannon was the first woman elected to a state senate in the United States, defeating her own husband for the seat in 1896.

In 2015, the "In God We Trust" license plate became a standard option for Utahns alongside the Ski Utah! and Delicate Arch license plates.

That same year, a special group license plate was sought to raise awareness of congenital heart defects. It passed in the House but was never debated in the Senate.PLEASANT GROVE  When Arizona residents Rob and Sharon Richardson come up to Utah for a visit, they always stop into their favorite local 'fast food' restaurant for a taste of its signature fish and chips.

"Their halibut fish and chips are really good!" he said. So good, in fact, that it's the only meal either of them has ever eaten in the nearly five decades they've been coming to the Purple Turtle in Pleasant Grove.

"I can get a hamburger anywhere," he said. And even after all these years, it's as good as it was when he first started patronizing back in the 1970s while he was a student at Brigham Young University, Richardson said.

"Absolutely, without a doubt," he added. He has continued to return because of the food and the service his family has received over the years.

"It's the food, it's the atmosphere," he said. "We brought our kids when they were little. Now when they come up (from Arizona), they bring their kids. It's kind of a family tradition."

That kind of loyalty has allowed the Purple Turtle to survive and thrive for 50 years in the same location at the corner of State Street and 100 East in Pleasant Grove since 1968. The idea for the business was literally dreamed up by the original owner, Lloyd Ash, who had a vision in his sleep, explained current co-owner Steve Cobbley.

"There was a gas station here, and he had a dream one night that there was a really successful restaurant (on this site)," he said. "All he remembers was that there was a turtle coming up out of the ground."

He said Ash had the same dream the next night, which prompted him to open the Purple Turtle drive-up restaurant. In 1979, it was expanded to include an indoor dine-in and customer area that is still there today, along with a drive-up window that was added in 1993.

Despite the growth of franchise fast food chains over the years, the Purple Turtle has been able to maintain its viability by focusing on offering better food and giving customers what they want rather than serving low cost, lesser quality fare, said co-owner Andrew Wilkins.

"We do things based on what the customer likes versus what might make more (business) sense dollarwise," he said. "Also, being part of the community is a big thing, too."

Both Cobbley and Wilkins worked at the restaurant as teenagers and learned the value of hard work and a few other important life lessons that served them well into adulthood, they said.

"Over the years, I worked here and had really good bosses that cared about me," Wilkins, 30, said. "I wasn't just another employee. That experience developed into me wanting to do the same for other people, too."

He purchased a half-share of the business last year, while Cobbley, 56, bought a half-share in 2005. He said what sets their food apart is the fact that everything is hand-prepared

"(For instance), the fish and chips are all hand cut," Wilkins said. "We skin and bone the halibut. The onion rings, we make ourselves."

He said it may be far more time-consuming, but the customers appreciate the effort and higher quality, and are willing to pay a little more for it. The business has maintained profitability even during a tough two-year period from 2008 to 2010 when the recession and a road construction project on State Street impacted customer flow, Cobbley said.

"What's kept us in business is that we do things differently," he said. "We don't cook food until it's ordered, so you're going to wait a little while when you get here. We buy a higher quality of ingredients to make a higher quality product, so it's going to cost a little bit more."

Sales have increased every year, he said. And though they have only had one location since opening in 1968, there are considerations for possibly launching another location in the not-so-distant future, Cobbley said.

"We're actually looking at it right now, somewhere along the Wasatch Front," he said.

Until then, they will continue to take care of the customers who keep them in business month after month.

"We have customers who come in here once or twice a week, every week," Wilkins said. "Those customers come here because they like it here. We want to keep taking care of them."

It's that commitment to customer service that has helped the Purple Turtle develop a large following of loyal patrons who frequently tell their friends to "give it a try."

Paul and Christine Worthen recently moved from Page, Arizona, to American Fork. They made their inaugural visit on Thursday on the recommendation of an acquaintance, and they were not disappointed. It met all the expectations they had, Paul Worthen said.

"The young man who helped us order the food was really, really helpful," he said. "Rather than the national chains you see all over, we would sooner stop at a place like this."

Christine Worthen noted that while she isn't particularly fond of traditional fast food, the quality of the fare at the Purple Turtle would entice her to make an exception in this case.

"This is really good food," she said. "We would eat here again."SALT LAKE CITY  Neatly groomed, not a hair out of place, Greg Hughes touched the scar on the top-right side of his head, recalling just how deep doctors had to cut to remove a basal cell cancer last year.

"I have to do a comb-over," the Utah House speaker joked.

Not long before the surgery, Hughes had met with Brian Besser, special agent in charge with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, "and he's freaking me out about opioids."

After the surgery, Hughes was asked whether he wanted anything for the pain, and he declined, at the time still being under the effects of anesthesia.

"I get home, and the pain from the anesthesia wears off, and it's like an alien trying to break out of my head," the Draper Republican recalled.

Hughes said he opted to take 800 milligrams of ibuprofen, which left him "uncomfortable, but I got through it."

"In hindsight, I think the diagnosis of 800 (milligrams) of ibuprofen and you're going to have some discomfort for a while  in some cases, not everyone's case, but in some cases  should be or could be the answer, where opioids right now are the alternative," he said.

Hughes shared that story and his perspective on pain management during a recent interview with the Deseret News from his office at the Capitol, reflecting on the first half of his final session as speaker and promoting the policies he wants to see advanced before the 2018 Legislature ends at midnight March 8.

The topic had been medicinal cannabis, specifically as it relates to a package of bills proposed by Rep. Brad Daw, R-Orem, addressing Utahns' access to medicinal marijuana, as well as cultivation and research into the plant.

Both bills have passed in the House, with Hughes voting in favor last week, and now await consideration in the Senate. Daw said he expects the bills to be heard in a Senate committee this week.

Hughes said he's hoping further study into medicinal uses for cannabis will provide a possible solution to the opioid crisis in Utah, as both deal with pain management.

"I think that should be our motivation for getting something over the finish line," he said. "Maybe the Brad Daw bill is too measured, too regulated (for some people)."

But that's as far as most state lawmakers are willing to go right now, he said. The potential for abuse of opioids has been well-documented, the speaker said, but charging down the path of using marijuana as a solution also causes him concern.

And for cannabis to be a possible solution, he said, it would require the federal government to act.

"If I could exercise my political influence (on medicinal cannabis) it would be on the federal government to get through these trials, to get through this (Food and Drug Administration) process," he said.

The federal government regulates drugs through the Controlled Substances Act, and cannabis remains classified as a Schedule 1 drug, just like cocaine and heroin, creating roadblocks to study for any medicinal benefit.

Other states are abandoning the "traditional process" for legalizing cannabis, however, "because it's not being addressed" by the federal government, Hughes said.

"Let's get that kind of scrutiny on this. That would be my ideal," he said.

Advocates for medicinal cannabis in Utah have criticized Daw's bills for limiting access to terminally ill patients, and for pushing those who want to use it to join specific studies that they say are too expensive and amount to a subscription to CBD oil, while prohibiting smoking and vaping as delivery methods for the drug.

Hughes says starting with the terminally ill makes sense.

"I'd like to start there and know that we're addressing pain management and some of those things, and maybe take it a little slower," he said.

The speaker said he also "can't get over the fact that it's still against the federal law."

"And, look, I'm a states' rights guy," he said. "If we want to fly in the face of federal law, why stop at marijuana? Let's talk (public) lands and keep going. I'm all about that."

Hughes said he wants to find out "the medicinal value of cannabis," which he says is a process. "If we can create some scaffolding to study it and get some answers, I'd feel better about it."

There's also pressure on the Legislature to act on medicinal cannabis because a ballot initiative campaign is underway to take the issues to voters in November. The Utah Patients Coalition says it has gathered more than enough signatures to meet the state's qualifying standards.

Hughes recalled attending a conference with House speakers from other states where medicinal cannabis measures have passed, "and they're telling us that the recreational marijuana campaign starts the night the final votes are counted," and that it doesn't stop there, that "it's just a continuation of the ultimate goal of legalizing marijuana recreationally."

"I have angst about those things," Hughes said, "and as I compare what's being proposed (in the initiative) with what Rep. Daw put together, I think that's a more measured approach.

With the session now more than halfway done, the House has some difficult tasks ahead, the speaker said. Hughes said he wants to see a tax cut, though he also wants to funnel more money into education.

"I'm working as hard as I can," he said. "I'm not going to take my foot off the gas. I want to finish on a high note."

Tax reform

Although there was a lot of talk about tax modernization before the session, little has happened so far. But thats likely to change quickly once revenue estimates are updated.

I think youll see something, said Senate Budget Chairman Jerry Stevenson, R-Layton.

The final revenue estimates for the session should be announced Wednesday, Stevenson said, but he warned that those numbers could be skewed because of the recent federal income tax changes.

Wed better be very careful, he said, especially if the numbers suggest a big increase in revenues.

Legislative leaders were told early on that the $1.5 trillion in federal income tax cuts approved by Congress just before Christmas would result in an additional $80 million in state income tax collections without legislative action.

Although that number could be cut as much as $55 million by giving Utah taxpayers the same 20 percent tax reduction in the federal plan for small businesses that file as individuals rather than corporations, there seems to be little interest.

Senate President Wayne Niederhauser, R-Sandy, has said he sees no reason to pass along that specific tax cut because Utah residents and corporations already pay the same 5 percent rate. Instead, he said, that rate could be lowered slightly for all taxpayers.

Hughes said his goal is to come up with a plan that offers both, after all is said and done, more money to education and a tax cut.

Wed like to see the income tax adjusted downward as a tax cut. But also there are some corporate income tax adjustments we could look at, he said, as well as changes in property tax collections that could bring in more money for schools.

Net-net, you would see a tax cut to Utahns. But you would also see some of the mechanisms for how we tax for education, where we would see more money, Hughes said.

Lawmakers are feeling the pressure from the Our Schools Now ballot initiative backed by Utah Jazz owner Gail Miller and other prominent Utahns that would raise both income and sales taxes to collect another $700 million annually for education.

Were hoping that were showing a level of work and effort that maybe that initiative isnt necessary, the speaker said. So Id love to see those that are looking at the Our Schools Now tax increase see what were doing here at the state. Maybe were building confidence.

Other tax bills under consideration this session include HB148, sponsored by Rep.Tim Quinn, R-Heber City, which would remove 1.75 percent tax on food and increase sales taxes on other purchases from 4.7 percent to 4.92 percent.

Quinn, who has called the food tax a moral issue, said he believes he has the votes to pass the bill in the House even though legislative leaders have already spoken out against what they see as reducing an already shrinking tax base.

Education

This week's revenue projections will help firm up the budgets for public and higher education in Utah and reinvigorate lawmakers requests for other initiatives they want funded.

The Public Education Appropriations Subcommittee, in its final recommendations, requested a 3 percent increase to the value of the weighted-pupil unit, which is the basic building block of education funding in Utah. That totals $93 million.

The subcommittee also recommended that the Legislature appropriate nearly $33.5 million to address enrollment growth and another $31 million toward equalizing local education funding.

In addition to state funding, school districts also rely on local property taxes. Revenues vary greatly depending on property values in the respective districts.

For instance, the same tax rate in the Salt Lake City School District yields far more than the Nebo School District, which is experiencing high growth because of affordable housing prices in the area.

SB145, sponsored by Sen. Lincoln Fillmore, R-South Jordan, would set aside $36 million from the states education fund to increase the statewide minimum funding level for school districts, adding dollars each year.

Over time, every district can count themselves a winner under the Minimum School Program," Fillmore said in a recent committee hearing.

That $36 million figure is $5 million more than recommended by the appropriations subcommittee, but there are some indications that the revenue picture is positive.

For the states system of higher education, salary increases at Utahs eight public colleges and universities rose as the top funding priority, followed by student growth and a push to improve the number of students completing their degrees.

Stevenson said there is ongoing discussion about growing use of tuition waivers by state colleges and universities.

Tuition waivers are a form of financial aid used to help students pay for college and boost enrollment. Some colleges and universities even call them scholarships.

According to legislative fiscal analysts, total tuition waived by state institutions rose from $81 million in fiscal year 2014 to $138.1 million in FY 2017  a 70 percent increase over a three-year period. Some lawmakers want institutions to rein in their use.

I think theres a bill coming through that kind of restructures that, Stevenson said.

There are 21 types of waivers approved by the Legislature for use by colleges and universities.

For example, Utah State Universitys Alumni Legacy Nonresident Waiver forgives half of nonresident tuition for first-time undergraduate students from out of state whose parents or grandparent are USU alumni.

Transportation

Overhauling the management of the Utah Transit Authority had been expected to be a contentious issue this session. But even UTA trustees have reluctantly backed the new structure proposed by the Legislatures Transportation Governance and Funding Task Force.

The task force bill, SB136, calls for the 16-member, part-time board to be replaced by three full-time trustees who would run the transit agency. The new management team would be nominated by local governments and appointed by the governor. A nine-member advisory board would also be created.

The biggest issues that have surfaced with the bill are about funding, not governance. The bill, already approved by a Senate committee, would raise taxes and fees, including the cost of registering an electric or hybrid vehicle and the taxes charged on hotel rooms and rental cars.

Sen. Wayne Harper, R-Taylorsville, the sponsor of SB136 and co-chairman of the task force, said stakeholders are diligently working on the funding provisions, which is the only area of disagreement left.

Harper said that could mean changes in the size of the fee and tax increases, or even dropping some of those proposed in the bill.

Also in the bill is a state-imposed sales tax increase in 2022 for counties that haven't approved the full 1.05 percent local option tax, including in Salt Lake and Utah counties, where voters rejected the quarter-cent increase for transportation known as Proposition 1 in 2015.

Another high-profile transportation bill, SB71, sponsored by Niederhasuer, started as an effort to allow electronic monitoring to assess tolls on new and expanding roads, aimed at curbing traffic issues in Little Cottonwood Canyon.

But SB71 was amended on the Senate floor to expand tolling to all state roads, a move described as being more fair to the west side of the Salt Lake Valley and other fast-growing areas.

Tolling is seen as another source of revenue for transportation by Niederhauser, who has said the state has to find a way to make up a $600 million shortfall in gas tax revenues. His bill passed the Senate and has been advanced by the House Transportation Committee.

Environment

Many key issues impacting management of Utahs air, land and water remain on the table as the second half of the 2018 Legislature kicks into high gear.

Lawmakers are grappling with more than $3 million in funding requests to put a chokehold on Utahs continuing air pollution problem, including new money for additional local research and more staff for the Utah Division of Air Quality.

There are also funding dollars that lawmakers want directed for research into Utah Lakes blue-green algae problem and additional dollars to help the Bureau of Land Management accelerate its roundup schedule of wild horse populations.

Lawmakers continue to pursue public management strategies for Utah and seem intent on complying with a request from Gov. Gary Herbert to let Utah State Parks exercise more flexibility over its revenue to put in capital improvements at places such as Antelope Island State Park.

Some subjects are naturally garnering more attention than others, including mitigation of diesel emissions at local railyards and a possible lawsuit from Utah against Californias fossil fuel tax imposed on coal.

The heavy lifting remains to be done with action that awaits these measures.

Contributing: Amy Joi O'DonoghueSALT LAKE CITY  Amid an unusually warm and dry Utah winter, a snowstorm pounded the Wasatch Front on Monday causing chaos on the roads and rejoicing at the ski resorts.

The late-night and early morning blizzard snarled traffic and caused delays during the Presidents Day commute and persisted throughout the afternoon as crashes continued to stack up.

As of 3:30 p.m., the Utah Department of Public Safety reported 458 crashes along Wasatch Front counties. Of those crashes, four involved UHP trooper vehicles being hit, though no troopers were hurt, UHP reported. Any injuries in other crashes were minor.

The National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning along the I-15 corridor, warning of heavy snow initially until 9 p.m. Monday, but the service later extended it to 9 a.m. Tuesday for the Salt Lake and Tooele valleys and Utah County.

As of 6 p.m., the agency reported 5.5 inches of snow at the Salt Lake City International Airport. More than a foot of snow was reported in the Wasatch Mountains at ski resorts including Alta with 19 inches, Snowbird with 18 inches, and Brighton with 19 inches.

The agency urged commuters to use caution while driving, reporting slick roads and clouded visibility throughout the state.

"While snow will become more intermittent in northern Utah as the day progresses, periods of heavier snow are still possible," the weather service said in a tweet.

The slick and snowy roads contributed to dozens of crashes along Utah highways and streets, and it slowed some roads to a crawl. Westbound I-80 was shut down at 1300 East in Salt Lake City due to multiple crashes, the Utah Department of Transportation reported about 11 a.m., urging drivers to plan for delays and alternate routes.

Multiple crashes and slide-offs also backed up traffic for miles in Big and Little Cottonwood canyons as skiers and snowboarders headed to the slopes for the fresh powder. Both canyons closed at 10:45 a.m. for snowplows, but they reopened by noon.

"It'll be a journey today," Unified Police tweeted. "Lots of snow and heavy congestion."

As excited as two skiers, David and Katie Zahn from Sandy, were about the fresh powder, they got caught in the morning chaos as they made their way up to Brighton Resort.

"The traffic jam this morning was terrible," David Zahn said. "It took us like an hour to get to the bus stop from our house, and we just live over on Highland Drive."

One snowboarder, Paula Williams, of Millcreek, said she had hoped to catch a bus to Brighton at 8:30 a.m., but she gave up and went home after seeing the long line of red tail lights snaking up the mountain.

The traffic was crazy. I just went home," she said. She tried again after the canyons opened later in the afternoon.

Still, Williams was happy for the fresh snow.

I wasnt minding the mild winter, but considering I had, like, geared up for, you know, a good year back into snowboarding, I was kind of disappointed, said Williams. Hopefully, this year we get a little taste of why they call Utah snow the best snow on Earth.'"

But with the fresh powder, the Utah Avalanche Center also warned of high avalanche danger near Logan, Salt Lake City, Provo and Skyline, and considerable danger near Ogden and in the Uinta Mountains.

As of Monday afternoon, 224 flights were delayed on average for more than an hour at the Salt Lake City International Airport, along with two cancellations, airport officials said.

As of about 11 a.m., about 3,900 customers in the Salt Lake metro area were without power, including about 2,300 in Taylorsville, said Rocky Mountain Power spokesman Dave Eskelsen.

Earlier Monday, about 7,000 customers had lost power due to the weather, including 4,500 in Salt Lake County and 2,000 in Davis County, Eskelsen said, but many had been restored by the afternoon.

"Crews have been working really hard since late last night, and they'll keep at it until everything's restored," Eskelsen said, thanking customers for their patience.

The National Weather Service projected snow accumulations of 8 to 14 inches in the Wasatch Mountain valleys, Wasatch Mountains south of I-80, the western Uinta Mountains and the Wasatch Plateau.

The Salt Lake and Tooele valleys were expected to have accumulations of about 1 to 3 inches, with more snow falling until Tuesday morning.

The storm comes amid an unusually dry and warm winter in Utah, but temperatures were projected to dip this week, with lows expected to reach about 19 degrees in the Salt Lake area Monday night. Tuesday was expected to reach a high of 27 degrees and a low of 14 degrees.

Contributing: Shara Park, Preston CathcartCongratulations! Mr PM!

Congratulations, Mr KP Oli, on becoming Prime Minister! You have declared that rapid economic development will be your governments top priority. But we know from experience that economic development without good governance is a pipe dream.Black Panther Reaching The Top

As it is known, Hollywood superhero movie Black Panther was the much-awaited movie of 2018. The movie has finally been released and is raking in huge collections. According to news published on variety.com, the movie is deemed to be a super smash hit at the box-offices across the world.





Black Panther has already made 218 million Dollars in the past four days since its release in U.S.A. The movie has already surpassed the collection milestone set by last years Deadpool. The movie stars Chadwick Boseman in the lead role as King TChalla, who is the ruler of Wakanda.





Wakanda is a futuristic society buffed up with technological advancements, which are many years ahead of the rest of the world. The movie also stars Michael B. Jordans character Eric Killmonger as an antagonist, who aims to snatch the throne. The movie also stars Letitia Wright, Lupita Nyongo, Angela Bassett, Danai Gurira, and Daniel Kaluuya.





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Source: images8.alphacoders.comShamna Kasim Dons The Hat Of A Cop In Oru Kuttanadan Blog

Actress Shamna Kasim has been known to play unique roles in films. She had played roles such as a pregnant, a hearing-impaired woman. The actress was last seen in the latest Tamil flick Savarakathi, which has been lauded by the audiences. Now, it has been heard that the actress will play a different avatar in director Sethus debut film.





Sethus debut directorial, titled Oru Kuttanadan Blog, is set to have Shamna play a police officer named Neena. Talking about the film the director said, Krishnapuram police station has only seen policemen till then. When a pretty woman takes charge as an officer there, it surprises the villagers as its something they have never witnessed. It becomes an episode on the blog, through which the films story is narrated.





He also said that the character has a tinge of humour. The film also stars Mammootty as blog writer Hari. His character in the film is influential. Meanwhile, the shooting of the film is going to commence in the first week of March. Anu Sithara and Raai Laxmi are playing the female leads in the flick.





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Source: s3.ap-southeast-1.amazonaws.com7 Bollywood Movies Which We Thought Will Get A Sequel But Didn't

One of the best ways for a Bollywood film to earn money at the box-office is turning it into a full-fledged franchise. A number of films have started franchises that have now turned into cash cows, like Dhoom, Golmaal, Housefull series etc. All of these films offer nothing new in terms of stories, character development or themes and mostly deliver recycled content and lame jokes.

Still, being an established franchise helps and when you have some of the biggest Bollywood actors leading these franchises, audiences don't complain much. It is interesting to see that a majority of franchises that exist in Bollywood today, very few would have thought of capturing audience's imagination like that. On the other hand, there were films which were already planned as 2,3 or 5 film franchises but didn't get any sequel because either they didn't perform well or it simply didn't materialize. Here are 8 such films:

Aabra Ka Daabra: The Harry Potter rip-off was more of a Parle G advertisement than a movie but it terrified the audiences in the end by confirming that there will be a part. Thank the old gods and the new, it didn't happen else Dumbledore would have died even before the Half-Blood Prince.

Bluffmaster: The Abhishek Bachchan-Riteish Deshmukh starrer was commercially successful as well as received a positive reception from the critics. There were talks of a sequel but nothing ever materialized though both the actors are still up for it.

Agent Vinod: Sriram Raghavan's spy-thriller was the first of a planned 5 film series. The ambitious project received good reviews but couldn't attract the audiences and hence the plans for a sequel were shelved.

Ra.One: For a long time, Shah Rukh Khan wanted to make a sequel to his 2011 superhero film which didn't please the audiences as well as the critics. Since then, there have been no talks of a second part.

Ek Villain: While rumours were rife that Sidharth Malhotra and Alia Bhatt will star in a sequel to Ek Villain, director Mohit Suri recently refuted the claims and said he is making a thriller with Aditya Roy Kapoor and there are no plans for an Ek Villain sequel.

Mr India: Probably the best superhero sci-fi film to have come out of Bollywood, everyone was looking forward to a sequel and even director Shekhar wanted to make it. But nothing has materialized till now and no sequel is in pipeline as of now.

Drona: The fantasy adventure superhero film became the biggest disaster of everyone's career who was associated with the film but that didn't deter the enthusiasm of director Goldie Behl who had already finished the script of the sequel when the first film released. Though after the poor returns at the box-office, plans for a sequel were shelved.Ambai Town Recreated In Chennai For Suriya and Selvaraghavans Next

Yes, you heard that right! It seems that the team of Suriya and Selva film is leaving no stone unturned to ensure that the movie turns out to be interesting. Lets find out more about the movie.





According to reports, a huge set that resembles Ambasamudram is recreated in Chennai in order to shoot an integral part of the yet to be titled Suriya and Selvas upcoming flick. The reports are emerging that the art director, RK Vijaya Murugan, has recreated Ambai town in Chennai, with houses, a temple and some greenery intact. It seems that the team is working hard to make sure that the flick interests the audience.





The rumour mills are churning out news that the popular Kollywood faces, Suriya and Selvaraghavan, are expected to shoot at this newly erected gigantic set for over 20 days from this week. The first schedule of the untitled movie, starring Rakul Preet Singh and Sai Pallavi, has been completed recently as per the reports. We are yet to see the film stealing the hearts of the audience.





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Source: www.newsolive.comThe chief executive of Turkeys Garanti Bank has stated that several parties have expressed interest in obtaining a stake in Turk Telekom.

Garanti, led by Ali Fuat Erbil, faces competition from two other investors in its efforts to acquire a 55% holding in the operator. The executive stated that he expected the situation to become clear later this year.

Turk Telekoms owner Otas has fallen behind on loan payments for the past 18 months, having borrowed a total of $4.7 billion from 29 different creditors. Otas owes Garanti Bank $1 billion, as well as owing $1.5 billion to Adbank and $500 million to Is Bank.

Ooredoo is one of the companies with a confirmed interest in obtaining a Turk Telekom holding, having discussed an acquisition earlier this year while stopping short of making a binding offer. Saudi Telecom has also been mooted as it already holds a 35% stake in Otas parent firm Oger.

At the end of 2017, Turk Telekom had 19.6 million mobile connections. It offers fixed and mobile services, with 13.7 million fixed access lines and 9.7 million broadband lines.Hungarian firm Konzum Nyrt has affirmed its interest in acquiring the local operations of Telenor if it makes them available for sale.

Last month, Telenor received an unsolicited offer for its telecoms operations in Bulgaria, Hungary, Montenegro and Serbia. The Norwegian group said it would complete its review of the offer by the end of the first quarter.

At the end of last year, Konzum Nyrt issued a strategy outline that identified telecommunications as a key area for investment. In a recent interview, the groups CEO and Chairman Gellert Jaszai said I can confirm that it remains appealing to us.

Jaszai noted that banking and insurance were also of interest to the company, although cautioned that regarding Telenor, all I can add to that is that if there is such a process this potential investment could be interesting for us. I cannot confirm or deny anything else.Hyperloop, the next-generation urban transport system envisioned by Elon Musk, could be a reality in India in the next seven to five years. In fact, India could be the first country to boast of the futuristic transport system because Virgin Group Founder Richard Branson plans to connect Mumbai and Pune with Hyperloop that will reduce travel time to 25 minutes from three hours.

The US-based firm signed an intent agreement with the Maharashtra government to build a Hyperloop system between the two cities. At the Magnetic Maharashtra Summit, Virgin Hyperloop Ones (VHO) chairman Richard Branson said the Hyperloop will pass through the proposed Navi Mumbai International Airport. Also, the fares will probably be close to airfares.

Hyperloop is a futuristic surface transport system comprising a sealed tube through which a pod travels free of friction to achieve super high speeds (almost at the speed of sound) using magnetic levitation. It was designed by a joint-team from SpaceX and Tesla and was then made open-source for anyone to utilise the technology.



The final feasibility study could be completed in the next six months while the construction of the test track can start as early as 2019 and finish by the end of 2021, according to officials. Hoping that the tests are successful, it will take around four years to build the entire infrastructure.

Individual ports of the loop will go inside individual gates of the (proposed) airport, reducing travel time further. The project will leapfrog Maharashtra into a transport hub, Branson said at the event.

The estimated cost of the project could be around Rs 20,000 crore, which is apparently cheaper than other on-ground high-speed transport system. Branson said Hyperloop will have a capacity of transporting 150 million passengers per year and save more than 90 million hours of travel time. It could also potentially reduce the carbon footprint by 150,000 tons a year. However, the exact cost and the timeline of the project has not been finalised.

Hyperloop is yet to become commercially operational anywhere in the world. Dubai is competing for the first spot, but according to Branson, The Pune-Mumbai route is the ideal first corridor as part of a national Hyperloop network.

Virgin Hyperloop One is only one of the company working to make Hyperloop a reality. Last year, Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HTT) signed a letter of intent with the Andhra Pradesh government to connect Amravati with Vijayawada. In fact, at an event held early last year, Virgin Hyperloop One spoke about five potential routes across the country with the Bangalore-Chennai corridor voted the most desireable by citizens.Lenovo Yoga 720 detailed review

The Lenovo Yoga 720 is essentially the convertible version of the Ideapad 720s we reviewed a few weeks ago. The machine has almost the same dimensions and packs a similar set of hardware with the added functionality of a touchscreen. Priced almost 20K more than its non-touch sibling, the Lenovo Yoga 720 seems to be aptly priced. Moreover, it offers a similar specification sheet as any other thin and light convertible which makes it a very good contender for the top spot. So, is it worth it? We find out.





Specs:

Display: 13.3-inch LCD, touch

Display resolution: 1920 x 1080p

CPU: Intel Core i7-7500U

RAM: 8GB

Storage: 512GB M.2 SSD

Battery: 43Whr

Build and design: Good, period

Last years Lenovo Yoga 710 was the winner of our prestigious Zero 1 Award, but this years revamp of the machine lost to the HP Spectre x360 by a whisker. Like its predecessors and most ultraportables we have seen in the past year, this machine also weighs 1.3 kilograms and is just as portable. It uses an aluminum shell, which is not just sturdy but in this soft-gold colour, looks quite pretty. The subtle chamfered edges, the slightly rounded corners, the all-glass front combine to give it an air of quality without being too blingy or sophisticated.

The metal shell also makes this machine quite sturdy and we did not find any flex issues in the machine. Even the dual hinge mechanism which has been carried forward from the last generation has been slightly revised. The hinge is now sturdier and holds the display at any angle you desire, better. Opening the back panel, we saw almost half of the machine is taken up by the battery and the Intel Core i7 is being cooled by two rear exhaust fans and a dual heat pipe system. The PCI based M.2 SSD is user replaceable, but the 8GB RAM is soldered to the motherboard itself. This can be an issue if you plan to upgrade the RAM in future.

Note: Opening the back cover will void your warranty.

Display and I/O: nothing to complain

Lenovos 700 series laptops always had good displays and this one is not any different. Featuring a 13.3-inch display with a 1920 x 1080p resolution, the display on the Lenovo Yoga 720 is just as good as we saw last year and at par with its peers. The colour fidelity is good and so are the viewing angles. That said, the glass display is a bit reflective under bright lighting conditions. The touch response is good as well and there is support for Windows ink. Hence, Lenovo does provide a stylus with the laptop, which offers sketching capabilities, which are an added extra. Although, our usual crib about Windows continue. There arent that many stylus-focus apps to make the best use of the stylus.

As for I/O we are not happy with the selection right away. You get a USB 3.0 Type-A port on the right and two USB 3.0 Type-C port on the left. One of these ports support Thunderbolt and one is used by the machine for charging. Hence, you are required to buy dongles for your SDXC card, ethernet cable or even if you have to attach more than one Type-A USB. While we do get that USB type-C is a future-ready port, Lenovo and even other companies should provide some essential dongles for the still in use accessories we generally use with our laptops.

Keyboard and Touchpad: comfortable to work on

If we talk about thin and light notebooks only, the best keyboard currently available to type on is the one used by the Thinkpad X1 Carbon. It has been there for a very long time. It retains that spot since it offers superb feedback, both audibly and physically. The pitch is perfect and the actuation force required on each key is precise and reassuring. That said, HPs Elitebook 1030G2 (review) came really close and the keyboard on the Yoga 720 is not exactly far behind. There are subtle differences in the keyboards of the mentioned machines, but those subtleties, in the end, amount to bigger significant differences.

However, if we come down to the machine at hand, the bottomline for the keyboard is that it is tactile and comfortable to work on. Whether you use the machine for browsing the web or typing for long hours the keyboard wont strain your fingers. All keys have a consistent and relatively good amount of travel. The keys press down with a precise amount of force and are slightly heavier to press compared to the Ideapad 720. It doesn't take time to adjust to and if you type a lot, this will feel just fine as the keys have a satisfying and audible click.

The touchpad is again just as good as the keyboard and quite smooth to use with Windows-based gestures. It is not as smooth as the one available in the Yoga 920, but that is expected since the one on the 920 has a glass surface. Dragging and dropping is quite smooth and so are the left and right clicks, which have a short travel but an audible click. That said, we think at an asking price of over Rs 1 lakh, the Lenovo Yoga 720 could have offered a glass touchpad.

Performance: Ample performance

Inside you get the Intel Core i7-7500U, which is last years top tier U-series chip from Intel. Lenovo will be updating the laptop with an 8th gen Intel processor and probably with an AMD Ryzen counterpart as well, but in comparison, this last year laptop is still no slouch. The dual-core chip has a base clock speed of 2.7GHz and offers ample performance to take on browsing tasks as well super-heavy excel sheets. The machine comes equipped with 8GB of RAM, which we think should now be the standard memory size for Windows laptops. It provides ample capacity for multi-tasking and allows browsers like Chrome to have a comfortable overhead.

The 512GB PCI based M.2 SSD is among the fastest in the business and offers incredible sequential read and write speeds of 3028MB/s and 1611.8MB/s respectively. Since this is a thin and light machine, you cant really play games on it, but you can push the machine to run some E-sports titles such as Dota 2 or CS: Go which are playable at low and medium settings.

Dont get disappointed though as the two speakers on the bottom of this machine are fairly loud and offer a really good audio output. It wont be replacing your portable speakers, but even at full volume they wont distort as much making them ideal for some light music listening and for watching videos.

We didn't find any heating issues as well as the twin fan cooling system does its job well. The fans do get loud under load, but the system never becomes uncomfortably hot to type on. That said, do consider putting this machine on a desk if you are running some heavy tasks on the machine, as some machine still gets plenty hot to be used on a bare lap.

Battery life: Good enough

The massive 43Whr battery on this machine is basically half of the innards and provides almost a workday worth of usage (9-10 hours). Though this is still not the Dell XPS 15 level of battery life, considering everything (yup, price as well), this is not really a deal breaker. We have used this machine more than once with medium to heavy load from 10 AM in the morning to 7 PM in the night with the battery percentage still dwindling around in double digits.

Bottomline

While the Lenovo Yoga 720 might be considered as the convertible cousin of the Ideapad 720, the machine does have its own identity and presence. It has a really good battery life, the display is nice, the performance is commendable, the typing experience is again really good and it weights just as much as most thin and lights. The rotating touch-sensitive display with the bundled pen is an added extra and we would like to see more convertible laptops to offer bundled pens. We would have loved the machine more if it had a user replaceable RAM and came with bundled dongle dock. Also, the display brightness could have been better as well.

All-in-all, if you want a new thin and light convertible laptop which does not compromise on anything, the Lenovo Yoga 720 should be on your consideration list.Last years Mobile World Congress saw Nokia rise from its ashes under the stewardship of HMD Global. Nokia phones finally embraced pure, stock Android. However, it seemed HMD Global was just testing the waters with last years portfolio. In 2018, Nokia will once again be one of the highlights of MWC, and this time, we expect the Finnish company to pack more firepower.

HMD Global will hold an event at Barcelona along the sidelines of MWC, around the same time as the launch of the Samsung Galaxy S9. The event is scheduled for February 25th, 4PM CET (8:30PM IST). HMD will stream the event live on its website and social channels and we will be there to cover it live.

Based on leaks and rumours circulating the internet, we have a fair idea of Nokias plans for this year. HMD Global could be launching four phones under the Nokia moniker this year  The flagship Nokia 9, the mid-range Nokia 7+, the entry-level Nokia 1 and a newly rumoured budget Nokia 4.

Nokia 9

The Nokia 9 is going to be the flagship phone for HMD this year. There is also a certain Nokia 8 Sirocco phone out in the wild, which could be renamed as the Nokia 9. Nevertheless, based on leaks and rumours, we expect the Nokia 9 to sport a 5.5-inch QHD OLED display (no 18:9 univisium display rumoured), with an older Snapdragon 835 chipset underneath coupled by either 6GB or 8GB RAM and 128GB of storage. At the back, there could be a 12-megapixel dual camera stack with Carl Zeiss optics and a 5-megapixel shooter at the front. The phone is also rumoured to be IP68 water resistant and could come with wireless charging and OZO audio.

However, another source claimed Nokia is working on a phone with five cameras which will be powered by the Snapdragon 845 chipset. While theres no news about the name of that rumoured phone, it could very well be the Nokia 9.

Nokia 7+

Even if the Nokia 9 is considered the flagship phone, the Nokia 7+ will hog the limelight. Based on the leaked renders shared by serial leakster Evan Blass, the Nokia 7+ will sport a display with the in-vogue 18:9 aspect ratio along with vertically aligned dual-cameras at the back. It will be a mid-range device powered by the Snapdragon 660 chipset coupled with 4GB RAM and 64GB of storage. Evan Blass also said the Nokia 7 Plus will be under the Android One programme with the purest of pure version of Android Oreo powering it.

Based on the leaks, this could very well be the first Nokia phone to adopt the modern display with slim bezels.

Nokia 1

Nokia catapulted to its cult status by making phones for everybody regardless of a budget. That philosophy was reintroduced last year with the reimagined Nokia 3310 and the Nokia 3. This year, HMD is expected to take a deeper dive into the budget segment with the Nokia 1. Once again, Evan Blass spilled the beans on how the phone will look along with some information on its specs and features.

By the looks of it, the Nokia 1 is going to come with entry-level specs. It could be powered by an entry-level Qualcomm processor along with 512MB or 1GB of RAM. Based on the specs, we expect the phone to run on Android Oreo (Go Edition) and it could come in at an extremely affordable price.

Nokia 4

The Nokia 4 is the latest phone to be rumoured to launch at MWC 2018. A teardown of the Nokia camera app revealed the name of the phone. If real, the Nokia 4 will be a new smartphone altogether. It will allegedly be powered by the Snapdragon 450 chipset which is a new entry-level chipset built on the 14nm process. Apart from this, there isnt much news about the Nokia 4. We cant be sure this phone will indeed launch at MWC or Nokia might hold an event for the phone later this year.A new bug affecting iOS, watchOS and macOS devices was discovered recently, which causes app crashes and bootloop errors on iPhones. This happens when a Telugu Unicode character is sent as a message or even pasted in the smartphones Label, TextField, or TextView. Some users on Twitter and Facebook have already started misusing the vulnerability and are adding the special character to their tweets. This is causing an uproar from inconvenienced users, whose smartphones have crashed/bricked as a result, on Twitter, Facebook and many other social media platforms.

As per a TechCrunch report, many tweets saying read this to log off instantly and retweet this to crash anyone using an Apple device, have popped up in the past few days. Also, even if the character is present in someones user handle, who replies to or likes a users tweets, then it can cause the crashes and as mentioned earlier, a bootloop error.

Facebook is also barring users from posting the Unicode-based character. The social media site says, Posts that look like spam according to our Community Guidelines are blocked on Facebook and can't be edited. As per reports, an app crashing due to the bug wont launch again as it keeps crashing on a loop and in order to fix it, one needs to reinstall it without any previous data. One possible method of evading the bootloop problem is to turn off notifications, however, launching the app, which has received the symbol, will most likely crash it.

The issue is quite serious as when the Unicode character is received as a notification, it can cause Springboard to crash and restart. If an iPhone restarts while Springboard is recovering, it can be bricked by entering into a bootloop and it needs to be reset by reinstalling the OS in Device Firmware Update (DFU) mode.

The bug apparently effects WhatsApp, Twitter and other third party apps as well and Apple is reportedly aware of the bug and is working on a fix. However, the latest public beta version of iOS 11.3 is said to be unaffected by the issue and the company is working on a patch for watchOS and macOS as well. You can read more about the Telugu character bug here.Dahal elected Maoist Centre PP leader

Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal has been unanimously elected Parliamentary Party leader of the CPN (Maoist Centre).Democratic struggles have just begun

In 1948, Rana Prime Minister Padma Shum Shere Jung Bahadur Rana sought to exercise the supreme authority vested to him through the sacred Panja-patras by the Shree Panch Maharajadhirajas of Nepal to promulgate a new constitution and abort an imminent political revolution.Experts know best

We recently visited Helambu and North Gorkha to monitor the progress of reconstruction projects and it was heartening to witness that substantial progress had been made in the reconstruction of both housing and small public buildings. We saw many new, well-built homes.Please allow ads as they help fund our trusted local news content.

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If you want further access to Ireland's best local journalism, consider subscribing to our ePaper and/or free daily Newsletter .

Support our mission and join our community now.Sinn Fein Councillor Antoin Watters says he's losing count of the number of illegal tyres being dumped around north Louth.

The comment came after it was revealed that a sixth illegal tyre dump took place at Edentubber over the weekend.

Speaking to The Dundalk Democrat, Cllr Watters said: "It's becoming a weekly pilgrimage for me heading to Edentubber to see more tyre dumps. There is definitely a problem with illegal dumping in Louth. The Government is providing funding for illegal dumping, and I'll be asking the local authorities to make an application at the Louth County Council meeting this morning."

Last week, the Government announced that they would be providing 2 million in funding to tackle illegal dumping across the country.

Minister Denis Naughten announced that the crackdown on dumping would include measures such as drones, CCTV footage and smart technologies such as aerial imagery from satellites.

Whilst he welcomed the news of funding to tackle the scourge of illegal dumping Cllr Watters said that the funding, if allocated to Louth, would have to be "adequate" here to fix the significant problem in the wee county.

The Louth Cllr also said that if the funding was granted he would like to see Louth's local authorities working with their Northern counterparts to ensure that the problem wasn't passed on to someone else.Cherry Fields is proving popular in Banbury

A thriving community is forming in Banbury, as homebuyers move into their brand-new properties at Ashberrys Cherry Fields development off Southam Road.

Growing families, first-time buyers and downsizers have been among the buyers so far at the development, which consists of two to five-bedroom homes.

Jane Yolland, Sales Director for Ashberry South Midlands, said: Its lovely to see people settling into their new homes at Cherry Fields and a vibrant new community forming. Its a reminder that were not just building houses, were building homes that families will cherish and create valuable memories in.

The great variety of homes being built at Cherry Fields means that weve seen a real mixture of buyers  from first-time homeowners excitedly purchasing their own property, right through to downsizers who are looking for a practical, beautiful home to settle in.

Many of our buyers have been attracted to Cherry Fields by the fact that were a five-star builder. That means that over 90 per cent of our buyers who filled out an HBF survey would recommend us to a friend, which is certainly a fantastic accolade.



Buyers have used a variety of incentives to purchase their favourite plot  from Help to Buy through to our Ashberry Home Exchange scheme. These schemes make it easier for buyers to get onto or up the housing ladder, so were delighted that so many buyers have used them to get their ideal home at Cherry Fields.



Many buyers have used the Help to Buy scheme to move onto or up the property ladder at Cherry Fields. Help to Buy enables buyers to purchase with a five per cent deposit and 75 per cent mortgage, with the other 20 per cent provided as an equity loan from the Government. The scheme is only available when purchasing newbuild homes up to the value of 600,000.

Others have used Ashberrys Home Exchange scheme to swap their existing home for a new home. Home Exchange offers a hassle-free way to purchase a new home, with the housebuilder taking away the stress of having to sell the existing home.

Under the scheme, two independent valuations will be made on the buyers existing property, and a fair price will be offered based on those values. The buyer is then free to move into their brand-new home without worrying about selling their old home or becoming involved in lengthy property chains.

Three, four and five-bedroom homes are currently available at Cherry Fields with prices starting from 269,995.

For more information, visit the sales office which is open between 10.30am and 5pm between Friday and Monday, and 10.30am and 7.30pm on Thursday, visit ashberryhomes.co.uk.By Andrea Germanos

A group of 13 youths have filed a lawsuit against the State of Washington for breaching its constitutional and Public Trust obligations.

Why? Failure to act on climate change.

In their suit (pdf), filed Friday in King County Superior Court, the plaintiffs, aged seven to 17, say the state, Gov. Jay Inslee, and several state agencies have created and propped up fossil fuel-based energy and transportation systems, thereby fueling greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and the climate crisis. In so doing, they have created "unconstitutional conditions"depriving the young people of their rights to a healthful and pleasant environment, and their rights to life, liberty and property.

The climate-fueling actions, the suit says, have put the young people "in a position of danger with deliberate indifference to their safety in a manner that shocks the conscience."

The state's current GHG reduction limits "are not consistent with what the scientific consensus says is needed to stabilize the climate system," the suit states. Rather than take action to address climate change, the suit says the state and the agencies "have acted with shocking deliberate indifference and abdication of duty to address this crisis." That's despite fact that the defendants were aware of the impacts of the climate crisis "[s]ince at least the late 1980s, well before these plaintiffs were born."

The youths were forced to bring the suit "because the fossil fuel-based energy and transportation system created, supported, and operated by the defendants, and the systematic, affirmative aggregate actions which make up and support that system, severely endangers plaintiffs and their ability to grow to adulthood safely and enjoy the rights, benefits, and privileges of past generations of Washingtonians due to the resulting climate change."

The suit lists the specific dangers the climate crisis is causing the plaintiffs.

For 17-year-old James, for example, a member of the Quinault Indian Nation, his coastal village of Taholah has to be relocated because of sea level rise. "This critical loss of his place-based heritage, a heritage that dates back to time immemorial, is irreplaceable, and permanent," the suit states. The traditional clamming activities he takes part in are also becoming limited because of climate change impacts including algal blooms, ocean acidification, and warming waters. Increasingly severe storms have also had an impact on his family, causing power outages. All these impacts, the suit says, are causing mental and emotional stress, and without meaningful action to address the climate crisis, the impacts are set to worsen.

A plan for state-level energy and transportation systems that support a healthy climate system is feasible, the suit says:

"A zero-CO2 energy and transportation system for Washington state can be achieved by 2050 without acquiring carbon credits from other states or countries. In other words, actual physical emissions of CO2 from fossil fuels can be eliminated with technologies that are now available or under development.

Experts have already concluded the feasibility of, and prepared a roadmap for, the transition of all of Washington's energy use (for electricity, transportation, heating/cooling, and industry) to a 100 percent renewable energy system by 2050. In addition to the direct benefits of avoiding a destabilized climate system, this transition will reduce air pollution and save lives and costs associated with air pollution.



Seventeen-year-old plaintiff Aji Piper, for one, is optimistic.

"I feel hopeful because of this lawsuit, like grass tips emerging from thawing snow. This is my state government's chance to rise up and take responsibility for their actions. This is also a chance for my government to use real science in the policy they create. This lawsuit gives the Washington state government a chance to take the lead and commit to the citizens it serves and the lives it must protect," he said in a statement.

The lawsuit is being supported by the Oregon-based nonprofit Our Children's Trust, which has other similar state-level legal actions underway as well as the landmark Juliana v. United States, in which Aji Piper is also a plaintiff.

A trial date for the new lawsuit, Aji P. v. State of Washington, is set for Feb. 19, 2019.

Reposted with permission from our media associate Common Dreams.

Monsanto lost its bid to overturn Arkansas' ban on dicamba, a controversial weedkiller linked to extensive damage to famers' crops in the state as well as several other states.

The agribusiness giant makes a version of the herbicide called XtendiMax that's paired with its seeds that are genetically engineered to resist the product. DuPont Co. and BASF SE also sell their own dicamba-based formulations.

Pulaski County Circuit Judge Chris Piazza dismissed Monsanto's lawsuit Friday citing a recent Arkansas Supreme Court ruling which held that the state cannot be made a defendant in court.

"We are disappointed in the court's decision to dismiss our legal challenge of the plant board's restrictions, and we will consider additional legal steps that might be appropriate," Scott Partridge, the company's vice president of global strategy, told the Associated Press in a statement. "We look forward to the day when Arkansas growers can benefit from the latest weed-control technology on the market."

The AP further reported:

"Among other arguments, Monsanto claimed that the state did not consider the economic impact of the ban. The company also challenged the makeup of the 18-member board, arguing a state law that gives private groups such as the state Seed Growers Association power to appoint members violates Arkansas' constitution. Piazza said he wouldn't going to rule specifically on the request for a preliminary injunction in case his dismissal ruling is appealed and sent back to his court."

Monsantowhich expects farmers to plant 40 million acres of dicamba-tolerant soybeans and 6 million acres of a cotton version across the U.S. this yearsued the Arkansas State Plant Board over its decision to ban the herbicide's sale and use between April 16 and Oct. 31. The regulators made the decision after receiving nearly 1,000 complaints last year over dicamba damage.

The powerful and drift-prone herbicide has been blamed for damaging more than three millions of acres of non-target crops across the country. Other states such as Tennessee and MissouriMonsanto's home statehave also imposed temporary bans or restrictions on the use of dicamba to curb further damage.

Although dicamba has been around for decades, Monsanto, DuPont Co. and BASF SE sells new formulations of the herbicide that's said to be less drift-prone and volatile than older versions when used correctly.

Monsanto has long defended its product, blaming growers for using older versions of dicamba or not following directions on the new product label.

The controversy will not die anytime soon. On Friday, public interest organizations representing farmers and conservationists made their legal case in a federal lawsuit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Monsanto, challenging EPA's approval of Monsanto's XtendiMax pesticide.FNCCI urges govt to declare Nation-Building Decade

The Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) has urged the newly-formed government to declare 2018-27 as Nation-Building Decade.Microplastics can really be found everywhere, even in the stomachs of creatures living deep underwater.

Marine scientists from the National University of Ireland (NUI) in Galway found the plastic bits in 73 percent of 233 deep-sea fish collected from the Northwest Atlantic Oceanone of the highest microplastic frequencies in fish ever recorded worldwide.

For the study, published Monday in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science, the scientists inspected the stomach contents of dead deep-water fish collected from the Northwest Atlantic Ocean. The sampled fish, including the Spotted Lanternfish, Glacier Lanternfish, White-spotted Lanternfish, Rakery Beaconlamp, Stout Sawpalate and Scaly Dragonfish, were taken from depths of up to 600 meters (about 2,000 feet).

Even though microplastics are usually found around the ocean's surface, these fish were able to gobble them up anyway.

"Deep-water fish migrate to the surface at night to feed on plankton (microscope animals) and this is likely when they are exposed to the microplastics," explained Alina Wieczorek, lead author of the study and Ph.D. candidate from the School of Natural Sciences and Ryan Institute at NUI Galway.

One fish that was examined, a Spotted Lanternfish less than 2 inches in length, had 13 microplastics extracted from its stomach, Wieczorek said.

"In total, 233 fish were examined with 73 percent of them having microplastics in their stomachs, making it one of the highest reported frequencies of microplastic occurrence in fish worldwide," she said.

The fish were sampled from a warm core eddy, which is similar to ocean gyres that are thought to accumulate microplastics. The sampled fish may have originated from a particularly polluted patch of the Atlantic Ocean.

"This would explain why we recorded one of the highest abundances of microplastics in fishes so far, and we plan to further investigate the impacts of microplastics on organisms in the open ocean," Wieczorek added.

The identified microplastics were mostly microfibers, with black and blue the most recorded colors. These tiny plastic threads shed from commonly used synthetic fabrics like polyester, rayon and nylon. When washed, plastic microfibers break off and a single jacket can produce up to 250,000 fibers in washing machine effluent.

Microplastics can contain additives such as colorants and flame retardants and/or pollutants adsorbed onto the particles from the sea, a press release for the study noted. Ingesting them can cause internal physical damage to the animals such as inflammation of intestines, reduced feeding and other effects. Ingested microplastics can also move up the food chain.

"While there is clearly a concern that the ingestion of microplastics with associated toxins may have harmful effects on these fishes, or even the fishes that feed on them, our study highlights that these seemingly remote fishes located thousands of kilometers from land and 600 meters down in our ocean are not isolated from our pollution," Dr. Tom Doyle, a co-author of the study from the Ryan Institute at NUI Galway, said.

"Indeed, it's worrying to think that our daily activities, such as washing our synthetic clothes in our washing machines, results in billions of microplastics entering our oceans through our waste water stream that may eventually end up in these deep-sea fishes."Conservationists have found a nest of a critically endangered turtle with 16 eggs along the Sre Ambel River system near Preah Angkeo village in Cambodia's Koh Kong province, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) announced Monday.

This is the first nest of the southern river terrapin discovered this year. Four local community rangers have been hired to guard the nest until the eggs hatch.

Known locally as the "royal turtle," the reptiles got its name because it was historically considered a delicacy reserved for the Cambodian royal family. It was designated as the country's national reptile in 2005.

The turtles were believed to be extinct until its re-discovery in the river in 2000. Only three nests were found in the last two years.

The southern river terrapin is currently listed on IUCN's Red List as critically endangered. The rare species has been "pushed to the brink of extinction largely due to unsustainable harvesting of eggs and adults. Consequently, they exist in small isolated populations and there are only a few wild nesting females left in total," the IUCN said. "Young terrapins are also vulnerable to predators such as water birds and monitor lizards, and to accidental entanglement in fishing gear."

The royal turtle is one of the world's 25 most endangered tortoises and freshwater turtles, the WCS noted.

"Despite success after the species was re-discovered in 2000, the Royal Turtle is still at high risk of extinction. The number of nests found each year is very low, with just three nests in the last two years" said Som Sitha, WCS's technical advisor to the Koh Kong Conservation Project.

"Illegal clearance of flooded forest and illegal fishing puts this species at risk. Everyone can help conserve our national reptile by not purchasing or eating their meat and eggs," he said.

In Hul, an official with the Fisheries Administration and project coordinator, said that the period between January to March is the royal turtle's breeding period, so the team is working hard to search for its nests along the Sre Ambel River system.

"If we find a nest, we will work with the local community to protect it until the eggs hatch and then bring the hatchlings to Koh Kong Reptile Conservation Center where they will be cared for until they are mature and can be released back to the wild," he said.

"We also conduct outreach so that local villagers living around the river are aware of the importance of the royal turtle because it is Cambodia's national reptile and a critically endangered species. Collection of eggs or adults for consumption or sale is illegal in Cambodia," he added.Have a great day at school! These should never be the last words a parent speaks to their child. Yet, for more than a dozen parents in Parkland, Fla., on Feb. 14, that is what happened. Those last words represented a moment in time that will never be repeated.

Unfortunately, the script for this tragedy is now all too familiar to educators, families, and students. A system struggles to care for a troubled student, lax gun laws allow military-style weapons into the hands of civilians, a deadly shooting is followed by thoughts and prayers, and then we go back to our lives until the cycle repeats itself. This needs to stop. Parents should never question if their children will be safe at school. Teachers should never worry that theyll have to jump in front of a student to save a life, and students should never be forced to cower under desks as bullets fly overhead.

It has been nearly 20 years since a nation watched in horror as Columbine unfolded, and yet no comprehensive gun control measures have been enacted to prevent a similar massacre. In those 20 years, we have seen students and educators gunned down at Virginia Tech, Umpqua Community College, Sandy Hook Elementary, and countless other places of learning. In just the first 45 days of 2018 there have been six school shootings in the United States according to Education Week. No educator, child, parent, family, or community should experience the pain caused by these horrific events, and now is the time to take action.

It has been nearly 20 years since a nation watched in horror as Columbine unfolded, and yet no comprehensive gun control measures have been enacted to prevent a similar massacre."

In the days following these tragedies, many turn the conversation to mental health. Its a conversation worth having, but tackling mental health in America doesnt solve our gun problem. In 2013, I testified on childrens mental health before the House Appropriations Committee in my role as the assistant secretary for elementary and secondary education at the U.S. Department of Education. We called on Congress to provide better tools for educators to identify risk factors, better school-based mental-health services, and stronger partnerships with community mental-health professionals. We submitted a $50 million proposal for a new initiative to help schools create safer and more nurturing school climates, and a $30 million plan to provide one-time state grants to help schools develop and implement high-quality emergency management plans. Congress once again failed to act on sensible solutions to help students.

However, the U.S. Department of Education can still take action. To better train teachers and principals on the social and emotional needs of students, it must reconsider its proposal to zero out Title II and Title IV funds. It should make new investments for research in social-emotional learning, and it should reinvest in the School Climate Transformation Grants, Project Prevent and SERV grants, and Successful, Safe, and Healthy Students state and local grants. Doing so would not only make our schools safer and protect students from gun violence, but would provide U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos an opportunity to lead across party lines for the betterment of Americas children and highlight the need to address mental-health issues in our schools.

For years there has been a robust national dialogue around mental health, and solutions have been offered at the state and federal levels, yet some members of Congress continue to block common-sense proposals that tackle mental health. There are disjointed actionsmembers continuing to vote for decreases in health-care spending while simultaneously calling for more action to address mental health. President Donald Trump took this approach the day after the shooting with a tweet focused on mental health, but the tweet falls just short of the one-year anniversary of a law he signed to overturn a gun regulation which made it more difficult for those with mental illnesses to acquire guns.

Less than a week ago, the U.S. Department of Education proposed eliminating a slate of important programs , including a $400 million grant program which helps districts and schools with mental-health-awareness training, school-based counseling, student safety and violence prevention, and bullying and harassment prevention. Now is the time for us to shout, Enough is enough! We can no longer accept elected officials who lack conviction and the moral courage to protect our students, teachers, and communities.

After the shooting in Florida, I received a sobering email from an educator from Portland, Ore., whose frustration epitomizes what I think many educators are feeling at this time: As a principal, my goal is to a create a joyful, meaningful, and safe learning environment for each of my students every single day. At this point, however, I feel stuck about how to impact this current reality in American schools.

Just like this principal, educators want change. They want schools and communities to be safe for all kids, and they want us to make the best decisions possible so that this goal is realized. Now is not the time to give up hope. Our students deserve a voice, and we must continue to advocate on their behalf. In the absence of congressional action, we must take a stand for kids. First and foremost, we can all support candidates and elected officials who back increased funding for counselors, social workers, and better supports for emotional health.

We can support candidates and elected officials who advocate common-sense gun legislation, especially focused on background checks and keeping guns out of the hands of domestic abusers and the mentally ill. We have a moral obligation to remain focused on ensuring that all students are safe. If not now, when? If not us, who?Parkland, Fla.

Holly Van Tassel-Schuster has not been back to her classroom at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School since she left it after the mass school shooting there last week, changing her life and her town in an instant.

But she knows it remains largely untouched.

Students backpacks are piled up where they left them, inaccessible as the Parkland, Fla., campus turned into a massive crime scene cordoned off by police tape.

The 36-inch television Van Tassel-Schuster wheeled in front of the classroom doorplanning to push it onto the gunman if he tried to enteris likely still in the spot where it was moved aside as SWAT team members arrived to help escort students out of the building.

Most of those students had been hiding in a darkened closet, some trying to remain silent as their parents reassured them in one-sided cell phone conversations. Two of them had insisted on waiting in the room with Van Tassel-Schuster, holding every pair of scissors and sharp object they could gather as they waited out the attack.

Now, she and her fellow teachers are preparing themselves emotionally for the day when they have to go back.

People dont seem to understand, said Van Tassel-Schuster, an alumna of Stoneman Douglas High School who has taught English there for 12 years. Some of the things we saw and experienced, if you werent there, you wouldnt understand it. A lot of us are even having a hard time even talking to our loved ones because they cant.

Nikolas Cruz, 19, a former student whod been expelled from the school, killed 17 students and educators and injured 15 others with a powerful AR-15 rifle, authorities said. It was the largest ever shooting at a U.S. high school.

As funerals continued Monday, the Broward County school district prepared for the enormous emotional and logistical challenges of re-opening the campus and helping its 3,300 students resume classes.

Teachers and staff will return Friday, a day dedicated to meeting staff members needs with counseling and support services, the district said Monday night. The school plans to hold a voluntary orientation for students and parents on Sunday with a goal of resuming classes on a modified schedule Feb. 27.

Theres No Handbook for This

Teachers and district leaders said they have many questions to answer before they will be prepared for that day: How should they talk to students about the events of that day? What are signs they should look for to ensure students are getting the attention they need? What kinds of physical security measures will it take to reassure anxious students and families? How will they teach while they are also still grieving?

What will it feel like to walk back into the rooms that played host to the most traumatic event in their lives?

Students lost even more than the friends and teachers, said Adeena Teres, who teaches science at Stoneman Douglas.

They lost the sense of school as a safe place, she said.

Teres has been meeting nightly with a group of fellow teachers to talk about their experiences and concerns. Many have spent hours with counselors at a local public library.

The Broward Teachers Union has consulted with teachers who went through school shootings at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., in 1999, and at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., in 2012, union President Anna Fusco said.

They said Were going to be real. Theres no handbook for this, Fusco recalled.

Among their advice: Dont try to move too quickly through the recovery process.

Stoneman Douglas teachers will need other educators and mental health professionals with them as they do even seemingly routine things, like rearranging classroom furniture in preparation for students return, Fusco said.

Van Tassel-Schuster said alumni groups have talked about walking toward the campus together with students on the day they return so that they dont feel alone.

We want to have a game plan, she said.

She also wants school leaders to walk through a timeline of what happened the day of the shooting with teachers and staff, allowing them to ask questions about the schools safety protocols.

Van Tassel-Schuster has reached out to SWAT team members who responded to campus that day to reunite them with the teachers from the classrooms they responded to.

Shes been using a app designed to remind students about homework assignments to send her students messages of support, messages like I love you. I miss you guys so much.

Responding to a crisis like what happened in Parkland begins with doing psychological triage to assess the level of impact that the event had on different individuals, and to help them develop coping strategies, school psychology experts told Education Week .

Students with the most direct experience of trauma will probably need individualized support; others can be helped in smaller groups. Often, what is more powerful is simply reconnecting students, teachers, and families with their natural support systems.

Its going to be a long road, and what weve seen is there tends to be lots of support in the first couple of months. And then the supports leave, and the school is left to deal with the long-term aftermath, said Melissa Reeves, the past president of the National Association of School Psychologists and a member of its school crisis team.

Its really important that theres a continuity plan, that you have mental health professionals and school administrators working together on what these supports are going to look like in one month, two months, six months, or even a year down the road, she said.

Logistical Challenges

Parkland has had three counseling sites, a hotline, and counselors available through text message since the day of the shooting. School leaders, still processing the immediate aftermath of the events, have not yet outlined long-term counseling plans as they focus on the immediate logistical challenges of reopening the school.

Among the biggest of those challenges: relocating classes for about 900 freshman students from Building 12, where the shooting occurred. The high school, one of the largest in the district, has 13 buildings on its campus.

Broward Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie said Friday that Building 12 should never be re-opened.

Some state lawmakers have said the state would pay to have the building demolished. Others have called for a memorial to be built in its place.

This building has to come down, State Sen. Bill Galvano told the Miami Herald on Friday . He had visited the school the day before.

Everything was strewn across the halls from people running and dodging and there were significant blood splatters on the wall, he said. Like someone took a milk jug and exploded it.

Finding space for the classes that once occupied the freshman building will be difficult, district leaders said. Even the installation of temporary classroom buildings is not something that can be arranged and carried out in as short a term as a week, Barbara J. Myrick, the general counsel of the district, said in an interview with Education Week late last week.

A Sense of Safety

Led by a group of impassioned and vocal students, much of the media conversation in the days following the shootings has focused on a call for more restrictive gun laws that would limit or prohibit the sales of powerful weapons like AR-15 rifles, particularly for people whove presented behavioral concerns like some teachers said theyd seen with Cruz.

You want to go back to where the problem is, said Greg Pittman, who worked as a Republican congressional aide in the 1980s and has taught history at Stoneman Douglas for 12 years. The problem is, how can an 18-year-old with limited background checks get this gun? And why does the general public even need this weapon?

Others questioned how a teenager whod been repeatedly flagged for disciplinary and safety concerns wasnt stopped.

Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel said Friday his office had received about 20 calls about Cruz in recent years.

The FBI said on Friday that it had failed to properly investigate a January tip from someone close to Cruz, who said he was concerned about the alleged shooters disturbing social media posts and desire to kill people.

Citing disciplinary records it obtained, the Washington Post reported that Cruz had a long string of escalating disciplinary measures throughout his academic career for insubordination, profanity, disruption, fighting and assault.

In January 2017, when Cruz was disciplined for an alleged assault, that triggered a call for a threat assessment, a formal process by which the school determines whether a student is dangerous and how that student should be supervised and supported, the paper reported, adding that its unclear whether such an assessment was even conducted.

District leaders have refused to discuss the specifics of Cruzs disciplinary history, citing student privacy laws. In an interview with the Post, Runcie said schools need more resources and more community support to address student behavior and mental health concerns.

In addition to those issues, Stoneman Douglas teachers have started building lists of more routine security concerns theyd like to discuss with district leaders.

For example, Pittman asked, why arent the windows on classroom doors equipped with the same kind shatterproof glass homes in the hurricane-prone state have on their exteriors?

And parents have similar concerns.

Josh Castellanos, who has two daughters in the 11th grade at the high school, said he and a group of other parents plan to conduct research and present a list of proposals to Gov. Rick Scott and state lawmakers.

When I watch the news, you see the armored vehicles and theyre breaching and theyre going into save the children, said Castellanos, who was driving to the school to pick up his daughters Wednesday when he learned of the shooting. But whats being left out of that story is that that was 40 minutes after it had begun.

The suspect had already had lunch at Subway by the time they had breached the school, he said, referring to a police report that showed Cruz discarded his weapon and walked away from the crime scene by blending in with the crowds of evacuating students. He later stopped to buy a drink.

He wants to explore greater training for local law enforcement about active shooter situations, increased security personnel at the school, more limited access around the campus perimeter as it opens toward the end of the day to let students leave, and options for students who were shut out of its classrooms as it rushed into lockdown mode.

Students and teachers had been in the hallways because a fire alarm had gone off near the end of the school day before they realized what was taking place and rushed to safety.

They didnt know were to go, and they were literally sitting targets, said Castellanos.

One of his daughters was supposed to be on the second floor of the freshman building that day, but her class had been relocated to an auditorium because she had a substitute teacher who had to monitor an additional class, he said. His other daughter was in the band room across from building 12, where she heard all of the shots.

He doesnt think hell ever feel safe again when his daughters are in a crowded place, even at school.

I think we fell into the same safety-blanket thought that it would never happen here, he said. I know theres some place like Des Moines, Iowa, or somewhere thinking wow, thats terrible, but it could never happen here. And, if the police force believes that and if the schools believe that, they wont be prepared.

Theres a special intimacy between students and teachers who were at the school that day, Castellanos said. Its an experience even their closest family members cant understand.

Clusters of students have met at a public park throughout the weekend, sitting in tight groups in front of a makeshift memorial to pray and talk.

Castellanos said he and other Stoneman Douglas parents, and the students themselves, will need the school to have a huge police presence and extra security for the long term to address their fears, something hes not sure all public officials understand.

Theyre thinking that, alright we can do that until people feel more comfortable, he said. I dont know that that will ever happen. I dont know that they will ever feel comfortable.WASHINGTON, D.C., February 19, 2018 -- In an effort to create a power source for future implantable technologies, a team led by Michael Mayer from the University of Fribourg, along with researchers from the University of Michigan and UC San Diego, developed an electric eel-inspired device that produced 110 volts from gels filled with water, called hydrogels. Their results show potential for a soft power source to draw on a biological system's chemical energy.

Anirvan Guha, graduate student at the University of Fribourg's Adolphe Merkle Institute, will present the research during the 62nd Biophysical Society Annual Meeting, held Feb. 17-21, in San Francisco, California. Inspired by the electric eel's ability to generate hundreds of volts, Guha and his colleagues stacked hydrogels full of varying strengths of salt water.

Ions are charged atoms or molecules and when ions accumulate on either side of a cell membrane, they form an ion gradient. The researchers harvested energy from the electric potential, or voltage, across the ion gradients. As more hydrogels were stacked on top of each other, the greater the voltage increase. The researchers were able to produce up to 110 volts.

To stack the thousands of individual hydrogels necessary to generate over 100 volts, the researchers used a printer that "deposits little droplets of gel ... with the precision and spatial resolution to print an array of almost 2,500 gels on a sheet the size of a normal piece of printer paper," Guha said.

The team's next goal is to increase the current running through the hydrogel. "Right now, we're in the range of tens to hundreds of microamperes [the basic unit for measuring an electrical current], which is too low to power most electronic devices," Guha said.

In the future, the research team hopes their results will help develop power sources for implantable devices that can "utilize the [ion] gradients that already exist within the human body," Guha said. "Then you may be able to create a battery which continuously recharges itself, because these ionic gradients are constantly being re-established within the body."

###

970-Plat - "An eel-inspired artificial electric organ: 110 volts from water and salt" is authored by Anirvan Guha, Thomas B. H, Schroeder, Aaron Lamoureaux, Gloria Vanrenterghem, David Sept, Max Shtein, Jerry Yang and Michael Mayer. It will be presented at 9:45 a.m. PST, Monday, Feb. 19, 2018 in the Esplanade, Room 154 of the Moscone Center, South. Abstract: https://plan.core-apps.com/bpsam2018/abstract/598979c882021290aae09439cc4540a4

MORE MEETING INFORMATION

ABOUT THE MEETING

Each year, the Biophysical Society Annual Meeting brings together more than 6,000 researchers working in the multidisciplinary fields representing biophysics. With more than 3,600 poster presentations, over 200 exhibits, and more than 20 symposia, the BPS Annual Meeting is the largest meeting of biophysicists in the world. Despite its size, the meeting retains its small-meeting flavor through its subgroup symposia, platform sessions, social activities and committee programs. The 62nd Annual Meeting will be held at the Moscone Center (South) in San Francisco, California.

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The Biophysical Society invites professional journalists, freelance science writers and public information officers to attend its Annual Meeting free of charge. For press registration, contact Ellen Weiss at EWeiss@biophysics.org or the Media Line at the American Institute of Physics at media@aip.org or 301-209-3090.

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Embargoed press releases describing in detail some of the breakthroughs to be discussed at the meeting are available on EurekAlert!, Newswise and Alpha Galileo or by contacting the Media Line at the American Institute of Physics at media@aip.org or 301-209-3090.

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ABOUT THE SOCIETY

The Biophysical Society, founded in 1958, is a professional, scientific Society established to encourage development and dissemination of knowledge in biophysics. The Society promotes growth in this expanding field through its annual meeting, monthly journal, and committee and outreach activities. Its 9,000 members are located throughout the U.S. and the world, where they teach and conduct research in colleges, universities, laboratories, government agencies, and industry. For more information on the Society, or the 2018 Annual Meeting, visit http://www.biophysics.org.When to model nature in engineering and when perhaps not to: AAAS annual meeting presentation

Bees? Great. Ants? Hit or miss. Slime mold amoebas? Fail. Though nature offers excellent design inspirations in some information technology systems, in other systems, it can bomb.

Known for his work on The Honey Bee Algorithm, which tamed web traffic instabilities on servers by mimicking the behavior of bee colonies, systems researcher Craig Tovey has seen plenty of nature-inspired technological feats, but also foibles. He's sharing them in a talk on Sunday, February 18, at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Austin, Texas.

(To attend, see: "What Systems Engineers Can Learn from Honey Bees and Other Organisms, 4:30 p.m. Central, Austin Convention Center, room 18B.)

In 2016, the bee-inspired algorithm garnered Tovey and his collaborators a Golden Goose Award, which commends curiosity-driven research as it blossoms to palpably benefit society. The Honey Bee Algorithm, for example, significantly reduced web hosting costs.

"We lucked out with the bees and web hosting," said Tovey, who hopes that along with practical takeaways on naturally inspired technology, his audience will also share in his own awe and affection for nature's solutions.

When algorithms are eternal

"When you study swarming bees, you discover truths that are lasting. The algorithms that guide them evolved over millions of years, and will hopefully still be there for millions of years to come," said Tovey, a co-director of Georgia Tech's Center for Biologically Inspired Design. "Compare that with when you design a new microcircuit. Three years later it's gone, forever lost; replaced by new designs."

Whether mimicking nature is prudent in a particular engineering job depends a lot on the problem to be solved. Often, it's just better to use something off the shelf or adapt it.

"When the real-life problem is static and well-defined with predictable data, then the nature-inspired methods are usually much weaker, much worse than classical optimization methods," Tovey said.

When boring is better

The "Traveling Salesman Problem" is a typical example. A researcher tries to compute the best pathways a proverbial salesperson should travel, and in which order, to visit hundreds, thousands, or tens of thousands of proverbial cities on a map.

The goal is to travel the shortest possible total distance.

"Nature-inspired approaches will find good solutions for 100 or so cities, but not optimal ones, said Tovey, who is also a professor and Stewart Faculty Fellow in Georgia Techs Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering. By contrast, the top researchers can solve 20,000 or 50,000 locations optimally with a classical algorithm, and do it really quickly."

When ants miss and hit

"People have imitated ants to find the optimal pathways through a static system, and when you compare that method with classical optimization methods, then the classical methods are about 10 billion times better."

But life is fickle, which can make it a great teacher in science and engineering. "Every living creature is very good at solving a number of different problems, otherwise it would have gone extinct," Tovey said.

Toss unpredictability into an engineering problem, and natural algorithms that direct the movements of ants or bees can be better equipped to cope than classical solutions.

"In the Traveling Salesman Problem, the cities don't move around. But when you're chasing a moving target, and your data isn't perfectly complete, then you can have great success by imitating insect swarms. You can get real-time control on data that's quite literally on the fly," Tovey said.

When bees know best

That counts for a lot in a pinch. When a hurricane looms, people check their weather apps much more frequently as the tempest encroaches. When markets tank, people sell off stocks, and data surges in and out of financial servers.

"If the patterns of user demand on the web never changed, and the requests to a server always stayed the same, all would be well without imitating honeybees," Tovey said. "But that notion is ridiculous, as we all know."

"Bees have evolved to deal with flower patches that have changing characteristics. A patch that is great to visit at 10 o'clock in the morning may have its flowers closed-up at one o'clock in the afternoon, or it may be raining."

Algorithms steering bee behavior make the insect swarms adjust to supply and demand fluxes similar to those that confront a web server. The honeybees handed Tovey and his fellow researchers valuable insights for their web hosting algorithm.

When slime flops but amazes

Though classic algorithms beat nature in simple situations, watching natural algorithms in even the simplest organisms can be awe-inspiring. Take slime mold, a non-cellular organism related to amoebas.

"If you put down lumps of food near it, the slime mold will extend to reach the lumps and connect them with each other."

The mold makes very efficient connections that adapt well to differing constellations of food dabs.

"Some researchers placed food sources in spots corresponding to the locations of cities in Japan that were connected by rail lines, and sure enough, the slime mold eventually settled on a configuration connecting the spots that nearly perfectly matched the rail network that actually connected the cities," Tovey said.

Again here, classic algorithms do the job better, but still, that slime is just amazing.

For all his awe of bees, Tovey has had to avoid making their acquaintance in person and leave the bee-handling to his collaborators. "I and my whole family are all extremely allergic to bee stings," Tovey said. "We keep EpiPens around the house."

###

The Honey Bee Algorithm team that received the 2016 Golden Goose was comprised of: Tovey, John Bartholdi III, Sunil Nakrani, Thomas Seeley, and John Hagood Vande Vate. The research was funded by the National Science Foundation and the Office of Naval Research.BOSTON -- (Feb. 19, 2018) -- Every cell in your body responds to the hormone insulin, and if that process starts to fail, you get diabetes. In an unexpected finding, scientists at Joslin Diabetes Center have identified four viruses that can produce insulin-like hormones that are active on human cells. The discovery brings new possibilities for revealing biological mechanisms that may cause diabetes or cancer.

"Our research may help open up a new field that we might call microbial endocrinology," says Emrah Altindis, PhD, a Joslin research fellow and lead author on a paper in the journal PNAS on the work. "We show that these viral insulin-like peptides can act on human and rodent cells. With the very large number of microbial peptides to which we are exposed, there is a novel window for host-microbe interactions. We hope that studying these processes will help us to better understand the role of microbes in human disease."

"Indeed, the discovery of the viral insulin-like hormones raises the question of what their role might be in diabetes, as well as autoimmune disease, cancer and other metabolic conditions," says C. Ronald Kahn, MD, Joslin's chief academic officer and senior author on the paper.

The key idea for the investigation came when Altindis, whose previous research focused on creating vaccines against bacteria, attended a Joslin seminar that discussed potential causes of the autoimmune reaction that drives type 1 diabetes. He began to hypothesize whether bacteria or viruses could create insulin-like peptides (small versions of proteins) that could help to trigger the disease.

By analyzing large public research databases that hold viral genomic sequences, he and his colleagues at Joslin found that various viruses can produce peptides that are similar in whole or in part to 16 human hormones and regulatory proteins.

"What really caught our attention were four viruses that had insulin-like sequences," says Kahn, who is also the Mary K. Iacocca Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.

These viruses were from a family of viruses known to infect fish. To find out if they could be active in mammals, the Joslin team collaborated with Richard DiMarchi, professor of chemistry at Indiana University, whose lab chemically synthesized these viral insulin-like peptides (VILPs).

Experimenting in mouse and human cells, the scientists studied whether the VILPs could act like hormones. Their experiments proved that the VILPs could indeed bind to human insulin receptors and receptors for a closely related hormone called IGF-1 (insulin-like growth factor 1). These are the critical proteins on the cells that tell them to take up glucose and to grow. Additionally, the peptides could stimulate all of the signaling pathways inside the cells that were stimulated by human insulin and IGF-1. And mice injected with the viral peptides exhibited lower levels of blood glucose, another sign of insulin action. Moreover, analysis of databases of viruses found in the human intestine showed evidence that humans are exposed to these viruses.

"These viruses are definitely known to infect fish and amphibians, but they are not known to infect humans," Kahn points out. "However, it's possible that humans get exposed to these viruses through just eating fish. Nobody has checked directly whether under some conditions the viruses could either infect cells or be at least partly absorbed through the gut intestine."

The scientists now will broaden their search for other viruses that produce human-like hormones. "This finding is the tip of an iceberg," Kahn says. "There are thought to be more than 300,000 viruses that can infect or be carried in mammals, and only 7,500 or so of these, or about 2.5%, have been sequenced. Thus, we certainly expect to find many more viral hormones, including more viral insulins, in the future."

"This research also opens up a new aspect to study in type 1 diabetes and autoimmunity," he says. "It may be that these or similar microbial insulin-like molecules could be an environmental trigger to start the autoimmune reaction in type 1 diabetes. On the other hand, you could also imagine that this might desensitize the immune response and could be protective."

A similar question is open for metabolic diseases such as type 2 diabetes and obesity, in which the body fails to respond properly to insulin. "You could envision that these viral peptides could either protect from or contribute to insulin resistance," Kahn says.

These or similar viruses might also be a factor in certain human cancers. "If these viruses are inside the gut, could the VILPs they produce stimulate growth of gut cells so that you get polyps or tumors of the gut?" Kahn asks. "Or if they're absorbed or become infectious, could they infect any organ in the body?"

Analyzing such viral peptides may eventually help drug companies to design new forms of synthesized human insulins. "We might be able to learn something, for example, about making insulins that don't need refrigeration and can be stored for long periods of time, or insulins that are absorbed more quickly or degrade more slowly," he suggests.

Given Altindis's earlier research on infectious disease rather than in endocrinology, "our discovery gives an example of how work in one field can stimulate thought in another field," Kahn adds. "It really underlines the importance of cross-fertilization in the scientific discovery process, which is so valuable but so underappreciated."

###

Joslin's Weikang Cai, Masaji Sakaguchi, Wang Guoxiao and Hui Pan also contributed to the research. Other coauthors included Fa Zhang, Fa Liu, Richard DiMarchi and Vasily Gelfanov of Indiana University in Bloomington; and Pierre De Meyts of de Duve Institute in Brussels, Belgium. Lead funding was from the National Institutes of Health and the Iacocca Family Foundation.

About Joslin Diabetes Center

Joslin Diabetes Center is world-renowned for its deep expertise in diabetes treatment and research. Joslin is dedicated to finding a cure for diabetes and ensuring that people with diabetes live long, healthy lives. We develop and disseminate innovative patient therapies and scientific discoveries throughout the world. Joslin is an independent, non-profit institution affiliated with Harvard Medical School, and one of only 11 NIH-designated Diabetes Research Centers in the U.S.

For more information, visit http://www.joslin.org or follow @joslindiabetesCollege roommates are sensitive to their roommates' distress but tend to underestimate the level of distress being experienced by others, finds a newly published study from New York University psychology researchers.

The work, which appears in the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, suggests that roommates' perception of each other's distress could be useful for monitoring the mental health of college students, but there are ways that students could be trained to be more accurate.

"Although college is an exciting time, many students feel academic and social pressure, and this can lead to serious distress," explains Qi Xu, an NYU doctoral student and the study's lead author.

"College students can detect certain levels of distress in their roommates and spot changes over the course of a semester, but they nonetheless underestimate the absolute level of distress," adds Patrick Shrout, a professor in NYU's Department of Psychology and the study's senior author.

The researchers note that the study's subjects had not been trained to spot distress, unlike other peers, such as dormitory residential assistants.

"More universal training on how to identify and respond to the distress of peers might have the benefit of encouraging conversations among roommates about what actions each might take if he or she notices another experiencing extreme distress," Xu and Shrout write.

In their study, the researchers studied 187 same-sex undergraduate roommate pairs who included Asian, Black, Hispanic, White, and biracial students.

At two times during the academic year--February and April--each roommate in the pair reported his or her own distress level as well as that perceived in the other roommate. Comparing these reports allowed the researchers to quantify accuracy and bias.

In addition to systematically underestimating the level of distress of their roommate, students tended to believe their partner's distress was similar to their own level of distress. Despite these biases, the judgements of their roommates reflected a component of truth. Those students who were judged to be most distressed were ones who tended to self-report extreme distress.

Because they did the survey at two different times, the researchers were able to determine which students were becoming more (or less) distressed over time and to compare the changes to roommates' rankings.

The biases found at the separate time points did not carry over to the inferences about distress change. When students' reports indicated that their roommates were experiencing more distress, the target roommates tended to self-report more distress as well.

With training regarding how to detect distress in others, the researchers say, roommates might be even more accurate in their judgments and could be a helpful in supporting a safety net for college students who are distressed.

###

The study was supported by a grant from the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (R01-AA017672), part of the National Institutes of Health.Wastewater created during oil and gas production and disposed of by deep injection into underlying rock layers is the probable cause for a surge in earthquakes in southern Kansas since 2013, a new report in the Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America concludes.

Until 2013, earthquakes were nearly unheard of in Harper and Sumner counties, the site of recent intensive oil and gas production. But between 2013 and 2016, 127 earthquakes of magnitude 3 or greater occurred in Kansas, with 115 of them taking place in Harper and Sumner counties. Prior to 1973, there were no felt earthquakes reported in the area, and only one magnitude 2.0 earthquake between 1973 and 2012.

Using data collected by a network of seismic stations installed by the U.S. Geological Survey, lead researcher Justin Rubinstein and his colleagues analyzed 6,845 earthquakes that occurred in the counties between March 2014 and December 2016.

They found that the dramatic uptick in seismicity correlated in time and location with increases in wastewater disposal that began in 2012--and that decreases in seismicity during that time also corresponded to decreases in disposal rates.

Between 1974 and 2012, there were no magnitude 4 or greater earthquakes in the study area. Between 2012 and 2016, six such earthquakes occurred. "The probability of this rate change occurring randomly is approximately 0.16%," Rubinstein and colleagues write in the BSSA study.

Kansas had the second-highest statewide earthquake rate in the central United States between 2013 and 2016, coming in behind Oklahoma, where a similar dramatic increase in seismicity also has been linked to wastewater injection.

In the southern Kansas study area, wastewater injection decreased significantly in 2015, falling from an average of 5 million barrels a month from July to December 2014 to 3.8 million barrels per month in March 2015. This decrease was likely due in part to a drop in oil and gas production as the prices for those commodities dropped, the researchers said, noting that the price of a barrel of oil fell by half between August 2014 and January 2015.

During the same time, the Kansas Corporation Commission developed rules to limit wastewater injection in the study area, with the rules going into full effect in July 2015. Since then, wastewater injection in the study area has dropped by almost 50 percent.

There is a corresponding decrease in seismicity in 2015, but Rubinstein said it is difficult to tell how much economic shifts or new regulation contributed to that trend. "We can't fully disentangle it. But there's no question that economics plays a role here because injection started to drop off before the new rules went into place. "

"It certainly seems probable that regulations have an effect," he said, "but we would need to speak to individual [oil and gas] operators to determine the extent of that effect."

The researchers say that fluids injected into the crystalline rock basement below the Kansas oil and gas sites increased pressures in the rock pores and reduced friction along faults to trigger these induced earthquakes. Not all wastewater injection disposal sites have earthquakes associated with them, Rubinstein noted. In some cases, the fluid pressures may not be able to get to depths where earthquakes occur, or there may be some places in the rock basement that are more susceptible than others to fluid effects.

It's also difficult to know how long these stresses might continue to produce earthquakes, he added. Seismicity related to an injection well in Youngstown, Ohio in 2013 lasted only a few weeks, while fluid injection at Rocky Mountain Arsenal in Colorado stopped in 1966 but significant seismicity continued in the area until the 1980s.

"It's hard to say how long it's going to last given that what we're looking at in Kansas is a much higher rate of injection than in the places where seismicity slowed quickly, and many, many more wells," said Rubinstein. "If they shut off all the injection, the decay could still take years, just because there's been such a dramatic change in the regional pressure field."

Rubinstein will continue to work in Kansas to learn more about whether seismologists can consistently see foreshocks and earthquake swarms in the seismic record. "We have an incredible network there, and one of the best documented cases of induced seismicity with publicly available seismic data," he said.

###An experimental treatment that sends electrical currents through the spinal cord has improved "invisible" yet debilitating side effects for a B.C. man with a spinal cord injury.

A diving accident six years ago left Isaac Darrel, of Langley, British Columbia, with a spinal cord injury. Side effects of the injury include dizziness, fluctuations in blood pressure and changes in bladder and bowel function.

Darrel made the decision to have electrodes surgically implanted over his spinal cord in 2016 to test out a treatment known as epidural stimulation in the hopes of improving some of the side effects. A case study about his experiences was published today in JAMA Neurology.

"Mobility issues or paralysis are the most visible consequences of a spinal cord injury but as a clinician, I know that many of my patients suffer from other 'invisible' consequences," said Dr. Andrei Krassioukov, principal investigator of the study who worked with Darrel for a number of years as a professor of medicine at UBC and chair in rehabilitation research with ICORD, a Vancouver research centre focused on spinal cord injuries.

"Many of my patients have abnormal blood pressure and bladder, bowel and sexual dysfunctions that can be quite devastating."

Epidural stimulation involves surgically inserting electrodes permanently above the spinal cord and then stimulating the nerve cells in the spinal cord with electrical currents. The therapeutic benefits of epidural stimulation have been well-documented for chronic back pain, but a small number of experimental trials are testing the treatment on people with spinal cord injuries.

With a remote control, Darrel uses the stimulator for up to 45 minutes each day, applying different programs to transmit electrical impulses into his spinal cord that mimic the same signals that would come from the brain. The programs are designed to stimulate specific nerves that help with various motor functions, but Darrel and Krassioukov have observed other positive changes.

Before the treatment, Darrel said he often felt light-headed, especially when he moved from his bed to his wheelchair or during exercise, and his blood pressure would drop.

"My blood pressure would tank right down into the 60s," said Darrel, who describes feeling nauseous and like the world was spinning. "I would pass out or black out sitting in my chair sometimes. Now, since I have the implant, I'm able to turn up the stimulation enough that it makes it impossible for me to black out."

The symptoms Darrel experienced are part of a disorder known as orthostatic hypotension, resulting from poor cardiovascular function. Since the surgery, a team of researchers at ICORD have been following Darrel's case and running tests to determine how his cardiovascular function has changed. Using something called a tilt table, they put patients into an upright position to see if they are able to maintain their blood pressure.

"If there is no drop in arterial blood pressure, it is considered normal," said Dr. Krassioukov. "It means the person has good control of blood vessels in their lower extremities and the abdomen."

The stimulator has improved Darrel's ability to control his blood pressure as well as other benefits.

"I've had better blood pressure, better core muscle, much improved bowel function, and basically I have more energy," said Darrel, who noted that this means he can now sit in his wheelchair for up to eight hours, a big improvement from the two hours he could endure prior to the surgery.

The results point to the need to fully understand how this treatment could be used in clinical settings. Krassioukov and his colleagues are currently collaborating with colleagues in the U.S. on a larger trial, examining the benefits of epidural stimulation on a bigger group. They are also involved in research on a similar but non-invasive version of the treatment that involves stimulating the spinal cord with a device positioned on top of the skin at the University of California, Los Angeles.

"We see very interesting and exciting results but as a clinician-scientist, I need more robust data before I would recommend this procedure," he said.

###

The research was conducted by ICORD investigators and UBC professors Christopher West and Tania Lam, postdoctoral fellows Alex Williams and Matthias Walter, graduate student Jordan Squair and Aaron Phillips, assistant professor University of Calgary. The research was funded by the Rick Hansen Institute.Food crisis looms over Bajura villages

People in eastern Bajura are facing food shortage due to prolonged drought in the region. As winter crop production declined this year because of extended dry spell, many families are struggling to put food on their table, according to an official at the District Agricultural Development Office (DADO).Duplicate copies of a gene shared by male and female fruit flies have evolved to resolve competing demands between the sexes. New genetic analysis by researchers at the University of Chicago describes how these copies have evolved separate male- and female-specific functions that are crucial to reproduction and fertility. These changes occurred in just 200,000 years since the genes duplicated, meaning that this process can resolve selective pressures between sexes and specialize relatively quickly.

"Even though males and females share nearly all of their genomes, they each have to deal with very distinct selective pressures," said Nicholas VanKuren, a graduate student at UChicago and co-author of the study, published this week in Nature Ecology & Evolution. "The really unexpected result from this study is that despite being so young, these genes rapidly evolved, not only in a way to mitigate the sexual conflict but also to develop essential, sex-specific functions."

Males and females of many animal species can have wildly different physical traits. Male birds, for instance, often have bright, flashy plumage to attract the attention of females, while females may have a drab appearance to provide camouflage while they are nesting. These traits directly influence the numbers of offspring that males and females produce, but how do they develop such drastically different appearances when they share the same genome? The genes that control these competing traits, say for feather size and color, are said to be subject to sexual conflict, or selection in opposite directions by males and females.

In the new study, VanKuren and co-author Manyuan Long, PhD, the Edna K. Papazian Distinguished Service Professor at UChicago, analyzed duplicate copies of a gene in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. The two copies, called Apollo and Artemis, began as essentially the same gene when D. melanogaster first evolved as a separate species 1.5 million years ago. Based on the genetic differences VanKuren and Long now see between Apollo and Artemis in modern flies, they calculate that the original gene duplicated itself, or was copied and pasted as a second version in the genome, around 200,000 years ago.

Since then, like the twin brother and sister Greek gods they're named after, Apollo and Artemis have gone their own way. Males and females both carry both copies, but they use them differently. Apollo has become essential for males to generate sperm cells while Artemis is required for females to produce eggs.

This is one of the first studies to provide data showing that gene duplication can resolve sexual conflict on a gene, and that separate functions can evolve much more rapidly than classical evolutionary theories predict.

"It's unusually quick," Long said. "All previous discoveries talk about tens of millions of years to evolve sexual functions, so this is dramatic."

Even as they have become permanent fixtures in the D. melanogaster genome, Apollo and Artemis still show the tug and pull of sexual conflict. When VanKuren and Long experimentally turned off Artemis in males, their fertility increased; likewise, turning off Apollo increased female fertility. Even after they duplicated and specialized, their presence still has a detrimental effect on the opposite sex.

While VanKuren and Long don't yet know the function of the ancestral gene that preceded Apollo and Artemis, they suspect it must have been subject to extremely strong sexual conflict to still see residual effects. And by specializing in such a short amount of time, these fraternal twin genes show that what may seem like some of the most important biological functions of all can evolve relatively quickly.

"Even though these genes might have formed 200,000 years ago, we see completely different but essential functions in these two sexes," VanKuren said. "Typically, when people think about really important gene functions, they think about very old genes that have survived the test of time. But this really shows is that age may not give the whole story about gene functions."

###

The study, "Gene Duplicates Resolving Sexual Conflict Rapidly Evolved Essential Gametogenesis Functions," was supported by the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation.

About the University of Chicago Medicine & Biological Sciences

The University of Chicago Medicine & Biological Sciences is one of the nation's leading academic medical institutions. It comprises the Pritzker School of Medicine, a top 10 medical school in the nation; the University of Chicago Biological Sciences Division; and the University of Chicago Medical Center, which recently opened the Center for Care and Discovery, a $700 million specialty medical facility. Twelve Nobel Prize winners in physiology or medicine have been affiliated with the University of Chicago Medicine.

News: uchicagomedicine.org

Twitter: @UChicagoMed, @ScienceLife

Facebook: /UChicagoMedMinute rock grains added to crops dissolve chemically in soils taking up carbon dioxide and release plant-essential nutrients

Unlike other carbon removal strategies, enhanced rock weathering doesn't compete for land used to grow food or increase the demand for freshwater

Other benefits include reducing the use of agricultural fertilizers and pesticides, lowering the cost of food production and increasing the profitability

Farming crops with crushed rocks could help to improve global food security and reduce the amount of CO2 entering the atmosphere, a new study has found.

The pioneering research by scientists at the University of Sheffield together with international colleagues suggests that adding fast-reacting silicate rocks to croplands could capture CO2 and give increased protection from pests and diseases while restoring soil structure and fertility.

Professor David Beerling, Director of the Leverhulme Centre for Climate Change Mitigation at the University of Sheffield and lead author of the research, said: "Human societies have long known that volcanic plains are fertile, ideal places for growing crops without adverse human health effects, but until now there has been little consideration for how adding further rocks to soils might capture carbon.

"This study has transformed how we think about managing our croplands for climate, food and soil security. It helps move the debate forward for an under-researched strategy of CO2 removal from the atmosphere - enhanced rock weathering - and highlights supplementary benefits for food and soils.

"The magnitude of future climate change could be moderated by immediately reducing the amount of CO2 entering the atmosphere as a result of energy generation. Adopting strategies like this new research that actively remove CO2 from it can have a massive impact and be adapted very quickly."

The research, published today (19 February 2018) in Nature Plants, examined the approach which involves amending soils with abundant crushed silicate rocks, like basalt, left over from ancient volcanic eruptions. As these minute rock grains dissolve chemically in soils, they take up carbon dioxide and release plant-essential nutrients.

Critically, enhanced rock weathering works together with existing managed croplands. Unlike other carbon removal strategies being considered, it doesn't compete for land used to grow food or increase the demand for freshwater. Other benefits include reducing the usage of agricultural fertilizers and pesticides, lowering the cost of food production, increasing the profitability of farms and reducing the barriers to uptake by the agricultural sector.

Crushed silicate rocks could be applied to any soils, but arable land is the most obvious since it is worked and planted annually. It covers some 14 million square kilometres or 10 per cent of the global land area.

Arable farms already apply crushed rock in the form of limestone to reverse acidification of soils caused by farming practices, including the use of fertilizers. Managed crops, therefore, have the logistical infrastructure such as the road networks and machinery needed to undertake this approach at scale. These considerations could make it straight forward to adopt.

Professor Stephen Long at the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana, and co-author of the study added: "Our proposal is that changing the type of rock, and increasing the application rate, would do the same job as applying crushed limestone but help capture CO2 from the atmosphere, storing it in soils and eventually the oceans.

"Global warming is a problem that affects everyone on the planet. Scientists generally have done a poor job of getting across the point that the world must reduce emissions of greenhouse gases from fossil fuels and combine this with strategies for extracting carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to avoid a climate catastrophe."

Professor James Hansen from the Earth Institute at Columbia University and co-author of the work, added: "Strategies for taking CO2 out of the atmosphere are now on the research agenda and we need realistic assessment of these strategies, what they might be able to deliver, and what the challenges are."

###

For further information please contact:

Amy Huxtable

Media Relations Officer

University of Sheffield

0114-222-9859

Notes to editors

The Leverhulme Centre for Climate Change Mitigation (LC3M)

Established in 2016, the Centre is funded by a 10 million Research Centre award from the Leverhulme Trust over 10 years. It is harnessing world-class expertise at the University of Sheffield, and of leading UK and international collaborators, to objectively investigate enhanced rock weathering with croplands as a strategy for safely removing the greenhouse gas CO2 from the atmosphere to cool the planet.

For more information please visit: http://lc3m.org/

The Department of Animal and Plant Sciences

The Department of Animal and Plant Sciences at the University of Sheffield is home to one of the biggest communities of whole-organism biologists in the UK. Their research covers animals, plants, humans, microbes, evolution and ecosystems, in habitats ranging from the polar regions to the tropics. This work aims to shed new light on the fundamental processes that drive biological systems and help solve pressing environmental problems. Researchers and students work closely with organisations ranging from the UK Environment Agency and the Royal Horticultural Society, to Heineken and Shell, with every student given the opportunity go on an optional field course between second and third year to habitats ranging from the Peak District to Tanzania. Second year students are also given the chance to make wildlife documentaries with the help of BBC film makers. Find out more at http://www.sheffield.ac.uk/aps.

The University of Sheffield

With almost 29,000 of the brightest students from over 140 countries, learning alongside over 1,200 of the best academics from across the globe, the University of Sheffield is one of the world's leading universities.

A member of the UK's prestigious Russell Group of leading research-led institutions, Sheffield offers world-class teaching and research excellence across a wide range of disciplines.

Unified by the power of discovery and understanding, staff and students at the university are committed to finding new ways to transform the world we live in.

Sheffield is the only university to feature in The Sunday Times 100 Best Not-For-Profit Organisations to Work For 2017 and was voted number one university in the UK for Student Satisfaction by Times Higher Education in 2014. In the last decade it has won four Queen's Anniversary Prizes in recognition of the outstanding contribution to the United Kingdom's intellectual, economic, cultural and social life.

Sheffield has six Nobel Prize winners among former staff and students and its alumni go on to hold positions of great responsibility and influence all over the world, making significant contributions in their chosen fields.

Global research partners and clients include Boeing, Rolls-Royce, Unilever, AstraZeneca, Glaxo SmithKline, Siemens and Airbus, as well as many UK and overseas government agencies and charitable foundations.

To read other news releases about the University of Sheffield, visit http://www.shef.ac.uk/newsIts the perfect storm. Aid workers  the worlds modern-day saints in many eyes  are suddenly portrayed in the headlines as the vilest of sinners.

The scandal around mega charity Oxfam, in which senior staff members are alleged to have used prostitutes in Haiti in 2011, has attracted global attention  and global disapproval.

The idea that people who have flown into a disaster zone, ostensibly to help the poorest and most vulnerable, should then engage in sexual exploitation, has disgusted many once loyal supporters of Oxfam and fuelled an already heated debate in Britain over the value of foreign aid.

In Geneva, UN aid agencies  many of which use Oxfam as an implementing partner  braced themselves for the inevitable deluge of questions: Who, when, how many, why didnt you?, etc.

Dangerously confused debate

And while the agency spokespersons in Geneva patiently addressed those questions, repeating over and over again the UNs policy of zero tolerance for any form of sexual exploitation or abuse, it soon became clear that, worldwide, this had become a dangerously confused debate.

In the British tabloid press, sensational headlines alleging, UN aid workers raped 60,000 people or suggesting that UN aid agencies employed thousands of paedophiles did damage that no amount of correction can easily undo.

Never mind that the methodology used by long-time UN critic Andrew MacLeod to arrive at the figure of 60,000 is completely bogus; never mind that he has since distanced himself from those headlines, millions of people have read them.

Everybody thinks those figures are completely insane, fumed one highly experienced female UN aid worker. Its unfortunate because it actually takes credibility away from what is a serious issue.

Peacekeepers or aid workers?

One of the key problems with the current debate, some UN officials suggest, is the way it has confused cases of sexual abuse by UN peacekeepers with similar allegations against aid workers.

When Andrew MacLeod took his figure of 60,000 rapes into the studios of the worlds major broadcasters, he was forced to explain that it was based on a much smaller number of abuses committed by peacekeepers, which he had multiplied several times and then attributed to aid workers.

Cases of sexual abuse by UN peacekeepers in Bosnia, in Liberia, and in the Central African Republic have been well documented, and led the UN to develop a strict code of conduct and a rigorous investigative process.

But UN peacekeepers remain under the jurisdiction of the countries they come from, so while the UN may conduct an initial investigation and contribute evidence, any prosecution is carried out by the nation state that contributed the allegedly offending soldier. Time and again, very serious allegations have resulted in, at best, a peacekeeper being sent home.

The UN, while restating its policy of zero tolerance, needs peacekeepers. The unspoken fear is that if the UN insists on very public prosecutions, in which the punishment really does fit the crime, then some countries will simply stop providing peacekeepers.

Abuse, exploitation, harassment

The separate  but nonetheless real  issue of abuse, exploitation, or harassment committed by aid workers is one the UN, and aid agencies like Oxfam, have much more power to tackle.

Every single report or allegation of sexual exploitation, harassment, or abuse is thoroughly assessed, Andrej Mahecic of the UN Refugee Agency told reporters in Geneva. If substantiated, it leads to sanctions and summary dismissal.

So how big a problem is it? When the news of the Oxfam scandal broke, reactions among aid workers appeared divided. Some suggested they were not surprised; others, like Judith Greenwood of the Core Humanitarian Standards Alliance (an umbrella network for aid agencies that commit to a set of common standards and principles) said that she was.

I have worked in many countries where I was in contact with Oxfam. It was a surprise, and shocking. I think for all of us in the aid sector its a shock.

Oxfam has signed up to the CHS, and all the alliances members must have clear policies on sexual exploitation and abuse.

I think we do have the tools [to tackle abuse], said Greenwood. But if cases like this are still coming up we are not doing enough to apply the standards and policies.

Sexual abuse by aid workers is unacceptable, and whichever organisation they are working for, that organisation has a duty to investigate and follow up. They idea that people are hurt by those who have come to help them is unacceptable.

Lack of transparency?

Ironically, the Oxfam case shows that it did apply the policies: the Haiti staff members were dismissed, and Oxfam also informed UK charity regulators. But despite that, there is a sense that because the public rightly expects the highest possible standards from aid workers, when things do go wrong, there is a tendency to try to keep it quiet. The backlash over Oxfam, which will certainly lead to a reduction in donations to the charity, may only make this hesitancy worse.

These cases must be dealt with correctly, and transparently, said Judith Greenwood. And they must be referred to the appropriate competent authority.

That last item may be another problem, however. The Haitian government has said Oxfam should have referred its case to Haitian police, since prostitution in Haiti is illegal. Perhaps that would have been the correct course of action, but what, for example, should an aid agency do if a staff member in a war zone or a failed state is alleged to have committed sexual abuse? Informing whichever local warlord has power at the time may actually cause more harm than good.

Nevertheless, there appears to be a consensus that lessons must be learned from what is now becoming the aid sectors #metoo moment.

There will be more cases: already, questions are being asked about the record of medical charity Medecins sans Frontieres in Haiti.

It would be a huge mistake to try to downplay this issue. Even at the risk of reduced funding, the aid sector needs to be very public about how it is tackling sexual abuse and exploitation, and to demonstrate more clearly how the oft-repeated policy of zero tolerance actually works.

Perhaps the bravest course of action would be for the aid sector to challenge the image it has until now conspired to promote: tell the public that aid workers are not saints  no one is  and at the same time, show clearly that any abuse or exploitation will not be tolerated.













swissinfo.ch





Eighty years ago, 92 percent of Swiss voters approved the recognition of Romansh as the countrys fourth official language. On the occasion of this anniversary, the languages lobby association has called for a widening of its official territory.

Speaking to media in Bern on Monday on the eve of the votes anniversary, Johannes Flury of the Lia Rumantscha association said that the whole of Switzerland should henceforth be recognised as the official territory of the language, rather than only in its home region in the east.

The reason for the call is the languages ongoing decline: while Romanshgrows in reputation and popularity, it is dying out in reality. The canton Graubunden dialect is spoken by just 0.5 percent of the Swiss population, and has been classified as at risk by UNESCO.

+ More on the struggle for survival of Switzerlands smallest language

Fluri says that as one-third of the Romansh-speaking population now lives outside canton Graubunden  especially in large Swiss cities where they have moved to find employment  education and training in the language should be offered across the whole country.

The federal government should make a larger effort to promote a truly quadrilingual Switzerland, he told media, and should provide more funding to encourage diaspora Romansh speakers to cultivate and pass on their tongue.

Flury also called for more recognition in official instants such as the courts system: every Romansh-speaker should be able to contact the Federal Supreme Court in this language, he said, regardless of their place of residence.

In light of the upcoming No Billag referendum on March 4 on the future of publicly-funded media in Switzerland, Lia Rumantscha was clear about the importance of such outlets for the survival of such a language; it advocated a no vote.

The Romansh language Romansh, spoken in the south-eastern canton of Graubunden, is descended from Latin, the common parent of all the Romance languages. The most widely spoken are Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian and Romanian. Smaller Romance languages include Catalan, Galician, Lombard, Piedmontese, Napolitan, Sardinian, Occitan and Corsican. Romansh is spoken in a number of different areas in the southeastern canton of Graubunden. Its nearest relatives outside Switzerland are Friulian and Ladin (spoken in northeastern Italy). Romansh is divided into five written dialects or idioms, each with its own sub-dialects. The first written documents were produced in the Engadine in the 16th century. Romansh has been recognised as a Swiss national language since 1938. Since 1996, the official administrative form of Romansh has been an artificially created version, Rumantsch Grischun, which has been in existence since 1980. The idiom with the greatest number of speakers is Sursilvan, spoken in the area along the Anterior Rhine (Vorderrhein) from its source near the Oberalp pass. According to Lia Rumantscha, around 60,000 people can hold a conversation in Romansh.













SDA-ATS/dos, with input from Sibilla Bondolfi





Vyacheslav Volodin, the speaker of the Russian parliaments lower house, has praised the more flexible attitude of Switzerland compared to the European Union during an official visit begun on Sunday.

Volodin, made the comments in an interview with Swiss public television, RTS, ahead of a meeting in Bern on Monday with his counterpart from Switzerlands House of Representatives Dominique de Buman, as well as Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis.

+ More about the visit of Vyacheslav Volodin to Bern

Switzerland has a more flexible attitude when it comes to applying sanctions, and thats what makes the difference, he said, adding that the time for such sanctions will soon be over. Sanctions are a dead-end strategy, one that we do not support, and I dont think Switzerland supports either.

Volodin is currently under both American and EU sanctions for his role in the 2014 Crimea crisis, and is barred from entering EU territory.

Switzerland, not a member of the 28-nation bloc, has not imposed such sanctions. Swiss officials explained the controversial visit  extended after a Swiss parliamentary delegation travelled to Moscow in 2017  as an attempt to encourage dialogue on the Ukrainian conflict.

Asked about relations with the United States under President Trump, the Duma speaker since 2016 said that the policies of the Obama Administration  although things were sometimes simpler before  have been largely continued.

He criticised the recent accusations of meddling in the 2016 US presidential elections that led to the charging of 13 Russians by Special Counsel Robert Muellers investigation last Friday.

This is the result of a deep crisis in American politics, said Volodin, where there is a hysterical attitude whipped up against Russia.













SDA-ATS/RTS/dos





SoftBank, the Japanese tech-to-financial conglomerate, is seeking to joinSwiss Res board to influence how the reinsurer manages its $161billion (CHF149.2 billion) in investments, as talks progress over the acquisition of a large minority stake.

Masayoshi Son, SoftBanks founder and chief executive, will meet with Swiss Re chairman Walter Kielholz in the coming weeks as the two sides look to come to an agreement that would give the Japanese groupa foothold in the global insurance industry.

Discussions now centre on a deal that would see SoftBank becoming an anchor shareholder in Swiss Re with a 20% to 30% and gaining multiple seats on the companys board, according to people close to the matter.

By doing so, Mr Son  a perpetual dealmaker always in search of greater capital to invest with  would bolster his companys presence in financial services and give it sway in how Swiss Re manages its $161 billion portfolio.

SoftBank, which is best known for its technology and telecoms holdings, is remaking itself into a powerhouse in financial services.

Last year it assembled a$93 billion Saudi-backed investment fund in which it has invested and manages, plusacquired hedge fund and private equity group Fortress for $3.3 billion.

Synergies

The Swiss Re deal would not be funded by SoftBanks investment fund, but by the company itself, which is looking to unlock synergies across its financial holdings.

Swiss Re has a market value of CHF32.7 billion having climbed 4.5% since it confirmed preliminary talks with SoftBank in early February. A deal for 30% of the company would be worth CHF9.81 billion before any premium.

SoftBanks initial proposal was to buy up to a third of Swiss Res shares  just below the level for a mandatory takeover bid  at a premium to its undisturbed price via a public tender offer, people close to the matter added.

One person described the premium being discussed as substantial but declined to elaborate, while another person said it was small since SoftBank was not taking control of the company.

UBS and its chief executive Sergio Ermotti are helping SoftBank in the talks, with Mr Ermotti having made the initial approach to Mr Kielholz.

Historical links

Swiss Re is working with Credit Suisse, which has long historical links to Mr Kielholz, who was formerly its chairman. Mr Kielholz and Mr Son have already met at least once to discuss a deal, the people involved said.

All parties cautioned that there was no guarantee a deal would be reached. SoftBank declined to comment. Swiss Re reiterated that talks were at an early stage, but declined to comment further.

SoftBanks deal team is being led by Rajeev Misra, a former Deutsche Bank and UBS banker who joined forces with Mr Son in 2014 and now is on the SoftBank board and chief executive of the $93 billion fund.

Munish Varma, a senior credit trader who previously worked at Deutsche Bank and Nomura who joined his former colleague Mr Misra at SoftBank last year, is also working on the deal.

Swiss Res leadership is intrigued by the possibilities to address technological disruption alongside Mr Son, said one person close to the talks.

Critical time

SoftBanks interest comes at a critical time for the reinsurance industry, which has been beset by years of falling prices  and profits  as a flood of new capital has entered the sector.

Prices have stabilised after last years natural catastrophes but they are not rising by as much as some in the industry hoped.

At the same time, the threat from tech companies is growing as start-ups and more established tech businesses find new ways to create and sell insurance.

A SoftBank investment in Swiss Re could ease some pressure on the Zurich-based reinsurer by giving it more customers in the primary insurance world. SoftBank has a wide variety of companies in its portfolio, from UK-based chip designer Arm to stakes in Uber and WeWork, all of which have insurance needs.

However, there would be limits to the way SoftBank representatives could influence Swiss Res portfolio in the event of a deal. Reinsurers, who need to demonstrate their financial safety to their customers, are notoriously conservative investors. They tend to hold most of their money in safe, liquid assets.

The Swiss company has been open to taking on outside capital in the past.

Warren Buffetts Berkshire Hathaway injected CHF3 billion into the company via convertible instruments in 2009. And just last year, Japanese insurer MS &AD agreed to invest 800 million (CHF1.04 billion) in ReAssure, a Swiss Re subsidiary that specialises in buying up old books of business.

Swiss Re is due to report its full-year results on Friday. The numbers will be hit by $3.6 billion of claims from Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria which affected the US and the Caribbean last autumn. Analysts will be watching for the companys exposure to Decembers wildfires in California, and for its comments on pricing.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2018













Financial Times





France is to double the number of French lessons it offers to refugees to 400 hours in order to help them integrate, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe announced Tuesday.

The extra lessons are part of immigration reforms under President Emmanuel Macron intended to balance swifter deportation of rejected asylum seekers with better support for those allowed to stay.

The lessons will rise to 600 hours for new arrivals who are particularly struggling to learn the language, Philippe said after the first meeting of an inter-ministerial committee set up to work on the integration question.

Philippe said French efforts to integrate migrants had until now lacked ambition, adding that the country needed a policy worthy of our republic for all those to whom we give the right to stay in France.

He did not say how much the scheme would cost.

Extra language lessons were proposed as part of dozens of measures in a report by Aurelien Tache, a lawmaker from Macrons Republic on the Move (LREM) party, which he estimated would cost a total 607 million euros ($710 million).

France will also double to 24 hours the civic training courses given to refugees, designed to explain French values as well as practicalities such as how to obtain work, healthcare and housing.

Many recent arrivals find the barrage of information in the current 12-hour course overwhelming, but Philippe said an understanding of fundamental French values such as liberty, fraternity and equality was not an option but an obligation.

Immigrant parents will also be offered free childcare during their French lessons, while those turning 18 will have access to a new 500-euro culture pass for young people to spend on museum trips and other cultural activities.

Philippe said the measures, which will also include better help for immigrants in finding jobs, were an investment in Frances national and social cohesion.

France received a record 100,000 asylum applications last year and offered refugee status to around 30,000 people, while deporting 14,900.

Though the notorious Jungle camp in Calais was cleared in 2016, increasing numbers of migrants have been camping along the canals in Paris in recent months, many from Afghanistan, Eritrea and Sudan.

On Monday police began evacuating around 1,000 migrants from two makeshift camps, five days after another 1,000 were taken to temporary lodgings.An Iraqi court ordered the release and deportation of a suspected French jihadist sentenced Monday to seven months in prison for entering the country illegally, saying she had already served her time.

Melina Boughedir, 27, was arrested last summer in former Islamic State group stronghold Mosul with her four children, three of whom have been repatriated to France.

Wearing a black dress and purple headscarf, she entered the courtroom holding her other child, a boy with blond hair.

Speaking in Arabic, she said that she had been a housewife in Mosul.

I entered Syria with my French passport but Daesh (IS) took it from me. I stayed in Syria for four days and then came to Mosul with my husband and four children.

She said that her French husband Maximilien, whom she said had been a cook for IS, was killed as Iraqi forces battled to oust the jihadist group from Mosul, which was recaptured last July.

Asked her if she regretted what she did, she replied: Yes.

Iraq in December declared victory against IS after a years-long battle to retake large swathes of territory the extremists had seized in 2014.

An Iraqi court last month condemned a German woman to death by hanging after finding her guilty of belonging to IS, the first such sentence in a case involving a European woman.

And a German teenager was sentenced to six years in prison on Sunday for membership in IS, a judicial source said, adding that she was 17 years old.

 Wanted in France 

After last months death sentence, lawyers for Boughedir and another French woman awaiting trial in Iraq for allegedly joining IS wrote to French President Emmanuel Macron warning that they could face the same penalty.

But Boughedir also faces an arrest warrant in France, where she is wanted for alleged association with criminals and terrorists, a judicial source in Paris said.

She is expected to be detained and interrogated by anti-terrorist judges if she returns to France, a source close to the case said.

Several dozen French citizens suspected of links to the jihadist group are believed to be in detention camps or prisons in Syria and Iraq.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said in Baghdad last week that suspected jihadists should be tried in the countries where they committed their crimes, while reiterating Frances opposition to the death penalty.

Britain has also taken a firm stance against repatriation, as has Belgium which denied a request by one of its nationals to be sent home from Iraq in exchange for cooperating with the authorities.

Several hundred foreigners, both men and women, are thought to have been detained in Iraq for alleged links to IS.

In December, a Swedish man of Iraqi origin was among 38 people executed after being convicted of terrorism.

And on Sunday an Iraqi court sentenced a Turkish woman to death and 11 other foreign widows to life in jail for belonging to IS, despite their pleas that they had been duped or forced by their husbands to join them in Iraq.

A total of 509 foreign women, including 300 Turks, are being held in Iraq with 813 children, according to a security source.Dutch and French art historians on Monday unveiled the surprising results of 18 months of painstaking restoration work on a pair of 17th century portraits by Dutch master Rembrandt.

The portraits of a newly married Dutch couple were jointly bought in 2015 by the Netherlands and France for 160 million euros ($174 million) from the wealthy Rothschild banking family in an unprecedented deal.

Teams from the Louvre in Paris and the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam spent the past 18 months researching the paintings, before carefully removing at least six layers of old varnish as part of an exciting adventure to restore the canvases.

They are undoubtedly completely painted by Rembrandt up to the smallest detail, Rijksmuseum general director Taco Dibbits told reporters Monday, adding they were Rembrandts first and only full-length portraits of a married couple.

Wrangling over the portraits, captured around the time of the couples wedding in 1634, had threatened to sour relations between France and the Netherlands.

But the accord reached to avoid a bidding war will now see the two portraits alternate between the Rijksmuseum and the Louvre.

Affluent Amsterdam couple Marten Soolmans, 20, and Oopjen Coppit, 22, commissioned Rembrandt to paint the separate portraits.

Both dressed fashionably in black with white lace ruffles, Soolmans is depicted holding a glove in his left hand, while Coppit holds a gold chain topped by a black-feathered fan and wears a four-row pearl necklace, with a band of pearls in her hair.

Using sophisticated scientific techniques, including ultra-violet scans, X-rays and macro X-ray fluorescence, restorers determined the two paintings once shared the same large piece of canvas.

It remains unknown however if the portraits were painted together and then separated, although restorers believe the canvas was split prior to painting.

 Saving cultural heritage 

Close analysis also revealed hidden details, such as doorways behind each person which Rembrandt later covered over by painting in a simple black curtain as a background.

The restoration has infused the paintings with new light, to show off the incredible modernity of Rembrandts original work, said Dibbits.

The details stand out, such as the exquisite lace ruffles on Martens shoes. It feels as if you press them they will bounce back, he said.

Sebastien Allard, head of the Louvres paintings department, praised what he called an innovative project, which after complicated negotiations finally came to a European solution to protect cultural heritage.

The project was a first for the team of restorers, who under a pre-nup agreement had to collaboratively agree on every detail of the restoration, Dibbits quipped.

Discussions are still underway as to how the paintings will be framed when they go back on exhibition  the Louvre preferring gilt frames, while the Rijksmuseum prefers plain black wood.

For Anne Lepage, a restorer with the Louvre, it proved an enriching experience as the two teams shared their techniques, as they approached the two portraits with great respect.

You never touch a painting without having done research, analysis and working with the archives. Its like putting together a file on a sick person before even intervening, she told AFP.

She said restorers always felt the weight of the paintings history and heritage, saying the aim was to transmit it as close to the original as possible.

The canvases had been viewed publicly only once in the past 150 years, during a 1956 exhibition at the Rijksmuseum, as since being acquired by the Rothschilds in the late 19th century, they had been mainly hung in a bedroom.

The works will now go on show in the Rijksmuseum from March 6 in an exhibition called High Society and then move back to the Louvre.

They are due to alternate between the two museums every five years and then every eight years. Under the terms of the deal, they cannot be lent to any other establishment.

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NOTE: These settings will only apply to the browser and device you are currently using.Guru of Gurukul

A large share of credit for Kathmandus vibrant theatre culture goes to director Sunil Pokharel, who is often called the Pioneer of Modern Nepali Theatre, and for good reason.Russia's parliamentary speaker, slapped with US and EU sanctions, will meet the Swiss foreign minister Monday during a visit that Bern said aims to foster "dialogue" on the Ukraine conflict.

Vyacheslav Volodin, the president of Russias lower house of parliament, or the State Duma, arrived in Switzerland on Sunday and is set to meet a number of top officials, including his Swiss counterpart Dominique de Buman and Switzerlands Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis.

The visit has stirred controversy in non-EU member Switzerland, since he is among the Russian officials blacklisted by Washington and Brussels.

But Livia Leu, who is in charge of bilateral relations at the Swiss ministry of economic affairs, told Swiss public broadcaster RTS that Volodins visit was in line with Switzerlands aspirations to help resolve the conflict in eastern Ukraine.

When it comes to the Ukraine crisis, Switzerland has always encouraged dialogue, because only a political solution can in the end resolve the crisis, Leu said.

It is with this in mind that Switzerland can provide visas to people on the European Unions (sanctions) list, she said.

Volodin, a long-time top Kremlin official and a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, became parliament speaker in 2016, two years after he was added to the US and EU lists of sanctions against people seen as key players in the Ukraine crisis.

The war in the east of the former Soviet republic broke out in April 2014 after Russia annexed Crimea in March of that year, and has claimed more than 10,000 lives.

The Swiss parliament said last week it had issued the invitation to Volodin following a Swiss parliamentary delegation visit to Moscow last year.Russia's government on Monday insisted there was no evidence that it meddled in the US elections, after Washington indicted 13 Russians for alleged covert efforts to sway voters.

There are no indications that the Russian government could be involved in this, President Vladimir Putins spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists.

It was the Kremlins first comment since the indictments were filed on Friday by a US special prosecutor as part of a federal government probe.

The indictments allege that an associate of President Vladimir Putin led a Russia-based operation churning out social media content, using fake US identities, that included criticisms of Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton in the 2016 race.

US President Donald Trump on Sunday glossed over any Russian responsibility and offered no indication of what his administration would do about it.

He wrote on Twitter that Russia had indeed succeeded in sowing discord in the US but denied that his campaign colluded with Russia, saying that this was what Moscow wanted people to believe.

If it was the GOAL of Russia to create discord, disruption and chaos within the U.S. then, with all of the Committee Hearings, Investigations and Party hatred, they have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams, Trump tweeted.

They are laughing their asses off in Moscow. Get smart America! he added.

The Russian hoax was that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia  it never did! he said, alleging that the only Collusion was between Russia and Crooked H, the DNC and the Dems, referring to Clinton and her party.

Trump also accused the FBI of spending too much time on the probe.

 Russia calls claims blabber 

Peskov said that the claims centred on Russian citizens but that the Russian government was not, and could not, be involved.

The United States has failed to provide significant evidence of any meddling in its affairs, he insisted.

He added that Russia does not have a custom of interfering in other countries internal affairs and is not doing this now.

Earlier Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had dismissed the claims in the indictment as blabber.

The allegations of Russian interference and collusion with the Trump campaign are being investigated by several congressional committees and by special prosecutor Robert Mueller.

Mueller took charge of the federal governments probe from the FBI last year following the sacking of its former chief James Comey.

 Other shoes to drop 

The indictment makes no allegation of collusion between Trumps campaign team and Russia although it says some of the accused communicated with unwitting individuals associated with the Trump campaign.

I do think there are other shoes to drop here besides this indictment, former national security director James Clapper said on CNN.

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said there were no allegations in this indictment that any American was a knowing participant in the Russian scheme.

That led Trump to declare that this vindicated his campaign team.

Rosenstein also said there was no judgement on whether the Russian campaign altered the outcome of the White House race.

Speaking at a security conference in Munich on Saturday, National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster called the evidence of Russian interference in US democratic processes incontrovertible.

The US Treasury Department last month issued a list of prominent Russian political and business figures who could be sanctioned, as required under a law passed last year to punish Moscows election meddling.

But the administration said new sanctions called for under the law were not needed because the measure was already having a deterrent effect.

 Multimillion dollar operation 

The indictment alleges that the operation that started in 2014 involved hundreds of people working in shifts and with a budget of millions of dollars. The Russians indicted are not in custody.

The campaign was allegedly directed by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a businessman with links to Putin, and focused on hurting Clinton and helping Trump swing the vote.

Prigozhins catering company has worked for the Kremlin and he has been nicknamed Putins chef. Russian media have depicted him as a shadowy figure with possible links to Wagner, a mercenary group reportedly operating in Syria. He has denied the claim.

Prigozhin himself has been under US sanctions since 2016 over the conflict in Ukraine.

His catering company is also under sanctions.

He denied the claims in the indictment on Friday, saying that the US chose to scapegoat him as a devil.A British expatriate convicted of using "pornographic" photos to promote a pool party in Cambodia was given a one-year suspended prison sentence on Tuesday.

Daniel Jones, 31, was among 10 foreigners arrested in January after police raided a private villa in Siem Reap, a tourist town near the famed Angkor Wat temple ruins.

During his trial in siem Reap Jones insisted there was no sex or nudity at the party, which he promoted on Facebook with the tagline Lets Get Wet, and apologised for causing offence.

But prosecutors successfully argued that any images which encourage sexual activity are illegal and against Cambodian culture.

The court found him in breach of decency laws and handed him the maximum one-year sentence.

But since he had already served a month and 22 days on remand the rest will be suspended, the judgement said, according to court spokesman Yin Srang.

It was not clear if Jones would be released immediately. His lawyer Ouch Sopheaktra said he would see if his client wanted to appeal the verdict.

Cambodia is popular with foreign backpackers and many are drawn to the wild nightlife.

But the Buddhist country is often strict when protecting local traditions or heritage, especially around the Angkor complex.

During the trial a police witness said officers raided the pool party to prevent sexual acts, adding that they had found condoms at the villa.

Jones told the court he had organised four parties for tourists before his arrest, charging attendees $5 for transport and offering a free drink and T-shirt.

Authorities have already banned skimpy clothing inside the Angkor Wat complex and deported foreigners for taking saucy photos among the temple ruins, which are considered sacred.

But those violations occurred inside the ancient city and not in the adjoining town of Siem Reap, a party destination crammed with bars catering to foreigners.Yes, hello? Is this the Human Resources Department? Yes, Id like to file a complaint about the retirement plan offered here. No, I dont work actually here. But still, hear me out

Today is my day to complain about the somewhat hidden costs of employer-sponsored retirement plans. These plans come in a variety of flavors like 401(k), 403(b), SIMPLE IRA, and SEP-IRA, and hopefully you have one of these available at your job.

And by the way, if you take away from todays column that I dont like these plans, you missed the point. Mostly I love them. Economists and astrophysicists all agree: The only free lunch ever discovered in the known universe is employer-sponsored retirement plans with matching funds.

Unfortunately, employees often pay far too much in management fees. That overpayment is especially egregious when compared to fees that employees could pay for investments outside of their retirement plans.

Theres been a revolution over the past 10 years in lowering the costs of fund management fees. But you would not know that revolution had ever occurred, based on the retirement plans I reviewed recently.

Heres the crux of the problem. Many plan sponsors, the companies that actually offer investments to employees, offer their service to employers for free or nearly free. Now youre probably thinking, free sounds good. Free is the opposite of a problem. But hold on.

Free to the employer often translates into expensive to the employee. What I mean by that is that plan sponsors have to be paid some way or another for their services. If the employer gets the retirement service plan for free, then the employee probably ends up paying that much more.

A few examples best illustrate this problem.

I recently completed a consulting gig for a public entity in Texas that employs fewer than 100 people. The plan sponsor for their 401(a) plan, a professional and reputable non-profit, charges no money directly to the public entity. Which, again, sounds nice at first.

Employees, however, always pay 0.55 percent in extra fees dedicated to the plan sponsor, in management fund costs, on top of their regular fund management fees, which are somewhat high to begin with. Enrollment in this retirement plan is mandatory, as employees are ineligible for Social Security and no longer eligible to enroll in a pension. Employees in other words are captive to paying significantly higher fees with their retirement money than they otherwise would pay outside of their retirement accounts.

What is the effect of this 0.55 percent that employees pay rather than employers? Employees of this public entity have approximately $14 million under management, meaning the plan sponsor earns $77,000 per year for their 0.55 percent fees on funds charged to employees. Thats the one-year cost.

Indulge me in a little more math, however, so we can calculate costs in a more sophisticated way.

As funds grow over time, so too do the fees. Over ten years, at an assumed growth rate of 6 percent in the fund value, the fees will total $124,000 per year and $989,000 cumulatively.

Over 30 years, the total fees would be $5.5 million.

That still understates the costs of paying fees with retirement money. Since fees are charged from within the accounts, the retirement accounts end up growing more slowly.

And thats the real problem! The funds grow to a value $11.6 million less over 30 years than they would have if these fees were paid from outside the accounts. The real cost of the fees  as measured by this slower growth  is therefore nearly twice the amount paid to the sponsor, by my reckoning.

This problem is not limited to the public sector. A few years back I helped a friend set up an employer-sponsored SIMPLE IRA plan available to all employees of her 12-person company. I was excited for her all the way through the process until I realized the bad news: The plan sponsor charges way too much to employees for the funds in the plan. A U.S. large cap fund, a very plain vanilla offering, charges 1.64 percent per year. A US small cap fund, similarly basic, charges 1.84 percent. Depending on what you compare it to, thats between two and 10 times too much in fees. There are no low-cost funds at all, because a management fee between 0.45 percent and 0.55 percent, as well as a distribution/service fee of 0.25 percent, gets tacked on to every single fund.

For my friends SIMPLE IRA plan, the impairment on wealth would be even higher than that public sector plan, since her employees pay around 0.75 percent extra, rather than 0.55 percent.

Im not entirely opposed to fees in finance. The big problem in this case is two-fold. First, its inefficient to pay fees from within retirement accounts, compared to paying fees from outside retirement accounts, as an employer could offer to do. Second, it seems contrary to the spirit of a retirement benefit program that all costs are borne by employees. I understand why it happens, but that wont stop me from complaining.

Were I an employee of either that government entity or my friends small business, Id be annoyed about these charges. Plan sponsors dont work for free but Id wish that my employer had volunteered to pay those fees, rather than making them payable with my own retirement money. Some employers do, and some dont. Do you know if yours does?

Finally, what is a financially-savvy person to do?

First, as an employee, definitely still participate in your employer-sponsored plan to the maximum level available, given your resources.

Second, be a squeaky wheel when it comes to costs in your employer-sponsored plan. Maybe even contact your human resources department and ask about the fees. This likely will affect absolutely zero things in the real world, but will at least give you that nice moral superiority feeling. If you managed to actually affect change at your job, well then, you would be the Erin Brockovich of retirement plans to your fellow colleagues.

Finally, if you are a business owner, executive, or board member overseeing the employer-sponsored plan of an organization, know that you actually might be able to affect change. And not spare change either, but rather substantial, life-altering amounts of money for peoples retirements. Its far more efficient to your company and your employees if you pay those plan sponsor fees at the employer level.

Also, its the right thing to do.In the face of a budget crunch due to falling state aid, Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City Independent School Districts leaders are thinking about asking voters to approve a tax ratification election, or TRE, later this year and increasing class sizes.

The possibility of calling a TRE for November to raise the districts property tax rate for maintenance and operations by five cents was floated last week at a school board budget workshop that focused on difficult funding realities. If approved, it would increase the districts combined tax rate from $1.49 per $100 of property value to $1.54 per $100.

Such a change would bring the district $5.8 million more a year, Superintendent Greg Gibson said.

State funding for SCUC is expected to drop by about $3 million next school year, Gibson wrote on his weekly blog post. That decrease, coupled with expectations of low enrollment growth, has led the district to adopt a no-frills approach in formulating next years budget, he wrote.

Even with additional funding from a possible TRE on the horizon, Gibson told the board the district recommends basing next years budget based on the current tax rate, rather than creating a budget deficit that would have to be made whole by the voters.

If the TRE passes, it passes. And really, the TRE becomes your budget for 19-20, it becomes your revenue stream for 19-20, Gibson said. Thats a little new to the way weve understood it before.

How much funding SCUC will receive from the federal government is in question, SCUC leaders said. The Trump administration has released a proposed budget that seeks to cut the U.S. Department of Educations funding by $3.6 billion, or more than 5 percent while allocating more money for school choice programs and charter schools.

In light of the impending revenue loss from the state, the district must think about whether to cut costs by including any new students in existing classes, which would result in larger class sizes, Gibson wrote.

The districts budget woes are not unique to SCUC following a legislative session that saw a failed attempt to remake Texas antiquated school finance system and approve nearly $2 billion in funding increases. Lawmakers instead created a state school finance commission to study the problem, which met for the first time last month.

I wish we could infuse our current state legislators with the wisdom to understand how the decreased percentage of state funding since 2006, from 50 percent to its current level of 38 percent, has negatively affected public education in Texas, Gibson wrote in his post. More importantly, I long for legislators from both sides of the political aisle to find the courage to work together to develop a funding mechanism for public education that (is) equitable and fair.

Calling a TRE would require the support of five of SCUCs seven trustees.Hunt on for new ports

The government has been scouting for alternative ports in India for third country trade to replace congested Kolkata Port in a bid to cut costs and permit movement of large volumes of cargo.ABRAM  Four migrants ran into a thick patch of brush, with at least as many border agents giving chase and a helicopter hovering in the steely gray sky above.

The migrants, three of them teenagers, had traveled hundreds of miles across Mexico, only to surrender one cold February morning about a mile north of the Rio Grande.

We wont know who they are until theyve been processed, said Marcelino Medina, a Border Patrol agent. One concern is MS-13 gang members.

To hear the agencys Rio Grande Valley sector public affairs office tell it, these are bleak times along the borderlands. A sampling of recent agency news releases includes Double trouble at Falfurrias checkpoint, Five more Salvadoran MS-13 gang members off the streets and Troubled waters: Life and death on the Rio Grande.

Assaults on border enforcement personnel have risen sharply over the past year, and the region is no less dangerous for migrants. The International Organization for Migration recorded a total of 412 migrant deaths on both sides of the border in 2017, even as the Border Patrol saw a nearly 50 percent decline of immigrants crossing the border during the same time period compared with 2016.

And yet, despite the supercharged atmosphere, tens of thousands of immigrants continue to endure extreme hardship and risk death to reach the U.S. border, underscoring the futility of Homeland Security Department warnings and the challenge of halting the tide of migrants.

When were doing our job, after a while the people getting apprehended start to get desperate, Medina said. Theyve spent thousands of dollars, and, yeah, theyre going to try to get away.

Border agents saw a 12 percent drop in the number of people caught entering the country illegally in January compared with December, ending eight months of steadily rising apprehensions. Though the decline  from 40,511 in December to 35,822 in January  was typical of seasonal migration patterns, it was also the second highest January total over a period of six years.

Meanwhile, authorities in Mexico have reported detaining hundreds of mostly Central American migrants, many of them families and children en route to the U.S. border. Some were smuggled in unventilated trucks, and others were found crammed inside stash houses in Tamaulipas state, across the border from Texas.

Were seeing these seizures in Mexico almost every day, said Joel Millman, a spokesman for the United Nations migration agency. If that continues, we could be looking at a very busy year for apprehensions in the U.S.

No matter the direction of the nations politics, the U.S.-Mexico border claims nearly one life per day, Millman said. The Border Patrol reported 294 migrant deaths during the 2017 fiscal year, which starts in October. The U.N. migration agency reported dozens more deaths on the Mexican side of the border.

A majority of migrants who die do so in Texas, including 54 since October, according to Border Patrol data. When a death occurs in the Valley, border agent Hugo E. Vega is tasked with identifying the deceased and returning remains to their families.

As the operations officer for the agencys Missing Migrant Program in the Valley, Vega praises high-impact messaging through consulates in Mexico and Central America that warns people against setting out on the perilous trek to the border.

They try to emphasize hazards before they decide to take the trip and place their life in the hands of callous smugglers, Vega said. Thanks to all the efforts in the RGV, there is approximately a 30 percent decrease in the amount of deaths from last year.

Even as the total number of apprehensions dropped precipitously in fiscal year 2017, the rate of immigrants who died on the U.S. side of the border increased sharply to nearly 95 deaths per 100,000 apprehensions, up from 79 per 100,000 in fiscal year 2016.

Apprehensions are lower, but the number of immigrants caught with a criminal past has remained steady, agent Medina said, and the Border Patrol has tailored its training exercises to identify people who are acting out of desperation and those who mean to harm agents. During the 2017 fiscal year, there were 847 assaults on Customs and Border Protection law enforcement, a 45 percent increase from the previous year.

Out on patrol, discussion turns to technology, personnel and infrastructure, the three components the agency says are necessary to secure the border. The Valley continues to be the busiest corridor for immigrant apprehensions with its 3,000 agents and 54 miles of fencing and wall in Cameron and Hidalgo counties.

The Trump administration wants to add 126 miles of barrier across the Valley, with the first section to be awarded in May for the 2,088-acre Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge. Federal Business Opportunities this month listed the Santa Ana project, valuing the 3-mile levee wall at between $25 million and $100 million.

The interesting thing is where these guys didnt cross, Medina said, noting that the four migrants captured in the brush that February morning had been caught in an area that currently has no border wall.

Later in his shift, three parents each with small children turned themselves over to border agents a few hundred yards from an existing section of levee wall.

The immigration agency has been critical of laws that require its personnel to release unaccompanied children and families because of loopholes in existing immigration laws. And with 9,486 families and minors arriving in January, or about 36 percent of all apprehensions, the Valley remains the busiest corridor along the Southwest border with Mexico.

They had all come on separate journeys from San Pedro Sula in Honduras, fleeing poverty, gangs and political violence. Why had the group of immigrants lingered by the side of the road, Medina asked.

Out of fear, explained Esteban Reynerio Moreno, 42. He left Honduras with his 9-year-old son, Cristopher, amid the political turmoil after the countrys contested presidential election in November.

You never know, Moreno shrugged, then shook hands with Medina before he and his son were taken into custody.Four people, including a 6-year-old, were shot Sunday evening in a Texas Roadhouse parking lot on the West Side, leaving two with life-threatening injuries.

The 6-year-old was shot in the leg, and his injury is not believed to be life-threatening, San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said. Two males and a female, all in their 20s, were among those shot.When historian and landscape architect Everett L. Fly opened the January issue of Texas Highways, he was shocked by the content  or rather, the lack of it.

Fly was upset about a San Antonio tricentennial timeline in which the only references to African-Americans were as slaves and the only black person mentioned by name was Spurs great George Gervin, and he wasnt identified as a person of color.

This whole thing is extremely disturbing to me, Fly said. I consider it to be an insult to the black community. I consider it to be a personal insult. San Antonio is supposed to have a top-tier public relations organization, but the first thing in the public domain is this enormous omission. If you follow this timeline, the only part black people played in 300 years was to be slaves. Thats inexcusable.

San Antonio attorney Claiborne Gregory, a director of the San Antonio African American Community Archive and Museum, said he believes that the goal of the timeline was initially positive.

I think their intention was good, but their fulfillment was faulty, he said. There was a lot that could have been included but just wasnt. The final result is faulty.

Leaders of San Antonios black community arent the only ones who are concerned.

There was such a story to be told about not just the time frame, but also the fact that you had free blacks here as well as slaves. I think most people dont realize that, said Susan Beavin, president of the San Antonio Conservation Society. Hopefully, they (Texas Highways) will come back and do a feature on that because I think theres such a story to tell.

Work on the January edition of the Texas Department of Transportation-sponsored magazine began in August, when the events editor visited the Tricentennial Commission offices about the timeline. Laura Mayes, communications strategist for the city, said the commission provided background information, did a fact check on a few items and set up interviews with the Witte Museum. But the city didnt see the final timeline before publication, she said.

Asked about the lack of African-American representation in the timeline, a Texas Highways spokesman responded that the magazine features a range of stories exploring the multicultural aspects of the Lone Star State.

As the official travel magazine of Texas, we continually strive to reflect a variety of voices in our coverage of the states history and culture, David Glessner wrote in an email. In doing so, we are committed to due diligence in our ongoing tradition of covering the many diverse cultures and voices that make Texas such a historically rich state.

As examples, Glessner included links to stories from the past six months that included features on Dallas Cowboy Dat Nguyen, country music legend Charley Pride and San Antonios West Side murals celebrating Chicano culture.

But that doesnt correct the timeline, Fly said.

The historian pointed to numerous African-American standouts in San Antonios history that could have been included in the timeline, such as Artemisia Bowden, founder of St. Philips Community College, and Samuel McCulloch Jr., a free black soldier wounded in the shoulder during the Battle of Goliad who, according to the Texas State Historical Association, became known as the first Texan casualty of the revolution.

Fly said so far he hasnt seen any efforts by the commission or Texas Highways to correct the timeline.

Just what we were fearing is coming true, Fly said. If we wait on designated groups and commissions, this is what happens. Are we that negligible as black folks that nobody is even going to try?

Assistant City Manager Carlos Contreras, who was just named executive director of the SA300 Tricentennial Commission in January after the commissions turbulent start, acknowledged that theres room for improvement.

I think we could have done better, Contreras said, specifically highlighting all of the wonderful contributions made by the African-American community here in San Antonio. This is not a celebration for a few. Its for the entire community. We want to make sure that everybody is included.

Fly, a founder of the Archive and Museum, brought his concerns to Contreras soon after he took over the leadership role. The executive director said members of the Alamo Black Chamber of Commerce and Laura Thompson, creator of 300 Voices in 300 Days, soon to air on The African American Network on Roku, also reached out to him about being more inclusive in celebrating the citys three centuries of history.

Contreras said the best way to move forward is through community outreach, such as a speakers bureau, empowered to go into the community to talk about the events and bring back critiques.

The citys Mayes noted that some of the events scheduled for the rest of the year are focused on African-American history. They include the local NAACP chapters centennial anniversary and the Carver Community Cultural Centers San Antonio Door Project, which explores the common heritage of city residents regardless of where they live.

And Fly will take part in an official Tricentennial event Thursday with a lecture at Texas A&M University-San Antonio about preserving African-American landmarks in the city.

Mayes said Flys concerns are a welcome part of the conversation.

Its a chance to really look into every piece of the history of the city, she said, and it wouldnt do our community justice if we didnt do that.

George Frederick, president of Hope House Ministries and a member of the Archive and Museum, said the nonprofit groups actions arent about negativity but about promoting vital information regarding San Antonios history.

Many times, our voices arent heard because were not loud enough, he said. If nothing else, allow this to be a voice, not looked at as negative or complaining, but in reality, information that San Antonio needs.

Recently, Fly and Frederick drove 18 miles from the East Side to a stretch of land near Interstate 35 South and Loop 1604 to show an example of a local African-American landmark that could have been featured in the Texas Highways timeline.

They stopped on Old Pearsall Road and walked into the Samuel McCulloch Family Cemetery, up a leaf-strewn hill to the headstone of the graveyards namesake on a bluff overlooking the Medina River.

There are numerous veterans graves at the cemetery. And there are many other African-American sites throughout the San Antonio area that could serve as beacons of essential moments in the citys past.

We have to understand each other to respect each other, Frederick said. We have history in every district of San Antonio.

Businessman Joe Linson, a member of the Tricentennial Commission, said its sad that a part of Texas history is glaringly missing.

African-American history is inextricably woven into American history and Texas history, he said. Its been a failure on the part of the school system in general in not getting the facts out there. I think its laziness on the part of some people, and I dont know if its deliberate or its just that we dont register or dont count.

What has to happen is our story has to be told. You cant get around it.Another possible mumps outbreak shut down visitation over the weekend for some parts of two Texas prisons.

A stomach bug affected visiting at three other facilities, though Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesman Jason Clark said a relatively small number of prisoners are affected.

The Beto Unit in Tennessee Colony and the Segovia Unit in Edinburg are both dealing with the possibility of mumps, while the McConnell, Ellis and Terrell units are all grappling with gastrointestinal illnesses, Clark said.

A number of mumps cases surfaced in early 2017 in Texas, and the disease made its way into the prison system around April, hitting Willacy County State Jail north of Brownsville and the nearby Lopez State Jail in Edinburg, according to TDCJ.

At one point last year, roughly 10 inmates had confirmed cases, Clark said. But then the illness receded only to re-emerge in November at Willacy. Dozens of inmates went on medical lockdown there and also at Stringfellow Unit in Brazoria County after one symptomatic prisoner was transferred between the two units.

Mumps has been pretty prevalent down in South Texas, Clark said at the time. And what you see in the community often makes its way into the prison system.

Inmates with confirmed cases are put in isolation cells, while any inmates who may have been exposed are put on medical restriction.

TDCJ offers vaccines for incoming inmates born after 1957, but the recent outbreaks come amid a nationwide uptick.

This is a vaccine-preventable disease, said Dr. Robert Atmar, professor and interim chief of infectious diseases at Baylor College of Medicine, and the thought is  that immunity is waning and a lot of the people whove been affected in these outbreaks have been persons who have had a number of years since theyve had a mumps vaccine.Significant statistics is a weekly series highlighting the numbers that make up San Antonio and South Texas.

14 percent: During the week of Jan. 29, more than 14 percent of Texas hospital visits were attributed to flu-like illnesses. This year's flu  a particularly aggressive strain  is at a peak not seen since 2009, Texas health officials told the Express-News last week. Bexar County had its first pediatric flu death of the flu season on Christmas Day. The type of flu that killed 4-year-old Leon Robert Sidari, type A  H3, has been the most common type of flu in recent years.

13.9: In 2015, 13.9 children per 10,000 were hospitalized in Bexar County for asthma, surpassing the state average of 8.3 for the first time in recent memory. The University Health System blames San Antonio's high ozone levels for the increased hospital visits. Last year, four children died of asthma in the county.

$69 billion: President Donald Trump's budget blueprint would raise military spending by $716 billion for the fiscal year starting in October. Of that, $69 billion would go toward a war fund to cover the ongoing deployment of 14,000 troops in Afghanistan and almost 6,000 in Iraq and Syria. It isn't yet clear how the new funds would trickle down to Texas beyond Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland.

13: The San Antonio-New Braunfels metro area is one of 13 in the country where a Reveal analysis of Housing Mortgage Disclosure Act data found that blacks and Latino were "significantly more likely" to be denied mortgage loans in 2015 and 2016. In 2016, 13.4 percent of Latinos and 12.8 percent of black people who applied for a mortgage loan in the area were denied. Critics of the analysis said because Reveal's examination excluded applicants' credit cores, debt-to-income ratios and their loan-to-value ratios, only a partial picture is offered.

For more statistics from the greater San Antonio area, visit S.A. Stats.

amillerbernd@express-news.net | @annieanywayAUSTIN - Gov. Greg Abbott is putting his political reputation and his ability to work with the next Legislature on the line by trying to oust three Republican House members, and he could face fallout no matter how the races turn out.

Its something of a subtle risk.

Theres no chance that Abbott will lose his own re-election campaign over targeting Reps. Lyle Larson of San Antonio, Sarah Davis of West University Place and Wayne Faircloth of Galveston.

But if they win despite his best efforts to replace them, it will take some of the shine off his vaunted political machine.

Its the emperor-has-no-clothes story. He makes an effort, fails, and ends up looking weaker, said Rice University political scientist Mark Jones.

So Abbott is going all in against his fellow Republicans.

Abbott plans to be in San Antonio on Wednesday to campaign for Larsons House District 122 opponent, Hollywood Park Mayor Chris Fails. Abbott also has sent out a fundraising email for Fails and plans to release a television ad for the challenger in the coming week.

Larson, who said Abbotts ad buy is close to $100,000, is readying his own television advertising. Larson had more than $557,000 in cash on hand according to his last campaign finance report, while Fails reported having close to $25,000. Abbotts campaign wouldnt confirm the amount of its television advertising buy for Fails.

Abbott is spending money and time in all three districts, and Davis has received the biggest hammering from him so far.

The governor had already spent $161,000 to help Daviss opponent, Susanna Dokupil, before announcing a fourth television ad to fight the incumbent. Faircloth challenger Mayes Middleton also is getting a boost from the governor.

We have invested significant resources in targeted digital ads to support all three challengers, said Abbott campaign spokesman John Wittman. Abbott also plans to appear with the other two challengers this week.

The three targeted incumbents, among their transgressions, backed ethics reform legislation last year to limit a governors appointment of big donors to state boards and commissions.

Larson authored and won House approval of the bill, which would have barred the governor from appointing people who had given more than $2,500 the previous year. The measure died in the Senate, but Larson blamed Abbotts displeasure with the legislation for the governors decision to veto a number of his unrelated bills.

The appointment of donors is an issue ripe for attention.

About 29 percent of Abbotts appointees have donated to him since 2001, when he ran successfully for attorney general, putting him on the path to his current post. His appointees, and in some cases their spouses, have given his campaigns a combined $14.2 million, according to an analysis by the San Antonio Express-News.

Larson consistently has said the legislation wasnt aimed specifically at Abbott, but at a longstanding practice by Texas governors. He became more critical of the governor on a number of issues after his bills were vetoed.

As he escalates their battle, Abbott is not only gambling with his political profile but risking his ability to work positively with lawmakers next legislative session.

Whether the three lawmakers win or lose, Abbott will head into the next session as a governor who will not only veto a lawmakers bills but kill a lawmakers political career  or at least try to  if he is offended.

That may be unsettling even for lawmakers who largely like Abbotts agenda. And it could make things tricky for Abbott, since a governor whose main tool is a threat has tied his own hands in the normal give-and-take of a legislative session.

Itll be trickier for him, of course, if the three lawmakers win.

If Abbott can oust two of the three  or all three of them  the lesson for many will be essentially, Challenge the governor and youre at risk, Jones said. If all three are re-elected, the lesson might be, The governor is all bark and no bite. And thats definitely not a place where you want to be.

Larson suggested the issue is bigger than the lawmakers facing Abbotts ire this time.

Weve got a House, weve got a Senate, and weve got the executive branch, Larson said. If the governor wants to be a king, and he wants to make all the decisions independent of both chambers, then he probably needs to go through a constitutional revision and see if the people will support that. But my role is to support the people in my district, and sometimes Im not going to be in line with the governor.One of the most prominent Texas artists whose works capture the culture and history of early San Antonio with elegance and visual authenticity was Jean Louis Theodore Gentilz, a French painter and surveyor.

Gentilz was born in Paris in 1819, the son of Pierre Louis Gentilz, a maker of custom-built carriages. He was trained as a draftsman, painter and engineer at the Imperial School of Mathematics and Drawing. His mentors were painter Ramon Quesada Monvoisin and Eugene Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc, a French architect who practiced Gothic Revival tradition and gained fame for restorations of medieval buildings.

When Gentilz was in his early 20s, he committed to traveling to Texas, making a two-month journey at sea and a long trek by land from Galveston to work as a surveyor, secretary, artist and promoter for French entrepreneur and empresario Henri Castro, who was embarking on creation of a new colony in the waning years of the Republic of Texas. Castro had developed an interest in Texas while helping negotiate a loan for the fledgling republic and later was named by President Sam Houston to be consul general for Texas in Paris. He became one of the most successful of the Texas empresarios, spending his own money to aid colonists, providing cows, farm equipment, medicines and other necessities.

Gentilz and others laid out the village of Castroville, DHanis and other smaller communities west of San Antonio. During its first year, the colony drew more than 2,100 settlers. Although it incurred Indian attacks, disease and an 1848 drought, the colony grew.

In the early years of U.S. statehood in Texas in the 1840s, Gentilz was known to carry his painter and surveying gear on remote trails from El Paso to southern Mexico and the Texas Gulf Coast. In 1849, the year his father died, he returned from France with Marie Fargeix, a musician he would marry, and his younger sister, Henriette Adelaide.

Rather than Castroville, Gentilz settled in the old village of San Antonio, with its whitewashed adobe buildings, acequias, markets and cultural and religious events. Henriette married Auguste Fretelliere, a close friend of Gentilz and author of Reminiscences of a Castro Colonist, 1843-1844, which still is used as a historical resource on early Texas colonization.

The families were both active in their Catholic parishes, and Gentilz was a founding member of the French Mutual Relief Society, a fraternal and insurance organization.

Yet despite his personal ties to French culture and connections to artistic circles in Paris, Gentilz was fascinated by the indigenous people of the New World as subjects of his art, typically depicted on small canvases. Many of his paintings depicted early Tejanos and Native Americans, whose contributions had yet to be recognized, in scenes that captured daily life in villages and the frontier of the U.S. Southwest.

Works such as Comanche Chief, Corrida de la Sandia, San Antonio, Fandango and Horse Racing at San Pedro Springs provided iconic images that helped define this region undergoing tremendous changes through settlement and colonization. He also made it a point to paint images of native Texas wildflowers and of the churches that remain intact today of all five Spanish colonial missions in San Antonio.

He provides a visual history and a view of San Antonio unlike anybody else in the 19th century, Marion Oettinger, curator of Latin American art, told the Express-News in 2012, when an exhibit of Gentilz works from private collections were shown at the San Antonio Museum of Art.

Scholars have noted that Gentilz had an allegiance to historical authenticity and skills as a draftsman to provide a valuable visual record of early San Antonio and the Southwest, with human and architectural forms depicted in correct proportion and context. He came from the art tradition known as costumbrismo, a method used by Europeans in Latin America to capture 19th century manners and customs of local populations. At least two of his most noted works, Fall of the Alamo and Death of Dickinson, focused on the famed 1836 battle, using knowledge available decades later to create dramatic images.

Perhaps the most famous of his works depicting life in San Antonio is Fandango, based on an 1850s dance he and Fretelliere attended at the Spanish Governors Palace. In his memoirs, Fretelliere would recall the two leaving very content with our evening and promising ourselves to return another time. Another noteworthy work by Gentilz, Tortilleras, shows tortilla makers in large, more contemporary forms, in a departure from the smaller figures seen in most of his paintings.

Of his paintings of the missions, the one of Mission San Juan also captures a slice of life  a small wedding party, with women in long dresses and shawls, and men in suits and hats. Other of his works depicted scenes from Mexico and New Mexico.

In a recent interview, Mark Lemon, considered one of the premier Alamo artists today, called Gentilz the leading pioneer in capturing images of the battle site on canvas. He produced Fall of the Alamo, a birds eye view from the south of the early morning battle, in 1885 and painted The Death of Dickinson, a more personal, though likely embellished work, the following year. It shows Alamo defender Almeron Dickinson pleading to Santa Anna for mercy, surrounded by Mexican soldiers and bodies after the battle.

From the 1860s to 1890s, Gentilz taught painting at St. Marys College and in his home on North Flores Street, where his wife taught music, a few blocks from San Fernando Cathedral. One of his most accomplished students was his niece Louise Fretelliere, who produced a number of paintings and drawings.

When he died in San Antonio on Jan. 4, 1906, Gentilz was survived only by his sister and her children.

Today, many of his works are on display in the Presidio Gallery in the Bexar County Archives Building, 126 E. Nueva St., as part of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas Collection at Texas A&M University-San Antonio. The DRT Collection includes numerous works by Gentilz, as well as Gentilz-Fretelliere family papers from 1793 to 1962.

Last year, the Museum of Art announced a major gift from local collector Larry Sheerin and his family of more than 80 works by Gentilz. They include Stick Stock, a depiction of early settlers in San Antonio, and Lavanderas, or Wash Day on San Pedro Creek.STAMFORD  After 19 years in business, Clearview Capitals investment strategy has not changed much. Its record has argued for staying the course.

The Stamford-based private equity firm is riding the momentum of two recent deals for companies that each sold for several times the price for which Clearview bought them. Such results are nothing new for the group. Clearview officials credit their series of strong performances on a steady strategy that values the growth of small but promising businesses.

Were acquiring exactly the same kind of businesses we did when we started 19 years ago, co-founder and managing partner James Andersen said in an interview this month at the firms downtown offices. Weve stayed very consistent in our focus.

The two firms sold last December typify Clearviews track record. The firm acquired its majority stake in GCR, a New Orleans-based software development and consulting firm focused on the public sector, for $27.5 million in 2011. The firm bought its majority position in Xact Data Discovery, a Mission, Kan.-based provider of IT services for the legal sector, for $24 million in 2015.

Clearview declined to disclose specific sales totals for GCR and Xact, but said those numbers represented several times the worth of their investments.

The firm more than tripled the annual earnings of GCR and more than quadrupled the earnings of Xact, according to data from the firm. Acquisitions made by both companies under Clearviews ownership contributed to their growth.

For the past 10 companies sold by Clearview, average annual earnings have more than tripled under its management.

Its fun to build these smaller businesses  its like raising a teenager to an adult, Andersen said. We really enjoy that.  We have very strong relationships with our former portfolio companies.

To date, Clearview has invested in 27 companies, which have been concentrated in business services, health care, manufacturing and specialized distribution. In total, those firms have made 65 add-on acquisitions,

Today, Clearview has a portfolio of eight companies.

The common theme is the stage of life of the company, Andersen said. Theyre almost always founder- or family-owned. We are typically the first institutional capital to come into these businesses. Theyve gotten to a point where if they want to continue to grow they need help.

Among recent measures, alternative-assets data and intelligence firm Preqin ranked Clearview in 2016 in the top group of consistently high-performing buyout firms.

Investors include funds of funds, university endowments and public pension funds. Dartmouth Colleges endowment started investing with Clearview about five years ago. Dartmouth officials declined to specify how much the endowment has under Clearviews management, but they said Clearview is a core partner.

Jim (Andersen) sets the tone for them, and its just a fantastic team that is super talented, said Mike Sullivan, the Dartmouth endowments managing director in charge of private equity and venture capital programs. Their performance is right at the top of the group. Theyve been consistent year after year and investment after investment. That consistency is what makes them stand out.

Clearview launched in 1999 in a room above a garage by Binney Park in the Old Greenwich section of Greenwich. Later, it relocated to offices in downtown Greenwich and then back to Old Greenwich. It moved in July 2016 to its current home, where it takes about 6,000 square feet on the 11th floor of the office complex at 1010 Washington Blvd, overlooking Mill River Park.

The firm now employs 20. Many live in the area, including Andersen, a Wilton resident.

Its great to be on the park, Andersen said. We have three guys who live in New York and the commute for them to Old Greenwich was difficult. ... From here, they love it because they can walk back and forth to the express (train) stop.

The company plans to raise another fund this year. It would be larger than the current $325 million fund, but not spectacularly bigger, Andersen said.

Weve got a great team of people, Andersen said. We really like what we do. We enjoy it.Chelsea Piers Connecticut and Chelsea Piers New York hosted the fifth annual Winter Challenge gymnastics meet at Chelsea Piers Connecticut in Stamford on Saturday and Sunday.

About 900 athletes competed in this years meet, ranging from beginner to advanced-level gymnasts. There were 54 teams of athletes from six states, including Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire. The event, sanctioned by USAG, utilized all certified-USAG equipment.Into the bright lights

Deepak Rauniyar always uses the term exploration to talk about cinema. For him, the word exploration when attached to cinema implies that it is an art form, not merely a depiction of something.A 22-year-old Scottish farmer has heavily criticised the SNP government's IT system failures for increasing debt and "destroying a way of life".

Writing in the Scottish Review as part of its Young Thinker of the Year, Helen Stewart said the Scottish government's computer system to manage EU grants is "faulty beyond function".

The system was created to enable the Scottish government to provide financial support to farmers and rural businesses in line with European Commission reforms.

Criticism of the system has been heavy in the farming industry. A Scottish farming leader has previously asked whether the government is "flogging a dead horse" by sticking with its IT system for delivering CAP support.

And farming union NFU Scotland said every farmer will remember 2016 as a year when the Scottish government's "flawed IT system failed to deliver" the subsidy CAP payments, "damaging" the rural economy.

Ms Stewart said the computer system "wasn't ready and wasn't working". "We eventually received a decreased payment, and this was just the start," she wrote.

"In 2015 there was a five-month late payment, again decreased  only 80%. In 2016, the payment was so late that the government issued a part payment loan to farmers.

"Overall the subsidy was almost a year late  and this trend is spiralling. Still the computer system is faulty beyond function."

'Dangerously out of sync'

She said the subsidy is now "dangerously out of sync" for Scottish farmers, and has driven farmers into the "hands of banks and the depths of debt".

"Last January due to this disruption my dad had a heart problem and that's when I decided to finish my studies and go back home. I knew the stress was bad when I visited my parents from university and I would hear my dad getting up to redo his budgets at 1.30 every morning," Ms Stewart added.

"There would be plan A, and plan B, and plan C, throughout the week. He said he couldn't look at the numbers by daylight. Yet, the sheep still have to be fed, vet bills still have to be paid, there is no telling the taxman that you're suddenly missing over half of your income.

"It hurt me to see my dad, after all of his hard work, being put in a position like this. We were constantly being told to get with the times and run the farm like a business. Yet what business does not know when, or even if, money is coming in?"

'Gross incompetence'

The young farmer said there is "painfully little media coverage" on the issue, and no investigations.

"Does it not concern you that our own government mismanaged this so drastically and that we don't really hear about it? The Common Agricultural Policy equals around 40% of EU funds: that's 58 billion a year," she added.

"To mismanage 40% of EU funds, surely that is gross incompetence? It certainly concerns me that our government can bring an industry to its knees through an organisational 'transitional' error. Yet there are no investigations; there is painfully little media coverage.

"The loss of the stability of farming is a loss in culture, a loss in mental well-being, a long-term, long-reaching loss. It hurts all the more when we feel it is a loss we bear in silence."A Labour MP has said that a "farming fund" suggested by a cross-party of MPs to help soften the impact of Brexit will be "income support for super rich".

Newport West MP Paul Flynn told BBC Radio Wales' Sunday Supplement programme that a special fund should not be set up to help farmers post-Brexit.

The comment follows a suggestion by the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Committee that the government should consider creating a fund to support the UKs agricultural sector as it adapts to the post-Brexit environment.

Neil Parish, Chair of EFRA, said it is "vital" that the government articulates its vision for protecting British food and farming.

But Mr Flynn said: "The special fund is rather like asking for your cake, eating it, and then demanding a second cake."

The Labour MP said in England, "the main bulk of the support is given in subsidy to a millionaire or billionaire".

"The only industry that has been guaranteed to have funding for the foreseeable future is farming," he said.

"At the moment we are wasting millions in giving grants to farmers who are rich. This is income support for the super rich in may cases."

EFRA, a cross-party group of MPs appointed to scrutinise Defra, has also called for a specific impact analysis for each agricultural sector, plans for physical and IT infrastructure to be drawn up and for new trading partnerships to be explored.A "farming fund" to help the industry soften the impact of Brexit should be created by the government, according to MPs.

The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Committee has concluded, among other measures, that the government should consider creating a fund to support the UKs agricultural sector as it adapts to the post-Brexit environment.

EFRA, a cross-party group of MPs appointed to scrutinise Defra, has also called for a specific impact analysis for each agricultural sector, plans for physical and IT infrastructure to be drawn up and for new trading partnerships to be explored.

The suggestions are included in the release of its new report, Brexit: Trade in Food.

The report focuses on the impact on different agri-food sectors of the UK having to trade under World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules in the event of no deal being reached between the UK and EU.

It says this is "particularly pertinent" given the UKs simultaneous withdrawal from the Common Agricultural Policy, the impact of which will be specifically considered by the Committee at a later date.

'Most significant partner'

The report concludes that the EU is the UKs "most significant trading partner" and that there is no guarantee that a free trade agreement will be reached.

It suggests WTO tariffs could possibly lead to higher costs for consumers but could lead to beneficial import displacement.

When setting UK tariffs at the WTO, EFRA has urged the Government should understand that removing tariffs "could put many UK farmers out of business and render the UK dependent on imported food."

The report goes on to say that a liberalisation of barriers could possibly lead to cheaper imports, produced to lower welfare standards, and damage British producers.

It states that the agricultural industry needs clarity on the Governments long-term vision, as reverting to WTO tariffs will have a "significant impact" on agriculture, given that tariffs are higher for agricultural products than for other goods and services.

'Safeguard'

Beside the farming fund, the Committee has recommended that the Government must set out how it will make sure that IT systems and infrastructure are in place for the import and export of agricultural produce.

The report says this is needed so that businesses can continue to trade smoothly with Europe and the rest of the world.

It has urged the government to begin developing relationships at a political level with potential new trading partners, and establish a sector-by-sector analysis of the impact of Brexit before the publication of the Agriculture Bill.

Neil Parish, Chair of EFRA, said it is "vital" that the government articulates its vision for protecting British food and farming.

60% of the UKs agricultural exports and 70% of its imports are from the EU. In order to safeguard the livelihoods of UK farmers and guarantee domestic food security post-Brexit, it is vital that the Government articulates its vision for protecting both, Mr Parish explained.

UK agriculture will need to adapt to the changed trading circumstances following Brexit, so the Government should consider putting funding in place to enable farmers to do so.

We should under no circumstances compromise on our world-renowned animal welfare, environmental, and food standards. Brexit should be an opportunity to improve, not undermine, our global reputation for quality.The race is on to become the dominant digital platform in the agriculture sector, harnessing technologies that boost agricultural productivity through data capture and integration, according to new research.

PA Consulting Group's research creates a detailed overview of the digital agri-tech market, tracking 136 deals - including partnerships, acquisitions and investments - for 11 of the biggest agri-tech businesses and 200 start-ups and technology companies operating in the space since 1997.

The report offers five insights into the digital agritech market, including the need for closer collaboration between the established players and start-up companies.

The companies that fail to collaborate will be left behind, says Oliver Lofink, lead author of the report and a digital agriculture expert at PA Consulting Group.

Big names in the machine, equipment and agri-science sectors are now fully alert to the opportunities presented by digital agri-tech, says Mr Lofink.

Theyre racing to engage with the technology companies and start-ups, who are assembling and analysing data from different sources to unlock new insight and help farmers make smarter decisions.

'Leading platform'

Theres plenty at stake: the consumer world has shown that the first companies to capture a significant share of users normally goes on to dominate the sector.

Apple, Amazon and Google all capitalised on their early success in winning users, according to the report.

They were then able to develop economies of scale, make their platforms attractive as a host for third-party apps, and overpower other contenders who were slower out of the blocks.

The prize of a leading platform is up for grabs. Its not yet clear which platform will dominate but, for now, Monsanto and John Deere look to be ahead, explains Mr Lofink.

Monsantos Climate FieldView platform, which it acquired after paying $930m for The Climate Corporation, has already captured more than 100,000 users and covers more than 120 million acres.

Meanwhile, John Deere has established no less than 12 partnerships to broaden its own platform, MyJohnDeere, he added.

Data capture

Mr Lofink says many of the products and services that agri-tech companies are developing only cover individual parts of the data value chain: data capture, data analysis or decision support.

To maximise value for users, he says the different parts need to be integrated.

He added: Technology companies developing drones or in-field sensors are involved with data capture, for example  but the data has no value until analysed, perhaps by an innovative start-up developing sophisticated algorithms.

And the output from this analysis has no value until it is translated into insight and made available to farmers via farm management software, or directly translated into an automated action, such as spraying or harvesting.

The report also notes that 75 per cent of the start-ups researched lacked a visible revenue model. Mr Lofink says that even if the main driver is to set up a business for acquisition, these companies also need to define a sustainable revenue model, in case they dont get bought up.

These companies are largely funded by venture capital and private equity and are therefore able to rapidly develop new products and services. But many are in the dangerous position of doing this without having clearly identified customers or routes to market.Scotlands largest landowner, Buccleuch Estates, is to offer 24 tenants on secure tenancies the opportunity to buy their farms.

Buccleuch CEO, John Glen, has said the Estate has initiated discussions with 11 tenants who have officially registered an interest in buying their farms, or indicated an interest to do so, on the Eskdale and Liddesdale Estate.

The surprise news has come in the wake of intense local controversy surrounding the management of tenanted farms in the Langholm area, particularly over plans to replace tenants with trees.

Letters were sent last week to the remaining 13 tenants on secure tenancies offering the opportunity to meet with the Estate Manager so that we may understand future aspirations.

Mr Glen said: Buccleuch keeps its in-hand and tenant farming operations constantly under review. Since 2000, Buccleuch has sold 22 farms to tenants across the South of Scotland.

"Such sales enable the tenants to make positive choices for their future, and the estate to reinvest the capital released into new projects, such as Glenmuckloch pump storage hydro and Dalkeith Country Park, strengthening the rural economy."

'Tremendous opportunity'

Responding to the news, Scottish Tenant Farmers Association (STFA) Chairman Christopher Nicholson said the news represents a "tremendous opportunity" for tenants.

Most tenants on secure tenancies will have invested heavily in their farms over the generations and this investment must be reflected in the purchase price of the farms which should be subject of a tenanted discount," Mr Nicholson explained.

If Buccleuch are serious in their intentions to sell, we would expect independent and transparent valuations and a willingness to negotiate a realistic purchase price.

Increasing the diversity of landownership in Scotland has been a longstanding ambition of the Scottish Government and selling farms to sitting secure tenants is a step in the right direction.

"STFA would welcome similar proposals in other parts of Scotland where initiative and investment is still being stifled by a monopoly of landownership."UV light reduces foodborne illnesses from eggs, study says

New US study says it is an effective alternativeFourteen-year itch: Statistics New Zealand figures show that couples are most likely to call it quits after about 14 years. Figures from 2014 show that couples most commonly filed for divorce just before the 14-year mark. The average age of men breaking up was 47 and the women were 44. Experts say it's an age when people start to reflect on where they are in life and what they want.

Statistics New Zealand figures show that couples are most likely to call it quits after about 14 years. Figures from 2014 show that couples most commonly filed for divorce just before the 14-year mark. The average age of men breaking up was 47 and the women were 44. Experts say it's an age when people start to reflect on where they are in life and what they want. Twelve-year itch: A 2010 study by the Grant Thornton accountancy group showed that the majority of couples who divorce have now spent more than a decade together before going their separate ways. It concluded that marriages are most likely to fail after about twelve years.



A 2010 study by the Grant Thornton accountancy group showed that the majority of couples who divorce have now spent more than a decade together before going their separate ways. It concluded that marriages are most likely to fail after about twelve years. Four and seven-year itch: A 1999 study by Dr Larry A Kurdek, a psychology professor from Wright State University, showed the existence of both a four- and seven-year itch. According to the study, couples often began their unions with high levels of marital quality, but that it appeared to decrease twice: once rather steeply over the first four years and again after about seven. It further stated that couples with children experienced a more rapid decline in the quality of their marriage.

Three-Year Itch: A 2011 survey of 2,000 British adults who were married or in steady relationships (commissioned by Warner Bros.) also found that the seven-year itch appears to take root a lot earlier, at about the three-year mark: 67 per cent of people surveyed said it was at around 36 months that their partners little quirks and annoying habits (see infographic) really started to become intolerable. Another 2012 study by parenting website Netmums showed that couples with young children are four and a half times more likely to split after three years than the traditional seven years. Of the 1,500 respondents, 42 per cent said that having a child had driven them apart.

Next Story : Asian Paints Royal Glitz Is All About Luxury

Sometimes, the years of marriage and the proximity between two people in it slowly leaves a sense of stagnation. And not wanting to rock the rhythm of their lifestyle, couples let their marriage transform into a routine.I have almost served a full life sentence, having been married for nearly 14 years now. Thats two itches, says Veena Venugopal, a resident of Kochi, and author of Would You Like Some Bread With That Book. While the seven-year period might be suspect, I do think that marriages get weary over time. It is a huge task to put two people together and expect that over time they wont take each other for granted.The stress of marriage in Veenas case was highlighted after she and her husband had their child. With a baby arriving six years after marriage, the sheer pressure of looking after the child while they both held full-time jobs started adding to the stress. Practical issues of running the house while taking care of the baby took precedence. Veenas husband travelled four days a week. And if he didnt pull his weight on weekends, I would be driven with blind rage, she remembers. The more I yelled, the less seriously he took me. Eventually, our weapon with each other became indifference.Now, their daughter is seven years old and life seems much easier for the couple. Yet the changes wrought during that time stay. Yes, our marriage has evolved and so have wesome of it is good, but certainly not all, shares Veena.Most couples well into their marriage will relate to Veenas situation. Some go an extra mile, trying to find a relief, by looking for support outside their marriage. And some others go for intimacyemotional, spiritual and sometimes physical. The itch.Savitri Kela*, a research analyst, had been married to her long-time boyfriend for about six years. They were the typical high-achieving couple living in Delhi, with two adorable kids. I think the daily routine took a toll on us. Prashant, my husband, was busy with his job and I was busy trying to balance everything including the kids, my work and the home, says Savitri. I was straining under the need to keep it all up and was frustrated that it was taken for granted that I would keep doing it all.She met her classmate from school on a social networking site, and the casual re-acquaintance soon took on a deeper shade. He complimented her for little things, sent her surprise gifts at workit was a disaster waiting to happento her marriage.In my heart, I knew things were spiralling out of control when we began calling this a relationship and making plans to meet each other. But I couldnt help but feel good about the attention I was getting from the other man, remembers Savitri. It was around then that Prashant saw one of her chat windows open on her laptop. Naturally, things came to head and Prashant confronted her.So was the couple a victim of the proverbial itch? Dr Kersi Chavda, consultant psychiatrist in Hinduja Hospital, Mumbai, thinks so. Such issues are rather common in India these days, although the term is rumoured to have been coined in the USA, where the average period of a marriage is about seven years, says Dr Chavda. But it is normal for the itch to appear even in the second or third year of marriage these days, says Dr Chavda.But not every marriage goes through the fearsome consequences of an itch. And that despite the staleness, monotony of predictability and the possibility of indifference creeping in. I am not sure whether I experienced the seven year itch, says Nidhi Pant, a homemaker who is currently based in Singapore. However, I did feel the faintest murmur of discontent/restlessness in our relationship roughly around our seventh year of marriage. At the time, I was completely overwhelmed by the effort and responsibility of looking after our young son, who was born four years after our marriage.Nidhi remembers not having enough time with her husband. Things mostly revolved around our son back then. The little time that we had in the shape of vacation, we spent with our families, recollects Nidhi, who will soon complete 10 years of marriage. We had started taking each other for granted and were not communicating as effectively as before. I even remember feeling short-changed at times. Nidhi and her husband soon had another child.But thankfully for both, their relationship got a boost when he was required to move out of the country with his job. It gave us a chance to discover the joys of being together again. We feel blessed having our kids, and have accepted what comes with the territory. But I am really looking forward to when our kids move out to live own their own and we can carry on where we left off, she says.When Radhika Oltikar, a freelance editor based in Mumbai, stepped into her marriage, she had no notions of a fairytale awaiting her. I know that the proverbial seven-year itch manifests itself in most marriages and there is no point shying away from the truth, she says. In fact, when you acknowledge it, you are better equipped to deal with it and come up with ideas to work at strengthening your marriage.The passing years test the basic foundation that a marriage rests upon. My relationship with Nikhil, my husband, is built on a solid base of friendship and mutual respect and liking, says Radhika. And when you know that you can never find anyone who even comes close to your husband, the thought of straying does not occur. You will need take the monotony as a natural phase and try to invest more time and energy to keep your marriage ticking.Dr Chavda agrees. I always tell my clients that they need to make an effort to make things happenand not wait for it to happen, he says. With boundaries reducing since the advent of the Internet, a couple needs to work harder nowadays. Because even though the issues in a marriage remain the same, the ease of contacting and connecting with people on the Internet makes it simpler for people to get tempted into finding a release for their needs. Once the priority shifts from making each other happy and the romance, the pressures of kids, work and household chores take precedence. Soon, either one or both of them succumb to the pleasures of looking outside their marriage thinking that they are not going to get caught.Thats when the couple needs to sit back and hold up a mirror to choose between hanging on and hanging up. Nikhil and I ensured that we spent time together, remembers Radhika. We even managed a short trip to Mauritius, leaving our daughter with my in-laws.Sad endings are inevitable in some cases. One such case was of a client of Dr Chavda, where the itch had manifested itself during the last 10 years in a 25-year-old marriage, resulting in a divorce.While sometime these slips in the marriage turn into conflicts, other times, if the foundation to the marriage is solid, the couple will sail through safely. As it did in the case of Savitri and her husband. Some retrospection and a couple of counselling sessions later, the husband and wife found ways to hold the marriage together. My kids do not know about this episode and we are back to being the family we once were. I know it will take a little long, but Prashant and I are mending the bridges and rebuilding the lost trust, says Savitri.Of course, the equation varies from one couple to another. While the rough patch in a marriage may lead to one straying, it might be the impetus another needs to confronting his or her truths and find a way out of relationship, even if only because it is stagnating. Honesty, then, is all that holds, for there is no one-size-fits-all solution. The decision to stay or leave is entirely based on the dynamics of the relationship.Over time, my husband and I have toned down our expectations of each other. And while I am happy with the stability and financial freedom that a marriage allows me, adds Veena. I do find myself envious of friends who are in the early stages of a romantic relationship. I think marriage is the death of romance. Unless you are Obama.Its time to check what you brought to the table, which added to the stagnation. It could be over-working, over-socialising or simply an overt need for perfection.A talk with the other will help bring back the connect you may have lost to the chores that need to be done. And dont let even your arguments distract you while he is speaking his heart out.A child, the unending cycle of bills to payall of it adds to changing the person you are, as it does your husband. Acknowledge the change and be open to the better experiences that come in its wake.Say it with flowers, gifts, candle light dinners or kinky sex. Bring back the anticipation and the lost fire.If the problem seems deeper than imagined, dont shy from counselling, either with common friends or with a professional. A third perspective usually helps you see what you missed in the other over the years.If things dont work out, there is more to life than pretence. Take responsibility, get a closure and leave, ensuring that you have set up a good parenting arrangement.The seven-year itch is not a proven phenomenon. Here are a few studies in which experts agreed to disagree with it.KMG marks 25th anniversary

Kantipur Media Group (KMG) marked its 25th anniversary amid a function organised at its central office in Thapathali, Kathmandu, on Monday.She has appeared in two of the biggest hits of recent times, "Tiger Zinda Hai" and "Padmaavat", and actor Anupriya Goenka is thankful to Sanjay Leela Bhansali for giving her an opportunity in his film.

Though the actor has featured in films like "Daddy", "Dishoom" among others, it is the Salman Khan-starrer and Sanjay Leela Bhansali's magnum opus that stands out as the bigger films of her career so far.

"It (offers) would be also dependent on my talent but mainly getting those first few breaks is the most difficult part. Initially, people who show trust in you and give you that opportunity are being very brave."

"Because of them I feel I've got a lot of appreciation, from fans and the industry. It is a heartwarming space and I'm excited to see what happens now," she told PTI.

The actor says part of the struggle in the industry is to constantly search for work."There are days when you are busy even without having work as you are going for auditions. So you are not acting in a way."

Salman Khan Gets Backlashes As He Chooses Atif Aslam Over Arijit Singh

"To sustain yourself mentally, physically, emotionally is challenging for sure," she says.

"I come from a corporate space so I'm used to doing certain kind of work on a daily basis but here you are looking for work on a daily basis," she adds.

Bagging two big projects was not an easy task and the actor says it is a case of sheer derivation as well as being at the "right place at the right time".

"It's a combination of how much efforts you put in, how much you're working on a daily basis on your goals and it also has to do with a bit of luck. It's difficult but you've to be very patient. The main thing is perseverance."

In Tiger Zinda Hai, Anupriya played the role of nurse Poorna and in "Padmaavat", she essayed Nagmati, the first wife of Shahid Kapoor's Raja Rawal Ratan.

She will next be seen in Nagesh Kukunoors "Maaya" in the lead role.

"It's a very intense film. I had a great time shooting for it because it's very interesting story when you've to carry the whole film on your shoulders and to work with a director that closely. I saw myself change through the shoot of the film. I hope it comes out soon."

Credits - PTINepal abandons LDC graduation plan

Nepal has abandoned the plan of relying on the non-income criteria framed by the United Nations (UN) to graduate from the Least Developed Country (LDC) category, fearing the transition would significantly reduce the flow of foreign aid and deprive the country of other international support measures.Giorgi Kvirikashvili: Occupation of 20% of our territories and the ongoing militarization are still significant problems - GeorgianJournalGermany discussing the issue of listing Georgia into safe countries - GeorgianJournalWhatsApp Payments

WhatsApp Payments is for the Android and iOS users. The update will let its users to send and receive money. This feature is based on UPI and was launched in India recently. If you have updated WhatsApp and did not get the feature, then you can enable the same if you receive a WhatsApp message from someone who has the feature activated. Remember that the payments feature can be used only when your mobile number is linked to a bank account.

After activation, WhatsApp lets you transfer money to others via direct messages. It can be used in group chats also. You need to identify a person from the group to send payment. There are other apps also to send or receive money via UPI.

BHIM

BHIM (Bharat Interface for Money) is an app developed by NPCI. It lets you choose a preferred bank. When you sign in, the app will ask you to choose a bank. If UPI is activated, then it will show the account number and you can see the option to send or receive money using IFSC code.

If you have not activated UPI, then you can activate it by entering the six digits of your debit card and its expiry date. You can then create a UPI pin after which you can carry out the functions.

SEE ALSO: How to install Facebook app on JioPhone

Tez

Tez is from Google and based on UPI. It is also developed by NPCI. It lets you send money to others and the amount will be directly debited from the account that is synced with the app.Exclusive: Panasonic India to launch mid-range G7 and G85 cameras in April News oi-Priyanka LUMIX GH5S features 5EV luminance detection performance with Low Light AF that aids in higher sensitivity and optimized tuning of the sensor.

After launching LUMIX GH5S, world's first high precision cinema 4K recording camera designed specifically for low light scenarios, Panasonic India is all set to launch two new camera models in April this year.

"There's the lot to come here like G7 and G85 models in the mid-range segment ranging between Rs. 50,000 to Rs. 70,000 and they will be available in India from April this year," Gaurav Ghavri, Product Head- Digital Imaging, Panasonic India, told GizBot.

Well, it looks like we have exciting days to look forward to.

Meanwhile talking about the latest release LUMIX GH5S, from the company Gaurav said, "GH5S is largely for professional video maker like people from cinema, professional wedding market." Adding to that, "we are also doing a lot of workshops to communicate this product, in fact, people are very much interested in this camera."

The camera is currently available at all Panasonic stores across the country at a price of Rs 1,84,990.

While the new camera is said to offer high performance, LUMIX GH5S features 5EV luminance detection performance with Low Light AF that aids in higher sensitivity and optimized tuning of the sensor. It is further powered by a LiveView Boost feature that makes it possible to check the composition even in total darkness by boosting the sensitivity just for the Live view.

Packed with astounding features to satisfy the evolving needs of videographers, the newly developed 10.2-megapixel Digital MOS Sensor with Dual Native ISO Technology and Venus Engine 10 faithfully reproduces even dark parts of the image, allowing ISO 51200 high sensitivity recording when the use of supplemental lighting may not be possible as well as an extended ISO of up to 204,800.

Commenting on the launch of LUMIX GH5S Gaurav had said, "It has also enhanced the 225-point autofocus system to achieve outstanding footage in any environment, especially in low light. It also allows shooting time-lapses and 2.5x slow motion in 4K or up 10x slow motion in Full HD."

Interaction with Gaurav Ghavri, Product Head (Panasonic India)

And with this launch, Vijay Wadhwan, Business Head - System Solution Business, Panasonic India, also stated, "We will be looking at 20 percent market share in 1.5-3L camera market by 2018-19."

Best Mobiles in IndiaHMD Global to unveil Nokia 4 featuring Snapdragon 450 SoC at MWC 2018 News oi-Samden Sherpa Nokia is already expected to launch Nokia 1, Nokia 7 Plus, Nokia 6 (2018), Nokia 8 Sirocco, Nokia 9, and the 4G variant of the 3310 for the global market.

HMD Global licensed brand Nokia recently announced that it is holding a press event at Mobile World Congress 2018 and from what we have been hearing so far the Finnish company is all set to unveil a wide range of smartphones at the world's largest exhibition for the mobile industry. Nokia is expected to launch Nokia 1, Nokia 7 Plus, Nokia 6 (2018), Nokia 8 Sirocco, Nokia 9, and the 4G variant of the 3310 for the global market.

While we have heard or have been hearing about these devices in the past few days it looks like there will be one more smartphone that Nokia will bring to the market. The company is said to bring Nokia 4 as well for the first time at the MWC 2018. The device has been leaked via VK.com (Nokia Power User).

Going by the report, it says that Nokia 4 will likely be the successor to the existing Nokia 3 handset which was indeed launched at the MWC 2017. However, apart from this, there are very few details about Nokia 4. Besides, speculations are high and some even suggest that the device will come with Snapdragon 450 chipset. And this could happen as Nokia 3 which came with a MediaTek processor received criticisms for its performance.

HMD Global seems to be planning to launch the Nokia 4 for some time now. Just last month a mysterious handset had appeared in an APK file teardown of a camera app. This further gave hints about the existence of Nokia 4. Quite interestingly, some reports flying around in the web have also stated that HMD Global could halt the production of Nokia 3. So considering all these information, we might see Nokia 4 being launched soon.

While exciting days are ahead, we have to wait a bit for Nokia to make the announcements officially. As such, the company has scheduled a press conference for February 25 in Barcelona. Everything will be announced at the launch event.

Meanwhile, details about a new Nokia feature phone with model number Nokia TA-1048 appeared yesterday and the device has been certified by the Federal Communications Commission in the US as well. Additionally, details about Nokia 8 Pro also surfaced online just this morning. All in all, Nokia seems to have several devices in its product portfolio for 2018.

Best Mobiles in India

Facebook, To stay updated with latest technology news & gadget reviews, follow GizBot on Twitter YouTube and also subscribe to our notification. Allow NotificationsNokia 8 Pro with Snapdragon 845 SoC reportedly in the making News oi-Abhinaya Prabhu Nokia 8 Pro might be none other than the Nokia 10 rumored to feature a penta-lens camera module at its rear.

As we are nearing the MWC 2018 tech show that is all set to debut on February 26, there are a lot of speculations related to the upcoming smartphones. HMD Global has already sent the media invites for a press conference that is all set to happen on February 25 at Barcelona and we expect the company to unveil a slew of devices at the event next week.

In the meantime, the existence of a few more models has also popped up online. Recently, we came across the Nokia 8 Sirocco moniker that is claimed to be none other than the Nokia 9. This device was also spotted in an official certification and APK teardown. Now, a report by NokiaPowerUser tips that a smartphone with the retail name Nokia 8 Pro is also in the making.

It is said to be one of the flagships to be launched by Nokia this year and is expected to hit the market sometime in August or September this year. It also said that the previously rumored Nokia 10 does not exist and that the Nokia 8 Pro is the one that was believed to be the Nokia 10 in the earlier claims.

Having said that, it is not difficult for us to guess that the Nokia 8 Pro will make use of the latest powerful Qualcomm chipset - the Snapdragon 845. The smartphone has the suffix Pro as it will arrive with a powerful and more advanced camera and many other innovations, claims the report. If this turns out to be true, then the Nokia 8 Pro will feature the highly-anticipated Penta-lens camera module along with a rotating zoom camera that has been developed by Zeiss.

From the leaked sketch, we can expect the Nokia 8 Pro to bestow a fingerprint sensor below the main camera at its rear. Also, the design of this smartphone is believed to be similar to that of the Nokia 9 that is speculated to feature 3D glass at its front and rear. The report citing its source reveals that the Nokia 8 Pro will arrive with a full-screen design and 18:9 aspect ratio display and leaves a hint of the double glass design as seen in the sketch.

Best Mobiles in India

Facebook, To stay updated with latest technology news & gadget reviews, follow GizBot on Twitter YouTube and also subscribe to our notification. Allow NotificationsGoogle announces intent to acquire Xively, a division of LogMeIn News oi-Priyanka This acquisition, subject to closing conditions, will complement Google Cloud's effort to provide a fully managed IoT service that easily and securely connects, manages, and ingests data from globally

Search engine giant Google has announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Xively, a division of LogMeIn, Inc.

Google in its blog said that "Through this acquisition, Cloud IoT Core will gain deep IoT technology and engineering expertise, including Xively's advanced device management, messaging, and dashboard capabilities. Our customers will benefit from Xively's extensive feature set and flexible device management platform, paired with the security and scale of Google Cloud."

Adding that with Google Cloud's deep leadership in data analytics and machine learning, our customers will also be uniquely positioned to build turnkey IoT solutions and focus on business value creation.

By 2020, it's estimated that about 20 billion connected things will come online, and analytics and data storage in the cloud are now the cornerstone of any successful IoT solution. This acquisition, subject to closing conditions, will complement Google Cloud's effort to provide a fully managed IoT service that easily and securely connects, manages, and ingests data from globally dispersed devices. With the addition of Xively's robust, enterprise-ready IoT platform, we can accelerate our customers' timeline from IoT vision to product, as they look to build their connected business, Google said.

Meanwhile, LogMeIn in the blog post said that it has reached a definitive agreement to sell its Xively business to Google, subject to customary closing conditions.

It said that So the obvious question is, does this mean LogMeIn is exiting the IoT? Well, if you mean the IoT connectivity platform space, yes, we're leaving it. We believe that Google Cloud, now armed with Xively's team and great technology - and backed by their platform and developer heritage and reach - are a far better fit for the future of platform leadership. What we will continue to do is invest in our Support-of-Things initiatives for products like LogMeIn Rescue, Bold360, GoToAssist, Central, Rescue Lens and SeeIt - all offerings that will continue to help our customers support new types of connected products, as well as the connected consumers that use them.

The company further said that earlier this week, we took the wraps off of our new AI-powered customer engagement portfolio - a product line aimed at helping companies engage with modern consumers through their preferred messaging, social, and digital channels. Adding that Last week, we announced a deal to acquire Jive Communications - a deal that will bring together LogMeIn's renowned portfolio of collaboration apps like GoToMeeting and join.me with one of the best cloud telephony services on the market.

Best Mobiles in India

Facebook, To stay updated with latest technology news & gadget reviews, follow GizBot on Twitter YouTube and also subscribe to our notification. Allow NotificationsPrez summons federal parliament meeting for March 5

President Bidya Devi Bhandari has summoned the first meeting of the federal parliament for March 5, after over two months following the conclusion of the House of Representative elections.Sweden Confirms Citizenship For Iranian Scientist Facing Death Penalty

RFE/RL February 17, 2018

The Swedish Foreign Ministry On February 17 confirmed that it has granted citizenship to a Stockholm-based scientist who is being held in Iran and faces a death sentence.

Ahmadreza Djalali, a medical doctor and lecturer at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, was arrested in Iran in April 2016 and later convicted on charges of espionage.

He was accused by Iranian authorities of providing information to Israel to help it assassinate several senior Iranian nuclear scientists.

Iran's Supreme Court upheld the death sentence in December.

Tehran's prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi says Djalali confessed to meeting agents of the Israeli intelligence agency, Mossad, to deliver information on Iran's nuclear and defense plans and personnel.

A Swedish Foreign Ministry spokeswoman on February 17 confirmed that Djalali was granted Swedish citizenship by the country's Migration Board.

The spokeswoman said Sweden is continuing consular work for Djalali and has requested that Iran allow "consular access to our citizen."

The spokeswoman also said Swedish diplomats have expressed Sweden's view about the death penalty to Iranian representatives, condemning it in all its forms.

"Our demand is that the death penalty is not carried out," the spokeswoman said.

Djalali had been on a business trip to Iran when he was arrested and sent to Tehran's notorious Evin prison.

The rights groups Amnesty International says Djalali was held in solitary confinement for three months and tortured after his arrest.

Amnesty International also said Djalali wrote a letter from inside prison in August stating he was being held because he refused to spy for Iran.

Seventy-five Nobel prize laureates in 2016 petitioned Iranian authorities to release Djalali so he can "continue his scholarly work for the benefit of mankind."

With reporting by Reuters and AFP

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/sweden-confirms-citizenship- iranian-scientist-death-penalty/29045754.html

Copyright (c) 2018. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Dozen Emirati troopers, tens of Saudi mercs slain in abortive assault on Yemeni base

Iran Press TV

Sun Feb 18, 2018 04:50PM

At least twelve servicemen from the United Arab Emirates Army and tens of Saudi-backed militiamen loyal to Yemen's resigned president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, have been killed when they launched an offensive on a military base in Yemen's southwestern province of Ta'izz.

A Yemeni military source, requesting anonymity, told Arabic-language al-Masirah television network that the Emirati soldiers and their allies carried out the assault in the Mawza district of the province, situated 346 kilometers (214 miles) south of the capital Sana'a, on Sunday evening, but were repelled and suffered losses within their ranks.

The source added that four armored vehicles belonging to Emirati troopers and four vehicles of Saudi mercenaries were destroyed in the botched assault as well.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of the United Arab Emirates identified one of the slain Emirati servicemen as Sergeant Ali Khalifah Hashal al-Mesmari.

On October 17, 2017, a Boeing AH-64 Apache attack helicopter operated by the United Arab Emirates Air Force (UAEAF) crashed in Yemen's northern province of al-Jawf, killing the two pilots on board.

The UAE's official WAM news agency reported that the four-blade and twin-turboshaft aircraft had gone down due to a technical glitch.

The report identified those onboard the helicopter as Major Ali al-Mismari and First Lieutenant Badr al-Murshedah.

Yemen's official Saba news agency reported on August 11 that a Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk utility helicopter of the UAEAF had crashed in the Amqeel area of Ar Rawdah district in the south-central Yemeni province of Shabwah.

The general command of the UAE's armed forces confirmed that four of its soldiers were killed after their helicopter was hit by a technical fault.

However, Colonel Turki al-Maliki, a spokesman for the Saudi-led military coalition engaged in a war in Yemen, later said the pilot made an emergency landing in the area due to "a technical defect while returning from an operation in Yemen."

Saudi Arabia has been incessantly pounding Yemen since March 2015 in an attempt to crush the popular Houthi Ansarullah movement and reinstate former president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, who is a staunch ally of the Riyadh regime.

The UAE is one of the main allies of Riyadh in its deadly war against the Yemeni nation. The United States has also been providing arms and military training as well as bombing coordinates to the Saudi-led coalition since the beginning of the protracted war, which has failed to achieve its goals.

8 Saudi soldiers killed in Yemeni sniper fire in Jizan

Meanwhile, Yemeni army soldiers, supported by fighters from allied Popular Committees, have shot dead eight Saudi soldiers in the kingdom's southwestern border region of Jizan, in retaliation for the Riyadh regime's military campaign against the crisis-hit country.

The media bureau of Yemen's Houthi Ansarullah movement reported that Yemeni forces had fatally shot four troopers in the region's Quwa village.

Later on Sunday, Yemeni soldiers and Popular Committees fighters shot and killed four other Saudi soldiers in Hamezah village of Jizan.

At least 13,600 people have been killed since the onset of Saudi Arabia's military campaign against Yemen. Much of the Arabian Peninsula country's infrastructure, including hospitals, schools and factories, has been reduced to rubble due to the war.

The Saudi-led war has also triggered a deadly cholera epidemic across Yemen.

According to the World Health Organization's latest count, the cholera outbreak has killed 2,167 people since the end of April and is suspected to have infected 841,906.

On November 26 last year, the United Nations children's agency (UNICEF) said that more than 11 million children in Yemen were in acute need of aid, stressing that it was estimated that every 10 minutes a child died of a preventable disease there.

Additionally, the UN has described the current level of hunger in Yemen as "unprecedented," emphasizing that 17 million people are now food insecure in the country.

It added that 6.8 million, meaning almost one in four people, do not have enough food and rely entirely on external assistance.

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Yemeni army, allies shoot down Saudi spy drone over Sa'ada

Iran Press TV

Sun Feb 18, 2018 02:05PM

Yemeni army soldiers, supported by allied fighters from Popular Committees, have managed to shoot down a Saudi unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) as it was on a reconnaissance mission in Yemen's northwestern province of Sa'ada.

An unnamed Yemeni military source told Arabic-language al-Masirah television network that the Saudi reconnaissance drone was shot down as it was flying in the skies over al-Buqa district on Sunday evening.

On December 30 last year, Yemeni troopers and Popular Committees fighters traced and targeted a Saudi reconnaissance drone over Hirz district in the northwestern province of Hajjah.

Yemeni forces, using a surface-to-air missile, shot down a Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jet belonging to the Royal Saudi Air Force on November 27 as it was flying east of the Yemeni capital city of Sana'a.

Earlier that month, the Yemeni army announced that it had managed to shoot down a US-made General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper, a drone operated by the Royal Saudi Air Force.

In June, the Yemeni air defense forces also intercepted and shot down a Saudi F-15 fighter jet in the skies over Sana'a.

At least 13,600 people have been killed since the onset of Saudi Arabia's military campaign against Yemen in 2015. Much of the country's infrastructure, including hospitals, schools and factories, has been reduced to rubble due to the war.

The Saudi-led war has also triggered a deadly cholera epidemic across Yemen.

According to the World Health Organization's latest tally, the cholera outbreak has killed 2,167 people since the end of April 2017 and is suspected to have infected 841,906.

In November 2017, the United Nations children's agency, UNICEF, said more than 11 million children in Yemen were in acute need of aid, stressing that it was estimated that every 10 minutes a child died of a preventable disease there.

Additionally, the UN has described the current level of hunger in Yemen as "unprecedented," emphasizing that 17 million people were food insecure in the country.

The world body says that 6.8 million, meaning almost one in four people, do not have enough food and rely entirely on external assistance.

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Publishers Note : Kantipur's Silver Jubilee

Today we mark 25 years of our establishment. The Kantipur Media Group is celebrating its silver jubilee as the countrys first integrated private sector media house.US won't stop patrols near China's islands in South China Sea: Navy

Iran Press TV

Sun Feb 18, 2018 05:53AM

A US Navy officer has warned that China's military presence in the South China Sea would not stop American forces from patrolling the strategic, disputed waters.

"International law allows us to operate here, allows us to fly here, allows us to train here, allows us to sail here, and that's what we're doing and we're going to continue to do that," Lt. Cmdr. Tim Hawkins said Saturday on board the USS Carl Vinson, which anchored at Manila Bay while on a visit to the Philippines.

The warship's anchor commander made the remarks to The Associated Press when asked whether China's newly built islands could restrain US patrols in the disputed waters.

Hawkins said the US patrols in the region, which have been carried out for seven decades, are aimed at promoting security and ensuring the unimpeded flow of trade.

When President Donald Trump came to power, Southeast Asian officials were uncertain how the US would respond to the overlapping territorial claims involving China and its neighbors.

China claims almost all of the South China Sea and has challenged the US naval presence in the western Pacific.

The Trump administration has outlined a new security strategy that stresses the need to counter China's rise and reinforce the US presence in the Indo-Pacific region.

"We're committed," Hawkins told reporters. "We're here."

Washington and Beijing have long accused each other of stoking tensions in the Indo-Pacific region through military buildup.

US officials have insisted American warships will continue sailing close to features claimed by Beijing without advance notice, putting Washington at odds with China's interests.

In January, China accused the US of violating in its territorial waters when it sailed the USS Hopper, a guided missile destroyer, near the Scarborough Shoal, which is disputed by Beijing and Manila.

China then vowed to take "necessary measures" to protect its sovereignty.

Hawkins said the nuclear-powered Carl Vinson patrolled the disputed sea prior to its Manila visit but did not carry out a freedom of navigation operation.

"That's not to say that we won't or we can't, but we have not, up to this point," the commander said.

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Indonesia inks deal to buy 11 Sukhoi Su-35 jets from Russia

Iran Press TV

Sun Feb 18, 2018 02:51AM

Indonesia has finalized a billion-dollar deal pertaining to the purchase of 11 Sukhoi Su-35 jets from Russia.

According to Indonesian Defense Ministry spokesman Totok Sugiharto on Saturday, the contract, worth a total of $1.14 billion, was finalized by representatives from both countries in Jakarta.

"Two units of Sukhoi jets will be delivered in August 2018," he added, noting that six more planes would be delivered 18 months after the contract becomes effective, and the remaining three would be delivered five months after that.

Indonesia and Russia entered into a memorandum of understanding over the exchange 11 Russian-made Sukhoi jets for key commodities, such as palm oil, coffee and tea, in August last year, in what Indonesia said was an opportunity to capitalize on international sanctions on Moscow.

The Saturday announcement refrained from mentioning the deal's manner of payment.

A host of sanctions have been imposed against Russia over 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine. Crimea declared independence from Ukraine on March 17, 2014 and formally applied to become part of Russia following a referendum, in which the majority of people voted to separate from Ukraine and reunite with Russia.

The EU and the US, however, considers the development as an "illegal annexation" and has imposed a raft of economic sanctions on Russia. Russia, however, has categorically denied the allegations that it is responsible for the Ukrainian conflict.

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U.S., Georgian Officials Discuss Defense Ties In Munich

RFE/RL February 18, 2018

The Pentagon says Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has met with the Georgian prime minister and defense minister in Germany to discuss bilateral defense relations and regional security issues.

The meeting with Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashili and Defense Minister Levan Izoria took place on February 17 on the sidelines of the annual Munich Security Conference, Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White said in a statement.

Mattis "praised Georgia's continuing service as the largest non-NATO force contributor and per-capita contributor alongside U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, recognizing that this service has come at the price of 32 Georgian service members' lives and 290 more wounded," White said.

She added that Mattis discussed the "significant progress in Georgia's defense reforms and U.S. security assistance to Georgia's armed forces, including the ongoing partnership to enhance combat readiness and institutional capacity via the Georgia Defense Readiness Program."

Mattis also reaffirmed Washington's continued support for Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The Russia-backed breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia have declared independence from Georgia.

Russia recognized the regions as independent states following a short war with Georgia in August 2008.

Only a few countries followed Russia's lead in recognizing the entities' independence.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/u-s-mattis-georgian officials-munich-meeting/29046332.html

Copyright (c) 2018. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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U.S., Allies Press UN To Punish Iran For Huthi Access To Missiles

RFE/RL February 18, 2018

The United States, Britain, and France are pushing the United Nations Security Council to condemn Iran for failing to prevent its missiles from falling into the hands of Huthi rebels in Yemen.

According to a draft resolution seen on February 17 by the Reuters news agency, the three allies also want the Security Council to commit to taking action against Iran over sanctions violations related to the missiles.

The resolution would allow the 15-member council to impose targeted sanctions for "any activity related to the use of ballistic missiles in Yemen."

Diplomats told Reuters that the draft resolution was given to the council on February 16.

The draft would need to be adopted in the Security Council by February 26, although it is likely to face resistance from Russia.

A resolution needs nine votes to pass but can be vetoed by any of the permanent members -- Russia, China, the United States, France, or Britain.

Russia's UN mission was not immediately available for comment on the draft resolution, Reuters reported.

U.S. President Donald Trump has taken a hard line on Iran during his campaign and into his administration.

He has warned that the United States would withdraw from a 2015 nuclear pact signed between Iran and world powers unless European allies and the U.S. Congress fix what he called "disastrous flaws" in the deal, which provided Tehran with sanctions relief in return for restraints on its nuclear program.

The Trump administration has also said it is committed to enact "effective and lasting restraints" on Iran's ballistic missile program, which Western officials claim can easily be converted by Tehran to further its nuclear weapons effort.

The U.S. administration has heightened its verbal attacks on Tehran in recent days.

National security adviser H.R. McMaster, speaking at the Munich Security Conference on February 17, warned that Iran is creating and arming a powerful network of proxies in countries like Syria, Yemen, and Iraq.

"What's particularly concerning is that this network of proxies is becoming more and more capable, as Iran seeds more and more...destructive weapons into these networks," McMaster told the conference.

"So the time is now, we think, to act against Iran," he said.

Meanwhile, Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the UN, wrote in a piece in The New York Times published on February 17 that "since the signing of the nuclear agreement, the Iranian regime's support of dangerous militias and terror groups has markedly increased."

"Its missiles and advanced weapons are turning up in war zones all across the Middle East," she said.

Yemen is the battleground for what has been called a proxy war between Shi'ite Iran and Sunni-led Saudi Arabia, a U.S. ally.

Iran has denied allegations that it has supplied its allies, the Huthi rebels, with weapons, although the United States has displayed sections of what it said were Iranian-made missiles that the rebels fired toward Saudi Arabia.

In January, a report by a UN panel of experts found that Iranian ballistic missiles and other weapons were introduced into Yemen and that Iran failed to take measures needed to prevent those weapons from reaching the rebels.

The Security Council has banned the supply of weapons to the Huthi rebels and "those acting on their behalf or at their direction."

With reporting by Reuters, The Financial Times, and CBS

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/iran- huthi-yemen-saudi-us-britain-france-un -missiles/29046161.html

Copyright (c) 2018. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Moldovan PM Renews Call For Russia To Quit Transdniester

RFE/RL February 18, 2018

Moldovan Prime Minister Pavel Filip has repeated his call for Russia to withdraw its troops and armaments from Moldova's separatist region of Transdniester.

Filip on February 17 told a roundtable at the Munich Security Conference that his country seeks "a balanced, friendly relationship with Moscow."

He described such a relationship as one "in which our trade cooperation will not be politicized, and the dialogue will be based on mutual respect."

It would be a relationship "in which there will be a real desire to help settle the Transdniester conflict and to withdraw military forces and munitions from the territory of the Republic of Moldova," he added.

Mainly Russian-speaking Transdniester declared independence from Moldova in 1990 over fears that Chisinau would seek reunification with neighboring Romania. Most of Moldova was part of Romania in the interwar period.

Moldovan forces and Moscow-backed Transdniester fighters fought a short but bloody war in 1992.

The conflict ended with a cease-fire agreement after Russian troops in the region intervened on the side of the separatists.

Some 1,400 Russian troops remain in Transdniester guarding Soviet-era arms depots, and Moscow has resisted numerous calls over the years to withdraw its troops.

Transdniester's independence is recognized by no country, and the United Nations and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), among others, have attempted to forge a resolution to the dispute.

Internal Divisions

Moldova is facing internal political divisons as well. The Filip government, which favors closer ties with the EU and the United States, has been at odds with pro-Moscow President Igor Dodon, who is advocating the country's deeper integration with Russia and former Soviet states.

On February 9, a senior Moldovan lawmaker accused Russia of meddling in his country's domestic politics ahead of parliamentary elections later this year.

Filip, in his remarks in Munich -- which were posted on the Moldovan government's website -- said the authorities will do "everything necessary to ensure the freeness and fairness of the parliamentary elections."

Filip also lamented the "state of uncertainty" facing all countries in Eastern Europe.

Along with "the relationship of each country with Russia," Filip cited concerns related to internal issues, "such as structural reforms, consolidation of democratic institutions, the fight against corruption, poverty reduction, infrastructure upgrading."

He stressed that it is in the common interest to make the situation in the region "as predictable and stable as possible."

"The main role in achieving this goal lies with the East European countries themselves -- to become more prosperous and to strengthen their resilience to internal and external challenges," he added.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/moldova-filip-russia- transdniester-dodon/29046184.html

Copyright (c) 2018. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Hashish Becoming a Main Source of Income for the Taliban

Sputnik News

23:41 18.02.2018(updated 23:49 18.02.2018)

Cannabis resin has joined opium as an export of choice for Islamist terrorists fighting the Afghan government for control of the country, which has been ravaged by war for decades.

According to a recent report released by the NATO Special Operations Command, 34 metric tons of cannabis and 300 kilograms of processed hashish were seized in Afghanistan in a raid carried out jointly with the National Interdiction Unit of the Afghan police force. NATO said that these raids were an attempt to block the sources of income of the Taliban.

In January, commandos from the Afghan army's 7th Special Operations in Kandak conducted a night raid on a Taliban "Red Unit" compound in Nahr-e Saraj district, Helmand province. As a result, more than 1,000 kilograms of hashish worth $3.4 million was seized and destroyed.

Both Afghanistan

and the world community have been conducting a large-scale battle against the production of narcotics in recent years, but this battle hasn't lead to any significant results. A few years ago, the UN recognized Afghanistan as the world's largest narcotics producer.

The war, which has lasted for almost four decades in Afghanistan, has destroyed all the country's infrastructure. To survive, villagers are forced to grow poppies for opium. According to the latest UN data, about 70,000 hectares of land is used for growing cannabis. Annually, the country produces between 1,500 and 3,500 metric tons of hashish.

Sputnik spoke to General Najibullah from the Kabul special police force and Seyed Mehdi Kazemi, spokesman for the anti-drug department of the Ministry of Interior Affairs of Afghanistan, about who controls the narcotics business in the country, as well as the growth in production and smuggling of drugs in Afghanistan.

Seyed Mehdi Kazemi told Sputnik that the Taliban controls the production of drugs, as it is an essential source of their income: "The Taliban need money to maintain their military equipment and buy weapons. That's why they took control of factories that produce drugs into their own hands."

While General Najibullah, talking about his experience in the fight against drug trafficking, noted an increase in production and drug smuggling: "I have worked in various crimes units for the last 20 years. Part of my duty was to fight narcotics. There are drugs in Afghanistan, and this is the reality. Special bodies were created that bravely fight against them. Of course, there is a drug mafia all over the world, as drug smuggling brings a huge illegal income. Now in Afghanistan there are drug dealers who operate in the center of the country and in the provinces. It should be noted that international drug dealers are also involved here, they encourage the cultivation of drugs by farmers, and as a result drug smuggling in our country is growing. We cannot deny this. Yes, drug trafficking in Afghanistan has increased."

Kazemi said that the Taliban are forcing Afghan farmers to grow drugs in areas under their control: "They force the villagers to grow cannabis and poppies and openly tell them that they will ensure their safety in exchange for growing narcotic plants. Of course, the Taliban are involved in this, and are engaged in the smuggling of drugs into Iran and Pakistan."

According to Kazemi, the cultivation, production and smuggling of drugs is taking place in the southern and south-western provinces of Afghanistan  Oruzgan, Helmand, Qandahar; in the east  in Badakhshan, Baqlan and other areas where power is in the hands of the Taliban.

 Sputnik

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IS Smuggling Wood to Finance Militancy in Afghanistan

By Mohammad Habibzada February 18, 2018

Islamic State is chopping down fruit trees and smuggling the timber into Pakistan, claim Afghan officials and local residents of the Deh Bala district of eastern Nangarhar province where the terrorist group operates.

"Some of the local residents who previously helped the Taliban [are] now helping IS militants, Gul Khan Shinwari, a local tribal leader told VOA.

"IS militants also took our entire pine nuts crop and destroyed our source of income," he added.

The Deh Bala district in eastern Nangarhar has thousands of pine nut trees that locals rely on as the only natural source of income.Similar incidents were also reported in the neighboring Achin and Nazian districts where locals said IS militants using cutting-edge technology to cut down the jungles.

Smuggling goods

Local residents claim the strongmen in the districts had previously helped the Taliban and are now helping IS militants cut the trees and sell a portion of it as firewood in local markets, and smuggling logs of wood to neighboring Pakistan where the demand for lumber is high.

They also claim that IS militants are hiring locals to help them cut the trees.

Gen. Abdul Rahman Rahimi, Nangarhar police chief, confirmed the smuggling reports and blamed the locals for not being cooperative.

"Mines are being planted, schools are being burned, and jungles are being cut, yet locals do not cooperate with the police to provide better security and prevent smuggling of goods," Rahimi said

.

Afghanistan has a more than 2,000-kilometer border with Pakistan, where according to Pakistani officials, 70,000 people cross every day, including smugglers and militants.

"Smuggling goods between Afghanistan and Pakistan is nothing new, including woods," Hasan Askari Rizvi, a Pakistan-based political and military analyst, told VOA.

"The Pakistani and Afghan governments have been trying to prevent the smuggling of goods, but due to unmonitored border areas, the problem persists," he added.

Locals in the eastern Nangarhar province charge that IS militants had also illegally excavated unspecified mines in the Kot and Achin districts in a bid to overcome their financial needs.

Nangarhar province in eastern Afghanistan is famous for its precious stone mines.

According to an Afghan anti-corruption network report published in 2017, militant groups received at least $46 million from minerals and precious stones illegally exported in 2016 from the eastern Nangarhar province to neighboring Pakistan.

Ziaurahman Hasrat contributed to this report.

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Another Provincial Governor Defies Dismissal Orders from Afghan President

By Ayaz Gul February 18, 2018

Afghanistan's political crisis deepened Sunday when a second provincial governor defied a presidential order for his removal.

On Saturday, President Ashraf Ghani's office approved and announced the appointment of new heads for five provinces, including Samangan in the north, as part of efforts to improve local Afghan governance.

But Abdul Karim Khedam, who has been governing Samangan for about a year, denounced and dismissed his ouster by the president as unacceptable.

"I condemn this unfair decision and consider it against the wishes of people of Samangan," he said.

The central government appointed Abdul Latif Ibrahimi as the new governor of the northern Afghan province. He is a former member of the Hezb-e-Islami party of ethnic Pashtun former jihadi commander, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.

Ousted governor vows to stay

Addressing a news conference in the provincial capital Sunday, the ousted governor vowed to continue to work as the governor of Samangan.

Khedam defended his decision to remain in office and said the final authority to determine his political fate rested with the Turkemen tribe he represents in the province as well as with his political party, Jamiat-e-Islami, which shares power with Ghani's national unity government.

Afghan Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah represents Jamiat-e-Islami along with other party leaders in the ruling coalition and the party largely comprises ethnic Tajiks. President Ghani's support comes from the majority ethnic Pashtun community.

Khedam is the second provincial governor to have contested his firing order.

Earlier governor defied order

Atta Mohammad Noor, who has governed neighboring Balkh province for more than 13 years, was fired by Ghani in December. But Noor refused to accept his dismissal until the central government meets certain demands and continues to govern the relatively peaceful and prosperous Afghan province.

He, like Khedam, belongs to the Jamiat-e-Islami party and has also accused Ghani of appointing officials to key government posts on ethnic grounds, charges the president and his aides reject as baseless.

Noor has vowed to lead a rally of about 20,000 vehicles packed with his supporters for a three-day protest in Kabul, starting Feb. 27, to press the central government to deliver on commitments Ghani made when he formed the coalition government with Abdullah in 2014.

The planned protest coincides with an international conference the Afghan capital will host Feb. 28 where the government says it will present a plan to promote peace and reconciliation with Taliban-led armed opposition groups.

The U.S. mediated a political deal between rival presidential candidates, Ghani and Abdullah, and established the unity government, ending months of political turmoil in the aftermath of the controversy-marred 2014 presidential as both men claimed victory.

Political rift troubling

However, Washington, while pledging support for the Ghani government, has emphasized "internal matters" needed to be resolved by Afghan leaders themselves.

The deepening political troubles are seen as detrimental to the internationally backed efforts of the Kabul government to promote a political settlement with the Taliban insurgency to end the deadly conflict in Afghanistan.

The crisis also is likely to undermine efforts to organize long-delayed parliamentary elections later this year and presidential polls due next year.

Jamiat leaders, including Abdullah, have raised concerns over a multi-million dollar plan to issue new electronic identity cards ahead of the elections.

The controversy stems from the use on the new card of the term "Afghan" for nationality. The term in the past used to refer to Pashtuns in Afghanistan and members of other ethnic groups believe that since the cards will carry the person's tribal identity the use of "Afghan" is redundant.

The tensions underscore deeply rooted ethnic-based sensitivities in the Afghan society and unless resolved will likely delay the parliamentary polls, officials warn.

The United Nations said last week war-relative civilian casualties stood at over 10,000 in 2017 and anticipated more bloodshed in the coming fighting season.

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US Warns of 'Critical Time for Humanity' at Tense Security Conference

By Henry Ridgwell February 18, 2018

Dozens of the world's political and military leaders, along with thousands of politicians, journalists and security experts descend on southern Germany every year for the Munich Security Conference.

The stated aim is to bring allies and adversaries together, to put dialogue before confrontation. The venue, the historical Bayerischer Hof hotel, seems barely big enough to squeeze everyone in. Organizers say the intimacy forces people to talk.

This year, the 54th conference, there is a palpable sense the world is becoming a more dangerous place.

"This year we meet at a critical time for our nations, and indeed for all humanity," the United States' National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster told delegates Saturday.

"We face a range of common threats. Rogue regimes that already imperil international security in the Middle East and northeast Asia," McMaster added.

North Korea, Syria, Iran

North Korea's nuclear weapons program has featured throughout the conference. In a thinly veiled warning to China, he called on those countries that continue to offer an economic lifeline to Pyongyang to respect global sanctions.

His concerns were echoed by the Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono, who said the international community should beware of being blinded by North Korea's charm diplomacy during the current Winter Olympic Games in neighboring South Korea.

McMaster also took aim at Syria and Iran.

"We know that Syria and North Korea are not the only rogue states developing, using, spreading dangerous weapons. Now is the time to address serious flaws in the Iran deal and counter Iran's destabilizing activities, including its development and proliferation of missiles, and its support for terrorist proxies and militias that fuel destructive conflicts across the greater Middle East."

Iran repeatedly has denied those accusations.

Washington is wary of the growing complexity of the Syrian conflict, analyst Karin von Hippel, director-general of the London-based Royal United Services Institute, said.

"Not just because of the U.S. and Turkey potentially facing each other off, but Russian troops are there, other Gulf country troops are there, the Israelis have been drawn in recently, and of course the Iranians are there. So that really is a very dangerous theater where one little mistake could escalate in really frightening ways."

Iraq recovery

Such an escalation likely would draw in Syria's neighbors. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi told delegates that the Islamic State terror group, also known as Daesh, poses an enduring threat.

"We intend this year to make it the final year for the existence of Daesh in Iraq. The task which is facing us is stabilization and reconstruction of the areas that have been occupied and destroyed by Daesh. This is a huge task at a time when our oil income has dropped drastically," al-Abadi told the conference Saturday.

The three-day conference took an added dimension as news broke Friday of the indictments by U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller and the Department of Justice against several Russian nationals and companies, for meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Moscow's foreign minister dismissed the charges as "blather."

Further Middle East tensions likely will come under the spotlight Sunday as the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, plus the foreign ministers of Iran and Saudi Arabia, are scheduled to address the conference.

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Western Countries' Dilemma: What to Do With Captured IS Foreign Fighters?

By Rikar Hussein, Nisan Ahmado February 17, 2018

The United States and its European allies are divided over the question of what to do with hundreds of Islamic State (IS) foreign fighters who were captured on the battlefields in Syria and Iraq.

While an agreement on how to handle the issue has yet to be made, experts warn of unprecedented challenges as some countries refuse to accept these fighters back into their home countries or are unprepared to deal with them in their criminal justice systems.

The U.S position is that jihadists ought to be tried in their home countries. But the United Kingdom and France have been reluctant to agree to such an arrangement.

A French diplomat speaking on the condition of anonymity told VOA on Friday that his country fears that repatriated French jihadists will use the courts for propaganda purposes and question their impartiality.

The diplomat said the legal issues also are complex for prosecuting jihadists who engaged in acts of terrorism overseas.

"Prosecutions are going to be difficult because the collection of evidence may well be impossible to secure on the battlefields," he said.

The diplomat also expressed concerns that once in prison, these jihadists will seek to radicalize others.

Another Western official said some countries also feared they would have to reveal their intelligence-gathering sources and methods at trials if the detainees were brought home.

"The fear is they [IS foreign fighters] will argue they were just a cook or something like that, and that their sentence should be lighter," the official told the Financial Times. "We'll know that guy was actually a commander or a fighter, for example, but we can't use the evidence that definitely proves it publicly in court."

40,000 fighters

An estimated 40,000 fighters from more than 120 countries are believed to have traveled to join the fighting in Iraq and Syria over the years. While thousands died on the battlefield, Western officials say many more thousands have escaped or were captured.

A closed-door meeting between the U.S. and several European defense ministers in Rome on Tuesday failed to reach an agreement on how to deal with hundreds of foreign fighters detained by the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

On his way to a NATO defense ministerial meeting in Brussels on Tuesday, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told reporters that Washington realizes there is no one answer to this issue, but it is imperative to address it as an "international problem."

"The most important thing is we figure out how we are going to deal with this, that we can deal with it, we don't paralyze ourselves and just say there is nothing we can do" Mattis said.

U.S. officials are mostly concerned about militants detained by the SDF, arguing that keeping them in northern Syria's prisons could encourage remaining IS militants to try to break into prisons and free the jihadists.

"These aren't necessarily the best detention facilities in the sense of they are being held in Syria and not in the most secure area," Katie Wheelbarger, principal deputy assistant secretary for international security affairs at the U.S. Department of Defense, told reporters traveling with Mattis.

An SDF official earlier this week announced their detention facilities were overwhelmed by captured IS fighters, both foreign and local, and asked foreign governments to take their nationals home.

Nonstate actors

Some analysts, including Nicholas Heras, a Middle East expert at the Center for New American Security, believe the prisoner issue in Syria is also complex because the SDF is a nonstate group that lacks the legal means to extradite the detainees.

"Oftentimes, when it comes to returning the enemy combatants to their country, there is either an understanding or a mechanism that is worked out between the country that captures those combatants and the country where these combatants come from," Heras told VOA.

"There is no treaty and no agreement between the SDF and these countries where these foreign fighters came from," he added.

Iraq, as a state with diplomatic missions, however, could extradite foreign fighters, Heras said. But the country suffers from a lack of a functioning and transparent judiciary force.

The United Nations said it was appalled by the mass execution last December of 38 prisoners in Iraq on terrorism-related charges and called for an immediate halt to executions, citing flaws in the country's criminal justice system.

Similarly, German officials last month protested an Iraqi court decision to sentence a German woman to death by hanging after she was convicted by the court of collaboration with the IS.

Experts say there is also the issue of lawsuits and legal actions against countries for allowing their citizens to be kept in captivity overseas.

Last week, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against Mattis, saying the U.S. military lacked legal authority to detain an American citizen for nearly five months in Iraq without a charge.

The unidentified U.S. citizen who surrendered to the SDF in Syria last year is being held by the U.S. military in Iraq as an enemy combatant for allegedly being an IS fighter.

Revocation of citizenship

Colin P. Clarke, a researcher on terrorism and insurgency at the Rand Corp., said some countries could try to strip foreign militants of citizenship to avoid the legal complexities within their jurisdictions. Such an attempt could further complicate the issue internationally by leaving the suspects stateless, he added.

"It is ... kicking the can down the road, so to speak. They are washing their hands from the responsibility, but then they are leaving this to others to deal with," Clarke said.

As Western powers are searching for ways to deal with the issue, Clarke warned that the families of foreign fighters present another dilemma.

"Should we consider more punitive measures? Should we be attempting to reintegrate these folks into society?" Clarke asked.

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SC order puts stop to 5 percent of former lawmakers projects

Around 5 percent of the projects chosen by ex-lawmakers under the Constituency Infrastructure Special Programme (CISP) and the Constituency Development Programme (CDP) have been affected by the Supreme Courts order not to implement them, according to the Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development.Trump Criticizes FBI for 'Missing Signals' Before Florida School Shooting

By VOA News February 18, 2018

President Donald Trump has criticized the the top U.S. law enforcement agency for "missing signals" before a 19-year-old man carried out a mass shooting at a Florida high school last week.

"Very sad that the FBI missed all of the many signals sent out by the Florida school shooter. This is not acceptable," Trump tweeted Saturday evening. "They are spending too much time trying to prove Russian collusion with the Trump campaign - there is no collusion. Get back to the basics and make us all proud!"

On Friday, the FBI admitted it did not act on a tipoff in January about Nikolas Cruz and his intentions six weeks before he killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, in Parkland, Fla. The FBI said someone with a close relationship to Cruz had called in information on Jan. 5 about the teenager's "gun ownership, desire to kill people, erratic behavior and disturbing social media posts, as well as the potential of him conducting a school shooting."

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions ordered an immediate review of how the Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation respond to warnings about potential mass killers.

The FBI had earlier said it received a report of a social media posting from a person identifying himself as "Nikolas Cruz," saying, "I'm going to be a professional school shooter." But the FBI said it could not determine the "time, location or true identity" of the person behind the message.

Meanwhile, Florida's state social services agency said in a report it had investigated Cruz's home life more than a year before last week's shooting rampage. But it closed the inquiry and concluded that his "final level of risk is low," even though it learned he had behavioral problems and planned to buy a gun. Months after the state investigation was closed, Cruz bought the AR-15 assault-style rifle police say he used to carry out last week's massacre.

Several U.S. lawmakers are calling for stiffer background checks of gun buyers, but Congress has shown no inclination to stop the sale of assault weapons, even as national polls in the U.S. have shown widespread support among voters for such a ban.

Republican Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma told NBC's "Meet the Press," "I have no issue with more background checks. All the warning signs were there" about Cruz's mental state and intentions.

"The tragedy we saw in Parkland is unthinkable," Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent progressive from Vermont, told the same show. He said the loophole that allows 40 percent of guns sold in the U.S. to occur without background checks needs to be closed. Authorities, however, say Cruz bought the AR-15 legally after such a background check.

Cruz, who is being held at the Broward County jail without bond, has admitted carrying out the shooting rampage, according to authorities. Cruz, who had been expelled last year from the school for disciplinary reasons, faces 17 counts of premeditated murder.

Calls for gun control

On Saturday, hundreds gathered at the Fort Lauderdale federal courthouse, about 45 kilometers from the suburb where the shooting took place, for rally calling for more gun control.

"We are going to be the last mass shooting," vowed Emma Gonzalez, a survivor of the mass shooting.

"The people in the government who are voted into power are lying to us," Gonzalez said. "We are prepared to call B.S. [point out a lie]."

Gonzalez said mental health  a factor Trump and other authorities had pointed to in their responses to the shooting  was not the main problem; she blamed Florida's lenient gun laws, under which the teenage shooter legally purchased his weapon.

Meanwhile, about 60 kilometers away at the Dade County fairgrounds, hundreds of gun enthusiasts attended a gun show featuring more than 100 vendors of firearms and accessories.

Show manager Jorge Fernandez told Reuters news service that the company holding the event, Florida Gun Shows, decided against canceling the show because of financial concerns.

At the show, 30-year-old Adolfo David Ginarte told Reuters that it would be "un-American" to cancel the gun show because of the mass shooting. "Facts don't care about your feelings," he said. "Things are going to happen. ... This isn't the first time and, unfortunately, it's not going to be the last time."

Joe Arrington, 29, told Reuters he does not believe more regulation would have stopped the shooting. "I think a lot of agencies didn't do their job necessarily like they were supposed to," he said.

Trump visits with victims

President Trump and his wife, Melania, visited Florida on Friday, to meet with law enforcement officials and some of the victims of Wednesday's shooting.

At a Broward County hospital near the scene of the shooting, Trump praised the medical staff who treated the victims, saying, "The job they've done is incredible." He also praised the speed at which first-responders arrived at the school. When asked by reporters if the nation's gun laws need to be changed, Trump did not respond.

Trump is to spend the long President's Day weekend at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, about 55 kilometers from Parkland.

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Beijing Building World's Largest Drone Ship Test Site by South China Sea

Sputnik News

02:29 18.02.2018

In efforts to increase its presence in contested waters, China has begun construction on the world's largest test site for unmanned vessels at one of the nation's many gateways to the South China Sea.

The Wanshan Marine Test field, currently under construction near Zhuhai in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong, will eventually cover some 300 square miles, making it the largest test field of its kind in the world, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported.

Although it is not yet clear when construction will be completed, the region will include its own telecommunications network, navigation radar and automatic mooring systems on islands in the Pearl River Delta.

The announcement of the test site came a few days after the PLA Daily announced a new unmanned Chinese surface vehicle last month. The unmanned vessels are part of China's plans to construct autonomous systems that can be used by both civilian and military assets.

According to Collin Koh, a research fellow at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, the test field is "in line with the overall aims of promoting scientific and technological innovation that benefits the country militarily and economically."

"While the South China Sea is part of the picture, this new test range isn't just designed for this dispute. With this test range China can trial a whole range of unmanned vessels, both for its own use but also in no small part for export," Koh added.

In addition, according to military specialist Zhou Chenming, the construction of the field comes in the wake of China's move to improve technology to protect the country's maritime interests, while looking to also improve aircraft and underwater drones for civilian and military applications, according to SCMP.

Among the many sovereign states in the region that contest Chinese ownership of the South China Sea are Brunei, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam.

 Sputnik

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Israel's 'cartoonish circus' does not deserve dignity of response: Iran FM

Iran Press TV

Sun Feb 18, 2018 02:14PM

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has slammed Israeli prime minister's anti-Iran accusations during the Munich Security Conference as 'cartoonish circus', saying his remarks do not deserve a response.

"You were the audience for a cartoonish circus just this morning which does not even deserve the dignity of a response," Zarif said while addressing the annual conference in the German city on Sunday.

Addressing participants at the Munich Security Conference earlier on Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu showed off what he called a piece of an Iranian drone, which the Israeli military claims to have downed more than a week ago, and said the Tel Aviv regime could "act" directly against Iran.

Earlier this month, Tel Aviv claimed that it had responded to the infiltration of an Iranian drone into the Israeli airspace.

It then released a grainy footage allegedly showing the downing of an Iranian drone by an Israeli attack helicopter and subsequent airstrikes on Syria, during which the regime had at least one F-16 warplane shot down.

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi rejected as "ridiculous" claims by the Israeli regime that it had intercepted an Iranian drone launched from Syria, stressing the Islamic Republic's military advisory presence in the Arab country is at the request of Syria's "constitutional and legitimate" government.

"Claims about the flight of an Iranian drone  are too ridiculous to be addressed because the Islamic Republic of Iran has advisory presence in Syria at the request of the country's legitimate and constitutional government," Qassemi said.

The Syrian military on February 10 hit at least one intruding Israeli F-16 warplane that attacked positions inside the Syrian territory, sending it down in flames and smoke.

Syria's state TV cited a military official as saying that Syrian aerial defense had responded to Israeli "aggression" against an army base in the center of the Arab country.

Elsewhere in his remarks, the Iranian foreign minister said Syria's shooting down of the Israeli jet had shattered Israel's "so-called invincibility."

"What has happened in the past several days is that the so-called invincibility (of Israel) has crumbled," Zarif said.

"Israel uses aggression as a policy against its neighbors," he added, condemning the Israeli regime for "mass reprisals against its neighbors and daily incursions into Syria, Lebanon."

The Iranian top diplomat then commended remarks by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, who endorsed Iran's proposed approach to regional matters, stressing that "unless there is a collective effort to bring inclusive peace and security to the Persian Gulf region, we will be engulfed in turmoil and potentially far worse for generations to come."

"For too long, military powers have had multiple strategies to win wars. And for too long, they have ignored any strategy to win the peace. For too long, major powers and their regional allies have made the wrong choices in our region and then have blamed others, particularly Iran, for the consequences of their own short-sighted and trigger-happy strategic blunders," Zarif said.

Noting that the US and its regional allies are suffering from the natural consequences of their own wrong choices, the Iranian foreign minister said, "They use this and other fora to revive the hysteria on Iran's foreign policy and obscure its reality."

"In a quest to create our strong region, we need to be realistic and accept our differences. The nuclear deal was an example of such non-zero-sum thinking," he added, referring to the landmark nuclear agreement, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), signed between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries in 2015.

"Recognizing differences but also recognizing a common goal, and maintaining respect for the interests of all parties guided the difficult negotiations that led to the successful conclusion of the JCPOA," Zarif pointed out.

Iran and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council  the US, France, Britain, Russia and China  plus Germany signed the nuclear agreement on July 14, 2015 and started implementing it on January 16, 2016.

Under the JCPOA, Iran undertook to put limits on its nuclear program in exchange for the removal of nuclear-related sanctions imposed against Tehran.

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly described the JCPOA, which was negotiated under his predecessor Barack Obama, as "the worst and most one-sided transaction Washington has ever entered into," a characterization he often used during his presidential campaign, and threatened to tear it up.

The American head of state has repeatedly claimed that Iran's missile program is in violation of Security Council Resolution 2231, which endorses the JCPOA. Trump has also complained that the JCPOA-related restrictions have an expiration date and that underscores the need to toughen the "embarrassing" deal.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani once again on Saturday reiterated the Islamic Republic's full compliance with the multilateral nuclear deal, stressing the United States would undoubtedly regret any violation of the JCPOA.

He said Iran would remain committed to the nuclear deal as long as other sides took no action to violate it.

Zarif concluded his remarks by saying that Iran recognizes the need for "confidence-building measures in the Persian Gulf."

He added, "At a time when we are dangerously close to escalating conflicts that will affect our children and grandchildren, I encourage my counterparts in the Persian Gulf to join Iran in making these proposals a reality."



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Flaunting 'drone' part, Netanyahu threatens 'to act' against Iran

Iran Press TV

Sun Feb 18, 2018 11:28AM

Israel's prime minister has said his regime could "act" directly against Iran, showing off what he called a piece of an Iranian drone which the Israeli military claims to have downed more than a week ago.

Speaking at the Munich Security Conference on Sunday, Benjamin Netanyahu brandished a rectangular chunk of dark green metal, which he called "a piece of that Iranian drone, or what's left of it, after we shot it down."

Earlier this month, Tel Aviv claimed that it had responded to the infiltration of an Iranian drone into the Israeli airspace.

It then released a grainy footage allegedly showing the downing of an Iranian drone by an Israeli attack helicopter and subsequent airstrikes on Syria, during which the regime had at least one F-16 warplane shot down.

Tehran has dismissed the allegations as "ridiculous," while Damascus has said the Syrian army had launched the drone to track down Daesh terrorists when an Israeli helicopter violated its airspace and shot it down.

Sticking to the Israeli account, Netanyahu said, "We will act if necessary not just against Iran's proxies but against Iran itself."

The Israeli regime has repeatedly carried out airstrikes against targets inside Syria which Damascus says are aimed at assisting terrorists fighting the Syrian government.

"Do not test Israel's resolve," Netanyahu said Sunday.

After the airstrikes, Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly warned Netanyahu to avoid moves that could lead to "a new round of dangerous consequences for the region".

Aida Touma-Sliman, an Israeli lawmaker, has said Netanyahu was seeking to instigate a regional war to deflect attention from an ongoing investigation into his suspicious corrupt practices.

"Netanyahu is willing to instigate a regional war in which the peoples of the region will pay a heavy price just for his political survival," she warned after the airstrikes.

The Israeli police have said there was ample evidence for Netanyahu to be indicted for bribery, fraud, and breach of trust in two separate cases.

Netanyahu's brandishing of the alleged drone part on Sunday brought to minds his display of a cartoonish diagram of a bomb during his September 2012 address to the United Nations General Assembly to claim that Iran was on the verge of building an atomic warhead.

The display sparked a controversy and drew ridicule from many people, including those in the media outlets sympathetic to Israel.

Three years later, Iran and the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany reached a nuclear agreement which Netanyahu fiercely opposed and made every effort to scuttle negotiations but to no avail.

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Israel, Iran Trade Barbs At Munich Security Conference

Carl Schreck February 18, 2018

MUNICH, Germany -- Israel's prime minister and the Iranian foreign minister have traded sharp words at a high-profile security conference, with Benjamin Netanyahu likening Iran to Nazi Germany and Mohammad Javad Zarif calling the Israeli leader's speech a "cartoonish circus."

Speaking for the first time ever at the Munich Security Conference on February 18, Netanyahu said Iran represents the "greatest threat to our world."

He urged the international community to confront a "regime" in Tehran that "threatens peace," and at one point brandished what he said was a piece of an Iranian drone shot down by Israel over its territory earlier this month.

Addressing the conference in the southern German city -- an annual gathering of world leaders, senior officials, and policy experts -- Netanyahu also denounced as dangerous a landmark 2015 international deal to curb Tehran's nuclear program in exchange for some sanctions relief.

That deal between Iran and six world powers has not moderated Iran "internally or externally," Netanyahu said.

He also said there were "striking similarities" between today's Iran and Nazi Germany, saying that the Iranian leadership wants to destroy Israel.

Netanyahu sought to differentiate between Iran's citizens and "an Iranian regime that threatens peace," saying he has "no problem with the people of Iran."

'Very Dangerous Development'

Netanyahu also told the audience, which included U.S. and European diplomats, that Iran is expanding its influence in the Middle East as the extremist group Islamic State (IS), also known as ISIS, lost most of the territory it once held in Iraq and Syria.

"The unfortunate thing is that as ISIS compresses and Iran moves in, it is trying to establish this continuous empire surrounding the Middle East from the south in Yemen but also trying to create a land bridge from Iran to Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Gaza," he said.

"This is a very dangerous development for our region," Netanyahu added.

Netanyahu warned that Iran should "not test Israel's resolve."

"We will act if necessary not just against Iran's proxies but against Iran itself," he said.

After holding up what he said was part of a recovered Iranian drone, Netanyahu called Zarif out by name, saying: "Do you recognize this? You should. It's yours."

Zarif took the stage just hours after Netanyahu's speech. Not mentioning the Israeli leader by name, he told the audience that earlier in the morning they had witnessed a "cartoonish circus" that "does not even deserve the dignity of a response."

He proceeded to deliver a litany of grievances against the United States and Israel, including U.S. military involvement in the Middle East and what he called Israeli "aggression as a policy against its neighbors."

He accused Israel of "mass reprisals against its neighbors and daily incursions" into Syria and Lebanon."

"The entire speech was trying to evade the issue," Zarif said of Netanyahu's address.

Tensions between Israel and Iran spiked on February 10 after an Israeli warplane was shot down as it returned from a bombing operation against what the military described as both Syrian and Iranian targets in Syria.

The Israeli strikes came after the military said it had intercepted an Iranian drone crossing the Syria-Israel border. Tehran rejected Israel's version of events as "ridiculous" and "lies," saying Syria had the right to defend itself in response to the strikes.

Referring to the downing of the Israeli jet on February 10, Zarif told the Munich conference, "What has happened in the past several days is the so-called invincibility [of Israel] has crumbled."

'Delusional Attempts'

Answering a question about the nuclear agreement following his speech, Zarif warned that Iran would respond "seriously" if its "interests are not secured."

He accused Netanyahu of trying to undermine the accord, saying that the world "will maintain that agreement in spite of his delusional attempts."

U.S. President Donald Trump has accused Iran of violating the "spirit" of the nuclear accord and has said he wants to work with European allies and Congress to fix what he called "disastrous flaws" in the agreement.

Trump warned that Washington would withdraw from the deal if terms were not strengthened by May.

Speaking during a panel discussion in Munich on February 18, former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry -- one of the key players in negotiating the Iran nuclear deal -- expressed continued support for the agreement.

"I believe it is absolutely critical for Europe, for the world, to make sure we hold on to this agreement," Kerry said. "Because to go backward -- we know what the world looks like without the Iran nuclear agreement. It is not a better place."

Iranian President Hassan Rohani said last month that Trump and his administration had "failed to undermine" the nuclear accord, "despite his repeated efforts."

Rohani praised the nuclear deal as "a long-lasting victory for Iran."

With reporting by Reuters, AFP, and AP

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/munich-netanyahu-iran -greatest-threat/29046395.html

Copyright (c) 2018. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Israel's PM Netanyahu: Iran is Greatest Threat to World

Sputnik News

12:28 18.02.2018(updated 15:55 18.02.2018)

Tensions between Israel and Iran have been running high since the Israeli armed forces intercepted what they said was an Iranian drone and conducted a series of attacks on military objects in Syria.

On Iranian Nuclear Deal

"Iran seeks to dominate our region, the Middle East, and seeks to dominate the world through aggression and terror. It is developing ballistic missiles to reach deep into Europe and to the United States as well This is, in my judgment, the greatest threat to our world, not just to Israel, not just to our Arab neighbors, not just to Muslims far and wide, but to you as well," Netanyahu said at the Munich Security Conference.

The Israeli prime minister also stressed that "once armed with nuclear weapons, Iran's aggression will be unchecked and will encompass the entire world." That is why, according to Netanyahu, Iranian nuclear deal should be scrapped if Tehran continues its nuclear enrichment research.

The prime minister also called for tough sanctions against Iran to prevent Tehran from developing nuclear weapons.

In July 2015, Iran signed the nuclear agreement with the European Union and the P5+1 group of nations comprised of the United States, Russia, China, France and the United Kingdom plus Germany. The agreement stipulates a gradual lifting of sanctions imposed on Iran in exchange for Tehran maintaining the peaceful nature of its nuclear program.

In late October, US President Donald Trump refused to re-certify the nuclear deal, accusing Tehran of violating the spirit of the agreement. Despite the fact that Trump decided not to contest Tehran's compliance with the deal at the international level, he did not exclude a possible withdrawal from the deal if the agreement was not improved. Israel welcomed Trump's stance on the deal.

On Iran's Military Presence in Syria

Israel will continue to prevent Iran from establishing permanent military presence in Syria, Netanyahu said.

Netanyahu also urged Iran not to test Israel's resolve and noted that Israel would act against Iran if necessary and not just its proxies.

Tehran has been backing Damascus in its struggle against terrorist groups in the course of the deadly conflict that broke out in 2011. Within the framework of Iran's support Tehran has sent military advisers to train troops loyal to Damascus.

Israel, however, viewed Iranian activities as a threat to national security. It has repeatedly warned that Iran was allegedly building a permanent military base south of country's capital of Damascus to establish permanent presence in Syria and expand its influence in the region.

Hostility in Relations Between Iran and Israel

The Israeli prime minister's speech comes after the incident with an alleged Iranian drone launched from Syria, which was intercepted by the Israeli helicopter after it crossed into the Israel-held Golan Heights on February 10. Following this attack, the Israeli Air Force (IAF) struck what it said were Iranian targets in Syria. The Israeli moves prompted retaliatory fire from the Syrian air defense systems.

Iran slammed Israel's claims that an Iranian unmanned aerial vehicle had invaded the country's airspace from Syria as "ridiculous," stressing that "Iran only provides military advice to Syria."

Netanyahu stated that by striking Syria powerfully, Israel's forces have demonstrated that they would continue responding to every aggressive action against their country.

During the telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Israeli prime minister said that Israel has the right to self-defense and will defend itself against any attack or attempt to violate its airspace.

Russia, a guarantor of the Syrian ceasefire regime alongside the two other guarantor states Iran and Turkey, condemned Israel's attacks on Syria, noting the danger of escalating tensions around and within the Syrian de-escalation zones.

 Sputnik

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Israel, Iran Clash Over Nuclear Threat at Munich Conference

By Henry Ridgwell February 18, 2018

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed that Iran is just years away from having a nuclear bomb.

Under pressure back home and facing possible corruption charges, Netanyahu took to the stage at the Munich Security Conference Sunday to deliver a warning about the security of the Middle East region, accusing Iran of posing an existential threat.

"The nuclear agreement with Iran has brought the countdown, has begun the countdown to an Iranian nuclear arsenal in little more than a decade. And the sanctions relief that the deal provided has not moderated Iran. It's not made them more moderate internally, and it's not make them more moderate externally."

Netanyahu brandished at the podium what he claimed was a piece of an Iranian drone shot down over Israeli territory, calling on the Iranian delegation present to acknowledge it. He then outlined Israel's red lines on Tehran.

"Israel will continue to prevent Iran from establishing a permanent military presence in Syria. Israel will continue to act to prevent Iran from establishing another terror base from which to threaten Israel."

Netanyahu said alliances were changing in the region.

"Now there has been one positive consequence of Iran's growing aggression in the region. It's brought Arabs and Israelis closer together as never before. And in a paradoxical way, this may pave the way for a broader peace and ultimately also for a Palestinian-Israeli peace."

However, just hours before Netanyahu spoke, Israel carried out a number of strikes against Palestinian positions in Gaza in response to a bomb attack that wounded four Israeli soldiers. Two Palestinians were killed by tank fire.

Netanyahu's tough tone on Iran and the 2015 nuclear deal echoed that of the U.S. national security adviser a day earlier at the conference.

Iran's reaction

Speaking later Sunday in Munich, Iran's foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif dismissed the Israeli prime minister's speech.

"You were the audience for a cartoonish circus just this morning, which does not even deserve the dignity of a response," Zarif told delegates. He said Tehran was seeking peace in the region based on mutual respect.

"Iran believes that our security in the Persian Gulf requires a fresh regional security architecture. We believe in, and have proposed, creating what we call a strong region, rather than a strong man in the region. And you've got to notice the difference. We want a strong region. We do not want to be the hegemon in the region, as we believe the era of hegemony is long passed," he said.

Zarif urged other powers to join Iran in a regional dialogue, "at a time when we are dangerously close to escalating conflict that will affect our children, and grandchildren."

Kerry: Agreement must be upheld

Former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who helped negotiate the Iran nuclear deal that saw limits on Tehran's atomic enrichment program in return for the lifting of some sanctions, said the agreement must be upheld.

"I believe it is absolutely critical for Europe, for the world, to make sure we hold on to this agreement, because to go backwards, we know what the world looks like without the Iran nuclear agreement. It's not a better place," he said during a panel discussion on regional security.

U.S. President Donald Trump has criticized the 2015 deal and threatened to reimpose sanctions if Iran continues with its ballistic missile program, although that was not covered under the agreement.

Alongside the Iran nuclear deal, there were also heated exchanges on the conflict in Syria. Several regional and international powers, including the United States and Russia, have troops on the ground in Syria, while Israel has carried out airstrikes on Syrian government forces. There are growing fears that a miscalculation could trigger a much wider conflict.

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Presence of foreign forces not acceptable in Iraq: Official

Iran Press TV

Sun Feb 18, 2018 05:49AM

An Iraqi official has expressed his opposition to the presence of foreign forces in Iraq, saying they only aggravate problems in the war-stricken country.

Deputy Parliament Speaker Humam Hamoudi made the remarks in a press conference after a meeting with Ali Akbar Velayati, a senior advisor to Leader of Iran's Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei on international affairs, in Baghdad on Saturday.

Hamoudi said that only the parliament is authorized to decide on any foreign military presence.

"The presence of foreign forces in the Iraqi territory is not acceptable. This issue has been raised at the parliament and will be decided upon," he said.

Hamoudi also stressed that problems in the region should be resolved by the residents and that the presence of foreign forces worsens the situation.

The victories over Daesh were achieved by the Iraqi people, and the presence of the Takfiri terrorist group or other outfits should not be used as a pretext for foreign boots on Iraqi soil, he added.

Velayati, for his part, hailed the strategic Iran-Iraq relations, noting that the Islamic Republic will spare no effort to develop bilateral ties.

He further emphasized that defending Iraq means defending Iran and vice versa.

Secretary General of Iraq's Badr Organization Hadi al-Ameri, who was also present at the press conference, said that Tehran and Baghdad share similar views on the security, economic and political challenges facing the region.

Daesh unleashed a campaign of death and destruction in Iraq in 2014, overrunning vast swathes in lightning attacks. Iraqi army soldiers and allied fighters then launched operations to eliminate the terrorist group and retake lost territory.

Last December, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared the end of the anti-Daesh campaign in the Arab country.

However, the Pentagon announced earlier this month that the number of US troops in Iraq will remain at just over 5,000 for the foreseeable future.

"We are not signaling any significant drawdown in Iraq at this time," said Eric Pahon, a Pentagon spokesman. "We are shifting our focus from combat operations to training operations in order to ensure the lasting defeat of ISIS (Daesh)."

The US has been leading a coalition of its allies in a military campaign against purported Daesh targets in Iraq since 2014. The alliance has repeatedly been accused of targeting and killing civilians.

Iran has been providing military advisory assistance to Iraq in its counterterrorism battle at Baghdad's request.

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Israel makes arrests in new probe linked to Netanyahu case

Iran Press TV

Sun Feb 18, 2018 02:45PM

Several suspects have been arrested by the Israeli police in a new probe linked to a wider corruption case involving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

A police statement said Sunday that those arrested were "senior figures" of the Bezeq communications group, the largest telecommunication company operating in the occupied Palestinian territories.

The statement would not elaborate on further details but said the officials were arrested as part of a new joint investigation with the Israel Securities Authority, the body which has been probing allegations of corruption against Netanyahu.

Bezeq said it had no additional information on the new probe while Netanyahu's office denied the new allegations.

Media reports said the new probe was linked to ongoing investigations about Netanyahu's involvement in an affair with Bezeq in which the premier received positive coverage on the Bezeq-affiliated news website Walla in return for giving concessions to the communications company.

Police said earlier this week that there was ample evidence for bringing charges of bribery, fraud and breach of public trust against Netanyahu. The Israeli premier faces similar allegations of seeking favorable coverage in the top-selling newspaper Yediot Aharonot. The publisher of the daily, Arnon Moses, who is believed to have reached a deal with Netanyahu, could also be indicted over bribery.

It is now up to the regime's attorney general to decide whether to indict Netanyahu based on police recommendations. Although such a process could take months, it could inflict a huge blow to Netanyahu's aspirations for remaining in power. He has denied all of the allegations, saying they are part of wider political game to oust him. The premier has also refused to step down from his post as many say his position is no longer tenable in light of the recurrent corruption scandals.

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What accounts for Pakistan's troop deployment to Saudi Arabia?

Iran Press TV

Sun Feb 18, 2018 06:20PM

Saudi Arabia and Pakistan have historically had close military partnership in the Middle East, and Islamabad has recently announced that it is sending troops to the oil-rich kingdom on a "training and advice mission," without specifying the exact role the soldiers will play there.

Pakistan Army announced the deployment decision after a meeting between Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa and Saudi Ambassador to Pakistan Nawaf Saeed al-Maliki at the army headquarters in the eastern Pakistani city of Rawalpindi on February 15.

It came after General Bajwa paid a three-day visit to Saudi Arabia earlier this month and met with high-profile officials, including Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Commander of Ground Forces Lieutenant General Prince Fahd bin Turki bin Abdulaziz.

It was reportedly the Pakistani commander's second trip to Saudi Arabia in two months, which apparently played a role in the Pakistani Army's decision to deploy soldiers to Saudi Arabia.

There are already 1,379 Pakistani servicemen deployed in Saudi Arabia, most of whom are from Pakistan Army, along with a few Pakistan Air Force (PAF) and Pakistan Navy (PN) officials, according to security sources.

This is while no official word on the number of additional Pakistan troops being sent to the kingdom has been released. The fresh deployment is said to be slightly over 1,000 soldiers.

The development is notable because Saudi Arabia has been pushing Pakistan to provide ships, aircraft and troops since 2015 for its devastating military campaign against Yemen.

Pakistan's parliament, however, has decided against the deployment to avoid backlash from sizeable Pakistani Shia Muslim community, and above all, deterioration in relations with neighboring Iran, which is supporting the Houthi Ansarullah movement in their fight against the Saudi aggression against Yemen.

The major policy shift comes as former Pakistan Army chief, General Raheel Sharif, is the current head of the so-called Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition (IMCTC), which is based in Riyadh.

Sharif has already won Bin Salman's trust and expects Pakistani military officials to further expand military ties with Saudi Arabia.

Moreover, Saudi Arabia wants to drag Pakistan into its regional adventurism and aggressive campaign against Iran.

While the Saudi military is well-equipped with an array of advanced European and American fighter jets and state-of-the-art munitions, the kingdom's combat forces are not as experienced and versatile as Iranians.

Saudi officials hope that the Pakistani Army would whip their ground forces into shape.

Pakistan has long been involved in protecting Saudi Arabia and the House of Saud, but ultimately it is Islamabad, which is more dependent on Riyadh.

Saudi Arabia, for example, gave oil to Pakistan in 1998 to help Pakistan weather international sanctions against it for conducting a nuclear test.

The Saudis also saved former Paksitani prime minister, Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, after he was overthrown in a military coup in 1999, and he is thus indebted to them.

The new deployment plan comes against the background that Pakistani soldiers have frequently been deployed in Saudi Arabia.

Pakistan helped formation of the Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) in the 1960s and trained its first jet fighter pilots.

Pakistani combat pilots also flew RSAF English Electric Lightning supersonic fighter aircraft during the al-Wadiah War between Saudi Arabia and the People's Republic of South Yemen in 1969.

Pakistani troops also assisted Saudi forces in suppressing the Grand Mosque seizure, which occurred between November and December 1979.

Moreover, nearly 15,000 Pakistani troops were posted in Saudi Arabia throughout the 1970s and 1980s.

Up to 13,000 Pakistani troops and 6,000 advisors were posted in Saudi Arabia during the first Persian Gulf War in 1991 as well.

Under a bilateral security cooperation agreement struck in 1982, Pakistan has accepted to help Saudi Arabia with military training, defense production and joint military exercises.

Pakistani troops have frequently taken part in maneuvers inside Saudi Arabia alongside Saudi Armed Forces.

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The Artivist

I have always been a deviant, artist Ashmina Ranjit remembers, I always had questions against gender inequality at home and beyond.US-backed SDF militants claim cross-border attack on Turkish soldiers for first time

Iran Press TV

Sun Feb 18, 2018 04:26PM

The so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a US-backed anti-Damascus militant group, has claimed that in a cross-border attack it targeted military positions in neighboring Turkey, which is leading a month-long war against a Kurdish-controlled enclave in war-torn Syria.

The Kurdish-led coalition of Kurdish and Arab militants made the news in a statement released on late Saturday, saying it had conducted "a special operation against a gathering centre for Turkish soldiers" and allied Syrian factions in Kirikhan, a district in Turkey's southern Hatay province.

"We call on civilians to stay away from positions controlled by the Turkish invaders and... terrorists, as all military positions are legitimate targets for our forces," the statement further said, adding that there were casualties without specifying their exact number and the weapons it had used in the attack.

It was the first time that the SDF has claimed a cross-border attack on Turkish troops. However, no Turkish official has yet commented on the claim.

Turkey has been waging "Operation Olive Branch" against Syria's Afrin region since January 20 in a bid to eliminate the US-backed People's Protection Units (YPG), which forms the backbone of the SDF. The Turkish government views the YPG as a terror organization and the Syrian branch of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). The latter has been fighting for an autonomous region inside Turkey since 1984.

Last week, YPG chief Sipan Hamo said in a press conference that his forces had never carried out a cross-border attack against Turkish soldiers. "From when we established our forces until today, we have never conducted an operation on Turkish soil and haven't thrown a single rock at it."

On Sunday, the YPG announced that three of its foreign members, a Spaniard, a French, and a Dutch, had been killed in Syria. It added that French national Olivier Francois Jean Le Clainche, 41, and Spanish national Samuel Prada Leon, 25, lost their lives "in the clashes with the occupiers at the Jandairis front on February 10."

Meanwhile, the Turkish General Staff said in a statement that a total of 1,614 militants had been "neutralized" since the start of Operation Olive Branch in Afrin. Turkish authorities use the word "neutralized" in their statements to imply that the militants in question either surrendered or were killed or captured.

It added that a total of 674 "terrorist targets" had also been destroyed in airstrikes since the start of the operation.

The developments come a few weeks after Kurdish authorities in the Afrin district appealed to the government of President Bashar al-Assad to send troops and help defend them against the Turkish incursion in line with protecting Syria's sovereignty.

The Syrian government has given a degree of authority to the Kurdish regions to run their own affairs in the face of a foreign-backed militancy. The US, however, has used the vacuum to establish a foothold in those regions with the help of militants.

Assad has described US-sponsored Kurdish armed elements as "traitors" to the nation but has also denounced Turkish incursions as an act of aggression.

Operation Olive Branch in Afrin region is Turkey's second major military intervention in Syria during the unprecedented foreign-backed militancy that broke out in 2011.

In August 2016, Turkey began a unilateral military intervention in northern Syria, code-named Operation Euphrates Shield, sending tanks and warplanes across the border. Ankara claimed that its military campaign was aimed at pushing Daesh from Turkey's border with Syria and stopping the advance of Kurdish forces, who were themselves fighting Daesh.

Turkey ended its campaign in northern Syria in March 2017, but at the time did not rule out the possibility of yet another act of military offensive inside the Arab country.

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US vows to probe Syria attack involving Russians

Iran Press TV

Sun Feb 18, 2018 03:40PM

US Defense Secretary James Mattis has pledged to investigate an alleged attack involving a group of Russian private military contractors on US-backed opposition forces in Syria but stopped short of accusing Moscow of orchestrating the assault.

"I understand that the Russian government now is saying that some of their non-military forces, contractors, were involved in that still unexplained attack," Mattis said Saturday while flying back to Washington after a weeklong tour of Europe.

"But they took directions from someone. Was it local directions? Was it from external sources? Don't ask me, I don't know. But I doubt that 250 to 300 people, all just excited on their individual self, suddenly crossed the river in enemy territory, started shelling a location and maneuvering tanks against it," he added.

"So, whatever happened, we'll try to figure it out. We'll work with obviously anyone who can answer that question."

Russia has acknowledged that five of its citizens were killed in a US-led coalition bombing in the province of Dayr al-Zawr in eastern Syrian after they were part of a group of pro-government forces which led an attack on positions held by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

At the time of the attack on February 7, the Russian defense ministry insisted it had no troops in Dayr al-Zawr.

The US has around 2,000 military personnel in northern Syria supporting the SDF, which is an alliance of militias in northern and eastern Syria and largely dominated by the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG).

The US and its allies have been bombarding what they call Daesh positions inside Syria since September 2014 without any authorization from the Damascus government or a UN mandate.

The strikes, however, have on many occasions resulted in civilian casualties and failed to fulfill their declared aim of countering terrorism.

Russia has backed Syria's fight against terror since late 2015 when Russian air force and troops arrived in the Arab country at an official request of Damascus to help the government fight against Daesh and other Takfiri militants.

Russia's assistance has proved to be a major success as Syria has managed to liberate key areas over the past years, including the second largest city of Aleppo, relying on Russia's air cover and military advice.

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YPG Official Rep: Syria Should Close Airspace for Turkish Jets

Sputnik News

22:31 18.02.2018(updated 22:34 18.02.2018)

In an interview to Sputnik, Kurdish YPG representative Nuri Mahmud detailed the disposition around the Syrian city of Afrin, where Turkey's Operation Olive Branch is still underway.

"The attacks on Afrin by the Turkish army and groups of the Free Syrian Army, controlled by Turkey, have entered the fourth week  they launch massive airstrikes and employ heavy weaponry. Many countries feel indifferent to Afrin's fate, whereas they should really demonstrate support of the city and help repel the Turkish offensive. If the Syrian regime deems itself landlord of this territory, it must close Syria's airspace for Turkish planes and fulfill its commitments with regard to defending Afrin, which is part of the Syrian state. We haven't engaged in talks with the Syrian authorities on this issue before," Mahmud underscored.

Earlier the YPG units were reported to have reached an agreement with the Syrian authorities for the Syrian army to enter Afrin to help halt Turkish attacks.

Mahmud said that the army troops would be deployed at a number of positions along the border and were expected to arrive in the Afrin region within the next two days.

The Afrin offensive, codenamed "Olive Branch" broke out on January 20. The Turks launched a massive attack against the US-backed Kurdish People's Protection Units, or YPG groups, which now control Afrin and are deemed by Ankara affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)  a terrorist organization, according to Turkey. Damascus has slammed the move as "treacherous aggression." Russia has also spoken against the offensive and urged all parties to the conflict to respect Syria's territorial integrity.

 Sputnik

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Turkish Foreign Minister Calls for Respect of Syrian Territorial Integrity

Sputnik News

19:45 18.02.2018(updated 20:11 18.02.2018)

MUNICH (Sputnik) - Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Sunday held a speech at the 2018 Munich Security Conference, in which he elaborated on the issue of Syria's territorial integrity and on the progress made at Astana peace talks.

On Syria's Territorial Integrity

"We have to be sincere that we are supporting territorial integrity of Syria and we need to pay more attention to political process, which is as important as fighting terrorist organizations," Cavusoglu said.

The Turkish minister added that supporting a terrorist organization against another terrorist group was "a big mistake" as such an approach put Syria's future at risk.

Cavusoglu's remark comes amid Turkey's ongoing military operation in the northern Syrian Kurdish-held district of Afrin, which started on January 20. Ankara has said its offensive was aimed at clearing the Turkish-Syrian border from terrorist presence. Damascus reacted by saying that the operation was an assault on Syria's sovereignty.

The relations between Turkey and the United States are currently in crisis because of the support provided by Washington to the People's Protection Units (YPG), which are regarded by Ankara as affiliates of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), designated as a terrorist organization in Turkey and several other countries. Washington explains its backing of the Kurds by the need to fight against the Daesh terrorist group.

On Progress Made on Syria

"We made a lot of progress [in Syria] thanks to Astana and Sochi, and we link Sochi to Geneva right now. We can say now that the situation on the ground is much better despite the violations of the [ceasefire] regime in Idlib," Cavusoglu said.

The Turkish minister also stressed that a lot of achievements had been made in the fight against the Daesh terrorist group but noted that it was early to speak about its total defeat in Iraq and Syria.

Syria has been engulfed in a civil war since 2011, with government forces fighting numerous opposition factions and terrorist groups. The international community has taken a number of steps aimed at settling the crisis, including through negotiations in Geneva and Astana. Russia and Iran, alongside Turkey, are guarantors of the ceasefire regime in Syria.

The Syrian National Dialogue Congress was held in Russia's Sochi last month. It brought together about 1,400 delegates from the Syrian government and various opposition groups who agreed to form the Constitutional Commission in Geneva to amend the existing legislation of the Middle Eastern nation.

 Sputnik

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Afrin's Kurds Agree With Syrian Gov't for Army to Help Fight Turks - Official

Sputnik News

19:21 18.02.2018(updated 21:34 18.02.2018)

Amid reports of Turkey allegedly launching a gas attack in Syria, Kurdish YPG groups in Afrin are calling on the Syrian army to meddle in to protect their borders from Turkish combat men, a YPG representative Nuri Mahmud told RIA Novosti.

Senior Kurdish official Badran Jia Kurd has announced that the Syrian Kurdish forces and government have reached an agreement for the Syrian army to enter Afrin to help halt Turkish attacks. He added that the army troops would be deployed along a number of border positions and were expected to arrive in the Afrin region within the next two days.

The Turks-initiated military operation "Olive branch" has been underway against Kurds in Afrin, Syria's north-west since January. Turkey reported it had eliminated over 1.5 thousand militants, including both Kurdish fighters and Daesh militants (deemed a terrorist organization in Russia), according to Ankara.

A source updated on the matter told RIA Novosti Thursday that Damascus and the Kurds had agreed that Syrian fighters would arrive at the Turkish border near Afrin in the days to come.

"We are urging the Syrian army to come to protest the Syrian borders from the Turkish occupation. Afrin is part of Syria, that's why we have called on the army to stand on guard of the border," Mahmud said.

According to the speaker, Syrian soldiers haven't yet arrived.

"We are calling on the army to help, because we'd love to preserve a unified Syria, as Turkey is seeking to annex the Syrian territories and make them part of its land, like it was with Aleksandretta sanjak [during the Ottoman Empire]," the Kurdish representative noted.

He pointed out that the protection of Syria is a top priority issue for Kurds, whereas they will engage in debates over the country's federalization, which they are striving for, later. Separately, Mahmud accused Turkey of exploiting Daesh and Al-Nusra Front militants [terrorist organizations prohibited in Russia] in their attacks.

Turkey launched the Afrin operation, codenamed "Olive Branch" on January 20. The city of Afrin is currently controlled by the US-backed Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), which is deemed by Ankara affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)  a terrorist organization, according to Turkey.

Damascus has strongly condemned Ankara's actions, with the Syrian Foreign Ministry stating that they are violating the country's sovereignty.

 Sputnik

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Turkish foreign minister denies allegation of chemical attack in northwestern Syria

Iran Press TV

Sun Feb 18, 2018 06:34PM

Turkish foreign minister says Turkey never used internationally-banned chemical weapons in its operations in Syria after Kurdish forces and a monitoring group accused Ankara of carrying out a gas attack in its ongoing offensive in the Arab country's northwestern region of Afrin.

Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters at the Munich Security Conference on Sunday that Ankara took the utmost care to protect civilians in the cross-border military operation.

"It's just a fabricated story. Turkey has never uses any kind of chemical weapons," Cavusoglu said

Cavusoglu dismissed the reports of chemical weapons use as propaganda by Kurdish organizations close to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

Elsewhere in his remarks, Cavusoglu also accused the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) of using civilians as "human shields" in areas under its control.

The remarks came after Birusk Hasaka, a spokesman for the YPG in Afrin, said that Turkish bombardment hit a village in the northwest of the region, near the Turkish border. He said it caused six people to suffer breathing problems and other symptoms indicative of a gas attack.

The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also said that Turkish forces and their Syrian militant allies had hit the village on Friday with shells. The Britain-based monitoring group also said medical sources in Afrin reported that six people in the attack suffered breathing difficulties and dilated pupils, indicating a suspected gas attack.

Syrian medical teams are reportedly working to identify the type of toxic gas used in the attack.

The general director of Afrin Hospital, Jiwan Mohammad, has recently told Syria's official news agency, SANA, that six people had been admitted to the medical facility with symptoms of "breathing difficulties, coughing, and burning all over their bodies," which he said were indicative of a chemical weapon attack.

He added that the victims came from al-Mazyaneh village on the outskirts of Afrin.

Mohammad noted that four of the victims were stable, while two others were in a critical condition.

Turkey launched the so-called Operation Olive Branch in Afrin last month in a bid to eliminate the YPG, which Ankara views as a terror organization and the Syrian branch of the PKK.

The YPG forms the backbone of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a US-backed anti-Damascus militant group.

Operation Olive Branch in Afrin region is Turkey's second major military intervention in Syria during an unprecedented foreign-backed militancy that broke out in 2011.

In August 2016, Turkey began a unilateral military intervention in northern Syria, code-named Operation Euphrates Shield, sending tanks and warplanes across the border. Ankara claimed that its military campaign was aimed at pushing Daesh from Turkey's border with Syria and stopping the advance of Kurdish forces, who were themselves fighting Daesh.

Turkey ended its campaign in northern Syria in March 2017, but at the time did not rule out the possibility of yet another act of military offensive inside the Arab country.

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White House Doubts Turkey's Alleged Use of Chemical Weapons in Syria

Sputnik News

04:43 18.02.2018

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The US government has expressed skepticism over reports that Turkey used chemical weapons in Syrian northern region of Afrin in its ongoing offensive operation, US White House official Michael Anton said.

"We are aware of the reports but we cannot confirm them. However, we judge that it is extremely unlikely that Turkish forces used chemical weapons. We continue to call for restraint and protection of civilians in Afrin," Anton said late on Saturday.

On Saturday, Syrian media reported that several civilians were hospitalized after a suspected gas attack in Syria's northern Afrin enclave. The attack reportedly took place in the Kurdish village of Aranda where Turkish forces used munitions filled with toxic gas.

Turkey launched Operation Olive Branch

in Kurdish-held Afrin on January 20. Ankara has said its offensive is aimed at clearing the Turkish border with Syria from terrorist presence.

Turkey considers the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) and the Democratic Union Party (PYD) to be linked to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), listed as a terrorist organization by Ankara.

Damascus has expressed its opposition to the Turkish operation in Afrin, saying that such actions violated Syrian sovereignty.

 Sputnik

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Sweden offers soldiers for potential UN peacekeeping mission in Ukraine

Iran Press TV

Sun Feb 18, 2018 06:13AM

Sweden has offered to provide troops for a potential United Nations (UN) peacekeeping mission in eastern Ukraine to help resolve the years-long deadly conflict between the government in Kiev and ethnic Russians in the east.

Russian President Vladimir Putin had suggested a UN peacekeeping mission be deployed to eastern Ukraine, where the Kiev government has been cracking down on ethnic Russians since 2014.

The idea was supported by Ukraine's president as well as many Western leaders.

Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko called on delegates at a security conference in Munich, Germany, to push for the deployment of UN peacekeepers in eastern Ukraine's Donbass region, where fighting is underway.

Speaking at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, Sweden's Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist said his country would provide peacekeepers for the proposed UN mission if Russia and the West agreed.

"We are not there yet, but it is something positive If we see the right conditions and if we see that this mission can help then we are open to that," Hultqvist said.

Currently, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is tasked with monitoring a spotty ceasefire mediated by Russia, Germany, and France between the Ukrainian government and the pro-Russia forces in 2015.

The OSCE has 700 unarmed civilian monitors reporting violations of the ceasefire on a daily basis. The monitors have proven ineffective in resolving the crisis in eastern Ukraine, and the OSCE chief has urged fresh efforts in this regard.

In order to renew peace efforts, a UN security force made up of some 20,000 soldiers and 4,000 police from non-NATO countries has been proposed. Russia is opposed to the deployment of NATO forces near its borders.

Sweden is not a NATO member.

The Ukrainian crisis began in 2014 when the Kiev government launched a crackdown on peaceful ethnic Russian protesters seeking greater autonomy in the eastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Lugansk  collectively known as the Donbass. The crisis soon turned into an armed conflict.

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The changing research landscape

What has changed in the social science research landscape since the political change of 1990 that put an end to absolute monarchy in Nepal and ushered in an era of multi-party democracy (with more than a few hiccups)?The democratization of the Nepali language

English speakers who learn Nepali discover, and quickly, that there is a marked difference between the languages spoken and written forms. Those who study Nepali literature also discover, more gradually, that the stories that are told orally are at least as poignant, if not more so, than those that are written.Rent prices for downtown Greenwich office space have been touted among the most expensive in the country as its vacancy rate drops.

A recent office market study ranks Greenwich Avenue as the fifth priciest area to rent business space in the U.S. At around $86.50 per square foot, downtown Greenwich outpriced Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C., Ocean Avenue in Los Angeles and Bostons Boylston Street, per real estate brokerage JLLs Most Expensive Streets report.

JLL features 10 areas ranked by their ability to capture top-dollar office rents. San Franciscos Sand Hill Road topped the list with companies, including prominent venture capital firms, paying more than $119 on average per square foot. JLL noted that rents have hit as high as $185 there.

New York City ranked second with Fifth Avenue fetching $116 average rents and also having a $185 ceiling. Hedge funds, investments banks and law firms all pay to claim the address.

Click through the slideshow to see the top 5 most expensive roads.

San Francisco also took third place with Mission Street addresses costing nearly $94 per square foot. Main Street in Boston, located around Kendall Square in Cambridge, Mass., ranked fourth. There, the vacancy rate hovers around 5 percent with office space renting for $90.

Downtown Greenwich boasts a tight and relatively small office market with many high-profile financial firms vying to be located near the Metro-North train station and primary roadways. According to JLL, office addresses in Greenwichs central business district typically cost more than $86. At times, tenants have paid north of $100 per square foot, which is a 177 percent premium compared to the rest of Fairfield County, JLL reported.

Tyler Sizemore / Hearst Connecticut Media

Tyler Sizemore / Hearst Connecticut Media

Substantial leases signed by Interactive Brokers, JP Morgan Private Banking and A&M Capital Partners at the end of last year helped lower the downtown areas vacancy rate to almost 11 percent. That compares to more than a quarter of office space being available for rent in the rest of Fairfield County, according to Newmark Knight Franks 2017 Q4 report.

Premium offices are faring well across the country, according to JLL, which said less than 13 percent of the nations most expensive real estate is vacant, much lower than the U.S. average.

In the battle for talent, companies are always looking for something new to give them an edge, JLLs Managing Director of Agency Leasing Chris Roeder said in a statement. Developers recognize that these high-end amenities  roof decks, open and collaborative space, etc.  will draw the big name tenants that help developments stand out.All my life, Ive loved fixing and improving things, whether Im tinkering in the garage or revamping a companys strategy. That love is what brought me to NCR in 2005, where I was tasked as CEO with fixing an unsustainable business model.

NCR was losing its market share and hemorrhaging revenue. The companys most valuable asset was Teradata, a data warehousing software that had little to do with NCRs business. And the company lacked the strategy or infrastructure to adapt to the technological changes sweeping the world. There was a lot to do.

Now, over a decade later, NCR has transformed itself into an industry leader with an eye to the future. To get there, we had to make several adjustments to the way things had been done for decades. It wasnt easy, but we made the changes necessary to thrive. Here are three things I did that can help you fix your company.

Shift the culture.

When I started at NCR, the company culture was strong, but rigid. The team didnt believe in NCRs ability to change. If we were going to transform the company, I knew that I would have to make the case to our employees personally -- not with an email or a phone call, but by looking them in the eye and telling them. Thats why I spent my first few years as CEO communicating a vision for where NCR was going.

Related: How to Establish a Vision Statement Employees Will Get Behind

For more than a decade, Ive backed up that message with action. Today, as part of NCRs reinvention, we are focused on generating a majority of our revenue from software. Today our purpose is to power iNCRedible experiences that make life easier. We are building a team of iNCRedibles who live to move commerce forward through innovation.

That calls for hiring people with specialized knowledge and skills, and we knew that one surefire way to attract those people would be to go to where theyre located. So we decided to develop a state-of-the-art world headquarters thats adjacent to the campus of the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Georgia Tech, as its better known, is one of the top universities in the country when it comes to preparing its students for a wide range of jobs in the tech sector. Our proximity to the school, and our partnership with it, sends a powerful message about our commitment to becoming a dynamic, software-driven technology company.

Shake up your line-up.

To reinvent an enterprise, you need the right team. When I arrived at NCR in 2005, I knew that if I wanted to prepare the company for the 21st century, I would need fellow fixers behind me. I turned to a number of the people who had helped me at Cisco and Symbol in the past, and together we built a new NCR lineup that was agile and forward-thinking.

Related: How to Build a Next Generation Leadership Team

We were focused on empowering ordinary people to do extraordinary things and achieve extraordinary results. NCRs progress since 2005, and our ability to create lasting and productive change, has been made possible by having the right talent in place.

Commit to seeing change through.

Strong leadership nearly always requires difficult decisions. I knew Id have to make some to grow NCR. One of these decisions came early in my tenure.

In 2005, Teradata had dramatically higher revenues than NCR, but the businesses had little in common. There was little overlap in their end-markets, and there was always competition for internal resources between the two. This wasnt a sustainable model, and so we made a bold choice: We sold Teradata.

Related: 5 Tough Choices You'll Face as an Entrepreneur

The real lesson here, however, isnt just about making difficult decisions -- its about seeing them through to the end. Im a fix-it guy, and I knew I belonged at NCR to reach where we are today. And Im going to continue working with my colleagues to ensure that NCR is one of the worlds most innovative technology companies.

Related:

4 Rules for Keeping the Staff (You Want) on Staff

Hitting (All) The Right Notes: Academy Award-Winning Music Composer A. R. Rahman

3 Leadership Strategies That Will Help Your Business Grow



Copyright 2018 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved



This article originally appeared on entrepreneur.com

More Nokia 9 cases break cover, renders show off the curved sides of the screen

The Loch Ness Monster is lucky that it doesnt need a case, otherwise its photo will be plastered all over the news. The Nokia 9 is not so lucky  heres another round of cases.

The render for the first really emphasizes the curve of the screens side while the second is more subtle, but the curvature is still plainly visible.



Tudia Merge case for the Nokia 9



Shockproof TPU case for the Nokia 9

One detail not actually shown on these renders is the alleged dual selfie camera. Admittedly, neither of these cases cover the front so that part probably is mostlyguesswork. And of the flip cases that we found, none had any cutouts for a selfie camera.

Thanks for sending this in, Ativir!

Source 1 | Source 2The good doctor

When Dr KC first began fasting in protest in 2011, he probably did not think that he would be doing so13 more times. Dr KCs first began fasting in opposition to the rampant abuse of power in the medical education sector.These are the best offers from our affiliate partners. We may get a commission from qualifying sales.Samsung Display may have been left with a surplus of OLED panels, due to Apple's reduced iPhone X production.

Samsung is reportedly in search of new customers to take on some of the excess panels but that may be harder than you'd think. Most manufacturers aren't ready to make the switch to OLED because of its higher cost, meaning Samsung might be facing a reduction in profits.

Most Chinese manufacturers attend to lower price ranges and would prefer to stick to LCD panels, which are around 40% cheaper. Only about 5-10% of Oppo and vivo smartphones use OLED screens.

Apple itself is reportedly sticking to LCD displays for at least one of its 2018 iPhones too.

Finally, Samsung Display is seeing rising competition from Chinese display makers and from LG Display and would face more and more challenges in retaining its leading position.

SourceThe same APK teardown that unveiled the Nokia 7 Plus also mentioned a Nokia 4. It didnt give much besides the name, but now more detail are coming into view.

A new rumor claims Snapdragon 450 power for the mid-range handset. That actually gives it more power than the current Nokia 5  the newer chipset is built on a 14nm process (down from 28nm), allowing the eight Cortex-A53 cores to be clocked up to 1.8GHz. The GPU (Adreno 506) is twice as fast as the one in the Snapdragon 430 chipset.

We dont know if the Nokia 4 will be unveiled at the MWC  the Nokia 7 Plus and Nokia 1 will most likely attend, the 4 will make for a nice middle ground between those two.

SourceLogin or sign up to follow actresses, movies & dramas and get specific updates and news

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HelpPublished on 2018/02/18

10 Magazine tags 7 "Insta-worthy" cafes in Daegu, Korea Expose has some tips to help you avoid any travel woes during the Winter Games, this Trump-theme hotel in South Jeolla Province has prison bars, and these books on South Korea are the perfect travel companions.

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"7 INSTA-WORTHY CAFES IN DAEGU YOU NEED TO VISIT RIGHT NOW"

Located in south-eastern Korea, the city of Daegu is home to over 2.5 million people, making it one of Korea's largest metropolitan areas. It was also the economic engine that helped build the country in the 60s to the 80s, and it is still a key sector for Korea's electronics industry-but how are its cafes? It turns Insta-snappy tourists are in luck: "Korea is famous for its kimchi, kpop stars, and instagram-worthy cafes", writes Ashley Berg on 10 Magazine, "While there are many famous cafes found in the capital, Seoul, there are at least 7 cafes worthy of your Instagram feed waiting for you in Daegu".

...READ ON 10 MAGAZINE

"Travel Guide: How Difficult Is It Really, Getting to Pyeongchang?"

The South Korean government and event organisers have put a considerable effort into making navigating in and around the host city of PyeongChang a breeze, but even then it's possible to get suck. This was the recent experience of Everen Brown, an "Olympic Superfan" who got somewhat stranded heading back to Gangneung recently. In this piece on Korea Expose, Raphael Rashid relived the journey from Incheon International to the Olympic venues with Brown (who doesn't speak English)-"Spoiler alert: Traveling wasn't easy"-and has these useful travel tips to help you avoid a similar predicament.

...READ ON KOREA EXPOSE

"South Korea has a 'Trump' motel with prison cells"

After typing "Trump" into Korea's Daum Map, Jon Dunbar discovered a Facebook page for a "muintel" ("where guests check in through machine rather than with a person, intended to reduce costs and maximize guest privacy"). Located in South Jeolla Province, the so-called 'Trump Hotel' has prison cell themed rooms; "Trump bathrobes, Trump bed sheets, Trump hairdryer and, of course, the prison bars", writes Jon on The Korea Times. "They were real metal and if you brought your own padlock you could lock someone in there. I imagined waking up in the morning to find myself locked in". Despite this bazaar setting, Jon reports that his time at the Trump Hotel was "tied for the most pleasant stay I've had in Korea".

...READ ON THE KOREA TIMES

"Top 10 books about South Korea"

Books and travel are a great pairing, between Point A and Point B there is often a sea of time that people point to when they say, "it's about the journey, not the destination". So why not use some of that time to emerge yourself in the ideas, stories and history of the country you're venturing to and through? In this post on The Guardian, author Mary Lynn Bracht ("White Chrysanthemum") lists ten great books about South Korea. After its massive international success, many international readers are now familiar with award-winning author Han Kang ("Vegetarian"), but the country boasts a depth of literary talent and this list is the perfect place to continue exploring the wonderful world of K-literature. "The country has a strong literary tradition, and with increasing interest in the country, translations of Korean works into other languages have given the rest of the world the chance to view it through the eyes and words of its own people".

...READ ON THE GUARDIANBy Lily Lee | Published on 2018/02/18 | Source

Actor Gang Dong-won has successfully won the title of "National Actor" for his 15-year acting career.

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He has always been recognized as an actor with outstanding skills, but in last couple of years, his filmography has been on fire. One after another, his movies are successful. Starting with "The Priest" in 2015, then "A Violent Prosecutor", "Vanishing Time: A Boy Who Returned", "Master", "1987: When the Day Comes" and now with "Golden Slumber", his films have become icons of what makes a bestseller. One of the reasons why he is receiving high praises is also because of his sensible choice in work. Gang Dong-won is always seeking fresh storylines that will captivate audiences and he also seeks out young directors fresh in the industry.

Gang Dong-won commented on his choices saying, "I don't want to be tied down to a specific genre. For example, I can't just film thrillers all my life just because they are popular. I want to tell a new story. The audience has the thirst for it as well. Since I'm in a place now where my name can bring a value, I can lead the way and find those refreshing stories myself".

Regarding his special appearance in the historical movie "1987: When the Day Comes" as the patriot Lee Han-yeol and as politically troubled Kim Geon-woo in "Golden Slumber", he said, "Since I'm getting older, I started to gain interest in the issues of the society. I think it's only natural that I feel this way".

Gang Dong-won expressed his affection towards the movie "Golden Slumber" and his character Kim Geon-woo. He suggested the story when he read the original book written by a Japanese author and actively participated in putting together the remake ideas for the movie. The actor also shared that the character Kim Geon-woo resembles him in a lot of situations as they both try to suppress their feelings and sometimes even willingly accept disadvantages in life.

Because Gang Dong-won started his acting career in his early 20s, his life has shaped itself in a certain way. He shared, "I'm always tense. Sometimes I think to myself, I want to live comfortably, but it's kind of hard for me. There are so many eyes watching me. I do have a for which job forgiveness is hard to receive even with the smallest mistakes I make. In the beginning of my career, I was desperate to survive. I was anxious that I'll be out of the field once a show fails. It wasn't until my mid-20s that I started to feel a sense of safety and balance. Now I really do think acting is my job for life. I'm always thinking about the meaning and purpose of my job".

He continued, "I work in order to be happy. When the show receives good reaction, I'm genuinely happy. When I'm thinking of the next project, it gets me excited. However, I can't really be happy if my surroundings feel unhappy. So, I'm often pondering upon the subject of "how can we work in a happier society?" This makes me sound like some motivational speaker *chuckles*".

Gang Dong-won is currently under filming the movie "Illang : The Wolf Brigade" and afterward, he will be leaving to filming a Hollywood movie "Tsunami LA" starting in March. For this exciting news, Gang Dong-won simply added, "It's exciting to challenge myself on a new horizon. The responsibility is surely heavy. Since I'm participating as a South Korean actor, I feel accountable to perform well. The system will be quite different from South Korea, but I'll adjust well as I learn and share".

Lastly, he shared his future plan for marriage: "For now, work takes priority over a marriage. I really don't know when I'm going to get married. I was actually not one to think of such thing since I was little. Many of my elders say, "It's guys like you who gets married so fast, out of nowhere". So, you can never tell what will happen in the future. *laughs*"

By: Lily LeePublished on 2018/02/19 | Source

On the latest episode of the tvN drama "A Korean Odyssey", Son Oh-gong (Lee Seung-gi) saw Jin Seon-mi's (Oh Yeon-seo) birth in his dream. Meanwhile in his home, Suryeom-dong, an egret flew in and a baby was found where the bird had sat.

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Son Oh-gong knew Asa-neyo (Lee Se-young) was looking for him. She warned him that his heart was in danger. Still, he wouldn't budge and Asa-nyeo told him Ma-wang let her go.

Outraged, Son Oh-song told Woo Ma-wang (Cha Seung-won) that he was being fooled by Asa-nyeo and that she was trying to use him. Woo Ma-wang said, "I have to avenge my son. I can't be calm not knowing he's alive or dead".

Son Oh-gong looked back and forth between Woo Ma-wang and the baby and asked about her birth. Ma-wang said, "I found her while looking for special humans. That's why Jonathan (Michael Lee) is trying to make a movie with Sun-mi's story".

Jonathan told Son Oh-gong everything about Jin Seon-mi's past. He said, "There was an epidemic where she used to live and the woman she was born to died. She was an outcast because she seemed misfortunate, but I think she saved the people. The epidemic disappeared when she was born. I heard this from the doctors at the health center".

Son Oh-gong suggested that Sun-mi to go back to where she was born. She was scared, but he said they should go themselves and took the baby to the health center where it was born.

Doctor Baek-ro thanked them for bringing back the baby safely. She then told Sun-mi, I wanted to tell you the baby is not a misfortunate child. She said the epidemic disappeared when the baby was born. "Everything that happens to you now won't hurt you, but save you".

Son Oh-gong went back to Baek-ro once again. She told him he was Sun-mi's guardian and that she also used to be her guardian. She said, "A knife will appear soon and stab you in the heart like I did a long time ago. A huge demon will appear and Sun-mi's body will be in your path. That's her destiny. She has to be stabbed along with the demon so that all chaos in the world disappears".

Jin Seon-mi met Kang Dae-sung (Song Jong-ho) with Asa-nyeo and recalled the ruins she had seen. Then the merchant who had left in search of the knife returned. Son Oh-gong stuck the knife in a rock and decided he would risk his life to save Jin Seon-mi and said, "Do not bring this knife which I have to kill Sun-mi with ever again".Havre Police Department

Officers arrested or issued a summons to someone during a motor vehicle stop near a Third Avenue business Friday at 6:03 a.m.



Officers arrested Gregory Charles Rainingbird of Box Elder, 23, on charges of obstructing a peace officer, possession of drug paraphernalia, and possession of dangerous drugs and on a Justice or City court warrant after a 10th Avenue caller reported Friday at 6:57 a.m. that a car was stuck near his home and the people inside it tried to use his shovel to get out before running off. No further information was provided on two other arrests made in the incident.



Officers arrested Jacob James Bauer of Havre, 35, on a criminal contempt charge related to a 24/7 Sobriety Program violation Friday at 8:01 p.m.



Officers issued a summons to Nicholas Theodore Henderson of Havre, 28, on charges of failure to carry or produce proof of insurance and driving with a suspended or revoked drivers license Friday at 9:31 a.m. on Boulevard Avenue.



Officers investigated a motor vehicle crash Friday at 1:51 p.m. on First Street Northeast.



Officers investigated a motor vehicle crash Friday at 2:14 p.m. at Montana State University-Northern.



Officers investigated after a First Street West business caller reported Friday at 3:46 p.m. that a purse had been stolen.



Officers investigated after a caller near Second Avenue and First Street reported Friday at 3:48 p.m. a motor vehicle crash in which one of the involved vehicles took off.



Officers investigated after a Havre High School caller reported Friday at 8:49 p.m. a motor vehicle crash. No further information was available.



Officers arrested Wendy Lynn Casey of Chinook, 51, on charges of driving under the influence and improper left turn Friday at 9:04 p.m. at First Street and Fifth Avenue.



Officers arrested and transported from Box Elder Rikki Lynn Horn of Harlem, 24, on a Justice or City court warrant Saturday at 12:28 a.m.



Officers arrested Tia Lorraine St. Marks of Havre, 30, on charges of possession of dangerous drugs, two counts, and possession of drug paraphernalia Saturday at 1:42 a.m. on Second Street.



Officers investigated after a Second Street caller reported Saturday at 7:58 a.m. that someone had broke into her residence the night before and took some items.



Officers arrested Kelcey Morsette of Box Elder, 28, on a Justice or City court warrant Saturday at 12:39 p.m. at the Havre Police Department.



Officers investigated after a Second Street caller reported Saturday at 10:05 p.m. a complaint. No further information was available.



Officers arrested Jacob James Bauer of Havre, 35, on a criminal contempt charge Saturday at 11:17 p.m. near a First Street West business.



Officers arrested two people after a caller near 12th Avenue and Eighth Street reported Sunday at 3:01 a.m. that a vehicle was stuck. Aaron Michael Bishop of Havre, 28, was arrested on a violations of conditions charge, and Chase Erik Schmautz of Travis Air Force Base in Washington, 21, was arrested on charges of possession of dangerous drugs and possession of drug paraphernalia.



Officers investigated after a Lincoln Avenue caller reported Sunday at 3:29 p.m. that someone had stolen firewood.



Officers investigated after a First Street West business caller reported Sunday at 7 p.m. that a credit card had been stolen.

Hill County Sheriffs Office

The Sheriffs Office did not provide a dispatch log today due to it being a national holiday.

Havre Fire Department

Medical crews responded to two calls Friday, two calls Saturday and five Sunday.



Fire crews responded Friday at 2:20 p.m. to the 1700 Block of U.S. Highway 2 Northwest. No one at the fire department today was able to provide further information.

Havre Animal Shelter

This morning the shelter held five medium-hair cats, sex listed as unknown; one Siamese cat, sex listed as unknown; two male short-hair, one female short-hair, one female long-hair and one female calico cat.



The shelter this morning held four 7-week-old female Rottweiler-shepherd mixed-breed puppies, a female Rottweiler-shepherd mixed-breed dog, a 9-month-old male Australian shepherd, a male Labrador retriever-pug mixed-breed dog, a male 10-month-old German shepherd, a female border collie and a female Labrador retriever.The legacies of the Peoples War

The Maoists find themselves in a paradoxical situation twelve years after they laid down arms. On the one hand, much of their agenda has come to fruition. Their ideas have pervaded the political sphere so extensively that hardly anyone now remembers where they originated.U.S. Rep. Greg Gianforte speaks to the crowd Sunday in the Blaine County Fairground Community Center during the Blaine and Hill county Republican central committees' Lincoln-Reagan Dinner.

U.S. Rep. Greg Gianforte, R-Mont., touted the accomplishments of the Republican-led Congress and sought to mobilize voters for the coming midterm election when he spoke at the Blaine and Hill county Republican central committees' annual Lincoln-Reagan dinner Sunday.

Gianforte thanked local Republicans for their help in last year's special election for Montana's only seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Gianforte, the retired founder of RightNow Technologies, won the race to replace Ryan Zinke who resigned from the U.S. House to serve as President Donald Trump's Secretary of the Interior.

"I could not have done it alone and I know we had a lot of supporters up here, and I just want to say thank you from the beginning," he said.

The first two months after being sworn in, Gianforte said, he has done events in all 56 counties in the state.

Gianforte said that immediately after getting elected he introduced bills to withhold the pay of lawmakers if they can't balance the federal budget, a Constitutional amendment to balance the federal budget, legislation that would put in place term limits on members of Congress and that would ban members of Congress from becoming lobbyists.

"This is all part of bringing the people's voice back to Washington, D.C," he said.

Gianforte said Congress is beginning work on a farm bill, and he has sought input from organizations that represent agriculture producers.

"My promise to you is that we will make sure Montana's fingerprints are on the farm bill," he said. The bill will be in committee within the next 45 days and something will be passed before the current farm bill is set to expire later this year.

Gianforte said he has heard from people how important it is that federal crop insurance is kept intact, which is vital to support younger farmers who are just getting started.

Gianforte also touted the Tax and Jobs Act of 2017, the landmark tax law signed by President Donald Trump.

"I have to say as a business guy, I think this is the single biggest thing we can do," he said.

Big business and small business alike, Gianforte said, have told him that they are hiring more and wages are increasing and bonuses are getting paid,

He said that Blaine County Republican Central Committee Chair and Richman Insurance owner Don Richman has given all his employees a raise and hired another person.

The U.S. military must have the tools they need to keep America safe, Gianforte said. He added that on three occasions he voted for a boost in spending on the military and to give members of the military the largest raise they have had in eight years, including $250 million for rural veterans health care.

The U.S. House has passed more than 500 bills in the last year, but more than 400 are sitting in the Senate.

"And this is why this election in November is so important," he said.

Gianforte said that Tester has voted against the tax bill, voted to prioritize illegal immigrants over U.S. troops by voting against a bill to fund the government and voted against the confirmation of Supreme Court Neil Gorsuch to the bench.

"(Sen.) Steve Daines and I would like to have a new partner in the Senate who will help us with these issues, so we can do what you sent us there to do," he said.

A campaign spokesman for Tester said the senator will continue to work to serve Montanans.

"Jon Tester has worked with President Trump to pass 12 bills into law for Montana, and he won't stop fighting for better schools and jobs, and for Montana's veterans," spokesman Chris Meagher said in an email this morning. "Jon will keep holding government accountable to Montana, and defending the Montana that three generations of his family have called home."

Daines, who is not up for re-election, was not able to attend Sunday's event, but Hill County Republican Central Committee Chair Andrew Brekke read aloud from a letter from the senator.

"Dear friends, let me start out by stating one thing: thank God for President Donald J. Trump and Vice President Mike Pence," Brekke read.

The letter said that, in the past 12 months, Trump has worked to unravel the policies put in place during the Obama administration,

"Thanks to President Trump and the United States Senate we now have added Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court."

He listed the confirmation of Gorsuch, the approval of 12 circuit court judges, the repeal of the individual mandate that requires people without health insurance to pay a fine and the passage of tax reform as accomplishments.

Daines also listed the approval of the Keystone pipeline and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge has been opened for drilling for the first time in 40 years and repeal of regulations.

"In fact, we have repealed more regulations than any other Congress in history," he said,

"The federal register is now 35 percent smaller because we have cut 4500 pages of regulations that killed jobs and stifle innovation."

He said that ensuring public lands are accessible to all members of the public has been a top priority of the Trump administration, including freeing 45,000 acres locked up in wilderness study areas.

Daines defended his vote against the budget passed by Congress last week, saying it grew government by 13 percent and was the largest increase in spending since 2009 and because it raises the debt ceiling.

"Our national debt is already over $20 trillion and will only continue to increase. Washington is addicted to spending. It has a spending problem, not a revenue problem."

Daines said that when he was first elected to Congress in 2012, Republicans only held one of eight offices that were on the ballot in Montana, whereas today they have all but two.

Daines said it is critically important that Gianforte be re-elected, and that Montana elected a senator who will stand with he, Gianforte and Trump.An audience member listens to candidates speak Sunday in the Blaine County Fairgrounds Community Center during the Blaine and Hill county Republican central committees' Lincoln-Reagan Dinner.

Republican candidates for Blaine County sheriff, the state Legislature and the Montana Public Service Commission introduced themselves to voters Sunday night at the annual Lincoln-Reagan Dinner hosted by the Blaine and Hill County Republican Central Committees.

For $50 a ticket, people ate prime rib, took part in a live auction and heard from Political candidates at the event held in the Commercial Building on the Blaine County Fairgrounds.

Blaine County Central Committee Chair Don Richman said despite heavy snowfall the night before, he never considered canceling the event, which serves as the biggest fundraiser of the year for the central committees.

"We are Montanans," he said.

Montana Senate District 14 Republican primary candidates Brad Lotton of Havre and state Sen. Russ Tempel, R-Chester, both addressed the crowd.

"I have never had a job where I was fed by taxpayer dollars," Lotton said.

Lotton, owner of Lotton Construction and finance director of the Hill County Republican Central Committee, and Tempel, a former three-term county commissioner appointed to the Senate seat in 2016, are vying to be the Republican candidate in Senate District 14.

The district runs from the Canadian border north of Chester to just outside Great Falls and includes Havre, Kremlin, Gildford, Hingham, Rudyard, Joplin, Inverness, Fort Benton, Chester, Box Elder and Big Sandy.

Both contenders will face off for the party's nomination in the June 5 primary and the winner will take on Bear Paw Development Corp. executive director and Democrat Paul Tuss in November.

Lotton and Tempel along with Darrold Hutchinson, a farmer who lives north of Hingham and a candidate in House District 27, were all considered by members of the county commissions in the Senate district to fill the seat in late 2016 after state Sen. Kris Hansen, R-Havre, resigned from the Senate to move to Helena and accept a job as chief legal counsel for Montana Auditor Matthew Rosendale.

As a business, Lotton said he is familiar with the issues that affect industry in Montana such as the high cost of worker's compensation in the state, limits on logging and how what he calls government overreach has caused the oil and gas industry to scale back their operations in Montana.

If elected, Lotton vowed that he will represent the entire district.

"I am not going to just represent Havre, I am not just going to represent Liberty County," he said.

Lotton also said that he would not vote to raise taxes or increase government bureaucracy.

Unlike legislators elected in November of 2016, Tempel said his appointment was so sudden he was not able to attend the three-day legislative training session put on for newly elected lawmakers.

"Everyone else had gone down in November and did their little three-day training I spent the next three weeks getting that three-day training on the job." Tempel said.

"Spending four months in Helena was a real eye-opener, and at this point I believe I can probably do a good job competing with the Democratic side going into this thing," he said.

Joshua Kassmier, a Republican running in House District 27 also spoke to the crowd.

Kassmier, a former candidate for mayor of Fort Benton and crop adjuster, and Hutchinson are running in the party's primary for the seat now held by state Rep. Jim O'Hara, R-Fort Benton, who has decided not to file for re-election.

Hutchinson was not at the dinner.

No Democrats, independents or third party candidates have yet filed with the Montana Secretary of State's office to enter the race.

Kassmier, a Fort Benton native, said that after graduating from High School in 2000, he became an intern for then-Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont. He then returned to Montana where he attended Carroll College and earned a degree in political science and public management.

He then returned to Fort Benton where he helped out on his family's farm and eventually became a crop adjuster.

Kassmier said his work takes him as far north as Cut Bank and as far south as Wyoming.

"So I know the issues facing the state," he said.

Blaine County Undersheriff Frank Billmayer also spoke, as he runs to be the party's nominee for county Sheriff.

A former Marine who also worked briefly in business in South Korea, Billmayer said that he will be the first Republican for that office in quite sometime.

"I know running as a Republican in Blaine County is a challenge, but I have never shied away from challenges," he said.

Billmayer will face Blaine County Sheriff's Office Lt. John Kolby, a Democrat, in November. Billmayer was among several candidates considered for the office of undersheriff, after UnderSheriff Pat Pyette died in the line of duty in 2012.

Billmayer said he along with other deputies were told by Sheriff Glenn Huestis to submit a letter of interest for the position.

He was appointed undersheriff in Aug. 2012.

Billmayer said that in his current position he supervises all the country's deputies and, performs pre-employment background checks. He also supervises all criminal case files and coroner death investigations and helps out with the budget process.

Fiscal responsibility, Billmayer said, will be a major plank in his campaign because he is concerned with federal deficit spending and knows the fiscal constraints the county faces.

Billmayer said he will do what he can to get federal grants "when they make sense for Blaine County."

Two of the four Republicans running for the open district 1 seat on the Montana Public Service Commission also addressed the crowd.

Mark Wicks of Inverness and former state Rep. Randy Pinocci, R-Sun River, were at the dinner.

Fellow Republican candidates state Rep. Rob Cook, R-Shelby, and Cory McKinney of Great Falls were not at the dinner.

The candidates are running in the primary for the seat now held by term-limited Commissioner Travis Kavulla, R-Great Falls.

No Democrats, independents or third party candidates have entered the race as of print deadline today.

Mark Wicks is an Inverness farmer, rancher and contractor with U.S. Postal Service, who last year ran as the Libertarian Party candidate in the special election for Montana's lone seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Wicks said that in college he studied technology education, which is the study of how energy, manufacturing, technology and communication industries relate to one another.

"So that blends really well to what this seat does," he said.

Wicks said he has gone online to research the PSC and talked about issues with some of its members.

"So I am doing my homework, getting ready to run," he said.

Issues related to the regulation of electric and telephone co-ops, and making sure that when utility companies ask the PSC to raise rates for infrastructure upgrades those projects are being carried out, are issues Wicks said he is interested in working on.

Pinocci said that it is important that people research the candidates and vote in the primary because there are high differences between the candidates.

"There is a very important election and it is called the primary," Pinocci said.

A one-term legislator, Pinocci served in the 2015 legislative session in the Montana House of Representatives. He said that his time serving on the House Committee on Energy, Technology and Federal Relations, familiarized him with many of the issues taken up by the PSC.Partisanship has taken hold of our political lives from Washington to right here in Northwest Montana. Despite all the political ill will, there appears to be one issue that Republicans and Democrats can agree on  promoting local economic growth through our nations community banks.

At a time of political polarization, it was encouraging to learn that the Senate Banking Committee recently accomplished something rare: passing a bill developed by Republicans and Democrats on a bipartisan basis. Designed to tailor financial services regulations to ease the burden of red tape on locally based community banks like Three Rivers Bank of Montana, the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act (S. 2155) passed with support from senators from both parties and can now head to the Senate floor for a vote.

This legislation  spearheaded by a bipartisan coalition led in part by our own Sen. Jon Tester  represents the best opportunity for Congress to support local communities by advancing meaningful reforms for the community banking sector. Following seven years of congressional hearings, every provision in the multipronged bill has already passed a House or Senate committee by a bipartisan vote as standalone legislation.

Since the financial crisis, members of both political parties have lamented the decline in the number of community banks around the nation. Now is the time for them to stand up for their communities and support the institutions like ours that make a meaningful impact every day. Members of Congress who truly believe in helping the community banking sector will support this legislation.

The bill has broad support for good reason. Regulatory burdens are plaguing locally based community banks, which provide nearly half of the banking industrys small-business loans despite making up less than 20 percent of its assets. Despite their low financial risk and high economic reward, Main Street community banks suffer from an onslaught of regulations  exacerbated by Washingtons response to the 2008 Wall Street financial crisis  that is limiting the nations economic growth.

By reforming complex regulations on community bank mortgage lending and capital requirements while focusing oversight on the risky financial firms that caused the crisis, Congress can promotetrue community-based growth that extends beyond stock market gains and shareholder dividends. For instance, the bill would exempt many community banks from stringent new data-reporting requirements on mortgage loans, freeing lenders to focus on the borrowers needs instead of regulatory paperwork.

The only question is whether the bill can remain focused on community banks to maintain its broad backing. Sen. Tester and other bipartisan allies on the Senate Banking Committee wisely resisted any changes to the bill to keep it focused on community banks, and lawmakers will need to continue to counter attempts by the largest banks to extend the scope of relief to Wall Street. We cannot let the largest and riskiest megabanks jeopardize thesepolicies. All U.S. senators from both parties should sign on and fight for this vitally important legislation.

These recent events have shown there is broad support for common-sense financial reforms despite our acrimonious political environment. Thank you, Sen. Tester, for your hard work on this important initiative. Now all members of Congress should seize on this common ground to achieve a rare bipartisan show of unity that will help local communities like Kalispell thrive.



Andrew J. A.J. King is the President of Three River Bank of Montana.Washington, D.C., is broken. Our representatives choose time and again to bend to the interests of lobbyists and corporate donors at our expense.

I have spent my entire career as a consumer protection advocate, fighting for people who have been bullied and harmed by big banks and powerful corporations. I am running for U.S. House of Representatives to fight for all Montanans the same way that I have fought for my clients.

Shortly after I announced my campaign, 58 innocent concertgoers were murdered in Las Vegas. Hundreds were injured. A few weeks ago in Polson, at one of the many town halls that weve held, a grandmother asked me, What are you going to do to protect my grandchildren from gun violence? I offered thoughts and prayers, but nothing else.

My wife, Meagen, and I have four kids. Every morning, I walk my two youngest children to the public elementary school across the street from our home. And after I drop them off, like every parent, I worry for their safety. I can only imagine the heartache felt by parents in South Florida yesterday when their children did not come home.

Today, I apologize to that grandmother in Polson for not giving her a more straight forward answer.

Please understand. As a gun owner, I believe in the Second Amendment. I cherish my Constitutional right to legally possess firearms. Like all gun owners, I know that with rights come responsibilities.

I do not pretend to have all the answers. I do know this: Many of our elected officials in Washington, D.C., are bought and paid for by the powerful corporate gun lobbyists who bankroll their campaigns. Those that are not, often feel paralyzed for fear of offending them. I have rejected corporate PAC and corporate lobbyist money. This includes the gun industry.

Importantly, we need federal support and funding for mental health centers and services throughout Montana and throughout our country. Resources to support effective violence prevention strategies, such as community policing, probation and parole officers and access to high-quality, affordable healthcare services are essential. Our law enforcement officials and prosecutors need the funding and support to implement the laws and programs that can and should work.

While protecting the Second Amendment, we must implement common sense: Close the gun show loophole. Ban bump stocks. Expand the existing prohibition against domestic abusers possessing firearms to everyone who is convicted of a violent crime.

Powerful interests have put a stranglehold on our ability protect our children and the most vulnerable people in our society. Today and every day, I will fight for people, not corporations or lobbyists.



Democrat John Heenan is a candidate for the U.S House of Representatives.When I was elected to Congress, the people of Montana sent a clear message: they wanted more jobs and less government. But the bloated budget deal passed by Congress last week is the very definition of more government.

As Montanas voice in the U.S. Senate, Ive been fighting for positive reforms that rein in Washingtons out-of-control spending and regulations that threaten more jobs and bigger paychecks for Montanans.

And weve had success  in the past year alone, Congress has cut red tape, put qualified judges on the benches of our nations courts and passed once-in-a...Researchers at the University of Cincinnati (UC) College of Medicine have shown that probenecid, a drug long used to treat gout, may be able to improve heart function in adult patients who experience heart failure.

The results are published in the Journal of the American Heart Association based off a study of 20 patients at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center.

We were testing if probenecid was safe for patients, says Jack Rubinstein, MD, associate professor in the Division of Cardiovascular Health and Disease, and corresponding author for the study. We know that it was very likely to be safe because the medicine had been taken by people of all ages for decades. It has a very strong safety profile. We were quite happily surprised it improved the two main ways in how the heart functions. It improves how the heart contracts and how it relaxes.

The patients were offered probenecid as part of a randomized, double-blind, crossover and placebo-controlled single-center clinical trial. Patients, who averaged 57 years of age, were enrolled during four-week periods between June 2013 and April 2015.

They were required to undergo an echocardiogram, an electrocardiogram and six-minute endurance test along with other assessments, explains Rubinstein, a UC Health cardiologist and member of the UC Heart, Lung and Vascular Institute.

The studys first author is Nathan Robbins, a senior research assistant in the UC College of Medicine, who started out volunteering with Rubinstein in the laboratory examining the echocardiograms of animals treated with probenecid before later being hired to help recruit heart failure patients.

This is the first time probenecid has been used in heart failure patients and we showed it increases the ejection fraction in patients with heart failure, says Robbins. It was exciting to be able to see this medicine work from the bench to the bedside.

Rubinstein also partnered with basic scientists led by Sakthivel Sadayappan, PhD, professor in the UC College of Medicine and director of the heart branch of the UC Heart, Lung and Vascular Institute. Sadayappan and his researchers examined probenecid in animal heart cells and found it improved how well the heart uses calcium, an important component in cardiac muscle contraction.

The medicine works in ways we know about and in ways we dont know about, says Rubinstein. For the past four or five years we have been figuring out some of the ways the medicine works. We have figured out a lot of them, but there is still a lot we dont know.

Heart failure occurs when the heart pump is not strong enough to move blood throughout the body and meet the bodys needs for oxygen, explains Rubinstein. It affects 5.7 million people in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The repercussions are potentially significantif we are able to confirm this experiment in larger studies with longer-term follow upthis could present a new way of treating heart failure for which there are limited medical therapies available, says Rubinstein.

Left ventricular assist devices, pacemakers, heart transplants and medications are available to treat heart failure patients, but outcomes for patients with heart failure are still worse than outcomes for the vast majority of cancer patients, says Rubinstein. Thats what we want to effectively change.

Other researchers in the UC College of Medicine also assisting the study are Mark Gilbert, MD, Mohit Kumar, James McNamara, PhD, Patrick Daly, MD, Sheryl Koch, PhD, Ginger Conway, Mohamed Effat, MD, and Jessica Woo.

The study performed at UC Medical Center is related to Rubinsteins work with probenecid to treat children and young adults with hypoplastic left heart syndrome. He received a $154,000 grant in June 2017 from the American Heart Association and Childrens Heart Foundation to tackle this project with researchers at Cincinnati Childrens. Hypoplastic left heart syndrome is a birth defect that affects normal blood flow through the heart.

The UC Medical Center study was funded by the University of Cincinnati and by the American Heart Association through grant ID 13BGIA17140069.

Rubinstein is a founding member of TRP therapeutics and is also founding member and board member of CinTRYP LL.

University of CincinnatiTo stop the spread of cancer, cancer cells must die. Unfortunately, many types of cancer cells seem to use innate mechanisms that block cancer cell death, therefore allowing the cancer to metastasize. While seeking to further understand cancer cell death, researchers at the University of Notre Dame discovered that the activation of a specific enzyme may help suppress the spread of tumors.

The findings, published in Nature Cell Biology, demonstrate that the enzyme RIPK1 decreases the number of mitochondria in a cell. This loss of mitochondria leads to oxidative stress that can potentially kill cancer cells, though researchers speculate the cancer cells could find ways to shut down this effect.

During the study, the Notre Dame team discovered that when the enzyme RIPK1 is activated in a cell, it can cause the number of mitochondria  considered the power plants of the cell  to decrease as the cell consumes its own components for energy, a process called mitophagy. This was surprising, given RIPK1 was well-known to regulate necrosis, a completely distinct cell death mechanism.

We really thought this was going to be a story about necrosis, but we werent able to see evidence of it, and knew there had to be something were missing, said Zachary Schafer, Coleman Foundation Associate Professor of Cancer Biology in the Department of Biological Sciences and senior author on the study. Looking at mitochondrial numbers fundamentally changed our thinking, and got us focused on a different way that RIPK1 may cause cells to die.

Schafer focuses on metastasis, the process by which cancer cells leave the primary tumor and disseminate to other parts of the body. Cell death, a barrier to metastasis, can be induced when epithelial cells, those lining the surfaces of body cavities, detach from the meshwork of scaffolding-like proteins called the extracellular matrix (ECM). As a tumor progresses, it can become resistant to this type of cell death.

While our findings are in their infancy, we hope we can take advantage of the liability associated with RIPK1s function in order to design a strategy aimed at eliminating ECM-detached cancer cells, which would ultimately improve patient survival, said Mark Hawk, a graduate student at Notre Dame and lead author of the study. Hawk added that more studies are needed to delineate which cancer types are most susceptible to this approach.

Co-authors on the study include Cassandra Gorsuch, Joshua Mason, Kelsey Weigel, Matyas Abel Tsegaye, Junjun Zuo, Patrick Fagan, Luqun Shen, Stephan Hu, Sarah Chapman, and W. Matthew Leevy at the Notre Dame Integrated Imaging Facility, as well as researchers from Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and Weill Cornell Medical College.

The research was funded by the National Science Foundation, the Coleman Foundation, the American Cancer Society and the Phi Beta Psi National Project.

University of Notre DameA number of Ireland's leading charities have confirmed they sacked staff over sexual misconduct allegations in recent years.

GOAL, Concern, Trocaire and Oxfam Ireland have all dismissed staff members after investigating allegations of sexual misconduct.

The news comes as it was revealed this week that aid workers at British charity Oxfam allegedly hired prostitutes in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake.

Exploitation

The sex allegations led to the resignation of Oxfam deputy chief executive Penny Lawrence earlier this week.

In a statement, the executive director of Trocaire, Eamonn Meehan, said his charity had to take action against one staff member.

"In 2016, a junior member of staff in an ancillary role was accused of sexual exploitation," he wrote in the statement published on the charity's website.

"We held an investigation which found that the individual had breached our code of conduct. He was dismissed immediately.

"There is now a criminal investigation into that incident and Trocaire is assisting the local authorities.

"This is the only such incident relating to staff members to have been reported to us."

The Herald has learned that the individual under investigation is not Irish, and the case relates to a location in an African country.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the charity GOAL said it had experienced between one and two incidents a year since 2010.

The charity said all complaints are throughly investigated, and, where evidence was confirmed, disciplinary action - up to and including dismissal - is taken.

Misconduct

In a statement the charity said it "complies with all requirements of all its institutional donors with regard to the reporting of allegations of wrongdoing, including those relating to sexual misconduct".

The charity said it operates a complaint response mechanism and staff must sign up to a code of conduct.

The charity, Concern, has also carried out internal investigations into claims of sexual misconduct made against more than a dozen staff members in the last 10 years. As a result, individuals were dismissed in three-quarters of the cases.

"The fact that three-quarters of cases resulted in dismissals, reflects how seriously Concern takes any incidents of reported inappropriate behaviour," said a spokesperson.

"Concern expects the highest standards of behaviour from its 3,900 staff worldwide.

"We have a zero-tolerance approach to sexual misconduct and believe our safeguarding reporting systems work effectively.

"A thorough analysis of our safeguarding reporting systems over the past 10 years has shown that throughout Concern's home offices and 26 countries of operation we have received an average of one to two reports of sexual misconduct per year," they said.

It is also reported that Oxfam Ireland dismissed a staff member in 2004 after an investigation into an allegation of "gross misconduct".A leading business academic has criticised the Government for failing to publish cost-benefit analyses for the three feasibility studies conducted on Metro North - and suggested the Government was only interested in supporting the study that endorsed the plan.

Professor Edgar Morgenroth, from the Business School at Dublin City University, said "there were three reports altogether" and the Government hasn't published the cost-benefit analyses of any of them.

"If it was so wonderful a project why are they not publishing the cost-benefit analysis?" he asked.

The Dublin Metro North underground plan, which has been around for over a decade, was revised and put front and centre of the Government's National Development Plan, which was published last Friday.

Renamed the 'Metro Link' it aims to deliver a direct rail service from the city to Dublin Airport, incorporating southside suburbs.

Doubt

But Prof Morgenroth has cast doubt over the viability of the plan. He questions whether the population density exists for the underground link to make economic sense.

"The really key issue is do you have enough people to make it work," he told the Herald.

"If Fingal North can get the densities in and around the line then it is worthwhile", he said before pointing out that the State is not building new homes near the proposed lines.

"Part of that line will go through places where there is literally nothing but fields."

"We don't ever see the evidence. I happen to know there were three reports conducted."

The first one showed Metro North not having "benefits exceeding the costs", he said.

"Wouldn't it be better to have confidence in this project," he said. His comments come as Fianna Fail TDs insist they are "not panicking" over poor opinion poll ratings for their party.

Support for Fine Gael has risen six points and the party - which has been in power for seven years - is now on 36pc.

According to the latest Sunday Independent/Kantar Millward Brown opinion poll, Fianna Fail has dropped one point and is at 28pc.

"We are up against the might of the Government strategic communications department," said one front-bench TD who asked not to be named.

"We shouldn't panic - although there are people on the front bench who aren't lifting their role," they said.

Most Fianna Fail TDs claim not to blame party leader Micheal Martin for the decline in support. Mr Martin's popularity was up three points to 48pc.

However, satisfaction with Leo Varadkar has soared 10 points ahead to 58pc - nine points higher than his initial rating after he became Taoiseach and leader of Fine Gael.

There is a sense of deflation within Fianna Fail that efforts to call out the Government over inconsistencies in key areas like housing and health are not puncturing Fine Gael support.

"I didn't bother reading inside the paper, I just saw the front page and said 'f*** that'," said another TD.

Fianna Fail's poll ratings were similarly low during the last leg of the election in 2011, yet the party came very close to Fine Gael in the end.

With one week to go, a Red C poll predicted it would get 31 seats, but in the end it took 44.

Senior figures like Barry Cowen say Fianna Fail is "in touch" with the public.

"They're too busy spinning while we're trying to deal with vulture funds sales, rent, people who can't buy a house," he said.President Donald Trump has criticised the FBI after the agency disclosed that it failed to follow up on a detailed warning about the 19-year-old gunman who is charged with killing 17 people and wounding a dozen others at a Florida high school last Wednesday.

"Very sad that the FBI missed all of the many signals sent out by the Florida school shooter. This is not acceptable," Trump tweeted on Saturday night.

A "person close to Nikolas Cruz" contacted the FBI's public access tipline on January 5 to "report concerns about him," the FBI said in a statement. The caller provided information about "Cruz's gun ownership, desire to kill people, erratic behaviour, and disturbing social media posts, as well as the potential of him conducting a school shooting," the statement said.

Mistake

Florida Governor Rick Scott said the FBI's failure was "unacceptable" and called for the resignation of FBI Director Christopher Wray.

"Seventeen innocent people are dead and acknowledging a mistake isn't going to cut it," Scott said in a statement. "The FBI director needs to resign."

Attorney General Jeff Sessions said he's initiated a Justice Department review of how the FBI acted. "It is now clear that the warning signs were there and tips to the FBI were missed. We see the tragic consequences of those failures," he said in a statement.

The revelation comes as Trump and congressional Republicans have criticized the FBI for its conduct of investigations into his campaign and into Hillary Clinton's use of private email while she was secretary of state.

The FBI is "spending too much time trying to prove Russian collusion with the Trump campaign - there is no collusion. Get back to the basics and make us all proud," Trump tweeted on Saturday.

Trump earlier also suggested on Twitter that the Parkland, Florida, community should have reported suspicions about Cruz to authorities.

"So many signs that the Florida shooter was mentally disturbed, even expelled from school for bad and erratic behaviour. Neighbours and classmates knew he was a big problem. We must always report any such instances to authorities, again and again," he said.

On Friday, Trump met with medical staff and some victims at Broward Health North Hospital and also stopped at the Broward sheriff's office.

He made the visits on the way to his luxury Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach.The start of a chain

When Min Bahadur Gurung, chairman and managing director of Bhat-Bhateni Group, started a small grocery shop in 1984 with an investment of Rs 35000, he never thought it would one day become the biggest retail brand in the country.1 / 2 Jonathan Johnson, president of Medici Ventures, explains what blockchain and bitcoin is at Brigham Young University's Blockchain Summit Feb. 16, 2018. Karissa Neely Daily Herald 2 / 2 Jonathan Johnson, president of Medici Ventures, explains what blockchain and bitcoin is at Brigham Young University's Blockchain Summit Feb. 16, 2018. Karissa Neely Daily Herald  

As comedian Ellen DeGeneres explained Thursday afternoon on her television show: Everybody is talking about bitcoin, nobody understands it.

Students, business professionals and investors tackled that question as they came together Friday at Brigham Young University for its first-ever Blockchain Summit. The summit, organized by BYU law student Ryan Lewis, pulled in an impressive array of experts working in this very new field.

But what is blockchain, how does it relate to bitcoin and how will it affect the layperson?

As Chad Bennett, founder and CEO of Heroic Cybersecurity in Provo, explained Friday morning, the internet is the information exchange protocol, and blockchain is the value exchange protocol. Just as the internet changed the way society, at a very basic level, exchanges information, blockchain advocates say this new technology will change the way society exchanges assets.

Jonathan Johnson, president of Medici Ventures and a member of Overstock.coms board of directors, defined assets as: real property  like land or a home, currencies  including cryptocurrencies, or even stocks and bonds.

An asset can be anything that, when I give it to you, you dont want a copy. You want the actual thing, Johnson said.

Sending someone an email or PDF  those are copies of the actual thing, he added. In that situation, users dont care if its a copy. But a user does not want a copy of $100. They want the real thing.

The blockchain allows for the digital transfer of assets in a way they will flow free and frictionless, Johnson said.

At its very basic and simple core, blockchain is the highly technical and extremely difficult math games which have created the platform for a decentralized public record of assets to exist. As Bernard Marr explained in a Forbes article published Friday morning, blockchain provided the answer to digital trust because it records important information in a public space and doesnt allow anyone to remove it. Its transparent, time-stamped and decentralized.

He went further by quoting Sally Davies, an Aeon Magazine and Financial Times technology writer and editor.

Blockchain is to bitcoin, what the internet is to email. A big electronic system, on top of which you can build applications. Currency is just one, she said.

Johnson called bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies the first killer app to come out of blockchain technology. In a highly simplified analogy, cryptocurrency is like digital cash. For example, when two people go to lunch, and one person pays the second for their share of the tab, they have different options.

One option would be to use their smartphones and Venmo the money from one to another. That transaction, though, involves multiple users, or trust brokers. Venmo verifies the first person has money in a linked bank, verifies the subtraction from that fund, then verifies the transfer of that money to second persons bank. On each end, the individuals banks also record the transaction on their own ledgers.

Another option is the first person can open their wallet, pull out some dollar bills and pay the other with cash. No one else is involved in that transfer of money except the two people. Using cryptocurrencies through blockchain technology is very similar to giving someone digital cash. Again, no centralized banks are involved in the transaction. It is just a transfer of money from one person to the next, in the form of bitcoin or other cryptocurrency.

Johnson explained the added benefit to cryptocurrency is, yes, that transaction is made directly like the real-world exchange of cash, but there is a digital record, or ledger of the transaction. It leaves a digital footprint, unlike real-world cash normally. In this way, assets can always be verified.

Because blockchain is tied to technology and not to any one government, business or entity, many companies are looking into its use as a way of publicly recording other assets, besides money. These include medical records, supply chain processes, property rights, insurance, contracts and even voting.

Blockchain technology and cryptocurrency is still very new, and yes, like the initial advent of the internet, people are still trying to wrap their heads around what it is. Honestly, for the layperson, it may not be the right time to jump into the fray, unless he/she has a solid understanding of the playing field. John Quinn, founder and chief risk officer of Storj, said during Fridays summit that the cryptocurrency world is very risky right now for the uninitiated, as were in the wild, wild West phase of this industry.

That will change as regulation and more oversight comes, though, say blockchain advocates, of which Quinn is one. Johnson even believes people in many parts of the world may eventually be paid their wages in cryptocurrency.

For now, Lewis was just excited to have so many people gathered in BYUs Gordon B. Hinckley Alumni Center to start the conversation on this new technology.1 / 6 Mitt Romney, candidate for the U.S. Senate, meets with students in the Hall of Flags at Utah Valley University on Friday, Feb. 16, 2018, in Orem. Romney publicly announced he would be running for senate earlier in the morning. Evan Cobb, Daily Herald 2 / 6 Mitt Romney, candidate for the U.S. Senate, takes selfies with students in the Hall of Flags at Utah Valley University on Friday, Feb. 16, 2018, in Orem. Evan Cobb, Daily Herald 3 / 6 Mitt Romney, candidate for the U.S. Senate, answers questions from members of the media in the Hall of Flags at Utah Valley University on Friday, Feb. 16, 2018, in Orem. Evan Cobb, Daily Herald 4 / 6 Members of the media surround Mitt Romney, candidate for the U.S. Senate, as he walks in the Hall of Flags at Utah Valley University on Friday, Feb. 16, 2018, in Orem. Evan Cobb, Daily Herald 5 / 6 Mitt Romney, candidate for the U.S. Senate, poses for a portrait in the President's Office at Utah Valley University on Friday, Feb. 16, 2018, in Orem. Evan Cobb, Daily Herald 6 / 6 Mitt Romney, candidate for the U.S. Senate, meets with students in the Hall of Flags at Utah Valley University on Friday, Feb. 16, 2018, in Orem. Romney shook hands and took pictures with students and staff of the university. Evan Cobb, Daily Herald  

Mitt Romney announced via video early Friday morning that he will be running for political office once again, this time to represent Utahns in the U.S. Senate.

After making the announcement, Romney spent his day making appearances in Ogden, Lehi and Orem to meet and make supporters.

At Utah Valley University, Romney spent about 30 minutes shaking hands, posing for selfies and occasionally reminding people to make sure to sign his petitions to get on the ballot, as he has elected to take the dual path to the ballot, by collecting signatures as well as going through the Republican Partys caucus convention system.

Relationship with Trump

After the UVU meet-and-greet, Romney talked with the Daily Herald about what hed like to accomplish if elected as a senator  including what his working relationship with President Donald Trump would look like.

Romney famously called Trump a phony and a fraud prior to the 2016 presidential election  something unheard of for a former presidential nominee to say about a current presidential nominee from his own party.

On Friday, Romney said he would continue to point out disagreements with Trump, but focused much more heavily on the ways he agrees with the president since taking office.

On a policy front, the presidents policies since being elected are very close to my own, Romney said. And those that I promoted in my campaign.

For instance, Romney said, he agreed with the tax reduction, deregulation and judicial appointments made during Trumps tenure in the White House so far.

Where the president has said something or Tweeted something that I thought was important, and where I disagreed, then I pointed that out, Romney said. I call them like I see them. So I will be with the president when his policies are good for the people of Utah, are good for the people of our country, and if I disagree, Ill point that out.

Bears Ears

His agreement with Trump extends to the presidents recent controversial reduction of the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments by a total of about 2 million acres.

Romney asserted the original decisions to create those monuments, made by presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, didnt align with the original intent of the Antiquities Act, which made the creation of national monuments possible.

The idea in the antiquities law was that a president could designate an area and take the smallest footprint possible to protect antiquities, Romney said. Well, millions of acres were taken by Presidents Obama and Clinton, without even having the courtesy to come to Utah to talk about their taking.

Though Romney said he didnt know if the new boundaries for the monuments were exactly how he would have set them, he said Trumps reversal corrected a mistake, and he supported that reversal.

Priorities if elected

As for Romneys priorities that are Utah-specific, Romney said bringing jobs to Utahs most rural counties will be at the top of his list.

Romney has a multi-step plan for accomplishing that, including bringing more government jobs to those areas, creating tax-advantaged zones to encourage businesses to locate and create jobs there and making sure that rural communities have quality health care and education.

People are not going to live in an area if they dont have a good health care option, Romney said. And with regards to education centers, I believe that finding places where there are institutions of higher learning and building on them to create an environment of technology will help attract jobs.

And for those areas like Utah County where rapid urban growth is a concern, Romney said getting money for transportation and infrastructure needs is something he believes he can be effective in securing the necessary federal funding for.

Particularly right here in Utah County, with the very high growth in Orem, Provo, Lehi and Alpine, youre going to have increasing transportation issues that weve got to address, he said. And I believe I can be more effective in getting the funding necessary to, for instance, de-bottleneck 1-15.

Background

While Romney is the highest profile candidate to throw his hat into the ring for the Senate race, he is not alone. Democrat Jenny Wilson, a current Salt Lake County Council member, and a handful of Republicans have announced intent to run as well.

Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch announced on Jan. 2 he would retire at the end of the year after he completes his current term in office. Hatch, 83, has served in the U.S. Senate for more than 40 years and is the longest-serving Republican in the Senate.

It is the first time Romney has sought elected political office since his failed bid in 2012 for president against Barack Obama. During that election, Romney received an overwhelming 73 percent of the vote in Utah. Sixty-nine percent of registered voters in Utah County voted for Romney for president in the 2012 general election. Ultimately, Romney lost with 48 percent of the popular vote and only 206 electoral votes, compared to Obamas 332.

Of course, many are familiar with Romneys background prior to running for president as former governor of Massachusetts and his role in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

Despite his time as an elected official on the East Coast, and skepticism from some that hes lived in Utah for long enough to warrant a Senate run, Romney said Friday that there is no doubt that, for him, Utah is home.

Romney has lived in Utah for a total of 10 years, he said: three while he attended Brigham Young University for his undergraduate, three while he served as the president of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee, which was behind the 2002 Winter Olympics that took place in Salt Lake City, and the past four years as a resident.

Yeah, this is home, Romney said, mentioning his deep family roots in Utah, including a great-grandfather who was the architect of the St. George Tabernacle.

Whats interesting is, even when I was running for president, people around the country assumed I was from Utah, Romney said. Its only in Utah that people ask the question, Are you really from Utah? Everyone else in the country is convinced Im from Utah. They know my roots are here.

Romney will also speak at the Utah County Republican Lincoln Day Dinner on Friday night.1 / 11 Steve Acerson, the president of the Utah Rock Art Research Association, looks out over the West Mountain area as he stands next to a rock with petroglyphs on Thursday, Feb. 8, 2018. Evan Cobb, Daily Herald 2 / 11 Steve Acerson, the president of the Utah Rock Art Research Association, describes the rock art shown on a boulder on Thursday, Feb. 8, 2018, in the West Mountain area. Rock art meanings usually depend on who is interpreting the designs. Evan Cobb, Daily Herald 3 / 11 Diana Acerson explains the design of the rock art example that is located in the West Mountain area on Thursday, Feb. 8, 2018. Evan Cobb, Daily Herald 4 / 11 Empty shotgun shells and other debris litter a parking area near an area used for target shooting in the Lake Mountains area on Thursday, Feb. 8, 2018. Evan Cobb, Daily Herald 5 / 11 Bullet holes damage a Bureau of Land Management sign in the Lake Mountains area on Thursday, Feb. 8, 2018. The sign explains that the area has archaeological artifacts and that penalties will be enforced if damage is done to the historical objects. Evan Cobb, Daily Herald 6 / 11 Diana Acerson examines rocks in a field in the West Mountain area on Thursday, Feb. 8, 2018. Acerson works on preservation for the Utah Rock Art Research Association. Evan Cobb, Daily Herald 7 / 11 Steve Acerson, the president of the Utah Rock Art Research Association, dials the number for the Bureau of Land Management's office for the West Mountain area on Thursday, Feb. 8, 2018. Evan Cobb, Daily Herald 8 / 11 An rock art example sits in a field in the Lake Mountains area on Thursday, Feb. 8, 2018. Evan Cobb, Daily Herald 9 / 11 Steve Acerson, the president of the Utah Rock Art Research Association, stands near an area that is being used as a shooting range on Thursday, Feb. 8, 2018, in the Lake Mountains area. A TV was brought out to the area and used as a target. Evan Cobb, Daily Herald 10 / 11 Steve Acerson, the president of the Utah Rock Art Research Association, examines an area that is being used as a shooting range on Thursday, Feb. 8, 2018, in the Lake Mountains area. Debris, litter, and gun shells were scattered around the area. Evan Cobb, Daily Herald 11 / 11 Bullet impacts destroy a portion of a rock, which has petroglyphs on the top side of the rock, on Thursday, Feb. 8, 2018, in the Lake Mountains area. Evan Cobb, Daily Herald  

As Steve Acerson perused ancient petroglyphs on the west side of Utah Lake on an unseasonably warm February morning, he started getting more and more upset.

The rock art enthusiast and president of the Utah Rock Art Research Association goes out frequently to identify rock art, and is intimately familiar with many of the known petroglyphs in Utah County  he helped discover many of them.

But as he reached down to point out a petroglyph depicting a bighorn sheep, he noticed the top half of the sheep had been damaged to the point that anyone who wanted to could pick up the detached piece of rock depicting the sheeps head, put it in their pocket, and walk away.

The reason for the damage? The piece of rock depicting the bighorn sheep lay at the base of a ridge used as a backdrop in a popular target shooting area on public lands.

Other petroglyphs also bore the marks of being hit by stray bullets, except for the few lucky enough to be protected by being carved into flat rocks less likely to become accidental backstops.

Though bullet marks from shooters, who by and large have no idea their backdrop is filled with petroglyphs, pose a danger, its far from the only risk to preserving these ancient artifacts scattered around nearly every corner of Utah County.

Acerson said theres petroglyphs in at least 15 different areas around Utah County, including Provo Canyon, Santaquin Canyon, Eagle Mountain, Cedar Fort, the Lake Mountains and West Mountain, among others.

The biggest threat to rock art in most cases is people, and Utah County, already the states second-most populous county, is getting more and more of those.

Population estimates show Utah Countys population adding more than 1 million people to its population by 2065, for a total of about 1.6 million.

That means nearly triple the number of people target shooting, developing new homes and businesses and a larger number of people willing to purposely steal or damage ancient artifacts.

Where did the rock art come from anyway?

Multiple Native American tribes called Utah County home for thousands of years before Mormon settlers arrived, and several of them practiced the art of etching or pecking images or shapes into rocks, leaving a record still visible today.

Its difficult to date rock art, said David Yoder, anthropology professor at Weber State University who previously taught at Utah Valley University in Orem.

Weve got some general idea, Yoder said. But rock art is not one of these things you can nail down with really hard facts. Its squishier than that.

Much of the Lake Mountain rock art in particular is thought to be from the Archaic period, Yoder said, so a rough guess is that its four to five thousand years old.

Other rock art in the county was done by the Fremont Indians, who occupied Utah County about a thousand years ago. Then theres petroglyphs thought to be more recent than that.

It spans a range, Yoder said. It goes back thousands of years, but that area was probably used right up until contact with Europeans.

Nailing down exactly what rock art was intended to mean is even trickier than dating it. Many pieces of rock art depict symbols. Even the pieces that obviously depict something specific, like a human or an animal, its difficult to say why it was drawn or what its supposed to mean.

Nobody knows exactly why it was drawn said Mike Searcy, anthropology professor at Brigham Young University. Some say its historical, some say pictorial stories, some say it has religious meaning. Other people would say they could be indicative of hunting grounds, a sign of heres where we hunted, heres what we caught.

When rock art is destroyed, whether intentionally or unintentionally, an irreplaceable part of the historical record is lost.

Other artifacts that give glimpses into prehistoric cultures, such as clothing, dont preserve as well over time as petroglyphs do, Searcy said.

So when someone comes along and hits the face of a rock with a bullet, it cant be reconstructed, Searcy said. Or its damaged in such a way that it doesnt give a complete picture.

What are the dangers to existing rock art?

Much rock art has already been lost in Utah County, though Acerson said its impossible to tell exactly how much.

As Acerson drove past a field in southern Utah County, he gestured toward the rocks and boulders that had been gathered up and deposited in large piles to make room for what will likely be an orchard.

Because of the location of the field, Acerson said it was likely that petroglyphs had existed on some of those boulders.

But several things keep rock art from being preserved in instances such as that.

For one thing, petroglyphs are often not very noticeable to the untrained eye. Often, the etchings patinize, or begin taking back on the original color of the rock, making them less noticeable than the average observer would expect.

Other natural occurrences, such as lichen growing in or around the images, might make them harder to distinguish to someone who is either not looking for them or isnt trained in what to look for.

And even if private landowners do know of petroglyphs on their land, there is nothing requiring them to preserve those artifacts unless they choose to do so.

Even on public lands, petroglyphs face danger. In multiple locations on the west side of Utah Lake, the Bureau of Land Management had put up signs, warning about artifacts in the area and the fines and penalties for destroying any.

The majority of those signs had been shot so many times they were no longer legible.

Mining and extraction activities on public land can also pose a threat to the petroglyphs, assuming its presence is undetected.

Kilgore Cos., which operates a gravel pit and asphalt plant in the unincorporated area of Benjamin, was recently notified by the state Division of Oil Gas and Mining that a proposed expansion from 44 to 97 acres on BLM land could not be approved until an additional cultural survey was conducted, because of petroglyphs found within that expansion site.

The BLM is charged with managing historic properties and other resources in compliance with multiple federal policies, including the National Environmental Policy Act, the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act and the Antiquities Act.

The Division of Oil, Gas and Mining had previously issued a tentative approval to allow that expansion in August, but a subsequent public hearing brought to light previously undocumented cultural resources on and immediately adjacent to the proposed mining area, according to a recommendations report from DOGM.

Now, before being approved for the expansion, Kilgore must provide an amended cultural resources survey report to see what mitigation measures are necessary.

The DOGM will now work with Kilgore to make sure those historic artifacts are appropriately protected.

The Division can then work with Kilgore to agree on measures that will allow for a determination of No Adverse Effect to Historic Properties from the proposed undertaking, said a letter dated Feb. 2 from the division to Kilgore. These may include a bugger around the rock art to ensure avoidance, or other measures to be discussed.

The expansion site had been previously listed as not containing any prehistoric petroglyphs, despite a 2014 review by an archaeological firm, which agreed with previous recommendations that the expansion area did not qualify for listing the National Register of Historic Places.

Its also not uncommon for documented boulders with petroglyphs to simply disappear. Acerson said, in the West Mountain area, four boulders that he knew there were rock art on are no longer there.

A lot of rock art is on small, broken rocks, Yoder said. Its easy to just pick up some of these and walk away with them. People have been recording rock art for decades, and sometimes we find where a rock should be, so we know at least some of it is getting stolen.

What is being done to preserve ancient petroglyphs?

Steps are being taken by multiple organizations and individuals to make sure as much as possible of these historic markers remain untouched for years to come.

Acerson and his wife, Diana, who focuses on preservation for Utah Rock Art Research Association, are out looking to document new rock art, almost every day we dont have something else going on.

Every piece of rock they find that contains petroglyphs has its GPS location documented and shared with whichever entity is responsible for the property its found on, whether that be state, federal or municipal oversight.

Thats part of our purpose, is to get it all documented, Diana Acerson said. Because when its recorded through state history, it gets a Smithsonian number and then whenever there is a land-use activity that might disturb that area, they have to mitigate it.

At that point, its mostly up to those entities to protect it.

In rapidly-growing Eagle Mountain, for instance, any historic sites the city is aware of are documented with the City Recorders Office so that if or when a developer asks the city to build houses, they can work with them on preserving those historic sites, said Eagle Mountain Assistant City Manager Paul Jerome.

The city is currently working with one developer to preserve known petroglyphs in a housing development, Jerome said.

Every land development in the city is required to have a certain amount of green space, and Eagle Mountain and the developer worked to make sure the petroglyphs are part of that green space, which will eventually be turned over to the city as a park.

Weve already got that preserved, Jerome said. So when developers come in the future, we can say, you are going to have to avoid this historic site or work. Thats what weve done to try to encourage preservation and document sites we are aware of.

Other private landowners in the county have taken steps to make sure petroglyphs are protected, including the Smith family, who in 2012 donated nearly 200 acres to the Archaeological Conservancy.

The area is pristine: bullet marks wont be found on the approximately 240 rock art panels located there.

Eventually, the hope is to acquire funding to create trails so that the rock art in the area can be utilized by school districts for field trips and historical education, said Randy Griffin, steward of the Smith Preserve.

But right across the road from the preserve is the popular target shooting area where Steve Acerson found the damaged bighorn sheep art, and that, combined with shooting on other neighboring pieces of property, make safety a concern in bringing kids out for tours, Griffin said.

Griffin and the Acersons are hoping for action on a permanent target shooting ban on more than 2,000 acres of BLM land, including that area across State Route 68 where rock art has become an accidental backstop.

I went out and talked to people, and they didnt know the rock art was there, Griffin said. Which is one of the reasons it shouldnt be open to shooting in the first place.

The BLM has already issued a temporary shooting ban on about 900 acres in that area, because of shooters shooting over roads, toward homes and destroying rock art, and issued a proposal at the end of 2016 that would extend the permanent closure to about 2,000 acres to protect the petroglyphs that are now in imminent danger.

Though local leaders signed off on that plan, its still waiting on final approval before it goes into effect.

In the meantime, Utah County is building a long-delayed shooting range on 160 acres deeded over to them by the BLM for the purpose of building a shooting range to accommodate target shooters who might normally have done their shooting on the acreage that is now closed to shooting.

In addition, the BLM has a public awareness campaign called Respect and Protect to eliminate the looting and vandalism of archaeological and paleontological resources across Utah, according to Hannah Cowan, public affairs specialst for the West Desert District Office of the BLM.

Part of the battle is letting people know where the petroglyphs are, Steve Acerson said. Most people arent intentionally destroying it. But publicizing the whereabouts comes with its own risks.

One percent of people who come out here have no ethics whatsoever, Steve Acerson said. So they end up leaving their mark, or destroying or manipulating. But sometimes you have to share the information so people find out about it.

Yoder advised that those lucky enough to come across petroglyphs heed the leave no trace mentality.

This stuff is a wonderful resource that you should enjoy, Yoder said. I dont want to make it sound like you shouldnt go check it out you should enjoy it, but dont touch it. Take a lot of photos, but dont touch it, dont deface it and dont move it. Enjoy it in place.For Subscribers Addiction treatment hard to find in rural Maryland

Even before COVID-19, lack of options and transportation meant treatment was harder to find in rural areas.The visionary

Dr Sanduk Ruit comes from Olanchungola in Taplejung district, a remote part of Nepal that has often been a metaphor to describe the rusticity of the country.Truth to populist power

Once upon a time, we had the political generation that sought to stabilize and democratize Nepal by bringing down the Rana regime. Subsequent generations have had it easy, and gone soft when it comes to protecting pluralism and representational politics.Faced with growing doubts about the much-touted economic benefits of Chinas Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), accentuated by the recent cancellation of two projects by Pakistan and Nepal, its earliest supporters, the 19th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has incorporated the ambitious $1.4 trillion geo-economic BRI into the Party Constitution. Inextricably woven into Chinese President Xi Jinpings agenda of making China a global power by 2050, the BRI is set to be included in the countrys constitution at the National Peoples Congress  Chinas version of a parliament  in March 2018. This will assure it of party and State backing.

In recent months, China has begun to strenuously push the BRI. The speech of last month by Harvard-educated Chinese Politburo member, Liu He, director of the Central Small Leading Group for Economic Reforms, reflected this. Reiterating Chinas commitment to globalisation asserted by Chinese President Xi Jinping last year at Davos, Liu He linked this with the BRI. Saying it would ease restrictions on market access he described it as upholding the governance concept of discussing together, building together, and sharing together.

At the same time, the New York Times reported that President Michel Temer of Brazil received an unexpected offer from Beijing for Latin American nations to work closely with China on the BRI. Elsewhere in Davos, Pakistans Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi praised Chinas rapidly expanding investments in Pakistan, including power stations and a large port. He dismissed reports of controversy over whether Chinas giant construction projects were compromising Pakistans sovereignty, its environment or its financial stability.

During his recent visit to China, French President Emmanuel Macron tactfully avoided endorsing the BRI. Instead, he reminded interlocutors that the ancient Silk Road was never only Chinese, but a Sino-European trade route, adding that New Silk Roads could not be one-way. Keen to avoid a repetition of this failure, China exerted pressure on British Prime Minister Theresa May, with its ambassador to the UK, Liu Xiaoming, urging her to endorse the BRI during her three-day visit to China. While Jin Canrong, Professor of International Relations at Renmin University, said If Prime Minister May is smart enough, she would know what China wants to hear from her the most is the support of the belt and road, May finally avoided endorsing the BRI. Meanwhile, the US-based Centre for Strategic International Studies estimated that 89% of the contracts of the BRI have gone to Chinese companies.

China is also moving quickly on the ground to establish a dispute settlement mechanism for business along the Belt and Road Initiative. Chinas official news agency, Xinhua, reported recently that Chinese President Xi Jinping, who is also Chairman of the Leading Group for Deepening the Reform of the Central Government, while presiding over a meeting of the leading group, delivered an important speech. Among other issues, the meeting emphasised the need for establishing a dispute settlement mechanism for One belt, One road and establishing an effective litigation, mediation and arbitration convergence mechanism to resolve the Belt and Road business and investment disputes in accordance with the law, protect the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese and foreign parties on an equal footing, and create a stable, fair and transparent business environment for the rule of law.

Chinas Supreme Court is now setting up an international commercial court in Beijing, Shanghai and Xian. Giving an idea of the rules that will govern these courts, an official at the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade said many business entities along the BRI do not adapt well to the current way of dispute resolution, which uses the common law of the US and European countries. Separately, former Chinese Vice Foreign Minister, He Yafei, said, China believes it is now time to offer our own ideas about global governance, [BRI] transcends ideology and national borders.

Chinas latest offer to India to discuss the China Pakistan Economic Corridor, which is the sixth of seven segments of the BRI, needs to be viewed in this backdrop.

Jayadeva Ranade is a former additional secretary in the cabinet secretariat, Government of India and is presently president of the Centre for China Analysis and Strategy.

The views expressed are personalResidents of the Lebanese city of Tripoli donned bright, curly wigs and dark body paint on Sunday for Zambo, a festival on the eve of the start of the Orthodox Christian period of Lent. The origins of the annual celebration remain unclear and it only seems to take place in a seaside suburb of Tripoli, a Muslim-majority city with an Orthodox minority.

But that has never dampened revelers, dozens of whom hopped and danced their way through Tripolis streets, glittery hats on their heads and sceptres in hand, a day before the beginning of the fast for eastern-rite Christians. Zambo, zambo, zambo! they chanted.

The Zambo carnival is held in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli. (AFP)

This festival is more than 100 years old, passed on and enjoyed from generation to generation, said Beshara Hassan, 48. People come from all over to take part, from all sects. Lebanon, a country of over four million, is home to 18 religious communities.

Muslims and Christians often take part in each others festive holidays  but no one is quite sure where Zambo came from. Ahmad Sawalhi, 25, is a native of the Mina suburb of the northern city of Tripoli where Zambo is fervently celebrated. Zambo is a Greek custom, but it only happens here in Tripoli before our Christian brothers begin Lent, said Sawalhi, who is Muslim but takes part every year.

Ibrahim Touma, another Zambo enthusiast, said that the tradition dates back at least to 1932, but perhaps even earlier. Theres no doubt that the real origin of the festival is unknown, he said. One theory is that it originated with Lebanese visiting from Brazil and Argentina, Touma said, while another traces it to Senegalese forces stationed in Lebanon during World War II.

My grandmother used to tell me that Senegalese units used to put on these evening masquerades to calm down people in Mina, who were scared of the Vichy (French) bombing, said Touma. After a two-hour parade through Tripoli, the crowd reached the shores of the Mediterranean and ran into the sea, washing off their paint to cleanse themselves before Lent begins.

Check out some more photos here:

A participant at the carnival. (AFP)

The tradition originated when an emigrant to Brazil returned to his native Tripoli bringing the carnival with him. (AFP)

The inspiration of the annual Zambo celebration is unclear, despite it being a tradition that stretches back over a century. (AFP)

Follow @htlifeandstyle for moreThe ruling BJP on Monday suspended a Madhya Pradesh leader from the party after he was detained by police for allegedly trying to rape an acid victim in a Bhopal hotel.

Rajendra Namdeo was detained on Sunday night and his questioning was on, police said.

The state government also issued an order removing him as the vice president of the MP Silai Kadai Board, a position that gave him the status of a minister of state.

An FIR was registered against Namdeo on Sunday night for allegedly molesting and attempting to rape the woman on December 11 last year, police officer Sudesh Tiwari said.

The woman, who is a teacher and had acid thrown on her two years ago, got acquainted with Namdeo after the attack. He was among several BJP leaders and ministers who visited her.

Namdeo had called the victim to Bhopal in the name of providing financial aid from the chief minister, Tiwari said.

He tried to rape her in a hotel on December 11 but the woman managed to foil the bid, he said. She didnt lodge a complaint immediately, as Namdeo had threatened her with dire consequences, Tiwari said.

Namdeo is from Maihar in Satna and was recently appointed to the silai board, set up to enable families associated with the traditional craft to be economically independent.

BJP office secretary Satyendra Bhushan Singh said Namdeo was suspended for indiscipline.

Further action will be taken only after he is proven guilty. The BJP didnt spare any time in suspending Namdeo but the Congress has not taken any action against its MLA Hemant Katare who is facing rape charges, he said.

Police have announced a reward of Rs 10,000 for information leading to the arrest of Katare, who is accused of raping and abducting a journalism student.The Punjab National Bank branch in south Mumbai sits just down the road from both the Bombay Stock Exchange and the Reserve Bank of India, at a physical centre of one of the worlds fastest growing major economies.

The branch, clad in a stately colonial edifice, is now also at the heart of a fraud case linked to billionaire jeweller Nirav Modi that has shaken confidence in a state banking sector that accounts for some 70% of Indias banking assets.

It was here, according to accounts from Punjab National Bank executives and government investigators, that a lone middle-aged manager, later aided by his young subordinate, engineered fraudulent transactions totalling about $1.8 billion (Rs 11,400 crore) from 2011 to 2017.

The bank says it is still investigating how they were able to do so and go undetected for so long. The accounts given by current and former executives who spoke to Reuters suggest an answer as simple as it is alarming:

The still unravelling story of how the fraud happened  which includes the alleged misuse of the SWIFT interbank messaging system and incomplete ledger entries  points to a breakdown in checks and balances, and standard banking practices, they said.

The apparent failure of anyone to notice the largest fraud in Indian banking history until this January reveals a rot in the state financial sector that goes beyond one lender, said Santosh Trivedi, who spent nearly four decades at Punjab National Bank before retiring in 2016 as a senior manager of audit and inspection in the New Delhi head office.

Unless this rot is controlled at this stage, to the satisfaction of the international community, it is dangerous for the Indian system, Trivedi said.

Jeweller to the stars

Last month, Punjab National Bank, known as PNB, filed an initial criminal complaint with the countrys Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) accusing celebrity jeweller Nirav Modi and others of defrauding the bank and causing it a loss of Rs 280 crore (more than $43 million).

The allegations against a man whose diamond creations have draped Hollywood stars such as Kate Winslet and Dakota Johnson generated a flurry of coverage across Indias TV screens and newspapers. Modi has not publicly commented on the case.

He and his family left the country in earlier January, according to Indian officials, and a call on Sunday to a corporate spokesperson who has handled media for Modi in the past went unanswered. No charges have been filed against him.

But as more details surfaced about what is alleged to have happened at the state-run bank, which was founded in 1894, the stakes have gotten higher.

A review of bank and government documents related to the case - and interviews with current and former PNB executives, bank auditors and experts - points to a lack of accountability and standards in the countrys public banking system.

As of last September, those banks held about 87% of the Indian banking systems Rs 9.46 trillion rupees (about $147 billion) of soured loans that are non-performing, restructured or rolled over.

A preliminary investigation by the nations tax authority said of the PNB fraud that the hit Indian banks would take in the end may well exceed $3 billion, according to an internal note seen by Reuters.

Yes, there is a problem. We have recognised it, bank Chief Executive Officer Sunil Mehta said during an investor call on Friday. We are in the process of fixing it up. Well see wherever the loopholes are there. The people-related risk, we are going to mitigate.

But despite that promise of action, one current senior executive at the banks headquarters in New Delhi said further problems could not be ruled out.

In Indian banks, we dont work under ideal situation, the executive, who declined to be identified, said during an interview at his office. We are in the business of risk, you cant say there wont be road accidents.

Fraudulent Guarantees

According to court documents filed on Saturday by the CBI, branch deputy manager Gokulnath Shetty issued a series of fraudulent Letters of Undertaking  essentially guarantees sent to other banks so that they would provide loans to a customer, in this case a group of Indian jewellery companies.

These letters were sent to overseas branches of banks, thought to be almost all Indian, that would then lend money to the jewellery firms.

Shetty did so using the banks SWIFT system to log in with passwords that allowed him, and in at least some instances a more junior official, to serve as both the person who sent messages and as the person who reviewed them for approval, according to court documents and interviews with bank executives.

The involvement and connivance of more staff members and outsiders at this stage cannot be ruled out, said a CBI document submitted to the court in Mumbai.

Shetty is now in custody and he has not publicly responded to the allegations. Calls to a cell phone listed for his wife on court documents were not answered.

Asked about the password sharing, the senior Punjab National Bank executive said it was not best practice but in the everyday bustle of Indian banks it happens.

When you are flooded with customers in the morning, with 101 demands, you look for shortcuts, he said. You do somebody elses work, somebody else does your work. You are not working in an ideal situation.

A second senior executive at the banks headquarters, who also asked that his name not be used, echoed that sentiment.

After entering the transactions on SWIFT, the CBI documents said, Shetty  who worked at the same branch from 2010 to 2017 despite normal bank practices of regular rotations - did not record them on the banks internal system.

Because PNBs internal software system was not linked with SWIFT, employees were expected to manually log SWIFT activity. If that was not done, the transactions did not show up on the banks books.

A SWIFT spokeswoman said in a statement last week that the company does not comment on individual customers.

All together, there were at least 150 such fraudulent Letters of Undertaking during a seven-year period, according to a CBI official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

In addition to detaining Shetty and the junior employee, the CBI has arrested a man who it described in court documents as both being aware about the modus operandi of the entire scams and serving as a director in 15 to 16 companies of Nirav Modi Group.

An older brother of the man, Hemant Bhatt, said outside a courtroom on Saturday that he was innocent and the allegations were the result of a media trial. The brother did not give his name.

An uncle of the junior bank employee, Manoj Kharat, told a Reuters reporter outside the court that his nephew was just following orders of superiors and added he wasnt aware of what he is doing.

All three are to be held in custody until March 3. No charges have so far been laid against them.

Financial hit

A Feb. 12 note seen by Reuters, sent from PNB to other banks and marked confidential, said: None of the transactions were routed through the CBS system - the banks internal network  thus avoiding early detection of fraudulent activity.

The Reserve Bank of India did not respond to a request for comment about whether it had earlier detected any anomalies in Punjab National Banks operations or whether it would take additional action in auditing banks.

In a statement late on Friday the central bank called the fraud at PNB a case of operational risk arising on account of delinquent behaviour by one or more employees of the bank and failure of internal controls. It also said the central bank has already undertaken a supervisory assessment of control systems in PNB and will take appropriate supervisory action.

The CBI paperwork says the fraudulent Letters of Undertaking are likely to add up to the vicinity of Rs 60 billion, or more than $930 million. Bank executives say the amount tallied by working back through internal records is $1.77 billion.

With assets of about $120 billion as of December, according to bank filings, PNB will be able to cover any associated losses, though it is still a huge hit for a bank whose stock market value was only $6.1 billion before it revealed details of the alleged fraud last week. It has since seen $1.4 billion wiped off that market capitalisation.

The mechanics of how the fraud happened, and what it says about the underlying industry culture, are worrying, said Abizer Diwanji, national leader for financial services in India at accounting firm Ernst & Young.

Checks and balances are there in public banks as well but they are not followed earnestly, said Diwanji, who has tracked Indias financial services industry for more than two decades.

This is where the discipline, the culture is not there. I always believe that we dont have the culture to manage risks, even operational risks. PNB is not an outlier in this.

To control such risks, most private sector banks require branches to route SWIFT messages through their central offices, Diwanji said. They also usually integrate their own software systems and SWIFT, meaning that activity such as a Letter of Undertaking being sent would get automatically recorded.

Neither is the case at PNB or most state-run banks in India, Diwanji said.

Representatives of two of the external audit firms listed on PNBs annual report for the 2016-17 fiscal year said they could not have known what happened.

It was off-books, so auditors will not be in a position to detect it, said Sudesh Punhani, a partner at Chhajed & Doshi.

Asked whether the banks failure to integrate its software system and SWIFT was a cause of concern, Neeraj Golas, a partner at R. Devendra Kumar & Associates, also an external auditor of the bank, said: True, true - we have to really get into it and understand what all these things are.The arrested deputy manager of Punjab National Bank (PNB) has told investigators that he had unauthorisedly obtained Level-5 password to the SWIFT system to authorise issuance of money through Letters of Undertaking (LoUs) and Foreign Letters of Credit (FLCs).

Gokulnath Shetty made the startling revelations when sleuths of Central Bureau of Investigation questioned him about the modus operandi of providing guarantee to other banks under the LoUs and issuance of enhanced FLCs.

Shetty also informed the investigators that he shared the password with other individuals, essentially employees, as well as directors of Nirav Modis company.

The Level-5 password was the key allowing him to reach out to several banks to release the money to the Nirav Modi and Gitanjali groups through the SWIFT system, which, according to PNB amounted to a fraud of Rs 11,300 crore.

SWIFT or Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, with head office in Belgium, provides a network to enable financial institutions to send and receive information about financial transactions in a secure and standardised manner.

An LoU is a guarantee by the bank that should the borrower default on repayment, it would pay back the money to the original lender. An FLC is a sort of guarantee to a third part or vendor that money for the goods supplied would be paid.

Meanwhile, the CBI on Monday continued examining several PNB officials, besides questioning Vipul Ambani and Ravi Gupta, both Chief Financial Officers of diamond merchant Nirav Modis firms, in connection with the multi-crore bank fraud, an official said.

The CBI examined Ambani and 11 PNB officials to find out about the irregularities in fraudulent issuance of LoUs and FLCs in favour of companies of Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi.

Vipul Ambani, son of Dhirubhai Ambanis younger brother Natubhai Ambani, was also questioned by the CBI officials on Sunday for over eight hours in Mumbai. He is the CFO of Nirav Modis firm Firestar.

The agency has also sealed the banks second largest outlet -- Brady House Branch in Mumbai -- where the fraud had taken place.

While the CBI is scrutinising the details of LoUs and FLCs submitted by the PNB, the banks head office too has scrutinised the documents and submitted a report to the CBI.

The CBIs move comes after the agency on Saturday arrested former PNB Deputy Manager Gokulnath Shetty, Single Window Operator Manoj Kharat and Nirav groups authorised signatory Hemand Bhat.

The scam surfaced when officials of Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi groups approached the PNBs Brady House Branch in January to seek LoU for making payments to suppliers. Shetty had retired last May and the new PNB officials demanded margin money to issue the LoUs.

However, they were told by Nirav Modi group officials that they had been getting such a facility for years without margin. Once the PNB officials checked, the whole fraud unravelled.UML, Maoist Centre set to finalise unification deal today

The CPN-UML and CPN (Maoist Centre) are likely to finalise the party unification deal on Monday.The race for Binani Cement Ltd is headed for a photo finish with top two contendersDalmia Bharat Cement Ltd and UltraTech Cement Ltdsubmitting nearly identical bids.

The two finalists have submitted bids of roughly around Rs 6,000 crore each, two people close to the bidding process said, adding that the amount includes upfront cash payments, as well as an offer of close to 20% stake in Binani to lenders.

According to the people cited above, who spoke on condition of anonymity, lenders will decide on the winning bid in the coming week. Bloomberg was the first to report on 17 February that the race for Binani has narrowed down to Dalmia Bharat Cement, backed by Bain Piramal Resurgence Fund, and Aditya Birla Group company UltraTech.

Both bidders have been asked to furnish additional details pertaining to their bids, following which the creditors will take a final decision, said the first of the two people cited above. According to this person, UltraTech has been specifically asked to provide information on a Competition Commission of India (CCI) penalty, which is a contingent liability on the company.

In 2016, CCI had imposed a penalty of Rs1,175.49 crore on UltraTech. This was part of an overall penalty of Rs6,700 crore on 11 cement companies, including UltraTech, ACC, Ambuja Cements Ltd, Ramco Cements Ltd and JK Cement Ltd, as well as industry body Cement Manufacturers Association for indulging in cartelisation. UltraTech approached the Competition Appellate Tribunal against the order, which stayed it.

Binani Cement is part of the Braj Binani Group and is a subsidiary of Binani Industries Ltd (BIL). BIL is the holding company of the group, and has presence in five key businesses areas including cement, fibreglass, infrastructure and energy. Mint had reported in January that at least two lenders of Binani Cement, currently undergoing insolvency proceedings, have moved the appellate bankruptcy tribunal after the insolvency resolution professional (IRP) rejected their claims on corporate guarantees worth Rs2,000 crore issued by the company to some subsidiaries in the Binani group. Accordingly, resolution professional from Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India Llp partner Vijay Kumar Iyer set a new deadline of 12 February, factoring in the additional liability of around Rs1,600 crore.

Emails sent to UltraTech Cement, Dalmia Bharat Cement and Deloitte remained unanswered till press time.

The cement sector in India has witnessed several large deals in the past two years, signalling consolidation in the space. In July 2016, Gujarat-based soap and detergent maker Nirma Ltd announced the acquisition of Lafarge Indias cement assets for $1.4 billion. In August 2016, Anil Ambani-led Reliance Infrastructure Ltd sold its cement business to Kolkata-based Birla Corp. Ltd, the flagship company of the MP Birla Group for Rs4,800 crore. Last year, Aditya Birla group company UltraTech Cement paid Rs16,189 crore to acquire the cement business of Jaiprakash Associates. The transaction increased UltraTechs cement capacity by almost a third to 90.7 million tonnes per annum and gave the company access to the markets of Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh East, Himachal Pradesh and coastal Andhra Pradesh, where it did not have a presence.

Mint reported in November that Puneet Dalmia-controlled Dalmia Bharat group had submitted a binding offer to acquire Nagpur-based Murli Industries Ltd, which is currently facing bankruptcy proceedings in the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT). The total haircut sought by Dalmia was close to 80% of the outstanding loans of Murli Industries, which has presence in cement, paper industries and solvent extraction.With Prime Minister Narendra Modi laying the foundation stone for Navi Mumbai international airport on Sunday, it is now hoped that the work on long-awaited second airport of Mumbai will start soon. It is common knowledge that Mumbais existing airport is under tremendous pressure due to growing traffic of air travellers and the city desperately needs the second airport. Experts in aviation experts have been pointing out that the airport should have been operational by now.

At Sundays function, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said he was confident that by the end of 2019, the first phase of the airport would be ready and the first flight would take off from Navi Mumbai. Considering the complex nature of the project and the obstacles it faced, it may not be possible to meet the December 2019 deadline, but Fadnavis statement indicates he is keen to get it started at the earliest.

In fact, the stress he gave on getting the infrastructure built is something that will earn Fadnavis some brownie points even as it continues to face criticism over handling of the farm distress.

The need to rebuild Mumbais crumbling infrastructure was being talked about for years after the city and its surrounding areas saw a spurt in growth post-liberalisation of the economy. The plan for the second airport was being made since the early nineties but the successive governments could not zero in on the site for the project often due to the reluctance of the local people to part with their land. Earlier, it was proposed at Rewas-Mandwa in Raigad district. Over the period, the government finalised the spot near Panvel. However, it took almost a decade to finally get the required approvals and convince the villagers in the area to give their land. It is understandable that the procedure was tedious and time-consuming. However, the policy paralysis during the UPA 2 tenure and helplessness of the Maharashtra government in getting the Centre to issue approvals faster delayed the project.

In fact, that was the story with several infrastructure projects aimed at transforming Mumbai. Either the approvals were delayed or the Centre was not willing to give funds for the projects. The metro network in Mumbai was a classic example. While the UPA government built metro routes in Delhi, the Congress-NCP government in Maharashtra was asked to borrow funds from the market for the metro in Mumbai or try the public-private sector joint venture route. Had the Centre realised the urgency to build a mass transport system parallel to Mumbai suburban railway at least a decade ago, the situation in Mumbai would have been slightly better by now. Unfortunately, barring a couple of them, most top leaders of the Congress and the NCP, did not show any urgency to rebuild the infrastructure of Mumbai or developing the Mumbai Metropolitan Region. In fact, the bickering between the Congress and the NCP delayed projects. On this front, the BJP has advantage  it is not entirely relying on its alliance partner to stay in power and hence, the tussle between two ruling parties doesnt affect the projects taken up by the government.

This doesnt mean everything is hunky dory in the NDA rule. Several Mantralaya officers are pointing out how the Centre is not responding well to their plan to develop an international financial services centre. The Mumbai Port Trusts plan to develop eastern waterfront with a Marine Drive-like promenade, a new business hub and a marina among others is also going at a snails pace.

Still, the difference is visible.

One hopes that the infra projects would lead to growth. Fadnavis should also go ahead with his plan to create growth centres around Mumbai. That is something which will be needed in the MMR in the long run.Three litigants in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute case on Monday ruled out the possibility of an out-of-court settlement in the matter.

Litigants Haji Mahboob, Iqbal Ansari and Mohammad Umar passed a resolution at a local meeting clearing stating that the mosque would not be shifted.

After the meeting, a signed press statement was also issued by the three.

Art of Living founder and spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, who has been trying to mediate in the case, has been pushing for an out-of-court settlement. A six-member delegation of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) from Lucknow had met Ravi Shankar in Bengaluru on February 9 for discussions on an amicable solution.

The spiritual guru is expected to meet all litigants again in Ayodhya on March 12.Put on the back foot by the revival of the Supreme Court-monitored committee on sealing and demolition, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) is yet again seeking to sidestep the crisis through the regularisation route by tweaking the Delhi Master Plan. While the Authority is yet to justify such attempts before the Apex court, the expiry of the current Master Plan in 2021 gives it an opportunity to hasten the redrafting exercise.

The changing realities of Delhi may indeed require updating the Master Plan, but the current crisis was not caused by any lack of vision in planning. Instead, it is the persistent failure of the authorities to implement successive Master Plans since the 1960s that have created the urban mess in Delhi.

Drawn up 56 years ago, the first Master Plan identified the need for developing ring towns around Delhi to absorb the future growth. Prescribing only a modest growth for Gurgaon which was handicapped for want of good water sources, the planners asked for the development of Delhi Metropolitan area to include Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Bahadurgarh, Ballabhgarh and Loni.

Narela was singled out for its potential with adequate water, a wholesale food market and manufacturing units. By the time the urbanisation of Delhi was to reach its optimum limit in 1981, the planners recommended that the Narela Township would be an ideal place for suburban living.

While Gurgaon became a boom town, the DDAs township in Narela failed even to take off. Thanks to population pressure and unabated construction of high-rises, Gurgaons groundwater levels have plummeted dangerously low and its citizens are living on borrowed water. The Narela township remains a ghost town, rejected by buyers in the absence of transport connectivity.

The planners also mandated setting up of urban villages to strengthen the rural economy and recommended comprehensive master plan for the villages indicating various kinds of land uses. More than five decades later, Delhis 135 urban villages are still missing on the civic map. With most buildings built in violation of municipal norms, these are also the citys worst death traps.

While pollution had not made it to the parlance of planning, the first master plan did call for stopping sewage overflows into the Yamuna. It also underlined the importance of keeping residential areas free from smoke, noise, odour and other nuisances.

The plan also mandated shifting hazardous industries and redeveloping vacant plots or dilapidated structures as community facilities in the walled city and its extension areas such as Sadar Bazar, Paharganj, and Karol Bagh. To decongest the roads, it floated ideas such as staggered work hours to distribute peak traffic load over the day. None of these recommendations were adequately implemented.

If the first master plan failed to provide for the conservation of Delhis physical heritage, safeguarding against the ecological threat and allowing mixed land-use, the next two prescribed course correction and prioritised all three.

The present master plan has identified six heritage zones and designated three archaeological parks for protection. But Shahjahanbad, one of the largest designated heritage zones, witnessed a civic collapse. Without any sanctioned plans, floors have been added to dilapidated heritage buildings and warehouses were built to stock dangerous chemicals.

The present master plan also notified 2,183 roads for mixed land use. But in the absence of local planning and enforcement to ensure that the properties switching to commercial use were provisioning for parking, not encroaching on public land or violating building norms, these stretches are some of the most congested commercial spaces in the city today.

While the master plan gives a broad direction, it is the responsibility of the DDA to subsequently draw up zonal plans. The MCD has to follow up with local area plans or operational strategies based on ground realities, and the Delhi government has to ensure that services are delivered. Much of Delhis urban mess is the result of the failure of authorities to complete this chain.

In 1962, Delhi required a master plan  to quote from the opening line of the document  to check the haphazard and unplanned growth following the partition. After more than half a century, the master plan faces the same challenge.

This time, the authorities have only themselves to blame.Not just Delhi, it would appear that the entire country has become heartless.

I am writing these lines with mixed emotions of sadness, anger and shame. It seems that the Indian civilisation has put its good qualities on the back-burner and joined the blind race for economic progress which is meaningless without the safety of its citizens.

If you dont believe me, consider this shameful incident that took place in Delhi. A student of Delhi University was travelling in a Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) bus. Seated next to her, a man began to masturbate looking at the student. I am feeling ashamed just writing these words: Imagine the mentality of the pervert who was carrying out this act in public. The girl objected, but this didnt deter the man. She raised an alarm to attract the attention of others travelling in the bus, to no avail. On top of this, the bus driver and conductor remained indifferent to it all. Is this why they call Delhi a heartless city?

Despite the betrayal of her fellow passengers and the DTC staff, the young student didnt lose heart. She bravely recorded this abominable act on her mobile and put it out on Twitter. The outrage that it invoked woke the Delhi Police from its Kumbhakarna-like slumber and they had to take the accused into custody. Until now, the Delhi government, which has been appealing to the peoples conscience in the name of victims of sexual and other violence, has not yet penalised either the bus driver or the conductor. Shouldnt such insensitive and callous employees be suspended or put behind bars?

You may want to salute the courage and resolve of the girl, but what will you say about her fellow passengers? They deserve to be condemned as much as the perpetrator. A society is created on the bedrock of cooperation and social harmony. Our harmony has already been sacrificed at the altar of communalism and casteism. Now, if social cooperation also flounders, how safe will we remain in this jungle raj? If you look for an answer to his question, youll really feel afraid.

You must realise that this DTC bus wasnt passing through some deserted forest. Neither was the perpetrator of the obscene act an armed terrorist. Had they so desired, people could have stopped him or informed the police by dialling 100. Even if one of the bus travellers had protested, the man would have been embarrassed. But everybody kept quiet. These are the kind of people who advise the government to act responsibly when incidents of sexual violence take place. Instead of issuing sermons, had they carried out their duties as responsible citizens, such behaviour would not have been repeated. How damaging their silence is for themselves can be evaluated through a few statistics. In 2016-17, 669 cases of stalking, 41 cases of voyeurism and 2,155 cases of rape were registered in Delhi. The rate of serious crime in 2016-17 saw an astounding jump of 160.4% from 2015-16. This is almost three times the average national increase of 55.2%.

So, it wasnt surprising when the London-based Thomson Reuters Foundation said in a survey last year that the national Capital was the fourth most unsafe place in the world when it came to safety of women in public transport, after Bogota, Mexico City and Lima.

It isnt just womens safety: In case you meet with an accident in Delhi, most passersby will be more interested in making a video than helping you. One of the victims I referred to earlier was Ankit Saxena. After his throat was slit, his mother put her dupatta on the wound to stop the flow of blood even as she kept begging for help. The bystanders kept making videos, but nobody came forward to help him. I want to ask those giving a communal colour to his murder: Why dont they go up against those who were Ankits neighbours and belong to the same section of society from where Ankit comes from?

A shocking analysis by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences says that 85% of people in the Capital dont come forward to help those injured in road accidents. As a result, 52% of accident victims die owing to the lack of timely medical assistance. We have managed to build hospitals equipped with the best facilities but forgotten the ancient tradition of humanity and helping others.

If you so desire, you can once again shrug your shoulders and blame the government. But this isnt a time to blame others but to introspect.

Shashi Shekhar is editor-in-chief Hindustan

letters@hindustantimes.comNew Delhi: The Delhi administration will launch Mission Buniyaad from April this year to improve learning levels of students attending primary classes in the state government and municipal schools.

The project is on the lines of governments previous scheme called Chunauti, which assessed students of Class 6 to Class 9 and divided them into three groups based on their learning levels.

Education minister Manish Sisodia on Monday announced that Mission Buniyaad is being launched in all government and municipal schools to target students of Class 3 to Class 8.

The move comes after the National Achievement Survey (NAS) found that a majority of Class 3 to 5 students in government and aided schools performed abysmally in science, mathematics and languages.

Nearly 50% of the students studying in Class 3 of government, municipal and aided schools in Delhi were unable to prove their learning abilities in various subjects during the NAS conducted last year. The survey, conducted by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), aimed to find out the learning standards of schoolchildren.

Sisodia said that the reading ability in secondary schools run by the government has improved by about 20% due to initiatives like Chunauti, however children in primary schools run by MCDs are unable to read their text books.

The municipal schools will raise a cadre of teachers, who will drive the programme in a manner similar to the Mentor-Teacher Programme run in government schools. One teacher will take care of five schools and will train teachers of these five schools in enhancing readability of children, he said.

HT had earlier reported that south civic body launched project Buniyaad to help its underperforming students. Officials from the three municipal corporations had said they are finalising the detailed action plan that will be implemented from next academic session.

Under Buniyaad, students will be divided into three categories. Those who perform at par will be taken into the Ujjawal group; those who score medium-level marks will be placed in Utkarsh while those who are behind their peers will be placed in Udyam.

The entire programme will run from Classes 3 to 5 in MCD schools and in Classes 6 to 8 in government schools, he said. The scheme will run for three months from April to June. The students will be assessed on reading abilities and basic mathematics before being divided into groups for focused teaching.

Sisodia also requested parents to cancel their vacation plans during summer holidays and send their children to school for remedial classes.Right here in the terribly genteel Hauz Khas Enclave stands an ancient tower mainly noted for cruelty beyond the unspeakable.

But well speak of it anyway.

Hundreds of years ago those 225 holes in the Chor Minar displayed the severed heads of thieves. The idea cooked up by Khilji sultans was to serve stern notice to the surrounding community riddled with crime.

We have no idea whether that purpose was served. Legend also tells us that when 8,000 Mongol troops were beheaded, their heads were piled in large mounds next to the Minar.

Built around 1300, the monument is now consigned to the center of a traffic roundabout that usually remains quiet all day long since its away from the main road. Surrounded by trees and bungalows, the dreadful tower certainly managed to cast off its appalling history. Come dusk, the area serves as a recreational park for kids while their parents chat nearby.

During our own visit were treated to violin music streaming from a residential window. Which gets us thinking. Perhaps, just perhaps, the world will never end despite the violence it inflicts.

This may be the kind of message that a pock-marked monument like Chor Minar silently transmits, even as neighbourhood dogs  Cheeku and Moti  romp around it.Can advertisers regulate content?

Platforms such as Facebook and Google have proved incapable of tackling fake news and hate speech.

Much of this comes from a fundamental confusion  these companies sometimes behave like large media firms and, at other times, as content-agnostic platforms.

So, who can regulate content? Some large advertisers think they can.

Last week, Unilever plc (the parent of Indias largest consumer packaged goods firm, Hindustan Unilever Ltd) threatened to withdraw advertising from Facebook Inc and Youtube (owned by Google), according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. Unilever will not invest in platforms or environments that do not protect our children or which create division in society or promote anger and hate, the report quoted Unilever chief marketing officer Keith Weed as saying.

Last year Procter & Gamble, Unilevers rival, said pretty much the same.

What exactly does Unilever want? According to the WSJ report, it is leveraging its spending power to push the digital media industry to weed out content that funds terrorism, exploits children, spreads false news or supports racist and sexist views.

At the core of all media businesses  and Facebook and Google are media companies, not technology ones  are two groups of people who pay for the content (directly and indirectly), the audience, and advertisers. Understandably, media companies are usually pretty sensitive to feedback from advertisers. They are also sensitive to feedback from their audience (although not usually to the same extent). Which means Unilevers plan may work.

Still, depending on the good sense of a well-intentioned (and large) advertiser isnt really any kind of fail-safe. What if the advertiser doesnt have this good sense? What if the advertiser isnt well-intentioned?

Today, the polarisation we see in polity and society is reflected in media as well. A large number of people live in their own filter bubbles, and are happy to patronise media that supports and reinforces their own beliefs. Like-minded advertisers may well prefer the comfort of these numbers to setting a high-minded agenda. After all, sales usually trump lofty ideals.

As praiseworthy as efforts by advertisers such as Unilever are  may their tribe increase  more is needed to tackle the menace of fake news and hate speech. And much of it will have to come from the media companies themselves. Large media organisations, such as Google and Facebook, have to put in place processes to ensure that they are only promoting and amplifying the right kind of content. Who decides what is right? Thats a tough question, but it is one some respected old-world media companies have already answered. There are things new media can learn from old.Close to 6,000 pangolins have been trafficked to China and Southeast Asia between 2009 and 2017, says a report of TRAFFIC India.

The highly endangered species is found across India and trafficked for its scales and meat to destinations in China and Southeast Asia, where its meat and scales that are used in traditional medicines.

Between 2009 and 2017, India reported 90 seizures of pangolin parts in which 83 were of pangolin scales, equivalent to 5,765 pangolins, and the rest of meat (of two animals), a taxidermy specimen, a dead pangolin and three live ones. Annually, it translates to almost 650 pangolins trafficked every year since 2009.

However, this is a conservative estimate and as only a fraction of illegal wildlife trade is detected, the actual number is likely to be far higher, says the TRAFFIC (The Wildlife Trade Monitoring Network) report.

Though it has a scaly reptilian exterior, the pangolin is actually a mammal. Two pangolin species are found in India, the Indian Pangolin (Manis crassicaudata) that is found across the country, and the Chinese Pangolin Manis pentadactyla that is found in the north east.

Pangolin is a schedule I species under the Wildlife Protection Act, like the tiger, and international trade in their parts is banned under CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) treaty. They were reclassified from Appendix II to I in the CITES in 2016, that means the level of protection has increased.

The recent spike in seizures of pangolin parts suggest that Pangolins found in India are being targeted and the source of the animal parts are changing too.

Between 2009 to 2013, most of the 46 seizures were in eastern or north-eastern parts of India, including Assam, Manipur, Mizoram, and West Bengal. But most of the 44 seizures over the past three years were reported in south and central India. This could indicate a regional shift in the poaching and smuggling of pangolins in India, the TRAFFIC report said.

Manipur shows a surprising trend. Despite reporting the largest number of seizures in Manipur, no cases have been reported in the last two years (2015-17).

The border between Myanmar and India at Moreh in Manipur is porous. If enforcement agencies are more vigilant the traffickers may have realised it is not a safe route accounting for the drop in cases, said Saket Badola, head of TRAFFIC India.

R.S. Sharath, an inspector with the WCCB, said that they had identified the trafficking routes from Karnataka and central India. The items pass through Siliguri in West Bengal via land and on to Myanmar, from where it travels to China or south east Asia. It is unclear how they pass through the India-Myanmar border.

Badola added there are indications that a domestic market for pangolin parts also exists.

Though the humble animal doesnt garner as much attention as major species like the tiger or the elephant, it plays an important role the ecosystem.

Pangolins, often called scaly anteaters, are considered farmers friends as they help to keep a check on populations of ants and termites and help improve soil quality, Ravi Singh, head of WWF India, said.Could fusty-looking tapestry and army boots look desirable? Roland Mouret and Temperley worked their magic at London Fashion Week catwalk shows Sunday, showcasing their latest womenswear styles for the upcoming autumn and winter season alongside other designers.

Some highlights from Day 3 of the fashion week:

Dialed down sensuality at Roland Mouret

If theres a man who can make seemingly drab floral tapestry and thick corduroy look chic and desirable, its Roland Mouret.

The French designer, renowned for his signature body-sculpting dresses, turned what could have been fusty sofa upholstery fabrics into sophisticated full-length capes and jackets.

Mouret, who is friends with Prince Harrys fiancee Meghan Markle, is one of the designers tipped to take on the top secret job of making her wedding dress. There were no clues on his runway at Londons National Theatre, which was dominated by a 1970s-inspired, dialed-down luxe look of blazers, day dresses and light knits in a palette of autumnal hues.

Models wear creations by designer Roland Mouret at the Autumn/Winter 2018 fashion week runway show. (Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP)

There were corduroy double-breasted blazers and coats in wine and soft pink, wide leg trouser suits, fluffy wool capes worn over sheer black lace blouses and dresses, and handkerchief hem crepe skirts. The tailored look, so popular this winter, is still going strong, with several outfits in the very trendy Prince of Wales grey check.

There is practicality in femininity, and femininity is a womans greatest power, the designer said of the brands new aesthetic  a much softer look than the sex-bomb appeal Mouret was known for a decade ago. Coming at a time when the overt objectification of women seems passe, the message seems just right.

___

Aviator chic and full-on glamour at Temperley

From military combats to all-over sequined party frocks, Temperleys latest catwalk show has something for everyone. Designer Alice Temperley, who counts the Duchess of Cambridge among her many fans, has won many fans for her ladylike, delicate dresses. So it was surprising when she opened her show with a cool military green aviator suit, albeit one with stylish cropped trousers and a flattering cinched-in waist.

Temperley was inspired by the first female aviators, and the whole collection had a romantic, vintage feel to it. Lace-up army boots and military-inspired jackets continued the aviator theme, though the designer soon returned to more familiar territory with a parade of silk evening gowns replete with sequins, intricate embroidery and opulent gold.

Those looking for the perfect party outfit are spoiled for choice: there are flowing bias cut dresses with a thigh-high front slit, sheer nude dresses adorned with sequined stripes, art deco patterns that hark back to the 1920s, and silk blazers and dresses with a colorful oriental-inspired cloud print. One kimono-wrap jumpsuit dazzled in an iridescent fabric that shimmered both gold and silver.

Therere lots of influences, 1930s, a bit of 70s Ziggy Stardust feel to it. I loved it, Homeland actor Damien Lewis, who attended with his wife, Helen McCrory, said after the show.

Follow @htlifeandstyle for moreUML-Maoist merger talks back from brink

After Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli agreed to put both the Peoples Multi-party Democracy (PMPD) and Maoism up for discussion until the unity convention decides the new partys political ideology, the roadblocks seen in the unification process are likely to be removed.Burberrys star designer Christopher Bailey bid goodbye to the British brand on Saturday with a colour-infused show, showcasing designs with a rainbow twist on the labels famed check print on a catwalk lit with laser beams.

Bailey is leaving Burberry after 17 years, during which time he helped propel the brand, known for its trench coats and camel, black and red check, into a label of global prominence.

His last collection, unveiled during London Fashion Week at a giant warehouse that once served as a bus depot, featured a youthful, street culture vibe, from slinky tracksuits to fleecy oversized hoodies paired up with voluminous skirts.

Bold colours dominated the designs, from the chunky knitted sweaters with geometrical patterns to the rainbow checks featured throughout, in a celebration of the symbol of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community.

Burberry's outgoing chief creative officer and president Christopher Bailey greets guests at the end of the Burberry catwalk show. (AFP/ Ben Stansall)

The catwalk display ended with a multi-colour lighting spectacular, as Bailey waved goodbye to a standing ovation.

Its quite poignant, theres people Ive worked with here since the beginning of my career. Its been a very special night, Bailey told Reuters after the show. The company has got such incredible things ahead and Im excited now to be able to watch Burberry continue to flourish and fly.

Bailey is stepping down from Burberrys board at the end of March and will lend support to the brands management until the end of 2018. He said he would be spending time out with his family but was also open to other moves.

Im just speaking to lots of people, theres lots of fun exciting projects out there. So well see, Im not in any rush at all, Bailey said.

British model and actress Cara Delevingne, one of the faces of Burberry campaigns, closed the runway show in a flowing striped rainbow cape. Model Kate Moss and actresses Keira Knightley and Naomi Watts were also among celebrities hogging the front row for Baileys swansong.

Models present creations from the Burberry collection. (AFP/ Ben Stansall)

Angela Ahrendts, who was Burberry chief executive between 2006 and 2014 and is now a senior executive at Apple, said she had been honoured to work with Bailey, and returning to see his final show had been a bitter-sweet experience.

He is one of the greatest visionaries in the world, Ahrendts said, wearing a white Burberry shirt with a safety pin neck fastening.

Baileys replacement has yet to be announced. Burberry is in the midst of a strategy overhaul under CEO Marco Gobbetti aimed at taking the brand more upmarket.

Follow @htlifeandstyle for moreWhere does one shop for a wedding gown set to be the dress of the year  an outfit chic enough for a fashion-loving bride but suitable for a church so regal its the burial place of monarchs?

Everyone at London Fashion Week  and elsewhere  is dying to know.

With only three months to go before Prince Harry and Meghan Markles May 19 wedding at Windsor Castle, both the fashion and bridal worlds are abuzz with talk of who the bride will pick to design her dress and what kind of look she would go for.

Its no wonder: Theres not been a bigger royal wedding since Harrys brother Prince William married Kate Middleton in 2011 in an extravaganza broadcast around the world. Seven years later, Kates lacey, long-sleeved Alexander McQueen gown is still influencing bridal designs today.

Its going to be the greatest fashion commission of 2018. Therell be millions of eyeballs on it, said Jade Beer, editor at the British edition of Brides magazine. Its her major fashion moment.

Britain's Prince William and his wife Kate, Duchess of Cambridge stand outside Westminster Abbey after their Royal Wedding in London. (AP)

Shell definitely need an upgrade from the dress she wore for her first wedding, Beer added, referring to the simple strapless white gown the American actress wore at her 2011 Jamaica beach wedding to film producer Trevor Engelson. The couple divorced in 2013.

While the design  as well as the designer  of the dress is a closely guarded secret, many are positive that Markle will choose a British designer. Kate wasnt the only bride in Britains extended royal family sticking with a British designer. Zara Phillips, Queen Elizabeth IIs second-eldest grandchild, wore royal couturier Stewart Parvin. In 1981, then-Lady Diana Spencer  the late mother of groom Harry  surprised many when she chose David and Elizabeth Emanuel, a pair of designers fresh out of college.

Front-runners for Markles choice include British-Canadian Erdem Moralioglu, known for his elegant, feminine styles; Ralph & Russo, the couture designers Markle chose for her engagement dress; heritage fashion powerhouse Burberry; as well as McQueen and Giles Deacon, who designed the wedding gown for Kates sister Pippa Middleton.

Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer on their wedding day at St. Paul's Cathedral in London. (AP)

Victoria Beckham has denied rumors that shes been asked. French designer Roland Mouret has also been cited as a possible pick.

I mean, she could surprise us all and choose a Canadian brand  she was so loyal to them while she was filming up there, said Miles Socha, editor-in-chief at Womens Wear Daily, referring to the time Markle spent in Toronto filming the TV series Suits. But probably we would have to place our bets on a British designer.

Some are hoping Markle will pick something less traditional because she has more leeway. After all, Harry is only fifth in line to the throne  and will be sixth after Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, gives birth to her third child in April. In addition, their wedding venue, St. Georges Chapel at Windsor Castle, is less imposing than St. Pauls Cathedral or Westminster Abbey in London.

I really expect something different from her. Her style is so clean, really modern, and bridal has been so traditional in the past few years, said London-based bridal designer Naomi Neoh. I think  I hope  it would be clean, simple with beautiful detailing.

Neoh hopes Markle will choose a dress that celebrates her individuality.

Meghans very different from the English tradition. Shes got her career, shes half-black, she said. Shes not going to be queen. It has to be respectful and appropriate of course, but it can be a bit more exciting with the cut and the lines. I think maybe a high neck, low back  thatd be demure enough.

Still, its a dress that needs to live up to the grandeur of its surroundings. St. Georges Chapel is intimate only by royal proportions. It seats 800 guests and has a very important place in British history as the resting place of scores of kings and queens  including both of the queens parents.

Shes going to be walking over dead monarchs on the way up the aisle, said Beer. Theres a huge sense of occasion.

Markle has already signaled a break from the conservative styles that dominate British royal wardrobes, ditching stuffy frock coats for sleek trousers. Many admired the sharp trouser suit she wore to match Harrys outfit at a recent official event.

The actress herself has offered some clues about her dream wedding dress.

In March 2016, before she met Harry, she told Glamour magazine that she favored classic and simple styles with a modern twist, and that she preferred wedding dresses that are whimsical or subtly romantic. She named Ellie Saab and J. Mendel among her favorite designers, and said her favorite celebrity wedding dress was the simple slip of a gown that Carolyn Besette Kennedy wore in 1996.

Circumstances have changed since then  but whatever style she picks, Markles choice will soon be seen in bridal salons everywhere.

Referring to Kates gown, Neoh said: Literally the next day, everyone wanted long lace sleeves  the year after getting lace was impossible. It was bananas.

Many say with Markles looks and the young royals popularity, she could get away with nearly anything.

I think everybody here loves her so dearly, said designer Jasper Conran. She can wear a dishcloth and people wont mind.

Follow @htlifeandstyle for moreThe wedding season has dwindled, the winter sun is a gateway to warmer days and youve enrolled yourself into a gym. Considering Athleisure is the new norm in fashion, its time to rethink gym-wear.

Neha Bhasin, creative director of Jabong.com reckons wearing the right clothing can make all the difference between an average workout and a great one.

- Cardio and CrossFit:

We know the urge to pull out track pants for cardio but the fact is that its a hurdle to your workout. The loosely fit fabric has a great risk of them getting stuck in the machine or simply tripping you. Instead, opt for Dri-FIT shorts with elasticated waistbands along with a Dri-FIT tee, as they will keep you sweat-free throughout. Treat your feet with a good pair of running shoes and you are good to go.

- Weight Lifting and Strength Training:

Whether you are going for more repetitions or more weights, lifting is a tedious task therefore comfort takes priority when it comes to clothing. A tank tee assures excellent freedom of movement fashioned in regular fit from moisture-wicking polyester. It goes well with regular fit lowers. You could also opt for form-fitting tees that expose the shoulders and arms so you can monitor posture and progress of your workout.

- Yoga and Stretching:

Like every other workout, appropriate gear is essential for yoga as well. The primary thing to keep in mind is comfort and fit over fashion. Since its almost a sweat-free form of exercise, splurge into wearing easy breezy fits. Clothing made in stretchable and cotton-jersey fabric is recommended.Around twenty villagers, including parents of the five juveniles lodged in the Faridabad observation home since January 25 in connection with the Bhondsi violence on January 24, met the Gurgaon deputy commissioner on Monday, seeking their release.

The Gurgaon police had apprehended eight juveniles on January 24 from Bhondsi village after a school bus was pelted with stones and a state bus was torched by a mob seeking a ban on the release of Sanjay Leela Bhansalis magnum opus Padmaavat.

The villagers handed over the memorandum to Vinay Pratap Singh, deputy commissioner to look into the matter and to ensure fair and speedy inquiry in the case.

Singh gave an assurance to villagers that he will raise the issue with Gurgaons commissioner of police and also write to the chief minister.

I received a memorandum from the parents of the juveniles from Bhondsi. I heard their concerns and have forwarded the memorandum to the city police commissioner, as the matter in question is under investigation and sub-judice, Singh said.

We held a panchayat in the village on Sunday and decided to approach the deputy commissioner, as he is the head of the district and our last hope. If our demand is not met, we will sit on a hunger strike, said Jai Prakash, a parent of one of the Bhondsi juveniles who was part of the delegation that called on the deputy commissioner on Monday.

The villagers alleged that they have met the Haryana chief minister, local MLA Tejpal Tanwar and the special investigation team(SIT) officials,but got no assurance on their demand.

We have planned to hold a maha-panchayat on February 25 where villagers from 24 villages will come and pledge their support in the case. We will also hold discussions on our further course of action. The government is not taking the issue seriously and even 26 days since they were wrongly apprehended, our children are still behind bars, Rajkumar, the parent of another juvenile, said.

Read I Bhondsi violence: Cops in the dock over arrest of adult

The family members of the apprehended juveniles said they have been running from pillar to post, seeking the release of the children, but to no avail.

The Juvenile Justice Board (JJB), Gurgaon, last Friday, sought action against some officers of the Bhondsi police for arresting an adult in connection with the vandalism and violence on January 24 and producing him before the board as a minor. The Gurgaon police have also sought the release of two juveniles, who they say, had no connection with the violence.

The social investigation report submitted by the legal-cum-probation officer, includes all the statements recorded by the family members and neighbours, claiming that the juveniles are innocent and were not involved in any kind of violent protest.

A show cause notice was served on Bhondsi SHO on February 9, asking him to explain the circumstances under which the 21-year-old B.Sc final year student was arrested in connection with the violence and produced as a 16-year-old and also the circumstances under which the other two juveniles were apprehended.Dozens of property investors and their families will be treated to dinner with Donald Trump junior in Delhi this week after snapping up flats in a Trump Towers in Gurgaon.

Trumps local partners have promised dinner with the US presidents son to anyone who buys into the development of high-rise apartments boasting floor-to-ceiling windows, state of the art amenities and a lifestyle concierge.

At Rs 2.5 crore just for the downpayment on the smallest and cheapest flat, that is well beyond most Indians.

Nonetheless around 75 people have already stumped up and developer Tribeca expects that number to increase to 100 before the promotion deadline expires on Thursday, a staff member told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The meeting is a token of gratitude to the clients for showing tremendous faith in the upcoming project, said the Tribeca employee.

The 47-storey towers will comprise 250 homes and are expected to be completed by 2023, with price ranging from Rs 5.5 crore to Rs 11 crore.

India is already the Trump organisations biggest international market, with developments in four major cities -- Mumbai, Pune, Gurgaon and Kolkata.

All are being built with local partners, with the Trump organisation giving permission to use its brand and taking a share of the profits.

According to media reports, the estimated cost of developing these projects is $1.5 billion.

The Trump family earned $3 million in royalties in 2016 from ventures in India, according to a New York Times report.

Trump junior and his brother now head the company after their father stood down when he became president amid concerns over a conflict of interest.

Although the US embassy says he is in Delhi on an unofficial visit, Trump junior is due to speak on Indo-Pacific relations at a business conference on Friday at which prime minister Narendra Modi will be the keynote speaker.

The luxury property in Gurgaon is being developed by Indian firms Tribeca and M3M, with construction expected to start towards the end of the year.Taking into account the rampant violation of traffic rules by school students and complaints pertaining to underage driving, the Gurgaon administration will soon launch a major initiative to prevent this practice. School authorities will also be actively involved in this effort.

The decision was taken during a road safety meeting held at the Mini Secretariat on Monday. The meeting was chaired by Gurgaon deputy commissioner Vinay Pratap Singh.

A letter would also be written to schools in the district to ensure that students are discouraged from driving to school and ensure that they abide by the traffic regulations.

The DC also issued directions for strict enforcement of NGT directions pertaining to environment norms. He said that all vehicles need to ensure compliance with these norms.

Apart from that, Singh also directed that strict measures be taken to prevent children under the legal age from driving, as it puts their lives and that of other commuters at risk. As part of this drive, anyone found driving below the minimum age would be penalised and spot fines would be issued to school students. The parents of students have also been asked to cooperate to make the drive against underage driving a success.

During the meeting, Usha Kundu, ACP (traffic), was asked to ensure that RSOs (road safety officers) regularly interact with school students during parent-teacher meetings and take measures to enforce rules more strictly around schools.

Kundu was also asked to inspect the Kherki Daula toll plaza and discuss measures with the toll operators to improve the traffic situation at the toll. She was also asked to ensure that the emergency lanes meant for movement of emergency vehicles such as ambulances is not hindered in any way. She was also told to prevent the movement of vehicles on the wrong side on Hero Honda Chowk flyover  from Jaipur to Delhi  which has become a source of frequent jams on the expressway.

Read I Spotted a traffic violation in Gurgaon? Send proof to police on WhatsApp

The meeting also discussed lack of lights at newly constructed underpasses at Signature tower and Rajiv Chowk, which has become a major cause of concern for commuters.

Singh also issued instructions to officers of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), who were present at the meeting, to ensure lights are installed both in the underpasses as well as non-motorised lanes for the safe movement of traffic. Officials of Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) were asked to prepare a list of power poles and transformers located on roads that lead to traffic safety issues.

Officials representing agencies such as the Haryana Urban Development Authority (Huda), Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG), Public Works Department (PWD) and the NHAI, among others, were asked to redesign junctions for safer traffic movement and construction of slip roads to ensure ease of vehicular movement.

Directions were also issued to construct a slip road at Ghata village to prevent accidents and install high mast poles at now defunct Sirhaul toll plaza for the convenience of commuters.

Singh also directed the Road Transport Authority (RTA) officials to ensure that diesel-run vehicles, which are 10 years old and petrol-run vehicles, which are 15 years old, are not allowed to move on Gurgaons roads. The registration number of these vehicles has also been sent to the traffic police, he said.To check accidents due to speeding near the Mall Mile, the traffic police has decided to boost its presence on the spot and launch a drive to impose fines on violators.

Speeding violation by repeat offenders could also lead to suspension of licences for three months, traffic police officials said.

To make commuters aware of the no-speeding zone, the traffic police has also installed speed signage at several corners of the stretch.

According to traffic police officers, the speed limit for light vehicles on the stretch has been set at 50 kilometre per hour, while the speed limits for heavy vehicles and three-wheelers are 30 kmph and 40 kmph respectively.

Traffic police officers said that with several shopping malls, offices, condominiums and other commercial establishments located in the vicinity of the Mall Mile and the complex having Metro connectivity and affording an easy passage to New Delhi from two sides, the stretch is heavily congested and draws a heavy volume of traffic. The sheer volume of traffic on the stretch makes it accident-prone.

Read I Gurgaon: Dense fog reduces visibility, brings city traffic to a crawl

Hence, the traffic police has decided to impose stiff fines for speeding violations on the stretch.

There were several reports of accidents near the Mall Mile and with the stretch being signal free, we thought that imposing stiff penalties on violators will serve as an effective measure to check speeding on the stretch. Officials have accordingly been deputed at the different corners of the stretch with speed guns, Hira Singh, ACP (traffic), said.

Singh added that traffic police has also decided to block certain road cuts near the Mall Mile by installing jersey barriers. He said that these points are adding to the congestion on the stretch and leading to mishaps.

In another measure to ensure traffic management, traffic police officers will check for encroachment by vehicles parked on the main road.

Six cranes belonging to the traffic police have been deployed on the stretch for removing illegally parked vehicles.

Apart from these measures, the traffic police could also consider adopting measures such as making parts of the Mall Mile one-way, on both sides of the road, to reduce congestion during peak hours, Tinna Khanna, a resident of Essel Towers, said.The city police have arrested two men who used to smuggle liquor under the garb of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. The accused had placed a temporary toilet inside a truck with Swachh Bharat Abhiyan written on its door, so as to divert attention of the police. Behind the toilet there was a partition were liquor boxes were stored and the police recovered around 500 liquor boxes from that portion of the truck.

The accused have been indentified as Abdul Gaffar, a resident of Nuh, and Neeraj Tiwari, a resident of Allahabad. They were found to be allegedly transporting illegal liquor in a mini truck from Gurgaon to Etah in Uttar Pradesh.

During a regular police check near Rajiv Chowk on Saturday, the police inspected the vehicle and the men were arrested.

A case has been registered at the Sadar Police station under sections 420, 120B and 61-1-14 of the Excise Act.

We found 490 boxes of Crazy Romeo liquor in the truck. While inspecting the truck we also noticed that the men had only staged a temporary toilet unit, said assistant sub-inspector Sanjay Kumar, crime branch unit of Sector 10, who is the investigating officer in this case. He said that the police became suspicious of the accuseds behaviour after which the vehicles was searched thoroughly.

A search for the owner of the truck and liquor is being conducted by the police. During investigation, the accused confessed that they had earlier made similar trips to Uttar Pradesh. They usually travel in the evening and come back in the morning, the police said.

Read I Gurgaon witnesses 114% increase in sale of imported liquor

Police suspect that it might be a work of a big gang as the illegal supply of liquor from Haryana to various states in the country has gained momentum in the past few years.

On June 17, last year, Patna police had nabbed a gang involved in smuggling liquor into the state from Haryana. Similarly, on June 13, the Patna police had arrested 11 persons for allegedly collecting liquor from a supplier from Haryana.

On April 1 last year, Delhi police had seized a truck carrying 298 cartons of beer and arrested the driver for smuggling the liquor from Gurgaon to Noida.

On December 23, 2011, the Delhi police busted a gang that allegedly smuggled liquor in a fake ambulance. Three persons were arrested in this case and all of them hailed from Haryana.Motorists coming from Sector 34 towards Bakhtawar Chowk are grappling with snarls and minor accidents, owing to the poor placement of a bus stop, speed breaker and a cut towards residential areas of Sector 47, barely a few metres from the point where the two-way flyover at Subhash Chowk ends.

Commuters unfamiliar with the city roads often drive at the flyover at high speed, unaware of the bus stop, cut and speed breaker lying ahead.

I have been witness to several minor accidents at the spot, as commuters coming from the flyover collide with vehicles attempting to join the road from the cut. Authorities need to take immediate action before fatalities are reported, Kritank Thakur, a resident of Sector 46, said.

Residents living near the spot claim that earlier the cut to residential areas had been blocked off by jersey barriers and commuters had to go below the flyover for making a U-turn. This, they said, was proving to be an effective solution as it reduced congestion at the spot.

However, the jersey barriers were removed a few months ago without any clear reason and the turn towards residential areas was opened again.

Read I Gurgaon: Dense fog reduces visibility, brings city traffic to a crawl

The authorities, to an extent, had been able to solve the congestion problem by blocking off the turn by putting jersey barriers. It remains unclear, however, why they were removed, Anjali Rungta, a resident of Sector 47, said.

Authorities conceded that the jersey barriers were temporarily relocated to reduce congestion at another spot, but assured that they will be back on the spot soon.

We had temporarily relocated the jersey barriers to another spot to streamline traffic movement. A new batch of jersey barriers have been allocated for the spot near Subhash Chowk flyover and normal traffic movement will be restored soon, Hira Singh, ACP (traffic), said.

Traffic police officers said that the placement of speed breakers was important, as it checks the speed of vehicles before they proceed towards residential areas ahead. They also said that they are working towards a proposal for shifting the bus stop ahead.Have you wondered how people would react if scientists ever detect alien life in the universe? Humans would be pretty upbeat and welcome the news, finds a study. Various studies have in the past speculated about how humans might respond to this kind of news, but until now, there has been almost no systematic empirical research.

In a pilot study, scientists at the Arizona State University, analysed various media reports of alien announcements, including the appearance of the alien interstellar asteroid Oumuamua, that suggest the potential for alien life in our solar system.

Language in the coverage of these events showed significantly more positive than negative emotions. If we came face to face with life outside of Earth, we would actually be pretty upbeat about it, said assistant professor Michael Varnum.

The results are in stark contrast to the warnings from scientist Stephen Hawking who thinks aliens will not like being contacted by humans and that if we ever try to contact them, they could kill humans. In two separate studies, nearly 1,000 people were asked to write about their hypothetical reactions to an announcement that alien microbial life had been discovered, as well as to write about their reactions on past news coverage of scientific discoveries.

Participants responses showed significantly more positive than negative emotions, both when contemplating their own reactions and those of humanity as a whole. The positive effect was stronger in response to reading about extraterrestrial life than human made synthetic life.

The studies suggest that if we find out were not alone, well take the news rather well, Varnum said. The findings were presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Austin, Texas.

Follow @htlifeandstyle for moreVirtually all the stars at the 71st British Academy Film Awards, the British organised by Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), wore black to show solidarity with the Times Up movement here on Monday.

Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge attends the British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA) at the Royal Albert Hall in London, Britain February 18, 2018. (REUTERS)

One of the few in a colourful dress was Best Actress winner Frances McDormand, but she said: I stand in full solidarity with my sisters, reports BBC.

The Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton wore a dark green dress with a black ribbon belt.

Bethan Holt, fashion news and features director at The Telegraph, told the publication: The Royal Family very rarely get involved in political messaging, so perhaps its not such a surprise that she didnt join in with the rest of the women and wear black tonight.

But the vast majority of other attendees did wear black as well as Times Up badges -- all in reference to a push for greater respect and equality since the Hollywood sexual harassment scandal.

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri actress Frances McDormand was wearing a patterned red and black outfit.

Gesturing to her dress while accepting the Best Actress award, she said: As Martin (McDonagh) said, I have a little trouble with compliance.

But I want you to know I stand in full solidarity with my sisters tonight in black. I also want to say that I appreciate a well-organised act of civil disobedience.

Martin McDonagh, Peter Czernin, Sam Rockwell and Graham Broadbent, pose with Frances McDormand, as they hold their trophies for Best Film for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri. (REUTERS)

Others to reference the issue from the stage included Mexican actress Salma Hayek, who wrote a personal account of her experiences with disgraced Hollywood Producer Harvey Weinstein, and, who presented the Best Actor award to Gary Oldman (Darkest Hour) on Monday.

In this very important and historical year for women, I am here on this legendary stage to celebrate men, she said, before joking that McDormand had won best actor.

Actress Salma Hayek and husband Francois-Henri Pinault pose for photographers. (Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP)

Actress Andrea Riseborough chose to bring UK Black Pride co-founder Phyll Opoku-Gyimah as her guest, while Gemma Arterton, who starred in 2010s Made In Dagenham, brought two of the original 1968 Dagenham Ford factory pay campaigners, Gwen Davis and Eileen Pullen.

Emma Roberts, Lilly James, Lupita Nyongo, Noami Harris and Saoirse Ronan.

Activists wearing T-shirts saying Times Up Theresa gatecrashed the red carpet.

A group of protesters demonstrate on the red carpet at the British Academy of Film and Television Awards (BAFTA) at the Royal Albert Hall in London. (REUTERS)

A group called Sisters Uncut said they were protesting against Prime Minister Theresa May and the governments Domestic Violence and Abuse Bill.

Follow @htshowbiz for moreFrances McDormand continued her award season triumph by bagging her first Bafta for her role of an angry mother in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and as she took to the stage to accept the trophy, she won over the audience with her sassy speech.

McDormand, who bucked the trend of black gowns, which has become synonymous with protests against sexual harassment, pointed to her long-sleeved, print-heavy dress and said, I have a little trouble with compliance. But I want you to know that I stand in full solidarity with my sisters tonight in black.

Martin McDonagh, Peter Czernin, Sam Rockwell and Graham Broadbent, pose with Frances McDormand, as they hold their trophies for Best Film for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri at the British Academy of Film and Television Awards (BAFTA). (REUTERS)

I appreciate a well-organised act of civil disobedience, and I am thrilled that activists all over the world have been inspired by the set decoration of the Three Billboards in Martinas film. Let it be a part of positive discourse, she added referring to the protests after the deadly shooting at a high school in the US recently. The 60-year-old actor, who is a strong contender at the Oscars next month where she is vying for her second Best Actress trophy, has already won Golden Globe and SAG awards for her performance in the Martin McDonagh-directed movie about a disgruntled mother fighting for the justice for her raped and murdered teenage daughter.

She is also one of the few actors to have the Triple Crown of Acting -- Oscar for Fargo, a Tony Award for Good People and an Emmy Award for Olive Kitteridge. Praising the studios for shepherding two women-led films -- Three Billboards and Guillermo del Toros The Shape of Water, the actor said these films are not only entertaining but they also encourage a longer and broader cultural conversation.

McDormand had the audience in splits while talking about her beginning as an actor in the drama school. When I was a young actor in drama school, I was told that I was not naturally gifted and Ill have to work at it. And so I did, she said as she thanked directors -- the Coen Brothers, Wes Anderson and McDonagh for helping her realise my hidden potential.

Follow @htshowbiz for moreAll 66 people flying in an Iranian commercial plane were feared dead after it crashed into mountains. Investigators searched 45 properties liked to billionaire Nirav Modi, the central figure in the alleged Rs 11,400-crore fraud at Punjab National Bank. These stories made news on Sunday. Here is more about them.

Commercial plane crashes in southern Iran, killing 66 people

An Iranian commercial plane crashed in a foggy, mountainous region of southern Iran, killing all 66 people on board, state media reported. The plane used for short-distance regional flying, went down near its destination of the southern Iranian city of Yasuj, some 780 km south of Tehran.

200 dummy companies detected in Nirav Modi probe: ED

Federal investigators searched 45 properties in India liked to billionaire jewellery designer Nirav Modi and his family, looking for evidence of money laundering in the alleged Rs 11,400-crore fraud at Punjab National Bank. The Enforcement Directorate, which fights financial crime, said as many as 200 shell companies linked to Modi that were used for the fraud have been detected.

PM Modi must speak up on PNB fraud, says Rahul Gandhi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi must stop behaving as if he is guilty in the alleged fraud at Punjab National Bank, said Congress president Rahul Gandhi, blaming the government for the financial scandal that hit headlines last week. Speak up. #ModiRobsIndia, said Gandhi in a tweet.

78.56% polling in Tripura; Left and BJP say confident of victory

As many as 78.56% of the 2,536,589 voters in Tripura exercised their franchise peacefully in elections that pit the states long-ruling Left Front government against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). It is certain that the 8th Left Front government will be formed in Tripura after these elections. We are strongly hopeful, said Chief Minister Manik Sarkar. People want change. People strongly wish for a BJP government in Tripura, said party leader Biplab Kumar Deb.

Shikhar Dhawan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar help India tame South Africa in first T20

In front of a packed stadium, with massive Indian support, and on a wicket that was as flat as a highway, India out-batted South Africa, beating them by 28 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the three-T20 series at the Wanderers on Sunday.

Death toll rises to 18 in Rajasthan gas cylinder blast

The death toll in the gas cylinder blast in Rajasthans Ajmer district increased to 18 after rescue workers found 10 more bodies in the rubble. A double-storey building collapsed in Beawar town on Friday night when two gas cylinders exploded during a a pre-wedding function.

Two policemen killed in Naxal attack in Chhattisgarh

Two policemen were killed and six others injured in a gunfight with Maoist rebels in Chhattisgarhs Sukma district on Sunday, said a police officer. Maoists attacked an area-domination party in a forest in Sukma district.

Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth have a friendly meeting

Actor Kamal Haasan drove down to meet fellow Tamil movie superstar Rajinikanth at his residence in Chennai, three days before he launches his political party. It is a courtesy call. Not a political meeting. Rajini wished me good luck, said Haasan said after the meeting. Rajinikanth too has announced his own political organisation, but the two actors are unlikely to ally because of the difference in their ideologies.

Centre to reintroduce transgender bill before Parliament

The Union government is planning to reintroduce the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2016, in the forthcoming session of Parliament after including certain suggestions made by a parliamentary panel, including dropping neither wholly male or female from the definition of transgender.

Meghalaya NCP candidate Jonathone Sangma killed in militant attack

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) candidate from Williamnagar seat in East Garo Hills district of Meghalaya, Jonathone Nengminza Sangma, and two of his security guards were reportedly killed in a militant attack on Sunday evening.Ahead of the rural elections this year and the Lok Sabha polls in 2019, Bengals ruling party Trinamool Congress (TMC) is busy wooing the majority community by organising conferences of priests in different districts of Bengal to checkmate the BJP.

After stirring up controversy for their pronounced Muslim outreach, Trinamool leaders addressing Hindu priests in open air meetings is a surreal scenario.

Workers and leaders of the Hindu Samhati  a far-right outfit set up in 2008 by former RSS pracharak Tapan Ghosh  are speaking in favour of TMC.

BJP is of no relevance to Hindus in Bengal. They cant provide the Hindus with a political solution, Debtanu Bhattacharya, president, Hindu Samhati, said at a rally on February 14. The outfit is perceived to be against BJP and its ideological mentor, the RSS.

For chief minister Mamata Banerjee, the stakes are high. She wants to have a major role in Delhi after the Lok Sabha elections next year. Bengal has 42 Lok Sabha seats and the TMC wants to win as many as possible.

If anyone asks you to take lessons of Hindutva from them, dont listen to them. Dont surrender your identity to any emperor from Delhi, or anyone carrying the saffron flag, said TMC district president Ajit Maity at a priests rally organised by another Hindu outfit, the Sanatan Brahmin Trust (SBT), in West Midnapore recently.

You know what constitutes Hindutva. We wont learn Hindutva from anybody else, said Birbhum district TMC president Anubrata Mondal at a conference of priests in Bolpur last month.

Birbhum TMC district chief Anubrata Mondal (second from right) with minister Chandra Nath Sinha at a priests rally in January. (HT File Photo)

The SBT has also come out in support of the TMC.

It may be possible to pay honourarium to priests like imams, said Dibakar Jana, SBTs West Bengal advisor at a rally of priests, claiming that the CM had assured allocation of land in Mecheda to build an ashram.

Next month, the SBT will be organising meetings of priests in Bankura, Purulia and Hooghly districts. After the rural polls in May-June this year, the SBT plans to organise a rally of priests at Brigade Parade Ground in Kolkata where it will invite the CM as the main speaker.

The TMCs outreach to Hindu groups, especially Hindu Samhati, has annoyed the BJP.

Hindu Samhati works with connivance of the state government almost as an arm of the ruling party. While the ruling party denies permission to meetings by the BJP and RSS chief, how can this outfit get permission? asked Dilip Ghosh, state BJP president. Its a strategy to counter BJPs rise, he alleged.

TMC is trying to beat BJP in its own game. But it cant do everything directly in the fear of losing Muslim votes. Therefore, Hindu Samhati is the outfit carrying out agenda, remarked CPI (M) politburo member and MP Md Salim.

In a recent Facebook post, the Hindu Samhati president even argued against the perception that TMC is in power because of the Muslim votes.

A district-wise analysis of Assembly and Lok Sabha elections show Trinamool has fared poorly in the Muslim-majority district of Murshidabad, Malda and North Dinajpur  the places where the Left and the Congress did better, whereas it performed impeccably well in the Hindu-majority districts, Bhattacharya wrote.

Mamata Banerjee is also lending her own touch to the campaign. Ahead of the Gangasagar mela (the second largest congregation of Hindu pilgrims after Kumbh) last month, she paid her first visit to Kapil Munis ashram. She also announced a life insurance policy of Rs 5 lakh each for the pilgrims and said the premium will be paid by her government.

Banerjee has also announced development plans for three of the most popular temples of Bengal  in Tarakeswar, Tarapith and Kalighat.A marigold garland around her neck, Rita Sahu walked through the narrow bylanes of Kevad village in Bijepur assembly constituency limits last Saturday. The 46-year-old barely spoke, but when she did, leaders and activists of Odishas ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) kept a close watch.

The 46-year-old is BJDs candidate for the February 24 Bijepur assembly bypoll, where the stakes are apparently higher than a single seat.

The real fight here is the proxy war between chief minister Naveen Patnaik and BJP heavyweight and Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan, said Bipin Meher, a weaver in Bijepurs Barpali block. The winner will hype it as a pointer to what is coming in the next assembly polls, Meher added.

Rita Sahus husband, Subal Sahu, a three-time Congress MLA of Bijepur in western Odishas Bargarh district, died of cancer in August last year, necessitating the bypoll. Barely months later, the CM chose her as the BJD candidate for the seat.

Her switch to the BJD triggered a BJP counter. Bijepurs BJD MLA from 2000-2004, Ashok Panigrahi, whom many spoke of as a frontrunner for the party ticket, joined the BJP in October last year.

Ashok Panigrahi, a former Bijepur BJD legislator, joined the BJP to contest the bypoll after he was denied a ruling party ticket. (Arabinda Mahapatra)

Panigrahi was denied the BJD ticket from Bijepur for the 2014 polls and contested as an independent. He lost, but the BJD candidate lost too amid a vote split. All talk of a patch-up fizzled out when the CM picked Rita Sahu. Now, Panigrahi, 60, is the BJPs candidate.

In sharp contrast to Rita Sahus demeanour, and several kilometres away the same day, Panigrahi, 60, met voters in Kothamal village and accused the BJD of embezzling money meant for housing schemes.

More than two dozen senior BJD leaders have parked themselves in Bijepur, around 375 km from state capital Bhubaneswar, since last week. The BJP too has lined up a host of high-profile leaders, including Union minister Smriti Irani, for the campaign.

BJD has a near-invincible record in bypolls since 2000, but the BJPs win in the zila parishad polls last year has triggered a buzz around Bijepur. In Bargarh district, the BJP won 25 of the 34 zila parishad zones, while in Bijepur it won two of the three zones.

Buoyed by rural poll results, the BJP, which won just 10 assembly seats in the 2014 assembly polls, has mounted a sustained campaign to oust the BJD in the next elections.

Manoj Saha, a youngster in the constituencys Gaisilat block, believes the equation is fairly simple. A BJD win will quell questions about four-time CM Patnaiks popularity, while a BJP win will establish Pradhan as a credible challenger, he said.

Ear to the ground

Caste equations have never had an impact in Bijepur, where OBCs constitute more than 70% of the 225,000 voters.

Turncoats are expected to be the real influencers in the bypoll. The BJD has reaped the maximum harvest of turncoats from the BJP and the Congress. The ruling party has inducted the BJP district president, Narayan Sahu, and the Congress chairperson and vice-chairperson of Barpali notified area council.

The Congress, which suffered maximum desertions in the run-up to the bypoll, has picked senior party leader Pranay Sahu as its candidate.

I am a Congress supporter, but may back the BJP this time. In the panchayat polls, many of my neighbours turned to the BJP only because of Modi.

At Gopeipali village of Barpali block, sarpanch Dambarudhar Bisoi was the first among Subal Sahu loyalists to shift allegiance from the Congress to the BJD. When he died, we thought its better to go with BJD as some development work can be done, said Bisoi.

The BJP is also winning over some such as Gaisilat primary schoolteacher Arabind Das owing to its biggest draw, Prime Minister Narendra Modi. I am a Congress supporter, but may back the BJP this time. In the panchayat polls, many of my neighbours turned to the BJP only because of Modi, said Das.

Announcements galore

A few months ago, the CM offered a drought package for 70 blocks, including Bijepur. He also announced a Rs 1,246-crore lift irrigation project for Bijepur, which is located at an elevation of 200 metres and is water starved.

Petroleum and natural gas minister Pradhan has announced a Rs 750-crore ethanol plant in Bargarh.

Earlier this month, Union food minister Ram Vilas Paswan announced a relaxation in fair average quality (FAQ) norms for Odisha while procuring paddy from farmers whose crops were hit by unseasonal rains. Paswan acknowledged Pradhan had written to him for this relaxation.

Incidentally, the state government has rejected this, saying it reduces the minimum support price for discoloured paddy.The BJP beat the Congress in 47 of Gujarats 75 municipalities as the results for the civic elections were announced on Monday, but the ruling partys tally fell in the first major polls after the assembly elections last year.

The Congress won 16 nagarpalikas or municipalities, improving its performance since the last civic elections, others took away four and Independents candidates won six in the elections that were held on February 17.

The BJP had won 59 of the 79 municipalities in 2013. The Congress had won 11, but lost five of them after its leaders defected to the saffron party.

The results were in a way similar to the December 2017 assembly elections in which the Congress did better by restricting the BJP to 99 seats in the 182-member assembly. The opposition party lost nagarpalikas in areas dominated by its stalwarts as it did in the assembly elections last year.

Nagarpalikas in Amreli, a district which was swept by the Congress in the assembly polls, went to the BJP. It is being seen as a blow to its newly-elected young legislative party leader Paresh Dhanani. Similarly, the Congress could not perform well in the tribal belt where it has senior leaders such as former Union minister of state Naran Rathwa.

But the Congress claimed victory after its win in the 16 nagarpalikas as well as on bodies won by Independents.

Win in the number of nagapalikas and the total number of councillors has gone up for the Congress. The party has kept up its impressive run after the assembly elections, Congress leader Alpesh Thakor said.

The BJP, on its part, said the results proved that the voters have rejected the Congress party.

At places, where the voters did not choose the BJP, they have opted for Independents, BJP president Jitu Vaghani said.

The Congress, out of power in Gujarat since 1995, made the first comeback in 2015 by uprooting the BJP in the countryside in local body elections by winning 23 district panchayats against BJPs 6, and 124 taluka panchayats against BJPs 60.

It was followed by an impressive run in the 2017 assembly elections.The CBI on Monday arrested three more officials of the Punjab National Bank (PNB) in connection with its probe into the alleged Rs 11,400-crore fraud case involving businessman Nirav Modi and his maternal uncle, Mehul Choksi.

The officials were accused of overlooking allegedly illegal acts committed by other key accused earlier held in the case.

The CBI has arrested Bechhu Tiwari, chief manager of the banks forex department; Yashwant Joshi, scale two manager in the same department; and Praful Sawant, scale one officer in the export department, said an agency spokesperson.

Three people  retired deputy manager Gokulnath Shetty, suspended single window operator Manoj Kharat and Nirav Modis alleged accountant Hemant Bhatt  were earlier arrested in the case.

The spokesperson said Tiwari was responsible for supervising the work of Shetty and his manager to ensure the entry of authorised SWIFT messages only from the PNBs core banking system (CBS). The official seemed to have full knowledge of the retired deputy managers activities, he added.

SWIFT is a messaging system used for inter-bank transactions.

The spokesperson said Joshi was also responsible for supervising Shetty, and ensuring that SWIFT and CBS entries were filed on a daily basis. It is alleged that Joshi did not take any action despite having complete knowledge of Shettys activities either. The third person, Sawant, was responsible for checking SWIFT messages every day and reporting on them, he added.

The CBI is conducting raids on their residences located in Navi Mumbai, Andheri and Dombivili, besides scrutinising travel records of the billionaire jewellery designer.

Earlier in the day, the agency questioned Modis personal assistant and travel desk in-charge regarding his whereabouts. The CBI is trying to find out where Modi has been since he left the country on January 1, a person familiar with the matter said. The businessmans wife Ami, brother Neeshal and maternal uncle Choksi are also absconding.

The CBI has sought Interpols assistance in tracking Modis whereabouts. Five more aides of Modi, including his vice-president (finance) Vipul Ambani and chief financial officer Ravi Gupta were also examined on Monday. The agency spokesperson said the PNBs Brady House branch, where the scam took place, was briefly sealed early this morning to prevent any possible tampering. The seal and the notice were removed later.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED), meanwhile, is looking into the money-laundering aspect of the probe. The agency searched Modis Mumbai residence, besides 38 other locations in Mumbai, Pune, Surat, Thane, Aurangabad, Delhi, Kolkata, Jammu, Lucknow and Bengaluru, on Monday. It also seized fresh assets worth Rs 22 crore  including precious stones, cash and gold  from the homes and offices of Modi and Choksi. This has taken the total seizure in the case to Rs 5,716 crore.

The ED will now move for formal attachment of the seized assets under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, said an official on the condition of anonymity. The agency also spoke to former Allahabad Bank director Dinesh Dubey, who was allegedly forced to resign for refusing to give a loan to Choksi.

The Income Tax department, for its part, attached seven properties in the case  taking the total number to 36.Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Sunday hit out at Union minister Pon Radhakrishnan for his remarks that Tamil Nadu was becoming a training camp for terrorism, saying the state was the most peaceful in the country.

It is a blatant lie. In the present situation, Tamil Nadu is the most peaceful state in India and law and order situation is also very good, Palaniswami told reporters at the City Airport tonight.

Stating that both the BJP-led central and AIADMK-led state governments were functioning to serve the people and working jointly for their benefit, he said the ideology of both the parties was completely different.

I do not know, was his reply to a question on Deputy Chief Minister O Paneerselvams remark that he joined hands with Palaniswami following advise from Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Paneerselvam had taken pains for the cause of the party and now both (he and Paneerselvam) were taking it on the path of growth, he said and blamed the media for blowing the issue out of proportion.

The proposed entry of film stars Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan will not have any impact on the AIADMK and nobody can defeat the party, he said.

Blaming the DMK for the prolonged dispute on Cauvery water issue, Palaniswami said the party had not renewed the 1974 agreement which was the root cause for the problem.

He alleged that DMKs working president MK Stalin was blaming the AIADMK for the problem which was a blatant lie.

It was the case filed by former chief minister Jayalalithaa which resulted in Tamil Nadu getting its due share of water, he said.

The DMK had done nothing for the benefit of the state, when it was ruling at the Centre with the Congress, he alleged.

The chief minister also expressed hope that the Centre would constitute the Cauvery Management Board within six weeks as directed by the Supreme Court in its verdict which would be in force for 15 years.Family members of Dalit activist Bhanubhai Vankar took possession of his body after the Gujarat government gave a written assurance to accept their demands, including allotment of land to Dalits on Monday.

Vankar, 62, had set himself ablaze outside the Patan collectors office on February 15 seeking allotment of land to a Dalit family. He died of burn injuries at a private hospital in Ahmedabad the next day.

The body was taken to Vankars hometown Unjha in Mehasana district, where his last rites will be performed on Monday, Subodh Parmar of the Dalit Adhikar Manch said.

Possession of land already allocated to Dalit community members will be handed over in the next six months, reads the letter signed by Gandhinagar district collector Satish Patel and superintendent of police Virendra Yadav.

According to the letter, a copy of which was accessed by PTI, a Special Investigation Team will be formed to probe the circumstances which led to Vankars death.

Dalit leaders and community members have been protesting since Friday. Protesters had blocked roads and held rallies in several parts of Gujarat, including capital Gandhinagar, Ahmedabad, and Patan in Mehsana district against the failure of authorities concerned to prevent suicide by Vankar on Friday, the police had said.

Dalit leader and Independent MLA Jignesh Mevani, and more than 70 others were also detained by the police on Sunday. Though the state government had announced that it will accept the key demands of Vankars family, including allotment of land to Dalits, Mevani had sought that the government issue a circular conceding the demands.

Deputy chief minister Nitin Patel had announced the constitution of a judicial commission under a retired high court judge or to form an SIT to investigate Vankars death. Patel had also said that a member of the family of the deceased will be given a government job.The CBI has accused former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda of ordering the withdrawal of acquisition proceedings for Manesar land despite no such recommendation by the industries department or Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC). The then chief minister passed orders regarding the release of land on his own volition and there were no recommendations from the industries department for release of land, the CBI chargesheet said. Hooda, however, could not be reached for comments on the issue.

The 600 acres being acquired by the Industries department for Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC) since 2004 for creating residential and recreational utilities in Industrial Model Township (IMT), Manesar, was dropped from the acquisition proceedings in 2007. The CBI accused the former chief minister and his aides of dropping the acquisition proceedings to help real estate builders. It is alleged that the builders forced farmers to sell land at throwaway prices under the threat of acquisition.

The central agency in its chargesheet said the file was submitted to the state government for taking a decision on the representation of Delhi resident Naveen Rao. Naveen Rao, who had purchased the land after the acquisition process started, had applied for a grant of licence for 12.50 acres in January 2007 to the director, town and country planning. Rao, Angelique International Ltd and owners of the landLaxmi Narain, Satbir Singh, Rambir Singh, Hukam Chand submitted a joint representation on June 12, 2007 to commissioner ( industries) requesting for the release of about 68 acres from the acquisition process, the chargesheet said.

The CBI said that the then Joint Director (IE, industries department) KS Josan categorically mentioned that the land acquisition collector (LAC) may be directed to announce the award on August 24, 2007. His recommendation was forwarded to the then financial commissioner (industries) Chhatar Singh who marked the file to the industries minister on August 23, 2007. The industries department did not recommend the release of land of Naveen Rao and others, the CBI said.

Hoodas relatives had business interests in Manesar land: CBI in scam chargesheet

The forged representation

The investigation agency found that land owners Laxmi Narain, Satbir Singh, Rambir Singh and Hukam Chand who submitted a joint representation along with Naveen Rao denied having entered into an agreement with the latter or signing the joint representation on June 12, 2007. The CBI then got the handwriting experts of Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) to examine the signatures of all those who signed the joint representation and found that signatures of Laxmi Narain, Satbir Singh, Rambir Singh and Hukam Chand had been forged. The representation on which the order of dropping of acquisition proceedings was passed was a forged one and mentioned wrong facts.

CBI report in Manesar land scam. Few let off, made prosecution witnesses. Prosecution case weakened.  Ashok Khemka (@AshokKhemka_IAS) February 19, 2018

The accused Naveen Rao and Virender Kumar Jain, the general manager of Angelique International Ltd, in connivance with each other had used a forged document as genuine, the chargesheet said. Naveen Rao and Virender Kumar could not be contacted till the time of the filing of the report.The Supreme Court will during the week continue to hear several important cases, including petitions that challenge Aadhaar, pleas for probe into the death of special CBI judge BH Loya and the Kerala love jihad case.

A list of cases in the top court this week:

Aadhaar petitions

A five-judge constitution bench led by CJI Dipak Misra will resume the hearing of petitions challenging the Aadhaar. Arguing for the West Bengal government, Congress leader and senior advocate Kapil Sibal had said the consequences of a verdict in the case will be far more critical for the country than the decision given in 1976, which upheld the suspension of fundamental rights, during the Emergency.

Judge Loya

An apex court bench headed by CJI Misra will also take up petitions asking for an independent probe into the death of CBI special judge BH Loya, who was hearing the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case, when he died of cardiac arrest on December 1, 2014. Last week, the Maharashtra government had rebutted the charges levelled by the petitioners against the state and said the four judges, who were with Loya at the time of his demise, had termed his death natural.

Haj pilgrim selection

Kerala State Haj Committees plea to have an all-India system to select pilgrims for the Haj pilgrimage will be heard by the CJI-led bench. The Centre is likely to give its response to the petition.Asserting that the current draw of lots system is discriminatory, the committee has contended that Kerala has a higher number of people who want to go for Haj than states like Bihar. The petition challenges the centres decision to revoke exemption given to fifth time applicants from the state.

Hadiya case

Petition by Shafin Jahan, questioning the Kerala HC judgement annulling his marriage to Hadiya, a Hindu woman who converted to Islam, will also come up for hearing this week. On the last hearing, the top court had asked the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to stay away from probing into Hadiyas choice to marry Jahan.

NIA has argued before SC that Hadiya was indoctrinated, radicalized and brainwashed.

Pensions for MPs

An SC bench led by Justice J Chelameswar will hear the plea filed by the Lucknow-based NGO Lok Prahari, seeking an end to the pensions given to parliamentarians. The petitioner has argued there are no guidelines for allowances received by members of parliaments.

Cow slaughter ban

Cross petitions challenging Bombay HC verdict that banned cow slaughter in Maharashtra but allowed for sale and possession of beef brought into the state from outside will also come up for arguments.

Thirty social activists from the state have assailed the HC direction to ban cow slaughter on the ground that it violated ones right to choose food, which they said breaches the fundamental right to live.Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday wound up his one-day visit to Gujarat with a meeting with chief minister Vijay Rupani at the city airport before his departure.

The two leaders discussed various aspects of Gujarat-Canada relationship, said an official release.

Chief minister Rupani invited the Canadian PM to the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2019, with his countrys delegation, as Canada is the partner country of the mega biennial event, it said.

Trudeau invited Rupani to visit Canada ahead of the summit, which the CM accepted, the release further stated.

The two leaders also had detailed discussions about increasing cooperation in various sectors such as education, industries, start-ups and innovation, with Rupani inviting Canadian firms to set up operations in Gujarat.The son of Karnataka Congress legislator NA Haris accused of assaulting a man in a pub surrendered to the police in Bengaluru on Monday, a day after a manhunt was launched to arrest him.

Haris confirmed the development and said he had advised his son Mohammed Haris Nalapad to surrender because nobody was above the law.

Now that he has surrendered the law will take its course, Haris said.

Senior Congress leaders, including chief minister Siddaramaiah and state Congress president G Parameshwara, were quick to criticise Nalapad for his behaviour.

Nalapad, who was a general secretary of the Youth Congress, was expelled from the party for six years after reports of the assault emerged on Sunday.

The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party and the Janata Dal (Secular) criticised the law and order situation in the state, where assembly elections set to be held in May, after the issue heated up around the assault.

State home minister Ramalinga Reddy set the police a deadline of 8pm on Sunday to arrest Nalapad after the oppositions criticism. The inspector at the Cubbon Park police station was suspended for failing to meet the deadline.

The police will take action. I have instructed them to bring justice, Reddy said.

Vidvat, the man who was assaulted, is undergoing treatment for a fractured leg at the Mallya Hospital. He was allegedly beaten up on Saturday because Nalapad took offence to him sitting with his leg stretched out in the pub.

After a heated exchange, Nalapad and 10 of his associates allegedly thrashed Vidvat. Nalapad also allegedly went to the hospital where Vidvat was admitted to warn him against filing a complaint with the police.

A case was registered against Nalapad and 10 others for voluntarily causing grievous hurt, rioting, and criminal intimidation.The Nagpur police on Sunday said that it had solved the killing of the mother and daughter of a journalist here, 12 hours after the crime was committed.

Usha Kamble (50) and one-year-old Risha were killed on Saturday evening and their bodies were put in a gunny bag and thrown into a nullah at Bhadura in Dighori here at around 11 in the night, police said.

Joint Commissioner of Police Shivaji Bodkhe told PTI that Ganesh Rambaran Shahu (26), a resident of Pawanputra Nagar area here, was arrested adding that the victim and Shahu had fought over chit fund money on Saturday evening at the latters house.

In the course of the altercation, the woman fell from the stairs, after which Shahu slit her throat, Bodkhe said.

He added that the toddler, who was with Kamble at the time, was killed by Shahu to stop her wails.

He later put the bodies in a sack and disposed it off in a nullah, Bodkhe said. Further investigations were underway, the official said.

Journalist Ravikant Kamble had appealed for help on the social media.The National Investigation Agency (NIA), which has been asked to probe the escape of LeT militant Mohammed Naveed Jhatt from a hospital in Srinagar, will investigate conspiracy angles, including how he got favourable orders from doctors and jail authorities, officials said here.

Senior home ministry officials said that on the Centres advice, the state has already shifted 25 terrorists, of which 16 are Pakistanis, to various jails outside the Kashmir valley since the escape of 22-year-old Jhatt, a Pakistani national who infiltrated into the valley in 2014.

The officials said the NIA probe will disclose the conspiracy angle and ascertain how such a dreaded militant managed to get favourable orders from jail authorities and doctors.

The home ministry has also asked the Jammu and Kashmir government to conduct a detailed inquiry and submit a report within 15 days on measures required for revamping security of jails in the state on the basis of inputs received from security agencies.

The NIA has already taken custody of five accused arrested in connection with Jhatts escape from the SMHS hospital and are at present on remand for seven days since February 16. The five accused were nabbed by the J&K Police on February 8, two days after Jhatt alias Abu Hanzalla escaped from the hospital. Jhatt had managed to escape on February 6 after at least two other militants attacked a police escort team at the hospital, where he was brought in for treatment.

Two policemen -- head constable Mushtaq Ahmed and constable Babar Ahmed -- of the J&K Police were killed by Jhatt and his accomplice during their escape.

All the five accused -- Shakeel Ahmed Bhat, Tika Khan, Syed Tajamul Islam, Mohammed Shafi Wani and Jan Mohammed Ganai -- were charged with conspiring the escape of 22-year-old Jhatt. All of them are residents of Pulwama in south Kashmir.

According to the police, Bhat is believed to be one of the masterminds of the escape plan and his motorcycle was used in it. Khan, a resident of Pulwama, is alleged to have provided his car for further transportation of Jhatt out of the city, the police said. Jhatt is at present believed to be in the Pulwama area, they said. Shafi, who is from Narbal on the outskirts of Srinagar city, had posed as a patient to provide cover for the terrorists escape.Pakistan has billed India Rs 2.86 lakh as route navigation charges for Indian air force aircraft used by prime minister Narendra Modi during a stopover in Lahore and visits to Russia, Afghanistan, Iran and Qatar, an RTI response shows.

The data gathered by activist commodore (Retd) Lokesh Batra, through his RTI application, shows that till June 2016, Indian air force aircraft were used for the prime ministers visits to 11 countries--Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Qatar, Australia, Pakistan, Russia, Iran, Fiji and Singapore.

Batra gave a copy of the RTI responses, received from August last year to January 30 2018, to PTI.

During one such visit on December 25, 2015, Modi had a brief stopover in Lahore at the request of then Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif. The stopover took place when Modi was returning from Russia and Afghanistan. For this, a bill of Rs 1.49 lakh has been issued as route navigation charges, records accessed under the RTI Act from the Indian high commission in Pakistan show.

Modi was received by Sharif with a warm hug at the tarmac of the Allama Iqbal International Airport, Lahore, when he made the unexpected stopover on his way back home following a day-long trip to Afghanistan after concluding a two-day visit to Russia.

Modi was accorded a red carpet welcome as the PMs special Indian Air Force Boeing 737 plane touched down at 4.50 pm. He then took a helicopter to Sharifs Raiwind palatial residence on the outskirts of Lahore to attend Sharifs birthday celebrations.

A bill of Rs 77,215 was imposed as route navigation charges by Pakistani authorities when Modi used an IAF aircraft to visit Iran on May 22-23, 2016, and Rs 59,215 when he visited Qatar on June 4-6, 2016, the RTI response shows. For both visits he flew over Pakistan.

The records were part of a response collected from various missions of India on the expenditure incurred on the visits of Modi on IAF aircraft between 2014 and 2016.

According to the data collected, a total of about Rs 2 crore has been spent on foreign visits of the prime minister during the period for the use of IAF aircraft.

Generally, an Air India aircraft is hired for the foreign visits of the president, the vice president and prime minister -- for which the national carrier sends the bill. The bills for the prime ministers visits are borne by the external affairs ministry.

The bills submitted by Indian missions in these countries include charges for fuelling, ground handling, airport charges, dearness allowance paid to the staff, hotel stay, catering and mobile for the crew, transport hiring, captains imprest and other charges.Describing India as the hot-spot of digital innovation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said it was the best place to leverage the power of technology and leapfrog into the future.

Modi was speaking after inaugurating the World Conference on Information Technology (WCIT-2018) in Hyderabad through video-conferencing from Delhi. The event is being held for the first time in India in partnership with NASSCOM, WITSA and the government of Telangana.

Modi said India had made a great leap forward in digital technology, with one lakh villages connected through optical fibre network, more than 100 crore people using mobile phones, 121 crore people with Aadhaar connections and 50 crore internet users.

We not only possess a growing number of innovative entrepreneurs, but also a growing market for tech innovation. We were and we remain one of the most tech-friendly nations in the world. Digital India is a journey bringing about digital inclusion for digital empowerment aided by digital infrastructure for digital delivery of services, he said.

Modi said the Digital India programme has not remained just a government initiative but has become a way of life for the people. It has gone beyond being a government initiative and has become an inseparable part of peoples lives. It is helping in inclusive growth of the nation. While most government initiatives depended on a government push, Digital India is succeeding because of the peoples pull, he said.

The Prime Minister said technology was becoming an enabler for the concept of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (world is one family). It helps us create a seamless, integrated world, a world where geographical distance no longer remains a barrier in collaborating for a better future, he said.

Modi said India had come a long way with the convergence of Make in India and Digital India. From only two mobile factories in India in 2014, today there are 118 mobile manufacturing factories operational in India, including some of the best global brands, he said.

Union minister for IT and Communications Ravi Shankar Prasad explained the initiatives taken by the Centre for the promotion of IT sector in the country. He urged IT companies to keep the interests of common man in mind while coming out with innovations in technology. He also called for ethical values in technological innovations.

Welcoming the gathering, Telangana IT minister K T Rama Rao explained the various infrastructure solutions the government is creating to make Digital Telangana a reality. He said Telangana is the second largest IT exporter in India and employs half a million people directly.

Ideal location, favourable climate, presence of educational institutions have attracted best IT firms like Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Amazon, Uber, Salesforce and many more, he said.America has its shootings. India has her bank scams. Both happen with monotonous regularity. In each case there is pouring of outrage after every incident. Accusations and blame fly. So-called experts expound stridently in the media. The government and regulator promise no stone will be left unturned to bring the perpetrators to justice and fix the system. Within a few days, the nations attention will drift to another crisis. And then it will happen again. And again. And again.

Why are our PSU banks so vulnerable to fraud and bad loans?

The famous American bank robber Willie Sutton, when asked why he repeatedly robbed banks, replied with honesty, Because thats where the money is.

So as long as fraudsters know that there is easy money and no consequences for stealing, our banks will be robbed repeatedly. Our banks are accident-prone by design and need fundamental changes.

The diagnosis, remedies and way forward have been laid out many times but with particular clarity by the PJ Nayak Committee in 2014; however the recommendations have been only partially and sometimes half-heartedly implemented.

Recapitalisation with half-measures and band-aids simply wont work. They are tantamount to rearranging deck-chairs on the Titanic. Privatisation of at least a few big banks is probably the only solution despite the many vested interests that would oppose this.

At the heart of the problem is a broken model of governance which results in weak accountability. The bureaucratic model for governing the country is not an appropriate one for governing banks in a fast-changing environment. The Boards of PSU Banks are emasculated entities with little authority. Boards do not appoint the CEO or the executive directors nor do they have the authority to set targets and manage performance.

As a result, public sector bank boards do not have the single most important tool to perform their fiduciary duty. Boards themselves largely comprise of nominees of the government and often lack the experience and expertise to govern these complex institutions. It is not uncommon for nominee Directors to think through the prism of who appointed them rather than seeing their fiduciary duty to the institution. Many Board, whole time Director and even CEO positions remain vacant for significant period. An archaic system of rotating Executive Directors and CEOs across banks results in lack of continuity of direction and culture. As a result, it is a rare board that is able to drive a strategic transformation agenda; most lurch from quarter to quarter, crisis to crisis, reconciling multiple directions and perspectives from everyone including the Finance Ministry, RBI and Parliamentarians; banks de-facto have two regulators, the RBI and the government. The Bank Boards Bureau that was intended to address some of these issues has itself been marginalized.

Another major factor for high frauds and bad loans is an obsolete approach to controls.

Japanese companies like Toyota taught the world that quality must be prevention-driven not inspection-driven. A similar revolution is needed within PSU banks. There is no point in closing the barn-doors after each horse bolts.

The fundamental organization design has to change to create segregation of responsibility and eliminate the possibility of a couple of rogue employees creating havoc unnoticed.

Banks are fundamentally information processing entities and so they have to be re-architected with contemporary technology so that real-time monitoring and analytics can be used to detect anomalous behaviours and transactions and raise flags. The audit approach must shift from being manual, decentralized, transaction driven and ex-post to being preventive, analytical and intelligent. The current system of concurrent audit employing hundreds of auditors and driving very large fees for such firms has proven ineffective in detecting, let alone preventing, frauds. Such a transformation is not easy; it requires a change of mindset, structure, processes and capability. It therefore takes time and talent and this is where lack of continuity of leadership really hurts.

A third fundamental issue is talent and culture. An unpalatable truth is while public sector banks have lots of good, bright and hardworking people, the lack of investment in developing talent for a really long period of time, and constraints on changing the HR rules in fundamental ways has created an acute shortage of specialists with expertise in areas like technology, risk management, fraud control or internal audit and an even bigger scarcity of leaders who are able to drive performance and change. Lateral hiring is not a solution for even select lateral hiring faces major resistance and challenges of integration.

Weak leadership and culture make it a monumental challenge to create a meritocracy or hold people accountable for performance and compliance. This is why despite tons of policies and rules and the fear of CVC/CBI/CAG, punishing the perpetrators is hard. As in the case of the 2G Scam or the Arushi Talwar murder, no one is ever to blame. Fixing this requires a very fundamental overhaul of the HR system.

Sadly, all of what Ive said is an open secret in the banking system. The answer is not more accountants, more audits, more direction and more supervision but more decentralization with more accountability.

The multibillion dollar question is whether such fundamental changes can be made without privatizing some of these banks.

In theory it might be possible but public sector ownership puts a nearly-unsurmountable handicap in human resources practices, procurement and governance. This is why eminent experts ranging from Arvind Subramanian, to former RBI Governors and senior bureaucrats advocate privatization. Indias public sector banks are accident-prone by design. Another giant fraud, and hundreds of smaller ones, are inevitably being planned and executed at this very moment. There are only three things we dont know. Where will it happen? When will it be exposed? How big will it be?

Time is running out. Past mega-scams by Harshad Mehta, Ketan Parekh and Jignesh Shah provided the impetus for many important reforms in our capital markets. The Nirav Modi-Choksi scam must serve as the catalyst for decisive banking reform by the government. In the words of our Prime Minister, it is time to reform, perform and transform.

(Ravi Venkatesan is a business leader and philanthropist and currently Chairman of Bank of Baroda. These views are personal)Polling to the Williamnagar assembly seat in Meghalaya has been postponed in view of the death of four people, including a Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) candidate, in a blast on Sunday evening.

Chief electoral officer FR Kharkongor said the election  originally scheduled for February 27  has been postponed, and a new date will be announced in a few days.

Jonathone N Sangma and three others, including two bodyguards, were killed after Garo National Liberation Army (GNLA) members allegedly set off an improvised explosive device at Samanda in East Garo Hills district. The ultras also sprayed the vehicle with bullets.

The 43-year-old candidate was returning to Williamnagar after campaigning when his vehicle was targeted.

A peace rally was carried out in Williamnagar on Monday, and all business establishments remained shut in protest against the attack. The state election department has sought 10 additional companies of central paramilitary forces to ensure peaceful polls in the Garo Hills region, which accounts for 24 of Meghalayas 60 seats.

Union minister of state for home Rajnath Singh, who was in Meghalaya on Monday to campaign for the Bharatiya Janata Party, blamed the ruling Congress government for Sangmas death.

The attack on the NCP candidate is testimony to chief minister Mukul Sangmas failure to provide security to Meghalayas citizens, he said while addressing a rally at Songsak. Accusing the state government of failing to usher development in the state, Singh promised round-the-clock electricity, regular drinking water and fast-paced development if the BJP comes to power.Associates and friends describe Rotomac Pens promoter Vikram Kothari, accused of allegedly defaulting on repayment of loans of Rs 2,919 crore from seven public sector banks, as flamboyant.

And as his troubles increase over the years, they say, so did his flamboyance.

He is known for his love for cars and star-studded parties. Even in the face of adversities, he didnt lose his flamboyance. While battling the odds in the last one year, he threw more parties than he did in the past, a friend who has known Kotahri for 30 years said on condition of anonymity.

He uses his flamboyance to maintain his credibility before his powerful friends.This was Kotharis way of dealing with the crisis. He sent across the message  see I am in control, this person added .

Cars were a weakness of Kotharis, others said.

He would own a popular brand or model before anyone else could lay hands on it, they said.

Most of his associates and friends describe him as a risk- taker.

Read | Very much in Kanpur: Rotomac owner on reports that he fled after loan default

That may have proved his undoing.

He was a part of a group of 4-5 people who was heavily into dollar trading. It was kind of satta (gambling); he was playing and kept losing, a second friend of Kotahri said on condition of anonymity.

At one point, his group lost Rs 1,100 crore in dollar trade of which Rs 400 crore belonged to Kothari. This is how and when his empire began disintegrating, he added.

Vikrams father Mansukhlal Madhavlal Kothari in August 1973 launched Pan Parag, which became a private limited company in 1987.

According to people close to the family, when Vikram Kothari and his brother Deepak Kothari decided to divide the business during the lifetime of their father in 2000, the former allowed his brother keep the flagship brand Pan Parag and Yes mineral water.

Kothari sold his stakes in those businesses and chose Rotomac Pens, then a small company, but one he was betting would take the challenge to the then market leader Reynolds. The split between the brothers was unusually peaceful.

Mansukhlal Kothari passed away in 2015 at the age of 90.

Apart from pens, Kothari diversified into the greeting card business to take on Archies by roping in Bollywood actors Salman Khan and Raveena Tandon as brand ambassadors of his company.

His business acumen earned him a place on the Air India board and a national award for best exporter from the then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Kothari also invested in the first mall of Uttar Pradesh, Rave-3. He has other interests in real estate as well, his associates said.

Kothari was going strong till he used the loans he borrowed from banks to play the market  he offshore trading, and crude oil and foreign exchange trading. His associates said he wanted to raise more money to invest in his business.

Some of the trades went bad.

He began defaulting on repayment of loans, sold off his share in the citys biggest and costliest housing project  the Emerald city in Laxman Bagh  to raise funds, said a chartered accountant familiar with the developments.

The slide didnt stop there.

He was no longer in control as banks started taking over his properties to recover loans. He moved to debt recovery tribunal and lost the case. He secured a stay order from the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) against the auction of some of his properties. He went to NCLT declaring himself a defaulter and wanted his properties to be liquidated rather than be auctioned, people familiar with the matter said

Before the Central Bureau of Investigation raided his palatial bungalow Santushti at 4am on Monday, Kothari dispelled reports that he had fled the country and said he was very much in Kanpur.

He also showed up on Sunday at a high-profile wedding that was attended by top BJP leaders.

I have taken loans from banks. I am working on a settlement. My case is pending in NCLT and I have held three meetings with the banks, Kothari said on Sunday.The Supreme Court on Monday said it was looking at the case pertaining to special CBI judge BH Loya seriously and said it would order a probe if there was sufficient evidence to raise suspicion on the circumstances surrounding his death.

A bench led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra assured senior advocate Dushyant Dave, who alleged that pressure was being exerted on some lawyers not to appear in the case, that it would accord highest amount of seriousness in hearing the case. We are duty bound to do so, Justice DY Chandrachud told Dave, asking him to place relevant material in his possession to justify his plea for an independent probe.

Judge Loya died of cardiac arrest in Nagpur on December 1, 2014, when he had gone to attend the wedding of a colleagues daughter. The judge was hearing the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case and questions have been raised about the circumstances around his death, which several Opposition parties have called mysterious and have even made a representation to the President seeking an independent probe. Senior advocate Dave, appearing for an advocates body from Mumbai, complained that the Bar Council of India (BCI) had issued him a notice accusing him of misconduct as he had made statements related to the case in newspapers, TV channels and in the court. This, he said, amounted to exerting pressure on lawyers for raising the issue.

The BCI, he submitted, is a regulatory body for legal education and cannot intimidate lawyers.

The Chief Justice told Dave that nobody can stop anyone from appearing in the case. We are not taking any note of the BCI notice. You can argue. You have the liberty and freedom to argue. BCI is not here. We are hearing you. If there is some kind of suspicion in this case and calls for an investigation, we will definitely proceed to consider it, he said.

Dave also complained that senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the Maharashtra government, had not supplied him many documents on which he relied while opposing the petitions for probe. To this, the bench told Rohatgi it will not look into any documents that has not been supplied to Dave.

The matter will next be heard on March 5.The first woman chief justice of the Manipur high court, Abhilasha Kumari, who took oath on February 9, will retire on February 22, and justice Tarun Agarwala, who took oath as the chief justice of Meghalaya on February 12, will end his term on March 2, an official in the law ministry said on Monday.

The two, who will effectively get less than a month at the helms of their respective high courts, were among the five chief justices of high courts whose names were cleared by the Supreme Court collegium  a body of top judges that makes appointments to the higher judiciary  on January 10 and notified by the law ministry on February 6, according to information released by the Supreme Court and the ministry.

Another chief justice appointed on February 6, justice Antony Dominic, who heads the Kerala high court, is slated to retire on May 29.

Their retirements will once again trigger the process of appointing fresh incumbents  which is likely to take several weeks, the ministry official said.

Meanwhile, the appointments of chief justices of five high courts  Telangana & Andhra Pradesh, Calcutta, Chhattisgarh, Delhi and Himachal Pradesh  which are currently headed by acting chief justices  have not been notified though they were cleared by the collegium at the same meeting on January 10.

The high courts of Bombay and Jharkhand, too, are functioning under acting chief justices.

Another official in the law ministry privy to the process said the government was not likely to clear these appointments in the coming days.

Law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad could not be contacted despite repeated attempts.

Experts hold both the collegium and the government responsible for the delays in filling up these crucial vacancies and demand that the revised Memorandum of Procedure for appointing judges be finalised by both sides at the earliest.

Former Chief Justice of India RM Lodha said: The present system does not seem to be working for the benefit of the people. The SC has clearly said in the Second Judge case that the process of filing up judges vacancies should begin six months before the vacancy arises but the timelines prescribed are not being adhered to.

There are 24 high courts in the country, with some of them catering to more than one state. The posts of chief justices should not be vacant even for a day. It is a very important office in that system but unfortunately it is not being seen that way, Justice Lodha added.

A ministry official said that former law minister Veerappa Moily had written to the CJI in June 2010 during the United Progressive Alliance regime at the Centre, asking for only those judges to be appointed as chief justices who had more than six months of service left, but the suggestion was not followed.

Moily said: In the normal course, it should not be done (that someone with less than six months service is appointed as chief justice). We tried to ensure equity by clearing appointments at the earliest.

A former SC collegium member, who did not wish to be identified, said: The governments suggestion would have denied those who were due for elevation their legitimate right.

Judicial reforms expert Sumathi Chandrashekharan said both the government and the judiciary have shown a degree of stubbornness and not adhered to the direction (of the SC) that appointments should be a consultative and collaborative process.Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi paid tributes to Chhatrapati Shivaji on his birth anniversary on Monday.

Naidu described Shivaji as one of Indias greatest king warriors and hailed him for his valour, warfare strategies, administrative skills, progressive outlook and respect for women.

I pay my tributes to one of India's greatest King warriors, Shivaji Mahraj on his birth anniversary. He was known for his valor, warfare strategies, administrative skills, progressive outlook & respect for women. His legendary acts of bravery will continue to inspire every Indian pic.twitter.com/rgnNTkz5m2  VicePresidentOfIndia (@VPSecretariat) February 19, 2018

Modi also took to the micro-blogging site to hail Shivaji.

I bow to Shivaji Maharaj on his Jayanti. Jai Shivaji! pic.twitter.com/C73OpDHT65  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) February 19, 2018

Gandhi paid his tributes to Shivaji in a message in Marathi on the social networking site.

King Shivaji, known as the creator of the Maratha empire, was born on this day in 1630 at Shivneri Fort in Pune as per the Maharashtra government.Normal functioning at Calcutta high court was totally paralysed on Monday, the first day of a five-day strike called by the Bar Association, demanding immediate filling up of the vacant posts of judges.

Around 10,000 lawyers are participating in the strike.

Bar Association member Kaushik Gupta said the sanctioned strength of judges is 72, while right now there are only 29 justices. Two of the 29 judges are deputed at Port Blair circuit bench. There are more than 2.2 lakh pending cases at the Calcutta high court, Gupta said.

Bar Association president Uttam Majumdar said that despite repeated requests the Centre did not take up any initiative to fill vacant posts of judges in the Calcutta high court. In such a situation, we had no other option but to go for a five-day cease-work, Majumdar said.

The strike is supported by the Bar Library and Incorporated Law Society. In a statement issued on Monday, the association requested the judges not to pass any adverse order during the period of cease-work.

Although in December 2017, the Supreme Court Collegium recommended five more names as judges of Calcutta HC, the Centre is yet to clear them.Chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday said that nearly 700 memorandums of understanding (MoUs), to be signed formally during the two-day investors summit beginning February 21, had been finalised.

He said more than 7,000 delegates had registered themselves for the summit. The CM was briefing media persons after making spot inspection of the Indira Gandhi Pratisthan, the summit venue, where he also held a two-hour meeting with ministers and officials reviewing the preparedness for the summit.

We have already finalised around 700 MoUs, which we hope will get a formal shape on February 22, the second and the last day of the summit, he said. The summit, the CM hoped, will lay the foundation stone for a prosperous and vibrant Uttar Pradesh.

He said the transformation that the state had witnessed during the last 10 months had sent positive signals to the investors in and outside the country.

Industrial development commissioner Anoop Chandra Pandey and other officers concerned gave presentations on the MoUs for various sectors that are likely to be signed during the summit.

It was decided that concerning ministers and officers would give power-point presentations during the summit explaining the potential of investment, among other things, in the state.

The CM enquired about the sessions to be held during the summit, industrial development minister Satish Mahana said.

According to him, a total 22 sessions will be conducted during the summit, which, he said, was expected to be attended by 8000 delegates.

The CM also took a round of the venue and issued necessary directions to the officials. The CM directed us to complete the preparations by Monday evening, said Mahana adding preparations were almost complete and only finishing touches were being given.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the event on February 21, while President Ram Nath Kovind will be the chief guest on the concluding day on February 22.

Among union ministers, Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley, Nitin Gadkari, Suresh Prabhu, Nirmala Sitharaman, Smriti Irani, Hardeep Kaur, Anupriya Patel, Mahesh Sharma and Hardeep Singh Puri were scheduled to attend the event, said Mahana. The CM told the officials it was the responsibility of all government departments to ensure the success of the summit, which, he said, was an opportunity to change UPs image. He said it should be ensured that central ministers, officers, investors were not put to any inconvenience in terms of their stay.

He directed UPPCL chairman, Alok Kumar to ensure uninterrupted power supply at the venue during the summit. He also asked the urban development department to remove illegal hoardings on way to the summit. The CM directed the Lucknow DM to deploy well-behaved and efficient officers and staff at venue of the event.The UP Special Task Force (STF) on Sunday unearthed a fake education board that had been running in Lucknow under the name of Uttar Pradesh State Open School Board (UPSOSB) since 2013 and had study centres in seven states.

MODUS OPERANDI Triveni Singh, ASP, STF said the fraudsters had formed three websites  www.upsosb.ac.in, www.upsos.co.in and www.upsos.in  and got students registered online on payment of 1,350 fees apart from taking affiliation fees and annual fees from educational institutes. As per estimates, the fraudsters may have issued educational certificates to over one lakh students and the STF already had a list of around 5,000 people, he said. The six other states where the fake board had its study centres were Bihar, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Karnataka and Delhi, he added.

The STF raided the fake boards office in Indira Nagar and arrested seven people, including two brothers.

Rajman Goud and Jitendra Goud  two brothers from Azamgarh were the masterminds behind the fake board that was being operated from a rented building Raheja House in Indira Nagars Faridinagar locality, said Triveni Singh, ASP, STF.

He said five others arrested along with the brothers were Kanikram Sharma, Sunil Sharma, Neeraj Shahi, Radhey Shyam Prajapati and Neeraj Pratap Shahi.

In UP itself, at least 65 educational institutes affiliated with this fake board were issuing certificates to students. This figure will go up when details of six other states will be collected, said Singh, who is also a nodal officer UP STF cyber crime cell.

He said the six other states where the fake board had its study centres were Bihar, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Karnataka and Delhi.

As per estimates, the fraudsters may have issued educational certificates to over one lakh students and the STF already had a list of around 5,000 people, he added.

Singh said many students having certificates from the same fake board had even got inducted into different jobs.

Explaining the modus-operandi, the ASP said the fraudsters had formed three websites  www.upsosb.ac.in, www.upsos.co.in and www.upsos.in  and got students registered online on payment of 1,350 fees apart from taking affiliation fees and annual fees from educational institutes.

The STFs cyber crime cell zeroed on this board after analysing its websites and raided the office after gathering basic intelligence. Documents related to the fake board and fake marksheets were seized from the office.

A similar fake education board, Rajkiya Institute of Open Schooling (RIOS), was busted in June 2017.

STF keeping tab on copying gangs: DGP Showing concern over such fake education boards, UP DGP OP Singh said the STF has been asked to keep tabs on such anti-social activities as it affects students and their career. He said the STF is also keeping tab on copying gangs in the ongoing UP Board examinations and so far busted three such gangs in Allahabad, Mirzapur and Ballia.

The office of the district inspector of school (DIoS) noticed it when a girl brought a marksheet issued by the board for verification. The then DIoS Mukesh Kumar Singh issued order to initiate action against all such illegal boards.

The marksheet issued by the fake board was identical to that of the UP Board and candidates were happy to shell out something between Rs 3,000 and Rs 20,000 for every marksheet.

RIOS was operating from Vikas Nagar. To mislead students and parents, the board on, its website, uploaded a number of documents to establish that it was a recognised body, said Singh.

In 2013, the UP Madhyamik Shikshak Sangh claimed that a fake examination board was operating in different parts of the country, including UP. The board granted affiliation to over 300 schools in India, including 12 in Lucknow, claimed RP Mishra, a representative of UP Madhyamik Shikshak Sangh.After taking the reins of the state, chief minister Yogi Adityanath had announced that his government would strive to end regional disparities by launching projects for the development of backward regions of Bundelkhand and Purvanchal.

In the annual budget (2018-19) tabled in the legislative assembly on February 16, the state government allocated funds for the development of infrastructure, irrigation, health facilities and the agriculture sector in Bundelkhand and Purvanchal regions.

Adityanath reaffirmed his governments commitment to mitigating regional disparities through sustained effort, decentralised planning and implementation of development programmes to enhance the quality of life of the people by improving their social and economic wellbeing.

Experts feel that disparities between various regions and sections of the society have impaired the overall development of the state. In terms of the major development indicators, its clear that UP is a relatively less developed state in the country with huge regional imbalances.

A senior state government officer said in the Eleventh Five-Year Plan period, the government adopted an inclusive growth agenda and laid special emphasis on the schemes meant for reducing regional disparities and backwardness, especially through the mechanism of decentralized planning. The same policy has also been included in the Twelfth Plan.

In order to reduce regional imbalances, the state government has made huge investments in backward regions of the state but the achievements are still not satisfactory.

There are large variations in geophysical conditions of the state, including land, soil, rainfall and climate, owing to the extensive area. Based on these and some allied factors, the state is divided into four economic regions  western, eastern, central and Bundelkhand in the state with more or less similar conditions.

Out of these four regions, eastern UP, popularly known as Purvanchal, and Bundelkhand, are chronically backward in almost every critical area. There are several reasons for this backwardness, but the most significant among them are deficiency in natural resources or exposure to natural calamities, both of these are largely beyond human control and have been great barriers to their growth and development, he said.

Manoj Singh of the Peoples Union for Human Rights said the migration of a large number people in east UP to the metros indicated that employment opportunities in the region had diminished due to a decline in the agriculture and industrial sector. Migration in west UP is minimal due to investment in the industry and agriculture. The state government should invest in agro industry in east UP rather than in heavy industry, he said. According to the 2011 Census data, the population of the state increased by more than 3.36 crore during the 2001-2011 decade, but the decadal growth rate in population declined from 25.85 % in 1991-2001 to 20.23% in 2001-2011. A retired officer in the state planning commission said the increasing size of population not only affected growth in every sector of the economy, but also hit every development programme. The increase in population in any region was not always in proportion to the increase in infrastructure. As per the Census 2011 data, the population density is as high as 931 persons per sq km in the eastern region followed by 930 in the western and 785 in Central region. It is the lowest in Bundelkhand region (329) while for the state it is 829.

Urbanisation is a population shift from rural to urban areas and it plays a crucial role in the process of economic development.

According to 2011 Census data, 56.74 % of main workers in the state are engaged in the agriculture sector. Regional analysis reveals that the percentage of main agricultural workers to total main workers is the highest in Bundelkhand region (69.44%) followed by Central region (59.51%) and Purvanchal (59.42 %). The western region is more diversified with 51.28% of workers being engaged in agriculture sector.

The irrigation data of the state (2013-14) indicates that the percentage of net irrigated area to net area sown is the lowest in the Bundelkhand (63.17%) and the highest in western UP (96.71%) followed by Central (86.11%) and eastern region (78.99%) whereas the state average figure is (84.78%).

As for employment generation, the number of employees engaged in registered working factories per lakh of population during 2011-12 was the highest in the western region (811.99) and lowest in the eastern region (96.09). For Central and Bundelkhand region, this figure is 365.03 and 98.28 persons respectively.

This indicates that Bundelkhand and eastern regions are relatively most backward in respect of industrial development, he said.

Urbanisation is a population shift from rural to urban areas and it plays a crucial role in the process of economic development. (HT Photo)

RK Tiwari, an economics teacher at the Gorakhpur Degree College said, roads were the key to the economic and social development of an area. The construction of road infrastructure was crucial in removing regional disparities. The length of metal road per 1000 sq.km. of area, the Eastern region occupies the top position with a figure of 1163.46 Km. Bundelkhand region (475.08 sq km) is placed at the bottom

In the power sector too, regional disparities are also clear. The data of the state power corporation of the year 2014-15 reveals that per capita power consumption is the highest (363.07 kwh) in the western region and lowest (156.43 kwh) in the Eastern region. Social activist Sanjay Singh, who active in Bundelkhand region, said the state government was emphasising on investment in Bundelkhand and Purvanchal region by urging the investors to set up their units there to remove the regional imbalances.Two men were killed in two separate road accidents in Mumbai during the weekend.

In the first incident, a college student died after his bike crashed into a road divider near Hindmata Hotel in Tardeo. The deceased, Akshay Nikum, was a riding pillion and was declared dead before admission. The police have booked the motorcycle rider, Rahul Darekar, for rash and negligent driving. Senior police inspector Sanjay Surve from Tardeo police station said that the incident took place at around 4am on Sunday. When they were about to take a U-turn, suddenly a cars head lights flashed on them because of which the rider lost control.

In the second case, a truck driver was arrested for allegedly mowing down 29-year- Sagar Tambadkar in Wadala. The incident took place at 10.30pm on Saturday. Tambadkar, an employee with a private firm at Dadar was walking home when he was knocked down by a speeding truck. Locals rushed Tambadkar to KEM Hospital where he was declared dead before admission.

Another set of locals apprehended the truck driver and handed him over to the police.A 25-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly blackmailing, stalking, creating a fake Facebook profile and uploading objectionable photos of a married woman, in an attempt to force her to leave her husband and marry him.

The Sakinaka police said the 26-year-old complainant lives in Andheri with her husband and son, and that the accused is her nephew.

As per the complaint, for the past three months, the accused had been trying to get the complainant to leave her husband and elope with him. She refused to do so, and ordered him not to visit her house. After that, he started stalking her, said a police official, who did not wish to be named.

He would follow her when she left home to drop her son to school. Last week, he threatened that he would upload objectionable photos of her on social media to defame her, the official revealed, adding that the accused was trying to get her husband to divorce her. In her statement, the woman told the police that now she is too scared to step out of her house.

On Thursday, after the accused created a fake Facebook profile and uploaded a photo of hers with him and sent her a link, the woman approached the police. On Friday, the Sakinaka police registered a complaint, and within 24 hours, he was traced and arrested.

The accused has been booked under section 354D of the Indian Penal Code for stalking, and sections 66C and 66D of the Information Technology Act for identity theft and impersonation using a computer.The thalassemia treatment centre at Borivli which is run by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), will now offer bone marrow transplant  a permanent solution for the disease  to 15 children who are undergoing treatment at the clinic.

Thalassemia is an inherited blood disorder, in which the body produces an abnormally low form of haemoglobin, which affects the oxygen supply to body tissues. In more severe forms of the disorder, blood transfusions are the main form of treatment.

Around 2,200 people are suffering from thalassemia in Mumbai and around 6,500 in the state.

The centre is set up to offer a holistic treatment for blood disorders. We dont want to say that our patients are suffering from Thalassemia  rather, we would want to say they are living with thalassemia, said Vinay Shetty, Think Foundation.

Shetty said funds from charity trusts, private donors and the Chief Ministers Fund will be used to finance the surgeries. We wont stress the parents to raise funds for the surgeries. We will work out the finances from our end. At the same time, patients families who have contacts and resources of individuals and companies who can help the centre financially can come forward to help, said Shetty.

Dr Mamta Manglani, paediatric haematology specialist from Sion Hospital, who heads the Borivli unit, said the centre has eight beds for bone marrow transplants and have selected 15 children to undergo the surgery after matching their blood type.

The 22-bedded day care transfusion centre of the hospital has registered 1,241 thalassemia patients, of which, 438 are new patients and 803 are follow-up patients, who were so long dependant on tertiary care facilities like KEM Hospital in Parel, Lokmanya Tilak Municipal General Hospital in Sion and St George Hospitals in south Mumbai, for transfusion.

While bone marrow transplant is a permanent solution for the disease, the difficulty in finding a donor with the right blood match and the cost of surgery are major reasons why patients do not undergo the transplant. The surgery costs around Rs15lakh at private hospitals. Sion Hospital is the only public sector option available to patients but has only one bed reserved for the treatment.

Currently the treatment is available only at Sion Hospital and Tata Memorial Hospital but from March we will start conducting bone marrow transplants at the Borivli unit, said Manglani.

The hospital is also treating 187 haematology patients and 77 blood cancer patients. The hospital has six beds for blood cancer patients who are referred from Tata Memorial Hospital.Within a month, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will start to repair 19 black spots in the city that are prone to road accidents.

The civic body is presently surveying them to identify the kind of repairs each spot requires, including changing curvature of the road, restructuring the engineering of such patches, or mere resurfacing of the road in this area.

In 2017, the traffic police identified 19 such spots across Mumbai, where a majority of fatal accidents have occurred in the past. It submitted this list to the BMC, to carry out repairs at these spots. Roads in Sion, Vikhroli, Bandra and Malad feature among the 19 black spots, including long stretches on the Western Express Highway, as well as the Eastern Express Highway.

In the past five years, the city has seen nearly a lakh accidents and majority of them took place on these stretches, a civic official said. A budgetary provision in 2018-19 civic budget has been made for these repairs.

Vinod Chithore, chief engineer of roads department, said, The roads department is surveying each of these 19 spots identified by the traffic police, to decide what sort of repair or restructuring they need. That will take a month. After that on-field work will start.

The BMC plans to include restructuring work in its annual road repairs plan and is planning to complete it within a year.

Another civic official said, Accidents occur due to a lot of reasons, including rash driving or speeding. The road cannot always be blamed. But if any patch is consistently seeing fatal accidents, then we must minimise it strategically. We will work with traffic police here, to provide traffic lights or signals, reduce bottlenecks, or put speed breakers.

Amitesh Kumar, joint commissioner of police (traffic), said the traffic police identified 39 such spots, but some of them are on BMC roads, some on MMRDA roads and some on MSRDC. He said, Between 2016 and 2017, if more than two fatal accidents have took place at any spot, along with many minor accidents, then the spot have made it to our list. We have forwarded this list to all authorities concerned to make engineering or structural changes if required.Even though the number of cases (2,406) registered under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PCA) Act, 1960 in 2017 are the lowest since 2011, animal welfare activists say the law is a poor deterrent, with fewer convictions and paltry fines ranging from Rs10 to Rs100.

The more stringent Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 provides for fines up to Rs25,000. There have been zero convictions across Mumbai and Maharashtra for animal cruelty, and not more than 48 hours of jail time, said Gauri Maulekhi, director and trustee of the animal rights group, People For Animals (PFA). Nobody wants to report these cases anymore because the penalties are laughable. There was a spike in such cases when people became more aware and began filing complaints, but now everyone is disillusioned, said Maulekhi.

Others activists agreed. The data incorrectly portrays the current scenario in Mumbai as two cases of sexual abuse and one murder of a stray dog were witnessed last year. Incidents like this have not happened since 2014. These incidents are only increasing day-by-day, said Meet Ashar, animal welfare officer and emergency response coordinator, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India. When it comes to care for animals, Mumbai is much more intolerant than other cities. In spite of awareness and large number of pet owners, PETA issued 324 notices to different housing societies in the city for animal cruelty cases.

Lt. Col Dr. JC Khanna, chief executive officer in-charge, Bombay Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (BSPCA), which released the data on cases registered under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, said conditions have become more humane for animals in the past few years. The central and state governments are playing a critical role by introducing a ban on slaughtering of animals and discouraging the use of Victorias. All of these have helped safeguard large animals much better.

He said another example of increased awareness could be seen from a drop in animal accident cases. We have witnessed a 20% decline related to animals killed in road or train accidents in Mumbai. There is also an impact of sterilisation measures being taken the civic body, which has reduced the number of stray dogs on roads, especially in south Mumbai, said Khanna. Additionally, we recorded sporadic rabies case in 2017 as opposed to daily cases in previous years.

Dadasaheb Murkute, vice-president and member secretary, Maharashtra Animal Welfare Board said, The data is accurate according to discussions during our meetings over the past few months. There is awareness among masses to refrain from carrying out such heinous acts. At the same time, for increased deterrence, we identified guidelines for societies, slum areas, local civic body and police personnel, to handle cruelty cases better. The details have been shared with the state and centre. They will be release as a notification once approved.

Animal welfare activists said the number of cases could be only a fraction of unreported incidents. We tend to think only pelting a stone at a dog or acid on a cow are cruelty, but cruelty is beyond and deeper, said Anand Siva, Chembur-based animal welfare activist. The land of ahimsa is seeing unimaginable growth in meat consumption, chicken and dairy, none of which come without cruelty. What we measure and boast of as drop in cruelty is superficial. And if cruelty numbers have to be believed, ask people like us who witness it regularly on the streets.

In September last year, a security guard at a Chembur housing complex was arrested by the police on charges of sexual assault on a dog. A similar incident was reported from Powai in early 2017. During Ganeshotsav last year, frightened by the noise of firecrackers and loudspeakers on the 12th day of visarjan, a one year-old stray dog entered a Deonar house and hid under the bed. This angered the 45-year-old owner of the house who allegedly beat the dog to death using a bamboo stick. He was booked but never arrested for his actions.

The number of incidents where animals were rescued from dangerous and cruel situations has been growing, with 1,171 rescue cases in 2017, compared to 2013, when only 316 cases were reported from the city. Thereafter a gradual rise has been recorded every year with 459 cases in 2012, 740 in 2014 and 1,013 in 2016.

Officials from the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) said they will be issuing a notification to the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change and various state governments to carry out detailed investigations for each animal cruelty case, levy stricter fines and submit reports to AWBI on a monthly basis.

It is our mandate to make sure cruelty cases both in the poultry and domestic sector need to be controlled, and bring the PCA at par with the implementation of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. As a body of the central government, we are trying to push for more stringent action against offenders and regular interactions with MoEFCC is underway. However, the process will take time, said SP Gupta, chairman, AWBI. Cities like Mumbai and Delhi need to lead by example for the entire country by setting standards for proper care and handling of pets and strays, and AWBI will provide all support for the same.

BMC says that 78% of Mumbais street dogs are neutered; animal welfare question the claim

While the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials claim they have neutered three-fourth of the citys dogs under their animal birth control (ABC) programme, animal welfare groups say according to them the number is as low as 50%.

Yogesh Shetye, general manager, Deonar abbatoir and head of veterinary services, BMC, said, With growing awareness towards protecting animals, be it pets or strays, we are focusing on our ABC programme to ensure their population is controlled. We neutered more than 25,000 stray dogs in 2017. Since 2009, we have handled almost 15,000 dogs a year. We had managed 75% sterilisation in 2014. As of now, over 78% of the current stray dog population has been neutered.

The BMC has six ABC centres in the city  two each at Malad and Mahalaxmi, and one each at Mulund and Deonar. We have 12 dog-catching vans that pick up strays from different parts of the city. They are kept at these centres for 5-7 days, after which they are dropped back to the same spot, said Shetye. We neuter than and provide post-operative care according to the rules of the Bombay high court and Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI).

According to the BMCs dog census of 2014, of the 95,172 dogs existing then, 25,933 were not sterilised. Of them, 14,671 were male and 11,262 female. Shetye, however, said, there has been a 20% increase in the population so far. It is estimated that there are more than 1,14,000 stray dogs in Mumbai, of which 25,000 are yet to be sterilised under our ABC programme. The population of pet dogs in 2012 was 34,000. This has doubled and is currently close to 70,000, he said. We will know the exact figures after the census results are out later this year.

Meanwhile, members of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India said sterilisation rate is not more than 50%. Stray dogs are being picked up from mostly residential areas, but dog vans are not moving close to slums located along Andheri, Versova, Mulund, Dharavi or even some pockets of Deonar, said Meet Ashar, animal welfare officer and emergency response coordinator, PETA India. We need to follow the Dehradun, Uttarakhand model of neutering with better technology and facilities for neutering, get at least 10 ABC centres across Mumbai, more dog vans and conduct a detailed mapping of the stray dog population annually.

Anand Siva, Chembur-based animal welfare activist, said, The BMC issues new figures every year without studying the authenticity. For a city the size of Mumbai, the kind of facilities and operations BMC is talking about is ridiculous.

Officials from the Bombay Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (BSPCA) in Parel, is one of the NGOs appointed by BMC for sterilisation, said they had been getting 350-400 dogs a month for sterilisation and over 4,500 strays in 2017 alone. There is a significant improvement. While the dog population is slowly declining, the civic authorities need to focus on sterilisation of cats now, which has been at a stagnant 40-45% over the past three years, said Lt. Col Dr. JC Khanna, chief executive officer in-charge, Bombay Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (BSPCA).

SP Gupta, chairman, AWBI, said, Large municipal corporations such as Mumbai and Delhi that have no dearth of money should not have any issues to carry out effective sterilisation and achieve a 100% success rate. We are closely monitoring the activity in megacities.

In its annual budget released earlier this month, the BMC has released Rs14.55 crore for development of three crematoriums at Mahalaxmi, Deonar, and Malad for house pets, operating on Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), construction of a zoonotic disease laboratory at Khar for early detection of diseases transferred from animals to human beings, among others. Animal health is directly related to human health, and it is essential to take preventive actions, said Shetye.The first flight from the Navi Mumbai international airport will take off in December 2019, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Sunday.

One terminal building and 1 runway will be ready by December 2019. We are confident of it (meeting the deadline) as we are getting a lot of support, said the CM during the ground-breaking ceremony of the airport by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

GVK Power and Infrastructure Limited bagged the contract to build the airport. Nodal agency CIDCO and GVK created a special purpose vehicle  Navi Mumbai International Airport Pvt. Ltd  for the greenfield project.

Nodal agency CIDCO had begun the Rs2,000-crore pre-work in July 2017. This included cutting of Ulwe hills and diverting a river.

Blaming the previous Congress-NCP government in the state and the UPA government at the Centre for delays, he credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi for ensuring that the much delayed project is on track.

Thanking Modi for performing the bhoomipujan of the airport and inaugurating a cargo terminal at JNPT, Fadnavis said, This airport project has primarily been possible because of one person and that is Narendra Modi.

He slammed the erstwhile Congress-NCP government for not getting eight no-objection certificates for the project sanctioned from the government. Under the BJP-led government at the Centre, Fadnavis said the state has received seven NOCs, while the eighth one will be granted within a week.

The Navi Mumbai airport will boost the state gross domestic product by 1%, he said. Owing to low capacity of our airports, our GDP suffers. With the new airport, our GDP will increase by at least 1 %.

Fadnavis also thanked project affected people from Panvel for giving away their land for the project, local leaders and CIDCO officials. CIDCO is the nodal agency for the project.

He reminded people of various projects to improve connectivity and public transport.The Maharashtra government has inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with an Italian car manufacturer, which is set to manufacture electronic vehicles (EVs) in the state. The MoU was signed on Monday, the second day of the Magnetic Maharashtra global investors summit in Mumbai. The firm has entered into a joint venture with Force India.

According to chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, who was present when the MoU was signed, the automobile company, Tonino Lamborghini Group, will set up a plant at Supe in Pune to manufacture the eco-friendly vehicles. This Italian firm is a different entity from the well-known luxury car manufacturer Automobili Lamborghini Group. The group appreciated the state governments EV policy, which is the reason for this positive response, said state industries minister Subhash Desai.

The Maharashtra government recently announced a detailed EV policy that aims at giving the manufacturers and buyers a slew of incentives. The policy stresses on the use of EVs as mode of mass transport and as such, aims to attract an investment of Rs25,000 crore and create 1 lakh jobs in the next five years.A Nalla Sopara man was arrested for allegedly killing his Facebook friend after she refused to have sex with him after the victims footwear was found outside his residence, the police said.

Haridas Nirgude (21) was arrested on Monday for killing Ankita More (20) at his sisters flat in Nalla Sopara (East). Besides the footwear, the police also found Mores cell phone and purse in Nirgudes flat.

Nirgude would be produced before the Vasai court on Tuesday, said senior police inspector Kishore Khairnar of Tulinj police station.

The police started questioning Nirgude as out of the three ground floor flats in Taniya Monarch building, Alkapuri, Nalla Sopara (East), where Mores body was found on Sunday, two apartments are occupied by senior citizens. They reasoned that a senior citizen would have found it hard drag Mores body and dump it near the staircase, where it was found.

When the police searched Nirgudes flat, they found blood stains on the bed and near the bathroom. Nirgude could not give satisfactory replies and he later confessed to the crime, though the motive is yet to be ascertained, Khairnar said.

The police said More was having her menstrual cycle and they have sent the body for post-mortem. Its report is awaited on Tuesday. More could have refused to have sex with Nirgude because she was having her periods and he may have forced himself on her, which may have led to the bloodstains, the police said. Officials said they are probing all possible angles.

Nirgude allegedly killed More, a Vashi resident, by strangulating her with a shoe lace. Khairnar said that after strangling More, a panicked Nirgude rushed to a nearby medical store to fetch medicines, in the hope that More would be alive, but she was already dead.

Realising More was dead, Nirgude dragged the body and dumped it near the staircase, and quietly went to his flat, the police said. The building had no CCTV cameras, and one saw More enter the building.

Nirgude befriended More through Facebook a few months ago and both would chat for hours together, the police said. On Sunday, Nirgude called her to his flat, as his sister and brother-in-law with whom he stayed had gone out. More told her parents that she was visiting a friend in Nalla Sopara, and when she reached Nirgudes flat, after a brief chat, Nirgude wanted to have sex with her. More refused and she stood up to go back to Vashi in a fit of rage, the police said.

A dejected Nirgude murdered More, and dumped the body near the staircase to make it appear as if the victim had fainted while coming down the stairs, the police said. When neighbours gathered at the spot, Nirgude was also present and feigned ignorance about her identity, but the footwear found near Nirgudes doorstep gave us a strong suspicion, Khairnar said.

We have arrested Nirgude under Section 302 (murder) of the IPC and will produce him before the Vasai court on Tuesday, he said.

Nirgude worked as a salesman in a gift card gallery in Mumbai, and hails from Latur. After passing Class 12 he had been staying with his sister and brother-in-law in their flat since 2016, the police said.Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said artificial intelligence should be used for improving humans, instead of making them redundant.

Speaking at the inaugural function of Wadhwani Institute for Artificial Intelligence, a first of its kind in the country, at University of Mumbai (MU), the PM made a case for allowing disruptive technologies like AI to flourish, while cautioning about its use.

Can we take a global leap on creating artificial intelligence thats less about making humans redundant and more about increasing human ability and expanding human capacity? Can we make the future less about machines displacing humans to a future about humans becoming better humans by converting their weaknesses into strengths for the greater good of mankind? he said.

PM meets Wadhwani family Despite his busy schedule, the Prime Minister took time to meet members of the Wadhwani family, who were present at the inauguration ceremony of Wadhwani Institute for Artificial Intelligence. After he stepped down from the dias, he greeted all of them, including some senior members of the family, who said they were delighted by his presence.

However, the PM sought to downplay the concerns associated with AI. With the arrival of artificial intelligence, bots and robots productivity will further go up, but there are also fears of rising human redundancy because theres a competition between mind and the machine. Such fears are neither unfounded nor new. At every stage of technology evolution,we have faced such doubts and questions, said Modi.

The PM also said human intentions are the deciding factor when it comes to the impact of new technologies. He also cautioned that technology should not create disparity in the society.

Its this ethics of development which will ensure equity for all people. The march of technology cannot be at the expense of further increasing the difference between society over access to technology. The evolution of technology has to be rooted in Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas, he said.

The PM suggested that AI and big data can be used to address several social issues such as access to healthcare, teacher-student ratio, farming problems and bridging the language gap in the country.

Romesh and Sunil Wadhwani, the co-founders of the institute, which will be set up in collaboration with the government of Maharashtra and MU, will donate Rs200 crore for the institute.The two Romanian nationals, who were arrested by the MRA Marg police in the Charni Road Axis Bank ATM fraud may have tampered with many other ATM machines in Delhi and Mumbai, suspect investigators.

The police said the passport details of Valentin Ionut Nedelcu, 34 and Bolovan Ion Darias, 32, revealed that the two had come to India on January 24, 2018.

They stayed in Delhi and visited many other places in the country. Their passport details also revealed that they had come to India in the past as well. Hence, the possibility of them having indulged in similar frauds before in other parts of the country cannot be overruled, the police said.

Once we get to know from the banks which of their ATM machines were tampered with, we will check the CCTV footages of those ATM kiosks to look for the arrested duo, said an officer.

The accused claimed they do not understand English and cops have roped in a translator to interrogate the two. Police are yet to recover the skimming device, cloned cards and spy cameras from the accused. Cops are trying to trace how the skimming devices arrived in the city. They are also trying to get details on other members of the gang who were involved in the scam.

A police team has been dispatched to Delhi, Faridabad (Haryana) and Noida (Uttar Pradesh) to get CCTV footages of the ATM from where the money was withdrawn. Police are also co-ordinating with other units which had arrested the duo in past, so that investigators would get the phone numbers they were using previously. This way their trail can be chalked out and would help the cops to figure out other members of the racket.Commuters may have to pay Rs250 for one-way journey from Thane to Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) on board the bullet train, which will be covered in 10 minutes, according to the tentative fare structure of the bullet train prepared by the National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL) in Maharashtra.

The approximate fare has been prepared according to the current pricing and is 1.5 times higher than the fare of the first class AC local, officials said. Similarly, for a journey from Virar to BKC, commuters will have to pay Rs500 and they will pay Rs750 for a one-way journey from Boisar to BKC.

The tentative fare structure along with a prototype of the bullet train has been displayed at a kiosk at Magnetic Maharashtra conclave inaugurated by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday. It also states the tentative travel time which will be taken to reach the destination in Maharashtra.

The journey from Virar to BKC will take 24 minutes, compared to road travel of 2 hours, and Boisar to BKC will take 39 minutes, against the road travel of 2 hours and 45 minutes.

The fare of the bullet train has been made as per the current pricing and is prepared for Maharashtra, said Dhananjay Kumar, public relation officer, NHSRCL. The fare between Thane to BKC being Rs250 is low and affordable and I welcome it. Considering the project will go underground and elevated, the fare should have been higher, said transport expert Ashok Datar.

The 508-km bullet train project between Mumbai and Ahmedabad will have 12 stations including BKC, Thane, Virar, Boisar, Vapi, Bilimora, Surat, Bharuch, Vadodara, Anand, Ahmedabad and Sabarmati.Two women from Ambivli were arrested on Saturday for beating up the police, when went to arrest the accused, who was their father.

The NM Joshi Marg police, along with the Kalyan police had gone to arrest Javed Sarvar, an accused in a cheating crime committed in January, when the latter requested he be allowed to change his clothes inside the house. When the police went in to check on him, his daughters  Nadira Sarvar,22, and Fatima Sarvar,26,  their mother Jahida, and other family members beat them up. Javeds wife, Javed and some other family members are absconding.

The NM Joshi Marg police, on Saturday night got a tip off that Javed was hiding in Ambivli, Kalyan. The other accused in the cheating case was Annu Sarvar.

With the help of the Kalyan police, they went to the accuseds house and caught him. While they were taking him to the police station, Javed asked the police to let him change his clothes.

Javed fled through the bathroom window. When we called out for him, there was no response. When we were about to enter the house, Javeds wife, daughters and other family members blocked our way and started beating us, said a police officer from the Thane commissionerate.

Later, the police went back and arrested the two women. We arrested Javeds daughters. The Mumbai police, along with us are searching for Javed and Annu. We suspect that they have fled to their native place in Uttar Pradesh added officer.

A case has been registered under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code. The women were sent to judicial custody.Two Romanian nationals were arrested on Saturday, in connection with the Axis Bank card cloning fraud at Charni Road, in which nearly 50 people were duped of Rs9.11 lakh.

Hindustan Times was the first to report on February 13 that ATM card data of 50 people was stolen, cloned and their money was withdrawn in Delhi, Noida and Faridabad. One of the accused was caught recently while he was tampering with an ATM machine in Dahisar. The accused have been identified as Valentin Ionut Nedelcu, 34, an architect, and Bolovan Ion Darias, 32. Deputy Commissioner of police, zone 1, Manojkumar Sharma said, We have arrested the two Romanian nationals after initial probe indicated their role in the fraud.

On February 6, Narendra Bidra, a 53-year-old Versova resident and an employee of the Government Printing Press, was shocked to receive an SMS alert from his bank at 11.08pm informing that Rs14,500 was withdrawn from his account. Bidra tried to block his card by calling Axis Bank customer care, but no one picked up his call. He went to the nearest branch the next day and got it blocked, said an officer.

After Bidra learnt that many other employees from his office had lost money to the fraud, he registered an FIR with the MRA Marg police station on February 7, stating that debit card/credit card details of his and 40 other employees of Government Printing Press - Charni Road were stolen by fraudsters and money was withdrawn from their bank accounts between February 5 to February 7, 2018.

The FIR stated that Rs 9.11lakh was fraudulently withdrawn from the accounts of the victims, all of who have salary accounts with Axis Bank. Amounts ranging from Rs10,000 to Rs80,000 were withdrawn.

Eight to nine other victims also reported their loss to the Marine Drive police station. The total number of victims may increase, said the police.

Since, most of the Government Printing Press employees usually withdraw money from the nearby the Axis Bank ATM kiosk at the Charni Road station (West), investigators suspect that the fraudsters tampered this unguarded machine, said an officer.

While looking into similar card cloning cases in city, the MRA Marg police found some similarities with the Dahisar case. In Dahisar, the police had arrested Nedelc after finding that he had installed a skimming device at an ATM in Ambavadi. The bank had found Nedelcu installing a skimming device in the ATM, in their CCTV footage and had alerted the police. He was arrested when he came back to collect the skimming device.

The other accused, Darias was caught when he was flying to Paris from Mumbai via Dubai, by the immigration authorities at the Dubai airport. Two other members of the gang are still wanted.

The Romanian suspects were found being in the Charni Road area during the period of the fraud. This bolstered the cops suspicion, an officer said.

The police have booked the two under sections 419 and 420 of the Indian Penal Code and 66 C and 66 D of the Information Technology Act. A local court remanded them to police custody.A spokesperson for Axis Bank earlier said, A small number of our customers accounts have been impacted. We have reversed the impact in all their accounts. We are investigating the incident and are working closely with law enforcement officials. We wish to assure our customers that Axis Bank is committed to protecting their interests.A joint team of officials from the Gautam Budh Nagar district administration, police and Uttar Pradesh pollution control board on Monday arrested 15 persons for illegal sand mining on the Yamuna riverbed. They also seized 15 tractors, three earth movers, two grinders, two motorbikes and an SUV.

Officials of the joint team said they arrested these 15 persons from the stone crushing units that are operational along the Yamuna riverbed in the villages of Rampur Khadar, Asgarpur, and Agahpur Jahangir.

In November 2015, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) had banned sand mining on the Yamuna after a plea alleged that private firms were engaged in the activity and a temporary bridge was made on the river obstructing its natural flow. The plea said the illegal sand mining was damaging the river, especially the stretch that falls in Gautam Budh Nagar district.

Gautam Budh Nagar district magistrate BN Singh said, I had inspected areas along the riverbed and found these units operational. On Monday morning, around 6, our teams from different departments arrested a total of 15 persons and seized vehicles use for illegal mining, machines for crushing stones, and other construction material which were causing pollution.

The police arrested seven persons from Rampur Khadar and eight from Asgarpur area where stone-crushing activities are underway in violation of the direction of the NGT, officials said. The green tribunal has prohibited such activities as they cause pollution and damage the rivers ecosystem.

Noida is connected to the river Yamuna by a 26km embankment road that starts from Noidas Sector 94 near Kalindi Kunj barrage (on Delhi-Noida border) till Sector 150 near the Noida-Greater Noida border. This embankment road provides smooth connectivity from Yamuna riverbed to various areas in Noida.

Incentivised by this connectivity, the sand mafia have set up stone-crushing and hot mix plants along the riverbed without permission.

The illegal mining of sand not only causes damage to the flora and fauna in the river Yamuna but also pollutes the residential areas located next to this embankment road. Heavy vehicles, such as trucks and dumpers, ply on this road and along the residential areas.

The private contractors and developers use the Yamuna riverbed to mix their construction material in violation of all norms. Though the action is late and too small, the officials must act strictly and shut down all such illegal activities as it causes huge damage to the river, environmentalist Vikrant Tongad said.

The district magistrate said he has decided to book the 15 arrested persons under the UP Goonda Act so that others can also be discouraged from indulging in illegal sand mining and stone crushing on the floodplains without any approval.

Our drive will continue to check the stone-crushing activities and illegal sand mining. We have already shut down the hot mix plants. These persons also run stone-crushing units and mine sand from the Yamuna riverbed. Most people involved in these activities are from Haryana, BN Singh said.

Previous cases of sand mining

Jan 8, 2018: Three arrested from Milak village for mining sand

Feb 24, 2017: Four police teams searched the villages of Murshadpur, Atta Gujran, Jaganpur and Afzalpur and arrested 11 people involved in sand mining. Five dumpers, one earth mover and other equipment were also seized

Feb 14, 2017: The Gautam Budh Nagar district administration and the police, in a joint operation, arrested 11 persons on charges

of mining sand from the floodplains of river Yamuna in villages of Murshadpur, Jaganpur and Atta Gujran

Dec 28, 2016: Twelve people booked for allegedly attacking a tehsildar and two other officials when they tried to stop mining in Asgarpur village, Sector 135.The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has sought details of all the board meetings that have taken place in NOIDA (the New Okhla industrial development authority) since 1976.

CAG had started its audit into the functioning of Noida authority on November 21, 2017.

The Uttar Pradesh government had in 1976 established the New Okhla industrial development authority with an aim to acquire agricultural land from farmers to set up industries. Noida authority, which functions under the UP Industrial Act, 1976, was formed as an autonomous body to take quick decisions to fast track industrial and infrastructure projects. Since 1976, the Noida authority board takes all its important policy decisions and has top bureaucrats as its members.

The CAG has sought details of all agendas that have been approved in the board meetings since 1976. We are providing all details sought by the CAG for audit purposes, Manmohan Singh, financial controller of the Noida authority, said.

Among the important decisions that the board has taken are sending 350 crore from Noida authority to cities in eastern Uttar Pradesh for their development, giving loans to other government bodies such as Agra development authority, UP state industrial development corporation, the Greater Noida authority and the Yamuna Expressway industrial development authority.

On July 11, 2017, the principal secretary of industrial development department, Alok Sinha, had written to Vinita Mishra, the accountant general (economic and revenue sector audit), Lucknow, in this regard.

The audit is being conducted in Noida, Greater Noida and Yamuna Expressway authorities. CAG will audit all accounts and transactions that take place in three authorities.

Controversy erupted over allowing CAG access to these authorities during last years UP assembly poll campaign, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi alleged large-scale corruption in the Ghaziabad development authority.

The then Samajwadi Party-led state government had denied permission to the CAG to audit the GDA despite governor Ram Naiks intervention. The accountant general had brought the matter to the notice of the governor through letters on May 5 and May 31, 2016. Naik then took up the issue with President Pranab Mukerjee. For the purpose of transparency, audit should be carried out wherever government funds are given, Naik had said.

The CAG audit may scrutinisebesides checks on procedures, utilisation of funds and progress of projectsthe terms of contracts, agencies and contractors to whom the projects were awarded.

CAG officials are of the view that the Noida authority board took many decisions which were not even in its jurisdiction. The boards decisions related to giving loans to various authorities, including the Greater Noida and Yamuna Expressway authorities, have been questioned, a Noida authority official said.

In 2009, the NOIDA had started giving loans to the Yamuna authority which did not have funds of its own for infrastructure and other developmental projects. Since then, the YEIDA has been taking loans from Noida authority. At present, the Yamuna authority owes 1,347.09 crore to NOIDA. Similarly, the Greater Noida authority has failed to repay Noida authority 3785.95 crore due to the economic slowdown in the realty sector.

CAG has questioned why did it (Noida authority) give loans to other authorities and sent 350 crore to eastern UP cities, an official said.A 15-year-old girl was allegedly raped by her landlords 28-year-old son in their house in Loni on Thursday. Later, the family lodged an FIR with the police. The prime accused has been arrested and his brother, who is also allegedly involved in the crime, is absconding, police said.

According to the police, the girl was allegedly lured by the prime accused, who took her to one of the vacant rooms in their house late on Thursday night, while his brother kept a watch on the door to alert the prime accused in case someone from the family arrived.

Durgesh Kumar Singh, circle officer (Loni), said, The girls family stays as tenants in the house of the accused. It is alleged that the girl was lured by the prime accused and raped. He also threatened her of dire consequences if she told anyone about the incident. We have arrested the prime accused. A search is on for his brother, who is absconding.

Following the incident, around 11pm on Thursday, the victim kept quiet and did not reveal anything to her parents. The girl revealed the entire events to her mother on Saturday evening when she asked her daughter about why she looked pale. She also showed her mother the blood stained clothes that she was wearing on the day of the incident.

We have sent the girl for medical examination and an FIR has been also lodged in the case. The other accused will also be arrested soon, Singh said.

In another incident, a 34-year-old widowed woman has filed a complaint with the Murad Nagar police alleging that her 27-year-old brother-in- law raped her. The husband of the woman had died in an accident around five years back.

We are investigating the incident as she has forwarded a complaint. A month back, the woman had lodged a non-cognizable report against her brother-in-law whom she had then called her husband. Back then it was a matter of domestic violence, and was sorted out mutually, said Ranvir Singh, station house officer of the Murad Nagar police station.A 30-year-old Chandigarh resident attacked and injured three men with a sharp-edged implement at Gurdwara Dhana Bhagat Singh Ji in Sector 62, Mohali, on Sunday evening.

The accused, identified as Balwinder Singh, a safai karamchari at Chandigarhs district courts, was nabbed by devotees at the gurdwara, which is located near Yadavindra Public School.

Singh came to the gurdwara in the evening to listen to hymns, and around 7pm, for reasons unknown, he attacked Manjit Singh, 60, a resident of Phase 7. Two others, Bhupinder Singh and Joginder Singh, received minor injuries when they tried to save Manjit.

According to Phase-8 station house officer (SHO) Rajiv Kumar, The people present in the gurdwara said as the langar of tea was being served, Balwinder attacked Manjit with a sharp-edged weapon, injuring his left arm.

The accused has caused trouble earlier too at the gurdwara. But this time he went on to attack the devotees, creating panic, Kumar added.

Manjit has been admitted to Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Sector 32, while the other two injured were discharged from hospital after first-aid.

Balwinder has been booked under Sections 307(attempt to murder), 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) and 447 (punishment for criminal trespass) of the Indian Penal Code.Punjab Police on Monday claimed to have seized demonetised currency worth Rs 1.05 crore from two residents of Haryanas Fatehabad.

The demonetised currency was recovered from the possession of Ravinder and Kapil , during a checking at Landran-Kharar road in Mohali, superintendent of police, Mohali, H S Atwal, said.

A case under relevant sections of the IPC has been registered against them, he said. The Income Tax department and Enforcement Directorate have been apprised of the recovery of the demonetised currency for further investigation.

Police said a case was already registered against Ravinder in connection with a robbery bid at a private bank in Jaipur.The government of Punjab will undertake a Rs 50-lakh project for facelift and preservation of the police station cell where Jahawarlal Nehru was kept in 1923 during the Jaitu Morcha in present-day Faridkot district, announced tourism minister Navjot Singh Sidhu during a visit to Faridkot on Monday.

The cell is in a state of neglect near the current Jaitu police station. Nehru, who became Indias first prime minister after independence in 1947, had been arrested at Jaitu when he and other freedom fighters reached there on September 21, 1923, to take part in the morcha being undertaken under the gurdwara reforms movement; and was kept in the cell for a few hours before being sent to the Nabha jail.

Generations will learn about the contribution of Jawaharlal Nehru for the country, Sidhu said, making the announcement after a request by Sunil Jakhar, the Congress state unit president and MP from Gurdaspur.

Jawaharlal Nehru (Getty Images)

The building that houses a police cell where Jawaharlal Nehru was kept in 1923 in Jaitu in Punjabs Faridkot district, in a state of neglect. (HT Photo)

Package for cities

Further, Sidhu said the state government has released Rs 1,540 crore as a development package for 107 urban areas in the state, including Rs 216 crore for Faridkot, Kotkapura and Jaitus sewerage project.

The project had been inaugurated by the then deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal of the SAD in 2014 but work is currently on halt. SAD spokesperson Parmanbans Singh Romana too later said Sidhus visit was mere eyewash, These projects started during the Akali regime but the Congress stopped funds due to vendetta.

Jakhar, however, said, Sukhbir laid 24 foundation stones for development of sewerage, but the projects saw no progress as he failed to provide the necessary funds. We have arranged the funds first, and then started the work.

Sidhu reiterated a challenge to Sukhbir Badal for an open debate on issues concerning the state. If I fail to answer Sukhbirs questions, I will quit politics. Sidhu said.

On goonda tax

Jakhar further said the government will completely eradicate goonda tax, and also put the big fish in the net. He claimed, We have already eradicated the organised goonda tax that was run through truck unions. He said this resulted in savings of Rs 25 crore a season in Abohar alone  Jakhars home town in Fazilka district  benefitting traders and farmers.

Faridkot MLA Kushaldeep Singh Dhillon, whose name was dragged into the goonda tax allegations by Sukhbir, lashed out at the SAD chiefs attempt to finish my political career because, he said, I have always raised voice against the Badals wrongdoings.

Sidhu also promised adequate funds for Kotkapura as the town has lagged in development due to wrongs policies of the previous government.Constituted to manage the affairs, concerns and property of Panjab University, its senate has not seen full attendance of its 91 members since its four-year tenure began in December 2016.

Some of the senators have not turned up for even one of 10 meetings held so far. The maximum strength has varied between 60 and 70.

When the senate met on February 17, about 45 of the 91 members were present.

Ex-officio members of the senate  Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh, Punjab and Haryana high court chief justice Shiavax Jal Vazifdar, Punjab higher education minister Aruna Chaudhary, adviser to UT administrator Parimal Rai, Punjab higher education director Harjit Singh and UT higher education director Rakesh Kumar Popli  have never attended a meeting.

According to a senate regulation, if a nominated senator does not attend the meeting even once, his or her replacement can be recommended. But this has never happened on the campus.

Other senators, who are yet to mark their presence at a senate congress, are Punjab MLAs Bharat Bhushan Ashu and Dr Raj Kumar Chabbewal; former Delhi University vice-chancellor Deepak Pental, and Dr Suresh Chandra Sharma, department of otalaryngology, AIIMS, Delhi. Sources said the two MLAs had voted in the syndicate elections, but never attended a meeting.

PU emeritus professor Dr Amod Gupta; Daily Milap managing editor Poonam Suri; Pramod Kumar, director, Institute for Development of Communication, and chairperson, Punjab Governance Reforms Commission; Baljinder Singh, department of nuclear medicine, PGIMER; Dr Amar Singh, a retired bureaucrat from Ludhiana, and Justice Harbans Lal (retd), have attended the meeting only once or twice.

According to a senate regulation, if a nominated senator does not attend the meeting even once, his or her replacement can be recommended. But this has never happened on the campus.

Another senator Sanjay Tandon, president of the Chandigarh unit of Bharatiya Janata Party, and member of the administrative advisory council, has attended the meeting just twice. Sources said Tandon was a regular at the varsitys Board of Finance (BoF) meetings, but skipped senate meets.

Citys member of Parliament and a PU alumna herself, Kirron Kher, was present in only two senate sessions.

On her part, Kher said, The university decides the meeting date and sends it. I am sometimes in Delhi for Parliament session or for a standing committee meeting. So its not always possible for me to attend senate meetings. If the dates dont clash in the future, I will surely attend them.Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Monday announced that he will meet Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on his visit to Punjab on February 21, ending days of uncertainty.

Amarinders announcement on Twitter, followed by a statement from his office, came days after the Canadian media reported that Trudeau, who is on a visit to India from February 17 to 23 and is to visit Amritsar on February 21, will not meet Amarinder. Trudeau and his family are scheduled to pay obeisance at the Golden Temple, considered the central shrine of the Sikhs, a community which, within the larger Indo-Canadian community, plays a significant role in the countrys power circles, reflected in the fact that the Canada has four Sikh ministers.

Officials said that the chief minister would hold a meeting with the Canadian prime minister at a hotel in Amritsar after Trudeau pays obeisance at the Golden Temple, a visit that the visiting PM aims to keep a quiet affair, officials said.

This represents a thaw also because Amarinder had refused to meet Canadian defence minister Harjit Sajjan during the Punjabi-origin leaders visit to the state last year; and even accused Sajjan of being a Khalistani sympathiser. In 2016, when Amarinder Singh was the state Congress chief, he had written a strongly-worded letter to the Canadian PM, lodging a protest on being denied permission for interaction with NRIs in Canada in the run-up to the assembly polls. Days before Trudeaus visit now, his Sikh ministers had issued a statement denying any backing for the secessionist movement.

Amarinder has now directed the state administration to roll out the red carpet for the visiting dignitary, and deputed a team of top administrative officers to receive him. He wrote on Twitter, Look forward to meeting Canadian Prime Minister @JustinTrudeau in Amritsar on Wednesday. Im hopeful that this meeting will help strengthen the close Indo-Canadian business ties as well as the deep-rooted people-to-people relations between our two countries.

Trudeau is accompanied on the India visit by wife Sophie Gregoire Trudeau and three children,Ella-Grace, Xavier and Hadrien. He is also expected to visit the Partition Museum, officials said, adding that he would land at the Amritsar airport in morning and would return to Delhi by 2 pm.

At the their meeting, Amarinder and he are expected to discuss steps to intensify the close relations between the people of the two countries, according to a spokesperson of the chief ministers office (CMO). Punjab has deep roots with Canada, where a large Punjabi community is settled, and has always striven to strengthen connect, the spokesperson quoted Amarinder as saying.

Look forward to meeting Canadian Prime Minister @JustinTrudeau in Amritsar on Wednesday. Im hopeful that this meeting will help strengthen the close Indo-Canadian business ties as well as the deep-rooted people-to-people relations between our two countries.  Capt.Amarinder Singh (@capt_amarinder) February 19, 2018

The CMs statement also referred to the Canadian PMs apology two years ago in his countrys parliament for the 1914 Komagata Maru incident, in which scores of Sikh, Muslim and Hindu passengers in a ship were denied entry to Canada and forced to return to India, where they met a violent fate. Amarinder said it was a gesture that underlined the depth of the relations between the two countries, which Wednesdays meeting would help in consolidating further.

Meanwhile, the opposition SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal is expected to welcome the Canadian prime minister at the Golden Temple. He will honour Trudeau as party president of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), said spokesman and former minister Daljit Singh Cheema.

The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) has planned special event in the honour of Trudeau when he visits the Golden Temple. SGPC, an apex religious body of the Sikhs, will honour Trudeau by presenting him a siropa (robe of honour), a replica of the Golden Temple and a sword, its officials said.

(with PTI inputs)In what will come as a relief to the Punjabi diaspora living in the United Kingdom, Air India will resume its direct flight from Amritsar to Birmingham on Tuesday after a gap of eight years.

The biweekly flight will operate on Tuesdays and Thursdays and return from Birmingham on Wednesdays and Fridays.

Rajya Sabha member Shwait Malik disclosed this in a press release here. Union minister of state for social justice and empowerment Vijay Sampla, along with Shwait Malik, will flag off the flight. All tickets have been sold out.

He thanked the minister of state for civil aviation Jayant Sinha, who he said had announced to restart the flight in 2016. Malik said the aircraft has 256 seats, of which 18 are business class.

The flight will take off from Amritsar at 1:55pm (IST) and land at the Birmingham airport at 5:15pm (BST). It will depart from the Birmingham airport at 6:45pm (BST) and land at the Amritsar airport at 7:45am (IST).

The direct flight was discontinued during the Congress-led UPA government in 2010 and it would go via Delhi.The Savitri biopic Mahanati, which features Keerthy Suresh in the titular role, is one of the most anticipated Telugu releases of the year. Featuring an ensemble cast of Dulquer Salmaan, Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Vijay Deverakonda, Shalini Pandey, Rajendra Prasad and Prakash Raj among others, it is rumoured that Anushka Shetty has been roped into play the role of veteran actress Bhanumathi in the bilingual project, slated to hit the screens on March 29.

Bhanumati, who was Savitris contemporary, played a pivotal role in the latters life and career. Anushka, according to multiples sources, was recently signed for the role and shell be seen playing an important role in the film. However, the makers are yet to officially announce that shes part of the project. The film stars Dulquer Salmaan as Gemini Ganesan, who was married to Savitri. Speaking about casting Dulquer as Gemini Ganesan, director Nag Ashwin had said, Dulquers character of Gemini Ganesan will not merely be on how the legend will be perceived today based on his work and his image. The character goes beyond the physical resemblance, in understanding the veteran on a more emotional level.

Mahanati, according to reliable sources, will be magnum opus period film set in the golden era. With massive set pieces, the film will be unlike anything weve explored in Indian cinema. Produced by Vyjayanthi Movies, the film has been simultaneously made in Telugu and Tamil. The makers are contemplating getting the movie dubbed in Malayalam as well.

Follow @htshowbiz for more

ott:10:ht-entertainment_listing-desktop1. Yes. COVID-19 can only be stopped through vaccinations. A mandate is needed.

2. Yes. This is a major step, but were facing a national emergency. It is a justifiable move.

3. No. The government is right to promote vaccinations, but not to require them.

4. No. This is government overreach and legally questionable. A mandate is wrong.

5. Unsure. Its in the publics interest, but mandates infringe on individuals rights.

Vote

View ResultsHyderabad police on Monday served notices on Omar Lulu, director of Malayalam film Oru Adaar Love, seeking an explanation on the controversial song Manikya Malaraya Poovi in the film that hurt the sentiments of the Muslims.

According to Syed Fayaz, assistant commissioner of police, Falaknuma, Omar was given 15 days time to explain why he had chosen the song Manikya Malaraya Poovi which had references to Prophet Mohammed and his wife.

The song is picturised on actor Priya Prakash Varrier, who became an overnight internet sensation, after the song went viral last week.

Some Muslim youth in old city of Hyderabad filed a case with Falaknuma police against Omar Lulu seeking ban on the song on the ground that it hurts the sentiments of Muslims. The police registered an FIR against the filmmaker under Section 295A (deliberately hurting the religious sentiments) of the Indian Penal Code.

An Islamic seminary in Hyderabad also issued a fatwa against the film.

In its fatwa, Darul Ifta Jamia Nizamia from Shibli Gunj in the Old City took exception to the songs objectionable references to a love story between Prophet Mohammad and his wife, Khadijah Bivi, in Mecca. It asked the filmmakers to release the film only after removing the song.

Our objection is not for the film, but a song that references the Prophet and his wife. The director should have used some other characters to depict the couples relationship. Why did he take the name of the Prophet? That is why we issued this fatwa seeking that the song be dropped from the film, said Jamia Nizamia secretary Ahmed Ali.

Follow @htshowbiz for more

ott:10:ht-entertainment_listing-desktopAustralian federal police were on Monday investigating a social media post by a government lawmaker that showed him aiming a gun and taunting left-wing green supporters.

The rural-based Nationals Party lawmaker George Christensen posted the picture of himself on Facebook aiming a gun and asking: You gotta ask yourself, do you feel lucky, greenie punks? echoing a line from Clint Eastwoods Dirty Harry movie.

Greens Party leader Richard Di Natale reported the post to Australian police on Sunday and asked Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to force Christensen to take it down, noting the timing of the post just days after 17 people were killed in the deadliest high school shooting in US history.

17 kids gunned down in cold blood and he thinks this is ok? Hes not fit to be an mp (member of parliament), Di Natale said on social media.

Turnbull said on Monday the post was very inappropriate and it had been removed, declining to comment further during a radio interview because the matter had been referred to police.

The Australian Federal Police told Reuters the matter is being assessed and declined to comment further.

Christensen has refused to apologise for the post, saying in another post that it was a tongue-in-cheek Dirty Harry photo and that green activists who protested at mine sites and along coal rail lines were a bigger danger than guns.

They are the ones actually putting real lives at risk  not only of their own protesters who go about things illegally, but also for the workers who are up there, he told reporters on Monday.

After Greens supporters complained, Christensen initially changed his comment on the picture to: You gotta ask yourself, do you have a sense of humour, greenie punks? Obviously not, then later removed the post.China will ban fishing in the Yellow River, or Huanghe, between April 1 and June 30 every year starting from 2018, state-owned media Xinhua reported on Monday, citing a statement from the Ministry of Agriculture.

The ban aims to protect aquatic organisms in the Yellow River as excessive fishing threatens fishery resources, and will be effective in the main stream, 13 tributaries and three major lakes linking to the Yellow River.

China has introduced annual fishing ban in the Yangtze River since 2002 and in the Pearl River, its No.3, since 2010.

The Yellow River is the second longest river in China after the Yangtze River. It originates from the Qinghai province in the northwest and flows through the central-north part of the country, including the provinces of Gansu, Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan and Shandong.

In recent years, some regions, such as Ningxia and Gansu, have introduced fishing bans in the Yellow River during certain periods. However, illegal fishing remains rampant due to a lack of collaborated regulatory enforcement across regions.

China is also considering imposing annual fishing ban in more rivers.The White House on Monday announced that President Donald Trump was supportive of efforts to improve federal background checks on prospective gun buyers, days after a teenager shooter killed 17 people in a Florida high school.

Trump spoke to Republican Senator John Cornyn about a bipartisan bill that he and Democrat Chris Murphy introduced to improve federal compliance with criminal background checks, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said.

Cornyn and Murphy had introduced the bill in November, days after a gunman killed over two dozen people in a church in Texas. The shooter  a former US air force personnel  had been able to purchase firearms despite having a criminal history.

The president spoke to Senator Cornyn on Friday about the bipartisan bill he and Senator Murphy introduced to improve federal compliance with criminal background check legislation, Sanders said. While discussions are ongoing and revisions are being considered, the president is supportive of efforts to improve the federal background check system.

It is a significant step for Trump, who ran for president on the promise of protecting the Second Amendment, which guarantees Americans the right to bear arms. During the 2016 campaign, Trump had aligned himself closely with the gun lobby and in February 2017, signed into law a bill revoking an Obama-era regulation that made it harder for people with mental illnesses to purchase firearms.

Florida shooter Nikolas Cruz had a long history of aggressive behaviour and violence. There were plenty of red-flags about him that were missed, and Trump pointed to that in a tweet shortly after the shooting: So many signs that the Florida shooter was mentally disturbed, even expelled from school for bad and erratic behavior. Neighbors and classmates knew he was a big problem. Must always report such instances to authorities, again and again! (sic)

This tweet angered gun control activists, who said that the Obama regulation he revoked could have prevented Cruz from accessing weapons.Damage caused by the fire at Jokhang temple in Lhasa, one of the most holiest and ancient sites in Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), could be more widespread than official reports acknowledge, activists said on Monday.

Fire broke out at the temple on Saturday, the second day of the Tibetan New Year, also known as Losar.

Chinese media on Sunday said the fire at Lhasas Jokhang temple, a site many Tibetans revere as the most sacred, has been put out and areas around it have been opened after a temporary closure.

A fire broke out at Jokhang Temple in Lhasa, southwest Chinas Tibet Autonomous Region, on Saturday. The incident took place at around 6 pm local time and the blaze has been put out. The authorities said there are no casualties and the cause of the fire remains unclear, Chinas broadcaster China Central Television said in a brief report.

The statement comes amid concerns that the 1,300-year old temple, a UNESCO world heritage site that houses cultural treasures sacred to Tibetans, was badly damaged in a fire that engulfed large parts of it.

There are fears that the damage may be more widespread than the authorities acknowledge, the International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) said in a statement.

The fire apparently began in a building near the Jokhang, with some sources saying this was the Meru Nyingpa monastery in the alley ways of the Barkhor, and then spread. One source in touch with an eyewitness said that several buildings nearby had been burnt to the ground, although that could not be confirmed, the ICT statement said.

The Chinese authorities took several hours to confirm the fire at the Jokhang, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and immediately downplayed it, stating that it was under control and that there had been no casualties, ICTs Kate Saunders said.

The ICT said reports and communications about the fire were being blocked and social media posts deleted, consistent with the oppressive political climate in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, where thousands of pilgrims have gathered for Tibetan New Year.

In apparent attempts to give the impression that the situation is normal, despite worldwide distress and concern at the news, the Chinese state media posted today posted a cheery image of TAR (Communist Party of China) Party Secretary Wu Yingjie at the square in front of the temple engaging in cordial exchanges with all ethnic groups following the partial re-opening of the temple on Sunday (February 18). The main shrine remains closed, Saunders said.

Prominent Tibetan writer Tsering Woeser told AFP she was very worried about the state of the monastery.European and US officials divided over US President Donald Trumps foreign policy found common cause this weekend in decrying what they say is Russias covert campaign to undermine Western democracies.

But despite the transatlantic show of anger at Russia during the Munich Security Conference, Western officials and diplomats also acknowledged an uncomfortable truth: that Russia is critical to resolving many of the worlds worst conflicts.

From eastern Ukraine to North Korea, Russias status as a nuclear power, its military intervention in Syria and its veto on the United Nations Security Council mean any diplomacy must ultimately involve Moscow, officials said.

We cant find a political solution without Russia, Norwegian defence minister Frank Bakke Jensen told Reuters. We need to reach a point where we can work to find a political solution, and they must be central to that.

Publicly at least, Russia was the bad guy in Munich, roundly criticised for interfering in the 2016 US presidential campaign after the US indictment of 13 Russians this week, and more broadly for its 2014 annexation of Ukraines Crimea.

For the West, such unity of purpose marked a change after a year of Trumps America First rhetoric, his inconsistent statements on NATO and the European Union, his decision to pull out of the Paris climate change accord and his move not to certify Irans compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal.

At the annual Munich event, a rare gathering of European and US security officials that also attracts top Russian diplomats, American policymakers were visibly irritated with Moscows public denials of accusations of meddling.

I am amazed that ... the Russians come, they send someone, every year to basically refute the facts, US director of National Intelligence Dan Coats said of the Russian presence at the event.

But behind the scenes, diplomats said there was a different tone, as top officials including NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg met Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov in the gold-and-white panelled rooms of the Bayerischer Hof hotel.

There is a diplomatic network that works, said Russian senator Aleksey Pushkov, citing contacts to resolve the Syrian civil war including Moscow, Ankara, Washington and Tel Aviv. Its something that, if used efficiently, can prevent bigger confrontations.

German foreign minister Sigmar Gabriel met several times with Lavrov, offering the prospect of easing economic sanctions imposed over Moscows role in eastern Ukraine and calling Russia an indispensable partner in global efforts to prevent proliferation of nuclear weapons.

Former US secretary of state John Kerry, who negotiated the 2015 accord curbing Irans nuclear ambitions, said the West needed to compartmentalise issues with Moscow, so that diplomacy could achieve more.

In Russias Hand

Part of the challenge for the West is that international crises have been interlinked.

Russia is allied to Israels nemesis Iran in Syria while Moscows support for separatists in Ukraine draws NATOs ire.

But NATO-ally Turkey is seeking to complete an arms deal to buy Russian air defences. It has struck US-backed Kurdish forces in northern Syria with Russias blessing.

In Asia, US efforts to stop North Koreas atomic weapons development rest partly on Moscows willingness to countenance a US and European call for an oil embargo on Pyongyang, which it has so far rejected.

A few years ago you could talk about distinct crises, but today, if youre discussing one, youre shaking all the others, Norways Jensen said.

So as Israels Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu railed against Iran in Munich on Sunday, in New York, British, US and French efforts to condemn Tehran at the United Nations immediately ran into Russian resistance, diplomats told Reuters.

And in Munich, while US and European officials saw momentum for UN peacekeepers in eastern Ukraine to resolve the four-year-old conflict there, US special envoy Kurt Volker conceded everything rested on Moscow.

Its in Russias hands, Volker told a gathering of EU and US officials, including Swedens defence chief, who offered his countrys troops for any such mission.

Nine years ago in Munich, then US vice-president Joe Biden promised to reset relations with Russia, but few in the West appeared to realise the depth of Russias resentment over the break-up of the Soviet Union and NATOs eastward expansion.

Now, with Western economic sanctions in place on Russia over its 2014 annexation of Crimea and its support for rebels in eastern Ukraine, East-West ties are at their lowest since the Cold War, with little chance of an improvement, diplomats said.Irans foreign minister said on Sunday the shooting down of an Israeli jet after it bombed an Iranian site in Syria had shattered Israels so-called invincibility, reacting to a critical speech delivered earlier by Israels premier.

Israel uses aggression as a policy against its neighbours, Mohammad Javad Zarif told the Munich Security Conference, accusing Israel of mass reprisals against its neighbours and daily incursions into Syria, Lebanon.

Once the Syrians have the guts to down one of its planes its as if a disaster has happened, Zarif said.

He was responding to Benjamin Netanyahus address to the conference hours before, in which the Israeli prime minister, holding a piece of what he said was an Iranian drone, accused Iran of trying to impose an empire across the Middle East.

What has happened in the past several days is the so-called invincibility (of Israel) has crumbled, Zarif said of Netanyahus remarks, which followed the Feb. 10 downing of an Israeli F-16 jet.

Netanyahu had also told the conference: We will act if necessary not just against Irans proxies but against Iran itself.

In an interview with NBC News on the sidelines of the conference, Zarif retorted: Well, if they try to exercise that threat, they will see the response.

David Ivry, a former Israeli Air Force chief, told Reuters earlier this month he believed it was the first time an Israeli F-16 had been brought down since Israel began using the jets in the 1980s.

Anti-aircraft fire downed the jet as it was returning from a bombing raid on Iran-backed positions in Syria.

It was one of at least eight Israeli planes despatched in response to what Israel said was an Iranian drones incursion into its airspace earlier on that day.

The jet was hit by a Syrian anti-aircraft missile and crashed in northern Israel, according to an Israeli official.A court in the Iraqi capital sentenced to death a Turkish woman and 11 other foreign widows to life in jail for belonging to the Islamic State group on Monday.

The 12 women, 11 Turks and an Azeri, some of whom appeared in the dock nursing infants, were convicted despite their pleas that they had been duped or forced by their husbands to join them in Iraq.

The women, aged between 20 and 50, were all arrested in Mosul or Tal Afar where their husbands were killed as Iraqi forces recaptured the northern cities from IS last year.

I got to know my husband through the internet. He proposed we meet in Turkey but an intermediary there told me he would drive me to my future husband without saying where, said Angie Omrane, the Azeri woman. I thought we were staying in Turkey but I found myself in Syria and then my husband took me to Iraq.

Leila, one of the Turkish women, said: My husband forced me to come to Iraq by threatening to take away my two-year-old son if I didnt follow him.US and Thai marines slurped snake blood and ate scorpions in a jungle survival programme on Monday as part of the two nations annual Cobra Gold war games.

Now in its 37th year, Cobra Gold is one of the largest military exercises in Asia, bringing thousands of troops from the United States, Thailand and other countries for 10 days of field training on Thai shores.

On Monday, several dozen US and Thai marines took park in an annual jungle survival drill on a Thai navy base in Chonburi province, where troops took turns drinking blood from a severed cobra before grilling and eating the snakes.

Thai military trainers also taught the group  which included South Korean troops  how to remove venom from scorpions and tarantulas before eating them, find water in jungle vines and identity edible plants.

The key to survival is knowing what to eat, said Thai Sergeant Major Chaiwat Ladsin, who led the drill that also saw the marines take bites of a raw gecko.

US marines handle a gecko during the Cobra Gold joint military exercise between US and Thai military in the coastal province of Chonburi on February 19, 2018. (AFP)

Definitely my first time drinking snake blood... Its not something we do too often in America, US Sergeant Christopher Fiffie told AFP after the training.

I think Ill be able to hold my own out there, he added. The biggest take was how exactly they get their water as well as the vegetation that you can eat.

This years Cobra Gold exercise drew some 6,800 US personnel to the war games  nearly double last years attendance, in the latest sign of warming relations between the two allies.

A 2014 army coup in Thailand tested ties with Washington, which urged a return to democracy and scaled back military aid.

But the two countries have upped their engagement under US President Donald Trump, who has taken a softer stance on human rights issues and even embraced Thai junta chief Prayut Chan-O-Cha in the White House.

A US marine is fed the blood of a cobra during the Cobra Gold joint military exercise between US and Thai military in the coastal province of Chonburi on February 19, 2018. (AFP)

The US is also keen to flex its military muscle in Asia amid tensions with North Korea over the pariah states nuclear missile programme.

The (attendance) numbers are reflective of the US commitment in the region, US embassy spokesman Stephane Castonguay told AFP at the start of the exercise.

The focus of this exercise still remains humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, in addition to community relations projects.

Troops from Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea and Singapore also participated in this years drills.The couple who took in Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz after his mothers death have described him as quirky but pleasant and seemingly on the right track, saying they had no idea they had a monster living under our roof.

Cruz, 19, moved in with James and Kimberly Snead of Parkland, Florida in late November after his adoptive mother died earlier that month from complications of pneumonia, they told the South Florida Sun Sentinel in an interview published Sunday.

He was a friend of their son.

Prone to odd eating and sleeping habits and unused to any form of housework, he was nevertheless making progress in dealing with his grief and kept himself busy with adult education classes along with his job at a discount store, the couple said.

I told him thered be rules and he followed every rule to the T, James Snead, 48, an army veteran and military intelligence analyst, told the paper.

We had this monster living under our roof and we didnt know, added Kimberly Snead, 49, a neonatal nurse. We didnt see this side of him.

Cruz killed 17 people at his former high school last Wednesday using an AR-15 rifle that he had legally purchased. It was the countrys worst school massacre since the horror at Sandy Hook six years ago that left 26 dead.

He also owned several other guns including two other assault rifles as well as knives, according to the Sneads who own firearms themselves and did not find this unusual.

And his ultimate aim was to join the army and become an infantryman, something he had become excited about after a recent meeting with a military recruiter.

A senior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School weeps in front of a cross and Star of David for shooting victim Meadow Pollack while a fellow classmate consoles her at a memorial by the school in Parkland. (REUTERS)

Troubled past, warnings ignored

A profile has emerged of a troubled young man who was expelled from school last year for disciplinary reasons.

The FBI admitted receiving a detailed warning last month about Cruzs gun ownership, erratic behavior, and disturbing social media posts, as well as the potential for him carrying out a school shooting.

The agency took no action, despite the tip-off.

Cruz was also known to police after his mother repeatedly reported him for violent outbursts, while records obtained by the same newspaper showed authorities investigated Cruz in 2016 after he cut his arms on messaging app Snapchat and threatened to buy a gun.

But he was eventually deemed a low risk and later passed a background check, allowing him in February 2017 to buy the AR-15 rifle used in the massacre.

Cosseted upbringing?

The Sneads said it appeared he had grown up without ever having to do common chores -- he couldnt cook, do laundry, pick up after himself or even use a microwave.

He was very naive. He wasnt dumb, just naive, James Snead told the Sun Sentinel.

The bicycles that were left behind are seen at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, after the police security perimeter was removed, following a mass shooting in Parkland. (REUTERS)

Cruz had quirky habits, like putting a chocolate chip cookie on a steak and cheese sandwich, and going to bed at 8:00 pm.

He seemed lonely and badly wanted a girlfriend, and was also depressed about the death of his mother, the couple said.

Kimberly Snead had taken Cruz to the office of a therapist just five days before the shooting, and he had said he was open to therapy if his medical insurance would cover it.

Cruz told the Sneads he would inherit at least $800,000 from his parents, with most of the funds becoming available when he turned 22 -- and the claim appeared to be borne out by paperwork the couple have subsequently seen, they said.

On the day of the attack, Cruz sent several text messages to the Sneads son, who was still studying at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

In one, he asked what classroom the boy was in, adding in another that he had something important to tell him. But he then wrote: Nothing man.

The couple last saw Cruz at the Broward County Sheriffs office. Dressed in a hospital gown, he was handcuffed and surrounded by deputies.

He said he was sorry. He apologized. He looked lost, absolutely lost, said James Snead. And that was the last time we saw him.British aid charity Oxfam on Monday released its internal report into a scandal in Haiti that has shattered its reputation, revealing that a former top official admitted to paying for sex and three staff physically threatened a witness.

The 2011 report into aid workers deployed to Haiti following the devastating earthquake the previous year, revealed that seven staff were accused of using prostitutes at an Oxfam-funded residence.

Country director Roland Van Hauwermeiren admitted paying for sex and was offered a phased and dignified exit of resignation if he cooperated with the inquiry.

The report said three Oxfam employees were involved in physically threatening and intimidating a witness who spoke to the investigators.

Four staff were fired for gross misconduct and three others, including Van Hauwermeiren, were allowed to quit.

Details of the Haiti scandal surfaced earlier this month and have engulfed Oxfam, drawing widespread condemnation and putting its funding at risk. A senior executive has resigned and the British government has warned it must reform before bidding for any new taxpayer funds.

Oxfam has denied trying to cover up the allegations but admitted it could have been more open at the time, saying it was publishing the report in recognition of the breach of trust that has been caused.

It said it would give a copy to the Haitian government, which has expressed outrage and launched its own inquiry, at a meeting later on Monday.

Loving relationship

All names in the report have been redacted apart from that of Van Hauwermeiren, a 68-year-old Belgian who last week released a letter defending himself after the scandal broke.

In it, he claimed he had not visited any brothels, nightclubs or bars in Haiti, despite offers from men and women who tried to get into my house with all sorts of excuses to demand money, work, or to offer sexual services.

He said he told Oxfam he had intimate relations three times at his house with an honourable, mature woman, who was not an earthquake victim nor a prostitute. And I did not give her any money.

In an interview with The Times, however, a young Haitian mother claimed she had a relationship with Van Hauwermeiren when she was 16  legally underage in Haiti.

Now 23, Mikelange Gabou said he initially helped her with nappies and other things for her baby, and that they later had a loving relationship and he would sometimes give her money.

There were other women he invited to his hilltop house, she said. So it might be that he had sex with them and promised to find them a job, or sometimes he gave money or didnt give them money.

Aid sector under scrutiny

Oxfam last week unveiled an action plan to tackle sexual harassment and abuse, including creating a new vetting system for staff, and has urged victims to come forward with any new allegations.

Chief executive Mark Goldring on Friday hit out over criticism of the charity, saying it was out of proportion to what had happened.

But the entire aid sector is facing renewed scrutiny, including how they communicate with each other.

A woman who worked alongside Van Hauwermeiren in Liberia said she made a complaint about him in 2004  many years before the Haiti scandal.

One recommendation in the 2011 report was for better mechanisms to share information with other regions and agencies about behavioural issues.

Goldring has been called to explain the scandal to British MPs in London on Tuesday alongside senior managers from fellow charity Save the Children.

Save the Children is facing its own problems after claims this weekend that one staff member drunkenly harassed a female colleague in 2015, holding her by the throat.

Brendan Cox, the widower of murdered British MP Jo Cox, resigned shortly afterwards. In a statement, he admitted making errors while working at the charity, saying: I made mistakes and behaved in a way that caused some women hurt and offence.The Pakistan government will have to issue another notification to formally ban the JuD and FIF despite the amendment of the Anti-Terrorism Act to list groups sanctioned by the UN Security Council, attorney general Ashtar Ausaf Ali has said.

After the president issued an ordinance on February 9 to amend the law to list groups such as the Jamaat-ud-Dawah and Falah-e-Insaniyat Foundation, the interior ministry issued a notification the following day to freeze and take over the assets of both the groups.

However, Ali told The News daily that a notification from the interior ministry is required to formally ban both groups.

The notification for seizing the assets of the JuD and FIF, both linked to alleged Mumbai attacks mastermind Hafiz Saeed, did not place the groups in Schedule I of Anti-Terrorism Act, a legal requirement for a formal ban. Since this formality has not been completed, the police too cannot take legal action against both groups, the daily reported.

Although the federal government has decided to freeze the assets of JuD and FIF through the law, it does not empower the provincial police to register cases against their activists. So weve taken over their assets but not registered cases against their activists, a senior police officer told The News.

The National Counter Terrorism Authority (Nacta) too has refused to update its list of banned groups. A meeting chaired by Nacta chief Ehsan Ghani on February 15 discussed the interior ministrys notification and pointed out the same flaw in the order.

The daily also reported that Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi had initially decided to take strict action against the JuD and FIF in January but had to reverse his decision after interior minister Ahsan Iqbal pointed out that a ban on the groups could lead to a political crisis like the one in November, when the Tehreek Labbaik Ya Rasool Allah led by Khadim Hussain Rizvi had paralysed Islamabad with a sit-in protest.

The premiers adviser on finance Miftah Ismail and foreign secretary Tehmina Janjua too informed Abbasi of the possible repercussions of the Financial Action Task Forces (FATF) plenary meeting in Paris following a demand by the US, the UK, France and Germany to place Pakistan in the grey list for not doing enough to counter terror financing.

The FATF meeting began on Sunday and will end on February 23.

Abbasi then formed a committee comprising interior minister Iqbal, Miftah Ismail and attorney general Ali to look into the matter of taking action against the JuD and FIF. The committee decided to resolve the issue through a presidential ordinance to amend the Anti-Terrorism Act so that the assets of groups sanctioned by the UN Security Council could be frozen.

Ali suggested that a presidential ordinance should be issued to change the terror law.

I have always maintained that being a responsible state Pakistan should (unless there are issues which cannot be reconciled) adhere to its international obligations. Our first and foremost commitment is to Pakistan and there is no question of compromising our sovereignty. But when it comes to our international obligations which are in line with our national goals, we ought to take remedial measures without loss of time, Ali said.South Africa has widened a corruption probe into allies of ex-president Jacob Zuma to other countries including India, China and Dubai, the police minister said Monday.

Fikile Mbalula made the announcement days after South Africa issued an arrest warrant for one of the brothers of the Gupta business family, close associates of scandal-plagued Zuma who was forced from power on Wednesday.

Mbalula told public broadcaster SABC that Ajay Gupta and another four people who are being sought in connection with the case were all out of the country. While there was no indication that they fled the country fearing arrest, Mbalula vowed that they will be followed up through Interpol with the possibility of extradition to face trial in South Africa.

He said two of the suspects were of Indian descent and one other was Chinese. All are thought to be in India, China or Dubai. We operate through Interpol, we operate through bilateral (means), if you ever resist there will be extradition. All means necessary will be employed to ensure these people are brought to book, said Mbalula.

He refused to name the suspects except for Ajay Gupta who police last week declared a fugitive.

Local media reports suggested that Zumas son Duduzane, a business associate of the Guptas, is also among those being sought, and some speculated that he could be in Dubai.

The minister refused to say whether Duduzane Zuma is on the police wanted list. There will be more arrests... its not just a witch hunt, he added. It doesnt matter, if you are a politician ... there are no holy cows, there are no untouchables.

In all, 13 people are facing charges linked to allegations that millions of dollars of public money meant for poor dairy farmers was siphoned off by the Guptas.

Eight other suspects were arrested last week and have appeared in court. In his first address to the nation hours after he assumed power on Friday, new South African President Cyril Ramaphosa vowed to fight corruption in a direct reference to the accusations levelled at his predecessor Zuma.US and Thai marines slurped snake blood and ate scorpions in a jungle survival programme on Monday as part of the two nations annual Cobra Gold war games.

Now in its 37th year, Cobra Gold is one of the largest military exercises in Asia, bringing thousands of troops from the United States, Thailand and other countries for 10 days of field training on Thai shores.

On Monday, several dozen US and Thai marines took park in an annual jungle survival drill on a Thai navy base in Chonburi province, where troops took turns drinking blood from a severed cobra before grilling and eating the snakes.

Thai Sergeant Major Chaiwat Ladsin (L) forces a South Korean marine to bite into a pineapple. (AFP Photo)

Thai military trainers also taught the group -- which included South Korean troops -- how to remove venom from scorpions and tarantulas before eating them, find water in jungle vines and identity edible plants.

The key to survival is knowing what to eat, said Thai Sergeant Major Chaiwat Ladsin, who led the drill that also saw the marines take bites of a raw gecko.

Definitely my first time drinking snake blood... Its not something we do too often in America, US Sergeant Christopher Fiffie told AFP after the training.

I think Ill be able to hold my own out there, he added. The biggest take was how exactly they get their water as well as the vegetation that you can eat.

This years Cobra Gold exercise drew some 6,800 US personnel to the war games -- nearly double last years attendance, in the latest sign of warming relations between the two allies.

A US marine catches a cobra with his bare hands during a jungle survival exercise. (Reuters Photo)

A 2014 army coup in Thailand tested ties with Washington, which urged a return to democracy and scaled back military aid.

But the two countries have upped their engagement under US President Donald Trump, who has taken a softer stance on human rights issues and even embraced Thai junta chief Prayut Chan-O-Cha in the White House.

The US is also keen to flex its military muscle in Asia amid tensions with North Korea over the pariah states nuclear missile programme.

US marines handle a gecko during the Cobra Gold joint military exercise between US and Thai military in the coastal province of Chonburi. (AFP Photo)

The (attendance) numbers are reflective of the US commitment in the region, US embassy spokesman Stephane Castonguay told AFP at the start of the exercise.

The focus of this exercise still remains humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, in addition to community relations projects.

Troops from Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea and Singapore also participated in this years drills.As Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau continues his eight-day visit to India, the fact that his schedule includes just half-a-day of official engagements in New Delhi is being described as unusual by veteran diplomats and criticised by a Canadian watchdog.

A veteran Indian diplomat said in his long experience with bilateral visits, he had never experienced a trip of this nature, where the visiting dignitary spent so little time in official engagements with counterparts in the Indian government.

In addition, he said, it was equally surprising that six cabinet ministers accompanying Trudeau had scant official engagements, except for foreign minister Chrystia Freeland, who will confer with external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj ahead of the meeting between the prime ministers in New Delhi on February 23.

The diplomat spoke on condition of anonymity since he did not want to appear churlish.

The low-key start to the visit on February 17 also raised eyebrows, with commentators noting that Trudeau was received at the Delhi airport by minister of state Gajendra Shekhawat.

This, they noted, was in marked contrast to the warm welcome and hugs from Prime Minister Modi that marked the arrivals of US president Barack Obama, Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu and Abu Dhabi crown prince Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

Commentators also noted that there had been no tweet from Modis official account welcoming Trudeau and that he had not accompanied the Canadian leader to his home state of Gujarat. Reports have suggested that the Indian government is unhappy with Canadas soft stance on Sikh radicals, who have increased pro-Khalitsan activities in recent years.

Indian officials were also taken aback by the length and breadth of Trudeaus visit, and the tacking on of an additional day for a town hall in New Delhi on February 24.

The Ottawa-based Canadian Taxpayers Federation, an advocacy group, is not impressed with the itinerary. Its federal director, Aaron Wudrick, said in an email, While it is understood that a Prime Minister will have to travel frequently, the proportion of time being spent actually meeting foreign counterparts on this trip does not suggest a good use of public money.

A week is a long time for a PM to spend visiting one country, and a half of a day out of eight is very little official business.

That view was seconded by Vivek Dehejia, professor of economics at Carleton University in Ottawa, who said, This is an enormous waste of taxpayers money since it appears that so little of substance will be accomplished.

Some of Trudeaus stops are directed at a domestic constituency. The large and influential Sikh diaspora in Canada could view his visit to the Golden Temple in Amritsar positively. And he will seek to woo the growing Gujarati community in his country with his visits to Sabarmati Ashram and Akshardham Temple.

Dehejia described that as mostly playing to the diaspora gallery in Canada.

Wudrick was of a similar view, as he said, A cynic might suggest that the main benefit of this trip is boosting the esteem of the Prime Minister in the eyes of Canadas large Indian diaspora. It is of course his right to electioneer  but Canadian taxpayers should not be paying for it (the Liberal Party of Canada should).

I recognise that it is difficult to clearly separate government business from partisan political benefit, but if the PM leaves India with little to show for his time there, many Canadians will rightfully question why such a long trip was necessary.

This isnt the longest visit Trudeau has been on. In 2016, he spent 10 days in China, and that trip cost $ 1.8 million, the most expensive prime ministerial tour in a decade, according to an analysis by national broadcaster CBC.

His predecessor Stephen Harpers visit to India cost $ 1.36 million, and included four cities, but that cost also spanned legs in Manila and Hong Kong.

However, Trudeaus team could argue the visit definitely promotes the Canadian brand and a pair of business forums and a CEOs roundtable are evidence of that. Trudeau will also meet the chief ministers of Gujarat, Maharashtra and Punjab as he travels through Ahmedabad, Mumbai and Amritsar. Tangible outcomes during the dialogue with Modi in New Delhi will make it worthwhile.

But scepticism remains, as Dehejia said, Ill believe it when it happens. What Ive seen so far is a lot of noise, a lot of photo opportunities.Turkey never used chemical weapons in its operations in Syria, and takes the utmost care of civilians, its foreign minister said, after Syrian Kurdish forces and a monitoring group accused it of carrying out a gas attack in Syrias Afrin region.

Its just a fabricated story. Turkey has never uses any kind of chemical weapons, Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters at the Munich security conference.

Cavusoglu dismissed the reports as propaganda by organisations close to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) that has waged a three-decade insurgency on Turkish soil.

He said Turkey took the utmost care to protect civilians in the military operation, while the YPG was using civilians as human shields in areas under its control.

Syrian Kurdish forces and a monitoring group said the Turkish military carried out a suspected gas attack that wounded six people in Syrias Afrin region on Friday.

Turkey launched an air and ground offensive last month on the Afrin region, opening a new front in the multi-sided Syrian war, to target Kurdish fighters in northern Syria.

Birusk Hasaka, a spokesman for the Kurdish YPG militia in Afrin, told Reuters that Turkish bombardment hit a village in the northwest of the region, near the Turkish border. He said it caused six people to suffer breathing problems and other symptoms indicative of a gas attack.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told Reuters that Turkish forces and their Syrian insurgent allies hit the village on Friday with shells. The Britain-based war monitoring group said medical sources in Afrin reported that six people in the attack suffered breathing difficulties and dilated pupils, indicating a suspected gas attack.

Syrian state news agency SANA, citing a doctor in an Afrin hospital, said Turkish shelling of the village caused choking in six people.

On Feb. 6, the United Nations called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Syria.

Since the onset of the conflict in 2011, the YPG and its allies have set up three autonomous cantons in the north, including Afrin. Their sphere of influence expanded as they seized territory from Islamic State with U.S. help, though Washington says it opposes their autonomy plans.

US support for Kurdish-led forces in Syria has infuriated Ankara, which views them as a security threat along its frontier. Turkey sees the YPG as terrorists and an extension of the banned PKK.F or ages, Id been meaning to attend one of the National Landlords Association training days but never managed to find the time and, between you and me, I never made it a priority because I was fairly sure that, after letting property for more than 10 years. I knew pretty much everything . How wrong I was?

When NLAs head of policy Chris Norris finally persuaded me to drag myself along to its one-day foundation course I realised there were big gaps in my knowledge.

The main thing I learned was how important it is for landlords to keep detailed records of everything we do to protect ourselves from possible legal action.

For instance, its not enough to check your smoke alarms at the start of every tenancy, you also need proof that they were tested. So you could ask tenants to sign a document confirming the alarms were working when they moved in or, better still, make sure your smoke alarms are included on the inventory.

You should also get the tenant to confirm in writing that youve given them all the documents youre required by law to provide at the start of the tenancy, including the gas safety record, the latest version of the governments How to Rent guide (which no-one will ever read), the Energy Performance Certificate (which no-one understands) and the details of the scheme used to protect their deposit.

You can send all this information by email, but if you do you should ask the tenant to confirm they have received it. If not, you ought to provide paper copies and get the tenant to sign a written document stating they have every one of the above. Tedious, I know, but if you dont and the tenant denies having received these, you wont be able to end the tenancy.

667 a week: a three-bedroom 1,000sq ft flat at Highbury Crescent, Highbury, N5, is available to rent unfurnished and long term through Currell (020 8012 0228)

NLA trainer Chris Daniel suggested landlords should also take photos of all the fire safety labels attached to furniture in rental properties to prove that they are fire retardant, or make sure the inventory states the labels were checked, just in case they get torn off. Then if theres a fire a landlord can prove they were observing all the regulations on furniture.

I was previously unaware that landlords must provide operating instructions for all electrical items, even small appliances such as kettles and toasters. This is in case the tenant decides to do something nuts like clean the kettle in the dishwasher. It could happen. Giving your tenants the user manual wont stop them behaving like idiots, but when they blow up the microwave or fry their fingers in the toaster, at least you wont be to blame.

Despite the low risk of tenants contracting Legionnaires Disease in a residential property, Chris insisted landlords must routinely inspect their properties for potential risks and, crucially, log the details of these inspections. They must also provide tenants with details of how to avoid Legionella, such as running hot water taps for several minutes in properties that have been left empty for more than a week.

Essentially, landlords have a duty to look after their tenants and their property and keep proof that theyre doing so.

Details of NLA courses are available at landlords.org.uk.Pipeline

19 February 2018

IntercityHotel is continuing its course of international expansion. Following the recent signing of an agreement for the IntercityHotel Riyadh Malaz in Saudi Arabia, the brand is now also planning to strengthen its presence in Europe further. A lease agreement has been concluded for the IntercityHotel Zurich Airport with Patrizier Beteiligungs AG, which will act as investor and developer, and more joint projects are in the pipeline. This will be the first hotel to operate under the IntercityHotel brand in Switzerland and is scheduled to open in 2020.

The new IntercityHotel Zurich Airport will have around 250 rooms. It will also offer a restaurant, a bar and conference facilities that will extend over an area of just over 450 square metres. Guests will enjoy the use of a health and beauty spa and gym, and the project includes plans for 150 parking spaces. Interior design will be by the Italian architect Matteo Thun in accordance with the brand"s latest design generation.

As far as transport links are concerned, the IntercityHotel Zurich Airport is extremely conveniently positioned at Rumlang Station right next to the airport grounds. From this location, Zurich International Airport can be accessed in only ten minutes, and the city centre is also just 15 minutes away. Zurich has around 400,000 inhabitants. It is the largest city in Switzerland and acts as the most important transport hub in the country for rail and air travel.JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.

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You should upgrade or use an You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.You should upgrade or use an alternative browserMarriott International today announced the signing of the 235 room Le Meridien Melbourne, in partnership with owner and developer Jinshan Investment Group. The hotel is slated to open in 2020.

Marriott International today announced the signing of the 235 room Le Meridien Melbourne, in partnership with owner and developer Jinshan Investment Group. The hotel is slated to open in 2020.

After opening stunning hotels in Rome, Seoul and Denver last year, we are thrilled to continue our growth momentum in Melbourne, said Brian Povinelli, SVP and Global Brand Leader, Le Meridien Hotels & Resorts. With its light-hearted yet sophisticated style, Melbourne and Le Meridien have a similar sensibility; and we are delighted to reintroduce the brand  born in Paris during an era of glamorous travel  to global guests and locals alike.

The arrival of Le Meridien brand into Australia is a momentous move for Marriott International, said Richard Crawford, Senior Director Development, Australia, New Zealand and Pacific, Marriott International. It comes at a perfect time. Alongside Melbournes growing demand from domestic travellers, new international direct routes from the United States, Asia-Pacific and South America are driving continued growth in international visitation.

Perfectly situated amidst art galleries, boutiques and bistros, Le Meridien Melbourne will be located near the citys cultural centre, fronting the Bourke/Spring Street tram stop and a stones throw from Victorias Parliament Square. The 12-story hotel converted from an existing low-rise building will draw inspiration from both the brand and the light, airy and modern nature of the coastal capital of the southeastern Australian state of Victoria.

The intimate and residential hotel will transform the traditional lobby space into the brands signature Le Meridien Hub, which evolves from a bright and fresh coffee house by day, to a sophisticated cocktail bar by night. Set amidst this thoughtfully-designed space, guests will be able to enjoy music from French Bossa Nova band Nouvelle Vague, who have curated the soundtrack for the hotel and all Le Meridien hotels across the world, as well as the intimate 70-seat bar called M Salon and 50-seat Latitude Bar, which will offer light bites and illy coffee, expertly prepared by the hotels creative Master Barista.

Le Meridien Melbourne will also feature Cuisines, a 90-seat all day dining restaurant; 210 square meter function space and three breakout rooms; a heated swimming pool and large fitness centre.

Were excited to partner with Marriott International to open Le Meridien Melbourne, said Tony Chau, Project Manager, Jinshan Investment Group. Le Meridien brands focus on culture will provide a distinctive offering for visitors to Melbourne; it was always our intention to partner with a brand with such an exceptional point of difference. Le Meridien Melbourne will play a significant role in catering to cosmopolitan and forward-looking travellers to the city.

Upon opening, Le Meridien Melbourne will join Marriott Internationals growing portfolio in the Pacific, with 29 hotels in operation, including four existing Le Meridien hotels; Le Meridien Tahiti, Le Meridien Bora Bora, Le Meridien Isle of Pines and Le Meridien Noumea. It comes as part of Marriott Internationals commitment to open 50 hotels in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific by the end of 2021.

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 2021 Hotel News ResourceDid you know that half of travel companies on Facebook see an increase in bookings due to their presence on the social media giant?

Now, what if hoteliers go beyond a mere presence and actively engage with travelers through Facebook advertising? The potential for hoteliers is absolutely massive. Here are three major benefits of having a concerted Facebook presence which will lead you to serve more relevant advertising and, ultimately, drive more bookings.

1. New and evolving formats allow your property to shine

Facebook is constantly coming up with new formats and updating existing ones to make them more engaging and interactive. The most recent format is the Facebook collection ad, where people can browse more products or learn more about the features of your property, all within a single format. No matter your creative budgets and assets, there is truly something for every property.

2. Facebook provides a truly cross-device shopping experience

A full two-thirds (66%) of Facebooks 2B monthly users are active daily. This means that over 1.3B people re-authenticate their devices each day. Because of this, Facebook has some of the most accurate cross-device capabilities. This is great news for hoteliers, as you dont have to do anything specialthe platform is inherently cross-device friendly and optimized to reach their billions of users regardless of which device theyre on.

3. Dynamic capabilities mean that hoteliers can respond in real-time

For example, a traveler may begin searching for a Fairmont property in Chicago, and then be served an ad for their Millennium Park property. But later, the person changes his or her mind, and begins searching for trips to San Francisco. Facebook can respond to that change in intent, serving an ad for the Fairmont San Francisco, reflecting the travelers change in preference. This allows travel marketers to reach people at the right time with messaging more reflective of their intent signals, throughout the full path to purchase.

Example of Fairmonts Facebook ads

Sojern drove over 13,000 hotel bookings while reducing Fairmonts overall Cost Per Booking (CPB) by $34 and their mobile CPB by $44 with Facebook Dynamic Ads for Travel (DAT). Download our full case study to learn more.

Unsure how to get started? Get in touch with one of our travel specialists now to maximize your Facebook efforts.

About Ashley

Ashley is Sojern's Marketing Manager, EMEA & APAC and works in the London office. Originally from Canada, she's been living in London for over four years, and is actively trying to fill all the pages in her passport. She has never met a cheese she didn't like.

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 2021 Hotel News ResourceKnowland announced that it has acquired Strategic Data Resources (SDR), effective February 15, 2018. Knowland is a globally recognized provider of meeting and group data that offers extensive insight into market analytics, group industry trends, and powerful benchmarking tools. The company is headquartered in Rosslyn, Virginia, right outside the nation's capital.

Knowland announced that it has acquired Strategic Data Resources (SDR), effective February 15, 2018. Knowland is a globally recognized provider of meeting and group data that offers extensive insight into market analytics, group industry trends, and powerful benchmarking tools. The company is headquartered in Rosslyn, Virginia, right outside the nation's capital.

SDR was founded in 2004 by Jeff Eastman. Headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas, SDR provides reports to convention and visitors bureaus and hotel sales teams who use their self-reported future looking booked meeting data to benchmark key metrics such as booking pace versus their competitor markets. The bookings, provided by participating CVBs in markets across the US and Canada, are aggregated, analyzed, and configured into the TAP Report which has become an industry standard for CVBs. It serves as a critical tool used to continually check the success or shortcomings of their sales strategies. SDR also offers TAP Analytics, a cloud-based business intelligence solution built on the TAP Report data. SDR's TAP Hotel reports provide participating hotels a forward-looking tool for benchmarking group bookings pace versus their competitive set. TAP Hotel is the only hotel benchmarking solution that covers the entire group booking window, which often extends many years into the future.

"We are excited to be bringing SDR and Knowland together," stated Tim Hart, Chief Executive Officer of Knowland. "Jeff and his team have built an amazing company with an incredibly solid reputation. By combining TAP reporting with Knowland's market intelligence and lead generation capabilities, we will be able to offer our joint customers an even more powerful set of tools for generating and managing demand."

"We are excited to partner with Knowland to bring a more comprehensive and robust product offering to our customers in the hospitality space," said Jeff Eastman, CEO of SDR. "By leveraging our market data, we see an opportunity to dramatically enhance Knowland's lead generation and hotel property analytics."

Jeff will remain a part of the business going forward, joining Knowland to continue supporting the needs of TAP customers.

About Knowland

Knowland provides group data and innovative technology to help hotels, CVBs, and other venues drive revenue with meetings market intelligence. Knowland offers extensive insight into market analytics, industry trends, and powerful benchmarking for booking better-qualified group business. Acting on behalf of the hospitality industry as a whole, as well as its customers, Knowland continually strives to increase transparency of the group market and deliver best-in-class meetings and events sales solutions.

For more information, please visit Knowland's website at www.knowland.com or call (202) 312-5880.

About SDR

Strategic Data Resources' mission is to provide convention and visitors bureaus empirical data to make well informed strategic sales and marketing decisions. SDR is the only company providing forward-looking market data to the hospitality industry. SDR collects monthly data downloads from 70 convention bureaus and 130 hotels that includes room night patterns on 300 million room nights in past demand as well as 300 million room nights in future demand. The information included in the TAP Report package allows the convention bureau, hotels, and convention center to strategically position future convention bids. Bureau members utilize Strategic Data Resources' products to develop and measure their own sales and marketing strategies. Regional and National trend information is also available as needed.

SDR currently has over 70 convention bureau clients, and 130 hotel clients in the United States and Canada.

Primary Contact:

Jim Vandevender

Chief Marketing Officer

Email: jvandevender@knowland.com

Phone: (202) 351-1522

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 2021 Hotel News ResourceAmerilodge Group, a hotel ownership and management company based in Bloomfield Hills, announced the opening of a new Holiday Inn Express & Suites hotel at 6295 Melton Road, Portage, IN

Amerilodge Group, a hotel ownership and management company based in Bloomfield Hills, announced the opening of a new Holiday Inn Express & Suites hotel at 6295 Melton Road, Portage, IN 46368.

Near the beautiful southern shores of Lake Michigan, the Holiday Inn Express & Suites Portage hotel is both a convenient workplace and a comfortable home away from home. Portage is intersected by several major highways, including Interstate 94 and Interstates 80/90. It is also less than an hour away from downtown Chicago making this hotel's location perfect for business and leisure guests alike.

If you're visiting the hotel's locale for work in Portage, Indiana, you can rely on the free high-speed, WiFi access and the 24-hour Business Center to help you meet deadlines. Major corporations, such as Fronius, NLMK Indiana, U.S. Steel Corporation and Graycor are within miles.

Leisure guests can enjoy amazing attractions in and around Portage, Indiana. Your vacation starts right in our city's backyard with a public marina and the Portage Lakefront and Riverwalk providing easy access to beautiful beaches and Lake Michigan. Also, just a few miles away is the Indiana Dunes.

The 87 room hotel will feature the newest design for the Holiday Inn Express brand, "Introducing...Formula Blue". The guestrooms will include a flexible work space; functional storage units, providing horizontal luggage storage; convenient moveable seating allowing guests to use the space in ways that work best for them; a newly designed decor for the guestroom. The open lobby design will enable guests, in particular the business traveler, to be able to connect and fulfill their overall technology needs.

Additional hotel amenities include an indoor swimming pool, an exercise room, valet laundry service, complimentary Wi-Fi, as well as fax and copy services. The hotel also offers over 1,131 square feet of meeting space to accommodate functions of up to 100 people.

Asad Malik, President & CEO of the Amerilodge Group said: "It gives us great pleasure to be able to bring a clean, modern, and technology friendly driven lodging accommodation to the Portage community. With the Formula Blue Concept, we expect this to be an award-winning hotel and the preferred lodging choice for the business and leisure travelers in the Portage and Porter County area."

"A lot of hard work went into the opening of this property and we are so glad to be able to share this amazing hotel with the community," said Jonale Houseknecht, Area Director of Sales. In addition, Courtney Graham, Regional Director of Operations said, "We love to build hotels that our guests will love and we look forward to the future of Amerilodge Group."

The Holiday Inn Express & Suites, Portage is expected to add more than 30 jobs to the Portage community.

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 2021 Hotel News ResourceA lease agreement has been concluded for the IntercityHotel Zurich Airport with Patrizier Beteiligungs AG, which will act as investor and developer, and more joint projects are in the pipeline. This will be the first hotel to operate under the IntercityHotel brand in Switzerland and is scheduled to open in 2020.

Following the recent signing of an agreement for the IntercityHotel Riyadh Malaz in Saudi Arabia, the brand is now also planning to strengthen its presence in Europe further. A lease agreement has been concluded for the IntercityHotel Zurich Airport with Patrizier Beteiligungs AG, which will act as investor and developer, and more joint projects are in the pipeline. This will be the first hotel to operate under the IntercityHotel brand in Switzerland and is scheduled to open in 2020.

The new IntercityHotel Zurich Airport will have around 250 rooms. It will also offer a restaurant, a bar and conference facilities that will extend over an area of just over 450 square metres. Guests will enjoy the use of a health and beauty spa and gym, and the project includes plans for 150 parking spaces. Interior design will be by the Italian architect Matteo Thun in accordance with the brand's latest design generation.

As far as transport links are concerned, the IntercityHotel Zurich Airport is extremely conveniently positioned at Rumlang Station right next to the airport grounds. From this location, Zurich International Airport can be accessed in only ten minutes, and the city centre is also just 15 minutes away. Zurich has around 400,000 inhabitants. It is the largest city in Switzerland and acts as the most important transport hub in the country for rail and air travel.

Joachim Marusczyk, Managing Director of IntercityHotel GmbH, commented on this latest hotel to open under the brand. "The IntercityHotel Zurich Airport represents our brand debut in Switzerland and will also enable us to enhance our presence at major airport locations. We are delighted to have acquired such a reliable partner for this project in the form of Patrizier Beteiligungs AG."

Gerard van Liempt, CEO of Patrizier Beteiligungs AG, added, "The team of Patrizier Beteiligungs AG and Swiss based Architect Stephan Renner AG are pleased to announce the delivery of a turnkey 260 room hotel, the IntercityHotel in Rumlang near Zurich Airport scheduled for opening in Summer 2020. Just like Deutsche Hospitality, Patrizier Beteiligungs AG is seeking to pursue a course of expansion. For this reason, we are planning further joint projects."

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 2021 Hotel News ResourceLabour LGBT in the Republic of Ireland is urging the British government to play catch up with us here and finally legalise for marriage equality in Northern Ireland.

Labour LGBT has written to its sister Party Groups SDLP LGBT+ and LGBT Labour UK to formally support the campaign for the UK parliament in Westminster to introduce marriage equality in Northern Ireland for same sex couples.

Speaking on the issue Labour LGBT Co-Chairs Karl Hayden and Aoife Leahy said: "Same sex couples in Northern Ireland deserve the same rights of equality as their lesbian, gay, bi and trans counterparts in Britain and Ireland."

In November 2015 the Northern Ireland Assembly voted in favour of Marriage Equality based on a motion introduced jointly by the SDLP.

But this vote was vetoed by the Democratic Unionist Party. "Which we see as an abuse of the Petition of Concern introduced as part of the Belfast Agreement in 1998. Northern Ireland is now the only part of these islands not to provide Marriage Equality for its citizens," says Karl.

The petition, along with recent opinion polls, shows majority approval for Marriage Equality in Northern Ireland.

"We are calling on the Westminster Parliament to legislate for Marriage Equality in Northern Ireland," adds Karl.

In the current context of possible direct British Rule we will be lobbying our British Labour counterparts, LGBT Labour UK to work to bring an end to the inequality faced by same-sex couples in Northern Ireland."The flood of U.S. oil exports stepped up a gear on Monday after the first fully laden supertanker sailed from an American port, alleviating a bottleneck that's limited overseas shipments.

The Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, or LOOP, the only deep water port in the U.S. able to handle the industry's biggest tankers, said in a statement it had successfully completed the first loading of a very large crude carrier. Shipping data compiled by Bloomberg show the tanker is the Saudi Arabian-owned Shaden, now heading to the Chinese port of Rizhao.

"There could not be a better time to offer this service as domestic production surpasses 10 million barrels per day in the ever-dynamic global crude oil market," said LOOP LLC President Tom Shaw.

LOOP has been a vital piece of U.S. energy infrastructure for more than 30 years, handling oil imports from across the world as well as gathering crude pumped from deepwater deposits in the Gulf of Mexico. Since it started receiving oil in 1981, it has offloaded 10,200 tankers.

The Shaden, which is owned by the National Shipping Co. of Saudi Arabia and carries the flag of the kingdom, was the first VLCC to load oil at the port rather than discharge it.

Pipelines and ports have become the biggest bottleneck in U.S. oil exports, with traders at times engineering logistically complex chains combining railways, trucks, pipelines, barges, and ship-to-ship transfers to get crude out of the country. As U.S. output surpasses the record high of 10 million barrels a day set in 1970, trading houses, pipeline owners and ports are investing in new infrastructure to ship more American crude overseas.

While U.S. crude has already been exported using supertankers, other ports are too shallow to allow full loadings, meaning smaller ships must shuttle multiple cargoes to the giant vessels as they wait to load offshore. LOOP, because it stands in deeper water about 18 miles off of the Louisiana coast, allows the industry's largest tankers to load in one go.

Using very large crude carriers will significantly cut shipping costs. The new export capacity at LOOP will allow the supertankers to deliver foreign crude into the U.S. and depart laden, known as back-hauling in the industry's jargon, rather than returning empty.

LOOP said the "shipper of record" was the trading arm of Royal Dutch Shell Plc. However, data compiled by Bloomberg showed the Shaden was booked last month by Unipec, China's biggest oil trader. a unit of the country's refining giant China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., or Sinopec.

LOOP didn't disclose what kind of oil the Shaden loaded, but traders said it was unlikely U.S. shale oil. It's more likely to be a mix of crude pumped out of the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.

Washington lifted a 40-year ban on most oil exports in late 2015, reshaping the world's energy map as U.S. crude was shipped to countries including Switzerland, China, Israel and even the United Arab Emirates. The de facto export ban, which only allowed a few exceptions, was imposed in the aftermath of a 1973 to 1974 oil embargo led by Saudi Arabia.

Even though the country remains a net oil importer, U.S. crude exports have surged to a record high of 2.1 million barrels since the ban was lifted. China and other Asian nations have become big buyers.Weightless flights are returning to Houston, allowing space enthusiasts to summersault or practice their Neil Armstrong moon walk.

Zero Gravity Corp. provides the sensation of floating in zero gravity by flying parabolic arcs with a modified Boeing 727. The company used to be a Houston regular assisting NASA with research at Ellington Airport. But those NASA flights were moved elsewhere, and the company has spent the past few years focusing on the East and West coasts.

It's returning to Houston Saturday - and again Sept. 22 - with a consumer focus and roughly $5,000 price tag.

RELATED: NASA's Mission Control team shifts to younger recruits

"For people who are interested in space travel, whether that's suborbital or orbital, our entry at the price point of $5,000 is quite a lot less than the $250,000 to $50 million price range to go to space," said Zero-G CEO Terese Brewster. "Yes, it's not inexpensive. But comparatively, I think it's well worth the price."

The company was founded in 1993, inspired by NASA's Vomit Comet, and took its first flight in 2004.

Here's how it works: before starting a parabola, the plane flies level to the horizon at an altitude of 24,000 feet. The pilot gradually increases the angle of the aircraft, reaching an altitude of 32,000 feet and providing passengers with 1.8 Gs. The plane is then "pushed over" to create the zero-gravity segment of the parabola lasting 20 to 30 seconds.

This is repeated 15 times. To ease passengers into the experience, the first parabola imitates the gravity on Mars at one-third a passenger's bodyweight. The next two parabolas replicate the moon, or one-sixth a passenger's bodyweight. The final 12 maneuvers attain zero gravity.

"You can feel a little bit out of control the first time you're in zero," Brewster said. "Plus it's kind of cool. During the lunars, you can re-enact walking on the moon."

The flight portion of the Zero-G experience lasts 1 to 2 hours. The entire experience, however, lasts about five hours and includes orientation, breakfast, security screening and a post-flight lunch.

Zero-G has flown children as young as 8 and adults up to 93. It's open to people who may not be able to actually fly in space, including children with Make-a-Wish Foundation, paraplegics and quadriplegics.

As people prepare to explore Mars, which requires a longer duration in space, Zero-G flights are being used to test equipment including ovens, washing machines and medical devices. This push for commercial space has also prompted more consumers to seek out Zero-G flights.

MORE: SpaceX success gives Texans reason to cheer

"It's definitely fueling more interest," Brewster said. "What we're gearing up for is that point in time when there will be many more private citizens going up."

She expects customers will book Zero-G flights to experience weightlessness before booking an even pricier ticket to experience the real zero gravity. Zero-G will also work with space tourism companies to assist with their pre-flight training.

"I think it will be essential for people to experience weightlessness prior to going up in space," she said.

The first example of space tourism is largely considered to have occurred on April 28, 2001, when American businessman Dennis Tito flew to the International Space Station aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft. John Spencer, an outer-space architect and founder of the Space Tourism Society, said seven people flew to the space station as tourists.

The last flight was in 2009. There's simply no room for tourists on the space station, he said.

"We're in a lull right now simply because there isn't access to space," he said. "There's a waiting list and desire. So there's a market to tap into. There just hasn't been the vehicles to do it."

Once those vehicles are ready, he thinks weightless flights like those provided by Zero-G will be required orientation for tourists wishing to experience the real thing. He thinks that, even once space tourism resumes, there will be a market for zero-gravity flights as many people won't be able to afford suborbital or orbital flights.

RELATED: Aerospace talent in Texas lauded

For those wanting to book a Zero-G flight, Brewster said they shouldn't worry about receiving a Vomit Comet experience.

"The Vomit Comet had that name because of the kind of missions it would fly," she said. "And it was typically 30-plus parabolas. It was quite often used to train, so that meant getting people sick was part of the training process because they were going to go to space."

She said less than 5 percent of people get sick on Zero-G flights. They can usually tolerate 15 parabolas.The Houston Early Music Festival performance Friday night gave solid evidence that the quality of early music -baroque music, often played on period instruments - performance in Houston is very good.

Ars Lyrica joined forces with The Bach Society Houston to perform two seminal oratorios. The first-ever American oratorio, Samuel Felsted's "Jonah," was paired with "Esther," the first oratorio by George Frideric Handel who would go on to compose "Messiah." The music-making was accomplished, idiomatic and tightly controlled, easily holding audience interest over 2 hours. But several of "Esther's" highlights transcended the concert setting and gave a tantalizing glimpse of something greater.

Bach Society director Rich Erickson led Felsted's "Jonah" from the harpsichord, and while the performance may not have unveiled a neglected masterpiece, with its 40-minute length and stylistic similarities, the American oratorio made a good opening act for the Handel headliner.

Written in 1775 in Kingston, Jamaica, "Jonah's" score was firmly in the Handelian baroque tradition, albeit not quite as full of showy vocal ornamentation. Where "Jonah" was found wanting was in its sense of drama. The familiar tale of Jonah and the Whale is there, but it's not much more fleshed out than its biblical source.

Ars Lyrica artistic director Matthew Dirst led Handel's "Esther" from the harpsichord. The German composer's greater gift of melodic inventiveness was immediately apparent from the Overture and accounted for one of the evening's highlights. In the first act, the 1st Israelite (sung by tenor Cody Arthur) sings the aria "Tune Your Harps to Cheerful Strains." Handel's accompaniment has all of the string players in his orchestra pluck their instruments, the violins and violas held like miniature guitars. The surprising and gorgeous aural effect sounded like a choir of harps happily responding to the 1st Israelite's command.

Handel's characteristic ornamentation was also much in evidence in "Esther." However, it was "Esther's" greater narrative cohesion that really distinguished the nearly 300-year-old work, with its simple but coherent plot and characters relating to one another onstage and engaging in dialogue in duets.

The performance found a new gear altogether in the third act, thanks largely to rising young countertenor Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen as the 3rd Israelite. In the dolorous recitative "How Have Our Sins Provoked the Lord" and aria "O Jordan, Jordan, Sacred Tide," he reacts to Haman's decree that all Jews in Persia are to be slaughtered.

Cohen employed mournful vocal colors as his countertenor easily filled the hall with luscious tone. The anguish playing across his face as he sang drove the impending tragedy home to great expressive effect.

As with all his oratorios, Handel seemed to be inspired by "Esther's" dramatic biblical narrative in a way that the often trite plots he was saddled with in his operas did not.

Cohen joined Dirst and the orchestra to seize upon Handel's inspiration and elevate this scene beyond concert music-making, bringing "Esther" to vivid, dramatic life.

There clearly is theatrical as well as musical gold to be mined in Handel's oratorios for artists who can dig deep enough to find it.Television's continuing fascination with analyzing a crime from several sides has produced great series that remind us that there are degrees of morality beyond absolute guilt or innocence in any human story. The genre isn't new, but shows like "American Crime Story" and "Law & Order: True Crime" have come a long way from the cops and lawyers setup of the original "Law & Order" series.

ABC's "American Crime" was among the best of these shows for three seasons until its regrettable cancellation last May. One of its stars, the Emmy winner Regina King, now stars in the new Netlfix series "Seven Seconds," whose first season is available for streaming on Friday. King's presence is only one of the reasons the new show evokes memories of "American Crime" and makes comparison unavoidable.

"Seven Seconds" was created by Veena Sud, her first new show since the groundbreaking "The Killing," which premiered in 2011. The new series focuses on how life can radically change direction in only a matter of seconds, not just for the victim and perpetrator, but for many others. It's the butterfly effect applied to human behavior.

Peter Jablonski (a superb Beau Knapp) is driving his SUV on a snow-packed road through a northern New Jersey park, using his cellphone because his wife, Marie (Michelle Veintimilla), has gone into early labor. He hits something, stops the car and sees a kid's bike under his wheels when he gets out.

More Information 'Seven Seconds' 10-episode first season available Friday on Netflix xxx See More Collapse

What happens next cannot be undone, and the strength of the series is how often we are reminded of that fact. Jablonski is convinced by fellow Jersey City cops Mike Diangelo (David Lyons) and other cops to flee the scene. We so much want him to make the right decision, knowing already that what he is about to do will inevitably catch up with him. But Jablonski caves, and his fate is set.

We don't see the face of the injured bike rider for quite a while, just flashes here and there, but he is the teenage son of Isaiah and Latrice Butler (Russell Hornsby and King). Their lives are of course most deeply impacted by those seven seconds, but so are the lives of many others, including Jablonski and his wife, of course, but also Jersey City detective Joe "Fish" Rinaldi (Michael Mosley) and a young, alcoholic assistant district attorney, K.J. Harper (Clare-Hope Ashitey). Rinaldi is driven to find out the truth about the accident, suspecting involvement by the cops. One of his challenges is to keep K.J. sober enough to focus on the case.

The series moves slowly, too slowly, in fact, slogging from character to character, taking its not so sweet time trying to make sure we haven't missed the point and, in doing so, constantly underestimating the audience.

As it plods along, "Seven Seconds" is often redeemed by superb performances from actors who are constantly called on to make the best of overwritten and not always credible dialogue. King, of course, is the emotional center of the story, but there are equally effective performances from Knapp, Mosley, Lyons, Gretchen Mol as a cold-blooded defense attorney and especially Ashitey. K.J. Harper is perhaps the most troubled and complex character in the series, and Ashitey wisely underplays her to make her not only credible but empathetic. The creation of a flawed crusader for justice is one of Sud's smarter decisions.

As the story builds, so does the excess. We get a ton of heavy-handed symbolism involving the Statue of Liberty, and high moral posturing that represents the key difference between the unerring quality of "American Crime" and the sometimes watchable mess that is "Seven Seconds." John Ridley knew to build his messages into the characters and plots of the three "American Crime" seasons. Eventually, Sud all but abandons her characters in favor of out-and-out preaching in the series long awaited final episode when some but not all of the plot elements are resolved - many in too convenient ways.

Along the way, we get alcoholism, racial prejudice, police corruption, gang affiliations, secret gay romance, drug addiction, witness murders and general overfreighting by a show creator who doesn't trust either her characters or her audience.

I would have gladly given Sud a few extra seconds to edit "Seven Seconds" into the series it wants to be, the series that both the cast and the audience deserve.Have your allergies kicked in yet? Tree pollen is heavy, according to the Houston Health Department, with cedar, ash, pine and elm as the major culprits.

"Every year in Houston, the allergy season is bad," Dr. Joshua Septimus, a Bellaire internist affiliated with Houston Methodist Hospital and Weill Cornell Medical School, has said. "I have yet to see one that is not severe."

It's just a matter of degree.

If you have clear nasal discharge and a very low (or no) fever, chances are you just have allergies and not a respiratory infection, Septimus says.

A pharmacist can suggest effective over-the-counter treatment, and you may not have to see a doctor at all.

"There's a lot you can do at home," he says.

But of course, it's Houston.

"Allergens are in the air all year long," he says. "There's always stuff."

While avoidance is the best way to prevent allergies, it's often impossible to steer clear of allergens. Medications, such as nasal sprays, eye drops or antihistamines, offer symptomatic relief.

To identify a patient's allergies, a specialist may conduct skin or blood testing. For some people, a program of allergy shots can provide significant relief.

NOTHING TO SNEEZE AT: The Houston man with 84 food allergies

ALLERGY-FIGHTING TIPS



Kelsey-Seybold Clinic offered these tips to help manage allergy symptoms:

Take an allergen-free vacation. Vacation in an area where there are fewer allergens or when they aren't at their peak.

Avoid allergen hot spots. If you're allergic to mold, stay away from areas likely to be moldy  neighborhoods with debris, attics, shady and leafy areas.

Manage cat and dog allergies. Bathe and brush your pet weekly. Wear a face mask when cleaning or handling your pet or when cleaning kitty litter. Thoroughly clean the area afterward. Or better yet, have someone else do these tasks. HEPA air filters in bedrooms can also reduce airborne animal dander.

Use air conditioners. Use home and auto air conditioners to help keep out molds and pollens.

Avoid exposure to chemicals, fumes, tobacco smoke, air pollution, etc. These irritants can trigger nasal symptoms and make your allergic reactions worse.

Dust-proof your home. Remove dust mite hideouts such as wall-to-wall carpeting, Venetian blinds, down blankets, feather pillows, general clutter and so-called "dust catchers." In the bedroom, remove items such as upholstered furniture, stuffed animals, carpeting, and draperies.

Consider encasing bedding and pillows in zippered, plastic, dust-mite-proof cases.

Wash bedding weekly in hot water to kill dust mites.

Vacuum with a special high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter or a vacuum with a double-filter bag.

Melissa Aguilar, Kyrie O'Connor and Jim Molony contributed to this report.For months, Ed and Candy Mathiasen have navigated around furniture set up in the middle of their living room, their Friendswood home still a work-in-progress after 20 inches of water sat in their home for three days from Hurricane Harvey.

Volunteers helped muck out the home and remove wet drywall and insulation, but then it took seven weeks of living in a gutted home with fans and dehumidifiers in every room. Ed spot-checked various places in the house several times a day to gauge how well the home was drying out. Before the hurricane, the 74-year-old retired NASA engineer didn't even know what a moisture meter was. Now he owns one.

The key to getting his home back to normal started with getting it dry - or dry enough.

The goal - the point at which it's OK to start moving forward - is 15 percent or less moisture, say experts. Anyone who starts sooner risks setting the stage for mold growth.

Though Hurricane Harvey may be nearly six months behind us, thousands of homeowners are still coping with mold abatement, flood damage and repairs. More than 136,000 homes and other buildings in the region were affected by the flooding.

AFTERMATH: Houston City Council clears way for another 40 flood-prone homes to elevate

While plenty have brought in contractors to complete work and have replaced damaged furniture, Realtors, mold abatement and inspection companies say the hurricane's damage is likely to haunt us for years.

Bettina Garnero, a Keller-Williams Metropolitan Realtor, said her industry is figuring out how to manage clients' sales and purchases in these post-flooding months.

"The biggest change we've seen is the fact that instead of a seller's disclosure that property took on water, they're asking for supplemental disclosure about Harvey, how it was affected, how much water was on the property or in the home. There's no regulation other than that," Garnero said.

For now, Garnero said she and her colleagues are asking for any and all documentation that sellers can provide about repairs and mold abatement, including a certificate of mold damage remediation - also called a CMDR - from a licensed mold inspector. Home inspections that take place when a home is being sold look for many things, but inspectors have an eye out for any sign of mold, too.

Moisture levels

Ryan Miller, vice president of Honesty Environmental Services, a licensed contractor doing mold abatement, agreed that 15 percent or less is the right target for wood studs and flooring. If you're checking remaining drywall, it's less than 0.8 percent, he said.

Mold propagates at 18-20 percent, so 15 gets you below the action level.

Don't leave gauging your moisture level to a touch test. Thick wall studs may feel dry on the surface, but can take weeks or months to completely dry.

"The only thing you can control is moisture. When you add it in, mold will grow exponentially. It's critical that when you discover a leak in your home, you act in a 72-hour window. These houses that were put back together still moist or wet, that mold is now growing," said Gordon Fox, owner of Fox Residential Services Group, state-licensed mold inspectors.

Fox said proper work included ripping out flooring, drywall and insulation 2 feet above your water mark, then using air conditioning, fans and dehumidifiers to dry out what was left.

Affected kitchens and bathrooms needed at least lower cabinets, drywall and insulation removed to get out the moisture there as well.

There are different kinds of moisture meters, Fox said: infrared cameras or hand-held moisture meters that are either nonintrusive or intrusive.

The most accurate method is an infrared camera, also called thermal radiation, which is aimed at your wall or wall stud. It converts the surface temperature to a graphic picture - wet materials have a different thermal signature than dry materials, Fox said.

Fox's more finely tuned infrared camera can detect a one-tenth of a degree difference.

Intrusive moisture meters have two pins, or electrodes that penetrate the wood and measure the electrical resistance between the electrodes. The more moisture, the more easily the electricity flows.

Nonintrusive meters use radio frequency signals to scan wood for moisture. They won't put holes in your wood, but they also will test less than an inch into your wood.

"If you're not using infrared, you're not using the latest technology," Fox said.

Mold abatement

To address existing mold or to prevent it from growing, Fox and Miller both said antimicrobial products are necessary. Even things as simple as bleach, hydrogen peroxide or vinegar mixed in water can be effective if used properly.

If you don't get it out now, you could have a problem on your hands when summer's heat and humidity fully arrive. Evidence will be visible mold on your walls or other surfaces, or when people in your home develop health problems from breathing in mold spores.

Miller said that his firm isolates mold-affected areas with plastic sheeting and negative air filters. They clean studs and apply biocides, allowing it to dry for 24 to 48 hours before returning to check.

Getting rid of mold is not an exact science, Miller acknowledged, saying that the threshold for indoor mold spores is that it must be less than whatever it is outdoors.

That's why his final check includes measuring indoor and outdoor air samples, to make sure indoor levels are safer. The "not an exact science" part comes in with our changing seasons and weather. For example, during seasons with heavy mold counts outdoors, it's too easy to have less indoors. If it's raining out, any test will be inaccurate.

People who used solutions with bleach, hydrogen peroxide or vinegar may need to clean their homes several times. He said that products such as Kilz, which can be purchased at hardware and home stores, can be affective, especially if surfaces have been cleaned first.

Miller said that he prefers Foster brand products with a 40-50 mold resistant coating rating.

NEED TO KNOW: 7 tips for addressing mold abatement, inspection in flood-damaged homes

Licensed inspection

Once you've dealt with mold, it's important to get a certificate of mold damage remediation. This ensures you can prove later - to insurance companies, a mortgage company or Realtor if you ever need to sell your home - that you dealt with potential problems after the hurricane if you had flooding.

Your certificate must come from a licensed inspector - and that inspector will not be the person you hired to prevent or get rid of mold. You can find lists of licensed mold abatement companies and licensed home inspectors on the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation website at license.state.tx.us.

"A CMDR can only be signed by a licensed consultant. It says someone looked at your home and everything is good," Miller said. "I have heard that some people are doing it without a license - those certificates are pretty much worthless and you probably paid several hundred dollars for it."

His advice: Make sure your certificate has the Texas Department of Insurance seal and the inspector's signature includes a license number that starts with "MAC." When you hire an inspector to check for mold, ask to see their license; they are supposed to carry them and it should have a photo of the inspector on it.

Fox's home inspection company evaluates a home for much more than mold, and it's the largest inspection company in Houston, looking at 60 to 100 homes a week.

As he and his employees compare notes, he said, they're seeing many homes without effective cleanup or treatment.

"There are more that I cannot give (a mold remediation certificate) than I can give. I won't rubber stamp it," Fox said. "I have a lot of empathy for people, so I have to remove myself. I feel their pain, and it hurts me tremendously."Visit the Louis Vuitton store at Galleria Wednesday and you're more likely to think you're at an art exhibit than a fashion store, with the arrival of the luxury firm's exclusive Objets Nomades collection.

Started in 2012, the collection is filled with limited-edition home furnishings from collaborations with some of the world's best designers. The full collection has 25 pieces, and 15 will be in the Houston installation, which runs through March 7.

Originally slated to arrive in Houston in September, the run was rescheduled because of Hurricane Harvey and its widespread damage. After its appearance in Houston, the collection - which rarely travels - will go to Los Angeles, Chicago and Toronto.

Architect/designers and brands include Patricia Urquiola, India Mahdav, Raw Edges, Damien Langlois-Meurinne and Atelier Oi. Patrick Reymond - who founded Atelier Oi with partners Armand Louis and Aurel Aebi in Switzerland in 1991 - will visit Houston for the grand-opening reception Wednesday.

All of the designers used Louis Vuitton leather in their home furnishings, which range from outdoor swings to chairs, stools, tables and lamps.

Reymond took time recently to talk about his design work, Louis Vuitton and what inspires him.

Q: How did you become part of this exclusive group collaborating with Louis Vuitton?

A: We were in at the beginning of the Objets Nomades story. We were invited by Louis Vuitton to visit Asnieres, a small city near Paris where the family lives and Louis Vuitton began. The workshop there has really highly skilled workers where they make special pieces. We were fascinated by these people.

Q: How did you decide what pieces you would make for Objets Nomades?

A: We thought about when people are traveling and exploring  we were thinking "OK, if we were exploring Africa, maybe we will need to have with us a place to sleep and a place to sit." The first object was the little folding stool. You can carry this object when it is flat; it was inspired by origami. It took a year to year and a half to design, and lots of prototypes.

Q: You say that your firm's belief is that "form follows emotion," where others would say "form follows function." Could you explain this?

A: Emotion is directly related to our process. For example, if you want to cook, you need to taste first. You have the ingredients to taste different things; we are doing the same with materials. We feel them, we smell them.

Then the emotion would be to see the beautiful finished work of a highly skilled worker. We keep this emotion in our memory  and we come back to the same emotion and use it as inspiration for other objects. It's a process of discovery.

Q: Can you give me an example of that?

A: The hammock, the idea was to use a piece of leather ribbon. We like a traditional hammock, but when we tested the hammock, it was not so comfortable. We had to find a way to create a three-dimensional figure. One of my partners was cooking pasta, the kind that looks like a butterfly, a "papillon" - farfalle pasta.

When he takes the pasta from the water and puts it in his mouth, it is three-dimensional, but smooth and soft. This was the inspiration to create the three-dimensional leather structure of the hammock.

The way to create comfort and aesthetic of the object came from the emotion of the pasta in the mouth, that it was so soft. This is a story of emotion.

Q: Your Objets Nomades products are all in Louis Vuitton leather. What materials do you use in other things you make?

A: We have 20,000 different materials in our library. Mainly, we try to work with natural materials. We are in Switzerland and working a lot from wood that is here, forest pine and oak. You use the materials in your natural environment, what is around you. We are surrounded by forests and mountains. The natural environment has a great influence on our work.

Q: What else would you like to say about the full collection?

A: The designers all know each other and we talk a lot about our work. It is something that we are all passionate about. If you see the complete collection, you see what the pieces have in common. You will feel a strong identity of each designer, but it's a good balance between the identity of the designer and the identity of Louis Vuitton. It is something really special.An announcement came over the intercom. "This is a lockdown drill. I repeat: This is a lockdown drill."

Immediately, all my students moved quickly to sit along the wall. They knew to go there, where they would be hidden if someone looked in the window or the door.

I turned off the lights. We sat in the dark, in silence, for much longer than I had expected. Every so often, a few kids would whisper or giggle. I told them to hush. Next to me, a student with some developmental delays sniffled with his head down. It was loud enough that students around him noticed. I wondered if he was sick  he missed two days earlier in the week with the flu  or if he was remembering the news he heard last night and was scared.

My students behaved well. They sat in awkward and uncomfortable silence for almost 10 minutes. Each time I heard them giggle or whisper, though, my stomach turned. We were preparing for a hypothetical day that would become the worst day of all our lives. It was most likely just the benign restlessness of teenagers.

But it also could have been nervousness. They're not little kids. They know what's happening in the world around them. They have already told me they saw the videos posted to Snapchat and Instagram. They heard the gunshots. They saw the parents and children tearfully reunited on television. They came to school and asked me what I would do if I was put in the position where I needed to protect them.

Their curiosity is not pointless or unnecessary. In the first 45 days of the year  approximately 27 days of school  there have already been 18 school shootings in the U.S. They know the numbers, and they were beginning to know fear.

TEACHERS AREN'T SOLDIERS: Run, hide, fight? After Sandy Hook, we need a new motto

The lockdown drill was not a response to the shooting in Parkland, Florida. The drill was planned six weeks in advance. I had expected the school to cancel the drill. I thought it was too soon to ask our students to play out the fears they had all been confronted with the night before.

But when I was getting into bed the night before, I heard my phone vibrate one long tone. I saw that my school's principal had sent us an email reflecting on the shooting. She clarified that we would have the drill as planned. It was more necessary now than ever.

THE PARKLAND shooting coincided with Ash Wednesday. That morning, I set an early alarm and was at my local church by 6:15 am. I wanted to make certain that I fulfilled my obligation of fasting as well as attain the ashes I have so lovingly worn every year around this time.

I yawned my way though mass and left with a particularly black cross on my forehead. I spent the rest of the day distracting myself from the hunger I felt in my stomach and assuring all my students that the mark on my forehead was intentional.

Most students were placated with a superficial answer. But one of my young men took the time to pull me aside and inquire about the significance of my ashes.

"Miss, I know they're a religious thing, but like ... what do they mean?" he whispered.

"It's a bit deep, and not particularly happy. Would you like to know?"

He nodded.

"Well, they're a reminder that I am going to die. They're a reminder that I am a sinner, and my life will one day end. I need to make sure that my intentions and actions are affixed to the knowledge that I am affecting not just myself in the present. I need to remember that we are all souls, and our lives are so much more significant that we realize in the moment. All my decisions should be made knowing how I affect others, not just my selfish desires in the moment."

"Whoa, Miss. That actually is deep," he said.

"I wasn't kidding."

AFTER PARKLAND: Another school shooting. Thoughts and prayers are not enough.

As the day went on, I began to get lightheaded. I had slept very little, and my stomach was incredibly empty. It was not difficult to remember how weak I am and how I will die one day. I tried to call to mind all the ways in which I had insufficiently served my students and my community. I tried to be the repentant soul I am called to be on Ash Wednesday.

When I got home that afternoon, I had become so hungry that I was having trouble getting any of my work done. I allowed myself one small snack of avocado on toast. As I ate, I turned on my TV. Immediately, I was captured by the image of dozens of teenagers streaming out of a school with their hands above their heads. Parents waiting behind barricades. An ambulance flying down the road.

It was not difficult to call to mind the fragile mortality of humans.

AS A Catholic, I prayed. I prayed for the souls of those who lost their lives in Florida, their families, friends, peers, teachers, communities. I also prayed a rosary dedicated to changing gun legislation in the United States.

Too many people send their "thoughts and prayers" in times of tragedy. So many people say this with such a superficiality that I truly cannot believe they are thinking or praying.

If you are thinking, truly thinking about the lives lost, are you not called to action? When you think about Newtown, are you not motivated to ensure that parents can send their children to school in the morning confident that they will come home safely for dinner? The parents of Charlotte, Daniel, Olivia, Josephine, Dylan, Madeleine, Catherine, Chase, Jesse, Ana, James, Grace, Emilie, Jack, Noah, Caroline, Jessica, Avielle, Benjamin and Allison were not provided with that opportunity that night.

THE SCOPE OF LOSS: Five years after Sandy Hook, I can't forget his face

When you think about Newtown, are you not convinced that teachers should be focused on the academic and behavioral upbringing of their students? On Dec. 14, Rachel, Dawn, Anne, Lauren, Mary and Victoria gave more than they were ever expected to in service to their students.

When you pray, are you not convinced that God, Allah, Hashem or Whoever wants you to protect the lives of your brothers and sisters? I cannot fathom a God who would condone the killing of his children. If you sent thoughts and prayers to Newtown  or one of the countless other mass shootings  were you not called to prevent Parkland?

If you had not just thought and prayed, but allowed that thought and prayer to move you to action, maybe Alyssa, Scott, Martin, Nicholas, Aaron, Jaime, Chris, Luke, Cara, Gina, Joaquin, Alaina, Meadow, Helena, Alex, Carmen, and Peter would have gone home to their families and friends.

As a Catholic, I prayed. As a citizen, I wrote and I donated. I donated to candidates currently pursuing elected office who I believe will put gun legislation in place that will protect the lives of the innocent.

I wrote to my elected officials  John Cornyn, Ted Cruz, Ted Poe and Greg Abbott  asking them for common sense gun legislation. I sent them the following message:

Yesterday, when I turned on the news, I saw my ultimate fear. As a sister, I worry that a man with a gun will walk into my sisters' schools. As a teacher, I worry that I will be insufficiently able to protect my students against someone who wants to hurt them. Today, as a school, once again, we practiced what to do in such a time. At this point, I authentically no longer believe that those in power care about my safety, my sisters' safety or the safety of my beautiful students.

We need gun legislation and we need it now. Protecting the lives of the innocent is not infringing on Second Amendment rights. Rather, it is the protection of lives. Listen to the voices and opinions of your people. Please protect us.

I have not heard from two of the four men I wrote to.

But Ted Cruz responded immediately. It was both unsurprising and disappointing. When summarized, his message reads: I hear your worry, but I would rather protect the Second Amendment even when it is unpopular than not protect it at all.

While he does that, my students and I will spend 10 minutes in a pitch-black corner waiting for the lockdown to be over.

Sarah Monsen is a writer and teacher living in Houston.

Bookmark Gray Matters. It is not difficult to call to mind the fragile mortality of humans.A teen girl and boy were arrested in Montgomery County on Saturday, accused of staging a carjacking of the teen girl's father in an attempt to get money.

Susan Marie Mize, 17, was arrested the night of Feb. 17, after two males including the 16-year-old male approached the vehicle with Mize and her father inside near Rayford Road and used a gun to gain access to the car, authorities stated.Houston artists who love their city and want to see their artwork on display can take part in the city's "Sky Art" project, which aims to fill blank billboards with local artists.

Houston First Corporation, created by the City of Houston, is gathering submissions with the intent to give "local artist(s) the opportunity to have their artwork featured in multiple outdoor advertising locations around Houston," according to a description of the project. "Instead of 'your ad could be here' message on an unrented billboard, these outdoor advertisements will provide a moment to celebrate Houston and all that Houston has to offer."Sandra Bland's mother was going through a dark season before the multi-media exhibit honoring her daughter diminished the doldrums that have engulfed her from time to time.

Geneva Reed-Veal was having what she describes as a "spat of Sandy," so grief-stricken that she would only rise to eat breakfast and then go back to bed. But she was moved to get up and go to the exhibit's opening night at the Houston Museum of African American Culture, which brought her to tears at how her deceased daughter was brought to life.

"This is probably one of the most powerful pieces of art that I have ever seen in my lifetime," said Reed-Veal by phone on Friday. "Not just because it's my baby, but because it was done well. It was done with love."

The exhibit pays homage to Bland, then 28, who was arrested during a July 2015 traffic stop and found dead three days later hanging inside a Waller County Jail cell. Her death sparked months of legal turmoil for her family and heightened the national conversation about the treatment of African-Americans by police.

MINOR OFFENSES: DPS hears plea to change arrest rules to prevent another Sandra Bland case

The family in 2016 settled a wrongful death lawsuit for $1.9 million with Waller County officials and Brian Encinia, the state trooper who arrested Bland near Prairie View A & M, her alma mater. Encinia was also terminated from the Texas Department of Public Safety and cannot get another job in law enforcement as a result of the incident.

The Bland exhibit was the idea of John Guess Jr., the museum's chief executive officer. Guess said he wanted it to accurately depict Bland's personality and kindle a larger discussion about the fear African-Americans feel when they are stopped by law enforcement. It debuted on Feb. 3 and was only expected to run throughout Black History Month, but based on widespread demand will now remain open until the end of April.

"We needed to show the Bland family from the African-American community, that we understand the pain that was caused to them and the tragedy of their daughter that happened in our state," said Guess.

The exhibit's portrayal of how police treat African-Americans is personal for Guess. He's said he's been stopped several times by police and knows the fear Bland felt when she was pulled over.

"We are nervous when we see them," said Guess about the anxiety African-Americans feel during a traffic stop. "I wanted people to be able to feel that."

Guess and a small team in August began to create the exhibit and over the next several months continued construction until the show opened.

Bland's family played a very small role in the creation of the exhibit honoring their relative. Guess didn't even know Bland's mother planned to attend opening night until the day of the event.

"All we did was give them photos, "said Reed-Veal. "We didn't tell them where to put them. We didn't tell them anything."

When Reed-Veal walked through the exhibit for the first time, she was blown away by how accurately the museum pieced together the story of her daughter and that hundreds of people would show up for the opening. Guess let Read-Veal and Bland's sister Shante Needham have the first look before the throng of other guests could walk through. Reed-Veal said she was so touched that at one point she stopped and did "the ugly cry."

"It is the most humbling thing that I've ever seen because when I lost my daughter, I thought I was going to die," she said.

The exhibit takes guests through four different sections. First, guests can sit through a documentary produced by The New York Times where parents discuss preparing their African-American children for interactions with police. Then, they venture into another section that is set up like a living room where pictures of Bland supplied by the family are displayed and museum-goers watch a video of her.

The video plays clips from her YouTube channel Sandy Speaks. In the next room, guests sit inside a makeshift car and watch the infamous dashcam video that displays Bland's interaction with Encinia.

Guess describes that section as the most painful for museum goers.

"Did it not seem like Encinia was coming right towards your face?" Veal-Reed said about the video. "It was almost like you were really having an interaction with this guy."

The last room mirrors a chapel where guests can reflect on the entire exhibit. At the altar, sit candles and white flowers with a photo of a smiling Bland.

OTHERS: New law and Clute case raise questions about why unarmed people are shot by Texas police officers

Reed-Veal said her visit to the museum has helped to overcome her "spat of Sandy."

"As much as I would love to say that I want to be angry still, I'm not," said Reed-Veal. "The reason why is because even though Sandy left here the way that she did, even though it was really heinous, she's still speaking. Her spirit is still speaking all over this country."

Guess said he has been amazed by the outpouring of support from the community and across the country. He's watched guests leave in tears and others have suggested the exhibit be shown in other cities.

Reed-Veal, who last summer announced she was moving to Waller County said she now splits her time between Chicago and Houston and is poised to join a weekday radio show. She hopes to spend more time in Houston helping out with the exhibit and within the coming months is supposed to speak at the museum.

While the spotlight on the Bland story has dimmed, her legacy lives on.

"I have met children who have changed their majors to criminal justice because of her story," Reed-Veal said. "I go down to the memorial down on the Sandra Bland Parkway, and if I'm there replacing roses, the moms and dads they U-turn, they stop over and they take pictures. It's amazing."

Despite her steps forward, Reed-Veal insisted the exhibit does not comfort her about Bland's passing.

"It does not give me a sense of peace about her death. Absolutely not, because I still don't know how she left here," said Reed-Veal. "It gives me a sense of peace about the fact that it was necessary for me to participate in the carrying on of her legacy."A Martian rock that smashed into Earth on a meteorite millions of years ago will finally return home in 2020, cradled inside a rover destined for the Red Planet.

It's all part of the Mars 2020 project, a $2.4 billion venture being built to look for indicators of habitable conditions, as well as signs of past microbial life. The rover will do this by using a high-precision laser attached to its robotic arm, which will scan the Martian land for certain elements.

But to do this effectively after the 33.9 million mile trip between Earth and Mars, the laser must be continuously calibrated. That's where the Martian rock comes in.

While the rover whizzes toward Mars, the laser will be scanning the rock to improve its aim and, therefore, improve the samples collected once it arrives.

"We're studying things on such a fine scale that slight misalignments, caused by changes in temperature or even the rover settling into sand, can require us to correct our aim," said Luther Beegle, principal investigator for the rover's laser instrument.

Researchers have included targetswhether they be rock, metal or glass in other rovers in NASA's fleet. But they felt it advantageous to use an actual Martian rock this time around.

"This kind of science requires texture and organic chemicals  two things that our target meteorite will provide," said Rohit Bhartia, the laser's deputy principal investigator.

The sample they plan to use is from a meteorite, called Sayh al Uhaymir 008 (SaU008), that was discovered in 1999. Scientists believe it was blasted off Mars' surface millions of years ago. These types of meteorites are rare.

The rover, scheduled to launch in late summer 2020, will spend 28 months exploring the Martian land once it arrives.

While on the surface, the rover will collect samples of rocks and soils for an eventual return to Earth, test a method of producing oxygen from the atmosphere there and identify any other resources available. The rover also will characterize dust, weather and other environmental conditions that could impact astronauts who eventually will live and work on the surface.

NASA already has spent more than $21 billion on missions to Mars since 1964, including four robotic rovers on the surface. Researchers hope the discoveries and insight gains on this current $2.4 billion project will help the space agency reach its goal of sending humans to Mars in the 2030s.

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 -- Two TV ads paid for by the governor. A $50,000 check from the House speaker. Hundreds of thousands of dollars in contributions from across the state and block walkers sent from a Dallas-area lawmaker.

That's just a sampling of the money, attention and political influence trying to steer an election in a slice of southwest Harris County that has morphed into a battleground for the direction of the Republican party.

"It feels something like a purity purge," said Rep. Sarah Davis, a Republican from West University Place trying to win reelection to her district which also includes Bellaire, Southside Place, the Texas Medical Center and stretches north past Memorial Park.

She is defending her seat against Susanna Dokupil, CEO of Paladin Strategies who worked under Gov. Greg Abbott when he was attorney general.

Click through the slide show to see a map of District. 134.

While rare for the governor to invest much time and money into down-ballot races, Abbott's campaign team cut two campaign ads for Dokupil in the last week. The latest is an attack ad that first aired Tuesday, depicting Davis as a Republican sell-out who has voted against conservative issues in the Legislature.

Davis disputes the ad's allegations she is against limiting spending and supports late-term abortions. She plans to counter with her own ad later this week, she said, although she noted that TV ads are costly and inefficient because they air well beyond her district.

Davis and Dokupil collectively raised more than $300,000 in the last six months of 2017 to run for the office: $158,549 and $147,560, respectively. For both, most political donors came from outside the district.

Nearly $3 of every $4 Dokupil raised -- 75 percent of her fund-raising total -- came from donors who don't live in District 134, from places like Virginia where Lenardo Leo, executive director from the Federalist Society, gave her $10,000. Other money came from socially conservative political interest groups and political action committees: Texas Right to Life gave her $35,000 and influential conservative group Empower Texans donated $10,000.

Repeated calls and text messages to reach Dokupil or her campaign were not returned Tuesday.

Two-thirds of Davis' donations came from outsiders, although she argues much of it came from professional associations that represent people in her district: like $15,000 from the Texas Association of Realtors, $1,000 each from the Texas Apartment Association, the Texas Dental Association, Texas Homecare and Hospice and Friends of MD Anderson.

Her other out-of-district contributions include donors like AT&T, Comcast, and Tenet Healthcare Corporation, along with the association representing auto dealers, Texans for Lawsuit Reform, Home Therapy Advocates for Kids and the University of Houston.

Her biggest donor yet is House Speaker Joe Straus, a powerful Republican from San Antonio who donated $50,000 to her campaign Tuesday, she said.

Straus' spokesman for his political committee, Jason Embry, declined to confirm the amount of the donation but said the speaker supports Davis "because she is an independent and effective public servant who represents traditional Republican principles."

Straus censure

Although Straus announced in the fall he would not seek re-election to the state House, the Texas Republican Executive Committee voted to censure him Saturday for undermining the party platform. The charge stems, at least in part, for him opposing several items on the governor's 20-piece special session agenda in 2017, such as the "bathroom bill" that would ban transgender people from using the restroom that correlates with their gender identity.

Political pundits have suggested the censure was in part to undercut Straus' influence in races like Davis'. She said she's unsure that's the case, but said she was "ashamed of my party for acting that way.

"There's some kind of message being sent there, that you need to have blind obedience to the party or you do not belong in our club," she said.

Other groups are also trying to sway the results of the House district race. Texans for Vaccine Choice has sent members into the district to walk neighborhoods to tell people about Dokupil, a candidate they believe will support their efforts to ensure parents aren't forced by the government to vaccinate their children.

Rep. Jonathan Stickland, R-Bedford, has also sent his paid campaign staff down into the district to push in favor of Dokupil. He called Davis a "chief captain to defeat Gov. Abbott's agenda."

"Republican voters need to know this. Ousting Sarah Davis will be a big win for Republicans and a big loss for Democrats."

Andrea Zelinski covers politics and government for the Houston Chronicle. As this election season heats up, follow her on Twitter and Facebook. Send her tips at andrea.zelinski@chron.com.Have you seen George P. Bush lately?

We hear he's running for re-election as Texas land commissioner, but he's not acting like it. He's been skipping public forums, he's dodging editorial board meetings and he hasn't released a schedule of campaign appearances.

If a man doesn't show up for the job interviews, does he deserve to get hired?

ENDORSEMENTS: The Houston Chronicle editorial board recommends these candidates...

Four years ago, this editorial page enthusiastically supported Bush in his first bid for elected office. We were mightily impressed with his command of the complex issues facing the General Land Office. Anybody who thought this guy was just coasting on his family name was wrong. "George P. Bush is the real deal," we wrote.

Now the real deal has become a real disappointment.

Bush has repeatedly stumbled during his first term in his first elected office. He directed the General Land Office to spend nearly $1 million in taxpayer money to keep at least 40 employees on the payroll for as long as five months after they'd actually quit their jobs, but only if they promised they wouldn't sue Bush or the agency. Three days after a contractor scored a $13.5 million hurricane cleanup contract, Bush's campaign accepted almost $30,000 in contributions from the company's executives.

But his highest profile problem has been his plan to "reimagine" the Alamo. It's an ongoing mess criticized not only by Texas history buffs but also by Republican lawmakers irate about the way it's being managed. Among other problems, Bush played a cynical shell game with state employees, shifting about 60 people over to a taxpayer-funded nonprofit so he could brag that he cut his agency's staff. As one incredulous GOP fundraiser put it, "How do you screw up the Alamo?"

To his credit, months before Hurricane Harvey, Bush wrote President Donald Trump a detailed letter requesting funding for a coastal storm surge barrier. Unfortunately, since then we haven't seen him do much to advance the cause of this critical infrastructure project.

Losing faith in a man who once looked like a rising political star is disillusioning, but voters in the Republican primary for Texas land commissioner should bypass Bush and cast their ballots for Jerry Patterson.

Patterson's done this job before, and he did it well. After serving 12 years in this post, he gave it up to make a losing race for lieutenant governor. The former state senator from Houston pretty much retired after that, but he says he watched in disgust as Bush "cratered" the agency he once managed. Patterson says he tried to recruit somebody else to run, but when nobody else whom he thought was qualified entered the race he decided to do it himself.

"My plan is to return to the land office, fix what needs to be fixed, and retire once again," said Patterson, 71.

Also running in this primary - and showing up for the job interviews - are Davey Edwards, 47, a surveyor from Decatur, and Rick Range, 66, a retired firefighter who seems to know everything there is to know about the Alamo. All three of these candidates are campaigning hard for Republican votes, but Patterson is clearly the best qualified GOP candidate for Texas land commissioner.In Texas, the lieutenant governor is president of the Senate, casts the deciding vote in the event of a legislative tie and ranks second in leadership only to the governor. Through the power to appoint Senate committee chairs and the discretionary right to direct bills to committees depending on desire to see a proposal debated or buried, the lieutenant governor shapes the Senate agenda. Republicans and Democrats alike should look for candidates who can work cooperatively with the diverse body to focus on the important issues facing our state, such as school finance reform and flood prevention. Early voting runs from Tuesday through Friday, March 2. Election Day is March 6.

ENDORSEMENTS: The Houston Chronicle editorial board backs these candidates...

Republican

Lieutenant governor: Scott Milder

If Texas is the independent lone star of the United States, then consider the Panhandle to be our state-level mini-Texas.

Those northern plains have long been home to storied conservative independence, as columnist Jay Leeson described it in the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal last year.

Voters there bucked President Lyndon Johnson for Barry Goldwater in 1964 and Gerald Ford for Ronald Reagan in 1976 - prescient bucking is how the political scientists describe it. Want to know the future of Texas politics? Look to the Panhandle.

It's a pattern that should have Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick concerned because some local politicians of the high plains aren't too pleased about the way he's running the state Senate.

After the special session, Republican state Rep. Ken King told the Canadian Record, his hometown paper, that Patrick ran the legislative body like a "dictatorship," punishing members who promoted their district's needs ahead of the lieutenant governor's personal agenda. Specifically, King meant Patrick's agenda of school vouchers and local property tax mandates.

Vouchers aren't just a D vs. R issue - they're also urban vs. rural. Private schools, where families would supposedly spend their vouchers, are about as rare on the wide-open prairie as the endangered black-footed ferret.

Over the past several months, that Panhandle spark has grown into a wildfire that's now spreading across the state. Longtime Republicans are understandably frustrated at how the Legislature has underfunded public schools and shifted the financial burden onto local taxpayers.

Just last week, Fort Worth got an earful from Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley, a Republican, who told the party faithful that the state budget is responsible for higher property taxes.

Scott Milder has become the tip of the spear in this statewide effort to fight back against Patrick, and we endorse his run to unseat the incumbent as the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor. A former City Council member in Rockwall, a Dallas suburb, Milder, 50, is aligned with the schools, business interests and pastors who are hoping to restore the conservative values of local control and pro-growth that for decades sat at the core of Texas politics. It is a movement that wants to put an end to the potty-bill politics that have dominated our state Legislature under Patrick.

From El Paso to Texarkana, Brownsville to Canadian, local cities and counties are starting to stand together against a state government obsessed with the political minutiae that excites the partisan wings but does little to make our state a better place to live. A vote for Milder will be a vote to fix school funding and return Texas to normalcy. Patrick did not meet with the editorial board.

Democrat

Lieutenant governor: Mike Collier

In the Democratic primary for this important post, the Chronicle recommends Mike Collier, the more experienced, better qualified of the two candidates vying to face off against the Republican winner in the November general election.

A graduate of the University of Texas with a bachelor's degree and MBA, Collier wants to see more state money directed to public schools, arguing that overtaxed homeowners cannot afford to carry what ought to be the state's share of education funding. An accountant by training, Collier held high-level positions in auditing and finance during his career at a global accounting firm, giving weight to his proposal to close a corporate tax loophole as a means of raising revenue for public education and property tax relief.

Collier, 56, is well-versed in this region's need for storm surge protection and Harvey recovery, and he's ready to tap the state's substantial rainy day fund to pay for it. "Let's crack it open and stimulate recovery as fast as we can," he told the editorial board.

Collier supports expanding Medicaid to improve health for poor children, and he wants to improve care for rural Texans dealing with local hospital closures and few physicians wanting to practice outside large cities.

Collier's primary challenger is political novice Michael Cooper of Fort Worth.AUSTIN -- Gov. Greg Abbott released his second campaign ad attacking Houston-area state Rep. Sarah Davis Wednesday, furthering his quest to unseat the popular moderate Republican.

The latest ad echoes sentiments in his previous advertising against Davis, casting her as a liberal. The ad alleges she is not pro-life and that a bill she carried would have drained disaster relief funding. The ad also introduced a new attack, contending out she bottled up an ethics reform bill out of spite.Clear and realistic expectations arent put out there in the beginning of any leadership development process, he tells HRD. Leadership can be innate or a learned skill and clearly defining what a realistic stretch expectation seems to be a lost art.

If employers are able to identify current shortcoming and define expectations, theyre likely to reap the rewards.

I think if we can clearly articulate the gaps in someones abilities, have an open discussion about why they are seen this way, and then work with tangible ideas to create a solution that they have input into developing, we can bridge these gaps, he says.

At this stage I dont think the picture of the goal, or destination is clear enough from both parties at the beginning, while doing this with everyone would be ideal, this is extremely important for millennials.

Tapping into the emotional side of what millennials want to achieve could also result in huge pay-offs for employers.Her comments come after GSK became the first pharmaceutical company in New Zealand to achieve the Rainbow Tick  an accreditation which recognises companies that value and welcome sexual and gender diversity.

Achieving company-wide diversity is a process which requires a significant investment in training and policy making, says Stove. We want to attract talent from the broadest spectrum of the population to ensure we get and retain the best people.

Already, the scheme has had a tangible impact with one employee openly identifying as gay for the first time in the workplace.

Although GSK NZ has a very open and honest culture our staff member had concerns that coming out could potentially affect their career progression within a multi-national company, says Stove.

Because the company was committed to being rainbow certified it gave him the confidence to discuss this more openly. As an employer we were thrilled to see the impact of change so quickly.Fisheries agreement with Morocco is an instrument of soft power for EU

by Willy Fautre, Director of Human Rights Without Frontiers

February 16,2018 | Source: Euractiv

At the end of the last UN Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Moroccos human rights record in May 2017, Rabat agreed to implement a number of recommendations and has since opened legislative debates on several issues.



Trade relations and human rights have been interrelated in many resolutions of the European Parliament and have been on the agenda of civil society advocacy.



The EU as a soft power has often used its commercial agreements with third countries to promote human rights and good practices in a number of areas. Before Moroccos next UPR in four years, the EU will have the opportunity to monitor the progress, or lack thereof, in the field of human rights and European standards.



The EU-Morocco Partnership provides a particular opportunity to the EU to play a major role in Moroccos future and to develop European human rights standards in the country on various issues such as freedom of association and assembly, freedom of expression, womens and childrens rights and domestic violence, where improvements are needed.



In 2012 EU exports to Morocco were worth about 7 billion and imports from the Kingdom just over EUR 9 billion, making the EU a major trade partner.



In the short term, there will be concrete opportunities for the EU to articulate political dialogues, economic agreements and human rights.



On 8 February, the Morocco-EU Joint Parliamentary Committee met in Strasbourg to monitor the work done in relation with the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) launched in 2003 on various issues: security, migration, human development, the fight against radicalism, economic and trade cooperation, and the relation between the EU and the African Union. Follow up meetings are scheduled.



An important area of cooperation is agriculture. On 31 January, Morocco and the EU initialed in Brussels a document strengthening their partnership under the farm agreement already binding the two parties. In 2016, the EU imported more than 3 billion worth of agricultural products from Morocco.



Another area of strategic cooperation between the two parties will concern the fisheries as the existing agreement will come to an end in July.



Fisheries are a main source of employment in Morocco. With its 3500 kilometers of coastlines (500 km on the Mediterranean coast and 3000 km on the Atlantic), the country has huge potential economic activity, export and income. With a production of 1.3 million tons in 2014, Morocco is the largest maritime fisheries producer in Africa and it occupies the 25th position in the world, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.



Fisheries represent 2.3% of the GDP of the country and the sector creates direct employment for 170 000 fishermen and indirect employment to an additional 500 000 people, according to the FAO which estimates that 3 million people in Morocco depend on fisheries for their livelihoods.



According to the last EU evaluation report on the Protocol to the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement, the estimates of the socio-economic impact of this agreement already show substantial benefits for the local population, especially in the southern regions of Dakhla-Oued Eddahab and Laayoune-Boujour-Sakia El Hamra (also called Western Sahara).



On the EU side, it is noteworthy that about 120 European vessels from 11 EU countries have access to the Kingdoms fishing areas: France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain and UK. The European Commission and the Council as well as all major EU Member States support the renewal of the partnership.



The renewal of the EU-Morocco Fisheries Agreement will benefit the social and economic rights of all the Moroccans as well as social stability as it will constitute a sustainable factor contributing to local employment. If it were not renewed, tensions might affect the relations between the EU and Morocco. Moreover, the EU, as a soft power, might lose major leverage to induce positive changes in Morocco and improvements of civil and political rights. Such an asset should not be put at risk.

 1999-2017. EURACTIV.com plc

Theme(s): Fisheries Development and Aquaculture.Moroccan-Spanish delegation visits Dakhla to explore opportunities for investment in fisheries sector

by Safaa Kasraoui

February 18,2018 | Source: MWN

A joint committee of Moroccan and Spanish fishery experts are exploring partnership and investment opportunities in the southern Moroccan city of Dakhla.



The four-day visit kicked off on February 15. The visit is an opportunity to support and defend common interests in the framework of the Fisheries Agreement between Morocco and the European Union (EU), Lamine Hormatallah, the southern provinces regional president of the General Confederation of Moroccan Entreprises (CGEM) told Maghreb Arab Press (MAP).



He added that the committee is planning another meeting to examine developments in the sea and fisheries activities and the potential cooperation between the two parties with the aim of completing the project of the renewal of the agreement and to address the challenges posed.



Hormatallah has also underscored the importance of this meeting and the role of the marine fisheries sector as an essential lever for development in the southern provinces.



The Moroccan-Spanish joint delegation visited an industrial unit for freezing and packing fish in Dakhla, where they learned how the plant works and the processing of sea products.



A meeting was also held at the Regional Investment Center in the city of Dakhla, attended by economic operators from the region. During this meeting, the members of the delegation were informed of the potential for sea investments carried out by Morocco to develop the region, according to MAP.



The fisheries ties between Morocco and the European Union date back to 1988. The four-year fishing agreement provided annual permits without restriction, according to the European Union. Since then partnerships between the two parties have strengthened to involve protocols from different fields, including trade activities.



According to the director of Human Rights Without Frontiers (HRWF), Willy Fature, the EU-Morocco fisheries partnership is an important collaboration. Quoted by the Brussels-based news outlet, Europa Reporter; Fature said that the fisheries agreement is an important mechanisms for voicing and mainstreaming.



The HRWF president added that Sahrawi people have also benefited from the Fisheries Agreement between the EU and Morocco. Fature, who visited the fisheries port in the city of Dakhla said that there were hundreds of people, mainly women, working there in the factory, adding that fisheries are really a main source of employment for Morocco.



The EU-Morocco Fisheries Agreement is due for a renewal next July. Both Morocco and EU are ambitious to renew the agreement. In January, Moroccos Minister of Fisheries and Agriculture held talks in Brussels with the European Commissioner for Environment, Karmenu Vella, about the importance of the agreement. The EU and Moroccan officials have both agreed that the agreement is essential for both parties.



However, Morocco-EU agreement has long been denounced by Polisario, a separatist group from the southern Moroccan provinces. The front has been urging the European Union to compensate the Polisario for the exploitation of natural resources in Western Sahara without its permission.



The renewal of the agreement, however, is welcomed by many states, including Spain and Denmark.



On January 15, the Danish government informed its Parliament that it will accept the European Commissions proposal to renegotiate the fisheries agreement with Morocco.



The legal advisor of the European Court of Justice (ECJ), Melchior Wathelet, said in a January legal opinion issued on Wednesday that the Fisheries Agreement concluded between the EU and Morocco was invalid because it applies to Western Sahara and its adjacent waters.



The advisors opinion has been strongly denounced by Moroccan and Spanish professional Fishermen. To respond to Melchiors remarks, the fishermen issued a joint statement, saying that the advisers opinion this deal guarantees the respect of international law and human rights; and since the opinion of the general council is not binding, we hope that EU Justice Court will adopt a position in support of the deal.



Moroccan and Spanish fishermen are surprised by the political motivations of this advisor, their communique added. They also called on the UE to favor the renewal of the fisheries deal, which will expire later this year, in July. They urged the UE representatives to guarantee and preserve the atmosphere of friendly and beneficial relations that have so far characterized the said deal.

 Morocco World News

Theme(s): Fisheries Development and Aquaculture.Would you vote for Bill Gates? Because I predict we'll see a Bill Gates for President campaign in 2020.

(Update: After Gates appeared on Ellen, here are seven more reasons why I'm confident he'll run.)

Will he be a reluctant candidate? Will he have a shot at winning? It's too early to say.

But if his brief interview on CNN last night represents his thinking, I think he's thinking about running.

Gates is not normally mentioned among the long list of potential candidates. And he's tried to dampen speculation that he might run in the past. That was before the 2016 election.

For just a few minutes last night, he sounded like somebody who might be thinking that his country needs him. The topic was the new tax law, which he was discussing with CNN's Fareed Zakaria:

It was not a progressive tax bill. It was a regressive tax bill. People who are wealthier tended to get dramatically more benefits than the middle class or those who are poor, and so it runs counter to the general trend you'd like to see, where the safety net is getting stronger and those at the top are paying higher taxes.

Most nonpartisan analysts say the new tax law indeed does provide small, temporary tax breaks for many middle-class Americans--but also includes big tax hikes for others in the middle class, and giant, permanent tax cuts for the country's wealthiest people.

Gates, 62, who has an estimated $91 billion net worth and is the second-wealthiest person on the planet, also said he thinks that the government should be taxing people like him at a much higher rate.

"I need to pay higher taxes," Gates said on CNN Sunday evening. "I've paid, in absolute, more taxes, over $10 billion, than anyone else, but the government should require people in my position to pay significantly higher taxes."

There's nothing stopping Gates or any other billionaire from simply paying more taxes than he or she is required to. However, since retiring from his role as CEO and founder of Microsoft, Gates has devoted himself full time to philanthropy.

In fact, he and Warren Buffett were the co-founders of the Giving Pledge, via which 158 of the world's richest billionaires have pledged to give at least half of their fortunes to charity.

When he's tried to dampen speculation about a political future in the past, Gates often talked about the charitable work he's doing now as being something he's better suited for.

"I like my job at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation better than I would being president," Gates said in oft-cited remarks in early 2016. "Also, I wouldn't be good at doing what you need to do to get elected."

But that's not exactly an ironclad "I won't serve if elected" speech. Also, note the date: early 2016.

A lot has changed since then in this country. And if Gates is thinking about it, I can imagine very few circumstances under which he wouldn't run.

He's been a consistent, if subdued critic of President Trump's policies since the 2016 election, pushing back against the tax bill, but also against Trump's entire "America First" foreign and domestic economic policy, which Gates sees as short-sighted.

And then you start to ask, how many people are there really in the United States who could envision running for president in 2020 and having a shot at winning? A thousand, at the most?

The 2016 election proved we're willing to consider candidates from outside politics and the military.

And having done what Gates has done, and accomplished what he's accomplished, it's almost impossible to imagine him not thinking of himself as part of that relatively small group.

If you need more proof, in writing this column, I came across evidence that somebody else might think he's potentially running--the Russian government.

I say this because their state-funded news organization, RT, seems to have taken a strong anti-Gates position. Even their article about his remarks on CNN includes a tweet to a satirical video game they'd promoted, mockingly called "Save Us, Bill Gates."

Do the Russians think they're experts on U.S. politics now? Do they know something we don't know? We'll find out soon enough."Chardonnay, Martini or Sauvignon Blanc, dear?" "I'll have one of each, thanks." Getty Images

Absurdly Driven looks at the world of business with a skeptical eye and a firmly rooted tongue in cheek.

I've currently got life on the brain.

Or is it death?

I'm on the way back from a funeral. My dad's, as it happens.

And I've been wondering about life, the universe, why we do the things we do and what effect they might have on us.

I've just been staring out of the window for the longest time.

Having turned back, grabbed my laptop and opened it on random pages, I see that science has suddenly reached some disturbing conclusions about what contributes to a longer life.

I'd always thought it was about eating enough butternut squash, juicing to the point of liquidity and spending half a day on the StairMaster.

It may not be.

Instead, here's the stunning secret: Eat, drink and be merry.

Well, that's my approximation.

Scientists have, you see, been examining the brains of so-called superagers -- those who live an inordinately long time with their faculties intact. Some volunteers were tracked for up to 37 years.

As the Guardian reports, the boffins believe these radical beings have more of a brain cell known as Von Economo.

But that's just a lead-in.

Prof Emily Rogalski, from Northwestern University, told the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Austin, Texas that superagers seemed to have simple recipes for their own healthy longevity.

Many said they had a drink or two every day. Oh, and they were slightly overweight, drank coffee and had some hobbies.

Yes, they did the exercise thing. But there seemed little tendency toward, say, juicing.

Claudia Kawas, a geriatric neurologist at the University of California, Irvine, indeed, came to a remarkably human conclusion.

"I almost think we should stop doing research and just start using our bodies and brains more. These people are inspiring. They drink wine, drink coffee, gain weight, but they exercise and use their brains. Maybe that can tell us something," she said.

I always thought researchers did, at least, use their brains.

There's something heartening, surely, in the idea that complete self-deprivation isn't necessarily the way to get more living years.

Perhaps there's something on the human-spiritual spectrum that contributes mightily to our survival.

The scientists do point out, however, that genetics matter. Some people's genes are simply more accepting of certain substances than are those of others.

Still, Kawas offered tinctures of hope for the slightly louche.

For example: "I have no explanation for it, but I do firmly believe that modest drinking improves longevity."

You see, people who had around 2 glasses of wine or beer every day had an 18 percent reduced risk of premature death.

Then there was this: "Maybe as you get to 60 or 70 physiologically, it's a good thing to gain weight. The best mortality experience is to gain between five and 10 pounds per decade."

And how about: "We found, of course, that exercise -- as little as 15 minutes a day -- gave greater longevity. Thirty minutes was better, 45 minutes was better than that." Coupled with this: "Mercifully for couch potatoes like me, three hours was no better than 45 minutes."

There is one caveat. Yes, these things might help you live longer. They don't guarantee that you'll live more healthily, however,Clearly, artificial intelligence (AI) and deep learning technologies are finding their way into most everything that we touch and use in everyday life, including consumer products, financial services and healthcare delivery. This is indicative of significant inroads made in IT services, communication services, electronics, mechanical equipment and biomedical products, which serve as foundation stones for the evolution of AI applications.

According to a recent Hyundai Research Institute report, quoted here, South Korea lags behind the U.S., Japan and the EU in AI preparedness. However, quick looks at the country's leading manufacturers suggest that its marquee companies are going to do something about that fact.

Consider these recent examples:

LG Electronics announced, at this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, that it is developing a proprietary deep learning-based artificial intelligence technology called DeepThinQ 1.0.

"Products developed on the DeepThinQ platform educate themselves using cloud servers to become smarter over time. This learning feature is at the heart of DeepThinQ, allowing LG AI products to understand not only their external environments but also the behavioral patterns of their customers. For example, LG ThinQ air conditioner learns customers' living patterns over time and cools the room automatically to the temperature preferred by the occupant. In the car, LG's cabin monitoring technology learns the driver's facial expressions and gestures and recognizes the moment the driver starts to get drowsy. Eventually, ThinQ will be able to automatically adjust the music, lighting or climate inside the car by learning about the passengers who most often occupy the car."

Hyundai Motor announced its plans to invest widely in leading Israeli start-ups to fast-track the manufacturer's future advanced automotive technologies developments.

According to a recent Hyundai Motor Group press release, Dr. Young Cho Chi, Executive Vice President of Strategy & Technology Division and Chief Innovation Officer detailed:

"Hyundai Motor is very interested in Israel's ecosystem of technology innovation, especially in the sector of transportation. This is why we recently signed an MOU with Technion, one of the world's top science and technology research universities (in Israel)...Our new investment center (here) will allow us to work more closely with the most innovative new businesses and lead the industry in new and creative smart mobility."

In October, Samsung Electronics unveiled Bixby 2.0, which it describes as:

"...a bold reinvention of its intelligent interface that's even more ubiquitous, open and personal. Powered by the Samsung Connect, Bixby will act as the controlling platform of your connected device ecosystem, including mobile phones, TVs and even home appliances to make the smart home experience even smarter...In fact, we are adding Bixby Voice to our Family Hub refrigerator. Now, you will be able to check the weather, build shopping lists and order groceries with the power of your voice. So, for example, if you were running low on milk, you would just say, "Hi Bixby, order milk."

To close, it's my bet that South Korea can become the juggernaut that brings smart living to the world. As long as its leading export manufacturers, like the ones celebrated above, continue to maintain their deep and rich commitment to R&D. If they do, they will continue to drive and design innovation into their products and set the high bar for their competitors, (which, in itself, will drive further innovation).How would you feel if authorities contacted you to reveal that your teenage daughter, who told you she was spending the night at a friend's house, had just been rescued from a potential online predator?

That's what happened when Denice Miracle, a ticket agent working for American Airlines, saved two teenage girls from what appears to be a potential human trafficking plot.

Two girls, aged 15 and 17, approached Miracle's ticket counter at American Airlines with first-class tickets for a flight from Sacramento to New York. They had a small number of bags but no identification, which set off warning signals; then, Miracle noticed the girls' tickets were purchased online using a credit card with a different name.

"I think the way they kept looking back-and-forth at each other, like they really weren't sure," Miracle said in an interview with KOVR. "And then they were texting someone on the phone, and that person was giving them answers."

One more detail, that the girls didn't even seem to realize:

The tickets were only valid one-way.

Miracle told her supervisor she was going to call the sheriff.

The teens told authorities they met a man on Instagram who called himself "Drey." He invited the girls to New York to do modeling work for music videos. He promised to pay them $2,000.

Deputy Todd Sanderson says the girls initially refused to believe they were in danger, insisting the idea that they were being preyed upon couldn't be true.

"They were somewhat flippant about [it]," said Sanderson. "And I said, 'No, the airline says you have a one-way ticket. And in my belief, you're going back there not to do the things that you think you were going to be doing.' And they said, 'Well, I wouldn't let anything happen that I didn't want.' And I said, 'Well, you probably wouldn't have a choice in the matter,'" Sanderson said.

Authorities tried to track down Drey through his Instagram account, just a few minutes after contacting him. But Sanderson says the man had already erased all his social media profiles.

In a press release, American Airlines praised its employee.

"I'm proud of Denice and how she put her training into action to save these children," said Sacramento General Manager Aleka Turner. "She's a true professional with a huge heart."

How emotional intelligence came into play

This story is a remarkable example of both the good and evil sides of emotional intelligence--the ability to identify emotions and use them to inform behavior or accomplish a goal. The alleged perpetrator obviously used the power of emotion to befriend these girls and gain their trust, to the point that they were willing to lie to their parents and board a plane heading thousands of miles away. (We refer to this as the "dark side" of emotional intelligence.)

But Miracle, whose name seems to perfectly fit this situation, demonstrated how emotional intelligence can be used to protect yourself--or in this case, others--against manipulation. The airline employee could have simply sent the girls home, but she thought better of it.

"They kept looking at each other in a way that seemed fearful and anxious," said Miracle. "I had a gut feeling that something just wasn't right."

By trusting that feeling, which was based on years of experience, Miracle was motivated to get authorities involved--saving these two girls from potential disaster.We get old when the weight of our memories and regrets starts to exceed that of our dreams.

When it to comes to the topic of retirement, the old rules no longer apply.

In 1935, when the Social Security act was passed, the age of retirement was set at 65. At the time, the average life expectancy was 61! Today, average life expectancy is just under 80 years. That one fact speaks volumes to how outdated our views and mechanisms for retirement are.

In fact, the percentage of the workforce representing workers over 65 has doubled since 1992. And that trend is expected to continue unabated. If you plot the increase in life expectancy along with the increase in work-life expectancy (that's the average age at which people stop working), the two actually merge in 2100. I often joke that if the work-life trend line continues on its trajectory after 2100, we'll all be working after we're dead.

Advances in longevity are making supporting retirement for another 20 to 30 years impossible for 90 percent of all U.S. workers.

Yet we are heading for an economic disaster by ignoring the implications of increased life and work-life expectancy.

The numbers are startling: Thirty-four percent of workers have no savings whatsoever; another 35 percent have less than $1,000; of the remaining 31 percent, less than half have more than $10,000. Among older workers between 50 and 55, the median savings is $8,000. And this is total savings, including retirement accounts.

Contrast that with the fact that experts say you should have eight times your preretirement annual salary saved in order to retire by 65 and continue a reasonable quality of life, commensurate with what you have become accustomed to.

The Retirement Myth

The truth is that we are doing an enormous disservice to society by setting retirement as an end goal to a long career. Advances in longevity are making supporting retirement for another 20 to 30 years impossible for 90 percent of all U.S. workers, whose only source of income is Social Security, which only pays from an average of just over $1,300 per month to a max of just over $2,600 per month.

While paid media ads that talk about retirement planning seem to be everywhere, the reality is that very few people are actually benefiting from retirement savings or planning. Although Boomers have an astounding $50-plus trillion in wealth that they will be transferring to Millennials and Gen Z (that includes all assets, not just retirement accounts), 80 percent of that wealth is concentrated among less than 20 percent of Boomers.

Even if you're lucky enough to be among the 20 percent, who have a $1 million-plus net worth and enough saved up to retire, there is some evidence that the classic notion of retirement may actually be harmful to your health.

The answer is absurd, and it's at the core of every failed strategy to paint the future with the same worn-out brush we used to paint the past.

A recent Guardian article about research on aging and retirement cast an interesting light on the topic. According to the article, "[Research conducted on] 2,956 people who were part of the Healthy Retirement Study funded by the National Institute on Aging in America ... found that healthy retirees who worked a year longer (over the age of 65) had an 11 percent lower all-cause mortality risk. Even the unhealthy group reduced their likelihood of dying by 9 percent if they delayed retirement." An analysis on the study was also published in the Harvard Business Review.

While it's hard to draw broad-based conclusions about the link of retirement to health, from this or other research, there is certainly growing evidence that working longer, especially at something you love to do, contributes to a sense of well-being and purpose that may increase longevity and certainly the quality of your life.

So, is there any good new in all of this? Only if we use it as a wake-up call to change the way we look at retirement.

Your Third Act

What amazes me is that every financial institution's white paper, study, or promotional piece about retirement planning is missing one critical thing: any mention of continuing to work! We need to wake up. Rather than perpetuate the mythology of work as penance and retirement as a time to be liberated from it, what if you replaced the concept of retirement with that of a third act in which you can continue to create value and receive value for those things that you truly love to do, while you also establish a balance with other personally fulfilling activities you may want to do more of?

In other words, why are we stuck on the zero-sum proposition of work is bad and retirement is good? The answer is absurd, and it's at the core of every failed strategy to paint the future with the same worn-out brush we used to paint the past. We desperately need to innovate the notion of retirement to catch up with the rest of the world.

While planning for a third act is something that everyone should seriously consider, whatever his or her economic situation, as an entrepreneur you have that luxury in a way few people do. You get what it means to build a business and a brand. You are the ultimate authority on where and how to invest your time and energy. In the same way that you would invest in a new product or service, why not invest regularly in preparing for your third act?

If you want details on how to do that, here's a previous article I've written on Inc.com about the specific tactics for constructing a third act. But my point here is to start doing it any which way you can and as soon as possible. It takes as long to build a successful third act as it does a successful business, about five to 10 years. However, I've yet to find anyone who cannot pull it off with a sincere and committed effort. You likely have a good 30 to 50 years for your third act--perhaps even more! So, isn't that worth a five-year investment of time?

If You Love It, Why Leave it?

In a prior Inc.com survey of 560 people, I asked respondents if they agreed with the statement, "I love what I'm doing so much that I can't imagine doing anything else." Fifteen percent absolutely agreed, 50 percent strongly agreed, and more than 75 percent at least somewhat agreed. So, if you're lucky enough to be in that majority, why not keep doing it?

Your third act will not only create an ongoing revenue stream, which you can modulate up or down as needed for the rest of your life, it will also allow you to use the knowledge, wisdom, connections, and perspective that you've gained over a lifetime in a meaningful way.

The bottom line is that the old rules were built for an economy and a society in which retirement was seen as a release from bondage--the liberating act from a lifetime of work. They were built for time when most work was manual and labor intensive, when brains were less valuable than brawn.The incident had caused a transformer in the Temple Bar area to disconnect (Brian Lawless/PA)

More than 4,000 homes and businesses in some of the busiest parts of Dublin have been hit by a power outage.

The blackout was caused after 11am on Monday when construction workers in the Grafton Street/Dawson Street area hit underground power cables.

POWER CUT: The Civic Offices, Fishamble Street and the Rates Office, Castle Street will remain closed to the public for the rest of today (19/02/2018).Area offices will remain open. We are monitoring updates from @ESBNetworks. Apologies for any inconvenience.  Dublin City Council (@DubCityCouncil) February 19, 2018

The ESB apologised for the disruption and said the incident had caused a transformer in the Temple Bar area to disconnect, affecting a large area of the city centre.

Dublin City Council offices on Wood Quay, businesses and homes along Aston Quay and over to Dame Street and Christchurch, and on the northside over to Henry Street were all hit by the outage.

Traffic lights across the area were also put out.

Power is expected to be restored in the coming hours, the ESB said.Ireland does not support increasing coupled support payments under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) post-2020.

Minister for Agriculture, Michael Creed told other EU farm ministers at a meeting in Brussels today that while coupled payments may have a role to play in some vulnerable sectors, he is not sure it would be wise to divert significant sums of Pillar 1 monies into coupled support payments.

"In such vulnerable sectors, efforts should focus on efficiency, market focus and ensuring the market returns a satisfactory price for the end product.

"Improving the position of the farmer in the food supply chain would help in this endeavour," he said.

Minister Creed also said that while in general, Ireland is supportive of efforts to better target direct payments, we must be mindful that the agriculture sector differs significantly across member states.

"Therefore in the spirit of subsidiarity Member States should be given flexibility in the targeting and fairness of direct payments," he said.

The Minister noted that his Department is currently undertaking a detailed public consultation on CAP post-2020 and submissions received will help to influence our national position.

'Stark choices'

Meanwhile, Agriculture and Rural Development Commissioner Phil Hogan told the meeting that last week's Commission options paper which suggested cuts to the Common Agricultural policy of up to 30pc presented some 'stark choices'.

He said the paper clarified the consequences of those choices and brought into sharp focus increasing Member States contributions to the EU budget if new priorities of the EU such as immigration and defence are to be adequately funded without significant reductions in cohesion and agricultural funding.

Commissioner Hogan also highlighted the issue of external convergence of payments from the CAP.

He said the CAP must play its role in driving equality in the EU and that it should reduce differences in CAP funding between Member States.

However, he highlighted that it is too early to say what should be proposed.Fianna Fail says the underspend in the Department of Agriculture soared to 186 million

Fianna Fail is to call for monies not yet spent under the TAMS and GLAS schemes to be redirected towards increased payments to suckler farmers.

Fianna Fail Agriculture and Food Spokesperson Charlie McConalogue said his party is prioritising the suckler sector and over 75,000 farm families nationwide with a Dail motion this coming Wednesday under private members time.

In our motion, we also instruct the Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed to review the current underspend accruing across several Rural Development Programme (RDP) schemes and report back within two months to the Oireachtas on a roadmap towards targeting RDP underspend to suckler and other vulnerable sectors.

The underspend in the Department of Agriculture soared to 186m over the last two years, while several 2014-2020 RDP schemes are on course to underspend significantly, such as GLAS and TAMS.

The Government has refused at every avenue to look at all options to introduce a 200 payment per suckler cow. Fianna Fail has championed this as a key policy and will continue to campaign for its delivery.

Suckler farmers are being let down with the Government accepting at least 70,000 extra tonnes of South American Mercosur beef into the EU. The timing of this couldnt be any worse for farmers with Brexit having the potential to place tariffs on half of all our beef exports.

McConalogue said suckler farmers underpin our 2.5 billion beef exports, they generate average incomes below 13,000 each year and are fully dependent on CAP supports to maintain their livelihoods.

The suckler sector is facing threats on many fronts with successive Fine Gael led Governments found wanting."

In a debate on the issue last week Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed said he was aware of the importance of the suckler sector to Ireland's rural economy and the wider agrifood industry.

"My Department provides a range of income and investment supports to suckler farmers, including direct payments and grant schemes such as the basic payment scheme, the areas of natural conservation, ANC, scheme, GLAS and TAMS, as well as the beef data and genomics programme, BDGP.

"Analysis of Teagasc national farm survey data shows that existing direct payments to suckler farmers provide support equivalent to approximately 500 per suckler cow."

"There is no exodus from suckler herd farming. Indeed, it was expected that with the lifting of dairy quotas, there would be a significantly greater exodus.

"The current figures show a reduction of in or around 6pc in the suckler cow herd from just under 1 million to approximately 960,000. Most of that reduction has not happened along the western seaboard but in Kilkenny, Carlow, Waterford, which has the highest number, and Cork. That is mostly because activity is being displaced into dairy production.

"There is no mass exodus and it is important that we not talk ourselves into a crisis.

Creed said to provide funding under Pillar 1, there will be a cut of just under 20pc in every farmer's basic payment.

"I do not propose to do that, but it is unclear whether Fianna Fail proposes to do that," he said.Its a sector in its infancy in Ireland but alpaca farmer Paul MacDonnell believes its one that offers real potential for Irish smallholders.

He runs Hushabye Farm Alpacas in the foothills of the Slieve Bloom Mountains near the Offaly border in Co Laois with his wife Elizabeth and four young children.

Paul says he got into alpaca farming by accident after buying two alpacas-one a pregnant female or Hembro - from the UK to keep for a hobby on two acres 10 years ago.

We literally fell in love with them and then decided to just give it a go, he recalled.

In order to expand their operation, Paul purchased another 26 acres where he now farms around 60 alpacas. They are very easy to handle. We dont need any big machinery or sheds, he said.

He farms the alpacas for their fleece, which he said is hypoallergenic, 10 times warmer than sheeps wool and more valuable than cashmere. Aside from selling alpaca fleece and products, Paul also sells the animals a wide variety of people.

He views alpaca farming as a good alternative farming option for those with 20 or 30 acres, but advises people to grow their business gradually.

Alpacas are docile animals. They live for around 25 years and are suited to the Irish climate. Alpacas dont require winter housing as they are accustomed to temperatures of between -40 and + 40 degrees celsius in their native South America.

While they don't need winter housing, Paul has put up open fronted field shelters for his herd.

As their fleece is highly prized, it is essential the alpaca's fleece is correctly shorn before being sent for processing, said Paul.

We have a team of guys come from New Zealand every year, he explained. The New Zealanders are professional shearers who travel across Europe every year, he said.

Once shorn, the fleece is sent over to Wales for processing. It is then used to produce pillows, quilts and bedding which Paul sells himself, while some fleece is also sent to craft spinners in Ireland.

Starter Herds

Paul sells starter herds to people looking to get into alpaca farming and believes it is a viable venture for smallholders, bu that it is a 'get-rich scheme'.

An animal suitable as a pet, that is no good for breeding, can be brought for about 500 or 600 but breeding females can cost 3,000 or 4,000, he said.

One customer recently bought six from him, for her orchard as couldnt get a mower in under the trees, a number of sheep farmers have bought them in recent years to help keep foxes away.

The docile animals prefer their own company though and while they may be in a flock of sheep, Paul says they need company and at least two should be kept together.

"If they are on their own, even if they are in a flock of sheep, they will worry themselves looking for other alpacas and their health can deteriorate. We would never sell an alpaca on its own, they are very much a herd animal, he said.

He estimates that there are around 1,000 Alpacas in the country at the moment and said they first arrived into Ireland in 2000, while numbers in the UK are at around 50,000.

The industry at home, he says, is improving as the Alpaca Association of Ireland holds its own shows within shows. Paul, whose own alpaca won a Gold Medal at the Tullamore Show last year, said Irish herds have improved enough to now compete in the UK.Born and raised on a farm in Castleisland, Co Kerry, Fergal O'Sullivan was always fascinated with farm machinery.

He combined his two loves, farming and engineering, in his career and lectures on the Degree programme in Agricultural Mechanisation at IT Tralee.

After sitting his Leaving Cert, Fergal studied Agricultural Engineering at Tralee Regional Technical College, as it was at the time, before a degree programme was on offer.

He furthered his studies at Harper Adams University in the UK, gaining his degree, before working for a while in the UK with John Deere, followed by a period as a test engineer in France.

He returned to Ireland and gained more industry experience working for Matt Buckley Tractor Spares in Mullingar before the opportunity arose at IT Tralee.

"In my opinion, anyone thinking of lecturing should have worked in that field," he says.

"In my case, it stands to me that I did work for John Deere and Mattt Buckley and when I started lecturing first, I also worked part-time for McCarthy Engine Spares.

"So on the one hand, I was in college talking about it but at work doing it, so I have built up a huge amount of knowledge."

He feels it's important students know that he knows the industry inside and out, and who the main players are.

"There's no day the same as a college lecturer. I deliver modules in Precision Farming, Hydraulics, Engines, Transmissions and Electrics," he says, adding that the course is a mixture of about 70pc practical to 30pc theory.

He can't stress strongly enough the job opportunities there are for graduates.

"The number of jobs in the ag engineering sector is serious. We have contacts in industry coming in every week looking for people," he said.

He's also an advocate for more women to get involved in engineering and to consider the huge career opportunities in agricultural engineering.

Courses help you to become outstanding in your field...

IT IS a sure sign of growing confidence in the agricultural sector that Institutes of Technology around the country have added to the number of courses available to undergraduates.

Apart from traditional Agricultural Science programmes, ITs have broadened the scope of their offering to encompass a broader range of courses covering the wider aspects of the industry, including Agricultural Mechanics, Engineering, Farm Business Management and Environmental Management.

Farming Independent takes a look at some of the new options that have come on stream and that offer students an industry-focused qualification to start their careers.

Mechanical and agricultural Engineering

Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology

With agricultural machinery manufacturing plants like McHale and Major Equipment in the region, it was no wonder that Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology has developed a degree programme in mechanical and agricultural engineering.

The new course is delivered through GMIT'S School of Engineering, based at its Galway campus, and at Mountbellew Agricultural College.

Dr Carine Gathon, Head of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Department at GMIT says the course was developed following an industry survey that identified a need for it.

She says there was also strong demand from students, both at second level and in Mountbellew, for a third-level course that specifically focused on agricultural engineering.

"We have a lot of students from a farming background who seek employment from companies like McHale," Dr Gathon adds.

Dr Oliver Mulryan is head of the Mechanical and Agricultural Engineering (Level 7 and 8) programmes at GMIT.

He says the idea was spurned on by the 2013 UK launch of an agricultural technology strategy with a vision for the UK to become a leader in agricultural technology, innovation and sustainability.

"The agri-food sector is Ireland's most important indigenous manufacturing sector, accounting for the employment of around 1.5 million people," Dr Mulryan notes.

"There were a lot of companies coming to us in relation to the actual skill-sets of students for potential employment and they believed the best student for the design of agricultural machinery would be students from a rural or farming background."

A total of 18 students were taken on in the first year of the programme from Galway and bordering counties, including Mayo, Sligo, Westmeath and Tipperary.

"All the students are from a farming background and all their lives they've been looking at agricultural machinery and they're bringing that learning with them to the programme.

"They might not know the engineering side but they're already familiar with the technology involved in farming machinery and they're extremely interested in learning about it," Dr Mulryan adds.

Lectures are common for both the Level 7 and 8 programmes and at the end of year three, Level 7 students can opt to remain for a year and stay on for the degree.

There is a minimum O4 mathematics requirement to enter the programme and Dr Gathon estimates it will require about 300 points through the CAO this year. The cut-off points for the programme last year was 290.

However, Dr Mulryan says the intention is to keep the number of students at around the same level.

"We want to keep the numbers small to build up a rapport with our students. I know everyone very well and the students know me and we have a good relationship for learning on the programme," he says.

The Agricultural Engineering programme is divided into three areas of learning: agricultural systems design, manufacture, and agricultural and environmental systems.

"These traditional scientific streams of learning provide the students with career opportunities in the design of agricultural systems, ie agriculture, forestry, horticulture and feeding mechanisations, in order to manage food resources, reduce labour and improve productivity, while raising the standard of living for the farmer," Dr Mulryan adds.

Work placement is embedded into the programme and in year three there's an opportunity for participants to complete six months in the agricultural engineering sector.

"The programme leverages the expertise and physical resources of the two institutions GMIT and Mountbellew," he says.

Dr Mulryan says the whole area of agricultural engineering was an emerging sector with varied employment prospects in a number of areas, including tractor design, tillage machinery, harvesting equipment, crop processing, animal welfare, handling, transport, irrigation, drainage, earth moving equipment, forestry and horticultural machines.

GMIT is also looking into how students can complete their Green Cert as part of the course, and developing a mechanism where it is incorporated into the Level 7 and 8 programmes.

B Sc in Agricultural Mechanisation

IT Tralee

IT Tralee has been delivering programmes in Agricultural Engineering for over 40 years.

Before the college became a Regional Technical College (RTC) the first programmes offered were in the area of agricultural machinery. The college was established to train farmers' sons and daughters about machinery so that's our roots, says Dr Joseph Walsh, Head of the School of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.

"On foot of that, we are the National Centre for Agricultural Engineering in Ireland," he says.

The college offers a wide portfolio of agricultural courses, ranging from Agricultural Engineering to Agricultural Science to Agricultural Mechanisation, delivered in conjunction with the Farm and Tractor Machinery Trade Association (FTMTA), which has over 200 members.

"As well as our agricultural courses, we are the only provider of an apprenticeship in Agricultural Mechanics in Ireland," Dr Walsh adds.

"A lot or our past students would now be employed in members' firms, which would include dealers and garages that would be partners of the FTMTA.

"They liaised with us and asked us to develop a particular programme, which would be delivered to ordinary degree level, in a format like an apprenticeship, where they would come into us for three months and go out to the dealers or garages for nine months to do their hands on practical.

"The FTMTA saw the benefit for their members that we would be training students in the newer skills around software implementation and electronics that is now required and is a function of all agricultural equipment from tractors to agrictech equipment like balers, combine harvesters etc."

The programme is a BSc in Agricultural Mechanisation, delivered in a structure that resembles an apprenticeship.

Three months of structured lectures is followed by nine months hands-on experience with the sponsor, repeated in years two and three of the programme.

Students can't apply through the CAO. A direct application is made to IT Tralee and applicants are only allowed on the programme if they have secured a sponsor.

The programme started three years ago and the first 16 graduates will receive their degrees this autumn.

Many of the students are from a farming or plant hire background but most have just completed their Leaving Cert and want to explore the opportunities to train and upskill in the agricultural machinery area.

"It's an area where there are jobs in Ireland, right across the UK and globally," Dr Walsh adds.

If a candidate has performed well with the sponsor, there's an immediate route for employment there. However, there is no obligation on the sponsor to offer full-time employment and the student is open to other positions.

"The programme was developed in collaboration with the FTMTA so it really is an industry-led programme.

"As newer technologies are coming on stream we have the ability to constantly review that, in consultation with the FTMTA, to bring any new technologies that have come on stream and embed those into the programme," he says.

B Sc (Hons) in Agriculture (With degree award options in Animal and Crop Science or Environmental Management)

Letterkenny IT

This degree programme is a new addition to the offering at LYIT with the first students graduating in 2018.

The course is aimed at anyone interested in pursuing a career in agriculture.

Some have entered directly from secondary school, others returning to education from a working environment while some students have transferred from other Agriculture Institutes from Ireland and Northern Ireland.

"The course appeals to all types of students, regardless of whether they have any prior agricultural experience," says Dr Joanne Gallagher, Head of the Department of Science.

"Currently we have students studying on our programme who do not have a family farm, however they have an interest and passion for agriculture."

This is the first year the course will be offered through the CAO and it is estimated the minimum entry requirement will be in excess of 305 points.

Graduates can obtain employment within the agriculture and agri-food industries or continue their education to Masters or Doctoral level.

"We offer student-centred programmes with small class sizes and a focus on practical skills, leading to an enhanced student experience," Dr Gallagher adds.

"In addition the inclusion of a full semester work placement in year two gives students operational experience of a working farm and related agricultural businesses, which will in turn enhance their employability and future career prospects."

First year students spend up to 40pc of their time in both farm and laboratory-based practical classes, delivered on local farms which include commercial sheep, beef and dairy enterprises. Students also regularly travel to specialised agricultural enterprises and related industries throughout the country to experience best practice in operation.

"LYIT's focus on student-centred programmes coupled with work placement in a friendly atmosphere, affordable accommodation and good transport links makes it an excellent location to study agriculture," Dr Gallagher says.

Sustainable farm management and agribusiness

IT Carlow (Delivered at Wexford campus)

The idea of training students to degree level in Sustainable Farm Management and Agribusiness was first mooted by Wexford IFA, which saw a need for a course specifically aimed at running the farm as a business in the south-east.

Carlow Institute of Technology was like-minded and resolved to deliver the course through its Wexford campus. Now in its second year, students can undertake either the Level 7 programme for three years or the four-year Level 8 Sustainable Farm Management and Agribusiness degree programme.

Programme Director Dr Stephen Whelan says most of the entrants to the programme are from a farming background with a long-term goal of being involved in the running of the farm.

"They're always keeping an eye on off-farm employment as well," Dr Whelan says.

The three or four-year programme content is a mixture between science and business subjects.

"We cover farm business management in first year, farm financial accounting in second year and quite a few business-related subjects throughout the entire four years, including rural entrepreneurship and aspects of agribusiness law and succession planning," Dr Whelan adds.

The science side occupies about 50pc of the course content but having studied Agricultural Science to Leaving Cert is not a prerequisite. Subjects covered in the programme include Agricultural Chemistry and Physics and Animal and Plant Biology.

"Having studied Agricultural Science or any science for that matter is not a requirement but about 90pc of the students have studied Agricultural Science and some will have Chemistry or Biology as well," he says.

Dr Whelan notes it was the IFA in Wexford that first proposed the development of the Sustainable Farm Management and Agribusiness programme so the course had developed, literally, from the ground up.

"IT Carlow was considering it and the IFA actually developed a business plan for it which proved there was demand in the south-east and that it could be rolled out here.

"The college then took it on and started building the programme as something different than what would be on offer at UCD or Waterford IT, for example, which are only an hour away from Carlow.

The course is delivered in Wexford town, which has a campus that includes around 1,000 students involved in full-time and lifelong learning programmes.

The Sustainable Farm Management and Agribusiness degree programme has a capacity for around 30 students. Currently, there are 12 in second year and 20 in first year, with numbers expected to grow as its reputation expands.

"We also have an option for people with a Level 6 qualification from Teagasc or elsewhere to come into the programme in second year.

"This is aimed at people who might have got a flavour for agriculture but would like to continue their studies before returning to farming," he said.

Dr Whelan says the programme's unique selling point is the hybrid between the course's business and science offering.

"There isn't really another course that offers that 50/50 mix and a farm has to be sustainable from a business point of view but you also have to understand the scientific aspects of it," he added.

Carlow IT is also examining the possibility of making some of the business modules of the course available through its lifelong learning programmes, tailoring it towards other people in a farm family who may be interested in getting involved in the farm business.My daughter and I joined another mother and her three children for what was supposed to be a carefree week of mid-term holiday fun on one of Spain's sunny Canary Islands.

But two not so carefree events reminded me that careful and consistent preparation is the number one way to avoid crises - in both our personal and business lives.

I'll share our story along with these pointers as a crisis communications refresher course for us all.

We're Stranded

Our first mishap occurred the Sunday afternoon we arrived.

The travel agent had booked a shuttle to deliver us to our rental villa.

We presumed it was our villa as the six of us holding suitcases stood in front of the house where the driver had deposited us. But then, as we walked up, we couldn't help noticing the very large man reclining near the small swimming pool connected to the home. He insisted this was his villa.

A group of local cleaners onsite tidying agreed. The man's paperwork checked out. Upon close inspection, however, ours did not. We had the same house number as this villa in the same named resort community - but the street name on our paperwork was apparently from a town 40-minutes to the north.

Neither of the two phone numbers typed on our information sheet connected us to a live person. One didn't work at all and the other connected to a recording telling callers to phone again during regular business hours Monday through Friday.

Cranky children

Not surprisingly, our four children were becoming confused and cranky. Truth be told, so were we.

Fortunately, the cleaners stayed to help put the pieces of the puzzle together. Since they spoke fluent Spanish, they managed to contact the shuttle service which, in turn, managed to track down someone from the property management company. It was revealed that our villa actually was located in this complex - but six doors down. No explanation was provided for the error.

1 Make a plan/Share your plan

Does your company have a crisis plan and protocol? What is it? How is it communicated to all?

Because my friend had been to the Canaries before, I let her hold on to the rental agreement provided by the travel agent. I didn't even ask to see a copy. Shame on me.

I most likely wouldn't have noticed the errors with the local address. But sharing responsibility is part of being a team.

It's important for businesses and leaders to share and get buy-in around any plan.

2 Test your plan

Why didn't I think to test the phone numbers on the paperwork before we needed them?

Same thing goes for your business. Run a crisis simulation. What works? What needs addressing? Routine testing beforehand will provide an alert that something is amiss.

There's been a break-in

Our second mishap unfolded a few days later as we returned to our villa following dinner in town. Upon entering and turning on the lights, we saw clothing and papers recklessly scattered about. A break-in.

We gathered the shaking children. My friend called the police.

About 20 minutes later, four police officers arrived and discovered a broken window latch and a large handprint on the glass. The intruder had opened it from the outside - even though we thought we had it locked from the inside.

The police guessed he was only after passports or cash, which we had with us at dinner. So, the would-be robber took nothing.

But he gave us a big fright. We took the children's mattresses from the downstairs bedrooms and huddled together upstairs for the remainder of the night.

The next day, our travel agent contacted the property manager who sent a handyman to fix the window. Nothing more.

3 Maintain your plan

Regular testing of your plans - like regular servicing of window locks - is critical for a business. Organisations and employees change. Therefore, systems and plans must be re-examined and adjusted to correspond with the changes.

Sure, it was the property manager's responsibility to have secure windows.

But as responsible parents, we could have double checked for safety. No matter where you are in the company's org-chart, you can inquire about crisis preparation plans.

4 Above all, be compassionate

The fact that the property manager didn't offer to reduce the fee for our stay - or move us to another villa - or even send us a box of chocolates or a pizza for the kids as a sign of caring, is NOT the way to keep customers and gain business.

We were all safely aboard the plane back home to Ireland as I typed this with, of course, the beauty of hindsight.

And it is this hindsight that I vow to turn to foresight. I pledge to hold myself to the higher standard that I encourage you, my business partners, to also undertake.

If a crisis hits, being compassionate isn't an admission of guilt. It's a gesture of kindness - and that's always in order.

Remember to make crisis plans for your organisation and remember to be kind.

How well is your organisation prepared for a crisis? Are your spokespeople sufficiently trained? Write to Gina in care of SundayBusiness@independent.ie

Gina London is a former CNN anchor and international campaign strategist who is now a director with Fuzion Communications. She serves as media commentator, emcee and corporate consultant. @TheGinaLondonIrish energy trader ElectroRoute is expected to prise off a number of assets from Gaelectric as the dismemberment of the troubled green energy developer gathers pace.

It is understood Dublin-based ElectroRoute, which is backed by Japan's Mitsubishi Corporation, has taken over some contracts already and the firm is understood to have submitted bids for Gaelectric's wind farm projects.

Vayu Energy, the Irish gas and electricity supplier swallowed up by the Spanish utility giant Gas Natural Fenosa (GNF) in 2016, has also displayed an interest in the asset sale, according to sources.

Another contender linked to the process is the London and Irish-listed funds minnow Greencoat Renewables.

News of the potential bidders underlines the dearth of appetite for the business as a whole as takeover partners and strategic investors steered clear.

It also points up the scale of Gaelectric's downfall, which was founded twelve years ago and was once touted as a candidate for a 400m initial public offering.

At one stage it controlled a network of offices throughout the UK and Ireland, and even established an outpost in the US. But its outsized ambitions, supported by a burgeoning debt base - the latest accounts show the liabilities had hit 352.5m - were eventually brought up short by the constant financing strains generated by development stage wind farms.

Its fate was sealed last year when hopes of a white knight investor fell flat. Gaelectric had signed an exclusivity deal with a Chinese state-backed fund that prevented the company from talking to other suitors.

As one source said, "a process that should have taken three months ended up taking nine months", and when the Beijing-based managers of China General Nuclear European Energy eventually dismissed the proposed investment - disenchanted by the level of Irish Government support to the renewable sector - the writing was on the wall.

In September, KPMG recommended a break-up of the company in the expectation this would deliver the greatest return for some 60 remaining shareholders. Mike Hayes, a partner at the accountancy firm and stalwart of the renewable electricity industry, is now running the sales process, but sources said it may take until the summer to complete the asset disposal.

Even then the cashflow back to investors may take years as a small payment for a development project is likely to be offered upfront with earn outs stretched over a multi-year time frame. One source pointed to the Montana project, which has cost 40m to date, as Gaelectric amassed development rights to 300,000 acres in the hope it could eventually erect close to 2,000MW of turbines.

The project is expected to sell for a tiny sum although shareholders will be promised a higher return further down the line if certain targets are met.

But as the first stage of the sell-off nears completion, a legal battle has erupted among the company's shareholders.

US private equity group Lone Star, which took an 8pc stake in Gaelectric, as part of a debt work out deal, is suing Eamonn McGrath, a founder and former chief executive of Gaelectric, in the Commercial Court.

The case centres on a settlement deed under which Lone Star claims about 10.6m became due and owing by Mr McGrath in November 2017.

After a demand for repayment was not met, it issued the legal proceedings.

Earlier this year it was reported that Mr McGrath and Barry Gavin, two of the main shareholders at Gaelectric, agreed to hand a portion of their equity to other shareholders. Prior to that overhaul it is understood most of the proceeds from the asset sales would have flowed back to these major stakeholders who controlled 50pc of the equity.

At Gaelectric's AGM last year, investors were told the wind up of the business was likely to result in a distribution of 10c for every 1 invested, with the pay-out scheduled for autumn.The Irish government has withdrawn Philip Lane from the contest to name a new vice president of the European Central Bank.

It clears the way for Spains Luis de Guindos to get the job without a formal vote of Euro area finance ministers. The Irish Central Bank governor was the only other candidate.

Speaking in Brussels on Monday, Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe confirmed the decision to quit the race in order for a single name to go forward.

I believe that it is crucial that the election of a new vice-president for the ECB is based on consensus, and should not be a source for any disagreement. In that context, I have decided that, on balance, it would be in the interests of the Euro-area as a whole to withdraw Philips candidacy in advance of any vote.

Minister Donohoe said he had bee: very pleased to nominate the governor of our Central Bank, Professor Philip Lane, earlier this month for the position.

The Irish move is thought to be aimed a boosting Prof Lanes support if he is nominated as ECB chief economist next year.Supermac's has committed to spending 32m on Irish produce over the course of the year.

The group's expansion plans has largely driven the increase spend on beef, chicken and vegetables.

By the end of the first half of 2018, an additional six new restaurants are to be opened across Ireland, bringing the total amount of stores in the chain here to 114.

Supermacs MD, Pat McDonagh, said that commitment, announced following a meeting with IFA President, Joe Healy, "is a very strong endorsement of the quality of Irish produce on Irish farms".

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"We are 40 years in business this year and since we started in Ballinasloe in 1978 we have always looked to local suppliers wherever possible, be that for farm produce or construction materials," he said.

"We are strongly committed to Irish farmers and the farming community in general."

The planned openings will be in Balbriggan, Co Dublin, three in Cork at Ballyvollane, Bandon Rd and Glanmire, one in Naas, Co. Kildare and one in Donegal Town.

The company, which is currently on a major recruitment drive, is expected to a create a further 400 jobs with the new stores.

Supermac's is looking for management staff in particular but there are "career opportunities at all levels".London-listed United Oil & Gas has announced the appointment of Graham Martin as chairman with immediate effect.

In a statement today United Oil & Gas described Mr Martin as an experienced senior natural resources executive who is bring a wealth of international expertise to the company.

Currently Mr Martin is a non-executive director at titanium minerals and zircon production company Kenmare Resources.

Commenting on the appointment, Brian Larkin, chief executive officer at United Oil & Gas said the company was delighted to welcome Mr Martin to the board.

"Grahams addition to our board will further strengthen our strategic and corporate experience and will help us in achieving this goal and in ultimately delivering superior shareholder returns," Mr Larkin said.

Mr Martin has also previously served as an executive director, general counsel and company secretary at Tullow Oil.

"From 1997 until 2016, Mr. Martin was centrally involved in the growth of Tullow Oil into a FTSE100 business, and in the companys transformative M&A programme," United said.

Prior to Tullow Oil, Mr. Martin was a partner at the US energy law firm Vinson & Elkins LLP, having started his legal career in Scotland.

Earlier this year the company announced that it had entered into a farm-out agreement with Corallian, a private UK oil and gas exploration company, to acquire an initial 10pc interest from Corallian in three licences held by a joint venture between Corallian and Corfe Energy offshore and onshore in the southern UK.

Under the agreement United will pay 13.33pc, or just under 1m (1.1m), of the costs associated with the Colter well, which is planned for mid-2018.

These licences are located next to the largest onshore oil field in Europe, Wytch Farm, which has produced in excess of 450 million barrels of oil.GALWAY is set to benefit from 75 new jobs after a medical diagnostics company announced it was setting up a new business centre in the city.

Quidel Corporation, which is headquartered in California, said the new jobs will come on stream over the next five years at the Galway centre which will support the company's new international business.

Quidel, which makes medical diagnostic equipment, already employs in the region of 1,200 people globally and has operations in North Amercia, Europe, Latin America and Asia.

The new business centre is being supported by IDA Ireland.

The US company is currently recruiting professionals for its Galway operation in areas including Finance, Human Resources, Customer Service, and Technical Support.

Douglas Bryant, Quidel Corporations President and CEO, said: There are many very talented people here, and Quidel is proud to partner with Martin Shanahan and IDA Ireland to bring jobs to Galway. Our company has recently doubled in size, and we believe that Galway can serve as a linchpin for our growing international presence.

The move has also been welcomed by Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Heather Humphreys who added; The investment announcement by Quidel today reaffirms Irelands position as one of the international leaders in the Medtech industry. I am pleased that Quidel has chosen to establish a Business Service Centre in Galway city that will result in the creation of 75 high quality jobs in the West of Ireland. This new facility is a further example of the success of our commitment under the Regional Action Plans for Jobs to provide quality jobs in regional locations.

IDA Ireland CEO Martin Shanahan described it "a terrific announcement from a new name investor in the medical device space in Ireland which will have a very positive impact on Galway city, county and the wider West region. The jobs being created are high value service roles. I wish Quidel every success here and will follow their progress with interest.Giving staff the tools to report workplace abuses, including forced labour, should improve data for brands that are striving to ensure their products are slavery-free, a tech startup said.

From texts and calls to messaging apps and social media, technology could encourage workers to share issues anonymously.

That would give companies a better understanding of the risk of slavery in their global supply chains, said Antoine Heuty, chief executive of Ulula, a software and analytics platform.

"Our platform can help build trust and enable workers to connect with companies in real-time, anywhere, any time and in any language," Heuty told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

With modern slavery increasingly making global headlines, companies are under growing pressure from governments and consumers to disclose what actions they are taking to ensure their operations and products are not tainted by forced labour.

"By combining workers' responses with other data, we can help companies in the fight against slavery, by understanding their employees," said Heuty, whose social enterprise is one of a rising number of businesses seeking to tackle societal issues.

Read More

While major companies from sportswear giant Adidas to budget fashion chain Primark have set up whistleblower hotlines for workers in recent years, Ulula aims to go further, Heuty said.

The platform will merge feedback from workers with other data, such as satellite imagery of palm oil plantations and building regulations for garment factories, to give companies real-time insight into risks in their supply chains, he said.

Ulula also hopes its software could in the future be used to build industry benchmarks, allowing companies and suppliers to compare working conditions and regulations against their peers.

"We want to motivate a race to the top," Heuty said.

While technology can play an important role in protecting vulnerable workers and preventing abuses, it should not be seen as a "silver bullet", said the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI)

"Some software platforms may well improve traceability and transparency, and be a useful mechanism to flag risk," said Cindy Berman, head of modern slavery strategy at ETI, a group of trade unions, firms and charities promoting workers' rights.

"But resolving workplace grievances or rights violations cannot lie with technology."

About 25 million people globally were estimated to be trapped in forced labour in 2016, according to the International Labour Organization (ILO) and rights group Walk Free Foundation.Europe is as exceptional for its vigorous diversity of cultural expression as it is for being the cradle for some of humanity's darkest nightmares. In terms of the 20th Century, it is hard to think of a book in recent years that has depicted the changing fortunes of the region in a way that transcends mere historical record quite like Maybe Esther.

Katja Petrowskaja, the Ukrainian-born Berliner who studied in Estonia before completing her PhD in Russia, has gone within herself to explain things that happened long before she was born. Reading Maybe Esther, it is hard to know whether or not Petrowskaja's family are extraordinary or just one of any number of beleaguered Jewish family trees that got uprooted, pruned and scorched while merely seeking to make enduring contributions to society.

Over seven generations and 200 years, Petrowskaja's family on her mother's side were devoted to educating deaf and mute children, giving them language and comprehension. Language, spoken, written or typed into search engines to the past, provides a thematic thread throughout. The author considers her own desire to learn German, the language of her family's historic enemies, while her brother learned Hebrew in order to "recapture" tradition. The moves are at odds with her Soviet upbringing, but language can be a way to "balance out provenance".

It's quite the cast of characters she assembles. Petrowskaja's background as a journalist comes to the fore as she moves about the former haunts of her family members - Ukraine, Russia, Poland and Germany - trying to colour in corners and layer flesh on to relatives and dates as they found themselves at various crossroads in their own destinies and that of modern European history.

Take Rosa, her opera-loving grandmother. At 36, while fleeing the war, she found work in the Urals setting up and managing an orphanage for 200 half-starved children left behind from the Siege of Leningrad. In 1941, when Rosa fled Kiev by train with her two daughters and legions of other scared refugees, the calm way the experience is retold is chilling in its banality. Rosa is no longer the ailing family relic of the grainy black and white portrait in the pages, scribbling down formless memories on notes of paper, but the type of hero that can emerge only from conflict.

Then there are characters such as Uncle Vil, the Soviet soldier who was pulled alive from the bottom of a pit of dead troops who had been run over by a tank. He would go on to become a hydroacoustics specialist. Various other revolutionaries, war heroes, teachers, and phantoms about whom little is known, populate these magnetic pages.

As we continue on the journey, as physical as it is emotional, with Petrowskaja, the feeling starts to dawn on you that it is the blurred outline to many of these things that make them so enigmatic. A simple couple of paragraphs from the author about the wording on the sign above the gates to Auschwitz becomes less a vignette than a psychological deconstruction of how such an evil context can taint semantic meaning and thus an interpretation of the tangible. She reaches very far within herself, sometimes self-indulgently so, in her search for meaning.

The understated, self-involved voice adopted by Petrowskaja throughout Maybe Esther brings chilling immediacy to the details of what befell her family tree, as if her existence itself is a miracle given the persecution her forebears experienced. A chapter on Kiev's Babi Yar massacre is unflinchingly potent in this respect.

Maybe Esther's sometimes slippery texture might not suit those who like their historical non-fiction served dry and direct. Those looking for a unique approach to the memoir are advised to investigate, however.sexual Ulysses: Writer Anne Enright says Joyce has sex sewn up as far as Irish literature is concerned. Photo: Ger Holland

When it comes to good sex - or writing about it, at least - our very own James Joyce stole the show.

Molly Bloom's famous soliloquy which explodes in her orgasmic "yes I said yes I will Yes" still makes readers tingle all over but in Irish literature, the earth hasn't moved much since.

That's according to one of Ireland's greatest writers, Anne Enright. Speaking as she received the Irish PEN Award for Outstanding Contribution to Irish Literature last Friday night, the author of The Gathering explained how attempts at writing about sex in Irish literature since then have left her scratching her head.

"I cannot think of a sex scene in a major Irish book. Is it possible that we just don't do them at all? There are a few but they are never great. Nobody is really enjoying themselves," she laughs.

"I suppose a post-Catholic oppressive [society] means people aren't so [willing] and we also have a tragic muse. Maybe it's the combination of the tragic muse where there is very little romance and very little redemption and a post-Catholic hangover where you don't discuss these matters. It means there is not much written about these things by Irish writers of previous generations, apart from Joyce."

In 2010 British author Martin Amis told a literary festival audience that it's "impossible" for a novelist to write about real, as opposed to pornographic, sex.

He said: "Sex is irreducibly personal, therefore not universal", adding: "With that tonnage of emotion on it, if there is going to be one thing you can't write about then that would be it."

But Anne says: "Martin Amis writes quite well about it." And she feels sex is not the only subject to leave writers pulling their hair out: "Swimming is also hard to write about. And sleep, who can write about sleep?"

Still, she doesn't take the advice of Literary Review editor Nancy Sladek, who once said: "I don't think there are any cases where it works" and advised avoiding literary sex altogether.

"Everything that happens in my books, happens from the characters' point of view, so I suppose their love lives are part of their lives and I can't leave it out," Anne says.

On picking up her award, she says: "I am a big admirer of Irish PEN and PEN international, especially their work on freedom of speech and free expression throughout the world, so it's really lovely."

And the days of keeping female writers in the shade were over, thanks to the one thing that made publishers sit up and listen: money. "Literary fiction has really shifted over the last 10 years, possibly because it's been so chipped away by online resources. Print has been scared and when print gets scared it goes to the people who are actually pulling in the readers and the people who are pulling in the readers are women.

"If you look at the list of bestsellers a couple of weeks ago [roughly] seven of the people selling over 100,000 copies in a year, were all really well-established female names that have been coming up over the last 10 or 20 years. So whatever needed to happen has happened. Ireland was one of the last dominoes to fall."

Despite winning the Man Booker Prize for Fiction, Anne still struggles with doubt every time she starts a book. "It is exactly the same. When you sit in to write a book there is always a really, really bad year at the desk and I am just coming out of my tenth bad year at the desk.

"I think, 'I can't make it go' and then you remember this has happened nine times before. But it is the same difficulty and anxiety every bloody time."

Asked why she puts herself through it, she says: "It's very satisfying - and as with a lot of things that are satisfying in life, you really have to put your back into them."Gabriel Byrne and producer Hannah Beth King arrive at FIJI Water at 2016 Tony Awards at The Beacon Theatre on June 12, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for FIJI Water)

Gabriel Byrne and Hannah King got married in Cork at the weekend

Producer Hannah Beth King actor Gabriel Byrne attend the 70th Annual Tony Awards at The Beacon Theatre on June 12, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions)

Gabriel Byrne & new wife Hannah Beth King since they married earlier this month in Ballymaloe Country House Hotel, Cork

Mick Jagger did it at 73, Billy Joel and Ronnie Wood did it at 68 and Rowan Atkinson at 62. But Irish actor Gabriel Byrne says becoming a father in your later years is "bittersweet".

The Usual Suspects star, who picked up the Lifetime Achievement award at the IFTAs last Thursday night, says being an older dad is a "brave" move.

"It's like, everything, you think 'oh yeah, I did that thing in life', but now this is a new journey again. Looking into the eyes of a creature that's full of innocence and wonderment makes you reflect how out of touch we get with that feeling; the way we take everything for granted as we get older, while a child will sit and play with a shoelace for 10 minutes because they are amazed by it.

"But it is also a bittersweet experience, for obvious reasons," he said.

Expand Close Producer Hannah Beth King actor Gabriel Byrne attend the 70th Annual Tony Awards at The Beacon Theatre on June 12, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions) / Facebook

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Whatsapp Producer Hannah Beth King actor Gabriel Byrne attend the 70th Annual Tony Awards at The Beacon Theatre on June 12, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions)

Gabriel, married to younger wife Hannah Beth King, says he tries not to worry about his age as his child gets older because there are no guarantees in life for anyone.

"Life is precious and it is short and there is not one person here tonight who can put up their hand and say 'I will be here tomorrow'. Nobody can.

"So I can bring love and commitment and compassion as I have tried to do with my other kids, and that's all I can do. It is a brave thing to do.

"Am I worried about the future? Most people are worried about the future. We live in really unstable times. You think about it."

The actor and his wife welcomed their first child, a baby girl, last year, after marrying in a low-key ceremony at Ballymaloe House in Cork in 2014. Gabriel also has a son and a daughter from his previous marriage to Ellen Barkin.

He said the award is meaningful for him in a very personal way.

"There are markers in life that allow you to look back and assess decisions taken, and for me, it is looking at an emotional journey, from leaving Dublin to coming back to Dublin. This signifies an emotional journey that has been full of fear and doubt, insecurity, success and failure.

"Fame doesn't necessarily change you, it changes everyone around you. When you are 24 and from Dublin and suddenly the entire world is telling you are not that kid from Dublin anymore, holding on to your identity is tremendously important."

Expand Close Gabriel Byrne & new wife Hannah Beth King since they married earlier this month in Ballymaloe Country House Hotel, Cork / Facebook

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Whatsapp Gabriel Byrne & new wife Hannah Beth King since they married earlier this month in Ballymaloe Country House Hotel, Cork

Speaking of the IFTA, he said: "I can't believe that starting off in Dublin with no expectation of anything led to that and that and that.

"That moment, when I left Dublin that night, I had no idea the journey would end in a place like this, at a ceremony like this."

Like many of the female attendees, Charlie Murphy, Caitriona Balfe, Amy Huberman and host Deirdre O'Kane all wore black in support of the #TimesUp movement against sexual harassment in Hollywood.

Balfe, who was nominated for Lead Actress in a Drama for her role in Outlander, told how she hoped the movement would leave its mark.

"It would be nice to continue the message throughout the award season and keep the conversation going," she said.

The Monaghan woman (38), who recently got engaged to Tony McGill, her boyfriend of two years, showed off a dazzling engagement ring at the Golden Globes last month.Social Protection Minister Regina Doherty admitted that the Government could not be complacent about repealing the Eighth. Photo: Tony Gavin

A senior Government minister was forced to clarify remarks she had made which cast doubt over whether the abortion referendum could be carried.

Social Protection Minister Regina Doherty said: "Standing right now, if nobody does anything, I don't think this referendum will pass."

The Fine Gael TD was speaking on RTE's 'The Week In Politics' programme after an opinion poll showed 48pc of respondents said they would vote to repeal the Eighth Amendment alongside proposals by Government to allow unrestricted abortion up to 12 weeks.

However, in the latest 'Sunday Independent'/Kantar Millward Brown poll, a third of voters (33pc) said permitting abortion up to 12 weeks went "too far".

Ms Doherty later said: "I believe the referendum can and will pass. I and members of the Government will campaign for it. But we can't be complacent, which is why I said earlier that we have a job to do to sell it.

"Many people aren't aware of the medical and scientific evidence that was presented to the Citizens' Assembly, and the Committee on the Eighth, which helped us arrive at the current proposal.

"We need to help people realise that there is clear medical evidence to support the committee's recommendations in relation to 12 weeks."

The Cabinet has agreed to legislate for access to abortion up to 12 weeks gestation should the repeal referendum pass. They took their lead from recommendations by the committee.

The committee said a 12-week limit was necessary as a way of mitigating against the dangers that exist where women are taking abortion tablets without medical supervision.

More than 1,500 abortion tablets have been posted to Ireland since 2010.

There was also an acceptance that legislating for abortion in cases of rape and incest alone was too complicated due to the burden of proof required and the impact such interrogation would have on a rape victim.

"That needs to be explained clearly to people; with reasons and evidence, so there is a job of work to be done there," said Ms Doherty.

Polls

Meanwhile, Health Minister Simon Harris is bringing the heads of the Referendum Bill to Cabinet tomorrow.

The Government will publish information on its intended legislation in early March so members of the public will know the exact implications of their vote when they go to the polls in May or June.

A spokesperson for Mr Harris said he agreed there was a "huge amount of work to be done".

He added: "The minister believes the current situation in Ireland where women are forced abroad to have a termination, where women are purchasing abortion pills illegally online and where women in extremely difficult situations are left isolated and neglected, that the people will vote to repeal the Eighth Amendment."A 53-year-old Siptu worker has claimed that landlords are continuing to discriminate against tenants who are entitled to a Housing Assistant Payment despite laws against such discrimination.

Shelagh Rice has worked in the finance department of Siptu for a number of years and has been renting her home in Fairview for more than a decade.

However, after 12 years renting the property her landlord informed her in 2017 that he was selling up and Shellagh has until April to move out.

In the past few months she has more than a hundred properties, focusing her search in north county Dublin.

Due to health reasons and two major surgeries she is currently on a reduced income and has been granted a HAP payment to help cover her rent.

"I've found landlords and agents are initially very interested in having me as a tenant, I'm practically shortlisted for every apartment but as soon as I mention HAP I'm dropped like a hot potato," she said.

"You can practically feel the frost in the air."

One agent explicitly told Shelagh the landlord renting one property "will not accept HAP" in an email.

Under current regulations landlords are barred from excluding tenants who receive State help with their rent.

However Shelagh feels that landlords view HAP tenants negatively due to unfounded prejudice.

"In general people don't go out looking for money for the sake of it. People only look for help when they need it," she said.

Shelagh is beginning to feel that her search for a home will end with her being evicted with nowhere to go.

"At the beginning I thought I had months to get sorted out now times feels like it's looming and I'm not any closer to getting anywhere.

The process is beginning to overwhelm her, she said.

"I'm a good tenant, with excellent references and I've worked all my life since I was 17 and now that I need help it's not the Governemnt letting me down it's the people of Ireland and landlords who just want money at a time when demand far outweighs supply and they can do what they like," she said.

Shelagh said she is not sure what the solution is to solving the problem of landlords refusing HAP tenants but suggests more could be done to educate landlords on the benefits of taking a HAP tenant.A Carlow publican has received a two year suspended sentence for stealing over 8,500 from a former employer after a series of personal tragedies.

Brian O'Kane (45) admitted he had stolen up to 60 a night for drink while working as senior bar manager at The Porterhouse Central pub in Dublin.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard O'Kane had had three family bereavements and a marriage breakdown in the months before his offending.

Karl Monahan BL, defending, submitted to Judge Gerard Griffin that his client had turned to alcohol to deal with this chaotic time but had since gotten back on his feet.

O'Kane, of Royal Oak, Bagenalstown, Co. Carlow, pleaded guilty to stealing 8,589 from David Morrissey at The Porterhouse Central, Nassau Street, Dublin on dates from January to July 2015. He has no previous convictions.

Garda Jonathan Petrie told John Quirke BL, prosecuting, that O'Kane would steal by voiding transactions at the till and pocketing the cash paid by customers.

This caused a stock issue which was noticed by the bar's owner, Mr Morrissey, and an internal investigation was launched.

The court heard O'Kane initially helped with the investigation, which involved viewing CCTV and checking dockets.

Gda Petrie said Mr Morrissey eventually noticed that a large number of the voided transactions originated from O'Kane.

Mr Morrissey later told gardai that he had regarded O'Kane as a friend as well as colleague and that the breach of trust has changed the way he views people in general.

O'Kane admitted after arrest that he didn't know how much cash he had taken, but it was between 50 and 60 per night. He told gardai that he stole so he could drink.

Mr Monaghan submitted to Judge Griffin that his client had brought the full amount of money he had stolen to court to be handed over to his former employer.

He said O'Kane had been taking amounts that seemed small but which added up because he was not dealing well with personal tragedies. Counsel said O'Kane had since gotten back on his feet and was running a pub in Carlow with his brother.

Judge Griffin said he considered the offending at the lower mid range of the scale.

He suspended the sentence for three years, taking into consideration O'Kane's early guilty plea, genuine remorse and that he had not come to adverse garda attention before or since.Two men jailed for a fatal burglary at the home of a 62-year-old will have served their prison sentences found to be too lenient by the Court of Appeal by the time fresh sentences are handed down.

Cousins Michael Casey (34), with an address at Clonlong Halting Site, Southill, in Limerick and David Casey (23), with an address at Carragh Park, Belcamp, Dublin 17, had pleaded guilty to a series of burglaries, including one at the home of John O'Donoghue at Toomaline, Doon, on August 27, 2015.

Mr O'Donoghue collapsed and died as he was about to confront the two intruders, who ran away without offering assistance.

Judge Tom O'Donnell sentenced both men at Limerick Circuit Criminal Court to four-and-a-half years imprisonment with the final year suspended on December 15, 2016.

The Court of Appeal found the men's sentences to be unduly lenient following a review of sentence brought by the Director of Public Prosecutions.

The three-judge court was told today that the Caseys are due for release from prison in the middle of April days before the court's judgment on the matter is due to be handed down on April 17. Accordingly the court remanded both men in custody to that date.

In seeking a review of the Caseys' sentences last December, counsel for the DPP, Thomas O'Malley BL, submitted that the Caseys targetted four residential properties and entered three. They were engaged in a spree which they had obviously planned and David Casey was on bail at the time the offences were committed.

While it was not alleged that the Caseys directly caused the death of Mr O'Donoghue, Mr O'Malley said there was undoubtedly some causative link between the Caseys' behaviour and Mr O'Donoghue's sudden death.

He said the impact on the victims, particularly Mr O'Donoghue's surviving sister who witnessed her brother die shortly after arriving home while the burglary was in progress, had to be considered and property of significant economic and sentimental value was taken from the home of one of the other victims, Mrs O'Keefe.

The DPP made further general submissions to the court today in case the court may wish to offer some general guidance or guidelines on the sentencing of burglaries for the future.

Mr O'Malley said the submission was being made out of recognition of the undeniable social problem caused by residential burglaries.

Mr O'Malley said residential burglaries were a serious social problem particularly where the dwelling happens to be occupied by an elderly, infirm or disabled person and where it happens during the night or in the early hours when the person or persons are at home.

It was clear from media reports, Mr O'Malley said, that residential burglaries were occurring with a degree of frequency. That in itself made it socially problematic.

He said the impact on victims was multi-faceted. It had a serious impact on the person whose home was invaded but also affected those who were in similar circumstances particularly where you had a burglary in a rural area.

A single burglary in a rural area creates a ripper of fear throughout that area such that other people in the area live in permanent fear or dread.

This meant that residential burglaries could destroy entire communities or ways of life, Mr O'Malley said. It could lead people to alter their lifestyles like moving into sheltered accommodation.

He said people felt at risk in their homes, the place they should feel most secure.

Mr O'Malley submitted that residential burglary should be treated as a special case. It was already recognised, he said, that residential burglary was at least as much an offence against the person as it was the property, and sometimes more so. While little or no property of any value may be taken, typically, the victim will continue to endure a sense of fear and insecurity for quite a long time to come.

Mr Justice George Birmingham, who sat with Mr Justice Alan Mahon and Mr Justice John Edwards, said the court would deliver its judgment on April 17 next.

On an earlier occasion, prosecuting counsel, John G O'Sullivan BL, referred to the case as a fatal burglary.A former Anglo Irish Bank executive has said he was asked to sign off on a 7.2bn inter-bank loan after it had happened, which was outside the usual procedures.

Mike Nurse, said he retrospectively signed off on a credit limit for the transaction during the 2008 financial crisis, after a team of bankers reporting to CEO David Drumm had already approved it.

Mr Nurse, then-head of the Anglos Treasury Risk division was giving evidence today in the trial of Mr Drumm, who is charged with conspiracy to defraud and false accounting.

Mr Drumm (51) is pleading not guilty to conspiring to defraud Anglo investors in 2008 by dishonestly creating the impression that the banks deposits were 7.2bn larger than they were.

He is alleged to have conspired with former Anglo officials Willie McAteer and John Bowe, as well then-CEO of Irish Life and Permanent (ILP), Denis Casey, and others.

Mr Drumm also denies false accounting, by providing misleading information to the market.

The case centres on a series of circular billion-euro inter-bank transactions between Anglo and ILP, routed through ILP-owned Irish Life Assurance (ILA). The money was placed back in Anglo and treated as customer deposits, which are considered a better measure of a banks strength. Mr Drumm admits he authorised the transactions but denies there was anything dishonest or fraudulent in them.

Mr Nurse said he was head of Treasury Risk and chair of the Treasury credit committee that approved inter-bank credit limits.

Mr Nurse told Mary Rose Gearty SC, prosecuting, there were two a-level and two b-level signatures needed on sign off on changes in the credit limit for inter-bank transactions.

Mr Nurse was an a signatory, as was Tony OHanlon.

There was a fast-track credit approval process which was designed to respond quickly to business situations because the committee only sat once per week.

It only required one a signature and the fast track approval would then go to the next audit committee meeting for ratification.

Mr Nurse said he was not aware that Anglo had placed the first 1bn with ILP until the day it happened - March 31, 2008.

The credit limit at the time for ILP was 200m, so the 1bn placement was 400pc in excess of the limit.

This was signed as approved by Mr Nurse and Mr OHanlon.

Mr Nurse said he saw the 1bn going out of Anglo but was not aware at the time of what was coming in to the bank as a result.

The jury heard there were repo transactions with ILP in June 2008 but they did not require any change in the credit limits because there was collateral and they were secure transactions.

That summer, Mr Nurse said he was aware that there were transactions being proposed for Anglos year end in September.

Any transaction that was proposed that required additional credit limit would have been processed in the same way as describe in the March transaction, he said.

However, when he was asked if that same process was followed for the 7.2bn ILP transaction in September, he replied that it was not.

It was dealt with at executive management level and by the treasury team who were involved.

Ms Gearty asked if Mr Nurse had been required as a signatory to approve it.

He replied that he signed it post the transaction on an excess report.

Ms Gearty asked him what his understanding was of who approved the credit limit.

He said the treasury team who were performing the transaction dealt with the CEO (David Drumm) and Chief First Officer (Willie McAteer.)

He became aware of the total size of the transaction either during the course of that day or the following morning.

An email from October 1, 2008 was shown to the jury which showed the credit limit for ILP had gone up to 500m in September, This meant the excess was more than 6.7bn.

The signatories on the morning of October 1 were himself and Willie McAteer, and this was a retrospective sign-off.

Was that common practice? Ms Gearty asked.

No, Mr Nurse replied.

This afternoon, company secretary Natasha Mercer confirmed to Ms Gearty that the transactions with ILP were not mentioned in the minutes of any board meetings until November 18, 2008.

The minutes from a number of these meetings were then showed to the jury.

In one meeting on September 17, 2008, called in response to the collapse of Lehman Bros two days earlier, it was stated that Mr Drumm gave a liquidity update. He told that meeting about the executive management team being on red alert and that there was a serious impact expected to the banking sector generally if an indigenous financial institution such as Irish Nationwide failed.

It was agreed at the meeting that contact should be made with offices of the Taoiseach and the Department of Finance to discuss the ramifications doe the bank and the country if swift and appropriate action isnt taken.

On September 22, 2008, Chairman Sean Fitzpatrick was noted as having summarised the key points of a meeting between Anglo executives and Gillian Bowler and Denis Casey of ILP. This was to discuss and gauge interest in potential co-operation between the two companies.

On September 26, John Bowe gave a liquidity update describing the markets as remaining very weak and Mr Drumm reported that the Financial Regulator and Central Bank continued to be fully briefed on Anglos liquidity position. Both Mr Drumm and Mr Fitzpatrick said they had received solid assurances from the Central Bank that Anglo would be supported and a funding facility would be made available should the prospect of insolvency present itself, the minutes stated.

Things at that stage were quite serious, Ms Mercer agreed with Ms Gearty.

Again, she said there was no reference in the minutes to the ILP transactions.

There were discussions on the strategic long term options for the bank. These were either to remain independent; consolidation in Ireland (ie a possible sale to an Irish bank or merger with ILP); or a sale to a foreign bank.

The case for and against a merger with ILP was discussed and the board concluded that while all the avenues should be explored and the preference was to remain independent the priority at the time was to secure funding and liquidity.

There were three meetings on September 29. In one, Mr Drumm provided an update, referring to the government guarantee and saying management remained on high alert, with funding a key priority. The conditions of the bailout were discussed.

Although there was no mention of the ILP transaction in the minutes, Ms Mercers handwritten notes contained a reference to 7.2bn Irish Life B/S.

She told Ms Gearty she did not recall any discussion of the transaction at the time or any reason for it not to be recorded in the minutes.

The minutes of a meeting of November 4 showed a focus on the preparation of accounts and to get them out to show that the bank was OK, Ms Mercer agreed.

There was no sense in the bank that the quality of its assets were poor at that time.

There was a reference to the ILP transaction in a meeting of the audit committee on November 18, in which it was referred to as customer accounts.

A director who had also been at the meeting made a change before the minutes were finalised. Ms Mercer looked at her notes and was comfortable that the transaction had been mentioned.

The minutes stated the year end transactions with ILP were outlined and it was confirmed that they were in the nature of normal year end management activity and that the Financial Regulator and (auditors) Ernst and Young had no issue with them.

The jury then heard of a question Donal OConnor, who had replaced Sean Fitzpatrick as Anglo Chairman asked on the phone about what these transactions represented.

It was suggested, Ms Gearty said, that he had asked are these just window dressing? and someone responded that it was normal balance sheet management.

This was not in Ms Mercers notes and she did not recall it.

The trial continues.A garda, who suffered months of stress and anxiety after four men attacked him in a dark laneway and one threatened to kill him with an iron bar, was Monday awarded 10,000 damages in a High Court garda compensation hearing relating to post traumatic stress injuries.

Mr Justice Michael Twomey also awarded Garda James Fenton 5,000 damages for soft tissue injuries he suffered to his upper body in the attack.

Barrister Brid OFlaherty, who appeared with Hughes Murphy Solicitors for the 36-year-old Dungarvan, Co Waterford, garda, told the court he had gone to a house at Lemybrien, Co Waterford, in May 2011 where a man had been threatening people with a knife.

Garda Fenton said he answered a 999 call alone after two women had called for help and he met them in considerable stress on a roadway about five oclock in the morning. They pointed out the house where the man with the knife was and had told him a third woman was in the house.

He had left the two women in the safety of the unmarked garda car and walked down the driveway towards the house. Two men approached him and told him to f*** off, you have no warrant.

They tore into me and one of them punched me in the nose causing a serious nose-bleed, he said. A third man joined in the attack and a Pit Bull dog started biting and snapping at me.

Garda Fenton said he was overpowered despite striking two of them with his official baton which he lost when all of them had fallen into barbed wire in a ditch. While he was down one of them had taken an iron bar and told him they were going to kill him.

I believed them, he said. And they kept kicking and punching me. After pepper spraying the man with the iron bar he had thrown it at him, narrowly missing the garda. He had kept pressing the emergency button on his radio and shortly afterwards the men ran off as garda reinforcements arrived from Tramore in a squad car. He arrested all four.

Garda Fenton told the court he sustained injuries to his right collar bone region, his nose and right elbow. He had been treated at Waterford Regional Hospital but afterwards developed Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, suffering anxiety, hyper-vigilance, flashbacks and sleeplessness. He had to have counselling.

He said his recreational and professional parts of his life had been adversely affected. He had been working in the detective unit but had since transferred to the traffic corps. Recently he had passed his exams for promotion to Sergeant.

Judge Twomey said the men had threatened to kill Garda Fenton and he had been genuinely in fear of his life. Awarding a total of 15,000 the judge said Garda Fenton had broadly recovered from his injuries.Convicted murderer Graham Dwyer's High Court challenge against the State over the use of mobile phone records during his trial is due to start on Tuesday.

Dwyer was convicted by a jury of the murder of Elaine OHara following a lengthy trial at the Central Criminal Court in March 2015.

In High Court proceedings, Dwyer claims certain provisions of the Communications (Retention of Data) Act 2011 breach his rights to privacy under the Constitution, the European Convention on Human Rights and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.

An EU Directive underlying the 2011 Act was struck down by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in 2015.

Dwyer's case, which was commenced shortly after his conviction, is understood to raise important issues of law.

The case, expected to last for approximately two weeks, will be heard by Mr Justice Tony O'Connor.

Dwyer will not be present at the hearing.

Cork-born Dwyer, an architect with an address in Foxrock, Dublin, seeks, if appropriate, damages and, if necessary, a reference of issues to the ECJ.

His action is against the Garda Commissioner, the DPP, Ministers for Justice and Communications, Ireland and the Attorney General, which opposes his claims.

Dwyer claims the ECJ ruling means that Irish legislation implementing the directive was illegal and that data collected on his phone was also therefore invalid.

Many requests for disclosure of mobile phone records were made under the relevant provisions of the 2011 Act by gardai investigating Ms OHaras murder and were granted by the relevant service providers. Phone data was also admitted into evidence during the trial.

During Dwyers criminal trial, his lawyers argued the mobile phone data was inadmissible as evidence but those arguments were rejected by the trial judge.

Following his conviction, he was jailed for life and his appeal against conviction has yet to be heard.A requirement that a bank should have notified a woman it was transferring her investment mortgage debt could raise doubt about billions in debt transfers under a 2001 law, it has been claimed in the High Court.

Allied Irish Banks (AIB) has expressed the concern following a High Court judges findings that notice was required to Nadine Thompson who is facing summary judgment proceedings over a 224,000 debt.

The findings have potential to cause legal uncertainty and immense damage not just to AIB but other financial institutions who have transferred billions worth of loans under Section 58 of the Asset Covered Securities Act 2001, Ms Justice Marie Baker was told.

Ms Thompson's 25-year mortgage loan, made to purchase an investment property in Portobello, Dublin, was transferred by AIB to AIB Mortgage Bank (AIBMB) in 2006 under Section 58, which provides a loan transferee assumes the rights and obligations of the transferor on the date of transfer.

In an unusual application, AIBMB has urged Ms Justice Baker, before making final orders in the relevant case, to amplify the reasons for her findings and/or clarify the position before making final orders so as to avoid legal uncertainty.

The judge made her findings in a case initiated by AIBMB in May 2016 seeking summary judgment for 244,591 against Ms Thompson, Rathdown Park, Terenure, Dublin, over alleged default on a loan made to her by AIB in 2003.

Ms Justice Baker found , because the mortgage was transferred under Section 58 without express written notice to Ms Thompson, as provided for under the 1877 Supreme Court of Judicature (Ireland) Act, the debt was not actionable in common law by AIBMB.

However, she also found there was a valid equitable assignment of the debt to AIBMB, for which notice is not required , and that AIBMB had proven default.

In the circumstances, she held AIBMB was entitled to summary judgment for 244,591.

In its post-judgment application seeking amplification of her findings, AIBMB says, if the findings are interpreted as meaning there was only an equitable assignment by AIB of the loan to AIBMB, that would potentially have very significant repercussions for other cases where a transferee under the 2001 Act brings proceedings in its own name. AIB has made some 17.8bn in debt transfers.

The judgment is liable to be misinterpreted and relied upon in other litigation as requiring a written notice for Section 58 transfers, AIBMB says.

It says the effective operation of loan transfers made under the 2001 Act is of great importance and any uncertainty about the efficacy of loan transfers has the potential to impact generally on the market in asset covered securities in an adverse way .

It is desirable and in the interests of justice that the matter be clarified, it maintains.

However, lawyers for Ms Thompson argue the bank is essentially trying to persuade the judge to reverse her findings on notice requirements and they dispute the banks claim that the court has jurisdiction to do that.

Having heard submissions from both sides, Ms Justice Baker said she will rule later on the application.

In her earlier judgment, the judge had rejected AIBMBs arguments the combined effect of two documents sent to Ms Thompson  known as hello and goodbye letters - amounted to notice as required by Section 28.6.

The first document was a letter sent by AIBMB to Ms Thompson in late 2006 which stated AIB had transferred substantially all of its mortgage business to AIBMB, that repayment obligations remained the same and no action by you is required.

The second document was a letter of January 2015, sent on AIB plc headed paper, demanding repayment. That letter involved a claim by AIBMB to the benefit of the loan agreement but did not constitute a notice within the meaning of Section 28.6, the judge held.

She also dismissed arguments that a clause in Ms Thompsons loan contract, which provided her debt could be transferred without notice to her, assisted the AIBMB case.

The contract meant the debtor could not object to the assignment of their debt but the position remains an assignee cannot sue them without showing the required notice was given under Section 28.6, she said.The value of court judgments secured by vulture funds against debtors more than doubled last year, and experts warn the massive surge is just the tip of the iceberg.

The rise coincided with a 200pc increase in the number of High Court debt actions taken last year by the foreign funds, which bought large portfolios of debt from banks and Nama during the financial crash.

Data compiled by debt analysis experts StubbsGazette reveals judgments amounting to 13.6m were secured by vulture funds in 2017, compared to just 5.6m the previous year.

Once secured, the judgments allow such funds to take steps to pursue the borrowers' assets to clear or partially clear the debt.

In contrast to the surge in vulture fund debt judgments, the value of judgments secured by banks and credit unions slumped by 43pc and 49pc respectively during 2017.

There are now fears the level of judgments involving vulture funds will explode even further during 2018 and beyond.

Expand Close StubbsGazette managing director James Treacy. Photo: Gareth Chaney, Collins / Facebook

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Whatsapp StubbsGazette managing director James Treacy. Photo: Gareth Chaney, Collins

A number of large funds are expected to vie for Permanent TSB's 4bn Project Glas portfolio, which is thought to include as many as 20,000 struggling homeowner mortgages.

Some of the largest distressed debt funds look set to escape a political campaign aimed at thwarting the sale of some 20,000 residential mortgages to so-called "unregulated and unaccountable vulture funds".

Fianna Fail's finance spokesman, Michael McGrath, has led a push to exclude these players from Permanent TSB's 4bn auction of home loans.

But his efforts risk a charge of political grandstanding given many of the global opportunists Mr McGrath views as unsuitable owners of the mortgages already run regulated entities in Ireland.

Those firms that don't may avoid any restrictions rushed through the Oireachtas by simply partnering up with investment banks such as Deutsche or Goldman Sachs, two well-known players in the sector.

Meanwhile, StubbsGazette managing director James Treacy said he believed the judgments secured by vulture funds to date were "just the tip of the iceberg".

Some 885 High Court actions were initiated by the main funds last year, up from just 282 actions in all of 2016.

He added that judgments secured by banks and the credit unions were at the lowest level since the crash, indicating that they have sorted out the worst of their impaired loan books.

"In contrast, the vulture funds are only really beginning their endgame of enforcement. This is likely to escalate dramatically over the coming years," he said.

Cerberus, CarVal and Goldman Sachs were the most prominent vulture funds in the courts last year. Promontoria (Aran) Ltd, an Irish affiliate of Cerberus, secured judgments valued at 4.8m last year, up from 2m in 2016.

The most pronounced increase in judgment values involved two affiliates of another vulture fund, CarVal. These firms, Cheldon Property Finance and Emberton Finance, secured judgments totalling 4.46m between them in 2017, compared to just 3,600 the previous year.Nikita Murtagh (also pictured inset) covers up as she leaves the Court of Criminal Justice.

A 21-year old woman who pleaded guilty to having a gun at Connolly train station in Dublin has walked free after being sentenced today by the Special Criminal Court.

Nikita Murtagh, who the court heard was acting out of a "misplaced sense of family loyalty" when she handed a shoebox containing a loaded gun to a man about to board the Dublin to Belfast train, was sentenced to three years in jail, the sentence backdated to July 17th last year, when she first entered custody, with the balance suspended.

Murtagh, with an address at Mariners Port, Sheriff Street, Dublin 1, had pleaded guilty today to the unlawful possession of a CZ model 70 semi-automatic pistol at Connolly Station in Dublin on July 19th last year.

During her sentence hearing, Detective Inspector Noel Browne told prosecuting counsel Gareth Baker SC that on the day in question, during a surveillance operation, gardai observed Murtagh enter the train station shortly before 3:15pm.

She was observed heading toward the waiting area for the Dublin to Belfast train, which was due to depart at 3:30pm, the court heard.

She was pushing a buggy with a three year old child inside when she met her co-accused, Ciaran Ryan, and handed him a paper bag, before leaving the station.

The court heard that Ryan boarded the train but was stopped by gardai and tried to kick the bag away. When gardai searched the bag they found it contained a shoebox with a loaded gun.

Last month, Ryan (24), from Summerhill, Dublin 1 was jailed for three years for possession of the firearm.

Murtagh was arrested at 6pm at a bus-stop outside Dublin airport.

She had a handbag containing a change of clothes and a passport.

The next bus leaving was the stop was bound for Belfast.

Murtagh was then taken to Store Street garda station, where she told gardai that she did not know what was in the box.

The court heard that Murtagh is from the north inner city and was not a person known to gardai but has had relationships with people known to gardai and of interest to them on an ongoing basis.

Det Insp Browne said that her actions were "probably the result of misplaced sense of family loyalty" and that she had family members connected to violence of an extreme nature in recent years.

Under cross-examination, Det Insp Browne told Michael O'Higgins SC, defending, that Murtagh was a courier, chosen for her role because she was not a criminal but was "naive" and a "fresh face" who had not previously come to garda attention.

The inspector said that one of "unfortunate aspects" of investigating people such as the accused was that they are used by more devious people to effect actions of certain groups.

Det Insp Browne agreed with Mr O'Higgins that she was "not likely to re-offend".

Mr Justice Tony Hunt, presiding, sitting with Judge Patricia Ryan and Judge Ann Ryan, said that the court dealt with sentencing on the grounds of recklessness as opposed to intention.

The judge said the court was satisfied it was "clear to Ms Murtagh she was being asked to deliver something of an illicit nature, and she took the significant risk".

"There can be little doubt in relation to that," he said.

The court heard that "significant and weighty mitigating factors" were Murtagh's guilty plea, which had some value for the prosecution and investigators, as well as her "misplaced sense of loyalty".

Mr Justice Hunt said the court respected the inspector's assessment that she is a person "capable of staying out of trouble in the future".

The judge also said the court could not ignore that she is the mother of a three-year-old child.

He said that Murtagh was in court because of misplaced loyalty but that she has a young child that should be the "focus of her loyalty".

He said that the court gave her the sentence out of consideration for her child.

Murtagh wept audibly as the sentence was read out.New NUI Galway president Ciaran O hOgartaigh wants to see a culture of alumni giving back to their universities to help fund the education of current third-level students.

He told the Irish Independent there was a "great tradition" of past students gifting contributions to their universities in North America.

"I would be having a conversation with our alumni to see how they could support the current generation of students who need their help and the university which needs their help," he said. "It is more around philanthropy and gift-giving, that being more of a tradition in other countries than it is here.

"Internationally, particularly in North America, the capacity and inclination to give is significant, which means they are competing on a different scale, if you like, because of that. It's more about thinking around how graduates of universities can contribute back given their capacity or given their means."

He acknowledged that the ordinary taxpayer, who could be a past-student, was contributing to the education system already.

But he called on people to give smaller, significant donations if they had the means - or else "people who have done well and who have capacity to give on a large scale".

As it stands, the current third-level fee system in Ireland means that a little under half of students' tuition is covered by taxpayers' money.

Prof O hOgartaigh said current university funding was "insufficient by international norms", which potentially made it harder for Irish students to compete. He believes that more investment from the Government is needed.

"We need to find ways in society to invest more in universities and part of that is potentially fees, but I'm not sure that is the only part," he said.

"The second part is investment of the State and there is more needed there."Gardai have arrested two members of a prolific rural burglary gang who are suspected of carrying out at least 50 raids over the last two months.

The "significant" arrests were made by uniformed gardai in Sligo over the weekend as part of Operation Thor, an ongoing initiative tackling marauding burglary gangs.

During the operation two males, aged 22 and 32, were arrested while two high-powered vehicles were also seized.

The criminals were detained for questioning in relation to burglary related offences but have since been released without charge, while a file is being prepared for the DPP.

The arrests were carried out last Friday afternoon shortly after 4pm by uniformed officers from Collooney garda station, who were assisted by members of the Garda Air Support Unit.

The two serial burglars, who have since been released without charge, are originally from the Limerick area and are part of a four man gang causing havoc along the west coast. One of the men was also wanted in relation to an outstanding bench warrant.

One source said that the thugs are suspected of carrying out at least 50 burglaries since Christmas, and target homes mainly in Cork, Limerick and Sligo.

"These were very significant arrests for gardai, with two high-powered cars also seized which were suspected of being used in burglaries. This crime grouping have been a key target for gardai across the west of the country for some time," a source said.

Like other prominent organised criminal gangs operating across rural Ireland, the Limerick based mob also use the country's motorways before and after carrying out burglaries.

The gang have become a primary target under Operation Thor, which recently saw a large drop in the number of break-ins over the Christmas period.Doctors are being urged to get State-funded painkiller patches restored to patients.

Only a fraction of GPs whose patients were blocked from continuing to use Versatis patches applied to the HSE to approve their continued use for individual patients.

Barbara Donehy, a founding member of the group Patch Us Back Up, said chronic pain after a car accident made her life "a living hell".

She said the patches, which contain a local anaesthetic, made life bearable for her and thousands of other chronic pain sufferers. The patches allowed her to do normal things like driving her children to school, she said.

Last September, health authorities ruled Versatis would be severely restricted on medical cards and the State drug payment scheme for medical problems other than shingles.

The clampdown followed deepening concern about the widespread prescribing of the patches for medical conditions which they were not licensed to treat.

There were 25,000 users of the patches in Ireland - more than in all of Britain. The curtailment saw more than 20,000 patients who do not have shingles deemed ineligible for their continued use.

Doctors made applications for their continued use for less than a quarter of those patients. And only 10pc of those applications were approved.

Only one in 10 of rejected applications were appealed. Around 60pc of those appeals have been successful.

Ms Donehy (45), from Rathdowney, Co Laois, called on all GPs to make submissions to the HSE Medicines Management Programme for the continued use of the patches by their patients.

The patches enable chronic pain sufferers to move around better and to sleep better.

"The majority of people have told me that their GPs told them there was no point in appealing. But doctors should be fighting for all their patients who get benefits from the patches. GPs need to take action and send in all paperwork to the HSE," she said.

She said taking oral opiates for pain relief could prevent her from driving, thanks to new drug-driving laws, so she really appreciated the patches.

"Joe Duffy has been brilliant on Liveline for highlighting all this," she said.

Health Minister Simon Harris acknowledged the large numbers of pain sufferers who called the Liveline programme to express their anguish at losing funding for the patches.

The minister told the Dail last week it was "a clinical decision" to restrict usage of the patches. The minister called on the HSE to use "absolute maximum compassion" in dealing with applications for continued use of the patches.

Professor Michael Barry, clinical director of the National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics, said approval for the use of the patches for non-shingles conditions would continue to be withheld unless doctors can show the patches were necessary.

Cases of neuropathic pain were suitable for treatment with the patches and the success rate of appeals has risen to 60pc, he said. But doctors must show they were not using the patches as "first line therapy" for conditions for which they were not licensed. "We will say yes where possible But we have not received a huge amount of appeals," he said.

A source in the health sector told the Sunday Independent that there had been "a gross misuse" of the patches.

The source said many people who phoned Liveline had "real neuropathic pain issues" and their doctors should be taking action on their behalf by submitting paperwork to get approval for the patches.

"It's certainly not up to politicians to make clinical decisions about which medicines should be approved no more than there should be politicians performing surgery," he said.EWE AND YOURS: Scientists used sheep for the groundbreaking experiment because their organs are a similar size to humans

Human-sheep hybrids have been created by scientists for the first time, opening the door to organs being grown inside the farmyard animals for use in transplants or to cure diabetes.

A team at Stanford University successfully grew embryos inside a surrogate for three weeks which had both sheep and human cells.

It is the first stage toward growing an unlimited supply of human organs for transplants and even providing a cure for Type 1 diabetes.

The next step is to implant human stem cells into sheep embryos which have been genetically modified so they cannot grow a pancreas, in the hope that human DNA will fill in the missing code.

If successful a human pancreas should appear inside the animal's body. The team is about to apply for permission from regulators to lengthen their experiment to 70 days to see if the human cells really can create an organ.

Speaking at the American Association for the Advancement of Science's annual meeting in Texas, lead researcher Dr Hiro Nakuachi said he believed that organs grown in animals would be available for transplant within the next five to ten years.

"We have already generated a mouse pancreas in rats and then transplanted those into a diabetic mouse and were able to show almost a complete cure without any immunosuppressants," he said.

"When it comes to human-sheep, it seems more difficult. So we would like to proceed a little longer and this time use organ-deficient embryos.

"It could take five years or it could take 10 years, but I think eventually we will be able to do this."

Britain is facing a transplant shortage crisis because medicine has advanced to such a degree that many more lives are being saved, so there are fewer donor organs available.

Last year, researchers from the Salk Institute in the US created human-pig hybrids, but no lab has yet succeeded in growing an organ.

Previously scientists had hoped that pig or sheep organs could be used directly because they are roughly the same size as a human. However, they were always rejected. The new approach gets round the rejection problem because it uses stem cells directly from a human patient.

Sheep also have similar heart and lungs to humans, and their embryos have previously been shown to form chimeras with goat embryos, creating geeps. The process is also more efficient than in pigs. Transplanting around 40 to 50 embryos into pig surrogates leads to a maximum of 14 piglets, while transferring three to four sheep embryos brings yields of up to three foetuses.

Dr Pablo Ross, who works with Dr Nakauchi, added: "The sheep is a good model for many human conditions.

"The size of the sheep organs is similar to human size, some of the organs are physiologically similar and a lot of cardiovascular research is done in sheep because they have some similarities to humans in terms of heart shape."

To make the hybrids, scientists transplanted human stem cells into pre-implantation embryos of sheep. The embryos were allowed to grow for a week before being implanted into a surrogate sheep. Current rules ban labs from allowing the survival of hybrids beyond 21 days, so the surrogate animal was slaughtered after three weeks.

British scientists said it would be groundbreaking if the team managed to grow an organ inside an animal.

Professor Ludovic Vallier at the Wellcome - MRC Cambridge Stem Cell Institute said: "It would definitely be a world first if Hiro could demonstrate that he can generate a human organ in the sheep."

However, Robin Lovell-Badge, of the Francis Crick Institute in London, warned the resulting organs may still be rejected by the body.

 Telegraph

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2021]Bestselling author Emma Hannigan has called on her fanbase to donate to Breast Cancer Ireland after sharing news of her devastating diagnosis earlier this week.

Brave Emma recently revealed that doctors told her she doesn't have long to live.

Following the devastating news, the inspirational mother-of-two thanked her fans for their kind messages and asked them to donate to the cancer research organisation.

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Writing online, Emma said: I cant begin to thank you all for the gorgeous comments and kind messages. Each one helps me and my family during this hideous time. But if youd like to make a difference to cancer care and help create new cures Id love it if you could text CURE to 50300.

That will cost you 4 but I promise it will help. Without new drugs I wouldnt have had the last 10 years with my family and you guys.

The Wicklow native is an ambassador for Breast Cancer Ireland, but said her poor health state has prevented her from doing much for the organisation recently.

Ive felt as useful as a chocolate teapot in truth, Emma wrote. So maybe you could help me transform from chocolate teapot to cash cow.

The post has already reached over one thousand likes on Facebook along with many comments from fans confirming their donations and support for Emma.

One fan commented below the post: Done Emmayou have been an inspiration to us all. I read 'Talk to the Headscarf' when I was going through chemo and it made me laugh and cry but mostly it inspired me to keep going even on the days I felt like giving up.

Meanwhile, other Irish authors have begun a campaign to help Emmas latest book Letters to my Daughters reach number one on the best-sellers list.

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Notable authors including Anna McPartlin of The Space Between Us and Liz Nugent of Unravelling Oliver posted online in support of the cause.

Nugent wrote; As you might know by now, Emma Hannigan is dying after thirteen years of cancer treatment. Her family and friends here and abroad are devastated. Lets get her book to number one. RTs appreciated.

Dubray Books is also supporting the cause by donating all profits made to the Irish Cancer Society.

"Lets do this, readers. Well donate all profits from #LetterstomyDaughters to @IrishCancerSoc. Buy it for Emma, buy it to support anyone who has been touched by cancer (& buy it because as always its a wonderful book)," Dubray Books posted online.

Bookstore Eason, also said that they would be making donations to Breast Cancer Ireland.

Eason have reported an increase in sales of Letters to my Daughter by Emma Hannigan. Eason will be making a donation to Breast Cancer Ireland in line with Emmas wishes," they said in a statement.

Emma discovered she was carrying the Brca 1 cancer gene in 2005, meaning she had an 85pc chance of developing breast cancer and a 50pc chance of developing ovarian cancer.

In 2006, Emma had a double mastectomy and had her ovaries and fallopian tubes removed to reduce her risk to 5pc. Despite the preventative surgery, she was diagnosed with cancer in 2007 and has been battling ever since.

Emma's past novels include Designer Genes, Miss Conceived, The Pink Ladies Club, Keeping Mum, Perfect Wives, Driving Home for Christmas, The Summer Guest, The Heart of Winter, The Secrets We Share and memoir, Talk to the Headscarf.

She wrote online that she hopes readers enjoy her latest book; These characters were as real to me as all the others. They grew on me and some annoyed me at times, but as always, they were mine.Canadian Ambassador to Ireland Kevin Vickers intercepts a protester at a State ceremony marking the deaths of British soldiers during 1916. Photo: Tony Gavin

Canadian Ambassador to Ireland Kevin Vickers has previously tackled an armed terrorist - and yesterday he was the first to respond to a protester at a State ceremony in Dublin.

Mr Vickers was previously hailed a hero when he took down a terrorist gunman in his native Canada.

He was yesterday at the ceremony marking the deaths of British soldiers in 1916 at Grangegorman Military Cemetery.

At the beginning of the ceremony, during the welcome by MC Commandant Stephen MacEoin, a man in his 40s stood up shouting that the event was "an insult", before he was approached by the Canadian Ambassador.

The former Sergeant-at-Arms intercepted the protester and physically moved him away. The protester, who also spoke about justice for the 'Craigavon Two' jailed for the killing of a PSNI Constable, was arrested following the public order incident.

He was being detained under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act at Blanchardstown Garda Station last night.

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Whatsapp Canadian Ambassador to Ireland Kevin Vickers intercepts a protester at a State ceremony marking the deaths of British soldiers during 1916. Photo: Tony Gavin

Mr Vickers was hailed a hero after shooting gunman Michael Zehaf-Bibeau who had killed a soldier at the Canadian House of Commons in Ottawa in October 2014. A spokesman for the Ambassador said: "During a ceremony to remember British soldiers who died during the Easter Rising in 1916, Ambassador Kevin Vickers intercepted a protester who ran up to the podium. Moments later, security officers arrested the protester. Ambassador Vickers is safe and was not injured during the incident."

A spokeswoman for the Defence Forces said they were there in a ceremonial capacity and it was the duty of An Garda Siochana to intercept the man.

Also in attendance at Grangegorman were members of the Irish Defence Forces and British Armed Forces, and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Charlie Flanagan, who was joined by British Ambassador Dominick Chilcott in laying wreaths.

Mr Flanagan said the event was "a symbol of the reconciliation" between Ireland and Britain.

Expand Close Canadian Ambassador to Ireland Kevin Vickers intercepts a protester at a State ceremony marking the deaths of British soldiers during 1916. Photo: Tony Gavin / Facebook

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Whatsapp Canadian Ambassador to Ireland Kevin Vickers intercepts a protester at a State ceremony marking the deaths of British soldiers during 1916. Photo: Tony GavinTuam has seen its share of bad news and closures. The Co Galway town saw the railway close down in the 1970s, the loss of the sugar factory in the 1980s, the hospital closed in the 1990s, and it was left reeling by the recession in the late 2000s.

A decade later, empty commercial properties are evident throughout the town of almost 9,000 people. The recent opening of the motorway linking the town to Galway has offered a lifeline - and other towns around Ireland will be looking on with interest as the Government last week pledged better road connections to help modernise the country.

However, the consensus among businesses as the Government announced its national development plan is that policy, not promises, is desperately needed. John Joyce has been an auctioneer in the town for the past 30 years. With the new motorway opening, he is now seeing an improvement.

He said the town needed better amenities, such as a greenway along the old disused railway line - a sticking point for some who hold out hope that the rail corridor could reopen.

Eamon Geraghty runs a clothing store in the town but he worries for the future of family run stores. "The Government has done absolutely nothing for family business and I can see, in five or six years, there will be no family businesses. Online retailers are the biggest hit to us. Unless the Government slaps a fee or Vat on this, we're all in trouble," he said.

Frank Reynolds ran a family business, Western Refrigeration, which thrived for over 65 years before being forced to close in 2010. He has now opened a chocolate shop, Orange. "They need to review the rates and if income tax was lowered a bit people would have more money to spend," he said.

Expand Close Frank Reynolds with a monster easter egg from Orange, his chocolate shop in the Co Galway town. Photo: Andrew Downes / Facebook

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Whatsapp Frank Reynolds with a monster easter egg from Orange, his chocolate shop in the Co Galway town. Photo: Andrew Downes

Brendan Holian has been a publican in the town for 21 years and has taken a big hit since the recession.

But he does acknowledge that good transport links can transform an area.

"You have people travelling from Gort now, it's just 20 minutes on the motorway. We will get more people just coming into the town," he said.

For more information on Project Ireland 2040 visit the official websiteTragic Joanne Lee (Inset: The entrance to the building in which her body was discovered in a wardrobe)

Gardai investigating the murder of Joanne Lee are now attempting to trace an American woman with whom her estranged husband claimed he was having an affair.

The body of Ms Lee (38) was found in dramatic circumstances last Thursday when gardai broke into a flat in Ranelagh, Dublin, after being refused entry.

Ms Lee's estranged husband Keith Lee, the main suspect in her murder, then jumped out of a third-floor window of the property, breaking his legs in the impact with the ground.

He then pulled out a Stanley blade and started cutting his arms.

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It was reported in the 'Sunday World' that Ms Lee's marriage had broken down after she discovered her husband was having a drug-fuelled affair with an American woman.

A source revealed that detectives are now attempting to trace that woman.

It is believed Ms Lee discovered he was having the affair and had confronted him about it.

Gardai also believe Mr Lee's life had descended into drug-fuelled chaos.

Until relatively recently, Mr Lee had been working in a well-known city-centre hotel, where he was a chef.

However, he had been drinking heavily, was no longer employed and is believed to have become involved in the drugs trade.

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In November, he was arrested following an undercover drugs bust in a popular Temple Bar nightclub after being found in possession of cocaine, ecstasy and ketamine.

Mr Lee had not been on gardai's radar before the raid and, a source claimed, they were surprised at that amount of drugs recovered - estimated to be worth more than 11,000.

Expand Close Supt Gerry Delmar from Donnybrook Garda Station pictured outside the house on Ranelagh Road where the body of Jaonne Lee was discovered. Photo Credit: Frank Mc Grath / Facebook

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Whatsapp Supt Gerry Delmar from Donnybrook Garda Station pictured outside the house on Ranelagh Road where the body of Jaonne Lee was discovered. Photo Credit: Frank Mc Grath

Last Tuesday, Mr Lee arrived in a city-centre Garda station and made a missing person's report for Ms Lee.

Gardai discovered the body of Ms Lee, wrapped in bed clothing and a sleeping bag, in the wardrobe. She also had a bag over her head.

She was so tightly wrapped that gardai believe she was to be moved again.

A post-mortem examination found that Ms Lee had been killed by strangulation and was dead since at least last weekend.

Gardai believe Mr Lee lived with his dead wife's body in the wardrobe for at least 48 hours before he jumped from the window on Thursday afternoon.

Mr Lee is reported to have made certain admissions to gardai before being taken to St James's Hospital where he remains under armed guard while he receives treatment for his injuries.

The Irish Independent understands it may be some days before he will be quizzed about her murder.

Over the weekend, forensic teams continued their investigation at the property in Ranelagh Road where Ms Lee's body was discovered.

Meanwhile, the grief-stricken sister of Joanne expressed her sadness and pain on social media last night as friends continued to offer their condolences to her.

Jennifer Ball revealed her ongoing heartbreak in a Facebook message as friends rallied to support her while gardai try to work out Ms Lee's last movements.

At the weekend, Ms Ball posted five heartbroken emojis on her Facebook page.

Friends posted tributes to Ms Lee and messages of support for Ms Ball including one pal who described the situation as "devastating". She posted: "Jen dont know wat to say it's just devastating I'm thinkin of u an yr family xXx."From the outside, the life of an ambassador can appear to be pretty cushy.

What with international travel and luxurious accommodation - not to mention an endless supply of Ferrero Rocher.

It's not a lifestyle you would immediately associate with Canadian Ambassador to Ireland Kevin Vickers. But then Vickers isn't your typical ambassador.

In Canada, he rose from relative obscurity to become a national hero when he shot and killed an armed terrorist storming the Canadian Houses of Parliament in Ottawa in 2014.

The notoriety of the event resulted in him leaving his post and becoming ambassador to Ireland in 2015. But it wasn't long before he started making headlines here too.

In 2016, he rugby-tackled a Republican protester to the ground during a 1916 centenary commemoration for the Irish who fought in the British Army - earning him the nickname 'Am-BadAss-ador'.

Expand Close Vickers wrestles with a protester during a State ceremony in Grangegorman Military Ceremony in 2016 to remember the Irish soldiers who died while fighting for the British Army during the Easter Rising. Photo: PA / Facebook

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Whatsapp Vickers wrestles with a protester during a State ceremony in Grangegorman Military Ceremony in 2016 to remember the Irish soldiers who died while fighting for the British Army during the Easter Rising. Photo: PA

And last summer he claimed - rather bizarrely - his official residency of Glanmire House was haunted by the ghost of revolutionary leader Padraig Pearse. In fact, he invited any sceptics to spend an evening there so they might hear the spooky bangs in the night.

When I meet him in his offices and ask if Pearse's ghost is still acting up, he looks sheepishly at his assistant before saying: "I think it's best to say no comment, or we'll get the papers going again."

When he was a child, Vickers dreamt of becoming Pope. He grew up in New Brunswick's Miramichi - a region known for its rich salmon fishing, lumber, and proud Irish Catholic community. Despite his faith, and the fact that no fewer than 20 of his uncles were priests, Vickers soon realised the papacy was not for him.

Instead, he joined the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Force, and found his true vocation - working in a homicide investigations unit, eliciting murder confessions.

"That's what the lord put me on Earth to do," he says. "I should have stayed there."

During his time in the homicide unit, Vickers encouraged 17 men to confess to murder - all the more impressive given some cases had no witnesses. He attributes his ability to his father William, a dairy farmer.

"Before I would go into an interview with a homicide suspect, I would always think of my dad," he says. "He would tell me regardless of how repulsive the crime, you always respect the dignity of the person. That served me well in getting people who had committed a crime to confess."

Of course, there were cases that eluded him - including one case where three young prostitutes were brutally murdered: "I believe I know who was responsible for the crime. I had long, lengthy interviews and I got him to the point where tears would well in his eyes, but I could not get him to confess. So that's a haunting thing."

Vickers moved up the ranks to chief superintendent. Then, after 29 years, he became director of security at the Canadian parliament before being promoted to Sergeant-at-Arms. His public profile was carrying a ceremonial mace into parliament.

But on October 22, 2014, Vickers became a household name in Canada when he shot armed terrorist Michael Zehaf-Bibeau.

A Canadian citizen who self-radicalised, Zehaf-Bibeau fatally shot unarmed soldier Nathan Cirillo outside Ottawa's war memorial before moving inside parliament buildings where he shot a guard. Vickers heard shots and grabbed his 9mm pistol and moved into the hall.

"At this time, he was hidden behind a gothic pillar and I could see the gun and the barrel of his weapon," he explains. "Anyways, the moment he shot and fired I dove through the air, shooting once.

"I fell at his feet and looked up at him, he looked down at me, and that's when I emptied my remaining bullets."

Proclaimed a national hero, Vickers describes the days following the attack as the loneliest moments of his life: "I woke up in the middle of the night, and I was crying and I could hear the gun shots again."

The morning after the incident, he received a call from his mother Monica - now 90 - asking him to return home. "I told her, 'Mom, I'm fine' and went to work."

His mother, knowing better, called the next day asking him to return again. By the third day her patience was waning: "Caoimhin Michael, I want you home!"

And so Vickers began the 1,000km drive from Ottawa to Miramichi.

Travelling home at 4am, he was overcome with a desire to pray for the man he had shot, for Nathan Cirillo, and for all the men he had taken confessions from. When he reached Mirachimi, he called his local priest, his daughter Laura, his son Andrew, his sister Mary and his mother. The following morning they had a family Mass.

Afterwards, Vickers wandered down to the river near his home, "and I said to myself my mother was right. I needed to be home."

He believes time helped him heal. "I have never not slept - you hear all these people being victims of post traumatic stress and I have never experienced that.

"I am fine, I think."

When he returned to work, it soon became apparent Vickers' life had changed forever. Tourists visiting parliament would ask for pictures and citizens approached him weeping. "I knew it wasn't going to be tenable for me to stay there, what with the notoriety of the event," he says.

He was asked to consider becoming an ambassador and offered a variety of countries to choose from.

Vickers decided on Ireland as his mother's family came from Bantry, Co Cork, and his father's relatives were from the midlands.

He says he has been extremely fortunate to have been in Ireland during such a culturally rich period that included the 1916 centenary celebrations. Which brings us nicely to the rugby tackle...

Vickers looks slightly embarrassed and admits: "Some pundits said 'what was he thinking?', but in those situations you don't think, you act. My whole life has been security so it was an instinctive reaction."

The images of Vickers hurling the man to the ground seem incongruous with the man in front of me.

There's a calmness to him, he's considered in everything he says. He becomes more animated however when talking about his mother, his children and grandchildren, all of whom are in Canada.

"I'm due to stay until 2019 but I think there may be a 'best before' date. Plus, with my grandchildren, the pull back home can be magnetic."An Irishman has been jailed in Italy for stealing a backpack from the wreck of the Cost Concordia cruise ship.

Sean Ruddy (41) received a six month prison sentence and a 200 fine at an Italian court on Saturday after he was caught souvenir hunting from the vessel in November 2013.

32 people tragically died when the Costa Concordia struck a rock off Isola del Giglio, Tuscany on January 13 2012.

Mr Ruddy was convicted alongside British man David Freeburn (47) for stealing a bag with the Costa Concordia logo on it.

They were detained by Italian police after they were caught on CCTV entering the vessel.

South African men Melvin Lotter (31) and Hendrick Johannes Venter (33) were imprisoned for four months and received a 200 fine each for violating police seals.

All four men had worked for salvage firm Titan Micoperi, who confirmed that they were fired after their arrests.

"The company has taken immediate action to remove (the) workers from the project," the firm said in a statement in November 2013.

The prosecution had requested that Mr Ruddy and Mr Freeburn were jailed for a year and that Mr Lotter and Mr Venter would both receive six months in prison, as well as a 300 fine each.A protester is led away by gardai at the state event marking the deaths of British Soldiers in The Easter Rising at Grangegorman cemetery today. Photo: Tony Gavin

Kevin Vickers Ambassador of Canada to Ireland tackles a protester this morning at Grangegorman Military Cemetery. Picture Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin.

Kevin Vickers Ambassador of Canada to Ireland tackles a protestor who attempted to disrupt proceedings during a State ceremony to remember the British soldiers who died during the Easter Rising, 1916 pictured this morning at Grangegorman Military Cemetery.Picture Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin.

A protester is tackled by the Canadian Ambassador to Ireland, Kevin Vickars at the state event marking the deaths of British Soldiers in The Easter Rising at Grangegorman cemetery today. Photo: Tony Gavin

A protester is tackled by the Canadian Ambassador to Ireland, Kevin Vickars at the state event marking the deaths of British Soldiers in The Easter Rising at Grangegorman cemetery today. Photo: Tony Gavin

What does Canada think about Kevin Vickers, ambassador to Ireland, tackling a protester at a ceremony in Ireland?

The Canadian ambassador, who made global headlines when he took down a terrorist gunman, has been hailed a hero by many at this side of the Atlantic after he tackled a protester at a 1916 ceremony in Dublin yesterday.

Mr Vickers also previously took down a terrorist gunman in his native Canada.

At the beginning of a ceremony marking the deaths of British soldiers in 1916 at Grangegorman Military Cemetery, during the welcome by MC Commandant Stephen MacEoin, a man in his 40s stood up shouting that the event was "an insult", before he was approached by the Canadian Ambassador.

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Whatsapp A protester is tackled by the Canadian Ambassador to Ireland, Kevin Vickars at the state event marking the deaths of British Soldiers in The Easter Rising at Grangegorman cemetery today. Photo: Tony Gavin

The former Sergeant-at-Arms intercepted the protester and physically moved him away.

The moment made the headlines both here in Ireland and in Mr Vickers' native Canada.

And on social media, everyone from Canadian MPs, journalists and former politicians took to Twitter to give their view.

Some applauded Mr Vickers' actions, while others saw his tackle as wholly inappropriate...

Who needs superheroes when you've got Kevin Vickers? https://t.co/t4sYopCuUA  Jason Kenney (@jkenney) May 26, 2016

Listen world, don't mess with Kevin Vickers. https://t.co/QZYNriYg3T  Michelle Rempel, MP (@MichelleRempel) May 26, 2016

Kickin' ass and taking names! Don't mess with Vickers nuff said. https://t.co/DWAuwL7ygF  Min Dhariwal (@MinDhariwal) May 26, 2016

Is there any possible defence of Vickers behaviour here? Did someone forget to explain to him what sort of creature an ambassador is?  Colby Cosh (@colbycosh) May 26, 2016

I wonder how those celebrating Kevin Vickers' actions in Dublin would feel about China's ambassador assaulting Tibetan protesters in Ottawa.  Michael Karanicolas (@M_Karanicolas) May 26, 2016

Canadian Ambassador completely out of order, He has no right to attack an Irish citizen, if a crime was committed1/2 https://t.co/mXICBfCAjq  Sean O' Shea (@SeaniieOShea) May 26, 2016

Kevin Vickers is a Canadian hero, but he was totally in the wrong to interfere with a peaceful Irish protester on Irish soil.  Peter Scowen (@scowen13) May 26, 2016

Mr Vickers was hailed a hero after shooting gunman Michael Zehaf-Bibeau who had killed a soldier at the Canadian House of Commons in Ottawa in October 2014. After the incident, he received a standing ovation in parliament.

The former Sergeant-in-Arms was later appointed Canadian Ambassador to Ireland.

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An eye-witness described how Mr Vickers was the first to react when the event was interrupted.

"It was just before the wreath party was coming in. The colour party were carrying a Union Jack.

"This man just ran forward and started screaming 'It's a disgrace'. He was tackled by somebody and it was only after that I realised it was the Canadian ambassador.

"The whole thing lasted about a minute. The Canadian ambassador grabbed him. there was a struggle and gardai wrestled him to the ground.

Expand Close Kevin Vickers Ambassador of Canada to Ireland tackles a protestor who attempted to disrupt proceedings during a State ceremony to remember the British soldiers who died during the Easter Rising, 1916 pictured this morning at Grangegorman Military Cemetery.Picture Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin. / Facebook

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Whatsapp Kevin Vickers Ambassador of Canada to Ireland tackles a protestor who attempted to disrupt proceedings during a State ceremony to remember the British soldiers who died during the Easter Rising, 1916 pictured this morning at Grangegorman Military Cemetery.Picture Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin.

"Without hesitation he [Mr Vickers] jumped out from the middle of dignitaries"

A garda spokesman said: "A man in his 40s has been arrested in relation to a public order incident at a ceremony in Grangegorman just after mid-day.

"He has been arrested under section four of the criminal justice act."

Expand Close Kevin Vickers Ambassador of Canada to Ireland tackles a protester this morning at Grangegorman Military Cemetery. Picture Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin. / Facebook

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Whatsapp Kevin Vickers Ambassador of Canada to Ireland tackles a protester this morning at Grangegorman Military Cemetery. Picture Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin.

One attendee said the incident did not interrupt the remainder of the ceremony.

Attendees included Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Charlie Flanagan TD, Minister for Regional Development, Rural Affairs, Arts & the Gaeltacht, Heather Humphreys TD, Minister of State for Defence Paul Kehoe TD, and British Ambassador Dominick Chilcott.

Speaking at the event Minister Flanagan said the commemoration was "symbolic of the reconciliation" between Ireland and Britain.

The ceremony included readings of accounts of the Rising, music and prayers.

There was a solemn wreath-laying ceremony followed by a minute of silent reflection and a piper's lament, and the raising of the National Flag to full mast.

A spokeswoman for the Canadian ambassador said: "We are not commenting on this incident."Catherine and Mark Grimes hold a photo of son Callum, who died after being hit by a car. Photo: Kyran O'Brien

The parents of a young man whose organs were donated to five people after his death have described him as their "superhero".

Callum 'Cal' Grimes (27) died last July, seven months after he was hit by a car near his home in Rush, north Co Dublin.

When his parents, Mark and Catherine Grimes, learned he would not survive after 15 operations, they decided to donate his organs to people who needed them.

"We want to celebrate the life that he gave to five people," said Mark.

"Catherine has letters that we received from some of them. The first one was from a father who didn't think that he would have any more time with his own kids, he wrote to thank us.

"I'm happy that five families got the miracle that we prayed for, it didn't happen for us but he gave them life."

Catherine said organ donation was what Callum would have wanted.

"Cal had spoken to me about it and said he wanted to donate his organs. He said, 'Ma, they're no good to me six feet under but give them to someone who needs them'.

"You don't want to even think about it but as time moves on, you have to put your own feelings aside and think about what Callum would have wanted. He was always a superhero to me but the fact that he saved five lives is amazing," she said.Futuristic plans to allow patients to attend medical appointments on smartphones from the comfort of their own homes form a central plank of the Government's ambitious Project Ireland 2040 plan.

A 1bn cash injection in health service technology will also see every citizen given a medical record they will be able to access on phones and tablets.

The initiative will allow patients to track their medical records from the minute they enter the health service. "Everyone will have a health record they can follow around the health sector," a government source said.

The major technology investment will also see the introduction of advanced forms of tele-medicine which will allow patients and doctors interact without being in the same room.

It is hoped patients will be able to attend doctor appointments or receive urgent medical information from their own homes or nursing homes by speaking to a doctor on a computer screen or smartphone.

"ICT (Information and Communications Technology) systems such as electronic prescribing and tele-health will directly improve patient services allowing chronic disease to be managed in a more patient-centred environment at community level including in patients' homes," the National Development Plan states.

The plan also commits to spending 810m in primary care centres, mostly on X-ray and ultrasound machines for surgeries. The investment is aimed at reducing the number of patients presenting at hospitals.

The health spend was part of the Government's overall 116bn Project Ireland 2040 strategy which included commitments to major investment in housing, roads and schools.

However, the extravagant launch of the project, which included expensive backdrops, promotional videos, cheese boards and framed caricatures for each Cabinet minister, was criticised by the Opposition.

Several sources confirmed a substantial amount of the Government's controversial Strategic Communications Unit 5m budget will be spent on promoting Project Ireland 2040 in the coming year.

One government source estimated at least 1m will be spent on promotion. The same source said records show a Fianna Fail budget of 5m promoting the national development plan the party published while in government in 2007.

However, Dara Calleary, Fianna Fail spokesperson on public expenditure, was taken aback by the amount of money spent on the launch of Project Ireland 2040.

"The Government should be clear on how much was spent on the launch and how much will be spent in the coming year," Mr Calleary said.

Labour Party leader Brendan Howlin accused the Government of "elevating spin over substances".

"Harking back to the Fianna Fail approach of a decade ago, we were treated to an orgy of promotional videos, tweets, and ministerial hyperbole, rehashing projects that had already announced, and long-fingering the transformational projects needed to address the problems Ireland faces," Mr Howlin said.

A government spokesman said the project's aim is to put the "citizens of Ireland at the centre of public policy".

"Effectively communicating Project Ireland 2040 to the people of Ireland, ensuring they understand how the plan will affect their lives and their communities, is a key priority for 2018," he said.Former US ambassador to the United Nations Nancy Soderberg has criticised leaders in Northern Ireland, saying they "remain stuck in their victimhood".

Soderberg served as an ambassador under the Clinton administration as part of its efforts to secure the Good Friday Agreement.

"Generations of leaders remain stuck... they remain stuck in their victimhood," she told the Sunday Independent, adding that as a result they were "denying prosperity to the young people of Northern Ireland".

Talks to re-establish a Stormont Executive failed again last week. The devolved government of Northern Ireland is rolling dangerously back towards direct rule from Westminster as a result. And in spite of a collective desire to avoid such a destructive development, it appears as if the DUP sees this as inevitable.

"In our view, there is no current prospect of these discussions leading to an executive being formed," said DUP leader Arlene Foster.

"It is now incumbent upon Her Majesty's government to set a budget and start making policy decisions about our schools, hospitals and infrastructure."

The impasse is ostensibly over the Irish Language Act which would give equal official status to Irish and English. Although high-stakes brinkmanship goes hand in hand with delicate negotiations of this type, there is a consensus that on the previous Friday an agreement that was palatable and sellable to all sides had been made.

What emerged was an Irish Language Act, an Ulster Scots Act and a Respecting Language and Diversity Act that the leaderships of all parties were reportedly satisfied with.

Republicans could sell it as a win for their stand-alone Irish Act and the DUP could incorporate it as part of several strands of legislation.

However, over last weekend opposition from DUP grassroots figures - sparked when the arrival of both Theresa May and Leo Varadkar created a sense of a deal having been done behind the scenes - led to Foster's rejection of the proposals.

Soderberg said constant distrust between the main unionist and nationalist leadership was due to the lack of meaningful transitional justice policies, such as a truth and reconciliation commission or a restorative justice programme.

"They have had no truth and reconciliation and haven't made efforts to recognise in a more formal way the mistakes of the past," she added.

Instead, she said, they operated on a basis of a "zero sum game", where others have to lose out for the other side to be satisfied.

"This mentality has held up progress in a way that has denied young people the right to enjoy new-found peace.

"It is 2018 - pay tribute to grandchildren rather than grandparents," Soderberg added as she prepares to meet up with her fellow peacemaker George Mitchell for an official ceremony in Washington DC marking the 20th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.

Soderberg, a close ally and friend of the Clintons, also said it was "irresponsible for the UK to pull out of the EU". But she laid the blame squarely with former British prime minister David Cameron.

"I put that firmly on the prime minister of Britain - he shouldn't have had that referendum. I look squarely on London for that," she said.

Brexit had made the situation in Northern Ireland all the more disturbing because people understandably don't want to be isolated on the island of Ireland, or see "trade and commerce lose out".

Besides harming the Good Friday Agreement, Brexit would "take away prosperity from Britain in a way they will regret for many years", she added.

Soderberg said that while real structural change in Northern Ireland had been slow, it was always important to point out that the situation was not veering toward a resumption of hostilities.

"It's important to keep the big picture here. Yes, other peace processes have gone on faster, but the people of Northern Ireland must be commended that the resumption of violence is not on the table," she added.

"The days of bombs, violence, British troops are gone - unlike in other unresolved conflicts such as Iraq or Afghanistan."

At the same time, she said, Northern Ireland was not Chile, Rwanda or South Africa - countries where truth and reconciliation projects that were implemented as part of those nations' healing processes, are regarded as being strong catalysts in bringing those societies forward.

During the 1990s, peacemaking in Northern Ireland received considerable political capital, attention and funding from the US.

But the Trump administration has not appointed a special envoy to the region, and it is unlikely the matter will draw anything like the interest it once did on Capitol Hill.

However, Soderberg believes the US would be willing to "assist" as an independent broker once again if needed.Leo Varadkar has opposed the introduction of direct-rule in Northern Ireland as talks resumed today.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Tanaiste Simon Coveney met new Sinn Fein president, Mary Lou McDonald, and her deputy, Michelle ONeill, at Government Buildings tonight.

They spoke for around 90 minutes and agreed on their united commitment to the Good Friday Agreement.

All sides also reiterated their stated positions that any move towards direct rule from Westminster would be highly regressive and something that Dublin could not countenance.

Mr Varadkar spoke to British Prime Minister Theresa May on the phone following the meeting. He reiterated Dublins firm position that the Good Friday Agreement must be implemented in full, and that the Irish Government does not want to see the introduction of direct rule in Northern Ireland.

Earlier Mr Coveney had warned that the re-imposition of direct rule would rip the heart from the Good Friday Agreement.

Mr Coveney is travelling to New York and Washington on Tuesday afternoon for a series of meetings with the Trump administration.

He is due to give an address at Columbia University on Brexit and give the keynote speech on the Good Friday Agreement at special event in New York entitled Irelands 20 Years of Peace.

While in New York, Simon Coveney will also lobby several UN groups on Irelands campaign to secure a temporary seat on the UNs most powerful committee - the UN Security Council.Another year of double-digit rent increases - that is the summary of 2017 in a few words. The figures in the latest Daft.ie Rental report show that, on average, listed rents increased by 10.4pc during 2017. This compares with an increase of 13.5pc in 2016, 9pc in 2015 and 10.7pc in 2014.

In Dublin, the streak is longer: rents have increased by 10pc or more every year since 2013, with the exception of 2015, when rents increased by 8.2pc. This means that rents in the capital have increased by an average of 81pc from their lowest point. That low was in late 2010, meaning that Dublin rents have risen, in year-on-year terms, for 26 consecutive quarters. This is twice as long as the previous market upswing, which lasted from early 2005 to mid-2008. It's also twice as long as the downturn, which lasted the following four years.

The focus on Dublin is sometimes questioned but, at least in the rental market, is merited. Outside Dublin, rents have increased by 52pc on average, well below the increase seen in the capital. And this figure itself is dragged up by areas within the functional Dublin economy: Meath and Louth, for example, have seen rents rise by 81pc and 78pc respectively since bottoming out. Cork, Galway and Limerick have also seen significantly larger rent increases than the ex-Dublin average, with increases of slightly more than 65pc in each case.

These changes highlight the structural shifts at work in the economy. In particular, Ireland is converging with its economic peers in Europe and elsewhere, shifting away from agriculture (and manufacturing) and into services. A shift into services means a shift into cities, and this is what is putting pressure on the housing market, especially in urban areas.

When it comes to living in urban or rural areas, Ireland is not different, just late. Currently, two-thirds of its population lives in cities - compared to an average among our OECD peers of 80pc. But this fraction has been creeping up over the last half-century and, given density is needed to make the services we enjoy viable, this pressure is not going to go away any time soon.

In the context of Ireland's forthcoming National Planning Framework - dubbed 'Ireland 2040' - this is central. If Ireland's population were to grow by 1pc a year between now and 2040, roughly the rate it has grown over the last few decades, its population would be six million by then. And if 80pc of our population live in the cities in 2040, this means they will house 4.8 million people, up from 3.1 million currently.

The other 1.2 million people in 2040 will live in rural areas. Currently, though, there are 1.7 million people living in rural areas. So, our baseline scenario as a country is that, over the coming generation, urban areas will grow by something like 2pc a year, while rural areas will see their populations shrink by 1.5pc a year.

One typical reaction to this is that there must be some way for policymakers to stem the flow into cities. It is not obvious that this is desirable, though: if we want our young citizens to be well-educated, then they will need to be able to use those skills - and this means clustering, in other words, cities.

Perhaps more open to policymakers is the relative importance of Dublin compared to Ireland's four other cities. Dublin can appear at first glance to be somewhat out-sized relative to the country's other cities, although once you factor in Belfast and Derry, Ireland looks very similar to most other countries in terms of the how the bigger cities compare to the smaller ones.

In fact, somewhat paradoxically, the best hope for rural Ireland lies in the success of the cities. The bigger Dublin and Ireland's other cities grow, the bigger the population that can be sustained in rural areas. Or to put it another way, if rural Ireland appears consigned to 20pc of the total, then it is in the interest of rural Ireland for the total to be as large as possible.

In the scenario for 2040 above, an average growth rate of 1pc in the population was assumed. This led to a fall in the total rural population of almost half a million (or 30pc). If Ireland were able to grow its population by 2pc a year - an admittedly very tall order - this would mean its population in 2040 would be close to 7.5 million. In that case, a 20pc rural share would mean a fall of just 200,000 in the numbers living in rural areas.

However, if Ireland were to grow by just 0.5pc a year over the coming generation, the rural shrinkage would be even faster. This slower growth rate - more in line with how fast other high-income countries are growing - would mean a population of just 5.4 million in 2040. In this case, rural Ireland would shrink by 600,000 people in the same time.

There is one other way: sprawl. This is the model we have effectively adopted over the last 20 years. Even as our labour market concentrates, we spread our housing further and further out around the country. In principle, we could continue to do this over coming decades. But this kind of development comes with costs, in terms of time, family life and the environment, that hopefully we can agree is not an option.

Ronan Lyons is assistant professor of economics at Trinity College, Dublin, and author of the Daft.ie reports.You might hate Monday, but you'll love our weekly pick of Ireland's top travel offers...

10pc off Ryanair flights

Ryanair is pushing its Ryanair Rooms product hard, offering customers 10pc of their room cost back as travel credit whenever they book with the service. The saving can be redeemed against future flights. It also has car hire deals from 1.99. rooms.ryanair.com.

150pp: 7 night Haven family holiday

Irish Ferries has several deals at Haven resorts in the UK, including a seven-night break for six people sharing a two-bed holiday home at Presthaven Sands in North Wales, or Cala Gran near Blackpool, from 903 (i.e. 150.50pp). The price includes return ferry crossings and is valid for bookings made before March 31. 0818 300 400; irishferries.com/haven.

229pp: On yer (motor)bike

Love motorbikes? Celtic Horizon Tours has a guided tour including ferry travel to Holyhead, one night's B&B and visits to the Triumph Factory Tour and National Motorcycle Museum in the UK from 229pp. 01 629-2000; celtichorizontours.com.

649pp: 5-star decadence in Dubai

Cassidy Travel has a five-night luxury trip to Dubai this September, with accommodation in the 5-star Hilton Dubai Creek, from 649pp. Flights with Emirates depart Dublin on September 24. 01 873-5000; cassidytravel.ie.

789pp: A 7-night Mediterranean fly/cruise

Tour America has return flights to Rome, transfers and seven nights on board the MSC Meraviglia (interior stateroom) from 789pp departing November 4 (Ref: 620789). 01 817-3562; touramerica.ie; itaa.ie/offers.

NB: All travel deals subject to availability/change.The Battle of the Somme began 100 years ago this week. Muriel Bolger takes an emotional trip to Flanders.

I stand there amid a maze of identical headstones stretching out in every direction. An occasional Star of David breaks the symmetry. The enormity of it is overwhelming. There's a similarity about the war cemeteries that dot the peaceful Flanders landscape, yet each one of the headstones represents a single life - that of a father, a son, a lover, a brother, an uncle, perhaps even all of these.

Everyone thought World War I would be over by Christmas 1914. It wasn't. The Battle of the Somme began on July 1, 1916. By the time it had finished, on November 18, the toll was 420,000 British Army casualties, 200,000 French and 500,000 Germans. By the end of the year, Allied Forces had barely advanced along a 30-mile strip. 88,000 men were lost for every mile they had gained.

Today, it's not the crows that follow the ploughs in these rolling bucolic settings, but people with metal detectors. There are boxes along the county roads where farmers place the unexploded munitions and shrapnel they habitually uncover.

I'm on an escorted tour with Group Tours International (GTI) Ireland, but already it feels deeply personal. The tour brings to life in a very vivid way what it must have been like for the troops who had no choice but to obey the 'Over the top' command when it came.

Over 3,500 Irish soldiers from the 32 counties died serving with the British during these events. They are remembered in the Irish Peace Park in Messines, where an unexpected Irish round tower, constructed with stone from a former Tipperary British army barracks and a workhouse in Westmeath, commands the view. Here I read the bold facts. '10th Irish Division 9,363, killed, wounded and missing; 16th Irish Division 28,398, killed, wounded and missing; 36th Ulster Division 32,186.' And so it goes on.

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I'm astonished at the ages on the headstones, but shocked by John Condon's. At merely 14, this Cork lad is reputed to be the youngest victim of the war. We see Meath poet Lance Corporal Francis Ledwidge's headstone, too. As with many other Irish soldiers in Flanders, he had been in the Irish National Volunteers before joining the allies at the front.

'And now I'm drinking wine in France / The helpless child of circumstance. / To-morrow will be loud with war, / How will I be accounted for?'

Demoted and court-martialed for being drunk in uniform and overstaying his home leave, Ledwidge was reinstated and returned to the Western Front, only to be killed by an exploding shell in 1917.

In Ypres, traffic stops every evening while the Last Post echoes out hauntingly from beneath the Menin Gate, bugled by members of the local fire service. This tradition started in 1927 and, apart from a period during German occupancy in WWII, has continued without a break. Every surface of the arch is inscribed with names of fallen soldiers. The Flanders Fields Museum (inflandersfields.be/en) here is the perfect place to start a tour of the battlefields. It provides a rich overview of events and can help you trace family members who may have been involved.

To get a sense of what the life of a Tommy (and yes, they called the Irish guys Irish Tommies) was like, don't miss the Memorial Museum at Passchendaele (passchendaele.be/en).

Here, I venture six metres deep below ground into the warren of passageways that made up a British bunker. Such burrows were the nerve centres of the front-line defence. English and Welsh coal miners, specialists in tunnelling, were used to construct them. The cells were well thought out, although I'd hate to have been incarcerated in one of them, with shells exploding above. They had sleeping facilities, a rest room for quiet and a row of anything but private privies.

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I could have spent a whole day dawdling in this museum - a morning was not enough to study the photos, the letters, postcards, posters and exhibits. Outside there was still a network of trenches to experience. Standing in these gave some idea of how exposed these men were, not only to the elements, but to the enemy too.

A visit to the German cemetery at Fricourt seemed the right thing to do. Their losses were also horrendous. Only a few weeks before our visit, the remains of 20 soldiers had been interred there. Such is the tragedy of the Great War that remains are still being found in this part of Europe a century later.

The Flanders experience is overwhelming, rewarding and very moving. It's a different type of pilgrimage. It crosses and embraces all creeds and those with none. No matter whose enemy or foe these soldiers were, they all had family and friends who were left behind. As poet Laurence Binyon writes in The Fallen:

'They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: / Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. / At the going down of the sun and in the morning / We will remember them. / And 100 years since the Somme, Flanders does this with honour and dignity.'

Get there:

GTI (01 843-4734; gti-ireland.com) are specialists in WWI Flanders and the Somme tours. Four-day tours including a guide cost from 667pp with flights from Dublin. Available dates include September 6-9 & 19-22 in 2016, and May 12-15 next year. A Cork to Amsterdam trip is scheduled from October 15-18 this year.

What to pack

Mosquito repellent for evening time, sturdy shoes, a hat and warm clothes. When the wind blows here it's cold - really cold. Be sure to bring every detail you have if you're hoping to trace the grave of a lost relative. More info at visitflanders.com and flandersfields1418.com.

3 must-dos...

A good guide

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You dont need to be an expert on WWI history to get the most out of a battlefield tour, and certainly not if you have as passionate and inspiring a guide as we did. Irishman Dermot Curran came with our tour, and he kept us spellbound by imparting boundless knowledge in bite-size portions.

Hidden Treasures

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The Flemish love their beer and food, and you can indulge in both at the family-run Half Moon Brewery in Bruges (halvemaan.be), famous for its ales, museum and food. In central Ypres the hot spot is In t Klein Stadhuis (inhetkleinstadhuis.be). It specialises in robust dishes with Belgian beer.

Sweet treats

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You need a down day after all this history, and we headed to beautiful Bruges, capital of Flanders. It has a canal system worth navigating, as well as Michelangelos Madonna and Child in the Church of Our Lady. And he chocolate shops  oh, the chocolate shops! bezoekers.brugge.be/en.A field of poppies - now the symbol of the slaughter on the Somme

The land around Passchendaele is flat and open, reminiscent of the Curragh Plains in many ways, albeit without even the scant cover of a furze bush.

And as I stood last autumn in this monstrous killing field 100 years after that awful battle, a poem learned by rote in an English school long ago came fleetingly to mind and I cursed my failing memory that I couldn't fully recall Wilfred Owen's Anthem for Doomed Youth.

"What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?

Only the monstrous anger of the guns.

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Whatsapp A Vickers machine gun crew in anti-gas helmets near Ovillers on the Somme, July 1916.

Only the stuttering rifles' rapid rattle

Can patter out their hasty orisons."

It is day one of our battlefield tour of Flanders and the Somme. I am with my son Dan, more of a history buff than myself, truth be told, and the rest of our Irish group travelling with Dublin-based group tour specialists GTI.

Our gifted guide, author and World War I historian Iain McHenry, tells the story of Passchendaele - more properly called the Third Battle of Ypres - with authority and great clarity.

And it is the small details that stand out, rather than the mind-boggling death toll of around a third of a million Allied soldiers killed or wounded in a little over three months of some of the most horrific trench warfare of World War I.

What sticks in my mind was the story of the quagmire that the battleground became and how many injured men and fallen horses died, not from their wounds, but by drowning in the flooded shell holes that pockmarked no-man's land.

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Whatsapp Jerome follows the tracks of the 16th Irish Division in Guillemont

Earlier, Dan and I had looked for the "Reillys" and, from my mother's side of the family, "O'Reillys" among those remembered at Tyne Cot Cemetery - the largest Commonwealth war cemetery in the world. There were plenty, as well as Murphys and O'Learys and Kissanes and Keaveneys and many other Irish names.

It is difficult to fathom, to take in. There are 11,908 registered graves with headstones and on the wall at the back of the cemetery, the names of 34,927 soldiers who have no known graves.

Inside the cemetery, two mourning angels kneel on top of dome-covered pavilions at either end of the memorial wall. Fittingly, the angels face the surrounding flat lands of Passchendaele where many of those whose graves we walk among met their end.

From there we pay our respects to the German dead, the flower of that nation's youth who died in the killing fields of Flanders. Langemark Cemetery is the only German cemetery in the Salient and contains 44,292 burials, concentrated from many smaller cemeteries after the conflict ended. The first large headstone we meet as we enter the cemetery is a mass grave containing 25,000 soldiers.

On this bright sunny day, the cemetery is nevertheless dark and melancholy. The oak trees have held their leaves well into autumn and cast a gloomy shadow over Langemark where 3,000 schoolboys killed during the First Battle of Ypres are also remembered. They sang as they charged, so the story goes, and were cut down like corn.

For many on the tour, mostly not battlefield buffs, the story of the conflict in Flanders is eye-opening and it is an animated bunch who exchange thoughts as we take lunch at the Old Cheese Factory enjoying Belgian beers and locally produced cheeses and cured meats.

Later than night, after a full day which also included a visit to the grave of Private John Condon of the Royal Irish Regiment, who at 14 is thought to be the youngest battle casualty of World War I, we pitch up at Novotel Ieper Centrum, a centrally located and well appointed hotel in Ieper, the place formerly known as Ypres and now a thriving tourist town.

Many of the landmark buildings look old but there is nothing in this town older than 100 years. The town was razed during the war and all those buildings are stunning replicas of those that were there before.

Before dinner, my son and I went to explore some of the local bars and tried out some of those beers brewed by the monks before we rejoined the rest of the group.

Before our evening meal, we made the short walk from the hotel to Menin Gate for the profoundly moving Last Post ceremony which takes place each evening before an attendance of hundreds who come from all over the world to attend this remembrance.

The following morning, we left Ieper (Ypres) in Flanders and headed towards the Somme valley in France. On our way, we stopped at the roadside on the same spot that Father Francis Gleeson performed "The Last General Absolution of the Munster Fusiliers at Rue du Bois" - it is the subject and title of a famous painting by Fortunino Matania that was made at the request of the widow of the battalion's commanding officer.

On May 8, 1915 on the eve of the Battle of Aubers Ridge, Fr Gleeson addressed the sombre battalion at a roadside shrine and gave the general absolution. The battalion suffered heavily and when paraded again afterwards only 200 men came to order. Fr Gleeson, later Canon Gleeson, returned to Ireland after the war and served in various Dublin parishes until his death in 1959.

On arrival in the Somme valley, we concentrate on the battles for Guillemont and Ginchy - reputed to be some of the bloodiest fighting of the whole Somme campaign.

Irish men of both traditions fought side by side and they are remembered in a local church where we paid our respects.

The attack of 2,400 men of the 16th Irish Division's 47th Brigade on September 3, 1916 would come at a grievously heavy price. The brigade lost half its men - killed or injured - but they managed to take Guillemont. Six days later the target was Ginchy, less than a mile away which was heavily protected.

The Division won its battle but in those 10 days of fighting lost half of its total strength of 11,000 through death and injury - 1,100 men lay dead. Two small villages had been taken but at a huge cost.

We squeezed a lot into our three-day trip and it's hard to pick out highlights but I think all of our group were stunned to witness at first hand the 300ft wide and 90ft deep Lochnagar Crater caused by two explosive charges of 24,000lb and 30,000lb. It was blown, along with 16 others, at 7:28am on the morning of July 1, 1916 as a two-minute precursor to the start of the Battle of the Somme offensive.

The charges were laid by tunnellers, many of them miners in peace time, who burrowed under German lines to plant the deadly ordnance. So large was the explosion that debris rose some 4,000ft into the air.

Here our guide Iain McHenry was particularly illuminating. He is the author of Subterranean Sappers: A History of 177 Tunnelling Company RE from 1915 to 1919 which is considered the definitive history of this brave underground army. Before we flew home via Brussels after a packed but hugely illuminating and fascinating trip, we also visited the Island of Ireland Peace Park with its 100-feet high Round Tower.

Located near the battle for the Messines Ridge, the memorial bears witness to the first- time Irish Catholic and Protestant soldiers united together to fight side by side against a common enemy. The Tower, built in traditional design, was constructed with stone from a British Army barracks in Tipperary and a workhouse near Mullingar. A prime mover in its construction was the late Paddy Harte, the former Donegal TD who died just last month. It is a remarkable and fitting legacy for which he will be remembered.

TAKE TWO Top attractions

Newfoundland Park

The 40-acre memorial park (opened 1925) features a stunning bronze Caribou Stag to mark the Battle of Beaumont-Hamel where 733 of 801 men of the 1st Newfoundland Regiment were killed or wounded.

Francis Ledwidge

The Irish poet survived Gallipoli but met his end with five comrades near Ypres when a shell exploded. He is buried at Artillery Wood Military Cemetery - a poignant reminder of the senseless carnage of war.

GETTING THERE

GTI runs Escorted Battlefield Tours to some of the greatest military history sites in Europe from World War I and World War II battlefields to the rise and fall of the Third Reich in Munich and the beginning of the Cold War in Berlin.

* Jeromes trip was to the World War I battlefields of Flanders in Belgium and the Somme Valley in France with hotel stay in Ieper (formerly Ypres). The expert guide on the trip was author and World War I specialist Iain McHenry. Prices for these four-day tours start from 697pps.

* For further details, you can telephone: +353 1 843 4734 email: info@gti-ireland.com or go online to www.gti-ireland.comThe backdrop to this poll is continuing positive economic indicators, Brexit (which in the short term is ironically proving to be a boon for the party), and the Project Ireland 2040 plan. Photo: PA

This latest Sunday Independent/Kantar Millward Brown opinion poll, conducted up until last Wednesday, coincides with a relatively happy time for the Government, and this is reflected in these results. The headline figure sees Fine Gael rise six points to 36pc since our last comparable poll in summer 2017.

This represents its highest outing so far in this series of opinion polls, and is a 10-point increase on its general election showing of two years ago. Of course, this is a snapshot, with no general election on the immediate horizon (even though these results may add impetus to the more hawkish elements in FG to call an early election). Remember the party had momentum going into the 2016 election, which dissipated quickly.

The backdrop to this poll is continuing positive economic indicators, Brexit (which in the short term is ironically proving to be a boon for the party), and the Project Ireland 2040 plan.

Brexit as a benefit to FG is largely down to the success of, and preparedness of, the Department of Foreign Affairs over the past two years. It has enabled us to play hard ball with the UK, safe in the knowledge that the EU is in our corner. Thus, time and time again, Leo Varadkar can don the green jersey and punch above his weight in negotiations. No doubt the UK government is rueing its lack of foresight on this front.

The 2040 plan, which was being drip-fed to the public during the course of interviewing, provides the mood music to this poll. Regardless of rural concerns, there is undeniably a feel-good factor generated by the proposals just announced. How much will be achieved is a moot point, and while it is both easy and understandable to be cynical (look no further than Bertie's Transport 21 Plan), there is still the undoubted attraction of being promised shiny new things.

Fianna Fail remains relatively steady at 28pc, which given the circumstances is not a bad result. However, just as FG backbenchers will be buoyant, there will be some within FF feeling edgy. Letting too much clear blue water develop between the parties is always a danger - remember, exactly one year ago, the party held an eight-point lead. It is now an eight-point deficit.

The issue is, how can the party resurrect its standing when there are no obvious bad news stories on the horizon for the Government (notwithstanding the ongoing housing, homeless and health storm, which, to a certain extent, the Government has weathered)? Coupled with a giveaway budget in October, time is running out for FF to bridge the gap.

Many have said that Micheal Martin's best opportunity to strike was when Enda Kenny was a lame duck Taoiseach. With Leo at the helm, the ground rules have changed. While British prime minister Theresa May going to the country on the back of poll results backfired spectacularly last year, one suspects that Leo would not make the same campaigning mistakes.

Sinn Fein remains stubbornly rooted on 20pc. The impact of Mary Lou McDonald's coronation at this stage has been negligible.

Labour will be bitterly disappointed to fall back to 4pc. Even though its TDs (and in particular Alan Kelly) have been effective more recently in the Dail, Labour is simply not gaining any traction. Come the next general election, it must pick its battles carefully. As it stands now, it is being squeezed by the electorate to the point of irrelevance, with other parties gladly picking up the slack.

The wane of Independents and smaller parties continues. It seems there is a large, and fickle, floating vote available within the electorate; Fine Gael "borrowed" these votes from Fianna Fail in 2011, "lost" them again in 2016, and now seems to be more attractive to them in 2018.

The rise in FG's popularity is mirrored in satisfaction with the Government. Nearly half (49pc) are happy with how the country is being run. This level of support is at its highest in this series of polls, and is at a level not seen since before the crash, 10 years ago. Support is highest among the party faithful (82pc of FG supporters), the farming community (76pc), more affluent ABs (62pc) and those over the age of 65 (57pc). Interestingly many of these cohorts are the most likely to turn out to vote on polling day. Dubliners and those living in Connacht/Ulster are also more complimentary in their appraisal.

Looking at party leaders, satisfaction with Leo Varadkar has surged nine points, and now stands at 58pc - more than twice the support that Enda Kenny received at any time from before the election in 2016. Micheal Martin hasn't fared too badly either - he is up three points to 48pc; his highest approval rating. His honest stance on the Eighth Amendment may well have boosted his ratings (albeit it was not to everybody's taste).

Mary Lou McDonald gains the nod from 39pc. This is a higher rating than Gerry Adams ever achieved, but it is still early days - she will need to stamp her own identity on the leadership amid a suspicious public questioning who is really pulling the strings.

The only leader to see a drop in support is Brendan Howlin, reflecting the general malaise that is associated with all things Labour. He is in the job for close on 18 months, and this (22pc) is his lowest rating so far. Like his party, he too is failing to gain traction with the electorate. One in four (24pc) of his own party's supporters, albeit off a small base, is dissatisfied with his performance, noticeably higher than other party leaders.

A final metric to suggest that the tailwinds are behind Fine Gael is the party toxicity question. That is, which party would the public not vote for? While Fianna Fail continues to be the least toxic party (just 17pc explicitly state they would not vote for them), a more interesting trend is that Fine Gael is also becoming more palatable. Exactly this time last year, a third of the electorate (32pc) would not vote for it. This dropped to 25pc during the summer, and now stands at 22pc. A 10-point reversal in 12 months. The omens again look good.

Moving away from party politics, the only show in town over the next few months will be the Eighth Amendment referendum. This referendum will be both Conservative and Liberal Ireland's equivalent of Stalingrad. The Same Sex Marriage Referendum was simply the curtain raiser - to paraphrase the late Seamus Brennan, we're playing senior hurling now.

For this latest poll, we gauged support of a repeal of the Eighth (in general terms), in what circumstances abortion is acceptable, and specifically attitudes towards the 12-week abortion proposal. On the face of it, support for reform seems to be holding up strongly. Nearly two in three (63pc) agree that repeal is desired, versus 24pc saying it is not, and 13pc not offering an opinion. Stripping out the 'don't knows', this equates to a 72:28 majority. Of course, as minds focus, there can be opposing motivations for wanting to hold a referendum.

It is more instructive to ask when abortion is considered acceptable. We have tracked distress scenarios (rape, suicide, mother's health and fatal foetal abnormalities) over the years, with our last data point being prior to the general election. On each occasion, and again in this latest poll, there has been a clear majority in each of these cases to allow abortion. It is interesting to note that in this latest poll, support on all such scenarios has softened slightly.

More importantly, in this most recent poll, we asked if the recommendation to allow abortion without restriction up to 12 weeks goes too far, not far enough or is about right. Four in 10 say it is about right, versus 33pc saying it goes too far. A further 8pc say it doesn't go far enough, with 19pc undecided. This equates to a ratio of 48:52 in favour of advocates of the plan versus those against/those not sure.

This suggests that the result may be not as clear-cut as the headline figures suggest. It is too simple to assume that Undecideds will break down evenly. We have seen in the past that in referenda, many who are unsure of a constitutional change simply revert to the comfort zone of the status quo. In addition, as we saw in the same sex marriage referendum, when the odds are stacked in favour of one argument, waverers may be reluctant to show their hand, even if they tend to the opposite direction.

These findings suggest that no side can take anything for granted. The wording of this plebiscite will be critical. Either way, it is going to be an emotive and aggressive campaign, which will define how we see ourselves as a nation.

Paul Moran is an Associate Director with Kantar Millward BrownPremium

Gene Kerrigan Opinion The penny is finally dropping for the Profits before People alliance

There was a time when the Irish had no problem with building stuff. We were so good at it that we sent generations of our offspring to help the British and the Americans build their cities. Now we have a crisis  we havent enough dwellings for our people to lay down their heads in at the end of the day.Celebrities from across the pond have hailed the spread of the Times Up movement as stars in London wore black to the Baftas in solidarity with the campaign against sexual harassment and inequality.

Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Lawrence and Allison Janney were among the actresses in black gowns on the red carpet following the all-black dress code adopted at the Golden Globes in January.

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Britons Kristin Scott Thomas, Lily James, Andrea Riseborough and Rochelle Humes matched the American actresses in monochrome numbers at the ceremony at the capitals Royal Albert Hall.

Back home in the US, Reese Witherspoon, Kerry Washington and Emilia Clarke expressed their happiness that the campaign had expanded to the UK. All chose black dresses for the Golden Globes ceremony in Hollywood last month.

Witherspoon, who was among hundreds of prominent Hollywood women who launched the initiative to fight sexual harassment, said on Twitter: So happy to see my sisters making @TIMESUPNOW a Global Campaign.

So happy to see my sisters making @TIMESUPNOW a Global Campaign 



https://t.co/7lcs4a0PtS  Reese Witherspoon (@ReeseW) February 18, 2018

Fellow Times Up participant Washington tweeted: Time. Is. Up. And we are global! #TimesUp #BAFTA.

English actress Emilia Clarke, known for her role in HBO series Game Of Thrones, posted a picture on Instagram which read: Why I wear black today. 20% of women and 4% of men in England and Wales have experienced some type of sexual assault since the age of 16.

Wearing a black jacket, the actress said in the caption: I may not be able to be @bafta this evening but from across the pond I am proudly wearing black in support of my sisters and my brothers who are helping to end abuse and impunity @RosaForWomen.

The Times Up action plan was created in the wake of the sexual assault and harassment allegations which have emerged in recent months. It will advocate for legislation to tackle workplace harassment, and the campaign includes a legal fund to help people protect themselves from sexual misconduct.The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge attending the EE British Academy Film Awards held at the Royal Albert Hall, Kensington Gore, Kensington, London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Sunday February 18, 2018. See PA Story SHOWBIZ Bafta. Photo credit should read: Yui Mok/PA Wire.

The Duchess of Cambridge wore dark green to the EE British Academy Film Awards (Ian West/PA)

Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge attend the British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA) at the Royal Albert Hall in London, Britain February 18, 2018. REUTERS/Chris Jackson/Pool

LONDON, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 18: Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge attend the EE British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA) held at Royal Albert Hall on February 18, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by Jeff Spicer/Jeff Spicer/Getty Images)

Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge attend the EE British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA) held at Royal Albert Hall on February 18, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by Chris Jackson - WPA Poo/Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

Britain's Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge smiles as she attends the BAFTA British Academy Film Awards at the Royal Albert Hall in London on February 18, 2018. / AFP PHOTO / POOL / CHRIS JACKSONCHRIS JACKSON/AFP/Getty Images

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge attending the EE British Academy Film Awards held at the Royal Albert Hall, Kensington Gore, Kensington, London

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge attending the EE British Academy Film Awards at the Royal Albert Hall in Kensington, London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Sunday February 18, 2018. See PA story ROYAL Bafta. Photo credit should read: Chris Jackson/PA Wire

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge attend the glitzy ceremony (Yui Mok/PA)

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge attending the EE British Academy Film Awards held at the Royal Albert Hall, Kensington Gore, Kensington, London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Sunday February 18, 2018. See PA Story SHOWBIZ Bafta. Photo credit should read: Yui Mok/PA Wire.

Prince William, Duke of Cambridge (R) and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge attend the EE British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA) held at Royal Albert Hall on February 18, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by Chris Jackson/Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

Kate Middleton has found herself embroiled in a rare controversy and perhaps for the first time ever, over something she wore.

The Duchess of Cambridge (36) arrived to Sunday night's BAFTAs with husband Prince William, seven months pregnant, and stunned in a green Jenny Packham gown: so far, it's par for the course for a red carpet event.

But the mother-of-two, who is often praised for her subtle diplomatic dressing, has divided opinions over last night's look, because it went against the unofficial dress code of the evening - all the women wore black to mark their support for Time's Up imitative, a legal defense fund in the US which supports women who have been mistreated, abused or harassed.

Similarly, all women wore black to the Golden Globes in support of Time's Up and #MeToo.

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Fashion insiders are saying that her black accessories - a Prada clutch and black sash belt - were a nod to the movement, but it's more than likely her gown was chosen before the blackout was decided last week.

Her wardrobe choices have always been on another level, for example, Kate wore diamond and emerald jewels from the royal vault, while the other guests in attendance were clothed in borrowed dresses by couture houses.

But Kate's decision to go against the grain wasn't a political move, in fact it was the opposite. As a senior member of the British royal family, she is forbidden from expressing her political opinions, partaking in any way, so much so that she can't even vote.

The royals' opinions are considered so influential that they can't publicly disclose their opinions publicly, in fact, Buckingham Palace strenuously denied claims Queen Elizabeth had spoken about Brexit at a 2016 dinner.

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The rules impact other senior royal family members, including William, Kate, Prince Harry and their father Prince Charles.

She wasn't the only one to ignore the dress code.

Frances McDormand, who won the Best Actress award for Three Billboard Outside Ebbing, Missouri, wore pink to last night's awards, commenting during her acceptance speech, saying, "I have a little trouble with compliance."

"I want you to know that I stand in full solidarity with my sisters tonight in black. I appreciate a well-organised act of civil disobedience," she said to rapturous applause."

The decision to wear black was orchestrated by powerful British women in film and yesterday, a group of actresses from the UK and Ireland, including Saoirse Ronan, who pledged their support for the new UK Justice and Equality Fund in an open letter published in The Observer.

The letter cites the BAFTAs, "our industrys time for celebration and acknowledgment", as an opportunity to shed light on their cause.

"Perhaps Times Up seems a million miles away to you  started by a group of women with privilege. The truth is, we are all workers, and whether were in the limelight or in the shadows, our voices matter," it reads. "With our collective power, we can galvanise others."

For all the red carpet looks, see our gallery below:Mourners pray over the flag-draped coffin of Ismail Mahmoud, 24, a fighter of the Popular Mobilisation Forces, who was killed in the attack (AP)

At least 27 people have been killed after Islamic State militants ambushed a group of Iraqs Shia-led paramilitary fighters.

The Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), an umbrella group of mostly Shia militias, said the attack took place in the al-Saadounya area, south-west of the northern city of Kirkuk, when the paramilitaries were conducting overnight raids.

The PMF said the attackers were disguised in army uniforms. Clashes lasted for at least two hours following the ambush, and some of the militants were killed, while others fled the area.

Brigadier General Yahya Rasool, a spokesman for Iraqi military, blamed IS sleeper cells and said Iraqi forces were searching the area to find the perpetrators.

IS claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement on its Aamaq news agency.

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PMF spokesman Karim al-Nouri described the attack as a heinous crime and called for thorough scrutiny of those returning to their liberated areas.

In December, Baghdad declared total victory over IS in all of Iraq, after more than three years of fighting, dislodging the militants from all areas they controlled during their 2014 blitz. But Iraqi and US officials warned IS would continue with insurgent-style attacks.

Last month, IS launched back-to-back suicide bombings targeting labourers and street vendors in central Baghdad, killing at least 38 people.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadis office released a statement expressing condolences to the family members of those killed. It said it had issued orders to hunt down those responsible and other sleeper cells, and to investigate the incident and take any required steps.

At least 11 of the slain troops were from the southern city of Basra, where a three-day mourning period was declared.Geoffrey Rush is perhaps best-known for his role as Captain Barbossa in the Pirates Of The Caribbean movies

A lawyer has accused Oscar-winning Australian actor Geoffrey Rush in court of touching an actress inappropriately on an Sydney stage three years ago while he was starring in a production of King Lear.

Rush is suing Sydneys The Daily Telegraph newspaper in federal court for defamation over articles last year which alleged inappropriate behaviour and touching during the Sydney Theatre Company production in 2015.

The newspapers lawyer, Tom Blackburn, told the court that Rush, now 66, touched an actress who has not been identified on five consecutive nights in the last week of the production in a way that he had not done before and that made her uncomfortable.

Mr Blackburn told the court: She said stop  he didnt. He went on doing it. Our case is that that in itself is inappropriate.

But Rushs lawyer, Richard McHugh, told the court the accusations were vague.

Mr Blackburn is fighting Rushs request to have the newspapers truth defence struck out.

Justice Michael Wigney delayed his decision on that request to a later date.

Mr McHugh told the court that parts of the defence lacked specificity and did not detail Rushs alleged behaviour.

The inappropriate behaviour is alleged to have occurred when Rush and the actress were required to touch on stage, Mr McHugh said.

To this day, its not clear what theyre saying. Not just unclear, its completely opaque, Mr McHugh said.

The newspapers lawyers have previously told the court that the articles did not allege Rush engaged in inappropriate behaviour of a sexual nature.

Mr Blackburn said for the purposes of the defence it was not important where Rush touched the actress, but the fact she allegedly asked him to stop  and he did not stop  made it inappropriate.

Rush, who was not in court on Monday, has denied behaving inappropriately.

The actor announced in December he was suing the newspaper over its reporting of the actresss complaint over what the theatre company described in a statement as inappropriate behaviour.

The company said the complaint was made after the production closed. The actress had not wanted Rush to be informed of her complaint, the company said.

Rush has performed in the Sydney Theatre Company for 35 years. He won the 1997 best actor Academy Award for Shine and has three other Oscar nominations. He is perhaps best known as Captain Barbossa in the Pirates Of The Caribbean films.Rumbling Mount Sinabung on the Indonesian island of Sumatra shot billowing columns of ash more than 16,400ft (5,000m) into the atmosphere and sent hot clouds down its slopes on Monday.

There were no fatalities or injuries from the morning eruption, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency said.

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The volcano, one of three currently erupting in Indonesia, was dormant for four centuries before exploding in 2010, killing two people. Another eruption in 2014 killed 16 people, while seven died in a 2016 eruption.

Disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said hot ash clouds travelled as far as three miles (4.km) south.

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The regional volcanic ash advisory centre in Darwin, Australia, issued a red notice to airlines.

Some 30,000 people have been forced to leave homes around the mountain in the past few years.

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Mount Sinabung is among more than 120 active volcanoes in Indonesia, which is prone to seismic upheaval due to its location on the Pacific Ring of Fire, an arc of volcanoes and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.London banking jobs are at risk as Deutsche Bank embarks on a cost-cutting drive that could result in the loss of up to 500 staff across the business.

The bank is targeting investment and corporate banking jobs, with plans to axe between 250 to 500 staff as it struggles with a drop in performance in its securities division.

The news was first reported by Bloomberg, which said the lender has already started laying off staff, having already cut a number of senior and mid-level positions in both London and the US including its head of European energy investment banking Marc Benton.

It is understood other UK staff are still at risk as part of the efficiency drive and that not all lay-off notices have been delivered.

The Frankfurt-headquartered bank currently employs around 8,500 staff across the country, most of which are based in London.

Deutsche Bank declined to comment.

While it is likely to stoke fears over a further hit to the City in light of Brexit, the German bank itself last year reiterated commitments to the UK by signing a 25-year lease for a new London headquarters.

Deutsche has committed to taking up a minimum of 469,000 of the 564,000 square foot building, with an option to take more space if needed.

Staff are expected to be transferred to the new site during the second half of 2023.

However, it is still preparing to settle more of its transactions out of Frankfurt as part of its Brexit contingency plans and is likely to move hundreds of staff from London as a result.Meat supplier Russell Hume has blamed the companys collapse on the Food Standards Agency (FSA), claiming impossible trading conditions created by the watchdog triggered the loss of 300 jobs.

The Derbyshire-based firm crashed into administration on Monday after being starved of cash in the wake of the FSAs decision to halt production following an alleged breach of hygiene regulations.

The British Airways and Greene King supplier has been engulfed in scandal since the FSA launched an investigation last month, which sparked product recalls and forced customers JD Wetherspoon and Jamies Italian to call time on their contracts.

Administrators KPMG said 266 jobs would be made redundant, with 36 staff remaining to help wind down the company.

It is expected that all 302 jobs will be lost.

The company directors issued a broadside against the FSA, saying the watchdogs actions had been out of all proportion.

In a statement, the directors said: Unfortunately, the FSAs action created impossible trading conditions for us, and after careful reflection we have decided the best thing for the company and its creditors is to put Russell Hume into administration.

This decision has been heartbreaking.

We will continue to work with the FSA with regards to the issues it raised, but we still feel its action has been out of all proportion to the concerns it says it has identified.

Had it worked more closely with us in the crucial early stages of the situation, then more than 300 jobs may not have been lost.

Russell Hume operated six production sites in Liverpool, Birmingham, London, Boroughbridge, Exeter and Fife.

We do not take these decisions lightly and we recognise this will be a worrying time for employees and their familiesFood Standards Authority

The FSA revealed in January that it had become aware of hygiene issues at the company following an unannounced inspection of its Birmingham site.

The directors said the firm had an unblemished record before the probe and knew of a number of businesses which had experienced issues with the watchdogs investigations.

They claimed there is a lack of clarity throughout the industry concerning current FSA guidelines.

The FSA said it had taken proportionate action based on serious and widespread problems.

It said the investigation into the company was continuing.

A spokesman for the watchdog added: We do not take these decisions lightly and we recognise this will be a worrying time for employees and their families.

It is for food businesses to ensure the food they produce is safe and our role is to provide assurances that a business is meeting its responsibilities.

Since then we have been working with the company to get assurances that their food safety management system met the legal requirements.

As a result the Liverpool site was given permission to resume production on February 5.

Chris Pole, KPMG joint administrator, said the product recall and the pause in production had caused significant customer attrition and trading difficulties at Russell Hume.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu holds up a remnant of what he said was a piece of Iranian drone shot down in Israeli airspace. Photo: Lennart Preiss/MSC Munich Security Conference/Handout via REUTERS

Benjamin Netanyahu opened a war of words with the Iranian foreign minister as he used a speech to brandish a piece of Iranian drone destroyed in Israeli airspace and warn that Iran was the "greatest threat to our world".

Holding what appeared to be a panel of the Iranian drone shot down last week amid tensions between the two powers, the Israeli leader asked Javad Zarif, the Iranian foreign minister: "Do you recognise it? You should, it's yours. Don't test us."

Speaking at a Munich security conference yesterday, Mr Netanyahu appeared to threaten Iran with further retaliation, adding: "We will act if necessary not just against Iran's proxies, but against Iran itself."

Mr Zarif, also speaking at the conference, later dismissed Mr Netanyahu's presentation as "a cartoonish circus, which does not even deserve a response". He accused the Israeli prime minister of attempting to revive anti-Iranian "hysteria".

Yesterday's gesture comes scarcely a week after military escalation in Syria raised questions about Israel's mantle of military supremacy in the Middle East.

Last Saturday Israel claimed an Iranian drone breached its airspace. An Israeli Apache attack helicopter destroyed it, and in a retaliatory move, Israeli fighter jets were scrambled to Syria, where they attacked a series of high-value targets.

It was the largest battery of Israeli strikes on Syria since 1982, during Lebanon's civil war.

It also carried a heavy price: one of the Israeli jets was hit by Syrian fire, downing the plane. The two pilots ejected over Israel and one is seriously injured.

For Mr Netanyahu, who is fighting corruption charges at home and may welcome the opportunity to flex some foreign policy muscle, the Munich symposium provided an opportunity to sound the alarm on rising Iranian power and gather support to defeat it.

In Syria, the Iran-backed Lebanese militia Hezbollah has played a pivotal role in supporting the regime of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, all but ensuring his victory.

And in both Syria and Iraq, Iranian troops and Iran-backed militias have played a critical role in battling the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil).

Mr Netanyahu warned that Tehran sought to exploit the gap left by Isil for its own advance. He said Iran was "trying to establish this continuous empire surrounding the Middle East from the south in Yemen but also trying to create a land bridge from Iran to Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Gaza".

"This is a very dangerous development for our region," said Mr Netanyahu.

But Iran's leadership scoffed at his claims. Mr Zarif, who also addressed the conference, called Mr Netanyahu's presentation "a cartoonish circus".A powerful committee of MPs is seeking assurances over Arcadia Groups pension deficit amid reports that Sir Philip Greens retail empire could be sold to Chinese buyers.

Frank Field, chairman of the Commons Work and Pensions Committee, is writing to the billionaire retail tycoon to ensure a commitment to pay down the pension deficit is included in any move to sell all  or part  of the business.

Arcadia owns a string of prominent high-street clothing brands including Topshop, Topman, Dorothy Perkins, Burton Menswear, Miss Selfridge, Outfit, Evans and Wallis.

Sir Philip is said to be plotting a sale of the group to Chinese textiles firm Shandong Ruyi, according to the Sunday Times.

Speaking to the Press Association, Mr Field said: Our focus is on the commitment to pay down that pension deficit, and what will actually be the commitment of the new owners to the pensions.

The committee will be writing officially and we will get a reply, Im sure. (Sir Philip) has always complied in the past and Im sure he will comply as a law-abiding citizen.

The Work and Pensions committee released documents from the Arcadia Schemes trustees in April last year showing a 565 million deficit at the time of the March 31 2016 valuation.

As part of a recovery plan, Sir Philip has agreed to pay 50 million a year until August 2019 and 54.5 million from then until March 2026, in contrast to 24.3 million a year previously.

The sale speculation comes as Arcadias owner Taveta Investments booked a 17% fall in operating profit to 211.2 million when it announced annual results in July.

The firm is among a clutch of retailers struggling with the persistently tough trading conditions engulfing the British high street.

Mr Field said the committee was forced to take action because the Pensions Regulator did not have the powers to take firms to task.

He added: These sorts of jobs ought to be done by the Pensions Regulator.

They ought to be looking at firms with difficult pension positions when there is a sale going on to make sure the views of the pensioners, both now and in future, are being taken into account.

The proposal (in a report by the committee) was that the Pensions Regulator should have temporary power to haul in and look at sales like this.

The renewed pressure on Sir Philip comes after he was lambasted by MPs over the collapse of department store chain BHS.

The retailers demise hit 11,000 jobs, 19,000 pension holders and left a 571 million black hole in the pension scheme.

Sir Philip, who sold the chain for 1 to Dominic Chappell before it plunged into administration, later agreed to pay 363 million towards the pensions deficit.

Mr Field said he was not surprised by the sale reports surrounding Arcadia Group.

The veteran Labour MP added: Sir Philip told Dominic Chappell he could have first refusal for the rest of the empire except for Topshop.

He clearly didnt have much regard for the rest of what he owned bar Topshop, which is the money spinner for the organisation if there is one.Almost a year after two teenagers murdered 12 students and a teacher at Columbine High School in 1999, then President Bill Clinton visited the Colorado town and reiterated his call for greater gun control.

''I don't want any future president to have to go to Columbine or to Springfield, Oregon, or to Jonesboro, Arkansas, or to any of the other places I have been,'' Mr Clinton said, rattling off some of the sites of recent shootings.

''It is tough enough to comfort the families of our servicemen and women who die in the line of duty. Children have no duties, except to their studies and their families. Our duty is to protect their lives, and give them futures.''

Almost 20 years after the horrific attack, there have been three different presidents - and three school shootings that have proved even deadlier, including the latest atrocity at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida.

By one estimate, more than 150,000 students attending at least 170 primary or secondary schools have experienced a shooting on campus since the massacre in Colorado. By the time the latest gun attack took place on Wednesday, there had been a school shooting every 60 hours in the US.

Today's high school students were not even born when Columbine took place. They have grown up in an era of active-shooter drills, some have seen metal detectors introduced to keep out guns and bullet-proof backpacks are now available to buy.

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What hasn't changed much are the gun laws and the survivors of the latest tragedy have had enough.

"To every politician taking donations from the NRA (National Rifle Association), shame on you!" declared student Emma Gonzalez in her fiery address to a crowd of students, parents and residents in Ft. Lauderdale on Saturday.

She attacked Donald Trump over the multi-million-dollar support his campaign received from the gun lobby, drawing chants of "shame on you" from the crowd.

She also criticised him for overturning a measure implemented by former President Barack Obama that required extra scrutiny of some gun buyers with a history of mental illness.

"Politicians who sit in their gilded House and Senate seats funded by the NRA telling us nothing could have ever been done to prevent this, we call B.S." Gonzalez said.

"We are going to be the last mass shooting... We are going to change the law," she vowed, slamming the fact 19-year-old gunman Nikolas Cruz was able to legally buy a semi-automatic firearm despite a history of troubling and violent behaviour.

At the rally in downtown Fort Lauderdale, thousands of angry students, parents, and teachers of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School demanded immediate action be taken on gun-control legislation, insisting they would not relent until their demands were met.

"Because of these gun laws, people that I know, people that I love, have died, and I will never be able to see them again," Delaney Tarr, a student at the school, told the crowd swamping the steps and courtyard at the federal courthouse.

The crowd chanted: "Vote them out!" and held signs calling for action. Some read: "Never Again," "Do something now" and "Don't Let My Friends Die."

At a vigil on Thursday for the victims, a crowd of more than 1,000 people, consisting largely of students, chanted, "No more guns! No more guns!"

A weeping 19-year-old Tyra Hemans held posters of her dead friends, along with one that said "ENOUGH NO GUNS GunReform Now."

"I decided to make these signs so that when Donald Trump visits Parkland he knows that this is what I want. I want Congress to understand he took 17 lives from me yesterday. My friend will literally never get to say 'I graduated high school,'" she said through tears.

Not far away from the rally on Saturday, the opposite side of the debate was on full display. At a gun show in Miami Mike Vallone was buying an AR-15, the firearm used last Wednesday and the weapon of choice of several mass shooters.

Holding the $600 gun he was about to buy, Vallone voiced a familiar argument. "This does nothing by itself. This takes a human being to take the rifle, point it and shoot someone," Vallone said.

"The focus on gun control is an error and it won't stop someone determined to commit crimes."U.S. National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster talks at the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany. REUTERS/Ralph Orlowski

US national security adviser HR McMaster acknowledged at the weekend that evidence of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election is "incontrovertible".

But he said Moscow's campaign to divide the West through subterfuge was failing.

"It's just not working," he said.

The comments, a day after the Justice Department indicted 13 Russians on charges of interference in the election, follow months of efforts by the president to cast doubt on assertions of Moscow's interference.

In a late-night tweet, President Trump hit out at McMaster, saying he "forgot" to mention that the Russians had not impacted the results of the election and that there had been no collusion with his campaign.

Both are frequent Trump talking points that have not been substantiated by intelligence agency conclusions or investigators.

McMaster's comments came at a global security conference to try to rally Western allies against common enemies, offering an olive branch to US partners that have often felt battered and neglected in the age of Trump.

The US, McMaster said, is committed to working with Europe to combat nuclear proliferation, choke off funds for terrorist groups and thwart Russian ambitions.

But the appeal could not hide the deep fissures among Western allies - chief of which was the gap between the United States and its European allies. A day after Germany's defence minister slammed the US for cutting funds for diplomacy, Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel suggested the US had abandoned core values.The full scale of alleged Russian election meddling has been revealed after 13 people were charged and their alleged crimes recounted in remarkable detail.

The Russians worked for the Internet Research Agency, a pro-Kremlin troll factory in St Petersburg, and were accused of using social media to undermine the 2016 American election.

A 37-page indictment produced by the team of Robert Mueller, the special counsel leading the investigation, gives the fullest ever account of alleged Russian interference.

It describes how Russian agents created hundreds of social media accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube to influence the election.

Some accounts were created through US internet servers and made to look like they were run by American political activists rather than Russians, according to US prosecutors.

Posts were allegedly used to systematically undermine Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee, and support Donald Trump, then the Republican candidate, as well as Bernie Sanders, Mrs Clinton's Democratic rival.

So effective were the accounts that some Americans were taken in and convinced to hold up anti-Clinton signs at rallies by the Russians, it is claimed.

The Russians were also able to stage pro-Trump rallies by promoting them on social media, offering to pay attendees and buying adverts, according to US prosecutors.

Rod Rosenstein, the US deputy attorney general, said that there was no suggestion the Americans targeted by the Russians knew who they were.

Mr Rosenstein also said the activity did not sway the outcome of the election, which saw Mr Trump narrowly beat Ms Clinton.

However he said that Russians had attempted to sow "discord" before the vote and warned that people "are not who they always appear to be on the internet".

On Twitter, Mr Trump said: 'Russia started their anti-US campaign in 2014, long before I announced that I would run for President. The results of the election were not impacted. The Trump campaign did nothing wrong - no collusion!'

The Internet Research Agency, which has changed its title and address several times, is the name most often used to refer to the pro-Kremlin troll factory in St Petersburg.

The indictment against the 13 Russians and three Russian entities reveals the full scale of the alleged election meddling by the agency.

The agency had 80 employees targeting America and a monthly budget of 1m just before the vote, according to US prosecutors.

Russians allegedly used false names and stole real American social security numbers to interfere, creating fake identification cards.

Involvement in US politics started as early as 2014, according to US prosecutors, but came to a head as the November 2016 election approached.

Russians controlling social media account were allegedly told to create "political intensity through supporting radical groups, users dissatisfied with [the] social and economic situation and oppositional social movements".

US prosecutors said the accounts posted messages including the hashtags #Trump2016 #TrumpTrain #MAGA #IWontProtectHillary and #Hillary4Prison.

They also claims Russians organised rallies such as "March for Trump" in June 25 2016, "Down With Hillary" in July 23 2016 and "Florida Goes Trump" in August 20 2016.

Some of these allegedly involved offering to pay Americans to attend, paying advertising and liaising with unwitting Trump campaign local staff. ( Daily Telegraph, London)

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2021]Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student Emma Gonzalez becomes emotional during her speech at a rally for gun control at the Broward County Federal Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Photo: AFP/Getty Images

Survivors of last week's school shooting in Florida will march on Washington DC next month, piling pressure on US politicians to act on gun control, as a remarkable protest movement of schoolchildren gathered momentum yesterday.

News of the plan to march came after President Donald Trump used Twitter to blame the FBI for the tragedy, saying it missed the "many" warning signs because agents were spending too much time on the investigation into Russian election interference.

The March For Our Lives campaign has already gained huge support from across the country in the wake of the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Valentine's Day.

Nikolas Cruz, a disturbed 19-year-old, shot and killed 17 students and staff in Parkland, near Miami, despite several warning signs.

In the days since the second biggest school shooting in America's recent history, five teenagers who survived the attack have stepped forward and publicly condemned politicians who take money from the National Rifle Association, the all-powerful gun lobby.

Cameron Kasky, Emma Gonzalez, David Hogg, Alex Wind and Jaclyn Corin are calling on children across the country to join them in protests that will begin with a nationwide school walkout on March 14 to mark a month since the massacre.

Expand Close Nikolas Cruz: Florida school shooting suspect. (Broward County Jail via AP) / Facebook

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Ten days later, they will lead a march in the nation's capital to demand children's "lives and safety become a priority", potentially echoing scenes from the 2017 Women's March, when millions around the world protested on the first full day of Mr Trump's presidency.

"We cannot allow one more child to be shot at school," the group wrote in a statement. "We cannot allow one more teacher to make a choice to jump in front of a firing assault rifle to save the lives of students. We cannot allow one more family to wait for a call or text that never comes.

"Our schools are unsafe. Our children and teachers are dying. We must make it our top priority to save these lives. Every kid in this country now goes to school wondering if this day might be their last. We live in fear."

Addressing a gun control rally in Fort Lauderdale on Saturday, Ms Gonzalez (18) declared: "We will be the last mass shooting."

The rallying calls appeared to do little to persuade Mr Trump to consider tighter gun laws. In a late night Twitter posting on Saturday, he instead chastised the FBI, which days ago admitted it had failed to act on a tip-off about Cruz.

Mr Trump wrote: "Very sad that the FBI missed all of the many signals sent out by the Florida school shooter. This is not acceptable. They are spending too much time trying to prove Russian collusion with the Trump campaign - there is no collusion. Get back to the basics and make us all proud!"

Ruben Gallegio, an Arizona congressman, called the US leader a "psychopath".

"You are such a psychopath that you have to make even the death of 17 children about you. America will regret the day you were ever born," he wrote.

The FBI admitted it received a tip-off about Cruz's "gun ownership, desire to kill people, erratic behaviour, and disturbing social media posts, as well as the potential of him conducting a school shooting".

Yesterday more details emerged about Cruz's family life. Lynda Cruz, his adoptive mother who died last year, bore the brunt of outbursts so angry and violent that she called the police on multiple occasions. ( Daily Telegraph, London)

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2021]Stunned by the deadliest high school shooting in US history, students mobilized across the country on Sunday to organize rallies and a national walkout in support of stronger gun laws, challenging politicians they say have failed to protect them.

Students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where a former student is accused of murdering 17 people on Wednesday using an assault-style rifle, joined others on social media to plan the events, including a Washington march.

Expand Close A video monitor shows school shooting suspect Nikolas Cruz, left, with public defender Melisa McNeille, making an appearance before Judge Kim Theresa Mollica in Broward County Court, Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (Susan Stocker/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP, Pool) / Facebook

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Whatsapp A video monitor shows school shooting suspect Nikolas Cruz, left, with public defender Melisa McNeille, making an appearance before Judge Kim Theresa Mollica in Broward County Court, Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (Susan Stocker/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP, Pool)

"I felt like it was our time to take a stand," said Lane Murdock (15) of Connecticut. "We're the ones in these schools, we're the ones who are having shooters come into our classrooms and our spaces."

Murdock, who lives 20 miles from Sandy Hook Elementary School where 20 children and six adults were shot to death five years ago, drew more than 50,000 signatures on an online petition on Sunday calling on students to walk out of their high schools on April 20.

Instead of going to classes, she urged her fellow students to stage protests on the 19th anniversary of an earlier mass shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado.

Students from the Florida high school are planning a "March for Our Lives" in Washington on March 24 to call attention to school safety and ask lawmakers to enact gun control.

They also plan to rally for gun control, mental health issues and school safety on Wednesday in Tallahassee, the state capital. The students were expected to meet with a lawmaker who is seeking to ban the sale of assault-style weapons like the AR-15 allegedly used in the school shooting.

The demands for change by many still too young to vote has inflamed the country's long-simmering debate between advocates for gun control and gun ownership.

Expand Close Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student Emma Gonzalez becomes emotional during her speech at a rally for gun control at the Broward County Federal Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Photo: AFP/Getty Images / Facebook

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Students from the Florida school have lashed out at political leaders, including Republican President Donald Trump, for inaction on the issue. Many criticized Trump for insensitivity after he said in a weekend Twitter post that the FBI may have been too distracted with a Russia probe to follow leads that could have prevented the massacre.

"You can't blame the bureaucracy for this when it's you, Mr President, who's overall responsible," David Hogg, an 18-year-old Douglas senior, said in a phone interview.

'LISTENING SESSION'

The White House said Trump planned to host "a listening session" with high school students and teachers on Wednesday, but did not specify which students or school would be involved.

Expand Close U.S. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump visit with medical staff of Broward Health North Hospital in the wake of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Pompano Beach, Florida, U.S., February 16, 2018. REUTERS/Eric Thayer / Facebook

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Whatsapp U.S. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump visit with medical staff of Broward Health North Hospital in the wake of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Pompano Beach, Florida, U.S., February 16, 2018. REUTERS/Eric Thayer

Democratic leaders vowed to redouble efforts to fight the nation's powerful gun lobby to reduce violence from firearms.

"We're the adults. We're the leaders in this country who are supposed to keep our children safe - and again and again, our country has let them down," Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez said on Twitter.

The suspect in the Parkland shooting, Nikolas Cruz, 19, faces multiple murder charges in the deaths of 14 students and three staff members, and the wounding of more than a dozen others in a rampage that eclipsed Columbine as the country's worst mass shooting at a high school.

Cruz was reported to have been investigated by police and state officials as far back as 2016 after slashing his arm in a social media video, and saying he wanted to buy a gun. Authorities determined, however, he was receiving sufficient support, newspapers said on Saturday.

In addition, the Federal Bureau of Investigation admitted on Friday that it failed to investigate a warning that Cruz possessed a gun and the desire to kill.

A couple who opened their home to Cruz after his mother's recent death saw no signs he was planning a rampage, according to the Sun Sentinel in south Florida.

Kimberly and James Snead told the newspaper they knew Cruz had guns, and that they made him lock them in a safe. They thought they had the only key, they said.

Cruz faces charges that could bring the death penalty. Prosecutors have not yet said if they will seek capital punishment.

Four people still hospitalized with wounds from the shooting were in fair condition on Sunday, a spokeswoman for the Broward Health system said.

School officials in Broward County said on Sunday they were aiming to have staff return to the high school campus by the end of the week. They did not say when classes would resume.Fehmi Lassoued, also known as John Rasheed Lassoned, is arrested in Manila (AP)

Philippines authorities have arrested an Arab man who they believe is a former commander of Islamic State.

Police and military personnel arrested Fehmi Lassoued, an Egyptian who also uses the name John Rasheed Lassoned, and his Filipina companion, Anabel Moncera Salipada, in a Manila apartment last week based on intelligence provided by foreign counterparts.

Expand Close Lassoued and Salipada were arrested over the weekend in possession of assorted firearms, ammunition and components for IEDs, authorities said (AP) / Facebook

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Whatsapp Lassoued and Salipada were arrested over the weekend in possession of assorted firearms, ammunition and components for IEDs, authorities said (AP)

Police director general Ronald dela Rosa said bomb-making materials, firearms and ammunition were seized during the arrest.

He said investigators were looking into possible links between Salipada and Lassoued, who has a fake Tunisian passport, to local and foreign militant groups, and whether they were involved in any terrorist plot.

Mr dela Rosa said at a news conference that Lassoued may be a militant recruiter, but did not offer any evidence.

Clad in an orange detainee shirt and handcuffed and held on both sides by soldiers, Lassoued stood with his head often bowed in front of a table where bomb-making parts and other evidence were displayed.

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Salipada is from the southern town of Upi in Maguindanao province, where Muslim militants operate, according to her identity card.

Lassoued apparently entered the Philippines in July 2016 from Iran using a fake passport which Philippine immigration personnel failed to detect, Mr dela Rosa said, adding that he travelled to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia and the Turkish city of Istanbul from 2016 to 2017.

Investigators are also trying to determine if Lassoued was involved in a siege by hundreds of Islamic State group-aligned militants on the southern Islamic city of Marawi last year, Mr dela Rosa said.

The five-month uprising left more than 1,100 combatants dead, mostly Muslim militants, and displaced hundreds of thousands of villagers before troops crushed it with ground assaults and airstrikes.

The Marawi siege, which was joined by several Indonesian, Malaysian and Arab militants, reinforced fears that the Islamic State group was gaining a foothold in Southeast Asia following battle setbacks in Syria and Iraq.Pope Francis has backed down and accepted the resignation of a Nigerian bishop who had been rejected for years by the priests of his diocese, setting a precedent that could have repercussions elsewhere.

The announcement comes a matter of months after Francis warned priests of Nigerias southern Ahiara diocese that they would lose their jobs if they did not obey him and accept Peter Okpaleke as their bishop.

It was not clear how many of them obeyed within the 30-day deadline given by Francis to accept Bishop Okpaleke last June.

But on Monday, the Vatican announced that Bishop Okpaleke is resigning and that Francis has named Monsignor Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji as Ahiaras temporary administrator.

Pope Benedict XVI had appointed Bishop Okpaleke to Ahiara in 2012, but the local clergy rejected him.

Ahiara is a very Catholic diocese of the Mbaise region, and its faithful objected to the appointment of an outsider from the Anambra region being imposed on them. The Mbaise had wanted one of their own and blocked access to the cathedral when Bishop Okpaleke was to be formally installed.

Instead, he was installed outside the diocese six months after he was appointed.

The case was a test of papal authority, and has echoes with another divisive appointment in the news concerning Chilean Bishop Juan Barros.

Bishop Barros has been rejected by many faithful and priests in southern Osorno, Chile, ever since Francis appointed him in 2015. They cite accusations by sexual abuse victims that Barros witnessed and ignored their abuse at the hands of Chiles most notorious paedophile priest.

During his installation Mass in 2015, protesters stormed the church, carrying signs saying they did not want Barros as their bishop.The Kremlin has dismissed a US indictment which charged 13 Russians with interfering in the 2016 American presidential election over a lack of evidence.

The indictment by a federal grand jury alleges that a wealthy entrepreneur with close ties to Russian president Vladimir Putin funnelled money to a so-called troll farm, which sent operatives to the United States, created fictitious social media accounts and used them to spread tendentious messages.

The aim was either to influence voters or to undermine their faith in the US political system.

Mr Putins spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that while the indictment focuses on Russian nationals it gives no indication that the Russian government was involved in this in any way.

Mr Peskov insisted that Moscow did not meddle in the US election which put Donald Trump in the White House.Daniel Bishop, 16, a student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, cries at a makeshift memorial outside the school (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Student survivors of the deadly Florida school shooting who hope to become the face of a revived gun control movement are on a potential collision course with US president Donald Trump.

Several of the students have criticised the president, whose election was strongly supported by the National Rifle Association and who ran on a platform opposing gun control.

Mr Trump spent the weekend at his estate in South Florida, only an hours drive from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School where 17 people were fatally shot last week.

Expand Close People taking part in the Never Again Movement hold signs at an junction near the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) / Facebook

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His only mentions of the massacre came in tweets on Saturday contending that the FBI was too focused on the Russia investigation to respond to warnings about the alleged shooter and mocking Democrats for failing to pass gun control.

Youre the president. Youre supposed to bring this nation together, not divide us, said David Hogg, a 17-year-old student at the Florida school, speaking on NBCs Meet the Press.

After more than a day of criticism from the students, the White House said the president would hold a listening session with unspecified students on Wednesday and meet on Thursday with state and local security officials.

Florida politicians, meanwhile, scrambled to produce legislation in response to the February 14 attack.

Nikolas Cruz, a 19-year-old who had been expelled from the school, is being held without bail in the Broward County Jail, accused of 17 counts of first-degree murder.

In a TV interview, Republican Senator Marco Rubio embraced a Democratic bill in the Florida legislature to allow courts to temporarily prevent people from having guns if they are determined to be a threat to themselves or others.

Governor Rick Scott, also a Republican, attended a prayer vigil at the First Church Coral Springs, blocks from the shooting site. He is expected to announce a legislative package with GOP politicians this week.

Expand Close Hadley Sorensen, 16, a student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, is comforted by her mother Stacy Sorensen (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) / Facebook

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Emma Gonzalez, another student survivor, gave an impassioned speech at a weekend rally with a stinging citation of the NRAs 30 million US dollars (21 million) in expenditures on Mr Trumps behalf in the presidential election.

On Sunday she cited Mr Trump, Mr Rubio and Mr Scott by name in a warning to politicians backed by the NRA.

Now is the time to get on the right side of this, because this is not something that we are going to let sweep under the carpet, she said on Meet the Press.

Seeking to increase pressure for gun control, the students plan to visit the state capitol in Tallahassee this week to demand immediate action. They are also calling for anti-gun violence demonstrations in Washington and other cities on March 24.

Organisers behind the Womens March, an anti-Trump and female empowerment protest, called for a 17-minute, nationwide walkout by teachers and students on March 14.

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Not every student at the Florida school was calling for more gun control. James Ciaramello was heartbroken by the massacre but sceptical firearms regulations could have prevented it.

Hes just messed up, he said. I mean, tighter gun control, its not gonna help. Theres always a way around it.Patna, Feb 19 (IBNS): The Bihar School Examination Board has directed all students not to wear shoes and socks while appearing for Class X examination, which is scheduled to begin on Feb 21, media reports said.

The new order has been passed by the board primarily to prevent cheating inside the examination hall.

The new directive has stated students will have to leave their shoes and socks outside the hall.

Students can only wear slippers inside the examination hall.

Bihar Education Minister Krishna Nandan Prasad Verma has appreciated the new circular passed by the examination board.

Appreciating the move, Verma said it will reduce the time spent on checking of shoes and socks before students enter the examination hall and also prevent cheating.



Image: biharboard.ac.in /Wikimedia commonsPort au Prince, Feb 19 (IBNS): Oxfam has said that three accused in the Haiti scandal physically threatened witnesses.

The incident took place during a 2011 investigation, the aid agency revealed.

Oxfam has said that more needs to be done to prevent such people from working for other charities.

Roland Van Hauwermeiren, who headed Oxfam in Haiti following the earthquake in 2010, reportedly hired prostitutes, mostly under-aged girls, during his stint in the Americas.

He later denied paying money to girls for sex.

Before heading to Haiti, Roland van Hauwermeiren was involved with medical charity Merlin.

His behaviour and work ethic was suspicious even then, according to co-workers who worked alongside him in Liberia.

Co-workers have said that Hauwermeiren would often frequent night clubs in Monrovia, the national capital, with the intention of picking up young prostitutes for the night.

During his early years with Oxfam, Hauwermeiren was posted in Chad, where he would display a similar attitude, according to others.

But the allegations would remain unacted upon.Mumbai, Feb 19 (IBNS): The All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) has urged the Central government to take stern steps regarding the alleged PNB-Nirav Modi fraud case, even demanding a CBI probe into the matter, according to media reports

According to the AIBEA, action taken against officials from the lower levels in the PNB fraud case will divert attention away from the superior officers.



Business Standard quoted C H Venkatachalam, general secretary, AIBEA, as saying, ""It is very strange that the top management and Board members of the Banks are not covered by any Disciplinary and Conduct Regulations though they take very vital decisions. They are also to be covered by the same set of rules like other officers of the Banks."

The Association has also raised questions about the role of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) as a regulator, media reports said. It has said that that the RBI conducts regular audits of banks yet it is surprising that they failed to note the fraud considering the time span and the humongous amount.

Incidentally, even before the Indian market has been able to digest the PNB fraud scam, another case has surfaced, with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filing an FIR against Rotomac pen promoter Vikram Kothari for allegedly defaulting on loans worth Rs. 800 crore.Ahmedabad, Feb 19 (IBNS): After the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has won 47 out of 75 seats in the Gujarat civic polls, state Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said it was "people's referendum" on development in the state.

Rupani tweeted: "The result of Gujarat Municipality elections today is the people's referendum on development in the state."

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has won 47 out of 75 seats in the Gujarat civic polls, media reports said.

The Congress won 16 seats.

Four seats were won by Independents and two by others.

No candidate got majority in six seats.

The incumbent BJP's tally of seats has gone down as compared to 2013 poll. The saffron brigade had bagged 59 out of 79 seats in the last civic poll in the state.

The civic poll had greatly assumed importance as the BJP received jolts from the Congress in the recently concluded Assembly election in late 2017.

In the Assembly poll, the BJP won 99 out of 182 seats.

Congress, which offered a tough contest, won 77 seats.

Image: facebook.com/vijayrupanibjpThiruvananthapuram, Feb 19 (IBNS): Priya Prakash, who has gained fame due to her wink video from an upcoming film, on Monday moved the Supreme Court against the First Information Report (FIR) filed against her and director over the picturisation of a folk song in the movie, media reports said.

Priya, who is one of the lead characters of the Malayalam film Oru Adaar Love, was seen winking at a boy while song Manikya Malaraya Poovi was played in the romantic scene.



A group of Muslims in Hyderabad has lodged a complaint with the police against her expressions in the popular song from the film Odu Adaar Love.



The complaint has been lodged with the Falaknuma police.

According to reports, the complainants have claimed that the picturisation of the song is objectionable because its lyrics are linked to Prophet Mohammed's life.

They said the lyrics have hurt the sentiments of the Muslim community.



Priya in her petition stated the song praises the love between Prophet Mohammed and his wife Khadeeja and the complainants misunderstood it.



"The song is a folk song and has been in existence for the last 40 years and cherished by the Muslim community of more than one crore in Kerala. The allegation that the song hurts sentiments of Muslims is baseless because there is no FIR in Kerala. People misunderstood the song in non-Malayalam-speaking states," the 18-year old actor's petition was quoted by NDTV.



The sweet video, where a girl, who is none other than Priya, could be seen winking at a boy, exchanging unsaid love messages, started treading across all social media platforms in India.



Oru Adaar Love will make Priya's acting debut in south Indian movies.



In fact, she is one of the few celebrities in the world who has got more than 600k followers in just 24 hours. She is currently having 3.8 millions followers on Instagram.



Her account has now been verified too by Instagram.New Delhi/Mumbai, Feb 19 (IBNS): As the Narendra Modi government is facing the heat of the Rs. 11,292-crore Punjab National Bank fraud case, the Centre on Monday raised questions about the Reserve Bank of India's efficiency in supervision over systemic failure, media reports said on Monday.



The Centre, in a letter, said that either the RBI's system to prevent and detect such frauds is inadequate or it lacks proper implementation.

Meanwhile, three people, including two employees of PNB, were arrested and presented before a Mumbai court over the weekend in connection with the case.

Earlier, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered two cases against diamond merchant Nirav Modi.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had reportedly seized gold and diamond worth Rs 5,500 crores from the searches conducted at 17 properties of the diamond merchant across India.

On February 14, the CBI received complaints from PNB, which detected a Rs 11,292 crore fraud involving Modi.Ottawa, Feb 19 (IBNS): Canada has expressed its concern over Israel's planning of mass deportation of African asylum seekers, media reports said.

Around 37000 citizens, who are considered to be illegal occupants, from Sudan and Eritria have been ordered to vacate Israel.

If they do not leave the country voluntarily, the asylum seekers will be imprisoned indefinitely.

Adam Austen, spokesperson of Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland, has voiced the government's concern.

"Canada does not support policies of mass deportations of asylum seekers. The rights of asylum seekers and refugees are laid out in the Geneva Convention on the Status of Refugees, of which Israel is a signatory" Austen was quoted by CBC News.

"As the country that resettles the highest number of African asylum-seekers from Israel, we are in direct contact with the Government of Israel to convey Canada's concerns about the situation" Austen added.

Though the Israeli government did not reveal the names of the country where the asylum seekers will be deported, Rwanda and Uganda could be the possible destinations, report said.

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has termed the African asylum seekers as "illegal infiltrators" who are seeking jobs instead of refugee protections.The Mongolian government reinstated a decade-old agreement ordering the Vancouver-based company to source power for its Oyu Tolgoi mine domestically. Rio Tinto, due to this could face higher costs on its $5.3 billion underground expansion of the giant copper-gold mine in the South Gobi desert near the border with China. Mongolia gave Rio four years to build a local power plant which could come with a bill as high as $1 billion to serve the mine in the land-locked country to replace Chinese suppliers.

The underground expansion would lift Oyu Tolgoi production from 125-150kt this year to 560kt at full tilt from 2025, making it the biggest new copper mine to come on stream in several years. Last monthRio Tinto set up a 80-person office in Mongolia, independent from Oyu Tolgoi to strengthen ties withUlaanbaatar and serve as a base for exploration in the vast mineral-rich nation of fewer than three million inhabitants.

Earlier January the government served the mine with a new bill for $155 million in back taxes which the company is disputing. Turquoise Hill also had to declare force majeure on deliveries after protests by Chinese coal haulers disrupted deliveries near the border.Rio has come under pressure from shareholders about its alleged lack of transparency about pledges to the Mongolian government and escalating costs for the expansion, as well as its treatment of minority shareholders of 51%-owned Turquoise Hill. Rio holds an effective one third of Oyu Tolgoi via its shareholding of Turquoise Hill and the Mongolian government 34%.

Powered by Commodity InsightsTata Steel stock hit 20% upper circuit. On the other hand, Tata Steel ended down by nearly 6%. emerged as the highest bidder for Bhushan Steel with a bid of Rs35,000cr, following which debt-ridden Bhushan Steel

The latest bid is a ~45% increase from their initial bid of Rs24,000cr.

JSW Steel

is currently in second place with a bid of Rs29,700cr.

Bhushan Steel's debt stands at Rs50,000cr, of which bank dues amounted to ~Rs44,000cr. With this bid the lenders would probably take a haircut of ~35% against expectations of 50%. According to media reports, the liquidation value of Bhushan Steel had been stated at ~Rs15,000cr.

Punjab National Bank

headed the consortium of term loan lenders, while

SBI

headed the consortium for working capital loans.

The company earlier tried to restructure its debt under the RBIs 5/25 refinancing scheme and S4A (Scheme for Sustainable Structuring of Stressed Assets). However, after these approaches failed, the case was referred to the IBC.



Bhushan Steel Ltd ended at Rs53.8, up by Rs 8.9 or 19.82% from its previous closing of Rs44.9 on the BSE. The scrip opened at Rs51.9 and touched a high and low of Rs53.85 and Rs51.55 respectively.

ended at Rs648.25, down by Rs40.05 or 5.82% from its previous closing of Rs688.3 on the BSE. The scrip opened at Rs690.8 and touched a high and low of Rs692 and Rs639 respectively."Prevent Unauthorized Transactions in your demat / trading account Update your Mobile Number/ email Id with your stock broker / Depository Participant. Receive information of your transactions directly from Exchanges on your mobile / email at the end of day and alerts on your registered mobile for all debits and other important transactions in your demat account directly from NSDL/ CDSL on the same day." - Issued in the interest of investors." | "KYC is one time exercise while dealing in securities markets - once KYC is done through a SEBI registered intermediary (broker, DP, Mutual Fund etc.), you need not undergo the same process again when you approach another intermediary." | "No need to issue cheques by investors while subscribing to IPO. Just write the bank account number and sign in the application form to authorise your bank to make payment in case of allotment. No worries for refund as the money remains in investor's account."

www.indiainfoline.com is part of the IIFL Group, a leading financial services player and a diversified NBFC. The site provides comprehensive and real time information on Indian corporates, sectors, financial markets and economy. On the site we feature industry and political leaders, entrepreneurs, and trend setters. The research, personal finance and market tutorial sections are widely followed by students, academia, corporates and investors among others.Apart from binging through Manhunt: Unabomber on Netflix, I went ahead and watched Black Panther this past weekend. The movie was definitely unique, and not just by the superhero cinema yardstick.

Here are some thoughts that I was left to chew on, as I left the cinema hall happy and satisfied.

Marvel

Africa is shown in a rare positive light

One thing that hits you first and foremost about Black Panther is how it celebrates Africa. The continents rich culture, sights and sounds, and the raw, visceral portrayal of its people and their shared heritage is Africa like you've never seen before. In a continent rife with poverty and war, Wakanda is a rare glimmer of hope for not just Africa but the rest of the world. What a pleasant surprise!

A glimpse of the world if Africa hadnt been exploited

If White Caucasians shaped the current world order in real life, this movie is about a fictionalized world where Black Power reigns supreme; or rather that power is exercised with great caution, if at all. The thought that definitely crosses your mind, while watching Black Panther, is the world wouldve been more diverse and probably less afflicted, if Africans and Africa hadnt been exploited as they were throughout history. If only the continents genius had also been allowed to flourish...

Marvel

Celebrating strong female characters...

While the movie is all about the Black Panther, theres a strong undercurrent of female characters that have a huge impact on how the story unfolds. Cant recall a movie where a male protagonists support system is all female. T'Challas life and fortune is constantly shaped by exemplary women in his life. His mother is the proud Queen of Wakanda. His ex-lover Nakia is wise and caring, always giving him sound advice. And fearless Okoye is the leader of Wakandas army and intel services.

Not to forget TChallas sister, Shuri, whos not unlike Q in the James Bond movies -- she helps Black Panther and Wakanda with all the technological wonders derived from Vibranium. It goes without saying that TChalla wouldnt have been a successful Black Panther for long if it werent for the positive impact of these women in his life.

Marvel

 and theyre all beautiful

I must say Lupita Nyong'o hasnt looked more elegant and beautiful in a movie than in this one. Angela Bassett is equally majestic and regal in her appeal. And Danai Gurira is fantastic, not unlike a Black Amazon Warrior -- kind and menacing at the same time. Through their grace and poise, these actresses redefine the very essence of strong and beautiful black characters portrayed in modern cinema.

The sights and sounds of Africa are amazing...

Africa is alive in this movie unlike anything you mightve seen in a Hollywood movie, ever. The different tribes inside Wakanda, the rhythmic drum beats, their ritualistic dance, the songs they sing, and the fight sequences (allegedly inspired by real-world African tribes) -- everything seems more authentic and uncontrived. Its one big homage to Africana -- its unique culture, and rich flora and fauna -- and its great to see.

Marvel

 and the fashion is exquisite

The art department of Black Panther deserves a lot of credit for enhancing the essence of Africa and bringing it out for the world to see. The different tribes -- their unique dress, makeup, ornaments and weapon -- stand out against each other beautifully. From TChallas finely embroidered kurta to Nakias mesmerizing dresses, this movie is a great introduction to traditional African fashion. It is all beautifully researched and detailed, enhancing the overall diversity of the film.

Token white guy joke

Instead of a token black guy, which is like a recurrent comic theme of most Hollywood movies, its refreshing to see Black Panther deploy a token white guy instead -- in the form of Martin Freeman, who plays a CIA operative. Freeman has quite an atrocious American accent -- just horrible!

Marvel

An epic dance move, better than Gangnam Style

I dont want to spoil this for people who havent watched the movie yet, but Black Panther has one epic dance move that has great viral potential. It takes place during the ritual combat scene, when Black Panthers energies are drained out (magically, of course) so he can fight like a mere mortal against his challenger. Everyone watching the fight does this dance then -- while keeping their head still, hands crossed across their chest, bobbing their shoulder up and down rapidly. Its contagious!

Tech is drop dead gorgeous

Of course, Wakandas technological progress is all down to the vibranium they possess. Everything from Black Panthers kinetic-powered suit which is hidden inside and activated by an ancient necklace to magnetic levitation trains with futuristic force-fields, and of course giant vertical lift-off planes with silent propulsion systems (and in-built invisibility shields), I would give my little finger for a chance to spend a night in Wakanda.

Marvel

Respect your ancestors, rituals and culture...

Black Panthers deep Africa-inspired roots is the reason behind its universal human connection. How the present is connected to the past, and how it inspires the future is a major story arc of this movie. Respect of elders is another big value which this movie shares, not unlike our own Indian culture. Wakandas progress -- without the external influence of the world -- doesnt come at the expense of ancient wisdom, its people remember where they came from and dont take things for granted. Think theres a lesson for all of us there somewhere.

... And don't forget to give it forward

Finally, Black Panther also stresses the values of compassion and shared progress. It stresses upon the privileged to do their bit for the upliftment of the forgotten sections of our society. If Wakanda is the happiest place on earth, the most technologically forward, then it has a moral obligation to share its knowledge to make the world a better place -- and not just Wakanda.

Marvel

So yeah, that was Black Panther for me. And not like any other Marvel superhero movie.Pakistan has billed India Rs 2.86 lakh as route navigation charges for Indian Air Force aircraft used by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a stopover in Lahore and visits to Russia, Afghanistan, Iran and Qatar, an RTI response shows.

The data gathered by activist Commodore (Retd) Lokesh Batra. through his RTI application, show that till June 2016, Indian Air Force aircraft were used for the Prime Minister's visits to 11 countries--Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Qatar, Australia, Pakistan, Russia, Iran, Fiji and Singapore.

PTI

Batra gave a copy of the RTI responses, received from August last year to January 30 2018, to PTI. During one such visit on December 25, 2015, Modi had a brief stopover in Lahore at the request of then Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. The stopover took place when Modi was returning from Russia and Afghanistan.

For this, a bill of Rs 1.49 lakh has been issued as route navigation charges, records accessed under the RTI Act from the Indian High Commission in Pakistan show. Modi was received by Sharif with a warm hug at the tarmac of the Allama Iqbal International Airport, Lahore, when he made the unexpected stopover on his way back home following a day-long trip to Afghanistan after concluding a two-day visit to Russia.

Reuters

Modi was accorded a red carpet welcome as the PM's special Indian Air Force Boeing 737 plane touched down at 4.50 pm. He then took a helicopter to Sharif's Raiwind palatial residence on the outskirts of Lahore to attend Sharif's birthday celebrations. A bill of Rs 77,215 was imposed as route navigation charges by Pakistani authorities when Modi used an IAF aircraft to visit Iran on May 22-23, 2016, and Rs 59,215 when he visited Qatar on June 4-6, 2016, the RTI response shows.

For both visits he flew over Pakistan. The records were part of a response collected from various missions of India on the expenditure incurred on the visits of Modi on IAF aircraft between 2014 and 2016. According to the data collected, a total of about Rs 2 crore has been spent on foreign visits of the Prime Minister during the period for the use of IAF aircraft.

Reuters

Generally, an Air India aircraft is hired for the foreign visits of the VVIPs the President, the Vice President and the Prime Minister -- for which the national carrier sends the bill. The bills for the Prime Minister's visits are borne by the external affairs ministry. The bills submitted by Indian missions in these countries include charges for fuelling, ground handling, airport charges, dearness allowance paid to the staff, hotel stay, catering and mobile for the crew, transport hiring, captain's imprest and other charges.Companies are beginning to recognize that their own employees, through human error, sheer carelessness or simple unawareness, can make businesses vulnerable to cyberattacks.



A survey among over 5,000 businesses worldwide by Kaspersky Lab and B2B International showed that 52% if businesses admit that employees are their biggest weakness in IT security, with their careless actions putting business IT security strategy at risk.



Business are worried about employees sharing inappropriate data via mobile services (47%), the physical loss of mobile devices exposing their company to risk (46%) and the use of inappropriate IT resources by employees (44%).



The study also showed that small businesses (with 1 to 49 employees) may be more at risk that companies with, say, a staff of more than 1,000. This is because small businesses likely give their employees greater flexibility in using business IT resources.



Staff may make mistakes that put their companys data or systems at risk  either because they are careless and accidently slip up  or even because they do not have the required training to teach them how to behave appropriately and to protect the business they work for, Kaspersky said.



Security events increased 11% in 2017, with many as 49% of businesses worldwide reported being attacked by viruses and malware this year, an 11% increase compared to 2016 results. Of those that experienced virus and malware incidents, 53% consider careless/ uninformed employees to be a top contributing factor and over a third (36%) consider phishing/ social engineering to have contributed to the threat.



For example, 46% have confirmed that those incidents have resulted in their businesss data being leaked or exposed because of employee actions. In addition, over one in four (28%) have lost highly sensitive or confidential customer/employee information as a result of irresponsible employees, while 25% have lost payment information.



Then again, not every instance arises from inadvertence; in the past 12 months, 30% of security events involved staff working against their own employers.



Moreover, employees dont always take action when their company is hit by a security incident. In fact, in 40% of businesses around the world, employees hide an incident when it happens. But hiding an incident may have grave consequences  an unreported event can lead to an extensive breach of an entire infrastructure.



The hide-and-seek problem appears more challenging for large companies (45%) as compared to very small businesses (29%). Businesses should communicate such breaches not only to employees but also to top management and HR.



Finally, the Bring-Your-Own-Device trend, while it has some advantages, contribute greatly to increasing the vulnerability of companies to security threats.



To minimize the effects of these worrying figures, Kaspersky advises companies to put in place IT security policies  and make sure employees know and understand them.



Staff members should also be regularly trained to arrest lack of knowledge or carelessness.





Related stories:

Cybersecurity labour shortage seen to hit 1.8 million by 2022

In keeping with this focus, we have decided to cease underwriting property insurance on the Aspen Bermuda platform with immediate effect. This action stems from the catastrophe loss activity we saw during 2017, Aspen group head of communications Steve Colton said.

Colton additionally explained that the Bermuda book of business comprises only a small part of Aspens US property insurance book and it should be relatively unaffected by the announcement.

The reinsurer revealed a net loss after tax of US$185 million in Q4 2017. For the full year ended December 31, 2017, Aspen posted a net loss after tax of US$266.4 million, compared with net income of US$203.4 million in 2016.

Colton added that the announcement impacts three members of the Bermuda property insurance team.

Three members of staff are impacted by this announcement. [Underwriter, unit head] Stephanie Law has left the company and [vice-president, senior property underwriter] Natasha Pethick and [underwriting assistant] Allison Bassett will be staying on for a while to ensure a smooth transition, he said. This decision was in no way influenced by the underwriting expertise or talent within the team  these individuals are outstanding.



Related stories:

Aspen highlights next year's premium price increases

Aspen Insurance to set up cost-cutting driveBIMA, a company that provides insurance products to traditionally underserved consumers in emerging markets, uses mobile technology and has reached more than 26 million customers across 14 countries so far.

Mobile technology is disrupting the way people access financial services around the world, BIMAs deputy CEO Mathilda Strom told Insurance Business.

It has democratised access to basic financial services, such as insurance, for the unbanked and the underserved on a massive scale, making insurance a much more affordable product even for those on low incomes.

Today, BIMA has announced a partnership with telecommunications giant Telefonica Movistar and underwriter Seguros LAFISE, to launch a new mobile-delivered insurance product in Nicaragua, which it describes as a key central American market.

Through BIMAs mobile technology platform, Telefonica Movistar customers will be able to sign up for life insurance through their mobile phones without needing access to a bank account.

To date, life insurance penetration in Nicaragua has remained at 3.1%, according to the Nicaraguan Association Insurance Agents. Mobile penetration, however, has reached 90% of the population.

BIMAs success is very much underpinned by our ability to deliver a fully mobile-enabled product, from registration to premium payment all the way to claims processes, Strom said.

The mobile and digital revolution has radically changed the way consumers interact with companies where they see efficiency, speediness and convenience as a given. Insurers around the world  not just in developing countries  must keep customer experience at the heart of product design so they can create a fully digitalised customer journey that is smooth, hassle free and straightforward.If successful, the merger would create a combined entity with total assets of $4 billion, more than 2.5 million customers, and higher bargaining power  ranking the new entity behind Medibank and Bupa, which have dominated more than half of the national market for years, Reuters and ABC reported.

Strategically, this merger would create a truly national player with combined strength to grow both brands and better compete in what is a challenging industry, said Sheena Jack, HCF chief executive, in a Reuters report.

Analysts expect that many small players will likely consolidate to stay afloat, as high compliance costs and increased regulatory scrutiny put a strain on their profitability.

The whole idea of consolidation in this industry is long overdue, John Hester, insurance analyst at Bell Potter, told the news agency. I expect this to be the first of a series of mergers or acquisitions in this industry.

The two health funds would retain their individual identities and continue to be run by their own management under a new umbrella company guided by a new board, comprising of equal numbers of directors from each entity. Neither party would be required to make a cash outlay for the merger, the reports said.

Related stories:

Millions could switch or ditch their health cover  study

HCF makes a stand against climate change

IAG completes licence consolidation

Hub International has continued its North American M&A blitz with the acquisition of Pointbreak Consulting Group, an employee-benefits and pension consulting firm headquartered in British Columbia.

Kevin Jeffrey, principal and CEO of Pointbreak, will join Hub TOS and report to Dave Terry, president of Hub TOS.The regulation of claims management companies in Scotland is essential to ensure that consumers here enjoy the same level of protection from nuisance calls and other invasive claims farming tactics from unscrupulous firms, said Ross, who serves as assistant director and head of public policy for Scotland/Wales/Northern Ireland. The ABI is pleased to be working with DWF and the Ministry of Justice to raise the level of awareness of the new regulatory regime for CMCs in Scotland.

According to DWF, factors such as the legal reforms in England have pushed what the law firm described as the more dubious CMCs to head to Scotland for their claims generating activities. The forum was aimed at examining collaborative efforts to stamp out such undertakings, with DWF head of general insurance (Scotland) Andrew Lothian saying that insurers should take the opportunity to help shape the new claims landscape there.

I was delighted to have the opportunity to discuss the experience and challenges of regulating CMCs in England and Wales over the last 10 years, added Rousell. The experience has shown the crucial role collaboration between regulators and key stakeholders in the claims system has to play in helping to ensure that bad claims management practices are tackled, redress mechanisms work efficiently and effectively, and consumers receive good service.

The North Carolina Rate Bureau (NCRB) has requested a statewide average rate increase of 18.9 percent, varying by territory, on dwelling insurance policies, according to a statement from the North Carolina Department of Insurance (NCDOI).

The dwelling insurance rate filing was received by NCDOI from the NCRB, which is not part of the NCDOI and represents all companies writing property insurance in the state, on Feb. 7 with a requested effective date of Oct. 1, 2018.

The filing includes a requested increase of 40.5 percent for extended coverage (wind) policies, but a decrease of 20.8 percent for fire polices, making the statewide average request an increase of 18.9 percent.

Dwelling insurance policies are not homeowners insurance policies. Dwelling policies are offered to non-owner occupied residences of no more than four units, including rental properties, investment properties and other properties that are not occupied full-time by the property owner.

NCRB has also requested revisions to the current geographic rating territories. The proposed territory revisions are the same territory definitions applicable to homeowners policies.

NCDOI said the filing will be reviewed by its experts to determine what, if any, rate adjustments are warranted.

If NCDOI and NCRB do not initially agree on the proposed rate changes, a public hearing will be called, in which both parties would present their cases to a hearing officer who would then determine the appropriate rate level.

The filing is available for public review on the NCDOI website and the SERFF Filing Access; SERFF Tracking Number NCRI-131370773.

Opportunity for Public Comment

Those wanting to comment on the rate request may do so in person during a public comment forum on March 23, 2018, in Raleigh; or by email to: 2018DwellingandFire@ncdoi.gov through March 23, 2018; or by mail sent to the North Carolina Department of Insurance.

Topics Pricing Trends North CarolinaThe New Mexico Court of Appeals has upheld the ruling in a $165 million lawsuit against FedEx filed after a deadly accident involving a contracted FedEx truck.

The 2011 crash west of Las Cruces killed three people including the truck driver and left a baby severely injured.

Alfredo Morga filed a personal injury and wrongful death lawsuit against FedEx over the loss of his wife, Marialy Venegas, and his daughter, Ylairam Morga.

Venegas parents also joined the lawsuit.

According to court records, after a Santa Fe jury ruled in a favor of the family, FedEx filed an appeal arguing that the verdict was tainted by passion, prejudice, partiality, sympathy, undue influence, or a mistaken measure of damages.

The Appeals Court rejected the companys argument on Feb. 6.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Lawsuits MexicoA Texas appeals court has ruled that federal law, as opposed to state regulation, prevails when it comes to the amount an air ambulance service may charge insurance companies for its services.

The Austin Court of Appeals ruling reverses previous decisions by the State Office of Administrative Hearings and a trial court that found the federal Airline Deregulation Act (ADA) did not preempt the Texas Workers Compensation Act provisions that allow the Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers Compensation (DWC) to set fee guidelines for insurer reimbursements to air ambulance service providers.

That ruling came in an appeal by PHI Air Medical LLC in a lawsuit involving Texas Mutual Insurance Co. and a number of other insurance companies over reimbursement rates.

Texas Mutual pointed out in an emailed statement that while the appeals court struck down the fee guideline developed by the DWC, the court did not order the insurers to pay billed charges.

DWC had set a payment guideline of 125 percent of Medicare for reimbursements to air ambulances. According to the appeals court, the trial court previously determined that insurers could not be required to pay more than that amount.

The ADA, enacted in 1978, deregulated the airline industry, allowing to commercial airlines set competitive rates.

The appeals court decision states that PHI, as a commercial air ambulance provider, charges for that service by billing a per-trip charge and an additional charge for the miles transported.

According to Texas Mutual, air ambulances use [the ADA] to attempt to recover their full billed charges (which are often 500 percent or more of their costs).

In its emailed statement, Texas Mutual said the appeals court in its ruling relied on several cases from other jurisdictions that reach the same result (although many of them are still on appeal). And none of these courts has ordered insurers to pay billed charges either.

The insurer seemed to indicate that the fight to contain air ambulance service fees would continue, stating:  if in the end the state laws are actually preempted by a federal act, participants face a void: no court would have apparent authority to order the insurers to pay anything other than their contractual obligation to pay state-set charges.

Topics Carriers Texas Abuse MolestationNebraska lawmakers could open the door to self-driving cars and trucks this year with new legislation designed to attract the industry while maintaining public safety.

A legislative committee is considering two measures that would let researchers test self-driving vehicles in Nebraska to prepare for an expected surge in such vehicles in the coming decade.

I want a statute that not only allows it, but allows the technology to grow, said Sen. Tyson Larson of ONeill, who sponsored a measure to allow testing statewide. As with any new technology, you dont want to pass a bill thats too restrictive.

Larsons bill would allow automated vehicles on state roads and highways but require that testers be able to continuously monitor them and take immediate control if necessary. It also would require owners to submit proof of insurance to state officials and create a council of state and industry officials that would follow technology changes and recommend other laws.

The bill still faces skepticism from car and truck manufacturers, who argue that new restrictions could unintentionally hinder the fast-growing technology.

We have concerns about passing a law based on whats technologically available right now, said John Lindsay, a lobbyist for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers. Three months from now, we may have a completely different technology.

A second proposal by Sen. Anna Wishart of Lincoln would allow researchers to test self-driving vehicles, but only in Lincoln. The bill would authorize the city to join forces with a private company for a pilot project.

Wishart said her measure was designed to help city officials launch a driverless shuttle service that would carry passengers between downtown Lincoln, the popular Haymarket District and the University of Nebraska-Lincolns main campus. The service could eventually expand throughout Lincoln, with the aim of turning the city into a national leader for automated vehicles.

The main challenge is making sure we have as many safety precautions in place as possible, Wishart said.

Wishart said she worked with the Departments of Transportation and Motor Vehicles to craft the proposal, as well as advocates for people with disabilities, who stand to benefit.

Twenty-one states have passed legislation related to automated vehicles, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Nevada was the first to allow them in 2011.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Legislation Auto Tech Personal Auto Training Development Autonomous Vehicles NebraskaThe Hartford has agreed to acquire Foremost Insurance branded small commercial lines business from Farmers.

The Hartford is acquiring the renewal rights on $200 million in small commercial lines premium sold through about 5,000 independent agents and brokers. The business consists of the three primary lines of business underwritten by Foremost Insurance Group: business owners policy for property, general liability and umbrella; commercial auto; and workers compensation.

The transaction marks the exit of Foremost from the commercial lines business to focus on its personal lines business. Foremost entered the commercial lines business in 2013, when it took over the Zurich Small Business program.

Foremosts parent company, Farmers, will continue to write commercial lines accounts under the Farmers brand with its exclusive agents, according to the company.

This move provides us the flexibility to increase our focus and invest additional resources on the small business segment, which we remain very committed to, through our vast network of Farmers agents, said Sharon Fernandez, head of Business Insurance for Farmers Insurance.

Foremost, founded in 1952 and headquartered in Grand Rapids, Michigan, is a leader in specialty insurance for mobile homes, motor homes, travel trailers and specialty dwellings.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The Hartford said the deal will not have a material impact on its financial results.

This renewal rights agreement further strengthens The Hartfords market-leading position in small business, and also provides an opportunity to deepen and broaden our distribution network, said Stephanie Bush, The Hartfords head of Small Commercial and Personal Lines.

The book of business is nationwide and aligns with its small-business appetite and growth strategy, The Hartford said.

The insurer said there is significant overlap in the agency forces but that it welcomes those agents that do not currently have a contract with The Hartford.

Topics Mergers Agencies Commercial Lines Business Insurance Agribusiness Small BusinessWhat Is Registration?

Registration is the process by which a company files required documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), detailing the particulars of a proposed public offering. The registration typically has two parts: the prospectus and private filings. The prospectus is a document given to every investor that purchases the security while the private filing is information given to the SEC for inspection.

Key Takeaways Registration is the process by which a company files required documents with the SEC before an initial public offering (IPO).

The two components that make up registration are the prospectus for investors and private filings for the SEC.

Registration consists of significant detail regarding the offering, such as the price, date, financial statements, and legal problems.

The term "registration" also refers to when a broker-dealer files the appropriate documentation to be legally able to sell securities.

Understanding Registration

The process of an initial public offering (IPO) is a long and complex one, requiring many months of work and tremendous amounts of documentation. When registering for an IPO, a company issuing shares must reveal essential facts and detailed information about its business during the registration process.

This type of information includes a description of its business and assets, a description of the security being offered, further details of the offering, a description and names of the company's management, and the company's financial statements, which have been certified by an accountant, working independently of the company.

The SEC specifies that a company should have at least three years of audited financial statements before it can go public. If a company does not have three years of audited financial statements, the SEC allows for exceptions whereby the company is allowed to provide them after the fact, when they actually have the required information available. An auditor would perform a look back, and the company would have to ensure it has systems in place for capturing this information.

The registration is also meant to include any negative information, such as legal problems or other business trouble that would be of great consequence to investors. The purpose of registration is to be above board with all the details of the company.

The prospectus provides a summary of the company's share offering to the investors, including the size, what the funds raised will be used for, and contact information for the company. A preliminary prospectus is the first offering document that a security issuer must issue. This is often known as the red herring document. The final prospectus contains finalized information, including the exact number of shares/certificates issued and the precise offering price, which are printed after the deal has been made effective.

Once the registration information has been provided to the SEC, the SEC will conduct a review of the information, provide comments, and request any changes if necessary. The SEC usually responds back within 30 days after the initial registration has been filed.

Some securities are exempt from the SEC's registration process. These include limited and private offerings as well as municipal, state, and federal security offerings.

Registration for Brokers and Dealers

Registration is also a process by which securities brokers or dealers become legally entitled to sell securities. To have the authority to sell securities, broker-dealers must file forms, such as Form BD. This form requires disclosures of background information, including management policies, the names of executives and general partners, information about the companys successors, and any current legal proceedings and/or previous securities violations. Form BD is covered under Section 15 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

A broker or dealer must already be a member or must become a member of a self-regulatory organization (SRO), such as the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD). They must also register with the state or states in which they intend to sell securities (if such state laws require them to do so). Finally, the prospective broker and/or dealer must become a member of the Security Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC).

Not every person working for a securities dealer, broker, or investment bank must be registered in order to conduct business, but the requirements are very stringent, by necessity. If you are thinking about selling securities or working for an investment bank as a career, it is best to check with the relevant authorities in your jurisdiction to ensure that you have fully complied with all the relevant laws governing the sale of securities.What Is a Squawk Box?

A squawk box is a term used for an intercom speaker that a brokerage firms analysts or traders use on trading floors or desks. Squawk boxes can be found in investment banks, along with stock brokerages, and on exchange floors. A squawk box allows a firm's analysts and traders to communicate with the firm's brokers.

Over the past several years, squawk box intercoms have been replaced by online instant messaging platforms for disseminating information and trading orders in real-time.

Key Takeaways Squawk boxes are audio intercom systems that allow for real-time dissemination of market and economic information to interested parties.

Analysts famously made buy, sell, or hold recommendations on the stocks that they covered through squawk boxes, with hundred of eager ears waiting to hear what information will come out of the speaker next.

Squawk boxes were once ubiquitous in financial firms such as investment banks, brokerages, and exchange floors, but have since made way to other forms of electronic communication.

Understanding Squawk Boxes

Also known as "hoot-n-hollers", financial firms use squawk boxes to inform their brokers about current analyst recommendations, market events, and information about block trades. This line of communication helps to keep brokers updated on important market factors and allows the firm to guide its brokers' trading. Unlike telephones, squawk boxes provide continuous, always-on audio connection to those parties on the line without needing to dial in. Participants may of course decide to mute their microphones to prevent ambient audio from coming across the speaker.

While many other forms of communication have arisen as a result of technology, the squawk box is still often a requisite in many investment banks and brokerages.

Squawk Boxes and Analyst Recommendations

Many listen to squawk boxes to understand current trends in analyst ratings. Traditionally analyst recommendations for securities range among "buy," "hold," and "sell." Buy suggested the security was undervalued and a good deal, while sell signified it was likely overvalued. Multiple terms now exist for each of the ratings (a "sell" can be a "strong sell," while a "buy" can be a "strong buy"), in addition to "underperform" and "outperform" ratings.

Analysts will research public financial statements, listen to company conference calls, and speak with managers directly, along with customers of a company, in order to deeply understand their inner workings and present status.

Analysts often use a discounted cash flows (DCF) model to support their qualitative analyses. A DCF is a valuation method, which relies on future free cash flow projections for a company. The analyst will discount these, using a required annual rate. A present value estimate is then used to evaluate the potential for investment. If the value the analyst arrives at through DCF analysis is higher than the current cost of the investment, the opportunity may be a good one.

Squawk Boxes and Block Trades

Another reason to listen to a squawk box is to get a pulse for current block trades. A block trade or block order is a submission for the sale or purchase of a large quantity of securities. Block trades can often occur between parties, often outside of the open markets, to lessen their impact on the security price. In general, 10,000 shares of stock, not including penny stocks, or $200,000 worth of bonds are considered a block trade. Understanding who is placing block trades or block orders can help a banking employee realize supply and demand for a new issue.Studies show public projects end up costing much more than first estimated; this serves as a warning as Taoiseach Leo Varadkar embarks on the national plan, writes Kyran Fitzgerald

Bureaucrats and politicians have one thing in common  they adore plans, and the bigger the better.

And when the cash is about the place, Government ministers are only itching to spend it.

You cant stop ministers these days from putting on hard hats and hi-vis jackets and the launch of Project Ireland 2040 really was party time for all concerned.

You could say it was Leos trip to the prom with the voters along as invited guests.

It was hard not to think of the late PJ Mara, that great Fianna Fail political showman, as the rhetoric took flight.

This is not, in any way, to denigrate the exercise. We need ambition and focus and plenty of longterm vision as this island becomes a more crowded place, with at least one million more people predicted to come on board.

The public needs to be on board too and of course, the Government must secure buy-in from officials, business people, trade unionists, planners, as well as all the people who will be operating at the implementation coalface.

The plan has much about it that is positive. The commitment of around 22bn over 10 years to counter climate change and the emphasis on the promotion of compact growth is commendable.

As Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy has stressed, at least 40% of future housing needs  in excess of 500,000  should be met in existing built-up areas.

This is backed up with a 1bn town and village fund  modest in the overall picture, but a sign that official Ireland is belatedly recognising the need to restore the many centres across provincial Ireland that have fallen into decline.

This is being backed up by a 2bn urban regeneration fund and the establishment of a new National Regeneration and Development Agency which will work with local authorities to release strategically located land banks and ensure effective coordination and management of development land.

Most welcome is the commitment in relation to capturing the gains in land value from investments in infrastructure.

For too long, landholders have grown rich on the back of taxpayer funding of sewerage pipes and the like.

The rethink of the Dublin metro concept is overdue.

If we are going to sink billions of taxpayers money into the ground  a questionable exercise  well then it is best to be ambitious rather than end up with a half-baked part metro, part light rail along the lines of the original proposal.

And yet, two big questions loom large. There is the issue of the spending of public money and sustainable development.

We are promised roads galore, yet economists question the effectiveness of much of this spend.

Of course, we need completion of an Atlantic corridor, linking cities that could challenge Dublins supremacy, not to mention bypasses and upgrades at safety black spots.

That said, roads are not the panacea. When allied to sloppy planning, they result in sprawl in the form of retail parks and the like.

The end result is that too much life is sucked out of long-established centres, leaving derelict sites and a sense of emptiness.

Car-based sprawl is one of the great curses of the last 50 years.

Totemic rural rail projects, busily promoted by local lobbyists but often very poorly supported by the paying public should be avoided.

If we wish to revive country towns and rural areas, why not create a fund that would allow the scrapping of commercial rates and other benefits for entrepreneurs launching start-up businesses that are genuinely wealth creating and meet Enterprise Ireland criteria in this regard?

A lower personal tax rate for people risking all to create businesses could attract people with skills back from overseas or from the crowded cities.

The second key question relates to expenditure control. Ireland does not have a great record when it comes to ensuring that capital projects stay within budget.

Put simply, the prices quoted in Leo and Paschals plan could well turn out to be works of fiction and by the time this becomes apparent it will already be too late.

Last November, the IMF published a review of capital investment in Ireland.

Interestingly it concluded that Irelands public capital investment as a proportion of national income  using the revised CSO measure  is higher than the UK and only slightly lower than that of Germany.

Our need for new infrastructure may not be as great as some would have you believe. But we do certainly need to better maintain and utilise the infrastructure already in place.

The IMF concluded that in terms of value for money secured from our investments, there was an efficiency gap of 23% between Ireland and the rest of the world. When compared with advanced countries that gap grows to 58%. Food for thought, certainly.

The IMF concluded that multi-year budgeting has improved the allocation of resources, but pointed to inadequate links between the planning process and decisions on funding.

There is a proliferation of sector strategies with a weak results framework, it said.

The danger is that as the plan is rolled out, economic and political realities intrude. To be fair, the Minister of Finance has pencilled-in relatively cautious growth assumptions but Ireland being Ireland, we can expect a recession or two along the way to knock things sideways.

A series of priorities will have to be identified to prevent sleights of hand or the influence wielded over Government by particular sectors, lobby groups, and connected local politicians.

Overruns on technically difficult projects are almost inevitable. Remember that promoters of the projects have a vested interest in understating the cost as they set out to dazzle politicians and their officials.

The Jim Hackers of this world do not always have a Sir Humphrey Appleby around to protect them from rapacious salespeople with a greedy eye on the public purse.

Danish expert Professor Bent Flyvbjerg has carried out a study ofmore than 250 investment projects between the 1920s and 1990s.

He found cost overruns on 90% of the projects, with an average overrun per project of almost 30%. He concluded that there has been no improvement in cost estimating over 70 years.

And supporters of the Dublin Metro, at an estimated 3bn cost, and of various light rail plans, should take note of his 2007 study when he found the average cost escalation in rail schemes amounted to just under 45%.

The academic did not have to look far to discover examples of planning disasters.

The first three stages of the Copenhagen metro project cost 157% more than initially estimated while the demand shortfalls exceeded 40%.

The period in which the project was expected to return its original capital investment jumped from an initial 14 years to 55 years, by which stage many of the assets would have long required replacing.

Dont say you havent been warned.Start-up Greenlight has attracted government funds to study cannabis oil, writes Trish Dromey

WITH plans to establish itself as the global leader in the production of prescription medicines using cannabis, Irish start-up Greenlight Medicines is aiming high.

In September, the company, which is the only Irish firm specialising in cannabis research, went to market with cannabinoid oil, a food supplement containing Cannabidiol, a non-psychoactive cannabis compound, which it is selling to pharmacies around the country.

Now, Greenlight is making plans to launch a new medical cannabis product and to start clinical trials on prescription medicines using cannabinoid compounds, which will specifically target epilepsy, cancer, addiction, and arthritis.

Employing a team of seven, Greenlight received 3m in research funding in 2017 and has now embarked on a 5m fundraising round which will be used to establish a new facility in Donegal by the summer.

By the end of this year we expect to have a staff of 120 and to increase this to 500 within five years, said Greenlight CEO and founder James Linden.

Mr Linden, who has a PhD in biochemistry, started Greenlight in 2015, to explore the medicinal uses of cannabinoids, the compounds in cannabis which have been found to be effective in reducing inflammation and pain.

While there are a number of products, legal and illegal, available across the world, he decided that there was space for the creation of a safe and trusted brand backed by comprehensive research and an opportunity to develop life-changing prescription medicines.

Operating from a base in Dublin, he linked up with 13 universities in Ireland, the UK, and the US and began carrying out research into the therapeutic uses of cannabinoid compounds.

Greenlights first product Cannabinoid oil, which is classified as a food supplement, has now gone on sale pharmacies around Ireland, including at Sam McCauley, Hickeys, and Lloyds, at a cost of 50 for a 10ml bottle.

We are now planning to move to start selling in the UK and France and subsequently move into the US, Mexico, and other EU states, said Mr Linden.

He explained that legislation in Ireland does not apply to products containing the cannabis compound Cannabidiol (CBD) which is non-psychoactive.

CBD is widely available in Ireland as a food supplement, however, cannabis products with a TCH (the psychoactive cannabinoid) content greater than 0.2% require a licence, he said.

Greenlights cannabinoid oil will provide it with a revenue stream as it starts human trials on specific prescription medicines, an undertaking which is likely to take several years and involve very significant costs.

Mr Linden said the launch of medical cannabis later in the year in Ireland, the UK, and Europe will bring in additional revenue: We are targeting a turnover of 2.5m in 2018.

Since setting up the company, it has raised a significant amount of private equity. Last year it was awarded 1.4m by Science Foundation Ireland to study the use of cannabinoids on epilepsy. It has also received funding from the Irish Research Council and the Norths Department of Employment and Learning.

In recent weeks, the company has scaled up its development plans.

We originally planned to grow staff to 60 this year and 300 within three years but now we plan to recruit 120 this year including chemists, horticulturists and admin staff, he said.

He said that although cannabinoid compounds and cannabis has been used both legally and illegally around the world for many years, and their efficacy has been well documented, there has been a lack of specific research, which Greenlight is aiming to rectify.

Licenced to import and use cannabis for research purposes, the company is in discussions with the Department of Agriculture about the possibility of growing cannabis at its new facility.

Mr Linden said Greenlight wants to produce strains that would provide specific cannabinoids for medical use.

He thinks it likely that as the company develops specific products targeting cancer, epilepsy, arthritis, and addiction, that pharmaceutical companies around the world will show a lot of interest.Events planner Olivia Buckley tells Padraig Hoare about her plans to take on more international clients to expand the rebranded business outside Ireland

Whether it was as the Kerry Rose at the 2002 Rose of Tralee, or assistant to television star planner Peter Kelly of Weddings By Franc, Olivia Buckley was soaking up as much as possible on big event logistics in anticipation of starting her own firm.

The University College Cork (UCC) graduate launched Olivia Buckley Events in 2013 after 15 years in the event planning business. It has now rebranded as Olivia Buckley International as clients seek out the firms expertise from all over the world.

I knew very early on that I wanted to work in a luxury brand market and gained a really good understanding of what it took to compete in that world. In that regard, I would say that my education really helped to shape the specific luxury brand route that I decided to take in my career.

My experience as the Kerry Rose at the Rose of Tralee really allowed me to be immersed in a large-scale production and I eagerly soaked up all of the elements that went into creating a television spectacle of this level. It certainly cemented my desire to work on large-scale, custom-designed events and from there I was lucky enough to begin working within the luxury weddings sector, Ms Buckley said.

Beginning a business specialising in luxury and glamour in 2013 before the economy recovered was a risk but one worth taking, according to Ms Buckley.

There is never an ideal time to begin anything so you just have to go for it and trust in your ability. I wholeheartedly believed that there was very much a place for my business in the market and although Ireland may have been in a recession, I was looking to the rest of the world, aware that a significant amount of my clientele would likely be international, she said.

At the beginning, Ms Buckley said she wasnt in a position to hire any staff so did everything herself. The big test of whether she could cut it came when she was hired for an event on a private island, she said.

There were certainly sleepless nights and moments of fear, there was also an unquenchable fire in my belly that spurred me on. Over the first year, I did mostly small-scale, private events. The business really took off due to referrals and word of mouth and from there we were contracted to create a beautiful luxury event on a private island.

This was a huge undertaking with so many risk factors and challenges involved and ultimately its success was the proof that we really could produce spectacular events, anywhere, for anyone, she said.

Being headhunted by Colin Cowie, party planner for stars such as Tom Cruise and Jennifer Lopez, was a major business breakthrough in 2015, Ms Buckley said.

We had the opportunity to learn from the best in the world and to observe best practice. It was very much the turning point that catapulted our business into a whole other level of luxury high-end events, she said.

Inspiring women in leadership roles in business is vital, said Ms Buckley.

In Ireland, we can often have a very self-deprecating attitude that whilst charming, doesnt always lend itself to promoting confidence and leadership, particularly in young women. It is essential that we nurture and promote confidence and self-belief in our young women so that they are motivated to fulfill their true potential.

At Olivia Buckley International, all of our key team are female including and not limited to our managing director, event producer, creative manager, operations manager, graphic designer, communications executive, accountant and legal counsel.

When we work on live events, approximately 75% of our crew are male so it is empowering to have an all-female team in leadership roles for such large-scale productions. I do feel that while it is certainly important to celebrate this, we need to get to a stage where an all-female or female-heavy team in management is not anything unusual, she said.

After five years establishing itself as a leading Irish events planning business, Ms Buckley said the next five years would be about expanding its worldwide footing.

Our previous clientele has come from countries such as Australia, the US and Hong Kong and we are keen to continue to develop relationships with clients from around the globe. It is a joy to promote our beautiful country as the ultimate location to hold your event and it is a great source of pride to attract business to Ireland when in competition with other beautiful destinations in the European market.

Your strength as a business relies on the relationships that you have with the people that work with you. Our suppliers are hand-picked from Ireland and all around the world which contributes to the unique quality that all of our events have.

We want to become the most sought-after event designers in the world, not just in Ireland and the faith and respect that I have for the teams and suppliers that we work with lead me to believe that this is absolutely possible. The sky really is the limit for us, she said.A legal row over colourful cartoon sheep has come before the Commercial Court, writes Ann O'Loughlin.

Irish firm The Shamrock Gift Company has gone to court claiming a British company has allegedly infringed trademarks in relation to its "Wacky Woolies" range which has colourful cartoon sheep on souvenirs and gifts.

The Shamrock Gift Company [Trading House], with registered offices at Fonthill Industrial Park, Dublin, has sued British company Elgate Products Ltd, with registered offices at Delandale House, Old Dover Road, Canterbury, Kent, on grounds including alleged infringement of the Irish registered trademarks and alleged passing off.

Mr Justice Brian McGovern today admitted the case to the fast track Commercial Court.

The Shamrock Gift Company, which has been in business since 1998, is seeking an order restraining Elgate Products from infringing the Irish registered trademarks which comprise images of cartoon sheep.

It also seeks an injunction restraining Elgate from allegedly passing off goods as or for the goods of The Shamrock Gift Company by means of packaging or marketing materials bearing images of cartoon sheep and a get up similar to that of Shamrocks's Wacky Woolies range of products.

The Shamrock Gift Company is also looking for an order directing delivery to it of all goods, packaging, products, materials or articles which allegedly infringe Shamrock's intellectual property rights and which are in the possession of Elgate.

Counsel for Elgate Jonathan Newman SC told the court Elgate is counterclaiming the trademark registrations at issue are invalid. In its action, The Shamrock Gift Company says it has been in business since 1998 and markets a vast array of merchandise, including souvenirs, gift and novelty items.

Since 2007 it said it has promoted, marketed and sold in Ireland a wide variety of such products under the name and trademark Wacky Woolies which have images of cartoon sheep which Shamrock says are eye-catching, amusing and endearing from the perspective of prospective purchasers.

Shamrock says it commenced the proceedings as a result of Elgate advertising, offering, putting on the market and stocking products which are branded with images of cartoon sheep and which Shamrock claims are confusingly similar to those in the Wacky Woolies range.

The offending products it says are soft toys, purses, bottle openers, puzzle cubes, stationery sets, bags, magnets, mugs, playing cards as well as canvas bags, pens, tea towels and oven mitts.

The case will come back before the court in July.A man is to appear in court today charged in connection with the stabbing of another man in County Limerick.

The 21-year old victim is in a critical condition following the alleged assault at Maiden Street, Newcastle West, on Saturday evening.One of Dublin's most iconic music stores is closing its doors.

The cost of doing business is pushing Waltons from its base on South Great George's Street in the city centre to a new one in Blanchardstown.

Bosses say they are "heartbroken", but confirmed the company's music school will remain above the old shop.

Rental prices in the capital have soared, forcing many family-run and small independent businesses to relocate.

It follow news of the imminent closure of one of the countrys oldest independent bookshops, Liam Ruiseals in Cork city, last week.Joe McNicholas role as production manager for Corcadorca theatre company inevitably informs his art, writes Colette Sheridan

JOE MCNICHOLAS work as an artist and as production manager for theatre company Corcadorca sometime seep into each other, most notably in his response to Pat McCabes play, Sacrifice at Easter, staged at Elizabeth Fort in 2016.

Its a large oil-on-canvas that dominates McNicholass art-strewn living room as he prepares for an exhibition of his paintings at St Peters in Cork.

Once the play was over, McNicholas was keen to get back to the easel. I was looking for an idea and thought that I could take images from the play and fiddle around with them, whether they were actual physical images or were referenced in the script.

As anyone who went to see Sacrifice at Easter will recall, there was a real-life cow used in the production. I decided that my painting was going to be built around a spiral centred on a figure holding the cow. From there, I created a composition.

McNicholass exhibition, a mix of portraiture, satire, social commentary and history paintings, will include An Irish Political Allegory which created controversy when it was pulled from an exhibition at CIT Cork School of Music in 2016. This satirical painting, which features all the Fianna Fail Toaisigh presiding over a ghost estate, includes a depiction of the bare torso of Charles Haughey seemingly engaged in a sexual act.

Although this is a very small segment (eight inches) of the large painting (eight feet by five feet), it was deemed to be sexually explicit and had to taken down from the walls of the Cork School of Music as children would have seen it. McNicholas doesnt know what all the fuss was about.

A portrait of McNicholass two-year-old son, Fionn, depicts the child holding a globe of the world. Above him is Alayn Kurdi, the three-year-old Syrian boy, who drowned in the Mediterranean. McNicholas was initially reluctant to use the iconic image in the same painting as his son. But its such a powerful image. Its like Fionn has the world in his hands and symbolises hope and then theres the nightmare image above him.

McNicholas, originally from Mayfield in Cork, graduated in fine art from the Limerick School of Art and Design in 2004. After spending the following year as student union president there, he completed a masters degree in arts management at NUI Galway.

I came back to Cork and when I got the opportunity to work with Corcadorca, I jumped at it. McNicholass work with the company, since 2009, combines production with some artistic input. He is very proud that the company has seven nominations in the Irish Theatre Awards which will be announced at the National Concert Hall next week.

We got nominated for best production for Far Away (by Caryl Churchill) on Spike Island and we were also nominated for bringing theatre to unusual places.

Last summers Spike Island production was quite a challenge in terms of logistics. We had just under 12km of cable. The idea was that nobody in the audience would be able to see it. The set was 0.5km and 250 metres wide. The power was out on the edges. We had to design two operating positions and build them. We even had a custom made lighting desk.

McNicholas, who has his own studio near his home in Cork city, was one of the founding members of Sample Studios on Sullivans Quay, now vacated to make room for the development of a hotel.

He regrets the cycle thats so common for such spaces  Recession hits, artists come in to buildings and keep them alive. Then, once theres money to be made, the artists are gone.

Joe McNicholass exhibition, nArRaTive, is currently on at St Peters, North Main Street, CorkBy Dan MacCarthy

The first thing that strikes you about Inishkea is the sand.

The super-fine silicas have filled the corners of the roofless houses, flooded the floors, and infiltrated every manmade object to such an extent that may see the ruins of the dozen or so houses buried entirely in another few decades. The once-proud houses now resemble the bottom of an egg-timer. And the sand is filling all the time.

The row of houses, almost a street, face east to the mainland, with their backs to the Atlantic, and huddled together at a charming beach and a fine pier. The island is very grassy and nowadays is used for sheep and cattle grazing. It is deserted now though a number of houses have been restored as summer dwellings.

St Colmcille established a church on the north island before the Vikings laid the place waste in the eighth century. In common with other islands such as Inismurray, Inishkea had a reputation for strong poitin. In Within the Mullet, Rita Nolan writes that it was distilled in copper stills from locally grown barley and was known for its superior quality and flavour.

The Inishkeas also had an unwelcome reputation for piracy far from the watchful eye of the authorities where some islanders were accused of plundering passing ships.

Inishkea South is one of a pair of two slender islands in the northwest of Ireland off the Mullet Peninsula in Co Mayo, separated from each other by 50m of bladderwrack and a rushing tide.

To the east lies Blacksod lighthouse which is famed for providing the weather forecast that delayed the D-Day landing on June 6, 1944 by a day. To the south, lies the huge hulk of the inscrutable Achill Island. To the west lies Blackrock lighthouse where Coast Guard Helicopter R116 crashed last year with the tragic loss of four lives.

Inishkea South had a thriving population of 62 people in 1841 while its immediate neighbour had 155 people. For centuries the economy was centred around fishing. One writer in the 1930s observed that the waters around the islands had inexhaustible quantities of cod, hake supplemented by scallop, lobster and crab. In 1908 the arrival of a Norwegian whaling company saw its maritime industry enhanced with the setting up of a base on the islet of Rusheen just metres off Inishkea South.

The Norwegians had been looking for a base for years to capitalise on the lucrative hunting grounds for whales. The station was built and was moderately successful before it closed in 1913. It had the unexpected consequence of setting neighbour against neighbour as the islanders of South Inishkea garnered the employment for themselves and obstructed the northern islanders from working there. After the 1922 Treaty, things were compounded with the north pro-Treaty and the south anti-Treaty. Irelands problem in microcosm.

Then Mother Nature intervened. On October 27, 1927, a devastating storm struck the west coast. Inishboffin, Co Galway saw 27 fishermen drowned as a result of the severity of the wind. And 70km north at the Inishkeas, the storm also wreaked its havoc with nine men dead. The island never recovered and the population was moved to the mainland in 1935, the majority settling in the Mullet Peninsula.

Inis Ge, Goose Island, is so named after the throngs of barnacle geese that visit from Greenland from April to October. It has also many other species including oystercatchers and turnstones, and rarer birds including snowy owls and surf scoters. The island is also an important rookery for grey seals with about 150 pups born each year. The two Inishkeas and the neighbouring islands are a designated special protection area by the National Parks and Wildlife Service.

When the Irish Examiner visited on a stormy day there was a curious sight on the return RIB journey to Blacksod pier. On cresting a four-metre wave under the cliffs of Achill, a white tailed sea eagle sat calmly minding his own business.

How to get there:

www.wavesweeperseaadventures.com; ionaddeirbhile.ie

Other: Within the Mullet, Rita Nolan; Mayos Lost Islands; The Inishkeas, Brian Dornan, Four Courts Press; Irish Whales and Whaling, James FairleyCiara McDonnell meets the man behind Beara Ocean Gin and finds out why tourism and gin are a match made in heaven

Capitalising on the worldwide gin boom of the moment, siblings John Power and Eileen Brennan founded the Beara Distillery, and Beara Ocean Gin, a spirit that captures the essence of the Beara Peninsula in each bottle.

The duo visited distilleries at home and abroad to learn about the craft of gin making, before siphoning their own passion for their homeplace into a gin that incorporates both West Cork fuchsia flowers and Atlantic salt water. John Power says that popularity for their small batch gin is growing month on month, with a recent boom thanks to an endorsement from Corks own Graham Norton.

Graham Norton has a house in West Cork and he bought a bottle of our gin in SuperValu in Bantry, Power explains. He posted a picture of himself and his neighbour enjoying a glass of it on Instagram. It has certainly garnered a lot of air time and social media posts; within 24 hours there were around 12,000 likes, and that was great.

Beara Ocean Gin joins a slew of artisan spirits currently flooding the Irish shelves, but Power says that the gin revolution shows no sign of waning.

We had been looking at the market since the Irish gin market started to gain momentum, he says.

The big forerunners were the likes of Dingle and Blackwater, but at the end of the day they are only in existence since 2014. It has found its feet as an industry extremely quickly and the increasing sales of gin show that its popularity is not declining any time soon.

When cultivating their flavour profile, it was essential that the siblings incorporated the ocean into the finished product, says the distillery owner. We wanted to take the heritage of the Beara and West Cork area and siphon it into our gin, he says. Our family is deeply rooted in the marine industry and we wanted to incorporate it somehow into our gin. During our research, we found that seaweed and kelp is quite commonly used in food and drink products, but nobody else in the northern hemisphere was incorporating sea salt water in their gin.

Power advocates enlisting the help of local enterprise boards when it comes to setting up a business, particularly in rural Ireland, citing them to be of incredible help in the initial stages of product development.

At the beginning, we were talking to the local enterprise office in Clonakilty, he says. Theyd be backbone of any small local enterprise in our area, and they are absolutely brilliant.

As a member of the SuperValu Food Academy, the gin has found shelf space, where many would not, and that is priceless, according to Power. The Food Academy is a fantastic thing for small artisan food producers and we were one of the first alcohol producers to do it with them.

It is a great way to get directly into the shops and onto the shelves.

Valerie Power and Marian Murphy at the distillery in Castletownbere

Starting your own artisan business is not easy, cautions the gin maker, and would-be owners and makers must be prepared to roll up their sleeves and do the work. As a producer, you must be in the in the position to deliver directly to the shops and make sure that the product is on the shelf, he explains.

With any product, whether it is gin or strawberry jam, there needs to be a network there to sell it, so you have to be prepared to pound pavements.

The most important ingredient in a successful artisan product, says Power, is passion. You need to have people with their heart invested in the product in order to sell it.

With a delicious gin and a beautiful distillery in which to make it, Power and Harrington are investigating the idea of opening the distillery to tourists in the near future. The rural Beara Peninsula and areas like it are crying out for places that tourists can visit, says Power.

Currently, tourists come here to see the cable car but where do they go then? The whole tourism industry in Ireland is looking for go-to places, and we see our distillery as a potential place for tourists to visit. 

The future in gin is bright, according to this mariner turned spirit producer.

The rising tide lifts all boats and that cant be more true than for the distillery business, he laughs.

If you see what happened in Scotland with the whiskey trade, people will go to different areas to visit a local distillery and sample their product before carrying on their journey and visiting another place. If you could factor that into the whole tourism scene, then you really have something special.Rumbling Mount Sinabung on the Indonesian island of Sumatra shot billowing columns of ash more than 16,400ft (5,000m) into the atmosphere and sent hot clouds down its slopes on Monday.

There were no fatalities or injuries from the morning eruption, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency said.Fine Gael consider regaining a second seat in the three-seater as crucial in its trench warfare with Fianna Fail if it is to regain lost positions in Munster and ultimately succeed in the next general election.

Local businesswoman and former TD Ms Collins told the Irish Examiner, however, that she felt betrayed and shocked by Fine Gaels decision to try and get Independent councillor John Paul OShea on board for the partys election hopes.

Ms Collins was elected alongside Michael Creed, the agriculture minister, in Cork North West in 2011 when Fine Gael swept into power with 48% of votes in the three-seater. She was the first women to get elected there. But the 2016 vote returned Mr Creed and two Fianna Fail TDs, Michael Moynihan and Aindrias Moynihan. Ms Collins and Mr OShea both missed out on the last seat.

Aine Collins: Feels betrayed by Fine Gaels decision to try and woo an independent.

Senior Fine Gael sources confirmed over the weekend that Mr OShea has been asked to apply to join Fine Gael and that a selection convention will take place by the summer.

Mr OShea told the Irish Examiner yesterday he was weighing up his options.

They were in touch with me; discussions are ongoing, he said.

But the prospect of Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Fine Gael headquarters turning to an independent to try and regain two of the three seats in Cork North West has astonished Ms Collins, who warned of the effect on local support.

I was a bit surprised, and first saw this in the media. I was ready to run when asked before Christmas. Ill be contesting the convention and will let members decide. I stood for them in tough times. I would feel betrayed [by this]. That is politics.

The local members will decide this. Fine Gael is in a good place now.

Ms Collins confirmed she is waiting to speak to the Fine Gael leadership on the matter and has concerns that the party may allow one candidate be selected and then add another name later.

But sources at party headquarters say they must do the best to win back a second seat. Party figures believe Mr OShea could be well placed to help do this, based in Lombardstown in the north of the constituency, running alongside Mr Creed, based in Macroom in the south. Mr OShea also picked up significant transfers in 2016.

No final decision has been made on who will contest the selection convention or whether HQ will add a name. A senior Fine Gael source said: This is trench warfare and we need to make gains in Munster. If we do, we can put Fianna Fail back in their box for 10 years and end [Micheal] Martin.

Similar FG second-seat retrievals are being sought in Cork East and South West.The discovery comes as the Mother and Baby Homes Commission has called for information relating to the burials of a large number of children who died at the home between 1922 and 1998.

An Irish Examiner investigation has uncovered three grave plots in St Finbarrs cemetery in Cork City which contain the remains of at least 21 children.

The first of these plots is unmarked and was purchased by the now closed St Annes Adoption Society. Founded in 1954 by the then Bishop of Cork Cornelius Lucey, it was set up with the purpose of arranging the adoption of babies born to Irish unmarried mothers in Britain. It closed in 2003 and its records are now in the possession of Tusla.

This plot contains the remains of three girls and one boy. Their deaths occurred in 1979, 1983, 1988, and 1990. The plot is unmarked and contains no headstone or any markings to indicate that it is a grave.

In the case of the last burial in 1990, the childs death certificate notes that while she died in St Finbarrs Hospital in Cork, she was in the care of the nuns at Bessborough Mother and Baby Home. A birth entry for this child in this name could not be located.

In the case of the three other children buried in the plot, just one has both the birth and death recorded. The other two children have birth certificates but no death certificates could be located in those names. It may be the case that the deaths were recorded in the names of the foster/prospective adoptive parents.

The second plot belongs to the former St Patricks Orphanage run by the Mercy Sisters. It operated a nursery for St Annes Adoption Society, where children were kept until the society could arrange for an adoption to be contracted.

There are a total of 16 children buried in this plot  their deaths occurring between 1957 and 1978.

This grave is marked but just one name is recorded  that of the final child buried in the plot. The other 15 children in the plot are not named.

Two of these children died in Bessborough in 1976 and 1978, while a third was born in Bessborough but died in St Finbarrs Hospital. In the case of the other children, a number were born in UK, with others born in Ireland.

The third plot is a non-perpetuity plot  indicating it is unowned. It holds the remains of at least one child.

The death certificate states her death occurred at St Finbarrs Hospital in 1989 but that she was in the care of c/o Sacred Heart Hospital, Blackrock, Cork  the address of the Bessborough Mother and Baby Home.

In 2015, the Irish Examiner revealed 470 infants and 10 women were recorded as having died at the Bessborough mother and baby home between 1934 and 1953.

The Irish Examiner put a series of questions to Tusla on the latest revelations. It stated that, between 1957 and 1990, there were 16 recorded infant deaths in St Annes Adoption Society and St Patricks Orphanage.

Records which were accessed indicate that 13 mothers were informed, said a statement. This does not mean the remaining three mothers were not informed; records of notification to mothers/family members are not always held on files.

All 16 births were officially registered. Fifteen of the 16 deaths were identified as recorded on the Register of Births, Deaths and Marriages. Records in relation to the death of one child were not located.

In a statements, the Sister of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Mary said: As indicated previously all records relating to Bessborough were passed to the HSE in 2011 and are now in the possession of Tusla. We will continue to deal directly with the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes on all such matters.

Similarly, the Sisters of Mercy said that they would deal directly with this Commission on all related matters.Cork County Council, tasked with monitoring noise pollution, admits to being snowed under and not having the manpower to deal with complaints.

Cllr Marcia DAlton demanded the Government should initiate a comprehensive review of national environmental noise legislation, with a view to setting statutory limit values for excessive environmental noise levels based on recommendations from the World Health Organisation.

She said excessive noise in some areas was leading to sleep deprivation, stress and mental health.

Cllr DAlton claimed an estimated 250,000 people in Ireland live with excessive noise levels and, of those, 100,000 suffered sleep disturbance from traffic.

Cllr Mary Rose Desmond said noise levels on a busy HGV Cork-Ringaskiddy route, especially around the Broomfield area, were a real eye-opener for her.

Its so bad people can no longer leave their windows open, she said.

Cllr Anthony Barry, who sits on the councils Environment Special Purposes Committee, said trees had been removed along the M25 Cork-Midleton road and M8 in Glanmire which had increased noise levels for local householders. He said no significant sound barriers had been put in place to rectify the problem.

Meanwhile, Cllr Deirdre Forde pointed out people living in the suburb of Douglas were also suffering excessive noise from passing traffic and said the councils enforcement section was snowed under with complaints from all over the county.

The councils deputy chief executive Declan Daly said it would not be realistic to expect the council to apply low noise surfaces to all of its 12,600km of roads.

In a report, Louis Duffy, head of the councils Environment Directorate, said he was in favour of a government review of current noise limits.

He said the primary legislation dates back to the early 1990s. An updated bill was proposed in 2006 but never enacted, he said.

Mr Duffy said environment directorate staff took part in a national working group which developed a protocol for dealing with noise complaints for local authorities.

Supported by the EPA, it includes a recommendation that local authorities develop and adopt individual noise complaint management policies.

A draft policy will be brought to the councils Environment Special Purposes Committee for consideration later this year.Employment Affairs Minister Regina Doherty admitted there is a job of work to be done on persuading voters why they should back repeal of the Eighth Amendment and allow unrestricted access to abortion up to the 12th week of pregnancy.

Her candid warning comes ahead of the Cabinet tomorrow reviewing the wording for the referendum, and amid mixed polls on the vote.

Less than 10 percentage points separate those favouring and against unrestricted terminations up to 12 weeks.

While a majority back removing the abortion ban from the Constitution by repealing its Eighth Amendment, support for allowing terminations up to 12 weeks is weaker.

A Sunday Times poll showed 43% favour the 12 weeks proposal, while 35% are against it. A Sunday Independent poll said 40% think the 12 weeks proposal was about right, while 33% said this went too far.

Ms Doherty said: Standing right now, if nobody does anything, I dont think this referendum will pass. We need to sell, as advocates of people who want to see the Constitution changed and the 12 week [proposal] imposed, that needs to be sold to people and the reasons why that 12 weeks figure was come at. That needs to be explained clearly to people.

However, her officials moved hours later to reverse her stance, releasing a fresh statement on her behalf, saying: I believe the referendum can and will pass. I, and members of the Government, will campaign for it. But we cant be complacent, which is why I said earlier that we have a job of work to do to sell it.

Health Minister Simon Harris also doubled down on his belief the referendum will pass. Nonetheless, a statement said he agrees with any colleague who asserts that there is a huge amount of work to be done.

Cabinet will tomorrow consider the referendum wording. This is expected to ask voters whether or not they approve removing the Eighth Amendment and inserting a clause enabling the Oireachtas to legislate for terminations.

It is understood the wording is more or less decided, but its publication is being held back until after a key Supreme Court judgment.

That case concerns the meaning of unborn in the Constitution and is listed for February 22. The decision could force Government to expand the referendum wording, or assess it further.Ms Collins quit the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors last March in frustration at lack of action on its recommendations.

Another high-profile resignation followed and the commission finished out its three-year term last December with uncertainty surrounding its future.

Pope Francis said at the weekend the commission was reconvening, but with only two of the original lay members.

Ms Collins said this was despite members asking to be returned to continue their work. She said the clerical members were invited back.

My confidence in the commission to bring any radical change to the Church would not be there any longer, she said.

I did have great confidence in the commission and the members that were in it and when I resigned I still had confidence in it, but I think with the turnover now and the people Ive seen leaving voluntarily or not being reappointed, it doesnt fill me with hope at all.

The 16-member commission had six working groups and four of the lay leaders were gone, Ms Collins said, while of the four members who were on the key working group for the healing and care of survivors, all three lay members were gone.

The only original member left is a religious sister, said Ms Collins. Im sure the people coming on to the commission are very worthy people but theyre starting at scratch again. A lot of the expertise and skill that had been built over the three years has been lost.

Pope Francis, announcing the new commission under the leadership of US Cardinal Sean OMalley, promised victims would be given a greater say in it work.

However, Ms Collins said the Vatican saw the previous commission as too independent and she did not see that attitude changing. She said the way to prove otherwise was for its recommendations to be implemented.

Things such as the guidelines template for child protection which was to be made universal to all the churches around the world, she said. The commission drew it up and it was approved but it has never been disseminated.

Also the issue of accountability of bishops. A tribunal was recommended but wasnt implemented and the responsibility for the disciplining of bishops has been given back to the Conference of Bishops so theyre looking after their own.

Ms Collins said she was disappointed that Pope Francis had not stood up to the Curia  the Vatican governing body.

He did not get in behind the initiatives and ensure that they were implemented so there wasnt the force there that was needed, she said.

If you ask a group of experts to advise you and they give you their advice and you think its good advice, its up to you then to ensure that it happens.

Pope Francis will visit Ireland in August for the World Meeting of Families but Ms Collins said she did not think there would be an opportunity to raise her concerns.

He never met with the members other than to shake our hands after Mass, she said.

Ms Collins was appointed to the original commission because of her campaigning work for victims in Ireland after she challenged the late Cardinal Desmond Connell over his failure to tackle paedophile priests such as the hospital chaplain who attacked her when she was 13.

She said she had committed to a number of training sessions with the members and had one more to fulfill.

Then I wont have any more association with the commission, she said. I will be cutting my ties completely.The directive, by Education Minister Richard Bruton, will effectively make religion an optional subject in more than 300 multi-denominational second-level schools.

They include more than 80 community schools where the local education and training board are co-trustees with a religious patron, usually the local Catholic bishop.

Another 240 vocational schools are run on a multi-denominational basis by the 16 education and training boards (ETBs).

The new arrangements will ensure that children who do not want to participate in religious instruction will no longer be sitting at the back of the class or confined to the library, said Mr Bruton.

In a letter issuing to schools today, the Department of Education says the past practice of arranging religious instruction based on an assumption that majority of students are Catholic is no longer appropriate.

In a changing context, the constitutional right not to attend religious instruction must be given effect through changed practices, it said.

The key change is that those who do not want instruction in line with the requirements of any particular religion should be timetabled for alternative tuition throughout the school year, rather than supervised study or other activities.

Although specific subjects are not specified, schools are being told they must offer an alternative subject or subjects for those who do not want religious instruction. This should be done in line with the usual processes of establishing subject choices, and parents must be made aware that such an opt-out from religious instruction is available.

Asked if the schools would require or be sanctioned with any additional teaching staff to facilitate timetabling other subjects during periods allocated for religion, the Department of Education told the Irish Examiner the process is not about adding subjects to the timetable.

It is about ascertaining the wishes of parents and reflecting those wishes in the normal arrangements involving the timetabling of choices expressed, said a spokesperson.

Parents will also be asked if they wish their children to attend, or take part in, religious worship or other services. Parents are to be advised about the nature, frequency, timing, and duration of the services to facilitate such decisions.

A students parents may choose for them to opt-out of religious services, but to attend some events such as religious activities in relation to a bereavement.

The rules are to take immediate effect at the schools involved, although the department acknowledges the changes might not be possible until new timetables are in place for next autumn. It said time would also be required to establish the wishes of parents and pupils. The changes do not apply to more than 370 voluntary secondary schools run by or for religious orders, or to the nine comprehensive second-level schools.

Mr Bruton said it is important that, as multi-denominational schools, second-level community and ETB schools fully implement the rules, as they present an important opportunity to meet the expectations of parents and students in a changing society.Two weird compulsions take over in public-facing organisations when they hit a crisis. The organisations can be governments or major corporations or NGOs in the charity or development area. It doesnt matter what sector theyre in, the same two urges take over. Always.

The first is, in the words of the anxious, to put something out.

The second is to put someone out.

Putting something out means the issuance of a statement. Putting someone out has great appeal as long as the someone isnt you, although it tends, as a communications decision, to result in the incineration of a human being. The people who promulgate the putting out of a statement believe that this is what PR people are for and that its a magical process which will put all the critics and accusers back in their boxes from which, it is firmly believed, bad PR let them escape.

The PR people, caught between a rock and a hard place, tend to agree to put out the statement. Or because theyre so far down the pecking order, have no choice.

Thats the first bit of a ritual dance which then moves on to the preparation of a Q&A document. If you havent met a PR persons Q&A document, you havent lived. It consists of all the questions they hope not to be asked, with answers so formal and so influenced by the lawyers that it takes five readings of any answer before a hack could begin to understand whats being said.

Sometimes the two urges come together in the belief that if the organisation is to have a top manager interviewed by a friendly media outlet, this will allow the manager to utter the inhuman but legally safe answers on the Q&A crib sheet. If anybody sensible intervenes, telling the organisation that theyre still heading up the first side of the crisis bell curve and getting chatty at this point would be ill-advised, they get looked at as if they are: a) lazy; b) crazy; and c) incompetent. The corporate credo is that if they dont put someone out, they will, in effect, cede the ground to the enemy. Which makes superficial sense. But only superficial sense, not least because it begs the question: whos the enemy?

Take Oxfam as a case in point. Oxfams enemy is the sleazeball having sex with prostitutes in the middle of the humanitarian crisis that was (and still is) Haiti. Not the people who exposed said sleazeball. Not the people who exposed other sleazeballs within the organisation playing variants on the central squalid theme. Not the charities regulator. Not the Government that part-funds Oxfam. Not the media.

This is where good communications advice is all about common sense, not spin. This is where a calm external voice says: Lads, yizre in the wrong. No, no. Silence. Youre in the wrong. Clear? Now, we have to find out just how deeply in the wrong you are. Not start talking about nameless enemies with unspecified agendas.

No doubt some sensible person said that to the top bods in Oxfam, and no doubt, as is classic bad crisis-management, they listened, not to her or him but to their own need for action, calculated, in their belief, to lead to self-justification. Thats clear from what chief executive Mark Goldring said when he was interviewed at the lead-in to the weekend by Decca Aitkenhead of The Guardian. He identified the enemy. Or, rather, misidentified the enemy. The enemy, he stated, were people with an anti-aid agenda. These nameless anti-aiders were, he said, gunning for Oxfam, which, as a result, had been savaged.

No. Here is the narrative of this stinker. Once upon a time, a disaster hit Haiti and an internationally admired and globally respected aid organisation named Oxfam moved in to help, along with dozens of other, lesser organisations. This primus inter pares NGO went to work, but it also, at the highest level, engaged in parties involving local sex workers. Thats bad enough, before we even get to discussing the possible ages of the sex workers. Its just bad, full stop.

Its bad enough, when it was discovered, to generate internal action, with Oxfam firing four staffers and accepting the resignations of three. Internal action, please note. This was not caused by external attack by anti-aiders, although in fairness, if the anti-aiders had known about this squalid partying, they might have gone gunning for, and savaged the NGO. The NGO, perhaps because of that, quietly got rid of its bad uns and didnt tell many people about it, thus ensuring one of the bad uns landed another grand job in the aid area in no time at all, thank you very much.

When the truth burst on the public, the current CEO made an appearance on radio which didnt dampen down the criticisms. But the put someone out urge was not assuaged, and he then agreed, cancelled, and then delivered on an interview with a major newspaper. As he and his colleagues started to read the resultant copy, they may have felt vindicated. The writer talked of his courage and of the unguarded candid way he spoke to her alone. So far, so good.

Then she says, with sympathy, that he hasnt slept for six nights. Now, he may not have slept much in the last six nights, but if he hadnt slept at all, he might be dead. One way or the other, its a disabling amount of insomnia. If youre a commercial pilot who for some reason hasnt really slept in a week, it would be inevitable that youd disqualify yourself, in the immediate aftermath, from taking charge of a flight with 300 souls aboard. For the CEO to embark on an in-depth interview in the same situation is mind-boggling, given that Oxfam has a lot more than 300 souls on board and that the story is morphing every hour, with more recent allegations emerging of sexual abuse at Oxfam charity shops.

In that situation, of course you are going to be unguarded and candid. Unguarded and candid gives great newspaper copy but can seem pretty damn reckless and unrealistic when were in charge of the lives, not just the livelihoods, of thousands of people throughout the world.

Unguarded and candid led this probably good man to say things he shouldnt have said.

In a crisis, if you give a press conference, every media person jumps up and down on you but feels you at least had the courage to face the music.

If, on the other hand, you give an interview to one journalist from one outlet, every other outlets nose is dislocated and every other outlet has to cover its competitors coup but do more than simply re-print it. Which in turn means that secondary coverage of such an interview is likely to be hostile. The simplest example of this hostility was The Telegraph headline. Here it is:

Oxfam boss:

What did we do?

Murder babies in cots?

In this instance, putting someone out meant exposing an exhausted CEO to his own naivete, with concomitant damage to him, his organisation, and sector.

If you havent met a PR persons Q&A document, you havent livedBusiness $10M Land Reclamation Project in Restive Rakhine Readies for Sales

A rendition of the possible future of a land reclamation project in Sittwe, Rakhine State, presented at a press conference in Yangon on Thursday. / Myo Min Soe / The Irrawaddy

YANGON  A $10 million land reclamation project by South Koreas BXT International and the Rakhine State government in the state capital Sittwe is now half complete and will be ready for land sales next month, a local cabinet minister said.

The project update came at a press conference in Yangon organized by realtor iMyanmarHouse and joined by Rakhines minister for finance, revenue and economy, Kyaw Aye Thein, and BXT Managing Director Steve Park.

With a population of some 150,000 people, Sittwe has been segregated since 2012 communal riots between ethnic Arakanese and Rohingya that displaced tens of thousands of Muslims. The government ranks the state as the least developed in the country.

The Myanmar Investment Commission approved the reclamation project, which will add 90 acres of seaside land next to the Sittwe jetty, in 2016.

We all know Myanmar has experienced a little turmoil, especially in the Rakhine region, and Im really sad for what has happened there, Mr. Park said in his opening remarks, referring to the latest outbreak of violence in the states far northwest.

Minister Kyaw Aye Thein told journalists that BXT controls a 70 percent stake in the project and that the state holds the rest. The Korean firm is providing 100 percent of the capital and technical support. BXT estimates that the project will cost about $10 million.

We are not asking Rakhine or the central government to give their lands. We make new land with our own money, no investment from government or local people. Mr. Park said. It can bring other investors to this area. Im very confident this project will succeed.

iMyanmarHouse Managing Director Nay Min Thu said the reclaimed land will go for 10,000 kyats ($7.35) per square foot and up. In downtown Sittwe, he said, a square foot can go for anywhere from 200,000 to 500,000 kyats.

Mr. Park told The Irrawaddy that some Korean, Chinese and Japanese logistics companies were interested in investing in the project with warehouses, cold storage facilities and fish processing factories. He said some local entrepreneurs were also keen to build hotels, restaurants and shopping centers.

We are still negotiating as the price of land has not been confirmed yet. Maybe at the end of this month we will come up with the prices and will discuss further with interested investors, he said.

The project partners also hope to see the land used for housing.

Kyaw Aye Thein said that before starting on the project BXT carried out environmental and social impact assessments that were then reviewed by both the government and a private engineering company, Kaung Kyaw Sein. In order to avoid future land erosion, BXT will build a retaining wall.

The project was opposed by the Arakanese Patriot Party, which said it learned that BXT was digging up beach sand from elsewhere in Sittwe for the reclamation. Some local residents also objected to the governments plans to seal off creeks and canals, which they use to dock their schooners, in order to prevent bad smells from reaching the project site.

Kyaw Aye Thein said the company bought sand from Pauktaw Township. But he said some locals claiming to work for BXT were digging up beach sand in Sittwe for themselves, fooling people into blaming the company.

Mr. Park said BXT was founded in 1959 and has focused on investing in land, property, infrastructure and gold mines with projects in the Middle East, Korea and the United States. He said the company owns the second largest highway bus terminal in Korea, operating for over three decades and serving more than 12 million people a year.In Person Ties Forged in 'Brotherhood'

Snr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing (left) after receiving Thailand's Knight Grand Cross (First Class) of the Most Exalted Order of the White Elephant in Bangkok on Friday. / Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing / Facebook

During a three-day visit to Thailand, Myanmar military chief Snr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing spoke to reporters Wassana Nanuam and Kornchanok Raksaseri on the occasion of his receiving a second royal decoration from Thailand, the Knight Grand Cross (First Class) of the Most Exalted Order of the White Elephant. The reporters also asked him about the state of bilateral military relations, democratization, border issues and the crisis in Rakhine state.

How do you feel to have received the royal decoration?

I have received the royal decoration because [Myanmar] is a good neighboring country and the borders are 2,000 km long. We also have similar culture and religion.

The relationship between the two armed forces is quite good. This is why I have received the royal decoration, and I am proud of it.

The military leaders of both countries have been quite close for some years now.

I have had a close relationship with Thai generals starting with [chief of Defense Forces] Gen. Tanasak Patimapragorns predecessor, Gen. Songkitti [Jaggabatara].

The one I was closest to is Gen. Tanasak [who served in the post between 2011-2014] but I am also close to the others. His successors are Gen. Worapong [Sanganetra] and Gen. Sommai [Kaotira], then Gen. Surapong [Suwana-adth] and the current chief, Gen. Thanchaiyan [Srisuwan].

The close relationship led to trust and a better relationship between your military and mine.

The relationship between the two countries constantly develops.

The exchange of visits of leaders of the armed forces occurs often, especially Gen. Tanasak visiting Myanmar, and I also come to Thailand often.

Would you consider the relationship in the manner of friends or brothers?

We are like brothers.

Every time we meet, we exchange experiences.

Thailand is experienced in democracy and has passed so many things.

When we are close like brothers, we open up and share the experience.

The good things in this era contributed to the changes in Myanmars democracy.

The democratic process in Myanmar took place at the same time as the exchanges of experience.

The closer [the military leaders became], the more open the discussion between us.

Thailand is also in the process of going back to democracy at the moment. What can we learn from Myanmar? What is your advice?

Each countrys democracy has a different background. Myanmars background of democracy is one thing. Thailands democracy is different. We can only make use of good things we can apply, but we cannot say whose lessons should be applied to whom. In fact, a democracy or political system needs to be stable and not shaken. If its stable, the people will have confidence and live happily.

How will the countries cooperate in the future?

In many ways; so many.

Will there be joint training?

It depends on limitations and readiness. I cannot say right now. But I can assure there will be more cooperation.

How is the cooperation going on along the border?

We currently cooperate to fight drug problems. But drugs are not just an issue for Thailand and Myanmar but also a regional problem. It must be cooperation among every country in the region. In fact, we have to collaborate to prevent our children from being slaves of drugs. We have to prevent the problem from growing too. Every country must make drug eradication its first priority, as drug producers never think of society but only their own interests.

Recently you have reached a national ceasefire agreement. What is the latest situation of peace along the border?

My sincere intention is permanent peace along the Thai-Myanmar border. We will promote peace within Myanmar. While we were creating peace in Myanmar, Thailand also cooperated.

Did Thailand help during the peace talks?

No, just cooperation, not assistance, but thats part of the promotion of peace in Myanmar.

How do you feel to be an adopted son of Privy Council President Gen. Prem Tinsulanonda?

During the time when Gen. Tanasak was the defense chief, he gave me a chance to pay respects to Gen. Prem, who is the same generation as my father. When we met, we had an exchange of experiences, of being leaders. He [Gen. Prem] gave me advice. Being like father and son is very good and makes things better in many ways.

Do you have anything to say about the international communitys criticism of Myanmar over the problems in Rakhine State?

I would rather not talk about it. But I will only say that I will do my best to take care of the problem. Furthermore, in Myanmar there is no ethnic group called Rohingya. They are Bengalis who came from somewhere else. We will follow the laws. Now we are closely in touch with the Bangladeshi government.Burma Army, Police Raid Drug Labs in Northern Shan State

An illegal narcotics lab raided by a joint Army/police team in Shan States Kutkai Township on Feb. 14-15. / Ministry of Defense

Soldiers and anti-narcotics police raided illegal narcotics labs in the Lwalkhan village area of Kutkai Township and seized amphetamines, precursor ingredients and drug-making equipment valued at 9.96 billion kyat, the Defense Ministry said yesterday.

In a report the ministry said a joint team of Army and police personnel raided four locations, turning up 34 makeshift buildings used for the production of narcotics, 12 generators, 22 freezers, 210 barrels of acid, 165 barrels of diesel, 60 barrels of gasoline, 32 boilers, 200 bottles of acid, 600 2-liter cans of acid, 750 bags of caustic soda, 150 baskets of hydrogen peroxide, 487,1000 stimulant tablets, 13 kg of stimulant powder, 43 kg of brown opium and 23 other categories of related materials worth over 9.96 billion kyat in total.

The joint team conducted its operation in the area from February 15-17, but the report did not mention any arrests or suspects, or what led to the raid.

The report said the joint team would hand the narcotics and related materials to the police in Kutkai, adding that further operations would be conducted in the area.

U Taung Htay, a police officer based in Kutkai town, said, No one has been arrested yet. We are still working on it. We are not yet sure how we will proceed; our officers are discussing it. The anti-narcotics police have not yet come to us to press charges, said the police officer.

He said those running the lab may have been tipped off before the raid.

We found a lot of equipment, but they all ran away, said U Taung Htay.

The joint team of Army and police had to trek one-and-a-half hours from outside Lwalkhan village to where the small huts had been set up in the jungle, he said.

We will arrest them soon, but we are still investigating. We have even informed Interpol, said U Taung Htay.

Kutkai Township in northern Shan State is the scene of ongoing fighting between the Myanmar Army and a joint force of TNLA, KIA, AA, and MNDAA fighters. Illegal opium is grown in large quantities in the area, which is also home to large-scale illegal amphetamine production.

A local militia group, Kawng Kha, is also based in the Kutkai area. The TNLA reported that Lwalkhan village is under the control of the Kawng Kha.He said violators would be punished under the Forestry Law and the Wildlife and Conservation of Natural Areas Law.

The Chin State government has sought comment from the state Advocate Generals Office on imposing the official ban, said Mang Hen Dal, state minister of agriculture, livestock, forestry and mines.

Rhododendrons bloom in December and January, and Chin residents are not happy that visitors pick the flowers and cut its branches. Recent photos of some visitors cutting off Rhododendron branches drew criticism after spreading on social media.

The state counselor [Daw Aung San Suu Kyi] has instructed us to conserve Rhododendron flowers. Now hornbills are on the verge of extinction. We will take action in line with existing laws if there are violations, he said.

Rhododendrons, which sprout the state flower, grow mainly in the townships of Mindat, Matupi, Falam and Tedim. Chin State Chief Minister Salai Lian Luai said his government has banned the cutting of Rhododendron tree branches and the picking of its flowers as well as hunting wildlife, a traditional source of livelihood for hill tribes in the state and beyond for centuries.

YANGON  The Chin State government has issued a public warning against picking Rhododendron flowers and hunting wildlife across the state.

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We do not encourage viewing this site in this width. Please increase the size of your window.Burma Girl's Rape, Murder Sparks Protest for Suspect's Execution in Mandalay

Residents of Mandalay Region protested in Maddaya Township on Sunday to demand the death penalty for rapists. / Zaw Zaw / The Irrawaddy

MANDALAY  About 1,500 residents of Mandalay Regions Maddaya Township took to the streets on Sunday to demand the death penalty for the suspect in the Feb. 13 rape and murder of a two-year-old girl.

Ko Phyo Htet Aung, 23, a neighbor of the girl, Ma Sanyadi Myint, was arrested the day she was attacked.

We want the culprit, and anyone who rapes and murders minors, to receive the death sentence and be executed in front of the public, said the girls grandmother, Daw San San Maw.

The girls parents left her at the grandmothers house on Feb. 13 while they went out to collect firewood but found her missing when they returned. The girl was found later that day unconscious in a banana plantation on the outskirts of the village after she had been raped.

We found the culprit had just run away, so I ran after him and punched him and he was arrested with the help of the other villagers. Then we handed him over to the police, U Hlaing Zin Myo, the girls father, told The Irrawaddy.

The parents rushed their daughter to the general hospital in Maddaya, where she died.

We want him to be executed in front of us, the father said. I want to kill him with my own hands and I want him to suffer the way my daughter did.

We do not want other families to suffer like us. We want rapists who admit to this kind of violence to be seriously punished.

Police say Ko Phyo Htet Aung has been charged with rape and murder and that he was being detained at the main prison in the state capital Mandalay.

Authorities in Mandalay recorded two other rapes of children under 5 this month.

According the figures released by the Ministry of Home Affairs last week, 200 more rape cases of children under 16 were recorded across the country in 2017 than the year before.

During Sundays protest in Maddaya, some 1,200 people signed a petition they intend to submit to the union Parliament calling for the death sentence for rapists.

Daw Kin Saw Wai, a Lower House lawmaker from Rakhine State, made the same proposal during a session of Parliament earlier this month.Burma Government Rejects EU Call For Independent Investigation Into Rohingya Exodus

Rohingya refugees. An EU parliamentary team has demanded an independent investigation into human rights violations in Rakhine State. / Reuters

NaypyitawIn response to an EU parliamentary delegations demand for an independent investigation into alleged suppression of Muslim minorities in northern Rakhine State, the Myanmar government has said it does not believe any foreign investigation would be independent and fair.

Myanmar has cooperated with Yanghee Lee (the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar), who talked about an independent investigation. But the claims she made after her visit were not fair. Therefore, we wont agree to a fact-finding mission [sought by the EU], nor investigations by foreign countries, U Zaw Htay, spokesperson of the Presidents Office told The Irrawaddy.

The European parliamentary delegation, led by Pier Antonio Panzeri, visited Myanmar from Feb. 12-16, and during a press conference on Friday, the Italian politician called for the government to allow an independent investigation into human rights violations of Muslim minorities in northern Rakhine State.

Panzeri said that the latest developments in Rakhine State called for such an investigation because the report conducted by the Kofi Annan-led Advisory Commission was made some time ago, and did not cover the current situation.

According to my experience, if democratic transition stalls for some reason, the country is likely to face renewed challenges that it had already experienced, he said.

U Zaw Htay said that there was a huge gap between the understanding of the Myanmar people and foreign countries perception of the Rakhine issue. And that gap would continue to exist if foreign countries did not take the concerns and experiences of the Myanmar people into consideration.

The majority [of Myanmar people] dont believe that an independent international investigation would be fair and independent. They dont think it is necessary, he said.

Over 650,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled to neighboring Bangladesh since Aug. 25 last year after the Myanmar military cracked down on insurgents in Rakhine State. The Myanmar government has rejected the UNs label of the militarys activities as ethnic cleansing.

Myanmars main problem is not the Rohingya issue, but democratic transition, ethnic affairs analyst U Maung Maung Soe said.

Of 330 townships in Myanmar, this problem is happening in just two townships. An excessive focus on this problem will affect the democratic transition of the country. It is important for us to explain to the international community what is really important for the country, he said.

It would be difficult, he added, for any government to accept an international investigation, but the Myanmar government should allow access to information as much as possible.

Former Thai foreign minister Surakiart Sathirathai, who was appointed by State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to chair the Advisory Board of the Committee for the Implementation of the Recommendations on Rakhine State, told The Bangkok Post that the civilian government and Myanmar Army had some differences over implementation of the recommendations submitted by the Annan commission.

The EU parliamentary delegation noted that over 650,000 people would not flee without reason, and demanded that EU representatives be allowed to visit the disputed area, adding that the case had upset the relations between Myanmar and the member states of the European group.

The UNs Lee has said that the Rakine issue is unlikely to reach an international court as Myanmar is not a member of the International Criminal Court and the UN Security Council is unlikely to declare the Tatmadaws treatment of the Rohingya as ethnic cleansing because China, as a permanent member in UN Security Council, could veto such a declaration.

Surakiart suggested that the UN refugee agency, the International Red Cross Society and Asean countries should take part in the early stages of repatriating and resettling refugees from Bangladesh.Burma Myanmar Receives List of Returnees From Bangladesh

Rohingya refugees wait in line to receive humanitarian aid in Kutupalong refugee camp near Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, October 29, 2017. / Hannah McKay / Reuters

YANGON  Bangladesh has provided Myanmar with a list of more than 8,000 mostly Rohingya refugees to have their backgrounds checked prior to their return, the Ministry of Home Affairs announced Saturday, after a nearly one-month delay in the repatriation process.

The list of 8,032 refugees from 1,673 households was handed over to Home Affairs Minister Lt-Gen Kyaw Swe on Friday during a bilateral meeting at the Bangladeshi Home Affairs Ministry in Dhaka.

The first group of refugees on the list will be repatriated once their prior residence in Myanmar has been verified.

Myanmars Home Affairs Ministry said it also urged Bangladesh to investigate and provide information about a list of suspected members of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army it had previously provided Dhaka.

It said the two countries also discussed the pending launch of liaison offices in Myanmars Maungdaw Township and Bangladeshs Coxs Bazar to coordinate security and combat the cross-border trade of illegal drugs.

Late last year, Myanmar and Bangladesh agreed to start repatriating the hundreds of thousands of mostly Rohingya refugees who have fled northern Rakhine State since late 2016 on Jan. 23. But Bangladesh delayed the process while tensions were rising in the Coxs Bazar camps and as some critics of the deal voiced concerns over the lack of security guarantees for those who would return.

Despite the ongoing preparations for repatriation, more than 2,500 Rohingya have crossed into Bangladesh just this year. According to government statistics, an average of 75 Rohingya fled their villages each day between Jan. 1 and Feb. 15.

Myanmar has said it was ready to start receiving the refugees as soon as Bangladesh sends it a list of names.

Minister of Labor, Immigration and Population U Thein Swe told reporters in Naypyitaw on Monday that Myanmar would check that the listed refugees had resided in Myanmar within a week and then inform Bangladesh to start the repatriation.Burma Rakhine Govt Blames Misunderstanding for Complaints Over Waterside Project

The undeveloped project area. Min Aung Khine/The Irrawaddy / Min Aung Khine / The Irrawaddy

SittweFollowing complaints from people who bought land at a new waterfront city project west of Rakhine States capital Sittwe, the state government said that its project partner, BXT Co, had sold the plots without its permission because it did not understand the procedures.

The company doesnt understand the procedures. So, it has sold land plots to the public without the permission of the government. In fact, it is not authorized to sell land, State Agriculture Minister U Kyaw Lwin told The Irrawaddy.

The project is a joint venture between Rakhine State government and Korea-based BXT to reclaim land on the western bank of the town and establish a new waterfront city.

After the land reclamation work was completed, and Rakhine State Transportation Minister U Aung Kyaw Zan and BXT officials held a press conference to publicize the project in Yangon on Dec. 28, the company started selling land plots on Jan. 6.

BXT sold the land at a price of 500,000 to 600,000 kyats per square feet of land with buyers also being asked to put down a deposit of one million kyats. The company handed over only receipts for payment but no other documents, said the buyers.

More than one month passed with no construction work being done on the site. Then on Feb. 13, the company informed the buyers they were required to pay 30 percent of the price of the plots in cash, which raised their suspicions.

I bought the land because the government is involved in the project. [The company] said we will get a grant [for the land] and will build this and that. So, I bought it. But so far, they have done nothing, said physician U Maung Maung Than of Sittwe Peoples Hospital.

The company showed us the design of the project and sold us land plots. And they asked us to pay 30 percent of the price while nothing has been done. So, we reported it to the chief minister and he said that the government didnt know about the sale of the land, said U Hla Maung Thein who also bought a land plot.

On Feb. 14, the government instructed BXT to stop selling land plots.

The project was launched in March 2016 on 90 acres of land as a 30-70 joint venture between the state government and BXT.Commentary How Prepared Is Myanmar To Counter Terror Attacks?

Myanmar police stand guard in Yangon in October 2017. / Myo Min Soe / The Irrawaddy

Concern is growing about possible terrorist attacks in Myanmar, and questions are being asked about the governments ability to counter such threats. We are not talking about the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) terrorists who provoked retaliatory operations from the military by staging attacks against security forces, innocent civilians, ethnic tribespeople and Hindus in northern Rakhine State.

We are talking about foreign terrorists who will surely try to exploit the situation by launching spectacular attacks in coordination with radical elements inside the country.

Myanmar is indeed vulnerable to such attacks.

Two weeks ago, Southeast Asian defense ministers issued a joint statement on the need for improved cooperation on and combating of Islamist militants and foreign fighters.

We, the defense ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), note with grave concern the rise of terrorism in our region, perpetrated by individuals and groups with increasingly sophisticated and deadly tactics and weapons, they said at the conclusion of their two-day meeting in Singapore.

The scale and complexity of the terrorist threat faced by our region continues to grow with the influx of returning foreign terrorist fighters and cross border movement of terrorists.

Indeed, the concern over a resurgence in radicalism in the region is real, with hundreds of Islamic State sympathizers known to be based in Indonesia, home to the worlds largest Muslim population.

In Yangon, foreign embassies have beefed up security and Myanmar authorities and immigration officials have stepped up surveillance and increased scrutiny of visa applications.

People from Middle Eastern and majority-Muslim countries are likely to face more scrutiny and possible denial of entry visas. Some security analysts believe its only a matter of time before the country experiences a terror attack. Despite this, there has been no preparation for coping with the aftermath of such an attack. Who would step in to calm the public and prevent a bloodbath?

According to some analysts, the most vulnerable targets would be Myanmars embassies around the region.

In 2014 an Indonesian court jailed an Islamic extremist bombmaker for seven-and-a-half years for his role in a plot to attack the Myanmar Embassy in Jakarta. The suspect was reportedly seeking to avenge the killing of Rohingya (known as Bengalis in Myanmar).

In November 2016, police in Indonesias capital, Jakarta, arrested two men over another alleged plot to bomb the Myanmar Embassy, again in protest at the countrys treatment of Bengalis or Muslims living in northern Rakhine.

And in September 2017, a petrol bomb was thrown at the embassy in Jakarta as anger flared anew over violence against the Rohingya.

In January 2017, Malaysian authorities detained a suspected IS follower who was allegedly planning to head to Myanmar to carry out attacks. An Indonesian national, he was planning to perform jihad against the Myanmar government, according to counter-terrorism official Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay.

These incidents show that the effects of sectarian unrest within Myanmar have spread outside the country. If left unchecked, they could further encourage extremists.

Helping hand from Jakarta

Myanmar officials have sought assistance from Jakarta. A few weeks ago Indonesias Coordinating Minister for Security, Law and Political Affairs Wiranto said Jakarta will help Myanmar in coping with the possible emergence of terrorism in the country. We want to help by sharing knowledge and experience to prevent terrorists from establishing new bases in the region, the minister said.

As IS is getting weaker and losing ground in the Philippines, it is highly possible that it will look to set up bases elsewhere in the region, he warned. It is impossible for one country alone to overcome terrorism; countries have to cooperate, as terrorism has no borders and is not bound by regulations, he said.

Myanmar has voiced concern over the threat of IS-linked militants slipping into the country alongside Rohingya refugees returning from Bangladesh, Wiranto said.

But if foreign terrorists want to launch spectacular attacks on Yangon or historic sites, they will need local partners to set up an infrastructure of extremists inside the country.

Some analysts familiar with terrorist organizations in the region said an al Qaeda-linked unit was more likely to strike than a pro-IS group.

Worryingly, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has made several strong statements in favor of jihad in defense of oppressed Muslims in Myanmar. The question is how high Myanmar is on AQAP and ISs list of priorities. It is assumed they have more pressing targets.

Last June, the Institution for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC), which focuses on conflicts in Indonesia and the Philippines, released a report saying pro-IS groups in Southeast Asia are trying to recruit Bengali (Rohingya) migrants in Malaysia to join Islamic militants fighting Philippine security forces.

In the report, How Southeast Asia and Bangladeshi Extremism Intersect, published in May, IPAC states that developments in Syria, Bangladesh, and Myanmar put the relationship between South and Southeast Asian extremists on a much more dangerous footing.

Rohan Gunaratna, a security expert at Singapores Rajaratnam School of International Studies, said IS operatives in the region were determined to mount attacks both inside Myanmar and against Myanmar targets overseas.

The highest threat to Myanmar emanates from Islamic State networks, Rohan said.

The Rohingya conflict is emerging as one of the rallying issues for IS. At a strategic level, Myanmar should resolve the Rohingya conflict to prevent IS influence and expansion.

But caution and greater analysis are needed.

Last year, the Brussels-based International Crisis Group said in a report that the coordinated attacks on Myanmar police in Rakhine State were carried out by a group called Harakah al-Yakin. While the group had links to Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, it would be wrong to over-interpret the significance of the international links, ICG said.

ARSA link to foreign terrorists

There is no doubt that ARSA has connections with foreign extremist groups, despite its blanket denials. For instance, Abdus Qadoos Burmi, a Pakistani of Rohingya descent, the groups mentor based in Karachi, has called for jihad in Myanmar and has well-documented links to Lashkar-e-Taiba (the Army of the Righteous), one of South Asias largest Islamic terrorist organizations, whose operations are based mainly in Pakistan. Lashkar-e-Taiba was founded in Afghanistan in 1987 with funding from now deceased al Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden. Abdus Qadoos has even appeared at meetings with Lashkar-e-Taiba supremo Hafiz Mohammed Syed.

ARSA is the real cause of concern and partly responsible for the flight of hundreds of thousands of refugees and migrants. It has received foreign donations and training from broader Islamist terror networks in East Asia and militants in Bangladesh. In the camps, ARSA leaders have threatened refugees not to go back to Rakhine State and killed several camp leaders who wanted to take part in repatriation. ARSA members and local Bengalis who have coordinated with ARSA also committed several brutal killings against ethnic tribes in Rakhine State prior to the attacks in August. They are not freedom fighters; they are terrorists.

Authorities in Bangladesh are concerned about possible contacts between Bangladeshi extremists and ARSA. New Delhi has some concrete information on ARSAs connection to extremist groups in East Asia, particularly in Pakistan.

JI members from Indonesia are rumored to have visited Coxs Bazar in Bangladesh and met with ARSA members. Analysts in Jakarta believe that Indonesian salafi preachers (they are non-violent) successfully traveled to Rohingya camps around Coxs Bazar. If they can get in without government clearance, presumably worse characters can as well.

Since 2014, foreign terrorists have staged attacks against Myanmar embassies around the region. Now the warning is of possible terrorist attacks inside Myanmar. Still, the government and military are unprepared. Analysts are also worried that homegrown terrorists who are familiar with the landscape should be on security officials radar. Also on the watch list should be those sympathizers who are not necessarily local Myanmar or Burmese, but who live in the country.

If attacks happen in Myanmar, how long will it take for national leaders to appear on TV screens to address the country in order to prevent a bloodbath? Of course, there is also the danger of the light being turned off on Myanmars fragile political transition. The government must ensure that human rights and the rule of law will not be impacted in the event of terrorist attacks. Even in northern Rakhine, we have seen reporters who went to cover stories unjustly arrested, charged and intimidated.

As always in Myanmar action is belated and coordination is messy. Public relations is appalling but the people in Myanmar deserve to know how prepared their government, security forces and national security experts are to prevent attacks and foil plots. The public should be aware of the possible scenarios and make preparations in case attacks take place. At the same time, the government must safeguard press freedoms, basic human rights and the rule of law.

The fact is, Myanmar is a basket case and cannot afford public mobilization exercises of the kind seen in Singapore (believed to be very much on foreign terrorists radar) a few weeks ago. However, the public should be warned not to be complacent and know what to do in case of attack.

Cooperation with Jakarta is on the right track but much more needs to be done. It is time for Myanmar to start preparing for any possibility. The threat is real and a counterterrorism strategy is needed. Myanmars luck in this area wont last forever.Monday, February 19th, 2018 (11:03 am) - Score 14,769

Cable ISP Virgin Media looks to be in a good shape ahead of the forthcoming change in UK advertising rules. The provider has published a monthly update that reveals the average speeds of their broadband packages and in most cases theyre now delivering faster than the headline rate.

At present the existing guidance, which has been in place since 2012, requires that any headline broadband speed being promoted by an ISP must be achievable by at least 10% of their users (i.e. the fastest 10% of subscribers) and these figures should be preceded by an up to qualifier.

Last year the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) announced that it intended to change this in the hope of making broadband speeds more representative (full details), which they will do from 23rd May 2018 by requiring all ISPs to advertise average speeds (i.e. a median download speed measured at peak [busy] time) for their packages.

The change represents bad news for copper line ADSL and hybrid fibre FTTC (VDSL2 / G.fast) based products because it will help to highlight the negative performance impact caused by issues such as interference over longer copper lines. However, in theory, the change should spell good news for pure fibre optic (FTTH/P) and cable (hybrid fibre coax) operators that often deliver closer or above their advertised rates.

Now take a look at the latest January 2018 update from Virgin Media, which highlights a good improvement over the same results from January 2017. For example, one year ago Virgins average download speed at peak time for their 50Mbps tier was 45.94Mbps (now 51.84Mbps), while their 100Mbps package delivered 87.23Mbps (now 101.25Mbps) and 200Mbps produced just 157.58Mbps (now 192.03Mbps).

It was of course expected that Virgin would do well here and in fact they often deliver slightly faster speeds than their headline rate. On top of that Virgin has done a commendable job of including upload speeds in their table, although sadly like most of the major ISPs they still dont promote these on their product pages.

A Virgin Media Spokesperson told ISPreview.co.uk: Virgin Media continues to invest in network upgrades to make sure our customers get the fastest widely-available broadband speeds throughout the day  and were about to get even faster with the upcoming launch of 350Mbps. With the majority of our customers now getting speeds at peak times above those advertised, this investment is clearly making a difference.

The results adopt the same data gathering method as Ofcom use for their annual fixed speeds report, which means that an unspecified number of Virgins subscribers install modified routers (SamKnows) that automatically test the connection in order to report more accurate results.

The only problem with this approach is that we dont know the size or distribution of their testing base but due to the cost its unlikely to be large (e.g. Ofcom only have c.2,000 for most of the UK). Likewise we dont know how Virgin selected their testers and whether it includes any homes with faulty or very slow lines, which might otherwise drag down the results. As always, take with a pinch of salt.

By comparison Thinkbroadbands data for the same month, which covers a significantly larger sample size, suggested that Virgin Medias 100Mbps service delivered a median average of 43.7Mbps, while 200Mbps delivered 82.3Mbps and their 300Mbps tier delivered 128.9Mbps. But remember that speedtest based results like this can easily be negatively hit by other big factors, such as slow WiFi and LAN congestion etc.

In practice what all of this means is that the cable operator will probably continue to advertise the same headline download rates as they do today because their own data now largely vindicates those.

So far the only ISP to actually adopt average speeds into their advertising has been Sky Broadband (Skys up to 17Mbps [ADSL] service got an average of 11Mbps and their up to 76Mbps [FTTC] became 57Mbps etc.) but others will soon follow.

NOTE: An average like this might be considered an improvement on the old 10% rule but it will still have winners and losers, with some people getting faster speeds and others receiving something slower.Riverbed Technology has today announced that McCullough Robertson Lawyers, billed as Queenslands largest law firm, has "deployed Riverbed SteelCentral Aternity to close the visibility gap between how its lawyers are experiencing applications and services, and what the IT team could previously see with its existing set of monitoring tools".

As a result of this added visibility, we're told that "the IT team can now proactively diagnose and resolve performance issues, improving the digital experience and enabling staff to spend more time delivering superior client service".

For more than 90 years, McCullough Robertson Lawyers says it has "delivered trusted advice to major Australia and foreign-owned corporations, financial institutions, governments, private enterprises and high net worth individuals", and has a "450-strong workforce spans offices in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Newcastle".

A bit of background illuminates that "handling urgent requests for its large volume of clients is common, and timing is critical".

In addition, "long hours and late nights put added stresses on lawyers who simply expect technology to assist, not hinder them".

Thus, as McCullough Robertson Laywers "continued to grapple with its ageing infrastructure, employee complaints about the performance of devices, applications and services increased  especially in offices like Sydney, located far from their centralised IT in Brisbane".

Ron Dutta, director of IT, McCullough Robertson Lawyers, said: We initially approached Riverbed to assist with improving the performance of our network.

And while they proved early on they could meet that need with their WAN optimisation solution, SteelHead, we quickly learned that our lack of visibility into how users were actually experiencing apps and services was hindering performance as well  and in a major way.

We are given one example where "it was taking a lawyer up to two minutes (with averages of around one minute) to open and send an email".

"Existing monitoring tools told IT that all systems were running fine. McCullough Robertson Lawyers ran a proof of concept with SteelCentral Aternity and was able to verify the user issue and diagnose that it was stemming from a non-standard installation of Outlook across a large portion of the business."

Dutta explained: Through that one user complaint, we were able to identify that a quarter of our users were affected. To put it into perspective, we were losing about 75 hours of productivity per day on an issue our existing monitoring tools couldnt see. Once the issue was solved, productivity spiked and levels of client-service increased across the business.

Riverbed says: "SteelCentral Aternity extends McCullough Robertson Lawyers visibility into end-user experience of every enterprise app in their portfolio, running on any physical, virtual, or mobile device."

Dutta added: Aternity provides the insights our IT team need to understand app performance, diagnose issues and improve service levels for employees, proactively, remotely, and non-invasively. We can now troubleshoot between network and device issues at speed, and resolve issues without interfering with the productivity of our lawyers."

Foundation for the digital age

While the implementation process is ongoing, Dutta said the system would be instrumental in enabling greater innovation at the firm, and critical in its efforts to improve efficiency and processes for the digital age.

Lawyers dont want to have to focus on technology  for them its just a mechanism to deliver to their clients more quickly, Dutta continued.

We are focused on launching IT projects and initiatives which allow them to simply get on with the job. But to get there, we must ensure our systems are running as efficiently as possible, and this is something that requires clear visibility on how our applications and networks are performing, right down to each end user.

Both companies say that Riverbed SteelCentral Aternity is "the first step in achieving this ambition".

Since implementing the technology, McCullough Robertson Lawyers says it has "seen the potential for significant performance increases, and its allowed the firm to standardise protocols".

Thanks to the Riverbed solution, McCullough Robertson now has the required visibility to know where we need to prioritise our efforts in improving our IT, said Dutta.

Delivering greater value to the business

We're told that SteelCentral Aternity has "also empowered the IT team at McCullough Robertson Lawyers to pro-actively contribute value to the business, rather than reactively dealing with issues".

The use of Riverbed SteelCentral Aternity represents a major culture shift at McCullough Robertson Lawyers. IT is now seen as a trusted partner in our business, capable of giving employees time back in their working day  which is invaluable in our profession, Dutta said. He expects to see other firms follow McCullough Robertson Lawyers' IT transformation.

Legal firms across the world operate using the same applications, productivity tools and systems and the issues we face are often the same in other law firms. We are also a collaborative industry and Im already seeing strong interest in what we are doing here across the Australian legal landscape.

So, what is a bit more info on Riverbed delivering solutions for cloud and digital world?

As you'd expect, Riverbed tells us it is "delivering solutions to help companies transition from legacy hardware to a new software-defined and cloud-centric approach to networking, and improve end user experience, allowing enterprises digital transformation initiatives to reach their full potential."

It further proudly boasts that its "integrated platform delivers the agility, visibility, and performance businesses need to be successful in a cloud and digital world".

By leveraging Riverbeds platform, the company says "organisations can deliver apps, data, and services from any public, private, or hybrid cloud across any network to any end-point".

Claiming its Riverbed SteelHead solution is "the industrys #1 optimisation solution for accelerated delivery and peak performance of applications across the software-defined WAN", the company says its SteelCentral product family is "a performance management and control suite that combines user experience, application, and network performance management to provide the visibility needed to diagnose and cure issues before end users notice a problem, call the help desk, or jump to another web site out of frustration".Australia's first university short course on developing blockchain strategy, "built with industry and delivered by global blockchain experts", is being launched by Melbourne's RMIT.

In response to the growing importance of blockchain as an emerging industry, RMIT University says it has today launched Australia's "first university short course on blockchain strategy, built with industry to enable business leaders to develop a rich and relevant understanding of blockchain".

It is an eight-week online course, starting on 19 March, and was "developed by the University's Blockchain Innovation Hub, Stone and Chalk and Accenture".

From crypto start-ups to established enterprises, RMIT says "global demand for blockchain expertise is far outstripping supply, making it one of the hottest areas for technology recruitment".

In fact, we are told that "blockchain development is the second-hottest skill in the job market today, growing more than 200%", according to a December 2017 Computerworld article entitled " Blockchain jobs continue to explode, offer salary premiums ".

RMIT says it believes "the course will be of particular interest to business leaders and the next generation of entrepreneurs looking to develop a rich and relevant understanding of blockchain, what it is and how it will impact their industry and business".

Martin Bean, vice-chancellor, RMIT, said: "This course harnesses the creativity and entrepreneurship that RMIT is renowned for. It gives them the knowledge they need to be ready for life and work, and to succeed in the 21st century workforce.

"Blockchain is now becoming a core part of contemporary digital literacy and we're delighted to offer an industry-focused program built in collaboration with our partners at Accenture and Stone & Chalk, as well as the Blockchain Innovation Hub."

RMIT explains that blockchain strategy will take students through the following:

Conceptual understanding of blockchain technology

Conceptual understanding of potential impact of blockchain on wider society

Use case across different industries

Blockchain value propositions

Strategic frameworks for applying blockchain to your business

Deeper technical understanding and application of blockchain and blockchain environments

The course costs A$1600 with an early bird discount price of A$1300 available.

More info on studying Blockchain Strategy with RMIT can be found here.

Alan Tsen, Melbourne general manager, Stone & Chalk, said: "Stone & Chalk has been in discussions with businesses and governments for years around the emergence of blockchain and how it will impact their industry. Banks are already behind blockchain technology in a big way. There is a real demand for blockchain training and a skills gap in the market that needs to be addressed."

Helen Souness, chief executive, RMIT Online, said: "Blockchain will play a critical role in the future of business, with its application already prevalent across multiple industries like finance, government, energy and health care.

"This course will equip business leaders, managers and decision makers with the relevant understanding of Blockchain and skills to consider how it will impact the strategy of the businesses they run.

"With every major innovation in technology comes great opportunities and new risks. At RMIT Online, we believe individuals and businesses need to understand technology quickly, to adapt their strategy to meet these opportunities. This course aims to do that."

John Harris, managing director, Financial Services Technology Consulting, Accenture Australia and New Zealand, said: "Accenture is pleased to support RMIT Online's new short course on Blockchain Strategy, and we look forward to working together to drive the Australian blockchain agenda forward.

"Blockchain undoubtedly has the potential to create profound and positive change across business and society in Australia, disrupting a diverse range of industries in banking and beyond. "Our partnership with RMIT Online is another example of Accenture's work with leaders across industry, government and academia to move technology forward and improve the way Australia lives, works, plays and grows."Google often indulges in theatrics, where it pretends that it is doing what it is required to do. In reality, the 800-lb search gorilla is laughing heartily at having apparently hoodwinked everyone.

Earlier, this month iTWire detailed how Google indulges in security theatre, in order to try and make people believe it is serious about security.

The most recent case involves images. In April 2016, Google was hit with a complaint by Getty Images under EU competition law, accusing it of creating galleries of high-resolution, copyrighted content", and promoting piracy resulting in widespread copyright infringement".

Remember the EU is the one which has had the guts to fine Google 2.42 billion (US$2.7 billion) for allegedly abusing its search engine dominance to give illegal advantage to its own comparison shopping service. Google also faces EU fines over its AdSense advertising system and its Android mobile operating system.

Hence, it was in Google's interest to pretend that it wasto satisfy Getty. But what it has done is a joke.

The company said it would remove the "View Image" button that appears when one views an image after locating it by using the Images search option. This View Image button, when clicked, allows a user to see the image alone on a blank Web page, presumably to be saved and used.

Today we're launching some changes on Google Images to help connect users and useful websites. This will include removing the View Image button. The Visit button remains, so users can see images in the context of the webpages they're on. pic.twitter.com/n76KUj4ioD  Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) February 15, 2018

But removing that does little good. A user can use a context menu, that is available with a right-click of one's mouse, and save the image using the "Save Image as" option. This option is present in both Chrome (Google's own browser which has a 56% share of the browser market) and Firefox.

Or one can obtain an extension for Chrome that provides the same functionality that the View Image button did.

So how does losing the View Image button help in keeping down the frequency of copyrighted images being used without proper authorisation? Truth be told, it is a figleaf.

Google's act is what is described in Hindi as naam ke vaaste  doing a thing simply for the sake of doing something, anything, in order to con someone else into believing one has done what one was supposed to do.

If Google was serious about preventing the unauthorised use of copyrighted images, it could have removed the "save image as" option on the context menu that appears when one right-clicks on an image within Chrome.

But then when was Google serious about anything except grabbing users' personal data in order to monetise it?Researchers at security company Secureworks say they have been tracking Windows ransomware that stays below the radar by first exploiting a network vulnerability to gain entry into a Windows machine and then infecting that machine and others on the same internal network.

The ransomware is known as SamSam; Secureworks has given the name Gold Lowell to the group that is using SamSam for financial gains and claims to have been tracking it for the last three years.

As iTWire reported last month, a variant of the same ransomware hit a billion-dollar electronic health records company in Chicago.

The Secureworks Counter Threat Unit said it was unclear whether Gold Lowell was a single coherent entity or a collection of individuals all working with a single purpose.

The researchers theorised that the threat actors decision to deploy ransomware following an initial network compromise suggested they may be focusing on individual compromises rather than indiscriminately spreading ransomware vialarge-scale phishing or Web exploits.

It is also possible that this method is used as it would be less noticeable and fly under the radar.

A Gold Lowell ransom note used in 2015-2016.

However, such campaigns appeared to be lucrative, Secureworks said, citing one instance where about US$350,000 had been collected, even though most victims were small- to medium-size institutions.

"Some sources claimed that Gold Lowell operations specifically targeted the healthcare vertical following public SamSam incidents in 2016 and 2018," the researchers noted.

"However, Secureworks IR analysts visibility of activity across various organisations indicates that Gold Lowell does not limit itself to specific industry verticals or organisation types but just takes advantage of identified opportunities."

The attacks combined commodity and proprietary tools with publicly available exploits and techniques to develop a custom ransomware tool kit that suggested Gold Lowell's malware authors had a strong understanding of encryption and Windows network environments, Secureworks said.

"The group demonstrates the ability to leverage access to Internet-facing systems, escalate privileges, and move laterally within compromised networks. In contrast to other criminal ransomware activity, Gold Lowell operations require hands-on interactive keyboard activity that establishes a direct relationship between the threat actors and the victim. The threat actors offer their victims test decryption options prior to ransom payment to establish trust."

As far as attribution is concerned, Secureworks would only go so far as to say that it was likely that the threat actors were not native English speakers, given the type of language they used in their ransom notes.

Screenshot: courtesy SecureworksOne security company claims Australias New Payments Platform is likely to increase the risk of fraudsters seeking to exploit the availability of real-time bank payments.

According to cyber security firm Centrify senior director for APAC Sales, Niall King, while the New Payments Platform will let you make payments faster and easier, it also raises the risk that criminals will exploit this capability to get away with fraud faster and easier.

King warns that because bank transfers will no longer have a three-day buffer period to clear, banks will need to detect fraudulent activity in real time.

You can guarantee the bad guys will work overtime to exploit any vulnerabilities, especially through scam emails or calls designed to steal consumer information, King says.

Launched publicly last week, the New Payments Platform provides Australian users with the ability to send each other money in real time, through a new system for settling transactions between banks assisted by the Reserve Bank of Australia.

Theres also been concerns expressed about the NPP by security vendor RSA's fraud and risk intelligence team in Asia Pacific/Japan in an interview in iTWire today with Sam Varghese and RSAs Richard Booth.

The NPP will allow customers of as many as 60 financial institutions to link their bank details to a PayID, so they can hand out their phone number or email address to receive payments instead of number-based bank account details. The first product built on the platform is Osko, a person-to-person payment utility from BPay.

King says he advised Australian consumers and businesses to review their security practices before using NPP-enabled services. Security is the price we pay for convenience, he said.

As technology and threats change, so too do attitudes, as demonstrated by a recent IBM Security study of consumer perspectives about digital identity and authentication, which found that people now prioritise security over convenience when logging into applications and devices. Increasingly, consumers, especially millennials, recognise the benefits of biometric technologies like fingerprint readers, facial scans and voice recognition, as threats to their digital identity continue to mount.

While the New Payments Platform will let you make payments faster and easier, it also raises the risk that criminals will exploit this capability to get away with fraud faster and easier. Because bank transfers will no longer have a three-day buffer period to clear, banks will need to detect fraudulent activity in real time. You can guarantee the bad guys will work overtime to exploit any vulnerabilities, especially through scam emails or calls designed to steal consumer information.

In the UK, where its Faster Payments real-time payments platform was launched 10 years ago, research into the platform shows problems with fraud and scams, partly because banks in the UK had trouble identifying potentially fraudulent transactions. While Australias banking system has undoubtedly learned from that experience, consumers and businesses should not take security for granted when starting to use the New Payments Platform.The US has decided not to appeal the decision by a British court to oppose the extradition of British security researcher Lauri Love to the US to face charges of allegedly breaching the computer networks of a number of federal government agencies.

The UK court delivered its ruling on 5 February and the US authorities had two weeks to appeal.

Love's lawyer Ben Cooper told a magistrate's court that the US had decided not to appeal the decision, the news agency Bloomberg reported.

The British hacker, who has Asperger syndrome, earned the right to appeal in April 2017. He would have faced 99 years in jail if he was tried in three separate trials in the US, and a fine of up to US$9 million.

yup, our prisons suck  Chelsea E. Manning (@xychelsea) 17 February 2018

He was ordered to be extradited by British Home Secretary Amber Rudd in November last year after he was unable to persuade a judge that he should be tried in the UK.

But on 5 February, the appeal judges told the Crown Prosecution Service to try Love in England.

Another British hacker, Gary McKinnon, was not extradited for accessing US Government computers in 2012, after a 10-year legal battle, because he was considered to be seriously ill.

Current British Prime Minister Theresa May, who was home secretary at the time, made the decision not to extradite McKinnon.

And a third British security researcher, Marcus Hutchins, is awaiting trial in the US, on charges of having allegedly writing and helping to distribute a banking trojan named Kronos along with an unnamed co-conspirator.

Hutchins was arrested in Las Vegas in August last year after he had boarded a plane to leave the US following the annual DEFCON security conference which he attended.The data of Apple customers in China will come under the control of a state-owned company from the end of the month, with the American firm set to hand over the operation of its iCloud data centre located in mainland China to Guizhou-Cloud Big Data.

Apple's role after 28 February will be limited to investing US$1 billion for building a data centre in Guiyang, where GCBD is located, and providing technical support for preservation of data, the Hong Kong Free Press website reported.

GCBD is a state company solely owned by the Guizhou Big Data Development and Management Bureau. It is also supervised by Guizhou Board of Supervisors of State-owned Enterprises.

The company was set up in November 2014 with registered capital investment of 235 million yuan (about US$37.5 million).

The Hong Kong Free Press report, written by Lo Shih-hung, a professor in the College of Social Sciences at National Chung Cheng University, said: "Apple Inc. has not explained the real issue, which is that a state-owned big data company controlled by the Chinese government will have access to all the data of its iCloud service users in China.

"This will allow the capricious state apparatus to jump into the cloud and look into the data of Apples Chinese users."

The report said that iCloud users in China would, over the next few days, receive a notification from Apple to agree to new service terms for using the cloud storage.

The new terms would read: If you understand and agree, Apple and GCBD have the right to access your data stored on its servers. This includes permission sharing, exchange, and disclosure of all user data (including content) according to the application of the law.

Apple's public statements have been limited to saying: "This will allow us to continue to improve the speed and reliability of iCloud in China and comply with Chinese regulations.

But the report pointed out that there was no need to hand over operation of iCloud operations in China to a local company, leave alone a state-controlled firm.

The only requirement imposed by the Chinese Government was the data of users in China should be stored within the country's borders.

Referring to the fact that Apple had fought the FBI over providing access to the date on an iPhone back in 2016, the Hong Kong Free Press said: "Apple Inc. and Tim Cook, who had once stayed firm against the US government, suddenly have become soft in front of Chinese government.

"Faced with the unreasonable demand put forward by the Chinese authorities, Apple has not demonstrated a will to resist. On the contrary, it is giving people the impression that it will do whatever needed to please the authorities."CeBIT Australia, Asia Pacifics largest and longest running business technology conference and exhibition, has released the 2018 conference program. CeBIT Australia will welcome 300 leading technology suppliers to the exhibition floor, while the new streamlined conference program features over 50 expert speakers across four dedicated streams.

The four curated programs highlight current industry trends and challenges facing the business technology community and showcase digital case studies from the worlds largest corporations,across eGovernment, Big Data and Analytics, Cloud and Cyber Security.

The comprehensive program will see five international thought leaders speak at ICC Sydney in May, including Tom Read, Chief Digital and Information Officer at the Ministry of Justice, UK; Johnson Poh, Head of Data Science at DBS Bank; Winston Chew, Director, Regional Information Security Officer at GSK Singapore; Binoo Joseph, Head of Technology at Tesco PLC; and keynote speaker Greg Clark, Chief Executive Officer, Symantec will also speak in a dedicated Cyber Security presentation.

Mr Read, commented ahead of his eGovernment presentation on how digital transformation is a vital part of government services in 2018.

In many ways, government is no different from any other industry. We are facing digital disruptionas users start to demand online channels to interact with government, budget cuts force us to look at our processes, and new technologies like machine learning start to mature.

How we differ though is our users cant choose not to use our services. For governments to deliver truly effective technology, the users needs must be considered and delivered first and foremost.

Digital is becoming the golden thread between ministers, policy officials, and operational front-line agencies.

I look forward to sharing at CeBIT Australia how the UK Ministry of Justice is transforming an 800 year-old justice system, bringing agile digital service delivery to prisons, courts and tribunals, while questioning how this changes the very nature of justice, said Mr Read.

Niall Blair, NSW Minister for Trade and Industry said CeBIT Australia and its conference program will be an opportunity to learn from the latest business technology trends and study some of the best innovation examples from around the world.

Digital technology continues to grow in importance and the NSW Government is committed to supporting a prosperous, dynamic and agile digital economy that can grow our role as Australias ICT capital and create new businesses and jobs.

Im very pleased to welcome some of the worlds leading technology minds and case studies to Sydney to take part in CeBIT Australia. Its 2018 conference program promises to deliver a keen focus on the fast-evolving areas of data and analytics, cloud, cyber security and eGovernment to help take our technology sector forward, said Mr Blair.

The full international keynote speaker line-up will be announced in the coming weeks. Already confirmed to speak alongside Mr Clark, are Rob Wainwright, Executive Director, Europol; Tamara McCleary, founder and CEO, Thulium; Hiroshi Saijou, CEO and Managing Director, Yamaha Motor Ventures; Laboratory Silicon Valley and Liesl Yearsley, CEO, Akin.

Other highlight conference speakers include Jacqui McNamara, Head of Security Services, Telstra; Maria Milosavljevic, NSW Department of Finance, Services and Innovation; Joe Franzi, First Assistant Secretary, Intelligence and Capability Group, Identity and Biometrics Division, Department of Immigration and Border Protection; Alastair MacGibbon, Head of the Australian Cyber Security Centre, Special Adviser to the Prime Minister on Cyber Security and Deputy Secretary, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet; and Kshira Saagar, Head of Data Science and Analytics, The Iconic.

Across three days, CeBIT Australia will offer opportunities to hear from the worlds elite, interact first-hand with the latest innovations, speak with over 300 exhibitors and 100 disruptive start-up innovators, and connect with thousands of visitors from Australias top companies.

CeBIT Australia is proudly supported by the NSW Government, and continues valuable partnerships in 2018, including Vodafone as Strategic Partner, Amadeus and Norton by Symantec as Diamond Sponsors and City of Sydney and nbn as Supporting Partners.

CeBIT Australia will take place 15 - 17 May 2018 at the International Convention Centre Sydney, Darling Harbour.

The program overview is available: www.cebit.com.au/program/

Tickets can be purchased: www.cebit.com.au/conference-registration/

Media enquires should be directed to elle@zadroagency.com.auTwo out of three ain't bad, but three out of three is better  and that's what storage vendor Infinidat claims to deliver.

Usually, engineers can deliver products that meet the required parameters for any two of cost, performance and reliability, Infinidat chief executive Moshe Yanai observed.

So if you want high performance and reliability, they come at a high price. Or an inexpensive yet reliable system will provide low performance.

But Infinidat's approach to storage provides all three, he told iTWire.

This is achieved in several ways. The storage devices use a combination of DRAM for very fast access, flash for caching, and spinning disks for capacity. That's not unique, but it is a good start.

Infinidat uses commodity hardware with proprietary software, allowing it to configure systems with as many as 480 drives per controller, keeping hardware costs down despite the use of triple redundancy for high reliability.

Furthermore, the system is designed to detect and correct media errors or silent data corruption he said.

The result is an array that is fast enough for primary storage (it outperforms competing products from Pure and EMC, Yanai said), provides seven nines (99.99999%) reliability  "100 times better than anyone else"  and is attractively priced.

Another contributor to reliability is Infinidat's QA lab  the largest in the world, according to Yanai, covering 3000 square feet (280 square metres) and housing 120PB of storage. The company spends more on QA than IBM, HPE and EMC combined, he added.

Infinidat systems start at 250TB, and scale up to 2.8PB (effectively 10PB with compression) in a single 42U rack.

One of Infinidat's reference customers is British Telecom, which, Yanai said, went to tender for software defined storage (SDS) systems in 2014 but realised that in the context of tens of petabytes of storage, SDS was expensive, complex and presented an integration risk. So BT instead purchased its first Infinidat system in 2015, and now has around 80 installed around the world.

Other customers include the world's largest bank and the world's largest telco, he added.

More than 3EB of Infinidat storage has been installed around the world, with almost two-thirds of it in the Americas.

The arrays are used for a variety of workloads including VMware, KVM, big data, databases and analytics, and backup  "all in exactly the same box," said Yanai.

"This is the right time for it," he said. Trends such as analytics and IoT are causing an inflection point in storage technology, and Infinidat has the potential to 'own' the market for the next 30 years, just as EMC did during the database era, and IBM before that. "There's a lot of talent and money and effort invested in solving this problem."

Reasonably priced high-performance storage opens up new opportunities for organisations. Yanai pointed to a large telco call centre that was keeping customer data for a couple of months, but using Infinidat means it can afford keep years of history.

"If you keep the data, you always find something to do with it," he said, pointing out that cost, performance and reliability are always important, even for applications that are not mission critical.

The company is working to increase its sales in Asia, and Yanai was in Australia as part of a tour of the region. "We think Australia is a very good market for us," he noted.

ANZ general manager Mark Brown said Infinidat's "capacity on demand" model is resonating locally. The first Australian customer was a small service provider that paid for a few hundred terabytes upfront and is gradually growing into the available capacity.

The local operation is initially targeting service providers, managed service providers, and a few key industries including higher education and research. For example, a proof of concept trial involving Infinidat storage and the University of Queensland's supercomputer is about to get under way.

Another consideration is that prices include service. Customers receive 24x7 remote monitoring, a technical adviser (who acts as an interface between the customer and Infinidat's level three support team), and on-site support within four hours, said Brown.

But "you never need it," Yanai said of the four-hour promise  the use of triple-redundant components means replacement could occur a week later without affecting uptime.

Customers also appreciate the simplicity of Infinidat systems. Brown said South Australia based Regional IT has a staff of less than 20, and previously needed one FTE to manage its old storage system. Switching to Infinidat freed up almost all of that time, which is now put to better use.

In some cases, this comes from being able to replace three or four different storage systems designed for different purposes (eg, block vs file storage) with a single Infinidat array.

Yanai has an impressive track record. Before founding Infinidat, he led the development of EMC's Symmetrix product. After leaving EMC he founded XIV  another storage company  which was later acquired by IBM.

He pointed out that Infinidat's software-based approach means it can address the smaller end of the market whenever it chooses, but "today, we are concentrating on the large customers."

The strategy seems to be paying off: "Something unique about us  we are profitable" where the other companies in this part of the storage market are losing money, he observed.

He questioned how long competitors such as Pure and Nutanix could continue running at a loss. The situation is "like a bubble  they can't continue for many years," he said. "What's their plan? How are they going to be profitable?"

While all of these companies can provide sufficient performance, Infinidat delivers it at lower cost to customers, Yanai claimed.Australias Fair Work Ombudsman has updated its service to provide what it says is instant translation of website content including fact sheets, information guides and templates.

The new functionality is the latest in a series of initiatives by the regulator aimed at making it easier for people of culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds to seek workplace assistance.

Fair Work Ombudsman Natalie James said the agency was strongly committed to ensuring that all people working in Australia are equipped with the tools and information they need to stand up for their workplace rights.

Language barriers can represent a significant obstacle to workers seeking to find out what their rights and entitlements are, knowing where and how to seek help with workplace issues, or having the confidence to speak up, she said.

We know that this can leave workers vulnerable to exploitation and we see far too many examples where people of culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, particularly visa holders, are treated unfairly and unlawfully in the workplace.

We also want to ensure that new arrivals who are interested in starting businesses in Australia have easy access to the information they need to comply with workplace laws.

James said that the real-time translated content would enable those with limited English skills to more easily find the information that they need, when they need it.

We are here to help all employers and employees in Australia to understand their workplace rights and obligations  regardless of which language they speak, she said.

The new website functionality follows the launch of six in-language videos in November last year by the Fair Work Ombudsman aimed at raising awareness of Australian workplace laws among visa-holders.

Earlier last year, James wrote an open letter to international students urging them to speak up if they have any concerns in relation to their employment.

Distribution of James letter followed the launch of the Fair Work Ombudsmans popular Anonymous Report function in 16 languages other than English, which allows visa-holders to report workplace concerns anonymously to the agency in their own language.

Employers and employees seeking assistance can visit www.fairwork.gov.au or call the Fair Work Infoline on 13 13 94; an interpreter service is available on 13 14 50.Australian Consumer and Competition Commission chairman Rod Sims says rules will be introduced to penalise the NBN Co when its technicians do not turn up for scheduled appointments.

The head of the Australian competition watchdog told the ABC's National Wrap producer Patricia Karvelas that the rules would be introduced this year.

The chief executive of the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network, Teresa Corbin, was quoted as saying that delays in installations or repairs would "result in much stress and detriment".

"We often hear from consumers who have service faults which last for long periods of time due to missed appointments from technicians," she said.

"When outages occur people may be unable to access government services, education and employment opportunities."

While the quantum of the penalties has not been finalised, a figure of $25 for every missed appointment above a certain number that is acceptable has been bandied around. The penalty would go to the retail service provider.

In 2016, there were a total of 82.552 missed appointments.

The watchdog began an inquiry into the NBN Co's service standards in November which also covers missed appointments.

In its announcement, the ACCC said it would be conducting "a public inquiry to determine whether NBN wholesale service standard levels are appropriate, and to consider whether regulation is necessary to improve customer experiences".

Upping the service standards will add to the costs at NBN Co, which already bleeding red ink.

Given that the inquiry is to deal with service standards, the NBN Co expressed surprise about Sims seeming to pre-empt its findings.

A spokesman for the NBN builder told the ABC that it understood the inquiry was to decide whether regulation was needed or not.

NBN Co has not yet made its submission to the inquiry.

Photo: courtesy NBN CoBy Rita Kemigisa.

Police have revealed that a toxicology report shows that the foreign nationals who recently died in Kampala hotels could have been poisoned after foreign substances were found in their bodies.

Addressing journalists at the Central police station, the police Spokesperson Emilian Kayima refused to give the further details of the report saying it would jeopardize investigations.

Currently Kayima says police has in custody 5 suspects in connection to these deaths and are still investigating for all the possible culprits to be brought to book.

On 5th February at the pearl of Africa hotel a Finland national identified as Thomas Hugs was found dead in his room while on February 6th a Swedish national Alex Sebastian was also found dead in his room at Sheraton hotel.

There bodies have since flown back to their respective countries for burial.In August 2017, the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health (ASPPH) announced the inaugural cohort of This is Public Health Ambassadors. Representatives from 13 different schools and programs were selected through an application process to serve for one academic year as ambassadors for public health.

Ambassadors help elevate awareness of public health research and its impact on individuals, communities and whole populations. Additionally, ambassadors serve as liaisons for prospective students of public health, helping them identify potential academic paths and opportunities. They attend graduate school fairs and host webinars to answer questions from prospective students, and participate in social media takeovers to give new perspectives on various paths in public health.

Two Bloomberg School students, Katie Overbey and Benjamin Ackerman, are among the first contingent of ambassadors. Here, they share their (sometimes circuitous!) paths to public health, what they love most and where they tell Baltimore newcomers to visit in Charm City.

Benjamin Ackerman

DEGREE: PhD, Biostatistics

PhD, Biostatistics HOMETOWN: Los Angeles, CA

Los Angeles, CA RESEARCH FOCUS: My dissertation research will hopefully involve statistical methods related to randomized trials, specifically about the generalizability of randomized trials.

Tell us what sparked your interest in public health and what you did prior to coming to JHSPH.

I did my undergraduate degree at Johns Hopkins in public health. In my freshman year, I was enrolled in an anthropology class and interested in some of the books we read about the spread of HIV/AIDS through sexual networks. This was the first time Id thought about health on a larger scale, and that prompted me to become a public health major.

What led you to pursue a degree at the Bloomberg School?

I formed close relationships with Hopkins professors and with T.A.s who later became my classmates. I got a great sense that the people in the Biostatistics department were not only brilliant, but incredibly supportive and friendly, and cared more about students succeeding than about furthering their own careers.

How have your mentors and advisers helped shape your experience?

Ive been working with Liz Stuart and shes been a really great mentor and adviser. I havent just learned things about the research topics. Ive also learned about what its like to be a graduate student, to be an academic, to collaborate with others and to communicate effectively.

I certainly feel like the mentors that Ive had [at Hopkins and at the Bloomberg School] and the faculty that Ive engaged with have been incredibly invested in their students. I dont know if other schools are similar, but I think its been a huge advantage at Hopkins to have professors who are incredible researchers and highly respected, who take time out of their busy schedules to get junior students involved and interested in their work as well.

Did you have any moments that helped reaffirm your path in public health?

Ive had a couple experiences that have reinforced that I am doing what I should be doing with my life. I worked on a paper with a professor in Epidemiology looking at differences in HIV risk among trans women compared to MSM (men who have sex with men) in sub-Saharan Africa. This is a highly understudied population, and Ive always been really interested in researching LGBT health. Its really cool to see that as a statistician, Im having an impact on public health and research in an understudied population.

Tell us about your role as an ambassador with This is Public Health.

Its nice to have a platform to share with students what you can do with biostatistics and that you dont have to come from a pure mathematics background to have a career in biostatistics or ... public health. I also felt it was important to be a voice of a biostatistics student to say, Were as much a part of public health and graduate student life as the rest.

I think the bigger component of being an ambassador is exposing people who either dont know much about or arent sure if they want to study public health to the many different ways they could pursue public health.

Do you think being a This is Public Health ambassador has given you a broader platform to be a better mentor, and how has it shaped your time as a student here?

In the ambassador role, the more you communicate with prospective students about what they can do in your field, the more you reinforce your own passion for what you do. As you share with people why it is that you love what you do, you reflect on your own experiences.

Describe your experiences connecting with students from other schools of public health and working with them to spread the message of public health.

It reinforces the idea that public health is very interdisciplinary and that people come from all different experiences and interests for one purpose: to improve human health on a population level. So, it has been very interesting to meet students at other schools who have had very different paths to public health than I have.

Public health is incredibly diverse and exciting. You can find common ground in public health very easily.

Do you have any plans for the future yet?

I dont really have plans yet, but I do hope that, through my training as a biostatistician, I can use the skills I have to analyze data and use that to better inform people about critical health issues. Im a huge advocate for more LGBT health research, so it would be great to continue to work in that area and surface issues for underrepresented populations that are either due to lack of data availability or lack of data analysis being conducted.

What advice do you have for future public health students or public health undergrad students?

Learn how to be a good advocate for yourself. There are a lot of times when you may be interested in pursuing something or getting involved in a project. Those opportunities arent going to come to you. You have to reach out and seek those.

I would advise people to look for mentors and advisers who dont just give research opportunities but also provide training and help you build the necessary skills to succeed in school and help with all the aspects of becoming a public health professional.

What do you do in the city for fun?

Theres this pizza place near Patterson Park named Johnny Rads that I love going to. Its my favorite place to bring friends. There are always new people coming into the department every year, so its always fun when they come into Baltimore and dont know whats going on. I say, Lets go to Johnny Rads, Ill show you whats up.

Katie Overbey

DEGREE: PhD, Environmental Health and Engineering (Recipient of the Kazuyoshi Kawata Fund in Sanitary Engineering and Science

PhD, Environmental Health and Engineering (Recipient of the Kazuyoshi Kawata Fund in Sanitary Engineering and Science HOMETOWN: Yorktown, Virginia

Yorktown, Virginia RESEARCH FOCUS: I study removal of norovirus in water systems, particularly water treatment systems.

What sparked your interest in public health and what did you do before you came to the School?

Ive always been interested in science. In high school, I wanted to be a doctor. I went to undergrad at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and started as a biology major.

I later realized that while the science and the health aspects appealed to me, I wasnt interested in one-on-one patient care. On a whim, I enrolled in an environmental microbiology class through the school of public health [UNC Gillings]. Before that point, I didnt know that public health was an option as a career field, and it ended up being a perfect fit. I became interested in communication and, realizing how poor some scientists are at it, it was important to me in public health.

What led you to pursue your degree here?

Its hard to look for schools of public health and not come across the Hopkins name! But a big part of it was my adviser, Kellogg Schwab. He does a lot of water quality research, which is what I wanted to do. I liked the research coming out of his lab, and I liked his advising style, so that had a big impact.

The resources that Hopkins has, the connections with the medical school and with other universities and organizations, those were also a big draw. I knew there would be a lot of options and opportunities if I came here.

What is your research focus here at the School?

Ill be studying norovirus, a foodborne illness that some call a stomach flu or winter vomiting bug. I will probably be looking at removal of norovirus in water systems, particularly water treatment systems. There are some recent developments in the technology used to detect norovirus, so that opens up a lot of conveniently timed options for my PhD.

How has your relationship with your adviser shaped your work, and how do you see that impacting your PhD?

Its definitely a really big driver in my degree experience. [Schwabs] advising style and his interest in not just giving me lab skills but helping me become an actual functional scientist has been really important.

He wants you to learn how to read papers, how to write papers, how to communicate, how to develop a research plan thats really well thought-out. Having an adviser that meshes with my goals as a scientist has been an important impact.

Have you had any moments in the time youve been here that stand out, whether in the classroom or with friends or the community?

I think one of the things that was really impactful for me was the November 2017 Water is Life talk with the Center for American Indian Health. They convened a panel of Native American activists and leaders for the protection of water, and it was inspiring to hear them talk about pushing for different ways to fight climate change. As a person that studies water, it was really cool to hear.

Is there anything that was surprising about coming to Hopkins? Did you have a preconceived notion about the School?

What I was hoping forand what did happenis that everyone I meet genuinely cares about what theyre doing. Theyre not just at Hopkins for the Hopkins name; theyre here because they care about whatever aspect of health theyre working on and they really want to make a tangible difference.

Do you think these experiences will help continually shape your career? Are there opportunities around the School to continually inspire you?

I think the diversity of people that Hopkins attracts is really one of its strengths. In Environmental Health and Engineering we have engineers, microbiologists, toxicologists, food systems people, and this mix of researchers who are all doing really different things.

I think [combining Environmental Health and Environmental Engineering] is a big benefit for both environmental health and public health. They enhance each other.

What do you do outside of school?

I have two Scottish terriers that occupy a solid amount of my energy. I hang out with people in my program, which has been a lovely thing. I actually like these people as friends, which is great! I take a lot of advantage of the free yoga in Baltimore, which is great for coping with the stress of grad school. I live right by Patterson Park, which is perfect for the dogs. I love that park!

What was your experience of moving to Baltimore?

I was a bit nervous about moving to Baltimore. I had been in North Carolina for six years, and everyone asked me if Ive watched The Wire. But now, I love Baltimore. The city has its issues, but it really is a wonderful place. I love where I live. Theres a surprising sense of community. Theres great food, great bars, always a lot of stuff going on.

Can you talk about your role with This is Public Health? What are some of the things youve been asked to do, and how did you hear about it?

It really interested me because I went into undergrad not knowing what public health was, and public health was actually the perfect fit for me.

My freshman year of undergrad, I asked an academic adviser, Im really interested in health, but I dont want to be a doctor, do you have any ideas? and she never mentioned public health! That really motivated me to want to do this, because it would have helped me knowing about public health earlier, and knowing what my options were.

As an ambassador, we help oversee some web chats where students can ask about applications and other aspects of public health grad school. If there are ASPPH career fairs nearby, we go to those, too. Its a lot of outreach, plus there are Twitter chats throughout, and we will each do a social media takeover for a week.

How do you feel that this experience has shaped your experience as a PhD student?

Its almost like a pay it forward thing. Its been nice to offer up my experiences and, hopefully, help other people who are looking to do similar things. Its been cool to interact with people who are interested in public health and have questions.

Do you feel like youre talking to students who know they want to study public health, or do you feel more like an ambassador for public health as a whole?

In the activities that weve done so farthe career fair and the ASPPH online webinarsthose students kind of already know they want to go into public health.

A lot of questions we got were, What can I do with this degree? If I get this, where can I go with this? If I get X specialty versus another specialty, what can I do with it and what are my options? These are really important question to ask because not only is public health a great field, there are so many different options and so many different choices.

Do you have any plans for the future yet?

This past summer, a professor at a conference asked me what I wanted to do, and I gave my general response: I dont know what sector I want to work in, but Im really interested in food and water microbiology and safety.

The professor told me if I want to survive the PhD, I needed a strong goal. I brushed it off, and then the second year hit, and things started to go wrong in my research. This is the point where you really start getting into the nitty gritty of the PhD.

I realized I need to think harder about this. I spent the last few months talking to people I look up to who have a similar degree. I asked them about their jobs to get more insight into what they do and tried to narrow down what I want to do. The current trajectory is that I have a lot of interest in working in a government lab, in government epidemiology or outbreak investigation, something in that realm. Having a more specific idea has really motivated me.

It was surprisingly really, really great advice.

Do you have any advice for future public health students, or students interested in environmental health specifically?

A big thing that helped me was talking to people! Talk to people and get their opinions about what they do or what they teach, or talk to professors who taught classes that you really enjoyed.

Graduate degrees are no joke, and even a masters degree is a lot of time, a lot of money and a lot of energy. Really having an understanding of why you want it and what motivates you to get it when you go in will make you a stronger applicant.

This is a small field but [in public health], everyone knows everyone, which makes that networking piece so much more important. You never know who you might connect with and meet and what they might be doing in the future. My masters adviser did her PhD with Dr. Schwab, it is a small world. That initial contact, even just getting a vibe of the department, was helpful.

Learn more about the This is Public Health Ambassadorship programSummerville, SC (29483)

Today

Partly cloudy skies early will give way to cloudy skies late. Low 71F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies early will give way to cloudy skies late. Low 71F. Winds light and variable.Reddit Email 113 Shares

By Jeffrey D. Sachs | ( Project Syndicate) |  

Americas official narrative has sought to conceal the scale and calamitous consequences of US efforts to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. That is understandable, because US efforts are in blatant violation of international law, which bars UN member states from supporting military action to overthrow other members governments.

NEW YORK  Much of the carnage that has ravaged Syria during the past seven years is due to the actions of the United States and its allies in the Middle East. Now, faced with an alarming risk of a renewed escalation of fighting, its time for the United Nations Security Council to step in to end the bloodshed, based on a new framework agreed by the Councils permanent members.

Here are the basics. In 2011, in the context of the Arab Spring, the US government, in conjunction with the governments of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, and Israel, decided to bring down Syrian President Bashar al-Assads regime, even though overthrowing another countrys government amounts to a blatant violation of international law. We know that in 2012, if not earlier, President Barack Obama authorized the CIA to work with Americas allies in providing support to rebel forces composed of disaffected Syrians as well as non-Syrian fighters. US policymakers evidently expected Assad to fall quickly, as had occurred with the governments of Tunisia and Egypt in the early months of the Arab Spring.

The Assad regime is led by the minority Alawi Shia sect in a country where Alawites account for just 10% of the population, Sunni Muslims account for 75%, Christians make up 10%, and 5% are others, including Druze. The regional powers behind Assads regime include Iran and Russia, which has a naval base on Syrias Mediterranean coastline.

Whereas Americas goal in seeking to topple Assad was mainly to undercut Iranian and Russian influence, Turkeys motive was to expand its influence in former Ottoman lands and, more recently, to counter Kurdish ambitions for territorial autonomy, if not statehood, in Syria and Iraq. Saudi Arabia wanted to undermine Irans influence in Syria while expanding its own, while Israel, too, aimed to counter Iran, which threatens Israel through Hezbollah in Lebanon, Syria near the Golan Heights, and Hamas in Gaza. Qatar, meanwhile, wanted to bring a Sunni Islamist regime to power.

The armed groups supported by the US and allies since 2011 were assembled under the banner of the Free Syrian Army. In fact, there was no single army, but rather competing armed groups with distinct backers, ideologies, and goals. The fighters ranged from dissident Syrians and autonomy-seeking Kurds to Sunni jihadists backed by Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

While vast resources were devoted to overthrowing Assad, the effort ultimately failed, but not before causing massive bloodshed and displacing millions of Syrians. Many fled to Europe, fomenting Europes refugee crisis and a surge in political support for Europes anti-immigrant extreme right.

There were four main reasons for the failure to overthrow Assad. First, Assads regime had backing among not only Alawites, but also Syrian Christians and other minorities who feared a repressive Sunni Islamist regime. Second, the US-led coalition was countered by Iran and Russia. Third, when a splinter group of jihadists split away to form the Islamic State (ISIS), the US diverted significant resources to defeating it, rather than to toppling Assad. Finally, the anti-Assad forces have been deeply and chronically divided; for example, Turkey is in open conflict with the Kurdish fighters backed by the US.

All of these reasons for failure remain valid today. The war is at a stalemate. Only the bloodshed continues.

Americas official narrative has sought to conceal the scale and calamitous consequences of US efforts  in defiance of international law and the UN Charter  to overthrow Assad. While the US vehemently complains about Russian and Iranian influence in Syria, America and its allies have repeatedly violated Syrian sovereignty. The US government mischaracterizes the war as a civil war among Syrians, rather than a proxy war involving the US, Israel, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Qatar.

In July 2017, US President Donald Trump announced the end of CIA support for the Syrian rebels. In practice, though, US engagement continues, though now it is apparently aimed more at weakening Assad than overthrowing him. As part of Americas continued war-making, the Pentagon announced in December that US forces would remain indefinitely in Syria, ostensibly to support anti-Assad rebel forces in areas captured from ISIS, and of course without the assent of the Syrian government.

The war is in fact at risk of a new round of escalation. When Assads regime recently attacked anti-Assad rebels, the US coalition launched airstrikes that killed around 100 Syrian troops and an unknown number of Russian fighters. Following this show of force, US Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis disingenuously stated that, Obviously, we are not getting engaged in the Syrian civil war. In addition, Israel recently attacked Iranian positions in Syria.

The US and its allies should face reality and accept the persistence of Assads regime, despicable as it may be. The UN Security Council, backed by the US, Russia, and the other major powers, should step in with peacekeepers to restore Syrian sovereignty and urgent public services, while blocking attempts at vengeance by the Assad regime against former rebels or their civilian supporters.

Yes, the Assad regime would remain in power, and Iran and Russia would maintain their influence in Syria. But the US official delusion that America can call the shots in Syria by choosing who rules, and with which allies, would end. Its long past time for a far more realistic approach, in which the Security Council pushes Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Iran, and Israel into a pragmatic peace that ends the bloodshed and allows the Syrian people to resume their lives and livelihoods.

Jeffrey D. Sachs, Professor of Sustainable Development and Professor of Health Policy and Management at Columbia University, is Director of Columbias Center for Sustainable Development and of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network. His books include The End of Poverty, Common Wealth, The Age of Sustainable Development, and, most recently, Building the New American Economy.

Licensed from Project Syndicate



Bonus video added by Informed Comment:

Al Jazeera English from Friday: ?? ?? US Tillerson to visit Turkey, ties strained over SyriaBy Benjamin Jumbe.

President Yoweri Museveni has asked the people of Nebbi district to offer him five acres of land in the highlands and five in the lowlands.

He made the request during a fundraising functionfor the construction of the proposed Shs.2.6 billion St. Stephen Cathedral at Paidha held at Goli Mixed Primary School playgrounds in Nebbi district.

The president said the land is to enable him set up demonstration farms for the people of Nebbi like he did in Luweero where he established the Kawumu presidential demonstration farm.

The president also advised them to use the conducive climate in the low land to practice fish farming noting that the venture is profitable.

President Museveni pledged Shs.300 million towards the project and made cash payment of Shs.30 million in addition to buying a heifer at 10 million shillings which he donated to the church.Reddit Email 301 Shares

Ramona Wadi (@walzerscent) | (The Middle East Monitor) |  

Israel remains the only UN member state which has never declared where its borders are. In fact, it has refused to demarcate any borders due to the Zionist intention to colonise the whole of historic Palestine. For less desirable requirements, however, it does not hesitate to apply a temporary suspension of its agenda, recognise separate areas and impose additional hardships on Palestinians.

As with several other discriminatory policies, Israel acknowledges Palestinian existence and land only when it can use such recognition to suit its nefarious purposes. Human rights group BTselems December 2017 report called Made in Israel: Exploiting Palestinian Land for Israeli Waste reveals that there are 15 Israeli waste treatment facilities in the occupied West Bank. Six of these facilities process hazardous waste.

By treating its waste in the occupied Palestinian territory, Israel is evading several responsibilities which can be summarised by pointing out one particular discrepancy, as BTselem states: Transferring waste into an occupied territory is a far graver issue, as residents of an occupied territory cannot oppose the decisions of the occupying power.

The report investigated four of the hazardous waste treatment facilities and a sewage treatment plant in the occupied West Bank. The ramifications of such facilities, which BTselem states are operating without strict control, include the contamination of soil and water, the risk of drug resistant organisms and an increased threat of illness. Natural resources are also being damaged permanently.

BTselem has outlined the differences in Israels waste treatment legislation, showing that it applies less stringent procedures for waste facilities in the occupied West Bank. Inside Israel proper  that is, the land not recognised as occupied by international law  waste treatment facilities require permits from the Ministry of Environmental Protection. The facilities are also required to carry out assessments that detail their impact upon the environment. Since waste treatment facilities in the occupied West Bank are regulated by the Administration of Local Councils, Israel does not face the same obligations and is therefore not required to carry out impact assessments due to the absence of legislation on pollution.

The exemptions from accountability in the occupied West Bank have made it easier for hazardous waste to be treated away from scrutiny and with the opportunity to oppress Palestinians further. BTselem makes an important observation in this regard; it is Palestinians who are denied freedom of movement and whose spaces are restricted, unlike the Israeli settler population in the occupied territories, who have the freedom to live anywhere they choose.

With such discrepancies as a result of colonial expansion, it is important to make a connection between the violations and Israels exploitation of land and how it defines ownership. The reports conclusion reads thus: Israel has turned the West Bank into a sacrifice zone, exploiting and harming the environment at the expense of the Palestinian residents, who are completely excluded from the decision-making process. The last premise, which is the exclusion of Palestinians, is disregarded routinely when discussing the implications of Israeli colonialism, due to the refusal to connect land appropriation with the consequences of such exploitation.

This report clearly associates the environmental and health impact with the wider colonial project. The international communitys recording of Israels violations, though, are situated within the context of violations themselves, thus breeding further impunity for Israel while eliminating the collective international responsibility towards Palestinians.

This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Via The Middle East Monitor



Bonus video added by Juan Cole:

Btselem: Adam Aloni: Exploiting Palestinian Land for Treatment of Israeli WasteReddit Email 230 Shares

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) |  

Revised

Can anything be done about the phenomenon of mass shootings? These killings have plagued the US for decades.

The problem is getting substantially worse over time. The first time I published a version of this column, in 2012, only 88 people were killed in mass shootings that year. In 2017, some 590 persons were killed in mass shootings, according to one crowd-sourced site.*

Moreover, Trump keeps droning on about gang violence, but most of their killings are also carried out with semi-automatic rifles.

We polish off some 15,000 Americans a year with murders (around 11,000 of them via firearms), and 30,000 a year in auto accidents. There are also something like 18,000 suicides a year by firearm in the US, about half of the total; perhaps large numbers of those people would still be alive if it hadnt been so technically easy to take their on lives. Mass shootings as a proportion of murders committed by firearms rose to an astonishing nearly 4% last year.

Id say that is a national emergency.

One problem is that mass shootings produce a national trauma, and probably are designed to do so. Isolated murders of adults, however tragic, dont upset us the way a madman shooting down children does. The mass shootings, which grew last year to some almost 4% of murders, deeply disturb us.

It is also the case that mass shootings are arbitrarily defined as those in which 4 or more people are killed. For those affected, three is pretty mass.

Public policy is often made on the grounds of what we find unpalatable. You will note that we are also upset by airplane crashes, and we insist that they are always completely unacceptable. We dont feel the same way about whacking 30,000 people a year (and injuring like 300,000) in auto collisions.

In addition some 2,000 of the 9,000 firearms murders a year are committed by drug gangs and other criminal gangs, and these are primarily using semi-automatic weapons to commit these murders.

So there is a problem, of increased numbers of mass shootings and increased numbers of victims over time. And there is a problem with the roughly 1 million gang members having military-style weapons and committing 14% of the murders every year in the US.

Is there a solution of the problem?

Even someone who really loves semi-automatic guns Paul Barret, author ofGlock: The Rise of Americas Gun, admits of the 1994 ban on semi-automatic rifles:

The one potentially sensible provision in the Assault Weapons Ban was the imposition of a ten-round magazine capacity, which affected both semi-automatic rifles and semi-automatic pistols, including the Glock. You can begin to understand that at least this [limitation] might inhibit the mass shooter because, under that regime, he would at least have to think ahead enough to carry multiple ten-round magazines.

Personally, I dont understand why civilians need semi-automatic pistols and rifles at all. And the evidence we have from the mass shootings that have been happening is that yes, the shooter will bring extra rounds. Lots of extra rounds.

But Ill tell you what, some sort of limitation is better than none, and at least such legislation might establish the principle that guns can be regulated by law.

So how about we propose a law specifying that no civilian may buy a semi-automatic weapon that has greater than a ten-round magazine, and that such weapons for the civilian market be constructed so that extra magazine drums cannot be attached?

And we ban semi-automatic rifles altogether.

What about all the semi-automatic weapons already in peoples possession? There are like 280 million guns in the US, nearly one per person. (Though in fact, a small minority, about 3% of the population, owns most of these guns, and the proportion of gun owners in the population has been shrinking; fewer and fewer people have more and more guns). Since the 1980s, sales of semi-automatic weapons have been in the tens of thousands annually.

Well, you could have a buy-back program, and could offer people trade-ins. Changing things would not have to be coercive. People would have a choice between having an illegal pistol and a legal one with a smaller magazine.

Contrary to what is often alleged, in any case, used guns are seldom the problem. Most used guns are in peoples safes. The new ones are the problem. Most people who commit mass shootings seem to go on a buying spree first, and gang members likewise most often like to purchase new weaponry.

So there you have it, a step toward a solution. 10-round magazines for the pistols, no semi-automatic rifles for civilians.

A reader wrote sensibly in response to the original version of this post:

Most civilized countries have:  An upper limit on magazine size.  An upper limit on handgun caliber (.38 is common).  A lower limit on handgun barrel length (4 or 120mm are common).  No concealed carry.  Open carry typically only available to those who can show a genuine need for it.  Long lists of prohibited weapons. Typical lists include include fully automatic weapons, semi-automatic rifles, pump-action shotguns, none of which have any realistically legitimate civilian uses. (Repeating rifles are usually okay, by the way; genuine hunters do need to access a follow-up round quickly for humane purposes.)  No private sales. (Typically, sale or transfer must be done through a licensed dealer.)  Restrictions on how a firearm must be stored in a private property (e.g. no keeping guns loaded when not in use, guns and ammunition to be stored in separate locked containers/cabinets). Of course there are usually exceptions for special classes of people, such as collectors, security guards, licensed dealers, etc. All of the above seem perfectly reasonable to me. The other thing to look at is licensing. Some suggestions, based on laws in other countries:  Frequent renewals and automatic expiry.  An exam on proper firearms safety prior to obtaining a licence, much like a driving exam.  A ban on owning certain classes of guns (e.g. any handgun at all) unless youve used it for a certain amount of time (six months, perhaps) in the context of a licensed gun club, military/law enforcement service or something similar. That last one is one of my favourite proposals, by the way. I cant see a single downside to it.



bonus video:

ABC: Survivors of the Parkland school shooting demand change



*Because of a software malfunction at the crowdsourced tracking site for mass killings cited in the first para., the initial version of this post contained an incorrect number for victims of mass shootings in 2017Reddit Email 314 Shares

By Richard Gunther, Erik C. Nisbet and Paul Beck | (The Conversation) |  

Could fake news have helped determine the outcome of the 2016 presidential election?

Social media users and intensely partisan news broadcasts disseminated a massive number of messages during the campaign. Many of these messages demonized candidates and seriously distorted the facts presented to voters. One recent study of nearly 25,000 election social media messages shared by Michigan voters identified nearly half as unverified WikiLeaks content and Russian-origin news stories that fall under the definition of propaganda based on its use of language and emotional appeals.

What hasnt been clear, however, is how much of an impact  if any  these fake news items had on the outcome of the election. To our knowledge, there have been no empirical studies that have systematically assessed the extent to which believing fake news stories influenced voting decisions in 2016. So, we set out to do one.

We are scholars associated with the Comparative National Elections Project, which is coordinated at The Ohio State University. In December 2016, we commissioned YouGov to conduct a nationwide post-election survey. Our study concludes that fake news most likely did have a substantial impact on the voting decisions of a strategically important set of voters.

Heres what we learned.

Our research questions

The survey had 1,600 respondents. We focus our analysis on the 2016 electoral behavior of 585 respondents who had voted for Barack Obama in 2012. This strategic subset of voters was selected for two reasons.

First, restricting our analysis to former Obama supporters allowed us to weed out those respondents who were hostile to all Democratic candidates.

Second, if Hillary Clinton had retained the support of Obama voters, she would have most likely won the 2016 election. Instead, just 77 percent of Obama voters supported Clinton. Our survey data show that 10 percent of these former Obama voters cast ballots for Trump in 2016, 4 percent switched to minor parties and 8 percent did not vote.

Our key research question is: What accounts for these defections?

Study methodology and results

Our survey asked 281 questions, including three false statements best characterized as fake news  two negative statements about Hillary Clinton and one positive statement about Donald Trump. All three were widely disseminated through social media and spread by mainstream and partisan news outlets.

The first is that Hillary Clinton is in very poor health due to a serious illness. Twenty-five percent of all survey respondents believed that this was definitely true or probably true, as did 12 percent of our former Obama supporters.

The second is a statement that asked our respondents if they believed that During her time as U.S. secretary of state, Hillary Clinton approved weapon sales to Islamic jihadists, including ISIS. Thirty-five percent of our national sample believed that Clinton had sold weapons to the Islamic State, as did 20 percent of former Obama voters.

Finally, the third is a statement that Pope Francis endorsed Donald Trump for president prior to the election. About 10 percent of our national sample and 8 percent of Obama supporters thought this statement was true.

Belief in these fake news stories is very strongly linked to defection from the Democratic ticket by 2012 Obama voters. Among respondents who didnt believe any of the fake news stories, 89 percent cast ballots for Hillary Clinton in 2016. Sixty-one percent of those who believed one fake news item voted for Clinton. But only 17 percent of those who believed two or all three of these false assertions voted for Clinton.

To be sure, data from a one-time survey cannot prove that these fake news items caused former Obama voters to defect. It is also possible that someone who chose not to vote for Clinton might endorse these false statements after the fact in order to rationalize their voting decision.

We also explored a number of other possible explanations for these voters defections.

What else could explain these defections?

The Clinton campaign heavily emphasized gender issues in an attempt to mobilize female voters. Could this have alienated men to the extent that they abandoned their prior support for the Democratic presidential candidate? Our data provide no support for such a claim. An identical 23 percent of both male and female respondents who had voted for Obama in 2012 defected from the Democratic ticket.

Did the lack of an African-American presidential candidate lead black voters to waiver in their commitment to the Democratic candidate? No. Indeed, fewer African-American voters (20 percent) defected from Clinton than did white voters (23 percent).

Age is weakly related to defection from Clinton. While 20 percent of voters over 35 abandoned the Democratic ticket in 2016, 30 percent of younger voters did so.

Education is also weakly associated with defection. Among college-educated former Obama voters, just 16 percent did not vote for Clinton, but the percentage almost doubled to 27 percent defecting for those with lower educational attainment.

More overtly political variables had a stronger impact. Half of those who placed themselves near the conservative end of the ideological scale defected from the Democratic candidate, while only 14 percent of those on the left did so.

Similarly, dissatisfaction with the condition of the economy also had an impact: Just 12 percent of those who thought that the economic situation at the time of the survey was good or very good abandoned Hillary Clinton, while 39 percent who regarded the economy as poor or very poor at the time of the survey defected from the Democratic ticket.

Party identification exerted a stronger influence. Among the former Obama voters who identified themselves as Democrats, 7 percent did not vote for Clinton. This rose to 40 percent among independents and to 68 percent among those who identified with the Republican, Libertarian or Green parties.

Controlling for alternative explanations

So do all of these alternative factors mean its impossible to measure the unique impact of belief in fake news on the vote in 2016? Actually social science offers us a way. Multiple regression analysis is a tool that allows researchers to account for many different factors influencing behavior, in this case defecting from the Democratic ticket in 2016.

We used this tool to estimate the joint impact on the vote of all of these alternative explanatory factors. The first equation we ran included gender, race, age, education, ideological orientation, dissatisfaction with the condition of the economy and party identification. All together, these variables explained 38 percent of the likelihood of defection.

We then added the fake news items to the equation to measure their impact. The three fake news items explained an additional 14 percent of the likelihood of Obama voters defecting after the influence of all of the other variables had been taken into consideration.

We also added one more compelling element to our study. Using feeling thermometers, we measured how much each respondent liked or disliked Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. If defection of Obama voters was only due to disliking Hillary Clinton or liking Donald Trump, then the introduction of this thermometer variable into the equation should make the link with fake news disappear.

Though how people felt about Clinton and Trump did somewhat reduce the strength of the relationship between fake news and defection, it did not eliminate it. Belief in fake news remained a significant predictor of defecting from Clinton. In sum, even after the impact of all of these other factors is taken into consideration, former Obama voters who believed one or more of these fake news stories were 3.3 times more likely to defect from the Democratic ticket in 2016 than those who did not believe any of these false claims.

That may not seem like much, but Clinton lost the presidency by about 78,000 votes (0.6 percent of nationwide vote) cast in the key battleground states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. Though our evidence does not prove that belief in fake news caused these former Obama voters to defect from the Democratic candidate in 2016, our study results suggest that it is highly likely that the pernicious pollution of our political discourse by fake news was sufficient to influence the outcome of what was a very close election.

Richard Gunther, Professor Emeritus of Political Science, The Ohio State University; Erik C. Nisbet, Associate Professor of Communication, Political Science, and Environmental Policy and Faculty Associate with the Mershon Center for International Security Studies, The Ohio State University, and Paul Beck, Professor Emeritus of Political Science, The Ohio State University

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.



Bonus video added by Informed Comment:

TYT: Trump Supporters LOVE Fake NewsWest Perth, WA / February 19, 2018 / JMN Wire / Celsius Resources Limited (ASX: CLA) (Celsius or the Company) is pleased to provide an update on exploration results at its 95% owned Opuwo Cobalt Project (Project) in Namibia.

The latest results include numerous thicker than average intercepts, including 10 m @ 0.13% Co and 0.45% Cu, and 7.49 m @ 0.14% Co and 0.79% Cu, including a higher copper interval of 5 m @ 0.15% Co and 1.01% Cu. Notably, DOFR0103 has provided further evidence of cobalt-copper mineralisation from surface/near surface to significant depth, with an intercept of 3.96 m @ 0.13% Co and 0.45% Cu, from 450.50 m down hole, or approximately 370 m below ground surface. Mineralisation remains open down dip.

Celsius Managing Director, Brendan Borg commented:

The Opuwo Cobalt Project is approaching an exciting phase of its evolution, as we await receipt of the final assay results from our 2017 drilling, and prepare to report our maiden JORC Mineral Resource.

HighlightsOTTAWA, Feb. 16, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cornerstone Capital Resources Inc. (Cornerstone or the Company) (TSXV:CGP) (Frankfurt:GWN) (Berlin:GWN) (OTC:CTNXF) has filed on SEDAR a technical report on the Maiden Mineral Resource Estimate for the Alpala Deposit in Ecuador. Please refer to the Company's news release dated January 3, 2018 for further details. The technical report is available under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on the Company's website (www.cornerstoneresources.com).

About Cornerstone:

Cornerstone Capital Resources Inc. is a mineral exploration company with a diversified portfolio of projects in Ecuador and Chile, and a proven ability to identify, acquire and advance properties of merit.

Further information is available on Cornerstones website: www.cornerstoneresources.com and on Twitter. For investor, corporate or media inquiries, please contact:

Investor Relations:

Mario Drolet; Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.; Tel. (514) 904-1333

Due to anti-spam laws, many shareholders and others who were previously signed up to receive email updates and who are no longer receiving them may need to re-subscribe at http://www.cornerstoneresources.com/s/InformationRequest.asp

Cautionary Notice:

This news release may contain Forward-Looking Statements that involve risks and uncertainties, such as statements of Cornerstones plans, objectives, strategies, intentions and expectations. The words potential, anticipate, forecast, believe, estimate, expect, may, project, plan, and similar expressions are intended to be among the statements that identify Forward-Looking Statements. Although Cornerstone believes that its expectations reflected in these Forward-Looking Statements are reasonable, such statements may involve unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors disclosed in our regulatory filings, viewed on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com. For us, uncertainties arise from the behaviour of financial and metals markets, predicting natural geological phenomena and from numerous other matters of national, regional, and global scale, including those of an environmental, climatic, natural, political, economic, business, competitive, or regulatory nature. These uncertainties may cause our actual future results to be materially different than those expressed in our Forward-Looking Statements. Although Cornerstone believes the facts and information contained in this news release to be as correct and current as possible, Cornerstone does not warrant or make any representation as to the accuracy, validity or completeness of any facts or information contained herein and these statements should not be relied upon as representing its views after the date of this news release. While Cornerstone anticipates that subsequent events may cause its views to change, it expressly disclaims any obligation to update the Forward-Looking Statements contained herein except where outcomes have varied materially from the original statements.

On Behalf of the Board,

Brooke Macdonald

President and CEO

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.Human Rights Watch recently published two reports on the human rights situation in Tunisia. One concerns police brutality during a wave of protests in January 2018, and the second is part of a 2018 World Report on human rights situations. Amna Guellali, Tunisia director at Human Rights Watch, tells Justiceinfo.net in this interview about the mixed picture of human rights in Tunisia today.

JusticeInfo.net: During popular protests this January against the rising cost of living, the authorities called activists of Fech Nestanew (What are we waiting for?) hooligans, and accused them of vandalism. Is that true?

Amna Guellali: It is clear that there were some acts of violence that HRW considers reprehensible, but there is not yet any precise evaluation of these protests. The demonstrations were sparked by popular anger and made legitimate demands, which should have been answered with social policies. In any case, acts of vandalism do not justify the criminalization of a broad social movement, nor labelling all protestors as hooligans. Such responses by the authorities and some media, lumping peaceful Fech Nestanew protestors and looters together, aimed to discredit Fech Nestanew activists. There needs to be respect for peaceful demonstrations alongside a proportionate response to stopping acts of violence  not with night raids and arbitrary arrests! An Interior Ministry spokesperson said there were 930 arrests up to January 15. We do not at our level have the resources to evaluate all these arrests, but we do have some elements on them. We know, for example, that after we investigated the 23 men arrested in night raids in Tebourba [a locality 30 km northwest of Tunis] in connection with the protests, several people suffered ill treatment and even torture. We also saw a lack of respect for judicial procedures, such as the right to a lawyer during provisional detention or forcing people to sign reports, sometimes without even being able to read them.

One man died during the protests on January 8 in Tebourba. The Interior Ministry says he had a respiratory disease and died after asphyxiation by tear gas. Do you believe that?

We investigated the death of this man and reviewed the video shot by a demonstrator that shows a police car knocking him down and then running over his body. We also interviewed his family and eyewitnesses. So we can say it is highly likely that he was killed by a police vehicle. All the evidence goes against the Interior Ministrys version. I must say that the Ministry has a strong tendency to deny the existence of violations. Since 2012 when we started documenting these kind of abuses in post-revolutionary Tunisia, we have seen that the Ministry publishes press releases each time saying the victim died of natural causes, without any investigation or autopsy or questioning witnesses. This is problematic. In the case of the Tebourba victim, the Interior Ministry is assuming the role of the judicial authorities, the Attorney General and the forensic doctor, and giving a very biased view of reality. That is not its role. In the case of violations, there is a chain of structures that should intervene to determine responsibilities and shed light on what happened.

These repressive police tactics that you describe in your report still persist seven years after the end of the dictatorship. How do you explain that?

During these seven years there has not been any fundamental reform of the security apparatus, nor amendment of the laws governing the work of the security forces, nor establishment of an accountability system for them. We see a general state of impunity, which can only lead to continuation of the same practices. And we know that impunity fuels abuses.

In the Human Rights Watch 2018 World Report you say Tunisia is making progress on womens rights, that it adopted in September a law granting amnesty for certain types of corruption, and that it is currently examining a law which would boost impunity for the security forces and continue to criminalize homosexuality. How do you explain this paradoxical situation?

As our report says, the picture is mixed. There is some progress, such as the desire to improve the condition of women or the scrapping of a 1973 circular that banned a Tunisian woman from marrying a non-Muslim man, plus promises to amend legislation concerning individual freedoms. Other laws are in total contradiction with this progress. This permanent tension between steps forward and steps back makes it hard to read the human rights situation. The biggest problem remains the slowness of reforms. Some very important laws should have been revised long ago, such as the one giving the Military Tribunal the right to prosecute civilians, or laws that go against the right to privacy. The country is also suffering from an institutional void because of delays in setting up a constitutional court with the power to scrap laws that go against fundamental freedoms and do not conform with international human rights standards.

The specialized criminal chambers provided for in Tunisian transitional justice have not yet started working. Do you think their upcoming handling of serious human rights abuse cases including torture could help put an end to impunity?

We hope so! Because these are Chambers composed of judges trained in transitional justice who will rule on serious violations of the past. The Truth and Justice Commission (IVD) has said it will transfer some cases to the Chambers by March. But there is still a lack of guarantees regarding whether these judicial bodies will shed light on the truth. Will they really manage to tackle the cases other than through judicial means? How will they be able determine those responsible in the absence of cooperation from the State? The Truth Commission has sent repeated demands to the Interior Ministry for information and cooperation to get the names of perpetrators, but has not received any reply. Will the specialized Chambers face the same obstacles and obstructions?

Human rights organizations have for some time been the target of smear campaigns by certain local media, as in Ben Alis time. Why these attacks, do you think?

It is due to the return of some figures from the old regime, but also old reflexes especially against international human rights NGOs, which are probably seen as a weak link to be targeted notably with conspiracy theories. These campaigns are not innocent, they happen at crucial moments. They started when in 2015 we criticized some provisions of the anti-terrorist law. At that time some newspaper articles claimed that the NGOs wanted to whitewash terrorism. We were also attacked when we built a movement against the bill on repression of attacks against the security forces. These reactions show that the old system continues to try and protect itself and resist change, in the hope of making a comeback.Living Democracy program explores civil discourse, continues KSUnite mission

Monday, Feb. 19, 2018



The Living Democracy project, a part of KSUnite, is helping the Kansas State University community explore the challenges and potential of living in a democratic society.

MANHATTAN  The Living Democracy program at Kansas State University is helping the community explore civil discourse, social justice and democracy throughout the spring semester.



The program, organized by Los Angeles-based artist Linda Pollack, offers a platform to explore and discuss the challenges and potential of living in a democratic society. Pollack has recruited a variety of guest speakers to discuss the U.S. Constitution and other topics such as voting, health care and public housing.



"Students who participate will meet likeminded people who are interested in exercising public life," Pollack said. "Instead of saying 'We are K-State family,' they will uncover the meaning of the K-State family."



The program is part of KSUnite and is being made possible by the university's art department through a collaboration with the Union Program Council, Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art, A.Q. Miller School of Journalism and Mass Communications, Black Faculty and Staff Alliance, and several other university and student groups. KSUnite is a communitywide program to uphold the value of human diversity and inclusion.

The Living Democracy activities started with the Prairie Fire Printmakers, a student group, which has created the Democracy in Print gallery that runs through March 9 at the William T. Kemper Art Gallery in the K-State Student Union. Along with a student poster display, the gallery serves as a lounge where students can discuss what's on their minds. It also provides space for a new project where students can sign up for a blind interview and get to know others in their community.

The following events also are part of the Living Democracy project at Kansas State University; all are free and open to the public:

 Micah Kubic, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas, will focus on the right to vote and how Kansas is playing a large role in national voting laws at 1 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 20, in the Union's Wildcat Chamber.

 Award-winning filmmaker Peter Bratt will speak and screen his new documentary, "Dolores," a portrait of United Farm Workers co-founder Dolores Huerta, at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 22, at the K-State Alumni Center.

 Mary Beth Tinker, a free speech activist, will present the lecture "The Constitutional Rights of Students and Young People with Regard to Freedom of Expression" at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 24, in the Union's Wildcat Chamber. In the 1969 Supreme Court case, Tinker v. Des Moines Independent School District, the court ruled Tinker could not be punished for wearing a black armband in school to support a Vietnam War truce.

For more information and a full event listing, visit k-state.edu/livingdemocracy or livingdemocracy.info.





770 Shares Share

A patient with chronic pain and a physician walk into an exam room. This could be the set-up for a punchline, but in our current medical climate, its more often the first step in an elaborate dance that leaves both parties feeling frustrated, belittled, and ignored. Often, this is a first-time appointment rather than an established therapeutic relationship.

From the patients perspective, heres what happens:

Theyve been putting off this visit for weeks, dreading it, after bad experiences with doctors who openly expressed disbelief about their pain. Theyre nervously fidgeting in their chair when he walks in.

Hi, Im Dr. Bigshotte. What brings you in today? Dr. Bigshotte sounds hurried. He logs in to the computer as he starts talking. As soon as he sees the notes on the patient, his face changes; he seems annoyed.

Well, begins the patient, my pain 

It looks like your pain is chronic, Dr. Bigshotte interrupts. How much oxy are you taking?

I mostly need it to sleep, so 

Im asking how much youre taking in a day. Four tabs? Five?

Usually three at night, but 

I need to know how much youre taking in a day. Dr. Bigshotte looks even more annoyed.

The patient gives up trying to explain how their pain fluctuates over the course of a day or week, how they know which activities exacerbate it and when theyll need more medication, what bargains they make with themselves to get through major events on top of their daily work. Forty.

Im worried about that. Dr. Bigshotte leans back from the computer, crossing his arms. Do you understand how big the respiratory risk is with these drugs?

As if doctors havent been harping on that for years. I 

I think we should try to work together to get your dose down.

The patient is close to tears at this point. The pain is already controlling their lives. Its there when they wake up, when they go to sleep, when they awaken in the night, at birthday parties and dinners out, at their desk. Pain is always on their mind. In the face of their doctors apparent disbelief and hostility, they feel hopeless, blamed for their pain, and resentful of their doctors paternalism. They know the risks, but they need to be able to live their life.

From the doctors perspective, heres how that conversation goes:

Dr. Hardwork is in the middle of a busy clinic day. Hes hoping to wrap up his next few appointments quickly, so he has time to chart during his lunch. Because of the chaos of the clinic, he ends up in the exam room having only heard headaches or something.

When he sits down with the patient, logging in, so the old computer has time to load, he notices that the patient looks disheveled and anxious. Is this patient homeless? A drug abuser? Mentally ill?

Hi, Im Dr. Hardwork. What brings you in today?

As the slow computer continues to load, the patient begins. Well, my pain 

A host of memories come to mind: emergency rooms, inpatient services, clinic rooms. Some of the patients who have started with these words have escalated to shouting, verbal abuse, even physical threats. Doctors have been attacked for refusing to prescribe opioids. There is a huge problem with opioid trafficking in this doctors area.

At the same time, the problem list has loaded. The doctor can see that the problem list is long, complicated, and includes functional disorders; it is a classic list for a difficult patient.

It looks like your pain is chronic, says Dr. Hardwork. There is a trail of old prescriptions in the record. How much oxy are you taking?

The patient wont answer the question directly. Dr. Hardwork has to push to get an estimate, and his heart sinks. Forty milligrams of oxycodone a day is a lot. Its enough to develop dependence; its enough to sell; its enough to save up and commit suicide with. Good people can spiral into addiction without meaning to, without even noticing.

The doctor has seen patients die of respiratory depression due to opioids. Heroin, sure, but also ODs on prescription medications. Hes lost long-time patients. Those deaths weigh heavy, even years later, and unfortunately the recent ones havent been that long.

Im worried about that. Dr. Hardwork tries to impress upon the patient  who has probably never watched someone die from an OD the gravity of the risk. The patient seems impervious, focused on getting their meds, fidgety.

I think we should try to work together to get your dose down.

He doesnt want to see another patient die like that.

He leaves the visit frustrated, angry that patients seem to care more about transient pain relief than living, burned and suspicious from patients who had good stories and seemed genuine but went on to sell the drugs or turn up at multiple emergency departments across the state with similar stories.

No one is happy. The patient considers turning to black-market opioids, including heroin, or suicide. The doctor considers quitting medicine, retiring early. No one wins, and the conversation doesnt change. Insurance rarely covers alternative pain management strategies, and those dont work well. Integrated pain clinics are few and far between. Primary care doctors dont have many tools to manage chronic pain, and those they do have pose very real health risks.

If there is a solution, its not going to be easy, and its not going to be cheap. Cutting off all opioid prescriptions (or making them so difficult to access that patients give up on legal means) isnt the answer. Neither is prescribing them without close consideration. We have to commit, as a country, to finding an answer  to working with both chronic pain patients and their doctors in good faith, to find solutions that both can accept. Because the therapeutic relationship should not be this adversarial. It keeps patients from being open with their doctors, and its against everything that brings doctors joy in medicine.

Kristin Puhl is a medical student and can be reached on Twitter @kristinpuhl.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com72 Shares Share

Camilles dark glasses disguised a black eye she suffered falling from bed, cowering to take cover. Someone fired shots near her bungalows back window again, a routine rhythm of her slice of Chicago that she has heard for years now.

The 82 year old walks with a cane but carries a brick in her purse. Shes not afraid to use it on a badly behaving neighbor.

Most would think she has more pressing priorities than the event where we met, a forum to consider future health preferences- an end of life initiative at one of the citys largest African American churches.

But Camille refuses victimhood in a life amidst violence and tries equally hard to avoid such in death. Circumventing suffering at her most vulnerable time shouldnt be such a chore. For most who look like her, it has been. Shes seen this scenario up close through the final hospitalizations of family and friends.

She didnt need the recent Kaiser Family Foundation study to spotlight the critical reason why blacks are dying worse than an American population that isnt dying well.

She already knew.

Older blacks are less likely to have discussed and documented their care wishes. Doing so is the most surefire way to receive the care we desire. Only 19 percent of blacks 65 and older have documented their wishes, compared with 65 percent of whites. Older blacks are half as likely to have named someone to carry out their wishes if they cannot.

Its one racial disparity that divides us further, even in death. Within health care, blacks are too often simply ignored. African Americans arent dying well because no one bothers to ask them about the care they prefer.

Ive cheered on the front lines of a radical cultural shift unfolding as baby boomers age, watch parents die, and determine their own deaths should be done differently.

The movement has been one of the whiter and wealthier. My work in end of life education happens in community settings- senior centers, churches, libraries and the like- primarily because conversations arent happening enough in doctors offices.

Only one in ten of the roughly one thousand black seniors Ive talked with in the past year say their physician has broached the topic. Kaisers number is higher: 33 percent. But it is still shameful after a long-fought policy achievement to incentivize physicians by reimbursing end of life discussions.

The majority of seniors I talk with are healthy, able to venture- often alone- to community spaces. They are motivated to address the care they desire while simultaneously hoping they wont need it for another decade or two.

But among ill African Americans, planning also remains unaddressed. One study among advanced cancer patients revealed that blacks (47 percent) were significantly less likely to have participated in advance care planning than whites (80 percent).

Although Camilles situation seems less than secure, home is where she would like to die. This wish is akin to that of the majority of Americans. Among African Americans, only ten percent report hoping to die in a hospital. Despite this, blacks die as inpatients more often than whites.

As inpatients, African Americans are less likely to receive adequate pain assessment and more likely to experience poor physician communication about care choices. Though the reasons for this communication challenge are many and complex  like race-based bedside assumptions  a main factor in these interactions is that the discussions started so late. If started earlier, patients might be more satisfied that they werent dying in the hospital in the first place.

Certainly, all of us have the responsibility to advocate for ourselves in our health choices. Patients like Camille can start this conversation with their provider first.

Unfortunately, too often patients find an uncomfortable physician when the dialogue dances close to death. In a large survey of physicians, close to 86 percent found it very challenging to conduct end of life discussions with patients whose ethnicity was different than their own.

Such community efforts here in Chicago and others nationwide will continue out of necessity. But what a boost it would be to these efforts if they followed a brief physician-patient dialogue somewhere in our ever specialized spectrum of care.

A few weeks after I met Camille, she brought three of her relatives to a similar program at a different venue. She wants everyone close to her to know her wishes and to take steps to declare theirs. In all, 17 loved ones have come to hear Camilles wishes and consider their own.

We need a health care system willing to listen, too.

Randi Belisomo is president and co-founder, Life Matters Media.

Image credit: Shutterstock.comThe Herald reports:

Steven Joyce has confirmed he will contest the National Party leadership. Joyce told Newstalk ZBs Mike Hosking he would become the fifth candidate to replace Bill English. Joyce said lots of colleagues and regular New Zealanders told him to put his name forward. My view is it has always been about the National Party, its not about me personally. Joyce said he was not troubled by Nationals three-point dip in last nights 1 News-Colmar Brunton poll. Instead he took it as a reminder to people that being the largest party was not a given and good polling was not a given. You actually have to go out and earn every day the respect of the public and the right of the public to contest for the election in 2020. Its a contest of ideas and a contest of how well organised you are. And thats the challenge for our party.

Great to see so many credible candidates to choose from. This is effectively the first open leadership contest in many decades. Previous leadership elections or changes were either a coup against the leader or a clear front runner who ends up being confirmed without a vote (English 2016, Key 2006).

Go back further and Brash, English, and Shipley all became leader through direct challenges to the incumbent leader.

Go back further and 1986 was Bolger rolling McLay. In 1984 there was a three way vote on the leadership but it included the imcumbent leader Muldoon so not a true open contest.

1974 was Muldoon rolling Marshall. So really the last open one was 1972 when Muldoon and Marshall both stood to replace Holyoake.

Before that 1957 was uncontested with Holyoake replacing Holland. Back in 1940 it was Holland rolling Hamilton. The only other uncontested vote was at the partys founding in 1936 when Hamilton defeated Wilkinson.

So this is the third open leadership contest in Nationals history, and the most contested one with five candidates. This again makes it less likely anyone gets 29 votes on the first ballot, and it may even need four ballots to get a winner.

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Feb 19, 2018, 2:58am ET

Daimler denies claims of using illegal defeat device

One of Germany\'s largest newspapers says it has evidence of the device\'s existence.

One of Germany's largest newspapers claims it has concrete evidence that Mercedes-Benz parent company Daimler fitted some of its diesel-powered cars with an illegal emissions defeat device. The German car-maker denies the allegations.

Bild am Sonntag reported seeing confidential documents that confirm the device's existence. Investigators in the United States allegedly uncovered it after examining internal emails from Daimler engineers that questioned the legality of the software programmed into the cars.

The two suspect functions are called Slipguard and Bit 15, respectively. The first one recognizes whether the car is on a test bench or on an actual road by monitoring parameters such as its speed and acceleration patterns. The second one shuts off the emissions control system after about 16 miles of driving. There's no word on how, when, or if it's used.

It's important to note neither function is illegal; Daimler only runs afoul of the law if investigators prove its cars explicitly use the functions to cheat on emissions test. It's unclear at this point which model(s) are equipped with the software.

Contacted by industry trade journal Automotive News, a spokesman for Daimler said the company is fully cooperating with American authorities. He added Daimler signed a confidentiality clause with the Department of Justice (DOJ) so it can't release the documents Bild cited to the public. He claimed there's more to the story, though.2019 Honda HR-V will likely follow Japan-market Vezel refresh

Feb 18, 2018, 4:44pm ET

A redesigned grille and active-safety features have been added.

Honda released a new version of the Vezel subcompact SUV in Japan on Thursday. Its essentially the same model as the HR-V in the US, and likely previews what a mid-generation refresh of the HR-V will look like.

The facelifted Vezel starts off most noticeably with LED headlights similar in design to the ones found on the newest Accord and Civic models. Connecting them is a dark chrome bar across the grille, replacing the black U-shaped bar from the current design. Bezels on the lower fascia have been reshaped as well, incorporating thin LED foglamps.

A redesigned selection of wheels comes with the facelift as well, as does two new color options that we may not see stateside, Aurora Amethyst Metallic and Silver Mist Green Metallic. Interestingly, the rear styling does not appear to have been changed at all.

Perhaps more importantly, though, the Vezel now offers active-safety features such as automatic forward braking, adaptive cruise control, and lane keeping assistance. Additionally, Honda says it has made minor adjustments to the AWD system's torque control.

The cabin promises to be quieter, too. Honda says it reduced cabin noise by revising the sound insulation and making changes to the fuel pump (the fuel tank is located under the center of the car).

Finally, Honda has made available a hybrid version, but the Japanese market often has different powertrains than what we get in the states, so don't necessarily count on that coming stateside.

The refreshed HR-V will likely follow later this year, going on sale as a 2019 model.A Cambridge Professor of Archaeology is appealing for information about a Portarlington man whose hobby was the decipherment of Maya hieroglyphic writing.

Professor Norman Hammond wrote to the Leinster Express last week:

"Can I appeal through your readers for any information they may have about the late Richard Charles Edward LONG (1872-1951) of Portarlington, a solicitor there from the time he qualified in 1896 until his death?

"His spare-time occupation was the decipherment of ancient Maya hieroglyphic writing in Central America, and he made a number of very important discoveries, including that of a very long period of time 8,000 years long in the Maya calendar.

"I promised the Royal Irish Academy an article on "The Irish and the Maya", and Mr Long should play his part in it. As it is, I have been unable to find a picture of him, or any obituary; (Mr Ronnie Matthews supplied me two years ago with a photograph of the former Long house in Portarlington; but a friend from UCC Cork has made several attempts to visit the Church of Ireland burial ground to see if there is a gravestone, and to contact the Rev. Leslie Stevenson, both to no avail).

"In the only published obituary, in a Mexican journal, he was described by the late Sir Eric Thompson, the doyen of Maya studies last century, as "a very fine example of the cultivated amateur which the Victorian age produced in number. "Members of that group possessed a broad cultural background...with his passing on October 25th 1951 the small group of scholars in the British Isles interested in the ancient civilisations of Mesoamerica suffers a serious loss".

"It would be good if he could take his proper place in the intellectual history of Ireland, and I hope your readers may, even almost seven decades after his death, be able to assist me."

Yours sincerely,

Norman Hammond

Professor Norman Hammond, ScD, FSA, FBA

Senior Fellow, McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research,

Cambridge University,

Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3ER, England.

Associate in Maya Archaeology,

Peabody Museum, Harvard University,

11 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge MA 02138, USA.

Residence:

Wholeway, Harlton, Cambridge CB23 1ET, England

01223 262376There are celebrations in Mountrath after a tense week of voting in the Junk Kouture 2018 Lifeline competition.

One project, Camera Shy, from Mountrath Community School made it straight through to the eastern regional final of the competition while a second project, Frida Colour, has made it through on the lifeline vote.

In total 23 Laois entries were up for the Lifeline vote with a total of 249 projects battling it out last week. Mountrath Community School had the edge when the vote finished up on Friday night.

Frida colour is a Junk Kouture 2018 project by Liam Cleary, Erin Byrne and Alicia Byrne is a colourful paper dress made from recycled paper swatches.

The community in Mountrath got behind the local entry to push it forward until the final vote was counted.

Frida Color made it through and now joins eleven other Laois projects in the Junk Kouture competition in the regional final on March 5 in The Helix, Dublin.

A total of 79 stunning creations by secondary school students will be modelled in the Helix on the day.

A vote is now ongoing for the 79 projects in the regional final, this vote counts towards 10% of their mark on the day of the final.

Look at these stunning outfits made by Mountrath students for Junk Kouture.

Creative St Fergal's Rathdowney creation makes the Junk Kouture cut.

Incredible Scoil Chriost Ri Portlaoise creations make the Junk Kouture cut.IT Sligo is urging female students to engineer their future and consider a career in engineering.

With low numbers of women choosing to study engineering across the country, IT Sligo is planning different ways to encourage women to consider a career in the field.

One of the events being held as part of IT Sligos Engineers Week, which runs from February 24 to March 2, is a Women in Engineering Coffee Morning.

This is a networking opportunity for both female engineers and students from across the region to meet each other and discuss how to encourage more women into the profession. It is hoped that ideas discussed will be progressed by a specially-formed group following the event.

The Institute is already leading by example in this area with two senior positions in the School of Engineering & Design held by women: Una Parsons, Head of School of Engineering & Design and Marion McAfee, who was recently announced as Acting Head of Mechanical & Electronic Engineering.

Una Parsons, Head of School of Engineering & Design at IT Sligo, said, I encourage female students to engineer their future and consider a career in engineering. In the past, the medical profession was dominated by males and we see over recent decades how that has totally changed. My vision is that we have a similar change in the engineering profession. There are so many fascinating options to a career in engineering  we want to change perceptions that it is mainly for males.

Marion McAfee, Acting Head of Mechanical & Electronic Engineering at IT Sligo, said, Engineering is a fantastic, varied career with real challenges and you have the opportunity to actively make solutions in a variety of areas covering everything from roads to medical devices and self-driving cars. Engineers Week is a great opportunity for members of the public to see what a career in engineering involves.

Engineers drive economic growth, so Ireland really needs more engineers. Recruiters are struggling to get enough skilled engineers and with few women entering the field the talent pool is restricted.

Sligo is a medical and pharmaceutical hub so students going into these engineering fields will have lots of opportunity to find work locally. There are great jobs available for engineers both locally, nationally and internationally. An engineering degree is your passport to the world, said Dr McAfee.

The Women in Engineering Coffee Morning is being organised by Saritha Unnikrishnan, who joined IT Sligo as a part-time assistant lecturer and is currently doing a PhD in computational data modelling and machine learning at IT Sligo.

The coffee morning event takes place on Thursday, 1st March from 10.30am in room A1060 in IT Sligo.

Last year, a similar networking event resulted in the introduction of engineering summer camps at IT Sligo.

IT Sligo will bring engineering to life with a wide range of free activities to mark Engineers Week, an annual campaign to promote engineering as a career and the importance of the profession to Ireland.

Some of the other events taking place at IT Sligo during Engineers Week include:

 A public lecture titled Electric Vehicle Infrastructure and Technology Developments by John Mooney, Operations Manager, ESB Electric Cars (Feb 26)

 A primary school showcase Irelands Engineering Superheroes by Scientific Sue (Feb 28)

 A secondary school showcase film screening Dream Big: Engineering Our World (Mar 1)

 A Precision Engineering & Design talk given by students on their experiences in Industrial Placement (Mar 1)

 A Coder Dojo workshop (Mar 2)

Michael OHalloran, Chairman of Engineers Ireland North West region, encourages anyone interested in learning more about engineering to get involved in the weeks activities. He said, Engineering is a vast discipline with limitless career opportunities and we organise this week of activities each year primarily to try to demystify it somewhat for interested students and their parents. Its an exciting time to be an engineer at the moment and there are a lot of very promising employment opportunities for engineers in the North West and around the world.

All events are free and most are open to members of the public to attend. For more information and to register see www.engineersweek.ieDespite the inclement weather conditions, a significant number of local people turned out for a public meeting in Strokestowns Percy French Hotel last Thursday evening, 15th February which was organised by Sinn Fein.

Those attending heard Midlands North West MEP Matt Carthy say that rural Ireland and those who live there face discrimination from Government policies.

The MEP, who is a member of the European parliuaments Agriculture and Finance Committees said services regarded as rights in urban areas were viewed as charity when provided to or sought by rural communities.

The meeting, which was chaired by Councillor Michael Mulligan, was also addressed by Sinn Feins Roscommon/Galway representative Claire Kerrane, who condemned the actions of local Fine Gael and Fianna Fail representatives who voted in the Dail against a Sinn Fein Bill which would have prevented such discrimination against those living in rural Ireland.

Matt Carthy said: "Rural Ireland and the people who live there face discrimination from Government policies in the provision of health services, broadband and infrastructure including our roads. These are regarded as basic rights in urban areas but as charity when provided to or demanded buy those living in rural Ireland. This discrimination must end and Sinn Fein will ensure that it does.

He said that the Governments National Framework plan appeared to be ignoring the North West region and amounted to little more than doing what Government Departments always intended to do but with added media spin.

The current Fine Gael Government has effectively abandoned rural Ireland, especially western counties. Rural schools, Garda stations and post offices have been closed at an alarming rate. Meanwhile small and medium business have been starved of credit and neglected by the Government so that many rural towns are simply dying on their feet.

"Successive governments have made living in rural Ireland more difficult. They have cut rural transport programmes, raised costs for private car users and inflicted cuts on Bus Eireann and Iarnrod Eireann. There is now a major threat to 800 more post office branches across the state. This cannot continue.

"Sinn Fein has a vision for rural Ireland as a sustainable place to live and work, where the quality of life is matched by the quality of public services. This includes a policy commitment to keep rural post offices, libraries and Garda stations open and to maintain services that connect people with their local towns.

Carthy said that since his election to the European Parliament, he had been active in relation to issues affecting people living in rural Ireland: I have raised at EU level the issue of regional imbalances in Ireland and highlighted the lack of key infrastructure here in the West.



I have sought to reduce overly burdensome regulations imposed on small and medium businesses, on farmers and on local authorities.



But the truth is that while we can champion these issues at EU level, we really need a fundamental rethink of Irish Government policy.



That means that rural based MEPs, TDs and Councillors, from Fianna Fail and Fine Gael in particular, must join with Sinn Fein in demanding significant investment in rural counties.



It means thinking big for rural Ireland. There is no reason why many parts of rural Ireland havent got broadband or cant access international investment or why so many of our young people, even now, continue to emigrate in order to get a job.



There is no reason other than the fact that Fianna Fail and Fine Gael Governments have not and will not invest adequately in the infrastructure and services we need.

Sinn Fein is committed to being a strong voice for the Rural Ireland and West. We believe it is time to recognise and embrace the opportunities that exist here.

We have put forward key actions and targets that can begin a turnaround in the fortunes of this region. Sinn Fein is clear in our commitment to public services and to local communities. We will stand with communities in opposing the withdrawal of services and ght for a New Deal for the West.Ireland West Airport has welcomed last weeks announcement by Government in Sligo of planned increased investment in Ireland West Airport as part of the Project Ireland 2040 Plan.

Joe Kennedy, Chairman of the airport, welcoming the announcement, said, We welcome the Governments announcement by An Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar TD, of a commitment for increased investment into the airport as part of the Project Ireland 2040 plan.

"In particular, we acknowledge the continued Exchequer support that is planned under the Regional Airports Programme for the overlay of the main runway and an apron safety extension as outlined in the National Development Plan 2018-2027.

"While the funding level has yet to be finalised and the application is with the EU Commission for their consideration, we are confident that with Governments support funding at a 90% level can be obtained for both of these projects.

"We also wish to acknowledge Governments recognition of the airport as one of the four main airports in the country and its position as a critical driver of economic and tourism development for the West and North West of Ireland.

"In addition to this the airports designation as a Strategic Development Zone (SDZ) last year has also been highlighted as critical to the long-term development of the airport and the regional economy in the National Development Plan.

"We also are pleased that the National Planning Framework highlights the Atlantic Economic Corridor initiative and recognises the significant role of Ireland West Airport in tourism and enterprise development, with the potential for further growth. taking into particular account of the airports designation as a StrategicDevelopment Zone (SDZ).

"We look forward to working with Government on the above investment projects in the coming months which will support the airports future growth and development plans and also look forward to developing a comprehensive incentives programme for the SDZ zone to attract both new aviation related and commercial businesses to the airport.

"Finally, we wish to thank and acknowledge Governments continued confidence and support for the airport and in particular the Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar TD, Minister for Transport Tourism and Sport, Shane Ross TD and his Department and our local Minister For Rural and Community Development, Michael Ring TD, Senator Michelle Mulherin together with local political representatives, and Local Authority partners.Leitrim people have been called on to bake for the 13,000 people who acquire brain injury each year in Ireland, as Brain Awareness Week takes place from March 5-11.

The Week includes bake for brain injury events all across the country to support rehabilitation and services for people and their families.

Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) Ireland CEO Barbara OConnell called on bakers and eaters to join forces.

To raise some dough for brain injury simply bake for your friends, work colleagues, or school friends between March 5-11 and ask them to donate for their cake by visiting www.abiireland.ie.

Bake for Brain Injury events will be taking place in cities, towns and villages across the country during the week. Details of local events can be found by calling ABI Irelands main office at (01) 280 4164.

The campaign is being endorsed by Broadcaster Miriam OCallaghan who called on people to bake or sample some tasty bites to support needed services.

Its very important to raise awareness of an injury that could happen any of us at any time. Acquired Brain Injury is devastating  but better services can dramatically improve lives. ABI Ireland is playing a vital role in helping the people and families who are affected.

ABI Ireland CEO Barbara OConnell called for Government commitment to developing regional neuro-rehabilitation services together with community supports.

Only a very small minority of people with a brain injury receive rehabilitation  mainly through ABI Ireland. Most either enter a nursing home which is not equipped to meet their needs, or are cared for at home by families who have little expertise, information or support.

The campaign can be followed on Twitter using #bakeforbraininjury.

More at www.abiireland.ie.LifeStyle

The best Lifestyle shows are right here, from Australia and around the world. Catch up with the experts on home design and interiors, food and cooking, the property market, and get fresh ideas with the savviest of renovators. Whether you need inspiration for cooking up a storm, to refresh a tired room, or tips to sell your property, Foxtel Lifestyle will always something new for you to watch. Enjoy your favourite experts like Andrew Winter and Neale Whitaker, or Shaynna Blaze and Jamie Oliver live or On Demand.Scientists didn't know what kind of octopus egg they'd plucked from the bottom of the sea until the shell started to hatch  then, they saw the elephant ears.

The adorable cephalopod hatchling, which you can see in a new video taken by researchers on a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) expedition, is known as a Dumbo octopus (genus Grimpoteuthis). Named after Disney's flying elephant, Dumbo octopi are easily distinguished by the floppy, ear-like fins popping out of their heads, which they use to swim around the deep sea.

The video, which accompanies a new paper published today (Feb. 19) in the journal Current Biology, shows a freshly hatched Dumbo octopus swimming for the first time in a bucket of water aboard the NOAA research vessel. [8 Crazy Facts About Octopuses]

The baby Dumbo octopus measured about two centimeters long after leaving its shell. (Image credit: Timothy M. Shank/NOAA Office of Exploration and Research)

The wee hatchling's mantle  the bulbous shell above its tentacles, where most of its internal organs are located  measured just 0.5 inches (13 millimeters), the researchers wrote. But besides being teensy, the hatchling's anatomy appeared to be fully formed right out of the egg.

Subsequent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans and a three-dimensional reconstruction of the baby octopus revealed that it was born with everything it needed to immediately swim with its fins, sense its environment and capture prey (which Dumbo octopi swallow whole). It was even born with a large internal yolk sac, researchers said, which contained enough nutrients to keep the hatchling alive for several days while it learned to catch its first meal.

"The virtual exploration and 3D reconstruction of the internal anatomy of this deep-sea creature was particularly revealing," study author Alexander Ziegler, a researcher at Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universitat Bonn in Germany, said in a statement. "I was impressed by the complexity of the central nervous system and the relative size of fins and the internal shell."

An MRI scan shows the octopus hatchling's eyes and yolk sac (the black blob in the middle). (Image credit: Alexander Ziegler)

Researchers used a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) to collect the hatchling's egg from a coral reef in the mid-Atlantic, about 1.2 miles (2,000 meters) below the ocean's surface. Dumbo octopods are typically found living just above the seafloor at depths of 1.8 miles to 2.5 miles (3,000 to 4,000 m) below the sea surface, though some have been seen as deep as 4.3 miles (7,000 m), according to the Aquarium of the Pacific.

Video evidence of mature Dumbo octopi reveals that they're also pretty slick dancers.

Originally published on Live Science.A fire reignited early Monday in the same apartment building in Martinez where a blaze had burned a day before when a resident left a stove unattended, authorities said.

The second fire, which occurred about 1:25 a.m. on the 400 block of Eastgate Lane, restarted in the roof of the building, damaging it even more, said Fire Marshal Robert Marshall of the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District.

Because of the extent of the fire (Sunday), there was some hidden fire somewhere that we didnt get to, which resulted in reignition, Marshall said. The original fire was partially an attic fire and this fire was completely an attic fire.

The building was vacant when the blaze ignited and no injuries were reported.

Firefighters were able to contain the flames within 20 minutes, Marshall said.

The original fire started about 4:15 a.m. Sunday in one of the units of the building, resulting in one firefighter injured and five of eight units damaged, said Capt. Lisa Martinez of the Fire Protection District.

The blaze was started by a resident who was cooking and left the stove unattended, Martinez said.

Its quite common, Martinez said. A lot of the fires that we go to are usually from unattended cooking. People put the pot on and forget about it.

The blaze was knocked down within five minutes of firefighters arriving on scene, Martinez said. Residents were displaced from the five damaged units.

One firefighter, who was not identified, was injured and transported to the hospital for treatment. The extent of his injuries were not disclosed. No other injuries were reported.A Dangerous Crossing

By Ausma Zehanat Khan

Minotaur. 352 pp. $25.99

---

What is the purpose of detective fiction? For Ausma Zehanat Khan, it's a perfect tool for getting us to see - really see - problems that are right before our eyes: humanitarian crises and war crimes, for instance. Khan, a former immigration lawyer and editor of the now-defunct magazine Muslim Girl, has created a mystery series starring a Muslim police detective, who along with his partner, has not only confronted anti-Muslim hate crimes in Canada, but has also roamed farther afield to ravaged places like Sarajevo, Iraq and Syria to look at evils the world would rather forget.

"A Dangerous Crossing" is the fifth novel in the series, and it tackles a timely subject: the plight of Syrian refugees. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, more than 5 million Syrians have been driven from their country or displaced internally since the start of that country's civil war in 2011.

Khan's mystery opens in a refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesvos (pronounced as "Lesbos"). Audrey Clare is a case worker from Canada who is helping resettle refugees through a nongovernmental organization (NGO) she runs called Woman to Woman. Audrey is on the beach at night with other volunteers scanning the waves for overburdened boats carrying their desperate human cargo of refugees. She tells a young man named Ali that she's returning to the headquarters of her NGO (a tent in the refugee camp) to meet an Interpol agent who wants to talk to them both. Readers are left in the dark about the reason for this conversation. When Audrey leaves the beach, Ali gets delayed. When he finally makes his way back to the tent, he hears gunshots. He rushes inside to find the bodies of that Interpol agent and a male refugee. The murder weapon is Audrey's gun; Audrey has vanished.

Cut to Ottawa, where Inspector Esa Khattak and his partner, Sgt. Rachel Getty, are attending an official reception. At the end of the evening, they will be asked by Audrey's brother, Nathan Clare, to find her and solve the murders. Nathan is a wealthy Canadian philanthropist who helped bankroll her NGO. Understandably, Nathan is worried about his sister, but her disappearance and the murders also could have a political impact: They could undermine the young prime minister's controversial efforts to fast-track refugee resettlement in Canada. The fact that Nathan Clare is Khattak's oldest friend, as well as the object of Getty's romantic longings, adds even more urgency to the case.

Overwhelmed? I was, too. The personal histories of Khan's characters are so enmeshed that tracing back their connections is like trying to untangle a hair ball. We learn, for instance, that Khattak's physician sister, Ruksh, runs a clinic for new Syrian arrivals to Canada that partners with Audrey's NGO. Meanwhile, Khattak's late wife's best friend, a lawyer named Sehr Ghilzai, enters the fray because she handles refugee claims for Audrey's NGO. Sehr also has the hots for Khattak and is jealous of his easy rapport with Getty.

I used to think Elizabeth George's Inspector Lynley series was unrivaled when it came to suspense stories grinding to a halt while the characters attended to their bruised feelings and unscratched romantic itches, but Khan's mystery has set a new gold standard for backstory complications. Adding to the confusion is the fact that Khan is not as deft as she could be in the skill that every series mystery writer must master: namely, speaking to two audiences at once - those who have read all the novels in the series and those readers who are starting with the latest. For example, Khattak's sister is barely speaking to him because of an offense dating from earlier in the series that's alluded to here but not described.

The obscuring effect of all this cryptic personal detail is regrettable, because when Khan concentrates on the suspense plot, she spins an exciting story that enlightens as much as it entertains. Khattak and Getty's investigation takes them to Greece, then close to the Turkish-Syrian border, and then to the Netherlands and finally back to Lesvos, where the mystery began. Khan writes with a vivid sense of immediacy whenever she's describing the refugee situation. Here's a scene where Getty transforms from being a witness to the refugee boats landing on Lesvos to a rescuer:

"She ran into the water, her steps slowing as they met the drag of the waves. She took the opposite side of the dinghy, using her upper-body strength to help ... pull it in. ... Even this limited attempt was wearing at her muscles. ... A young woman whose lips were blue unclutched her freezing hands from the baby in her lap. The man beside her ... reached down and passed the baby to Rachel. ... The baby's skin was cold, its eyes closed."

"A Dangerous Crossing" urges readers to consider not only the obvious natural hazards faced by Syrian refugees but also the evils perpetrated by human predators who lurk in the shadows. Finding a solution to those evils may be well beyond the reach of Khan's master detectives, but her complex tale helps us to, at the very least, see them more clearly.

---

Corrigan, the book critic for the NPR program Fresh Air, teaches literature at Georgetown University.In Full Flight: A Story of Africa and Atonement

By John Heminway

Knopf. 316 pp. $27.95

---

Anne Spoerry was a French-born doctor who spent nearly 50 years in Africa, flying her plane from village to village and helping people all over the continent, one vaccination, one improvised suture at a time. Her work was fundamental to the eradication of smallpox in Kenya. Spoerry's patients dubbed her "Mama Daktari," or "Mother Doctor," and though they were sometimes terrified of her short temper and long syringes, they would wait expectantly for her to appear in the sky, land with a lurch and bark instructions at them.

But Spoerry's humanitarian work is only a small part of her life story. In his fascinating biography, "In Full Flight," John Heminway offers a fuller picture of this complicated woman. Though Spoerry (pronounced Shpeuri) has been hailed by many as a savior, her reputation has been marred by questions about her actions during World War II. Shortly after she died in 1999, a family member discovered, locked away in a safe, a document indicating that Spoerry had been wanted for war crimes - specifically for torturing prisoners at Ravensbruck, a German concentration camp for women where she had been held for helping the Resistance in France.

With this book, Heminway, a documentary filmmaker who befriended Spoerry while working in Africa, seeks to figure out who Spoerry really was: Heroine or villain? Healer or killer? It is a captivating - if at times frustratingly told - tale of complex truths and motivations.

Heminway has done his research and is determined to weave a rich tapestry out of these complexities. He interviewed hundreds of people, dove into family archives, visited Ravensbruck and read Spoerry's journals. He quotes women who survived the camp and remembered Spoerry. Some cursed her; others praised her. He is respectful even as he exposes Spoerry's controversial past.

At the center of Heminway's investigation is the strange relationship between Spoerry and Carmen Mory, a "block elder" at Ravensbruck who became Spoerry's confidante (and perhaps her lover). Mory took Spoerry under her wing and, Heminway suggests, may have forced the young medical student to harm fellow prisoners. According to interviews with survivors, Spoerry became Mory's accomplice in terrible acts: throwing buckets of cold water at sick inmates, administering lethal injections and more. Spoerry, some former prisoners recalled, helped guards select prisoners for the gas chamber. But others testified that away from Mory, Spoerry treated the sick admirably, even with tenderness - a trait that defined her medical career in Africa.

Spoerry was freed from Ravensbruck in 1945. She resumed her medical studies and tried to return to a semblance of her prewar life. But in 1946, a French Court of Honor charged her with impersonating a doctor and "with having administered injections of Evipan and of air, leading to the death of at least one patient." Spoerry, the court determined, "had engaged in 'anti-French and anti-patriotic behavior.'" She was exiled from the country. Spoerry resumed her medical studies in Switzerland, where she was later imprisoned - Mory implicated her in a very public trial in Hamburg - and finally, aided by her family, fled to Africa. In Kenya, Spoerry began practicing medicine, her muddy personal history a secret.

Heminway seems to suggest that Spoerry's behavior is not entirely strange or evil, but part of a larger pattern of falling under the spell of others. Behind her strong, stubborn persona was a sister who craved a brother's attention and an exiled European who became enchanted with Africa. Just as she confessed that she had been "spellbound" by Mory, Spoerry admitted that she had joined the Resistance in 1942 because her brother Francois did.

The book's subtitle, "A Story of Africa and Atonement," is a reminder that Heminway wants to focus on Spoerry's decisions over a lifetime, not an episode. He - and others in the book - marvel at Spoerry, the first female "flying doctor," who was featured in a Werner Herzog documentary, "The Flying Doctors of East Africa"; vaccinated more than 120,000 patients; and ran 64 clinics around the continent. Heminway diligently tracked down Ravensbruck survivors who were horrified by her behavior there, but toward the end, he quotes one, Louise Le Porz, who says: "What [Spoerry] did in Africa was admirable. She went there for redemption. Today, if she were still alive, knowing her suffering, realizing the beauty she made of her career, and knowing how much she has done for humanity, my reaction would be different. I would embrace her."

That Spoerry's story is complicated is an understatement, but Heminway escalates the dramatic elements in a way that is sometimes distracting. The first five chapters end with cliffhangers, which seems more than one too many. The chapters jump in time - from Heminway's first meeting with Spoerry in Nairobi in 1980, to her 1948 escape from France, to her childhood in Switzerland and then to 1940s Paris. A narrative need not be chronological or linear, but here the storytelling feels abrupt and jagged. Moreover, Heminway's style obfuscates key details about how Spoerry ultimately reconciled with the French government, among other events.

Where the author's writing shines is in his descriptions of Africa, about which he has written three other books. He frequently writes about the sky, having accompanied Spoerry on several of her voyages across the continent: "Today the sky is as quiet as a hawk on the hunt," he writes. "Even on the sun-baked plain, marabou storks hush, like undertakers - bills half open, eyes frozen, legs as stiff as starch. They too appear to listen for the plane."

"In Full Flight" is a daring and devastating story of a woman who sailed oceans and flew across a continent to escape her past - even if it's never fully clear what that past was.

---

Sriram teaches at Ashoka University, near New Delhi. Her short history of Pondicherry, a city in South India that was colonized by the French, will be published this year.Everything You Love Will Burn: Inside the Rebirth of White Nationalism in America

By Vegas Tenold

Nation. 321 pp. $27

---

A short time ago, most people ignored the furthest fringes of the radical right, secure in the knowledge that they were marginalized and sliding toward inevitable extinction. With the election of Donald Trump, and fears that white-nationalist extremists occupied the White House, the pendulum swung in the opposite direction. Throughout 2017, observers expressed great concern that the alt-right - the latest iteration of the American white-nationalist movement - was an existential threat to democracy and racial progress. Both views were mistaken.

The explicitly racist right never went away and may always be with us. However, the extremists who made so many headlines at places such as Pikeville, Tenn., and Charlottesville last year are not on the verge of a breakthrough - even if the man they called "the God Emperor" during the last presidential election sits in the Oval Office. The re-energized extreme right presented itself as a united movement, ready for the political main stage. Those unaware of its inner workings failed to notice that it remained as fractured, fractious and penniless as ever - though still dangerous.

Vegas Tenold's book, "Everything You Love Will Burn," provides helpful insights into this small but noisy element of the political landscape. For six years, Tenold investigated America's most radical right-wing groups, getting to know the movement's leading figures on a personal level, often at considerable risk. He provides an insider account of these organizations, helping readers understand their motivations and strategies. He describes his experiences with the National Socialist Movement, the Ku Klux Klan, the Hammerskin Nation and the Traditionalist Workers Party. He was present when neo-Nazis battled Antifa activists with folding chairs and other weapons of opportunity at the 2010 "Battle of Trenton," and he nearly took a brick to the face at the Charlottesville "Unite the Right" rally. At one point, a drunk KKK member held a gun to his head.

The main takeaway from Tenold's book is that his subjects - while a threat to individuals on a small scale - will never possess actual political power. The KKK, which once boasted of its "invisible empire," is now considered a joke, even among white nationalists. The fact that its leaders often turn out to be federal informants does not help its cause. The National Socialist Movement sought to rebrand itself by ditching the extremist imagery, but this was a challenge because so many of its members have swastikas permanently inked on their skin. Racist skinheads are eager to assault racial and religious minorities, but if they do not see any around, they are happy to wallop each other. The book gets repetitive at times because so many events Tenold attended entailed drinking beer in an isolated field.

Matthew Heimbach, the young leader of the Traditionalist Workers Party, is the book's main character - an understandable choice, as he is an important figure in his movement. Heimbach gave Tenold extraordinary access to his meetings over several years. Although Tenold repeatedly announces his distaste for Heimbach's worldview, he provides a mostly sympathetic portrayal of the man described as the "little Fuhrer." This is one of the book's shortcomings. Tenold describes Heimbach as the moderate in his story, and to some extent this is an accurate portrayal; Heimbach does avoid racial slurs and open declarations of white superiority. Yet his moderation is more apparent than real. The fact that his T-shirt depicts Corneliu Codreanu, a Romanian ultra-right leader between the world wars, rather than Adolf Hitler, just proves he is pragmatic enough to celebrate fascists most Americans have never heard of.

Throughout the book, we hear that Heimbach dreams of tying fringe groups together into something resembling a cohesive organization. By the end, we learn he somewhat succeeded, and the Nationalist Front did bring the Traditionalist Workers Party and various neo-Nazi and neo-Confederate members together for public events. Yet Tenold gives little indication as to what Heimbach plans for Step 2. Given the many hours the two spent together, one concludes that there is no greater plan and that even if he is successful, Heimbach will just be the leader of a slightly larger despised and powerless coalition.

"Everything You Love Will Burn" is a fascinating, disturbing book. Tenold tells an important story well, and as far as I can discern, he does so accurately. Yet Tenold also notes that the groups and individuals in his book represent a tiny sliver of contemporary America. Most Americans, including most Trump voters, still wince at the sight of parading neo-Nazis. Although members of these kinds of groups have been responsible for murders and other hate crimes, the unsettling truth is that the worst instances of racist violence often come from lone wolves with no organizational affiliation - people like Dylann Roof, who killed nine in a Charleston, S.C., church in 2015, and Anders Breivik, a Norwegian far-right mass murderer. These kinds of attacks are thus very difficult to predict and prevent.

We should not ignore the extreme right, and Tenold's book provides welcome understanding. The author suggests, however, that we should not fixate too much on the pageantry of extremist groups. They are not the ultimate cause of racial inequality and division. By centering our attention on the most outrageous radicals, we risk losing sight of more mundane, structural causes of inequity and racial polarization. Tenold suggests that private prisons, mandatory sentencing and unconstrained police power are greater threats to disadvantaged communities than the KKK, and he is almost certainly correct.

---

Hawley is an assistant professor of political science at the University of Alabama. His books include "Right-Wing Critics of American Conservatism" and "Making Sense of the Alt-Right."Texas Monthly on Monday announced that Xochi  chef Hugo Ortega's and restaurateur Tracy Vaught's Oaxaca-inspired restaurant in downtown Houston  is the No. 1 restaurant on the magazine's annual roundup of the 10 best new restaurants in Texas.

The recognition comes only a week after Ortega and Vaught found themselves once again on the semifinals list for the prestigious James Beard Awards: Xochi is a semifinalist for Best New Restaurant; Vaught is once again a semifinalist for Outstanding Restaurateur; and Vaught and Ortega's iconic Hugo's is nominated for Outstanding Service.

Houston scored big on Texas Monthly's just-released Top 10 list, the 17th edition of critic Pat Sharpe's annual canvassing of the state's best restaurants. Sharpe also listed Killen's STQ from chef Ronnie Killen at No. 4, Theodore Rex from James Beard Award-winning chef Justin Yu at No. 6, and chef Ryan Lachaine's Riel at No. 8.

OUR LIST: ALISON COOK'S BEST NEW RESTAURANTS

Sharpe called Xochi "the most fascinating restaurant to have opened in Texas in 2017." She went on to write that "Xochi is yet another milestone in the career of 53-year-old Ortega." Houston Chronicle restaurant critic Alison Cook placed Xochi at No. 1 in her list of Top 100 restaurants in Houston for 2017.

Killen's STQ is a merger of Killen's white tablecloth steakhouse know-how and his barbecue passions resulting in a hybrid restaurant that is at once casual and elegant (Frette linens dress the tables). Sharpe praised the "flawlessly grilled" beef but also was impressed by the showmanship. "When your server lifts the glass dome over your chocolate cake, which sits on a slab of oak and is served with maraschino and port-simmered cherries, clouds of fragrant wood smoke waft into the room. P.T. Barnum would be impressed."

Newcomer Theodore Rex, Yu's follow-up to his award-winning Oxheart, came in at No. 6. Sharpe found Theodore Rex to be a more accessible, eclectic experience than Oxheart, which won Yu a James Beard Award for Best Chef Southwest. "The 33-year-old chef's food is as innovative as ever, and a lot more approachable," Sharpe writes.

As for Lachaine's Riel in Montrose at No. 8, Sharpe marveled at the chef's ability to merge his heritage (Canadian, Ukranian) with his passions for global flavors. "Somehow Lachaine brings everything together in dishes like mangrove snapper submerged in a dusky ham broth with black-eyed peas, as well as a trio of heads-on shrimp sided by a hot sauce kicked up with palm sugar and wine vinegar."

The rest of the list: Kemuri Tatsu-Ya in Austin at 2; Sachet in Dallas at 3, Bullion in Dallas at 5, Pitchfork Pretty in Austin at 7, Range in San Antonio at 9 and Piatello Italian Kitchen in Fort Worth at 10.

The list recognized restaurants that opened between Dec. 1, 2016 and Dec. 1, 2017.The Battleship Texas Foundation on Sunday celebrated the 73rd anniversary of the Battle of Iwo Jima, one of the final offensives in the Pacific during World War II.

The fourth annual commemoration hosted here honored veterans with Retired Lt. General Joseph F. Weber, who served almost four decades in the U.S. Marine Corps and recently headed the Texas Department of Transportation, presiding.Hurricane Harvey may be nearly six months behind us, but thousands of homeowners are still coping with mold abatement, flood damage and repairs.

More than 136,000 homes and other buildings suffered flooding, and while plenty have brought in contractors to complete work and have replaced damaged furniture, Realtors and mold abatement and inspection companies say the hurricane's damage could haunt us for years.

In the weeks immediately after the hurricane and its flooding, volunteers valiantly went from home to home, helping muck out water and mud and remove wet drywall, insulation, cabinets and furniture.

It's not too late: Flood-affected homeowners need to address mold before summer heat hits.

Here's what you need to know and do now:

1. Don't drywall your home until it reaches 15 percent or less moisture. If you jumped for joy that you were one of the first flooded homes to get back in order, you may have acted too soon. You need to check your home for moisture and used air conditioning, dehumidifiers and fans to help it dry more quickly. It can take weeks or months to get dry enough.

2. Checking for moisture. To determine how much moisture is in your wall studs, flooring or other home surfaces, you'll use either an infrared camera (also called thermal radiation) or a moisture meter. An infrared camera is the most effective. Moisture meters come in two forms: intrusive or nonintrusive. An instrusive moisture meter is more effective, but will leave two pinholes in your wood. A nonintrusive meter will check less than an inch into the surface of your wood.

3. Cleaning up mold. Simple solutions of bleach, hydrogen peroxide or vinegar with water can clean up mold, but you may need to do it more than once. Over-the-counter antimicrobial products work for DIYers, and Ryan Miller, vice president of Honesty Environmental Services, a licensed contractor doing mold abatement, prefers Foster brand products with a 40-50 mold resistant coating rating.

4. Get it inspected. When cleanup is done -- preferably before you've hung new drywall -- hire a licensed mold inspector for confirmation that your home has acceptable levels of moisture and mold. You will be given a Certificate of Mold Damage Remediation, or CMDR. If you hire someone who is not licensed, the certificate you are given will be worthless. This certificate will matter to your insurance provider, mortgage company and Realtor, if you ever want to sell your home.

5. Check the license. When hiring a licensed mold abatement contractor or home inspector, make sure the company and its employees are licensed. They are supposed to carry their license with them, and they should have the person's photo on it. The license number will start with "MAC."

6. Find help. To look for licensed mold abatement or home inspection specialists go to the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation website.

7. Be sure to keep any and all documentation. Even if you're doing cleanup yourself, save receipts to show what products you used. If you hired someone to do the work for you, save documentation of that so you can prove that you took care of the problem in a timely fashion.1 Inyo County fire: A wildfire burning in Inyo County threatened buildings Monday, including a historic railroad station, after it tripled in size overnight, officials said. The blaze burning through chaparral and shrub oak has scorched 3.5 square miles north of Bishop on the eastern slopes of the Sierra. Several communities and campgrounds in the Pleasant Valley Reservoir area were ordered to evacuate as strong winds posed a challenge, said Cathey Mattingly, spokeswoman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Later Monday, the evacuation was lifted and most were allowed to return. At least 400 firefighters were working to contain the flames.

2 Power emergency: A federal judge on Monday approved a $300 million loan for Puerto Ricos power company that officials say will help keep the troubled agency operating until late March. The ruling comes just days after the judge had rejected an initial $1 billion loan request made by a federal control board overseeing the U.S. territorys finances. The board recently warned that the power company could see a $1.2 billion loss in revenue in the first six months after Hurricane Maria, which hit Sept. 20 and destroyed two-thirds of the power distribution system. Nearly 250,000 customers remain without power more than five months after the Category 4 storm.Entergy Texas, Inc., the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and The Conservation Fund have teamed up to plant more than 45,000 trees at Trinity River National Wildlife Refuge, located 45 miles northeast of Houston, as part of a two-year initiative to restore 100 acres of bottomland hardwood forest. Over their lifetime, the trees will clean the air, provide habitat for wildlife, and filter and hold water for communities along the Trinity River as it flows into the bays, estuaries and waterways of the Gulf of Mexico.

Entergy Corporation shareholders are providing funding for the restoration activities through the company's Environmental Initiatives Fund. The fund directs $1 million annually to environmental improvement projects ranging from wetlands restoration to reforestation to carbon credit methodology and more.

The company's support to the Trinity River project also includes funding of internship opportunities at the refuge for aspiring natural resource conservation professionals, who will help enhance the survival of the newly planted trees, control invasive species at the refuge and educate the public on wildlife, forests and climate, giving the next generation of conservation champions hands-on experience in a real-world environment.

"Entergy aspires to be an industry leader in protecting our environment. We are committed to being a good steward of the land that we own and the wildlife and natural resources that are in our care," said Sallie Rainer, president and CEO of Entergy Texas, Inc. "This grant directly impacts vital lands in our service area, and the improvements it will bring will have lasting benefits for the communities we serve."

For a century, the wildlife habitat in this Trinity River region has been fragmented by development, agriculture and deforestation. Restoring these lands has been a top priority for the refuge. Bottomland hardwood forests support abundant populations of bald eagles, white-tailed deer, alligators, freshwater turtles, river otters and a variety of waterfowl species. This type of habitat is used during migration or nesting by nearly 50 percent of the neotropical migratory bird species listed by USFWS.

"It is exciting to get to work with a company like Entergy, Texas, Inc.," said Stuart Marcus, Refuge Manager of the Trinity River National Wildlife Refuge. "Without their commitment, a restoration project of this size would never get off the ground."

The Trinity River flows near two of the nation's most populous cities: Dallas/Ft. Worth and Houston. Protection and restoration of forested wetlands along the Trinity River creates a life-saving buffer for these urban areas during hurricanes and intense storms. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, an acre of wetlands can typically absorb and store 1-1.5 million gallons of floodwater.

"We are grateful for Entergy's forward-thinking approach to sustainability, for seeking opportunities to make a positive impact locally in the communities it serves," said Jena Thompson Meredith, Vice President of Business Partnerships for The Conservation Fund. "The Trinity River and its watershed make up an important landscape and this support provides an opportunity to foster innovation in forest restoration, environmental education, water quality improvement, flood control, job training and climate change."

For the last decade, The Conservation Fund has been a lead conservation and restoration partner at Trinity River National Wildlife Refuge, adding nearly 8,000 acres of essential bottomland hardwood forest, bayous and cypress ponds to the now 30,000-acre refuge.The San Jacinto County Republican Party hosted the annual Reagan Dinner on Feb. 17 with guest speakers Jason Chaffetz, Kevin Brady and Phil King discussing recent accomplishments, upcoming elections and past events.

Chaffetz is a former U. S. Representative for Utah and a former Chair for the House Oversight Committee. He is currently a contributor to Fox News.

Bob Price of Breitbart Texas introduced Chaffetz to the crowd, where the former Congressman discussed much of his thoughts on serving in Congress. One such moment was a conversation he says he had with fellow Congressman Jim Hansen, who discussed how it feels to be in such a position.

"You're going to get a chill down your spine," said Chaffetz paraphrasing Hansen's words about walking into Capitol Hill.

Chaffetz says one question should be asked when it comes to determining your course of action.

"Why are you doing this?" he asked.

Chaffetz said he learned in his youth the benefit of making himself more valuable and becoming an able-bodied person.

"Oftentimes it's the most difficult things you do that drive you," he said. "That make you stronger and make you better."

Chaffetz discussed how many personal moments in his life impacted him over the years such as the divorce of his parents and his mother's battle with breast cancer. Chaffetz learned to take responsibility caring for his ailing mother.

"It's not the role of government to go and solve all of this for me," he said. "Government has a particular role."

Another experience involved working with John Huntsman, Jr., in his race to be the governor of Utah.

Huntsman offered Chaffetz a position as communications for his campaign, which progressed to Chaffetz becoming campaign manager and ultimately chief of staff for Huntsman.

This journey led Chaffetz to make a political decision of his own.

"I decided to run and I changed every paradigm there was," he said.

Chaffetz and his family made sure not to go into debt despite the incumbent having more money in the bank.

"This is a campaign about who can do more with less," he said.

Chaffetz's campaign overcame many hurdles before he won his election as a U. S. Representative for the State of Utah. His term began on Jan. 3, 2009. Chaffetz left Congress on June 30, 2017.

The campaign story wasn't the end of Chaffetz's tale as the former Congressman is known for his investigations into Hillary Clinton.

Chaffetz discussed the Benghazi scandal by giving some brief information on the incident.

"It didn't really smell right, did it?" he asked the crowd. "Four dead Americans, the embassy in flames, all the videos that you saw."

According to Chaffetz, the story given is that Benghazi was nothing more than a video gone awry regarding a small group of people who had gotten out of control, took control of compound and killed four people.

"I signed a letter, it's called a preservation letter, asking Hillary Clinton to preserve all documents, all emails, all communications either personal or official on anything that has to do with Benghazi before or after," said Chaffetz.

This led to the investigation learning that Clinton allegedly used a private server.

Chaffetz became the first member of Congress to go to Libya during the investigation. According to him, no one ever mentioned a video like what was described in the given story.

"They made it up," he said. "It wasn't true."

Chaffetz says there was not an order for any American to go into Benghazi to save the victims. According to Chaffetz, NATO allies were not even alerted to the incident.

"That's not who the United States is," said Chaffetz. "That's not how we act and we have to figure that out so that it never ever happens again."

The investigation led Chaffetz to give one major lesson, which he expressed to the crowd.

"We do need vigilant oversight in every level of government," he said.

U. S. Texas Representative and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Brady followed Chaffetz and extended his thanks to Chaffetz for working to hold the United States government accountable.

Brady, the architect of recent tax reform, says the tax plan has positive effects on United States citizens and small businesses.

"We lowered rates at every level," he said.

The tax code reformation was built for economic growth, according to Brady. He stated that since Jan. 1 millions of Americans have higher paychecks, bonuses, better savings plans, better benefit plans and more.

"We have hundreds of companies who have announced they're bringing jobs and investment back into the United States," he said. "We have families now for the first time seeing higher paychecks."

Brady discussed that April 15, 2018 marks a milestone in taxation.

"This is the last time that you'll file your taxes under the old tax code," he said.

King wrapped up the Reagan Dinner as the final speaker. He is the Texas House District 61 Representative and his topic of focus was the Texas Speaker of the House election. King is running in the election to challenge current speaker Joe Straus.

"This is the first one that we've actually had in Texas for 10 years," he said.

King explained that it wasn't until 2003 that Texas had a Republican majority in the House with the last time being in 1873. He explained that the House is meant to be the people's body.

"We have 150 members and there's no one that's elected statewide to run it," he said.

The Texas House, according to King, is a member-driven body. However, he noted that the Texas House is one of three House bodies in the United States only has one officer, the speaker.

"You never want to invest all power in one person because that just never ends up good in government, right?" he asked. "Texas just has one. We don't have any other officers, just the Speaker of the House."

This means a tremendous amount of power is invested into one person, King believes.

"That had never really been a problem up until recent decades because up until the 1930s no one, no speaker had ever served more than one term. They served for two years," said King. "Then they stepped down and another member took over."

King says in the 1970s this changed and in so doing it removed power from the members and transferred over to the speaker's office.

"If we're going to have one officer in the house, which we need to continue to have, that's our constitution and that's our practice, we've got to make some changes to turn everything around," he said. "What's happened over the last 40 years is all the power in the House, which was with the members, it was a member driven body, all that power has slowly shifted to one person who with a firm hand controls virtually everything that goes on in the body."

King wishes to push the power back down to the members again so that one person is not controlling all of the power in the House.A year ago, Customs and Border Protection issued a call for prototypes to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Contractors and individuals could send two types of proposals: one for a solid wall made of concrete materials or one for other border wall prototypes made of non-concrete materials. The Guardian reported that more than 600 companies sent proposals, but perhaps the most interesting one was the one presented by three female artists who proposed a wall made of hammocks united by trees from Brownsville to San Diego.

READ ALSO: Border wall models thwart US commandos in tests

The Other Border Wall Project is an art project and an open call for artists from all over the world to send their designs to build an anti-wall in the border between Mexico and the United States.

We hope to activate the public imagination and receive an abundance of submissions that work together to dismantle the view of the border as a fortified, insurmountable, and destructive barrier, according to the projects website.

The collective behind the project is JM Design Studio, formed by Tereneh Idia, Leah Patgorski and Jennifer Meridian. The three of them are based in Pittsburgh and had never even visited the U.S.-Mexico border before. At least not until last week.

Patgorski and Meridian were invited to exhibit every proposal they have received  as of now, around 50  at the Flatland Gallery in Houston.

Before the inauguration, they decided to visit Laredo and Nuevo Laredo to talk with the local art community, and encourage them to send their designs.

It started when Trump started his rhetoric around the wall and everyone was thinking its a joke, hes never going to get elected, and the he got elected and everyone is horrified, Meridian said during Art Talk, an event held at the Laredo Center for the Arts on Tuesday afternoon. His whole campaign was about a wall and it was like this symbolic thing, but now we have started to move forward to that.

READ ALSO: See Donald Trump's proposed border wall in virtual reality

Meridian remembered that the exact words used to call for prototypes to build wall were other border wall and thats when they decided to do something about it.

We put together a PDF package of six drawings that were meant very much as critique and criticism and resistance to his project, said the artist.

The idea was that we cannot pass up this opportunity to send something, and since they said anyone can submit their proposals, Patgorski added.

After media outlets reviewed the proposals sent by architecture firms and contractors, they noticed the collectives proposal and started to request interviews.

Thats when our designs went viral, Meridian said.

It was really unexpected and we welcomed it because as you can see our designs are very basic. Its just drawing all over. Theyre practically doodles. We made them very quickly so that we could enter to some kind of national conversation around it, Meridian added.

We were rejected in May, Patgorski said with a quirky smile.

The proposals sent by the collective include hammocks on trees and a border wall made of light houses to provide help with finding your way and maybe a place to stop and rest, Patgorski said.

They also proposed a memorial wall to honor those who have lost their lives trying to get to the United States and a wall built like a segment of pipe organs so that people could play music before crossing the border.

We just wanted to submit things that we felt in our mind it was just going to be this person that looked at them and he was just probably going to laugh at them and then throw it to the garbage, Meridian said. At least that was even something, since we got some attention we began to feel like this issue is not going to go anywhere so lets just make a commitment for the three of us to stay with this project with the administration right now and see where it can go next.

After getting attention from the media, the projects phase two started when the collective set up a website which would mirror the governments prototype proposals.

We decided to ask for proposals and we asked everybody. This is an open call to submit your designs and ideas to what you imagined this place could be. We are definitely biased and we are looking for humanitarian designs and ideas, Meridian said.

As for the projects third phase, the collective is still considering what is going to be the next step, as of now they are still accepting proposals through their website otherborderwallproject.com.

I didnt assume there would be any phase two, and there was a time when we were going to build something, but we got to do a lot more research. We needed to hear more stories and things like that. Like how to create a platform for other people, really because that seems more important now, Patgorski added.

At some point it would be very exciting to create a segment of pipe organs that we could really play, that is it part of my dream, but right now is more about providing a platform, concluded Meridian.BERLIN - In Poland, the president signs a law criminalizing anyone who dares suggest that the country's citizens helped perpetrate crimes of the Holocaust.

In Italy, a Mussolini-admiring neo-fascist goes on a shooting rampage targeting people with dark skin.

And from Hungary to Britain, leading government figures and their allies promote dark theories about a Jewish financier plotting to subvert the national will.

After President Donald Trump in August blamed "both sides" for violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, during dueling protests by white supremacists and their opponents, critics pointed to American historical amnesia as a contributing factor.

Europe, with its emphasis on remembrance in the service of "never again," was held up as a superior model for reckoning with the horrors of the past.

But six months later, events across the continent have served as a potent reminder that Europe's grip on its history is far from assured. In particular, the 20th century's dark detours into Nazism, fascism and state-sponsored anti-Semitism are again being subjected to revision.

"You're getting the rewriting of history in the extreme," said Deborah Lipstadt, an Emory University professor who has written extensively on Holocaust remembrance and denial.

The evidence across Europe in recent weeks has been disparate and scattered, ranging from blatant acts of violence to subtle insinuation and casual omissions.

The reasons, too, are varied: A revival of nationalism. A surge in prejudiced thinking about and behavior toward minorities. A social media culture that spreads information and disinformation alike with startling speed.

And then there's the American president himself.

"I don't blame it all on Trump," Lipstadt said. "But what Trump has done is given a green light, a dog whistle to those who would rewrite history, who would use that history as a tool."

That is certainly what Poland's critics saw that nation doing when its lawmakers chose to push ahead - on the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day, no less - with a bill that would make it illegal to say the Polish government or its citizens abetted Nazi crimes.

Poland's nationalist leaders saw the legislation as a chance to correct what they regard as a historical slur: the use of the term "Polish death camps," as well as other suggestions of Polish culpability. Unlike other European countries, Poland had no collaborationist government. About 6 million of its citizens died during World War II, half of them Jews, reinforcing Poland's view of itself as a victim, not a perpetrator.

The legislation, said Franziska Exeler, a historian at Berlin's Free University, reflects the desire of the Polish leadership to make "the official narratives of World War II less complex than historical reality. Less messy and more heroic."

In Poland in particular, as in much of Eastern Europe, historical revisionism is far from a new phenomenon. During decades of postwar communist rule, history was distorted freely for any number of political ends. For some, the new "Holocaust law" harks back to those times, when ideology often dictated history.

But the facts are the facts. Historians have documented anti-Semitic atrocities carried out by Polish citizens.

The law, which theoretically could criminalize researchers or survivors who point to Polish complicity, was condemned by Israeli leaders as amounting to Holocaust denial.

The Trump administration, which had previously praised Poland's nationalist agenda, added its own sharply worded rebuke. But there was also a reaction in the other direction - an outpouring of prejudice toward Jews.

"The idea of the bill was not anti-Semitic in and of itself. They wanted to show their electorate that Poland has risen from its knees, and won't be humiliated," said Adam Michnik, a Polish journalist and historian who is editor in chief of Gazeta Wyzborca, Poland's largest newspaper. "But the anti-Semitic hatred that this has dredged up, on the Internet and on social media, I don't remember anything like it since 1968."

That year, an anti-Jewish campaign by the communist government prompted the eventual departure of at least 13,000 Jewish Poles and Poles with Jewish roots - a reminder that old hatreds survived the war and have surfaced regularly in Europe in the decades since.

But the degree to which politicians are now stoking racial and religious prejudices - and legitimizing views long considered verboten - is exceptional in recent years, experts say.

An anti-immigrant party in Austria whose leaders have neo-Nazi roots recently joined the government. About the same time, a far-right party entered the German Parliament for the first time in more than half a century.

In Italy, meanwhile, far-right parties stand a chance of capturing the government in March elections alongside a more mainstream right-wing party. All advocate deporting hundreds of thousands of migrants.

The political atmosphere, said Noemi Di Segni, head of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities, is rife with "very intensive signs of return to neo-fascism."

With the heated rhetoric has come a spike in violence.

A onetime local candidate for Italy's far-right Northern League - one of the parties in line to govern - went on a shooting rampage this month in the central Italian hilltop city of Macerata. He wounded six African immigrants, one of whom sat in his hospital bed two days after a bullet passed through his lung and said he had never heard of Benito Mussolini or the Italian dictator's fascist creed.

But the shooter, who has boasted in court of his crimes, was well aware. He sported a facial tattoo associated with the extreme right, owned a copy of Hitler's anti-Semitic manifesto, "Mein Kampf," and delivered a fascist salute from the city's Mussolini-era war memorial just before his arrest.

The shooting was condemned by mainstream politicians, and by thousands who marched in Macerata last week against racially motivated violence.

But the shooter, 28-year-old Luca Traini, was also cheered, receiving a level of support that disturbed even his lawyer.

"Politically, there's a problem. In Macerata, people stop me to give messages of solidarity with Luca," the lawyer, Giancarlo Giulianelli, told reporters. "It's alarming, but it gives us a sense of what is happening."

So, too, does the campaign against the 87-year-old Hungarian-American billionaire George Soros. Long a favorite boogeyman of the far right in Europe and the United States, Soros has been invoked even more than usual lately in attacks that critics see as an anti-Semitic trope.

In the Czech Republic's presidential election late last month, pro-Western candidate Jiri Drahos was alleged in online propaganda to be part of a Soros-led cabal seeking to open the country to unchecked immigration.

In Hungary, Prime Minister Viktor Orban has gone further, launching legislation aimed at cracking down on civil society groups and dubbing it the "Stop Soros" bill. With elections due in April, Orban has campaigned more aggressively against the financier than he has against his political opposition.

In Britain, Prime Minister Theresa May's former chief of staff, Nick Timothy, recently raised eyebrows with a front-page story in the Daily Telegraph alleging a secret Soros plot to stop Brexit. Soros has never hidden his opposition to Britain's departure from the European Union.

The trend toward what critics see as a dangerous acceptance of bias also has infiltrated the cultural sphere. In France - where Marine Le Pen, the daughter and political heir of a convicted Holocaust denier placed second in last year's presidential vote - the recent revelation that the Culture Ministry had included the anti-Semitic writer Charles Maurras in a series of annual books commemorating key figures and anniversaries in French history set off a backlash.

Historians on the committee that drew up this year's list insisted that commemorating Maurras was not the same as celebrating him. But the text of his entry conspicuously omitted the words "racist" and "anti-Semite."

Neighboring Germany, as the country with the most to atone for historically, has long been hyper-aware of the potential damage from such an oversight.

Instruction about the Holocaust is at the core of the nation's education system, and the capital, Berlin, is full of reminders of Nazi-perpetrated horrors - from the small brass "stumbling stones" that commemorate individual victims to the chilling Topography of Terror museum, which traces the rise of the Nazis on ground once occupied by the Gestapo and SS.

Yet even in Germany, the anti-Muslim far right is growing. Protests against Israel in December, meanwhile, stoked fears that the country has an anti-Semitism problem among its Muslim immigrants.

The irony, said Andreas Nachama, director of Topography of Terror, is that Jews, Muslims and other minority groups "all sit in the same boat, even though they don't see it that way." He added: "We should not get accustomed to violence against minorities, whoever the minority is."

The story his museum tells is one of individual groups being singled out for discrimination, and ultimately persecuted by a state that uses prejudice as an excuse to abandon the rule of law. It's a lesson of history, he said, that has to be learned to understand the value of liberal democracy.

"You don't just have freedom. You have to win it and fight for it every day," said Nachama, a historian and a rabbi. "You have to speak problems out loud, and don't take anything for granted."

---

McAuley reported from Paris and Warsaw. Beck reported from Berlin. Michael Birnbaum in Rome contributed to this report.RICHMOND, Va. -- Virginia's Republican-controlled House of Delegates has created a draft state budget that expands Medicaid, dropping years of partisan resistance in the face of pressure from newly empowered Democrats.

But the plan sets up a confrontation with the state Senate, which is also controlled by Republicans and has signaled that it will not include Medicaid expansion in its budget proposal, which was due out later Sunday.

The House plan, approved early Sunday by the Appropriations Committee on a 20 to 2 vote, would impose requirements that Medicaid recipients seek work training and contribute to their coverage through private insurers as a condition of receiving health coverage through the program aimed at aiding low-income individuals. House Speaker Kirkland Cox, R-Colonial Heights, praised the effort as a compromise worked out with the help of the Democratic governor, Ralph Northam.

"There's no question that the political dynamics have changed," Cox said. Democrats flipped 15 House seats in last fall's Virginia House elections, reducing the Republican majority to 51 to 49.

In addition, Congress failed to kill the Affordable Care Act, which is what enables Medicaid expansion. "So it's here to stay, and we felt the timing was right," said Del. Chris Jones, R-Suffolk, who chairs the Appropriations Committee and led the budget effort.

Two people involved in budget negotiations said Republican leaders had polled their members in the House last week to see whether they should include Medicaid expansion. A majority said yes, partly because of support from delegates in the southwestern part of the state, where poverty and hospital closures have made health care an urgent issue.

Cox and Jones emphasized that the plan they laid out is similar to the Medicaid "enhancement" Vice President Pence oversaw when he was governor of Indiana, hewing to several conservative prerequisites on work requirements and personal responsibility.

"I give kudos to the governor for really seriously coming to the table on those," Cox said.

Northam had called for straight Medicaid expansion, as his predecessor - Terry McAuliffe, D - had advocated during all four years of his administration. McAuliffe's final budget recommendation, which Northam is now carrying, was built on saving some $400 million by accepting federal dollars to expand Medicaid.

But Northam also signaled a willingness to compromise, and he praised the House plan Sunday. "I respect the priorities of the House majority and I am encouraged by and supportive of our work together to bring about a new 'Virginia Way' on Medicaid," Northam said in a statement. "We can and should expand coverage and provide significant training resources, counseling and incentives to connect Virginians with employment opportunities."

Northam added that he looks forward to working with the House and Senate to finalize the plan. But he may face a steep climb in gaining agreement in the Senate.

That body has already rejected several bills this session that would have expanded Medicaid, in favor of an approach to extend some coverage to a very narrow group of the mentally ill.

The Senate budget, due Sunday night, was expected to follow that direction, rejecting federal Medicaid dollars and leaving roughly $400 million less than the budgets proposed by the governor and House.

The House plan would set aside about $21.5 million over the next two years for setting up the job training program for Medicaid participants. The proposal would allow Virginia to extend Medicaid coverage to residents who earn up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level, with 300,000 people expected to be added to the rolls.

It would go into effect by Jan. 1, 2019. There would have to be a federal waiver to implement the job training requirement, but Republicans said they believed the Trump administration would look favorably on the waiver request.

The plan would use health savings accounts to help new recipients participate in private insurance coverage, with cost-sharing provisions and incentives to keep up healthy behaviors. Nine categories of people would be exempt from the work or job training requirement, including pregnant women, children and people with major disabilities or who care for someone with a major disability.

The proposal also includes a "kill clause" that would discontinue expanded coverage if the federal government stops paying for it. Currently, the federal governments pays 90 percent of the cost of Medicaid expansion and states pay 10 percent.

The House budget would levy a fee on hospitals to cover the state's portion.

Eight Democrats on the Appropriations Committee voted for the budget that included the Medicaid plan, with two abstaining.

"We are excited by what has taken place today," Del. Luke Torian, D-Prince William, said. "We're pleased with the work that has been done and excited about the opportunity to finally give health care to people who really, really need it."

The House budget would use Medicaid savings to fund a host of other programs, including pay raises for teachers and other state employees; setting aside $247 million for a state reserve fund; and financing $350 million to deepen channels in the port in the Norfolk area.

The House budget also included a couple of unexpected higher education initiatives. One would set aside $50 million to start a project called CyberX - a college-level training and research facility aimed at programming, big data, autonomous vehicle and other cutting-edge technologies.

Run by Virginia Tech, the facility would be located in the Tysons Corner, Virginia, area but would have satellite efforts at colleges and universities around the state. Jones, who came up with the idea along with Virginia Tech President Timothy Sands, said the goal would be to get private industry to pitch in for a total investment of about $100 million.

The budget also includes $42.6 million in incentives to steer the state's universities to crank out more degrees in the areas of data science, engineering, health care and education. The goal is to boost the number of degrees awarded in those fields by about 6 percent over the next two years.

"Let's get degrees in areas that really count," Cox said.

Much of that spending is predicated on the Medicaid portion, so pressure will be on for the next several weeks to reach some kind of agreement with the Senate. The legislature meets until March 10, and the budget is typically one of the last areas completed.

"I don't know what's going to come out of the Senate," Cox said. "If the Senate does not do that, that's certainly a position I would respect. I would say with the key reforms we got, we felt comfortable . . . that would really help bend the cost curve, and that's the right direction to go."

Jones pointed out that Senate staffers have been attending the negotiations with Northam that led to Sunday's budget and hinted that the two sides could reconcile by March 10. "I'm very optimistic that we'll get out of here on time," he said.Olivia P. Tallet/Eduardo Canales, Director of The South Texas Human Rights Center organization in Falfurrias, Brooks County, Texas, organizes projects with volunteers to protect migrant lives such as the Water Station Project. The project maintains drinking

Though fewer immigrants tried to cross the U.S.-Mexico border illegally last year, more of them died along the way, particularly in Texas where heavy rains and flooding may have exacerbated the dangers, according to a new report.

The number of immigrants who died along the Texas border increased by 26 percent, the sharpest rise in the nation along the southern border, according to the report from the International Organization for Migration's Missing Migrants Project, a United Nations agency.

The organization said that Texas is a "particular area of concern," with 191 deaths last year compared to 151 in 2016. Nationwide, 412 immigrant deaths were recorded in 2017 along the border between the two nations, up from 398 in 2016  an increase of 3 percent.

"The increase in deaths is especially concerning, as the available data indicate that far fewer migrants entered the U.S. via its border with Mexico in the last year," said Frank Laczko, director of IOM's Global Migration Data Analysis Centre.

GO DEEPER: Initiative allows families to help locate missing loved ones through DNA

The Border Patrol reported a 40 percent drop in border apprehension during the 2017 fiscal year from October 2016 to September 2017. The reduction has been loosely attributed to fewer people attempting to cross illegally as a result of President Donald Trump's administration's harsh rhetoric and policies on immigration.

The reduction in apprehensions "undeniably prove the effectiveness of President Trump's commitment to securing our borders," Department of Homeland Security Acting Press Secretary Tyler Q. Houlton said in January.

Deaths of immigrants crossing the border, however, tend to increase when more immigrants are coming, said Nestor Rodriguez, a professor of sociology at the University of Texas at Austin who has researched southern border crossings.

"It's a matter of volume of crossings," Rodriguez said. "The second most influential factor that tends to impact the number of deaths is the weather or the paths immigrants chose to take."

The IOM report didn't provide an explanation for the increase of deaths across the U.S.-Mexican border, but it suggested that one reason for the surge in Texas may have been from weather and heavy rainfall in 2017 "which made crossing the border... more difficult as the Rio Grande flowed faster and deeper."

Hurricane Harvey came ashore in South Texas near Corpus Christi in August 2017, dumping feet of rain in some areas and flooding waterways.

Julia Black, coordinator for the Missing Migrants Project, said Friday that drownings rose sharply in 2017, from 67 in 2016 to 91. Most of the drowning deaths occurred in the Rio Grande on the border with Texas, she said.

Some experts, however, suggested that a better explanation for the increase in deaths could be related to immigrants undertaking higher levels of risk.

"I saw an increase of people coming around the time of Harvey," said Eddy Canales, director of the South Texas Human Right Center, a nonprofit organization that works to reduce deaths on the Texas-Mexico border.

The center is located in Brooks County, north of McAllen, and is crossed by U.S. Highway 281, one of the central arteries for illegal crossings in the state. The organization patrols and maintain stations of drinking water for immigrants around the Rio Grande Valley to prevent death by dehydration and exhaustion.

Canales said he and volunteers saw more people coming to find work after Harvey struck the state. A shortage of construction and other workers was widely reported after the storm.

"They knew that Harvey would create more demand for work, and they were willing to take a higher risk for a higher payoff," he said.

The underlying problem, Canales said, are the U.S. immigration policies, which focus on enforcement but don't provide for an immigrant labor force to meet demands.

"The report shows what happens when policies push people to more dangerous areas and situations," he said.

The IOM report also suggests that, in general, as the likelihood of arrest grows, migrants tend to seek out more remote  and more dangerous  routes to avoid apprehension.

In Houston, the Mexican Consulate has not experienced a spike in calls from families looking for help in finding or repatriating immigrants crossing the border on their way to the city, said Yury Imanol De la Flor Patino, consul of protection and legal issues at the local consular office.

The actual number of immigrants who die crossing the border is impossible to know. Many are never found and families frequently don't know how or where to inquire when a loved one disappears.

"This is complicated by the fact that identification is often very difficult for migrant bodies recovered on the border," said Black, the coordinator for the Missing Migrants Project. "Their bodies may not be found for weeks, months, or even years, meaning that it is impossible to determine things like age and gender, let alone identify the individual."

EXPLAINER: How do undocumented immigrants pay taxes?

It took many years for the family of Adalberto Chavez to find his remains after he disappeared crossing the border on his way to Houston in 2008. His mother, Maria, last heard from him when he called from an unknown point at the border.

"Everything is fine, mom. Don't worry," he said.

Chavez body was identified in 2015 after being found at a mass grave in Falfurrias, a city in Brooks County.

His niece, Karen Olvera, said losing a loved one brings a lot of suffering to families.

"It's horrible to lose someone in this way for years without knowing anything and feeling the frustration without having the power to do anything," Olvera said. "The border is so huge that it's like trying to find a needle in a forest."

olivia.tallet@chron.com

Twitter: @oliviaptalletBeth Eidelberg had two passions: art and San Antonio.

A painter for most of her life and professionally for half a century, Eidelberg was known for her watercolors of nostalgic scenes in an around San Antonio from flower markets to Jefferson High School to the historic homes in the King William Historic District.

Eidelberg died from complications with diabetes on Feb. 14. She was 84.

She was born with the talent share, her brother Jay Weidenfeld said. Beth was, before she was four or five, drawing with quite a bit of skill.

Weidenfeld said her parents made sure she was in classes and schools that fostered her talent all the way through college, but the college format didnt sit right with her. She graduated and did some commercial work, and she was able to do it, but it was a more work for her. It was hard for her.

She was more specifically oriented toward fine art  toward her own individual paintings, Weidenfeld said. When she came back to San Antonio, she resolved to be a fine artist with her own studio. She was much more in tune to work from her own inspiration.

Eidelberg first gained recognition for bringing the colors in the flower markets to light.

She was drawn to and skilled with bringing color to things that attracted and appealed to people, Weidenfeld said. She was almost magnetically drawn to South Texas.

Her artwork  which is on display in the homes of three generations  is laden with buildings and structures dripping in flowers but also includes the state capitol building and the first Lubys Cafeteria on Broadway.

Like most artists, she only wanted absolute perfection, Weidenfeld said. She was not an art factory and rarely duplicated a painting.

More Information Beth W. Eidelberg Born: Sept. 26, 1933, San Antonio Died: Feb. 14, 2018, San Antonio Preceded by: Parents Anna and Amnon Weidenfeld; first husband, Jack Eidelberg; second husband Leonard Stern; children Linda and Mark Eidelberg Survived by: Brother Jay Weidenfeld; stepson Michael Stern; stepdaughter Carla Yegher, and three grandchildren Service: 3 p.m Friday, Franklin Park Alamo Heights, 230 West Sunset Road. See More Collapse

An active member of the San Antonio Art League, she was named the leagues Artist of the Year in 1990.

Arty Bentch said she was like a second mom to him since she was more like a sister than a cousin to his mom. He is handling her estate and putting together an art show to celebrate her life and benefit the San Antonio Art League. The bulk of her work has been donated to charity and Bentch said he also has much more than they will display.

We are going to be displaying 17 pieces of her work, Bentch said. They are the best representations of her life and her work.

The art show was Eidelbergs idea nearly a year ago as just another show, so she hired June Hays and Associates to handle the art and plan the show.

She had expressed an interest in doing a show in April, Bentch said. By the time we decided to do the show, her health had deteriorated to a point that she would be able to be involved.

The celebration of life will start with a cocktail hour on March 22 at Los Patios and will be hosted an indefinite number of days until all 17 pieces are sold.

She outlived two husbands and two children. She was happiest in the art world, Bentch said. She cared so much for other people and the craft and she was all about San Antonio.Editor's note: Police have discovered a fifth shooting victim. Click here for the latest story.

Four people, including a 6-year-old boy, were shot Sunday evening in the parking lot of a popular West Side San Antonio steakhouse, leaving two with life-threatening injuries.

The 6-year-old was shot in the leg, and his injury is not believed to be life-threatening, San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said. The three adults were in their 20s. All four were related, according to McManus.

The shooting occurred as the group waited outside the Texas Roadhouse in the 2800 block of Cinema Ridge, near Ingram Park Mall, about 8:40 p.m., according to police.

RELATED: DPS Trooper shot while pursuing suspect

"We do not believe that this shooting was random," McManus said. "There's details I'm not gonna give out because it's part of the investigation. But, we do not believe it's random."

All of the victims were transported to a local hospital, where two remain in critical condition and two are stable.

The suspect opened fire about 15 feet from the front of the restaurant, police said, emptying the entire magazine  about 10 bullets  of a pistol.

The male suspect, currently at large, was masked at the time of the shooting.

The description is so vague I dont want to even bother giving it out, McManus said.

jscherer@express-news.net

Staff Writer Chris Quinn contributed to this report.A man who appeared at last weeks sitting of Longford District Court charged under the Public Order Act was ordered to appear back before the court in two weeks time.

Martin McDonnell (20), 114 McEoin Park, Longford appeared before Judge Seamus Hughes charged with engaging in threatening, abusive and insulting words or behaviour at the Rising Sun Restaurant, Dublin Street, Longford on January 14, 2018.



Outlining the evidence to the court, Inspector Blaithin Moran said that the case centred around an altercation that took place at a Chinese restaurant in Longford town.



She added that on the date in question, gardai were called to the Longford town restaurant after a disturbance there was reported to members of the force.



The Inspector also pointed out that the defendant and his wife were told they were barred from the restaurant after they arrived there and the altercation subsequently ensued.



Gardai went to the restaurant and observed the defendant being extremely abusive to staff, Inspector Moran added, before pointing out that Mr McDonnell also refused to leave the restaurant after being asked to do so by gardai.



He continued to argue and threaten the owner and told her you will pay for this.

There were people on the premises at the time including four children.

The defendants solicitor Frank Gearty then said, that on the night, a dispute arose between the defendants wife and staff at the restaurant after Mrs McDonnell was told that she and her husband would not be served there.



He said the couple had taken umbrage at the fact.



Judge Hughes then told Mr Gearty that he required Mrs McDonnell to present herself in court so that he could hear her version of events from that night.



The matter was subsequently adjourned to February 20 to allow the woman time to come to court.Longford writer, Dr Mel Farrell has penned his first major book entitled Party Politics in a New Democracy, the Irish Free State 1922-1937.

The book was launched by Stephen Collins, Political Correspondent with the Irish Times, at the Royal Irish Academy Dublin on Thursday, February 8 last.



In the publication, Dr Farrell combines an insightful account of the evolution of contemporary political democracy in Ireland by tracing the evolution of Fine Gael and Fianna Fail during the fifteen years that followed the Treaty Split.



In fact Dr Farrell even goes so far as to suggest; more than the 1921 peace settlement has separated these two political beasts.

The book also addresses the context of the development of a stable Irish Democracy at a time when parliamentary politics was in retreat across Europe.



In just eight chapters, the author sets out all the issues from the Revolution to Statehood, 1919-1927 to Stable Democracy, 1927 -1937 with a detailed analysis of the emergence of its two main political parties, Fine Gael and Fianna Fail: Common Origins, Separate Identities?



He argues that the Irish Party system was not unique in having two dominant parties capable of adapting to changing circumstances, and suggests that this has been a key strength of Irish Democracy.

Meanwhile, Dr Farrell grew up in Ardagh and during the 1990s and 2000s observed that local and general elections were always dominated by Fine Gael and Fianna Fail.



From a young age there did not appear to be any other parties; it was a small community, and each side had their local stalwarts operating the party machinery when required - this fascinated me, he added.



For Longford historians, Party Politics in a New Democracy, the Irish Free State 1922  1937 is a book that will become a very interesting and informative read.



Dr Farrell is Adjunct Lecturer of Irish and Southern African History at University College Dublin, Ireland and Maynooth University.

He has previously lectured at Maynooth University and Dublin City University (DCU).



He was also formerly a Government of Ireland Scholar, 2009-11 and has published numerous articles in such journals as Eire Ireland and New Hibernian Review.



Party Politics in a New Democracy, the Irish Free State 1922-1937 is available from the UCD Bookshop or to order from all good bookshops.During last months meeting of Ballymahon Municipal District a notice of motion on the Athlone Road junction in Ballymahon was put forward by Cllr Pat OToole (FF).

Cllr OToole said it was now imperative that a roundabout was installed at the location in an effort to deal with the volume of traffic passing through the south Longford town en route to Athlone and the west of Ireland.

I want Longford County Council to re-engage with Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) as a matter of urgency, with a view to having the Athlone Road junction traffic controlled by the provision of a roundabout, Cllr OToole added.



There is a widely held view by the Ballymahon business community and various other groups that two sets of traffic lights in such close proximity to each other will only lead to greater traffic congestion in the town.



The two approach roads we have at present provide only a very grim prospect for any motorist who will have to encounter it on a daily basis.



Meanwhile, area engineer Alan Slattery told the meeting that assessments of the N55 were being carried out on a continuous basis and the matter would not be addressed until the local authority deemed it necessary.

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Angry Ballymahon residents to hold protest against new Dun Aras housing development todaySamuel Beckett fans will be thrilled to know that one of his most popular plays will hit the Backstage Theatre next month.

Druids acclaimed production of Becketts seminal play, 'Waiting for Godot' is embarking on an extensive national tour, spending weeks in venues across Ireland, and arriving at the Backstage Theatre, Longford, for two nights on March 27 and 28.

Druids interpretation of Becketts masterpiece premiered in the 2016 Galway International Arts Festival, captivating both audiences and critics alike.

There wasnt a ticket to be had for the subsequent Unusual Rural Tour, which played in exterior locations Glencree, Inis Meain and the Ceide Fields.

This sell-out production earlier this year had a month long run at The Abbey Theatre in April prior to heading to Spoleto Festival USA in June, playing to capacity audiences at both venues.

Our 2016 Unusual Rural Tour showed us just how much of an appetite there is for this production so its great to take it to so many corners of the country, and internationally, in 2018, said Artistic Director, Garry Hynes.

Its also fantastic to continue working on this extraordinary show with members of our Ensemble and creative team who have created something very special.

Audiences around the country will now have an opportunity to see this engaging new production, a theatrical Tour-de-Force from Ireland's premiere independent theatre company in the freshest, funniest and most affecting production of the play in at least a quarter of a century - The Irish Times.

Tickets are limited, so early booking is advised.

This latest announcement demonstrates Druids continued resolve and capacity to bringing outstanding theatre to audiences throughout Ireland and to the international stage.

Tickets are on sale from www.backstage.ie.

Keep an eye on upcoming issues of the Longford Leader for an interview with actor, Aaron Monaghan.Local News, Community, Charity & Cause, Politics

By Long Island News & PR Published: February 19 2018

Bronx Jury Found John Cornachio Guilty of Grand Larceny in the Second Degree for No-Show Job at Substance Abuse Treatment Provider through Which He Stole Over $800,000.

New York, NY - February 19, 2018 - Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman today announced that a Bronx County jury found John Cornachio, 63, of Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman today announced that a Bronx County jury found John Cornachio, 63, of Oyster Bay, NY , guilty of Grand Larceny in the Second Degree, a class C felony, for holding no-show job in order to steal from Narco Freedom Inc., a former Bronx-based, Medicaid-funded, not-for-profit corporation that was founded to provide substance abuse services throughout New York City. Cornachio faces up to 15 years in state prison when he is sentenced on March 2, 2018. Cornachio was remanded to jail pending sentencing.

The defendant crafted an elaborate scheme in order to hide a no-show job and steal from New York taxpayers  exploiting a Medicaid-funded program that was intended to help those suffering from substance abuse, said Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman. We will continue to aggressively pursue those who perpetuate these fraudulent schemes and bring scammers to justice.

During the jury trial before Hon. Jeanette Rodriguez-Morick in Bronx County Supreme Court, the Attorney General presented evidence that Cornachio colluded with Narco Freedoms corrupt management to have a no-show job at Narco Freedom. For over five years, Cornachio collected over $500,000 in salary and benefits paid by Narco Freedom. As part of his no-show job, Narco provided Cornachio with health insurance and a generous car allowance that he used to lease a Land Rover, among other benefits. The evidence also showed that Cornachio obtained over $300,000 from Narco Freedom through B&C Management, a shell company with no actual business that submitted fake invoices to Narco Freedom for services it never provided to the not-for-profit. Some of the payments were made in the names of John Cornachios minor children, who were supposedly rendering substance abuse counseling.

In 2015, the Attorney Generals Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU) indicted Cornachio, Narco Freedom Inc., its CEO, Alan Brand, and 12 other individuals and corporations for defrauding the state Medicaid program. All defendants indicted in connection with Narco Freedom have now been convicted of various crimes including Enterprise Corruption, Grand Larceny, and filing false information with government offices.

As part of the Narco Freedom investigation, the Attorney General also filed a civil action against Narco Freedom Inc. seeking asset forfeiture and other remedies, including treble damages and penalties under the New York State False Claims Act. The arrests and civil action by the Attorney General put an end to Narco Freedoms illegal activity that exploited the Medicaid program and the vulnerability of thousands of Medicaid recipients  resulting in many millions of dollars in savings to Medicaid. As part of its plea and civil agreements, Narco Freedom acknowledged that it stole from Medicaid and admitted to filing false statements with various state agencies, including the New York State Department of Health and the Office of the New York State Attorney Generals Charities Bureau, in efforts to deceive and defraud these agencies. Narco Freedom filed for bankruptcy in January 2016. A bankruptcy court approved a $118 million settlement to settle Narco Freedoms outstanding government claims, including those of New York State and the federal governments; the precise amount to be recovered in the bankruptcy proceeding is yet to be determined.

In 2016, as part of the Attorney Generals investigation into fraudulent substance abuse providers and their exploitation of individuals living in substance abuse transitional housing, also known as three-quarter houses, MFCU also indicted Yuri Baumblit, Rimma Baumblit, Canarsie A.W.A.R.E. Inc., NRI Group, Inc., and Anthony Cornachio, John Cornachios brother and the owner of Canarsie A.W.A.R.E. Inc. and NRI Group, Inc., for defrauding Medicaid. Yuri Baumblit, Rimma Baumblit, and their companies have been convicted for that scheme . Criminal charges remain pending against Canarsie A.W.A.R.E. Inc. and Anthony Cornachio. The charges against those remaining defendants are merely accusations and those defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.

The Attorney General would like to thank the New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services, the Office of the New York State Medicaid Inspector General, the New York State Department of Health, the Human Resources Administration of the City of New York, and the Civil Division of the United States Attorneys Office for the Southern District of New York.

The trial was conducted by MFCU Senior Counsel Erin Kelsh and Assistant Attorney General Haley Campbell, with assistance from NYC Regional Director Christopher M. Shaw. Assistant Attorney General Karin Kunstler Goldman and the Attorney Generals Charities Bureau provided expert analysis of the responsibilities of non-profit organizations for the trial.

The investigation was led by Senior Investigator Albert Maiorano and Investigator David Ryan, with the assistance of Supervising Investigators Dominick DiGennaro and Michael Casado and Deputy Chief Investigator Kenneth Morgan. The financial analysis was led by Principal Auditor-Investigator Investigator Patricia Iemma, with the assistance of Senior Auditor-Investigator Nicholas Thottam, Auditor-Investigators Jillian White and Megan Scott, and NYC Regional Chief Auditor Thomasina Smith. Investigative support was provided by Supervising Legal Assistant Wendy Dorival and Confidential Legal Analyst Kelvin Caraballo.

The civil case against John Cornachio and Narco Freedom is being handled by Special Assistant Attorney General Alee N. Scott, with the assistance of MFCU Civil Enforcement Division Chief Carolyn Ellis.

The criminal investigation of Narco Freedom and its related enterprises was handled by Special Assistant Attorneys General Megan Friedland and Erin Kelsh.Local News, Health & Wellness

By Chris Boyle Published: February 19 2018

New York reports cases of influenza continue to rise; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announces flu vaccine only 36 percent effective.

At the beginning of New York flu season this year, over 69,000 cases have been confirmed by officials so far.

Long Island, NY - February 16, 2018  Flu season is indeed living up to the hype this year, and that hype is indeed dangerous, according to New York State health officials who note that the number of New York residents confirmed to have the flu have been consistently rising.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has announced that the Department of Health reported over 16,800 cases of influenza last week; this represents a 7 percent jump in reported cases over the previous week, and marks a disturbing upward trend that currently shows no signs of abating anytime soon. At the beginning of flu season in New York in December 2017, over 69,000 cases have been confirmed by officials, and approximately 14,350 of those diagnosed required hospital treatment; in addition, at least five children have died as a result of the ongoing flu epidemic thus far.

The severity of this years flu outbreak is apparent when you look at the numbers from last year; in 2017, 12,912 people were hospitalized due to the disease. But while the total number of reported illnesses in 2018 continues to increase, there is some hope- while new flu cases did indeed jump 7 percent over last week, 3 percent fewer people were hospitalized; this suggests that the intensity of the epidemic  many flu specimens tested by the state contained influenza type A (H3N2), an especially strong strain  may be lessening in momentum.

Cuomo has continued to urge New York residents to get vaccinated against the flu. However, a recent shocking report by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has revealed that very same vaccine currently only possesses a 36 percent degree of effectiveness against the disease; effectiveness is higher  59 percent  when the vaccine is administered to children between the ages of 6 months and 8 years, the CDC said, although that number may not be quite high enough to quell the fears of parents statewide. Nonetheless, the CDC still encourages residents to be vaccinated, as even if it does not stop the transmission of the flu, it can still reduce the acuteness and duration if one does indeed become ill.

In early February, Governor Cuomo directed the Department of Health to authorize emergency assistance funding to enhance reimbursement to counties and help fund expanded efforts to promote and increase access to flu vaccines statewide. Cuomo called upon all 58 local health departments to re-focus vaccination outreach to vulnerable populations such as daycares, nursing homes, senior centers, and homeless shelters, and provide increased education regarding the signs and symptoms of flu.

Initial symptoms of the flu include coughing, sore throat, fever, head and body aches, and a stuffy nose. In order to reduce your risk of infection, residents are advised to adhere to the following guidelines:

Get Vaccinated: As mentioned above, while the current flu vaccine is proving to be less resilient to the particularly tough strain going around, it still serves as a protective barrier, and can reduce the severity if you go contract the disease. Vaccination should take place annually as flu strains evolve and change.

Hygiene: A number of common actions  coughing, sneezing, touching your nose, mouth, or eyes, and even talking  are some of the most rampant ways of spreading the flu. Simply making sure you cover mouth as you cough and always washing and disinfecting your hands can cut down potential germ exposure to others a great deal. Wash your hands frequently with soap, and if water is not available, use alcohol-based hand rubs instead.

Be Careful in Public: You cant always look at a person and know if they have the flu or not, so its always better to be safe than sorry. Stay home when you can and when you do venture out into a store or movie theater, avoid anyone who appears visibly sick.

Healthy Lifestyle: Taking care of yourself before you become ill is a great way of preventing illness to begin with. Get regular exercise, the daily recommended amount of sleep, stay hydrated at all time, eat a well-balanced diet, and take steps to reduce and manage any stress you may be going through. These factors can go a long way to booting your immune system and making you more resistant to getting sick.

To find out what your local country health departments are doing to help protect their residents from the current flu outbreak, visit: https://www.health.ny.gov/contact/contact_information/index.htm#_blank.

You can also use the HealthMap Vaccine Finder to find an official vaccination location nearest to you: http://www.vaccinefinder.org/.

For more information about the flu, visit: https://www.health.ny.gov/diseases/communicable/influenza/seasonal/#_blank.by Wendy Davis @wendyndavis, February 18, 2018

Siding against Charter, a New York state judge has refused to dismiss Attorney General Eric Schneiderman's lawsuit alleging that the company duped consumers by delivering broadband speeds that were slower than advertised.

The cable company had argued that the Federal Communications Commission's comprehensive broadband regulations -- including a set of rules mandating "transparency" about speed -- blocked Schneiderman from proceeding with the case.

New York County Justice Peter Sherwood rejected Charter's arguments, ruling on Friday that Congress never intended "to make federal law the exclusive source of law protecting consumers from broadband providers' deceptive conduct."

The decision stems from a lawsuit filed last February, when Schneiderman alleged that Time Warner fraudulently induced at least 640,000 subscribers in New York to purchase plans with speeds higher than the company could provide. (Charter purchased Time Warner in 2016 and subsequently renamed the company Spectrum.)

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Schneiderman's complaint includes allegations that subscribers on a plan promising 300 Mbps typically received 15% of the promised speed when connecting wirelessly. Time Warner also allegedly failed to provide many customers with modems capable of enabling Web-surfing at the advertised speeds.

The complaint also alleges that Time Warner didn't do enough to prevent congestion -- apparentlly referring to Netflix users' prior problems with choppy streams. In 2014, Netflix largely resolved the issue by agreeing to pay providers extra fees in order to interconnect directly with their networks.

Charter urged Sherwood to dismiss the case for several reasons, including that the Attorney General's claims appeared to hold Charter to tougher standards than those set out by the FCC in its transparency regulations. But Sherwood ruled that the FCC's transparency regulations don't protect broadband providers from lawsuits by state attorneys general. "The FCC promulgated the Transparency Rule with full recognition of concurrent state authority over deceptive practices, and it is clear that the claims brought here do not conflict with that rule," he wrote.

Charter also argued that the ads only promised consumers speeds of "up to" a certain maximum -- meaning that consumers could expect speeds that were equal to, or slower than, the advertised figure.

Sherwood rejected that argument as well, writing that Charter's position was "contrary to New York law."

"Defendants' advertisements gave consumers the net impression that they would consistently receive advertised 'up to' speeds," Sherwood wrote.

Schneiderman praised the decision, stating it "marks a major victory for New York consumers."

"The allegations in our lawsuit confirm what millions of New Yorkers have long suspected," Schneiderman stated. "Charter-Spectrum has been ripping you off, promising internet speeds it simply could not deliver."by Laurie Sullivan @lauriesullivan, February 19, 2018

Google built a reputation for allowing searchers seeking content on websites to preview the content without having to click through, but Alphabet's company recently rescinded that feature for images.

Removing the option to preview an image without visiting the site that hosts it sets an interesting precedent that could extend into publishers' content and material with copyright on other sites.

In this instance, the change means that people need to click through to a photos website, find the image, right click on it, and select the option to open an image in a new tab to view it.

The change comes partly as a result of a lawsuit with Getty Images. Google's recently appointed search liaison announced several changes on Twitter, including the removal of the View Image button. "The Visit button remains, so users can see images in the context of the webpages they're on," according to the tweet.

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A global licensing deal with Getty Images also resulted from the settlement. Earlier this month, Google announced it will make copyright disclaimers more prominent in image search. The goal is to protect the copyrights holder and make images more difficult to steal.

Not all are happy with the change. Some call it "a ridiculous inconvenience," while others like @mikeqtoo would "happily" like to see the removal of "their watermarked images in the search results anyway."

In a Twitter tweet, Google said the decision is intended to strike a balance between serving user needs and adhering to publishers' concerns.by Wendy Davis @wendyndavis, February 19, 2018

Family members of two ISIS victims are asking an appellate court to reconsider its recent decision dismissing a lawsuit that sought to hold Twitter responsible for a November 2015 terrorist shooting.

"Without Twitter, the explosive growth of ISIS over the last few years into the most-feared terrorist group in the world would not have been possible," the family members argue in papers filed Wednesday with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. "Twitter has played a key role in enabling ISIS to recruit new members, fundraise millions of dollars and spread its propaganda."

The lawsuit against Twitter, brought by the families of Lloyd "Carl" Fields, Jr. and James Damon Creach, alleged that the microblogging service supported ISIS by allowing members to create accounts. Fields and Creach were killed by a terrorist in Amman, Jordan more than two years ago.

Late last month, a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the family members couldn't proceed because they didn't show a "direct relationship" between the service's acts and the shooting. "At most, the [complaint] establishes that Twitters alleged provision of material support to ISIS facilitated the organizations growth and ability to plan and execute terrorist acts," the judges wrote.

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The family members now argue that the judges incorrectly interpreted the federal Anti-Terrorism Act -- a law that prohibits anyone from knowingly providing material support to terrorists.

The families argue that judges in other courts have interpreted the act broadly. "These courts recognized that any provision of material support to terrorists leads to more terrorist attacks," the plaintiffs argue in papers filed last week. "They also understood that requiring a direct relationship between the provision of material support and a specific attack would create an insurmountably high bar to liability."

The decision to clear Twitter appeared to mark the first time an appellate court ruled on whether social media services can be sued for allegedly assisting terrorists. Twitter, Google and Facebook still face several other lawsuits by victims and their families in the trial courts.by Nina Lentini @Nina_Lentini, February 19, 2018

Portillos, a Midwest eatery best known for its Chicago-style hot dogs, Italian beef sandwiches, char-grilled burgers, fresh salads and chocolate cake, is launching a new regional campaign.

Get Obsessed features actual social media posts from brand fans as well as restaurant staff reciting and reacting to social media musings like, If my last meal isnt Portillos, Im haunting the world.

In the Minneapolis-St. Paul market, :15 and :30 TV commercials begin airing this week. Chicago agency Schafer Condon Carter also collaborated with the brand to create 26 digital spots for Portillos social media channels and placed nine billboards in the areas around the brands Maple Grove, Minn., and Woodbury, Minn. restaurants.

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The Portillos brand, which has restaurants in more than 50 locations across several states, includes Barnellis restaurants, known for ribs, pastas and fresh sandwiches, soups and salads, as well as Portillos Home Kitchen, which offers catering.

It began in 1963 when Dick Portillo invested $1,100 in a small trailer to open the first Portillos hot dog stand in Villa Park, Ill., which he called The Dog House.While, for the rest of the world this Monday is still going to be boring and mundane, there is one guy who is probably flying high on cloud nine and dancing with joy, with no 'blues' to give whatsoever. The guy in question is none other than Karan Johar, whose directorial debut 'Kuch Kuch Hota Hai' is making the world go crazy, even after 20 years of its release. And the Berlin Film Festival only cemented the fact for us.

 Yash Raj Films

If the Shah Rukh Khan-Kajol-Rani Mukherjee starrer taught us anything, it is the trick of using cheesy pickup lines like a pro, and getting any girl with 'pyaar dosti hai' logic. Seriously, didn't we all try this line, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai *insert our crush's name*, tum nahi samjhoge, on people at least once?

Well, how can we forget that this is the same movie that gave us Sana Saeed. Yes, we are talking about the hottie from 'Student Of The Year'.

The movie also gave us one of the most epic transformation stories, which happened over an unrequited love.

 Yash Raj Films

The movie also gave one of the coolest Dadis of all time and even today we feel that she possibly time-travelled from the future, because she was clearly way ahead of her time. She even sneaked out with her granddaughter for a summer camp.

The movie made us realize how life is not about 'counting dollars' but 'stars', thanks to this kid, who had just one job throughout the movie and that was to look at stars.

Lastly, the movie also predicted Salman's future for all of us that he is going to stay single.

The movie had something or the other for everyone and no matter how old we grow; we can re-watch this movie every time it pops up on our TV screens.

 Yash Raj Films

But, we guess it isn't just India that's affected by the charm of this movie. Other countries too love Bollywood as much as we do, and the magic of this iconic movie was witnessed at the Berlin Film Festivals. To pay a tribute to 'Kuch Kuch Hota Hai', the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra played the title track, which was welcomed by a huge round of applause by the audience.

Honestly, there couldn't have been a better rendition than this and we can listen to it the whole day on loop. Even Karan Johar was so impressed by it that he took to Twitter to express his joy.

Was so excited and honoured to see this!!!!! #KuchKuchHotaHai https://t.co/EKsDTSMVj1  Karan Johar (@karanjohar) 18 February 2018

It's impressive how after so many years, the movie still manages to flutter many a hearts and make people drown in a pool of nostalgia.

Karan Johar is currently gearing up for another kickass movie 'Ranbhoomi' starring varun Dhawan.Horror as a genre has always intrigued us enough to give us some great cinematic experience. Horror movies are bringing about some great show and tell of different experimental ideas, better visual and sound effects and characters you cannot forget easily, unfortunately. It's quickly becoming the highest grossing story-telling genre and we're loving the enthusiasm with which Hollywood is releasing more and more horror every year.

Just last year, 29 horror movies were released, some of them being aptly successful, while some couldn't make their way to India. This year too, the list of horror movies Hollywood is releasing is quite fascinating and we can't wait to watch them all, as and when they release.

For now, we've picked 10 of our favourite horror movies coming out this year, which should definitely be caught at cinema halls or through the interweb.

The Nun

 Warner Bros. Pictures

Remember 2016's 'Conjuring 2'? Well, we're sure you remember the demonic nun that haunted the Hodgson family in London? Well, she's back in her own horror movie to scare the bejesus out of you. The movie is a take on the origin of the evil nun and we guarantee you'll be sitting at the edge of your seat.

Release date: July 13, 2018

Watch the trailer here.

Hereditary

 A24

The film was very well received at the Sundance Film festival a few months ago and was termed as 'one of the scariest movies to be screened ever'. The movie revolves around the passing away of the matriarch of the Graham family, after which the daughter of the family begins to unravel cryptic and terrifying secrets about their ancestry. The more they discover, the chaotic it gets. Definitely catch this one.

Release Date: June 08, 2018

Watch the trailer here.

Mama 2

 Universal Pictures

'Mama 2' is a sequel to the 2013 Spanish horror release 'Mama', which was about two young girls who were abandoned in the forest cabin and fostered by an unknown entity they fondly call Mama. The plot for the second part is still unknown but it's clearly the most awaited movie of the year.

The release date is not out yet. You can watch the trailer for the first part here. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Am7i7uM9r0)

Annihilation

 YouTube

The story revolves around a group of troops who enter a disaster zone and only one survives out of the lot. When Natalie Portman's husband doesn't come back alive she enters the zone to figure out what happened to him. It's an all in all action packed science fiction horror with a super cast to watch out for.

Release Date: 22 February, 2018. (Only in U.S. and Brazil)

Watch the trailer here.

The Predator

 20th Century Fox

Remember Arnold's 'Predator' from back in 1987? Well, it's being remade and it's here to give us more creeps than the one before. Obviously nothing beats watching Arnold in action. The plot is similar to the first release where a group of soldiers find themselves stranded in a jungle with the 'Predator' hunting them one by one. Watch out for this one because it's going to be a real treat.

Release Date:14 September, 2018

Trailer unavailable.

A Quiet Place

 Paramount Pictures

Interestingly enough the film has a twisted plot. Mysterious supernatural forces, attracted to sound have surfaced all over the world and a family tries its best to live in a quiet secluded farm away from any noise whatsoever. Dare they make a sound!

Release Date: 9 March, 2018

Watch the trailer here.

Slender Man

 Screen Gems

'Slender Man' is believed to be a popular and an old legend and the movie revolves around four teenagers who try to break the myth by bringing him to life. Of course, they summon evil instead and that's where it gets nerve wrecking.

Release Date: 24 August, 2018 (U.S.)

Watch the trailer here.

Halloween

 Universal Pictures

Remember the creepy Micheal Myers? Well he's back! One of the few slasher films coming out this year, 'Halloween' is the eleventh instalment in the Halloween franchise, picking up 40 years after the events of the previous film. This will be one gut-wrenching watch for sure.

Release Date: 19 October

Watch the trailer here.

Nightmare Return To Elm Street

 YouTube

Freddy Krueger is back and not with a sequel this time but a remake of the classic horror movie which released back in 1984. The story revolves around Drew's daughter who is suffering from nightmares with Freddy in them. Drew has to go back in time to face his horrific memories with his fellow classmates of the Elm Street haunting in order to save his daughters life.

Release Date: 27 November, 2018

Watch the trailer here.

Truth Or Dare

 Universal Pictures

A group of students rent a house on Halloween which is supposedly haunted by a vengeful spirit who lost a deadly game of truth or dare several years prior. The group gets lured into performing acts of dare which are violent in nature and if they fail to do so, they're eventually haunted and killed by the evil spirit. The trailer surely sent chills down our spines.

Release Date: 8 October, 2017

Watch the trailer here.

So, find your perfect horror movie buddy and shortlist the ones you want to watch because we can assure you, you're gonna be in for one hell of a ride this year.25 minutes is not a lot of time. It probably takes me longer than that to mentally prepare myself to start working after reaching office. And, admit it, almost everyone spends more time than that in the toilet (but, don't do that, your rectum might fall out).

We don't even get our pizzas delivered in 25 minutes, but we might soon be able to travel from Mumbai to Pune in that much time. Well, the future really is here, I guess.

Forget the Mumbai-Pune expressway, if Richard Branson and the Virgin Group come through, a hyperloop linking the two cities will cut down travel time to 25 minutes, or even less. And, the best part is that it just sounds expensive, but it actually isn't.

So basically, Hyperloop is a train service that will load passengers and cargo that will accelerate gradually via electric propulsion through a low-pressure tube. The pod will lift above the track using magnetic levitation and just glide at airline speeds for long distances due to ultra-low aerodynamic drag.

Individual ports of the loop will go inside individual gates of the (proposed) airport, reducing travel time further. The project will leapfrog Maharashtra into a transport hub, said Branson.

With this technology, different cities in the country could basically just become like metro stops, and honestly, nothing says advancement better than that. If time really is money, imagine how much money we would actually save in that sense.

But, we will have to wait for a few years to travel in the most convenient and comfortable way. The Mumbai-Pune Hyperloop will probably become a reality in five to seven years. This Hyperloop One technology in the early stages of commercialisation as of now.

Moreover, India might just become the first market for Hyperloop One, ahead of the Middle East, Northern Europe and the US, where the company is considering rolling out its service. Possibly, India may have this track as the first operationalized route, though Dubai is competing close, Branson said. The Pune-Mumbai route is an ideal first corridor as part of a national hyperloop network.

Virgin Hyperloop One CEO Rob Lloyd said, We have always believed that India would be a tremendous market for hyperloop. The Pune-Mumbai route is one of the strongest economic cases we have seen to-date.Justin Trudeau is perhaps one of the most loved politicians in the world. The Canadian Prime Minister has managed to impress not only his own country's citizens but has raked in love from others as well, including India.

Whether it's his charming looks or his advocacy for secularity, the young PM has won hearts everywhere and so, for obvious reasons, his visit to India was something everyone was looking forward to.

Accompanied by his wife and three children- Xavier, Hadrien and Ella-Grace, Trudeau landed in India on 17th of February; in style of course.

 Twitter

The 8 days of his tourist life began with a tour of the Taj Mahal, because let's face it, when you are visiting India, you HAVE to visit the Taj Mahal.

I was about Xav's age when I first visited the Taj Mahal almost 35 years ago... and it's amazing to be back with him & the family on Day 1 of our trip to India. pic.twitter.com/EN6VnkYBU2  Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) February 18, 2018

We even think he tried to channel his inner Shah Rukh Khan but pretty much failed.

 Twitter

He also visited the Wildlife SOS Elephant Conservation and Care Centre in Mathura.

 Twitter

This was followed by a short trip to Gujarat to the Sabarmati Ashram and we saw Trudeau in his best desi avatar yet.

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Clad in a red kurta, Trudeau looked his dapper self and was seen indulging in Indian traditions with his family.

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The Ashram authorities gifted quite a few mementos to the family including several books of Bapu and a small charkha.

Next up on the tour was the Akshardham Temple in Gandhinagar.

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Next up, he will be seen at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad speaking on "Education and Investment Opportunities". He is also scheduled to visit Amritsar and Mumbai and would then go ahead with his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi.Following the release of a one-line statement from the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) on February 9 that announced the launch of domestic crude oil trading on March 26, a minor earthquake for the oil industry and in the medium term for all commodities took place. The INE has said non-Chinese companies will be allowed to participate in trading crude oil futures contracts, priced in RMB using USD as the initial margin.



The ability for foreign producers and consumers to execute hedging contracts on a domestic Chinese commodities exchange using RMB is a game changer. The development of the petro-yuan may be some years away, but for consumers and producers, investors and commodity arbitragers, the Chinese commodity futures markets are deep pools of liquidity that international traders have been clamoring to access for many years.



Some western media commentators have been less than enthusiastic about the prospects for the INE, claiming that the 1000 barrel contract size, potential delivery issues, the dominance of the Brent and WTI benchmarks and regulatory uncertainty could act as major headwinds.



Yet, looking beyond the INE, the Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) is currently conducting a nationwide consultation on proposed changes to its rulebook that follow the INE principles on foreign access.



Established in 1993, trading a total of 72 million lots in January, of which 27 million lots were iron ore, the DCEs foreign access rule changes have already received preliminary CSRC approval. Therefore subsequent to the INE launch in the first quarter, it is possible that the DCE will offer foreign access to its heavily traded flagship iron ore contract before the end of the second quarter.



At the DCEs presentation on foreign access on Monday February 12, the DCE said they are moving ahead as fast as possible with the launch, although no timetable was given.



Following these first steps, larger and more significant steps are likely to follow, and should the INE and DCE trade successfully it is possible to imagine that the SHFE will allow non-mainland access to its metals contracts within the next 12 months.



Up to this point, the default currency for the international commodity trade has been USD, the earthquake to which I refer is that monopoly in the process of being broken. As non-mainland companies will be able to hedge their RMB commodity exposures, there is no doubt that Chinese commodity producers and consumers will demand that non-Chinese companies offer to price in RMB.



The question for the London Metal Exchange is when access to the SHFE is permissioned, how much long-term producer-consumer hedging from China and throughout Southeast Asia will switch to an SHFE pricing basis, therefore lowering the oxygen of liquidity for LME exchange users. One has to imagine it may be a significant amount. Yet, it is not all doom and gloom for the LME because it is possible that significantly more traders will enter into the SHFE-LME arbitrage across all metals due to easier and fundamentally more efficient trading access.



There are a few events in business when one can look back and say, after that, things were never the same. The launch of the INE is such an event. Maybe not for the oil industry immediately, but definitely for the waves of change that follow and are enabled by it.



John Browning is Managing Director and chief operating officer of BANDS Financial, a leading Hong Kong-based futures broker.

John.Browning@BANDSfinancial.comSupport for the Times's Up Movement made its way to a prestigous red carpet event across the pond.

Actresses decked out in black gowns and jumpsuits to stand in solidarity against sexual harassment and inequality at The British Academy of Film and Television Arts.Currently Reading

How to take advantage of early spring temps in ConnecticutA study that will incorporate centralized patient information is planned to identify the factors leading to suicide and to help prevent those unfortunate deaths.

The data will come from the states new health information exchange, called CTHealthLink, which will collect information gleaned from patients visits to their doctors, psychotherapists and hospital emergency departments. Until now, health care providers electronic medical records systems have not been able to communicate with each other.

Using that compiled information, the study, led by Robert H. Aseltine Jr., will help providers better identify and treat patients at risk of suicide in the health-care system. It bridges mental health, general health, hospital-based care, he said.

Aseltine, chairman of the Division of Behavioral Sciences and Community Health at UConn Health, is the principal investigator for the study, supported by a $1.9 million, three-year grant from the National Institute of Mental Health.

There is a pressing need for better information about who is at risk of suicide.

Suicide is an urgent public health problem, said Matthew Katz, CEO of the North Haven-based Connecticut State Medical Society, which sponsors CTHealthLink.

Its the 10th leading cause of death in the U.S. Its the second-leading cause of death among youth, he said. Hospitalizations for suicide attempts in Connecticut have increased 15 percent between 2005 and 2015.

He added that suicide attempts nationwide have gone up 24 percent in the last 10 years.

According to the state Chief Medical Examiners Office, suicides rose from 332 in Connecticut in 1990 to 387 in 2016. For those 10 to 19 years old, the totals were 24 in 1990 and 13 and 2016. However, the 10-19 range, after peaking at 27 in 1991, dropped in the years afterward.

Somewhere between 85 percent and 90 percent of those who have died have seen a health-care professional in the past year, Katz said, and most of them have not been diagnosed or identified in any way.  Were missing opportunities to catch and treat these individuals before they attempt suicide or before they die from suicide.

CTHealthLink is a health information exchange, designed to give care providers all the pertinent information on each patient: medical record data, all the psychological and medical clinical data, lab data, prescribing data, Katz said.

Until now, that data has been stored in each providers computers or, at best, shared on an electronic medical record system, such as Epic, used by Yale New Haven Health and Hartford Healthcare, which includes MidState Medical Center in Meriden.

While the centralized information will help health care providers get a clearer picture of their patients health overall, its a huge benefit because that robust data tells us a lot more about those who attempt suicide, Katz said.

The things that we can look for are whether they have conditions that may lead towards a propensity for suicide  depression that was not identified on a claim form, poor conditions, unemployment, [living] in an at-risk location, [being] homeless, as well as drug use and whether the patient has seen a doctor recently, he said. It helps track that information in a way that weve never seen before.

Were not going to say that patient is at risk, Katz said. What were going to say is, you need to ask questions, you need to do some identifications to assess whether that patient is at risk.

Identifying those at risk of suicide not only saves lives, he said, but reduces the cost to the health care system.

CTHealthLink will be especially helpful in identifying teenagers who show signs of depression or other symptoms that are associated with suicide attempts.

Its often harder to get information on teens because theyre not going to the doctor as often, Katz said. Were not doing a good job today identifying teens at risk of suicide  Theyre the ones we need. Where we need the most help in this country is identifying and treating youth who are at high risk for suicide.

Determining treatment

The National Institute of Mental Healths initiative is called Zero Suicide, Aseltine said. CTHealthLink will collect all the information from all the different silos from which care is provided in the state of Connecticut, he said.

Im using this infrastructure to create algorithms that will predict patient risk and to identify patients at risk of suicidal behaviors and to make that information available to their physicians so they can provide appropriate treatment.

The same kind of models Im using for suicide risk could be used to prevent rehospitalizations, to improve medication adherence and medication management, to prevent a recurrence of cardiac events, Aseltine said.

Mostly when you have those major crisis events theres medical care involved and those events will show up, said Dr. Steven Thornquist, president of the Connecticut State Medical Society. This allows us to get more eyes on the warning signs.

We have through  the health information exchange access to a fairly detailed database of patient interactions, which consist of doctor visits, labs, ER visits, he said. That individuals activity can be tracked through time and through space. You can look at it and tease out things that you cant do without doing a long-term, large-population study.  The way this becomes a way to prevent suicide is we have a log of all these encounters.

CTHealthLink was created in the fall of 2017, based on the successful system used in Kansas, according to Dr. Claudia Gruss of Wilton, president-elect of the Connecticut medical society and chairwoman of its Quality of Care Committee. It is a member of the KaMMCO Health Solutions Network.

I think there are several ways that this can be extremely helpful, said Gruss. A primary care physician can do screening for depression at the time that the patient comes in, at least on a yearly basis.

That screening was included in the regulations for Obamacare for practice measures and meaningful use, she said.

Obviously if its abnormal then we can take it a step further and either we discuss with the patient about depression and suicide prevention or we can set up a referral to a health-care professional who specializes in psychiatry or psychological social work or somebody who deals with treating depression either cognitively or through medication, Gruss said.

Aseltine said, The conditions that lead to [suicide] are typically very treatable if we can get appropriate care to those who are vulnerable. It includes a number of different therapies, including medication, including cognitive behavioral therapy, and those have proven to be quite effective in helping people manage their problems and to address the underlying mental health issues associated with suicidal behavior.

Protecting privacy

The advantage of CTHealthLink is that even if the two professionals have different [electronic medical record systems] or even if one doesnt have an EMR they can have access to the medical record if theyre tied into the clearinghouse, Gruss said.

There are a number of vendors of electronic medical records: Epic, Cerner, Allscripts, NextGen Healthcare and Greenway Health. Even if youre on Epic with one medical group and Epic with another medical group, the two Epics dont talk to each other, Gruss said. CTHealthLink solves that problem.

It will be compliant with federal privacy laws as well. Only the patients and their doctors can access the information, Gruss said. There are many safeguards built into the system to protect the patients medical records, she said.

Im very excited about this project, Gruss said. I think it can markedly improve medical care  Right now, if youre in a different medical group, you dont share information unless its sent by fax or snail mail or telephone calls, but even then you get only part of the medical information, Gruss said. Obviously, things can get lost in the sauce.

Among the advantages of the exchange is that doctors can look for negative drug interactions. It also lets us keep track of appointments and whether theyre showing up for appointments, Gruss said. Another clue is whether patients are renewing their medications at an appropriate time and thus are they taking it, she said.

Health care providers will have to join the exchange voluntarily and there will be a cost, but there is also an advantage in that

Katz said they expect to have some results of the study within 18 months, but the study will last three years. We have to sign up a provider at a time, he said, and there will be a cost, the data will help providers file required reports with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Besides physicians, social workers, psychologists and dentists will be encouraged to join the exchange.

There are people who have some models for how to predict suicide risk, but this will allow us to put that to the test, Thornquist said.NORWALK  A Columbus Magnet School first grader died of flu complications Saturday night, likely making her the second child in the state to die of flu-related illness this season.

Emma Splan, 6, had joined Columbus last year as a kindergartner, said school principal Medard Thomas in a letter to parents and students on Sunday.

We could always count on Emma constantly doing the right thing at school and thriving, Thomas stated. Our hearts go out to her loving parents: Christy Pugh, and David Splan. We are devastated by their loss. This tragedy has brought us unimaginable sorrow and heartache, but as a community, we possess the spirit and fortitude to work through this unspeakably tragic time.

He wrote that counselors will be available at Columbus Magnet to help children, staff and parents process through this tragedy.

Emmas death comes roughly a month after that of 10-year-old Nico Mallozzi of New Canaan, who died Jan. 14 of flu-related illness.

The state Department of Public Health could not immediately be reached Sunday evening to confirm whether this is the states second flu-related death in a child this season. But, the states most recent flu statistics, released Thursday, stated that, as of Feb. 10, there had only been one death of someone aged 5 to 18, presumably Mallozzis.

More for you New Canaan boy is state's first child flu death of season

According to the states most recent numbers, at least 77 people in Connecticut have died of flu-related illness  the highest number of influenza-associated deaths reported in the past five years.

Because we are still experiencing widespread influenza actively, it is likely that we will continue to see additional flu-related deaths in the coming weeks, said DPH Commissioner Raul Pino in Thursdays release.

In addition to the deaths, a total of 4,915 people have tested positive for the flu this season and 1,638 people had been hospitalized with flu-related illness.

In his letter, Thomas said the school, which will be closed Monday for an event, will undergo a thorough deep-cleaning before reopening on Tuesday and called this seasons flu relentless.

I believe it is crucial for us to find each other for comfort, wrote Thomas. We also want our children to have a place to get together and possibly share stories of Emma and to maintain a sense of normalcy for them.

He said Mondays event  a skating day at Veterans Park  will go on as scheduled.

I will be there and I could use, and give extra hugs, Thomas said. I am positive we will help each other find strength to move onward. In the days ahead, I know our wonderful Columbus community will come together with love and compassion. We will share any information about a service or memorial with you as it becomes available. In the meantime, we will hold sweet Emma and her family in our thoughts and prayers.

On behalf of the Board of Education, Barbara Meyer-Mitchell said she was deeply saddened by Emmas death and that the community is just trying to be there for this family right now.

Emmas family was reached on Sunday night, but did not want to comment.

A notice on the Norwalk Public Schools website stated that flu has not been widespread in Norwalk, and that the flu shot remains the best course for preventing and lessening the effect of the flu. Neither the notice nor Thomass letter mentioned whether Emma had gotten the flu shot.

Experts have said that anyone experiencing flu signs or symptoms should see their health provider right away. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, signs of the flu include fever (though not everyone with the flu will have one), cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, muscle or body aches, headaches and fatigue.

Although the CDC reports that the flu virus can only live a short time on a surface, last month the Norwalk Public Schools Facilities Department added a more aggressive disinfectant to its school cleaning supplies. School custodians will continue using it over the coming weeks to provide a deep cleaning, with particular attention on high touch areas.Here are five news stories and events to start your week, from the editors at Military.com:

1. MATTIS TALKS TOUGH ON 'DEPLOY OR OUT'

From Richard Sisk at Military.com: Defense Secretary Jim Mattis isn't backing down on a new Pentagon policy that requires troops to be deployable within 12 months, or face separation.

"'You're either deployable, or you need to find something else to do. I'm not going have some people deploying constantly and then other people, who seem to not pay that price, in the U.S. military," Mattis told reporters traveling with him on his way home Saturday from a week-long trip to Europe.

Defense Department officials have said there will be numerous exceptions to the new rules forcing out service members unable to deploy for 12 consecutive months -- including waivers for those wounded in combat and those who are pregnant -- but Mattis is firm on the overall concept."

When all troops aren't required to meet this requirement to be deployable, he said, some service members are forced to deploy more often, placing an undue burden on them and their families.

2. ANATOMY OF AN AMBUSH

The New York Times does a deep dive on the tragic ambush in Niger in October 2017, using helmet camera footage to portray the final moments of the four Army Green Berets killed in the attack. The story uses the incident as a lens through which to view the 'endless war' on terror that began 16 years ago and continues in remote corners of the world.

From the New York Times: "Four months later, tough questions remain unanswered about the chain of decisions that led to American Special Forces troops being overwhelmed by jihadists in a remote stretch of West Africa.

How did a group of American soldiers -- who Defense Department officials insisted were in the country simply to train, advise and assist Niger's military -- suddenly get sent to search a terrorist camp, a much riskier mission than they had planned to carry out? Who ordered the mission, and why were the Americans so lightly equipped, with few heavy weapons and no bulletproof vehicles?

More broadly, the deaths have reignited a longstanding argument in Washington over the sprawling and often opaque war being fought by American troops around the world. It is a war with sometimes murky legal authority, one that began in the embers of the Sept. 11 attacks and traveled to Afghanistan and Pakistan. It was expanded to Yemen, Somalia and Libya before arriving in Niger, a place few Americans ever think of, let alone view as a threat."

3. AIR WARFARE SYMPOSIUM BEGINS

Military.com reporter Oriana Pawlyk will be reporting on-site from the AFA Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando, Florida this week. The theme of the event is "Innovation: The Warfighter's Edge." An audience of airmen and industry professionals will hear from speakers including Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson, Air Force Chief of Staff David Goldfein, and Air Combat Commander Gen. James "Mike" Holmes, among others, about the state of innovation in the Air Force and how the service aims to maintain its competitive edge amid global power competition.

4. SIGNS VA SECRETARY'S JOB IN JEOPARDY

From Richard Sisk:

"A scathing report by VA Inspector General Michael Missal earlier this week charged that [VA Secretary David Shulkin's chief of staff, Vivieca Wright Simpson, who resigned last week] doctored emails to Department of Veterans Affairs ethics officials to justify payment of the $4,132 airfare for Shulkin's wife, Dr. Merle Bari, on a trip last July to Denmark and London.

Several Republicans and Democrats on the Veterans Affairs Committees of the House and Senate have urged that the IG's report be referred to the Justice Department for possible criminal investigation.

In another sign that his job could be in jeopardy, Shulkin was summoned to the White House Thursday to meet with Chief of Staff John Kelly, a retired Marine general whose own position has come into question in the uproar over spousal abuse allegations against former staff secretary Rob Porter."

5. MARINES EYE ALASKA FOR COLD-WEATHER TRAINING

Via Military.com: "Armed with shiny new skis and with more robust packs on the way, infantry Marines may soon be making routine trips to Alaska to train in harsh cold weather conditions, a possibility that signals a major departure from the desert training environments of recent years.

Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Robert Neller confirmed to Military.com in a December interview that the service was exploring ways to add an Alaska location to the currently limited array of options for cold weather training.

Neller declined to provide many specifics about how often Marines might travel to Alaska to train or who might be eligible for such training, but mentioned that the Army already maintained a cold weather training facility in Alaska, the Northern Warfare Training Center in Black Rapids.

'The one thing Alaska has now is land and space,' Neller said. '[The Army has] put a lot of money into their training facilities up there, so we're looking at how we can take advantage of that ... particularly in line with mountain operations and cold weather.'"

-- Hope Hodge Seck can be reached at hope.seck@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @HopeSeck.It was a maneuver that had never before been tried but it was all a wingman could do over enemy territory.President Donald Trump View Photos

President Trump delivered the following remarks on the shooting tragedy in Parkland, FL and was Mondays KVML Newsmaker of the Day. Here are his words:

My fellow Americans, today I speak to a nation in grief. A school filled with innocent children and caring teachers became the scene of terrible violence, hatred, and evil.

(Last Thursday) around 2:30 in the afternoon, police responded to reports of gunfire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida  a great and safe community. There, a shooter, who is now in custody, opened fire on defenseless students and teachers. He murdered 17 people and badly wounded at least 14 others.

Our entire nation, with one heavy heart, is praying for the victims and their families. To every parent, teacher, and child who is hurting so badly, we are here for you  whatever you need, whatever we can do, to ease your pain. We are all joined together as one American family, and your suffering is our burden also.

No child, no teacher, should ever be in danger in an American school. No parent should ever have to fear for their sons and daughters when they kiss them goodbye in the morning.

Each person who was stolen from us yesterday had a full life ahead of them  a life filled with wondrous beauty and unlimited potential and promise. Each one had dreams to pursue, love to give, and talents to share with the world. And each one had a family to whom they meant everything in the world.

Today, we mourn for all of those who lost their lives. We comfort the grieving and the wounded. And we hurt for the entire community of Parkland, Florida that is now in shock, in pain, and searching for answers.

To law enforcement, first responders, and teachers who responded so bravely in the face of danger: We thank you for your courage. Soon after the shooting, I spoke with Governor Scott to convey our deepest sympathies to the people of Florida and our determination to assist in any way that we can. I also spoke with Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi and Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel.

In these moments of heartache and darkness, we hold on to Gods word in scripture: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears. I will heal you.

We trust in that promise, and we hold fast to our fellow Americans in their time of sorrow.

I want to speak now directly to Americas children, especially those who feel lost, alone, confused or even scared: I want you to know that you are never alone and you never will be. You have people who care about you, who love you, and who will do anything at all to protect you. If you need help, turn to a teacher, a family member, a local police officer, or a faith leader. Answer hate with love; answer cruelty with kindness.

We must also work together to create a culture in our country that embraces the dignity of life, that creates deep and meaningful human connections, and that turns classmates and colleagues into friends and neighbors.

Our administration is working closely with local authorities to investigate the shooting and learn everything we can. We are committed to working with state and local leaders to help secure our schools, and tackle the difficult issue of mental health.

Later this month, I will be meeting with the nations governors and attorney generals, where making our schools and our children safer will be our top priority. It is not enough to simply take actions that make us feel like we are making a difference. We must actually make that difference.

In times of tragedy, the bonds that sustain us are those of family, faith, community, and country. These bonds are stronger than the forces of hatred and evil, and these bonds grow even stronger in the hours of our greatest need.

And so always, but especially today, let us hold our loved ones close, let us pray for healing and for peace, and let us come together as one nation to wipe away the tears and strive for a much better tomorrow.

Thank you. And God Bless you all. Thank you very much.

The Newsmaker of the Day is heard every weekday morning at 6:45, 7:45 and 8:45 on AM 1450 and FM 102.7 KVML.Last week, I received a note from a very dear friend asking that I pray for her and her son. Her beautiful, brilliant firstborn is grieving the loss of his absentee father. She has asked that I pray for God to replace her childs heartache with joy, and that God helps him to see himself as the awesome man he was created to be. She also asked that I pray for God to open her eyes, so that she can always see how to be the best champion for her son.

I was honored by her request. I love praying for mothers and their children. It was something I started doing regularly when I lost my nephew Cole to suicide in 2015. There is something terrifying about praying for children. They are so small and helpless, and it is brutal to regularly lay out your fear and frustration and anger -- begging for things that cannot always be fixed or changed, pleading with a God who sometimes sounds so very silent.

There is also something wonderful about praying for them. For me, it serves as a reminder about perspective. Children often have a singular focus  to love and be loved. It is our job to meet that need in the very best way that we can, every day. That isnt always easy or pretty. As a mother, some days are more challenging than others. I have to swallow anger and reprimands and raised voices. I am not always successful, and I have to ask my children to forgive me. Praying for children helps me to be a better mother, especially if I do it in the morning rush before we are looking for coats and water bottles. I find that if I remember to love first, anger is a much slower second. Nothing matters more than children.

Prayer doesnt always turn out the way we want, though. In the case of my nephew, thousands of people prayed for his complete and miraculous healing. He did not wake. But I know that he is in heaven now, healed completely of his emotional injuries as well as his physical ones. We got what we prayed for, but not in the way we wanted. We believe in a merciful God, a God that can make miracles. So why not one for us? It is hard to digest the undigestable. And then sometimes, our prayers are answered in exactly the ways we have asked for. I have been praying for my sweet little friend, Ceely, for at least two years. She was diagnosed with cancer when she was just a baby. She has endured so much, chemotherapy and even a stem cell transplant. She is such an amazing survivor! I have prayed for Ceelys momma almost as much! You need a special kind of strength to fight with everything you have.

Losing Cole let me see the true power of a mother. His beautiful birthgiver Rachel has more strength, love and determination than anyone should ever have to have. God has helped her find beauty in the ashes, rebuilding a life for herself and her two sons, and then founding a nonprofit counseling service that helps survivors of traumatic death. Mothers know the power of prayer.

With the devastating news of the Florida shootings, I feel compelled to continue to pray for these children and their families, for the teachers and helpers and first responders. I pray, too, that our politicians will wake up and fund mental health care programs for those in crisis. I pray that our politicians will fix gun control laws to prevent the sale of semi-automatic, assault-style weapons to children.

And now, what seemed so far away has hit a lot closer to home. Ostyn Jacob Williams, 17, was arrested for bringing a .40-caliber Taurus semi-automatic handgun into his classroom at Midland High School last week. I dont know Ostyn or his family, I dont know why he brought a gun to school. But his actions could have had horrific consequences. He could have hurt so many people, or maybe he intended only to hurt himself. I will be praying for Ostyn, too. What he did was wrong and scary; I am not trying to minimize or make light of that. But he is still a child, someones baby boy. I pray that his story turns into one of redemption, I pray that the people who love him to be his champions as well, that they have the strength and ability to help him. Too many parents lost their babies last week; enough is enough.

---

Melanie Nicholas is a full-time momma, writer and mommy blogger. She and The Hubs have two uh-mazing children, Parksalot, 9, and Bodacious, 7. You can follow her amazing adventures fighting grime and insecurity on Facebook @MelNicholas13 and at TheBathwaterBlogs.com. Her column appears in the Midland Reporter-Telegram every other week.What is now a demolished site under renovation at HemisFair Park was once a remarkable feat of community engagement and an emblem of HemisFair Park  the Children's Playground.

In the spring of 1989, community members throughout San Antonio, from teachers and students to builders and business leaders, collaborated on the construction of an elaborate play structure in HemisFair Park. Teaming up, they assembled the playground in just four days, and for 25 years, it was one of the city's best places for hide-and-seek.Colonie

Bob Inglis is putting a lot of faith in young people like Michael Bove, a 20-year-old Siena College student and active Republican whose Mechanicville family makes a living selling heating oil and propane.

Inglis is a former U.S. Congressman from South Carolina who in 2010 was turned out of office by Republican voters after he bucked the party line concerning the role fossil fuels play in climate change.

Since then, this avowed conservative has been crisscrossing America on a mission to persuade Republicans that climate change science is neither a hoax nor a fraud, and that solutions capable of heading off further damage to the environment can abide by conservative principles such as free enterprise and energy abundance.

Last week, Inglis came through the Capital Region, speaking to several dozen students and others at Siena, where Bove is the president of the campus Republican Club. In Glens Falls, Inglis spoke with church pastors. The talks were the most recent of more than 400 events Inglis has attended since 2013 targeting conservative audiences.

It appears that Inglis's message is making little headway during an era when President Donald Trump is the nation's foremost climate change denier, based on recent polling from Yale University and George Mason University, where Inglis also heads the not-for-profit Energy and Enterprise Initiative.

The poll found that compared to a decade ago, significantly fewer Republicans believe climate change is happening or that human activities cause it. Only 37 percent of conservative Republicans believe climate change is real, 13 percentage points lower than in 2008, and 9 percentage points lower than just after Trump's election in 2016.

Conservative in the global sense Watch video of climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe, a member of RepublicEn, speaking at Texas Tech University. (YouTube) See More Collapse

But Inglis, 58, said he remains encouraged by the attitudes of the youngest generation of Republicans like Bove.

"But their parents are hard  and their grandparents are very difficult," he said.

Bove's family has been in the energy business since his great-grandfather founded a coal business in Mechanicville in 1930.

"I am not completely convinced, but (Inglis) is making me think about it," said Bove. "He frames it a way that Republicans can understand. ... He talked about how alternative energy is a real opportunity for America."

And even though his family has made its living from fossil fuels, Bove said clean energy is the future  although how soon that future arrives is still up for debate. He and his father have "very different opinions" on the validity of climate change science, Bove said.

Inglis said he also initially hewed to the GOP line on climate, which holds that much climate science is unreliable and should not be used as the basis for changes to energy policy that might disrupt the domestic economy.

Two people urged him to take a closer look: his son, who "told me that I had to clean up my act," and former New York state congressman and fellow Republican Sherwood Boehlert, who invited Inglis on a trip to Antarctica in 2006 to witness climatic changes and research firsthand.

After that, Inglis began confronting standard conservative talking points  including fringe elements who insist "godless scientists" are fabricating research at the behest of a shadowy global cabal bent on a one-world government. But that did not sit well with some in his party.

In 2010  the year of the conservative Tea Party's ascension  he lost the GOP primary to Trey Gowdy, who in one of their debates said, "Global warming has not been proven to the satisfaction of the constituents I seek to serve." (Like numerous high-profile Republicans in Congress, Gowdy recently announced he would not seek reelection in November.)

Inglis said conservatives shun messages that cast them as "sinners" or that try to shame them. Rather, he said, they respond to the message that caring for the earth is a moral imperative, and that shifting from fossil fuels to renewables does not mean "doing with less, but means more energy, more mobility and more freedom."

He summed it up: "Conservatives need to hear that we are going to create more, not less."

One of his harder selling points is the idea that the government should place a "price signal"  also called a tax  on all domestic and imported products based on greenhouse gas emissions, to level the playing field between all energy sources.

He said that tax could be revenue-neutral and help consumers transition from a period of higher energy prices while renewables increase and emissions fall. And the U.S. could impose the tax unilaterally to lead the way globally, since imported goods from countries that depend on "dirty" energy would face the tax.

"To put it in Trumpian terms: We will put a price on CO2"  a greenhouse gas produced by the combustion of fossil fuels  "and China will pay for it," said Inglis.

To support his work, Inglis has created a group called RepublicEn, which welcomes "conservatives, libertarians and pragmatists of diverse political opinions." It currently has about 4,000 members, including about 200 in New York, which is more than double the membership in Inglis' home state.

Inglis said he intends to keep speaking on climate change as studies show the planet's air and oceans are continuing to warm. Experts have agreed that greenhouse gas emissions need to be reduced significantly and fairly quickly to stave off the worst effects of climate change.

"I am supremely confident that we will win," said Inglis. "The question is whether we will win soon enough."San Antonios nonprofit Southwest Research Institute in 2017 posted its lowest revenue since 2010 and its second consecutive revenue drop as political uncertainty shook its bottom line.

The annual report shows 2017 revenue falling to $528.7 million, a 5.6 percent drop compared to $559.8 million in 2016.

Thats lower than the $547.9 million of revenue the nonprofit research and development institute brought in for its 2010 fiscal year. The institutes fiscal year starts on Sept. 30 of the prior year.

At its annual report meeting, the institute, which was founded in 1947, showed off presentations related to its work on space exploration, battery testing and drug-delivery devices, among other projects.

Chief Financial Officer Beth Ann Rafferty said Monday that government funding has been in flux.

That being our largest client, what I think has been the most predominant thing has been some delays in some program funding, Rafferty said. You dont really make that up over time if youre not able to deploy those folks when you anticipate deploying them.

The institute relies heavily on revenue from government projects, which totaled $312 million in 2017, or 59 percent of the institutes overall 2017 revenue. Commercial revenues for 2017 were $215.8 million. Contract underruns added another $843,000 to its revenue.

In remarks in the institutes 2017 annual report, President and CEO Adam L. Hamilton cited uncertainty caused by the fluctuating political environment to what he called a financially challenging fiscal year for research and development.

The institutes employee count also fell in 2017 to 2,574, nearly 100 fewer than the 2,665 the institute listed in its 2016 annual report, which Rafferty attributed to attrition through retirements or turnover.

We dont want to hire up without having the revenue, too. Its always balancing the staff count with what the revenue demands are, she said.

The falling revenue is the latest for the institute, which in 2016 faced a 5.5 percent drop in revenues compared to 2015.Of all the realms of media that have been shaken by the #MeToo movement, perhaps the most surprising has been public radio, the home of virtuous journalism and thoughtful, warm-voiced commentary.

Like Fox News, Vice Media and NBC News, the tweedy world of public broadcasting  a complex ecosystem of local stations and national syndicators, with NPR at the center  has seen some of its most popular figures fall in recent months, including Garrison Keillor, Leonard Lopate, Jonathan Schwartz and John Hockenberry.

The reckoning is not over. On Wednesday, WBUR in Boston said it had fired Tom Ashbrook, the host of On Point, a call-in show heard on 290 stations, after an investigation found that he had created an abusive work environment.

As a result, station schedules around the country have been remade, and listeners have gotten a glimpse at the sometimes startling working conditions that are not picked up by the microphone on their favorite shows. According to accusations by these organizations, and reporting by some of their journalists, this includes a range of behavior from inappropriate comments to unwanted kissing and touching.

Journalists at Minnesota Public Radio, for example, reported that Keillor had a yearslong pattern of behavior that included workplace bullying and, in one instance, publicly posting an off-color limerick at a bookstore he owns about a woman who worked there.

These revelations may pose risks to the all-important bond that public media organizations form with their listeners, whom they also rely on for financial contributions. The stations already face the aging of their audiences, rising pressure from podcasts and streaming outlets, and a renewed proposal by the Trump administration to cut all federal funding for public broadcasting.

The relationships that people have with the presenters and reporters on NPR feels very personal, said Vivian Schiller, a former chief executive of NPR who has also held senior positions at Twitter, The New York Times and elsewhere.

People make assumptions about who these people are based on their voice and what feels like an intimate, one-on-one relationship, Schiller added, so the potential for backlash is that much greater if you feel that you have been betrayed.

Conservative media has taken notice as well. After accusations of harassment were made against Hockenberry, the host of The Takeaway on WNYC, in December  months after he quietly resigned  Breitbart crowed: These are our elites. These are our left-wing arbiters of taste and truth. And we the taxpayers are subsidizing all of it.

The list of men now gone from public broadcasting after being accused of harassment also includes Michael Oreskes, a former editor at The Times who was NPRs top news executive; David Sweeney, NPRs chief news editor; Daniel Zwerdling, an NPR investigative reporter; and Charlie Rose, who straddled commercial and noncommercial television as PBS marquee talk-show host and, on CBS, a host on CBS This Morning and a correspondent on 60 Minutes.

In some cases, the behavior they are accused of has been recounted in detail, though rarely by the management of the institutions they worked for. Jon McTaggart, president of Minnesota Public Radio, disclosed some details of its review of Keillors case at the same time journalists there published their report.

In a statement to The Times last month, Keillor referred to a 12-page complaint about him as a highly selective and imaginative piece of work, and said he hadnt been interviewed during an investigation.

If I am guilty of harassment, Keillor said, then every employee who stole a pencil is guilty of embezzlement.

New York Public Radio, which owns WNYC, has said little about Lopate and Schwartz  both decades-long fixtures of New York radio  other than that they were accused of inappropriate behavior and remarks. But reporters at WNYC recounted accusations, based on interviews with identified and unidentified women at the station, of bullying and sexually suggestive comments by both men, with one woman saying Lopate had sexually harassed her.

Laura R. Walker, the chief executive of New York Public Radio, has said the station is committed to changing its culture, but a recent piece by New York magazine portrayed the staff as skeptical and disillusioned.

(BEGIN OPTIONAL TRIM.)

Most of the accusations of harassment and improper behavior have been made against men in their 60s and 70s. That perhaps exacerbates an already present generational divide in public radio, where a younger generation of practitioners is being increasingly drawn to the freedom offered by other audio formats like podcasting.

The public radio environment is bursting at the seams with younger media makers who have embraced formats like podcasting as their primary means of expression, said Matthew Lasar, author of Radio 2.0: Uploading the First Broadcast Medium. A new public radio world is emerging, and, intentionally or not, these difficult and painful changes feel like part of that transition.

(END OPTIONAL TRIM.)

The lack of specificity of the charges against Lopate, 77, and Schwartz, 79, has added fuel to a small movement in their support. A Facebook group and an online petition have called for Lopates reinstatement; Art Spiegelman, a Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist, signed the petition and called Lopates dismissal the radio equivalent of demolishing Penn Station back in the early 1960s.

In an email, Lopate declined to comment on the specifics of his situation, but said: I will say that in my case I still havent been given a cause for dismissal and my alleged misdeeds are so negligible, I suspect the station saw the #MeToo environment as a convenient time to make a programming decision.

A lawyer for Schwartz said he had no comment.

Whether such departures will affect fundraising from listeners  usually a stations largest source of income  may soon become clear. Mike Savage, a veteran of public radio and a former NPR board member who now works as a consultant, said he had heard largely positive reports from stations around the country about fundraising and membership.

I dont think listeners view these acts as a problem with the quality of journalism or with these organizations themselves, Savage said. I think its a bump in the road.

WNYC held a one-day pledge drive in late December, after Lopate and Schwartz were fired, and the station had its hosts address the controversy and promise transparency. The station declined to disclose the full results of that drive, though it said last week that listener donations in December and January were up 11.5 percent from the same period a year before.

(BEGIN OPTIONAL TRIM.)

In December, 577 people canceled their memberships and cited the news about Lopate and Schwartz as the reason  out of a total of 247,000 members, according to the station.

The station will begin its full five-day pledge drive on Feb. 26. Anne OMalley, vice president of membership of New York Public Radio, said in a recent interview that it had not decided yet whether to address these issues as part of the drive, as the station had in December.

It would be disingenuous to say that its not something were thinking about, OMalley said. But so far, we havent changed the pledge drive goal, and we havent changed our plans.

New York Public Radio had $93 million in revenue for the year that ended in June, with 39 percent of that coming from member contributions and 33 percent from corporate underwriting, according to publicly disclosed finances.

(END OPTIONAL TRIM.)

Of course, New York Public Radio is just one part of the wider public radio universe, which also reaches into rural pockets of the country far from the media hubs of New York and Washington. In those places, the local public station may serve as a vital news source, but the success of its pledge drives may depend on other factors, said Mark Vogelzang, president of Maine Public, which presents radio and television.

Up here in Maine, Vogelzang said, digging out from a big snowstorm probably has more of an effect on pledge drive participation than Garrison Keillor.San Antonio chef Jason Dadys steakhouse Range has cracked Texas Monthlys annual list of 10 best new restaurants in the state.

Range, which opened in September at the Embassy Suites by Hilton San Antonio Riverwalk Downtown, came in at No. 9 on the list compiled by Texas Monthly food writer Patricia Sharpe for the magazines 2018 Where to Eat Now feature.Three men were wounded Sunday in shootings that started in Sunnyside Park and continued at a Texaco station on Bellfort.

About 7 p.m., Houston patrol officers got a report that multiple shots had been fired at Sunnyside Park in south Houston, said Lt. Larry Crowson with the Houston Police Department.

One man apparently was shot in the face and another was shot in the leg, Crowson said.

The men left the park and drove to a Texaco station a couple of blocks away at Bellfort and Scott.

After they pulled up to the store in a Volvo pierced with bullet holes, a Chevrolet Malibu drove by and someone inside opened fire.

One of those shots went through the wall of the building and struck 62-year-old Kermit Compton, a cook at the station's Krispy Krunchy Chicken.

He was wounded in the chest and taken to the hospital for surgery, Crowson said. The other two injured men - later identified as 18-year-old Gordon Davis and 20-year-old Devon Collins - were taken to the hospital as well.

The police department's homicide division will investigate. Anyone with additional information in this case can call HPD at 713-308-3600 or Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS.San Antonio kicked off the Chinese New Year Saturday night by illuminating the River Walk with thousands of lanterns.

Lanterns on the Water brought in 45,000 people in its second year, organizers said. The free event allowed people to buy a lantern for $5, then set it on the water "in honor of loved ones, hopes, dreams and wishes," according to the River Walk's Facebook page.3 1 of 3 Houston's Best And Brightest Companies To Work For Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Sun Coast Resources, Inc. Show More Show Less 3 of 3





Sun Coast Resources, Inc., one of the largest wholesale petroleum marketers in the United States, has been named as a winner at Houston's Best And Brightest Companies To Work For - a symposium and awards gala hosted by the National Association for Business Resources.

The Best and Brightest Companies to Work For is an NABR program that provides the business community with the chance to gain recognition, showcase their best practices and show why they are an ideal workplace. The national program celebrates those companies that are doing better business, enriching lives and building a stronger community.Feb. 3

At 12:28 p.m., Officer Andrade was dispatched to 5910 West Loop South in reference to shoplifting. Upon arrival, Officer Andrade made contact with the reportee who stated a suspect entered the store and took four 18 packs of Bud Light Beer and exited the store without paying. The suspect was later identified and charged.

At 5:15 p.m., Officer Marcotte initiated a traffic stop in the 5400 block of Bissonnet on a 2001 Buick for having a defective brake light. The driver was found to have a suspended driver's license and was arrested and charged with driving while license invalid (DWLI).

At 9:48 a.m., Officer Andrade was dispatched to the 800 block of North Third Street in reference to a male subject who was on location harassing his common law ex-wife and in-laws. Officer Andrade made contact with the common law father-in-law, who issued a criminal trespass warning to the suspect. After further investigation, it was determined the suspect made a terroristic threat to the victim. A class "A" misdemeanor terroristic threat warrant will be filed on the suspect.

Feb. 4

At 10:08 a.m., Officer Barber was dispatched to 5910 West Loop South in reference to shoplifting. Upon arrival, Officer Barber made contact with the reportee who stated a suspect entered the store and took a single four pack of Bud Light Beer and exited the store without paying. The suspect was later identified and charged.

Feb. 5

At 12:09 a.m., Officer Salinas conducted a traffic stop in the 5400 block of IH 610 northbound on a gray Toyota Corolla for it being operated with a headlight out when required. Officer Salinas subsequently placed the driver of the Corolla in custody for failure to identify-fugitive from justice.

At 4:19 a.m., Officer Ortega was monitoring HPD Southwest radio and heard a person down call in the area of Chimney Rock Road and Evergreen Street. Upon arrival, Officer Ortega observed the suspect's vehicle stopped at the red light with the suspect in the driver seat who appeared to be asleep. After further investigation Officer Ortega placed the driver into custody for driving while intoxicated.

At 6:13 a.m., Officer Salinas was dispatched to a motor vehicle accident in the 6700 block of IH 610 ESR. Officer Salinas subsequently conducted a Driving While Intoxicated (DWI) investigation. Officer Salinas placed the driver in custody for DWI.

At 2:44 p.m., Officer Barber was dispatched to the Exxon Station at 6512 S. Rice Avenue regarding criminal mischief where the suspect cut open two fuel pumps and installed "skimmer's" into the computer circuitry of the machines.

At 4:28 p.m., Officer Schwausch was patrolling the 7700 block of Chimney Rock Rd. when he observed a black Hyundai travelling in front him with expired registration as of 11/2016. Officer Schwausch initiated a traffic stop on the vehicle and found the driver was driving with a suspended driver license and with prior DWLI convictions. The driver was arrested for driving while license invalid-enhanced.

Feb. 7

At 9:30 a.m., Officer Carson was dispatched to 7008 S. Rice (City Hall lobby) in regards to meeting with a victim of identity theft. The victim's personal information was used to open a line of credit.

Feb. 8

At 2:55 a.m, Sgt. D. Hollie was patrolling the 5200 block of Bissonnet Street (E/B), when he observed a Cadillac traveling eastbound. Sgt. Hollie observed this vehicle fail to obey sign: right turn only and proceed through the intersection of Bissonnet St. and Bellaire Blvd. Sgt. Hollie made a traffic stop on the vehicle for this reason. After further investigation, the driver was arrested for Driving While License Invalid (DWLI) and the driver could not provide proof of financial responsibility at the time of the offense.

At 12:27 a.m., Officer Barrientos conducted a traffic stop on a grey 2014 Dodge Avenger for license plate light out in the 7400 IH 610 West Loop South southbound. Ofc. Barrientos made contact with the driver and all the occupants of the Avenger. During the traffic stop investigation, the driver was placed in custody for a felony warrant with the Harris County Sheriff's Office, the back left seat passenger for possession of a controlled substance, and the back right seat passenger for public intoxication.

At 6:29 p.m., Officer Schwausch was patrolling the 7600 block of IH 610 SB when he observed a silver Impala travelling in front him with expired registration as of 01/2018 and defective license plate lights. Officer Schwausch initiated a traffic stop on the vehicle and found the driver was driving with a suspended driver license and without proof of financial responsibility. The driver was arrested for driving while license invalid-enhanced.

Feb. 9

At 12:33 a.m., Officer Bellard was on patrol in the area of 6000 IH 610 southbound when he observed a black Nissan Altima drive by him at 98 MPH in a 60 MPH zone. Officer Bellard initiated a traffic stop on the vehicle and after further investigation the driver was arrested for driving while intoxicated and Harris County Constable Precinct 7 warrants.

At 4:09 p.m., Officer Marcotte was on patrol in the 6300 block of IH 610 East Service Road and ran a license plate on 1997 Lexus and it came back as a stolen vehicle. The driver was arrested and charged with unauthorized use of a motor vehicle after it was found he took the car from his landlord. He was also found to be in possession of 2 grams of marijuana.

At 6:50 p.m., Officer Marcotte was on patrol and observed a gray Ford sedan to be parked over two handicap parking spaces in front of the store at 5861 Bissonnet. There was a driver inside the vehicle and Officer Marcotte inquired with him about having the required placard for parking in a handicap reserved parking space. The driver gave a false name and date of birth to Officer Marcotte. He was arrested and charged with failure to identify to a police officer.

At 11:36 a.m., Bellaire Fire Department was dispatched to 6639 Ferris St. in reference to an unconscious 60-year-old white female. The Medics arrived and confirmed the female was deceased. Officer Andrade and Detective Macedo conducted a death investigation.

At 1:43 p.m., Officer Vorhees was dispatched to a burglary of a motor vehicle at 5020 Bellaire Blvd. Upon arrival, Officer Vorhees spoke with victim who stated she had her purse stolen while fueling her vehicle.

At 8:38 p.m., Officer Marcotte initiated a traffic stop in the 5400 block of IH 610 northbound on a 2005 Chrysler for expired registration. The driver was found to have a suspended driver's license and was arrested. While being transported to jail, the driver proceeded to eat a small baggie of marijuana, which led to additional charges.

At 4:11 p.m., Officer Liccketto conducted a traffic stop in the 4700 block of Bissonnet Street W/B. During the course of the interview, the temporary license plate displayed on the vehicle was found to be fictitious. The owner of the vehicle was arrested and transported to the Bellaire Police Department for booking.

Feb. 10

At 12:32 a.m., Officer Ortega a vehicle traveling westbound in the 5000 block of Bissonnet Street and abruptly stop in the middle of the roadway. Officer Ortega initiated a traffic stop in the 5300 block of Bissonnet Street. After further investigation, Officer Ortega placed the driver into custody for suspicion of driving while intoxicated.

At 2:41 a.m., Officer Proctor was dispatched to 7000 IH 610 S/B in reference to a two car accident. Officer Proctor arrived and observed significant damage to the front of a black 2016 Dodge Challenger and significant damage to the rear of a black 2014 Toyota Camry. Officer Proctor made contact with the suspect who admitted he was the driver and sole occupant of the Dodge Challenger. At approximately 0251 hours, Officer Proctor found the suspect to be intoxicated and placed him into custody for driving while intoxicated. Officer Proctor then transported him to the Bellaire Jail for booking.

At 1:40 p.m., Officer Liccketto was dispatched to the 4700 block of Jessamine Street in reference to a welfare check. Officer Liccketto found a male asleep at the wheel of a Fed Ex Truck. During the investigation, the driver was found to be in possession of a controlled substance. The driver was arrested and transported to the Bellaire Police Department for booking.

Feb. 11

At 2:34 a.m., Officer Bellard was in the 3400 block of South Loop West when he observed a gray Toyota pickup stopped in the middle of the entrance ramp to the freeway. Officer Bellard made contact with the driver who was asleep behind the wheel. Officer Bellard woke the driver and after further investigation the driver was arrested for driving while intoxicated.

At 9:32 a.m., Officer C. Barber was dispatched to the residence in the 5400 block of Holly St regarding a theft of a motor vehicle and the burglary of two motor vehicles. The suspects rummaged through two unsecured vehicles and discovered the key fob for the stolen vehicle inside one of burglarized cars and used it to steal the third vehicle.

At 3:40 p.m., Officer Schwausch was dispatched to the 5300 block of Holly Street in reference to a burglary of a motor vehicle that occurred between 02/10/2018 at 2300 hours and 02/11/2018 at 1000 hours. The vehicle was left unsecured in the driveway and a wallet containing multiple credit cards and a Texas Driver License were taken from the vehicle.One of the big ticket items every year in Liberty County's budget is the jail. Since 2015, County Judge Jay Knight and commissioners successfully negotiated a new contract with then CEC-Security, LLC for a three-year contract with a two-year option. They have since been purchased by the GEO Group and have continued to honor the current contract between them and Liberty County as originally negotiated in 2015.

At the Feb. 13 commissioners court meeting, the two-year option was up for consideration by the court.

"We need to exercise our option soon and I would like to do it sooner than later," Knight told commissioners.

"As you know, we entered into a contract back with CEC which later became GEO and they are currently honoring our contract with their merger or buyout altogether," Knight said. "We have received good service from them."

Knight offered comparisons and demonstrated the savings brought to the county from the new contract.

In 2012-2015 during the original contract, if the county held less than 150 inmates, it was cost plus 15 percent. If the amount was from 150-159 inmates, the cost was $67.27 per day, per inmate.

For 160-169, the cost was lowered to $65.67, for 200-219 it dropped further to $58.40, and finally, if there was as many as 240-269 inmates, the cost per day per inmate was $52.55.

The current contract, smaller than any of the previous numbers at $46.85 per day, and per inmate equates to a substantial savings to the county compared to the previous contract, even from the lowest to the highest.

"Also, to consider, is the cost-plus 15 percent," Knight said.

Commissioners were given the option to secure the two-year option and pay $47.79 per day, still well below the previous contract and only a $0.94 increase.

"I believe this has received pretty good merit with a substantial savings to the county and good service. I ask for your consideration to extend the contract," Knight asked.

The motion was voted for unanimously.

In other court action:

--The city of Dayton asked the county to give them a resolution giving consent to use of design criteria of the city of Dayton for Liberty County review of River Ranch Development including criteria for roads and drainage development criteria. Authorizing the county's review of their portion of the new River Ranch Development to the city of Dayton would mean tougher restrictions could be imposed by the city. The county would only lose platting fees of potentially less than $20,000 but would gain that and considerably more with the rooftops in property taxes.

"We have little as far as restrictions that we can do. We ask the developers to sit down with our Development Committee to negotiate and try to come to an agreement," Knight said. Commissioners agreed and passed the measure unanimously.

--Commissioners voted to approve a request from Colony Ridge to re-plat the Santa Fe subdivision, Section 1. "The changes are minor and are all in our favor," said David Douglas with the Engineering Department. "Larger ditches and we ask you to approve it."

--Commissioners also approved the final plat of Santa Fe subdivision, Section II.

--The court also voted 2-1, with Commissioner James Reaves voting against, to secure land to put an office building and a yard to better maintain the residents in Precinct 1. "It takes a good bit of our resources to move materials, equipment, and men from Raywood to Dayton," said Commissioner Bruce Karbowski. "This is for now and future use." The land belongs to Cactus Disposal in Dallas who purchased the land for $138,000 and the commissioner asked the court to pay $150,000 for the 3.7-acres on FM 1409 and CR 443.

--District Attorney Logan Pickett came before commissioners as a member of the Liberty County Court Security Committee during the public comments period to prod them along with the committee's recommendations. The committee submitted four specific points during one of the December meetings and the court hasn't acted on it yet. Judge Knight recommended a workshop and one is being planned before the next meeting of the Court Security Committee in March.While the November general election is nearly eight months away, voters will decide a number of local races - including Orange County Judge and Jefferson County Commissioner Precinct 4  tonight.

Orange County voters will decide between incumbent Judge Stephen Brint Carlton and his Republican challenger Dean T. Crooks in tonight's primary.

The only Democratic candidate for Orange County Judge, Donald Glenn Brown, was ruled ineligible last month for the November general election because the check for his filing fee bounced, his party announced.

Orange County voters will also elect two commissioners .

Precinct 2 incumbent Barry Burton faces Republican challenger and former Orange city councilwoman Teresa Beauchamp, while Precinct 4 incumbent Jody E. Crump faces Republican challenger and Vidor Mayor Robert Viator.

The Orange County Treasurer race will also be decided during the primary. Christy Khoury and David W. Smith, both Republicans, are vying for the seat.

Jefferson County voters will choose between incumbent Bo Alfred and challenger Earl W. Wheaton Sr., a Democrat, for Precinct 4 commissioner.

The big race in Jefferson County this primary, however, is the battle for the 172nd Judicial District Judge bench.

Judge Donald Floyd did not seek re-election due to age limits on the bench.

Current Beaumont ISD manager and attorney Mitch Templeton is unopposed on the Republican side, while former BISD attorney Melody Chappell is one of three Democrats running for the seat. She will face attorneys Kent W. Johns and Tina Bradley in the primary.

The Democratic primary for Jefferson County's Justice of the Peace Precinct 8 will be a four-way race between incumbent Tom Gillam III, Port Arthur ISD trustee Joseph L. Guillory II, Melanie Ned and Antoine Leonard Freeman.

The other highly contested county seat will be the Justice of the Peace Precinct 1 Place 2 race, currently held by Nancy Beaulieu. Annette Reedy and Wilton Johnson will compete for the Republican ticket, with Benjamin "Ben" Collins Sr. and David Grove on the Democratic ballot.

Jefferson County Judge Jeff Branick will be unopposed in his first primary election since switching his party affiliation, but the Republican will face former U.S. Congressman Nick Lampson in November's general election.

Incumbent Jefferson County Clerk Carolyn Guidry and Republican Bailey Wingate will also meet in November. Both are unopposed in the primary.

Democrat Charlie Hallmark is seeking the county treasurer seat currently held by Republican Tim Funchess. That race will be decided in November.

Like Orange County, Hardin County is a Republican stronghold and voters there will see few contested elections this year.

Hardin County Judge Wayne McDaniel and District Clerk Dana Hogg will be unopposed in the primary elections, as no Democrats filed to run for those seats.

County Clerk Glenda Alston will face Republican challenger Jerry Jordan, while Justice of the Peace Precinct 6 incumbent Jackie Werner will face Republican challenger Amy Enloe.

Only one Democrat filed to run for a Hardin County office. Thomas "Tony" Templeton is running for Justice of the Peace Precinct 5, a seat currently held by Republican Melissa "Missy" Minton.

Beaumont's David Bradley announced earlier this year that he would not run for an eighth term on the State Board of Education, leaving open his seat representing Jefferson, Hardin, Orange, Jasper and Newton counties, as well as several counties in the Houston and Galveston areas, for the first time since 1996. He's been known for his staunch social conservatism during his time on the board.

No local candidates filed to take his place. Matt Robinson of Friendswood will be unopposed in the Republican primary, as will Katy's Elizabeth "Eliz" Markowitz on the Democratic ballot. Bradley has already endorsed Robinson.

U.S. Rep. Randy Weber. R-Friendswood, is one of the few who will face a Republican challenger in the primary - Bill "Sarge" Sargent of Galveston County. Two Democrats, Adrienne Bell and Levy Q. Barnes Jr. are also running for the seat, which Weber has held since 2013.

U.S. Rep. Brian Babin, R-Woodville, whose district includes Hardin and Orange counties, is unopposed in the primary.

State Sens. Robert Nichols, R-Jacksonville, and James White, R-Hillister, and state Reps. Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, and Joe Deshotel, D-Beaumont, did not draw challengers.

LTeitz@BeaumontEnterprise.com

Twitter.com/LizTeitzPARKLAND, Fla. - The real problems started at least as early as middle school and quickly intensified. There were the vocal outbursts, disturbing drawings of stick figures with guns, constant disciplinary issues. There were threatening statements written on his homework, including a reference to killing President Barack Obama, saying he should be "burned alive and eaten."

Some teachers banned Nikolas Cruz from their classrooms at Westglades Middle School because of his erratic behavior. One teacher said he was barred from bringing a backpack to the school and security had to search him to ensure he didn't have weapons. Teachers were very concerned about him and were working to get him help.

"Looking in his eyes, he just looked like there was a problem," said a teacher who worked with Cruz in sixth grade. "His behavior in class wasn't constantly wrong, but every once in a while, it was. He would just spew something out of his mouth that was inappropriate."

Several teachers who knew Cruz in middle school said in interviews that he was an increasing behavioral challenge for the school system and appeared to be on a troublesome path. In the years before he would allegedly carry out one of the worst mass shootings at a school in U.S. history, Cruz faced a long string of escalating disciplinary measures throughout his academic career for insubordination, profanity, disruption, fighting and assault.

"I can say I was so uncomfortable around him, I did not want to be alone with him in my classroom," said one former teacher, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the topic. "That is how disruptive his behavior was."

In one school year, when he was in middle school, he racked up numerous infractions - including for a fight during the second week of school and continuing with a pattern of unruly behavior, insults and profanity, according to disciplinary records obtained by WPLG-Local 10, an ABC television affiliate in Miami that shared them with The Washington Post.

Teachers said that by eighth grade he was lashing out physically, randomly bumping other students in the hallways appearing to want to pick confrontations and fights and at times breaking out into profanity-laced tirades without any apparent trigger.

"Something would just upset him, and he would just do it and come to class and act out," said one teacher. His homework scrawls got more troublesome, including repeated tirades against American society, the comment about Obama and other writings teachers found alarming. He put a swastika on a test. He wrote about his intense interest in, and support for, guns.

His middle school and high school teachers referred him to individual and family counseling, the records show. They held parent conferences and called social workers. They sent him to in-school suspension, and they sent him off campus. For a time, they sent him to a school for emotionally disturbed youth. Finally, after he was disciplined for an assault at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, they asked for an assessment of the threat he posed to his school, and ultimately he was expelled, about a year before he returned with a gun.

A person familiar with the records confirmed their authenticity, and interviews with teachers, administrators and those who knew Cruz - along with other records and accounts - show that he was well-known to school and mental health authorities and was entrenched in the process for getting students help rather than referring them to law enforcement.

It is unclear how complete the records are, and a Broward County schools spokeswoman said she could not comment on them due to "student privacy rules."

Instead of slipping through the cracks, it appears Cruz was the target of aggressive work to help put him on the right track. But it also appears he might have hit the limit of what could be done.

Teachers worked "very, very, very hard" to get Cruz to a school center that would help him address his issues, said the sixth-grade teacher, who noted that Cruz's now-deceased mother also understood his problems and wanted to get him help. But that process took years, the teacher said, and required loads of paperwork to back up Cruz's needs.

"We do, as teachers, everything that we possibly can to help these children, we truly do," the teacher said. "And it's a process. It's a big process. You have to have just so much information, which we did on him, we had so much."

Cruz's past interactions with the Broward County schools have come into increasing focus since the shooting Wednesday, when he took an Uber to his former high school, walked inside and allegedly started firing into a series of classrooms on two floors, killing 17 people, many of them teenagers. A school official - on notice that he could pose a danger - immediately raised concerns with other staff upon seeing him approach, but it was too late.

Howard Finkelstein, the Broward County public defender representing Cruz, has decried the shooting as avoidable, emphasizing all of the red flags that were missed in his client's life - including at school, in the mental health system and with the FBI, which failed to investigate a tip last month that Cruz seemed capable of violence and might shoot up a school.

"What we have gathered so far looks to us like this is a complete multi-system failure, that you had the school system failed . . . you had the mental health system failed," Finkelstein said. "When he went to purchase a gun, that system failed. . . . The FBI failed. When you look at it, this should never have happened."

Broward Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie declined to comment on Cruz's disciplinary past, but he said he is reviewing how Cruz's case was handled.

"There's always more that you could do, or could have done, but the fact is that there's more that the federal leadership and government could do," Runcie said in an interview Saturday. "They could put resources and make priority investments so that we can properly service these students who are disengaged or have mental health issues. That's what could have been done better."

Runcie said that while the district has a responsibility to ensure student safety, it cannot fall solely on a school district to handle mental illness.

"We need greater investments in mental health, social emotional services for our kids," Runcie said. "It's not just a school district problem. We can't solve every problem."

According to federal data, the district had about 580 counselors during the 2015-2016 school year, or about one counselor for every 462 students. The American School Counselor Association recommends one counselor for every 250 students.

While the school system falls short, it still has a far lower student to counselor ratio than most school districts in the United States.

Broward County schools once recorded more in-school arrests than any other Florida school system. But that harsh approach fell out of favor amid concerns that it was funneling too many young people - and particularly black and Hispanic students - into the juvenile justice system. Cruz is listed on official documents as being white.

In recent years, Broward schools became a leader in the national move toward a different kind of discipline - one that would not just punish students but would help them address the root causes of their misbehavior. Such policies aim to combat what is known as the "school to prison pipeline," giving teenagers a chance to stick with their education rather than get derailed, often permanently, by criminal charges.

Beginning in 2013, Broward stopped referring students to police for about a dozen infractions ranging from alcohol and drug use to bullying, harassment and assault. Instead, students who get in trouble for those infractions are offered an alternative program that emphasizes counseling, conflict resolution skills and referral to community social service agencies.

Jonathon Fishman, spokesman for the Broward Sheriff's Office, said last week that he had no record of deputies arresting Cruz before Wednesday.

As a result, Broward has seen a dramatic decline in the number of students who are arrested at school. In 2011-2012, Broward recorded 1,056 school-based arrests; by 2015-2016, that number had fallen 63 percent to just 392 school-based arrests.

The Obama administration held up Broward's transformed discipline system as a national model, inviting Runcie to speak about the district's approach in 2015.

Cruz's school records and interviews indicate that he was getting into trouble around the time of the policy shift.

One former middle school teacher said Cruz stood out in his mind among his problem students. He recalled "just him being very much a loner" and "erratic behaviors" that often disrupted his class. Sometimes, the former teacher said, Cruz would get up and start dancing around.

"At the time I never felt like he was a physical threat, but we knew that there was definitely deep issues," he said.

Teachers started pressing school administrators to have Cruz transferred to Cross Creek School, a K-12 public school for students with emotional and behavior disabilities that offers intensive psychiatric counseling. But one of Cruz's former teachers said the referral process into Cross Creek was agonizingly slow, complicated by a lack of classroom space and cumbersome state procedures for officially designating a student as a potential threat to himself or others.

"It's very hard to get a kid in there, very hard," the teacher said. "I don't know why, but I suspect it comes down to money. . . . So for three-fourths of the year, he went untreated at school."

In February 2014, Cruz was transferred to Cross Creek. In January 2016, after about two years at Cross Creek, he transferred to Douglas High School. It's not clear why he left Cross Creek, a small school tailored for his needs, for a sprawling comprehensive high school of more than 3,000 students.

At Douglas, Cruz got into trouble four times during the first half of the 2016-2017 school year - for fighting, insults and profanity. In September 2016, after a fight, Cruz was referred to social workers. A week later, the Department of Children and Families opened an investigation.

That agency found that in the aftermath of a breakup with his girlfriend, Cruz - who had been diagnosed with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism - was depressed and cutting himself, according to a confidential summary of the investigation obtained by The Post. Cruz was interested in buying a gun, the investigators found. Even so, they concluded he was a low risk for harm.

School officials, who knew Cruz well, appeared to challenge that notion, according to the report. They had noticed an abrupt change in Cruz's behavior after the breakup. The counselors had received reports not only that he was cutting himself, but also that he had drawn a Nazi symbol on his bookbag. School counselors raised concerns that it would be "premature" to conclude that Cruz was stable enough not to be hospitalized. A counselor who worked with Cruz at the time declined to comment when reached Saturday.

In January 2017, when Cruz was disciplined for an alleged assault, that triggered a call for a threat assessment, a formal process by which the school determines whether a student is dangerous and how that student should be supervised and supported.

Three weeks after the call for the threat assessment, Cruz transferred to an alternative high school. It's not clear whether the assessment was conducted, what its findings were or how those findings translated into any intervention.

The shooting has been "devastating" to Cruz's sixth-grade teacher, who said she has former students among the dead, and also has taught siblings of the victims.

"It's too hard. It's too much. It's awful what he did," she said, her voice breaking. "And the only reason I'm talking to you is because people need to know that it shouldn't be this hard to get someone the help they need."

---

Brown, Larimer and Balingit reported from Washington. Wesley Lowery, Renae Merle and Kevin Sullivan in Florida; and Mark Berman, Valerie Strauss and Julie Tate in Washington contributed to this report.After an early morning tweetstorm Sunday, President Donald Trump took to Twitter again later that night, this time lashing out at whom some hope will be a 2020 rival: Oprah Winfrey.

"Just watched a very insecure Oprah Winfrey, who at one point I knew very well, interview a panel of people on 60 Minutes. The questions were biased and slanted, the facts incorrect. Hope Oprah runs so she can be exposed and defeated just like all of the others!" the president tweeted.

Trump was referring to Winfrey's interview with "60 Minutes," where the former talk show host again said she has no desire to run for president, despite encouragement from wealthy donors after her stirring Golden Globes speech last month.

"I am actually humbled by the fact that people think that I could be a leader of the free world, but it's just not in my spirit. It's not in my DNA," she told correspondent Ann Silvio.

Trump's tweet followed a familiar pattern: He asserts to have once known a rival or critic "very well," but once he sees them as an enemy, he threatens to expose them, like he did with Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J.

Trump and Winfrey are familiar with each other, as the president said in his tweet. Whether they know each other "very well," as he claims, is more subjective. Winfrey interviewed Trump on her show shortly after he had taken out a full-page ad during the 1988 presidential race in which he criticized U.S. foreign policy.

When Winfrey asked Trump in that interview whether he would ever pivot from real estate to politics, he said he would "never want to rule it out totally, because I really am tired of seeing what's happening with this country, how we're really making other people live like kings and we're not."

Twenty years after that interview, many Americans are hoping Winfrey feels the same and decides to run. Days after Winfrey's Golden Globes speech, a Quinnipiac poll showed she would get 52 percent of the vote if she ran against Trump.

But for now, Winfrey is using her platform to ask Americans how they feel about Trump's comments and policies, which is what it appears the president took issue with Sunday.

While moderating a panel of voters during the "60 Minutes" segment, Winfrey asked how they felt about Trump's recent comments referring to immigrants from "s---hole countries" such as Haiti and African nations.

After one Trump supporter defended the president's comments, Winfrey pushed back.

"Come on, Matt. If you're talking about . . . Matt, if you're talking about the country, you're talking about the people in the country. When he's talking about Norway or Norwegians, he's talking about Norwegians," she said.

She went on to ask questions about Trump's fitness for office, his temperament and the sexual misconduct allegations he faces.

Those questions are what appear to have set Trump off, triggering his tweet calling the fellow billionaire "insecure " - something that people across the political spectrum found ironic, given his recent insistence that he is a "very stable genius" and "like, really smart."

Trump's approval ratings among Americans are inching upward but remain low, particularly among those who are attracted to the idea of a Winfrey presidency.

But perhaps Winfrey's greatest threat to Trump is not a potential presidential bid but rather her interviews with these focus groups - where Trump's supporters are confronted with the president's words and actions in front of people outside their bubble.

While Trump has been criticized as a highly divisive leader, Winfrey is known for her broad appeal across gender, racial and even political lines. During the president's inauguration speech, he pledged to be a unifier. But Winfrey's focus group reminded viewers that some Americans see him as anything but - and that likely concerns Trump.A stretch of I-45 South has reopened hours after a fatal motorcycle crash closed the lanes Monday morning.

The wreck occurred around 3:30 a.m. at the North Freeway and Parker, in north Houston according to local television reports. The motorcyclist and the driver of a pickup truck were racing on the freeway when they collided, Houston Police told KPRC.

The truck flipped and the motorcyclist slid across the freeway onto the shoulder, KRPC reported.

READ ALSO: Two charged in December killing at north Houston Dollar General

All inbound lanes and HOV lanes were closed Monday morning but have now reopened, according to Houston Transtar.The victim count following a Sunday night shooting outside a popular Texas steakhouse increased to five Monday morning, according to San Antonio police.

On Sunday night, police said four victims, including a a 6-year-old boy, had been shot outside Texas Roadhouse, in the 2800 block of Cinema Ridge. Two victims were in critical condition Sunday night but the boy was not seriously injured, authorities said.

READ ALSO: Police chase ends outside Dominion; 3 arrested in connection with ATM theft ring

Later that night, police discovered a fifth victim, a 27-years-old, drove himself to the hospital for treatment.

The five victims were all part of the same group at the restaurant, according to a preliminary police report.

They were sitting on a bench in front of the restaurant as they waited to be seated, when, shortly after 8:30 p.m, someone fired a handgun at them multiple times before fleeing, police said.

The suspect remains at large, despite police deploying canines and a helicopter to search for him.

RELATED: DPS trooper shot in Bexar County after chase ends in shootout

"We do not believe that this shooting was random," San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said Sunday. "There's details I'm not gonna give out because it's part of the investigation. But, we do not believe it's random."

Anyone with information on the shooting is asked to call 210-207-7273.

Fares Sabawi covers crime in San Antonio and Bexar County for mySA.com. Read more of his stories here. | fsabawi@mysa.com

We shared this with our neighbors on Nextdoor. Join us there.

Watching the media fawning over the North Korean delegation at the Pyeongchang Olympics, I recalled a picture that my old boss, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, kept under the glass of a table in his office  a satellite photo of the Korean Peninsula at night. At the bottom, awash in light, is the free and democratic South. Meanwhile, the North is in complete darkness, save for a tiny pinprick of light in Pyongyang.

The two countries, Rumsfeld would often point out, have the same people and the same natural resources. Yet one is glowing with the light of freedom, innovation and enterprise, while the other is enveloped in the total darkness of human misery.

Keep that darkness in mind while watching the Norths Olympic charm offensive over these two weeks. Kim Yo Jong, the sister of Kim Jong Un, is not the North Korean Ivanka. She is the vice director of the Propaganda and Agitation Department, a senior leader of the most brutal repressive totalitarian regime on the face of the Earth.

Any perceived disloyalty to the Kim family can result in a visit in the middle of the night from the Bowibu  the North Korean secret police  that could send not just the offender, but three generations of his or her relatives, to a forced labor camp for life. North Koreas system of re-education camps, which was recently mapped by satellite by the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, is the most extensive in the world. Under three generations of Kims, hundreds of thousands, if not millions, have been imprisoned and killed in these camps. Inmates undergo the most brutal forms of torture imaginable, including being hung on hooks over open fires, while pregnant women are tied to trees while their babies are cut out of their bellies.

Yet the camps are simply prisons within a larger prison. The entire country is one giant gulag. Thanks to widespread malnutrition, North Koreans are between 1.2 and 3.1 inches shorter than South Koreans. And thanks to economic mismanagement, 97 percent of the roads are unpaved. According to my American Enterprise Institute colleague, Nicholas Eberstadt, up to a million North Koreans died of starvation in the famine that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Even among the elites there is no safety. Last year, North Koreas vice premier for education was executed for not keeping his posture upright at a public event. Defense Minister Hyong Yong Chol was pounded to death with artillery fire for the crime of falling asleep at a parade. And if you wonder why those North Korean cheerleaders stay in such perfect sync, maybe its because they saw 11 North Korean musicians lashed to the barrels of anti-aircraft guns which were fired one by one before a crowd of 10,000 spectators. The musicians just disappeared each time the guns were fired into them, one witness declared, Their bodies were blown to bits, totally destroyed, blood and bits flying everywhere. And then, after that, military tanks moved in and they ran over the bits on the ground where the remains lay.

This is the brutality that Kim Yo Jong represents. Yet despite this cruel reality, the media could not help fawning over the North Korean delegation. Reuters declared Kim Yo Jong the winner of diplomatic gold at Olympics. CNN gushed how, With a smile, a handshake and a warm message in South Koreas presidential guest book, Kim Yo Jong has struck a chord with the public. NBC even tweeted a photo of the North Korean cheerleaders with the heading This is so satisfying to watch. Seriously? NBC failed to mention that in 2005, 21 cheerleaders were sent to a prison camp for speaking about what they saw in South Korea.

Instead of normalizing the regime, this should be an opportunity to educate the massive Olympic audience about the realities of life in North Korea under the murderous Kim crime family that is pursuing the ability to threaten American cities with nuclear destruction.Mabvuku-Tafara legislator James Maridadi has called for the demolition of Long Cheng Plaza  a shopping mall situated in Belvedere, Harare  saying its existence disturbs the natural ecosystem of the capital citys water supply.

The mall was built by a Chinese company at an estimated cost of over $200 million on a gazetted wetland.

It has been mired in controversy with the Environmental Management Agency (Ema) trying at some point to stop the project on grounds that it was being built on a wetland.

Ema gave up due to political pressure, but not before reportedly fining the Harare City Council for the same offence.

Maridadi, a former television personality, has moved a motion in Parliament to have wetlands preserved, arguing that the water problems in Harare and other cities were a result of the destruction of natural water reservoirs.

He said councils should be bold enough to destroy any illegal structure.

One typical example is the Long Cheng Plaza in Belvedere. Madam Speaker, the Long Cheng Plaza sits in the heart of wetlands in Zimbabwe.

What that plaza has done is to compromise all underground water to the south and the east of that plaza.

If you want to sink a borehole in Belvedere, you must sink beyond 70 metres because of that plaza, he said.

What I can guarantee you is that, if that plaza was constructed in China, the Chinese government would have demolished it. That plaza sells things that come from China, including tooth-picks.

They sell everything from cotton buds, tooth picks and serviettes that are manufactured in China.

In Zimbabwe, we have some of the most expensive woodlands.

If you visit Lupane, there is teak, the most expensive and yet somebody has the audacity to give a permit to somebody who constructs a supermarket in order to sell tooth-picks.

That plaza is not good for anyone or anything; it was constructed on a wetland and it is compromising underground water in Harare, he added.

Wetlands serve a variety of ecological services, including feeding downstream waters, trapping floodwaters, recharging groundwater supplies, removing pollution and providing fish and wildlife habitat.

Longcheng Plaza saw its ground breaking in October 2012 and became fully functional in December 2013.

The plaza has a vast array of shops offering a wide range of products and services.

The mall infrastructure adopted the Chinese unique architectural style making it the first in Zimbabwe revealing the integration of culture and good relationship between Asia and Africa.

Maridadi said while more than 40 percent of Harare residents rely on borehole water, the catchment has not been expanded.

Environmentalists claim that in less than 10 years Lake Chivero, Harares main water source, will be completely silted, leaving Harare to look for alternative water sources for its residents and those in surrounding satellite towns.

University of Zimbabwe environmental expert, Christopher Magadza, said the indiscriminate cultivation of wetlands has caused Lake Chivero to lose 10 meters of water storage capacity.

He said during a rainstorm, much of the downpour is held back by the wetlands vegetation before it reaches the river channel.

Consequently, he added, the receiving river collects a modulated run-off from the watershed.

However, if the wetlands are degraded or replaced with housing and shopping malls, there is nothing to hold back the downpour and it all appears in the river channel in a very short time causing the river level to rise and overflow beyond its banks, said the biological sciences professor.

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Related Zimbabwe Latest NewsThe Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZAAC) is investigating University of Zimbabwe (UZ) lecturer Professor Claude Mararike on allegations of abuse of office for fraudulently awarding a Doctor of Philosophy degree to former First Lady Grace Mugabe.

In an interview yesterday, ZACC spokesperson Ms Phyllis Chikundura confirmed the developments.

He is under investigation and he faces arrest once investigations have been completed, she said. On Saturday, UZ Vice Chancellor Levi Nyagura, who was arrested for allegedly illegally awarding Mrs Mugabe the PhD, was granted $200 bail by a Harare magistrate.

The bail conditions include surrendering his passport to the court, residing at his stated Borrowdale address in Harare and not interfering with State witnesses  Professor Rudo Gaidzanwa and Drs Julius Museveni, Watch Ruparanganda and one Sadomba.

Nyagura is expected back in court on March 5. He was charged with abuse of office when he appeared before Harare magistrate Mrs Tilda Mazhande, an allegation he refuted.

Last Friday, ZACC arrested Nyagura for allegedly awarding Mrs Mugabe the PhD without university council and senate approval.

Mrs Mugabe was supervised by Prof Mararike. Nyagura recently ridiculed lecturers in the Department of Sociology for challenging the awarding of the contentious doctorat describing them as ignorant Messrs and doctors lacking capacity to supervise a PhD student.

Supervised by Prof Mararike, Mrs Mugabe graduated with the Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Social Studies in September 2014.

The arrest of Nyagura came after a Harare magistrate had issued a warrant empowering ZACC to search and seize all documents relevant to its probe on whether or not he corruptly awarded Mrs Mugabe the doctorate.

The documents ordered to be availed included Dr Mugabes pre-registration application form, her research proposal submitted to the Department of Sociology, minutes of the departmental board assigning a supervisor to Mrs Mugabe, academic certificates of her supervisor, minutes showing that the doctoral degree passed through the Academic Committee, and minutes of the UZ senate recommending to the university council the conferment of the doctorate on Mrs Mugabe.

The university was directed to allow ZACC access to minutes of the University Council recommending to the University Chancellor the conferment of the doctorate on Mrs Mugabe, copies of progress reports at the Post Graduate Centre, copies of contract of research assistant and contract of teaching assistant in respect of Mr Justice Tandire.

ZACC was also to be furnished with the UZ Faculty Ordinance number 44, UZ quality assurance guidelines and benchmarks for management and supervision of higher degrees by research, General Academic Regulations for Post-Graduate Degrees of the university of Zimbabwe 1998/99 Volume 11, as well as copies of the transcript, notification and Doctor of Philosophy Degree awarded to Mrs Mugabe.

UZ has since filed an urgent chamber application at the High Court to set aside the search warrant, arguing that it was illegal.

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Related Zimbabwe Latest NewsBy Lambert Strether of Corrente.

Patient readers, after putting on my yellow waders and forcing myself through Andy Slavitts tsunami of drivel, Im all tuckered out. So talk amongst yourselves; this is an open thread. lambert

Id be especially interested to know if any of the high schoolers in your area are involved in anti-gun activities or marches prompted by the Parkland shootings. This is why: The Democrats adroitly decapitated the Black Lives Matter movement, which started spontaneously with enormous efforts from unknown locals, was then taken national by leaders primarily from charter schools and Teach for America, met with Obama at the White House, issued some (good) policy papers on policing, and then quietly vanished, leaving matters on the ground exactly as they were before. So, I wonder if the same process will happen with any movement deriving from the Parkland shootings. (After all, if the Democrats plan to win by electing Blue Dogs, they cant actually do anything on gun policy; but it will be necessary for them to posture and virtue signal to keep their base agigated, and keep small donations coming.)

* * *

Readers, feel free to contact me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, with (a) links, and even better (b) sources I should curate regularly, (c) how to send me a check if you are allergic to PayPal, and (d) to find out how to send me images of plants. Vegetables are fine! Fungi are deemed to be honorary plants! If you want your handle to appear as a credit, please place it at the start of your mail in parentheses: (thus). Otherwise, I will anonymize by using your initials. See the previous Water Cooler (with plant) here. Todays plant (KH):

KH writes: Not sure what these are, still, theyre gorgeous against the Hawaiian winter sky.

It is a great moment when you look up at tree branches against the sky, and see buds. And the moment always does come, even though some of us are not there yet

* * *

Readers: Water Cooler is a standalone entity not covered by the NC fundraiser. So do feel free to use the dropdown and click the hat to make a contribution today or any day. Here is why: Regular positive feedback both makes me feel good and lets me know Im on the right track with coverage. When I get no donations for five or ten days I get worried. More tangibly, a constant trickle of small donations helps me with expenses, and I factor that trickle in when setting fundraising goals. So if you see something you especially appreciate, do feel free to click the hat!By Lambert Strether of Corrente.

A company for carrying on an undertaking of great advantage, but nobody to know what it is. Prospectus for a joint stock company in the South Sea Bubble (1720)

Yesterday, we looked at how Andy Slavitts United States of Care (henceforth @UsofCare) was launched, whether we should be wary of it (undisclosed donors; board of perps establishment figures), and whether it opposes #MedicareForAll (yes, when you peel away the bafflegab). We took an especially close look at Slavitt tapdancing his way through taking a position on #MedicareForAll, quoting him at tedious, though not excessive length. (Not excessive, because a cuttlefish-like volumeretriciousness of speech seems to be one of Slavitts essential characteristics as an interlocutor[1]. If you skipped over the Slavitt parts yesterday  they were formatted like this  I urge you to go back and read them before continuing; they are breathtaking in their effrontery.) Today, and at much less length, Ill propose that the three requirements I outlined for the Bezos, Buffett and Dimon undertaking will also apply to any solution emanating from @USofCare[2]. To review, these three requirements are:

Accounting control fraud Financial predation Abused workforce

And to those three I will add a fourth:

Conflict of interest

Of course, Im not saying that Slavitt and his 50 Directors and Founders sat down and agreed a list of criminal acts; thats not how these things are done, and in any case, absent evidence from a whistleblower or a fly on the wall, its hard to see how anyone could prove that. What I can do is show the track records of the players; since the system is working very well for them, they are unlikely to change their behavior under any scheme proposed by @USofCare. I will also assert that the level of corruption under neoliberalism[3] is such that any solution proposed within that conceptual framework  rather, by elite players operating within that framework  will exhibit these features. Well look at each feature in turn. (For expository reasons, I will put Conflicts of Interest before Abused Workforce.) But before we do that, heres a potted history of Slavitts career. Ive underlined the firms to watch:

Before building and selling his healthcare company Health Allies to UnitedHealth in 2003, Slavitt was an investment banker for Goldman Sachs and also worked as a consultant with McKinsey and Company, a private healthcare lobbying firm. Slavitt quickly rose through the ranks at UnitedHealth, eventually becoming head of Optum Insight (nee Ingenix )  the companys technology arm. By the time the opportunity in new government infrastructure came up, UnitedHealth had the technology, expertise and leaders to scale up.

That new government infrastructure was, of course, the ACA. The Hill takes up the story:

Prior to his appointments to CMS and current nomination Slavitt was CEO of Optum/ QSSI , a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group, one of the nations largest health insurers. Optum/QSSI had been building the data services hub for the online marketplace Healthcare.gov under an $85 million contract before it was chosen to serve as the systems integrator in late October 2013, just weeks after the website famously imploded.

And finally from the Minneapolis Tribune:

He also served in one of the top health care posts under former President Barack Obama. Hes probably best known as the wonk brought in to fix healthcare.gov after the websites disastrous launch.

You got that right: The ObamaCare website imploded after being built by QSSI, run by Slavitt. Slavitt then slithered over to HHS/CMS and has now acquired the reputation, at least in his home state, Minnesota, for fixing the broken system his own company built[4]. Thats a world-class Flexian in action! (Im mindful of alert reader MedicalQuacks comment that Ive written about this snake in detail for years. I think a timeline of Slavitts career would be very useful point of entry to the big picture on health care, and perhaps at some point well create one.)

1. Accounting Control Fraud

Here is a classic scheme from United HealthCare. Slavitt was a senior executive with United Healthcare from 2003 to 2013, during which time the fraud occurred:

United Healthcare Services Inc., which runs the nations largest private Medicare Advantage insurance plan, concealed hundreds of complaints of enrollment fraud and other misconduct from federal officials as part of a scheme to collect bonus payments it didnt deserve, a newly unsealed whistleblower lawsuit alleges. The suit, filed by United Healthcare sales agents in Wisconsin, accuses the giant insurer of keeping a dual set of books to hide serious complaints about its services and of being intentionally ineffective at investigating misconduct by its sales staff. A federal judge unsealed the lawsuit, first filed in October 2016, on Tuesday. The company knew of accusations that at least one sales agent forged signatures on enrollment forms and had been the subject of dozens of other misconduct complaints, according to the suit. In another case, a sales agent allegedly engaged in a brazen kickback scheme in which she promised iPads to people who agreed to sign up and stay with the health plan for six months, according to the suit.

Sounds like United HealthCare and Wells Fargo have a lot in common, unsurprisingly.

2. Financial Predation

Here is a classic database scheme from Ingenix, where Slavitt was CEO. It was so bad that even Andrew Cuomo noticed, back when he was New York states Attorney General. SourceWatch:

On February 13, 2008, New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced the state was expanding an investigation that focused on Ingenix. After an initial six-month investigation, the AG filed lawsuit against Ingenix. At a briefing held on February 13, Cuomo stated, This involves fraud in the hundreds of millions of dollars, affecting thousands and thousands of families  Too many people have been hurt. It has to stop. We believe there was an industry wide scheme perpetrated by some of the nations largest health insurance companies to defraud consumers. In describing the alleged fraud committed by Ingenix, Mr. Cuomo described a typical scenario, where an out-of-network doctor might charge $200 for an office visit but is told that the going rate is $77. The insurer would then normally pay only 80% of that figure, leaving the patient responsible for the difference of about $138. At the heart of the states lawsuit was how that $77 rate got set in the first place: the number was derived from a database of claims data created and maintained by Ingenix, and sold to other insurers. In responding to the Attorney Generals allegations, UnitedHealth said it believed it was delivering dependable database tools. Moreover, the company claimed that the reference data is rigorously developed, geographically specific, comprehensive and organized using a transparent methodology that is very common in the health care industry. However, Linda Lacewell, who headed AG Cuomos healthcare industry taskforce, accused UnitedHealth of lying to consumers. She described the Ingenix database as garbage in, garbage out. Another source reported Ms. Lacewells description of Ingenix and UnitedHealths use of data as deception, manipulation of data and outright fraud.[4]

So Slavitt is just the kind of guy we want involved in, er, fixing the ObamaCare marketplace, eh?

3. Conflict of Interest

Robert Eskow writes in Alternet:

Progressives Beware: The United States of Care Is Not What It Seems Slavitt has reportedly created an investment fund (more here) that hopes to make money from low-income, high need populations  that is, people who depend on the government for their health care. Thats a pretty fundamental conflict of interest.

Zephyr Teachout, with the Founders, defines corruption as self-serving use of public power for private ends. If you regard @USofHealthCare as, at least putatively, as an example of public services, then using that same effort for your own profit is corruption.[5] Its also not hard to see how somebody with a good RoloDex of government health care administrators could get work thrown to firms which the investment fund has backed.

4. Abused Workforce

Here, I speculate, but lets look Slavitts (deeply conflicted) investment strategy. He highlights two companies:

Medicaid patients are [ConsejoSanos] main area of interest, particularly those who have difficulty navigating the American health system. It provides a text message services in Spanish, Arabic, Cantonese, Mandarin and other languages that include alerts about upcoming appointments and tasks they need to do that are culturally appropriate. He also made note of Circulation Health, a non emergency transportation company to get patients to medical appointments medications to customers.

(Note that in each case the investment is not made in health care, but in firms that ensure, er, access to care, via text messaging and transport respectively.) And he explains the firms that are models for his picks:)

Slavitt pointed out that the common theme these companies have is that they provide much-needed services behind their technologies. There is room for cool innovation .

Uh oh

What is Air BnB doing? What do all these companies do? They logistically give people more opportunities  these are companies that are about improving peoples lives. Is Uber a tech company? Is Air BnB a tech company? In a matter of speaking, yes, they are but it is really about identifying services to make peoples lives better.

So AirBnB and Uber are Slavitts models? Good to know, especially since the essential innovation of both companies was in regulatory arbitrage (or, in the vulgate, breaking the law, AirBnB by letting property owners run unregulated hotels, Uber in, like, everything, top to bottom). Both Uber and AirBnB abuse workers, Uber through its horrid gig economy practices, AirBnB by undercutting the legitimate hotel business and hence that industrys workers, who are often poor, often of color, often immigrants, and often unionized. (Strange to see a liberal Democrat like Slavitt supporting all this [hollow laughter]). Will abuse of workers happen at the firms Slavitt will invest in? Impossible to say for sure, but Circulation Health has just like Uber written all over it, and ConsejoSano sounds like a glorified call center.[6] And not that Im paranoid, but I bet liberal Democrats would love to see #MedicalForAll advocates like National Nurses United taken out. Perhaps its time to disrupt the nursing profession!

Conclusion

Well have to see what policy proposals @USofCare comes out with as Slavitts undertakers change the conversation. Slavitts track record is not, to say the least, re-assuring. Im sure well be hearing more  much, much more  from him, especially as each one of his cool innovations inserts its profit-sucking mandibles into the bloated and prostrate body politic we laughingly call our health care system.

NOTES

[1] I first encountered Slavitt on the Twitter, as a hash tag activist on #SaveTheACA (but never, ever mention #MedicareForAll). Twitters character limit really worked in Slavitts favor.

[2] I use the strong form requirements to make the point that, for corrupt elites, characteristics like accounting control fraud are features, not bugs.

[3] Clive writes: Increasingly, if you want to get and hang on to a middle class job, that job will involve dishonesty or exploitation of others in some way. Industries such as finance have seized and held onto larger and larger proportions of the economy. We have, after all, an entire industry (if you want to call selling insurance an industry) with thousands of people in cubes working for firms that profit by denying people health care.

[4] Most of the credit should not go to administrators like Slavitt  wonk, forsooth; Reuters calls him a hero  but to the engineers and systems architects, many associated with the Obama campaign, who went on to inititiate the United States Digital Service. This story was written up by Steven Brill for Time in 2014. The story is now paywalled  available here in PDF form  and doesnt seem to exist anywhere else, a fine example of history being erased, even history less than a decade old.

[5] Although a Flexian, presented with Teachouts definition, would probably just stare blankly.

[6] To be fair, Slavitts new firm could just be a cynical attempt to cut a slice of all the stupid money sloshing around Silicon Valley. Not that theres anything wrong with that.A good default assumption with Brexit is that nothing is simple. And as we are seeing again and again, the Government is making its difficult position even worse by acting as if things are or could be simple when there is no obvious mechanism for achieving that. One we will discuss today is the UKs questionable assumption that the parties to the EUs free trade agreements like South Korea could simply cut and paste the UK in place of the EU in existing agreements.

Weve discussed before in passing why these other countries might not want to be so accommodating. The UK needs a waiver and those usually come at a price of some sort. But it turns out that this is a very thorny issue, sufficiently so that we will wind up giving a superficial treatment. But for those with the appetite for more detail, we are embedding a report by Dr Michael Gasiorek and Peter Holmes of the UK Trade Policy Observatory, which discussed at length, with considerable additional detail, by Peter Ungphakorn at his trade  blog.

It is telling that the UK Trade Policy Observatory paper was released in December yet its findings havent gotten much notice, particularly since all of these agreements become non-opeartive as far as the UK is concerned as of the end of March, 2019. An EU transition period will not apply to third-party pacts. Ungphakorns conclusion goes a long way toward explaining why the British officialdom has been averting its eyes from the free trade agreement thicket:

Leaving the EU means the British government will either have to convert the EUs free trade agreements with other countries into UK deals, or risk losing them, when Brexit is supposed to be about to allowing Britain more freedom to enjoy trade agreements with the world outside the EU.

We posted earlier this month on how the British officialdom was starting to realize it needed to Do Something in UK Asks the Rest of the World to Be Super Duper Nice and Act as Its Old Deals Are Still Valid Post Brexit.

Free trade agreements among other things commit the parties to trying to reduce trade barriers and include specific measures to do so.

Note that there is an underlying problem with Brexit even before looking at the niceties. Free trade agreements presuppose that the parties want to get closer. That implies convergence or at least closer coordination on policies and standards. The UKs former chief negotiator Sir Ivan Rogers pointed out that a country doing trade deals, as the UK says it wants and needs to, while wanting to get further from its partners is unprecedented and will almost certainly make negotiations more difficult.

The UK has a lot of free trade agreements, to the degree that there isnt even a crisp number as to how many due to differences in definitions. The UK Trade Policy paper says that UK is party to 37 with 60 countries while the UK has said there are over 100 countries.

Gasiorek and Holmes put the total of UK imports and exports represented by what it counts as 37 pacts as roughly 15% to 17% of total UK trade, most of it tariff free. Switzerland represents 4% of imports and 5% of exports; no other country accounts for more than 2% of either. But for some sectors, these free trade agreement countries in aggregate are important:

The study lays out three broad alternatives. One is that the other countries play nice and honor the UK request to pretend the deals are still effective. The second is cut and paste or grandfathering. The third is to negotiate new deals, which seems impossible given the Groundhog Day inability of the UK to move forward with the EU on the main event.

Even though either of the first two options seems a lot easier, and the only path that appears viable during the transition period, easier is a long way from easy. This is a partial list of the complicating factors:

Countries who feel theyve been hurt could object to the pretend nothing has changed option and could go to the WTO. That could include not just other countries but some of the free trade agreement members themselves who believe Brexit has hurt their access to the EU. Its easier to hold up an extension or fudge of a free trade deal than take ones chances at the WTO, so one should assume most if not all free trade agreement participants will do that. Expect them to seek compensation or other important concessions when they have the most leverage, prior to Brexit. Some of the free trade agreements contain quotas, which makes a simple pretend its all the same or copy and paste unworkable. And if you still have doubts, have a look at Peter Ungphakorns post, where he works through some pages of the EU-South Korea free trade agreement to demonstrate that this isnt just scriveners work. And thats before you get to the fact that South Korea has been making noises that it is unhappy with its trade deficit with the UK and therefore wants better terms. Many countries will be concerned about how Brexit could be used to undermine other trade agreements. For instance, if the UK manages to get a great post Brexit deal with the US of 0% tariffs in return for taking our chlorinated chicken, and the UK and the EU agree to a trade treaty with a similar 0% tariff, but the EU and the US have a trade agreement with 5% tariffs and no chlorinated chicken allowed, the EU is not going to want US chlorinated chicken and/or tariff-free goods sneaking into the EU via the UK. Stuff like that is the reason trade agreements run to thousands of pages.

The Gasiorek/Holmes paper describes some of the thorny features that are common in trade deals and impede the sort of handwave solutions the UK prefers. Lets look at one, Rules of Origin, which is meant to address the problem we just mentioned. of non-UK goods slipping into a country like the EU via the UK on a preferential basis when those particularly non-UK goods arent entitled to it. And here is the sort of complication that results:

 Suppose the UK and the EU signed a Free Trade Agreement in which the rule was that goods needed to have a minimum of 40% domestic value added to be considered as originating. Suppose the UK exported a good to the EU which were made up of 30% UK value added, 35% intermediates from the US, and 35% intermediate inputs from Korea. That good could not enter the EU duty free because there would be insuf cient UK value added in it.  Even if the UK grandfathered the EU-Korea agreement this would still apply  because there is still insuf cient UK value added in the good being exported to the EU. And of course the same could apply with regard to goods being exported by the EU to the UK.

Now there is a remedy of sorts, called diagonal cumulationbut it makes Brexit look like even more of a farce:

With diagonal cumulation all countries (in this example the UK, Korea and the EU) would have to agree that that intermediate inputs which could enter any of the partners duty free if exported directly, could be used by one of the other countries in their production and exports, and that the value of that input would count for originating purposes. This would mean that the UK could use Korean inputs, count the value of those inputs to see whether the good was made in the UK, and export to the EU duty free if there was sufficient UK (+ Korean) value added. However, while diagonal cumulation helps, it does not mean that trade will be on the same basis as is currently the case. At present, the UK is free to export a good to the EU with no restrictions on the value of imported intermediates from third countries. Even with diagonal cumulation there will still be a limit as to how much can be imported while retaining duty free access to the EU market. An additional problem is that it is well known that the EU can be quite demanding in agreeing to diagonal cumulation. More specifically, it typically only agrees to this if ALL the countries involved (hence in the example above the EU, the UK and Korea) have Free Trade Agreements among themselves, and all apply the EUs Rules of Origin. The Rules of Origin the EU likes to insist on  and has done so with the EEA countries, the Balkans, and the Southern Mediterranean partner countries are the Pan- European Mediterranean preferential Rules of Origin. Hence, in order for the UK to get diagonal cumulation it will probably have to agree to apply the Pan-European Mediterranean Rules of Origin but on political grounds, if nothing else, it may not wish to do so.

Ungphakorn helpfully goes through other trade barriers like safeguards and also has more detail on those nasty rules of origin (such as what it takes to prove what came from where).

This video may help:

Grandfathering the EU's Free Trade Agreements from University of Sussex on Vimeo.

Now you have a dim appreciation of why it takes so long to negotiate trade agreements, and I suspect our commentariat will provide more gory details. Needless to say, declamations in Oxbridge cut-glass accents wont make things go any faster.Ultrathin, highly elastic skin display shows electrocardiogram readings (Nanowerk News) A new ultrathin, elastic display that fits snugly on the skin can show the moving waveform of an electrocardiogram recorded by a breathable, on-skin electrode sensor. Combined with a wireless communication module, this integrated biomedical sensor system - called "skin electronics" - can transmit biometric data to the cloud.

This latest research by a Japanese academic-industrial collaboration, led by Professor Takao Someya at the University of Tokyo's Graduate School of Engineering, is slated for a news briefing and talk ("Continuous Health-Monitoring With Ultraflexible On-Skin Sensors)" at the AAAS Annual Meeting in Austin, Texas on February 17th.

The soft, flexible skin display is about 1 millimeter thick, and consists of a 16 x 24 array of micro LEDs and stretchable wiring mounted on a rubber sheet. It can withstand repeated stretching, by as much as 45 percent of its original length, without showing any loss in function of its electrical and mechanical properties. (Image: Takao Someya Research Group)

Thanks to advances in semiconductor technology, wearable devices can now monitor health by first measuring vital signs or taking an electrocardiogram, and then transmitting the data wirelessly to a smartphone. The readings or electrocardiogram waveforms can be displayed on the screen in real time, or sent to either the cloud or a memory device where the information is stored.

The newly-developed skin electronics system aims to go a step further by enhancing information accessibility for people such as the elderly or the infirm, who tend to have difficulty operating and obtaining data from existing devices and interfaces. It promises to help ease the strain on home healthcare systems in aging societies through continuous, non-invasive health monitoring and self-care at home.

The new integrated system combines a flexible, deformable display with a lightweight sensor composed of a breathable nanomesh electrode and wireless communication module. Medical data measured by the sensor, such as an electrocardiogram, can either be sent wirelessly to a smartphone for viewing or to the cloud for storage. In the latest research, the display showed a moving electrocardiogram waveform that was stored in memory.

The skin display, developed by a collaboration between researchers at the University of Tokyo's Graduate School of Engineering and Dai Nippon Printing (DNP), a leading Japanese printing company, consists of a 16 x 24 array of micro LEDs and stretchable wiring mounted on a rubber sheet.

"Our skin display exhibits simple graphics with motion," says Someya. "Because it is made from thin and soft materials, it can be deformed freely."

The display is stretchable by as much as 45 percent of its original length.

It is far more resistant to the wear and tear of stretching than previous wearable displays. It is built on a novel structure that minimizes the stress resulting from stretching on the juncture of hard materials, such as the micro LEDs, and soft materials, like the elastic wiring - a leading cause of damage for other models.

An integrated "skin electronics" system allows health monitoring at home and gives doctors remote access to biometric data transmitted wirelessly to a medical cloud. It promises to enhance self-care and accessibility of medical information to various segments of the population, including children and the elderly. A thumbs-up image on the skin display serves as an indicator of good health. (Image: Takao Someya Research Group)

It is the first stretchable display to achieve superior durability and stability in air, such that not a single pixel failed in the matrix-type display while attached snugly onto the skin and continuously subjected to the stretching and contracting motion of the body.

The nanomesh skin sensor can be worn on the skin continuously for a week without causing any inflammation. Although this sensor, developed in an earlier study, was capable of measuring temperature, pressure and myoelectricity (the electrical properties of muscle), it successfully recorded an electrocardiogram for the first time in the latest research.

The researchers applied tried-and-true methods used in the mass production of electronics - specifically, screen printing the silver wiring and mounting the micro LEDs on the rubber sheet with a chip mounter and solder paste commonly used in manufacturing printed circuit boards. Applying these methods will likely accelerate the commercialization of the display and help keep down future production costs.

DNP is looking to bring the integrated skin display to market within the next three years by improving the reliability of the stretchable devices through optimizing its structure, enhancing the production process for high integration, and overcoming technical challenges such as large-area coverage.Flexible warped nanographene developed for bioimaging (Nanowerk News) An international team of scientists has developed a water-soluble warped nanographene, a flexible molecule that is biocompatible and shows promise for fluorescent cell imaging. The new nanographene molecule also induces cell death when exposed to blue laser light. Further investigation is required to determine how nanocarbons could be used for a range of biological applications, such as photodynamic therapy for cancer treatments.

A new water-soluble warped nanographene. (Image: Nagoya University)

A group of chemists and biologists at Nagoya University and Boston College, have succeeded in synthesizing a water-soluble warped nanographene molecule that is water soluble for the first time. This new molecule, recently described in the journal Angewandte Chemie International Edition ("A Water-Soluble Warped Nanographene: Synthesis and Applications for Photoinduced Cell Death"), expands the biological applications for nanocarbons, including cancer cell imaging and possibly eradication.

Nanographenes, nano-sized carbon molecules, exhibit unique electronic, optical and mechanical properties, and have been recognized as promising materials for electronic and biomedical purposes. However, the flat structure of nanographenes leads to stacking and aggregation in solvents, making it difficult to dissolve in various solvents and thus causing complications for biological applications.

Structure and properties of nanographenes and warped nanographenes. (Image: Nagoya University)

In 2013, Professor Kenichiro Itami, director of the JST-ERATO Itami Molecular Nanocarbon Project and the Institute of Transformative Bio-Molecules (ITbM) at Nagoya University and his co-workers synthesized a warped nanographene molecule with a saddle-shape structure. The unique organization of the molecules 26 graphene rings prevents aggregation, making it soluble in most common organic solvents. Moreover, it exhibits green fluorescence when irradiated with ultraviolet or blue light.

We were really excited when we succeeded in synthesizing the warped nanographene molecule, and we were interested in making it available for biological applications, which we achieved by adding water-soluble functional groups to the molecule, says Itami.

In the latest study, Itamis group explains how they developed a straightforward route to make warped nanographenes water soluble. First, they replaced five hydrogen atoms with boron moieties, through an iridium-catalyzed CH borylation reaction. The boron-substituted warped nanographene is then mixed with a compound, called an aryl halide, containing water-soluble chains. A palladium-catalyzed Suzuki-Miyaura coupling reaction leads to the water-soluble chains attaching to the edges of the nanographene molecule, making it soluble in water and other organic solvents. This method can also be used to install other functional groups to warped nanographene to easily tune its properties.

Synthetic route towards water-soluble warped nanographenes. (Image: Nagoya University)

The team examined the fluorescent properties of water-soluble warped nanographene. They found that under ultraviolet light, the molecule fluoresced yellow when dissolved in water, and fluoresced green when mixed in the common organic solvent dichloromethane. The new nanographene showed high photostability, meaning that its properties do not change when exposed to light. Rather, the color of fluorescence changes according to the polarity of the solvents that they are dissolved in.

Next, Itamis team collaborated with ITbMs biologists to test if the new molecule could stain live cells for fluorescent cell imaging. They treated HeLa cells, a strain of cervical cancer cells widely used in research, with a water-soluble warped nanographene solution. Microscopic observations showed that the cells took up the molecule over a few hours and it accumulated in the lysosomes, which are organelles found in cells. Cell viability did not change significantly over time, demonstrating that water-soluble warped nanographene has low cytotoxicity and could be used as a fluorescent stain for HeLa cells.

However, the molecule can turn deadly under certain circumstances. When the treated HeLa cells were irradiated with a blue laser, they exhibited cell death after 30 minutes. Untreated HeLa cells did not.

Although our new warped nanographene has low toxicity to HeLa cells, we were surprised to find that cell death was observed upon irradiating light to the cells stained with the new nanographene, says Itami.

Light-induced cell death in the presence of water-soluble warped nanographenes. (Image: Nagoya University)

The specific mechanism of how this cell death occurs is not clear yet, but the group speculates that a toxic singlet oxygen molecule is generated during irradiation and is responsible for cell death. Several other compounds are known to cause photo-induced cell death, but there is still a need to discover molecules that can absorb longer wavelengths to be safely used to treat cancer cells in deep tissues. The researchers envisage that their method to functionalize and tune warped nanographenes could lead to biocompatible molecules that absorb different wavelengths of irradiation.

We have succeeded in synthesizing a water-soluble warped nanographene showing fluorescence, good photostability and low cytotoxicity, which makes it promising for bioimaging, says Itami. This achievement is an excellent example showing the output of the extensive collaboration between chemistry and biology ongoing at our institute. We hope that our molecules can be developed further for a wide range of biological applications through further interdisciplinary collaborations.Miriam OCallaghan has urged people of Tipperary to dig deep this Daffodil Day to help the record number of people being diagnosed with cancer.

The RTE broadcaster, who lost a sister to cancer, was speaking at the launch of the Irish Cancer Societys 2018 Daffodil Day, which will take place on 23rd March.

There are currently 165,000 people living with cancer in Ireland and over 12 months 1157 people in Tipperary were diagnosed with the disease.

Miriam said: Tragically a person dies from cancer every hour in Ireland, but for so many people theres also great hope. More people are surviving cancer now than ever before thanks to lifesaving research. Daffodil Day, proudly supported by Boots Ireland, is a day where we can all help fight back against cancer. Like so many Irish people, I have lost loved ones to cancer. I lost my precious sister Anne who was just 33 when she died. On March 23rd people of Tipperary can help fund lifesaving research and crucial services to ensure cancer patients and their families are properly supported. Get involved now at www.cancer.ie

Also at the launch were Minister for Health Simon Harris, Chief Executive of the Irish Cancer Society Averil Power, RTEs Aengus Mac Grianna, representatives from Boots Ireland and hundreds of Daffodil Day volunteers, including representatives from Tipperary.

Speaking at the launch, Chief Executive of the Irish Cancer Society Averil Power appealed to the public to support cancer patients in the community.

Averil said: As the number of Irish people with cancer increases, record numbers are turning to the Irish Cancer Society for information, care and support. Only two per cent of our funding comes from the State. We are therefore hugely dependent on the generosity of the public to fund vital services used locally.

Last year, the number of people using our Volunteer Driver Service to travel to chemotherapy appointments increased by fifteen per cent. A total of 911 journeys were covered for patients in Tipperary. Our Night Nursing service provided 375 nights of care to terminally-ill patients locally in their own homes. None of this would be possible without strong support for Daffodil Day from individuals and communities across Ireland.

Ms Power also thanked Boots Ireland for extending its support for the Irish Cancer Societys work by becoming the official main sponsor of Daffodil Day 2018.

Bernadette Lavery, MD, Boots Ireland said: Colleagues in Tipperary are excited to join with Daffodil Day volunteers to fight back against cancer this March 23rd. We see the effect cancer has on the lives of patients and families in the communities we serve, and we are determined to make a difference. We have worked closely with the Irish Cancer Society for five years and are delighted to extend our support to their flagship fundraising day this year as official main sponsor.Aherlow House Hotel are delighted to announce our upcoming Wedding Fair taking place on Saturday, 24th February 2018 from 1pm-5pm

Highlights on the Day:

Meet our Dedicated Wedding Team

Champagne & Light Refreshments on Arrival

Take time to visit our Newly Refurbished Diarmuid & Grainne Ballroom Suite

Expert Advice from our Exhibitors

Special Offer for Bookings Made on the Day!

Feel your heart race as you journey towards Aherlow House Hotel. As you look around enjoy the rolling hills of lush green countryside all around you.

This is almost certainly the feeling your guests will enjoy as they journey to your spectacular Wedding at Aherlow House Hotel right in the heart of the Glen of Aherlow. Newly renovated, the hotel offers character and warmth with the wedgewood effect on the furnishings to the medieval detail on the doors. With two banqueting suites to choose from Aherlow can accommodate for both large and small intimate weddings.The Diarmuid and Grainne Banqueting Suite bestows large windows which bring the outdoor beauty indoors, classic decor and can cater up to 240 guests.

Just under an hours drive from Limerick City and only 3km from Tipperary Town. A hidden gem which cannot be captured to its full potential until you visit it yourself! You will be enchanted from the moment you arrive until you have to leave!

Our Wedding Packages: Ash, Hazel, Birch, Holly & Oak start from 35 per person, tailored packages to suit you!

For more information please contact Aherlow House Hotel -

Telephone: (062) 56153

Email Eve our Weddings & Events Manager on: events@aherlowhouse.ie .

A warm welcome awaits you!NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg discussed security challenges facing the Alliance in a series of bilateral meetings at the Munich Security Conference on Friday and Saturday (16 -17 February 2018).

He met with the US National Security Advisor General H.R. McMaster, with whom he discussed the security issues facing the Alliance, as well as burden-sharing and the preparations for the July NATO summit.

The summit and burden sharing among Allies were also on the agenda of the meeting between the Secretary General and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte. The Secretary General thanked Mr Rutte for the contributions of the Netherlands to NATO operations.

Mr Stoltenberg also met with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. They discussed the long-standing NATO-UN relations.

Meeting with Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi of Iraq, the Secretary General congratulated him on the major progress in defeating ISIS and updated him on NATO's decision to initiate planning for a training mission in Iraq, building on the Alliance's current training efforts.

The Secretary General also met with the Austrian Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz to discuss NATOs partnership with Austria.

In talks with President Petro Poroshenko of Ukraine, the Secretary General reiterated NATOs strong support for Ukraines sovereignty and territorial integrity. The two leaders discussed the security situation in Ukraine and plans for UN peace-keepers, as well as NATO's continued support for Ukraine. Mr. Stoltenberg stressed that the Alliance will continue to provide political and practical support to Ukraine and work to further deepen cooperation.

As part of NATOs regular dialogue with Russia, the Secretary General met Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. They discussed the situation in Ukraine and the need to implement the Minsk agreements, as well as transparency and risk-reduction in Europe. They agreed to explore the possibility of another meeting of the NATO-Russia Council.

In Munich Mr. Stoltenberg also addressed the Munich Security Conference and delivered a keynote speech at a gathering organised by the Bundesverband der Deutschen Industrie (BDI).

He also discussed transatlantic relations, NATOs adaptation and progress in burden-sharing with a Congressional Delegation of the United States.Members of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly visited NATO Headquarters on Monday (19 February 2018) for an exchange of views with the NATO Secretary General and the North Atlantic Council.

The meeting focused on preparations for the NATO Summit in July, including enhancing deterrence and defence, stepping up efforts to project stability beyond our borders, and modernising and adapting the Alliance to meet new challenges. The discussion was also an opportunity to address burden-sharing, including defence spending. NATO-EU cooperation was also an important topic.

During the meeting, the NATO Secretary General said that engagement with the NATO Parliamentary Assembly is vital for a clear understanding of what is important for the Alliance.(Natural News) A house committee of the state legislature of Florida passed a resolution calling pornography a public health risk, reported the Daily Mail. They did so despite the opposition of their health professional colleague.

Citing research linking pornography to mental and physical illnesses, Republican Representative Ross Spano led 17 others in the near-unanimous adoption of the resolution.

The resolution claimed pornography caused low self-esteem, eating disorders, normalizing violence and abuse of women and children, marital problems, and other negative health effects. Porn was potentially biologically addictive, resulting in the user consuming increasingly more shocking material to satisfy the addiction.

It called for Florida to protect its citizenry from the public health risk by adopting education, prevention, research and policy change.

At first Spano wanted to label pornography as a state public health crisis on the same level as the ongoing opioid epidemic in Florida. The final resolution settled for calling porn a risk. (Related: Deaths from synthetic opioids have risen from 3,000 to over 20,000 in just three years  and the carnage is expected to continue.)

According to the supporters of the resolution, the inexorable advance of technology and increasing accessibility to modern day media made pornography a grave danger.

Children are exposed to pornography at an alarming rate, they said about the hypersexualization of the youth.

Spano is in the running for the post of state attorney general. In an interview with Florida news station WFSU, he explained that fatherly concern was one of the reasons he fought against pornography.

According to Spano, his own son first saw pornography when he was probably ten. When pressed how he saw it, the boy said an older kid in the neighborhood showed it to him.

He also cited a research finding where 27 percent of young adults admitted to watching porn before they hit puberty.

Does porn promote mental illness?

Psychologists and psychiatrists are split on this matter. Some want the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) to identify pornography as a mental illness.

Other experts are like New York psychologist Dr. Ari Tuckman. Porn can be easy to blame as the cause, but its really part of the problem when it comes to relationships, he explained to the Daily Mail.

He cited research on how watching porn at a young age seems to lead to early sex. Other small studies note that men who watched porn as boys treated women differently than those who didnt.

But Dr. Tuckman also mentioned statistics from Pornhub that showed more women were watching porn. He attributed this to women seeking more sexual empowerment and freedom.

The state of pornography in Florida

Florida has a historical relationship with the pornographic industry. And like any relationship, they have economic ups and criminal downs. Fort Lauderdale is the annual host of the Exxxotica Porn Convention. And a 2012 list of the top 10 cities that consume porn featured Miami and Orlando.

Florida is also known for its inept mishandling of child pornography cases.

Most experts believe that research on pornography is inconclusive at best and hobbled by poor methodology.

Democrat Dr. Cary Pigman opposed the resolution. He is the only committee member who is a medical professional.

According to him, it doesnt matter if porn is good or bad for mental and physical health. There are bigger sexual health issues in Florida to worry about.

I keep thinking about the other things that are public health hazards which involve a far larger number of people, he told local news station WFSU.

According to Dr. Pigman, porn isnt the only thing on the rise in Florida. The last three years witnessed an eight percent increase of HIV and STD transmission. And a new case of the Zika virus appeared last year.

Im not sure that we need to spend legislative time enunciating a particular complaint when we have others that are far more pressing, worried Dr. Pigman.

For stories that are related to mental conditions and issues, visit Mind.news today.

Sources include:

DailyMail.co.uk

Psychiatry.org(Natural News) On a hot summer day, most people probably dont go outside, look up towards the sun and say, this heat is sexist. That would be utterly moronic  obviously, the weather cant be discriminatory towards women because weather is an objective force that affects everyone equally. But is there anyone out there that would actually make the case that the weather is sexist, and if so, who is this nitwit?

Failed Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton recently spoke to a group of college students at Georgetown University as part of a panel on Women & Human Rights. At one point during the event, a student raised her hand and suggested that weather was somehow sexist. Of course, Hillary Clinton was quick to agree.

I would say that particularly for women, youre absolutely right, they will bear the brunt of looking for the food, looking for the firewood, looking for the place to migrate to when all of the grass is finally gone as the desertification moves south and you have to keep moving your livestock for your crops are no longer growing, theyre burning up in the intense heat that were now seeing reported across North Africa, into the Middle East, and into India, Clinton said.

First and foremost, why is Hillary Clinton assuming that it would be the women out collecting firewood and looking for food? Honestly, could you image Hillary Clinton picking up a rifle and going out into the woods to hunt a rabbit or a deer? It would never happen. Second, does it not seem like Hillary was reading off of the script of a science fiction movie when she was talking about the desertification moving south and crops not being able to grow because of the intense heat? When it comes to the issue of climate change, liberal Democrats really do have good imaginations. (Related: Feminists are now calling for science to be turned into a social justice propaganda machine.)

Furthermore, even if all of Hillary Clintons wild predictions do end up coming true, the notion that rising temperatures is sexist is simply nonsensical. In order for that to be the case, the weather would literally have to have a mind of its own, which of course it doesnt. All people, regardless of their innate characteristics, experience days with bad weather.

Our country is quickly approaching a point where its more difficult to find things that are not sexist (according to liberals and feminists) than it is to find things that are sexist. Recently, feminists have been outraged over what the Internet is now calling Lady Doritos  Doritos that are designed to be smaller, less messy and less crunchy in an attempt to appeal to women. But even though this was just a marketing campaign that was supposed to attract more females to the Doritos brand, feminists were quick to express outrage, calling the newly announced product sexist and misogynist among other things.

Julia Reiss of Complex.com called the move proof that the patriarchy is all too real these days, and an article published on ExtraCrispy.com even went as far as connecting the Doritos marketing campaign to Americas oppressive capitalist system that perpetuates a cultural superstructure where women are made to feel that they cant lick Dorito dust off their fingers without falling short of some patriarchal concept of femininity.

This growing culture of victimization has got to stop. Americans are some of the freest, most prosperous people on the face of the earth, and the idea that there is some kind of a system or an invisible force keeping millions of us tied down and oppressed is a mentality that needs to be left in the past.

Sources include:

DailyWire.com

Complex.com

ExtraCrispy.com(Natural News) Earlier this week, a number of prominent conservatives and entrepreneurs participated in the Social Media Neutrality Panel at the Newseum in Washington D.C. to discuss everything from the current tech climate to social media bias. Among the people in attendance were Pamela Geller of The Geller Report, Margaret Howell of Rightside Broadcasting, Oleg Atbashian from The Peoples Cube, tech entrepreneur Marlene Jaeckel, and Jim Hoft of The Gateway Pundit.

For those that are unaware, Jim Hoft is the founder and Editor of The Gateway Pundit, a conservative website that has grown from two readers a day when it was founded in 2004 to over a million page views each day. It is an enormously successful website, and has played an integral role in exposing the radical left and their agenda.

During the event, Hoft discussed how tech giants like Google and Facebook continue to suppress the site and limit the spread of content, even though Columbia Journalism Review and Harvard ranked The Gateway Pundit as the fourth most influential news website throughout the 2016 presidential election.

As an example of this sort of anti-conservative censorship, Hoft talked about how a recent article written by Cassandra Fairbanks about Black Lives Matter targeting the Super Bowl was flagged by Facebook on the grounds that the story was fake news. As a result, the report was essentially removed from their platform. However, since then, it has been widely documented that Black Lives Matter did in fact target the Super Bowl and shut down multiple rail lines, meaning that the original report was right on the money. These so-called Facebook fact checkers decided to block the report simply because it didnt fit their liberal agenda. (Related: Facebook censors Natural News from users who want it, but wont allow you to block Mark Zuckerbergs feed.)

Hoft went on to stress the need for the American people to speak truth to power in a climate where Silicon Valley actively targets conservative voices and seeks to control what type of content the people can and cant see on the Internet.

Much of this anti-conservative sentiment that exists in Silicon Valley has been brought to light by James Damore, a former Google engineer who is now suing his former employer for allegedly censoring and discriminating against right-of-center employees. Internal messages included in the lawsuit provide proof that Google employees were openly conspiring against Damore in the days and weeks following the release of his memo criticizing the companys focus on diversity and intolerance towards conservative voices.

You know, there are just certain alternative views, including different political views which I do not want people to feel safe to share here, wrote one high-ranking Google employee on a company message chain. Another employee chimed in: If Google management cares enough about diversity and inclusion, they should, and I urge them to, send a clear message by not only terminating Mr. Damore, but also severely disciplining or terminating those who have expressed support. Of course, Damore was relieved of his duties at Google not long afterward. (Related: Google insiders have warned that outright censorship of the Internet is Googles top priority and everyone has been intimidated into silence.)

The irony of all this, of course, is that while Google claims to stand for diversity and inclusion, they work tirelessly to condemn and alienate their conservative employees. Furthermore, Google seeks to suppress and/or censor right-leaning content on the Internet, which begs the question: Do they really care about tolerance and acceptance towards all, or are they just a social justice cult posing as a technology company? Sadly, the answer appears to be the latter.

Sources include:

TheGatewayPundit.com

DailyCaller.com(Natural News) Mainstream media giant The New York Times (NYT) recently covered a series of problems with cryptocurrency that have risen to the surface ever since Bitcoin suffered through a 60 percent drop in value after reaching all-time highs of around $20,000 per coin back in December.

Many of these problems weve highlighted here at Natural News, but now the corporate media is finally bringing these things to light as well. The NYT points to multiple hacking incidents, Ponzi schemes, and government regulatory wrangling that, according to some, seems to be tightening the noose around the cryptocurrency boom.

Signs of trouble have appeared at nearly every level of the industry, from the biggest exchanges to the news sites and chat rooms where the investment frenzy has been discussed, writes NYT journalist Nathaniel Popper.

The two primary financial regulatory agencies in the United States, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), are both set to testify before the Senate banking committee about what theyre doing to police the virtual currency markets. Multiple cases have already come forward, Popper says, but neither agency has made very much headway in addressing them.

While such problems are inherent to any new industry, such as was the case when the dot-com boom first began, crypto critics are taking a hardline stance against digital currencies like Bitcoin that they say are facilitating more bad behavior than normal.

Cryptocurrencies are almost a perfect vehicle for scams, says Kevin Werbach, a professor at the University of Pennsylvanias Wharton School, as quoted by the NYT.

The combination of credulous buyers and low barriers for scammers were bound to lead to a high level of fraud, if and when the money involved got large. The fact that the money got huge almost overnight, before there were good regulatory or even self-regulatory models in place, made the problem acute.

Regulators must be open-minded about the future of cryptocurrencies, while also being aggressive towards potential scams

Because cryptocurrencies are still so new, and operate on an international scale, keeping tabs on them for the protection of traders is difficult, according to Jay Clayton, chairman of the SEC, and J. Christopher Giancarlo, his counterpart at the CFTC. Clayton is on record as stating that regulators need to be nimble and forward-looking when it comes to dealing with them, as opposed to simply trying to shut them down as countries like India and China seem to be in the process of doing.

At the same time, regulators need to be aggressive against cryptocurrency scams like BitConnect, for instance, which had a large portion of its exchange forcibly shut down in recent weeks after it was discovered that the company was running a shady Ponzi scam.

Another Ponzi scheme that the CFTC shut down back in January, known as My Big Coin, had reportedly bilked users out of about $6 million. There are even Ponzi cryptocurrencies like one known as Proof of Weak Hands Coin that actually branded itself as such  and was still able to raise more than $800,000 before hackers broke into the system and drained all of its funds.

This is all part of the scenario that Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, predicted in his annual rundown of predictions for 2018. Adams warned about major cryptocurrency crackdowns in which government agencies like the SEC and CFTC would likely go after these schemes and make public examples of them in order to deter people away from using crypto.

2018 will be the year that central banks begin to fight back against the growing phenomenon of cryptocurrency, Adams wrote back in December. Manipulating the crypto markets is childs play for the central banks, which will no doubt engineer a panic selloff or cyber attack on the blockchain as a means to destroy the credibility of crypto in the minds of the public.

Be sure to check out BitRaped.com for the latest news on Bitcoin and cryptocurrency.

Sources for this article include:

NYTimes.com

NaturalNews.com

NaturalNews.com(Natural News) The worlds first biofuel flight between the U.S. and Australia was achieved with great success by the teams behind it  Qantas and Agricoma Biosciences rejoiced publicly as they both announced the completion of their historic flight. However, while the benefits of switching from conventional fossil fuels to biofuels for cross-country flights might be clear enough for everyone, there is still the matter of coming to terms with the present-day trade-offs.

That is, the use of biofuels, such as the blended fuel type derived from brassica carinata that powered the Qantas QF96 flight from Los Angeles to Melbourne, requires an entirely different set of materials and methods to produce. Qantas may be planning to have regular biofuel-based flights by 2020, but some people think that this is a horrible idea.

Last year, an analysis spearheaded by the organizations BirdLife and Transport and Environment called for an end to the use of biofuels that were based on food. As the main argument of the analysis goes, the use of food-based biofuels has caused  or undoubtedly will cause  increases in global food prices. Not to mention, it can also damage the environment.

While its true that the use of biofuels to power plane flights results in reduced greenhouse gas emissions, its also known to be quite expensive. Biofuel is said to cost more than twice the price of conventionally produced jet fuel, making it far too expensive for pretty much any airline to use in regular operations. According to a new report that did the math on the biofuel used in the latest flight announced by Qantas, things are a little bit more complicated than you might think.

To complete the 15-hour trans-Pacific flight between the U.S. and Australia, the Qantas QF96 plane needed to use 24,000 liters of biofuel blend. Based on Qantas estimations, the plane was able to save them around 18,000 kilograms in carbon emissions during its flight. However  and this is the most important part  it did so while relying on fuel that took up a total of 150 acres of land to grow. Thats more than three times the size of Vatican City.

Of course, part of the work being done by experts from both Qantas and Agrisoma involves improving their current methods to achieve better yields and therefore manage to increase cost-efficiency and productivity. But that may be a ways away.

According to Alison Webster, the Chief Executive Officer of Qantas International, the focus right now should be on the fact that the use of biofuel delivers the same results as using conventional fossil fuels but with a much less harmful impact on the environment. The aircraft is more fuel efficient and generates fewer greenhouse emissions than similarly sized-aircraft, he explained, and todays flight will see a further reduction on this route.

Meanwhile, Steve Fabijanski, the Chief Executive Officer of Agrisoma, wants to emphasize the importance of their partnership with Australian farmers and how it will impact their work on biofuels in the future. Biojet fuel made from Carinata delivers both oil for biofuel and protein for animal nutrition while also enhancing the soil its grown in, said Fabijanski. We are excited about the potential of the crop in Australia and look forward to working with local farmers and Qantas to develop a clean energy source for the local aviation industry.

Theres absolutely no doubt that its a cleaner fuel option, but unless they manage to make a breakthrough that makes it possible to produce the amount of biofuel required for regular flights without compromising on good farmland, then this new fuel technology may not have a future after all.

Read more news stories about biofuel at Power.news.

Sources include:

DailyMail.co.uk

Traveller.com.au(Natural News) Following the latest tragic incident of mass murder on a school campus, tens of millions of Americans are once again going through a mix of emotions.

Many are angry. Many are frustrated. Some are disgusted and others are fearful. Some Americans are a combination of all of those things.

But nearly to a person, Americans want a solution to the rash of school shootings ranging from Sandy Hook Elementary School, in which children barely getting started in life were murdered, to the latest shooting at a Florida high school.

To be sure, some Americans who claim they want to solve the issue really dont. Theyd rather use these horrific murders as a political tool to advance their agendas  more gun control; abolish the Second Amendment; blame the NRA; hammer Republicans and President Donald J. Trump.

These are the same people who literally criticize and shout down every single idea as crazy or impossible  like putting armed guards in our schools, allowing teachers and school personnel to carry concealed, and protecting schools like we protect our banks and money.

Theyre also the same people who refused to listen to Natural News founder Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, when he suggested 10 years ago that the single biggest contributor to these mass shootings is Big Pharma  psychiatric medications.

And now, to no ones surprise, we are learning that Nikolas Cruz, the shooter who killed 17 students and staff at a Florida high school, was reportedly taking mental health medications, Adams wrote, citing information reported by the Miami Herald. (Related: Mainstream media avoiding any mention of link between psychiatric drugs and violent shootings.)

He said that story quoted Barbara Kumbatovich, a family-in-law, who said she believedCruz was on medication to deal with his emotional fragility.

Adams noted that additional media, including the Washington Post, also reported Cruz was treated in a mental health clinic, which are of course well known for dosing up patients with mind-altering, psychiatric drugs, he wrote, adding:

The left-wing media, predictably, exploits every school shooting to push its agenda of repealing the Second Amendment and confiscating guns from law-abiding citizens, turning the United State of America into a police state where a corrupt government has a monopoly of firepower. But they refuse to consider the mind-altering effects of psychiatric medication, which emerges in nearly every school shooting in recent memory.

Like most Americans, Adams is frustrated that these kinds of incidents continue to happen and that the so-called powers-that-be wont consider examining the one common link stringing years worth of these mass murders together: Psychotropic drugs.

Thats because hes been trying to sound the alarm on this glaring fact for nearly a decade. In 2009 he wrote of the Ft. Hood shootings committed by Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan:

As an army psychiatrist, he was also allowed to prescribe powerful psychiatric drugs to both his patients and himself. Many psychiatrists self-medicate, and Hasan was extremely anxious about the possibility of being sent overseas by the army, according to statements from family members Although official confirmation will probably never be made, it seems altogether likely that Hasan was treating himself with powerful psychotropic medications.

Then as now, Adams noted, the mainstream media is also refusing to focus attention on the drugs.

Notably, such drugs do not actually resolve the cause of depression. They merely cause individuals to mentally disconnect from their real life, making the causes of depression seem far away (or not real), he wrote. This same biochemical mechanism, when combined with a disturbed individual who may have been subjected to extreme bullying by classmates, can cause that person to act out a mass shooting as if they were playing a video game.

Until America gets serious about the links between psychiatric medications and mass shootings, well never solve this problem (and more mass shootings can be expected), he added.

Learn more at PsychDrugShooters.com.

J.D. Heyes is a senior writer for NaturalNews.com and NewsTarget.com, as well as editor of The National Sentinel.

Sources include:

NaturalNews.com

NewsTarget.com(Natural News) Ever read Newsweek? If you answered No, youre certainly not alone.

In fact, so few people read Newsweek these days the once-formidable weekly is about to shut its doors for good, according to insiders, because its unable to raise enough revenue to pay reporters and continue publishing.

Oh, and theres that raid by federal agents that took place a couple of weeks ago too that is putting a damper on things.

Yeah, it sure looks like Monsantos favorite news weekly is on its last legs.

As reported by Truth Revolt:

Its just a matter of time before Newsweek shutters its doors for good. It was already close before a cult leader bought the publication and gave it new legs, but those legs were shaky, more like the National Enquirer than a serious news publication. Now, the trouble is starting back up.

In January, federal investigators swarmed the newsmagazines New York offices in pursuit of evidence to support allegations of fraud; in the aftermath of that raid, a number of top executives along with one reporter were suddenly fired.

Meantime, the magazine, in its online domain, is carrying out its never-ending campaign of unhinged Trump hate, publishing click-bait articles and fake news, Truth Revolts Trey Sanchez noted. The outlet also had to distance itself from an editor of the Pakistani edition after he heralded pedophilia as a producer of great art.

But hey, dont you worry, the outlets standards are still high; in recent days the newsmagazines web page ran with this amazingly shocking exclusive/blockbuster: Donald Trumps Hair Flaps in the Wind, Revealing His Scalp.

OK, once you see this footage, youll never be able to unsee it. So, like the blue pill and the red pill in The Matrix, make your choice now. Because theres no turning back, the story  which was obviously written by a junior high student, right?  began.

Just. Wow. That passes for journalism at Newsweek. Which might just help explain why the outlet is crashing and burning (and not soon enough).

Now, back to the failing. As Truth Revolt noted, one insider has apparently blown the whistle on the entire Newsweek operation, referring to the workplace environment as toxic and one that has descended into a content farm for last-resort clickbait. (Related: Newsweek and Washington Post attempt to cover up murders and organ harvesting by Planned Parenthood)

Manufacturing rage for clicks is their business model, and most people in the company fear imminent layoffs, said one whistleblower, as reported by Truth Revolt.

Another has also stepped forward and has given a lengthy account of the outlets mounting difficulties:

It was 3 a.m. on Saturday, and I was seething. Staring at my phone, I saw that my company, Newsweek Media Group, had put out yet another story that would require a correction if not a retraction. This time it was a story ripped from The Onion. We were treating the fake news as if it were real. OFFS, I tapped under a friends Facebook post after seeing it, short for Oh, For F**ks Sake. The headline in our sister publication, the International Business Times: Meghan Markle and Prince Harry Set Up Wedding Registry at Londons Target. Despite the late hour, I dropped a note to an editor who took the story down off the website. You can see the link on Google, but if you click, youll get Error 404. PAGE NOT FOUND. Theres no correction, which is what a normal news company might post.

There is more, including reports of seriously fake news and really out there news  like how Hillary could still become president! One of the most embarrassing for me as a political reporter is a story from January 2018 announcing that Hillary Clintoncould still become president if Russia probe finds conspiracy evidence.

As bad as the magazines journalism is, it could always be worse, right? That federal raid, for instance.

Good-bye, Newsweek. You wont be missed, except maybe by Monsanto.

J.D. Heyes is editor of The National Sentinel and a senior writer for Natural News and News Target.

Sources include:

TruthRevolt.org

NaturalNews.com(Natural News) The global air pollution situation has peaked, causing millions to succumb respiratory issues and other health problems. Various countries have attempted to tackle this worldwide epidemic through all kinds of creative means. In Xian, China, a tower the size of a small high-rise is said to purify the air around it. In London, a group has proposed coating the city in a paint that consumes nitrogen oxides (NOx). In New Delhi, India, the government has turned to water mist cannons to clean up smog. Unorthodox and seemingly clever solutions all, but are they little more than handy distractions from the bigger picture?

It certainly appears to be the case. Take the NOx-eating paint for instance. The researchers themselves admitted that covering the entirety of London in their paint would barely affect the NOx concentrations in the air. Although the chemistry behind their paint was reasonable, they stated that a mere sliver of the citys atmosphere would come into contact with the paint. This wouldnt be enough to yield any beneficial effects.

Similarly, in China, the impact of the air-filtering tower will be minimal at best. Even with its proactive approach of utilizing greenhouses to suck in air pollution and pass it through multiple air filters. This would work in a small city within a sealed box where the flow of smog was intermittent. That isnt the case for an open city like Xian, which has an area of 10,097,000 m (or 10,097 km). Pretty much the only ones whod be able to benefit from the tower would be those downwind of it. (Related: Pollution explodes in China; government begins forcing businesses to close their doors in desperate bid to stop deadly smog.)

As Alastair Lewis, a professor of atmospheric chemistry at the National Centre for Atmospheric Science, explained it, the air we breathe goes much further up than we realize. From the surface of the ground to the planetary boundary layer, you have a good stretch of 1000 m (or one km). This means that larger volumes of air would need to be cleaned if any notable changes are to be achieved.

Meanwhile, government officials and industry heads are free to do as they please as the rest of us are preoccupied with these so-called innovations. Some may even go so far as to turn these technologies in their favor so that we can be led to believe that change is happening. We know this because, according to Reuters.com, thats what two Chinese officials tried to do. Officials in Xinyu, Jiangxi and Xinyang, Henan were caught attempting to reduce emission readings by spraying air quality sensors with water. These officials were said to have been dismissed or given administrative punishments, as per the Ministry of Environmental Protection.

Far from this being a first-time occurrence, this is the second time that Henan officials have come under fire for tampering with emission data. Moreover, Xian itself is no stranger to this sort of controversy. Local environmental officials have doled out punishments as well after it was discovered that they were removing surveillance tapes and stuffing cotton into air quality sensors.

In the meantime, Chinas smog situation has worsened in a number of the nations major regions and cities. The Yangtze River Delta region, Pearl River Delta region, Xian, Guangzhou, and all of China had particle pollution that only grew compared to last years measurements. This is despite the countrys overly ambitious, years-long war on pollution.

Its more than likely that the same is occurring elsewhere around the world. But we dont know about it yet because were too busy celebrating technologies that dont do much to sort the problem. Comfort us, yes; fix the problems they were supposed to solve, not so much.

Go to Environ.news to remain updated on any news about global air pollution.

Sources include:

Independent.co.uk

Reuters.com 1

Reuters.com 2How dirty is San Francisco? An NBC Bay Area Investigation reveals a dangerous mix of drug needles, garbage, and feces throughout downtown San Francisco. The Investigative Unit surveyed 153 blocks of the city  the more than 20-mile stretch includes popular tourist spots like Union Square and major hotel chains. The area  bordered by Van Ness Avenue, Market Street, Post Street and Grant Avenue  is also home to City Hall, schools, playgrounds, and a police station.

The NBC Bay Area Investigative Unit surveyed a section of downtown San Francisco to determine the amount of feces, hypodermic needles, and garbage littering the heart of the city. The results reveal a disgusting and potentially deadly mix of contamination that experts now believe could exceed some of the dirtiest slums in the world. Investigative reporter Bigad Shaban reports on a story that first aired Feb. 18, 2018.

As the Investigative Unit photographed nearly a dozen hypodermic needles scattered across one block, a group of preschool students happened to walk by on their way to an afternoon field trip to city hall.

We see poop, we see pee, we see needles, and we see trash, said teacher Adelita Orellana. Sometimes they ask what is it, and thats a conversation thats a little difficult to have with a 2-year old, but we just let them know that those things are full of germs, that they are dangerous, and they should never be touched.

In light of the dangerous conditions, part of Orellanas responsibilities now include teaching young children how to avoid the contamination.

NBC Bay Area

'Theres Poop in There'

The floor is dirty, said ANylah Reed, a 3-year-old student at the preschool, who irately explained having to navigate dirty conditions on her walks to school.

There is poop in there, she exclaimed. That makes me angry.

Kim Davenport, Anylas mother, often walks her daughter to the Compass preschool on Leavenworth Street in San Francisco. She said she often has to pull her daughter out of the way in order to keep her from stepping on needles and human waste. I just had to do that this morning!

NBC Bay Area

The Investigate Unit spent three days assessing conditions on the streets of downtown San Francisco and discovered trash on each of the 153 blocks surveyed. While some streets were littered with items as small as a candy wrapper, the vast majority of trash found included large heaps of garbage, food, and discarded junk. The investigation also found 100 drug needles and more than 300 piles of feces throughout downtown.

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NBC Bay Area

Dried Feces can Lead to Airborne Viruses

If you do get stuck with these disposed needles you can get HIV, Hepatitis C, Hepatitis B, and a variety of other viral diseases, said Dr. Lee Riley, an infectious disease expert at University of California, Berkeley. He warned that once fecal matter dries, it can become airborne, releasing potentially dangerous viruses, such as the rotavirus. If you happen to inhale that, it can also go into your intestine, he said. The results can prove fatal, especially in children.

Riley has researched conditions across the poorest slums of the world. His book titled, Slum Health, examines health problems that are created by extreme poverty.

NBC Bay Area

San Francisco Compared to Some of the Dirtiest Slums in the World

Based on the findings of the Investigative Unit survey, Riley believes parts of the city may be even dirtier than slums in some developing countries.

The contamination is  much greater than communities in Brazil or Kenya or India, he said. He notes that in those countries, slum dwellings are often long-term homes for families and so there is an attempt to make the surroundings more livable. Homeless communities in San Francisco, however, are often kicked out from one part of town and forced to relocate to another. The result is extreme contamination, according to Riley.

NBC Bay Areea

'We Arent Addressing the Root Cause'

Unacceptable. Absolutely unacceptable, said Supervisor Hillary Ronen. We're losing tourists. We're losing conventions in San Francisco. All of this is happening because we aren't addressing the root cause, which is we need more temporary beds for street homelessness.

Ronen believes San Francisco has been too focused on permanent housing for the homeless and that the city has neglected to provide enough temporary shelter, which can provide the homeless a respite from the streets. The city currently has about 2,000 temporary beds. Ronen, however, believes an additional 1,000 are needed, at a cost of about $25 million.

We need to find a source of revenue, said Ronen. Whether that's putting something on the ballot to raise business taxes or taking a look at our general fund and re-allocating money towards that purpose and taking it away from something else in the city.

NBC Bay Area

San Francisco Spends $30 Million Cleaning Feces, Drug Needles

Until the problem is fixed, Mohammed Nuru, the Director of the Public Works Department, is charged with the towering task of cleaning the streets, over and over again. Yes, we can clean, he said, and then go back a few hours later, and it looks as if it was never cleaned. So is that how you want to spend your money?

The 2016-2017 budget for San Francisco Public Works includes $60.1 million for Street Environmental Services. The budget has nearly doubled over the past five years. Originally, that money, was intended to clean streets, not sidewalks. According to city ordinances, sidewalks are the responsibility of property owners. However, due to the severity of the contamination in San Francisco, Public Works has inherited the problem of washing sidewalks. Nuru estimates that half of his street cleaning budget  about $30 million  goes towards cleaning up feces and needles from homeless encampments and sidewalks.

'Human Tragedy' in San Francisco

A single pile of human waste, said Nuru, takes at least 30 minutes for one of his staffers to clean. The steamer has to come. He has to park the steamer. He's got to come out with his steamer, disinfect, steam clean, roll up and go.

Asked if hed be willing to give up part of his budget and allocate it to more directly addressing the homeless problem  which would likely alleviate his cleaning problem  Nuru said, The Board of Supervisors, the mayor  those are decisions that they need to make." He added, I want to continue cleaning and I want to be able to continue to provide services. The Public Works Department provides services seven days a week, 24 hours a day.

Ronen acknowledges that finding the money to provide 1,000 additional beds for the homeless may very well take years. The city is planning on opening three new Navigation Centers for homeless people by the summer, but two centers will also be closing.

We're not going to make a huge dent in this problem unless we deal with some underlying major social problems and issues, she said. There's a human tragedy happening in San Francisco.

______________________________________There is no Harvard study that says a British children's television cartoon causes autism, despite what a social media post claims. In fact, there's at least one peer-reviewed study that hints that a children's television show may help autistic kids.

The post on the newsely site, and others that have circulated in recent months, claims that a group of Harvard experts did a study that revealed Peppa Pig "is one of the main causes of autism among children. The piece describes other complaints about the British animated series and does not name the authors of the so-called study or where it was published.

That's because it doesn't exist, autism experts said. The study could not be found on any database of scientific studies. Three leading autism researchers called it false. The chairman of the Harvard psychology department said he knows of no such study.

"This is fake," said autism researcher Dr. Matthew State, chairman of the psychiatry department at the University of California San Francisco and chairman of the scientific advisory board at the Autism Science Foundation. State says it goes back to an old study by three economists -- none from Harvard -- that uses the Bureau of Labor Statistics' American Time Use Survey to find a vague link between autism, cable television watching and rates of rain and snow in the 1970s and 1980s.

That economics research paper, which isn't a full scientific study was ridiculed for "bad association methodology," State said. "Bottom line is there is no credible scientific evidence that television watching increases the risk of autism."

But when autism researcher Dr. Susan Hyman, a professor of behavioral pediatrics at the University of Rochester Medical Center, searched the scientific literature, she found one relevant study in the journal Behavior Analysis in Practice. That 2017 study of only two autistic five-year-olds found that their behavior improved after watching the PBS children's show Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood. It's only two boys so that's not enough to make conclusions from.

So what does cause autism?

Scientists are still researching that with most -- but not all -- of the causes found so far being genetic. Other environmental causes include the age of the parents, State said.A firefighters union in a Sacramento, California suburb was under fire Sunday after placing an assault rifle up for auction at a fundraising event Saturday night.

Some attendees walked out of the Cameron Park Firefighters Association crab feed when they saw an AR-15, similar to the one used in a mass shooting at a Florida high school just days ago, sitting on the auction table.

"These are our first responders responding to these types of events, these shootings, and they should be concerned with putting one of those types of weapons out in our community," attendee Allison Merrill said. "And instead, it was being given out as a prize."

Another woman who walked out in protest, Nancy Lugo, said the timing of it couldn't have been worse.

The Cameron Park Fire Department is under contract with Cal Fire.

"This was a fundraising effort that has taken place since 2002," Cal Fire spokesman Scott McLean said. "I understand the concerns, by all means. No harm was intended."

The union refunded the woman's money for the crab feed.

"The money wasn't really an issue," Merrill said. "I just wanted him to know we were leaving in protest, that it was totally tone deaf of them to have that, especially given the timing."

Firefighters said the auction was planned before the rampage in Florida, and the winning bidder will still have to pass a background check before taking ownership of the weapon.

Cameron Park is located about 32 miles east of Sacramento in El Dorado County.Berkeley officers arrested six people in an undercover operation set up to combat a recent rash of laptop thefts in cafes, police said Monday.

Suspects allegedly stole laptops from patrons in Caffe Strada at 2300 College Ave. around 8 p.m. Saturday, unaware that several undercover officers were watching, according to police. The laptops were swiftly recovered, police said.

The case began when a car with six people pulled up outside the cafe and four men got out and walked into the cafe. Two of them grabbed two laptops, police said.

As the four sprinted to the getaway car, one of the victims chased them, but the car pulled away. Quickly, the undercover officers called reinforcements.

The responding officers stopped the getaway vehicle on College Avenue near Russell Street, recovering the two laptops that had just been stolen and additional stolen property, according to police.

Three adults and three youth were arrested and booked on suspicion of crimes including strong-armed robbery, grand theft person, possession of stolen property and probation violations, police said. Five of the six were on some form of probation, according to police.

Police say that crimes like this one have become a common occurrence in Berkeley, and they're advising residents to keep an eye on their belongings and their surroundings to avoid being robbed.

In one case on Jan. 31, four suspects allegedly stole multiple laptops in a "snatch and grab" robbery in the 2300 block of College Avenue around 8:30 p.m., according to police.

Similarly to this case, the suspects grabbed the laptops and fled in an older four-door sedan, police said.

The undercover operations will continue until the laptop thefts abate, police said.A Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student who was shot multiple times while trying to save his classmates during last week's mass shooting was visited in the hospital by Broward Sheriff Scott Israel.

Israel said he was "honored" to visit with 15-year-old Anthony Borges Sunday, just days after the shooting at the Parkland school that claimed 17 lives.

"His family shared that Anthony was shot five times in Wednesday's school attack," BSO tweeted, along with a picture of Israel and Borges. "Fortunately, he is recovering -- but has a long road ahead with more surgeries needed. Please join us in praying for the swift recovery of Anthony and all the other victims of this horrific criminal act."

https://twitter.com/browardsheriff/status/965354476608606209

Borges is being hailed a hero for his efforts to save other students during the shooting. A GoFundMe page set up for his family said Borges saved about 20 other students as he attempted to close and lock a classroom door.

He ended up shot in both legs, had his upper left thigh bone shattered, and had a bullet go through his back.

"He has a long road of recovery ahead of him but he is alive and stable," the post says.

NBC 6s Steve Litz uncovered DCF investigations from Nikolas Cruzs time with his adoptive mother as well as what the family that took him in after her death is saying after the mass shooting.

The GoFundMe has already raised more than $110,000 of its original goal of $5,000 in just three days.

Officials with Broward Health said that four patients remained hospitalized as of Sunday night, with all in fair condition.President Donald Trump's former aide Omarosa Manigault Newman was left speechless for several seconds on Friday's episode of the CBS show "Big Brother: Celebrity Edition" when her cast mate Brandi Glanville posed a shocking question about her former boss.

"Did you ever sleep with him?" the former "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" star asked.

"With who?" Manigault Newman replied.

"Trump," she said.

"Hell no!" Manigault Newman said. "God! Brandi, that's horrible!"

"Apparently, a lot of girls do," Glanville said.

"Well, I'm not," Omarosa said. "Now, there is somebody in the White House who is sleeping around with everybody, but she is not me. I've never had to do that."

Piers Morgan Claims Omarosa Asked Him to Have Sex During Celebrity Apprentice to Make Lots of Money

Manigault Newman, the "villain" of season one of Trump's former show "The Apprentice," has been making headlines for revealing details about her time in the White House. Last year, the reality star was made an aide to the president and the director of communications for the White House Office of Public Liaison. She was fired in December.

Brandi, who competed on "Celebrity Apprentice" in 2015, said she heard rumors that some contestants on the show had slept with Trump when he was its host. Manigault Newman asked her if she ever heard her name in the rumors.

"No. He seemed to like you so much, I was just wondering," Glanville said.

"God no," Manigault Newman said. "I'm just ratings gold."

Former "Real Housewives of Atlanta" star Claudia Jordan, who also competed on "Celebrity Apprentice," raised eyebrows in January when she commented on Trump and Manigault Newman's relationship in an interview on the Unstable'D podcast, saying "There is some talk that there may have been some inappropriateness between the two. Allegedly."Authorities are warning people about a string of robberies that are happening in pedways of CTA train stations in Chicago's Loop.

Chicago police issued a community alert Sunday on three incidents in which five offenders have robbed pedestrians in the tunnels between the CTA Red and Blue Lines.

The suspects surrounded the victims and taken a designer belt, a cell phone and wallets, according to police.

They've also displayed a handgun and have struck and kicked the victims, officials said.

The incidents took place:

- Jan. 30 at 9:15 a.m. in the 100 block of South State Street

- Feb. 13 at 7 a.m. in the 200 block of South State Street

- Feb. 14 at 7 p.m. in the 200 block of South Dearborn Street

Commuters should be on the lookout, authorities warn, and report any suspicious activity to police.

Anyone with information on the suspects or the three incidents is asked to call police.A suburban Chicago man was arrested Sunday after authorities said he drove to Florida and abducted an 11-year-old girl he met online.

John Peter Byrns, of Hoffman Estates, was taken into custody at a hotel in west Macon, Georgia, on Sunday afternoon, according to a statement from the Bibb County Sheriffs office.

Officials said the family of the 11-year-old victim from Orlando, Florida, reported her missing as an endangered runaway at around 9 a.m. Sunday, saying they believed she left home with a bookbag full of clothes late Saturday night.

The Orange County Sheriffs office tracked the girls phone as she traveled north with 24-year-old Byrns, authorities said. At that point, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bibb County Sheriffs office became involved in the investigation.

Authorities tracked the girls phone to a Holiday Inn Express in Macon, Georgia, where Byrns vehicle was found parked outside, officials said.

FBI agents and sheriffs deputies found Byrns and the girl inside one of the hotel rooms, safely recovering the child and taking Byrns into custody, authorities said.

The girl was reunited with her family late Sunday, while Byrns remained in FBI custody in Georgia, officials said.

He was arrested on a warrant from the Orange County Sheriffs office for kidnapping of a child under 13, Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings said at a news conference Monday.

Byrns met the girl through an online game, authorities said, with Demings calling it a cautionary tale.

He struck up a dialogue, a communication with a child, by simply faking that he was another 13- or 14-year-old girl, and was having communications with this 11-year-old child, Demings said Monday.

Authorities said Byrns drove from Illinois to Orlando and picked up the child down the street from her residence and was planning on driving back to Illinois.

It was not clear when charges would be filed in the case, and attorney information for Byrns was not immediately available.Posted Thursday, February 8, 2018 12:20 am

Legally, its possible another gubernatorial candidate could hop into the 2018 sweepstakes by the April 24 deadline, but the existing field of four Republicans and four Democrats are operating as if they are Michigan voters only choices.

Republican Lt. Gov. Brian Calley, Sen. Patrick Colbeck and Saginaw Dr. Jim Hines have now held joint-appearance town halls in Grand Rapids, Jackson and Saginaw without the frontrunner, Attorney General Bill Schuette.

Hes not participating because he wasnt involved in the planning process and his campaign doesnt feel it needs to be . . . yet. Calley and Colbeck cooked up the forums to boost their public exposure weeks after polling had Schuettes once massive lead down to 11 points (Schuette 25, Calley 14, Hines 2, Colbeck 2, according to Mitchell Research and Communications.)

The forums also come at a time when the Attorney General has managed to receive no shortage of press for prosecuting disgraced sexual assailant Larry Nassar and investigating how Michigan State University let their former doctor get away with molesting young women for as long as he did.

Schuettes campaign has called the secret town halls part of a cloak-anddagger primary strategy to drag down his numbers. Calley and Colbeck are questioning whether Schuette is avoiding questions, as he did during the Jan. 27 news conference in which he informally kicked off his newest MSU investigation.

On the Democratic side, the AFL-CIO launched a rare public screening process with the partys four viable candidates -- former Ingham County Senator Gretchen Whitmer, entrepreneur and chemist Shri Thanedar, former Detroit medical director Abdul El-Sayed and retired Xerox executive Bill Cobbs.

Whitmers primary opponents -- like Schuettes -- are dogging her for not tackling MSUs sexual assault issues sooner. Whitmer filled in as Ingham County prosecutor for six months in 2016. Still, shes gobbling up union endorsements like Mrs. Pac-Man, making her the clear Democraticfrontrunner at this point.

El-Sayeds balloon is deflating among the progressive Bernie Sanders crowd after Bridge Magazine reported that he was registered to vote in New York in 2015. That may violate the constitutional requirement that he be a registered elector for four years before Election Day.

The deep-pocketed Thanedar is the only Michigan gubernatorial candidate to spend money on a (admittedly funny) television ad during the Super Bowl, but hell need to buy a following like Gov. Rick Snyder did eight years ago. He, like Snyder, also needs to get more comfortable answering public questions not related to his compelling personal story. He struggled to connect at the first AFL-CIO forum, but hell have two more to improve.

Cobbs commanding voice and vision drew comparisons to Morgan Freeman during the Warren forum, but the $3,275 he had in his gubernatorial account as of Jan. 1 is less than 146 state House candidates.

Money isnt a problem for U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow. The $8 million she has in the bank is chasing away Republican money and their supporters to other potentially competitive states. Business executive Sandy Pensler said hes willing to spend at least $5 million of his own fortune, but hell need to do better than his bland, forgettable Super Bowlish ad.

Republican are gushing over Republican Senate hopeful John James profile as a combat veteran, young father and African- American conservative business executive. But hes going to need National Republican Senate Campaign Committee help and theres no shortage of GOP hopefuls across the country with their hands out for that.

Republican House Speaker Tom Leonard seems to be outflanking Sen. Tonya Schuitmaker in the race for that partys Attorney General nomination, but that race is still six months away from being decided.

The Rs alternative is Eastern Michigan University Trustee Mary Treder Lang, but shes largely unknown outside of the country club Republican-types.

With Ingham County Circuit Court Judge Rosemarie Aquilina taking a pass on a Supreme Court run, Democrats still lack a top-tier candidate to take on Gov. Snyder appointees Kurtis Wilder and Beth Clement.

Democrats have no shortage of judges and attorneys willing to give the high court a shot. The question is how much money theyre willing to sink into a candidate without money or resources when Democraticnominated Justices Bridget McCormack and Richard Bernstein are proving to be quite effective in a 5-2 minority.

For Michigan State University Board of Trustees -- Republican incumbents Mitch Lyons and Brian Breslin arent running again and Dave Dutch and William Deary are running as a tag team for the GOP nomination, even though Lt. Gov. Brian Calley would rather see a Nassar survivor run.

Things are more muddled on the Democratic side with MSU journalism professor Sue Carter, pollster Dennis Denno, former lottery commissioner Scott Bowen, AFL-CIO official Daryl Newman and Teri Bernero, wife of former Lansing mayor Virg Bernero all talking to the various interest groups.

In the Eaton/Clinton county-based 24th Senate District, Democrat Kelly Rossman- McKinney is knocking it out of the park with her $150,000 in cash on hand. Among the 115 or so state Senate candidates (incumbent and non-incumbents included) with campaign committees, only five have more money available than the well-known public relations business owner.In the days since an expelled student armed with an rifle opened fire on his former classmates at a Florida high school, the gun debate has escalated in this country.

One suburban Chicago man sent his own message by turning in his rifle to authorities.

The man walked his AR-15 and five high-capacity magazines into the La Grange Police Department Saturday night.

He asked that NBC 5 not reveal his identity as he is concerned for his familys safety. He says he made the decision after talking to his teenage son and his friends.

I asked them what did they want and they said they thought they didnt want the ARs on the street," the man said. "They were too easy to get."

This La Grange gun owner says he was motivated to turn in his AR-15 after a 19-year-old gunman used a similar weapon to kill 17 people at a Florida high school last week.

"That particular gun is unnecessary for me," he told NBC 5. "I dont need it. And I cant rightly own it with the children out there fighting to get these things off the streets."

The gun owners own high-school-age son and his friends went with him to the police department to turn in the rifle after calling for change.

They said mental health and make ars harder to get and I cant argue with that. That doesnt seem to be too much to ask.

The 48-year-old doesnt want the weapon to end up at a gun auction--that's why he turned it into the police.

He wants it destroyed--something La Grange police Chief Kurt Bluder says happens with any weapon turned in.

Its a movement happening nationwide  a Facebook post from a man in Florida went viral over the weekend after he turned in his rifle to authorities there. He wrote No person needs this. I will be the change I want to see in this world.

The La Grange man wants to be clear: he still owns other guns.

"Im a conceal-carry card owner," he told NBC 5. "Im a defender of the Second Amendment, I think its important."

But he says he believes what his son and what other Florida shooting survivors are asking for is common sense.

"This isnt a political issue, this is an issue where children are getting killed and its got to stop and they need to see change," he said. "Because without change they think no one cares."

If you have a weapon you want to turn in to authorities, the La Grange police chief said you should call ahead to your local police department before bringing in the firearm to see if they will take it. He also said to leave the weapon in your car, in a case if you bring it to the police.Days after a mass shooting claimed 17 lives in Florida, rallies and walk-outs have occurred across the U.S. as the gun debate rages on.

More than 1100 miles from where the shooting took place in Parkland, FL, teachers, students, and parents rallied in downtown Chicago and in Downers Grove Sunday to call for solutions to the epidemic of gun violence.

We need to stop the slaughter of kids, Highland Park Mayor, and Attorney General candidate, Nancy Rotering said.

The debate over what to do about mass shootings has continued throughout the country in the wake of the massacre, with senators from opposing parties each discussing the issue on Meet the Press Sunday morning.

We have determined as a country that only a court can take away a constitutional right, and the right to keep and bear arms is a constitutional right, Oklahoma Senator James Lankford said.

We should not be selling assault weapons in this country, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who will be visiting Chicago this week, said. These weapons are not for hunting. They are for killing human beings.

The argument is the same one that students who escaped last weeks shooting have said has led to inaction, and the loss of lives.

At this point its unacceptable, student David Hogg said. How many more students are going to have to die and have their blood spilled in American classrooms just because politicians refuse to take action?

These survivors are among those planning multiple school walk outs and marches in the coming months until lawmakers take action.

We have been here before and the problem is we keep going back over and over again, Jaquie Algee, an organizer of the Womens March Chicago, said. We keep revisiting. We keep being brought back to this place because nothing has been done.

Algees 19-year-old son was shot and killed in Chicago 22 years ago.

The first school walkout is planned for March 14, the one-month anniversary of the Florida shooting. Another walkout is also being planned on April 20, the 19th anniversary of the Columbine massacre in Colorado.President Donald Trump continued his defensive commentary on Friday's indictments of Russians in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation, saying Russia "succeeded beyond their wildest dreams" in dividing America and is now laughing at the U.S.

If it was the GOAL of Russia to create discord, disruption and chaos within the U.S. then, with all of the Committee Hearings, Investigations and Party hatred, they have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. They are laughing their asses off in Moscow. Get smart America!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 18, 2018

Thirteen Russians and three Russian organizations were indicted Friday for allegedly interfering in the U.S. 2016 presidential elections with the intention of promoting Trumps candidacy. Charges listed in the 37-page document include conspiracy, wire fraud, bank fraud and aggravated identity theft, and they are the most direct allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 election that put Trump in the White House.

Trump also asserted that he "never said Russia did not meddle in the election" and harkened back to a comment he made at a 2016 debate that the meddling "could be Russia, but it could also be China. It could also be lots of other people. It also could be somebody sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds, OK?"

He insisted that the "Russian 'hoax'" he repeatedly refers to "was that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia - it never did!"

The president has repeatedly expressed skepticism over the Russian election meddling. In November, he said he believed the conclusion of U.S. intelligence agencies that there had been meddling but also said he believed Russian President Vladimir Putin is sincere when he says Russia didn't interfere.

In his rapid-fire series of tweets Sunday, Trump also thanked  and attacked  Rep. Adam Schiff, who said the Obama administration should have created a "more forceful deterrent" against adversaries wanting to launch cyber attacks on the U.S.

The House Intelligence Committee's top Democrat pointed to the Obama administration's muted response to the 2014 Sony hacking, telling NBC Friday that "others around the world watched that and determined that cyber is a cost-free intervention."

Schiff argued the Obama administration, therefore, shares some responsibility for what happened with Russia, adding, "We should have called them out much earlier."

Former President Barack Obama in late 2016 defended his administration's response to the Russian meddling, also saying he had confronted Russian President Vladimir Putin that September, telling him to "cut it out." And former Vice President Joe Biden recently said Obama didn't want to politicize the threat and that the full scope of the meddling wasn't known until after the 2016 election.



Trump analyzed Schiff's comments, tweeting Sunday, "Finally, Liddle Adam Schiff, the leakin monster of no control, is now blaming the Obama Administration for Russian meddling in the 2016 Election. He is finally right about something. Obama was President, knew of the threat, and did nothing. Thank you Adam!"

He added: "Now that Adam Schiff is starting to blame President Obama for Russian meddling in the election, he is probably doing so as yet another excuse that the Democrats, lead by their fearless leader, Crooked Hillary Clinton, lost the 2016 election. But wasnt I a great candidate?"

Trump's response to the indictments has largely focused on himself and his election victory, which he has continued to argue was fairly achieved without the help of Russia. He has quoted political commentators  and a Facebook official  who he says also believe there is no evidence of collusion or swaying of the election.

The White House doubled down on the president's assertions, writing in all caps in a Friday statement that there was "NO COLLUSION."

Though the president and White House are correct in that collusion was not proven in the indictment Friday, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who oversees the probe, had carefully chosen his words Friday when he said, "There is no allegation in the indictment that any American was a knowing participant in the alleged unlawful activity."

Aside from encouraging Americans to "come together" and "stop the outlandish partisan attacks," Trump has refrained from suggesting any kind of retribution for a foreign adversary infiltrating America's electoral processes. However, a top administration official took a more direct route.

National security adviser H.R. McMaster said in Germany Saturday that the evidence of Moscow's meddling is "incontrovertible," adding that "the United States will expose and act against those who use cyberspace, social media and other means to advance campaigns of disinformation, subversion and espionage."

Trump clapped back Saturday at McMaster's forceful language, once again bringing the conversation back to his 2016 win and pointing the finger at his political opponents.

"General McMaster forgot to say that the results of the 2016 election were not impacted or changed by the Russians and that the only Collusion was between Russia and Crooked H, the DNC and the Dems. Remember the Dirty Dossier, Uranium, Speeches, Emails and the Podesta Company!" the president tweeted.

Turning to a different topic Sunday, but continuing to criticize his opponents, Trump railed against law enforcement over an Obama-era payment to Iran, tweeting that he has "never gotten over the fact that Obama was able to send $1.7 Billion Dollars in CASH to Iran and nobody in Congress, the FBI or Justice called for an investigation!"

The Obama administration transferred the money to Iran in 2016, using non-U.S. currency. The administration said it was the settlement of a decades-old arbitration claim between the countries. An initial payment was delivered the same day Tehran agreed to release four American prisoners.

The Obama administration eventually acknowledged the cash was used as leverage until the Americans were allowed to leave Iran. Congressional Republicans decried the payment as ransom, which the Obama administration denied.

By late Sunday night, Trump shifted his wide-ranging Twitter critique to Oprah Winfrey, who has played down suggestions she should run for president in 2020. Trump said her appearance as an interviewer on "60 Minutes" was "biased" and "slanted." ''Hope Oprah runs so she can be exposed and defeated just like all of the others!" Trump tweeted.



The Associated Press contributed to this report.When Barbara Francis was thinking about buying a car, she decided to check her credit score. She said she thought it would cost her $1, but found she was automatically enrolled for an identity theft monitoring service that included a monthly fee.

Francis said she logged onto the website for Experian, the largest of the three major credit reporting agencies.

The company offers a credit report and FICO score for just $1, but to Francis surprise, the company deducted $24.99 from her checking account.

She realized that when she ordered her credit report and FICO score, she was automatically enrolled in a seven-day trial membership of Experians identity theft monitoring service.

Once the trial ended, the membership would cost her $24.99 a month.

Francis was still within the trial period and tried to cancel by phone and email, but said she did not receive a response.

Then she contacted NBC Connecticut Responds.

A few days after we intervened, Experian called Francis and refunded her money.

NBC Connecticut reached out to Experian for comment, but did not hear back.

Francis experience is good reminder to always read the terms and conditions before signing up for anything online.

If you do enroll in a free trial, make sure you cancel within the time frame set by the company and request written confirmation.Marketing companies and other private entities may no longer be able to purchase Connecticut's voter list.

Secretary of the State Denise Merrill has proposed limiting access to the database to political parties, candidates, journalists, researchers and governmental agencies. She also wants to prevent full birth dates of voters from being released.

The Democrat, who is up for re-election this year, said she's motivated by the thousands of voters who contacted her office with privacy concerns after a now-disbanded presidential commission sought reams of data.

Republican secretary of the state candidate Susan Chapman likes protecting the file, but questions why Merrill didn't do this earlier.

The executive director of the election advocacy group Common Cause calls Merrill's proposal troubling, noting how much of the information is already available on the internet.Health officials are looking into whether the death of a 6-year-old girl in Norwalk is related to complications from the flu, according to the city's mayor.

The Columbus Magnet School student, Emma Splan, died Saturday night and the death is being investigated as possibly flu-related, according to Norwalk Mayor Harry Rilling.

NBC Connecticut's sister station NBC New York spoke to a friend of the family, who said the sudden death has left the family devastated.

"These guys did it the right way. They got her a flu shot. They got her to a doctor. Theyre the best parents a child could have. They didnt wait. They didnt linger. And apparently we all know this flu season is crazy," said Sarah Lutkus, a friend of Emma's mother Christy, who flew up from Florida to support the family.

Lutkus said Christy told her they first went to the doctor on Thursday and confirmed Emma had the flu. On Sunday, Emma was vomiting and not drinking much so they went back to the doctor, who sent them to the hospital. Within the next eight hours, things went downhill.

She went to the doctor, Christy said in the morning around 9:30, and they were at Stamford around 3 and within the next eight hours  yeah.

Lutkus said Emma was the kind of child who always wanted to look out for others.

"Pay it forward for her. She was always doing that for kids, man. She gave my daughters all of her leftover clothes. I woke up this morning before knowing she had passed. My girls were dressed in all of her clothes. She wanted to make sure others were taken care of, Lutkus said.

Columbus Principal Medard Thomas sent a letter to the school community confirming Emma's death and stating that counselors would be available at Columbus Magnet starting Tuesday and for as long as needed.

"We could always count on Emma constantly doing the right thing at school and thriving. Our hearts go out to her loving parents: Christy Pugh, and David Splan. We are devastated by their loss. This tragedy has brought us unimaginable sorrow and heartache, but as a community, we possess the spirit and fortitude to work through this unspeakably tragic time."

Thomas went on to say that as a precaution school was undergoing a deep cleaning before students returned Tuesday and that custodians would continue to focus on disinfecting any "high-touch" areas to prevent the spread of illness.

The full letter can be viewed below.

Calls to the Health Department were not immediately returned.

Health officials have not confirmed if the death is definitely flu-related. If it is, it adds to the growing list of flu deaths in Connecticut this year. So far there have been 77 deaths in the state, which is more deaths than the past five flu seasons.Requiring people to provide adequate shelter for dogs and changes to a special jail diversionary program for animal abusers are among the animal-related legislation a bipartisan group of Connecticut lawmakers hope to pass this session.

The legislators plan to unveil their list of animal welfare legislation on Tuesday at the Legislative Office Building.

Republican Rep. Brenda Kupchick of Fairfield says the Legislative Animal Welfare Caucus works throughout the year with various animal rights groups, such as the Connecticut Humane Society, on possible legislation that's needed to protect animals.

Kupchick says the group has "a moral obligation to advocate for and protect those who cannot protect themselves."A dispute over alcohol sales in southeast Dallas has led to accusations that a Dallas city councilman is standing in the way of economic progress.

The disagreement centers around the Buckner Market, 4710 South Buckner Boulevard. Many residents in the Buckner Terrace neighborhood would like to see it go.



7-11 has offered to buy the business and requested an alcohol permit, but councilman Kevin Felder, who represents the area, wants to deny the request.

Felder said there is a proliferation of alcohol retailers up and down Buckner Boulevard. He wants the neighborhood to hold out for something better.

"What is this area becoming?" Felder said. "You've got a beer and wine store there, you've got a beer and wine store here."

According to Dallas police records Buckner Market has been the site of five burglaries, four robberies, and three assaults.



Many residents were excited to learn that 7-11 had put in an offer to buy the store and make security improvements.



They were shocked last week when Felder said he wanted to deny the company's request for an alcohol permit.

Korey Mack, the planning commissioner for Felder's district, said there is overwhelming support in the Buckner Terrace neighborhood for the store.\

Mack was part of the unanimous vote by the commission to approve the request.



"It is one of the least attractive retail convenient stores in our neighborhood. We'd be happy to see the Buckner Market era end sooner rather than later," said Mack. "A 7-11 store would have more lighting, in our opinion much better security, and just a fresher, cleaner, look. An overwhelming majority of people in our neighborhood think this is a good idea."

Felder said Mack is overstating the support for the plan, and he has concerns that 7-11 can secure the property.



The store's proximity to Skyline High School also bothers him.

Felder believes with more time he can get a better deal.

"I have only had this a little over a week now, but give me some time, you know, and let me reach out to those other entities that may want to come here," he said.

Mack said Felder's objections are standing in the way of making the area better.

Supporters of the plan say they're not thrilled with another place that sells beer and wine either, but they're willing to make that sacrifice for a better store.

"I do feel like their voices are being ignored. I wish our representative would take into account the overwhelming majority of our homeowners who really support this proposed development."

Felder accused Mack and others of playing politics with the issue.

"I know more about economic development than most of them who are doing the talking. If they could be patient, there's a possibility we can get something better than a 7-11, he said"The former president of Mexico was in Dallas Sunday night.

Vicente Fox has been among the most vocal opponents of President Trump and his plan to build a wall between the United States and Mexico.

Fox agreed to speak with NBC 5 at a fundraiser in Oak Cliff.

He says that countrys next leader should continue to build a relationship with the U.S. but should also stand firm and not tolerate insults by President Trump.

Fox received a warm welcome at Mercado 369 on Sunday evening.

He is raising money for Centro Fox youth education programs benefiting personal leadership-building programs for children in Guanajuato, Mexico.

Fox is also on a book signing tour for his new book Lets Move On: Beyond Fear and False Prophets.

Fox, who was Mexicos president from 2000 to 2006, has often been critical of Mr. Trumps campaign promise to build a wall along the Southern border, often using profanity to say plain and simple: Mexico will not pay for the wall.

This is incredible that this nation, this leading nation, the leader of the world isolates itself. This is stupid, said Fox. This is the worst thing that this nation can do. We need United States leadership throughout the world. The United States, I love, I feel proud of it, I think should be a great leader around the world but this disruptor, this stupid idea in the mind of Trump that he thinks that criminals and rapists come out of Mexico and hes offended up and this idea of building a wall, a useless wall, through a wasted money of U.S. taxpayers because Mexico jamas ever, never will pay for that f wall.

When it comes to the countrys presidential election in July, Fox says its vital for Mexicans and the U.S. especially when it comes to the North American Free Trade Agreement between the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

Fox supports Jose Antonio Meade of Mexicos ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party for president.

He calls leftist and populist candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador who currently leads the polls in Mexico wrong and dangerous for Mexico.

Fox will speak about his new book at a luncheon at events at the Belo Mansion and at the University of Texas at Dallas on Monday.A fundraiser for the family of fallen Richardson Police Officer David Sherrard was held on Sunday.

Jeep clubs, officers, and people from all over North Texas came out to Shadys Burgers in Richardson to show their support.

Whatever I can do to ease the pain a little bit for the family, then we just jump in and do it, said Raquel Oliver with the Dallas Police Department.

Officer Sherrard was killed in the line of duty while responding to a disturbance call a little over a week ago.

He leaves behind a wife and two daughters.

The families are going through a very difficult time, but when they see the support from the community and brothers and sisters it really helps them, said Anthony Andujar, with the Dallas Police Association.

All of the proceeds from the raffles, and a portion of the proceeds from Shadys Burgers will support the Sherrard family.Officials with the State Fair of Texas say the theme for this year's fair will be "Celebrating Texas Innovation."

State Fair officials announced the theme for the fair before dawn Monday morning with the goal of "commemorating the significant Texans and Texas innovations that have helped influence our current way of life and looking forward to the state's next era of pioneers."

Artwork around Fair Park will highlight Texas innovations such as the integrated circuit, agricultural advances, space exploration and food exploration, officials said.



"We aim to inspire future innovators by offering exhibits and activities that are both educational and entertaining, Mitchell Glieber, State Fair of Texas president, said in a statement.

According to its website, the fair welcomed 2.2 million people last year, which was themed "Celebrating Texans." It generated approximately $54.5 million in coupon sales for food, beverages and rides  a second best in the fair's history.



The State Fair of Texas opens Sept. 28 at Fair Park. It runs through Oct. 21.

Authorities say a Texas trooper has been shot and wounded while pursuing a suspect.

The San Antonio Express-News reports the trooper pulled a man over Sunday afternoon in Guadalupe County. The Department of Public Safety says the man gave false information and a scuffle began as the trooper tried to arrest him.

The suspect got back in his vehicle and fled west into San Antonio.

DPS spokesman Trooper Deon Cockrell says a department helicopter spotted the suspect, and the trooper was able to track him back down and pursue him. At one point, the suspect drove onto a highway and started traveling in the wrong direction.

The suspect eventually stopped his vehicle and got out. Cockrell says the man and the trooper exchanged gunfire and were both hit.

Details about their conditions weren't immediately released.Up to a minute before the 7.2 earthquake shook southern Mexico Friday afternoon, millions of people 225 miles north of the capital were alerted. Sirens alarmed and phones vibrated warning them of impending shaking allowing many to evacuate.

The early warning system there has been in place since the 90s, but California still does not have a widely used public system like it.

Researchers at the Berkeley Seismology Lab say its difficult to compare the two areas. Mexico City is hundreds of miles from its most active fault while the Bay Area sits on top of its most active fault.

ShakeAlert Regional Coordinator Jennifer Strauss says the early warning system in Mexico can receive information, and disseminate it 10 seconds later to still give people a minutes notice in the capital. That technology would be too slow for the Bay Area, because we may only have 10-second warnings to begin with due to the faults proximity.

Right now we don't have the infrastructure to send alerts to every single person living on the west coast of the United States instantaneously, Strauss said.

Strauss says there are two main issues with getting the ShakeAlert early warning system up and running: funding and infrastructure. She says operational costs of running the system after its online is $16 million a year. Congress is working on funding the program. Researchers also only have about half of the earthquake monitors they need up and down the West Coast.

Still, Strauss says the early warning system is being used in some school districts, healthcare facilities, and emergency operations centers. Its also used by BART, so a train could be stopped seconds before shaking begins.

We feel those have the biggest impacts for the public and for resiliency and recovery, Strauss said.

Researchers say phones still need to be updated to receive the alerts once the system is online.

Because of those factors, they expect itll take another three to seven years until Californians get alerted like the people of Mexico did Friday.When you think of airports in the Los Angeles area, LAX and Burbank come to mind. You might not realize there's an airport in Compton.

Kimberly Anyadike, from nearby Inglewood, made history at the Comtpon airport years ago. Now she volunteers her time at the same airport, helping the next generation realize they can do anything they dream.

"When I was 15 years old, I set a world record by becoming the youngest person to fly a plane across the country, from Compton, California, to Newport News, Virginia, and back," Anyadike shared with a group of middle school students. "There's going to be a lot of people who have stereotypes about you, but you can't focus on that."

Joining her on that historic journey in 2009 was 86-year-old Tuskegee legend Maj. Levi Thornhill.

"I was in essence flying with history. It's said that we stand on the shoulders of our ancestors, and he was literally in the plane with me. It meant so much," Anyadike said.

Together they landed in 23 cities in 13 days, celebrating the groundbreaking accomplishments of the African American pilots who bravely flew in World War II.

"Landing at that field in Tuskegee, Alabama, was such an emotional experience for me. Imagine your parents being told that they couldn't do something, and imagine 20 years later being afforded the opportunity to do the exact same thing. It's really powerful," Anyadike said.

She is now a UCLA graduate preparing for her medical school entrance exams, but she frequently volunteers at Tomorrow's Aeronautical Museum in Compton and teaches at Charles Drew Academy, a place she fed her own passion for science and technology when she was younger.

She loves her community, but admits, when she was a girl, she felt ashamed of growing up in Inglewood.

"But what I've learned and what I've embraced is that success for me is going to mean returning to my community and contributing to the effort of helping these communities change," Anyadike said.

And the support she's received at the airport reaches far beyond just learning to fly.

Museum founder Robin Petgrave is committed to helping Anyadike reach her lifelong goal of becoming a neurosurgeon, awarding her a $15,000 scholarship to help her pay for her medical school applications.

Setting lofty goals and exceeding them is something she is now paying forward.

"I feel like you're more compelled to make big strides in life, and bigger goals and bigger dreams when you see people who look like you accomplishing great things," Anyadike said.What to Know Broward Sheriffs Office deputies arrested the 15-year-old in Lauderhill on Friday night after being notified of an Instagram post.

The teen, who was charged with a felony for sending a written threat, claimed his post was a joked aimed at scaring his cousin.

It's the third such arrest since Wednesdays tragic mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

Police confirmed they have arrested another student in Broward County for allegedly making a social media threat against a school  the third such arrest since Wednesdays tragic mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

Broward Sheriffs Office deputies arrested the 15-year-old in Lauderhill on Friday night after being notified of an Instagram post where he allegedly said he was going to kill people at several schools.

The teen, who was charged with a felony for sending a written threat, claimed his post was a joked aimed at "scaring" his cousin, officials said.

In the days that followed the Parkland school tragedy, arrests were made of an 11-year-old girl who confessed to writing a threatening note to an assistant principal at Nova Middle School and a 17-year-old teen who allegedly made social media threats to Piper High School in Sunrise.

Police did not release which schools were listed in the latest arrest.What to Know Several of the students have criticized the president, whose election was strongly supported by the National Rifle Association.

School and government records obtained Sunday show Cruz was diagnosed as developmentally delayed at age 3 and had disciplinary issues.

A crisis counselor told the DCF investigator he had visited the school and that he did not believe Cruz was a danger to himself or others.

Student survivors of the deadly Florida school shooting who hope to become the face of a revived gun control movement are on a potential collision course with President Donald Trump.

Several of the students have criticized the president, whose election was strongly supported by the National Rifle Association and who ran on a platform opposing gun control. Trump spent the weekend at his estate in South Florida, only an hour's drive from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School where 17 people were fatally shot last week. His only mentions of the massacre came in tweets Saturday contending that the FBI was too focused on the Russia investigation to respond to warnings about the alleged shooter and mocking Democrats for failing to pass gun control.

"You're the president. You're supposed to bring this nation together, not divide us," said David Hogg, a 17-year-old student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in South Florida, speaking on NBC's "Meet the Press."

"How dare you," he added.

After days of criticism from the students, the White House released a statement on Monday that said the president is supportive the bipartisan bill introduced by Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., to improve the federal background check system.

Earlier, the White House announced that the president would hold a "listening session" with unspecified students Wednesday and meet Thursday with state and local security officials.

Speaking with a group of other survivors pushing for legislative change, student Ryan Deitsch told local NPR station that the White House has not yet reached out to them regarding the Wednesday meeting. "

"We're not here to attack him, to make him feel unwelcome. Were here to make sure people aren't attacked with these weapons," Deitsch told WLRN.

Florida politicians, meanwhile, scrambled to produce legislation in response to the Feb. 14 attack that killed 17 people. Nikolas Cruz, a 19-year-old who had been expelled from the school, is being held without bail in the Broward County Jail, accused of 17 counts of first-degree murder.

State Sen. Bill Galvano, a Republican and incoming Senate president, says the Florida Senate is preparing a sweeping package of legislation in the aftermath of the deadly shooting at a high school.

The legislation includes new age restrictions for gun purchases, a ban on bump stocks and gun violence restraining orders.

The Senate is considering a wide array of measures that also include boosting spending on mental health programs for schools and giving law-enforcement greater power to involuntarily hold someone considered a danger to themselves.

In a TV interview, Republican Sen. Marco Rubio embraced a Democratic bill in the Florida legislature to allow courts to temporarily prevent people from having guns if they are determined to be a threat to themselves or others.

Gov. Rick Scott, also a Republican, attended a prayer vigil at the First Church Coral Springs, blocks from the shooting site. He is expected to announce a legislative package with GOP lawmakers this week.

Emma Gonzalez, another student survivor, gave an impassioned speech at a weekend rally with a stinging citation of the NRA's $30 million in expenditures on Trump's behalf in the presidential election. On Sunday she cited Trump, Rubio and Scott by name in a warning to politicians backed by the NRA.

"Now is the time to get on the right side of this, because this is not something that we are going to let sweep under the carpet," she said on "Meet the Press."

Seeking to increase pressure for gun control, the students plan to visit the state capitol in Tallahassee this week to demand immediate action. The Florida Senate are providing buses for 100 students to speak with lawmakers.

"As grateful as we are that the State Senate provided buses for us to go there, they did cap it at a 100 students and the school has over 3,000 students," Deitsch told WLRN.

Gonzalez also spoke with WLRN on Monday and added: "I want the entire world on this, everybody who can possible participate, everybody is welcome so we can prevent arms of such caliber reach the hands of people that are going to do evil."

The students are also calling for anti-gun violence demonstrations in Washington and other cities March 24.

Organizers behind the Women's March, an anti-Trump and female empowerment protest, called for a 17-minute, nationwide walkout by teachers and students on March 14.

Chris Grady, a 19-year-old senior at the Florida school, was one of several students at Sunday's rally near the campus. "The kids in Newtown were too young to understand what happened and were too young to have their own voice," Grady said, referring to the 20 first-graders killed in the 2012 Connecticut school shooting. "We want to be the voice for those kids and thousands of others."

Not every student at the Florida school was calling for more gun control. James Ciaramello, a freshman in the school's JROTC program, was heartbroken by the massacre but skeptical firearms regulations could have prevented it.

"He's just messed up," Ciaramello said of Cruz, another JROTC member. "I mean, tighter gun control, it's not gonna help. There's always a way around it."

School and government records obtained Sunday show Cruz was diagnosed as developmentally delayed at age 3 and had disciplinary issues dating to middle school. In February 2014, while in 8th grade, Cruz was transferred to a special school for children with emotional and behavioral issues. He stayed there until 10th grade, when he was transferred to Stoneman Douglas. Last year, Cruz was expelled.

On Sept. 28, 2016, an investigator from the Florida Department of Children and Families visited Cruz and his mother, Lynda Cruz, after he posted video on Snapchat showing him cutting himself. The report showed that Cruz had written a racial epithet against African-Americans and a Nazi symbol on his book bag, which his mother had forced him to erase. The investigator said Cruz was suffering from depression and on medication and had told Lynda Cruz he planned to buy a gun, but she couldn't determine why.

A school counselor told the investigator that Lynda Cruz had always tried to help her son and followed through on his therapy and medication, but the counselor was concerned about the youth's desire to buy a gun.

A crisis counselor told the DCF investigator he had visited the school and that he did not believe Cruz was a danger to himself or others. The case was closed, with the investigator concluding that Cruz was receiving help from his mother and counselors, and "no other referrals or services were needed."

After Lynda Cruz died in November, Cruz moved into the home of a teenage friend. The friend's parents told the Sun-Sentinel newspaper they had no idea the extent of Cruz's issues.

"We had this monster living under our roof and we didn't know," Kimberly Snead told the newspaper in an interview published Sunday. "We didn't see this side of him."

James Snead added: "Everything everybody seems to know, we didn't know. It's as simple as that."

The teen kept the AR-15 he allegedly used in the massacre locked in a gun safe with a few other firearms. James Snead thought he had the only key to the cabinet but says Cruz must have had another key. The family kept their own rifles, bought after a burglary a few years ago, in a separate locked cabinet.

They told Cruz he needed to ask permission to take out the guns. He had asked only twice since November. They said "yes" once and "no" once.

Speaking Monday on ABC's "Good Morning America," the Sneads said they have only seen Cruz once since the shooting when they briefly saw him at the police station. Kimberly Snead says she yelled at him and "really wanted to strangle him more than anything." The couple says Cruz told them he was sorry.What to Know NYPD detectives say Donna Francis fled to the UK after she gave a woman a deadly butt injection in a Queens basement

The detectives say it will take months or even years to get her extradited back to the U.S. to face justice

The FDA has launched a campaign against illegal silicone, an industrial lubricant banned for cosmetic purposes in the U.S.

NYPD detectives know who she is, but they say getting an accused killer back to Queens to face justice is another matter.

Donna Francis is charged with criminally negligent homicide in the death of a young television producer in a botched cosmetic procedure in New York City several years ago.

She fled to London and is now fighting extradition, detectives say.

Francis allegedly posed as a medical doctor and injected 34-year-old Kelly Mayhew with silicone in the basement of a Far Rockaway house in May of 2015.

Silicone is an industrial lubricant commonly used on the underground market to plump up body parts, particularly lips and rear-ends. It is banned for cosmetic purposes in the U.S.

Detectives told the I-Team that Mayhews mother was an eyewitness to her daughters death and begged Francis for help when the young woman stopped breathing.

On the third injection the daughter turns purple, said Lt. Richard Rudolph, Commanding Officer of the Queens South Homicide Squad.

Rudolph said that after Mayhew went into shock, Francis cleaned up her supplies and took off.

NYPD detectives obtained an arrest warrant for Francis and a Queens grand jury indicted her. British police ultimately arrested her more than a year after Mayhews death, but she was released on a monitoring bracelet and refused to speak to the I-Team at a court appearance.

Detectives say that even though Francis is due back in court in London on March 10, it could take months or even years before she is sent back to the U.S. to stand trial. But were not going to give up, Rudolph said.

Customers were lined up to get into the Far Rockaway home where the botched cosmetic procedure occurred, detectives said, and police believe there may be additional victims.

The Food and Drug Administration is so concerned about illegal silicone that it recently launched a nationwide warning campaign with the hashtag: #CheckBeforeYouInject. No legitimate doctor would ever inject silicone.What to Know A New Jersey child may be the third kid to die from the flu in the state this flu season

In Connecticut, officials said they're investigating the death of a 6-year-old girl as possibly flu-related

This years flu season is now as bad as the swine flu epidemic back in 2009, officials have said

Children in New Jersey and Connecticut may be the latest victims of this years historic flu season, officials said.

Elizabeth school officials announced the New Jersey childs death Sunday as officials in Connecticut said they were investigating the death of a 6-year-old girl who may have also died from the flu this past week.

The New Jersey child was identified by her family as Daniela Genaro. She attended Nicholas LaCorte-Peterstown School No. 3, Elizabeth Schools Superintendent Olga Hugelmeyer said in a letter to parents Monday. The New Jersey Department of Health is continuing to investigate what killed Genaro.

Hugelmeyer said grief counselors would be available when students returned to class Tuesday, and that all Elizabeth schools are open and clean.

"You should feel comfortable in sending your child to school tomorrow," she wrote in the letter to parents. "We continue to do everything possible to make the schools safe, healthy learning environments."

The superintendent says all schools have been sanitized with disinfectant each day since the fall, and that the Nicholas LaCorte-Peterstown School and school buses are being additionally sanitized.

Genaro was described by her uncle as very intelligent and happy.

"Everyone's received the news like a bucket of ice water," he said. "We still don't know everything, her parents are still in the hospital trying to figure out what happened."

Two children have already died from the flu in New Jersey this season, bringing the death toll there to three.

Meanwhile, the mayor of Norwalk, Connecticut, confirmed Sunday that the death of a 6-year-old girl named Emma Splan is being looked at as possibly flu-related.

Splan was a student at Columbus Magnet School, Mayor Harry Rilling said. She would be the second child to die from the flu in Connecticut this flu season.

Fourteen new flu deaths were reported by Connecticut health officials Sunday, increasing the overall death toll in the state this flu season to more than 65 people  the most ever. Two of those deaths were of young people under the age of 24, while 62 of them were adults over the age of 65.

Health officials said ER visits for the flu have increased more than 14 percent in the past week, the highest weekly level observed in the state since the 2009 swine flu epidemic.

The CDC said earlier this week that more than 80 children across the U.S. have died from the flu this flu season.



Four children have died in New York City from the flu this season, most recently a 5-year-old girl whose death was announced a little more than a week ago.

The Departments of Health and Education continue to recommend that people take the necessary precautions during this flu season: wash or disinfect your hands frequently, cover any coughs and sneezes, stay home and call your health care provider if you are sick (especially with a fever) and get a flu shot.What to Know Authorities say New Jersey rabbi is one of three people charged in a a human trafficking and child prostitution case of a teenage girl

Prosecutors say Gabriella Colon, 18, and Richard Ortiz, 23 sexually exploited a 17-year-old girl out of an East Brunswick hotel

Rabbi Aryeh Goodman, 35, was among about 30 men who paid to have sex with the teen girl, investigators say

A New Jersey rabbi is one of three people charged in a human trafficking and child prostitution case of a teenage girl, authorities say.

Prosecutors say Gabriella Colon, 18, and Richard Ortiz, 23, both of the Bronx, sexually exploited a 17-year-old girl out of an East Brunswick hotel. Investigators said Rabbi Aryeh Goodman, 35, was among about 30 men who paid to have sex with the teen girl.

Goodman is charged with engaging in prostitution with a child and endangering the welfare of a child, prosecutors said. Colon and Ortiz are charged with human trafficking, conspiracy to commit human trafficking, promoting prostitution of a child, conspiracy to promote prostitution of a child, endangering the welfare of a child, criminal restraint, and a number of child pornography offenses including the manufacturing, distribution and possession of pornography, according to prosecutors.

Attorney information for the three was not immediately known.

Authorities said Goodman runs a religious learning center out of his East Brunswick home.

The investigation is ongoing.Northern Virginia authorities are investigating a social media post threatening two middle schools.

The Stafford County Sheriff's Office said on Twitter Sunday that the post threatened T. Benton Gayle Middle School in Stafford County and Thornburg Middle School in Spotsylvania County.

A spokeswoman for the sheriff's office said the post included a picture of a handgun and a threat to shoot up or cause harm at the schools, WTOP reports.

Detectives are working with Spotsylvania County authorities to get to the bottom of the threat, the spokeswoman told WTOP.



Stafford County Public Schools said it was aware of the threat made to Gayle Middle School and the sheriff's office would provide extra security to the school.

Students and teachers at Stafford County Public Schools do not have school on Monday for the President's Day holiday.

Students will attend classes at Spotsylvania County Public Schools on Monday and the school system said in a statement that there would be more deputies at Thornburg Middle School.

"Spotsylvania County Public Schools takes these situations very seriously. School administration immediately contacted the Sheriffs Office and an investigation was launched to determine the individual responsible and nature of this post," read part of the statement.



No further information was immediately available.

Stay with News4 and NBCWashington.com for updates.An increase in opioid overdoses over the last few days has prompted officials in Lowell, Massachusetts to send a warning to area residents.

Fire Chief Jeff Winward told the Lowell Sun that city officials are worried there may be a deadly batch of heroin or fentanyl being sold in the region.

Since Friday, there have been 20 overdoses in the city. None of the overdoses were fatal, although many of the victims were in respiratory arrest when first responders arrived. Fortunately, all of the victims were revived in time due to life-saving Narcan.

Fire officials are reminding residents to call 911 immediately if they see an overdose.

"We're asking people to keep a close eye on things," Winward told the Lowell Sun. "Certainly don't use if you're by yourself, and watch your loved ones if they have an opioid addiction."An unsealed grand jury indictment accuses a Republican state senator of extorting sex from a page in the Rhode Island Senate page program.

The indictment was unsealed Monday as Senate Minority Whip Nicholas Kettle was arraigned on two counts of extortion in Providence Superior Court. Kettle pleaded not guilty.

Kettle, of Coventry, was indicted last week. State police separately charged him with video voyeurism for allegedly sending pictures of his ex-girlfriend's "private parts."

The indictment says Kettle coerced a male page into sex on two occasions in 2011.

Democratic Senate President Dominick Ruggerio says he is horrified and disgusted. He says if Kettle won't resign, he will pursue Kettle's expulsion. He says he has asked legal counsel to review the page program, and says his thoughts are with the victims.Monroes Frederick P. Sherman (1869-1941) was the embodiment of the descriptive renaissance man, a dapper personality with an expansive flair for versatility. In his time perhaps no one in town possessed interests that extended over so wide a sweep of life in the community. Between 1919 and 1941 he was the town clerk, a Republican even the Democrats endorsed. He taught eight grades at the one-room Cutlers Farm Schoolhouse. He was acclaimed for his knowledge of antiques and horticulture. He was the treasurer of the Washington Lodge of the Masonic Temple. And in the puritanical years before the arrival of progressive thought about romantic relationships, Frederick P. Sherman lived a high-profile, alternate lifestyle.

If some in the world around him were not always prepared to endorse his ambivalent social profile, Sherman turned a lens back on society and took refuge behind a stylishly debonair presence, engaging in a marvelously expansive list of pursuits like pictorial reflections and other activities rich in cultural texture.

For at least 30 years, his partner, Elmer T. Banks (1852-1949), lived with Sherman in the family farmhouse going back to when that section of Purdy Hill Road was known as Old Huntington Road. Census records over the decades listed Banks as a partner, a lodger, a hired hand and a copyist, someone who replicates official documents and music.

As reported in the town crier-like accounts that appeared regularly in periodicals like The Bridgeport Times and Bridgeport Evening Farmer, Sherman and Banks entertained recurrently at the homestead Fred inherited from his father, Charles G. Sherman (1843-1907), a farmer and stirrup maker. They gave lawn parties and socials for townsfolk who belonged to the Harmony Grange, the Congregational Church and the Stepney Baptist Church. They grew dahlias and exhibited them at the Pohtatuck Grange in Newtown. Both of them liked to drive. In the Ford Model-Ts that Fred Sherman renewed every few years they took ambitious motor excursions together to points as far away as Canada, at times accompanied by Victor Burr, an early letter carrier who delivered the mail with a horse and wagon. Neighbors would invite them over to play a popular British-originated card game called whist at which they reportedly excelled. And people asked them to serve as pallbearers at funerals.

In short, Fred and Elmer were a couple, an unconventional pair, odd by the standards of the time, but acceptable socially, even if same-sex relationships were not something openly talked about in polite society. And in 2017, old-timers recalled Sherman and the social background through the blurry prism of their early childhood years before World War II.

Marie Lederer, 95, for 28 years Monroes director of social services, remembered that he lived together with his friend of many years.

Lois Hurd, 85, who once performed 26 consecutive loops in a high-wing Piper Cub and helped her father Ben Hurd build an airfield off Moose Hill Road where the St. Johns/Bnai Israel Cemeteries are located now, looked back at Shermans time in town and reflected it was not the type of thing  any kind of sex  that anybody talked about.

Fred and Elmers relationship left a comparably opaque image with Olive (Honey) Squinobel, 92, at one time a secretary at Stepney Elementary School under the esteemed principal Besse Smick (1912-95). They were a couple, said Squinobel, but I was too naive to think more about it.

Elma Jean Wiacek, 87, of Shelton, CT, a librarian at Southern Connecticut State University for 25 years and a descendant of the Beardsley family of early settlers, lived near Sherman-Banks for six years in four rooms rented from Joseph Pulaski. When youre a kid you dont pay much attention to those things, she said. We led a sheltered life. But I knew him as a strange character to be avoided.

Mildred Dineson Boyce, 85, a resident of Sequim, WA, today, grew up in Monroe. The impression she carries of Sherman and Banks is that they always drove around town together  Elmer mostly behind the whee l and were regulars at the (Congregational) church. Once, when my older sister was walking along the roadside, they stopped and gave her a lift, she told me afterwards. People in town did that in those days. My sister is gone now. I still see Fred, but just vaguely. He wore spats and appeared to be one of the wealthiest people in town.

Ruth Pulaski, 87, still ensconced on the 80-acre farm on Bugg Hill Road that has been transformed today into hayfields and stabling for horses, recounted that her late husband Fred (1930-2013) went to Cutlers Farm School and was actually named after Fred Sherman.

Another of Shermans students was the late Alton B. Hawley (1904-1990), the son of a onetime first selectman of Monroe. In an interview with WMNR founder John Babina, Hawley provided a setting for Shermans numerous absences from class, reportedly because of colds and other illness. Fred Sherman used to heat the stove real hot, Hawley told Babina in 1988. He was quite a teacher, 40 kids, all grades in one room. But he was a little temperamental. He knew enough himself. But he didnt know how to commit it to somebody else. He used to say, Im willing to stay here till 5 oclock (school closed at 4) if you cant be quiet and behave. I want less noise. Sherman gave no homework. We werent partial to homework and our parents werent neither, Hawley related. When you came home, you fed the cows, you fed the chickens, you brought in wood. Everybody had cows. Some had more cows than others. There were more cows than people. Milk was the principal income. You brought it to Stepney Depot for transport by train to Bridgeport for sale. Farmers got three cents a quart and we had to pay for the rail transport. Cider apples went to the miller for four cents a bushel. Good apples we re $2 a barrel, about three pecks to the barrel (equivalent in weight to six gallons).

Fred Shermans residence, with greenhouse attached, barn and utility shed, remains an eight-room, 2,928-square-foot private residence today. The last family member to live there was Kay Sherman, a relative by marriage and the president of the Monroe Historical Society in 1981-82. She left Monroe shortly afterwards, moving to the West Coast to live with a son.

Frederick P. Sherman  his mother Fannys maiden name was Peck  was traveling aboard the Seaboard Railways Silver Meteor, either headed to Florida from New York or returning, when he died Jan. 28, 1941, ironically somewhere between Fredericksburg, VA, and Richmond, VA. The coroner determined the cause of death was cardiac arrest due to arterial sclerosis, a heart attack caused by clogged arteries. Research indicates Sherman was born a twin, although no records could be found of his counterpart, Edward P. Sherman.

Copyright 2017 by Monroe Historical Society

Kevin Daly is an engineering manager and a member of the board of directors of the Monroe Historical Society. John Babina is the founder of Monroe-based radio station WMNR and a retired engineer. Marven Moss worked for the New York Times and is a past president of the Monroe Historical Society.Contributed / Contributed

Griffin Hospital, 130 Division St., Derby, will host a talk on foot health and the benefits of seeing a podiatrist on Thursday, March 1 at 6 p.m.

Podiatrist John D. Schwerdt of Yale Podiatry Group in Shelton, will present The Community Podiatrist: The Extraordinary Benefits of our Ordinary Services. The talk will cover who podiatrist are and their training, routine foot care, diabetes and foot health, age-related foot problems, and other common foot issues such as plantar fasciitis, plantar warts, and neuromas.Canada PM Justin Trudeau gets nostalgic at Taj Mahal visit

New Delhi : Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tagged Taj Mahal as 'one of the most beautiful places' in the visitor's book.

"Thank you for the wonderful visit to one of the most beautiful places in the world," he wrote on the visitor's book.

This was Trudeau's second visit to the Taj Mahal and he explained why this trip is special to him.

"About 35 years ago, when I was 11 years, I came to India on an official trip with my father (former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau). I had come down to see Agra from New Delhi to see the Taj Mahal," Trudeau recalled.

"For me to be present on an official trip while bringing my kids with me to share this is really special and being able to enjoy this as a dad with my kids is really nice," he added.

During his visit to the Taj Mahal, Trudeau was accompanied with his wife Sophie Gregoire and his three children, Xavier, Ella-Grace, and Hadrien.

Taj Mahal is one of the Seven Wonders of the World and is designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1983.

Canada PM is on a week-long state visit to India.DANBURY  School officials and legislators are plotting new ways to exert pressure in the capital and potentially squeeze more money for public schools from the ailing state budget.

School administrators, Mayor Mark Boughton and members of the legislative delegation met last week in Hartford to hash out a plan to improve  or at least protect  the share of state funds directed to Danbury classrooms and teachers.

Obviously, our No.1 priority this session is education funding, Boughton said after the meeting.

The Board of Education weighed in at its meeting later that night when it hosted state Reps. Will Duff and David Arconti Jr. and lobbyist Ryan Bingham, a former Torrington mayor, now with the firm Sullivan & LeShane, to discuss the districts legislative priorities.

Unfunded mandates and a declining share of state revenue have been on top of school board members minds as they push a proposed $7 million budget increase next year, which city officials already have warned is too high. The school board and City Council will meet together Wednesday evening to discuss the budget proposal.

Arconti and Duff told the school board they agree the state needs to do more.

My frustration is getting closer and closer to boiling over in public when it comes to that, because we cant live in that world anymore where we get half of what were supposed to get, Arconti said.

This week Arconti is pursuing a plan pitched by Boughton and new school board member Emanuela Palmares to work with other Connecticut school districts that are growing but feel shortchanged by the state budget, including Bridgeport, Norwalk, Stamford and Waterbury.

Danbury is no longer a little city and needs to partner with bigger cities to exert enough pressure to make change, Palmares said.

School board Chairman Pat Johnston pointed to smaller districts that are shrinking and serving fewer students, yet still receive the same state aid each year.

Were not even looking for our fair share; were looking for part of our fair share, he said.

Rolling back funding for smaller districts could wind up shifting the issues to those smaller areas, like Redding, for example, Duff said.

To start picking and choosing who gets less, that becomes a very dicey situation, Duff said.

But Danbury does need more money to stay the little economic engine its become, he added.

The rest of the state has got to realize, if it wasnt for Danbury, can you imagine how bad this fiscal crisis would be? Duff said. We send a hell of a lot of money to Hartford that we dont get back. We want to continue to be an economic driver, but to help them, theyve got to give us the tools to do so.

Bingham will track bills and budget changes throughout the session and give frequent, real-time updates as issues come and go, Superintendent Sal Pascarella and Finance Director Joe Martino said. The lobbying contract costs $30,000 per year, split evenly between the city and school budget, they added.

But Bingham also called on parents, who have been vocal proponents of expanding the districts budget at several recent board meetings, to call and meet with their legislators to tell stories about their children and teachers.

We need to get creative, he said.Monday

The Valley Shore Toastmasters: meets from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in the Madison Senior Center (cafe), 29 Bradley Road. Email valleyshoretm@yahoo.com or visit http://valleyshore.toastmastersclubs.org.

Tuesday

The Milford Chamber of Commerce Tuesday Morning Leads Group: meets at 8:30 a.m. at the Chamber, 5 Broad St., Milford. Call 203-878-0681.

The Rotary Club of Hamden: meets each Tuesday. For meeting time and location please visit the calendar section of their website at www.hamdenctrotary.org.

The Nutmeg Chapter of Toastmasters International: meets at 7 p.m. at The Willows Care and Rehab Center, 225 Amity Road, Woodbridge. Visit http://764.toastmastersclubs.org.

The Rotary Club of New Haven: meets at 12:15 p.m. at the Graduate Club, 155 Elm St. Call 203-624-3197.

The Rotary Club of North Haven: meets at 7:15 a.m. at the Breakfast Nook, 448 Washington Ave. Visit www.nhrotary.org.

Wednesday

The Rotary Club of Branford: meets from 7:15 to 8:30 a.m. at the Parthenon Diner, 374 E. Main St., Branford. Call 203-315-2444, ext. 450.

The Devon Rotary: meets at 7:30 a.m. at the Bridge House Restaurant, 49 Bridgeport Ave., Milford. Visit www.devonrotary.org.

The Milford Chamber of Commerce Wednesday Morning Leads Group: meets at 8:30 a.m. at the Chamber, 5 Broad St., Milford. Call 203-878-0681.

The Rotary Club of Guilford: meets at 12:15 p.m. at The Maritime Grille, 2548 Boston Post Road, Guilford. Call 203-453-0774.

The Greater New Haven Business & Professional Association: meets at 11 a.m. at 192 Dixwell Ave. Call 203-562-2193.

The Rotary Club of Wallingford: meets at 12:10 p.m. at Il Monticello, 577 S. Broad St., Meriden. Call 203-235-3816.

North Branford Rotary: meets at 6 p.m. at Nataz, 2025 Foxon Road. Call 203-484-7707.

The Greater New Haven Breakfast Club: meets at 8 a.m. at Clarks Pizza & Restaurant, 68 Whitney Ave., New Haven. Email info@rosnerdoherty.com.

The Rotary Club of West Haven: meets at 12:15 p.m. at Apps Ristorante, 283 Captain Thomas Blvd.

Thursday

The Middlesex County Toastmasters: meets from 7-8:30 p.m., Wesleyan University, Exley Science Center (Woodhead Lounge), 265 Church St., Middletown, http://middlesex.toastmastersclubs.org.

The Madison Rotary Club: meets at 8 a.m. at the Madison Senior Center, 29 Bradley Road. Call Robert Anderson, 203-907-9032.

The Clinton Rotary Club: meets 6:30 p.m. at Clinton Country Club, Old Westbrook Road. Call Dee Tully at 860-388-7013.

The East Haven Rotary Club: meets at 5:45 p.m. at Twin Pines Diner Restaurant, 34 Main St., East Haven.

The Milford Rotary Club meets: from 12:15-1:15 p.m. at Gusto Restaurant, 255 Boston Post Road. Visit www.milfordrotary.org.

Friday

The Orange Rotary Club: meets at 12:15 p.m. at Racebrook Country Club, 246 Derby Ave. Call 203-799-2327.

The Woodbridge Rotary Club: meets at 12:15 p.m. for a luncheon meeting at Woodbridge Social, 12 Selden St., Woodbridge. For more information, call Mary Ellen LaRocca at 203-389-3429.

The Milford Chamber of Commerce Friday Morning Leads Group: meets at 11 a.m. at the Chamber, 5 Broad St., Milford. Call 203-878-0681.Anand Mahant, an accounting major from India, has spent nearly four years living his dream in America.

By August, the 21-year-old will have completed a bachelors degree in accounting at the University of Bridgeport.

It was a tremendous journey, filled with joy, said Mahant, who hopes to attend graduate school.

Whether UB can replace Mahant and hundreds of other international students on its campus remains uncertain.

After years of enrollment growth, particularly among those coming to UB from around the world, the university has experienced a drop in its international students, as have other colleges nationwide.

In the year since President Donald Trump took office, student visas have become are harder to get, prospects of working in the U.S. after graduation are less certain and the United States is no longer the only destination for international students and their tuition dollars.

Take a look at what Canada is doing, said Tarek M. Sobh, UBs senior vice president for graduate studies and research. Their doors are opening wide, its unbelievable.

Not everywhere

The Institute of International Education reports a 6.9 percent decline in new international students enrolling at U.S. institutions in the fall of 2017, according to a preliminary survey of 500 colleges. About 45 percent of institutions describe a drop in new international student numbers.

But another 31 percent of institutions report an increase in international students. The University of Connecticut, Yale and the University of New Haven all count themselves among campuses bucking the trend.

In the fall, UConn reported 3,792 international students, higher than the 3,506 the year before.

UConn officials said they see an increase among students from countries affected by the Trump administrations travel ban.

In 2016, 54 students from Iran were enrolled at the university. In fall 2017, the number increased to 56. UConns largest decrease was among students from Saudi Arabia, where a cut in that nations government scholarship program has given fewer Saudis access to an overseas education.

Yale reports its fall 2017 international student enrollment was the largest in its history, with 2,841 students from 121 countries and a 7.8 percent increase over the fall of 2016.

The University of New Haven reports 996 international students as of the fall, according to Walter Caffey, vice president of enrollment management. He said that number is up slightly from the year before.

Still, Caffey said, We know a lot of (international) students (are) going into appointments nervous, so we prepare them best we can. They worry about safety: Will we be welcome here? Are there students on campus from our part of the world.

Sacred Heart University in Fairfield has the fifth largest international student population in the state, according to a report by the Institute of International Education. University officials could not immediately provide numbers indicating whether international enrollments were up or down last fall.

Belt-tightening

At UB, where one-quarter of the student population is international, the drop-off has come primarily among graduate students.

Last fall, 127 new international graduate students enrolled at the university, compared to 327 in the fall of 2016.

Even though full-time undergraduate enrollment at UB increased by 160 students to 2,300 students in fall 2017, the overall headcount showed 4 percent decline to 5,434 students. That includes undergraduates, graduates, part- and full-time students, domestic and international.

The result has led to budget cuts.

In a carefully worded memo to staff earlier this month, UB President Neil Salonen called the cuts a focused reorganization that include a modest reduction in force.

Salonen would not say exactly how many positions were eliminated. Most suggest the number is fewer than 20 staff members, none among faculty ranks.

We took this last step reluctantly and only after considering every other option, Salonen wrote, calling the budget adjustments a conservative measure.

His overarching priority, he said, is to balance the universitys budget. Thats particularly important now, since Salonen is preparing to turn the reins over to a new president by summer.

Safety concerns

At UB, Mahant, 21, said many students like him from India are reluctant to take a chance on the U.S.

Every month (there is a) changing scenario, he said. They are unsure about what they will do after graduation, also whether to invest in expensive education and getting nothing in return.

After Trumps election, Salonen went out of his way to reassure international students.

Sobh, dean of UBs school of engineering  a program filled with international students, said perception is as important as reality for international students and their parents.

I go to universities around the world, Sobh said. I meet with parents, give wonderful presentations. Usually what I get are questions about logistics: Is my kid going to be safe in the U.S.?

Sometimes, Sobh said, enrollment is affected by timing.

Six or seven years ago, you might remember there was this incident in Bombay, Sobh said. There was a terrorist attack at a hotel. It happened during the visa-issuing season. It closed the Bombay consulate of the U.S. for a month.

As a result, international student numbers from India were affected, Sobh said. India is second only to China in sending college students to the U.S.

UB draws students from more than 50 countries, with India, China and Saudi Arabia being the top three. Karissa Peckham, UBs vice president for enrollment management, said despite the decline in international students, her staff continues to recruit internationally.

We are exploring promising new international markets to develop relationships that will be critical to long-term maintenance of a strong international student population, Peckham said.DERBY  A lawsuit accusing city planners of overstepping their authority when they approved plans to turn a nursing home into a dormitory for students from China has been withdrawn.

Superior Court Judge Barry Stevens approved the withdrawal of the suit filed back in November on behalf of Marlene Ann Dziekan and Michael Burke, two local residents.

This is good news for us, said David Guerrera, co-owner of APEX International Education Partners of Watertown, which purchased Marshall Lane Manor in January. We are going out to bid this week for the renovations.

The withdrawal is expected to be addressed during the Planning and Zoning Commissions 7 p.m. meeting Tuesday in Derbys City Hall.

The withdrawal enables APEX to proceed with their expected $1 to $2 million renovation of Marshall Lane Manor from a 120-bed convalescent and rehabilitation center into a 110-bed dormitory. The dormitory will house teenage students from China who are attending private mostly parochial high schools like Notre Dame of West Haven and Fairfield, Laurelton Hall in Milford and Fairfield Prep in Fairfield.

APEX bought the facility for $450,000 from the Simonetti family which owned and operated Marshall Lane until it closed in June, 2015. Among the owners was Anthony Simonetti, who serves as the chairman of the Shelton Republican Town Committee and is a Shelton first ward alderman.

Richard Volo, who represented the plaintiffs, previously asked the court to allow him to withdraw as the plaintiffs lawyer because he was unable to confer with Dziekan on how to proceed.

Dziekan is the cousin of newly elected Derby Mayor Richard Dziekan, who posted the bond in allowing the suit to be filed.

More News Former nursing home eyed for foreign students

There were issues that concerned neighborhood residents that the developers and Planning and Zoning addressed, Mayor Dziekan said Monday. Im comfortable with the proposal. But I must say that if I were mayor when this development was proposed I would have done a better job in getting out in front of it and keeping the residents informed.

A day after asking out as the plaintiffs lawyer, Volo filed a second motion seeking to withdraw the suit on the plaintiffs behalf.

In it he wrote: ... the plaintiffs state the site plan submitted by the applicant for a special exception pursuant to the regulations adopted by the defendant seem to adequately protect the public interest thereby making the advancement of this appeal unnecessary.

However before any of this happened Volo said Monday he proposed a settlement that would limit the special exception zone change only to nursing homes. The only other such facility in Derby is the Birmingham Health Center on Chatfield Street near Osbornedale State Park.

I proposed the settlement to Marjorie Shansky (the Planning and Zoning Commissions lawyer) who took it to the commission, Volo said. Its my understanding that it was rejected.

Shansky could not be reached for comment Monday.

Although Volo said he believes his case still has merits he commended APEX for willing to make changes that satisfied neighborhood residents.

Meanwhile Guerrera said he has hired a facility project supervisor who will oversee the renovations as well as the management of the dormitory. He said APEX has not yet decided if it will hire kitchen staff or a catering service, a maintenance worker or outsource that.

He hopes the renovations will begin by early April if not sooner and be concluded by July. It includes adding a cafeteria, fitness and exercise center, a library, study rooms, administration offices and a technology and media center.

Its going to be a quality renovation, he promised. We are working hand-in-hand with the city.

Guerrera expects no more than 30 students arriving in August for the 2018-19 school year. He said two married couples have expressed interest in serving as the live-in resident assistants. The students would not be allowed to have cars or visitors, except for family members who would have to reside elsewhere during their stay.

The facility spans 35,000 square feet and sits on 3.4 acres in a residential area.

During a series of public hearings several residents expressed concern about the students frequenting the nearby brewery and wandering through their neighborhoods.

But Guerrera said the school would have seven to eight staffers, require students to sign in and out, provide their own transportation and arrange for weekend travel activities as well serve as volunteer for community service projects.NORTH HAVEN  The town has been awarded a $200,250 grant from the state to support the preservation of open space.

Last year, the town bought the parcel and applied for the grant at the same time, Freda said, but officials didnt know whether they would get it. When the town purchases land, it needs to bond the money, so, having been awarded the grant, the town will be reimbursed for half of the purchase price and be able to use that money for future open space purchases without needing to bond money.

The 29.55-acre former orchard, sits among residential houses. Almost 7 acres of the land can be classified as wetland, intermittent watercourses and a vernal pool. The parcel is undeveloped except for remnants of the former farm.

Open space is always a challenge because you need a willing seller, Freda said. So far, the town has been able to purchase two properties  the site of the old Valentino farm and the more recent former orchard on Kings Highway.

The two properties couldve ended up as intrusive development in the residential areas, he said. And that is the purpose of open space, not to have intrusive development for residents in the areas people are already living. Its an initiative we feel very strongly about and as long as the public continues to support me about open space, which they have, Ill continue to be an advocate for it.

North Haven was just one of 23 municipalities to receive grants that total $6.05 million to support purchasing 2,005 acres of land that will be preserved as open space across Connecticut, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy announced in a release.

Connecticuts tradition of preserving open space has helped define our landscape and preserve its important natural resources and geographical beauty, Malloy said in the release. These grants continue our open space preservation legacy and will increase the availability of open space for our residents across our state.

North Haven has hundreds of acres of open space and the town has purchased a total of 31 acres to permanently preserve, Freda said.

The grants are awarded through the Open Space and Watershed Land Acquisition program administered by the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. The program assists local governments, land trusts and water companies in purchasing open space using funding from the Community Investment Act and state bond funds, according to the release.

Other towns awarded grants include Madison, which was awarded $184,800 to preserve 44 acres at 347 County Road and North Stonington, Griswold and Preston, which got $555,000 to preserve 409 acres throughout property located in all three towns.

The state has a goal of protecting 673,210 acres of land by 2023, which is about 21 percent of the states land. The state is close to reaching 75 percent of that goal as it has more than 500,000 acres designated as state or local open space lands.

Since this program began in 1998, more than $125 million in state funding has been awarded to municipalities, nonprofit land conservation organizations, and water companies to assist in the purchase of more than 33,300 acres of land, including farmlands, in 137 cities and towns, DEEP Commissioner Robert Klee said in a release. These important open space properties protect natural resources and improve the quality of life for residents and visitors alike.Gillian Beard shivered and cried outside the National Rifle Association headquarters Friday night, as she stood among strangers and mourned the killing of her best friend, one of the 17 victims gunned down this week at the high school in Parkland, Florida.

The Coral Gables resident had long planned this trip to the Washington area to celebrate her 19th birthday with family on Friday. Instead, she joined about 300 people who gathered outside the NRA building in Fairfax, Virginia., to pay homage to the victims and to demand a change in the influence they said the gun lobby has on Congress and state legislators to prevent passage of gun-control measures.

Beard was not a scheduled speaker for the program, but as the pleas for change began and the crowd shouted "Enough! Enough!" the Florida Atlantic University freshman shouted out about the loss of her friend, 17-year-old Nicholas Dworet.

"I am burying my best friend next week. . . . I grew up with him. I flew in last night, crying on the plane," Beard told the crowd, who huddled along the sidewalk outside the building. "This is my birthday. I can't even celebrate that I am 19 today. I lost one of my best friends because of something that could have been stopped."

Some tears were shed; others in the crowd hugged one another. Many carried signs with messages such as "#Enough," "NRA Buys Congress" and "Shame. Shame." Others held signs indicating that they thought the NRA could be in some degree to blame for the killings.

Many people, however, do not agree. A Pew study from June showed Americans being about equally divided on the influence of the NRA on gun laws, just as they are on gun rights and regulations in general.

However, Rep. Gerald Connolly, D-Va., speaking at the rally, pointed directly at the NRA. "The NRA does have blood on its hands. They kill our children. Children are dead because of you, and that's a literal truth," he said.

Connolly said 1.5 million Americans have been killed by guns since the Vietnam era and that now was the time to demand stricter gun-control measures.

Specifically, he told the crowd the need to demand "A, B, C" legislative changes, asserting that A represents an assault weapons ban, B stands for implementing universal background checks for gun purchases and C covers closing gun show loopholes, which critics say allow guns to be sold while circumventing existing checks on buyers.

Organizers of Friday's rally started singing the civil rights hymn "We Shall Overcome." Alexandria, Virginia, resident Kevin Bergen, 78, added words of his own: "We are not afraid of the NRA."

Throughout the vigil, many shouted pleas for electoral action and a push to unseat politicians who side with the gun lobby against stricter gun control measures.

Elizabeth Amore, 49, of Fairfax, said she came with a friend because it was time to speak up against elected officials who she said are influenced by NRA money.

"I'm here with a friend because we decided we just can't take this anymore. We have mothers grieving down in Florida. We're mothers ourselves, and I can't even imagine the pain they are going through," Amore said in an interview. "I am sick and tired of the NRA buying off politicians. We feel like it's time for change.

"I hope to God that this is finally the time that people take notice and rally."

Jacklyn Mathew, 25, said she is a graduate of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where the Wednesday afternoon shooting occurred. The 2010 graduate, who now lives in Washington, spoke on behalf of other alumni who gathered Friday night.

"We stand together and say 'No more,' " Mathew said. "To the people back in Parkland, Florida, know that we as Douglas alumni here in the nation's capital are standing with you and, most importantly, standing up for you.

"We won't let the tragedy be in vain, and we won't let the rest of the country just move on."Contributed photo

Take a 2,000-year journey through history of person-to-person communication, ancient Rome to the age of Facebook with social media marketing consultant Kayleigh Mihalko, at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 25 at Seymour Historical Society, 59 West St. The event is free to members, $5 for nonmembers. Snow date is March 4. Info: psussman@snet.net, 203-881-2156.Adblock Plus makes money, however, by accepting payments from major companies to white-list them  those who pay, that is, do not get blocked. Among those paying for the kind treatment: Google.

Likewise, Mozilla, which is paid by Google for traffic sent to its search engine through Firefox, depends on the company for much of its revenue.

As of Friday, Google said that 65 percent of the sites with ads that were out of compliance with the new rules had already made changes to go along with them. Forbes, which has long greeted visitors with an inspirational quote built into an ad equipped with a countdown clock, was among them.

A few months ago, we had one minor infraction, which we immediately fixed, and we are now compliant, said Laura Daunis Brusca, a Forbes spokeswoman.

In addition to introducing the update to its browser, Google announced last week that it was further expanding its Accelerated Mobile Pages program  which it developed in cooperation with a coalition of partners in 2015 to allow the faster loading of mobile web pages  to Gmail.

The Accelerated Mobile Pages framework provides standard formats for websites  including one for mobile websites to display Google Stories, a Google initiative that is very much like Snapchat Stories  as well as guidelines and limits for displaying advertising. The newly announced AMP for email project will allow users to complete tasks  such as submitting an RSVP or filling out a questionnaire  within Gmail.

Publishers and advertisers have responded warmly to the speedy load times made possible by the Accelerated Mobile Pages program, but its adoption has also been rewarded more directly. According to Chartbeat, Google Mobile Search traffic to publishers that do not use Accelerated Mobile Pages has been flat over the past year, while publishers that have adopted the technology saw a jump of 100 percent in their mobile referrals from Google.A solution that works is going to be challenging for all parties, and thats going to make it hard to get political buy-in, said Aliya Wong, the executive director of retirement policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which has pushed Congress to solve the multiemployer pension problem. The biggest issue is, where do you get the money from? Every source seems to be tapped out.

Pension plans across the nation are facing shortfalls, with both corporate plans and those for public employees like teachers and firefighters owing more to retirees than the investment funds can possibly pay. But the looming collapse of the multiemployer pension system is significant given the sheer number of people affected and the potential for a devastating economic ripple effect: retirees losing the pension checks that keep them afloat and a potential wave of bankruptcies among the companies that once employed those workers.

The situation has been brewing since the 2008 financial crisis, as investments plummeted, leaving many plans in the red. The slow economic recovery and recent stock market rally have not been sufficient to reinvigorate the plans, which are jointly funded by labor unions and employers whose workers participate in them.

According to Boston Colleges Center for Retirement Research, the nations 1,400 multiemployer plans are facing a $553 billion hole of unfunded liabilities, meaning they dont have sufficient assets to cover what they owe workers. About a fourth of these plans are in the so-called red zone, where insolvency is more imminent, potentially within the next 10 to 20 years. Most of the participants in these plans work in the transportation, services and manufacturing industries. Their employers, many of which have been trying to withdraw from the plans, include companies like United Parcel Service and Kroger.

U.P.S. said in 2016 that it could be responsible for nearly $4 billion in benefits payments if the Central States Pension Fund, the largest multiemployer plan facing insolvency, slashes benefits to retirees or becomes insolvent. In the past year, U.P.S., which participates in more than two dozen pension plans, has been working with lawmakers on Capitol Hill to help develop pension legislation. It has also offered its own proposals.To the Editor:

Re Bermuda Revokes Same-Sex Marriage (news article, Feb. 9):

Following the repeal of marriage equality in Bermuda, where same-sex couples are now limited to domestic partnership, many in the United States and Western Europe are calling for a boycott (#BoycottBermuda). The demand for this boycott is not coming from grass-roots organizations in Bermuda, and in fact such a boycott stands to harm and not help L.G.B.T.Q. Bermudians.

It paves the way for L.G.B.T.Q. Bermudians to become societys scapegoat, to be blamed for any slide in foreign tourism and negative impact on the countrys economy. It risks increasing discrimination against a minority group whose rights have already been breached by the revocation of marriage equality.

Instead, the media and the international community should listen to L.G.B.T.Q. Bermudians and elevate their priorities, not set their own misguided agendas.

JESSICA STERN, NEW YORK

The writer is executive director of OutRight Action International.To the Editor:

Re What Living Abroad Taught Me About America, by Janine di Giovanni (Sunday Review, Feb. 11):

Like Ms. di Giovanni, I am an expat, an Australian living in Switzerland. I deeply empathize with Ms. di Giovannis feelings about her native country. Living abroad taught me to love Australia, and also to be deeply conscious of its defects.

I once lived in America, just before the Reagan era. I have always defended America from the criticisms of my European friends, even my daughters. Criticize away, I said, but to what other country can you turn for hope?

Now, like Ms. di Giovannis friends, I have given up on America. Not only because of President Trump, though he could hardly be worse, but because of the stinking morass he has uncovered in the heartland. And this morass has been perpetuated by the egoism, greed and arrogance of the vulture elite. Its liberal wing, broken, trumpets its sympathy for the left behind, but does nothing. Its illiberal wing is in heaven.

All this exists in Europe, too, of course, but we have not sunk so low. Here I feel there is hope, and Europe will be able to show the way. You Americans, even if you get out of this crisis, will never again be the beacon on the hill for the rest of us. At best, you will be just one of the lights on the lower slope; at worst, you will be a broken lamp in the crevasse.In September 1796, George Washington, weary of partisan combat just eight years after the ratification of the Constitution and the founding of the nation, wrote a farewell address explaining why he would not seek a third term. His message is worth remembering in our current political moment.

In elaborate and thoughtful prose, Washington raised red flags about disunity, false patriotism, special interests, extreme partisanship, fake news, the national debt, foreign alliances and foreign hatreds. With uncanny foresight, he warned that the most serious threat to our democracy might come from disunity within the country rather than interference from outside. And he foresaw the possibility of foreign influence over our political system and the rise of a president whose ego and avarice would transcend the national interest, raising the threat of despotism.

Washington certainly had great confidence, but in his address he didnt brag about his accomplishments. On the contrary, he beseeched the Almighty to soften the impact of his errors and expressed hopes that the country would forgive them. He established a standard for presidential self-deprecation out of the fear that a president of grossly inflated ego could become a threat to democracy.

He cautioned against both overly friendly alliances (lest another countrys interests and wars become our own) and excessive hatreds (lest we provoke unnecessary conflict and war with others). Forbearance in the use of power was another of his major themes. A free country should inspire caution in those entrusted with its administration, to confine themselves within their respective constitutional spheres, avoiding in the exercise of the powers of one department to encroach upon another, he declared. Such encroachment, he said, would lead to the consolidation of power and create a real despotism.To the Editor:

Re Tip-Sharing Plan Faulted for Omitting Cost Analysis (Business Day, Feb. 5):

The 2011 Obama administration directive to limit the freedom of employers to distribute tips to anyone other than employees, and now the Trump administration proposal to amend that rule, demonstrate the immaturity of restaurant employee compensation practices in the United States versus Europe.

In Europe, waiters and back of the house workers like cooks and dishwashers work for  and are paid by  restaurant owners, not diners. Their remuneration is a cost of doing business. Service  like taxes  should be included in the bill as part of the cost of the meal in the United States as well.

That said, as always, restaurant patrons can still top off the cost of their meal by tipping their server, or anyone else they wish, in order to acknowledge their positive dining experience.

IRA SOHN, UPPER MONTCLAIR, N.J.

The writer is a professor of economics and finance at Montclair State University.They hide behind Twitter hashtags, Facebook ads and fake news stories. Theyre the work of bots and trolls, and one of the most skilled countries at deploying them is Russia. So how do these entities actually work to spread disinformation? We asked two experts. This is St. Petersburg-based activist Ludmila Savchuk. She has tracked disinformation campaigns and even gone undercover to learn how they work. And this is Ben Nimmo, a London-based analyst who focuses on information warfare. Lets define whats what. A bot is short for robot. Its an automated social media account that operates without human intervention. During the 2016 presidential election, suspected Russian operators created bots on Twitter to promote hashtags like #WarAgainstDemocrats. A troll is an actual human being, motivated by passion or a paycheck to write social media posts that push an agenda. In 2015, Savchuk worked undercover for over two months at a troll factory in Russia that has gone by many names, including Glavset and the Internet Research Agency. Troll accounts are usually anonymous or pretend to be someone else, like hipsters or car repairmen. But it can even get stranger. Trolls can also set up bots to amplify a message. Facebook is one common platform for Russian trolls and bots, which, in 2016, used fake accounts to influence U.S. elections. Heres how some experts think that played out. American officials suspect Russian intelligence agents of using phishing attacks to obtain emails damaging to the Hillary Clinton campaign. They then, allegedly, created a site called DCLeaks.com to publish them. A troll on Facebook, using the name Melvin Redick, was one of the first to hype the site, saying it contained the hidden truth about Hillary Clinton. An army of bots on Twitter then promoted the DC Leaks, and in one case, even drove a #HillaryDown hashtag into a trending topic. Facebook believes that ads on divisive issues created by Russian trolls were shown to Americans over four million times before the elections. Russian-linked trolls and bots also tried to exploit divisive issues and undermine faith in public institutions. Federal investigators and experts believed Russian trolls created Facebook groups like Blacktivist, which reposted videos of police beatings, or another, Secured Borders, which organized anti-immigrant rallies in real life. Today, Russia hopes to win the second Cold War through the force of politics as opposed to the politics of force. How can you stop them? You cant. Even Vladimir Putin seems to agree. But IDing their tactics helps contain their influence. If a suspicious account is active during the workday in St. Petersburg or posting dozens of items a day, those are red flags. Decode the anonymity. Look for alphanumeric scrambles in a users name, and try Googling its profile picture. Look at the language. If an account makes grammar mistakes typical for Russian speakers, or changes behavior during times of strained Russian-U.S. relations, then congratulations. You might have caught a bot or pro-Kremlin troll.WASHINGTON  The detailed indictment of 13 Russians for intervening in the 2016 presidential election has rekindled a debate that had never fully gone away and now seems destined to become one of the great unresolved questions in American political history: Did Moscow tilt the election to Donald J. Trump?

The 37-page indictment, revealing a sophisticated network that sought to bolster Mr. Trump and undermine Hillary Clinton by staging rallies and purchasing incendiary ads on social media, handed Democrats ammunition to claim that Mr. Trumps success was illegitimate because it was buttressed by a foreign power.

Yet even as it offered Mrs. Clinton and her advisers some measure of vindication by making clear that the Russians had supported Mr. Trumps candidacy  an assertion he has long dismissed as a hoax  the indictment was also vexing to both Democrats and Republicans.

Opponents of Mr. Trump do not yet have any conclusive proof that he colluded with the Russians. And Mr. Trumps supporters must continue to contend with questions about whether his upset for the ages was the result of foul play.James and Kimberly Snead, who took in Nikolas Cruz shortly after his mother died in November, knew he was depressed by her death. But they had no idea, Mr. Snead said Sunday, about the depth of Mr. Cruzs troubles until the catastrophic rampage at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

We didnt know he had such an evil past, Mr. Snead said in a telephone interview, sounding weary and at a loss to explain what had happened. We just didnt know.

Mr. Snead said he and his wife let Mr. Cruz, the suspect in the rampage, stay in their Broward County home after the youngest of their three sons, who knew Mr. Cruz from Stoneman Douglas in Parkland, Fla., asked if he could live with them. They declined to provide their sons first name or age.

Mr. Cruz, 19, had been struggling following his mothers sudden death of pneumonia on Nov. 1, and had been staying with a friend of his mothers in neighboring Palm Beach County, Mr. Snead said.

But there was tension, according to Mr. Snead, over money and over Mr. Cruzs guns. He owned several, and they were unsecured. The friend of Mr. Cruzs late mother had a toddler, Mr. Snead said, and did not want the child to be around the weapons.

So the Sneads, who own guns themselves and keep them under lock and key, drove to Lantana to pick up Mr. Cruz and his belongings. On the way home, Mr. Snead said, they had Mr. Cruz buy a gun safe and bring it along in a truck rented from the Home Depot.

Mr. Snead said he thought he had the only key to the safe. He did not learn until Wednesday, after 17 people were shot and killed at Stoneman Douglas with a semiautomatic AR-15 rifle, that Mr. Cruz had apparently kept a duplicate key, he said.

We knew he had troubles and a couple of issues, but Ive raised three boys, and I thought we could help, said Mr. Snead, a 48-year-old construction consultant. Its a very selfish thing he did  aside from the families he hurt, he hurt the family that tried to help him and give him a chance.

Asked what punishment Mr. Cruz might deserve, Mr. Snead said he did not know.

The Sneads began speaking publicly about their relationship with Mr. Cruz on Saturday, in an interview with The Sun Sentinel of South Florida. Their attorney, Jim Lewis, said the couple has been cooperating with law enforcement since the shooting.

The Sneads were absolutely not the people who called in a tip to the F.B.I. in January, warning that Mr. Cruz owned a gun and had a desire to kill, possibly at a school, Mr. Lewis said. The F.B.I. has acknowledged that it failed to investigate the tip.

Mr. Snead and his wife knew Mr. Cruz was depressed because they asked him about it, Mr. Snead said. Mr. Cruz was often withdrawn, and when pressed about why, hed say he was thinking about his mother. Mr. Cruz was not medicated, Mr. Snead said, but the Snead family had made plans for him to get help.

He was supposed to see a counselor this week, Mr. Snead said.

Still, the Sneads thought Mr. Cruz was doing better.

Things were good, Mr. Snead said.

He said he had pushed Mr. Cruz to take adult education classes  hed had to leave Stoneman Douglas because of fighting, Mr. Cruz told them  and to get a job as a cashier at a Dollar Tree store. His time was taken up riding the bus to school and back home, and biking to and from work, Mr. Snead said. He said he was not aware of Mr. Cruz practicing shooting, at a gun range or anywhere else, in the time he was with the family.

The Sneads knew Mr. Cruz had an Instagram account  their son followed Mr. Cruz on it  but have since realized that Mr. Cruz had a much wider, more troubling presence on social media, in which he apparently posted about guns and about being cruel toward animals.

We have animals  two dogs and six cats, Mr. Snead said  and he loved them, and they loved him.

The night before the shooting, Mr. Snead said he noticed nothing unusual. The family ate cheese and steak sandwiches for dinner  Mr. Cruz put a chocolate chip cookie on top of his  and then watched Jeopardy on television. Mr. Cruz went to bed early, as he often did, Mr. Snead said.

According to Mr. Sneads account, the next morning Mr. Cruz told Mr. Sneads son, his former classmate, whom hed met at JROTC in high school, that he wasnt going to school because it was Valentines Day. In September 2016, his mother had told the state social services agency that Mr. Cruz had been acting out because he was upset over a breakup with a girl at Stoneman Douglas.

Mr. Snead said he did not see Mr. Cruz on Wednesday morning, but assumed he was home with his wife. Ms. Snead, a registered nurse who works in a neonatal intensive care unit, planned to sleep during the day to rest before her night shift.

On Wednesday afternoon, Mr. Snead said, after he had learned about the shooting from his son, a SWAT officer called him to ask about Mr. Cruzs whereabouts. Mr. Snead said he didnt know.

He called his son to ask him. By then, the son had heard a description of the shooter  short with red hair, wearing black pants  and father and son reached the same conclusion: The police suspected Mr. Cruz.

I called the SWAT officer back and had him go to my house, because he was there with my wife, all morning, by themselves, said Mr. Snead, who suddenly feared for her safety.

Ms. Snead, it turned out, was asleep, alone and safe. The police arrested Mr. Cruz without incident along a residential street in the neighboring city of Coral Springs, about two miles from the school. They took him to the hospital to be treated for minor injuries, and then transported him to the Broward Sheriffs Office headquarters. By then, the Sneads were there, waiting for their son, who was speaking to deputies.

Mr. Snead said his wife turned angrily to Mr. Cruz, still wearing a hospital gown.

Really, Nik? she asked. Really?

He said Mr. Cruz replied that he was sorry.Swastikas and obscenities were found drawn around the entrance to the Polish Embassy in Israel on Sunday, one day after Polands prime minister made comments suggesting there were Jewish perpetrators of atrocities during World War II.

The graffiti, scrawled in black marker on an outdoor bulletin board and on gates at the embassy, in Tel Aviv, included the words Polish and murderer, along with several obscenities.

The Israeli police said they had opened an investigation into the vandalism and were searching for the suspects involved.

The graffiti appeared to refer to sharp disagreements between Polish and Israeli officials over a piece of legislation signed into law in Warsaw this month that made it illegal to suggest that Poland bore responsibility for atrocities committed by Nazi Germany during World War II.BUCHAREST, Romania  In her studio, the Romanian conceptual artist Geta Bratescu was looking at a large drawing she had made in 2012 of a bird dressed as a clown. The 91-year-old artist remarked how much younger she was when she made the piece. What I work with these days is smaller, said Mrs. Bratescu. This big surface is harder for me to work with now.

Mrs. Bratescu is in her studio daily, she said. She had set it up with everything she needs within reach from her chair. Fat markers were lined up in a row to her right; strips of paper cascaded out of pots next to a selection of scissors, and a metal ruler framed a small patch of surface where Mrs. Bratescu draws and makes collages. To her left, a stack of her recent pieces was held in place with a paperweight in the shape of a bird.

Mrs. Bratescus studio is peppered with mementos from her childhood, and a photograph of her mother and a portrait of her father by her hang on the wall.SPECIAL POST  In this months Who Made My Puzzle? we meet Laura Braunstein, a Dartmouth College librarian, whose debut New York Times Crossword  a collaboration with the veteran Erik Agard  appeared on Dec. 10, 2017.

Meet Laura Braunstein

1. Where do you currently reside?

Lebanon, N.H. (its a small town near the Vermont state line)

2. Where and when was your first puzzle published?

May 3, 2017, by American Values Club Crosswords.

3. How did you get into puzzling? What is your first memory of solving?

My grandfather, who was an immigrant, used to solve crosswords to practice his English. Hed tear a puzzle out of the paper and carry it around in his pocket with a little stub of pencil. Hed ask me for help  to challenge me  when I was maybe 9 or 10 years old. Later, a family friend got me a subscription to Games Magazine in the 1980s. I cant remember ever not solving word puzzles, or not being fascinated by language.

4. What made you decide to try your hand at making a crossword puzzle?

Im a librarian at Dartmouth College. A few years ago, when he was a student here, Andrew Kingsley (a New York Times published constructor) used to work on his grids in the reference room. We used to chat about puzzles, and eventually I thought, this is something I could do! When I made my first few (not so great) puzzles, Andrew was very patient and encouraging (cue cliched line from a martial arts movie: The student is now the teacher!), and I learned much from his feedback. It also turned out that I shared some close mutual friends with a puzzle editor, Ben Tausig of the American Values Club, and eventually I got up the courage to ask him to mentor me. Since then Ive also had some opportunities to collaborate, which is a great way to learn (and enormous fun). Ive been very, very lucky to meet people in the overlapping constructor and solver communities who have been supportive and kind.

5. Why do you do this to yourself?

Because I want to. Theres a poem by Marge Piercy called For the young who want to  its last lines are: Work is its own cure. You have to like it better than being loved. I think about that poem often. Making puzzles is hard work that is its own cure for this desire I have to make something my own. Sure, I like it when I make something that solvers enjoy. And Ive felt honored to be associated with all the smart and funny people who are my fellow constructors. But Id probably make puzzles even if they never got published.

6. Do you use a computer software constructing program, and if so, which one? What do you like about it?

I have a Mac, so Ive been using CrossFire. I started out with a $5 iPad app called Crossword Maker for Cruciverbalists. Its rudimentary but Id recommend it for aspiring constructors before making a larger investment. Ive integrated Matt Ginsbergs clue database into CrossFire, which is helpful because in many cases it suggests clues that I dont want to use again. I love cluing; its a chance to get a little looser.

7. How many hours a week, on average, do you spend on refining your tools, like your word list?

Im pretty new at this business, so I dont yet have my own carefully curated word list  a friend kindly gifted me his, so Im standing on the shoulders of giants in that department. In general, though, its hard to quantify. I probably spend a lot of unconscious time processing ideas. I have a Google Doc of notes and themes that is mostly rejects and dead ends. Its convenient because I can add to it using my phone.

8. What entry or entries would you NEVER put in a puzzle, and why? Or, with what entry would you deliberately fail the breakfast test, and why?

Its interesting to me that G-SPOT has appeared in The New York Times puzzle plenty of times, but PAP SMEAR hardly ever. I guarantee that there are many solvers who think about pap smears at breakfast and are not grossed out. Why should the human body offend anyone? And why should we further stigmatize illness or disability by pretending that theyre not appropriate for language games? Im more offended by N.R.A., which appears constantly in grids, than by sexuality or womens health or so-called profanity. I think puzzles can also be a space to engage with social and political issues  recently I put SEXTS in a grid and clued it as an opportunity to open a conversation about consent, instead of as a throwaway joke.

9. What is your favorite clue of all time and why?

Turn-down for Watt? for the word NAE. This was from a Jonesin puzzle by Matt Jones, brought to my attention by Erik Agard; getting it relies on ones knowledge of both contemporary electronic dance music and eighteenth-century Scottish inventors. Im also very pleased when constructors turn the clues into a kind of puzzle in their own right; there was one by Peter Gordon, probably my favorite New York Times puzzle of 2017, about Emily Dickinson. Every single clue was a double dactyl  just like her name. My favorite clue that Ive not yet had a chance to use in one of my own puzzles: I can believe its not butter for OLEO.

10. What are you doing these days?

Last summer I was on the constructing team for Boswords, a crossword tournament in Boston. Were hoping to make it an annual event.

Thank you for spending time with us, Ms. Braunstein.

Your thoughts?Women with this form of ovarian cancer were sharing news and tips online in a closed Yahoo group. Dr. Levine asked to become part of the group and began joining the discussions. There he discovered patients who had persuaded doctors to give them an immunotherapy drug, even though there was no reason to think it would work.

The women reported that their tumors shrank immediately.

The idea behind immunotherapy is to dismantle a molecular shield that some tumors use to avoid an attack by the bodys white blood cells.

The immune system sees these tumors as foreign  they are fueled by hundreds of genetic mutations, which drive their growth and are recognized by the body. But when white blood cells swarm in to attack the cancer cells, they bounce back, rebuffed.

Immunotherapy drugs pierce that protective shield, allowing the immune system to recognize and demolish tumor cells. But the new drugs do not work against many common cancers.

Those cancers are supported by fewer genetic mutations, and experts believe that the tumor cells just do not look threatening enough to the body to spur a response. So the immune system leaves them alone.

Lung cancer, a genetic type of colorectal cancer and melanoma have huge numbers of mutations, and immunotherapy drugs often are successful in treating them. Cancers of the prostate, pancreas, breast, ovaries  and most other tumors  carry few mutations.

These are the cancers that rarely respond, Dr. Pardoll said.

The idea that the drugs might work against something like hypercalcemic ovarian cancer, which is fueled by just one genetic mutation, just made no sense.Dear Diary:

In 1962, when I was 18, my best friend, Ted, and I drove from our homes in Colorado to New York for our first visit to the city.

We stayed at the Y.M.C.A., and over the course of three days managed to visit the Statue of Liberty and the Metropolitan Museum of Art; ride on the Staten Island Ferry; wander around Greenwich Village; take in My Fair Lady on Broadway; and do many other touristy things.

At the end of our visit, we returned to the parking lot where we had left our car, a 1952 Dodge station wagon with Colorado plates. The attendant, a big guy, told us we owed $4.95 for the three days of parking.

I handed him a $5 bill and prepared to drive away.

Whoa! the attendant shouted. He handed me a nickel and, glowering, said, I dont take no nickel tips.If any of the officers are found liable, another trial will be scheduled, one that could represent the biggest challenge to New York policing practices since stop-and-frisk. The second trial would examine the broader question of whether the citys police officers habitually use false arrests to bolster their pay.

Accusations about the practice  known as collars for dollars  have dogged the department for decades. The Mollen Commissions 1994 report about police corruption, which used the term, detailed the various and devious overtime schemes that have been used.

In one, the police would involve additional officers in making an arrest, maximizing the number of people eligible for overtime. In a typical arrangement, those extra officers might claim to have discovered evidence that the defendant had tried to hide, or in some other way they would enter the case as peripheral witnesses. They would need to be on hand to handle paperwork or be available to testify  so they too would get overtime pay.

In another practice, known as trading collars, officers sometimes directed arrests to the member of their team who stood to get the most overtime. Felony arrests are often presented to a grand jury about five days after the incident; but if an officer who took part was scheduled to work on the anticipated grand jury date, he or she might defer to a colleague who was not.

The second officer would take the arrest, and receive the extra pay for going to court on a day off  even if that meant testifying about events the officer had never witnessed, the report maintained.How much the efforts by the city have helped is unclear; some health and addiction professionals suggest that the city is apportioning too much of its money on police efforts, and not enough on extending treatment.

Indeed, the Police Department is the single biggest beneficiary of the spending: $15 million a year for 84 detectives, mostly assigned to so-called Heroin Overdose Teams.

After an overdose, narcotics detectives begin by noting any distinguishing marks on the heroin packaging  such as a stamp on the glassine bag  and poring over the cellphone records of the overdose victim to look for the source of the drugs. Usually its the last one, or the last couple, the chief of detectives, Robert K. Boyce, said of the phone numbers, which are fed into a growing database of thousands of numbers that turned up at overdose scenes in 2,260 overdose investigations last year.

The father of a 41-year-old Queens man who struggled with heroin addiction and died at his parents home this month, said the officers who responded were respectful. The police are trying to find out whats going on in the neighborhood, said the father, who asked not to be named.

Were trying to slow down this crisis, Chief Boyce said. In January, there were more than 60 deaths recorded by the police, who frequently see three in a day  a steep toll, but a slower pace than two years ago.To the Editor:

Re Taking an Ax to Democracy as Europe Fidgets (front page, Feb. 11):

As a former progressive member of the Hungarian Parliament, I had a firsthand experience of how Prime Minister Viktor Orban transformed Hungary.

Mr. Orbans electoral victories were a result of the disillusionment that most Hungarians felt after 20 years of democracy. Their resentment was rooted in the policies of technocratic elites, who as ardent followers of neoliberal orthodoxy promised that Hungary would catch up with the West.

But corrupt privatization, chronic unemployment, rising inequality, and crumbling schools and hospitals became the reality. So while on a superficial level Hungary looked like a fairy tale of post-Communist transition, the social conditions of everyday life were severe.

Further strained by the global recession, people wanted radical change. Enter Viktor Orban.

Crony capitalism is not merely a feature of the regime, but rather its main goal. Mr. Orbans illiberal rise to power served one crucial objective: wealth accumulation for his inner circle. Thus, corruption is not a side effect, but rather the regimes main ambition.Already these questions, and others, are rightly the subject of public investigations by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and by Nashvilles Metro Council, and there may soon be others. We have no way of knowing whether the investigations will exonerate the mayor or reveal improprieties that are unacceptable in a public servant. Unlike her political opponents, I prefer to wait for their findings before forming an opinion about whether she should resign.

Please know that Im disappointed in myself but also understand that Im a human and that I made a mistake, Ms. Barry said in her news conference. Many people here are upset with their mayor and angry about the way she has squandered their hopes for her political future. But I think most Nashvillians heard that statement with real compassion.

This mayor has been beloved because shes so human, because she works impossible hours and seems to be everywhere at once, sharing in our happiness and in our heartbreak, wearing her own happiness and her own heartbreak on her sleeve. How shocked should we be to learn that the mayor we love for her humanity is human enough to make this kind of mistake?

I know I sound naive. In truth, we dont know if Megan Barrys affair was only an error of human judgment. We dont know if it was different in any substantive way from the kind of behavior that has already brought down so many other public servants. All we know for sure is that this is a particularly fraught moment in American history for a person in a position of power  male or female  to reveal an affair with a subordinate.

Predictably, Twitter is aflame with outraged conservatives who believe Nashville liberals are giving Ms. Barry a pass simply because we share her politics. Thats a fair point to ponder. When religious conservatives in Alabama had no trouble voting for a credibly accused pedophile during Decembers special Senate election, I voiced the same accusation.

People here may be keeping an open mind until the official investigations are complete, but thats not the same thing as giving our mayor a pass. And Ms. Barry is fully cooperating with the inquiries into her behavior. The same cannot be said of, for example, the president of the United States.

In the wake of the #MeToo tsunami, the conservative coyote pack is howling that liberals would be calling for the mayors head if she were a Republican man instead of a Democratic woman. But so far, at least, there is absolutely no evidence that Sergeant Forrest was subject to any form of coercion. Ms. Barrys affair with her bodyguard was both irresponsible and deeply painful for innocent people, but in all the revelations that have unfolded since the news broke, nothing has come to light to suggest that this is the liberal female version of a #MeToo narrative.The country and Congress need assurances that the special counsel Robert Muellers investigation will continue unimpeded. Unfortunately, legislation by Congress to protect Mr. Mueller is incompatible with the Constitutions separation of powers.

Instead, there is another way, firmly grounded in the nations history, to provide assurances to all Americans  both supporters and opponents of the investigation  that the rule of law will prevail. It comes out of a forgotten part of the story, which came in the wake of President Richard Nixons so-called Saturday Night Massacre: President Trump and his Justice Department should follow the path of none other than Robert Bork.

Lets begin with the problem. Prominent voices continue to urge President Trump to take various ill-considered steps: to pressure Attorney General Jeff Sessions to resign, making room for someone who can fire Mr. Mueller; to dismiss Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who has the power to fire Mr. Mueller but has so far refused to consider doing so; and otherwise to denounce the entire investigation. All of that predictably has led to bipartisan calls for legislation to protect Mr. Muellers job.

But the proposed legislation is imperfect. Putting aside the question of whether Congress could muster the political will to pass such legislation, in our view a legislative fix would probably be unconstitutional. The Constitution vests the president with the power over prosecutors, and it is hard to imagine courts permitting Congress to place serious restrictions on that power. Imagine if the shoe were on the other foot: The president shouldnt be able to place restrictions on whom Congress can hire or fire, or whom federal judges can hire as their law clerks. A similar principle generally applies to Congress.Three signal flares went up for the American coal industry recently, all illuminating an inescapable conclusion: Despite President Trumps campaign promise, coal-fired power is in trouble and in all likelihood wont be reasserting itself in the United States. Nor should it.

The first signal, from the medical community, should give champions of beautiful, clean coal like Mr. Trump and his energy secretary, Rick Perry, pause. A research letter published in the Journal of the American Medical Association on Feb. 6 said that health professionals in Appalachian coal country were now finding the highest levels of black lung disease in coal miners ever reported.

The Coal Workers Health Surveillance Program, administered by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, or Niosh, has offered regular chest radiographs for coal miners since 1970. By the late 1990s, black lung disease was rarely identified among miners participating in the program, researchers wrote. But a spike in cases in 2014, first reported by National Public Radio, prompted the federal agency to take a closer look at patients at three federally funded black lung clinics in southwest Virginia.

The agency was stunned by what it found. Black lung cases in Appalachia coal miners in those three clinics had skyrocketed. The disease was more severe. And coal miners were dying much younger than they had been two decades ago.It is important that animals move, because in moving they carry out important ecological functions like transporting nutrients and seeds between different areas, said Marlee Tucker, a biologist at Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Center and Goethe University, Frankfurt and the studys lead author. The ability to move and find food helps keep some imperiled species viable.

There has been exponential growth in data on wildlife movement as technology has evolved, opening new windows into the secret lives of animals. We used to have one dot on a map twice a day, said Roland Kays, a biologist at North Carolina State University who participated in the study. Now we have a point as much as every second and know exactly where they are going, how they are avoiding people, how they are crossing the road and catching prey. Its big for determining how animals die or where they die and how that affects populations.

In fact the science has advanced so much, its clear that the protection of these critical corridors is lagging. Ryan Zinke, secretary of the Interior Department, just announced a new effort to account for long-distance migrations that cross federal lands.

We all know that animals go where animals want to go, and more often than not thats dependent upon natural features like watersheds, Mr. Zinke said, rather than whether the land is publicly or privately owned. He signed an order to foster cooperation on migrations, working with ranchers to modify their fences, working with states to collaborate on sage brush restoration, or working with scientists to better understand migration routes, he said.

The new migration study was made possible by Movebank, a global repository of scientific research on animal movement that has cast much new light on vagility. Records of where animals move can be shared with other researchers, and combined with data on vegetative cover, elevations and temperature, anywhere on the globe, from NASA and other sources.

Its an example of open data and data sharing that allows you to answer new questions and give data a second life, said Dr. Kays, who is also a director of Movebank.A star-crossed mission nearly 20 years in the making that was intended to seek an answer to the most burning, baffling question in astronomy  and perhaps elucidate the fate of the universe  is in danger of being canceled.

The Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope, or Wfirst, was being designed to investigate the mysterious force dubbed dark energy that is speeding up the expansion of the universe and search out planets around other stars.

In 2010, a blue-ribbon panel from the National Academy of Sciences charged with charting the future of space-based astronomy gave the mission the highest priority for the next decade. Under the plan, it could have launched in mid-2020s with a price tag of $3.2 billion.

But it was zeroed out in the NASA budget proposed by President Trump last week.

In a statement accompanying the budget, Robert M. Lightfoot Jr., the agencys acting administrator, called the deletion one hard decision, citing the need to divert resources to other agency priorities. NASA is shifting its focus back to the moon.It was no surprise that Christopher Bailey had time on his mind this season. On Saturday in London, he presented his final collection for Burberry after serving 17 years as the brands chief creative officer and president  a role in which he honored the labels 150-plus year legacy, while also ushering it into the future.

What did surprise were the clothes themselves  a rainbow-striped tribute to 90s British style tribes and contemporary LGBTQ+ youth  and the choice of setting. For the finale, Bailey transformed his industrial show space into a cathedral of club culture, lit up by planes of neon-bright laser lights. But mostly, the models walked beneath the more subtly dramatic pendulum lights of Our Time (2016), the epically proportioned art installation by the British art collective United Visual Artists (UVA). Bailey had loaned the piece from its permanent home, the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) in Hobart, Australia.Jeffrey Dean, the celebrated Google engineer who oversees the Brain lab, is a short walk from Mr. Pichai. So are Ian Goodfellow, the researcher behind a new A.I. technique that generates lifelike images on its own, and Norm Jouppi, who explores ways of accelerating A.I. research through a new breed of computer chip.

Any C.E.O. thinks a lot about where people are sitting  who they can walk around and have casual conversations with, said Diane Greene, who oversees Googles cloud computing team and sits on the board of Alphabet, Googles parent company. It is a very significant statement that he has moved that group right next him.

Google is placing big bets on the A.I. being explored by researchers like Mr. Goodfellow. Many questions still hang over the progress of this research. But Mr. Pichai and the rest of the Google leadership hope it will accelerate the evolution of everything from smartphones and home appliances to internet services and robotics.

To Mr. Byrne, shaking up the seating chart at Overstock was a bit like a common management tactic in the military, when an officer will work closely with a small command initiatives group that is considerably more nimble than the rest of the organization.

We were getting bureaucratic, Mr. Byrne said. And this was a way of creating added competition outside the bureaucracy.

These big companies are trying to duplicate the vibe of a Silicon Valley start-up, where the boss is next to everyone. As start-ups grow, they often put key technology teams next to the chief executive. Ms. Greene, who was the chief executive of the software company VMware, said she had always made a point of sitting beside the top engineers because they saw the companys future.The main goal of the Russian propaganda and misinformation effort is to divide America by using our institutions, like free speech and social media, against us. Tweet #4

Not exactly.

The indictment does show that Russian operatives used social media  particularly Facebook  to try to sow division among Americans. But to reiterate, the indictment said that the Russians goal was to sway the 2016 election toward a particular outcome. That aim was pursued not just through ads, which Mr. Goldman focuses on, but through Facebook pages, groups and events.

The single best demonstration of Russias true motives is the Houston anti-islamic protest. Americans were literally puppeted into the streets by trolls who organized both the sides of protest. Tweet #5

This needs context.

The protests in Houston in May 2016 were among many rallies organized by Russian operatives through Facebook. While the Houston protest was anti-Islamic, as Mr. Goldman said, he failed to note that the goal in promoting the demonstration was to link Mrs. Clintons campaign with a pro-Islamic message.

According to the indictment secured by Mr. Mueller, there were many other examples of Russian operatives using Facebook and Instagram to organize pro-Trump rallies. At one protest, the Russian operatives paid for a cage to be built, in which an actress dressed as Mrs. Clinton posed in a prison uniform.

The Russian campaign is ongoing. Just last week saw news that Russian spies attempted to sell a fake video of Trump with a hooker to the NSA. Tweet #6

True.

American intelligence officials have said that Russia has continued to target the American public and that it is already meddling in the 2018 midterm elections. The New York Times also reported this month on an attempt by a shadowy Russian figure to sell stolen American cyberweapons, as well as compromising material on President Trump, to the United States.

There are easy ways to fight this. Disinformation is ineffective against a well educated citizenry. Finland, Sweden and Holland have all taught digital literacy and critical thinking about misinformation to great effect. Tweet #7

Not exactly.

While Finland, Sweden and the Netherlands have all made efforts to teach digital literacy, those countries are still grappling with how to handle misinformation. A recent survey in Finland found that 67 percent of respondents think fake news affects Finns perceptions on issues a lot or to an extreme degree. Officials in Sweden and the Netherlands have also recently warned that fake news poses a threat to their governments.

We are also taking aggressive steps to prevent this sort of meddling in the future by requiring verification of political advertisers and by making all ads on the platform visible to anyone who cares to examine them. Tweet #8

True.

After initially dismissing concerns that it influenced the 2016 election, Facebook has announced a series of moves to prevent its future misuse. One of those steps includes verifying political advertisers through a system that combines automated and human fact checkers. The company has also said it plans to use postcards sent by regular mail to verify the identities of American political advertisers. Whether these new measures will be effective is unclear.Mr. Goldman did not respond to requests for comment, and the company declined to make him available for an interview.

It is Facebooks right to defend itself, of course. The company has faced a raft of accusations of wrongdoing, some of which have indeed been overblown. Facebook was not the only social network manipulated by Russias Internet Research Agency, the company at the heart of Mr. Muellers indictment. And other companies, such as Twitter and YouTube, certainly share the blame for fostering a media ecosystem in which false news and propaganda can flourish.

But Mr. Goldmans tweetstorm was unintentionally revealing. It showed that, years after hostile foreign actors first began using Facebook to wage an information war against the American public, some high-ranking officials within the company still dont understand just how central Facebook was to Russias misinformation campaign, and how consequential the companys mistakes have been. (Last year, in a tweet that fewer people saw, Andrew Bosworth, another Facebook vice president, claimed that the effects of Russian interference and fake news in 2016 were marginal, even in a close election.)

In real-world terms, a part of Facebook still sees itself as the bank that got robbed, rather than the architect who designed a bank with no safes, and no alarms or locks on the doors, and then acted surprised when burglars struck.A few years ago, when the Whitney Museums airy home in the meatpacking district was brand new, the Abstract Expressionists Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner were part of a group exhibition there  my favorite part, though had less to do with their art than its arresting display. Huge and colorful, Krasners canvas got a magnificently conspicuous spot, while a smaller, dimmer work by Pollock, her celebrated husband, hung opposite on a more crowded wall.

It felt like a face-off between them  one that the Great Man was losing to the Little Woman, who at last got to outshine him publicly.

Something similar occurs in the French playwright Fabrice Melquiots Pollock, a two-hander that (its title notwithstanding) is as much about Krasner as it is about Pollock, and above all about their volatile pairing. Directed by Paul Desveaux for Compagnie de la Vallee-lHeliotrope, its a duet, a double act, a surreal sparring match steeped in alcohol and dripping with paint.

As embodied by the experimental theater veteran Jim Fletcher in the modernist Underground Theater at Abrons Arts Center, Jackson Pollock can be fascinating to watch  a brooding, dry-humored malcontent in the 20th-century American-genius mold. But Lee Krasner is the riveting one, rare and defiant and glowing with life in a beautifully modulated, remarkably understated performance by Birgit Huppuch. Together these barefoot ghosts are really something.The luxury hotel market, once concentrated in only the largest cities, has surged over the last decade. Jay Stein, the chief executive at the Dream Hotel Group, has taken advantage of the demand, shining a light on a company that helped cultivate one of the most popular trends in modern upscale lodging.

We started the rooftop bar craze, Mr. Stein said, referring to the 2003 opening of the former Ava Lounge at the Dream Midtown that brought a certain hipness to the usual outdoor drinks scene. There were others that started to catch on, but weve been an early player with luxury boutique hotels.

The company, which includes the Chatwal New York and Time Hotels, currently operates 18 properties. There are plans for 30 additional hotels internationally over the next four years, from a Dream hotel in Belize to boutique-oriented Unscripted hotels in Birmingham, England, and Tulum, Mexico.

Below are edited excerpts from a conversation with Mr. Stein in Manhattan.

How has Dream influenced the growth within the New York luxury market? What changes have you seen in this market over the last five years?The coral reefs around the Turks & Caicos Islands are a major tourist attraction, and Mark Parrish is trying to make sure the visitors he takes there dont kill them with cosmetics.

He co-owns Big Blue Unlimited, a tour operation that guides snorkeling, kayaking and other adventurous excursions around the islands. The companys website states that, Big Blue will ONLY ALLOW the use of 100 percent biodegradable sunscreen on all of our trips. Non-biodegradable sunscreen IS NOT TO BE USED on Big Blue trips.

We make it mandatory, which is easier said than done, said Mr. Parrish. The key is telling people well in advance, putting it on the website and saying this is our policy and giving them a chance to shop at home.

After decades of learning that sunblock is vital to a healthy beach vacation, consumers may wonder whats wrong with their Coppertone. But recent studies that link the active ingredients in protecting skin from damaging ultraviolet rays to coral bleaching has led to a global push for more reef-safe sunscreens.So anybody who thinks that if I step down, Obama could appoint someone like me, theyre misguided, she said.

Artemus Ward, the author of Deciding to Leave: The Politics of Retirement From the United States Supreme Court, said Justice Kennedy found himself at a crucial crossroads. If he wants to resign under a Republican president in the first half of a presidential term, he must act.

Its now or never, said Mr. Ward, a political scientist at Northern Illinois University. Its either this year or you wait until the next election.

Party loyalty is likely to overcome more subtle concerns about judicial legacy, Mr. Ward said. Justice Kennedy holds the crucial vote in many closely divided cases, and he has been drifting to the left. He has cast conservative votes in cases on campaign finance and gun rights but has lately voted with the courts liberal wing on gay rights, abortion and affirmative action.

But Mr. Ward said Justice Kennedy is likely to emulate Justice Byron R. White, who drifted to the right after his appointment by President John F. Kennedy, a Democrat. Even so, Justice White said, it was fitting to retire under a Democratic president because he had been appointed by one. He stepped down not long after President Bill Clinton was elected and was replaced by Justice Ginsburg, whose voting record has been considerably more liberal.

A new study on departures from the Supreme Court attempted to refine the conventional factors by considering political science data on justices voting patterns, involuntary departures and missed opportunities. It concluded that justices have not been particularly successful at ensuring that they would be replaced by like-minded successors.

Justice Kennedy is in a ticklish spot, said the studys author, Christine Kexel Chabot, who teaches at Loyola University Chicago School of Law. He is, she wrote, a moderate conservative, and there is no reason to think a president of either party would replace him with someone similar.BEAUMONT, Tex.  Operating on two hours sleep, Beto ORourke was 20 hours into his day and looked it. His white shirt and gray slacks were an accordion of wrinkles. His hair, flecked with gray, drooped on his forehead and small dark rings had formed under his eyes.

But he hadnt lost his voice. The Democratic congressman from El Paso was speaking to a crowd of several hundred at Sugas restaurant, 830 miles from home, trying to make an improbable case: that he can defeat Texas incumbent Republican senator, Ted Cruz.

Democrats need to pick up two seats in the midterm elections to win control of the Senate, but they also must defend incumbents in 10 states that President Trump won. Mr. Cruz is seen as safer than, say, Dean Heller, Nevadas Republican senator, or the seats in Arizona and Tennessee that are being vacated by incumbents. And with Democratic money playing defense for incumbents in Missouri, Indiana, West Virginia and elsewhere, Mr. ORourke expects no cavalry from Washington to come help him.The biggest metaphor for this is that in Trump World, Steve Bannon is a smoldering ruin while the president has a good working relationship with Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan, said Rich Lowry, editor of National Review. A year ago, I think very few people would have thought that.

Mr. Trumps Republican critics may be delighted that the status quo remains intact. But conservatives who believed his presidency would be more of a sharp break with the Bush years are starting to express alarm. And their concern could indicate trouble for Mr. Trump if his more conventional approach on some policy issues alienates his base and depresses Republican turnout in the midterm elections in November.

Right at the point when everyone was thinking in my world that things were just going swimmingly, there are some good and important questions being raised, said Matt Schlapp, president of the American Conservative Union, which this week will host Mr. Trump as a speaker at its annual Conservative Political Action Conference.

Others have been less generous. Mark Levin, the right-wing talk show host who is also set to speak at CPAC, recently asked his audience, Is conservatism dead? and accused lawmakers of spending like drunken Marxists.

Even some Trump allies who were initially slow to trust him  precisely because they worried about his fidelity to conservative principles  are voicing skepticism. I hope this makes conservatives across the country realize that right now, they arent getting what they voted for in Washington, Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, who clashed bitterly with Mr. Trump during the 2016 Republican primaries but is now one of the presidents confidants, wrote in an essay for Time.com.Many adolescents planning on abstinence do not remain abstinent. As Dr. Hill wrote on the website healthychildren.org, The best studies of adolescents who take a virginity pledge suggest that these kids have sex just as early as those who dont pledge, but that they are less likely to use birth control when they do have sex.

Recognizing this, both the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) have urged their members to have comprehensive conversations with adolescent patients about their reproductive health and their contraceptive needs, knowledge and concerns.

Dr. Karen Gerancher, author of a recent ACOG opinion article on counseling adolescents about contraception, said, When were able to reach patients before they become sexually active, or early in their sexually active life, we empower them to take control of their reproductive health, and prevent sexually transmitted infections and unintended pregnancies that could permanently impact the future theyve envisioned for themselves.

Although many adolescent girls choose birth control pills, as typically used they are not most effective in preventing pregnancy. Heres what teens should know about contraceptive options, in order of effectiveness.

The implant. This long-acting reversible contraceptive is a matchstick-size flexible plastic rod that a doctor inserts under the skin, usually in the upper arm, where it can prevent pregnancy for at least three years, at which time it should be replaced. It contains a progestin hormone that blocks the release of an egg from the ovary. It is the most effective means of birth control, with a one-year failure rate significantly less than one in 100 (0.05 percent). Fertility typically returns quickly once the implant is removed.

An IUD. This other long-acting reversible contraceptive has a slightly higher failure rate of 0.2 to 0.8 percent. A doctor inserts the small T-shaped device into the uterus, where it prevents sperm from fertilizing an egg. There are two types: the Copper T IUD that has no hormone and needs to be replaced only once in 10 years, and a progestin-containing IUD that is replaced every three to five years.

Progestin injection. This shot of a progestin prevents the release of an egg from the ovaries for three months. Its failure rate is six in 100 within the first year.COCHRANE, Chile  An eagle soared over the lone house atop an arid hill in the steppes of Patagonia Park.

In the valley below, not far from the town of Cochrane, President Michelle Bachelet announced the creation of a vast national park system in Chile stretching from Hornopiren, 715 miles south of the capital, Santiago, to Cape Horn, the southern tip of South America, where Chile splinters into fjords and canals.

The park is the brainchild of Kristine McDivitt Tompkins and her husband, Douglas Tompkins, who founded the North Face and Esprit clothing companies, and starting in 1991, put $345 million  much of his fortune  buying large swaths of Patagonia.The warrior was a symbol of martial strength, molded from terra cotta and buried more than 2,000 years ago with Chinas first emperor to defend him in the afterlife.

The statue was helpless, however, against a man in a green sweater and a Phillies hat who, the authorities say, sneaked into a closed-off area during a party at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia and stole its thumb.

The man, who was attending the museums after-hours ugly-sweater party on Dec. 21, entered the terra-cotta warrior exhibition room and used his cellphones flashlight to view the displays. Then, according to an affidavit by Jacob B. Archer, a special agent assigned to the F.B.I.s art crime team, the man put his arm around the statue and took a selfie.Researchers have found no trends related to gender or age for the hearers.

Dr. Darius Kohan, the director of otology and neurotology at Lenox Hill Hospital and Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital, said that the low-frequency hum was unlikely to cause long-term hearing damage but that it could be as debilitating as tinnitus, a persistent ringing in the ears.

Scott Barton, an assistant professor of music at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts, said in a phone interview that infrasound, which is below 20 hertz, can create a sense of unease because it is unintelligible to human hearing but still detectable. While it is possible to be accustomed to certain noises (the hum of an air-conditioner, for example), this low-frequency noise is challenging because it has been so inconsistent, he said.

Seeking intervention by government regulators for the hum is difficult because regulations typically address decibel levels that can lead to hearing loss or damage, not those that can affect quality of life, Rebecca Smith, a sound engineer and doctoral student at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, who researches urban noise, wrote in an email.

Think about the sound of a dog barking, she said. It doesnt need to be loud enough to physically damage you to be really annoying and distracting.

The University of Windsor report said the hums likely source was blast furnace operations on Zug Island on the Detroit River, which is densely packed with manufacturing. Activists complained that United States Steel, which operates the furnaces, has been uncooperative and secretive. A company spokeswoman did not respond to requests for comment.

A principal investigator on the study, Professor Colin Novak, told CBC News in 2014 that researchers needed more time and cooperation from the American authorities to pinpoint the source. Its like chasing a ghost, he said.

Hums similar to Windsors have been reported in at least a dozen communities worldwide, including in Australia, England and Scotland, the study said. In the United States, high-profile hums have been reported in Taos, N.M., and Kokomo, Ind.LONDON  Three Oxfam employees who were the subject of a 2011 inquiry into sexual misconduct in Haiti physically threatened a witness after a manager leaked an investigation report to another member of staff, the charity said on Monday.

The threats and intimidation were among several accusations of misconduct made public for the first time with Oxfams release of its 2011 report into the conduct of its Haiti staff, including the hiring of prostitutes.

The report states that two of the three people who threatened a co-worker were also accused of sexual exploitation and abuse of employees, in addition to hiring prostitutes. It does not say whether Oxfam concluded that the claims of mistreatment of colleagues were true, but it says that both of the accused were among four employees dismissed for gross misconduct, and that one of them was guilty of failure to protect staff.

Oxfam, one of the largest British charities, had previously acknowledged that it had fired four people working on earthquake recovery in Haiti, and that three others resigned during or after the investigation, following allegations that they had hired prostitutes on the groups premises outside Port-au-Prince.Such disappointment has already cost Ukraine dearly. The International Monetary Fund and the European Union, frustrated by foot-dragging over the establishment of a long-promised independent anticorruption court and other setbacks, have suspended assistance money totaling more than $5 billion.

Ukraine lived for decades in a state of total corruption, said Artem Sytnyk, director of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine, known as NABU, an independent agency set up in 2015 during an initial burst of enthusiasm for clean government following the ouster of Mr. Yanukovych. These schemes have now been renewed and are again working. Some people simply dont want to get rid of them.

His bureau has assembled evidence in 107 cases against previously untouchable officials, but only one has ended with a court sentence. The rest are stalled in a sluggish judicial system addled by corruption and political meddling.

NABUs efforts to delve into defense-related embezzlement, which led to the arrest last year of a deputy defense minister and the ministrys procurement chief, led to a flurry of moves to neuter the anticorruption body.

This is a very sensitive zone, Mr. Sytnyk said.

NABU has come under sustained attack in recent months, with Parliament drafting legislation, later dropped, that would have emasculated the agency and with the domestic intelligence service raiding the homes of NABU employees.

Mr. Poroshenko, who is expected to seek re-election next year, has positioned himself as a leader who rebuilt Ukraines ramshackle military and stood up to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. To the consternation of the Ukrainian leader, though, the conflict with pro-Russian separatists is slowly mutating in the public mind from a heroic struggle into yet another sinkhole of profiteering and graft.

Helping along this shift has been Mikheil Saakashvili, the former president of Georgia who, until he was grabbed by Ukrainian security officers last week in a Kiev restaurant and bundled against his will onto a plane bound for Poland, had led a new political party in Kiev focused on denouncing corruption. His supporters in Kiev have joined angry veterans of the war in the east in a protest encampment outside the Ukrainian Parliament. Their tents and barricades are festooned with banners accusing Mr. Poroshenko and his business pals of thieving while soldiers are dying.TEHRAN  Search-and-rescue workers continued to scour a mountainous region of Iran on Monday for a plane that crashed a day earlier, most likely killing all 66 people on board.

Because of bad weather conditions, the rescue teams have been unable to fly over the crash site in helicopters. Instead, they have climbed Mount Dena, which has an elevation of about 14,500 feet. As of Monday afternoon, the teams had not found any debris from the plane, which was operated by Iran Aseman Airlines.

Abbas Ahmad Akhoundi, the minister of roads and urban development, said on Monday that there was total ambiguity surrounding the crashing of the plane, an ATR-72 twin-engine turboprop used for short regional flights, which was en route to the southwestern city of Yasuj from Tehran on Sunday morning.Irans moves in the region have alarmed the United States. Whats particularly concerning is that this network of proxies is becoming more and more capable as Iran seeds more and more of its destructive weapons into these networks, Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, President Trumps national security adviser, said at a security conference in Munich on Saturday. So the time is now, we think, to act against Iran, General McMaster added.

In expanding its influence in Syria in recent years, Iran has followed a standard template. In Lebanon in the 1980s, it helped create Hezbollah, which has since evolved into the countrys predominant military force and a regional power in its own right, joining the wars in Syria, Iraq and Yemen. In Iraq, Iran has sponsored a range of militias while developing deep ties to the Iraqi economy and political system.

The war in Syria gave Iran a new opportunity to advance that project by linking its allies across the Levant together.

Fighters from Hezbollah routed Syrian rebels near the Lebanese border and Iran sent advisers to help Mr. Assads beleaguered forces during the early years of the war.

But by 2013, Mr. Assads forces were on the verge of collapse, and Iran intervened more forcefully, undertaking an extensive regional operation to train, arm and transport thousands of Shiite militiamen from abroad to Syria to fight the rebels and the jihadists of the Islamic State.

Estimates of the number of Iranian military personnel in Syria today range from the high hundreds to the low thousands. While some directly participate in combat, most are trainers, commanders or experts who advise the Syrian military and oversee militias. It is these militias, which could have as many as 20,000 fighters, that give Iran its true muscle.

Those fighters include about 6,000 from Hezbollah. Most of the rest of the militia members  who come from Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Pakistan and elsewhere  have been enticed to fight in Syria with money and appeals to their Shiite faith. Indeed, most see the war in Syria in religious terms, as a jihad against enemies of their religion.Angus Greig

Where does Donald Trump rank on the list of American presidents?

We surveyed presidential politics experts to sketch out a first draft of Trumps place in presidential history.

Since our previous survey in 2014, some presidential legacies have soared (Barack Obamas stock has climbed into the Top 10), while others have fallen (Andrew Jackson toppled to 15, out of the Top 10).

And President Trump? Lets say that, according to the 170 members of the American Political Science Associations Presidents and Executive Politics section who filled out our survey, he has at least three years to improve on an ignominious debut.

Presidential Greatness Rankings

James Buchanan, who was at the helm as the United States careened into civil war, was dislodged from his position as our nations worst president by our current president, Trump.

His Oval Office predecessor, Barack Obama, shot into the Top 10, up from 18th in the previous survey. Ulysses S. Grant also got a bump, up seven places from 2014, perhaps owing to a strong assist from Ron Chernows recent masterpiece.

The biggest declines were for Bill Clinton, arguably the result of contemporary scorn for his treatment of women, and Andrew Jackson, for evolving attitudes on his treatment of Native Americans.

Overall rankings. Presidents since World War II in boldface. Presidents whose rank changed since last survey TOP 10 IN 2018 2014 RANK 0 = FAILURE 50 = AVG. 100 = GREAT 1. Lincoln 95 2. Washington 93 3. F.D. Roosevelt 89 CHANGE IN RANKING UP OR DOWN 4. T. Roosevelt 81 5. Jefferson 80 6. Truman 75 7. Eisenhower 74 8. Obama 71 8. Clinton 5 9. Reagan 69 9. Jackson 6 10. L.B. Johnson 69 10. Wilson 1 11. Wilson 67 11. Reagan +2 12. Madison 64 12. L.B.J. +2 13. Clinton 64 13. Madison +1 14. J. Adams 63 14. Kennedy 2 15. Jackson 62 15. J. Adams +1 16. Kennedy 62 16. Monroe 2 17. G.H.W. Bush 61 18. Monroe 61 18. Obama +10 19. McKinley 55 19. Polk 1 20. Polk 54 20. Taft 2 21. Grant 53 21. McKinley +2 22. Taft 52 22. J.Q. Adams 1 23. J.Q. Adams 52 23. Cleveland 1 24. Cleveland 51 24. Ford 1 25. Ford 47 25. Van Buren 2 26. Carter 45 27. Van Buren 44 27. Coolidge 1 28. Coolidge 42 28. Grant +7 29. Hayes 42 29. B. Harrison 3 30. G.W. Bush 40 30. Hayes +1 31. Arthur 40 31. Garfield 3 32. B. Harrison 38 32. Arthur +1 33. Nixon 37 33. Taylor 2 34. Garfield 37 34. Nixon +1 BOTTOM 10 35. Taylor 33 35. G.W. Bush +5 36. Hoover 33 36. Tyler 1 37. Tyler 31 37. Fillmore 1 38. Fillmore 28 38. Hoover +2 39. Harding 25 39. W.H. Harr. 3 40. A. Johnson 25 40. Pierce 1 41. Pierce 23 41. A. Johnson +1 42. W.H. Harr. 19 42. Harding +3 43. Buchanan 15 44. Trump 12 Overall rankings. Presidents since World War II in boldface. Presidents whose rank changed since last survey 0 = FAILURE 50 = AVERAGE 100 = GREAT 2014 RANK CHANGE IN RANKING UP OR DOWN TOP 10 IN 2018 1. Lincoln 95 2. Washington 93 3. F.D. Roosevelt 89 4. T. Roosevelt 81 5. Jefferson 80 6. Truman 75 7. Eisenhower 74 8. Obama 71 8. Clinton 5 9. Reagan 69 9. Jackson 6 10. L.B. Johnson 69 10. Wilson 1 11. Wilson 67 11. Reagan +2 12. Madison 64 12. L.B. Johnson +2 13. Clinton 64 13. Madison +1 14. J. Adams 63 14. Kennedy 2 15. Jackson 62 15. J. Adams +1 16. Kennedy 62 16. Monroe 2 17. G.H.W. Bush 61 18. Monroe 61 18. Obama +10 19. McKinley 55 19. Polk 1 20. Polk 54 20. Taft 2 21. Grant 53 21. McKinley +2 22. Taft 52 22. J.Q. Adams 1 23. J.Q. Adams 52 23. Cleveland 1 24. Cleveland 51 24. Ford 1 25. Ford 47 25. Van Buren 2 26. Carter 45 27. Van Buren 44 27. Coolidge 1 28. Coolidge 42 28. Grant +7 29. Hayes 42 29. B. Harrison 3 30. G.W. Bush 40 30. Hayes +1 31. Arthur 40 31. Garfield 3 32. B. Harrison 38 32. Arthur +1 33. Nixon 37 33. Taylor 2 34. Garfield 37 34. Nixon +1 BOTTOM 10 35. Taylor 33 35. G.W. Bush +5 36. Hoover 33 36. Tyler 1 37. Tyler 31 37. Fillmore 1 38. Fillmore 28 38. Hoover +2 39. Harding 25 39. W.H. Harrison 3 40. A. Johnson 25 40. Pierce 1 41. Pierce 23 41. A. Johnson +1 42. W.H. Harrison 19 42. Harding +3 43. Buchanan 15 44. Trump 12 Methodology: Each expert was invited to rate each president on a 0-100 scale, with 0 = failure, 50 = average, and 100 = great. Scores were then averaged for each president, with presidents then ranked in order of highest average to lowest.

Greatness Rankings by Party

On partisan-votes lines, Democrats ranked Ronald Reagan nine places lower than Republicans, while Democrats place Obama 10 places higher.

Counting only Republican votes, William McKinley  best known for winning the Spanish-American war, for defeating William Jennings Bryan twice in contests for the White House and for being assassinated by the anarchist Leon Czolgosz  holds a spot in the Top 10.

Independents admire George H.W. Bush, ranking him higher than Obama.

Trump doesn't get much of a lift from Republican-only vote: Even in their eyes, hes a bottom-five president.

Democratic scholars Presidents since World War II in boldface. TOP 10 0 AVG. 100 1. Lincoln 96 2. F.D. Roosevelt 94 3. Washington 93 4. T. Roosevelt 83 5. Jefferson 82 6. Obama 78 7. Truman 78 8. L.B. Johnson 75 9. Eisenhower 74 10. Wilson 72 11. Madison 67 12. Kennedy 67 13. Clinton 66 14. Reagan 65 15. J. Adams 64 16. Monroe 62 17. Jackson 62 18. G.H.W. Bush 59 19. Grant 53 20. J.Q. Adams 53 21. Polk 52 22. McKinley 50 23. Cleveland 49 24. Carter 48 25. Taft 48 26. Ford 46 27. Van Buren 44 28. Hayes 39 29. Arthur 39 30. G.W. Bush 37 31. Nixon 37 32. B. Harrison 36 33. Coolidge 36 34. Garfield 34 Lighter circles = below average BOTTOM 10 35. Taylor 31 36. Tyler 31 37. Hoover 29 38. A. Johnson 27 39. Fillmore 26 40. Pierce 24 41. Harding 23 42. W.H. Harrison 19 43. Buchanan 16 44. Trump 8 Independents/other These scholars skew somewhat to the right. TOP 10 0 AVG. 100 1. Lincoln 94 2. Washington 91 3. F.D. Roosevelt 83 4. T. Roosevelt 79 5. Jefferson 79 6. Eisenhower 77 7. Reagan 75 8. Truman 74 9. Madison 65 10. J. Adams 64 11. G.H.W. Bush 64 12. Obama 63 13. L.B. Johnson 63 14. Clinton 62 15. Wilson 62 16. McKinley 61 17. Jackson 61 18. Monroe 60 19. Kennedy 58 20. Taft 56 21. Polk 56 22. Grant 54 23. Cleveland 54 24. J.Q. Adams 52 25. Coolidge 50 26. Ford 49 27. Van Buren 47 28. Hayes 45 29. Arthur 44 30. Garfield 42 31. G.W. Bush 42 32. Carter 41 33. B. Harrison 40 34. Taylor 37 BOTTOM 10 35. Hoover 37 36. Nixon 36 37. Tyler 32 38. Fillmore 30 39. Harding 26 40. Pierce 25 41. A. Johnson 23 42. W.H. Harrison 19 43. Trump 16 44. Buchanan 14 Republican scholars TOP 10 0 AVG. 100 1. Washington 94 2. Lincoln 94 3. F.D. Roosevelt 83 4. T. Roosevelt 77 5. Reagan 76 6. Jefferson 70 7. Eisenhower 68 8. Truman 67 9. McKinley 64 10. Jackson 64 11. G.H.W. Bush 63 12. Wilson 61 13. Polk 60 14. Taft 60 15. Clinton 59 16. Obama 57 17. J. Adams 57 18. Monroe 56 19. L.B. Johnson 56 20. Cleveland 55 21. Coolidge 52 22. Madison 52 23. G.W. Bush 52 24. Kennedy 50 25. Grant 49 26. Ford 49 27. J.Q. Adams 49 28. Hayes 44 29. Nixon 42 30. Hoover 41 31. B. Harrison 39 32. Carter 39 33. Van Buren 38 34. Arthur 36 BOTTOM 10 35. Garfield 36 36. Taylor 34 37. Tyler 33 38. Harding 32 39. Fillmore 29 40. Trump 25 41. A. Johnson 21 42. Pierce 19 43. W.H. Harrison 19 44. Buchanan 14 Democratic scholars Independents/other Republican scholars Presidents since World War II in boldface These scholars skew somewhat to the right. TOP 10 0 AVG. 100 0 AVG. 100 0 AVG. 100 1. Washington 94 1. Lincoln 96 1. Lincoln 94 2. Lincoln 94 2. F.D. Roosevelt 94 2. Washington 91 3. F.D. Roosevelt 83 3. Washington 93 3. F.D. Roosevelt 83 4. T. Roosevelt 77 4. T. Roosevelt 83 4. T. Roosevelt 79 5. Reagan 76 5. Jefferson 82 5. Jefferson 79 6. Jefferson 70 6. Obama 78 6. Eisenhower 77 7. Eisenhower 68 7. Truman 78 7. Reagan 75 8. Truman 67 8. L.B. Johnson 75 8. Truman 74 9. McKinley 64 9. Eisenhower 74 9. Madison 65 10. Jackson 64 10. Wilson 72 10. J. Adams 64 11. G.H.W. Bush 63 11. Madison 67 11. G.H.W. Bush 64 12. Wilson 61 12. Kennedy 67 12. Obama 63 13. Polk 60 13. Clinton 66 13. L.B. Johnson 63 14. Taft 60 14. Reagan 65 14. Clinton 62 15. Clinton 59 15. J. Adams 64 15. Wilson 62 16. Obama 57 16. Monroe 62 16. McKinley 61 17. J. Adams 57 17. Jackson 62 17. Jackson 61 18. Monroe 56 18. G.H.W. Bush 59 18. Monroe 60 19. L.B. Johnson 56 19. Grant 53 19. Kennedy 58 20. Cleveland 55 20. J.Q. Adams 53 20. Taft 56 21. Coolidge 52 21. Polk 52 21. Polk 56 22. Madison 52 22. McKinley 50 22. Grant 54 23. G.W. Bush 52 23. Cleveland 49 23. Cleveland 54 24. Kennedy 50 24. Carter 48 24. J.Q. Adams 52 25. Grant 49 25. Taft 48 25. Coolidge 50 26. Ford 49 26. Ford 46 26. Ford 49 27. J.Q. Adams 49 27. Van Buren 44 27. Van Buren 47 28. Hayes 44 28. Hayes 39 28. Hayes 45 29. Nixon 42 29. Arthur 39 29. Arthur 44 30. Hoover 41 30. G.W. Bush 37 30. Garfield 42 31. B. Harrison 39 31. Nixon 37 31. G.W. Bush 42 32. Carter 39 32. B. Harrison 36 32. Carter 41 33. Van Buren 38 33. Coolidge 36 33. B. Harrison 40 34. Arthur 36 34. Garfield 34 34. Taylor 37 Lighter circles = below average BOTTOM 10 35. Garfield 36 35. Taylor 31 35. Hoover 37 36. Taylor 34 36. Tyler 31 36. Nixon 36 37. Tyler 33 37. Hoover 29 37. Tyler 32 38. Harding 32 38. A. Johnson 27 38. Fillmore 30 39. Fillmore 29 39. Fillmore 26 39. Harding 26 40. Trump 25 40. Pierce 24 40. Pierce 25 41. A. Johns. 21 41. Harding 23 41. A. Johnson 23 42. Pierce 19 42. W. Harr. 19 42. W. Harr. 19 43. W. Harr. 19 43. Buch. 16 43. Trump 16 44. Buch. 14 44. Trump 8 44. Buch. 14 Democratic scholars Independents/other Republican scholars Presidents since World War II in boldface. These scholars skew somewhat to the right. TOP 10 0 AVG. 100 0 AVG. 100 0 AVG. 100 1. Washington 94 1. Lincoln 96 1. Lincoln 94 2. Lincoln 94 2. F.D. Roosevelt 94 2. Washington 91 3. F.D. Roosevelt 83 3. Washington 93 3. F.D. Roosevelt 83 4. T. Roosevelt 77 4. T. Roosevelt 83 4. T. Roosevelt 79 5. Reagan 76 5. Jefferson 82 5. Jefferson 79 6. Jefferson 70 6. Obama 78 6. Eisenhower 77 7. Eisenhower 68 7. Truman 78 7. Reagan 75 8. Truman 67 8. L.B. Johnson 75 8. Truman 74 9. McKinley 64 9. Eisenhower 74 9. Madison 65 10. Jackson 64 10. Wilson 72 10. J. Adams 64 11. G.H.W. Bush 63 11. Madison 67 11. G.H.W. Bush 64 12. Wilson 61 12. Kennedy 67 12. Obama 63 13. Polk 60 13. Clinton 66 13. L.B. Johnson 63 14. Taft 60 14. Reagan 65 14. Clinton 62 15. Clinton 59 15. J. Adams 64 15. Wilson 62 16. Obama 57 16. Monroe 62 16. McKinley 61 17. J. Adams 57 17. Jackson 62 17. Jackson 61 18. Monroe 56 18. G.H.W. Bush 59 18. Monroe 60 19. L.B. Johnson 56 19. Grant 53 19. Kennedy 58 20. Cleveland 55 20. J.Q. Adams 53 20. Taft 56 21. Coolidge 52 21. Polk 52 21. Polk 56 22. Madison 52 22. McKinley 50 22. Grant 54 23. G.W. Bush 52 23. Cleveland 49 23. Cleveland 54 24. Kennedy 50 24. Carter 48 24. J.Q. Adams 52 25. Grant 49 25. Taft 48 25. Coolidge 50 26. Ford 49 26. Ford 46 26. Ford 49 27. J.Q. Adams 49 27. Van Buren 44 27. Van Buren 47 28. Hayes 44 28. Hayes 39 28. Hayes 45 29. Nixon 42 29. Arthur 39 29. Arthur 44 30. Hoover 41 30. G.W. Bush 37 30. Garfield 42 31. B. Harrison 39 31. Nixon 37 31. G.W. Bush 42 32. Carter 39 32. B. Harrison 36 32. Carter 41 33. Van Buren 38 33. Coolidge 36 33. B. Harrison 40 34. Arthur 36 34. Garfield 34 34. Taylor 37 Lighter circles = below average BOTTOM 10 35. Garfield 36 35. Taylor 31 35. Hoover 37 36. Taylor 34 36. Tyler 31 36. Nixon 36 37. Tyler 33 37. Hoover 29 37. Tyler 32 38. Harding 32 38. A. Johnson 27 38. Fillmore 30 39. Fillmore 29 39. Fillmore 26 39. Harding 26 40. Trump 25 40. Pierce 24 40. Pierce 25 41. A. Johnson 21 41. Harding 23 41. A. Johnson 23 42. Pierce 19 42. W.H. Harrison 19 42. W.H. Harrison 19 43. W.H. Harrison 19 43. Buchanan 16 43. Trump 16 44. Buchanan 14 44. Trump 8 44. Buchanan 14 Methodology: Each expert was allowed to self-identify as either Republican, Democrat, Independent, or Other. The results of those who self-identified were later analyzed independently to allow comparisons across partisan groups.

Next on Mt. Rushmore

Which president deserves to have his likeness carved next into Mt. Rushmores granite cliff? Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the overwhelming favorite, selected by two-thirds of our respondents.

James Madison Franklin Roosevelt Barack Obama Lyndon Johnson 2 66% 7 5 4 4 10 Others Ronald Reagan Dwight Eisenhower William McKinley 2 Franklin Roosevelt Barack Obama James Madison Lyndon Johnson 66% 7 5 4 4 2 2 10 Others Ronald Reagan Dwight Eisenhower William McKinley Methodology: Respondents were asked if they were to add one president to those currently represented on Mt. Rushmore, who would it be, and then allowed to select any past or current president. The number and percentage of times each president was selected was then calculated.

Mt. Rushmore by Party

It wasnt just Democratic support that would carve F.D.R. on Mt. Rushmore: All groups, including Republicans, named him as most deserving of that honor.

Roosevelt, the godfather of presidential liberalism, received more than twice as many votes from Republicans as Ronald Reagan, his conservative counterpart.

Lyndon Johnson Democratic scholars vote: J. Mad- ison Barack Obama Franklin Roosevelt 75% 11 3 3 8 Others Independent/others vote: Ronald Reagan William McKinley Franklin Roosevelt 57% 9 9 6 19 Others Dwight Eisenhower Republicans vote: Ronald Reagan James Madison Franklin Roosevelt 43% 19 10 29 Others Democratic scholars vote: Barack Obama Lyndon Johnson James Madison Franklin Roosevelt 75% 11 3 3 8 Others Independent/others vote: Ronald Reagan Dwight Eisenhower William McKinley Franklin Roosevelt 57% 9 9 6 19 Others Republicans vote: Ronald Reagan James Madison Franklin Roosevelt 43% 19 10 29 Others Methodology: Using the previously discussed self-identified partisanship breakdowns, the number and percentage of times each partisan group selected each president was calculated in the same way as the overall results.

Trumps initial rating places him in an ignominious category, but dozens of presidents have had slow starts and have course corrected to improve their public esteem. Beyond his reputation or ranking, Donald Trumps very presidency may alter perceptions of presidential legacies as his unique approach to the office continues to surprise.Current Pennsylvania House districts New Pennsylvania House districts Current

Districts New

districts Vote margin Dem. 15 30 Rep. 15 30 Other 15 30

Perhaps no event will do more to reshape the fight for control of the House than the new congressional map just released by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

At stake was the fate of a Republican gerrymander that intended to cement a 13-5 Republican advantage in an evenly divided state. Now the Republicans will have little to no advantage at all.

Democrats couldnt have asked for much more from the new map. Its arguably even better for them than the maps they proposed themselves. Over all, a half-dozen competitive Republican-held congressional districts move to the left, endangering several incumbent Republicans, one of whom may now be all but doomed to defeat, and improving Democratic standing in two open races.

Based on recent election results, the new congressional map comes very close to achieving partisan balance.

Current

map New

map 2016 presidential election Districts won 6 12 8 10 Median vote Trump +9 Trump +6 Efficiency gap +14 Rep. +3 Rep. 2012 presidential election Districts won 5 13 9 9 Median vote Romney +5 Romney +1 Efficiency gap +21 Rep. +3 Rep. *Figures are rounded

In general, partisan balance is not usually a goal when redistricting. You could certainly argue that partisan balance and maximizing the number of competitive districts should be among the criteria, but, in general, they are not. Instead, a nonpartisan map usually means a partisan-blind map. It strives for compact districts that respect communities of interest, with little regard for the partisan outcome.

A decision to pursue partisan balance in Pennsylvania would be particularly significant because Democrats are at a clear geographic disadvantage. They waste a lopsided number of votes in heavily Democratic Philadelphia and Pittsburgh; the Republicans dont waste as many votes in their best areas, and so the rest of the state (and therefore its districts) leans Republican. As a result, a partisan-blind map will tend to favor the Republicans by a notable amount.

The new Pennsylvania map released Monday meets every standard nonpartisan criteria. Its compact, minimizes county or municipal splits and preserves communities of interest. But it consistently makes subtle choices that suggest that partisan balance may have been an important consideration.

The courts apparent prioritization of partisan balance is something of a surprise, since the courts order didnt specify that partisan balance was an objective for the new map. If true, it would help explain why the map is even more favorable to the Democrats than the plans that Democrats submitted themselves. Republicans in the State Legislature will probably be deeply upset and could try to challenge the new maps in federal court.

On the other hand, the new map is quite fair if its judged based on the relationship between seats won and the statewide popular vote. By that measure, it may still tilt slightly to the Republicans. If you value partisan fairness, you can cheer the result. If you think maps should be partisan-blind, you can argue that the map was drawn to the advantage of Democrats.

Heres how it shook out, district by district.

Current District 7 New District 5 Current District Clinton +2 New district Clinton +28 Vote margin Dem. 15 30 Rep. 15 30 Other 15 30

The old moose-and-antlers-like Seventh District might have been the most gerrymandered district in the nation. Now not even the most imaginative child could come up with something other than cloud if the new Fifth drifted by in the sky.

The new Fifth might ultimately prove to be as glamorous as its predecessor, albeit in a very different career as an exemplar for nonpartisan redistricting. Its compact and follows jurisdictional lines. It includes all of Delaware County. It represents a natural political community: the Philadelphia suburbs.

This is now a safely Democratic district. Hillary Clinton won the new Seventh by nearly 30 points, and it's hard to imagine a Republican winning these well-educated and diverse suburbs in anything like this political environment.

This would have been a huge loss to Republicans a year ago. Now, its less painful. Democrats were probably favored to win the prior iteration of this district anyway, since it narrowly voted for Mrs. Clinton and the incumbent, Patrick Meehan, announced last month that he wouldnt seek re-election.

Current District 15 New District 7 Current District Trump +8 New district Clinton +1 Vote margin Dem. 15 30 Rep. 15 30 Other 15 30

The old 15th District wasnt as easily caricatured as the old Seventh. But the old crayfish-like 15th was just about as likely to receive a makeover to the advantage of the Democrats.

The previous map split the Lehigh Valley, a Democratic-tilting urban area that naturally anchors a congressional district, and added a long, deeply Republican tail to the west. Together, it was enough to make a safe district for Charlie Dent, a moderate Republican who never faced a serious contest.

Now Republicans are probably underdogs to hold the new Seventh. Mr. Dent retired last September, and the new district is considerably more Democratic without its tail. The Lehigh Valley is united, the crawdad tail amputated and replaced by diverse, Democratic-leaning parts of southern Monroe County.

The decision to push the new Seventh into Monroe, rather than heavily Republican Carbon County, was a highly favorable choice for the Democrats. Its the difference between making this a Clinton district and a Trump district.

Its a perfectly defensible choice. But as youll see, thats a choice that gets made over and over again  and part of why it seems reasonable to argue that this map was drawn with statewide partisan balance in mind.

Current District 6 New District 6 Current District Clinton +1 New district Clinton +9 Vote margin Dem. 15 30 Rep. 15 30 Other 15 30

If any single district was poised to determine whether the new congressional map was considered good or bad for Republicans or Democrats, it was probably the Sixth.

It is not the states most famous gerrymander. And since it already narrowly voted for Mrs. Clinton, it wouldn't seem like the most important question looming over an effort to undo a Republican partisan gerrymander.

But the Sixth poses a challenge for any map drawer. And unlike the Seventh or the 15th, which were bound to lurch toward the left, the Sixth could have evolved to the advantage of either party.

The issue is simple: The five core counties of the Philadelphia suburbs contain enough people for 5.7 congressional districts. The first five are easy enough, but the Sixth, which would presumably include the final seven-tenths of a district from the Philadelphia area and then three-tenths from somewhere else, is hard to draw. Alone, none of the adjacent counties combine with the outermost Philadelphia suburbs to create a natural district that represents a community of interest.

More important, the population at the periphery of the Philadelphia metropolitan area is politically diverse. Theres heavily conservative Amish Country, the working-class Democratic town of Reading and potentially the Democratic town of Lancaster. Depending on which areas are added, the result could be a strongly Republican or strongly Democratic district.

No option is obviously superior to another, and so the demonstration maps proposed by Pennsylvania's Republicans and Democrats produced highly divergent partisan outcomes from fundamentally similar districts.

In the end, the new Pennsylvania map takes the Democratic-leaning route into Berks County and toward the heavily Democratic town of Reading. The result is a district that voted for Mrs. Clinton by nine points. It is fair to say that the incumbent representative, Ryan Costello, is in very serious trouble, and one wonders whether he will even be inclined to seek re-election.

Current District 16 New District 11 Current District Trump +7 New district Trump +26 Vote margin Dem. 15 30 Rep. 15 30 Other 15 30

The flip side of Pennsylvanias Sixth is the 16th. It sits just west of the Philadelphia suburbs in Lancaster County, and whatever didn't fall into the new Sixth was likely to end up in the old 16th. A more Democratic Sixth, for instance, would therefore yield a more Republican 16th and vice versa.

The district is naturally Republican; Lancaster County has voted Republican in all but one presidential election since 1860. But the current district is relatively competitive, since it stretches out to relieve other suburban Republicans of relatively Democratic parts of Chester and Berks Counties. The incumbent Republican, the first-term representative Lloyd Smucker, was potentially somewhat vulnerable on the current map.

Without the burden of helping out his Republican colleagues, Mr. Smuckers new 11th District moves to the right on the new map.

More surprising than the territory it gave up, though, is the territory it added: the heavily conservative countryside in York County. The formation of this deeply conservative district is a defensible choice but, again, one that works to the advantage of the Democrats by creating a Republican vote-sink. It winds up making it a lot harder for the Republican Scott Perry, who represents our next district.

Current District 4 New District 10 Current District Trump +21 New district Trump +9 Vote margin Dem. 15 30 Rep. 15 30 Other 15 30

Perhaps no Republican will be more surprised by the new map than Mr. Perry, an incumbent from safely conservative York County. Most of the demonstration maps kept him in a safely Republican district. But now his territory in northern York County has been added to the competitive Harrisburg area.

The result is a somewhat competitive district: The new 10th voted for Mr. Trump by nine points and for Mitt Romney by seven points in 2012. Given how much new territory hell have to represent, its possible Mr. Perry will have a tough race. Theres also an outside possibility hell choose to run against Mr. Smucker in the 16th, which would set up a tough primary race there and also open up the 10th to the Democrats.

Current District 8 New District 1 Current District Even New district Clinton +2 Vote margin Dem. 15 30 Rep. 15 30 Other 15 30

If Pennsylvanias Seventh was the battleground district that was most obviously going to change, Pennsylvania's Eighth was the battleground likeliest to stay about the same.

The old Eighth District is so reasonable-looking that it almost appeared out of place on the map. It includes all of Bucks County, then juts across the Montgomery County line to get the additional 80,000 people it needs for population equality.

Democrats complain that those 80,000 people lean Republican, enough to flip Democratic-tilting Bucks County to a district that barely voted for Mr. Trump and Mr. Romney. But its a minor inconvenience at worst compared with the burden Democrats face elsewhere in the state.

The new First District preserves the core of Pennsylvanias Eighth and keeps Bucks County intact. But it now adds more Democratic territory from central Montgomery County, so going by 2016 results, its now a Clinton-leaning district instead of a Trump-leaning one.

Over all, its a small but potentially significant change in such a competitive district. The Republican incumbent, the freshman Brian Fitzpatrick, is likely to face a competitive race. Its the sort of race that could be decided by the subtle shift ordered Monday.

Current District 18 New District 14 Current District Trump +20 New district Trump +29 Vote margin Dem. 15 30 Rep. 15 30 Other 15 30

Pennsylvanias 18th would have been an afterthought a few months ago. Its a heavily Republican district now, and it would have been under just about any new map.

But the districts precise alignment became a lot more significant with the Republican Rick Saccone and the Democrat Conor Lamb locked in a competitive race for a special congressional election here next month.

The biggest question: whether the district would include much of southern Allegheny County, where Mr. Lamb resides along with many of the districts Democratic-leaning voters. Without Allegheny County, a Lamb win in March might not mean much for November. He might live far from the new district, and it would be more conservative for good measure.

In the end, thats exactly what happened. Mr. Lamb has been drawn out of the new 14th, the most natural successor to the 18th. The district has also moved to the right, and voted for Mr. Trump by 29 points. On the other hand, the district has added traditionally Democratic Fayette County, and its potentially competitive. There were single-digit races here for state treasurer and auditor in 2016.

The good news for Mr. Lamb, though, is that he now lives in the new 17th District, and that might be an even better opportunity for him than the old 18th.

Current District 12 New District 17 Current District Trump +21 New district Trump +3 Vote margin Dem. 15 30 Rep. 15 30 Other 15 30

Mr. Lamb wouldnt have enjoyed running in the deeply conservative, hammer-like 12th District. It certainly dealt a big blow to Democrats; before redistricting, the area was represented by two Democrats.

The new map creates a highly competitive district consolidated entirely within the suburbs west of Pittsburgh. It voted for Mr. Trump by just 2.5 points in 2016 and voted for Democrats in downballot races that year.

This is probably a better district for Democrats than they would have hoped for. Other versions of this district might have comfortably voted for Mr. Trump, but the district scoops up several Democratic-leaning suburbs, including Mr. Lambs hometown, and avoids more Republican suburbs due north of Pittsburgh.

Keith Rothfus, the Republican incumbent, will now find himself in a very difficult race.

Current District 17 New District 8 Current District Trump +10 New district Trump +10 Vote margin Dem. 15 30 Rep. 15 30 Other 15 30

The octopus-like 17th District was one of Pennsylvanias least aesthetically pleasing congressional districts. The new 17th looks significantly different, but it might not wind up voting differently at all.

The current 17th looks like an octopus thanks to the quirk of the Democrat Tim Holdens winning re-election in 2010. He was the only Democrat from northeast Pennsylvania to survive the Republican sweep that year, but he represented a conservative area (his previous district included the octopus's conservative body). The result was that his district was never a true Democratic vote-sink, even after Republicans joined his conservative home county with tentacles stretching to far-flung Democratic urban areas.

The new district trades out the conservative body of the octopus for similarly conservative territory closer to the districts urban core in Scranton, resulting in no real shift in the overall partisan makeup of the district.

On the prior map, the Democratic representative Matt Cartwright was favored to win re-election. Theres some chance that swapping out familiar for unfamiliar conservative territory will dim his re-election prospects, but in this political environment he remains a favorite.

Current District 1 New District 2 Current District Clinton +61 New district Clinton +48 Vote margin Dem. 15 30 Rep. 15 30 Other 15 30

Pennsylvanias Second is entirely within the city of Philadelphia, which is only significant because it now includes the northeast Philadelphia residence of the Democratic representative Brendan Boyle.

This isnt as big a problem for Democrats as it would have been a few months ago, since Representative Robert Brady chose not to seek re-election. If he had run, it might have set up a primary between Mr. Boyle and Mr. Brady, but as things are, Mr. Boyle will probably run for this seat.

Current District 13 New District 4 Current District Clinton +34 New district Clinton +19 Vote margin Dem. 15 30 Rep. 15 30 Other 15 30

If Mr. Boyle does run for the Philadelphia-based Second District, the Montgomery County-based Fourth District will most likely be an open contest (Mr. Boyles old 13th District included much of Montgomery County, along with northeastern Philadelphia). Democrats will be heavily favored to hold this seat in 2018, but in other political conditions it could be somewhat competitive.

Current District 2 New District 3 Current District Clinton +83 New district Clinton +84 Vote margin Dem. 15 30 Rep. 15 30 Other 15 30

The new Third District, which includes much of Philadelphia, will be one of the most Democratic districts in the country.

Current District 3 New District 16 Current District Trump +26 New district Trump +20 Vote margin Dem. 15 30 Rep. 15 30 Other 15 30

Pennsylvanias Third was bound to move at least somewhat to the left once traditionally Democratic Erie County was reunified, but whether it would become a true battleground district hinged on the fate of the Pittsburgh suburbs.

In the end, most of the Democratic-leaning areas northwest of Pittsburgh were piled into the old 12th, leaving more conservative areas to the Republican Mike Kelly, who will most likely survive this somewhat more Democratic district.

Current District 5 New District 15 Current District Trump +29 New district Trump +43 Vote margin Dem. 15 30 Rep. 15 30 Other 15 30

The Republican Glenn Thompsons district was already safely Republican, but it will be even safer now that it is not assisting Mr. Kelly by splitting Erie County.

Current District 9 New District 13 Current District Trump +43 New district Trump +46 Vote margin Dem. 15 30 Rep. 15 30 Other 15 30

The new 13th will remain safely Republican.

Current District 10 New District 12 Current District Trump +36 New district Trump +36 Vote margin Dem. 15 30 Rep. 15 30 Other 15 30

The new 12th adds State College (home to Penn State), but it gives up Democratic-leaning parts of northeastern Pennsylvania. It remains safely Republican.

Current District 11 New District 9 Current District Trump +24 New district Trump +34 Vote margin Dem. 15 30 Rep. 15 30 Other 15 30

Conservative Democrats were competitive in this area a decade ago; its where Mr. Holden won re-election to the inconvenience of Republicans in 2010, but its a stretch after years of Republican gains.

Current District 14 New District 18 Current District Clinton +35 New district Clinton +27 Vote margin Dem. 15 30 Rep. 15 30 Other 15 30The future budget for the CAP (Common Agricultural Policy) will be debated this week in the agriculture committee of the European Parliament as concerns mount over attempts to slash the budget in light of Brexit and new demands for EU funds, Mairead McGuinness, MEP for Offaly and first Vice-President of the European Parliament has warned.

This week Commissioner Oettinger who is responsible for the budget will come to the agriculture committee to explain the future financing of the EU, including agriculture policy.

The European Commission has just outlined options for the CAP in the post 2020 period, including the possibility of a 30pc cut in funding. This is an alarming prospect for farmers, many of whom rely on EU support payments for their livelihoods, Ms McGuinness said.

She said it also flies in the face of demands from farmers for an increase in the CAP budget which is being voiced at meetings around the country held to get feedback on reform of the CAP post 2020. For farmers the most important issue for the future is securing a strong budget for agriculture, she said.

The MEP said there are calls for more spending on migration and security at EU level, with a realization that new policies require new money. Equally in agriculture, there are new demands to be met, including climate action, yet there are insufficient calls for new funds to meet these challenges.

She said she will be putting this point to the Commissioner this week, including giving him the feedback of farmers attending the nationwide CAP consultation meetings in Ireland.

Commissioner Oettinger is right to spell out the options for future financing of EU policies and to warn Member States that if there are insufficient funds coming from member states then existing policies, including cohesion and agriculture could suffer badly.

The CAP budget supports sustainable farming and food production, high food safety and environmental standards, it also supports rural regions and it is vital for farm viability.

While there are different views about the future share and orientation of the CAP post 2020, there is a very strong belief among many stakeholders that slashing the budget is not the way forward and would not just undermine farming but also hit rural regions. By spelling out the harsh realities of the budget situation, the Commission is placing the responsibility firmly back on member states who hold the key to a solution.

Ms McGuinness said Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said Ireland is willing to consider an increased contribution to the EU budget, depending on how the money is spent.

This is a welcome and important signal but we need other member states to also come forward and commit to a strong centrally funded CAP. That means that countries must face up to the reality that more money is needed to fund the EU in the post Brexit scenario, she said.5 facts you should know about Chhatrapati Shivaji, the bravest Maratha ever

India

oi-Deepika

By Deepika

Shivaji Jayanti, the birth anniversary of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, a ruler who carved a niche for himself with his guerrilla tactics is being celebrated today.

Born in the hill-fort of Shivneri, near the city of Junnar in Pune district, he carved out an enclave from the declining Adilshahi sultanate of Bijapur that formed the genesis of the Maratha Empire. He was crowned as the Chhatrapati (Monarch) of his realm at Raigad in 1674 and subsequently, established a progressive civil rule with the help of a disciplined military and well-structured administrative organisations.

Shivaji is well-known for his innovative military tactics that centred around non-conventional methods leveraging strategic factors like geography, speed, and surprise to defeat his more powerful enemies.

Chhatrapati Shivaji is known as a torchbearer of good governance and as an accomplished administrator.

Remembering the greatest Maratha ruler on his birthday, here are some interesting facts about Shivaji.

A secular leader

At a time when all kingdoms were strictly sticking to their religious beliefs and doing away with others', Shivaji was surprisingly very accommodating of all religions. He helped people who wanted to convert to Hinduism, one such instance was when his daughter Sakhubai was married to her first-cousin Mahadji, who had been converted to Islam by Mughal emperor Aurangzeb.

Shivaji helped Aurangzeb conquer Bijapur

Born in the hill-fort of Shivneri, near the city of Junnar in Pune district, he carved out an enclave from the declining Adilshahi sultanate of Bijapur that formed the genesis of the Maratha Empire. He was crowned as the Chhatrapati (Monarch) of his realm at Raigad in 1674 and subsequently, established a progressive civil rule with the help of a disciplined military and well-structured administrative organisations.

Known as a mountain rat

Chhatrapati Shivaji was called as the 'Mountain Rat' and was widely known for his guerrilla warfare tactics. He was called so because of his awareness in geography of his land, and guerrilla tactics like raiding, ambushing and surprise attacks on his enemies. He knew the importance of a good army, and with his skills, expanded his father's 2000 soldier army to 10,000 soldiers.

First to realise importance of having a naval force

Known as the Father of Indian Navy, Shivaji was the first to realise the importance of having a naval force, and therefore he strategically established a navy and forts at the coastline to defend the Konkan side of Maharashtra. The Jaigad, Vijaydurg, Sindhudurg and other such forts still stand to testify his efforts and ideas.

Stood for the honour of women

Shivaji was a dependable supporter of women and their honour. He opposed all kinds of violence, harassment and dishonour against women. Anyone under his rule caught violating woman's rights was severely punished. In fact, women of captured territories were also released unharmed, and with integrity.

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Story first published: Monday, February 19, 2018, 10:08 [IST]Bengaluru, Mysuru people dont know how to speak proper Kannada, says Anantkumar Hegde

India

oi-Oneindia Staff

By Oneindia Staff

Bengaluru, Feb 19: Union minister Anantkumar Hegde is controversy's favourite child, literally. It is not that controversies chase the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member of Parliament (MP) from Uttara Kannada constituency in Karnataka.

Rather it is the other way round, as the cabinet minister in the Narendra Modi government loves to court controversies by making contentious statements every now and then.

After stating that the BJP government at the Centre is planning to remove the word "secular" from the Constitution, the Union minister of skill development and entrepreneurship has courted controversy over his comments on Kannada.

Recently at a function hosted at a polytechnic college in Dakshina Kannada district's Puttur, the motormouth minister known for his polarising comments against minorities stated that only those from Dakshina Kannada, Uttara Kannada and Shivamogga speak chaste Kannada. According to the minister others don't speak Kannada at all.

"Even Bengaluru and Mysuru people do not know how to speak proper Kannada," Hegde said.

The minister's latest comments have once again brought trouble for the BJP ahead of the Assembly elections in Karnataka. The Assembly elections in the southern state are scheduled in April-May.

Hegde's statements on Kannada have been condemned by both the Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular). The opponents of the BJP have termed his latest comments as "stupid". Several pro-Kannada groups have threatened to launch a protest demanding an apology from the minister.

Even Hegde's party colleagues have disagreed with his remarks. "The comments made by the minister were tasteless. It has hurt all Kannadigas, including me. The language has many dialects and all are sweet. Action should be taken against him," said senior BJP leader and former law minister S Suresh Kumar.

Reports say, the BJP's state leaders have asked the high command to take action against Hegde or at least discipline him ahead of the Assembly elections.

Last year, while slamming those who claim themselves to be secular in the country, Hegde, known for his communally-laced remarks in the past, at a function in Kukanur town in Koppal district of Karnataka stated that he respects the Constitution but "it will be changed in the days to come". "We are here for that and that is why we have come."

After facing severe criticism, later he apologised for his comments in the Lok Sabha.

Karnataka Assembly Election dates Date of notification April 17 Last date to file nominations April 24 Last date to withdraw nominations April 27 Date of polling May 12 Date of counting May 15

OneIndia NewsInternational Vedic School to be built on banks of Bhagirathi

School reopening: Delhi schools allowed to partially open for Class 10-12 students from tomorrow, Details here

School reopening: DDMA recommends phase-wise resumption for all classes in Delhi

Schools in Delhi to re-open in phased manner from September 1 onwards

Delhi schools to have staggered lunch breaks from Sep 1

Bihar: 2 bombs found at main gate of government school in Gaya

India

oi-Deepika

By Deepika

Two bombs were found in front of the main gate of a Government school in Paraiya in Gaya district of Bihar on Monday, news agency ANI reported.

The incident comes days after a powerful bomb was recovered near gate of a school at Manjhar village.

Principal of the school informed the police about a suspicious object kept near the school gate when he came to know about it from students.

Jawans of Sasashtra Seema Bal (SSB) reached on the spot and after preliminary observation of the object, called bomb disposal squad.

In January two live bombs were detected near Mahabodhi temple in Bodhgaya.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had said that those found guilty of planting bombs in Bodh Gaya would not be spared.

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Story first published: Monday, February 19, 2018, 10:27 [IST]Can't wear shoes to exam halls in Bihar, 'novel' initiative to tackle cheating

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

In a state which has made headlines many a times for malpractice during the examinations, the Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) has come up with a novel idea. The BSEB has directed students to not enter exam halls with shoes or socks and instead write exams only in slippers.

It was observed in the past that students used to hide chits or notes in shoes and socks to cheat during the exams. Since it is time consuming to check shoes and socks of every student, the BSEB has barred students from wearing shoes to exam halls.

"It is time consuming to make students take off their socks and shoes to conduct a check that is why such a decision was taken.The system is already in practice. Exams are being held in a fair manner," state education minister told news agency ANI.

Nearly 17.70 lakh students will sit for the Class 10 exams at 1,426 centres across the state starting from February 21. Nearly 1,000 students were penalised for cheating during the Class 12 exams that concluded last Saturday, a Hindustan Times report said.

""There is nothing new in this order to students appearing in Class 10 exams from February 21. It is a usual practice in other examinations held in the state. The board decided to adopt the practice from this year," an HT report quoted BSEB chairman Anand Kishor as saying.

In recent times, students have also tried to sneak in calculators and other electronic devices to the exams halls. With the advent of technology and gadgets becoming smaller and smaller, examiners face a tough task to make absolutely sure that exams are held in fair manner.

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Story first published: Monday, February 19, 2018, 10:49 [IST]Canadas Trudeau says he discussed with PM Modi recent protests, importance of resolving issues through dialog

Following Trudeaus call to PM Modi, India to supply 5 lakh doses of vaccines to Canada

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to meet Amarinder Singh on Feb 21 in Amritsar

India

oi-Madhuri

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will meet Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh on February 21 in Amritsar in an effort to strengthen the connection between Punjab and Canada.

Taking to twitter, Singh said, "Look forward to meeting Canadian Prime Minister @JustinTrudeau in Amritsar on Wednesday. I'm hopeful that this meeting will help strengthen the close Indo-Canadian business ties as well as the deep-rooted people-to-people relations between our two countries".

Trudeau had arrived in India on Saturday evening on a week-long visit. He is accompanied by his wife Sophie Gregoire Trudeau and three children -- Hadrien, Ella-Grace Margaret and Xavier James Trudeau - besides prominent members of his cabinet.

The Chief Minister had already issued instructions to the state administration to roll out the red carpet for the visiting dignitary's February 21 visit but was awaiting permission from the Ministry of External Affairs to hold a structured meeting.

The CM had last year also refused to meet Canadian defence minister Harjit Sajjan during his visit to the state and has also called out members of Trudeau's cabinet for their ties with the Khalistani movement. But on Monday, he appreciated Trueau's efforts in strengthening the connection between Punjab and Canada.

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Story first published: Monday, February 19, 2018, 22:48 [IST]Chennai court convicts techie in rape and murder of minor

India

oi-Chennabasaveshwar

By Chennabasaveshwar

Chennai court on Monday convicted 23-year-old techie in the 2017 rape and murder case of a minor . Delivering the verdict in the double-murder case, a Chengalpet court examined 30 witnesses, 45 documents and 19 pieces of evidence. The quantum of his sentence is yet to be announced.

According to a The NewsMinute report, he has been found guilty under sections 363 (kidnapping), 366 (kidnapping, abduction), 354-b (assault or use of criminal force on woman with intent to disrobe), 302 (murder), and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) of the IPC and section 8 read with 7, 6, 5(m) of POCSO (punishment for aggravated sexual assault).

S Daswant was accused of killing his mother, and raping and murdering a 7-year-old girl. Chennai police caught Daswant in Mumbai who was on the run after committing murders.

A year ago, a seven-year-old girl, was found brutally raped and murdered in Chennai in February 2017. Daswant, was taken into custody in connection with the crime, but let out on bail citing "technical ground" in September 2017. Days later, he allegedly murdered his mother.

The minor victim was allegedly sexually assaulted and murdered in Daswant's apartment complex in Chennai. He had allegedly lured the child into his apartment - and suffocated her to death after raping her. He then put her body in a travel bag, bought petrol, and then burnt her body on a highway, according to Chennai Police.

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Story first published: Monday, February 19, 2018, 16:38 [IST]UP seeks urgent listing of plea in SC against Karnataka HC order quashing notice to Twitter official

Congress MLA's son Mohammed Haris Nalapad sent to 2-days police custody

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

A Bengaluru Court on Monday sent Youth Congress leader Mohammed Haris Nalapad, who was accused of assaulting a youth in Bengaluru, to two-days police custody. Nalapad had earlier today surrendered before the police.

Nalapad, son of Karnataka Congress MLA NA Haris, was on Sunday expelled as the Bengaluru District Youth Congress General Secretary after it was reported that he allegedly beating up a person in a restaurant in Bengaluru.

"Mohammed Haris Nalapad, Gen Sec of B'luru city Youth Congress, has been expelled from Congress party for 6 years. Atrocities in any form is not tolerated in @INCKarnataka. Legal actions have been taken against those responsible. The victim will be served justice," KPCC chief G Parameshwara tweeted on Sunday.

After the FIR was filed, it was reported that Nalapad had gone missing.

Bengaluru: BJP workers protest outside Cubbon Park police station against Congress MLA NA Haris's son Mohammed Haris Nalapad who is accused of allegedly thrashing a man in a pub. pic.twitter.com/owb9xfgcqD  ANI (@ANI) February 19, 2018

The incident happened on Saturday night when Nalapad, with his friends, walked into a pub in UB City around 10 pm. According to reports, the victim, identified as Vidwath was having dinner in the same pub with his friend. Nalapad and his friends reportedly told Vidwath, who had a plaster on one of his legs, to "sit properly".

[Mohammed Haris Nalapad expelled from Congress for assaulting a youth]

After a heated exchange, Nalapad and his friends allegedly attacked Vidwath and beat him up. The victim was rushed to the nearby Mallya Hospital for treatment, but the group reportedly followed him there and allegedly beat him up again. Nalapad and his friends allegedly also tried to attack the victim's brother.

Reacting to the incident, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said the offenders would be punished "regardless of who they are".

OneIndia NewsBJPs Priyanka Tibrewal to take on Mamata in Bhabanipur

Union ministers Pralhad Joshi, Tomar likely to visit Gujarat today as BJP central observers

BJP will get bigger mandate in 2022 UP Election: A K Sharma

RSS, BJP brokers of religion: Rahul Gandhi slams after targeting Mohan Bhagwat

Gujarat Municipal Poll: Out of 75 Nagarpalikas BJP wins 47, down from 59 in 2013

India

oi-Chennabasaveshwar

By Chennabasaveshwar

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has won 47 and Congress won 16 of 75 Nagarpalikas on Monday. NCP won 1 and BSP 1 and (in) 6 no one got majority and independents got four. The 75 state municipal corporations that went to polls saw a voter turnout of 64.4 per cent.

In the last elections, BJP had won 59 of the 75 municipal corporations. Congress added fiver more nagapalikas to its tally.

"Win in the number of nagapalikas and the total number of councillors has gone up for the Congress. The party has kept up its impressive run after the assembly elections," Congress leader Alpesh Thakor said.

The BJP, on its part, said the results proved that the voters have rejected the Congress party.

The poll was held on February 17 in 28 districts of Gujarat. Rajkot was reported to have the lowest turnout at 50.17 per cent while Dahod stands at 76.67 per cent, the highest recorded in the state.

Newest First Oldest First Final tally:BJP has won 47 and Congress won 16 of 75 Nagarpalikas on Monday. NCP won 1 and BSP 1 and (in) 6 no one got majority and independents got 4. The BJP repeated its winning performance in the municipal polls, but saw a decline in its seats Out of 72 Nagarpalikas BJP wins 47, Congress 16. Happy with Congress' performance,says Congress MLA Alpesh Thakor In Mahisagar district, Congress wins Lunawada Nagarpalika. Congress wins 14 seats, BJP 11,NCP wins 1 seat and Others win 2 seats. Panchmahal district: BJP wins Halol Nagarpalika. BJP wins 25 out of 36 seats. Congress 7 and Others win 4 seats. BJP wins 1173 Nagarpalika seats, Congress 617 Rajkot district: BJP wins Jetpur Nagarpalika. Out of 44 seats, BJP wins 29, Congress 3 and Others win 12 seats. BJP wins Santrampur Nagarpalika in Mahisagar district. BJP wins 14 seats, Congress 5 and others win 5 seats. As per Election Commission Report BJP wins 928 seats, Congress 502 seats and Others win 42 seats. BJP wins 26 Nagarpalika and Congress wins 8 Congress wins Bhayavadar Nagarpalika. Out of 24 seats Congress wins 15 and BJP wins only 9 seats. BJP wins 11 seats in Mahudha Nagarpalika. Congress wins 5 seats, and 8. No clear winner in Chhota Udaipur Nagarpalika. Congress wins 8 seats, BSP wins 9, BJP 4 and Others win 5 seats. Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) wins 2 out of 28 seats. BJP wins Balasinor Nagarpalika in Mahisagar district. BJP wins 14 seats, Congres 9, Samajwadi Party 4 seats and NCP 1 Congress wins Chorwad Nagarpalika in Junagadh district. Congress-17, BJP-7 BJP wins Kheralu Nagarpalika in Mehsana district. BJP wins 16 out of 24 seats, NCP 2 and others 6. Mehsana district was the epicentre of Patel community movement for reservation led by Hardik Patel. In the Sabarkantha municipality, the BJP has bagged 17 seats, while Congress has grabbed 3 seats. BJP is leading in 41 municipalities, while Congress in 27. BJP wins 27 out of 28 seats in Vadnagar Nagarpalika,PM Narendra Modi's hometown. Congress wins 13 out of 28 seats of Dhandhuka Nagarpalika. BJP wins 9 seats and Others win 1 seat. Counting underway for 1 seat. BJP wins 20 out of 36 seats of Upleta Nagarpalika in Rajkot district BJP wins 16 out of 28 seats of Chhaya Nagarplika, Congress wins 12 seats in Porbandar district BJP wins Chalala municipality from Congress, retains power in Jafrabad and Lathi municipalities in Amreli district. The BJP wins Dwarka municipality in Devbhumi Dwarka district, retains Gadhda municipality in Botad district Congress wins Salaya municipality in Devbhumi Dwarka district.The civic body dominated by minority community voters The BJP is leading in Dwarka municipality in Dwarka district, Congress has won one ward and leading in the other in Mehmedabad municipality BJP leading in 37 municipalities and Congress leading in 26 municipalities BJP and Congress win four each out of 11 municipalities. Others win three municipalities. BJP wins Jasdan municipality in Rajkot district by winning 23 seats out of 28. Congress had managed to retain Jasdan Assembly seat in the last assembly elections. The Congress is currently leading in Mahuda and Chaklasi Municipalities in Kheda district. In Jamnagar district, the Congress wins in Ward 5 of Kalawad municipality. BJP wins from ward no 3 of Vadnagar Nagarpalika. Congress wins from ward no 5 of Kalavad Nagarpalika in Jamnagar district. The latest trend in 63 municipalities: BJP leads in 34, Congress leading in 26 seats and others leading in 3 municipalities The Congress is currently leading in Mahuda and Chaklasi Municipalities in Kheda district. BJP wins Jasdan municipality in Rajkot district by winning 23 seats out of 28. Congress had managed to retain Jasdan Assembly seat in the last assembly elections. BJP and Congress win four each out of 11 municipalities. Others win three municipalities. BJP leading in 37 municipalities and Congress leading in 26 municipalities The BJP is leading in Dwarka municipality in Dwarka district, Congress has won one ward and leading in the other in Mehmedabad municipality Congress wins Salaya municipality in Devbhumi Dwarka district.The civic body dominated by minority community voters The BJP wins Dwarka municipality in Devbhumi Dwarka district, retains Gadhda municipality in Botad district BJP wins Chalala municipality from Congress, retains power in Jafrabad and Lathi municipalities in Amreli district. BJP wins 16 out of 28 seats of Chhaya Nagarplika, Congress wins 12 seats in Porbandar district BJP wins 20 out of 36 seats of Upleta Nagarpalika in Rajkot district Congress wins 13 out of 28 seats of Dhandhuka Nagarpalika. BJP wins 9 seats and Others win 1 seat. Counting underway for 1 seat. BJP wins 27 out of 28 seats in Vadnagar Nagarpalika,PM Narendra Modi's hometown. BJP is leading in 41 municipalities, while Congress in 27. In the Sabarkantha municipality, the BJP has bagged 17 seats, while Congress has grabbed 3 seats. BJP wins Kheralu Nagarpalika in Mehsana district. BJP wins 16 out of 24 seats, NCP 2 and others 6. Mehsana district was the epicentre of Patel community movement for reservation led by Hardik Patel. Congress wins Chorwad Nagarpalika in Junagadh district. Congress-17, BJP-7 BJP wins Balasinor Nagarpalika in Mahisagar district. BJP wins 14 seats, Congres 9, Samajwadi Party 4 seats and NCP 1 No clear winner in Chhota Udaipur Nagarpalika. Congress wins 8 seats, BSP wins 9, BJP 4 and Others win 5 seats. Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) wins 2 out of 28 seats. BJP wins 11 seats in Mahudha Nagarpalika. Congress wins 5 seats, and 8. Congress wins Bhayavadar Nagarpalika. Out of 24 seats Congress wins 15 and BJP wins only 9 seats. As per Election Commission Report BJP wins 928 seats, Congress 502 seats and Others win 42 seats. BJP wins 26 Nagarpalika and Congress wins 8 BJP wins Santrampur Nagarpalika in Mahisagar district. BJP wins 14 seats, Congress 5 and others win 5 seats. Rajkot district: BJP wins Jetpur Nagarpalika. Out of 44 seats, BJP wins 29, Congress 3 and Others win 12 seats. BJP wins 1173 Nagarpalika seats, Congress 617 Panchmahal district: BJP wins Halol Nagarpalika. BJP wins 25 out of 36 seats. Congress 7 and Others win 4 seats. In Mahisagar district, Congress wins Lunawada Nagarpalika. Congress wins 14 seats, BJP 11,NCP wins 1 seat and Others win 2 seats.

OneIndia NewsInduction of Congress MLAs into BJP is death of Parrikar's legacy, says outgoing Goa deputy CM

'If needed, Goa CM Manohar Parrikar to be sent to US hospital for treatment'

India

oi-Madhuri

Goa Deputy Speaker and BJP MLA Michael Lobo on Monday said that the chief minister Manohar Parrikar, who is currently undergoing treatment at Mumbai hospital can be even shifted to US hospital, 'if needed'.

Speaking to reporters, Lobo said,'We want him. We will do everything we can. He could be taken to the US if need be."

Parrikar was on Thursday rushed to Mumbai's Lilavati hospital after he complained of stomach ache. It was then thought to be a case of food poisoning. After the check-up on Wednesday, he was taken to Mumbai in a flight for further examination.

A police complaint was filed by a BJP worker against unknown persons for circulating "false news" on two occasions on February 17 and 19.

Messages circulating on social media on the above mentioned two dates expressed fears about the worst for the Chief Minister's health. But the reports were promptly denied by both BJP leaders and the Chief Minister's Office.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Monday, February 19, 2018, 19:56 [IST]If 'Saffron' is not Kamal Haasan's colour, then what is it?

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

One can never be sure what actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan is upto, but what is sure for now is that he is meeting politicians from different parties before embarking on a Tamil Nadu tour from February 21.

Today Haasan met DMDK chief Captain Vijaykanth at his office in Chennai. On Sunday evening, he met DMK president M Karunanidhi and working president MK Stalin at their residence in Chennai's Gopalapuram. Hours before that he met suprestar Rajnikanth, who is also set to take a plunge into Tamil Nadu politics.

Amid all this, reporters are having a hard day on field as Haasan just refuses to say in clear terms what precisely is the purpose of all these meetings. Media is just dying to know how Haasan will go about his entry into politics. Whether he will ally with someone or what his ideology would be are some of the questions that people are eager to know, but Haasan is mum about these as of now. The most politically significant comment he has made so far is that "Saffron is not my colour".

After meeting Rajnikanth on Sunday, he did not say in clear terms what the meeting was all about even after reporters pressed him hard to divulge the details. "It's a courtesy call, not a political meeting. I came to inform him about my political tour. He wished me good luck," Haasan said after the meeting.

When specifically asked if they were thinking about an alliance, Haasan said, "Only time will tell."

['It was a courtesy call', says Kamal Haasan after meeting Rajinikanth]

It looks like Haasan thinks that Rajnikanth may lean towards the BJP. He has not said this clearly, but some of his statements in the past seem to suggest it. Haasan had on February 11 said that his alliance with the Rajini was unlikely. While speaking at Harvard University, Haasan had said, ''Alliance with Rajinikanth is unlikely as of now", adding, "I hope Rajinikanth's politics is not saffron.''

OneIndia NewsWink row: Internet sensation Priya Prakash moves SC, wants FIR quashed against her viral song

India

oi-Madhuri

Internet sensation Priya Prakash Varrier who is starring in upcoming movie Oru Adaar Love moved to Supreme Court seeking to quash the cases filed against a song in the film that has gone viral on social media.

In their petition, they said the case violated their freedom of speech and expression and right to life and liberty.

The petition also said the original song had been part of local culture in Kerala since the 1970s, without any controversy. It said a song that had been "cherished by more than 1 crore Muslims" in Kerala cannot "suddenly offend" their sentiments.

On February 14, a group of Muslim youth from Hyderabad on Wednesday filed a complaint at Falaknuma Police Station against internet sensation Priya Prakash Varrier and the makers of the song 'Manikya Malaraya Poovi' from 'Oru Adaar Love' for allegedly hurting their sentiments. It is being alleged that the lyrics of the song, Manikya Malaraya Poovi, carry derogatory references to the Prophet and his wife.

Last week, Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan defended the song and stated that the complaint against it is "not accidental", and shows the growing intolerance towards freedom of art and free thought. Intolerance will not be allowed, be it from any quarter, he posted on Facebook.

Composed by Shaan Rahman, the video resonated with many and filled the hearts of people with nostalgia of high school romance.

With her cute articulations and million-dollar grin, Priya's performance has earned more than 1 million views, 50,000+ likes within the initial 20 hours of the melody upload on YouTube. Oru Adaar Love is directed by Omar Lulu, who shot to fame with the 2016 surprise hit Happy Wedding.

OneIndia News (with PTI inputs)Masarat Alam will remain a non-starter in J&K thanks to Centres zero tolerance towards separatism

J&K: Three civilians injured in ceasefire violation by Pakistan in Uri sector

India

oi-Madhuri

Three civilians were injured after Pakistan on Monday violated ceasefire in Jammu and Kashmir's Uri Sector. According to ANI report, heavy firing underway.

Earlier on Sunday, one army jawan was injured in ceasefire violation by the Pakistani troops in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district on Sunday evening. The violation took place in Karmarha sector along the LoC. The injured jawan has been rushed Army hospital in Poonch, said reports.

On February 6, OneIndia had reported that in the past 35 days there have been 240 incidents along the Line of Control and International Border. This is a very high figure when compared to the violations that took place in 2016. In the year 2016 228 incidents were reported while in 2017 it was 860.

OneIndia NewsUP was run by gangsters before 2017, but now such elements are behind bars, says PM Modi in Aligarh

Karnataka polls: "Choose between commission govt and mission govt," PM Modi in Mysuru

India

oi-Anusha

By Anusha Ravi

Reiterating his allegation of Siddaramaiah's administration in Karnataka being a "commission government", Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the Congress will only continue to destroy the state as long as it is in power. PM Modi who flagged off the Mysuru Udaipur Humsafar Express, addressed Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Parivarthana rally.

"I had said had said that Karnataka had a 10 per cent commission government when I spoke in Bengaluru. I received a lot of angry calls and messages from people who told me that my information was wrong. They said it was not just 10 per cent but much more than that," Prime Minister Narendra Modi attacked Siddaramaiah-led Congress government. "Do you want commission or mission government?," he asked a cheering crowd.

While highlighting Mysuru's position as a tourist destination, PM Modi announced two infrastructure projects for the cultural capital of Karnataka. A 6-lane National Highway connecting Mysuru and Bengaluru, extending 117 kms at a cost of Rs 6,400 crore was announced by Modi. The work for the same will begin in 2 stretches- Bengaluru to Nidaghatta and then to Mysuru. A satellite railway station in Nagarahalli worth Rs 800 crore was also announced.

In an attempt to appeal to the farming community in the heavily agrarian cauvery delta region, PM Modi invoked farmer leader and independent MLA K N Puttanaiah and condoled his death. (Puttaniah passed away due to a cardiac arrest on Sunday).

Paid crores to SG, RG, AICC, Karnataka Congress leader's diary reveals

PM Modi brought the spotlight back on the Congress MLC Govindaraj's dairy controversy. The dairy purportedly leaked to the media after an Income Tax raid on the minister had details of kickbacks paid to Congress High Command. "Bundles of cash and diaries are found in Congress-run Karnataka but nobody knows what is written in them. Does Karnataka want such people?," Modi asked. Taking jibes at Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah who has been launching no holds barred attacks on the Prime Minister, Modi said that the former had forgotten the lessons that Mysuru had taught him enroute Bengaluru.

While he began and concluded his speech in Kannada, PM Modi's speech throughout was in Hindi with no translator- a repeat of his rally in Bengaluru. At a time when Kannada pride is being looked at as an elections agenda, PM Modi's Hindi speech in the Kannada heartland of Mysuru raised eyebrows. Accusing the Siddaramaiah government of creating hurdles in centre's plan for Karnataka, PM Modi appealed to the people to vote BJP in the upcoming Karnataka Assembly Elections 2018. "No matter how fast we create the traffic, when there is a speed breaker, speed is slowed down. Please go to every booth and ensure that BJP is voted to power," he said appealing for a Nava Karnataka Nirmana.

Karnataka Assembly Election dates Date of notification April 17 Last date to file nominations April 24 Last date to withdraw nominations April 27 Date of polling May 12 Date of counting May 15

OneIndia NewsAmit Shah on two-day trip to Meghalaya; All set to meet all northeast CMs

Meghalaya elections: NCP candidate Jonathone N Sangma killed in IED blast, say reports

India

oi-Oneindia

By Oneindia

Shillong, Feb 19: Violence hit poll-bound Meghalaya on Sunday, as reports indicated that Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) candidate Jonathone N Sangma was killed in an improvised explosive device (IED) blast at Samanda in the state's East Garo Hills district.

In the same blast, two other men accompanying the 43-year-old deceased politician were also killed, added reports.

The Meghalaya Assembly elections are scheduled on February 27 and the violent incident has shocked the entire northeast region.

Incumbent Meghalaya chief minister Mukul Sangma condoled the NCP politician's death, however, the state's top police brass is yet to confirm the death of Sangma.

DGP SB Singh told The Indian Express that there was no confirmation that the candidate had died. "Yes, there has been a blast near Williamnagar. But we have no confirmation of the death of any candidate so far," DGP Singh said.

NCP candidate Sangma was reportedly killed on Sunday evening around 8 pm after terrorists attacked his convoy in Meghalaya's East Garo Hills district, officials were quoted as saying by PTI.

"Deeply saddened to hear about the unexpected loss of Jonathone N Sangma. My heartfelt condolences to his near and dear ones. The blood of innocents spilled by the enemies of the state will not disturb peace in Meghalaya," tweeted Meghalaya CM.

"This desperate act will not be tolerated. The perpetrators of the crime will be apprehended expeditiously and brought to book," the CM added.

The 43-year-old NCP candidate was returning after campaigning and was on his way to Williamnagar, his assembly constituency, when the convoy came under attack, reports added.

"We strongly condemn the incident and we stand by Jonathone's family at this moment. These incidents shouldn't take place in a state like Meghalaya," said Vincent Pala, working president of Meghalaya Congress Unit, and Lok Sabha MP from Shillong.

The Garo National Liberation Army, a proscribed terrorist outfit active in the state's South and East Garo Hills district, was campaigning against Jonathone Sangma.

In the 2013 elections also Jonathone Sangma had received death threats and was provided extra security based on the threat perception, a police officer said.

Along with Nagaland, the Assembly elections for the 60-member House in Meghalaya are slated to be held on February 27. On Sunday, Tripura voted for the Assembly elections. The results of all the three Assembly elections will be declared on March 3.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Monday, February 19, 2018, 6:55 [IST]Keep the faith, we are with her in this struggle: Subramanian Swamy to Kangana Ranaut

Mehbooba had got illegal ok from Nirmala Sitharaman on FIR against Major: Swamy

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

Amidst the debate on the FIR lodged against an Army Major in Kashmir, BJP leader, Subramanian Swamy has said that he had reliable information regarding the same.

In a tweet, Swamy said, " In Jammu I got reliable input that Mehbooba Mufti had indeed phoned NS (Nirmala Sitharaman) about the FIR and got her illegal ok. CM later informed J&K officers."

In Jammu I got reliable input that Mehbooba Mufti had indeed phoned NS about the FIR and got her illegal ok. CM later informed J&K officers  Subramanian Swamy (@Swamy39) February 18, 2018

There has been a huge debate over this issue since the police had registered an FIR against the Major and others. The FIR was lodged after the Army opened fire in self defence against the stone pelters at Shopian recently.

The J&K CM, Mehbooba Mufti had said that the FIR was lodged in consultation with the Defence Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman. The Major's father, a war veteran himself had moved the Supreme Court seeking to quash the FIR.

The SC had last weeks stayed the FIR. The court also made it clear that none shall be arrested in the case. The court further added that the officer will also not be called in for questioning during the pendency of the case.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Monday, February 19, 2018, 5:43 [IST]Rape case: Mumbai is still safest city for women says Sena

Mumbai: Driver arrested for molesting Marathi actress Chinmayee Surve

India

oi-Madhuri

The Driver who was allegedly molesting in a car near residence of wife of Television actor Sumeet Raghavan was arrested on Monday by police after an FIR was filed based on her complaint.

Chinmayee's husband and veteran actor, Sumeet Raghavan, had lodged a complaint with Vile Parle Police station.

The Sarabhai vs Sarabhai actor sought help to trace the culprit who was in a white BMW with the last four registration digits as 1985.

The incident took place on Monday when the actor's wife was traveling from Vile Parle Tilak School when she saw that the driver of a white BMW car which was parked nearby, started molesting in front of her.

The police said the woman attempted to nab him after seeing the act but the driver fled from the spot immediately.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Tuesday, February 20, 2018, 0:07 [IST]Its safe to say there is no Katzs Delicatessen in Seoul. In fact, until about a decade ago, local Jews relied on the local US Army base for their Jewish needs, such as Shabbat services and Passover seders, which became more difficult as security measures were heightened over the years.

Since 2008, Rabbi Osher and Mussy Litzman, South Koreas first permanent rabbi, have been the address for all things Jewish to the 500-1000 Jews living in Seoul at any given time. To Jewish diplomats, English teachers, businessmen, students and US army families living in South Koreas capital, the Chabad House is a Jewish Embassy.

Its the place where Jews come to meet other Jews, to enjoy something kosher to eat and to pray. Jewish businessmen who travel to South Korea feel comfortable booking tickets that will have them spend a weekend in Seoul, because they have where to spend Shabbat.

Eli and Miriam Tobias, a US army family, served for four and a half years in Korea. The Tobias children attended the Chabad preschool, where they learned to read, speak and understand Hebrew. They also forged close friendships with the Litzman children. The Litzman family have really created a Jewish atmosphere in Seoul, shares Miriam, without it, it would have been very hard for us to live there and raise our family.

While in Korea, the Tobias had a baby boy. His bris, held at Chabad on a Friday, was followed by Shabbat dinner for the entire community. It was magnificent, Miriam, now back at Elis home base in Arizona, recalls.

Chabad once hosted two bris ceremonies in one week, a rare occasion for the tiny Jewish community. The mohel was already on his way to the airport after performing a bris on the Litzmans own son, when the they called him, asking him to spend a few more days in Korea, as they had just been made aware of a baby boy born to one of the Israeli engineers working for aerospace and defense company, Elbit Systems.

Chabad in Korea has also hosted a wedding and a bar mitzva, all catered by Mussy and held on the front lawn of the faux-Tudor style house that plays home to the Chabad House and to the Litzmans and their seven children.

After graduating from Princeton University in 2017, Matthew Silverman is working in Seoul as the copy editor of Korea JoongAng Daily, a local English paper. He first arrived in Seoul on a Friday, and Chabad has been his home away from home since. Touched by the great lengths that Osher and Mussy go to make him, and others in the transient Jewish community, feel comfortable, Matthew fondly recalls a Wacky Mac & Torah session that the rabbi organized after he mentioned that he missed the Wacky Mac cheese dinners from home. Mussy even included different shape pastas to remind him of the real thing.

To accommodate the influx of Jewish fans, athletes and journalists, the Litzmans, who speak Korean, have opened a pop up Chabad House and kosher restaurant at the site of the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, a two and a half hour drive from Seoul. They will also operate a Jewish Room at the Olympic Village, stocked with kosher food and wine and challah for Shabbat.

For more information about Chabads Jewish services in Korea or to support the building of a mikva in Seoul, please visit www.JewishKorea.com

Rabbi Osher Litzman welcomes Jewish tourists to the 2018 Winter Olympics.

A Jewish room at Olympic Village is stocked with kosher food, wine and challah for Shabbat.Nagaland to impose partial lockdown from April 30 to May 14: Here's what will stay shut and open

Nagaland polls: Clean election campaign comes under cash, booze attack

India

oi-Oneindia

By Oneindia

Kohima, Feb 19: It's festival time in Nagaland as the state is all geared up to vote for the upcoming Assembly elections on February 27. In order to make the entire democratic process free and fair, the church and anti-corruption crusaders have join hands to start the "Clean election" campaign in Nagaland.

Unfortunately, the campaign has come under the attack of free flow of cash and booze in the state. So far over Rs 50 lakh in cash, 40,000 litres of liquor and drugs have been seized, Nagaland chief electoral officer Abhijit Sinha said recently.

The Election office has deployed flying squads and static surveillance teams to check the use of money and other means to induce voters.

The Nagaland Baptist Church Association (NBCA) has been campaigning for a clean election appealing to the electorate not to demand money or any other form of materialistic support for voting but elect an upright representative.

"The whole corruption process starts during the election times. Voters are enticed by political parties and candidates by bribing them with cash, booze and drugs. It is a sad reality of Nagaland. In the past, often candidates who spend the most emerge triumphant in elections," said a Kohima-based anti-corruption activist.

"We want to change the trend and have started the 'Clean election' campaign headed by the NBCA . Hope we can make some impact to end free flow of money, booze, drugs and gifts during the elections," he added.

The activist's concern regarding power of money during elections is not unfounded. According to a study titled, Post Election Watch, done by YouthNet, a youth-based non-profit organisation, a staggering amount of Rs 937,82,67,500 was spent in the 2013 Nagaland Assembly elections by 188 candidates contesting for 60 seats.

"The study revealed that an approximate amount of Rs 569,96,00000 was spent to buy votes and muscle power during the 2008 elections. It further stated that 11 candidates spent between Rs 20-40 crore, among whom eight won the elections and three lost. The average amount spent per household was Rs 10,000-20,000, the study claimed," reported The Indian Express.

Altogether 195 candidates comprising 58 of the ruling NPF, 18 Congress, 20 BJP, 39 NDPP, 25 NPP, 13 JDU, 6 NCP, 3 AAP, 2 LJP and 11 Independents are in fray for the 59 seats. NDPP's chief ministerial candidate Neiphiu Rio has already won from the Northern Angami-II seat.

With less than a week left for campaigning in poll-bound Nagaland, candidates were seen wooing the electorate by holding rallies after church services were over in the Christian-dominated state.

In the state capital, Kohima, such rallies were being organised in the evenings to enable people attend it after the day's work.

Along with Nagaland, Meghalaya Assembly elections are also scheduled on February 27. The Assembly elections in Tripura were held on Sunday. The results of all the three Assembly elections will be declared on March 3.

Nagaland Assembly Party 2013 Current Standing NPF 38 45 Election Date : Feb 27 2018

Counting : Mar 03 2018 IND 08 08 CONG 08 00 NCP 04 01 BJP 01 04 JDU 01 01 OTHERS 00 00 Total 60 59 (1 Vacant)

OneIndia NewsPNB fraud case: Where is Nirav Modi? Now in Dubai?

India

oi-Madhuri

Investigation agencies believe billionaire jwellery designer Nirav Modi may be in Dubai. According to India Today, the CBI may have got a tip-off from undisclosed sources and is currently seeking Interpol's help to nab Modi.

Meanwhile, the CBI is questioning Vipul Ambani, the Chief Financial Officer of diamantaire Nirav Modi's Fire Star diamond company, officials said on Monday. They said Vipul Ambani was holding the position for last three to four years. He is understood to be a relative of late Dhirubhai Ambani, reported PTI.

The ED has conducted searches at 45 locations in 15 cities which include, Hyderabad, Guwahati, Jalandhar, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chandigarh and Lucknow.

Last week, the ED launched a nationwide raid on the offices, showrooms and workshops of Nirav Modi. The CBI registered an FIR against the Gitanjali Group of companies based on a complaint registered by the PNB.

On Sunday, the ED conducted searches at over 45 more locations in 15 cities across India in connection with the fraud. The sell off has wiped out about $1.7 billion, or more than a quarter of the bank's market value, since it disclosed the fraud last Wednesday. Other bank stocks with exposure to the fraudulent transactions that PNB says began in 2011 also fell.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Monday, February 19, 2018, 17:13 [IST]On Nirav Modis extradition, CBI says willing to extend all help

CBI will provide all help to get Nirav Modi extradited from the UK

PNB scam: How did this go undetected, Govt asks RBI

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

The Central Government has sought to know how did the PNB fraud go unnoticed. While flagging doubts over the supervisory lapses in the scam, the Centre asked the RBI how did the fraud go un-detected.

The current system in place needs to be checked for efficiency, the Centre stated in a letter to RBI.

Meanwhile the Enforcement Directorate is set to attach several more properties under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act as part of its ongoing probe into the PNB scam.

The ED has conducted searches at 45 locations in 15 cities which include, Hyderabad, Guwahati, Jalandhar, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chandigarh and Lucknow.

PNB scam: How SWIFT was used to send messages about fraudulent LoUs

An officer with the ED informed OneIndia that Nirav Modi had directed that the precious gems worth several thousand crores be hidden at their friends' places. He had given these instructions to his company directors and family members, the ED official also said.

The ED said that the modus operandi is now coming to light. It said that the CBI's questioning of the three accused persons arrested on Saturday too would throw more light on the scam.

The ED said that it had raided 10 places in Bengaluru, seven in Delhi and 5 in Mumbai and Kolkata. Further raids were conducted in 4 places in Chandigarh and Hyderabad, three each in Patna and Lucknow, two in Ahmedabad and one each in Chennai and Guwahati.

Raids were also conducted at Goa, Jaipur, Srinagar and Jalandhar. Meanwhile following the raids in Raipur, the ED sealed a Gitanjali Gems outlet and also seized Rs 1.27 crore.

The ED on Friday and Saturday also conducted raids at 35 and 21 locations across India respectively in connection with the case and seized diamonds, gold and jewellery worth Rs 5,674 crore. So far the ED has placed under the scanner at least 200 shell firms. Further benami assets have also come under the scanner of the ED.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Monday, February 19, 2018, 13:05 [IST]UP was run by gangsters before 2017, but now such elements are behind bars, says PM Modi in Aligarh

Parliament more about policy than politics: PM Modi at launch of Sansad TV

Shravanabelagola: PM Modi attends Bahubali Mahamasthakabhisheka Mahotsava

India

oi-Chennabasaveshwar

By Chennabasaveshwar

Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Shravanabelagola to participate in Bahubali Mahamasthakabhisheka celebrations in Hassan district on Monday.

Pm Modi said, "Saints and seers from our land have always served society and made a positive difference. The strength of our society is that we have always changed with the times and adapted well to new contexts. It is our duty to provide good quality and affordable healthcare to the poor."

PM Modi reached Shravanabelagola by chopper. According to reports, PM Modi inaugurated the 661 newly chiselled steps at the rocky Vindhyagiri Hill on which stands the world's tallest monolithic statue of Bahubali.

PM @narendramodi at the Bahubali Mahamasthakabhisheka Mahotsav 2018 pic.twitter.com/F01yEFhlzu  PIB India (@PIB_India) February 19, 2018

The 'Mahamastakabhisheka', grand anointing ceremony of Lord Gommateshwara Bahubali, began on Saturday. The religious event is observed once every 12 years in Jain Dharmic cycle, is an integral part of the ancient and composite Jain tradition. The 58-foot-high monolithic Gomateshwara statue on Vindyagiri in Shravanabelagola is located around 160 km west of Bengaluru.

Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah welcomed PM Modi arrived who arrived at Mandakalli airport in Mysuru on Sunday night. PM will also dedicate to the nation, the electrified Mysuru-Bengaluru railway line. PM Modi to also address a public rally in Mysuru.

OneIndia NewsTamil Nadu most peaceful state: Chief Minister Palanisamy

India

pti-PTI

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palanisamy on Sunday lashed out at Union minister Pon Radhakrishnan for his remarks that Tamil Nadu was becoming a training camp for terrorism, saying the state was the most peaceful in the country. "It is a blatant lie.

In the present situation, Tamil Nadu is the most peaceful state in India and law and order situation is also very good," Palanisamy told reporters at the City Airport tonight.

Stating that both the BJP-led central and AIADMK-led state governments were functioning to serve the people and working jointly for their benefit, he said the ideology of both the parties was completely different.

"I do not know," was his reply to a question on Deputy Chief Minister O Paneerselvam's remark that he joined hands with Palanisamy following advise from Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Paneerselvam had taken pains for the cause of the party and now both (he and Paneerselvam) were taking it on the path of growth, he said and blamed the media for blowing the issue out of proportion.

The proposed entry of film stars Rajinikanth and Kamal Hasan will not have any impact on the AIADMK and nobody can defeat the party, he said.

Blaming the DMK for the prolonged dispute on Cauvery water issue, Palanisamy said the party had not renewed the 1974 agreement which was the root cause for the problem.

He alleged that DMK's working president M K Stalin was blaming the AIADMK for the problem which was a blatant lie. It was the case filed by former chief minister Jayalalithaa which resulted in Tamil Nadu getting its due share of water, he said.

The DMK had done nothing for the benefit of the state, when it was ruling at the Centre with the Congress, he alleged.

The chief minister also expressed hope that the Centre would constitute the Cauvery Management Board within six weeks as directed by the Supreme Court in its verdict which would be in force for 15 years.

PTIThe SSC CGL Tier II 2017 exam cancelled: No re-exam at Delhi centre

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

The SSC CGL Tier II 2017 exam has been cancelled at the Delhi centre. The decision was taken after malpractices had been reported at the exam centre in New Delhi.

Paper chits with answers were found in the toilet of the venue having and the incident came to light after the completion of Quantitative Aptitude paper. Further representative of the Commission who went there to confirm the fact was manhandled by few candidates. In the wake of these happenings, Staff Selection Commission (SSC) decided to cancel the second shift of the exam in that venue.

On 17 February 2018, on the first day of CGL tier 2 exam, SSC had to cancel the second shift exam at one venue namely Animate Infotech, Mohan Cooperative Industrial Estate, New Delhi on the basis of prime facie evidence. The Commission will not conduct further examination for the batch.

'The Commission immediately swung into action and established contact with the Police to ascertain the facts of the case. Prima-facie evidence clearly indicates that the entire episode was created by some unruly elements, with a malafide intention, to try to disrupt the examination. In the meantime, based on video footage of the incident available with the Commission, stringent action will be taken against those candidates who were actively involved in disrupting the said examination,' said the Controller of Examinations, SSC.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Monday, February 19, 2018, 7:43 [IST]Don't do or say anything that could damage India's image: Naidu to Rajya Sabha members

'Why holding a beef festival', asks Venkaiah Naidu

India

pti-PTI

Mumbai, Feb 19: Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu questioned the rationale behind holding a "beef festival", saying one could eat beef if one wanted, but there was no need to organise a festival for it.

"You want to eat beef, then eat. Why (a) festival? Similarly, a 'kiss festival'. If you wish to kiss, why do you need a festival or anyone's permission for it," he said.

Speaking at the platinum jubilee celebrations of R A Podar College of Commerce here, Naidu also hit out at those who raised slogans in support of Parliament attack convict Muhammad Afzal Guru.

"Then you have Afzal Guru. People are chanting his name. What is happening? He tried to explode our Parliament," Naidu said. In July 2017, the students of IIT-Madras had held a "beef festival" on the campus to protest against the cattle-slaughter ban.

Similarly, an advisory was issued in Jammu and Kashmir earlier this month in connection with the death anniversaries of Afzal Guru and Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) founder Maqbool Bhat. Bhat and Guru were hanged and buried inside New Delhi's Tihar Jail on February 11, 1984 and on February 9, 2013 respectively.

PTIWhy Justin Trudeau is not getting attention that a visiting PM deserves

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

There can be no denying that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's tour of India has been a low profile affair so far. From his arrival to visits across the country, it is quite clear that prominent leaders have not shown much keenness towards Trudeau's visit.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi usually breaks protocol to go to the airport to receive important heads of government. But in case of Trudeau, the receiving minister was MoS Agriculture Ganjendra Singh, not even External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj or her two deputies Gen VK Singh or MJ Akbar.

Justin Trudeau, who is accompanied by his wife Sophie and their three children, visited the Taj Mahal yesterday, but for some reason Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was conspicuously missing. Barely a month ago, when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the Taj, the UP CM personally showed him around.

However, fingers cannot be pointed at Modi for not having recieved Trudeau at the airport because official protocol does not dictate so. Until Rajiv Gandhi's tenure, the protocol was for the Prime Minister of India to greet visiting counterparts from other States at the airport. In 1984, in view of the increasing number of world leaders visiting India, the protocol was tweaked. The new protocol dictates that it is no longer mandatory for the prime minister to be at the airport. Instead, a junior official could easily carry out the task.

But, Modi has on many occasions set aside the protocol for a handful of world leaders.

[Sabarmati Ashram a beautiful place of peace, humility and truth, says Canadian PM]

There can be two possible explanations for lukewarm response from Indian administration to Canadian Prime Minister's visit.

The first one is the presence of some Sikh ministers in Trudeau's cabinet who are seen as pro-Khalistani movement. Trudeau has four Sikh cabinet ministers - Harjit Sajjan, Amarjeet Sohi, Navdeep Bains and Bardish Chagger. Some reports say that Harjit Sajjan and Amarjit Sohi have both supported radical Khalistani elements in Canada.

Many say that the Centre's seemingly lack of interest in Trudeau's visit is an indication of India not particularly pleased with Canadian Cabinet ministers with alleged links to the Sikh separatist movement.

Another reason, as reported by News 18, is the planning of the trip itself. Usually most important visits begin with the ceremonial reception at the Rashtrapati Bhavan followed by the official bilateral meetings at Hyderabad House. Agra, Ahmedabad and Mumbai are usually reserved for the second half of any official visit. In Trudeau's case, the opposite seems to be happening. His visit began from Mumbai on Saturday, Agra on Sunday, Ahmedabad on Monday, Mumbai on Tuesday, Amritsar on Wednesday and finally Delhi on Thursday and Friday.

OneIndia NewsWill campaign against BJP in MP, Rajasthan, C'garh: Hardik Patel

India

pti-PTI

Bhopal, Feb 19: Patidar quota agitation leader Hardik Patel on Monday said that he would campaign against the ruling BJP in the coming Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.

After OBC leader and newly-elected Congress MLA Alpesh Thakore, Patel is another leader from Gujarat who has said he would play an active role in Madhya Pradesh politics.

Thakore, earlier this week, had said he would unite OBCs in the state against the ruling party.

"I will be active in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, and campaign against the ruling BJP. I will visit MP many times. If someone has a problem with that, let them try and stop me," Patel said, speaking to reporters in Bhopal.

He was here to attend a program organised by the Patidar community.

"I don't care if someone doesn't like my visits to Madhya Pradesh. I will continue to talk about farmers, employment to the youth and good education here. Attempts were made to stop me from coming to Madhya Pradesh. I was told don't go there, or cases would be filed against you. They say my arrival would divide the society. Some people say you are coming to spread casteism. If talking about farmers and the youth is casteism....I wanted to do it," he said.

Without naming the BJP, Patel further said, "Some people call the divisive politics of Hindus and Muslims as nationalism."

In a potshot at Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Patel said, "Mama (as Chouhan is called) makes lofty promises. But this Mama is a taker and not a giver. Corruption in Madhya Pradesh goes on very silently."

"The Vyapam scam occurred in the state. Farmers were killed in police firing in Mandsaur. The government here doesn't talk about the implementation of Swaminathan report (on farm reforms), and the state even failed to provide 27 per cent reservations to OBCs despite the Supreme Court's directives," he said.

He hasn't been involved in the electoral politics as he is still 24 years old and can not contest elections yet, Patel said.

In reply to a question about his meeting with Congress president Rahul Gandhi, Patel said, "I am meeting an Indian, not a terrorist."

Asked about the Punjab National Bank scam, the Patidar leader said, "The BJP had promised to provide Rs 15 lakh to every citizen by bringing back black money. But with Nirav Modi and Vijay Mallya and their ilk fleeing the country with the country's money, it appears that people are supposed to give them Rs 15 lakh from one's own account."

PTIHow Priya Prakash Varriers winks are saving us from untimely deaths due to Modi govts shocks

'Jobs near me', 'Priya Prakash Varrier'- and other things Indians asked Google this year

Internet sensation Priya Prakash Varrier gets trolled over liplock video that went viral

Wink row: Hyderabad police sends notice to Oru Adaar Love director, seeks explanation

India

oi-Deepika

By Deepika

Malayalam actress Priya Prakash Varrier gets notice from police | Oneindia News

The Hyderabad police on Sunday sent a notice to Malayalam film director Omar Lulu, seeking an explanation from him about alleged objectionable lyrics of a song in his film ' Oru Adaar Love,' in which actor Priya Prakash Varrier's wink became an internet sensation.

The police asked the director to give an explanation about the song within 15 days. Based on the response of the director, police will decide whether to drop the case or issue another notice under section 41 of the CRPC, reported The Times of India.

The notice, which was posted on Saturday, was served by the Falaknuma police as a case was registered on February 14 based on a complainant from locals.

A local organisation has lodged a police complaint against Malayalam actress Priya Prakash Varrier and film director Omar Lulu for allegedly hurting sentiments of the Muslim community through a song in their forthcoming movie "Oru Adaar Love".

The complaint against the two was filed at Jinsi police station by a group of people under the aegis of Janjagran Samithi.

"This is a deliberate effort to hurt the religious sentiments of Muslims.

We demand that a case under IPC section 295 of the IPC should be registered against actress Priya Varrier, director Omar Lulu and producers of the film," Samithi president Mohsin Ahmed told PTI.

Another case was registered against the film director on a complaint that the song "Manikya Malaraya poovi" in the film written and directed by Lulu had an "objectionable" reference to Prophet Muhammad's wife, was also registered.

Also, Mumbai-based Raza Academy had yesterday wrote to the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) seeking blocking of the video of the song for "hurting" religious sentiments of Muslims.

IPC Section 295 pertains to injuring or defiling place of worship with intent to insult the religion of any class.

OneIndia NewsImportance of killing TRF bosses, Abbas Sheikh, Manzoor: Here are the 33 heinous crimes they committed

Lashkar terrorist from Pakistan sentenced to 7 years in jail for plotting attacks in India

Why the rise of Sikh separatism in the United States needs to be flagged harder

3 JMB terrorists arrested in Bangladesh

International

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

Three terrorists of the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen, Bangladesh have been arrested.

The three were arrested with bomb-making material in Bangladesh's Rajshahi city, according to a media report.The elite Rapid Action Battalion conducted a raid at Shahebjan Ali's home in Tanore's Bilsahar village based on a tip, bdnews24 reported.

The detainees have been identified as Shahebjan Ali, 35, Abul Kalam Azad, 28, and Jahangir Alam, 28.RAB-5 Commander Lt Col Mohammad Mahbubul Alam said that they seized 500 gram of gunpowder, seven extremist propaganda leaflets and bomb-making material from their possession."The home was searched, the three were detained and the bomb-making materials were seized," Alam said.RAB officials say the three are part of banned Islamic terror outfit Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Monday, February 19, 2018, 6:36 [IST]Collapse of Kabul will go down as one of the greatest defeats in American history: Donald Trump

Thousands of terrorists might have been airlifted out of Kabul: Trump slams Biden

Never in history has withdrawal from war been handled so badly: Trump

How #DesiWallofShame exposes powerful Indian-Americans supporting Trumps divisive politics

International

oi-Oneindia

By Oneindia

Washington, Feb 19: How often have you gone gaga over your cousin studying or working in America? Or you have simply loathed yourself for failing to clear the tough test to enter America?

Uncountable times, isn't it? Even if you have never managed to visit the "dreamland" United States (US), you won't stop taking pride in your family members and friends who have crossed the borders to study, settle and work in America.

This is the big "American dream" every middle-class Indian chases be a part of the world's biggest economy. While many have succeeded, a million others have failed to fulfill their life's biggest ambition.

Over the years, as thousand NRIs have slogged hard to get their green cards, some of them have actually made it really big in the US like Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google, Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft, and Bobby Jindal, the former US Presidential candidate, among others.

Back home in India, we celebrate all success stories of "desis" (as the Indian-Americans and other South Asian communities in the US are popularly known as). Every time an Indian-American kid wins a tough spelling contest in the US (it has become a habit for super-intelligent Indian-origin kids), the Indian media never fails to come up with all-praise headlines for super successful Indians in the US.

To go, study and work in America is one thing, but to achieve success at a scale that both the American and Indian media cover a desi person's "success story" does not happen every day.

Those who have attained such glory have sacrificed a lot, sometimes at the cost of forgetting what is "right" and what is "wrong". These days, the Indian diaspora in America is struggling with a moral question--whether it is fine to forget all values and morality to be a part of the successful American dream?

Perhaps, for a section of the Indian-American community it is more important to be identified as liberals who are a part of the greater South Asian community and immigrants in general, then being just 'power hungry desis' who dance to President Donald Trump's tune.

The divisive politics of President Trump has created a massive conflict within the Indian-American community which has for long stood united, as a homogenous entity irrespective of caste, religion, gender and sexuality.

Amid the anger to stay away from the politics of Trump which mostly professes anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim, anti-women, anti-LGBTQ, anti-internet, anti-civil rights, white supremacist and pro-profit agenda, the "liberal" Indian-Americans have started the social media hashtag--#DesiWallofShame.

The social media campaign, started last year, has grown bigger and more vocal by naming and shaming those who are seen too close to power.

After Washington DC-based civil rights activist Deepa Iyer tweeted against Ajit Pai, the chairperson of the US Federal Communications Commission who helped undo net neutrality, on December 15 last year, the social media campaign attracted worldwide attention.

"On this year's #desiwallofshame, Ajit Pai tops the list for being on the wrong side of history, for choosing profit over civil rights, and for advancing the anti-immigrant, white supremacist agenda of the Trump Administration," tweeted Iyer.

Like Pai, other Indian-Americans who have graced the #DesiWallofShame list are Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the United Nations, for subverting diplomacy through policies such as the Muslim ban and the declaration of Jerusalem as Israel's capital; Raj Shah, deputy press secretary at the White House, for defending Trump's comment on "shithole countries"; Seema Verma, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, for endangering affordable health care; and Shalabh Kumar, founder of the Republican Hindu Coalition, who rose to prominence after organising the opulent "Hindus for Trump" event before the 2016 election, reported Scroll.

Inspired by the hashtag, the website--shameful.desi--has been created to name and shame desis who are pushing and spreading the Trump government's "divisive agenda".

Anirvan Chatterjee, a California-based activist who helped create the #DesiWallofShame, said the campaign "touched a nerve." The entire social media campaign has attracted a lot of attention on various digital platforms.

"We are all in community together," said Chatterjee. "We're aunties, uncles and cousins together. And when somebody in your family does something that embarrasses you, it's not ridiculous to let them know, hey, 'cut that out'," Chatterjee was quoted as saying by WNYC.

South Asian appointees & supporters are using their power to withhold healthcare, ban Muslims & refugees, abolish an open internet & push an anti-woman agenda.



Raj Shah. Seema Verma. Ajit Pai. Nikki Haley. Shalli Kumar. You belong on the #DesiWallOfShame. https://t.co/nlh3SkFXu1  Arjun Sethi (@arjunsethi81) January 31, 2018

I guess the #desiwallofshame just got a lot bigger. Another clear example of how much Hindu fascism and Trump fascism have in common. https://t.co/8wjNONDIOX  Sonny Singh (@brooklynsingh) February 4, 2018

Those who have come under the attack due to the social media campaign have debunked the entire narrative of close relationship shared between a section of powerful Indian-Americans and the Trump regime as a "fake story".

"I can only debunk this absurd fake story," Shalabh Kumar was quoted as saying by WNYC. "Sounds like a shameful story in the face of truth that the left just cannot come to grips with," he added.

While in America, a small section of desis has started the anti-Trump, anti-supremacist campaign, back home in India, protests against the ruling Narendra Modi government--which is again seen as an anti-minority and a pro-rich regime-- is also gaining momentum ahead of the 2019 General Elections.

OneIndia News



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From The National

The recommendation by police to charge Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu with two counts of bribery -- there are more cases looming -- marks a dangerous moment for Israel and the region.

For the past three decades, corruption scandals have swirled around a succession of Israeli leaders. Ehud Olmert, Mr Netanyahu's predecessor, was forced to resign over suspicions he took cash in envelopes, and later ended up in jail. But Mr Netanyahu is the first to face the possibility of criminal corruption charges while in office.

This is new political terrain and Mr Netanyahu shows no signs of preparing to go quietly.

After 12 years at the head of various governments, Mr Netanyahu was on course to become the longest-serving prime minister in Israel's history, beating even the record set by David Ben Gurion, the country's founding father.

No one alive knows how to manipulate the levers of power in Israel better than Mr Netanyahu. And no one has a stronger and more ruthless instinct for political survival.

That has led to extreme arrogance. In late 2016, as his wife, Sara, was brought in for police questioning, the couple were still receiving from businessmen shipments of jewellery, luxury cigars and pink champagne whose value reached $280,000.

Mr Netanyahu is accused of offering many favors in return, in particular to Hollywood mogul Arnon Milchan, a self-declared former Israeli spy and arms buyer. Those included efforts to change Israel's tax laws, help Mr Milchan with TV interests and lobby on his behalf for a US residency visa.

Reportedly, the prime minister also tried to aid Mr Milchan and other investors by planning unsuccessfully a free-trade zone in the West Bank to build cheap cars and by participating in the murky dealings of a security firm.

In the second bribery case, Mr Netanyahu is on tape apparently offering Arnon Mozes, head of Israel's most influential media group, legislation to damage a competitor in return for supportive coverage from his newspapers.

In another, as-yet unfinished investigation, Mr Netanyahu's closest aides are suspected of receiving huge kickbacks from a deal with a German submarine manufacturer.

None of this has yet delivered a knockout blow, not least because members of the governing coalition fear moving against him.

These scandals have split Israeli society down the middle. While thousands have turned out to march against Mr Netanyahu, his core electorate is still behind him.

Rivals seen to be turning on the prime minister at this stage risk alienating the right-wing public, dooming their political future. Instead they are waiting to see whether Israel's law chief, attorney general Avichai Mendelblit, agrees to put him on trial.

Mr Mendelblit is in no hurry. He is Mr Netanyahu's appointee, and fears being seen toppling a popular government. He could take as long as a year to decide.

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From Truthdig



(Image by Mr Fish/Truthdig) Details DMCA



In 1923 the radical socialist and feminist Clara Zetkin gave a report at the Communist International about the emergence of a political movement called fascism. Fascism, then in its infancy, was written off by many liberals, socialists and communists as little more than mob rule, terror and street violence. But Zetkin, a German revolutionary, understood its virulence, its seduction and its danger. She warned that the longer the stagnation and rot of a dysfunctional democracy went unaddressed, the more attractive fascism would become. And as 21st-century America's own capitalist democracy disintegrates, replaced by a naked kleptocracy that disdains the rule of law, the struggle of past anti-fascists mirrors our own. History has amply illustrated where political paralysis, economic decline, hyper-militarism and widespread corruption lead.

Zetkin's analysis, eerily prophetic and reprinted in the book "Fighting Fascism: How to Struggle and How to Win," edited by John Riddell and Mike Taber, highlights the principal features of emerging fascist movements. Fascism, Zetkin warned, arises when capitalism enters a period of crisis and breakdown of the democratic institutions that once offered the possibility of reform and protection from an uninhibited assault by the capitalist class. The unchecked capitalist assault pushes the middle class, the bulwark of a capitalist democracy, into the working class and often poverty. It strips workers of all protection and depresses wages. The longer the economic and social stagnation persists, the more attractive fascism becomes. Zetkin would have warned us that Donald Trump is not the danger; the danger is the growing social and economic inequality that concentrates wealth in the hands of an oligarchic elite and degrades the lives of citizens.

The collapse of a capitalist democracy, she wrote, leaves those in the working class disempowered. Their pleas go unheard. Reforms to address their suffering are cosmetic and useless. Their anger is written off as irrational or racist. A bankrupt liberal class, which formerly made incremental and piecemeal reform possible, ameliorating the worst excesses of capitalism, mouths empty slogans about social justice and the rights of workers while selling them out to capitalist elites.

The hypocrisy of the liberal class evokes not only a disdain for it but a hatred for the liberal, democratic values it supposedly espouses. The "virtues" of democracy become distasteful. The crude taunts, threats and insults hurled by fascists at the liberal establishment express a legitimate anger among a betrayed working class. Trump's coarseness, for this reason, resonates with many pushed to the margins of society. Demoralized workers, who also find no defense of their interests by establishment intellectuals, the press and academics, lose faith in the political process. Realizing the liberal elites have lied to them, they are open to bizarre and fantastic conspiracy theories. Fascists direct this rage and yearning for revenge against an array of phantom enemies, most of them scapegoated minorities.

"What weighs on them above all is the lack of security for their basic existence," Zetkin wrote of the dispossessed working class.

"Masses in their thousands streamed to fascism," she went on. "It became an asylum for all the politically homeless, the socially uprooted, the destitute and disillusioned. ... The petty-bourgeois and intermediate social forces at first vacillate indecisively between the powerful historical camps of the proletariat and bourgeoisie. They are induced to sympathize with the proletariat by their life's suffering and, in part, by their soul's noble longings and high ideals, so long as it is revolutionary in its conduct and seems to have prospects for victory. Under the pressure of the masses and their needs, and influenced by this situation, even the fascist leaders are forced to at least flirt with the revolutionary proletariat, even though they may not have any sympathy with it."

The discredited ideals of democracy are replaced by a hyper-nationalism that divides the population not by class but between the patriotic and the unpatriotic. National and religious symbols such as the Christian cross and the American flag are fused under fascism. Fascism offers the dispossessed a tangible enemy and a right to physically strike back. Those demonized for a nation's decline -- Jews and communists in Nazi Germany, the kulaks in the Soviet Union and the undocumented, African-Americans and Muslims in the United States -- become social pariahs. The stigmatized, along with intellectuals, liberals, gays, feminists and dissidents, are attacked as the embodiment of the disease that has destroyed the nation and will be exorcised by the fascists. This fascist rhetoric is always couched in the language of renewal and moral purity.

"[W]hat [the masses] no longer hoped for from the revolutionary proletarian class and from socialism, they now hoped would be achieved by the most able, strong, determined, and bold elements of every social class," Zetkin, a close friend of the murdered revolutionary Rosa Luxemburg, wrote. "All these forces must come together in a community. And this community, for the fascists, is the nation. ... The instrument to achieve fascist ideals is, for them, the state. A strong and authoritarian state that will be their very own creation and their obedient tool. This state will tower high above all differences of party and class."

Zetkin, a cofounder of the radical Spartacus League, cautioned against demonizing the rank and file of fascist movements. She reminded us that only when the real and profound grievances of those attracted to fascism are addressed can they be pried from its grip.

"The best of them are seeking an escape from deep anguish of the soul," she wrote of those who joined fascist organizations. "They are longing for new and unshakable ideals and a world outlook that enables them to understand nature, society, and their own life; a world outlook that is not a sterile formula but operates creatively and constructively. Let us not forget that violent fascist gangs are not composed entirely of ruffians of war, mercenaries by choice, and venal lumpens who take pleasure in acts of terror. We also find among them the most energetic forces of these social layers, those most capable of development. We must go to them with conviction and understanding for their condition and their fiery longing, work among them, and show them a solution that does not lead backward but rather forward to communism."

The highest aesthetic of fascism is war. Its veneration of militarized force and violence, its inability to deal in the world of ideas, nuance and complexity, and its emotional numbness leave it unable to communicate in any language other than threats and coercion. Institutions that pay deference to complexity, that seek to cross cultural barriers to communicate and understand others, are belittled and destroyed by fascists. Diplomacy, scholarship, culture and journalism are an anathema. One obeys, both internally and beyond the nation's borders, or is crushed. This moral and intellectual vacuum leads fascists to overreach, especially through military adventurism and imperial expansion. They begin long and futile wars that drain the depleted resources of the nation while eradicating civil liberties at home. And in the end, they practice a brutality inside and outside the nation that is genocidal.

Fascism, Zetkin wrote, pits one segment of the working class against another. Last year at the Charlottesville, Va., demonstration that turned deadly, the "antifa" activists and neo-Nazis who clashed came largely from the same dispossessed economic stratum. The divisions created within the working class by fascism, coupled with fascism's attack on unions, intellectuals, dissidents and the press, foster an uneasy alliance with the capitalist elites, who often view the fascists as imbeciles and buffoons. In essence, much as Trump has done, the capitalists are bought off by fascists with tax cuts, deregulation, the breaking of unions and the dismantling of institutions that carry out oversight and the protection of workers. The expansion of the military, which provides capitalists with increased profit, coupled with the expanded powers of the organs of internal security, binds the capitalist elites to the fascists. Their marriage is one of mutual convenience. This is why the capitalist elites tolerate Trump and endure the international embarrassment he has become.

"There is a blatant contradiction between what fascism promised and what it delivered to the masses," Zetkin wrote. "All the talk about how the fascist state will place the interests of the nation above everything, once exposed to the wind of reality, burst like a soap bubble. The 'nation' revealed itself to be the bourgeoisie; the ideal fascist state revealed itself to be the vulgar, unscrupulous bourgeois class state. ... Class contradictions are mightier than all the ideologies that deny their existence."

"The bourgeoisie needs to use aggressive force to defend itself against the working class," she wrote. "The old and seemingly 'apolitical' repressive apparatus of the bourgeois state no longer provides it with sufficient security. The bourgeoisie moves to create special bands of class struggle against the proletariat. Fascism provides such troops. Although fascism includes revolutionary currents related to its origin and the forces supporting it -- currents that could turn against capitalism and its state -- it nonetheless develops into a dangerous force for counterrevolution."

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This piece was reprinted by OpEdNews with permission or license. It may not be reproduced in any form without permission or license from the source.

From Sputnik

Recent events in Syria serve to illustrate the dire consequences of a unipolar world. They also provide further confirmation that international law now belongs to the realm of fiction when it comes to Washington and its allies, for whom exceptionalism is the natural order of things.

There is compelling evidence to speculate that what is now being attempted by the US in Syria, with its occupation of a large swathe of territory in the north west of the country, is a re-run of the Balkanisation of Yugoslavia in the 1990s -- a sovereign state broken up and dismembered after the collapse of the Soviet Union in service to the unipolar world that had just come into being as a result.

The break-up of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, a state born out of the carnage of the Second World War, was stark evidence that for hawks within the US political and military establishment the Cold War had not ended it had been won -- won by dint of America's divinely chosen position as the "indispensable nation," a credo first articulated by US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright during an NBC interview in 1998.

Thus triumphalism abounded within the corridors of power in the land of the free, which cheered on by its willing vassals -- such as Tony Blair's UK government, and various eastern European satellites harbouring unresolved anti-Russian animus -- produced an intoxication with overwhelming military power and strength, encapsulated in the eastward expansion of NATO.

The unending wars and military interventions that have been embarked by the US and its allies since the 1990s, rather than push the frontiers of democracy, have produced nothing but human misery, chaos, and instability. And on a scale hitherto absent.

Syria is only the latest country and society to experience the tender mercies of Washington's self-ordained role as the world's policeman. It does so not with the objective of maintaining the world as a safe place or democracy or human rights, as tirelessly claimed, but so that global corporations are able to function and prosper and exploit the world's human and natural resources unimpeded. They call it free market economics. A much more accurate name is "disruptive unfettered capitalism," an economic model which is no respecter of borders or cultures, no respecter of even the concept of the nation state.

The presence of US military forces in Syria is illegal. This is a fact that no amount of obfuscation or dissembling can elide. It poses a threat to the security and stability not only of Syria but the entire region. The idea that the presence of US military forces in the country, or anywhere else in the Middle East for that matter, is necessary to bolster security and stability, this is an exercise in peddling fiction. Just ask the people of Iraq or Libya, two countries laid waste by Washington and its allies, if you do not believe me.

Adding to the pot of instability and US-inspired mayhem in the Middle East is the news that the gargantuan US military budget for 2019 is to include $300 million for the training and equipping of the SDF, Washington's proxy ground force in Syria, in addition to $250 million to fund the 'border security force' in the country that's been mooted. By way of a reminder, as with the SDF the planned border security force will largely comprise Syrian Kurds attached to the YPG. All this, it's worth recalling, is being undertaken in clear violation of Syria's national sovereignty and territorial integrity. It is the very epitome of might is right, redolent of that which sustained the Roman Empire.

The seeming willingness of the Trump administration to rupture its alliance and relationship with fellow NATO member, Turkey, with its commitment to arming and training the Kurds across Ankara's southern border is remarkable, not to mention inexplicable. President Erdogan's government has made no bones about the fact it considers it a threat to Turkey's security, and has pledged to act accordingly. Indeed with its Operation Olive Branch military campaign against the YPG in Afrin, northern Syria, currently underway, involving ground forces deploying across the border in the process, the Erdogan government is making good on this pledge.

The fact is that along with Israel, Turkey is now exploiting the crisis and conflict in Syria to violate its sovereignty with wilful abandon.

It requires neither an abiding love or Russia nor a burning hatred of America to understand the necessity of a world in which no one nation is able or inclined to arrogate to itself the right to exercise global hegemony. Empires are doomed by virtue of the very premise upon which they exist, which is that nations and peoples can be dominated and subjugated by other nations. They cannot. Or at least they cannot over a sustained period.

If history teaches us anything it is that those who seek to dominate only succeed in sowing dragon's teeth, inviting blowback and backlash. The monster that is Salafi-jihadism and the ensuing spate of terrorist attacks across the world in recent years leaves no doubt of it.

The need to check the untrammelled power of Washington is self-evident. Since the Soviet Union was consigned to history in the early 1990s, the US has rampaged across the world like an out of control juggernaut of death and destruction. It has done so regardless of the administration or president occupying the White House.

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See original here

By Frank Vyan Walton

Have you ever faced an integrity test?

For example: someone reaches into their pocket and when they pull out their hand, a $20 bill slips out and lands or the floor. Or someone ahead of you in line at the grocery accidentally forgets their wallet and leaves it on the counter.

Do you immediately alert this person about their potential loss, or do you simply pocket what they've carelessly left behind for your own gain? Do you do what's right, or simply what's expedient and convenient?

If someone behind you in line sees you pick up the item and just before you stuff it in your pocket they say "HEY!" -- do you deserve credit for finally giving it back only after you've been caught in the act?

I think not.

We face small and large tests like these all the time. How we respond to them is a testament to our underlying character. How the Trump White House has responded to such challenges over the past year is a clear testament to their complete lack of the same.

For a second let me speak about some of my own personal experiences, particularly in the case of security clearances. During the '80s and into the early '90s I was granted a TS/SCI security clearance by the FBI and DOD as a requirement for my then-employment with defense contractor Northrop/Grumman.

When I worked at Northrop we all were required to wear ID badges that used a color-code system to display our current security clearance level, and those with only an interim clearance were quite visible. If your job required handling classified material but you hadn't yet reached a complete status on your clearance, you were temporarily given unclassified clerical work to do until your status was completed and the FBI had finished their background check.

We actually had a staff of cleared personnel whose only job was to act as an escort -- a minder -- for non-cleared persons in the building. We had various people such as construction workers or plumbers on site at any particular time, and an escort's job was essentially to be there and monitor someone else as they worked, ensure that they remained in an unclassified area, and that no classified material or even discussions of classified material took place within earshot of an uncleared person.

That rule also applied to persons with only an interim clearance.

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From Reader Supported News

Let me begin by congratulating Chloe Kim, a first-generation American, who won a gold medal for the United States in the women's halfpipe snowboarding event this week.

Her father, Jong Jin Kim, emigrated from South Korea to the United States in 1982, became a dishwasher at a fast food restaurant. He studied engineering at El Camino College after working at low-skill jobs and then became an engineer. He left his engineering job to support his daughter's snowboarding ambitions, so that he could drive her five-and-a-half hours to the mountain for training.

Congratulations to Chloe and her entire family. You make the United States proud.

The whole debate that we are now undertaking over immigration and the Dreamers has become somewhat personal for me, because it has reminded me in a very strong way that I and my brother are first-generation Americans. We are the sons of an immigrant who came to this country at the age of 17 without a nickel in his pocket, young man who was a high school dropout who did not know one word English and had no particular trade.

A few years ago my brother and I and our family went to the small town that he came from and it just stunned me the kind of courage that he showed and millions of other people showed leaving their homeland to come to a very different world -- without money, in many cases, without knowledge of the language.

My father immigrated to this country because the town he lived in in Poland was incredibly poor, there was no economic opportunity for him, people there struggled to put food on the table for their families. Hunger was a real issue in that area. My father came to this country to avoid the violence and bloodshed of World War I which had come close to his part of the world in a ferocious manner. He came to this country to escape the religious bigotry that existed then because he was Jewish.

My father lived in this country until his death in 1962. He never made a lot of money. He was a paint salesman.

My father was not a political person but it turned out that, without talking much about it, he was the proudest American that you ever saw. And he was so proud of this country because he was deeply grateful that the United States had welcomed him in and allowed him opportunities that would have been absolutely unthinkable from where he came.

But the truth is that immigration is not just my story. It's not just the story of one young man coming from Poland who managed to see two of his kids go to college and one of his sons becoming a United States Senator. It's just my family's story. It is the story of my wife's family who came from Ireland. And it is the story of tens of millions of American families who came from every single part of this world.

In September of 2017, President Trump precipitated the current crisis we are dealing with by revoking President Obama's DACA executive order. If President Trump believed that that executive order was unconstitutional and needed legislation, he could have come to Congress for a legislative solution without holding 800,000 young people hostage by revoking their DACA status. But President Trump chose not to do that. He chose to provoke the crisis that we are experiencing today. And that is a crisis we have to deal with, and here in the Senate we have to deal with it now.

And let us be very clear about the nature of this crisis. Some people say, "Well, it's really not imminent, it's not something we have to worry about now." Those people are wrong. As a result of Trump's decision, 122 people every day are now losing their legal status, and within a couple of years hundreds of thousands of these young people will have lost their legal protection and be subject to deportation.

The situation we are in right now as a result of Trump's action means that if we do not immediately protect the legal status of some 800,000 Dreamers -- young people brought into this country at the age of 1, or 3, or 6, young people who have known no home other than the United States -- let us be clear that if we do not act, and act soon, these hundreds of thousands of young people could be subject to deportation.

And that means they could be arrested outside of the home where they have lived for virtually their entire life and suddenly be placed in a jail.

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From Alternet

The young people see this situation for what it is: Corruption.



Be sure to pack a bulletproof vest when visiting America

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As the school shooting in Parkland, Florida has shown, what was considered insanely corrupt political behavior 40 years ago is now normal. And you can thank right-wingers on the Supreme Court.

Back in 1982, the late novelist Robert B. Parker was hard at work on one of his Spencer novels, titled The Widening Gyre. In the book, a local businessman owns a local politician; the politician then makes tax decisions and real estate zoning decisions that help the businessman. Both the politician and the businessman are working as hard as they can to cover it all up.

In 1982 this sort of thing was a major, career-ending scandal for both the politician and the businessman. A wealthy man owning a politician, who, in turn, changed the tax code and altered regulations to increase the businessman's profits, was considered a symptom of intolerable corruption.

But what Parker and most Americans didn't realize was that, in 1982, the die had already been cast and the oligarchs had already begun seizing the levers of power in America; a seizure that would lead to the deaths of tens of thousands of Americans.

The billionaires doing the seizing of our nation just didn't come out about it until the presidency of Barack Obama, when the Koch Network, Adelson, the Mercers and the Waltons all became openly, and in some cases braggadociously, political in their "giving."

As I noted in my book The Crash of 2016, The American Legislative Exchange Council was founded in 1973, right after Lewis Powell's memo -- suggesting a propaganda program to promote the interests of big business and the rich -- began circulating through top corporate and high-net-worth circles. That year, too, the Heritage Foundation was created. And in 1977, Charles Koch and friends founded the CATO Institute.

While the efforts of these groups have been multifaceted, their most obvious and deadly impact has been on the ongoing proliferation of weapons of war in America, and the denial of healthcare to millions in so-called red states. With the installation of Reagan, big business and billionaires were finally to get the tax breaks and other goodies that they wanted from Congress and the Executive Branch, while waging war on unions and working people.

But to Lewis Powell, a lawyer by training and the author of the infamous blueprint for billionaires to take over America (now known as The Powell Memo), nothing was more important than targeting the courts.

In his memo, Powell wrote, "Under our constitutional system, especially with an activist-minded Supreme Court, the judiciary may be the most important instrument for social, economic and political change."

He noted, "This is a vast area of opportunity for the Chamber, if it is willing to undertake the role of spokesman for American business and if, in turn, business is willing to provide the funds."

Laying out specifics, Powell added, "The Chamber would need a highly competent staff of lawyers. In special situations it should be authorized to engage, to appear as counsel amicus in the Supreme Court, lawyers of national standing and reputation. The greatest care should be exercised in selecting the cases in which to participate, or the suits to institute. But the opportunity merits the necessary effort."

In the 1970s, as the US Chamber of Commerce focused on the courts, employing high-priced, savvy lawyers, and flooding the Supreme Court chamber with amicus briefs, a string of explosive decisions throughout the decade gave the #MorbidlyRich what they needed to eventually overthrow FDR's New Deal and to radically reinterpret the 2nd Amendment.

In 1976, in Buckley v. Valeo, the Supreme Court (to which Nixon appointed Lewis Powell in 1972, the year after Powell wrote his infamous memo) ruled that political money is constitutionally protected free speech, changing American law so that those who have the most money would have the most "First Amendment free speech" in our political system. And if there was anything that the NRA was getting good at, it was raising money from weapons manufacturers and others.

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Based on the report in the link below, Ali Akbar Velayati, the former foreign minister of Iran during Ayatollah Khomeini's era, is a senior advisor to Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei on international affairs now. He made the remarks in a conference on Islamic unity in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, on Saturday. And said the Americans and Arabs are trying to create "the new Middle East, whose reality will be marked by the disintegration of Muslim societies."

Velayati is a senior Iranian official. He says the resistance front in the region will push the United States and Israel out of the eastern side of the Euphrates River, which flows from Turkey through Syria and into Iraq.

On October 16, 2017, Iraq, Iran, and Turkey attacked Barzani and Talabani forces in Kurdistan Regional Governments of Iraq (KRG) area after they hold the referendum on September 25, 2017, while the US looked another way. Barzani and Talabani's forces run from the battle field and Iraqi forces took 51% of KRG land including the oil-rich state of Kirkuk.

Velayati is trying to organize such forces to defeat YPG, YPJ, and QSD forces in Syria too. Since January 20, 2018, the Turkish forces with help of the Islamic terrorist forces in Syria have been waging war on the Kurdish State of Afrin-Syria with every kind of weapon they have. But Kurdish forces hold them on the border of Syria-Turkey in last 30 days.

On February 16, 2018, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson kept mum after meeting at the presidential palace in Ankara. The talk between the top US diplomat and Turkey's president was said to address regional tension.

The question is what President Donald Trump give to Turkey to not force out the US from Syria, Iraq and the Middle East at large.

Russia, Iran, and Turkey want to push out the US from the region for good. Iran is fully cooperating with Russia and Turkey wants to join them unless the US will give in to the President Erdogan's demand.

Is President Donald Trump going to blink under the pressure of Turkey's Erdogan or not?

Kurdish forces defeated Turkish forces in Afrin-Syria. Turkey is using chemical weapon to kill civilian because they lost a large number of fighters.

The world is watching President Donald Trump's performance from now on.

References

Resistance front will purge the US from eastern Euphrates: Iran

click here

Rex Tillerson, Recep Tayyip Erdogan quiet as US-Turkish tension in Afrin looms

click here

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When black and brown people talk about open carry and the 2nd Amendment, they do so knowing that for that right they are not afforded the same privilege when found with a gun legal or otherwise. Philando Castile comes to mind, a young black man legally carrying a gun, murdered by a Minnesota, police officer. As what is more the norm, the justice system acquitted the officer. There are two distinct reactions to people carrying guns from both cops and citizens.

There's an irrational fear of armed people of color even as most of the encounters with armed killers that murder random people are not people of color. Kali Holloway wrote an article at Alternate with a provocative title, "Want to See Gun Control Enacted? Support a Movement to Arm Black Folks en Masse," that should give everyone pause. The article is much more in-depth than the title suggests. So you should read it in its entirety.

Halloway first details the long-lasting issues that were selectively framed by race to get a change that otherwise would not have happened.

Ending mass shootings might seem like a hopeless cause in light of all this, but that kind of thinking ignores the historic infallibility of racism to move American political mountains. The shift in the public face of poverty from white to black helped take us from the New Deal to the destruction of the welfare state; conversely, as drug addiction has gone from being an "inner city" (read: black) to a "suburban" (read: white) problem, the state has transformed from carceral to compassionate. A movement--both visible and vocal--to arm black Americans en masse would fire up GOP political will toward gun control, and probably at speeds currently unimaginable. Second Amendment hardliners often engage in bad-faith references to America's racist gun control history at convenient moments, namely when trying convince wary black folks, who statistically are overwhelmingly pro-gun control, to join the chorus calling for unfettered gun access. There are too many reasons to question their sudden commitment to anti-racism in those moments. That said, there is historic precedence for the mere idea of black gun possession leading directly to white American efforts at gun control.

Halloway then points out the many time government installed different levels of gun control when "the others" were arming themselves.

These policies even predate this country's official nationhood. The Splinter's Daniel Rivero points to the "first gun control law," passed in Virginia in 1640, which "explicitly banned black people from owning guns, even if they were not slaves." The 1857 Dred Scott decision prohibited blacks from becoming American citizens, in part because citizenship would confer the right "to keep and carry arms...inevitably producing discontent and insubordination...and endangering the peace and safety of the State." Post-Civil War "Black Codes" were adopted throughout much the South, making gun ownership by freed blacks illegal. The Atlantic notes that to "enforce the gun ban, white men riding in posses began terrorizing black communities....The most infamous of these disarmament posses, of course, was the Ku Klux Klan." Martin Luther King, who received endless death threats and was the target of a house bombing in 1956, applied for an open carry permit, but was denied by Montgomery, Alabama's racist police force. When the Black Panther Party for Self Defense, in accordance with California law, began openly carrying weapons to patrol Oakland's neighborhoods, the state legislature quickly crafted, and Gov. Ronald Reagan quickly signed, the 1967 Mulford Act ending public carry. On the heels of race riots, Congress Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968, followed by the Gun Control Act of 1968, which Georgetown historian Adam Winkler notes included a provision to restrict "'Saturday Night Specials'--the cheap, easily available guns often used by [black] youth." The legislation was the first federal gun law in nearly three decades, and proved lawmakers would rather institute widespread gun control measures than potentially have a widely armed black populace.

Russia exploited America's long-lived racism. They likely put the worst president America has ever had by using that weakness against us. In a somewhat conniving manner just maybe black and brown people at large can save the country from the carnage by arming themselves in a very public way and start asserting their 2nd Amendment rights as vociferous as those Right Wingers who think the privilege is only theirs if not in law, in practice.

Politics Done Right is covering this issue at 3:00 PM Central. Hope some will call in at (646) 716-5812, or have a healthy discussion on Facebook Live.Would you like to know how many people have read this article? Or how reputable the author is? Simply sign up for a Advocate premium membership and you'll automatically see this data on every article. Plus a lot more, too.

The other possibility is that Abdullah becomes President of Afghanistan in the 2019 elections. For this he would have to be nominated by the JeI as its candidate, something the party at this juncture doesn't appear to be in a mood to do so. The JeI wants Atta Noor to be its candidate.

Fundamental to the present struggle within the NUG is also a struggle within the JeI as to who will head the party. Each politician, be it Atta Noor, Salahuddin Rabbani or Dr. Abdullah claim to hold a high position in the party, but the issue of who is actually in command remains moot. Noor, for instance, heads the party's Executive Council, while Rabbani is the head of the party.

The position of JeI head has been transitional since the assassination of the party's founding leader, Burhanuddin Rabbani in 2011. JeI has been since that time led by his son, Salahuddin Rabbani, who is currently acting Foreign Minister also. When Salahuddin took the position in October 2011, it was supposed to only be for a period of two months, after which, as per the party's constitution, a regular Congress was to be convened to choose its permanent leadership. This has never happened and each time it was proposed, it has been rescheduled for various reasons. In 2013, it was decided to hold the party conclave "after the 2014 Presidential election", but the Congress is yet to take place.

From 2016 onwards, Atta Noor has pushed the JeI to re-negotiate the terms of the NUG to try and gain more power for the party. The rank and file also supported his efforts to renegotiate his own position as Governor of Balkh with President Ghani. Eventually, Noor managed to convince Ghani that he was better placed to function as a full-time Governor of the Province as opposed to being an 'acting' governor, something that Ghani had announced on assuming office in 2014; all Governors would be acting till further orders.

Although the JeI is supportive of Atta, there is internal resistance to his ambitions of becoming leader of the party and to some extent to his running for Presidency. The JeI leadership council has the authority to convene the Party Congress and choose a new leader. It is clear that many party members remain doubtful about Atta Noor and are therefore, opposing convening of the Congress.

Frankly, the tussle between Atta Noor and the Central government is not unique. Afghanistan has witnessed provincial and inter-personal struggles for power endlessly. Last year, for instance, Balkh saw a violent feud break out between Governor Atta Noor and a provincial councilman Asif Mohmand, when Noor sent gunmen and police officers to arrest the latter. Mohmand, who enjoys the support from the Hizb-e-Islami party, engaged in a shoot-out with Noor's men resulting in the death of two men and injuries to seventeen. The short point is that potential for trouble exists very clearly and any attempt by President Ghani to forcibly ensure the exit of Governor Noor is likely to be resisted by force.

Admittedly, greater importance in the current context are the differences between Noor and Abdullah. As pointed out at the outset, Noor supported Abdullah to power in 2014 with his influence and money in Balkh. However, Abdullah's chosen path as CEO clearly demonstrates that power corrupts and corrupts absolutely. The same goes for every other warlord in Afghanistan including Noor. That said, it must be recalled that Noor claimed in early 2017 that the party had taken away the responsibilities of Abdullah within the JeI and reassigned them to another office holder.

At the end of the day, Abdullah knows that he is today an international figure, and one who has US backing. That is what is keeping him from openly courting trouble within the JeI and by extension in the NUG. However, his position remains tenuous for both the party and the President. When push comes to shove, will Abdullah abandon the JeI and join hands with Ghani for his political survival? Does that also extend to not having elections this year as planned or will that be a casualty of the violence that is racking Afghanistan today?

After all, it does appear that the US under President Trump would be quite happy to have President Ghani continue in office and if that means not holding elections in 2019, it would be only natural for Dr. Abdullah to bargain that he should be made Prime Minister! That of course gets one into the realm of speculation and of that there is no end in Kabul as we enter another fighting Taliban season. What tomorrow will bring to Afghanistan, one can only guess. In the present circumstances, only chaos!!Compostable Foodservice Packaging Market Revenue Forecast 2018-2025 Cereplast, Eco Products, BioBag Canada

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High Frequency Electrosurgical Equipments Market Research 2018A market study "Global High Frequency Electrosurgical Equipments Market" examines the performance of the High Frequency Electrosurgical Equipments market 2018. It encloses an in-depth Research of the High Frequency Electrosurgical Equipments market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of High Frequency Electrosurgical Equipments market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global High Frequency Electrosurgical Equipments Market 2018 report includes High Frequency Electrosurgical Equipments market Revenue, market Share, High Frequency Electrosurgical Equipments industry volume, market Trends, High Frequency Electrosurgical Equipments Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report.It shows manufacturing capacity, High Frequency Electrosurgical Equipments Price during the Forecast period from 2018 to 2025.To Get Sample Report Click Here:Manufacturers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global High Frequency Electrosurgical Equipments Market 2018 : Covidien(Medtronic) DePuy Synthes(Johnson & Johnson) Ethicon Olympus AtriCure CONMED Bovie Medical Corporation Karl Storz ALSA Erbe Elektromedizin GmbhFirstly, the report covers the top High Frequency Electrosurgical Equipments manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Further, the High Frequency Electrosurgical Equipments report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of High Frequency Electrosurgical Equipments industry, High Frequency Electrosurgical Equipments industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. High Frequency Electrosurgical Equipments Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The High Frequency Electrosurgical Equipments research report includes the products that are currently in demand and available in the market along with their cost breakup, manufacturing volume, import/export scheme and contribution to the High Frequency Electrosurgical Equipments market revenue worldwide.Finally, High Frequency Electrosurgical Equipments market report gives you details about the market research findings and conclusion which helps you to develop profitable market strategies to gain competitive advantage.About US:"QY Research Store" is a leading market intelligence team which accredits and provides the reports of some of the top publishers in the field of technology industry. We are as a firm expertise in making extensive reports that cover all the necessary details about the market assessments such as major technological improvement in the industry.Contact Us5001 Spring Valley Road,Suite 400 East,Dallas, TX 75244, USAWeb:Email: sales@qyresearchstore.comHormone Type Seed Coating Agent Market Revenue Forecast 2018-2025 BrettYoung, Cargill, Syngenta, Bayer

Hormone Type Seed Coating Agent

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Hormone Type Seed Coating Agent Market Research 2018A market study "Global Hormone Type Seed Coating Agent Market" examines the performance of the Hormone Type Seed Coating Agent market 2018. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Hormone Type Seed Coating Agent market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Hormone Type Seed Coating Agent market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Hormone Type Seed Coating Agent Market 2018 report includes Hormone Type Seed Coating Agent market Revenue, market Share, Hormone Type Seed Coating Agent industry volume, market Trends, Hormone Type Seed Coating Agent Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report.It shows manufacturing capacity, Hormone Type Seed Coating Agent Price during the Forecast period from 2018 to 2025.To Get Sample Report Click Here:Manufacturers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Hormone Type Seed Coating Agent Market 2018 : Bayer Syngenta Basf Cargill Rotam Germains Seed Technology Croda International BrettYoung Clariant International Precision Laboratories Chromatech Incorporated Sumitomo Chemical SATEC Volkschem Crop Science Beinong Haili Henan Zhongzhou Sichuan Redseed Liaoning Zhuangmiao-Tech Jilin Bada Pesticide Anwei Fengle Agrochem Tianjin Lirun Beifang Green Agrosino Shandong Huayang Chongqing ZhongyijiFirstly, the report covers the top Hormone Type Seed Coating Agent manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Further, the Hormone Type Seed Coating Agent report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Hormone Type Seed Coating Agent industry, Hormone Type Seed Coating Agent industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Hormone Type Seed Coating Agent Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Hormone Type Seed Coating Agent research report includes the products that are currently in demand and available in the market along with their cost breakup, manufacturing volume, import/export scheme and contribution to the Hormone Type Seed Coating Agent market revenue worldwide.Finally, Hormone Type Seed Coating Agent market report gives you details about the market research findings and conclusion which helps you to develop profitable market strategies to gain competitive advantage.About US:"QY Research Store" is a leading market intelligence team which accredits and provides the reports of some of the top publishers in the field of technology industry. We are as a firm expertise in making extensive reports that cover all the necessary details about the market assessments such as major technological improvement in the industry.Contact Us5001 Spring Valley Road,Suite 400 East,Dallas, TX 75244, USAWeb:Email: sales@qyresearchstore.comGasoline Engine Turbocharger Market Revenue Forecast 2018-2025 Okiya, Kangyue, BorgWarner, Cummins

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Gasoline Engine Turbocharger Market Research 2018A market study "Global Gasoline Engine Turbocharger Market" examines the performance of the Gasoline Engine Turbocharger market 2018. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Gasoline Engine Turbocharger market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Gasoline Engine Turbocharger market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Gasoline Engine Turbocharger Market 2018 report includes Gasoline Engine Turbocharger market Revenue, market Share, Gasoline Engine Turbocharger industry volume, market Trends, Gasoline Engine Turbocharger Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report.It shows manufacturing capacity, Gasoline Engine Turbocharger Price during the Forecast period from 2018 to 2025.To Get Sample Report Click Here:Manufacturers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Gasoline Engine Turbocharger Market 2018 : Honeywell BorgWarner MHI IHI Cummins Bosch Mahle Continental Hunan Tyen Weifu Tianli Kangyue Weifang Fuyuan Shenlong Okiya Group Zhejiang Rongfa Hunan RugidoveFirstly, the report covers the top Gasoline Engine Turbocharger manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Further, the Gasoline Engine Turbocharger report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Gasoline Engine Turbocharger industry, Gasoline Engine Turbocharger industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Gasoline Engine Turbocharger Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Gasoline Engine Turbocharger research report includes the products that are currently in demand and available in the market along with their cost breakup, manufacturing volume, import/export scheme and contribution to the Gasoline Engine Turbocharger market revenue worldwide.Finally, Gasoline Engine Turbocharger market report gives you details about the market research findings and conclusion which helps you to develop profitable market strategies to gain competitive advantage.About US:"QY Research Store" is a leading market intelligence team which accredits and provides the reports of some of the top publishers in the field of technology industry. We are as a firm expertise in making extensive reports that cover all the necessary details about the market assessments such as major technological improvement in the industry.Contact Us5001 Spring Valley Road,Suite 400 East,Dallas, TX 75244, USAWeb:Email: sales@qyresearchstore.comHeavy Truck Turbocharger Market Revenue Forecast 2018-2025 Hunan Tyen, Weifu Tianli, Weifang Fuyuan

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Heavy Truck Turbocharger Market Research 2018A market study "Global Heavy Truck Turbocharger Market" examines the performance of the Heavy Truck Turbocharger market 2018. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Heavy Truck Turbocharger market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Heavy Truck Turbocharger market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Heavy Truck Turbocharger Market 2018 report includes Heavy Truck Turbocharger market Revenue, market Share, Heavy Truck Turbocharger industry volume, market Trends, Heavy Truck Turbocharger Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report.It shows manufacturing capacity, Heavy Truck Turbocharger Price during the Forecast period from 2018 to 2025.To Get Sample Report Click Here:Manufacturers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Heavy Truck Turbocharger Market 2018 : Honeywell BorgWarner MHI IHI Cummins Bosch Mahle Continental Hunan Tyen Weifu Tianli Kangyue Weifang Fuyuan Shenlong Okiya Group Zhejiang Rongfa Hunan RugidoveFirstly, the report covers the top Heavy Truck Turbocharger manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Further, the Heavy Truck Turbocharger report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Heavy Truck Turbocharger industry, Heavy Truck Turbocharger industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Heavy Truck Turbocharger Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Heavy Truck Turbocharger research report includes the products that are currently in demand and available in the market along with their cost breakup, manufacturing volume, import/export scheme and contribution to the Heavy Truck Turbocharger market revenue worldwide.Finally, Heavy Truck Turbocharger market report gives you details about the market research findings and conclusion which helps you to develop profitable market strategies to gain competitive advantage.About US:"QY Research Store" is a leading market intelligence team which accredits and provides the reports of some of the top publishers in the field of technology industry. We are as a firm expertise in making extensive reports that cover all the necessary details about the market assessments such as major technological improvement in the industry.Contact Us5001 Spring Valley Road,Suite 400 East,Dallas, TX 75244, USAWeb:Email: sales@qyresearchstore.comHip Articular Prostheses Market Revenue Forecast 2018-2025 Depuy Synthes, Stryker, Corin, Biomet UK

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Hip Articular Prostheses Market Research 2018A market study "Global Hip Articular Prostheses Market" examines the performance of the Hip Articular Prostheses market 2018. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Hip Articular Prostheses market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Hip Articular Prostheses market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Hip Articular Prostheses Market 2018 report includes Hip Articular Prostheses market Revenue, market Share, Hip Articular Prostheses industry volume, market Trends, Hip Articular Prostheses Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report.It shows manufacturing capacity, Hip Articular Prostheses Price during the Forecast period from 2018 to 2025.To Get Sample Report Click Here:Manufacturers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Hip Articular Prostheses Market 2018 : Waldemar Link GmbH & Co. KG Kyocera Medical Corporation Smith & Nephew,Inc Medacta International SA EXACTECH INC GROUPE LEPINE Biomet UK LTD Howmedica Osteonics Corp CHUNLI Depuy Synthes Corin B. Braun Shanghai Microport Orthopedics StrykerFirstly, the report covers the top Hip Articular Prostheses manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Further, the Hip Articular Prostheses report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Hip Articular Prostheses industry, Hip Articular Prostheses industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Hip Articular Prostheses Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Hip Articular Prostheses research report includes the products that are currently in demand and available in the market along with their cost breakup, manufacturing volume, import/export scheme and contribution to the Hip Articular Prostheses market revenue worldwide.Finally, Hip Articular Prostheses market report gives you details about the market research findings and conclusion which helps you to develop profitable market strategies to gain competitive advantage.About US:"QY Research Store" is a leading market intelligence team which accredits and provides the reports of some of the top publishers in the field of technology industry. We are as a firm expertise in making extensive reports that cover all the necessary details about the market assessments such as major technological improvement in the industry.Contact Us5001 Spring Valley Road,Suite 400 East,Dallas, TX 75244, USAWeb:Email: sales@qyresearchstore.comGear Grinding Dresser Market Revenue Forecast 2018-2025 Reishauer, Winter, Koepfer America

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Gear Grinding Dresser Market Research 2018A market study "Global Gear Grinding Dresser Market" examines the performance of the Gear Grinding Dresser market 2018. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Gear Grinding Dresser market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Gear Grinding Dresser market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Gear Grinding Dresser Market 2018 report includes Gear Grinding Dresser market Revenue, market Share, Gear Grinding Dresser industry volume, market Trends, Gear Grinding Dresser Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report.It shows manufacturing capacity, Gear Grinding Dresser Price during the Forecast period from 2018 to 2025.To Get Sample Report Click Here:Manufacturers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Gear Grinding Dresser Market 2018 : Winter Asahi Diamond Industrial Reishauer DR. KAISER KAPP NILES Radiac Abrasives Koepfer AmericaFirstly, the report covers the top Gear Grinding Dresser manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Further, the Gear Grinding Dresser report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Gear Grinding Dresser industry, Gear Grinding Dresser industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Gear Grinding Dresser Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Gear Grinding Dresser research report includes the products that are currently in demand and available in the market along with their cost breakup, manufacturing volume, import/export scheme and contribution to the Gear Grinding Dresser market revenue worldwide.Finally, Gear Grinding Dresser market report gives you details about the market research findings and conclusion which helps you to develop profitable market strategies to gain competitive advantage.About US:"QY Research Store" is a leading market intelligence team which accredits and provides the reports of some of the top publishers in the field of technology industry. We are as a firm expertise in making extensive reports that cover all the necessary details about the market assessments such as major technological improvement in the industry.Contact Us5001 Spring Valley Road,Suite 400 East,Dallas, TX 75244, USAWeb:Email: sales@qyresearchstore.comGas Pipeline Infrastructure Market Revenue Forecast 2018-2025 Technip, Gazprom, Chelpipe, Enbridge

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Gas Pipeline Infrastructure Market Research 2018A market study "Global Gas Pipeline Infrastructure Market" examines the performance of the Gas Pipeline Infrastructure market 2018. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Gas Pipeline Infrastructure market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Gas Pipeline Infrastructure market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Gas Pipeline Infrastructure Market 2018 report includes Gas Pipeline Infrastructure market Revenue, market Share, Gas Pipeline Infrastructure industry volume, market Trends, Gas Pipeline Infrastructure Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report.It shows manufacturing capacity, Gas Pipeline Infrastructure Price during the Forecast period from 2018 to 2025.To Get Sample Report Click Here:Manufacturers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Gas Pipeline Infrastructure Market 2018 : Enbridge Europipe GmbH Gazprom APA Group CRC Evans Pipeline International General Electric Snam Rete Gas Redexis Gas Saipem S.p.A. Technip S.A. MRC Global Chelpipe DCP Midstream Engas GAIL (India) Limited National Oilwell Varco Perusahaan Gas Negara Welspun CorporationFirstly, the report covers the top Gas Pipeline Infrastructure manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Further, the Gas Pipeline Infrastructure report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Gas Pipeline Infrastructure industry, Gas Pipeline Infrastructure industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Gas Pipeline Infrastructure Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Gas Pipeline Infrastructure research report includes the products that are currently in demand and available in the market along with their cost breakup, manufacturing volume, import/export scheme and contribution to the Gas Pipeline Infrastructure market revenue worldwide.Finally, Gas Pipeline Infrastructure market report gives you details about the market research findings and conclusion which helps you to develop profitable market strategies to gain competitive advantage.About US:"QY Research Store" is a leading market intelligence team which accredits and provides the reports of some of the top publishers in the field of technology industry. We are as a firm expertise in making extensive reports that cover all the necessary details about the market assessments such as major technological improvement in the industry.Contact Us5001 Spring Valley Road,Suite 400 East,Dallas, TX 75244, USAWeb:Email: sales@qyresearchstore.comEnvironmentally Friendly Plasticizer Market Revenue Forecast 2018-2025 Innua, Zhejiang Jiaao Enprotech Stock

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Environmentally Friendly Plasticizer Market Research 2018A market study "Global Environmentally Friendly Plasticizer Market" examines the performance of the Environmentally Friendly Plasticizer market 2018. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Environmentally Friendly Plasticizer market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Environmentally Friendly Plasticizer market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Environmentally Friendly Plasticizer Market 2018 report includes Environmentally Friendly Plasticizer market Revenue, market Share, Environmentally Friendly Plasticizer industry volume, market Trends, Environmentally Friendly Plasticizer Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report.It shows manufacturing capacity, Environmentally Friendly Plasticizer Price during the Forecast period from 2018 to 2025.To Get Sample Report Click Here:Manufacturers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Environmentally Friendly Plasticizer Market 2018 : BASF SE REMEI Blomberg GmbH & Co. KG Zhejiang Jiaao Enprotech Stock Co., Ltd. Eastman Chemical Company Innua EEGGTT ChemicalFirstly, the report covers the top Environmentally Friendly Plasticizer manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Further, the Environmentally Friendly Plasticizer report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Environmentally Friendly Plasticizer industry, Environmentally Friendly Plasticizer industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Environmentally Friendly Plasticizer Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Environmentally Friendly Plasticizer research report includes the products that are currently in demand and available in the market along with their cost breakup, manufacturing volume, import/export scheme and contribution to the Environmentally Friendly Plasticizer market revenue worldwide.Finally, Environmentally Friendly Plasticizer market report gives you details about the market research findings and conclusion which helps you to develop profitable market strategies to gain competitive advantage.About US:"QY Research Store" is a leading market intelligence team which accredits and provides the reports of some of the top publishers in the field of technology industry. We are as a firm expertise in making extensive reports that cover all the necessary details about the market assessments such as major technological improvement in the industry.Contact Us5001 Spring Valley Road,Suite 400 East,Dallas, TX 75244, USAWeb:Email: sales@qyresearchstore.comLeather Footwear 2018 Global Industry Key Players - Caleres, Adidas, Nike, Reebok, Puma Market Analysis And Forecast To 2023

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Global Leather Footwear MarketLeather Footwear Market Global Report 2018 from The Business Research Company provides the strategists, marketers and senior management with the critical information they need to assess the global leather footwear market.Request a Sample Report @Reasons to PurchaseReasons to Purchase Outperform competitors using accurate up to date demand-side dynamics information. Identify growth segments for investment. Facilitate decision making on the basis of historic and forecast data and the drivers and restraints on the market. Create regional and country strategies on the basis of local data and analysis. Stay abreast of the latest customer and market research findings Benchmark performance against key competitors. Develop strategies based on likely future developments. Utilize the relationships between key data sets for superior strategizing. Suitable for supporting your internal and external presentations with reliable high quality data and analysis Gain a global perspective on the development of the market. Report will be updated with the latest data and delivered to you within 3-5 working days of order.Description:Where is the largest and fastest growing market for the leather footwear? How does the market relate to the overall economy, demography and other similar markets? What forces will shape the market going forward? The leather footwear market global report from the Business Research Company answers all these questions and many more.The report covers market characteristics, size and growth, segmentation, regional and country breakdowns, competitive landscape, market shares, trends and strategies for this market. It traces the markets historic and forecast market growth by geography. It places the market within the context of the wider Paper, Plastics, Rubber, Wood And Textile Manufacturing market, and compares it with other markets. The market characteristics section of the report defines and explains the market. The market size section gives the market size ($b) covering both the historic growth of the market and forecasting the future. Drivers and restraints looks at the external factors supporting and controlling the growth of the market. Market segmentations break down market into sub markets. The regional and country breakdowns section gives an analysis of the market in each geography and the size of the market by geography and compares their historic and forecast growth. It covers all the regions, key developed countries and major emerging markets. It draws comparisons with country populations and economies to understand the importance of the market by country and how this is changing. Competitive landscape gives a description of the competitive nature of the market, market shares, and a description of the leading companies. Key financial deals which have shaped the market in recent years are identified. The trends and strategies section highlights the likely future developments in the market and suggests approaches companies can take to exploit this. The leather footwear market section of the report gives context. It compares the leather footwear market with other segments of the Paper, Plastics, Rubber, Wood And Textile Manufacturing market by size and growth, historic and forecast. It analyses Expenditure Per Capita, The Leather Footwear Indicators Comparison.Complete Report Details @ScopeMarkets Covered:Companies Mentioned: Caleres, Adidas, Nike, Reebok, PumaCountries: Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Spain, Russia, UK, USA and Australia.Regions: Asia-Pacific, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, North America, South America, Middle East And AfricaTime series: Five years historic and forecast.Data: Ratios of market size and growth to related markets, GDP, Expenditure Per Capita, The Leather Footwear Indicators Comparison.Data segmentations: country and regional historic and forecast data, market share of competitors, market segments.Sourcing and Referencing: Data and analysis throughout the report is sourced using end notes.Leather Footwear Market CharacteristicsLeather Footwear Market Size And Growth2.1. Historic Market Growth, Value ($ Billion) and Volume (Million Units)2.1.1. Drivers Of The Market2.1.2. Restraints On The Market2.2. Forecast Market Growth, Value ($ Billion)2.2.1. Drivers Of The Market2.2.2. Restraints On The Market;Leather Footwear Trends And Strategies;Pestle Analysis4.1. Political4.2. Economic4.3. Social4.4. Technological4.5. Legal4.6. Environmental;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.Wise Guy Research Consultants Pvt LtdOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, HadapsarPune - 411028Maharashtra, IndiaMembrane Bioreactors Global Market Key Developments, Outlook, 2017 Analysis & Forecast to 2021

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Membrane bioreactor (MBR) technology combines biological-activated sludge process and membrane filtration and has been accepted for the treatment of wastewater in recent years. However, conventional activated sludge (CAS) process cannot cope up with the composition of wastewater and fluctuations in wastewater flow rate. MBR technology is an expensive method when compared with the conventional process; however, the legal requirements in wastewater treatment plants are fulfilled with the use of membrane bioreactor technology.Publisher's analysts forecast the global membrane bioreactors market to grow at a CAGR of 10.37% during the period 2017-2021.For more information:Covered in this reportThe report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the global membrane bioreactors market for 2017-2021. To calculate the market size, the report considers new installations/sales of products.The market is divided into the following segments based on geography:- Americas- APAC- EMEAPublisher's report, Global Membrane Bioreactors Market 2017-2021, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the market landscape and its growth prospects over the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market.Key vendors- General Electric- HUBER- Koch Membrane Systems- Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems Environmental Solutions- Veolia Water TechnologiesInquire before Buying atOther prominent vendors- BI Pure Water- Evoqua Water Technologies- Kubota- KUBOTA Membrane USA- LG Electronics- MAK Water- newterra- Nijhuis Industries- Ovivo- Pentair- RODI Systems- Siemens Water Technologies- Smith & Loveless- Telem- TORAY INDUSTRIES- US Filter- WartsilaMarket driver- Rapid industrialization- For a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket challenge- Membrane fouling- For a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket trend- Depletion of freshwater resources- For a full, detailed list, view our reportRequest for discount:Contact Us:Call: +1-646-491-9876Email: sales@reportsweb.comReportsWeb.com is a one stop shop of market research reports and solutions to various companies across the globe. We help our clients in their decision support system by helping them choose most relevant and cost effective research reports and solutions from various publishers. We provide best in class customer service and our customer support team is always available to help you on your research queries.505, 6th floor, Amanora Township,Amanora Chambers, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028Offshore Wind Cable Global Market Trend, Research Approach, Data Analysis and Forecast to 2021

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The power that is generated by an offshore wind turbine is delivered to an offshore substation with the use of power cables. Depending on the power capacity, the power is collected from multiple turbines using an inter-array cable. The power from the substation is transported to the mainland grid using an export cable. Depending on the distance and rating of the project, export cables can be either HVAC or HVDC, whereas inter-array cables use majorly AC.Publisher's analysts forecast the global offshore wind cable market to grow at a CAGR of 16.52% during the period 2017-2021.For more information:Covered in this reportThe report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the global offshore wind cable market for 2017-2021. To calculate the market size, the report considers new installations.The market is divided into the following segments based on geography:- Americas- APAC- EMEAPublisher's report, Global Offshore Wind Cable Market 2017-2021, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the market landscape and its growth prospects over the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market.Key vendors- ABB- General Cable- Nexans- NKT- Prysmian- Sumitomo Electric IndustriesInquire before Buying atOther prominent vendors- Able UK- Brugg Cables- Fujikura- JDR Cable Systems- LEONI- LS Cable & System- PARKER HANNIFIN- TPC Wire & CableMarket driver- Innovations in the wind industry- For a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket challenge- Increase in reliability and accidental risk- For a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket trend- Increase in demand for clean power- For a full, detailed list, view our reportRequest for discount:Contact Us:Call: +1-646-491-9876Email: sales@reportsweb.comReportsWeb.com is a one stop shop of market research reports and solutions to various companies across the globe. We help our clients in their decision support system by helping them choose most relevant and cost effective research reports and solutions from various publishers. We provide best in class customer service and our customer support team is always available to help you on your research queries.505, 6th floor, Amanora Township,Amanora Chambers, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028Lubricants for Mining and Quarry Applications Global Market Other Key Strategies By Type & Geography 2017 Analysis & Forecast to 2021

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Lubricants for mining and quarry applications are used to minimize wear and tear in equipment by reducing binding and friction. In some extreme cases, they may also prevent or reduce electrical resistivity, while increasing thermal conduction.One of the integral components of any market estimate and analysis pertains to the definition of the estimates and exclusions. The following section of the report enlists certain key estimates, which we have considered while arriving at the market trends and certain exclusions that have helped to demarcate the market contours.Publisher's analysts forecast the global lubricants market for mining and quarry applications to grow at a CAGR of 3.07% during the period 2017-2021.For more information:Covered in this reportThe report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the global lubricants market for mining and quarry applications for 2017-2021. To calculate the market size, the report considers the revenue generated by the demand for lubricants for mining and quarry applications by end-users in each region and their corresponding key countries.The market is divided into the following segments based on geography:-Americas-APAC-EMEAPublisher's report, Global Lubricants Market for Mining And Quarry Applications 2017-2021, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the market landscape and its growth prospects over the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market.Key vendors-BP-Chevron-ExxonMobil-Shell-TOTALInquire before Buying atOther prominent vendors-Blue Star Lubrication Technology-Busler Enterprises-D-A Lubricant Company-Eurol-FUCHS-Lubrication Engineers-Lubricon-LUBRILOG-Lubriplate-Lucas Oil Products-Novvi-PetroChoice-Petron-Pro Oil-Quaker Chemical Corporation-Rymax Lubricants-Schaeffer Manufacturing-Valvoline-WhitmoreMarket driver-Increased implementation of automatic lubrication systems.-For a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket challenge-Decrease in mining-related investments.-For a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket trend-Shifting of mining activities to emerging economies.-For a full, detailed list, view our reportRequest for discount:Contact Us:Call: +1-646-491-9876Email: sales@reportsweb.comReportsWeb.com is a one stop shop of market research reports and solutions to various companies across the globe. We help our clients in their decision support system by helping them choose most relevant and cost effective research reports and solutions from various publishers. We provide best in class customer service and our customer support team is always available to help you on your research queries.505, 6th floor, Amanora Township,Amanora Chambers, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028Tax Software Market Outlook, Geographical Segmentation, Emerging Trends and Forecasts to 2023 by Leading Key Players - Avalara, Vertex, Inc., SOVOS, H&R Block, EGov Systems, Intuit Inc., Xero and Others

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ReportsWeb says, Tax Software Market growing at a high CAGR during forecast period. A newly added market research report focuses on Tax Software industry that offers Competitor Data, market analysis and future prospects of Tax Software.This report studies the Tax Software market. Tax software is defined as a type of computer software designed to help individuals or companies prepare for and file income, corporate and similar tax returns.Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Tax Software in global market, especially in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, types and applications. Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report covers Avalara, Vertex, Inc., SOVOS, H&R Block, EGov Systems, Intuit Inc., Xero, Thomson Reuters, Exactor, Wolters Kluwer, FedTax, Drake Software, BLUCORA, LumaTax, LegalRaasta.com and Service Objects.Get FREE Sample copy atMarket Segment by Regions, regional analysis coversNorth America (United States, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)South America (Brazil, Argentina, Colombia)Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa)Market Segment by Type, coversCloud BasedOn-PremisesMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided intoSmall Business and IndividualsMidsize EnterpriseLarge EnterpriseBrowse Complete Report atTable of Content1 Market Overview2 Manufacturers Profiles2.1 Avalara2.1.1 Business Overview2.1.2 Tax Software Type and Applications2.1.2.1 Type 12.1.2.2 Type 22.1.3 Avalara Tax Software Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.2 Vertex, Inc.2.2.1 Business Overview2.2.2 Tax Software Type and Applications2.2.2.1 Type 12.2.2.2 Type 22.2.3 Vertex, Inc. Tax Software Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.3 SOVOS2.3.1 Business Overview2.3.2 Tax Software Type and Applications2.3.2.1 Type 12.3.2.2 Type 22.3.3 SOVOS Tax Software Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.4 H&R Block2.4.1 Business Overview2.4.2 Tax Software Type and Applications2.4.2.1 Type 12.4.2.2 Type 22.4.3 H&R Block Tax Software Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)3 Global Tax Software Market Competition, by Manufacturer4 Global Tax Software Market Analysis by Regions5 North America Tax Software by Countries6 Europe Tax Software by Countries7 Asia-Pacific Tax Software by Countries8 South America Tax Software by Countries9 Middle East and Africa Tax Software by Countries10 Global Tax Software Market Segment by Type11 Global Tax Software Market Segment by Application12 Tax Software Market Forecast (2018-2023)Place a Direct Purchase Order atNote: If you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.Contact Info:Name: Sameer JoshiEmail: sales@reportsweb.comOrganization: ReportsWebPhone: +1-646-491-9876ReportsWeb.com is a one stop shop of market research reports and solutions to various companies across the globe. We help our clients in their decision support system by helping them choose most relevant and cost effective research reports and solutions from various publishers. We provide best in class customer service and our customer support team is always available to help you on your research queries.533, 5th floor, Amanora Township,Amanora Chambers, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028Smart Home Theater Systems Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2018  2022

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Global Smart Home Theater Systems IndustryThis report studies Smart Home Theater Systems in Global market, especially in North America, Europe, China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan, focuses on top manufacturers in global market, with capacity, production, price, revenue and market share for each manufacturer, coveringSonySamsungYamahaOnkyoLGDenonComo AudioZvox AudioTry Sample Report @Market Segment by Regions, this report splits Global into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue, market share and growth rate of Smart Home Theater Systems in these regions, from 2011 to 2021 (forecast), likeNorth AmericaEuropeChinaJapanKoreaTaiwanSplit by product type, with production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, can be divided intoWirelessWiredSplit by application, this report focuses on consumption, market share and growth rate of Smart Home Theater Systems in each application, can be divided intoCommercialHouseholdFor Detailed Reading Please visit WiseGuy Reports @Some Major Points from Table of content:Global Smart Home Theater Systems Market Research Report 20171 Smart Home Theater Systems Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Smart Home Theater Systems1.2 Smart Home Theater Systems Segment by Type1.2.1 Global Production Market Share of Smart Home Theater Systems by Type in 20151.2.2 Wireless1.2.3 Wired1.3 Smart Home Theater Systems Segment by Application1.3.1 Smart Home Theater Systems Consumption Market Share by Application in 20151.3.2 Commercial1.3.3 Household1.3.4 Application 31.4 Smart Home Theater Systems Market by Region1.4.1 North America Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.2 Europe Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.3 China Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.4 Japan Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.5 Korea Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.6 Taiwan Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.5 Global Market Size (Value) of Smart Home Theater Systems (2012-2022)If you have any enquiry before buying a copy of this report @2 Global Smart Home Theater Systems Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1 Global Smart Home Theater Systems Production and Share by Manufacturers (2015 and 2016)2.2 Global Smart Home Theater Systems Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2015 and 2016)2.3 Global Smart Home Theater Systems Average Price by Manufacturers (2015 and 2016)2.4 Manufacturers Smart Home Theater Systems Manufacturing Base Distribution, Sales Area and Product Type2.5 Smart Home Theater Systems Market Competitive Situation and Trends2.5.1 Smart Home Theater Systems Market Concentration Rate2.5.2 Smart Home Theater Systems Market Share of Top 3 and Top 5 Manufacturers2.5.3 Mergers & Acquisitions, Expansion3 Global Smart Home Theater Systems Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2012-2017)3.1 Global Smart Home Theater Systems Production by Region (2012-2017)3.2 Global Smart Home Theater Systems Production Market Share by Region (2012-2017)3.3 Global Smart Home Theater Systems Revenue (Value) and Market Share by Region (2012-2017)3.4 Global Smart Home Theater Systems Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.5 North America Smart Home Theater Systems Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.6 Europe Smart Home Theater Systems Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.7 China Smart Home Theater Systems Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.8 Japan Smart Home Theater Systems Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.9 Korea Smart Home Theater Systems Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.10 Taiwan Smart Home Theater Systems Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)For more information or any query mail at sales@wiseguyreports.comAbout Wise Guy ReportsWise 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 understand how essential statistical surveying information is for your organization or association. Therefore, we have associated with the top publishers and research firms all specialized in specific domains, ensuring you will receive the most reliable and up to date research data available.Contact Us:Norah Trent+1 646 845 9349 / +44 208 133 9349Follow on LinkedIn: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.Wise Guy Research Consultants Pvt LtdPune  411028Maharashtra,Ph: +91 841 198 50422018 System-on-Chip Market, Digital Analog And Mixed Signal, Consumer Electronics, Telecommunication, and Automotive - Global Trends & Opportunities 2023

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System-on-chip (SoC) is a microchip on which the components are integrated on a single chip. These components include controllers, timing units, memory units, transistors, peripherals, and more depending upon the type of application. SoC includes both software as well as the hardware, which is mounted on various electronic devices such as tablets and mobile phones. SoCs have witnessed the highest adoption in the electronics industry, as they are power efficient and compact in nature.For More Info, Get Sample:Increase in demand for smart and power-efficient electronic devices, the high adoption rate of IoT, and compact feature of SoC supplement the market growth. However, high initial cost of design & development and maintenance impedes the growth.The global system-on-chip market is segmented based on type, application, and region. Based on the type, the market is divided into digital, analog, and mixed signal. The applications discussed in this study are consumer electronics, telecommunication, and automotive. Furthermore, based on region, the market is analyzed across North America, Europe, AsiaPacific, and LAMEA.Key players operating in the market are Intel Corporation, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Qualcomm Incorporated, Toshiba Corporation, NXP Semiconductors N.V., Broadcom Limited, STMicroelectronics N.V., Apple Inc., MediaTek Inc., and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited.KEY BENEFITS FOR STAKEHOLDERS This study comprises the analytical depiction of the global system-on-chip market with current trends and future estimations to depict the imminent investment pockets. The overall market potential is determined to understand the profitable trends to gain a stronger coverage in the market. The report presents information related to key drivers, restraints, and opportunities with a detailed impact analysis. The current market is quantitatively analyzed from 2017 to 2023 to highlight the financial competency of the market. Porters Five Forces analysis illustrates the potency of the buyers and suppliers.KEY MARKET SEGMENTSBY TYPE Digital Analog Mixed SignalEnquire About Report :BY APPLICATION Consumer electronics Telecommunication AutomotiveBY REGION North America U.S. Canada Mexico Europe UK Germany France Rest of Europe Asia-Pacific China Japan India Australia Rest of Asia-Pacific LAMEA Latin America Middle East AfricaKEY MARKET PLAYERS PROFILED Intel Corporation Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. Qualcomm Incorporated Toshiba Corporation NXP Semiconductors N.V. Broadcom Limited STMicroelectronics N.V. Apple Inc. MediaTek Inc. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited Magna International Inc.Also, Request For Discount:Table Of Content CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION CHAPTER 2: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY CHAPTER 3: MARKET OVERVIEW CHAPTER 4: SYSTEM ON CHIP MARKET, BY TYPE CHAPTER 5: SYSTEM ON CHIP MARKET, BY APPLICATION CHAPTER 6: SYSTEM ON CHIP MARKET, BY REGION CHAPTER 7: COMPANY PROFILESAbout UsWe have a large database of quality and precise market research reports that will be very beneficial for your organization. Reports that we sell are authentic in nature and from reputed publishers, hence it can definitely help you with your growth opportunities. Research Beam will always make sure to bring most ethical and high-quality reports. We value your relationship with us and look forward to a long-term relation.Contact UsGlobal Head Quarters5933 NE Win Sivers Drive,#205, Portland, OR 97220United States+1 (800) 910-6452help@researchbeam.comOrganic Milk Market Demand, Supply, Growth Factors, Latest Rising Trend & Forecast to 2023 by Top Key Players - Arla Food, Horizon Organic, Organic Valley, Emmi, Yeo Valley, Aurora Organic Dairy and Others

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Organic Milk is a type of drinking milk that made from organic raw milk with organic certification (Such as EU-Eco-regulation, USA NOP, etc.).Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Organic Milk in global market, especially in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, types and applications. Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report covers Arla Food, Horizon Organic, Organic Valley, Emmi, Yeo Valley, Aurora Organic Dairy, Andechser Dairy, Organic Dairy Farmers, Avalon Dairy, Bruton Dairy, Shengmu Organic Milk, Yili, Mengniu, Wholly Cow and Wholly Cow.Get FREE Sample copy atMarket Segment by Regions, regional analysis coversNorth America (United States, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)South America (Brazil, Argentina, Colombia)Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa)Market Segment by Type, coversOrganic Whole MilkOrganic 2% MilkOrganic 1% MilkOrganic Fat-free MilkOthersMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided intoChildrenAdultThe AgedBrowse Complete Report atTable of Content1 Market Overview2 Manufacturers Profiles2.1 Arla Food2.1.1 Business Overview2.1.2 Organic Milk Type and Applications2.1.2.1 Type 12.1.2.2 Type 22.1.3 Arla Food Organic Milk Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.2 Horizon Organic2.2.1 Business Overview2.2.2 Organic Milk Type and Applications2.2.2.1 Type 12.2.2.2 Type 22.2.3 Horizon Organic Organic Milk Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.3 Organic Valley2.3.1 Business Overview2.3.2 Organic Milk Type and Applications2.3.2.1 Type 12.3.2.2 Type 22.3.3 Organic Valley Organic Milk Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.4 Emmi2.4.1 Business Overview2.4.2 Organic Milk Type and Applications2.4.2.1 Type 12.4.2.2 Type 22.4.3 Emmi Organic Milk Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)3 Global Organic Milk Market Competition, by Manufacturer4 Global Organic Milk Market Analysis by Regions5 North America Organic Milk by Countries6 Europe Organic Milk by Countries7 Asia-Pacific Organic Milk by Countries8 South America Organic Milk by Countries9 Middle East and Africa Organic Milk by Countries10 Global Organic Milk Market Segment by Type11 Global Organic Milk Market Segment by Application12 Organic Milk Market Forecast (2018-2023)Place a Direct Purchase Order atNote: If you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.Contact Info:Name: Sameer JoshiEmail: sales@reportsweb.comOrganization: ReportsWebPhone: +1-646-491-9876ReportsWeb.com is a one stop shop of market research reports and solutions to various companies across the globe. We help our clients in their decision support system by helping them choose most relevant and cost effective research reports and solutions from various publishers. We provide best in class customer service and our customer support team is always available to help you on your research queries.533, 5th floor, Amanora Township,Amanora Chambers, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028Ransomware Protection Market : Detailed Volume & Value Analysis Report 2017-2025

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Global Ransomware Protection Market: SnapshotThe global ransomware protection market is prognosticated to be bolstered on the back of the growing need for email protection since email is researched to be a top source used for ransomware distribution. The May 2017 cyberattack that affected about 150 countries was spiked by the WannaCry malware, which is supposed to have infected over 100,000 computers worldwide. The malware urged computer users to download it via email, and it took no time to spread across the industry while creating a massive havoc.One of the fastest-growing solutions in the global ransomware protection market is threat intelligence. This could be due to the increasing demand for combating malicious cyberattacks such as ransomware. As a result, a majority of organizations are envisaged to invest in protection from security breaches and cyberattacks at a global platform.The healthcare industry is a primary target of most security hackers and commonly affected by ransomware attacks. In this regard, seasoned analysts foresee ample of business opportunities to take birth through this vertical in the global ransomware protection market. Compared to other industries, healthcare could significantly fall prey to ransomware attacks on account of the aggressive digitalization of electronic patient health information and other medical data.Request Sample Copy of the Report@Nevertheless, industry players are foretold to cash in on the dominating share of banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI) in the global ransomware protection market supported by the ballooning implementation of mobile and web applications for banking payments and transactions.With no clear end in view, cyberattacks are expected to continue for the longest period of time. Ransomware was first introduced in 1989 with PC Cyborg Trojan which extorted a ransom of approximately US$189 from the victim.Global Ransomware Protection Market: OverviewRansomware is capable of preventing access to operating systems and encrypting files such that any PC user cant use them. It can target home computers, the end point in an organization network, and servers used by healthcare providers or government agencies. The potential data and financial loss caused by ransomware are mandating the deployment of ransomware protection solutions. The growth of the global ransomware protection market is primarily fuelled by end-user industries such as BFSI, education, healthcare, and government and defense. The commonly available protection solutions are secure web gateways, application control, standalone anti-ransomware software, web filtering, intrusion detection system/intrusion prevention system (IDS/IPS), and threat intelligence.The research report on the global ransomware protection market is compiled using data from various paid and unpaid sources including journals, white papers, presentations, and press releases. It serves as an essential source containing a detailed description of drivers, restraints, and opportunities and an analysis of the extent to which they impact the growth of the market. In addition, it includes Porters five force analysis that is useful in deriving the competitive landscape of the market. It profiles key players in the market along with their market shares, cost and revenue structures, business strategies, latest developments, and contact information.Request TOC of the Report @Global Ransomware Protection Market: Drivers and RestraintsThe increasing cases of targeted security breaches and phishing attacks are by far the leading factor driving the global ransomware protection market. The large ransom demanded by hackers through these attacks is one of the major concerns for organizations worldwide. The information extracted by hackers usually has a huge demand in the black market, which can adversely affect the overall growth of an organization. Moreover, the introduction of crypto-currencies for ransom payments and the growing popularity of ransomware-as-a-service model are working in favor of the growth of the market. On the other end, the presence of free solutions for endpoint security for ransomware is hampering the overall revenue generation of the global ransomware protection market.Global Ransomware Protection Market: Geographical SegmentationThe key segments analyzed in the report on the basis of geography are North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, and Rest of the World. North America and Europe will collectively represent a substantial share in the market in the forthcoming years. The domicile of a large number of key players along with the early adoption of advanced security technologies provides an edge to these regions over other regions. The high incidence of hacking via ransomware attacks is one of the primary factors augmenting the growth of these regions.Read Comprehensive Overview of Report @Asia Pacific is likely to register a noteworthy CAGR over the forecast horizon. The growth of the region can be attributed to the increasing spending by enterprises on security and cyber protection. Countries such as Australia, China, India, Japan, and Singapore will be the major contributors to the growth of the region. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in this region are highly targeted by ransomware perpetrators to extort large ransom.Global Ransomware Protection Market: Competitive LandscapeThe majority of the players in the global ransomware protection market are focusing on the development of new products to attain inorganic growth in the global ransomware protection market. Partnerships and acquisitions are also among the commonly adopted strategies by prominent players to boost their offerings in the market. Some of the prominent players in the global ransomware protection market are Symantec Corporation, Intel Security, Malwarebytes, Trend Micro, Kaspersky Lab, Bitdefender, Zscaler, and SentinelOne.About UsTMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in todays supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clients conduct business by providing them with authoritative and trusted research studies in tune with the latest methodologies and market trends.Our savvy custom-built reports span a gamut of industries such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals and metals, food and beverages, and technology and media, among others. With actionable insights uncovered through in-depth research of the market, we try to bring about game-changing success for our clients.Contact:TMR Research,3739 Balboa St # 1097,San Francisco, CA 94121United StatesTel: +1-415-520-1050Email: sales@tmrresearch.comGlobal Pharmacovigilance Market Trend will witness a sustainable 10.3% growth

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Pharmacovigilance has a firm foothold in medical sector in consequence to mandatory drug safety monitoring. This will impel pharmacovigilance market, which is gaining remarkable momentum owing to a strict regulatory framework pertaining to drug testing and approval. Leading pharmacovigilance service providers often collaborate with CROs and their compeers to maximize their service portfolio and offer customized, foolproof services.Key players accumulating a major share of pharmacovigilance industry include Accenture, Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation, Quintiles, Boehringer Ingelheim, Synowlwedge, Bristol-Myers Squibb, ICON, United BioSource, PAREXEL, and Covance. Mergers & acquisitions is a prime growth tactic adopted by these giants to sustain the market and counter their rivals. Unique services ranging from drug testing, drug approval, and drug commercialization provided by these companies will contribute to pharmacovigilance industry expansion over the years to come. A report by Global Market Insights, Inc., states that pharmacovigilance market is expected to surpass a valuation of USD 8 billion by 2024, having had a revenue of more than USD 3 billion in 2015.Request for a sample of this research report -The pharmaceutical sector is on an inclined growth path with the rising number of global chronic disorders and the subsequent increase in the manufacture of suitable drugs. In 2010, more than 6 billion drugs were disbursed in the United States alone. Manufactured drugs are clinically tested for adverse effects and fatal reactions, before they are commercialized and made available to the masses. Stringent government norms subject to clinical trials and drug approvals will significantly drive global pharmacovigilance industry.Pharmacovigilance services can be outsourced on a contractual basis or provided in-house. Demand for confidentiality pertaining to drug information and effective data management will propel in-house pharmacovigilance market size, valued for more than USD 1.5 billion in 2015. This service provider segment is anticipated to cross a revenue of USD 3 billion by 2024.Browse key industry insights spread across 111 pages with 66 market data tables & 6 figures& charts from the report Pharmacovigilance Market in detail along with the table of contents:Contract outsourcing pharmacovigilance industry, with a revenue of USD 1.7 billion, accounted for more than half of the overall share in 2015. Pharmaceutical and biotechnology firms are increasingly concentrating on the bottom line range and outsourcing pharmacovigilance services to niche-specific organizations, which is sure to propel contract outsourcing based pharmacovigilance market trends. In addition, outsourcing these services will reduce the financial losses pertaining to testing failures and drug approval delays, which will stimulate contract outsourcing pharmacovigilance industry, slated to exceed a revenue of USD 4.8 billion by 2024.Geographically, Europe pharmacovigilance market was worth more than USD 790 million in 2015, with Spain, Germany, and UK accounting for more than 70% of the regional share. The increasing demand for personalized drugs and customized services in the region will fuel Europe pharmacovigilance industry, which is anticipated to cross a revenue of USD 1.8 billion by 2024, with a CAGR estimation of 10% over 2016-2024.APAC and Brazil pharmacovigilance markets will surpass revenues of USD 2.4 billion and USD 300 million by 2024 respectively, powered by the growth of the pharmaceutical sectors, increase in the number of biotechnology companies, and growing concerns regarding the usage of drugs.Make an inquiry for purchasing this report @Increasing concerns regarding patient health and safety coupled with the occurrence of adverse drug events will drive U.S. pharmacovigilance industry, which is set to exceed a revenue of USD 2.5 billion by 2024, growing at a CAGR of 10.7% over 2016-2024.Pre-clinical trial is a mandatory trial service enmeshed in pharmacovigilance market. Government directives subject to the crucial collection of data prior to the actual testing will drive pre-clinical trial industry, which will observe a valuation of more than USD 84 million by 2024, with a growth rate of 10.3% over 2016-2024.Surging requirement for drug safety detection and analysis will accelerate Phase III clinical trial market, set to grow at a CAGR of more than 10% over 2016-2024, with a target size of USD 1.25 billion by 2024. Phase IV clinical trial industry will depict a growth rate of 10.9% powered by the growing concerns regarding drug efficacy and safety evaluation.Pharmacovigilance market participants in the developed regions have registered a paradigm shift in the provision of their services over the last few years. Most of the leading providers are now outsourcing their services to the BPOs and other related firms in the emerging economies, owing to the fact outsourcing reduces operational costs, aids safer drug monitoring, ensures adherence to regulatory reforms, and helps enhance the overall productivity. This in turn is likely to spur global pharmacovigilance industry growth over the coming years.Browse Related Reports:Precision Medicine Market Size By Technology (Big Data Analytics, Gene Sequencing, Drug Discovery, Bioinformatics, Companion Diagnostics), By Application (Oncology, CNS, Immunology, Respiratory), Industry Analysis Report, Regional Outlook (U.S., Canada, Germany, UK, France, Scandinavia, Italy, Japan, China, India, Singapore, Mexico, Brazil, South Africa, UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia), Application Potential, Price Trends, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2016  2023About Global Market Insights:Global Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy and biotechnology.Contact Us:Arun HegdeCorporate Sales, USAGlobal Market Insights, Inc.Phone: 1-302-846-7766Toll Free: 1-888-689-0688Email: sales@gminsights.comWeb:Blog:U.S. Medical Gas Equipment Market share to exceed $2.4 bn by 2024

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Growing demand for home-based healthcare services subject to domestic comfort and convenience will drive medical gas equipment market over the years to come. A recent survey depicted that more than 85% of the geriatric population in America prefers home healthcare. In fact, Medicare provides homecare to more than 3.5 million Medicare beneficiaries, as more than 90% of American seniors prefer the Medicare home health benefit. This will massively propel Medical gas equipment market, which is slated to cross a revenue of USD 7 billion by 2024, with a CAGR projection of 7.7% over 2016-2024.The geriatric population across the globe has been soaring exponentially since the last few years. According to the World Health Organization, the elderly population above the age of 65 is forecast to increase from 7% in 200 up to 16% by the year 2050. The subsequent rise in chronic ailments will fuel the need for increased hospitalizations, point of care diagnostics, and home healthcare, which will propel the requirement of health equipment for 55% to 60% of patients, thereby impelling medical gas equipment industry.Request for a sample of this research report -Renowned organizations such as the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA), Gases and Welding Distributors Association (GAWDA), and Compressed Gas Association (CGA) have enforced favorable norms that will help augment medical gas equipment market size over the next few years. The U.S. Congress introduced the Food and Drug Safety and Innovation Act in July, 2012 to enable the termination of Drug User Fees for medical equipment manufacturers. These fees normally range between USD 98,000 to USD 1,840,000 for conventional drug companies, which is why their elimination is likely to further fuel medical gas equipment industry.Medical masks are slated to be one of most lucrative product segments of medical gas equipment market, with a CAGR projection of 9.2% over 2016-2024. Reduced manufacturing costs coupled with surging demand for these products will stimulate medical gas equipment industry size. Gas outlets and medical regulators are also expected to observe a fairly healthy growth rate over the next few years.Browse key industry insights spread across 95 pages with 17 market data tables & 10 figures & charts from the report Medical Gas Equipment Market in detail along with the table of contents:Subject to the numerous supportive initiatives enforced by the European Medical Gas Association and the European Industrial Gases Association, Europe medical gas equipment market is anticipated to cross USD 1.9 billion by 2024, having held a valuation of USD 1 billion in 2015. Germany, Russia, Poland, and UK are slated to be the chief revenue contributors. While UK medical gas equipment industry will grow at a rate of 6.9% over 2016-2024, Germany market is forecast to cross a revenue of USD 533 million by 2024, having held a valuation of USD 296 million in 2015.Vacuum systems held 31% of medical gas equipment industry share in 2015, and is slated to cross a revenue of USD 2.2 billion by the year 2024, with a target market size forecast to surpass USD 2.2 billion by 2024. On the other hand, manifolds were valued at USD 1.1 billion in 2015 and are expected to surpass a value of USD 2.2 billion by 2024, with a CAGR estimation of 7.8% over 2016-2024.The U.S. has been witnessing a rapid surge in the healthcare infrastructure and other medical facilities. Having held more than 81% of the regional medical gas equipment industry share in 2015, it is forecast to expand rapidly over 2016-2024. The huge demand for invasive medical procedures, favorable government norms, and the improved healthcare facilities will impel U.S. medical gas equipment market size, which is slated to cross USD 2.4 billion by 2024.Make an inquiry for purchasing this report @China medical gas equipment industry will observe a CAGR of 10% over 2016-2024, subject to the presence of a huge elderly population base and the rising number of chronic and pulmonary disorders. In addition, the developing healthcare infrastructural growth across the region will lead China medical gas equipment market size to cross USD 472 million by 2024.Worldwide medical gas equipment industry share was predominantly held by Linde Gas and Air Liquide in 2015, both of which cumulatively accounted for more than 38% of the revenue share in 2015. Other players include Air Products and Chemicals, Praxair, Matheson Tri-Gas, BeaconMedaes, and Air Gas.About Global Market Insights:Global Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy and biotechnology.Contact Us:Arun HegdeCorporate Sales, USAGlobal Market Insights, Inc.Phone: 1-302-846-7766Toll Free: 1-888-689-0688Email: sales@gminsights.comWeb:Blog:Aseptic Fillers Market to Incur Steady Growth During 2016-2026

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Packaging has become vital part of product lifecycle predominantly to protect and preserve the product from any type of harm such as leakage, contamination, damage, etc. during the course of transit, consumption and storage. Achieving the highest degree of product safety at every stage of product lifecycle is anticipated to be one of the major concern of sensitive products manufactures. Moreover, sensitive products require sterile packaging that not only protect the product from contamination or leakage, but also careful packaging technique while product packaging. These aforementioned attributes are primarily met by aseptic fillers for packaging of sensitive products. Aseptic fillers are a type of automated packaging solution that is serving the requirement of packaging at a fast rate. These fillers are easily and quickly adjustable for a huge range of filling volumes with the exact needed requirement. Due to consumer demand for natural tasting products with a longer shelf life, these aseptic fillers are considered as a decisive step in the packaging industry with the integration of technology. With the overall advent of technology in every aspect of life, aseptic packaging process is gaining traction due to its faster, safer, efficient and effective application. And thereby with the aseptic fillers, manufacturers have ultimately increased their production capacity resulting into lower production cost and time.Request for Sample @Aseptic Fillers Market- Market Segmentation:The global aseptic fillers market is segmented on the basis of technology type, head type, package type and end use. On the basis of technology type, aseptic fillers market can be segmented into automated aseptic fillers and semi-automated aseptic fillers. On the basis of head type, aseptic fillers market can be segmented into single head aseptic fillers, double head aseptic fillers and multi head aseptic fillers, wherein multi head aseptic fillers had a wide usage in the pharmaceuticals industry. On the basis of package type, aseptic fillers market can be segmented into cartons, bottles, cans, bags, pouches, vials, ampoules, pre-filled syringes and others. The aseptic fillers market is gaining huge traction in the cartons form of packaging solution as these are eco-friendly products as compared to other package types. On the basis of end use, aseptic fillers market can be segmented into food and beverage industry, pharmaceutical industry and healthcare industry, wherein, the pharmaceutical industry is expected to contribute a large share in aseptic fillers market as they required to provide exact dosage with zero contamination to their user. Moreover, food and beverage industry is further segmented into dairy products, carbonated soft drinks, energy drinks, juice, alcoholic beverages, etc.Aseptic Fillers Market - Market Dynamics:One of the significant factors contributing towards the growth of the aseptic fillers market is the government regulation towards effective packaging solution and stringent hygiene requirement subjected to pharmaceutical and healthcare products. These products need an extra care as they are easily prone contamination if come into contact with bacteria or external harmful element. Moreover, these products require a packaging solution that wont react if imposed to thermal stress. Another prominent factor towards the growth of aseptic fillers market is the proper safety and quality which manufacturer require at the same time by increasing production capacity and minimize the cost of production. Furthermore, the rising health concern, increasing disposable income and fast paced lifestyle among individual has led to the growth of aseptic packaged products, therefore, this transformation will boost the sales of aseptic fillers and expected to drive the growth of aseptic fillers market. However, the restraining factor towards the growth of the aseptic fillers market is the high initial cost of equipment along with the packaging solution.Request for Table of Contents @Aseptic Fillers Market - Regional OutlookGeographically, the global aseptic fillers market is segmented into North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific (APAC) and Middle East & Africa (MEA). The global aseptic fillers market is expected to witness a stable CAGR over the forecast period of 2016-2024. Moreover, North America is expected to contribute largest in the aseptic fillers market, due to the rising consumption of dairy products and increasing health awareness. Apart from this, the extensive evolution of the individual in terms rising disposable income among middle income groups, increasing urbanization and expanding working population in the growing economies such as India & China is expected to further improve the sales of the aseptic fillers market in Asia Pacific by the end of the forecast period of 2016-2024.Aseptic Fillers Market - Major Players:Some of the major players identified across the globe in the aseptic fillers market are Advanstar Communications Inc, IPI s.r.l., Piramal Enterprises Ltd, Krones AG, BACCINEX SA, KHS GmbH, VMS-Maschinenbau GmbH, serac group, Pharmalucence Inc and Vanrx Pharmasystems Inc.ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:Smoothened Homolog Key Players  BeiGene Ltd, Genentech Inc, Ignyta Inc and IMPACT Therapeutics Inc Analysis and Forecast to 2022

Smoothened Homolog

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Smoothened HomologOverviewSmoothened Homolog (Protein Gx or SMO) - Smoothened homolog (SMO) is a G protein-coupled receptor that probably associates with the patched protein (PTCH) to transduce the hedgehog's proteins signal. Binding of sonic hedgehog (SHH) to its receptor is thought to prevent normal inhibition by patched of smoothened (SMO). It is required for the accumulation of KIF7 and GLI3 in the cilia..Click here for sample report @Top Companies mentionedBeiGene LtdGenentech IncIgnyta IncIMPACT Therapeutics IncMayne Pharma Group LtdPfizer IncSun Pharma Advanced Research Company LtdSmoothened Homolog Industry Major OutlookPharmaceutical and Healthcare latest pipeline guide Smoothened Homolog - Pipeline Review, H1 2018, provides comprehensive information on the therapeutics under development for Smoothened Homolog, complete with analysis by stage of development, drug target, mechanism of action (MoA), route of administration (RoA) and molecule type. The guide covers the descriptive pharmacological action of the therapeutics, its complete research and development history and latest news and press releases.The report also reviews key players involved in Smoothened Homolog (Protein Gx or SMO) targeted therapeutics development with respective active and dormant or discontinued projects. Currently, The molecules developed by companies in Phase II, Preclinical and Discovery stages are 6, 2 and 1 respectively.Similarly, the universities portfolio in Preclinical and Discovery stages comprises 2 and 1 molecules, respectively. Report covers products from therapy areas Oncology, Genetic Disorders, Gastrointestinal and Undisclosed which include indications Medulloblastoma, and Acute Lymphocytic Leukem.Smoothened Homolog - Competitive AnalysisKey players are making innovative developments in Smoothened Homolog industry. The same will help in improving the market performance. Heavy investments are made by major players in the R&D sectorScopeThe pipeline guide provides a snapshot of the global therapeutic landscape of Smoothened Homolog.The pipeline guide reviews pipeline therapeutics for Smoothened Homolog by companies and universities/research institutes based on information derived from company and industry-specific sources.The pipeline guide covers pipeline products based on several stages of development ranging from pre-registration till discovery and undisclosed stages.The pipeline guide features descriptive drug profiles for the pipeline products which comprise, product description, descriptive licensing and collaboration details, R&D brief, MoA & other developmental activities.The pipeline guide reviews key companies involved in Smoothened Homolog therapeutics and enlists all their major and minor projects.The pipeline guide evaluates Smoothened Homolog therapeutics based on mechanism of action (MoA), drug target, route of administration (RoA) and molecule type.The pipeline guide encapsulates all the dormant and discontinued pipeline projects.The pipeline guide reviews latest news related to pipeline therapeutics for Smoothened Homolog..ContinuedFor Detailed Reading Please visit @Wise Guy Reports understand how essential statistical surveying information is for your organization or association. Therefore, we have associated with the top publishers and research firms all specialized in specific domains, ensuring you will receive the most reliable and up to date research data available. We also provide COTS (Commercial off the Shelf) business sector reports as custom exploration agreeing your particular needs.WISEGUY RESEARCH CONSULTANTS PVT LTDOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersPune - 411028Maharashtra, IndiaRemote Patient Monitoring Devices Market Analysis, Market Size, Regional Outlook, Competitive Strategies And Forecasts, 2018 To 2023, Focusing On Top Key Vendors Like Biotronik, Boston Scientific Corporation

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In this Remote Patient Monitoring Devices Market research report, the important driving factors of this market were acknowledged and the business partners & end users were extended. The structure of the business division, examples and difficulties influencing the market universally are likewise a piece of this broad investigation. Different gatherings and talks were led by the recognizable pioneers of this industry to get ardent and refreshed insights worried to the market.Top Key Vendors in Market: Biotronik, Boston Scientific Corporation, CAS Medical Systems, CONTEC MEDICAL, Dragerwerk, GE Healthcare, Guangdong Biolight Meditech, Medtronic, Mindray Medical, Nihon Kohden, Philips Healthcare, Spacelabs Healthcare, St. Jude MedicalGet Sample Copy Of this Report @The Global Remote Patient Monitoring Devices Market is explained in detail in this report, starting with a basic overview, which includes definitions and various specifics related to the raw materials used in manufacturing the market products. This section also includes a considered distinction of major and minor factors that influence this market. The summary includes a depiction of the value chain structure of the global industry and a status update for the different major regional segments of this industry. Further the report scrutinizes the several policies that regulate processes in this global market, specifically, the ones that are currently active, along with an analysis of the top news stories about the global industry.According to the research report, the global market for Remote Patient Monitoring Devices Market is witnessing a continual rise in its valuation with the advancement in technologies, which is impacting the consumer behavior and, accordingly, their purchasing patterns to a great extent. In addition to this, the rising penetration of internet and the surge in mobile surfing are anticipated to boost the demand for network management software across the world, states the research report.This statistical surveying research study presents an all-inclusive evaluation of the worldwide market for network management software, taking various industry parameters, such as the capacity of production, product pricing, demand, supply, and sales dynamics, returns on investments, and the growth rate of the overall market into consideration.Get Discount on this Premium Report@The research study also offers a detailed assessment of the competitive landscape of the global market. It reviews the profiles of the prominent players functional in this market in a bid to determine their growth prospects and the key strategies adopted by them for the development of their businesses.On the basis of geographical regions, the Global Remote Patient Monitoring Devices Market is segmented broadly into Latin America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Asia Pacific. The global market is still in its exploratory stage in most of the regions but it holds the promising potential to flourish steadily in coming years. The major companies investing in this market are situated in Canada, U.K., and the US, India, China and some more countries of Asia Pacific region. Consequently, Asia Pacific, North America, and Western Europe are estimated to hold more than half of the market shares, collectively in coming years.In the last sections of the report, the manufacturers responsible for increasing the sales in the Remote Patient Monitoring Devices Market has been presented. These manufacturers have been analyzed in terms of their manufacturing base, basic information, and competitors. In addition, the technology and product type introduced by each of these manufacturers also form a key part of this section of the report.Table of Content:Global Remote Patient Monitoring Devices Market Research Report 2018-2023Chapter 1 Remote Patient Monitoring Devices Market OverviewChapter 2 Global Economic ImpactChapter 3 Competition by ManufacturerChapter 4 Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2018-2023)Chapter 5 Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Regions (2018-2023)Chapter 6 Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by TypeChapter 7 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 Market Forecast (2018-2023)Chapter 13 AppendixHealthCare Intelligence Markets supply market intelligence reports in the domain of personalized drugs & diagnostics after going through a rigorous research process. The healthcare and pharma industry is constantly evolving as trends are getting replaced at a rapid pace.Shreyas TannaHealthcare Intelligence Markets601, Winterberry Purple, Koregaon Park, Pune, 411001sales@healthcareintelligencemarkets.com+91 7400242424Global Industrial Cleaning Chemicals Sales Market Report 2017

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Provue Market Research has recently declared the expansion of "Worldwide Industrial Cleaning Chemicals Detailed Analysis Report 2017-2022" that gives the market study of " Industrial Cleaning Chemicals  across the global, regional and country level.The exploration report displays a far reaching diagram of market and development patterns of this industry in the coming years. The report provides 360 analysis of "Industrial Cleaning Chemicals Market" from view of manufacturers, regions, product types and end industries. The research report analyses and provides the historical data along with current status of the global Industrial Cleaning Chemicals industry, and estimates the future trend of Industrial Cleaning Chemicals market on the basis of this detailed studyRequest Sample:This report mainly covers volume and value market share by players, by regions, by product type, by consumers and also their price change details. As a Detailed Analysis report, it covers all details inside analysis and opinion in Industrial Cleaning Chemicals industry.1 Industrial Cleaning Chemicals Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Industrial Cleaning Chemicals1.2 Classification of Industrial Cleaning Chemicals by Product CategoryBrowse Report :2 Global Industrial Cleaning Chemicals Competition by Players/Suppliers, Type and Application2.1 Global Industrial Cleaning Chemicals Market Competition by Players/Suppliers2.2 Global Industrial Cleaning Chemicals (Volume and Value) by Type2.3 Global Industrial Cleaning Chemicals (Volume and Value) by RegionInquiry for Buying:3 United States Industrial Cleaning Chemicals (Volume, Value and Sales Price)4 China Industrial Cleaning Chemicals (Volume, Value and Sales Price)4.1 China Industrial Cleaning Chemicals Sales and Value (2012-2017)4.2 China Industrial Cleaning Chemicals Sales Volume and Market Share by PlayersProvue Market Research is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. We feature large repository of latest industry reports, leading and niche company profiles, and market statistics released by reputed private publishers and public organisations. We provide our clients not only with market statistics unveiled by avowed private publishers and public organisations but also with vogue and newest industry reports along with pre-eminent and niche company profiles.Provue Research14715 Prairie Ave,Lawndale, CA, 90260,California USATel:- +18889204862Email: info@provueresearch.comWeb:Silicon Anode Battery Market to Penetrate Untapped Regions During 2016-2026

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In order to meet the rising energy requirements and to overcome rapidly depleting fossil resources, rechargeable batteries has evolved as one of the efficient means of energy storage. The ongoing technological advancement in power electronics and automotive has brought lithium ion batteries into the frame as an advanced storage systems with high capabilities. The silicon anode batteries are lithium ion batteries with silicon anode. The traditional anode material in lithium ion batteries i.e. graphite doesnt meets the high energy demand of advanced electric automotive due to its limited theoretical capacity, whereas, silicon stores ten times more lithium than the graphite anode resulting in increased energy density which enables fast charging and high current delivery. Thus silicon anode battery is emerging as a substitute for graphite anode battery. Due to its low discharge potential and extreme charge capacity, silicon anode could provide faster charging, greater current delivery and smaller battery size. However, large volume change during electrochemical process remains the major challenge in wide commercialization of silicon anode battery. Silicon anode battery is expected to emerge as next generation of lithium ion batteries. The silicon anode battery market is still between introduction and growth phase, when plotted on product life cycle. Huge investments by market leaders are being made to further develop silicon anode battery technology and bring it on practical grounds and thus market is expected to hold significant growth potential.Request for Sample @Silicon Anode Battery: Market DynamicsThe major factor contributing to the growth of silicon anode battery market is the increasing energy requirements from various end-use applications such as consumer electronics and automotive, for more efficient and advanced battery. Further, robust growth of automotive industry and turning focus towards EVs could generate significant opportunity for growth of the silicon anode battery market. Lower working potential and high charge capacity of silicon anode battery could help automotive manufacturers to reach required power ranges by deploying less number of batteries thus achieving high performance. Moreover, abundance of raw material i.e. silicon can turn as a major factor driving its application into lithium ion batteries. Major challenges faced in the silicon anode battery market are limited commercialization of the product due to existing technical challenges particularly large volumetric expansion. Furthermore, high costs silicon anode battery as compared to available alternative is also a factor restraining market growth. The major trends observed in the silicon anode battery market is product development and innovation such as use of nanowire battery with silicon anodes as they allow improved accommodation of volume changes during lithiation. Number of players in the market have filed patents over different advancements in silicon anode battery technologySilicon Anode Battery: Market SegmentationThe silicon anode battery market can be segmented on the basis of: application and region.On the basis of application the silicon anode battery market can be segmented into:Consumer electronic devicesMedical applications (pacemaker, defibrillator machines)AutomotiveSpace & defenseSustainable energy (wind turbine and photovoltaic)The silicon anode battery market can be segmented on the basis of region into: North America, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Asia Pacific Excluding Japan, Japan, Middle East and AfricaSilicon Anode Battery: Regional OutlookNorth America holds a major share in the silicon anode battery market due to the substantial growth in the automotive industry and consumer electronics section. Europe and North America collectively holds over 50% share in the market owing to demand from industrial sector. However, Asia Pacific silicon anode battery market is expected to grow significantly over the forecast period due to rapid industrialization and increasing awareness about the use of energy efficient, reliable, safe and economical battery systems.Request for Table of Contents @Silicon Anode Battery: Key PlayersSome of the major key players identified in the silicon anode battery market are: Nexeon Limited, BYD Company Limited, Amprius Inc., ENOVIX, Boston-Power, Inc., LG Chem Ltd., Panasonic Corporation, Samsung SDI, XG Sciences, Zeptor Corporation, California Lithium battery Inc, Yuasa battery Europe Ltd., JTT Electronics Ltd, Vmcell Technology Co., Ltd, Enevate Corporation, Nanotek Instruments.ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:Palletizing Machines Market to Reflect Impressive Expansion During 2016-2026

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Packaging encompasses an essential part of the marketing mix for any product or brand. There is a growing demand for new packaging machines that is suitable for the new changing requirements of the packaging industry. Manufacturers are inclined to provide their products in a short period of time. Palletizing machine offers automatic stacking cases of goods and products onto a pallet. The demand of the palletizing machines is increasing due to the narrow time duration between the productions of the product and reaching the warehouses of the distributors. Apart from that placing boxes on palates manually can be time consuming process which also an important reason for adopting palletizing machines.Palletizing Machines: Market DynamicsPalletizing Machines market is expected to be driven by the increasing growth of food & beverages industry that in turn escalation the growth of Palletizing machines market during the forecast period. The food & beverages industry is expected to generate maximum revenue in palletizing machines market as compare to the other end user because itis reliant on manual labor to palletize the products. Apart from that lowering the time to deliver the products and increasing competition also expected to positively influence the sales of palletizing machines during the forecast period. Growing urbanization and increasing purchasing power of the consumers are expected to fuel the demand of palletizing machines in the pharmaceutical industry because increasing consumptions of medicines and other over the counter products help to increase the adoption of palletizing machines for enhancing the speed of the packaging processes which will diminish the transportation time of the drugs.Request for Sample @Moreover, rapid industrialization in emerging countries such as China, India, Indonesia and Brazil have helped to increase the usage of chemical and petrochemical products which in turn acceleration the demand of palletizing machines during the forecast period. To cater to the increasing demand of chemical and petrochemical products the manufacturers are expanding their capacity of the production or they are investing in Greenfield projects. Manufacturers are using palletizing machines for assemblingthe product on the pallet to transport their products rapidly in palletizing machines market. In addition, the palletizing machines market is also anticipated to high growth owing to the growing demand of consumer durable goods and electronic products. Robotic palletizers is gaining traction in the palletizing machines market during the forecast period.Palletizing Machines: Market SegmentationThe global palletizing machines market is segmented on the basis of product type and palletizing technique, end userBased on the product type the global Palletizing Machines market is segmented into:Bulk PalletizersCase PalletizersBag PalletizersPail PalletizersOthers PalletizersBased on the palletizing technique the global Palletizing Machines market is segmented into:Manual PalletizingSemi-automated PalletizingAutomatic PalletizingBased on the end user the global Palletizing Machines market is segmented into:Food & BeveragesPharmaceuticalsCosmetics & Personal careChemicalOthersPalletizing Machines Market: Regional outlookIn terms of geography, the global Palletizing Machines market has been divided in to five key regions including North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Middle East & Africa. Asia Pacific region is expected to grow at a high rate during the forecast period due to the presence of developing countries such as India and China where the demand of the product is very high. North America and Europe is also expected to witness a healthy growth in near future. But some developed countries in Europe is anticipated to grow at a slower pace as compare to the developing countries during the forecast period. But the Middle East and Africa region is expected to be slothful in the upcoming decade.Request for Table of Contents @Palletizing MachinesMarket: Key playersSome of the key players in the global Palletizing Machines market are American-Newlong Inc., Adept Technology Inc., A-B-C Packaging Machine Corp., ABB Flexible Automation Inc., Brenton Engineering Company, Bastian Material Handing LLC, BEUMER Corporation, ABB, FANUC Robotics America Inc., C&D Skilled Robotics Inc., Priority One Packaging Ltd etc. Key players also emphasizing for mergers and acquisitions with the local players to increase the product portfolio and also to penetrate their business into emerging countries. Also the companies in palletizing machines market are increasing their product portfolio to obtain new customers as well as to retain existing customers.ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:Feb 19, 2018: Commercial Smart Meter Market Forecast 2018-2025 Kamstrup, Elster Group, Nuri Telecom

Commercial Smart Meter Market Report 2018

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A market study "Global Commercial Smart Meter Market" examines the performance of the Commercial Smart Meter market 2018. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Commercial Smart Meter market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Commercial Smart Meter market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Commercial Smart Meter Market 2018 report includes Commercial Smart Meter market Revenue, market Share, Commercial Smart Meter industry volume, market Trends, Commercial Smart Meter Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report.It shows manufacturing capacity, Commercial Smart Meter Price during the Forecast period from 2018 to 2022.To Get Sample Report Click Here:Manufacturers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Commercial Smart Meter Market 2018 :1. Landis+Gyr2. Itron3. Siemens4. Kamstrup5. Elster Group6. Nuri Telecom7. Sagemcom8. Iskraemeco9. ZIV10. Sanxing11. Linyang Electronics12. Wasion Group13. Haixing Electrical14. XJ Measurement & Control Meter15. Chintim Instruments16. Clou Electronics19. Holley Metering18. HND Electronics19. Longi20. Banner21. SunriseCommercial Smart Meter Market : By ApplicationGas Supply SystemElectricity Supply SystemWater Supply SystemCommercial Smart Meter Market : By TypeSingle PhaseThree PhaseFirstly, the report covers the top Commercial Smart Meter manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Further, the Commercial Smart Meter report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Commercial Smart Meter industry, Commercial Smart Meter industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Commercial Smart Meter Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Commercial Smart Meter research report includes the products that are currently in demand and available in the market along with their cost breakup, manufacturing volume, import/export scheme and contribution to the Commercial Smart Meter market revenue worldwide.Finally, Commercial Smart Meter market report gives you details about the market research findings and conclusion which helps you to develop profitable market strategies to gain competitive advantage.About Usqyresearchstore.com is a leading market intelligence team which making extensive reports that cover all the necessary details about the market assessments such as major technological improvement in the industry.Contact US:5001 Spring Valley Rd #400,Dallas,TX 75244, USAContact No. +1-214-661-1669Email: sales@qyresearchstore.comGlobal Market for Pipeline Monitoring System Market to Reflect Steadfast Expansion During 2017-2027

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Pipelines are flow lines that carry fluids which may be in a liquid or gaseous state. At times, they are laid in harsh and hazardous conditions and areas; hence, fostering a need for accurate pipeline monitoring systems to detect leakages, damages and other pipeline failures, which may lead to serious ecological and economic consequences. For example, a small water pipeline bursting or leaking is a small scale problem and will not affect the environment and ground water reservoir largely. However, if a crude oil or natural gas or chemical pipeline gets damaged and leaks, it may lead to severe ecological consequences.Sometimes, the working conditions of the pipeline itself can induce damage or additional wear. Such pipelines need to be closely monitored from the data collection center or control room for exact pressure and temperature conditions inside the pipeline, to ensure effective operation of the whole plant. Pipelines are susceptible to internal and external corrosion, cracking, manufacturing flaws and third party damages. Thus, it has become crucial to closely monitor and control hazardous fluid carrying pipelines with pipeline monitoring systems to effectively and safely operate a plant. In order to sustain safe operation of a pipeline, remote, real-time and continuous assessment and monitoring of the pipelines is necessary. There are various underground and underwater pipelines being laid around the globe; hence, pipeline monitoring systems have become essential in the rapidly industrializing world.A sample of this report is available upon request @In pipeline inspection and monitoring, the foremost objective is to locate and identify the exact damage area, followed by formulating an accurate solution; so maintenance personnel can take effective corrective action. Damaged pipelines, if not serviced on time, can create several operational problems, which will amount to a heavier cost eventually. An operation known as pigging is employed to remove blockages from long pipelines; herein a large sphere is introduced in the pipeline and eventually removed from pigging stations located at suitable checkpoints. Nowadays, industries are using intelligent pigs, which comprise sensors and electronic devices helpful in calculating the pipes thickness as well as in detecting damages and defects while travelling inside the pipeline. Electric readings are recorded for effective and accurate location of defective areas inside the pipelines. Such advancements and increasing automation in pipeline monitoring systems are expected to boost the overall pipeline monitoring system market in the coming future.Pipeline Monitoring System market dynamics:Large scale research and development divisions are invested in the pipeline monitoring system technology in oil & gas industries; thus, making pipeline monitoring systems significant tools in the petrochemical sector. Another essential factor facilitating growth of the pipeline monitoring system technology is the rising use of electronics and sensors in pipelines which will monitor and control operating conditions and thus, reduce damage from internal factors such as nozzle stress, corrosion, etc. The pipeline monitoring system market has evolved over the years to feature a multitude of advantages such as cost effectiveness, good longevity, enhanced reliability, and ease in maintenance.Pipeline Monitoring System market segmentation:The pipeline monitoring system market can be segmented by pipe type, technology, application and end use.The pipeline monitoring system market can be segmented on the basis of pipe type as:MetallicCast steel pipeStainless steel pipeAluminum pipeOther metal pipes (cast iron pipe, corrugated steel pipe, copper pipe)Non-metallicPlastic pipeGlass pipeOther pipesConcrete pipesAsbestos cement pipesThe pipeline monitoring system market can be segmented on the basis of technologyas:Ultrasonic testingPIGsSmart ball (intelligent pigs)Magnetic flux leakage technologyOthers (beta foil technology, leo technology, fiber optic test)The pipeline monitoring system market can be segmented on the basis of end use as:Petrochemical industriesOilNatural gasBiofuelWater & wastewater treatment plantsChemicals industriesOthers (beverages & food, process , automobile)To view TOC of this report is available upon request @Pipeline Monitoring System Market: Regional Outlook:The pipeline monitoring system market can be divided into seven different geographical regions/divisions such as North America, Latin America, Western and Eastern Europe, Asia-Pacific Excluding Japan (APEJ), Japan, Middle East and Africa. North America, Europe and MEA regions have vast oil fields and chemical industries, hence long pipelines are required for the transportation of fluids here. Owing to this, the pipeline monitoring systems market is forecasted to grow in all the above regions. In the Asia-Pacific region, countries like India and China have increased the use of pipeline monitoring system technology in the petrochemical industry for human safety and comfort. Based on the above factors, the pipeline monitoring system market is forecasted to grow with a high CAGR over the forecast period.Pipeline Monitoring System: Key PlayersSiemens AGHoneywell International Inc.BAE SystemsPerma PipesTransCanada PipeLines LimitedPSI AGPure TechnologyOrbcomm Inc.HuaweiPentair PLC.Atmos InternationalClampon ASABB GroupFuture Fibre TechnologiesSenstar Inc.SyrinixABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:Abhishek BudholiyaFuture Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:Feb 19, 2018: Carnation Oil Market Forecast 2018-2025 Albert Vieille, Berje, Elixens

Carnation Oil Market Research Report 2018

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http://qyresearchstore.com/global-carnation-oil-sales-market-manufacturers-2018-review-size-and-forecast-2023/

A market study "Global Carnation Oil Market" examines the performance of the Carnation Oil market 2018. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Carnation Oil market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Carnation Oil market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Carnation Oil Market 2018 report includes Carnation Oil market Revenue, market Share, Carnation Oil industry volume, market Trends, Carnation Oil Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report.It shows manufacturing capacity, Carnation Oil Price during the Forecast period from 2018 to 2022.To Get Sample Report Click Here:Manufacturers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Carnation Oil Market 2018 :1. Albert Vieille2. Berje3. Elixens4. Ernesto Ventos5. Fleurchem6. H.Interdonati7. INDUKERN INTERNACIONAL8. Penta Manufacturing Company9. Robertet Group10. Ultra international11. Treatt Plc12. PerfumersWorld13. Ungerer & CompanyCarnation Oil Market : By ApplicationMedicalSpa & RelaxationCarnation Oil Market : By TypeTherapeutic GradeFirstly, the report covers the top Carnation Oil manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Further, the Carnation Oil report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Carnation Oil industry, Carnation Oil industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Carnation Oil Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Carnation Oil research report includes the products that are currently in demand and available in the market along with their cost breakup, manufacturing volume, import/export scheme and contribution to the Carnation Oil market revenue worldwide.Finally, Carnation Oil market report gives you details about the market research findings and conclusion which helps you to develop profitable market strategies to gain competitive advantage.About Usqyresearchstore.com is a leading market intelligence team which making extensive reports that cover all the necessary details about the market assessments such as major technological improvement in the industry.Contact US:5001 Spring Valley Rd #400,Dallas,TX 75244, USAContact No. +1-214-661-1669Email: sales@qyresearchstore.comPolycaprolactone Polyol Market Key Players 2018: Perstrop Holding A.B., BASF SE, Daicel Corporation, Sigma Aldrich, Shenzhen Esun Industrial Co. Ltd, Gantrade Corporation, Huntsman International LLC

Polycaprolactone Polyol Market

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Market Highlights:Market research future publishing a cooked research report on Polycaprolactone Polyol Market that contains the information from 2016 to 2023. Global Polycaprolactone Polyol Market is expected to grow with the CAGR 11.28 % during forecast period of 2016 to 2023.Commenting on this report, an analyst from Market Research Future (MRFR)s team said, Global Polycaprolactone Polyol Market is estimated to be valued at USD 377.1 million by the end of 2016 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 11.28% to reach USD 791.4 million by the end of 2023. Foam accounted for the largest market share of 31.57% in 2016, projected to grow at the highest CAGR of 10.89% during the forecast period. Foam segment is followed by coating, adhesive, elastomer and others. The properties of polycaprolactone polyol such as, excellent oil, solvent and fuel resistance, abrasion resistance, high tensile strengths and cut and tear resistance in the end use applications is expected to stimulate the demand for foam and elastomer segment. In terms of volume, foam is leading the market in 2016 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 10.96% during the forecast period in Asia Pacific region. Europe is the second largest consumer of polycaprolactone polyol followed by North America; the latter regions are expected to grow at CAGRs of 10.78% and 10.48% respectively.Key Players:Market Research Future (MRFR) recognizes the following companies as the key players in the Global Polycaprolactone Polyol Market as include Perstrop Holding A.B., BASF SE, Daicel Corporation, Sigma Aldrich, Shenzhen Esun Industrial Co. Ltd, Gantrade Corporation, Huntsman International LLC., and others.Receive a Sample Report upon Request @Segment Analysis:The global polycaprolactone polyol market has been segmented into: application and end use. On the basis of application, the market has been divided into foam, coating, adhesive, elastomer and others. Based on the end user, the market is segmented resin, footwear, automotive, pharmaceutical and others.The consumption of polycaprolactone polyol in foam accounts for the largest market share in the global market, owing to its inherent properties such as excellent oil, solvent and fuel resistance, abrasion resistance, high tensile strengths and cut and tear resistance among others. The segmental growth of foam can be attributed to various factors such as the surge in demand from the footwear sector coupled with the consumer resin market growth, surge in automotive production, and increasing prevalence of electric vehicles among others.Additionally, polycaprolactone polyol is utilized in various niche sector as a coating, adhesive, elastomer and foam. It is utilized as coating to increasing the life of the product. Polycaprolactone based resins are used in electrical insulations, microfluidics, microelectronics. The use of polycaprolactone based products have accelerated the market to many extent due to its property as excellent thermal resistance, physical properties, biodegradable nature.Access Report Details @The resin market is one of the major consumer of polycaprolactone polyol, the valuation of resin market is valued at approximately USD 147.4 million in 2016; growing at 11.43% of CAGR during forecast period. Due to increasing focus on sportswear generally among consumers the footwear is the second largest market for the polycaprolactone polyol. The footwear industry is valued at approximately USD 72 million in 2016 and projected to grow at the CAGR of 11.38%. The automotive segment is the third largest consumer of polycaprolactone polyol, the segment is anticipated to grow at a rate of 11.28% to reach approximately USD 101.2 Million by the end of 2023, owing to the increasing automotive production in line with the decline in crude oil prices.Regional Analysis:Geographically, the global polycaprolactone polyol market by region is segmented into Asia Pacific, North America, Europe, Latin America and Middle East & Africa. As per MRFR analysis Asia Pacific dominated the polycaprolactone polyol market and has accounted for the largest share of 30.10% the market in 2016; expected to grow at CAGR of 11.58%. Asia Pacific market is followed by Europe and North America growing at CAGR of 11.48% and 11.28% respectively. Moreover, the products from polycaprolactone polyol are biodegradable in nature, and government initiative for biodegradable plastics in these region are expected to drive the market.The study was conducted using an objective combination of primary and secondary information including inputs from key participants in the industry. The report contains a comprehensive market and vendor landscape analysis of key vendors.This research report provides the insights, on various levels of analyses such industry analysis, market share analysis leading market players and their profiles. This report also helps in studying the target segments by providing views on emerging & high-growth segments and market conclusion. Together the market data comprise and discuss with the basic assessments on the competitive scenarios & strategies, of the Global Polycaprolactone Polyol Market, including the high-growth regions and their political, economic and technological environments. Furthermore, the project report also provides the views over the historical market values as well as, pricing and cost analysis of the same.About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.In order to stay updated with technology and work process of the industry, MRFR often plans & conducts meet with the industry experts and industrial visits for its research analyst members.Contact:Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.comFeb 19, 2018: Carrageenin Market Forecast 2018-2025 CP Kelco, Marcel Carrageenan, FMC Corporation

Carrageenin Market Research Report 2018

https://goo.gl/ohvTLm

http://qyresearchstore.com/global-carrageenin-sales-market-manufacturers-2018-review-size-and-forecast-2023/

A market study "Global Carrageenin Market" examines the performance of the Carrageenin market 2018. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Carrageenin market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Carrageenin market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Carrageenin Market 2018 report includes Carrageenin market Revenue, market Share, Carrageenin industry volume, market Trends, Carrageenin Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report.It shows manufacturing capacity, Carrageenin Price during the Forecast period from 2018 to 2022.To Get Sample Report Click Here:Manufacturers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Carrageenin Market 2018 :1. CP Kelco2. Marcel Carrageenan3. FMC Corporation4. DuPont5. Extractos Naturales Gelymar6. Ingredients Solutions7. Kerry Group8. Cargill9. Altrafine Gums10. W HydrocolloidsCarrageenin Market : By ApplicationFood and BeveragesPersonal Care and ToiletriesPharmaceuticalsFeed and Pet FoodCarrageenin Market : By TypeKappa-CarrageeninIota-CarrageeninLambda CarrageeninFirstly, the report covers the top Carrageenin manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Further, the Carrageenin report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Carrageenin industry, Carrageenin industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Carrageenin Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Carrageenin research report includes the products that are currently in demand and available in the market along with their cost breakup, manufacturing volume, import/export scheme and contribution to the Carrageenin market revenue worldwide.Finally, Carrageenin market report gives you details about the market research findings and conclusion which helps you to develop profitable market strategies to gain competitive advantage.About Usqyresearchstore.com is a leading market intelligence team which making extensive reports that cover all the necessary details about the market assessments such as major technological improvement in the industry.Contact US:5001 Spring Valley Rd #400,Dallas,TX 75244, USAContact No. +1-214-661-1669Email: sales@qyresearchstore.comMalaria Vaccines Market Research Report 2017: Future Growth with Current Trends  Forecast to 2025

https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/1492740

https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/reports/1492740/malaria-vaccines-global-industry-market-research-reports

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"The Latest Research Report Malaria Vaccines Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2017 - 2025 provides information on pricing, market analysis, shares, forecast, and company profiles for key industry participants. - MarketResearchReports.biz"This exclusive report will provide you with the market size and forecast (US$ Mn) for the global market and its segments for the period from 2015 to 2025 along with the growth rate (CAGR) from 2017 to 2025, considering 2016 as base year. In addition, drivers, restraints and opportunities, competitive landscape have also been covered under the current proposed table of contents, which will in due course help you to take strategic decisions with respect to the market.Malaria has become one of the public health concerns. According to the World Health Organization, the estimated cases of malaria in 2016 was 216 million globally, which was almost 2.5% higher than that of 2015. This mosquito-borne disease causes severe illness in children and adults. Pregnant women and unborn children cannot escape from aftermaths of malaria. It is reported that malaria-affected pregnant women give premature birth or sometimes give birth to dead infants. Various safety measures to curb malaria include the use of mosquito nets, spraying of insecticides, or quinine. However, current studies have concluded that a) mosquitos are resistant to insecticides, b) insecticides have harmful effects to human beings, and c) malaria becomes resistant to drugs. Therefore, steps to curb malaria gradually decreases.Get Sample Copy of this report @To combat this devastating scenario, the importance of malaria vaccines grows worldwide. These vaccines may help to fill the gaps of other malaria safety measures. The global malaria vaccines market is driven by increasing incidence of malaria, growing awareness of the aftermaths of the disease, and rising diagnosis and treatment rate along with recommended number of doses of malaria vaccines. However, in the next few years, the market is likely to face challenges such as high price of vaccines, weak supply chain network in developing countries, and stringent regulatory policies. On the other hand, worldwide research and development, R&D investments, vaccination programs, and technological breakthroughs are expected to open new avenues for the growth of the market in the near future.RTS,S/AS01 (Mosquirix) is the most advanced candidate vaccine found to combat the most lethal form of human malaria, Plasmodium falciparum. A phase 3 clinical trial of RTS,S/AS01 began in May 2009. After almost six years, the European Medicines Agency shared a positive opinion of the vaccine.The global malaria vaccines market has been segmented based on agent, product, end-user, and region. In terms of agent, the market is categorized into Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium vivax, and Anopheles species. Based on product, the market is segmented into reagents, assays, proteins, and antibodies. In terms of end-user, the market is classified into hospitals, independent clinics, households, and others (government established health camps and health centers).View Report @Geographically, the global malaria vaccines market is distributed over North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. According to the WHO, more than 200 million confirmed cases (90% of the global cases) of malaria were reported in the Africa region in 2015. Additionally, limited financial resources, low awareness about aftermaths of malaria, low diagnostic and treatment rate, and weak distribution channels are the potential factors which are likely to drive the MEA region to become a leading contributor of the global market. Asia Pacific is also estimated to be a potential market. According to a research, almost 1.2 million confirmed cases of malaria and 550 deaths were reported in India in the most recent times in 2015. The same study also warned that 95% of Indias population live in malaria-endemic areas and about 13 million people in Bangladesh. China which showed a high rate of malaria cases in 1970, represented only 17,000 confirmed cases of malaria in 2013. About 15 million confirmed cases of malaria were reported in the Asia Pacific region in 2016, revealed by a separate study. Most of the malaria cases in Latin America are found in the Amazon region. A study published in the British Medical Journal, in 2017, reported that Brazil displayed an increasing rate of malaria cases in recent years; the confirmed malaria cases in the country had grown to nearly 25 cases per 1,000 population in 2015 from 14 cases per 1,000 population in 2014. The North America and Europe regions displayed a minimal number of malaria cases in 2016. Nevertheless, visitors, students, and business delegates from developed countries of these regions who travel to malaria endemic regions are suggested to administer malaria vaccines.Key players operating in the global market for malaria vaccines are GlaxoSmithKline, Nobelpharma, GenVec, Inc., and Sanaria. Other promising vendors are CellFree Sciences Co. Ltd., Cadila Healthcare Ltd., VLP Therapeutics LLC, and Genome ReS Ltd.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.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 analysisSend An Enquiry Request @The 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.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.ContactMr. NachiketState Tower90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074Website:E: sales@marketresearchreports.bizProtein Bars Market Top Key Players Analysis: Premier Nutrition (U.S.), Atkins Nutritionals, Inc. (U.S.), Clif Bar & Company. (U.S.), General Mills Inc. (U.S.), Kellogg Co. (U.S.), Lenny & Larry's Incorporated (U.S.), Mars Incorporated

https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/5417

https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/protein-bars-market-5417

Market Scenario:Protein bars are nutritional bars with high protein content. It is available in a wide variety in the market and is a healthy option as a meal substitute. Most protein bars are fortified with a range of vitamins and minerals which is driving the growth of the market. Protein bars are an effective way to reduce cravings and prevent constant snacking. They are available in different flavors such as chocolates, fruits, peanut butter, savory, spices, and others.Protein bars are a healthy substitute for a proper meal for individuals who require quick energy. The high protein content in the product is driving the growth of the market. Increasing working population followed by a hectic lifestyle of consumers have provided the best opportunity for protein bars market.Rising health-conscious population along with increasing disposable income is adding fuel to the market growth of protein bars. Moreover, protein bars are gaining popularity owing to growing trend of health and fitness. However, there is a large number of substitutes for the product available in the market which may hamper the market growth of protein bars.Get a Sample Report @Key Players:Some of the key players profiled in the global protein bar market are Atkins Nutritionals, Inc. (U.S.), Clif Bar & Company. (U.S.), General Mills Inc. (U.S.), Kellogg Co. (U.S.), Premier Nutrition (U.S.), Lenny & Larry's Incorporated (U.S.), Mars Incorporated (U.S.), Quest Nutrition (U.S.), Caveman Foods LLC (U.S.), Abbott Nutrition Manufacturing Inc. (U.S.)Key Findings:Gluten-free protein bars are gaining acceptance from majority of the populationGermany, Canada, Belgium, France, and Italy are the major exporters of protein barsSegments:Protein bars market is segmented on the basis of type such as plant protein and animal protein. Among them, the plant protein segment is anticipated to gain substantial growth over the coming years due to increasing demand for gluten-free plant sources among the population suffering from celiac diseases.On the basis of flavors, protein bars are segmented such as chocolates, fruits, peanut butter, savory, spices, and others. The chocolate segment is witnessed to be dominating among others. However, the fruits and peanut butter segments are expected to have a steady growth over the forecast period.Based on the distribution channel, protein bars are segmented as store based and non-store based. Protein bars are, however, mainly sold through store based distribution channel among which grocery wholesalers and retail stores are the major contributors.Access Report Details @Regional Analysis:The global protein bar market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and rest of the world (RoW). North America is anticipated to be dominating the protein bars market followed by Europe owing to the presence of key players in the U.S. followed by rising inclination towards portable convenience foods. Moreover, in Europe, there is a high inclination towards functional foods and nutritional products which is driving the growth of the market in this region.Asia Pacific is projected to be the fastest growing region for protein bars in which China and Japan are the major contributors followed by India. Moreover, Australia is also witnessed to have a steady growth over the coming years. Owing to increasing trend of health and fitness, protein bars are estimated to grow rapidly over the rest of the world.About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.ContactMarket Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.comOperating Room Integration Systems Market Segments by Size, Share and Region - Global Forecast to 2025

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"The Latest Research Report Operating Room Integration Systems Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2017 - 2025 provides information on pricing, market analysis, shares, forecast, and company profiles for key industry participants. - MarketResearchReports.biz"This exclusive report will provide you with the market size and forecast (US$ Mn) for the global market and its segments for the period from 2015 to 2025 along with the growth rate (CAGR) from 2017 to 2025, considering 2016 as base year. In addition, drivers, restraints and opportunities, competitive landscape have also been covered under the current proposed table of contents, which will in due course help you to take strategic decisions with respect to the market.Integrated operating rooms are designed to lessen the complexity of the most intricate environments inside a hospital, a private clinic, or a medical institute. Modern integrated operating rooms are equipped with a wide range of surgical equipment along with equipment management systems, medical printers, insufflation devices, surgical microscopes, surgical lights, cameras, large screen displays, and air management devices. An operating room integration system not only integrates equipment, but also functionally connects the operating room environment that includes patient information system, audio, video, surgical lights, operating tables, and building automation. When all these technologies are integrated, the various equipment are controlled by a single operator that may be a physician or a nurse.Get Sample Copy of this report @An operating room integration system offers several advantages over traditional non-integrated operating rooms. For instance, cables and wires that usually remain lying on the floor can run inside the articulating arms of the ceiling-mounted booms and lights. An operator can control several devices via a computer from one place that reduces undue navigation in the operating room; some systems offer voice recognition as well. Hence, a surgeon wearing a wireless headset with a microphone can control the entire system from a remote location. Presently, conventional operating rooms are evolving into hybrid operating rooms that utilize various imaging devices, endoscopy systems, minimally invasive surgery tools, and robot assisted surgeries. An average rate of growth is expected in the operating room integration systems market during the forecast period due to various reasons such as increase in demand for hybrid and integrated operating rooms. A strong demand for integrated and hybrid operating rooms is seen in the developed markets, primarily the U.S. and Western Europe. Emerging markets such as China, India, Brazil, and countries in the Middle East have also witnessed increase in acceptance of integrated operating rooms. Furthermore, rise in complexity of modern ORs and technological advancements are likely to boost demand for these systems in the near future. Need for enhanced patient safety and operating room efficiency is also expected to drive the market in the next few years.The global operating room integration systems market can be segmented based on facilities or devices, application, and region. In terms of facilities or devices, the market can be categorized into audio and video management system, high definition (HD) display system, and various documentation and recording systems. Based on application, the global operating room integration systems market can be classified into therapeutic and diagnostic. Therapeutic applications consist of cardiovascular surgeries, neurosurgeries, pediatric surgeries, and orthopedic surgeries. The diagnostic segment includes various procedures such as fluoroscopy.View Report @Geographically, the global operating room integration systems market can be segmented into five major regions: North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. North America and Europe hold significant share of the global operating room integration systems market owing to availability of advanced technologies and health care infrastructure. The integrated operating rooms market in Asia Pacific is expected to grow at a rapid pace during the forecast period. Rise in health care spending and increase in number of surgeries are the key factors driving the market in the region. The market in Latin America and Middle East & Africa is also likely to witness strong growth. Rise in awareness about various advanced surgical technologies and procedures fuels market growth in these regions.The global operating room integration systems market is led by companies such as Stryker Corporation, Karl Storz GmbH & Co. KG, Steris Corporation, Skytron, LLC, and Getinge Group. Maquets Tegris, Karl Storz GmbH & Co. KGs ORchestrion, and Steris Corporations Harmony iQ OR Integration System are the leading brands in the market.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.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)Send An Enquiry Request @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.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.ContactMr. NachiketState Tower90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074Website:E: sales@marketresearchreports.bizWood Preservatives Market, by Formulation, Application, and Geography - Trends and Forecast to 2025

Global Wood Preservatives Market

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Global Wood Preservatives - InsightsWood preservatives such as copper azoles, synthetic pyrethroids, creosote and various other preservatives, are the chemicals applied on wood to preserve it from fungi, insects, termites, ants, and other microbes. These preservatives also prevent the wood from decomposition, degradation and decay, and provides a longer life, thereby increasing its durability.Growth of wood preservatives market is fueled by the use of wood in marine piling, utility fencing, decking, and in infrastructure. The U.K. government invested US$ 7.09 Bn on infrastructure development in 2016, which in turn led to high demand for wood, thereby, propelling growth of the wood preservatives market.Request a sample copy of this report:Demand for wood preservatives is increasing owing to shifting preference of consumers towards using eco-friendly wood preservatives. For instance, Ammonium Copper Quaternary (ACQ), a new generation compound, is extensively being used as an alternative to Chromated Copper Arsenate (CCA), which are wood preservatives. ACQ is being used for treatment of wood used in agriculture poles and structural timber. It aids in improving the durability of the wood being treated. However, limited availability of wood and stringent government regulations on the usage of synthetic wood preservatives, are some of the major factors restricting growth of global wood preservatives market. For instance, in 2003, manufacturers of chromated arsenical stopped the residential use of Chromated Copper Arsenate (CCA), and the wood products that are treated with CCA, including childrens play sets and decks in North America, as they were harmful to humans as well as environment. CCA is being rapidly replaced by copper azole (CA) and copper quaternary (ACQ).In the formulation segments, water based segment dominated the wood preservatives market in 2016, and is projected retain its dominance over the forecast period, expanding at a CAGR of 6.29%. This is owing to its wide use in residential and commercial applications. This preservative is widely used as it is easy to handle, provides cleaner finish, and is more eco-friendly compared to other formulations. Water based wood preservatives also provide longer retention time and leaves the surface of the wood dry and clean and allowing it to be painted after the treatment. However, in Europe, the Directive 2003/EC restricts the use and marketing of arsenic and CCA wood preservatives and the use of CCA treated wood in domestic and residential construction. This further restricts growth of the global wood preservatives market.Request Customization of the report:In terms of revenue, North America dominated the wood preservatives market in 2016, accounting for 40.28% share. This is due to extensive use of wood in the residential sector in the region. According to Government of Canada, in 2010, Canadian industry of wood preservatives, sold US$ 682.36 Mn valued residential and industrial treated products.Asia Pacific is projected to be the fastest growing region in the wood preservatives market, witnessing a CAGR of 7.56% during the forecast period. Growth in this region is attributed to rising standard of living, increasing commercial housing activities, and increasing industrial construction. Moreover, growing investments in premium furniture backed by rising standard of living, especially of the middle class population are other factors expected to drive growth of the market in the region.Among applications, the residential and commercial segment accounted for a dominant market share of 78.69% in 2016. This is attributed to increasing demand for wood from the infrastructure sector for flooring and wooden furniture. Furthermore, rising popularity of wood as a renewable and sustainable building material with lowest carbon footprint has led to its rampant use in the construction industry. This is another factor expected to drive growth of the wood preservatives market.Major players operating in the global wood preservatives market include BASF Wolman GmbH, Borax Inc., KMG Chemicals Inc., Koppers Inc., Remmers AG Kurt Obermeier GmbH & Co. KG, LANXESS AG, Kop-Coat Inc., and Lonza Group LtdTo know the latest trends and insights prevalent in the Global Wood Preservatives Market, click the link below: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.comNitric Oxide Test Market Global Market Outlook,Research,Trends and Forecast to 2023

Nitric Oxide Test Market

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Nitric oxide test is performed for the diagnosis of various diseases such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cystic fibrosis, and other respiratory conditions. Nitric oxide is a produced as an inflammatory response by various cell types. Exhaled nitric oxide is a biomarker for the diagnosis, treatment, and management of asthma in adults and children. The concentration of nitric oxide in exhaled breath determines airway inflammation and support the diagnosis of various lung diseases such as asthma. In Asthma patients, a higher amount of nitric oxide is released from epithelial cells of the bronchial walls during the inflammation.The Global Nitric Oxide Test Market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 5.4% during the forecast period.Rising prevalence of respiratory diseases such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, increasing demand for diagnostic services for chronic diseases, and growing use of various diagnosis devices and equipments in-home care settings drive the market growth. Furthermore, availability of cost-effective products and services for diagnosis of asthma influence the market growth.However, lack of awareness about nitric oxide testing in developing nations across the globe restrains the market growth.A per the Global Burden of Diseases Study (GBD) in 2014, over 334 million people were diagnosed with asthma, and the number is increasing.Segments: The Global Nitric Oxide Test Market is segmented on the basis of product, indication, and end user.On the basis of the product, the market is segmented into nitric oxide test strips, nitric oxide monitor, and others.On the basis of the indication, the market is segmented into asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cystic fibrosis, pulmonary arterial hypertension, and others.On the basis of the end user, the market is segmented into hospitals & clinics, diagnostic center, home care settings, and others.Prominent Key Players in the Global Nitric oxide test Market:BERKELEY TEST LIMITED (U.K), Human Power of N, Co. (U.K), ATP Nutritionals LLC (U.S.), Neogenis (U.S.), CVS Health (U.S.), and Uniscience (U.S.).Get Premium Sample Copy atRegional Analysis of the Global Nitric Oxide Test Market:The Americas account for the largest share of the Global Nitric Oxide Test Strip Market. The growth of the market is attributed to the increasing demand for diagnostic services for various lung diseases, extensive use of nitric oxide test strips, and rising demand for medical devices and instruments in healthcare institutes and diagnostics laboratories. Increasing efforts from asthma management by healthcare providers and government through surveillance at national and state levels also boost the growth of the market. As per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 2015, 24,633 people were diagnosed with asthma and the number has been increased over the past few years.Europe is the second largest market owing to the increasing adoption of home care, rising demand for minimally invasive diagnostic services, and availability of wide range of diagnostics products. Increasing focus on lung disorder and extensive research on asthma, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and their prevalence in European countries fuel the growth of the market.Asia Pacific is the fastest growing market owing to increasing burden of chronic diseases such as asthma, rising population and growing demand for diagnostic services and home care devices for health monitoring. Additionally, the economic burden of chronic diseases further influence the demand for new treatment methods, thus, accelerates the growth. Furthermore, the prevalence of the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is found to be increasing in Asia Pacific countries.The Middle East & Africa also show a steady rise in the market growth owing to rising demand for diagnostics services, and treatment options for chronic diseases.Table Of Content1. Report Prologue2. Market Introduction2.1 Definition2.2 Scope Of The Study2.2.1 Research Objective2.2.2 Assumptions2.2.3 Limitations3. Research Methodology3.1 Introduction3.2 Primary Research3.3 Secondary Research3.4 Market Size Estimation4. Market Dynamics4.1 Drivers4.2 Restrains4.3 Opportunities4.4 Challenges4.5 Macroeconomic Indicators4.6 Technology Trends & AssessmentContinuedGet Premium Discount on Copy atTop 5 Reasons to Buy the Reports: Company profiling with detailed strategies, financials, and recent development activities Market Strategic Business Influence Data Market Research Future recommendations in key business segments based on the market estimations Market share analysis of the top industry players Market forecasts for a minimum of 5 years of all the mentioned segments, Trends and the regional markets With SWOT AnalysisAbout 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:Market Research Future+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.comMRFR has the distinguished objective of providing the optimal quality research and granular research to clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help answer your most important questions.Our Research Analysts are eager to share their knowledge and assist you in refining market research parameters, choosing right market studies, and evaluating both the market scope and the research methodologies of varied segments.We bridge the gap between our clients and their clients by identifying and decoding just the target group, while generating leads with the highest accuracy.Years of research into diverse fields of work has ingrained within us, a proficiency so distinguished that our industry-specific specialists identify with your business ideas and feel the pulse of your challenges and opportunities. This enables us for providing assistance, through our consulting and strategic consulting services, in informed managerial decision making. In order to stay updated with technology and work process of the industries, WantStats Research and Media often conducts industrial visits for its research analysts. Relevant inputs from various established market participants, help our clients make significant contribution in respective markets are a huge motivation for all of us to endlessly furnish quality. We depend greatly on profound insights into complex realms of our study.Pune, IndiaSolar Energy Charge Controller 2018 Global Market Key Players - Genasun, Morning Star, SRNE Solar, MPP Solar, Phocos, Leonics...

Solar Energy Charge Controller Market

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Solar Energy Charge Controller Market 2018Wiseguyreports.Com Adds Solar Energy Charge Controller  Global Market Demand, Growth, Opportunities, Manufacturers, Analysis of Top Key Players and Forecast to 2025 To Its Research Database.Description:In this report, the global Solar Energy Charge Controller 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 Solar Energy Charge Controller in these regions, from 2013 to 2025 (forecast), coveringNorth AmericaEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaGlobal Solar Energy Charge Controller market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer; the top players includingGenasunMorning StarSRNE SolarMPP SolarPhocosLeonicsSolexPower MasterBeijiing Epsolar TechnologyBeijing Shoushanxinda TechnologySunway PowerSuzhou Cosuper EnergyAnhui Jing Neng Green EnergyRequest for Sample Report@On the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoPWM Charge ControllersMPPT Charge ControllersOthersOn 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, includingSolar Street LampsSolar Traffic SignsSolar HeatersOthersComplete report details @If you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.Table of Contents:Global Solar Energy Charge Controller Market Research Report 20181 Solar Energy Charge Controller Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Solar Energy Charge Controller1.2 Solar Energy Charge Controller Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global Solar Energy Charge Controller Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category)(2013-2025)1.2.2 Global Solar Energy Charge Controller Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20171.2.3 PWM Charge Controllers1.2.4 MPPT Charge Controllers1.2.5 Others1.3 Global Solar Energy Charge Controller Segment by Application1.3.1 Solar Energy Charge Controller Consumption (Sales) Comparison by Application (2013-2025)1.3.2 Solar Street Lamps1.3.3 Solar Traffic Signs1.3.4 Solar Heaters1.3.5 Others1.4 Global Solar Energy Charge Controller Market by Region (2013-2025)1.4.1 Global Solar Energy Charge Controller 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 Solar Energy Charge Controller (2013-2025)1.5.1 Global Solar Energy Charge Controller Revenue Status and Outlook (2013-2025)1.5.2 Global Solar Energy Charge Controller Capacity, Production Status and Outlook (2013-2025)2 Global Solar Energy Charge Controller Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1 Global Solar Energy Charge Controller Capacity, Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.1.1 Global Solar Energy Charge Controller Capacity and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.1.2 Global Solar Energy Charge Controller Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.2 Global Solar Energy Charge Controller Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.3 Global Solar Energy Charge Controller Average Price by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.4 Manufacturers Solar Energy Charge Controller Manufacturing Base Distribution, Sales Area and Product Type2.5 Solar Energy Charge Controller Market Competitive Situation and Trends2.5.1 Solar Energy Charge Controller Market Concentration Rate2.5.2 Solar Energy Charge Controller Market Share of Top 3 and Top 5 Manufacturers2.5.3 Mergers & Acquisitions, Expansion7 Global Solar Energy Charge Controller Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis7.1 Genasun7.1.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.1.2 Solar Energy Charge Controller Product Category, Application and Specification7.1.2.1 Product A7.1.2.2 Product B7.1.3 Genasun Solar Energy Charge Controller Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.1.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.2 Morning Star7.2.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.2.2 Solar Energy Charge Controller Product Category, Application and Specification7.2.2.1 Product A7.2.2.2 Product B7.2.3 Morning Star Solar Energy Charge Controller Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.2.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.3 SRNE Solar7.3.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.3.2 Solar Energy Charge Controller Product Category, Application and Specification7.3.2.1 Product A7.3.2.2 Product B7.3.3 SRNE Solar Solar Energy Charge Controller Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.3.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.4 MPP Solar7.4.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.4.2 Solar Energy Charge Controller Product Category, Application and Specification7.4.2.1 Product A7.4.2.2 Product B7.4.3 MPP Solar Solar Energy Charge Controller Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.4.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.5 Phocos7.5.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.5.2 Solar Energy Charge Controller Product Category, Application and Specification7.5.2.1 Product A7.5.2.2 Product B7.5.3 Phocos Solar Energy Charge Controller Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.5.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.6 Leonics7.6.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.6.2 Solar Energy Charge Controller Product Category, Application and Specification7.6.2.1 Product A7.6.2.2 Product B7.6.3 Leonics Solar Energy Charge Controller Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.6.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.7 Solex7.7.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.7.2 Solar Energy Charge Controller Product Category, Application and Specification7.7.2.1 Product A7.7.2.2 Product B7.7.3 Solex Solar Energy Charge Controller Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.7.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.8 Power Master7.8.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.8.2 Solar Energy Charge Controller Product Category, Application and Specification7.8.2.1 Product A7.8.2.2 Product B7.8.3 Power Master Solar Energy Charge Controller Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.8.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.9 Beijiing Epsolar Technology7.9.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.9.2 Solar Energy Charge Controller Product Category, Application and Specification7.9.2.1 Product A7.9.2.2 Product B7.9.3 Beijiing Epsolar Technology Solar Energy Charge Controller Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.9.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.10 Beijing Shoushanxinda Technology7.10.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.10.2 Solar Energy Charge Controller Product Category, Application and Specification7.10.2.1 Product A7.10.2.2 Product B7.10.3 Beijing Shoushanxinda Technology Solar Energy Charge Controller Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.10.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.11 Sunway Power7.12 Suzhou Cosuper Energy7.13 Anhui Jing Neng Green EnergyContinued..Contact US:NORAH TRENTPartner Relations & Marketing Managersales@wiseguyreports.comPh: +1-646-845-9349 (US)Ph: +44 208 133 9349 (UK)About Us:Wise Guy Reports Is Part Of The Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. And Offers Premium Progressive Statistical Surveying, Market Research Reports, Analysis & Forecast Data For Industries And Governments Around The Globe. Wise Guy Reports Features An Exhaustive List Of Market Research Reports From Hundreds Of Publishers Worldwide. We Boast A Database Spanning Virtually Every Market Category And An Even More Comprehensive Collection Of Market Research Reports Under These Categories And Sub-Categories.Addres:: Wise Guy Research Consultants Pvt Ltd: Pune  411028: Maharashtra,: Ph: +91 841 198 5042Small Wind Turbines Market Fortis Wind Energy, Bergey Windpower, XZERES, Ampair, Polaris America, Windspire Energy, Gaia-Wind

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https://www.qyresearchreports.com/report/2018-2025-small-wind-turbines-report-on-global-and-united-states-marketstatus-and-forecastby-playerstypes-and-applications.htm/toc

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Qyresearchreports include new market research report 2018-2025 Small Wind Turbines Report on Global and United States Market,Status and Forecast,by Players,Types and Applications to its huge collection of research reports.The international market for Small Wind Turbines has been researched on with every detail in the publication with increased emphasis on various significant factors such as growth drivers, restraints and market opportunities. Each of the elements that pertain to the shaping of the market dynamics that has been analyzed and studied in detail by the research analysts, so as to offer the best and most evaluative and exhaustive study to the report buyers. The snapshot or the executive summary that has been provided in the market intelligence study has been designed in such a way so as to give a quick overview of the market for receiving information on the go. This could help readers with hands-on data needed to make quick decisions anytime during their growth journey in the market.Get a Free Sample Copy @The study of market segmentations that has been offered with the publication that explores some of the most significant categories of the world Small Wind Turbines market is deemed significant for the growth of industry participants. All of the segments that have been studied elaborately in the said publication have been deeply evaluated with assistance from best of the research techniques. The analysts have dissected each of the segments and have shed light on vital factors that influence the growth of the various segments. Using this crucial information, market players could rightly shape their business plans in favor of the betterment of their growth in the world market. Segments that have been analyzed in the publication could be related to product, end use, application, and geography.A group of experienced analysts who have prepared the said report delves deep into the various factors that hinder or fuel the global market for Small Wind Turbines. It also discovers and mentions the important trends that are emerging in the said market. Banking upon all these information that has been gathered so far, it has come up with the best course of action for all the stake holders of the market.Table of Contents2018-2025 Small Wind Turbines Report on Global and United States Market, Status and Forecast, by Players, Types and Applications1 Methodology and Data Source1.1 Methodology/Research Approach1.1.1 Research Programs/Design1.1.2 Market Size Estimation1.1.3 Market Breakdown and Data Triangulation1.2 Data Source1.2.1 Secondary Sources1.2.2 Primary Sources1.3 DisclaimerComplete table of content is available at:2 Small Wind Turbines Market Overview2.1 Small Wind Turbines Product Overview2.2 Small Wind Turbines Market Segment by Type2.2.1 Horizontal-Axis Wind Turbine2.2.2 Vertical-Axis Wind Turbine2.3 Global Small Wind Turbines Product Segment by Type2.3.1 Global Small Wind Turbines Sales (K Units) and Growth (%) by Type (2013, 2017 and 2025)2.3.2 Global Small Wind Turbines Sales (K Units) and Market Share (%) by Type (2013-2018)2.3.3 Global Small Wind Turbines Revenue (Million USD) and Market Share (%) by Type (2013-2018)2.3.4 Global Small Wind Turbines Price (USD/Unit) by Type (2013-2018)2.4 United States Small Wind Turbines Product Segment by Type3 Small Wind Turbines Application/End Users3.1 Small Wind Turbines Segment by Application/End Users3.1.1 Municipal and Government3.1.2 Hospital3.1.3 Airport3.1.4 Industirial3.1.5 Other3.2 Global Small Wind Turbines Product Segment by Application3.2.1 Global Small Wind Turbines Sales (K Units) and CGAR (%) by Application (2013, 2017 and 2025)3.2.2 Global Small Wind Turbines Sales (K Units) and Market Share (%) by Application (2013-2018)3.3 United States Small Wind Turbines Product Segment by Application3.3.1 United States Small Wind Turbines Sales (K Units) and CGAR (%) by Application (2013, 2017 and 2025)3.3.2 United States Small Wind Turbines Sales (K Units) and Market Share (%) by Application (2013-2018)4 Small Wind Turbines Market Status and Outlook by Regions4.1 Global Market Status and Outlook by Regions4.2 Global Small Wind Turbines Sales and Revenue by Regions4.2.1 Global Small Wind Turbines Sales (K Units) and Market Share (%) by Regions (2013-2018)4.2.2 Global Small Wind Turbines Revenue (Million USD) and Market Share (%) by Regions (2013-2018)4.2.3 Global Small Wind Turbines Sales (K Units), Revenue (Million USD), Price (USD/Unit) and Gross Margin (%)(2013-2018)4.2.4 North America Small Wind Turbines Sales (K Units), Revenue (Million USD), Price (USD/Unit) and Gross Margin (%)(2013-2018)4.2.5 Europe Small Wind Turbines Sales (K Units), Revenue (Million USD), Price (USD/Unit) and Gross Margin (%)(2013-2018)4.2.6 Asia-Pacific Small Wind Turbines Sales (K Units), Revenue (Million USD), Price (USD/Unit) and Gross Margin (%)(2013-2018)List of Tables and FiguresTable Research Programs/Design for This ReportFigure Bottom-up and Top-down Approaches for This ReportFigure Data TriangulationTable Key Data Information from Secondary SourcesTable Key Data Information from Primary SourcesFigure Small Wind Turbines Product PictureFigure Global Small Wind Turbines Revenue (Million USD) Status and Outlook (2013-2025)To Get Discount Of This Report Click here @QYResearchReports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. Our syndicated and customized research reports provide companies with vital background information of the market and in-depth analysis on the Chinese trade and investment framework, which directly affects their business operations. Reports from QYResearchReports.com feature valuable recommendations on how to navigate in the extremely unpredictable yet highly attractive Chinese market.1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Web:Email: sales@qyresearchreports.comResearch Focused On the Corrosion Resistant Alloys Market Size & Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2017 - 2025

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"The Report Corrosion Resistant Alloys Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2017 - 2025 provides information on pricing, market analysis, shares, forecast, and company profiles for key industry participants. - MarketResearchReports.biz"The main objective of this report is to define, describe, and forecast the global Corrosion Resistant Alloys  market on the basis of types of applications, major sectors, deployment models, organization size, and regions. The report contains an analysis of the major factors influencing the growth of the market (drivers, restraints, opportunities, and challenges). It aims to strategically analyze the micromarkets with respect to individual growth trends, prospects, and their contribution to the market. The report attempts to forecast the market size for 5 major regions, namely, North America, Europe, Asia Pacific (APAC), Middle East and Africa (MEA), and Latin America. It contains key vendor profiles and comprehensively analyzes their core competencies. The report also tracks and analyzes competitive developments, including partnerships, collaborations, acquisitions, new product developments, and R&D activities in the market.Get Sample Copy of this report @An alloy is a homogeneous mixture composed of two or more metals, nonmetals, or metalloids. Alloys are produced through fusion or electro-deposition process wherein, the parent metal is the base metal for the alloying material, while remaining metals are alloying agents in the form of metals, nonmetals, or metalloids. Alloys possess superior physical and chemical properties that are different from those of pure metals. Corrosion is a process of degrading materials that are exposed to the environment due to chemical or electrochemical reactions occurring at its surface. Corrosion resistant alloys are used to provide resistance to materials against atmospheric corrosion, galvanic corrosion, intergranular corrosion, pitting corrosion, crevice corrosion, wet corrosion, and corrosion fatigue.The global corrosion resistant alloys market is primarily driven by increasing demand for corrosion resistant alloys from various end-use industries such as automotive, oil & gas, and marine. Increase in utilization of alloys subjected to specific melting methods, controlled manufacturing routes, and extensive mechanical and corrosion testing methods are expected to propel the corrosion resistant alloys market. Increase in consumption of advanced corrosion resistant products to match the needs of various end use industries has been a key driver fuelling the corrosion resistant alloys market. Expansion of the oil & gas industry across the world is also anticipated to boost the demand corrosion resistant alloys during the forecast period. Onshore and offshore applications are expected be major contributors propelling the demand for corrosion resistant alloys. Use of deep-water exploration, subsea technology, and drilling technology has led to the rise in consumption of these alloys. Moreover, expansions and technological developments in the aerospace sector is projected to offer lucrative opportunities to the corrosion resistant alloys market. However, volatility in prices of raw materials of corrosion resistant alloys are likely to hamper the market.In terms of type, the corrosion resistant alloys market can be segmented into iron-based alloys, nickel-based alloys, cobalt-based alloys, and others. Nickel-based alloys holds a key share in the global corrosion resistant alloys market. Nickel-based alloys have high temperature strength, oxidation resistance, and creep resistance. These properties allow these alloys to be employed in high temperature applications such as turbine engines.Based on end-use industry, the corrosion resistant alloys market can be divided into oil & gas, automotive & transportation, aerospace & defense, process industries, and others. Alloys with a blend of molybdenum, nickel, iron, titanium, among others, impart specific characteristics to a wide range of applications. Process industries holds a significant share in the global corrosion resistant alloys market owing to its uses in food processing, metal mining & refining, plating, paper & pulp, and pharmaceutical applications.View Full Report @In terms of geography, the corrosion resistant alloys market can be segregated into North America, Latin America, Asia Pacific, Europe, and Middle East & Africa. The market in Asia Pacific is anticipated to expand at a rapid pace due to easy availability of raw materials in countries such as China, Japan, and India. North America and Europe also hold a significant share of the market owing to the increase in demand for corrosion resistant alloys in automobile and marine sectors.Key players operating in the global corrosion resistant alloys market include Advanced Metallurgical Group N.V., Corrosion Resistant Alloys, L.P., Haynes International, Inc., Hitachi Metals MMC Superalloy, Ltd., Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp., and Special Metals Corporation.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.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 analysisRequest For Enquiry @The 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.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 marketCheck Discount @About 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ICT Trends in Telco/Service Market 2017: Key Players: Microsoft, McAfee, Google, Oracle, Amazon Web Services and More

ICT Trends in Telco/Service Market

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WiseGuyReports published new report, titled ICT Investment Trends in Telco/Service ProvidersSummary"ICT Investment Trends in Telco/Service Providers", presents the findings from a survey of 125 telcos/service providers regarding their Information & Communications Technology (ICT) investment trends. The survey investigates how telcos/service providers companies currently allocate their ICT budgets across the core areas of enterprise ICT expenditure: hardware, software, IT services, communications, and consulting.The report illustrates the core technologies that telcos/service providers are investing in, including business intelligence, security services, IoT, and cloud computing. The survey also highlights the approach to purchasing technology adopted by telcos/service providers. Through survey, the report aims to provide a better insight to ICT vendors and service providers when pitching their solutions to telcos/service providers.Telecommunication services are transitioning to next generation networks as the demand for connectivity, bandwidth, ultra high-speed data access, and low latency networks is growing. This is leading to rapid development of 5G networks, in order to support the proliferation of wearables, connected devices, smartphones, and mobile apps in the market. Additionally, the market is experiencing consolidation among telecom operators in an effort to provide better quality of network and services to their customers.In particular, it provides an in-depth analysis of the following - How ICT budgets are set to change in 2017 in terms of their overall size- Allocation across the core elements of IT spend, including hardware, software, services, communications, and consulting- Distribution of ICT money in areas such as the networks, applications, service desk, and data centers- Which ICT functions telcos/service providers are interested in outsourcing- Telcos/service providers investment priorities based on their budget allocations across core technology categories such as business intelligence, security services, IoT, and cloud computing- Factors that are influencing telcos/service providers investments in each technology category- How telcos/service providers IT budgets are currently allocated across various segments within a technology category- Telcos/service providers distribution of their ICT budget across various segments within a technology category- Vendor satisfaction ratings for various core and advanced technology categories- Insight into telcos/service providers preferred buying approaches- Business and IT objectives that telcos/service providers are looking to achieve through their IT investment strategies- Factors that are influencing telcos/service providers decisions to select an ICT providerGET SAMPLE REPORT @Companies mentionedIBMMicrosoftSAPEMCHPEMcAfeeDellCheck PointOracleGoogleCiscoAmazon Web ServicesMicrosoftAdobeScope- The highest proportion of telcos/service providers are prioritizing network analytics as one of their top three investment priorities.- Major telecommunication providers are making efforts to transition to a 5G network in order to enable faster data transmission, thereby offering huge opportunities for fiber optic cables providers and advanced network hardware vendors.- With telcos investing in NB-IoT and LoRa technologies, the market is set to witness many partnerships among telecom operators and IoT vendors to offer commercialized IoT services for enterprise customers.Key points- Understand how the telcos/service providers' ICT landscape is set to change in 2017 to prioritize your target market- Comprehend how ICT money are being allocated by telcos/service providers in specific geographies and size bands to improve your market penetration- Make effective business decisions by recognizing the opportunities within each of the core areas of ICT spend (hardware, software, IT services, telecommunications, and consulting)- Realign your sales initiatives by understanding the current strategic objectives of telcos/service providers- Enhance your market segmentation with the included, detailed breakdown of opportunities within selected technology categories (business intelligence, security services, IoT, and cloud computing)- Prioritize your focus areas by understanding which factors are influencing telcos/service providers decisions when selecting an ICT provider- Understand the changes in customers priorities and identify the business objectives that telcos/service providers are looking to achieve through their ICT investment strategies...CONTINUEDFor accessing accurate and deep understanding and to gain latest insights and key developments in the area of your interest, we also have a list of conferences in which you will be interested in, for more information, cordially checkFor updating knowledge or for thoroughly understanding various terminologies, we also have vast list of seminars for your reference, for more information cordially checkWise Guy Reports understand how essential statistical surveying information is for your organization or association. Therefore, we have associated with the top publishers and research firms all specialized in specific domains, ensuring you will receive the most reliable and up to date research data available. We also provide COTS (Commercial off the Shelf) business sector reports as custom exploration agreeing your particular needs.WISEGUY RESEARCH CONSULTANTS PVT LTDOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersPune - 411028Maharashtra, IndiaUpdated Edition Report on Doppler Velocity Logs (DVLs) Market Size & Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2017 - 2025

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"The Report Doppler Velocity Logs (DVLs) Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2017 - 2025 provides information on pricing, market analysis, shares, forecast, and company profiles for key industry participants. - MarketResearchReports.biz"The main objective of this report is to define, describe, and forecast the global  Doppler Velocity Logs (DVLs)  market on the basis of types of applications, major sectors, deployment models, organization size, and regions. The report contains an analysis of the major factors influencing the growth of the market (drivers, restraints, opportunities, and challenges). It aims to strategically analyze the micromarkets with respect to individual growth trends, prospects, and their contribution to the market. The report attempts to forecast the market size for 5 major regions, namely, North America, Europe, Asia Pacific (APAC), Middle East and Africa (MEA), and Latin America. It contains key vendor profiles and comprehensively analyzes their core competencies. The report also tracks and analyzes competitive developments, including partnerships, collaborations, acquisitions, new product developments, and R&D activities in the market.Get Sample Copy of this report @Underwater environment is the new frontier for future major discoveries in deep and ultra-deep coastal water. Scientists and researchers require new and better sensing technology to explore these vast resources. The corrosive nature of seawater, bio-fouling, limited energy resource module, pressure resistant enclosure, and data transfer reliability limit the utilization of cable-based underwater communication platforms. Accuracy and reliability of real-time data is the key driver for the growth in demand for DVL. However, these limitations are overcome by the usage of Doppler velocity logs (DVLs). Doppler velocity logs consist of several components that are used to fulfill the demand for sonar and underwater communications in scientific explorations, commercial explorations, defense surveillances, and environmental protection. Therefore, the sensing technology for offshore applications has developed significantly in the last few years.Doppler velocity log is a navigational solution used to monitor remotely-operated vehicles (ROV), autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV), gliders, and human-occupied vehicles. DVL components consist of a DVL device cables, and software. DVL is used in acoustic measurements tracking of underwater bottom-tracking or tracking velocity measurements. DVLs can provide updated velocities, which in turn can be used to calculate the distance traveled. Manufacturers have developed a new class of DVLs that drastically reduces its size as compared to the traditional DVLs. DVLs are integrated with vessels and other platforms such as AUV, ROV, and gliders to obtain underwater real-time data. Increase in underwater seismic survey and construction activity coupled with monitoring of existing assets are anticipated to boost the DVLs market in the near future. The Doppler velocity logs market is expanding at a significant growth rate owing to the adherence to various government norms and regulations on underwater emissions.DVLs has a wide range of applications in the offshore oil & gas industry activities such as pre-installation survey/ baseline studies, construction & installation, drilling, production, and decommissioning phases. Navy and military use DVLs for underwater security, marine ecosystem studies, and monitoring of existing assets, among others. Exploration of deep offshore areas, for new hydrocarbon deposits, has become easier than due to advancements in the technology. Doppler velocity logs aid in exploration activities of new hydrocarbon reserves, as they provide accurate estimation of the ocean-bottom.View Full Report @The Doppler velocity logs market can be segmented based on installation, application, and region. In terms of installation, the Doppler velocity logs market can be divided into AUV, ROV, ASV, towfish, and others. Based on application, the market can be segregated into oil & gas, naval, environmental, commercial, and others.In terms of geography, countries in Europe account for a major share of the global Doppler velocity logs market. Robust manufacturing base of DVLs in Germany, France, Spain, and the UK is expected to increase the incorporation of DVLs to efficiently utilize real-time data related to underwater statistics in the near future. In North America, especially the U.S., significant amount of unexplored oil & gas reserves lie in deep and ultra-deep ranges. Increasing concerns and challenges related to deep and ultra-deep waters to boost the demand for DVLs in North America. The U.S. houses several companies that are engaged in the manufacturing of DVLs for marine applications. The DVLs market in North America is driven by deep-water and ultra-deep water oil & gas exploration. The market also benefits from underwater environmental concerns, aquaculture, and naval activities. Demand for DVLs is expected to increase at a moderate rate in Middle East & Africa during the forecast period. However, the demand for DVLs in South Africa is growing at a considerable pace due to the year-on-year growth in offshore exploration activities. Asia Pacific has a large number of small-scale and large-scale underwater instrumentation providers. However, Middle-east & Africa has several countries that are politically instable. This has resulted in less investment growth in offshore activities.Key manufacturers and suppliers operating in the Doppler velocity logs market include Teledyne RD Instruments USA, NortekUSA, Honeywell International, SonTek, Eiva, RS Aqua, etc.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.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 marketCheck Discount @About 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Orthopaedic Oncology Market : Industry Trends and Developments 2016 - 2026

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Orthopedic oncology accounts for a small proportion in orthopedics. Orthopedic oncology is a condition that arises due to the formation of benign and malignant tumors in bones and connective soft tissues. It also includes the diagnosis and treatment of patients with metastatic carcinomato the skeleton. Bone and soft tissue tumors are quite rare and sometimes require reconstructive surgery. Soft tissue sarcomas are more common than bone sarcomas. For 2016, the American Cancer Society estimates about 3,300 new cases for cancer of the bones and joints and 12,310 new cases for soft tissue sarcomas. There are three main types of bone cancers, osteosarcoma, which arises most often in the growing ends of long bones, chondrosarcoma, which develops in the metaphysis and Ewings sarcoma. Malignant bone tumors also referred to as chondrosarcoma are more prevalent in adults than other form of cancers and remains a challenging tumor to diagnose and treat. Treatment with chemotherapy and radiotherapy do not remain the preferred choice of treatment in treating such type of tumor as clinical studies demonstrate no substantial improvements in the survival rate of the patients. Therefore, adequate surgical resection is the mainstay of treatment in case of chondrosarcoma. As estimated by the American Cancer Society, chondrosarcomas is more prevalent with 40% of cases developing in adults whereas less than 5% of cases occur in patients younger than 20.Radiofrequency ablation has become the standard and most preferred choice of treatment in case of osteoid osteoma, a benign bone tumor that arises from osteoblasts. However studies demonstrates its expanded application in palliative treatment of patients with painful bone metastasis .The ability to perform less invasive procedures often allows more efficient, less painful, and more cost-effective patient care. In addition, minimally invasive techniques such as kyphoplasty, vertebroplasty, and acetabuloplasty may provide an alternative to major reconstructive surgery for patients with metastatic disease.Request For Report Sample @Global Orthopaedic Oncology Market: Drivers & RestraintsFactors driving the global orthopedic oncology market includes rapidly ageing population with increasing risk of developing cancer. Patients who had prior high-dose external radiation therapy or treatment with anti-cancer drugs are at higher risk of developing osteosarcoma. However, a small number of bone cancers also develop due to heredity defects of bones and people with metal implants, which doctors sometimes use to repair fractures, are more likely to develop osteosarcoma. In case of soft tissue sarcoma adults with heredity disorders such as retinoblastoma, tuberous sclerosis, werner syndrome etc are at higher side of developing this type of cancer.High cost associated with the treatment for musculoskeletal oncology diseases and lack of awareness regarding the effective treatment therapies are some of the factors which restraint the market growth in the near futureGlobal Orthopaedic Oncology Market: SegmentationOrthopedic Oncology marketis segmented by treatment, by end user and geography:By TreatmentSurgeryAmputationLimb Salvage SurgeryReconstructive SurgeryChemotherapyRadiation TherapyTargeted TherapyBy End UserMultispecialty HospitalsCancer Research InstitutesGlobal Orthopaedic Oncology Market: OverviewRising prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders are expected to drive the demand for effective treatment therapies for treatment of various cancers associated with bones and soft tissues. The orthopaedic oncology market is expected to grow at a healthy pace attributed to rising prevalence of cancer over the forecasted period.Request For Table Of Content @Global Orthopaedic Oncology Market: Region-wise OutlookOn the basis of region presence, thrombophilia treatment market is segmented into seven key regions: North America, Latin America, and Eastern Europe, Western Europe, and Asia pacific excluding japan, Japan, Middle East and Africa. Global market for Orthopediac oncology is expected to be on a higher side in North America and Europe owing to increasing prevalence of cancer and musculoskeletal related disorders. Asia pacific represents immense growth opportunity for orthopedic oncology market attributed to rapidly aging population and rising cancer incidence. In addition macroeconomic factors such as FDA approvals are also expected to increase the adoption rate of devices in the developed countries.Global Orthopaedic Oncology Market: Key PlayersSome of the key market players in the orthopedic oncology market are Stryker Corporation, Accentus Inc., Roche Diagnostics, Amgen Inc., Novartis AG, Biogen Idec, GlaxoSmithKline, Sanofi S.A., and Pfizer Inc.Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:Global Luxury Watches For Men Market 2018: Major Manufacturers- Patek Philippe & Co., Blancpain Le Brassus, Rolex, TAG Heuer, Breguet, Parmigiani

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Qyresearchreports include new market research report EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) Luxury Watches for Men Market Report 2017 to its huge collection of research reports.The overall market for Luxury Watches for Men has been inspected on a few flow that have formally influenced the improvement of the market in a few ways. The report furthermore voices unmistakable experiences and data identifying with the overall Luxury Watches for Men market. The inside purpose of the report is to detail out certain positive and negative impression concerning the market with the objective that potential economic policies have a conventional view to it. The market research report also incorporates perspectives, for instance, prospects, restraints, opportunities, and drivers for measuring the consequence of them accessible both the commonplace and overall level. The report also provides an in-depth market scenario, which contains different drivers of the basic elements which are relied upon to trigger change in the market or cause negative effect.Download Free exclusive Sample of this report:This report goes into extra significance of the overall market for Luxury Watches for Men by providing guidelines to eliminate business shackle of the particular market. This is expected to act as a supplementary guide to the gather the exact data and information on various explanations behind the corresponding business sector, for instance, information relating to traditions of the government in the regions and overall market, advancement and growth strategies, present day restraints, and revenue made among others players.The investigation report is flawed without an exhaustive estimation of the overall Luxury Watches for Men feature, which includes the statistics and estimations, trends and improvements of the overall Luxury Watches for Men market. The market consider similarly passes on an entire review of the key extents low down in the report of the overall market for Luxury Watches for Men. For each segment, the report imparts the scope of improvement as of recently and consent on what suppliers can finish for ensuring achievement over the coming years.Table of ContentsEMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) Luxury Watches for Men Market Report 20171 Luxury Watches for Men Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Luxury Watches for Men1.2 Classification of Luxury Watches for Men1.2.1 EMEA Luxury Watches for Men Market Size (Sales) Comparison by Type (2012-2022)1.2.2 EMEA Luxury Watches for Men Market Size (Sales) Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20161.2.3 Quartz Watches1.2.4 Mechanical Watches1.2.5 Other1.3 EMEA Luxury Watches for Men Market by Application/End Users1.3.1 EMEA Luxury Watches for Men Sales (Volume) and Market Share Comparison by Application (2012-20221.3.2 General Use1.3.3 Collection1.4 EMEA Luxury Watches for Men Market by RegionComplete table of content is available at:2 EMEA Luxury Watches for Men Competition by Manufacturers/Players/Suppliers, Region, Type and Application2.1 EMEA Luxury Watches for Men Market Competition by Players/Manufacturers2.1.1 EMEA Luxury Watches for Men Sales Volume and Market Share of Major Players (2012-2017)2.1.2 EMEA Luxury Watches for Men Revenue and Share by Players (2012-2017)2.1.3 EMEA Luxury Watches for Men Sale Price by Players (2012-2017)2.2 EMEA Luxury Watches for Men (Volume and Value) by Type/Product Category2.2.1 EMEA Luxury Watches for Men Sales and Market Share by Type (2012-2017)2.2.2 EMEA Luxury Watches for Men Revenue and Market Share by Type (2012-2017)2.2.3 EMEA Luxury Watches for Men Sale Price by Type (2012-2017)2.3 EMEA Luxury Watches for Men (Volume) by Application2.4 EMEA Luxury Watches for Men (Volume and Value) by Region3 Europe Luxury Watches for Men (Volume, Value and Sales Price), by Players, Countries, Type and Application3.1 Europe Luxury Watches for Men Sales and Value (2012-2017)3.1.1 Europe Luxury Watches for Men Sales Volume and Growth Rate (2012-2017)3.1.2 Europe Luxury Watches for Men Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2017)3.2 Europe Luxury Watches for Men Sales and Market Share by Type3.3 Europe Luxury Watches for Men Sales and Market Share by Application3.4 Europe Luxury Watches for Men Sales Volume and Value (Revenue) by Countries3.4.1 Europe Luxury Watches for Men Sales Volume by Countries (2012-2017)3.4.2 Europe Luxury Watches for Men Revenue by Countries (2012-2017)3.4.3 Germany Luxury Watches for Men Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2017)3.4.4 France Luxury Watches for Men Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2017)3.4.5 UK Luxury Watches for Men Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2017)4 Middle East Luxury Watches for Men (Volume, Value and Sales Price), by Region, Type and Application4.1 Middle East Luxury Watches for Men Sales and Value (2012-2017)4.1.1 Middle East Luxury Watches for Men Sales Volume and Growth Rate (2012-2017)4.1.2 Middle East Luxury Watches for Men Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2017)4.2 Middle East Luxury Watches for Men Sales and Market Share by Type4.3 Middle East Luxury Watches for Men Sales and Market Share by Application4.4 Middle East Luxury Watches for Men Sales Volume and Value (Revenue) by CountriesList of Tables and FiguresFigure Product Picture of Luxury Watches for MenFigure EMEA Luxury Watches for Men Sales Volume (K Units) by Type (2012-2022)Figure EMEA Luxury Watches for Men Sales Volume Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 2016Figure Quartz Watches Product PictureFigure Mechanical Watches Product PictureFigure Other Product PictureFigure EMEA Luxury Watches for Men Sales Volume (K Units) by Application (2012-2022)Get discount copy @QYResearchReports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. Our syndicated and customized research reports provide companies with vital background information of the market and in-depth analysis on the Chinese trade and investment framework, which directly affects their business operations. Reports from QYResearchReports.com feature valuable recommendations on how to navigate in the extremely unpredictable yet highly attractive Chinese market.1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Web:Email: sales@qyresearchreports.comBrain Monitoring Market : Internal Breakthroughs, Value Chain And Stakeholder Analysis By 2022

Brain Monitoring Market

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Brain monitoring is defined as the process of studying and reporting the brain functioning. Various EEG devices are used for the process. Due to increasing cases of depression, neurological disorders and other brain disorders with increasing awareness and technological advancements the brain monitoring market is expected to grow at a higher rate.EEG is widely used to detect epilepsy, sleep disorders, brain death, and encephalopathy. Intracranial pressure monitors are used to record the action of brain of patients suffering from severe traumatic brain injury. The most widely used method to measure intracranial pressure is by introducing a catheter into the cranium. EEG is widely used in hospitals, laboratories, clinics and in home settingsKey players of Global Brain Monitoring:Key players profiled in the report are Philips Healthcare (Netherlands), Medtronic plc (Ireland), Natus Medical Inc. (U.S.), Nihon Kohden Corporation (Japan), Siemens Healthineers (Germany), GE Healthcare (U.K.), Compumedics Ltd. (Australia), Electrical Geodesics Incorporated (U.S.), CAS Medical Systems, Inc. (U.S.), and Advanced Brain Monitoring (U.S.).Get Premium Sample Copy atSegments:The global Brain monitoring is segmented on the basis of type of devices, procedures, modality and end users. Based on devices used the market is segmented into intracranial pressure monitor, Magnetoencephalography (MEG), Electroencephalograph (EEG), Cerebral oximeters, and Transcranial doppler. Based on procedures, the market is segmented into invasive and non- invasive. Further on the basis of modality, market is segmented into portable EEG devices and fixed EEG devices. On the basis of end users, the market is segmented into hospitals, diagnostics center and others.Brief TOC:1 Introduction1.1 Definition1.2 Scope Of Study1.2.1 Research Objective1.2.2 Assumptions & Limitations1.2.2.1 Assumptions1.2.2.2 Limitations1.3 Market Structure:2 Research Methodology2.1 Research Process:2.2 Primary Research2.3 Secondary Research:3 Market Dynamics3.1 Drivers3.2 Restraints3.3 Opportunities3.4 Macroeconomic Indicators4 Market Factor Analysis4.1 Porters Five Forces Model4.2 Bargaining Power Of Suppliers4.3 Bargaining Power Of Buyers4.4 Threat Of New Entrants4.5 Threat Of Substitutes4.6 Intensity Of RivalryContinuedApply for Discount atTop 5 Reasons to Buy the Reports:Company profiling with detailed strategies, financials, and recent development activitiesMarket Strategic Business Influence DataMarket Research Future recommendations in key business segments based on the market estimationsMarket share analysis of the top industry playersMarket forecasts for a minimum of 5 years of all the mentioned segments, Trends and the regional markets With SWOT AnalysisAbout 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:Market Research Future+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.comMRFR has the distinguished objective of providing the optimal quality research and granular research to clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help answer your most important questions.Our Research Analysts are eager to share their knowledge and assist you in refining market research parameters, choosing right market studies, and evaluating both the market scope and the research methodologies of varied segments.We bridge the gap between our clients and their clients by identifying and decoding just the target group, while generating leads with the highest accuracy.Years of research into diverse fields of work has ingrained within us, a proficiency so distinguished that our industry-specific specialists identify with your business ideas and feel the pulse of your challenges and opportunities. This enables us for providing assistance, through our consulting and strategic consulting services, in informed managerial decision making. In order to stay updated with technology and work process of the industries, WantStats Research and Media often conducts industrial visits for its research analysts. Relevant inputs from various established market participants, help our clients make significant contribution in respective markets are a huge motivation for all of us to endlessly furnish quality. We depend greatly on profound insights into complex realms of our study.Pune, IndiaMRNA Vaccines & Therapeutics 2018 Global Market Key Players -Argos Therapeutics, AstraZeneca, Bayer, BioNTech, Boehringer Ingelheim....

MRNA Vaccines & Therapeutics Market

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MRNA Vaccines & Therapeutics Market 2018Wiseguyreports.Com Adds MRNA Vaccines & Therapeutics  Global Market Demand, Growth, Opportunities, Manufacturers, Analysis of Top Key Players and Forecast to 2025 To Its Research Database.Description:In this report, the global mRNA Vaccines & Therapeutics 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 mRNA Vaccines & Therapeutics in these regions, from 2013 to 2025 (forecast), coveringNorth AmericaEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaGlobal mRNA Vaccines & Therapeutics market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer; the top players includingArgos TherapeuticsAstraZenecaBayerBioNTechBoehringer IngelheimCRISPR TherapeuticsCureVaceTheRNA immunotherapiesEthrisGlaxoSmithKline VaccinesIn-Cell-ArtIntellia TherapeuticsJanssenKernal BiologicsMaxCyteModerna TherapeuticsNovartisPhaseRxPrecision NanoSystemsRaNa TherapeuticsRequest for Sample Report@On the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoStandardization Of Cancer Treatment MRNA VaccineIndividualized Cancer Treatment MRNA VaccineInfectious Disease Treatment MRNA VaccineInfection Prevention MRNA VaccineOn 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, includingHospitalClinicOtherComplete report details @If you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.Table of Contents:Global mRNA Vaccines & Therapeutics Market Research Report 20181 mRNA Vaccines & Therapeutics Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of mRNA Vaccines & Therapeutics1.2 mRNA Vaccines & Therapeutics Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global mRNA Vaccines & Therapeutics Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category)(2013-2025)1.2.2 Global mRNA Vaccines & Therapeutics Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20171.2.3 Standardization Of Cancer Treatment MRNA Vaccine1.2.4 Individualized Cancer Treatment MRNA Vaccine1.2.5 Infectious Disease Treatment MRNA Vaccine1.2.6 Infection Prevention MRNA Vaccine1.3 Global mRNA Vaccines & Therapeutics Segment by Application1.3.1 mRNA Vaccines & Therapeutics Consumption (Sales) Comparison by Application (2013-2025)1.3.2 Hospital1.3.3 Clinic1.3.4 Other1.4 Global mRNA Vaccines & Therapeutics Market by Region (2013-2025)1.4.1 Global mRNA Vaccines & Therapeutics 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 mRNA Vaccines & Therapeutics (2013-2025)1.5.1 Global mRNA Vaccines & Therapeutics Revenue Status and Outlook (2013-2025)1.5.2 Global mRNA Vaccines & Therapeutics Capacity, Production Status and Outlook (2013-2025)2 Global mRNA Vaccines & Therapeutics Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1 Global mRNA Vaccines & Therapeutics Capacity, Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.1.1 Global mRNA Vaccines & Therapeutics Capacity and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.1.2 Global mRNA Vaccines & Therapeutics Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.2 Global mRNA Vaccines & Therapeutics Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.3 Global mRNA Vaccines & Therapeutics Average Price by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.4 Manufacturers mRNA Vaccines & Therapeutics Manufacturing Base Distribution, Sales Area and Product Type2.5 mRNA Vaccines & Therapeutics Market Competitive Situation and Trends2.5.1 mRNA Vaccines & Therapeutics Market Concentration Rate2.5.2 mRNA Vaccines & Therapeutics Market Share of Top 3 and Top 5 Manufacturers2.5.3 Mergers & Acquisitions, Expansion.7 Global mRNA Vaccines & Therapeutics Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis7.1 Argos Therapeutics7.1.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.1.2 mRNA Vaccines & Therapeutics Product Category, Application and Specification7.1.2.1 Product A7.1.2.2 Product B7.1.3 Argos Therapeutics mRNA Vaccines & Therapeutics Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.1.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.2 AstraZeneca7.2.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.2.2 mRNA Vaccines & Therapeutics Product Category, Application and Specification7.2.2.1 Product A7.2.2.2 Product B7.2.3 AstraZeneca mRNA Vaccines & Therapeutics Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.2.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.3 Bayer7.3.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.3.2 mRNA Vaccines & Therapeutics Product Category, Application and Specification7.3.2.1 Product A7.3.2.2 Product B7.3.3 Bayer mRNA Vaccines & Therapeutics Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.3.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.4 BioNTech7.4.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.4.2 mRNA Vaccines & Therapeutics Product Category, Application and Specification7.4.2.1 Product A7.4.2.2 Product B7.4.3 BioNTech mRNA Vaccines & Therapeutics Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.4.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.5 Boehringer Ingelheim7.5.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.5.2 mRNA Vaccines & Therapeutics Product Category, Application and Specification7.5.2.1 Product A7.5.2.2 Product B7.5.3 Boehringer Ingelheim mRNA Vaccines & Therapeutics Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.5.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.6 CRISPR Therapeutics7.6.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.6.2 mRNA Vaccines & Therapeutics Product Category, Application and Specification7.6.2.1 Product A7.6.2.2 Product B7.6.3 CRISPR Therapeutics mRNA Vaccines & Therapeutics Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.6.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.7 CureVac7.7.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.7.2 mRNA Vaccines & Therapeutics Product Category, Application and Specification7.7.2.1 Product A7.7.2.2 Product B7.7.3 CureVac mRNA Vaccines & Therapeutics Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.7.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.8 eTheRNA immunotherapies7.8.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.8.2 mRNA Vaccines & Therapeutics Product Category, Application and Specification7.8.2.1 Product A7.8.2.2 Product B7.8.3 eTheRNA immunotherapies mRNA Vaccines & Therapeutics Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.8.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.9 Ethris7.9.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.9.2 mRNA Vaccines & Therapeutics Product Category, Application and Specification7.9.2.1 Product A7.9.2.2 Product B7.9.3 Ethris mRNA Vaccines & Therapeutics Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.9.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.10 GlaxoSmithKline Vaccines7.10.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.10.2 mRNA Vaccines & Therapeutics Product Category, Application and Specification7.10.2.1 Product A7.10.2.2 Product B7.10.3 GlaxoSmithKline Vaccines mRNA Vaccines & Therapeutics Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.10.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.11 In-Cell-Art7.12 Intellia Therapeutics7.13 Janssen7.14 Kernal Biologics7.15 MaxCyte7.16 Moderna Therapeutics7.17 Novartis7.18 PhaseRx7.19 Precision NanoSystems7.20 RaNa TherapeuticsContinued..Contact US:NORAH TRENTPartner Relations & Marketing Managersales@wiseguyreports.comPh: +1-646-845-9349 (US)Ph: +44 208 133 9349 (UK)About Us:Wise Guy Reports Is Part Of The Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. And Offers Premium Progressive Statistical Surveying, Market Research Reports, Analysis & Forecast Data For Industries And Governments Around The Globe. Wise Guy Reports Features An Exhaustive List Of Market Research Reports From Hundreds Of Publishers Worldwide. We Boast A Database Spanning Virtually Every Market Category And An Even More Comprehensive Collection Of Market Research Reports Under These Categories And Sub-Categories.Addres:: Wise Guy Research Consultants Pvt Ltd: Pune  411028: Maharashtra,: Ph: +91 841 198 5042Saudi Arabia Adhesives and Tapes Market Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast to 2023

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Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) has been serving as an active source to cater intelligent research report to enlighten both readers and investors. This research study titled Adhesives and Tapes MarketRequest a Free Sample Report @The Saudi Arabia adhesives and tapes market is predicted to develop rapidly during the forecast period due to the increasing demand for adhesives and tapes from the construction and packaging industries across the region. Expansion of trading activities in different areas of Saudi Arabia will further propel the adhesives and tapes market. The Saudi Arabia adhesives and tapes market is segmented on the basis of technology, formulation, products, and end user. By technology, the Saudi Arabia adhesives and tapes market is divided into pressure sensitive, hot melt, and others. In 2014, the pressure sensitive adhesives and tapes market was in the leading position, with a 50% market share.By formulation, the market for adhesives and tapes was dominated by water-based formulations in 2014. As water-based formulations emit minimum volatile organic compounds and are thus eco-friendly, they have been commonly used in many industries. Based on product type, the Saudi Arabia adhesives and tapes market is divided into acrylic, epoxy, PVAc, EVA, and polyurethane. In terms of volume, in 2014, the Saudi Arabia adhesives and tapes market was dominated by acrylic products. Polyurethane (PU) is used in high volumes in industries such as construction, automotive, and footwear in Saudi Arabia.The Saudi Arabia adhesives and tapes market is fragmented in nature, as many prominent companies offer adhesives and tapes. The Saudi Arabia adhesives and tapes market comprises a large number of multinational players and a relatively small number of domestic players. The multinational companies have vertically combined operations, offering them a competitive advantage over the domestic players. Some of the leading players in the Saudi Arabia adhesives and tapes market are Henkle AG and Company KGaA, BASF SE, Ashnald Inc., 3M Company, Nitto Denko Corporation, The Dow Chemical Company, Sika AG, Dymax Corporation, Avery Dennison Corporation, and H.B. Fuller Company.Rising demand for adhesives and tapes from various industries such as bookbinding, construction, crafts, furniture, footwear, packaging, and medical will drive the Saudi Arabia adhesives and tapes market during the forecast period. Constant demand for adhesives and tapes from end-use industries including construction and packaging is expected to propel the Saudi Arabia adhesives and tapes market during the forecast period.Have any Query? Ask Our Expert @Key segments of The Global Radiofrequency Identification (RFID) MarketSaudi Arabia Adhesives and Tapes Market - Technology AnalysisPressure SensitiveHot MeltOthers (Including Moisture Curing, Radiation Curing, Heat Curing, and Chemical Curing)Saudi Arabia Adhesives and Tapes Market - Formulation AnalysisWater BasedSpray & Cylinder BasedSaudi Arabia Adhesives and Tapes Market - Product Segment AnalysisAcrylicEpoxyPVAcEVAPolyurethaneOthers (Including Silicone and Polyisobutylene)Saudi Arabia Adhesives and Tapes Market - End-user AnalysisPackagingFootwearConstructionFurnitureOthers (Including Automotive, Electronics, Bookbinding, etc.)View Complete Report with Table of Content @About Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE)Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) is an industry-leading database of Market Research Reports. MRRSE is driven by a stellar team of research experts and advisors trained to offer objective advice. Our sophisticated search algorithm returns results based on the report title, geographical region, publisher, or other keywords.MRRSE partners exclusively with leading global publishers to provide clients single-point access to top-of-the-line market research. MRRSEs repository is updated every day to keep its clients ahead of the next new trend in market research, be it competitive intelligence, product or service trends or strategic consulting.Contact UsState Tower90, State StreetSuite 700Albany, NY - 12207United States Telephone: +1-518-730-0559Email: sales@mrrse.comWebsite:Read More Industry News At:SEO Software Market: Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2018 - 2023

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This statistical surveying research report on the SEO Software Market is an all-inclusive study of the business sectors latest outlines, industry growth drivers, and inadequacies. It gives market forecasts for the coming years. It contains an examination of the latest progressions in technology, Porter's five force analysis and dynamic profiles of exclusive industry competitors. The report besides conveys an investigation of trivial and full-scale factors prosecuting for the new candidates in the market and the ones currently in the market. A methodical value chain analysis is also carried out in this report.Top Key Vendors:HubSpot, Pro Rank Tracker, SEMrush, SEOmoz, NinjaCat, LInk-Assistant.Com, Agency Analytics, Serpstat, SE Ranking, SpyFuGet Sample Copy of this Report:SEO is a process of maximizing the number of website visitors by ensuring that the site or content appears high on the list of all the results returned by the search engine. Organizations invest substantial sums in SEO. It is an important and effective marketing strategy as it exceptionally helps in creating business visibility and in shaping the brand image. SEO is popular among organizations since it provides business credibility and has a great return on investment in advertising. Organizations have dedicated SEO departments which monitor and manage the traffic.According to the research report, the global market for Global SEO Software Market is witnessing a continual rise in its valuation with the advancement in technologies, which is impacting the consumer behavior and, accordingly, their purchasing patterns to a great extent. In addition to this, the rising penetration of internet and the surge in mobile surfing are anticipated to boost the demand for SEO Software across the world, states the research report.The report examines the causes leading to of the change in the market and the increase in demand. It portrays the thorough research on market patterns, segmentation, market figures, regional shares, and procedures for the development in Global SEO Software Market. The report also provides with the drivers, restraints and the opportunities available for the firms willing to invest in the market. It analyses the past, current, and upcoming trends and provides with the detailed report.Get more Information about this Report:The report Global SEO Software Market 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. This 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.On the basis of geographical regions, the Global SEO Software Market is segmented broadly into Latin America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Asia Pacific. The global market is still in its exploratory stage in most of the regions but it holds the promising potential to flourish steadily in coming years. The major companies investing in this market are situated in Canada, U.K., and the US, India, China and some more countries of Asia Pacific region. Consequently, Asia Pacific, North America, and Western Europe are estimated to hold more than half of the market shares, collectively in coming years.Table of Content:Global SEO Software Market Research Report 2018-2023Chapter 1 SEO Software Market OverviewChapter 2 Global Economic ImpactChapter 3 Competition by ManufacturerChapter 4 Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2018-2023)Chapter 5 Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Regions (2018-2023)Chapter 6 Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by TypeChapter 7 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 Market Forecast (2018-2023)Chapter 13 AppendixResearch 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 global 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.10916, Gold Point, Dr, Houston, TX - 77064Cell Harvesting Systems Market : Latest Innovations, Drivers and Industry Key Events 2016-2026

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Cell harvesting is a technique of collecting stem cells for regenerate, transplant or repair the damaged organ with healthy functioning ones. Cell harvesting is considered as an important step in biopharmaceutical manufacturing industry that can directly affect the product quality and related downstream processes. Stem cells harvesting helps in treating with diseases namely cancers, blood disorders, immune deficiency diseases and various injuries. This therapy is also beneficial for burn victims which help them in grafting new skin cells as a replacement for damaged ones. Many companies are focusing on regeneration of myocardial tissue by injection of cell graft consist of adult stem cells from the patients for manufacturing regenerating medicines. For the treatment of eye diseases new healthy cells are also be grown. For harvesting bone marrow a companies are manufacturing devices with passive flexible drilling unit and suction mechanism which will help in reducing the invasiveness of bone marrow transplantation. Cell harvesting system helps in reducing the invasiveness of bone marrow aspiration from the iliac bone with less punctures. Moreover, helps in reducing procedure time and contamination by T-cells.Cell Harvesting Systems Market:Drivers and RestraintsCell Harvesting Systems Market are witnessing maximum growth owing to increase bone marrow transplantation procedures attributed to high prevalence of blood cancer and anemia. Moreover, improving healthcare expenditure, survival rate after treatment, increasing investment in logistic services, expansion bone marrow transplant registry for heart along with neuronal disorders and growing per capita healthcare expenditure. However, high cost of cumbersome treatment, lack of reimbursement policies, immunological rejection, viable cell density, and identification of stem cells in adult tissues, and complications during cell harvesting and inadequate number of HSCs cells for transplantation is a major barrier to the cell harvesting systems market.Request For Report Sample @Cell Harvesting Systems Market:SegmentationThe cell harvesting systems market has been classified on the basis of techniques, application and end user.Based on techniques, the cell harvesting systems market is segmented into the following:Altered Nuclear TransferBlastomere ExtractionBased on application, the cell harvesting systems market is segmented into the following:Bone MarrowPeripheral BloodUmbilical Cord BloodAdipose TissueBased on end-user, the cell harvesting systems market is segmented into the following:Research CentersAcademics InstitutesDiagnostic LabsHospitalsCell Harvesting Systems Market:OverviewCell harvesting systems market witnessed substantial growth owing to equipment efficacy and accuracy during stem cells harvest. By application type, bone marrow aspiration is anticipated to hold the major share in the cell harvesting systems market owing to less process error, safe and simple procedure and less side effects. People suffering from Leukemia eligible for bone marrow transplant, is expected to contribute highest share in the global cell harvesting systems market. Cell harvesting systems helps in enhancing proper pigmentation in scar reconstruction which encourage companies for continuous technology advancement in both cell isolation techniques and downstream purification processes.Request For Table Of Content @Cell Harvesting Systems Market: Region-wise OutlookDepending on geographic region, cell harvesting systems marketis segmented into seven key regions: North America, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Asia Pacific, Japan, and Middle East & Africa. Asia Pacific dominates the cell harvesting systems marketfollowed by Europe, Japan and North America owing to high concentration of bone marrow stem cells harvesting centers and registries along with skilled doctors for the process of harvesting stem cells in these regions. Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa hold huge potential and shows substantial growth in terms of wide acceptance of new technologyowing to awareness among population, increasing healthcare expenditure along with high number of potential candidate for the procedure.Cell Harvesting Systems Market:Key PlayersKey players of cell harvesting systems market are PerkinElmer Inc. Tomtec, Bertin Technologies, TERUMO BCT, INC., hynoDent AG, Avita Medical, Argos Technologies, Inc., SP Scienceware, Teleflex Incorporated., Arthrex, Inc., Thomas Scientific, BRAND GMBHFuture Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:Global Fortified Wine Market to Reach Nearly US$ 2,000 Mn in Revenues by 2022-End, According To Fact.MR Report.

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Product premiumization will be the prime factor fuelling growth of the global market for fortified wine in the upcoming years. Leading market players are concentrating on development of new flavored fortified wines, to cater continuously changing consumer preferences. Marijuana-infused wines are gaining higher traction, particularly in the United States where such products are legal. This report, published by Fact.MR, provides in-depth analysis of the global fortified wine market for the forecast period 2017-2022, and offers key insights about future market direction.Request For Sample Report-However, a large number of people are actively participating in campaigns, in order to spread awareness about adverse health effects of alcohol consumption. In addition, excessive consumption of these wines have resulted into numerous negative health effects. Higher consumption of fortified wines by consumers have led to a rise in risks of diseases such as liver disease, heart disease, and certain cancers. These factor is expected to impede demand for fortified wines on a large scale in the upcoming years.The global market for fortified wine is projected to exhibit a sluggish expansion throughout the forecast period 2017 to 2022, according to a new report published by Fact.MR. The report estimates revenues from the global fortified wine market to reach nearly US$ 2,000 Mn in revenues by 2022-end.Europe to Remain Most Lucrative Region for Fortified Wine MarketEurope will continue to be the most lucrative region for the fortified wine market, in terms of revenues. However, sales of fortified wine in Asia-Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ) are estimated to register a comparatively faster expansion than all the regional segments through 2022.Browse Full Report With TOC-Marsala is anticipated to retain its position as the top-selling product in the global fortified wine market. Over one-fourth share of the market is expected to be accounted by revenues from sales of Marsala across the globe during 2017 to 2022. In addition, Madeira will continue to be the second most lucrative fortified wine over the forecast period, in terms of revenues.Modern Trade will Continue to be Largest Sales Channel for Fortified WineAccounting for over one-third revenue share of the global market, modern trade will continue to be the largest sales channel for fortified wine worldwide. However, sales of fortified wine in e-commerce sales channel is expected to register the highest CAGR through 2022.Fortified wine for light-bodied individuals is expected to hold the largest share of the market in terms of revenues, with sales projected to expand at 3% CAGR through 2022. Based on sweetness-level, although sales of semi-sweet fortified wine are expected to be sluggish through 2022, revenues from semi-sweet fortified wine will account for the largest market share over the forecast period.Competition TrackingKey players listed in Fact.MRs report on the global fortified wine market include Bacardi Limited, E. & J. Gallo Winery, Davide Campari-Milano S.p.A., The Wine Group LLC, Sogevinus Fine Wines, S.A., F.LLI GANCIA & C. S.p.A, and Sogrape SGPS, SA.Request For Discount On This Report-About Fact.MRFact.MR is a fast-growing market research firm that offers the most comprehensive suite of syndicated and customized market research reports. We believe transformative intelligence can educate and inspire businesses to make smarter decisions. We know the limitations of the one-size-fits-all approach; thats why we publish multi-industry global, regional, and country-specific research reports.Contact UsFact.MRSuite 988427 Upper Pembroke Street,Dublin 2, IrelandTelephone: +353-1-6111-593Email: sales@factmr.com/Web:Mobile Cardiac Telemetry Systems Market : Information, Figures and Analytical Insights 2016-2026

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Cardiac monitoring is continuous monitoring of heart activity using electrocardiography techniques to understand the heart rhythm and find anomalies in the functioning of the heart. Cardiac monitoring is a critical part of healthcare diagnostics as several functions of the body can be understood by carefully analyzing the heart rhythm. Mobile cardiac telemetry is one of the newest technology in the cardiac monitoring which allows remote monitoring of the patients who are situated at far away distance from the physicians. Mobile cardiac telemetry (MCT) devices are small portable sensors that are worn by the patient for monitoring cardiac rhythm. In the case when an anomaly is detected in the heart rhythm the sensor records it and sends the data to the transmitter which transmits the data to the manned monitoring center using a mobile network. The data, which is sent to the monitoring center is analyzed by the trained healthcare professionals for reported to the physicians or the patients for further treatment. The real-time data provided by the mobile cardiac telemetry systems provides an edge over the other cardiac monitoring systems like Holter monitoring systems or event monitoring systems.Mobile Cardiac Telemetry Systems Market: Drivers and RestraintsThe demand for mobile cardiac telemetry systems is expected to grow significantly over the forecast period owing to the technology edge. Mobile cardiac telemetry systems provide mobility to the patient and real time data of the patient to the physicians. Increased diagnostic yield of the MCT devices is over standards cardiac monitoring devices is expected to create high demand from the patients. Moreover the increasing demand for cardiac monitoring in home care settings is increasing owing to rapid expansion in the geriatric population. Increasing incidence of cardiovascular diseases is expected to create high growth opportunities for the MCT systems manufacturers over the forecast period. According to the WHO estimates nearly 17.5 million people die from cardiovascular diseases each year worldwide. In past few years several new manufacturers have entered the MCT market owing to which the prices of MCT devices are expected to fall over the forecast period which in turn is expected to increase adoption of the MCT systems over the forecast period. However the stringent regulations and product recalls associated with product failure is expected to hamper revenue growth of the MTC systems market.Request For Report Sample @Mobile Cardiac Telemetry Systems Market: SegmentationThe global mobile cardiac telemetry systems market is segmented into two key segments, by revenue channel and by regionSegmentation by revenue channelPatientsPhysiciansPayersMobile Cardiac Telemetry Systems Market: OverviewThe mobile cardiac telemetry systems market is expected to witness robust growth over the forecast period owing to increasing adoption rate and awareness among the end users. Moreover the technological developments and increasing disease burden of cardiovascular diseases is expected to boost revenue growth of MCT systems market.Mobile Cardiac Telemetry Systems Market: Region  Wise OutlookRegionally the mobile cardiac telemetry market is segmented into seven key regions, North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ), Japan and Middle East and Africa (MEA)Request For Table Of Content @North America and Western Europe are expected to dominate the MCT systems market over the forecast period owing to high adoption rate of the mobile cardiac telemetry devices in these regions. Japan and APEJ region is expected to follow next owing to increasing incidence of cardiovascular diseases in these regions. According to the World Health Organization more than 75% of the cardiovascular diseases occur in low  middle income countries which in turn APEJ, Latin America and Eastern Europe regions are expected to witness significant growth in the MCT systems market over the forecast period. MEA region is expected to witness growth opportunities depending on the adoption of the cardiac telemetry systems in this region.Mobile Cardiac Telemetry Systems Market: Market ParticipantsSome key participants in the mobile cardiac telemetry systems market are, Medtronic, Digirad Corporation, Kyma, Boston Scientific Corporation, Biotelemetry, Inc., The ScottCare Corporation and Spectocor LLC.Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:Bioenergy Market: Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth Trends and Forecast 2018 - 2023

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This research report on the Bioenergy Market Research Report is an all-inclusive study of the business sectors latest outlines, industry growth drivers, and inadequacies. It gives market forecasts for the coming years. It contains an examination of the latest progressions in technology, Porter's five force analysis and dynamic profiles of exclusive industry competitors. The report besides conveys an investigation of trivial and full-scale factors prosecuting for the new candidates in the market and the ones currently in the market. A methodical value chain analysis is also carried out in this report.Top Key Vendors:Solazyme, Kior, POET, LanzaTech, Gevo, Novozymes, Honeywell UOP, Sapphire EnergyGet Sample Copy of this Report:The Global Bioenergy Market is undergoing constant evolution to provide its users some of the most dependable and advanced solutions. Bioenergy refers to a renewable source of energy that is made from materials that are derived from biological sources. Bioenergy is renewable energy made available from materials derived from biological sources. Biomass is any organic material which has stored sunlight in the form of chemical energy. As a fuel it may include wood, wood waste, straw, manure, sugarcane, and many other by-products from a variety of agricultural processes.According to the research report, the Global Bioenergy Market has been witnessing a phenomenal rise in its size and valuation. The research study helps in presenting answers to several questions associated with the global market. The report presents reliable forecasts pertaining to the expected size of the global market over the forecast period, the key products, applications, or regional segments that are expected to dominate the global market in the near future, and an overview of the key trends observed in the recent past.The report has been assembled using primary and auxiliary research methodologies. The data has been gathered from reliable sources, for example, interviews with market pioneers, diaries, distributions, conferences, and white papers. The report investigates the historical data alongside the present advancements in the market to provide map a reasonable trajectory of the Global Bioenergy Market for the coming few years.Get more Information about this Report:The growing demand for Global Bioenergy Market to keep up with the industrial spurt and the rampant urbanization has created a huge shortfall, coaxing several countries to resort to alternative energy options. The increasing pressure on the world leaders to reduce the carbon footprint and the deadly amount of greenhouse gasses is also forcing nations across the globe, especially developing countries to take up the option of bioenergy seriously. With these environmental, social, and political pressures the opportunity in the global bioenergy market is anticipated to be worth.Global Bioenergy Market in North America is increasing due to the stringent emission norms in the region. U.S. in North America is anticipated to lead the production of bioethanol during the forecast period whereas Germany in Europe is expected to lead the biogas production. The bioenergy market in Europe is anticipated to grow due to favorable subsidization schemes regulated by government in countries such as the Germany, France, the U.K., and Sweden related to bioenergy use and production.The cumulative average growth rate of each of the segments, globally, as well as in each of the regional markets, has also been determined in this research study, leading to a descriptive assessment of the Global Bioenergy Market. The research study further discusses the existing and the imminent ventures in the global market at length, which makes this report of special value for players, consultants, and stakeholders functioning in this market.Table of Content:Global Bioenergy Market Research Report 2018-2023Chapter 1 Global Bioenergy Market OverviewChapter 2 Global Economic ImpactChapter 3 Competition by ManufacturerChapter 4 Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2018-2023)Chapter 5 Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Regions (2018-2023)Chapter 6 Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by TypeChapter 7 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 Market Forecast (2018-2023)Chapter 13 AppendixWe at, QYReports , a leading market research report publisher accommodate more than 4,000 celebrated clients worldwide putting them at advantage in todays competitive world with our understanding of research. Our list of customers include prestigious Chinese companies, multinational companies, SME's and private equity firms whom we have helped grow and sustain with our fact-based research. Our business study covers a market size of over 30 industries offering unfailing insights into analysis to reimagine your business. We specialize in forecasts needed for investing in a new project, to revolutionize your business, to become more customer centric and improve the quality of output.Jones John(Sales Manager)+91-9764607607sales@qyreports.comGlobal Network Management Tools Market by Technology, Software, Services, End-User, Industry Verticals and Geography - Forecasts to 2022

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Global Network Monitoring Tools Market Professional Survey Report 2017-2022.Network monitoring is the use of a system that constantly monitors a computer network for slow or failing components and that notifies the network administrator (via email, SMS or other alarms) in case of outages or other trouble.This research report provides an in-depth analysis of the global Network Monitoring Tools Market based on enterprise size, services, solution, end-use industry, and geography. The report also provides an analysis of the factors that drive and restrain the growth of the Network Monitoring Tools market. It discusses the prevailing market trends, prospective growth opportunities, and major strategies increasing the popularity of the global market. It provides market estimates and forecasts for all the segments in terms of revenue.The report covers all the major trends and technologies playing a major role in the market growth over the forecast period. The competition in the global market for Network Monitoring Tools will likely heat up in the next couple of years on the back of entry of a substantial number of solution providers. This statistical surveying report presents an all-inclusive assessment of the worldwide market for Network Monitoring Tools, taking several market verticals, such as the production capacity, product pricing, the dynamics of demand and supply, sales volume, revenue, and the growth rate of this market into consideration.Download PDF Sample Copy:Company Profiled: The Key Players operating in the Network Monitoring Tools Market includes ManageEngine, SysAid Technologies, Splunk, Deep Software, Webroot Software, Netreo, Black Duck, VictorOps, PagerDuty, EventTracker, Pingman Tools, Soneco, HelpSystems, IPHostMonitor, Zabbix, Domotz, Pulseway, Datadog, NetCrunch, Auvik, EventSentry.The report provides competitive landscape of the Network Monitoring Tools market, thereby listing out all the major players according to their geographic presence, market attractiveness and recent key developments. The competitive landscape section of the report gives an overview about the market share of several key players for the year 2017. Moreover, key takeaways section provided at the end of competitive landscape section would help the operating companies to make the best move in the market.These market estimates have been analyzed by taking into account the impact of different political, social, economic, technological, and legal factors along with the current market dynamics affecting the market growth. Factors including market position, offerings and R&D focus are attributed to company's capabilities. This section also identifies and includes various recent developments carried out by the leading players.For More Information:The regional analysis of the Global Market splits the global market into key regions that include both continents as well as specific countries that are currently shining in terms of either demand, volume or overall growth. Users of the report can focus on these regions if they are looking to expand their business borders.The stages of development of Network Monitoring Tools market with respect to many geographic regions have also been presented thoroughly. This information which is provided helps the emerging players gain up-to-date information which can help them take perfect business decisions. In similar way, many other segments and sub segments are mentioned in this market helping in conveying impeccable data to the users.To Get Reasonable Discount:Table of ContentsGlobal Network Monitoring Tools Market Research Report 2017Chapter 1 Network Monitoring Tools Market OverviewChapter 2 Global Economic Impact on IndustryChapter 3 Global Market Competition by ManufacturersChapter 4 Global Production, Revenue (Value) by RegionChapter 5 Global Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by RegionsChapter 6 Global Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by TypeChapter 7 Global Market Analysis by ApplicationChapter 8 Manufacturing Cost AnalysisChapter 9 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream BuyersChapter 10 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/TradersChapter 11 Market Effect Factors AnalysisChapter 12 Global Market ForecastAbout ITintelligenceMarkets:We at IT Intelligence Markets conduct intensive market research and generate detailed reports about the products and services offered in the IT domain. Our team is devoted to providing custom reports that are taylor-made to suit the customers requirements. We make sure to keep our customers updated with the latest market dynamics as IT industry is undergoing sea change intrinsically & extrinsically by forces such as regulatory fluctuations, rapidly evolving consumer preferences, and newer technologies. Not only do our market research analysts scrutinize market requirements but also track competitors relentlessly for obtaining the most updated scenario of the market.Contact:Vijay Tanna(IT Intelligence Markets)Panchshil Park, Ganpati Marg, Nigidi, Pune 411044+91 705-760-0700sales@itintelligencemarkets.comHyper-scale Data Center Market Growth by Global Leader-IBM Corporation, Microsoft Corporation, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Intel Corporation, Sandisk Corporation, Nlyte Software, Amazon and Others

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The exponentially increasing technological advancements have been generating huge amounts of data each passing day. Manual storage and track keeping of such huge amount of data is impossible. A feasible option to maintain efficiently and effectively huge amounts of data and present it to the user whenever needed is building data centers. Hyper-scale data centers are the bigger versions of it. In a data environment, many small micro data centers are connected with end users to increase internet speeds. Connectivity to these micro data centers are provided by hyper-scale data centers.The report aims to provide an overview of Global Hyper-scale Data Center Market with detailed market segmentation by components, end-users, verticals and geography. The global hyper-scale data center market is expected to witness decent growth during the forecast period due to rise in the data demands by users. The demand for high speed broadband by various industry verticals to cater to the IoT and other needs of customers is in turn impacting a positive growth on the hyper-scale data center market.Worldwide Hyper-scale Data Center Market Analysis to 2025 is a specialized and in-depth study of the Hyper-scale Data Center industry with a focus on the global market trend. The report aims to provide an overview of global Hyper-scale Data Center market with detailed market segmentation by product/application and geography. The global Hyper-scale Data Center market is expected to witness high growth during the forecast period. The report provides key statistics on the market status of the Hyper-scale Data Center players and offers key trends and opportunities in the market.Request a Sample Report atHyper-scale Data Center Market PlayersIBM CorporationCisco Systems Inc.Hewlett Packard EnterpriseIntel CorporationMicrosoft CorporationAmazon.comSAP SEGoogle Inc.Sandisk CorporationNlyte SoftwareThe report provides a detailed overview of the industry including both qualitative and quantitative information. It provides overview and forecast of the global Hyper-scale Data Center market based on product and application. It also provides market size and forecast till 2025 for overall Hyper-scale Data Center market with respect to five major regions, namely; North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific (APAC), Middle East and Africa (MEA) and South America (SAM), which is later sub-segmented by respective countries and segments. The report evaluates market dynamics effecting the market during the forecast period i.e., drivers, restraints, opportunities, and future trend and provides exhaustive PEST analysis for all five regions.Inquire before Buying atAlso, key Hyper-scale Data Center market players influencing the market are profiled in the study along with their SWOT analysis and market strategies. The report also focuses on leading industry players with information such as company profiles, products and services offered, financial information of last 3 years, key development in past five years.Reason to Buy- Highlights key business priorities in order to assist companies to realign their business strategies.- The key findings and recommendations highlight crucial progressive industry trends in the Hyper-scale Data Center market, thereby allowing players to develop effective long term strategies.- Develop/modify business expansion plans by using substantial growth offering developed and emerging markets.- Scrutinize in-depth global market trends and outlook coupled with the factors driving the market, as well as those hindering it.- Enhance the decision-making process by understanding the strategies that underpin commercial interest with respect to products, segmentation and industry verticals.View Complete Report atContact Us:Call: +1-646-491-9876Email: sales@theinsightpartners.comThe Insight Partners is a one stop industry research provider of actionable intelligence. We help our clients in getting solutions to their research requirements through our syndicated and consulting research services. We are a specialist in Technology, Media, and Telecommunication industries.533, 5th floor, Amanora Township,Amanora Chambers, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028Internet Of Nano Things Market Is Growing At Massive CAGR, Forecast by Global Leade-Alcatel-Lucent SA, Cisco Systems Inc., Gemalto N.V., Huawei Technologies Co, IBM Corporation, Intel Corporation and Others

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Technological development is shrinking sensors from millimeters and microns to the nanometer scale, very tiny in size to circulate it within living bodies or to directly mix it into construction materials. Nano scale technology is enabling the development of devices as small as one to a few hundred nanometers.The report aims to provide an overview of global Internet of Nano things market with detailed market segmentation by component, connectivity network, application and geography. The global Internet of Nano things market is expected to witness high growth during the forecast period. Nano technology features such as convenience and seamless deployment, and ultra-low power consumption will boost the market growth in near future.Worldwide Internet of Nano Things Market Analysis to 2025 is a specialized and in-depth study of the Internet of Nano Things industry with a focus on the global market trend. The report aims to provide an overview of global Internet of Nano Things market with detailed market segmentation by product/application and geography. The global Internet of Nano Things market is expected to witness high growth during the forecast period. The report provides key statistics on the market status of the Internet of Nano Things players and offers key trends and opportunities in the market.Request a Sample Report atInternet of Nano Things Market PlayersAlcatel-Lucent SACisco Systems, Inc.Gemalto N.V.Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd.IBM CorporationIntel CorporationJuniper Networks, Inc.Qualcomm IncorporatedSAP SESiemens AGThe report provides a detailed overview of the industry including both qualitative and quantitative information. It provides overview and forecast of the global Internet of Nano Things market based on product and application. It also provides market size and forecast till 2025 for overall Internet of Nano Things market with respect to five major regions, namely; North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific (APAC), Middle East and Africa (MEA) and South America (SAM), which is later sub-segmented by respective countries and segments. The report evaluates market dynamics effecting the market during the forecast period i.e., drivers, restraints, opportunities, and future trend and provides exhaustive PEST analysis for all five regions.Also, key Internet of Nano Things market players influencing the market are profiled in the study along with their SWOT analysis and market strategies. The report also focuses on leading industry players with information such as company profiles, products and services offered, financial information of last 3 years, key development in past five years.Reason to Buy- Highlights key business priorities in order to assist companies to realign their business strategies.- The key findings and recommendations highlight crucial progressive industry trends in the Internet of Nano Things market, thereby allowing players to develop effective long term strategies.- Develop/modify business expansion plans by using substantial growth offering developed and emerging markets.- Scrutinize in-depth global market trends and outlook coupled with the factors driving the market, as well as those hindering it.- Enhance the decision-making process by understanding the strategies that underpin commercial interest with respect to products, segmentation and industry verticals.View Complete Report atContact Us:Call: +1-646-491-9876Email: sales@theinsightpartners.comThe Insight Partners is a one stop industry research provider of actionable intelligence. We help our clients in getting solutions to their research requirements through our syndicated and consulting research services. We are a specialist in Technology, Media, and Telecommunication industries.533, 5th floor, Amanora Township,Amanora Chambers, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028What Is The Best Cloud Which Can Be Used By An Iot Hobbyist For Free, Or Is It (Azure, AWS, Artik, Google Cloud) All The Same?

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The global network connectivity, affordable compute power combined with ironic insights make IoT valuable for enterprises and consumers. The conjunction of devices, cloud, and analytics is creating an opportunity for independent software vendors and system integrators. The Cloud Service in IoT is a safe and scalable platform that help organizations build and deploy IoT applications and abundantly capture and analyze their IoT data.The report aims to provide an overview of global IoT cloud platform market with detailed market segmentation by Deployment Models, platform, application and geography. The global IoT cloud platform market is expected to witness high growth during the forecast period.Worldwide IoT Cloud Platform Market Analysis to 2025 is a specialized and in-depth study of the IoT Cloud Platform industry with a focus on the global market trend. The report aims to provide an overview of global IoT Cloud Platform market with detailed market segmentation by product/application and geography. The global IoT Cloud Platform market is expected to witness high growth during the forecast period. The report provides key statistics on the market status of the IoT Cloud Platform players and offers key trends and opportunities in the market.Request a Sample Report atIoT Cloud Platform Market Players:Amazon Web Services, Inc.General ElectricGoogle Inc.iControl NetworkIBM CorporationMicrosoft CorporationPubNub, Inc.Salesforce, Inc.Samsung Electronics Co. LtdSAP SEThe report provides a detailed overview of the industry including both qualitative and quantitative information. It provides overview and forecast of the global IoT Cloud Platform market based on product and application. It also provides market size and forecast till 2025 for overall IoT Cloud Platform market with respect to five major regions, namely; North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific (APAC), Middle East and Africa (MEA) and South America (SAM), which is later sub-segmented by respective countries and segments. The report evaluates market dynamics effecting the market during the forecast period i.e., drivers, restraints, opportunities, and future trend and provides exhaustive PEST analysis for all five regions.Also, key IoT Cloud Platform market players influencing the market are profiled in the study along with their SWOT analysis and market strategies. The report also focuses on leading industry players with information such as company profiles, products and services offered, financial information of last 3 years, key development in past five years.Reason to Buy- Highlights key business priorities in order to assist companies to realign their business strategies.- The key findings and recommendations highlight crucial progressive industry trends in the IoT Cloud Platform market, thereby allowing players to develop effective long term strategies.- Develop/modify business expansion plans by using substantial growth offering developed and emerging markets.- Scrutinize in-depth global market trends and outlook coupled with the factors driving the market, as well as those hindering it.- Enhance the decision-making process by understanding the strategies that underpin commercial interest with respect to products, segmentation and industry verticals.View Complete Report atContact Us:Call: +1-646-491-9876Email: sales@theinsightpartners.comThe Insight Partners is a one stop industry research provider of actionable intelligence. We help our clients in getting solutions to their research requirements through our syndicated and consulting research services. We are a specialist in Technology, Media, and Telecommunication industries.533, 5th floor, Amanora Township,Amanora Chambers, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028Julius Baer Group Wealth Management Services: Competitors, Marketing Actions, Targeting & Innovation 2018

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An up-to-date research report has been disclosed by Market Research Hub highlighting the title Super League In-Depth Analysis: Julius Baer Outlook 2018 - Tracking the worlds major competitors in wealth management which provides comprehensive analysis of Julius Baers operations. It offers insight into the companys strategy, financial results, and marketing activities. It also covers recent merger and acquisition (M&A) activity, customer targeting, and product innovation.Get a free sample report@Headquartered in Zurich, Julius Baer is a Swiss private bank providing clients with a range of wealth management services. All private banking activities are listed under Julius Baer Group Ltd.What else is contained -- Insight into Julius Baers growth strategy.- Overview of the firms organizational structure.- Clear presentation of its geographical coverage and expansion strategy, including M&A activity.- Analysis of the firms financial performance, including comparison with other global wealth managers.- Examination of key target client groups.- Analysis of Julius Baers product and service proposition and how it is unique compared to those of its competitors.- Review of Julius Baers marketing and social media activities.Scope:- Julius Baers business is organized into five regions: Switzerland, Latin America, Asia Pacific, Europe, and Emerging Markets, with the latter two regions formed in July 2016. Julius Baer is pushing heavily into Latin America at a time when other wealth managers are withdrawing from the region.- Julius Baer selected Luxembourg as its hub for European business in June 2016. It will book clients from France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Scandinavia, Monaco, and Nassau from Luxembourg starting from 2018.- The firm reported robust pre-tax profit growth in 2016 due to strong revenue growth and lower operating expenses. The cost-revenue ratio improved significantly, but lags behind the competitor average.- In April 2017 Julius Baer launched its latest-generation mobile banking app, which it co-developed with Swiss fintech firm CREALOGIX.Reasons to buy:- Examine the financial performance and key ratios for Julius Baer and benchmark this competitor against other global wealth managers.- Explore Julius Baers recent M&A and growth strategies and their impacts on its AUM growth and financial performance.- Understand Julius Baers client targeting strategies and examine whether these have been successful.- Learn more about Julius Baers marketing strategy, social media presence, and digital innovations.Browse full report with detailed table of content @Table of Content:Executive SummaryStrategyFinancial PerformanceCustomers & ProductsMarketing & AdvertisingAppendixcontinue (Full Table of Contents + List of Tables and Figures)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 banking 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 and customers.Contact Us:90 State Street,Albany, NY 12207,United StatesToll Free: 800-998-4852 (US-Canada)Email: press@marketresearchhub.comWebsite:Read Industry News at-With less than two weeks left until the start of the 46th Iditarod, Gladwin native Shaynee (Seipke) Traska is preparing to experience a dream 20 years in the making.

"It has been a ton of work," Traska said of preparing for the Iditarod, set to begin Saturday, March 3. "One of the most stressful parts of the race is planning for and packing our drop bags. These are bags full of literally everything we will need on the trail for 1,000 miles. If it's not packed, you're out of luck."

Traska is believed to be the first woman born and raised in Michigan to compete in the Iditarod. She is one of 68 mushers competing in this year's race.

Upper Peninsula resident Laura Neese, 21, of McMillan, finished seventh in the 2017 Iditarod, according to the race's website. But Neese was born and raised in Ohio and moved to Michigan in 2014. (Neese was signed up to compete in this year's race but then dropped out.)

Traska, who will turn 29 on Feb. 22, sent out the last of the drop bags on Feb. 12. They will be taken to the 27 checkpoints along the route. The bags contain dog food, human food, dog booties, extra human and canine gear, supplements and veterinary care items. The total weight of her bags is just over 2,500 pounds.

"All of that had to be planned and packed according to distance between checkpoints, changes in weather, etc.," Traska explained. "This was a huge undertaking for my husband and I to do alone. A lot of people try and beg their friends for help with this process. If we run the race again in the future, we will probably do the same," she said with a laugh.

This week, Traska's team of 16 dogs will spend a day with race veterinarians, who will do electrocardiograms on the dogs and put microchips on them. She said that her dogs will also spend a day with their personal veterinarian for thorough examinations, just to make sure each dog is healthy for the race.

Traska's longtime dream has been to compete in the Iditarod with a team that she raised herself. She has held every dog on the team at birth.

"We have (logged) a lot of training miles on the dogs since late September -- over 2,000 miles," Traska said. "We competed in two races. The second race was 200 miles and I received the Vet's Choice and Sportsmanship awards.

"The dogs performed awesome in the races and I'm super happy with them," she added.

While she feels her dogs are champing at the bit to race, Traska doesn't know if she will feel totally ready by March 3. Nevertheless, she is armed with a group of dogs that she raised, and a lot of heart and spirit to finish the race.

"I'm ready to be on the trail with the dogs, that's for sure," Traska said. "But never having done this before, I worry about whether or not the dogs have enough training miles, did I do things right, am I mentally and physically ready? I guess we just have to get out there and see.

"I am getting more and more excited that this is really happening, and soon my childhood dreams will come to life," she added. "That's pretty awesome."

Traska said it is also great to be with a pack of dogs she has had since their birth.

"I feel a special connection with these guys and what we are about to do. It will be an incredible experience," Traska said.

The Iditarod Trail Committee recently announced that the 2018 racers will take a southern route -- a route that hasn't been used since 2013 because of inadequate snowfall and poor trail conditions.

"We are very much looking forward to returning to the communities of Iditarod, Shageluk, Anvik and Grayling, as well as the Eagle Island checkpoint, all that are situated along the southern route," said Mark Nordman, Iditarod Trail Committee race director and race marshal. "We value the longstanding support from these communities and look forward to bringing the race back to this route."

Traska was back home in Gladwin on Oct. 1 to raise money for the race. She set out to raise $20,000 and her father, Scott Seipke, said his daughter achieved that goal.

The money raised covered $7,000 in racing gear, a $4,000 Iditarod entry fee, $2,600 for Traska and her dogs to travel to the race, $2,000 for dog booties to keep snow and ice from binding between their toes and $1,500 for dog food and various expenses.

Seipke and his wife, Toni, say they are proud of their daughter.

"It is a great thing to see her dream come true," Seipke said.

The Seipkes, along with other family members and friends, are heading to the race to be watch as Traska departs and when she returns. Mushers have completed the race in anywhere from seven days up to 32 days. Traska, who said her main goal is just to finish the race, hopes to complete it within 10 days.

"We will be on the computer (tracking her progress) like everyone else," Seipke said, noting that non-racers can't be on the trail or at the checkpoints.

Seipke said he and his wife are confident in their daughter. Yet, they are a bit worried because she will be out in the elements for the duration of the race without help.

Seipke recalls his then-9-year-old daughter telling him and her mother that she wanted a mush team to race one day in the Iditarod.

"She was 14 before she got any dogs," Seipke said. "Now, she is doing what she dreamed of doing."

After five years of hearing their daughter's pleas, the Seipkes allowed her to have a sled dog. Within a short time, the dogs kept coming, and as a teenager, Traska opened Howling Ridge Kennels in Gladwin. At one time, she had 32 dogs there.

In the spring of 2012, Traska packed up her 25 dogs and moved to Alaska. She now has 39 dogs, of which 16 will join her in the race. The canine team ranges from one year to nine years of age.

Traska's husband, Jeremy, joined the racing team in 2014, when they were married.

The Seipkes are very involved in their only child's endeavors. Scott Seipke said that even if they had 10 children, they would be just as involved.

"This has been our life the last few years," Seipke said.

To learn more about Traska, visit www.howlingridgekennel.com, email her at shayneeseipke@gmail.com or text her at 907-394-4008. To follow her success in the Iditarod, beginning March 3, visit www.iditarod.com. There are free subscriptions available to follow her progress in the race.Midland County commissioners plan to discuss this week the annual request to borrow funds for the purchase of 2017 delinquent taxes. The request is for up to $6 million, which is the maximum amount that County Treasurer Catherine Lunsford may borrow.

Lunsford calculates that the estimated 2018 county borrowing will be just under $4 million. In the past, the county has borrowed from within first. If that amount is not sufficient, Lunsford has been authorized to borrow externally.Donning '70s clothing including go-go boots, stylish jumpsuits and bandannas, nearly 300 women attended the annual Family and Children's Services of Mid-Michigan Mom Prom while the dads and grandparents watched the children.

Kristine Pelletier, of Auburn, attended her first Mom Prom Saturday and left crowned Prom Queen while Vicki Krawczak, of Midland, a second-year attendee, was named Dancing Queen, following her daughter, Karen Spencer's, bet that she was the better dancer.

"I guess she wasn't," Krawzak said while patting her Dancing Queen crown.

Spencer, of Coleman, lost the bet, but she didn't seem to mind, during the disco-themed Mom Prom benefitting the Family and Children's Services of Mid-Michigan. The event drew an estimated 300 women, some as far as Chicago, such as Toni Williams, who attended with Midland friend Esther Crotzer. Both agreed the event was larger than they expected but were happy to see so many people come out for a good cause.

Betty O'Neill, Family and Children's Services of Mid-Michigan fund development director, who was dressed in a blue 70s jumpsuit, was pleased with the turnout.

"These women love attending, and we love their support," O'Neill said of the attendance of women from 21 to 92.

Sam Loar, of Midland, attended the past three years with a group of friends.

"It is a chance to relax, have fun while the children stay with their dads," Loar said. "We get to have a good time while helping raise money for a good cause. Plus, it is a chance for moms to meet other moms and network."

Women took part in a garter toss, bouquet throw, raffles and a photo booth. They also filled the dance floor as they moved to music of the '70s.

Trisha O'Dell, Diane Watz, Ana Neophytou, Jennifer McGreger, Shannon Ahrens, Margo Hernden, Stacie Quast, Lisa Shaw and Theresa Scott all dressed as the Pink Ladies from the Grease Film. The women all carpooled from Bay City and are already talking about plans for next year's event.

The women are moms of children at Mackensen Elementary in Bay City.

"This year we got one table, next year we are getting two tables, so we can invite more moms," Hernden said. "This is a good time for the moms to hang out."

Ashley Castillo was a first-time attendee, she along with a group from Midland Chemical Bank got a table.

"This is a great time and it feels even better contributing to a good cause," said Castillo, who won at the garter toss.

Dana Zalesak and daughter Kendle, of Mount Pleasant, attended in matching jumpsuits.

"It was great getting to hang out with my mom," Kendle said.

Dana said her niece found the event and hopes to attend next year after turning 21.

Money from the event helps fund services at Family and Children's Services of Mid-Michigan.

For more on the organization, visit www.fcs-midland.orgEmmet County in early stages of budget planning

The process will ultimately impact what types of community investments citizens might expect see in the near future.Furious BC - Daniel Fleury & Brendan Howey:

Create & Destroy:

Lorin Whitaker - Utah Ripping:

Living in Disneyland - Part 1, Out There:

Farm Jam 2018 MTB Highlights:

Farm Jam 2018 Moto Highlights:

Farm Jam 2018 BMX Highlights:

Tanner Stephens - Fall On The Front Range:

Gibon Movie 2017:

Creators - A Slovenian MTB Film:

Can A 10 Second Track Be Fun?

Highway 395 Revisited:

GT in LA:

Kink BMX Team In Argentina!

Chris Cole's Never Been Done - A History of NBDs:

Classics - Chris Cole "Dying to Live"

Shaun White -The Guy who Raised the Bar in Snowboarding:

The Burrrlapz - Road Trip and Stuff, A Telenovela:

Kilian:

Sea Of Miracles:

Style is timeless. Video: Leon Perrin.Rider: Aiken Colinge.Ridgeline mastermind.Scott Woolley rides one of Whistler's best trails. Video: David Kenworthy.MTB highlights from the 2018 Farm Jam in New Zealand. Featuring Matt Jones, Carson Storch, Ryan Howard, Conor Macfarlane, Lewis Jones, Ray George, Tyler McCaul, Phil McLean, and moreFeaturing Tyler Bereman, Josh Sheehan, Lewis Woods, Jake Bowen, Andrew Jackson, Caleb Delacy, Callum Shaw, and more.Featuring Logan Martin, Kyle Baldock, Michael Hucker Clark, Kris Fox, Corey Bohan, Jason Watts, Mike Ross, Joe Simpson, and more.Thanks to Wiley Kaupas (@wileyk94) for filming and @deityusa , @dialedhealth, and @novatecwheels for the continued support!Gbn Crew proudly brings you another season recap. This year is not only about abusing bikes but also about creating quality informative video about life and stuff with wise quotes from some old dude and stuff. Riders: Gibbons and friends. Filmed by: everyone. Edit: @nikifor88 Here is a story about a group of guys who grew up watching mountain bike movies. Every start is hard and boys quickly realised, that movie-like trails don't appear out of thin air. Times have changed since then, but the desire never faded. Video: Jani Brumat.Olly and I wanted to see what kind of video we could make from this 10 second gully. We ended up getting some cool shots!The Eastern Sierras called out for a end-of-Summer road trip, so myself, Chris McNally and Moi Medina headed out of Los Angeles to score a few final trail days just as the first snows were dropping. Growing up on the legends of the Kamikaze Downhill, and the Sierra 7500' mountain bike races I was fascinated to learn that before the Kamikaze hit the slopes of Mammoth Mountain, it lived for two years South and across the valley on White Mountain. The race ran from the area known as Sherman Grove, and dropped 6,000' along Silver Canyon Road. As a pilgrimage we went out and rode the area, not following the old tracks exactly, but exploring the mountains and vibe which inspired the early days of mountain biking.Kachinsky, Jeremiah Smith, and Rob Wise visit LA.Follow the squad in Argentina through Buenos Aires and Rosario, stacking clips, and taking in the good vibes of the great country! Riders: Sean Sexton, Travis Hughes, Casey Starling, and Agustin Gutierrez.NBDs are the benchmark of skateboarding. From his earliest parts 'til now, Chris Cole has logged more than just about anyone. Take a walk down memory lane with the DC team and revisit some of Cole's most memorable Never Been Done tricks throughout his career.Cole's legendary ability to stomp down and ride away from almost any trick he wanted became clear with this part. Jamie Thomas introduces a classic Zero part from 2002.Double Olympic snowboarding champion Shaun White is making a difference to people through his inspirational charity work.Drive far, break your car. Turns out old Megs only had a few hundred km left on 'er, but you know what they say, "sometimes your truck explodes and you leave it in Golden." Other than seizing engines we also drove sleds, drank beers, fell off cliffs, and didn't make any avalanches. So we're stoked.Kilian Jornet is considered the greatest mountain runner ever. But he doesn't consider himself a runner. Join Kilian in his new backyard in Norway as he attempts to ski and run in a single day the Seven Summits of Romsdalen, a 77km route with 9000m of elevation gain.There has been consistent, galvanized resistance to a proposed nuclear power plant in Kaminoseki, Japan. Patagonia grantee and activist Midori Takashima, founder of the Kaminoseki Nature Conservation Associationalong with fishermen and farmers who have been actively protesting for 35 yearscontinues to fight against the proposed construction.Title Photo by: Ian Hylands To check out videos submitted by fellow Pinkbike members that didn't quite make Movie Mondays here2018 NZ Nationals DH Round 4 - Christchurch

A few delays this morning meant everyone had a chance to look at the upper part of the track.

Keegan Wright and Connor Hamilton are members of the #longhairdontcare club.

First one out the gate this morning and straight into the rocks.

That early morning light!

Ashley Bond looked strong on track throughout the day, and it showed come race time.

Early morning trains to get things started.

Billy Meaclem cooked his bike during a local club race yesterday, so he was doing it on a 26" beast today and keeping the fire going.

Guy Johnston just casually pulling up during practice.

The Bulldog on the charge in the upper rock gardens.

After a nightmare at Oceanias, Shania was happy to be feeling healthy and racing a dry track this weekend.

Boaz and Finn rode most of practice together to help figure out lines. Clearly it helped the both of them.

Keegan Wright made short work of all the precarious features.

Sam Robbie was ripping and tearing during practice. Even ignoring the chance to roost a photographer.

Rupert lives locally, but because Lava Flow is often overgrown he has just as many runs on this track as anyone else.

Local cross-country enthusiast, Kieran Bennett, was floating about this morning during a training ride but wasn't keen to race due to his focus being on the upcoming NZ Enduro in a few weeks.

Elliot Lees getting after it.

But then there was Keegan Wright charging without any regard for what was beneath his tires. Without a timing board, you would have believed Keegan was the man to beat.

A very barren landscape out the hill today.

Lava flow lived up to its reputation of being overgrown, but the spectators still managed to find their ways around to all the good vantage points.

Brook MacDonald was on fire today riding such an aggressive track.

In the Master's category Mike Evans was out giving Dane Nimmo a run for his money but had to settle for 3rd.

Dane Nimmo, on the other hand, continued with his sandbagging success and cleaned up Masters once again.

Finn was the name with the target on his back today. Hometown track, but a few mistakes in his race run cost him and ended up finishing 2nd in U17.

Had a mint day on the bike, but in my race run, I rode off track and had to run back up the hill. Loved racing a super rocky and dusty track which is the kind of stuff I regularly ride!  Finn Hawkesby-Brown

Considering Blake Ross doesn't train on rocks, he did well to finish only 4.4 seconds back on Finn Parsons for 5th.

After Guy's success at Oceania Champs in Dunedin last weekend, a good result was highly likely. However, Guy crashed in his race run still managed to pull it back for a 3rd place. He must have been on a blinder.

I had a bit of crash in my race run today but I'm still stoked to pull a 3rd on the very rocky lava flow.  Guy Johnston

Not a jump in site for Partick Hale today. Instead, he had to try riding his bike in straight line.

James Carley got offline in his finals, but boy did it look sick.

Louis Vuleta didn't look to be taming the rocks today but rode to respectable 10th in U19.

Tuhoto-Ariki Pene is one of the kids to watch out for. His result today (5th in U19) may not have reflected his talent, but he was one of the few juniors who was stomping the rock gardens like an Elite.

Sam Robbie may not have had the same success as last weekend, but 4th with the flu still shows he's on form coming into National Champs next weekend.

Boaz!! What more can you say? The local boy rode his ring out today and came up short of the win in U19 by only 0.10.

Josh Oxenham was back to his winning ways today, despite his early morning brake dramas.

Ash got into a rhythm that worked for her today and rode a control run down to a solid 3rd place in Elite Women.

Lava Flow lived up to its name - it felt like riding on the moon. Awesome day out on the hill today. The wind stayed away and the open, exposed track was getting better each lap. Was epic to race some rocks and good to be back on the downhill bike after 9 weeks off! Looking forward to National Champs next weekend.  Ashley Bond

Dispite Shania racing back at full health, she was no match for Kate Weatherly once again.

Kate Weatherly was visibly faster on track, and that showed. Finishing 18.74 seconds up on Shania.

Matt Prior was charging on the home trails.

Ben Karalus got out on the hill today, but didn't have the pace to keep up with the seasoned downhillers and rounded out the Elite's Top 10.

Guy Gibbs has been destroying the national series this season. Another podium finish for him today with 5th, 7.78 seconds back.

World number 10, El Chapo, Stingray or whatever other aliases Rupert has rode smart and safe today and stomped his way into 4th place.

Ah yeah it was really fun, we don't ride Lava Flow that much because it's always windy or overgrown but the weather was perfect for the race today and I'm sure everyone had a great day!  Rupert Chapman

Keegan Wright had the pace to continued with the big name World Cup boys today and will be happy with 3rd before looking to defend his national title next weekend.

It was of little surprise to see Brook riding so comfortably today. The rock and gradient only played to his strengths and he finished up on 1.08 behind Blenki.

Sam Blenkinsop is on fire at the moment! Another win today and I'm it won't be his last this season.

Results



Elite Men's Podium



Elite Women's Podium







Elite Men's Results



1st - Sam Blenkinsop ( 2:13.79 )

2nd - Brook MacDonald ( 2:14.87 )

3rd - Keegan Wright ( 2:16.63 )

4th - Rupert Chapman ( 2:16.81)

5th - Guiy Gibbs ( 2:21.57 )



Elite Women's Results



1st - Kate Weatherly ( 2:50.41 )

2nd - Shania Rawson ( 3:09.15 )

3rd - Ashley Bond ( 3:43.19 )



Mentions:

Welcome to Quake City - Christchurch, New Zealand. Training grounds for Sam Blenkinsop and home to some of the country's best backcountry riding. The penultimate round of the New Zealand Downhill National Series rolled into town this weekend and gave riders a rude wake-up call for what South Island racing is all about. No groomed trails or padded trees to be seen. Just a shit load of rock & sketchy trails cut into tall tussock.Out of the trails the race had to choose from, they chose to use Lava Flow in Victoria Park. Not many's first choice for a race track, but after the Port Hills fire almost one year to the day, it was one of the hardest options that the organizers had to choose from. It sure as hell delivered though.Juha Helppi Wins the 2018 OlyBet Kings of Tallinn Main Event

February 19, 2018 Jason Glatzer

Finnish poker legend Juha Helppi outlasted a field of 268 players to win the 2018 OlyBet Kings of Tallinn 1,100 Main Event for 62,000.

The win caps off a huge week where he won more than six-digits when taking into account playing high-limit 50/100 pot-limit Omaha with double straddles against Patrik Antonius, Theo Jorgensen, Ville Wahlbeck, Jani Vilmunen, Kings of Tallinn High Roller Winner Ellis Parssinen, and others.

Helppi now has almost $7.2 million in career live cashes after the win, only second in Finland to Antonius' $7.3 million. Despite his impressive poker resume, this is only Helppi's second live tournament win with at least 200 players in his two-decade poker career.

2018 Kings of Tallinn Main Event Final Table Results

Place Winner Country Prize 1 Juha Helppi Finland 62,000 2 Arto Ilmari Loikkanen Finland 41,000 3 Arunas Garunkstis Lithuania 25,000 4 [Removed:174] Lithuania 19,800 5 Totti Matias Arusuo Finland 15,200 6 Shahin Shirazi Nejad Sweden 10,800 7 Arto Antero Lehtonen Finland 8,500 8 Quang Thanh Doan Finland 6,200 9 Silver Nommik Estonia 5,200

The tournament was a deep-stacked affair with players starting off with 30,000 in chips and blinds increasing every 60 minutes. Players were permitted to re-enter up until the start of Day 2. By the end of the second day, the field was trimmed down to 60 players. The money bubble was reached on Day 3, and the field was trimmed down to 24 players to begin Day 4. The final table was reached on Day 4 as just nine players remained after a relatively short penultimate day.

While the pot was already fairly large, Arosou made an amazing laydown.

The final table began with Finland's Totti Matias Arusuo in the lead and Helppi on his tail in second place.

Estonia's Silver Nommik, the only player remaining from the home country, entered the table as the short-stack and was unable to move up the ladder taking ninth place for 5,200. He jammed five-three suited and didn't get there against the ace-jack held by Lithuania's Arunas Garunkstis.

Finland's Quang Thanh Doan was the next to go in eighth place for 6,200 after he jammed his short-stack on the button with queen-ten and couldn't get there against Helppi's ace-jack.

Shortly after, Finland's Arto Antero Lehtonen hit the rail in seventh place for 8,500 when he flopped top two pair with jack-nine only to run into the set of Arosuo with pocket nines.

Helppi then grabbed the lead from Arosuo and never looked back. He flopped top-set with pocket queens against Arosou's middle set with pocket eights. While the pot was already fairly large, Arosou made an amazing laydown when Helppi was all-in on the river to save him many valuable chips.

Sweden's Shahin Shirazi Nejad, who entered the final table short on chips, was eliminated in sixth place for 10,800 after he flopped top pair with king-queen and was unable to find the help he needed on the turn and river against the pocket aces held by Arto Ilmari Loikkanen.

Arosou got low on chips after his pocket aces were cracked by the jack-ten suited held by Garunkstis. He was then eliminated in fifth place for 15,200 when his king-queen was unable to out flip Helppi's eights.

Lithuania's [Removed:174] got low on chips after losing a crucial flip to Loikkanen when his ace-king couldn't improve against his opponent's pocket eights. Loikkanen then took the rest of the Lithuanian's chip when his king-three held against nine-six sending Tamasauskas on the rail in fourth place for 19,800. Tamasauskas took seventh place in last year's Main Event and shared before the final table began that anything less than a win would be a "total disaster." However, after hitting the rail, he was in good spirits and seemed pleased with his overall performance.

Helppi had more than a two-to-one chip advantage and slightly extended it before the final hand took place.

Garunkstis hit the showers next, going out in third place for 25,000. The Lithuanian was low on chips after he called a bet against Helppi's flush and then got the rest of his chips in with jack-nine against ten-seven. Garunkstis was safe on the flop, but a ten hit the turn, and the river was of no help.

This left Helppi and fellow Finn Loikkanen heads-up for the title. Helppi had more than a two-to-one chip advantage and slightly extended it before the final hand took place.

Helppi opened with ace-queen and Loikkanen three-bet with ace-ten. Helppi four-bet all-in and his opponent called. The board ran out with nothing but blanks and Loikkanen was eliminated in second place for 41,000. Helppi claimed the title and began 2018 with a bang.Viktor Blom Hero Calls to Win partypoker LIVE MILLIONS Germany

February 18, 2018 Christian Zetzsche

The partypoker LIVE MILLIONS Germany festival at Europe's biggest poker arena, the King's Casino in Rozvadov, has come to a fitting end.

Viktor Isildur1 Blom took down the event in stunning fashion.

Out of 1,022 entries total, only 13 hopefuls remained on the final day of play and Viktor Isildur1 Blom took down the event in stunning fashion; overcoming a nine-to-one chip disadvantage heads-up, and hero-calling in the final hand.

The 27-year-old online legend from Sweden can usually be found grinding long sessions at the high stakes cash tables online, this time he lifted a live trophy after some 14 hours on the final day.

Final Result partypoker LIVE MILLIONS Germany 5,300 Main Event

Place Winner Country Prize 1 Viktor Blom Sweden 850,000* 2 Pavel Plesuv Moldova 750,000* 3 Rickie Silcock United Kingdom 400,000 4 Joao Simao Brazil 280,000 5 Radoslaw Wesierski Poland 200,000 6 Ondrej Drozd Czech Republic 140,000 7 Aristeidis Moschonas Greece 100,000 8 Niko Wieland Germany 70,000

*denotes a deal of the last two players

The highlight of the festival with 12.5 million guaranteed prize pools saw a total of 1,014 entries emerge throughout four starting days. Eight no-shows boosted the field to 1,022 entries.

Action of the final day

The day started with thirteen players remaining and Adrian Mateos was the shortest coming back. He scored an early double up on the outer table while Neil Ryder was unable to do so on the feature table and became the first casualty. Despite doubling up, Mateos got short again and his ace-jack suited found no help against the pocket queens of Ondrej Drozd. Mateos was sent to the rail in twelfth place for 40,000.

Despite doubling up early, Mateos was sent to the rail in twelfth place for 40,000.



Yoann Vu-Van picked up plenty of outs with seven-six suited against the pocket aces of Pavel Plesuv, but the Frenchman failed to get there and bowed out in eleventh place.

Gianluca Speranza then lost most of his stack against the pocket aces of Viktor Blom and had to settle for the tenth place soon after. When the remaining nine hopefuls combined to one table, several double ups followed but Yiannis Liperis eventually saw his aces cracked by the pocket kings of Plesuv to set up the official eight-handed final table.

Seat Player Country Chip Count Big Blinds 1 Niko Wieland Germany 73,900,000 25 2 Pavel Plesuv Moldova 143,100,000 48 3 Viktor Blom Sweden 144,800,000 48 4 Rickie Silcock United Kingdom 93,400,000 31 5 Radoslaw Wesierski Poland 67,200,000 22 6 Joao Simao Brazil 59,200,000 20 7 Aristeidis Moschonas Greece 170,600,000 57 8 Ondrej Drozd Czech Republic 258,600,000 86

Niko Wieland's queen-jack ended up second-best to the pocket aces of Viktor Blom and Ondrej Drozd took a commanding lead when he looked through the bluff of Aristeidis Moschonas to reduce the field to the last seven.

However, the fortune of the Czech all but changed the very next hand when a triple barrel bluff with ten-high went wrong against Pavel Plesuv, and Drozd eventually had to settle for sixth place.

In a battle of the short stacks, Radoslaw Wesierski called the shove of Rickie Silcock with ace-nine of spades and faced the jack-four of diamonds of the partypoker online qualifier. Two diamonds on the flop and a third diamond on the river sealed the fate for the Pole, who had just over $9,000 in cashes prior to this event.

Three Final Tables and more than 640,000 in cashes for partypoker ambassador Joao Simao in Rozvadov

Simao racked up more than 640,000 in cashes during the partypoker LIVE MILLIONS Germany.



Joao Simao endured a roller coaster ride throughout the final day and eventually had to settle for fourth place. In the final hand, his jack-nine suited found no help against the ace-eight of Viktor Blom. Earlier this partypoker LIVE MILLIONS Germany, Simao had topped his career-best score with a second place in the first 25,500 Super High Roller (251,250) and followed that up with another strong showing in the second edition in which he finished fourth (110,000). Simao ended up in the very same place in the Main Event; his 280,000 score saw him rack up more than 640,000 in cashes during the festival at the King's Casino.

Half an hour later, the heads-up duel was set after the elimination of Rockie Silcock. The Brit turned trips fours only for Pavel Plesuv to river a wheel. Silcock had qualified for the event in a $109 satellite on partypoker and turned that into a payday of an astonishing 400,000, his British rail was cheering him on for the duration of the final table.

Blom and Plesuv cut a deal to secure 750,000 each and play for the trophy, bragging rights, and additional 100,000 to the winner.

The fireworks started soon after. Plesuv doubled into a commanding lead when flopping a queen-high straight with Blom holding top set, and the Moldovan established a 9-1 lead. However, Blom fought back and doubled three times in total to even out the stacks once more.

Blom shook his head, looked at the board again, and then decided to call with second-pair and no kicker.

The final hand of the tournament was a special one. Blom opened king-six off, and Plesuv called with queen-seven suited. Plesuv check-called a bet with second pair on queen-nine-king with two hearts and one diamons. The ace of diamonds on the turn gave Plesuv a flush draw, and he check-called a bet again. The river came the five of hearts, making for three hearts on the table. Plesuv, stuck with what was now third pair and a missed flush draw, shoved as a bluff. Blom considered all his options, shook his head, looked at the board again, counted his chips, tanked, and then decided to call with second-pair and no kicker.

The chip stacks needed to be verified and once they were counted, the tournament was determined to be over. Plesuv finished in 2nd place for 750,000 and shook Blom's hand to congratulate him.

The partypoker LIVE team confirmed their next big festival on European soil in Barcelona for April 2018 with 23 million in guaranteed prize pools. Qualifiers will kick off shortly.4.5k SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) slammed Trump for twisting the statements that he made during a CNN interview and for being too afraid to stand up to Putin.

Trump tweeted:

Finally, Liddle Adam Schiff, the leakin monster of no control, is now blaming the Obama Administration for Russian meddling in the 2016 Election. He is finally right about something. Obama was President, knew of the threat, and did nothing. Thank you Adam!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 18, 2018

Schiff responded:

Sorry for delay @POTUS. Was on a plane back from Munich where General McMaster confronted Russia over its meddling. Ive always said Obama shouldve acted sooner. But you wont recognize the truth, impose sanctions or act at all. If McMaster can stand up to Putin, why cant you? https://t.co/ixjsjMJSVJ  Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) February 18, 2018

Schiff was right. Trump lacks the courage that other people in his own administration have demonstrated when talking about Russian election interference. Trump has also undercut members of his own administration when they try to criticize Russia in any way. Trump spends his time desperately courting Putins attention. Trump has never shown any inclination toward standing up to Putin. The President was reportedly livid when Congress passed the bill sanctioning Russia.

There isnt a courageous bone in Trumps body, which is why Trump is an obstacle to be overcome, not a leader who will defend US democracy from the Russians.2.1k SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard

The White House has announced that Trump is going to meet with Stoneman Douglas High School students who survived the Parkland shooting.

The AP reported, President Donald Trump will hold a listening session with high school students this week following the deadly school shooting in Florida. A White House schedule says Trump will host students and teachers Wednesday. He also will meet with state and local officials on school safety on Thursday. The White House did not immediately answer questions about which students would be attending the session.

The White House could leave the protesting Parkland students out of the meeting

The White House wont specify which students are attending the meeting, which means that they could screen the students and not allow the students who have been demanding action on gun violence to participate. This would be the least surprising, and an almost expected move from the Trump White House. The other listening sessions that Trump has held as president have been disasters.

Trump tried to hold listening sessions on jobs with CEOs but the short attention span president kept wandering off, and who could ever forget the classic listening session where Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) tried to teach Trump about racism?

The only reason that this listening session is happening is that the students have been all over TV and Twitter demanding action.

The students want more than listening. They want action, and this is the kind of meeting giving Trump volatile emotional state that could get ugly fast.1.3k SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard

By Tim Reid

WASHINGTON, Penn (Reuters)  Mark Marran, an operations manager for a Fortune 500 company, voted for Donald Trump. Two weeks ago he noticed an extra $100 in his bimonthly pay check, courtesy of sweeping tax cuts passed by the Republican Congress late last year.

Marran says the extra cash is nice, but it will not change his life.

A lot of people around here think (the tax cuts) were a giveaway to the rich, said Marran, 56, a resident of this city of 14,000 about 30 miles southwest of Pittsburgh.

Just up the street, George Smith, an optician who makes $55,000 a year, echoed that sentiment. Taking a pull from a cigarette, the Trump voter said he is now getting an extra $120 a month in his paycheck. But he says it is the wealthy who really scored.

Its almost like being thrown a bone, said Smith, 59.

These are worrying words for the GOP, which is banking on the tax cuts pushed by President Trump to help Republicans retain control of the House and Senate in midterm elections this November.

A crucial early test is set for March 13 here in western Pennsylvania. Republican candidate Rick Saccone, a conservative Trump loyalist, is vying to win a special election for a congressional seat in a district that the president won by 19 points in 2016.

Yet recent polls show a tightening race in Pennsylvanias 18th district, where Republicans typically enjoy a double-digit advantage.

Political analysts point to a number of factors fueling a competitive race, including Trumps low approval ratings and heightened Democratic enthusiasm. Democratic challenger Conor Lamb, a retired Marine and former federal prosecutor, is running as a moderate in a district where liberals are viewed with suspicion.

Saccone, meanwhile, has been touting Trumps signature legislative achievement as a boon for the middle class. Tax cuts are changing lives, says one of Saccones TV spots. But it remains to be seen whether the four-term state representative can persuade tax-cut skeptics such as Marran and Smith.

Such doubts are reflected in a new nationwide Reuters/Ipsos public opinion poll that shows a plurality believe the legislation is a windfall for the wealthy and big businesses.

Some 36 percent of respondents said the rich would benefit most, while another 22 percent said it would be U.S. corporations. Just 13 percent said they believed that the middle class would be the main beneficiaries.

The poll also suggests that the tax plan alone may not fuel Republican turnout in November. Some 55 percent of respondents said the tax plan makes me more interested in voting for Democrats or will not change my interest in voting.

In interviews with 30 voters in Pennsylvanias 18th district, Reuters found most were ambivalent about the tax cuts. Most acknowledged they would keep more of what they earned. But that did not necessarily translate into support for the legislation or for Saccone, the Republican congressional candidate.

Trump voters Marran and Smith said they were still undecided about next months contest. In Upper St. Clair, a wealthy Pittsburgh suburb, Republican Bill Hartman, 59, said he plans to cast a vote for Lamb. This despite the fact that Hartmans top tax bracket will drop to 25 percent from 28 percent.

The tax cut was meant to show (the GOP) did something, said Hartman, who earns more than $100,000 a year selling advertising. But it was just to help the wealthy.

In contrast, Glen Laufer, a food service worker in nearby Bethel Park, says he is thrilled about the extra $120 he saw in his paycheck last month. He said he is voting for Saccone.

This gives the middle class more money, which will make people more willing to spend money, Laufer said.

Tax cuts should play well with voters here, most of whom will benefit. The predominantly white district stretches from wealthy southern Pittsburgh suburbs in Allegheny County, down through the middle class community of Washington and into the coal mining and farming territory of Greene County bordering West Virginia.

Pennsylvanias 18th district is wealthier than the national average with median household income of $64,000 in 2016. An analysis by the left-leaning Tax Policy Center has concluded that the top fifth of U.S. earners will get a 2.2 percentage point tax cut from the legislation, compared to a 0.4 percentage point reduction among the poorest fifth.

In a telephone interview, Saccone, the Republican candidate, said small business owners and voters he has met are pleased with the extra income.

A lot of the benefits have only just begun to accrue, Saccone, 59, said.

Indeed, tax experts said that because employers had until Feb. 15 to start using the new tax-withholding tables issued by the IRS, some employees may not start seeing a difference in their paychecks until early March.

By the time November comes around people are going to be dancing in the street, Saccone said.

But with only a few weeks left until the Pennsylvania contest, Trump is not leaving anything to chance in a seat that Republicans have held since 2002. The president is planning a rally later this month in Pittsburgh and is expected to praise Saccone and the tax overhaul.

The special election, which will fill a seat left vacant when incumbent Republican congressman Tim Murphy quit amid personal scandal, is an early litmus test for the GOP tax message, said Ford OConnell, a Republican strategist.

It is a trial run, heading into November, he said. Trump obviously wants to hold the seat and Trump wants to find out if he has delivered enough to keep voters happy.

Meanwhile Lamb, the 33-year-old Democrat, is trying to walk a fine line in this conservative district. He tells voters he is not against tax cuts, but opposes what he sees as legislation designed to give the biggest breaks to the wealthiest Americans and large corporations.

I would have liked people in the middle to be the sole beneficiaries, Lamb said. We know who that bill was for.

Republican groups, meanwhile, have already spent nearly $5 million on ads tying Lamb to Democratic House leader Nancy Pelosi, who derided the bigger paychecks that many Americans are now seeing as crumbs.

OConnell, the Republican strategist, is optimistic the tax message will gain traction. Middle-class voters could well warm to the tax cuts by November, he said. And he believes Saccone will win next month.

Several western Pennsylvania voters who spoke to Reuters were enthusiastic. Jefferson Hills residents Steven Bronder, 59, and his wife have annual income of around $750,000. Bronder, an insurance agent, figures the couple will save an extra $45,000 a year under the new tax legislation.

Im really happy, Bronder said. Thats why I voted for Trump.

(Reporting by Tim Reid; Additional reporting by Jason Lange and Makini Brice; Editing by Damon Darlin and Marla Dickerson)By Zachary Fagenson and Katanga Johnson

PARKLAND, Fla. (Reuters)  Stunned by last weeks bloodiest high school shooting in U.S. history, students across the country were mobilizing on Sunday for stronger gun laws, while Florida officials contemplated when to reopen their badly shaken school.

Students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where a former student is accused of murdering 17 people on Wednesday, joined others on social media to plan rallies, a Washington march and a national walk-out aimed at getting the attention of an adult population many say has failed to protect them.

I felt like it was our time to take a stand, because, you know, were the ones in these schools, were the ones who are having shooters come into our classrooms and our spaces, said Lane Murdock of Ridgefield High School in Connecticut.

Murdock, a 15-old sophomore who lives 20 miles (32 km) from Sandy Hook Elementary School where 20 children and six adults were shot dead five years ago, drew more than 36,000 signatures on an online petition Sunday morning calling on students to walk out of their high schools on April 20.

Instead of going to classes, she urged her fellow students to stage protests on the 19th anniversary of the mass shootings at Columbine High School in Colorado.

Last weeks massacre in Florida, which followed several other school shootings this year, inflamed the countrys long-simmering debate between advocates for gun control and gun ownership.

For a graphic on Florida school shooting, click http://tmsnrt.rs/2nX8ECo

Former student Nikolas Cruz, 19, faces multiple murder charges in the deaths of 14 students and three staff members, and the wounding of more than a dozen others, in a rampage that eclipsed Columbine as the countrys worst mass shooting at a high school.

The charges can bring the death penalty, but prosecutors have not yet said if they will seek capital punishment.

School officials in Broward County said on Sunday that they were aiming to have staff return to the Douglas High School campus by the end of the week. The school systems announcement did not say when classes would resume.

Cruz was reported to have been investigated by police and state officials as far back as 2016 after slashing his arm in a social media video, and saying he wanted to buy a gun. Authorities, however, determined he was receiving sufficient support, newspapers said on Saturday.

In addition, the Federal Bureau of Investigation admitted on Friday that it failed to investigate a warning that Cruz possessed a gun and the desire to kill.

President Donald Trump lashed out late on Saturday at the FBI for missing signs that could have prevented the shooting, and accused the agency on Twitter of spending too much time trying to prove Russian collusion with the (2016) Trump campaign. [L2N1Q61CL]

The Douglas High School students are planning a March for Our Lives in Washington on March 24 to call attention to school safety and ask lawmakers to enact some form of gun control.

You know, were marching because its not just schools, its movie theaters, its concerts, its nightclubs, student Alex Wind said on NBCs Meet the Press. This kind of stuff cant just happen.

A rally is set for Tallahassee, the state capital, on Wednesday, where a lawmaker is seeking a legislative opening for a ban on the sale of assault weapons, including the AR-15 that Cruz is alleged to have used.

Democratic State Senator Linda Stewart, who represents Orange County, where 49 people were massacred at the Pulse nightclub in 2016, said she needs to gain support from three Republicans, who control the state legislature, to win passage of her measure but hopes to force a vote even if it fails.

I think that putting them on record is what needs to be done right now, said Stewart, who said she plans to meet with Douglas High School students in the capital on Tuesday night.

(Writing and additional reporting by Peter Szekely in New York; Editing by Daniel Wallis)634 SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard

By Michelle Price

WASHINGTON (Reuters)  U.S. President Donald Trump attacked the FBI and lawmakers probing alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election and said an excessive focus on Russia led federal investigators to miss signs that could have prevented the deadly school shooting in Florida last week.

In a series of tweets over the weekend, Trump accused President Barack Obama of failing to do enough to stop Russian election interference and belittled Representative Adam Schiff, of the House intelligence committee that is investigating Russias actions. Trump labeled Schiff, the ranking Democrat on the panel, a leaking monster.

Trump also said the Federal Bureau of Investigation was spending too much time looking into whether his presidential campaign colluded with Russia.

The tweets follow the announcement on Friday that special counsel Robert Mueller had charged 13 Russians and three Russian companies with a conspiracy to tamper in the 2016 U.S. election.

The indictment says Russians adopted false online personas to push divisive messages and staged political rallies while posing as Americans, among other charges. But the indictment was silent on the question of whether anyone from the Trump campaign coordinated or worked with Russians.

Russia has denied meddling in the U.S. election and Trump has denied any collusion.

In a tweet on Saturday night, Trump criticized the FBI for missing warning signs in the case of Nikolas Cruz, 19, who is charged with killing 17 people on Wednesday at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

More than a dozen people were wounded in the deadliest shooting at a U.S. high school.

Very sad that the FBI missed all of the many signals sent out by the Florida school shooter. This is not acceptable, Trump said on Twitter.

They are spending too much time trying to prove Russian collusion with the Trump campaign  there is no collusion, added.

Cruz was investigated as far back as 2016 after slashing his arm in a social media video, and saying he wanted to buy a gun, but authorities determined he was receiving sufficient support, newspapers said on Saturday.

The FBI acknowledged on Friday that it failed to investigate a warning that Cruz possessed a gun and the desire to kill.

(Reporting by Michelle Price; Editing by Caren Bohan and Jeffrey Benkoe)747 SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard

By Michelle Price

WASHINGTON (Reuters)  President Donald Trump attacked the FBI and lawmakers probing suspected Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S presidential election, drawing sharp criticism for saying an excessive focus on Russia led investigators to miss signs that could have prevented a deadly school shooting in Florida.

In a series of tweets over the weekend from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, Trump said congressional investigations and political hatred showed Russia had succeeded in sowing discord, disruption and chaos in the United States.

He accused his Democratic predecessor, Barack Obama, of failing to do enough to stop Russian election interference.

They are laughing their asses off in Moscow, Trump tweeted on Sunday morning.

In a tweet on Saturday night, Trump criticized the Federal Bureau of Investigation for missing warning signs in the case of Nikolas Cruz, 19, who is charged with killing 17 people on Wednesday at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, a Fort Lauderdale suburb.

The FBI acknowledged on Friday that it failed to investigate a warning that Cruz possessed a gun and the desire to kill.

Very sad that the FBI missed all of the many signals sent out by the Florida school shooter. This is not acceptable, Trump wrote. They are spending too much time trying to prove Russian collusion with the Trump campaign  there is no collusion, he added. [L2N1Q61CL]

The Republican president offered no evidence of any link between the investigation of Russian meddling and the FBIs failure to prevent the Florida shooting, the deadliest-ever at a U.S. high school.

Student survivors of the massacre slammed Trump for connecting it to the Russia probe, which has shadowed his year-old presidency.

Oh my god. 17 OF MY CLASSMATES AND FRIENDS ARE GONE AND YOU HAVE THE AUDACITY TO MAKE THIS ABOUT RUSSIA???!! Morgan Williams, 16, tweeted. HAVE A DAMN HEART.

Several lawmakers, including a fellow Republican, also rejected Trumps linking of the FBIs missteps in preventing the shooting to the Russia probe.

So many folks in the FBI are doing all that they can to keep us safe. The reality of it is, is that they are two separate issues, Republican Senator Tim Scott said on CBS Face the Nation program.

Former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates tweeted: Our president uses the tragedy to attack the investigation of a foreign adversarys interference in our democracy. Shameful.

Yates, who had been a holdover from the Obama administration, was fired early in the Trump presidency for refusing to defend travel restrictions on several Muslim-majority countries.

The FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Trumps tweet.

INDICTMENTS

On Friday, Special Counsel Robert Mueller charged 13 Russians and three Russian companies with conspiracy to tamper in the 2016 U.S. election.

Muellers indictment said the Russians adopted false online personas to push divisive messages and staged political rallies while posing as Americans.

In one of 13 tweets Trump sent after Muellers indictment, the president said he never said Russia did not meddle in the election.

Trump has on several occasions, however, questioned whether Russia was behind efforts to interfere in the 2016 election.

U.S. spy agencies concluded more than a year ago that Russia used hacking and propaganda to try to tilt the election in favor of Trump. Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly denied that.

After Muellers indictment was made public on Friday, Trump said it backed up his assertion that there was no collusion between his campaign and Russia.

The indictment did not address whether anyone from the Trump campaign coordinated or worked with Russians. Muellers broader probe is ongoing.

It wasnt designed to be able to clear everything on the investigation, Republican Senator James Lankford said on NBCs Meet the Press.

It was designed to say it was very clear these 13 individuals in this set of companies were trying to interfere in our election, said Lankford, who sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Trump, in a Sunday morning tweet, belittled Representative Adam Schiff, the senior Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee that is investigating Russias actions, labeling him a leaking monster.

Schiff, speaking on CNNs State of the Union program, said details of the indictment provided overwhelming and unequivocal evidence of the threat from Russian interference and countered Trumps assertions that the Russia investigation was a hoax.

This is a president who claims vindication anytime someone sneezes, Schiff said.

(Additional reporting by Jeff Mason in West Palm Beach, Fla. and Warren Strobel in Washington; Editing by Caren Bohan and Peter Cooney)Russia investigation Special Counsel Robert Mueller is reeling in the big fish as Rick Gates will plead guilty and testify against former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort.

The LA Times reported:



Rick Gates is going to change his plea to guilty, said a person with direct knowledge of the new developments, adding that the revised plea will be presented in federal court in Washington within the next few days.

.

The same individual said he did not believe Gates has information to offer Muellers team that would turn the screws on Trump. The president has repeatedly called the special counsels investigation a witch hunt.

Rick Gates leads to the people who will lead to Trump

Rick Gates wont lead directly to Donald Trump, but Robert Mueller and his team are putting the pieces in place of a very complex puzzle. Rick Gates will lead to Paul Manafort who will like lead to either Jared Kushner, Donald Trump Jr, both, or other high-level members of Trumps inner circle. The Gates plea is about getting Manafort to flip.

Paul Manafort may take the bullet for Trump and company, but the odds are that he is waiting for the right time to cut a deal. The White House doesnt want to face it, but the investigation is closing in on Trump, and the flip of Rick Gates is a big step forward in the pursuit of the truth.134 SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard

By Dave McNary

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com)  Disney-Marvels Black Panther is heading for a super-heroic $218 million debut over the four-day Presidents Day weekend at 4,020 North American locations, estimates showed Sunday.

That number means that Black Panther, starring Chadwick Boseman and directed by Ryan Coogler, has doubled its original tracking in less than a month. The film, which carries an estimated $200 million production cost, had been tracking to bring in between an impressive $100 and $120 million when first estimates emerged on Jan. 25. Since then, Black Panther has become a must-see movie for many moviegoers, underlined when Thursday previews brought in $25.2 million, the largest Thursday night preview gross for a February opener and the second-largest preview gross for a Marvel film.

The films estimated three-day gross of $192 million is the highest debut ever for a February film and the fifth highest of all time. Combined with an estimated international debut of $169 million from 69 percent of the international market, the estimated global debut stands at $361 million through Sunday.

Black Panther has demolished the record for the largest Presidents Day weekend, blowing past Deadpools 2016 mark of $152 million. Overall North American moviegoing for the four-day period should hit $300 million  far above the $278 million mark in 2016, according to comScore.

This is proof that the big screen experience may arguably be the most powerful platform of change in our society, said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst with comScore. The emotional, communal, immersive and bigger than life theatrical experience has an impact that virtually no other medium can match.

Comscores PostTrak survey of the audience showed outstanding numbers with 77 percent rating Black Panther as excellent and another 18 percent as very good.

Boseman portrays King TChalla, ruler of Wakanda, a technologically advanced society, who conflicts with Michael B. Jordans Eric Killmonger, who intends to take over the throne. Letitia Wright, Lupita Nyongo, Angela Bassett, Danai Gurira, and Daniel Kaluuya also star. Its received an A+ CinemaScore, the only Marvel film to have done so besides 2012s The Avengers.

Sonys second weekend of Peter Rabbit should bring in $22.5 million from 3,275 domestic locations for the four-day weekend, yielding an 11-day domestic total of $53 million. The film stars the voice of James Corden as the titular rabbit, along with Margot Robbie, Elizabeth Debicki, and Daisy Ridley as Peters sisters. Domhnall Gleeson stars as the heir to Mr. McGregors property, with Rose Byrne as the kindly neighbor Bea.

The second weekend of Universals Fifty Shades Freed follows in third with $18 million from 3,768 locations for the Friday through Monday period. The erotic romance stars Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson as Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele  now Mrs. Grey. Its Friday through Sunday total ($16 million) marks a 57 percent decline from its opening weekend. The film has earned $161 million worldwide in its first eight days.

Sonys ninth weekend of its durable action-comedy Jumanji: Welcome to Jungle finished fourth with $10 million at 2,800 venues. The 62-day domestic total will hit almost $380 million, just behind 2005s Star Wars: Episode III  Revenge of the Sith for 32nd spot on the all-time list.

Clint Eastwoods second weekend of the thriller The 15:17 to Paris is set to take fifth, with $9.1 million from 3,042 locations for Warner Bros. The movie, starring the three men who stopped an attempted 2015 terrorist attack on a European train, is projected to have grossed nearly $27 million domestically in 11 days.

Foxs ninth weekend of The Greatest Showman continued to show remarkable traction in sixth with a projected $6.3 million at 1,936 locations, which will lift the 62-day total to $155 million for the Hugh Jackman musical.

Nick Parks Early Man opened softly this weekend in the U.S. in the seventh slot with $4.2 million from 2,494 North American locations. The British film, which is being distributed in the United States via Lionsgate, utilizes the voice talents of Tom Hiddleston, Timothy Spall, Eddie Redmayne, and Maisie Williams.600 SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard

Author David Daley explained how Republicans seized power and used the gerrymander to rig the map to make themselves unbeatable for a decade.

Video:

Here is how Republicans rigged the map with the gerrymander. pic.twitter.com/DxbJJmkl39  Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) February 19, 2018

Daley said, We are a closely divided 50/50 countries in so many ways. Look at Washington, 70% of our state legislatures are all in the hands of the Republican Party. This is not a coincidence. Republicans after the 2008 election in which Democrats take super majorities in Congress, and elect Barack Obama president enact on a very  audacious and technologically savvy plan to re-invent the gerrymander as a road back to power. Its state legislatures in 42 of 50 states that draw these lines, and what Republican strategists realized, if they could take control of the state legislative chambers and have complete control following the 2010 census, the new maps drawn in 2011, they could draw themselves essentially unbeatable lines over the next decade and target 107 state legislative seats. Targeting just the local races and flipping those seats, Republicans earn themselves the ability to draw 193 of our 435 races on their own.

The Pennsylvania gerrymander case is the road to electoral fairness

Each of these state-level cases where gerrymandered maps are tossed out sets a lower court precedent for the Supreme Court to base a future ruling on. The federal Supreme Court decided to state out of gerrymandering rulings at the state level, but there are two upcoming cases focusing on Wisconsin and Maryland that could have titanic impacts. A fairly drawn Congressional map is likely to net Democrats a minimum of five House seat pickups. With Democrats only needing to win 24 seats to take back the House, they could be launched to victory with the new map.

Gerrymandering is difficult to overcome. The map is rigged, but Democrats are making inroads, and a shift like in Pennsylvania could swing the national tide closer to electoral fairness.Conventional wisdom tells us that suicide serves one primary purpose. Its the complete end of everything for the tortured soul. Suffering stops, catastrophes cancel, debts die. For the unconventional, the artists who choose this way out, suicide also casts a glow over all the work they leave in their wake. Ernest Hemingway takes a shotgun to the head in 1961, and all the macho posturing in between every line of his short stories and novels takes on new meaning. Kurt Cobain does the same, in 1994, and his visual and aural image of grunge and despair is realized. For the conventional and mundane among us, suicide only amplifies the suffering of survivors who are suddenly alone in a world of strangers. For the artist, suicide becomes the primary theme of all their work.

The blueprint for the tragic post WWII female poet was forged in stone by Sylvia Plath, who took her own life on 11 February 1963. In many photos she came off as equal parts innocent and alluring, the hint of a strawberry blonde coquettish flirt hard to disguise under all the processed conformity of the 50s. She was a Boston born and raised daughter of relative privilege whose father was a Boston University entomologist. He died in 1940, shortly after Sylvias 8th birthday, so readers (then and now) of her vicious poem Daddy (1960) might wonder about the source from which she drew her angry inspiration. She spent time at McCleans Hospital, the legendary location for mixed-up children of the emotional twilight zone. She excelled in her time at Smith College. There was a burgeoning and successful writing career, chronic depression, marriage to poet Ted Hughes, and death halfway through her 30th year, at her chosen time and on her chosen terms.

Anne Sexton took up the mantle of tragedy and ran with it. Three years after Plaths 1963 death, Sextons collection Live or Die won the Pulitzer Prize. Her two-act play Mercy Street was produced in 1969. Her first posthumous collection, 45 Mercy Street, published two years after her suicide, continued the themes of searching, longing, wandering into the darkness and surrendering to it because the alternative  dealing and managing  proved impossible. Like Plath, Sexton was Boston-area born and raised. By all apparent proof she was equally defiant and dangerous, comparably talented. Plath was the visual lightness, and Sexton was the moody dark-haired beauty who sometimes modeled, took classes with Robert Lowell at Boston University, and managed to stay tethered to some sort of corporeal identity longer than probably expected.

Consider these lines from 45 Mercy Street, as the speaker seems to realize shes not going to reach the promise of the address:

Pull the shades down-/ I dont care/ Bolt the door, mercy,/ erase the number

From The Awful Rowing Toward God:

I am rowing, I am rowing/ Though the oarlocks stick and are rusty

In his lyrics for Mercy Street, Peter Gabriel seems to understand that he cannot be so cryptic. He needs to match words with tone (droning or not), and he needs to combine influences. Though named after part of one Sexton poem title, Mercy Street also draws energy and imagery from The Awful Rowing Toward God, where the inevitable one-way trip towards the center offers an ending from which there is no escape. Lets take the boat out, he sings. Wait until darkness comes Words support like bone. Secrets are confessed to a priest. Theres a warm after-effect to kissing Marys lips. Theres a clever play with words in the chorus. The listener thinks that Mercy Street is where youre inside out, but instead the line is a command, a verb, an implication that Mercy Street (if you ever get there) will allow you to be your true self:

Dreaming of Mercy Street/ Wear your inside out/ Dreaming of mercy/ In your daddys arms again.

This is where Sylvia Plath will drift away and stay to herself, quiet between the covers of her novel The Bell Jar or absorbed by Gwyneth Paltrows portrayal in the 2003 film Sylvia. Like Virginia Woolf (as seen in Nicole Kidmans portrayal in the 2002 film The Hours), suicide was the romantic conclusion, the logical end result to a life of personal struggle, of dancing with demons long enough to light the spark that would guarantee literary immortality. For all those women, their work cannot be understood without first confronting the suicides. No matter how many volumes of armchair psychoanalysis and film adaptations have been written about their work, they suffer from a sense of judgement and superiority. We know how suicide biographies end, and determining the clinical source of the sadness only disrespects the work.

Gabriels 1986 album So was his fifth solo release since leaving the band Genesis. It was his first non-eponymously titled album, and arguably his most accessible collection of songs. The love song In Your Eyes would later be immortalized in the 1989 film Say Anything, and the dance tunes Big Time and Sledgehammer were perfectly evoked in striking, innovative music videos. Red Rain was a politicized plea about global disaster and pending apocalypse, and Dont Give Up (sung with Kate Bush) mixed his depressing verses with her plaintive, hopeful, soaring chorus. Add the experimental songs This Is the Picture (Excellent Birds), with Laurie Anderson, and We Do What Were Told (Milgrams 37), about the infamous 1963 psychological conditioning experiments conducted by social psychologist Stanley Milgram. This was an album that mattered, creating college radio songs with infectious dance beats that more often than not resonated with a moody strangeness.

The most remarkable thing about So is that it managed to hit all targets of mid-80s era audience demographics and never compromise the artists singular vision. Before So, with such solo tracks as 1982s Shock the Monkey, (ostensibly about shock therapy but apparently really a song about jealousy), and 1980s Family Snapshot (definitively about political assassination), Gabriel had never shied away from dark, deep, difficult themes more suitable for pale brooding liberal arts or theater majors. In Mercy Street, side two track two, Gabriel managed to build something haunting and beautiful from an idea so dark and lonely.

Directed by Matt Mahurin and screened only a few times on MTV, this black and white video is worlds away from the splashy fun of Big Time and Sledgehammer. A man is rowing something out towards a mid-point on a lake. Is it human? Is it cargo? A woman is preparing for her end, carrying out the rituals of her Catholic faith. Theres no apparent connection between these two themes. By videos end, the man remains on the boat but the identity of the other presence remains unknown. For some, the video, a tribute to Sexton, was homage, elegy, pastiche and biography. Everything is hidden. The song itself is unpredictable, based on a drone that allows for various materials to be brought in and out of the mix Mahurins imagery and Gabriels music share an affinity of tone and affect Unlike many of the other big MTV hits at the time, (including Gabriels), Mercy Street made the viewer work for an end result that remains elusive. None of this is easy because nothing about the subject is convenient or comfortable. Why, then, is it hard to forget?

The simple answer is that sometimes the greatest art is in response to somebody elses pain. Was Gabriel reaching out to this woman from beyond in order to assure her that she could have been okay had she stayed with us? Sometimes the results are disastrous (think Don McLeans sappy Starry, Starry Night, about Vincent Van Gogh, with the line You took your life like lovers often do followed later by This world was never meant for one as beautiful as you). Its difficult not to be entranced and seduced by Sexton and her mastery of and comfort with the camera. She was made for black and white documentary. Look at her perfectly chiseled face, dark hair flowing as she gestures and performs. There was nothing shrinking about this poet when she was on, nothing submissive, making the end result of her final choice that much more tragic.

Poetry in all its forms can be a tricky, difficult beast, obtuse and accessible and ponderous at the same time. The romance of the tortured poet who chooses their own time and place to slip this mortal coil is a guaranteed ticket to literary immortality. The male writer suicide (among many being Hemingway, Mishima, John Berryman) is often more quickly forgiven than the female. The arguments for song lyrics as a legitimate poetic form are too tired to re-hash. Sexton took her life on 4 October1974, a little more than a month before her 47th birthday. Gabriel continued after 1986s So to sporadically write and perform challenging music and film scores that tapped into the dark recesses of mortality, temptation, fear and love. There were no more major hits. He had his time at the top of music video stardom, and then it was over. Somewhere, somehow, Gabriel and Sexton with her father are still searching for Mercy Street, riding in the boat during twilight, awaiting what happens next.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.Dr. Jennifer Beatty, right, is launching a fitness program with her business partner at The Breast Place. Exercise has been been shown to reduce the risk of breast cancer. File/StaffRyan Vrba stuffed doubled plastic grocery bags full of sweet potatoes the size of eggplants, tied the handles together and handed them to seniors as they walked back to the Our Lady of Mercy Community Outreach parking lot. Volunteers helped them load their cars with a box of non-perishables, the huge sweet potatoes and a package of meat.

The potatoes were the produce pick of the month. Our Lady of Mercy Community Outreach supplement boxes are provided by the Lowcountry Food Bank with fruits, vegetables and fresh meat. The group distributes the boxes once a month. But lately, volunteers have been distributing more than twice as many of the boxes as they did before.

As the number of seniors living in Charleston, and particularly on the nearby Sea Islands, increase, so too have the number of seniors dealing with food insecurity. But many of those taking advantage of the senior food box program on Tuesday were longtime Lowcountry residents who have struggled to put together meals for the month as they age.

The program has grown from 80 participants to 202 in a single year.

"It's just grown tremendously," said Vrba, the program's administrator. "There's just so many seniors that qualify in this community. There's a lot of people in poverty on the Sea Islands."

A report from AARP showed nearly 20 percent of South Carolina adults 60 or older were living with low or very low food security. A 2015 study from the senior advocacy group showed South Carolina ranked as the third-lowest of all states for food security among adults 60 years old and older. Sixteen percent of all people in Charleston County have food insecurity, according to Our Lady of Mercy.

As the population of older people grows, community organizations have moved in to feed them. The East Cooper and Charleston chapters of Meals on Wheels have reported feeling this same pressure.

Donna Cook, executive director of Charleston Meals on Wheels, recently said there are 85 to 100 people on the waiting list at any given time. The organization has 21 routes, serving up to 30 people each.

Ralph Boyer, 64, has lived on Johns Island his whole life. For most of that time, he sustained his family with a farm. But he left farming in 2004. Now, his wife struggles with cancer but continues to teach at a local school, and he is disabled.

They live on his wife's income. Making their bills for the month is a close call.

"We don't have much left over," he said.

The box he picked up last week would help him piece together enough food for the month, he said.

People have to apply before they can begin picking up a box. The boxes handed out on Feb. 13 included Natrel, Bran Flakes, orange juice and other non-perishables.

Our Lady of Mercy serves James, Johns and Wadmalaw Islands. The senior food boxes are part of the Commodity Supplemental Food Program. The Food Bank provides the boxes and the Department of Social Services reviews each site.

There are two simple requirements to qualify: Applicants must be 60 or older and must meet the income threshold. Participants must live at or below 130 percent of the federal poverty level. A family of two, for example, would qualify for a box at or below an annual income of $24,000.

The organization also buys meat every month. An anonymous donor gives funds for fresh produce  something different each month.

One nearby low-income assisted-living facility, Johns Island Rural Housing, sends a van of residents across the street to Our Lady of Mercy every month.

Gloria Murray, the facility's resident coordinator, said the program is important because many living there have a fixed income. On average, she said her residents get about $16 worth of food stamps every month. Often, they will piece together the food in the senior boxes with whatever they can pick up at the nearest grocery store.

"It just helps them survive," Murray said.

She said the residents also use Our Lady of Mercy's other programming, such as its financial assistance classes.

For the younger people Our Lady of Mercy helps, Traci Rhoden, a marketing expert with Our Lady of Mercy, said they encourage self-sufficiency. For the older folks, the focus is more on nutrition and financial planning.

Rhoden said the program grew by about 30 people when a similar one closed across the street. But it really caught fire when the group talked to a senior quilting group.

"This is when the program really blossomed," Rhoden said.

Most of the participants said they had heard about the program through word-of-mouth.

That was true for Allan Mitchell, 88. A longtime James Island resident, he retired in 1989. Mitchell still drives and still goes to the grocery. The food boxes help him to fill in some of the gaps.

"It helps me all the way around," he said.A temporary EMS station has been set up on Cane Bay Boulevard to serve residents of the huge subdivision until a new fire station is built. ProvidedPaul Bowers is an education reporter and father of three living in North Charleston. He previously worked at the Charleston City Paper, where he was twice named South Carolina Journalist of the Year in the weekly category.Jamie Lovegrove is a political reporter covering the South Carolina Statehouse, congressional delegation and campaigns. He previously covered Texas politics in Washington for The Dallas Morning News and in Austin for the Texas Tribune.Political Reporter

Caitlin Byrd is a political reporter at The Post and Courier and author of the Palmetto Politics newsletter. Before moving to Charleston in 2016, her byline appeared in the Asheville Citizen-Times. To date, Byrd has won 17 awards for her work.PR-Inside.com: 2018-02-19 15:00:14

FSCwire / Press ReleaseThe following press release was disseminated by FSCwire for Bacanora Minerals Ltd.--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---Calgary, Alberta (FSCWire) - Bacanora Minerals Ltd. (TSX Venture:BCN). has issued a press release with the following headline:Bacanora Announces Entering into an Arrangement Agreement to Facilitate its Proposed Re-Domicile to the UKTo view this press release on the FSCwire website, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser:If you would prefer, you can also view this press release as a PDF file, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser:For more information on Bacanora Minerals Ltd., or to see additional press releases issued by this company, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser: http://www.fscwire.com/public-company/Bacanora Minerals Ltd.Source: Bacanora Minerals Ltd. (TSX Venture: BCN, AIM: BCN)Date: February 19, 2018Time: 9:00 AM EST--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---The story mentioned above was issued on behalf of Bacanora Minerals Ltd. and disseminated through FSCwire.About FSCwireFSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.), is a global newswire dissemination, SEDAR, SEDI, and EDGAR / XBRL service provider.FSCwire is a full service global newswire dissemination company and is fully approved by all exchanges in Canada and the U.S. Press releases can be distributed for all sizes of public, private or not for profit companies and any other organization requiring news distribution. In addition to individual companies; public relations, communications and investor relations firms trust FSCwire to distribute press releases for their respective clients.In addition to newswire dissemination FSCwire also offers EDGAR, XBRL, SEDAR, SEDI, and additional services for publicly traded companies. For more information, please go to our website: http://www.fscwire.com Maximum News Dissemination by FSCwire. http://www.fscwire.com Copyright 2018 - FSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.)PR-Inside.com: 2018-02-19 09:02:01

Compared to the previous version of the report, BearingPoint improved its position on the ability to execute axis in the Visionaries quadrant of the 2018 report

BearingPoint Recognised as a Visionary in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for CRM and Customer Experience Implementation Services, Worldwide for the 3rd Consecutive Time

Press

Sophie Westmoreland

UK Marketing Manager

Tel. +44 (0) 20 7337 3065

Mailto: sophie.westmoreland@bearingpoint.com

BearingPoint announces that it has been named a Visionary in the January 2018 Gartner Magic Quadrant for CRM [..]. BearingPoint is positioned highest on the ability to execute axis in the Visionaries quadrant of the Magic Quadrant.

According to Gartners report, Visionaries in this Magic Quadrant bring a wide range of business and technical capabilities, including CX strategy, business transformation consulting, customer analytics, enterprise architecture and design, CRM technology expertise, industry-specific domain expertise, and business change management. They can demonstrate innovative new projects that have not yet been replicated by competitors.

Our consultative approach empowers us to grasp the objectives of our clients. We leverage analytics, frameworks, and other intellectual property (IP) assets to meet the demands of our clients and address their challenges effectively and efficiently, said Eric Falque, Partner at BearingPoint. We believe our focus on innovative approaches and solutions delivered in a pragmatic way has enabled us to be positioned highest on the ability to execute axis in the Visionaries quadrant.

BearingPoint adds value for its clients by bringing comprehensive CRM and Customer Experience implementation competences from across its business. Coupled with highly differentiated thought leadership and a strong design-thinking approach, the firm creates growth solutions that are relevant not only for today, but more importantly, for tomorrow and beyond.

Source: Gartner, Magic Quadrant for CRM and Customer Experience Implementation Services, Worldwide, Patrick J. Sullivan, Ed Thompson, 8 January 2018, G00322092

Gartner Disclaimer

Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner's research organisation and should not be construed as statement of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, express or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

About BearingPoint

BearingPoint is an independent management and technology consultancy with European roots and a global reach. The company operates in three units: Consulting, Solutions and Ventures. Consulting covers the advisory business; Solutions provides the tools for successful digital transformation, regulatory technology and advanced analytics; Ventures drives the financing and development of start-ups. BearingPoints clients include many of the worlds leading companies and organisations. The firm has a global consulting network with more than 10,000 people and supports clients in over 75 countries, engaging with them to achieve measurable and sustainable success.

For more information, please visit:

Homepage: http://www.bearingpoint.com

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/bearingpoint

Twitter: @BearingPoint

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/201802190050

BearingPoint is positioned highest on the ability to execute axis in the Visionaries quadrantPR-Inside.com: 2018-02-19 09:26:04

Brilliant Collection Jewelry Launched in Berlin

for Blue Flame Jewelry

Linda MA, +86-010-65782978

2567306909@qq.com

During the 68th Berlin International Film Festival, Blue Flame Jewelry and the Berlin International Film Festival jointly launched the Brilliant collection jewelry on 17th February, 2018.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/201802190051

Brilliant Collection Jewelry Launched in Berlin (Photo: Business Wire)

The launch party was held at the Grand Hyatt hotel. It is the tenth year that Blue Flame has been designated as the official jeweler of the Berlin Film Festival and the Brilliant collection was designed to celebrate this big event. Mr. Shen Dongjun, president of Leysen1855, and ten movie stars (Matilda De Angelis, Alba August, Eili Harboe, Matteo Simoni, Jonas Smulders, Luna Wedler, Michaela Coel, Franz Rogowski, Irakli Kvirikadze, Reka Tenk) attended the launch party.

At the launch party, Mr. Shen Dongjun shared the heart concept of Blue Flame. Blue Flame is in pursuit of infusing true love into the design of fine jewelry. Each of the ten movie stars collected a Brilliant diamond pendant on the scene.

The Brilliant collection of Blue Flame, which was specially designed for the Berlin International Film Festival, took deep inspiration from film, art and culture. It is a fine jewelry composed of five heart-shaped components, which presents incredible geometric beauty.

Blue Flame originated from the Belgian royal jewelry supplier Leysen1855. Applying the heart-shaped elements in the jewelry design, Blue Flame utilizes infinite creativity to define all sincere love. It has not only been favored by the Belgian royal family, but also has been the official jeweler of the Berlin International Film Festival for ten years.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/201802190051

Blue Flame Jewelry and the Berlin International Film Festival will jointly launch the Brilliant collection jewelryPR-Inside.com: 2018-02-19 22:09:18

FSCwire / Press ReleaseThe following press release was disseminated by FSCwire for Eagle Plains Resources Ltd.--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---Cranbrook, British Columbia (FSCWire) - Eagle Plains Resources Ltd. (TSX Venture:EPL). has issued a press release with the following headline:Eagle Plains Issues Incentive OptionsTo view this press release on the FSCwire website, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser:If you would prefer, you can also view this press release as a PDF file, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser:For more information on Eagle Plains Resources Ltd., or to see additional press releases issued by this company, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser: http://www.fscwire.com/public-company/Eagle Plains Resources Ltd.Source: Eagle Plains Resources Ltd. (TSX Venture: EPL, OTC Bulletin Board: EGPLF, WKN: 588696, ISIN: CA2699062022)Date: February 19, 2018Time: 4:05 PM EST--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---The story mentioned above was issued on behalf of Eagle Plains Resources Ltd. and disseminated through FSCwire.About FSCwireFSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.), is a global newswire dissemination, SEDAR, SEDI, and EDGAR / XBRL service provider.FSCwire is a full service global newswire dissemination company and is fully approved by all exchanges in Canada and the U.S. Press releases can be distributed for all sizes of public, private or not for profit companies and any other organization requiring news distribution. In addition to individual companies; public relations, communications and investor relations firms trust FSCwire to distribute press releases for their respective clients.In addition to newswire dissemination FSCwire also offers EDGAR, XBRL, SEDAR, SEDI, and additional services for publicly traded companies. For more information, please go to our website: http://www.fscwire.com Maximum News Dissemination by FSCwire. http://www.fscwire.com Copyright 2018 - FSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.)PR-Inside.com: 2018-02-19 10:12:01

MagicStay Expands Its Signature Series with onefinestay

MagicEvent SAS

Press: AB3C

Fabienne Fredal, Tel. +33 (0)1 53 30 74 07

fabienne@ab3c.com

MagicStay.com, the apartment rental platform for business travelers, is expanding its upscale offering by distributing onefinestay apartments.

MagicStay's Signature range features a selection of upscale and design apartments, managed by professional agencies that pay particular attention to the quality of hospitality and services offered.

onefinestay, the worlds leading luxury private rental brand, is positioned in the 4 and 5 star range that can appeal to a business clientele. onefinestay is renowned in the hospitality industry for its high-touch service, which is always curated to each guest and stay. The company, which joined the AccorHotels group in 2016 offers a peace of mind promise which meets MagicStays quality and safety criteria.

More than 1,000 homes from onefinestay's portfolio in popular business destinations such as London, Paris, New York or Los Angeles complete the MagicStay Signature range, offering distinctive and authentic accommodation in city centres.

Business travelers accustomed to a certain standard can find an exceptional level of service, with a personalized welcome at check-in, extended hours and assistance 24/7, taking charge of luggage, equipment and quality products offered in the apartment, as well as concierge services.

"We are delighted to be able to offer onefinestay's unique hosting offering, which is a strong demand for the MICE or bleisure segments," said Valery Linyer, CEO and co-founder of MagicStay.com.

MagicStay will exhibit at the Business Travel Show in London (stand B384) from 21 to 22 February 2018 to present all its solutions dedicated to business travel.

About MagicStay.com :

Launched in 2014, MagicStay.com is the leading alternative accommodation site dedicated exclusively to business tourism. It provides more than 150,000 selected accommodations - apartments, studios, villas - meeting the requirements of business travelers and managed by professional agencies.

About onefinestay

onefinestay is the leading luxury private rental brand that redefines hospitality for discerning travelers by offering individualised stays and services in carefully curated homes all around the world. onefinestays portfolio includes more than 10,000 of the best homes  beachside villas, mountain ski chalets, historic country mansions  all around the world. With each stay, onefinestay guarantees professional service and individualised experiences, delivered by a dedicated team of Travel Advisors and a network of partners across over 200 destinations.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/201802190051PR-Inside.com: 2018-02-19 14:17:16

FSCwire / Press ReleaseThe following press release was disseminated by FSCwire for Centamin plc--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---Perth, Australia (FSCWire) - Centamin plc (TSX:CEE). has issued a press release with the following headline:Retirement of Non-Executive DirectorTo view this press release on the FSCwire website, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser:If you would prefer, you can also view this press release as a PDF file, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser:For more information on Centamin plc, or to see additional press releases issued by this company, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser: http://www.fscwire.com/public-company/Centamin plcSource: Centamin plc (TSX: CEE, LSE: CEY)Date: February 19, 2018Time: 8:16 AM EST--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---The story mentioned above was issued on behalf of Centamin plc and disseminated through FSCwire.About FSCwireFSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.), is a global newswire dissemination, SEDAR, SEDI, and EDGAR / XBRL service provider.FSCwire is a full service global newswire dissemination company and is fully approved by all exchanges in Canada and the U.S. Press releases can be distributed for all sizes of public, private or not for profit companies and any other organization requiring news distribution. In addition to individual companies; public relations, communications and investor relations firms trust FSCwire to distribute press releases for their respective clients.In addition to newswire dissemination FSCwire also offers EDGAR, XBRL, SEDAR, SEDI, and additional services for publicly traded companies. For more information, please go to our website: http://www.fscwire.com Maximum News Dissemination by FSCwire. http://www.fscwire.com Copyright 2018 - FSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.)ADVERTISEMENT

President Muhammadu Buhari, represented by the Secretary of the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha launched the maiden edition of the Nigeria International Petroleum Summit, NIPS, in Abuja on Monday.

NIPS, according to the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Folasade Esan, represents Nigerias contribution to the quest for a sustainable platform for global industry players to come to Africa in the interest of the oil industry.

It is designed to be Africas largest and most important industry platform and linkage to the world where engineering and technological breakthroughs will meet other developmental and economic diversification initiatives, she said.

This international petroleum summit is significant for several reasons as it has the full backing of the government of Nigeria and it represents our contribution to the quest for sustainable platform for global industry players to come to Africa in the interest of the oil industry.

Nigeria is open to private sector investments in the downstream sector and is pursuing vigorously the programme for the rehabilitation of existing refineries for us to enhance capacity to supply locally refined products to Nigeria and West Africa. This is a very key component of the national petroleum industry roadmap and the 2017  2020 Economic Recovery and Growth Plan, the president said in his speech read by the official.

The minister of state for petroleum resources, Ibe Kachikwu, said the summit was set up not only to energise the oil sector but also to bring together our African brothers and sisters who are looking to us for leadership in this sector.

On the state of the oil and gas sector in Africa, the minister said, Clean energy focus is beginning to make almost irrelevant the vast reserves of crude oil that we have on ground unless we turn them into things that are clean.

The challenge for oil companies operating here, the challenge for Nigerians in this sector can change. Historically, our business was to find the oil, sell it, put the foreign exchange in the hands of banks and move on. Its got to be better than that now.

Oil has got to provide work for our people, oil has got to provide the resource to power this country, oil has got to provide the operational environment that is transparent enough for others to take Nigeria serious, and oil has got to provide the technical and human skills.

My target is that over the next 10 years, Nigeria will develop an FPSO, Nigeria will become self-sufficient in its own power provision and that over the same period we will begin to mutate away from crude oil as it were to very refined clean provision of forces.

My target is that over that same period, the investment in the sector will be such that Nigerian companies, entities and shareholders will begin to move from 10 per cent today to 40 to 50 percent of the real-time investments, he said.

The Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Maikanti Baru, said the event is long overdue.

He expressed confidence in its potentials.

I have full confidence that the discussions and interests alike will steer up strategies and actionable item that will transform into veritable road map for our industry and our future, he said.A court will decide on Thursday whether German cities can ban heavily polluting cars, potentially wiping hundreds of millions of euros off the value of diesel cars on the countrys roads.

Environmental group DUH has sued Stuttgart in Germanys carmaking heartland, and Duesseldorf over levels of particulate matter exceeding European Union limits after Volkswagens 2015 admission to cheating diesel exhaust tests.

The scandal led politicians across the world to scrutinise diesel emissions, which contain the matter and nitrogen oxide (NO2) and are known to cause respiratory disease.

There are around 15 million diesel vehicles on German streets and environmental groups say levels of particulates exceed the EU threshold in at least 90 German towns and cities.

Local courts ordered them to bar diesel cars which did not conform to the latest standards on days when pollution is heavy, startling German carmakers because an outright ban could trigger a fall in vehicle resale prices.

It will also give rise in the cost of leasing contracts, which are priced on assumed residual values.

The German states concerned, where the carmakers and their suppliers have a strong influence, appealed against the decisions.

The concern leaves Germanys federal administrative court  the court of last resort for such matters  to rule on whether such bans can legally be imposed at local level.

The key question is whether bans can already be considered to be legal instruments, said Remo Klinger, a lawyer for DUH.

Its a completely open question of law.

Paris, Madrid, Mexico City and Athens had said that they planned to ban diesel vehicles from city centres by 2025.

Meanwhile, the mayor of Copenhagen wants to ban new diesel cars from entering the city as soon as next year.

France and Britain will ban new petrol and diesel cars by 2040 in a shift to electric vehicles.

Evercore ISI forecasts a five per cent fall in diesel residual values could result in a drop of 1.6 billion euros (two billion dollars) in operating profit across eight European and U.S. carmakers.

Analysts at Bernstein Research have said that diesel bans in Europe would hit French car maker Peugeot hardest, followed by Renault.

Daimlers global fleet exposure to diesel is around 38 per cent, BMWs 35 percent and VWs 26 per cent, Bernstein said in a report from 2016.

Car makers have sought to avert total bans by updating engine management systems to improve exhaust-treatment filters, a step only possible on vehicles equipped with software-based engine-management systems.

Environmental groups have called software updates insufficient and have lobbied for cars with Euro-6 and Euro-5 emissions standards to receive hardware updates of their exhaust treatment systems, costing at least 1,500 euros per vehicle.

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Europes love affair with diesel is already fading, with its market share in the European Union falling from 53.6 per cent at the end of 2014 to 49.9 per cent at the end of 2016, European automotive association ACEAs data shows. ($1 = 0.8035 euros)

(Reuters /NAN)ADVERTISEMENT

Nigerias Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, has called for the designation of tax malpractices by multinational corporations in Nigeria and other developing countries as foreign corrupt practices.

She made the call at the Platform for Collaboration on Tax (PCT) Conference in New York, which rounded off over the weekend.

The PCT is an initiative of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), World Bank Group, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and United Nations.

The minister explained that Nigeria was doubly affected by illicit financial flows, IFF, as a result of corruption and tax evasion.

She requested global organisations such as the OECD, World Bank, IMF and United Nations to see the tax avoidance actions of multinational companies as corrupt practices.

There is absolute need for a complete understanding of how these Multinational Corporations (MNCs) behave in Nigeria and developing countries, many operate a completely different standard in Africa to what obtains globally, Mrs. Adeosun said.

She lamented the capability of defaulting MNCs to hide behind slow legislative processes to avoid doing what was right in the nations from which they derived significant income.

The minister, who disclosed that options to sue such companies in their own countries were being explored, said that the designation of tax crime as foreign corrupt practices would support such efforts.

On the wider issue of illicit financial flows, she emphasised that Nigeria, under President Muhammadu Buhari, was taking strong action and was determined to reverse their impact.

The government, according to Mrs. Adeosun, is taking a number of measures internally and also taking full advantage of international initiatives to tackle the problem.

She added, Internal measures include tightening financial controls and surveillance, adoption of the National Tax Policy with its commitment to regular revisions of tax laws and the ongoing tax amnesty programme, the Voluntary Assets and Income Declaration Scheme (VAIDS).

The minister stated further that the Nigerian government would use every available avenue to improve its revenue generation and tax collection. She credited the United Nations with putting the issue of illicit financial flows at the forefront of the fight against it.

She noted that that it was entirely appropriate that we are discussing this issue in the United Nations Headquarters, as this is a United Nations sized problem.

She referred to the Thabo Mbeki report that found that IFFs from Africa exceeded the volume of foreign aid into Africa, adding that Nigeria was found to be the most adversely affected.

The Nigerian government is taking responsibility for preventing illicit flows but the range of measures used and the sheer volumes are such that the recipient nations must also take measures to discourage the flows into their countries by asking more questions, Mrs. Adeosun remarked.

She lauded the recent initiative by the United Kingdom Government with Unexplained Wealth Orders (UWOs) and requested that more countries adopt such measures.

She added that Nigeria was studying the options for introducing similar measures in the country.They might belong to the same political party, and enjoy perks of offices based on their positions, but there is no love lost between them. At least eight senators, elected on the platform of Nigerias ruling APC are having serious battles with their state governors, also members of the ruling party.

In some of the cases, the conflicts are geared towards the 2019 elections. In others, it is simply a battle for supremacy and ego. While lawmakers elected on platforms different from those of the state governors are reasonably expected to challenge the policies of the rival parties, the highlighted APC crises show that it may be worse within the partys own leaders. In most of the cases, there appears no way of resolving the crises despite the various efforts of the APC and the presidency.

Listed in no particular order, PREMIUM TIMES highlights some APC senators and governors who are currently at loggerheads.

KOGI: Dino Melaye Vs Yahaya Bello

The unending political feud between the senator representing Kogi West, Dino Melaye, and Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, has become a familiar episode in Kogi politics. The major political attack was the move to recall Mr. Melaye by members of his constituency. Thousands of signatures were collated and sent to the Independent National Electoral Commission which made arrangements for verification of the signatures, the recall process later became a legal battle. Even though Mr. Bello has repeatedly denied his involvement, the senator has continued to finger the governor as the sponsor of his planned removal from the National Assembly.

The crisis reached another height in April 2017 with the reported assassination attempt on Mr. Melaye in his country home in Ijumu Local Government Area. The police later arrested the sole administrator of Ijumu, Taofiq Isa, and released him on bail over the incident. The case is also in court.

Similarly, in November 2017, the two politicians almost had a bloody clash when the convoy of Mr. Melaye was attacked after he delivered a speech at the Kabba Day celebration.

In other times, Mr. Melaye has unapologetically called Mr. Bello names; olodo governor, daft and suffering from verbal diarrhoea. In early 2018, he posted a video where he claimed he saw Mr. Bello dressed in prison uniform. Firing from the other end, Mr. Bello has accused the senator of lacking home training.

Kogi State governor, Yahaya Bello amd Senator Dino Melaye. [Photo credit: Kogireports]

Except the APC is able to resolve the crisis, which looks unlikely, one of them, most likely Mr. Melaye, is expected to leave the APC before the 2019 election.

KADUNA: Shehu Sani Vs El-Rufai

The altercations between these two have recently become more frequent than when it started. The crisis dates back to 2015 when, after the elections, El-Rufai made some appointments from the party, APC, in a manner perceived as unconstitutional by Mr. Sani and others. In his defence, the governor said the nominees Mr. Sani sent to him for appointment were dropped because of lack of necessary academic competence and capacity to function as commissioners. In the heat of the altercations between these two, Mr. El-Rufai dropped a bombshell in 2017 when he warned his political opponents not to fight him, saying when late President Umaru YarAdua fought him, he died.

Kaduna State Governor, Nasir el-Rufai

Mr. Sani has not been silent. He criticises a lot of the policies of the state government and the governors party activities he perceives as wrong. When he was suspended from the party in 2017, he accused the governor of masterminding his ordeal describing him as a parasite to PMB administration. At several other occasions, he described the governor as dubious progressive, lunatic, irresponsible. Mr. Sani was at the fore-front of opposing the governor when he announced an education reform that would lead to the sack of 21,000 Kaduna teachers and employment of more better qualified ones.

Shehu Sani [Photo credit: Instagram]

Already, partly based on the crisis, the APC in Kaduna is split into different factions although the one loyal to the state governor is recognised by the party leadership in Abuja. It is not clear how or if the party will be able to resolve the crisis especially as Mr. El-Rufais political adviser, Uba Sani, is already gearing up to take the senators seat come 2019.

KADUNA: Hunkuyi Vs El-Rufai

Still in Kaduna, Suleman Hunkuyi representing Kaduna North has also in recent times taken on the governor. The genesis of their disagreement is difficult to trace given the fact that Mr. Hunkuyi younger brother was appointed commissioner and his elder, Idris Othman, was for many years a close associate of the governor.

Suleman Hunkuyi representing Kaduna North. [photo credit: Daily Trust]

Although it has not been as rough as the battle between Mr. El-Rufai and Shehu Sani, all indications point that there is love lost between the two. Just recently, as in many other occasions, Mr. Hunkuyi vowed to do everything possible to vote Mr. El-Rufai out in 2019. Even though the governor has been silent on this, there is no doubt that the two have scores to settle ahead of next year elections.

Kaduna State Governor, Nasir el-Rufai

The conflict with Mr. Hunkuyi will make Mr. El-Rufai arguably the only APC governor in conflict with all his partys senators from his state. Mr. Hunkuyi now has the support of another faction of the Kaduna APC.

ZAMFARA: Marafa Vs Yari

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The struggle for political space in Zamfara State has brought the governor, Abdulaziz Yari, and senator representing Zamfara Central, Kabiru Marafa, at loggerheads in recent times.

Former Gov. Abdulazizi-Yari of Zamfara State.

The political quagmire took an interesting dimension in November 2017, when the senator alleged that the governor was not an indigene of the state. This followed the senates refusal to confirm the nomination of Ahmad Mahmud as REC nominee for the state as a result of a petition written to the committee on INEC by Mr. Yari. In another appearance at plenary, Mr. Marafa alleged that the governor and his deputy know the militia laying siege on the state.

Former APC Senator, Kabiru Marafa (Photo Credit: Daily Trust)

Mr. Yari in his response to the allegation said in a statement by his Special Adviser, Salisi Isah, said that the senators comments were mischievous, callous and misleading. The governor went further to threaten Mr. Marafas 2019 ambition. Yes we are going to kill him politically, we are going to bury his political ambition in 2019. He wants to be governor, he is not going to get it, even the Senate he is not going to return, he said in a statement.

The feud continues as Mr. Marafas support for the REC nominee is yet to yield its desired result just as the security crisis in Zamfara State has not abated.

KANO: Kwankwaso Vs Ganduje

For the two terms they worked together as a governor and deputy, Rabiu Kwankwaso and Abdullahi Ganduje, stood out among other political office holders for a harmonious working relationship. Things however started getting sour some months after the 2015 elections which saw Mr. Ganduje emerge as the state governor and Mr. Kwankwaso as the senator representing Kano central.

Rabiu Kwankwaso

On October 21, 2015, during the 59th birthday of former Mr. Kwankwaso, which is usually marked in Kano as Kwankwasiya Day, instead of the allies of the two politicians to come together to mark the event, the pro-Ganduje elements celebrated it at the Government House, while those who identified themselves as loyalists of Mr. Kwankwaso, led by his former Chief of Staff, Yunusa Dangwani, held theirs at Mambayya House in Kano. Another perceived genesis of the feud is the appointment of state executives by Mr. Ganduje. None of the commissioners in Mr. Kwankwasos executive was retained by Mr. Ganduje, with the exception of Nasiru Gawuna, who was commissioner for agriculture under Mr. Kwankwaso.

Governor Abdullahi Ganduje; Photo: DailyPost

Meanwhile, for reasons many have described as political, Mr. Kwankwaso has not visited Kano since May 2015. In January when he decided to do so, the feud got a renewal. The rift got to a head when two rival political camps, Kwankwasiyya and Gandujiyya, fixed rallies for the same area on the same day. Clashes between supporters of both camps had left many injured but Mr. Kwankwaso refused to shelve his grand visit despite police warning. He later jettisoned his planned visit, saying he wanted to allow peace and security prevail.

BORNO: Kyari Vs Shettima

Their 2019 ambitions appears to be putting Governor Kashim Shettima and Abu Kyari, the senator representing the northern senatorial district of the state, against each other.

Abu Kyari, the senator representing the northern senatorial district. [Photo credit: Wikipedia]

The senator who is currently nursing an ambition to occupy the state government house is not in the best of relationships with the governor who, many believe, is eyeing the northern senatorial seat in 2019.

To neutralise Mr. Kyaris ambition, Mr. Shettima is said to have initiated moves to draft the senator representing the central senatorial district, Baba Garbai, into the governorship race to succeed him.

Former Governor Kashim Shettima Photo: VOA Hausa

Even though they are both in the same APC, the former allies appear not to be comfortable with their 2019 ambitions.

OGUN: Olamilekan Vs Amosun

The 2019 gubernatorial ambition of the Lagos West senator, Olamilekan Adeola, has brought him at loggerheads, not with his current state governor, but with the governor of the state where he aspires to govern.

Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun is rounding off his two terms with the race to the Ogun State government house becoming fiercer by the day.

Former Ogun State Governor, Ibikunle Amosun [Photo credit: Vanguard]

In seeming reference to the senator, Mr. Amosun, in November 2017, vowed for the second time that he would not hand over to a stranger in 2019. Although Mr. Amosun is disposed to someone from Yewa part of the state succeeding him, he opposes Mr. Adeola who is from that part.

Olamilekan Adeola

The governor said it would be an insult to the forebears of Ogun State if an Atohunrinwa (stranger) should succeed him when there are true sons and daughters of the soil in abundance. Despite that, Mr. Adeola has vowed to contest with or without the governors support. This subtle bickering has split the leadership of the party into two, with the Yayi faction enjoying the full support of a national leader of the APC, Bola Tinubu, while Mr. Amosun wants to be allowed to determine his successor.

ONDO: Boroffice Vs Akeredolu

Though the leadership of the All Progressives Congress in Ondo state has tried to dismiss the existence of cold war within its ranks, there are indications that all is not well between the Ondo North senator, Ajayi Boroffice and Governor Rotimi Akeredolu.

Ondo Governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu

Mr. Boroffice did not support Mr. Akeredolus election in 2016. After the election, the governor and his supporters said they did not consider the senator a member of the APC and that he would have reapply to the party to become a member. Mr. Boroffice, however, fired back saying he never left the APC and remains a full member of the party.

The APC in Ondo is currently making moves to resolve its internal crisis with a former governorship aspirant, Olusola Oke, returning to the party. Mr. Oke left the APC after Mr. Akeredolu won the partys governorship primaries. He later contested against Mr. Akeredolu on another platform. Despite the reconciliation within the Ondo APC, there are however still indications that the differences between Messrs. Akeredolu and Boroffice remain unresolved.

Senator Ajayi Boroffice [Photo credit: boroffice4ondo.com]

To resolve these crises and others within the APC, President Muhammadu Buhari set up a committee headed by Bola Tinubu, the former Lagos governor.

Mr. Tinubu, PREMIUM TIMES learnt, is already meeting with some of the aggrieved parties.At least nine people have been killed in Oyo State in violence between herdsmen and farmers, the police have said.

The deceased include a senior police officer, police commissioner Abiodun Odude said.

Speaking after a meeting to review the security situation, the Oyo State Governor, Abiola Ajimobi, directed security agencies to begin the immediate arrest and prosecution of any herder caught carrying guns and other dangerous weapons across the state.

The governor gave the directive at a stakeholders meeting aimed at dousing the tension triggered by the incessant herdsmen-farmers clash in the state.

The meeting was attended by the representatives of farmers, Fulani herdsmen, security agencies and other stakeholders, at the House of Chiefs, Secretariat, Ibadan.

Mr. Ajimobi also directed the immediate registration of herdsmen and possibly their cattle to separate genuine pastoralists from criminal-minded herders, as well as the convocation of a monthly stakeholders meeting at the state and local government levels.

The governor said that a surveillance unit would be created under the Oyo State Joint Security Outfit, Operation Burst, to curtail the menace of cattle rustlers, murderous herdsmen and farmers who may take the laws into their own hands by poisoning cattle grazing on farmlands.

He called on Oyo residents to join hands with the government to secure the state by being vigilant and to always report any form of security breach to the appropriate security agencies instead of taking the law into their own hands.

Mr. Ajimobi wondered why anybody would be carrying guns and other dangerous weapons all in the name of herding cattle, saying such a person should not be regarded as a herdsman but an armed robber.

The flagship of our administrations programmes and successes has been the maintenance of peace and security and we will not allow anybody to truncate this, he said.

Fulani people are good people; if not I will not allow my only son to marry a Fulani lady. We must separate criminals from the good people.

Why will a herdsman be carrying gun? Henceforth, any herdsman found with guns should be arrested and prosecuted. Owners of cattle found grazing on farmlands and destroying crops should also be arrested and prosecuted. Any farmer that poison cattle should also be arrested and prosecuted.

But, we must realise that some of these herdsmen come all the way from Niger Republic and Chad for grazing. Not all of these herdsmen are Nigerians.

The people have their roles, while the government also have a role to play in finding lasting solutions to the menace. We must all participate in the security of our communities. Yes, it is the responsibility of government to guarantee the safety and security of the citizens, but we cannot do it alone.

We must learn to live together in peace. A special surveillance unit will be created under the Operation Burst to curtail the excesses of those concerned and they will be adequately equipped and given necessary logistics.

The governor advocated ranching as a long-term solution to the crises, but enjoined the stakeholders to deliberate on a mutually-beneficial solution in the interim, stressing that ranching was the best global practice.

Also speaking, the Oyo State Police Commissioner, Abiodun Odude, said that the police had the personnel, equipment, the will and capacity to deal decisively with any criminal element in the name of herdsman.

Mr. Odude expressed the regret that no fewer than nine people, including the officer in charge of Special Anti-robbery Squad (SARS), had been killed in the last two weeks.

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He, however, said that seven people had so far been arrested in connection with the criminal activities, promising that more would be arrested and brought to justice.

The happenings in the last two weeks have been disheartening. We recorded killings of the officer in charge of SARS; a 70-year-old man, five unidentified people and another farmer, in Iseyin, Saki and Ile-Ido. So far, we have recorded death of nine people and we have arrested seven suspects, he said.

It is pathetic. We know that the cardinal programme of the state administration is to maintain peace and security. We are not going to allow such things to happen again. We have the men, the equipment and will to ensure that peace is restored. We must learn to live in peace.ADVERTISEMENT

Ahead of the world congress of the International Press Institute (IPI) scheduled for Nigeria in June, the director of the world body, Barbara Trionfi, will visit the country from Wednesday.

According to a statement by Eric Osagie, Managing Director of The Sun Publishing Limited and spokesman for the forthcoming congress, the visiting director will start her schedule in Abuja where she will attend a meeting with IPI members/media stakeholders, following which a joint press conference will be addressed by Trionfi and Nduka Obaigbena, Chairman of the congress organising committee.

The IPI director will also visit the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, and the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA).

The IPI director will also visit Senate President, Bukola Saraki, and inspect the June congress venue, designated hotels and congress event centres.

The IPI director will be in Lagos on February 23 and 24, where she will meet with media stakeholders. She and Chairman of ThisDay, Nduka Obiegbena, will then address a joint press conference.

The IPI director will also visit Lagos State Governor, Akinwumi Ambode, Chairman of Tony Elumelu Foundation, Tony Elumelu and media owners like former Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu and John Momoh, Chairman/CEO of Channels Television.

Ms. Trionfi, with background in International Relations and Human Rights, joined the IPI in 2000 as press freedom adviser for the Asia-Pacific region.

She conducted researches on human rights and freedom of expression.

Ms. Trionfi also oversaw IPIs global press freedom activities.

As executive director, she manages IPIs operations.

The director spoke last night about the importance of her visit and the hosting rights given to Nigeria:

IPI is excited to hold its World Congress in Abuja this year and thankful to Nigerias leading news organisations for hosting it. For many years, IPIs Nigeria National Committee has shown a great commitment to press freedom and quality journalism. The Abuja World Congress represents a unique opportunity for IPIs global network of editors, leading journalists and media executives to build closer ties with their colleagues in Nigeria and West Africa, share experiences and advance a common strategy for safe, independent, public-interest journalism.

The International Press Institute (IPI) is a global network of editors, journalists and media executives across the world. The organisation promotes conditions that allow the media to operate free from interference and without fear of retaliation.

The IPI defends media freedom and the free flow of news.

This years IPI World Congress, holding in Abuja from June 21-23, 2018 will attract hundreds of leading editors and journalists from across the world, who will discuss numerous challenges journalists are facing.ADVERTISEMENT

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) says no fewer than 11.06 million kids enrolled for early child care development education in the country from 2014 to 2016.

The NBS disclosed this figures in its Education Statistics (2014  2016) report posted on its website.

The data, analysed by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Abuja, indicated that the figures were for kids enrolled for public and private early child care development education.

The data showed that 7. 36 million kids enrolled for public early child development education, while 3.53 million kids enrolled for private early child development education.

The breakdown showed that 2.69 million kids enrolled for public early child care development education in 2016 against 4.67 million in 2015 of which 1.36 million were male, while I.33 million were female.

Similarly, the report said that 1.45 million kids enrolled for private early child care development education in 2016 against 2. 07 million in 2015 of which 734,726 were male, while 722,735 were female.

The report indicated that 22.35 million pupils enrolled in public primary schools in 2016 against 20.78 in 2015.

It said that 11.80 million of these pupils were male, while 10.54 were female.

Similarly, the report stated that 3.23 million pupils enrolled in private primary schools in 2016 against 4.65 million in 2015, whereas 1.63 million of these pupils were male, while 1.60 million were female.

It said that a total of 542,533 primary school teachers were in employment in 2016 against 567,380 in 2015.

The report stated that 283,051 of such teachers were male, while 259,482 were female.

Also, it stated that 5.83 million students enrolled in Junior Secondary Schools in 2016 against 6.18 million in 2015.

It indicated that 4.78 million of such students enrolled in Public Junior Secondary Schools, while the remaining 1.05 million enrolled in Private Junior Secondary Schools.

The report further stated that 4.47 million students enrolled in Senior Secondary Schools in 2016 against 4.14 million in 2015.

It said that 3.56 million of the students enrolled in Public Senior Secondary Schools, while the remaining 911,561 enrolled in Private Senior Secondary Schools. (NAN)ADVERTISEMENT

The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to publish details of fraud allegation involving N1 trillion budgeted for the Social Investments Programme, SIP, one of the key programmes of the present administration.

A statement signed by Timothy Adewale, SERAPs deputy director, urged the president to instruct the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation Mr Abubakar Malami SAN and Minister of Finance Ms Kemi Adeosun to urgently publish more details on the alleged fraud and stealing of some of the N1 trillion budgeted for the Social Investments Programme (SIP), including the exact amount of the $321m of the late Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha recently returned by Switzerland, affected by the fraud.

The Nigerian government recently announced that the SIP programme is being negatively affected by massive allegations of fraud by officials.

The Special Adviser to the president on SIP, Maryam Uwais, suggested a probe into the massive fraud and other corrupt practices like short-changing, racketeering, harassment of beneficiaries and exploitation of the vulnerable plagued the scheme in some states.

SERAP wants Mr. Buhari to instruct appropriate authorities to publish details of how his government plans to spend and monitor the spending of the $85m returned by the United Kingdom from the controversial Malabu deal involving $1.6bn, so as to remove the risks of corruption or mismanagement of the money.

While we welcome the reported disclosure of fraud and corruption in the SIP and the request to the EFCC to probe the allegations, we are concerned that sufficient details about the allegations have not been disclosed. Nigerians have the right to know more about the allegations, including the names of the states involved, and whether the recently returned $321m Abacha loot was affected by the reported fraud and corruption.

It is important for the government to identify and remove the risks of corruption in the SIP as fast as possible and let Nigerians know the exact steps the authorities are taking to protect public funds, including the returned Abacha loot, in the implementation of the SIP. Part of this could include naming and shaming the states and contractors involved, to serve as deterrent to others and to preserve the integrity of the SIP, the group said in the statement

The statement noted that transparency in the spending of returned Abacha loot and Malabu funds is absolutely important to ensure that the funds are utilised for tackling poverty and inequality in the country and not mismanaged, diverted or re-stolen.

It also urged the authorities to actively take steps to prevent any misuse of the repatriated funds.

It is in the public interests, especially victims of corruption, and the government, to maintain good practices with regard to the spending of all assets recovered.

This would also make repatriation easier and the countries where our commonwealth has been diverted would have no difficulty in disgorging the looted funds, it said.

The effectiveness of the SIP will be determined by the level of trust the citizens have in the mechanisms put in place by the authorities to prevent fraud and corruption in the implementation of the scheme. State governments and their officials should not be allowed to undermine citizens access to the SIP, and any states involved in fraud and corruption should be named and shamed.

We also urge the government to appoint integrity advisors as early warning mechanism for the SIP to monitor the implementation of the scheme across the states of the federation, identify and alert on any risks of fraud and corruption, and engage in analysing such risks, as well as in corruption prevention and reporting activities in general. It is also important for the authorities to promote and encourage whistle-blower complaints in the implementation of the scheme.

The authorities should take these proactive measures to combat allegations of fraud and corruption in the SIP if state officials are not to continue to profit from public funds meant to address the situation of the vulnerable groups in the society, and if the credibility and integrity of the SIP is not to be undermined, the statement added.A professor of jurisprudence and international law, Akin Oyebode, has said that unless the forces of reaction and ethnocentricity are deemphasised, Nigeria will not make progress in her efforts towards nationhood.

Mr. Oyebode was the guest speaker at the first year anniversary lecture of the Rotimi Akeredolu administration held in Akure, the Ondo State capital on Monday.

In his lecture, titled, Re-thinking the Nigerian Nation: Issues and Challenges, he noted that the situation in Nigeria seemed to have been complicated by a dearth of patriotic and insightful leaders, possessing a well thought-out strategic plan to change the nation for the better.

The multiplicity of ethnic nationalities, numbering over 400, it must be conceded, makes the task of governance a forbidden one, he submitted.

Yet, ways need to be devised and necessary adjustments made to infuse the people with a sense of belonging and collective stake in Nigeria Incorporated.

Mr. Oyebode, who traced the problems of Nigeria to the amalgamation of 1914, stated thst the yoking together of the various people inhabiting Nigeria had continued to pose serious challenges to all the groups making up the component, adding that the conglomeration is now at war with itself in the quixotic and frenetic quest for nationhood.

Whereas there ought to have been strength in diversity, the removal of the scaffolding that held the people together during colonial rule merely accentuated fissiparous, centrifugal and dysfunctional tendencies which colonialism had generally masked, he said.

The militariat which had dismantled the federal arrangement of our founding fathers and foisted a quasi-unitary constitutional framework on the people ensured that Nigeria remained a work in progress so much so that the component units of our unique federation are compelled to go cap in hand to Abuja every month for their sustenance.

The feeding bottle federalism has effectively stunted Nigerias growth and development as the country nudges more and more toward perdition.

He recommended that government seeking to move the country beyond its current woes must blunt the rough edges of ethnic and religious idiosyncracies  by putting in place policies based on equality of status and opportunity in furtherance of self-actualisation of every citizen.

But what do we see toaday? Increasing emphasis is being placed on ethnic origin, native language and religious persuasions which is not only dysfunctional and counter-productive, but also seriously flawed and inimical to the corporate needs and interests of the country as well as national unity, social wellbeing and collective progress, Mr. Oyebode said.

Until and unless the forces of reaction and ethnocentricity are effectively combated, the country would continue to make progress only in a negative and reverse direction.

The UNILAG professor recommended that to achieve development, players in the Nigerian political chessboard should deemphasise individual differences in the overall interest of the collective need and national progress.

Undue emphasis on ethnicity and religion should be seen as an unnecessary and avoidable hindrance to achieving the utilitarian hopes and aspirations of our people, he said.

He also recommended that as a way forward, credible protagonists who believe in the Nigerian project should be enlisted to be in the vanguard of the crusade for a rekindling of confidence in the Nigerian dream.

He also advocated moral re-ornament to highlight the benefits of one nation and one people.

Mr. Oyebode however, said in addressing the problem of leadership and good governance, the people must ensure that only the right people are brought to power.

In his remarks, the Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, said he was committed to the idea of a united Nigeria.

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Nigeria should stay together as one, as least, for my sake, because I am married to an Ibo lady, and if the country splits, which party would my children belong, he said.

Mr. Akeredolu noted that the benefits of staying united as a country were far better and desirable than when it is split.

He also said the achievements of his government in the last one year had been enabled by God who had ensured a focused leadership in the interest of the people.ADVERTISEMENT

President Muhammadu Buhari Monday paid tribute to late Islamic scholar, Abubakar Tureta, describing him as a man of remarkable erudition and character who spent his life promoting peaceful co-existence among people of different faiths.

In a condolence message to the family of the late scholar, President Buhari said the deceased, who lived an incredibly humble life, will be long remembered for staying above controversy throughout his impressive life of scholarship, abhorring divisive statements.

The president who described his death as a major depletion of the forest of knowledge, a defoliation of a big branch on the tree of learning whose contributions to Islam are immeasurable, urged other Islamic scholars to emulate his humility.

The president said the best tribute Mr. Turetas followers, fans and students owe him is to live by his good examples.

President Buhari prayed Allah to forgive his gentle soul, reward his virtuous deeds with paradise and comfort his family in their moment of grief.Some lecturers of the Federal University of Agriculture Abeokuta, FUNAAB, and Bayero University Kano, BUK, have proposed the establishment of integrated crops-livestock settlements to address the protracted farmers-herdsmen clashes.

The dons made the proposal at a validation workshop on controlled grazing, which was organised by Synergos Nigeria on Monday in Abuja.

Olufemi Onifade of the Department of Pasture and Range Management, FUNAAB, said that apart from reviving abandoned grazing reserves and establishment of ranches, the proposed integrated settlements could be the most sustainable solution to the farmers-herdsmen crisis.

Mr. Onifade said that based on a study on Support and Inform Development: Review and Implementation of Controlled Grazing Policy, which was conducted in Benue, Kaduna and Kogi states, farmers and pastoralists had agreed to embrace the proposed scheme.

He said that the initiative would increase the income of farmers and herders, while reducing conflict and strengthening mutual interaction among them.

He identified poor governance and community participation, weak policies and legislations as well as ineffective inter-community relations and dispute resolutions as the major causes of violent conflicts between the two groups.

Mr. Onifade said that the conflicts had necessitated stable engagements with political, traditional and religious leaders in the affected states.

As part of recommendations of the study, the professor advised the federal government to initiate a National Development Plan and Strategy which would enable farmers and pastoralists to easily have access to land in peaceful and acceptable manner.

The recommendations include the provision of a framework to ensure quality education for rural populations of pastoralists and farmers as a strategy to build human resources for sustainable development.

Others are the management of extreme environmental changes such as drought, land degradation, overgrazing and climate change and its associated effects.

Then, there is the need to take cognizance of regional policies and framework for cooperation such as African Union (AU), Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the United Nations Charter and conventions, he said.

Mr. Onifade, who also spoke on the proposed cattle colonies, advised the federal government to allow individual states to determine the best approach to addressing the issue.

Abba Aminu of the Department of Agriculture Economics and Extension, BUK, said that the recommendations, when adopted, would be beneficial to both herdsmen and farmers.

According to him, cattle of livestock farmers can graze on uncultivated marginal fields during wet season, while the cattle can graze freely on harvested fields.

He noted that communities in Kogi and Kaduna states, where the study was conducted, largely accepted the initiative except for Benue.

Adewale Ajadi, Synergos Country Director, urged the media to avoid publishing sensational reports, insisting that they should instead promote fair and objective reportage of issues, particularly those relating to communal crisis.

Mr. Ajadi, who said that the livestock sub-sector had a vast economic potential, called for collective efforts to step up the campaign against farmers-herdsmen clashes.

He, nonetheless, said that the major objective of the study was to support the development of a comprehensive policy and action plan that would promote mutual coexistence between pastoralists and farming communities.

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The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Synergos  a non-profit international organisation which aims at facilitating systemic changes in the society  is currently executing some development programmes in Kogi, Benue and Kaduna states.

(NAN)ADVERTISEMENT

The Independent Hajj Reporters, a civil society organisation, has said that facilities for the newly introduced compulsory data capture of intending pilgrims ahead of the Hajj 2018 should be established in all the 774 local governments across Nigeria.

In the past, pilgrims bio-metrics are captured on arrival in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Authorities, however, changed the policy this year.

In Nigeria, a firm VFS, was contracted to conduct the biometrics in only three centres, Abuja, Kano and Lagos.

The decision has led to setback for umrah (lesser hajj) pilgrims who are made to travel to any of the three centres and spend days waiting to be attended to.

About 80 to 85 per cent of pilgrims from Nigeria come from rural areas and are mostly farmers. To successfully capture the biometric data of all hajj pilgrim requires having data capture centres in all the 774 local governments, a statement Monday by the civil societys national coordinator, Ibrahim Muhammed and publicity secretary, Abubakar Mahmoud, said.

President Muhammadu Buhari had recently raised concern over the hardship being faced by Nigerian intending pilgrims over the new biometric policy when the Chairman of National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) Abdullahi Mohammed briefed him on the preparations for 2018 hajj.

The group said apart from Nigeria, other countries with high number of pilgrims, such as Pakistan had also officially protested the decision.

The hajj and umrah tour operators in Nigeria also expressed their concern saying the policy has exposed its intending pilgrims to various challenges, it said.

The group added that a large number of people who wanted to travel to Saudi Arabia to perform their religious ritual had been inconvenienced by the new policy as they had to spend days in Abuja, Kano or Lagos for their biometric verification, wasting precious time and resources.

Since only Kano, Abuja and Lagos have the data capture centres, we wonder how the three centres will cater for a country with 95,000 hajj and over 1.5 million umrah pilgrims, the group said.

We are concerned that our pilgrims will be subjected to serious hardship unless the government of Saudi Arabia suspends this policy in the interest of the Muslim ummah, the statement said.

The statement also said: since the Saudi security officials have to screen and capture biodata of all pilgrims on arrival, it is our opinion that such biometric records should be used for whatever security or other purposes this new policy is intended to achieve.

While we acknowledge the enormous security and logistic challenges faced by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in her quest to make hajj a memorable experience for pilgrims, we urge them to consider the implication of this policy on the millions of Muslims who may be discouraged from fulfilling their fifth pillar of Islam.ADVERTISEMENT

The Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC, has reduced the rate of road accidents in Nigeria by 62 per cent since its establishment on February 18, 1988, according to its Kaduna sector commander, Umar Ibrahim.

The corps has recorded a milestone; it has reduced road accidents from 25,792 in 1988 to barely 9,694 in 2016, representing 62 per cent decrease in road accidents, he said on Monday in Kaduna.

He said that before the establishment of the FRSC, Nigeria had one of the most accident-prone roads in the world and was second only to Ethiopia.

Mr. Ibrahim attributed the success to intensive public enlightenment and highway operations designed to curb road accidents.

Mr. Umar, who spoke at a dinner to wind up week-long activities to mark FRSCs 30 years, urged the personnel to work hard toward further reducing accidents on the nations roads, and advised Nigerians to obey traffic regulations.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that six officers of the sector, who had distinguished themselves in the performance of their duties, were given special rewards during the dinner.

Those honoured included Deputy Road Commander Waheed Salihu, who emerged the best patrol man of the sector.

Also honoured were Road Commander Aliyu Audu and Road Commander Sain Gwom Ambisa, who emerged second and third best respectively.

Others included Route Marshal Assistant Isah Kabir, Assistant Chief Inspector Halilu Abubakar and Assistant Chief Inspector Lawal Ahmed.

The Kaduna Zonal Commander of the corps, Assistant Corps Marshal Bulus Darwang, who also spoke at the dinner, commended the officers and marshals for a job well-done, and urged them to sustain the tempo.

(NAN)ADVERTISEMENT

The Kano state government on Monday said the footage showing underage persons voting reportedly during the Kano local government polls, was recorded during the March 30, 2015 general elections conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.

It said the exercise depicting the illegality was never conducted by the state electoral body, KANSIEC.

In the aftermath of the public outcry that greeted the footage, INEC had quickly absolved itself saying its voters register which should have been used for the Kano polls did not contain underage voters.

However, the state Commissioner of Information, Muhammad Garba, is not impressed by INECs defence. He offered another explanation.

What you have seen in the video clip showing underage kids voting, did not happen now. It was recorded during the last 30 March 2015 elections, he said.

Mr. Garba, who was furious about the clips, said Monday that some mischievous persons were behind the spreading of the clips but were missing out in the whole game because what was therein the video happened in 2015.

The March 30, 2015 general election held across the country for the offices of the president and National Assembly members.

The latest governments stand comes barely 24 hours after the state electoral body, KANSIEC, said it is ready for the INEC investigation into the matter.

The KANSEIC chairman, Ibrahim Sheka, had earlier dismissed the clip.

He said the clip was released 48 hours after the conduct of their local government elections, something that clearly shows a disconnect between our local government elections and the video.ADVERTISEMENT

The Governing Council and the Academic Board of the Nigerian Institute of Journalism have selected Dapo Olorunyomi, the publisher of Nigerias foremost investigative online newspaper, PREMIUM TIMES, as the 2018 Fellow of the institute.

Mr. Olorunyomis selection for the fellowship came at the January 31 meeting of the Board following, a dispassionate evaluation of and recognition of your (Olorunyomi) outstanding contributions to the media industry in Nigeria, especially in the last two decades, according to Gbemiga Ogunleye, Provost of the NIJ.

The news came two months after Mr. Olorunyomi received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Diamond Award for Media Excellence.

The NIJ said it recognised Mr. Olorunyomis contribution to journalism and national development particularly his roles as the Head of Investigations at the now-defunct NEXT newspapers and as the pioneer Chief of Staff of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, where he instituted a civil society engagement with the Commission.

The institute also noted Mr. Olorunyomis founding of the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism as well as the revolutionary journalism he played alongside his colleagues at THE NEWS, PM NEWS and TEMPO.

We particularly put on record, your sterling qualities as a great media trainer-a quality you have in common with our Institute, Mr. Ogunleye said.

Your establishment of Nigerias number one investigative online medium, the PREMIUM TIMES, whose objective is to promote a truly independent media landscape that advances fundamental human rights, good governance and accountability in West Africa, through investigative journalism resonates with us.

The conferment of the Fellowship award holds on April 11 during the NIJ Convocation in Lagos.ADVERTISEMENT

Farmers in Borno State on Monday in Maiduguri announced plans to unveil rice pyramid sequel to the bumper harvest recorded this cropping season.

About 18, 000 farmers were supported by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), under its Anchor Borrower scheme in the state.

Anchor Borrower is a critical component of the Federal Governments agriculture transformation programme designed to enhance farmers support services, to achieve self-sufficiency in rice production.

The farmers recorded bumper harvest in spite of combined negative forces of insurgents attack, drought and pest infestation which ravaged some of the plantations.

Kabir Abiso, the Director, Walwanne and Sons Limited, one of the Anchor Borrower clients, disclosed that work on the pyramid had reached advance stage and it would be unveiled soon in Maiduguri.

Mr. Abiso said that the pyramid would be constructed with the paddy rice produced by farmers supported under the programme.

Borno is one of the major rice producing areas; the idea is to showcase the agricultural potentials of the state.

Mr. Abiso added that his company had registered over 13, 000 rice farmers in various local government areas of the state.

He explained that the farmers were provided with fertilizers; seeds, chemicals, knapsack sprayers, tube wells, water pumps and money for farm labour activities.

Mr. Abiso explained that each benefiting farmer cultivated one hectares of land with a six to seven tonnes production output during the raining season in Mafa, Maiduguri, Monguno, Damboa, Hawul, Biu, Kwaya-Kusar and Shani Local Government Areas.

The director added that the farmers were also exposed to modern farming techniques to encourage high yields and reduce wastage.

More farmers are mobilised and engaged in dry season activity under the Anchor Borrower programme scheme, he said.

Mr. Abiso disclosed that the company had so far stocked about 36, 000 bags of paddy rice in Biu and Maiduguri.

According to him, the company has concluded arrangement to set up a modern mill, to uptake rice produced by farmers in the state.

While commending the Borno State Government over its farmer support programmes, Mr. Abiso called for expansion of the programme to enhance participation.

(NAN)Borno States first dady, Nana Shettima, on Monday commissioned a Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC) set up by the state government in collaboration with the European Union to provide care for rape victims in the state.

The centre, put in place under the EU-funded British Council programme, Managing Conflict in Northeast (MCN), is said to be a first of its kind in the war-wrecked region.

With the Boko Haram displacing well over 2 million people, mostly women and children, several cases of sexual abuses  especially raping of young girls  have become frequent in and outside the Internally Displaced Persons, IDP camps in Borno state.

Stationed within Umaru Shehu General Hospital, Maiduguri, the SARC centre is expected to provide medical and psychosocial care for all persons that are sexually abused from all parts of the state.

Speaking before commissioning the SARC facility, Mrs Shettima expressed delight on the initiative which she said had come at the right time when cases of sexual abuse has become a disturbing trend in the state.

All hands must be on deck to curb this vices rearing its ugly head in the society, she said

Reports indicates that this societal ills have been on the increase generally and particularly in Borno State complicated by the effect of the insurgency that has resulted in the displacement and attendant deprivation of the livelihood of the people.

The Borno state commissioner for health, Haruna Mshellia, said the SARC facility would also function as a hub for collation of forensic evidence that will aid the possible prosecution of rapists and related sexual abusers.

He added that the services of the centre would not only be restricted to females but also to males who may have suffered one form of sexual abuse or the other.

PREMIUM TIMES gathered from health personnel that cases of male minors being sexually abused by adult males is also on the rise in Maiduguri.

The Managing Director Borno state hospital management board, Ibrahim Kwayabura, said the establishment of the SARC by the state government in collaboration with the British Council came at a time when a 2014 WHO statistics indicate that, one in every five women has either been raped or sexually abused in one form or the other.

He said, records has shown that the culprits are usually very close associates or relatives.

Meanwhile, the Borno state commissioner of police, Damian Chukwu, had last week rated Borno state as one of the states in the country with a high rate of sexual assault.

We are recording rape cases on a daily basis, Mr. Chukwu said.

You find a 60-year-old man defiling a four year-old girl. I call on people to change their attitude toward rape suspects and stop making unnecessary pleas to save them.

It is disheartening to see victims families asking the police to drop charges against rape suspects. Unless we change this attitude, we will continue to witness rape in the society, he said.

The CP, who was represented at the event by an assistant commissioner, said the biggest challenge for the war against the worsening cases of rape is the unwillingness of victims to seek prosecution of perpetrators.

The CP advocated for a possible enactment of the sexual abuse law, and setting up of special tribunal for the trial of all offenders.

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Project manager of MCN, Tabiu Mohammed, had earlier said that the SARC centre is part of the core programmes of the organisation aimed at promoting the involvement of women in peace-building and addressing the impact of violence on women and girls.

He said the British Council, through its MCN project takes into account the large scale of violence directed at women, girls and boys in the course of the counterinsurgency and the likely escalation of such violence in the affected communities in the course of resettlement after after the insurgency.

The SARC facility is expected to run an integrated service with various organs of government present like the police, the military, the ministries of justice, ministry of women affairs as well as the ministry of health.

Team Lead of the MCN in Borno state, Zara Goni, said it is in the best interest of relatives to encourage victims to visit the facility as soon as cases of rape is confirmed.ADVERTISEMENT

The scheduled one day working visit of Nigerias President, Muhammadu Buhari, to Yola, Adamawa State on Tuesday is already being trailed by mixed reactions.

The presidents visit will include attending the state Anti-Corruption Summit tagged Performance Based Governance: Transparency, Accountability and Social Value.

He is also expected to commission a road project at Dougirei area during the visit.

Speaking on the visit, the state deputy governor, Martins Babale, who doubles as chairman of the organising committee, said the presidents visit to Adamawa State came at the right time in view of the new drive to fight corruption in all tiers of government.

It (the summit) will be held under the distinguished chairmanship of Ahmad Joda, and we will receive goodwill messages from EFCC Acting Chairman Ibrahim Magu and Professor Bolaji Owasanye of the ICPC. The summits lead discussant is SGF Boss Gida Mustapha, he said.

Our goal is not just to showcase how we have succeeded in promoting development in Adamawa State, but to also show that the key success factor we relied on are transparency and accountability, he said, adding that all arrangements have been concluded to receive the president.

Yola, the Adamawa State capital, is already wearing a new look ahead of the presidents visit, with most public buildings, especially those along major roads within the state capital given a face lift. Also, there have been clearance of dumps, speed bumps as well as roadside traders and illegal motor parks. However, mixed reactions trail the presidents visit. While many see it as a good omen others have tagged it a pseudo- campaign visit.

We are happy with the visit and we hope we will not be harassed or intimidated by the overzealous security that used to accompany presidents, said Garba Bello a local resident.

But for Bakari Shehu there could be political undertone. Buhari once said in his 2015 campaign visit, that he is an indigene of Adamawa State. That his beautiful wife is from here. And he was right, she is our daughter.

This will be the second time Mr. Buhari is visiting Adamawa State since his election in 2015.ADVERTISEMENT

A loud explosion occurred around the University of Maiduguri in Borno State on Monday night.

The explosion is believed to have been occurred after a suicide vest exploded when the bomber was shot dead by soldiers.

The lone suicide bomber is believed to have been shot dear by soldiers while he was struggling to gain access into the heavily guarded University of Maiduguri campus.

The loud blast echoed over Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, at about 8:45 p.m. causing panic amongst residents.

Sources within the university campus informed PREMIUM TIMES on phone that a suicide bomber was attempting so sneak into the campus under the cover of darkness.

What we just heard from the security officials here that it was a suicide bomber who was shot dead and then his suicide vest went off, said a student who does not want his name mentioned in the news.

The suicide bomber reportedly died at a spot near the Works Department, he said.

The student noted that relative peace had since returned to the campus despite the anxiety among resident students.

Neither the police nor the military had issued any statement as at the time of this report.ADVERTISEMENT

Students in a government college in the North-east Nigerian state of Yobe had to run into the bush to avoid being abducted as gunmen suspected to be Boko Haram insurgents attacked their community on Monday night.

The village of Dapchi about 101km North-west of Damaturu, the Yobe State capital, came under heavy attack as gunmen in six trucks reportedly invaded their village at about 7.00 p.m. shooting sporadically.

The attackers reportedly set many houses ablaze as the residents ran into the bushes.

A source who spoke to AP from a hiding place in the bush said he was not sure if the students were abducted or not.

They came shortly after the late evening prayer and then began to shoot sporadically, said the source who begged not to be named in the report.

As we were trying to flee the village, we saw some of them coming away from the school gate. However, I cant say if the girls all escaped for now.

Another source who spoke from inside Dapchi Village said the attackers left immediately after they enquired about the presence of soldiers in the village.

They came to ask some of us that could not flee if there are soldiers in the village and we told them no. Then they said , we are only looking for soldiers; afterwards they boarded their trucks and left.

The Commissioner of Police, Yobe State command, Abdulmaliki Sunmonu, confirmed the attack.

He told the News Agency of Nigeria that security operatives have been mobilised to the village.

He said at about 5.30 p.m. today, the suspected insurgents attacked Dapchi, headquarters of Bursari Local Government Area.

The details are not immediately available, we are still collating the details including the casualties, he said.

The commissioner said security operatives have been reinforced in the area to ensure total security.

Zanna Abatcha, chairman Bursari Local Government Area told NAN that the suspected insurgents have already left the town and more security operatives have been deployed to maintain security.

The details are not known yet because its already night, we will get the comprehensive details tomorrow, he said.ADVERTISEMENT

Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State has finally reconciled with his predecessor, Gabriel Suswam.

Mr. Ortom told journalists in Makurdi, the state capital, on Monday that the reconciliation took place at a meeting convened by the Tor Tiv, James Ayatse, a professor.

He said the paramount ruler of the Tiv race asked them to embrace peace and work together for the overall good of Benue State in general and Tivland in particular.

Relationship between Messrs. Ortom and Suswam was strained when the former governor refused to back the governorship ambition of the latter, forcing him to decamp from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Mr. Ortom also accused his predecessor of other fraudulent activities, including the collection and siphoning N4.9 billion raised through a bond placement.

Mr. Suswam however denied the allegation, describing it as a bare-faced and shameless lie, which was targetted at tarnishing his image.

Speaking further on their reconciliation, Mr. Ortom said Mr. Ayatse urged them to put aside their differences and place Benue first in all their dealings so that the state could move forward.

The governor said it was a useful meeting as both of them resolved to work together for the development of the state.

Mr. Ortom explained that the meeting was not political, insisting that he was not in search of a platform to seek reelection in 2019 as being speculated.

The governor disclose that he would not engage in political activities until the security challenges facing the state were resolved and all Internally Displaced Persons returned to their homes.

He commended President Muhammadu Buhari for deploying the military to the state to tackle the security challenges, stating that it would go a long way in restoring peace.ADVERTISEMENT

Governor Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi State said the State Government would sustain its partnership with the Nigerian Army Corps of Engineers on infrastructure development of the state.

Mr. Bagudu made the pledge in Birnin Kebbi, the state capital, when he received the Commander of the corps, Malu John, a major general, who paid him a courtesy visit on Monday.

He said the Army engineers had contributed in the provision of infrastructure especially roads, in addition to the security of lives and property, stressing that funding the projects had been cost effective.

We cant thank the Army enough for what you have been doing day and night to this country; and at the same time enabling military engineers to participate in the development of our state, he said.

Mr. John said the army engineers had been partners in the execution of development projects in three states in the country.

We are in partnership with Bayelsa, Anambra and Kebbi, and we thank the states for finding the Nigerian Army worthy of being part of their development, he said.

According to him, the corps has been involved in five projects in Kebbi, adding, We have completed two projects and are on the verge of completing one other project, he said.

The commander commended Gov. Bagudu for the timely release of funds that had enabled the execution of the projects promptly.

(NAN)ADVERTISEMENT

A former Minister of Lands, Housing, and Urban Development, Nduese Essien, has said that the All Progressives Congress, APCs proposal for restructuring of Nigeria is meant to frustrate the development of Akwa Ibom State.

The APC committee on restructuring, headed by the Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El- Rufai, submitted its report in January to the partys National Chairman, John Odigie-Oyegun.

The committee recommended, among other things, resource control by states and the re-introduction of the onshore/offshore dichotomy in oil production.

If this amendment that we are proposing is passed, it means that all minerals including oil and gas that are onshore will be vested in the states of the federation. However, all offshore oil shall remain absolutely vested in the government of the federation, Mr. El-Rufai told the APC chairman.

This is the feedback we got from Nigerians because offshore oil is federation asset, everything in the continental shelf and exclusive economic zone which is also policed by the Nigerian Navy belongs to the federation but minerals oil, everything in the land belong to those that own the land which is the state governments.

Mr. Essien, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Akwa Ibom, said all other recommendations in respect of resource control and mineral mining, were acceptable to the people of the state, except the part that has to do with onshore/offshore dichotomy.

You know the production of oil offshore affects the littoral states very seriously. And now with the global warming, the sea level is receding inland and as a result what is now onshore will in a few years time become offshore, Mr. Essien said on Saturday during a live interview with Inspiration 105.9 FM, Uyo.

Our contention is that the attempt to remove the offshore oil from the states is a deliberate attempt to frustrate Akwa Ibom State because Akwa Ibom is the only state that has most of the offshore oil production.

I am inclined to believe that because of the frustration the ruling party is having in conquering Akwa Ibom, they feel the best thing is to deprive Akwa Ibom of the resources that have made the state so strong.

They know that the production of oil now is 70 per cent offshore, not much is produce on land. And with the expectation that oil would soon be found in the Lake Chad and all of that would be onshore oil, so since much is not produced onshore in the southern states then the offshore production will come to the federal government and it will still be shared in the usual manner, without taking into consideration the effect the offshore production has on the littoral states, said Mr. Essien, who is a former member of the House of Representatives.

He said for the APC leaders in the state not have come out to speak against the committee recommendation shows that they were willing to mortgage the interest of the state just to belong to a political party.

It is surprising to hear the state chairman of APC, instead of calling their party to order, come out to say that there was no such recommendation in the report, he said.

The Chairman of APC in the state, Amadu Attai, told PREMIUM TIMES, Sunday, that there was no need to worry about the committees proposal.

Its a mere recommendation that has not even reached the National Executive Committee of the APC, Mr. Attai said.

You know, this thing will have to get to the National Assembly and pass through all the processes.

We have consulted with the presidency and the party at the national level and they have assured us that it is a no case, he said.ADVERTISEMENT

Prolonged power outage and high cost of petrol have worsened the acute water shortage in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital.

Residents now spend more to buy water for domestic uses as they relied on water vendors who sell water in carts as pipe-borne water had dried up.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that a 20-litre jerry can of water, which sold for N20 before, now goes for N30.

Abdullahi Ahmed, a water vendor, said that the price increase was due to the prolonged power outage and exorbitant fuel price which had remained at N200 per litre.

The light situation in Yenagoa is affecting our businesses; most people with boreholes, where we buy water, are not willing to buy fuel at N200 per litre to pump water.

Some of them, who use generators to sell to us at higher rates, have no choice, but to pass the cost to our customers, although they complained, we explained to them.

We do not find it easy to cope with the high demand this dry season; the job of mai ruwa (water vendor) is energy sapping.

Every day, you have pains all over the body, so what I do is to rest when the sun is much.

We even charged higher to those who stay on upstairs. We dont always like to carry water to such customers, we charge like N40 per jerry can for people that stay in first floor, while we take N50 for higher floors, he said.

The residents said that they spent between N300 and N500 daily on the average on water due to lack of potable public water supply in the state.

Joyce Tuedor, a housewife, said that she now spent N400 daily on water compared to N250 spent before for the same litres due to the fuel scarcity.

She prayed to see the end of the prolonged power outage which had lasted for weeks.

According to her, she spends additional N120 to buy a bag of 20 sachets of water for drinking.

This water thing has not been easy for us in the past three weeks and the additional cost is becoming unbearable; we want the government to provide water for residents.

Even of more concern is the quality of the water that the vendors source from shallow wells which might not meet acceptable public health standards.

The current water situation can lead to an epidemic should any water borne disease break out, it is God that has been keeping us, Tuedor said.

(NAN)ADVERTISEMENT

A former member of the House of Representatives, Eseme Eyiboh, has frowned at an attempt to link him with a church service said to have been organised in the state to pray for the political success of the state governor, Udom Emmanuel.

Mr. Eyiboh, a former spokesperson of the House of Representatives, said he attended a church service at a local branch of the Apostolic Church, Akpambiet, in Esit Eket Local Government Area, on Sunday, on the invitation of the Local Government Chairman, Iniobong Robson.

He said he was surprised to later see his name mentioned in a news story as being among the dignitaries who joined the youth to seek Gods face for the continuous success of Governor Udom Emmanuels administration till 2023.

Mr. Eyiboh is a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC. He is from Esit Eket.

I want to state that at no time was I invited by the youths or the SA to the Governor on Youth Matters to attend any thanksgiving or any event whatsoever, Mr. Eyiboh said in a statement he issued on Monday. To that effect, I couldnt have been part of such occasion.

If any other event took place at the same venue, it was outside my knowledge and purely coincidental. It is therefore preposterous to associate my presence at a church service in my community to any political prayer for the governor.

Such story is misleading and twisted to suit whatever aim the writer conceived in his mind and had nothing to do with the reality.

I reiterate that I did not attend any Youth Prayer Conference aimed at praying for any governor. I am aware that, the outcome of every electoral process is vote-based and majority driven. I urge members of the public to disregard the story, he said.

Governor Emmanuel is interested in running for a second term in office in 2019. He has been receiving endorsement from different politicians and groups across the state.The Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Babafemi Ojudu, has dismissed as mischief purported plans by him to leave the All Progressives Congress (APC) for another political party.

He said that he would not leave APC for another political party to achieve his political aspirations.

Mr. Ojudu told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Abuja that such a plan only existed in the imaginations of idle politicians and rumour merchants.

The purpose of the insinuation is to distract us from serious task of engaging stakeholders strategically in the bid to rescuing Ekiti State from political rascals.

We are not going to submit to such misleading antics. Rather, we will accelerate efforts in achieving our goals.

The task before us is the rebirth of Ekiti, no amount of distractions from whatever quarters will stop our march to put back Ekiti where it truly belongs.

Everyone knows that in the last couple of years, this state has become a shadow of what the world used to know it for and returning it to where it belongs is long overdue.

Without any shred of doubt, I am submitting myself for the governorship primary under the platform of the APC to actualising our collective agenda for a born again Ekiti.

We are not going to any political party whether Alliance for Democracy (AD) or any other party.

This rumour does not even deserve any response, but for those who may not know Babafemi Ojudu well enough.

I suspect many of such deliberate misinformation is on the way. After all, we are in the age of fake and malicious news, he said.

Mr. Ojudu, who represented Ekiti Central Senatorial District from 2011 to 2015, stressed that he remained a governorship aspirant under the APC for the July 14, gubernatorial polls in Ekiti.

Mr. Ojudu, who has not officially declared his intention to run for governorship election in Ekiti, said the misleading news could not distract him from the race.

He vowed to officially declare his ambition very soon in the interest of the public.

The man with the much needed ideas to make Ekiti a better state will be in the race on the platform of the APC and will win the race by Gods grace, he said.

According to the calendar released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), governorship election in Ekiti is slated for July 14.

However, activities leading to the election will commence on April 4, with the issuance of election notice, while campaigns by political parties are scheduled between April 15 and July 12.

Forms for the election will be made available for aspirants on April 16, while primaries will be conducted between April 16 and May 14.

ADVERTISEMENT

However, disputes arising from the primaries will also be resolved between April 15 and May 14.

The INEC timetable states that campaigns can only start on April 15.

Mr. Ojudu will be prosecuting his political campaign on the platform of Ekiti Rebirth Organisation, a socio-cultural movement campaigning for the renowned journalist to become a governor of Ekiti State.

(NAN)SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 19, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The Committee for Aegean Accountability (the "Committee"), a group of shareholders collectively owning approximately 12.8% of the outstanding shares of Aegean Marine Petroleum Network, Inc. ("Aegean" or, the "Company") (NYSE: ANW), has issued the statement below, directed at the Chairman of the Company's Board of Directors (the "Board") to convey its serious concerns regarding the Board's refusal to engage with the Committee regarding its director nominations for the Company's 2018 Annual Meeting. The Committee also expressed its grave concern that the Board, which has relationships with Founder Dimitris Melissanidis and a history of approving troubling related party transactions, may be planning a dilutive transaction designed to thwart the efforts of shareholders to elect new directors at the upcoming 2018 Annual Meeting.

Tyler Baron issued the following statement on behalf of the Committee:

"We are deeply disappointed by the Board's lack of response to our nomination of four highly qualified candidates for election to the Board at the 2018 Annual Meeting. The Committee has, in good faith, made repeated efforts at constructive engagement, including a public letter to the Company in December. To date, these efforts have been met with silence and dismissal from the Board. Unfortunately, this is consistent with the Board's established pattern of inadequately addressing the concerns of the very shareholders for which it has a fiduciary duty to represent, a pattern which required the formation of the Committee to begin with and has persisted.

A foundational principle of corporate governance is that the owners of a company are vested with the power to choose who will best represent their interests and uphold the fiduciary duties to which the board of directors is bound. The Committee's nominations present shareholders with a compelling choice to restore accountability to the Board and unlock substantial shareholder value. Based on extensive feedback from shareholders, the Committee is confident that its views are broadly shared. We look forward to soliciting votes in favor of the election of our slate of four highly qualified nominees to restore credibility on the Board and effect long-overdue changes at the Company.

The Committee would like to remind the Board that while the majority of its members are based in Greece, the Company is subject to the applicable laws and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the New York Stock Exchange and the Republic of the Marshall Islands, where the Company is domiciled. This Board's troubling history of related party transactions that benefit Founder Dimitris Melissanidis at the expense of shareholders makes us gravely concerned that the Board's silence means it is contemplating a transaction designed to dilute shareholder influence at Aegean. We caution the Board against any attempt to suppress the voting rights of shareholders through a dilutive transaction.

The Committee can only interpret the Board's lack of meaningful response as a further indication of its entrenchment, and absent any communication, we intend to serve the Company with a books and records request to determine the full extent of the Board's involvement in related party dealings. As always, however, we remain ready and willing to engage in constructive discussions with the Company at all times."

About the Committee for Aegean Accountability

The Committee for Aegean Accountability is a group of eight long-term shareholders and director nominees collectively owning approximately 12.8% of the outstanding shares of the Company and seeking to unlock value on behalf of all shareholders through enhanced corporate governance practices and Board refreshment.

The Committee, led by Tyler Baron, has retained Olshan Frome Wolosky LLP as its legal advisor in connection with its engagement and discussions with the Company.

Investor Contact:

Tyler Baron

The Committee for Aegean Accountability

[email protected]

Legal Contact:

Andrew Freedman

Olshan Frome Wolosky LLP

[email protected]

CERTAIN INFORMATION CONCERNING THE PARTICIPANTS

Tyler Baron, together with the other participants named herein (collectively, "The Committee for Aegean Accountability"), intends to make a preliminary filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") of a proxy statement and an accompanying proxy card to be used to solicit votes for the election of a slate of director nominees at the 2018 annual meeting of stockholders of Aegean Marine Petroleum Network, Inc. ("Aegean" or, the "Company").

THE COMMITTEE FOR AEGEAN ACCOUNTABILITY ADVISES ALL STOCKHOLDERS OF THE COMPANY TO READ THE PROXY STATEMENT AND OTHER PROXY MATERIALS AS THEY BECOME AVAILABLE BECAUSE THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION. SUCH PROXY MATERIALS WILL BE AVAILABLE AT NO CHARGE ON THE SEC'S WEB SITE AT HTTP://WWW.SEC.GOV. IN ADDITION, THE PARTICIPANTS IN THE SOLICITATION WILL PROVIDE COPIES OF THESE MATERIALS WITHOUT CHARGE UPON REQUEST.

The participants in the solicitation are Tyler Baron, August Roth, Justin Moore, Shah Capital Management, Himanshu H. Shah, Towle & Co., Joseph E. Towle, Christopher D. Towle, Raymond Bartoszek, David Kirshner and Donald Moore.

As of the date hereof, Mr. Baron beneficially owns directly 160,000 shares of ANW common stock, $0.01 par value per share (the "Common Stock"), 1,000 shares of which are held in record name. Mr. Roth owns directly 850,000 shares of Common Stock, 1,000 shares of which are held in record name. Mr. J. Moore owns directly 800,000 shares of Common Stock. Shah Capital Management ("SCM") beneficially owned 1,093,101 shares. Mr. Shah owns directly 35,594 shares of Common Stock and, as President and Chief Investment Officer of SCM, may be deemed the beneficial owner of the 1,093,101 shares beneficially owned by SCM. Towle & Co. ("Towle") beneficially owns 2,042,039 shares of Common Stock. Mr. J. Towle owns directly 58,900 shares of Common Stock and, as the investment manager of Ellwood House Association ("Ellwood"), may be deemed the beneficial owner of the 10,100 shares held by Ellwood. Mr. J. Towle, as a partner of Towle, may also be deemed the beneficial owner of the 2,042,039 shares beneficially owned by Towle. Mr. C. Towle owns directly 26,500 shares, including 4,500 shares owned by his spouse. Mr. C. Towle, as general partner of Towle Institutional Partners, LP ("Towle Partners"), may be deemed the beneficial owner of the 1,235 shares held by Towle Partners. As a partner of Towle, Mr. C. Towle may also be deemed the beneficial owner of the 2,042,039 shares beneficially owned by Towle.

Mr. Bartoszek owns directly 150,000 shares of Common Stock. Mr. Kirshner owns 3,000 shares of Common Stock. Mr. D. Moore does not own any shares of Common Stock.

WARNING REGARDING FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

THIS PRESS RELEASE CONTAINS FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS. FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS CAN BE IDENTIFIED BY USE OF WORDS SUCH AS "OUTLOOK", "BELIEVE", "INTEND", "EXPECT", "POTENTIAL", "WILL", "MAY", "SHOULD", "ESTIMATE", "ANTICIPATE", AND DERIVATIVES OR NEGATIVES OF SUCH WORDS OR SIMILAR WORDS. FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS IN THIS PRESS RELEASE ARE BASED UPON PRESENT BELIEFS OR EXPECTATIONS. HOWEVER, FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS AND THEIR IMPLICATIONS ARE NOT GUARANTEED TO OCCUR AND MAY NOT OCCUR AS A RESULT OF VARIOUS RISKS, REASONS AND UNCERTAINTIES. EXCEPT AS REQUIRED BY LAW, THE COMMITTEE AND ITS AFFILIATES AND RELATED PERSONS UNDERTAKE NO OBLIGATION TO UPDATE ANY FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENT, WHETHER AS A RESULT OF NEW INFORMATION, FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS OR OTHERWISE.

SOURCE The Committee for Aegean AccountabilityAlfen, specialist in energy solutions for the future, announces the start of a smart energy storage system for Eandis' logistical center in Lokeren, Belgium, that will be used to optimize self-consumption of the rooftop solar energy generation. The storage system, called 'TheBattery', will facilitate Eandis in the shift from fossil fuel powered facility towards an energy neutral distribution center.

(Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/643013/Alfen_Eandis_Energy_Storage_System.jpg )



Self-consumption of renewable energy at Eandis' logistical center

Eandis is a distribution grid systems operator with activities in 229 cities and municipalities throughout Flanders in Belgium, responsible for 2.7 million electricity connections. Eandis recently added some 375 kWp rooftop solar power to its logistical center in Lokeren. To match the intermittent solar energy production with its own operations, it is now implementing Alfen's battery energy storage system called TheBattery. TheBattery contributes to the increasing electrification of the site, enabling the shift from fossil fuel powered machinery and vehicles towards electricity as source of energy.

Jean Pierre Hollevoet, Director Asset Management and Supply Chain at Eandis comments: "With the new energy storage system of Alfen, we will be able to optimize self-consumption of the solar energy in our facilities, which is an important new step towards an energy neutral and sustainable distribution center. Alfen has an 80-year track record and deep technical knowledge of developing complex battery storage systems. In addition, we anticipate that more and more customers, connected to our electricity grid, will implement energy storage systems in the future. We want to be prepared for the incorporation of such systems in our grid and therefore we want to gain experience on manageability, cost-of-ownership and impact on operational efficiency of such a storage system."

Energy storage system TheBattery

Alfen supplies a 140kW energy storage system that will be connected to Eandis' logistical center. Alfen also delivers and implements the remote management and control of the system and provides a platform which enables Eandis to use the system for optimizing self-consumption of renewable energy and voltage control. Yves Vercammen, sales manager for Alfen in Belgium, comments: "We welcome this opportunity to use our storage system and decades of power grid experience in this project. The collaboration with Eandis shows that we are operating at the heart of the energy transition with a unique integrated offering dedicated to enable the energy grid of the future. This project demonstrates the increasing demand for decentralized renewable energy solutions that require smart energy solutions."

The storage system will be operational in Q1 2018.

About Alfen

Dutch-based Alfen is operating internationally in the heart of the energy transition, being a specialist in energy solutions for the future. With its 80-years' history, Alfen has a unique combination of activities. The Company designs, develops and produces smart grids, energy storage systems and electric vehicle chargers and combines these in integrated solutions to address the electricity needs of its clients. In the period between 2015 and 2017 Alfen grew its revenues with 21% on average with a positive net profit. Alfen has market leading positions in the Netherlands and experiences fast international growth benefitting from its first mover advantage. For further information see our website at: http://www.alfen.com

About Eandis

Eandis offers network solutions for electricity, natural gas, heating and public lighting. The company also plays an important social role in achieving climate objectives, combating energy poverty and the independent management of energy data. Eandis is active in 229 cities and municipalities in Flanders and employs around 4,000 people.

SOURCE AlfenBROOMFIELD, Colo., Feb. 19, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

MEDIA ADVISORY: The Pharma Packaging and Labeling East Coast event is now in its tenth year and established as the pharmaceutical industry's premier event of life sciences professionals working in packaging, labeling, supply chain or regulatory affairs.





It promises an environment where commercial packaging and labeling teams work alongside manufacturers to debate industry issues related to packaging and labeling requirements, while safeguarding products and protecting patients.





Industry experts and speakers will be on hand, including AMPLEXOR Life Sciences' Kathleen O'Brien, who will be delivering a presentation on, 'Breaking Cultural Barriers: Localization 101', outlining best practices and the fundamental concepts in life sciences localization and translations.



What: This event is where vendors and manufacturers join forces to discuss the challenges facing the industry, particularly around packaging and labeling. The topics are varied across the two-day program, while Ms. O'Brien's presentation will look at the nuances of culture barriers, how organizations can best manage the technicalities of translation and outline effective localization strategies that life sciences companies can implement to reduce costs and accelerate timelines.





Join AMPLEXOR Life Sciences at the Pharma Packaging & Labeling East Coast, to learn about this and much more.



When: 22 February 2018

'Breaking Cultural Barriers: Localization 101' presentation

9:30 a.m.



Where: Hilton Philadelphia

4200 City Avenue, Philadelphia, PA

In addition to its presentation, AMPLEXOR will be exhibiting at the Pharma Packaging & Labeling East Coast event. AMPLEXOR Life Sciences experts will be present at Booth #18 throughout the two days to discuss challenges your organization may be facing around translation services in life sciences.

The team is highly experienced in the sector and will be demonstrating its market understanding to ensure safety and accuracy, and also have the technology that makes centralized translations a more cost-effective option.

To register for the event, click here.

To learn more about AMPLEXOR's Life Sciences language services and suite of solutions, please click here.

About AMPLEXOR Life Sciences

AMPLEXOR Life Sciences helps pharmaceutical, medical device and biotechnology organizations launch products and break new markets quickly. Its solutions and services expedite the creation and delivery of consistent, compliant and high-quality global content  both physical and digital  across all target countries. Its services include technology consultancy, implementation and management services, as well as technical writing, medical translation and linguistic validation services.

AMPLEXOR employs 1,700 people in 23 countries across four continents. It boasts a rich 25+ year history of serving pharmaceutical, medical device manufacturers and biotechnology companies.

For more information, go to www.amplexor.com.

SOURCE AMPLEXOR Life Sciences

Related Links

http://www.amplexor.com

NEW CASTLE, Del., Feb. 19, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- 'Delaware Shore' is about Agnes, a holocaust survivor who finds refuge on a Delaware beach and raises her abandoned grandchildren there. It brings a modern angle to the Holocaust survivor's stories, showing everyone the effects that such atrocity can have on multiple generations of people.

Avocado Media LLC

Avocado Media LLC is pleased to announce that their movie 'Delaware Shore', directed by Raghav Peri, has successfully completed post-production a few months ago and began its festival journey. Raghav's dream of speaking the issue and harsh reality in an artistic manner has paid off with 4 Wins and 4 Nominations at various International Festivals, and currently, looking to find the right partners for International Distribution at Berlinale-2018. The critic's response to the movie has been truly positive, and the general audiences during the festival run also appreciated the manner in which events revolve at every stage of the projection. There's good anticipation around the movie for public release.

'Delaware Shore' is about Agnes, a holocaust survivor who finds shelter on a Delaware beach and raises her abandoned grandchildren there. It brings a modern angle to the traditional approach of Holocaust's survivor stories. It speaks to the generational consequences of this atrocity by weaving in present issues such as sexual and gender identity, teen pregnancy, violence and survival issues. All of them are omnipresent, featuring actual people and places in Delaware.

More information about the film can be seen in the interview with Director Raghav Peri, at http://hlc-cultcritic.com/raghav-peri.

The film's progress and updates are additionally showcased on its social media pages; Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/DelawareShoreMovie), Twitter (https://twitter.com/delawareshore), and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/delawareshoremovie).

'Delaware Shore' has recently won the "Best Women Film" award at 'Calcutta International Cult Film Festival'. Director Raghav Peri has won the "Best First Time Filmmaker" award at 'Hollywood International Moving Pictures Film Festival' and the "Best Indie Filmmaker" award at 'LA Film Awards'. Lead Actress Emily Mckinley Hill was nominated twice for "Best Lead Actress" for her subtle performance in the film. Music Composer David C. Hevvitt has won "Best Original Score" award at 'LA Film Awards'. And this is just the beginning since the movie has first been projected in 2018.

After engaging in various discussions with multiple agents, Avocado Media is very excited to finally announce that 'Delaware Shore' has found official representation with the prestigious "House Of Film", a Beverly Hills-based Sales and Distribution Company who has distributed 9 Oscar qualifying films in the past.

"We are extremely thrilled to partner with House Of Film which only acquire contents that meet with the highest standard in aesthetics. My Director Peri is also of the same nature in his approach towards filmmaking. I'm privileged to have worked with such great talent. This is the single most successful film for our company. I have seen the film multiple times already and love it. I will be waiting for the day to see the film in theaters with live audience," Writer/Executive Producer Mr. Michaelangelo declared.

"Delaware Shore is an important and thought-provoking film. I'm so thrilled to see this overwhelming response to the film in the festival circuit. Thanks to my amazing cast and incredible crew. I'm very positive the audiences will love it when it comes out to the public. They will surely take home the characters and spirit of the film. It's going to be little waiting though until we finish our festival run and secure international distribution. Just can't wait to bring the movie to global audiences soon. Stay tuned!", says Peri speaking in regard to his first feature film.

For more information about this film and for news on its release, guests can visit the official IMDB page of "Delaware Shore".

About Avocado Media LLC

Avocado Media LLC is a film production company based in New Castle, Delaware. Delaware Shore is the third project for the company, following the comedy The Wilmingtonians and the documentary Slavery's Children.

For business inquiries, clients can contact Phil Mascherino at 1-484-612-5728.

Media Contacts:

Full Name: Mr. Michaelangelo Rodriguez

Company Name: Avocado Media LLC

Phone:

1-980-833-5649

1-302-753-3110

Email: [email protected]

Related Images

promo-poster-for-the-film-with.jpg

Promo Poster for the film with festival laurels

behind-the-scenes.jpg

Behind the scenes

Ed Aristone ( Actor) with Gail Wagner (Actress) from a scene in the film Stills by Nick Belial

behind-the-scenes.jpg

Behind the scenes

Director Raghav Peri discussing with Actress Emily McKinley Hill before a scene Stills by Nick Belial

behind-the-scenes.jpg

Behind the scenes

Director Raghav Peri with Actor James Robinson Jr. setting up a shot Stills by Nick Belial

SOURCE Avocado Media LLCBuyerDocs was created specifically for title companies, home buyers, and real estate agents who want to ensure down payment monies are not lost through hacking, phishing, imposter, or spoofing scams. The service delivers security by enabling information transfer without any direct email interaction between clients and title companies. Title companies simply upload wire transfer documents to BuyerDocs' secure website, where home buyers log in and retrieve the information on their own time. Home buyers have no chance of losing their down payment, real estate agents no longer lose their commission, and title companies are viewed as secure and reliable.

BuyerDocs is an Austin-based company with the goal of eliminating wire fraud from residential real estate.

For more information, contact Abigail White at [email protected]

CONTACT:

Abigail White, COFOUNDER & CMO

BuyerDocs

512.580.5035

[email protected]

https://buyerdocs.com

SOURCE BuyerDocs

Related Links

https://www.buyerdocs.com

LONDON, February 19, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Cognac sales will continue their remarkable recent momentum, with gains set to persist in North America and China supported by a resurgence in Russia, says a new report

The Global Cognac & Brandy Insights report from just-drinks and the IWSR also expects consumption of premium-and-above non-Cognac brandy to increase over the next five years, although the overall market's recent declines will persist. This part of the Cognac & brandy category is skewed by the vast brandy markets of India and the Philippines, accounting for well over 100m cases in annual sales, both of which are declining - and overshadowing more buoyant trends in South Africa and Russia.

Meanwhile, Cognac has recovered from the impact of austerity measures in China, returning to growth in the key areas of Guangdong and Fujian. Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, consumption has reached record levels in North America.

Both of these phenomena are having ripple effects: Cognac consumption is on the up across Asia and Australasia thanks to the influence of Chinese communities and visitors there, as Cognac's association with glamorous lifestyles among African-Americans in the US is increasingly driving growth in the Caribbean and Africa.

As a result, Cognac sales are expected to continue their recent growth, topping 17m cases a year by 2021, thanks to continued momentum in the US and China, supplemented by consumption gains in Russia, South Africa, Canada, Indonesia, Nigeria and India.

About the IWSR

The IWSR is the leading source of data and analysis on the beverage alcohol market. The IWSR's database, essential to the industry, quantifies the global market of wine, spirits, beer and mixed drinks by volume and value, and provides insight into short- and long-term trends. Our data is used by all of the largest multinational companies, as well as many more local companies. The IWSR's unique methodology allows us to get closer to what is actually consumed and better understand how markets work. The IWSR conducts face-to- face interviews with over 1,500 companies in 118 countries each year, with further input from 350 companies. The IWSR tracks overall consumption and trends at brand, quality and category level. The IWSR Magazine, written by the IWSR's specialist international analysts, features industry news, new products, interviews with key industry players and in-depth market analysis based on unique access to the IWSR's data.

About just-drinks.com

just-drinks.com is the online news, insight and research portal for the global drinks industry. Our editorial team includes contributors from around the world, while our commentators comprise experts in their respective fields of beer, bottled water, soft drinks, spirits (both brown and white) and wine. Under the direction of managing editor Olly Wehring, we offer an impartial voice and are driven by our passion for the drinks industry.

For further information and images please contact James Lawley, Public Relations at Aroq Limited on +44-(0)-1527-573-606, email [email protected]

SOURCE just-drinks and The IWSRSAN DIEGO, Feb. 19, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Cubic Corporation (NYSE: CUB) today announced that its Board of Directors approved a regular semiannual dividend of $0.135 cents per share, payable on March 12, 2018, to shareholders of record on March 1, 2018. Cubic has consistently paid cash dividends to its shareholders since 1971.

About Cubic Corporation

Cubic is a market-leading, technology provider of integrated solutions that increase situational understanding for transportation, defense C4ISR and training customers worldwide to decrease urban congestion and improve the militaries' effectiveness and operational readiness. Cubic Transportation Systems is a leading integrator of payment and information technology and services to create intelligent travel solutions for transportation authorities and operators. Cubic Mission Solutions provides networked Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) capabilities for defense, intelligence, security and commercial missions. Cubic Global Defense is a leading provider of live, virtual, constructive and game-based training solutions, special operations and intelligence for the U.S. and allied forces. For more information about Cubic, please visit the company's website at www.cubic.com or on Twitter @CubicCorp.

SOURCE Cubic Corporation

Related Links

http://www.cubic.com

TORONTO, Feb. 18, 2018 /PRNewswire/ - Frontera Energy Corporation (TSX: FEC) ("Frontera" or the "Company") announces that Camilo McAllister, its Chief Financial Officer, has resigned to pursue other career opportunities. Mr. McAllister will continue in his current role until March 9, 2018.

Frontera has retained an international placement firm to assist in recruiting a new CFO. Alejandro Pineros, Corporate Finance Director, who among other duties is already responsible for the preparation and consolidation of the Company's financial statements, will act in the capacity of CFO until a replacement is found.

"On behalf of the Board, I thank Camilo for his contributions and the role he played as the Company exited its restructuring and began a new era," said Gabriel de Alba, Chairman of the Board of Directors. "Camillo came on board to assist us with the initial transition period and his leadership has driven many successes to date, including a focus on sustainable growth. On behalf of the entire Company, I wish him well in his future endeavours."

Continued Mr. de Alba, "We have completed the initial stage of Frontera's transition and are now entering the next phase in the pursuit of our key growth initiatives. We look forward to updating shareholders about our plans in the coming weeks."

About Frontera:

Frontera is a Canadian public company and a leading explorer and producer of crude oil and natural gas, with operations focused in Latin America. The Company has a diversified portfolio of assets with interests in more than 25 exploration and production blocks in Colombia and Peru. The Company's strategy is focused on sustainable growth in production and reserves and cash generation. Frontera is committed to conducting business safely, in a socially and environmentally responsible manner.

The Company's common shares trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "FEC".

If you would like to receive News Releases via e-mail as soon as they are published, please subscribe here: http://fronteraenergy.mediaroom.com/subscribe.

Cautionary Note Concerning Forward-Looking Statements:

This news release contains forward-looking statements. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, that address activities, events or developments that the Company believes, expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future (including, without limitation, statements regarding the Company's ability to find a new CFO and its ability to successfully transition to a growth phase) are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements reflect the current expectations or beliefs of the Company based on information currently available to the Company. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that may cause the actual results of the Company to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements, and even if such actual results are realized or substantially realized, there can be no assurance that they will have the expected consequences to, or effects on, the Company. Factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations include, among other things: undue reliance on a search firm; uncertainty of estimates of capital and operating costs, production estimates and estimated economic return; uncertainties associated with estimating oil and natural gas reserves; and the other risks disclosed under the heading "Risk Factors" and elsewhere in the Company's annual information form dated March 14, 2017 filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made and, except as may be required by applicable securities laws, the Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise. Although the Company believes that the assumptions inherent in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and accordingly undue reliance should not be put on such statements due to the inherent uncertainty therein.

SOURCE Frontera Energy Corporation

Related Links

http://www.fronteraenergy.ca

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., Feb. 19, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Global Mobility Solutions (GMS) recently hosted its annual forum, an event recognizing members of its Premier Alliance Network  an elite partnership of relocation service providers. This year's forum was held on Thursday, February 8, at the Hotel Valley Ho in Scottsdale. This year's theme was "Service Never Goes out of Style," and the forum focused on recent developments within the relocation management industry.

Steven Wester, President of Global Mobility Solutions, addresses the 2018 Annual Forum attendees at the Hotel Valley Ho, Scottsdale, Arizona.

"GMS continues to grow, and much of the credit is due to our superior network of partners," said President Steven Wester. "The relocation industry constantly changes, so keeping informed of trends is critically important. Our forum provides an ideal platform to share practical business insights, honor top-performing suppliers within our network, and extend support to worthy causes in the communities we all serve. Our 2018 event succeeded on every point."

Client Panel

The forum featured a Client Panel where clients were introduced to over 130 Partner Network attendees along with the specific topic they were asked to present. Clients then described their relocation program in terms of the specific topic, and took questions from the participants. The clients followed this process for about 10 minutes at each of five different tables, allowing the attendees to hear from all clients about the following five different relocation industry topics:

New Tax Law affecting Corporate Relocations

Attracting and Retaining Talent in Challenging Locations

Requests for Proposals

Aligning Talent and Mobility

Formalizing Short-Term Assignments

GMS recognizes outstanding contributions to its clients through Partner of the Year awards. The primary criteria for these annual awards include customer satisfaction and on time service  key indicators of quality and reliability among relocation providers.

Partner of the Year Award Winners for 2018

Sales Networking: Alison's Relocations

Global Services: Nomad Temporary Housing

International HHG: Unipack Global Relocation

Domestic HHG  Silver Tier: William B Meyer/United Van Lines

Domestic HHG  Gold Tier: V Santini/Atlas Van Lines

Domestic HHG  Platinum Tier: Alexander's Mobility/Atlas Van Lines

St. Mary's Food Bank Donation

The 2018 Partner Forum also provided an opportunity for GMS and its Premier Alliance Network to show their shared commitment to social and philanthropic causes. This commitment includes significant efforts to end hunger in local communities. This year's forum featured both an online pre-forum raffle and an in-forum raffle resulting in a donation of over 55,000 meals to St. Mary's Food Bank in Phoenix. Raffle prizes, which were all donated by members of the Premier Alliance Network, included an iPad pro, a weekend getaway (including accommodations, car rental, and $500 gift card), two individual smart home starter kits, a bluetooth speaker, a Nintendo switch, and a personal drone.

"We are truly grateful to GMS and its Partners for their continuing support with this gift," remarked Lisa Notaro, Chief Development and Communications Officer at St. Mary's Food Bank. "Here in Arizona, there are nearly 500,000 children who literally do not know if they will have dinner tonight. This gift will help feed 55,000 of them a nutritious meal."

For more information about St. Mary's Food Bank Alliance, please visit firstfoodbank.org.

For more information about Global Mobility Solutions, please visit gmsmobility.com.

About St. Mary's Food Bank Alliance (http://firstfoodbank.org)

St. Mary's Food Bank Alliance, the world's first food bank, is a non-sectarian, nonprofit organization that alleviates hunger by efficiently gathering and distributing food to the hungry. Serving two-thirds of Arizona's 15 counties, the organization is committed to volunteerism, building community relationships, and improving the quality of life for Arizonans in need.

About Global Mobility Solutions (https://gmsmobility.com):

Founded in 1987, Global Mobility Solutions is a global corporate relocation services company that specializes in workforce mobility. The company's corporate relocation programs include global assignment management, domestic relocation management, and a range of pre-decision services. Global Mobility Solutions is a perennial winner of the HRO Today "Baker's Dozen" customer satisfaction survey, being recognized as a top relocation company for the last four consecutive years.

Global Mobility Solutions and the Global Mobility Solutions logo are trademarks of Global Mobility Solutions, Scottsdale, AZ, USA.

Press Contact:

Thomas A. Burke

800.617.1904

[email protected]

SOURCE Global Mobility Solutions

Related Links

http://gmsmobility.com

SAO PAULO, Feb. 19, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- GOL Linhas Aereas Inteligentes S.A.  ("GLAI") (NYSE: GOL and B3: GOLL4), Brazil's #1 airline, announces its 4Q17 earnings release schedule.

4Q17 Earnings release

March 7, 2018 (before trading hours).

The release will be available on our website www.voegol.com.br/ir.

Quiet period

In accordance with fair disclosure and corporate governance best practices, GOL will begin its quiet period on February 20, and will end immediately after the earnings call on March 7.

Conference Calls: English Portuguese March 7, 2018 March 7, 2018 09:00 a.m. (US EST) 07:30 a.m. (US EST) 11:00 a.m. (Brasilia time) 09:30 a.m. (Brasilia time) Phone: +1 (412) 317-5453 Phone: +55 (11) 3193-1001



+55 (11) 2820-4001 Code: GOL Code: GOL Replay phone: +1 (412) 317-0088 Replay phone: +55 (11) 3193-1012 Replay code: 10115941 Replay code: 1184140# Webcast: click here Webcast: click here

Participants are requested to connect ten minutes prior to the time set for the conference calls.

Slides and webcast: A slide presentation will be available for viewing and downloading in our website www.voegol.com.br/ir and MZiQ platform (www.mziq.com). The conference calls will be live broadcast over the internet on the same website, remaining available after the event.

Replay: A conference call replay facility will be available for 7 days.

CONTACT

Investor Relations

[email protected]

www.voegol.com.br/ir

+55(11) 2128-4700

About GOL Linhas Aereas Inteligentes S.A.

Brazil's largest airline group. GOL is Brazil's largest airline, carrying 33 million passengers annually on more than 700 daily flights to 64 destinations, 53 in Brazil and 11 in South America and the Caribbean, on a fleet of 119 Boeing 737 aircraft, with a further 120 Boeing 737 MAX on order. GOLLOG is a leading cargo transportation and logistics business serving more than 2,400 Brazilian municipalities and, through partners, 205 international destinations in 95 countries. SMILES is one of the largest coalition loyalty programs in Latin America, with over 13 million registered participants, allowing clients to accumulate miles and redeem tickets for more than 700 locations worldwide. GOL has a team of more than 14,000 highly skilled aviation professionals delivering Brazil's top on-time performance, and an industry leading 17 year safety record. GOL's shares are traded on the NYSE (GOL) and the B3 (GOLL4).

SOURCE GOL Linhas Aereas Inteligentes S.A.

Related Links

http://www.voegol.com.br

CHICAGO, Feb. 16, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Hub International Limited (Hub), a leading global insurance brokerage, announced today that it has acquired the shares of Pointbreak Consulting Group Ltd. (Pointbreak). Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Headquartered in Burnaby, British Columbia, Pointbreak provides employee benefits and pension consulting services. Kevin Jeffrey, Principal and CEO of Pointbreak, will join Hub TOS and report to Dave Terry, President of Hub TOS.

About Hub's M&A Activities

Hub International Limited is committed to growing organically and through acquisitions to expand its geographic footprint and strengthen industry and product expertise. For more information on the Hub M&A experience, visit WeAreHub.com.

About Hub International

Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, Hub International Limited is a leading global insurance brokerage that provides property and casualty, life and health, employee benefits, investment and risk management products and services from offices located throughout North America. For more information, please visit hubinternational.com.

CONTACT:

Media: Marni Gordon

Phone: 312-279-4601

[email protected]

M&A: Clark Wormer

Phone: 312.279.4848

[email protected]

SOURCE Hub International Limited

Related Links

http://www.hubinternational.com

ATLANTA, Feb. 19, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- EmployBridge announced that Joanie Courtney, President of the Professional Division, will be a featured speaker at the 2018 Executive Forum North America: Future Forward, on February 27th in Miami.

Hosted by Staffing Industry Analysts (SIA), the Executive Forum is the pre-eminent annual event for CEOs, owners and senior-level staffing executives across industry sectors and sizes. The conference, now in its 27th year, brings together top leaders from across the staffing world to share insights, best practices and emerging solutions. Courtney will discuss Building a Services/Solutions Business from the Ground Up on February 27 at 4:45 pm.

Joanie Courtney is President of the Professional Staffing Division of EmployBridge, which includes the RemX, Decca and Resdin brands. Courtney joined the EmployBridge family in 2016 with a 20 plus year proven track record in professional and commercial staffing, including executive roles with two of the largest employment firms in the world. Courtney oversees the business growth strategy, including sales, marketing, operations, recruiting, and employee engagement & development, both in the United States and Canada. In 2016, she launched the RemX Contact Center Solutions offering, which leads the industry in providing call and contact center staffing solutions for large contact centers in the United States. Prior to joining EmployBridge, she spent three years in the digital recruiting industry as Senior Vice President of Global Market Insights at Monster Worldwide.

Courtney is frequently called upon to discuss the job market, careers and workplace trends and speak to the talent supply and demand cycles that impact U.S. employers. Her commentary on the employment market has also been featured in major media outlets such as Fox and Fox Business News, Associated Press, MSNBC, CNN, The Wall Street Journal, U.S. News & World Report, Forbes, and more. She is a regular contributor to the Mornings with Maria show with Maria Bartiromo on Fox Business Network. Joanie was recognized in 2017 by Staffing Industry Analysts as part of the Global Power 100, Women in Staffing and North America 50.

Courtney commented, "I'm thrilled to once again be taking part taking in SIA's Executive Forum. I believe 2018 will present tremendous opportunities for the staffing industry; the 'Future Forward' focus of the conference is well timed."

"The workforce solutions ecosystem is reaching a new level in its global evolution and it is essential for today's businesses to prepare for what's ahead, strategically and operationally," said Barry Asin, SIA President. "I am pleased to welcome an outstanding selection of speakers, forward-thinkers and visionary leaders to this year's agenda; and to a forum that will provide a look beyond the horizon, helping organizations to move forward and ensure their future successes."

Executive Forum North America 2018: Future Forward will be held February 26th -- March 1st at the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach.

For more information and registration, visit www.siexecutiveforum.com | @ExecForum.

About EmployBridge: Headquartered in Atlanta, EmployBridge is one of the largest workforce specialist firms in the country and was recently recognized as the largest industrial staffing firm in the U.S. by Staffing Industry Analysts. Each of its industry-leading commercial, professional and franchise brands focuses on a dedicated specialty, allowing EmployBridge to deliver a superior level of staffing solutions to associates and clients. From nearly 600 locations in the U.S. and Canada, EmployBridge puts more than 95,000 associates to work at more than 10,000 companies weekly. For more information on EmployBridge, please visit the company website at www.employbridge.com.

Media Contact

Ken Christensen (678) 534.2346

SOURCE EmployBridge

Related Links

http://www.employbridge.com

SAN JOSE, Calif., Feb. 19, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Lynette Gray is recognized by Continental Who's Who as a Pinnacle Lifetime Member in the field of Education and Workforce Services.

Ms. Gray's professional title is Associate Director at San Jose Evergreen Community College District  Community College Center for Economic Mobility. Her expertise lies in the area of education and training grants management, facilitating education opportunities for under-served populations, and creating career pathway options in high-wage, high-growth, high demand industries.



Previously, Gray worked at Skyline College, Solano College, Insight Schools of California and Vallejo City Unified School District, also utilizing her expertise in secondary and post-secondary education.



"I have a passion for grant and project management, coordinating services for special populations, grant and proposal development, research, resource support, grant reporting and grant stewardship and sharing of best practices," Gray said of her work. "I provide positive instruction, direct support and guidance for students, of all ages, and especially for students with special needs." Gray earned her Bachelor's degree in Speech Communication Studies, with a minor in Women's Studies, from San Francisco State University in 1983. She later went on to complete a Master's degree in Education from Touro University  California in 2011. In addition to her degrees, she holds a Certification in Transition to Employment  for Special Population, from Touro University, and possesses a limited understanding of Turkish in addition to English.



In recognition of her contributions to the field, Gray was nominated as Intern Teacher of the Year by the Solano County Office of Education. She is also a member of Top Female Executive as well as the American Association of University Women.



When not working, Gray supports ALS and Alzheimer's research organizations. She also enjoys many kinds of music and art, and is an active skier, hiker and mountain biker. She also practices yoga on a regular basis.



Gray dedicates this recognition to the loving memory of her father, Robert G. Gray, and to her children, Nazim and Safiya.

Contact: Katherine Green , 516-825-5634, [email protected]

SOURCE Continental Who's Who

Related Links

http://www.continentalwhoswho.com

TAMPA, Fla., Feb. 19, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- MADAME ADASSA is the talk of the city as Fashion Designer, Marsha Vacirca presents her captivating collection at Vancouver Fashion Week F/W 2018 Season (VFW). The featured brand is mostly couture, fusing European and Caribbean influences; a celebration of the designer's cultural background. While the brand's collection was launched as an ode to her grandmother, it's also a celebration of all things woman.

Lady Erica Gown Blue Havana Gown

Vancouver Fashion Week is the fastest growing fashion week in the world and the only industry event that actively seeks out to showcase international award-winning designers from over 25 global fashion capitals. Since its inception 17 years ago, VFW has operated with a firm belief in being a well-grounded local initiative with global instincts and intuition.

"Mixing emerging and established designers from across the world has been our recipe for success for over 17 years. Vancouver Fashion Week is fortunate to be working with remarkable talent and growing alongside maturing designers. We are grateful that we as an organization can, and have acted as a stepping stone in their careers," says Jamal Abdourahman, producer and founder of Vancouver Fashion Week.

Empress Warrior Collection continues to communicate the mission of the brand. It serves to celebrate the woman's strength and determination, her sensuality and her confidence. One can expect to see elements such as strong structured shoulders, chests and backs in this collection. Add to the mix, a queen-like demeanor, a passionate yet fierce fighter- all that is indicative of a woman.

EVENT DETAILS & TICKETS

March 19-25th, 2018

David Lam Hall

50 East Pender Street

Vancouver, BC

V6A 3V6

For information and to see the schedule of events, visit: www.vanfashionweek.com

To register for media passes and accreditation, visit: vanfashionweek.com/media/#accreditation

ABOUT MARSHA VACIRCA

The Jamaican born designer and Florida resident pays homage to her grandmother with fashion label 'Madame Adassa. The fashion label, through its designs, shares parts of her Caribbean culture: There is this marriage of vibrant, exotic, glamorous risque fused with an early European aura. This celebration of the old and new serves to tell a story while adorning the bodies of the bold and confident women that wears them.

ABOUT VANCOUVER FASHION WEEK

Vancouver Fashion Week is entering its 18th year and 31st season. Focusing on creating a diverse and eclectic showcase of talented local and international designers, VFW propels featured designers and esteemed brands to the forefront of fashion media and to industry buyers. This runway event is one of the fastest growing fashion weeks in the world, and since 2001, Vancouver Fashion Week has acted as a stepping-stone for emerging designers to launch their creations into the fashion industry in hopes of one day appearing on the stages of London, Paris, Milan, and New York.

www.vanfashionweek.com

Facebook: Vancouver Fashion Week

Twitter: @VanFashionWeek

Instagram: @VanFashionWeek

YouTube: YouTube.com/VFWTV

Pinterest: @VanFashionWeek

For all media enquiries, imagery, and additional information, please contact:

Vancouver Fashion Week

Robyn Meeres

[email protected]

604.916.5933

SOURCE Madame Adassa, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.vanfashionweek.com/

BE'ER SHEVA, ISRAEL and BOSTON, Feb. 19, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Morphisec, the leader in Moving Target Defense, today announced it has raised $12 million Series B round of funding. The round features new investor Orange Digital Ventures, the digital investment arm of Orange (Euronext Paris: ORA,NYSE: ORAN), as well as existing Morphisec investors Jerusalem Venture Partners ("JVP"), GE (NYSE: GE) and Deutsche Telekom (XETRA: DTE).

Additional investors in Morphisec include La Maison, Portage Partners, OurCrowd, Kodem Growth Partners and Evolution Equity Partners.

Morphisec's patented Moving Target Defense innovation is the foundation of its Endpoint Threat Prevention solution, which quickly and simply prevents advanced threats for customers of all sizes globally.

Morphisec's entirely new approach to endpoint protection makes it the only solution that can protect during major operating system patching gaps (like those necessary based on the Spectre and Meltdown exploits), against zero-day attacks (e.g., WannaCry), fileless malware and more, all while providing significant operational and business benefits, including continuity across patch cycles without the need for updates, zero false positives and no performance degradation. Morphisec supports endpoints and servers in physical, VDI and hybrid environments.

"Morphisec is successfully building a rapidly growing customer portfolio based on its truly unique prevention-based approach. We are thrilled to support the Morphisec team in their acceleration and global reach to fundamentally change cyber protection," said Yann Kandelman, head of Investment at Orange Digital Ventures.

"Now is the time to invest in cybersecurity technology that is poised to dramatically hamper attackers' ability to operate and to enable organizations to succeed in eliminating advanced threats," said Yoav Tzruya, JVP General Partner, and Chairman, Board of Directors, Morphisec. "As threats increase in scale and severity, alternative technologies don't fully solve the challenges, further increase direct costs and are unable to fend off business continuity issues caused by zero-day threats. Our belief is that Morphisec is well-positioned to become the most critical protective layer in today's rapidly evolving security stack."

Morphisec's continued growth has been substantial, having achieved over 1000% growth in 2017, with its technology deployed on hundreds of thousands of endpoints. The company announced its Series A funding round in 2015, was named a Gartner Cool Vendor in 2016 and was recognized in 2017 by SE Labs with a 100% efficacy performance rate against every attack (evasive malware and exploits) detonated in the lab.

"We built Morphisec to become an essential part of every company's security and IT operation, and to defeat attacks that other endpoint technology cannot," said Ronen Yehoshua, CEO and president, Morphisec. "Our growth has been exponential and this funding will help Morphisec continue on that trajectory. We continue to grow our customer list, our partner ecosystem and our headcount so we can deliver the most groundbreaking technology advancements in a powerful and simple product that prevents advanced threats and exploits like no other."

About Morphisec

Morphisec offers an entirely new level of innovation to customers in its Endpoint Threat Prevention product, delivering protection against the most advanced cyberattacks. The company's patented Moving Target Defense technology prevents threats others can't, including APTs, zero-days, ransomware, evasive fileless attacks and web-borne exploits. Morphisec provides a crucial, small-footprint memory-defense layer that easily deploys into a company's existing security infrastructure to form a simple, highly effective, cost-efficient prevention stack that is truly disruptive to today's existing cybersecurity model.

For more information, please visit www.morphisec.com.

Morphisec Contact:

Tom Bain

[email protected]

617-256-3139

Emily Eldridge

[email protected]

512-792-2544

SOURCE Morphisec

Related Links

http://www.morphisec.com

WASHINGTON, Feb. 19, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida will host a meeting of the National Space Council, chaired by Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday, Feb. 21.

NASA Television and the agency's website will provide live coverage of the meeting beginning at 10 a.m. EST.

Media are invited to cover the vice president's arrival on Tuesday, Feb. 20 at Kennedy's Shuttle Landing Facility and the council meeting on Wednesday.

After his arrival on Tuesday, Vice President Pence will tour Cape Canaveral Air Force Station launch facilities and participate in a commercial spaceflight federal reception. On Wednesday, Vice President Pence will lead the National Space Council meeting inside Kennedy's Space Station Processing Facility. "Moon, Mars, and Worlds Beyond: Winning the Next Frontier" will include testimonials from leaders in the civil, commercial, and national security sectors about the importance of the United States' space enterprise. The Vice President will conclude his visit with a tour of Kennedy Space Center.

U.S. media who wish to cover the events must apply for accreditation online at:

https://media.ksc.nasa.gov

All media applications for credentialing must be received by 8 p.m. today, Feb. 19. Media must also RSVP at [email protected] for both arrival and the Council Meeting. Media outlets planning to bring satellite trucks to either event must inform KSC media operations during the RSVP process.

Applications for media credentials for international journalists are not available for this event. Questions about accreditation should be sent to [email protected] or 321-867-2468. Media must present two forms of unexpired, government identification. One form must include a photo, such as a passport or driver's license.

Arrival times for badging and transportation to events

Tuesday, Feb. 20  Noon (Pre-set of equipment and satellite trucks)

Departure for the event will be at 4 p.m.

Location: Press Accreditation Building on State Road 3

Wednesday, Feb. 21  2 a.m. (Pre-set of equipment and satellite trucks)

Departure for the event will be at 7:30 a.m.

Location: Press Accreditation Building on State Road 3

On Feb. 20, media will be transported to the Shuttle Landing Facility at 1:30 p.m. to pre-stage equipment and satellite trucks. Media will return to the Press Accreditation Building at 2:30 p.m. to allow for security sweeps of the facility.

On Feb. 21, media will be transported to the Space Station Processing Facility to pre-stage equipment and satellite trucks. Media will return to the Press Accreditation Building at 5 a.m. to allow for security sweeps of the facility.

All equipment needed to cover both events must be pre-staged at the respective facilities.

This will be the second meeting of the National Space Council, which President Trump reestablished last year.

Images and video highlights from the meeting and tours will be available at:

https://www.nasa.gov/mediaresources

For more information about NASA's Kennedy Space Center, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/kennedy

SOURCE NASA

Related Links

http://www.nasa.gov

LONDON, February 19, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

NelsonHall, the leading global analyst firm dedicated to helping organizations adopt new digital process models, is delighted to welcome Janet Irwin, who joins as Senior Analyst responsible for NelsonHall's Finance & Accounting (F&A), Procurement, and Supply Chain Services research.

Janet has over 18 years' experience within the procurement, supply chain, and accounting industries, and has gained extensive strategic sourcing, supply chain, and accounting experience at global organizations including AT&T, American Express, Citibank, Standard Register (in support of Hewlett-Packard) and Xerox. Janet's strategic experience includes key roles in global sourcing strategy development and implementation, supply chain and logistics, and source-to-pay. She has also worked in a consulting capacity, advising companies on supply chain and procurement restructuring.

Based in the U.S., Janet has a Bachelor's degree from Caldwell College and a Master's in Communications Management and Technology from New York University.

Janet's appointment is the latest in a series of key additions to NelsonHall's team, which is expanding in response to market demand for its unique brand of rigorous and insightful research and advice. John Willmott, NelsonHall's CEO, said "Really delighted to have Janet join NelsonHall. I expect Janet's domain expertise combined with NelsonHall's frameworks to add real value to our clients."

Janet is currently conducting a major global project on Next Generation Source-to-Pay BPS. You can contact her at [email protected] or connect with her on LinkedIn.

About NelsonHall

NelsonHall is the leading global analyst firm dedicated to helping organizations understand the 'art of the possible' in next generation IT and business services. With analysts in the US, UK, and Europe, NelsonHall provides buy-side organizations with detailed, critical information on markets and vendors (including NEAT assessments) that helps them de-risk their sourcing engagements and make fast and highly informed sourcing decisions. For service providers, NelsonHall provides deep knowledge of market dynamics and user requirements to help them hone & implement their go-to-market strategies.

For media inquiries, please contact:

Paul Connolly

[email protected]



SOURCE NelsonHallST JOHNS, Antigua and Barbuda, February 19, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

A new and unique five star resort in Antigua was announced by the Ayre Group today. The development is located on the Valley Church beach and design work is already underway, with works scheduled to commence on site in late summer of 2018. The construction cost of the resort is expected to be in excess of USD $100m and will be entirely funded by profits made through the appreciation of Bitcoin Cash (BCH).

The announcement was made by His Excellency Calvin Ayre, the Chairman of The Ayre Group, who also acts as Special Economic Envoy for the Government of Antigua and Barbuda. Hon. Ayre warmly thanked the Prime Minister, The Hon. Gaston Browne, and all of the Government departments which have offered valuable support to the development in its progress to date.

Hon. Ayre said, "In my discussions with Government about the project we agreed that the new resort was very much in keeping with the government's strategy for further upscale tourism development. This resort will attract a totally new market segment of tourism on the island - successful wellness seekers who also want to have fun. The property will not be an all-inclusive destination, instead, its amenities will be available to residents of Antigua and Barbuda and visitors alike. I am confident that the type of guest we will attract will wish to explore Antigua - its culture and history, as well as all of our many diverse attractions and activities. We are focused on creating for a very special market, a world-class resort and unforgettable experience, but also one which benefits the broader economy across the whole island."

Prime Minister, the Hon. Gaston Browne welcomed the new development and said, "We expect the resort's novel and exciting concept to broaden Antigua and Barbuda's tourism product and bring a new category of tourists to our islands. Furthermore, the additional resort rooms will help drive an increased number of airline seats to Antigua, further boost the island's tourism profile, and expand our economy. We look forward to working with Mr. Ayre on this resort and the many other investments he has made in Antigua."

The resort is envisaged as the first of several similar Ayre Resort branded properties to be developed around the world. These will all incorporate an Ayre Wellness Centre and Spa and a Bodog Casino Club, in addition to other more common resort facilities. The Antigua property is designed with multiple bars and restaurants, as well as a convention centre and lively beach club. The resort's hotel accommodations is planned to consist of 80 oversized studio suites and 30 luxurious one bedroom suites. In addition, 8 luxury condominiums, 8 spacious town houses and 3 stunning villas will be offered for sale.

All of the Ayre Resorts will accept Bitcoin Cash (BCH) at point of sale terminals on the properties and through its online booking engine. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) has been selected as the exclusive cryptocurrency of the Ayre Resorts because it is the only cryptocurrency that has low transaction fees and unrestrained scalability.

www.ayreresorts.com

www.ayre.ag

SOURCE Ayre GroupRIVERSIDE, Calif., Feb. 19, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Popbar, the maker of customizable popGelato, popSorbetto, and yogurtPops, founded in New York City in 2010 opened its first location in the Inland Empire at Galleria at Tyler mall. An official Grand Opening celebration will be held March 3rd to mark the special occasion. Festivities will include complimentary pops to the first 100 customers and the chance to win free Popbar for a year!

Display case full of customizable pops Handcrafted, all natural, customizable gelato on a stick

Dedicated to serving 'the best' in frozen treats, Popbar serves handcrafted gelato, sorbetto, and yogurt in a new way  on a stick. All pops are made in-house daily with all natural ingredients. On the menu, you'll find 40+ rotating flavors ranging from classics (Chocolate, Vanilla) to the more unique (Green Tea, Passion Fruit), and even seasonal ones too (Watermelon, Pumpkin Pie). You can enjoy your pop as-is, or customize to your liking. Premium dippings and toppings include dark, milk, and white chocolate, nuts, sprinkles, waffle cone, caramel corn, and more!

At Popbar, a mouthwatering experience awaits everyone, even those looking for vegan, dairy-free, gluten-free, and soy-free options. All popSorbettos are vegan-dairy-gluten-soy-free, and all popGelatos and yogurtPops are gluten-soy free. Other indulgences include Hot Chocolate on a Stick, Frozen Hot Chocolate, the Double Shake (Popbar's take on a milkshake, made with any two pops), and the newest addition to the menu, popWich, a gelato sandwich on a stick!

All this decadence can be attributed to Italian roots and a love for supremely delicious treats. Blending authenticity, innovation, and high quality ingredients, Popbar became a recipe for success, and the contemporary concept has been changing the way we enjoy our favorite Italian desserts since - on an international scale.

Popbar currently has 17 stores in the US in states like AZ, CA, FL, NC, NY, and TX, and 11 stores internationally in countries like Canada, Panama, Singapore and Russia, but this is just the beginning. There are currently 5 stores under construction in new territories, and many more to come. Popbar Riverside, the second to open in 2018, is located in Tyler Mall, a premier shopping center featuring the finest collection of department stores and specialty brands in the region.

"I can't wait to show the Inland Empire what they've been missing! Enjoying one of our tasty pops may result in additive behavior," jokes franchisee, Daman Singh. "My favorite combo is hazelnut with white chocolate, and hazelnuts  I can't get enough! I'm eager to see the delicious combos that other dessert lovers come up with here at Tyler Mall!"

While Popbar is expanding rapidly, the brand maintains a 'mom and pop' feel at all locations with the help of its hand-selected franchisees. Each store prides itself on Popbar's original values - superior quality, in-house production, outstanding service, authenticity, and family-friendly fun. New stores quickly become classic neighborhood spots, and supplies like fruit and milk are purchased locally.

Popbar is a perfect treat for anyone - baby to adult, and for any occasion - dessert date to post-game celebratory treat to midnight snack. With so many flavors and combinations to try, just one visit won't do. You'll definitely want to stop in for a "love at first bite" experience, but if you're a foodie, don't forget to snap a picture of your pop first  that is, if you can wait.

To keep up with everything Popbar, follow the brand on Instagram @popbar and Facebook @popbarUSA, or visit www.pop-bar.com.

Poppin' up soon in:

Concord, CA

Elk Grove, CA

Rancho Cucamonga, CA

Sacramento, CA

Atlanta, GA

New Orleans, LA

Charleston, SC

Summerville, SC

Galleria Mall, Houston, TX

Richardson, TX

Woodlands, TX

New territories are available for franchising. Email [email protected].

Media Contact:

Megan Lewkowicz

[email protected]

212-444-8141

SOURCE Popbar

Related Links

http://www.pop-bar.com

FREMONT, Calif., Feb. 19, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- RAVPower is celebrating the offline launch of their Fast Wireless Charger. Previously available only online, the fast wireless charger was critically acclaimed for being one of the only chargers to wirelessly power Android phones at 10W and the iPhone X, 8S, and 8 at their maximum 7.5W speed. The offline launch marks RAVPower enabling users from 39 countries to access wireless charging.

RAVPower

"Previously our Fast Wireless Charger was available only online in North America, Japan, and select European markets. However, we have always been determined to allow as many people to enjoy wireless charging," said Allen Fung, General Manager of RAVPower. "We found the best way to achieve our goal is to go offline which is enabling us to reach out to 39 countries around the world. We are currently working with retailers to make this happen."

The Fast Wireless Charger differs from its online counterpart with a new square-shaped charging pad design. It will also come with a handy charging stand to allow users to view their phone while charging. RAVPower's Faster Wireless Charger features the following for the premium cable-free charging experience:

7.5W max for the iPhone 8, 8S, and X

10W max for select Android devices

Compatible with all Qi-enabled phones

Lightweight, take anywhere size

Smart battery indicator

Built-in over-current, over-voltage, and over-temperature protections

RAVPower's Fast Wireless Charger will be available in select retail stores in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Singapore, Malaysia, India, Russia, Mexico, and 31 other countries. If you are interested in working with RAVPower please visit https://www.ravpower.com/wireless_charger_merchants-en.html

About RAVPower

Founded in 2011, RAVPower has grown to become the one-stop power charging solution for millions of customers from around the world. RAVPower's wide variety of portable chargers ranges from high-capacity external battery packs to travel-friendly multiport USB chargers to high-tech offerings which utilize Qualcomm's Quick Charge technology.

www.ravpower.com

About Sunvalleytek

Founded in 2007, Sunvalleytek has grown to become a leading eCommerce company that is home to seven major international consumer brands: RAVPower, TaoTronics, VAVA, Anjou, and Sable. From energy-saving LED desk lamps to next-generation portable chargers to 100% pure essential oil, the Sunvalleytek's brands have regularly become top-sellers in many leading eCommerce platforms across the world.

https://www.sunvalley-group.com/en/index.html

Media Contact:

Company name: Sunvalleytek International Inc.

Contact name: Allen Fung

General Manager of RAVPower

Phone number: 1-510-260-5089

Email: [email protected]

Address: 46724 Lakeview Blvd, Fremont, CA 94538, USA

http://www.sunvalleytek.com

SOURCE RAVPower

Related Links

https://www.ravpower.com

(Logo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/583211/RANEPA_Logo.jpg )

(Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/643320/RANEPA_Gaidar_Forum.jpg )

The discussions focus on important current problems and most important issues in the social and economic sphere. The Forum was established in 2010 in tribute to the memory of outstanding Russian economist Yegor Gaidar and is traditionally supported by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. Participation is open to anyone who has influence on the global world order through their advanced achievements in economics.

The following prominent experts spoke at the forum in different years: President of the European Central Bank (2003-2011), Chairman of the Group of Thirty, Jean-Claude Trichet; Regius Professor of Economics at the London School of Economics and Political Science, Nobel Prize winner in Economics, Christopher Pissarides; Professor at Yale University, one of the world's leading sociologists, Immanuel Wallerstein; President of Greece, Prokopis Pavlopoulos; Minister of State (Prime Minister) of the Principality of Monaco, Michel Roger; Secretary-General of OECD, Angel Gurria; President of the Czech Republic (2003 - 2013) Vaclav Klaus; Danone CEO Emmanuel Faber, and many others.

This year's highlight was Russia and the World: Values and Virtues. The participants discussed the drivers of innovation development, digital society, business opportunities, cluster approach in the age of digital economy, public administration, tax policy, and healthcare. The program included discussions and sessions on the most acute problems of the new reality: Europe after Brexit, attracting investments under sanctions, global energy market under new conditions, environmental protection and many more.

The key event of the forum, the Values and Virtues plenary discussion, was attended by the Russian Prime Minister, Dmitry Medvedev, who talked about the top challenges of our time: the increasing inequality - uneven incomes, uneven territorial development; the risk of an artificial technological gap growing between the world's regions; and ensuring security in the digital space.

RANEPA Rector Vladimir Mau moderated the discussion.

The plenary session participants included Chief Executive Officer of the World Bank Kristalina Georgieva; Chairman of JP Morgan Chase International, former Chairman of the Bank of Israel (1991-2000), and member of RANEPA International Advisory Board Jacob Frenkel; political analyst, Chairman of the Center for Liberal Strategies in Sofia, Permanent Fellow with the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna Ivan Krastev; President of the European Policy Center, President Emeritus of the European Council (2009-2014), former Prime Minister of Belgium (2008-2009) Herman Van Rompuy; and Minister for Foreign Trade and Development of Finland, Kai Mykkanen.

The Ninth Gaidar Forum featured a presentation of the National Report on the Development of High-Tech Business in Russian Regions; experts discussed the growth of the regional economies and welfare, the effectiveness of companies' investments in new projects, technological changes, and human capital.

AACSB President Tom Robinson, IMD President Jean-Francois Manzoni and RANEPA Vice-Rector Sergei Myasoyedov identified the main trends in business education in the future during the Business School Model for the 21st Century Leaders session.

The forum participants also discussed the Russian-French cooperation through civil societies as part of the Trianon dialogue program. Of great interest was the open lecture, Artificial Intelligence - a Challenge for Mankind.

This year's forum convened more than 15,000 participants and 1,750 journalists. It is one of the most quoted economic conferences in Russia. The Financial Times included the forum in the top five world business events. The Gaidar Forum was recognized as the business event of the year and won The Moscow Times Award in 2013.

Dmitry Sokolov

Head of Press

RANEPA / Gaidar Forum

+7903-788-3802

[email protected]

Www.ranepa.ru/eng

SOURCE Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA)YOKNEAM, Israel, February 19, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Saguna, a leader and pioneer of Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC), announced today that in Mobile World Congress, Vodafone, AWS Greengrass and Saguna will demonstrate a joint MEC-based driver monitoring Proof of Concept (PoC) leveraging Amazon Web Services (AWS) Greengrass at Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2018.

As part of the broader connected cars trend that is transforming the automotive industry, various accident prevention solutions are being developed. Among these are driver monitoring solutions, which are designed to alert distracted drivers that text, talk on the phone, become drowsy or shift their focus away from the road to someone or something in the car. These solutions require a camera in the vehicle focused on the driver and the artificial intelligence that track movements and effectively identify when the driver becomes distracted. As a result, current in-vehicle solutions are expensive, hard to upgrade and may quickly become obsolete during the car's 20-year lifespan.

Multi-access edge computing brings cloud-computing capabilities into the mobile access network. It enables smart-camera applications, like driver monitoring solutions, to install a low-cost camera in the vehicle while offloading the computational resources to the edge of the mobile network. With edge cloud computing, the in-vehicle bill-of-materials is significantly reduced, and the shared network resources can reduce costs even further. This scalable approach also enables regular updates and improvements to the latest software technologies that can increase the solution's effectiveness and enhance safety. By operating close to the vehicles, this low latency environment can deliver the required real-time alerts and avoids loading the backhaul network.

At MWC 2018, visitors will be able to see a live demonstration of the driver monitoring PoC featuring a live camera feed streaming over a Vodafone 4G LTE Network. Operating inside the access network, Saguna's MEC solution hosts the AWS Greengrass AI video analytics application.

To see the demo live at MWC 2018, visit Saguna's booth in Hall 5 Booth 5E41.

About Saguna

Saguna Networks, a leader and pioneer of Multi-access Edge Cloud Computing, transforms communication networks into powerful Edge Cloud computing platforms that minimize latency, boost performance, and reduce costs by operating as close as possible to end users and connected IoT devices. Compliant with ETSI MEC standard, Saguna's Open-RAN enables communication service providers and application developers to develop and deploy innovative, revenue generating Edge Applications and Services for Internet of Things, virtual and augmented reality, connected cars, content delivery, enterprise applications and more. For more information, contact us at [email protected], follow us on Twitter @sagunanet, or visit our Web site at http://www.saguna.net.



Contact:

Tally Netzer

Marketing Director, Saguna

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE SagunaFT. LAUDERDALE, Fla., Feb. 19, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Sixt Rent-a-Car, the world's premiere affordable luxury car rental service with more than 2,000 locations in over 100 countries, is renowned around the world for its one-of-a-kind "Sixt Experience", meeting the unique needs of each customer with world-class service. Here in the U.S. only since 2011, the company has already grown to become the nation's 5th largest rental car provider.

Today, Sixt is announcing that it's officially open for business at Tampa International Airport's brand-new, on-airport Consolidated Rental Facility (CONRAC).

"Our new facility in Tampalocated inside its beautiful, new on-airport facilityaffords customers easier access to Sixt than ever before. Whether it's opening a new location or upgrading an existing one, we're constantly looking for ways to improve our customer's experience," said Daniel Florence, Chief Operating Officer of Sixt USA. "We are growing this year more rapidly than ever before, and looking forward to making many more grand opening announcements, starting with a new Ft. Myers location on February 27th."

In 2017, Sixt unveiled a newly-expanded offering at its flagship space in the Miami International Airport and at its Seattle-Tacoma International Airport location, launched a new location at the San Diego International Airport, and moved into its new North American corporate headquarters in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. As the 5th largest car rental company in the U.S. after just seven years, Sixt's success story continues to unfold month-after-month. The company has grown to over 750 employees, and serves more than 51 rental locations located in California, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Washington, Texas, Connecticut, New Jersey, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Arizona, and Massachusetts.

About Sixt:

Sixt SE has its registered headquarters in Pullach near Munich and is a leading international provider of high-quality mobility services for business and corporate customers as well as private travelers. With representations in over 100 countries worldwide Sixt is continually expanding its presence. The Company's strengths lie in the high proportion of premium cars in the vehicle fleet, its employees' consistent service orientation and a good price-performance ratio. Taken together these strengths have given Company an excellent market position. Sixt was founded in 1912 and maintains alliances with renowned brands in the hotel industry, well-known airlines and numerous prominent service providers in the tourism sector. The Sixt Group generates revenues of EUR 2.4 billion (2016). http://about.sixt.com/

SOURCE Sixt Rent-a-Car

Related Links

http://about.sixt.com

The highest honor bestowed by the Texas Association of REALTORS, the Texas REALTOR of the Year award is given annually to a REALTOR who has made outstanding contributions to the industry through involvement in their national, state and local associations during their career.

A veteran of the Texas real estate industry, Hatfield's 35 years of industry experience includes serving as Chairman of the Texas Association of REALTORS in 2014, president of the Bandera County Board of Realtors in 1993 and 1998 and national president of the REALTORS Land Institute in 2010.

Hatfield has received multiple honors for his long track record of leadership and service throughout his career, including being named Omega Tau Rho by the National Association of Realtors, Land Realtor of America in 2007 and the Realtors Land Institute's Lifetime Distinguished Service Award.

Kaky Lybbert, 2018 Chairman of the Texas Association of REALTORS commented, "A friend and colleague for many years, Dan has been a paramount figure in the Texas real estate market for years and has dedicated his life's work to educating and leading Realtors of all ages and points of their careers to enhance and move Texas real estate forward as a positive force in the Texas economy."

About the Texas Association of REALTORS

With more than 114,000 members, the Texas Association of REALTORS is a professional membership organization that represents all aspects of real estate in Texas. We advocate on behalf of Texas REALTORS and private-property owners to keep homeownership affordable, protect private-property rights, and promote public policies that benefit homeowners. Visit TexasRealEstate.com to learn more.

CONTACT: Hunter Dodson

On Behalf of the Texas Association of REALTORS

512-448-4950

[email protected]

SOURCE Texas Association of Realtors

Related Links

https://www.texasrealestate.com/

(Logo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/620204/Arab_Fashion_Council_Logo.jpg )



(Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/643317/Arab_British_Fashion_Council.jpg )



This partnership, which will see the BFC become a Strategic Development Partner of the Arab Fashion Council has two main aims; to deliver a growth strategy for the fashion industry within the Arab World and to provide a gateway in to the region for British and international brands without a foothold there currently.

"We look forward to working with AFC as they develop their fashion infrastructure and community. We also look forward to developing opportunities for brands and businesses to expand into the Arabic countries through this new relationship with the AFC, who are experts in their market." - Caroline Rush, Chief Executive, British Fashion Council

The partnership is the foundation of a long-term strategy to establish a sustainable fashion infrastructure in the Arab World, harnessing design, manufacturing, retail, commerce and education, positioning the region as a key strategic hub cementing the fashion industry as a key pillar for the creative economies in the region.

"This important partnership, will support the Arab Fashion Council in achieving its ambition to unite a sustainable fashion system for the Arab World. With the counsel and expertise of the British Fashion Council, the AFC will nurture and promote the talent resource from the region and strategically reinforce the Arab World as an important economic hub for the international fashion industry." - Jacob Abrian, Founder & Chief Executive, The Arab Fashion Council

As part of the Council's regional expansion, in December 2017, the AFC announced the opening of its regional office in Riyadh and the appointment of H.H. Princess Noura Bint Faisal Al Saud as Honorary President.

"We are pleased to form a strategic alliance between the Arab Fashion Council and the British Fashion Council. This reflects the global interest in our vision to transform the fashion and retail sector in Saudi Arabia into both a regional and global destination. This can only happen by stimulating local and regional industry, by encouraging trade exchange and global business in line with the Vision 2030, as our gateway to a future that reflects the cultural image of Saudi Arabia and its people." - H.H. Princess Noura Bint Faisal Al Saud, Honorary President, The Arab Fashion Council

Ms Layla Issa Abuzaid, Country Director Saudi Arabia, The Arab Fashion Council, summarised; "The strategic partnership we are announcing today between the Arab Fashion Council and the British Fashion Council is part of our quest to strengthen the fashion sector in Saudi Arabia and to support talent in a young society where median age is just 29. We are confident that we are on the right track to transform the fashion industry of the Kingdom into one of the leading economic sectors for Saudi Arabia, creating new job opportunities, opening markets for Saudi exports and supporting the economic development of the country by becoming part of a world industry worth over 3 trillion dollars."

http://www.arabfashioncouncil.com

SOURCE The Arab Fashion CouncilNEW YORK, Feb. 19, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The global biological safety testing market should reach $13.1 billion by 2022 from $5.1 billion in 2017 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20.9%, from 2017 to 2022.



Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05336816





 The analytical testing services segment of global biological safety testing market is expected to grow from $1.9 billion in 2017 to $4.9 billion in 2022 at a CAGR of 20.3% for the period 2017-2022.

 The in vitro (cell-based and reagents) segment of global biological safety testing market is expected to grow from $1.8 billion in 2017 to $5.5 billion in 2022 at a CAGR of 24.6% for the period 2017-2022.



Chapter 1: Introduction

This is a market and technology report on the global market for biologics safety testing, including the key segments: in vivo animal, in vitro and analytical testing services and products. Naturally a key driver for this market is the underlying market for biologics themselves.



The term biological refers to a number of different drug therapy and vaccine products. Other terms in the literature for these types of pharmaceutical products include the terms biologics and bio therapeutics.



In this report, the term Biologics will refer to therapeutic proteins, antigens, recombinant proteins and antigens, and other living cell-derived agents that are used to produce these types of pharmaceutical products. Biologics are medical products derived from various natural sources such microorganisms, eukaryotic cell lines, and animals.



The biological products are either extracted from sources such as proteins, carbohydrates, and nucleic acids of living organisms, or produced by genetic engineering techniques or other technologies.



Biologics are the fastest growing sector of the biopharmaceutical industry. This shift towards commercialization of more proteinbased drugs is mostly due to their high specificity, enhanced efficacy, affinity, solubility and low toxicity.



Biological safety testing is a process or method to check or ensure physical uniformity (or biosimilarity) to reference standards and noncontamination of vaccines and other biological products. Biological safety testing is a major step in the drug development process to ensure sterility, purity, stability, and overall quality of biological agents and processes to produce noncontaminated products.



Detection, authentication, and characterization are the major steps of biological safety testing to check whether biological products are free from bacteria, fungi, yeasts, mycoplasma, viruses, and other potential contaminants.



This report focuses on the global market for biologics safety testing, including the key segments: in vivo (or lab animalbased testing), in vitro (which includes both test tube and automated testing as well as cell and tissuebased testing), and analytical testing (which includes services and products offered by analytical testing labs). Naturally, a key driver for this market is the demand for biologics themselves.



Biological safety testing is an integral part of the proteinbased drug and vaccine discovery, development, and commercialization process. Utilizing data obtained in vivo about physical, chemical and biological processes, and in conjunction with in vitro data obtained from chemical and cellbased testing assays, the safety and efficacy of new biologics and those in development stages are assessed.



Study Goals and Objectives

The objective of BCC Research in conducting this study is to provide an overview of the current and future characteristics of the global market for safety testing of biologics. The key objective is to present a comprehensive analysis of the current market and its future direction as an important tool for increasing the efficiency and specificity of the products and types of safety testing for biologics.



This report explores present and future strategies within the biological safety testing market, which includes the therapeutic, diagnostics, and molecular research sectors. Biological safety testing includes identification and characterization of adventitious agents such as prions, virinos, viruses, bacteria, yeast and molds.



The technology, applications, and end users of different types of biological safety testing are also discussed.

A detailed analysis of the structure of the biological safety testing industry has been conducted. Revenues are broken down by global region. Revenue figures are estimated for the five-year period from 2017 through 2022.



Applications or the uses of biological safety testing are also discussed separately in the report, with emphasis on the usage during the new drug development process. The report also covers the usage of biological safety testing for research and development, process development and scale-up, commercial scale production, and commercial lot release.



Reasons for Doing This Study

Biological safety testing is performed for many different types of pharmaceutical products including recombinant protein-based therapeutics, diagnostics, and vaccines. The growing market for new biologics and the industrial processes used to produce them has led to a corresponding growth in the biological safety testing industry.



Biological safety testing technology has made it possible to produce biologics that are nearly identical to naturally occurring forms of these proteins. The safety testing ensures that these similarities are preserved throughout the product lifecycle.



The commercial production of Biologics is subject to increasing regulation by the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) (U.S.), the International Council for Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for Pharmaceuticals for Human Use (ICH) (E.U.), and other governmental and nongovernmental regulatory agencies all over the world. Safety testing regulations, new advancements in testing technology, and increased spending in research and development are key drivers of growth in the biological safety testing market.



The report also explores implications for biosimilars (generic biologics), a growing and dynamic sector where complex commercial and operations strategies are being established.



Scope of Report

The scope of this study encompasses all aspects of biological safety testing used for characterization and release of biopharmaceutical, veterinary and medical diagnostics products. BCC Research analyzes each market and its applications, regulatory environments, technology, market projections, and market share. Technological issues discussed in the report include the latest trends and developments.



Information Sources

In order to analyze the current state of the biological safety testing market, many different resources were used to gather market information and the major players involved. Primary sources included company publications including annual shareholder reports, published financial data obtained from company reports and news alerts, as well as SEC filings.



In addition, senior level employees were interviewed along with information gathered from industry trade journal reports and articles. Secondary resources included internet searches, information obtained from second party sources, financial publications, and market forecasts.



Methodology

A comprehensive literature search was conducted, which included technical newsletters and journals, and many other sources. Data were collected through publications, website data, literature searches, and interviews with industry professionals. Projections were based on estimates such as the current number of end users, potential end users, mergers and acquisitions, and increasing regulatory requirements.



Approximately 60 different companies were examined in detail in order to estimate the global biological safety testing market. These companies represented the major players in each market segment, along with other smaller players.



In addition, the overall market for biological safety testing was assessed for growth capacity based upon industry reports and financial statements. The biopharmaceutical industry as a whole is poised for contained double digit growth through the forecast period of 2017 through 2022. This growth in the industry itself will create additional demand for biological safety testing applications and services.



Geographic Breakdown



In this report, the geographic regions considered for market analysis include, and only include:

 North America (U.S. and Canada).

 E.U. and Eastern Europe (Russia).

 Asia-Pacific (Japan, China, Australia).

 South America and Other (Brazil, Mexico, South Africa).



Biologics Safety Testing Market, by Test Technology

Animal Based Testing

In Vitro Testing (Kits & Reagents and Cell Lines)

Analytical Services



Biologics Safety Testing Market, by Test Objective

Sterility Testing

Adventitious Agents Detection Test

Bioburden Testing

Cell Line Authentication And Characterization Tests

Endotoxin Tests

Residual Host Contaminant Detection Tests

Product Release Tests (Efficacy Tests, Toxicity Tests, Stability Tests)



Biologics Safety Testing Market, by Test Application

Discovery and Development

Clinical Trials and Approval

Product Release

- Purity

- Potency

- Sterility

- Stability

- Excipient Testing



Chapter 2: Summary and Highlights

Summary of Key Insights Factors affecting the biological safety testing market and its potential for growth in the forecast period include:

1) The decline in in vivo testing due to development of newer in vitro toxicology and efficacy tests;

2) Public opposition to in vivo testing based upon ethical considerations;

3) The anticipated growth for in vitro testing, especially due to the cellbased segment;

4) Development of new cell lines that express specific biomarkers for disease states and comparative diagnostics;

5) The growth of "personalized medicines" based upon the advancement of autologous cell replacement or transfusion based (i.e., CAR/T) therapies and elucidation of mechanisms of disease using in vitro models;

6) Finally, the increasing number of brand name biologics coming off patent protection will result in a growing market for "biosimilars" or generic biologicsmany of which will be manufactured overseas by contract manufacturing organizations (or CMO's) and will drive the need for increased bioequivalence testing in many markets (especially in Europe and Asia-Pacific )and will serve to increase the overall percentage of outsourced biological safety testing by large pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical companies.



Market Segment Breakdown The in vivo testing market was valued at approximately REDACTED in 2017 and is expected to reach a value of approximately REDACTED in 2022. This sector consists mainly of in vivo safety testing, including efficacy testing, absorption dissemination metabolism and excretion (ADME) testing, in vivo toxicology testing, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics (PK/PD) testing, dosage determination, and long-term exposure monitoring.



This sector of the global biological safety testing market is expected to have the lowest growth potential with a REDACTED predicted CAGR over the forecast period. This lower growth rate represents the decline in new animal-based testing models for toxicity and the development of more reliable in vitro toxicology methods for assessing the inherent toxicological properties of Biologics.



The in vitro testing market was over REDACTED in 2017 and is anticipated to reach REDACTED in 2022 with a REDACTED CAGR over the forecast period. This segment includes tests for cytoxicity and cell-based potency.



Bioproduction of vaccines and peptide-based antibiotics are the foremost application areas among the foremost application areas for biologics testing and are expected to exceed REDACTED in 2022. As a consequence of the high manufacturing volume pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies are increasingly incorporating in vitro biological safety testing tools to produce highly potentand contamination-free Biologics to treat to the large population suffering from target diseases.



The analytical testing market was valued at approximately REDACTED in 2017. This market is expected to grow at a CAGR of over REDACTED during the forecast period to reach REDACTED in 2022.



This segment includes the majority of product release testing applications such as sterility, bioburden, adventitious agents, endotoxin, host cell protein, and excipients testing. The growing production of a new generation Biologics by major pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies is a high-impact growth driver of the market. The subsequent increase is believed to be a consequence of high global prevalence of target diseases, which has triggered the companies to produce advanced Biologics.



Consequently, the high need for Biologics has resulted in an unprecedented growth in the number of biopharmaceutical companies. This rise in the number of companies has engendered a high demand for analytical testing services to eliminate contamination risks using safety assurance measures in the manufacturing processes.



Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05336816



About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



__________________________

Contact Clare: [email protected]

US: (339)-368-6001

Intl: +1 339-368-6001

SOURCE Reportlinker

Related Links

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NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., Feb. 19, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Luxury California jeweler Twila True Fine Jewelry took its designs across the country this week to make its debut at New York Fashion Week, fashion's most coveted invite. On Tuesday night, a collection of Twila True's ruby and diamond necklaces, bracelets, rings, and brooches were paired with the timeless designs of Malaysian style icon, Zang Toi, as his models took to the runway for his "Roman Holiday" show.

Twila True and Zang Toi NYFW 2018

Toi is a renowned fashion designer who has built a tradition of elegance for over 20 years, outfitting clients such as Sharon Stone, Elizabeth Taylor, and Ivana Trump. At the event, Toi staged "Roman Holiday" to feature his 2018 collection, which revealed inspirations from his travels to Rome with pops of regal red and statement pink and orange anchored by a gray-scale palette. His collection included palazzo pants, tailored coats, and cashmere and wool dresses, tops and skirts, accompanied by Twila True Fine Jewelry.

"I'm awed and honored that fashion legend Zang Toi chose to compliment his latest creations with our custom pieces," said Twila True Fine Jewelry Founder, Twila True. "With their black hues and sparkles, Toi's new looks were the perfect backdrop to illuminate the craftsmanship and details that set our works of art apart."

To thank Toi for featuring Twila True designs in his collection, True presented him with an invisible set ruby and diamond ring. Toi gave True a red faux fur jacket, which she donned at the show.

True was accompanied to New York Fashion Week event by Victoria Secret model Josephine Kriver, Miss Brazil 2010 and 2011, Duda Castro, and Real Housewife Gretchen Rossi. World Famous makeup artist Troy Jensen gave True her glowing, unforgettable makeup look for the evening, while her hair was crafted by Nathaniel Cheli.

Twila True Fine Jewelry creations are available at the Newport Beach, California, boutique and online at https://twilatrue.com.

About Twila True Fine Jewelry

Inspired by its namesake, Twila True Fine Jewelry specializes in marrying time-honored traditions of the past with jewelry and gifts for today's luxury connoisseur. Nestled in the glittering enclave of Newport Beach, California, its team of jewelers practiced in old-world craftsmanship and Twila True's vision for the future make modern jewelry fantasies come true. From elaborate rings and earrings to bracelets, necklaces, and men's watches, Twila True offers a range of custom jewelry selections. Visit https://twilatrue.com to learn more.

Media Contact:

Jon Lightfoot

VP Brands / TypeLab, Inc.

Phone: 949.390.0554

Email: [email protected]

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Twila True and Josephine Kriver front row during the Zang Toi fashion show, NYFW.

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Adaptive reuse of the property will render approximately 900 indoor self-storage units, including climate-controlled rooms, with high-tech security features at affordable price points. Propane and professional hitch installation will also be offered in the near future on the 12.75-acre lot.

"This building had been vacant for more than a year, and we are eager to put our adaptive reuse program to use in Sioux City," said Randy Dickson, U-Haul Company of Iowa president. "When large 'box stores' close, many times they stay dark for a long time and fall into disrepair. Our reuse of this building will be great for U-Haul, the environment and the community."

Contact U-Haul Moving & Storage of Sioux City at (712) 277-8216 or stop by to visit general manager Will Hedrick and his team. Hours of operation are 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Saturday and 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday. Reserve equipment at uhaul.com or contact Reservations at 1-800-GO-UHAUL.

The recent acquisition of the Sioux City facility was driven by U-Haul Company's Corporate Sustainability initiatives: U-Haul supports infill developments to help local communities lower their carbon footprint. Our adaptive reuse of existing buildings reduces the amount of energy and resources required for new-building materials and helps cities reduce their unwanted inventory of unused buildings.

By repurposing the former Kmart store, U-Haul prevented the use of 1,511 tons of metal manufacturing and transportation (the amount of steel used to make 1,523 passenger cars); avoided 6,409 tons of new concrete pours (enough to create 129 miles of concrete blocks); kept 8,057 tons of building and demolition debris out of landfills (avoiding 310 dump trucks traveling 6,508 miles); and stopped 8,643,051 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions from entering the atmosphere (the carbon emissions of 663 large SUVs or pickup trucks for one year).

"We're still in the planning phases with this project, but we're hoping to be fully operational by mid-summer," Dickson added. "I'm very excited to bring our full line of products and services to our neighbors in Sioux City."

U-Haul will look to hire locally to promote job growth within the Sioux City community. Dickson expects to maintain a staff of 10 or more Team Members when the facility is fully operational. U-Haul always encourages local contractors to bid on renovation work.

The arrival of U-Haul Truck Share 24/7 is revolutionizing the moving industry through its more convenient, more secure way to pick up and return a truck. U-Haul live verification technology allows rental transactions to be carried out entirely on a smartphone at any hour  day or night. There are no membership fees. Simply visit uhaul.com to create an online account.

About U-Haul

Since 1945, U-Haul has been the No. 1 choice of do-it-yourself movers, with a network of more than 21,000 locations across all 50 states and 10 Canadian provinces. U-Haul Truck Share 24/7 now offers customers access to U-Haul trucks every hour of every day through the self-service options on their internet-connected mobile devices. U-Haul customers' patronage has enabled the U-Haul fleet to grow to more than 150,000 trucks, 112,000 trailers and 40,000 towing devices. U-Haul offers more than 581,000 rooms and more than 51 million square feet of self-storage space at owned and managed facilities throughout North America. U-Haul is the largest installer of permanent trailer hitches in the automotive aftermarket industry and is the largest retailer of propane in the U.S.

Contact:

Andrea Batchelor

Jeff Lockridge

E-mail: [email protected]

Phone: 602-263-6981

Website: uhaul.com

SOURCE U-HaulNEW YORK, Feb. 19, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- "We are pleased to announce this $20 million credit investment, which increases our funding capabilities and enhances our ability to take advantage of significant market opportunities," stated Yalber's CEO, Amir Landsman. "The new facility, from a leading institutional financing partner, is a validation of the strength of our team, our track record of success and the robust platform that Yalber has built."

Since its founding, Yalber has provided more than 5,000 businesses with over $300 million in working capital solutions to grow. Proceeds from the transaction will be used by the Company to execute its strategic growth plan and accelerate their ability to provide more small businesses with access to attractive non-bank financing.

Mr. Landsman continued, "Small businesses are thriving; representing 99 percent of all U.S businesses, 60 percent of total net job creation and 46 percent of private nonfarm GDP. Yet, bank credit to this important sector of the economy has contracted sharply. It is estimated that the amount of small business loan originations plummeted by more than half during the financial crisis and has seen only a very limited recovery post-crisis, leaving small business loan originations down 40 percent."

When small businesses find it hard to overcome funding issues from traditional sources of capital, Yalber remains committed to helping them accomplish their goals. Yalber offers small business owners in a variety of industries across the U.S. the option to fund their businesses for any purpose with up to $500,000. The Company's technology-enabled platform allows for a streamlined process, with most qualified businesses funded within 24 hours.

Mr. Landsman concluded, "The closing of this transaction demonstrates that institutional investors have confidence in our business model and expect to see continued, rapid growth."

Brean Capital served as exclusive financial advisor to the Company on the transaction. The senior credit facility provided by an institutional credit fund focused on specialty finance and related investments.

About Yalber

Founded in 2007 and headquartered in New York City with strategic offices in Dallas, Los Angeles and San Francisco, Yalber is a technology-enabled specialty lender, leveraging proprietary origination, disciplined underwriting and performance analytics to improve the speed, cost and choice of capital available to small and mid-sized businesses throughout the U.S.

Read more: https://www.yalber.com/about

For more information/ questions/ interview requests / media inquiries, please contact:

Jake, Yalber PR Team

Email: [email protected] | Phone: (201) 254-4797

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Link Sp. z o.o. and Waberers Poland, the companies from the TFL industry and belonging to the Waberers International Group, have leased a total of 728 sqm of office space in Koneser. On the site of the former Warsaw Vodka Distillery, in the quarter of Zabkowska, Markowska, Bialostocka and Nieporecka

[]Schrack Technik has extended the lease agreement of warehouse and office space in Prologis Park Warsaw II. The company has leased 3,900 sq m in the Prologis park. Schrack Technik chose the agency AXI Immo as an advisor in the renegotiation process.

Schrack Technik Polska operates throughout the count...

[]Ipswich, the urban district south west of Brisbane, provided the nation's cheapest weekend buying opportunity.

It was a $155,000 sale of a three bedroom house on 1047 sqm (above).

But it was only for the brave renovator or buyer prepared to start from scratch after its demolition.

Buyers who could "look past first impressions" and "know value when they see it" were encouraged to inspect, LJH agent Nick Ryan suggested.

The sale price represented a loss as it had last traded at $172,500 in 2006.

Its price was just above its $139,000 official land value.

Meanwhile the national auction clearance rate edged up to 69.1 per cent across the capital cities as auction activity ramped up this week.

CoreLogic calculated some 1,963 homes were taken to auction, increasing from the 1,490 auctions held the prior week when 63.7 per cent of offerings found buyers under the hammer.

"Volumes are increasing at a slower pace," CoreLogic auction analyst Kevin Brogan said, noting on the same weekend last February there had been 2,291 offerings.

Sydneys success rate soared back into the 70s with a 74.3 per cent clearance rate.

"It was well above the trend over the final quarter of 2017 where auction clearance rates were tracking in the low 50 per cent range," Brogan said.

But it was on subdued volume as the 718 offerings was down on the 856 at the same time last year.

Sydney had the nation's top sale when $5,390,000 was paid in Strathfield for 12 Elwin Street. Devine selling agent Greg Emerton said it had been in the same family for 48 years. It was a solid two storey double five bedroom brick home on 1347 sqm.

A six-bedroom Hunters Hill home of health cookbook author Martyna Angell and her husband Matthew Candrick was another pricey Sydney sale (below).

It fetched $3.685 million after the architect-designed Park Road home was called on the market at $3.65 million.

Redesigned by Mark Armstrong in 2008, the home had previously traded at $2.22 million in 2013.

Sydney's cheapest result was an eastern suburbs studio apartment, for the second consecutive week.

The 28 square metre studio apartment at 7E/105 Cook Rd, Centennial Park fetched $390,000 pre-auction (below).

"It was an undercapitalised property easily accessible to Bondi Junction and the CBD," selling agent Felice Cotroneo said.

There had been a $506,000 at 11/339 Oxford Street on the prior weekend for a 21 square metre offering.

Melbourne's cheapest sale was also a studio apartment which sold at $230,000.

The 22/131 Glen Huntly Rd, Elwood offering had been tipped to fetch between $220,000 to $240,000.

Melbourne, where 923 properties went to auction, up from 619 on the prior weekend, recorded a steady 70.7 per cent preliminary clearance rate.

"This was the first week in some time where Sydney has outperformed Melbourne," Kevin Brogan noted.

Melbourne's top sale was a three-bedroom, two-bathroom house at 32A St Georges Road, Toorak that sold for its reserve price of $3.2 million.

It had been marketed as having a $2.9 million to $3.19 million price guidance.

There were two bidders with an Australian investor living offshore securing the offering against bidding from a locally based Chinese family, Domain advised.

It was a 1930s Geoffrey Sommers designed residence with more recent renovations by Nicholas Day.

A knockdown four bedroom weatherboard home on a 436 sqm block in South Yarra fetched $3.03 million.

It had been tipped to fetch between $2.4 million and $2.6 million.

Adelaide recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 67.3 per cent. Prices ranged from $265,000 in Morphett Vale to $1,316,999 at Rose Park.

The 16 Grant Av, Rose Park result was well above the $1.1 million expectations for the four bedroom 1900 sandstone offering.The retired NRL star Nate Myles has listed the Gold Coast house he once called home.

Myles bought the Palm Beach home on arrival at the Gold Coast Titans in 2011, about one month before marrying former Home And Away actor Tessa James.

The couple left the Gold Coast when he signed with the Sea Eagles for the 2016 season then moved to Melbourne once he signed with the Storm.

The 32-year-old prop managed only three games at the Storm before deciding to hang up his boots late last year.

Myles and James are still based in Melbourne and have just had a baby, who is yet to be publicly named. The baby is just over a week old and has already been papped.

Proud mum Tessa quoted Winnie the Pooh on Instagram: As soon as I saw you I knew a grand adventure was about to happen, she posted.

Their former Gold Coast home sits on 505 square metres just off Awonga Lake near Tallebudgera Beach.

It has four bedrooms, two bathrooms and a number of living spaces across a single level.

A covered entertaining area overlooks a pool with water feature.

Ray White Mermaid Beach agent Troy Dowker is marketing the home for auction on March 14. No price guide has been given but it ought to fetch well above the suburbs $880,000 median price for a four-bedroom home.

Myles retains a penthouse apartment south of Brisbane in Moorooka, as well as an apartment in Kedron, to the north.

The three-bedroom penthouse, built in 2015, cost Myles $540,000 in 2016.

He has previously owned an apartment in Cronulla and one in Maroubra.

He sold the two-bedroom Cronulla apartment in 2013 for $536,000, having paid $460,000 in 2006. He sold the two-bedroom Maroubra apartment in the same year. It fetched $905,000.

Myles began his career at the Bulldogs in 2005 before joining the Roosters a year later. He spent four years with the club before moving to the Gold Coast.

This article first appeared in The Sunday Telegraph.If you are new to iQ you can schedule a demo and learn more about this opportunity.

PSFK iQ - Where Innovators Turn for Research. Our professional-grade research platform is designed specifically for Retail and CX leaders who want to know whats next. Whether youre staying current on trends or need a real-time research partner to help you get ahead, count on PSFK iQ to deliver the info you need to make your next move.Around 170 publishing professionals gathered at the Westin Pasadena in California for the annual PubWest conference held February 15-17. The conference tackled the theme of Raising Voices: Creating a Vibrant Publishing Future, looking to lower barriers within the publishing industryvalues reflected in the structure of the show itself.

We make sure that everyone is talking, said Kent Watson, the executive director of PubWest. We make sure that everything we offer in every session, in every keynote, directly helps small to medium-sized publishers. PubWest participants spent most of the weekend in small groups, hashing out solutions to everyday problems. Instead of lectures and slideshows, a series of peer-to-peer seminars put panelists and participants on equal footing at PubWest.

At one session, How Can Editors Build Sustainable, Effective Virtual Project Teams? both participants and panelists shared actionable tips for using digital resources like Dropbox, Trello, Asana, and Harvest. Knock Knock CEO Jen Bilik was one of the panelists, sharing actual spreadsheets, worksheets, and other real tools her employees use every day. These logistical tools have helped the gift product and book publisher manage the acquisition of two other companies in Januarygrowing from 38 to 48 employees. The investment will help her company adapt to a rapidly changing marketplace. We can be heavily stocked in Pier 1 for five years, then not stocked when they decide they want to go another direction, Bilik said. We are looking at all the ways that we can distribute books and productsas well as diversifying our products.

Roundtable discussions at PubWest intentionally combined marketing, editorial, operations, and other publishing employees into intimate groups. Arielle Kesweder, the associate director of operations at Berrett-Koehler Publishers and a newly elected PubWest board member, led one of these roundtables. Recently, my company focused on unpaid internships, she said, initiating a conversation about obstacles in the industry. It was a staple of publishing that created a barrier for students who couldnt afford to not be paid for a summer. So we decided yes, we are going to pay our interns.

PubWest keynotes included a number of national figures dedicated to knocking down barriers that can silence diverse voices: Becky Brasington Clark, the director of the Library of Congress Publishing Office; Chris Finan, the executive director of the National Coalition Against Censorship, and Lisa Lucas, the executive director of the National Book Foundation. Liz Dolan and Lian Dolan, co-hosts of the long-running Satellite Sisters radio show and podcast, delivered a tag-team keynote about how the podcast revolution helped them find a voice and an audience. Liz Dolan had served as the chief marketing officer at Nike and OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network; Lian Dolan is the author of the novel, Helen of Pasadena. "If your public believes you are honest and authentic in what you are doing, they will let you take them places, said Liz Dolan, urging publishers to find meaningful and appropriate ways to engage with new communities. Thats why Nikes business expanded so quickly. Because we realized, if we were authentically true within every sport, our public would let us go there.

Many PubWest attendees were looking for ways to reach new readers as the traditional marketplace continues its painful transformation. When you are in a community where there is no indie bookstore, what are you going to do? said PubWest vice president and Prospect Park Books publisher Colleen Dunn Bates. People want to be part of book communities. They want to connect with authors. Thats our challenge and our opportunity. Bates cited audiobooks and live events as two successful tools shared repeatedly by members this year.

On the final day of the conference, the organization unveiled PUB501its new digital course for members. The online intensive focuses on a practical subject for members: Title Profit & Loss. In 2014, the group began its PUB501 series at the University of Denver, a mini-conference to help publishing professionals expand their skillsets. That series has officially moved online, with three other courses planned.

Book Industry Study Group executive director Brian O'Leary has attended PubWest three times, and he always appreciates the conference's focus on practicalities. PubWest has a conversational and engaging approach to talking about the issues that affect the publishing community, he said. Its not remote. Its real people talking to other real people about real problemsand sharing information about how to solve them.US digital media and marketing services company Tegna has completed its acquisition of Midwest Televisions broadcasting stations in San Diego.





Tegna now owns KFMB-TV, the CBS affiliated station in San Diego, KFMB-D2 (CW) and radio broadcast stations KFMB-AM and KFMB-FM in San Diego.As a result of the completed sale, Tegna owns or operates 47 television stations and two radio stations in 39 markets. KFMB leads San Diego in audience ratings and share across all demographics and is number one in news across all major time slots.We are thrilled to welcome the talented KFMB team to Tegna, said Dave Lougee, president and CEO, Tegna . Like us, KFMB cares deeply about journalistic integrity and serving the greater good of the San Diego community. We want to maintain that special connection while applying our strategic initiatives to enhance KFMBs future capabilities. This transaction highlights Tegnas continued track record of success as a strategic consolidator that delivers value for our shareholders. Tegna financed the transaction through the use of available cash and borrowing under its existing revolving credit facility. Tegna expects the transaction to be accretive to EPS by a few cents within the first 12 months after close, and immediately accretive to free cash flow.Mexican TV giant Televisa has revealed the roadmap which it intends to follow as it sells most of its non-strategic assets.





The first step has been to divest its 19% share of Spain's Mediapro, for which an agreement with the Chinese capital fund Orient Hontai has recently been reached.According to Televisa, if regulatory authorities green light the deal under the agreed terms, Orient Hontai will be boosting Televisa's coffers to the tune of 284 million and the sale of its stake in the Spanish production house won't be an isolated move. "After carrying out a comprehensive revision of the company's asset portfolio, it has been decided to sell some of them to redirect the company's resources to content and distribution operations," Televisa said in a note to investors While it will keep its pay-TV holdings within Mexico, Televisa's largest business will be in content production and distribution for Spanish-speaking Latin America. It has a productive alliance with Univision, through which it creates content for the US Hispanic market and brings US-produced content to Mexico.Cookies help us to improve your website experience. We use cookies to collect anonymous information. By clicking, you agree to our privacy notice.

AcceptIn a country where good news stories about the military are few and far between, recent years have been kind to the German Navy (Deutsche Marine). Its vessels had been participating with its allies in counter-piracy operations like Operation ATALANTA off East Africa, and its ships have been involved in refugee rescue in the Mediterranean Sea as well as weapons interdiction off the coast of Lebanon. Pictures of German Navy vessels assisting in the rescue of bedraggled refugees portrays the public face of the Bundeswehr in a way no Eurofighter or Leopard 2 tank ever can.

Public perceptions notwithstanding, the mission of the Marine is to fill its NATO commitments. Unfortunately, due to poor planning and decision-making, and lack of funding, it is incapable of fulfilling its primary mission requirements. Unless changes are made promptly and quickly, its capabilities will degrade even further over the coming years. While it is nice to blame budget cuts, the Marines problems go well beyond a lack of money. The German Navy has major problems with all its major components; submarines, surface ships, and whats left of its naval air capability.

The Marine has six Type 212 U Boats; none of which are currently operational. While German industry continues to sell similar vessels around the world, and some of its NATO allies operate them on very sensitive SIGINT missions into remote foreign harbors, the German Navy with its long history of submarine development and operation, today cannot even deploy a single submarine on operations  and will be unable to so for some time to come.

On one of its first missions, the new U36 was operating off Norway when it damaged its stern fins hitting a rock during a dive, and had to be escorted back to Germany by a vessel monitoring its test program. While mishaps like this happen, it just added to the malaise of the German navy which pioneered submarine operations and design. Even worse U31, the first submarine of the class, has been out of service since 2014 pending completion of repairs.

U32 experienced battery damage in mid-2017 and is awaiting a berthing/repair space. However, U-4 is already in line for the next available docking spot which should come available early this year. Thankfully, U33 will (or has just) finished its current maintenance in early 2018 and will be released for Baltic workups to return to service. U35, the sister ship of U-6, was commissioned in October of last year but wont become operational until June.

Press reports state the problem is lack of spares, and that Germany can no longer afford to stock spares for these expensive submarines. Really? It boggles the mind that the wealthiest country in the EU cannot even afford to support a U Boat fleet of six vessels. These vessels are designed for the Baltic and due to their hydrogen fuel-cell propulsion system can stay underwater for as long as two weeks. While this sounds rather benign, operations in the Baltic are difficult due to shallow water, and even more difficult since their peacetime mission requirements involve dangerous stealthy operations to gain intelligence on Russian ports. The Type 212 U Boats are the optimal submarines for these missions, so it is a particular pity that they sit in dry dock waiting for spares that should be readily available. Today, other countries submarines take up this slack and perform this mission since Germany spends too little on its military to fund an adequate support infrastructure for these vessels. One shudders to think how long it would take Germany to up the readiness of its tiny U Boat fleet should the Russians become more aggressive against the NATO Baltic countries.

In 2010, the last German MPA Atlantique aircraft followed their fast-jet Tornado brethren into retirement. To make up for the lack of capability, in 2005, Germany decided to acquire second-hand Dutch P-3C aircraft. While some grumbled that replacing an expensive to operate two-engined aircraft with an expensive to operate four-engined aircraft made little sense, there is little doubt that the P-3C is a more capable aircraft than the Atlantique it replaced. However, wouldnt it have made more sense to consider the more modern P-8, like Germanys NATO allies who are all retiring their P-3s.

To make matters worse, it soon became apparent that what the planners failed to account for is that the former Dutch aircraft had too many hours on their airframes, and they needed all new wings plus a modern tactical system. Cynics claim this was behind the Dutch decision to retire the aircraft in the first place, one German Navy officer remarking that they were held together by their paint. Then, instead of competing the expensive structural and avionics upgrades like the USN, and countries like South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand have done, the German Navy took the easy way out, and let industry take the lead. Lockheed Martin is under an eight (8) year sole-source FMS contract to perform the upgrade. The structural program consists of eight kits which include the outer wing, center fuselage, and horizontal stabilizer. According to naval experts, no P3C aircraft are operational today. Isnt there anyone at the BAAINBw HQ in Koblenz (the former BWB) who can run competitive P-3 upgrade programs like other countries do, or do the cost/benefit analysis to see if buying new aircraft makes any sense?

The state of the surface fleet is little better. The Navy operates ten Frigates and five Corvettes. The F-130 Corvette is a strange beast, perhaps the naval equivalent to the horse designed by a committee, too small to be useful out of area and too large to be agile and fast. It seems to have been the result of a compromise between the FAC community, who wanted something small, fast and agile for inshore operations in the Baltic, and the frigate community, who wanted a ship large enough for Atlantic operations and further afield. One result of the compromise is an 1,800-ton, 89 m ship that cannot carry a manned helicopter (!), a major disadvantage in almost any type of operation. Moreover, an endurance of only one week without a support ship in company hardly suits it to operations outside the Baltic or the North Sea. And, of course, they were delivered with self-destroying gearboxes and a gas problem in the machinery spaces. Worse, each of these ships costs the German Navy more than the 3,700-ton, 121 m Meko A200 frigates built for the South African Navy.

Strangely, the Marine has just committed to five more K-130 corvettes, after the previous navy chief killed off batches two and three  as his last gift to the service before retiring - on the basis of practical experience that showed them to be little more than over-armed and over-priced OPVs but lacking the latters ability to operate a helicopter.

Recently, the Marines F-125 frigate program has been in the news since the new 7,000-ton Baden-Wurttemberg failed its acceptance trials. An article in the Wall Street Journal which cataloged its design problems even went so far as to say, it really doesnt work. Aside from its seaworthiness and software issues which one presumes will be solved, they have managed to turn the F-125 into a nice 7,000-ton target by omitting to fit a SAM system  they will only be used in stabilization operations (read good news refugee rescue and counter-piracy), and where there will be no air threat.

The decision was defended with the statement if there should be an air threat, they will be accompanied by an F-123 or F-124. Really? When pushed on the matter, a Navy source said, they would shoot down any attacking aircraft with RAM (Rolling Airframe Missile). Thats fine for the low altitude missile threat, but these expensive vessels do not have an answer to aircraft toss-bombing with laser-homing bombs (no active radar, no heat source; making the RAM useless) from ranges that will allow the attacking aircraft to escape RAM. Even a spread of unguided fragmentation bombs could be delivered by almost any modern fighter with enough accuracy to take out most antennas and sensors, leaving the ship useless and unable to defend itself against further attack.

And when it comes to putting some troops ashore, the F-125 cannot do much more than most frigates of old  put a reinforced platoon ashore. While its twin hanger and the space for four large RIBs will facilitate insertion (and extraction), it is hard to see what that force can achieve once ashore  particularly as it will be essentially foot-mobile. How the same Navy that operates the magnificent F-123 and F124 class frigates, and the very useful if now elderly F-122 class, could come up with designs like the K-130 and the F-125 beggars the imagination.

Unfortunately, the German Navy found itself in a similar position in the Spring of 1941 when confronted with aerial torpedoes. In a letter posted to his wife before the first operational sortie of the Bismarck, the ships designer, Heinrich Schluter, bemoaned the naval bureaucracys decision to limit the ships armored belt to essentially the ships waterline; just high enough to allow air-launched torpedoes to incapacitate the ship, and lead to its sinking. Just like Thomas Andrews who designed the Titanic, Herr Schluter went down with the Bismarck when it was sunk.

The German Navys current condition is a true Schande; an embarrassment for Europes wealthiest country. The German Navy needs to immediately advocate to increase its budget and capabilities. Its mission in the event of hostilities in the Baltics is essential for NATO; it needs to be funded to carry out this mission. It needs to modernize its planning and procurement processes. One hopes the new Grand Coalition (GroKo) is serious when they talk about a restructuring of the German procurements agency (BAAINBw). It desperately needs to put real thought into what its ships are likely to have to do in a crisis or war, specify them accordingly, and acquire realistic stocks of spares and munitions.

John Beckner is a Defense and Aerospace Consultant and has been living and working in Europe (Brussels/Munich) since the late 1980s. He has been a keen observer of European and NATO defense policy; both in industry and working for the U.S. Government.

Helmoed Heitman is an author, journalist, and independent defense consultant living in Pretoria, South Africa.Something significant is happening in the South China Sea. Philippine media has reported that, over the past week, a flotilla of Chinese fishing vessels, accompanied by PLA Navy frigates and Chinese Coast Guard vessels, have maintained a presence very close to Thitu (which Manila calls 'Pagasa'), the largest feature occupied by the Philippines in the Spratly Islands.

While none of the territorial claimants to the Spratly Islands have formalised claims to territorial seas from the features they occupy, a close-in naval and paramilitary presence of this nature is still highly provocative, and totally at variance with China's official narrative that the South China Sea is enjoying a period of relative tranquility following the recent adoption of a framework Code of Conduct between Beijing and ASEAN.

According to a timeline published by GMA News, the Chinese vessels began arriving on 11 August. Since 15 August at least one PLA warship has conducted shipboard helicopter overflights of a number of sand bars immediately to the west of Thitu. Thitu is situated just over 12 nautical miles away from Subi Reef. Subi is now host to one of seven artificial bases built up by China since 2013, but in its natural state is a submerged feature at low tide and therefore incapable of generating its own territorial sea.

The Asian Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI), based at the Washington think tank CSIS, has posted an analysis of the situation, including satellite photographs made public by a Philippine parliamentarian, Gary Alejano. [CORRECTION 19/08: The photos in the AMTI report are not the same as those made public by Alejano]. Alejano has alleged that 'The Chinese may have a sinister plan to occupy sandbars just west of Pagasa that belong to us.' He also told GMA news that 'a Philippine government ship from BFAR (Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources) was prevented by Chinese fishing vessels from going near our sandbars located generally west of Pagasa Island, around two to seven miles away'.

One plausible (though hardly reassuring) interpretation of the Chinese activity, offered by AMTI, is that Beijing is engaging in a coercive demonstration around Thitu in order to dissuade the Philippine authorities from carrying out long-planned repairs and extensive infrastructure upgrades. Thitu is the site of the only runway among the Philippine-occupied features in the Spratlys, but it is in poor condition.

However, there remains a possibility that China is preparing to blockade or even to land on one or more of the unoccupied sand bars to which Alejano refers. If it is indeed the case that a BFAR vessel has been turned away by Chinese vessels, that would suggest a similar modus operandi to the seizure of Scarborough Shoal in 2012, which triggered sustained tensions between Manila and Beijing as well as prompting questions about the effectiveness of U.S. policy in the South China Sea.

One of the sand bars in question is Sandy Cay, which came to prominence in the aftermath of the first U.S. Navy freedom of navigation operation in the area, conducted by the USS Lassen, in the vicinity of Subi Reef and other nearby features, in October 2015.

As I flagged in a post back then, one potential inadvertent consequence of the U.S. emphasis on 'innocent passage' for that initial FONOP was to shine a strategic spotlight on Sandy Cay as an unoccupied high-water feature that could hold the key to legal title over Subi Reef. Subi cannot generate its own territorial sea, but it has the potential to 'bump out' out a territorial sea claimed from Sandy Cay, because the distance between them (unlike Thitu) is less than 12 nautical miles. Beijing is certain to have taken note of this.

Chinas ongoing maritime activity around Thitu is worrisome in its own right because it is coercive in nature. However, if the objective of the operation is to occupy Sandy Cay, that would mean a significant escalation in tension in the South China Sea. Asia has acquired yet another flashpoint it could well do without. Moreover, it appears to be one that China has deliberately picked at a time and location of its choosing.

This article appeared originally at Lowy Institute's the interpreter.Within a decade, Germany must replace 85 of its Tornado multi-role combat aircraft. Designed and built in the 1970s by a consortium of British, Italian and West German aircraft companies, the Jets have reached a point of diminishing return when it comes to maintenance and modernization. In 2015, for example, it was reported by the German press that only 30 of the planes were combat-ready at any given time. Plain and simple, the Luftwaffe needs a new aircraft.

In May of last year, the German air force asked to be briefed on the American-made F-35, the stealthy, multi-mission, 5th-generation aircraft. Then, in November, Lt. General Karl Mullner, the Luftwaffe chief of staff, indicated his services preference for replacing the Tornado jets with the F-35 because of its low-observable signature and its ability to identify and strike distant targets. I think I have expressed myself clearly enough as to what the favorite of the air force is. Given Russian advances in ground-based air defenses and combat aircraft, the generals comments were not surprising from a military point of view.

But the generals remarks may well have been a surprise to his government. In December, the Deputy Defense Minister Ralf Brauksiepe pushed back against the idea of replacing the Tornados with F-35s by simply noting that this was not the position of the federal government. Instead, the ministry stated that the Tornados would be replaced with the Eurofighter, an aircraft originally designed in the late 1980s and early 1990s to be an air-superiority fighter but which has evolved into a multi-mission platform. Like the Tornado, the Eurofighter is built by a consortium (Germany, Italy, UK and Spain) of European nations.

Not that the Eurofighter is a second-rate plane. It can climb at a high rate, its maneuverable, and it has a maximum speed of well over Mach 2. In each of those categories, it is superior to the F-35, more comparable to the U.S. Air Forces F-15. But thats the rub, it was designed principally for late Cold War aerial combatdogfighting. Despite upgrades to the Eurofighter, the Russians have modernized their fighters as well, with the Su-35 being perhaps the top non-stealthy, air-superiority aircraft in the world today. Add in Russias advanced integrated air defenses, and you are asking a Luftwaffe pilot to bring a knife, albeit a very capable knife, to a gunfight.

There is a reason other European alliesthe Brits, the Danes, the Italians, the Dutch and the Norwegianshave opted for the 5th-generation jet over 4th-generation alternatives. In 2016, the Danish government ran a competition between the F-35 and possible alternatives, including the Eurofighter. The conclusion: Under survivability and mission effectiveness, the Joint Strike Fighter comes out better than the two other candidates. This is due to a number of factors, including for example the low radar signature of the aircraft as well as the application of advanced systems and sensors that enhance the pilots tactical overview and ensure the survival of the aircraft and efficient mission performance.

Neither plane is cheap. But as aviation industry authority Richard Aboulafia has noted, the Eurofighter had the costs of an F-35 without the modern features.

So why the preference for the Eurofighter by the German government? The first and most obvious reason is that, unless there are new orders, the Eurofighter production line in Germany will be forced to close and, with closure, well-paying jobs and expertise will be lost. However, so goes the defense aircraft industry, as American lines for the F-16 and F-18 also face this prospect.

Equally important to Berlin, however, is the July 2017 announcement that Germany and France had agreed to work together on the design and production of a new, presumably 5th-generation, fighter jet that would replace the Eurofighter and Frances Rafales. Given the emphasis both capitals are now putting on greater defense cooperation within the European Union, its no surprise that Berlin fears that buying F-35s now might lessen the necessity of developing a new Franco-German aircraft.

However, procuring a limited number of F-35s in the immediate years ahead does not, strictly speaking, preclude France and Germany moving forward with their own development program. Moreover, given the lengthy timelines typically involved between an agreement to begin work and a plane actually entering service, it could be argued that what Germany and France should be working on is less an aircraft comparable to the F-35 than a plane that is a step upperhaps even an unmanned stealth fighter.

It is not unreasonable for sovereign states to worry about the health of their defense industrial base. And it is certainly a lot harder these days for German ministers to argue for buying American given the unpopularity of President Trump and his needless broadsides that allies, like Germany, owe the U.S. billions. Yet the fact remains that the German government also owes its forces the kinds of capabilities that maximize their safety and effectiveness in a potential conflict that could take place well before a new Franco-German fighter is available. The men and women of the Luftwaffe are right to want the F-35.

Gary Schmitt is co-director of the Marilyn Ware Center for Security Studies, American Enterprise Institute.Special Counsel Robert Mueller indicted foreign citizens for trying to influence the American public about an election because those citizens did not register as a foreign agent nor record their financial expenditures to the Federal Elections Commission. By that theory, when will Mueller indict Christopher Steele, FusionGPS, PerkinsCoie, the DNC and the Clinton Campaign? Muellers indictment against 13 Russian trolls claimed their social media political activity was criminal because: they were foreign citizens; they tried to influence an election; and they neither registered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act nor reported their funding to the Federal Elections Commission.NEW YORK (AP)  Under pressure over his handling of abuse allegations against a top aide, White House chief of staff John Kelly has ordered sweeping changes in how the White House clears staff members to gain access to classified information, acknowledging that the administration must do better in how it handles security clearances.

Kelly issued a five-page memo Friday that acknowledged White House mistakes but also put the onus on the FBI and the Justice Department to provide more timely updates on background investigations, asking that any significant derogatory information about staff members be quickly flagged to the White House counsels office.

The issue has been in the spotlight for more than a week after it was revealed that former staff secretary Rob Porter had an interim security clearance that allowed him access to classified material despite allegations of domestic violence by his two ex-wives.

Now is the time to take a hard look at the way the White House processes clearance requests, Kelly wrote in the memo. We should  and in the future, must  do better.

The memo said the FBI and Justice Department had offered increased cooperation and, going forward, all background investigations of top officers should be flagged for the FBI at the outset and then hand-delivered to the White House Counsel personally upon completion. The FBI official who delivers these files should verbally brief the White House Counsel on any information in those files they deem to be significantly derogatory.

Dozens of White House aides have been working under interim clearances for months, according to administration officials, raising questions about the administrations handling of the issue and whether classified information has been jeopardized.

Kellys plan would limit interim clearances to 180 days, with an option to extend them another 90 days if background checks had not turned up significant troubling information. The memo also recommends that all Top Secret and SCI (Sensitive Compartmented Information) clearances that have been pending since last June be discontinued in a week.

That change could potentially put at risk the clearance of Jared Kushner, the presidents son-in-law and a powerful senior adviser. Kushners attorney, Abbe Lowell, told The Associated Press this week that Kushner has been working on an interim clearance for more than a year as his background check was being conducted.

Lowell said again Friday that there are a dozen or more people at Mr. Kushners level whose process is delayed and it is not uncommon for this process to take this long in a new administration.

He added, The new policy announced by General Kelly will not affect Mr. Kushners ability to continue to do the very important work he has been assigned by the President. But Lowell did not respond to questions about whether Kushners clearance would be stripped or whether his role would require him to avoid looking at documents for which he did not possess clearance.

A White House spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Kushners situation.

The memo is addressed to White House counsel Don McGahn, who has also been criticized for his role in the Porter matter, as well as national security adviser H.R. McMaster. Copies were sent to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats and FBI Director Christopher A. Wray.

The memo also warned about issues with the security clearance process across the federal government. U.S. officials said numerous U.S. government agencies in addition to the White House routinely grant interim clearances.

At the State Department, interim clearances are granted by Diplomatic Security after a review of an employees completed SF-86 questionnaire and initial checks of public records, a State official said. If any derogatory information turns up, no interim clearance is issued and the worker must wait until the full investigation is finished, said the official, who wasnt authorized to discuss the clearance process and demanded anonymity.

The White House has struggled to explain its handling of the Porter matter, offering several versions of events in recent days.

McGahn was apprised of at least some of the accusations about Porter at least four times, including as early as January 2017, according to White House officials familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters. In November, one official said, one of Porters ex-girlfriends called McGahn to describe allegations of domestic abuse by the aide. Kelly, meanwhile, said he first learned something was wrong with Porters clearance in November.

Trump officials have faulted the FBI and the White House Personnel Security Office for not passing along sensitive information about Porter. The staff secretary, who had access to classified documents delivered to the president, maintained his interim clearance until he resigned last week.

A sense of unease about Kellys fate has persisted in recent days.

For months, Kelly  with help from Porter  had established a semblance of stability in a White House often rattled by an unpredictable president. That has eroded in a weeks time, as accounts about the handling of the Porter matter continue to shift and some aides came to believe Kelly lied to save face and save his job.

Trump has complained to confidants that Kelly let the scandal spin out of control and that the constantly shifting narratives made the White House  and, by extension, Trump himself  look amateurish and incompetent, according to one person familiar with the discussions but not authorized to talk about them publicly.

The president has floated names of possible replacements but there was no sign that a move was imminent. The president is known to frequently poll his advisers about the performance of senior staff but is often reluctant to actually fire aides.

In the memo, Kelly defended his handling of clearances, including his order in September to cease granting new interim clearances unless the chief of staff had given his blessing.

___

Associated Press writers Josh Lederman and Zeke Miller contributed from Washington.The tiny sultanate of Brunei is rarely in the news. Why should it be? It occupies a small part of the island of Borneo with two much-larger and better-known countries, Indonesia and Malaysia. Except for the monarchs free-spending ways and his implementation of Sharia law, not much happens there of international interest. And the Bruneians like it that way.

Lately, however, a few news outlets and foreign policy experts have been asking questions about Brunei. They have quietly noted that Bruneis economy isnt as robust as it had been and, more important, that there are signs that the Sultan and his government appear to be leaning more to China than to the West. No one knows how significant or, for that matter, how true these observations are. But a few of them are eager for more dialogue between Sultan Bolkiah and the U.S. government to clarify the situation.

Front pages havent mentioned Brunei lately, but, in fact, the Bruneian government has been making news that has shaken domestic politics. In early February, the Sultan, in a surprise move, shook up his cabinet. Six of his top ministers were summarily replaced, severing many years of continuity between Brunei and the rest of the world.

Cabinet changes do happen in Brunei, but usually every five years. This reshuffle occurred just a few short years after the previous set of changes in 2015.

The new cabinet produced some good news. Two of the deputy ministers for the first time were women. This clearly shows a promising, progressive tendency for the Sultan. He was lauded inside the country, especially by women.

Otherwise, the purpose of the cabinet changes is a matter of conjecture.

News reports have recently noted an influx of investment into Brunei from China and, also, Saudi Arabia. These inflows make sense given Bruneis diminishing oil and gas reserves and a government budget that has been under pressure lately. What is not known is whether the financial condition of the country faces serious strains or, more to the point, whether heavier financial reliance on China is an indicator of shifting alliances on the part of the Sultan.

In other words, the West and the U.S. are curious whether the long, steady, reliable rule of the Sultan is fading even slightly for economic reasons and what the geopolitical implications are.

One straw in the wind is what some Bruneian officials have called its silent agreement with China over disputed territory in the South China Sea. The government is not actively involved in the territorial dispute, but its lack of participation in the debate, which has roiled much of Asia, has been noted by scholars and raises a second question: Is Brunei favoring China in a way that reduces the importance of the U.S. as its strategic ally?

These questions have tossed a modicum of uncertainty into the ASEAN alliance. The other members of ASEAN can be forgiven for wondering whether the cabinet changes are an attempt to strengthen the government or are a sign of weakness.

All of this may be hyperbole and wasted worry. Brunei remains an important provider of oil and gas at a time when prices are either rising or are stable after a long period of low prices. In other words, any economic concerns are probably disappearing as energy revenues rise. Also, the 71-year-old monarch is not being challenged as the head of government from any quarter.

Nonetheless, the U.S. and its western allies want to hear from the Sultan and his government about what is happening on the island of Borneo. In particular, they would like to be reassured that Brunei isnt moving  or worse, stumbling  into Chinas orbit. Increased communication with Washington would go a long way toward answering that question.

Eugen Iladi is a freelance reporter based in Virginia who covers politics, conflict, business and development in emerging markets.When University of Georgia student Chimezie Osondu tried to find his classes on the first day of spring semester, he couldnt log in to AthenaGoing to a SEC school most definitely has its perks, but just about every University of Georgia student can agree that it leaves weekends in sStudying the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s gives us an understanding of the past, but watching the current leaders now can help us understand our societys current problems with racism.Aerial Rowe, Communications Science and Disorders, studies during a break from work at the Bulldog Cafe. Rowe has a budget to ensure that she stays on track financially throughout the semester. Photo by John Roark/ johnroarkmedia.comNEWTOWN - As another American town reels from the savagery of a mass shooting, the families of the Sandy Hook massacre victims are deciding how to honor their 26 loved ones slain five years ago.

The families are reviewing 13 designs for a memorial that draw on themes of life, death and rebirth in nature.

The designs, which were selected out of 188 submissions from across the United States and 12 other countries, propose such features as reflecting ponds, walls of remembrance and trees that give color in winter to bring hope out of darkness.

At the core of our design is the notion that the earth has the inexplicable ability to hold us and cradle our sorrows, reads the narrative of one design. It has the grounding strength and beauty which invites us to be supported by the land.

Another design emphasizes the living nature of the memorial, which would be on five acres in the heart of Sandy Hook - close enough to the newly built Sandy Hook School to hear playground sounds on a still day.

We wanted to acknowledge that the healing process does not end, but continues and grows - much like the incredible compassion which many victims families have put back into the world since the tragedy, reads the description of one design.

That description referred to home-grown missions such as Sandy Hook Promise, a nonprofit co-founded by parents who lost first-graders in the 2012 massacre that has become one the leading violence prevention organizations in the country.

Leaders of Sandy Hook Promise were among the activists and family members who spoke out against gun violence and reached out in solidarity to grieving families in Parkland, Florida, last week, where a 19-year-old with an AR-15-style rifle was accused of murdering 17 students and adults at his former high school.

Kyle Lyddy, the chairman of the Sandy Hook Permanent Memorial Commission, said that while the groups focus has been on a memorial that meets complex local needs, Newtown understands it is at the center of a national crisis.

Since 2013, there have been 290 school shootings, according to Everytown for Gun Safety.

We totally understand that we are part of a larger conversation, and the amount of work that has been done by our families over the past five years to make this tragedy their lifes work is inspiring, Lyddy said. We want to continue to outreach to other communities and be a resource, because that was something that guided us.

Lyddy explained that Newtown took lessons from Columbine High School in Colorado, the site of a school massacre in 1999, and from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on New York City in 2001.

Joe Daniels, the former president of the 9/11 Memorial, is among the advisers to the Sandy Hook memorial commission, which includes parents of children who died in 2012.

The 26 Sandy Hook families will be the first to comment on the 13 semifinalist designs. In early March, the memorial commission will ask for public input about the proposals, with the goal of narrowing them down to a handful of finalists by the end of April.

The designs will not include the names of architects who submitted them until a later stage. Designs may be viewed on the memorial commissions web page at http://bit.ly/2F99bIK.

Natures inspiration

The semifinalist designs, which draw on the interconnectedness of nature as a central theme, are thorough and thoughtful proposals that impressed the commission with their creativity, Lyddy said.

For example, one design called for special plantings of fiery orange arctic sun dogwoods, which would be especially vibrant in December - the month of the tragedy.

These designs would make sure that this memorial is something that lives in the winter months, Lyddy said.

While some proposals are more technical in their descriptions of featured elements, others are downright poetic, invoking the existential and transcendental qualities of nature to give deeper meaning to woods, water and paths.

Our path winds in gentle circles through a flowering woodland which celebrates the beautiful lives of the victims, eventually arriving at a central memorial clearing where the community can gather in love for those lost, reads one design description. The path has no true beginning or end, allowing visitors to experience the space at their own pace and in their own way, while always bringing them closer together.

The appeal to nature is similar to the concept used in the design of the new Sandy Hook School, a $50 million building that replaced the one where the shooting occurred.

We were really impressed by these submissions, said Lyddy. A couple of them just stopped us in our tracks and led to great discussions about how this can all come to life.

A common strategy among the semifinalists was to marry the language of nature with the vocabulary of grief and healing.

The design intent is to fill the irreplaceable loss of our children with a message of consolation, remembrance and hope, reads one design description, explaining that its features symbolize the nuanced emotional journey of confronting loss, feeling grief, and finding hope.

The designs that stand out include those that name the memorial - such as The Clearing - and designs that give names to featured elements - such as Path of Hope, Infinity Pond, and the Breathing Field.

Other designs propose elaborate water features that use the twin ponds existing on the site or create new water elements. One design calls for a long, narrow Water Mirror with a Community Circle at one end and a Waterfall and Weeping Wall at the other.

Reflection, contemplation and healing are also major themes in the semifinalist designs.

One proposal, called Forest Memories: A Landscape That Remembers notes that because the memorial will be living, it will always be changing.

The memorial will never have a moment of being finished, of ending, the description reads. It will never be the same, it will never happen twice.TORRINGTON - A city man will serve more than three years in prison in connection with an October 2016 case where Torrington police responded for an attempted abduction near Iowa Street and Funston Avenue.

Phouvadone Soundara, then 40, of 543 Greenwoods Road, and Kim Keo Saelee, then 38, of 96 Yorkshire St., Torrington, were arrested in connection with the Oct. 28, 2016, incident and charged with a series of offenses, including criminal attempt to commit first-degree kidnapping with a firearm, first-degree unlawful restraint, criminal use of a firearm, criminal possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, second-degree breach of peace and interfering with police.

Soundara pleaded guilty to a charge of first-degree unlawful restraint Friday in Superior Court, according to Assistant Clerk Bob Stearns. He was sentenced to a flat three-and-a-half years in prison.

According to an affidavit seeking a warrant for Soundaras arrest, a caller reported that two males were trying to force a female into a vehicle and that they heard the woman yelling for help repeatedly on Oct. 28 at approximately 2:31 a.m.

After a foot pursuit, officers found the woman, later identified as a New Hartford resident, and Soundara.

A second man was later found by police as well. This person identified himself as Jonathan Saeelee, which an officer suspected was a false identity.

The three were involved in a confrontation on Oct. 28, during which a handgun was brandished and in the possession of both Soundara and Saelee, police said. Police determined that the three knew one another.

Both Soundara and Saelee were later found to be convicted felons, and Jonathan Saelee was found to be a listed alias of Kim Keo Saelee, police said.

Officers later found a handgun behind an Iowa Street property that matched a given description and determined that it was loaded, but did not have a bullet in the chamber.

Saelee pleaded guilty to the criminal possession of a firearm and a charge of sale of narcotics Nov. 14 and was given an effective sentence of 15 years, suspended after seven, with five years probation in January.Bou Rachana, widow of slain Cambodian social commentator and government critic Kem Ley, has been granted asylum in Australia, leaving with her five sons from Thailand and arriving in Melbourne on Feb. 17, an Australian lawmaker told RFA's Khmer Service on Monday.

It was unclear shortly before they left whether Bou Rachana's youngest child, a toddler, would be allowed to leave with her, as he was born in Thailand and was not given a birth certificate.

But Australian authorities convinced the Thai government to allow them all to leave together, Hong Lim, a member of Australia's Victoria state legislative assembly, said, speaking to RFA by phone on Feb. 19.

Hong Lim said that he and the Cambodian community in Australia are thrilled to welcome Bou Rachana to the country.

"We think that she and her children will have much better lives here than in Cambodia," he said.



Housing and support for the family will now have to be arranged so that Bou Rachanas children can resume their schooling, Hong Lim said, adding that a welcoming ceremony has been planned for Bou Rachana and her family at a local temple on Saturday, Feb. 24.



Bou Rachanas husband Kem Ley, a popular political commentator, was gunned down in broad daylight in Phnom Penh on July 10, 2016, 36 hours after discussing on an RFA Khmer call-in show a report by the London-based group Global Witness detailing the wealth of the family of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, who has ruled Cambodia for 32 years.

Though authorities later charged a former soldier with the murder and sentenced him to life in prison, many in Cambodia did not believe the governments story that Kem Ley was killed by the man over a debt.

Kem Leys body was kept for two weeks at a Buddhist temple before being taken to his home town in Cambodias Takeo province on July 24, with hundreds of thousands of mourners and supporters later attending his funeral procession.

Soon after the funeral, and fearing for their safety, Bou Rachanathen pregnantfled with her children from Cambodia to neighboring Thailand to seek asylum in a third country. They spent over a year and a half in Thailand before being granted permission to settle in Australia.

Reported by Chun Chanboth for RFAs Khmer Service. Translated by Nareth Muong. Written in English by Richard Finney.



Groups of disabled beggars more commonly seen on the streets of mainland China are plying their trade on the streets of Hong Kong over the festive Chinese New Year holiday, residents told RFA.



Footage of the beggars, some of whom have visible disabilities and adopt poses of supplication to convince passersby to donate cash, has showed them on the pavements in the city's Kowloon district, not far from the old airport.



One youth remains in a kneeling position, silent, still wearing his backpack, with papers spread carefully on the ground in front of him asking for help because his family were involved in a car accident.



A man with one leg and crutch is shown prostrating himself before passersby, with a plastic container in front of him, while an elderly disabled man waves a tin in the hope of collecting money.



One of the disabled people begging in the area told RFA he was in the city on a tourism permit, which mainland residents need to clear Hong Kong's separate immigration controls that have remained in place since the 1997 handover to Chinese rule.



"I am here for tourism, and to visit friends," the man said. "I am just here for two or three days, then I go back."



"They take it in turns, change shifts," a security guard of a nearby residential building in Kowloon's To Kwa Wan neighborhood told RFA. "They say that they are each other's friends or relatives, who have told the others to come to Hong Kong too."



It was unclear whether any of those begging in the street were indeed related, or whether they were being organized by a third party.



Easier to enter Hong Kong



Under Hong Kong's 1977 Summary Offences Ordinance, begging on the street carries a maximum jail term of 12 months.



But Hong Kong media have reported a surge in mainland Chinese begging in the city since changes to the visa system made it easier for people to enter the city on a tourist permit in 2003.



Lawmaker Helena Wong said that any suspected organized begging should be reported to the police.



"If you suspect that they are being organized to come to Hong Kong, and working in shifts, you can alert the police and they will follow it up," she said. "The security guards in residential buildings don't have the power to implement the law. All they can do is call the traffic police, who can collect evidence."



She added: "It is important to confirm whether or not they came to Hong Kong especially to beg ... this should be carried out by the police."



In 2014, Hong Kong's Cable TV followed a group of mainland Chinese beggars, reporting that they were recruited by organizers via social media to come and beg in Hong Kong.



Their "boss" arranged their travel permits and dictated who got to beg where, and at what time, the station reported.



Tensions between Hong Kong residents and their compatriots across the internal immigration border in mainland China began to escalate after tourist permits began to be granted to individuals rather than tour groups in 2003.



In February 2013, the city's government imposed controls on the number of cans of infant milk formula individuals could take out of the city after widespread bulk-buying of infant formula by cross-border visitors sparked chaos and public protests.



Reported by Wo Miu and Wen Yuqing for RFA's Cantonese Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.Authorities in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong have confined a rights activist to a psychiatric hospital in spite of her appearing to lack any symptoms of mental illness, fellow activists told RFA.



Zhang Qi has been committed to the Guangzhou Baiyun Mental Rehabilitation Hospital in the Baiyun district of Guangdong's provincial capital after being incommunicado for several months.



Guangzhou-based rights activist Liang Songqi said he had only recently found out her whereabouts.



"Zhang Qi is a senior member of our circle of rights activists and concerned citizens," Liang told RFA. "We have been unable to contact her since last June, and we continued to look for her."



"In the end, we tracked her down to the Guangzhou Baiyun Mental Rehabilitation Hospital," Liang said. "A few of us went there to talk to her, and we found that she has no mental illness whatsoever."



"I asked her her name, and if she knew who we were, and about her life story, and she answered it all very fluently. Mentally, she's in pretty good shape," he said. "She got very excited when she saw us, and said she had feared she would never get out of there ever again, and never see anyone she knew ever again."



Liang said the activists had gotten into a verbal dispute and minor scuffles with psychiatric staff, who said the government was in sole charge of her "care."



They refused to disclose any information from her medical notes or to say what medications she was being given.



Later, when Zhang's neighbors tried to pay her a visit, they were denied permission to see her, Liang said, vowing to continue to fight for her release.



'Hard to find her'



An employee who answered the phone at the hospital on Friday declined to comment on Zhang's case.



"If you don't know which ward she is on, it'll be hard to find her," the employee said. "Maybe if you were to come to the hospital, you could ask the doctor in charge of the ward."



Despite protections promised by a Mental Health Law passed by China in 2013, the country's medical profession has continued to collude with the authorities in carrying out psychiatric incarceration of critics of the ruling Chinese Communist Party, a rights group has said in a recent report.



An RFA listener surnamed Li from Wuzhou city in the southwestern region of Guangxi said he was detained by the authorities in a mental hospital on the eve of the 19th party congress last October for "political security."



He told RFA's Cantonese Service that he was given two options by police: the police-run detention center or the psychiatric care facility.



"Who are the ones with the real mental illness?" Li, who fell foul of the authorities after protesting corruption in his local government that robbed his family of their basic subsistence payments, told a listener call-in show. "The government are the ones who are really mentally ill."



"Political controls are entering their darkest time in China, and people are now just locked up summarily with no pretense at sticking to the law," he said. "Staying in control trumps everything."



Indefinite detention



The practice of locking up those who challenge the government in mental institutions has become an endemic rights abuse in the country's legal system, and authorities have increasingly used the tactic against rights activists and dissidents as a way of imposing indefinite periods of detention on them without the need for a trial, according to the Civil Rights and Livelihood Watch report.



The Mental Health Law was aimed at protecting mental health service users from misdiagnosis and involuntary medical treatment in China's state-run psychiatric hospitals.



But the use of state psychiatric institutions to restrain critics of the ruling Chinese Communist Party is still widespread, according to the Hubei-based group's annual report for 2017.



"The widespread and persistent creation of "psychiatric patients" by the Chinese authorities not only constitutes a grave violation of international human rights conventions, but also violates the provisions of the Chinese Constitution, Criminal Law and Mental Health Act that respect the protection of civil rights," the group said.



"The Chinese authorities will continue to create enemies of the people under the stability maintenance regime, and continue their creation of a human rights catastrophe in mental health," it said in a Feb. 14 report.



It said official power has become a tool for those in power to safeguard their own interests at the expense of ordinary citizens, and called for constitutional reforms to protect the rights of citizens.



Reported by Yang Fan for RFA's Mandarin Service, and by the Cantonese Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.



The bodies of nine civilians abducted by militants early last year have been found in Afghanistan's eastern province of Nangarhar, an Afghan official and tribal elders said on February 19.

Sayed Rahman Mohmand, the governor of Kot district, said the bodies, including three of tribal leaders, were found dumped in a common grave over the weekend.

Mohmand said locals found the bodies in the neighboring Achin district.

The nine were abducted by militants in Kot and nothing was known about their fate till now.

Tribal elders confirmed the discovery of the bodies and said funerals for the deceased will be held on February 19.

Mohmand said the Islamic State group was behind the abduction and the killings, though the militant group has not claimed responsibility for the deaths.

Both the Taliban and IS are active in eastern Afghanistan.

Based on reporting by AP and tolonews.comThe European Union has warned Albania against "interference" in neighboring countries and Serbian officials accused Tirana of wanting to build a "Greater Albania," after the Albanian prime minister said his country and Kosovo could one day have a single president.

Addressing Kosovo's parliament to celebrate the country's 10th anniversary since its declaration of independence from Serbia, Albania's Prime Minister Edi Rama noted on February 18 that Tirana and Pristina already shared some diplomatic missions around the world.

"Why not a single president, as a symbol of national unity?" he added.

Kosovo, a former province of Serbia, declared independence nearly a decade after the 1998-99 Kosovo war. More than 110 countries recognize its independence. Serbia does not.

Both Albania and Kosovo have ethnic Albanian majorities.

Reacting to Rama's suggestion, European Commission spokeswoman Catherine Ray told reporters in Brussels on February 19 that "statements which might be interpreted as political interference in neighboring countries are not helpful in building good neighborly relations."

She added that the EU expected the six Western Balkan countries that remain outside the bloc, including Albania and Serbia, to "build constructive and cooperative relations and to focus and intensify the work on their own respective reform programs to move forward on the EU integration path."

Meanwhile, Rama's comments sparked furious reactions in Serbia, which in the past has accused Tirana of seeking to create a "Greater Albania" -- which Albania denies.

Nenad Popovic, Serbia's minister without portfolio in charge of innovation and technological development, said in a statement on February 19 that his country should declare the Albanian prime minister persona non grata.

He said that Rama's comments "point to a clear and unequivocal plan for the creation of a so-called Greater Albania in the Balkans and on Serbian soil."

Serbian Defense Minister Aleksandar Vulin said that "Greater Albania must finally, after centuries, be stopped in its expansion."

"For us, Kosovo is a part of our state and every time someone presents this kind of ideas, of course, it cannot be welcomed or accepted," said the head of Serbia's Government Office of Kosovo, Marko Djuric.

Officials in Kosovo have not commented on Rama's comments.

In his speech before Kosovo's lawmakers, the Albanian prime minister acknowledged that his suggestion was not likely to happen anytime soon, but added that "history tells us that it is not impossible for a dream to come true."

Rama also said that in the future, "Albanians and Serbians will co-exist...like two countries with good neighborly relations that are an integral part of the European Union."

With reporting by AFP and Balkan InsightMINSK -- A Belarusian journalist has been charged with resisting law enforcement officers after an altercation in which he was beaten by police, according to his employer, the TV channel Belsat.

Belsat said the journalist, Andrus Kozel, faces a court hearing on February 19.

According to Belsat, Kozel was attacked by four police officers when he was covering local elections on February 18 by live-streaming to his Facebook account from a polling station in Minsk.

Belsat said that Kozel suffered a head injury.

The popular Belsat station is a subsidiary of Poland's Telewizja Polska, which broadcasts into Belarus in the Belarusian and Russian languages, irritating authoritarian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka's government.

Rights advocates say Lukashenka's government has restricted independent media as part of efforts to suppress dissent through nearly 24 years in power.Dragana Seferovic Pilav, a Bosnian Muslim Roma, grew up partly in orphanages, but she found her calling when her foster mother encouraged her to pursue ballet. As an adult, taekwondo became her passion. Pilav says both disciplines allow her to set a positive example when faced with bigotry.The mainstream Muslim leadership in Russia's Daghestan region has condemned an attack that killed five people outside a Russian Orthodox church, saying that the suspect had "nothing to do with the true Islam."

In a February 19 statement, the office of the region's chief mufti also extended condolences to the relatives and friends of the victims of the attack the previous day in the Daghestani town of Kizlyar.

Authorities said a gunman opened fire with a hunting rifle on people attending a Maslenitsa (Shrovetide) celebration near a local church, killing five women and wounding four people before being shot dead by security forces.

The extremist group Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for the attack, though it provided no evidence to support the claim, and Russian media outlet RBC quoted a priest as saying the assailant shouted "Allahu Akbar" (God is great).

Predominantly Muslim Daghestan is plagued by an Islamic insurgency stemming from the post-Soviet separatist wars in neighboring Chechnya, but violence has subsided in recent years and most insurgent attacks have targeted state authorities.

Vladimir Vasilyev, the acting head of Daghestan, was quoted by the Russian news agency Interfax as saying that the attacker sought to divide the multiethnic region, but did not succeed.

"Those who wanted to disunite Dagestan's multiethnic and multifaith society in Kizlyar achieved the opposite reaction: we are more united than ever," Vasilyev was quoted as saying late on February 19.

The town of Kislyar declared a day of mourning on February 20, the state-run news agency TASS reported.

Suspect Identified

The Kizlyar mayor's office on February 19 identified the suspect as Khalil Khalilov, a 22-year-old man from the Tarum district of Daghestan.

In a statement later the same day, the federal Investigative Committee said the authorities were examining all possible motives including the possbility that it was a "terrorist act." It did not name the suspect.

State-run news agency TASS quoted an unnamed law enforcement source as saying on February 18 that the alleged assailant was suspected of having ties to "extremist" organizations.

In its statement, the chief mufti's office described the attacker as a "wahhabist" -- a word frequently used by Russian authorities to describe militant Islamic extremists.

President Vladimir Putin's spokesman was more cautious, saying that the investigation was ongoing and that "the attacker is being checked for connections with extremist organizations."

Russian authorities have been fighting "purposefully and consistently" against terrorist and extremist organizations in the North Caucasus, which includes Daghestan, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow on February 19.

Peskov said that "a number of these organizations, some of which have links with international terrorism, continue their destructive activities. Our law enforcement agencies, as you know, are working very hard to suppress such activities."

'Fomenting Tension'

The Russian Orthodox Church issued a statement that said its leader, Patriarch Kirill, believes the attack was meant to foment tension between Christians and Muslims.

"The patriarch considers this heinous crime on the eve of Great Lent to be a provocation aimed at sparking hostilities against Orthodox believers and Muslims who have been living side by side in peace in the Caucasus for centuries," it said.

In a joint statement, the OSCE chairman-in-office, Italian Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano, and OSCE Secretary-General Thomas Greminger condemned what they called the "terrorist attack" in Daghestan.

"I condemn in the strongest possible terms these attacks on innocent people in a place of worship as an attempt to instill fear in our societies and sow divisions between communities," Alfano said.

Greminger said this "senseless and abhorrent act of violence" will "strengthen our resolve to confront the threat of terrorism."

Russian news outlet RBC quoted a local priest as saying that the attacker opened fire as worshippers were leaving an afternoon service.

"We had finished the mass and were beginning to leave the church," the priest, known as Father Pavel, was quoted as saying. "A bearded man ran toward the church shouting 'Allahu Akbar' and killed the people."

The Daghestani Health Ministry said on February 19 that two women wounded in the attack were in grave condition and would be transferred to Moscow. The other two people wounded are a police officer and an officer of the Russian National Guard.

Kizlyar, on the border with Chechnya, is 170 kilometers from the Daghestani capital of Makhachkala and has a population of some 50,000 people. Ethnic Russians make up about 40 percent of the population, according to officials.

Nationwide, some two-thirds of Russian citizens consider themselves Orthodox Christians, while Muslims make up the largest religious minority, accounting for 10 to 15 percent of the population.

With reporting by RBC, Gazeta.ru, TASS, AP, and InterfaxFacebook says it will use postcards sent through the U.S. mail in an attempt to prevent foreign meddling in U.S. elections in the future.

Facebook executive Katie Harbath on February 17 told a meeting of the National Association of Secretaries of State that the social-media company would send postcards to potential buyers of political advertisements to confirm they reside in the United States.

The company presented its plan a day after special counsel Robert Mueller charged 13 Russians with interfering in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

The indictment alleged Russian agents stole Social Security numbers and other information from Americans and used them to create bank and online payment accounts to buy ads.

U.S lawmakers in November released a batch of Facebook ads linked to Russias efforts to disrupt the presidential election and stir up emotions on sensitive social issues.

The release of the ads by the House Intelligence Committee came as Facebook and other social-media platforms came under increasing pressure for not doing enough to block Russian interference on their sites and prevent meddling in the 2016 election.

Facebook did not specify how the postcard method of verification would prevent foreign agents from setting up local mailing addresses and hiring people in the United States to check them.

The company in the past said it would double the number of staff devoted to safety and security to 20,000 and add 1,000 people to review advertising content.

Based on reporting by AP and ReutersIranian search and rescue teams have reached the site of the plane crash that authorities say killed all 65 people on board, Iran's Press TV reported on February 19.



State television said helicopters were now able to take part in the search for Aseman Airlines flight EP3704 after the weather improved following blizzard conditions that had hampered search efforts on February 18.

Press TV said search teams reached the crash site before dawn on February 19.

The authorities had called off the rescue effort overnight as heavy snow and rain made it impossible to work.

The ATR-72 twin-engine turboprop plane left Tehran on February 18 in the morning and was heading towards the city of Yasuj, some 500 kilometers to the south.

The plane, which had been in service for 25 years, is thought to have crashed on Dena Mountain in Iran's southwestern Zagros range.

Some 100 mountaineer rescue workers were deployed on February 19, state television said.

France's air safety agency, BEA, said it would take part in the investigation led by Britain's Air Accidents Investigation Branch.

ATR-72 planes were developed and produced in France and Italy.

Based on reporting by AFP and APIranian authorities say three police officers have been killed in clashes with followers of a Sufi Muslim religious community in Tehran.

Official media quoted police spokesman Saeed Montazer al-Mahdi as saying on February 19 that the police officers were "martyred in the street in a vicious attack using a bus."

He also said that the "murderers were arrested seconds after their crime."

The hard-line Fars news agency reported that several police officers were also wounded in the incident and hospitalized.

Footage circulating on social media appeared to show the moment the bus plowed into a group of police officers in northern Tehran. The video's authenticity could not be verified.

Authorities said police fired gunshots and tear gas to disperse the demonstrators, who were said to be members of the Sufi Gonabadi order, known as dervishes.

They were protesting outside a police station against the arrest of members of the sect, according to social-media reports.

"The law enforcement forces arrested a number of dervishes and ended the protest by firing tear gas," Mohsen Hamedani, the security deputy of Tehran's governor, told the official IRNA news agency.

Unverified footage on social media showed riot police running through the streets and clashing with black-clad protesters.

Foreign rights groups have accused Iran of persecuting the Gonabadi Sufis over the years.

Sufism, a mystical branch of Islam, is not illegal in Iran but rights groups accuse the Iranian government of harassment and discrimination against their followers.

Several dervishes have been arrested in the last two months, according to the New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran.

In March 2017, the UN special rapporteur for Iran expressed concern over the state targeting of members of Sufi groups, saying they "continue to face arbitrary arrest, harassment, and detention and are often accused of national security crimes."

With reporting by Reuters and AFPTehran will not place its missile program under international control, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on February 19 in Moscow.



U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to pull out of a landmark 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers unless it is changed to clearly prohibit ballistic missile development, among other changes he is seeking.

"Why should we do that?" Zarif said when he was asked whether Iran was ready to accept outside monitoring of its missile program.

The deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), is aimed at curbing Tehran's nuclear program in exchange for an easing of international sanctions.

"The U.S. president has big ambitions, but they will never come true," said Zarif, who was in Moscow for a meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club -- a gathering of Russian and international foreign policy experts -- on the Middle East.

During the meeting, Zarif also criticized U.S. support for Syrian Kurdish forces who oppose President Bashar al-Assad's government, accusing Washington of "short-sighted" moves in what he called "geopolitical or geo-economic games."

Based on reporting by Reuters and InterfaxASTANA -- The prosecutor in the high-profile trial of former Kazakh Economy Minister Quandyq Bishimbaev has asked a court in Astana to sentence him to 12 years in prison on charges of bribery and embezzlement.

The prosecutor also asked the court on February 19 to confiscate Bishimbaev's property and bar him for life from serving in state posts.

Bishimbaev, 37, was arrested by Kazakhstan's Anticorruption Service in January 2017, weeks after President Nursultan Nazarbaev fired him.

A product of an elite educational program supported by Nazarbaev, Bishimbaev quickly rose through the political ranks -- serving as deputy industry and trade minister and deputy chairman of Kazakhstan's sovereign wealth fund before becoming economy minister in May 2016.

Bishimbaev is accused of accepting bribes when he was head of Bayterek, a state-controlled holding company.

He pleaded not guilty at a preliminary hearing in October, while several of his co-defendants plead guilty and concluded deals with prosecutors.

Authorities say Bishimbaev exercised his right to remain silent and did not speak to investigators after he and 22 co-defendants were arrested.

In his first remarks to the court since his trial began in November, Bishimbaev apologized to Nazarbaev and the country on January 8, but maintained he had done nothing illegal.

Several former officials have faced prosecution on suspicion of graft in the tightly controlled Central Asian country in recent years, with some sentenced to long prison terms.

During their trials, many of them have apologized to Nazarbaev, who holds near-absolute power and has been president since before Kazakhstan gained independence in the 1991 Soviet collapse.BISHKEK -- Colleagues of a Kyrgyz lawmaker who was detained in Kazakhstan on suspicion of smuggling contend that he is innocent.

Parliament members from the party called Kyrgyzstan said on February 19 that the detainment of lawmaker Damirbek Asylbek-Uulu in the neighboring country came as "a surprise."

Asylbek-Uulu "has nothing to do with the charges he is facing," they said in a statement.

"The Kyrgyzstan party's faction in the parliament has been in close cooperation with the Foreign Ministry and law enforcement officials," the statement said. "We believe that the issue will be investigated by Kazakh officials properly and in accordance with the law, without violating Kyrgyz citizens' rights."

Kazakh and Kyrgyz media reports said that on February 15-16, Kazakh law enforcement authorities detained 29 people during an antismuggling operation.

The reports said that four of the detained suspects were Kyrgyz citizens, including Asylbek-Uulu.Latvia's central-bank chief has been released from custody on bail hours after the Baltic country's anticorruption agency accused him of receiving at least 100,000 euros ($125,000) in bribes.

The Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau (KNAB) said on February 19 that no formal charges had been filed against Bank of Latvia Governor Ilmars Rimsevics, who was detained by police over the weekend.

Hours after the statement, the Delfi news portal showed video of Rimsevics leaving KNAB premises in Riga with his lawyer.

"I categorically disagree with [the charges]," Rimsevics said in the video to reporters at the scene.

Despite the denial of wrongdoing, Prime Minister Maris Kucinskis has called on Rimsevics to recuse himself from his duties while a criminal investigation against him is carried out.

Rimsevics has held the post since 2001 and is also a member of the European Central Bank's (ECB) governing council.

Latvia is a European Union member and uses the euro as its currency.

KNAB did not elaborate on the charges against Rimsevics, but AP reported on February 19 that executives at Latvian bank Norvik said the central-bank chief sought to extort money from their firm for years.

According to the news agency, Norvik has filed an international complaint against Latvia in which it claims a "senior Latvian official" sought bribes from the bank and abused his power. Norvik's CEO, Oliver Bramwell, told AP, "The high-level official mentioned in our request for arbitration is Rimsevics."

Latvia's financial sector is in upheaval with the investigation and a crisis at ABLV Bank, the country's third-largest bank by assets.

Latvia's financial regulator has ordered the bank to cease all payments after its liquidity position deteriorated sharply amid U.S. accusations of money laundering and breaching sanctions aimed at thwarting North Korea's weapons program.

The Treasury Department said in a statement last week that ABLV also facilitated transactions linked to "large-scale illicit activity connected to Azerbaijan, Russia, and Ukraine."

To shore up ABLV's finances, the central bank has said that it will loan the bank 97.5 million euros ($121 million) against "a reliable pledge of highly liquid securities."

With reporting by AP, Reuters, and BloombergMacedonia hopes to settle its decades-old name dispute with Greece by the time of a NATO summit in the summer, Prime Minister Zoran Zaev said on February 19.

Greece objects to the former Yugoslav republic's use of the name Macedonia, which Athens says could imply territorial claims over its own northern region of the same name.

Macedonia and Greece have recently stepped up efforts to resolve the row.

"I believe we will be able to conclude the negotiations successfully by the NATO summit in July," Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev said in an interview with Austrian radio station ORF.

The dispute has affected Macedonia's efforts to join NATO and the European Union. Greece is a member of both entities.

Negotiations between the two neighbors have been inconclusive since 1991, when Macedonia gained independence from the former Yugoslavia.

It was admitted into the United Nations in 1993 under the name Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM).

The foreign ministers of the two countries met the United Nations special envoy Matthew Nimetz in Vienna earlier this month to discuss the issue.

Macedonia has said it is ready to add a geographical qualifier to its name to help resolve the dispute with Greece, in an effort to increase its prospects of joining the European Union and NATO.

An agreement could include Macedonia adding "Upper," "New," or "North" to its name.

"We have an automatic invitation, meaning NATO members will start ratifying our [NATO] accession as soon as we and Greece announce that the problem has been solved," Zaev said.

The NATO summit will be held on July 11-12 July in Brussels.

Based on reporting by Reuters and orf.atVERKH-BIYISK, Russia -- The home of a Russian activist has been burned down in what he suspects was an arson attack in retaliation for his opposition to deforestation in the Altai Republic in southern Siberia.

Vladimir Shvetsov's wooden house in the village of Verkh-Biyisk was completely destroyed by fire on February 18.

Speaking to reporters, Shvetsov linked the incident with a February 13 demonstration in which he and others protested the felling of 100-year-old conifers in the region. A neighbor and fellow activists said opponents of the deforestation have been threatened.

The protest was held outside the office of President Vladimir Putin's envoy to Siberia in the city of Novosibirsk.

Shvetsov's neighbor Olga Toruchak, who is also an anti-deforestation activist, told RFE/RL that everybody in the village believes the overnight fire was an arson attack.

"Thanks to the dogs, who started barking, Vladimir woke up and managed to get out of the house in time, saving himself and his little dog. His two cats died in the fire," Toruchak said.

"Those who own the land and those who are involved in the deforestation did not like our protests," she said. "They have openly threatened us, saying they will bring people with assault rifles to shoot everyone, especially Shvetsov, who impede their activities."

Toruchak said the activists will continue their protests against cutting old pine trees in the area.

"Of course, our people are shocked by the fire but I think nobody will manage to frighten us," she said.

Since January, local residents held three rallies in the region protesting the deforestation. The next protest is scheduled for February 24.

With reporting by MBK.MediaDays after the U.S. Justice Department formally accused 13 Russians and several companies of meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, President Vladimir Putin's spokesman has reiterated the claim that the Russian state did not interfere.

Spokesman Dmitry Peskov's remarks on February 19 were the first Kremlin comment on the charges announced by the office of U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller three days earlier.

The indictment alleges that a wealthy businessman with close ties to Putin funded a so-called "troll farm" that sent agents to the United States, created fake social-media accounts that appeared to be U.S.-based, and used them to spread divisive messages.

Echoing findings released by U.S. intelligence agencies in January 2017, the Justice Department said the aims included undermining faith in U.S. democracy, disparaging candidate Hillary Clinton, and aiding her rival, Donald Trump, who won the election.

Speaking to reporters, Peskov said that "the indictment focuses on Russian citizens, but we have heard in announcements from Washington accusations about the involvement of the Russian state, the Kremlin, and the Russian government."

"There are no indications that the Russian state could have been involved in this. There are none and there cannot be any," Peskov said.

"Russia did not meddle, is not in the habit of meddling in the internal affairs of other countries, and is not doing it now," he said.

Putin has repeatedly denied that there was a Russian government effort to meddle in the election, which the Republican Party candidate Trump won on November 8, 2016, in tight race against Democratic Party nominee Clinton.

In their announcement in January 2017, U.S. intelligence agencies said that Putin had personally "ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the U.S. presidential election."

Kremlin critics argue that the most well-known of the 13 Russians indicted, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has ties to Putin and the state that undermine Russia's assertions that the government was not involved in any meddling.

Prigozhin -- accused of funneling money into the St. Petersburg-based Internet Research Agency, which is also named in the charges -- has been called "Putin's chef" because his catering business has organized banquets for Putin and others in the ruling elite.

The U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Prigozhin in 2016 for allegedly providing material support to senior Russian government officials, saying he had extensive business dealings with the Russian Defense Ministry.

An official corporate database indicates that companies he owns or controls have won lucrative state contracts for the Russian presidential administration, parliament, and the Defense Ministry, the Reuters news agency reported.

According to Reuters, the database shows that one of his companies won contracts worth about $8 billion between 2011 and 2017 involving food service for state-run educational institutions.

In addition to the special counsel, three congressional panels are investigating Moscow's alleged meddling and whether associates of Trump colluded with Russia.

The U.S. indictment, which was issued by a grand jury and released by Mueller's office, said that the Russian entities in question began interfering in U.S. political processes as early as 2014.

it said that some of those charged posed as Americans and communicated with people associated with Trump's campaign, adding that those people were "unwitting" in their communications with the Russians.

In comments to reporters after the indictment's release, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said that there was no indication that the Russian meddling affected the outcome of the election.

Trump, who has downplayed the ongoing criminal and congressional investigations as well as mounting evidence about Russian interference, said the indictment, and Rosenstein's remarks, were further vindication.

"Russia started [its] anti-U.S. campaign in 2014, long before I announced that I would run for President. The results of the election were not impacted. The Trump campaign did nothing wrong -- no collusion!" he wrote on Twitter.

Mueller's office has handed down two previous indictments, one of them for Trump's former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, and the probe has resulted in two guilty pleas, including one by Trump's first national security adviser, Michael Flynn.

With reporting by Reuters, AP, and dpaRussian lawmaker Vladislav Reznik and 17 other suspects have gone on trial in Spain accused of money laundering for two Russian organized-crime groups.

"I came to the session because I'm not guilty of anything and I trust the Spanish justice system," Reznik told the Madrid court on February 19, according to Russia's state-run RIA Novosti news agency.

Prosecutors are seeking jail sentences of up to 5 1/2 years for most of the suspects and fines of up to 100 million euros ($124 million).

Prosecutors believe more than 50 million euros ($62 million) of Russian mafia money was laundered by the Tambov and Malyshev gangs -- two of Russia's largest and best-known criminal organizations.

The indictment says they "clearly managed to penetrate layers of the state apparatus" and have "links to Russian economic, political, judicial, and police power."

Reznik is a member of the ruling United Russia party, and previously was the first deputy chairman of the Finance Committee in the lower house of Russia's parliament, the State Duma.

His wife, Diana Gindin, also went on trial, along with five Spaniards accused of helping the Russians' money-laundering activities.

The alleged gang bosses, Gennady Petrov and Aleksandr Malyshev, are still at large.

The case dates back to 2008, when Spanish police detained 20 Russian suspects.

The Tambov and Malyshev gangs both originated as protection rackets in St. Petersburg in the late 1980s. Rivals in the past, the two fought a bloody battle for supremacy in 1989 and are believed to control scores of industrial enterprises and engage in drug trafficking, prostitution, protection rackets, and money laundering.

The money laundering by Russian gangs in Spain is believed to have started in the 1990s, when rich Russians began buying luxury villas in the country.

With reporting by the BBC, RIA Novosti, and The Moscow TimesWASHINGTON -- U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says the United States is considering additional sanctions against Russian individuals amid bipartisan criticism for the administrations delay in enforcing a law strengthening restrictions imposed on Moscow.

"We've taken steps that have already prevented a number of Russian military sales as a result of the legislation, Tillerson told CBS television's 60 Minutes program in a wide-ranging interview broadcast on February 18.

And we are evaluating additional individuals for possible sanctioning, he added.

Congress overwhelmingly voted in favor of the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, which cemented existing sanctions and required the U.S. administration to effectively get permission from Congress to lift them.

The bill was reluctantly signed into law by President Donald Trump, who had campaigned on establishing warmer ties with Moscow, but the measures were not enacted by a October 1 deadline.

On February 14, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told the Senate Finance Committee during a hearing that he would soon issue new sanctions against wealthy Russians in retaliation for Moscow's meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, which the Kremlin has denied.

"We are actively working on those sanctions," Mnuchin said. "You should expect them in the near future."

In his interview, Tillerson also spoke on allegations concerning the use of chemical weapons by the Russia-supported Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad against U.S.-backed rebels in the country's nearly seven-year civil war.

In response to interviewer Margaret Brennans remarks that "there were six chlorine gas attacks in the past 30 days," Tillerson said:

"That's correct. And we have called them out for the fact that Russia has special responsibilities, in our view, because of commitments they made, to destroy chemical weapons and ensure they knew that there were none."

"I think the only difference [from the previous U.S. administration] is the consequences for it. And President Trump has already demonstrated there will be consequences."

When asked if "military action" is still possible for chlorine gas attacks, Tillerson said that "we are serious about our demands that chemical weapons not become regularized or normalized as a weapon in any conflict."

Assad and Russia have denied that the Syrian government has used chemical weapons against rebels, despite conclusions by experts that the regime did carry out such attacks.

With reporting by CBS

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for global regulations to minimize the impact of electronic warfare on civilians.

In a speech at the University of Lisbon, Guterres said on February 19 that "the next war will begin with a massive cyberattack to destroy military capacity...and paralyze basic infrastructure such as the electric networks."

"Episodes of cyberwarfare between states already exist," he noted, adding that "there is no regulatory scheme for that type of warfare, it is not clear how the Geneva Convention or international humanitarian law applies to it."

Guterres offered the United Nations as a platform where scientists, government officials, and other players could work out rules "to guarantee a more humane character" of any conflict involving information technology.

Guterres's call comes after the United States and Britain last week blamed Russia for the massive NotPetya ransomware attack in June 2017 that disrupted companies across Europe.

Moscow rejected the allegations as groundless.

Based on reporting by ReutersUzbekistan's National Security Service (SNB) has wielded immense power for decades but its "time is up," according to the new sheriff in town.

President Shavkat Mirziyoev in his second year in office has made no bones about criticizing one of the pillars of his long-serving predecessor's strong-armed rule, accusing the SNB of committing atrocities, targeting innocent people, and "exceeding its authority."

During a meeting with local activists in Bukhara Province on February 16, Mirziyoev continued his recent criticism of the SNB -- used by former President Islam Karimov to maintain tight control over the country's people and politics. He said he had received evidence of how the SNB in Bukhara "unjustly imprisoned local businessmen."

"I even have photos showing torture," Mirziyoev said. "I know the names of the investigators who committed these atrocities."

The president didn't elaborate, but promised that "you will see it on television when the time comes." He vowed to bring the perpetrators to justice. "They will serve 20 years in prison, if needed," he said.

Calling members of the security services "mad dogs," Mirziyoev accused them of targeting "anyone who managed to become successful in business."

Mirziyoev accused the SNB of exceeding its authority, adding that "no other country has given so much power to these unscrupulous people in uniform."

"It wasn't like this even in 1937," Mirziyoev said, alluding to the deadly Stalin-era period of mass repressions and persecutions known as the Great Terror.

Increasing Speed Of Reform

Karimov, who ruled Uzbekistan with an iron fist for 27 years and whose death was announced on September 2, 2016, heavily relied on the SNB to suppress dissent.

Mirziyoev, a former prime minister who was named Karimov's acting successor before being elected in December 2016, has vowed to reform the SNB and limit its vast behind-the-scenes power.

On January 31, he removed SNB chief Rustam Inoyatov, who led the agency for nearly 23 years.

Dubbed a gray cardinal, Inoyatov was a close Karimov ally and one of the most influential officials in tightly controlled Uzbekistan for years. He was replaced by Ikhtiyor Abdulloev, who has served as prosecutor-general since April 2015.

Just days before Inoyatov's dismissal, Mirziyoev criticized the SNB as a much-feared institution that even controlled high-ranking government officials.

Speaking in Inoyatov's native Surkhondaryo Province on January 19, Mirziyoev said, "For example, if the regional governor would dare to say something [that the SNB didn't like], he would face being slandered and removed from his post."

Mirziyoev pointed out that he didn't trust any security official, and would "rip off their epaulettes if I have to."

All-Powerful Agency

The SNB, the successor of the Soviet-era KGB, has gained a reputation for carrying out abuses in the name of fighting religious extremism in the predominantly Muslim country of some 32 million.

Thousands were sent to prison on extremist-related charges, and some 17,000 more were put on the so-called blacklist of potential extremists.

Mirziyoev announced on September 1 that 16,000 people had been removed from the list and that many of them had been provided with jobs.

It was widely believed that the SNB -- using a large network of agents -- spied on government officials.

Mirziyoev has ordered the SNB to remove its agents from the country's diplomatic missions abroad and banned law enforcement agencies from conducting searches and wiretaps without court orders.

Mirziyoev said Uzbekistan didn't need a security agency that "spies on governors and other government officials."

Reiterating his earlier remarks, Mirziyoev told the Bukhara activists that the security service's era of unchecked power had come to an end in Bukhara, Surkhondaryo, and the rest of the country. "We'll begin cleaning in Bukhara," he said. "We will establish justice."

However, the extent of Mirziyoev's planned reforms of the SNB remains unclear.

Written by Farangis Najibullah with reporting by RFE/RL's Uzbek Service correspondent Sadriddin AshurTwo men arrested for attempted extortion against local business

Playa del Carmen, Q.R.  Two men have been arrested in Playa del Carmen for attempted extortion against a local downtown business.

The Attorney Generals Office has reported that they have arrested two male persons identified as Raul N and Gerardo N, who were imputed for the crime of extortion.

The pair were arrested after a local downtown business reported their repeated attempts at gaining extortion money. The restaurant owner filed a complaint saying on at least three accounts, the two men entered the 10th Avenue restaurant demanding 20,000 peso per month.

The pair claimed to be working for a criminal group, threatening the closure of the restaurant if the extortion money was not paid. The extortion demands first began February 14. Staff at the restaurant reported the incidents to authorities who were able to track down and arrest the pair two days later.

Federal Police agents arrested 23-year-old Raul N and 43-year-old Gerardo N. They appeared before a judge Saturday. Their hearing has been set for February 22.US investigating reports of adulterated alcohol Mexico says it doesnt have

Cancun, Q.R.  The US Department of State says they are reviewing 17 cases of citizens who say they became ill due to the consumption of adulterated alcohol during their vacations in tourist destinations in Mexico. However Mexico says that from inspections in 2017, no adulterated alcohol was found.

State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert responded to a question about a letter from Democratic Senator Tammy Baldwin to Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, in which he asks to do more about this problem estimating about 140 cases, however Nauert says the number is 17.

According to Tillerson, about 140 is the number of Americans who have been victims of robbery or assaults after fainting due to ingesting adulterated alcohol in beach hotels in Cancun, Los Cabos and Puerto Vallarta.

We are reviewing that letter and we will respond appropriately. We have 17 reports of individuals who have shared their concerns that they may have suffered from contaminated or unregulated alcohol. It has 17, indicated Nauert.

The US is reviewing the 17 cases of victims who allegedly drank adulterated alcohol on tourist beaches in Mexico. It says those affected would have been victims of robbery or assaults after fainting because they ingested, unknowingly, adulterated alcohol on the beaches of Cancun, Los Cabos and Puerto Vallarta.

The State Department spokeswoman warned that they will not be able to prosecute anyone because it did not happen in the US, but at least they are monitoring the reports.

She recalled that this is a topic that has been talked about since the last spring break when the Tillerson office began receiving reports of Americans allegedly affected by adulterated alcohol in Mexico, a very popular destination for student trips at that time of year.

We can not process it because its not our country. Yhats the decision of the Mexican government, but at least we can monitor some of the reports, Nauert said. This is of great concern to the US government.

However, the Secretary of Tourism of Quintana Roo, Marisol Vanegas, said that the state has received no complaints. In addition, he added that the region receives 11 million tourists a year in more than 98,000 hotel rooms and adheres to strict quality measures.

Among the operations carried out by the Federal Consumer Protection Agency (Profeco) during 2017, no adulterated alcohol was detected in Cancun, only a breach of Mexican official norms, said Gamaliel Canto Cambranis regarding Heather Nauerts statement.

The official stated that more than 33 bottles of tequila were immobilized because his registration was not found.

Also, I would like to emphasize that there are normally three special alcohol operations, but in 2017, four were activated in the case of the Riviera Maya, he added.

In 2017, three alcohol and one special operations were applied. They reviewed 1,300 bottles of alcohol in the hotel zone and destroyed eight bottles for non-compliance in the labeling, and immobilized more than 33 bottles of tequila because their registration was not before the regulatory board of tequila, he explained.Tata Motors R&D apparatus has been extremely busy of late. Just days after taking the Auto Expo 2018 completely by storm with the unveiling of H5X SUV and 45X premium hatchback concepts, the Indian auto giant has unveiled yet another new concept at the 2018 Auto Expo.

At Geneva this year, the carmaker is celebrating 20 years of association with the prestigious motor show. Coming to the concept in question, it is based on the new design language of Tata, called IMPACT 2.0. In the front, it features a narrow LED headlamp, a prominent foglight enclosure and a pronounced sheet metal design. All these elements represent the brands latest Impact 2.0 design philosophy which also governs the H5X and 45X.

As of now, this new sedan is a design study. It is based on the same platform as the 45X hatchback concept which was showcased at the 2018 Auto Expo. The design study could form basis of Tatas upcoming sedan which will rival the likes of Honda City and Maruti Ciaz. Apart from new petrol and diesel engine options, the car could also be offered with an electric motor, considering the sudden increase in focus towards electric mobility solution across the globe. Tata plans to electrify all their vehicles by 2022.

The electric E-Vision concept will have a range of 300 kms on a single charge and would accelerate from 0-100 kmph in 7 seconds. It has a top speed of 200 kmph. With the new E-Vision Concept, Tata has also showcased how their future cars will be from the inside. It will have never before seen connected apps and systems that will not only aid in driving, but also safety.

It is built on the same platform as that of the new 45X hatchback concept  AMP (Advanced Modular Platform). Just like the Tigor compact sedan, the more premium sedan will also feature a coupe like rear styling. Other than that, it also features 21 inch stylish alloys.

Guenter Butschek, MD of Tata Motors said, The E-Vision Sedan Concept is one of the most definitive and aspirational product by an Indian OEM and will be a game changer, reiterating our commitment to offer world-class design, technology and drive the EV revolution to build a sustainable future.

Alongside the E-Vision concept, Tata Motors is also showcasing the concepts which were unveiled at the Auto Expo 2018  H5X and 45X. Geneva Motor Show serves as an excellent platform for Tata Motors to demonstrate its capability of coming up with world class cars that are designed not just for the Indian sub-continent but also for developed international markets.Oakland has depleted a fund to clear overgrown weeds and vegetation in the hills  a fire management tactic thats crucial to controlling wildland infernos.

Its not for a lack of money, though. The city allocated some $600,000 to the operation, but those funds wont get released until July 1, the start of the next fiscal year, weeks after the fire season typically begins. Meanwhile, key Fire Department jobs remain vacant.

Driving in the Oakland hills recently, Vincent Crudele, who leads the Fire Departments vegetation management unit, said he saw fields of bright poppies and acacia trees blooming yellow flowers  a vista thats not supposed to sprout until late spring. The blossoming could signal an early start to the fire season, which has run from May to November in recent years.

As much as we try scientifically to predict when and where fires are going to happen, theres no rhyme or reason, he said. Its not a matter of if it will happen, but when it will happen.  Thats why we create fuel breaks.

Steve Ringman/The Chronicle

The funding deficiency is partly due to voters rejecting the renewal of a $65 parcel tax in 2013 that paid for wildfire prevention activities. The leftover monies were stretched through last year before drying up entirely.

Usually this time of year, Crudele said, the Fire Department would be removing hazardous growth on private properties whose owners havent complied with vegetation regulations, then fining the owners. Roughly one-tenth of the 20,000 inspected residences do not meet the city requirements on any given year.

Firefighters annually check whether residents have, for instance, maintained 10 feet of space between tree limbs and chimneys and cleared their roofs of leaves and needles  the kind of fuel onto which flying embers latch to spark a house fire that can jump to the next structure.

The department still has a small pot of cash  $69,950 as of last week  to deal with clearing vegetation on city-owned land, according to Crudele. He said that will be spent on clearing roadside vegetation, which is among the first to turn brown under steady sunlight and which threatens to go up in flames any time a driver tosses a cigarette butt or gets into an accident.

Paul Chinn/The Chronicle

Other more costly projects, like the clearing of invasive French broom below the Montclair Railroad Trail, wont happen until late in the summer. The last time crews tackled the 7-acre parcel, they removed 78,000 pounds of the shrub, which can rapidly reach 8 feet in height. Once dried out, the vegetation forms a meadow of tinder.

Some City Council members extra leery after the Wine Country fires, such as Rebecca Kaplan, want next fiscal years funds to be released early.

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.

All were saying is, instead of doing the work starting in July, do the same amount of work but start in May, she said. It wouldnt affect the future years budgeting.

Not helping the funding conundrum: Three of four full-time inspector positions are vacant, though Crudele said the city is filling them. Councilman Dan Kalb said part of the problem is that vegetation inspectors in the Fire Department are paid significantly less than their counterparts who inspect buildings.

I dont know why, he said. It doesnt make sense to me. I think the administration wants to close that gap, but it hasnt happened yet. Even when you hire someone, its hard to keep them there.Motorists on Highway 101 were in for a surprise Sunday when a small plane pierced the blue skies and made an emergency landing in the middle of the road in Morgan Hill.

The single-engine Piper PA-46 landed on a grassy strip dividing Highway 101 just after 11 a.m. near San Martin Airport in Santa Clara County after reporting engine failure, said Ian Gregor, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration.

The pilot, who was not identified, was the only person on the flight, Gregor said.

No injuries were reported, and there was no damage to the plane, Gregor said.

The bizarre sight of the plane stopped in the middle of the highway was jolting for many passing motorists, including Joshua Miller, who stopped to take photos.

Now Playing: Part of an engine was lost mid-air on a United flight from Hawaii to San Francisco Tuesday afternoon. Passengers showed what it looked like from on board the plane. Video: Courtesy Aaron Ebert

Miller, 21, of Orange, had just had breakfast with his parents in Hollister (San Benito County), and they were driving to San Francisco to scout apartments.

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.

There was traffic backed up for miles in both the northbound and southbound lanes. My parents and I were all wondering what could be happening, Miller said.

When they finally inched up to a point where the plane came into view, flanked by police cars and fire trucks, Miller said, he could barely contain his surprise.

I was like, wow, you dont see that every day, he said. Im actually a photojournalism major, and I like to go out and look for breaking news stories, and this is by far the most intense thing Ive seen.The San Francisco firefighters union has opted not to do a ranked-choice endorsement and instead is going all in for Supervisor London Breed in the June mayoral race.

The decision isnt going over well with supporters of former Supervisor Angela Alioto, who finished second in a vote of the rank and file. But union President Tom OConnor noted that it was the members themselves who made the call in a show-of-hands vote.

The endorsement followed a candidates forum attended by about 300 of the unions 1,500 members, where Supervisor Jane Kim, former State Sen. Mark Leno, Alioto and Breed were questioned on everything from homelessness and drug overdoses to how the reshaping of city streets to accommodate bikes and pedestrians could affect fire trucks and ambulances.

OConnor said union rules precluded him from giving the tally on the vote count, but we know Breed came in first, followed by Alioto and Leno.

All the candidates have a history of supporting the firefighters, so many thought the union would endorse at least two of the four. Under the ranked-choice system, voters list three candidates in order of preference, with the bottom finishers votes being redistributed until someone gets a majority.

I was surprised, but they decided to go all in with Breed, OConnor said.

The unions endorsement is a holy grail for local office seekers. Firefighters are especially popular on the citys Westside, and unlike members of the police union, they actually walk precincts in support of their candidate.

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.

Plus, the firefighters have a political action committee, which lets them collect big money from outside contributors and spend it in support of their pick.

S an Francisco Chronicle columnists Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross appear Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays. Matier can be seen on the KPIX TV morning and evening news. He can also be heard on KCBS radio Monday through Friday at 7:50 a.m. and 5:50 p.m. Got a tip? Call (415) 777-8815, or email matierandross@ sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @matierandrossBART General Manager Grace Crunican has all but slammed the door on the idea of building a station near Oaklands Howard Terminal  the waterfront location that Mayor Libby Schaaf has been promoting for a new As ballpark.

Its not a viable alternative, Crunican told the team, for two main reasons.

For starters, it would be located between the West Oakland Station  gateway to the Transbay Tube  and the Oakland Wye underground connector downtown thats used by four separate lines. Its the most heavily trafficked section of BART in the East Bay.

Putting a station at the site northwest of Jack London Square, Crunican told As President Dave Kaval in a letter last week, would permanently reduce speeds and introduce uncertainty ... where we can least afford it.

To say nothing of the problem of building a station in the middle of a vital BART artery while still running trains there. Crunican said service would have to be shut down for a time, a prospect that she said was not realistic.

By the time we would be able to design and build such a project, Im sure the As would have had at least 10 winning seasons and a World Series win in the new stadium, she wrote.

She didnt even mention the cost  or who would pay it.

BARTs assessment hardly comes as a shock to the As. For years, the team has maintained that the Howard Terminal location is unworkable for a variety of reasons, including the lack of easy access to BART.

Still, Crunicans forget about it letter is the second blow in three months to the As efforts to find a new home in Oakland.

In December, Peralta Community College District trustees shot down the teams proposal for building a ballpark on school property next to Laney College, after faculty and students objected.

That site was within walking distance of Lake Merritt BART Station, which was one of the reasons the As liked it. When the Peralta trustees turned their thumbs down, the team agreed to take another look at Schaafs favorite spot  including asking BART to weigh in on the possibility of building a Howard Terminal station.

The As had no immediate response to BARTs stance. But were told the team hasnt ruled out other transportation options, such as increased bus service or even a light rail line, to make the site work.

In fact, Crunican wrote that BART would be happy to work with the As in figuring out how to connect fans to the 12th St/Oakland City Center and West Oakland BART stations if the team pursues Howard Terminal.

As for Schaaf: Its a disappointment, but it neednt derail the project, she said of Crunicans letter. I know the As are working hard and pursuing all options to stay and build a site in Oakland.

Meaning, as she sees it, the As still might want to consider rebuilding at the Coliseum  a location the team has said doesnt pencil out.

Fired up: The San Francisco firefighters union has opted not to do a ranked-choice endorsement and instead is going all in for Supervisor London Breed in the June mayoral race.

The decision isnt going over well with supporters of former Supervisor Angela Alioto, who finished second in a vote of the rank and file. But union President Tom OConnor noted that it was the members themselves who made the call in a show-of-hands vote.

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.

The endorsement followed a candidates forum attended by about 300 of the unions 1,500 members, where Supervisor Jane Kim, former State Sen. Mark Leno, Alioto and Breed were questioned on everything from homelessness and drug overdoses to how the reshaping of city streets to accommodate bikes and pedestrians could affect fire trucks and ambulances.

OConnor said union rules precluded him from giving the tally on the vote count, but we know Breed came in first, followed by Alioto and Leno.

All the candidates have histories of supporting the firefighters, so many thought the union would endorse at least two of the four. Under the ranked-choice system, voters list three candidates in order of preference, with the bottom finishers votes being redistributed until someone gets a majority.

I was surprised, but they decided to go all in with Breed, OConnor said.

The unions endorsement is a holy grail for local office seekers. Firefighters are especially popular on the citys west side and, unlike members of the police union, they actually walk precincts in support of their candidate.

Plus, the firefighters have a political action committee, which lets them collect big money from outside contributors and spend it in support of their pick.The cost of preventing power-line wildfires could rise so high that Californias top utility regulator recently suggested a new way to pay for it  charge residents of high-risk areas more money for electricity.

Michael Picker, president of the California Public Utilities Commission, floated the idea during a Jan. 31 meeting on fire safety for utility companies. With more Californians moving into rural areas prone to fires, he questioned the fairness of forcing all utility customers to pay the costs of preventing rural wildfires sparked by utility lines.

Should we actually start to charge differentially for the use of the distribution system for those sections that are in the high-fire-hazard zone and people who choose to live there? Picker said.

While it wasnt a formal proposal, Picker said in a follow-up interview that its an idea worth discussing. As last falls deadly, wind-driven blazes in both Northern and Southern California showed, the state now faces the threat of wildfires even at times of year once considered safe. And Californians are increasingly moving into harms way.

As we spend more to harden the grid and protect people in those high-risk areas, how do we pay for it? Picker said in the interview. If youre in Richmond, do you want to be paying to protect vacation homes in Napa?

State investigators have yet to pinpoint the causes of last years fires. But power lines tossed about by harsh winds are considered a likely culprit. Pacific Gas and Electric Co. reported finding damaged equipment near the suspected ignition points of the four biggest North Bay fires. The night the fires began, Sonoma County emergency dispatchers received reports of downed or sparking power lines, blown transformers or other concerns with PG&Es equipment from more than 50 locations.

Fires sparked by electrical lines have repeatedly ravaged California. Many of the ways of preventing them  trimming or chopping down millions of trees, replacing wooden poles with steel, burying power lines underground  are expensive. So is rebuilding the grid after a fire passes through.

Here were facing costs for upgrading the grid that primarily benefits one group of people, Picker said. Im just trying to come up with ways to figure out how we do this fairly but still manage to serve people who live in these high-risk areas. Because no doubt, they need electricity.

Liz Hafalia/The Chronicle

The idea of basing rates on the risks associated with a particular location is common among insurance companies.

But electricity rates usually dont work that way. A spokeswoman for a national association of utility regulators said her group didnt know of any utility with different rates for urban versus rural customers. Someone building a home in the hinterlands will typically pay more to start service than will a new home owner in a town or city, particularly if the rural home sits at a distance from existing power lines. But the monthly rates will be the same.

Its a policy decision thats pretty firmly entrenched that the price should be the same wherever you live, said Mike Florio, who served on the California Public Utilities Commission from 2011 through 2016.

That remains true even though utilities face different costs for serving rural areas versus cities and suburbs. Water providers will sometimes charge higher rates based on the costs of serving different locations, but electric utilities typically dont.

Theres no question its more costly per kilowatt-hour to serve someone at the very end of a distribution line than it is in an urban area, said UC Berkeley energy economist Severin Borenstein.

There is a way in which electricity bills in California are based on location, although it has nothing to do with risk.

The states large, investor-owned utilities charge more for electricity once a customer passes a monthly baseline  a bare minimum of electricity usage. Those baselines vary according to location, to account for the states many climate zones. The baselines in Bakersfield and Fresno, for example, are higher than in San Francisco or San Jose.

Leah Millis / The Chronicle 2017

The idea of charging more in fire-prone areas cuts to the heart of a basic principle underlying utility rates. Electric utilities and their government regulators have traditionally used rates to spread around the cost of building and maintaining the grid, an immense and expensive collection of infrastructure.

The whole point of utility rates is evening things out to make them just and reasonable, said Mark Toney, executive director of The Utility Reform Network consumer advocacy group. We think its going to be awful hard to justify charging individuals a higher rate just based on where they live.

Theres also the question of political feasibility.

Air Quality Tracker Check levels down to the neighborhood Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes

Rural utility customers and their elected representatives would doubtless push back if the utilities commission chose to seriously pursue the idea. Florio pointed to the fate of a widely resented fire-prevention fee the state used to charge rural homeowners. Gov. Jerry Brown agreed to suspend the fee last year in exchange for the votes he needed in the Legislature to reauthorize Californias greenhouse gas cap-and-trade system.

The rural legislators made the price of their support getting rid of that fee, Florio said. And that was a modest attempt at making the user pay.

And yet, the costs of preventing fires from power lines are expected to increase in the coming years. The utilities commission in December approved a new, tougher set of fire-safety rules that will require more tree trimming and more frequent field inspections of equipment. And commissioners left open the possibility of tightening the rules further.

Dian Grueneich, a senior research scholar at Stanford Universitys Precourt Institute for Energy, said the idea of charging different rates in fire-risk areas was at least worth exploring. She served on the utilities commission from 2005 through 2010.

If youre voluntarily living in a high-risk zone, and that triggers costs for the utility, in my mind we have to think outside the box of what weve done for the last 50 years, she said.

David R. Baker is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: dbaker@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @DavidBakerSF

Following the fires

The Chronicles coverage of the Wine Country fires and their aftermath: www.sfchronicle.com/north-bay-firesThe Birds was notable for its beautiful location work in Bodega Bay, the memorable bird special effects and actress Tippi Hedrens imperishable green blazer and skirt  which withstood an escalating series of bird attacks, and still looked ready for a cocktail party.

Giant letters in the opening titles declared Miss Hedrens costumes designed by Edith Head, even before the film editor or cinematographer were credited.

Totally warranted. It was an amazing suit.

But thats not what catches the eye 55 years after the release of the Alfred Hitchcock film, arguably the directors final classic, and one of the great Bay Area-based movies  honored this week with a Chronicle The Big Event podcast. Passage of time has changed the films strengths, or perhaps more accurately eroded the intended message into starker relief.

The Birds, a horror film released in 1963, is the environmental movie that we need in 2018.

That isnt a call for a remake, which is apparently in the works for television by the BBC. The Hitchcock version is perfect for modern audiences. It features a disarming slow build that ends not with a clear resolution, but a near-certain doom. The protagonists are numb, as a dwindling number of fools continue to doubt the inevitable ecological apocalypse.

Thats a long way from where the movie starts, with socialite Melanie (Hedren) and bachelor lawyer Mitch (Rod Taylor) in San Francisco, at a sprawling two-story pet store across the street from Union Square. (Possibly the future home of a Disney Store?)

They play pranks on each other and arent very likable, establishing The Birds as a romance that lacks sympathetic leads. Then the setting switches to Bodega Bay, and introduces more toxic figures  a widowed mother (Jessica Tandy) who has an unhealthy fixation on her son, and a former girlfriend (Suzanne Pleshette) who claims to be over Mitch, but remains in a town she hates to keep him close.

Thats four people, chain-smoking through life, with no appreciation for the privilege that theyve taken for granted. With the decisions that mankind is making, the movie seems to argue, you might as well turn the world over to the birds.

As the birds attack  a single gull strike quickly escalates to an exploding gas station  townspeople think that the saucy vibe of newcomer Melanie is somehow causing this pestilence. (It seemed to swoop down at you ... deliberately!) Why, they ask, would birds suddenly turn on man now?

Birds have been on this planet ... for 140 million years, says Mrs. Bundy, an old lady at a diner who has memorized an incredible amount of bird statistics. Doesnt it seem odd that they would wait all that time to start a war against humanity?

The latter argument probably sounded solid to an audience member in 1963, when people were still dumping paint thinner down their storm drains. The Environmental Protection Agency wouldnt come around until 1970. The first time the words climate change appeared in The Chronicle in reference to a global threat arrived 11 years later in 1974.

But anyone in 2018 watching The Birds understands the concept of tipping points, and the acceleration that comes with poor stewardship of the Earth. Maybe the birds were set off by a one-tenth of a degree change in the oceans waters. Maybe we cut down one too many trees.

This was surely Hitchcocks intention, as proved by his own words. A sampling of reviews from the time shows that critics were far more interested in the (then) state-of-the-art effects and Hedrens personal life. In a 1963 interview with The Chronicle, the director focused on the fragility of human existence.

They are the revolt of Nature against Mankind, Hitchcock told The Chronicles critic Paine Knickerbocker. We take too many things for granted.

Another sign that Hitchcock was sympathetic to the birds and frustrated with mankind: He oddly created the film with no music cues. The birds provide the only score, as if the extinction of mankind is happening behind the camera as well. Imagine the composer lying behind Hitchcock with his eyes pecked out as well.

Ornithology expert Mrs. Bundy is Hitchcocks voice in the film, and shes interrupted twice as she lays down the key soliloquy.

Birds are not aggressive creatures, miss. They bring beauty into the world, she tells the crowd in the diner, tuned out to her warning. It is mankind rather who insists upon making it difficult for life to exist on this planet.

Only when our heroes are knocked back to the Stone Age  no gas station, no power, faced with tearing apart their Union Square-bought furniture as fuel for the fireplace  do the birds finally let them pass unharmed.

It appears that the bird attacks come in waves, with long intervals in between, a voice on a car radio reports, explaining nothing. The reason for this, does not appear clear as yet.

Hitchcock fans know there was another planned ending, with the survivors driving past devastation, then seeing the Golden Gate Bridge covered in birds. But the ambiguous ending is better for the environmental message of 2018.

Bruised and beaten, our survivors drive away safely past fields of birds that are momentarily standing down, as their chirps and cries drown out the cars motor. Theres no doubt that the two lead characters  whose first meeting is marked by their self-confidence  are at the mercy of nature.

Even Hedrens indestructible suit is tattered now. Nothing is forever, The Birds tells us, if we keep our heads in the sand.

Peter Hartlaub is The San Francisco Chronicles pop culture critic. Email: phartlaub@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @PeterHartlaub

Peter Hartlaub, Beth Spotswood and Tony Bravo do a deep dive on The Birds, inducting it into the S.F. cinema greatest of all time on The Big Event podcast: www.sfchronicle.com/podcastsIts been nearly 70 years since census-takers last asked all residents in the nation whether they were U.S. citizens. Now the Trump administrations Justice Department wants to reinstate the citizenship question for the 2020 census and says doing so would improve voting-rights enforcement.

But California, other Democratic-majority states and immigrant advocates see a more sinister purpose: to reduce census participation by intimidating undocumented immigrants and their families, and thereby lowering population counts that are the basis for determining the number of a states seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The last-minute request to add a citizenship question to the census, with no time to test its effects, would violate the Constitution and undermine the purposes of the Voting Rights Act that the Justice Department claims it wants to protect, attorneys general of California, 17 other states and Washington, D.C., along with the governor of Colorado, said in a letter last week to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, whose department includes the Census Bureau.

Nonsense, said Justice Department spokesman Devin OMalley. He said the department is committed to free and fair elections for all Americans and has sought reinstatement of the citizenship question on the census to fulfill that commitment.

The Census Bureau itself is leaderless  President Trump has not appointed a director, and his reported choice as the deputy who would direct the next census, Thomas Brunell, a political science professor who has advocated for Republicans in redistricting disputes, withdrew his name last week.

But if Ross, a Trump appointee, agrees to add a citizenship query to the census by the March 31 deadline, the next stop will be federal court.

The states lawyers, in their letter to Ross, said they would not accept census manipulations that would threaten our states fair representation in Congress, dilute our states role in the Electoral College, and deprive our states of their fair share of hundreds of billions of dollars in federal funds.

The Constitution prescribes the census, or enumeration, every 10 years, and says each states representatives will be determined by counting the whole number of persons, without referring to citizenship.

Since the Supreme Court decreed the one-person, one-vote equality rule for electoral districts in 1963, all states have apportioned their districts according to overall population rather than citizenship. In a lawsuit that sought to require apportionment based on the number of eligible voters  which would have excluded noncitizens, prisoners and children  the high court ruled unanimously in 2016 that there was no constitutional basis to prohibit this long-standing use of total population.

But the census has long sought additional information about the population it is counting. Census-takers first asked respondents in 1820 whether they were foreigners not naturalized. In 1850 they added a question about birthplace, and another in 1900 about the year a person entered the United States.

After the 1950 census, however, the citizenship question was removed from the basic census document and transferred to the long-form census, a more extensive questionnaire sent to 1 in 6 households. In 2000 it was moved again to the American Community Survey, a longer query sent annually to about 3 million households.

The current controversy arose from a Dec. 12 letter to the Census Bureau from the Justice Department, which said it needs a complete count of the citizen voting-age population to enforce part of the Voting Rights Acts protections for racial minorities.

That provision says district lines in areas with substantial minority populations should be drawn, when possible, to make them a majority of the eligible voters, in order to give minority voters a better chance to elect their preferred representative. Such districts make up about one-fourth of U.S. House seats. Without an actual citizenship count, the Justice Department said, it would be hampered in enforcing the laws important protections against racial discrimination in voting.

The request came nearly a year after the normal deadline for preparing topics for the census, a timetable designed to allow testing of the cost and impact of any new questions. Civil rights advocates noted that the proposal came from the same administration that has backed state voter ID laws and other measures that have reduced minority turnout.

This Department of Justice has no interest in good-faith enforcement of the Voting Rights Act, said attorney Jonathan Stein, who heads the Voting Rights Program for Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Asian Law Caucus in San Francisco. He said adding a citizenship question would scare off some of the communities that are already under-participating in the census.

Such a change dramatically increases the risk of an unsuccessful census, said Karthick Ramakrishnan, a professor of political science and public policy at UC Riverside. He said reduced participation in immigrant-heavy areas would lower not only their representation in Congress and state legislatures, but also their share of numerous federal and state benefit programs, and even affect relocation decisions by private businesses.

The dispute was the topic of a pointed debate this month on Los Angeles radio station KPCC.

A census question would have a bulls-eye effect on California, whose population is nearly 40 percent Latino, said Phil Sparks, co-director of an advocacy group called the Census Project and associate director of the Census Bureau under President Bill Clinton from 1996 to 1999.

Sparks, who was a part-time census-taker as a graduate student, said that if he went door to door in urban neighborhoods now and asked census questions that included citizenship, a lot of people wouldnt answer ... whether citizens or noncitizens.

But why should a states congressional representation be swelled by the presence of illegal aliens? retorted James Copland, director of the Center for Legal Policy at the conservative Manhattan Institute. He noted that undocumented immigrants, and some legal immigrants as well, are ineligible for federal benefits such as food stamps and Medicaid.

And while a citizenship question might cause political harm to California, Copland said, it could help states like Minnesota and Maine, whose representation is diluted by California.What do Ohio teens chanting slurs at black and Asian high school athletes have in common with the anti-immigrant fanaticism that intensified with the presidents lie about a border agents death?

And how are those incidents associated with a tiny neo-Nazi group that has been linked to at least five killings, including the death of a college student in Santa Ana?

Welcome to This Week in White Supremacy, a weekly newsletter from Oaklands Equal Justice Society, a social justice nonprofit that pushes progressive policy and legislation on behalf of underrepresented minority groups.

The newsletter tracks the rising tide of white supremacy.

Since the feature began three months ago, its become a weekly reminder of the racism that exists in this country  and that has been exacerbated by the current president of the United States.

The newsletters content is dead serious. People have died fighting against white supremacy, most notably Heather Heyer, the woman who was run over by a car at a white nationalism rally in Charlottesville, Va., in August.

Edu Bayer / New York Times

The newsletter is written by Eva Paterson, a civil rights lawyer whos been fighting for racial justice for four decades.

Part of it is my way of dealing with the madness, Paterson told me when I asked why she started the newsletter. You wake up every morning, and you read about all the crazy things that Trump is doing, but its not just Trump. Theres a sizable portion of our population that supports what hes doing.

As a student at Northwestern University, Paterson debated Vice President Spiro Agnew on TV in 1970. After she graduated from UC Berkeley School of Law in 1975, Paterson did legal aid work in Alameda County before spending 26 years at the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights.

Shes filed lawsuits to desegregate San Francisco schools and to get blacks and women jobs with the San Francisco Fire Department.

When she founded the Equal Justice Society in 2000, Paterson wanted to build a civil rights organization that was focused on collaboration and communications.

We felt we needed to have more sophistication in how we communicated to people, Paterson, 68, said.

One way to cut through the clutter of information bombarding our phones and computers is to talk directly to readers in a newsletter.

Paterson modeled This Week in White Supremacy after the Weekly List by Amy Siskind, an advocate for womens and LGBTQ rights. Siskinds list is a weekly tracker of what she refers to as the eroding norms under the current regime.

That regime is led by a reality TV star who floated down the gilded escalator at Trump Tower in New York City to announce his candidacy for president. He did so by disparaging Mexican immigrants. On that day in 2015, this politician made white supremacy and white nationalism palatable to many Americans.

One of the things that is most troubling is that he is a role model for some kids who are saying, The president says this, so it must be right, Paterson told me. The presidency still carries a lot of power. He is emboldening people.

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.

Paterson went further in her description of a man who has assailed black athletes and entertainers for protesting police brutality. After Heyers death in Charlottesville, the president put equal blame on the anti-hate demonstrators and the white supremacists. During his campaign, he belatedly and reluctantly  under pressure  disavowed support from David Duke, a well-known white nationalist. Hes used derogatory language to refer to Haiti, El Salvador and African countries  questioning why the United States is taking immigrants from these countries rather than people from places like Norway.

And his Twitter account has shared racist imagery with millions of followers.

He is a white supremacist, racist liar, she said of the president. She repeated the sentence to make sure I quoted her correctly.

People seem to be nervous to say that, Paterson said. One of the reasons Im such a blessed person is I work for an organization where I can say that plainly. He is a white supremacist.

This Week in White Supremacy lets people know whats going on, Paterson said. Open your eyes. Its not just crazy Trump sleeping with porn stars.

Unfortunately, theres more than we can even put in every week. Its overwhelming, but I also think that there are people in the middle who can be brought back to sanity.

One week at a time.The surest sign a political regime is failing is its inability to do anything about a problem universally seen as urgent and that has some obvious remedies. And its a mark of political corruption when unaccountable cliques block solutions that enjoy broad support and force their selfish interests to prevail over the common good.

On gun violence, the United States has become a corrupt failed state.

This is the only conclusion to draw from the endless enraging replays of the same political paralysis, no matter how many children are gunned down at our schools or how many innocent Americans are slaughtered at shopping centers and other public places. Whatever happens, we cant ban assault weapons, we cant strengthen background checks, we cant do anything.

In corrupt failed states, politics is about lying and misdirection. On guns, our debate is a pack of lies and evasions.

In no other country is the phrase thoughts and prayers a sacrilege, a cover for cowardice.

In no other country are the words mental health so empty. They are muttered by politicians who have no history of caring in the least about programs to help those with psychological or psychiatric difficulties. But they need to say something to rationalize their allegiance to a gun lobby that appears to be utterly indifferent to mass murder.

President Trumps rote address to the nation after the killing of 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., had all the passion of a CEO delivering a middling annual report. He told us: We are committed to working with state and local leaders to help secure our schools and tackle the difficult issue of mental health.

Trumps speech, as Voxs German Lopez observed, was one giant lie by omission. Those 17 people were killed by an AR-15, not by a knife or a sword or a bomb. But God forbid the president mention guns. Vox also noted that people with mental illness are more likely to be the victims, not the perpetrators, of violence. Yes, and if Trump cared so much about mental health, he wouldnt be proposing a $250 billion cut over a decade in Medicaid, which pays for more than 25 percent of the nations mental health care.

Memo to the media: Stop saying in somber, serious tones that we must do more about mental health. This might well be true, but in the context of crimes such as those at Stoneman Douglas High, offering such sentiments is to be complicit in propaganda by pretending that a cover story is actually on the level. We should not have to point out over and over that while mental illness exists everywhere, other countries do not have killing sprees comparable to ours.

Our political system is failing, first, because the Republican Party has become a paid agent of the gun manufacturers lobby. The party of law and order cares about neither if doing so means causing the least disturbance to the National Rifle Association. This is where corruption comes in. One Republican politician after another who couldnt even utter the word gun following the Parkland horror turned out to have received millions from the NRA. And its no wonder that Trump decided he cared so much about mental health. The organization spent $30 million to defeat Hillary Clinton in 2016.

Aggravating our difficulty in regulating weapons is the vast overrepresentation of rural states in the U.S. Senate, which makes some Democrats wary of taking on the NRA. This is another classic problem of failed regimes: Their structures are no longer capable of responding to current needs.

No one wants our political system to fail more than Vladimir Putin does, and our powerlessness on guns hardly enhances our democracys image to the world. It is worth revisiting reports last spring in Time magazine and the Washington Post about the relationships Russians close to their government are cultivating with the U.S. gun lobby as part of the outreach by pro-Putin forces to the far right.

And Peter Stone and Greg Gordon of McClatchy reported in January that the FBI is investigating whether a top Russian banker with ties to the Kremlin illegally funneled money to the National Rifle Association to help Donald Trump win the presidency.

Wherever this Russia story goes, we already know that the NRA and its political servants are immobilizing our government on one of the gravest problems confronting us. What would we say about any other country that watched its children gunned down again and again and did absolutely nothing?

 2018 Washington Post

Writers GroupMaasai Mara, KenyaFive-month-old bloodhound Shakaria gambols through the long savannah grasses of Kenyas Maasai Mara reserve, her playful mood swiftly turning to keen determination as she is ordered to track a human scent. Straining at the leash, she pulls her handler along an invisible scent path laid down for her until she finds a ranger hiding in the grass, pretending to be one of the poachers she is training to sniff out. Shakaria is top of her class of five puppies being trained by American experts to join a tracker dog unit, which has become pivotal in the fight against poaching in the Mara Triangle, part of the vast Maasai Mara ecosystem in southern Kenya that merges into Tanzanias Serengeti. It is here that over one million wildebeest, and tens of thousands of other animals cross from Tanzania into Kenya on their annual migration, attracting hordes of tourists, but also poachers seeking an easy target. Lema Langas, 30, a Maasai from the local community, who is warden of the canine unit, said the main challenge in the park was poaching for the commercial bushmeat trade, with dried meat exported to Uganda, Rwanda and further afield. Thomsons gazelles, impalas, giraffes, buffalos and during migration season when the wildebeest are here they become an easy target... (poachers) put down wire snares or maybe they can chase them into valleys and use machetes to cut them, he told AFP. Elephants, lions and other members of the famed Big Five also get trapped in the snares. Rangers used to struggle to chase or spot poachers across the flat, seemingly endless grasslands, so the Mara Triangle first introduced two tracker dogs in 2009. The unit is now comprised of four tracker dogs and two more trained specifically to sniff out ivory and guns at the entrances to the park. They use their noses to see, not like us who use the eyes, said Langas. So sometimes you are not able to see the footprint of the poachers... but when you suspect the poacher might have passed here you allow the dog to follow the scent... and you are able to retrieve that poacher at the end of the day. The bloodhound puppies are being trained by former police officers Linda Porter and her husband John Lutenberg, who spent decades hunting escaped convicts across the United States. The couple trained and brought the first two dogs to Kenya in 2009, however one was so terrified by all the unusual smells that it impacted his tracking. The new crop of puppies were born in Kenya and are progressing very fast, Porter told AFP. In the late nineties, the Mara Triangle, which makes up a third of the entire reserve, was crippled by rampant poaching and such bad insecurity that one ranger recalls tourists being robbed, stripped and dumped on the side of the road.Management of the reserve was then taken over by the Mara Conservancy, a public-private partnership with the local Maasai community. While the dog unit has greatly reduced daytime poaching, other technology such as the use of a thermal imaging camera, has helped track poachers at night. Meanwhile, the use of community scouts and private spies has strangled local poaching gangs on the Kenyan side of the border, and Langas says the majority of poaching now occurs on the almost invisible border between Kenya and Tanzania. The conservancy is hiring the sons and daughters from this community neighbouring the park... if the community learn there is someone having a bad intention to kill an animal, they will come forward, he says. A joint agreement between Kenya and Tanzania allows the rangers and their dogs to patrol deep into the Serengeti, with any poachers handed over to Tanzanian authorities. We are the first line of defence from Tanzania. We prevent poachers coming into the Mara and the Kenyan side, said Asuka Takita, a Swahili-speaking Japanese vet, who helped start the canine unit. There is still a lot of work to do but we have caught over 4,000 poachers in the past 18 years, she said. During migration season, in July and August, the rangers find thousands of deadly snares set up in the park, and Langas recalls removing 511 in a single day last year. Translating poaching arrests into convictions has long been a major struggle in Kenya, Takita said. However since Kenya boosted its wildlife law in 2013, this has improved. The fact that you are getting imprisoned for life or fined 20 million shillings ($20,000, 16,000 euros) is a deterrent. A huge amount of peoplethose small-scale poachersare all deterred and that is great for us. Ivory poaching may garner the most attention, however a 2014 report by a government-appointed taskforce warned that bushmeat poaching was going largely ignored and had hit unprecedented levels in Kenya. The report cites one case, in which a vehicle was stopped with 6,000 kilos (13,200 pounds) of bushmeat heading away from the Mara region, worth an estimated $11,000. This practice is unsustainable and could lead to the extermination of many species, said the report.On Friday, Special Counsel Robert Mueller charged 13 Russians for waging information warfare against the United States by using online ads and fake social media profiles to influence the 2016 elections. The Russians were associated with the Internet Research Agency, a notorious troll farm in St. Petersburg. The indictments came on the heels of Americas intelligence chiefs warning Congress earlier this month that Russia is actively trying to interfere with the 2018 elections using the same methods it did in 2016.

Despite all the recent months revelations about the Russian effort, Congress so far has done nothing to improve the protections against election spending by Russia and any potential copycats abroad. But we dont have to leave the last word to a do-nothing Congress. California can take steps now to protect its own elections from meddling by foreign powers.

If the Golden State crafts strong protections, then it could set a nationwide standard  as it has done in other policy areas such as auto emissions.

The state should demand digital platforms create a public database of all advertisements that mention candidates or legislative issues  something TV and radio stations already do. And ad sellers should be required to make reasonable efforts to identify and block illegal foreign purchases of campaign ads. Because the threat of foreign intervention  by Russia, but also by North Korea, Iran, or even non-state actors like the Islamic State  is very real.

California has already shown leadership with the Disclose Act, requiring disclaimers for political ads on social media feeds. Rules such as this make it harder for Russian operatives to buy ads while pretending to be Americans. But even Californias forward-thinking policymaking has not yet gone far enough.

By now, the refrain is familiar. As part of its campaign to sow discord during the 2016 elections, the Russian government directed an army of Internet trolls to buy misleading, targeted ads on a variety of social media and Internet platforms. Ads purported to come from activists in movements such as Black Lives Matter or from Second Amendment enthusiasts, criticizing or praising presidential candidates. One of the operators of the San Diego for Bernie Sanders Facebook page suspected Russian mischief in March of 2016 when the page was suddenly flooded with posts attacking Hillary Clinton. His hunch wasnt confirmed until the platforms revealed Russian meddling months after the election.

While regulating ads wont directly address the issue of unpaid posts, it could make unpaid posts less effective, because advertisers use ads to drive audiences to unpaid content. For example: Facebook estimated that 11.4 million users saw Russia-linked paid ads on its platform. But users who clicked like or share on one of an accounts promoted posts were automatically, and possibly unknowingly, subscribed to follow that advertisers account. Once they were subscribed, that advertisers unpaid posts appeared in their news feeds. Approximately 126 million Facebook users saw unpaid posts from the Russia-linked accounts.

Asking whether these campaigns influenced the outcome of the election misses the point. They violate the spirit of laws designed to protect the political process from the influence of foreign powers. In the Federalist Papers, Alexander Hamilton wrote about preventing foreign nations from gaining an improper ascendant in our councils. The law has banned foreign spending on elections for half a century. In short, leaders have long believed that our sovereignty depends on protection from foreign meddling generally, and spending in elections specifically.

The problem is that our campaign finance system needs updates for a world where everything moves online  especially propaganda. Congress last updated the rules for election ads in 2002, years before iPhones, Facebook and Twitter. Internet ads remain less regulated than those on television and radio.

Other jurisdictions are picking up the slack. Earlier this month, Seattles election officials said Facebook was in violation of city campaign finance laws that require ad sellers to make information about political ad sales public.

California, of course, has outsize influence on Silicon Valley. The state has an opportunity to lead when it comes to passing substantive reforms for the Internet. Social media companies should have a legal obligation to do their due diligence and make their best effort at figuring out whether foreign actors are behind certain ad buys. Trust us just doesnt cut it anymore. And they need to maintain databases of ad buys so regulators and the American public can get a full accounting of campaign spending online.

Once states like California put these guidelines in place  and legislators in New York and Maryland have introduced bills along these lines  the tech companies will have a trickier time arguing against any federal moves demanding a similar degree of accountability. After all, if theyre already complying with state regulations, their resistance to similar national regulations should diminish.

To be sure, reining in ad buys only addresses part of the problem  elections are also vulnerable to cyberattacks, for example.

Our adversaries are tenacious, and even the best-crafted campaign finance laws will not prevent all attempts at foreign interference. But taking steps to shield our political process from foreign powers will help bring a new degree of transparency to online advertising, which could act as a preventive deterrent to those wishing to influence our democracy. California already has taken the first steps at helping re-establish trust in our elections. Time to finish the job.The trouble with a bungled line isnt just the one ruined moment. Its a breach of contract between artist and audience. You cant invest your full attention into a scene because youre too worried the actors wont be able to shepherd you to the end of it without further embarrassing themselves  or without changing their relationship to you.

Actors can salvage that trust almost immediately, of course, through redoubled commitment to their character, their situation. But at the Saturday, Feb. 17 opening night of Word for Words Lucia Berlin: Stories at Z Below, the cast never fully recovered  a surprise from a company whose professionalism one can usually take for granted. An early blunder, a repeated passage of script, gave way to still further blunders: a barrage of ums and uhs, monotone delivery that meandered, groped for the ends of lines.

Even if these bloopers and hesitances came from opening-night jitters, the sorts of kinks that can be ironed out early in the rest of a shows run, its still not clear that a perfectly realized Lucia Berlin: Stories would satisfy as an evening of theater. As with all its shows, Word for Word here translates prose to performance without altering a word of text, instead seeking creative ways to make narration dramatic; one sentence might be divvied up among a whole slew of speakers, so that what seems on the page a direct, declarative statement becomes a charged exchange.

But the five Bay Area-grounded stories Word for Word selects from Berlins A Manual for Cleaning Women, which was published posthumously in 2015, dont always clearly lend themselves to theater.

Directors Nancy Shelby and JoAnne Winter structure the quintet to suggest an ur-narrative of one woman (played by Jeri Lynn Cohen) in the throes of and then overcoming alcoholism. Berlins writing can be sharply observed  the way all the people in a hospital emergency room are like performers at opening night at the theater; the way a great student, more than talent or smarts, might have a nobility of spirit. But often, the stories are no more than that  dispatches of the sort one might share in a breezy letter, slices of life.

Rarely does the heap of impressions move toward a payoff or build toward something bigger than itself. When it does, as in the evenings last story, Here It Is Saturday, about a recovered alcoholic teaching a writing class in a prison, feel-good lurches toward rehabilitation and a subsequent, bloody dashing of hopes are equally predictable, somehow combining the worst of a Hilary Swank movie and film noir at its cheesiest.

When Berlin dives into the slovenly, subhuman realities of addiction, theyre sickeningly felt, as when a drunk is too scared to walk home with the booze shes purchased at 6 in the morning. Im afraid Ill drop the bottle, she says. But unvarnished, painful as these details are, they tread the same ground as many other addiction narratives.

Shelby and Winters cast occasionally transcend the material. Phil Wong conjures a whole character, a needy, ingratiating student in the prison writing class, out of two words of script. As a prison guard, Norman Gee has a stride thats both burdened and buoyant, conveying both a lifetimes weight of hard work and the spunk required to stay human in spite of it.

That effort, to stay human, links all five of Berlins stories. But Word for Word hasnt quite made the case that that inward battle still engages off the page.

Lily Janiak is The San Francisco Chronicles theater critic. Email: ljaniak@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @LilyJaniak

Lucia Berlin: Stories: Written by Lucia Berlin. Directed by Nancy Shelby and JoAnne Winter. Through March 11. Two hours, 25 minutes. $20-$50. Z Below, 470 Florida St., S.F. (415) 626-0453. www.zspace.org

To see actor Jeri Lynn Cohen speak about performing in the show: https://tinyurl.com/ycyqr3kuEven after a burst of hail fell on Berkeley and chilly winds and low temperatures gripped the Bay Area all day Monday, forecasters warned the worst is still yet to come.

Overnight lows in the Bay Area were expected to range from 20s in the valleys to mid-30s near the coast  setting the region up to break long-held records Tuesday. Inland areas, including Morgan Hill and Gilroy, should drop below freezing into the upper 20s, said Steve Anderson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

They could be the coldest temperatures weve seen this winter, Anderson said. And its going to stay cool for quite some time.

A freeze warning is in effect for the Bay Area until 9 a.m.  the first time such an alert has been triggered this year, Anderson said.

Although the temperatures are supposed to be frigid overnight throughout the region, there is no chance of precipitation across in the region Tuesday  even in higher elevations, said another National Weather Service meteorologist, Will Pi. The system will be mostly clear with light winds, he said.

Daytime temperatures for the region should be in the 50s for the remainder of the week.

The city has expanded capacities at homeless shelters in preparation for the cold. Transportation is being provided for those who choose to go, and street outreach workers are passing out extra blankets, officials said.

Up in the Santa Cruz Mountains, a dusting of snow was reported at elevations above 2,000 feet Monday. And in the Sierra, a fresh blanket of snow coated the peaks around Lake Tahoe. Some areas received up to seven inches of snow  a welcome sight in the Sierra, which has seen a near-historic low snowpack this year.

The snow wont be going anywhere for a while: Temperatures in South Lake Tahoe are expected to dip to 5 degrees Tuesday, 7 degrees Wednesday, 14 degrees Thursday and 15 degrees Friday.

The precipitation and the low temperatures stand in stark contrast to the unseasonably high temperatures and relentless sunshine that the region felt earlier this month.

But the snowy and icy conditions caused major problems for travelers heading back from the mountains after the long holiday weekend. Chain controls were in effect for highways throughout the Tahoe area Monday, and motorists were advised to drive slowly, according to the California Highway Patrol.

Major traffic delays were reported on Interstate 80 and Highway 89 out of the Tahoe basin, according to the Placer County Sheriffs Office.

Back in the Bay Area, temperatures in San Francisco sank to the low 40s Monday morning, climbing up 10 degrees by mid-afternoon. Higher elevations  including Mount Diablo and Atlas Peak  fell well below freezing Monday morning, reaching 23 and 28 degrees, respectively, and reached mid-30s by the afternoon.

A shower passing over Berkeley left behind pellets of hail in the city that quickly melted once they hit the ground.

We are starting to approach March and, by this point, our normal is closer to 60s, Matt Mehle, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. Just be mindful of pets you may keep outdoors. Now is the time to prepare for the cold weather.Bay Area residents experienced the start of a cold spell Sunday that is set to last into Tuesday morning and bring with it record-breaking freezing temperatures.

Sunday saw wind speeds clocking in at 25 mph, with gusts reaching up to 40 mph as locals went out to enjoy the Presidents Day holiday weekend.

Many took to Twitter to complain about the shift from the area's typically mild weather to its new low temperatures and bone-chilling winds with typical aplomb. Sunday saw mostly clear skies and sunny weather, but quickly chilled anyone who stepped outside.

Although the region rarely reaches what some East Coasters might call true winter weather  including that powdery stuff known as snow  that didn't stop the weather-related tweets from rolling in.

"So cold today I thought it was summer," wrote one person.

"It is gorgeous outside and I'm also freezing. #ssfprobs," wrote another.

Beyond the complaints, the blustery weather was nothing to brush off: The wind was strong enough to knock over the scaffolding of a building under construction at the intersection of Market and Church streets Sunday afternoon.

As for temperatures, San Francisco could break records by dropping to 38 degrees Tuesday morning; the North Bay should hit the mid-20s; East Bay should reach the 20s to low 30s; South Bay might see around 30 degrees.

San Francisco's Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing announced via Twitter that additional cold weather shelters would be opened for those looking to get out of the cold. The group said it would be providing transportation to shelters, distributing blankets and performing wellness checks on those out on the streets.

San Francisco Chronicle writer Sarah Ravani contributed to this report.Last week began with the world of childrens and young adult literature celebrating its most prestigious awards, the industrys version of the Oscars. It ended with surprise and confusion as trade groups, literary agents and a publisher broke with several best-selling authors over allegations of inappropriate sexual behavior.

The loudest boom landed Thursday afternoon when Random House said it would not publish future books by James Dashner, author of The Maze Runner, a dystopian science fiction series that became a film trilogy.

Dashner has been working on his first novel directed at adults, The Waking, which has been acquired by Ballantine Books, an imprint of Random House.

The industrys sudden reckoning with the #MeToo movement primarily involved complaints that a long list of prominent writers and editors exploited their power and position at keystone industry events to make sexual advances, particularly toward female authors hoping to further their careers.

Allegations described in an article by author Anne Ursu on Medium initially contained no details on the accused. But as the article drew comments and attention on social media and in trade publications, names were named.

Some were well-known writers whose books are found on recommended reading lists at schools and libraries, including Dashner and Jay Asher, the author of Thirteen Reasons Why, which became a Netflix series.

The controversy arose at an awkward moment for the industry, which had gathered Monday at the American Library Associations midwinter meeting in Denver to announce its most coveted awards for children and young adult literature, including the John Newbery and Randolph Caldecott medals.

That afternoon, Lin Oliver, executive director of the Society of Childrens Book Writers and Illustrators, announced in a statement that Asher and David Diaz, a prizewinning illustrator, had left the organization for violating its code of conduct in regard to harassment.

Asher released a statement through a spokeswoman, Tamara Taylor, calling the societys description of his departure completely false and demanding a retraction from Oliver. Asher said he was a member in good standing but voluntarily agreed to skip the conferences in response to hurt feelings of a group of authors with whom he had consensual relationships that ended poorly.

Asher said none of the accusations against him involved harassment. He added that the women involved were all his peers and that some had pursued him.

Dashners agent, Michael Bourret, parted ways with him Monday. So did Ashers literary agency, Andrea Brown, writing on Twitter that it had counseled Jay to take a step back from the industry.

Then, on Thursday, Dashner tweeted a long statement that said he was shocked by the allegations. But after a few days of intensive soul-searching and discussions about harassment in the publishing industry, he concluded that he had been part of the problem.

I didnt honor and fully understand boundaries and power dynamics, he said, and offered an apology and pledged to amend his behavior.

Soon after, Random House parted ways with him.

Diaz left the Society of Childrens Book Writers and Illustrators despite having completed a training course about sexual harassment and a yearlong probation after a woman complained to the society that he had made her feel uncomfortable.

Diaz said the training had taught him that what he had considered innocent flirtation was perceived much differently.

Dont call anyone honey, dont touch anyone, dont engage in any kind of flirtatious manner, he said in an interview. And after training I understood my only purpose is to talk about books and the craft of making books.

Then, after the #MeToo movement caught fire, writer Ishta Mercurio-Wentworth told Oliver of an incident that occurred six years earlier, when Diaz had touched her hair, said, Youre kinky, arent you, and then walked away. Diaz then sent her an apology.

I do think his response was the appropriate response, and I appreciated that, Mercurio-Wentworth said, citing his honesty and humility.

Nonetheless, Diaz said he had felt pressured to resign from the board of the books society.

Some of the complaints made public dealt with what women called creepy comments, remarks about their bodies and persistent sexual advances in a work setting or at work-related events.

The books society released a statement Wednesday, saying it regrets that any of our members has experienced harassment or intimidation during any of our events or programs and announcing updates to its harassment policy. Its amended version spells out a code of conduct and reporting mechanisms.

Women dominate the publishing industry. But its roughly 80 percent female workforce has not protected members  or those who aspire to join their ranks  from lewd comments, unwanted and aggressive sexual advances, and groping.Your phone buzzes. A message, an Instagram post, a tweet  some bit of digital effluvia has come in, and its right there, promising a brief but necessary hit of connection. All you have to do is look.

But, just as an experiment, how long can you resist looking? A minute? Two?

If you make it that long, how do you start to feel? Can you concentrate? Does your mind wander at what youre missing? And if you give in  as you surely will, as you probably do many times a day  how do you feel about yourself?

The issue of tech addiction has been a staple of tabloidy panics for as long as anyone can remember. Yet this ancient worry has now taken on a new and more righteous flavor.

What is interesting is who has been pushing the issue. Several former Facebook executives, the very people who set up the Like-based systems of digital addiction and manipulation that now rule much of online life, have begun to speak out in alarm about our slavishness to digital devices.

And their worries seem resonant. Now that we all have phones, and were all looking at them all the time, how can we deny that they hold some otherworldly, possibly unhealthy bondage over our brains?

Its a social-validation feedback loop, Sean Parker, Facebooks first president, told Axios in an interview in November. He described Facebook and other social apps in terms once reserved for cigarettes  as products specifically engineered to exploit addiction pathways in human psychology. God only knows what its doing to our childrens brains.

Others have echoed his sentiment.

The short-term, dopamine-driven feedback loops weve created are destroying how society works, Chamath Palihapitiya, who once led Facebooks efforts at global growth and is now a venture capitalist, told an audience at Stanfords Graduate School of Business in December. The Guardian, meanwhile, found a handful of former Facebookers who said they would quit using social media for fear of being programmed by the social giant.

Even Wall Street has weighed in, with two large investors asking Apple in January to study the health effects of its products and to make it easier for parents to limit their childrens use of iPhones and iPads.

Whether these Cassandras are correct is still a matter of scientific inquiry, though several studies suggest our phones do exert an addictive pull.

A study published in June by researchers at the University of Texas asked subjects to take a series of tests that required full cognitive attention. The researchers found that people who had their smartphones nearby  even though they were on silent  performed significantly worse than those whose phones were in another room. In other words, if your phone is nearby, you can never really stop thinking about it.

The bigger problem is what to do about any of this. Few laws or regulations prevent apps from keeping us hooked, and the tech industry has no serious ethical prohibitions against tinkering with software to drive engagement; indeed, at many tech companies, keeping people glued to the screen is the whole ballgame.

Sure, its nice that the guys who created this machine are suddenly aware of its dangers. But other than stop our phones entirely  or pursuing some self-directed regimen of conscientious withdrawal, good luck with that!  we might truly be hosed.Susan Fowler had tried going to human resources. She had tried going to her managers. She had tried transferring departments. But nothing changed. The sexual and sexist comments she received as an engineer at Uber kept coming.

So she went online and wrote a 3,000-word blog post exposing the behavior.

A year later, a raft of executives, including Travis Kalanick, Ubers co-founder and CEO, are gone. Fowler, meanwhile, has a new job, a book contract and a movie deal.

This has been a period when the whisper network moved online and became a shout. Suddenly, in a way they never had before, women have a voice, people are listening, and men are paying consequences.

Its happening now for a lot of reasons, but one of them is that social media has given victims a platform, a network of allies and a public presence that cant as easily be silenced. Social media, for all its flaws, has served as a democratizing force.

On Twitter, people in Hollywood described abuse. In Silicon Valley, a venture capitalist was fired after an accusatory Facebook post. With the #MeToo hashtag, a chorus of voices shared experiences of harassment and assault by famous men and, in much larger numbers, men who are not.

Social media changed it dramatically, Tarana Burke said, talking about the #MeToo movement, which she started in 2006 and which went viral last year. The Internet is a great equalizer. The hashtag created a global community of support. That was a beautiful thing to watch.

The balance of power had long been tilted in the direction of men. They were the ones with the status and money to harass and abuse women, and then threaten, bribe or fire them if they complained. Only about a quarter of women who have suffered harassment report it, and the main reasons that more dont are that they (rightly) fear retaliation, dont think anyone will do anything about it and dont want to face those consequences alone.

Social media changed much of that. Its harder to retaliate or ignore reports when the public is watching, or dismiss womens accusations when they are immediately bolstered by the stories of many more women.

Gretchen Carlson, the former Fox anchor who helped start the national reckoning, said in a recent interview at TEDWomen, Social media has really helped us in this whole effort because its given women the power to know theyre not alone.

The medium can also be abused, spreading false allegations just as quickly. But if anything, that can be seen as a testament to the power women now hold.BetterWorks isnt a well-known name in Silicon Valley, but the startup achieved a moment of infamy last year that it hasnt been able to shake. A former employee sued the company in July, claiming the CEO sexually harassed and assaulted her and that management failed to take proper disciplinary action. The allegations were levied as the #MeToo movement was mushrooming, and the fallout at BetterWorks was widespread.

Kris Duggan, the 43-year-old CEO, has disputed the allegations but resigned from the company he co-founded. Fundraising efforts were derailed. A dozen customers severed business relationships with the Redwood City startup, which makes human resources software. The events also torpedoed plans by Penguin Random House to publish a book co-written by Duggan and John Doerr, a prominent venture capitalist at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and a director at BetterWorks.

BetterWorks has been trying to resolve the scandal and move on. Last month, it settled the case with Beatrice Kim, the former employee. The company selected Doug Dennerline, a BetterWorks board member who runs a company called Alfresco Software Inc., to replace Duggan as CEO, though he has yet to formally accept the role, people with knowledge of the matter said. BetterWorks and Dennerline declined to comment.

Doerr and Duggan, too, are looking to put the episode behind them. The VC removed the entrepreneurs name from their book, Measure What Matters. Penguin plans to finally publish it next month with a foreword written by Googles Larry Page. Meanwhile, Duggan is starting a new company in Palo Alto.

But theyre on the cusp of another legal battle. A second ex-employee filed a claim with the state and was granted the right in December to sue for alleged sexual harassment. The complaint names BetterWorks, Kleiner Perkins, Doerr, Duggan and two other executives. It claims that each turned a blind eye to the alleged behavior, according to people with knowledge of the claim and a copy of the filing obtained by Bloomberg through a public information request.

Lynne Hermle, an attorney who represents BetterWorks, said the claim is financially motivated and meritless. Naming individual defendants who played no role in the alleged wrongful treatment of an employee is a shakedown, plain and simple, and that is precisely what it was here, she said. The supposed claims were legally and factually defective in every respect.

Duggan wasnt aware a second claim had been made. After hearing the complaint, he expressed frustration. Its not true, and its all to make money, Duggan said. Weve worked really hard to make a great company with a great working environment. I cant control that there are opportunists out there. Kleiner Perkins declined to comment.

The settlement of the first harassment suit and emergence of a second potential legal challenge havent been previously reported. Major shareholders, business associates and current and former employees also described, for the first time, lost business and fundraising struggles that resulted from Kims lawsuit. The accounts show the toll that accusations of harassment and a perceived lack of corrective corporate action can have on a company.

Before the lawsuit last summer, BetterWorks was preparing to raise as much as $40 million from investors, nearly doubling its funding, according to people with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be identified because the negotiations are private. Then came the suit, which put a hold on fundraising efforts. The allegations were a shock to several current and former employees. They described an inclusive, merit-based work environment that encouraged those values by using the 5-year-old companys own software to foster open communication and manage staff. Kim was well-liked and respected by colleagues.

The fundraising freeze was a real problem. BetterWorks was burning through almost $1 million in some months, one of the people said. Without more capital coming in, reserves were running low, and an extra frugal mind-set took hold among management.

Di Wu, who started the company with Duggan, left last summer but said his departure was unrelated to the allegations. The negative reaction to Kims suit did play a role in the departures of many employees. Half of the six-person executive team has also exited since the case was filed.

About a dozen corporate customers abandoned BetterWorks software, citing claims made by Kim, people familiar with the matter said. That drove a 5 to 10 percent drop in annual recurring revenue, to $10 million. Several long-term clients, including Intuit, A+E Networks and BMW, have remained loyal. Attracting new business was even tougher. Bookings, which are the value of customer commitments over time, last year dropped by at least 30 percent, another person said.

The settlement with Kim gave her about $1 million in exchange for signing a nondisclosure agreement, according to people with knowledge of the terms. BetterWorks and Kim declined to comment.

Fighting these cases can be expensive. In the technology epicenter of California, a loss in court means a company pays for the aggrieved partys attorney fees in addition to whatever damages a judge sets. Even if a company wins the case, usually itll still be on the hook for its own legal costs. Thats why most settle. Some say its as high as 90 percent.

In recent months, BetterWorks has administered unconscious-bias training to staff, formed a diversity and inclusion initiative, and instituted an alcohol policy designed to limit consumption, according to Dennerline. BetterWorks hopes to name Dennerline as its CEO in the next few weeks. Dennerline, a former president of software maker SuccessFactors before SAP purchased the company for $3.4 billion, would need to win back customers, find new ones, restore morale and raise more venture capital.

Hed also need to handle the latest harassment complaint left over from his predecessor. According to paperwork filed with the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing, the woman claimed she was harassed and discriminated against, and subjected to a hostile work environment. She said she reported it to a law firm BetterWorks hired to investigate Kims complaint, and accused the probe of having a bias because it was overseen by Doerr, an investor with a stake in the outcome. After her complaint, she was then retaliated against and set up for termination, she alleged.Reading prose on a screen is going out of fashion. The defining narrative of our online moment concerns the decline of text, and the exploding reach and power of audio and video.

This multimedia Internet has been gaining on the text-based Internet for years. But last year, the story accelerated sharply, and now audio and video are unstoppable. The most influential communicators online once worked on Web pages and blogs. Theyre now making podcasts, Netflix shows, propaganda memes, Instagram and YouTube channels, and apps like HQ Trivia.

Consider the most compelling digital innovations now emerging: the talking assistants that were the hit of the holidays, Apples face-reading phone, artificial intelligence to search photos or translate spoken language, and augmented reality  which inserts any digital image into a live view of your surroundings.

These advances are all about cameras, microphones, your voice, your ears and your eyes. Together, theyre all sending us the same message: Welcome to the post-text future.

Its not that text is going away altogether. Nothing online ever really dies, and text still has its hits  from Susan Fowlers whistle-blowing blog post last year about harassment at Uber to #MeToo, text was at the center of the most significant recent American social movement.

Still, we have only just begun to glimpse the deeper, more kinetic possibilities of an online culture in which text recedes to the background, and sounds and images become the universal language.

The Internet was born in text because text was once the only format computers understood. Then we started giving machines eyes and ears  that is, smartphones were invented  and now weve provided them brains to decipher and manipulate multimedia.

Suddenly the script flipped: Now its often easier to communicate with machines through images and sounds than through text.

Its more than just talking to digital assistants. Artificial intelligence might soon let us search and index much of the worlds repository of audio and video, giving sounds and pictures a power that has kept text dominant online for so long.

On HBOs Silicon Valley last season, there was a joke about an app that helped you identify any cuisine, SeeFood. Weeks later, Pinterest introduced just such an app; along with Google, the social network is developing software to identify any visual object.

Tech didnt just make multimedia easier to produce. It also democratized non-text formats, which for so long had been accessible only to studios. Podcasting became something like the new blogging, a way for committed amateurs and obsessives to plumb the underexplored eddies and mysteries of life. Theres a podcast by a guy who spends more than a dozen episodes explicating the genius of Kanye Wests fifth studio album. He does so using a trove of documentary material he found  where else?  on YouTube.

Meanwhile, social media showered every multimedia creator with a potential audience, and it allowed the audience to connect and discuss the work, deepening fans relationship to levels of obsession.

Its a kind of passion that ultimately makes for a fundamentally new, deeper kind of art. Look at all the room the Internet opened up for crazy mash-ups of ideas. Netflixs best recent show, American Vandal, is a parody of Serial, the true-crime podcast, and Making a Murderer, another Netflix show.

The transition to multimedia wont be smooth. Business models are hardly proven. For several news sites, the change to video ended in a bust that will now give Facebook and Google even greater market power. Many podcast advertisers  looking at you, Blue Apron  are themselves not on the most solid financial ground; they could blow up tomorrow, taking the whole boom with them.

Yet the financial questions may be the least of our worries. An online culture ruled by pictures and sounds rather than text is going to alter much about how we understand the world around us.

The haze of misinformation hanging over online life will only darken under multimedia  think of your phone as a Hollywood-grade visual-effects studio that could be used to make anyone appear to say or do anything. The ability to search audio and video as easily as we search text means, effectively, the end of any private space.

Then theres the more basic question of how pictures and sounds alter how we think. An information system dominated by pictures and sounds prizes emotion over rationality. Its a world where slogans and memes have more sticking power than arguments. (Remind you of anyone?) And will someone please think of the children: Do you know how much power YouTube has over your kids? Are you afraid to find out?

But what are we going to do? There seems no going back now. For text, the writing is on the wall.

Farhad Manjoo is a New York Times writer.

Multimedia numbers tell the story

70 million: The number of Americans who regularly listen to podcasts, according to Edison Media Research. People who listen weekly tend to spend five hours a week on them.

2 hours: The length of time, on average, that young Americans spend watching video online. Thats less time than they spend watching TV, but its catching up. Around the world, people spent a billion hours a day watching YouTube in 2017, that service reported.

800 million: The number of active Instagram users. Instagram lifted Snapchats video diary features, Stories, to great success and now occupies its users for more than 30 minutes a day, on average.

$9 billion: The amount of money flowing to audio and video. Netflix unveiled a plan to spend $8 billion on original content in one year, while Apple plans to shell out $1 billion. Beyond that, Jeffrey Katzenberg, the animation mogul, is looking to raise $2 billion to create HBO for the digital age.

2020: The year by which half of all searches will be done by voice, according to digital research firm ComScore. Amazon says that during the holidays, its Echo Dot talking assistant was the best-selling product from any manufacturer in any category across all of Amazon.

 New York TimesPosted Monday, February 19, 2018 7:30 am

The Missouri Cherry Blossom Festival Auxiliary met Saturday, Jan. 27, at the Webster County Library.

President Jeanette Alcorn opened the meeting. In the absence of Chaplain Charles Embree, secretary Carol Fuller led in prayer. Then she read the minutes from the last meeting, Nov. 25.

Following the festival report (to be presented in the Feb. 21 edition of The Mail), members were able to sign up to bring quilts to the Cherry Blossom Quilt Show or volunteer to be drivers for the VIP guests. Then change was collected by the youngest Auxiliary member, Reagan Inman, for the Betty Lynn Scholarship.

The speakers for the meeting were Bob and Bonnie Palmer, the owners of Chateau Charmant, the French-style castle in Olga, south of Fordland. Bob was inspired in 1966, when he accepted a missionary assignment in Edinburgh, Scotland, and visited the ancient castle there.

I had the opportunity to work in a lot of old, old places, he said.

Bonnie added that she loves what the festival does, preserving history each year.

Our history may not be as old, but we dont want to lose it, she said.

When the Palmers retired in 2003, they decided to move from Los Angeles to Missouri, in part because the property reminded them of the English countryside. Bob drew Bonnie a picture of a castle and wrote under it, I want to build you a castle, to which Bonnie responded, Absolutely not!

She reconsidered when she thought about helping the community and making dreams come true for girls like their youngest daughter, Brittany, who was in high school when they moved.

The dream was one thing. Making it come true was something else. Building the French chateau-inspired castle, mostly by themselves, they ran into several hurdles. First, they needed to build a bridge over a creek, which was a moat of sorts, preventing entry to the land. Bob accidentally dumped an excavator into it, where it was deeper than he thought, and had to use a crane to extract it. There were even more problems during the castles construction. Not only did Bob fall from the roof and break three vertebrae, he later fell and broke a leg.

But Bob and Bonnie found thrifty ways to make the actual construction reasonable. Most of the castle is made of concrete, because its easier to use liquid rock than to move real rock, Bob said. The roofs of the turrets were constructed on the ground, then lifted 50 feet with the crane. The wooden supports beneath the turret roofs were made from a mold, as was the large window frame in the dining hall. For the exposed wooden beams in the ceiling, Bob found a lumber mill in Houston, Missouri, which worked with oak trees large enough to support the castles peaked roof. The Palmers found that they still needed to have the 4-ton beams spliced together using dove-tail joints and wooden pegs. They also worked with Daniel Schwartz, who owns a local timber frame business near Seymour. The original shingles resembled dragon scales, which Bob joked took finding a lot of molting dragons, but the Texas company which installed them went out of business and the shingles proved defective. He was forced to replace them with modern equivalents.

Once built, they set about furnishing it. They found a heavy, wooden door from a church in Italy at a local antique business, furniture from a woman with ancestry at Duncan Castle in Ireland, and an antique couch and musical instrument cabinet. Bonnie worked with their daughter, who taped off designs, to custom paint each room. Plus, they painted murals in two of the rooms.

Since opening their doors, the Chateau Charmant has hosted weddings, photo shoots, a proposal dinner, a Victorian Tea, murder mystery dinners, Christmas Eve events and Thanksgiving dinners, as well as concerts. Currently, they are no longer available for weddings, but are considering restoring that option in the future. For more information, visit www.charmingcastle.com.

Following the speakers, auxiliary member and President James Polk family member Neita Campbell read a poem she recently wrote about the festival, and we welcomed new members Dannielle Quinn and Linda Oberbeck. There were 20 members present for the meeting.A woman claims that a pack of Atlantic cod she purchased from Costco included one unwelcome addition: a live, wriggling parasitic worm.

The Maryland-area Costco customer posted video of the squirmy discovery to Facebook Wednesday. In the footage, a worm is seen clearly encased inside a blue styrofoam package of fish  and definitely moving around beneath the plastic wrapping.

Emily Randolph said she bought the Atlantic cod Feb. 9 with plans to prepare the fish before its "sell by" date, local broadcast station WTTG reported. When the fish began to smell, Randolph took a look at the fish package and noticed the parasite.

"It was big," Randolph told the news station. "I have even Googled it since then and that was a very large worm. It should have been caught before it was put out to the public to potentially eat."

Randolph returned the fish to Costco, only to find out she wasn't the only customer returning seafood with that particular issue.

"When we took the video to Costco to get our money back, the girl behind the counter said someone had just returned salmon with worms in it," Randolph wrote on Facebook. "No apologies at all. She acted as if this happens all the time. I'm so grossed out.

"Check your food people!!!!" Randolph added.

Although parasites in fish are considered "naturally occurring" and not a contamination, there are steps in place to prevent a live worm from hitching a ride to your dinner table. Freezing fish prior to eating is one widely accepted way of killing off parasites; commercially sold fish is frozen at negative-35 degrees for at least 15 hours, to aid in that. Restaurants that serve raw preparations of fish, such as in sushi or ceviche, (should) only use commercially frozen seafood.

Fish is also considered safe to eat after cooking to an internal temperature of 145 degrees for at least 14 seconds. Costco told WTTG it inspects all fish and removes parasites from its product, but that "some slip through the cracks."

A few other fish have managed to head out to the warehouse floor for purchase: a similar incident happened last year when a customer saw a parasite inside a package of cod being sold at a Costco in Fresno. In that instance, the man flagged down a worker about the worm, but not before capturing video of the worm and having it go viral online. A Costco customer in Concord found a worm in her package of salmon in 2015.WASHINGTON  Breaking down barriers is nothing new for Sen. Tammy Duckworth, and thats the way she likes it.

The decorated Iraq War veteran who lost both legs when her helicopter was shot down is an Asian American woman in the mostly white, mostly male and very fusty Senate. And now, with a baby due in April, shell be the first senator to give birth while in office.

And so, along with her legislative and political goals, the Illinois Democrat is adding a new one: educating the tradition-bound Senate on creating a workplace that makes room for new moms.

Shes been through things that you and I will probably never understand. So Im sure for her (having a baby) is in no way daunting, said Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Wash., who had two children while serving in Congress. Shes also someone whos had a whole career in a male-dominated world.

Duckworth, who turns 50 in March, says she appreciates the historic nature of her babys birth, as well as the fact that she represents working mothers and women having babies later in life. She fully expects to have to find a place to nurse in some quiet parlor off the Senate floor.

But she says having a baby, a second daughter, is just one of many stops on the trail ahead.

This is the last job that I want, Duckworth said of the Illinois Senate seat once held by Barack Obama. The former president is one of several men she ticks off as mentors and role models. They include Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., former Sen. Bob Dole, R-Kan., and the late Democratic Sens. Daniel Inouye of Hawaii and Edward Kennedy  all backers of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which made the nations landscape a little easier to navigate.

But shes sees both problems with compliance and efforts to undermine the law. And floating through Congress now is a bill designed to curb frivolous lawsuits under the ADA that Duckworth and others say weakens it.

Duckworth is already in the history books. Shes the first female amputee elected to Congress, the first Asian American to represent Illinois in Washington and the first member of Congress born in Thailand. Her story of resilience and grit set her in the rare company of grievously injured veterans who later served in the Senate  Dole, a World War II veteran, and John McCain, who was kept prisoner for more than five years in Vietnam.

If you take gender out of it, its not that new, said Duckworth.

Duckworth, one of 22 women in the Senate, has the experience to give her policy advice and criticisms of President Trump an especially authoritative edge. His complaint that Democrats didnt sufficiently applaud his State of the Union address?

I will not be lectured about what our military needs by a five-deferment draft dodger, reads the Tweet pinned atop her page, referring to Trumps deferment from Vietnam due to a foot ailment. She refuses to mindlessly cater to the whims of Cadet Bone Spurs and clap when he demands I clap.PARKLAND, Fla.  Students who escaped the deadly school shooting in Florida focused their anger Sunday on President Trump, contending his response to the attack has been needlessly divisive.

Youre the president. Youre supposed to bring this nation together, not divide us, David Hogg, a 17-year-old student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in South Florida, said on NBCs Meet the Press. How dare you.

David was responding to Trumps tweet Saturday that Democrats hadnt passed any gun control measures during the brief time they controlled Congress with a supermajority in the Senate. Trump also alluded to the FBIs failure to act on tips that the suspect was dangerous, while bemoaning the bureaus focus on Russias role in the 2016 election.

Trump was at his Florida estate Sunday but did not mention the attack in a series of tweets. After more than a day of criticism from the students, the White House said the president would hold a listening session with unspecified students on Wednesday and meet with state and local security officials Thursday.

Florida politicians, meanwhile, scrambled to produce legislation in response to Wednesdays attack, which killed 17 people. Nikolas Cruz, a 19-year-old who had been expelled from the school, is being held without bail in the Broward County Jail, accused of 17 counts of first-degree murder.

In a TV interview, Republican Sen. Marco Rubio embraced a Democratic bill in the Florida Legislature to let courts temporarily stop people from having guns if they are found to be a threat to themselves or others.

Gov. Rick Scott, also a Republican, attended a prayer vigil a few blocks from the shooting site. He is expected to announce a legislative package with GOP leaders this week.

Emma Gonzalez, another student who survived the attack, cited Trump, Rubio and Scott by name in a warning to politicians who are supported by the National Rifle Association.

Now is the time to get on the right side of this, because this is not something that we are going to let sweep under the carpet, she said on Meet the Press.

The students pointed comments are the latest signs of increased pressure for gun control after the massacre. They have vowed to become the face of a movement for tighter firearm regulations and plan to visit the state capitol in Tallahassee this week to demand immediate action. They are also calling for anti-gun violence demonstrations in Washington and other cities March 24.

Organizers behind the Womens March called for a 17-minute, nationwide walkout by teachers and students on March 14. The Network for Public Education, an advocacy organization for public schools, announced a day of walkouts and other events on school campuses April 20, the anniversary of the 1999 shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado that left 12 students and one teacher dead.Students who escaped the deadly school shooting in Florida focused their anger Sunday at President Donald Trump, contending that his response to the attack has been needlessly divisive.

"You're the president. You're supposed to bring this nation together, not divide us," said David Hogg, a 17-year-old student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in South Florida, speaking on NBC's "Meet the Press."

"How dare you," he added. ...

Florida politicians, meanwhile, scrambled to produce legislation in response to the Feb. 14 attack that killed 17 people.

In a TV interview, Republican Sen. Marco Rubio embraced a Democratic bill in the Florida legislature to allow courts to temporarily prevent people from having guns if they are determined to be a threat to themselves or others.

Gov. Rick Scott, also a Republican, attended a prayer vigil at the First Church Coral Springs, a few blocks from the shooting site. He is expected to announce a legislative package with GOP leaders of the legislature this week.

Emma Gonzalez, another student who survived the attack, cited Trump, Rubio and Scott by name in a warning to politicians who are supported by the National Rifle Association.

"Now is the time to get on the right side of this, because this is not something that we are going to let sweep under the carpet," she said on "Meet the Press."

The pointed comments by the students are the latest sign of increased pressure for gun control after the massacre.Posted Monday, February 19, 2018 9:45 am

The month of February is American Heart Month and includes National Wear Red Day. Both of these campaigns seek to remind Americans and Missourians to focus on their hearts and work together to build a culture of health in the state.

Dr. Randall Williams, director of the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS), a physician with 30 years of experience in obstetrics and gynecology, notes the importance of heart health in mothers.

I strongly encourage people to see heart health as an integral part of pregnancy-related care, said Williams. Cardiovascular disease is the number one cause of death in Missouri mothers and congenital heart defect is the leading birth defect in our country. Keeping mothers healthy and screening for potential problems as babies develop are as key to prenatal care as taking vitamins and getting regular checkups.

Teri Ackerson, chairperson of the Missouri Womens Health Council and Go Red Ambassador, is acutely aware of the importance of heart health.

As a congenital heart defect and stroke survivor, as well as a Registered Nurse who specializes in neuroscience, the recognition of heart health for the month of February gives me the opportunity to express my gratitude for all of the positive changes we have made with medications, technologies and therapies to improve my quality of life through research, she said. It also gives me the opportunity to educate and advocate in the community for prevention. Heart disease is the number one killer in our great state and stroke is the number one cause of long term disability; 80 percent of these issues are preventable.

We have made great strides, but we need to continue to work to decrease mortality, and increase quality of life, Ackerson continued. Red is more than a color to me ... it inspires, and encourages. It brings promise of hope for a cure.

DHSS efforts to address cardiovascular disease will extend beyond February thanks to a new collaboration with the National Governors Association. The department and the state of Missouri were selected by the National Governors Association to participate in a learning collaborative called Improving Health in Rural America: Addressing the Leading Causes of Death. Missouri is one of six states selected.

The Missouri delegation, consisting of members from the Governors Office, Missouri Primary Care Association and DHSS, will develop and implement strategies to address heart disease, which is the leading cause of death in both rural and urban Missouri. As part of the National Governors Association initiative, Missouri will work to address these preventable factors, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, smoking and obesity.

Heart disease can lead to heart attack, stroke, heart failure and death. Risk can be reduced or prevented with a few simple lifestyle changes, such as:

 Maintain a normal weight;

 Eat more fresh fruits and vegetables;

 Get at least 30 minutes of physical activity most days;

 Avoid tobacco products and limit alcohol intake;

 Get regular medical check-ups and screenings;

 Follow your doctors instructions for medications, treatment, and management of chronic conditions such as diabetes and high blood pressure.Posted Monday, February 19, 2018 9:00 am

Now that the Internal Revenue Service is accepting 2017 tax returns, filing early is a good idea, according to University of Missouri Extension personal finance specialist Andrew Zumwalt. It is especially recommended if filers expect to receive a tax refund.

Missourians receive an average income tax refund of $2,612, according to IRS data. That is money that youre not receiving interest on, said Zumwalt, so file early, claim it and put it to good use.

When money is direct-deposited into your bank account, it can arrive in as little as seven days.

Early filers can get a head start on saving and paying down debt. The sooner you pay down bills, the more you will save on interest charges. Money in hand or in an emergency fund can save you from going further into debt, Zumwalt said.

There are several other reasons to file early, he said. If you find that you owe additional fees and are not entitled to a refund, you have more time to plan on how you will pay this prior to the filing deadline.

Parents and students can use the tax forms to estimate income for student financial aid.

You also can fund an individual retirement account for 2017 before the filing deadline, which falls on April 17 this year. Contribution limits are $5,500 for those under 50 and $6,500 for those 50 and older.

Zumwalt says MU Extension Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) sites are open now statewide. VITA volunteers provide free income tax filing services to qualified individuals. To find the VITA site closest to you, visit irs.treasury.gov/freetaxprep.

MU Extension also offers numerous financial education workshops throughout the year. For information on resources in your county, go to extension.missouri.edu/hes/financial.Posted Monday, February 19, 2018 4:45 am

Add legumes to grazing pastures to improve cow performance, soil health and forage production, says Patrick Davis, University of Missouri Extension livestock specialist in Cedar County.

According to Davis, now is the time to frost-seed legumes into pastures. Frost seeding is a method of broadcasting seeds over frozen pastures. This no-till method works seeds into the soil as it freezes and thaws during the transition between winter and spring. You also can let cattle trample the ground after seeding to work seeds into the soil.

This method can improve pastures, add nitrogen to the soil and increase the quality of livestock forage, he said. Frost seeding requires less fuel and equipment than drilling.

Drilling or no-till drilling is another option that may lead to better seed-to-soil contact. Davis said the producer needs to know proper seeding rates, dates and depths to achieve a good stand. Davis recommends contacting your local extension agronomy specialist for advice or downloading the MU Extension publication Seeding Rates, Dates and Depths for Common Missouri Forages at extension.missouri.edu/p/G4652.

Davis prefers legumes to grasses for improvement of grazing pastures.

Much of southwestern Missouris grass base is fescue. Legumes interseed well into a fescue base, he said. Legumes produce a higher quality forage than grasses because of the lower stem-to-leaf ratio. The lower stem ratio results in less neutral detergent fiber and more protein.

Legumes also make better year-round grazing, Davis said. He recommends red clover, white clover and lespedeza in southwestern Missouri. These legumes produce better in late spring and summer, when fescue does not grow or performs poorly. They result in improved forage intake, and cattle perform better with potential for higher profits.

Legumes also dilute the consumption of toxic fescue. This results in healthier cattle.

Do a soil test before incorporating legumes into fescue pastures, Davis said. Make sure pH and mineral levels are adequate for legumes to grow. Clover legumes require a pH of 6. Lespedeza can tolerate a 5.5 pH.

Stand management is key to legume persistence, he said. New legume plants need time to grow without competition from grass canopies. Rotational grazing systems prevent overgrazing. Davis recommends a four- to five-week rest period after grazing young legume plants.

Cattle bloat is a concern when grazing high-protein, highly digestive legumes. White clover is the most likely legume to cause bloat. Hold the forage base at 30 percent legume to reduce likelihood of bloat. Cattle experience less bloating with lespedeza and red clover, Davis said.

He recommends the following to reduce bloat:

 Restrict grazing of legume fields at first to allow cattle time to adjust to legumes.

 Provide dry hay to cattle to reduce legume intake before turning cattle out to legume pastures.

 Provide poloxalene to cattle through bloat blocks or other means of supplementation.

Incorporating legumes should prevent cattle from poor performance in summer, a condition known as summer slump. It should reduce symptoms of fescue toxicosis during late spring and summer and increase forage production, quality and cattle-carrying capacity.

For more information on incorporating legumes in your fescue pasture, contact your local MU Extension livestock specialist or agronomist.SANTA ROSA (BCN)

Two carjacking suspects, one of whom was armed, are at large tonight following a carjacking late this morning in Santa Rosa, police said.

The victim called police at about 11 a.m. to tell them he was in the area of West Third Street and Dutton Avenue after he fled from the perpetrators.

A short time later police received a report that a yellow, 2005 Ford van was on fire in the 1900 block of Ridley Avenue near the Hilliard Comstock Northwest Community Park.

Firefighters extinguished the fire.

The vehicle matched the description of the one that was taken by the carjackers.

Police said the victim told them that he was stopped on the side of a road in Santa Rosa when two suspects approached him, one of whom had a handgun.

The suspect with the gun opened a door to the van, pointed the gun at the victim, demanded his property and told him to get out of the van.

Police said the victim handed over his property and ran away and the suspects drove away in the van.

Police do not have a description of the suspects. The victim escaped injury.

The Sonoma County Alliance "Take Back Our Community" program is offering a $2,500 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the suspects.

Anyone with information about the carjacking is asked to call the Police Department's violent crimes investigations team at (707) 543-3590.SANTA ROSA (BCN)

Police arrested two people late Saturday or early Sunday following an alleged sideshow in the greater Santa Rosa area, police said.

At 11 p.m. Saturday, police saw several vehicles thought to be involved in the sideshow.

For about the next four hours Santa Rosa police and California Highway Patrol officers spoke with some of the people allegedly involved in the show.

Police said an estimated 100 vehicles were involved.

Officers issued 49 traffic citations, towed or impounded three vehicles, made one DUI arrest, one arrest for exhibition of speed and one for a vehicle pursuit.

Police said they arrested 19-year-old Santa Rosa resident Sergio Vargas on suspicion of exhibition of speed and violating probation.

Officers also arrested 18-year-old Santa Rosa resident Augustus Buschman on suspicion of DUI and reckless driving.SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)

An expanded shelter schedule has been implemented by San Francisco city officials as cold descends on the city this week.

Shelter officials will allow any adult who needs shelter to occupy any vacant bed at any facility after 8 p.m. regardless of whether the person has a reservation.

An additional shelter at the Gene Friend Rec Center at 270 Sixth St. opened at 4 p.m. today for 120 guests.

The shelter will be open 24 hours a day until Wednesday morning, city officials said.

Three hot meals a day will be served starting with dinner tonight and ending with breakfast Wednesday morning.

City officials said pets are not permitted at the shelter.

Sixty-five spaces for men will be available starting at 6 p.m. today on a first-come, first-served basis at the First Unitarian Universalist Church & Center at 1187 Franklin St.

Tickets will be for a seven-night stay and two meals will be served each day.

The Hummingbird Place at the Behavioral Health Center at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital at 887 Potrero Ave. will have 30 spaces open on a 24-hour basis.

Starting Monday two resource centers will expand operations.

The Mission Neighborhood Resource Center at 165 Capp St. will be open 24 hours a day through Wednesday morning with 75 spaces available during the day and 40 spaces available after 7 p.m.

The United Council of Human Services at 2111 Jennings St. will be open 24 hours a day through Wednesday morning with 100 spaces available.

Residents are urged to frequently check on older adults and people with disabilities to make sure their homes are well-heated.

Anyone who sees a person in need of shelter is asked to call 311. Anyone who sees someone experiencing a medical emergency is asked to call 911.

558-2712

Homelessness and Supportive Housing (415) 355-5207

Human Services Agency (415) 557-6682 (specific information on the shelter at the Gene Friend Rec Center)Berkeley officers arrested six people in an undercover operation set up to combat a recent rash of laptop thefts in cafes, police said today.

Suspects allegedly stole laptops from patrons in Caffe Strada at 2300 College Ave. around 8 p.m. Saturday, unaware that several undercover officers were watching, according to police. The laptops were swiftly recovered, police said.

The case began when a car with six people pulled up outside the cafe and four men got out and walked into the cafi. Two of them grabbed two laptops, police said.

As the four sprinted to the getaway car, one of the victims chased them, but the car pulled away. Quickly, the undercover officers called reinforcements.

The responding officers stopped the getaway vehicle on College Avenue near Russell Street, recovering the two laptops that had just been stolen and additional stolen property, according to police.

Three adults and three youth were arrested and booked on suspicion of crimes including strong-armed robbery, grand theft person, possession of stolen property and probation violations, police said. Five of the six were on some form of probation, according to police.

Police say that crimes like this one have become a common occurrence in Berkeley, and they're advising residents to keep an eye on their belongings and their surroundings to avoid being robbed.

In one case on Jan. 31, four suspects allegedly stole multiple laptops in a "snatch and grab" robbery in the 2300 block of College Avenue around 8:30 p.m., according to police.

Similarly to this case, the suspects grabbed the laptops and fled in an older four-door sedan, police said.

The undercover operations will continue until the laptop thefts abate, police said.SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)

Police arrested a suspect who allegedly tried to sell drugs to an undercover officer Sunday night in San Francisco's Tenderloin neighborhood.

According to police, the dealer tried to make the sale in the 300 block of Golden Gate Avenue near the Civic Center area.

The suspect was allegedly in possession of 29 bindles of cocaine base and heroin, 2 grams of methaphmetamine, cash and a cellphone, police said.Bill Hutchinson

One person was taken to a hospital for smoke inhalation after a fire broke out this evening in San Francisco's Tenderloin neighborhood, fire officials said.

The two-alarm fire was reported 7:14 p.m. at 493 Eddy St. Firefighters said the fire was the second on the block today.Posted Monday, February 19, 2018 6:15 am

The Webster County Missouri Farm Bureau gave a $500 check to the Webster County Pantry Wednesday, Feb. 7, in support of the nonprofit organization, which distributes food, clothes and other items to those less fortunate.

William Linder, president of the Webster County Missouri Farm Bureau, and vice president Gary Letterman, presented the check to Jerry Nehl, director of operations for the pantry.

We wanted to give to the Webster County Pantry because it is a great organization, said Linder. We also wanted to promote it and let the community know how big of a need there is for families in Webster County.

The pantry serves approximately 250 families per month, according to Nehl, who has worked there for 26 years. He picks up food from various locations, along with many school, church and local organizations that have can drives and fundraising events. To keep food from being wasted, he collects leftovers every week from companies, such as Panera Bread, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Price Cutter.

Americans throw away 25 percent of our food, said Nehl. I work on the other end of it. We pick up food from Panera Bread because it is one of the companies that will donate everything they have at the end of the day. They will not throw it in the trash. On Wednesdays, we pick up all five stores, every day except for Saturday, which we use to pick up food from the deli and bakery at Price Cutter. About three years ago, Kentucky Fried Chicken decided to get on board. At the end of every day, they freeze whatever chicken they have left and I pick it up twice a week.

In addition to collecting food, Nehl delivers meals to homebound residents at Massey Park Apartments and Webco Manor in Marshfield. About 10 to 15 volunteers will come on Fridays and Saturdays to help organize and sort the food, along with arranging the meal menus for families. To stay up to date with the pantry, community members can visit the new Facebook page created by Natasha Dunagan. She volunteered at the pantry for a few years with her oldest son, Branden, and was eager to help with the project, after Nehl and volunteers Betty Funk and Shawn Jester told her about their need to publicize unique items for sale at the pantry's thrift store.

The pantry has been there a long time and since they recently started making the thrift store open to everybody, not just those in need, I feel like people should know about it," said Dunagan. "Betty Funk said she had a lot of people come out since they saw the Facebook page and say they did not know it was even there. Since I work on Fridays, I plan to go to the pantry on the Saturdays they are open and take pictures whenever Betty has something new to sell."

New items at the thrift store will be posted on the Webster County Food Pantry & Thrift Store Facebook page. The pantry is open from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. the first and third Saturdays of every month and from 9 a.m. to noon the following Fridays.President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Peter Maurer, deplored the lack of interest and support for mutual and impartial humanitarian access to Syrian people urging European and Gulf States to spend more to help the war-torn country.

Speaking at the recently held Munich Security Conference, Maurer called European and Gulf states to help with the Syrian refugee crisis, the biggest since the end of World War II, Maurer said.

I would appreciate more assistance from many countries including from the United States, although in terms of the ICRC and some other agencies, the United States is very much among the largest donors, he said.

According to the United Nations, more than 6 million people remain displaced inside Syria and 5.48 million have fled to other countries since the start of the conflict.

The ICRC is helping both people inside Syria, who are facing extremely difficult conditions because of the conflict, and the hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, and Iraq.

In cooperation with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC), The ICRC is distributing food and other essentials, restoring water supplies, and supporting medical services.

The ICRC is an independent, neutral organization ensuring humanitarian protection and assistance for victims of armed conflict and other situations of violence.China has invested Sh520 billion ($5,202.37 million) in Kenya in 2017, making Beijing the top partner that advanced bilateral loans to the East African nation, latest data from the Treasury show.

China has become the lender of choice for Kenya in the last ten years and funded major infrastructural projects like the standard gauge railway line, and the Lamu Port.

Chinese loans surpassed those extended by the International Development Association and the International Fund for Agricultural Development for the first time.

According to the data released by the Treasury, other major lenders are Japan, France, Germany, and Belgium. In total, foreign countries advanced a total of $7.58 billion to the government during the period under review.

President Uhuru Kenyattas administration has largely contracted debt from China as well as international capital markets and multilateral lenders such as African Development Bank since 2014 to build roads, bridges, power plants and a railway.

Kenyas economy is projected to grow by 5.3 to 5.5 percent in 2018, Cytonn, a Nairobi-based investment firm said earlier this month.

The growth will be supported by the recovery of the agriculture sector as well as continued strong growth in the tourism and real estate sectors, the firm said.Gambian President Adama Barrow has announced a suspension on the death penalty as the West African tiny nation is trying to regain its international reputation, closing the page of the authoritarian leader Yahya Jammeh.

In his address to the nation on the eve of the 53rd anniversary of the countrys independence from Great Britain, President Barrow said the moratorium on the use of the death penalty in The Gambia is a first step towards abolition.

African governments have executed 22 people in 2016 compared to 43 the previous year, according to Amnesty International.

In August 2012, Gambias ex-dictator Yahya Jammeh defied international appeals and ordered the execution of nine prisoners on death row saying it was a move to curb the countrys rising crime rate.

In power since 20017, President Barrow is trying to repair damage done to Gambias reputation by his predecessors 23-year rule, which was marked by human rights abuses and spats with foreign governments.

The parliament is now in the process of enacting legislation to establish a Truth, Reconciliation and Reparation Commission and a Human Rights Commission.

In Gambia, death sentences are handed for a variety of crimes, including murder and treason.Ghanas President Akufo-Addo has started mediation for a political dialogue between the Togolese President Faure Gnassingbe and the opposition coalition.

Discussions are supposed to resolve the political impasse that has been going on for six months in the tiny West African nation.

The 10-day political discussion will be the 27th dialogue since the advent of multiparty politics in the early 1990s in Togo.

Opposition groups in Togo have in the last months called for Faure Gnassingbe to step down and end a five decade dynasty that saw his father rule the country for 38 years. President Faure Gnassingbe has been in power since 2005.

Last week, his party has reiterated in the local media that it would be out of the question to discuss the immediate departure of the Head of State or a commitment on his part to leave power.

The 1992 constitution brought in a semblance of multi-party democracy after decades of dictatorship, and limited presidential terms to two, but was later amended to enable Eyadema to run for another term.

The opposition says they want the original two five-year term limit to be restored, a two-ballot system, reform of the Constitutional Court and of the Electoral Commission.Ninety-one presidential historians do not agree with President Donald Trump's low opinion of his predecessor.

According to a C-SPAN survey of the historians, Barack Obama ranked as the 12th best president, getting good grades for his vision and setting an agenda, managing the economy, public persuasion, "pursuing equal justice for all" and "moral authority." Only Ronald Reagan had an overall higher ranking a month after leaving office.

Obama was docked for his diplomatic record, judged below-average in handling international relations. His marks for "relations with Congress" would have earned him an F  only a handful of presidents scored lower.

The above gallery ranks the 12 best and 12 worst presidents in U.S. history, as determined by 91 historians.

As for Trump, history will not be kind to his presidency if a panel of presidential scholars assembled by Vanity Fair last year are correct. While there is still plenty of time for Trump to change their minds, here's what some of them had to say about his term so far:

Jon Meacham:

"From his confounding man crush on Vladimir Putin to his nuclear saber-rattling with North Korea, Trump has created more fear than hopeand hope is an essential element of presidential leadership."

Robert Dallek:

"Eight months into Donald Trump's presidency, it is impossible to imagine him unifying the country behind his leadership."



Stacy Schiff:

"Donald Trump seems to believe himself exempt from history. He may prefer to skip, snarl at, scorn, and scramble the past, to occupy a sanitized present, scrubbed of context and consequence. You only get to hold the truth hostage for so long, however."



Garry Wills:

"Trump openly loves himself as much as Nixon secretly loathed himself."Head coach Peter DeBoer called it one of the Sharks better games of the season. And it couldnt have come at a more pivotal juncture.

The Sharks scored four times in the first period and zipped to a five-goal lead on the strength of Joe Pavelskis line and Mikkel Boedkers recent goal streak. Goalie Martin Jones was solid when needed as San Jose rolled to a 5-2 victory over the Stars on Sunday night at SAP Center.

We had a couple of days of rest and we had great energy to start, DeBoer said. We got our legs and were executing. We took our foot off the gas a little bit in third, which is natural with a big lead, but there wasnt much to complain about. It was pretty solid.

The only downer for the Sharks was the conspicuous absence of defenseman Brent Burns for the final 16:13 of the game. After skating two shifts in the third period, Burns retired to the dressing room for an undisclosed reason. Fellow blue liner Dylan DeMelo left a minute early, too.

Burns is  dealing with something, but hes going to be fine, defenseman Justin Braun said. Hes not going to miss any games.

DeBoer said he thought Burns would accompany the team on the four-game trip that starts Tuesday in St. Louis.

But back to Sunday. Boedker scored twice to become the teams ninth double-figure goal-scorer, and the Pavelski line accounted for seven points. That was plenty of offense to support Jones, who stopped 26 shots.

The Sharks onslaught began 27 seconds after the opening face-off when Pavelski shrugged off a center-ice collision to toss a spinning backhand shot past goalie Ben Bishop for his 15th goal.

San Jose did not convert an early power play, but it did strike 38 seconds after the man advantage ended on Melker Karlssons eighth goal at 5:59.

Theyre a high-scoring team, so you want to come out strong, and getting those two early goals helped, Braun said.

Boedker got into the act at 15:08 of the first when his attempted feed from the right wing toward Chris Tierney in the slot was accidentally redirected by Dallas Alexander Radulov past Bishop. That made it three goals on four San Jose shots.

A tripping penalty by Stars defenseman Marc Methot put San Jose on the power play again, and Boedker converted exactly as the 5-on-4 expired at 17:23. His one-timer from the slot set up by Tierney was not only his 11th goal but also the last shot Bishop would face.

Maybe the mind-set of being a little more aggressive and a little more direct, Boedker explained for his recent uptick in production that includes four goals in the past three games. It was real nice to get those two goals.

Braun scored his second goal at 5:00 of the second when his wrist shot from the right point made it through a maze of sticks and bodies to beat goalie Kari Lehtonen.

We were actually moving this game instead of the game in Dallas where everyone left their legs somewhere else, Braun said.

The Stars dashed Jones shutout bid when Gemel Smith scored at 5:35 of the third, which was followed quickly by Tyler Pitlicks backhand strike at 8:57.When two teenage girls tried to check in for a flight from Sacramento to New York, American Airlines customer service agent Denice Miracle noticed something wasn't right.

"There were immediate red flags: There was no adult with them; they had no identification; the tickets were one-way and multi-leg; they were booked in First Class; and the credit card used to reserve their seats was in neither of their names. In fact, it was flagged as fraudulent," a press release from American Airlines reads.

The girls were 15 and 17 when they tried to check in for the flight last summer, according to the airline. They seemed nervous and unable to answer the agent's questions.

"I told the supervisor, 'I'm going to call the sheriff. This just doesn't feel right to me,'" Miracle told CNN. "It just did not feel right."







She pulled the teenagers aside while she called the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department Airport Bureau. When officers arrived at the airport, the teenagers explained their motive for the suspicious cross-country trip.

The girls thought they were flying to New York for the weekend to model and perform in music videos. They were told they'd earn $2,000 for the work. The whole trip was arranged by someone they had met on Instagram who they knew as "Drey."

When they found out the plane tickets weren't roundtrip, the teenagers were "shocked," said officers.

Deputy Todd Sanderson explained to CNN that he told the girls, "The airline says you have a one-way ticket and in my belief you're going back there not to do the things that you think you were going to be doing."

"They said, 'I wouldn't let anything happen that I didn't want,' and I said, 'Well you probably wouldn't have a choice in the matter.'"

The incident occurred last summer, according to American Airlines, but the company is sharing the story now to encourage people to "identify and report signs of human trafficking."

Sacramento sheriff's deputies tried to contact "Drey" by phone and on Instagram, but were unable to reach him. Subsequent attempts to track down the suspect have been unsuccessful.

American Airlines says the girls were returned to their parents, who were informed their daughters were potential victims of human trafficking.

Read Alix Martichoux's latest stories and send her news tips at amartichoux@sfchronicle.com.A man carrying a knife and a hunting rifle opened fire on worshipers Sunday at an Orthodox church in Kizlyar, in the Dagestan region of Russia, killing at least five people and wounding several others, according to a Russian state news agency.

The gunman shouted Allahu akbar and began firing, a priest told the local media. Churchgoers said they prevented more casualties by closing the door to the church and stopping the attacker from getting inside.

The man was later shot and killed by security forces on duty at the time. The assailant was identified only as a 22-year-old man from the region, the Russian news agency Tass said, citing investigators.

The Islamic State group claimed credit for the attack on the church, issuing a bulletin on its Amaq news agency. It was followed by a lengthier official statement in which it described the assailant as a soldier of the caliphate and provided a nom de guerre for the attacker, Khalil al-Dagestani.

The attack took place in Kizlyar, a town of about 50,000 people on the Terek River delta on the border with Chechnya, Tass said.

Four women died at the scene, and a fifth died of her injuries at a hospital, a Health Ministry spokeswoman, Zalina Mourtazalieva, told Tass. Two Russian police officers were among five people injured in the attack.

The Russian RBK daily quoted an Orthodox priest as saying the attacker had opened fire on churchgoers after an afternoon service. The priest, identified as Father Pavel, said: We had finished the mass and were beginning to leave the church. A bearded man ran towards the church shouting Allahu akbar.

Dagestan is a predominantly Muslim region between Chechnya and the Caspian Sea. Its administration has recently undergone major reforms that, according to some analysts, is meant to show the central governments commitment to fighting corruption before presidential elections in March.

Two separatist wars in Chechnya have spread to Dagestan. In 2015, the Islamic State declared it had established a franchise in the North Caucasus, and it has claimed a number of attacks on police in Dagestan.BAGHDAD  Islamic State militants ambushed a group of Iraqs Shiite-led paramilitary fighters, killing at least 27 about two months after Baghdad declared victory over the extremist group, officials said Monday

The Popular Mobilization Forces, an umbrella group of mostly Shiite militias, said in a statement that the attack took place outside the northern city of Kirkuk, where the paramilitaries were conducting overnight raids.

The attackers were disguised in army uniforms and manning a fake checkpoint, the statement said, adding that ensuing clashes lasted for at least two hours and that some of the militants were killed while others fled the area.

Brig. Gen. Yahya Rasool, an Iraqi military spokesman, blamed Islamic State sleeper cells and said Iraqi forces were searching the area to find the perpetrators.

The militant group claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement carried by its Aamaq news agency.

Hadi al-Amiri, the leader of the Badr Brigade, one of the most prominent Shiite militias, vowed revenge. He called on security forces to be vigilant, saying the war against terrorism is not over yet.

At least 11 of the slain troops were from the southern city of Basra, where a three-day mourning period was declared.

Iraq declared victory over Islamic State in December, after more than three years of heavy fighting. The group has been driven from all the territory it seized in the summer of 2014, but U.S. and Iraqi officials have said it is likely to continue launching insurgent-style attacks.1 Deadly collapse: Heavy rains caused the partial collapse of a huge mound of garbage in Mozambiques capital Monday, killing as many as 17 people who were buried by debris. Authorities believe more bodies could be buried at the Hulene garbage dump on the outskirts of Maputo. The garbage in the poor, densely populated area rose to the height of a three-story building, according to the Portuguese news agency Lusa. Half a dozen homes were destroyed, and some residents in the area fled for fear of another collapse.

2 Volcano erupts: Rumbling Mount Sinabung on the Indonesian island of Sumatra sent billowing columns of ash soaring more than 16,000 feet and hot clouds down its slopes Monday. There were no fatalities or injuries from the eruption, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency said. The volcano, one of three currently erupting in Indonesia, was dormant for four centuries before exploding in 2010, killing two people. The regional volcanic ash advisory center in Darwin, Australia, issued a red notice to airlines. About 30,000 people have been forced to leave homes around the mountain in the past few years.TEHRAN  Iranian search and rescue teams on Monday reached the site of a plane crash that authorities say killed all 65 people on board, Irans Press TV reported.

The Aseman Airlines ATR-72, a twin-engine turboprop used for short-distance regional flying, went down Sunday in foggy weather, crashing into Mount Dena in a remote area of southern Iran. The airliner said all on board Flight EP3704 were killed, including six crew members.

The crash of the aircraft, brought back into service only months ago after being grounded for seven years, was yet another fatal aviation disaster for Iran, which for years was barred from buying necessary airplane parts because of Western sanctions over its contested nuclear program.

Press TV said search teams reached the crash site before dawn on Monday. The station said the weather had improved, though it was still windy. The semiofficial Tasnim News Agency cited the military as saying Russia had helped locate the crash site. Russia and Iran are close military allies.

Press TV broadcast footage of a helicopter joining the search and showed ambulances and rescue vehicles preparing to reach the site on Mount Dena, which is 14,400 feet tall. The site is reportedly at a height of 11,500 feet.

Other Iranian news outlets and officials did not confirm that the crash site had been reached. State radio said five helicopters and five drones were active in the search operation. Irans semiofficial ISNA news agency said more than 150 climbers joined the operation.

Transport Minister Abbas Akhoundi left Tehran on Monday to visit the site of the crash, state TV reported. State TV quoted him as saying the cause of the crash was still not clear.

Reza Jafarzadeh, a spokesman for Irans Civil Aviation Organization, said a delegation from France was to arrive in Tehran to investigate the cause of the crash, the official IRNA news agency reported. Jafarzadeh said the delegation includes four officials from French-Italian aircraft manufacturer ATR.

The ATR-72 went down near its destination, the southern city of Yasuj, about 485 miles south of the capital, where it took off.

It wasnt immediately clear what caused the crash, although weather was severe. Dense fog, high winds and heavy snow in the Zagros Mountains made it impossible for rescue crews in helicopters to reach the site in the immediate aftermath, state TV reported.BEIRUT  Turkey warned the Syrian government Monday against entering the Kurdish-controlled enclave in northern Syria where a major Turkish military offensive is under way, saying it would hit back at the troops if their goal is to protect the Kurdish fighters.

The warning sets up a potential clash between Turkish troops and Syrian government forces backed by Russia and Iran, whose deployment would be a first step toward restoring President Bashar Assads presence along the border with Turkey.

The warning by the Turkish foreign minister came shortly after Syrian state media said pro-government forces would enter Afrin to bolster local forces in confronting Turkeys aggression after reaching an agreement with the Kurdish militia known as the Peoples Protection Units, or YPG, which controls Afrin.

Details of the deal were not announced by either side, and Kurdish officials said talks were still ongoing. By nightfall, no troops had entered Afrin.

Assads troops have had no presence in Afrin since they pulled out of most of northern Syria in 2012, as nation-wide protests against Assad transformed into a civil war. A return to the area, where a potent mix of regional and international powers have boots on the ground, could further complicate the situation and lead to unwanted confrontations.

However, depending on the details of the agreement, it may also serve to defuse the situation in Afrin, where Turkey has been struggling to achieve results in its now monthlong offensive to push back YPG fighters from its borders.

Ankara considers the YPG a terrorist group linked to the Kurdish insurgency within Turkeys borders. On Jan. 20, it launched a major air and ground offensive, pounding the enclave with air strikes and artillery on a daily basis.

Turkeys foreign minister, speaking at a news conference in Amman, Jordan, said Turkey would have no problem if Syrian government forces were entering Afrin to clear the area from YPG fighters, but that it would strike back if it turns out the deployment was meant to shore up the Kurds against Turkey.

If the regime is entering to protect the YPG, then no one can stop us, stop Turkey or the Turkish soldiers, Mevlut Cavusoglu said.

Turkey has supported rebels fighting to overthrow Assad throughout the seven-year civil war, but in recent years has focused more on trying to contain the Kurds. Government troops deployed along its borders, at this point, may be more palatable for Ankara than the continued presence of the powerful YPG.

The group has received weapons and training from the U.S. for years and has been Washingtons main partner in the war against the Islamic State group in Syria.

It was not clear who, exactly, would enter Afrin. Syrias state-run news agency, SANA, said pro-government fighters known as popular forces would deploy to the area.

The popular forces joining the resistance against Turkish occupation in Afrin comes in the framework of supporting residents as well as defending Syria and its sovereignty, SANA said. It added that the deployment aims to frustrate attempts by Erdogans regime and its mercenaries of terrorist organizations to occupy the area, referring to Turkish-backed Syrian insurgents.

Elsewhere in Syria, government shelling of the rebel-held eastern suburbs of Damascus killed at least 30 people, according to opposition activists and paramedics. The besieged region known as eastern Ghouta has been subjected to bombardments for weeks that have killed and wounded hundreds of people.SLM Solutions Group AG: Major shareholder sold shares to institutional investors

Posted by Publisher Internet

Hans-Joachim Ihde, founder and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of SLM Solutions Group AG (the \Company\), has today notified the Company\-\-s Management Board that he has sold an aggregate of 1,312,200 shares of the Company (corresponding to 7.3% of the Company\-\-s share capital) to a limited number of institutional investors by way of a private placement. Post the private placement, Hans-Joachim Ihde holds a 16.77% interest in the Company through Ceresio GmbH (\Ceresio\). Deutsche Bank acted as Sole Manager in the share placement whereas Lazard & Co. GmbH acted as financial advisor to Ceresio. With regard to their remaining shareholdings, Ceresio has entered into a lock-up obligation of twelve months.

Hans-Joachim Ihde: \I remain highly committed to the Company in my various roles. With more than 16.7% of the shares I will remain a major long-term shareholder as well as Chairman of the Supervisory Board. I strongly believe that the Company is uniquely positioned to capitalise on the enormous growth opportunities in additive manufacturing and I look forward to accompanying SLM Solutions on its continuing growth path. The voluntary 12 months lock-up agreement I entered into further underlines my strong commitment to the Company.?

Lubeck-based SLM Solutions Group AG is a leading provider of metal-based additive manufacturing technology. The company\-\-s shares are traded in the Prime Standard of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. The stock has been listed in the TecDAX index since March 21, 2016. SLM Solutions focuses on the development, assembly and sale of machines and integrated system solutions in the field of selective laser melting. SLM Solutions currently employs over 360 members of staff in Germany, the USA, Singapore, Russia, India and China. The products are utilised worldwide by customers in particular from the aerospace, energy, healthcare and automotive industries.Georgetown, SC (29440)

Today

Mostly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 86F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Considerable cloudiness. Low near 70F. Winds light and variable.NASA's New Horizons spacecraft took this view of Pluto, combining blue, red and infrared images, during its flyby in 2015.

An asphalt-like layer may be baking beneath Pluto's crust. Researchers are considering the possibility that the most famous dwarf planet may contain a layer of organic material beneath its surface heated into a thick, tar-like substance. The idea, which remains speculative, could affect scientists' understanding of how Pluto is built.

Because Pluto was born in the icy Kuiper Belt beyond Neptune's orbit, it could contain organic material, particularly carbon, similar to that found in comets. If such a layer exists beneath the surface, heat and pressure could cook it into a thick, gooey material, said Bill McKinnon, a planetary scientist at Washington University in St. Louis, who presented the idea in December at the American Geophysical Union meeting in New Orleans.

"Organic matter, when you cook it, the end product is either amorphous carbon or graphite," said McKinnon, who is also a member of the research team for the New Horizons spacecraft, which flew by Pluto in July 2015. The product could also be more like thick, gooey asphalt, which is what you get when you include the heaviest fraction of the carbon-based substance petroleum. [Destination Pluto: NASA's New Horizons Mission in Pictures]

"It's not something that would be impossible inside the warmer parts of large, icy satellites and places like Pluto," McKinnon said.

McKinnon stressed that this was an idea, not a confirmed finding. When presenting the idea, his goal was to bring the possibility of an organic layer to the attention of other scientists, in hopes of sparking further models and experiments that could investigate whether such a layer might exist within Pluto.

Hot asphalt in the ocean?

Exploring the layers of planets and other celestial bodies remains a challenge. On worlds like Earth and the moon, seismometers can track how long it takes waves generated by earthquakes to travel through the crust and mantle. Because the waves travel at different speeds depending on what material they are passing through, scientists can use these waves to determine the approximate makeup of the layers beneath the surface. The Apollo missions placed wave-tracking instruments on the moon, and NASA's Mars 2020 rover will carry one to the Red Planet.

But for worlds without seismometers, researchers are stuck using the measured size and mass of the celestial body to calculate its density. They can then model various layers, usually of rock and ice, to determine the most likely layers of material.

"The simplest thing to do is to assume it's made of rock and it's made of ice," McKinnon said. "It's either mixed together, or it's not mixed together, or it's halfway." These sorts of models, combined with New Horizons' observations of the ongoing geological activity on Pluto, suggest that the dwarf planet might hold a liquid or recently frozen ocean beneath its crust.

McKinnon decided to take another look at the idea, however. He pointed to missions to visit comets, such as the European Space Agency's recent Rosetta mission and the decades-old Giotto mission, which visited Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko and Halley's Comet, respectively. These missions and others have revealed that comets are rich in carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen.

"There's a lot of organic matter in comets," McKinnon said, referring to carbon-based compounds.

Like Pluto, comets formed in the outer solar system. That led him to wonder if Pluto could have captured some of the same organic material when it was born.

Earth contains a significant amount of carbon in its coal, peat and oil supplies. When prehistoric trees and plants died, they formed layers on the ground. Because the bacteria, fungi and other microbes that would have broken them down had not yet evolved, the once-living material didn't decompose like it would today. Instead, the weight of those layers converted them to peat and then, eventually, to coal. But that doesn't mean scientists are going to start looking for traces of forests on Pluto. While ancient life may be the source of the bulk of Earth's coal, it isn't the only way to produce the carbon-rich material.

"It doesn't have to have an organic origin; it just has to come from ultimately organic matter," McKinnon said.

If Pluto managed to store the organic material in its crust, heat and pressure could combine to cook out the more volatile components, leaving carbon behind.

"Instead of having rock and ice, you might have rock and a massive organic layer  not just sort of a skein or a thin film, but something on the order of 100 kilometers [60 miles] thick or more," McKinnon said.

That could change the current understanding of what is going on inside Pluto, and perhaps inside other icy satellites as well.

"The stuff has interesting properties," McKinnon said. "If it's more like hot asphalt, it would be liquid and could transport heat very readily."

On the other hand, a carbon layer could instead be solid, more like graphite, he said. "Graphite has tremendous thermal conductivity  much higher than any normal geological material like rock, or even cold ice."

The presence of a more thermally conductive layer could affect the surface of Pluto, McKinnon said. He pointed to Sputnik Planitia, part of the well-known "heart" of Pluto, saying that New Horizons revealed evidence of a dense layer beneath the lobe that lifted material upward. Previous research suggested that the layer could be a watery ocean.

It's possible, however, that the dense layer could be uplifted organic matter, McKinnon said. The organic layer could stand alone, or augment a liquid ocean.

McKinnon stressed that the idea remained purely speculative, brought up to encourage people to consider the potential.

"It's a big plausibility argument to maybe get people thinking about this a little more, maybe trying to figure out ways to test it," he said.

Follow Nola Taylor Redd at @NolaTRedd, Facebook, or Google+. Follow us at @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com.The Falcon 9 launch of GovSat-1 in January. SpaceX is now certified to use that rocket for NASA science missions, starting with an astronomy satellite scheduled for launch no earlier than mid-April.

WASHINGTON  NASA has certified the current version of the SpaceX Falcon 9 to launch some categories of science missions, a milestone needed for the upcoming, but delayed, launch of an astronomy spacecraft.

NASA disclosed the certification in its full fiscal year 2019 budget proposal, released Feb. 14, in a section about NASA's Launch Services Program (LSP). "In January 2018, SpaceX successfully completed Category 2 certification of the SpaceX Falcon 9 Full Thrust with LSP which supports the launch of the NASA Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission in March 2018," it stated.

A passage on the following page appeared to contradict that claim, stating that certification of that version of the Falcon 9 "is nearing completion." However, agency spokesperson Cheryl Warner said Feb. 15 that LSP completed the Category 2 certification of the rocket Jan. 11. [From Ike to Trump: Presidential Visions for Space Exploration]

Category 2 certification covers "medium risk" missions, and requires between one and three consecutive successful missions, depending on the vehicles heritage and level of NASA insight. That certification was required to clear the way for the launch of TESS.

That certification was expected, but the fact that the certification was still pending late last year was a cause of concern to some. At a Dec. 6 hearing of the House space subcommittee, Cristina Chaplain of the U.S. Government Accountability Office cautioned that one risk for the TESS mission was that SpaceX may need more time than anticipated to be certified by NASA.

Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) also raised questions about the vehicle's certification, citing a June 2015 launch failure on a space station cargo mission and September 2016 pad explosion. "Do you have any concerns that the Block 4 version of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will not be certified in time for TESS to launch in March of 2018?" he asked Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA associate administrator for science and one of the witnesses at the hearing.

"At this moment in time I don't have any such concerns," Zurbuchen responded, noting that final certification was scheduled at that time for early 2018.

While the Falcon 9 is now certified to launch TESS, that launch wont take place in March as previously planned. NASA said in a Feb. 15 release regarding the spacecrafts arrival in Florida for launch preparations that the launch was now scheduled for no earlier than April 16. NASA had previously given a date of no earlier than March 20.

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center spokesperson Claire Saravia said Feb. 15 that the launch was postponed at the request of SpaceX, who sought "additional time for hardware readiness and to meet NASA launch service mission requirements." The spacecraft itself, she added, was in "excellent condition" at the Kennedy Space Center, where it undergo payload processing for the launch.

TESS will launch into an elliptical orbit that is in a 2:1 resonance with the moon to perform an all-sky survey to search for exoplanets around the nearest and brightest stars. That orbit is very stable and also allows for high data rates from the spacecraft.

However, it limits the days on which TESS can launch in order to phase into the proper trajectory. In an interview in January, George Ricker, principal investigator for TESS at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said there were about 40 days from March through June on which TESS could launch.

Besides certifying the Falcon 9, the Launch Services Program has been supporting "preliminary activities" for certifying the current version of the Orbital ATK Antares launch vehicle, according to the budget documents. The program has also started certification discussions regarding vehicles still in development, including Blue Origin's New Glenn, Orbital ATK's Next General Launch and United Launch Alliance's Vulcan.

This story was provided by SpaceNews, dedicated to covering all aspects of the space industry.Welcome To SpoilerTV



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If long driveways, high hedges and large lots dont offer enough exclusivity, theres an option in town for luxury real estate that remains off limits even for most local residents.

Private neighborhoods feature gates, guards and, in some cases, cameras. In neighborhoods such as Belle Haven, Conyers Farm and Indian Harbor, only those with express permission can venture past their gates. Inside, several have additional associations that require yet another specific access.

In Conyers Farm, situated at the upper corner of Greenwich and sprawling into New York, every home beyond the vigilantly manned guard building has its own gated driveway. Greenwichs confidential communities feature world-class amenities such as private beaches and docks, polo grounds and elite clubs.

Many of the homes sell for millions of dollars, and last year several sales topped $20 million. The homeowners include celebrities and business titans who could buy a home anywhere in the world.

Privacy and, for some, tight-knit community lure them. For Kathie Lee Gifford, it is a sweeping waterfront vista in a Riverside community. Hedge fund titan Paul Tudor Jones has a home so striking it is often mistaken for the local yacht club. Diana Ross is among those who lives in a private community within another gated community.

Beyond exclusivity, fond memories of beach parties, trick-or-treating and friendships formed between neighbors highlight residents favorite aspects of their neighborhoods.

I think having community is one of the biggest reasons why people are drawn to private neighborhoods, said Jennifer Miller, of Douglas Elliman.

Some homebuyers, especially those seeking an elevated sense of privacy, ask specifically to look in gated neighborhoods, but many prioritize location and property above the designation. Occasionally, people prefer not to live by association guidelines and opt to avoid buying in private neighborhoods, Realtors said. But those who want a gate or two are willing to pay a premium.

Theyre everywhere

Greenwich is home to more than 50 private neighborhood associations  properties on non-public roads where owners pay fees that, in many cases, primarily fund street paving and upkeep.

Many of the associations are as simple as a private road denoted by oversized white street signs. There, homeowners relish the ability to have speed bumps or small gates built to discourage outsiders from passing through.

The neighborhoods include a wide variety of homes. Belle Haven has more than 100 properties, while others are much smaller, including Chieftans, where 28 houses lie behind the gates off Sherwood Avenue.

In the last decade, properties sold within 12 of these private associations account for more than 230 residential sales, according to data from the Greenwich Multiple Listing Service. On average, the properties closed for nearly $5 million.

Nearly every submarket from Old Greenwich and Riverside to downtown, midcountry and backcountry has at least one private neighborhood.

As the name suggests, they do little to tell people about their offerings. There are no public web pages describing association amenities. Except through real estate agents, it can be hard to even find out their names.

Over the years, several of Greenwichs more prominent neighborhoods have attracted outsized media coverage, such as Conyers Farm, with its famed polo fields. But there are many that garner less press while attracting high-profile residents who often purchase properties through an LLC. These include Deer Park, Field Point Circle, Khakum Wood, Lucas Point, Sherwood Farms, Willowmere and others.

Many spring from historic estates belonging to families including the Rockefellers and Gimbels. Eventually, the vast properties were broken up and subdivided.

Privacy, proximity to town

Belle Haven ranked second only to Milbrook by number of property sales among 12 of these secluded neighborhoods in the last decade. Belle Haven has grown leaps and bounds as the trend to move closer to town has grown, said Leslie McElwreath of Sothebys International Realty.

Preferences for Greenwichs private neighborhoods align with the general shift in tastes for houses close to town and transportation, several local Realtors said. Along with Belle Haven, other private neighborhoods have benefited from that trend.

Mead Point features 43 properties with an average price tag of $5.57 million in the past 10 years. Within gated Mead Point is Windrose Way, another private neighborhood.

At low tide, residents have access to three beaches, according to Realtor Jill Tighe Kelly, of Sothebys. Private beach areas and docks constitute some of the top amenities throughout Greenwichs neighborhood associations stretching the coast.

For Harbor Point residents, a 1,500-foot, crescent-shaped private beach offers enthralling vistas. Susan Kaupie, of Centric Property Group, led a tour to its upper point, where the chatter of seagulls and crunch of seashells are the only noises at low tide. This is a true amenity, she said.

Down the road, trees obscure entry to a modest dirt path that leads to Harbor Points other notable feature  a deep-water dock with boat slips. The average price tag for the private views and dock, based on 10 years of sales, is north of $6 million.

In central Greenwich, across the Post Road from Greenwich High School, Milbrook offers security, gated entrances and Tudor-style homes balanced on sloping rock ledges. With its access to downtown, Milbrook has grown in popularity, McElwreath said. The neighborhood has had 65 sales at an average price of around $2.5 million since 2007.

Also in central Greenwich and close to town are Deer Park, once Rockefeller land with pathways to Brunswick and Greenwich Academy schools, in addition to Bailiwick, Calhoun Drive, Khakum Wood and Sherwood Farms.

Turn-key living

On the western side of town lies one of Greenwichs newest private neighborhoods that residents describe as turn-key living. Local real estate developer and hotel owner John Fareri completed Chieftans in the mid-1990s.

It is comprised of 97 acres, 28 homes and provides almost any amenity a homeowner could want, according to Chieftans resident Valerie Yanni. For a monthly common charge, homeowners receive services for their lawns, gutters, trash pick-up, snow removal and more. Its easy living for busy people, said Barbara Zaccagnini, of Coldwell Banker.

Immediately behind the gated entrance, a road lined with precisely spaced trees leads into the close-knit neighborhood. White and green posts announce properties addresses in their front yards. Without appearing uniform, most homes are designed in the style of English manors with slate roofs and large mahogany doors.

With all the high-end design flourishes, properties in Chieftans go for around $3 million, based on its 18 sales in the past 10 years.

Conyers Farm

Up in the far corner of backcountry Greenwich, Conyers Farm rambles across 1,500 acres. To many, these estates are iconic Greenwich. In the past decade, there have been more than 30 sales, with an average sale price of nearly $10 million. With its millionaire and billionaire residents, Conyers Farms is one of the most closely monitored private associations.

It illustrates discrete elegance, according to Fran Ehrlich of Sothebys. It provides an idyllic existence. Theres community, but its a respectful balance with the privacy people want.WESTPORT  Bruce Becker woke up at 4 a.m. on a day in late March 2016 and drove from Westport to the Tesla store in Mount Kisco, N.Y., to put his name on the list for a Tesla Model 3 electric vehicle. He was third in line.

After a nearly two-year wait, he finally picked up his car Monday.

Im an environmentalist and an architect and developer and Ive spent the last 10 years of my career trying to create buildings that dont rely on fossil fuels, said Becker, who grew up in New Canaan. What I came to realize is cars actually have a bigger impact on the environment than buildings. With all the energy Im spending trying to make green buildings, it was crazy for me to ignore my own personal driving habits.

Becker, the first known Tesla Model 3 owner in Connecticut, showed off his new ride at Staples High School Wednesday at an event promoting the new car, expected by electric vehicle enthusiasts to be as revolutionary as the Ford Model T.

In 2012, Becker, president of the Westport Electric Car Club, bought his first electric car  an early BMW electric vehicle prototype  which he said was an expensive indulgence. His new Tesla is much more affordable, coming in at $24,500 after incentives.

But now they have a Model 3  thats a mass-market car, Becker said, who works in Fairfield.

Westport building official Steve Smith agreed about the market for the Tesla Model 3.

This is the peoples version, Smith said.

The new Tesla models can go farther than the earlier models without needing to be charged, which, in addition to the lower price, Smith hopes will incentivize more Westport residents to purchase the electric vehicle.

Furthermore, the building official said, Westport already has the infrastructure necessary for residents to use electric vehicles with charging stations at both railroad stations, the high school, town hall and Baldwin Parking Lot.

First Selectman Jim Marpe attended the showcase and also hopes the towns investment in charging stations, coupled with the new Tesla model, will bring the town closer to reaching its goal of net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

We need to transition away from fossil fuels, Becker said in agreement. This is one of the keys to avoiding global warming and reducing the particulate pollution, which is creating asthma and health issues even here in Westport.

While Beckers primary reason for buying the car is environmental concerns, he also believes the Tesla Model 3 could help rebound the states economy.

All the money we currently spend on gasoline leaves the state, but more and more electric power is coming from renewable sources generated within the state. When youre powering your car with electricity, youre basically keeping money and jobs in Connecticut, Becker said.

A Connecticut law intended to protect franchised car dealers prohibits selling Teslas in Connecticut, however, because Tesla is a manufacturer, and not a dealer, which is why Becker had to travel to New York to purchase the car.

Connecticut is a very green state and were very progressive, but were completely backwards on the Tesla bill, said Scott Thompson, a Fairfield resident and member of the Fairfield Clean Energy Task Force. Michigan, Texas and West Virginia are Connecticuts only kin in prohibiting the direct sale of Teslas, Thompson said.

Weve got to bring the tax revenue associated with these cars into the state and not let it go to New York. Thats whats at stake here, besides our reputation, Thompson said.

Environmental protection was at the forefront of Jackie Eskins mind when she went to see Beckers new car at the high school. Six years ago, the Fairfield resident purchased an electric vehicle because she believed if she didnt step up and buy one, the company would say no one cared and would stop making the cars.

Each person buying electric vehicles tells the companies theyre important, said Eskin, a member of the Westport Electric Car Club.

Staples High School junior George Englehart also believes personal choices can help reduce the environmental impact of transportation emissions.

People always think of doing stuff at a huge global level, but if you just do your part in your town, it can really make a significant difference, said Englehart, the only high school student on Westports Green Task Force.

In addition to the positive environmental, economic and financial benefits of the new Tesla model, Becker said theyre just plain cool.

Its basically like turning an iPad into a car, Becker said, displaying the cars touch screen, which controls all of the cars functions.

Although now an environmental advocate, Westport resident Dawn Henry said she bought her first electric vehicle several years ago solely for the cool factor.

The first Tesla I got I didnt buy because it was electric; I didnt buy it because it was zero emissions; I bought it because it was the hot sexy car, Henry said.John Gutzon de la Mothe Borglum is commonly assumed to be as ideal a patriot as Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt, whose images he carved into Mount Rushmore in South Dakota. His life plays like a prequel to Forrest Gump, as he crossed paths with some of the most iconic names of the early 20th century.

Gutzon Borglum was a timekeeper for the Wright Brothers when they demonstrated aircraft for the military. His model for a Paris statue of Thomas Paine was approved by Helen Keller. His goading of Adolf Hitler so infuriated the dictator that he had Borglums statue of Woodrow Wilson in Poland melted for ammunition.

Nothing about Borglum follows a script. His darkest tendencies are often coated with a marble glaze, whether by the National Park Foundation or Stamford Museum & Nature Center, which has a permanent display of work from his years living and working in the city.

He was an anti-Semite who included the editor of the Jewish Encyclopedia among his friends. And his alliance with the Ku Klux Klan compromised his legacy as a champion of Americas ideals.

The Advocate predicted in 1920 that Mount Rushmore would last 500,000 years. It has survived eight decades to this Presidents Day despite the KKK connection.

Borglums precursor to Mount Rushmore was his unrealized monument to the Lost Cause principles of the Confederacy on Stone Mountain near Atlanta (a version of which was completed 50 years later). Borglum was ultimately arrested for destroying his models and fled Georgia after blowing the budget by $22,000. Several investors were KKK members. Borglum abandoned the white supremacy project to carve his shrine to Democracy.

A revealing detail emerged years later. Longtime ally and former Klan Grand Dragon David Stephenson filed a civil action against Borglums home, claiming unpaid notes of more than $24,000. Stephenson apparently needed cash to fund on appeal on his conviction for abduction, rape and murder.

The recent death of cartoonist Mort Walker, who lived, worked, was married and died in the studio once owned by Borglum, motivated me to see how the sculptor was portrayed in the Stamford Advocate from the time he started buying swathes of land in 1907. Borglum was such a reliable news-maker that the paper even reported his loss of a fine cow and a day he suffered indigestion in Bridgeport.

He was a quote machine for journalists, wrote letters to the editor, and frequently spoke (with silvery eloquence) in Stamford and Greenwich about topics such as Americanism and the mistakes of the Democratic administration. In 1914 he addressed The responsibility of the citizen for the ballot. Said citizen, of course, was male (All men, especially voters, are invited).

He treated the Stamford landscape like a canvas larger than even the batholith in Keystone. He launched a bus system to bring farmers downtown, helped form the North Stamford Association, relentlessly worked to enhance roads and suggested visionary capital projects such as a bridge that would include a soldiers memorial on an archway over Main Street.

Starting in about 1910, the newspaper routinely reports him purchasing Turn of River land, usually in the 14- to 28-acre range. Borglum always seemed to be borrowing money and facing legal action over unpaid debts. Our current president might argue that such is the cost of doing business.

The kingdom he deemed Borgland hosted everyone from Boy Scouts and the Stamford Teachers Association to the Stamford Scottish Society and some 1,000 freedom fighters from Czechoslovakia who trained there.

He so cherished becoming a father for the first time at 45 that he carved a dozen cherubs bearing the likeness of his son, Lincoln, into the Nathaniel Wheeler Memorial Fountain in Bridgeport. Lincoln was baptized in fountain waters during the dedication.

Lincoln wasnt the only acquaintance to appear in his fathers art. If Roosevelt seems like an outlier among the Rushmore foursome, consider his friendship with Borglum. The artist campaigned for Roosevelt and was head of the Bull Moose Party in Stamford, which resulted in a bitter feud with the citys mayor over claims of corruption. When Roosevelt gave a one-minute speech during a 1912 whistle stop in Stamford, Borglum played host with a bandanna around his hat.

He later chided Roosevelt in a letter to the editor for supporting Bridgeport Boss John T. King during the 1917 election that put Schuyler Merritt (yes, you drive on his monument) in the U.S. House of Representatives. History sided with Borglum, as King was subsequently indicted for defrauding the government. All was forgiven by the time Borglum eulogized Roosevelt at Noroton Presbyterian Church in Darien.

Reports of Borglums death in 1941 reflect his contrary nature. The news story recalls a man as temperamental as the public expects an artist to be, but he apparently charmed the editorial board, then guided by the reliably Republican Gillespie family.

Much of the artistic temperament which was imputed to him was the invention of newspaper reporters, the editorial read.

You read that right. Borglums babyish and childish nature was deemed fake news.STAMFORD  A warehouse of weapons and live explosive devices were found during a raid of a North Stamford home, the culmination of a monthlong investigation by citys Narcotics and Organized Crime Squad, police said Friday.

The FBI is assisting the Stamford Police Departments investigation of a Craig Court home, near the border of Pound Ridge, N.Y., where narcotics officers and SWAT team members discovered six homemade bombs, 16 firearms and hundreds of knives, axes, hatchets, black powder guns and sharpened sticks, police said.

The weapons were all over the place, Stamford police Capt. Richard Conklin said Friday. It was a bizarre, bizarre type of thing. Black powder muzzle loaders, black powder pistols  even a crossbow. There were hundreds of these things all around.

The discovery comes following a tip that Alexander Braverman, 24, was growing marijuana in the 3,400-square-foot home he shares with his parents, and that there were about a dozen guns  including an illegal assault weapon  inside the home, Conklin said.

It was not immediately known if Braverman was planning to use the weapons or explosives, Conklin said.

Bravermans attorney, public defender Barry Butler, said he had not yet read the police reports and declined to comment on the case. Braverman was arraigned Friday at the Stamford courthouse, where Judge Auden Grogins ordered him held in lieu of $175,000 bond before transferring the case to the Part A docket, where the most serious cases are handled.

Conklin said officers found about six improvised explosive devices, including a live hand grenade, taped in containers, when they searched the home on Thursday night.

They appeared to be ready to go, he said.

The bomb squad secured the explosives before they were seized, and the grenade is being tested to determine if its real or a type of prop, Conklin said.

Charges regarding the explosives wont be filed until an analysis is conducted.

A grow room was discovered in the basement, containing about a half-dozen marijuana plants, Conklin said. Some were mature with buds and others much younger, he said.

Police also found an illegal large-capacity magazine attached to a rifle that could hold as many as 16 bullets, Conklin said. Magazines in Connecticut cannot legally hold more than 10 bullets.

Conklin said one of the firearms, a .22 caliber pistol, had its serial numbers removed.

In addition to the pistol charge, Braverman was charged with possession of a high-capacity magazine, illegally altering pistol identification numbers, cultivation of marijuana, possession of marijuana with intent to sell and operating a drug factory.A cquisition and buy-out rumours dominated City trading floors as investors kick-started the week with a merger Monday.

FTSE 250-listed builders merchant group Grafton Merchanting announced it had bought Leyland SDM  the DIY chain which has branches in Kings Road and High Street Kensington  for 82.4 million.

Grafton said it was regarded as one of the most recognisable and trusted decorating and DIY brands in central London selling paint, tools, ironmongery and accessories. Grafton shares ticked 6.5p higher at 759.5p.

AIM giant Breedon Aggregates  valued at 1.1 billion  confirmed it is in talks to buy the Lagan Group, one of Irelands largest private companies. Led by boss Kevin Lagan, it has annual sales of 350 million.

Lagan would give Breedon a substantial foothold in the Irish building materials market and shares climbed 0.3p to 76.8p. However, Breedon did caution that there is no certainty the deal will happen.

Sticking with AIM, Gordon Dadds Group completed the acquisition of Cardiff solicitors Thomas Simon Limited for 1.88 million. Gordon Dadds is a consolidator in the legal middle market and shares were up 5.9p at 1717.9p.

And finally, engineering firm James Fisher & Sons snapped up Cowan Manufacturing for 1.5 million. Cowan is based in New South Wales and its major customer is the Australian navy. James Fisher & Sons shares were off 10p at 1488p.

Overall it was a slow start on the FTSE 100, which sank 5.12 points to 7289.85.

Reckitt Benckiser was leading the index lower after the condom-makers fourth-quarter earnings failed to impress. The firm has had a rough ride lately and last October revealed it would restructure into two main units - health and hygiene. Reckitt shares lost 416p at 6149p.

N Brown rose 3.6p at 192.7p as it announced that Matt Davies is leaving Tesco as UK chief to become chairman.

It ends a long drawn out process to find a replacement for Andy Higginson who announced back in June he would be leaving the business to join private equity.

Davies had previously run Pets at Home and Halfords and he will need to call on all his experience to revive the fortunes of the plus-sized fashion retailer, which counts Jacamo, advertised by Freddie Flintoff, as one of its brands.

Investors are also gearing up for a big week of earnings, with the banks all set to post numbers.

Dart Group shares charged up 88.5p to 738p after it upped its profits expectations for the year.T he owners of Londons biggest student accommodation firm are poised to weigh plans for a possible float or major private investment by the end of the year, its chief executive has said.

Rob Roger, chief executive of iQ Student Accommodation, was speaking in the wake of its 869 million December swoop for Pure Student Living, which at a stroke made it the largest provider in London with 6700 rooms across 15 sites.

iQ, set up by Goldman Sachs and the Wellcome Trust two years ago to invest in student accommodation, now has a 3 billion-plus 28,000 rooms in 66 sites across the country, making it second only to accommodation firm Unite.

The chief executive was speaking as iQ added listed company experience to the board with the appointment of Penny Hughes, a non-exec at RBS and Superdry and chairman of the Gym Group, as its chairman.

Roger, whose portfolio is 98% occupied, pointed to strong revenue growth of around 6% as well as a pipeline of more than 2000 extra beds.

He said: On that basis, by nature, youre going to get investors interested in us.

My job is basically to drive that growth. Driving that growth will then give that opportunity for other parties to come and invest in us. Roger said it was Goldman and Wellcomes call to define what happens next.

By nature theres strong growth which can support a strong dividend... whether you want to go for a float, or gauge institutional interest. There are a lot of big pension funds from Canada, from Singapore who are also interested in these estates. Theres a lot of opportunity there.N o one is ever going to fall in love with this stock but it might still make investors some money.

Founded in 1992 and floated in 2001 its fair to say ID card and software maker Intercedes progress has been slow.

Its moment in the limelight was supposed to come in 2010 when Labour made ID cards a major manifesto pledge - stating they were the answer to identity and benefit fraud, terrorism and gaining easy access to public services.

Intercede won the contract for a nationwide rollout, but the British public were sceptical and Labour lost the election. Soon after the Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition scrapped the plans to save 86 million over the following four years and a further 800 million in maintenance costs.

Since then Intercede has successfully installed ID cards for the Kuwaiti government and its citizens as well as servicing US government employees.

These contracts had built up a steady revenue stream for the firm over the past seven years, yet investors remained lukewarm and the share price changed little.

Things hit rock bottom on September 16, 2016 when Intercede revealed serious delays in orders for its key product and its house broker Finncap slashed its share price target to 120p from 190p. Shares slumped 35% to 59.4p on the day.

However, chief executive Richard Parris believes his companys luck may be about to change after it announced last week that it had received a fresh 1 million order from an unnamed Middle Eastern country.

The latest contract will see Intercede provide software which allows citizens with a national identity card to generate a new government digital identity on their smartphone via a government app.

He said: This is the first major countrywide deployment for this technology. It has taken us three to four years to build these digital credentials and a planned programme of investment.

This digital identity can then be used for accessing a mobile eco-system of government services, healthcare, banking and e-commerce. Through our network of partners, Intercede is now in an excellent position to capitalise on this lead in multiple geographic territories. Investors were buoyed by the announcement and shares rose 2p to 29p.

Parris also used his announcement to defend ID cards on the grounds that it saves governments money as it gives citizens seamless access to public services, while in Kuwait it also helps to identify those entitled to free fuel.

He added: We can have a deep philosophical debate about ID cards but evidence shows they do save governments and their citizens money. If you walk into a hospital and they know exactly who you are without filling in paperwork then it saves critical time.R ussian oligarch Oleg Deripaska is to step down as president of En+, the aluminium and energy giant he controversially floated on the London Stock Exchange last year.

It is not clear why he is stepping back, but the billionaire has been the subject of several unwelcome recent headlines.

He was named in the recent US list of wealthy or politically connected Russians drawn up as part of its sanctions against the country.

This came amid reports the En+ float was causing the UK security concerns and complaints that much of the proceeds were spent repaying loans to a sanctioned Russian bank.

Reports last week said US banks were refusing to work on another planned En+ fundraiser because Deripaska is on the US list. En+ denied such plans.

Then he faced embarrassment over allegations by opposition leader Alexei Navalny that escort girls were on board his yacht while he was entertaining deputy prime minister Sergei Prikhodko.

He is waging a battle in London with Chelsea FC boss Roman Abramovich and a third oligarch for control of a mining firm.

The Financial Times said that spat, over Norilsk Nickel, was the reason for Deripaska stepping back at En+, but Russian newspaper Kommersant said he wanted to focus on other businesses.I s the Pride flag the new avocado/palm tree/cactus/unicorn  a universal symbol of zeitgeisty hipsterism coming soon to Tiger napkins and Paperchase notebooks? I hope not, because this trendy signifier actually means something.

Christopher Bailey wove the iconic rainbow print into his final collection as creative director of Burberry. During his LFW show on Saturday night, models including Adwoa Aboah and Cara Delevingne hit the catwalk in pieces that integrated the bold coloured stripes, which have stood for LGBT diversity since the Pride flag was first flown in 1970s San Francisco.

I loved the collection and the sentiment behind it  Bailey, who is gay, has facilitated his companys financial support of LGBTQ+ charities. Fashion needs context, said the designer after his triumphant last show. I wanted us, as a big organisation, to stand for something. Hand-clap emojis all round, but what worries me is how quickly his work might lose its context and stand for little more than rampant consumerism.

Will the average fashionista with 950 to drop on a rainbow-striped gilet appreciate what those colours represent to people like me? As a gay teenager in London in the early 2000s, I would seek out that rainbow flag in the window of shops and bars because it meant I was safe there.

Carrying the flag at Pride marches represented a profound sense of belonging and made me feel, yes, proud to be different and to be part of a powerful community fighting for equality.

Its great that Bailey has brought such mass awareness to the LGBTQ+ charities that Burberry is donating money to, but as long as gay and trans people around the world continue to be persecuted, the Pride flag isnt just pretty colours, its political. Bailey understands this  I just hope everyone scrambling to pre-order his looks does too.

Tricky mums  the perfect Fashion Week companions

This time last year I was the acting editor-in-chief of Elle and watched the LFW Burberry show from the front row. Since moving into advertising, Ive been live-streaming London Fashion Week in my living room. I do miss the buzz of being there  the vortex of frenetic energy whipped up before a runway show, with so many divas and so much sartorial power pulsating in a hot, dark room.

Instead, I had my mum to stay for the weekend and we watched LFW shows together on the sofa. I must say, I did enjoy her commentary more than my steely former fashion colleagues. Zombies! she declared as the models stomped down the catwalk. Its the living dead!

Ive always had a great relationship with my mother and weve never had the kind of blazing rows Saoirse Ronans teenage character, Christine, does with her onscreen mum, played by Laura Metcalf, in Lady Bird (which should have won the best screenplay Bafta last night). I saw the movie in LA in December and despite not relating to the conflict, I can attest that there is no better depiction of the nuances of a mother-daughter relationship.

A scene where they stay in a hotel room together and Lady Bird rolls her eyes as her mum insists on making the bed, made me miss my own hotel-bed-making mother greatly. Now reunited back in London, Im reminded of the constant scrutiny, the Oh, you do that like that do you? No, no, thats fine, low-level criticism that exists between girls and their mums. I wouldnt change it for the world.

Meryls sister act... taken at face value

The mother-daughter dynamic is having a moment on film right now. I, Tonya, out now, stars Bafta-winning Best Supporting Actress Allison Janney as a fierce and frankly terrifying matriarch.

Janney schooled us all on the importance of sisterhood on Fridays Graham Norton show when she described filming a kissing scene with Meryl Streep in The Hours. She demonstrated how, as the camera zoomed in for a close- up, Streep put her hands on either side of her face and pulled back Janneys skin to get rid of her wrinkles. Nice one Meryl!

Theres nothing more uplifting than women supporting other women and last nights Baftas was a case in point thanks to actresses taking female activists as their dates. In outing her feud with Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall has spectacularly misjudged the mood of the moment. #BeMoreMeryl

A Queer Eye for great viewingL ike most Londoners, I voted to Remain in the EU. My side lost. To make Brexit a success, the Governments plans must be built on the truth and an honest assessment of the facts. If ministers are not honest with themselves, their plans will rest on sand. The Government will lose credibility in the eyes of voters, who look to it for leadership at a time of change.

Those plans need to answer a simple question: in our new relationship with the European Union, what matters more  control of our affairs or access to European markets?

The Government wants to take back control of our laws, borders and our money  stopping the current large contributions we make to the EU each year. Thats pretty clear. It insists that we leave the Customs Union and single market, which requires a new trade agreement. But what sort of agreement? There are still plenty of questions to answer.

Far from giving us more freedom, a restrictive deal might hold back our ability to compete in the digital era. Finance, pharma, hi-tech manufacturing, broadcasting, learning: these are the geese that will lay the golden eggs in the future. But how will ministers proposals for a trade agreement help these key sectors? Without clarity, the danger is that we will end up with an analogue, not a digital deal.

Financial services are the jewel in our economic crown. Ministers want a comprehensive financial services agreement to preserve the benefits of EU membership, while giving the Government the ability to diverge from EU regulations in the future. But why would the EU agree? In their eyes, isnt the City of Londons loss the EUs gain? And why would they give the Government the ability to take any decision that could make the City more attractive in the future?

Any such deal on financial services is likely to require the UK to remain almost completely aligned with future EU regulations. So in the future, we would face a choice: do we accept an EU rule, made in Brussels but not in our interests  or do we say no and lose market access? Would it be acceptable for the EU to retain this level of control? If our financial services are to win in a digital world, where innovation is fast outstripping the regulators, doesnt the Government need as much control as possible?

Many Europeans see the UKs wish to keep financial services access to the EU as the strongest card in Brussels hand. They will only play it at the last minute and want something valuable in return.

Agreement is unlikely until the very end of the negotiations. By then, many City firms might have moved their operations out of the UK. Would such a deal lure them back?

And what price would the EU extract from the UK for such a deal? The EU wants to stop the UK from gaining unfair competitive advantages by deregulating in areas such as tax and the environment. I dont want a bonfire of social regulation. But if the UK voted to take back control, UK politicians should control these policies. Does the Government agree?

Yes, the agreement must include a chapter on services that, for example, allows us to share data; recognises professional qualifications; gives legal certainty to contracts written in the EU and UK. But given the politics and the needs of our economy, ministers should ask themselves whether it is worth bothering to negotiate an all-singing, all-dancing deal for financial services in the first place.

Far from giving us more freedom, a limited and restrictive deal might hold back our present ability to compete

Next, the Government wants to deliver free and frictionless trade. Friction comes from having to fill in forms to show that UK goods comply with EU standards and regulations, and vice-versa. But if the UK set its own standards post-Brexit, how many UK manufacturers will make goods just for the UK market? Wont they continue to make televisions, say, that comply with EU standards so they can sell them everywhere?

How does having two sets of standards help UK businesses compete and export to Europe? Would it not be better to recognise EU standards, stay aligned to them (as we are now), but create a system so we can diverge by mutual agreement?

As for free trade, the Government wants to keep tariffs at zero for EU-UK trade, while pulling out of the Customs Union  which would allow the UK to forge trade agreements, and set tariffs on goods imported from outside the EU. Some promise this will mean cheaper food and clothes: great for consumers  but it raises questions. What tariffs will we set on imports? Some argue to cut all tariffs to zero, others want to cut tariffs on certain imports: which is it? And if we allow in, say, cheaper Argentinian beef, what support would Somerset farmers get? Any, none, some? Finally, when are we likely to see the benefits?

Its not surprising so many people are reserving judgment on this issues. Half of Leave supporters think Britain should limit imports in order to protect its national economy. These voters need persuading that Brexit could benefit them by delivering more, not less, free trade. They need answers too.

The Government should obviously not reveal its entire negotiating position. But clarity is needed if ministers are to agree with the EU on a clear heads of terms of our future relationship by the time we leave the EU in March 2019. I said some weeks ago that if we dont agree on such terms, the transition period will not be a bridge to a clear destination but a gang plank into thin air. Precious days have passed, but the fog has not lifted. If we are to leave in stable and orderly way, clarity on these basic questions is needed. Fingers crossed is not enough.C odename COB, eh? What did it stand for? Is it the international flight code for an imaginary Corbyn airport? Or an acronym: Carrots or Broccoli, say, or Communism or Bust? We may never know. Still, this was the codename a Czech diplomat called Jan Sarkocy claims he bestowed on the future Labour leader when they met in the late Eighties.

Now its suggested that Corbyn was a commie fifth-columnist. The Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson  desperate to improve his Tory leadership chances  huffs and puffs about betrayal.

Lets try to look at it through the eyes of Corbyn in the late Eighties. Hes approached by a diplomat from a communist regime. Does he suspect him of being a spy? If he doesnt, hes a nit. Does he see this as the opportunity to betray his country in the hopes of bringing about a proletarian revolution? If he does, hes a nit. And even if that was the intention, Agent COB didnt come up with the goods.

A rigorous debriefing by the Czech superspy over a cup of tea found the young backbencher was negative towards the US, as well as the current politics of the Conservative government. This would not have been hard to discover from Corbyns public pronouncements, had any of them been much reported.

Would Corbyn have been a useful source of classified information? Youd have to doubt it. Our own security services were taking a closer interest in him than those of any foreign power, and he wasnt about to be trusted with the launch codes for the deterrent. Corbyns spokesman says that he neither had nor offered any privileged information. You can take that to the bank.

So what was going on? Something more like diplomacy than espionage. A cup of tea in the Commons isnt super-covert, as contacts go. Even if Corbyn popped into the Czech Embassy now and again, its not exactly a dead drop in a Berlin backstreet: MI5 will have kept a vague eye on the front door of communist embassies in the late Eighties.

The kindest construction on all this has been that Corbyn met this fellow in the hopes of de-escalating the Cold War by being friendly. Our Czech James Bond, likewise, would have been able to tell his masters that there were sympathetic types in Parliament and if the word asset plays better on an expenses form, so much the better. He describes Corbyn now as honest but stupid, which is a little hurtful.

Still, what a clot. My hunch is that he was simply beguiled by the romance of it, the whiff of brimstone: of being in the know, of being the sort of person to whom diplomats reached out. A person of stature. A person whose views on the international scene were taken seriously abroad rather than a humdrum local MP. A player.

But it was not, at that stage, exactly hard to discover that the human rights record of the Czech regime wasnt a perfect fit with Corbyns declared position. Even the young Corbyn would have known that Prague Spring was not a fancy brand of mineral water. Hed have known about the imprisonment of democratic reformers such as Vaclav Havel and the, ahem, chequered successes of the parent regime in Russia.

So whatever his dim view of capitalism, as a sitting MP Corbyn would have to be a knave or a fool to play footsie with even a low-grade Czech spook. It suits his political enemies to leap on the former but all evidence points to the latter. That may be more damaging.

New movie puritanism leaves little to the imagination

A new code of conduct has been drawn up for shooting sex scenes in movies: no nudity with genitals touching, no use of tongues in kissing scenes unless agreed in advance, and  boo!  no actual doing it on screen. We may all mutter and roll our eyes at the new puritanism but you shouldnt need a code of conduct for most of this stuff, should you? Of course its bad form to stick your tongue in a colleagues mouth unless theyve given you the OK first. If all theyre saying is that consent is needed for intimate contact, well, duh. And if theyre saying nobody should be allowed to bump uglies on camera even if they want to, thatll tax the imaginations of professors of ethics and liberal theorists of free will. To say nothing of pornographers.

Kylie needs our love not our scorn

Kylie Minogue / Dave Benett

Kylie Minogue tells an interviewer she was broken after the collapse of her relationship with Joshua Sasse last year: My physical system was compromised. I think its called a nervous breakdown, she said. Every member of my generation, which grew up with Kylie, will feel for her. It shouldnt be a surprise to anyone that fame and money wont make you safe from heartbreak. But we seem to revel in fresh proof of it from our celeb sweethearts: theres a special, unattractive sort of relish in the public unhappiness of the glam and beautiful. Its the old kill-your-idols thing. We love them when they fly but love them more when they crash to earth.

Bots are leaving their mark on usThe fashion industry is ever-changing - trends come and go with every new season. But there does seem to be one constant at least: its love affair with Disney.

Ever since the 80s, the faces of Minnie Mouse, Mickey Mouse and their loveable friends have been a popular garment graphic - and decades later, they continue to be a powerful trend that not even Walt Disney himself could have expected.

He might also not have predicted that Disneyland would one day be used as the stage for a fashion show. But this year, it's happening.

New York-based brand Opening Ceremony has already done numerous collaborations with Disney. However, for its next spring/summer 2018 show, it's taking things one step further by hosting the show at the happiest place on earth, Disneyland.

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They will be the first to ever brand to hold a runway show at the theme park on March 7 in California, and we're guessing it definitely won't be the last.

Why? Because they're not the only fashion label who love the nostalgia of all things Disney.

Ever since Alessandro Michele took up the reins at Gucci, Disney has been a key feature in his eye-catching designs.

A Gucci design featuring Snow White / AFP/Getty Images

The Italian brand's spring/summer 2018 show saw a number of recognisable faces from Snow White to Snoopy hit the runway. Plus, the designer has previously dedicated an entire capsule collection to Donald Duck.

Moschino's AW15 collection / Getty Images

Over the last decade, Marc Jacobs, Jeremy Scott and Moschino have also put Disney to work in their womenswear collections.

But this isn't just a womenswear trend. In 2011, Dolce & Gabbana brought out a menswear Mickey Mouse collection and in 2014 British designer Bobby Abley showcased several Little Mermaid looks during London Fashion Week.

Bobby Abley's SS15 Men's show / Getty Images

Over the years, Disney designs have even managed to become coveted designer items.

2013 saw Givenchy create AW13s It sweater by juxtaposing an image of Bambi with a naked woman.

Givenchy's iconic Bambi jumper in 2013 / Getty Images

The quirky garment became a must-have that season and, despite the 740 price tag, proceeded to be notoriously hard to get hold of.

However, Disney clothing isn't all about kitsch cartoon adornments.

For a more adult aesthetic, Christopher Kane created a sophisticated Beauty and the Beast collection in 2017. Meanwhile, Kenzo designed a vibrant floral collection inspired by everyone's favourite adventure story, The Jungle Book.

Kenzo's Jungle Book-inspired collection / Kenzo

As you can see, the list of designers who take inspiration from Disney is endless.Review at a glance









V ictorian values were under the scanner in Berlin at the weekend, with two very different films examining sexual identity and choice in the late 19th century.

On the face of it, neo-western Damsel and Oscar Wilde biopic The Happy Prince have little in common: the former is a rugged outdoorsy tale, the latter most at home in the smoky absinthe bars of Paris. What both share is a forthright rejection of traditional gender roles.

Damsel changes horses in mid-stream. Following a bizarre prologue in which veteran indie icon Robert Forster delivers his considered opinion on the newly opening-up West (just as bad as everywhere else), the film proper starts with brash young businessman Samuel Alabaster (Robert Pattinson) coming ashore in a small boat complete with a miniature horse called Buttercup.

With a guitar and a rifle slung across either shoulder and a wedding ring in his pocket for his beloved Penelope (Mia Wasikowska), who has been abducted by the vile Cornell brothers, Samuel hires the dubiously ordained Parson Henry (played by David Zellner, half, with brother Nathan, of the films writer/director duo).

The jolly journey, complete with campfire sing-along, comes to an abrupt end when Penelope turns out to have an entirely different take on the situation. Samuels quest comes to a sudden and ignominious end and Penelope takes over the story.

Film in 2018: The best and biggest releases this year 1 /23 Film in 2018: The best and biggest releases this year Incredibles 2 The Shape of Water Ocean's 8 Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom Mission Impossible 6 On Chesil Beach Solo: A Star Wars Story Deadpool 2 Phantom Thread Marvel Studios Avengers: Infinity War Ready Player One Tomb Raider I, Tonya Lady Bird Black Panther Downsizing Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri Darkest Hour Mary Poppins Returns Aquaman Mary, Queen of Scotts Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald Venom

Damsel is not exactly an anti-western: bullets and dynamite are the films problem-solvers of choice. But the men  Samuel, Parson Henry, the Cornell brothers and an Indian called Zacharia with a British accent  all end up subject to Penelope as she calls the shots.Review at a glance









T he Happy Prince is evidently a passion project for Rupert Everett, who writes, directs and stars.

Made with modest means pieced together from Belgium, the UK, Germany, France and Italy, The Happy Prince gets every euro up on the screen. More importantly, it gets its creators passion up there too.

This is not the Oscar Wilde of other biopics, basking in the fame of the London stage, a vision in velvet dispensing witticisms like papal benedictions.

This is a Wilde broken by Reading gaol, constantly begging for money but unable to hold onto it. Like dear St Francis of Assisi, he complains, I am wedded to poverty. But in my case the marriage is not a happy one.

Raddled, rouged and raging against the world (but often tender, too), Everetts Wilde is an extraordinary achievement  pitiful but unashamed, it is surely the best thing he has done as an actor. As a director, he delivers the vision

(and the passion). But it is as a writer he most impresses, constructing a mosaic that weaves Wildes decline from exhilaration at being free to decline and death in a seedy hotel room.

Film in 2018: The best and biggest releases this year 1 /23 Film in 2018: The best and biggest releases this year Incredibles 2 The Shape of Water Ocean's 8 Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom Mission Impossible 6 On Chesil Beach Solo: A Star Wars Story Deadpool 2 Phantom Thread Marvel Studios Avengers: Infinity War Ready Player One Tomb Raider I, Tonya Lady Bird Black Panther Downsizing Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri Darkest Hour Mary Poppins Returns Aquaman Mary, Queen of Scotts Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald Venom

Everett is always front and centre, touching (as he reads the titular tale to his young sons), witty and occasionally repellent. It is a brave performance, with nowhere to hide, especially in the harrowing death scene.

Possibly Wildes most famous line was not from the plays that made his name but from The Ballad of Reading Gaol: Each man kills the thing he loves.G lastonbury might be out of action for 2018, but UK music fans are never short of options when it comes to great festivals.

From boutique to blockbuster, British music events come in all different shapes and sizes, and can accommodate pretty much any taste.

Lineup announcements and ticket releases are well underway for 2018s festivals, with some of the biggest acts in music confirmed to perform in the UK later this year. However, with so much choice, it can be hard to know where to start.

So, if youre organising your summer plans, make sure to out check out our picks for the UKs top festivals below, and see our roundups of the best London festivals and European music celebrations too.

From Latitude to Creamfields, this is everything you need to know about the best UK festivals

Download

Turning 15: Download Festival

UK metal institution Download takes place at Derby's Donington Park this summer, with Guns n' Roses, Avenged Sevenfold and Ozzy Osbourne set to headline. The festival has entertained UK metal fans ever since launching back in 2003 and all the early signs are suggesting this year will be the biggest celebration yet.

June 8 - 10. Leicestershire. Tickets can be bought here.

Isle of Wight

Isle of Wight festival

The Isle of Wight festival is one of the most established events on the UK summer circuit, with an illustrious history to boot. Three huge events took place on the Isle of Wight between 1968 and 1970 before the festival was revived in 2002. A huge selection of acts are taking part in 2018, with Chase & Status, Nile Rodgers & Chic, Manic Street Preachers, Depeche Mode, The Killers, Kasabian, Van Morrison and Liam Gallagher all performing over the weekend.

June 21 - 24. Isle of Wight. Tickets can be bought here.

TRNSMT

TRNSMT

Arctic Monkeys mark their only confirmed UK date of 2018 with a performance at Glasgows TRNSMT, four years after their last headline slot at Reading & Leeds festival. Liam Gallagher, Stereophonics, Courteeners and Interpol also perform at this, one of the UKs biggest musical events of the summer.

June 29 - 30. Glasgow. Tickets can be bought here.

Latitude

Latitude: Music meets theatre, poetry, documentaries and talks

As well as boasting one of the most eclectic lineups of the year (The Killers, Alt J and Solange, The Vaccines, Rag N Bone Man, Mogwai and John Hopkins all perform in 2018), Latitude also boasts a diverse arts lineup. Fans can expect strong comedy, theatre, poetry and literature and street food offerings across the weekend in and amongst the bands. Its the UKs biggest boutique festival and one of the best of the entire year.

July 12 - 15. Suffolk. Tickets can be bought here.

Bestival

The woman was found dead at Bestival in the early hours of Monday morning / Getty Images

Bestival relocated from the Isle of Wight to Dorset last year, and organisers are looking to see in the second year at the new festival site in style. There's a promising line up already confirmed, with M.I.A, Jorja Smith, London Grammar, Grace Jones, Plan B and Chaka Khan all perform in 2018. Bestival is known for being one of the most colourful experiences of the summer calendar, and if you like dressing up and letting your hair down, theres no better festival in the country.

August 2 - 5. Dorset. Tickets can be bought here.

Green Man Festival

Green Man Festival

The Green Man Festival site, nestled in amongst the beautiful Brecon Beacons, is one of the most picturesque anywhere in the UK and the setting for one of the best artisan festivals of the year. Its a boutique festival experience on a big scale, with arts events, strong comedy lineups and fantastic food on offer over the weekend. Fleet Foxes, the War On Drugs and Grizzly Bear have all been confirmed for the 2018 event.

August 16 - 19. Brecon Beacons. Tickets can be bought here.

Creamfields

The ever-popular Creamfields is the UKs biggest dance music festival, celebrating house, drum & bass and techno over August bank holiday weekend. The festival will welcome 40,000 people a day to its site in Daresbury, Cheshire this year, with legendary DJ Carl Cox set to headline. He follows the likes of deadmau5, The Chainsmokers, Tiesto, Martin Garrix, Hardwell, Armin van Buuren and Eric Prydz who performed in 2017.

August 23 - 26. Cheshire. Tickets can be bought here.

Reading & Leeds

Festivalgoers at reading Festival in Berkshire / PA Archive/PA Images

Attending Reading festival and its naughty little brother Leeds has become something of a right of passage for young music fans across the country, and 2018 promises to be no different. Theyre two of the biggest, booziest and most bonkers festival experiences to bad in the UK this year. The lineup sees Kendrick Lamar, Kings of Leon and Fall Out Boy top the bill at the twin events this year and there's always plenty to discover across the festivals nine stages too.

August 24 - 26. Reading & Leeds. Tickets can be bought here.

End of the Road

End of the Road festival

End of the Road is a gem of a festival tucked away in South Wiltshere. Discerning music lovers are drawn to the boutique event every year to see a diverse lineup of critically acclaimed and hotly-tipped artists. This year Vampire Weekend, St Vincent and Feist will headline the festival, while the likes of Yo La Tengo, Ezra Furman, Wilco's Jeff Tweedy, John Cale and Fat White Family also perform.

August 31 - September 3. South Wiltshere. Tickets can be bought here.

Festival No.6

Festival No.6

Franz Ferdinand and Friendly Fires headline this diverse and multifaceted event, which all takes place in a stunning Portmeirion setting. Jessie Ware, Everything Everything, The Charlatans, Django Django, Ride and Anna Calvi also perform, but the family-friendly festival also celebrates arts, theatre and comedy across the course of the weekend.A s David Haig puts it: Perhaps only in Britain could one succeed in writing a thriller about the weather.

The actor, 65, is bringing his play Pressure, about the vital role weather forecasters played during the Allied invasion of occupied France in 1944, to London.

He stars as Group Captain James Stagg, a dour, tenacious Scot who was part of the Allied Meteorological Unit and advised General Dwight D Eisenhower on the timing of the D-Day landings in Normandy.

The invasion was scheduled for June 5 but, Haig said, Stagg essentially saves Europe by persuading Eisenhower to delay by 24 hours, thereby saving probably 80,000 lives, because all the landing craft crossing the Channel were flat-bottomed and would have gone over in the storms he predicted.

Staggs genius was that he spotted a storm slowing down over Newfoundland and went back to Eisenhower and said, We were right to postpone but if you go [on June 6] there will be a window of eight hours and the Germans wont be expecting you. Eisenhower went and the rest is history.

Haig said he was excited one of the original forecasters could attend the plays run, which begins on March 28 at Park Theatre in Finsbury Park.

Imelda Vahey, 87, from Co Mayo in Ireland, was 12 when she was taken out of school in 1944 to help carry out readings at the weather station in Claremorris, near her family farm. The data was passed to Dublin and then to the Allies. On June 5, the stations warnings of impending storms led to the 24-hour delay.P ostal subscription services are all very well but what if youre out when the oversized parcel arrives and theres nowhere to leave it? Fun as it is trekking off to the your local Royal Mail repository, doesn't that rather take away from its intended convenience?

Well, good news on that front for anyone who likes eating and drinking but isnt into chaining themselves to the front door and lying in wait for the post.

Pasta Evangelists, the pasta-by-post service, is a good example of a relatively newish letterbox subscription business whose founder knows that it is possible to make it really easy for people to have top quality grub waiting for them when they get back from work. Im pleased to say there are three other newcomers whove since joined the ranks, meaning you can now try out decent whisky, chocolate and wine without having to queue up at the sorting office. Check these out.

WhiskyMe

What: Single servings of rare and exclusive single malt whiskies packaged in pouches and posted through your letterbox every month. Each parcel comes with information about that months whisky, and you can also watch a 1-minute video showing its background, including footage of the relevant distillery. So far theyve included a Caol Ila (pronounced cull-eela) Moscatel Cask Finish 2003, which was finished in casks which previously held Moscatel wine in them, or the woody Loch Lomond Malts Inchmurrin 18, which was matured for a minimum of 18 years.

How: Dram delivery is made possible because of the pouch and screw top design that means there are no leakages in the post. Subcribers who send back their empty pouches are also entitled to free whisky.

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Who: Tristan Stephenson and Tom Aske, the team behind the popular Shoreditch whisky bar, Black Rock.

Why: The pair, whose new business currently has over 1000 subscribers, are on a mission to democratise whisky, saying they want to make it possible for people who like trying new whiskies not to have to spend large amounts of money buying whole bottles to sample. Their plan with WhiskyMe is to take their users on what they describe as: an amazing tour through the world of malt whisky, from smoky ports, to fruity glens, green lowlands, and much more.

Cost: From 7/month (includes delivery)

Chocolate: Paxton Tasting Club

What: New chocolate tasting club where subscribers can order one-off or ongoing monthly deliveries of Paxtons signature chocolate thins. Expect boxes of flavours including raspberry and mint, sea salt hot chocolate, apricot and avocado or matcha and white chocolate.

How: Paxton chocolates are mostly sold as thin disc shapes meaning they can easily fit into a letterbox-sized box. The designs for the thins are printed onto a transfer sheet and made in-house using the special 3D mould.

Who: Former fashion design and architecture student, Caitlin Paxton, who re-trained in patisserie before starting her online chocolate business, Paxton Chocolates, five years ago. She specialises in making superb, original and intriguingly flavoured chocolates.

Why: Having sold to consumers for years, Paxton recently set up the tasting club in order to allow her to experiment and create interesting an unusual chocolates for people to try that they might not ordinarily buy. I also liked the idea of people getting something a bit special coming through their letterbox - something that would make them smile!

Cost: 15/month (includes delivery)

Wine: Garcon Wines Club

What: Users receive monthly packages of cleverly designed, letterbox-sized bottles of wine to sample. Wines, designed to be daily drinking wines rather than necessarily special, come from a variety of places, and are in some cases bought directly from producers. CEO Santiago Navarro says: I fully recognise the need to supply a good product but our offering is about a good wine delivered seamlessly, not about fine wines, fancy estates or complex tasting notes.

How: The bottles are made by blowing very durable pieces of plastic called PET (polyethylene terephthalate) that are already in circulation in the UK. Theyre recyclable, light (hence why they can be posted) and are said not to affect the flavour of the wine.

Who: Wine enthusiast, Joe Revell, who was inspired by the success of Graze snack boxes, and CEO Navarro, a former wine retailer. Their advisory team includes master of wine, Barry Dick, and packaging specialist Sarah Greenwood.

Why: Over the last year, Garcon has been supplying drinks stockists, wine and champagne brands, producers and gifting companies, but they are gearing up to launch the product to the rest of us in time for Mothers Day 2018. 10,000 people are already on the database, and the owners promise that anyone who subscribes to that will be among the first to hear about the date of the consumer launch. The first wine they will send out will most likely be a great Chilean Merlot.C uba was always known as the one place on the bucket list to see before you die. Even Fidel Castro could not viva forever. And, so the conventional wisdom went, it was his remarkable longevity alone that was keeping old Havana Instagrammable.

The Fifties Chevies gliding up the Malecon sea drive, the elegant piazzas in all their un-logoed splendour  these were highly perishable travel commodities. To see them was a race against time, before the great bearded Esplendido was stubbed out.

But Castro finally succumbed more than a year ago, and things have not quite turned out as expected. Surprisingly, the waves of Americans have not come.

Its two years since Air Force One touched down at Jose Marti International but that aircraft carries a very different cargo now. Donald Trump, of course, wants to build a wall, not a Walmart.

All of which means the Cuban people have not woken up to a world in which a doctor earns more than a waiter. Or where the consumption of beef and lobster is no longer state regulated (ie, illegal for everyone but tourists). And where, as I found on entering a dusty department store just down the road from Che Guevaras grave, a fridge freezer does not cost more than a years salary.

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However, contrary to the reputation of Cuban cuisine, there is decent eating to be found, but it has to be sought out. Again, the economics are complex but a small handful of restaurants are known as paladares, which indicates they are privately owned and run, with their owners permitted to turn a small profit. At the best known, La Guarida (laguarida.com)  on the top floor of a crumbling old townhouse  smoked marlin tacos and lobster in a Pernod sauce stand out. For all the obvious reasons, theres enjoyable seafood almost everywhere  as long as youre a tourist.

Legendary restaurant La Guarida Paladar / AFP/Getty Images

Theres money in tour-guiding, too. Any job that brings its occupant into contact with foreigners and their dollars means they might make four times more in a day than the national fixed monthly salary. On Castros death, Jeremy Corbyn and others were quick to praise Cubas first-class education system but the best of its beneficiaries are more often than not driving cabs, helping tourists in and out of Chevies on Havana city tours, or carrying cocktails around all-inclusive hotels in the Caribbean coastal resort of Varadero, two hours drive away.

This is the thing: Cuba is properly Communist. There really are no adverts anywhere for any kind of international brand or product. And actual living, breathing Communism comes with consequences that might seem obvious once youre told them. For one thing, women really are liberated. They earn the same as men, which means the divorce rate is huge. In the land of Fidel, fidelity is not a prized quality.

Making cigars at El Liguito / Alamy Stock Photo

Maria, a fortysomething tour guide who showed me around the cigar factory, is on her third husband.

Today, 66 per cent of professional and technical workers are women, she explained. We dont need men. We are not dependent on them.

Later, I asked a receptionist in our hotel if this was normal. Yes, he replied. Definitely. When you drive a car, you always carry a spare tyre.

The mojitos on the grand terrace at the Hotel Nacional (hotelnacionaldecuba.com), perched high above the Bahia de la Habana, are as magnificent as ever but they still hark back to pre-revolutionary days when the island was a playground for Americas rich, rather than a detention centre for its untried enemies.

A tourist taxi / Getty Images

If the pictures in the lobby are to be believed, the Nacional is just as proud of having hosted Fred Astaire and Rita Hayworth as it is of some of its more recent guests, such as Vladimir Putin and Joseph Kabila.

The first shoots of capitalist counter-revolution are there to be seen, however. A behemoth five-star Kempinski hotel occupying an entire block has opened in the heart of the Old Town, costing 600 a night and upwards. And the wi-fi is accessible without a government-issued scratchcard  a miracle.

Barack Obamas relaxing of tensions had unintended consequences. Americans were now able to visit, provided they filled in a rather complex and curious form that required them to invent some stuff about cultural programmes they intend to undergo, usually while lying on a sunbed in Varadero.

The Malecon esplanade in Havana / LightRocket via Getty Images

Previously flights from, say, New York to Havana were filled by holiday-making, US-based Europeans who were exempt from such things. But the new rules applied equally to anyone who wanted to board a flight, regardless of nationality, and the fledgling Cuban tourist industry was dismayed to discover how many people suddenly couldnt be bothered with it.

Now, President Trump stands accused of seeking to return relations to Cold War levels. Just days after his election victory, Castros death sparked wild celebrations among Miamis vast self-exiled Cuban community. During his campaign, Trump had talked tough on the loathed Castro regime. He won Florida.

What is perhaps more surprising, however, is that the feeling appears to be mutual. Midway through buying 10 of the worlds finest Cohiba cigars, for about 8 each, I asked Maria, who is a tour guide after all, if she was hopeful that the American revolution would eventually come.

Some are coming already but they are still very afraid to visit, she said. They dont know about the healthcare, the education. They think it will be people suffering and Indians pointing arrows at each other. Americans consume what they are given but they dont know anything about the world. No love lost there, then  and, on current trends, you can take the slow boat to Cuba.

Details'

Start your holiday as soon as you leave the house by soaking in London at dawn. A sunrise boat trip down the Thames is one of the best ways to get uninterrupted views of the city, and the TFL Riverbus transports commuters and sightseers alike all the way from Hampton Court to Woolwich. From Greenwich its an easy 25-minute DLR ride to London City Airport, so youll arrive in time for breakfast before boarding your flight to Prague.

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Coffee in the cobblestoned corner of Novy Svet

Karvana Novy Svet

Prague is a deservedly popular destination, but this makes spots where you can escape the crowds particularly precious. After exploring the Castle area, make a beeline for Novy Svet, a cute cobblestoned grid of 14th-century streets that are mercifully ignored by the tourist hordes. Youre just two streets away from the main drag between the castle and the Strahov Monastery, but you wouldnt know it as you duck into Kavarna Novy Svet, a tiny cafe with outdoor seating and coffee by local roastery Doubleshot, served from a gleaming E61 Faema espresso machine.

Shop for superlative stationery at Papelote

Papelote

For a truly chic Czech souvenir, how about an ecologically produced diary or jotter from Papelote? This delightfully quirky, homegrown company is something of a cult brand amongst Czech artists and creatives. At the studio you'll also find pretty products by other local designers, including Wildpapers notebooks and Studio Cincera boxes.

Lunch at a riverside farmers market

Alamy

Follow @ftpraha on Instagram to find a farmers market near you, and snack on locally made organic sausages, grilled cheese sandwiches and tempting baked goods. On Saturday mornings, street food stalls and farmers selling fresh produce line the river at Rezacovo namesti; get there between 10am and 3pm for an atmospheric brunch or lunch.

Immerse yourself in art at Forbidden Spot

Petr Hricko / Photo: Petr Hricko

Pragues reputation for creativity is in no way misplaced, and theres no better place to get a flavour of the citys underground art scene than Forbidden Spot, part-gallery, part-atelier, home to visual artists, street artists, tattoo artists, fashion designers and filmmakers. Currently moving to brand new premises due to open on 1 April, follow @forbiddenspot on Instagram for updates about their pop-up supper clubs and other events.

Catch a cult film in an arthouse cinema

Kino Aero

Czech filmmakers have been pushing boundaries since the 1950s, with names like Milos Forman, Vera Chytilova and Jiri Menzel associated with the Czech new wave. There are a string of beautiful arthouse cinemas across the city, but visitors should start with Aero, which has innovative film festivals, exhibitions and talks on offer as well as a superlative programme of cult favourites, international gems and independent standouts.

Sip a sundowner on Pragues most charming street

Hemingway bar

Easily one of Pragues best watering holes, Hemingway cocktail bar pays homage to the great drinker (and occasional writer) with particularly impressive collections of absinthe, champagne and rum. Plus drinking here puts you in the atmospheric heart of the Old Town, on Karoliny Svetle, one of the citys most charming and vibrant streets. This is the perfect spot in which to linger and remember that only this morning, you were soaring high above the skyline in East London.

With a central location and check-in just 20 minutes before departure, flying from London City Airport makes for a smart start to your getaway, giving you time to enjoy breakfast in London before you take off.T his is the first picture of a kind-hearted teenage rapper who was stabbed to death outside Queen singer Freddie Mercurys former home in Kensington.

Friends said Lewis Blackman, 19, was in the wrong place at the wrong time when he was set upon outside Logan Place.

Witnesses told how a gang of about eight youths, some armed with sticks, shouted lets chase him down, before he was stabbed.

The teenager, known as Dotz, was found in the street by police called to a disturbance outside a party. Police and paramedics gave first aid but he was pronounced dead yesterday at 3.46am.

Lewis Blackman, 19, was in the wrong place at the wrong time friends said today

Lewis, one of four children, lived with his mother near Kings Cross. Today she said: We are struggling to come to terms with what has happened.

Last night, around 200 people gathered on the Peckwater estate, Kentish Town, close to where Lewis grew up, for a candlelit vigil.

Friends described him as lovely and funny. One said: He was full of banter. He was between school and college.

The teenager - known to friends as 'Dotz' - was found stabbed outside a party / Nigel Howard

"He wanted to do music and he was always rapping about reality, his life and his feelings.

Another friend remembered him as a kind-hearted soul, adding: Ive known him since he was seven. He didnt deserve to go this way. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

He is the fifth teenager to be stabbed to death in London this year, and the third teenage knife fatality in just one week.

Lewis is the fifth teenager to be stabbed to death in London this year and the third teenage knife fatality in just one week / Nigel Howard

It was thought that two different gangs who were at parties near each other had clashed in the street. Witnesses saw one group of men chasing another, smaller group.

A man aged 19 was being questioned today.

Police have appealed for witnesses. Contact 0208 721 4054, or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.A n 88-year-old military veteran who rescued a young woman from five knife-wielding robbers today said: Fear is not in my dictionary.

John Nixon brought down one of the thugs with a karate chop to the neck but an accomplice then slashed his hands and head. The attackers fled as the woman ran away screaming.

Mr Nixon was taken to hospital after a neighbour raised the alarm.

He told the Standard he stepped in after seeing the youths grab at the womans handbag and clothes in Raglan Street, Kentish Town.

My initial thoughts were to divert their attention away from the girl who was screaming. I shouted leave her alone, he said.

But they turned on me, saying Well take your money instead and I said No you dont. Kids this age are full of bravado, you see, they werent expecting a surprise.

Mr Nixon says he trained as a commando at the Achnacarry depot in the Highlands in the Forties, joined an elite special services unit and fought in the Korean War.

He was sent on intelligence missions to Egypt, the Middle East and Germany and after leaving the military accompanied Medecins Sans Frontieres to Nigeria as a bodyguard.

He said of the attempted robbery: My training kicked in. I landed a blow to his neck which rendered him semi-conscious. I disabled one but another one pulled out a knife so I had to try and deal with him too.

I tried to disarm him and in the process I got stab wounds here, there and everywhere. There was a lot of blood. He wasnt trained and it was more of a pocket knife. Luckily my wounds were shallow.

The robbers fled, leaving Mr Nixon bleeding in the street. He was taken to the Royal Free Hospital where a social worker told him about a neighbourhood police meeting the next evening. He attended as living evidence.

Mr Nixon was applauded after recounting the attack, which took place at 8pm on January 27, and was commended by Detective Inspector Will Lexton-Jones for his extraordinary bravery.

Two men on a moped try to steal man's Vespa from beneath him

Mr Nixon, a widower with a grown-up daughter, said: My thoughts were just to help her [the woman]. Ive been shot in the leg and even bitten by a snake, the venom lay dormant in my spine for years. Ive been near death so many times that situation just doesnt worry me. The woman ran off screaming but I hope she is okay.

A Met spokesman said: A member of the public saw the altercation take place and intervened. The woman managed to run away but the man was attacked and suffered minor injuries.

No arrests have been made.A single mother today urged the NHS rationing body not to withdraw an expensive wonder drug that can prolong the lives of breast cancer patients.

Thirty-three-year-old Rosalie has incurable breast cancer and fears her children, who are six and three, will grow up alone if she cannot receive the medicine Kadcyla.

She was diagnosed with stage four of the disease two years ago after it spread to her liver, spine and pelvis. Doctors gave her three to five years.

A combination of Herceptin and pertuzumab have seen her cancer disappear - for now. She planned to move on to Kadcyla when it returns.

The drug is highly prized because of its absence of side effects. It extends life by nine months longer than alternatives, and some women have survived on it for years.

It costs up to 90,000 for 14 months treatment. Last month the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) made a draft decision not to routinely provide Kadcyla on the NHS because it does not work well enough to justify its high cost.

Rosalie, from Barnet, said: Im working full-time. Im contributing to the economy.

"Im a single mum but Im not on a single benefit. What is going to happen to my kids if Im not around for them? What is going to be the cost of that?

Every day counts when they can come home and tell me what happened at school. I can teach them about the world, how to deal with problems. You cant replace a mum.

I kept it [the cancer] a secret from my work as long as possible and didnt want anyone to know. I hate talking about it.

I hate feeling like a victim. But I have to fight for my kids. They are more important than me feeling vulnerable about going public. I have to fight for life for them.

Consultation on NICEs draft decision closes today. A committee will meet on February 1 to review the responses and check for any price reduction from manufacturer Roche.

Almost 100,000 people have signed a Breast Cancer Now petition and a parliamentary debate is due to be held next Thursday.

Kadcyla is currently available as an exception via the Cancer Drugs Fund, but new rules were introduced last year requiring medicines under the fund to have NICE approval.

Rosalie accused NICE of ruining lives by seeking a quick-fix solution to the NHS cash crisis.

She has travelled to Germany to receive a trial vaccine called GP2 after friends raised 60,000 in four months.

The next step was going to be Kadcyla, she said. If you have three lines of treatment, maybe you can last 10 years.

I think its just so shortsighted of them to remove drugs that can buy people time  time to stay alive while more research is carried out.

Baroness Morgan, chief executive of Breast Cancer Now, accused NICE of using the wrong drug comparisons to calculate the benefit of Kadcyla.

She said reckless brinkmanship between the organisation and Roche threatened to rip away one of the best breast cancer drugs in years.

Dr Anna Rigg, an expert in the disease, said Kadcyla could benefit 1,200 women with HER2-positive breast cancer each year:

We see NICEs side of the argument but what we really want is for NICE and Roche to go back to the table and reconsider.

NICE declined to respond to the claims about its assessment of Kadcy-las benefits.

A spokesman indicated an independent appraisal committee had conducted a thorough review. Roche declined to comment.E nvironmental officers are struggling to contain an enormous oil spillage that has spread miles across London along the River Lea.

Unsettling images have emerged of swans covered in the thick black grease as boaters in the capital took to social media to vent their outrage.

The Environment Agency is investigating the oil slick, which according to witnesses started more than one week ago and is affecting the river between Enfield and Newham.

It is believed to have entered the water in the Tottenham area, but it was not immediately clear how the spillage took place.

Witness Sarah Nicholas said a number of swans had to be rescued by charity the Swan Sanctuary after becoming completely coated in oil.

She told the Standard: Many swans covered in oil have been rescued but there are huge numbers of birds and other wildlife that are suffering.

Speaking to the [Environment Agency] EA, the incident has been caused by an industrial scale oil spill/dump into a surface drain  they are trying to trace back the source while struggling to contain the spill.

Ms Nicholas added: The boating community is desperate to help contain and clean up the spill, but we have received little to no official communication or advice about what we can/should be doing.

Sophie Scott told the Hackney Gazette that she feared for her health as the thick, black liquid continued to surround her houseboat following the huge spillage.

She said: You can see it on all the birds, and goodness knows whats happening to the wildlife under it, or to our boats. Were breathing it in. Its in our environment. Were breathing it in on a daily basis.

An Environment Agency spokesperson said: Environment Agency officers have been dealing with the pollution incident in the River Lea since it was first reported last week.

Our officers work 24/7 to protect people and wildlife from pollution incidents and have been working closely with the Canal & River Trust and a specialist contractor to identify the source of the pollution and clear the spillage.

The clear up process will continue over the next few days and we will continue to monitor the river for any lasting environmental damage.A man has died after being hit by a lorry on a busy road in north-west London.

Police and paramedics rushed to the scene of the incident in Kilburn High Road shortly before 11am on Monday.

The man, who was struck at the junction with Brondesbury Road, was pronounced dead at the scene.

A Met Police spokesman said: "The lorry stopped and there have been no arrests.

"Kilburn High Road remains closed in both directions."

Scotland Yard were unable to confirm the age of the man.T elevision studios take on the Trojan War at their risk: theres a horde of historical fact-checkers out there armed with Twitter accounts and theyre not afraid to use them. But even among these pernickety viewers, theres a hierarchy of sneer: to reach the top, you need to be able to distinguish cow breeds on the hoof.

Troy: Fall of a City, a BBC and Netflix co-production, which began on Saturday night on BBC One, is the Corporations eight-part take on the events made famous by Homers Iliad some 3,000 years ago.

As the show began, complainers-to-be were itching their palms and priming their keyboards. And they were not disappointed. Many viewers growled about horses saddled with stirrups, which only arrived in the West around the 7th century AD, as well as an ostrich that popped up on the screen.

But this was small beer in the accuracy stakes. The eagle-eyed Peter Whitbread complained on Twitter that the programme was utter garbage. So far, so standard. But he added that it was complete with a Guernsey cow in Troy more than 3,000 years ago. Waste of a licence fee. My new fave historical accuracy complaint #Cows, TV historian Greg Jenner tweeted.

Aside from the minor issues, producers have clearly at least tried to be true to the time with impressive costumes and sets. Are producers disappointed to find their painstaking work on historical accuracy undone by a single rogue bovine?

We reached out to the BBC who joked that they had been unable to source an ancient cow. Perhaps they consider it to be their Achilles heel?

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Farewell to Douglas Botting, the writer and explorer who died earlier this month. His daughter Anna recalled to Radio 4s Last Word how a chance encounter with Ernest Hemingway in Kenya ordained his future career: I would just like to say your book The Old Man and the Sea is the best book Ive ever read, said the young Botting. Hey, Limey, turn around and get down that f***ing beach from where you came, a less than taken Hemingway responded. My dad knew at that moment he was destined to be a writer.

And the winner for male actress is ...

An evening in with Jess Phillips turned into a political statement last night as she tuned in to watch the stars gather at last nights Bafta Awards. The Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley started keeping a tally of male and female award winners, and took to her Twitter account to share her findings. At one point she abandoned the commentary out of sheer frustration but gave it another try. The final score? She counted 24 male and four female winners. I think a man might win supporting actress at this rate.

Quote of the day

Praising Ukip: Alastair Campbell (Photo Ian MacNicol/Getty Images) / Getty Images

"Well done Ukip, exercising that excellent democratic insight: that if you've voted through a dreadful mistake, you can change your mind." Alastair Campbell praises Ukip members who voted to sack their leader Henry Bolton over the weekend.

Where the wild things are at LFW

Hot fuzz: Lindsay Lohan with a club performer (Photo Dave Benett/Getty Images) / Dave Benett/Getty Images for Bel

London Fashion Week was in full swing this weekend with Roland Mouret and Alice Temperley among the designers with shows.

The Londoner kick-started it all with a Good Housekeeping dinner at MNKY House to celebrate DHELA, a new label from designer Daniella Helayel. Next, we hot-footed it over to a Deep Sea Disco at the London EDITION Hotel, thrown by Project 0 and Unemployed magazine to promote Salt-Ts new range of sustainable shirts. Alexa Chung and Edie Campbell were among the guests.

Then onto 180 The Strand, for an uber-trendy end to the evening as AnOther Magazine and Calvin Klein joined forces to toast the opening of Prints, Film, Posters and More by Willy Vanderperre. Yasmina Dexter, Clara 3000 and Helena Hauff DJ'd for guests including model Naomi Campbell, Paris Jackson, director Steve McQueen, actress Noomi Rapace and designer Raf Simons.

Members of the public can get a glimpse until March 17th.

Times Up lasts deep into the night

The Baftas after-parties last night provided nominees and revellers the chance to give their black ensembles the second outing of the evening.

Florence Pugh (right), star of Lady Macbeth, headed to Grosvenor House still wearing her Times Up ring. Celia Imrie, left, and Cressida Bonas were also there. Over at Soho Houses Grey Goose party, actor Will Poulter struck a sombre tone in his black shirt and tie. I thought black tie was what I would normally do, he said. So I wore a black shirt to show solidarity. Im also wearing black pants. Evidently his commitment runs deep.

Tweet of the day

Paddington Bear's official Twitter account expresses doubts about missing out on a Bafta last night

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Slogan of the day: journalist and Corbynista Paul Mason signs off his Guardian book column today with a call to arms. La lutte continue  the struggle continues. It was the chant of the Paris protests in 1968. Does it work in Czech?

Outs and ins of Bailey check-outL abour women have accused a key ally of Jeremy Corbyn of intimidating a senior female member after an argument at a party meeting.

MP Lucy Powell criticised Andy Kerr, head of Labours ruling National Executive Committee, for unacceptable behaviour, and urged the party to call-out male power play.

The row erupted in Leeds as members gathered to choose the next chair of the National Policy Forum.

While NPF vice-chair Katrina Murray was trying to orchestrate a vote, Communication Workers Union deputy general Mr Kerr walked onto the stage, took her place at the microphone and started addressing the meeting, to shouts of shame from the audience.

He said: We are not electing the NPF chair today under any circumstances.

Ms Powell, MP for Manchester Central, told the BBC Westminster Hour programme: Many of us, especially many women in the room, felt that was unacceptable behaviour that was very intimidatory. And he might not understand that it was, but when youre 6ft 5in, and you are a man in a position of power and you march over towards somebody and you demand to take over chairing a meeting, that is intimidatory.

While some wanted to hold the vote for a new chair immediately, Mr Kerr said National Executive Committee rules meant that there should be a seven-day wait. Veteran activist Ann Black was set to take the seat and beat union representative Andi Fox, who was backed by Labours Left.

Ms Powell, who quit Mr Corbyns front bench in 2016, said: In the context of all the #MeToo and everything else that weve seen over the last few months, its that kind of power play that really some men need to appreciate.

We do need to call this out when it happens and it was happening [on Saturday], and it needs to stop.

Ms Murray later tweeted a picture of her and Mr Kerr from the event smiling, with the message: Thanks to everyone with their good wishes but honestly, as you can see  as a trade union woman  I can deal with it.

A Communication Workers Union spokesperson said: We totally refute any allegations of intimidatory behaviour. Andys track record and reputation within the movement speaks for itself.M ore than a million European Union citizens in London were today urged to punish Theresa May for Brexit chaos in borough elections this spring.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said the local elections were the first opportunity since the 2016 referendum for EU citizens to stage a protest vote against the Governments handling of Brexit negotiations and push the Prime Minister into seeking a softer Brexit deal.

Although EU citizens living in the UK cannot vote in general elections, they are entitled to take part in local elections.

Some 1.1 million are eligible in London, including an estimated 51,000 in Barnet and up to 39,000 in Wandsworth, both of which are key battlegrounds.

Theresa May on whether she enjoys being Prime Minister

A Brexit battering at the polls could be significant for Mrs May because some Tories have said her performance in the local elections will be critical to deciding whether fresh moves are made to trigger a leadership contest.

However, the biggest lobbying organisation for EU citizens, the3million, said Labour could not take their support for granted unless it gave clearer guarantees on their rights after Brexit.

The group also pointed out that Jeremy Corbyn whipped his front bench behind the Commons vote to trigger Article 50.

Mr Khan said the local elections were the first opportunity since the 2016 referendum for EU citizens to stage a protest vote against the Governments handling of Brexit / REUTERS

Mr Khan told the Evening Standard: We need to send the Tory Government a message that we dont want their chaotic extreme hard Brexit approach - before its too late and the damage is irrevocably done.

The clock is ticking - and while the Tories fight amongst themselves putting their narrow party interests first, the fate of jobs and growth for Londoners and people across the country hangs in the balance.

This is our last chance to tell the Tories that we want a Brexit deal that works for us - including continued membership of the Single Market and Customs Union and access to talent that we so desperately need to succeed.

However, Labours appeal may be blunted because Mr Corbyn currently supports Brexit, including leaving the single market and the customs union and scrapping EU free movement rights.

Maike Bohn, of the3million, said Labour had not so far been clear enough about its position.

The jury is out on Labour, she said.

But I think there will be a much higher turnout of EU citizens in these elections. Some people may vote for the Liberal Democrats or the Greens because they opposed Article 50.

James Cleverly, the Conservative deputy chairman, urged people to use the election vote for better council services.

All voters should be focused on who is going to provide the best local services at the best value for money, he said.B oris Johnson compared a dead monkeys head to Labour backbencher during a visit to a Metropolitan Police facility which confiscates illegal wildlife products.

When the foreign secretary was shown the head of a Macaque he asked: Whats this poor chap here? Faint air of a labour backbencher.

During his visit to the Metropolitan Police's Wildlife Crime Unit in London, Mr Johnson was shown some items which had been recovered from raids on the black market.

Officers showed him five rhino horns and dozens of ivory tusks and other pieces.

Despite his cheeky jibe to Labour MPs, he said he was serious about tackling the problem of illegal wildlife trade.

He said: All kinds of animals are disappearing and much of it is being driven by poachers and traffickers who need to be tackled by the police.

I think they are doing a fantastic job.

His recent visit followed on from a trip to Asia where he viewed illegal ivory seized by Thai customs.B ig-name charities could face more stringent monitoring from wealthy donors in the wake of the Oxfam scandal, analysts have warned.

Oxfam has recently been under fire over accusations it covered up claims that staff used prostitutes while delivering aid in Haiti.

Now wealth managers and philanthropy heads have warned the revelations could see stricter monitoring of charities before rich donors part with their money, the Financial Times reports.

Tom Hall, head of philanthropy services in the UK at UBS, told the paper: Stories like (Oxfam) reinforce the need to have more rigour around ones philanthropic investment, particularly at the higher end.

It is thought stricter due diligence in the sector could particularly hit large charities, which according to the paper receive almost half of the sectors income while making up just 1% of charitable organisations in the UK.

Michael Maslinski, a partner at Stonehage Fleming, compared the situation with big banks, saying smaller institutions are usually subject to more monitoring as people take the larger ones for granted.

He told the Financial Times: I am absolutely certain that when it comes to reviewing charitable donations, the monitoring criteria are bound to be strengthened. Its rather like big banks - people do a lot of monitoring of the smaller ones but they tend to take the larger ones for granted until its shown to be otherwise.

The comments come as Oxfam officially released the findings of its 2011 investigation into the Haiti sex scandal.

It concluded charities should be warned about problem staff despite several people at the centre of the allegations subsequently taking up roles in the aid sector.

The report detailed four dismissals and three resignations over allegations ranging from the use of prostitutes on charity property to sexual exploitation of employees.T heresa May's former right-hand man today called on the Government to publish evidence on the impact of Brexit and accused colleagues of turning a deaf ear to it.

Damian Green, the ex-first secretary of state, piled pressure on Brexit Secretary David Davis to give the public more details of the risks and benefits of quitting the European Union.

In his first interview since being sacked in December, Mr Green, who supported Remain, also hit out at colleagues who have accused the Treasury of seeking to thwart Brexit.

He told the BBC that leaving the EU was as difficult a task as the civil service has been set, probably since wartime. He added: I do reject all the conspiracy theories that suggest theres some sort of plot inside the official machine to thwart the will of the people.

Appearing tonight on Radio 4s The Ministry Of Leave, presented by Ben Wright, Mr Green was due to say: Theres a great problem of politicians who wont accept evidence.

Damian Green told the BBC that leaving the EU was "as difficult a task as the civil service has been set, probably since wartime" / PA

"We can all argue about economic forecasts and none of them are 100 per cent accurate but you have to rely on them and if you reject evidence you dont like then you will end up with faith-based policies. Mr Davis has come under fire for refusing to publish analysis on how Brexit could affect industry. Mr Green said: If analysis is being produced then publish it.

The MP was sacked from the Cabinet after breaching the ministerial code by making inaccurate statements over what he knew about claims pornography was found on his office computer in 2008. He also apologised to writer Kate Maltby, who had accused him of inappropriate sexual advances, although he denied any wrongdoing.

In todays Standard, ex-Brexit minister Lord Bridges urged Mrs May to lift the fog blighting Britains Brexit plans amid warnings that key trade talks could soon hit the buffers. He issued the plea ahead of a summit at Chequers where Cabinet ministers will try to thrash out a position on the Governments hopes for a future trade deal with the EU. He said: I said some weeks ago that, if we dont agree on such terms, the transition period will not be a bridge to a clear destination but a gang plank into thin air. Precious days have passed, but the fog has not lifted.

Theresa May's government has been called on to publish evidence on the impact of Brexit / Sky News

A senior German MEP also warned that talks could run aground very soon unless the Prime Minister sets out what kind of trade deal she wants. Manfred Weber, who leads the centre-Right group of EU parliamentarians, told the Standard the ball is in Mrs Mays court and that she needs to bring clarity.

Mrs Mays Europe adviser Oliver Robbins and other civil servants are in Brussels today and Tuesday for talks with EU counterparts. These will focus on the transition or implementation period and possible solutions to avoid a new Irish border. The EU is sticking to its red lines on transition, insisting that all laws apply in full until the 21-month period runs out at the end of December 2020, including free movement of people.

Mrs May has vowed to restrict rights for EU migrants arriving after the UK leaves in March 2019 but Mr Weber said this remains a red line for the bloc.

Tom Tugendhat, Tory chairman of the Commons foreign affairs committee, said: We must be clearer as soon as possible over what our future relationship with the EU will be. The former international trade minister Mark Garnier added: Our economy has needed clarity for some time about how we are going to resolve difficult Brexit issues.Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belarus V.Makei participates in the 54th Munich Security Conference

18-02-2018

On February 16-18, 2018 the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus, Vladimir Makei, paid a working visit to Germany to participate in the 54th Munich Security Conference.

The Head of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry took part in the plenary sessions of the conference, as well as in a number of panel discussions, including those on security in Eastern Europe.

On the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference the Foreign Minister of Belarus also held a number of bilateral meetings and negotiations.

The current agenda for cooperation between Belarus and Germany was considered during the meeting with the adviser to Chancellor of Germany on foreign policy and security issues, Jan Hecker.

V.Makei and the Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, Johannes Hahn, as well as the EEAS Secretary General, Helga Schmid, discussed the prospects for Belarus' cooperation with the European Union.

Vladimir Makei and the Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn

Vladimir Makei and the EEAS Secretary General Helga Schmid

The Belarusian Foreign Minister and the Chairman of the Munich Security Conference, Wolfgang Ischinger, discussed the facilitation of the meeting of the MSC Core Group Meeting, dedicated to the topic of dialogue between East and West, as well as regional security. The meeting is to take place in autumn 2018 in Minsk.

The possibilities of the Ukrainian conflict settlement were in the spotlight of the negotiations between V.Makei and the U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine Kurt Volker.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belarus held the meetings with the Foreign Ministers of Egypt, Sameh Shoukry, and Sudan, Ibrahim Gandur, as well as with the State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sweden, Annika Soder. During these meetings, the parties considered issues of bilateral and multilateral cooperation.

Vladimir Makei and the Foreign Minister of Egypt Sameh Shoukry

Vladimir Makei and the State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sweden Annika Soder

V.Makei also met with the Chairman of the Eastern Committee of German Economy, Wolfgang Buchel. The sides discussed the revitalization of the activities of the Belarusian-German non-governmental business cooperation council, which resumed its work in 2017, as well as promoting industrial cooperation between enterprises of Belarus and Germany.

An exchange of views with the board member of the Siemens concern, Roland Bush, took place on the issues of the implementation of promising projects of the German concern in the Republic of Belarus. Special attention was paid to the mutually beneficial cooperation in the energy and industrial spheres.

print versionF our farmers and a 13-year-old boy have admitted stabbing, battering and shooting a critically endangered orangutan at least 130 times.

Villagers found the seriously injured orangutan in a lake in the East Kutai district of Borneo after the farmers shot it with an air gun to defend their pineapple crop.

The animal was rushed to an orangutan clinic, but died during treatment.

An X-ray showed at least 130 air gun pellets lodged throughout the body of the great ape, including more than 70 in its head, the Centre for Orangutan Protection said.

It had been blinded by the shooting and suffered 17 open wounds believed to be caused by stabbing. Its left thigh, right chest and left hand were bruised from blunt object trauma.

Kutai Timur police give a press conference with the four arrested men in orange jumpsuits behind them / AFP/Getty Images

Local police said four male members of a family, including the 13-year-old, were arrested along with their neighbour last week.

If found guilty of violating the National Resources Conservation Law, the adult suspects face up to five years behind bars and fines of 5,200.

The boy faces half the adult punishment at a juvenile detention centre. Police said he will continue to attend school while the case is under way.

The population of orangutans on Borneo and on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, recognised as separate species and both classed as critically endangered, have fallen drastically since the 1970s.

A new study published last week estimated that the population on Borneo has dropped by more than 100,000 since 1999.

Orangutans are a protected species in Indonesia and Malaysia, but deforestation has dramatically reduced their habitat and brought them into contact with farmers and plantation workers who kill them to protect crops, and also for meat.

In mid-January, an orangutan was found decapitated and shot more than a dozen times with an air gun in Central Kalimantan, environmental news website Mongabay reported.

Police arrested two rubber farmers suspected in the killing.T he Duchess of Cornwall will now be joining the Prince of Wales for the opening of the Commonwealth Games in Australia.

Clarence House today confirmed Camilla will accompany Charles to the ceremony for the Gold Coast Games in April.

The Duchess, who had not been expected to join her husband for the long-haul trip, has had a change of heart given the importance of the visit Down Under.

She will accompany him for the first part of the tour after the opening ceremony before returning home ahead of him.

It is widely known that Camilla struggles with long-haul visits and flights.

The royal couple last visited Queensland in 2012, when they had a series of Outback engagements.

They were officially invited to the Commonwealth Games by Premier Anna-stacia Palaszczuk last March.

The move comes after Australias Coalition government announced it is standing by a former PM Julia Gillards pledge five years ago to back Prince Charles as hereditary successor to head of the Commonwealth.

Australias current Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull - a republican - will attend the Queens last Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in London in April, where Charles will play an key role alongside the Queen.

The Queen, who turns 92 the day after the London meeting of 53 Commonwealth leaders and representatives ends, has been lobbying for years to have Charles succeed her as head of the Commonwealth but there are moves to have a democratic election.

The passing of the leadership is seen as part of the Queens plans to ensure Charles succeeds her as monarch and a transition to a change of reign.

Prince Charles visits the Caribbean 1 /11 Prince Charles visits the Caribbean CharlesCaribbean1 Prince Charles receives a royal welcome to V.C. Bird International Airport PA CharlesCaribbean2 Prince Charles receives a royal welcome to V.C. Bird International Airport PA CharlesCaribbean3 Prince Charles receives a royal welcome to V.C. Bird International Airport PA CharlesCaribbean4 Charles meets kitchen staff as he visits the National Technical Training Centre in Barbuda Getty Images CharlesCaribbean5 The prince greets a group of Barbudan children Getty Images CharlesCaribbean6 The Prince of Wales during a visit to the temporary shelter at the National Technical Training Centre in Antigua PA CharlesCaribbean7 The Prince of Wales meets rescue volunteers PA CharlesCaribbean8 The Prince of Wales meets guests during a reception at Government House PA CharlesCaribbean9 The Prince of Wales is on a three day visit to the Caribbean Getty Images CharlesCaribbean10 Secretary of State for International Development Penny Mordaunt during the Prince of Wales' visit PA CharlesCaribbean11 The Prince of Wales makes a speech during a reception at Government House PA

The change in Commonwealth leadership is part of the Queens plans for a transition to Charles and is being discussed among Commonwealth nations.

The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwalls visit to Australia, begins in Brisbane on 4th April.

Charles, accompanied by Camilla, will represent The Queen at the opening of the XXI Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast.S urvivors of the deadly school shooting in Florida have blasted Donald Trump over his response to the attack, saying it was needlessly divisive.

"You're the president. You're supposed to bring this nation together, not divide us," said David Hogg, a 17-year-old student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in South Florida, speaking on NBC's "Meet the Press."

"How dare you," he added.

Mr Hogg was responding to the US president's tweet on Saturday that asked "why didn't" the Democrats pass gun control measures during the brief time they controlled Congress with a supermajority in the Senate.

Mr Trump also criticised the FBI's failure to act on tips that the suspect was dangerous, saying they spent "too much time" investigating Russia's role in the 2016 election.

The president was at his Florida estate on Sunday but did not mention the attack in a series of tweets.

After more than a day of criticism from the students, the White House said the president would hold a "listening session" with unspecified students on Wednesday and meet with state and local security officials on Thursday.

Florida politicians, meanwhile, scrambled to produce legislation in response to the February 14 attack that killed 17 people.

Nikolas Cruz, a 19-year-old who had been expelled from the school, is being held without bail in the Broward County Jail, accused of 17 counts of first-degree murder.

In a TV interview, Republican Senator Marco Rubio embraced a Democratic bill to allow courts to temporarily prevent people from having guns if they are determined to be a threat to themselves or others.

Governor Rick Scott, also a Republican, is expected to announce a legislative package with other Republican leaders this week.

Emma Gonzalez, another student who survived the attack, cited Mr Trump, Mr Rubio and Mr Scott by name in a warning to politicians who are supported by the National Rifle Association.

"Now is the time to get on the right side of this, because this is not something that we are going to let sweep under the carpet," she said on "Meet the Press."

The students' pointed comments are the latest signs of increased pressure for gun control after the massacre.

The students have vowed to become the face of a movement for tighter firearm regulations. They are also calling for anti-gun violence demonstrations in Washington and other cities on March 24.

Organisers behind the Women's March, an anti-Trump and female empowerment protest, called for a 17-minute, nationwide walkout by teachers and students on March 14.S witzerland has become the first country to ban boiling lobsters alive while they are still conscious.

The unprecedented national legislation, which will take effect on March 1, will require cooks to "render them unconscious" before putting them in the pan.

The law follows a study by Queens University in Belfast that found crustaceans are sentient.

These studies show that lobsters, like other animals, experience pain and distress, said Stefan Kunfermann, a spokesman for the Federal Office of Food Safety and Veterinary Affairs.

Those wishing to eat the crustaceans cruelty-free are advised to either electrocute them or place them in salt water to sedate them before stabbing them in the brain.

The legislation was brought under a part of the Swiss Constitution that guarantees "animal dignity".

The unique law means that those keeping animals must conform to basic standards for care including that they must have social contact.

It requires that cats kept as domestic pets must have daily visual contact with other cats.

Activists in the UK have urged the Government to follow Switzerland's lead in crustacean compassion.

More than 50 campaigners signed a letter to Michael Gove, the environment secretary, calling for lobsters and crabs to be recognised as animals with rights.

They wrote: "Decapod crustaceans are protected under animal welfare legislation in Norway, Switzerland, Austria, New Zealand and some Australian states and territories; as well as in some regions of Germany and Italy.F rances McDormand and Sam Rockwell picked up the top acting prizes at this years BAFTAs as Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri continued its awards season haul.

The Martin McDonagh directed film dominated Sunday nights awards bash, taking home five gongs including Best Film, Best British Film and Original Screenplay.

McDormand, who plays grieving mother Mildred Hayes, fought off competition from Saoirse Ronan, Annette Bening, Sally Hawkins and Margot Robbie to win Leading Actress.

Acknowledging her shunning of the all black dress code to honour the Times Up movement, she said: Thank you British film people. As Martin [McDonagh] said, I have a little trouble with compliance, but I want you to know that I stand in full solidarity with my sisters tonight in black. I appreciate a well organised act of civil disobedience and I'm glad activists have been inspired by the set of three billboards and taken it to the streets.

She continued: When I was a young actor I was told I wasn't naturally gifted and I would have to work at it, so I did. And along the way I was very fortunate to collaborate with film makers and I'm deeply grateful to them to realise my hidden potential. Power to the people.

Her co-star Sam Rockwell picked up the Best Supporting Actor gong, which he dedicated to the late Alan Rickman.

BAFTAs 2018: Stars wear black to support Time's Up campaign

He said: This has been a real magical journey for me. I never dreamed Id be here in London celebrating tonight. [Martin] youve changed my life, thank you.

As we engage in this long overdue discussion about women in the workplace I stand on the shoulders of strong righteous women who have got me here. Fran youre the rock that this film relies and you make me proud to be an actor. This is for my pal Alan Rickman  I'll see you at the bar.

Arrivals: Angelina Jolie arrives at the Baftas in an Audi / Max Cisotti

It was also a triumphant night for British stars, with Gary Oldman being crowned Leading Actor for his portrayal of Prime Minister Winston Churchill. The 59-year-old looked tearful as he took to the stage to accept the tremendous honour which he said he would share with his three sons and my wife tonight.

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Fellow Brit, and Londoner, Daniel Kaluuya followed in the footsteps of Spider-Man star Tom Holland to pick up the EE Bafta Rising Star Award.

Kaluuya  who was also up for Leading Actor for his role in hit horror Get Out  thanked his mother for helping him achieve his dreams.

London city  hello, he said. Ive gone blank. Thank you to all the people for voting for us all. I feel so privileged to be part of this group. Im a product of financial funding in the UK.

Id like to thank my mum, youre the reason why Im here, youre the reason for this and youre the reason why I keep going.

Activists attend the BAFTAs

It was a disappointing night for The Shape of Water, which only won three out of the 12 awards it was nominated for, including Best Director for Guillermo del Toro. The film also won Production Design and saw composer Alexandre Desplat celebrate his third BAFTA win as he collected the Original Music gong.

Full list of winners:

Best British Film

Best Film

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Best Director

Guillermo del Toro  The Shape of Water

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri - Trailer 2

Leading Actor

Gary Oldman  Darkest Hour

Leading Actress

Frances McDormand  Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Best Supporting Actor

Sam Rockwell  Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

TODO: define component type brightcove

Best Supporting Actress

Allison Janney  I, Tonya

EE Rising Star

Daniel Kaluuya

Adapted Screenplay

Lady Bird - Trailer

Original Screenplay

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Original Music

The Shape of Water

Best Cinematography

Blade Runner 2049

Call Me By Your Name - Trailer

Best Hair and Makeup

Darkest Hour

Best Costume Design

Phantom Thread

Best Animated Film

Coco

Best Editing

Baby Driver

Best Sound

Dunkirk

Best Documentary

I Am Not Your Negro

Dunkirk - Survival Teaser Trailer

Short Animation

Poles Apart

Best Short Film

Cowboy Dave

Best Foreign Film

The Handmaiden

Best Production Design

The Shape of Water

Special Visual Effects

Blade Runner 2049

Outstanding Debut

I Am Not A Witch

Outstanding Contribution to CinemaL ily James sparked speculation that she is engaged to Matt Smith after she was pictured wearing a diamond ring on her wedding finger at the BAFTAs.

The Darkest Hour actress, who was on hand to present an award, caught the attention of fans as she flashed the rock on the red carpet.

James, 28, was surrounded by a host of the industrys biggest names at Sunday nights bash, but all eyes were on the actresses new jewellery.

The notoriously private pair have been dating for four years, and despite no official comment fans were quick to take the ring as confirmation of an engagement.

Stylish star: Lily James arrives in a Audi at the Baftas / Max Cisotti

One tweeted: Omg Lily James and Matt Smith my favourite couple to ever exist are engaged Im so beyond happy for them !!!

Another posted: Omg Lily James has a giant diamond ring is she ENGAGED TO MATT SMITH TELL ME.

Loved up: Matt Smith and Lily James / Dave Benett

The 71st annual BAFTAs was hosted by Joanna Lumley at Londons Royal Albert Hall.

Martin McDonaghs Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri was the nights biggest winner, taking home five gongs including the coveted Best Film.

Frances McDormand, who plays grieving mother Mildred Hayes, was honoured with Leading Actress while her co-star Sam Rockwell was honoured with Best Supporting Actor.

BAFTAs 2018: Stars wear black to support Time's Up campaign

Gary Oldman continued his awards haul, picking up Leading Actor for his portrayal of former Prime Minister Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour.

I, Tonyas Allison Janney received Best Supporting Actress, Daniel Kaluuya was crowed EE Rising Star and Guillermo del Toro was presented with Best Director.

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Lumley, 71, dubbed a 'national treasure' by viewers, took over the reins from Stephen Fry on Sunday night to become the first ever woman to host the annual awards bash.

While introducing Lawrence to the stage to present Outstanding British Film, she said: Right lets start giving out some of those beautiful BAFTAs shall we?

And we start with the award for Outstanding British Film and who better to kick the whole evening off than the hottest actress on the planet. Soon to be seen in Red Sparrow, its the ravishing Jennifer Lawrence.

Praised: Joanna Lumley on hosting duties / Guy Levy/BAFTA/Rex

Lawrence replied: Hi, that was a bit much but thank you, Joanna.

Fans slated Lawrence's ungrateful response, with one tweeting: Jennifer Lawrence was unnecessarily rude then wasnt she? #EEBAFTAs didnt think there was any need for that reply to Joanna Lumley.

Another wrote: Jennifer Lawrence rude to Joanna Lumley tonight and also talked all the way through that first BAFTA award winning speech.

Lumley left viewers in hysterics with her opening skit which saw her making calls to actors from the years biggest film to inform them of her new role.

She then kicked off her opening monologue with a nod to the dogged determination of the Suffragettes and the powerful Time's Up movement which she praised for having the determination to eradicate the abuse of women all over the world.

Three Billboards and Gary Oldman score success at the Bafta Awards

She later heaped praise on the inimitable Gary Oldman, ineffable Gemma Arterton and gushed over tour de force Frances McDormand.

Referring to nominee Angelina Jolie, she said: Actress, director, writer, humanitarian, there's literally nothing this woman can't do.

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She then quipped: Since she arrived, she's already knocked up 400 portions of risotto for the after show dinner.

Lumley was hailed a breath of fresh air after Frys lengthy stint as host with many praising her charming and warm demeanour.

But others were more critical, with some chastising her for not taking the p*** a little bit more.

One user posted: That BAFTA ceremony was hideous. I understand the whole female theme this year but Joanna Lumley just wasn't funny. Bring back @stephenfry.

Another tweeted: Bring back Stephen Fry next year. Joanna Lumley was incredibly dull as the host of this years #BAFTAs.

Grey Goose and Vogue After Parties - In pictures 1 /23 Grey Goose and Vogue After Parties - In pictures Lily James attends as Tiffany & Co. partners with British Vogue, Edward Enninful, Steve McQueen, Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell to celebrate fashion and film at the new Annabels Dave Benett Fat Tony and Kate Moss attend as Tiffany & Co. partners with British Vogue, Edward Enninful, Steve McQueen, Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell to celebrate fashion and film at the new Annabels Dave Benett Thomas Brodie-Sangster attends Grey Goose Vodka and GQ Style's dinner in celebration of film and fashion at Kettner's Dave Benett Tinie Tempah, Idris Elba and Virgil Abloh attend as Tiffany & Co. partners with British Vogue, Edward Enninful, Steve McQueen, Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell to celebrate fashion and film at the new Annabels Dave Benett Margot Robbie attends the Grey Goose 2018 BAFTA Awards after party Dave Benett Rita Ora attends as Tiffany & Co. partners with British Vogue, Edward Enninful, Steve McQueen, Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell to celebrate fashion and film at the new Annabels Dave Benett Naomi Campbell, Edward Enninful and Sam McKnight attend as Tiffany & Co. partners with British Vogue, Edward Enninful, Steve McQueen, Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell to celebrate fashion and film at the new Annabels Dave Benett Billie Piper attends as Tiffany & Co. partners with British Vogue, Edward Enninful, Steve McQueen, Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell to celebrate fashion and film at the new Annabels Splash News Anna Wintour, Bee Shaffer and Sienna Miller attend as Tiffany & Co. partners with British Vogue, Edward Enninful, Steve McQueen, Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell to celebrate fashion and film at the new Annabels Dave Benett Jourdan Dunn and Edward Enninful attend as Tiffany & Co. partners with British Vogue, Edward Enninful, Steve McQueen, Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell to celebrate fashion and film at the new Annabels Dave Benett/Getty Images for Vog Zendaya attends as Tiffany & Co. partners with British Vogue, Edward Enninful, Steve McQueen, Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell to celebrate fashion and film at the new Annabels Dave Benett Pixie Lott and Doina Ciobanu attend as Tiffany & Co. partners with British Vogue, Edward Enninful, Steve McQueen, Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell to celebrate fashion and film at the new Annabels Dave Benett attends as Tiffany & Co. partners with British Vogue, Edward Enninful, Steve McQueen, Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell to celebrate fashion and film at the new Annabels Dave Benett Paloma Faith attends as Tiffany & Co. partners with British Vogue, Edward Enninful, Steve McQueen, Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell to celebrate fashion and film at the new Annabels Dave Benett Jamie Bell (L) and Kate Mara attend the Grey Goose 2018 BAFTA Awards after party Dave Benett Alice Naylor-Leyland and Mary Charteris attend as Tiffany & Co. partners with British Vogue, Edward Enninful, Steve McQueen, Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell to celebrate fashion and film at the new Annabels Dave Benett Neelam Gill attends as Tiffany & Co. partners with British Vogue, Edward Enninful, Steve McQueen, Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell to celebrate fashion and film at the new Annabels Dave Benett Winnie Harlow and Jourdan Dunn attend as Tiffany & Co. partners with British Vogue, Edward Enninful, Steve McQueen, Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell to celebrate fashion and film at the new Annabels Dave Benett Yasmin Le Bon and Erin O'Connor attend as Tiffany & Co. partners with British Vogue, Edward Enninful, Steve McQueen, Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell to celebrate fashion and film at the new Annabels Dave Benett Naomi Ackie and Florence Pugh attend the Grey Goose 2018 BAFTA Awards after party Dave Benett Grace Bol and guest attend as Tiffany & Co. partners with British Vogue, Edward Enninful, Steve McQueen, Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell to celebrate fashion and film at the new Annabels Dave Benett Katie Keight attends as Tiffany & Co. partners with British Vogue, Edward Enninful, Steve McQueen, Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell to celebrate fashion and film at the new Annabels Dave Benett Salma Hayak and Rita Ora attend as Tiffany & Co. partners with British Vogue, Edward Enninful, Steve McQueen, Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell to celebrate fashion and film at the new Annabels Dave Benett

Martin McDonaghs Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri was the nights biggest winner, taking home five gongs including the coveted Best Film.

Frances McDormand, who plays grieving mother Mildred Hayes, was honoured with Leading Actress while her co-star Sam Rockwell received Best Supporting Actor.

Gary Oldman continued his awards haul, picking up Leading Actor for his portrayal of former Prime Minister Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour.The NATO defense chiefs meeting on February 14-15 was mainly devoted to sharing the defense burden and other issues routinely discussed at any event. As usual, there were turgid speeches with opaque meaning to leave one guessing whats really behind those nice words. In fact, the alliance took two far-going decisions proving a clue to its plans for near future.

The ministers said yes to the creation of military Schengen to ease forces movements across the Old Continent. NATO is to do away with the cumbersome and lingering bureaucratic procedures hindering transportation of troops and hardware through territories of member states. One of the solutions is a standardized form used by European allies and partner states for granting permission for movements. Germany has offered to host the command center to implement the concept of free transit zone in view of its vast experience in providing logistical support.

Its not red tape only. One thing leads to another. The military Schengen will inevitably result in additional expenditure to adapt the civilian infrastructure to military needs, upgrading roads, tunnels and bridges to enable hardware movements and heavy aircraft landings.

The decision is taken amid burgeoning preparations to boost military infrastructure near Russias borders. The fact that by signing the 1997 NATO-Russia Founding Act the bloc pledged not to deploy substantial ground forces on permanent basis close to Russia appears to be ignored and forgotten. With the document no longer valid, the bilateral military relationship will be deprived of any legal basis.

To augment the forces in East Europe, the Black Sea, the Baltics and the Scandinavian Peninsula the bloc needs new logistic hubs. Unobstructed large-scale transport movements become top priority for implementation of the war plans, such as concentrating combat-ready stocks for a full US brigade in Poland. So, the alliance is clearing the obstacles that hinder its ability to rapidly boost forward presence and concentrate forces for an attack.

The ministers announced another important decision using euphemisms to obfuscate the essence. NATO agreed to launch an assist and train mission in Iraq, establishing specialist military academies and schools. According to Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, the alliances priorities in the South include improving the ability to react to future crises in the region, including with enhanced planning and exercise. So, its not a pure training mission but rather a commitment to join the US campaign aimed at rolling back the Irans influence. The US cuts its forces in Iraq moving them to Afghanistan, where the situation is getting worse, and NATO is right here to fill the gap under the pretext of training and increased military aid. With military presence, which goes hand in hand with training missions, the alliance is on its way to prevent Iraq from falling into the Irans orbit and also reduce Russias influence in that country. Iraq is too important to be anything but pro-Western.

NATO is also lending the US a helping hand in Syria, the country viewed by Washington as a battlefield in the campaign to roll back Iran. French President Macron has just threatened to strike Syria if the information about the use of chemical weapons by its government is confirmed. The US has made it clear that it has no plans to leave or even reduce its presence in Syria after the defeat of the Islamic State. It will stay indefinitely. The purpose is to counter the threat from Iran. America has quietly launched a nation-building process in the Syrian territories under its control.

The ministers meeting of the multinational organization has expressed its readiness to dance to the US tune, confirming its commitment to raise defense expenditure up to 2% of GDP, spur military build-up in Europe, including the creation of two more commands, and join the US in its anti-Iran campaign in an attempt to remake the world in its own image. So, we have the same old song and dance with the alliance remaining in full saber-rattling mode.Eric MARGOLIS

A gathering of rich oil Arabs pledged $30 billion this week at a meeting in Kuwait to start rebuilding war-shattered Iraq. Sounds nice but these kinds of conclaves are notorious for offering big but delivering little.

The event was billed as helping Iraq repair war damage caused by ISIS. In fact, most of the damage from that short-lived conflict was caused by US bombing and a few Russian air strikes. ISIS, as this column has long been crying in the wilderness, was largely a paper tiger confected by the US, Britain and France to justify their military re-entry into Syria.

Iraqs government says it needs at least $88 billion to rebuild war damage. What the US-imposed client regime in Baghdad wont or cant say is that the damage to Iraq is far greater than $88 billion and was largely inflicted by US air power in 1990-1991 and 2003.

Iraq was ravaged, as I saw myself while covering the wars. This small nation of 23-25 million souls, a third of whom were in permanent revolt against the Baghdad government, was pounded into rubble by US air power and cruise missiles. First in 1990-1991, then in 2003, everything of value was blown to bits: hospitals, schools, food factories, chemical plants making insecticide, bridges, and communications. In short, all the attributes of a modern state.

Most shocking to me, was the destruction of Iraqs water and sewage treatment plants by US air strikes.

Their destruction resulted in epidemics of cholera and other water-born diseases. Children were the primary victims. The UN asserted that over 550,000 Iraqi children died as a result of contaminated water. US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright later notoriously asserted that these deaths were a price worth paying. I call them a war crime.

In 2003, 900,000 US-directed troops massed in Kuwait, invaded Iraq to finish off, it was claimed, the work that the first president Bush failed to achieve, the overthrow and lynching of Iraqi president, Saddam Hussein. If Saddam had any nuclear or broad-area biological weapons, the invaders buildup in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia would have been a dream target.

But Saddam Hussein had no nuclear weapons, contrary to US and British claims. I discovered in Baghdad a group of British scientific technicians who had been sent by the UK Ministry of Defense to build outlawed biological weapons at Salman Pak. These included deadly anthrax and Q-fever  but only for use against Iran if a second Iraq-Iran War erupted.

It is now widely accepted that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction pointed at the West, as George Bush and Tony Blair incessantly claimed. But this was the excuse for going to war against Iraq and destroying it. When no such weapons were found, the story from Washington and London was changed to oops, it was an intelligence failure. Sorry about that.

Journalists like myself who asserted that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction were fired or marginalized. I was blacklisted at CNN after the White House told the network to fire me at once. All the presstitutes, who acted as government boosters for the war, were promoted and lauded. Welcome to the new Soviet media.

Since Iraq, one if the Arab worlds most developed countries, was laid waste by US bombing, and since the war was deemed a big mistake, who is responsible for trying to repair Iraq to its pre-war condition? The money offered last week in Baghdad by the Gulf Arabs was a drop in the bucket and designed to bring Iraq into the forming anti-Iran alliance.

If this war crime was being properly litigated, Washington would likely end up being assessed something like $100 billion in damages just to replace physical infrastructure destroyed in the two wars, never mind the deaths of so many Iraqi civilians. Iran would also have a claim against Iraqs western and Arab backers for Baghdads 1980-1988 war of aggression against Iran that caused an estimated one million Iranian casualties.

Oops, Im sorry we destroyed your country and children is not a sufficient mea culpa. The western leaders who engineered this criminal war against Iraq deserve to be brought to book. So far, they have gotten off scot free. In fact, the same terrible fate has since befallen Syria, Yemen and parts of Somalia. Were these disasters also mistakes due to faulty intelligence?

ericmargolis.comOne hundred students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School will travel to Tallahassee for a Wednesday march on the state Capitol in the first organized protest of their #NeverAgain movement.

Their demand: that Florida legislators use the remaining three weeks of the annual session to revise state mental health and gun laws to forestall a repeat of the Parkland school shooting that left 17 dead.

It really needs to be recognized that they need to stop fighting each other and starting working together, said Jaclyn Corin, 17, junior class president and a survivor of the shooting, who conceived the idea for the two-day trip. This has to be the last school this happens to.

The students and about 15 parent chaperones will travel to Tallahassee by bus on Tuesday in advance of small-group meetings with legislators that are planned for Wednesday, then return later that day. They leave following a Tuesday morning funeral of Carmen Schentrup, 16, who was killed when their former classmate, Nikolas Cruz, killed students and teachers with an AR-15 on Valentines Day. Story here.At the beginning of February the British prime minister, Theresa May, visited China, taking along her International Trade Minister and about fifty business leaders, which was a none-too-subtle signal that her trip involved rather more than her intention to intensify the Golden Era in UK-China relations.

According to the official Chinese news agency, Xinhua, the so-called Golden Era was agreed when President Xi visited the UK in 2015, but Xinhua made the point that relations soured when May delayed approval of Chinese construction of a nuclear power plant in Britain, citing security concerns. It observed that such unfounded stroke of China-phobia is detrimental not only to China-Britain relations, but to the British leader's much trumpeted image of a Global Britain.

Having made the disastrous decision to leave the European Union, Britain is searching frantically for trade partners around the world, but if it is thought in London that there will be open-armed global welcome on that score, its legislators are showing themselves to be even duller than usual. The Economist observed that to call Britains referendum on Brexit a great act of democracy is both to describe it and to debase the word democracy. Campaigners traded not hard facts last June, but insults to the electorates intelligence. And the hard-headed journal made it clear that there would be no easy way to maintain the UKs current levels of global trade. In other words, Britain is in a dire economic pickle.

In 2016 the UK exported goods and services worth 235.8 billion pounds to the European Union and 284.1 billions worth to the rest of the world. And coming closer to Mrs Mays reason for going cap-in-hand to China, in that year Britain exported 3.1 percent of its goods and services to China, while 43 percent went to EU countries. It is obvious that May and her ramshackle government are desperate to get China and lots of other nations to give the UK favourable terms in mutual trade once it leaves the European Union, and you would think that in order to do that they would try to avoid upsetting the countries concerned.

Things seemed to be going quite well with China, and Xinhua noted approvingly that there had been a successful visit to London by a flotilla of Chinese PLA Navy ships. It reported that the guided-missile frigates Huanggang and Yangzhou, and the supply ship Gaoyouhu arrived in October 2017 for a five-day friendly visit to Britain. And indeed it was a successful visit. Most navies get on well with each other, and this was no exception.

The China Daily was pleased to note that Rear Admiral Alex Burton, Commander United Kingdom Maritime Forces, said such bilateral military exchanges reflect the lengthy, strong and close relationship between the nations and quoted approvingly his statement that We have both confronted common challenges: counter-piracy, natural disasters and peacekeeping. The need to work in partnership, as we have done for so many years, to find common solutions to these challenges, is way more important today. All was sweetness and light, and what with Mays trade delegation pouring on more honey it seemed that China might be prepared to make things a little easier for Britain in its anxious quest for trade.

So it is difficult to understand why on earth Britain then went out of its way to annoy China. Mrs May and her fragmented gang of incompetent ministers have begun to interfere in the South China Sea, where US nuclear-capable warships regularly voyage provocatively close to islets maintained by China. It would have been sensible for the UK to stay away from that sort of confrontational absurdity, but common sense is sadly lacking in Britains government.

The UKs defence minister, a peculiar person called Gavin Williamson, was selected by Mrs May last November when his predecessor had to resign after admitting involvement in sexual harassment. As the Financial Times reported, Williamson is somewhat erratic, and suspicions about Mr Williamsons ambitions resurfaced last month when the married father of two told the Daily Mail about an affair he had with a colleague in 2004. On the same day, he warned in a separate interview with the Daily Telegraph that Russia was developing plans to kill thousands and thousands and thousands of UK citizens in a cyber attack. It is barely credible that such a fool can be a British government minister, but he seems to speak for Britain, and thats where the China Sea comes in.

The Royal Navy (RN)  the navy of Great Britain  is, alas, a mere shadow of its former self. When I served in the British Army in the Far East very many years ago, the RN had an aircraft carrier, a cruiser, a destroyer squadron and a submarine squadron, both of about half a dozen vessels, and twenty or so other ships in the region. It was a strong and competent force. Now it has not a single ship in the Far East, and as noted by Reuters, the Royal Navy is a shadow of its former self. Government budgeteers have repeatedly, and excessively, cut the numbers of its ships, planes and manpower. It can barely patrol the United Kingdoms own waters, much less project British influence abroad. Though London officials now vow to reverse the decline, it might be too late. With morale plummeting, and its few remaining ships frequently malfunctioning at sea, the Royal Navys suffering might be terminal.

But Britain does send a ship to the East from time to time. At the moment the RNs frigate HMS Sutherland is in the region, and when it was in Australia, Mr Williamson arrived there and announced on 13 February that the ship will be sailing through the South China Sea and making it clear our Navy has a right to do that.

Of course it has the right to do that. There is no ship in the world  even US nuclear-armed US aircraft carriers and cruisers that regularly sail all over the South China Sea  that is denied the right to do that.

There has never been an incident of China interfering with a commercial vessel in these sea-lanes, and in spite of deliberate baiting by United States Navy ships that seek to provoke China to take action against them, China has not yet retaliated against such aggravation. But Mr Williamson declared that World dynamics are shifting so greatly. The US can only concentrate on so many things at once. The US is looking for other countries to do more. This is a great opportunity for the UK and Australia to do more, to exercise leadership Its very important that we demonstrate that these are seas anyone can pass through and well be making sure that the Royal Navy will protect those rights for international shipping.

Its not often that one hears Chinas leaders roar with laughter, but one wonders what President Xis reaction was when he heard that absurd and totally fatuous statement.

Into the South China Sea ploughs the tiny frigate HMS Sutherland, doing absolutely nothing except annoying China. And out of the window go Britains aspirations for a favourable approach by China to bilateral trade negotiations.

The UK has got a commercial death wish.The United States has found an inexpensive and effective way to supply allies with aircraft well suited for counter-terror operations and when it was called on to help rebuild the Chad air force it applied these solutions. It all began in July 2017 when a severe storm (high winds and heavy rain) hit the main airbase of the Chad Air Force. Three (of six) helicopters were destroyed or heavily damaged and several hangers were torn apart. The flying debris from these structures damaged a MiG-29, a PC-12 and two Su-25s rendering these aircraft inoperable until repaired.

Chad, a key ally in the fight against Boko Haram in Nigeria and Islamic terrorists throughout the region, had lost most of its airpower. Located in central Africa, south of Libya, had joined with its neighbors, France and the Americans to better deal with the Islamic terrorists, smugglers and bandits that have long been a problem and are often the same people. Chad has some of the most experienced ground troops and these soldiers depended on air support from a fellow Chadian. The U.S. had faced this situation several times in the previous decade and had developed proven solutions.

By the end of the year the Americans delivered two Cessna 208B aircraft equipped for surveillance and reconnaissance with more to come. These 208Bs (and similar AT-802U armed, with laser designators and Hellfire laser guided missiles) had already proved themselves when provided to Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen and Libya.

Interestingly the U.S. Air Force has not been interested in using the 208s or 802s. But nations who needed effective air power in a hurry and had limited financial and human (pilots and ground crew) resources these commercial aircraft, which were used worldwide in remote areas for crop dusting (AT-802) or moving people and freight (208B) were an ideal solution. Both aircraft can be equipped with surveillance cameras and sensors that are about as easy to use as a smart phone app. Adding a laser designator and fire control hardware for laser guided missiles is the next step. But what these poor countries need the most is aerial reconnaissance and surveillance. These single engine prop-driven aircraft are easy to learn to fly (all pilots initially learn to fly on similar aircraft. Same with ground crews. A good truck mechanics can keep these aircraft going.

These two aircraft are much cheaper to purchase and operate than the much more complex and expensive aircraft Western air forces use. Oddly enough the For the United States cost was not the only issue.

Since the 1990s the kinds of wars the United States has been involved with involve more surveillance than actual use of weapons. In fact, since 2001 only about seven percent of sorties resulted in a weapon being used. When you make that adjustment the ability of a heavy bomber (B-1B or B-52) to carry a lot of smart bombs backfires, because most, if not all, of those bombs will return unused. While an F-16 carries fewer bombs or missiles, it is still more expensive per flight hour to operate (about $23,000 versus $58,000 for the B-1B). Even the A-10 costs about $18,000 per flight hour. A UAV like Predator or Reaper costs one to three thousand dollars an hour. The smaller aircraft or UAVs become more than 90 percent cheaper to use. This was a major embarrassment for the fans of big bombers and fast jets. The 208Bs and 802s do the job for far less.

In Iraq and Afghanistan the U.S. successfully adapted civilian aircraft like the Cessna Caravan 208B and Air Tractor AT-802 for reconnaissance or armed with laser guided missiles, for air support. This arrangement was cheap and easy to use, which suited allies like the Afghans and Arabs (not just the Iraqis). The 208B is a large, single engine, aircraft that is mainly used to carry up to 14 passengers or 1.3 tons of cargo. The four ton 208B has a cruising speed of 317 kilometers an hour and can stay in the air for about six hours per sortie. The 208 has been in service since the mid-1980s and over 2,000 have been built. New ones cost about $2 million each but there are lots of much cheaper used 208Bs out there. It was found that equipping 208Bs with laser targeting equipment and two Hellfires was very effective at providing ground support.

Even more effective was a militarized crop duster, the Air Tractor AT-802. Cruising speed of the AT-802 is 356 kilometers an hour and endurance is about three hours. The militarized version (802U) has lightweight armor around the cockpit and key components. There was also a bulletproof windscreen. The frame was strengthened to give the aircraft a useful life of 12,000 hours in the air. It can carry military sensors (like the Sniper XR targeting pod) as well as a variety of weapons. These include the GAU-19 three-barrel 12.7mm machine-gun, the M260 launcher (for seven 70mm unguided or laser guided rockets), Hellfire laser guided missiles and the Mk 82 227 kg (500 pound) bomb. Militarized commercial aircraft like the 208B or Air Tractor are more like a UAV when it comes to flight hour cost.

The U.S. Air Force has been conducting a search for what they call OA-X. This is to be an inexpensive dual use (training/attack) aircraft. The air force would prefer a jet, and many new jet trainers are designed with this alternate attack or surveillance duty in mind. Some new aircraft, like Scorpion, have been designed for the competition but there are existing aircraft like the AT-6C that can do the job. Non-jets like the A-29 Super Tucano are also proposed. While the 208B and AT-802 are OK for impoverished allies, the American aviation leaders want something more, well, presentable. That is another issue that someone should do something about but that never seems to happen.

Aircraft the U.S. is willing to consider for their own use are armed trainers, either powered by jets or turbo-props. The Brazilian A29 Super Tucano already has most of the market for such warplanes. This five ton, single engine, single seat aircraft was built for pilot training, but also performs quite well for counter-insurgency work. The Super Tucano is basically a prop driven trainer that is equipped for combat missions. The aircraft can carry up to 1.5 tons of weapons, including 12.7mm machine-guns, bombs and missiles. The aircraft cruises at about 500 kilometers an hour and can stay in the air for about 6.5 hours per sortie. One of the options is a FLIR (infrared radar that produces a photo realistic video image in any weather) and a fire control system for bombing. Several nations are using the Super Tucanos for counter-insurgency work. The aircraft is also used for border patrol by the United States. The Super Tucano costs $9 million each, and come in one or two seat versions. The bubble canopy provides excellent visibility. This, coupled with its slow speed (versus jets), makes it an excellent ground attack aircraft.

The U.S. sold more than two dozen AT-802s and the UAE provided these to Yemen and Libya for use against Islamic terrorists. This allows local forces to have their own air support with pilots talking to their troops on the ground and providing timely and very effective ground support. Thus even wealthy Gulf oil states see the advantages of these inexpensive, simple and effective aircraft.China takes the long view about investing in Afghanistan, and how to protect those investments. Since 2002 China has tried, without much success, to establish extractive industries (oil and copper) in Afghanistan. While these efforts have not succeeded yet China knows there is a lucrative (mainly to gangsters and Islamic terrorists) illegal mining industry that generates half a billion untaxed dollars a year. China would like to help Afghanistan change that. Nothing new there, China has helped before.

But Afghanistan was, for over a thousand years, a lucrative branch of the Silk Road between China and South Asia, the Middle East and points west. China is rebuilding that route via railroads in Central Asia, Pakistan and Southeast Asia and now roads (and eventually railroads) through Afghanistan as well. The key to success is security. If the route is not safe, commerce will not use, and support, the route. Afghanistan is a special case as it was always one of the most dangerous portions of the Silk Road. To deal with that China is making a unique investment that is likely to succeed and it is all about border security. In early 2018 China agreed to pay for an Afghan military base in northeast Afghanistan (Badakhshan province) on the border with Tajikistan. China would also pay for equipping and arming the Afghan border guards at the base, as well as their salaries. China would have someone there to ensure the money went where it was supposed to and to monitor the performance of the Afghan troops.

This base would provide more security for a road from Afghanistan, via Tajikistan that carries mostly Chinese truck traffic and a growing number of Islamic terrorists going in both directions. China is particularly concerned with Chinese Moslems (mainly Turkic Uighurs) travelling to Afghanistan to join Islamic terror groups, gain some experience and return to China. The most direct land route from Afghanistan to China is this road in Tajikistan that has been used for over a decade to move Chinese workers and equipment into Afghanistan. In 2016 the road also moved Chinese troops into Afghanistan for joint security patrols with Afghan forces. These patrols ended in late 2016 but apparently continued on the Tajik side of the border in a more limited fashion.

This base building deal is an outgrowth of a 2017 deal in which Afghanistan agreed to allow Chinese firms to enter Afghanistan and examine if it was possible to rebuild the railroad from Tajikistan (the Sher Khan dry-port in Kunduz province) to Herat (the Iran border) as well as a separate project to build dams and hydroelectric facilities on the Kabul River. The Chinese are not certain if either project can be built much less maintained because of the corruption and violence (from the Taliban, drug gangs and assorted other bandits). China has more patience than most. The Sher Khan dry-port facility and existing roads are an example of what usually happens. Afghan officials in charge of maintaining these facilities steal as much of the money they receive for running and maintaining these facilities and often extort more cash from users. The opium/heroin gangs depend on widespread corruption to stay in business and most Afghans see nothing wrong with the many practices which wealthier and better run nations consider corruption. This is not an easy problem to fix and while China has its own problems with corruption most Chinese accept the fact that corruption is, in the long run, bad for everyone. Meanwhile the Taliban and Afghan security forces continue to fight for control of the Tajikistan border around where Sher Khan is because that is also the best route for illegal opium and heroin exports. Further east the situation is quieter and thats where the new base is being built.

China already has a lot of experience trying to do business in Afghanistan. Most of these efforts were failures, but all of them were instructive. For example in late 2016 the Taliban announced that it would not interfere with a huge copper deposit 40 kilometers southeast of Kabul at Mes Aynak. Such assurances were necessary turn that copper into cash. In 2008 China signed a deal with Afghanistan that gave them 30 years to develop a mine there and ship copper out. Mes Aynak is believed to be one of the top three copper deposits in the world and worth $50 billion or more if it ever got into production. But China has not moved because of the lawless situation in Afghanistan. The Afghan government believed the Taliban were trying to entice the Chinese to begin construction so the Taliban could extort regular payments to protect the facility from attack. That really doesnt work in Afghanistan, where there are too many potential attackers offering the same deal. The copper mine project never really got going because of the security problems. The Chinese are accustomed to paying bribes but they found the situation in Afghanistan too complex to handle. There were too many armed groups competing with each other to sell China protection. But the Chinese to not give up easily.

Earlier in 2016 China announced it would provide Afghanistan with $70 million in military aid. This was a continuation of increasingly close relations with China. For example in early 2015 Afghanistan admitted that it had an arrangement with China whereby Afghanistan would seize and turn over to China any Chinese Moslems (especially Turkic Uighurs) found in Afghanistan. In return China increased the diplomatic and economic pressure on Pakistan to stop supporting Islamic terrorists attacking Afghanistan. China is the largest foreign investor in Pakistan as well as the main source of modern weapons, so when China talks Pakistan must listen and at least pretend to act (which was all the Chinese could get from Pakistan). China is also becoming a major source of foreign aid and military assistance for Afghanistan.

There had been some partial successes. In 2011 the Afghans made a deal with China to allow Chinese oil companies to explore for oil in the northwest. The Chinese contract included China building a refinery in the north as well, which could make Afghanistan able to eliminate nearly all fuel imports. In late 2012 a Chinese firm began pumping oil from a well northwest (the Amu Darya basin) Afghanistan. This was a first for Afghanistan and the Chinese expected to get 2,000 barrels a day from this well and began drilling others. The government had to send 300 police to guard the Chinese as a local warlord was demanding payments to allow the exploration. Potential foreign investors tried to convince Afghan leaders to get the corruption and violence under control, at least in areas where lots of minerals, oil and natural gas are found. Exporting these raw materials (mostly via the northern routes) would be a major boost to the Afghan economy. But too often, local warlords and greedy government officials steal so much (in bribes and outright theft) that foreign investors quit or simply wont come in. A lot of senior Afghan leaders realize how this has to work but that was not enough. It wasnt in this case and oil production was halted in late 2013. The contracts with Chinese and Afghan companies to develop this oil field were cancelled in 2017. Chinese and Afghan firms were ready to invest $1.5 billion to build a refinery in Afghanistan but apparently corruption and Afghan politics got in the way. So the Chinese are taking the initiative to create security one tiny step at a time.

Earlier China was approached about building a direct route from China to Afghanistan via the short border the two countries share. But this is an odd border. It is reached through a long, narrow panhandle (the Wakhan Corridor), and the actual border with China is only 76 kilometers long. The actual passage between Afghanistan and China is the 4,923 meter (15,261 feet) high Wakhjir Pass.

The Wakhan Corridor area has never been very violent, and escaped most of the fighting that has torn apart Afghanistan since the 1970s. But China refused to open its border with Afghanistan, fearing complications with the mainly Moslem population on their side of the frontier. There are other problems with this border. There no roads through the pass, only trails. The pass is closed five months of the year by snow. For several more months the pass is closed intermittently by bad weather. The Wakhan Corridor itself was once part of the Silk Road, but only when weather allowed caravans through. The Chinese Wakhan Corridor border has been closed to traffic for over a century and China considers it too difficult and expensive to build a road or rail line through the Wakhan Corridor. The road via Tajikistan works because it is open all year and safe.

Google Earth images have shown that China built a new road to the border area, along with additional guard posts after 2010. The Chinese road was only built to make it easier to move border guards, and their supplies, to the frontier.Khe Sanh Vietnam February 21, 1968 - An eruption of smoke and dust obscure part of the beleaguered Marine combat base at Khe Sanh during a recent North Vietnamese rocket attack. Photo by Cpl L. F. George

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Each month we count on your subscriptions or contributions. You can support us in the following ways:Violence perpetrated by rogue militias is increasing throughout Congo. Foreign observers blame president Joseph Kabila for the deteriorating security situation. Why? He lacks legitimacy and therefore lacks authority. As everyone knows, he refused to step down from the presidency in December 2016 when his term ended. He also ignored the December Accord (of December 31, 2016) to permit a new election in 2017. A recent opinion poll found that no more than ten to 15 percent of the Congolese electorate support Kabila. As of February 1, serious armed conflict is occurring in ten of Congo's 26 provinces. Serious means firefights involving company-sized units (80 to 100 fighters). Well-armed banditry (which could also be low level rebellion) is occurring in other provinces. Several foreign aid personnel are telling the UN that Congo is on the verge of another civil war.

But bullets aren't the only way to kill. In the Kasai region the foreign aid workers report that violence disrupts food aid distribution operations, but so do logistical (bad roads) problems. The inability to move food into the Kasai region has forced some aid groups to give limited direct cash distributions to starving people to spend in local markets. So far this has been limited to the most remote areas in Kasai. This is not a new concept but it is risky. What if the local markets don't have food? All too often they don't because the markets are targets for militias or even the army. But it is easier to bring in money than 20 kilogram sacks of cereals. According to one report, so far 38,000 people have received $15 in cash.

February 16, 2018: The UN Southern African nations to continue their support of the UN peacekeeping effort in Congo, especially the Intervention Brigade (IBDE). Three countries contribute forces to the IBDE: South Africa, Tanzania and Malawi. The UN has given the IBDE unique permission: it can conduct offensive combat operations in Congo. South Africa immediately reaffirmed its commitment to support IBDE.

February 15, 2018: Both Congo and Rwanda agree a firefight occurred between Congolese and Rwandan soldiers on February 14. Where it occurred and the number of dead and wounded remains in dispute. Congo claims at least five soldiers were killed in the incident. Congo also claims the firefight took place within Congo's Virunga National Park and lasted almost six hours. Rwanda denies Congo's accusation and claims the Congolese soldiers entered Rwandan territory. Rwanda says no Rwandan troops were killed or wounded in the confrontation.

In eastern Congo foreign aid workers report that fighting between Hema and Lendu tribespeople continues in Ituri province and that another 50,000 refugees may be fleeing to Uganda.

Police in Burundi have issued public threats to arrest anyone who may "campaign" against a new constitutional referendum proposed by president Pierre Nkurunziza. If the referendum passes it would allow Nkurunziza to remain in power until 2034. The referendum is scheduled for May 2018.

February 13, 2018: Relief agencies report that in the last seven days 22,000 refugees have fled from Congo's Ituri province and entered Uganda. Since January 1st, around 35,000 Congolese refugees have fled to Uganda to avoid another outbreak of violence between the Hema and Lendu tribes. The Hema are predominantly herders (pastoralists), the Lendu farm. The Hema and Lendu fought almost continuously from 1999 to 2003. Several thousand tribal folk have died in the conflict-- probably more Lendu than Hema but no one is certain. All told, since mid-December 2016, the tribal clashes have forced some 200,000 people to flee Ituri. Aid workers report a number of refugees have collected on the shores of Lake Albert.

February 12, 2018: In Congo the army claimed is has captured the major Ugandan rebel ADF camp and logistics base in northeast Congo some 80 kilometers from the town of Beni (Ituri province).

February 11, 2018: In the CAR (Central African Republic) two large militia groups continue to fight for control of the Eastern Haute-Kotto and central Ouaka prefectures. The UPC (a Fulani tribal group) and the FPRC (for the most part Gula and Runga tribesmen) have been doing most of the fighting.

February 10, 2018: Congo confirmed it intends to raise taxes on minerals as well as raise the royalty rate mining companies must pay the government. Parliament approved legislation to raise mining taxes as part of a new "mining code." Even freelance individual miners (the creuseurs) will have to pay the mining extraction taxes. The legislation is not yet in effect and president Kabila has yet to sign the bill into law. Most of the mining companies affected are European, North American and Chinese. Cobalt will become more expensive and so will copper. Why? In 2016 the world produced an estimated 123,000 tons of cobalt and 57 percent came from Congo. It is not just cobalt, Congo is also one of the world's top copper producers. Cobalt has many uses, but it is critical in the production of rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, the type used to power mobile digital devices and electric vehicles. Congo's cobalt royalty will rise from two percent to ten percent. China has been a major buyer of Congolese cobalt so that increase will hit Chinese manufacturers particularly hard. In the first nine months of 2017 China imported an estimated $1.2 billion worth of Congolese cobalt. Where will the additional tax and royalty money go? A recently published study by a relief agency estimated the 20 percent of Congo's mining revenues are lost to corruption and mismanagement. Gecamines, the stare owned mining company, plays a key role in mismanagement and "diverting" mining revenues. Gecamines officials are beholden to the Kabila government. (Austin Bay)

February 9, 2018: In eastern Congo the army claimed that since January 21 it has killed 48 members of the Yakutumba militia in an operation in South Kivu province. The army claimed another 150 fighters were captured. The militia is led by William Amuri Yakutumba who is an opponent of President Kabila.

February 8, 2018: In east Congo the army offensive in North and South Kivu provinces, which began in January, is continuing. The offensive focuses primarily on the Ugandan Muslim rebel ADF group.

February 6, 2018: Congo ordered Belgium to close its consulate in the south (Katanga province) and reduce airline flights between Congo and Belgium. Congo also announced it will close its consulate in Antwerp, Belgium. Why? Since January 1 Belgium has cut back significantly on its aid to the Congolese government. Belgium objects to the Kabila government's savage treatment of its own citizens.

February 5, 2018: A spokesman for Congolese president Kabila said the president will not "contest elections now scheduled for December 2018. Several opposition groups were not impressed since Kabila himself did not make the announcement. However, the spokesman claimed Kabila will hand over power after elections in 2018. The spokesman also said Kabila will name a "preferred successor" in July 2018. Stay tuned.

February 2, 2018: Burundi security forces handed over 34 Yakutumba militiamen to the Congolese Army. The rebels had fled into Burundi.

January 30, 2018: in southwest Congo (Kasai region) nine people have died in a new outbreak of violence. The government claimed the Kamuina Nsapu militia murdered four people in the village of Bata Ishama the killed another five in the village of Kakenge.

January 27, 2018: In east Congo rebels in South Kivu province killed a peacekeeper from Pakistan and left one other soldier wounded.

January 25, 2018: A recently released UN report claimed "state agents in Congo committed 1,176 extrajudicial killings in 2016. Essentially the UN is accusing the Kabila regime of murdering 1,176 Congolese.

January 24, 2018: Congo's Senate passed legislation creating a new "mining code" for Congo.Russian national Vadim Shkolnitski, 36, has pleaded guilty to importing ecstasy into Christchurch Airport on April 6, 2017.

A former couple say they were unwitting drug couriers when they flew into Christchurch with 5 kilograms of ecstasy worth $2 million in a suitcase.

Now the Russian man is in custody to begin a lengthy prison term next week, but the Ukrainian woman has been freed to return to her family in Israel.

Ganna Manchenko said the 10 months since her arrest had been a "nightmare".

NZ CUSTOMS The 5 kilograms of ecstasy in the Samsonite suitcase, which came into Christchurch Airport with the trio, who had flown in from Europe.

The 32-year-old walked free at the Christchurch District Court on Monday when the Crown agreed to drop charges of importing the class B drug MDMA, which is more commonly known as ecstasy, and possession of the drug for supply.

READ MORE:

* Trio deny importing 5 kilograms of ecstasy seized at Christchurch Airport

* Three in court for Christchurch Airport drugs bust

* Super-expensive Ecstasy is probably not even MDMA in New Zealand

Judge Tom Gilbert explained to her that the Crown was no longer pursuing charges against her and the charges were dismissed and she was free to go.

STAFF PHOTOTGRAPHER Ukrainian national Ganna Manchenko, 32, was also charged with importing the class B drug and possession of it for supply, but the charges have been dropped.

Manchenko, her now former partner Vadim Shkolnitski and another man were stopped and questioned by customs officers at Christchurch Airport after their flight from Europe via Singapore, on April 6, 2017.

Luggage X-rays had identified inconsistencies, and on close examination, officers located several packages inside the lining of one of the cases, which later tested positive for ecstasy.

"She is extremely relieved this nightmare is over," said Manchenko's lawyer Steve Hembrow, outside the courtroom.

123RF The 5 kilograms of ecstasy, worth $2 million, was in a Samsonite suitcase.

"She is simply looking forward to getting back to Israel and being able to see her family.

"She has always maintained that she knew nothing about the drugs that were concealed in the suitcase of her then partner."

Manchenko has a degree in food technology from a Ukraine university, but has retrained and worked as a chef in Israel.

Russian national Shkolnitski, 36, pleaded guilty in court on Monday  shortly before a trial had been scheduled  to a charge of importing the ecstasy and the Crown dropped the possession-for-supply charge.

Outside the court, lawyer Gregor Morison said the truck driver was also not aware of the drugs in the suitcase.

"But he accepts he was reckless and should have picked up the signals," Morison said.

"Once he came to understand the law about importation  that if you are reckless you are also guilty  that is the basis on which he has pleaded guilty."

He was remanded in custody for sentencing on February 28, along with the third person arrested  Vladimir Turovsky, a 33-year-old Russian dive shop owner.

Turovsky pleaded guilty on February 9 to a charge of importing 5kg of the drug hidden in a Samsonite suitcase. At the time of the arrests, the drugs were said to have a street value of about $2m.

The drug, referred to as MDMA in court, was found in powdered form.

A Russian interpreter was needed in court for Turovsky and Shkolnitski, who are due to be sentenced next week even if pre-sentence reports cannot be prepared in time.

The pair face jail time as home detention reports have already been ruled out.

The maximum jail term for importing ecstasy is 14 years.The accountability court hearing corruption references against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his family has summoned the former head of the Panama case joint investigation team (JIT), Wajid Zia, on February 22.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB), which filed three corruption references against the Sharifs in September last year, had pleaded the court to summon Zia, an additional director in the Federal Investigation Agency.

The references pertain to the Al-Azizia Steel Mills, Flagship Investment Ltd and Avenfield properties in London. Nawaz is accused in all three cases whereas his daughter Maryam and son-in-law MNA Capt (retd) Safdar are accused in the Avenfield reference only.

At the next hearing on Feb 22, two UK-based witnesses will record their statements via video-link from London in the supplementary Avenfield reference filed last month. NAB has since also filed supplementary references in the other two cases.

The NAB prosecutor had pleaded before the court that the original JIT record needs to be submitted when the new witnesses will record their statements.

Giving its order on NAB's request today, Accountability Court-I Judge Mohammad Bashir issued a notice to Zia directing him to appear on Thursday along with the original JIT report.

Moreover, the court ordered the authorities to ensure the attendance of all three suspects at the next hearing.

Zia has already appeared before the same court in the corruption trial against Nawaz's close aide and former finance minister Senator Ishaq Dar. The original JIT report has been submitted in that case as well.

At the last hearing of the case on Feb 15, the court had rejected the accused's request to be exempted from appearance from February 19 to March 5 as the family has to travel to London to visit Nawaz's ailing wife, Kulsoom.

Nawaz's counsel had pleaded the court to allow his client to travel to London. However, NAB Deputy Prosecutor General Muzaffar Abbasi opposed the plea citing the nearing of the March deadline by the Supreme Court to wrap up the trial.

ECL placement

On Feb 14, NAB had requested the Ministry of Interior to place Nawaz, Maryam and Safdar's names on the Exit Control List (ECL), observing that the accused have not joined NAB's investigations despite summons and could flee the country to escape legal process.

Moreover, it requested for placement of Nawaz's sons, Hussain and Hasan, on the ECP as well so they can be arrested on their return to Pakistan and be made a part of the investigation.

However, the ministry is yet to follow through on the request, as per media reports.

The Supreme Court had disqualified Nawaz as premier on July 28 last year after hearing the Panama Papers case. The apex court had also directed NAB to file three corruption references against Nawaz and family, and one against Dar.

The court had also appointed a monitoring judge, Justice Ijazul Ahsan, to oversee the trial and given the accountability court six months, from the filing of the references, to wrap up the proceedings.The Interpol has placed Mujahidullah Afridi, the prime accused in Asma Rani murder case, on its most wanted list.

On January 27, Afridi, accompanied by his accomplice, had shot the woman dead in Kohat after she turned down his proposal of marriage.

Rani, a third year medical student at Ayub Medical College, had named the man, nephew of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insafs district leader as the one behind her murder.

The Interpol was approached through the Federal Investigation Agency, with the request to help find the accused so that he can face a trial in Pakistan.

The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Police had shared Afridis passport number and other identification details with the international police.

The law enforcement agency said the culprit is around 24-years-old and his father lives in Qatar. The accused himself has a business in the UAE and frequently visits the Middle East.

Ranis sister Safia had said she had previously been threatened by Afridi for turning down the proposal.Taurangas Deputy Mayor Kelvin Clout is pushing for a referendum to be added to the upcoming council by-election as a way of encouraging broader community feedback on the museum issue.

He says the matter has been a contentious one in Tauranga for at least two decades but there has never been a city-wide plebiscite.

Its something that fall under the category of discretionary spending. We have to spend money on water and roads, but not museums. The size of the investment and ongoing operational expenditure means it is worth getting peoples thoughts on the matter.

He says a referendum on its own could cost up to $150,000, but he thinks the upcoming by-election is a great opportunity to piggyback the referendum on.

Electoral officer Warwick Lampp has advised the council that a referendum could he held in conjunction with the by-election, if councillors resolve to proceed at todays council meeting.

He says the estimated cost to combine a referendum with the by-election is up to $45,000, depending on the final number of candidates.

Were still waiting for clarification on the actual costs, says Kelvin. That in itself is not an insignificant amount to spend. But when you put in the context of the overall investment in the museum, its not a relatively large cost.

He says the plan is to have one concise question, preferably Do you support the museum proposed by the Tauranga City Council in its 2018/28 Draft Long Term Plan? Yes/No.

If you have more than one question, the costs can blow out. Its about getting the wording of the question very clear, and making sure it isnt a leading question to try and get a particular answer.

Councillors will vote on whether to combine the upcoming by-election with a referendum on the museum at a meeting in chambers this afternoon.A Tauranga-based company is the latest to provide aid to badly affected farming communities in Tonga, following the devastating impact of Cyclone Gita.

Heilala Vanilla, which is based in Te Puna, partners with vanilla growers throughout Tonga, including the island of Eua.

The company was established in 2002 by a New Zealand family - in partnership with a local family in Vavau, Kingdom of Tonga - as an aid project following Cyclone Waka.

Since its inception, Heilala Vanilla has had a significant positive impact on the Tongan economy, providing employment and infrastructure across a number of communities.

The company has seen the hardship that these disasters cause and is working tirelessly to help those affected by Cyclone Gita, to get back on their feet as soon as possible.

Eua is a community that Heilala Vanilla has a strong presence in, with vanilla plantations and partner growers spread across the island.

The island has a population of about 5,000 people and approximately 800 households divided between 13 villages.

The category four storm that devastated the main island of Tongatapu and the neighbouring island of Eua has left some villages completely destroyed, with limited access to food and water.

Heilala Vanilla CEO and Co-Founder Jennifer Boggiss has spoken with both the Heilala Vanilla team in Eua and her father John Ross, who happened to be visiting Tonga at the time Cyclone Gita hit.

She received reports of widespread devastation to crops and buildings on Eua, with an immediate need for non-perishable food, as well as machinery to help clear the fallen trees and debris.

We have been personally touched by this disaster, as Eua is home to over 40 vanilla growers. These communities are already vulnerable with limited resources to overcome natural disasters.

We remain loyal to Tonga and will do whatever is required to support our team and community there.

Jennifer says Heilala Vanilla has been overwhelmed by the generosity of customers and suppliers and appreciative of their support for the relief efforts.

The foundation has received donations of goods and services from many businesses incuding:

 1000 long life milk bottles from Lewis Road Creamery

 A selection of biscuits and snacks from The Griffins Food Company

 Chainsaw petrol and oil packs by Stihl Shop

 Dart board and darts - Puma Darts

The donations and support will allow Heilala Vanilla to provide the following assistance directly to the villages on Eua;

 Non-perishable food supplies

 More than 20 chainsaws to clear cyclone debris

 Building materials to repair damaged and destroyed homes

 Clothing and disposable nappies for infants and children

 A second shipment of supplies will be sent to Eua High School in March

Jennifer says the company will cover all administrative and associated costs required for the foundation to carry out its work.

The requirement for this relief is immediate and theres limited air freight to Tonga available.

Heilala Vanilla is seeking the support of Air New Zealand and the New Zealand Government to expedite the initial shipment.

In addition Heilala Vanilla has also set up a donation page on their website to assist with the relief efforts. Every dollar of the funds donated will go directly to the people in need on Eua.

People wishing to support the Heilala Vanilla Foundation in helping the victims of Cyclone Gita can donate on the Heilala website.A man who was sexually abused by a Catholic brother when he was six says a 33-year-jail sentence for the paedophile is not long enough.

The convicted sex offender Bernard McGrath preyed on children in New Zealand and Australia where hes just been sentenced to decades in prison.

Darryl Smith was just six years old when Bernard McGrath began sexually abusing him in the 1970s at Christchurchs Marylands school for boys.

McGrath was a St John of God brother when he abused at least nine boys at the school. He eventually served two prison sentences in New Zealand - released most recently in 2008.

Now 54, Darryl Smith is still angry.

"I got my life totally stolen from me. I had no childhood because of this monster, I lost everything.

"He is responsible majorly, yes, because he did the crime, but also St John of God hid the crime. They knew these sorts of things were happening to us children and they allowed it to happen."

But McGraths abuse didnt end there.

Despite the accusations at Marylands, St John of God made him headmaster at Kendall Grange boys home in New South Wales where he subjected boys to years of sexual assaults through the 80s.

In 2012, Australian authorities laid more than 250 charges and after a lengthy two year legal battle he was extradited from New Zealand to stand trial.

Last week, at the age of seventy, he was sentenced to 33 years jail, with 21 years without parole.

Mr Smith says it was justice and he should never be allowed out.

"As a survivor of this monsters abuse, life is not long enough for him. My message to the Australian government is to lock him away, lock him away and just throw away the key.

"Dont even feed the monster, give him nothing."

He says it was appalling how long the legal process had taken.

"The predator seems to have more money and people behind him than the victims ... in his case hes got the might of the Catholic Church behind him."

Murray Heasley is a spokeperson for the Network for Survivors of Abuse in Faith Based Institutions.

He said the fact that McGrath would spend the rest of his life in prison was some justice for his victims but he it took far too long to get there.

"Many of the people that Bernard McGrath attacked will be dead now, and a good number of them will be dead by their own hand. So the longer that this injustice was drawn out, the more horrific the effect was on survivors. Theyre the survivors, the victims are the ones that didnt make it. So my response is this is unconscionable. "

Mr Heasley says he hoped the government would allow abuse carried out in religious orders to be part of the the Royal Commission on historical abuse in state care.Results from the 2016 ASH year 10 survey released this week show that only 2.2 per cent of year 10 students smoke daily.

They are the lowest smoking rates recorded since 1999, when 15.2 per cent of students smoked daily.

At the same time, the number of students who have never even taken a puff of a cigarette has increased to nearly 80 per cent - an increase from only 55 per cent a decade ago.

The survey included over 25,000 year 10 students. The largest survey of its kind in New Zealand, ASH is releasing the new numbers as students throughout the country return to school after the summer break.

ASH Programme Manager, Boyd Broughton, says these results have been significantly influenced by the students environment and upbringing.

The decline in smoking for year 10 students is one of the big success stories of the smokefree movement in New Zealand, says Boyd.

Rates have dropped by two thirds in under a decade.

We are releasing the results as young people return to school, because much of this success has been down to the hard work and commitment of schools to being smokefree.

Young people are highly influenced by the environment around them, especially what their peers and parents do.

Schools are doing a great job fostering smokefree environments and contributing to the decline in year 10 smoking.One would imagine that Apple cutting production of the iPhone X in half due to weak sales would give rival Samsung a feeling of schadenfreude, but that might not be the case. The Korean firm provides the OLED displays for the flagship phone, and now that Apple has lowered iPhone X orders, Samsung is trying to find new buyers for its surplus of OLED panels.

Nikkei reports that Samsung increased OLED production to meet the expected demand for the iPhone X, but the pricey device hasnt sold as well as expected, leaving the Galaxy maker with the need to find new buyers. The publication says Samsung hoped other phone companies would make the switch to OLED, but the technology's high price has seen many stay with cheaper LCD displays.

"Production of the iPhone X, whose sales have been sluggish, is expected to drop by half in the first 3 months of this year from the initial estimate of over 40 million units," said the report.

Another problem for Samsung is the competition from Chinese OLED makers, who are expanding their production capacity and forcing down the prices of OLED screens.

At around $100 per unit, including the touch sensors, OLED panels are still around twice the price of their LCD counterpartsits one of the reasons why the iPhone X is so expensive. In China, the worlds largest smartphone market, midrange devices are incredibly popular, and phone companies dont want to risk losing customers by passing the cost of OLED screens on to them. Nikkei notes that only 5-10 percent of smartphones made by Chinese giants Oppo and Vivo use OLED panels.

As if all this wasnt bad enough for Samsung, reports say it will soon lose its grip on the OLED market, of which it controls over 95 percent. Chinese manufacturers are set to increase production of OLEDs, as is LG Display, which will reportedly be supplying the OLED panels for the upcoming 6.5-inch iPhone.Electronic skin patches able to perform tasks such as measuring glucose levels in people with diabetes and checking for dehydration in athletes are nothing new, but researchers from the University of Tokyo have taken things to the next level by adding an LED to an e-skin.

The ultrathin, band aid-style device features a micro-LED array that can, for example, show in real-time the moving waveform of an electrocardiogram. Featuring nanomesh electrodes and stretchable wiring, the patch is flexible enough to bend as a wearer moves their body while still displaying the images. It can stretch to 45 percent of its original length, and is more durable than previous designs.

Professor Takao Someya, who led the development of the device, believes it can eventually be used to make reading information easier for the elderly and infirm, who can struggle with modern medical equipment. It can also be used as a way for professionals and family members to monitor wearers health remotely.

With this, even in home-care settings, you can achieve seamless sharing of medical data with your home doctors, who then would be able to communicate back to their patients, Someya told AFP.



The patch could also be used to receive messages, such as reminding patients to take their medicine. Someya even envisions the device as a way for distant relatives to send short texts to loved ones.

I think a grandfather who receives a message saying I love you from his grandchild, they would feel the warmth, too.

Dai Nippon Printing aims to improve the reliability of the patch, increase production, and make it suitable for covering large areas. It hopes the device will be ready to hit the market within the next three years.It was way back in December 2016 when Microsoft announced its plans for Windows 10 on ARM devices. A year later, Asus, HP, and Lenovo unveiled the first of these laptops, and while they may boast an all-day battery life, a recent document published by Microsoft has revealed some of the platforms limitations.

First spotted by Paul Thurrott, it appears that the Redmond firm posted the "Limitations of apps and experiences on ARM" document by accident, seeing as it was removed over the weekend. But if you didnt catch it first time around, there are cached copies available.

We already knew that Windows 10 on ARM does not support emulation of x64 (64-bit) apps and can only run 32-bit desktop applications. The document reiterates this but Microsoft is planning to introduce support at some point in the future. It also says that while it can run x86 apps, it cant use x86 driversit will require native ARM64 drivers instead. This means limited hardware support compared to the standard version of Windows 10, making it more like Windows S.

Theres bad news for gamers, too, as Microsoft says certain titles wont function. Older games and apps that use hardware-accelerated OpenGL or versions of DirectX older than DX9 wont run, and neither will games that use anti-cheat technologies.

The Windows Hypervisor Platform is not supported on ARM, so users wont be able to run virtual machines using Hyper-V on the devices. And apps that customize the Windows user experience, such as assistive technologies, shell extensions, and input method editors, will not work. Its noted that cloud storage apps that use shell extensions, including Dropbox, may fail unless they are recompiled for Windows on ARM.

Finally, apps that assume all ARM-based devices are running a mobile version of Windows may appear in the wrong orientation or present unexpected UI layout issues.

Despite these limitations, the majority of modern apps and games should run on Windows on ARM devices, but the fact Microsoft pulled the page suggest its worried that potential buyers could be put off. Well learn more once the first devices go on sale.The coercive measures have flagrantly violated international law and constitute crimes against humanity. | Read MoreBarnaby Joyce's affair with former staffer Vikki Campion has become fodder for US late night TV, with comedian John Oliver mocking the Deputy PM on the latest episode of his hit HBO show Last Week Tonight.

The British comedian took aim at the scandal-hit Joyce, taking notable glee in his "hypocritical" opposition to last November's marriage equality vote.

"Joyce is a social-conservative who opposed same-sex marriage in [Australia's] referendum last year because he believes in traditional family values. And you can probably see where this is going..." Oliver joked to his US audience.

"Now you might think that that is hypocritical, but in reality Joyce has such incredible family values that he can't restrict them to just one family."As Q&A was there to remind us - as Australia stood on the edge of a cliff screaming make it stop - our nation now lives in what we might call Barnaby Minutes.

If only we lived in Shareena Minutes.

Since the official debut of the Barna-baby scandal 13 days ago, Australia has lived through 18,720 minutes of thinking about Barnaby Joyces sex life. Thats 1,123,200 seconds - a million seconds, plus change - though of course nothing really will change, the Prime Ministers valiant efforts to police the poke notwithstanding.

On Monday night we briefly saw an alternative universe, one in which we listened more to the stories of people like the actress Shareena Clanton, who after the endless Barna-baby opening managed to stop the show completely for close to a full four minutes.With electric vehicles (EVs) we should be careful what we wish for. Recently 79 per cent of panellists surveyed for a newspaper said that more should be done to encourage their use, and the Chief Scientist, Dr Alan Finkel, is an owner and a notable advocate. However, the story is not all good.

Lets take greenhouse gas emissions. Dr Finkel pointed out that a Tesla, charged at the national average greenhouse intensity of the grid (910 kg CO2/MWh), is responsible for 168 grams of CO2 per km (emitted at the power station), and a Toyota Corolla for 178 grams per km (at the tailpipe). He also mentions one of the smallest EVs in the Australian Green Vehicle Guide, the Renault Zoe, at 121 grams per km.

Toyota Prius.

However, you dont have to go electric to save emissions. More than 80 petrol or diesel cars on the Australian market emit less than the Renault Zoe. This does not include more than 20 plug-in hybrids, which can take their energy either from the power point or the bowser, whose actual emissions in use are very difficult to predict.

The lowest-emission car in Australia is still the Toyota Prius hybrid. This is essentially a petrol car  you cant plug it in  which recovers the energy lost in braking and stores it in batteries. This may not sound like much, but at 84 grams per km it has half the emissions of the Tesla.Lost. By Dadang Christanto. Nancy Sever Gallery, Gorman Arts Centre, 55 Ainslie Ave, Braddon. Wednesday to Sunday, 11am to 5pm. Until March 4.

The Javanese artist of Chinese descent Dadang Christanto, who established an early reputation with his human rights and social conscience art when still at the College of Arts at Yogyakarta, has been living in Australia since 1999. In his art, he mixes the autobiographical with the historical as he explores the many faces of genocide that occurred in his country, especially under President Suharto.

Dadang Christanto's Shinta, 2016, appears in Lost at the Nancy Sever Gallery, Gorman Arts Centre.

Christanto was the first Indonesian artist to represent his country at the Venice Biennale in 2003 and has participated in many other biennale-style exhibitions, including the Sydney Biennale (2010), the Yogyakarta Biennial (2003), Kwangju Biennale, South Korea (2000), the Bienal de Sao Paulo, Brazil (1998) and the first and third Asia-Pacific Triennials of Contemporary Art in Brisbane (1993 and 1999). Although recognised in his home country, he is still wary of repercussions for his relatives at home and I remember him, a couple of years ago at his large retrospective exhibition at the Queensland University of Technology Art Museum, worrying about the reception of his work in Indonesia.

Christanto works across a number of art mediums and perhaps is best known for monumental installations with life-size repetitive figures cast in various materials and shown in different circumstances and relating to loss and disappearance. He is also a performance artist and works in sculpture, video, painting and works on paper. This exhibition consists of large acrylic, predominantly blue paintings that dwell on the theme of loss of collective memory.Three people have been found dead in the remains of a suspicious house fire in Bonner.

Fire crews arrived to find a house "well alight" on Peter Coppin Street just before 9am Monday.

Police cordoned off part of a Gungahlin street. Credit:Karleen Minney

At first, crews found no one inside during a preliminary search of the house but made the grim discovery after putting the fire out.

The bodies were reportedly of an adult and two children, but police said they could not confirm the identities of the deceased.A man has been charged following a brawl in a car park in Sydney's northern suburbs that left another man on life support with a fractured skull.

Emergency services were called to a premises on Mona Vale Road in Terrey Hills after an altercation between "a number of people" in the early hours of Sunday.

A 43-year-old man was found unconscious on the ground with a critical head injury.

He was taken to Royal North Shore Hospital.Two southern Queensland men have been arrested and charged after simultaneous police raids on Friday led to officers allegedly finding child exploitation material.

Police allege the two men communicated with each other online and investigators were looking into whether they were part of a broader network.

A joint Queensland and federal police investigation led to detectives raiding residences at Cunnamulla, almost 800 kilometres west of Brisbane, and Geham, in the Toowoomba region.

It will be alleged officers found a computer and other electronic devices which contained child exploitation material during the Cunnamulla search.

A 65-year-old local man was charged with three counts of grooming a child under 16 and possessing child exploitation material. He was due to appear in the Cunnamulla Magistrates Court on Monday.Police refused to take any action after large rocks were thrown at cars in Melbourne's north-west on Sunday, two drivers claim.

Multiple vehicles were targeted along Pascoe Vale Road and Napier Street in Strathmore by a bearded man hurling stones from a moving red car.

Alex George was driving past Strathmore Secondary College with his fiancee at 10.45am when his car was struck.

Our front windscreen shattered out of nowhere, Mr George said.

I hit the breaks, hit the horn  we were covered in glass.The father of a teenager killed in a high-speed car chase in Melbourne has described how he is plagued by flashbacks of the charred remains of his "baby girl".

Ivana Clonaridis, 18, and Harley Churchill, 19, died on January 27, 2016 when their ute exploded in a fireball while drag racing Adem Arpaci, then 21, along the Western Ring Road.

Ivana Clonaridis died in car with Harley Churchill.

Arpaci was found guilty by a jury of two counts of culpable driving after he goaded others to participate in a high-speed race following an illegal skids meeting, where drivers go to perform and watch burnouts.

Witnesses claimed they saw the two vehicles "flying past" before Mr Churchill lost control of his ute at 182km/h.Witnesses have described the aftermath of a hit-run in Melbourne's south-east that left eight people injured as being like a "bomb site" with bodies strewn across the road.

A driver who allegedly fled the scene after hitting seven children and seriously injuring a woman as they crossed a road on Friday afternoon has been arrested.

Police allege a ute struck the woman and children as they crossed the intersection of Cardinia Road and Princes Highway in Pakenham just after 3.30pm.

The scene of hit-run crash in Pakenham in which seven children and an adult were injured. Credit:Nine News

The driver left his vehicle and ran away, police allege.The parliamentary inquiry into the oversight of police corruption and misconduct began on Monday. It includes organisations such as IBAC. Credit:Arsineh Houspian

A Melbourne law firm is advising its clients not to make a complaint about Victoria Police to the state's anti-corruption watchdog.

One reason, lawyer Jeremy King told a parliamentary inquiry on Monday, is because more than 90 per cent of complaints made to the Independent Broad-Based Anti-Corruption Commission were handed back to police to investigate.

"This results in organisations like our firm advising clients not to make complaints because of the significant legal ramifications of making a complaint, the poor prospects of the complaint being substantitated and the protracted and unsatisfying complaint process," he said.

Mr King, speaking at the inquiry into the external oversight of corruption and misconduct in Victoria, said his firm Robinson Gill Lawyers received up to three calls a day alleging police misdeeds.Gavin Sproule. Credit:Facebook

A police officer killed in a car accident while on his way to work on Saturday night has been remembered as a "true legend".

Acting Sergeant Gavin Sproule, a member of Shepparton Highway Patrol, was on his way to night shift when a car collided with his Toyota ute about 9pm.

The Kialla man, a father of two young children, was airlifted to Melbourne but died on arrival.

Shepparton Inspector Troy Hargadon paid tribute to his colleague on Monday afternoon.Ms Elzaibak says she will not give up her fight for justice. Credit:Luis Ascui Lisa Flynn, abuse law manager at Shine Lawyers, says Ms Elzaibaks case has been marred by misinformation and a lack of communication and continuity by police. Similar problems in other investigations often mean victims must retell their stories to multiple officers, which can be traumatic. Ms Flynn acknowledges many peoples dealings with police are positive but says the problems others encounter must be addressed given the spate of historical sex abuse cases that emerged during the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. "If these systemic problems arent addressed, theres a risk it will undo some of the great work the royal commission has done in terms of encouraging people to come forward and get help and report," she says.

Another person waiting is Henry*, who in 1996 went to police alleging he was sexually abused as a child a decade earlier by Barry Francis Watson, who was a leader in the Anglican Churchs youth group CEBS. That investigation did not result in charges, and Henry went back to police in 2013, when Watson was jailed for sexually assaulting 11 other boys. Henry has been back to the police numerous times since, but his wait has brought nothing but bitterness. "Its just not good enough, it infuriates me," he says. "The police have said they believe me, they just need more people to come forward." At 42, Henry has endured the lot: troubles with the law, drugs, mental health and relationship problems and a suicide attempt. He dreams of learning a language and studying, but has been unable to move on with his life, and has gone as far as encouraging four other men to contact police. "Its really done my head in. I wont give it up but I would just love to get some closure," he says.

Victoria Police says it cannot comment on ongoing investigations. But a spokeswoman says the force developed specialist expertise through 26 sexual offence and child abuse investigation teams across the state. The detectives in those teams, she says, are passionate, focused on what is best for victims and regularly keep them informed. "We understand that it can be difficult for victims to report their experience to police and that the decision is an important personal choice," the spokeswoman says. Police are investigating more sex assault cases than ever. Credit:Jason South "Our message to victims is that we support you. If you come forward, we have specially trained investigators who can assist you, support you and ensure your safety. If you come forward you will be listened to and your story will be heard."

Police are investigating more sex assault cases than ever, with another spike expected as a result of the royal commission, which referred 2575 allegations to authorities. Crime Statistics Agency figures show that between October 2016 and last September, Victorian police investigated 11,390 sex assault cases, up from 6376 in 2007-08. One in five of the 2007-08 cases involved allegations older than 10 years, whereas 26 per cent of the 2016-17 cases alleged historical offending. Ms Elzaibak acknowledges the detectives who investigate sex assaults are under-resourced and swamped by emotionally difficult, time-consuming examinations. "How can these people, who are continually getting files put on their desk, manage and get timely responses out to victims? They need more resources," she says.

"I dont know these officers personally and have no right to make judgment on them, but I will judge their system and lack of resources, their management and government. While these guys are not getting supported, victims of sexual violence are not getting supported." As Victorias Victims of Crime Commissioner, Greg Davies will always endorse calls for more police and better resources to help the force maintain its "victim-centric" policy. But Mr Davies says that in Ms Elzaibaks case "it appears those rights have not been met", and that police might have breached the Victims Charter Act, which requires that investigators regularly provide victims with information about their cases. The prevalence of sexual abuse means police are not the only ones stretched. Some victims face waiting up to 10 weeks to see counsellors from Centres Against Sexual Assault, though emergency cases are counselled straight away. South East CASA manager Carolyn Worth estimates almost 40 extra counsellors are needed across the state to eliminate waiting times.

Ms Worth says police are far better trained at dealing with victims than previously, but acknowledges long waits  either for counselling or police investigations  can be detrimental for vulnerable people. "Not getting that instant response can compound that message from the offender that 'you wont be believed," she says. Victoria Police has about 400 detectives who investigate sexual offences and child abuse, the forces spokeswoman says, and new positions are expected to be rolled out from mid-year. Detectives last year were provided with education resources aimed at changing misconceptions about sexual offending. Ms Elzaibak doesn't want another Christmas with her allegations still unresolved. Some days her advocating pays off, but she still has her bad days.

But she has come too far now to stay silent. "What keeps me pushing is Ill be damned if another victim has to go through what Ive gone through," she says. "Its so hard. The amount of times Ive wanted to quit, and I cant even think of the amount of times I dont want to wake up in the morning ... "But when I hear stories of what victims go through and I know what this bullshit system is like ... Ill be damned if Im going to give up the fight now." * Name has been changed.The proposed West Gate Tunnel as it cross the Maribyrnong River. Credit: Victorian government

The extra lanes are a key part of Transurban's new toll road that will eventually link the West Gate Freeway in Spotswood to CityLink in Docklands.

Roadworks to widen the freeway from 8 to 12 lanes between Williamstown Road and the M80 Ring Road are now under way.

The speed limit on parts of the West Gate Freeway will be reduced and lanes closed, as the Andrews government marches ahead with building the controversial $6.7 billion West Gate Tunnel.

Speeds will be reduced to 80km/h during the day over a 700 metre stretch on the freeway between Williamstown Road and Wembley Avenue in Yarraville, and will occasionally be reduced further during night works.

Some lanes will be closed over the same area at night.

This is being done to move the inbound exit ramp at Williamstown Road further north, to make way for the new tunnel entrance.

The roadworks will gradually move futher west, with traffic barriers progressively rolling out along the freeway towards the Ring Road over the next five years.

It is unclear how long the restrictions will be put in place but they will possibly continue, on and off, until the road is built in 2022.A new kind of street artist: Liz Sonntag, aka Tinky, has found a niche installing tiny dioramas in city laneway walls. Credit:Justin McManus

Liz Sonntag's street art is so tiny it's easy to miss, but the rewards are big for the eagle-eyed.

Cast your eyes down or sideways from the murals and tags on our laneway walls and you might spy one of her witty miniature dioramas.

Ms Sonntag, aka Tinky, trawls our back streets looking for the perfect niches in which to set up her absurdist scenes, using gaps in brick walls.

Last week, Ms Sonntag chose a lane in the west of the CBD to create a simple work of a tiny man, crushed by a life-sized cigarette butt, who was being attended to by miniature paramedics.A tugboat moves the Astor cruise ship out of Station Pier. Credit:Wendy Grenfell/Facebook

Wild winds have battered Victoria with a cruise ship wedged up against a pier, trees down and dozens of calls for help.

A severe weather warning is in place for damaging winds of up to 100km/h in Melbourne's eastern suburbs and elevated areas including the Yarra Ranges, the Bureau of Meteorology says.

Tug boats had to help rescue the Astor cruise ship, which was blown onto the edge of Station Pier at St Kilda on Monday night.

"Cruise ship has wedged up against end of Station Pier. Tug boat sent in to try and stabilise," witness Michelle Anderson wrote on Twitter.A few months away from Canberra has not dulled Jacqui Lambies passion for politics, nor her colourful turn of phrase, nor her strength of opinion.

I got out when it was turning into 50 Shades of Parly, she says, sitting down for a coffee after doing a street walk in Launceston ahead of next months Tasmanian election.

It is right up my alley, it's gone all House of Cards.

Jacqui Lambie campaigns on the streets of Launceston. Credit:Janie Barrett

Jokes aside, she takes a dim view of the scandals roiling about the federal parliament.Leadership pressure on Barnaby Joyce has escalated again after the man touted as his main rival, Michael McCormack, repeatedly refused to rule out a challenge or pledge his support for the Deputy Prime Minister in an awkward live TV interview.

Mr McCormack would only acknowledge Mr Joyce remains leader "at the moment" and that "at the moment" no challenge was under way.

It followed his comments to Fairfax Media on Saturday in which he also refused to rule out a challenge and said a leadership showdown "depends on what happens" this week as Nationals MPs "take a temperature reading" among constituents and branch members about Mr Joyce, his affair with a former staffer and his leadership.George Christensen's Facebook post. Credit:Facebook

George Christensens tactics are undergraduate, silly, and downright thuggish. He and his band of hard-right brutes try to bait their political opponents into anger, then turn around and make fun of them for being angry. Bait, and switch.

But in light of his Facebook post over the weekend, where he posted a photo himself, feeling tough and holding a firearm with the caption, do you feel lucky, greenie punks?, we still need to talk about what hes done.

I don't agree with Christensen on much, but the fact he keeps putting his hand up to represent the good people of Mackay suggests he and I agree at least that there's power and privilege in being a representative of your electorate. There's a lot you can do in Parliament, even from the backbench, and it gives you a platform to say and do things that people listen to.

Its because politics gives us all a platform that we should all be careful what we do with it. What people do with power is revealing. Christensen is using it to make jokes about pointing guns at his political opponents and suggesting those who might be intimidated by such behaviour are simply 'triggered snowflakes'.Brisbane taxi licences have plummeted in value by 78 per cent in just three years.

In 2014, standard taxi licences in the city were selling, on average, for more than half a million dollars.

The value of taxi licences has dropped by almost 80 per cent in Brisbane in just three years. Credit:Michelle Smith

Last year, that figure dropped to $113,003, as the dominance of ride-sharing service Uber sounded a near-death knell for Brisbane taxi licence owners.

The value of wheelchair-accessible maxi-taxi licences nosedived 60 per cent in three years to $111,179, on average, in Brisbane in 2017.The Victorian Nationals will call in police over an "alleged forgery" and thousands of dollars that went missing from the bank account of its Morwell branch in the state's east.

The $8000 in party funds were later repaid into the branch's account, but Nationals state Leader Peter Walsh said on Monday morning that police would be called.

Nationals Victorian Leader Peter Walsh. Credit:Leanne Pickett

The Nats' senior Coalition partner, The Victorian Liberals, were rocked by a financial scandal that led to the jailing in 2016 of their state director Damien Mantach for five years after pleading guilty to defrauding the party of $1.55 million.

Morwell is emerging as a major headache for the Nationals after its MP in the seat, Russell Northe, resigned from the party in 2017 and sat as an independent amid a crisis in his personal life.The wife of embattled Morwell MP Russell Northe has lashed out at the hypocrisy of the Nationals Party, saying her family had been dragged through the mud as her husband battles a personal crisis.

Mr Northe and his wife, Jenny, released an extraordinary statement after the Victorian Nationals announced they would call in police over an alleged forgery and $8000 that was taken and later returned to the bank accounts of its Morwell branch.

And on Monday Victorian Nationals leader Peter Walsh said Mr Northe owed him $30,000.Crumpler's offices on the top floor of a nondescript Russell St building is a quintessentially Melbourne space. With exposed ceilings over polished concrete floors, large co-working benches, and a plethora of perfectly groomed beards and sleeve-tattoos on display, it felt like a place I'd never be cool enough to work in. And of course, for a company that started out making bags for bike couriers, there's a wall for staff to park their two-wheelers.

I've got a lot of love for Crumpler. Having tested countless laptop bags over the years, I keep coming back to the delightfully named Considerable Embarrassment, one of the company's signature messenger bag designs. After six years of daily use, the bag still looks great and doesn't have a thread missing, even the velcro is strong enough to wake up the neighbours when I tear it open.

Part of Crumpler's Melbourne headquarters. Credit:Peter Wells

Earlier this month the company unveiled a bold new logo design, bidding farewell to the wiggly little man that has been the company's icon for over twenty years. It's a sign that Crumpler is growing up, and it's reflected in the new design choices in its bag line up. That incredibly loud velcro has been phased out in all but the bags made with bike couriers in mind; the modern Crumpler bag can be silently opened in meetings.

Marketing Content and Community Coordinator Patrick Regester explains the company's thinking behind the new look. It's trying to tone down the logo and even the name on the bags, so the brand is "less in your face".London: In Beatrix Potter's much-loved Tale Of The Flopsy Bunnies, Mr McGregor - the ever-menacing anti-hero - announces he will make quick cash by selling a sack of his floppy-earred neighbours.

Now, more than 100 years since the book's release, the Royal Mint has revealed the farmer's mortal enemies shall adorn the very object of his desire - a dazzling set of coins.

Peter Rabbit

Peter Rabbit is one of four characters from Potter's canon to appear on change this year, also including Flopsy Bunny - the mother of the captured rabbits.

The four designs will be added to the mint's Beatrix Potter collection, first launched in 2016 to commemorate 150 years since her birth.A prominent Republican political donor has demanded that the party pass legislation to restrict access to guns, and vowed not to contribute to any candidates or electioneering groups that did not support a ban on the sale of military-style firearms to civilians.

Al Hoffman Jr, a Florida-based real estate developer who was a leading fundraiser for George W. Bush's campaigns, said he would seek to marshal support among other Republican political donors for a renewed assault weapons ban.

"For how many years now have we been doing this - having these experiences of terrorism, mass killings - and how many years has it been that nothing's been done?" Hoffman said. "It's the end of the road for me."

Hoffman announced his ultimatum in an email to half a dozen Republican leaders, including Jeb Bush and Governor Rick Scott of Florida. He wrote in the email that he would not give money to Scott, who is considering a campaign for the Senate in 2018, or other Florida Republicans he has backed in the past, including congressman Brian Mast, if they did not support new gun legislation.MUMBAI, India, February 18, 2018 --

Pune-Mumbai Route Will Support 150 Million Passenger Trips Per Year And Help India Boost Its Economic Competitiveness Through High-Speed Transportation Innovation and Job Creation

Construction Will Begin With An Operational Demonstration Track

Virgin Hyperloop One today announced the Indian State of Maharashtra's intent to build a hyperloop between Pune and Mumbai beginning with an operational demonstration track.

Virgin Group Founder and Virgin Hyperloop One Chairman Sir Richard Branson announced the Framework Agreement in the presence of the Hon'ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Hon'ble Chief Minister of Maharashtra Devendra Fadnavis to begin the development of the route. This historic signing at the Magnetic Maharashtra event was also attended by Virgin Hyperloop One board members and key investors Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, CEO and Group Chairman of DP World, and Ziyavudin Magomedov, Chairman of Summa Group.

Recognizing the Maharashtra government's contribution to the country's economy, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, "51 per cent of total investments in India have come to Maharashtra, and the state is attracting global investors. The state's overall development in the past few years is a shining example of change thinking and improving conditions in the country. Maharashtra government was ahead of all other Indian states in terms of infrastructure spend and the state is on its way to achieving its bold vision of a trillion dollar economy."

"I believe Virgin Hyperloop One could have the same impact upon India in the 21st century as trains did in the 20th century. The Pune-Mumbai route is an ideal first corridor as part of a national hyperloop network that could dramatically reduce travel times between India's major cities to as little as two hours," said Sir Richard Branson. "Virgin Hyperloop One can help India become a global transportation pioneer and forge a new world-changing industry."

The hyperloop route will link central Pune, Navi Mumbai International Airport, and Mumbai in 25-minutes, connecting 26 million people and creating a thriving, competitive megaregion. The high-capacity passenger and cargo hyperloop route eventually will support 150 million passenger trips annually, saving more than 90 million hours of travel time, and providing citizens with greater opportunities and social and economic mobility. The hyperloop system will also have the potential for the rapid movement of palletized freight and light cargo between the Port of Mumbai and Pune, creating a robust backbone for on-demand deliveries, supply chains, and next-generation logistics.

The Pune-Mumbai route could result in USD $55 billion (INR 350,000 crores) in socio-economic benefits (time savings, emissions and accident reduction, operational cost savings, etc.) over 30 years of operation, according to an initial pre-feasibility study completed by Virgin Hyperloop One. The 100% electric, efficient hyperloop system will ease severe expressway congestion and could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 150,000 tons annually.

"With Virgin Hyperloop One, we can create a sustainable infrastructure that will enhance the State of Maharashtra's competitiveness and attract new investment and businesses," said the Chief Minister of Maharashtra Devendra Fadnavis. "The Pune-Mumbai hyperloop route will be an economic catalyst for the region and create tens of thousands of jobs for India's world-class manufacturing, construction, service, and IT sectors and aligns with Make in India initiatives."

The Pune-Mumbai hyperloop project will begin with a six-month in-depth feasibility study which will analyze and define the route alignment including environmental impact, the economic and commercial aspects of the route, the regulatory framework, and cost and funding model recommendations. The feasibility study will build upon the findings of the pre-feasibility study signed in November 2017 between the Pune Metropolitan Regional Development Authority and Virgin Hyperloop One.

The project will enter a procurement stage upon the successful completion of the feasibility study to determine the public-private partnership structure. Construction of the Pune-Mumbai hyperloop route would commence after procurement and will be completed in two phases, beginning with an operational demonstration track built between two points on the route. The demonstration track will be constructed in two to three years from the signing of the agreement and serve as a platform for testing, certifying, and regulating the system for commercial operations. The second phase will target to complete construction of the full Pune-Mumbai route in five to seven years. Future projects could also extend the route to link central Pune with the New Pune International Airport and Jawaharlal Nehru Port in Mumbai with Pune's industrial economic zones.

"The Pune-Mumbai hyperloop project will ultimately be executed by a public-private partnership which will save taxpayer money while delivering a transport option that will help the State of Maharashtra support economic growth, improve sustainability, and meet the transport demands," said Kiran Gitte, CEO of the Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority.

"We have always believed that India would be a tremendous market for hyperloop. The Pune-Mumbai route is one of the strongest economic cases we have seen to-date," said Virgin Hyperloop One CEO Rob Lloyd. "The State of Maharashtra has made a strong commitment to building the first hyperloop route in India. We are looking forward to partnering with the State as well as our partners to make the Pune-Mumbai route a reality."

About Virgin Hyperloop One

Virgin Hyperloop One is the only company in the world that has built a fully operational hyperloop system. Our team has the world's leading experts in engineering, technology, and transport project delivery, working in tandem with global partners and investors to make hyperloop a reality, now. Virgin Hyperloop One is backed by key investors including DP World, Caspian VC Partners (part of Summa Group), Virgin Group, Sherpa Capital, Abu Dhabi Capital Group, SNCF, GE Ventures, Formation 8, 137 Ventures, WTI, among others. For more information, visit www.virginhyperloopone.com.The Immorality of Arguing That There's a Moral Case for Fossil Fuels







By Marc J. Rauch

Exec. Vice President/Co-Publisher

THE AUTO CHANNEL

Originally published February 19, 2018

Updated June 16, 2018







In 2014, a young man named Alex Epstein - who's described as a "philosopher, energy theorist, and industrial policy pundit" - wrote a book titled "The Moral Case For Fossil Fuels."

Alex used this book to springboard to a career arguing the merits of his case on a website, magazine articles, YouTube videos and live debates. His website states that Alex will "accept a debate any time, any place." (I'll get back to this challenge later on).

Also, in 2014, Kathleen Hartnett White wrote a short book titled "Fossil Fuels: The Moral Case." Kathleen has held a number of very senior positions with government agencies and industry groups as an environment and energy expert.

Kathleen followed up on this book in 2016 with another book, "Fueling Freedom: Exposing the Mad War on Energy," that she co-authored with Stephen Moore. Mr. Moore is also described on the Internet as an "economics and energy expert."

Kathleen rode these two books and her previous positions to a presidential nomination a few months ago to become the White House senior advisor on environmental policy (her name was withdrawn from consideration in early February).

The 2014 books written by Alex Epstein and Kathleen White appear to be unrelated although they share similar titles, theme, and the same year of publication. Kathleen's book was published in June 2014, Alex's book in November 2014. I am unaware of any accusation of plagiarism; it could simply be a matter of coincidence. It's reasonable to conclude that two or more independent people can simultaneously come up with a bad idea, just as two or more independent people can simultaneously come up with a good idea. Neither Alex nor Kathleen cite the other in their respective books, but both do cite Robert L. Bradley and Robert Bryce. Those who have read my previous editorials and papers on the subject of alternative energy and fuels may recall that I have written about Messrs. Bradley and Bryce (my exchanges with Rob Bradley resulted in his asking me to write a thesis for his use in ongoing presentations and website, and my exchange with Robert Bryce resulted in my 60+ page rebuke of his book "Gusher Of Lies," which has elicited only stony silence from him).

As the titles of the two books and this rejoinder indicate, the premise of the Epstein/White books is that there is a moral reason for the use, and continued use of so-called fossil fuels. I write "so-called," because as my friend Tom Quinn (chairman and CEO of E-Fuel Corporation) always reminds me, the correct term is "abiotic fuels." The term fossil fuels evokes images from the old animated Chevron and Sinclair Gasolines' television commercials suggesting that dinosaur carcasses turned into pools of crude oil.

The reality is that fossil fuels (abiotic fuels) come from a time prior to the existence of dinosaurs and is derived from The reality is that fossil fuels (abiotic fuels) come from a time prior to the existence of dinosaurs and is derived from compressed non-biological minerals and water - not giant lizards.

But the subject of this article is not correcting the use of the term "fossil fuels," it is to address the premise and conclusions contained in Alex and Kathleen's books. Therefore any use of the term "fossil fuels" hereafter is done for simplicity.

The central point that both authors make is that America and the world would not be enjoying the high quality of life that we do if it was not for fossil fuels. To aid in their effort to make this point they connect the use of coal with liquid petroleum oil fuels and natural gas. This is basically a sleight-of-hand trick.







One reason I say that joining coal with the other abiotic fuels (fossil fuels) is "sleight-of-hand" is the opening paragraphs of Kathleen's book in which she includes a brief tale of wilderness deprivation in the year 1800 from "The Rational Optimist," a book written by Matt Ridley. She then weaves Ridley's tale into the following statement:

"Use of the energy in fossil fuels unleashed economic productivity on a scale previously unimaginable. When innovative minds developed a steam engine which could convert the stored heat energy in coal into mechanical energy, the economic limits under which all human societies had formerly existed were blown apart. A life of back-breaking drudgery was no longer the inescapable condition of the overwhelming majority of mankind."

Her premise is incorrect. I'm not saying that coal isn't related to crude oil and natural gas in its original derivation, but I am saying that you can no more credit coal with our high standard of living then you can credit gasoline, petroleum diesel fuel, and natural gas for our high quality of life.

In the first place, any accolade due to our high quality of life should be given to the inventions that utilize various fuels...regardless of what those fuels are, not to the fuels themselves, and certainly not to coal or gasoline or petroleum diesel or natural gas. The inventions were all created without consideration to any specific fossil fuel. Internal combustion engines were created before the invention of either gasoline or diesel petroleum fuel.

Alex also references Matt Ridley and his book "The Rational Optimist," but not until page 81 when he quotes Ridley:

"A modern combine harvester, driven by a single man, can reap enough wheat in a single day to make half a million loaves."

Based on this quote, Alex writes:

"A single man, made into an agricultural Superman by the power of oil," and follows it with, "Another example: Oil-based transportation causes a dramatic increase in the amount of farm products that can be brought to market."

This single man isn't transformed into an agricultural Superman by oil, but by the machine, a machine that could just as easily and efficiently run on an alcohol-based fuel. The same dramatic increase in the amount of farm products to be brought to market can be ethanol-based transportation.

As for coal, coal was used for heat and light for thousands of years before the invention of the practical steam engine. So you can't applaud coal for its role in making life better via the steam engine because of all those centuries of deprivation prior to the invention of the steam engine. If coal, in itself, was the salient ingredient to a high quality of life then surely the great scientific geniuses of earlier times would have invented usable steam-powered devices to propel trains, boats, and stationary machinery. They knew that steam existed, and how to produce it; and they had the ability to make and mold metals.







An interesting side-note to the general understanding of how we are enslaved by, and chained to, a dependence on fossil fuels is that coal mining in the early days of the industrial revolution was literally legal slavery.

(See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_coal_mining)

Furthermore, if you want to actually credit anything with the success of the steam engine to break the back of mankind's inescapable drudgery, the credit should go to water, not coal or wood or natural gas or any petroleum-based liquid. Without water there is no steam to power the engines. Moreover, without water there is no life, period! The mere burning of wood or coal or natural gas or oil-based liquid is incapable of powering any device.

Moving forward - technologically - to internal combustion engines, coal is irrelevant, gasoline is irrelevant, and petroleum diesel fuel is irrelevant. As I've said before, these fuels did not make the invention of the internal combustion engine possible. Samuel Morey, Nicholas Otto, Karl Benz, and Henry Ford never said to themselves, "Oh good, now that there's gasoline and diesel fuel I can invent the car."

Once again, internal combustion engines weren't invented as a result of the availability of gasoline and diesel fuel - and neither one of these fuels is needed. It simply happened that through a series of political events and circumstances, that petroleum oil fuels gained a foothold in the market. Then, via political corruption and tutelage, the oil industry bought their position as the dominant engine fuels; bringing with it wars, disease, and environmental disasters. On page 71 of his book, Alex references the dominance of petroleum oil fuels as THE transportation fuel, but he never explains how the oil industry bought that position, he only dances around the (wrong) notion that gasoline and petroleum diesel earned the position because they are superior to other engine fuels.

In Alex's book he errs again and again in lauding fossil fuels for the societal benefits of the devices that use these fuels; devices that could be better powered by non-fossil fuels. And by "better" I mean safer, cleaner, cheaper, healthier, and with increased performance. He does this so often that I might be able to go page by page through the entire book to find at least one on each page. Here's a few other examples: On page 13, Alex writes:

"This book is about morality, about right and wrong. To me, the question of what to do about fossil fuels and any other moral issue comes down to: What will promote human life? What will promote human flourishing realizing the full potential of life?"

On pages 29-30, Alex writes:

"Ultimately, when thinking about fossil fuels, we are trying to figure out the right thing to do, the right choices to make. But what exactly do we mean by right and wrong, good and bad? What is our standard of value? By what standard or measure are we saying something is good or bad, great or catastrophic, right or wrong, moral or immoral?

"I hold human life as the standard of value, and you can see that in my earlier arguments: I think that our fossil fuel use so far has been a moral choice because it has enabled billions of people to live longer and more fulfilling lives..."

On page 84, Alex writes:

"Without the energy industry, the agricultural industry would not exist; the world could not support a population of 7 billion or 3.6 billion and perhaps not even 1 billion. To starve our machines of energy would be to starve ourselves."

This comes in a chapter titled "THE GREATEST ENERGY TECHNOLOGY OF ALL TIME," under the heading "MORE FOSSIL FUELS, MORE ABILITY." Once again, Alex is making the claim that only petroleum oil fuels could power the machines of energy (so cheaply and so reliably) to feed the country. I've heard this specific claim before by others who will say, "To grow the crops that can produce ethanol the farm machinery must run on gasoline or petroleum diesel." But it's an incorrect statement because the internal combustion engine machinery that they are referring to can run on ethanol or biodiesel made from ethanol...ethanol that can be produced right on the very farm where the crop is grown. This was part of Henry Ford's vision for building the Model T, as well as farm equipment powered by virtually the same engine as the one in a passenger Model T. Instead of needing fuel that is sources from oil wells hundreds or thousands of miles away, shipped/trucked/piped to a refinery that's another few hundred or thousands of miles away, that then must be shipped/trucked/piped to a local distribution point; the farmer can just tap into his own supply of fuel on his very own property.

In Chapter 7, page 151, titled "REDUCING RISKS AND SIDE EFFECTS," Alex writes about many of the risks and side effects of fossil fuels that we all know all too well. He writes that there have been improvements and technological advances. I agree, there have been improvements, no thanks to the decades of oil industry lies and obstruction. However, gasoline, petroleum diesel and coal are still dirty, and it's use creates terrible health risks. In addition, there's a very major risk/side effect of petroleum oil fuels that neither Alex Epstein nor Kathleen White point out: WAR!

The fact is that fossil fuels have been the cause of wars, disease, and ecological and environmental disasters. Every significant war in the past 104 years has been caused by or fought over petroleum oil. Tens of millions of people; no, make that hundreds of millions of people have been killed in these wars. To the war dead-toll we have to add the people who have died as a result of the illnesses caused by the use of petroleum oil fuels. Then there's the life-long injuries and disabilities suffered by untold millions more. There's nothing moral about any of this.

Even if it was correct to give some credit to fossil fuels for advances in mechanical devices (which it is not), the death and destruction caused by fossil fuels makes the argument for using them immoral.

And if you're the type of person that considers other animal life to be essential, how can the literal slaughter of birds, fish, dolphins, turtles and other animals from the wars and environmental disasters be anything less than wicked and depraved?

Now, to be fair, the books written by Alex Epstein and Kathleen White are really meant to fight against the belief in man-made climate change (global warming, cooling, what-evering), not to denigrate alternative fuels. Therefore, they make their arguments to try and show how the benefits of using coal, gasoline, diesel fuels, and natural gas outweigh the concerns of (possible) climate change.

If Alex and Kathleen only made their arguments a debate on the legitimacy of man-made climate change, I probably would not have gotten involved. I've already published my own position on man-made climate change, and so there is little that I could add or disagree with in their respective books. However, in their literary enthusiasm - or attempt to curry favor with the oil industry - they chose to include criticisms of ethanol and other alternative fuels or energy sources. Hence, I entered the fray. If they broke new ground in arguing against ethanol, and they were able to provide proof of their complaints against ethanol, it would have justified their inclusion in the debate about climate change - and very possibly I could have learned something new.

Instead, they both rely on lies and exaggerations about ethanol to make all the same old sophomoric arguments related to national economy, food, subsidies, and comparative energy content. This shows that they either know nothing about the workings of an internal combustion engine, or subsidies, or business and economics; or they simply decided to put their knowledge aside in the hope that anyone reading their books would also not know anything.

In the first chapter of Alex's book he recounts a chance meeting he had with a college-age Greenpeace volunteer on the streets of Irvine, California. The young woman calls out to him, Do you want to help us end our addiction to dirty fossil fuels and use clean, renewable energy instead?

To which Alex replied, Actually, I study energy for a living and I think its good that we use a lot of fossil fuels. I think the world would be a much better place if people used a lot more.

Alex writes that he expected a series of retorts from the young lady, and how he would have responded to them. Some of the things he hoped she would say were:

 That fossil fuels cause climate change.

 That fossil fuels cause pollution.

 That fossil fuels are not renewable.

 That solar and wind can replace fossil fuels.

Alex's hypothetical responses would have basically concluded with details about how ingenuity and technology can (or eventually will) clean up the pollution, and how solar and wind is intermittent and unreliable. His closing comment would be that fossil fuels "...is the only source of energy that has been able to provide cheap, plentiful, reliable energy for the billions of people whose lives depend on it."

However, Alex writes, the young woman didn't respond in the manner he expected. I would say that he was left in a state of, um, let's call it "unfulfilled satisfaction," therefore he created this fantasy discussion - what some might call a straw man argument - to relive over and over like a sexual fantasy.

If I was present at the time and place and overheard the exchange between Alex and Miss Greenpeace, and the conversation took place along the lines Alex thought it might, I would have said, "Imagine that if instead of using petroleum oil fuels that fill our skies with deadly pollutants, we used clean fuels that can accomplish even better performance results with fewer wars, how much better off we would be? Think of all the people who wouldn't have died or become disabled."

And then I would have added that neither a solar source of energy nor a wind source of energy is unreliable and intermittent. Indeed, should the day(s) ever come in which the darkness of night doesn't turn to a lightened day then our entire existence on planet Earth would come to an end. And since wind currents are a direct result of a revolving planet and the same solar source, wind is a totally reliable source of energy. The only requirement is that the solar collectors be sufficiently sensitive to cloud covered days, and that the wind generators be positioned in places where there is always wind. But these requirements are virtually no different than the requirement for fossil fuel electric generating plants to be located within proximity to users.

To the point that only fossil fuels can provide cheap and plentiful energy, I would have reminded him (informed him) that ethanol could have, should have, and would have been the fuel to provide cheap and plentiful energy had the oil industry not bought their way into the dominant position.

An interesting side note about Alex's use of this young woman to create a "straw man argument" to demean her and her street-corner demonstration, is that Alex often criticizes attacks against his position as just being a "straw man argument." He raises this flag as if a straw man argument was comparable to a "low blow" in a boxing match. Instead of countering the criticism with a substantive rebuttal, Alex uses the mere mention of the phrase to disqualify the criticism from having any value. You'll find Alex doing this in some of the various videos of him on the Internet. From an earlier rebuttal that I made about Alex's "fossil fuel moral" position, I found myself accused by some Alex Epstein sycophants (emphasis on sick-o) who have glommed onto this tactic and condemn my criticism of Alex's position as just presenting a straw man argument against him. I had one person post online and ask me, "Who made you God?" I guess he felt that only God was competent enough to challenge an Alex Epstein brain-fart of an idea. It made me laugh because citing and criticizing actual specific statements made by a person is not what a straw man argument is all about; on the contrary, arguing against actual specific statements is always fair game. The good thing about Alex's book - and for that matter Kathleen White's book - is that there is no shortage of actual specific (wrong) statements to challenge.

Returning to the original purpose of this article... Just because we now know that fossil fuels are far more abundant than it was ever thought possible, it doesn't mean we should be using them. Gasoline and petroleum diesel fuels are poisonous. They have always been poisonous, and they will always be poisonous. What's more, the additives selected by the oil industry that are required to make gasoline and petroleum diesel fuels non-corrosive and anti-knock are even more poisonous than the gasoline and diesel fuel. Further, there is no such thing as clean coal. It's possible to reduce the harmful effects of mining/processing/burning coal, but not to entirely eliminate the terrible effects. And as the population continues to grow, and more coal energy plants are used, the harmful effects continue to grow in the aggregate even if individual plants spew fewer emissions.

Ironically, regardless of one's position on man-made climate change, ethanol is the solution. Whether ethanol should be a long-term permanent replacement for petroleum oil fuels, or just a mid-range solution until electric and electric-power generation from a harmless and low-cost renewable source can come into dominance, both sides of the climate change argument should rally around ethanol. Only the mistaken belief that there is something wrong with ethanol - which is usually funded by the oil industry - stops people on both sides from unanimity on ethanol's benefits.

If catastrophic man-made climate change is real, and it is not too late to prevent the cataclysmic results, then ethanol should be immediately adopted as the world's primary engine fuel because it would mitigate any further damage. If catastrophic man-made climate change is a myth, we still have pollution, diseases, war, and a struggling national economy to worry about. The switch to (domestically produced) ethanol would immediately end and erase all of these problems.







Alex and Kathleen frame their entire position on the argument that "mankinds use of fossil fuels is supremely virtuous because human life is the standard of value." Using their own measuring stick, it must be concluded that using fossil fuels are immoral, and that the proposition that fossil fuels are moral is just as immoral.

At the top of this page I mentioned that Alex Epstein's website states that he "will accept a debate any time, any place." On January 19th, exactly one month before I wrote this article, I made the challenge to Alex to debate the issue. I received a very cordial and quick reply from him. In it, Alex wrote, "I have at least 3 debates lined up already this year so whether I take additional ones will depend on how prominent I can expect the debate to be..." There were a couple of other minor requirements, like how much would he get paid, and he asked if I could refer him to any of my work on the subject (in order to ascertain how prominent of an opponent I might be). I sent him several links (all included below), and we have touched base once since January 19th. Apparently he's still processing the material I sent because I haven't heard from him.

I don't expect that Alex will accept my challenge - undoubtedly he'll find some reason to discount me as being worthy of his effort. But the real reason he won't accept the debate is because he'd lose, and then the career he built arguing that fossil fuels are moral would be destroyed. Of course I mention this in the hope that it stirs him into action, but I still don't expect him to follow through. I will be sending Alex and Kathleen a link to this story, and if they choose to respond I will add their response below.

It is now five months after I originally challenged Alex to a debate and corresponded with him. I have still not heard back from him, and have never heard anything from Kathleen Hartnett White. It's probably safe to say that they feel they are incapable of defending their (ridiculous) opinions. A third party - someone who had worked with Alex on another project - had tried to act as an intermediary to organize a debate and meet Alex's financial requirements, was not able to coax Alex onto a stage with me. However, I'm not closing the doors to a debate, I'd still love to do it.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: The page numbers referenced above relate to the Kindle e-book versions of Alex's and Kathleen's books. It is possible that other e-book versions or hard copy versions have slightly different page numbering.

LINKS SENT TO ALEX EPSTEIN:

Life As We Might Have Known It: What If Ethanol Was Our Primary Engine Fuel

TRUTH ABOUT ETHANOL - 60+ page Reply to Robert Bryce's GUSHER OF LIES

Existence of Parallel Universes Explain Support of Petroleum Oil Fuels

Open Letter To Barry Ritholtz and Bloomberg About Ethanol

ADDITIONAL LINKS YOU MAY FIND OF INTEREST:

Uncovering The Gas Roots of Contemporary Ethanol Opposition

Unmasking The Gas Roots of Contemporary Ethanol Opposition

Unmasking The Gas Roots of Contemporary Ethanol Opposition - Round 2

The Detroit News Gets Ethanol Wrong, Again

Gasoline vs. Ethanol - Ten Pictures That Tell The Story

The Rise & Fall of General Motors and the Subjugation of the Industrialized World

Three Degrees Still Can't Make Ethanol Slam Stick

Fox News' Revolting Take on Ethanol

The Hypocrisy of Big OilWhite House Floats 25-cent Gas Tax Hike

However, some analysts say the proposal has little chance of moving through Congress.

WASHINGTON February 19, 2018; The NACS reported that President Trump raised the idea of increasing the federal gasoline tax last week during a bipartisan meeting with Congress, a proposal that comes on the heels of an expansive infrastructure plan and a budget bill.

Groups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce support the plan, saying an increase in the gas tax is necessary to modernize the nations infrastructure.

A few weeks ago, we turned up the volume on the infrastructure conversation by offering up a few ideas of our own, and its encouraging to see that this administration shares our commitment to tackling this challenge in a meaningful way, and soon. This will be no small undertaking. Americas infrastructure needs are significant and theres a lot of work ahead, but now is the time to get to it, said U.S. Chamber President and CEO Thomas J. Donohue.

However, some analyst say that making gas more expensive does not make sense. Patrick DeHaan, a petroleum analyst for GasBuddy, told UPI that the added 25 cents to the gas tax would be more than double what it is today.

"I'm sure with gas prices already likely to face pressure to rise this spring and summer versus last year, any such move would be political suicide for both Trump and politicians that go along," DeHaan said. "In addition, it adds insult to injury since many states have already raised gas faces on their own."

UPI notes that there might not be much support for a higher gas tax beyond the White House. Marc Short, the legislative affairs director for President Trump, told Bloomberg News that "there is not support for a gas tax in Congress."

I dont think there is support for it right now, Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) told Bloomberg. Asked whether theres support among Senate Republicans to increase the fee, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) spokesman Don Stewart referred to previous statements made by his boss: Its always no.Black Panther. Photo: Bob Levey/Getty Images for IMAX

The Movement for Black Lives recognized a great opportunity to register a whole lot of people to vote: the opening weekend of Black Panther. According to activist Kayla Reed, the campaign has already inspired similar drives all over the country.

The initiative is spearheaded by members of the organizations Electoral Justice Project, who are dressing up in Wakanda-inspired outfits to register citizens to vote  or, as theyre calling it, #WakandaTheVote. Working alongside Reed are Jessica Byrd and Rukia Lumumba.

The Movement for Black Lives is an ecosystem of black leaders and organizations fighting every single day for the healthy and happy lives of Black folks, Byrd and Reed told Blavity. We are effective because we meet our communities where they are, whether thats in the streets, at the city council meeting, or in the movie theater.

Fresh Wakanda inspired outfit (check)

Black Panther ticket (check)

Squad ready (check)

Registered to vote so we can build our own Wakanda? (we got you!)



Text PANTHER to 91990 to create your own voter registration event.

Need to register to vote? Text WAKANDA to 91990. pic.twitter.com/rpGdkM729Y  Mvmnt 4 Blk Lives (@Mvmnt4BlkLives) February 15, 2018

They continued: Over 1,000 people joined our launch call, and weve been building out an exciting campaign ever since. We will be engaged in actions all over the country to educate and motivate black voters as well as launching an intensive campaign manager institute this spring called the Electoral Justice League. We intend to have 1,000s of conversations with black people as well build a fun and life-affirming political home that isnt transactional, but transformational.

Given that the initiative has reportedly inspired activists in more than 50 cities across the county to host their own voter registration drives, the campaign is already off to great start.

Thank you all so much for sharing #WakandaTheVote. More than 50 cities are registered to host drives at #BlackPanther premieres. This is how we engage early! We will win. #WakandaForever https://t.co/bCNEE7I3cN  Kayla Reed (@iKaylaReed) February 17, 2018A sign at the protest. Photo: Zach Gibson / Stringer/2018 Getty Images

Less than a week after a gunman killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, teens are protesting outside of the White House. The demonstration was organized by a group called Teens for Gun Reform, led by 16-year-old high school juniors Whitney Bowen and Eleanor Nuechterlein. They created a Facebook page for the event and publicized it over social media.

The president was in Florida at the time, but the protest began with 17 students lying down for three minutes. After three minutes was up, they invited others to lie with them. Nuechterlein told the Cut that 17 was to symbolize the victims of the Parkland shooting, and three minutes represented the amount of time it takes to buy a gun in America. The time varies from state to state. Nuechterlein told the Cut that she thinks over 100 people attended the protest.

Its not just adults that want something done, its people that are younger, Nuechterlein said. At the end of the day it isnt supposed to be partisan. Its supposed to be everyone coming together and realizing that children feel unsafe at school and something needs to be done about it  Were really horrified because it could be us, you just dont know. People my age are just scared.

Since the shooting last Wednesday, teenagers have been especially vocal about their desire for gun reform. A group of Parkland shooting survivors, also teens, are organizing a nationwide protest on March 24 called March for Our Lives. A senior who survived the shooting, Emma Gonzalez, gave a widely shared speech shaming lawmakers who take money from the NRA and those who do not actively work to change lax gun control laws.

Were growing up in a world where we have to be scared when a book drops in school or we hear a loud noise in public, Neuchterlein said. Thats just not something I want to have to live with.14-Year-Old Girl, Missing for 5 Months, Is Back Home With Her Family

A 14-year-old girl who disappeared from her North Carolina home in September 2017, turned up alive and safe in Georgia on Feb. 14.

Nakia Williams disappeared from her home on Wiegon Lane in Charlotte, North Carolina, early in September.

At this time, no one is certain why or how she left, or how she ended up living in Lyons, Georgia, more than 250 miles away.

Georgia law enforcement officials spotted Williams in Emanuel County and learned that she was living in the town of Lyons, in neighboring Toombs County. Lyons is about 150 miles southeast of Atlanta and 250 miles southwest of Charlotte.

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Departments Missing Persons Unit was informed of the sighting on Tuesday, Feb. 13, WALB reported.

Missing Person: The Missing Persons Unit is requesting assistance with the missing person case of 14-year-old, Nakia Williams. Nakia was last seen in Emanuel County Georgia, and she may be staying in Toombs County Georgia. Call 911 if you know her whereabouts. pic.twitter.com/GBwGvlngM1  CMPD News (@CMPD) February 13, 2018

Nakias cousin, Shrounda Alston, took the phone call informing the family that Nakia had been found.

And I thought I heard something wrong, and I was like, What did you say? And she repeated, We found her, Alston, told Channel 9.

According to the Missing, Unidentified, and Victims website Nakia is autistic. Also according to that site, she might have been in the company of an adult male.

The family organized searches and distributed fliers, hoping to reach someone who knew of the missing girls whereabouts. Various missing-persons websites got involved. The family never gave up hope or stopped trying to find Nakia.

The family thought it had a lead in October 2017, when pictures showed up on social media which looked like Nakia and a much older man who lived just a few miles away.

That man, Jarrette Luckey of Gaston County, North Carolina, allowed police to search his residence and property. he told policeand news mediathat he did not know Nakia, had never seen her, and didnt know how her name came up.

Police came out here and looked. They looked everywhere. I let them look in the house. I let them look in the yard. Just to let them know that shes not [expletive] here, Luckey told Channel 9.

That disappointment didnt end the search.

I had to keep the momentum going for her. I didnt want her to be forgotten, Alston said.

Nakias family was overjoyed that she had been found and finally back home I was just able to wrap my arms around her, and just, we just cried for about five minutes, Nakias mother, Cherise Williams-Stowe, told Channel 9.

We were just so happy to see each other.

She said she learned a lot while she was out, Williams-Stowe told Channel 9. She learned it was hard trying to be out there on your own and everybody doesnt love you.

From NTD.tv

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Brothers Step in When They See Man Harassing Two Teen Girls on New York SubwayBodies of Newborn Twins Found in Abandoned Suitcase on Roadside

The bodies of two newborn infants were discovered in a suitcase dumped on the side of the road in Arkansas on Friday, Feb. 16, the Cross County Sheriffs Office said in a statement.

Authorities said the bodies were found inside a purple suitcase on the bank of a ditch near County Road 602 in Wynne by a passerby at around 1:43 p.m. who alerted police immediately.

Police say the newborns appear to be twins, according to the statement.

The discovery of the suitcase has sent shock waves through the community.

When I left work this evening, I was shaken up. Like, I was in tears, resident Santia Wallace told WREG.

Here I am want to have kids and for you to, like, kill them? Like, who does that? she added.

Another resident, Lonnie Harris, told KATV that everyone knows everybody in the quiet community that he has lived in for 40 years.

I was shocked to find out because its so close to where I live, Harris said.

Lifetime Wynne resident Patricia Warren was really saddened by the news.

It really saddened me. Its sad in a little, small town. You just dont hear about things like this but now, all of a sudden, its right here at your back door, she told the new station.

The sheriffs office said the investigations are still ongoing and the bodies have been sent to the state crime lab for autopsies to determine how and when the infants died, reported WREG.

No further details have been released.

If you have any information regarding the identity of the babies or a suspect please contact the Cross County Sheriffs Office in Arkansas at 870-238-5700.

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How Doctors in China Turn into MurderersBones Found Off Cape Cod Could Be From Infamous Pirate, Headed to Museum

Bones found off Cape Cod, believed to be those of an infamous pirate are headed to a museum for a new exhibition.

Black Sam Bellamy is known as the wealthiest pirate in history, according to the New England Historical Society.

After his early death in 1717 he left a legacy of folklore on Cape Cod and a ship loaded with treasure off its coast. He ran his pirate operation democratically. His men were slaves and Indians and sailors pressed into service. Bellamy treated them equally and let them vote on important decisions, the society said.

In a famous speech attributed to Bellamy, he scorned the wealthy merchants he plundered: They rob the poor under the cover of law, forsooth, and we plunder the rich under the protection of our own courage.'

Bellamy had a short but prolific pirating career, capturing 53 ships before he died at age 28 in a shipwreck.

The Whydah Pirate Museum in Yarmouth, Massachusetts, said that it will publicly display the bones found off Cape Cod in a shipwreck along with what they believe to be Bellamys pistol, starting on Monday.



The objects were encased in a hardened mass of sand and stone, found in the Whydah Gally shipwreck several years ago, reported The Associated Press.

Forensic scientists from the University of New Haven in Connecticut have been enlisted to compare DNA from the bones to a DNA sample given by one of Bellamys living descendants.

The former slave ship, commanded by Bellamy, went down off Wellfleet, Massachusetts, in 1717, killing nearly all of the 150-person crew.

Its believed that the ship contained the treasure of 53 other vessels, reported New England Today.

Barry Clifford, a 71-year-old explorer, located the bones and other objects.

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Surveillance Footage Shows Robber Attack Virginia Store EmployeePresident of Carnival Cruise Line Australia Sture Myrmell and Vice President and General Manager of Carnival Cruise Line Jennifer Vandekreeke speak to the media in Sydney, Australia, Feb. 16, 2018. (AAP/Joel Carrett/via Reuters)

Carnival Probes Security Personnels Response to Brawl in South Pacific Cruise

SYDNEYCarnival Corp, the worlds largest cruise operator, said on Monday it was investigating the response of its security personnel to a brawl that broke out on one of its South Pacific cruises that resulted in 23 passengers being removed.

The American-British company said in a statement that it was investigating all aspects including the security response of the incident, which was captured on video and posted on social media.

The 10-day cruise to the South Pacific returned to the Australian southern city of Melbourne on Saturday, a day after 23 people were removed in the New South Wales (NSW) town of Eden for what the company described as disruptive and violent acts.

The level of excessive behavior experienced on the cruise was unprecedented, the Carnival statement said, referring to the passengers who were removed from the cruise. We have apologized to guests who were directly affected by it, it said. The statement did not say when the investigation will be concluded.

Carnival has offered passengers a 25 percent cruise credit on future trips.

A NSW police spokeswoman told Reuters on Monday that inquiries were continuing with no charges laid yet.

The video on social media shows passengers brawling with each other and with security officers. A Carnival spokesman said the company could not confirm the veracity of the video.

Some passengers who got off the cruise in Melbourne, including Michael Haddara and Jacob Summers, told local media on Saturday that the security staff made matters worse.

By Jonathan Barrett

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Brothers Step in When They See Man Harassing Two Teen Girls on New York SubwayFBI Joins Search for Missing 5-Year-Old Kansas Boy Lucas Hernandez

Authorities searching for a missing 5-year-old Kansas boy have scoured a nature park and set up a tip hotline.

The FBI has joined in the search for Lucas Hernandez, a missing 5-year-old Kansas boy who disappeared over the weekend.

Missing Child. Name: Lucas Hernandez 12/3/12 W/H/M, brown hair and brown eyes, approx 4 feet tall and 60lbs. Last seen wearing black sweats, white socks, a grey shirt with a bear on it. Last seen at approximately 3:00pm inside his bedroom. Any information please call 911. pic.twitter.com/56gvb5ffBq  Wichita Police (@WichitaPolice) February 18, 2018

Authorities have investigated a nature park and set up a tip line on Monday, Feb. 19, CBS News reported.

Police in Wichita got a call on Saturday at 6:15 p.m. that Hernandez had gone missing, the Witchita Eagle reported. When police arrived, his 26-year-old stepmother said that he was seen at 3 p.m. in his bedroom before she fell asleep.

His home, neighborhood, and the Chisholm Creek Park were searched by officers and police dogs, CBS reported.

Wichita Police are following up on leads regarding #LucasHernandez in the area of the Great Plains Nature Center and Chisholm Creek Park. Dozens of police officers are here; people are asked to stay out of this area. @KAKEnews pic.twitter.com/K2o5huZ4pP  KAKE Bryan Ramsdale (@BryanRamsdale) February 19, 2018

Police havent found any evidence that he was abducted, which is why no AMBER Alert was sent out.

Very distraught. Very upset. Devastated. I mean, can you imagine? his stepmothers cousin, Kristin Edson, was quoted by CBS as saying. Theyre just very distraught and worried about his safety. Its cold out. We dont know where hes at.

Two relatives told the Eagle on Sunday that they expressed concerns about the boys welfare in the past. The Kansas Department for Children and Families was contacted last spring by Sally Rasmussen, a great aunt of the boy. And Jeannie Houchin, a great-grandmother of the child, said that the Kansas child protection agency was investigating.

No updates to report at this time on missing Lucas Hernandez. Investigation is ongoing. If anyone has any information on the whereabouts of Lucas or this case please call 911 immediately. pic.twitter.com/mY73Xv76N9  Wichita Police (@WichitaPolice) February 18, 2018

Lucas was born Dec. 12, 2012, has brown eyes and hair, is around 4 feet in height, and weighs about 60 pounds. The boy was last seen wearing a gray shirt with a bear on it, black sweatpants, and white socks.

A teacher who works for Beech Elementary School in Wichita, where the child goes, confirmed hes enrolled there.

Please pray for the safe return of the 5 year old that went missing (Saturday), teacher Melissa Allen wrote on Facebook, via the Eagle. He is one of my students and a very sweet little boy. Please Please pray for him and his family. My heart is so heavy right now.

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How Doctors in China Turn into MurderersIn this photo (not directly related to the story) a medic holds used doses of a dangerous drug after medics revived a man who had overdosed. (Reuters/Brian Snyder)

Georgia School Plans to Start Drug-Testing Its Students

A school in Georgia has decided to start drug-testing some of its students.

Brookstone School, a private school in Columbus, announced that the drug-testing will be voluntary next year.

However, in 2019, it will become mandatory.

The tests will only target older students, in grades 8 through 12.

The testing is in response to the current nationwide drug epidemic, officials said.

The daily news has made us all acutely aware of the significance and size of this growing crisis. We must be a part of the solution as we work to save children from this critical health issue, said Board of Trustee Chairman Jason Branch, reported WTVM.

Discussions about implementing the testing have been ongoing for five years, Branch said.

From that point in time, we have continued to follow the issues, do research, contemplate what is our role as a school, what can we do to help protect our children, and protect and create a safe environment for them, and to promote their health and safety and well-being, he told WRBL.

We dont look at this being a discipline problem. We look at it as being a public health problem, added Head of Brookstone School, Marty Lester.

School officials were asked by the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer how many students have been disciplined due to drugs.

The disciplinary issues related to drug use has been minimal at most. We cannot share exact statistics due to confidential reasons. But, this is not a volume issue, it is about the health and well-being of every child, responded Connie Mansour, the schools communications director.

A study by the U.S. Department of Education looked at the effectiveness of mandatory random student drug testing, examining seven districts, 36 high schools, and more than 4,700 students.

The studys goal was to reduce student substance use in three ways, according to a statement of its findings, by deterring substance use, by detecting substance use, and by having spillover effects on other students in the school as they observe and are influenced by the behavior of their peers.

Students were surveyed before and after the program.

Key findings included some 16 percent of students subject to the testing reporting using substances in the past 30 days versus 33 percent of comparable students in schools without the program.

The study also found that there was no evidence of any spillover effects to students who were not subject to testing,

A Ledger-Enquirer analysis, though, said that the decision makes sense in the context of the nationwide opioid epidemic.

It makes sense for Brookstone, whose parents can afford private school and presumably any increased fees for drug testing, to choose this course of action, wrote Dimon Kendrick-Holmes.

The thing that scares me about opioids is that you cant smell it on your kids breath. You dont find empty opioid cans in the woods behind your house. It can hook them fast, and then youd better find out about it before its too late. Its scary. And thats why the leaders at Brookstone want to protect the children in their charge. You can argue whether thats their role, but it makes sense to me.

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Brothers Step in When They See Man Harassing Two Teen Girls on New York SubwayGeorgia Woman Indicted For Impersonating Federal Agent for Chick-fil-A Discount

Tara Marie Solem faces charges of impersonating a federal officer after she claimed last year to be an undercover agent. She did so, however, for the most stupefying reason.

The Georgia woman approached the drive-through of a Chick-fil-A restaurant on MacLand Crossing Circle in Marietta, Georgia, on July 5.

The Cobb County resident said she was a federal agent and demanded a law enforcement discount. It didnt work.

She then entered the restaurant and demanded to speak with the manager. She gave a piece of her mind sprinkled with expletives to two managers in the family restaurant and then flashed a silver badge in a black wallet to back up her story, Marietta Daily Journal reported.

She stated that she was undercover and that for them asking her to be in uniform would blow her cover and possible [sic] get her killed, stated the warrant, reported The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Solem then called the corporate office, introducing herself as, Agent Solem.

At some point, she changed her story, saying she was with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. Police attempted to confirm her story, but the bureau told them they had no agent of that name.

Solem now faces two counts of impersonating an officer. Her next court date was not listed in the countys magistrate court system.

Chick-fil-A is known to provide discounts to military service members, law enforcement, other EMS personnel, and seniors. Each restaurant, however, determines the discount policy independently, according to online accounts.

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Video Catches Woman Climbing Through Drive-Thru WindowHusband of 911 Dispatcher Hears Emergency Call After She Is Killed in Crash

A 911 dispatcher has been killed by a drunk driver in Minneapolis, and her husband heard the call while he was monitoring emergency dispatch at home, police said.

Jenna Bixby, 30, was killed on Saturday, Feb. 17, in a crash caused by a retired minister going the wrong way on Highway 252, according to CBS Minnesota.

Her husband, Daniel Bixby, heard the call on a police scanner in his home, and later had the news confirmed by state troopers who visited him.

The driver who was going the wrong way has been named as Richard Shaka, 72. Police told CBS that they smelled alcohol coming from him and they intend to charge him with criminal vehicular homicide.

He is now in critical condition at North Memorial Medical Center.

Shaka is well-known in his local community and had retired from leading the All Nations Christian Assembly church.

Pastor Earlsworth (Baba) Letang, who now leads the church, said he didnt believe alcohol would be involved in the accident.

He told CBS, I would be shocked to be very honest with you. I cant believe it, I mean you mentioning it I cant believe that alcohol would be an issue here.

Daniel Bixby told media that his wife had been passionate about emergency responders since she was little.

She loved helping other people, thats why she was working in 911 dispatch, he told CBS.

She was on her way to work to help other people, to answer these types of calls for car accidents and anything else thatother emergencies that people need help with, he said.

When the two state troopers showed up at my door, I knewthey didnt have to tell me, he added.

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Video Catches Woman Climbing Through Drive-Thru WindowIraqi security forces and Shiite fighters gather next to a mural showing the emblem of ISIS on April 1 in Tikrit, after retaking the city from ISIS. (Ahmad Al-Rubaye/AFP/Getty Images)

Iraqi Court Sentences Turkish Woman to Death for Joining ISIS

BAGHDADAn Iraqi court has sentenced a Turkish woman to death by hanging for joining ISIS, a spokesman for the criminal court in Baghdad said in a statement on Monday.

Ten other women of various nationalities were sentenced to life in prison, he said. All the verdicts can be appealed.

The court has issued ten verdicts of life in prison against ten women after convicting them of terrorism, and sentenced to death by hanging another terrorist who holds Turkish citizenship, said Judge Abdul-Sattar al-Birqdar.

Thousands of foreigners have been fighting on behalf of ISIS in Iraq and Syria.

A German woman was sentenced to death last month for belonging to the group and a Russian fighter was also sentenced to death in Iraq last year for joining the terrorist group.

Iraq declared victory in December over ISIS, which had seized control of nearly a third of the country in 2014. The group has been driven out of all population centres it once controlled on both sides of the Iraqi-Syrian border, but members have continued to carry out bombings and other attacks in Iraq.A note left on an ambulance in Stoke-on-Trent, England, on Feb. 18, 2018. (WMAS)

Move Your Van: Woman Arrested After Note Left on Ambulance

A woman has been arrested after allegedly putting a note on a parked ambulance outside her house and making comments to paramedics attending to an emergency.

The note, which told the drivers to move your van from outside my house caused a stir after British paramedics posted it to Twitter on Sunday, Feb. 18.

The next day, although no complaint had been officially lodged, local police announced that they had tracked down the 26-year-old woman and arrested her for a Public Order offense.

Weve arrested a 26yo Stoke-on-Trent woman after paramedics were subjected to verbal abuse and an offensive note on their ambulance attending a medical emergency yesterday (18 Feb). She was arrested on suspicion of a Section 4 Public Order offencehttps://t.co/oTaYRgJx5v pic.twitter.com/UvxrgM2IXh  Staffordshire Police (@StaffsPolice) February 19, 2018

In addition to the 37-word note, the ambulance service said that she was verbally abusive.

The West Midlands ambulance had parked in the street on Sunday, Feb. 18, in the city of Stoke-on-Trent while paramedics attended a call.

When they returned they found a note, which said the following:

If this van is for anyone but Number 14 then you have no right to be parked here.

I couldnt give a [explitive] if the whole street collapsed. Now move your van from outside my house.

Very angry to see yet again people getting grief for doing their job. We dont block the road for something to do ?? pic.twitter.com/6fFURlNabs  Mike Duggan (WMAS) (@wmasmikeduggan) February 18, 2018

Paramedic mentor for the West Midlands Ambulance Service, Katie Tudor, posted the note to Twitter on Sunday afternoon.

So upset to be sent this by one of our crews this morning! she wrote. Along with this note left on their [ambulance] they received a load of verbal abuse.

She later added: They werent blocking the road, they were in a parking space  just obviously annoying someone that an ambo was outside their property.

The ambulance service was flooded with comments of support.

Feel free to drive over my lawn and break the sprinklers if thats what you heroes need to do your job. Pathetic that you should ever have to see a single sign like that, wrote Twitter user Mike Haydon in a typical post.

Another Twitter user by the name of Andy, had a note of his own:

Dear ALL Emergency Services. If and when needed please feel to block my driveway, car or anything else for that matter. If you want a brew.. the kettle is always on. Need the loo? No problem. Kind Regards, Just one of the majority of folk.

On Monday morning, in a statement on Twitter, Staffordshire police confirmed that the woman, 26, had been arrested for a Section 5 public order offence.

Such offenses include persistently shouting abuse or obscenities at passers-by.

To avoid any confusion, the arrest relates to matters of verbal abuse that could constitute an offence under the Public Order Act. It does not relate solely to the note, wrote Chief Inspector for Stoke-on-Trent North, John Owen, on Twitter.

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Cookie-Crazed Squirrel Attacks New York PolicemanFirearm instructor Clark Aposhian teaches a concealed-weapons training class to 200 Utah teachers in West Valley City, Utah on Dec. 27, 2012. (Photo by George Frey/Getty Images)

Ohio Sheriff: Ill Offer Conceal-and-Carry Class to Local Teachers

A sheriff in Ohio said that he will offer conceal-and-carry classes for local teachers following the school shooting in Florida that left 17 people dead.

Richard Jones, the sheriff in Butler County, said on Twitter on Monday that hes received 200 requests of interest for the upcoming classes.

Great show of support for our schools and our children! he said.

Initially, Jones said the first 50 people would be accepted but with the overwhelming interest, more classes may be offered. He said he received 50 requests in just 20 minutes.

We've reached 200 interests for the CCW classes. Great show of support for our schools and our children! #kidscomefirst We will be in contact soon.  Richard K. Jones (@butlersheriff) February 19, 2018

The classes are open only to Butler County school employees.

Jones said the classes would be free and cover basics as well as training on school shootings.

Jones linked to a story quoting a Florida sheriff saying that it would be a game changer if some teachers were trained to carry guns.

We have got to wake up, wake up and understand that we have to have specially trained people that have concealed firearms that can run to the threat and protect our children, Polk County, Florida Sheriff Grady Judd told Fox News.

Been saying this for years, Jones said.

Been saying this for years https://t.co/1oVN2AbEfd  Richard K. Jones (@butlersheriff) February 17, 2018

Jones, who is in his fourth term as sheriff, said that schools should improve school security in a video posted last week following the shooting in Parkland, immediately following the massacre.

Local schools should stop doing fire drills and also allow armed former police officers and military veterans into buildings to help protect students, reported the Journal-News.

Some states in the United States allow teachers to train and carry firearms in schools.

There was one armed officer inside the Parkland school when the shooting occurred but that officer never encountered the shooter.

It was later revealed that most schools in Florida used to have two armed officers but budget constraints cut that number in half.

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What is MS-13?The trial into the death of six-year-old Zainab Fatima Ameen was held in Lahore's Kot Lakhpat prison for security reasons AFP / -

Pakistan Child Killer Handed Four Death Sentences

A Pakistani court Saturday handed four death sentences to a man charged with raping and murdering a young girl, in a case that shocked the country and sparked major riots in his home district.

Imran Ali, 24, was on trial for the killing of six-year-old Zainab Fatima Ameen in the eastern city of Kasur last month.

He faces further charges in the cases of at least seven other children attacked in the Punjab city  five of whom were murdered  in a spate of assaults that had stoked fears a serial child killer was on the loose. He has confessed to all eight attacks, including the death of Zainab.

Ali was handed four separate death sentences after being convicted of the rape and murder of Zainab, as well as terrorism charges, prosecutor general of Punjab province Ihtesham Qadir said after a special anti-terrorism court passed its judgement.

Under Pakistani law, crimes that are considered to have spread terror in society can be charged as acts of terrorism.

The prosecutors said he received further life imprisonment and fines totalling 3.2 million rupees ($30,000) for additional charges of hiding his victims body.

One million rupees of the fine would be given in compensation to Zainabs family, public prosecutor Abdul Rauf Wattoo told AFP.

The trial was held in Lahores Kot Lakhpat prison for security reasons. Journalists were stopped 500 meters from the prison and only relatives of the victim were allowed in court for the hearing.

Strict security was deployed outside the prison at the time of announcement of the judgement and every visitor was physically checked.

Zainabs mother Nusrat Bibi demanded execution of the death penalties be carried out in public.

I want him to be hanged publicly at the place where he took Zainab, she told reporters after the verdict.

Zainabs murder last month sparked outrage across Pakistan, with riots erupting in Kasur as thousands swarmed police stations and set fire to politicians homes, while Pakistanis across the nation took to social media demanding action.

The killing sparked calls for the public execution of Ali after officials said his DNA had been recovered from the scene of the crime and matched samples from similar cases.

At least twelve cases of rape and murder have been recorded in the Kasur area in the past two years.

Ali confessed to eight cases, but it is not clear if the four others are linked.

According to the victims father Ameen Ansari, Ali  who lived nearby  had taken part in the initial protests that erupted after Zainabs body was discovered.Pregnant Woman Reported Missing Found Dead in National Forest

A pregnant woman who was reported missing earlier in February was found dead in a national forest in Minnesota.

Kara Blevins, 27, was last seen on Feb. 2 and was reported missing three days later.

She was last spotted in the Akeley area, southwest of Walker.

But officers from the Cass County Sheriffs Office said that Blevins was found dead over the weekend in Chippewa National Forest, which is in rural Akeley, reported CBS.

The body was taken to the Ramsey County Medical Examiners Office for an autopsy.

Authorities said that they were concerned about Blevins because temperatures were below freezing when she went missing.

Exacerbating the situation, Blevins also did not have a phone, car, money, or extra clothing, reported the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.

Authorities said theyre investigating the situation but did not disclose any details of that investigation.

The case is a joint effort by the Cass County Sheriffs Office, Hubbard County Sheriffs Office, Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, Akeley Police Department and the Minnesota State Patrol, according to KTSP.

According to Blevins Facebook page, in addition to being pregnant, she had two girls.

I am a single mother of 2 beautiful little girls whom I love to the moon and back, the pages description states.

Her last post was on Jan. 26.

From NTD.tv

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GoPro Dropped Down Deep Well to Check Out Reports of Limestone CavesQueensland Man Claims He Was Tortured and Held For Months

Two Queensland men have been arrested after a 25-year-old man claimed he was held against his will for a number of months and tortured in a property at Kingston, just south of Brisbane, according to a police statement.

The unnamed victim managed to escape from the property and arrived at Beenleigh Police Station at around 4 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 18about 15 kilometres away, reported AAP.

Police have charged two men after a man reported to police that he allegedly had been held against his will and assaulted in Kingston. https://t.co/Vz1KbVP5rS  Queensland Police (@QldPolice) February 18, 2018

The victim had suffered multiple cuts and bruises, especially to his face, and was subsequently taken to the hospital for treatment, reported Brisbane Times.

It is still unclear how the man escaped from the property. Authorities say the victim is known to his captors but are not related, reported the newswire.

The suspects, 20-year-old Onshow Vaafusuaga, and 23-year-old Rongotitiro Cecil  both from Kingston  have been charged with one count of torture and one count of acts intended to cause grievous bodily harm, reported 9News.

Both men appeared in court on Monday, Feb. 19, where they did not apply for bail. They will be remanded in custody until his next court hearing on April 18.

From NTD.tv

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Neighbors React to Parents Arrest After Their 13 Children Found Shackled, Malnourished in HomeReport: Winn-Dixie Could Be Closing 200 Stores Amid Possible Bankruptcy Filing

Could impact thousands of workers

The company that owns the Winn-Dixie chain of supermarkets is preparing to potentially file for bankruptcy in the coming weeks, Bloomberg News reported.

The retailer, owned by Bi-Lo LLC, may shutter as many as 200 stores as part of the bankruptcy filing, the report said, citing a person familiar with the matter. The business went bankrupt in 2005 and 2009.

Report: Winn-Dixie parent company could close 200 stores https://t.co/m0RIpbgOKF  lafonda d stewart (@lafondas1977) February 19, 2018

This time, Bi-Lo LLC may be able to restructure its debt in court rather than make the filing, Bloomberg reported.

Southeastern Grocers, the parent company of Bi-Lo, issued a comment to First Coast News in Florida.

Southeastern Grocers is undertaking an ongoing strategic review in advance of our unsecured bond maturity later this year. The companys business operations continue to be strong, as we serve our customers with quality and commitment by working seamlessly with our business partners every day. We are dedicated to being a great place for associates to work and a great place for our customers to shop by providing quality, service and value in the communities we serve, the statement reads.

Southeastern Grocers, based in Jacksonville, operates more than 700 stores and employs 50,000 employees in the United States. It also operates the Fresco y Mas and Harveys chains, according to Bloomberg.

Winn-Dixie, once iconic grocery chain in metro Atlanta, could close 200 stores, report says https://t.co/Pf88kSO1c0 pic.twitter.com/y6gIHLoJNX  AJC (@ajc) February 17, 2018

According to reports, Tops Friendly Market could also declare bankruptcy in the coming weeks. Tops Friendly Market has store locations in New York, Vermont, and Pennsylvania.

Frank DeRiso, who is the head of UFCW Local One, the union that represents 12,000 Tops workers, issued a statement to CNY Central.

It reads: Since mid-January, UFCW Local One has been consulted by our legal team consisting of health care, pension and 401K attorneys and an attorney that specializes in restructuring and bankruptcy filings. We have additional meetings set up this coming week to discuss more strategies to hit this situation head-on.

Quartz Media points out that the potential bankruptcy filings could be the result of Amazon moving in on the companies turf. Last week the footsteps of doom in the grocery sector got louder: Amazon announced the launch of two-hour Whole Foods delivery in four US cities, free for Prime members, the report said.

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How Doctors in China Turn into MurderersChildren are given their Komsomol memberships in Moscows Red Square on May 19, 1968. The Soviet Union allegedly used the Komsomol camps to experiment on pedophilia. (RIA NOVOSTI ARCHIVE)

Researcher Reports Soviets Created Child-Trafficking Rings in the West for Blackmail

The rings are believed to be still operating

A scholar on Soviet Russia has uncovered claims that former General Secretary Yuri Andropov wanted to subvert the West by creating child trafficking and pedophile networks to blackmail business leaders and politicians.

Details on the program were uncovered by Jeffrey Nyquist in his research on communist regimes and their influence on the West. His main source is the grandson of a former member of the Soviet Central Committee who opposed the program and was possibly killed because of his opposition. Two other sources of his were defectors from the Soviet Union who revealed information on Soviet experiments on pedophilia and sexual perversion.

All three requested to have their identities withheld, as they believe that this abuse continues, and speaking on record would endanger their lives.

The Soviet leaders had begun planning the program in the late 1970s, when Andropov was chairman of the KGBthe Soviet intelligence agency that was set to run the operations. Nyquist noted, however, that the program was controversial even by the standards of the Soviet leaders.

His contact, who is currently living in the West, said his grandfather was part of a faction within the Central Committee that opposed the program; yet the dissenters, including his grandfather, were believed to have been killed for their opposition, and the program was able to move forward.

One of the advantages of a horrible method is that nobody believes that anyone would do such a thing.  Jeffrey Nyquist, scholar on Soviet Russia

This grandfather told his family, Andropov is building networks for child trafficking and pedophilia, and this is a project the KGB has begun internationally, around the world, Nyquist said. The purpose of the program was to seduce politicians and business leaders, then control them as agents through blackmail.

The grandfather understood what it meant to oppose Andropov. According to Nyquist, he told his family that Andropov would kill him if the program prevailed, and that if he died, his wife would need to flee with their children to another city; and that if the KGB ever knocked on their door, they would again need to flee, and to never look back.

And, of course, that is what happened. The grandfather died under mysterious circumstances, Nyquist said. Whatever the struggle was within the central committee, he lost. His family fled, as he requested.

Around the same time, two other eyewitness sources of Nyquists say the Soviet Union began conducting experiments in its Komsomol camps on how to grow sexual perversions. The camps were for members of the communist Young Pioneers and included children aged 10 to 15. Nyquist interprets these Kosmosol events as connected to the Andropov plan his source told him about.

According to Nyquist, the Soviets were organizing orgies in some of the camps, and they were trying to locate perverts to recruit them.

The idea was that in these Komsomol camps they were looking for people who had psychological problems that caused them to become sexually perverse in different ways, Nyquist said. It was like they were studying different perversions and the causes, and how to cultivate that, how to extend it, what kind of things draw people toward blacker perversions.

The Ultimate Blackmail

The program the grandfather described was a classic honeytrapa method of espionage to lure people into compromising sexual encounters for blackmail. This program took it a step further, however, by using children as the bait.

It was a form of false flag recruitment, according to Nyquist, where the KGB agents likely did not reveal themselves as agents to their targets. He noted that if the KGB honeytraps somebody, they dont know who theyre working for, because the KGB officer may be somebody who speaks English without an accent who merely references themselves as part of an organized crime group.

Accounts by child victims and police reports reveal shocking claims of sexual abuse, dark occult practices, and the involvement of high-level officials.

After a person has been compromised in the honeytrap, the agents or the front organization can continue offering services to the target in exchange for work, while also maintaining evidence to blackmail the targets if they have qualms about cooperating.

The tactic is still widely used, including by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The CCP was accused in 2015 of using attractive women to seduce spies from the British MI6 intelligence agency and lure them into honeytraps to obtain state secrets. A top-secret MI6 memo obtained by the UKs Mirror news outlet said Chinese spies were aggressively targeting spies and their families.

Honeytraps were also very common under the Soviet Union. Former KGB General Oleg Kalugin explained it once, stating according to Foreign Policy that, In America, in the West, occasionally you ask your men to stand up for their country. Theres very little difference. In Russia, we just ask our young women to lay down.

In conventional honeytraps, the target may be controlled either by a lover who is secretly a special agent, or with evidence of an extramarital affairsomething that in politics can ruin a career.

With pedophilia, however, the scandal and consequences are much more severe, and the effects of the honeytrap are much more binding.

Nyquist referred to it as the ultimate blackmail.

A Wave of Abuse

The timing of the Soviet child trafficking program corresponds with a sudden uptick of pedophile rings uncovered in the West. While its likely similar forms of abuse had existed previously, the new scandals aligned closely with what Nyquists source warned of.

In the 1980s and into the 90s, shocking cases of pedophilia and extreme abuse began to emerge in the United States, Australia, and Europe. Many of the cases involved high-level officials. Some were prosecuted, but many were thrown out due to lack of physical evidence and child testimony not being recognized.

Among the most prominent cases was that of billionaire Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted pedophile accused of holding underage girls as sex slaves on his private Caribbean island. He flew numerous top politicians and business leaders to the island on his private plane, dubbed by news outlets as The Lolita Express. According to press reports, the plane has a bed that was used for sex with young girls. According to the same reports, flight logs from Epsteins plane show that former President Bill Clinton flew on The Lolita Express 26 times.

Numerous girls alleged they were sexually abused by Epstein, and Epstein was charged by the Palm Beach police department. Yet after a plea deal, he was sentenced in 2008 and served only 13 months in prison for one charge of soliciting prostitution from a 14-year-old girl.

A 2006 court filing, cited by the New York Post , says that a police search of Epsteins mansion found he wired it with hidden cameras to record his guests engaging in orgies with underage girls, which he could use for blackmail.

Epstein was very well connected. It has been reported that Epstein kept contact numbers of figures including Tony Blair, Naomi Campbell, Dustin Hoffman, Michael Bloomberg, and Richard Branson, but no flight logs have ever surfaced showing any of them ever flew to Epsteins island. Many of his A-list contacts dropped him after his 2008 conviction.

Often overlooked in Epsteins case is that the father of his ex-girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell was deceased media tycoon Robert Maxwell, whom Ghislaine accused of sexually abusing her.

Robert Maxwell may have also been a Soviet spy. According to FBI files released in 2013, Maxwell, who was born in Czechoslovakia and was living in the United Kingdom, was believed to be using his Pergamon Press media empire in the 1950s to provide intelligence to the Soviet Union.

The heavily redacted reports noted that when Maxwell and his business partner Kurt Wallersteiner were running their Anglo-Continental Exchange firm in London in 1953, both had allegedly been recruited by the Soviet intelligence service for espionage purposes.

Former FBI agent Marc Ruskin said in a previous interview that two agents from the Belgian national police told him of a child abuse ring in Belgium in the mid-1990s that also allegedly involved government officials.

They had been working on a case that involved political corruption, and also there was a child pornography aspect to it as well, he said. And as their investigation proceeded, they began to develop subjectstargets of the investigationwho were high-level public officials.

As their investigations grew deeper, however, the agents were called into their supervisors office and told to drop the case. Ruskin said, referring to political corruption of law enforcement, that this was Western Europenot some undeveloped country with a dictator. If it can happen in Western Europe, it can happen anywhere.

Satanic Ritual Abuse

What Ruskin reported happened in Belgium, shocking claims of a pedophile ring servicing high-level officials whose investigation was hushed up, has happened elsewhere in the West. Unfortunately, there is no single source tracking reports of pedophile rings, and there is a pattern of mysterious events obstructing their investigation when they are reported.

Starting in 1980, victims of pedophile networks that fit the picture outlined by the Soviets began to step forward in the West, but a new element began to be commonly reported: Satanic practices. Accounts by child victims and police reports reveal shocking claims of sexual abuse, dark occult practices, and the involvement of high-level officials.

This began the so-called Satanic panic, which lasted into the mid-90s. It resulted in prison sentences for only a handful of perpetrators, and also led to multiple claims of government-level conspiracies behind the rings.

Among the most famous cases was the Franklin child prostitution ring case from 1988 to 1990. The case in Omaha, Nebraska, alleged that high-level politicians were involved in a child prostitution ring, where children were flown to private parties of politicians where they were abused. Victims alleged other crimes including cannibalism, human sacrifice, and drug trafficking.

The defendants were eventually found not guilty, but the way the case played out was criticized as a cover-up. The three main witnesses were instead charged with perjury, and many key figures in the case would later turn up dead.

Documented problems with the case were later compiled by former state Sen. John DeCamp in his book, The Franklin Cover-up: Child Abuse, Satanism, and Murder in Nebraska, where he states: Two grand juries, one local and one federal, had a mandate to consider these and other charges of child abuse connected with the Franklin Credit Union. They indicted the victim-witnesses for perjury instead!

DeCamp also states that evidence in the case leads into drug-trafficking, money-laundering, pornography, child prostitution, and the kidnapping and sale of children in different parts of the United States, and abroad.

Award-winning author and filmmaker Tim Tate produced a documentary on the Omaha case, uncovering many similar findings. The Discovery Channel was set to broadcast the documentary Conspiracy of Silence in May 1994, yet abruptly canceled before it could air. Tate explains on his website the sensitivity with covering the topic of Satanic ritual abuse, noting that in his experience, touch it, andprofessionally, at leastyou die.

The full documentary , which was in the late stages of editing, was later published online .

In a case in the United Kingdom, former British Member of Parliament Geoffrey Dickens, who died in 1995, investigated what he said, according to The Washington Post , was a pedophile ring of powerful individuals with big, big names.

Barry Dickens, the son of Geoffrey Dickens, told the BBC, My father thought that the dossier at the time was the most powerful thing that had ever been produced, with the names that were involved and the power that they had.

His son provided the research to British authorities, but files went missing in 2014 around evidence of break-ins. An additional 114 documents on the alleged pedophile ring also went missing around the same time. The Guardian reported, The revelation that further relevant documents have disappeared will raise fresh fears of an establishment cover-up.

Influence and Control

According to Nyquist, when rumors of high-level Satanic-themed pedophile rings again emerged in 2016, his contact whose grandfather detailed the Soviet plot became nervous and afraid.

I have to tell you he became very frightened, last year, he said. I went to breach the subject with him again, and he said absolutely I do not want to talk about this; this scares me too much. Because he believed this is such a significant part of the Russian power, these pedophile networks, that if you talk about it you might be dead.

Nyquist said his sources did not mention the element of Satanic abuse in the alleged Soviet-backed pedophile rings, but he noted that, as someone who has studied communist methods of infiltration and subversion, it doesnt seem unusual.

When the communists design an attack, they use such horrible methods; one of the advantages of a horrible method is that nobody believes that anyone would do such a thing, he said. The elements of forcing victims to commit ritual murderand killing any who refused to participatewould also work as a control mechanism over anyone involved, since they would all be guilty, he said.

He said the overall system, if true, would have given the Soviets and later post-Soviet participants significant power in establishing networks of influence and control. He noted that even just among business leaders, since they often fund politicians and political causes, by blackmailing them youre suddenly getting into the fringes of the political system. Youre able to penetrate the political system.

Pedophilia, if you look at it, is an important tool for corrupting, controlling, and manipulating a foreign government, and sabotaging its economy, sabotaging its political process, even sowing confusion, he said. This whole thing can be used in all kinds of creative ways to hurt the target country.Trump Hopes Oprah Will Run for President in 2020, So She Can Be Exposed and Defeated

President Donald Trump criticized media proprietor and talk show host Oprah Winfrey in a tweet late on Sunday saying that she would be exposed and defeated if she ran for president in 2020.

Just watched a very insecure Oprah Winfrey, who at one point I knew very well, interview a panel of people on 60 Minutes. The questions were biased and slanted, the facts incorrect, Trump wrote. Hope Oprah runs so she can be exposed and defeated just like all of the others!

Trumps tweet references a CBS 60 Minutes panel discussion with 14 people from Grand Rapids, Michigan. CBS interviewed the same group about their views last year. Half of the people voted for Trump and half did not.

We never intended to go back to Grand Rapids. But then we learned that, after disagreeing on virtually everything, our group stayed in close touch, Winfrey said explaining the shows origin. Members from opposite sides of the divide actually became friends, organizing outings and talking every day in a private facebook chat group. All of that made us want to go back.

Winfrey has not said that she plans to run for president, but talk of her candidacy began after she gave a politicized speech during the Golden Globe Awards last month.

Winfreys boyfriend, Stedman Graham, told Los Angeles Times that she would absolutely do it.

Its up to the people, Graham said.

When asked about considering a run for president in 2020, Winfrey denied the rumors, saying that God has not yet told her to do it.

If God actually wanted me to run, wouldnt God kinda tell me? And I havent heard that, Winfrey told CBS.

Sunday wasnt the first time Trump said he would beat Oprah if she ran. He made similar remarks last month.

Yeah, Ill beat Oprah. Oprah would be a lot of fun, Trump said, according to Fox News. I know her very well. I like Oprah. I dont think shes going to run.

In a 1988 interview, Oprah asked Trump if he would run for president.

Probably not. But I do get tired of seeing the country ripped off, Trump said at the time.

And if it got so bad, I never want to rule it out totally, because I really am tired of seeing whats happening with this country, Trump added.

From NTD.tv

Recommended Video: President Trumps First State of the Union AddressPresident Donald Trump before boarding Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, en route to West Palm Beach, Fla., on Feb. 16. 2018. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

Trump Says Adam Schiff Was Right on Obamas Lack of Response to Russian Meddling

President Donald Trump on Feb. 18 said that Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) is finally right about something, referring to comments that the Ranking Member of the House Intelligence Committee made about former President Barack Obamas lack of response to Russian interference.

In talking about the Obama administration, Schiff told NBCs Andrea Mitchell that The American people had a right to know what was going on and could be trusted to do the right thing with it. And they should have defended being more public and aggressive at the time, at least in my view.

Schiff also said that the lack of response by Obama meant that others around the world watched and determined that cyber is a cost-free intervention.

Schiffs comments came on the heels of an indictment of 13 Russian nationals by Special Council Robert Mueller for using social media accounts to sow discord in the United States.

While the findings did not show intentional collusion with any Americans or political campaigns, nor that the Russian efforts changed the outcome of the 2016 presidential elections, it did manage to increase discord between conservative and liberal groups.

The Russians used social media profiles to support both liberal and conservative issues. In one case, after the elections, they organized a pro-Trump and anti-Trump rally simultaneously using social media accounts.

Despite the fact that the Obama administration was aware at the time of Russian efforts to undermine the United States and peoples trust in the electoral system, he didnt take action to stop it, allowing them and potential other foreign governments to continue their meddling.

Schiff said that the Obama administration should have established a more forceful deterrent.

Schiffs comments gained the praise of President Donald Trump:

Finally, Liddle Adam Schiff, the leakin monster of no control, is now blaming the Obama Administration for Russian meddling in the 2016 Election. He is finally right about something. Obama was President, knew of the threat, and did nothing. Thank you Adam!

Finally, Liddle Adam Schiff, the leakin monster of no control, is now blaming the Obama Administration for Russian meddling in the 2016 Election. He is finally right about something. Obama was President, knew of the threat, and did nothing. Thank you Adam!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 18, 2018

Trump followed the tweet, sent on Feb. 18, up with another one:

Now that Adam Schiff is starting to blame President Obama for Russian meddling in the election, he is probably doing so as yet another excuse that the Democrats, lead by their fearless leader, Crooked Hillary Clinton, lost the 2016 election. But wasnt I a great candidate?

Now that Adam Schiff is starting to blame President Obama for Russian meddling in the election, he is probably doing so as yet another excuse that the Democrats, lead by their fearless leader, Crooked Hillary Clinton, lost the 2016 election. But wasnt I a great candidate?  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 18, 2018

Schiff has been among the most vocal in Congress claiming that Trump colluded with the Russian government to win the elections, without providing any evidence for his claims. Over a year of investigations by congressional committees, as well as intelligence and law enforcement, agencies have found no evidence of such collusion.

A House Intelligence Committee memo published earlier this month showed that a key source of the collusion allegations was an opposition research dossier paid for by the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee. The dossier and one of its authors, former British spy Christopher Steele, were used by the Department of Justice and the FBI to obtain a FISA spy warrant on campaign volunteer Carter Page.

Steele had also provided briefings on the content of his dossier to a select number of journalists, including those working for The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, The New Yorker, and Yahoo News, UK court documents show. Page has sued Yahoo and the Huffington Post for defamation.

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Trump Calls on Nation to Answer Hate with Love after Florida School Shooting TragedyPresident Donald Trump arrives at Greenbrier Valley Airport in Lewisburg for the 2018 Annual House and Senate Republican Conference, in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., on Feb. 1, 2018. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

Trump Says Collusion Investigations Play Into Russias Hands

President Donald Trump on Feb. 18 responded to the revelation that Russian nationals had used fake social media accounts to sow discord in the United States.

On Friday, the office of Special Counsel Robert Mueller indicted 13 Russian nationals for using fake social media accounts to sow discord in the United States and undermine confidence in the electoral systems.

The Russian nationals had made preparations for their campaign in 2014 and carried out their actions in 2016 and after the elections.

The Russians actions primarily focussed on creating social media pages that supported certain hot-button issues, such as immigration, or black lives matter, and using them to create deeper wedges in society.

According to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, the Russian efforts did not involve any collusion with Americans, nor did it change the outcome of the elections.

It did, however, add to partisan divisions in the United States.

The methods reflect Soviet-era subversion strategies designed to destabilize societies by driving opposing groups into conflict and to cause the population to lose faith in its institutions.

If it was the GOAL of Russia to create discord, disruption and chaos within the U.S. then, with all of the Committee Hearings, Investigations and Party hatred, they have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. They are laughing their asses off in Moscow. Get smart America!, Trump wrote on Twitter on Feb. 18.

If it was the GOAL of Russia to create discord, disruption and chaos within the U.S. then, with all of the Committee Hearings, Investigations and Party hatred, they have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. They are laughing their asses off in Moscow. Get smart America!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 18, 2018

The unproven narrative that Trump colluded with the Russian government to win the 2016 elections dominated news-coverage last year according to analysis by the Media Research Center.

During the monitored period, between June 1 and August 31, 2017, the Russia collusion narrative received more coverage than any other Trump-related topic.

But despite over a year of congressional investigations, as well as investigations by intelligence and law enforcement agencies, no evidence of collusion has been found.

Instead, what has been revealed, is that at the core of the allegations that Trump colluded with Russia is opposition research paid for by the Clinton Campaign and the Democratic National Committee.

(Click on the map to see it in full)

The so-called Trump dossier, produced by Fusion GPS, was actively spread among politicians and journalists to fuel opposition to Trump.

The dossier first became public in January 2017 when BuzzFeed News published the 35-page dossier in its entirety.

Court documents in the UK, where Christopher Steelea former British spy who had been hired by Fusion GPS to produce the dossieris being sued for defamation, reveal that he gave at least two briefings to select members of the media.

Among the journalists included in the briefing, were journalists working for The New York Times, CNN, The Washington Post, The New Yorker, and Yahoo News.

Court documents filed by the House Intelligence Committee in November reveal that Fusion GPS also made a number of direct payments to journalists covering Russia-related matters, although it is unclear whether the payments were made in exchange for articles.

A memo published by the House Intelligence Committee earlier this month showed that Steele and the unverified claims contained in the Trump dossier were used by the FBI and DOJ to obtain a spy warrant on Trump campaign volunteer Carter Page. That warrant could then have been used to spy on more members of the Trump campaign.

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How Doctors in China Turn into MurderersAn Uber car in Manhattan, New York City on June 14, 2017. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

UberEats Driver Flees After Fatally Shooting Customer, Police Say

Police are looking for an UberEats driver after a man was fatally shot as he got his food delivery outside his home in Atlanta, Georgia.

On Saturday night, Feb. 17, 30-year-old Ryan Thornton ordered takeout using the food delivery app. He picked up his order at 11:30 p.m. and started to leave. At this point words were exchanged between the two, said police, according to 11Alive.

Police said the UberEats driver then fired several shots from the car, striking Thronton multiple times. The driver fled the scene in a white Volkswagon. No arrests have been made, reported 11Alive.

Thornton was rushed to the hospital where he later died.

An Uber representative told 11Alive, We are shocked and saddened by this news. We are working with Atlanta Police, and our hearts go out to the families of those involved.

Speaking to 11Alive, Thorntons uncle said that he was a good boy. The 30-year-old graduated from Morehouse College with a political science degree last year and had recently got a new job.

From NTD.tv

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Brothers Step in When They See Man Harassing Two Teen Girls on New York SubwayMost of the Cooking for This Breakfast Happens While Youre AsleepWar Monitoring Group: Bombing Kills 94 in Syrian Region in a Day

A surge in attacks by the Syrian government and its allies killed 94 people in the rebel pocket of eastern Ghouta in the space of 24 hours, a war monitoring group said on Monday.

Air strikes, rocket fire and shelling on the besieged suburbs of Damascus also wounded another 325 people, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

There was no comment from the Syrian military. The Damascus government says it only targets militants.

Factions in Ghouta fired mortars at districts of Damascus, killing a child and wounding eight others, Syrian state media said. Troops and allied forces struck militant targets there in response, the state news agency SANA said.

Starved and abandoned, the Damascus suburb of Eastern Ghouta has become a place where rescue workers can't even save their own families. 20-50 graves on standby at any one time. https://t.co/zWEpPr349E  Louisa Loveluck (@leloveluck) February 17, 2018

The United Nations says nearly 400,000 people live in eastern Ghouta, a pocket of satellite towns and farms under government siege since 2013.

Panos Moumtzis, U.N. regional coordinator for the Syria crisis, said an extreme escalation in hostilities had killed at least 40 civilians and injured more than 150 on Monday.

The humanitarian situation of civilians in East Ghouta is spiraling out of control, he said in a statement. Many residents have little choice but to take shelter in basements and underground bunkers with their children.

The British-based Observatory said the latest escalation started on Sunday, and the dead included 18 children.

Do you remember Aleppo? It is happening again in besieged #Ghouta. Say something, do something. Dont stay silent. #Vigil4SyriaNYC https://t.co/bhM0vIuICR pic.twitter.com/k1BcE2SHDz  Dr. Zaher Sahloul (@sahloul) February 18, 2018

The local civil defense group said warplanes and artillery had pounded Saqba, Jisreen, and other towns. The rescue service, which operates in rebel territory, said strikes killed 20 people and wounded dozens in the town of Hammouriyeh alone on Monday.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assads military gained momentum in the war after Russian war planes entered on his side in 2015, pushing rebels out of major cities, and retaking much of central and eastern Syria from ISIS, a terrorist group.

NO RELIEF

Wael Olwan, spokesman for the Failaq al-Rahman rebel group in eastern Ghouta, said there had been heavy bombing throughout the day.

There are no ground invasions in the field and clashes, but there is very big shelling and preparatory fire, he said.

The United Nations said last week Syria was seeing some of the worst fighting of the war, which is entering its eighth year. The multi-sided conflict has killed hundreds of thousands of people and driven millions from their homes.

The Syrian Army are about to clear East Ghouta. Lets remind ourselves that the Islamist filth caged women and children to be used as human shields here. Without a doubt mainstream media will start talking of Syrian Army atrocities against civilians in East Ghouta. pic.twitter.com/ZV29J3p7ef  Paul Antonopoulos (@oulosP) February 19, 2018

Malnutrition has increased sharply in eastern Ghouta with hardly any food aid reaching the residents, the U.N. office for humanitarian affairs (OCHA) says.

Rising violence reportedly pushed some 15,000 civilians to flee their homes last month, taking refuge in makeshift shelters or basements in the enclave, OCHA said.

Eastern Ghouta falls under ceasefire plans for rebel territory that Russia has brokered with the help of Turkey and Iran.

Residents and aid workers say the de-escalation deals have brought no relief. Food, fuel, and medicine have dwindled.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday that Moscow and its allies could deploy our experience of freeing Aleppo  in the eastern Ghouta situation.

I dont know what to say about #Ghouta. 71 people killed  pic.twitter.com/vpuvGpRaek  Fatemah Alabed (@FatemahAlabed) February 19, 2018

With support from Russia and Iran, Damascus regained full control of the city of Aleppo in late 2016, after years of fighting and months of siege ended with an insurgent retreat.

Lavrov blamed armed provocations by Nusra militants, formerly linked to al Qaeda, for current conditions in eastern Ghouta.

The two main factions in Ghouta, which include Failaq al-Rahman, accuse Moscow and the Syrian army of breaching the de-escalation agreements. They say they have used the presence of a few hundred fighters from al Qaedas former Syria branch as a pretext to attack the enclave.

Reporting by Ellen Francis and Angus McDowall; Additional reporting by Polina Ivanova in Moscow and Tom Miles in Geneva; Editing by Andrew Roche and Kevin Liffey Recommended Video: How Doctors in China Turn into MurderersAs political leaders scratch their heads to find ways to balance the state budget, theres a move afoot for the state to sell the Connecticut Lottery Corp.  or more precisely, hand it over  to the treasurers office.

The plan, not yet fully formed, comes with kinks that need to be worked out. But it could save billions of dollars and improve the states overall financial picture.

One other state, New Jersey, made the move last year.

Theres a strong chance the giveaway, or some version of it, will emerge as a recommendation of the Commission on Fiscal Sustainability and Economic Growth, which has a March 1 deadline for a plan to help right the states finances.

Even before then, the lottery giveaway has powerful supporters who at least want to see whether the numbers add up.

The idea is to reduce the amount of your annual pension contribution based on the funds that the lottery is bringing, said Sen. Tim Larson, D-East Hartford, co-chairman of the public safety committee, which oversees the state lottery.

You dont sell the lottery, you just park it under the treasury, Larson said. Youve added value to that pension fund, so its in better shape.

One problem: Lottery customers feel comfortable that the proceeds go toward education, programs for elderly residents, town aid or whatever worthy expenses they choose to imagine. If the lottery moves to the treasurers office, it goes toward paying for the pensions of retired teachers or state employees.

Im concerned about the marketing challenges that the Connecticut Lottery Corp. could face if the proceeds are directly tied to state employee pension plans, said Chelsea Turner, interim president and CEO of the lottery.

Thats because the pensions are a matter of controversy, not something a product marketer relishes.

How it works

The lottery corporation is quasi-public; its part of the state but operates under a separate board of directors. Customers buy about $1.2 billion a year worth of tickets and other entries, and the lottery kicks more than $300 million a year to the states general fund.

Despite some hand-wringing over operational problems, including a mess-up in a New Years Day game that cost the lottery $1.5 million in a re-do, the corporation has seen rising profits in recent years, to a record $337 million in fiscal 2016. Last years take for the state was $330.5 million.

Under the transfer plan, the state would set a value on the lottery for the next 20 or 30 years. For example, based on profits in the range of $330 million a year, the asset over the next 30 years could be worth about $4.7 billion, maybe more if we assume added revenues from new games.

If the state were to hand the lottery over to the treasurers office  or more specifically, the proceeds of the lottery for the next 30 years  the treasury could assign that asset to one of the underfunded pension funds.

The state employees retirement fund, for example, is underfunded by $21.4 billion and the teachers retirement fund is underfunded by about $10 billion. If the lottery asset were placed into one of those funds, it would instantly lower the deficit by an amount equal to value of the lottery asset.

The result: The states general fund would be able to reduce its annual payments to the treasury to cover the pension funds by the amount the lottery earned each year. That would be a wash on the balance sheet.

But heres the kicker: Because the fund would carry a smaller unfunded liability, the overall annual payments into it could be less. Its like a shrinking the mortgage on your house.

How much less? Maybe as much as $200 million. In any case, its a big number that hasnt been calculated yet.

Less risk

Rep. Joe Verrengia, D-West Hartford, another public safety co-chairman, said the idea is worth vetting, but hes also concerned about the marketing issue.

Larson cited another possible benefit: The transaction could give the state a chance to rethink the way the lottery is managed and directed. Does the Connecticut Lottery Corp., which I have some concerns about currently, still run it?

Don DeFronzo, who became chairman last summer in the wake of problems that forced the exit of the previous CEO and chairman, said the quasi-public model has been extremely effective, one of the only rising revenue sources in the state in recent years.

He and Turner both said they welcome ideas on improving operations.

Management issues aside, the would-be transfer to the treasury is the action to watch. The idea was presented to the fiscal stability commission by Jim Millstein, a financial consultant and investment banker in New York and Washington, D.C., whose firm worked on the New Jersey transaction.

For years, states and municipalities have raised money by selling assets or by privatizing services. For example, te city of Hartford sold a parking garage to the Capital Region Development Authority for $14 million in 2015.

But asset sales mean loss of control over the asset and privatization tends to raise the ire of public employee unions  for example, when trash collection is contracted to outside companies.

An asset transfer to the pension funds can be less risky, keeping the assets in public hands and unlocking value. The states general fund cant benefit from the overall value of the lottery other than through income, while the pension funds can use the income plus reduce their long-term liability.

Jan Hochadel, president of AFT, the large union of teachers and service workers, many in state jobs, said the union has long urged measures to stabilize the pension funds. Were eager to see the details of any proposal that would promote greater stability and viability for this valuable public asset, she said in a written statement.

New wave

So why havent we seen more of these types of deals?

Five years from now well all look back and this will be the first set of hundreds of transactions across the country, said Millstein, of Millstein & Co.

Millstein was the high-ranking official at the U.S. Department of the Treasury credited with some of the financial bailouts in the aftermath of the Great Recession, notably the $182 billion AIG deal that ended up netting the treasury a profit.

The office of Treasurer Denise L. Nappier didnt offer a comment on the idea.

Its too early to tell whether New Jersey, which added its lottery corporation to its teachers retirement fund in the middle of last year, is seeing a negative backlash from customers.

Moodys Investors Service issued a report on the New Jersey transfer, saying bigger benefits would come from reforms to the pension fund itself. One such reform thats also in the offing in Connecticut: A refinancing of the teachers pension fund.

But thats standard stuff. This innovative transfer idea could unlock such huge savings  at a modest cost of maybe $10 million to $15 million in Wall Street fees  that we should be willing to live with issues like marketing worries.

Its worth trying. And as with the successful Access Health CT Obamacare exchange, Connecticut could be in the forefront of progress on this one.Norwalk Harbor is a defining attribute of this Sound-hugging city, the sixth largest in Connecticut  and growing.

If the several distinct sections comprise the muscle of this city of nearly 89,000, then the harbor is its poetic heart.

Fishing, lobstering, kayaking, sailing, oystering, rowing, swimming, paddleboarding on the waters; picnicking, dining, watching the birds and the arc of the sun from shore.

Its no wonder a dedicated group of Norwalk natives are fighting the powers-that-be over the near-and-far future of the harbor.

The Norwalk Harbor Keeper formed last summer with the primary purpose of getting the state Department of Transportation to rethink the Walk Bridge project. Four members and a consultant met with The Norwalk Hour Editorial Board last week to explain their concerns.

Step back for a moment to see what they are up against. The Walk Bridge  known officially to the DOT as Norwalk River Railroad Bridge, Bridge No. 04288R, MP 41.5  is getting replaced. And its about time as the movable bridge over the Norwalk River was built in 1896. Thats not a typo  122 years ago.

This sometimes mechanically stubborn bridge carries four railroad tracks of one of the busiest commuter lines in the Northeast corridor, Metro-North with about 200 trains and 125,000 passengers depending on its integrity every day.

Its really not a question that the old bridge needs attention. But Norwalk Harbor Keeper believes the DOT is going too far in pursuing a replacement that will lift to allow masts to go under  a plan they say is exceedingly disruptive. They filed a lawsuit in federal court last month to get the DOT and the Federal Transit Authority to fully evaluate alternatives, such as a fixed bridge with the same track height as the present bridge.

The lawsuit is designed to spark examination, said Fred Krupp, an attorney who is president of Norwalk Harbor Keeper, a founder of the Connecticut Fund for the Environment and president of the Environmental Defense Fund, which is not involved in the suit. An East Norwalk resident, he paddleboards, rows and kayaks in the harbor.

All the members of the nonprofit organization who met with us last week have personal stakes: Robin Penna owns a business that was relocated for the project and though shes pleased with the new location, shes concerned about disruption to other businesses. Tony DAndrea is a commercial fisherman and former chairman of the Norwalk Harbor Commission. Patrick Sikes taught on-the-water classes for the Maritime Aquarium.

These are longtime residents who clearly care about the harbor and its social, economic and environmental aspects.

But is it too late to temporarily halt the multifaceted project with a price tag pushing toward a billion dollars? The engineering design for the vertical lift bridge is at least 30 percent complete and ancillary work already has begun on projects leading up to the replacement, which is expected to start next year. The DOT has had decent public communication with information at www.walkbridgect.com and weekly email updates.

Harbor Keeper has a good point, though: The decision to go with the higher movable bridge was based on maintaining the harbors designation as a federal navigation channel. But is that necessary? The use of the river has changed since 1896. Development today skews toward apartments, and only three businesses upriver occasionally generate boat traffic. Masts should be counted; alternatives such as tugs considered.

Given the complexity and cost of the project, the public concern  and the critical importance to the Northeast rail corridor  it is worth further study to see whether a less disruptive, but still effective, replacement can be made.

A petition recently started at Change.org; more information can be found on the Norwalk Harbor Keeper blog Rethinkthewalkbridge.wordpress.com.

Democracies dont function without citizens getting involved, Krupp said, even occasionally taking legal action.WESTPORT  A man was pulled from the cold waters of the Saugatuck River Monday and transported to Norwalk Hospital after he reportedly jumped from the Interstate 95 overpass.

On a rainy Presidents Day around 4p.m., Westporter firefighters were dispatched on report of a person in the Saugatuck River near the I-95 overpass. Westport fire, police, and EMS arrived at the scene and confirmed one victim was in the water.

He parked his car on I-95 and jumped, said Westport Police Chief Foti Koskinas, who was at the scene Monday afternoon. The outgoing current pulled the man down the river, Koskinas said, adding the victim sustained injuries.

Two firefighters put on cold water suits and entered the water in an attempt to rescue the victim, but the victim traveled approximately 500 yards due to the current from where he first jumped, according to a statment from the Westport Fire Department.

The firefighters swam to the victim and secured him while a firefighter on shore pulled the victim to land near the area of Stony Point Road, around 4:20 p.m, Assistant Fire Chief Brian Meadows said.

Two firefighters assisted Westport Emergency Medical Services in transporting the victim to Norwalk Hospital.

Koskinas said it is unknown why the man jumped and his car, which he left on the highway, would need to be searched.

Connecticut State Police are in charge of the case given the incidents location on a state highway. Traffic on I-95 was slowed due to the police activity and train traffic was temporarily halted when the search was underway.

As there is no criminal aspect to the case, no more information will be released, said Sgt. Eric Haglund, a State Police spokesman.The Roman Empire was one of the largest and most powerful regimes in human history, despite its many faults. Most historians will agree that the causes of why that empire fell were a combination of factors including, but not limited to, the invasion by the Barbarians from the north, the loss of traditional values, and military overspending.

Last week I reported in this column on how a fiscal shutdown of the federal government would affect higher education. Now that a two-year budget has passed, allowing the government to run until late March, we have a better idea of what is to be expected for higher education over the next 24 months. Last Monday President Trump sent Congress a $4.4 trillion budget, which included drastic cuts in domestic programs and large increases in military spending. That, combined with the tax cuts recently enacted, has analysts agreeing that this plan will result in a $7.1 trillion deficit over the next decade.

Lets examine this budget  and its potential effects on education  one step at a time.

The Congressional agreement, titled The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018, includes $4 billion for what they call student-centered programs that aid college completion and affordability. Although this sounds good, there are very few details about this plan beyond that the measure will cover programs that help police officers, teachers, and firefighters. According to some politicians involved in this deal, including Sen. Patty Murray (D-Washington), this should help low-income students, first responders, and teachers to deal with the student-debt crisis. However, the lack of details means that we will have to sit and wait to understand what it really means.

Also, as reported in this column regarding how the new tax code was targeting private institutions of higher education for ideological reasons by taxing their endowments, there were some unintended victims of this anti-intellectualist move. One was Berea College.

Berea College is a small (about 1,600 students) liberal arts college. Founded in 1855, it was the first college below the Mason-Dixon Line to become coeducational and racially integrated. And today, it provides education free to its students. This generosity is made possible thanks to its large endowment (over $1 billion).

Republicans seem obsessed with private colleges and universities that have large endowments, and what they see as their liberal agendas. As a result, these institutions were hit with a 1.5 percent tax on those endowments. Luckily for Berea, it is located in Kentucky (about 35 miles south of Lexington), which is the home state of Republican Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell, who introduced a compromise in the senate plan.

Sen. McConnell also included a provision that authorizes the education secretary to exempt colleges from the potential loss of federal Title IV funds if they operate in economically distressed areas. That seems to be directed to help Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College, whose students have a high loan-default rate. Sometimes it pays to be in the right state.

Although the bill also provides $100 million in relief for institutions in Puerto Rico, it does not provide any dollars for immigration or those enrolled in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, most of whom are now of college age.

But how about the new proposed White House budget?

To begin with, it does not embrace the budget passed by Congress as described above. Secondly, it keeps increasing the federal deficit well beyond what Congress wanted, and, obviously, well out of line with the Republican orthodoxy of balanced budgets. There is an extraordinary increase in military spending of $195 billion over the next two years. That is shocking given that the U.S. already spends more on national defense than China, Saudi Arabia, Russia, the United Kingdom, India, France, and Japan combined. In fact, defense spending accounts for almost 16 percent of all U.S. federal spending.

Amidst all of this spending, ideology continues to drive budget cuts in other areas. For example, the fiscal 2019 proposed budget for the Environmental Protection Agency will represent a $2.8 billion cut (or 34 percent) from its current level. How is it doing that? By virtually eliminating all climate change-related programs and cutting the agencys Office of Science and Technology by nearly half, from $762 million to $489 million.

The justification for these cuts is that the EPA will be refocusing on what it calls core activities and eliminating lower priority programs. Evidently for the White House, climate change  the worst environmental crisis in human history and whose economic and social consequences will be disastrous for civilization  represents a low priority. Other programs facing reduction or complete elimination are those that promote partnerships with the private sector in dealing with climate change, the protection of marine estuaries (one of the most fragile ecosystems), and environmental education training.

Although most political observers believe that this budget proposal is unlikely to pass in its current form, it does reveal a number things about the current White House that are not that surprising.

One is an utter contempt for science, a feeling shared by most members of the Republican caucus. Another is the adamant position of ignoring climate change, which, for them, has become as bad a term as Obamacare. It also represents a reckless disregard for the well being of the citizens of this country and the world as a whole. As long as they keep certain sectors of corporate America and their base happy, why should they care?

Our country is facing now some of the very same threats that caused the collapse of the Roman Empire: military overspending, and the deterioration of traditional values, evident in the rejection of demonization of immigrants, and the outright hostility for knowledge. The Barbarians are again at the gate, only this time they are coming from within by occupying positions of power within government in its three branches.

Think about it.

Dr. Aldemaro Romero Jr. is a writer and college professor with leadership experience in higher education. He can be contacted through his website at: http://www.aromerojr.netEDWARDSVILLE  With Farrells Happy booming in the background, approximately 130 volunteers were manning tables and manufacturing meals at the Edwardsville Moose Lodge on Saturday.

The morning snow didnt deter those who helped package the chicken and rice mixture that will be sent to Nicaragua by the Edwardsville Rotary Club.

Partnering with eight other Rotary Clubs and a handful of other groups, the Edwardsville Rotary, through the NICE Foundation in Highland, will ship 25,000 prepackaged meals to Central America.

Edwardsville Rotary President Steve Grant said the meals will go to schools and churches in Nicaragua.

In past years, school supplies had been shipped south, but it was discovered they were going unused as they kids werent learning because they werent receiving enough to eat.

Hence the meals.

Our missions philosophy and my philosophy is: its hard to learn if youre hungry, Grant said. This may be the the only meal they receive each day.

The assembly line meal production started with boxes of grain being sifted into plastic bags. The chicken mixture was added as the bag was passed down the table where it was then sealed and stacked before being placed in a box, which would be sealed at the front of the lodge hall and then decorated by a group of youngsters armed with markers.

The NICE Foundation had a truck sitting outside, waiting to be loaded.

Grant said last year, 10,000 meals were bagged, boxed and shipped.

This year, extra help was recruited and approximately 25,000 bags were filled in less than three hour.

Joining the Edwardsville Rotary was the Goshen Rotary, Metro-East Rotary, Bethalto Rotary, Silver Creek Rotary, Highland Rotary, East Alton Rotary, Riverbend Rotary and Wood River Rotary.

The SIUE womens volleyball team and SIUEs Delta Sigma Pi sorority also helped as did Edwardsville High Schools Interact Club, which is the Rotarys youth branch.

Meal production began at 8:30 a.m. and was wrapped up before 11 a.m.

This is the best year weve ever had, Grant said. Were doing 25,000 meals.

Each of the bagged meals can feed six people and, because the contents are dry and sealed, they have a long shelf life.

The NICE Foundation (Nicaragua Christian Education Foundation) has staff in Nicaragua that will district the meals to churches and schools.

On its website, the NICE Foundation states that its goal is to build relationships.

It goes on to state that: We try not to anything that our Nicaraguan partner ministry can do for itself.Pine Cliff Energy Ltd. engages in the acquisition, exploration, development, and production of natural gas, crude oil, and natural gas liquids in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin. The company primarily holds interests in natural gas assets in the Southern and Edson areas; and oil and natural gas assets in the Viking Kinsella and Ghost Pine area of Central Alberta. It also holds interests in natural gas liquids assets in the Sundance, Carstairs, Garrington, and Harmattan areas of Alberta; and natural gas assets in the Cadillac area of Southern Saskatchewan. As of December 31, 2020, its proved reserves consisted 42,899 thousand barrels of oil equivalent (MBOE) and proved plus probable reserves included 54,840.0 MBOE. The company also explores for gold, nickel, and copper deposits, as well as platinum group elements in Utah, Ontario, the Northwest Territories, and Nunavut. Pine Cliff Energy Ltd. was incorporated in 2004 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada.

Read MoreOrchids Paper Products Company manufactures and sells tissue products for at-home and away from home markets in the United States. Its products include paper towels, bathroom tissues, and paper napkins. The company offers its products under the Orchids Supreme, Clean Scents, Tackle, Colortex, My Size, Velvet, and Big Mopper brands; and licensed brands, such as Virtue, Truly Green, Golden Gate Paper, and Big Quality. It also sells parent rolls to other converters. The company serves discount retailers, grocery stores, grocery wholesalers and cooperatives, convenience stores, janitorial supply stores, and stores in the food service market. Orchids Paper Products Company was founded in 1976 and is based in Pryor, Oklahoma.

Read MoreCincinnati, OH  Cincinnati police have arrested two people in connection with the rape of a 31-year-old mentally disabled woman.

Police arrest records say Robert Achtermann, 53, and Shannon Melford, 39, engaged in sexual conduct with the victim.

The two are in a relationship, FOX19 NOW has confirmed.

They are now both are being held at the Hamilton County Justice Center. Achtermann is facing two counts of rape and Melford is facing one count.

FOX19 NOW reached out to the Hamilton County Developmental Disability Services office about the alleged offenses and, though officials couldnt speak to any specific cases, Director of Community Relations Ryan Braun said any crime against someone with a disability is upsetting for their staff.

Anytime you see something like this, you know, its horrifying and we dont see things this horrifying that often but it sickens people, Braun said. People around here care very deeply for the people we serve and their health and safety.

Developmental Disability Services involvement in the case is unclear but the office does help local law enforcement through its own investigative unit.

I believe its nine full-time staff who are investigating allegations of abuse and neglect and exploitation and things like that, Braun said. They do over 1,000 investigations every year.

Braun encourages anyone who has witnessed or suspects a crime against a developmentally disabled resident to reach out to their investigative unit at 513-559-6629 or email them at MUI@Hamiltondds.org.WINNIPEGA shortage of rail cars in Canada is leaving grain and oil shipments stranded on the Prairies, sending crude prices plummeting and leaving farmers in a cash crunch.

The nations biggest railways havent been able to deliver enough cars after harsh winter conditions and as a sudden boom in energy production sparked a swell of demand.

Some farmers have been waiting for months to deliver wheat and canola to elevators before they can get paid.

The squeeze also means that crude supplies are piling up in Alberta, pushing prices to the biggest discount relative to New York futures in more than four years.

The bottleneck means some Canadas commodity producers are getting left behind as other nations take advantage of a recent run up in global prices. Benchmark wheat futures in Chicago are up more than 9 per cent since the end of November, while West Texas Intermediate in New York added more than 7 per cent.

We make these contracts because we have payment obligations at a certain time of the year, so we need that cash at that time of the year, not three, four months later, said Norm Hall, a vice president for the Canadian Federation of Agriculture. If farmers have loan payments, theyre depending on this cash, or maybe its a rent payment. They get hit hard, he said.

Since August, Canadian National Railway Co. has cancelled almost 13,000 hopper car orders, and there are 1,072 outstanding orders for rail cars as of Feb. 8, data from the Ag Transport Coalition show. Another 996 orders for hopper cars from Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. havent been filled, according to the group, which represents agriculture associations, including the Alberta Wheat Commission, Canadian Canola Growers Association and Pulse Canada.

Canadian National has been dealing with challenging operating conditions, including harsh winter weather, and the railways recent volume growth has created pinch points on its network, spokeswoman Kate Fenske said in an emailed statement. The railway is bringing on additional crews and locomotives as soon as the ground thaws and the company plans to boost capital spending to $3.2 billion this year to further support network capacity, Fenske said.

Canadian Pacific said it has moved 4 per cent more grain this crop year.

While we are dealing with some extreme weather currently, we continue to deliver for our customers and supply chain, Jeremy Berry, a CP spokesman, said in an email.

Earnings for Halliburton Co., the worlds biggest fracker, will be reduced this quarter due to temporary shipping delays of sand, the company said. Canadian National halted all new frack-sand shipments for a week across a wide section of Minnesota and Wisconsin amid winter weather.

The region accounts for about a third of Halliburtons total purchased sand volume, chief financial officer Chris Weber told investors Thursday at the Credit Suisse Energy Summit in Colorado.

The grain backlog for farmers is the worst since 2013, according to the Western Grain Elevator Association.

The shortfall comes amid growing demand from other sectors, including frack sand, said Wade Sobkowich, executive director of the Winnipeg-based Western Grain Elevator Association, which represents the countrys largest grain shippers, including Richardson International Ltd. and Cargill Ltd.

Railways are also struggling to accommodate a surge of oil after several years of slower production growth. The as much as 45-per-cent surge in demand to ship crude by rail in the third quarter caught us a little bit by surprise, Ghislain Houle, Canadian National Railways chief financial officer, said Tuesday at a conference.

The boom in production coupled with the rail delays means that inventories are building up in Alberta, where its priced.

Canadian heavy oils discount to West Texas Intermediate futures widened to $30.60 a barrel last week, the biggest discount since December 2013, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

Read more about:MONTREALThe railway division of Bombardier Inc. says losing out on a large electric train contract in Montreal may force it to lay off workers this fall at its plant in La Pocatiere, Que., unless it wins some new contracts.

Spokesperson Eric Prudhomme describes the situation for the facility as perilous once the contract to make new subway cars for Montreals metro system ends.

He says it is five after midnight for the plant over the next 12 months, putting at least half of the plants 600 jobs on the line.

Local elected officials and workers are calling for an emergency meeting with Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard on the future of the plant.

The contract for the 468 Azur cars (the Montreal metro) ends in November and 300 people could be laid off if nothing is done, La Pocatiere Mayor Sylvain Hudon said in a news conference.

Read more:

Bombardiers cash flow surges in boost to CEOs turnaround

Bombardier sets up new streetcar production line in Kingston, gives TTC new delivery schedule

He was joined by Yvon Souci, head of the Kamouraska region, and Mario Guignard, president of the Bombardier union in La Pocatiere.

They asked Couillard Monday to update his recent comments that there would soon be work and other contracts for this site, even though Bombardier was not selected for the contracts of the Metropolitan Express Network (REM).

The Quebec multinational was excluded from the contract to supply trains, which was won by a consortium involving Alstom Transport Canada and a subsidiary of SNC-Lavalin.

No local content requirement was set by CDPQ Infra, the subsidiary of Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec, which is leading the $6.3-billion project.

Bombardier also lost out last year on a contract to build cars for Montreals commuter transportation network, which ordered 24 new train cars from the China Railway Rolling Stock Corporation after lowering Canadian content requirements to 15 per cent from 25 per cent in prior contracts.

The company hopes that the next provincial budget, expected to be tabled in March, will contain good news.

As far as the Azur are concerned, only half of the car fleet has been replaced, said PrudHomme. (A contract) for 50 per cent of MR-73 cars could be an option. 

However, the Montreal Transit Corporation (STM) said that it did not plan to acquire rolling stock in the short term.

We have chosen to extend the life of the MR-73 metro cars by 20 years, for a replacement scheduled for 2036, said spokesman Philippe Dery.

Read more about:OTTAWAThe woman who sits in the most powerful office in Ottawa is grappling with the #MeToo movements arrival on Parliament Hill.

From parliamentary page to the prime ministers chief of staff, Katie Telford has seen first-hand the multiple levels of Parliament Hills power structure.

Now, shes reflecting on the issue of harassment on the Hill from two different perspectives: as a former young staffer who navigated her way through the parliamentary precinct, and as a manager trying to support staff coming to her with their concerns.

There are things today that I think back on and think, Hmm, I wonder . . . ,  Telford said in a rare on-the-record interview.

It just didnt cross my mind way back when, nor do I remember talking about whether you would report something . . . (unless) you were uncomfortable to a degree that you had to confront it or leave. It was that kind of an environment.

Telford described an informal approach to harassment issues during her time on the Hill in the 1990s as a page and 2000s when she was an opposition staffer, where staff might approach their boss or a colleague for support.

Sometimes, someone would have words with the men involved. But that would be about it, she suggests.

I think most people would agree that there was probably not much consequences to any of that, Telford said.

There was, hopefully, support through friendship and collegiality to the woman . . . . But no, that is not good enough. That is not good enough at all.

Parliament has been trying to play catch-up to modern workplaces and broader societal change for some time.

Gone are the Wonderful Wednesday parties, where MPs, journalists and political staff mixed drinks and mingled together until the wee hours.

Gone is the National Press Club, where politicians would eat light dinners and drink beer between their duties, some later having to apologize for being tired and emotional on the floor of the House of Commons.

And largely gone is the near-total male domination of the press and political office.

But the past several months have seen women come forward with stories of inappropriate comments, groping or worse  reminding Hill denizens that while some of the Mad Men-style trappings have gone, the culture of harassment remains.

The harassment conversation came to the fore recently with allegations against Patrick Brown, the former provincial PC leader, accused by two young women of inappropriate sexual behaviour during his time as a federal MP.

Since that report, ex-Progressive Conservative party president Rick Dykstra has been accused of sexual assault, former Liberal cabinet minister Kent Hehr faced allegations of inappropriate comments and touching, and former NDP MP Peter Stoffer has been accused by multiple women of lewd comments and unwanted touching.

The New Democrats have suspended MP Erin Weir from caucus duties, pending an investigation into unspecified harassment allegations.

None of the accusations has been tested in court, and Brown, Dykstra, Stoffer and Weir have denied the allegations.

But Telford said the conversation about harassment on the Hill had been happening for some time before those allegations made headlines. At one of the quarterly lunches she organized for female staffers in the PMO last fall, Telford said she went in expecting to talk about politics. Instead, the conversation was almost entirely about harassment.

Im not surprised with the numbers in the sense that, just the conversation is everywhere. So its not surprising to me that more women would be coming forward now, Telford said.

I think its an uncomfortable conversation in a lot of cases right now, but that discomfort, Im hoping and truly believing, is going to lead to more comfortable conversations in the medium- and long-term.

According to workplace harassment experts, the conversation in Ottawa is long overdue. And they have little time for the excuse that Parliament is thought of as a unique workplace, or that political staffers dont need the same protections other workers have.

We cant use it as an excuse, to say weve been behind, and you have to cut us some slack . . . I think that we just have to stop treating some workplaces as special, or giving exceptions, or thinking that we cant apply the same rules, said Western University researcher Barbara MacQuarrie.

Theres absolutely no reason why anybody working for the government of Canada should be more at risk of harassment than somebody working in another workplace elsewhere. Its not logical; it doesnt make sense.

MacQuarrie said she has a hard time being lenient with political parties who are trying to address harassment now, as more and more stories come out.

The only reason that theyre struggling with this is because for so long theyve been allowed to ignore it, MacQuarrie said.

In 2014, the Liberal party could not ignore it any longer. Justin Trudeau, then leader of the third-place party, kicked two MPs out of the Liberal fold  Scott Andrews and Massimo Pacetti  for personal misconduct. It was later revealed two NDP MPs had accused the men of sexual misconduct.

We were really confronted with the fact there was no process. There was no person to call. There was nothing there, Telford said, recalling the episode.

In the wake of the allegations, an all-party committee recommended a code of conduct that governed MPs interactions with each other. But political staff, known as exempt staff in Ottawa parlance, still lacked the basic protections most Canadian workers have.

That would change under Bill C-65, put forward by Labour Minister Patty Hajdu and currently under consideration by a Commons committee.

I think if you talked to many of the staffers around this Hill, especially the vulnerable ones, especially the young ones, we live and work in an environment here on Parliament Hill that is ripe for harassment, Hajdu told reporters last month.

We have young, young staffers, often in precarious work positions . . . who are working with much older, much more powerful people. There is liberal access to alcohol. You know, this is an environment that actually sets up a culture that allows and perpetuates this behaviour.

Telford noted that all Liberal MPs took mandatory harassment training at their 2017 caucus retreat. The Prime Ministers Office has also set up its own small team to field any complaints or concerns that come to members and advertised that team to all exempt staff in an email last year.

But while the PMO is getting external experts to advise it on how to address those complaints, there has been some criticism about the steps it has taken.

In a Huffington Post blog, Myriam Denis said the PMO reached out to her after she posted on Facebook about Claude-Eric Gagne, a senior Trudeau staffer who recently left the PMO after harassment allegations.

Denis said Gagne sent her messages after she had interviewed for a position in the government, hitting on her. When the PMO brought in a third-party investigator to look into harassment allegations against Gagne, Denis wrote a public post on Facebook detailing her experience with Gagne.

She said she was later contacted directly by Brett Thalmann, one of two PMO staffers who handle harassment complaints, who offered Denis the opportunity to talk about her experience with Gagne.

I was, once again, speechless, Denis wrote. When there is an external party doing that kind of investigation, it is extremely inappropriate for any employee of the concerned organization to contact potential victims to do their own inquiry.

Telford did not address Deniss criticism directly, but defended her staff.

Every move that Brett is making, that Im making, that (Gerald Butts, Trudeaus principal secretary) is making, and the three of us make these decisions together . . . we are getting external professional advice from people who are working on this all the time and are seen as experts in the field, Telford said.

Still, the Liberals, like the other major parties on the Hill, are learning as (they) go, Telford said.

Its not easy. But I dont know that anybody is thinking this is easy. These are very personal and difficult circumstances.

Its likely that more stories of inappropriate behaviour, harassment and assault will emerge from the corridors of power in Ottawa. New revelations seem to come every week.

Telford said one of her concerns is that the stories will keep young women from coming to work on Parliament Hill. She points to her own experience over the last three decades as a reason they still should.

There is a place here that is open and collaborative and listening and trying, and I genuinely think that Parliament Hill can turn this around, Telford said.

It would be awful if the takeaway from some of these stories is for the women to stay away and not come until its fixed. Right? Because we have to be part of solving this.VANCOUVERThe federal government is appealing a British Columbia court decision that struck down Canadas law on indefinite solitary confinement, arguing it needs clarity on the issue from the courts.

The ruling was handed down last month following a constitutional challenge by British Columbia Civil Liberties Association and the John Howard Society of Canada.

The associations executive director, Josh Paterson, said the appeal comes as a surprise.

We find it shocking that our federal government has chosen to appeal this decision when the government came into office on a promise to put an end to indefinite solitary confinement, he said in a news release.

Justice Peter Leask of the B.C. Supreme Court said in his Jan. 17 decision that indefinite segregation undermines the safety and security of inmates, staff and the public.

The Crown argued the practice was reasonable and necessary, but the judge accepted the associations position that solitary confinement is cruel, inhumane and can lead to severe psychological trauma.

The ruling was suspended for 12 months to give the federal government time to draft new legislation, which Leask said must include strict time limits on segregation.

Following the decision, Paterson said, the civil liberties association wrote to the federal ministers of justice and public safety seeking an end to further court action.

Having won in court, we extended a hand to the government to work together to fix this problem  to no avail, he said. Despite us reaching out, to date, the federal government has given us no response other than filing this appeal.

After Leasks judgment, Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said the government was reviewing it and was committed to addressing the needs of the most vulnerable in the federal correctional system.

On Monday, Goodales office said an appeal in the case is necessary as it examines the B.C. decision and a separate ruling from a court in Ontario.

The decision from Ontario Superior Court Justice Frank Marrocco released in December found administrative segregation longer than five days is unconstitutional, but the practice itself does not violate constitutional rights, even when applied to young inmates or the mentally ill.

Given the (Canadian Civil Liberties Association) has filed a notice of appeal in Ontario it was only prudent for us to file a similar notice in B.C. as we begin to seek juridical clarity on the issue, Goodales office says in an emailed statement.

In the meantime we have introduced new legislation ... to limit the use of administrative segregation and implement a system of independent oversight.

Caily DiPuma, the acting litigation director for the civil liberties association, said prisoners continue to spend weeks, months and even years in small cells without human contact. She called the federal appeal another example of justice deferred for the vulnerable and marginalized.

We will not turn our backs to them, nor will Canadians. We will fight this appeal, she said in the associations news release.In legal circles theyre called stackable 25s and later this month a Toronto judge will become the latest member of the bench to decide whether to mete out the harsher punishment to two high-profile killers.

But the constitutionality of the Criminal Code section giving judges the discretion to order multiple murderers to serve consecutive periods of parole ineligibility for each crime will not be resolved anytime soon.

Nor will the controversy.

Supporters believe offenders guilty of multiple murders should have their parole eligibility delayed, even if it extinguishes any hope of release and they die in prison.

Critics argue the sentencing provision is cruel and unusual punishment and violates charter rights.

They say it is based on the misconception that multiple killers are automatically released after serving 25 years and that harsher penalties will make things better for victims.

It is an emotional issue, no more so for the families and friends of victims.

At the Feb. 12 sentencing hearing for Dellen Millard and Mark Smich, Crown attorney Jill Cameron told Superior Court Justice Michael Code the two remorseless killers should serve 50 years behind bars without hope of parole.

That would mean the pair, now in their 30s, would be well into their 70s before they could even apply for release.

Where an offender is convicted of at least one planned and deliberate murder, and the murder of another person, there should be separate consequences, Cameron said.

Millard and Smich were convicted last year of the first-degree murder of Laura Babcock and are already serving life sentences for killing Tim Bosma. Code said he will rule Feb. 26.

The Criminal Code section allowing for consecutive parole eligibility periods came into effect in 2011. Prior to that, a person convicted of first-degree murder was subject to a mandatory parole ineligibility period of 25 years.

So far, Canadian judges have imposed consecutive periods of parole ineligibility in nine reported cases involving at least one first-degree murder conviction, Cameron told court.

That was before an Alberta judge bucked the apparent judicial trend recently by rejecting the prosecutions request to sentence two triple murderers to consecutive parole ineligibility periods.

While the pair, Jason Klaus and Joshua Frank, committed horrendous offences, and their crimes must be strongly denounced, the judge suggested it was unnecessary to sentence the men to 75 years with no ability to apply for parole because they had already received life sentences.

In fact, parole for multiple murderers is rare. In other words, eligibility for parole and the granting of parole are two distinct matters, and the prospect of the Parole Board granting parole for a multiple murderer is slim, Justice Eric Macklin wrote.

At the Millard and Smich sentencing hearing in Toronto last week, lawyer Tom Dungey, who represents Smich, made the same point.

Hardly anyone gets parole after 25 years, Dungey argued. Hes got two life sentences . . . what parole board is not going to take a hard, hard, look at this?

Catherine Latimer, executive director of the John Howard Society, says if and when violent offenders do get released, they are closely supervised and can have their parole revoked. A life sentence is already a life sentence.

There are also dangerous offender laws that can be used to keep high-risk inmates behind bars for their rest of their lives, she notes.

Youre not going to see Paul Bernardo out there. Youre just not, says Latimer, referring to the notorious schoolgirl-killer and serial rapist.

Serial killer Clifford Olson, who pleaded guilty to murdering 11 children and teens in the early 80s, died in prison 30 years into his life sentence.

So far, the constitutionality of the section has been upheld by two Ontario Superior Court judges.

Justice Eugene Ewaschuk ruled in 2015 the federal legislation was not contrary to the Charter in the case of Eaton Centre shooter Christopher Husbands.

He sentenced Husbands, convicted of two counts of second-degree murder, to life imprisonment and two 15-year periods of parole ineligibility, for a total of 30 years. The convictions were overturned on appeal over the jury selection process.

Last November, Justice Kenneth Campbell also found the section constitutionally valid.

Such offences cause greater harm, with greater moral culpability, than cases involving but a single murder, and therefore are often deserving of greater punishment, Campbell wrote.

He has yet to sentence Mauro Cruz Granados-Arana, who has been convicted of two murders. The Crown is asking that his parole ineligibility be made consecutive, so that the 28-year-old would not be eligible for release on parole until he is 63.

Because courts at the same level had already upheld the legislation, lawyers for Millard and Smich filed notices challenging the constitutionality to preserve their clients right to raise the issue on appeal.

In my view, the section is unconstitutional and will need to be addressed by an appellate court and likely the (Supreme Court of Canada), Millards lawyer, Ravin Pillay, wrote in an email.

Latimer, of the John Howard Society, is hopeful that eventually Canadas top court will strike it down, because locking (murderers) up and throwing away the key . . . is not something weve normally done, she said.

Read more about:Employers have a human rights obligation to reasonably accommodate injured employees after an accident, the Supreme Court has ruled in a decision that could have significant implications across the country  particularly for migrant and temporary agency workers.

The case was fought by special needs educator Alain Caron after being told by his employer there was no suitable alternative work available after an injury prevented him from returning to his previous role.

As a result, the Quebec compensation board said his rehabilitation would have to take place elsewhere, which for the board and Carons employer was the extent of their obligation under the law.

But Caron successfully argued to the Supreme Court his employer could find him a job compatible with his elbow injury  and that it had a duty to do so under Quebec human rights legislation that requires employers to reasonably accommodate disabilities.

The courts decision could have significant implications on injured workers across Canada, setting a higher standard for the lengths employers must go to find a suitable role for injured employees after a workplace accident.

Ontario employers already have a duty under the Ontario Human Rights Code to accommodate injured workers, but Maryth Yachnin, a lawyer with the Industrial Accident Victims Group of Ontario, says the ruling will still have an impact.

We expect that this is going to make a pretty significant difference in the WSIBs day-to-day approach on return to work, said Yachnin of Ontarios Workplace Safety and Insurance Board. It means they have to require employers to show that they attempted to meet (accommodation) obligations.

WSIB spokesperson Christine Arnott said the Human Rights Code was already factored into our policies and decisions.

Were here to help people return to health and return to work, she said.

While all Ontario employers have a duty to co-operate with return-to-work efforts, only workplaces with more than 20 employees have an obligation to re-employ workers after an accident. The worker must also have been continuously employed there for at least a year before their injury.

Yachnin said migrant and temp workers were most likely to benefit from a more rigorous application of the duty-to-accommodate principle, because they are often immediately terminated or repatriated after an injury.

Migrant workers never get the protection because they are never employed for one continuous year. Temp workers, same thing said Yachnin.

Theyve got no realistic forum for the defence of their human rights except through WSIB, she added.

Between 2004 and 2014, more than 780 migrant workers in Ontario were medically repatriated back to their home countries after injuries  nearly all of them against their will, according to a study for the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

Hamiltons Karl Crevar, who has been an advocate for injured workers since a workplace accident in 1987, served as an intervener in the Caron case.

There is some movement in Ontario, but its far, far short. The challenges are still there, he told the Star. The fact is many workers who have permanent impairments are not returning to work.

A 2015 study conducted by professors at McMaster and Trent universities looking at injured workers with permanent impairments in Ontario found that 46 per cent were living on the poverty line five years after their accident.

The WSIB does have the power to issue penalties to employers who refuse to comply with their obligations to help injured employees get back on the job. The Star requested statistics on how many times that power has been exercised, but has not yet received a response.

In its decision, the Supreme Court said the duty to accommodate did not require employers to make a new position from scratch for a disabled worker.

Rather, it means that when an employer is looking at available positions, the employer is required to consider whether it has any suitable employment as defined by (workers compensation legislation), and also what its obligations under the Charter require with respect to flexibility in work standards.

Crevar said when employers argue that accommodating a worker after an injury will cause undue hardship, the burden falls to the worker to appeal the decision  a financially and emotionally draining process.

If some cases have to go to the Supreme Court to get a final decision, thats outrageous, he said.

That takes time. And time hurts peopleFamilies of Toronto police officers on the front lines say they fear for the safety of their loved ones amid staffing shortages, and took to police headquarters Monday to express their concerns.

Im here today because my husbands life is at risk every time he goes to work, said Jelena Leung, the wife of a Toronto police officer.

I see the state he comes home in everyday, I see the state he goes into work. If youre telling me thats not an officer safety concern, if thats not a public safety concern, Im not sure who youre listening to. And thats why were here today.

About 80 family members and friends of Toronto police came together to raise concerns that the force is shrinking, which they say is leaving officers overworked and exhausted.

Leung spoke directly with police chief Mark Saunders, who is facing a symbolic non-confidence vote from the police union, when he emerged from police headquarters to address the families.

I need to know how I can go to sleep every single night knowing that hes as safe as humanly possible, Leung told Saunders of her husband.

Thats not happening today. I do not feel safe. Hes coming home exhausted every single day. Hes going to work exhausted every single day.

Saunders assured Leung that he is always concerned about officer safety, adding that the Toronto Police Service is now in action mode.

Were now starting to push things out there that are tangible: connected officers, deployment of districts, re-aligning our resources a lot better, and thats when we can have that conversation so you can see exactly what were doing and why were doing it, Saunders told her.

Saunders said he has personally gone to every single station and spoke with every single station  civilian and sworn  (and) explained what is going on and the direction were moving in.

Leung told reporters after speaking with the police chief that its clear Saunders has taken the right steps.

Im going to take this again as a sign of, a good first sign, of change to come. But like I said to the chief, the families here need change today . . . We need to know that every single night we go to sleep, our families are safe.

At the Monday rally, supporters wore blue hats, decorated with embroidered white figures holding hands. Organizers collected attendees written concerns, which Leung said she will bring to a follow-up meeting with Saunders.

No date for that meeting has been set, but Leung said it will be as soon as possible.

Addressing the crowd, Leung said as families of law enforcement, we will never live a normal life.

The very least we should be allowed is the peace of mind in knowing that leadership is prioritizing our loved ones safety above all else, she said.

The rally was attended by Sahar Bahadi, mother of Sammy Yatim. Bahadi told reporters she attended the rally to support the police family.

Sammy Yatim was shot and killed by a Toronto police officer on a streetcar in July 2013. Const. James Forcillo was found guilty of attempted murder.

Despite that my son was killed by the police, was murdered by the police, it doesnt mean that I hate police, Bahadi said. The police is very important for our society.

Bahadi said shed like to see police improve their de-escalating mechanism, especially for people in crisis.

And the target deaths should be zero, if we can, she added. And I hope that avoids everybody from suffering, because I experienced that.

Mike McCormack, president of the Toronto Police Association, called the rally outside of Toronto police headquarters an unprecedented event.

Ive never seen in my life that members families are here, saying, look, this is how concerning it is, this is concerning everybody, he told reporters.

This is a grassroots movement from the members families. So obviously its very concerning.

Catherine Anderson is the wife of an officer in 43 Division. She came to the rally holding a bright blue sign that read: Support our TPS heroes, we need boots on the ground.

The officers are really feeling the pinch, in terms of having a shortage of support that they need, Anderson said.

The officers they have now, from the numbers that they had in the past, are drastically reduced and theyre really, really feeling that they dont have the support they need to do their job effectively.

Read more about:A townhouse with only an overturned milk carton and three sleeping bags was transformed into a furnished home for Martin Train and his family.

Train and his family lived in the Beaches before personal and financial struggles led to them losing their home.

I wound up homeless and I was living in a shelter, Train told the Star.

Eventually, I found a place after a few weeks  it was a townhouse in Leslieville. Were sitting there, me and my two children Liam and Caitlyn, were sitting on the floor and all we had was a milk crate and three sleeping bags.

And I was wondering, what am I going to do? I had no idea where to go or what to do.

Train and his family were referred to the Furniture Bank, a charity that provides gently used furniture and household goods to people in need.

Founded in 1998, they are celebrating their 20th anniversary this year. Last year, they helped over 10,400 people and provided 1,500 tonnes of furniture.

Three-and-a-half years ago, the Furniture Bank was a saving grace for the Train family. Within days, they went from sleeping on the floor to each child having their own bed  a magical transformation, Train said.

Its so demoralizing as a parent if you dont have a bed for your child, he explained. And the fact that they provided that was just unbelievable for me. It was uplifting. I felt a huge sense of relief.

Trains entire townhome was furnished from the Furniture Bank, with tables and chairs and mattresses, among other items.

The reason the (dining) table and chairs are my favourite piece is because thats where we actually sit down  and weve been doing that for years  and we sit down and we actually have a meal, we talk, and when my fiancee comes down with her son we have a big dinner at the table, Train said.

Everybodys laughing and talking.

And since their townhouse was furnished, everything has been so positive, Train said.

Hes engaged to his fiancee Michelle, with the wedding set for August 2019.

His son Liam is in his second year at York University, studying history. His daughter Caitlyn is in Grade 11 and has set her sights on being a lawyer. Trains eldest son Mitchell is married and living in Australia with his wife, and recently welcomed baby Miller to their family.

Tarun Mehta, his wife Nidhi, and their 5-year-old daughter visited the Furniture Bank earlier this month, a trip he called amazing.

It was nice, Mehta said. They were really helpful.

After emigrating in September from India, the Mehta family pulled together some essentials for their home themselves  a dining room table and some other necessities.

Mehta said they picked up more cosmetic things, at the Furniture Bank including chairs, a desk, a couple of lamps and a coffee table.

If I had to get all this stuff from the market, I would be spending somewhere around $3,000 at the market, Mehta said. This definitely saves a lot of money and a lot of pain.

Mehta is working a couple part-time jobs while taking classes in mathematics. Once his family is more settled, he and his wife have agreed to give back to the community that helped them.

There is a feeling that once you get this, you always try to give it back to the society, he said. That is what I was discussing with my wife yesterday.

Nearly all of the Furniture Bank clients have secured housing, and theyve got keys to an empty apartment, said Dan Kershaw, executive director of the Furniture Bank, but they dont have a home yet.

Theyre literally walking into four walls and a floor, as we say.

Outfitting an empty apartment from scratch costs about $5,000, Kershaw said. Thats a high and often inaccessible price for the Furniture Banks clients, who include people transitioning out of homelessness, women and children escaping abuse, newcomers and refugees and others in need of a fresh start.

Clients must be referred to the Furniture Bank through a partner agency. An allotted amount of furniture is free, and clients must pay a fee, typically ranging from $100 to $200, for delivery.

Every day, we allow 20 families to come in and be whatever theyre meant to be, Kershaw said.

If theyre meant to become a politician, become a politician. A lawyer? They can become a lawyer. But until they have those needed things, theyre trapped surviving inside a space that when they close the door at night, nobody knows that theyre existing that way.

And thats the really horrible thing, is that its a social issue thats a very prideful thing. Its really about dignity.When Katherine Gotovsky sees a problem, her response is immediate. The gears in her 17-year-old mind start working away, determined to come up with a solution whether its at school, retirement residences or in the tech industry.

She is one of six GTA students selected as Loran Scholars, an award which recognizes character, community contributions and future leadership potential.

From a pool of more than 5,000 applicants, 34 young Canadians were selected for the award valued at $100,000 over four years. The honour includes an annual stipend of $10,000, matching tuition waiver and access to $10,000 in funding for summer internships.

The other winners from the GTA are: Elektra Dakogiannis, Georgia Koep-Freifeld, Eden Wondmeneh, Lauren Prophet and John Milkovich.

The selection of a Loran Scholar focuses on the young persons character with the belief that integrity, courage, grit and personal autonomy are better indicators of overall potential than standard academic measures.

Gotovsky, a University of Toronto Schools student, founded and leads a robotics team and the Girls in Tech conference. She teaches code to women and youth, plans initiatives for a national student organization and created her schools foreign language newspaper. She established a companionship program at a retirement residence.

Most of her endeavours began with her desire to solve a problem, she said.

I take up all these opportunities because it gives me exposure to different problems that I feel like I can solve, Gotovsky said. I think its so interesting to put your passion and energy into something and watch solutions grow.

The Thornhill residents passion for solving problems began as a child when she would use her limited amount of Lego blocks to build elaborate and complex structures.

She was always hardworking and attentive, said her mother Gail Gotovsky. She can spend hours working on something, even when she was a baby.

Gotovsky now helps others solve their problems by teaching code to women and girls at Canada Learning Code, a digital skills program.

I get to see them figure something out or grasp a new concept or solve a bug in their code that was really stressing them out, she said. To see their eyes light up at that is really rewarding.

Gotovsky plans on pursuing a degree in computer science at either McGill University or the University of Waterloo.Half of Ontario voters would favour the Progressive Conservatives in the next provincial election, according to a new public opinion poll.

The Forum Poll surveyed 949 Ontario voters, 49 per cent of whom said they would support the PCs in the June 7 election, a jump of seven percentage points in just a few weeks. The Liberals have the support of 24 per cent of voters, while the NDP have 19 per cent.

Read more:

Patrick Browns departure energizes Tories with surge of volunteers and fundraising, interim leader finds

Dropping Brown has helped Ontario Tories: poll

Ontario PC president resigns after sexual assault allegations while Tories clean house

The results are largely due to voter dissatisfaction with Premier Kathleen Wynnes Liberals, according to Lorne Bozinoff, president and founder of Forum Research, which conducted the poll on Friday and Saturday.

Have your say

The premier doesnt seem to connect with the electorate, said Bozinoff, adding the party has 14 years of accumulated baggage, including voter complaints about hydro rates and other scandals.

Respondents were given five options for candidates they would like to lead the party. Christine Elliott, a moderate who lost the 2015 Ontario PC leadership race to Patrick Brown, was the most popular at 22 per cent

She is trailed by former Toronto city councillor Doug Ford, brother of late mayor Rob Ford, at 16 per cent. Close behind, Caroline Mulroney, a lawyer and daughter of former prime minister Brian Mulroney, earned 14 per cent.

Brown, who resigned as PC leader amid sexual misconduct allegations in January only to rejoin the race last week, had 13 per cent of respondents say he would be the best leader.

In January, CTV News reported that two women accused Brown of sexual misconduct. Brown denies the allegations and has vowed to clear his name.

Five per cent of voters picked Tanya Granic Allen, a self-described social conservative who has been outspoken about her opposition to Ontarios sex education curriculum.

Thirty-one per cent of respondents said they dont know who should be leader.

A poll conducted in late January found the Tories had the support of 42 per cent of voters.

The constant stream of media attention and fervor surrounding the leadership race has done nothing but help the Progressive Conservatives, he said. Even Patrick Browns re-entry into the race isnt yet showing as a negative, with just as many people saying they agree with the decision as disagree.

Bozinoff said Elliotts popularity stems from her being a scandal-free brand name that connects well with voters.

Bozinoff said Mulroney has similar qualities as a non-controversial, fresh face. He added that the two women have more crossover appeal than Brown and Ford, and may be well positioned to pick up undecided voters.

Brown and Ford are both well defined, and as well-known quantities have already attracted their supporters, Bozinoff said.

Elliott and Mulroney are less well known and have the potential to grow their support.

Respondents were split over whether Brown should have re-entered the race. Thirty-eight per cent agreed with Browns decision, while 39 per cent disagreed.

If (Brown) wins the leadership, he is likely to reduce the appeal of the PC party to voters, somewhat, Bozinoff said.

Only 22 per cent of respondents watched at least some of the Ontario PC leadership debate last week, while 39 per cent said they heard something about it.

Among those who said they watched or heard something about the debate, 17 per cent said Elliott won, and 16 per cent opted for Ford. Twelve per cent of respondents said Mulroney won the debate.

Results based on the total sample are considered accurate, plus or minus three percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

Read more about:What a difference 10 weeks can make.

When MPPs rose for the winter break on Dec. 14, Patrick Brown was leader of the Progressive Conservatives.

Browns election team and his carefully crafted Peoples Guarantee campaign manifesto were intact; the Liberal re-election effort was being led by Patricia Sorbara; and the New Democrats campaign hopes lay with Michael Balagus.

Fast-forward to Tuesday as parliamentarians return to Queens Park and all of that has changed.

Read more:

Half of Ontarians would vote for PCs in next election: poll

Opinion | Thomas Walkom: Veer to the right in Ontario PC leadership race risks partys election chances

Patrick Brown buoyed by supporters as he launches comeback bid

Brown was forced out as leader early on Jan. 25 just hours after his senior aides resigned en masse after CTV News reported allegations of sexual impropriety involving teenage girls.

Premier Kathleen Wynne has replaced Sorbara, one of her most trusted aides and a key architect of the Liberals 2014 election win, in a campaign shake-up.

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath has placed Balagus, her chief of staff and campaign director, on a leave over accusations he did not take womens complaints about a groping cabinet minister seriously while chief of staff to Manitoba premiers Gary Doer and Greg Selinger.

All of this tumult has happened against the backdrop of a looming June 7 election.

But no party is in more turmoil than the Conservatives.

The Tories have been thrust into a March 10 leadership race where former MPP Christine Elliott, runner-up to Brown in the 2015 contest, ex-Toronto councillor Doug Ford, rookie PC candidate Caroline Mulroney, anti-sex-education activist Tanya Granic Allen, and, in a bizarre twist, Brown himself, are vying for the crown.

All except Brown oppose the carbon tax that bankrolled the big-ticket promises in the Peoples Guarantee, including more funding for mental health, child-care breaks and income-tax cuts.

A recent Campaign Research public-opinion survey showed that dumping Brown appears to have helped the partys fortunes regardless of who leads them into the spring vote.

Elliott, Ford, and Mulroney each poll ahead of Wynne and Horwath, but pollster Eli Yufest said the situation is volatile.

Indeed, on Friday, interim PC leader Vic Fedeli turfed Brown from caucus.

Shortly after becoming interim leader, I asked Patrick Brown to step aside from the PC caucus, Fedeli said in a statement.

The Legislature is set to resume sitting on Tuesday  following Family Day, he said.

Mr. Brown was notified that he has been removed from the PC caucus effective immediately.

Interim Ontario Progressive Conservative leader Vic Fedeli says he informed party executives of his lack of confidence in Patrick Brown hours before the ousted PC leader launched a bid to reclaim his job. (The Canadian Press)

In part that was because the Tories did not want the distraction of a discredited former leader in the House  even one who has denied any wrongdoing and vowed to clear his name.

But Brown was having none of it and jumped into the race for his old post just two hours before the deadline for entry.

Wynne, for her part, doesnt really want to be talking about her former rival across the floor because the PC spectacle has meant the Liberals are getting precious little media attention.

There are lots of questions for the Conservatives that are swirling around the situation and, really, it is up to them and their leadership to answer those questions, the premier said last week.

We cannot answer those questions. It is up to the Conservatives to do that.

At an Ontario PC leadership rally Sunday, Patrick Brown touted how the party grew when he was leader, saying exact numbers arent important. Interim leader Vic Fedeli has said the party has 67,000 fewer members than what Brown claimed. (The Canadian Press)

The government is instead hoping the weeks leading up to an expected March budget will be spent talking about the Liberal OHIP+ pharmacare program and last months increase to the minimum wage, which is now $14 an hour.

Were going into a budget cycle, as you know, so that will be very much a part of what well be doing, the premier said, adding trade issues will also be top of mind.

One of the first things that we will be doing when we go back to the Legislature is introducing legislation that will enable us as a province to put in place policies to counteract the Buy America policies that we see popping up in the United States, she said.

Were challenged by the New York Buy America policy that is ... narrower than they had first intended. Its about government procurement, but the reality is that if there are those protectionist initiatives taken in the States then we have to have the ability to respond.

Read more about:PARKLAND, FLA.The students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School are using their anger and sorrow as motivation to spark change.

Their message: Never again.

As the teens gathered Sunday at a park not far from the school where 14 classmates and three educators were killed Wednesday, the picnic tables under the gazebo became their makeshift headquarters to continue their campaign against gun violence.

Munching on doughnuts and pizza at the park, the students led chants of Action now and held up poster boards with messages such as Gun violence is domestic terrorism and Enough is enough.

We are saying as young adults, enough is enough and we are taking that message as far as possible, Emma Gonzalez, 18, a senior at Stoneman Douglas, told thousands at a rally Saturday.

The students are organizing trips to Tallahassee this week and Washington, D.C., on March 24.

Were trying to flood different websites with our information, were trying to get people all over the state, the country, worldwide so we can stop this from continuing, said Gonzalez, who is helping to organize the trips to the capitals.

After they attend the funeral of 16-year-old Carmen Schentrup on Tuesday morning, about 100 students will board buses to Tallahassee. While there, they have plans to meet with Democratic state Sen. Lauren Book, Attorney General Pam Bondi and high-ranking legislators.

At a rally demanding gun restrictions in Fort Lauderdale on Saturday, Gonzalez called out President Donald Trump and the NRA in a seething speech that went viral.

When it comes to this type of stuff, Ive always been looking for a platform, Gonzalez said.

There was also a considerable crowd that had gathered throughout the morning and afternoon at the school, people continuing to drop flowers at memorials and offer hugs to teary-eyed students.

It was a busy day for Gonzalez and several other students as they appeared on political talk shows Sunday morning.

On NBCs Meet the Press and CNNs State of the Union, the students talked about the trips theyre organizing to push for stricter gun laws, including to Tallahassee to meet with state legislators this week.

The five students responding to the shootings that killed 17 classmates and teachers at the school on Wednesday were Gonzalez, Cameron Kasky, David Hogg, Alex Wind and Jaclyn Corin.

The students have set up social media accounts for a movement theyre calling Never Again. The hashtag for the movement, #NeverAgain, has been going viral.

Using the newly created @NeverAgainMSD Twitter account, survivors have been getting the word out about a demonstration scheduled for March 24 in Washington, D.C., called the March For Our Lives, the details of which are being shared on another Twitter account created by the students in the wake of the shooting, @AMarch4OurLives.

Corin said that after a vigil Thursday night at the citys amphitheatre, she started thinking about a trip to Tallahassee, and the next day she and the other four students were working together to get the word out and handle the logistics of the trip.

Theyve already been in contact with organizers of last years Womens March to plan the trip to Washington.

We are doing this for the victims, to not let them die in vain, Corin said.MOSCOWDaesh on Monday claimed responsibility for a deadly attack on churchgoers in Russias predominantly Muslim Dagestan region.

At least five people were killed and four wounded when a gunman opened fire with a hunting rifles on people leaving a Sunday service at a Russian Orthodox Church in the Dagestan city of Kizlyar.

Authorities say the gunman was a local resident, and his wife has been detained for questioning. But police havent commented on the possible motive for the attack.

Read more: Five dead in Russia church shooting; suspect killed by police

Dagestan is a predominantly Muslim region situated between Chechnya and the Caspian Sea. Following two separatist wars in neighbouring Chechnya, an Islamic insurgency spread to Dagestan.

A statement from Daesh, posted Monday on an Daesh-affiliated militant website, claimed responsibility for the shooting, saying a Muslim fighter attacked a Christian temple in Kizlyar. The authenticity of the statement couldnt be confirmed, but the website is regularly used by Daesh, also known as ISIS or ISIL, for posting militant statements.

The attack happened less than two weeks after several top officials in Dagestan were arrested on embezzlement charges, part of the Kremlins efforts to strengthen control over the volatile region. The officials, including the head of Dagestans government, were arrested at their homes before dawn in a swift, military-style operation in Dagestan and flown to Moscow. Observers saw the latest arrests as part of Kremlin efforts to rein in the local elites and establish a degree of control over the economically struggling region.

Read more about:BAGHDAD  Daesh militants ambushed a group of Iraqs Shiite-led paramilitary fighters, killing at least 27 more than two months after Baghdad declared victory over the extremist group, officials said Monday

The Popular Mobilization Forces, an umbrella group of mostly Shiite militias, said in a statement that the attack took place southwest of the northern city of Kirkuk, where the paramilitaries were conducting overnight raids.

The attackers were disguised in army uniforms and manning a fake checkpoint, the statement said, adding that ensuing clashes lasted for at least two hours and that some of the militants were killed while others fled the area.

Brig. Gen. Yahya Rasool, an Iraqi military spokesman, blamed Daesh sleeper cells and said Iraqi forces were searching the area to find the perpetrators.

Daesh, also known as ISIS or ISIL, claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement carried by its Aamaq news agency.

Karim al-Nouri, a PMF spokesman, described the attack as a heinous crime and called for greater scrutiny of Iraqis returning to areas liberated from Daesh. He said the attackers had taken advantage of heavy rains overnight.

Hadi al-Amiri, the leader of the Badr Brigade, one of the most prominent Shiite militias, vowed revenge.

Speaking at a military airfield in Baghdad where the bodies were being flown in, he called on security forces to be vigilant, saying the war against terrorism is not over yet.

At least 11 of the slain troops were from the southern city of Basra, where a three-day mourning period was declared.

Iraq declared victory over Daesh in December, after more than three years of heavy fighting. The group has been driven from all the territory it seized in the summer of 2014, but U.S. and Iraqi officials have said it is likely to continue launching insurgent-style attacks. Last month, Daesh launched back-to-back suicide bombings in central Baghdad, killing at least 38 people.

Read more about:The chicken crossed the road, just not to our restaurants.

So said an announcement Saturday that tried to find humor in KFCs chicken shortage, which has prompted the fast-food chain to temporarily close hundreds of its restaurants in the United Kingdom. KFC said the shortage was caused by a couple of teething problems with its new delivery partner, DHL.

We know that this might have inconvenienced some of you over the last few days, and disappoint you when you wanted your fried chicken fix - were really sorry about that, KFC said Saturday. Shout out to our restaurant teams who are working flat out to get us back up and running again.

As of Monday, about 300 of KFCs 900 locations in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland were open, according to a list on KFCs website. Some restaurants are operating on a limited menu or shortened hours. It remains unclear when all restaurants will be open.

DHL, which recently took over the KFC contract from Bidvest Logistics, acknowledged a problem. Due to operational issues a number of deliveries in recent days have been incomplete or delayed, the company said in a statement. We are working with KFC and our partners to rectify the situation as a priority and apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

The mishap came just months after KFC partnered with DHL as part of the fast-food chains ambition to revolutionize the food service distribution market in the United Kingdom.

When DHL announced in October that it had won the KFC contract alongside logistics firm QSL, it promised to re-write the rule book and set a new benchmark for delivering fresh products to KFC in a sustainable way.

A news release from October said DHL will manage KFCs warehouse and distribution service, with a greater focus on innovation, quality and service performance and a promise to provide a faster turnaround of orders.

Some customers arent happy.

So were going have to hit a McDonalds up, says a customer who posted a video on YouTube showing a closed location in Manchester, England. This is s--- mate. We like our chicken. You know we like our chicken.

Still, KFC assured its customers that the Colonel is working on it, a lighthearted reference to the late Col. Harland Sanders, the chains founder.

The situation was not expected to affect the North American market.

KFC spokesperson Tori Oman said it was an isolated issue in the U.K. that the company is working hard to rectify.

Sanders acquired a service station in the 1930s in Corbin, Kentucky, and later transformed it into a restaurant, where he cooked his signature fried chicken. He franchised Kentucky Fried Chicken in 1952 at the age of 62 and sold it for $2 million 12 years later. Sanders, whose image is featured in KFCs logo, is now known in more than 100 countries for his fried chicken recipe.

KFC is owned by Yum! Brands, a Kentucky-based company that also owns Pizza Hut and Taco Bell. Yum Brands-owned KFC had 21,487 restaurants worldwide as of the end of 2017. Sales at U.K. KFC stores rose 5 per cent in 2017.

With files from USA TodayMUMBAI, INDIAAn Indian politician who publicly accused members of Justin Trudeaus cabinet of being connected to the Sikh separatist movement will meet the prime minister later this week.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau confirmed the meeting, but provided no further details on exactly what he plans to talk about with Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh.

The meeting comes amid simmering tensions between India and Canada about the demands in some Sikh communities for an independent state called Khalistan. Indian government officials want Trudeau to be firmer in clamping down on separatist elements within Sikh communities in Canada, which they believe provide a platform for some to commit acts of violence to achieve independence.

Singh has been outspoken about the issue and has publicly accused several members of Trudeaus cabinet of being involved in Sikh separatist causes. Last April, he refused to meet visiting Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan because of it.

Sajjan has called Singhs accusations defamatory and ridiculous. Last week, as Trudeau prepared to leave Canada for his seven-day Indian state visit, a meeting with Singh was not in the offing, even though Singh had told Indian media he was to serve as Trudeaus tour guide during a tour of the Golden Temple in Amritsar this week.

On Trudeaus first full day in India, there was a change of heart and Sajjan was behind it, asking Trudeau to request a meeting with Singh for both of them.

As it currently stands, Sajjan is not part of the meeting, though details are still being worked out on that front, Trudeau said in Mumbai on Monday.

The dispute is largely a disagreement over freedom of speech. Indian officials want Trudeau to clamp down on movements within Canada pushing for an independent Sikh state. While Trudeau has been firm that Canadas policy is for a united India, he will not step in to tell people what they can say, as long as they do not advocate violence.

Read more:

PM seeks meeting with Indian politician accusing Canadian ministers of Sikh separatist connections

Trudeau family arrives in India for state visit

I think people know that I defend Canadas values and Canadian interests and diversity of views in Canada is extremely important to me and will always remain that way, Trudeau said.

Rohinton Medhora, president of the Centre for International Governance Innovation in Waterloo, Ont., is in India to participate in some of the business and trade events associated with Trudeaus visit. He said Monday the Khalistan issue is a tough for one for Canada and India to navigate, but does not believe it hurts trade.

Its big for some people, but I dont think its a big issue in terms of the economic and political relationship between the countries, said Medhora.

Trade between Canada and India has grown more slowly than hoped. It reached $8 billion in 2016, far shy of the goal of $15 billion by 2015 set by the former Conservative government.

Trudeau himself pointed out Monday in a question-and-answer session with students at Ahmedabads Indian Institute of Management that the number is small compared with the $2 billion in daily trade between Canada and the U.S., but said this trip is designed in part to encourage growth.

Medhora said the biggest barrier to increased Canada-India trade is the fact that India used to be very closed to external investment and trade and when it started to open up, Canada was slow to jump in.

Ultimately these two countries and their businesses dont know each other, said Medhora. They have to understand each other and thats whats going to make the trade grow. Free trade deals are nice to have but not necessary for trade to grow .

He said there are a number of areas where both countries need each other. Notably India is a big market for Canada for farm products, particularly lentils and chickpeas, as well as for uranium. India also needs Canadian expertise to help with energy security.

The agriculture issue is another bilateral irritant, as India slapped import tariffs of 50 per cent on peas and 40 per cent on chickpeas in the last two months. The tariffs hurt Canadian pulse crop producers by virtually eliminating India as a market.

Trudeau said Monday he raised that issue with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi when they met at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland in January. It was also the first thing he mentioned after landing in India on Saturday, when he told the minister of state for agriculture who greeted him that he looked forward to talking about the pulse crop issue in the days to come.

Trudeau was welcomed warmly as he spent most of Monday in Modis home state of Gujarat.

Throughout the city of Ahmedabad, billboards and banners with Trudeaus and Modis photos and the slogan Long Live India-Canada Friendship lined the motorcade route.

Trudeau  who visited the home of Mahatma Gandhi and a Buddhist shrine while in the city  is the first Canadian prime minister to visit Gujarat and some Indian reporters said they had never seen anything quite like the billboards erected for his arrival.

Read more about:BEIRUTTurkey warned the Syrian government Monday against entering the Kurdish-controlled enclave in northern Syria where a major Turkish military offensive is underway, saying it would hit back at the troops if their goal is to protect the Kurdish fighters.

The warning sets up a potential clash between Turkish troops and Syrian government forces backed by Russia and Iran, whose deployment would be a first step toward restoring Syrian President Bashar Assads presence along the border with Turkey.

The warning by the Turkish foreign minister came shortly after Syrian state media said pro-government forces would enter Afrin within hours to bolster local forces in confronting Turkeys aggression after reaching an agreement with the Kurdish militia known as the Peoples Protection Units, or YPG, which controls Afrin.

Read more:

Turkey launches air offensive against U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters

Airstrikes kill at least 55 civilians outside Syrian capital

Syria, Russia step up airstrikes against rebel strongholds in last 24 hours

Details of the deal were not announced by either side, and Kurdish officials said talks were still underway. By nightfall, no troops had entered Afrin.

Assads troops have had no presence in Afrin since they pulled out of most of northern Syria in 2012, as nation-wide protests against Assad transformed into a civil war. A return to the area, where a potent mix of regional and international powers have boots on the ground, could further complicate the situation and lead to unwanted confrontations.

But depending on the details of the agreement, it may also serve to defuse the situation in Afrin, where Turkey has been struggling to achieve results in its now month-long offensive to push back YPG fighters from its borders.

Ankara considers the YPG a terrorist group linked to the Kurdish insurgency within Turkeys borders. On Jan. 20, it launched a major air and ground offensive, pounding the enclave with airstrikes and artillery on a daily basis.

Turkeys foreign minister, speaking at a news conference in Amman, Jordan, said Turkey would have no problem if Syrian government forces were entering Afrin to clear the area from YPG fighters, but that it would strike back if it turns out the deployment was meant to shore up the Kurds against Turkey.

If the regime is entering to protect the YPG, then no one can stop us, stop Turkey or the Turkish soldiers, Mevlut Cavusoglu said.

Turkey has supported rebels fighting to overthrow Assad throughout the seven-year civil war, but in recent years has focused more on trying to contain the Kurds. Government troops deployed along its borders, at this point, may be more palatable for Ankara than the continued presence of the powerful YPG.

The group has received weapons and training from the U.S. for years and has been Washingtons main partner in the war against Daesh, also known as ISIS or ISIL, in Syria.

It was not clear who, exactly, would enter Afrin. Syrias state-run news agency, SANA, said pro-government fighters known as popular forces would deploy to the area.

The popular forces joining the resistance against Turkish occupation in Afrin comes in the framework of supporting residents as well as defending Syria and its sovereignty, SANA said. It added that the deployment aims to frustrate attempts by Erdogans regime and its mercenaries of terrorist organizations to occupy the area, referring to Turkish-backed Syrian insurgents.

A Syrian Kurdish official told The Associated Press that the Syrian forces will enter Afrin from the Shiite villages of Nubul and Zahraa in Aleppo province.

The army will deploy in several border areas in co-ordination with the Peoples Protection Units and the Syrian Democratic Forces, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to reveal details of the agreement.

The army will set up military positions in the border area and the agreement is that the Syrian army and the YPG will defend Syria together, the official said.

The Syrian Democratic Forces are a U.S.-allied group led by the YPG that has won a series of major victories against Daesh in Syria.

The Syrian government and Kurdish fighters have clashed on occasion, and Assad technically opposes the Kurds demands for autonomy. But they have also indirectly worked together in the past, and Turkey represents a common enemy.

Turkish officials said President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held a telephone conversation with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, during which the two discussed Turkeys military offensive in Afrin. The Turkish officials detailed the call on condition of anonymity in line with government regulations, and did not mention an agreement for government troops to enter Afrin.

Turkish troops and allied Syrian opposition fighters meanwhile continued to pound villages in the enclave with artillery, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and Syrias state media.

The Observatory said Mondays shelling by Turkish troops killed three people, including a child, and that others were wounded.

Turkeys private Haberturk newspaper said the Syrian government forces were expected to deploy to four locations in the next two days and 52 locations within the week. The paper claimed that under the deal, the YPG had agreed to hand over heavy weapons it holds. The paper did not provide a source for the report.

The Kurdish official told The Associated Press that the reports about the YPG handing over their weapons are totally untrue.

Elsewhere in Syria, government shelling of the rebel-held eastern suburbs of Damascus killed at least 30 people, according to opposition activists and paramedics.

The besieged region known as eastern Ghouta has been subjected to weeks-long bombardment that has killed and wounded hundreds of people. Opposition activists say government forces have brought in reinforcements in preparation for a wide offensive on the last main rebel stronghold near the capital.

The Observatory said Mondays airstrikes and shelling killed 44 people. The Syrian Civil Defence, volunteer first responders known as the White Helmets, said 30 people were killed in eastern Ghouta.

Syrian state TV reported that rebels, in return, fired dozens of mortar rounds and rockets at Damascus, wounding eight people.

Read more about:HONG KONGThe warrior was a symbol of martial strength, moulded from terracotta and buried more than 2,000 years ago with Chinas first emperor to defend him in the afterlife.

The statue was helpless, however, against a man in a green sweater and a Phillies hat who, authorities say, sneaked into a closed-off area during a party at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia in December and stole its thumb.

The man, who was attending the museums after-hours ugly-sweater party on Dec. 21, entered the terracotta warrior exhibition room and used his cellphones flashlight to view the displays. Then, according to an affidavit by Jacob Archer, an FBI special agent, the man put his arm around the statue and took a selfie.

Authorities said the man, later identified as Michael Rohana, then went for a more permanent memento. He grabbed the left hand of the statue, which is valued at $4.5 million, and broke off its thumb. Taking the piece with him, he left with friends for his home in Delaware.

Rohana, 24, was charged last week in Philadelphia with theft of an artwork from a museum, concealment of the artwork and interstate transportation of stolen property. He was released on bail.

An attorney for Rohana could not immediately be reached for comment.

Archer said he had visited Rohana at his home in Bear, Del. When asked if he had anything he wanted to hand over, Rohana said he had a finger, which the FBI agent retrieved from a desk in the mans bedroom.

News of the theft provoked anger in China, where the terracotta warriors are national treasures and a major tourist attraction. An official from the Shaanxi Cultural Heritage Promotion Center, which organizes the display of the statues abroad, asked that the thief be given a severe penalty.

We call on the American side to severely punish the person who committed this destruction and theft of mankinds cultural heritage, the unidentified official told the Beijing Youth Daily, a Communist Party affiliated newspaper, on Sunday.

The terracotta warriors are national treasures of our country, the official was quoted as saying. Their historical and artistic value are impossible to value . . . we express strong resentment and condemnation towards this theft and the destruction of our heritage.

The official said the centre had offered to send two experts to the United States to repair the statue.

The statue of a cavalryman was one of 10 on display from Sept. 30 to March 4 at the Franklin Institute, along with other ancient artifacts including coins, gold pieces, jade and weapons.

The Franklin Institute told the newspaper the Courier-Post that a security contractor had not followed standard closing procedures the night of the party.

As a result of this incident, we have thoroughly reviewed our security protocol and procedures, and have taken appropriate action where needed, the museum said.

Another group of terracotta warriors is now on display at the World Museum in Liverpool, England. The museum has reviewed procedures and told security guards that any lapses are intolerable, the Shaanxi Cultural Heritage Promotion Center official told the Beijing Youth Daily.

The terracotta warriors were built for the tomb of Qin Shi Huang, Chinas first emperor. He united much of the country under the short-lived Qin dynasty, which is generally considered the origin of the name China.

Thousands of the life-size statues, each unique, were buried with models of horses, chariots and weapons after the emperors death in 210 B.C. The tomb and its contents were not discovered until farmers unearthed some of them in 1974.

Many of the statues are on display at the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor in Xian, China, where they are lined up in vast pits. Many others remain buried. Others still have been removed from the pits and are sent for temporary exhibitions in museums around the world.

The Xian museum and the statues were named a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1987.

Read more:

Original Picasso print worth $50,000 U.S. stolen from Milwaukee art gallery

Bullet-riddled painting of Justin Bieber missing after TIFF debut

Do restorations always improve aging or damaged works of art?OTTAWAJagmeet Singhs keynote speech to the NDP weekend convention was his first major opportunity to start positioning the party for a general election that is barely 20 months away.

Notwithstanding the contention of many New Democrats that the partys last election platform missed the mark, the rookie leaders speech fell well short of being a major departure from the recent past.

The broad theme of the 40-minute speech was social inequality  a thread that will sound familiar to anyone who has followed the NDP over the decades. The slogans have changed over the years but the core narrative has not.

Singh promised to close the tax loopholes that benefit the wealthy and jack up the corporate tax rate.

He talked of stitching a pan-Canadian pharmacare program into Canadas social safety net.

He restated the NDPs longstanding drive for a more proportional voting system.

He repeated the partys commitment to achieve a meaningful reconciliation with Canadas Indigenous peoples.

There were striking blanks in his address to delegates.

At a time when the 2019 lines between the ruling Liberals and the Conservatives are being drawn on the climate change battlefield, Singh had remarkably little to say on the issue.

He ad-libbed a few sentences on the need to take credible steps to reach significant emissions reduction goals, but was silent on the NDP approach to doing that or on the ruling Liberals move to put a national floor price on carbon and implement a federal carbon tax in the provinces that fail to comply.

The NDP under Thomas Mulcair favoured a cap-and-trade system over a carbon tax. That is also the preferred approach of Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath. She is the next leading New Democrat to head for the hustings. The three main contenders to replace former Ontario Tory leader Patrick Brown have all vowed to fight Justin Trudeaus carbon pricing measures.

Based on his weekend address, Singh is in no hurry to enter the carbon tax fray  in no small part for fear of getting dragged into the increasingly heated Alberta-B.C. NDP fight over pipelines.

Not since the 1988 free-trade election have global trade deals been so high on Canadas radar. NAFTA is under renegotiation. At some point in the near future, Canada could have to decide whether to forego its current arrangements with the U.S. and Mexico or agree to major concessions.

Earlier this year, Trudeau announced Canada would join its Asia-Pacific partners minus the United States in a new free trade zone. At the tail end of the 2015 campaign, Mulcair had campaigned hard against the original Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement.

Despite a lot of ongoing trade developments, Singhs speech was as silent on the issue as he was on Canada-U.S. relations in the Trump era.

The notion that the weekends deliberations have put the NDP on the path of a shift to the left mostly goes to prove that movement on the Canadian political spectrum is often in the eye of the beholder.

Click on Mulcairs 2015 platform and the first item that comes up is a pharmacare program followed by the promise of a national child-care program modeled on the Quebec system.

Child care did not get much play in Singhs speech. Yet many progressive activists would consider universal child care to be a better social policy cornerstone upon which to build support among millennial voters than the offer of free prescription drugs.

The commitment to shift the tax burden from the middle-class to the wealthiest individuals and to big corporations was part and parcel of the 2015 platform.

The points of departure between Mulcairs policy roadmap and Singhs are for the most part to be found in the margins.

The partys recent embrace of the notion Netflix and other digital giants should be under the same obligation to collect sales tax as their domestic competitors falls in that category. The New Democrats are also breaking new ground by calling for the decriminalization of all personal use drugs. They would want dental care to be included in an expanded Medicare program.

When they stole centre stage at the time of Mulcairs ousting at the partys last national convention two years ago, proponents of the Leap Manifesto believed his departure would provide an opening for the NDP to join them in pushing for a major transformation of the Canadian economy.

That would have started with the party embracing a fossil-fuel-free energy future for Canada  including an immediate ban on future pipelines  and a renewed push against Canadas participation in global trade deals.

Based on Singhs maiden convention speech and its blanks on those very topics, those activists have traded down.

Chantal Hebert is a national affairs writer. Her column appears Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

Read more about:I slept w/you because I like you  NOT for money. So said Karen McDougal to Donald Trump. She may well be the only woman to have ever said this to Trump after sex, or even before. Most women would want hazard pay.

I was into his intelligence and charm. Such a polite man, said no one ever. But McDougal did write this in her eight-page document recalling the event, which turned into an affair. Sex is Trumps Achilles heel, no, bone spur.

Trump had offered McDougal money after dinner and sex in a private bungalow at the Beverly Hills Hotel in 2006; the rotten story told by Ronan Farrow in the New Yorker in a stunning piece exploring Trumps serial hookups in that bungalow, Lake Tahoe, Bedminster, N.J. etc.  basically Trumps sex tour  and, most interesting of all, what happened after.

Melania, who Trump had married two years before, was home with their baby, Barron. But the affair was a family affair in that it included Trumps family. At a 2007 launch party for Trump Vodka, an eventual product failure, McDougal joined Trump at a table with Donald Trump, Jr. and his pregnant wife Vanessa. Plus a Kardashian but thats a given.

At a party at the rundown Playboy Mansion  McDougal was in costume as a Playboy bunny  Trump boasted that his son Eric selected her as the most beautiful girl present. Mr T said He has great taste + we laughed! McDougal wrote. Stephanie Clifford, a.k.a. Stormy Daniels, said Trump told her she looked like his daughter Ivanka. This paragraph is turning into a bad situation so there we shall leave it.

Yes, there is a Canadian angle.

Can President Trump be blackmailed? The sword of Damocles used to be a never-seen pee party video of Trump in Moscow watching prostitutes urinating on a bed President Obama and his wife had slept on while visiting the city. This would have been a kind of formal retrospective humiliation of the man Trump hated.

But Trump has staged many sexual encounters nationwide. In those days, he was slightly cautious. His private bodyguard Keith Schiller, Farrow wrote, would bring women in, they paid for their own flights and were reimbursed by Trump  so theres no paper trail  and none of it was a huge deal until Trump ran for office.

Trumps cronies began to realize that the women might talk publicly. Four days before the election, American Media Inc., publisher of the National Enquirer and other lousy publications, began a tabloid process known as catch and kill. It paid McDougal $150,000 (U.S.) for exclusive rights to the story and then never ran it, Farrow reports.

The CEO and chairman of AMI is David Pecker, a personal friend of Trumps. Farrow reports that Pecker routinely makes catch-and-kill arrangements like the McDougal one. It is alleged that Pecker uses these stories as leverage over celebrities. Does he also use them to manipulate Trump?

As one former AMI editor told Farrow, In theory, you would think that Trump has all the power in that relationship, but in fact Pecker has the power ... He knows where the bodies are buried.

Pecker sits on the board of Postmedia, which is currently cutting newspapers across Canada down to the bone.

Media companies seeking various kinds of help from Ottawa to survive their ongoing financial catastrophe should be alarmed. In no way can the Canadian government be seen as providing a benefit that would even indirectly fatten the profits of a creature like Pecker. Postmedia is bad enough, but the presence of Pecker is an indelible taint.

As Farrow says, Trump has a system. He uses clandestine hotel-room meetings, payoffs, and complex legal agreements to keep affairs  sometimes multiple affairs he carried out simultaneously out of sight. Clifford said Trump did not wear a condom. You dont know where its been.

The women who talked to Farrow signed nondisclosure agreements when they were paid off, and they fear speaking out. Many were offered inducements of lucrative work although the work never appeared. Pecker indeed flew McDougal to New York and took her to lunch to thank her for her loyalty.

McDougal dumped Trump in the end, according to Farrow, because his cruelty began to repel her. He called her mother an old hag and in reference to her friend seeing an African-American man, said she liked the big black d---.

Youd think the last phrase alone would finish off Trump. It will not.

hmallick@thestar.ca

Read more about:The new U.S. budget deal includes an $80 billion bump for the military.

Defense giant Raytheon (RTN) - Get Raytheon Company Report looks good to Jim Cramer at a time when the United States and other countries seem poised to boost military spending.

"Whether you agree or disagree, defense spending is on the rise under the current administration," Cramer said during a private call with members of his Action Alerts PLUS club for investors. "It's just clear that the Republicans love to spend more on military."

Cramer recently added Raytheon to his charitable portfolio, and said he's looking to buy even more shares if the price is right. After all, he noted the U.S. budget deal that Congress and President Trump recently approved calls for boosting the Pentagon's budget by $80 billion in fiscal 2019, meaning the government will have a lot more money to pay defense contractors.

"These trends keep Raytheon's business growing, which is great for shareholders," Cramer said. "And while defense spending in the US is very important to Raytheon, this is much more than a U.S. defense-spending story."

He noted that some 32% of Raytheon's revenues come from overseas. For example, Cramer said that Romania recently signed a deal to buy Raytheon's Patriot missile-defense system in a deal the company believes could be worth $2 billion. Poland is also close to finalizing a projected $4 billion and $5 billion contract with the company, while Sweden seems likely to sign what could be a $1 billion agreement, Cramer said.

"Worldwide, Raytheon plays a role in deterrence -- meaning that countries use Raytheon's integrated air- and missile-defense capabilities to prevent outside threats," he said. "If you need any indication of how the stock does during times of geopolitical tension, go back to the charts and see how it performed last August when threats were on the rise."

Lastly, Cramer noted that Raytheon was one of the big winners from the GOP corporate-tax-cut bonanza. RTN will see its tax rate nearly halved from about 30% in 2017 to around 19% this year.

Cramer said that might prompt the defense giant to return shareholder value through stock buybacks and dividend increases. "We want to be bigger in RTM," he said.

(Want to join in on Jim's monthly conference calls? Click here for a free 14-day trial subscription to Action Alerts PLUS and hear all of the latest call, plus get e-mails before Jim makes any trade and enjoy lots of other exclusive material.)

Action Alerts PLUS

, which Cramer co-manages as a charitable trust, is long RTN.Albany

A space across the hall from Stacks Espresso Bar's bustling coffee shop in the Arcade Building will soon become a hub for professionals working remotely, the latest coworking venture to pop up in the Capital Region.

For $20 a day or $200 a month, people will have access to WiFi, printing, private meeting rooms, conference space, bike storage and other amenities at the venue, called CoLab. The 3,000-square-foot space, expected to open this spring, can also be rented for private parties and events.

The airy, minimalist CoLab is designed for freelancers, small-business owners and employees looking to escape their office or home to work in an environment more conducive to creativity, said manager Katie Mckenna. They'll also be able to meet others in the business community at networking, business and educational events at CoLab.

"For the amount of small businesses we see in Albany and the increasing number of independent workers, there is definitely a need for modern and exciting workspace options," Mckenna said.

For those unfamiliar with the term: Coworking is an arrangement where people who might otherwise work from an office, home, cafe or coffee shop rent space in a commercial venue. The shared work spaces tend to attract a mix of freelancers, entrepreneurs, employees of companies who telecommute, startups and small companies. Participants often are looking for a communal setting, collaboration with other locals and the flexibility and lower cost of short-term lease agreements. Coworking settings can range from a handful of desks and cubicles in an open room, to a reserved private office, or to a more high-tech venue with features like the 3D printer at the Tech Valley Center of Gravity in Troy. Many incorporate the staples of an office  printers, free wifi, projectors  with fun elements like beer on tap and events in the evenings.

Technology has played a big role in the growth of these workspaces, blurring the line between work and play and making it easier for people to do work equipped with only a laptop and a wifi connection. In 2016, 43 percent of U.S. employees in a Gallup survey said they spent some of their time working remotely, a four-point increase from 2012.

More coworking and shared office spaces have sprouted in the Capital Region in recent years. In addition to the Tech Valley Center of Gravity, there's the Troy Innovation Garage on Fourth Street, a formerly vacant building that Gramercy Communications owner Tom Nardacci turned into an open-space office for creatives. He also plans to open the Bull Moose Club, a coworking space across from the Capitol, this year. There's Urban Co-Works, which opened in downtown Schenectady as the Electric City Innovation Center in 2016 before changing its name last year, and Saratoga CoWorks, launched in Saratoga Springs in 2014. Since opening its first coworking space in Beacon in 2009, The Beahive has added three more locations, including one in Albany. Developers are also beginning to add coworking spaces to new apartment buildings: Tenants at The News Apartments in the former Troy Record building will have access to a coworking space with wifi.

"Coworking is the way of the future," said Jeff Goronkin, CEO of Urban Co-Works.

More than 15 companies rent space at Urban Co-Works, which offers conference rooms, indoor bike storage and other amenities, and in January the business added a nonprofit center to help connect local companies and freelancers with nonprofit organizations. A day pass is $35, a part-time membership is $125 per month and a full membership is $350 per month.

The flexibility of month-to-month leasing plans and direct access to others in the community makes the setting appealing for freelancers and people working remotely as well as small companies, Goronkin said. The opportunities for collaboration can also be beneficial: if a company renting space at Urban Co-Works is looking for a software developer or a consultant, they may be able to find them a few steps away or at a networking event at the venue, he said. He predicts that in the future big companies will start to have a presence at coworking spaces because of the access to talent.

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"We've continued to see increased demand locally [for coworking spaces]," said Tracy Metzger, owner of The Beahive. The main floor of the Albany location is a former architect's studio, littered with desks, tables, a kitchenette and meeting space. On the second floor there are also private offices and a conference room.

The coworking space draws a mix of people working for large companies remotely, freelancers, creatives and nonprofits from Albany, Troy, Colonie and other cities and towns nearby, Metzger said. She's excited about CoLab opening nearby.

"I expect that coworking will continue to grow in the Capital Region, especially as more people downsize in their living situation and more jobs are able to be done remotely," she said.

The biggest challenge for coworking spaces locally is raising awareness that this option is available, though that's begun to change, Goronkin said.

"More people are starting to understand what it is," he said. "The biggest piece is still education."

miszler@timesunion.com  518-454-5018  @madisoniszlerQueensbury

U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer visited SUNY Adirondack in Queensbury on Monday, a last-minute trip he scheduled to highlight the need for cyber security training just days after Special Counsel Robert Muller charged 13 Russians with plotting to influence the 2016 elections.

Schumer, the Senate Minority Leader, also voiced support to strengthen gun laws in the wake of the Parkland, Fla., high school shooting that left 17 dead at the hands of a former student.

SUNY Adirondack offers a two-year degree program on cyber security, and Schumer said he wants to direct more federal money toward such training programs, noting there is a shortage of such workers in the U.S. to protect both businesses and government agencies from successful attacks.

Schumer was particularly hard on the Russians and their president, Vladimir Putin, who authorities believe was behind a concerted effort by online Russian "trolls" to influence political opinions of ordinary Americans on social networks and with staged political rallies.

Russia has denied the allegations.

"This is very serious stuff, for Russia to be interfering with our elections," Schumer said during his visit to Adirondack Hall, the school's new $17 million science building. "It doesn't matter what party you're from or political philosophy. To have foreign powers messing around with what's our wellspring... which is that we have free elections... if you start interfering with that, you're eating away at the democracy that we have."

Schumer wouldn't say exactly how much money would be needed to boost the nation's cyber security educational programs, although he estimated it would require hundreds of millions of dollars.

A typical cyber security networking engineer can earn $90,000 on average.

Although there is no evidence that Russian hackers were able to access local voter ballot systems or change actual votes, Schumer suggested that could be an issue in future elections. U.S. authorities have said that Russia is already trying to meddle with the 2018 mid-term elections.

"Look, one of the places that's going to need the people that come out of this program are the election boards across the country," Schumer said. "Because they're going to need to know how to protect themselves when it comes to cyber security."

SUNY Adirondack's two-year program feeds students into four-year colleges or into the workforce, where they can be cyber security experts for companies or government entities.

The SUNY Adirondack program doesn't just teach theory  it also works directly with local companies like Adirondack Technical Solutions, a computer networking and data security company based in Argyle, where its president, Jared Humiston, grew up.

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Humiston says his partnership with SUNY Adirondack, which includes internships for students and was expanded to include high school students through BOCES, has been invaluable because finding trained cyber security experts is difficult in upstate New York. He has 45 workers and with 500 customers is always trying to hire more.

"The IT industry has a shortage of talent whether you're in a small community or whether you're in Albany or a larger metropolitan area like New York City," Humiston said.

After the press conference, Schumer was asked his opinion on President Donald Trump's budget proposal, which calls for cuts to spending on the National Instant Criminal Background Check System.

"I believe in the Second Amendment, I believe in a right to bear arms for every law-abiding citizen," Schumer said. "But we make certain exceptions for people who have committed crimes, and there's a database that the FBI keeps... but cutting that database, which prevents felons, prevents the adjudicated, the mentally ill, from getting guns, makes no sense, so I'm going to fight to get that money restored."

Schumer was asked whether more states should pass so-called "red flag laws" that have been passed by a small number of states that allows judges to temporarily take away a person's gun rights  much like a retraining order  in cases of violence or impending violence.

Schumer said that was really a question for state officials, but he said the idea makes sense.

"In the old days, you probably didn't need it, but in our modern society, I think we do," he said.NEW YORK  For families who have searched years for missing loved ones, donating a sample of their DNA is often a last, desperate act to confirm their worst fears.

New York City's medical examiner is leading a nationwide effort to collect genetic material and match it with unidentified human remains. It's a way to finally give family members some answers and maybe some solace.

"People will not rest without answers, at least some answers," said Dr. Barbara Sampson, the city's chief medical examiner.

Over the past decade, thousands of DNA samples have been donated to the city's medical examiner's office. Most include swabs of saliva from close relatives, but also DNA taken from items used by the missing persons themselves, including toothbrushes, combs, razor blades and, once, even a sanitary napkin.

They've led to the identification of about 50 missing people each year, all of whom had been found dead. But for many who have submitted samples, the wait continues.

"Part of you hopes they never call you, because if they call, that means it's over," said Rose Cobo, who submitted DNA to the program after her adult niece vanished in 2016 after being treated at a Brooklyn hospital for postpartum depression following the birth of a son. Chelsea Cobo's whereabouts are still unknown.

The program helped end Luis Merchan's quest to find his younger brother, Manuel, who was reported missing in 2015 after he left his native Ecuador and crossed the U.S. border from Mexico. DNA matched with the remains of a 35-year-old "John Doe" who succumbed to exposure and dehydration in the Texas desert.

"It's sad," Merchan said. "We hoped Manuel would call one day. But we at least know what happened."

On any given day, there are as many as 100,000 active missing-persons cases in the United States, according to the FBI's National Crime Information Center. Most of those people are eventually found safe. The medical examiner's office program is open to people whose loved ones have been missing 60 days or more.

The New York City medical examiner's office has been a pioneer in advanced DNA techniques since 9/11, when it was tasked with using genetic evidence to identify and sort tens of thousands of small pieces of human remains found in the rubble of the World Trade Center.

One such advance, Sampson said, was learning how to get good genetic material out of bone fragments. DNA testing once required a large sample of blood or saliva that was often destroyed in the process. The latest genetic technology allows a few cells to be reproduced for DNA that lasts indefinitely.

Pulverized genetic material is spun in a centrifuge and turned into a clear liquid that's poured into test tubes on a robotic assembly line. The tubes are bar-coded and padlocked in metal cages in a secure vault.

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Genetic profiles developed from the tests are plugged into the databank called the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System. The system is capable of searching for unique similarities in DNA strings that indicate two people are related.

"Our job is to help identify your loved one and return them to you, no matter where in the United States. They don't have to have died here in New York City," says Mark Desire, assistant director of the medical examiner's Department of Forensic Biology.

Mary Lyall submitted her DNA to the New York City medical examiner, along with her husband's, as part of her hunt for her missing daughter.

Suzanne Lyall was 19 when she disappeared in 1998. She was last seen on the University at Albany campus getting off a bus.

After she vanished, her mother sifted through her room at home looking for clues. In a wastebasket, she found a sanitary napkin Suzy had wrapped and discarded amid crumpled paper.

Two decades later, no match has been made.

"I still look out the window and think, 'Where is she?'" Lyall said.BLURT

Nickelodeon, 7 p.m.

Original Film! When Jeremy (Jace Norman) puts on mysterious virtual-reality glasses at the mall, he suddenly loses his "inside voice" and starts spouting every thought he has out loud. Making matters worse, Jeremy is running for student council president against his classmate Milly (Daniella Perkins), who is full of great ideas to improve the school. Desperate to get back to normal, Jeremy and his sister Victoria (JoJo Siwa) must figure out how to convince his brain that he can speak up for himself.

DC'S LEGENDS OF TOMORROW: "HERE I GO AGAIN"

The CW, 8 p.m.

After the team returns from a mission, Zari (Tala Ashe) finds herself trapped in a time loop that results in the Waverider blowing up over and over again.

2018 AMERICAN RESCUE DOG SHOW

Hallmark Channel, 8 p.m.

This tail-wagging special features adoptable mixed and pure breed dogs from shelters competing in a variety of cute categories such as "Best Couch Potato," "Best in Wiggle Butt" and "Best Snorer," all with the goal of ending pet homelessness.

WARREN JEFFS: PROPHET OF EVIL

A&E, 9 p.m.

Warren Jeffs is the religious prophet to an estimated 15,000 followers of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and before going to jail for two felony counts of child sexual assault in 2011, he married at least 78 wives, had more than 50 children, and controlled millions of dollars for the church. This two-hour special includes extensive interviews with current and former church members, Jeffs' family, and the people who brought him to justice.

STAR WARS REBELS

Disney XD, 9 p.m.

In one of the final three episodes of the series, Emperor Palpatine makes his series debut, voiced by actor Ian McDiarmid, who reprises this iconic role from the Star Wars live-action films. This animated series concludes on March 5.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL: OKLAHOMA AT KANSAS

ESPN, 9 p.m. Live

The Oklahoma Sooners head to hostile territory in Lawrence, Kan., for a Big 12 primetime matchup against the Jayhawks on ESPN.

INDEPENDENT LENS: "TELL THEM WE ARE RISING: THE STORY OF BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES"

PBS, 9 p.m.

Emmy-winning filmmaker Stanley Nelson (Freedom Riders) explores the 150-year history of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), and the profound power of higher education to transform lives, advance civil rights and reshape our national identity. Nelson uses archival footage, letters, diaries, photos and home movies to bring to life the tenacious Americans determined to create an incubator and national platform for educated and powerful African-American voices that refused to go unheard.

JAMES PATTERSON'S MURDER IS FOREVER: "MURDER BEYOND THE GRAVE"

Investigation Discovery, 10 p.m.

The small town of Kankakee, Ill., is about an hour's drive south of Chicago and is well-known as a quiet summer retreat. But nearly 30 years ago, this idyllic community was rocked by a kidnapping and ransom scheme that targeted one of its most beloved citizens  shocking the town and the nation.

X COMPANY

Ovation, 10 p.m.

New Series! Set during World War II, this drama is inspired by the true story of Camp X, a top-secret Allied spy training facility on Lake Ontario. It follows the stories of five highly skilled young recruits, torn from their ordinary lives and trained to conduct one risky mission after another to help Allied forces change the world. Evelyne Brochu (Orphan Black), Jack Laskey (Endeavour), Hugh Dillon (Flashpoint), Warren Brown (Luther) and Dustin Milligan (Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency) lead the cast.

Brought to you by the publishers of TV Guide.  TV Guide 2018For Lent, many Christians give up indulgences like tobacco, alcohol or sweets, or transgressions like lying and swearing.

The Church of England has asked people to add a new culprit to the list of ills they forsake for the six weeks of penance that begin on Ash Wednesday: plastics. The church wants people to avoid the plastic consumer products and packaging are polluting oceans and rivers, fouling beaches, killing wildlife and clogging landfills.

"It might well be a first for us, to have an entire Lent program on an environmental issue, but it is very much an integral part of what the church is about," said Ruth Knight, the Church of England's environmental policy officer. Environmental stewardship "to safeguard the integrity of creation" is one of the five "marks of mission" of the church.

More for you Second garbage patch the size of Texas discovered in Pacific Ocean

The church's "Lent Plastic Challenge" arrives on a wave of anti-plastic sentiment and laws across Europe. Last month, a ban on plastic microbeads in cosmetic products took effect in Britain. Large retailers in England charge 5 pence for single-use plastic bags.

The Church of England has created a calendar for a plastics-free Lent, each day bearing either an environmentally-themed Bible verse or a suggestion on how to avoid buying plastics.

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Along with some easier-to-follow suggestions, like buying clothes made of natural fibers or taking reusable bags to the grocery store, others requiring more effort, like finding dental floss that does not come in a plastic box, or using "a bamboo toothbrush or a toothbrush with recyclable heads."

A large part of the world's plastic waste  an estimated 5 million to 13 million tons per year  ends up in the oceans. Circulating currents have created immense rotating patches of waste, mostly plastic.

Wave action and sunlight break floating plastics down in smaller pieces, but some degrade slowly and are toxic. Animals eat bits of plastic, with ill effects on them  and up the food chain, all the way to humans  that are only beginning to be understood.But last week a jury acquitted the man  a twice-convicted thief  charged by police in the case.

How did a case that appeared to be open and shut, where a suspect was arrested minutes away from the crime scene and identified by the victims, end with acquittals on 11 felony charges?

Were all in shock, Gabriels said Monday.

Judge William Carter ruled that Albany County District Attorney David Soares office failed to prove that police had probable cause to arrest Kofi Opoku-Agyemang, 32. That meant the evidence collected during the arrest, which included a briefcase containing knives, a blowtorch, zip ties and a device that blocked cell phone signals, couldnt be used at trial.

On Monday, Soares office declined to comment directly on the case or the judges probable cause ruling.

The district attorneys office has an important job to pursue justice for victims and help keep our communities safe, spokeswoman Cecilia Walsh said without mentioning the case or the people involved. We consider this process to be our most vital role, regardless of the outcome of a trial. As we must, we respect the efforts of the jury in all cases, even if we disagree with particular legal rulings or the end result.

The district attorneys office routinely emails press releases announcing convictions. No announcement was made of last weeks not guilty verdict. Gabriels sister posted an angry account of the crime and acquittal on her Facebook page.

What is not disputed is that around 8:30 a.m. on Oct. 25, 2016, a man walked into Gabriels Eye MDs at 960 Western Ave. He was dressed in black and wore makeup to make his skin appear lighter than it was. He handed a receptionist a note demanding money, telling her to be quiet.

Instead she screamed, Dr. Gabriels! Dr. Gabriels!

Christopher Gabriels came out from an examination room. The robber pointed what appeared to be a gun at Gabriels and told him to lie down. Then the man changed his mind and herded Gabriels, his father, Forrest Gabriels, and the receptionist toward the back.

On Monday, Christopher Gabriels said he thought the man was going to shoot them. Gabriels recounted how he ran toward the man, yelling for the rest of the people in the office to get out. The man pistol-whipped him on his left cheek with what turned out to be an imitation handgun. Gabriels then ran outside, screaming for someone to call 911.

The robber moved further into the office and tackled Gabriels father as he tried to escape, breaking his ribs and collarbone. The man ran from the office just before Albany police arrived outside.

According to court documents, Officer Andrew Britt radioed other officers that a man fitting the attackers description was running up Pinehurst Avenue.

Less than a minute later, Officer Daniel Kuhn arrested Opoku-Agyemang at the corner of Pinehurst Avenue and Berkshire Boulevard. He was indicted Jan. 11, 2017, on 11 felonies, six counts of armed robbery, four counts of kidnapping and one count of assault.

Nine months later, on Sept. 13, 2017, defense attorney Shane Hug challenged the legality of the stopping and searching of Opoku-Agyemang, asserting officers had insufficient probable cause. On Nov. 9, 2017, Carter ruled the district attorneys office didnt prove how Britt found out what the suspect looked like  meaning the information Britt had passed on to the arresting officer couldnt be used to establish probable cause on its own.

None of the 911 calls have the suspects description, according to court documents.

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Britt wasnt available to testify at the September hearing on whether to suppress the evidence because he was serving in the military in Afghanistan, according to court documents.

The district attorneys office filed a memorandum seeking to reopen the suppression hearing. On Nov. 29, Carter denied that request, noting that the district attorneys office never mentioned that Britt wasnt available to testify until after his initial ruling.

At the trial, Gabriels and others testified against Opoku-Agyemang and the prosecution played 911 calls from the attempted robbery. On Monday, Gabriels said he and his receptionist identified Opoku-Agyemang in court as the man who had attacked them.

After deliberating for seven hours, the jury returned a verdict of not guilty on all counts.

Asked about the outcome of the case, Hug said, "I'm happy for my client and his family."

Opoku-Agyemang remains in the Albany County jail, accused of escaping from a federal facility: When he was arrested after the robbery, he wasnt able to return to the halfway house where he had been living at the end of a five-year sentence in federal prison after he was convicted of fraud.

Opoku-Agyemang, a former University of Albany student, told a psychologist appointed by the court in the robbery case that he came to the United States from Ghana in 1991 as a child. His mother worked 16-hour days as a home health aide while his father was an abusive alcoholic who once split open his sons head with a telephone. In second grade, he began to exhibit symptoms of ADHD. Other symptoms, which the psychologist theorized were consistent with bipolar disorder with psychotic features, made his life more difficult. Opoku-Agyemang dropped out of UAlbany after his symptoms made even simple tasks seem unbelievably complex, he told the psychologist.

In 2008, he was sentenced to four months in prison after pleading guilty to a counterfeiting scheme in which he flew to Las Vegas, bought fake $100 bills and gave the money to four people who used them to make change and gave him the real money.

In November 2009, Opoku-Agyemang was arrested and charged with providing a skimming device to a cashier at Macys in Crossgates Mall, and in 2011 was convicted of possessing a stolen access devices with the intent to defraud, and possession of analog, electronic, or digital images of U.S. currency with the intent to defraud.

When he was arrested after the robbery at Gabriels Eye MDs, he was about to complete his five-year federal prison term. He had just 20 days left.Judges know defense attorneys often lay the foundation for an appeal before their clients have been convicted.

On Thursday, U.S. District Court Judge Valerie Caproni had an extreme reaction to it at the Joe Percoco federal corruption trial in Manhattan. The judge invoked the words "17th floor," the location of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in the Thurgood Marshall Courthouse at 40 Foley Square.

Criminal cases go to the Second Circuit only if there is a conviction.

Moments earlier, Percoco's lawyer, Barry Bohrer, complained he did not get a chance to cross-examine the prosecution's star witness, ex-lobbyist Todd Howe, following Howe's midtrial arrest for allegedly violating conditions of his bail.

"I don't think it would have done great damage to the order of the proceedings to permit me to engage in a five-minute examination of Mr. Howe under these extraordinary circumstances," Bohrer said to the judge outside the presence of the jury.

"What questions did you want to ask?" the judge responded. "I want you to make your record so that you've got the best record possible when you go up to the 17th floor to tell them how mean I was that I wouldn't let you cross beyond the scope."

"I certainly hope that is not necessary, Your Honor," Bohrer said.

Caproni, a former federal prosecutor in Brooklyn, has expressed repeated frustration with defense attorneys in the trial, whom she has accused of wasting time in their cross-examinations.

Still, the judge quickly realized the "17th floor" statement was one she should not have made.

"Certainly, just to be clear, I am not prejudging the results of this case at all," she told Bohrer.

Percoco, a former top aide to Gov. Andrew Cuomo, is accused of accepting more than $300,000 in bribes from three businessmen in exchange for official state action in their favors. Federal prosecutors in Manhattan allege Peter Galbraith Kelly, an executive with Competitive Power Ventures, an energy company, bribed Percoco nearly $287,000 by employing his wife, Lisa, at a "low show" job. The prosecutors say Steve Aiello and Joseph Gerardi of the Syracuse-based COR development bribed Percoco $35,000.

Howe, a Troy native and onetime aide to Gov. Mario Cuomo, hired a young Percoco and the two became longtime associates and friends. Both men worked for the younger Cuomo when the present governor was the federal housing secretary in the Clinton administration. And Howe worked as a Washington,D.C.-based lobbyist for Whiteman Osterman & Hanna, an Albany law and lobbying firm.

Howe pleaded guilty in September 2016 to eight felonies (he ripped off his former firm). He spent seven days on the witness stand because he was deeply involved the alleged bribery scheme. On his fourth day of testimony, Kelly's attorney, Daniel Gitner, got Howe to admit that in 2016 - at the time he was in New York City to meet with prosecutors to arrange his plea deal - he tried to bilk his credit card company. Federal agents arrested Howe at his hotel and he was jailed as a result.

At a sidebar Thursday, Bohrer told the judge he wanted an opportunity to cross-examine Howe about the arrest. Caproni said she thought Gitner did a "wonderful job" cross-examining Howe.

"I let Mr. Gitner cross-examine to a fricking fare-thee-well," the Southern-bred judge Caproni told Bohrer, according to the transcript.

"We have re-read the transcript and he did not, with all due respect, cross-examine to a fricking

fare-thee-well. I was not permitted the opportunity to cross-examine," Bohrer said.

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The judge told Bohrer he should have asked to reopen his cross-examination while Howe was still on the witness stand.

"This man was arrested after my cross-examination. I am the only lawyer in this case not able

to cross-examine the cooperating witness in this case on his changed circumstances," he said.

"You should have asked before the end of the cross," Caproni said.

The issue arose again later in the day in court but outside of the presence of the jury. Bohrer was still upset.

"This jury needs to know what happened. We haven't come close to learning what happened, what this witness's state of mind is, what was said to the witness in court by his attorney to get him to take the extraordinary step of giving up his freedom while he is in the midst of testifying," Bohrer said. "The record is utterly void on these issues, and this strikes at the very, very heart of the right to cross-examine, the right to confront witnesses, and particularly the most critical witness in this case."

"OK. You should have asked to reopen it before it got turned over to the government," the judge said again.

"Most respectfully, your Honor..." Bohrer said back.

"You've said your peace. That is it, Mr. Bohrer. I gave you ample opportunity," Caproni said.

If the case ends up going to the "17th floor," Bohrer may get his chance yet.Warren County Sheriff's office

A Kentucky man was charged after he allegedly falsely claimed that he was a sex trafficking victim in Warren County.

Samuel S. Sebastian, 24, made the claim using another name, Warren County deputies said on Monday.ALBANY  It was clear to anyone in his courtroom that Judge Thomas W. Keegan carried an abiding understanding of the letter as well as the spirit of the law. For at least a portion of his career, he also carried a .38 caliber pistol in a belt-clip holster under his judicial robes.

Keegan, a fixture in local legal and political circles who moved to North Carolina more than a decade ago, died at age 77 late last week suddenly of a heart attack while on vacation attending the Daytona 500.

Born into the Albany County Democratic machine, Keegan was known for his compassion and fairness, as well as his wit.

"He had a wonderful sense of humor," said Jack McEneny, a former state Assemblyman. "Sometimes the things he said from the bench were pretty outrageous  he was always making (appearances in) the Times Union for the things he said. But he was always fair."

Indeed, Times Union reporter Paul Grondahl in July 1985 wrote an ode to Keegan's singular style on the bench. It observed that the judge "works his crowd better than Johnny Carson in his prime  a little smirk here, a wisecrack there, a sigh into his microphone that says Oh Willy You've Been a Bad Dude Again For Stealing That TV So Back to Jail With You For a Few More Months."

In a 2004 interview, Keegan said it was important to not think too highly of oneself.

''You have to know you're not the sharpest knife in the drawer," he said. "Sometimes judges get black robe disease  it goes with anyone in a position of authority. But I know if I were to croak tomorrow, the sun would come up with someone else sitting in my chair.''

Stephen Herrick, Albany County's public defender, said Keegan was a judicial trailblazer who recognized alcoholism as a disease long before other members of the judicial establishment.

Working with Father Peter Young and Bishop Howard Hubbard, "he got a lot of people into treatment," Herrick said. "And if they didn't want to go to treatment, he got them off the streets."

Keegan also helped create the city's first drug court, and was supportive when the county opened its own version.

He was born into politics as the grandson of Albany County Sheriff Edward J. "Owney" Keegan. But his childhood aspiration was to be a lawyer, a career he decided on at age 10. "From grade school on, I channeled everything into that," he told the Times Union in a March 2004 interview to mark his retirement.

Keegan graduated from Vincentian Institute in 1958 and Siena College in 1962  the first in his family to earn a bachelor's degree. A scholarship took him out of town to Villanova University, where he graduated from law school in 1965.

With the help of his grandfather's political ally, legendary Democratic boss Daniel O'Connell, Keegan found work as city corporation counsel.

He ran for Albany County district attorney in 1971, but lost to Arnold Proskin. Two years later, Albany Mayor Erastus Corning 2nd praised Keegan as "a tremendously able young man" as he appointed him to preside over city police court.

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It was this job that led Keegan to acquire the pistol  a nickel-plated, chrome-finished Smith and Wesson  for protection, despite the presence of a six-foot-high transparent wall that separated the bench from the courtroom gallery.

"I don't trust them," Keegan told a Times Union reporter in 1973, in reference to the barrier. "I've seen a man go flying through them."

William Kennedy's city chronicle "O Albany!" notes that Keegan was a fishing companion of Corning, who led the city for four decades.

''Sometimes you get lucky,'' Keegan said in 2004 in reference to Corning and another mentor, County Judge John Clyne. ''I am so fortunate to have known these people. They really were larger than life.''

Keegan moved on to the county bench, and in 1991 to state Supreme Court. He became an administrative judge in 1998.

McEneny recalled his devotion to St. Joseph's Church in Arbor Hill. "If you went there he would be there, doing a reading," the former lawmaker said.

A chain smoker for years, Keegan gave up the habit after his father and brother died young, and devoted himself to exercise.

He is survived by his wife of 17 years, Veronica, their children Monica, Kristin and Gabrielle, and seven grandchildren.

Services have not been planned yet, but Veronica Keegan said they will be held sometime in early March in Naples, Fla., where the couple also lived.STILLWATER  Saratoga Lake residents banded together on Thursday night in opposition to any new developments along what they believe to be an imperiled lakeshore.

About 50 people gathered at the town board's public hearing in Stillwater to express anger and frustration over two proposed planned development districts: White Sulphur Springs, a 21-single family development on Luther Road and Route 9P, and Winding Brook, a 76-condominium project on County Route 423 and Route 9P.

Residents say the stormwater runoff that results from paving over these wooded ridges threatens the lake's health. Others said the pace of development endangers local wildlife, including bald eagles, and ruins the rural character of Stillwater. They also complain that the projects further erode the overcrowded Route 9P, which is collapsing into the lake.

"I didn't move here to live in suburbia," said Dawn Ulrich, who lives on Luther Road. "The whole area is overbuilt. The character of the community will be ruined. I'm trying to be reasonable, but there are too many homes."

The planned development districts (PDDs) can't proceed without a change of zoning. In exchange, the community would reap a benefit: For the White Sulphur Springs project, which is proposed on a rugged 37.8-acre ridge with wetlands and two streams, that's would be a pocket park; for Winding Brook, an Amedore Homes project on 73.5 acres, that would be a fee of $76,000 or $1,000 per unit paid to the town.

"Looks like graft," said Julie Wash, referring to the payment. "I don't want my town to get money that way. You have to see what it looks like."

Hubert Miller said it's necessary for the all four communities on the lake to take a holistic approach to lake development.

"You have to look at the cumulative impact," Miller said. "The traffic, the sediment buildup, overburdening the community. We should avoid any new development until we coordinate an approach that is best for the lake. Otherwise, who knows what else is coming?"

Supervisor Ed Kinowski listened to the comments, but said he has heard nothing new from residents since the last public hearing. He also said developers will modernize stormwater management.

"We are working aggressively on all of these matters," Kinowski said. "But these things can't be cured overnight."

He also said any money the town gets will benefit taxpayers, not him. He also said residents themselves put pressure on the lake environment by using pesticides and other chemicals on their lawns, plants and trees.

Sign up for The Knick  Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter.

Some in the audience found Kinowski's comments insulting and disheartening, and a signal that the latest round of Stillwater PDDs will be approved.

"It's all about the money. It's all constructed so that developers always get their way," said Paul Murphy, who is working to block another lake development, 32-home Cedar Bluff. "A few edits here and there by the planning board and town officials, but at the end of the day development happens. We are not having a real conversation that can deliver sane results."

In addition to these two PDDs, there are a handful of others being proposed on the lake in Stillwater. Kinowski also wants to streamline the approval process by excluding the planning board in the early stages and have the town board approve PDDs. Developments would only go to the planning board after they are approved.

Shirley Williams is hoping that will not be the case.

"I'm in my dream home," Williams said. "But now if all the development come in, it's not worth what I paid for it. I would never had built there had I'd known. It's ridiculous and I don't trust the process."Albany

Parts of the Hudson River stretching from New York City to Troy contain elevated levels of caffeine.

But before you envision the Hudson's fish jacked up on the drug and swimming faster than the Disney-Pixar characters in the movie "Finding Nemo," a new study from researchers at Columbia University cites the environmental concerns of caffeine and numerous other substances lurking in the river water.

Also found in the Hudson were an artificial sweetener and numerous medications for high blood pressure, ulcers, heartburn and pain relief. The drugs likely are getting there through municipal sewer treatment systems.

"Some levels are high enough that you could be concerned about fish and other aquatic organisms," said Andrew Juhl, an aquatic biologist at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, who coauthored the peer-reviewed study. "Right now, we don't know what the effects might be. Our point right now is to say these pharmaceuticals are there, and here's the pattern throughout the river."

Such drugs could either be passing through human bodies into sewer systems or coming directly from pills being flushed down toilets.

Researchers found varying and sometimes concerning levels of 16 different pharmaceuticals, including antibiotics, drugs for treating high blood pressure, high cholesterol, epilepsy, ulcers and heartburn, and the common aspirin substitute acetaminophen.

Those results were based on samples take from more than 70 spots along the river from Troy to New York City between May and July 2016. Samples were taken from a patrol boat operated by the environmental group Riverkeeper.

The study was a collaboration with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Riverkeeper, Lamont-Doherty and Queens College. It appears in the journal Water Research.

Some of the highest chemical levels were found near sewage discharge pipes for the city of Kingston, according to the study, where some drugs were found in "potentially worrisome quantities." Currently, there are no federal or state regulations on safe levels of pharmaceuticals in river water.

Samples were taken in the water off the the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, which has its own sewage-treatment plant. Test results were high in May, but dropped significantly in July, when fewer students and staff were present at the academy.

The farther that samples were taken from sewer plants, the lower the levels of chemicals, likely through dilution with river water, the study also found.

Some communities use the river for a public water supply. Those systems cover about 100,000 people, and include the city and town of Poughkeepsie; the village and town of Rhinebeck; the towns of Esopus, Hyde Park and Lloyd; and the Dutchess County Water & Wastewater Authority.

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Juhl said there is "no direct evidence that humans are being harmed by floating pharmaceuticals."

However, some of the drugs could harm fish or other aquatic life in the river, he added. That could include the epilepsy drug carbamazepine, which could be toxic to freshwater shrimp; the cholesterol-lowering drug gemfibrozil and the diuretic furosemide, believed to cause DNA damage in some fish; and the blood-pressure drug propranolol, which appears toxic to mussels.

"We don't know the consequences for aquatic organisms of long-term chronic exposure to any of these substances, or mixtures of them," said Juhl. "At this point, we now have some basis for concern, but we really don't know."

Earlier studies have confirmed the presence of pharmaceuticals in river waters in the Hudson and elsewhere in the U.S. Recently, researchers uncovered high concentrations of antidepressants in the brains of fish from the Niagara River in western New York.

A 1999-2000 study by the U.S. Geological Survey found measureable amounts in 80 percent of water samples taken from 30 states. A 2008 investigation by the Associated Press found detectible levels of various medications in the drinking water of some 40 million Americans.The late Geraldine Doherty

The death has occurred of Geraldine Doherty, Roselawn Close, Cashel and formerly of Our Ladys Road, New Inn, Co. Tipperary. On February 17th 2018, peacefully at Waterford University Hospital. Geraldine, beloved daughter of the late Kay. Deeply regretted by her loving father Gerry, sisters Michelle, Alva and Lindsey, brother Donal, stepmother Martina, sister-in-law Helen, uncles, aunts, nephews, nieces, relatives and friends. Reposing at her fathers residence Our Ladys Road, New Inn, this Tuesday evening from 4pm to 8pm. Cremation in The Island Crematorium, Ringaskiddy on Wednesday at 2pm. House Private on Wednesday morning. No flowers please, donations if desired to the Irish Kidney Association.



The late Catherine (Kitty) O'Brien

The death has occurred of Catherine (Kitty) O'Brien (nee Kennedy), Parkroe, Cappawhite, Co. Tipperary on February 17th 2018, Catherine (Kitty), beloved wife of the late Willie; sadly missed by her loving daughter Deirdre, son-in-law Barry, grandson Dara, sister Elsie, brothers-in-law, nieces, nephews, relatives, neighbours and friends. Reposing at her home on Tuesday evening from 4.30 oc with removal at 7.30 oc to Our Lady of Fatima Church, Cappawhite. Requiem Mass Wednesday at 11.30 oc and burial afterwards in Cappawhite Cemetery.

The late Mary Ryan

The death has occurred of Mary Ryan, Main Street, Tipperary Town & formerly Moate Quarter, Kilfeacle, Co. Tipperary on 17th Feb. 2018. Deeply regretted by her loving family, brothers Owen & Pat, sister Tess, sister-in-law, nephews, nieces, relatives, neighbours & friends. Funeral Arrangements Later

The late Mai O'Dwyer

The death has occurred of Mai O'Dwyer, Sliabh Bloom, Clongour, Thurles. Deeply regretted by her loving family, husband Michael, sons Thomas and Noel, daughters Alma and Louise, grandchildren, brothers John, Michael and Peter, daughters in law, sons in law, nephews, nieces, sisters in law, brothers in law, relatives, neighbours and friends. Reposing at her residence on Tuesday, 20th February, from 5pm to 7pm. Arriving at the Cathedral of the Assumption, Thurles on Wednesday, 21st February, at 10.15am for Requiem Mass at 11am. Burial afterwards in St Patrick's Cemetery, Thurles.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 []The world of big-screen Android heavyweights boils down to two major players. But which one reigns supreme?

Google Pixel 2 XL (left) and Samsung Galaxy Note 8 (right)

In one corner, you've got Google's Pixel 2 XL. Armed with an array of AI-powered features, the latest version of Android and one of the best cameras we've encountered in any smartphone to date, the Pixel 2 XL marries quality hardware and innovative software in a way that most phones running Google's mobile OS simply don't.

On the other end of the ring, there's Samsungs Galaxy Note 8. It may be powered by the same Snapdragon 835 processor found in Google's flagship, but the Note 8 differs in several key ways. Samsung's phone sports two cameras, where you'd find only one on the Pixel. As of this writing, the Note 8 still hasn't been upgraded to Android Oreo, but Samsung's phone does come equipped with a nifty stylus and loads of additional conveniences that stock Android doesn't offer. And at 6.3 inches, Samsung's phablet is noticeably larger than the 6-inch Pixel 2 XL.

No matter which phone you opt for, you'll spend a significant chunk of change  especially on the Note 8, which costs $950 compared to the Pixel 2 XL's $849. Is Samsung's phone worth the extra dough? We put the two devices head to head to find out.

Specs



Google Pixel 2 XL Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Price $849/$949 $950 OS Android 8.1. Oreo Android 7.1.1 Nougat with Samsung Experience 8.5 Screen Size (Resolution) 6 inches, 2880 x 1440, P-OLED 6.3 inches, 2960 x 1440, AMOLED CPU Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 RAM 4GB 6GB Storage 64GB/128GB 64GB microSD Slot No Yes, up to 256GB Rear Camera 12.2 MP (f/1.8) with OIS Main 12 MP (f/1.7) with OIS; secondary 12 MP (f/2.4) telephoto with OIS Front Camera 8 MP (f/2.4) 8 MP (f/1.7) Battery Life (Hrs:Mins) 12:09 11:11 Water Resistance IP67 IP68 Size 6.22 x 3.02 x 0.31 inches 6.40 x 2.94 x 0.34 inches Weight 6.17 ounces 6.88 ounces

Design

Despite their large screens, neither the Note 8 nor the Pixel 2 XL is unwieldy to use with one hand or to stash in a pocket. That's because both employ extra-wide 18:9 screens with slim bezels all around.

Samsung Galaxy Note 8

On the Galaxy Note 8, bezels are almost nonexistent along the left and right edges, thanks to Samsung's Infinity Display tech. This makes one-handed operation a little easier, though the Pixel 2 XL is also compact for a phone of this size.

Google Pixel 2 XL

Around the back, these phones couldn't look or feel more different. The Note 8 employs a metal frame with a glass panel to enable wireless charging. It's very sleek and carries the right amount of heft, which always seems to be missing from phones built from glass all around. But the glass panel can make the phone quite slippery.

Google Pixel 2 XL (left) and Samsung Galaxy Note 8 (right)

By contrast, the powder-coated finish on the Pixel 2 XL's aluminum body is a stroke of genius that feels unlike anything else on the market. If you prefer a matte texture, you'll probably love the Pixel 2 XL's feel. We wish other phone makers were as creative with the materials they select for their products. However, again, Samsung's dependency on glass has a lot to do with wireless charging, a feature the Pixel 2 XL does not support.

The lone gripe I have with the Note 8's design is the placement of its fingerprint sensor, which sits in a awkward spot to the right of the dual rear cameras. It's an ergonomically unfriendly choice that resulted in us smudging the lenses on our unit nearly every time we went to unlock the phone.

Samsung Galaxy Note 8

The Pixel 2 XL's more traditional arrangement, with the scanner mounted centrally about a quarter of the way down the back of the phone, is much better. However, the absence of a headphone jack on Google's flagship is even more frustrating, and so Samsung gets the nod here.

Winner: Galaxy Note 8

Display

The Galaxy Note 8's 6.3-inch Super AMOLED display is a benchmark in the flagship segment, thanks to the breadth of its color gamut and a peak brightness that's impressive for an OLED panel. The Note 8 also offers a range of display modes between more saturated and more realistic, so users can find a screen setting that suits them.

Samsung Galaxy Note 8

The Pixel 2 XL's screen, meanwhile, has proven to be the weakest aspect of Google's flagship. With a resolution of 2880 x 1440, it's just about as sharp as the Note 8's 2960 x 1440 panel. But it exhibits poorer viewing angles, a papery appearance when displaying solid colors and a default sRGB mode that's a little more muted than what you get from other devices. Taking a look at our home page on both handsets set to similar color profiles, Google's phone exhibited a slightly yellow tint that seemed unnatural next to the Note 8's screen.

Additionally, many Pixel users reported problems with burn-in and splotchy blacks after the phone launched. Although Google issued a round of updates to address some of these issues, even when the display operates as intended, it still doesn't measure up to the Note 8's.

Winner: Galaxy Note 8

Performance

Although the Pixel 2 XL and Galaxy Note 8 are powered by the same Qualcomm chipset, the Note 8 has an edge in that it comes equipped with 6GB of RAM, versus 4GB in the Pixel 2.

This means that the Note 8 can switch apps a little more quickly, especially those that have already been opened and are stashed in the phone's memory. But as the Pixel 2 is already a very fast phone, you'd be unlikely to notice any serious difference in everyday usage.



Google Pixel 2 XL Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Geekbench 4 6,282 6,564 3DMark Sling Shot

Extreme 3,606 3,748 Adobe Premiere Clip

Transcoding (Sec:Min) 2:55 3:03

Nevertheless, the benchmarks reflected the Note 8's slight hardware advantage. In 3DMark's Sling Shot Extreme, a graphics test designed for high-end devices, the Pixel 2 XL finished with a score of 3,606, just behind the Note 8's 3,748. Geekbench 4, another benchmark that analyzes overall performance, produced similar results, with the Note 8 out in front at 6,564. The Pixel 2 XL wasn't far back, at 6,282.

Finally, in one of our real-world tests, we timed how long it took both phones to transcode a 4K video clip to 1080p via the Adobe Premiere Clip app. The results here were a bit of a surprise, as Google was able to turn the tables on Samsung and come out in front, posting a time of 2 minutes and 55 seconds, compared to 3 minutes and 3 seconds for the Note 8.

Winner: Galaxy Note 8

Camera

The Pixel 2 XL may seem underequipped, with its single rear 12.2-megapixel f/1.8 camera, but thanks to Google's computation-driven smart-imaging tech, the phone can still produce shallow depth-of-field portraits like what you get from the Note 8's Live Focus mode and dual 12-megapixel lenses. Both phones feature optical image stabilization for smoother shots in motion, as well.

Google Pixel 2 XL

I ventured out into Bryant Park on a dreary February morning to compare the devices, and the Pixel 2 XL once again staked its claim as one of the finest phones for photography, just as it did against the equally capable iPhone X. The Pixel's shot just pops here, with fantastic color and contrast, as well as highlights and shadows that are pronounced, but not so pronounced as to blow out detail in the frame.

The Note 8's shot is fine by comparison, but just a little too blurry  especially when you zoom in on the text on the umbrella and the texture of the ground.

Next, I headed indoors to capture this challenging low-light scene. The Note 8 did a slightly better job of exposing the objects in the foreground but couldn't resolve the intense highlights in the sky. Overall, the Pixel 2 XL's more-balanced shot and accurate white balance helped it squeak out another win here, thanks in part to Google's excellent HDR+ mode and dedicated Pixel Visual Core image-processing chip.

To see how the phones' portrait skills matched up, I snapped a couple shots of my colleague Shaun. The Pixel's ability to capture fine detail really shines here, although Google's single-lens depth system runs into some trouble distinguishing between the foreground and background, as evidenced on the side of Shaun's head, just above his left ear.

The Note 8 does a better job in that regard, but the overall result is too bright and smooths over too much  something we've observed many times when shooting portraits with Samsung's phone.

Finally, I snagged a few selfies and found that the results reflect those of the previous comparison, even though I was using the phones' front-facing cameras this time. The two devices both make use of 8-MP sensors, but produced very different results. The Pixel 2 XL's rendition was darker (not surprising, given its smaller f/2.4 aperture compared to the Note's f/1.7) but much sharper and punchier, while the Note 8's attempt once again had a slight waxiness. It should also be mentioned that because Google's portrait mode works with just one lens, you can also take shallow depth-of-field selfies.

No matter which phone you take on your next photography trip, the camera will be equipped with AI software that can identify objects and call up relevant results. The Note 8 uses Bixby Vision, while the Pixel 2 XL employs Google Lens. They're generally hit or miss, though Bixby allows you to drill down and specify the context of the object you want to know more about  for shopping purposes, text extraction or if you're just on the hunt for similar images.

Winner: Pixel 2 XL

Software and Special Features

If having the latest version of Android is important to you, the Pixel 2 XL is the winner here. Google's devices are always the first to receive updates, and both the original Pixel and Pixel 2 devices currently run Android 8.1 Oreo, the latest version of the mobile OS.

That means Pixel 2 XL users get notification dots, which operate similarly to badges in iOS, as well as alerts about battery-hogging apps, interface tweaks, picture-in-picture and limits to prevent rogue apps from using up your phone's resources while running in the background. Google has also confirmed that, beginning with the Pixel 2 and 2 XL, all its phones will be supported with software updates for three years  an improvement over the previous two-year policy, which Samsung also employs.

Samsung Galaxy Note 8

The Galaxy Note 8 doesn't yet have Android 8.1 Oreo, or even 8.0. Despite being the best-selling Android phone maker, Samsung doesn't have the best track record for timely updates. The Note 8 still runs 7.1 Nougat, though betas for 8.0 have been in circulation for weeks. That said, even the Note 8's re-skin of Nougat offers features that Pixel 2 XL doesn't, and that's mostly down to Samsung's S Pen. The stylus can be used to highlight and translate text anywhere on the device, create GIFs, send animated Live Messages, and take notes even while the screen is off.

Aside from the S Pen, the Note 8 also features Samsung's Edge Panel, which houses customizable shortcuts accessible with a swipe in from a side of the screen. The Pixel 2 XL offers a shortcut of its own thanks to Google's Active Edge technology, which lets you squeeze the lower frame of the phone to access Google Assistant.

MORE: Best Smartphones on the Market Now

Finally, the Note 8 supports an exclusive accessory called the DeX Station that can transform the phablet into a makeshift desktop computer. It's not cheap  you'll have to spend an additional $149 on top of the price of the handset  but it does offer an interface that Google's flagship doesn't, which could be ideal for users who frequently work on their phones.

Although Samsung can't match Google's timely Android updates or three years of support, the S Pen adds features that even the Pixel 2 XL can't match  meaning this one ends in a wash.

Winner: Tie

Battery Life

The Pixel 2 XL and Galaxy Note 8 have similarly sized batteries. Google has packed its phone with a 3,520-mAh battery, which is bigger than what you find in most flagships, while Samsung opted for a more conservative, 3,300-mAh pack.

Not surprisingly, the Pixel used its larger capacity to stretch its longevity about an hour past the Note 8 on a single charge. Where Samsung's device called it quits at 11 hours and 11 minutes, Google's phone lasted for 12 hours and 9 minutes before needing a refill.

As it turns out, the two phones take about the same time to charge with their included adapters. In 30 minutes, the Pixel 2 XL reached 38 percent from empty, while the Note 8 hit 35 percent. After an hour, they were nearly even: The Pixel was exactly three-quarters full, and the Note 8 was at 74 percent.

MORE: Smartphones with the Longest Battery Life

Although the Note 8 won't last quite as long through the day, it has one advantage in that it supports Qi and PMA wireless charging. However, don't expect Samsung's phone to charge quite as quickly when using this method, as wireless charging is less efficient than a wired connection.

Winner: Pixel 2 XL

Pricing and Availability

At $849 and $950, respectively, the Pixel 2 XL and Galaxy Note 8 are among the most expensive Android phones out there. Both devices are available through a network or unlocked; however, Verizon is the exclusive carrier partner for the Pixel. That means T-Mobile, AT&T and Sprint customers will have to buy Google's handset unlocked and then take it to one of those networks for service.

Alternatively, you can take advantage of the fact that all the Pixel phones are compatible with Google's Project Fi network. This network takes a pay-as-you-go approach and reimburses customers for the data they don't use every month.



The Note 8 is more convenient to buy, as it is sold through all four major U.S. carriers. Samsung currently offers a free pair of AKG Bluetooth headphones with the purchase of a Note 8 through the Samsung site. Additionally, both companies allow you to trade in a qualifying device for credit, which could help lower the price by a few hundred dollars.

MORE: Best Smartphones on the Market Now

While it's a bit easier to purchase a Note 8 straight from your wireless provider, the Pixel 2 XL is still compatible with all networks, and its lower price earns it the victory in this category.

Winner: Pixel 2 XL

Overall Winner

Neither the Pixel 2 XL nor the Galaxy Note 8 is perfect, but each is pretty close to being the ideal Android device. In fact, these phones are so strong that Googles victory came down to a difference of only a single point.



Google Pixel 2 XL

Samsung Galaxy Note 8

Design (10) 8 9 Display (15) 11 14 Performance (10) 8 9 Cameras (20) 18 16 Software and Features (10) 9 9 Battery and Charging (20) 17 15 Pricing and Availability (15) 11 9 Overall (100) 82 81

The Note 8 is an exceptionally well-rounded phone, offering a sleeker design, a better OLED display and slightly better performance than the Pixel 2 XL. But where the Samsung phone fell short, it did so noticeably. The Pixel 2 XL's superior camera and battery life, support for the latest version of Android, and cheaper price help it win out in the end.

Credit: Tom's Guide

Rwanda maintains tough stance on used clothes (New Times)

However, in an interview, Vincent Munyeshyaka, Trade and Industry Minister maintained that despite the consequences of being locked out of AGOA, Rwanda has to make a choice between continued importation of used clothes and developing the local textile and shoe industries and is keen on the latter. Rwandas stand has not changed, Munyeshyaka said, adding, we want to build domestic textile industry, we want to promote Made-in-Rwanda and close the trade deficit gap by reducing importation of goods which we can locally produce such as clothes and shoes.

Robert Opirah, Head of Trade and Investment department at the ministry of Trade said the U.S current stand contradicts what AGOA stands for let alone what was agreed upon in 2015 when the second AGOA legislation was passed in Washington. In 2015 everyone left Washington with a common AGOA response strategy that they would take advantage of the facilitation to grow domestic industries and serve that market. In facilitating the growth of local textile and shoe industries we are doing exactly what was agreed on and they (U.S) are saying no you cant. We will keep serving you with our second-hand clothes. You cant grow you industries. It beats my understanding, Opirah said.

Inaugural Biennial Report to the AU Assembly on implementing the June 2014 Malabo Declaration (NEPAD)

In this Report, 23 performance categories and 43 indicators have been defined, for the seven thematic areas of performance aligned to the commitments to evaluate country performance in achieving agricultural growth and transformation goals in Africa. This has been done through a continent wide consultation process. The report aims at strengthening national and regional institutional capacity for agriculture data generation and knowledge management which will, not only support improved evidence based planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, and learning; but also set basis and paths for triggering continental actions programmes to collectively drive agriculture transformation in Africa. Extract (pdf): Highlights on intra-African trade for agriculture commodities and services (risks and opportunities).

The trade blocks (ECOWAS, COMESA, EAC, SADC and UMA) have developed institutional mechanisms that have facilitated and promoted trade of agricultural commodities in the continent. This has been through various measures such as harmonization of policies and regulations, promotion of free movement of goods and people, among others. As a result, the continent is on track on the trade facilitation Index.

The volume of intra-African agricultural trade has increased by 14.9% between 2015 and 2016 compared to the 2017 milestone 20% to be on-track for tripling intra-African trade by 2025. This has been possible because of the contribution of: 42% in Western Africa from the high contribution of 92% in Senegal; and 16% increase in Northern Africa. A decrease of 15% is observed in Southern Africa, and of 3% decrease in East Africa. This suggests that there are still several challenges that need to be addressed to promote agricultural trade. Climatic variability is an example of such challenges due to its effect on agricultural production. For instance, agriculture output in southern Africa decreased by almost 30% in 2015 due to the dry spells caused by the El Nino which partly explain the observed reduction in agricultural trade.

Major constraints on national and regional food marketing and trade include...: Tackling these constraints calls for facing up to two broad categories of challenges: (i) prioritizing and filling the deficit in hard and soft market and trade infrastructure, and (ii) tackling the policy and institutional deficiencies to strengthen intra-regional and inter-regional market integration and trade facilitation. Moreover, there is a challenge of linking the agriculture, industrialization and trade policy and investment planning processes. Upgrading intra-African food and agricultural trade out of informality is a major challenge on the way forward.

In particular, it is vital to note that the continent and all the regions (Eastern, Southern and West Africa) that reported on the domestic food price volatility indicator are on-track. There were twenty (25) countries out of the forty seven (47) that are on track which implies that the continent and the regions are still very susceptible to price shocks. This situation is likely to exacerbate the challenges of food insecurity in the continent. This is a worrisome situation and it requires the continent to work tirelessly to minimize domestic food price volatility.

From RECs to a CFTA: strategic tools to assist negotiators and agricultural policy design in Africa (UNCTAD)

This report seeks to enhance knowledge among policymakers, experts and private sector stakeholders on essential policies and measures for establishing the CFTA and boost regional supply chains in not only agricultural commodities but also processed food products. This has been done through network analysis, which allows visualizing which country has competitive advantage over others in each trade agreement or regional context, as well as highlight overlapping regional agreements and identify trade hubs within Africa. The report (pdf) then carries out a specific analysis of agricultural products identified in the Abuja declaration and in other literature sources as being of interest. Around 80% of all intra-African trade flows through RECs and 20% flows outside trade agreements. Based on trade volumes, five countries play central roles in mobilizing the intra-African trade  Algeria, Cote dIvoire, Egypt, Nigeria, and South Africa  being responsible for 67% of all intra-African traded volumes in 2015. However, the network analysis indicated that four countries in Africa represent central players in trade networks in the continent, namely South Africa, Cote dIvoire, Kenya and Morocco

Kenya: Fish exports earn more than imports (Business Daily)

Kenya earned much more from fish exports in the last three years than it paid for imports despite rising volumes shipped in and an outcry over foreign sea food flooding the local market. The country earned Sh8.5 billion from selling abroad, which was higher than the Sh4.03 billion paid for imports in the period under review, according to official figures. Export volumes in the last three years stood at 16,429 tonnes compared with 40,991 tonnes imported in the same period. The government says Kenya will continue importing fish to meet the widening deficit, due to dwindling stocks both in the aquatic and marine space. Kenya has an annual deficit of 800,000 tonnes, which is filled through imports.

Zimtrade, Botswana Investment and Trade Centre sign MOU (The Herald)

Speaking after the signing, ZimTrade acting CEO, Norman Savado, implored business people to take advantage of their proximity to Botswana and to make use of the Bilateral Trade Agreement between the two countries as well as the favourable trade preferences offered by the Sadc Trade Protocol. According to Trade Map, trade between our two countries fell 40,39% between 2012 and 2016. We exported just over $29m to Botswana in 2016 - a far cry from the potential that is there - and Botswanas imports from Zimbabwe constitute 0,35% of the countrys total import bill which is also insignificant. To assist in tapping into the market, ZimTrade conducted a market survey from 5-16 February. Findings from the survey will be disseminated in March 2018.

Namibian commercial bank begins Renminbi trading to ease business transactions (China Daily)

Bank Windhoek, a Namibian commercial bank, on Monday commenced the trading of the Chinese currency renminbi or yuan notes (CNY) countrywide as part of efforts to boost business transactions with the Chinese community. Bank Windhoek which offers a wide range of financial services and products, including personal, corporate, electronic and international banking services, via a network of 50 branches, will accept denominations of 10, 20, 50 and 100 CNY at its branches.

Report on the implementation of the investment policy review of Mauritius (UNCTAD)

The island nation now aspires to graduate to the next level of development and become a high-income economy by 2030. To do so, it would have to overcome persisting challenges to its sustainable development, which include rising income inequality, stagnant productivity, a fragile small and medium-sized enterprise segment, as well as a downward FDI trend since 2013. The Government wants to prevent a middle-income trap and leverage the countrys strong educational and infrastructure advantages to become a regional hub for investment and services to the African continent, enhance its role and the digital sector, develop the ocean economy and further move up the value chain in traditional industries. To this end, in 2017, the Government requested UNCTADs assistance in the preparation of a report on the implementation of the IPR recommendations, and in the realization of sustainable development and its Vision 2030.

Kenya: Investors seek to put billions in 100 economic zones (Business Daily)

Local and foreign investors are seeking licences to put up 100 Special Economic Zones across the country. Industrialisation secretary Adan Mohamed said the applications are being scrutinised with priority given to those eyeing use of locally produced raw materials to process products for export. During a one-day forum convened by projects and infrastructure specialist firm, IKM Advocates and the International Projects Finance Association, Mr Mohamed said only quality SEZ investments that can generate sustainable jobs, impart employable skills and create wealth for local communities through purchase of locally produced raw materials will benefit.

Conference on Taxation and SDGs: conference statement (IMF)

Subject to resource availability, the Platform intends to undertake or continue work in a range of areas, including: (i) Strengthening international tax cooperation. As the international tax environment is changing rapidly, there is a high demand for action by the Platform, which is well placed to facilitate feedback between standard setting, capacity building and technical assistance in the sphere of international tax. To respond to this demand, Partners will further increase coordination and cooperation at the global and country levels. Guidance for developing countries (e.g., through the various Toolkits that the Platform has produced, and continues to work on, to help developing countries in high priority areas of international taxation) will provide a basis for some of this work. The Platform will also support developing countries to analyze and articulate their views on important international tax issues which will feed back into the international forums and standard setting processes. [Conference www]

Global Infrastructure Connectivity Alliance: presentations from the Paris conference

Nearly 150 attendees working in infrastructure connectivity-related sectors gathered in Paris, 2526 January, for the first GICA Annual Meeting. Co-organized by the Global Infrastructure Connectivity Alliance, the World Bank, and the OECD, the event brought together policy makers and practitioners participating in the GICA to discuss the state of play in global connectivity, innovative practices and the outlook for connectivity. The event provided an opportunity for GICA members to share their latest research and findings and define new areas of cooperation based on identified gaps.The deal you were looking for is no longer available.Vous etes confrontes a une infestation par la puce, la punaise de lit ? Voici plusieurs actions qui sont a mettre en uvre pour faire []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)-:- Message from Tripadvisor staff -:-

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We remove posts that do not follow our posting guidelines, and we reserve the right to remove any post for any reason.Alone with my daughter 8 yo August

Alone with my daughter 8 yo August

Hi to everyone.

Planning my trip to Australia, from Italy.

I travel alone with my daughter who will be 8 yo, she's used to travel with me in Asia (2 times in Japan, 2 years ago in Indonesia, last year in Thailand).

She loves animals and will hold Koalas.

I understand that the best part to see a lot of animals is South, Kangaroo Island in particular.

But I won't skip Sydney, Ayer's Rock..and I'm thinking also about Queensland (Magnetic Island or Whitsundays).

So..maybe flying from Milan to Sydney, 4 nights there; then flight to Townsville or Proserpine and stay there reaching Cairns after 5 or 7 nights; then flight to Uluru for 2 nights; then flight to Melbourne (Great Ocean Road maybe??), going to Kangaroo Island and depart from Adelaide after 7 or 9 nights.

What do you think about this plan?

The time in each zone is ok? May I consider to do only Queensland or only South or can I do both in that way?

I have to buy the flights, but if i buy intercontinental with the internal ones it will be less expensive, so I need to do the planning now.

Thank you in advance!

SilviaRe: Help with add on to 4 nights in Arenal

7. Re: Help with add on to 4 nights in Arenal

La Fortuna is the town near Arenal. It's not so much a destination, just a lot of souvenir shops, restaurants and a pretty church.

Which hotel are you staying at? You might add a night there or move on to something else.

Unless you can squeeze more in before Monday, I'd stay near Arenal for at least another day. You can do Mistico hanging bridges, trails at Arenal Observatory Lodge of the volcano park, possibly a volunteer tour at Proyecto ASIS.

It would be nice to head to Monteverde for a few nights. The cloud forest there is amazing and there are lots of activities also up on the mountain.

If you're anxious to see the coast, you can head straight down to Manual Antonio/ Quepos but that will eat up a lot of time. The beaches are very pretty but will be crowded in April.

If you don't have your own car you can arrange shuttles.Hi

I think your spell check is a little confused :-)

Kenya and Tanzania are next to each other - Morocco is way North and would not fit into the same trip.

Serengeti is a wildlife park nothing to climb there, perhaps you mean Kilimanjaro ?

A guided tour is much better unless you have experience with 4x4 etc

August you could have 4 day Masai Mara in Kenya and cross over into Serengeti the Wildebeest migration will be either in Tanzania or Kenya at this time so you will get to see when doing both.

Hope this helpsYou will be in a warm climate so your casual comfortable light clothing, yes religious buildings cover your arms and legs

other than that what ever, light comfortable shoes or sandals are also a priority because you will be doing a bit of walking.

Go and enjoy, see you in Hoian Hiya, I am travelling to Japan from 23rd April to 7th may 2018. We are 4 adults (2 couples), 1 Child (5yrs) and 1 infant (1 Yr) . How crowded is those cities during the Golden Week? If I am not mistaken, the 2018 Golden Week would start from April 29, 2018.

What proactive actions should I take ? How can I efficiently use 7 day JR pass during my trip.

Arrival in Tokyo on 23rd April

TOKYO - 5 Nights (23rd April - 27th April) Disney sea is must

NAGANO - 1 Night (28th April) Snow monkey and Nagano to Kanazava doing Tateyama Kurobe Alopen Route.

KANAZAVA - 2 Nights (29th April - 30th April)

KYOTO - 3 Nights (1st May - 3rd May)

HIROSHIMA - 1 Night (4th May)

OSAKA - 2 Nights (5th May - 6th May)

Departure from Kansai Airport on 7th AprilJoanne-wen have stayed at plantation island resort many times and have never had the issues being described.

First of all food wise there is a range to choose from.Grab snacks from the "dairy" or take a bicycle/walk to the mini mart at Musket cove resort (2/5 minutes away) Use the Buffet or go to one of the three "fancy" eateries on the island. -I must say that on our last visit we felt the dinner served at "dicks place" in musket cove was world class.

second-"overcrowded' -The only time we have seen a big crowd is at dinner time when they have a melenesian feast or other special dinners.

third--entertainment for your 5 year old--the kids club is really good having an air conditioned Movie room and lots of activities. the 10 year old can still go to kids club but also could do stuff like wind surfing and even a "pool" lesson for scuba diving (free) in the flat /calm /shallow lagoon area right in front of the resort.

-so lots or as little as you want to do.

In the evening you could grab a baby sitter-which is cheap and go have a dinner at Lomani resort ,Black pearl at plantation or Dicks place at Musket cove.You only go through customs and immigration at your initial arrival point in the US.

For domestic fights there is security to enter the departure areas to get to the gates. They will want to check that your ID matches the ticket as a part of that.

Once you deplane you exit the secure areas, pick up any checked luggage and go on your way.

Edited: 3 years agoOn to your itinerary...

Arrival: Have some idea of which areas you will explore. Even if it's all exploring on foot from your hotel, have an idea of which direction you will go and what you'll try to see along the way. A lot of people decide to see Times Square on their first night. That's fine choice. You could choose a route that will take you via Rockefeller Center and St. Patrick's Cathedral. Think about the type of meal you may want that night. Or whether you are likely to be starving and want something fast (but good) soon after arrival, then maybe drinks and a snack or dessert a bit later before heading to bed.

Friday: By "World Trade Center" do you mean the 911 Memorial? Or do you mean the One World Observatory? Sometimes terminology gets muddle. Doing that observatory, Brooklyn Bridge, then ESB is a lot of observatories and views. Move ESB to another night.

Saturday: Chelsea Market is not a good fit here. For TOTR, we generally warn people not to book far in advance because you don't know whether you will have clear visibility weather. But you can keep fingers crossed.

What do you plan to do that night?

Sunday: This day is too scattered. Suggestion: Walk the High Line North to South. Stop at Chelsea Market for a late breakfast if you want. Then explore Meatpacking, West Village, Greenwich Village. This whole area is full of great food options so if you have a meal at Chelsea Market hopefully you'll save room for a meal in the Village too.

Macy's doesn't fit well with your other plans. Why not do it at a time when you already plan to be in Midtown. You could do this any other time, including evening. Also note that it is near ESB so you might want to combine them (do ESB first so you aren't burdened with shopping bags). This would free you to enjoy Greenwich Village (and maybe even Soho shopping) well into the evening and also eat down there. It's a much better area for eating vs the Macy's area.

Monday: Do you know which neighborhoods you will target for your day of strolling and shopping? Maybe Macy's can fit here?

A general comment: I think you may not appreciate how large and spread out Manhattan is. Instead of identifying everything you want to do (including random places for drinks like the Hudson Hotel) then trying to force them to fit, think about each neighborhood you will target. Identify great things to do while there. For instance, Greenwich Village has loads of great bars.

Another observation is that you have no museums, no music, no shows... nothing "cultural" at all. Is that by design?

Regarding Ess-A-Bagel, it's only a couple blocks from your hotel so I think it's a great idea. Forum regulars still love it. I disagree with the advice to avoid it and that it's out of your way. I agree with Murray's as an excellent choice but that WILL be out of your way.Are you looking to enroll in driving schools Kenya? There are some driving schools in Kenya mostly concentrated around the urban centers. Prices, course structure, and the nature of classes differ from one institution to the other.

Image: pexels.com (modified by author)

Source: UGC

Driving School Comparison

AA Kenya

Founded in 1919, the Automobile Association of Kenya ventured into driving school business in 1962. As the oldest driving school in Kenya, AA is one of the most popular and respected institutions. AA has established an excellent reputation in Kenya and other African nations because of its focus and commitment to safe and responsible driving as well as a comprehensive curriculum.

Some of the top qualities of AA Kenya are competent instructors, discipline, recognition, and assurance. AA Kenya has its headquarters in Embakasi, Nairobi Kenya with over 25 branches across the country.

READ ALSO: Chief Justice Maraga blames reckless driving for the rising number of fatal accidents

Courses offered at Driving School AA include

Learner driver training

Refresher driving course

Advanced driving course

Plant and equipment operator assessment

Driver competence assessment

The price rates for AA Kenya are:

Image: aakenya.co.ke (modified by author)

Source: UGC

The AA Driving School Nairobi rates are a bit higher than the ones for other towns.

Rocky Driving School

Rocky Driving School began operations in the early 1990's. The institution has over twenty two branches countrywide with its main offices located in Industrial Area, Nairobi Kenya. Over the years, Rocky has established well-known name due to its exceptional trainers, inclusive and flexible services, affordable rates and customer services. The school offers beginner and advanced driving training. Rockys course also focuses on road safety and includes units such as Basic first aid and Mechanics.

Image: rockydrivingschool.com (modified by author)

Source: UGC

Glory Driving School

Glory Driving School another top driving school in Nairobi and other parts of Kenya. Through the over 30 years in operation, Glory Driving School has been a vocal champion of road safety in Kenya. The companys most notable program is the Arrive Alive Initiative. Glorys focus on safety has earned it several accolades including the 1st Prize in the Kenya Road and Safety Awards. Other top qualities of the Glory Driving School are affordable packages, comprehensive courses, qualified instructors and a variety of services. Glory Driving School has its headquarter at Reinsurance Plaza mezzanine floor, Taita Road, Nairobi.

Here is a breakdown of the Glory Driving School packages:

Image: kenyans.co.ke (modified by author)

Source: UGC

Chui group gets five lessons, Mwananchi 10 lessons and Simba 15 lessons.

Pettans Driving School

Image: pexels.com (modified by author)

Source: UGC

READ ALSO: Majority of Kenyans angered after Matiang'i ordered closure of driving schools for fresh vetting

With over seventy branches countrywide, Pettans Driving School intends to provide required professional driving skills to curb road carnages. Pettans Driving School stands out because of the variety of services, affordable rates and the focus on road safety.

The packages offered by Pettans Driving School are as follows.

Image: pettansdrivingschool.co.ke (modified by author)

Source: UGC

Heltz Driving School

Heltz Driving school has an extensive branch network in the country. The main offices are at Sheikh House, ground floor, Nairobi CBD. The factors that make Heltz an institution of choice are affordable pricing, professionalism, customer service and flexible services.

Heltz Driving School Kenya packages

Image: heltzdrivingschool.com (modified by author)

Source: UGC

Source: TukoIn Kenya, the Central Bank has issued a warning against investment in cryptocurrency. This warning comes with the growing popularity of cryptocurrency in Kenya. Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria, and Ghana are the main Bitcoin economies in Africa. The concern is that the bubble might bust leading to tremendous losses. Some experts and direct investors, however, disagree with this warning describing cryptocurrency as the future.

READ ALSO: How to Get Started with Bitcoins in Kenya

Cryptocurrency Meaning

Cryptocurrency is a digital currency that is big across the world. The mere mention of Bitcoin or Etherium leads to a big debate on the credibility of cryptocurrency. The debate originates from the fact that cryptocurrencies operate independently from the Central Bank and are regulated by encryption techniques. This means that the Central Bank does not issue these coins. The question most people ask is how then, do people accumulate cryptocurrency?

Cryptocurrency Mining

The most popular process of earning cryptocurrency is known as mining. This process involves miners verifying transactions of the particular cryptocurrency in a blockchain. In other cases, miners create new blocks which contain a bundle of transactions. The process, however, is not simple due to the tough mathematical problems that miners solve as proof of work.

Eugene Mutai is a popular Kenyan cryptocurrency miner. Mutai describes internet-based currencies as revolutionary as they open up a financial/economic world to more than just financial experts. Mutai is a self-taught tech expert who saw the potential of cryptocurrency when most people in the country had no idea what it means. He decided went from doing farm jobs at the village to become a part of one of the most revolutionary concepts in this age.

Instead of mining the most popular coin, Bitcoin, Mutai opted for Ethereum which was less difficult to mine. This was back in 2016. Today, Mutai says that it was a risk worth taking and that one must always remain aware of the risks of the online world. Just like there are authentic miners, there are hucksters who would do anything to get these cryptocurrencies.

Also, mining cryptocurrencies require some investment. The most necessary is a powerful computer that will ensure you make the most transactions at ease. The computer does most of the work and determines the Hashrate (how fast you can verify transactions) of a miner. While powerful computers are reliable, they require huge amounts of electricity. For Mutai, electricity costs are about 20% of his earnings. There is also the disadvantage of an unreliable power supply especially in Kenya and other developing nations. This disadvantage slows down the process and, in turn, affects the income.

On average, Mutai makes about $800 per month, an amount he would never have made if he did not take the risk of investing in cryptocurrency. As a self-taught tech expert, Mutai constructed his powerful computer that he uses in his apartment in Nairobi. The journey into tech prepared Mutai for the cryptocurrency world that would require determination to learn without professional help.

Other aspiring miners and investors are in luck thanks to the establishment of BitHub. Another tech entrepreneur, John Karanja, founded the platform as a home for those involved in cryptocurrency. BitHub focuses on helping young people get involved in internet-based currencies. The platform offers everything from training to education on how to navigate the cryptocurrency scene.

The Cryptocurrency Mining Procedure

Despite the different available platforms, most people still do not understand the way mining works. Here is a step-by-step guide on cryptocurrency mining in Kenya.

Conduct Research. This step is basic for any investment you wish to make. In this case, research about the profitability of the cryptocurrency based on the miner you wish to buy. Also, research on the best hardware based on performance review. This hardware is known as a mining rig.

Get a cryptocurrency wallet. Internet-based currencies must be stored in a place that makes it easy for you to trade and use. A wallet usually comes with a public cryptocurrency address and a private key which is a password to your wallet.

Find a mining pool. A mining pool is a group of other cryptocurrency miners that combine their computing power to increase the number of coins they get. This step is optional. Some miners are successful, yet they do it alone. However, it is advisable for beginners as it increases the chances of profitability. Make sure you understand how the mining pool works before becoming a part of it.

Get mining software. The right software will depend on the mining rig that you acquired in the beginning. This step will not be necessary if the mining pool you joined has their mining software.

Start mining. Now that you have all the necessities in place, you are good to go. Plug in your miner and let the computer do most of the work

Cryptocurrency Trading

Cryptocurrency trading is a common practice that occurs only on limited platforms. These platforms allow people to trade in their cryptocurrencies for cash and vise versa. To trade, you need a cryptocurrency wallet and a cryptocurrency exchange. A cryptocurrency wallet is a place where you store encrypted passwords which represent the currency you have. A cryptocurrency exchange, on the other hand, is a trading platform that allows one to trade their coins for other cryptocurrencies or traditional currencies (e.g., the U.D Dollar).

READ ALSO: Make Quick Money in Kenya: Workable Suggestions You Must Try

You must also conduct research on the best cryptocurrency trading platforms before venturing as a trader. Understanding the risks is also important. Therefore, ensure that you follow the cryptocurrency market closely to avoid making the wrong moves. Monitor the fluctuations in value to know when to buy and when to sell.

Conclusion

The best way to accumulate cryptocurrency depends on the patience and finances of an individual. Those who have enough money often opt to buy cryptocurrency rather than mine. Some miners also buy the technology while others like Mutai create their own. The story of Mutai shows that anyone can venture into cryptocurrency. All one needs is enough knowledge to manoeuvre the sector. Knowledge of technology is an added advantage.

Source: Tuko-Self-proclaimed General of the outlawed National Resistance Movement, Miguna Miguna, has accused NASA strategist David Ndii and CEO Norman Magaya of secreting working with Jubilee

- Miguna, says he has reliable information that Magaya and Ndii are trying to cripple the activities of the National Resistance Movement

- He further claimed that Ndii and Magaya have clearly indicated the they were celebrating about the flagrant abuse of his rights

Political activist and self proclaimed general of the outlawed National Resistance Movement,Miguna Miguna, on Sunday, February 18 took a swipe on his National Super Alliance (NASA) counterparts in a surprise attack.

A fiery Miguna Miguna, claimed that NASA strategist David Ndii and NASA CEO Norman Magaya had been conspiring to throw the movements activities into disarray.

Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens

READ ALSO: Mtangazaji wa Citizen TV - Lilian Muli - kapachikwa mimba na Jeff Koinange?

Miguna Miguna letter accusimg NASA CEO of plans to killl NRM. Photo: Nation Breaking/ Twitter

READ ALSO: Jubilee planning to stuff Embakasi East ballot boxes - MP Babu Owino

In a Facebook post addressed to the two and seen by TUKO.co.ke, Miguna accused the two leaders of having a conference call with Kenyan Diaspora( ) without consulting him nor other leaders of the resistance movement.

"I have just received credible reports about what transpired during your conference call with the Kenyan Diaspora.First, I take issue with the fact that you purported to speak on behalf of the NRMKe, a movement you have not been part of." read the note in part.

The self-proclaimed NRM general accused Magaya of being a Jubilee sympathizer who worked with Nairobi County Governor Mike Sonko in an attempt to revenge against NASA Chief principal, Raila Odinga.

READ ALSO: My return will be mother of all liberation wars - Miguna Miguna

Miguna claimed that Ndii and Magaya working behind his back, clearly indicated the duo was celebrating about the flagrant abuse of his rights.

He said the two cannot purport to unveil the rebel wing of NASA's "Constitution and presidents council."

"NRMKe is a movement and not an NGO or political party and it doesnt have written constitution for very good reasons," the lawyer said.

READ ALSO: We demand a formal apology done to CJ Maraga- Kisii leaders tell Tuju

Miguna Miguna letter accusimg NASA CEO of plans to killl NRM. Photo: Nation Breaking/Twitter

Miguna further stated that he has never been invited by Ndii, head of People's Assembly Organising Committee, to participate in the Peoples Assembly process since he moved to Oppositions camp.

"You have never invited me to any of your events. You have never informed me about any of your events. And I have never interfered with that process. Lets respect our respective jurisdictional mandates," he said.

The controversial lawyer also accused the two of not showing solidarity following his dramatic arrest and embarrassing deportation from the country.

"Ive keenly watched videos and read media reports of the campaign for my release and I have noted, with interest, your singular silence about me.Neither of you have mentioned my name during the numerous press conferences you have called and statements you have read."

READ ALSO: Wiper MP urges Raila to foster talks with Uhuru and stop sideshows

"I detest very strongly the habitual opportunism and selfish caninbalism that your behaviours are symptomatic of. Liberation wars are not fought and won on deception and opportunism. I will not allow you to impose yourselves on the NRMKe."

"Im beginning an NRMKe global tour next week. We would not tolerate any distractions from you."

On Saturday, February 17 Miguna announced NRMs Big 5 Agenda items to counter act President Uhuru Kenyatta Big four plans.

Miguna said the Opposition intends to deliver; electoral justice, reclamation of Raila's victory of August 8th, 2017, and overhaul of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).

He added that NRM also intends to create a credible voters register and protect the Judiciary and the Constitution.

ALSO WATCH: Do you support Raila Odinga's call for fresh presidential election? on TUKO tv

Source: Tuko Breaking News Latest- National Super Alliance (NASA) principal Moses Wetang'ula attacked Francis Atwoli after the COTU boss declared support nfor Musalia Mudavadi

- Atwoli declared his support for Mudavadi days after he had savagely attacked the ANC leader for not showing up during the controversial swearing-in of Raila Odinga

- Moses Wetang'ula is hopeful that he would be picked to seek for the Presidency in 2022 on a NASA ticket

National Super Alliance (NASA) co-principal Moses Wetang'ula has accused Central Organization of Trade Unions Sscretary General (COTU) Francis Atwoli of dividing the Luhya community ahead of the 2022 elections.

The Ford Kenya party leader took to his Twitter to castigate Atwoli after the COTU boss flip-flopped and declared his unwavering support for Musalia Mudavadi days after he had dramaticaly withdrawn his support for the ANC chief.

Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens

READ ALSO: Mtangazaji wa Citizen TV - Lilian Muli - kapachikwa mimba na Jeff Koinange?

"Atwoli's cheap gymics with a handful of imposters and masquerades will not solve mulembe unity issues. He is a turncoat we should ignore," he said in a Twitter post seen by TUKO.co.ke.

NASA leaders Moses Wetang'ula (right), Raila Odinga, and Musalia Mudavadi at a past function. Photo: NASA

READ ALSO: Jubilee planning to stuff Embakasi East ballot boxes - MP Babu Owino

As reported earlierc by TUKO.co.ke, Atwoli had labelled Mudavadi a coward and pledged never to rally support for him after showing cowardice at an hour of need.

Atwoli was angered by Mudavadi's absence during the controversial swearing-in of Raila Odinga as the People's President and did not accept the reasons given by Mudavadi for skipping the event.

READ ALSO: Tuju defends decision to write to CJ - says Maraga should take responsibility

I will never again in my life support Musalia Mudavadi, I have stopped today. If I have offended the Luhya community, you will have to forgive me but my support for Musalia ends today, told a charged crowd during the burial of activist Ken Wafula in Soy, Likuyani constituency Kakamega County.

However, on Sunday, February 18, Atwoli stated that he had decided to rally behindn Mudavadi for the top seat in the 2022 race.

Small business Ideas for Kenyans with low investment - on TUKO TV

Source: Tuko Kenya- All Kenyans must follow the rule of lw and adhere to the Constitution, deputy president William Ruto said during a prayer service

- Ruto defended the government aganist allegations that top officials had broken the law saying President Uhuru Kenyatta and himself respect the law

- The DP said time for politicking was over and that all leaders should embark on developing the country

Deputy President William Ruto has asked all Kenyans to respect the rule of law.

Ruto said the country is governed by rules and the Constitution, saying all Kenyans irrespective of their political affiliations must obey the law.

Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens

READ ALSO: Mtangazaji wa Citizen TV - Lilian Muli - kapachikwa mimba na Jeff Koinange?

Speaking during an interdenominational prayer service held at the Chepkemel Primary School grounds in Uasin Gishu County, on Sunday, February 18, the Deputy President said that no one in the country was above the law.

Deputy President William Ruto and MPs Ben Washiali and Malulu Injendi during an interdenominational prayer service on Sunday, February 18. Photo: William Ruto/Facebook

READ ALSO: MP Alfred Keter speaks out as he spends three days in custody after dramatic arrest

He said those in the Executive, Judiciary, Parliament and the Opposition were bound to abide by the rule of law.

All of us must submit to the Constitution of Kenya and the rule of law, not rule of men, said Ruto.

He said that when President Uhuru Kenyatta and him lost the 2002 elections they respected the outcome and formed the Opposition.

READ ALSO: Tuju defends decision to write to CJ - says Maraga should take responsibility

He said they also accepted the International Criminal Court (ICC) summons despite the fact that they were innocent and attended the court where they proved their detractors wrong.

Ruto said when the Supreme Court nullified their August 8, 2017 win, they respected the law by going back to the repeat presidential election held on October 26, 2017 as demanded by the highest court in the land.

DP William Ruto shares a word with Uasin Gishu Governor Jackson Mandago during interdenominational prayer day service. Photo: William Ruto/Facebook

If there are people who respect the rule of law, then its us in Jubilee. We have track record of abiding by the rule of law and we will continue doing so.

This democratically elected Government under the leadership of President Uhuru Kenyatta will continue to be run on the basis of the Constitution and the rule of law, he said.

READ ALSO: Kibra MP Ken Okoth winning hearts of everyone through his impressive development deeds

To him, the governments focus was now on unity and development, saying electioneering period was over and that it was time to serve Kenyans.

Story by DPPS

Kenyans react to Miguna Miguna's deportation - on TUKO TV

Source: Tuko Breaking News- National Super Alliance (NASA) leader Raila Odinga has rubbished reports that the coalition's top strategist David Ndii and CEO Norman Magaya are Jubilee moles

- In a letter sent to newsrooms on Monday, February 19, Odinga said the allegations labeled against Ndii and Magaya were unfortunate

- The allegations were made by controversial lawyer Miguna Miguna who ironically is the "general" of NASA's outlawed National Resistance Movement (NRM) wing

National Super Alliance (NASA) leader, Raila Odinga, has refuted claims that the NASA's top strategist, David Ndii, and CEO Norman Magaya are working with Jubilee administration to frustrate the coalition's course.

In a letter dispatched to newsrooms on Monday, February 19 and which has been seen by TUKO.co.ke , Odinga said the allegations that had been labeled against Ndii and Magaya by Miguna Miguna were unfortunate.

Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens

"My attention has been drawn to reports in sections of the media attributed to Miguna Miguna claiming that two of NASA Secretariat staffs, namely David Ndii and Norman Magaya, are working with Jubilee Party.We wish to make it clear that as a coalition, we have full confidence in Ndii and Magaya who have dedicated time and resources for NASA's course," the letter read in part.

READ ALSO: Mtangazaji wa Citizen TV - Lilian Muli - kapachikwa mimba na Jeff Koinange?

NASA leader Raila Odinga has rubbished claims that the coalition's staffs David Ndii and Norman Magaya are working with Jubilee Party. Photo: Facebook/Raila Odinga

Source: Facebook

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Odinga added the allegations, if at all they were made by Miguna, were very unfortunate and detrimental to the course that the NASA coalition is pursuing.

As was previously reported by TUKO.co.ke, the said allegations were made by lawyer Miguna who ironically is the "general" of NASA's outlawed National Resistance Movement (NRM) wing.

READ ALSO: NASA's strategist David Ndii sensationally claims Kenya's president should be in rehab

Self proclaimed general of the outlawed National Resistance Movement, Miguna Miguna, on Sunday, February 18 accused David Ndii and Norman Magaya of being Jubilee moles. Photo: Citizen TV.

Miguna on Sunday, February 18 posted a statement on Facebook claiming that NASA strategist Ndii and CEO Magaya had been conspiring to throw the coalitionss activities into disarray.

In the long Facebook post, Miguna also accused the two NASA officials of having a conference call with Kenyan Diaspora without consulting him nor other leaders of NRM.

"I have just received credible reports about what transpired during your conference call with the Kenyan Diaspora. I take issue with the fact that you purported to speak on behalf of the NRM-Ke, a movement you have not been part of," the post read in part.

READ ALSO: We will not be intimidated by the arrest of David Ndii - Raila

NOTE: Following the January 30 inauguration of NASA coalition leader Raila Odinga as an alternative president of Kenya, the Interior Ministry declared that the coalition's National Resistance Movement (NRM) is an organized criminal group under the Prevention of Organized Crimes Act.

Kenyans react to Miguna Miguna's deportation - On Tuko TV

Source: Tuko- National Super Alliance (NASA) Chief Principal, Raila Odinga has left for Zimbabwe to the late opposition leader, Tsvangirai's funeral

- The opposition leader left the county in the country in with his daughter to pay his last respect to his ally

- Morgan Tsvangirai succumbed to colon cancer in a hospital in South Africa where he had been receiving treatment for the past two years

National Super Alliance (NASA) leader Raila Odinga on Monday, Febraury 19 left the country to attend the burial of Zimbabwes opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

The NASA leader left the country in the company of his daughter for Harare at 1pm on Monday.

Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens

READ ALSO: Mtangazaji wa Citizen TV - Lilian Muli - kapachikwa mimba na Jeff Koinange?

READ ALSO: Zimbabweans flock airport to receive body of opposition icon Tsvangirai

In a statement by Railas spokesperson and seen by TUKO.co.ke, the burial of the late Tsvangirai is set to take place on Tuesday, February 20

Odinga will then travel to Buhera, some 300 kilometres from Harare where the Movement for Democratic Change leader will be laid to rest on Thursday, read the statement.

Raila Odinga and the late Tsangirai shared a cordial since 1993 when Odinga led an International Republican Institute team to train political parties and civil society in Zimbabwe for the multi-party elections that were approaching then.

READ ALSO: Outrage in Zimbabwe after calls for donation towards Morgan Tsvangirais funeral

In an emotional tribute to the fallen hero, Raila described Tsvangirai as champion and a distinguished political leader of the Second Liberation of Zimbabwe.

Tsvangirai died on Wednesday, February 14 at the age of 65, after suffering from colon cancer for more than 2 years.

An earlier report by TUKO.co.ke indicted that Tsvangirai died in a clinic in Johannesburg while undergoing treatment after his condition worsened in the last few days.

READ ALSO: Morgan Tsvangirai leader of Zimbabwe opposition is dead

As TUKO.co.ke had formerly reported a call by the MDC party in Zimbabwe to raise funds for the late Morgan Tsvangirai's funeral caused public outrage in Zimbabwe.

The request by the party was made despite plans by the state to offer assistance with Tsvangirai's burial in Zimbabwe.

The late Tsvangirai ,however, received a heroes welcome with Zimbabweans at the airport breaking into song and dance as they ushered in the remains of the opposition leader.

ALSO WATCH: Do you support Raila Odinga's call for fresh presidential election?on TUKO tv

Source: Tuko.co.ke- Controversial self proclaimed general of the outlawed National Resistance Movement, Miguna Miguna has fired back at Raila Odinga for defending Ndii and Magaya

- Miguna stood by his claims that NASA strategist David Ndii and NASA CEO Norman Magaya were working on crumbling the resistance movement

- Raila had earlier on dismissed claims that the top NASA officials were Jubilee moles and that the allegations were unfortunate

Former Nairobi gubernatorial candidate and now self proclaimed general of the outlawed National Resistance Movement (NRM) fired back at Raila Odinga for defending David Ndii and Norman Magaya.

The fiery lawyer maintained his initial claims that National Super Alliance strategist, David Ndii and CEO, Norman Magaya were colluding with the Jubilee administration to scatter the opposition party.

Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens

"I stand by my note to David Ndii and Norman Magaya, which has not been denied. My note is true in substance and in fact. We are going to liberate Kenya from the despots with truth, honesty, integrity and courage; not lies. Jubilee Party despots are the enemy. Let's march on!"

READ ALSO: Mbunge Millie Odhiambo amzima barobaro aliyetaka uhusiano naye

Miguna fires back at Raila, insists NASA CEO is a Jubilee mole.Photo: NASA Coalition/Facebook

READ ALSO: Finish Raila now or you may regret it - Mutahi Ngunyi to Uhuru

In a tweet post seen by TUKO.co.ke, Miguna claimed that the country's sorry political state was as a result of duplicity and deception as portrayed by the two in his initial note.

"Trouble" to despots is what brings us liberation. We are where we are because we decided to join the politics of deception and duplicity. " read the post in part.

"I will have none of it. Revolutionary politics must be anchored on truth, honesty, courage and integrity. Nothing more and nothing less." he added.

READ ALSO: I will deal with Ngilu accordingly over burnt lorries- Waititu

An earlier report by TUKO.co.ke indicated NASA Chief Principal, Raila Odinga had rubbished the allegations noting they were unfortunate.

He claimed that the allegations, if at all they were made by Miguna, were very detrimental to the course that the NASA coalition is pursuing.

"My attention has been drawn to reports in sections of the media attributed to Miguna Miguna claiming that two of NASA Secretariat staffs, namely David Ndii and Norman Magaya, are working with Jubilee Party.We wish to make it clear that as a coalition, we have full confidence in Ndii and Magaya who have dedicated time and resources for NASA's course,"read a statement in part.

READ ALSO: We will not be intimidated by the arrest of David Ndii - Raila

Miguna on Sunday, February 18 posted a statement on Facebook claiming that NASA strategist Ndii and CEO Magaya had been conspiring to throw the coalitionss activities into disarray.

In the long Facebook post, Miguna also accused the two NASA top officials of having a conference call with Kenyan Diaspora without consulting him nor other leaders of NRM.

"I have just received credible reports about what transpired during your conference call with the Kenyan Diaspora. I take issue with the fact that you purported to speak on behalf of the NRM-Ke, a movement you have not been part of," the post read in part.

ALSO WATCH: Do you support Raila Odinga's call for fresh presidential election? on TUKO tv

Source: Tuko Breaking News- Political Analyst Mutahi Ngunyi has harshly criticized controversial lawyer Miguna Miguna over the statement he made about NASA's strategist David Ndii and CEO Norman Magaya

- Ngunyi referred to Miguna as a cheap drama queen who only became popular by shouting "Come baby come"

- From Ngunyi's point of view, it is Miguna who is rocking the NASA boat and not the two individuals he maligned their good names

- Miguna had sensationally claimed that Ndii and Magaya were working with the Jubilee administration to frustrate NASA's activities

- NASA 's leader Raila Odinga rubbished Miguna's allegations saying there was no such thing and that the coalition still have full confidence in the said officials

- Miguna fired back at Odinga insisting that Magaya and Ndii are Jubilee moles

Vocal Political Analyst Mutahi Ngunyi has harshly criticized controversial lawyer and political activist Miguna Miguna over his remarks on National Super Alliance (NASA) top strategist David Ndii and CEO Norman Magaya.

In a hard-hitting Twitter post seen by TUKO.co.ke on Monday, February 19, Ngunyi said the self-proclaimed general of NASA's outlawed National Resistance Movement (NRM) was nothing more than a cheap drama queen.

Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens

"Miguna is nothing but a cheap drama queen queen. What kind of man gets famous because he said, "Come baby come!" he posed.

READ ALSO: Mbunge Millie Odhiambo amzima barobaro aliyetaka uhusiano naye

Mutahi Ngunyi has harshly criticized controversial lawyer Miguna Miguna over remarks he made about NASA's strategist David Ndii and CEO Norman Magaya. Photo:Citizen TV.

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Ngunyi also appeared to suggest it is Miguna who is causing trouble in the NASA coalition and not the two individuals (Ndii and Magaya) he was mudslinging.

"Between Miguna Miguna, David Ndii and Norman Magaya, who is breaking up NASA? Ngunyi asked, sarcastically.

READ ALSO: Miguna Miguna letter accusing NASA CEO of plans to kill NRM

As was earlier reported by TUKO.co.ke, Miguna had sensationally claimed that Ndii and Magaya were working with the Jubilee administration to frustrate NASA's course.

NASA leader Raila Odinga, however, rufuted Miguna's allegations saying there was no such thing and that the coalition still have full confidence in the said NASA officials.

READ ALSO: Miguna fires back at Raila, insists NASA CEO is a Jubilee mole

Odinga added that Miguna's remarks, which were reported by a section of the media, were unfortunate and detrimental to NASA's course.

In a quick rejoinder, Miguna fired back at Odinga insisting that Magaya and Ndii are Jubilee moles and he had no apologies to make.

READ ALSO: NASA's strategist David Ndii sensationally claims Kenya's president should be in rehab

"I stand by my note to David Ndii and Norman Magaya, which has not been denied. My note is true in substance and in fact. We are going to liberate Kenya from the despots with truth, honesty, integrity and courage; not lies. Jubilee Party despots are the enemy!" Miguna said.

Kenyans react to Miguna Miguna's deportation - On Tuko TV

Source: Tuko- The MP revealed how cattle rustling almost ruined the relationship between his family and that of his potential in-laws

- Kapenguria MP Samuel Moroto said after many animals were stolen from his family kraal one day, his sister's suitor brought one of the stolen cows as bride price

- The family recognised the animal by its special marks and asked the in-law to get another one as replacement

- The legislator condemned cattle rustling rampant among pastoralist communities saying many young people are forced to engage in the crime to be able to pay bride price

Kapenguria MP Samuel Moroto has insisted that cattle rustling among communities in the Rift Valley should come to an end as it has continued to rob many innocent lives.

He revealed that the outdated practice has seen cows become a centre of attraction among communities who use the herds as part of dowry.

The legislator recalled how their animals were once stolen from Kanyarkwat by cattle rustlers before finding their way to Turkana region.

READ ALSO: Unawajua wanawe Anne Waiguru? Tazama picha

"As a proof that cattle rustling does not help, one of the cow was also recovered by Pokot before it was later driven to our home as bride price, the animal had gone through more than three communities, he explained.

Moroto who spoke in Elgeyo Marakwet County observed that the animal was meant to act as dowry to one of his sisters and upon scrutiny, they realized that it was the same that had previously been stolen from their kraal.

When we checked on the cow's marks, it became clear that it was ours, cattle rustlers had initially driven them. Our message to the suitor was to look for additional cows to supplement ours before we could agree in marrying off our sister, he noted.

READ ALSO: Mke amgeuka mumewe mahakamani na kuwa shahidi wa jirani

The MP was categorical cultural practices has continued to force young men to engage in cattle rustling in order to round up animals to be used as bride price, an exercise which he strongly condemned.

Why trade your guns on animals that cannot even fetch more than KSh 20, 000. Many people have been killed as they engage in cattle rustling. It will be important if the youths are able to engage in meaningful activities and focus their energies on education, he said.

He wants security to be beefed among communities that are currently where tension is high due to in fighting as a result to scramble for pasture and water.

READ ALSO: Pasta akataa kuwaombea waumini akidai wanamnyanyasa kwa chakula na sadaka

His sentiments came as interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiangi visited the volatile Kerio Valley to assess insecurity concerns.

Over 20 schools remain closed due to fear even as pupils in the area have chosen to stay at home following continued retaliatory attacks with education officials insisting that they will embark on learning when they are assured of their safety.

Story by Elisha Kipngetich-Correspondent, Elgeyo Marakwet County

Source: TukoAn entire home was pulled down in less than two hours by a landslip in Claxton Bay today.The provision of Javelin man-portable anti-tank missile systems to Ukraine will strengthen Kyiv's positions in talks on the settlement of the conflict in Donbas.

Ben Hodges, the former U.S. Army Europe commanding general and a strategist at the Center for European Policy Analysis, said this in an interview with German international broadcaster Deutsche Welle.

He also noted that Javelin systems would be supplied to Ukraine in the near future.

There is a powerful defense industry in Ukraine that can produce high-quality anti-tank systems, so I advise you to look carefully at it. This is not a very complex technology, Hodges said, adding that Ukraine can also develop its own systems.

Hodges said that Washington was interested in ending violence in Donbas, but not so that Russia preserves what it gained on this territory.

opUkraines agrarian exports to the European Union rose by 39.7% (from $2.88 billion to $4.03 billion), according to First Deputy Agrarian Policy Minister Maksym Martyniuk.

In an in review with DT.UA, he stated that tariff quotas are not the main parameter of the Ukrainian trade with the EU.

"Honey is an example of how Ukrainian producers repeatedly use up the allocated quota of 5,400 tonnes. I am convinced that the key to exports to Europe lies in the pocket of small but highly efficient and high-tech producers. Europe does not need grain, our main export position, in such volumes. But, for example, lysine, the product of corn deep-processing used in feeds as an additive, is probably much more in demand. At the same time, organic has virtually unlimited potential too," the deputy minister noted.

iyThe capital of Ukraine is going to attract the tourists from India and China by offering them e-visas and stopover days.

Head of the Tourism and Promotion Department of the Kyiv City State Administration Anton Taranenko posted this on his Facebook page.

"India and China. These countries are our priority in attracting tourists for 2018. In 2017, the tourist flow from these countries increased by 40%. I think the reason was the visa on arrival program," Taranenko wrote.

According to him, the task for 2018 is to enable the citizens of these countries to get electronic visas. In addition, it is planned to make stopover days in Kyiv with the possibility of visiting the capital without a visa for 3-5 days.

The official also noted that this year the VFS.GLOBAL visa centers started to operate in Delhi and Beijing, where a Ukrainian visa can be issued at $65. The addresses of the centers are indicated on the websites of the embassies.

olThe 11th Europe-Ukraine Forum Association and What Next? will be held in the city of Rzeszow, southeastern Poland, on March 13-14.

Over 500 participants from Ukraine, other Eastern partnership countries, Europe Union and United States will take part in the two-day event, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

The focus of this years edition will be on economic modernization and reforms of Ukraine.

The modernization and development of Ukraine's potential, as well as directions and pace of reforms will become the most important topics of the current Europe-Ukraine forum, according to organizers from the Institute for Eastern Studies.

The program of the forum envisages over 40 panel discussions about economy, politics and society, the main report presentation, 10 regional and sectoral presentations etc.

Among main events of the forum will be the second international exhibition Eastern Fair, in which over 70 participants from the EU countries will take part.

The organizer of the forum is the Foundation of the Institute for Eastern Studies, co-organizer  the Podkarpackie Voivodeship. Marshal of the Polish Sejm Marek Kuchcinski confirmed his honorary patronage of the Europe  Ukraine Forum.

iyUkraine International Airlines (UIA) has expanded its fleet with Boeing 777-200ER aircraft, which will perform flights to the United States and Asia.

The company said this in a press release available to Ukrinform.

On Friday, February 16, the fleet of Ukraine International Airlines expanded with a new aircraft - long-range wide-body Boeing 777-200ER aircraft," reads the report.

The aircraft is officially registered in Ukraine under the number UR-GOA. The aircraft accommodates 361 passengers in three-class seating configuration- business, premium economy and economy class. UIA plans to operate the aircraft on long-haul flights to New York, Beijing and Bangkok, the company said.

UIA received the aircraft from AerCap, the worlds largest aircraft leasing company.

UIA operates 43 aircraft including 27 medium-haul Boeing 737 NG aircraft. Currently, UIA fleets average age amounts to 11.9 years.

iyThe Government of Japan will provide Ukraine with $3.6 million to meet humanitarian needs, support vulnerable segments of the population and restore the eastern regions.

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to Ukraine Shigeki Sumi said this during a joint press conference with Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine  Minister of Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Utilities Hennadiy Zubko and UN Resident Coordinator in Ukraine Neal Walker, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"In 2018, the Government of Japan will allocate about 4 million dollars more," Sumi said.

The Government and the people of Japan thus continue to provide assistance to Ukraine through the UN system, he noted.

"Since the times of the Maidan protests, Japan has provided Ukraine with $1.86 billion. I would like to note that another $45 million has been also provided and implemented through the international organizations, including with the UN system, exclusively to help eastern Ukraine," Sumi said.

He noted that these funds will be allocated for radio equipment for the Interior Ministry, restoration of housing, conduct of training sessions for the displaced people and those who return from the east of the country, purchase of medical equipment.

"We are also aware about the shelling that damaged the water pipeline of Donbas, and we will provide the appropriate assistance. We plan to focus not only on humanitarian aid, but rather on reconstruction assistance," Sumi added.

The Ambassador of Japan also noted that he often visited eastern Ukraine.

UN Resident Coordinator in Ukraine Neal Walker added that assistance would be provided in the following areas: employment, environmental protection, capacity building and ensuring the safety of citizens. He added that the funds would be mainly transferred to eastern regions of Ukraine.

"The ambitious project, which is launched jointly with the Government of Ukraine, has very strong support of the Government of Japan, especially as regards the restoration in eastern Ukraine," Walker said.

He noted that the assistance would be provided to Ukraine within the framework of seven projects to be implemented by the UN agencies in Ukraine, in particular the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) and the World Health Organization (WHO).

According to Ukrainian Minister of Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Utilities Hennadiy Zubko, a major project for the reconstruction of the Bortnychi Aeration Station in Kyiv is being implemented at the moment with the help of Japan.

On February 21, the mission of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) will arrive in Ukraine to hold talks on projects for household waste handling in Kyiv, Dnipro and Kharkov.

Photo credit: Danylo Shamkin

olRussian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said that NATO enlargement has led to a situation that he described as a "Ukrainian crisis."

Lavrov said this in an interview with Serbia's BETA news agency, which was published on the website of the Russian Foreign Ministry.

"The Ukrainian crisis has not become the cause of current relations between Russia and the West. It has most likely become a consequence of the policy that Western countries, primarily the United States and NATO countries, carried out after the end of the Cold War. Instead of taking advantage of the unique historical chance and forming a truly pan-European security and cooperation structure, the West has opted for NATO expansion," Lavrov said.

He traditionally accused NATO of "three waves of expansion of the organization" and added that the Alliance had supposedly made Ukraine choose either the West or Russia. As a result, according to Lavrov, there was an "unconstitutional coup" in Ukraine.

He also stated that "now they want to draw the Balkans into this game, putting them in a position to choose: either you are with the West or you are with Russia."

In addition, Lavrov said that the Eastern Partnership program was being implemented by the European Union on the basis of an ultimatum - "either with Russia or with Europe."

He also accused the EU of demanding that any candidate state join the common foreign defense policy of the European Union. At the same time, he described Montenegro's recent accession to NATO as "absolutely artificial and useless."

The Eastern Partnership is a joint program initiative aimed at deepening and strengthening relations between the European Union and its six eastern neighbors: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine.

opUkraine is suing Russia at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague over the violation of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

The head of state wrote this on his Facebook page on Monday.

"I have signed a respective order on Ukraine's representation in the Arbitration Tribunal of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the absolutely clear position of protecting Ukraine's interests in connection with violation by Russia of the sovereign rights of Ukraine in the Black and Azov Seas and the Kerch Strait," the president wrote.

He recalled that on February 20, it would be exactly four years since Russian aggression against sovereign and independent Ukraine had started with the illegal annexation of Crimea, when the invasion of Russian troops has begun the four-year story of heroic defense of Ukraine, struggle for sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of the state.

The head of state noted that "the fight takes place not only on the frontline and involves not only the Armed Forces of Ukraine." "This struggle is also carried out in the political, diplomatic and legal dimensions," Poroshenko said.

He said that "Ukraine has made unprecedented efforts defending its legal positions."

"This concerns legal cases in the international court in The Hague regarding Russia's violation of the UN Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism, the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. This concerns Russia's violation of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and several other international documents," Poroshenko said.

The president underscored the role of the team of the best experts in the preparation of those lawsuits: "Today is another stage. We have drafted the order on the representation of Ukraine in the legal proceedings concerning Russia's violation of Ukraine's sovereign rights in the Black Sea, the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait."

He also said that the economic interests of Ukraine were seriously damaged, in particular, by illegal mining of minerals and construction of the Kerch Bridge without the permission of the state of Ukraine that leads to significant negative environmental, infrastructure and transport implications.

Poroshenko emphasized that "it doesn't concern Ukraine's sovereignty over Crimea": "This issue is out of discussion and nobody doubts it. It's about the protection of the economic interests of Ukraine and private investors whose property in Crimea was confiscated."

According to the presidential press service, in accordance with the order signed by the head of state, Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Olena Zerkal will defend Ukraine's interests in the Permanent Court of Arbitration regarding violation by Russia of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

opPresident of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko has instructed to prepare the documents to lodge a suit at the International Court of Justice over the war crimes of Russia.

He stated this while signing the order on the representation of Ukraine in the legal proceedings in the International Court of Justice regarding the violation of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the press service of the Head of State reports.

As reported, the President specified that the proceedings concern not only the law of the sea, the elimination of racial discrimination and responsibility for the financing of terrorism, but also set the task to prepare the documents relating to war crimes.

It is noted that the relevant files are already being collected to lodge a suit at the International Court of Justice.

Russia had illegally annexed Crimea four years ago, and the struggle for the restoration of Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity is ongoing, the President recalled.

In this context, he assured that Ukraine has made unprecedented efforts defending its legal positions.

This concerns legal cases in the International Court of Justice in The Hague regarding Russias violation of the UN Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism, the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. This concerns Russias violation of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and several other international documents, the Head of State emphasized.

olUkraine will not engage in dialogue with representatives of the "DPR" and "LPR" groups regarding the deployment of a UN peacekeeping force to certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

Deputy Head of Ukraine's Presidential Administration Kostiantyn Yeliseyev stated this on Radio Liberty.

According to him, the main thing for Ukraine is to discuss this issue with its key partners. He recalled that the final decision is made by the UN Security Council, whose permanent member is Russia.

"Of course, we are not going to conduct any dialogue and reach any agreement with militants, since it is clear to everyone that Russia is behind militants, and in this connection the key challenge is to get agreement to the deployment of such an operation from Moscow," Yeliseyev said.

The official added that the permission of Ukraine was also required for the deployment of peacekeepers.

"The host country is Ukraine, which considers these territories occupied. Therefore, if Ukraine gives its consent, I think that we do not need any other consent from some individual bandits," Yeliseyev said.

On February 19, Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov stated that "it is possible to reach a compromise on the deployment of peacekeepers to Donbas only through a dialogue with representatives of unrecognized republics in Donbas."

opHundreds of people with Ukrainian flags, flowers and candles gathered in central Washington on Sunday, February 18, to honor the memory of the Heavenly Hundred Heroes, as well as thousands of Ukrainians who died in the fight against Russian aggression.

The memorial ceremony took place in one of the most crowded places in the U.S. capital - the Lincoln Memorial, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

The participants in a rally unfolded a huge yellow-and-blue flag on the steps to the memorial and formed a Ukrainian trident out of candles. The ceremony began with prayers for Ukrainians from the Heavenly Hundred, as well as those killed in the fighting in the east of the country, who gave their lives for the sake of the future of Ukraine.

"If it were not these people who perished at the time [during the Revolution of Dignity], history would turn in the opposite direction. I can say that if we reached a compromise, under the pressure of our partners, including friendly ones, it would have turned into a drama," Ukraine's Ambassador to the United States Valeriy Chaly said during the ceremony.

The initiators of the memorial ceremony in Washington, in addition to the Ukrainian Embassy in the United States and United Help Ukraine, were also the U.S.-Ukraine Foundation, Razom for Ukraine, U.S. Ukrainian Activists, and representatives of the Ukrainian community in the United States.

opThe top diplomat reiterated support for Ukraine in its conflict with Russia.

Head of the Polish Foreign Ministry Jacek Czaputowicz hopes that historical issues will not become an obstacle in the relations between Poland and Ukraine.

The statement came as the minister spoke at the Europe of the Carpathians conference held in Przemysl, Radio Poland reports.

"It is about societies being able to get to know each other, learn their arguments, so that historians could hold discussions on these topics, and to let this become an obstacle in bilateral relations. I want to repeat: strategically, regarding Ukraine's territorial integrity, Ukraine's protection and support in its dispute with Moscow, and regarding Ukraine's pro-European orientation, there is no doubt," the Polish foreign minister stressed.

Read alsoPoland's Foreign Minister: Sanctions against Russia should remain in place  Polish mediaThe Minister noted that in Przemysl the issue was discussed of strengthening ties between the Polish and Ukrainian peoples. This included, in particular, Poland's openness to economic cooperation, the increasing number of Ukrainians working and studying in Poland, as well as the idea of creating the next border crossing point.

Delegations from Ukraine, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Hungary took part in the conference.

As UNIAN reported earlier, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference Feb 17 urged the Polish leadership to refrain from taking steps threatening dialogue on historical issues. The head of state also drew attention to the tone of the statement on and assessment of the role of the Ukrainian hetman Bohdan Khmelnitsky that are extremely undesirable for Ukrainian-Polish relations.

Recently, the Polish Sejm and Senate passed a law on the Institute of National Remembrance, which, inter alia, bans promotion of the ideology of Ukrainian nationalists. The law also introduces criminal liability for the assertion that the Poles were aiding the Nazis during World War II.

President of Poland Andrzej Duda signed the law and forwarded it to the Constitutional Court of the country for a review.

The Polish Foreign Ministry explains that the law concerns only those who publicly and contrary to facts deny the crimes committed by "collaborators of the Nazi regime" and noted that the main purpose of the law is "to combat all forms of denial and distortion of truth about the Holocaust," as well as to fight with "talking down the responsibility of the true perpetrators".

Israel came out categorically against the Polish law, claiming no law is able to change historical facts. The Israeli foreign ministry expressed hope that the Polish authorities would amend the legislation.

The U.S. State Department called on Poland to review the law, as it could affect Polish strategic interests and relations, including with the United States and Israel.The conflict in Ukraine is Europe's biggest problem, according to the Finnish president.

President of Finland Sauli Niinisto noted that his country is willing to contribute to the Donbas settlement, including by joining a peacekeeping force in eastern Ukraine.

Read alsoU.S. ready to help stop war in Donbas - Volker"If it seems that it [Ukraine crisis] can be resolved, then yes, Finland must be mentally and physically involved as long as we have enough resources." President Niinisto told the Finnish media as he attended the Munich Security Conference where he met President Poroshenko among other leaders.

However, Niinisto stated that the plan for peacekeeping operations is well in its early stage, noting that the conflict in Ukraine is Europe's biggest problem, according to the presidential chancellery.

"If an agreement is reached and if it is a large-scale mission under the UN mandate, then yes, it is in Finland's interest to get this European lock open."The NATO Secretary General says the INF Treaty is a "cornerstone of European security".

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in an interview with Bild that Russia allegedly violates the treaty on the elimination of medium and short-range missiles (INF) and this could lead to a new nuclear race in Europe.

"By modernizing its nuclear arsenal and conducting nuclear exercises, Russia is at risk of provoking a new nuclear race in Europe, while the U.S., being a party to the INF Treaty, has determined that Russia is violating it and is going to develop and test a new medium-range missile. All NATO partners are alarmed. I call on Russia to respect the INF Treaty and to ensure the transparency of its defense projects and military exercises," Stoltenberg said, Voice of People Today reported citing Bild.

The NATO Secretary General added that the INF Treaty is a "cornerstone of European security", which for decades provided peace in Central Europe.

"Nobody is interested in a new arms race, including Russia," concluded Stoltenberg.

The INF Treaty was signed on December 8, 1987, between the Soviet Union and U.S. during a Washington visit of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.There is no place for half-step events, we need a quick and united reaction, Schetyna said.

The law on the Institute of National Remembrance (INR) in Poland has caused a "diplomatic disaster", resulting in the largest opposition party in the parliament, Civil Platform, submitting a draft amendment to the law on the INR to the Sejm next Tuesday.

"The drafting of the law on INR by Minister Jaki [Patryk] and fatal explanations by Prime Minister [Mateusz Morawiecki] led to a diplomatic disaster. That's why on Tuesday we will submit a draft amendment to this law. There is no place for half-step events, we need a quick and united reaction. By all of us," party leader Grzegorz Schetyna wrote on Twitter.

Read alsoPoland's drift to nationalism: what should Ukraine do about itAs UNIAN reported earlier, the Polish Sejm and Senate passed a law on the Institute of National Remembrance, which, inter alia, bans promotion of the ideology of Ukrainian nationalists. The law also introduces criminal liability for the assertion that the Poles were aiding the Nazis during World War II.

President of Poland Andrzej Duda signed the law and forwarded it to the Constitutional Court of the country for a review.

The Polish Foreign Ministry explains that the law concerns only those who publicly and contrary to facts deny the crimes committed by "collaborators of the Nazi regime" and noted that the main purpose of the law is "to combat all forms of denial and distortion of truth about the Holocaust," as well as to fight with "talking down the responsibility of the true perpetrators".

Read alsoPolish president signs highly controversial Holocaust bill, drawing rare U.S. rebuke  mediaIsrael came out categorically against the Polish law, claiming no law is able to change historical facts. The Israeli foreign ministry expressed hope that the Polish authorities would amend the legislation.

The U.S. State Department called on Poland to review the law, as it could affect Polish strategic interests and relations, including with the United States and Israel.Lavrov is convinced that now the Balkans might be drawn into this game as the Balkan states will be forced to make a choice: either they are with the West or with Russia.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov argues that Russia has invaded Crimea and Donbas as a result of NATO's eastward expansion.

"The Ukrainian crisis was not the cause of current relations between Russia and the West, it was rather a consequence of the policy that Western countries, primarily the United States and NATO Allies, conducted after the end of the 'Cold War'," Lavrov said in an interview with the Serbian Beta News Agency, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry's website.

According to him, "instead of taking advantage of the unique historical chance and forming a truly pan-European structure of security and cooperation, the West opted for NATO expansion despite all the promises made by the leaders of the United States and many European countries in 1990 that the Alliance would not advance an inch eastwards."

Read alsoReuters: Ukraine crisis needs 20,000-strong U.N. force: report"It was not written down in any agreements and legal documents (probably, it should have been done), but a so-called 'gentlemen's agreement' was reached, which was, in fact, trampled on by our Western counterparts. Probably, in the future we will try to understand better who a gentleman is, and who is not. But those official documents from the American archives, which were declassified recently, unequivocally show that such strong assurances were given in a dialogue between the Soviet Union and U.S., in contacts between Moscow and Berlin, Moscow and Paris," Lavrov said.

According to him, "what happened in Ukraine was no surprise for Russia."

"This became, as I said, a consequence of the line that NATO had chosen. After the 'Cold War' ended, three waves of the Alliance's expansion took place, and with each such wave its military infrastructure was getting closer and closer to the Russian borders," he said.

Lavrov is convinced that now the Balkans might be drawn into this game, as the Balkan states will be forced to make a choice: either they are with the West or with Russia.

"Making such choice was also demanded from Ukraine," he stressed.NABU detectives prevented the misappropriation of UAH 75 million ($2.8 million) in procurement by Ukraine's Defense Ministry.

Detectives of the National Anti-corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) have prevented the embezzlement of UAH 2 billion (US$74.1 million) since the beginning of criminal investigations.

Read alsoNABU report: $9.3 mln recovered, embezzlement of over $73 mln prevented"NABU detectives prevented the embezzlement of UAH 2 billion," the NABU press service wrote on Facebook.

The detectives, for example, prevented the misappropriation of UAH 75 million in procurement by Ukraine's Defense Ministry, as well as illegal seizure in the Kyiv region of 60 land plots worth over UAH 10 million ($370,508), the press service specified.Mikheil Saakashvili's experience shows that the readmission deal between Ukraine and EU is fully functioning. NSDC Secretary Oleksandr Turchynov battled in court a rather confident group of Viktor Yanukovych lawyers in a high-profile treason case against the former president. The situation in Donbas remains complicated. Odesa Mayor Gennady Trukhanov is safely back in office despite an ongoing investigation of his alleged complicity in embezzlement.

Completion of judicial procedures in the struggle for Mikheil Saakashvili's refugee status sent a signal for Ukraine's border guards, who detained the politician in one of the capital's restaurants and flew him off to Warsaw on a chartered jet. Such a VIP class readmission procedure is frankly a rare occurrence which nevertheless seemed justified in this case: a high-profile politician who is now a stateless person was returned to the country from where he had illegally broken through into Ukraine on Sep 10, attempting to gain some PR points. While in a Polish capital, where he didn't stay long, Saakashvili made a number of ritual statements on participation in the Ukrainian political process, demanding an early resignation of Petro Poroshenko and expressing readiness to return to Ukraine when a favorable moment comes. Meanwhile, Saakashvili, having settled in the Netherlands where his wife lives, Saakashvili vowed to mobilize European politicians to fight against Ukrainian authorities.

The absence of Mr Saakashvili as a vocal leader has affected the format of mass rallies, which have become his business card recently. This time they were called "March for the Future" and held not only in Kyiv, but also in regional centers across Ukraine. Participation of several thousands of protesters has already become common, but no new leader has emerged yet, although representatives of nine political parties have condemned Saakashvili's readmission to Poland. However, they have not yet saddled and taken full advantage of the protest potential.

Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Oleksandr Turchynov and his deputy Mykhailo Koval testified in the Yanukovych treason trial, being forced to recall the dramatic moments of February-March 2014 (Koval had even been briefly held hostage by Russians in Crimea back then), answering questions set by Yanukovych lawyers and providing clarifications. Both were quite convincing in their speeches, while the overall picture of the decay of the Ukrainian army and intelligence at the time of the Russian invasion remained really eerie. Meanwhile, the stance of Yanukovych defense pushed President Poroshenko to agree to take part in the trial.

The situation in Donbas, where the shellings by Russian-backed militants don't stop, remains tense. Near Shyrokyne, four marines were killed by their fellow soldiers in a subordination conflict. Such losses immediately attract public attention and, of course, play into the hands of the enemy interested in destabilizing the situation in the Mariupol direction.

Odesa Mayor Gennady Trukhanov in a matter of a few days went along the path of being a carefree vacationer to a suspect in the abuse of the City Council funds. The official was detained at the Boryspil Airport but later resurfaced at a Kyiv courtroom both with a firm testimony and a guarantor, Ukrainian MP Dmytro Holubov. The court did not hesitate to free Trukhanov pending trial against Holubov's guarantees, which the "National Squads", who started a brawl with the law enforcers outside the courthouse, could not prevent. On February 16, the mayor attended a meeting of the city council, confronted by protesters urging him to resign. Frankly, the "Trukhanov case" is unlikely to have strengthened NABU's reputation, while the issue of changing the code of criminal procedure that so far allows defendants in corruption cases leave detention facilities so easily seems to be no less acute than the creation of the Anti-Corruption Court.

Yevgeny Magda

If you see a spelling error on our site, select it and press Ctrl+EnterAvakov is furious after the judge releases from custody a radical protester who on Feb 15 wounded at a law enforcer during a clash outside a district court in Kyiv.

Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov has appealed to Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman to convene an extraordinary Cabinet meeting to submit a draft resolution on ceasing protection of judicial institutions by the National Police and National Guard.

"Earlier this morning, I asked the prime minister to convene an extraordinary meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers. I don't see how in such circumstances police and National Guard forces could perform a function, not natural to them, of protecting courts," Avakov wrote on Facebook.

Read alsoEx-SBU chief's testimony: Russian FSB officers visited Ukraine three times amid Maidan protests"In the current conditions of the actual sabotage by judges and the judiciary, I will submit a draft Cabinet resolution on the cessation of the functions of protection of judicial institutions by the National Police and National Guard. Let them protect themselves if in this transition period they consider that shooting at and wounding a policeman a misdemeanor," Avakov added.

The statement came following a failure by a Kyiv's Shevchenkivskiy district court to remand in custody as a preventive measure a protester who wounded a policeman outside the Solomensky district courthouse in Kyiv on Feb 15.

"The judge of the Shevchenkivskiy court released a man who had wounded a policeman while he was protecting the court against penetration by radicals. In fact, the court approved the shooting of a policeman, ruling it a misdemeanor. This ugly ruling obliges me, as a minister who is in charge of the National Police and National Guard, to take adequate response measures," the minister said.

Avakov also demands from the High Council of Justice "immediate reaction" to the actions of the judge, who ruled on the light measure of restraint for the shooter.

Read alsoUkrainian prosecutors confirm murder of four marines near ShyrokyneHe recalled that the judicial institutions should be protected by the relevant Judicial Protection Service.

"In accordance with Article 160 of the Ukrainian law on the judicial system and the status of judges, the relevant protection of courts must be carried out by a special judicial protection service. The creation of this service has for years been sabotaged by the State Judicial Administration. It is unclear how the funds allocated from the state budget are being spent," he wrote.

As UNIAN reported earlier, on February 15, a Ukrainian law enforcer took a gunshot in the leg amid clashes between police and groups of aggressive protesters outside the Solomensky district court in Kyiv where a preventive measure was being selected for Odesa Mayor Gennadiy Trukhanov, charged with embezzlement.Serbian Military Police have arrested two men, U.S. nationals, and two women who hold Ukrainian citizenship.

Prva TV said it received confirmation that the four have been detained for attempting to film the building of the Old (Army) General Staff in Belgrade using a drone, the Serbian news outlet b92.net reported.

Serbia's Ministry of Defense (MoD) told the broadcaster that unauthorized filming had taken place, and that the persons detained have been turned over to the police, who are now, along with the prosecution, in charge of the case.

Read alsoIslamists in Syria reportedly down sophisticated Russian drone  mediaMedia reports said earlier that two Americans and two Ukrainians attempted to take video footage of the building, which houses Serbia's Military Intelligence Agency (VOA) and the Military Security Agency (VBA).

Later in the day, Defense Minister Aleksandar Vulin said that members of Military Police on Sunday and Monday detained a total of eight foreign nationals.

They have been arrested for unauthorized attempts to make video footage or enter military facilities, that are strictly off-limits to civilians.

"Relevant services are working to shed light on all these goings on, and once we have made appropriate conclusions, we will inform the public," Vulin said.

"I don't wish to assign greater importance to this than it has, but I must say I don't believe in coincidences  so many foreign citizens and such a large number of intrusions or attempted intrusions into the premises controlled by the Serbian Army has not been registered in a long time," he said.

According to local media reports, the two women are from Luhansk, a city in the east of Ukraine, which is occupied by Russia.It has always been a mystery to me, how come the Ukrainian politicians are rarely concerned over potential reputational losses.

The latest case is when an official, tarnished by his desire to snatch another piece of "budget pie", simply went on and held a regular session of the City Council right after a court hearing was held in a corruption case against him. Yes, I'm talking about Odesa Mayor Gennady Trukhanov. And it's not even about how softly the court treated someone suspected of abusing power (although law enforcers could have worked on some of his graver "sins") by letting his friend from parliament bail him out. Another thing is what enrages me most  it's how Trukhanov and the like are convinced of their impunity, despite the trail of crimes, crawling behind them from one high office to another. They are so self-assured that they seem to perceive as a mere itch that public outrage that they cause. In fact, they couldn't care less about this very public.

Another thing is what enrages me most  it's how Trukhanov and the like are convinced of their impunity, despite the trail of crimes, crawling behind them from one high office to another

In more civilized countries, everything is different. The prime minister of Iceland resigned after allegations were reported in a Panamapapers probe that he had been concealing assets in an offshore jurisdiction. The minister of industry, energy and tourism of Spain took the same decisive step, also in the wake of the "Panama Dossier".

The minister of finance of Japan, who was spotted being boozed up at the G7 meeting, also resigned immediately. The country's defense minister stepped down over the story with the documents of Japanese peacekeepers in Southern Sudan.

The British secretary for international development filed a resignation letter amid a scandal because during her vacation in Israel she held 12 meetings with Israeli officials in violation of the government protocol.

Sex-related accusations dating back some 20 years have made Canada's minister and governor go. Previously, a light touch on the female journalist's knee got the British defense secretary sacked.

According to the rules in a civilized state, a person with a tarnished reputation cannot hold a public office. They just can't be at the helm, that's it

There are hundreds of similar cases worldwide. But those targeted officials choose not to wait for long-term trials. They are mostly overpowered by shame and embarrassment forcing them to leave office. It's just that, according to the rules in a civilized state, a person with a tarnished reputation cannot hold a public office. They just can't be at the helm, that's it. So, those officials just did what they had to do. They messed up  and they left their post.

Unfortunately, such logic is incompatible with the mentality of the political elite in Ukraine. And this has already been verified by the years of the country's independence. Our "helmsmen" simply don't care about all those Panama dossiers and other reputational scandals, accusations of embezzlement, and "fake" asset declarations where they "forget" to state their real estate, luxury cars and, and millions in cash "fairly won in a lottery"...

It is really hard to say, what could change the situation for the better. Perhaps someone needs to launch ethics classes just for them, Ukrainian politicians? There's only one thing that must be taught there: you mess up  you go. You go before the people take on the streets and make you.

After all, this could all end up badly, and not only for those politicians but for all Ukrainians as well.

Nana ChornayaThe soldier was rushed to a military hospital but, unfortunately, died from wounds sustained.

A serviceman has incidentally shot his comrade-in-arms as a result of a firearm mishandling, according to the Headquarters of the Anti-Terrorist Operation.

"An incident took place Feb 18 at the premises of one of the military units performing its mission in the ATO zone. According to a preliminary report, a serviceman wounded his comrade-in-arms as a result of a firearm mishandling," the ATO HQ reported.

The wounded soldier was rushed to a hospital but, unfortunately, died from wounds sustained.

Read alsoUkrainian prosecutors confirm murder of four marines near ShyrokyneThe officials from the Ukrainian Military Law-Enforcement Service are now clarifying details of the incident in an ongoing investigation.

The media earlier reported that a fight had allegedly erupted between the two servicemen of unit A-0409 (the 30th separate mechanized brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine) stationed on the outskirts of Maryinka. In the heat of the brawl, one of them shot his opponent from a Kalashnikov assault rifle. The shooter was reportedly detained.Russian-led forces in eastern Ukraine continue to use mortars banned by the Minsk agreements.

Russia's hybrid military forces mounted 10 attacks on Ukrainian army positions in Donbas in the past 24 hours, with one Ukrainian soldier reported as wounded in action (WIA).

"In the Luhansk sector, the enemy was active near the villages of Krymske, Troyitske, Novoluhanske and Zaitseve, where they employed mortars of various calibers. The invaders also used grenade launchers of various types and heavy machine guns against our defenders near the village of Luhanske. Moreover, the illegal armed formations violated the ceasefire near the villages of Novo-oleksandrivka and Stanytsia Luhanska, using small arms and machine guns," the press center of the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) Headquarters said on Facebook on Monday, February 19.

Read alsoU.S. ready to help stop war in Donbas - VolkerIn the Donetsk sector, the enemy used 120mm mortars near the village of Shyrokyne, which is in the Mariupol sector.Russian-led troops continue using banned weapons, namely 120mm mortars, in the east of Ukraine.

One Ukrainian soldier has been killed in action, another four have been wounded in action in Donbas, eastern Ukraine, since the beginning of Monday, February 19.

"In total, since the beginning of the day, the enemy has mounted nine shelling attacks; as a result of the aggressor's fire, one Ukrainian soldier was killed, one serviceman was wounded, one more defender received a combat-related injury. In addition, two more Ukrainian soldiers were injured in a blast of an unknown explosive device amid a combat mission," the press center of the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) Headquarters said on Facebook in an update as of 18:00 of Monday, February 19.

Read alsoFamilies of Russian mercenaries killed in war zones get compensations  mediaThe ATO HQ says the Russian-led forces continue firing at the strongholds of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, using the weapons banned by the Minsk peace agreements.

In particular, the enemy used 82mm mortars to shell Ukrainian positions not far from the village of Krymske in the Luhansk sector. Grenade launchers of various types and large-caliber machine guns were used to fire at Ukrainian positions near the village of Hladosove, Novoluhanske and the town of Svitlodarsk.

Ukrainian positions near the village of Pisky in the Donetsk sector came under fire from 82mm mortars, grenade launchers and machine guns. The enemy also resorted to 120mm and 82mm mortars outside the villages of Lebedynske, Vodiane, and Shyrokyne.The State Secretary did not elaborate on the list of possible targets of restrictions.

The United States is considering the issue of introducing additional sanctions against Russian nationals, State Secretary Rex Tillerson said.

"We have and we are we've taken steps that have already prevented a number of Russian military sales as a result of the legislation. And we are evaluating additional individuals for-- for-- possible sanctioning," Tillerson told CBS, answering a question on why Washington not implement the sanctions that Congress overwhelmingly says they want to see put on Russia.

Read alsoU.S. Treasury 'working' on new sanctions against Russian oligarchs  mediaAs UNIAN reported earlier, the U.S. Treasury is set to introduce in the near future a new set of sanctions against  number of wealthy Russian nationals in response to the alleged election meddling in 2016.Rottgen said that until the Russian government implements Minsk agreements, any easing of sanctions will be an absolutely wrong signal.

Christian Democrats believe that the statement by German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel contradicts the spirit of the new government agreement on the formation of a large coalition in Germany.

Such criticism was voiced by head of the Bundestag Committee on Foreign Affairs Norbert Rottgen and deputy chairman of the CDU/CSU faction Johann Wadephul, DW wrote.

"Such a statement contradicts the outcome of coalition talks," Wadephul said.

"The current Minister of Foreign Affairs cannot have a different official position and own opinion," he added.

Read alsoGradual sanctions lift should stimulate Russia to fulfill Minsk deal  Germanys GabrielIn turn, Rottgen said that until the Russian government implements Minsk agreements, any easing of sanctions will be an absolutely wrong signal.

At the same time, it is reported that Gabriel managed to find support among members of the German Social Democratic Party. Speaker on foreign policy for the SDP in the Bundestag, Niels Annen, spoke in support of the idea of a phased lifting of sanctions against Russia. He said that the process of settling the conflict in the east of Ukraine should receive a new impetus.

As UNIAN reported earlier, German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said on Saturday he favored easing a number of sanctions imposed on Russia if a ceasefire could be implemented in eastern Ukraine with the help of UN peacekeepers.The Asian Development Bank (ADB) showed interest in mutual cooperation with Pakistan Railways (PR) to modernize its infrastructure, rolling stock and human resource management.

Islamabad, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Feb, 2018) The Asian Development Bank (ADB) showed interest in mutual cooperation with Pakistan Railways (PR) to modernize its infrastructure, rolling stock and human resource management.

This was discussed during meeting of Mr. Werber E .Liepopach, DG Central and West Asia Department, ADB with Mrs. Parveen Agha, Chairperson, Ministry of Railways on Monday. ADB views that despite recent developments, the railway sector needs to exalt its infrastructure to provide more inexpensive transport services and recover the market share lost to roads.

Up gradation of Risalpur Locomotive Factory; procurement of new locomotives and Freight Company was also discussed. ADB showed interest in co-financing. Mr. Werber clarified that ADB finance will be the seed money to bring in the commercial financing.

This co financing will be done through public private partnership. ADB will play an active role in identifying and arranging commercial co financing for Pakistan Railways' projects. Ms. Xiahong Yang, Country Director, ADB Pakistan and Mr. Mazhar Ali Shah , DG Planning, Ministry of Railways also attended the meeting.(@ChaudhryMAli88)

Manila based Asian Development Bank (ADB) showed interest in mutual cooperation with Pakistan Railways (PR) to modernize its infrastructure, rolling stock and human resource management

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Feb, 2018 ) :Manila based Asian Development Bank (ADB) showed interest in mutual cooperation with Pakistan Railways (PR) to modernize its infrastructure, rolling stock and human resource management.

This was discussed during meeting of Werber E .Liepopach, DG Central and West Asia Department, ADB with Chairperson Ministry of Railways Parveen Agha, said a news release issued here on Monday. ADB representative shared that despite recent developments, the railway sector needed to exalt its infrastructure to provide more inexpensive transport services and recover the market share lost to roads.

The projects of Upgradation of Risalpur Locomotive Factory; procurement of new locomotives and Freight Company were also discussed in the meeting. ADB also showed interest in co-financing. Werber explained that ADB finance will be the seed money to bring in the commercial financing.

This co-financing will be done through public private partnership, he added. ADB will play an active role in identifying and arranging commercial co-financing initiatives of Pakistan Railways. Xiahong Yang, Country Director, ADB Pakistan and Director General Planning Mazhar Ali Shah Ministry of Railways also attended the meeting.Foreign Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif is visiting Moscow at the invitation of Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov of the Russian Federation from 19-22 February 2018.

Islamabad, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Feb, 2018) Foreign Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif is visiting Moscow at the invitation of Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov of the Russian Federation from 19-22 February 2018.

According to foreign office statement on Monday, during his stay in Moscow, the Foreign Minister will hold official talks with his Russian counterpart. The two sides would deliberate upon the entire spectrum of bilateral relations as well as regional and international issues of mutual interest.

The visit would provide opportunity to explore ways and means to further strengthen cooperation in political, economic, trade and investment, defence, education and cultural fields, the statement said.

The foreign office said Russia enjoys a special place in our foreign policy. The relations between the two countries have been growing steadily in all fields. Regular high level exchanges between the two countries in the last few years is a manifestation of mutual desire of both sides for translating political good will into a substantive and multidimensional partnership.

The two countries are also celebrating the 70th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations this year. The two Foreign Ministers had earlier met on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session in New York in September 2017.Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) on Monday endorsed the privatization of two major state-run entities Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and the Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) terming it a step towards efficiency gain, which means increase in GDP.

LAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Feb, 2018 ) :Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) on Monday endorsed the privatization of two major state-run entities Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and the Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) terming it a step towards efficiency gain, which means increase in GDP.

FPCCI Regional Chairman and Vice President Chaudhry Arfan Yousaf expressed these views at oath taking ceremony of newly elected office-bearers of Lahore Economic Journalists Association (LEJA) here at FPCCI Regional Office.

Chaudhry Arfan Yousaf said that privatization of low performing entities were burden on national exchequer, adding that it was an appreciable decision of the government as only PIA loses were upto Rs 150 million and country's economy could not afford loss-making institutions.

He added that PIA and PSM had resulted in the creation of huge financial liability for the government on annual basis, citing that privatization would improve operational and financial performance of the entities.

The public money saved from these entities could be used for education and other developmental objectives, he said.

He asserted that China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) was a way forward for economic progress.

The FPCCI Regional Chairman congratulated the LEJA office-bearers and Executive Committee members. He hoped that they would play their role in highlighting the economic issues. He appreciated smooth transition of LEJA office-bearership.

Chaudhry Arfan Yousaf also disclosed that the Federation would organize a youth conference soon. He added that their main focus was creating pathways for economic empowerment and constructive engagement of young people through informed decision making, community mobilization, and skills development.

Regional Chairman administered oath to the newly elected LEJA office-bearers: President Nasir Jamal, Vice President Muhammad Ali Asghar, Secretary General Saeed Baloch, Finance Secretary Shahzad Khan Abdali and four EC members- Fakhir Malik, Ahsan Siddique, Abdul Qadir Madni and Asad Iqbal.

The FPCCI Vice President Chaudhry Shafique Anjum and others senior leaders of the business community were also present.(@ChaudhryMAli88)

Governor Sindh Muhammad Zubair on Monday said that the government was working to attract foreign investment, modernize transport system and water projects in Karachi.

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Feb, 2018 ) :Governor Sindh Muhammad Zubair on Monday said that the government was working to attract foreign investment, modernize transport system and water projects in Karachi.

Talking to in a private news channel program, he said that peace in Karachi had been restored with the efforts of the Federal government. The Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N), government after coming into power had focused on Karachi and discussed the matters with all stakeholders for restoring peace in this big business hub of the country.

The government had given full authority to Rangers and law enforcement agencies to launch operation in Karachi without any discrimination.

"We never interfered in the working of law enforcement agencies regarding Karachi operation, " he said.

Now, after restoring peace, the focus was on attracting foreign investors besides streamlining the transport and water system for the people of Karachi, he added. To a question he said that there was a political vacuum in Karachi after rift in Mutahida Quomi Movement. To another question, the Governor said that federal government had launched many projects for rural Sindh.The bilateral trade between Pakistan and Russia has shown an increase of 33 percent during the last one year, but still there is a lot of potential for increasing business between the two countries.

PESHAWAR, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Feb, 2018 ) :The bilateral trade between Pakistan and Russia has shown an increase of 33 percent during the last one year, but still there is a lot of potential for increasing business between the two countries.

This was said by Ambassador of Russia, Alexey Yurievich Dedov while speaking to business community of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa during his visit to Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) on Monday.

President SCCI, Zahidullah Shinwari, Trade Commissioner of Russian Embassy, Yuri Kozlov, Senior Vice President SCCI, Muhammad Naeem Butt, Chairman ZRK Group of Industries, Zahid Rahim Khan, Presidents of Swat Chamber and Charsadda Chamber besides other businessmen were present on the occasion.

Talking to businessmen, Russain Ambassador said the bilateral trade between Pakistan and Russia is low, but it is showing increase. In the previous year, he continued, the trade between the two countries were recorded at Dollar 400 million which has now increased to dollar 541 million.

He said there is a great potential of increasing trade between the two countries and for this purpose we have to increase contact between governments, businessmen and people. Mr. Alexey Yurievich also disclosed that Russian Embassy is opening Consul General office in Peshawar on Monday and he will perform the inauguration.

The honorary Consul General of Russia in Peshawar is Arsala Khan, a businessman and Director of ZRK Group of Industries. During the course of discussion with businessmen, Russian envoy held out assurance of cooperation in increasing bilateral trade, economic cooperation, investment promotion, shifting of modern machinery, development in oil and gas exploration, mining, transport and hydel power generation.

He said with mutual cooperation and strenuous efforts, Pakistan and Russia can be brought closure to each other economically. He said opening of office of honorary consul general in Peshawar will open up new vistas for promotion of commercial and people to people contact between the two countries.

He said Russain investors are showing interest in Pakistan and recently a company has signed agreement for establishment of Oil Refinery of KP. Another company has expressed consent for participation in modernization of Pakistan Railway, he added.

Speaking on the occasion, Honorary Consul General of Russia in Peshawar, Arsala Khan assured the business community of KP of full cooperation and support in promotion of trade between the two countries.

He said his priority would be to convey business potential of KP to business community of Russia. Earlier in his welcome address, President SCCI, Zahid Shinwari invited Russia to take advantage of CPEC by developing road network in Wakhan corridor for linkages with Lowari tunnel for exporting items and boosting trade through warm water with gulf region.

"Russia is the world's second and third largest producer of gas and oil respectively and KPOGCL can learn and take guidance from Russian technology and experience in enhancing its gas and oil exploration and production," Shinwari suggested.

Similarly, he continued, Pakistan and KP can take advantage of Russian import of dollar 16 billion agricultural products by exporting organic agriculture products. He said bilateral trade could be improved significantly by encouraging frequent exchange visits of business delegations.Minister of State for Finance Rana Muhammad Afzal Khan Monday said that Pakistan was keen to enhance bilateral cooperation with fellow Muslim countries, especially the Central Asian States.

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Feb, 2018 ) :Minister of State for Finance Rana Muhammad Afzal Khan Monday said that Pakistan was keen to enhance bilateral cooperation with fellow Muslim countries, especially the Central Asian States.

Talking to a four member delegation of Azerbaijan, who called on him at his chamber in National Assembly, he said enhancing regional cooperation was corner stone of Pakistan's foreign policy. Bilateral relations between Pakistan and Azerbaijan should be strengthened further.

He said that Pakistan had lot of potential in getting foreign investments and was seeking opportunities for export of technically trained personnel to Azerbaijan. He said immense business opportunities were available for Azerbaijan in Pakistan, adding that Azerbaijan and Pakistan should have a business forum for bilateral trade.

Pakistan has become self sufficient in energy production, while it was the fourth largest producer of milk and dairy products. He said Pakistan students are ready to go to Azerbaijan for pursuing higher studies.

Higher education Commission (HEC) selects Pakistani students to avail scholarships offered by Azerbaijan through a transparent mechanism. 'Finance Minister of Azerbaijan Samir Shafifov said Azerbaijan was expanding infrastructure for promoting tourism and other sectors.

Azerbaijan was planning to hold' World Expo in Dubai, China and Japan. Pakistan play vital role in expanding bilateral trade between two countries. Samir said Azerbaijan said Azerbaijan was offering educational scholarships to different Muslim countries and Pakistani students were also welcome to avail scholarships.(@ChaudhryMAli88)

President Mamnoon Hussain Monday said there existed immense potential for trade and economic cooperation between Pakistan and Azerbaijan and both the countries must put in their efforts to exploit it.

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Feb, 2018 ) :President Mamnoon Hussain Monday said there existed immense potential for trade and economic cooperation between Pakistan and Azerbaijan and both the countries must put in their efforts to exploit it.

In a meeting with Finance Minister of Azerbaijan Samir Sharifov, who called on him along with a delegation at Aiwan-e-Sadr, the president emphasized the need for exchange of delegations of traders and industrialists besides pondering over the launch of joint projects.

During the meeting, the Azeri minister conveyed a special message of Azeri President Ilham Aliyev to President Mamnoon Hussain. He said two countries had similarity of views on regional and international issues and also supported each other at international forums which reflected their close and brotherly ties.

The president said Pakistan respected the internationally recognized boundaries of Azerbaijan besides supporting the country on Nagorno-Karabakh issue. He said Pakistan also lauded the Azeri stance on Kashmir issue.

On the occasion, the Azeri minister said Azerbaijan supported Pakistan on Kashmir issue and believed that the dispute must be resolved in accordance with the UN Security Council's resolutions. He said Azerbaijan also desired maximum economic cooperation with Pakistan.(@ChaudhryMAli88)

Minister of State for Finance, Rana Muhammad Afzal Khan Monday appreciated the role of chambers of commerce and industry for promoting and facilitating economic activities and extending support in government's efforts for development.

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Feb, 2018 ) :Minister of State for Finance, Rana Muhammad Afzal Khan Monday appreciated the role of chambers of commerce and industry for promoting and facilitating economic activities and extending support in government's efforts for development.

He said this while attending the Round Table Conference on Charter of Economy arranged by the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industries (ICCI) in coordination with Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SPDI) and Center for International Private Enterprises (CIPE) here.

The minister said the suggestions put forth by the chamber had due significance in policy formulation and future planning, a statement issued said. During the conference the participants from different fields of business shared their views and suggestions for the betterment of trade and industry in the country and measures they expected from the government in this regard.

They also discussed their problems which could be resolved with support from the government. They particularly emphasized lowering of the tax rates and expanding the tax base. The role of China Pakistan Economic Corridor in boosting the national economy and its impact on commerce and trade was also discussed during the conference.

There was also extensive discussion on development of agriculture sector and the measures to increase export earnings of Pakistan. The minister later had a interactive session with the participants of the conference on the steps taken so far by the PML-N government for uplift of the economy.

He said in line with its charter, the PML-N government had always advocated the concept of formulating the Charter of Economy to be followed by all the political parties. He also stressed the need for a joint efforts from the traders and businessmen to promote trade and commerce and generate employment opportunities.

A delegation of Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industries (RCCI) led by Asad Mashadi separately called on the finance minister and apprised him of their budget proposals regarding industry.

The delegation invited the minister to visit the chamber's offices and also requested him to attend the All Pakistan Chambers Presidents Conference International (APCPCI) at Gwadar in March. The minister accepted the invitation and also assured the delegation of his full support for the efforts aimed at promoting trade and commerce in the country.(@ChaudhryMAli88)

Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) has established Alumni Association for promoting long-term cooperative relationship and cultivating a culture of engagement

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Feb, 2018 ) :Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) has established Alumni Association for promoting long-term cooperative relationship and cultivating a culture of engagement.

It will also provide a platform to the thousands of University's ex-students for sharing their success stories and arranging re-union, a press release on Monday said. The Association was formally came into being with the launching of a Alumni's website and setting up its office on the initiative of the Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Shahid Siddiqui who wished that their graduates should be a source of strength for promoting the University's image and achieving its educational goals.

The website launching ceremony held here was participated by a large number of the University's current and passed-out students.

Through the website (alumni@aiou.edu.pk), the inspiring students could register themselves for membership to avail certain facilities.

While introducing the objectives of the Association, Dr Nasir Mahmood, Dean education said that the AIOU feels proud of having biggest number of their alumni home and abroad who are serving the society in different capacity.

The office of the Alumni will serve as a bridge to establish relationship among the University and the Alumni. Through the website, the Association's members will be updated about the available opportunities and life at AIOU.

As per the vision of the Vice Chancellor, Dr Nasir further said that the graduates will be encouraged to support their university through active participation and contribution for providing volunteer services.About 500 education ministers and their delegations from around the world gathered on Monday in Nadi, the third largest city in Fiji, to attend the 20th Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers (20CCEM) from Feb. 19-23.

SUVA, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Feb, 2018 ) :About 500 education ministers and their delegations from around the world gathered on Monday in Nadi, the third largest city in Fiji, to attend the 20th Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers (20CCEM) from Feb.

19-23. CCEM is a series of high-level meetings gathering education officials from the over 50 Commonwealth countries to discuss key education issues in the context of climate change. This is the first time the meeting is being hosted by a Pacific Island nation.

The theme of 20CCEM is "Sustainability and Resilience: Can Education Deliver?" Fiji is currently holding the presidency of the United Nations climate change conference (COP23). "Fiji is incredibly proud to stand as a leader among the Commonwealth as the first Pacific Island nation to host this important gathering," said Fijian Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama.

"We offer a fitting location for 20CCEM, and not just because of our global climate leadership.

Fiji is in the midst of an education revolution," said the prime minister. "We look forward to continuing this progress, sharing our learnings, and gaining new perspectives through collaboration with our fellow Commonwealth nations at this year's event," he said.

The outcomes of 20CCEM will be presented at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in London in April. The triennial Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers (CCEM) is the second largest meeting organized by the Commonwealth Secretariat following the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.

Ministers gather to share knowledge and good practices in the education sector, receive updates on actions achieved in CCEM mandates, as well as identify areas of action for the next three years for education in the Commonwealth.Minister of State for Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) Dr. Tariq Fazal Chaudhry on Monday stressed the need to introduce new digital based projects in schools for development of education and to facilitate the students with modern learning techniques

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Feb, 2018 ) :Minister of State for Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) Dr. Tariq Fazal Chaudhry on Monday stressed the need to introduce new digital based projects in schools for development of education and to facilitate the students with modern learning techniques.

Addressing the Jazz Smart school Programme launching ceremony here at local hotel, the minister said that "the government understands the challenges "we face while trying to achieve this goal. However, initiatives such as the Jazz Smart School Program and an increasing future emphasis on public-private partnership will surely propel us toward a brighter future for Pakistan".

He said that government is committed to bring improvement in educational institutions under Prime Minister Education Reform's agenda. The minister appreciated 'Jazz Smart School Programme' and said that government is also working to facilitate educational institutions with modern facilities including computers and Labs.

He said that a special computer lab project was also introduced to equip students with modern technology and digital learning. He thanked Jazz Smart School Programme administration for initiating the project to facilitate students and specially female students.

He stressed on the teachers to use modern technology for bring improvement in teaching to achieve vision 2025. In support of the Government's vision 2025, Jazz Foundation is set to use innovation in imparting education to 75 schools in federal capital under its "Jazz Smart School' programme.

The program was launched in partnership with the ministry of CADD and Federal Directorate of Education (FDE). The 'Jazz Smart School' program introduces a smart learning solution to the traditional schooling system through a digital learning platform.

Director General of FDE Hasnat Qureshi said that the FDE is committed to ensuring that innovative learning methods are incorporated in our public schools to ensure that our youth, especially young women, can compete with students globally.

The program's educational content includes digital textbooks, videos, practice material, interactive games, assessment and classroom activities. For each subject in curriculum, the program begins by gathering in puts from multiple sources to create a catalog of mastery skills and for each skill, a learning videos and an assessment is created.The 44th martyrdom anniversary of the Kashmiri martyrs of London' Hanif Shaheed and Basharat Shaheed would be commemorated in Azad Jammu & Kashmir, Pakistan and United Kingdom on February 20-Tuesday, with full respect and honor and with the renewal of the pledge to continue the mission of the Kashmiri martyrs till the freedom of occupied Jammu Kashmir from the Indian clutches.

MIRPUR, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Feb, 2018 ) :The 44th martyrdom anniversary of the Kashmiri martyrs of London' Hanif Shaheed and Basharat Shaheed would be commemorated in Azad Jammu & Kashmir, Pakistan and United Kingdom on February 20-Tuesday, with full respect and honor and with the renewal of the pledge to continue the mission of the Kashmiri martyrs till the freedom of occupied Jammu Kashmir from the Indian clutches.

Special ceremonies would be held to observe the anniversary at the mausoleums of Bashrat Shaheed at Palak and Hanif Shaheed in Mirpur on Tuesday under the auspices of various social, political and government organizations, Mirpur Additional Deputy Commissioner (General) Raja Farooq Akram told APP here Monday.

Besides, notables and general people from different walks of life would visit the mausoleums of the two martyrs including Basharat Shaheed at Palak and Hanif Shaeed's at Markazi Eid Gah graveyard in the city where they would place floral wreaths besides offering Fateha for the departed souls.

Other dignitaries from various parts of the AJK will attend special ceremonies to be held at the mausoleums of the 'Martyrs of London' in order to pay glorious tributes to the two Kashmir-born British nationals hailing from Mirpur Azad Kashmir.

"Like all previous years, the Kashmiri Martyrs day will also be observed with the renewal of the pledge to continue the struggle for the completion of their mission of making the Kashmir freedom movement a complete success and to achieve the Kashmiris' legitimate right to self determination", Sideeque Chaudhry, President Martyrs of London Memorial Society Mirpur said while discussing elaborated programs to observe the Kashmiri martyrs of London anniversary in Mirpur and rest of AJK.NEW YORK, Feb 18:US President Donald Trump's eldest son is headed to India on a sales trip for the family real estate business despite concerns over the president's potential conflicts of interest with foreign governments, according to media reports.

Donald Trump Junior, who has been in charge of the Trump Organization along with his brother Eric since their father relinquished control of the company after becoming president, will launch a range of properties, including one in Gurgaon, 19 miles from New Delhi, and another in Kolkata.

The visit by the younger Trump, intended to help sell more than US$1 billion (S$1.31 billion) in luxury residential units being built by the Trumps and their local partners, has been promoted with newspaper advertisements that read: "Trump has arrived.

Have you?" The New York Times reported Sunday. At both projects, anyone who agreed to buy a Trump property before February 21 was promised the chance of "a conversation and dinner" with the US president's son before the end of the month.

And amid concerns in the US that the Trump family's business interests risk clashing with its political ones, Trump Jr is also reported to have agreed to speak at a business summit, which will be attended by several senior Indian ministers.

The Washington Post reported that the latest deed was signed before the Trump Organization's pledge to avoid new foreign dealings during Trump's time in the White House. Trump Jr's week-long itinerary of cocktail parties, dinners and events with real estate brokers, business leaders and prospective buyers comes as President Trump is pushing to strengthen ties between the two countries, the Times said.

The NYT dispatch said, "The president, who enjoys widespread popularity in India, was greeted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with a bear hug in Washington in June, and the two leaders have frequently discussed greater military cooperation and ramping up trade.

"Trump has also taken a harder line toward Pakistan and China, two of India's rivals. Two weeks ago, Trump phoned Modi pledging 'to strengthen security and economic cooperation' between India and the United States.

"The overlap in India between father and son creates a spectacle with few parallels in business and diplomacy." The younger Trump is scheduled to arrive in New Delhi Monday on a Boeing 757 nicknamed 'Trump Force One', because the president criss-crossed the United States on the plane during the 2016 election campaign, NYT said.

The Trump family earned as much as US$3 million in royalties in 2016 from ventures in India, according to the president's financial disclosure report. And Ivanka Trump made her own trip to India in November, in her capacity as a member of Trump administration, just as sales were about to start on some of the residential projects, it was pointed out.

"The idea that the president's son would be going and shilling the president's brand at same time Donald Trump is president and is managing strategic and foreign relations with India - that is just bizarre," Daniel S.

Markey, who helped coordinate South Asia policy at the State Department during the George W. Bush administration, was quoted as saying in the New York Times dispatch. There are no formal Federal rules that prohibit Trump Jr from pursuing his business interests; he is a private citizen.

And even though his father is still a beneficial owner of the family business, he is not subject to conflict of interest laws, as the president is exempt. The White House, asked if Trump Jr's trip gave even an appearance of a conflict of interest, declined to comment on the matter.

India is the Trump Organisation's biggest international market, with four real estate projects underway, the Times said. The largest is in Gurgaon, a fast-growing city outside New Delhi with a litany of Fortune 500 companies and a skyline filled with skyscrapers.

The Trump development encompasses two towers with a total of 254 "ultra luxury" units, according to the company, each selling for as much as US$1.5 million, the report said. The luxury apartment buildings near the Trump development in Gurgaon have Names like Palm Springs and Central Park, even as they overlook pothole-ridden highways, it said.

The Trumps and their partners are offering buyers the opportunity to become "members of the Trump family," with the promise of exclusive amenities such as an infinity swimming pool, a billiards room and valet services.

The marketing materials, however, do not mention the president - his name and image, as well as that of his daughter Ivanka, who joined his administration, were removed from brochures, websites and billboards.

Trump Jr, in an interview in New York last week, said he had spent nearly a decade "cultivating relationships in India," and the company was "now seeing the response of that effort." To that point, the newspaper advertisements in India featured large photographs of him, arms crossed and staring into the camera.

The younger Trump said his itinerary did not include interactions with government officials in an intentional effort to steer clear of politics. "We certainly won't get involved in that," he said, when asked if the company would seek concessions or incentives for the developments from Indian officials.

"Not at all." He is scheduled, nonetheless, to speak at the Global Business Summit in New Delhi, sponsored by a prominent Indian newspaper and a bank, who say the event will "showcase India's rise in world affairs." Trump Jr is billed as a keynote speaker, along with Modi. APP/ift(@ChaudhryMAli88)

The Punjab Highway Patrol (PHP) has arrested 144 accused including 53 proclaimed offenders during an operation on the highways in the last week.

LAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Feb, 2018 ) :The Punjab Highway Patrol (PHP) has arrested 144 accused including 53 proclaimed offenders during an operation on the highways in the last week.

According to PHP spokesman, the officials also recovered 453 litres of alcohol, 5,250-gram charas, 17 pistols, one rifle, and magazines from them.

The officials handed over the accused and stolen items to local police for further legal action.

The PHP also recovered five children namely Ayesha Sadiq, Perveen, Fakhar Abbas, Muhammad Hasnat and Fahad Ali and reunited them with their parents. The officials also provided help to to 1,640 commuters, the spokesman added.(@ChaudhryMAli88)

An accountability court of Islamabad Monday summoned Wajid Zia, Additional Director of Federal Investigation Agency and head of the joint investigation team (JIT) constituted by the Supreme Court in the Panama Papers case, on February 22.

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Feb, 2018 ) :An accountability court of Islamabad Monday summoned Wajid Zia, Additional Director of Federal Investigation Agency and head of the joint investigation team (JIT) constituted by the Supreme Court in the Panama papers case, on February 22.

Accountability court judge Mohammad Bashir issued the directive on the request of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) prosecutor who pleaded that Zia's presence with original record regarding London-based Avenfield properties owned by the Sharif family in London was compulsory for recording statements of two witnesses via video link from London on that date.

The court would record statements of the witnesses from London in the supplementary reference against the Sharif family regarding Avenfield Apartments on February 22.The accountability court hearing corruption references against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his family has summoned the former head of the Panama case joint investigation team (JIT), Wajid Zia, on February 22.

Islamabad, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Feb, 2018) The accountability court hearing corruption references against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his family has summoned the former head of the Panama case joint investigation team (JIT), Wajid Zia, on February 22.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB), which filed three corruption references against the Sharifs in September last year, had pleaded the court to summon Zia, an additional director in the Federal Investigation Agency.

The references pertain to the Al-Azizia Steel Mills, Flagship Investment Ltd and Avenfield properties in London. Nawaz is accused in all three cases whereas his daughter Maryam and son-in-law MNA Capt (retd) Safdar are accused in the Avenfield reference only.

At the next hearing on Feb 22, two UK-based witnesses will record their statements in the supplementary Avenfield reference, filed last month, via video-link from London.

The NAB prosecutor had pleaded before the court that the original JIT record needs to be submitted when the new witnesses will record their statements.

Giving its order on NAB's request today, Accountability Court-I Judge Mohammad Bashir issued a notice to Zia directing him to appear on Thursday along with the original JIT report. Moreover, the court ordered the authorities to ensure the attendance of all three suspects at the next hearing.

Zia has already appeared before the same court in the corruption trial against Nawaz's close aide and former finance minister Senator Ishaq Dar. The original JIT report has been submitted in that case as well.

At the last hearing of the case on Feb 15, the court had rejected the accused's request to be exempted from appearance from February 19 to March 5 as the family has to travel to London to visit Nawaz's ailing wife, Kulsoom.(@ChaudhryMAli88)

Ambassador of Japan to Pakistan, Takashi Kurai Monday inaugurated a painting exhibition titled "Landscapes of Pakistan" by Pride of Performance artist Ghulam Mustafa organized here under auspices of Rawalpindi Arts Council (RAC).

RAWALPINDI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Feb, 2018 ) :Ambassador of Japan to Pakistan, Takashi Kurai Monday inaugurated a painting exhibition titled "Landscapes of Pakistan" by Pride of Performance artist Ghulam Mustafa organized here under auspices of Rawalpindi Arts Council (RAC).

Ghulam Mustafa's prime love has been landscape painting. Carving his identity in the genre, he belongs to the distinguished group of landscape painters that flourished in Lahore. Ghulam Mustafa ex-Executive Director, Punjab Arts Council is acknowledged for his spontaneity and expertise in lifting whatever arrests his attention.

His works of the old Lahore city vividly capture shifting light and shadows, the textures and patina left on alley walls by the passage of time and the hubbub of streets and the ding of everyday life.

Ghulam Mustafa having 40 years experience in the field of art & culture is a world renowned artist who has done several exhibitions worldwide including USA, China, Japan, U.K, Dubai, Kuwait and India etc.

He is known as master of Landscape and achieved President's Pride of Performance in 2002. Addressing the inaugural ceremony, Japanese Ambassador said that it was an honor to inaugurate today's exhibition titled "Landscape of Pakistan" by a senior artist of Pakistan.

For achieving excellence in his artistic endeavors, Ghulam Mustafa's work was recognized at all level as he was conferred President's Award for Pride of Performance which speaks the quality of his creativity, he said.

Today's exhibition is titled as Landscape of Pakistan but, the visitors have noticed some eye catching landscapes of Japan as well. The government of Japan had also invited Mustafa on Japan visit in 2009 and by availing that opportunity he had closely observed the nature and landscapes of Japan which was reflected here today in this exhibition too, he added.

"I was told that Mustafa has done more than 21 solo and group exhibitions in Pakistan as well as abroad including Japan. I must appreciate the creative genius of the artist which has very soothing effects for the viewers.

I was also informed that his artworks are displayed in many prominent places such as Prime Minister's office in Islamabad and Chief Minster's office in Lahore", The Ambassador further informed. Former Director RAC, Naheed Manzoor said that Ghulam Mustafa served 40 years in Punjab Council of the Arts and achieved a distinct position.

She said that the artists presented master pieces in the exhibition. Director RAC, Waqar Ahmed thanking the guests said that Ghulam Mustafa is the precious asset and brightened the image of the country.

It was great honor for the Council to conduct his solo exhibition, he added. Ghulam Mustafa in his address shared his experiences. A number of people including Former ED PUCAR Ch. Asif Pervaiz, senior artists and general public attended the inaugural ceremony of the exhibition which will continue till Feb 28.(@FahadShabbir)

The joint opposition in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Monday staged walk out from the proceedings of the house for not referring a question regarding appointment of Director General KP Ehtisab Commission to the house committee concerned.

PESHAWAR, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 20th Feb, 2018 ) :The joint opposition in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Monday staged walk out from the proceedings of the house for not referring a question regarding appointment of Director General KP Ehtisab Commission to the house committee concerned.

The joint opposition ended their boycott and came back to House after the persuasion of Senior Minister Inayat Ullah Khan and Provincial Minister Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani. During question answer session, Fakhr-e-Azam Wazir of Pakistan Peoples' Party (PPP) raised a question that why the Ehtisab Commission (KPEC) working without Director General for the last two years.

In written answer, it was said that it is totally wrong. KP Ehtisab Commission is working under the supervision of Acting Director General, Brig (Retd) Muhammad Sajjad, after the resignation of regular Director General of KPEC Lt.

Gen. Rt. Muhammad Hamid Khan. Muhammad Sajjad was appointed as Acting DG KPEC temporary according to the terms and conditions of service rules 2016. The former provincial minister and dissident member of PTI, Zia Ullah Afridi in his supplementary question said that the Provincial Department for Law has accepted that the current acting DG is illegal.

He said that if he is illegal then how he is getting salary for the last two years and taking action against people. Afridi termed the acting DG as relative of Minister Shah Farman. Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs, Imtiaz Shahid Qureshi said that the answer was given in detail and the other thing the matter is sub-judice.

He advised Deputy Speaker chairing the House to accept it for debate. MPA Shaukat Yousafzai of PTI said that the matter is sub-judice and it will be against rule and should not be accepted for debate.

The joint opposition was not ready to accept the answer of anyone except Minister for Law. Parliamentary Leader of ANP, Sardar Hussain Babak said that the provincial government taking the credit of Ehtisab.

The government should public the arrest of former minister Zia Ullah Afridi, his corruption and punishment. Babak demanded to constitute a special committee. Mover Fakhr-e-Azam Wazir and Zia Ullah Afridi should be included in the committee.

Nighat Aurakzai of PPP, Syed Jafar Shah of ANP and Anisa Zeb Tahirkheli of Qawmi Watan Party said that if it was sub-judice then why it was included in agenda of the house. Minister Muhammad Atif Khan said that the Speaker has the power to constitute a committee adding that the mover should not be included in the committee because it is against the rules and regulations.

Deputy Speaker Mehr Taj Roghani constituted the special committee of parliamentary leaders to tackle the issue. Later, the Deputy Speaker, Dr. Meher Taj Roghani adjourned the proceedings of the house till 3:00 pm on February 21.(@rukhshanmir)

Turkish Ambassador to Pakistan, Ishan Mustafa Yardakul on Monday called on National Security Adviser Lt. General (Retd) Nasser Khan Janjua and discussed further promotion of bilateral relations

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Feb, 2018 ) :Turkish Ambassador to Pakistan, Ishan Mustafa Yardakul on Monday called on National Security Adviser Lt. General (Retd) Nasser Khan Janjua and discussed further promotion of bilateral relations.

Besides, matters pertaining to security situation in region, middle East and Arab World also came under discussion. Nasser Janjua welcomed new Ambassador to Pakistan and said "Pakistan enjoys exemplary relations with Turkey.

Warmth and deep affections shared by people of both countries are also exemplary." He highlighted complexed nature of ongoing conflict in Afghanistan and role of Pakistan to support and strengthen peace there.

Ambassador Ishan Mustafa shared facts regarding ongoing war in Syria and adjacent areas. Nasser Janjua also appreciated role and contribution of Turkish President to Muslim World and said "He is the strongest voice of Muslim World.

" The Turkish Envoy expressed his gratitude for love and affection he received in Pakistan on arrival and said Pakistan is a close friend and a brother of Turkey.

He acknowledged and appreciated role of Pakistan for strengthening peace and stability of region and for eliminating terrorism from its soil. "Turkey clearly recognizes security challenges faced by Pakistan today and can even relate to them.

Having trouble in neighbourhood, Turkey is also facing similar national security challenges," he added. He pledged Turkey's support to Pakistan's stance at different regional and international forums.

Both sides expressed satisfaction over upward trajectory of bilateral relations and reiterated to enhance bilateral engagements for extending cooperation in multidimensional spheres. "We are doing remarkable things on our side and have full resolution to enhance and strengthen cooperation," the Envoy said.Pak-China Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCJCCI) on Monday arranged an exclusive New Year celebration ceremony for felicitating Chinese businessmen, entrepreneurs, and investors associated with the platform of Pak-China Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

LAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Feb, 2018 ) :Pak-China Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCJCCI) on Monday arranged an exclusive New Year celebration ceremony for felicitating Chinese businessmen, entrepreneurs, and investors associated with the platform of Pak-China Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The ceremony was presided over by PCJCCI President S.M. Naveed, while Senior Vice President Dr. Iqbal Qureshi, Executive Committee members including Irfan Mehboob and Rizwan Nisar also extended their greetings to the Chinese guests, a press release said.

Addressing the ceremony, S.M. Naveed said that Chinese collaboration had played a great role in keeping the trustworthy relationship intact between two friendly nations. He said that the decision of Pakistan to join hands with China for the remarkable projects such as CPEC, One Belt-One road, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and BRICS for building economic and political linkages with neighbors and Asian countries had truly been commendable.

He added that this year PCJCCI had taken special initiatives to bring investment from China in the eight potential industrial sectors including furniture, handicrafts, textiles, fertilizer, cement, glasswork, energy and pharmaceuticals.

He said that these sectors were jointly identified by the high authorities of PCJCCI in order to bring positive results in all aspects. While expressing his goodwill to the Chinese friends, Dr. Iqbal Qureshi said that he was confident that the strong bond of Pakistan and China would set a prolific example before the world.

He added that the joint efforts of Pakistan and China for prosperity of both nations had really set a good precedent. S.M Naveed along with other officials paid a special tribute to the Chinese communities, who maintained friendship and lived in harmony with local people and made indispensable contributions to the economic and social development of Pakistan.

He hope that all Chinese in Pakistan would carry forward the fine Chinese culture, adding that their traditional virtues revealed the spirit of diligence, bravery, intelligence. He said that Chinese would make more contributions to a better Pakistan by keeping in view friendly traits between the two friends.

The Chinese New Year celebration was followed by cake cutting and heartfelt blessings were delivered to the Chinese people from the members of PCJCCI.(@rukhshanmir)

Senate Chairman Mian Raza Rabbani Monday said Pakistan-China relations were a bulwark against hegemonism in the region as there had been attempts at regime change and to impose India as the regional policeman by the United States.

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Feb, 2018 ) :Senate Chairman Mian Raza Rabbani Monday said Pakistan-China relations were a bulwark against hegemonism in the region as there had been attempts at regime change and to impose India as the regional policeman by the United States.

The ties between the two countries were a demonstration of the "Asian dream", he said speaking as chief guest at the launch of Chinese language classes and a publication "CPEC : Facts versus Fiction here.

The function was organized by the Pakistan-China Institute in collaboration with the JS Group. He welcomed the launch of the Chinese language classes, which he said, would facilitate business ties between Pakistan and China.

Speaking on the occasion, Ambassador of China to Pakistan Yao Jing said the Pakistan-China relations were achieving new heights and the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) was the manifestation of that bond.

China had always stood by Pakistan just as Pakistan stood by China, which, he termed, an "all weather" friendship between "iron brothers". Founder of Pakistan-China Institute Senator Mushahid Hussain said there had been deliberate attempts to create misconceptions about the CPEC, in which India and its western patrons were playing a prominent part.

The reason for that, he said, was geo-political since there was an attempt to build up India as a counterweight to China with baseless propaganda about the "China Threat". Mushahid said Pakistan welcomed the peaceful rise and development of China, which was a source of strength for it.

Responding to a question about the CPEC, he said when the Corridor was launched in 2013, Pakistan was perceived to be isolated, terror stricken and a 'failing state'. China helped to counter that false narrative by its massive investment of $ 50 billion on the CPEC, he added.

He said the CPEC gave a boost to the Pakistani people and it was a vote of confidence in the future of Pakistan and an investment in the future prosperity of Pakistan and its people. Mushahid Hussain said the CPEC was already producing results.

Pakistan's international image had changed as the country had become a pivotal player in the region. It had registered the highest growth rate in 10 years. The projects like Gwadar port and Thar coal had not only been revived but were thriving and the Western Route was being built on schedule, he added.

He said the CPEC was translating into reality what Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah had correctly predicted 70 years ago in an interview with an American publication that "Pakistan would be the pivot of the world placed on the frontier where the future geo-politics of the world will revolve".

Chairman J.S. Group Jehangir Siddiqui said that "We have planned to organize conferences in Pakistan and China where they would provide a platform for Chinese and Pakistani companies to promote Chinese language classes in Karachi as well."(@ChaudhryMAli88)

Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi Monday said the PM's youth programme was reflective of priorities of PML-N government aimed at increasing their contributions towards overall socio-economic development of the country

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Feb, 2018 ) :Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi Monday said the PM's youth programme was reflective of priorities of PML-N government aimed at increasing their contributions towards overall socio-economic development of the country.

During a briefing given by Chairperson of Prime Minister (PM)'s Youth Programme Leila Khan here at the PM Office, he expressed satisfaction on overall progress of various components of the programme initiated in 2013 and said it would help the youth become productive asset of the society.

The chairperson briefed him on the achievements of various schemes. She termed it a successful initiative of the PML-N government for the socio-economic development of youth, as overall beneficiaries under its six schemes had crossed 1.1 million.

Leila Khan said under PM's Youth Business Loan Scheme, so far 22,000 loans worth Rs22 billion had been disbursed among educated and skilled youth, for the promotion of entrepreneurship culture in the country.

Those young entrepreneurs were not only running their own businesses successfully but also providing employment to number of others, she said and added the 91% recovery rate of the scheme was the highest in SME sector financing and spoke of its success.

She said under the PM's Interest Free Loan Scheme, so far more than 400,000 interest free loans worth Rs9.5 billion had been disbursed among poorest of the poor across the country. She said 64% of the loans beneficiaries were female, while the overall recovery rate of the scheme was 99%.

More than 64,000 BISP beneficiaries had also started their own business by taking interest free loans under the scheme. Under PM's Youth Skill Development Program, 100,000 unemployed youth had been trained in around 100 demand-driven vocational trades across the country, whereas 100,000 more youth would complete training by the end of 2018.

Under PM's Fee Re-Imbursement Scheme, fee of more than 227,000 university students from less developed areas had been paid so far, resulting in increase in university enrollment, she added. She said under PM's Youth Laptop Scheme, 300,000 laptops had been distributed among talented university students across the country, whereas 200,000 more "Made in Pakistan" laptops would be distributed by the end of 2018.

Under PM's Youth Training Scheme, above 95,000 interns had so far been placed in more than 4,900 public and private sector organizations across the country, she maintained.(@rukhshanmir)

LAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 18th Feb, 2018 ) :The 5-day 34th Annual Conference under the aegis of Pakistan Society of Gastro & Intralogy (PSGI) will begin here from February 21 to 25.

The "Gastro Summit 2018 " will will be addressed by medical experts. National and international delegates will deliver lectures on diseases of stomach and lever and share their experiences and research.

Principal Post Graduate Medical Institute Prof. Dr. Ghias un Nabi Tayyab said that apart from Pakistan the conference would be attended by medical experts from USA, UK, Turkey, India, Afghanistan and Canada and for the first time this conference would be telecast through web and in 5 cities doctors could benefit from it while sitting at home.

He said that the platform would provide an opportunity to enhance the capabilities of under training doctors and para-medical staff.

Prof. Ghias un Nabi Tayyab said that before this conference workshops would also take place which would cover Endoscopy, EUS, RFA, Histo Pathology and other departments.

It is mentionable that Principal PGMI and Ameer Uddin Medical College Prof. Ghias un Nabi Tayyab is Patron in Chief of this international conference while Dr. Israr ul Haq Toor is the main Organizer of this important event.

In this Conference 13 sessions would take place and in the history for the first time research papers would be read in such a large number. Medical experts are giving much importance to this international event and calling it useful as well. APP/mnb/zhr(@rukhshanmir)

The Senate on Monday passed five private member bills including National Assembly Secretariat Employees Bill, two bills regarding Criminal Laws, Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Bill and Anti Terrorism Bill.

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Feb, 2018 ) :The Senate on Monday passed five private member bills including National Assembly Secretariat Employees Bill, two bills regarding Criminal Laws, Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Bill and Anti Terrorism Bill.

According to details, the senate passed the National Assembly Secretariat Employees Bill, 2018 to regulate the recruitment and the conditions of service of persons appointed in the lower house.

The bill was moved by the Senator Muhammad Mohsin Khan Leghari.

The Upper House also passed the bills including The Criminal Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2017 and the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Amendment) Bill, 2018 both moved by the Senator Khawaja Karim Ahmed.

The bill regarding Anti-Terrorism (Amendment) Bill, 2017 moved by the Senator Mukhtiar Ahmed Dhamrah and a bill further to amend the Pakistan Penal Code 1860 and the code of criminal procedure 1898 (The Criminal Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2017 moved by the Senator Sirajul Haq both were passed.The Sindh Cabinet has resolved to strongly oppose the privatization of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) and Lakhra Cola Power Plant.

Karachi, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Feb, 2018) : The Sindh Cabinet has resolved to strongly oppose the privatization of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) and Lakhra Cola Power Plant.

The Cabinet meeting held on Monday under the chairmanship of Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Sah at 7th Floor of New Secretariat offered fateha for Mir Hazar Khan Bijarani and Asma Jahangir.

The Chief Minister said that the workers of PSM were starving for non-payment of their salaries. The Federal government deliberately turned the once profit-making organization of steel mill into losses.

The same has been done with PIA. "We are very much clear that the land of Pakistan Steel Mill would automatically return to provincial government if it is privatized," he said and added the federal government would have to safeguard the interest of the workers of PIA, Pakistan Steel and Lakhra Coal-fired power plant.

The Sindh government would resist their privatization, he said. The cabinet unanimously authorized the chief minister to give a clear message of the cabinet to the federal government. The agenda of the cabinet include draft `The Sindh Police (transfer, Posting & Tenure) Rules 2017, draft law regarding Public Sector Universities of Sindh, Amendment in the Charter of Ziauddin University, Sindh Coal Authority Rules 2017, Sindh Nooriabad Gas Fired power project, revised amendment to Sindh Mining Concession Rules 2002, delegation of powers to determine the composition of Mines Committee, draft legislation regarding Sindh Ruet-e-Hilal Act 2017, Sindh Quran (Printing, Recording and Disposal of Damaged or Shaheed and Sacred Auraqs) Act 2018, Amendment in the Law Officers (Conditions of Service) Rules, The Sindh Tourism Development Corporation Employees (Services) Bye-Laws, 2017; The Sindh Employees Social Security (Amendment) Bill 2017, Regularization of Contract veterinary doctors under district-wise veterinary service programme.

The police rules were discussed in details and finally an argument emerged that the matter was subjudice in the Supreme Court, till the court decides the appeal of Sindh government the matter would remain differed.

The cabinet discussed the draft law regarding Public Sector Universities of Sindh and approved it. Under the new draft law the appointment of vice chancellor, deans and Pro-vice chancellor would be made by the chief minister and the Governor being chancellor would confer honorary degrees.

The appointment of the registrars and controller of examinations would be made by the syndicate on the recommendation of selection committee. The cabinet approved the draft law and decided to send it to the standing committee for higher education.

The amendment in the charter of Ziauddin University was also approved. The cabinet also approved Rules of Sindh Coal Authority, 2017. The cabinet was told that the Nooriabad Power Project was operating at its full capacity and it was supplying 100 MW of electricity to K-Electric.

The cabinet after going through the presentation given by Secretary Energy Agha Wasif approved some amendments in Gas Supply Agreement of Sindh Nooriabad Power Company PvT Ltd. The amendments were purely technical such as commercial operation date was made December 31, the word of alternative fuel was deleted and these amendments were made to meet the requirements of Ogra authorities.

The cabinet also discussed revised amendment to Sindh Mining Concession Rules, 2002 and approved it. The presentation to the cabinet was given by Secretary Mines & Minerals Shams Soomro. The cabinet was told that the Sindh Mining Concession Rules were framed in 2002, but there was a lack of clarity in the existing definition of the licensing authority.

The licensing powers were given to secretary Mines & Mineral and the minister has been made appellate authority. The cabinet approved the revised amendment. Secretary Zakat & Usher & religious Affairs Riaz Soomro briefing the cabinet about legislation on Ruet-e-Hilal said that in order to maintain unanimity on all religious occasions nationwide and regulate Ruet-e-Hilal arrangements the federal government has prepared a draft law.

They have requested the provincial governments to pass a resolution thereby allowing the federal government to legislate on their behalf for Ruet-e-Hilal. The other provincial assemblies have already passed such resolutions; therefore Sindh assembly may also pass the same resolution.

The cabinet approved the proposal and directed the Zakat & Religious affairs department to submit the resolution in the assembly.(@rukhshanmir)

Traffic police personnel were deployed all over the city as the `Road Safety Awareness' campaign was kicked off in Federal capital with the aim to make motorists and pedestrians aware of traffic rules

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Feb, 2018 ) :Traffic police personnel were deployed all over the city as the `Road Safety Awareness' campaign was kicked off in Federal capital with the aim to make motorists and pedestrians aware of traffic rules.

In an interview with Private news channel , at a first day of Islamabad Traffic Police (ITP) road safety Awareness Campaign Senior Superintendent of Police (Traffic) Malik Matloob Ahmed said the week-long road safety awareness campaign was organized in the city and was inaugurated by IG Islamabad Dr Sultan Azam Temuri.

The purpose of this campaign is to ensure safety for motorcyclists and prevent any road mishap by educating them about use of helmets and safe road environment, he said. The traffic officers and wardens are directed to educate motorists particularly motorcyclists on the city roads.

He said most accidents took place due to negligence, reckless driving and speeding, unfamiliarity with rules, mechanical failures on major thoroughfares, defective traffic engineering, bad road conditions, inadequate pedestrian facilities, encroachments, lengthy court proceedings and a slow response to emergency.

To resolve the issues, he said, the traffic department had decided to adopt concrete measures. The effective and successful policing was impossible without cooperation of Media and public, he mentioned.

SSP assured traffic police for full cooperation from his side while implementing traffic laws in the city. He appealed to general public for cooperating traffic police and following traffic laws.

He said mainly 99 percent of bikers die after injuring in a road accidents, mainly due to non-wearing of safety helmets in the city. The traffic rules and regulations are made for the safety of public so all youngsters should follow them for their protection and wear helmet, seat belt and avoid dangerous riding of motorcycle on one-wheel, he added.

Pamphlets and booklets about traffic awareness will also be distributed among citizens, he said. He said that community and friendly policing was our focus at the time of inception of ITP and this idea was implemented in true letter and spirit. He also appreciated the performance of ITP force and hoped for further improvement in it.The district administration on Monday started verification process of documents submitted by Ulema and Khateeb of different mosques in the district for getting stipend

CHITRAL, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Feb, 2018 ) :The district administration on Monday started verification process of documents submitted by Ulema and Khateeb of different mosques in the district for getting stipend.

On the direction of Provincial government, chief secretary KP, district administration in collaboration with Assistant Director Rural Development launched the verification process as part of initiative by provincial government for giving them Rs10, 000 per month honorarium.

Assistant Commissioner Chitral Sajid Nawaz was chief guest on the occasion. Addressing on the occasion AC Chitral told the religious clerics of Chitral that this was a positive step by provincial government for empowerment of Ulema.

A question and answer session was held in which participants asked questions about continuation of this honorarium. AC replied that it would continue and would be increased with passage of time.

Some Imams and Khateebs of Mosques were of the view it was welcoming step by the government to alleviate poverty and lessen their dependency on others.

They said that Ulema were also playing role of a opinion leader, providing spiritual guidance to the people.

During the session some religious scholars also talked about the royalty of forest to womenfolk and hailed this step by government. Faheemul Jalal Assistant Director Rural Development told that verification process of documents of Uluma and Khateebs of Chitral would conducted on merit.

Some 500 Uluma and Khateebs attended this session of verification and they submitted their documents along with their account numbers and contact. After completion of this process their monthly stipend will start and would be transfered to their respective accounts in banks, the Official informed.

Among others district Khateeb Maulana Fazal Maula and Khateeb Bazar Masjid Maulana Israruddin Alhilal were also present on the occasion for verification of documents.(@FahadShabbir)

Visually impaired people on Monday staged a protest demonstration at The Mall, in favour of their demands.

LAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Feb, 2018 ) :Visually impaired people on Monday staged a protest demonstration at The Mall, in favour of their demands. The blind staged protest for the fulfillment of their demands regarding regularization of jobs for all those employees who were working on daily wages as well as on contract.

They blocked "The Mall" that badly hit the business activities at business markets on "The Mall" and adjoining roads remained chocked. Generally, the markets on "The Mall", Hall Road and Bedon Road were a trading hub ranging from electrical home appliances to mobile, computer and other hardware for buyers/shopkeepers from across Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK).

The blockage of main artery of the metropolitan city affected ths business. Long queues of vehicles were seen on Lower Mall, Davis Road, Empress Road and Abbot Road and Canal Road. The traffic flow on these roads became initially slow but later on it was clogged from all sides.(@ChaudhryMAli88)

A 24-year-old man committed suicide by shooting himself with pistol at his residence in Gujar Khan under Qazian Police Station precincts. The deceased was indentified as Muhammad Adil son of Israr Hussain.

RAWALPINDI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Feb, 2018 ) :A 24-year-old man committed suicide by shooting himself with pistol at his residence in Gujar Khan under Qazian Police Station precincts.

The deceased was indentified as Muhammad Adil son of Israr Hussain.

The family told the police that Adil used to remain depressed due to his domestic issues and shot himself down in the wee hours.

When the family members entered the room, he was breathing his last, however, they informed the police about the incident. The Police officials took the body in custody and carried out investigation while they handed over it to the family after postmortem.Wonders shall never cease, especially in this beloved country of ours.

If you thought you had seen it all with the likes of Prophet Kanyari, Prophet Owuor, Prophetess Lucy Nduta, and more, allow us to introduce you to the prophet of all Kenyan prophets; Prophet Nabii Yohana (V) from Nandolia village, Kanduyi Constituency in Bungoma County.

With 39 wives, Prophet Nabii Yohana is fast closing in on the late Asentus Ogwella Akuku Dangers record of 45 wives. Yohannas wives have born him 103 children and 232 grandchildren.

Though three of his wives are deceased, the Prophet is not yet done.

God chooses these wives for me. I have never dated any of them but God brings them to me, he said.

And according to Gods word, Im supposed to marry up to 48 wives so that I dont commit adultery, says the man who has never shaved since birth.

Yohana has five homes: Six of his wives live in Soi, Lugari Sub County, five in Kimilili, five in Cherengany, 16 in Kakamega town and four are in Kitale town.

Originally born Ronald Nakalila Wanyama, Nabii claims that he is the reincarnated John the Baptist.

I am John the Baptist who was beheaded. I lived as a white man in the US and now Africa where Ill live for 280 years, he said, adding that, According to the prophecy God gave me, I will die but resurrect and live for another 2,700 years.

As if that wasnt outrageous enough, Nabii claims he is set to launch his own Bible after revising the current one because it is outdated.

My bible will be unveiled on April 23 at my Muungano Church of Holy Spirit for All Nations at Nandolia village in Bungoma, he said.

President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto will be the chief guests during the launch because we want them to give us money for printing many books to be distributed countrywide, he said.

His Bible allegedly took him 68 years to author and it comprises of 93 books: 48 books for Old Testament.

The books include Mfarisayo Wilson, Agnes, Mfarisayo Geoffrey, Benson (II), Peter Petro and Mfarisayo Peter among others. The bible only has verses, unlike the Holy Bible which is divided into chapters.

In an interview with The Nairobian, Nabii said he is on a mission to Save mankind from corruption, homosexuality and bad governance. I am the way, the truth and the last prophet sent by God.

The self-styled prophet, who commands a huge following in Bungoma, Uasin Gishu, Nandi and Kisumu Counties, says churches in Kenya have until April this year to migrate.

On top of all that, he wants to petition the government to replace the shilling with his currency called mzawadi. He also wants President Uhuru to move Central Bank headquarters to the Kenya-Uganda border at Lwakhakha where the currency will be launched.

Why you ask? Because, The current currency is the source of all ills like corruption, robbery with violence, political assassinations and the spread of HIV /AIDS and it must be abolished for this country to prosper. The image of President Mzee Jomo Kenyatta on the currency implies that it his private property.

To top it all off, Nabii can resurrect the dead. How you ask?

I bring back the dead by jumping over them three times, he said. To heal the sick, I step on them and they receive their healing.

SMH!! Why always Bungoma County??(@FahadShabbir)

At least 14 people were killed when a rubbish mound collapsed in a poor district of Mozambique's capital Maputo, crushing several nearby homes, emergency services said.

Maputo, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Feb, 2018 ) :At least 14 people were killed when a rubbish mound collapsed in a poor district of Mozambique's capital Maputo, crushing several nearby homes, emergency services said.

Torrential rain is thought to have caused the loose waste to shift and crash down on the shacks, trapping the occupants who were sleeping at the time of the incident on Sunday night. Mozambique's emergency service warned there could be more victims, trapped under the vast waste pile which is located in the Hulene district of the capital.

"The information we received from local authorities is that the number of people living in those houses exceeds the number of deaths recorded, so work is still ongoing to see if there are any other deaths," said spokesman Leonilde Pelembe.

The rubbish mound destroyed five homes and rescue teams were still searching through the wreckage to find survivors, he added. "I live in this neighbourhood because I have nowhere to go. Had the government told me to go to another place to live, I would have left here," said local resident Maria Huo.

Her family home was partially destroyed and her son injured in the landslide, she said. "It's been more than 10 years that the dump should have been closed because it's full -- but they still continue to pile trash on the trash.

The consequence is this," said Teresa Mangue, a neighbourhood leader. Heavy rain has been falling on Maputo since Sunday causing flooding, damaging homes and deluging roads and schools.(@ChaudhryMAli88)

BEIJING, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Feb, 2018 ) :Afghanistan has refuted claims that China wants to establish a military base in the northeast province of Badakhshan in a bid to extend its presence in Afghanistan, a Chinese Defence journal "China Military" reported while quoting an Afghan media report on Monday.

"Such military cooperation by the foreign countries will not take place without the approval of the national security council and the president of Afghanistan," Afghanistan Times quoted presidential office as saying.

It added that China like other regional countries was a victim of terrorism, emphasizing that Beijing was cooperating with Afghanistan and the region in fighting terrorism. "Cooperation between Afghanistan and China has wide dimensions, but the Chinese military presence in Afghanistan has not yet discussed."

(@ChaudhryMAli88)

Initiated by and involving Azerbaijan another regional format, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Ukraine is going to be established," Azerbaijani Ambassador to Ukraine Azar Khudiyev has told AZERTAC, here Monday

KYIV, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Feb, 2018 ) :"Initiated by and involving Azerbaijan another regional format, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Ukraine is going to be established," Azerbaijani Ambassador to Ukraine Azar Khudiyev has told AZERTAC, here Monday.

The ambassador said that the first political consultations on the creation of Azerbaijan, Turkey, Ukraine format will be held on March 6 this year in Baku. Delegations led by the Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Vasyl Bodnar, and Undersecretary of the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs 'MIT Yal' in will arrive in Azerbaijan to attend the political consultations.

On behalf of Azerbaijan, a delegation led by Deputy Foreign Minister Khalaf Khalafov will participate in political consultations.

Ambassador Khudiyev said that the consultations will focus on the current state of and prospects for developing trilateral cooperation in political, economic, energy, and humanitarian areas, as wel as the development of mutually beneficial cooperation within international organizations.

"The issues relating to transportation of cargo through the new transport corridors, and the successful transportation of energy resources through the Caspian and Black Sea basin within the trilateral format will also be discussed," the ambassador said, the AZERTAC reported.(@rukhshanmir)

A Cambodian court has dropped pornography charges against nine of the 10 foreigners arrested last month at a pool party in the tourist town of Siem Reap, an official said Monday

Phnom Penh, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Feb, 2018 ) :A Cambodian court has dropped pornography charges against nine of the 10 foreigners arrested last month at a pool party in the tourist town of Siem Reap, an official said Monday.

The group was detained for around two weeks on charges of producing pornographic materials to promote the event at a private villa in the city flanking Cambodia's famous Angkor Wat temple ruins.

Police, who broke up the party on January 25, initially accused the foreigners of "singing and dancing pornographically". "The court has dropped charges against the nine foreigners released on bail.

Only one British national will face trial," court spokesman Yin Srang told AFP, declining to elaborate. Their lawyer Ouch Sopheaktra said the Briton was held because he was accused of renting the villa and organising the pool party.

All 10 defendants -- five Britons, two Canadians, a Norwegian, a New Zealander and a Dutch national -- had denied the allegations, saying that they were wearing "sexy" clothing but had not produced pornography, according to their lawyer.

While Cambodia teems with foreign tourists and boasts a rowdy nightlife, the Buddhist country is often strict when protecting local traditions or heritage sites. Authorities banned skimpy clothing inside the Angkor Wat complex in 2016 and have previously arrested and deported foreigners for taking racy photos among the ruins, which are considered sacred.

But the location of past violations has been inside the ancient city, not in the adjoining town of Siem Reap, a popular party hub with bars catering to foreign tourists.(@ChaudhryMAli88)

An unmanned plane has targeted a drug lab of Taliban in the western Farah province, killing eight militants and destroying a drug lab of the outfit, the official media outlet Bakhtar News Agency (BNA) reported Sunday

Ashkam(APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Feb, 2018 ) :An unmanned plane has targeted a drug lab of Taliban in the western Farah province, killing eight militants and destroying a drug lab of the outfit, the official media outlet Bakhtar news Agency (BNA) reported Sunday.

"Eight Taliban militants were killed and their drug factory was destroyed after the Coalition Forces Drone raided Ashkam village in Bakwah District of the western Farah province very recently," BNA said in the report. Without providing more details, the agency said that the government is determined to get the poppy growing country rid of the illicit drug menace.(@ChaudhryMAli88)

The ambassador of the crisis-hit Maldives thanked Saudi Arabia for the grant of a new $160 million facility for projects in the Indian Ocean island republic, Arab News reported

RIYADH, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Feb, 2018 ) :The ambassador of the crisis-hit Maldives thanked Saudi Arabia for the grant of a new $160 million facility for projects in the Indian Ocean island republic, Arab news reported.

"I thank King Salman, Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman and the Saudi people for the new financing facility. King Salman has always pledged support for development in the Maldives," Abdullah Hameed said.

The Maldivian envoy said that the amount is in addition to $100 million for airport development and the $80 million development of Hulhumale city, pledges made earlier by the Kingdom. According to the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD), the new financial facility is from the Kingdom and the UAE for the expansion of airports and fisheries.

"The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the government of the UAE are following up on the current events in the Republic of Maldives," the SFD communication said.

It added that the two countries "express their concern about all the disturbing security and stability in the Maldives and note that these events are an internal matter." Hameed added that Saudi Arabia and the UAE expressed "hope for peaceful solutions through internal political dialogue between the parties concerned without external interference and within the framework of the Maldivian Constitution." This comes after an earlier government invitation to all political parties, calling for constructive dialogue about the country's political situation.

Hameed said the state of emergency in the Maldives lasts for only 15 days under the island republic's constitution unless the Maldivian parliament extends it. He added that the emergency ends on Wednesday. "Under the constitution and in case of emergency, the president is vested with power to ensure stability to ensure the rule of law and uphold the constitution," the ambassador said.France accused Equatorial Guinea Monday of wanting to "paralyse" French criminal procedure in a top-level corruption probe, as it urged judges to throw out a case against it before the UN's top court.

The Hague, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Feb, 2018 ) :France accused Equatorial Guinea Monday of wanting to "paralyse" French criminal procedure in a top-level corruption probe, as it urged judges to throw out a case against it before the UN's top court.

Malabo has dragged Paris before the International Court of Justice in a bitter diplomatic row, accusing it of violating the diplomatic immunity of its vice president Teodorin Obiang. Son of Teodoro Obiang, long-time leader of the oil-rich central African country, Teodorin Obiang has been prosecuted by a French court on charges of embezzling 150 million Euros ($180 million) of public funds to finance his jet-set lifestyle.

France's representatives however hit back as a hearing opened before the Hague-based ICJ, with delegation member Alain Pellet saying Equatorial Guinea attempted to "slow down, or even paralyse the criminal procedure launched in France." Malabo's decision to take the matter to the ICJ is an attempt "to give their case more prominence" argued Pellet, who said Paris challenged the ICJ's jurisdiction.

"France has not accepted the jurisdiction of this court under any title whatsoever to entertain those facts on which Equatorial Guinea seeks the court to rule," French representative Francois Alabrune added.

- Corruption case - Obiang, 48, was tried in absentia and sentenced in October to a three-year suspended sentence for corruption. The top official from the small central African state was also given a suspended fine of 30 million euros ($35 million) for money laundering, corruption and abuse.

His lawyer has said he will appeal. But Equatorial Guinea has also lodged a complaint with the ICJ in The Hague, the UN's top court set up to resolve disputes between countries.

Four days of hearings opened Monday, with France setting out its reasons why it believed the ICJ is not competent to hear the case.

Paris has challenged the ICJ's jurisdiction in the case since it first opened, citing the UN's Convention against Transnational Organised Crime. "Equatorial Guinea's request is unreasonable because it lacks any legal basis," Alabrune said.

Equatorial Guinea contends however that not only was the Vienna Convention conferring diplomatic immunity on Obiang broken, but French officials also failed to uphold the diplomatic status of a building it maintains is Malabo's embassy in Paris.

Teodoro Obiang Nguema is Africa longest-serving president and has ruled the country with an iron fist since 1979. He extended his rule in April 2016 when he was re-elected with 93.7 percent of the vote.

He appointed his son as vice president in June 2016 -- two years after the first charges were first brought in France. In 2012, French authorities swooped on the Obiang family's six-storey mansion on the Avenue Foch -- one of the most upmarket addresses in Paris -- seizing it along with a fleet of luxury cars including two Bugatti Veyrons and a Rolls-Royce Phantom.

Police also took away vanloads of valuables, including paintings, a $4.2-million clock and fine wines worth thousands of euros per bottle. The UN judges in The Hague in 2016 urged France to ensure the protection of the diplomatic mission in Paris, but sidestepped Malabo's request to order Obiang's trial to be halted.

Relations between the two countries have furthered deteriorated after Malabo's foreign minister, Agapito Mba Mokuy, said an attempted coup in December had been hatched on French soil, although he said the French authorities had "nothing to do with" it.France on Monday urged the UN's top court to throw out a case brought against it in a bitter diplomatic row with oil-rich Equatorial Guinea over French accusations of top-level corruption

The Hague, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Feb, 2018 ) :France on Monday urged the UN's top court to throw out a case brought against it in a bitter diplomatic row with oil-rich Equatorial Guinea over French accusations of top-level corruption.

"France has not accepted the jurisdiction of this court under any title whatsoever to entertain those facts on which Equatorial Guinea seeks the court to rule," the French representative Francois Alabrune told the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

Malabo has accused Paris of violating the diplomatic immunity of its vice president, Teodorin Obiang, after he was prosecuted by a French court on charges of embezzling 150 million Euros ($180 million) of public funds to finance his jet-set lifestyle.

Obiang, 48, the son of President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, was tried in absentia and sentenced in October to a three-year suspended sentence for corruption. The top official from the small central African state was also given a suspended fine of 30 million euros ($35 million) for money laundering, corruption and abuse.

His lawyer has said he will appeal. But Equatorial Guinea has also lodged a complaint with the ICJ in The Hague, the UN's top court set up to resolve disputes between countries. Four days of hearings opened Monday, with France setting out its reasons why it believed the ICJ is not competent to hear the case.

Equatorial Guinea contends however that not only was the Vienna Convention conferring diplomatic immunity on Obiang broken, but French officials also failed to uphold the diplomatic status of a building it maintains is Malabo's embassy in Paris.

Teodoro Obiang Nguema is Africa longest-serving president and has ruled the country with an iron fist since 1979. He extended his rule in April 2016 when he was re-elected with 93.7 percent of the vote.

He appointed his son as vice president in June 2016 -- two years after the first charges were first brought in France. In 2012, French authorities swooped on the Obiang family's six-storey mansion on the Avenue Foch -- one of the most upmarket addresses in Paris -- seizing it along with a fleet of luxury cars including two Bugatti Veyrons and a Rolls-Royce Phantom.

Police also took away vanloads of valuables, including paintings, a $4.2-million clock and fine wines worth thousands of euros per bottle. The UN judges in The Hague in 2016 urged France to ensure the protection of the diplomatic mission in Paris, but sidestepped Malabo's request to order Obiang's trial to be halted.

Relations between the two countries have furthered deteriorated after Malabo's foreign minister, Agapito Mba Mokuy, said an attempted coup in December had been hatched on French soil, although he said the French authorities had "nothing to do with" it.(@FahadShabbir)

Myanmar troops seized $7 million worth of narcotics, precursors and equipment in a raid on drug labs in the restive north, the army said Monday, as it continues a war against ethnic rebels accused of profiting from the drug trade

Yangon, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Feb, 2018 ) :Myanmar troops seized $7 million worth of narcotics, precursors and equipment in a raid on drug labs in the restive north, the army said Monday, as it continues a war against ethnic rebels accused of profiting from the drug trade.

Soldiers and local officials found 259 kilogrammes (571 Pounds) of crystal methamphetamine and 120 kg of opium in a sweep of the illicit drugs factory spread across 34 buildings near Lwalkhan, a village in war-hit Shan state.

The army statement, posted on the commander-in-chief's Facebook page, also listed in rare detail the seized drug-producing equipment and precursors, including hundreds of barrels of acid and diesel, 750 bags of caustic soda, 22 freezers, 12 generators and huge caches of caffeine and other chemicals.

"The Tatmadaw (military) seized the drugs in the raid and cooperated with the drug enforcement police team. The legal process is still ongoing," a senior police officer from the anti-drug department told AFP on the condition of anonymity.

The bust took place in Kutkai township, where a record seizure last month brought in 30 million meth pills, two tonnes of "ice" -- crystal meth -- and heroin, with an estimated combined value of $54 million. The raids come as the military continues its seasonal offensive against ethnic minority armed groups in the lawless border areas.Philippine authorities have arrested an Egyptian man suspected of being a member of the Islamic States (IS) extremist group, police said on Monday, Xinhua reported

MANILA, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Feb, 2018 ) :Philippine authorities have arrested an Egyptian man suspected of being a member of the Islamic States (IS) extremist group, police said on Monday, Xinhua reported.

Philippine National Police chief Director Ronald dela Rosa said Fehmi Lassoued was arrested with a Filipino woman over the weekend inside his rented room at an apartment in Malate, Manila. Dela Rosa, who presented the suspect to the media, said Lassoued also used the name Jogn Rasheed Lassoued.

He identified the woman as Anabel Moncera Salipada of Upi town in the southern Philippine Maguindanao province. "The arrest of Lassoued and Salipada may have effectively thwarted whatever hostile activities they were up to, but we will not lower our guard.

Rather we will continue to mount proactive operations against terrorism," Dela Rosa said.

Aside from the arrest of the two suspects, Dela Rosa said authorities also confiscated assorted firearms, ammunition, components for improvised explosive device such as electronic circuits, resistors, capacitors, batteries and pipe fittings.

He said Lassoued entered the Philippines in July 2016 with a fake Tunisian passport, adding that both suspects were arrested following a tip from foreign military and police counterparts, the report said.

An investigation is underway to determine the couple's involvement in the international terror group, including possible involvement in the attack in the southern Philippine city of Marawi in May last year, which triggered a five-month firefight that killed more than 1,200 people.Nairobi Senator Johnson Sakaja has become quite the popular public figure since joining politics. He was most recently on the spot after coming to Babus Owinos rescue following the MPs arrest.

Some quarters have suggested that the incident was his way of reaching out to the Opposition support base to boost his 2022 ambitions.

Well, Sakaja has spoken about reports of eyeing the Nairobi gubernatorial seat. In a recent interview, Sakaja also spoke about Kenyas political landscape, Nasas swearing-in, and Nairobi County government affairs since Kidero left office.

Is Kenya progressing or regressing politically?

If you compare the political space, we have made progress. In 2007 it was unthinkable that people would talk about a President the way they do today, swear themselves in, and have Presidential election nullified.

We may not be there yet but we have made strides. We have also made many steps back if you look at the deeply tribal nature of our politics and the hate among people. Ethnic mobilization and rhetoric in our vernacular stations.

Is it true you played a role in dissuading three NASA principals  Kalonzo Musyoka, Moses Wetangula and Musalia Mudavadi from attending Railas swearing in?

(Laughs) what do you mean? I am not that powerful. I didnt. Again I have no interest in NASA affairs. The swearing in was ill-advised. But I said if the swearing in of Raila would release the protracted political pressure, let it be allowed. I am proud there was no life lost. Are you close to any of the three?

Mudavadi is my relative. Wetangula has been a family friend for so many years. In fact, I bought my first car from Wetangula when I was in the university a Mercedes Benz.

Do you think the recent media shutdown by the government was justified?

If you go to KBC today, you find GSU trucks there so that no one can go there and announce they have taken over the government.

I dont understand why media would gleefully cover an illegality and want it live. But we must never infringe on the rights of the media so long as the media also does not decide to play politics.

The best way that media serves democracy is by being a mirror of the society and not forming its own opinion in a country where media influence is unchallenged.

Would you have shut down the media if you were the President?

I would have dealt with it differently. But you see the President is advised by many people. He got my advice to avoid deploying police (to Railas swearing in. He also got advice from intelligence service, from his ministers and the police.

I dont know if I had the advice he had in entirety I would have acted the same. My advice was to ignore the event, let them swear in Raila and we move on with other things.

But I understand the thinking of some people within government is to make the arrests so that people dont just decide to swear themselves as President when they want.

Should Raila be arrested?

If he read the oath of office as the President then he should be arrested because that is against the law. But again, when you think just about the law then you would make bad decisions because what effect does the arrest have? Also, if you arrest people for doing something for him, why not arrest him? They have put us in a situation with no clarity.

You were to run for Nairobi Governor but decamped for Senate. Are we making progress in the management of the city under Jubilee?

I made the decision to run for the Senate because the nature of our politics was tearing the party apart. You would think the elections was between Jubilee candidates. We had even forgotten about then Governor Evans Kidero.

If I didnt make that decision Kidero would still be the governor today because he would have split us (Jubilee) in two.

A lot of what has hindered progress now is trying to undo the messes Kidero left. For instance, the county is struggling to pay a debt of Sh60 billion. We are dealing with a bloated workforce.

I have seen some improvements so far in terms of systems. Loopholes where officials could carry away money after collection have been fixed. Moving further, I wish Nairobi Governor (Mike) Sonko could have fully constituted his team for proper implementation of his agenda. Right now, Nairobi is still being run by Kidero people apart from the County Executive Committee.

Disaster response needs improvement. We also need to go to the core of what troubles Nairobi.

Governor Sonko and his deputy, Polycarp Igathe broke up

It was unfortunate because we had high hopes in the two. They complemented each other but I think the deputy governor had wrong expectations.

If you expect as a deputy to perform executive functions to the exclusion of your boss, you get it wrong from the beginning. When we said during the campaigns that Sonko would be on the ground and he would be in the office, he took it literally that he would run the county single-handedly.

Even the oath the Deputy Governor takes is to assist the governor and not to work on behalf of the governor. But there is no vacuum, work must go on in the county.

Nairobi is not an isolated case, what could be the problem between county chiefs and their deputies?

The mistake we made in the Constitution was to make the deputy governor an elective seat. We should trust the responsibility of running a county in one person and allow them to pick one their ministers to play the deputy role.

Governors should have powers to nominate a deputy and the assembly approves, or reshuffle when they dont perform.

You were criticized by Jubilee leaders for releasing Embakasi East MP Babu Owino while Opposition supporters praised you. What does this say about our politics?

Those comments by some members of Jubilee are examples how politicians stumble even as we try new kind of politics.

When I did that it was nothing to do with politics. It was a legal matter that you cannot detain somebody for a bailable offense. Politics should not be enmity, it is a competition. Mending fences and not returning hate for hate remains my type of leadership.

Some quarters said helping Babu Owino was your way of reaching out to Opposition support base in Nairobi for your 2022 political ambitions?

It had nothing to do with 2022. If anything I have not declared Im running for any position in 2022. I can even decide Im done with politics by that time because I dont think this country has space for my kind of politics.

There are people who want it but there are many who dont understand that kind of politics. Politics should not be about life and death. Our discussions should give life to our country not hate and divisions.

I have heard people speculating that I want to vie for (Nairobi) governor in 2022. I think these are some of the things that take our country back; that as soon as an election is over you start campaigns for the next election. I have no campaign plans for 2022. If anything, I am comfortable in the Senate.

So as it is today, I would want to defend my seat but if the people of Nairobi think otherwise they have time to express it. But I cannot serve the people with an eye on the next election. Let me perform to my full potential and from there, I could be a presidential candidate, a running mate or Nairobi governor.

What are some of your achievements since joining Parliament in 2013?

I was able to demonstrate that being a youthful leader does not mean that your politics is filled by insult, misbehavior and dress like a hip-hop star. As a result of that, we have a huge number youthful leaders in the current Parliament. I was able to sponsor legislations, including an amendment to the Procurement Act that ensures 30 percent of procurement go to youths, women and people with disability. I started from scratch, drafted, published and passed National Employment of Authority which as Act of Parliament now. I had the highest number of private Bills than any other MP in the last Parliament.

Politics can be draining. How do you balance between family and politics?

I drop my two boys to school every day alone, no bodyguard, no driver, just me. That is when I discuss with them things about school and life. They tell me what they want. Some things like family you cant delicate to your PA. I find time to spend with my family on weekends. I also made it deliberate to sometimes have lunch with the family at home.At least six people were wounded Sunday in a bomb blast in downtown Baghdad, while the police arrested head of a criminal gang in Iraq's eastern province of Diyala, security source said

Baghdad(APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Feb, 2018 ) :At least six people were wounded Sunday in a bomb blast in downtown Baghdad, while the police arrested head of a criminal gang in Iraq's eastern province of Diyala, security source said.

The incident took place in the evening when a bomb detonated outside a massage center near Maysaloon Square in eastern Baghdad, wounding six people and damaging nearby buildings and shops, Captain Abdullah al-Hashimi from the Interior Ministry's operations office told Xinhua.

In a separate incident, Ali al-Daiyni, head of Diyala's provincial council, told Xinhua that a police force acted on intelligence reports and raided a safe house of a criminal gang and arrested their suspected leader, known as Amir (commander) of abduction.

The gang leader was wanted for involving in 38 kidnappings, murders, extortion and rape in various parts of the province, Daiyni said. The incidents came despite dramatic decline in violent attacks in the country during the past few months, particularly after the Iraqi security forces dislodged the extremist Islamic State (IS) militants from all Iraqi areas.After six months of political crisis, a dialogue between Togo's government and the opposition opening on Monday is seen by many as the last chance to resolve a bitter dispute over the rule of embattled President Faure Gnassingbe

Lome, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Feb, 2018 ) :After six months of political crisis, a dialogue between Togo's government and the opposition opening on Monday is seen by many as the last chance to resolve a bitter dispute over the rule of embattled President Faure Gnassingbe.

But the talks have raised a welter of emotions in this tiny west African country, ranging from hope to incredulity. "It's a 'last chance' dialogue. It is in the interests of both the opposition and the government to do everything to put an end to this unstable situation," shopkeeper Joel Afandjigan told AFP.

"Each side must calm down." The decision to come to the negotiating table follows five months of massive public protest against Gnassingbe, who currently holds the rotating chairmanship of west Africa's regional bloc, ECOWAS.

Almost every week, there have been huge marches through the streets demanding that he resign and to limit the presidential term to two mandates. - 'We're tired' - But Edoh Klavissou, who drives a motorbike taxi, says he's not expecting anything to result from the talks with Gnassingbe's ruling Union for the Republic (UNIR).

"UNIR will just take the opposition for a ride again. They will talk and sign another agreement which won't be respected by the government. It's the same thing all over again and we're tired of it.

We have talked too much in this country." On social media, many sceptical voices are speaking out against holding "an umpteenth dialogue" in Togo, which has been ruled for 50 years by the same family.

Gnassingbe has been in power since 2005 after taking over from his father, General Gnassingbe Eyadema, who himself ruled Togo for 38 years after seizing power in a coup in 1967. Back in 1992, Togo saw the introduction of a multiparty system with a new constitution, but since then there has been little sign of democratic progress despite repeated attempts at dialogue.

A series of constitutional reforms, which would have changed the voting system and set presidential term limits, was written into a key 2006 agreement in a bid to draw a line under the bloodshed that occurred a year earlier following Gnassingbe's victory in a disputed election.

But the reforms were never implemented. Since August, anti-government demonstrations across the country nearly every week have demanded Gnassingbe's exit after he proposed changes to the constitution that would allow him to stay in power longer.

The opposition wants to restrict the presidential term to a maximum of two five-year stints in office, and introduce a two-round voting system. - Calls for consensus - Last week, the UN and the EU as well as the ambassadors of Germany, France and the United States all hailed the upcoming talks, calling for all of Togo's political actors "to work in good faith to reach a consensus".

Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo, who has been involved in mediation efforts, was expected to arrive in Lome on Sunday to open the talks the next day. But few concrete details have emerged ahead of the talks, which will run for about 10 days, with the ruling party and the opposition each represented by seven delegates.

"What has impressed us is the goodwill and the enthusiasm on both sides to find a lasting solution to the crisis," Ghanaian delegation spokesman Daniel Osei told reporters on Saturday. He said Ghana's role was one of "facilitation" after the heads of ECOWAS, west Africa's regional bloc, decided that a solution "would only be found through dialogue between Togolese".

Several key issues will be addressed, according to a statement Sunday, including the reinstatement of the 1992 constitution, which sets a two-term limit to the presidency -- as well as an eventual transition and election reform.

However sources close to Gnassingbe have repeatedly told the local media in recent weeks that there would be no discussion of an imminent departure by the president, or of any commitment by him to step down in future.'Deeply saddened to learn of the tragic airplane accident Sunday near Yasuj, Iran, United Nations Secretary-General has extended his heartfelt condolences to the country's people and Government,' he said in a message issued by his spokesman St'phane Dujarric, IRNA reported

UNITED NATIONS, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Feb, 2018 ) :'Deeply saddened to learn of the tragic airplane accident Sunday near Yasuj, Iran, United Nations Secretary-General has extended his heartfelt condolences to the country's people and Government,' he said in a message issued by his spokesman St'phane Dujarric, IRNA reported.

An Iranian passenger plane of Asseman Airlines hit Dena Mountains, 120 km from Semirom, Isfahan Province, early Sunday morning. The debris of the plane has not been found yet, but all 66 people onboard are feared dead in the tragic incident.Thousands of Zimbabweans and foreign mourners took to the streets of Harare Monday to pay tribute to Zimbabwe's iconic opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai who died after a battle with cancer.

Harare, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Feb, 2018 ) :Thousands of Zimbabweans and foreign mourners took to the streets of Harare Monday to pay tribute to Zimbabwe's iconic opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai who died after a battle with cancer.

Supporters wore the trademark red of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party which Tsvangirai led for 19 years in which time it became the main outlet for opposition to former president Robert Mugabe.

Other well-wishers wore portraits of Tsvangirai, flocking to a central square to sing and dance in honour of their fallen leader. A casket bearing Tsvangirai's remains was adorned with flowers and driven to the square -- named for his arch-rival Mugabe -- after the cortege made a brief stop at the MDC's offices.

Tsvangirai, the country's fiercest opponent of Mugabe's tyrannical 37-year rule, died on Wednesday aged 65 at a hospital in South Africa where he had been undergoing treatment for colon cancer.

"Today we are paying tribute to a national hero," the acting MDC leader Nelson Chamisa president told mourners. "We will not let Tsvangirai down, we will give tribute to Tsvangirai by winning elections in 2018." Zimbabwe is due to hold crucial general elections by July and the country's new president Emmerson Mnangagwa has pledged they will be free, fair and credible -- in honour of Tsvangirai.

- 'Our great hero' - Tsvangirai became a symbol of resistance to the ruling ZANU-PF's authoritarianism, entrenched since Zimbabwe broke from its colonial master Britain in 1980.

"Today Africa is saluting a man who has demonstrated resilience, the doyen of democracy in Africa.

Morgan Tsvangirai you are our hero, our African hero," Namibian opposition leader McHenry Venaani told the crowds. Zambia's former minister of labour -- and best man at Tsvangirai's wedding -- Fackson Shamenda, described him as "a courageous man" who was "beaten (and) mistreated by this government".

Before being forced into a power-sharing deal with ZANU-PF as prime minister in 2009, Tsvangirai was beaten by police, his rallies were banned and he was charged with treason and jailed. Tsvangirai pulled out of an election run-off in 2008 following violence which, he said, claimed the lives of at least 200 of his supporters.

He had beaten Mugabe in the first round of presidential elections that year but narrowly fell short of the total required to defeat Mugabe outright, according to the official vote count. Fungai Nyapopoto, 40, a street vendor who travelled to pay his respects, said: "I am mourning our great hero, a man of the people.

It is not easy for us, it is a very difficult time for us. We will always remember him." Tsvangirai's remains are due to be flown to his rural home in Buhera village, 250 kilometres (155 miles) south of Harare, for burial on Tuesday.Las Vegas, NV (UroToday.com) Three expert robotic surgeons presented their experience with robotic procedures beyond the typical robotic partial nephrectomy. Dr. Craig Rogers from Henry Ford Hospital started by discussing robotic adrenal surgery. General surgical tips for adrenal surgery include (i) good hydration and blockade for patients with a pheochromocytoma, (ii) wide exposure by dissecting the upper adrenal before releasing the lower kidney attachments, (iii) early ligation of the adrenal vein, (iv) avoid touching the gland, ie. dissect the patient away from the tumor, and (v) for partial adrenalectomies in patients that may have hereditary tumors or bilateral lesions  mobilize the affected limb and use intraoperative ultrasound and clips vs staples to remove the affected region. Furthermore, Dr. Rogers advocates for widely mobilizing the spleen (left) and liver (right) to properly expose the adrenal gland. Dr. Rogers then proceeded to show two elegant videos depicting his approach to robotic adrenalectomy and partial adrenalectomy. His experience includes 65 adrenal procedures, including 57 robotic adrenalectomies, 5 robotic partial adrenalectomies and 3 open adrenalectomies. The mean tumor size was 3.9 cm (range 1-20 cm), and the most common pathologies were aldosteronoma (n=20), pheochromocytoma (n=18), and Cushings (n=6).Dr. Ashok Hemal from Wake Forest Medical Center then presented his experience with robotic nephroureterectomy. Dr. Hemal started by noting that there are several ways to manage the distal ureter when performing a minimally invasive nephroureterectomy, including (i) stapled vs sutured closure of the bladder following resection, (ii) endoscopic detachment, which may include unroofing the ureter or the pluck technique, and (iii) ureteral intussusception. There have also been several modifications described to obstruct the ureter to prevent cell spillage, including clipping, fibrin glue, and the LigaSure. This management is crucial considering that recurrence of urothelial carcinoma in the residual sump has been reported in 13-75% of cases. According to Dr. Hemal, there are several modifications for port placement described in the literature by leaders in robotic surgery. This is how Dr. Hemal places his ports for robotic nephroureterectomy using the Xi system:Dr. Hemal favors using indocyanine green (ICG) during robotic nephroureterectomy, specifically for intravesical instillation to aid in identification of the bladder cuff. Previously published work from his group on 65 patients undergoing robotic nephroureterectomy from 2008-2014 demonstrated pT2 in 65%, pT3 in 28.3%, and pT4 in 6.7% [1]. Over a median follow-up of 25.1 months (range 6 to 68.9), the 2 and 5-year overall survival was 86.9% and 62.6%, cancer specific survival was 92.9% and 69.5%, and recurrence-free survival was 65.3% and 57.1%, respectively. A total of 23 patients experienced disease recurrence. Bladder recurrence developed in 15 patients, 12 had isolated bladder recurrence and 8 had metastatic disease.Dr. Hemals group has also compared their experience using the Si vs Xi da Vinci robotic systems. From April 2009 to December 2017, 87 patients underwent robotic nephroureterectomy, including 30 with the Xi and 57 with the Standard/S/Si [2]. Operative time using the Xi was shorter, 184 vs 232 minutes (p = 0.004), while other perioperative outcomes were similar between the two groups. More patients underwent lymph node dissection using the Xi system (p = 0.02), and complications were similar between groups. Interestingly, because of the shorter operative time, shorter anesthesia time, and ease of docking and working with the Xi, the cost for robotic nephroureterectomy was $1,250 USD less compared to the Standard/S/Si system. Dr. Hemal concluded his presentation stating that the robotic approach for nephroureterectomy allows you to adhere to sound oncological principles, including appropriate management of the kidney, lymph node dissection based on templates, distal ureteral management with a bladder cuff, and postoperative instillation of mitomycin.Dr. Ronney Abaza concluded this session by discussing his experience with robotic radical nephrectomy. He started his presentation by highlighting the recently publishedarticle [3], which used the Premier Healthcare database from 2003 and 2015 to identify >23,000 laparoscopic and robotic nephrectomies, over which time period the use of robotic-assisted surgery increased substantially from 1.5% to 27%. In this study, the use of robotic-assistance was not associated with increased risk of any or major complications but was associated with prolonged operating time and higher hospital costs compared with laparoscopic surgery. Dr. Abazas rebuttal to this article is that during this time period there likely was some shift from open to robotic nephrectomy, increasing the minimally invasive pool in general and potentially explaining the longer operative times. In his opinion, this analysis is an unfair comparison without matching the cohorts. Dr. Abaza is an advocate for utilization of robotic nephrectomy for all-comers, regardless of size or complexity.Recently, Dr. Abaza was part of a multi-institutional cohort reporting their experience with robotic nephrectomy and IVC thrombectomy [4]. A total of 32 cases were performed among nine surgeons at nine institutions and of these cases, 30 were level II and two were level III thrombi. Mean maximal tumor diameter was 9.6 cm (range 5.4-20), the length of inferior vena cava tumor thrombi ranged from 1 to 11 cm (median 4.2) on preoperative imaging. Mean operative time was 292 minutes (range 180-411) with a mean blood loss of 400 cc (range 25-2,000). There were no conversions to open surgery or aborted procedures and there were three transfusions of 1 to 3 units. There were seven patients who experienced distant recurrence at a mean follow-up of 15.4 months, including four who had node positive disease on postoperative pathological examination. Dr. Abazas conclusion is that even larger tumors (hes performed several > 25 cm) and complex tumors (ie. with IVC thrombectomy) should be performed robotically in the hands of experienced robotic surgeons.Presented By: Craig Rogers, Henry Ford, Vattikuti Urology Institute, Detroid, MI; Ashok Hemal, Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, Winston-Salem, NC; Ronney Abaza, OhioHealth Dublin Methodist Hospital, Dublin, OHWritten By: Zachary Klaassen, MD, Urologic Oncology Fellow, University of Toronto, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, @zklaassen_md ,at the 2018 North American Robotic Urology Symposium, February 16-17, 2018 - Las Vegas, NVReferences:1. Aboumohamed AA, Krane LS, Hemal AK. Oncologic outcomes following robotic-assisted laparoscopic nephroureterectomy with bladder cuff excision for upper tract urothelial carcinoma.2015;194(6):1561-1566.2. Patel MN, Hemal AK. Does advancing technology improve outcomes? Comparison of the da Vinci standard/S/Si to the Xi robotic platforms during robotic nephroureterectomy.2018;32(2):133-138.3. Jeong IG, Khandwala YS, Kim JH, et al. Association of robotic-assisted vs laparoscopic radical nephrectomy with perioperative outcomes and health care costs, 2003 to 2015.2017;318(16):1561-1568.4. Abaza R, Shabsigh A, Castle E, et al. Multi-institutional experience with robotic nephrectomy with inferior vena cava tumor thrombectomy.2016;195(4 Pt 1):865-871.Las Vegas, NV (UroToday.com) Dr. Sam Bhayani from the Washington University School of Medicine discussed the role of a safety checklist for the robotic operating room. Historically, we have been quite good with checklists, as Dr. Bhayani highlighted the pre-clamp checklist for robotic partial nephrectomy (sutures, clamp-time, bulldogs, etc), the pre-prostatectomy checklist (pathology in the room, preoperative potency, etc), preoperative briefings (a usual part of the preoperative protocol), and the preoperative time-out. However, he points out that none of these safety checklists addressed the operative learning curve and unusually prolonged operative times.To highlight his point, Dr. Bhayani presented a case of a patient who underwent a 9-hour kidney operation in the flank position. When the drapes were removed at the end of the operation, there was skin breakdown and brown urine, which rapidly progressed to muscle breakdown, renal failure and a diagnosis of severe rhabdomyolysis. This patient subsequently underwent multiple fasciotomies/debridements, with a prolonged hospitalization and eventual litigation. A second case presented was of a patient undergoing a 7-hour robotic prostatectomy in the steep trendelenberg position. This patient had undiagnosed glaucoma, and subsequent to the prolonged increased intraocular pressure associated with the extended trendelenberg position, the patient awoke with complete blindness, which also resulted in litigation.These cases highlight the steep learning curve, specifically when learning robotic surgery, and the devastating outcomes that may result from unnecessarily prolonged operative times. Particularly with the pressure to complete the case robotically, there may be an aversion to opening and completing the case in a timely fashion. As Dr. Bhayani points out, it is necessary to take a step back and assess the outcome of the case in real time. As importantly, it is crucial to have voices in the OR to collaboratively decide on a plan when the case runs longer than it should.Dr. Bhayani and his team having been pioneers in developing a second time-out checklist for lengthy robotic surgeries [1]. The second "time-out" was aimed at reducing peri-operative complications and addressing obstacles presented by lengthy robotic surgeries. After reviewing the literature to identify the most common complications of robotic surgeries with extended operative times, a surgical checklist was developed with the goal of addressing these issues and maximizing patient safety:Key elements of the checklist were designed to coordinate operative staff in verifying patient safety while addressing the unique concerns within each specialty. A standardized surgical checklist, conducted three to four hours after the start of surgery, may enhance perioperative patient safety and quality of care. At Washington University, Dr. Bhayani has rolled out the second timeout by asking surgeons to adopt it on a voluntary basis. A group of surgeons utilizing the second time-out have expressed positive feedback so far, and his teams initial experience has demonstrated relatively minimal intrusion to the case time for the second time-out to be performed (as little as a few minutes to complete). As such, Dr. Bhayani is continuing to accrue further feedback and ongoing studies are being performed to evaluate its effectiveness.Presented By: Sam Bhayani, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MOWritten By: Zachary Klaassen, MD, Urologic Oncology Fellow, University of Toronto, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, @zklaassen_md ,at the 2018 North American Robotic Urology Symposium, February 16-17, 2018 - Las Vegas, NVReferences:1. Song JB, Vemana G, Mobley JM, et al. The second time-out: A surgical safety checklist for lengthy robotic surgeries.2013;7:19.Previous case breakdown: before the patient leaves the room, the instruments should be counted and sprayed, trash organized, bed repositioned, the patient transferred to the stretcher, and report given to PACU. Once the patient is out of the room, the carrier cart is removed and the bed is stripped. To improve on breakdown time, Ms. Sorin notes that the patients arms should be tucked to save time placing and removing arm boards, the bed bracket for stirrups only being removed on the side in which the patient is going to be transferred, and the stretcher should be readily available.

Call for cleaning: it is important to know when to make the call and how long it takes for cleaning services to arrive.

Room cleaning: it is important to know what tasks need to be done and what can be done to expedite the process. While the room is being cleaned, the staff can be prepping for the next cases by looking at the preference card, gathering extra supplies and locating any items on the case cart that may have been missed.

Next case set-up: it is important to know when is the appropriate time to open, what to open and what does the room need before the next patient can enter

Next patient transport: it is important to know when to call for the next patient and how far the preop holding area is from the actual OR

Las Vegas, NV (UroToday.com) Ms. Suzannah Sorin, a PA at New York University, discussed ways to improve turnover time for robotic surgery ORs. Ms. Sorin started by noting that the typical turnover time for a robotic OR may vary from <20 minutes to > 1 hour at various institutions. When first tackling turnover time at her institution, Ms. Sorin noted that turnover time was 50 minutes, broken down to: 10 minutes for previous case breakdown, 5 minutes to call for cleaning, 20 minutes for room cleaning, 10 minutes for next case set-up, and 5 minutes for next patient transport.In order for NYU to improve on turnover time, it was important to change the paradigm and view tasks as a continuous and free-flowing form. To work on improving from a 50 minute to 30 minute turnover, Ms. Sorin highlighted that 25% of time should be reserved for previous case breakdown, 5% to call for cleaning, 40% for room cleaning, 25% for next case set-up, and 5% for next patient transport. In reality, these individual entities should be occurring simultaneously.To further assess these individual time periods, Ms. Sorin provided further details:The key to changing the paradigm according to Ms. Sorin is the five Ps: parallel processing, planning, practice, productivity, and partisanship.Presented By: Suzannah Sorin, New York University, New York, NYWritten By: Zachary Klaassen, MD, Urologic Oncology Fellow, University of Toronto, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, @zklaassen_md ,at the 2018 North American Robotic Urology Symposium, February 16-17, 2018 - Las Vegas, NVWhat wines are offered at the auction?

To meet the NVVs original goal of creating excitement about Napa Valley wines, the offerings at Premiere must be unique and limited. Napa Valley winemakers create special wines just for this auction, which must be different than their current release wines.

For example, a producer known for making Chardonnay might make a Cabernet Sauvignon just for Premiere, or the wine might be composed of a special blend of grapes or aged under a unique barrel protocol the winery doesnt normally use. Anything goes, as long as the wine is a one-of-a-kind Napa Valley selection. To make the wines even more enticing, they are produced in lots as small as just 60 bottles and never more than 240 bottles, or about the size of one barrel of wine.

How does it work?

The barrel tasting and auction take place the fourth Saturday in February at The Culinary Institute of America at Greystone in St. Helena. The week leading up to this main event is filled with wine tastings and educational seminars where local vintners have the chance to meet and do business with members of the wine trade arriving from around the world.

The Mob Museum, the National Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement, debuted its major first-floor renovation, which includes a brand-new exhibition space called Organized Crime Today, focusing on the modernization and evolution of organized crime in the present day.

Two new experiential spaces include the Use of Force Training Experience and Crime Lab, which join the Museums already robust experiential platform, focusing on methods employed by law enforcement to apprehend and prosecute criminals and their organizations.

These new exhibits and experiences represent the first phase of the Museums largest capital improvement project since opening on February 14, 2012. The new additions include:

Organized Crime Today Exhibition

Thanks to countless pop culture references and notorious 20th-century organized crime figures such as Al Capone, Bugsy Siegel and John Gotti, the concept of organized crime calls to mind images of bygone eras when speakeasies, Mob-run casinos and infamous Mafia families thrived. In fact, organized crime proliferates around the globe today. No longer centered in neighborhoods, cities or regions, contemporary crime networks extend across national borders and their illegal activities make the news daily, including everything from drug, firearm, wildlife and human trafficking to the opioid crisis, money laundering, counterfeit goods and cybercrime. Featuring artifacts, graphics and a large, interactive, 17-foot-wide Global Networks touchscreen wall, this exhibition space brings the story of organized crime into the present day, as well as modernizes the way the Museum tells that story. In addition to covering present-day rackets, Organized Crime Today explores active crime groupssuch as outlaw motorcycle gangs, Yakuza, Mexican cartels, Eastern European mafias and MS-13and the international array of law enforcement agencies that seek to eradicate them. Exhibits and corresponding digital content on the Museums website (www.themobmuseum.org) will be regularly updated to reflect the latest global organized crime developments.

Use of Force Training Experience

One of two new experiential spaces that explore law enforcement methods of identifying, apprehending, and prosecuting criminals, the Use of Force Training Experience places guests in the shoes of law enforcement officers. Guests will engage in an intensive training session using both digital and live role-playing scenarios that demonstrate the speed and complexity of use of force decisions. Related exhibits examine an array of factors that influence law enforcement responses to real or perceived threats, with a focus on the use of deadly force.

Crime Lab Experience

The Crime Lab offers guests a hands-on, interactive exploration of five different forensic science topics. Guests explore the Crime Lab, which is guided by a Museum educator and features original multimedia with insights from forensic science experts. While spending time at each station, guests will acquire a foundational understanding of scientific techniques used to conduct death investigation, DNA profiling, fingerprint analysis, crime scene investigation and firearms examination.

The price for admission to the Use of Force Training Experience is $12 in addition to regular admission. Admission to the Crime Lab is $7 plus regular admission. An All-Access Pass, which combines general Museum admission and both the Use of Force Training Experience and Crime Lab, is available; its price is $41.95, with special reduced pricing for Nevada residents, law enforcement, military, teachers, seniors and students. The Organized Crime Today exhibit is included in the price of regular admission.

The final phase of the Museums renovation and expansion will be completed this April with the opening of the enhanced Prohibition history exhibition, The Underground, which will include a working speakeasy and distillery.Cambodian-Americans have welcomed the drafting of a bill by a group of prominent U.S. Senators that could see further sanctions imposed on Cambodia over its anti-democratic crackdown.

The Cambodia Accountability and Return on Investment (CARI) Act calls for further sanctions on Prime Minister Hun Sens government, including possible asset freezes.

Hun Sens government has led a crackdown in recent months that has seen the countrys main opposition party, the Cambodia National Rescue Party, dissolved and its leader imprisoned on treason charges. Media outlets, civil society groups, and activists have also been targeted by the courts and security forces.

The CARI Act was sponsored by Sen. Linsey Graham, Sen. Ted Cruz, Sen. Dick Durban, Sen. Patrick Leahy, and Sen. Ben Cardin, and was introduced on February 8. The bill will impose further visa bans on officials, opposition to new loans and other assistance from international institutions and a prohibition on debt relief, as well as possible asset freezes on top officials.

Nem Chhoeung, president of the Cambodia Town Association in Georgia, said a red line had been crossed, which had led to support for more sanctions.

This shows the U.S. legislatures commitment to bringing back democracy as a signatory country of the Paris Peace Agreement. If this step is not taken, there will be no significant impacts.

The international community condemned the Cambodian government for jailing the CNRP president, Kem Sokha, in September, and later dissolving his party.

The United States has since imposed limited sanctions on officials, including visa bans.

I think that the bill will go through the Senate quickly because this is an urgent matter for Cambodia and the international community, said Men Vannak, a community activist from Lowell, Massachusetts. If the bill is not passed right now, it will also be useful in the future after the elections in Cambodia.

Vannak believes that the bill will make signatories to the Paris Peace Agreements reinvigorate their commitments to guarantee Cambodias sovereignty, territorial integrity, democracy, and development.

"This bill, I believe, will be effective and influential, Vannak added, because if the 18 countries that signed [the Paris Peace Agreement] convene a meeting at the United Nations, I think Cambodia will consider not to keep itself isolated from the international system."

The Paris Peace Agreement was signed on 23 October 1991 by four warring factions and 18 other countries, under the presence of the United Nations. The agreement was intended to end armed conflicts and bring democracy to Cambodia.

Cambodian-American human rights activists have been active in the past several years organizing conferences, lobbying the United Nations and U.S. legislators, and holding demonstrations to ask signatory countries to review the implementation of the Paris Peace Agreement. They argued that it has not been fully implemented.

We see that the Cambodian people have finally seen the light at the end of the tunnel now, said independent analyst Kuch Schanly. This is because the United States, which is a signatory to the agreement, has acted. It is in conformity with the requirements of the Paris agreement that the governments of any of the signatory countries will act to get it reviewed. This is what the Cambodians want. This is the hope and dream of Khmer people both inside and outside the country.

Cambodia will hold national elections on July 29.

But Schanly said that the US should focus on the implementation of the sanctions after that because the election has already been compromised.

"The US has already known that this election is unacceptable, he said. Its not going to be free and fair.

The CARI act will require the US Secretary of State to submit a report to the Senate every 90 days until December 31, 2020. It also authorizes programs to be broadcast on the Internet that inform and educate the people of Cambodia about the role of China in support of the Khmer Rouge regime and the role of the international community, especially the United States, to support the implementation of the Paris Peace Agreement, and Cambodia development from 1991 to 2017.

Cambodia is in deep crisis and it is very important and timely that the bill is introduced, said CNRP vice president Mu Sochua. Its never too late. The CNRP and other democratic forces in Cambodia and millions of Cambodians continue to believe in the PPA [Paris Peace Agreement]. The bill will honor the will of the people who desire the real process to peace as defined in the PPA.Im Chaem, a former Khmer Rouge official who was charged by a United Nations-backed tribunal with crimes against humanity including mass murder, extermination and enslavement, has converted to Christianity under the tutelage of a man who survived a forced labor camp she oversaw.

I was redeemed, she told VOA Khmer Friday by phone from her home in Anlong Veng, a district in northwest Cambodia known as the final Khmer Rouge stronghold.

People have accused me of killing others. Thats wrong, said the 75-year-old grandmother, a Buddhist by birth. I have never used violence or threatened anyone. I did not accept the accusations of wrongdoing, as I did only the right.

This Sunday, Im Chaem will hold worship services in her O Angre village home for the third time since her baptism Jan. 22. She plans to pray with seven church members, a congregation that includes members of her family who converted with her and friends.

There will be Bible study, perhaps from the New Testaments Book of John, which Im Chaem told VOA she appreciates for its fairness and the verse 3:16: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Case dismissed

Last year, on Feb. 22, the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, the tribunal tasked with trying those accused of the most horrific crimes of the Khmer Rouge rule from 1975 to 1979 dismissed the case against Im Chaem. The court found that she was neither a senior leader nor otherwise one of the most responsible officials of the regime.

Weeks earlier, in December, U.N. prosecutor Nicholas Koumjian said in a statement that Im Chaem played a key role in the commission of crimes which led to many thousands of deaths. International prosecutors said in a statement that Im Chaem had had been selected by the Khmer Rouge to lead a cleansing campaign in northwest Cambodia.

Im Chaem had refused to cooperate with the court.

The charges, which she had denied in the past, stemmed from her tenure as deputy secretary of the Koh Andet District in her native Takeo province and her role as district chief of the Preah Net Preah district in Banteay Meancheay province. With a colleague, she may have been responsible for as many as 560,000 deaths, according to The New York Times.

When the charges against Im Chaem were dismissed, Neth Pheaktra, tribunal spokesman, said there had been no pressure from the government to drop the case.

Prime Minister Hun Sen, as with many in Cambodias government and military, is a former Khmer Rouge functionary. He has cautioned the tribunal that prosecutions could lead to civil war, and international critics have accused the government of not cooperating with the tribunal.

Since its inception in 2006, the tribunal has convicted three people: two senior leaders and Kaing Guek Eav, commonly known as Duch and the commandant of Tuol Sleng, the notorious Khmer Rouge prison. He converted to Christianity in 1996 and was convicted of war crimes in 2010 in the torture and killing of more than 14,000 prisoners.

Khmer Rouge converts

Christopher LaPel, a Cambodian pastor for the Golden West Christian Church in Los Angeles and a founding leader of the Cambodian Christian Church in northwest Cambodia, converted to Christianity in 1979 while in a Thai refugee camp, where hed fled as the Khmer Rouge fell to the invading Vietnamese.

LaPel converted Duch, who joined about 2 percent of the population in an overwhelmingly Buddhist nation.

LaPel also converted Im Chaem, who oversaw construction in Trapeang Thma, where enslaved Cambodians, including LaPel, built a dam by hand.

On Thursday evening, LaPel told VOA, While many people may hate her, I love her. He was determined to help her find peace after living through the tumult of Cambodias Khmer Rouge era, he told VOA.

In November, while visiting Cambodia, LaPel was listening to VOA and heard about developments in Im Chaems case before the tribunal. He decided to find her and traced his onetime nemesis to Oddar Meanchey province and then to her village.

Its true that Mrs. Im Chaem received Jesus Christ as her savior God on November 6, 2017, he told VOA, adding that her husband and children also converted.

She accepted Christ because she heard testimonies and gospels from her Khmer Rouge comrades, LaPel said. They give their testimony about their life to her, that God changed them, that before they had never known whats peace and whats love.

And she has been through all these kinds of issues, that her life had no direction and was empty, LaPel said. When she decided, she knows that only Jesus can give her harmony, peace, love, hope in her life and her family and God can forgive her sins.

When asked if those sins were those set forth in the charges the tribunal dropped, LaPel said, The sins or issues relating to Khmer Rouge era, we did not know if she was involved or not. It is the personal relationship between her and God only.

Im Chaem told VOA she has felt relieved since she converted, in part because a mysterious illness afflicting her son Loeung, who also converted, is abating.

She insisted that her Christian faith is steadfast. I will never change, she said. God has come into my heart and helps me to spiritually grow.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can download this video to view it offline.The third Monday of February is known as Presidents Day in the United States. For nearly 100 years, America honored its first president, George Washington, on February 22. That was his birthday. But the date was not a national holiday until 1968.

Abraham Lincoln 1857 by Alexander Hessler Abraham Lincoln 1857 by Alexander Hessler Abraham Lincoln 1857 by Alexander Hessler

That year, the U.S. Congress passed a measure known as the Uniform Monday Holiday Act. The measure meant that some public holidays would always fall on a Monday. Today, the country honors its first president on the third Monday in February -- and not on Washingtons actual birthday.

The holiday is now commonly called Presidents Day. Many say it also honors Abraham Lincolns birthday. The nations 16th president was born on February 12.

The federal government, however, still recognizes the holiday as Washingtons Birthday.

The Uniform Monday Holiday Act gives workers a three-day weekend. It also gives shops and marketers a chance to have special Presidents Day sales.

Presidential facts and 'firsts'

In January 2017, Donald J. Trump made history when he took the oath of office as the 45th president of the United States. At 70 years old, he became the oldest elected president. Before Trump, Ronald Reagan was the oldest person to take office. He was 69 years old when he became president in 1981.

Trump first day Donald Trump is sworn in as the 45th president of the United States Donald Trump is sworn in as the 45th president of the United States

As the first billionaire president, Trump also replaced John F. Kennedy, the 35th president, as the richest man to serve as president.

Kennedy still holds the record for the youngest person to be elected president. He was 43 when he took office. Kennedy is also the youngest president to die in office. He was assassinated in 1963 in Dallas, Texas. He was 46 years old.

Another presidential assassination actually put the youngest person in the office of the president. In 1901, Theodore Roosevelt, then the vice president, became president at the age of 42. He took office after William McKinley, the 25th president, was shot and killed in Buffalo, New York.

The first president to die in office, though, was William Henry Harrison. The countrys ninth president only served 32 days, the shortest time of any president.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Another Roosevelt holds the record for the longest time in office. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the 32nd president, held office for 4,422 days. After his death, the 22nd amendment was passed. It limited a person to two four-year terms as president.

Most Americans know that the two Roosevelts were related. But they may not know how, exactly, they were related.



Here it goes: Franklin Roosevelts wife, Eleanor Roosevelt was also his fifth cousin once removed. And Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th president, was Eleanors uncle. That makes the two presidents distant relatives.

But they were not the first relatives to both serve as president. That title belongs to the Adams. John Adams was Americas second president. His son, John Quincy Adams was elected as the nations sixth president.

The Bushes are the other father-son presidential pair. George Herbert Walker Bush was elected as the 41st president. His son, George W. Bush, was the countrys 43rd president.

Not everyone can run for president.

The U.S. Constitution says that a person must be at least 35 years old. A person must also have lived within the United States for at least 14 years. And they must be a natural-born citizen.

Portrait of Martin Van Buren by Mathew Brady Portrait of Martin Van Buren by Mathew Brady Portrait of Martin Van Buren by Mathew Brady

But the meaning of natural-born citizen is not exactly clear. People read the rule in different ways.

The first natural-born American president was not George Washington or John Adams. It was Martin Van Buren, the eighth president. He was born in 1782, six years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

All seven presidents before Van Buren, and William Henry Harrison, the ninth president, were not natural-born citizens. They were born before 1776, when the American states were still British colonies.

Hai Do wrote this story for VOA Learning English. Ashley Thompson was the editor.Over the past several months, dozens of women have come forward with allegations of sexual abuse by celebrities and politicians, prompting a global movement against sexual harassment.

But Native American advocacy groups say far too little attention is focused on the issue of sexual violence against native women, which has been going on since colonial times, and that the vast majority of abusers are never brought to justice.

2016 National Institute of Justice statistics back up their complaints:

* More than 4 in 5 American Indian and Alaska Native women have experienced violence in their lifetime. That includes sexual violence, physical and/or emotional aggression by a partner, and stalking.

* Alaska Native women endure the highest rate of forced sexual assault and fall victim to domestic violence at a rate 10 times higher than anywhere else in the United States.

* Ninety-six percent of Native American victims of rape or sexual assault are attacked by non-native assailants.

Whose lives are valuable?

Criminal jurisdiction in Indian Country (on reservations and other lands held in government trust) is shared by federal, state and local governments, depending on the location of the crime and the race of the perpetrator.

A 1978 Supreme Court ruling prohibits tribes, recognized by treaties to be sovereign nations, from prosecuting non-native offenders who commit crimes on Indian reservations.

Navajo Nation Amber Alert FILE - In this May 3, 2016 photo, candles burn at a memorial for Ashlynne Mike, who was abducted and murdered, on the Navajo Nation southwest of Farmington, New Mexico. FILE - In this May 3, 2016 photo, candles burn at a memorial for Ashlynne Mike, who was abducted and murdered, on the Navajo Nation southwest of Farmington, New Mexico.

"This creates a racialized kind of impunity in which non-native people learn of their privileged racial status and then seek to exploit it in land where the only governing body that has the power to arrest and prosecute them is prevented from doing so," said Amy Casselman Hontalas, adjunct professor of ethnic studies at San Francisco State University and author of Injustice in Indian Country: Jurisdiction, American Law, and Sexual Violence Against Native Women.

Moreover, federal attorneys decline to prosecute more than half of violent crimes committed in Indian Country  the majority of which (67 percent) involve sexual abuse, according to a 2010 report by the U.S. Government Accounting Office.

In a partial fix to the problem, then-Senator Joe Biden of Delaware authored the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) in 1994, which has been reauthorized several times.

VAWA 2013 gives tribes the authority to arrest and prosecute non-Indians who commit certain domestic violence crimes within their territory, but it stipulates they either must be living or working on tribal lands, and must be "the spouse, intimate partner or dating partner of an Indian living in Indian Country or a tribal member."

"It's a very narrow carveout," Casselman Hontalas said. "It kind of makes you wonder whose lives are valuable here. And if we determine that tribal criminal jurisdiction is a good thing, then why would we not extend it?"

Compounding matters, violence against native women isn't well-tracked, and many crimes aren't reported. Tribes also lack the funds to address victims' needs.

Pending legislation

Several new laws have been introduced to fill some of these gaps, said Caroline LaPorte, senior policy adviser on Native Affairs for the National Indigenous Women's Resource Center, which advocates for changes in the law.

"Savanna's Act, which was introduced by Senator Heidi Heitkamp [a Democrat from North Dakota] in October 2017, would increase coordination between law enforcement agencies when a Native American goes missing or gets killed," LaPorte said.

The Securing Urgent Resources Vital to Indian Victim Empowerment Act, which Senator John Hoeven introduced in September 2017, would increase funds to help tribes provide culturally relevant medical care, counseling, legal and other services to victims of violence. Hoeven, a Republican from North Dakota, is chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs.

And the Native Youth and Tribal Officer Protection Act, which Senator Tom Udall, a Democrat from New Mexico, introduced in December 2017, would extend protections both to children and law enforcement personnel involved in domestic violence incidents on tribal lands.

Meanwhile, VAWA 2013 is set expire in September 2018, and there is some uncertainty about whether it will be reauthorized. In 2013, 22 senators, all Republicans, voted against the bill. Opponents argue it costs the government too much and violates constitutional limits on the federal government's power.

President Donald Trump has proposed boosting the VAWA budget to about $485 million next year, pulling from funds set aside for crime victims. And, more than a year into office, he has not yet appointed anyone to head the Justice Department's VAWA office.

Still, LaPorte said she's certain Congress will reauthorize VAWA.

"I just choose to be optimistic about it," she said.WASHINGTON/ISLAMABAD - A security expert from the Afghan-Pakistan region said Pakistani officials are blaming unrest on Afghan refugees in a bid to divert attention from the real causes of militancy.

At a security conference in the German city of Munich Saturday, Pakistan's chief of army staff Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa said the repatriation of Afghan refugees could greatly help in curbing terrorism in the Pak-Afghan region.

"We still have nearly 2.7 million Afghan refugees in our country, whose concentrations are routinely used by TTA (The Afghan Taliban) and the Haqqani network to recruit, morph and melt (disappear into the refugee population). It is time for these refugees to be repatriated with dignity.It is the only way we can ensure that no one is misusing our hospitality and soil for mischief in Afghanistan," Bajwa said.

But Said Alam, a security affairs expert based in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas that border Afghanistan told VOA that by pointing to the presence of Afghan refugees as a major cause, Bajwa tried to divert the world's attention from Pakistan's own "shortcomings" in taking effective steps against militant groups.

"Who are the foot soldiers of Jaish-e-Mohammad? Afghan refugees have nothing to do with the groups that are nurtured by [the] Pakistan army," Alam said. Jaish-e-Mohammad is a militant group blamed for several attacks in Indian-administered Kashmir.

Afghanistan and the United States said Pakistan offers safe haven to the terrorist groups that launch attacks inside Afghanistan, a charge Pakistan denies.

.

Hamid Saeed, former chief of Pakistan's military intelligence and a defense analyst, told VOA that Bajwa's statement regarding the Afghan refugees should be seen in the right context.

"There is evidence that terrorists hiding among the Afghan refugees were behind most of the recent terrorist attacks. Terrorists cross into Pakistan and stay in the refugee camps, making it humanly impossible to carry out any sort of surveillance," he added.

Saeed said the logical solution to terrorism was for Afghan refugees to go home. But Dr. Ijaz Khattak, an international affairs expert, told VOA that mixing the refugee issue with terrorism is a poor strategy."This will further complicate the issue, and the international community is not going to buy this narrative," he told VOA.

On Saturday, Afghanistan's president, Ashraf Ghani, pledged to bring back all refugees in Pakistan in "the next 24 months," saying it will put an end to allegations the displaced community is a source of regional instability.

Pakistan hosts millions of Afghan refugees, half of them undocumented, and has been pressing for an early repatriation of the displaced population, saying their presence "helps Afghan terrorists to melt and morph among them."

"In the next 24 months, my priority and goal is to bring back all Afghan refugees in Pakistan," Ghani said in a televised speech Saturday. "We don't want them [Pakistanis] to say refugees do this or do that. [We know] refugees are innocent. So, let us resolve to bring them back to solve this problem once and for all."

Ayaz Gul, Nasir Mahmood Nasir contributed to this report.PHNOM PENH - In a startlingly frank report last month, The Cambodian Rice Federation (CRF) warned the countrys entire export market could be destroyed by the scourge of rice smuggling.

The report, which detailed a laundry list of problems within the CRF itself and the sector as a whole, provides a window into the deep dysfunction and fragility of an industry that occupies a fundamentally central place in Cambodias society and economy.

The CRF was founded in 2014 to try and turbocharge a Cambodian rice industry that lagged far behind rivals Thailand and Vietnam in output.

While exports rose in 2017 by 17.3 percent on the previous year to about 700,000 tons following a years long upward trend they remain far shy of Vietnam, which exported nearly 6 million tons and Thailand, which exported more than 11 million tons in the same period.

The reasons for this chronic inefficiency are myriad and complex, as the CRF report noted.

It raised concerns over fake branding, price manipulation, disciplinary issues and conflicts of interest in the CRF board, a lack of credible data, favoritism, mistrust and the impact of the prevailing pattern of land grabbing, on farmers.

It also raised the topic of Vietnamese smuggling which, until recently, had been such a taboo subject that when a public spat erupted in 2013 over the scale of the problem, Cambodian officials came out in force to flatly deny the issue existed.

In a departure from that tradition, the CRF pointedly raised the threat Vietnamese smuggling posed to WTO and ASEAN trade compliance rules and regulations in its report.

Smuggling of milled rice from Vietnam hinders efforts to comply with the rules of origin, as there are complaints about re-exporting rice into a third country. This could cost Cambodia the entire export market, the authors wrote.

After replacing foreign signs with domestic labels, traders distribute the smuggled rice countrywide, distorting competition and prices in the domestic market.

FILE - Cambodian farmers plant rice on the dry ear FILE - Cambodian farmers plant rice on the dry earth in the rice paddy on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, Cambodia. FILE - Cambodian farmers plant rice on the dry earth in the rice paddy on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Rules of origin regulations vary among trading partners but the biggest concern by far for Cambodia would be if smuggling invalidated their preferential access to the EU market.

In 2017, 43.54 percent of Cambodian rice exports went to the EU according to government figures.

A European Commission spokesperson told VOA that any allegations of wrongdoing involving a preferential market access scheme need of course to be taken very seriously.

When benefiting from the free access to the EU market under 'Everything But Arms' scheme, Cambodia has to ensure that the rice exported to the EU is fully homegrown, the source said.

In this respect the Commission welcomed the adoption by Cambodia of Code of Conduct aiming at ensuring the integrity of rice exports to the EU.

Code of conduct

In 2014 the CRF established a Cambodia Code of Conduct which barred firms from exporting rebranded cheap rice from neighboring countries and two years later claimed to be tightening border controls on illegal imports.

The effectiveness of the implementation of the code though remains questionable.

CRF deputy president Seu Rany said the CRF did not have any hard statistics on the amount of Vietnamese rice being smuggled into the country but accepted it remained a serious problem.

Farmers collect rice in a rice paddy field in Kand Farmers collect rice in a rice paddy field in Kandal province, Cambodia, Feb. 11, 2015. Farmers collect rice in a rice paddy field in Kandal province, Cambodia, Feb. 11, 2015.

The criminals who smuggle the rice do not tell us through which gateway they do it through so its all secret and shady, he said.

CRF and related ministries are working on transactions in the rice market. This is a fly in the ointment because there are small-time rice smugglers on top of the bigger ones and this definitely strains the market.

The rice federation board is dominated by wealthy and political connected tycoons at the top of the industry and is chaired by Sok Puthyvuth, the son of late Deputy Prime Minister Sok An and owner of one of the biggest rice export companies - SOMA group.

Dominating members are accused of using CRF for their own benefit, discouraging the willingness of other members to pay membership fees or make other contribution or engagements, was one of the 2017-2021 Strategic Plans findings.

The consequence is that CRF per se is not a representative body for all stakeholders of the rice sector."

Chhong Sophal, coordinating officer of an independent national network of farmers associations called Farmer and Nature Net, said one of the most important things the rice board would find rice farmers lacked was simply coordination.

The farmers just follow suit of other farmers. They do not have a contract with any company. Due to this, the merchants can manipulate the price.

If the farmers are able to get proper pricing, they will make profits of 2 million riels ($500) per hectare. If they plant on 1 to 1.5 hectares, their income will be even better.

The report by the rice federation said the CRF secretariat appeared to be confused between tasks involving the back and front offices, the board members attended meetings based on whether or not their interests would be affected, and the body made no clear effort to gather information about issues members are facing.

Rany, the board's deputy chairman, said change would take time.

CRF is a burgeoning institution, but the size of the work is enormous. Hence, our experience is somehow limited.

It is best to sit down and talk out individual problems and solve them along the way. That way, the farmer will survive and so will the rice millers and exporters.Frustration is mounting in the medical community as the Trump administration again points to mental illness in response to yet another mass shooting.

"The concept that mental illness is a precursor to violent behavior is nonsense," said Dr. Louis Kraus, forensic psychiatry chief at Chicago's Rush University Medical College. "The vast majority of gun violence is not attributable to mental illness."

Nikolas Cruz, the 19-year-old charged with killing 17 people on Valentine's Day at his former high school in Parkland, Florida has been described by students as a loner with troubling behavior who had been kicked out of school. His mother recently died and Cruz had been staying with family friends.

Since the shooting, his mental health has been the focus of President Donald Trump's comments. And on a Thursday call with reporters, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said the administration is committed to addressing serious mental illness and that his agency "will be laser-focused on this issue in the days, weeks, and months to come."

Mental health professionals welcome more resources and attention, but they say the administration is ignoring the real problem - easy access to guns, particularly the kind of high-powered highly lethal assault weapons used in many of the most recent mass shootings.

"Even for those who manage to survive gun violence involving these weapons, the severity and lasting impact of their wounds, disabilities and treatment leads to devastating consequences," American Medical Association President David Barbe wrote in an online column after the shooting.

"We are not talking about Second Amendment rights or restricting your ability to own a firearm. We are talking about a public health crisis that our Congress has failed to address. This must end," Barbe wrote.

Better access to mental health care, including for those who might be prone to violence, is important, but "to blame this all just on mental illness is not sufficient," he said in an interview Friday.

The AMA has supported efforts to boost gun violence research, ban assault weapons and to restrict access to automatic weapons. Barbe wrote in his column that federally funded research is crucial to address an "urgent health crisis."

Under gun industry pressure, U.S. government research on firearm violence has been limited for decades.

The American Psychiatric Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and four other medical associations issued a joint statement Friday urging comprehensive action by Trump and Congress, including labeling gun violence a national public health epidemic.

The groups' recommendations include limits on high-powered, rapid-fire weapons designed to kill and funding gun violence research at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

According to the CDC, there were about 38,000 U.S. gun deaths in 2016, slightly more than the number of people who died in car crashes.

"The families of the victims in Parkland and all those whose lives have been impacted by daily acts of gun violence deserve more than our thoughts and prayers. They need action from the highest levels of our government to stop this epidemic of gun violence now," the groups said in a statement.

The American Academy of Family Physicians, the American College of Physicians, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American Osteopathic Association contributed to the statement.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement Sunday that Trump is working with senators on a bill designed to improve criminal background checks. "While discussions are ongoing and revisions are being considered, the President is supportive of efforts to improve the Federal background check system," she said.

Florida's Republican governor, Rick Scott, a Trump ally, said he had discussed with Trump and GOP leaders how to restrict gun access to the mentally ill.

Federal and state laws already attempt to do this, in many cases with a ban on gun ownership for people who have been treated in mental institutions.

Kraus noted that a year ago Trump rolled back an Obama-era law that aimed to prevent certain mentally ill people from buying guns. But he suggested that is beside the point.

"There's a great naivete to what the president and the governor are proposing," Kraus said. A history of violent behavior, alcohol and substance use, and previous criminal behavior are all more pertinent factors to consider.

Dr. Garen Wintemute, director of a violence prevention research program at the University of California, Davis, said gun violence restraining order laws in California and Washington are ``a much more focused approach.'' The laws allow courts to keep guns out of the hands of people who pose threats to themselves or others.

"Florida has no such mechanism. Could have prevented this one; there was plenty of advance notice," Wintemute said.The highly popular Retirement Renewal Forums returns for its third year this spring with a stellar lineup of speakers under the direction of Kal Edwards, forum founder and retirement renewal specialist.

Such topics as how to keep up with electronic change, whether or not to age in place, and the value of humor as we age will be featured.

The series kicks off on Tuesday, March 6, with technology education specialist Skye Hallberg who will speak on Keeping Pace with the Digital Age: Whats New, Whats Old, Whats Useless! She will discuss eliminating common fears of electronic devices, offer practical approaches to making electronic choices and answer questions from the audience.

The forums continue on Tuesday, May 1, with Dr. Sara Zeff Gerber with The Challenges and Solutions to Aging in Place. A retirement, transition specialist, Dr. Gerber will bring her insights and options for continuing to live in ones home or choosing other living options which may be more suitable after retirement.

The series concludes on Tuesday, Sept. 18, with Keeping the Laughter in our Lives pairing a well-known humorist with an elder-care physician discussing the mental and physical benefits of laughter.TEL AVIV - An Egyptian company will buy $15 billion of Israeli natural gas in two 10-year agreements announced on Monday, marking a major export deal that Israel hopes will strengthen diplomatic ties.

The partners in Israels Tamar and Leviathan offshore gas fields said they have signed with private Egyptian firm Dolphinus Holdings to supply a total of around 64 billion cubic meters of gas over a decade - with half coming from each field and the proceeds split equally between them.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the agreements would strengthen our economy (and) strengthen regional ties. His energy minister Yuval Steinitz called it the most significant export deal with Egypt since the neighbors signed their historic peace treaty in 1979.

Israels Delek Group and Texas-based Noble Energy have led both gas projects.

Egypt is becoming a real gas hub, Yossi Abu, CEO of Delek subsidiary Delek Drilling, told Reuters. This deal is the first deal of potentially more to come.

The partners have also been trying to finalize a long-term export deal with a Royal Dutch Shell plant in Egypt.

An Egyptian government official, who declined to be identified, said the deal did not mean Egypt itself would import any gas from abroad.

International private companies will import gas from abroad in the framework of their own needs, and will liquefy and export them again, the official said, without elaborating.

Shares in Delek Drilling were up 23 percent on the news and Delek Group shares were up 17 percent. Barclays analyst Tavy Rosner said weakness seen in Israeli gas shares over the past several months was due to investors being skeptical that gas exports would ever take place. We believe todays announcement will pave the way to a re-rating of the shares, he said.

Leviathan, located about 80 miles (130 km) west of Haifa, was discovered in December 2010 and is scheduled to start producing by the end of 2019.

Exports from Tamar, which began production in 2013, are expected to start under the deal some time between the second half of 2020 and the end of 2021.

Dolphinus, Delek said, is a natural gas trade company that plans to supply large industrial and commercial consumers in Egypt. It added that Egypt had amended regulations last week to allow private groups to import gas.

The companies did not give a date for when supplies to Egypt were expected to start. The means of delivering the gas to Egypt still needs to be settled.

One export option, Delek said in a statement, was to supply the gas through an old pipeline built by East Mediterranean Gas (EMG) originally designed to send gas in the other direction.

Egypt had once sold gas to Israel, but the deal collapsed in 2012 after months of attacks on the pipeline by militants in Egypts Sinai peninsula.

Another option would be to use a pipeline being built as part of a separate deal to sell gas from Leviathan to Jordan.

The export agreements are conditioned upon receipt of regulatory and government approvals in Israel and in Egypt.

Noble and Delek Drilling together control 85 percent of Leviathan, with the rest held by Ratio Oil.

They are joined in Tamar by Isramco Negev, Tamar Petroleum - a spin-off of Delek - and two other small partners.BERLIN - Germany is coming under mounting pressure to tackle equipment shortages in its military that fellow NATO nations fear is eroding German readiness as it prepares to take the command of a NATO rapid response force.

Member states take turns heading NATO's Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF) in eastern Europe, which has grown in importance amid concerns that Russian military activities, including support for separatists in eastern Ukraine, have surpassed levels seen during the height of the Cold War.

German lawmakers and NATO allies have grown frustrated about the slow pace of progress on the military preparedness of Europe's most populous country and economic powerhouse, with some key weapons systems only available 40 percent of the time.

"German readiness levels are a serious concern," a NATO diplomat, who asked not to be further identified, told Reuters.

Defense ministry spokesman Jens Flosdorff said on Monday equipment still needed for VJTF would arrive by mid-year and the German military could carry out all its duties when it assumes rotational control of the force at the start of 2019.

NATO's VJTF includes 5,000 to 7,000 soldiers that can be deployed within days in the event of a crisis.

But Flosdorff said the ministry was concerned about shortages of tanks and other military equipment, such as body armor. The ministry aimed to reverse this trend, caused by a years-long decline in defense spending, by 2030, but this would take time, he told a regular government news conference.

"Will the Bundeswehr (German armed forces) be able to carry out its missions in line with its NATO obligations? Yes. But that doesn't mean that we can be satisfied with the overall readiness of the Bundeswehr."

Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen pledged to address the gaps when she took office over four years ago and military budgets are now rising again, albeit slowly, but media reports of further shortages continue to surface regularly.

"The Bundeswehr's problems aren't new, but it is shocking that nearly nothing has improved after four years of Ursula von der Leyen serving as defense minister," said Tobias Lindner, a defense and budget expert for the opposition Greens.

He said the Greens had asked von der Leyen to give lawmakers an overview of readiness at a committee meeting on Wednesday, instead of them learning about specific problems from the media on a near daily basis.

There was no immediate comment from the Defense Ministry.

Tanks, body armor all missing

Critics questioned Germany's ability to head the VJTF next year after an internal ministry report leaked last week revealed serious deficits in the equipment of the German brigade that will lead the task force, mainly due to a lack of spare parts.

The conservative daily Die Welt reported that the brigade had only nine of 44 Leopard 2 tanks, and three of the 14 Marder armored personnel carriers that it needs. It is also missing night vision goggles, support vehicles, winter clothing and body armor, according to German media reports.

Henning Otte, defense spokesman for Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative bloc in parliament, said the new governing coalition deal with the Social Democrats included specific measures to improve military procurements. "We have to ensure that equipment gets to troops faster," he said.

Shortfalls also afflict the German navy and air force.

At the moment, military officials say none of Germany's six submarines can be deployed, only five of 16 A400M military airlifters are ready for use, and it will cost 500 million euros ($618 million) to ready hundreds of new Puma tanks for combat.

The already troubling readiness rates of other weapons - including the Eurofighter, Tornado and CH-53G heavy transport helicopters - have also stagnated or worsened over the past year, according to multiple sources familiar with the issue.

Defense Minister Frank Bakke Jensen of Norway said his country was tracking the situation in Germany closely, given ongoing disquiet about Russian military behavior but he had been assured that the submarines would be working again soon.Gambia's president has declared a moratorium on the death penalty, calling it a "first step toward abolition."

President Adama Barrow announced the moratorium while addressing a large crowd gathered Sunday for the country's independence anniversary.



This tiny West African nation is emerging from 22 years of dictatorship that were marked by arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings. Gambia made headlines in August 2012 when ex-dictator Yahya Jammeh defied international appeals when he ordered the execution of nine prisoners on death row saying it was a move to curb the country's rising crime rate.



Now Barrow's one-year-old government has begun judicial and constitutional reforms. The parliament is in the process of enacting legislation to establish a Truth, Reconciliation and Reparation Commission and a Human Rights Commission.The humanitarian sector lacks creativity and must innovate to deliver more value for the money, officials said Monday, amid fears of a funding shortfall following the Oxfam sex scandal.

Aid groups must make better use of technology  from cash transfer programs to drones  to improve the delivery of services, said a panel of government officials in London.

"For far too long, when faced with a challenge, we've looked inward and crafted a solution that doesn't work for the communities we're meant to serve," said Mark Green, head of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

"Be it in London or [Washington] D.C., we humanitarians are way behind in terms of creativity," he added.

Green was speaking at an event hosted by the Overseas Development Institute, a think-tank, to launch the Humanitarian Grand Challenge, an initiative by the U.S., British and Canadian governments to promote innovation across the aid sector.

Britain's aid minister Penny Mordaunt said aid groups must learn from communities' and the private sector's creativity in addressing challenges including climate shocks and malnutrition.

Mordaunt cited innovations such as cash transfer programs  whereby recipients receive cash electronically rather than aid provisions  as one way to deliver humanitarian aid better, faster and cheaper, while also giving communities autonomy.

Other promising technologies include gathering data on mobile phones and the use of drones to determine where the most urgent needs are in humanitarian crises, according to Mordaunt.

FILE - In this April 13, 2017, photo, Yemenis pres FILE - In this April 13, 2017 photo, Yemenis present documents in order to receive food rations provided by a local charity, in Sana'a, Yemen. FILE - In this April 13, 2017 photo, Yemenis present documents in order to receive food rations provided by a local charity, in Sana'a, Yemen.

Green said the United States had spent $8 billion on aid in 2017, of which 80 percent went to services in conflict zones.

"Less than 1 percent of that money, however, went into innovations and ways to improve the delivery of aid services."

British charity Oxfam has come under fire this month over sexual misconduct accusations against its staff in Haiti and Chad which have threatened its U.K. government and EU funding.

Several industry experts have warned that the backlash against Oxfam could drive charities to cover up cases of sex abuse for fear of losing support and funding from the public, donors and governments.Iranian rescue teams battled weather and mountainous terrain Monday as they searched for the wreckage of a plane that crashed with 65 people on board.

The Aseman Airlines flight left Tehran Sunday morning for the city of Yasuj in Isfahan province, but went down in the Zagros mountains. Officials fear all those on board were killed.

Zagros mountains, Iran Zagros mountains, Iran Zagros mountains, Iran

The search effort was initially delayed due to dense fog, high winds and snow that made it impossible for helicopters to get close to the crash site. Conditions improved enough Monday for the helicopters to operate.

The United Nations said Secretary-General Antonio Guterres joined world leaders in expressing sorrow over the crash. The U.N. said Guterres "was deeply saddened to learn of the tragic airplane accident" and extended his "heartfelt condolences" to the families of the victims and the people of Iran.

Decades of international sanctions have left Iran with an aging commercial airline fleet, and accidents have increased in recent years. The country has been unable to buy airplane parts for needed maintenance or upgrade its fleet.

Following the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, Iran signed agreements with both Airbus and Boeing to buy new planes.

Todd Curtis, founder of the website AirSafe.com said Iran was able to keep its planes flying despite sanctions that made it more difficult to buy parts or new aircraft, but that the aviation sector was not able to benefit from working with others in the industry from around the world.

"Many of the things that happen over time in aviation is based on the fact that those professionals who have dedicated their lives to making aviation safer and more efficient, they get a chance to meet each other at conferences, they get a chance to work in different companies over time. In Iran, thats not so easy to do," Curtis told VOA.

He also said the ATR-72 plane has been operating around the world for 25 years, and that while it has been involved in deadly crashes before, "there has been no ongoing issue, no ongoing controversy with anything about the design of the aircraft or fundamental faults with how the aircraft is handled by airlines."Iranian rescue teams, battling weather and mountainous terrain, have located the wreckage of a plane that crashed with 65 people on board, Iran's official IRNA news agency reported Monday.



The Aseman Airlines flight left Tehran Sunday morning for the city of Yasuj in Isfahan province, but went down in the Zagros mountains. Officials fear all those on board were killed.

Zagros mountains, Iran Zagros mountains, Iran Zagros mountains, Iran

The search effort was initially delayed due to dense fog, high winds and snow that made it impossible for helicopters to get close to the crash site. Conditions improved enough Monday for the helicopters to operate.



The United Nations said Secretary-General Antonio Guterres joined world leaders in expressing sorrow over the crash. The U.N. said Guterres "was deeply saddened to learn of the tragic airplane accident" and extended his "heartfelt condolences" to the families of the victims and the people of Iran.



Decades of international sanctions have left Iran with an aging commercial airline fleet, and accidents have increased in recent years. The country has been unable to buy airplane parts for needed maintenance or upgrade its fleet.



Following the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, Iran signed agreements with both Airbus and Boeing to buy new planes.

Relatives of Iranian passengers, onboard the Asema Relatives of Iranian passengers, onboard the Aseman Airlines flight EP3704, react as they gather in front of a mosque near Tehran's Mehrabad airport, Feb. 18, 2018. Relatives of Iranian passengers, onboard the Aseman Airlines flight EP3704, react as they gather in front of a mosque near Tehran's Mehrabad airport, Feb. 18, 2018.

Todd Curtis, founder of the website AirSafe.com said Iran was able to keep its planes flying despite sanctions that made it more difficult to buy parts or new aircraft, but that the aviation sector was not able to benefit from working with others in the industry from around the world.



"Many of the things that happen over time in aviation is based on the fact that those professionals who have dedicated their lives to making aviation safer and more efficient, they get a chance to meet each other at conferences, they get a chance to work in different companies over time.In Iran, that's not so easy to do," Curtis told VOA.



He also said the ATR-72 plane has been operating around the world for 25 years, and that while it has been involved in deadly crashes before, "there has been no ongoing issue, no ongoing controversy with anything about the design of the aircraft or fundamental faults with how the aircraft is handled by airlines."MEXICO CITY - Venezuela's political situation could well be on the agenda during a trip by Mexico's foreign minister to Jamaica next month during which Mexican oil sales are likely to be discussed, Jamaica's foreign minister told Reuters on Monday.

Last week, Reuters reported that Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray will travel to Jamaica and other Caribbean nations in March, as part of efforts to erode Venezuela's oil-based influence in the Caribbean.



Mexico has been looking at the possibility of replacing Venezuela's Petrocaribe program that provided cheap loans for oil to Caribbean nations and has helped Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro retain diplomatic support in the region.



"Jamaica buys (Mexican crude) ... on the spot market, so in terms of Jamaica having an energy relationship with Mexico, that exists, of course, and probably there will be discussions around that," Foreign Minister Kamina Johnson Smith said in a phone interview on Monday, when asked about Mexico's commitment to help improve energy security in the Caribbean.



Johnson Smith said she had invited Videgaray to Jamaica last October and they decided his visit should coincide with a regional conference of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), due to be held in Jamaica on March 5-8.



Videgaray's visit represents the latest development in U.S.-led pressure on Maduro, who retains loyalty from some Caribbean nations that have long benefited from Caracas' oil largesse and have been unwilling to shun the country in regional diplomatic efforts.



"It could be," Johnson Smith said, when asked if Venezuela would be on the agenda with Videgaray. "Hemispherical matters will, of course, be on the agenda."



"But the focus is very much on our bilateral cooperation, deepening trade and investment," she added.



Videgaray's trip follows a visit to Latin America and the Caribbean earlier this month by U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who announced plans to study how possible oil sanctions against Venezuela could be mitigated in the Caribbean.



Mexico's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.



A Mexican official told Reuters last week that Videgaray has sought to engage more with the Caribbean in the wake of a June meeting in which foreign ministers from the 34-nation Organization of American States (OAS) failed to reach agreement on a resolution criticizing Venezuela.BLANTYRE, MALAWI - Police in Malawi are hunting for vigilantes who assaulted a BBC film crew this past weekend after accusing the reporters of being vampires.

The attack happened around 8 p.m. Friday, when Dariud Gregory Barzagan, Ahmed Hussein Divela and Prince Anus Asamoah  journalists for British Broadcasting Corporation  were filming a documentary on traditional magic and the violence associated with it in the northern Karonga district.

Local journalist Henry Mhango accompanied the trio, and said they were attacked in the remote area of Malema.

"We found that some people were terrified because we were in two vehicles and they started mobilizing themselves," Mhango told VOA. "When they came to us, they started confronting us saying they thought maybe we were blood suckers. In the first place, the discussions with locals were going on very well, but the more people were coming, the situation was becoming worse."

He says a crowd armed with stones and other sharp objects assaulted the crew, confiscated some of their equipment and damaged one of their two vehicles.

Mhango, who suffered minor injuries, says they were rescued by police officers and other community leaders who took them to Karonga District Hospital for medical attention.

The attack is the latest incident resulting from a belief in superstition among Malawians.

Earlier in February, a mob in the southern district of Thyolo assaulted workers of the international nongovernmental organization Jhpiego, on suspicion they were blood-sucking vampires.

Two weeks ago, vigilantes burned eight houses and assaulted people suspected of stopping the rains in the Phalombe district.

"It is extremely  worrisome," government spokesperson Nicholas Dausi told VOA on Monday. "In [the] 21st century, we cannot be doing this. Because these beliefs are really costing a lot of lives, and we do not want a [reoccurrence] of this. It is primitive and so retrogressive."

Sangwani Tembo, an anthropologist at the Catholic University of Malawi, says government efforts to debunk superstitions are not making much headway because of the high illiteracy rate among locals.

"And if we look at those particular districts, issues of illiteracy are high compared to other districts," Tembo said. "In most cases when there are problems which they cannot handle, for instance issues of drought, in most cases it is like a scapegoat, so they try to try blame someone."

A local media advocacy group, Nyika Media Club, has condemned the attack and called for the police to bring the culprits to account. Police say no arrests have been made.Mount Sinabung volcano on the Indonesian island of Sumatra erupted Monday, sending columns of ash and smoke more than 5,000 meters into the air and hot clouds down its slops.

There were no injuries or deaths from the morning eruption, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency said.

No one lives inside the 7-kilometer danger zone around the volcano, but hundreds of houses outside it were covered in volcanic ash. Some 30,000 people from around the mount have been forced to relocate in the past few years.

Children play at an elementary school as the Mount Children play at an elementary school as the Mount Sinabung volcano spews smoke in Karo on November 13, 2017. Children play at an elementary school as the Mount Sinabung volcano spews smoke in Karo on November 13, 2017.

Mount Sinabung was dormant for 400 years before it erupted in 2010, killing two people.

After a short period of inactivity, it exploded again in 2013 and since has remained highly active.

An eruption in 2014 left 16 people dead, and one in 2016 killed seven.

There are nearly 130 volcanoes in Indonesia due to the countrys geographic position on the so-called "Ring of Fire," a belt of tectonic plates circling the Pacific Ocean with frequent seismic activity. Three volcanoes in Indonesia are currently active.WELLINGTON - New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Tuesday the final text of a revised Trans-Pacific trade pact would be released on Wednesday when her government publishes its own assessment of the deal.

"We now have confirmation that we'll...be able to release the text," Ardern told reporters at Parliament. "...We should be in a position to do that tomorrow."

Eleven nations, led by Japan, announced in January that the new Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) would go ahead with some adjustments after the United States pulled out of an earlier version at the start of 2017.

More than 20 parts of the original pact had been suspended or changed, Ardern said.

The New Zealand leader had said the previous day that her government was frustrated that publication of the text had been delayed by translation issues.

The deal is set to be signed by all 11 nations at a ceremony in Chile in March with the possibility of more members joining at a later stage.

Despite initially opposing the deal, U.S. President Donald Trump said in January that Washington might yet sign up.

Australia said on Monday it would be open to the idea of Britain joining the regional trade group after it left the European Union.A workshop Tuesday night in Napa will help guide those who survived the wine country wildfires in their insurance claims and financial decision-making. The Roadmap to Recovery program, organized by the United Policyholders, is scheduled for 6 to 8 p.m. at the meeting hall of St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, 960 Caymus St.

Topics will include casualty loss income-tax preparations for those who endured total or partial losses after the fires in October, as well as advice on filling insurance gaps, financing construction, and making the decision between rebuilding homes or buying new ones. The meeting is open to both property owners and renters.

Speakers will include Amy Bach, a United Policyholders representative, as well as Napa County Supervisors Diane Dillon and Alfredo Pedroza and others. A question-and-answer period will be provided.

Later, United Policyholders and other nonprofits will schedule free one-to-one consultations with insurance attorneys at a wildfire recovery clinic from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. March 24, at the Napa office of Bay Area Legal Aid, 575 Lincoln Ave., Unit 210. Appointments can be scheduled via email at dan.wade@uphelp.org.

For more information, email info@uphelp.org or visit uphelp.org/northbayfires.More than 200 people have been convicted in Nigeria on charges related to their involvement with militant Islamist group Boko Haram, the justice ministry said Monday.

The convictions of 205 people in mass trials mark the conclusion of the second stage of the country's biggest legal challenge to Boko Haram, which began an insurgency in 2009 aimed at creating an Islamic state in northeastern Nigeria.

"Most of them were convicted for professing to belong to the terrorist group, [or] concealing information about the group which they knew or believe to be of material assistance that could lead to the arrest, prosecution or conviction of Boko Haram members," the justice ministry said in a statement.

Jail terms ranged from three to 60 years, said the ministry.

It also said a total of 526 people allegedly affiliated with Boko Haram had been released for rehabilitation during the second stage, and said 73 cases had been adjourned.

More than 20,000 people have been killed and two million forced to flee their homes since the insurgency began.

Humanitarian groups have criticized the Nigerian authorities' handling of some of those detained for infringing on the suspects' rights.

Some whose cases were heard last week at a detention center in central Nigeria had been held without trial since 2010, according to the justice ministry, which added that some had been released for lack of evidence against them.

In October, the ministry said 45 people suspected of Boko Haram links had been convicted and jailed. A further 468 suspects were discharged and 28 suspects were remanded for trial in Abuja or Minna.ABUJA - Nigeria will sell all assets seized by the government in anti-graft probes and use the funds to bolster the treasury, President Muhammadu Buhari said on Monday.

Nigerian state coffers have in past years been ransacked by government officials and their associates, and corruption is prevalent throughout society. Buhari was elected in 2015 in part on a promise to rid the country of graft.

"All mismanaged and misappropriated national assets recovered will be sold off and proceeds paid to the treasury for the benefit of the country," he said, according to a statement from his spokesman.

The presidency statement did not say when the sales would happen, nor provide further details.

Very few officials from Buhari's administration have so far been prosecuted despite frequent allegations against them.

Notable exceptions were his sacking last October of Nigeria's most senior civil servant, Babachir Lawal, and the former head of the National Intelligence Agency for alleged involvement in corruption.PENTAGON - Throughout history the American military has been primarily white and male, but today it is increasingly becoming as diverse as the country it serves to protect.

?WATCH: Snapshots of Race in the Military: White Males

?

And this diverse force continues its duty, even as its commander-in-chief, President Donald Trump, is criticized for actions and remarks that appear to aggravate racial tensions in the United States.



Trump has come under fire for comments he made after a white nationalist rally and counter-protest that turned violent in Charlottesville, Virginia last year, during which some said he did not swiftly condemn white supremacists. He has also reportedly made disparaging remarks about immigrants from Haiti and Africa.

WATCH: Snapshots of Race in the Military: African Americans

?WATCH: Snapshots of Race in the Military: Immigrants

?

The top U.S. military leader has urged American service members to remain above the fray.

Youre a great example for our country right now, and its got problems, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told troops in Jordan last August, just days after the protests in Charlottesville. Its got problems that we dont have in the military, and you just hold the line, my fine young soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines  you just hold the line until our country gets back to understanding and respecting each other and showing it."

WATCH: Snapshots of Race in the Military: Biracial Families

In recent weeks, VOA visited Fort Bragg, North Carolina, home to the "All-American" 82nd Airborne, which calls itself the most diverse division in the United States, and Joint Base Andrews, the presidents home base just outside of Washington, to get service members' perspectives on race relations.

82nd Airborne at Fort Bragg, NC

The 82nd Airborne Division boasts paratroopers from all 50 states and more than 120 nationalities.

"We were the first racially integrated unit in the U.S. Department of Defense, the first division to have female infantry commanders, and this was the first division that was organized with people from all over the country," said Lt. Col. Joe Buccino, communications director for the 82nd Airborne.

WATCH: US Army's 'All-American' Division Puts Spotlight on Nation's Diversity

The soldiers whom VOA spoke with at Fort Bragg say they haven't experienced racial discrimination in the military, but Master Sgt. Jose Colon said he worries about the day he retires and rejoins civilian life.

"I don't see any comradery in the civilian world coming," he said. "I don't know what would trigger that, but we don't seem to be getting any closer."

While the political debate on racism and inclusion dominates headlines, the military continues to welcome recruits from throughout the world, including Staff Sgt. Alfred Kollie, who fled Liberia and lived most of his life in a Ghana refugee camp.

"As a child in Africa, seeing all the chaos and death and destruction, I felt myself that I owe the world to be part of something good and not something evil," Kollie, who now leads a 20-soldier fueling team for the 82nd, told VOA.

WATCH: Airmen at President's Home Base Share Stories of Diversity

Joint Base Andrews in Maryland

However, officials say the military's policy of inclusiveness does not make it immune to discrimination.

We see it every now and again. Unfortunately, Im not surprised. We know its out there, said 11th Wing Equal Opportunity Specialist Tom Mahoney.

According to the Joint Base Andrews Equal Opportunity Office, the base of roughly 12,000 troops sees about five to 10 complaints of discrimination each year, with racial discrimination ranking third, after retribution and ageism.

At the bases chapel, Major Crystal Jones says for years, racism often went undiscussed.

There is still the 'good old boys' network, and that is normally the 'good old white boys network, said Jones, a chaplain.

Late last year, a speech from Air Force Academy Superintendent Lt. Gen. Jay Silveria went viral after he denounced racism following an incident at the academy's preparatory school in which racial slurs were found scrawled on dormitory message boards.

He told cadets that if they cant treat other people with "dignity and respect," then they should simply get out of the Air Force Academy.

Its the power that we come from all walks of life, that we come from all parts of this country, that we come from all races, that we come from all backgrounds, gender, all make-up, all upbringing, he said. The power of that diversity comes together and makes us that much more powerful.

The incident was later found to be a hoax - the slurs written by an African-American cadet who first reported the message. That student was released from the academy. Still, service members at Andrews say they took great pride in Silveria's remarks, which helped spark greater discourse.

I think there was a time in our country and our communities where it just wasnt talked about. Race wasnt talked about. Now we are living through a time where everybody is talking about it, and so were having an opportunity really to work some things out, Jones said.Saudi Arabia has no interest in participating in a European Union-style regional security alliance as proposed by Qatar, its Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said on Monday.

Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani said on Friday that Middle Eastern states should put their differences behind them and forge a security pact modelled on the European Union in order to pull the region back from the brink.

He asked the international community to keep up diplomatic pressure on the countries concerned to achieve that, but offered few other details.

"We already have a structure in place," said al-Jubeir in Vienna on the sidelines of a meeting with his Austrian counterpart, referring to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), the Gulf states' 36-year-old political and trading bloc.

Qatar, a tiny but rich Gulf Arab state, has been isolated over the past seven months by trade and travel sanctions imposed by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt over accusations - denied by Doha - that it supports terrorism and regional rival Iran.

Efforts by the United States and Kuwait to end the rift have failed to produce any results.

"It is our hope that the Qataris will do the right thing and stop their support for terrorism... Should they do so, they will become a welcome member of the GCC and we can move forward to improve the security for all of us," al-Jubeir said.The Somali government has appointed new security chiefs, nearly four months after firing the previous commanders after a series of deadly al-Shabab attacks. But experts warn that the new security chiefs are not "miracle" workers and need support from the public and their own government to win the war against the militants.



During a special meeting in Mogadishu on Monday, the Cabinet approved the appointment of Hussein Osman Hussein to become director of the National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA) and General Bashir Abdi Mohamed to be the commissioner of the police.



Also appointed was Major General Bashir Mohamed Jama, known as "Gobe," who returns as commander of the prison guards, a position he lost less than a year ago.



New blood, old blood



Hussein, who currently serves as the deputy minister of health, has been a long time member of the parliament and previously held the position of deputy security minister. He will lead a small agency with about 4,500 personnel, half of whom are plain-clothed officers.



General Mohamed is a career police officer who held various positions within the department, including chief of police engineers, commander of training department and head of the central investigations department. He joined the police in 1971.



Last year, Somali leaders agreed to create a police force of about 32,000 nationwide. The current force is about half that size.



Hussein and Mohamed's predecessors  Abdullahi Mohamed Ali Sanbalolshe of NISA, and General Abdihakim Dahir Saaid of the police  were fired on October 29 last year, a day after an al-Shabab attack on a Mogadishu hotel left nearly 30 people dead. Two weeks earlier, a massive truck bomb in the capital killed 512, making it the largest terrorist attack in African history.



State minister for the office of the prime minister, Abdullahi Hamud, defended the long process it took to appoint new commanders.



"It was just a matter of caution and for the government to pick the right person who can fit in the job, it wasn't because of other things," he said.



Former NISA director General Abdirahman Mohamed Turyare said the new commanders have a chance to do well if they learn from "mistakes" made by predecessors.



"They can look back on mistakes made so as to avoid them, and bring on board ideas that worked," he said.



Turyare urged the commanders not to confine operations to Mogadishu but to spread the war against al-Shabab beyond the capital, take care of their agencies' personnel and make sure they get better technology.



He cautioned that the new commanders could probably not solve security failures immediately.



"They bring experience, work ethic and dedication but they are not miracle people," he said.



There have been no major al-Shabab attacks in Mogadishu in almost four months, since the firing of the previous commanders back in late October. The new commanders will hope to continue that streak.

Abdulkadir Mohamed Abdulle contributed to the report from Mogadishu.JOHANNESBURG - South Africa's opposition has harshly criticized new President Cyril Ramaphosa's first State of the Nation Address, questioning whether the new president has a concrete plan to address the nation's many challenges.



A day after taking office to replace the unpopular Jacob Zuma, Ramaphosa's address on Friday outlined big ambitions and challenged South Africans to follow in the steps of their greatest leader.



"Together we are going to make history in our country," he said to a parliament that, for the most part, warmly welcomed his appearance Friday. "We have done it before.We have done it before and we can do it again bonded by our common love for our country, resolute in our determination to overcome the challenges that lie ahead and convinced that by working together we will build the fair and just, and decent society to which Nelson Mandela dedicated his life."



But Monday's parliament session gave the opposition an opportunity to poke holes in his vision, which they did.



The state of the nation address is a comprehensive round-up of almost every aspect of government work, and 40 speakers from the ruling African National Congress and the opposition debated the finer points for much, much longer than the original 90-minute speech.



Ramaphosa's every position was dissected and questioned -- from public safety to education to healthcare to the ANC's proposal expropriate farmland without compensation.



The main opposition Democratic Alliance also challenged Ramaphosa's pledge to wipe out corruption after Zuma's nine-year run that was riddled with serious, mounting corruption allegations. Critics of Zuma and the ANC have long maintained that Zuma did not act alone in allegedly squandering tens of millions of dollars' in government funds.



DA leader Mmusi Maimane challenged Ramaphosa to make good on his promises with concrete action.



"Now I know this is hard, because the president has to dish out patronage to many people," he said. "But Mr. President, let me perhaps ask you to start removing ministers who have already shown themselves to be compromised? Show South Africa you are really serious about fighting corruption in your party and fire Bathabile Dlamini, Faith Muthambi, Mosebenzi Zwane, Malusi Gigaba, Des van Rooyen, David Mahlobo, Lynne Brown and Mr. Seven-Thousand-Rands-Per-Night Bongani Bongo out of your cabinet."



All of those officials have been implicated in corruption scandals or allegations of corruption.

FILE - Julius Malema, leader of the Economic Freed FILE - Julius Malema, leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party, raises objections before being evicted from Parliament during President Jacob Zuma's question and answer session in Cape Town, South Africa, May 17, 2016. FILE - Julius Malema, leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party, raises objections before being evicted from Parliament during President Jacob Zuma's question and answer session in Cape Town, South Africa, May 17, 2016.

Too vague?



And that, the opposition maintained, was the weakest point of Ramaphosa's speech. He promised sweeping changes and more summits, conferences and working groups than observers could count -- but little in the way of specifics.



That was not lost on the sharp-tongued leader of the far-left Economic Freedom Fighters, Julius Malema.



"President, we are saying to you, you are doing all of this because you know that you will be a president for 12 months," he said. "You are effectively saying to South Africa, there is nothing I can do in the next 12 months, because I will be looking for plans from commissions, and after 12 months you will be gone," said Malema.



Ramaphosa has just over a year to implement whatever changes he can, while also trying to steer his party -- and himself -- to victory in next year's national polls.



While the first few days on the job have seen little real change in the way of policy, Ramaphosa will have a chance to refute the criticisms on Tuesday, when he appears in parliament to address and refute points raised in Monday's debate.



That may show whether Ramaphosa is willing to do something his combative predecessor did not do with his political opponents: talk things out.KIMANDI, KENYA - When Francis Njoroge graduated with an engineering degree in Nairobi, he expected to earn a six-figure salary. Instead he found himself working as an electrician on a three-month contract, for 20,000 Kenyan shillings (about $200) per month.

Realizing permanent and well-paid jobs were hard to come by in the Kenyan capital, he decided to move back to his parents' farm in Kimandi, a village about 150km away, and start his own business planting and selling tree seedlings.

"My parents are tea and maize farmers and always managed to pay our school fees," Njoroge told the Thomson Reuters Foundation, walking around the farm in dark blue overalls.

"So I thought rather than be frustrated in my job or not even have one, why not go into something I know will bring me money?"

Njoroge is not alone. Kenya has the highest rate of youth joblessness in East Africa, according to the World Bank, with nearly one in five young people who are eligible for work not finding jobs.

FILE- DATE IMPORTED: November 16, 2014 A truck is FILE- A truck is loaded with bags of tea leaves at a plantation in Nandi Hills, in Kenya's highlands region west of capital Nairobi, Nov. 5, 2014. FILE- A truck is loaded with bags of tea leaves at a plantation in Nandi Hills, in Kenya's highlands region west of capital Nairobi, Nov. 5, 2014.

Poor job prospects and low pay in cities are pushing thousands of unemployed young people to return home and take up farming, said David Mugambi, a lecturer at Chuka University in central Kenya.

"Young people are increasingly realizing that farming can pay off," he explained.

Njoroge used his savings to buy seeds from the Kenya Forestry Research Institute after realizing there was a shortage of seedlings among local farmers.

"At first I was making 7,000 shillings ($70) a month by selling tree seedlings to a community organization," he added.

"Three years later, I now earn more than 10 times that amount."

Tech-savvy youth



Kenyan youth are not only turning to farming, they are bringing their digital skills with them to rural areas, according to Mugambi.

"For example, tech-savvy youth are very good at using mobile apps that tell them when to plant or what fertilizers to use," he said.

Knowing very little about tree seedlings, Njoroge joined a WhatsApp group of 30 fellow farmers to learn about issues like growing conditions and fertilizers.



"I take pictures of my produce, upload them to WhatsApp with a price tag, and then take calls from interested buyers," he explained.

Like Njoroge, Phillip Muriithi, a teaching graduate from Kenyatta University, left Nairobi to return to his parents' farm about 200km northeast of the city, and now grow tomatoes and cabbages.

"I wanted to become a high school teacher but without a job or income I felt like a balloon drifting to nowhere," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation, standing in the middle of a field of green tomatoes in Mitunguu, central Kenya.

"Living in the city was so expensive," he added. "But with farming I was assured of food, a small income, and didn't have to pay rent."

Muriithi also uses his mobile to keep a record of costs, fertilizers and profit, and to market his produce on WhatsApp groups.

"My phone allows me to reach a wider audience than if I were travelling to the market  it's just made farming a lot easier," he added.



More funds and support

The Kenyan government is trying to promote entrepreneurship among young people by improving their access to credit, said Mugambi.

The Uwezo fund, for example, provides youth with grants and interest-free loans of up to 500,000 shillings (about $5,000) to set up their own business.

But more investment is needed to make farming attractive to a wider range of young people, Mugambi added.

"Many youth still see returning home as a failure and farming as a lowly affair," he said.

Njoroge agrees, saying his friends tried to discourage him from going into farming, which they saw as the preserve of "older, uneducated folk."

Some regret making the switch to farming. Mary Wanjiku, a teaching graduate from Chuka University, who went home to grow tomatoes and onions, said her experience turned into a "nightmare."

"The little capital I had got used up in buying fertilizers, manure and seeds, and I nearly lost my entire tomato harvest to an attack by bacteria wilt," she said, adding that she now sells second-hand clothes instead.

Muriithi's advice is to "start small" to minimize any disappointment.



"I was really scared of failing so started with only a small chunk of land for the first two years," he said. "But now my father is convinced of my success, he lets me use most of his eight-acre piece of land."RIO DE JANEIRO - An African charity that improved access to drinking water and sanitation and reduced the chance of cholera deaths in a village in Togo was on Monday awarded the Kyoto World Water Grand Prize.

The award is granted every three years for outstanding grassroots projects to solve water issues in developing nations.

Judges said the project by the Christian Charity for People in Distress (CCPD), which helped 290 villagers, had cut the risk of disease and death in a community prone to cholera outbreaks.

The organization provided a serious and coherent project, with proper monitoring, and demonstrated above all an excellent efficiency, said Jean Lapegue, a board member of the World Water Council, which adjudicates the award.

Judges also praised the projects use of ecological toilets as an alternative to pit latrines, Lapegue told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by email.

More than 60 percent of Togos population lives below the poverty line, and many people lack reliable access to drinking water, education, health and electricity, according to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).

In addition, the UNDP said Togos natural resources are becoming increasingly scarce, particularly clean water.

The CCPD will receive the award and the 2 million Japanese yen prize ($19,000) at a ceremony next month in the Brazilian capital Brasilia during the eighth World Water Forum.

Lapegue said the prize should help CCPD to extend its project in rural areas of Togo  a former French colony of 8 million people in West Africa  and would help connect the charity to other actors in the water and sanitation sector.

The award is co-organized by the Japan Water Forum and the World Water Council. CCPD is the second African charity to win  Uganda's Katosi Women Development Trust won in 2012.U.S. President Donald Trump is supporting efforts to tighten federal background checks on gun buyers in the aftermath of last week's shooting of 17 people at a Florida high school, the White House said Monday. Trump's support comes amid a national outcry for legislative action to stem mass shootings.

A Washington Post-ABC News poll released late Monday, 86 percent of respondents who identified themselves as Democrats said stricter gun control laws could have prevented the Florida shooting, while 67 percent of Republicans said stricter laws could not have prevented the massacre.

More than three-quarters of both groups said more effective mental health screening and treatment could have prevented the attack.

Overall, 77 percent of respondents said Congress is not doing enough to prevent mass shootings in the United States, while 62 percent said Trump was not doing enough.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump spoke last week with Texas Republican Senator John Cornyn about his bipartisan legislation with Connecticut Democratic Senator Chris Murphy, a long-time anti-gun advocate, to improve compliance with background checks. The revisions are still being negotiated.

Nikolas Cruz, the 19-year-old police say has confessed to gunning down 14 students and three adults at the Parkland, Florida, high school school he was expelled from last year, was able to buy an assault-style AR-15 rifle to carry out the mayhem after clearing a background check.

Cruz, wearing a red prison jump suit, appeared briefly in court Monday as lawyers discussed procedural issues in the premeditated murder case against him.

A video monitor shows school shooting suspect Niko A video monitor shows school shooting suspect Nikolas Cruz (C) making an appearance before Judge Kim Theresa Mollica in Broward County Court, Thursday, Feb. 15, 2018, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. A video monitor shows school shooting suspect Nikolas Cruz (C) making an appearance before Judge Kim Theresa Mollica in Broward County Court, Thursday, Feb. 15, 2018, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

In Washington, Democratic lawmakers often call for tighter controls on gun purchases, while Republicans often oppose them, saying they would violate the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that enshrines gun ownership. The Cornyn-Murphy legislation has drawn support from Democrats and Republicans, although passage of gun legislation has often stalled in the politically fractious Congress.

NRA support

The background check measure would not impose new restrictions on gun purchases, but rather attempt to make sure that information about mental health and criminal conviction records that legally bar individuals from buying weapons is consistently sent to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System.



In the recent past, U.S. authorities have frequently learned after someone has carried out a shooting rampage that they should not have been allowed to buy a weapon because of mental health issues or a criminal conviction, but the information was never forwarded to the national database

FILE - John Doll, of Renton, Wash., holds a sign t FILE - John Doll, of Renton, Wash., holds a sign that reads "The people have the right to keep and bear arms" during a gun rights rally at the Capitol in Olympia, Wash. FILE - John Doll, of Renton, Wash., holds a sign that reads "The people have the right to keep and bear arms" during a gun rights rally at the Capitol in Olympia, Wash.

Unlike many gun control proposals, the National Rifle Association, the dominant gun lobby in the U.S., supports improving the background check system. The legislation calls for a system of incentives and penalties to encourage government entities throughout the United States to report information about people with mental health issues or criminal backgrounds.

The FBI admitted it did not act on a tip on January 5 about Cruz when someone with a close relationship to him called in with information about the teenagers "gun ownership, desire to kill people, erratic behavior and disturbing social media posts, as well as the potential of him conducting a school shooting."

Trump's support for improving the background check system came after the White House earlier said the president would hold what it called a "listening session" with high school students and teachers on Wednesday, although it did not give details.

Angelina Lazo, 18, center, a senior at Marjory Sto Angelina Lazo, 18, center, a senior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, holds a sign with other students and parents at an intersection near the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. Angelina Lazo, 18, center, a senior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, holds a sign with other students and parents at an intersection near the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.

Student demands

In Washington on Monday, several dozen students laid down on the street outside the White House in a protest, calling for tighter restrictions on gun sales.

Survivors of last week's massacre said they are planning a march on Washington and other major U.S. cities next month to demand tangible action from lawmakers to try to prevent future school shootings. Students are also going to Florida's state capital to meet with leaders on Wednesday, while Florida Governor Rick Scott is hosting workshops Tuesday on school security, mental health and gun safety.

Cameron Kasky said one of the reasons for the march is to pin "a badge of shame" on any politician who is accepting money from the National Rifle Association. She said the NRA is promoting a gun culture that leads to such horrors.

WATCH: Student protest in front of White House

Another student, Emma Gonzalez, told ABC that Trump, Florida Senator Marco Rubio, and Florida Governor Rick Scott all have NRA support. She said students "want to give them the opportunity to be on the right side of this." In an interview on CNN, she said, "If they accept this blood money, they are against the children ... you're either funding the killers, or you're standing with the children."

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., pauses as he speaks duri FILE - Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., pauses as he speaks during a news conference. FILE - Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., pauses as he speaks during a news conference.

Meanwhile, Rubio, a Republican, threw his support Sunday behind a Democratic-sponsored state bill that would let courts allow police to seize guns from those who are determined to be a danger to others. Rubio told a Florida television station the law might have prevented the school massacre.

California already has such a law. But gun rights advocates oppose it, saying it would take away guns from those who are innocent of any crimes.

Several U.S. lawmakers are calling for stiffer background checks of gun buyers, but Congress has shown no inclination to stop the sale of assault weapons, even as national polls in the U.S. show widespread support among voters for such a ban.NEW DELHI - Potential customers of high end property in India are being enticed by an unusual offer: the chance to spend an evening with the son of the American president if they decide to invest in residential projects licensed by the familys company.



Donald Trump Juniors week-long visit to India starting Monday could not escape attention: full, front page newspaper advertisements in the countrys most prominent newspapers have posed the question: Trump is here. Are you invited? and Trump has arrived. Have you?"



Trump Jr. has been in charge of the Trump Organization along with his brother Eric since their father became president.



The newspaper advertisements prominently displayed The newspaper advertisements prominently displayed photos of Donald Trump Jr. who will be visiting Trump projects in India. The newspaper advertisements prominently displayed photos of Donald Trump Jr. who will be visiting Trump projects in India.

The advertisements, which featured large photos of Trump Jr, said that those signing up before 22nd February to buy apartments could join him for a conversation and dinner.



His first stop will be Gurugram, a business hub on the outskirts of New Delhi, where local firms under a license from the Trump Organization are developing two 47-story towers bearing the Trump brand name. The more than 250 super-luxury units in the residential blocks are selling for approximately $1 million to $1.5 million each.



India is the Trump Organizations biggest overseas market, earning the family up to $3 million in royalties in 2016.



Front, full page advertisements in prominent newsp Front, full page advertisements in prominent newspapers of Trump real estate projects in India offer customers booking apartments a Thursday dinner with Donald Trump Jr. Front, full page advertisements in prominent newspapers of Trump real estate projects in India offer customers booking apartments a Thursday dinner with Donald Trump Jr.

The hope of the business partners is that the high profile visit of the American presidents son could give sales a boost at a time when Indias real estate market is witnessing a downturn  property prices have dipped nearly 30 percent following a crackdown on untaxed money by the government. In Gurugram, home to several luxury projects, many prominent builders are stuck with hundreds of unsold flats.

Referring to the visit, Samir Juneja at PropEquity, a real estate data analytics company says There is this big marketing push which is working pretty well. According to him, the association of the projects with the American presidents family does help. The brand has been created and now it happens to get a further fillip that it happens to be the presidents.

The business hub town of Gurugram near New Delhi w The business hub town of Gurugram near New Delhi where Trump Towers with luxury residential flats are being built has gleaming office blocks and high rise apartments. The business hub town of Gurugram near New Delhi where Trump Towers with luxury residential flats are being built has gleaming office blocks and high rise apartments.

But there is criticism of the sales trip since the advertisements began appearing on the weekend. Patrick French, a British historian who is currently Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences at Ahmedabad University in India tweeted, For the last however many days every newspaper in India has been wrapped in this abominable invitation to dinner with Trump Jr.

For the last however many days every newspaper in India has been wrapped in this abominable invitation to dinner with Trump Jr. pic.twitter.com/HXub9Hrpte  Patrick French (@PatrickFrench) February 18, 2018

A retired professional in Gurugram, Umesh Sood, was not sure if the sales pitch of a dinner and conversation with Trump Jr. would actually prompt people to put their money down.

You are not meeting the president, you are meeting the son with the same name, without the powers, without the pomp.

Retired professional Umesh Sood is not sure if din Retired professional Umesh Sood is not sure if dinner and conversation with Donald Trump Jr will entice buyers. Retired professional Umesh Sood is not sure if dinner and conversation with Donald Trump Jr will entice buyers.

Questions have also been raised over issues of conflict of interest. The New York Times quoted Daniel S. Markey, who worked on South Asia policy for the State Department during the George W. Bush administration, as saying that "The idea that the president's son would be going and shilling the president's brand at same time Donald Trump is president and is managing strategic and foreign relations with India - that is just bizarre."

Two of the organizations four Indian projects, in Mumbai and Pune, were launched before Donald Trump was elected president. The Kolkata and Gurugram projects were launched later, but the deals had been signed before his election. The Trump Organization announced it would not launch any project outside the US after he became president.



Trump Jr. is the second child of Donald Trump to visit India. Ivanka Trump visited in November, in her capacity as a member of Trump administration, to address a global entrepreneurship summit.A reservoir supplying Yountville and the nearby Veterans Home of California may be running low despite the end of a lengthy statewide drought, town officials said Monday, citing an advisory from state water authorities.

An email notice last week from the State Water Resources Control Board cautioned both the town and the state Department of Veterans Affairs, which owns both the Veterans Home west of Yountville and the 4,500-acre-foot Rector Reservoir northeast of town, of potentially low supplies into the summer months, according to Town Manager Steve Rogers.

The extent of the potential shortage was not immediately clear, and Mayor John Dunbar said Yountville is seeking clarification about local water supplies from the water board and CalVet.

A reservoir visit Tuesday will garner more information on supplies and include representatives of the state water board, CalVet and the Yountville Public Works Department, Rogers said.

No emergency measures have been announced for Yountville residents or businesses, but Rogers said local steps could include water purchases from other cities, or the return of some conservation orders, if use reductions are needed in the future.ISTANBUL - With Turkish-led forces stepping up their military operations against the Syrian Kurdish militia, the YPG, in Syria's Kurdish-controlled Afrin enclave, Ankara has reacted cautiously to reports that Damascus is set to intervene militarily.

If they are getting there to clean out YPG, then there is no problem, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Monday. But If Syrian forces are entering Afrin to protect YPG, no one can militarily stop us.

WATCH: Turkey, Syria

?The Turkish government has declared the goal of its operation is to remove all YPG militia from Afrin and create a 30-kilometer (19 miles) security zone.

Ankara accuses the militia of being terrorists linked to a decades-long insurgency in Turkey. The United States backs the YPG in the fight against Islamic State.

Monday, Syrian state television claimed forces backed by the government of President Bashar al-Assad had reached an agreement with the YPG to deploy in the contested Afrin enclave.

Syrian Kurdish militia officials are reportedly giving mixed messages on whether a final agreement with Damascus has been reached.

Syrian officials say the Turkish offensive into Afrin is an infringement on territorial integrity, and warn Syria will take steps to resist it. Ankara says the operation is only about securing its borders and is within international law.

FILE - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan greets his FILE - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan greets his supporters during a rally in Bursa, Turkey, Jan. 21, 2018. FILE - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan greets his supporters during a rally in Bursa, Turkey, Jan. 21, 2018.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has refused calls by opposition party leaders in Turkey to open a dialogue with his Syrian counterpart.

A potential military clash between Turkey and Syria poses a problem for Russia, which is a major backer of the Assad regime, but maintains ties with Erdogan. Russian forces are allowing Turkish jets to enter Syrian airspace in support of the ongoing military offensive.

Turkish media reported Monday the Russian and Turkish leaders spoke by telephone to discuss Syria.BOR, SOUTH SUDAN - Two communities in South Sudans Jonglei State have signed a peace agreement to end a deadly conflict over grazing land that has claimed 37 lives in the past two months.

The Jonglei State deputy governor says the communities from Bor South County agreed to create a buffer zone so security forces can be deployed to keep the two clans apart. The agreement signed last week followed talks mediated by Jonglei State officials and South Sudan Defense Minister Kuol Manyang Juk.

Under the deal, the Nyara and Biong communities agreed to resolve their land disputes through peaceful means, including a court of law.

Jonglei State Deputy Governor Agot Alier told VOA's South Sudan in Focus the main message conveyed to them by Defense Minister Lt. General Kuol Manyang Juukand Jonglei State Governor Philip Aguer was that peace has to return to that area as quickly as possible.

Fifteen people were killed and scores of others injured last week when fighting flared up between the herders over grazing land.

Deputy Governor Alier says the agreement requires both communities to vacate the contested area so the government can deploy security forces to the area to keep the peace.

"One community has to move further southward and the other community move further northward. One area is an area of DDR (disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration) just adjacent to Pariak. Biong-Machayiel has to move to that site and the other party that is Nyara has to move to the area of Jam to give room to the government forces to maintain peace and security among these communities so that (there is) no recurring conflict again that may cost more lives, Alier told South Sudan in Focus.

Map of Bor, South Sudan

Bheer Pach, a Nyara community leader who signed the deal on behalf of his community, says the Nyara have begun to vacate the disputed area.

We have started to vacate the area but we have not yet moved our property and personal effects. There are challenges of course because relocating families needs some preparation, Pach told South Sudan in Focus.

Ngor Garang, who signed on behalf of the Biong community, told VOA his community is ready to end the dispute and coexist peacefully.

As a leader of Biong community, we have agreed to implement the agreement, and that was what I was told by Aguer and Kuol during the meeting.

As a result we have released nine Nyara people whom we captured during the fighting. We want peace and we are committed to implementing what we have signed, said Garang.

Under the agreement, state officials will select one community at a time to take their cattle for grazing on the disputed land surrounded by Malual, Laguli, Akot and Wun-Ruar cattle camps.Violence by criminal gangs battling over drug trafficking areas has displaced more than 800 people in northwestern Colombia, the United Nations said.

Areas previously controlled by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas, who demobilized last year following a peace deal, have become flashpoints for fighting among crime gangs and smaller rebel group the National Liberation Army (ELN).

Poor farmers and indigenous people have recently fled the rural municipality of Caceres, in Antioquia province.

We express our worry about the persistence of forced displacement of indigenous people and farming communities in the rural areas of Caceres, which between 19 January and today has affected at least 822 people, the U.N. Commission on Human Rights and the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said in a statement on Sunday.

The agencies also expressed alarm at the increase in the number of murders in the Bajo Cauca area, without giving figures.

Violence has continued in some areas of the Andean country despite the 2016 peace deal between the government and the FARC to end a five-decade conflict. The FARC is now a political party.

The competing groups are eager to control lucrative illegal mining and cultivation of coca, the base ingredient in cocaine, and the trafficking routes that send the drug to consumers, largely in the United States and Europe.A former Czech spy who was expelled by the British government in the 1980s has claimed Britain's leader of the opposition, Jeremy Corbyn, was a source of his  one of 15 senior Labour lawmakers he met regularly when based in London. And the former spy says they knew he was an intelligence officer rather than a diplomat, which was his official cover.

The allegations by Jan Sarkocy, who says the Labour politicians were paid for their secret meetings with Communist spies during the climax of the Cold War, have been vehemently disputed by Corbyn and other Labour lawmakers named by the retired spy, including former London mayor Ken Livingstone.

They say the claims are a "tissue of lies" that read more like a poor James Bond movie plot. And they have dubbed the former Czech agent-handler, who now lives in the Slovak capital of Bratislava, a "fantasist."

"The claim that he [Corbyn] was an agent, asset or informer for any intelligence agency is entirely false and a ridiculous smear. Like other MPs, Jeremy has met diplomats from many countries. In the 1980s he met a Czech diplomat," according to a spokesperson for the Labour Party. He says that Corbyn "had not offered any privileged information to this or any diplomat."

According to Svetlana Ptacnikova, the head of the Czech Security Forces Archive, which houses the documents of the now-dissolved Communist-era intelligence service Statni Bezpecnost (StB), the files she has seen do not show that Corbyn was registered as a collaborator, agent or mole.

Britain's ruling Conservatives, who have questioned the firebrand Labour leader's fitness for office, pounced on the claims, which have been front page news in London for several days. They are demanding Corbyn explain in detail his attitude toward the Soviet bloc during the Cold War. StB documents unearthed by British newspapers confirm that meetings took place in the mid-1980s between Corbyn and Sarkocy, who was attached to the Czech embassy in the British capital as a diplomat who went by the name of Lt. Jan Dymcic before his expulsion in 1989. Sarkocy says the Czech archive does not have complete records. Many documents went missing, he says.

The documents that have been published are hardly shocking. Corbyn is described in them as being "negative towards the USA, as well as the present policies of the Conservative Government." He took a "positive" view of the eastern bloc and viewed favorably a Soviet-backed peace initiative. All of that was publicly known. Corbyn and other Labour politicians named by Sarkocy do not have access to classified British government documents.

Malcolm Rifkind leaves the Intelligence and Securi Malcolm Rifkind leaves the Intelligence and Security Committee in London, Feb. 24, 2015. Malcolm Rifkind leaves the Intelligence and Security Committee in London, Feb. 24, 2015.

Nonetheless, some lawmakers are now pressing for a parliamentary inquiry. The former chairman of the British parliament's intelligence and security committee, Malcolm Rifkind, said, "If these documents are genuine, which they appear to be, then there is a serious case for Mr. Corbyn to answer."

Others say Corbyn was naive. Professor Anthony Glees, a security expert, said of the documents, "These files show Jeremy Corbyn had been targeted by Czech intelligence services. Mr. Corbyn says he didn't know, but it shows breathtaking naivete from someone who wants to head the British government."

The claims and counter claims have re-ignited the ideological battles of the Cold War and are reminiscent of past British spy controversies. Following the unmasking of the infamous Cambridge spy ring of Kim Philby, Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean, Russia's KGB and sister eastern bloc agencies, notably the StB and East Germany's HVA Stasi, targeted Britain for recruitments using contacts in the country's anti-nuclear peace movement and trade unions to organize introductions to politicians, civil servants and journalists for their spies under diplomatic cover.

FILE - An operator at a CD-ROM production company FILE - An operator at a CD-ROM production company inputs information on July 16, 1996 about Soviet Spy Kim Philby. FILE - An operator at a CD-ROM production company inputs information on July 16, 1996 about Soviet Spy Kim Philby.

British business people visiting eastern bloc countries on trade missions, and British exchange students, were also targeted.

The eastern bloc espionage agencies had mixed success but did manage to recruit a string of backbench (junior) lawmakers, almost exclusively Labour ones, hoping they would rise up the political ranks and provide privileged information. In the 1960s, a Czech defector, Josef Frolik, named three Labour lawmakers - John Stonehouse, Bernard Floud and Will Owen - as having links to the StB. All three dismayed their handlers with their constant financial demands and by failing to provide anything but tittle-tattle and parliamentary gossip, useful only up to a limited point.

Eastern bloc agencies aimed high, also earmarking even Labour leader and two-time prime minister Harold Wilson for recruitment. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the opening up of some eastern bloc intelligence archives, there have been periodic bouts of the supposed unmasking of spies in high-ranking positions. Intelligence historians, and defectors, however, have frequently warned that Communist recruiters and agent-handlers in the Cold War often embellished their intelligence reports, claiming they had managed to recruit targets when they hadn't - all in order to please their spy bosses and gain promotions.

In 1995, Britain's Sunday Times had to backtrack on a story based on claims by KGB defector Oleg Gordievsky that Labour leader Michael Foot had been an "agent of influence" for the Russians. Faced with a wave of derision, the newspaper's editor said his paper was not saying that Foot had been a KGB agent. He acknowledged the allegation might be "utter rubbish" and he said that his newspaper was merely reporting that the KGB believed Foot was an agent.Average Zimbabweans turned out Monday to commemorate the life of the country's dogged, long-time opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, ahead of his burial, expected Tuesday.



Thousands of supporters of the Movement for Democratic Change sang as the body of their late party leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, arrived at a square in Harare. They said the struggle will continue.

One of them was 37-year-old Chaimani Mataka, who spoke of the effort to unseat the ruling ZANU-PF party.

Chaimani Mataka, 37, says his Movement for Democra Chaimani Mataka, 37, says his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) must unite to unseat the ruling ZANU-PF party in this years Zimbabwe elections, Feb. 19, 2018. Chaimani Mataka, 37, says his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) must unite to unseat the ruling ZANU-PF party in this years Zimbabwe elections, Feb. 19, 2018.

I am hurt because the struggle will never be the same again without Morgan Tsvangirai. I so wish that if we unite as a party, we bring a united front which must manage to remove ZANU-PF, remove this tyrant government, which is now being led by Emmerson Mnangagwa, said Mataka.

Tsvangirai died in South Africa on February 14 after a two-year battle with colon cancer.

The opposition has been hit by disunity as various members fight to head the MDC. Acting leader Nelson Chamisa told mourners Monday that an MDC victory in the expected mid-year elections would be a fitting tribute to Tsvangirai.

The only tribute you can give to the president [Tsvangirai] is a tribute of a vote," said Chamisa. Continuing in Shona, he added, "Then we change the country. We can assure you of immediate positive changes and good times. We are not like ZANU-PF, which takes forever to bring positive changes to the country."

Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) acting leader Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) acting leader Nelson Chamisa addresses party supporters in Harare, Zimbabwe, Feb. 19, 2018. Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) acting leader Nelson Chamisa addresses party supporters in Harare, Zimbabwe, Feb. 19, 2018.

The ZANU-PF party has dominated Zimbabwean politics since independence in 1980 with, until recently, former President Robert Mugabe at the helm.

Current Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa took the helm in November after Mugabe was forced to resign under pressure from the military.

Despite the current wrangling in the MDC, Chamisa is expected to be the one to lock horns with Mnangagwa in this year's polls.

Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his wi Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his wife Auxillia arrive to pay their respects at the home of Movement For Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai in Harare, Zimbabwe, Feb. 18, 2018. Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his wife Auxillia arrive to pay their respects at the home of Movement For Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai in Harare, Zimbabwe, Feb. 18, 2018.

Tsvangirai was a charismatic and determined politician who faced off repeatedly with Mugabe and the ZANU-PF, eventually entering into a coalition government for several years after the violent, disputed elections of 2008.

On Sunday, Mnangagwa described the late opposition leader as a brave man.

Zimbabwe's Air Force flew Tsvangirais body to his rural home, about 250 kilometers southeast of Harare, ahead of the planned burial Tuesday.

Kenyan opposition leader and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga is among those the Movement for Democratic Change said would be attending Tsvangirais funeral.

FILE - Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangira FILE - Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai speaks to the Associated Press after giving a press conference at his home in Harare, Zimbabwe, Nov. 16, 2017. FILE - Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai speaks to the Associated Press after giving a press conference at his home in Harare, Zimbabwe, Nov. 16, 2017.

It's not clear what Tsvangirai's passing will mean for the party's fortunes; but, many say a leadership struggle in the MDC would greatly enhance the ruling party's chances of winning again.This content is expired!

Unfortunely this content is expired and cannot be viewed anymore; if You are the owner of this content please login to our Website, go to our access panel and enable this content again.Polls point to hung parliament after 4 March vote.

By Laura Clarke.

On 4 March Italians go to the polls to elect their new parliament, as well as the regional councils in Lazio and Lombardia. The parliamentary elections are expected to usher in a fresh season of political uncertainty since the new electoral law, which introduced a mixed system of proportional representation and first-past-the-post voting, is likely to lead to a hung parliament. In this event Italians face the possibility of another grand coalition government led by a prime minister nominated by the president of the republic, rather than the leader of the party or coalition that takes the most votes.

Italians will elect their new parliament under the so-called Rosatellum bis  named after its sponsor Ettore Rosati of the Partito Democratico (PD)  which was approved last October to standardise the electoral system across both houses of parliament which would otherwise have been elected under different laws.

The new law allocates roughly a third of seats in both the chamber of deputies and the senate by simple majority in single-member districts and roughly two-thirds according to proportional representation. Parties that get less than three per cent of the vote at the national level will be excluded from the next parliament, as will coalition lists with less than 10 per cent. There is just one round of voting and there is no majority bonus in either house for the winning party or coalition. The law has been strongly criticised for favouring coalitions at the expense of stand-alone parties such as the anti-establishment and populist Movimento Cinque Stelle (M5S), which still has strong support despite its poor administrative performance in Rome under the partys Virginia Raggi and a debacle in local elections last year.

According to Ixe survey results for the Huffington Post on 25 January the M5S is currently the biggest party in Italy at 29.2 per cent, followed by the PD at 21.8 per cent, with former prime minister Silvio Berlusconis centre-right Forza Italia at 16.7 per cent and the xenophobic and eurosceptic Lega led by Matteo Salvini at 11.9 per cent.

Silvio Berlusconi and Matteo Salvini

The PD has lost significant ground in the last six months due to a combination of infighting, a banking scandal and the arrogant leadership style of its secretary Matteo Renzi. The 43-year-old former prime minister who entered national politics in 2014 as a bright young reformer has seen his popularity plummet since his crushing defeat in a referendum on a controversial constitutional reform in December 2016 that forced him to resign.

Today Renzi is leading a centre-left coalition made up of a number of smaller parties including the newly established centrist and reformist Civica Popolare  formed from the merger of Popular Area (AP) and the tiny Centrists for Europe, Solidarity Democracy, Italiapopolare and Italy of Values (IdV) parties  led by the current minister for health Beatrice Lorenzin, and the liberal +Europa led by former Partito Radicale leader Emma Bonino. Collectively the centre left is polling 25.4 per cent according to the same Ixe poll.

Matteo Renzi

Separately on the left there is Liberi e Uguali, formed late last year by PD defectors including left-wing stalwarts such as Massimo DAlema and Pier Luigi Bersani and led by the former senate speaker and chief anti-mafia prosecutor Pietro Grasso. The party is currently polling around 7 per cent and has said it will not enter into an alliance with the PD as long as Renzi remains at the helm.

The centre-right is dominated by a tenuous coalition led by Berlusconi, comprising Forza Italia, the Lega and the small post-fascist Brothers of Italy (FdI) led by Giorgia Meloni, which is currently well ahead in the polls with 35.4 per cent according to Ixe.

Giorgia Meloni

Media magnate Berlusconi, now 81, cannot run for the premiership because a conviction for tax fraud bans him from public office until 2019. He has appealed to the European Court of Human Rights to lift the ban but a ruling is not expected before 4 March.

The outspoken Lega leader Salvini has also long been eyeing the post and can be expected to make his claim should his party put in a good showing.

In the run-up to the elections the Lega has continued its rebranding as a national rather than regional party, dropping Nord (North) from its name in an increasing bid to attract disenchanted voters on the right in Italys poorer southern regions.

However many of Salvinis programme policies do not coincide with those of his coalition partners, particularly Forza Italia, which could lead to problems further down the line. For example, the Lega has a marked anti-immigrant policy. The party is also overtly anti-Europe and anti-euro, while Berlusconi has recently adopted a pro-Europe agenda.

In some respects Salvinis programme appears closer to that of M5S, led by the ambitious 31-year-old Luigi Di Maio who has risen rapidly through party ranks despite an extremely mediocre CV curriculum. The son of a leading member of the Naples branch of the post-fascist Alleanza Nazionale, Di Maio has said that in the event of election victory he will seek outside support from other parties rather than forming a government coalition.

Luigi Di Maio

The populist M5S is a catch-all party with considerable support also in the centre and on the left, and especially among young people attracted by its model of web-based participatory governance. But recently some of its candidates have been hit by various scandals which have tarnished its clean, anti-establishment image.

On the far right there is the neo-fascist Casa Pound Italia, which began as a squatting movement in Rome in 2003 and is now a national party led by 41-year-old former MSI militant Simone Di Stefano that made significant inroads in local elections last year.

If opinion polls are confirmed and the elections result in a hung parliament the country can expect a period of difficult negotiations and the formation of a grand coalition led by a prime minister appointed by president Sergio Mattarella.

One possible candidate for the leadership of such a government is the current prime minister Paolo Gentiloni, who replaced Renzi in December 2016 and since then has consistently been seen as Italys most trusted political leader, possibly due to his low-key and conciliatory leadership style.

Paolo Gentiloni

On regional level in Lazio the contest is between the incumbent president Nicola Zingaretti of the PD, Roberta Lombardi for M5S, and Stefano Parisi, the unsuccessful mayoral candidate in Milan in 2016, with his small Energie per lItalia party for the centre right.

In Lombardia the incumbent president, the former Lega Nord leader and ex interior minister Roberto Maroni, has decided not to run for a second mandate. The competition is therefore between the former mayor of Varese Attilio Fontana of the Lega for the centre right, the journalist, businessman and mayor of Bergamo, Giorgio Gori, who is close to Renzi, and 32-year-old Dario Violi, who has a long experience of volunteering overseas, for M5S.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.AVALON  Authorities say a buffalo has gored a man camping on Southern California's Catalina Island.

Los Angeles County sheriff's officials say the man was sitting on a log Saturday evening and the buffalo was grazing nearby.

Sgt. Ray Ward says that when the buffalo came closer, the man tried to move away and that's when the animal charged.

Ward says the buffalo gored the man's left arm. He didn't know the extent of the injuries.

The Orange County Register reports that the man was treated at the scene and then airlifted to a hospital on the mainland.

Buffalo are common and roam freely on the back side of Catalina Island, where there are campgrounds. Ward says it's very rare for them to attack humans.State investigators have yet to pinpoint the causes of last years fires. But power lines tossed about by harsh winds are considered a likely culprit. Pacific Gas and Electric Co. reported finding damaged equipment near the suspected ignition points of the four biggest North Bay fires. The night the fires began, Sonoma County emergency dispatchers received reports of downed or sparking power lines, blown transformers or other concerns with PG&Es equipment from more than 50 locations.

Fires sparked by electrical lines have repeatedly ravaged California. Many of the ways of preventing them  trimming or chopping down millions of trees, replacing wooden poles with steel, burying power lines underground  are expensive. So is rebuilding the grid after a fire passes through.

Here were facing costs for upgrading the grid that primarily benefits one group of people, Picker said. Im just trying to come up with ways to figure out how we do this fairly but still manage to serve people who live in these high-risk areas. Because no doubt, they need electricity.

The idea of basing rates on the risks associated with a particular location is common among insurance companies.BISHOP  Fire officials say a wind-driven wildfire in Southern California tripled in size overnight and is threatening hundreds of structures, including a historic railroad station.

Cal Fire spokeswoman Cathey Mattingly says that as of Monday morning the blaze burning through chaparral bush and shrub oak has scorched 4 square miles (11 square kilometers) north of Bishop in Inyo County.

Inyo County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Carma Roper says mandatory evacuation remain in place for several communities and campgrounds.

Roper says it's not clear how many people had to evacuate after the blaze started Sunday but Mattingly says at least 500 structures are being threatened, including a railroad station built in the 1880s.

Mattingly says the fire broke out shortly after 2 p.m. Sunday near the Pleasant Valley Reservoir and Highway 395 and quickly grew to 900 acres.FREMONT, Calif. (AP)  Police are investigating the deaths of two people and a dog whose bodies were found in a home in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Officers were dispatched to the residence in Fremont Saturday evening on a welfare check after a family member said they hadn't heard from the couple for two days.

Upon entering, police discovered the bodies of a woman and a dog. After a search they found a man's body.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports a gun was found near one of the victims. Police did not immediately release causes of death.

The newspaper says all three had been dead for more than a day.BERLI  Police in western Germany have freed two men who became entangled with a mannequin and a large, remote controlled car.

Officers were called after cries were heard from an apartment in the city of Mainz in the early hours of Saturday.

Police found the 58-year-old tenant and a 61-year-old visitor "hopelessly locked together" with the toy car and the mannequin  which was dressed in a knight's costume.

Officers were able to free the men, who were too drunk to explain how their unfortunate predicament had come about.

According to a police statement, "the whole thing would have remained a funny episode" but the younger man was "more than impolite" and now faces a charge of insulting officers.The anti-Trump Republicans need all the help they can get. McCain returned to Arizona before Christmas and has not appeared in the Senate since. Flake is retiring at the end of this year. Sen. Bob Corker, Tenn., after a public dispute with Trump about his behavior related to race riots in Charlottesville, Virginia, announced that he, too, would retire.

Now Corker is reconsidering whether to run for reelection, but he probably would do so only if Trump supports his bid - a move that might make criticism of the president more difficult.

In the House, most Republicans have embraced much of Trump's agenda and have worked to protect him from an investigation of Russian efforts to tip the 2016 election in his favor. Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., who initially refused to endorse Trump in 2016, sided against the FBI and the Justice Department in favor of Republicans on the intelligence committee in releasing a memo that attempted to undermine portions of the Trump investigation.

A decade ago, in February 2008, Romney withdrew from the Republican presidential primary after a bitter and sometimes personal campaign against McCain. But four years later they put that behind them and, early in the 2012 primary, McCain threw his support to Romney.Winnipeggers know to expect sculptures at Festival du Voyageur, but they're usually carved out of snow, ice, or wood.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 18/2/2018 (1305 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeggers know to expect sculptures at Festival du Voyageur, but they're usually carved out of snow, ice, or wood.

This year, some of Festival's sculptors tackled a new medium: aged white cheddar cheese.

The first-ever cheese-carving competition at the annual winter festival took place Sunday, and featured six artists carving 40-pound blocks of Bothwell cheese in front of a crowd of spectators.

Each two-year-old block of cheese would retail for "well over $500," said Jean-Marc Champagne, who works in marketing at Bothwell. The winning cheese sculpture, Champagne said, will hopefully be preserved in a Bothwell cheese shop that's slated to open on Provencher Boulevard this spring.

"We'd like to get it lacquered, we're talking to a few different people to see how we can preserve it long-term," said Champagne.

The winner will have their name "eternally etched on the Bothwell cheese-carving trophy," added Champagne, plus a $500 cash prize and "bragging rights, obviously."

The cheese carvers, drawn from Festival's contingent of snow and wood carvers, said sculpting cheddar is a far cry from working with more traditional materials.

Lyle Peters (left) of Steinbach, and Neil Fogg work on their sculptures.

Sculptor Ton Kalle of the Netherlands said he usually works in granite. Compared to that, he said, carving cheese was "a kind of holiday."

On Sunday, Kalle was carving a pair of traditional Dutch clogs, but said it was "difficult to find the technique" required to avoid cracks.

"So maybe I'll end up with a crack in the wooden shoe, I don't know," said Kalle, a self-described cheese aficionado who happily admitted to snacking on the excess material from his sculpture.

Theressa Wright of Saskatchewan also said she had eaten "her fair share" of cheddar as she worked on her sculpture, which she described as "a little girl or boy with their puppy leaning up to give them a kiss."

Wright, who works as an art teacher, said sculpting with cheese is "softer and crumblier" than other materials.

"You've got to go slow, or too much comes off," she said.

Paul Frenette of Ontario, who usually carves wood using chainsaws, also found cheese a challenging material to sculpt.

"Wood has a grain to it, so you can follow the grain, you know what it's going to do, which way to cut it," he said.

Saskatchewan competitor Theressa Wright has eaten her fair share of the cheddar during the competition.

"With the cheese there's clumps of cheese, so you cut one way and if you go too far it'll start falling apart, so then you've got to cut the other way."

"As good as it tastes, after carving it, you might not want to eat it for a little bit," added Frenette as he worked at carving a woodland deity. "But it sure is good cheese."

Franzi Agrawal, an industrial designer from Germany who creates art installations made of snow, ice, and wood, said working with cheese was "different than what I actually expected."

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Agrawal said her initial idea to sculpt a chain didn't quite work out as planned.

"I just made some new ideas. Maybe I'll do an Emmental out of the cheddar."

Unlike her competitors, Agrawal said she hadn't tasted any of the trimmings left over from her artwork.

"I'm vegan," she said.

solomon.israel@freepress.mb.ca

@sol_israelThe corporate media used New Zealands national day, Waitangi Day, on February 6, to again glorify the Labour Party-led government and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

Ardern spent five days touring Northland, the second most impoverished region of the country, before delivering a speech at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds on February 5. She repeated her governments empty promises to address poverty, inequality and homelessness, including among indigenous Maori, who make up 15 percent of the population.

She told her largely Maori audience: [W]hen we return in one year, in three years, I ask you to ask of us what have we done? Ask us what we have done to improve poverty  hold us to account.

The governments populist stance is an attempt to placate widespread anger over the social crisis created by nearly a decade of austerity under the previous National Party government.

In the lead-up to last Septembers election, the media, trade unions and pseudo-left organisations sought to trap disenchanted workers and young people behind the Labour Party by promoting Ardern, the newly-installed 37-year-old leader.

The Labour Party gained only 36.9 percent of the votes and was forced to form a coalition with the Greens and the right-wing populist NZ First. However, in the special Maori electorates, Labour received 59 percent. The Maori Party and its ally the Mana Party, which represent indigenous business interests, failed to gain any seats in parliament.

The Maori Party is discredited after spending nine years in coalition with National and supporting its regressive measures, including a Goods and Services Tax increase and the partial privatisation of power companies and state housing. Mana split from the Maori Party in 2011 and was fraudulently promoted as progressive by pseudo-left organisations. It lost its only seat in parliament in 2014 after a short-lived alliance with the pro-business Internet Party.

Virtually the entire media is seeking to drum up illusions in Arderns government. A New Zealand Herald editorial on February 9 asserted that Labour is the party that represents the real interests and aspirations of Maori and those are the same as the interests and aspirations of all the lower paid or unemployed and underprivileged in New Zealand.

Commenting on Arderns Waitangi speech, the newspaper fawned: Our Prime Minister is young, female and about to have a baby. She is the epitome of the new confidence in New Zealand among the young as well their social and environmental values. Alleviating child poverty is her personal priority.

Pro-Labour columnist Chris Trotter wrote that the Labour Party ran an unabashedly class-based campaign in the election, telling Maori workers that the Maori Party sold you out to the corporate warriors of the Iwi Leadership Group, the organisation representing tribal leaders, which worked closely with the National government.

Claims that the Labour Party will lift workers out of poverty are a fraud. Its election promise to halve child poverty by 2021 by increasing welfare payments was discredited last month when Treasury revealed it was based on inaccurate calculations.

On January 31, Ardern announced a revised target of halving child poverty in 10 years, i.e., after three more elections. The target is meaningless: no details were given as to how it would be achieved. Labour has ruled out increasing taxes on the rich and is committed to a tight cap on public spending, while increasing funding for the military and the police.

In response to a housing crisis that has left more than 41,000 people, including 14,000 Maori homeless, the government plans to build only 1,000 new state houses per year and 16,000 houses over the next three yearsto be sold at market prices. Economist Shamubeel Eaqub, who authored a housing stocktake for the government, estimated that the country needs 500,000 more houses.

Far from opposing Maori capitalists, Labour and National-led governments alike have for decades enriched this thin layer at the expense of the working class.

The tribal elites have swung behind Arderns government. Her speech at Waitangi was the first time a prime minister spoke at the Treaty Grounds without any protest by Maori nationalist activists. Waitangi National Trust committee chairman Pita Paraone told Radio NZ there was broad support from Northland tribes for protocols to ensure no demonstrations would disrupt Arderns visit.

Waitangi Day commemorates the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840 by representatives of the British Empire and hundreds of Maori chiefs. For decades, the treaty was widely regarded as a confidence trick, which facilitated Britains colonisation of the country based on fraudulent promises that Maori would be treated equally and their property rights preserved.

Since the 1970s, however, successive Labour and National governments have elevated the Treaty to the status of a national founding document that established a partnership between Maori and European New Zealanders.

The Labour Party, in particular, assisted by the trade unions and pseudo-left organisations, has promoted identity politics to divide the working class along racial lines and undermine resistance to the pro-market onslaught launched by Labour in the 1980s. Tens of thousands of workers in meat processing, transport, auto manufacturing and other industries were made redundant as government services were privatised and the economy opened up to global competition.

Through Treaty of Waitangi settlements, beginning in the 1990s, a layer of Maori entrepreneurs was cultivated to act as a buffer against the Maori working class. Governments have paid a total of $2.2 billion to Maori tribes, ostensibly to redress the crimes of colonialism. These have been used to establish profitable businesses in fisheries, tourism, property and other industries.

The Maori working class remains deeply impoverished. According to researcher Max Rashbrooke, wealth inequality within the Maori population is now twice as high as among white New Zealanders.

In 2013, the median income for an individual Maori person was $22,500 per year, a decline in real terms of $2,200 compared to 2006. Unemployment for Maori is officially 9 percent, twice the overall rate. Maori are more likely to be homeless, have a suicide rate 1.6 times that of non-Maori, and make up half the prison population.

By contrast, over the past decade, Maori capitalists, along with the ruling elite as a whole, have continued to profit. Total Maori business assets are estimated at $50 billion, up from $36 billion in 2010.

Since being installed, the Labour-led government has given extra payments to two of the countrys richest tribes. In mid-December, Waikato-Tainui and Ngai Tahu received $190 million and $180 million respectively, on top of previous payments that began in the mid-1990s.

Relativity clauses in the Treaty settlements mean other tribes will receive extra payments as the total amount paid to all tribes increases. There are 47 other settlement negotiations underway with various tribes. In her Waitangi speech, Ardern stressed her commitment to reaching a settlement with Ngapuhi, the countrys largest tribe.

Labour will expand the previous governments Whanau Ora scheme, devised by the Maori Party, which privatised some health and welfare services to the benefit of tribal corporations. Tribal-based companies will also profit from the governments policy to partner with private developers to build so-called affordable houses. These will be sold at $500,000 to $600,000, which is beyond the reach of most families.

Workers and youth should be under no illusion. The Labour-NZ First-Greens government will deepen the pro-corporate assault of National and the Maori Party at the expense of the entire working class. Workers can defend their interests only by uniting their struggles on the basis of a socialist program, in opposition to every capitalist party, including Labour and its allies.The proceedings at the 54th Munich Security Conference, which took place in Germany over the weekend, make clear that the imperialist powers are once again collectively dragging humanity to the brink of disaster.

Overt threats of war centred immediately on Syria, Iran and North Korea. But the US, European and other powers made clear that their ultimate military targets are Russia and China. Moreover, in their supposedly collective struggle to secure global hegemony, the imperialist powers are themselves being pitted against one another in ways not seen since the Second World War.

Washington led the pack in bellicosity towards Syria and North Korea, tied to allegations of Russian and Chinese culpability.

The conference was opened by chairman Wolfgang Ischinger warning that the world has moved too close to a major interstate conflict.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres followed with the declaration, For the first time since the end of the Cold War, we are now facing a nuclear threat, a threat of a nuclear conflict. This was not laid at the door of Washington, but to the development in relation to nuclear weapons and long-range missiles by the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg made a point of noting in his address Friday that Munich was closer to North Koreas capital, Pyongyang, than to Washington, before focusing his ire on Russia. NATO was supposedly seeking to avoid a new arms race with Russia, but Russia is modernizing its nuclear capabilities, developing new nuclear systems, and increasing the role of nuclear weapons in its military strategy. This is a cause for real concern.

Stoltenberg boasted last week that non-US NATO defence spending grew by 5 percent in 2017, so that eight alliance members have reached the 2 percent of GDP commitment. This is expected to reach 15 member-states by 2024.

Speaking Saturday, US National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster said, We face a range of common threats. Rogue regimes that already imperil international security in the Middle East and northeast Asia.

It was necessary to act against Iran, he insisted, which was cultivating a network of proxies and militias in Syria, Yemen and Iraq that were becoming more and more capable, as Iran seeds more and more...destructive weapons into these networks. Syrias President Bashar al-Assad was still using chemical weapons against the US-backed Islamist insurgency, he also claimed, citing public accounts and photos.

Identifying Iran, but in a barely veiled reference to Russia and China, he added, We know that Syria and North Korea are not the only rogue states developing, using, spreading dangerous weapons

Picking up the torch, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Sunday of Israeli readiness for a multi-front war with Iran. Holding aloft what he claimed was a piece of an Iranian drone shot down in Israeli airspace February 10, he delivered a message to the tyrants of Tehran Do not test Israels resolve.

Through its proxy Shiite militias in Iraq, the Houthis in Yemen, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza Iran is devouring huge swathes of the Middle East, he said. We will act without hesitation to defend ourselves. And we will act if necessary not just against Irans proxies that are attacking us, but against Iran itself.

German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel added that when it came to China and Russia, the West does not have a new strategy to deal with these two powers. Both China and Russia constantly try to test and to undermine the [European Unions] unity. Through its Belt and Road Initiative, China is developing a comprehensive alternative system; a system unlike ours that is not based on freedom, democracy, and individual human rights. China seems to have a real global strategic idea and they are pursuing this idea persistently.

Just as striking as the anti-Russian and anti-Chinese rhetoric was the increasingly naked discussion of the gulf opening up between the US and the major European powers. The conference, which was to focus on Europes contribution to global security, was organised after repeated US demands for increased military spending, repeated this week by US Secretary of Defence James Mattis at a meeting of NATO. But Munich featured a running argument over the dangers of a breach in the NATO Alliance.

Stoltenberg spent much of his contribution warning that future EU defence cooperationas laid down in last Decembers Permanent Structured Cooperation agreement, PESCOmust not threaten NATOs unity.

Strengthening the European pillar within NATO and better burden sharing, was fine. However, after the British exit from the EU is complete, some 80 percent of NATOs funding would come from non-EU allies, he said. The risk of weakening the trans-Atlantic bond, the risk of duplicating what NATO is already doing, and the risk of discriminating against non-EU members of the NATO alliancemust be avoided.

The EU cannot protect Europe by itself, he added pointedly.

Last Tuesday, US envoy to NATO Kay Bailey Hutchison also warned that we do not want [PESCO] to be a protectionist vehicle for the EU and we are going to watch carefully because, if that becomes the case, then it could splinter the strong security alliance that we have We want the Europeans to have capabilities and strength, but not to fence off American products.

Stoltenberg, who clearly spoke for Washington, was given short shrift by both Germany and France.

German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen said that Europe could no longer accept a situation in which they were stymied by the need to decide joint foreign policy approaches unanimously within NATO.

Europe has to up its pace in the face of global challenges from terrorism, poverty and climate change, she said. Those who want to must be able to advance without being blocked by individual countries We want to remain transatlantic but we want to become more European.

A start has been made, she said. Last December we finally launched plans for a European Defence Union. In a way we started out on the political path toward working on a European army.

Speaking to France 24, von der Leyen went so far as to link Brexit, the migrant crisis, a more assertive Russia and an unpredictable White House as a collective wake-up call we needed to understand that we had to change something and stand on our own two feet.

Frances Foreign Secretary Florence Parly was equally dismissive of US concerns.

When we are threatened in our own neighbourhood, particularly to the south, we have to be able to respond, even when the United States or the (NATO) alliance would like to be less implicated, she said.

EU nations must be ready to act without asking the United States to come to our aid, without asking them to divert their ISR (intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) capabilities or their supply craft from other missions.

Both Germany and France have recently committed to increasing military spendingwith France pledging to meet the NATO two percent target by pledging $370 billion of investments by 2025.

UK Prime Minister Theresa May sought to strengthen her hand in negotiations with the EU by focusing on the UKs role in Europes collective military and security structures. May urged Europes leaders not to let Britains intention to leave the EUs common foreign and security policy prevent agreement on a new security treaty that would have damaging real-world consequences.

May was fully backed by the US, which views the UK, which has the second biggest defence budget in NATO, as a valuable check on Germany and France.25 Years Ago | 50 Years Ago | 75 Years Ago | 100 Years Ago

25 years ago: Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney resigns

Mulroney

After eight and one-half years in office, Canadas Tory Prime Minister Brian Mulroney announced he would resign as soon his successor was chosen. While Mulroney attempted to present his resignation as a matter of changing the mantle and renewal in Canadas ruling Progressive Conservative Party, his pro-corporate policies had made him the most unpopular Canadian prime minister in the history of polling.

Mulroney had shepherded through the Canada-US Free Trade Agreement (FTA), which came into force in 1989, and initiated the negotiations that led, soon after his departure, to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with the US and Mexico. Under the FTA and NAFTA, Canadian capitalism was reorganized for increased continental and global competition, through plant closures, major wage and benefit rollbacks, and social spending cuts.

Mulroney also presided over a wave of privatizations, including of Air Canada and CN Rail, and was a staunch supporter of US President Ronald Reagan on the world stage. In 1991, he imposed the regressive Goods and Services Tax as a means of shifting even more of the tax burden from Canadas corporations and its wealthy elite onto the backs of working class consumers.

During his second term, Mulroney attempted to stabilize the Canadian federal state through a constitutional reform that offered concessions to Quebec-based factions of the ruling elite. This backfired, precipitating a major crisis of the Canadian nation-state and splits from his party by both western regionalists and Quebec separatists. The former would launch the rightwing populist Reform Party and the later the Bloc Quebecois.

With his resignation, Mulroney was jumping off a sinking ship. The Tories and his successor Kim Campbell were on the precipice of the worst election defeat of any major party in Canadas history. In the October 1993 elections, the Progressive Conservatives would suffer a 149-seat loss in parliament, leaving them with just two seats when all the votes were counted.

Hated in Canada, Mulroneys career was celebrated in corporate boardrooms all over the worldespecially south of the border. As an editorial by the New York Times put it, Mulroney has been a good friend to the US, a close ally on global issues and a strong partner in demolishing trade barriers  he has launched his nation in a promising new direction.

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50 years ago: US docks boycott threatened in support of striking copper miners

Secretary of Labor W. Willard Wirtz

On February 22, 1968, Thomas Gleason, head of the International Longshoremens Association (ILA), announced that 100,000 dockworkers on the East and Gulf coasts would no longer unload copper imports. The action was threatened in support of 60,000 striking copper industry workers, who had been on strike in five western states for more than seven months against leading US copper firms, including Phelps Dodge Corporation, Anaconda Copper, and Kennecott Copper.

The announcement, which came in the midst of the AFL-CIO Executive Council meeting in Florida, quickly tied up copper imports in the leading US port, New York City, as well as Philadelphia and Baltimore. Gleasons move came after Secretary of Labor W. Willard Wirtz told the AFL-CIO Executive Committee that he had no intention of intervening in the strike after copper unions had rejected its latest proposal.

In response to Gleasons threat, the Johnson administration immediately imposed a ban on all copper sales to non-defense contract purchasers, and warned the unions about dangers to national defense in the midst of the Vietnam War. It further threatened the ILA leadership that it could face prosecution for conducting an illegal secondary boycott. In response, Gleason suspended the boycott order, supposedly to discuss the matter with union lawyers. The boycott was never enacted.

At issue in the copper strike was the union demand that contracts be negotiated for all workers, industry-wide, regardless of their employer or particular task in production.

In the negotiations between the copper giants and the unions, the Johnson administration feigned neutrality, when, in fact, the copper industrys needs were being met by imports, which were arriving at a clip of almost 60,000 tons per month. As a compromise, it backed a three-tiered system, separating miners from production workers, which was rejected, on February 21, 1968, by union leadership.

By March, the Johnson administration had fully embraced the copper giants position, declaring that the union demand for industry-wide contracts was illegal. The strike ended that month with a contract largely dictated by the copper firms, who immediately imposed a price increase on copper sales.

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75 years ago: Members of White Rose resistance group executed by Nazi regime

Sophie Scholl

On February 22, 1943, Sophie Scholl, Hans Scholl and Christoph Probst, leading members of White Rose, an underground resistance organisation opposed to the Nazi regime, were summarily tried and executed. Brought before the Peoples Court, they braved the taunts of notorious Nazi judge Roland Freisler and displayed remarkable courage in the face of death. Further trials would follow, as the Gestapo hunted down other members and supporters of the group.

The core of the White Rose was composed of University of Munich students and Professor Kurt Huber. Beginning in June 1942, until the apprehension of the Scholls on February 18, 1943, the group distributed six leaflets and spread graffiti denouncing the Nazi regime and calling upon the German people to resist. Their activities reflected a growing backlash among youth, workers, and sections of the intelligentsia against the horrors of World War II and the Nazi regime.

The groups early leaflets were couched in Christian terms. They made reference to the atrocities committed against Jews and Poles and the deteriorating military situation on the Eastern Front and in North Africa. Later leaflets advanced explicitly left-wing and socialist arguments. The fifth leaflet declared: The working class must be liberated from their menial slavery through a practical form of socialism. The illusion of a self-sufficient economy must disappear from the face of Europe. Every nation, every individual has a right to the goods of the world!

The Scholls were captured by the Nazis after a university leaflet distribution on February 18. A seventh leaflet, by Probst, was found in their possession. All three were charged with treason and found guilty by the Nazi kangaroo court. Their death sentences were carried out by guillotine. In his final moments, Hans Scholl shouted Long live freedom! while his sister defiantly denounced her executioner as a coward. Hans Scholl was 24 years old when he was murdered, Sophie Scholl was just 21.

[top]

100 years ago: Germany breaks truce, invades Soviet Russia

Map of German invasion of Baltics

Fifty-three divisions of the German and Austro-Hungarian empires marched deeply into Russian territory this week in 1918, violating the armed truce established in lengthy, but inconclusive, negotiations at Brest-Litovsk.

The Bolshevik delegation, led by Leon Trotsky, who had replaced Adolph Joffe in the last phase of negotiations, had refused humiliating terms demanded by the Central Powers. However, without the military capacity to wage war against Germany, the Bolshevik Central Committee had adopted Trotskys slogan of no warno peace, whose aim had been to buy time during which the European proletariat, especially the German and Austrian workers, would rise up and demand an end to the imperialist slaughter.

The German onslaught encountered almost no resistance, the Russian army having largely dissolved before the Bolsheviks took power in the October Revolution. Within days, Germany had taken control of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, and had occupied Minsk, while the German fleet advanced on the Russian Baltic fleet stationed at Reval (Tallinn). The Soviet government was compelled to call for a total withdrawal from Finland and retreat from recent gains in Ukraine.

In response to the invasion, the Bolshevik Central Committee voted, after an all-night meeting, to conclude an unfavorable peace imposed by Germany in order to preserve the revolution. It sent out a wireless cable, signed by Lenin and Trotsky, indicating its willingness to accept German terms, while protesting the invasion:

The Council of People's Commissars protests against the fact that the German Government has directed its troops against the Russian Soviet Republic, which has declared the war as at an end and which is demobilizing its army on all fronts. The Workmen's and Peasants' Government of Russia could not anticipate such a step because neither directly nor indirectly has any one of the parties which concluded the armistice given the seven days' notice required in accordance with the treaty of December 15 for terminating it. The Council of People's Commissars in the present circumstances regards itself as forced formally to declare its willingness to sign a peace upon the conditions which had been dictated by the Delegations of the Quadruple Alliance at Brest-Litovsk. The Council of People's Commissars further declares that a detailed reply will be given without delay to the conditions of peace as proposed by the German Government. (Signed) For the Council of People's Commissars, LENIN, TROTSKY.

Germany received the telegram, but continued its advance with an eye toward crushing the revolutionary proletariat in Ukraine and setting up German vassal states there and in the Baltic.

On February 22, the Central Committee issued a new order, signed by Lenin and military commissar Nikolai Krylenko, calling for guerilla war and struggle to the death or victory if Germany refused peace terms. The peoples terrorism must be opposed to the advancing enemy, it stated.

[top]The conversation was hot, as well as the coffee, when California District 4 Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry came to the Napa Valley Coffee Roasting Company on Friday, Feb 9.

Surrounded by a number of St. Helena residents who had come to ask questions about whats going on in Sacramento, the conversations were frequently interrupted by customers who wished to thank the Assemblymember for footing the bill for drinks during the two-hour session.

In her role as representative, Aguiar-Curry sits on eight committees in Sacramento, including her position as Chair of the Local Government committee, and Chair of the Select Committee on Wine.

Aguiar-Curry also sits on the committees for Agriculture, Governmental Organization, Health, Transportation, and Joint Legislative Committee on Emergency Management, as well as the select committee on the Census. These positions on the committees allowed her to provide insights into a number of topics raised by St. Helenans during her Community Coffee listening tour.

Bill Ryan, an avid fisherman and Star columnist, asked a number of questions about Aguiar-Currys position on Governor Jerry Browns proposals for building underground tunnels to transport water to Southern California. Ryan is vehemently opposed to the funding of this venture, and Aguiar-Curry sympathized with his objections.

Her position, she said, was to push Southern California to invest in potential desalination infrastructure programs, despite the environmental concerns expressed by many.

She also said she was a big believer in the need to increase the number of water storage ponds  something that became particularly useful, she said, for firefighters during the recent October fires.

She noted that Southern California Assembly members seldom fully understand the importance of water to the agricultural communities of Northern California, and that she has consequently sponsored a number of tours for her Southern California compatriots to learn about the challenges facing her farming constituents from the ground up.

She expressed her pride in the 112 schools in California that are participating in the Future Farmers of America programs, and believes in the importance of encouraging colleges to build post-high school programs centered around agriculture.

In addition, one of the programs she has been pushing, she said, was a Healthy Soils program, and was successful in obtaining $5 million for the program. I asked for 25 million, but was only given five, she said. But weve got to begin somewhere.Californias Healthy Soils Initiative is a collaboration of state agencies and departments, led by the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), to promote the development of healthy soils on Californias farm and ranchlands.

Questions about the high cost and the absence of affordable houses prompted her to mention a program that is being worked upon in Sacramento that she termed Redevelopment 2.0.

The previous incarnation of redevelopment grants  in which cities and counties contributed money through the state to fund low-cost housing, and which Governor Brown eliminated during the budget crisis of 2011  was, she said, abused by individuals and organizations who received grants with few oversights. In 2011, Brown had called the redevelopment agencies a piggy bank that the state needed to crack open to fund education and local services as California grappled with a $25.4-billion deficit.

A new proposal, which Aguiar-Curry said she hoped might be presented in 2019, would enable cities and counties to fund low-cost housing, but would prevent some of the flagrant misuse of grants that had typified the previous 400 redevelopment agencies that had been established as far back as 1945.

The range of questions asked by St. Helena constituents included such things as How do we get Caltrans to put in audible traffic signals for the visually impaired? to Who is monitoring the functionality of the Health Care Districts in California?

As a former mayor of the town of Winters, Aguiar-Curry said she was particularly attuned to the challenges that are facing small towns and agricultural communities in her district. She said she was continuing to push for better transportation options for these communities which are underserved compared to those available to large cities and municipalities in Southern California.

Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.The third public forum for the citizens of St. Helena will be held at 6 p.m. Monday, Feb. 26, at the Native Sons Hall, 1313 Spring St. The group, Citizens Pursuing Representation in St. Helena, will discuss due process with Mayor Alan Galbraith.The St. Helena City Council will hold its next regular meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 27, at Vintage Hall.

The council will discuss and provide possible direction on its city attorney policy and the citys procedures for responding to Public Records Act requests.

The council will also hear a presentation from Shaun Horne and Rick Thomasser from the Napa County Flood and Water Conservation District.

Also on the agenda:

Appointment of Amy Carabba Salazar, St. Helena Chamber of Commerce CEO, to the Napa Valley Tourism Corporation and St. Helena Tourism Improvement District

Approval of the Rally4Rianda event and Rianda Houses 10th anniversary celebration on May 20

Adoption of an Americans with Disabilities Act policy

Purchase of two new cars for the St. Helena Police Department and one new car for the St. Helena Fire Department

Appeal of a parking citation.Story Highlights Fifty-one percent of Americans say North Korea is the greatest U.S. enemy

The percentage citing North Korea has more than tripled in two years

Russia is second at 19% overall, including 30% of Democrats and 9% of Republicans

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- North Korea dwarfs all other countries when Gallup asks Americans whom they consider to be the United States' greatest enemy. Fifty-one percent now name the East Asian nation, more than tripling the 16% who cited it in 2016, with Russia, China and Iran distantly following.

North Korea Tops Greatest U.S. Enemy List What one country anywhere in the world do you consider to be the United States' greatest enemy today? [OPEN-ENDED] February 2016 February 2018 % % North Korea 16 51 Russia 15 19 China 12 11 Iran 14 7 GALLUP

These results are based on Gallup's annual World Affairs poll, conducted Feb. 1-10, 2018 -- the eleventh time Gallup has asked the "greatest enemy" question over the past 18 years. The only other countries cited by a measurable percentage of Americans in the most recent poll were Iraq and the United States itself, each garnering 2%.

This open-ended question relies on respondents to volunteer their own answers, and historically has produced a diverse list of countries. Yet this year marks a departure from the past, with one country dominating Americans' opinions and only four garnering considerable mentions.

North Korea's rise to the top of the list of U.S. enemies is not surprising, given the escalation of tensions between the two nations since 2016, when North Korea was roughly tied with Russia, China and Iran as America's greatest foreign enemy. Although relations between the U.S. and North Korea have been tense for decades, they reached a boiling point in 2017. North Korean missile tests and threats of nuclear war ignited a war of words between Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump that has continued into 2018.

North Korea, China and Iran Have Been Mainstays on the List of U.S. Enemies

From 2001 through 2008, Iraq was first or second on the list of countries viewed as enemies of the U.S. In 2001, 38% named Iraq as the greatest U.S. enemy, which until this year was the highest proportion of responses any country had received. Notably, the question was not asked from 2002 through 2004 while the U.S. was preparing for a conflict with, and then went to war with, Iraq.

The only other time North Korea topped the list was in 2005 when it tied with Iraq. Since then, North Korea, Iran and China have consistently ranked high on the list of U.S. enemies. While Iran and North Korea are both military threats to the U.S., China has presented primarily an economic threat.

Historically, Russia has been toward the lower end of mentions on the list, yet in the past few years it has become more prominent. The Barack Obama administration had increasingly tense dealings with Russia after Vladimir Putin's election in 2012, and allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election angered many Americans, particularly Democrats and independents.

Party Differences in Perceptions of Russia and North Korea as U.S. Enemies

Russian intervention in the 2016 election is likely a significant factor behind the 19% of Americans citing Russia as the greatest U.S. enemy -- the largest percentage for Russia in Gallup's trend. Democrats are about three times as likely as Republicans to cite Russia as the greatest enemy, and independents are about twice as likely.

Perceptions of the United States' Greatest Enemy, by Party Republicans Independents Democrats % % % North Korea 58 50 45 China 15 11 7 Iran 10 7 3 Russia 9 19 30 GALLUP, Feb. 1-10, 2018

Republicans are more likely than Democrats to name North Korea as the greatest enemy, 58% vs. 45%, respectively. And they are also slightly more likely than Democrats to cite China or Iran.

##SPEEDBUMP##

Bottom Line

Americans' answers to open-ended questions often do not focus on a single response unless it is particularly obvious. In the case of the "greatest U.S. enemy" question, recent growing tensions with North Korea are top of mind for a slim majority of Americans.

While Russia is a distant second to North Korea, it is considered an enemy by more Democrats than Republicans, suggesting Russian meddling in the 2016 election is considered particularly dangerous to some partisan groups.

With North Korea and Russia dominating the news in recent months, Iran and China have faded into the background but remain on Americans' radar.GTA Online Adds the New Ubermacht Cypher and Triple Rewards on Tiny Racers ModeYears ago, the British Academys BAFTA Awards made for an interesting foil to the stateside Oscars, but the ceremony has evolved into more of a bellwether event.

For a time, the London pageant was held after the Oscars. But at the turn of the millennium, it finally found permanent fixture amid the other precursor pit stops that lead to Hollywoods big night. Procedurally, the Brits used to delegate nomination duties in most categories to the entire membership, while the individual branches would determine the winners. But in 2012, the organization made vast changes to protocol, shifting to a system that mirrored the American Academys (i.e. the inverse, whereby branches decide nominees and the full membership decides the winners).

The result has been an annual show that can provide the most holistic set of clues into the Oscar outcome. In the film editing category, for instance, BAFTA has presaged wins for Whiplash and Hacksaw Ridge when most pundits were looking elsewhere. The ceremony has firmed up original score trajectories for Gravity and The Grand Budapest Hotel as well, and ever since the 2012 changes, the groups cinematography choices have been 100% affirmed by the American Academys.

Why might that be? Its not necessarily because there is significant crossover in the two memberships. Thats somewhat marginal. Another way to look at it is these are two vast bodies of film professionals in many different disciplines. So, like minds, etc.

Does that mean surprise BAFTA winner Baby Driver is primed to upset in the film editing category at the Oscars? Its quite possible, as Edgar Wrights film has been top competition for Dunkirk all along. Its interesting to note, however, that the only divergence between BAFTA and AMPAS here in the last five years was when another Working Title Films production involving fast cars claimed the Brits prize: Ron Howards Rush.

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For original score, Alexandre Desplat has been the frontrunner all season long for his waltzy Shape of Water offerings, so consider this a rubber stamp. The cinematography choice, however, could be telling.

Fourteen-time Oscar nominee Roger Deakins has now claimed both the American Society of Cinematographers award and the BAFTA honor for Blade Runner 2049. The last time he won both of those prizes was in 2002, for The Man Who Wasnt There. He ultimately dropped the Oscar to The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. And in fact, the last time any film won both precursors on its way to losing the Academy Award was in 2007 when ASC/BAFTA victor Children of Men deferred to Pans Labyrinth on Oscar night.

The key difference between those two instances and this year is that they came prior to BAFTAs procedural shift, i.e., cinematographers were the only ones doing the deciding in 2002 and 2007. But Deakins has now won with both his cinematography peers and with a vast organization of cross-discipline pros.

All of that is to say that, yes, this could finally be his year. The caveat is that the British Academy clearly adored the film a bit more, going so far as to hand Denis Villeneuve a directing nomination. But this is about as solid as a director of photography can get going into the Oscars. Dare to dream!

Speaking of Blade Runner 2049, the film bested War for the Planet of the Apes in the visual effects category, which could indeed be a harbinger. For some reason, Academy members have consistently looked down upon Foxs revitalized Apes franchise. Each time out, they have turned to prestige awards-season offerings  Hugo and Interstellar  while passing over the films entirely for nominations in deserving areas like sound and original score. It would be crushing to see Wetas considerable efforts go unrecognized by the Academy yet again, but deserves got nothing to do with it, to quote the retired gunslinger.

In the major categories, BAFTA has taken on the role of rubber-stamping frontrunners, whether they end up panning out at the Academy Awards or not. Acting winners Gary Oldman, Frances McDormand, Sam Rockwell and Allison Janney make it a perfect repeat of virtually every major precursor this season, so you might as well bet on each for Oscars. Guillermo del Toro, meanwhile, doubled down after his Golden Globe and directors guild victories, so hes looking golden as well. And while Call Me by Your Name is cruising in adapted screenplay, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri  showered with love by BAFTA  is clearly a threat to Get Out in original. There are sure to be some sparks in that race.

You cant put quite as much on the best film category, however. The last three winners have failed to turn the best picture trick at the Oscars, and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri is somewhat divisive (no, not just online). That will do it no favors on the Academys preferential ballot. The British Academy, by contrast, uses a standard plurality ballot.

And that, in addition to the AMPAS ongoing evolution, is what has kept the best picture Oscar race so exciting these last few years. You just cant be sure of what will happen, and if you are (as many of us were last year), well  check yourself.

Click here for the full list of 2018 BAFTA Awards winners.

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BAFTA Awards: 'Three Billboards' Conquers With Five Trophies Including Best Film, Best Actress

BAFTA Awards: 2018 Complete Winners List

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Subscribe to Variety Newsletters and Email Alerts!Three days after 17 people were fatally shot in her Florida high school, Emma Gonzalez stood before a Fort Lauderdale, FL gun control rally and called BS on lawmakers' "thoughts and prayers." She should have been at home grieving her classmates, she said, "but instead we are up here standing together because if all our government and president can do is send thoughts and prayers, then it's time for victims to be the change that we need to see."

A 19-year-old gunman opened fire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida on Wednesday, killing 14 students and three staff members, and injuring 14 others. The suspect was arrested and charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder. In the wake of the third mass shooting to take place in a U.S. school in the first two months of 2018, Marjory Stoneman Douglas students such as Gonzalez are calling for stricter gun control measures to prevent other students from living through the same tragedy.

"Politicians who sit in their gilded House and Senate seats funded by the NRA telling us nothing could have been done to prevent this, we call B.S.," Gonzalez said at the rally on Saturday. "They say tougher guns laws do not decrease gun violence. We call B.S.... They say no laws could have prevented the hundreds of senseless tragedies that have occurred. We call B.S."

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Other Marjory Stoneman Douglas students called BS on pro-gun advocates' Twitter arguments that the issue "isn't about a gun it's about another lunatic." And dozens of students from another Florida high school held a rally to call for gun reform, telling Refinery29: "Our message is simple: We want to stop the gun violence."

But increased gun control in Florida won't come easily. Despite Florida Governor Rick Scott telling CNN "everything's on the table " when it comes to gun reform in the state, he wouldn't explicitly say he supports stricter gun control laws. Scott has an A+ rating from the National Rifle Association's (NRA) Political Victory Fund, which stated in 2014 that he's "signed more pro-gun bills into law in one term than any other governor in Florida history." It's not just Scott who has the NRA's support, either; congressional and presidential candidates from Florida received a total of $834,165 from the NRAs Political Victory Fund in the 2016 election, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Story continues

Currently, 18-year-olds can buy AR-15 rifles  originally designed for military use  without a waiting period in the state, while anyone seeking to buy a handgun must wait three days. Like most states, Florida also has Stand Your Ground laws that allow people to use deadly force to defend themselves against a perceived threat, as well as laws permitting people to carry concealed guns in public.

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Florida's pro-gun laws have strong public support, too. As The New York Times' Richard A. Oppel Jr. reports: "Nearly two million residents have permits to carry concealed weapons, far more than any other state."

Florida is less an anomaly than an apt representation of the problems activists fighting for gun control face nationwide. After a mass shooting at Orlando's Pulse nightclub in 2016 that killed 49 people and another at the Fort Lauderdale airport in 2017 that killed five, no substantial gun reform laws were passed. The same inaction has been seen in Congress: Lawmakers failed to pass restrictions on bump stocks (which outfit semi-automatic rifles to fire more like automatic rifles) after 58 people were fatally shot in Las Vegas.

Gonzalez, many of her classmates, and other gun control activists believe enough is enough. On March 14, students and teachers will stage a national school walkout organized by the Women's March to demand Congress take action. And on March 24, activists will take to the streets in Washington D.C. in a March For Our Lives rally demanding the same.

Establishing stricter gun control measures in the U.S. certainly won't be easy, but activists think it's about time students stop dying in their classrooms.

Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?

#NeverAgain March Will Be Lead By Florida School Shooting Survivors

Donald Trump Once Again Shows He Is Threatened By Black Women With Oprah Tweet

A Timeline Of The Tangled Trump-Russia ScandalAmong the heroes to emerge from the Florida school shooting horror is 15-year-old Anthony Borges, who local officials say was shot five times while helping save 20 of his fellow students.

Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel paid the teen a visit over the weekend as he continued to recover in a hospital.

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"The Sheriff was honored to visit Anthony Borges,15, in the hospital. Anthony was shot five times. Fortunately, he is recovering, but has a long road ahead with more surgeries needed. Please join us in praying for the swift recovery of Anthony and all others from #StonemanDouglas," the office wrote in a tweet along with a touching photo of the sheriff's visit.

Anthony's friend, Carlos Rodriguez, told ABC News that Anthony was the last student to scramble into a classroom and that the teen used his own body to block the door as he locked it to keep out accused killer Nikolas Cruz.

"None of us knew what to do. So he took the initiative to just save his other classmates," Carlos told ABC.

Before Anthony got the door shut, he was shot five times and was the last of the shooting survivors to be in critical condition. He has since been upgraded to fair following surgery.

"He has a long road of recovery ahead of him but he is alive and stable," reads a GoFundMe page created to support his family. "Our thoughts and prayers are with Anthony and his family. Any help is very much appreciated."

In just three days, the fundraiser blew its initial $5,000 goal out of the water. As of Monday morning, it had raised more than $82,000.

Suspected shooter Cruz is charged with murdering 14 of Anthony's classmates as well as three members of the Stoneman Dougles staff.

Funerals for the victimsincluding Luke Hoyer, Alex Schacter, Jaime Guttenberg, and Scott Beigelcontinued through the weekend.

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Teen Brothers Exchange Heartbreaking Text Messages During Florida High School Shooting: 'Are the Cops Here?'

Story continues

Alleged Florida Shooter Nikolas Cruz Willing to Plead Guilty to Avoid Death Penalty: Report

Florida Teacher's Quick Action May Have Saved the Lives of Students During Shooting

Related Articles:While we struggle to find the words to express our condolences to the Parkland community, supporters like Jacob the comfort dog have paws on the ground.

Its been three days since the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, and we cant imagine what the Parkland community must be going through. And while we want nothing more than to provide words of comfort and support, we dont know what to say. Thats why, when we heard Jacob the comfort dog was in Florida to support survivors of the Parkland school shooting, we sighed in relief. We know the survivors in Parkland are in good hands. Or rather, good paws.

Jacobs support services cant come swift enough. As more disturbing details emerge about gunman Nikolas Cruzs history of violence against women and confirmed ties to a white supremacist group, the Parkland community finds itself not only mourning the loss of loved ones, but also trying to make sense of how this happened. How could one of their own carry out such an unspeakable act?

But for the grief-stricken, sometimes the company of a furry friend like Jacob the comfort dog can do a lot of good. After Cruz opened fire on students and teachers at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on February 14th, killing 17, the Lutheran Church Charities K-9 Comfort Dogs Ministry deployed a few dozen of their specially trained comfort dogs to provide some much-needed solace to survivors.

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Launched in 2008, the K-9 Comfort Dogs Ministry trains comfort dogs like Jacob to interact with people of all ages and circumstances who are suffering after a traumatic event. The dogs bring comfort to all those touched by tragedy, including survivors, first responders, and the volunteers who serve them.

Jacob the comfort dog to the rescue!

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And 4-year-old golden retriever Jacob and his four-legged pals are making the rounds in Parkland. According to Lutheran Church Charities CEO Tim Hetzner, the dogs do not bark, bite, or jump up. Theyre taught to remain calm and soothe people in distress.

Its easy to see why the comfort dogs are so effective. Just look at this lovable face:

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Theyre trained to either sit or to lie down on the ground  it depends on the situation. A lot of times with students that are on the ground, the dog lies down on the ground, and they lie on top of the dog, Hetzner told Yahoo News. Theyre kind of comfort rugs with a heartbeat sometimes.

Story continues

Jacobs harness even says, Please pet me.

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But comfort dogs like Jacob do more than just provide a pet towell, pet. They lend a friendly ear, too. Its a skill Hetzner has witnessed in action following mass shootings at a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, a music festival in Las Vegas, Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, and  unfortunately  many more.

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Theyre kind of like counselors with fur, Hetzner said after the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. A lot of times, kids talk directly to the dog. They have excellent listening skills, and they demonstrate unconditional love. They dont judge you or talk back.

While we struggle to find the words to express our condolences to the Parkland community, were glad to hear Jacob the comfort dog  and other doggos like him  have paws on the ground.President Trump has found a new tweet target: Oprah Winfrey.

As HuffPost reports, the president took offense to a 60 Minutes segment Sunday night in which Winfrey spoke to Michigan voters about their political concerns. Though Winfrey has dismissed speculation about a 2020 presidential bid, Trump  who has spoken positively about the former talk show host in the past  tweeted that he wanted her to run so that she could be exposed and defeated.

Oprah Winfrey at the 2018 Golden Globes. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)

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The president, who is in Florida in the wake of the school shooting in Parkland, also called the billionaire very insecure. That description rubbed many folks  including bestselling authors Roxane Gay (Hunger) and Terry McMillan (How Stella Got Her Groove Back), and The Mindy Project actor Ike Barinholtz  the wrong way.

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This GIF might sum it up best, though.

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Truly, a battle for the ages  or 2018, at least.

Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day.Jennifer Lawrence at the BAFTAs 2018 The Oscar-winner looked every inch the Hollywood icon in a vintage-inspired look from Dior. [Photo: Getty]

Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Lawrence, and Lupita Nyongo were among the celebrities who attended the BAFTAs 2018 in London on Sunday night.

In what was probably the most star-studded British Film and Television Academy awards of all time, stars congregated at Kensingtons Royal Albert Hall for the annual event.

Although the fashion was fierce, it certainly wasnt colorful. The majority of the attendees  women and men  followed the Golden Globes lead and stuck to an all-black dress code decided upon a few weeks ago, in support of the #TimesUp movement.

From Dior, Givenchy, Chanel, and Elie Saab, scroll to see the best looks of the night.

Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day.Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has once again called for a ban on the sale of assault weapons in the wake of the Parkland, Florida, school shooting that left 17 dead last Wednesday.

During a Sunday appearance on NBCs Meet the Press, the former Democratic presidential candidate said that, for three decades, he has believed we should not be selling assault weapons like the accused gunmans AR-15.

These weapons are not for hunting, he said. Theyre for killing human beings.

He also said Congress should close the so-called gun show loophole  the lack of federal rules mandating background checks on the sale of firearms between privates sellers.

Sanders voting record on gun control became a focal point during the 2016 primary campaign as Hillary Clinton supporters sought to discredit his progressive credentials on the issue.

Politico described Sanders as being a liberal standard-bearer on nearly every single policy issue ... [with] one notable exception  guns.

In Congress, he voted against a bill in the 1990s to require a five-day waiting periods to allow for criminal background checks before a gun could be purchased, voted to allow firearms on Amtrak, and came out against a lawsuit to hold gun manufacturers accountable for the 2012 at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut. But he has also voted for universal background checks and an assault weapons ban.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) appeared on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday. (Photo: NBC)

Hunting is popular in Sanders home state of Vermont. Its gun laws are so permissive that an editor at the Burlington-based alt-weekly Seven Days detailed how he bought an AR-15 in a Five Guys parking lot in 2016. On Thursday, one day after the Florida shooting, Gov. Phil Scott (R) said the state would not consider new gun restrictions.

Sanders grew visibly frustrated by host Chuck Todds questions on his record on gun issues. He stressed that the National Rifle Association has given him a D-minus rating on its ranking of federal lawmakers. He also reiterated his long-argued claim that the NRAs support for his opponent cost him a statewide election in 1988, though The Washington Post cast doubt over how big a role the gun lobbys endorsement played in Sanders defeat.

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Weve got to take on the NRA, Sanders said. The tragedy we saw in Parkland is unspeakable, and all over this country parents are scared to death of what might happen when they send their kids to school.

Earlier on Meet the Press, Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), called for restricting people with criminal records or histories of mental illness from purchasing assault weapons. But he said it shouldnt be made harder for others to do so.

Some actually do hunt with an AR-15, said Lankford, who received $5,000 in political contributions from the NRA in the 2016 campaign cycle.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this story stated that an editor at the Burlington-based alt-weekly Seven Days bought an AR-15 from five guys. In fact, it was bought in the parking lot of a Five Guys restaurant.

Related...

Bernie Sanders Doubles Down On Gun Control

Bernie Sanders: Don't Hold Gunmakers Accountable After Mass Shootings

Bernie Sanders Stumbles On Guns And Sandy Hook Families

Also on HuffPost

Donna Ali holds a candle at a vigil for those who lost their lives in Wednesday's school shooting in Parkland, Florida.

Jay Eaton, 19, prays at a vigil Thursday night, one day after a school shooting left 17 people dead.

A couple mourns the loss of their high school friends after Wednesday's school shooting.

A group of Muslim students gather in remembrance of those who died in Wednesday's school shooting.

A cross adorned with lit candles was one of many seen at Thursday night's vigil.

Rabbi Mendy Engel and his daughter, 18-year-old Chaya Itta Engel, came to the vigil to show their support for the families of those who died.

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.BEIRUT (Reuters) - A surge in attacks by the Syrian government and its allies killed 94 people in the rebel pocket of eastern Ghouta in the space of 24 hours, a war monitoring group said on Monday. Air strikes, rocket fire and shelling on the besieged suburbs of Damascus also wounded another 325 people, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. There was no comment from the Syrian military. The Damascus government says it only targets militants. Factions in Ghouta fired mortars at districts of Damascus, killing a child and wounding eight others, Syrian state media said. Troops and allied forces struck militant targets there in response, the state news agency SANA said. The United Nations says nearly 400,000 people live in eastern Ghouta, a pocket of satellite towns and farms under government siege since 2013. Panos Moumtzis, U.N. regional coordinator for the Syria crisis, said an "extreme escalation in hostilities" had killed at least 40 civilians and injured more than 150 on Monday. "The humanitarian situation of civilians in East Ghouta is spiraling out of control," he said in a statement. "Many residents have little choice but to take shelter in basements and underground bunkers with their children." The British-based Observatory said the latest escalation started on Sunday, and the dead included 18 children. The local civil defence group said warplanes and artillery had pounded Saqba, Jisreen, and other towns. The rescue service, which operates in rebel territory, said strikes killed 20 people and wounded dozens in the town of Hammouriyeh alone on Monday. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's military gained momentum in the war after Russian war planes entered on his side in 2015, pushing rebels out of major cities, and retaking much of central and eastern Syria from Islamic State. NO RELIEF Wael Olwan, spokesman for the Failaq al-Rahman rebel group in eastern Ghouta, said there had been heavy bombing throughout the day. "There are no ground invasions in the field and clashes, but there is very big shelling and preparatory fire," he said. The United Nations said last week Syria was seeing some of the worst fighting of the war, which is entering its eighth year. The multi-sided conflict has killed hundreds of thousands of people and driven millions from their homes. Malnutrition has increased sharply in eastern Ghouta with hardly any food aid reaching the residents, the U.N. office for humanitarian affairs (OCHA) says. Rising violence reportedly pushed some 15,000 civilians to flee their homes last month, taking refuge in makeshift shelters or basements in the enclave, OCHA said. Eastern Ghouta falls under ceasefire plans for rebel territory that Russia has brokered with the help of Turkey and Iran. Residents and aid workers say the "de-escalation" deals have brought no relief. Food, fuel, and medicine have dwindled. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday that Moscow and its allies could "deploy our experience of freeing Aleppo ... in the eastern Ghouta situation". With support from Russia and Iran, Damascus regained full control of the city of Aleppo in late 2016, after years of fighting and months of siege ended with an insurgent retreat. Lavrov blamed "armed provocations" by Nusra militants, formerly linked to al Qaeda, for current conditions in eastern Ghouta. The two main factions in Ghouta, which include Failaq al-Rahman, accuse Moscow and the Syrian army of breaching the de-escalation agreements. They say they have used the presence of a few hundred fighters from al Qaeda's former Syria branch as a pretext to attack the enclave. (Reporting by Ellen Francis and Angus McDowall; Additional reporting by Polina Ivanova in Moscow and Tom Miles in Geneva; Editing by Andrew Roche and Kevin Liffey)While some welcomed the promise to recognize the rights of First Nations, others saw it as a way to silence negative press

An event celebrating National Aboriginal Day in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Photograph: Kevin Frayer/AP

When the Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, came to power in 2015, he pledged to mend the broken relationship with indigenous peoples across the country, recognizing that the rights of First Nations in Canada are not an inconvenience but rather a sacred obligation.



In a speech to the House of Commons this week, he admitted the promise has gone unfulfilled.

The address came in a turbulent week of rallies and protests after farmer Gerald Stanley was acquitted by an all-white jury in the murder of Colten Boushie, a young Cree man.

Too many feel and fear that our country and its institutions will never deliver the fairness, justice, and real reconciliation that indigenous peoples deserve, said Trudeau in his address.

Indigenous leaders were cautiously optimistic over the announcement.

I welcome his words. Its an entire paradigm shift in how the crown will deal with our rights and title, said the national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, Perry Bellegarde. Its going to be done in a true partnership and thats going to be the key.

Natan Obed, the National Inuit leader, said that the overhaul requires systematic recognition and redress for outstanding human rights violations, and that respect for Inuit as rights-holders  not as stakeholders is critical for the success of any talks moving forward.

Justin Trudeau poses in a ceremonial headdress while visiting the Tsuutina First Nation near Calgary, Alberta. Photograph: Jeff McIntosh/AP

But not everyone was wooed by [Trudeaus] great words, said Pam Palmater a prominent Mikmaw lawyer, professor and chair of indigenous governance at Ryerson University, who called the speech a way to distract from the negative press surrounding the Stanley verdict.

Her biggest concern with the speech is what Trudeau left out. The question that he never talks about in any of speeches or announcements is lands, resources and power. Those are big ticket items that are the crux of reconciliation, she said. Hes staying well within the realm of the superficial.

Story continues

The proposed overhaul marks the largest change to legal relationship between indigenous peoples and the federal government since Section 35 of the Constitution Act  which guarantees rights to First Nations, Metis and Inuit  enacted 36 years ago.

Despite numerous reports and commissions to determine a path towards indigenous self governance, the pace has remained frustratingly slow, says Naiomi Metallic, a law professor at Dalhousie University.

Theres always this dance between the courts and the federal government, with indigenous people caught in the middle.

For years, one of the only avenues for indigenous peoples to have rights confirmed is through the court system  a costly, drawn out process that costs millions of dollars.

Trudeau himself admitted the failures of past governments, lamenting the disregard for court-affirmed rights for indigenous peoples.

Indigenous peoples were forced to prove, time and time again, through costly and drawn-out court challenges, that their rights existed, must be recognized and implemented, he said.

A First Nations woman holds a sign at a 2018 march in Vancouver. Photograph: Canadian Press/REX/Shutterstock

For communities that have lived those extended court battles, the news was long overdue.

As Tsilhqotin, we have pushed for over 150 years for change in this country and progress is far too slow, said Chief Joe Alphonse, the tribal chairman of Tsilhqotin national government in central British Columbia.

The Tsilhqotin were forced to fight an expensive, decades-long battle with the provincial government over title rights after land they had long hunted was slated to be logged.

Their struggle culminated in a 2014 victory at the supreme court of Canada  part of

a 30 year string of court battles fought by indigenous communities for recognition of pre-existing rights.

Palmater and others worry that instead of fixing a broken system, the Trudeau government is developing a new one that effectively prevents and discourages indigenous groups from using the courts to win back pre-existing rights the government has refused to recognize.

Instead of doing a nation-wide review of Canadas laws, which are the problem, hes going to create a new set of laws that will define and effectively limit the scope of aboriginal and treaty rights. And thats the part that most people dont hear, she says. Theyre going to try to rush and legislate and define and limit aboriginal and treaty rights so that there isnt consent from indigenous peoples. Thats a huge concern.

She worries the speech may lull Canadians into thinking a messy tangle of laws, promises and treaties might easily be resolved  all before the next election in 2019.

Its almost easier to fight the bully government than it is the oozing we love you so much government, she says. But the facts of the matter, and their actions, speak far different.

Ottawa (AFP) - Canada, which takes in more African refugees from Israel than any other nation, has voiced concerns to the Jewish state over its planned mass deportation of African migrants, an official said Monday.

A spokesman for Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said Ottawa is "concerned" that Israel is working to expel thousands of Eritreans and Sudanese who entered illegally over the years, giving them an ultimatum: leave by April 1 or risk being imprisoned indefinitely.

As the migrants could face danger or imprisonment if returned to their homelands, Israel has also offered to relocate them to an unnamed third country.

The United Nations has condemned Israel's expulsion policy, which offers each migrant $3,500 and a plane ticket, as incoherent and unsafe.

"Canada does not support policies of mass deportations of asylum seekers," said Freeland's spokesman Adam Austen, adding that the expulsions would contravene migrants' rights under the Geneva Convention on the Status of Refugees, of which Israel is a signatory.

"As the country that resettles the highest number of African asylum seekers from Israel, we are in direct contact with the government of Israel to convey Canada's concerns about the situation."

In a January UN human rights report, Canada highlighted "institutional and societal discrimination" in Israel against minority groups, particularly for African asylum seekers.

"African asylum seekers lack access to basic social services," said a summary of the report, which warned also that migrants may be "pressed to accept compensation for 'voluntary' departure or detained indefinitely if they decline to leave."By Alice Popavici NEW YORK (Reuters) - The key witness in the case of a Chilean bishop accused of covering sexual abuse said on Saturday he gave "eye opening" testimony to a papally mandated investigator and hoped it would lead to the truth. Juan Carlos Cruz met in a church on Manhattan's Upper West Side for about four hours with Archbishop Charles Scicluna, one of the most experienced and respected Vatican investigators of clergy sexual abuse. "It's been a good experience and I leave here very hopeful today," he told reporters afterwards. "I feel that I was heard ... it was very intense and very detailed and very, sometimes, eye-opening for them." "Hopefully it will lead to good things," he said. The Vatican announced on Jan. 30 that Pope Francis had appointed Scicluna to look into accusations that Bishop Juan Barros of the diocese of Osorno in Chile had covered up crimes against minors. It was a dramatic U-turn for the pope, who eight days earlier told reporters aboard his plane returning from Latin America he was sure Barros was innocent and that the Vatican had received no concrete evidence against him. "For the first time I feel that someone is listening," said Cruz, who now lives in Philadelphia and works for a large-multinational company in nearby Delaware. "We'll see what the outcome is of all this, but I feel that Monsignor Scicluna is a very good man, and I think he was sincerely moved by what I was saying. He cried," Cruz said. "He was hearing my testimony, and I was telling him about the abuse, about the cover up [and] the way survivors, not just me, are treated ... the personal toll it takes on someone. He was crying ... it wasn't an act ... I felt that he was concerned and that he was listening," Cruz said. Scicluna declined to comment on the details of the testimony. EMOTIONALLY DRAINED As a teenager, Cruz was sexually abused by the Rev. Fernando Karadima, who was found guilty in a Vatican investigation in 2011 of abusing him and other teenage boys over many years. Karadima always denied the allegations. The Vatican ordered him to follow a life of prayer and penitence and banned him from public ministry, but he avoided criminal prosecution because under Chilean law too much time had elapsed since the offences. The 87-year-old still lives in Chile. Cruz says Barros witnessed the abuse by Karadima, who was Barros' mentor years ago in a Santiago parish. Barros has always denied this and said he was unaware of any wrongdoing by Karadima, who had trained him to become a priest. The Karadima case has gripped Chile for years and many Chileans protested the pope's decision to make Barros a bishop in 2015. It cast a long shadow over the pope's trip to Chile last month. Scicluna will travel to Chile on Tuesday to continue his investigation of Barros there. Cruz said he was "emotionally drained" but felt empathy from Scicluna and another priest from the Vatican's doctrinal office in Rome who also took part in the meeting. During his visit to Chile last month, the pope testily told a Chilean reporter: "The day I see proof against Bishop Barros, then I will talk. There is not a single piece of evidence against him. It is all slander. Is that clear?" He later apologized to victims, acknowledging that his choice of words and tone of voice had "wounded many." Cruz said all victims deserved to be heard with the same respect and treatment he received from Scicluna. "The pope needs to understand that is what survivors need. Cases don't have to come to the media for them to pay attention," he said. (Writing by Philip Pullella)Robert Farley

Security, Asia

In a war they might not fair so well. But that isn't the only reason Beijing built them.

Are China's South China Sea Bases Pointless?

China has built some islands in the South China Sea. Can it protect them?

During World War II Japan found that control of islands offered some strategic advantages, but not enough to force the United States to reduce each island individually. Moreover, over time the islands became a strategic liability, as Japan struggled to keep them supplied with food, fuel and equipment. The islands of the SCS are conveniently located for China, but do they really represent an asset to Chinas military? The answer is yes, but in an actual conflict the value would dwindle quickly.

The Installations

China has established numerous military installations in the South China Sea, primarily in the Spratly and Paracel Islands. In the Spratlys, China has built airfields at Subi, Mischief and Fiery Cross, along with potential missile, radar and helicopter infrastructure at several smaller formations. In the Paracels, China has established a significant military installation at Woody Island, as well as radar and helicopter facilities in several other areas. China continues construction across the region, meaning that it may expand its military presence in the future. The larger bases (Subi, Mischief, Fiery Cross and Woody Island) have infrastructure necessary for the management of military aircraft, including fighters and large patrol craft. These missiles, radars and aircraft extend the lethal reach of Chinas military across the breadth of the South China Sea.

Recommended: Stealth vs. North Koreas Air Defenses: Who Wins?

Recommended: Americas Battleships Went to War Against North Korea

Recommended: 5 Places World War III Could Start in 2018

Missiles

Several of the islands serve as bases for SAM systems (including the HQ-9, with a range of 125 miles, and perhaps eventually the Russian S-400) and ground-launched cruise missiles (GLCMs). These missiles serve to make the South China Sea lethal for U.S. ships and aircraft that do not have stealth capabilities, or that do not enjoy a layered air-defense system. The SAM installations, buoyed by networks of radars, can effectively limit the ability of enemy aircraft to enter their lethal zone without significant electronic-warfare assistance. The GLCMs can add another set of launchers to Chinas A2/AD network, although not necessarily with any greater effectiveness than missiles launched from subs, ships or aircraft.

Story continues

But it is an open question how survivable the missile installations would be in a conflict. Land-based missiles survive air attack because they can hide among hills, forests and other natural cover. There is no effective natural cover on the islands that China has created, and even man-made defensive installations may not survive concerted attack. Moreover, missile launchers depend upon an at least somewhat robust logistical network for fuel, power and munitions, which China may not be able to reliably provide during a shooting war.

Airfields

The four largest military installations in the SCS have extensive facilities for the operation of military aircraft. This includes advanced fighters, but more importantly patrol, electronic-warfare and advanced early-warning aircraft. The ability to use these airfields effectively extends the reach of Chinas A2/AD bubble, enabling the transmission of targeting data to missile launchers at sea and in mainland China. The fighter aircraft themselves serve to make the skies over the SCS even more lethal than they otherwise would be, as well as threaten U.S. ships at a distance with cruise missiles.

But in conflict, the durability of an airfield depends on the availability of materials and equipment to execute repairs after an attack. It is not obvious that the islands China has created in the South China Sea will be robust enough to continue in operation after U.S. missile and bomb attacks. Although the larger islands have aircraft shelters, it is an open question whether these shelters could long survive a concerted U.S. attack.

Radars

SAMs, GLCMs and combat aircraft depend on accurate targeting data for effectiveness. The most important contribution that the SCS islands may offer to the Chinese military is through the radar installations that China has established on many of the islands. These installations, while individually vulnerable, help to provide a much fuller picture of the battle space than China would otherwise enjoy. Together, they significantly enhance the lethality of Chinas defensive networks.

That said, the radars themselves are vulnerable to a wide array of U.S. attacks. These include kinetic methods such as missiles (launched from submarines, stealth aircraft or other platforms), electronic warfare, cyberattacks and even special-forces raids. In a conflict, China could quickly lose access to the radar network that it has established. Still, the network offers a relatively low-cost way of complicating the job that the U.S. military faces in penetrating the SCS.

Logistics

All the military capabilities of Chinas SCS islands depend upon secure communications with mainland China. Most of the islands constructed by China cannot support extensive logistics stockpiles, or keep those stockpiles safe from attack. In a shooting war, the need to keep the islands supplied with fuel, equipment and munitions would quickly become a liability for presumably hard-stretched Chinese transport assets. Assuming that the PLAN and PLAAF would have little interest in pursuing risky, expensive efforts at resupplying islands under fire, the military value of the islands of the SCS would be a wasting asset during a conflict. Unfortunately for China, the very nature of island warfare, and the nature of the specific formations that China has determined to support, make it difficult to keep installations in service in anything but the very short term.

Ships vs. Forts

As Lord Horatio Nelson may have quipped, a ships a fool to fight a fort. But there are situations in which ships have a major advantage over forts. Chinas islands in the SCS are not mobile, and are not large enough to hide much in the way of military equipment and material. The United States will be able to meticulously map the military installations on each of the islands in the SCS, and will probably be able to track shipments of military equipment to the islands. This will make the islands extremely vulnerable to attack from ships, subs and aircraft, as missiles will not require real-time targeting data.

One positive step for the United States would be to reverse the decision to retire in place the Advanced Gun System on the Zumwalt-class destroyer. Making available a munition for this gun would enable the Zumwalts to strike Chinese island installations at range, potentially causing serious, practically irreparable damage at a relatively low cost. Otherwise, the islands will suck up cruise missiles that might effectively be used on more juicy targets.

The islands of the SCS have some military relevance, but are more important as a political claim to waterways and undersea resources. Militarily, they represent a thin crust on Chinas A2/AD system. Under certain conditions this crust could disrupt U.S. freedom of action, but it wont be hard for the United States Air Force and Navy to punch through.

Robert Farley, a frequent contributor to TNI, is author of The Battleship Book. He serves as a Senior Lecturer at the Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce at the University of Kentucky. His work includes military doctrine, national security, and maritime affairs. He blogs at Lawyers, Guns and Money and Information Dissemination and The Diplomat.

Image: Reuters

Read full articleThe red carpet was awash with black gowns at the British Academy Film Awards ceremony in London on Sunday night, as some of the world's most famous actresses once again took a stand for the #MeToo movement. However, when it came to the makeup looks, bold and colorful hues were the order of the day.

Jennifer Lawrence

A statement red lip helped Jennifer Lawrence stand out from the crowd, with the star going easy on the eye makeup for maximum impact. A simple center-part hairstyle also kept the focus on her bold lipstick.

Lupita Nyong'o

Hollywood legend Lupita Nyong'o also championed the red lip, opting for a fiery scarlet shade with orange undertones. Blue eyeliner kept the look contemporary.

Kate Middleton

Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, sported a smoky brown eye with metallic accents and a dash of creamy rose-toned blusher, for a polished red carpet look. A glossy, wavy hairstyle added texture.

Margot Robbie

Australian actress Margot Robbie radiated fresh-faced beauty thanks to her dewy complexion and matching pale pink blusher and eyeshadow. A dusky rose lip completed the look.

Naomie Harris

British star Naomie Harris kept things fashion-forward with an elaborate braided top knot, a lightly smudged smoky eye and a pale pink lip.Washington (AFP) - The couple who took in Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz after his mother's death have described him as quirky but pleasant and seemingly on the right track, saying they had no idea they had a "monster living under our roof."

Cruz, 19, moved in with James and Kimberly Snead of Parkland, Florida in late November after his adoptive mother died earlier that month from complications of pneumonia, they told the South Florida Sun Sentinel in an interview published Sunday.

He was a friend of their son.

Prone to odd eating and sleeping habits and unused to any form of housework, he was nevertheless making progress in dealing with his grief and kept himself busy with adult education classes along with his job at a discount store, the couple said.

"I told him there'd be rules and he followed every rule to the T," James Snead, 48, an army veteran and military intelligence analyst, told the paper.

"We had this monster living under our roof and we didn't know," added Kimberly Snead, 49, a neonatal nurse. "We didn't see this side of him."

Cruz killed 17 people at his former high school last Wednesday using an AR-15 rifle that he had legally purchased. It was the country's worst school massacre since the horror at Sandy Hook six years ago that left 26 dead.

He also owned several other guns including two other assault rifles as well as knives, according to the Sneads who own firearms themselves and did not find this unusual.

Related:

And his ultimate aim was to join the army and become an infantryman, something he had become excited about after a recent meeting with a military recruiter.

- Troubled past, warnings ignored -

A profile has emerged of a troubled young man who was expelled from school last year for "disciplinary reasons."

The FBI admitted receiving a detailed warning last month about Cruz's gun ownership, erratic behavior, and disturbing social media posts, as well as the potential for him carrying out a school shooting.

Story continues

The agency took no action, despite the tip-off.

Cruz was also known to police after his mother repeatedly reported him for violent outbursts, while records obtained by the same newspaper showed authorities investigated Cruz in 2016 after he cut his arms on messaging app Snapchat and threatened to buy a gun.

But he was eventually deemed a low risk and later passed a background check, allowing him in February 2017 to buy the AR-15 rifle used in the massacre.

- Cosseted upbringing? -

The Sneads said it appeared he had grown up without ever having to do common chores -- he couldn't cook, do laundry, pick up after himself or even use a microwave.

"He was very naive. He wasn't dumb, just naive," James Snead told the Sun Sentinel.

Cruz had quirky habits, like putting a chocolate chip cookie on a steak and cheese sandwich, and going to bed at 8:00 pm.

He seemed lonely and badly wanted a girlfriend, and was also depressed about the death of his mother, the couple said.

Kimberly Snead had taken Cruz to the office of a therapist just five days before the shooting, and he had said he was open to therapy if his medical insurance would cover it.

Cruz told the Sneads he would inherit at least $800,000 from his parents, with most of the funds becoming available when he turned 22 -- and the claim appeared to be borne out by paperwork the couple have subsequently seen, they said.

On the day of the attack, Cruz sent several text messages to the Sneads' son, who was still studying at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

In one, he asked what classroom the boy was in, adding in another that he had "something important" to tell him. But he then wrote: "Nothing man."

The couple last saw Cruz at the Broward County Sheriff's office. Dressed in a hospital gown, he was handcuffed and surrounded by deputies.

"He said he was sorry. He apologized. He looked lost, absolutely lost," said James Snead. "And that was the last time we saw him."The couple who took in Nikolas Cruz, the 19-year-old who confessed to opening fire at a South Florida high school last week, say he seemed normal the morning of the deadly shooting.

Kimberly and James Snead of Coral Springs, Florida, allowed Cruz, a friend of their son, to live in their home after his adopted mother died in November. The couple spoke out about their relationship with Cruz on Monday in their first TV interview since the shooting, which left 17 people dead and more than a dozen others injured.

The only thing that was maybe different was that he didnt go to school ... that particular morning, Kimberly Snead told ABCs Good Morning America. Cruz told the Sneads that he didnt go to school on Valentines Day, James Snead said.

I still cant process it because this isnt the person we knew, Kimberly Snead continued. Not at all.

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Cruz, previously expelled from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, told police that he used an assault-style rifle to carry out the attack on the school Wednesday.

The FBI admitted Friday that the agency had failed to follow protocol after receiving a tip from a caller in January who claimed Cruz had a desire to kill people and the potential of him conducting a school shooting.

The law enforcement agency was also alerted to Cruzs behavior in September, when a Mississippi man reported a comment that a YouTube user named nikolas cruz had left on a video. The comment said, Im going to be a professional school shooter.

Cruzs classmates said he bragged about his arsenal of weapons and killing toads on his social media accounts, according to The New York Times.

But the Sneads said Monday that they werent aware of any apparent red flags.

Everything everybody seems to know, we didnt know, James Snead said on Good Morning America. We had rules and he followed every rule to the T. ... He was very polite. He seemed normal.

As far as the animal killings, he never did anything like that at our house, he said. We have animals and he loved our animals. Our animals loved him.

Story continues

Cruz was charged Thursday with 17 counts of premeditated murder. He is being held without bail. Kimberly Snead described being overcome with emotion when she first saw Cruz at the police station after the shooting.

I really wanted to strangle him more than anything, she said. I tried to reserve myself. I said, Really, Nik? Really? I yelled at him. He mumbled something, but I didnt hear him. He said he was sorry. ... I was just furious and heartbroken.

I cant imagine the pain [the victims families] must be feeling, she said. Nothing that we can say is going to be any kind of help. Were very sorry that they had this experience and it never should have happened.

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.The husband and wife who took in suspected Florida shooter Nikolas Cruz when he needed a place to live have spoken out.

James and Kimberly Snead appeared on ABC's Good Morning America on Monday, where they detailed the teen's surprisingly normal behavior before he allegedly killed 17.

"Everything everybody seems to know, we didn't know," James Snead, a U.S. Army veteran, told Michael Strahan.

Cruz lived with the Sneads since November, when his adoptive mother died of complications from pneumonia. James Snead, whose son was friends with Cruz, said he'd only met the teen a couple of times before he moved in, but that he seemed totally normal and followed all of the house rules.

One of those rules was that Cruz had to keep his guns in a safe, which the Sneads say he did.

However, Cruz is accused of showing up to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland last Wednesday armed to the teeth before allegedly gunning down 17.

After Cruz's arrest, Kimberly Snead told Strahan she confronted the teen at the police precinct.

"I went after him. I really wanted to strangle him more than anything... I said 'Really Nick? Really?' I yelled at him," Mrs. Snead recalled. "He said he was sorry. He said he was sorry."

As those who lost loved ones in the Parkland community mourn, the Sneads say they mourn with them.

"We were devastated. And I can't imagine the pain they must be feeling," Kimberly Snead said.

Cruz is charged with murdering 14 students as well as three staffers at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

Funerals for the victimsincluding Luke Hoyer, Alex Schachter, Jaime Guttenberg and Scott Beigelcontinued through the weekend.

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Related Articles:One lucky pup found compassiom in a most unlikely place: The New York City subway.

Dakota, aka Loppy the dog, was playing with her dog walker at a park in Brooklyn on Friday when the pooch managed to escape. Frightened, the poor pup ran to a place that she knew  the Jay St. station  and ended up inside the dangerous subway tunnel.

SEE ALSO: How this startup is trying to bring dog toys into the 21st century

"Its a familiar place for her, we commute together every day. She entered, ran across the platform, and at some point either fell or jumped in," Dakota's owner, Caroline Francis, posted to her Facebook.

The NYC subway runs off of an electrified third rail, so once notified, workers shut the trains down and cut power to the subway in order to save the dog.

This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it.

After over an hour of searching, Francis says that things were looking "devastatingly bleak." She begged the MTA to let her onto the tracks to help search the miles of subway tunnels.

"Then a miracle happened," Francis wrote. "An MTA officer took it upon herself to explore the tracks several stations away. And, against all odds, she found Loppy."

Francis says the pup was bloodied, cold, dirty, and terrified, but miraculously OK.

"The joy I felt when the police officer showed me a photo and said 'is this her?' was all-consuming," she wrote. "Being reunited with this little creature is something more powerful than I can explain."

The dog suffered some lung damage, lost a few teeth, and fractured her jaw, according to the New York Daily News. She is currently being treated at Pearl Blue hospital, but is expected to make a speedy recovery.

MTA Supervisor Sanya Hill, who found the pup about a mile away from where she entered the subway, says she spotted Loppy curled up at the back of the subway platform.

I had my flashlight out and I was looking and then I saw the dog, Hill told the News. I didn't want her to bite me, I didn't want to scare her any more than she was. She was already shaking and already curled up all the way to the back of the platform.

Story continues

Francis ended her Facebook post with a heartwarming message to all of the New Yorkers who likely complained for hours about how their commute was interrupted.

"New York can feel like a cold, hard city," Francis wrote. "But this citythe NYPD and MTA in particularrallied around me at my darkest hour. They saved my best friend. That warmth and support moves me in a way I cant explain. To all the commuters who got stuck for 60+ minutes, know that your sacrifice saved her lifethank you. I've been so touched by all who have reached out with kind words."President Donald Trump supports efforts to improve the federal background check system for gun purchases, the White House has said, less than a week after a school shooting in Florida resulted in the deaths of 17 people.

Mr Trump is said to have spoken to Republican Senator John Cornyn about gun legislation on Friday.

During the conversation, they discussed the bipartisan bill Mr Cornyn and Democratic Senator Chris Murphy introduced to improve federal compliance with criminal background checks, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said in a statement.

While discussions are ongoing and revisions are being considered, the President is supportive of efforts to improve the federal background check system, Ms Sanders said.

While running for president, Mr Trump tied himself to the National Rifle Association, one of the most powerful gun-rights organisations, and received the most gun lobbying funding of any presidential candidate ever.

Last April, Mr Trump declared to members of the NRA: The eight-year assault on your Second Amendment freedoms has come to a crashing end.

He also assured association  which donated more than $30m (21.4m) to his presidential campaign  that it now has a true friend and champion in the White House.

His comments came after he signed a resolution in February blocking an Obama-era rule that would have prevented an estimated 75,000 people with mental disorders from buying guns.

The rule was part of former President Barack Obamas push to strengthen the federal background check system following the 2012 Newtown, Connecticut shooting  the deadliest school shooting in US history.

Mr Trumps initial response to the Florida shooting drew criticism from gun control advocates. While the President expressed empathy, he made it clear that he would not break from his base or the Republican partys position on the issue that does not appear to be preventing such tragedies from occurring again and again.

In his speech last week following the massacre, Mr Trump called for action but did not mention the issue of gun control. Instead, he promised to prioritise school safety and tackle the difficult issue of mental health. He did not say the word gun or discuss AR-15s, which have repeatedly been used in mass shootings.

Story continues

A gunman last Wednesday, armed with a legally purchased AR-15-style assault rifle, attacked Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, about 45 miles north of Miami.

Several student survivors have called on Mr Trump and members of Congress to take action on gun control, appearing on news programmes to announce they will lead a nationwide demonstration next month to bring further attention to the issue.

Any politician on either side who is receiving money from the NRA is responsible for events like this, said high school junior Cameron Kasky, referring to the Parkland shooting.

At the end of the day, the NRA is fostering and promoting this gun culture, he told ABC.

Over the weekend in Florida, Mr Trump is said to have surveyed members at his Mar-a-Lago resort about whether he should support gun control measures. He told them he was closely watching the media appearances by the student survivors, the Washington Post reported.

The White House announced on Sunday that the President will host a listening session with students to discuss school safety measures.

Mr Trump also spent time ranting on Twitter. In a tweetstorm that began late Saturday evening and lasted until around noon on Sunday, Mr Trump railed against former President Barack Obama, Democrats, CNN and an investigation into whether his campaign colluded with the Russian government.

He also blamed the FBI for the shooting.

Very sad that the FBI missed all of the many signals sent out by the Florida school shooter. This is not acceptable, the President wrote. They are spending too much time trying to prove Russian collusion with the Trump campaign  there is no collusion. Get back to the basics and make us all proud!

The FBI acknowledged on Friday that it failed to "investigate a warning over the alleged shooter, Nikolas Cruz, with the agency saying a tipster had called a hotline claiming that Cruz owned a gun and had a desire to kill.

Cruz appeared in court on Monday. He has been charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder.Stars at the British Academy Film Awards on Sunday night wore all-black in support of the Times Up initiative, much like they did at Januarys Golden Globe awards.

Times Up, an action plan and legal defense fund to fight workplace sexual harassment and inequality, also inspired actors and actresses to wear Times Up pins in addition to the all-black attire.

But there was one notable exception to the dress code.

The Duchess of Cambridge, who wore black to the BAFTAs last year, showed up in a dark green Jenny Packham gown with a black sash. She accessorized with black heels, a black clutch and emerald jewels.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge at Royal Albert Hall on Feb. 18. (Photo: Max Mumby/Indigo via Getty Images)

Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, arrives at the BAFTAs on Sunday. (Photo: Samir Hussein via Getty Images)

The duchess likely didnt wear black because the royal family typically shies away from anything that could show a political affiliation or bias. Kensington Palace had no comment when reached by HuffPost.

Some pointed to Kates black sash and her emerald jewelry as a subtle nod to Times Up. Many actresses wore emeralds to the Golden Globes a few weeks ago, likely due to their longtime history as a feminist gem with ties to the suffragette movement, according to jeweler Anna Sheffield.

Emeralds have long been associated with divine feminine power  birth, fertility and creation  and often, they were associated with goddesses, like Venus and Umina in the ancient Peru, Sheffield said in a recent interview with Today.com.

She added, They nod to the power and creativity attributed to females since the dawn of time, and evoke the reverence with which women should be treated.

Still, some people werent happy with the Duchess of Cambridges choice of dress, and argued she shouldve worn black as a show of solidarity.

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Others defended her choice to wear whatever she wanted:

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The duchess even found an ally in I, Tonya actress Allison Janney.

I would never judge anyones choice of clothing, Janney said. She looked absolutely beautiful and Im so happy for them that shes pregnant again. Shes an extraordinary woman. And she can wear whatever she wants.

Story continues

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Related...

Stars Wear All Black At Golden Globes In Powerful Show Of Solidarity

Stars Wear White Roses On Grammys Red Carpet To Support Time's Up

Stars Wear All-Black To The BAFTAs In Support Of Time's Up

Also on HuffPost

Kate at a reception dinner at the British ambassador's residence on Jan. 30, the first day of the royal visit to Sweden and Norway.

William and Kate with Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden and Prince Daniel of Sweden on Jan. 30.

Kate visits the Nobel Museum on Jan. 30.

Kate reacts after hitting the ball as she attends a Bandy hockey match with William in Sweden.

Kate and William visit the Karolinska Institute in Sweden on Jan. 31.

Kate discusses Sweden's approach to managing mental health challenges during the second day of the royal tour.

The royals attend a reception to celebrate Swedish culture at the Fotografiska Gallery on Jan. 31.

The royals visit the Princess Ingrid Alexandra Sculpture Park in Oslo, Norway, on Feb. 1.

The royals attend a luncheon hosted by Norway's King Harald and Queen Sonja on the third day of their trip.

\William and Kate attend dinner at the Royal Palace in Oslo on Feb. 1.

The royals arrive at Holmenkollen ski jump in Oslo on Feb. 2.

Kate and William depart the Hartvig Nissen School in Oslo on Feb. 2.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.The Duchess of Cambridge chose to wear green to the BAFTAs which some people werent happy about [Photo: Getty]

The Duchess of Cambridge has ignited a debate on social media about whether or not she was right not to wear black at last nights BAFTA awards.

Before the event, speculation had been mounting about whether the Duchess would show her sartorial support to the Times Up movement by choosing to wear all black.

But on the night, Kate opted to side-step the issue by wearing a deep khaki-hued dress by designer Jenny Packham.

Tradition dictates that the Royal Family avoid anything that could be construed as a political statement, and donning black could have been perceived as a breach of protocol.

But in the lead up to the event fans had been wondering if the Duchess might wear a patterned black gown which could demonstrate she backed the Times Up movement, while at the same time respecting the royal rules.

Instead the 36-year-old, who is pregnant with her third child, chose to wear the green empire line dress. But possibly in a subtle nod to the movement the Duchess opted to accessorise her floor-skimming frock with a black bow above her bump, with matching black shoes and clutch handbag.

The Duchess has received a mixed response to her choice to wear green to the event [Photo: Getty]

The fact that Kate hadnt worn black was accentuated by the fact that nearly the entire audience had opted to shun colour to throw their weight behind the movement.

Some fans immediately took to Twitter to voice their disappointment in the fact that the Duchess hadnt stuck to the unofficial dress code.

Disappointed in #KateMiddleton #DuchessofCambridge not wearing black to the #EEBAFTAs, one women wrote. Its not a political thing. Its a woman thing! #TimesUp #StandTogether

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I know the Royals arent supposed to get involved with protests or anything but would it really have been THAT bad for Kate Middleton to wear black??? another tweeted.

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Quite a bummer to see that the Duchess of Cambridge didnt wear black to the #BAFTAs and not a #TimesUp pin on either Cambridge, another user voiced.

There is nothing political about standing up to sexual assault. This shouldve been an easy choice for them to make, and they failed.

Story continues

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But others understood why the Duchess hadnt worn black.

I think the Duchess of Cambridges dress is a smart move. Not black, so in line with protocol, but dark enough to be a nod of support, one woman wrote.

Others believed it was unfair to target the Duchess and assume her sartorial decision meant a lack of support. Feminists show their true colours by bullying the Duchess of Cambridge because she chose not to get into politics and not wear black. This has gone too far, one user wrote.

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That was a view echoed by Piers Morgan.

Duchess of Cambridge being abused by feminists on Twitter for not wearing a black dress at tonights #BAFTAS. Apparently, shes not allowed to exercise HER feminist right to wear whatever colour dress she chooses, the Good Morning Britain presenter wrote.

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Personally, i think the Duchess of Cambridges dress was a classy choice for the # BAFTA2018, another user agreed. Bullying, yes, bullying people to toe the line with a movement is the first step to fascism, whatever the cause.

The Duchess of Cambridge wore a forest green Jenny Packham gown [Photo: Getty]

Prior to the event, which turned out to be one of the most politically minded British awards ceremonies in recent years, an open letter was published which received the backing of almost 200 British and Irish stars pledging their support for a new fund to help women facing sexual harassment and abuse at work.

Several actresses also brought feminist activists along to the event and a group of female protesters wearing Times Up Theresa T-shirts took to the red carpet at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

Male attendees also showed their support by wearing black, like Prince William, with many also opting to wear Times Up badges in their lapels.

Meanwhile host Joanna Lumley, the awards first female host since 2001, threw her own weight behind the cause by hailing the Times Up movement as a continuation of the dogged determination of the suffragettes 100 years earlier.

The Duchess wasnt the only one not to wear black to the event, however.

Frances McDormand, who won the Best Actress award for Three Billboard Outside Ebbing, Missouri, wore a patterned red frock to last nights awards, explaining during her acceptance speech: I have a little trouble with compliance.

I want you to know that I stand in full solidarity with my sisters tonight in black. I appreciate a well-organised act of civil disobedience, she said to huge applause.

So was the Duchess right not to comply with the unofficial dress code?

Both choices carried consequences, which means Kate was in something of a damned if you do, damned if you dont situation.

By choosing the dark forest green Packham gown she opted to wear, she managed to find some sort of middle ground. It was dark enough that she didnt stand out in a sea of black, but it also respected the monarchys non-political policy.

But then again diplomatic dressing is her forte.

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Read more from Yahoo Style UK:

How Meghan Markle is switching up the royal fashion game

How much did the Duchess of Cambridges Scandinavian royal tour wardrobe cost?

The Duchess of Cambridges top maternity style momentsOn one side, there were the industrys biggest stars, turning the Bafta red carpet black in their visible support of the Times Up movement; on the other, the traditionalists insisting the Duchess of Cambridge could not be drawn into a global protest about sexual harassment and gender equality.

On Sunday night, the Duchess attempted to walk the diplomatic line, eschewing an unofficial all-black dress code to see the cream of British cinema honoured at the Royal Albert Hall.

Her choice of a dark green Jenny Packham dress with a black ribbon appeared to please and offend in equal measure, apparently designed to avoid the scandal of a future queen making an overt statement that could be perceived as political.

The movement did not, however, go unnoticed; instead of sending a message through clothing, the Duke acknowledged it in writing.

In a foreword in the ceremonys programme, he mentioned steps taken to protect those in the industry, stating: Levelling the playing field and ensuring a safe, professional working environment for aspiring actors, filmmakers and craft practitioners  regardless of their background and circumstances  is vital to ensure film remains accessible and exciting for all.

Baftas 2018 | Main awards

"As president, I am proud of the leadership Bafta have shown on this; in a year which rocked the industry as many brave people spoke up about bullying, harassment and abuse despite the risk to their professional careers and reputations.

The Duchess was one of a small number of women at this years ceremony not to wear all black, after a letter outlining the Times Up dress code was circulated.

Neither the Duke, president of Bafta, nor the Duchess appeared to be wearing the Times Up lapel pin, which others wore on the red carpet.

Amanda Berry, Catherine Duchess of Cambridge and Prince William Credit: James Gourley/BAFTA//REX/Shutterstock

A spokesman for Kensington Palace did not comment on the choice. Catherine Quinn, the Duchesss private secretary, attending the awards in her official capacity, chose to blend in discreetly in black. Members of the Royal family are supposed to avoid political statements, leaving the Duchess with a stark choice between being accused of overstepping her position or being the only woman wearing colour.

Story continues

Some critics were disappointed, arguing that objecting to sexual harassment was not political. From the start, there was little on anyones lips except the Times Up theme.

Campaigners, wearing T-shirts and chanting about sisterhood, lay on the red carpet while stars gushed about the campaigns aims in interviews.

Clockwise from top left: Anya Taylor-Joy, Margot Robbie, the Duchess of Cambridge, Gemma Arterton and Joanna Lumley Credit: Mike Marsland/WireImage/AP/REX

After the Duke and Duchess walked into the hall to polite applause to take their front row seats, Jane Lush, Bafta chairman, opened proceedings with a summary of the revelation after revelation leading up to the protest, telling the audience: This is a moment in history. It should be a watershed.

Joanna Lumley, the first woman to host the awards solo in more than 20 years, acknowledged the powerful protest in her introduction.

The first award, for outstanding British film, was presented by Oscar-winner Jennifer Lawrence to Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. Graham Broadbent, its producer, delivered a speech referencing the tectonic shift in the industry, and the meaningful change that can happen quickly. Sam Rockwell, best supporting actor for the same film, admitted he stands on the shoulders of strong, intelligent, righteous women who have made my life complete.

Despite the enthusiastic words, gender equality did not appear to bear out in the awards themselves: 39 statues were taken away by men and eight by women.

Packing a punch: Florence Pugh on the red carpet Credit: Dave Benett/Getty Images

Allison Janney, picking up the prize for best supporting actress for I, Tonya, avoided all things serious, using her speech to clear up a falsehood that she had graduated from Rada, when she in fact attended a two-week summer programme.

Other winners included Darkest Hour, which saw Gary Oldman transformed into Winston Churchill with amazing prosthetics, won the award for best make-up and hair. Daniel Kaluuya, the British actor, won the public vote as Baftas rising star. The Shape of Water won prizes for original music and production design, Call Me By Your Name won best adapted screenplay, and Phantom Thread best costumes.

Angelina Jolie wore a black gown to the event Credit: Mike Marsland/WireImage

Women at Bafta made no secret of their aims for the evening. Kristin Scott Thomas, nominated for her Clementine Churchill in Darkest Hour, said of Times Up: We need equality now  I think their slogan is absolutely right Now its a question of moving it from conversation to action.

Andrea Riseborough, who walked the red carpet with activist Phyll Opoku-Gyimah, said those backing the movement hoped to get across the idea that when all of this stops we all remember that this is an important cause and that we should carry on the conversation.

Baftas 2018: the stars in pictures

She added: Im here tonight to stand in solidarity with every woman, every person in the world who has suffered sexual abuse in the workplace. Gemma Arterton arrived with Eileen Pullen and Gwen Davis, two of the Dagenham Girls who walked out of the Ford Motor Companys Dagenham plant in June 1968 and finally won equal pay. Arterton, who starred in a stage musical version of their story, said: I thought it was really fitting and Im really happy and proud that Im with Gwen and Eileen because they represent a normal person speaking up for what is actually right.

Bafta 2018 | Key films, reviewed

Salma Hayek, presenting the best actor award, said: In this very important and historic year for women, Im here to celebrate men.

She joked the award would go to Frances McDormand, one of the best actress nominees, before announcing the true winner: Gary Oldman.

Oldman honoured the late prime minister, who held the line for honour, integrity and freedom for his nation and the world. McDormand, who did win best actress, accepted the award in a red, pink and black dress. She joked she had a problem with conformity but added: I stand in full solidarity with my sisters in black.CAIRO (Reuters) - Three Egyptian soldiers have been killed in a 10-day-old campaign against Islamist militants focused on the Sinai peninsula, Egypt's military said on Monday. It was the first time the military has reported its own casualties since it launched the operation on Feb. 9. The statement did not say where or when the soldiers had died. The military says it has killed dozens of militants and arrested hundreds of suspected fighters and criminals in the operation, which is taking place ahead of a three-month deadline that President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi set to clear North Sinai of jihadists. A group of Sinai-based jihadists swore allegiance to Islamic State in 2014. Attacks by the militants have killed hundreds of soldiers and police and scores of civilians. Sisi is seeking re-election in March when he will run virtually unopposed. (Reporting by Nayera Abdallah and John Davison; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it.

GANGNEUNG, South Korea  With tears streaming down her face, a clearly embarrassed Gabriella Papadakis stopped to speak to reporters about a wardrobe malfunction that briefly exposed her live on international television and plagued her short program ice dance with partner Guillaume Cizeron.

The French ice dancer was asked how she was feeling.

Not great, she mustered through a forced smile and a nervous laugh.

The unfortunate scenario occurred in the beginning of their routine when Cizeron slipped his hand behind Papadakis neck less than 10 seconds into their routine. Papadakis costume featured a halter top and Cizerons hand must have clipped the clasp that held it together. Once undone, Papadakis was prone to losing the entire top to her outfit, especially as the couple spun and twizzled about the ice.

Guillaume Cizeron and Gabriella Papadakis of France perform. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

They never broke stride, but as much as they tried to keep it together, the malfunction affected them competitively in terms of the extent of their routine. They were also unable to keep Papadakis completely covered throughout.

It was my worst nightmare happening at the Olympics, Papadakis said. It happened in the first few seconds [of the routine]. I told myself I didnt have a choice; I have to keep going.

How did she keep it together mentally and physically?

I prayed, Papadakis said. That is about what I could do.

The couple finished second headed into Tuesdays long dance. They trail Canadas Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir 83.67 to 81.93. Two American teams followed, Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue and the brother-sister combo of Maia and Alex Shibutani.

For the French, the challenge of the wardrobe problem affected both their concentration and the extent of some of their spins and twizzles. They also needed to continue to smile and act like nothing was wrong in a sport with intense judging.

When you rotate, its kind of hard to keep your dress on when its open, Cizeron said. It was in our thoughts all along the program. I think the result affected us.

Story continues

That they managed to score so well quickly became a point of celebration.

I think we should be proud we were able to deliver a strong performance with that happening, Papadakis said.

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Last week, a South Korean ice dancer also suffered a wardrobe malfunction during the team competition. Yura Min was more successful in keeping her top from dropping but didnt finish in as high a position as Papadakis and Cizeron.

Now the couple focuses on the long dance and trying to win gold.

We just look forward to a new day tomorrow, Cizeron said.

Heres guessing that costume will be sewn onto Papadakis just in case.

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By Arshad Mohammed, John Irish and Robin Emmott WASHINGTON/PARIS/MUNICH (Reuters) - The United States has sketched out a path under which three key European allies would simply commit to try to improve the Iran nuclear deal over time in return for U.S. President Donald Trump keeping the pact alive by renewing U.S. sanctions relief in May. The approach, outlined in a State Department cable obtained by Reuters and an interview with a senior department official this week, still faces obstacles. The European allies are uncertain what will satisfy Trump and are reluctant to make such a commitment only to find that he asks them for more, two European officials and two former U.S. officials said. The cable's characterization of what the United States wants from the Europeans, which has not been previously reported, sets a lower standard than laid out by Trump in January and so might facilitate a meeting of the minds, five current European and four former U.S. officials said. "We are asking for your commitment that we should work together to seek a supplemental or follow-on agreement that addresses Irans development or testing long-range missiles, ensures strong IAEA inspections, and fixes the flaws of the 'sunset clause,'" said the cable (http://reut.rs/2ocuNM2). The crux of the July 2015 agreement between Iran and six major powers - Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States - was that Iran would restrict its nuclear program in return for relief from sanctions that have crippled its economy. Trump sees three defects in the deal: its failure to address Iran's ballistic missile program; the terms under which international inspectors can visit suspect Iranian nuclear sites; and "sunset" clauses under which limits on the Iranian nuclear program start to expire after 10 years. He wants all three strengthened if the United States is to stay in the deal. Trump delivered an ultimatum to the European powers on Jan. 12, saying they must agree to "fix the terrible flaws of the Iran nuclear deal" or he would refuse to extend the U.S. sanctions relief on Iran that it calls for. U.S. sanctions will resume unless Trump issues fresh waivers to suspend them on May 12. "This is a last chance," he said. The State Department declined comment on the cable, saying it would not discuss internal communications. The White House did not respond to requests for comment on what Trump sought in his Jan. 12 statement or how it viewed the approach outlined in the cable. AN AGREEMENT TO GET AN AGREEMENT Reaching a full-blown international accord by the May 12 deadline is seen as an impossibility by some U.S. and European officials even if there was agreement on the underlying issues, which there is not. In an interview last week, a senior U.S. State Department described the effort with the Europeans as a two-phase process. During the first, from Jan. 12 to May 12, the United States will seek to get the Europeans to agree on the weaknesses that need to be fixed, he said. "We want a commitment from them that these are the deficiencies that need to be addressed ... and an agreement that we will seek an agreement. Thats it," he said. The second phase, to begin immediately after May 12, would take that understanding to the other parties to the deal - Iran, Russia and China - to see if there was some way to address these issues. The official said there were three possible avenues to do this: amend the existing pact, negotiate a supplemental agreement, or seek a new U.N. Security Council resolution to make the changes. If the United States were to pursue a supplemental accord, which is common in arms control, it would want the support of Iran, Russia and China but could live with just the agreement of Germany, France and Britain, the senior U.S. official said. In such a scenario, the four Western nations could create their own supplemental agreement to reimpose sanctions if the Iranians violated any of the new conditions that they would set. In a meeting not been previously reported, U.S. negotiators will next see officials from Britain, France and Germany, known as the "E3," in Paris on Tuesday, U.S. and European officials said, to discuss how to meet Trump's demands. "A LITTLE SOFTER" European officials said in interviews they did not know if the view laid out in the State Department diplomatic cable - sent to U.S. diplomats in London, Paris, Berlin and Brussels to deliver to their counterparts - will prevail in Washington. Ultimately, they said, all that counts is Trump's judgment on whether to renew U.S. sanctions waivers that expire on May 12. "Has the Trump administration shifted its stance? We don't know," said a senior European diplomat on Friday. "The reality is that what we are doing now is to try to get the best package possible to convince Trump," said a second European diplomat on Friday, referring to Trump's concerns on missiles, inspections and the sunset clauses. "Nobody knows what Trump will do or wants," he added. That confusion is caused, in part, by disagreements among different parts of the U.S. administration and the fundamental unpredictability of what Trump  who has at times rejected the advice of his senior national security officials  may ultimately decide. The State Department cable was "a little softer" than Trump's statement, said Richard Boucher, a former State Department spokesman for five U.S. secretaries of state. Boucher and three other former U.S. officials flagged the difference between Trumps demand the E3 reach an "agreement to fix the terrible flaws" of the deal and the cable's less demanding language seeking a "commitment" to "work together" to "seek" a supplemental accord that "addresses" its deficiencies. "The president, to me, was holding out a higher standard. They have to agree and negotiate and we have to get an agreement. Whereas the other one was (saying) we have to get their commitment to go down this road," Boucher said. (Additional reporting by Andrea Shalal in Berlin; Writing By Arshad Mohammed; Editing by Mary Milliken and Ross Colvin)Jokhang Temple - EPA

A fire broke out at one of the most sacred temples in Tibetan Buddhism, prompting concern and suspicion that information on the incident is being controlled by authorities.

Chinese State media said the fire at "part of" Jokhang Temple in Lhasa, the capital of the south-western Chinese region of Tibet, "was soon put out" after it began at 6.40pm on Saturday.

Images posted online showed flames billowing from a pagoda at the sacred building, which was built in the seventh century.

Some of the clips showed flames appearing to engulf the Unesco World Heritage Site when it was dark, suggesting that the fire might have continued for longer than an hour.

Jokhang houses the Jowo Shakyamuni, a glittering statue believed to have been blessed by Shakyamuni Buddha, the founder of the religion.

It is said to be just one of just three to be crafted during his actual lifetime.

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Observers on Twitter - which is blocked in China - claimed that information relating the fire was being censored online.

Robert Barnett, a British expert on Tibet, Tweeted: "Sources in Lhasa claim police have threatened anyone distributing pictures or unofficial news about the fire.

"Locals afraid to talk. Official information extremely limited, raising concern about extent of damage. Access to area round temple said to be restricted."

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China has ruled Tibet since the 1950s, and Beijing claims that it has helped improve the lives of ordinary Tibetans by bringing economic growth to a traditionally poor region.

However, many accuse China of suppressing rights in the region and stifling the local Buddhist culture.

Tibet has seen outbreaks of ethic tension, including riots in 2008 and a wave of self-immolations carried out in protest of Beijing's tightening grip.

State media reports on the fire have contained few details.

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Tibetans began celebrating traditional Tibetan New Year that last Friday. The temple would have been expecting thousands of visitors over the next few days.

Tsering Woeser, a Tibetan writer in Beijing told The New York Times: I pray that the fire isnt serious and that the old buildings havent suffered too much damage.

For Tibetans, the Jokhang is the holiest of holy sites.Dagestan is a small republic in the Caucasus mountains that borders Chechnya - TASS

A man in Russia's southern province of Dagestan shot into a crowd of people leaving a church on Sunday, killing five and injuring at least five others, Russian news agencies reported, citing the local health ministry.

The attack occurred in the village of Kizlyar in the Muslim-majority republic of Dagestan, agencies said.

The small republic in the Caucasus mountains borders Chechnya, where Moscow has led two wars against separatists and radical religious groups since the 1991 Soviet collapse and which has seen a large number of people join Islamic State.

Russian news agencies said the attack occurred as churchgoers celebrated Maslenitsa, a Christian holiday marking the last day before Lent according to the eastern Orthodox calendar.

The assailant was identified as a 22-year-old man local to the region, the TASS news agency said, citing the investigative committee.

He was shot and killed by security services who were on duty nearby, TASS said, adding that a hunting rifle, bullets and a knife were discovered on his person.

Initial reports suggested all five victims were women, TASS said, citing the local branch of the interior ministry.

The injured include two members of local security services and two civilians, also women, the Interfax news agency said.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for a the shooting, according to the militant group's news agency Amaq, although it did not provide immediate evidence for the claim.Horrified by the school shooting in his state last week, Florida gun owner Ben Dickmann decided to take action, handing in his rifle to the local sheriff's office.

I will be the change I want to see in this world, he wrote in a Facebook post. If our lawmakers will continue to close their eyes and open their wallets, I will lead by example.

Mr Dickmann lives a short distance from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where Nikolas Cruz allegedly shot and killed 17 people last week.

Mr Dickmann owned an AR-57 rifle, a variant of the AR-15 that was used in the attack.

The AR-15 is both the most popular gun in America and the type most often used in mass shootings in the country.

Stephen Paddock, used one to kill 58 people at a music festival in Las Vegas last October and the same weapon was also used by Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik to kill 14 people at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, California, in December 2015.

Adam Lanza also used on to kill 20 young schoolchildren and six staff members at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012. The same year, James Eagan Holmes killed 12 people with one of the rifles at a cinema in Aurora, Colorado.

In his post, Mr Dickmann said he owned several guns, but is most concerned about this particular weapon.

I do not need this rifle, Mr Dickmann wrote. No one without a law enforcement badge needs this rifle. I have surrendered this rifle to The Broward Sheriff at the Tamarac Post. I could have easily sold this rifle, but no person needs this.

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His decision to surrender his rifle came one day after he penned a long Facebook post calling for the US to take action against gun violence.

As I struggle to make heads or tails of another senseless mass shooting in the USA, I can no longer offer only my 'thoughts and prayers'," Mr Dickmann wrote. I have to stand up and say 'THIS MUST STOP.' I cant stand idly by and say 'Its only the crazies'. Its time to actually do something.

Story continues

He called for an end to the domestic manufacture and import of military-style semi-automatic weapons and better training for new gun owners.

Mr Dickmann urged others like him  conservative-leaning, gun-owning white males  to start taking action too.

Until my demographic gets behind this, nothing will change, he wrote. I am ready to sacrifice some of my 'rights' here to make them 'privileges' in the interest of the common good.

Mr Dickmanns posts come in the midst of a recurring debate around US gun laws.

While some commenters argued that little would be achieved by good people giving up their guns, others thanked Mr Dickmann for his actions.

Truly taking personal responsibility, wrote Standen Daniel. Great work!By Michelle Price WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump attacked the FBI and lawmakers probing suspected Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election and said an excessive focus on Russia led federal investigators to miss signs that could have prevented a deadly mass shooting at a Florida high school. In a series of tweets over the weekend sent from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, Trump said congressional investigations and political "hatred" showed that Russia had succeeded in sowing "discord, disruption and chaos" in the United States. He accused his predecessor, President Barack Obama, of failing to do enough to stop Russian election interference. "They are laughing their asses off in Moscow," Trump tweeted on Sunday morning. On Friday, Special Counsel Robert Mueller charged 13 Russians and three Russian companies with conspiracy to tamper in the 2016 U.S. election. Mueller's indictment said the Russians adopted false online personas to push divisive messages and staged political rallies while posing as Americans. U.S. spy agencies concluded more than a year ago that Russia used hacking and propaganda to try to tilt the election in favor of Trump. Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly denied that. In a tweet on Saturday night, Trump criticized the Federal Bureau of Investigation for missing warning signs in the case of Nikolas Cruz, 19, who is charged with killing 17 people on Wednesday at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, a Fort Lauderdale suburb. "Very sad that the FBI missed all of the many signals sent out by the Florida school shooter. This is not acceptable," Trump wrote. "They are spending too much time trying to prove Russian collusion with the Trump campaign - there is no collusion," he added. The FBI acknowledged on Friday that it failed to investigate a warning that Cruz possessed a gun and the desire to kill. Trump offered no evidence that there was any connection between the investigation of Russian meddling and the FBI's failure to prevent the Florida shooting. Former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates expressed outrage at Trump's efforts to connect the Florida massacre to the Russia probe. "Our president uses the tragedy to attack the investigation of a foreign adversary's interference in our democracy. Shameful," Yates wrote on Twitter. Yates, who had been a holdover from the Obama administration, was fired early in the Trump presidency for refusing to defend travel restrictions on several Muslim-majority countries. LEAKING 'MONSTER' Trump, in a Sunday morning tweet, belittled Representative Adam Schiff, the senior Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee that is investigating Russia's actions, labeling him a leaking "monster." In one of 13 tweets Trump sent after Mueller's indictments of the Russians, the president said he "never said Russia did not meddle in the election." Trump has on several occasions, however, questioned whether Russia was behind efforts to interfere in the 2016 election. Several lawmakers rejected Trump's linking of the FBI's missteps in preventing the shooting to the Russia probe. "So many folks in the FBI are doing all that they can to keep us safe. The reality of it is, is that they are two separate issues," Republican Senator Tim Scott said on CBS' "Face the Nation" program. After Mueller's indictment was made public on Friday, Trump said it backed up his assertion that there was no collusion between his campaign and Russia. The indictment did not address whether anyone from the Trump campaign coordinated or worked with Russians. Mueller's broader probe is ongoing. "It wasn't designed to be able to clear everything on the investigation," Republican Senator James Lankford said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "It was designed to say it was very clear these 13 individuals in this set of companies were trying to interfere in our election," said Lankford, who sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee. Schiff, speaking on CNN's "State of the Union" program, said details of the Mueller indictment provided "overwhelming and unequivocal" evidence of the threat from Russian interference. He said the indictments countered Trump's frequent comments that the Russia investigation was a "hoax." "This is a president who claims vindication anytime someone sneezes," Schiff said. (Additional reporting by Jeff Mason in West Palm Beach, Fla., Editing by Caren Bohan and Peter Cooney)Children campaigning for gun control in the wake of the Florida school shooting have more moral clarity than the entire United States House of Representatives, a senator has said.

Teens caught up in last weeks attack, which left 14 students and three staff members dead at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, are waging a campaign to change gun laws, saying its time for victims to be the change if adults will not act.

They plan a nationwide March for our Lives and say they feel neglected by adults, criticising politicians on both sides of the aisle who have taken donations from the National Rifle Association (NRA).

If all our government and President can do is send thoughts and prayers, then its time for victims to be the change that we need to see, said student, Emma Gonzales, at a weekend rally.

Some pupils have vowed not to return to classes until new legislation is passed, The Washington Post reported.

A Democratic Hawaii senator, Brian Schatz, praised the teenagers speaking out and tweeted: These kids have more moral clarity than the entire United States House of Representatives.

We passed laws and rules to make cars safer and fewer people die now. Laws can work if you write them correctly.

The students have said their campaign is not directed specifically at either Republicans or Democrats.

Cameron Kasky, 17, said: Any politician on either side who is taking money from the NRA is responsible for events like this.

One student, 15-year-old Anthony Borges, has won praise for shielding his classmates from bullets as they fled the gunman.

A witness said Anthony was the last of a group of 20 to enter a classroom in a bid to hide when, as he tried to lock the door, he was shot five times but did not move out of the way.

Broward County Sheriff's Office said the teen was recovering in hospital but faced a number of operations.

A number of young people have criticised Donald Trumps response to the killing.

On Sunday, the President tweeted: Very sad that the FBI missed all of the many signals sent out by the Florida school shooter. This is not acceptable. They are spending too much time trying to prove Russian collusion with the Trump campaign  there is no collusion. Get back to the basics and make us all proud!

Story continues

In response Kyra Parrow, a senior at Stoneman Douglas, said: My friends were brutally murdered and you have the nerve to make this about Russia. I cannot believe this.

Aly Sheehy tweeted: 17 of my classmates are gone. Thats 17 futures, 17 children, and 17 friends stolen. But youre right, it always has to be about you. She later urged a follower: Dont let this die down. We will be the change, but we need the help of you all.

Students also planned a demonstration in Tallahassee, Floridas capital, on Wednesday to call attention to gun control, mental health issues and school safety.

On the same day Mr Trump is due to host a listening session with high school students and teachers, a week on from the killing to which, police say, 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz has confessed.

The gunman used an AR-15 assault-style rifle he had bought legally and stormed the school with several extra magazines of ammunition.Richard Gates can reportedly expect 'substantial reduction in his sentence' if he 'substantially cooperates' with investigation: AP Photo/Alex Brandon

A former aide to Donald Trumps presidential campaign has reportedly agreed to testify against its former chairman.

It is also thought that Richard Gates will also plead guilty to fraud-related charges.

When he presents a revised plea in a Washington DC federal court in the next few days, as well as making it clear that he will testify against Paul Manafort, according to the Los Angeles Times which first reported the story.

Both Mr Gates and Mr Manafort were charged in October by special counsel Robert Mueller as part of his ongoing investigation into whether Mr Trump's campaign colluded with Russia during the 2016 presidential election.

They face charges including conspiracy to launder money, conspiracy to defraud the United States and failure to register as foreign agents in connection with their political work for a pro-Russia party in Ukraine.

Both deny the charges and Mr Trump has repeatedly denied his campaign colluded with Russia.

Prosecutors revealed the charges against Mr Gates and Mr Manafort on the same day they unsealed a guilty plea from George Papadopoulos, another former Trump campaign aide.

A plea deal has also been agreed with Mr Trumps former national security adviser, Michael Flynn.

Mr Gates can expect a substantial reduction in his sentence to around 18 months in prison, if he substantially cooperates with the investigation, the LA Times reported.

A fresh accusation of bank fraud against Mr Manafort has also been made by Mr Muellers office, according to court documents made public last week,

Separately Mr Muellers office charged 13 Russians and three Russian companies with a criminal and espionage conspiracy to tamper with the election and sow discord in the US political system.

Additional reporting by agenciesFox News host Shepard Smith chastised President Donald Trump Monday afternoon for his weekend tweet storm and for failing to address or promise ways to hinder Russia from meddling in future United States elections. The berating followed revelations made by the Special Counsel investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

Smith, who has often challenged Trump despite the presidents frequent praise of Fox News, tore down the presidents tweets about the Russia investigation and how Trump littered attacks on many officials, including those within his administration, but not Russia.

The president spent the weekend defending himself, misrepresenting the truth and attacking others from his phone in Florida, Smith said, according to Mediaite. The president attacked the Justice Department, the FBI and his national security adviser H.R. McMaster. He attacked Congressman Adam Schiff, Democrats and the DNC. He attacked Hillary Clinton, President Obama, the previous Congress and the news media before going after Oprah Winfrey.

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Smith continued: He did not attack Vladimir Putin or Russia, nor did he express concern that the Russians attacked the United States, nor did he pledge in any way to put measures in place to stop future attacks.

After summing Trumps numerous attack tweets, Smith stated: The presidents spokespersons have been on television denouncing the meddling, the president has not. Not once, not on camera, not on Twitter, not anywhere.

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Trump has repeatedly denied that any collusion took place between his former campaign and Russia to win the White House. But his critics have often questioned why he has made little effort to prevent another Russian attack in the 2018 midterm elections and beyond.

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The presidents deflections and accusations continued into Monday before Smith took to the air. Trump questioned why Obama had not done more about Russian interference when he knew about it, tweeting: Obama was President up to, and beyond, the 2016 Election. So why didnt he do something about Russian meddling?

Story continues

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Trumps barrage of social media messages followed Special Counsel Robert Muellers indictment against 13 Russian nationals and three Russian entities on Frida. The charges included criminal fraud with the intent of tipping the 2016 election in Trumps favor or any other candidate besides democrat Hillary Clinton.

Russia started their anti-US campaign in 2014, long before I announced that I would run for President. The results of the election were not impacted. The Trump campaign did nothing wrong - no collusion! Trump tweeted Friday after the indictment became public.

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Trump was later heavily criticized for accusing the FBI of investigating Russian election meddling instead of working on a tipsters warning of the shooter who allegedly killed 17 people at a Florida high school last week.

Very sad that the FBI missed all of the many signals sent out by the Florida school shooter, Trump tweeted Saturday. This is not acceptable. They are spending too much time trying to prove Russian collusion with the Trump campaign - there is no collusion. Get back to the basics and make us all proud!

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SaveSave

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekParis (AFP) - The French government announced Monday that it will allow the wolf population to grow 40 percent over the next five years, resisting pressure from farmers concerned about their flocks.

A new strategy unveiled by the centrist government of President Emmanuel Macron will enable the number of wolves to grow to 500 by 2023 compared with an estimated 360 now.

Hunting wiped out the grey wolf in France during the 1930s and they only returned in 1992 via Italy -- currently home to around 2,000 wolves -- before spreading into Switzerland and Germany.

The regeneration of the population in France has led to tensions between the government and farmers in the Alps and Pyrenees mountains who complain that attacks on their flocks cause major financial losses.

Hundreds of sheep were let loose on the streets of the city of Lyon in November last year in one of a number of protests against the wolf, which has protected status.

- Wolves on the move -

Under the new plan a total of 40 wolves can be hunted in 2018 between September and December to keep numbers under control, while farmers will be authorised to shoot at any time if their flocks are under attack.

The 100-page strategy document will enable livestock owners to apply for state funds to shield their animals, but it will make compensation contingent on them installing fencing and taking other protective measures.

From next year, 10 percent of the total population can be culled but the proportion could increase if the number of attacks is found to be higher than expected.

Wolves eat between 2-4 kilograms (4.4-8.8 pounds) of meat a day on average and the predators have been blamed for an explosion in the number of livestock attacks in mountainous areas.

A total of 10,000 sheep were killed in the Alps region in 2016, according to official figures from the regional government, but the wolf is also known to feast on deer, wild boar or even domestic animals.

Damages paid out to farmers from the state for livestock killed by wolves rose to 3.2 million euros ($4 million) in 2016, up 60 percent compared with 2013.

Story continues

Jean-Marc Landry, a wolf specialist, said one of the problems for the French government is that wolves are highly mobile and quick to move into new areas beyond the Alps.

He said they had already been sighted in the Massif Central area in the middle of the country where France's biggest sheep breeders are based.

"The question is not whether we want the wolf or not -- it's here," he told AFP. "We need to think about a third way, to find ways of co-existing together."The Hague (AFP) - France accused Equatorial Guinea Monday of wanting to "paralyse" French criminal procedure in a top-level corruption probe, as it urged judges to throw out a case against it before the UN's top court.

Malabo has dragged Paris before the International Court of Justice in a bitter diplomatic row, accusing it of violating the diplomatic immunity of its vice president Teodorin Obiang.

Son of Teodoro Obiang, long-time leader of the oil-rich central African country, Teodorin Obiang has been prosecuted by a French court on charges of embezzling 150 million euros ($180 million) of public funds to finance his jet-set lifestyle.

France's representatives however hit back as a hearing opened before the Hague-based ICJ, with delegation member Alain Pellet saying Equatorial Guinea attempted to "slow down, or even paralyse the criminal procedure launched in France." Malabo's decision to take the matter to the ICJ is an attempt "to give their case more prominence" argued Pellet, who said Paris challenged the ICJ's jurisdiction.

"France has not accepted the jurisdiction of this court under any title whatsoever to entertain those facts on which Equatorial Guinea seeks the court to rule," French representative Francois Alabrune added.

- Corruption case -

Obiang, 48, was tried in absentia and sentenced in October to a three-year suspended sentence for corruption.

The top official from the small central African state was also given a suspended fine of 30 million euros ($35 million) for money laundering, corruption and abuse. His lawyer has said he will appeal.

But Equatorial Guinea has also lodged a complaint with the ICJ in The Hague, the UN's top court set up to resolve disputes between countries.

Four days of hearings opened Monday, with France setting out its reasons why it believed the ICJ is not competent to hear the case.

Paris has challenged the ICJ's jurisdiction in the case since it first opened, citing the UN's Convention against Transnational Organised Crime.

Story continues

"Equatorial Guinea's request is unreasonable because it lacks any legal basis," Alabrune said.

Equatorial Guinea contends however that not only was the Vienna Convention conferring diplomatic immunity on Obiang broken, but French officials also failed to uphold the diplomatic status of a building it maintains is Malabo's embassy in Paris.

Teodoro Obiang Nguema is Africa longest-serving president and has ruled the country with an iron fist since 1979. He extended his rule in April 2016 when he was re-elected with 93.7 percent of the vote.

He appointed his son as vice president in June 2016 -- two years after the first charges were first brought in France.

In 2012, French authorities swooped on the Obiang family's six-storey mansion on the Avenue Foch -- one of the most upmarket addresses in Paris -- seizing it along with a fleet of luxury cars including two Bugatti Veyrons and a Rolls-Royce Phantom.

Police also took away vanloads of valuables, including paintings, a $4.2-million clock and fine wines worth thousands of euros per bottle.

The UN judges in The Hague in 2016 urged France to ensure the protection of the diplomatic mission in Paris, but sidestepped Malabo's request to order Obiang's trial to be halted.

Relations between the two countries have furthered deteriorated after Malabo's foreign minister, Agapito Mba Mokuy, said an attempted coup in December had been hatched on French soil, although he said the French authorities had "nothing to do with" it.This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it.

For all intents and purposes, the moment belonged to Nao Kodaira.

The Japanese speedskater had just won a gold medal by setting an Olympic record in the 500m womens speedskating event on Sunday. Her time of 36.94 seconds had bested a good field including South Koreas Lee Sang-wha, the two-time defending Olympic champion who earned silver with a time of 37.33 seconds in front of a home crowd wildly cheering her on.

But while no one would have blamed Kodaira for fully enjoying the moment of winning her first Olympic gold medal  and Japans second of the 2018 Olympics  she instead turned her immediate attention to making sure Lee was OK.

Overcome by the moment, Lee looked inconsolable as she circled the track after the race.

She wasnt alone with her emotions for long, however, as Kodaira immediately embraced her.

It was a true Olympic moment and no small thing given that Japan and South Korea have had a complicated relationship over the years.

The progression of pictures is inspiring.

(AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

(Getty Images)

(EFE photo)

(AP photo)

(Getty Images)

(Getty Images)

(Getty Images)

(Reuters photo)

(EFE photo)

We have competed against each other for many years, Kodaira said of the moment, according to The Japan Times. I really respect her and I really look up to her as a human being and a skater. She is my friend.

Lee said she appreciated the hug and said her tears came from a place of relief, not sorrow or disappointment.

It is an honor that I participated in the Olympics held in my country, Lee said, according to Yonhap News. And I was relieved a lot as I could brush off the pressure. It was like a present for me, and my eyes were filled with tears. Ive raced for the Olympics, and it finally finished. Thats why I shed tears.

Lee also said that she asked Kodaira if shell be aiming to race in the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing and that she replied she would only race if Lee did too.

Lee posted a picture of the two together on Instagram a short while later.

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When it comes to the Olympics, it doesnt get much better than that.

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 Jay Busbee: Why rooting for Lindsey Vonn to fail is un-American

 Team Lillis will keep going after teen brothers death

 Olympic star literally dead after Britney Spears tweet

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 Dan Wetzel: The entire world is losing to country of 5.2M people

WASHINGTON  Dozens of students gathered in front of the White House on Monday to demand changes to gun laws, just days after a mass shooting at a Florida high school left 17 people dead.

The demonstration was organized by Teens For Gun Reform, an organization created by students in the Washington, D.C., area in the wake of Wednesdays shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

Protesters participated in what they said would be a three-minute lie-in, which began around 12:30 p.m. on Presidents Day. They lay down in front of the White House in representation of the victims of school shootings, according to a post on the groups Facebook page.

Demonstrators on the ground during a lie-in demonstration supporting gun control reform on Monday. (Photo: Zach Gibson/Getty Images)

By doing this, we will make a statement on the atrocities which have been committed due to the lack of gun control, and send a powerful message to our government that they must take action now, the group wrote on Facebook.

Following the lie-in, protesters continued to hold signs in support of stricter guns laws and shouted phrases including Shame on you and Disarm hate toward the White House. The group also chanted No more deaths, Am I next? and Hey, hey, NRA, how many kids have you killed today?

Protesters hold signs during the demonstration against gun violence. (Photo: Zach Gibson/Getty Images)

Last weeks massacre at the South Florida high school, in which a 19-year-old former student opened fire using an assault-style rifle, sparked protests and calls to action from students nationwide.

A group of students who survived the Parkland shooting have been outspoken in their criticism of Trump and lawmakers who receive financial contributions from gun lobbying groups such as the National Rifle Association.

On Sunday, the students announced plans for a march on Washington to demand congressional action on gun violence. The event, dubbed March For Our Lives, is scheduled for March 24.

Whitney Bowen and Eleanor Nuechterlein, both 16-year-old high school students from the D.C. area, started Teens For Gun Reform just two days after the Parkland shooting.

Story continues

You never wake up thinking its going to be your school or its going to be your friends or family, Bowen told HuffPost. The Parkland kids didnt either. ... They woke up and went to school for the last time because theres not enough gun control.

Mondays protest at the White House was planned on Presidents Day for symbolic reasons, Nuechterlein said. Its not enough for President Donald Trump and other politicians to say sorry after school shootings, she said, they also need to start taking real legislative action to prevent them from happening.

Both Bowen and Nuechterlein said they plan to attend next months march on Washington.

We might be 16 now and we might not be able to vote, but we can protest and we can use social media and we will make our voices heard, Bowen said. At the end of the day, it doesnt come down to politics. It comes down to kids dying in classrooms.

Elodie Camus, a 15-year-old student at the British International School of Washington, D.C., participated in the White House protest Monday with her mother.

U.S. gun laws have put so many people in danger over the years in this country and there needs to be reform, Camus told HuffPost, adding that she no longer feels safe at all at school.

Something needs to be changed so not as many people are harmed, she said.

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Felicia Garber, whose two daughters survived the Parkland shooting, was in D.C. with her family when she heard about Mondays protest and decided to attend the demonstration.

We felt it was important to be present and thank the people who felt it was worth coming out here on this cold, dreary, rainy holiday to help let whoever is in this beautiful White House know that we will not take this any longer, Garber told HuffPost.

These legislators need to step up for our children and not just for these lobbyists, she continued. [Parkland] kids are smart, educated, savvy ... and they are outraged. These are young adults who are ready and unforgiving, and I can only hope this is the beginning of the change they can create for our country.

Several other student-led protests against gun violence erupted across Florida on Monday. Students staged a walk out at Olympic Heights Community High School in West Boca Raton, while parents joined their kids in front of American Heritage School in Plantation just 30 miles to the south.

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See video and more photos of the D.C. protest below:

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Protesters lie on the ground during a demonstration supporting gun control.

Demonstrators chant during Monday's protest.

Students and supporters hold signs as they protest outside the White House.

Students protest against gun violence.

Demonstrators chant outside the White House.

Students and supporters gather on Pennsylvania Avenue.

This post has been updated with additional quotes and photos.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.House Speaker Paul Ryan is a tool of the National Rifle Association, said his would-be Democratic challenger after Ryan told a Florida teacher that he "didn't want to talk politics" when she criticized his response to Wednesday's deadly school shooting in Broward County.

"We need a speaker who will listen to everyone, not just the NRA and other special interests who cut him checks," Democratic candidate and ironworker Randy Bryce said after the Friday night encounter between Ryan and the fifth-grade teacher, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. Bryce, who goes by the nickname Iron Stache, is seeking the Democratic nomination to run against Ryan in the upcoming 2018 midterms.

Bryce also attacked Ryan for going to Florida to "raise money" rather than to support a "grieving community."

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The teacher, Maria Thorne, and another protester were escorted out of the Ritz-Carlton in Key Biscayne by security Friday, according to The Miami Herald. In recalling her exchange with Ryan, Thorne said she introduced herself as a teacher to the House Speaker, who responded, "Nice."

"Nice?" she questioned. "Youre here celebrating the death of 17 children." After Ryan said he didn't want to discuss the issue, Thorne and a friend chanted "No more guns" and were ejected from the event.

Thorne, the teacher and activist, told the Herald that she attended the National Republican Congressional Committee fundraiser after she had struggled to reassure her own students at Miami's iPrep Academy that she could protect them from shooters such as Nikolas Cruz, who, cops say, murdered 17 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School earlier in the week in nearby Broward County.

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"This is @SpeakerRyan's version of Thoughts and Prayers. Odd, it looks like a donor event in the tropics," an activist tweeted, adding footage from outside the National Republican Congressional Committee winter meeting.

Ryan denied Bryce's claim that he is ignoring gun control in the wake of yet another school shooting.

"As Speaker Ryan has expressed in recent days, the shooting in Parkland is horrific and senseless," a spokesperson for Ryan told the Sentinel. "He is praying for the entire community during this period of unimaginable pain and sorrow."

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Ryan called the shooting horrific, but said that lawmakers do not just "knee-jerk before having all the facts and the data" in making decisions about gun control law in a Thursday interview with WIBC radio. During the 2016 election cycle, Ryan recieved about $171,977 in campaign contributions from gun lobbyists.

The latest attacks on Ryan for ignoring gun violence comes after the Speaker dodged legislation outlawing bump stocks, a modification for semi-automatic weapons that allowed Las Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock to rain death on a Las Vegas concert last October. At the time, even the National Rifle Association suggested it could support restrictions on the device. Ryan declined to move legislation, saying he would leave the matter to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, which has not acted.

After Wednesday's shooting, The New York Daily News called out GOP lawmakers who had received campaign contributions from gun lobbyists yet only offered "thoughts" and "prayers" to the families and victims of the Florida school shooting. In a tweet responding to Texas Senator Ted Cruz, the outlet wrote, "Cruz received $41,805 in campaign donations from gun rights groups during the 2015-2016 campaign cycle and received an "A+" grade from the NRA."

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Republicans and President Donald Trump blamed poor mental health care for Wednesday's shooting. "So many signs that the Florida shooter was mentally disturbed, even expelled from school for bad and erratic behavior. Neighbors and classmates knew he was a big problem. Must always report such instances to authorities, again and again!" Trump tweeted a day after the shooting. He has not addressed the ease with which Americans can buy powerful weapons such as the AR-15 that Cruz used, according to police.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekDarnell Bitting is being hunted after the fatal shooting

A police manhunt is under way in the US after a gunman shot and killed a four-year-old girl in a car.

The childs grandmother and three siblings, aged 7, 6, and 3, were sitting with her in the vehicle but were not hurt.

A murder warrant has been issued for the arrest of the suspect, Darnell Bitting, who police described as armed and dangerous.

The 31-year-old is said to be banned from possessing weapons.

Officers said the shooting happened after a woman drove to a home in Akron, Ohio, with her mother and four children in the car to retrieve some property inside. When no one answered the door, she broke several windows.

Bitting then came out of the house with a rifle and fired a shot that struck the car, hitting the four-year-old, according to WKYC.

The girl was taken to Akron Children's Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. She had not yet been publicly identified.

Police are appealing for information on Bittings whereabouts.Minutes after interviewing a group of Parkland, Florida, students organizing marches in response to the mass shooting at their school, Fox News Sunday put conservative pundit Rush Limbaugh on the air to dismiss their plans and condemn them for trying to advance a political agenda.

Marches arent going to solve it, Limbaugh told Chris Wallace, the programs host, after a segment featuring student survivors of last weeks shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that claimed the lives of 17 of their classmates and school faculty members.

Chris, the next shooter is out there. The next shooter probably has the gun that hes going to use.  How is anything that were talking about going to stop that? he asked of the planned demonstration.

Limbaugh then proposed guns be allowed in schools.

The solution to me  and I know this is going to cause all kinds of angst  but the solution is we need concealed carry (of weapons) in the schools, he said.

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The students Wallace interviewed announced their plans to march for more sensible gun laws next month.

The March For Our Lives is going to be in every major city and we are organizing it so students everywhere can beg for our lives, Cameron Kasky said in the emotionally charged segment. Because at the end of the day, this isnt about the red and blue, the GOP and the Democrats, this is about adults and kids.

He added that lawmakers who accept money from the National Rifle Association are wearing a badge of shame.

Limbaugh dismissed that thinking.

These students think theyre taking politics out of this, he said. The minute they bash the NRA, its politics.  This is an event that advances a political agenda for the American left and the Democrat Party. Bash the NRA.

Fox News decision to invite Limbaugh on after featuring the students was in poor taste, other media figures tweeted.

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Also on HuffPost

Donna Ali holds a candle at a vigil for those who lost their lives in Wednesday's school shooting in Parkland, Florida.

Jay Eaton, 19, prays at a vigil Thursday night, one day after a school shooting left 17 people dead.

A couple mourns the loss of their high school friends after Wednesday's school shooting.

A group of Muslim students gather in remembrance of those who died in Wednesday's school shooting.

A cross adorned with lit candles was one of many seen at Thursday night's vigil.

Rabbi Mendy Engel and his daughter, 18-year-old Chaya Itta Engel, came to the vigil to show their support for the families of those who died.

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.Former Carolina Panthers receiver Rae Carruth at his 2001 trial. (AP)

Eight months before he is set to be released from a North Carolina prison, former Carolina Panthers receiver Rae Carruth has given his first prison interview in years.

Now 44 years old, Carruth has spent over 17 years at the Sampson Correctional Institution in Clinton, North Carolina, roughly 170 miles east of Charlotte. In January 2001, Carruth was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder and other charges, after he paid another man to shoot Cherica Adams on Nov. 16, 1999.

Adams was eight months pregnant with Carruths son; she was shot four times. The baby, Chancellor Lee, was delivered by emergency C-section and suffered permanent brain damage due to a lack of oxygen before he was born. Adams died a month later.

Saundra Adams, Chericas mother, has been raising Chancellor Adams since he was born.

Carruth sent a 3,000-word handwritten letter to WBTV in Charlotte, addressed to Saundra Adams; he also, after some discussion, agreed to an on-the-record interview with reporter Sarah-Blake Morgan via telephone.

Carruth also included a cover letter, which he began by writing that hes accepted my lot as a social pariah, but that he wanted to debunk the lies he believes Saundra Adams has told about him.

After thanking Adams for the unconditional care, compassion, love, and support that she has showered Chancellor with since he was born.

Carruth said hes sent letters to Adams before, but hasnt gotten any responses. So he sent the letter to the television station.

I feel like if I did it in the open, it would put an end to the lies. If I say publicly, Ms. Adams, I apologize. Ms. Adams, I take responsibility for what happened, that she can no longer get on television and do an interview and say Rae has never apologized to me,  Carruth told the reporter, Morgan.

Carruth would not speak specifically about the night Cherica Adams was shot, though he did offer some apologies.

Im apologizing for the loss of her daughter. Im apologizing for the impairment of my son, Carruth said. I feel responsible for everything that happened. And I just want her to know that truly I am sorry for everything.

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Carruth has met Chancellor twice, when he was a young boy; he celebrated his 18th birthday a couple of months ago.

He said that when he gets out of prison he wants to help care for his son; in his letter, he tells Adams that she wont live forever.

Adams told WBTV that Carruth will never have custody of Chancellor.

And weve told you about all we want about Carruth. You can read his letter.

But if youd like to read something truly great, read this about Chancellor as he approached his 18th birthday, or this piece from Sports Illustrated, The boy they couldnt kill.

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Indonesia has inked a billion-dollar deal to buy 11 Sukhoi Su-35 jets from Russia, an official said Saturday.

The contract, signed by both countries' representatives in Jakarta on Wednesday, is worth a total $1.14 billion, Indonesia defence ministry spokesman Totok Sugiharto said.

"Two units of Sukhoi jets will be delivered in August 2018," he told AFP.

Another six jets would be delivered 18 months after the contract comes into effect, and the final three a further five months later, he said.

The deal comes after Indonesia said in August that it would seek to trade palm oil, coffee and tea for Russian fighter jets, saying it wanted to capitalise on international sanctions on Moscow.

The EU and US have targeted Russia with sanctions for alleged meddling in the US presidential election and its annexation of Crimea.

However, Indonesia's trade minister said the sanctions could be good news for his country as Russia is forced to seek new markets to import from.

Indonesia and Russia signed a memorandum of understanding to exchange 11 Russian-made Sukhoi fighters for key commodities in Moscow early August.

It was not announced Saturday in what form payment would be made.By Andrea Shalal

MUNICH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia on Sunday welcomed a draft United Nations resolution offered by Britain, the United States and France that would condemn Iran for failing to stop its ballistic missiles from falling into the hands of Yemens Houthi group.

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told Reuters the measure, if passed, would help hold Iran accountable for what he described as its "exports of ballistic missiles" to the Iran-backed Houthi rebels, and "radical and aggressive" behaviour in the region, including support for terrorist groups.

A proxy war is playing out in Yemen between Iran and U.S. ally Saudi Arabia. A Saudi-led coalition intervened in Yemen in 2015, backing government forces fighting Iran-allied Houthi rebels. Iran has denied supplying the Houthis with weapons.

"In order to ensure than Iran comports itself with international law, we must have firmer positions with regards to ballistic missiles and with regards to Irans support for terrorism," al-Jubeir said in an interview during the annual Munich Security Conference. "Iran must be held accountable."

He said Iranian missiles were regularly used by Houthis "to target civilians in Yemen as well as inside Saudi Arabia."

Al-Jubeir also called for changes to two aspects of the 2015 nuclear accord with Iran - cancellation of a so-called sunset provision, and expanded inspections to include non-declared and military sites.

The draft U.N. resolution, which needs to be adopted by Feb. 26, is likely to face resistance from Russia. A resolution needs nine votes in favor and no vetoes by Russia, China, the United States, France or Britain to pass. [nL2N1Q70E3]

Al-Jubeir said he hoped Russia could be persuaded to support the measure.

The draft text to renew U.N. sanctions on Yemen for another year would also allow the 15-member council to impose targeted sanctions for any activity related to the use of ballistic missiles in Yemen. Britain drafted the resolution in consultation with the United States and France before giving it to the full council on Friday, diplomats said.

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U.S. President Donald Trumps administration has been lobbying for months for Iran to be held accountable at the United Nations, while at the same time threatening to quit a 2015 deal among world powers to curb Irans nuclear program if disastrous flaws are not fixed.

Independent U.N. experts monitoring the sanctions on Yemen reported to the Security Council in January that they had found missile remnants that are of Iranian origin, and "were brought into Yemen after the imposition of the targeted arms embargo."

The experts said they had "no evidence as to the identity of the supplier, or any intermediary third party" of the missiles fired by the Houthis into neighboring Saudi Arabia, but said Iran had violated sanctions by failing to prevent supply, sale or transfer of the missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles.

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Toby Chopra)Tehran (AFP) - Iranian rescue teams battled severe weather Monday as they searched for the wreckage of a passenger plane that disappeared high in the Zagros mountains the previous day with 66 people on board.

Several helicopters that had deployed at dawn to hunt for Aseman Airlines flight EP3704 were forced to return to base, officials said.

"Unfortunately due to strong winds and fog reducing visibility, it was not possible for helicopters to continue their search," a Red Crescent official told the ISNA news agency.

Officials said hundreds of mountaineers, supported by dogs and drones, were operating around the 14,465-foot (4,409-metre) Dena mountain, which is popular with Iranians seeking to prepare for climbing in the Himalayas.

The ATR-72 twin-engine plane, in service since 1993, flew early Sunday from Mehrabad airport towards the city of Yasuj, some 500 kilometres (300 miles) to the south.

The plane's emergency locator transmitter was reportedly not functioning, helping to explain the difficulty in finding the wreckage.

Families of the passengers had travelled to the area and were giving DNA samples for later identification of victims, the IRNA news agency reported.

A team of crash investigators from French air safety agency BEA was set to arrive in Iran later on Monday.

An ATR-72 crashed in similar icy conditions in Indiana in the United States in 1994, leading some operators to avoid cold weather conditions.

"It is a very safe aircraft but... operators decided not to use it in cold mountain areas in the US," said Iranian aviation expert Babak Taghvaee.

"Even newer versions of this aircraft are not good for such cold places and it would be better not to use it for this route and especially with such bad weather and visibility," he said.

- Aseman blacklisted -

Aseman Airlines was blacklisted by the European Commission in December 2016.

It was one of only three airlines barred over safety concerns -- the other 190 were blacklisted due to broader concerns over oversight in their respective countries.

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Iran has complained that sanctions imposed by the United States have jeopardised the safety of its airlines, making it difficult to maintain and modernise ageing fleets.

Aseman was forced to ground many of its planes at the height of sanctions due to difficulties in obtaining spares, Taghvaee said.

In a working paper presented to the United Nations' International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in 2013, Iran said US sanctions were barring "the acquisition of parts, services and support essential to aviation safety".

Iran has suffered multiple aviation disasters, most recently in 2014 when 39 people were killed as a Sepahan Airlines plane crashed just after take-off from Tehran, narrowly avoiding many more deaths when it plummeted near a busy market.

But figures from the Flight Safety Foundation, a US-based NGO, suggest Iran is nonetheless above-average in implementing ICAO safety standards.

Lifting sanctions on aviation purchases was a key clause in the nuclear deal Iran signed with world powers in 2015.

Following the deal, Aseman Airlines finalised an agreement to buy 30 Boeing 737 MAX jets for $3 billion (2.4 billion euros) last June, with an option to buy 30 more.

The sale could be scuppered if US President Donald Trump chooses to reimpose sanctions in the coming months, as he has threatened to do.Baghdad (AFP) - An Iraqi court ordered the release and deportation of a suspected French jihadist sentenced Monday to seven months in prison for entering the country illegally, saying she had already served her time.

Melina Boughedir, 27, was arrested last summer in former Islamic State group stronghold Mosul with her four children, three of whom have been repatriated to France.

Wearing a black dress and purple headscarf, she entered the courtroom holding her other child, a boy with blond hair.

Speaking in Arabic, she said that she had been a housewife in Mosul.

"I entered Syria with my French passport but Daesh (IS) took it from me. I stayed in Syria for four days and then came to Mosul with my husband and four children".

She said that her French husband Maximilien, whom she said had been a cook for IS, was killed as Iraqi forces battled to oust the jihadist group from Mosul, which was recaptured last July.

Asked her if she regretted what she did, she replied: "Yes".

Iraq in December declared victory against IS after a years-long battle to retake large swathes of territory the extremists had seized in 2014.

An Iraqi court last month condemned a German woman to death by hanging after finding her guilty of belonging to IS, the first such sentence in a case involving a European woman.

And a German teenager was sentenced to six years in prison on Sunday for membership in IS, a judicial source said, adding that she was 17 years old.

- Wanted in France -

After last month's death sentence, lawyers for Boughedir and another French woman awaiting trial in Iraq for allegedly joining IS wrote to French President Emmanuel Macron warning that they could face the same penalty.

But Boughedir also faces an arrest warrant in France, where she is wanted for alleged "association with criminals and terrorists", a judicial source in Paris said.

She is expected to be detained and interrogated by anti-terrorist judges if she returns to France, a source close to the case said.

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Several dozen French citizens suspected of links to the jihadist group are believed to be in detention camps or prisons in Syria and Iraq.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said in Baghdad last week that suspected jihadists should be tried in the countries where they committed their "crimes", while reiterating France's opposition to the death penalty.

Britain has also taken a firm stance against repatriation, as has Belgium which denied a request by one of its nationals to be sent home from Iraq in exchange for cooperating with the authorities.

Several hundred foreigners, both men and women, are thought to have been detained in Iraq for alleged links to IS.

In December, a Swedish man of Iraqi origin was among 38 people executed after being convicted of "terrorism".

And on Sunday an Iraqi court sentenced a Turkish woman to death and 11 other foreign widows to life in jail for belonging to IS, despite their pleas that they had been duped or forced by their husbands to join them in Iraq.

A total of 509 foreign women, including 300 Turks, are being held in Iraq with 813 children, according to a security source.Jerusalem (AFP) - Israel arrested six Palestinians suspected of planning attacks targeting Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman and other Israelis in the occupied West Bank, security agency Shin Bet said Sunday.

Shin Bet said the six were affiliated with the Islamic Jihad militant group and were active in the Bethlehem area where they sought to carry out shootings against Israeli civilians and security forces.

In addition, some of the group had been planning to target Lieberman's vehicle when he travelled to his home in a West Bank settlement.

According to a Shin Bet statement, the suspects had been "trying to obtain explosives to make a bomb, and even reached out to terror elements in (Gaza) for funding."

"Upon failing to acquire the materials, they decided to create a fake device to receive recognition for their action and enable further attacks," the statement read.

The six will be charged in an Israeli military court later Sunday.

In 2014, Shin Bet said it had apprehended a Hamas group planning to assassinate then-foreign minister Lieberman by firing a rocket-propelled grenade at his convoy.Jerusalem (AFP) - Israeli police arrested a number of suspects connected to a major communication company on Sunday, in what media said was a new corruption probe linked to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The suspects included "senior figures" in the Bezeq communications group who were detained as part of a new joint investigation including the Israel Securities Authority, a police statement said without giving more details.

Israeli media said they were suspected of having been involved in an affair in which Bezeq received concessions, in return for which Netanyahu received positive coverage on the Bezeq-affiliated news website Walla.

The arrests came just days after police said there were grounds to indict Netanyahu for bribery, fraud and breach of public trust, in the biggest challenge yet to the right-wing premier's long tenure in power.

Netanyahu has repeatedly denied the allegations, which he says are politically motivated, and has rejected calls to step down.

Police believe Netanyahu sought a secret deal for favourable coverage with the publisher of top-selling newspaper Yediot Aharonot, whose publisher Arnon Moses could also face bribery charges.

The attorney general must now decide how to move forward with the police recommendations, a process that could take months.(MUNICH)  The nuclear deal with Iran has emboldened Tehran to become increasingly aggressive in the Middle East, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday, warning that Iran should not test Israels resolve as he showed off what he said was part of a downed Iranian drone.

Netanyahu said of Iran that if the U.S. decides to scrap the 2015 nuclear deal, which he has long opposed, I think theyll do nothing.

But Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, appearing two hours later at the same Munich Security Conference, fired back that Netanyahus comment was delusional thinking.

I can assure that if Irans interests are not secured, Iran will respond, will respond seriously. And I believe it would be a response that means people would be sorry for taking the erroneous action they did, he said.

U.S. President Donald Trump has expressed deep skepticism about the Iran nuclear deal that lifted sanctions against the country. He extended sanctions waivers in January but said he would not do so again when they come up for renewal in May unless his concerns are addressed.

Former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, a main architect of the nuclear deal, said it was absolutely critical to ensure it survives.

We know what the world looks like without the Iran nuclear agreement, he said Sunday, speaking at the same conference. Its not a better place.

If the U.S. abandons the current nuclear deal its unlikely Iran would consider a new one, Kerry said.

The problem is the waters have been muddied because of this credibility issue about Americas willingness to live up to any deal, he said.

Kerry dismissed Netanyahus contention that Iran would be on its way to having a nuclear arsenal in 10 years, saying thats fundamentally not accurate.

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir weighed in, saying the Iran nuclear deal has flaws that need to be fixed. He said that, among other things, the inspection system needs to be more intrusive.

Story continues

The world has to extract a price from Iran for its aggressive behavior, he added.

Netanyahu told world leaders, diplomats and defense officials at the conference that the deal was similar to the infamous 1938 Munich Agreement that Western powers signed with Adolf Hitler in an attempt to stave off war in Europe, which became synonymous with appeasement.

The concessions to Hitler only emboldened the Nazi regime, he said. Rather than choosing a path that might have prevented war those well-intentioned leaders made a wider war inevitable and far more costly.

Similarly, he said, the Iranian nuclear agreement has unleashed a dangerous Iranian tiger in our region and beyond.

Declaring that Irans brazenness hit new highs, he theatrically held up a fragment of what he said was an Iranian drone shot down last week by Israel in Israeli airspace and challenged Zarif.

Mr. Zarif, do you recognize this? You should, its yours, Netanyahu said. You can take back with you a message to the tyrants of Tehran  do not test Israels resolve!

Tehran has denied that the drone belonged to Iran. Zarif on Sunday dismissed Netanyahus stunt as a cartoonish circus which does not even deserve the dignity of a response.

Iranian troops, along with Hezbollah and other Iranian-backed Shiite forces, have aided Syrian President Bashar Assad in his war against rebel groups. Netanyahu has repeatedly warned that he will not accept a permanent Iranian military presence in postwar Syria, fearing that Iran and its Shiite allies would turn their attention to Israel.

Netanyahu has been projecting a business-as-usual approach on his visit to Germany amid uproar at home after police on Tuesday said was sufficient evidence to indict him for bribery, fraud and breach of trust in two cases. The Israeli leader has angrily rejected the accusations and denounced what he describes as an overzealous police investigation. He has also dismissed the accusations as a witch hunt orchestrated by a hostile media.

Zarif suggested Netanyahu might be escalating tensions with Iran simply to distract from his domestic problems.

Denouncing what he said were Israels almost daily illegal incursions into Syrian airspace, Zarif said Israel was trying to create these cartoonish images to blame others for its own strategic blunders, or maybe to evade the domestic crisis theyre facing.

Netanyahu told the audience that destroying the drone was a demonstration of Israels resolve.

Israel will not allow Irans regime to put a noose of terror around our neck, he said. We will act if necessary, not just against Irans proxies that are attacking us but against Iran itself.

Lebanese Defense Minister Yaacoub Sarraf accused Israel of being hypocritical, saying that hed had an Israeli drone above my head for the past 15 years and warning about any aggression from its neighbor.

Lebanon has no belligerent intent on anybody, but watch out, we will defend ourselves, he said. We also have partners, we also have friends, we also have people willing to die for their country. We are for peace, yet we will not stand for any threat and we will not accept any aggression. RAMON CRATER, Israel (Reuters) - A team of six Israeli researchers on Sunday ended a four-day Mars habitat experiment in Israel's Negev desert where they simulated living conditions on the Red Planet, Israel's Science and Technology Ministry said.

The experiment was held near the isolated Israeli township of Mitzpe Ramon, whose surroundings resemble the Martian environment in its geology, aridity, appearance and desolation, the ministry said.

The participants were investigating various fields relevant to a future Mars mission, including satellite communications, the psychological affects of isolation, radiation measurements and searching for life signs in soil.

Participant Guy Ron, a nuclear physics professor from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, said the project was not only intended to look for new approaches in designing a future mission to the Red Planet but to increase public interest.

"D-Mars is half about the research, and the other half is about the outreach. A major part of this project is getting public interest and getting students interested in space," he said.

The "D-Mars" project was being held in Israel for the first time in cooperation with the Israel Space Agency. It is one of a number of Mars simulation projects taking place worldwide.

(Reporting by Rami Amichay; Writing by Ori Lewis; Editing by Edmund Blair)Kendall Jenner (Photo: Getty Images)

In the latest episode of Keeping Up With the Kardashians Kendall Jenner offers a closer look at her crippling anxiety and hints at plans to skip Paris Fashion Week.

The focus on mental health begins with the 22-year-olds mom, Kris Jenner, fielding a panic-driven phone call from Kendall and offering to take her to the hospital. Kendall struggles from anxiety, and I think she has so much going on that she gets herself really worked up, Jenners mom says in the episode. [She] gets the most anxious during Fashion Week or when shes traveling a lot. Milan is coming up and trying to juggle it all is overwhelming.

In a conversation on camera shortly thereafter between Kris and Kendall, Kendall recounts the things that have fueled her anxiety, such as her sister Kim Kardashian getting robbed, fending off her own stalker, and facing pressure on social media. Its hard just to get your brain to slow down, the supermodel says. I think now that I can sit here and can verbally say that, it will help me take the time [to] really address it.

The episode continues by showing Jenner in the midst of a sound-bath practice, which has anecdotally shown to be capable of relieving anxiety. When the practitioner asks which part of Jenners body needs tension relief, she answers her head. I like feel distant and out of it all the time and like my anxiety is just crazy and thats it.

Afterwards, Jenner recounts the experience to older sister Kim, who brings up Fashion Week. So youre not going to Paris? Kardashian asks. I dont think so, Jenner replies. I wasnt gonna do Milan, but my agents were like, You should do Milan and then if you dont want to do one of them, just dont do Paris, Jenner answers, adding that her mom is attending in Milan, but she wants to stay low key.

If Jenner does sit out Paris, it wont be the first time. In 2016, the then-20-year-old skipped London, Paris, and Milan. While there has been speculation in the past that shes skipped out for anxiety, Sundays episode confirmed that its a condition that affects her ability to do work. Anxiety is all mental, so you have to try and find your way around it, says Jenner. I try and maintain it, but sometimes its out of your control. Milan Fashion Week begins in a few days, but Kendalls Instagram makes it look like the model is taking a little break, since yesterday she shared a picture of herself on a family ski trip.

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While there are many issues the Kardashian-Jenner crew experience that arent relatable, this mental health condition isnt one of them. Anxiety extends far beyond supermodels, and the inability to work as a result does too.

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, 19.1 percent of U.S. adults have experienced an anxiety disorder in the past year, and more than 30 percent in their lifetime. Of the more than 45 million who experienced it in the last year, 22.8 percent reported severe impairment. Calculated using the Sheehan Disability Scale, this statistic means that millions experience anxiety so paralyzing that it disrupts their ability to function normally at work.

While researchers havent pinpointed one specific cause, a host of studies have shown at least some genetic link to the disorder. Anxiety can be linked to a traumatic event  which is also shown to fuel depression  or can spring from underlying medical conditions such as chronic pain or heart conditions. But anxiety can appear in otherwise healthy people, with no identifiable stressors (a condition most commonly referred to as GAD, generalized anxiety disorder).

If any of that sounds familiar, heres the good news. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), a civil rights law that dates back to the 90s, mental and psychiatric disorders qualify as disabilities. This means that if you work at a private employer with more than 15 employees, your company is required by law to help you  and cannot dock your pay or discriminate against you while doing so.

The ADA refers to this as the right to reasonable accommodation and defines it as modifications to the physical structure of your workspace, changes to your job, exceptions to usual work policies or rules, or other changes that will allow you to do your job. This might mean a modified schedule, lighter workload, or time off (paid or unpaid) in order to seek treatment. A written diagnosis is not required but may be requested by an employer.

In even more severe situations, an individual can request an extended leave of absence (up to 12 weeks) through the Family and Medical Leave Act. To qualify, an employee must work at a private-sector employer with more than 50 employees and have been an employee for at least 12 months.

Companies require written documentation, in this case from a psychiatrist, but the exact details of a condition need not be shared. Employers are not allowed to ask specifics about the condition itself. Health insurance coverage is required to continue, by law. Whether or not an employee gets paid for this time is up to the employers discretion, but either way, the company is required to have the same job waiting when the person returns.

So while Kendall Jenners decision to stay off the Paris runways may be disappointing for fashion houses and fans, its a decidedly great call in terms of her mental health. If you or someone you know is experiencing debilitating symptoms from a mental illness, dont hesitate to follow her lead.

Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day.



By Nate Raymond

(Reuters) - Kentucky's attorney general on Monday filed a lawsuit against drug distributor Cardinal Health Inc, accusing it of contributing to the opioid epidemic by failing to halt or report suspiciously large or frequent orders by pharmacies of prescription painkillers.

Attorney General Andy Beshear in the lawsuit accused Cardinal of unfair, misleading and deceptive business practices that he said led to the excessive distribution of opioids in Kentucky.

The lawsuit alleged that Dublin, Ohio-based Cardinal Health, one of the country's largest wholesale drug distributors, ignored red flags that prescription opioids were being diverted for illegal uses, allowing it to profit in the process.

The lawsuit is the third that Beshear has filed against an opioid manufacturer or distributor. It comes amid a wave of lawsuits by cities, counties and states seeking to hold corporations responsible for the drug abuse epidemic.

"I'm committed to hauling each of these opioid companies into a Kentucky court to answer for their actions that have devastated our families, communities and state," Beshear said in a statement.

Cardinal Health said in a statement that it cares deeply about opioid abuse and addiction and it believes there is an "urgent need" to work toward solutions to address the public health crisis.

"We do not believe litigation is the solution to this problem and will defend ourselves vigorously against baseless lawsuits," the company said.

The lawsuit seeks to recover the costs that it says Kentucky has incurred as a result of Cardinal's actions as well as unspecified penalties and fines.

Opioids were involved in more than 42,000 overdose deaths in 2016, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A growing number of lawsuits by states, counties and cities have accused drugmakers of pushing addictive painkillers through deceptive marketing and wholesale distributors of failing to report suspicious drug orders.

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Two other state attorneys general have sued Cardinal Health. The company says it faces at least 343 opioid-related lawsuits, which were largely brought by counties and municipalities.

In December 2016, Cardinal Health agreed to pay $44 million to resolve claims by the U.S. Justice Department that it failed to alert the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to suspiciously large orders of addictive painkillers.

The following month, the company announced that it had reached a $20 million settlement with West Virginia to resolve a lawsuit filed in 2012 over its distribution of opioids in the state.

(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Marguerita Choy and Leslie Adler)Baghdad (AFP) - The Islamic State group killed 27 pro-government fighters in an ambush in Iraq, their paramilitary group said Monday, underlining the threat still posed by the jihadists despite Baghdad's declaration of victory.

IS members, disguised as soldiers, attacked a Hashed al-Shaabi unit in the Hawija region about 300 kilometres (185 miles) north of Baghdad on Sunday evening, the auxiliary force said in a statement.

"The attackers were dressed in military uniforms and during the fighting 27 of our heroes were martyred," added the Hashed, a key partner of the government in the battle against IS.

The paramilitary unit was conducting operations to "arrest terrorists and dismantle sleeping cells" around the city, in the province of Kirkuk.

A Hashed official who asked to remain anonymous told AFP the jihadists had set up a checkpoint close to Hawija.

They asked the Hashed paramilitaries to stop, get out of their vehicles and stand beside the road, on the pretext of conducting a search.

They then shot the Hashed fighters and fled, the official said.

Reinforcements arrived too late to stop the attack.

A senior police officer in the province, who also asked not to be named, said most of the bodies had been beheaded.

It was the deadliest attack against Hashed fighters since October when pro-government forces retook Hawija, which was the jihadists' last urban bastion in northern Iraq.

Iraq in December declared victory against IS after a years-long battle to retake large swathes of territory the extremists had seized in 2014.

But the Hashed says IS has not completely disappeared and that "sleeper cells" have been fighting a guerrilla war against it.Michael Peck

Security, Middle East

How would Israel or America respond?

Lebanon: Russia's New Outpost in the Middle East?

After gaining naval and air bases in Syria, Russia may now be setting its sights on Lebanon.

Russian prime minister Dmitry Medvedev has ordered Russia's Defense Ministry to seek a military cooperation agreement with Lebanon.

Moscow wants Lebanese ports to be open to visits by Russian warships and Lebanese airports to be transit points for Russian warplanes, according to the Arabic-language edition of Russian media site Sputnik News (Google English translation here). The agreement would cover a broad range of activities, including joint exercises, counterterrorism cooperation and Russian trainers for the Lebanese military.

Interestingly, while the Arabic edition of Sputnik News reported the Russian plan, no mention could be found in the English-language editions of several Russian publications. Nor in mainstream Arab news media such as Al Jazeera or Lebanons The Daily Star.

However, the Russian plan was reported by pro-Iranian publications such as al-Mayadeenwhich is considered close to Hezbollahand the Hezbollah-affiliated site al-Manar (Google English translations here and here).

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What's going on? A Russo-Lebanese military agreement is notable because unlike neighboring Syria, Lebanon and its military have been oriented toward the West. While the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) do use some Russian weapons such as tanks and rifles, in 2008 the LAF turned down offered Moscow's offer of ten free MiG-29 fighters. Most equipment is American and Western European, including M60 and M48 tanks, M113 armored personnel carriers and TOW antitank missiles. According to Security Assistance Monitor, the Obama and Trump administrations sent more than $357 million in arms to Lebanon since 2008. Some of the hardware included to Lebanon includes M2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles and an upcoming sale of six MD-530G attack helicopters to aid in the countrys fight against ISIS. American support for the country continues in spite of accusations that the LAF has become an auxiliary of Hezbollahwhich would mean that Washington is effectively arming its enemies.

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But the more pressing question is whether Lebanon will become another Russian ally like Syria. Damascus provided the naval base of Tartus during the Cold War, giving Moscow a friendly port on the Mediterranean. Now, Russian troops and aircraft are based in Syria in support of the Assad government, which recently agreed to allow nuclear-powered Russian warships to operate out of Tartus.

But the prospective agreement with Lebanon only mentions reciprocal port visits by Russian and Lebanon, not Russian ships being based in Lebanon, says Olga Oliker, director of the Russia and Eurasia program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "This is nothing like the SOFA [status of forces agreement] and basing arrangements with Syria."

The agreement provides "a broad framework," Oliker adds. "So its not a landmark, its a step. But its certainly part of Russias effort to expand its involvement and relationships in the Middle East, and Lebanons desire to have more partners and options."

And what does Lebanon get? "They want a protective umbrella against Israel," says Tony Badran, a researcher at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. And just as important, Beirut could use the prospect of a Russo-Lebanese military treaty to induce the United States to offer more aid.

Badran believes that Washington should avoid a bidding war with Russia over Lebanon. "Tell Lebanon good luck with Russia. And Israel."

Michael Peck, a frequent contributor to TNI, is a defense and historical writer based in Oregon. His work has appeared in Foreign Policy, WarIsBoring and many other fine publications. He can be found on Twitter and Facebook.

Image: Kremlin.ru

Read full article(WOONSOCKET, R.I.)  Live ammunition was discovered by a custodian in a Rhode Island middle school boys restroom, prompting a lockdown and subsequent investigation into how the bullets got there, police said.

Woonsocket Middle School at Hamlet, located about 15 miles north of Providence, was put on lockdown Friday afternoon after the discovery. Woonsocket Police Chief Thomas F. Oates III said a custodian was checking the restroom shortly around school dismissal time when she found small-caliber ammunition. She immediately brought it to the principals office.

Oates said fewer than 10 bullets were discovered.

Several news outlets reported that around the same time, a teenage girl said she saw a possible shooter but later recanted her story. The Providence Journal reported the girl was overheard by a teacher saying she saw someone on a footbridge reaching into a backpack. That also prompted the lockdown.

Someone in a group of children that was walking, leaving, a female began to scream  alluding to there may be a shooting, Oates told WPRI-TV.

Most students had already left the school as police conducted a room-by-room search. Oates estimated there were fewer than 50 people inside the school during the lockdown. Most were there for after-school activities.

Officers could be seen around the school, including on the roof, wearing tactical gear and with their guns drawn.

We did not find any weapons in the school. We did not find any weapons on anyone else, Oates told WPRI-TV.

A parent, Laura Beauregard, told the television station that she learned about the lockdown on social media and drove to the school, where her daughter was attending a photography club meeting. She discovered her daughter outside the school with some fellow students.

With just what happened in Florida, they were really scared, said Beauregard, referring to Wednesdays mass shooting a Florida high school that left 17 people dead.

Oates said officers questioned the student who made the comment about a possible shooter and will determine whether she should be charged with a crime. Police are also still investigating who brought the bullets into the school.Munich (Germany) (AFP) - British Prime Minister Theresa May pleaded Saturday for an urgent deal with the European Union on post-Brexit security cooperation, warning that citizens' lives were at stake.

In a speech at the Munich Security Conference, she acknowledged that no deal currently exists between the EU and a third country "that captures the full depth and breadth of our existing relationship".

But she said there was no reason both sides could not come up with practical ways to create a "deep and special partnership" on security.

"We cannot delay discussions on this," May said.

She also warned European partners not to put politics above cooperation against crime and terrorism.

"This cannot be a time when any of us allow competition between partners, rigid institutional restrictions or deep-seated ideology to inhibit our cooperation and jeopardise the security of our citizens," May told an audience that included European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker.

The premier warned that if there was no deal on security by the time Britain leaves the bloc in March 2019, speedy extraditions under the European Arrest Warrant "would cease".

And if the UK were no longer part of Europol, the EU's law enforcement agency, information sharing would be hampered -- undermining the fight against terrorism, organised crime and cyberattacks.

"This would damage us both and put all our citizens at greater risk," May warned, urging European leaders to show "some real creativity and ambition" in coming up with a bespoke UK-EU security pact.

"We must now move with urgency to put in place the treaty to protect all European citizens wherever they are in Europe," May said.

Some experts have warned that cooperation on police and security matters could be limited by Britain's refusal to accept the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) after Brexit.

Story continues

May appeared to respond to those concerns by saying that the UK would "respect the remit" of the ECJ when working with EU agencies, in return for "respect for our unique status as a third country".

"But as a country outside the European Union, we will have our own sovereign legal order, so the European Court of Justice will no longer have jurisdiction in the United Kingdom."

- 'Substantial disagreements' -

May has in the past drawn criticism for appearing to link security -- in which Britain is a major player -- with her hopes for a new trade deal with the EU.

But there was no hint of that in Saturday's address, the latest in a clutch of speeches by senior British officials recently as the government seeks to clarify its ambitions for Brexit.

There has been little progress in recent months in Britain's negotiations with the EU on the island nation's future relationship with the bloc.

EU negotiator Michel Barnier warned last week that there were "substantial disagreements" with Britain on a post-Brexit transition period.

May's comments came a day after the heads of key British, French and German spy agencies warned in a rare joint appearance that intelligence sharing and cooperation must continue even after Britain leaves the EU.Munich (Germany) (AFP) - British Prime Minister Theresa May pleaded Saturday for an urgent deal with the European Union on post-Brexit security cooperation, warning that citizens' lives were at stake.

In a speech at the Munich Security Conference, she acknowledged that no deal currently exists between the EU and a third country "that captures the full depth and breadth of our existing relationship".

But she said there was no reason both sides could not come up with practical ways to create a "deep and special partnership" on security.

"We cannot delay discussions on this," May said.

She also warned European partners not to put politics above cooperation against crime and terrorism.

"This cannot be a time when any of us allow competition between partners, rigid institutional restrictions or deep-seated ideology to inhibit our cooperation and jeopardise the security of our citizens," May told the audience.

She cautioned that if there were no special deal on security by the time Britain leaves the bloc in March 2019, speedy extraditions under the European Arrest Warrant "would cease".

And if the UK were no longer part of Europol, the EU's law enforcement agency, information sharing would be hampered -- undermining the fight against terrorism, organised crime and cyberattacks.

"This would damage us both and put all our citizens at greater risk," May said, urging European leaders to show "some real creativity and ambition" in coming up with a bespoke UK-EU security pact.

"We must now move with urgency to put in place the treaty to protect all European citizens wherever they are in Europe," May said.

- Not 'at war' with London -

Some experts have warned that cooperation on police and security matters could be limited by Britain's refusal to fully accept the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) after Brexit.

May appeared to respond to those concerns by saying the UK would "respect the remit" of the ECJ when working with EU agencies, in return for "respect for our unique status as a third country".

Story continues

"But as a country outside the European Union, we will have our own sovereign legal order, so the European Court of Justice will no longer have jurisdiction in the United Kingdom."

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, in his own speech at the top security gathering in Munich, said the bloc was "not at war" with the UK and warned against mixing up security with other Brexit issues.

"The security bridge between the UK and the EU will be maintained," he said.

"But I don't want throw security considerations in the same pot as trade policy issues."

- 'Easier if you stayed' -

May last year irked many European peers when she suggested that Britain, the biggest military power in the bloc and a nuclear-armed NATO member, might hold back on security cooperation if it could not get a good trade deal once it quits the EU's single market and customs union.

But there was no hint of that in Saturday's address, the latest in a clutch of speeches by senior British officials as the government faces pressure to clarify its ambitions for Brexit.

There has been little progress in recent months in Britain's negotiations with the EU on the nation's future relationship with the bloc.

EU negotiator Michel Barnier warned last week that there were still "substantial disagreements" with Britain on a post-Brexit transition period to ease the pain of the split.

"Things would be so much easier if you stayed," Munich Security Conference chairman Wolfgang Ischinger quipped after May's speech, drawing applause.

May replied: "There's no question of a second referendum or going back on that vote."Mexico City (AFP) - A medium intensity earthquake struck southwestern Mexico early Monday morning, scaring residents already shaken by a powerful quake two days earlier, though there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.

The US Geological Survey said its magnitude was 5.9 and it struck at a depth of 40.2 kilometers (25 miles), some 32 kilometers (20 miles) northeast of the town of Santa Catarina Mechoacan in Oaxaca state at 0657 GMT.

"So far, no impact has been reported," the country's Civil Protection agency tweeted.

President Enrique Pena Nieto tweeted that the agency was in contact with local authorities.

A 7.2-magnitude quake shook the same region on Friday evening.

No one was killed by the seismic event but a helicopter carrying politicians to near the epicenter later crashed, killing 14 people on the ground.

Memories are also still fresh of two earthquakes last September that killed a combined 465 people.

Mexico sits at a spot where five tectonic plates come together, making it particularly vulnerable to earthquakes.By Jose Cortes SANTIAGO JAMILTEPEC, Mexico (Reuters) - At least 13 people on the ground, including three children, were killed when a Mexican military helicopter carrying top officials surveying damage from an earthquake crashed in a small town in the southern state of Oaxaca, authorities said on Saturday. The helicopter, which was carrying Mexico's interior minister and the state governor, crashed on top of two vans in an open field while trying to land at night in Santiago Jamiltepec after a tour of damage from Friday's powerful quake. The senior officials survived but 12 people at the scene were killed and another died later in a hospital, Oaxaca's attorney general's office said in a statement. Another 15 people were injured. Luis Cabrera, a civil protection official at the scene, said authorities were still investigating the cause of the crash. The 7.2 magnitude quake knocked out electricity in Santiago Jamiltepec, about 28 miles (45 km) from the tremor's epicenter, leaving the town in darkness Friday night. A journalist on board the flight told local TV that the helicopter had flown in over a clearing next to homes, raising a huge dust cloud before it crash landed. At a home near the accident site, family members gathered to mourn their loved ones after officials returned their bodies. Many lashed out in anger at authorities. "The governor was supposedly coming to help, but what was the help, the aid, we received? This was the aid," said Eduardo Juarez, a relative of one victim. Mexico's defense minister, General Salvador Cienfuegos, arrived at the scene on Saturday and spoke with locals, offering apologies and taking responsibility for the accident. "We will take care of what we have to do and we will do everything in our power to try to remedy this misfortune," Cienfuegos told reporters. He blamed the late hour and the heavy dust for "disorienting" the pilot, but he said he did not think there had been any "recklessness" by the helicopters' crew. The earthquake left nearly a million homes and businesses without power in Mexico City and the south and damaged at least 50 homes in Oaxaca. The state, along with Mexico City, is still reeling from earthquakes in September that killed at least 471 people and caused widespread damage. (Writing by Michael O'Boyle; Editing by Marguerita Choy and Leslie Adler)Michelle Obama doesnt tweet that often, preferring to save social media for special occasions  like, for example, the opening weekend of Black Panther. The former FLOTUS took a moment on Monday to praise the new Marvel superhero movie, the first in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to feature an African-American actor in the title role and an almost entirely black cast. (Thats a big leap from the first MCU film, 2008s Iron Man, which had exactly one black actor in a named role  or two, if you count the 20-second post-credits scene.) And Michelle wasnt the only social-media-savvy celebrity to shower praise on the film, which has a 97 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes (despite sabotage efforts from certain corners of the internet) and smashed box-office records this weekend. Heres a roundup of high-profile praise for Black Panther on Twitter and Instagram.

Michelle Obama called the film an inspiration for a new generation of audience members.

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Kerry Washington plans to copy Danai Guriras best fighting move.

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Shaquille ONeal is cosplaying on Insta as Chadwick Boseman.

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Ryan Reynolds pledged his allegiance to Wakanda.

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Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., is thrilled that voter registration drives are taking place at screenings.

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Questlove found words inadequate.

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Janelle Monae would be an excellent pick for the sequel, and she knows it.

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Oprah saw the movie on a date.

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Ron Howard made it a family affair.

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Serena Williams saw it with the cutest audience.

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MC Hammer went in costume, because of course he did.

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Chris Pratt is taking notes for Jurassic World 3.

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Whoopi Goldberg gave her heartiest, most abbreviation-filled endorsement.

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Ice T removed his hat.

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Kevin Harts kids got to see Black Panther with Black Panther, so they win.

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Read more from Yahoo Entertainment:Task and Purpose, Jared Keller

Security, North America

A few billion here, a few billion therepretty soon, well be talking about a working aircraft carrier.

The Navy's New $13 Billion Aircraft Carrier Has Some Serious Problems

At the current reliability, Fords cats only have a 9 percent chance of completing the 4-day surge and a 70 percent chance of completing a day of sustained operations as defined in the design reference mission without a critical failure. Thats on a good day, with a deck full of trained-up sailors; the Ford class was designed to reduce manning requirements but is sensitive to manpower fluctuations simply because the next-generation technologies it embraces are not well understood, the report states

The Department of Defenses fiscal year 2019 budget includes a hefty chunk of cash for a fourth Ford-class aircraft carrier, but the Navy may have to wait a little bit longer to see its dreams of an 11-carrier fleet truly realized.

Among the slew of vessels included in the Navy portion of President Donald Trumps planned boost to the U.S. armed forces budget are three Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, two Virginia-class submarines, and the first year of full funding for the now-unnamed CVN 81 aircraft carrier, a younger sibling to the brand-new $13 billion USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78), which the Navy (and Trump) commissioned last July.

But as it turns out, the Pentagons latest technical assessment of the next-generation (and urinal-less) supercarrier reveals a warship currently incapable of performing basic functions during routine operations; the service on Feb. 7 reportedly appealed to Secretary of Defense James Mattis to delay critical shock testing of the new carriers until the second Ford-class hull, USS John F. Kennedy, comes available in 2024  the same stress-testing for which lawmakers let the Navy off the hook in June 2017.

The DoDs intensive assessment of the Ford, conducted by the Office of the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation and published last month, along with its other 2017 technical analyses, reveals poor or unknown reliability among many of the Fords essential systems, including newly designed catapults, arresting gear, weapons elevators, and radar.

Story continues

These systems arent just high-profile (see: that steamless catapult) but critical for the vessels roles in counterterrorism and great-power deterrence. [The limitations] could affect the ability of CVN 78 to generate sorties, make the ship more vulnerable to attack, or create limitations during routine operations, the report states. The poor or unknown reliability of these critical subsystems is the most significant risk to CVN 78.

Among the most glaring problems facing the vessel: those goddamned electromagnetic catapults. While the Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornet and EA-18G Growler aircraft experienced excessive airframe stress on launches, according to the DoD report, the Navy also identified an inability to readily electrically isolate Electromagnetic Aircraft Launching System (EMALS) and Advanced Arresting Gear (AAG) components to perform maintenance  a complication that means sailors could find themselves unable to perform underway maintenance or repairs on one of the ships most critical systems.

This isnt just real pain in the butt when something goes wrong during a sustained bombing campaign against, say, forces hostile to U.S personnel downrange in Syria: It renders the whole system functionally useless. At the current reliability, Fords cats only have a 9 percent chance of completing the 4-day surge and a 70 percent chance of completing a day of sustained operations as defined in the design reference mission without a critical failure. Thats on a good day, with a deck full of trained-up sailors; the Ford class was designed to reduce manning requirements but is sensitive to manpower fluctuations simply because the next-generation technologies it embraces are not well understood, the report states

More concerning are the shock tests the Navy is delaying on the Ford, in which light charges would be set off in the water around the ship to test its systems reliance under stress. In recent years, DoD regulations stipulated that Full Ship Shock Trials, designed to test hull resiliency, are should be conducted at two-thirds of the shock level that ships are required to survive; the services push to delay even such nominal tests raises questions about officials confidence in their new supercarrier.

On the upside, Trumps 2019 defense budget request contains around $1.8 billion for the continued development of Ford-class carrier technologies, as Defense News put it on Feb. 13. A few billion here, a few billion there  pretty soon, well be talking about a working aircraft carrier.

Jared Keller is a senior editor at Task & Purpose and contributing editor at Pacific Standard. Follow Jared Keller on Twitter @JaredBKeller.

This article originally appeared at Task & Purpose. Follow Task & Purpose on Twitter.

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Read full articleJerusalem (AFP) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday told his Polish counterpart that his remarks on "Jewish perpetrators of the Holocaust" were unacceptable and unfounded, Netanyahu's office said.

"Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today spoke by telephone with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki," a statement said.

"He told him that the remarks that were made were unacceptable and that there was no basis for comparing the actions of Poles during the Holocaust to those of Jews."

On Saturday Morawiecki, who like Netanyahu was in Munich for a global security conference, was questioned by a journalist who told of his mother's narrow escape from the Gestapo in Poland after learning that neighbours were planning to denounce them, and asked if recounting that would now be against the law in Poland.

"It's not going to be punishable," he replied. "Not going to be seen as criminal, to say that there were Polish perpetrators, as there were Jewish perpetrators, as there were Russian perpetrators, as there were Ukraine and German perpetrators."

His comments fuelled an already seething diplomatic row with Israel sparked by a controversial law passed by Poland's senate this month.

"Prime Minister Netanyahu pointed out that the goal of the Holocaust was to destroy the Jewish people and that all Jews were under sentence of death," the Israeli statement said.

"He told his Polish counterpart that the distortion regarding Poland could not be corrected by means of another distortion."

"The two agreed that the countries would continue their dialogue on the matter and that to this end the teams would hopefully meet soon."Abuja (AFP) - Nigeria has freed another 51 Boko Haram suspects in the latest round of dropped cases for lack of evidence, the justice ministry said Monday.

Over the course of last week, hundreds of suspected Boko Haram extremists appeared before a court at the Kainji military base in central Niger state.

A total of 526 suspects have been released from custody after it was found there was not enough evidence to prosecute them, underscoring concerns from human rights groups that the Nigerian military has been arbitrarily arresting and detaining civilians during the Islamist insurgency.

"Among the reasons for setting the 526 suspects free are want of evidence, under aged (minor) and persons suffering from mental illness," ministry spokesman Salihu Othman Isah said in a statement.

Only one suspect, Modu Maina, was discharged and acquitted by the judge, Isah said.

"Maina confessed that he was forcefully initiated into the Boko Haram group but relocated to Lagos to avoid being arrested in Bama," Isah said.

"He said that all the confessional statements he made to Joint Task Force (JTF) was under alleged torture."

Isah added that "about 205" detained suspects were convicted and sentenced to imprisonment, with jail terms ranging from three to 60 years.

The remaining 73 cases have been adjourned until the next hearing.

Nigeria's security services have been repeatedly accused of abuses against civilians during the insurgency, including extra-judicial executions and enforced disappearances.

Many civilians have been held for years without access to lawyers or being brought to court.

In total, over 1,000 people have been processed in a string of mass hearings which began in October at four specially-constituted civilian courts inside the facility.

Boko Haram's bloody quest since 2009 to establish a hardline Islamic state in remote northeast Nigeria has left at least 20,000 dead and forced more than 2.6 million others out of their homes.

The violence has also spilt over into neighbouring Cameroon, Chad and Niger.Nikolas Cruz's foster family said Monday they are still "betrayed" and "shocked" that the teenager they took in mere months ago allegedly orchestrated the mass high school shooting in Florida that left 17 people dead on Wednesday, February 14.

Cruz confessed last week to the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. He was charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder on Thursday.

In their first television interview since Wednesday's massacre, Kimberly and James Snead told Good Morning America's Michael Strahan that Cruz was "nothing like they portray on television or in the media."

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The 19-year-old, who lost his adoptive mother to pneumonia in November, had stayed at the family's Parkland, Florida, home for about three months and had "followed every rule to a tee," James Snead said. He added that Cruz spent a night at their home prior to moving in and "was very polite" and "seemed normal." He'd also befriended one of the Sneads's sons and "loved" the family's animals.

The foster family knew Cruz had gunsan AR-15, two other assault rifles, BB guns and pellet guns but were "not at all" concerned because Cruz never stepped out of line, James Snead said. They'd allowed him to keep the guns in a home safe without direct access to the key, though it's come to light that Cruz had a spare.

Media coverage has painted a starkly darker picture of Cruz: A troubled, potentially mentally ill teenager with an affinity for guns. Cruz posted pictures of weapons and dead animals on social media, voiced racist and violent fantasies against black, gay and Hispanic people in an online group chat and commented on a YouTube video months ago that he wanted to be "a professional school shooter."



Cruz was known to provoke confrontations as well and had trouble controlling his temper," one neighbor who lived next to Cruz nearly a decade ago told The New York Times. Since 2010, Broward Sheriff's deputies had been called to the Cruz family home on 39 occasions.

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The FBI even received a tip from a person close to Nikolas Cruz on January 5 that cited concerns with Cruzs gun ownership, desire to kill people, erratic behavior, and disturbing social media posts, as well as the potential of him conducting a school shooting," according to an FBI statement. Officials had failed to investigate.

Although the Sneads knew Cruz was depressed and thought he often appeared withdrawn, the only answer they could pull from him was that "he was thinking about his mother," according to The Times. Cruz was supposed to see a counselor this week.

"Everything everybody seems to know, we didn't know," James Snead told Strahan.

The revelations have left the family "heartbroken," Kimberly Snead added later in the interview. Snead works as a neonatal intensive care nurse and James Snead is a military intelligence analyst and decorated Army veteran.

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"We still can't process it, what he's done," she said. "Because this wasn't the person that we knew."

Snead said she saw Cruz at the police station following the shooting, and despite wanting to "just strangle him more than anything," had struggled to find words.



"'Really, Nik? Really?' I yelled at him," she told Strahan. "I was just furious and heartbroken. Absolutely just heartbroken." The Sneads then expressed condolences to the families for the "pain they must be feeling." The 17 people killed included 14 students and three staff; 14 other people were injured.

Attorney Jim Lewis, who also spoke on GMA Monday morning, said the family is fully cooperating with law enforcement and the FBI.

"I want people to know out there that these are good people who are trying to do the right thing," he said. "The young man had indicated that he was very happy in this home. ... No good deed goes unpunished."

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekMEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's southern state of Oaxaca requested federal emergency funds on Sunday to supply food, shelter and health services in more than 30 municipalities battered by last week's powerful quake in a region still reeling from temblors in September. The 7.2 magnitude quake on Friday, which did not cause any deaths, had its epicenter about 90 miles (145 km) from the Pacific coast surfer resort of Puerto Escondido. It shook buildings in the capital, sent tremors as far south as Guatemala and set off more than 1,520 aftershocks. At least 1,000 homes were damaged in Oaxaca, the state's governor, Alejandro Murat, told a Mexican television program on Saturday, higher than earlier estimates of damage. Media images showed homes, businesses and schools with cracks in their walls and rubble scattered on the ground. A military helicopter surveying the quake damage crashed in Santiago Jamiltepec on Friday night, killing at least 13 people. Mexico's Interior Ministry said federal aid would go to towns including Pinotepa Nacional, closest to the epicenter, and Santiago Jamiltepec, which had reported 50 damaged homes along with a church and government building. Recovery efforts are still being carried out in Oaxaca as well as Mexico City after strong earthquakes in September killed several hundred people and toppled buildings. (Reporting by Daina Beth Solomon; Editing by Peter Cooney)The Republican Party needs to wake up and consider common sense gun laws in response to the latest mass shooting in Florida, Ohio's Republican Governor John Kasich said Sunday.

In an interview on CNN, Kasich condemned Congress for not acting in response to the shooting in a high school in Parkland, Fla., Wednesday, in which 17 were killed.

GettyImages-645024904

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I think Congress is totally dysfunctional. Ive never seen anything like this an impassioned Kasich said on CNN's State of the Union. The former, and likely future, presidential candidate also cited impasses over immigration reform and the budget. They just cant seem to get anything done.

Kasich criticized his party colleagues for refusing to consider measures to tighten gun controls, stressing that there were reasonable steps that could be taken to prevent further shootings.

Common sense guns laws make sense, Kasich said, citing measures such as increased background checks or restricting sales of weapons such as the AR-15, which was used by gunman Nikolas Cruz in Wednesdays attack, according to police.

Kasich expressed scant confidence in the ability of lawmakers to come together to hammer out measures to tackle gun violence.

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They cant agree to anything down there, he said. Wake up.

Sometimes you have to put yourself at risk politically, he added, a reference to lawmakers who are more worried about losing their seats or funding by pro-gun groups than protecting their constituents.

"Its not the end of the world because you lose an election!" he said. "Everybodys got to look inside of themselves and think about their children. And, look, Im not calling for some outright ban. Im talking about small steps that can be taken that can be effective and Congress ought to do it. I just dontI dont have any confidence in them. I dont think most Americans do.

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Despite renewed calls for gun law reform in the wake of Wednesdays shooting, President Donald Trump did not discuss the issue after a meeting with first responders and victims in Florida Friday. And Republican lawmakers have shown little willingness to broach the topic. House Speaker Paul Ryan said at a fundraiser in Florida on Friday that he did not want to "politicize" the issue.

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On Saturday, students of the Parkland high school held a protest calling for tighter gun controls. Student Emma Gonzalez attacked Trump and other politicians for accepting political donations from the National Rifle Association.

"To every politician who is taking donations from the NRA, shame on you!" said Gonzalez.

Leading Republican donor Al Hoffman Jr. warned the party that he would cut off his support unless action was taken over assault weapons, in the first pushback against the party's unwillingness to take action by an influential Republican.

But Trump blamed Democrats for not acting on gun legislation "when they had both the House & Senate during the Obama Administration," he tweeted on Saturday.

"Because they didn't want to, and now they just talk!" he wrote.

Trump campaigned for president claiming he would be a staunch defender of individual gun-ownership rights that some believe is enshrined in the Second Amendment to the constitution. And once in office, he addressed an NRA convention by declaring that the "eight-year assault" on the Second Amendment would end on his watch.

Kasich, who lost to Trump in the 2016 Republican primaries, has been a staunch critic of the president and his own party since Trump took office. Some pundits believe he will challenge the sitting president in the re-election campaign of 2020.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekPort-au-Prince (AFP) - Oxfam formally apologized to Haiti Monday over the prostitution scandal rocking the aid charity, expressing its "shame" and vowing to do better as it handed over a damning internal report into the allegations.

Made public earlier in the day, Oxfam's 2011 report into the behavior of aid workers sent to Haiti following a devastating earthquake revealed that a former top official admitted to paying for sex and that three staff physically threatened a witness.

"We came here to share the report with the minister and express our shame and apologies to the Haitian government and to the Haitian people," said Simon Ticehurst, Oxfam's regional director for Latin America and the Caribbean.

"We've taken lots of measures to improve internal safeguarding measures," he said following a more than two-hour meeting with Haiti's minister of planning and external cooperation, Aviol Fleurant, who had summoned the charity to explain itself.

Oxfam's 2011 report, compiled in the year after aid workers were deployed to Haiti, revealed that seven staff were accused of using prostitutes at an Oxfam-funded residence.

Country director Roland Van Hauwermeiren admitted paying for sex and was offered a "phased and dignified exit" of resignation if he cooperated with the inquiry.

- 'Physical' threats -

The report also said three Oxfam employees were involved in "physically threatening and intimidating" a witness who spoke to the investigators.

Four staff were fired for gross misconduct and three others, including Van Hauwermeiren, were allowed to quit.

Details of the Haiti scandal surfaced earlier this month and have engulfed Oxfam, drawing widespread condemnation and putting its funding at risk.

British Prime Minister Theresa May on Monday described the matter as "horrific," adding that "it was far below the standards that we expect for the charities and the NGOs that we're working with."

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"We will not work with anybody who does not meet the high standards that we set and we believe are important," May added during a visit to a London school.

The charity has been suspended from bidding for new government funding until it undertakes reforms.

Oxfam has denied trying to cover up the allegations but admitted it could have been more open at the time, saying it was publishing the report "in recognition of the breach of trust that has been caused."

The Haitian government has expressed outrage and launched its own inquiry.

Haitian President Jovenel Moise tweeted last week that there was "nothing more unworthy or dishonest than a sexual predator who uses his position as part of the humanitarian response to a natural disaster to exploit needy people in their moment of great vulnerability."Port-au-Prince (AFP) - Oxfam formally apologized to Haiti on Monday over the prostitution scandal rocking the aid charity, expressing its "shame" and vowing to do better as it handed over a damning internal report into the allegations.

Made public earlier in the day, Oxfam's 2011 report into the behavior of aid workers sent to Haiti following a devastating earthquake revealed that a former top official admitted to paying for sex and that three staff physically threatened a witness.

"We came here to share the report with the minister and express our shame and apologies to the Haitian government and to the Haitian people," said Simon Ticehurst, Oxfam's regional director for Latin America and the Caribbean.

"We've taken lots of measures to improve internal safeguarding measures," he said following a more than two-hour meeting with Haiti's minister of planning and external cooperation, Aviol Fleurant, who had summoned the charity to explain itself.

Oxfam's 2011 report, compiled in the year after aid workers were deployed to Haiti, revealed that seven staff were accused of using prostitutes at an Oxfam-funded residence.

Country director Roland van Hauwermeiren admitted paying for sex and was offered a "phased and dignified exit" if he cooperated with the inquiry.

The Haitian government has expressed its outrage and launched its own inquiry.

Haitian President Jovenel Moise tweeted last week that there was "nothing more unworthy or dishonest than a sexual predator" taking advantage of a natural disaster "to exploit needy people in their moment of great vulnerability."

- 'Physical' threats -

The report also said three Oxfam employees were involved in "physically threatening and intimidating" a witness who spoke to the investigators.

Four staff were fired for gross misconduct and three others, including van Hauwermeiren, were allowed to quit.

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Details of the scandal surfaced earlier this month and have engulfed Oxfam, drawing widespread condemnation and putting its funding at risk.

British Prime Minister Theresa May described the matter as "horrific," adding that "it was far below the standards that we expect for the charities and the NGOs that we're working with."

"We will not work with anybody who does not meet the high standards that we set," May added during a visit to a London school.

The charity has been suspended from bidding for new government funding until it undertakes reforms, and Oxfam chief executive Mark Goldring has been called to explain the scandal to British MPs in London on Tuesday alongside officials from Save the Children.

That charity faces its own problems over claims that a staff member drunkenly harassed a female colleague.

Last week, Oxfam unveiled an action plan to tackle sexual harassment and abuse, including creating a new vetting system for staff, and has urged victims to come forward with any new allegations.

The aid group has denied trying to cover up the allegations but admitted it could have been more open at the time, saying it was publishing the report "in recognition of the breach of trust that has been caused."

- 'Loving relations' -

All names in the report have been redacted apart from that of van Hauwermeiren, a 68-year-old Belgian who last week released a letter defending himself after the scandal broke.

In the letter, he claims he had not visited any brothels, nightclubs or bars in Haiti, despite offers from men and women "who tried to get into my house with all sorts of excuses to demand money, work, or to offer sexual services."

Van Hauwermeiren says he told Oxfam he had "intimate relations" three times at his house with "an honorable, mature woman, who was not an earthquake victim nor a prostitute. And I did not give her any money."

In an interview with The Times, however, a young Haitian mother claimed she had a relationship with van Hauwermeiren when she was just 16 -- legally underage in Haiti.

Now 23, Mikelange Gabou said the Belgian initially helped her with supplies for her baby, and that they later had a "loving relationship" and he would sometimes give her money.

A woman who worked alongside van Hauwermeiren in Liberia said she made a complaint about him in 2004 -- years before the Haiti scandal.London (AFP) - British Prime Minister Theresa May on Monday described the behaviour of some Oxfam staff in Haiti as "horrific" after the charity released an internal report revealing that a former top official admitted to paying for sex and three staff threatened a witness.

"The behaviour that we've now discovered was horrific," May said during a visit to a London school.

"It was far below the standards that we expect for the charities and the NGOs that we're working with."

"We will not work with anybody who does not meet the high standards that we set and we believe are important," she added, after the charity was suspended from bidding for new government funding.

The 2011 report into aid workers deployed to Haiti following a devastating earthquake the previous year, revealed that seven staff were accused of using prostitutes at an Oxfam-funded residence.

Country director Roland Van Hauwermeiren admitted paying for sex and was offered a "phased and dignified exit" of resignation if he cooperated with the inquiry.

The report also said three Oxfam employees were involved in "physically threatening and intimidating" a witness who spoke to the investigators.

Four staff were fired for gross misconduct and three others, including Van Hauwermeiren, were allowed to quit.

Details of the Haiti scandal surfaced earlier this month and have engulfed Oxfam, drawing widespread condemnation and putting its funding at risk.

A senior executive has resigned over the scandal.

Oxfam has denied trying to cover up the allegations but admitted it could have been more open at the time, saying it was publishing the report "in recognition of the breach of trust that has been caused".

It said it would give a copy to the Haitian government, which has expressed outrage and launched its own inquiry, at a meeting later on Monday.

- 'Loving relationship' -

All names in the report have been redacted apart from that of Van Hauwermeiren, a 68-year-old Belgian who last week released a letter defending himself after the scandal broke.

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In it, he claimed he had not visited any brothels, nightclubs or bars in Haiti, despite offers from men and women "who tried to get into my house with all sorts of excuses to demand money, work, or to offer sexual services".

He said he told Oxfam he had "intimate relations" three times at his house with "an honourable, mature woman, who was not an earthquake victim nor a prostitute. And I did not give her any money".

In an interview with The Times, however, a young Haitian mother claimed she had a relationship with Van Hauwermeiren when she was 16 -- legally underage in Haiti.

Now 23, Mikelange Gabou said he initially helped her with nappies and other things for her baby, and that they later had a "loving relationship" and he would sometimes give her money.

There were other women he invited to his hilltop house, she said. "So it might be that he had sex with them and promised to find them a job, or sometimes he gave money or didn't give them money."

- Aid sector under scrutiny -

Oxfam last week unveiled an action plan to tackle sexual harassment and abuse, including creating a new vetting system for staff, and has urged victims to come forward with any new allegations.

But the entire aid sector is facing renewed scrutiny, including how they communicate with each other.

A woman who worked alongside Van Hauwermeiren in Liberia said she made a complaint about him in 2004 -- many years before the Haiti scandal.

One recommendation in the 2011 report was for better mechanisms to share information with other regions and agencies about behavioural issues.

Oxfam chief executive Mark Goldring has been called to explain the scandal to British MPs in London on Tuesday alongside senior managers from fellow charity Save the Children.

Save the Children is facing its own problems after claims this weekend that one staff member drunkenly harassed a female colleague in 2015, holding her by the throat.

Brendan Cox, the widower of murdered British MP Jo Cox, resigned shortly afterwards. In a statement, he admitted making errors while working at the charity, saying: "I made mistakes and behaved in a way that caused some women hurt and offence".Pennsylvanias Supreme Court on Monday issued a new congressional map to replace the states current one, which the court said is so partisan it violates the states Constitution.

The Supreme Court drew the map after Republican lawmakers and Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (D) failed to come up with an agreement by the Feb. 15 deadline.

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In an opinion earlier in February, the state Supreme Court wrote that Pennsylvanias congressional districts need, at minimum, to be compact and contiguous, to contain roughly the same number of people, and to not split counties and other communities unnecessarily. A map was unconstitutional, the court said, when it prioritized partisan advantage over those criteria.

In a Monday order, the court wrote that its new map splits just 13 counties. (The earlier plan, devised in 2011, split 28.) Nine of these counties are split among two congressional districts, while the other four counties are split among three. The court wrote that its plan draws heavily from proposals submitted by Republican lawmakers, Democrats, the plaintiffs and others, but said this maps compactness is superior or comparable.

(Photo: Supreme Court of Pennsylvania)

Republicans controlled the redistricting process in the state in 2011 and drew a map that gave their party a considerable advantage. In 2012, 2014 and 2016, they won 13 of the states 18 congressional seats, even though the party only won about 50 percent of the popular vote. GOP voter registration also lags behind Democrats significantly in the state. In a 5-2 decision last month, the state Supreme Court said the map clearly, plainly and palpably violated the states Constitution.

Democrats have been closely watching the redistricting battle, because it could offer a chance for the party to pick up a handful of seats in Congress. The Brennan Center for Justice estimated that the old map had accounted for an additional three to four GOP seats in Congress.

Preliminary analyses of the new map showed congressional races in the state being much more competitive for Democrats.

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Republicans have already signaled they will likely file a federal lawsuit challenging the state Supreme Courts map. They argue that only lawmakers and the governor can draw congressional lines, not courts. The lawmakers made a similar argument in a request to the U.S. Supreme Court, but the argument was rejected by Justice Samuel Alito.

Senate President Pro Tempore Joseph Scarnati (R) and House Speaker Michael Turzai (R) criticized the courts map in a joint statement Monday and said implementing the plan would put the state into a constitutional crisis.

Implementation of this map would create a constitutional crisis where the Pennsylvania Supreme Court is usurping the authority of the Legislative and Executive branches. We anticipate further action in federal court, the statement said. This entire exercise, while cloaked in litigation, is and has been nothing more than the ultimate partisan gerrymander  one brought about by the Democrat Governor acting in concert with liberal politically-connected litigants.

Wolf praised the courts decision in a statement Monday and said he would work with election officials to make sure contests run smoothly.

Over the last month, I have personally heard from thousands of Pennsylvanians and they are sick and tired of gerrymandering, which perpetuates gridlock, alienates citizens and stifles reform, Wolf said. I have stood for fairness and rejected a proposed map that was universally seen as another partisan gerrymander. I applaud the court for their decision and I respect their effort to remedy Pennsylvanias unfair and unequal congressional elections.

Mimi McKenzie, legal director at the Public Interest Law Center, which helped represent the 18 Democratic voters who filed the suit, said voters in other states should be encouraged to bring similar suits.

This case was always about the right to have your vote count. The Courts order and remedial plan has restored Pennsylvania voters right to choose their congressional representatives in free and equal elections in 2018. We hope this remedial plan will inspire other states to protect their own voters from partisan gerrymandering, McKenzie said in a statement.

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.The gassy passenger reportedly refused to stop farting (CEN)

A pilot was forced to make an emergency landing after a fight broke out due to a plane passengers chronic flatulence.

The passenger, reportedly obese and reluctant to stop breaking wind, caused a massive punch-up while travelling from Dubai to Amsterdam Schiphol airport with Transavia Airlines.

Understandably, the two Dutchman sitting next to the gassy passenger requested the crew on flight HV6902 do something.

There was little the cabin crew could do, so when the passenger persisted with loud and smelly flatulence, a fight broke out.

The ruckus forced the pilot of the Dutch low-cost airline to make an emergency landing at Vienna airport in Austria.

Police boarded the plane and removed four passengers.

A police spokesman confirmed that the row was started by a passenger suffering from wind who was making little effort to restrain himself and that this offended the two young Dutchmen.

MOST POPULAR TODAY ON YAHOO UK

As well as the two Dutchmen, police also escorted two young women off the plane. The women were sisters, identified only as Nora L., 25, due to local privacy laws and her unnamed sister, are both from Rotterdam.

The young women claimed the treatment they received was unfair and they had little to do with the incident  both the farting and subsequent fight.

Nora said: It was crazy that we were included, we had no idea who these boys were, we just had the bad luck to be in the same row and we didnt do anything. All I will say is that the crew were really provocative and stirred things up.

A spokesman for the airline told local media that the four people have now received a ban from any further travels, and in order to complete their journey they needed to find another airline to take them to Amsterdam.

They were not arrested because they had not broken Austrian law.By Katanga Johnson and Zachary Fagenson PARKLAND, Fla. (Reuters) - A teenager accused of shooting to death 17 people at a Florida high school was investigated by police and state officials as far back as 2016 after slashing his arm in a social media video, and saying he wanted to buy a gun, but authorities determined he was receiving sufficient support, a newspaper said on Saturday. Nikolas Cruz, 19, is charged with committing multiple murders on Wednesday at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, a Miami suburb. More than a dozen people also were wounded in the deadliest shooting at a U.S. high school. More vigils and funerals were scheduled for this weekend in and around Parkland. Two gun shows and a rally calling for the firearm safety legislation also were due to be held nearby. According to a report by the South Florida Sun Sentinel, a video of Cruz cutting his arm posted to the social media network Snapchat in September 2016 raised concerns among law enforcement and at the Florida Department of Children and Family Services. "Mr. Cruz stated he plans to go out and buy a gun. It is unknown what he is buying the gun for," said a report written by department officials after investigators interviewed the teenager, according to the South Florida Sun Sentinel. The newspaper reported that the investigators ultimately decided that Cruz, then 18, was receiving enough support from mental health professionals and from his school, and that any risk in his case was low. Representatives for the Department of Children and Family Services did not respond to requests from comment. On Friday, the Federal Bureau of Investigation admitted it failed to investigate a warning this year that Cruz possessed a gun and the desire to kill. A person described as close to Cruz called an FBI tip line on Jan. 5 to report concerns about him, according to the FBI. That information was not forwarded to the FBI's Miami office, in what agency officials called a breakdown in protocol. The disclosure spread angry disbelief among Parkland residents and prompted Florida's Republican Governor Rick Scott to call for FBI Director Christopher Wray to resign. "We have spoken with victims and families and deeply regret the additional pain this causes all those affected by this horrific tragedy," Wray said in a statement on Friday. FBI PROCEDURE UNDER REVIEW U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has ordered a review of FBI procedures following the shooting, in which 14 students and three school staff members died. The latest U.S. mass shooting has raised concerns about potential lapses in school security and stirred the continuing U.S. debate pitting proponents of tougher restrictions on firearms against advocates for gun rights, which are protected by the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment. U.S. President Donald Trump and some other political leaders have said mental illness prompted the massacre. Cruz had been expelled from the high school for undisclosed disciplinary reasons and former classmates described him as an outcast and troublemaker with a fascination for weaponry. According to CNN, Cruz posted disparaging comments about Jews, African Americans and gays in a private chat group on the social media network Instagram. "I think I am going to kill people," Cruz wrote in the group, according to CNN, which also quoted an unnamed law enforcement source as saying the suspect bought at least five guns in the past year. Cruz's attorneys at the Broward County Public Defender's Office could not immediately be reached for comment. Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel has said that his office had received about 20 "calls for service" in the past few years regarding Cruz and would scrutinize all of them to see if they were handled properly. Speaking on Saturday at an event in Dallas, Texas, Vice President Mike Pence said Trump was making the safety of the nation's schools the administration's top priority. "We will get to the bottom of what happened," Pence said, adding that the administration would take "a renewed look at giving law enforcement and local authorities the tools they need to deal with individuals struggling with dangerous mental illness." In Coral Springs, a suburb that neighbors Parkland, Life Fellowship Church Pastor Harold Altamirano and about three dozen worshipers gathered on Saturday to walk around the community and pray for healing. "We just want to tell Parkland that you are not alone. We are hurting with you," Altamirano said. "Let's not allow fear to win. Love has to have the last say." (Additional reporting by Bernie Woodall in Parkland and Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee; Writing by Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Alison Williams and Bill Trott)By Angus McDowall and Tuvan Gumrukcu BEIRUT/ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey warned on Monday it would confront Syrian government forces if they entered Syria's northwestern Afrin region to help the Kurdish YPG militia repel a Turkish offensive. Turkey began its Afrin operation with allied Syrian rebels last month against the YPG, which Ankara sees as a threat along its border with links to the Kurdish PKK insurgency at home. Ankara's onslaught has further scrambled the matrix of rivalries and alliances in northern Syria among Kurdish forces, the Syrian government, insurgent factions, Turkey, Iran, the United States and Russia. Monday's comments by Turkey's president and two of his ministers came after a senior Kurdish official said on Sunday that a deal had been struck for the Syrian army to go into Afrin soon to help fight the assault. But YPG spokesman Nouri Mahmoud denied on Monday reaching such an agreement with the Damascus government. Syrian state media said in the morning that pro-government militia would enter Afrin "within hours" but by sunset there were no signs of a deployment there. Turkey also said the report that Syrian troops were entering the region was "not true". "If (the Syrian army) comes in to defend the YPG, then nothing and nobody can stop Turkish soldiers," Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in Jordan. Turkey would have no issue with Syrian troops entering Afrin if they did so to "cleanse" it of the Kurdish fighters, he added. President Tayyip Erdogan later said in a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin that Damascus would face consequences if it struck a deal with the YPG and said the Afrin operation would continue, CNN Turk reported. There was no immediate comment from the Syrian military or from Moscow. Erdogan also spoke to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani about developments in Syria's Idlib and Afrin, a Turkish source said. Badran Jia Kurd, an adviser to the Kurdish-led autonomous administration in north Syria, said on Sunday there was a military understanding between Damascus and Kurdish forces for the Syrian army to enter Afrin. But he added that it faced opposition which could derail it. Another Syrian Kurdish political official said on Monday that pressure from Russia, the key ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, had prevented the deal from going ahead so far. YPG spokesman Nouri Mahmoud said there was only "a call from us for the Syrian army to come in and protect the borders. "This is its duty," he said. "So far, the Syrian army has not fulfilled its duty towards Afrin." Deals between the Syrian government and the Kurdish forces, which each hold more territory than any other side in Syria, could prove pivotal for the future course of the war. COMPLEX RELATIONSHIPS Since the onset of Syria's conflict in 2011, the YPG and its allies have set up three autonomous cantons in the north, including Afrin bordering Turkey. Their sphere of influence expanded as they seized territory from Islamic State militants with U.S. help, though Washington opposes their political ambitions as does the Syrian government. While Assad's government and the YPG espouse different visions for Syria's future and their forces have clashed at times, they have mostly avoided direct conflict. Jia Kurd told Reuters on Sunday that Syrian army troops would deploy along some border positions under the deal between the Kurdish fighters and Damascus. He said the deal was only on military aspects and any political or other agreements would have to wait for further talks. "Popular forces will arrive in Afrin in the next few hours to support the steadfastness of its people in confronting the aggression," Syrian state news agency SANA said earlier. Ankara regards the YPG as indistinguishable from the PKK, though the groups say they are independent from each other. Turkey, the United States, and Europe classify the PKK, a leftist Kurdish movement that has mounted a three-decade insurgency inside Turkey, as a terrorist organization. The Afrin offensive has strained the complex ties between the warring sides in northern Syria and their external supporters. Turkey's NATO ally the United States has armed the YPG as part of an alliance it backs in Syria against Islamic State, which has infuriated Ankara. But while Washington has a military presence in the much larger swathes of Syria that the YPG and its allies control further east, it has not given support to the YPG in Afrin. This month, the United States said it had killed hundreds of pro-government troops in strikes in eastern Syria because they were attacking the militia alliance that the YPG spearheads. (Reporting by Lisa Barrington and Ellen Francis in Beirut, Rodi Said in northern Syria, Suleiman al-Khalidi in Amman, Tuvan Gumrukcu, Ece Toksabay and Tulay Karadeniz in Ankara; writing by Angus McDowall; editing by Mark Heinrich)Damascus (AFP) - Pro-government fighters were expected Monday to enter Syria's Afrin after talks with Kurdish forces, in a move that could pave the way for a settlement in a month-old Turkish assault on the northern enclave.

"Popular forces will arrive in Afrin within a few hours to support its people's stand against the Turkish regime's attack on the area and its people," state news agency SANA said, citing its correspondent in Aleppo.

SANA said the forces would "join the resistance against the Turkish aggression".

"This comes in the framework of supporting residents and defending the territorial unity and sovereignty of Syria," the agency added.

Even hours after the announcement, AFP correspondents on the outskirts of Afrin did not see any military forces arriving, although state media was present.

The Syrian region of Afrin, which borders Turkey, is held by the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) and has faced a month-old assault by Ankara and allied Syrian rebels.

Turkey sees the YPG's presence on its southern border as a direct threat, and observers have noted it would be more comfortable with a regime force deployed there.

The Afrin operation, dubbed "Olive Branch," has seen Ankara deploy ground troops and pound the region with air strikes and artillery fire, including on Monday.

YPG spokesman Birusk Hasakeh could not immediately confirm the deployment of regime-affiliated forces on Monday.

Syrian government forces withdrew from Kurdish-majority areas across the country's north in 2012, paving the way for Kurdish authorities to implement de facto self-rule.

But negotiations have been ongoing for a potential return of government-affiliated forces to the enclave, officials have said.

Heve Mustafa, the co-chair of Afrin's executive council, told AFP on Sunday that talks on the subject were ongoing.

"These talks are happening on the military level," she said.

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- 'No problem' with forces -

Last week, YPG chief Sipan Hamo told journalists his forces would have "no problem" with Damascus intervening to help repel Turkey's assault.

"We don't have a problem with the entry of the Syrian army to defend Afrin and its border in the face of the Turkish occupation," Hamo said.

But Kurdish officials have remained vague on what kind of regime deployment they would accept in Afrin.

Mustafa's co-chair in Afrin, Othman Al-Sheikh Issa, told AFP last month that Damascus should intervene to stop Turkish warplanes flying overhead.

State media did not elaborate on the make-up of the "popular forces" due to enter Afrin on Monday and made no mention of regular army troops being deployed.

Damascus has denounced Ankara's "aggression" but until Monday had not explicitly said it would intervene.

Turkey and allied rebels launched the offensive on January 20 in a bid to clear the YPG from territory along the border.

The assault has brought to the surface the complex and competing interests of world powers embroiled in Syria's seven-year conflict.

Turkey has backed Syrian rebels to fight government troops, jihadists, and the YPG.

Ankara sees the YPG as a "terror" group and the Syrian arm of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has fought a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state.

The United States -- Turkey's NATO ally -- has allied with the YPG elsewhere in Syria, providing it with arms and other support to fight the Islamic State jihadist group.

Regime ally Russia had also directly supported the YPG in Afrin, training Kurdish forces there before withdrawing as Turkey announced its assault last month.

On Monday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin discussed the Afrin offensive in a phone call, the Kremlin said, without giving details.

The contact came as Turkey said it would rather see regime troops in Afrin than the YPG.

"If the regime is entering (Afrin) to oust the PKK, YPG, there is no problem. But if they are entering to protect the YPG, then no one can stop us and Turkish soldiers," Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said.

Cavusoglu said the aim of the operation was "clear" and aimed at "removing terrorists" from its border.Robert Mueller has revealed audacious meddling in the 2016 election. Can he link it to Trump?

Yevgeny Prigozhin, left, one of 13 Russians named in Muellers indictment, serves dinner to Vladimir Putin. Photograph: Reuters

The plot against America began in 2014. Thousands of miles away, in a drab office building in St Petersburg, Russia, a fake newsroom was under construction with its own graphics, data analysis, search engine optimisation, IT and finance departments. Its mission: information warfare against the United States of America.

What followed, according to an indictment brought by the US special counsel, Robert Mueller, on Friday, was a stunningly successful attack on the most powerful democracy in the world. It involved stolen identities, fake social media accounts, rallies organised from afar, US citizens duped into doing Moscows bidding, and two Russians going undercover in a ruse reminiscent of The Americans, a TV drama about KGB spies in suburban Washington during the cold war.

Mueller also delivered an indictment, figuratively if not literally, of tech giants Facebook and Twitter for handing Russia a weapon to turn against the American people  one that Barack Obamas administration was impotent to deflect.

In his first criminal charges related to election meddling, Mueller accused 13 Russians and three Russian companies of an elaborate effort to disrupt the 2016 presidential poll with a covert trolling campaign, aimed in part at helping Donald Trump defeat Hillary Clinton. After more than a year of statements by the intelligence community, congressional hearings and media reports, this hardly came as a surprise; but the extent of Moscows audacity and reach did.

Far from being all about Trump, it was clear that allegations of collusion form just one component of an ongoing, multi-layered investigation. Mueller was appointed special counsel in May last year, following Trumps dismissal of the FBI director James Comey. He has been assailed by Trump, some Republicans and conservative media seeking to delegitimise him. But still he quietly, meticulously and relentlessly zeroes in from his leak-proof office.

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Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally in South Carolina in 2016. Photograph: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images

The indictment is an indication of the scale of Russias interference but also an indication of the scale of Muellers investigation, said Mark Simakovsky at the Atlantic Council thinktank, a former Russia specialist at the Pentagon. From the beginning, Mueller had a broad mandate. It shouldnt come as any surprise that the investigation has targeted Russians who have been on the ground interfering in the election.

If, in the tradition of TV detectives, Mueller has a corkboard on which he pins photos of suspects, then on one side of the board he now has the faces of 13 Russians. On the other he has four men already charged: the former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, his deputy Rick Gates, former national security adviser Michael Flynn and former foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos. What is unknown is whether he will be able to draw a direct line between the two groups.

The unprecedented Russian offensive began in 2014 with an aim to sow discord and evolved, for still unknown reasons, into a concerted attempt to help Trump. Some of it relied on old-fashioned boots on the ground. Two operatives, Aleksandra Krylova and Anna Bogacheva, allegedly travelled as tourists through at least nine states over about two weeks in June 2014 to collect intelligence for their operations. They prepared evacuation scenarios in case their cover was blown.

This was combined with exploiting vulnerabilities in the anonymous, borderless world of social media, where agents of chaos thrive. Silicon Valleys utopian fantasies were shattered by the Internet Research Agency, a troll farm based in nondescript offices at 55 Savushkina Street in St Petersburg. Allegedly operating through Russian shell companies, the agency employed hundreds of people, ranging from creators of fictitious personae to technical and administrative support, with an annual budget of millions of dollars, the indictment says.

Its specialists were divided into day shifts and night shifts to fit with the appropriate US time zones. The agency also circulated lists of US holidays so that specialists could be active accordingly. They were directed to create political intensity through supporting radical groups, users dissatisfied with [the] social and economic situation and oppositional social movements.

Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama on the presidential campaign trail in 2016. Photograph: Alex Wong/Getty Images

Russians posed as politically and socially active Americans, advocating for and against particular candidates, according to Mueller. They created social media pages and groups, and bought political adverts such as JOIN our #HillaryClintonForPrison2016 and Donald wants to defeat terrorism ... Hillary wants to sponsor it. They relied on identity theft, using the social security numbers, home addresses and birth dates of Americans without their knowledge. They set up fake bank accounts linked to PayPal accounts.

They engaged in operations primarily intended to communicate derogatory information about Hillary Clinton, to denigrate other candidates such as Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, and to support [Democratic candidate] Bernie Sanders and then-candidate Donald Trump, the indictment states. According to one internal communication, the specialists were told to use any opportunity to criticise Hillary and the rest (except Sanders and Trump  we support them).

In June 2016, just weeks after Trump officially clinched the Republican nomination, the Russians began to organise and coordinate pro-Trump rallies, recruiting and paying unwitting Americans. At a time when Trump supporters were chanting Lock her up!, one was asked to wear a costume portraying Clinton in a prison uniform at a rally in Florida, while another was asked to build a cage on a flatbed truck.

On 5 June, someone posing as an American activist used the Twitter account @March_for_Trump to contact an unnamed Trump campaign volunteer in New York. The volunteer agreed to provide signs for the March for Trump rally, the indictment alleges. That contact came four days before Trumps son, Donald Jr, and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, met a group of representatives for Russian interests at Trump Tower. That meeting is not cited in the indictment; it remains to be seen if Mueller will make a connection.

The accounts @March_for_Trump and @TEN_GOP  which falsely appeared to represent the Republican party in Tennessee  generated thousands of tweets. A selection made available by NBC News includes: This is sickening. Hillary using the Mentally Ill to incite violence at Trump rallies. #FreeJulian #BirdDogging, BREAKING Hillary caught using a child actor at her townhall in Haverford, PA Please, RT to expose this fraud!, DISGUSTING Watch: Hillary laughing when Trump said gays get thrown off buildings in Muslim counties [sic]  and Watch: Barack Obama admits he was born in Kenya.. #birtherism.

On or about 22 September, Russians created and bought Facebook ads for a series of Miners for Trump rallies in Pennsylvania  which turned out to be a crucial swing state that Trump won by 68,236 votes. The operation also targeted minority communities to exploit divisive issues such as immigration, religion and the Black Lives Matter movement, with a view to suppressing Democratic votes.

Twelve of the individuals indicted worked at various times for the Internet Research Agency. The other defendant, Yevgeny Viktorovich Prigozhin, allegedly funded the conspiracy. Prigozhin is a St Petersburg businessman dubbed Putins chef because his restaurants have hosted the Kremlin leader and foreign dignitaries. The 13 Russians are not in custody and not likely ever to face trial.

The indictment does not allege that any American knowingly participated in Russian meddling, or that Trump campaign associates had more than unwitting contact with some who posed as Americans. Trump quickly claimed vindication, noting in a tweet that the interference efforts began in 2014 long before I announced that I would run for president. He added: The results of the election were not impacted. The Trump campaign did nothing wrong  no collusion!

But its far from over. Although the Russian interference predated Trumps candidacy, there is still the possibility that his campaign decided to ride that wave and capitalise on a coincidence of interests. The president has shown a mysterious reluctance to criticise the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, or acknowledge that Moscow might have played any part in putting him in the White House. Even on Friday, he said little to acknowledge the scale of the assault or offer anything by way of American countermeasures.

Matthew Miller, a former justice department spokesman under Obama, said: Hes acting more like a defendant than the chief executive of a country that was attacked. It continues to be all about him.

Few would bet against more tremors to come. The indictment does not mention the hacking of Democratic emails, which then turned up on WikiLeaks. It does not mention the infamous Trump Tower meeting in June 2016. It does not mention the four Trump associates who are facing charges that range from money laundering to lying to the FBI about conversations with Russias ambassador. America, and the world, is waiting for Mueller to join the dots.

Simakovsky pondered: Why did this get released before the president decides whether to take an interview with special counsel? All this is timed to build more public and private pressure on those who are being investigated. I believe there should be no comfort in the Trump administration that this somehow absolves them from inquiry.A Russian military engineer clears mines in Palmyra. Moscow has come to rely on private contractors for combat - TASS

It was one of Isils biggest cash cows, a strategic prize crucial to the Kremlin and Bashar Assads plans to re-establish his rule over Syria.

But the assault on Conoco oilfield near Deir Ezzor earlier this month ended in disaster, sparking the first deadly combat between Americans and Russians since the Vietnam War and embarrassing Vladimir Putin just weeks before an election.

It also cast an unwelcome light on one of the worst kept secrets of Russias war in Syria - its increasing reliance on unacknowledged and illegal mercenaries.

These were shock troops, and they would take any position, fulfil any task, said Alexander Averin, a veteran of the pro-Russian militias in east Ukraine and friend of one of the Russians who was killed.

Mr Averin said Kirill Ananyev, 33, was a fellow member of the radical national Bolshevik political party Other Russia and had also fought in eastern Ukraine.

He said that Ananyev, whom he had known since 2001, had been working for a private military company when he was killed. He would not name the company, but other casualties have been linked to the secretive Wagner group.

Kirill Ananyev, a Russian private military contractor in Syria who was killed in US airstrikes on 7 FebruaryCredit: Twitter

Russian media have published the names of nine Russian fighters who were killed in the assault on February 7, and the foreign ministry finally admitted on Thursday that five Russian citizens had died.

Some media reports have put the number of Russian casualties in the hundreds, however, and relatives and a former member of parliament have called for answers.

I want everyone to know about my husband, and not just about my husband, but about all the guys who died there so stupidly, Yelena Matveyeva, whose husband Stanislav was killed, told the regional news site Znak.com. They sent them like pigs to the slaughter!

The debacle unfolded on the evening of 7 February, when hundreds of mysterious fighters began charging toward a Syrian Democratic Forces position near the oilfield under cover of artillery, tank and rocket fire, according to the US military.

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In response, US special forces embedded with the mostly Kurdish SDF called in artillery fire and strikes from fighter jets and B-52 bombers that effectively destroyed the battalion sized force they were facing.

Mr Averin told the Telegraph that 500 Russians were in Deir Ezzor at the time, and that many of them were now dead and wounded.

After Stanislav Matveyev, who was believed to work for the Wagner group, was killed, his wife spoke out against the Kremlin denials of Russian casualtiesCredit: Twitter

It is not entirely clear whether the Russian high command authorised the attack, and some believe that Wagner mercenaries were working for local pro-Assad businessman to take the lucrative site.

According to a Syrian government contract seen by Fontanka and AP, a Russian company linked to the Wagner group was to receive 25 percent of profits from oil and gas fields its contractors could capture.

Others have suggested the Kremlin allowed the preventable defeat, which also saw Syrian troops killed, to happen as a warning to an increasingly independent Mr Assad as well as Iran, his other major backer.

You need to be in line with our policies in Syria or you'll get bombed, was Moscow's message to them, said Yury Barmin of the Russian International Affairs Council, a think-tank close to the Kremlin.

A US drone destroys a pro-regime tank near Deir Ezzor days after the airstrikes that killed numerous RussiansCredit: CNN

Ostensibly designed to support a long-time ally and defeat the Islamic State, Mr Putin's bombing campaign in Syria was supposed to be a television war, providing footage of impressive Russian airstrikes without any body bags to ruin the mood.

To assuage fears of a repeat of the disastrous Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Mr Putin said it would be solely an air operation lasting no longer than Mr Assad's counter-offensive

But Syrian forces reportedly proved ineffective even with the help of Russian advisors and special forces. Kremlin-linked contractors allowed Moscow to run a covert land operation while denying it had boots on the ground.

The big battles, the intense battles with casualties, that's all Russian mercenaries, said Ruslan Leviev of the Conflict Intelligence Team, a research group who track Russian military activity abroad.

A Russian Tupolev Tu-22M3 bombs targets in the Deir Ezzor region in NovemberCredit: TASS via Getty Images

Some 3,000 Russians have fought for the Wagner group, the biggest of the private military companies, in Syria since 2015, according to documents seen by the independent news outlet Fontanka.

It said 73 of them had died before 7 February, exceeding the 46 official Russian military casualties.

The US airstrikes against the Russian contractors have raised an alarming risk of direct great-power confrontation in Syria as external players vie to consolidate their interests following the defeat of Islamic State.

Within the last two weeks, al-Qaeda-affiliated rebels shot down a Russian jet, Kurdish fighters have downed a Turkish helicopter, Israel downed an Iranian drone and the Syrian army shot down an Israeli F-16.

Now that the fighting with ISIS is more or less over, every global player in the war is attempting to draw its own sphere of influence in Syria, Sami Nadir, of the Levant Institute for Strategic Affairs, told the Telegraph. They used to fight each other through their proxies, now theyre just going head-to-head.

Benjamin Netanyahu holds up what he said was a piece of an Iranian drone shot down in Israeli airspace at the Munich Security Conference on SundayCredit: AFP PHOTO / MSC Munich Security Conference / LENNART PREISS

America wants to limit Iran and keep the Kurds - its greatest ally against Isil - on side, while not agitating its Nato ally Turkey. Russia has been trying to keep a balance between its allies Turkey, Israel and Iran, to little avail.

The new phase in the Syrian conflict makes the anti-ISIS war look like a stroll in the park, said Bilal Saab, an expert at the Washington-based Middle East Institute. This has the potential to turn into a regional war.

Yet news of the contractors' deaths has remained largely unknown in Russia under a state television blackout: The website of the main state news programme published a report, only to delete it the same day.

A Syrian pro-regime fighter wounded in the 7 February battle in Deir EzzorCredit: AFP Photo/Getty Images

It's like the story with the Pskov paratroopers who died in Ukraine, said Lev Gudkov, head of the independent Levada survey centre. The information was blocked for a long time, then denied, and it spread only in close-knit circles, it didn't become a fact of public opinion, and I fear it will be the same picture here.

Nonetheless, Mr Putin, whose withdrawal announcement was welcomed by most Russians, finds himself in a bind: The Syria peace talks he sponsored in Sochi last month devolved into infighting and the conflict is edging toward what Mr Nadir called a full-blown international crisis.

The era of cooperation is over, he said. Its a Cold War scenario.

Related:The Daily Beast

YouTubeA young woman who mysteriously vanished while road tripping across the U.S. with her fiance got into a physical altercation with him two weeks before he returned to Florida without her, according to a police report obtained by The Daily Beast. And while the couples online postings made the journey appear perfectly idyllic, the strain of having been together nonstop for months on end had in fact escalated tensions between the two, the document provided by the Moab City, Utah, Police DeparVirgin Hyperloop One, the futuristic transport startup backed by British tycoon Richard Branson, has announced plans for a superfast rail network linking India's financial capital Mumbai to the city of Pune.

The proposed hyperloop -- which aims to deliver transport at near-supersonic speeds in sealed tubes -- would reduce travel time between the Indian cities from 3 hours to around 25 minutes, the company said.

Branson said Sunday the company had signed a preliminary agreement with the Maharashtra state government to build the first phase of a hyperloop network that could eventually criss-cross India.

"I believe Virgin Hyperloop One could have the same impact upon India in the 21st century as trains did in the 20th century," Branson said in a statement.

The proposed route would connect Mumbai's secondary airport in Navi Mumbai with Pune city, located 150 kilometres away.

Branson, whose Virgin Group entered a partnership with California startup Hyperloop One in October, said a demonstration track would be built within two to three years of the final agreement.

The super-high-speed transport project would take a further five to seven years to complete before being ready to ferry 150 million passengers annually, the company said.

The technology, theorized by entrepreneur Elon Musk for rail transport at near-supersonic speeds, could transform Indian cities like Mumbai and Pune plagued by creaking infrastructure.

Experts say the proposed hyperloop system, though aspirational, could upon completion ease the load on overburdened road and rail networks in India.

Virgin Hyperloop One is working to develop a pod system that can travel at up to 750 miles per hour with better safety than passenger jets, and lower build and maintenance costs than high-speed trains.Reuters

Australia's new security pact with the United States and the UK, seen as a move to contain China, may worsen strained ties with its biggest export customer, but China's insatiable appetite for resources may limit its punitive responses, say analysts. The security pact with the Western powers, including access to U.S. nuclear submarine technology, will be seen by Beijing, which is embroiled in a long-running trade spat with Canberra, as a threat, said Michael Sullivan, International Relations Lecturer at Flinders University. "China will view the decision to expand defence cooperation with the US and UK and, in the future, base US strategic strike capabilities in Australia as confirmation that we are a growing military threat to its interests, such as the Belt and Road Initiative," said Sullivan.By Andrea Shalal

MUNICH (Reuters) - Moscow's efforts to meddle in Western elections are backfiring, serving instead to strengthen and unify a broad range of people against Russia, top U.S. security official H.R. McMaster said on Saturday, a day after Washington indicted 13 Russian individuals and three Russian companies.

Russian officials denied the allegations, and one senior diplomat dismissed the charges as "fantasies" being used by some in Washington for political gain in a deeply divided United States after the election of Donald Trump as president.

Officials from both countries sparred openly about everything from espionage to nuclear weapons at various events at the annual Munich Security Conference, attended by some 500 high-level diplomats, executives and politicians.

McMaster, the U.S. National Security Adviser, told the conference the surprise FBI indictments provided "incontrovertible" evidence of Russia's actions.

The indictments and the continuing U.S. investigation could potentially convince Moscow to back off, he said, noting that U.S. officials were also becoming more adept at "tracing the origins of this espionage and subversion".

"Russia may evaluate what it's been doing ... because it's just not working," he said.

The U.S. indictments on Friday said a Russian propaganda arm oversaw a criminal and espionage conspiracy to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign to support Donald Trump and disparage his rival, Hillary Clinton.

It said Russians adopted false online personas to push divisive messages; traveled to the United States to collect intelligence, visiting 10 states; and staged political rallies while posing as Americans to "sow discord in the U.S. political system, including the 2016 U.S. presidential election".

ALLEGATIONS "ABSURD"

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova denounced the allegations as "absurd" and ridiculed the notion that so few Russian nationals could undermine U.S. democracy.

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Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also pushed back, saying he viewed the allegations as "just blather".

In a subsequent panel at the conference, Sergei Kislyak, who served as Russian ambassador to Washington at the time of the alleged election meddling, denied that he or his staff had carried out any such activities during his time there.

"When it comes to my being ambassador in the United States, we never got involved in the political life in the United States. I have never done anything of this sort, none in my embassy did," he said.

"Whatever allegations are being mounted against us are simply fantasies that are being used for political reasons inside the United States," he said.

Kislyak, whose contacts with members of Donald Trump's campaign team made him a central figure in the row about any Russian influence over the U.S. presidential election, left Washington in August.

McMaster said Russia was trying to polarize Western societies by backing "the most extreme forms of fascist groups" and left-wing groups, but the result had been to strengthen and unite people in the political middle against Russia.

He noted that the deeply partisan and divided U.S. Senate had voted 98 to two to renew sanctions against Russia, calling the vote clear evidence that Moscow's campaign was not working.

Senior officials from the two countries also traded barbs over a new U.S. nuclear arms policy that will expand the Americans' low-yield nuclear capability.

"The American administration seems to be taking a very relaxed position as to the conditions of the use and the first use of nuclear weapons," said Kislyak.

"They are looking at nuclear weapons more like a war fighting instrument, rather than a classical deterrent."

John Sullivan, Deputy U.S. Secretary of State, said: "Our nuclear posture review is based on a factual assessment of the changed security circumstances ... We want to deter nuclear war. We don't want to engage in nuclear war."

Despite the heated exchange, the two men shook hands warmly at the end of the panel discussion.

(Additional reporting by Paul Carrel in Berlin and Joern Poltz; Editing by Andrew Bolton)Singapore (AFP) - Singapore said Monday it would impose a carbon tax from next year to cut its greenhouse gas emissions and make companies more competitive as global agreements on climate change take effect.

Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat said the tax would be levied on all facilities producing 25,000 tonnes or more of greenhouse gas emissions a year.

The tax, to be applied to all sectors, will be Sg$5.0 ($3.8) per tonne of greenhouse gas emissions from 2019 to 2023, after which the levy will be reviewed and possibly raised to between Sg$10 and Sg$15 per tonne by 2030.

"Singapore produces less carbon emissions per dollar of GDP than most countries," he said, as he unveiled the measure as part of the city-state's 2018 budget.

"We intend to further reduce our emissions intensity to make a bigger effort to combat climate change."

Major economies have been scrambling to cut greenhouse gas emissions amid warnings from scientists about the potentially devastating impacts of climate change.

The most notable step has been the 197-nation Paris Agreement, inked in 2015, which calls for limiting global warming to "well under" 2 degrees Celsius, and "pursuing efforts" to cap warming at 1.5 degrees C.

The levy will affect about 30-40 companies, mainly from the petroleum refining, chemicals and semiconductor sectors, the Straits Times reported.

Singapore ranks 26th out of 142 countries in terms of emissions per capita based on the latest International Energy Agency data largely due to its small size and dense population, according to the government.

Heng said the new carbon tax would encourage businesses to take measures to reduce emissions, making them more competitive as tighter limits are imposed by more countries when international deals come into force.

The government would provide support to companies to help them become energy-efficient, he added.

Singapore expects to collect carbon tax revenues of nearly Sg$1.0 billion in the first five years, but the government is willing to spend more than that to help companies, he said.A masked suspect shot a six-year-old boy and three adult family members outside a San Antonio steakhouse Sunday night.

Two of the adults shot in the attack in a parking lot outside the Texas Roadhouse restaurant are in a critical condition, police said.

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The boy, who was shot in the leg, is in a stable condition. The adults are all in their 20s.

The suspect remains at large.

Police said the suspect opened fire about 15 feet from the front of the restaurant at around 8.40 p.m. local time, emptying the magazine of the firearm. CBS affiliate KENS-TV reported that a semi-automatic handgun was used, and one round penetrated the restaurants wall.

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All of the victims were related, police said.

The folks were waiting outside to eat when the shooting occurred, San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said.

"We do not believe that this shooting was random."

According to WEN-TV, investigators believe that a family "violence situation" lies behind the attack.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekBy Denis Dumo JUBA (Reuters) - South Sudanese rebels have released two Kenyan pilots they were holding after receiving compensation for the family of a civilian killed when their plane crashed last month, a rebel spokesman said on Monday. A Kenyan foreign ministry spokesman said in a text message the pilots had arrived in Juba. Their plane came down in Akobo, in the Greater Upper Nile region in early January, and the rebels asked for compensation for the family of a woman who was killed, and for others who lost livestock. Lam Paul Gabriel, deputy spokesman of the rebel SPLA-IO told Reuters that $107,700 had been paid. "I have just confirmed now that pilots have been released by the local leaders of Akobo after they received a full compensation from the Kenya delegates," Lam said. "That is not a ransom. It is just a compensation requested not by the SPLA-IO but by the families of the deceased and the owners of the properties. All we did as SPLM-IO is just to facilitate the exchange and provide security for the pilots." A South Sudan army spokesman declined to comment. Oil-rich South Sudan has been in the throes of civil war since 2013, months after President Salva Kiir fired his then-deputy Riek Machar. The conflict has displaced a third of the population, shut down most of the oil production and strangled the economy. Machar, who fled to Democratic Republic of Congo in 2016 after fierce fighting broke out in Juba, is now being held in South Africa to keep him from fomenting trouble, diplomatic and political sources say. (Reporting by Denis Dumo, additional reporting by George Obulutsa in Nairobi, e; editing by Larry King)Friends and well wishers pay their respects to the 17 people who died in the Florida school shooting at a memorial - REUTERS

Young survivors of last weeks Florida school shooting say they will march on Washington next month to demand action on gun control.

On Sunday they spoke out angrily against President Donald Trump as he tried to blame Democrats for failing to pass legislation when Barack Obama was in power and rebuked the FBI for failing to act on warnings that Nikolas Cruz was a danger.

Cruz faces 17 counts of premeditated murder after being arrested in the wake of the deadly shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, near Fort Lauderdale.

Students said they will make Wednesday's shooting a turning point in Americas gun debate.

Survivors appeared on Sunday morning political talk shows where they announced their March for Our Lives campaign.

David Hogg a senior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School speaks at a rally calling for more gun control in Fort Lauderdale Credit: Reuters

Emma Gonzalez named Mr Trump and Marco Rubio, the Florida senator, demanding they think again about their alliance with the National Rifle Association.

"Now is the time to get on the right side of this, because this is not something that we are going to let sweep under the carpet," she said on NBCs Meet the Press.

The students have promised to become the face of a national movement for stricter gun control. They plan to travel to the state capitol in Tallahassee this week and are organising anti-gun violence demonstrations in Washington and other cities March 24.

Several condemned Mr Trump after he said on Saturday that the FBI may have been too distracted by the Russia investigation to follow up tip-offs that may have prevented the slaughter. He repeated his comments on Sunday despite the outrage.

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"You're supposed to bring this nation together, not divide us," David Hogg, an 18-year-old Douglas senior, told NBC. "How dare you!"

The FBI has admitted it failed to act on a warning that Cruz owned a gun and had threatened to kill.

Couple who looked after Florida shooting suspect

The students' outrage over Mr Trump's comments came a day after hundreds of gun control advocates rallied at the Broward County federal courthouse with students who survived the attack, parents and community leaders to demand a ban on the sale of assault weapons in the state.Syrias pro-government armed forces will help Kurds battle Turkish troops as fighting escalates in Syrias northwestern region, Syrian state media confirmed Monday.

Turkey, a staunch opponent of Syrian President Bashar al-Assads regime, views Kurdish forces across its border in Afrin as an existential threat.

Last month, Turkey launched a major air and ground assault against the Kurds in Afrin. Syrias government has not been involved in the fighting around Afrin since 2012, but reports out of Syria in the past week suggested this was going to change.

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"Popular forces will arrive in Afrin within a few hours to support its people's stand against the Turkish regime's attack on the area and its people," Syrian state news agency Sana announced Monday.

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Syrian government forces helping Kurds battle Turkeys military will only complicate the already tangled web of alliances and animosities in Syrias prolonged and deadly civil war, experts say.

The fighting between Turkey and the Kurds has already succeeded in muddling the relationship between Turkey and the U.S., both of whom are NATO members and ostensibly allies.

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The U.S. supports the Kurdish YPG militia, which has helped fight the Islamic State terrorist group in Syria. But Turkey views the YPG as a terrorist group, and alleges that it is an arm of the Kurdish Workers Party, the PKK, which has fought for an independent Kurdish state within Turkey for decades.

Now, however, it appears that Turkish troops will soon be confronting both Kurds and Syrian allied forces in the northwest.

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The position of the Kurds in Syria helps to demonstrate the complexity of the situation in Syria. The Kurds, for their part, are motivated by Kurdish interests, gaining greater control and autonomy over their lands. But this has the potential to pull in outside actors on opposing sides, including NATO ally the U.S., who is backing the Kurds, and Turkey on opposing sides, Harrison Akins, a security expert at the Howard Baker Center, told Newsweek.

This clash of interests for foreign powers in Syria is not something new to the conflict, but this kind of confrontation makes it much more difficult to resolve the violence.

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Last week, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson traveled to Turkey to help mend the strained relationship with Turkey. Ankara has demanded that Washington cut its ties to the YPG, but it is unclear whether the U.S. is willing to make any major concessions in this regard.

Our two countries share the same objectives in Syria: the defeat of Isis [and] an independent and unified Syria, Tillerson said during a press conference Friday with Turkeys foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.

We take it seriously when our NATO ally Turkey says it has security concerns. As to Afrin, we call upon Turkey to show restraint in its operation to minimize the casualties to civilians and avoid actions that would escalate tensions in that area, Tillerson added.

Assad's involvement in northern Syria will likely make Washington's role in Syria more complicated. But the situation can likely be managed as long as Russia and Iran, both of which have interests in Syria, don't get involved in the fighting.

"With Assad now stepping into the mix, the U.S. will need to tread even more carefully," Chris Meserole, a Middle East expert at the Brookings Institution, told Newsweek.

"[But] since the fighting doesnt concern core Russian or Iranian interests, its less to be spin totally out of control. Thats small comfort to the residents of northeastern Syria, of course, but it should make the fighting easier to manage and contain."

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekHammuriyeh (Syria) (AFP) - Heavy Syrian bombardment killed 44 civilians in rebel-held Eastern Ghouta on Monday, as regime forces appeared to prepare for an imminent ground assault.

The escalation came as pro-government forces were expected to enter the northern Kurdish-controlled enclave of Afrin, to take a stand against a month-old Turkish assault there.

Held by rebels since 2012, Eastern Ghouta is the last opposition pocket around Damascus and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has dispatched reinforcements there in an apparent bid to retake it.

A barrage of air strikes, rocket fire, and artillery slammed into several towns across Eastern Ghouta on Monday, killing 44 civilians and wounding dozens more.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 20 were killed in air strikes on Hammuriyeh and nine others in bombardment on Saqba.

The rest were killed when other areas were pounded. Four children were among the dead.

"The regime is bombing Eastern Ghouta to pave the way for a ground offensive," said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman.

Syrian civilians and children run for cover amid the rubble of buildings following government bombing in the rebel-held town of Hamouria, in the besieged Eastern Ghouta region on the outskirts of the capital Damascus, on February 19, 2018. (Abdulmonam Eassa/AFP/Getty Images)

Residents of Hammuriyeh could be seen rushing inside in a panic as soon as they heard the sound of airplanes.

Alaa al-Din, a 23-year-old Syrian in Hammuriyeh, said civilians were afraid of a potential government offensive.

"Ghouta's fate is unknown. We've got nothing but God's mercy and hiding out in our basements," he told AFP on Monday.

"There's no alternative."

- Wailing children -

Shelling also hit the town of Douma, where an AFP correspondent saw five toddlers brought to a hospital, covered in dust and wailing uncontrollably.

Medics offered them biscuits to calm them down, to no avail.

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Eastern Ghouta is held by two main Islamist factions, but jihadists control small pockets including one directly adjacent to the capital.

A Syrian man carries a child injured in government bombing in the rebel-held town of Hamouria, in the besieged Eastern Ghouta region on the outskirts of the capital Damascus, on February 19, 2018. (Abdulmonam Eassa/AFP/Getty Images)

The Observatory and Syrian daily newspaper Al-Watan had said negotiations were under way for the evacuation of jihadists from Eastern Ghouta.

But escalating military pressure indicate that the regime would opt for a ground assault instead of talks, the monitor said.

Government troops carried out a relentless five-day bombing campaign earlier this month that killed around 250 civilians in the enclave and wounded hundreds.

Around the same time, the monitor said, the regime began dispatching military reinforcements to Eastern Ghouta.

After days of relative calm, the government sent more than 260 rockets sailing onto Eastern Ghouta on Sunday.

Those rockets, as well as artillery fire and air strikes, killed 17 civilians, said the Observatory.

The regime is keen to regain control of Eastern Ghouta to halt the deadly salvo of rockets and mortars that rebels fire on Damascus.

About half a dozen rockets hit the capital Sunday night, AFP correspondents said. State news agency SANA reported that one person was killed.

More than 20 civilians have been killed by rebel fire this month alone in regime-held Damascus.

- Regime to enter Afrin? -

All was quiet in the capital on Monday but since rumours of an imminent assault on Eastern Ghouta started spreading, people living close to the rebel enclave started packing their bags.

Jawad al-Obros, 30, said he was looking to move to a hotel in the western sector of the city to escape his home in an east Damascus neighbourhood that has been regularly hit by rockets from Ghouta.

"We're tired of this situation. It seems that there's no solution but a full-blown military one," he told AFP.

More than 340,000 people have been killed since Syria's conflict erupted in 2011 with protests against Assad's government.

A Syrian child injured in government bombing cries as he receives treatment at make-shift hospital in the rebel-held town of Hamouria, in the besieged Eastern Ghouta region on the outskirts of the capital Damascus, on February 19, 2018. (Abdulmonam Eassa/AFP/Getty Images)

It has since evolved into a war that has carved up the country into rival zones of influence among the regime, rebels, jihadists, and Kurdish forces.

The Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) control the northwestern region of Afrin, target of a month-old assault by the Turkish army and allied Syrian rebels.

Turkey sees the YPG as a "terror" group linked to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), outlawed by Ankara, and wants to clear it from its southern border.

The YPG has controlled Afrin since 2012, when Syrian troops withdrew from it and other Kurdish-majority areas.

Syrian state media said Monday that pro-regime forces were preparing to enter the area to "join the resistance against the Turkish aggression".

Speaking during a visit to Jordan, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu warned against any bid by the Syrian regime to help the YPG.

"If the regime is entering (Afrin) to oust the PKK, YPG, there is no problem. But if they are entering to protect the YPG, then no one can stop us and Turkish soldiers," Cavusoglu said.Teens hold a lie-in at White House calling for gun control Abby Spangler and her daughter Eleanor Spangler Neuchterlein, 16, hold hands as they participate in a lie-in during a protest in favor of gun control reform in front of the White House, Monday, Feb. 19, 2018, in Washington. (Photo: Evan Vucci/AP)

A group of Washington, D.C., teenagers staged a lie-in outside of the White House on Monday to show their support for the victims of last weeks mass shooting at a Florida high school  and to demand action from President Trump on gun control.

We have organized this protest in solidarity with all of those who were affected by the horrific school shooting in Florida, the organization said in a statement posted on its Facebook page. We call on President Trump and leaders from both parties to finally act in the interest of Americas youth and end these tragic mass shootings!

Dozens of teenagers participated in Mondays lie-in. More than 700 people RSVPd for the event on Facebook.

Read the FULL STORY by Dylan Stableford/Yahoo News >>>

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See more news-related photo galleries and follow us on Yahoo News Photo Twitter and Tumblr.A six-year-old boy was among the victims of a shooting outside a restaurant in Texas, it has been reported.

The child was shot in the leg and is expected to survive, but two of three adults injured in the attack suffered life-threatening injuries.

Those in the group were related and police said they did not believe the shooting was random, CBS News reported.

It happened at about 8.40pm on Sunday outside the Texas Roadhouse restaurant in San Antonio, police said.

San Antonio Police Department chief William McManus told reporters: "We do not believe that this shooting was random.

"The folks were waiting outside to eat when the shooting occurred.

"We're looking for a male suspect who ran through the hotel over here.

"The call first came out as an active shooter [but] this was not an active shooter situation."

The adults were all aged in their 20s, he said.

A description of their attacker was not available because "he was covered", Mr McManus added.

A semi-automatic handgun was reportedly used in the shooting.Anthony Borges was shot multiple times while protecting fellow students in the Florida school shooting (Facebook/Broward Sheriffs Office)

Donations have poured in for a teenager who was shot five times while using his own body to protect other students from being killed during the Florida school shooting.

Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student Anthony Borges is recovering in hospital after he was severely injured while heroically saving lives.

The 15-year-old was shot in both legs and saw his left upper thigh bone shattered and one bullet go through his back.

The teenager (left) is recovering from his injuries in hospital (GoFundMe)

The teenager was praised for his heroics by fellow students, who say he protected 20 lives by holding a classroom door shut to prevent suspected shooter Nikolas Cruz from getting inside.

A GoFundMe page set up to raise funds for Anthonys family has currently pulled in over 67,000 in donations.

Page creator Sara Caputo wrote: During this unspeakable tragedy, Anthony was able to save about 20 other students as he attempted to close and lock the door to a classroom.

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He was shot multiple times (both legs were shot, left upper thigh bone shattered and one bullet went through his back).

He has a long road of recovery ahead of him but he is alive and stable.

Fellow student Carlos Rodriguez told Good Morning America that Anthony remained calm as the gravity of what was unfolding set in.

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He said: None of us knew what to do, so he took the initiative to just save his other classmates.

Anthonys father, Royer Borges, described his son as a hero, adding: I only ask that people pray for him.

Cruz, 19, was arrested shortly after the shooting and faces 17 murder charges.The NRA donated more than $30m to Mr Trumps presidential campaign, meaning he received the most gun lobbying funding of any presidential candidate: Getty

Donald Trump reportedly consulted guests staying at his Mar-a-Lago resort about what action he should take on gun control in the wake of the Florida school shooting.

The US President is said to have asked members of the luxury Florida resort whether he should take an active position on gun control after a gunman opened fire at a school in the small city of Parkland, around 45 miles north of Miami. The assailant killed 17 and left more than a dozen injured.

A number of people who reportedly spoke with Mr Trump at the resort during the two days he spent there, told The Washington Post that the president had observed media appearances made by student survivors of the massacre.

Mr Trump was said to have polled guests at the resort over whether she should opt to take a stand on gun control after the deadliest school shooting to take place since Adam Lanza opened fire at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, killing 20 children and six staff members.

Survivors of Florida shooting have urged the world leader to implement gun control measures. Emma Gonzales, who survived the Valentines Day massacre, has been hailed as a leader for delivering an impassioned speech at a gun control rally.

If the president wants to come up to me and tell me to my face that it was a terrible tragedy and how it should never have happened and maintain telling us how nothing is going to be done about it, Ms Gonzalez told the crowd in Fort Lauderdale. Im going to happily ask him how much money he received from the National Rifle Association (NRA).

The NRA donated more than $30m (21.4m) to Mr Trumps presidential campaign, meaning he received the most gun lobby funding of any presidential candidate.

Last April, he told members of the NRA: The eight-year assault on your Second Amendment freedoms has come to a crashing end.

Reports Mr Trump discussed gun control measures with Mar-a-Lago guests preceded the White Houses announcement the president supported efforts to improve the federal background check system for gun purchases.

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Mr Trump spoke to Republican Senator John Cornyn about gun legislation last week. The pair discussed the bipartisan bill Mr Cornyn and Democratic Senator Chris Murphy introduced to improve federal compliance with criminal background checks, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said in a statement.

While discussions are ongoing and revisions are being considered, the President is supportive of efforts to improve the federal background check system, Ms Sanders said.

Mr Trump signed a resolution in February blocking an Obama-era rule that would have stopped an estimated 75,000 people with mental disorders from purchasing guns.

But on Sunday, the White House announced that Mr Trump would host a "listening session" with students to talk about school safety measures.

Mr Trump launched into a Twitter tirade over the weekend attacking the FBI for failing to stop the Florida school shooting suspect and spending too much time trying to link his election campaign to Russia.

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Very sad that the FBI missed all of the many signals sent out by the Florida school shooter, the president tweeted. This is not acceptable. They are spending too much time trying to prove Russian collusion with the Trump campaign  there is no collusion. Get back to the basics and make us all proud!He (Putin) said he absolutely did not meddle in our election. I really believe that when he tells me that, he means it, said the President in November: AP

President Donald Trump has asserted he never said Russia did not meddle in the 2016 election, even though he has repeatedly cast doubt on the Kremlins interference in the race that propelled him into the presidency.

I never said Russia did not meddle in the election, I said it may be Russia, or China or another country or group, or it may be a 400 pound genius sitting in bed and playing with his computer, the President tweeted.

The Russian hoax was that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia  it never did! the President exclaimed, referring to his claim that investigations into alleged ties between Trump campaign advisers and the Kremlin were a hoax constructed by the Democrats to explain away their loss in 2016.

In November, Mr Trump said Russian President Vladimir Putin had assured him on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit that there was no interference by the Kremlin in the election.

I asked him again, Mr Trump told reporters. You can only ask so many times... He said he absolutely did not meddle in our election. He did not do what they are saying he did.

I really believe that when he tells me that, he means it... I think hes very insulted, if you want to know the truth, he added.

Mr Trumps claim he never said Russia did not meddle in the election came amid a Sunday morning Twitter tirade in which he railed against former President Barack Obama, Democrats, CNN and others.

He directed some of his comments at Congressman Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee  one of multiple congressional panels conducting a probe into Russian interference in the election and whether the Trump campaign colluded with the Russian government.

Finally, Liddle Adam Schiff, the leakin monster of no control, is now blaming the Obama Administration for Russian meddling in the 2016 Election, Mr Trump wrote on Twitter.

He is finally right about something. Obama was President, knew of the threat, and did nothing. Thank you Adam!

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The tweet appears to be a reference to Mr Schiffs recent comments to NBC News.

We should have called them out much earlier, Mr Schiff said, referring to Russias cyber campaign during the presidential campaign. While I respect the motive in terms of the Obama administration, they didnt want to be seen as meddling, the American people had a right to know what was going on and could be trusted to do the right thing with it. And they should have defended being more public and aggressive at the time, at least in my view.

Last year, Jeh Johnson, the former secretary of homeland security under Mr Obama, said the Obama White House knew about the Russian election hacking  but it delayed saying anything.

We were concerned that by making the statement we might, in and of itself, be challenging the integrity of the election process itself, Mr Johnson testified to the House Intelligence Committee.

On Friday, a federal grand jury in Washington DC indicted 13 Russian nationals and a Kremlin-linked internet firm on charges that they meddled in the 2016 US presidential election.

The US government said Russian entities began interfering in US political processes as early as 2014, according to a court document. The Internet Research Agency allegedly served as a hub from which the defendants and other co-conspirators used social media to sow discord in the US political system.

If it was the GOAL of Russia to create discord, disruption and chaos within the US then, with all of the Committee Hearings, Investigations and Party hatred, they have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams, Mr Trump said in one of his Sunday tweets. They are laughing their asses off in Moscow. Get smart America!WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort has drawn a new accusation of bank fraud from U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller's office, according to court documents made public on Friday. The new accusation, related to a property Manafort owns in the Washington suburb of Fairfax, Virginia, comes on top of the indictment against Manafort last October for money laundering and failure to register as a foreign agent. In a court filing amid legal wrangling over Manafort's $10 million bail package, prosecutors from Mueller's office said Manafort submitted false information to a bank for a mortgage on one of three properties he is now proposing to pledge as security for his release. "The proposed package is deficient in the government's view, in light of additional criminal conduct that we have learned since the court's initial bail determination," the prosecutors said in the filing, which disputes Manafort's latest bail offer. "That criminal conduct includes a series of bank frauds and bank fraud conspiracies, including criminal conduct relating to the mortgage on the Fairfax property, which Manafort seeks to pledge." Prosecutors said in the redacted filing that they had evidence that Manafort secured the $9 million mortgage from the Federal Savings Bank through false representations, including "doctored profit and lost statements" that overstated the property's income by "millions of dollars." The document does not level any new specific criminal charges against Manafort over the accusations. Manafort's attorneys did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The earlier charges against Manafort stem from Mueller's probe of allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Separately on Friday, Mueller's office charged 13 Russians and three Russian companies with a criminal and espionage conspiracy to tamper with the election and "sow discord in the U.S. political system." (Reporting by David Lawder; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)The presidents attempt to use the shooting to make a political point about the Russia inquiries drew swift criticism

Donald Trump with doctor Igor Nichiphorenko and the First Lady visiting first responders at Broward Health North hospital in Pompano Beach, Florida. Photograph: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images

Donald Trump faced criticism on Sunday for his attack on the FBI for missing the many signals about the Florida school shooter, saying the agency was spending too much time trying to prove Russian collusion.

Politicians came under growing pressure as the young survivors of the attack on Wednesday increased calls for action on guns and announced a march on Washington DC next month.

Trumps attempt to use the shooting to make a political point about the FBIs Russia inquiries into his campaign drew swift criticism, including from John Kasich, the Republican governor of Ohio, who told CNN it was an absurd statement.

Trump, whose campaign was supported by the National Rifle Association (NRA), made the comments in a weekend Twitter storm as he faced demands for action on gun control, including from the teenage survivors of Americas latest school massacre.

Thousands of protesters at state rallies this weekend demanded an immediate response from lawmakers in the wake of the attack that left 17 victims dead in Parkland, Florida.

A White House schedule said Trump will hold a listening session with school students on Wednesday, the Associated Press reported, though there were few details.

On Saturday, at a rally in Fort Lauderdale, teenage survivors criticized politicians for taking donations from the NRA. Shame on you, said one student, Emma Gonzalez.

On Sunday, a group of students from Stoneman Douglas high school announced they were planning a march on Washington DC on Saturday 24 March to demand action on guns.

Speaking Sunday on CNN, the group of students said they are determined to make a difference on the issue.

Cameron Kasky, a junior at the school, said the march will provide a time to talk about gun control, saying, we are losing our lives while the adults are playing around.

Trump, who the NRA spent spent more than $30m helping elect, has said little on gun control following the attack beyond a tweet late Saturday asking why Democrats didnt pass legislation in the Obama administration, and has instead focussed on the mental health of the suspect, Nikolas Cruz.



Story continues

On Twitter, Trump referenced the FBIs admission on Friday that it failed to investigate a specific report in January that Cruz could be plotting a school shooting.

Very sad that the FBI missed all of the many signals sent out by the Florida school shooter. This is no acceptable, tweeted Trump. He accused the FBI of spending too much time trying to prove Russian collusion with the 2016 Trump campaign.

On Friday, special counsel Robert Mueller announced an indictment of 13 Russians for trying to meddle in the US election.

The FBI has said the tip about Cruz should have been investigated thoroughly because it was a potential threat to life.

Cruz was arrested on Wednesday and has since been charged with murdering 17 people at a high school this week.

Speaking to CNN on Sunday morning, Kasich, who was a 2016 presidential candidate, said: The fact of the matter is the FBI apparently made a terrible mistake and people should be held accountable. But we need leadership out of the executive. This is a great opportunity for common sense steps that can be taken, just in the area of background checks.

He added: There should be no ability to do a casual sale without anyone having to find out who theyre selling the gun to and what is involved. The president should be for that.





James Clapper, former director of national intelligence under the Obama administration, told CNN Trumps FBI remarks were at best  disingenuous.

Clapper said the FBIs failure to investigate a tipoff about the Parkland shooter highlighted the tremendous pressure thats put on other things while we ignore the big problem of guns, particularly assault rifles.

On 5 January, a tipster who was close to Cruz called the FBI and provided information about Cruzs guns, desire to kill people, erratic behavior and disturbing social media posts. The FBI says the caller expressed concerns Cruz could attack a school. Jeff Sessions, the US attorney general, issued a curt statement after the FBI admission saying that warnings signs had been missed with tragic consequences. He said: We must do better.

More demonstrations planned



More demonstrations calling for gun control are planned across the country in the weeks ahead.

Plans for the protests circulated widely on social media on Saturday, as students, parents, teachers and neighbors gathered to express their grief over the fatal shooting of 14 students and three staff members at the school.

Organizers behind the Womens March, an anti-Trump and female empowerment protest, called for a 17-minute nationwide walkout by teachers and students on 14 March.

The Network for Public Education, an advocacy organization for public schools, also announced a day of walkouts, sit-ins and other events on school campuses on 20 April, the anniversary of the 1999 shooting at Columbine high school in Colorado that left 12 students and one teacher dead.WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (Reuters) - President Donald Trump will meet Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives Paul Ryan at Trump's Florida resort on Sunday to discuss legislative priorities, White House spokeswoman Jessica Ditto said. No further details were provided about the meeting or topics. Immigration may come up in the Trump-Ryan meeting. The U.S. Senate rejected a series of bills on Thursday to protect young immigrants brought to the United States illegally as children. Trump is spending a long weekend in Florida. He often holds meetings with officials during regular trips to his properties outside of Washington. The president and his wife, Melania Trump, arrived in Florida on Friday evening and visited a hospital where victims of the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, were being treated. (Reporting by Jeff Mason; Editing by Bill Trott)President Donald Trump appeared unsure how to read polling data properly after sharing the results of a survey that shows Democrats leading a generic 2018 Congressional matchupwith the president boasting that the GOP was ahead.

The strange observation came on Sunday, when the president tweeted that the Republican Party had made a big gain and was leading in the Generic Congressional Ballotwhich it was not.

Great Pollster John McLaughlin now has the GOP up in the Generic Congressional Ballot. Big gain over last 4 weeks. I guess people are loving the big Tax Cuts given them by the Republicans, the Cuts the Dems want to take away. We need more Republicans! Trump wrote, appearing to misquote the very poll to which he was referring.

Trending: AR-15 Rifle That Killed 17 in Florida Raffled to Raise Money for Kids' Baseball Team

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The president appeared to reference the McLaughlin and Associates poll shared on February 9, which showed that the Democrats were leading the Republicans by 45 percentage points to 42 percentage points on the Generic Ballot for Congress.

The poll did show that voters felt there should be a move away from the policies of former President Barack Obama, with 44 percent supporting Obama-era policies and 47 percent wanting to put some distance from themnumbers that may have confused the president in what appears to be yet another Twitter gaffe.

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02_13_TrumpBudget

Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

Indeed, Trump has previously shared polls that put his approval rating at less than 50 percent, which is odd, given that anything below 50 percent means that a majority of Americans disapprove of him.

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The president also routinely touts only polls that paint him in the most positive light, Politico reported at the end of last year, with Trump liking the polls that make him feel good and claiming that the polls that do not show him having widespread support are simply fake news.

Story continues

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekPresident Donald Trump reportedly asked friends who were staying at Mar a Lago what he should do about gun control following the school shooting in Florida last week.

The president made the comments as he tweeted from his luxury resort in Florida, where he lashed out at the FBI on social media, slamming the bureau and suggesting its fixation with the Russia probe was to blame for its missing signals from the shooter.

Very sad that the FBI missed all of the many signals sent out by the Florida school shooter. This is not acceptable. They are spending too much time trying to prove Russian collusion with the Trump campaignthere is no collusion. Get back to the basics and make us all proud!  he wrote at the weekend.

Trending: Russia Investigation: Trump Aide Rick Gates Likely to Testify Against Paul Manafort in Mueller Probe

According to a number of people who spoke with Trump at Mar a Lago over the two days he was there, the president kept an obsessive eye on media coverage around the shooting, watching interviews with survivors from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, in Parkland, The Washington Post reported on Sunday.

The sources also told The Post that Trump canvassed the opinion of his guests at the exclusive resort, asking whether he should take a stand on gun control in the wake of the massacre.

And if the president was indeed watching the reaction of the surviving students, they sent a clear message to Trump: take action.

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Indeed, at a rally organized by student activists from Parkland, high school senior Emma Gonzalez told the crowd: We need to pay attention to the fact that this isnt just a mental health issue. He wouldnt have been able to kill that many people with a knife.

She also called out the president, highlighting the significant donations he received from the NRA in advertising sponsorship during the 2016 election campaign, stating: If the president wants to come up to me and tell me to my face that it was a 'terrible tragedy,' I'm going to happily ask him how much money he received from the NRA.

Story continues

The president is expected to meet with some of the Parkland students on Thursday for a listening session although it is not yet clear which students will be invited to voice their opinions to Trump.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from NewsweekMUNICH (Reuters) - Turkey never used chemical weapons in its operations in Syria, and takes the utmost care of civilians, its foreign minister said, after Syrian Kurdish forces and a monitoring group accused it of carrying out a gas attack in Syria's Afrin region.

"It's just a fabricated story. Turkey has never uses any kind of chemical weapons," Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters at the Munich Security Conference.

Cavusoglu dismissed the reports as propaganda by organisations close to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) that has waged a three-decade insurgency on Turkish soil.

He said Turkey took the utmost care to protect civilians in the military operation, while the YPG was using civilians as "human shields" in areas under its control.

Syrian Kurdish forces and a monitoring group said the Turkish military carried out a suspected gas attack that wounded six people in Syria's Afrin region on Friday.

Turkey launched an air and ground offensive last month on the Afrin region, opening a new front in the multi-sided Syrian war, to target Kurdish fighters in northern Syria.

Birusk Hasaka, a spokesman for the Kurdish YPG militia in Afrin, told Reuters that Turkish bombardment hit a village in the northwest of the region, near the Turkish border. He said it caused six people to suffer breathing problems and other symptoms indicative of a gas attack.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told Reuters that Turkish forces and their Syrian insurgent allies hit the village on Friday with shells. The Britain-based war monitoring group said medical sources in Afrin reported that six people in the attack suffered breathing difficulties and dilated pupils, indicating a suspected gas attack.

Syrian state news agency SANA, citing a doctor in a Afrin hospital, said Turkish shelling of the village caused choking in six people.

On Feb. 6, the United Nations called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Syria.

Story continues

Since the onset of the conflict in 2011, the YPG and its allies have set up three autonomous cantons in the north, including Afrin. Their sphere of influence expanded as they seized territory from Islamic State with U.S. help, though Washington says it opposes their autonomy plans.

U.S. support for Kurdish-led forces in Syria has infuriated Ankara, which views them as a security threat along its frontier. Turkey sees the YPG as terrorists and an extension of the banned PKK.

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Peter Graff)MUNICH (Reuters) - Turkey never used chemical weapons in its operations in Syria, and takes the utmost care of civilians, its foreign minister said, after Syrian Kurdish forces and a monitoring group accused it of carrying out a gas attack in Syria's Afrin region. "It's just a fabricated story. Turkey has never used any kind of chemical weapons," Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters at the Munich Security Conference. Cavusoglu dismissed the reports as propaganda by organizations close to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) that has waged a three-decade insurgency on Turkish soil. He said Turkey took the utmost care to protect civilians in the military operation, while the YPG was using civilians as "human shields" in areas under its control. Syrian Kurdish forces and a monitoring group said the Turkish military carried out a suspected gas attack that wounded six people in Syria's Afrin region on Friday. Turkey launched an air and ground offensive last month on the Afrin region, opening a new front in the multi-sided Syrian war, to target Kurdish fighters in northern Syria. The White House said it was aware of the reports but could not confirm them. "We judge it is extremely unlikely that Turkish forces used chemical weapons," a spokesman for the U.S. National Security Council said. "We continue to call for restraint and protection of civilians in Afrin." Birusk Hasaka, a spokesman for the Kurdish YPG militia in Afrin, told Reuters that a Turkish bombardment hit a village in the northwest of the region, near the Turkish border. He said it caused six people to suffer breathing problems and other symptoms indicative of a gas attack. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told Reuters that Turkish forces and their Syrian insurgent allies hit the village on Friday with shells. The Britain-based war monitoring group said medical sources in Afrin reported that six people in the attack suffered breathing difficulties and dilated pupils, indicating a suspected gas attack. Syrian state news agency SANA, citing a doctor in a Afrin hospital, said Turkish shelling of the village caused choking in six people. On Feb. 6, the United Nations called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Syria. Since the onset of the conflict in 2011, the YPG and its allies have set up three autonomous cantons in the north, including Afrin. Their sphere of influence expanded as they seized territory from Islamic State with U.S. help, though Washington says it opposes their autonomy plans. U.S. support for Kurdish-led forces in Syria has infuriated Ankara, which views them as a security threat along its frontier. Turkey sees the YPG as terrorists and an extension of the banned PKK. (Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Peter Graff)Amman (AFP) - Turkey's foreign minister on Monday warned against any intervention by Syrian pro-government forces to support Kurdish militias in northern Syria, saying it would not prevent Ankara from pressing on with its month-old offensive.

Mevlut Cavusoglu was reacting to a report from Syrian state news agency SANA saying pro-government forces were expected in the Afrin region to counter the Turkish offensive against the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) militia.

Turkey views the YPG as a terrorist offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), blacklisted by Ankara, the United States and the European Union.

"If the regime is entering (Afrin) to oust the PKK, YPG, there is no problem. But if they are entering to protect the YPG, then no one can stop us and Turkish soldiers," Cavusoglu said during a visit to Jordan.

"This is true for Afrin, Manbij and the east of the Euphrates River," Cavusoglu added at a joint news conference in Amman with his Jordanian counterpart Ayman Safadi.

On Monday, SANA said "popular forces will arrive in Afrin within a few hours to support its people's stand against the Turkish regime's attack on the area and its people", citing its correspondent in Aleppo.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has previously threatened to expand the operation to include the YPG-held town of Manbij and other towns leading to the Iraqi border.

The Turkish army, backed by Syrian rebels, has been conducting a ground and air offensive against the region since January 20 to drive out the YPG.

Cavusoglu said the operation, dubbed "Olive Branch", was aimed at "removing terrorists" from its southern border.

- Putin, Erdogan phone call -

Damascus previously denounced Ankara's "aggression" in Afrin but had never explicitly said it would intervene before Monday.

Syria's Kurds have gradually implemented a self-rule model across much of the country's north, including Afrin, since 2012.

Story continues

Kurdish fighters and government troops have since largely steered clear of each other, though there have been short-lived clashes in the cities of Hasakeh and Qamishli.

Last week, YPG chief Sipan Hamo told reporters his forces would have "no problem" with Damascus intervening to help repel Turkey's assault.

A few hours after the SANA report, Erdogan spoke on the phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin and they discussed the "latest developments in Syria, especially in Afrin and Idlib", a Turkish presidential source said.

Turkish media quoted Erdogan as telling Putin that any support from Damascus to the YPG in Afrin "will have consequences" for the regime.

The issue of establishing new observation posts in Idlib was discussed, the source said.

Turkey, Russia and regime supporter Iran agreed last year to create "de-escalation" zones in four areas including Idlib, where six observation posts have already been set up by Turkish forces to monitor any fighting.

The northwestern province is nearly completely under the control of anti-government forces, predominantly Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a group led by Al-Qaeda's former Syria affiliate.

While Turkey has called for the ouster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Russia has provided armed support to the regime and controls the airspace of northern Syria.By Gabriel Stargardter MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Venezuela's political situation could well be on the agenda during a trip by Mexico's foreign minister to Jamaica next month during which Mexican oil sales are likely to be discussed, Jamaica's foreign minister told Reuters on Monday. Last week, Reuters reported that Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray will travel to Jamaica and other Caribbean nations in March, as part of efforts to erode Venezuela's oil-based influence in the Caribbean. Mexico has been looking at the possibility of replacing Venezuela's Petrocaribe program that provided cheap loans for oil to Caribbean nations and has helped Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro retain diplomatic support in the region. "Jamaica buys (Mexican crude) ... on the spot market, so in terms of Jamaica having an energy relationship with Mexico, that exists, of course, and probably there will be discussions around that," Foreign Minister Kamina Johnson Smith said in a phone interview on Monday, when asked about Mexico's commitment to help improve energy security in the Caribbean. Johnson Smith said she had invited Videgaray to Jamaica last October and they decided his visit should coincide with a regional conference of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), due to be held in Jamaica on March 5-8. Videgaray's visit represents the latest development in U.S.-led pressure on Maduro, who retains loyalty from some Caribbean nations that have long benefited from Caracas' oil largesse and have been unwilling to shun the country in regional diplomatic efforts. "It could be," Johnson Smith said, when asked if Venezuela would be on the agenda with Videgaray. "Hemispherical matters will, of course, be on the agenda." "But the focus is very much on our bilateral cooperation, deepening trade and investment," she added. Videgaray's trip follows a visit to Latin America and the Caribbean earlier this month by U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who announced plans to study how possible oil sanctions against Venezuela could be mitigated in the Caribbean. Mexico's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A Mexican official told Reuters last week that Videgaray has sought to engage more with the Caribbean in the wake of a June meeting in which foreign ministers from the 34-nation Organization of American States (OAS) failed to reach agreement on a resolution criticizing Venezuela. (Reporting by Gabriel Stargardter; Editing by Alistair Bell)BOGOTA (Reuters) - Violence by criminal gangs battling over drug trafficking areas has displaced more than 800 people in northwestern Colombia, the United Nations said. Areas previously controlled by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas, who demobilized last year following a peace deal, have become flashpoints for fighting among crime gangs and smaller rebel group the National Liberation Army (ELN). Poor farmers and indigenous people have recently fled the rural municipality of Caceres, in Antioquia province. "We express our worry about the persistence of forced displacement of indigenous people and farming communities in the rural areas of Caceres, which between 19 January and today has affected at least 822 people," the U.N. Commission on Human Rights and the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said in a statement on Sunday. The agencies also expressed alarm at the increase in the number of murders in the Bajo Cauca area, without giving figures. Violence has continued in some areas of the Andean country despite the 2016 peace deal between the government and the FARC to end a five-decade conflict. The FARC is now a political party. The competing groups are eager to control lucrative illegal mining and cultivation of coca, the base ingredient in cocaine, and the trafficking routes that send the drug to consumers, largely in the United States and Europe. (Reporting by Luis Jaime Acosta; Writing by Julia Symmes Cobb; Editing by Alistair Bell)A dog refused to be prey to a wolf pack in Abruzzo, Italy. The wolves can be seen chasing the dog and biting it twice before it escaped by jumping through a hole in a fence. Paolo Forconi shared the footage on February 17.

Forconi told Storyful residents in the area have seen an increase in wolf sightings and attacks in recent years. The wolves prey on red deers, goats, and other small pets, according to Forconi. Credit: Paolo Forconi via StoryfulBy Swati Pandey

(Reuters) - The approval rating for New Zealand's pregnant prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, has soared and support for her Labour Party has surged to its highest in 15 years, according to a poll released on Monday, nearly four months after her coalition government was sworn in.

The 1 NEWS Colmar Brunton political survey showed support for Labour had jumped to 48 percent, rising nine percentage from a December poll. It was Labour's best showing since 2003 and gave it a clear lead over the opposition National Party which slipped three points to 43 percent.

Labour's centre-left coalition, which brought an end to almost 10 years of National's centre right rule, plans to pour money into social services and housing and strike a more protectionist stance by tightening up foreign investment rules.

Ardern's popularity swept to 41 percent, giving her a massive 21 percentage point lead over opposition leader Bill English who will resign from parliament at the end of February.

The poll was conducted between February 10 and 14 so it did not fully capture English's resignation announcement.

Ardern, 37, is expecting her first child in June. She is the first New Zealand prime minister to hold office while pregnant.

While Labour's popularity rose in the polls its junior coalition partners fared less well. The survey showed support for the progressive Green Party slipped to 5 percent, and backing for New Zealand First fell to three percent.

The poll also showed an increase in the number of people who expected the economy to get better.

(Reporting by Swati Pandey in SYDNEY; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)It was all unexpected and unplanned. Two of the worlds youngest leaders were sitting on the stage at the main conference hall of Hotel Bayerischer Hof in Munich: Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz and Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki. Both are eloquent, sharp and very self-confident speakers.

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I listened to the Polish leader talk about economy, energy and other Polish-related issues. He spoke about everything, apart from the issue everyone wanted him to address: The legislation prescribing prison time and a fine for accusing Poland and the Poles of taking part in the Holocaust. This legislation, which has created a major global controversy and sparked a lot of anger in Israel, wasnt important enough for Morawiecki.

Ronen Bergman (with his back to the camera) addressing Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki (L) at the Munich Security Conference (Photo: Bayerischer Rundfunk 2018)

During the question and answer session, I stood up to talk. I wanted to ask a general question about the law, but I was suddenly flooded with memories. My entire family, my late mother and my father and their families, experienced the Holocaust. Few survived. Most were killed. The Holocaust has been hanging over our heads as a big shadow our entire life.

We knew very little. Mother was a very modest person, but the few relatives who survived said she had been recognized as a prodigy at an early age. While in kindergarten, she had already received a special prize from the Polish education minister for good Polish, but thats usually where the story ended. The relatives refused to say anything else, and mother kept silent too. One day, Ill tell you more, she used to say to my sisters and me.

Throughout the years, mother made sure to serve as a separating buffer between the children and the memories from the horrors. All we knew was that grandmother and mother had escaped to the woods, joined the partisans and managed to survive the war. Grandfather, on the other hand, hid in sewage tunnels in his hometown and came out when the Gestapo had withdrawn.

Ronen Bergman with his late mother, Miriam

And there was one more thing we always knew, that the Poles were worse than the Nazis. Its something mother occasionally spoke aboutthe neighbors and parents of acquaintances from class, and the merchants, and those who worked for Jews.

From a historical perspective, I believe mother was wrong. Clearly, the Nazis were the ones who initiated the Holocaust, and they were the ones who built the death camps. But mother knew the Poles and this was her very personal and moral judgment of what had happened. There is no doubt that there were many Poles who risked their lives and saved many Jews. The names of some of them are engraved at the entrance to the Avenue of the Righteous Among the Nations at the entrance to Yad Vashem.

They all betrayed us and turned us in to the Gestapo, she said. She and other family members, she told us, had paid a Polish peasant money to hide in his farm. We were constantly hungry. It was starvation to the brink of death, she told me. Although it was forbidden, one day I sneaked in to see if the landlords had anything to eat. They didnt see me, and then I heard those horrible words. They said they would call the Gestapo the next day to take us too.

Only years after she died, I found out that the story we knew about the sewage tunnels and the partisans and the meeting after the war was all trueapart from one detail: grandmother and grandfather didnt know each other before the war.

Morawiecki and Bergman's exchange

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My biological grandfather escaped with grandmother and mother to the woods. He caught pneumonia thereor was wounded by German fire, there are two versionsand mother and grandmother buried him in the snow with their own hands.

Mother and grandmother, and a few other relatives who survived, spent the rest of the war in the woods, with the partisans.

The man I knew as my grandfather met grandmother and mother after the war. Two lost people in a destroyed world, one of them carrying a little girl with sad eyes. The other, our "Grandpa Yaakov," lost his entire family in one of the death camps. Two people who searched for comfort and found each other.

When grandmother met Yaakov, they decided to stick to each other. Together with mother, they decided to bury this secret in Europe. They immigrated to Israel in 1949 as one family unit, and told everyone how they had been forced to separate because of the Nazis and how they had met happily after the war.

Bergman addresses the Polish prime minister

Mother passed away in 1993, after battling cancer for 15 years. I believe that the horrors from back then, along with her stubborn attempt to serve as a buffer and not to tell us anything, to hold it all inside, not to talk, not to unload, were what eventually killed her.

Why didnt she tell us she had buried her real father in the snow? She didnt want to be subject to anyones pity, a relative of ours concluded when we learned the truth, years after mothers passing.

Ronen Bergman's mother as a child

While still in Europe, mother swore to never say another word in Polish. And she kept that promise. She was willing to speak German, but Polish? Absolutely not.

I gave a summary of this story on Saturday to the audience at the Munich Security Conference and to the Polish prime minister, who gave me a hollow and blood-curdling look.

My mother was able to save much of her family because she heard during the night that the neighbors were going to tell that they have Jews in their vicinity to the SS the next morning. If I understand correctly, after this law is legislated, I will be considered a criminal in your country for saying this. What is the purpose? What is the message that you are trying to convey to the world?

Morawiecki in Munich. 'He stared at me as if he were examining a nuisance' (Photo: AFP)

When I was done, everyone applauded. Later, I was approached by senior German officials from different government organizations, who thanked me for saying what they are unable to say. But the Polish prime minister was neither confused nor impressed, and didnt even offer me any sympathy. He is faced by a man with a lump in his throat talking about how his family was exterminated in the Holocaust, and he stares as me at if he is examining some kind of nuisance.

"It's extremely important to first understand that of course its not going to be punishable or seen as a crime to say that there were Polish perpetrators as there were Jewish perpetrators, as there were Russian and Ukrainian perpetrators, not only German perpetrators, he replied.

There were no Polish death camps, there were no Polish concentration camps. There were German Nazi death camps. The mere fact that we have to explain it today stems from our history. We cannot agree with mixing perpetrators with victims.

These comments left me flabbergasted. My eyes were filled with tears of pain and rage. I was glad I had at least helped reveal his true colors with my question.

I believe there is no better closure than what you did today for mother and the score she had to settle with the Poles. Its a shame she didnt get to see it, my sister, Liora Houbara, wrote me after watching the broadcast from the conference.Twelve years after Major Tomer Bohadana left his mark on Israel's collective memory by flashing the "V" sign moments before he was rolled into the operating room, Staff Sgt. Emmanuel Zerah, wounded on the Gaza border Saturday, followed in his footsteps by doing the same.

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Zerah, 22, a soldier in the Combat Engineering Corps' elite bomb disposal unit, was rushed to the Soroka University Medical Center in Be'er Sheva along with three other soldiers wounded when an explosive device planted near the Gaza border fence detonated as they attempted to inspect it.

When Zerah was taken out of a helicopter on a stretcher, he signaled the Vfor victorysign to cameras before being wheeled into the intensive care unit. He remained in serious condition, suffering from multi-systemic injuries.

Major Bohadana in the Second Lebanon War (L) and his successor Emanuel Zerah (Photo: Elad Gershgoren, Haim Horenstein)

Zerah underwent surgery Saturday and was transferred to a recuperation ward, with his family by his side. When they saw his photo, they were greatly moved.

The determination the young man showed in defiantly signaling to the cameras despite his serious injuries came as no surprise to his relatives. Other soldiers and officers arriving to the hospital to visit the wounded heard one of them made the V signal, and immediately said even before seeing the video, "That has to be Emmanuel."

One of the wounded being taken to hospital (Photo: Haim Hornstein)

Emmanuel was transferred to the Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem's Ein Kerem at the behest of his family, which resides in Jerusalem, and because his father is employed as a doctor there. His condition remains serious.

The officer commanding the bomb disposal team, who was also wounded in the incident, also remains in serious condition. He is still under anesthesia and on ventilator at the ICU.

Company commander's family seasoned with injuries in service

The mother of Capt. Nadav Yifrach, 24, a company commander in Golani's 13th Battalion, recounted Sunday how she learned of her son's injury in the blast. "I was at home in Migdal HaEmek, and he called me to say he got hurt," she said.

Her son was supposed to finish his army posting in about a week and go off to school, his mother said.

Capt. Nadav Yifrach

"Our eldest was also wounded during his service, so we're seasoned," she added. "He was really lucky, but the most important is that he's okay."

"My son is serious and responsible, he's a real fighter, and he will beat this injury," his father Shimon Yifrach said. "As long as Nadav was talking to us, we weren't panicking. He's a company commander in the exact same battalion our eldest son served in."

Golani fighter Ohad Asayag, a resident of Ashdod, was also wounded in the incident. He underwent hours-long surgeries in his eyes and regained consciousness on Sunday.

"His eyes are very swollen from the injury, and he still can't see anything, but it's too early to tell how serious his injury is. We'll know that in the coming days," his mother Fanny said. "We're praying his eyesight returns to him soon."

Ohad Asayag

At Ohad's bedside on Sunday was also Sarit Vanunu, whose son Ben Vanunu, a Golani fighter and a close friend of Ohad, was killed in battle during Operation Protective Edge. "Ohad knew Ben well, there was a friendship between them. Ben and his family are like our family," Fanny said, adding that her son was inspired by Vanunu to join the Golani Brigade.

An initial inquiry into the incident found that trackers scoured the area, after which Combat Engineering soldiers approached the flag, under cover of the Golani soldiers, at which point the device was set off.

"We received word of casualties on Gaza's perimeter in the afternoon," said Soroka Deputy Director and Head of the Surgery Ward Prof. Gal Ifergan. "Later on two helicopters brought in four soldiers. They underwent an initial assessment, and three of them were taken in for operations."

"All of the wounded were in stable condition and suffered from limb, shrapnel and shockwave wounds, as well as from burns and face wounds, as is typical for injuries caused by explosions. Their lives are not immediately in danger and their families are by their side," he continued.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wished the wounded speedy recovery from the Munich Security Conference and said, "The incident near the Gaza border is grave. We will react accordingly."

The IDF Spokesperson's Unit said Hamas terror targets were hit in Gaza, including a terror tunnel running into Israel from the Zaytun neighborhood of Gaza, a military complex on the former grounds of the evacuated Netzarim settlement "belonging to Hamas's unique military alignments, including weapons manufacturing sites." A Hamas military complex near Khan Yunis was also attacked.Israeli jets attacked overnight Sunday a Hamas attack tunnel in southern Gaza near the Kerem Shalom crossing after a rocket fired from the Strip exploded Sunday evening in an open area in the Shaar HaNegev Regional Council.

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Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman confirmed Monday afternoon that the jets had destroyed the tunnel.

A statement issued by the IDF Spokespersons Unit shortly after the Israel Air Force (IAF) struck the target indicated that the fresh attack had been launched in response to Gazas rocket fire.

IAF attacks targets in Gaza

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Hamas is responsible for everything that happens in the Gaza Strip, above and below ground, the statement read. The army will continue to act to ensure security for the citizens of Israel using all means at its disposal.

According to Palestinian officials, the attack was carried out in the area where a destroyed airport is located in Dahaniya, close to the Israeli border.

Point of IAF attack (Photo: EPA)

The strikes homed in on an open area, where a comparatively large number of missiles were fired by the IAF. One official in Gaza told Ynet that more than ten missiles were fired in the area.

IAF attacks in Gaza

A Code Red alert sounded Sunday evening in Sderot and several towns in the Sha'ar HaNegev Regional Council after rocket fire from the Gaza Strip was spotted, only hours after an earlier rocket landed on the roof of a residence of the region. There were no casualties and no damage was caused.

In addition to sporadic rocket fire that has plagued southern Israel in recent months, tensions were further heightened on the border when two soldiers were wounded Saturday afternoon when an explosive device was set off near an IDF patrol around the border fence in the southern Gaza Strip, opposite the Ein HaShlosha kibbutz.

A wounded soldier near the Soroka Hospital

Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Sunday that the Popular Resistance Committees organization was behind the explosive device set off near an IDF force on Saturday on the Gaza border, which left four soldiers wounded.

"Until we eliminate them, the score remains unsettled. It will take two days, a week, or two weeks. We'll eliminate anyone behind the attack's execution," Lieberman told Ynet on Sunday morning.PARKLAND - Student survivors of the deadly Florida school shooting who hope to become the face of a revived gun control movement are on a potential collision course with President Donald Trump.

Several of the students have criticized the president, whose election was strongly supported by the National Rifle Association and who ran on a platform opposing gun control. Trump spent the weekend at his estate in South Florida, only an hour's drive from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School where 17 people were fatally shot last week. His only mentions of the massacre came in tweets Saturday contending that the FBI was too focused on the Russia investigation to respond to warnings about the alleged shooter and mocking Democrats for failing to pass gun control.

"You're the president. You're supposed to bring this nation together, not divide us," said David Hogg, a 17-year-old student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in South Florida, speaking on NBC's "Meet the Press."

"How dare you," he added.The Israeli Defense Ministry and the US Missile Defense Agency conducted overnight Sunday a successful flight experiment of the exoatmospheric Arrow-3 advanced missile defense system against long-range missiles.

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According to the Defense Ministrys announcement, the trial of the system, which is designed to intercept ballistic missiles outside the earths atmosphere, was concluded successfully after it was finally launched at 2:30am following two cancellations between December and January.

The latest test was conducted at a test site in central Israel and was led by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) in collaboration with the Israeli Air Force.

Arror 3 trial (:     )

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With the successes registered on a simulated target, the experiment will enable the Defense Ministry to carry out a series of similar but larger scale interception tests above giant land masses in unpopulated areas in Alaska in the US later in the year. Due to insufficient landmass, Israel is restricted in the scope of its experiments.

If there was a real target there it would have hit it, explained an official in the Defense Ministry. We wanted to focus on the requirements for the approval of experiments in Alaska. We didnt incorporate into it a genuine target in order to stick to the deadline. Each weapon system has been proven in this experiment.

(Photo: Defense Ministry)

Deputy Director of the IAI, which manufactured the Arrow-3 system, and the general manager of companys Missile and Space Systems Division, Boaz Levy praised the successes after the two previous disappointments in which the defense establishment was forced to declare no test.

The missile fully completed its flight path and if there had been a real target, it would have hit it, Levy said, basing his conclusions on how the system responded.

During the experiment, the interceptor simulated a fully operational scenario. It completed its journey as if there was a real target. We fully completed the goals we set for ourselves before the experiment in Alaska, he added.

In the coming weeks, the Israel Missile Defense Organization of the Directorate of Defense Research and Development at Israels Defense Ministry, is expected to carry out another experiment of an upgraded system after the two last-minute cancellations.





(Photo: Defense Ministry)

In December last year, the defense establishment halted what was supposed to be the highest altitude missile test for any Israeli weapons system so far after the Sparrow target missile, launched into space from an F-15 fighter over the Mediterranean Sea, did not behave according to plan.

Then in January this year, Israel called off yet another test citing a communications malfunction which prevented the transfer of information between the systems components.

Finally launched from the Palmahim Air Force Base over the Mediterranean Sea, the experiment used a Sparrow missile due to its low fragment level to reduce endangering high air and sea traffic in the area.

Moreover, due to concerns that fragments may have been propelled toward inhabited areas in Israel during the trial, the experiment was unable to simulate a hit on the type of advanced missiles which are currently being developed in Iran for future use.

The system has already been tested in the US, but Israeli officials hope that the trials in Alaska will offer a more definitive confirmation of the country's future defense capabilities against Iranian developments of highly accurate missiles after they have traveled distances of up to 2000km.

The Arrow Weapon System is a major element in Israels multi-layered defense array based on four layers: the Iron Dome, Davids Sling, and the Arrow-2 and Arrow-3 systems.

Arrow-3 interceptors were delivered to the Israeli Air Force in January 2017 for operational use.Three Egyptian soldiers have been killed in a 10-day-old campaign against Islamist militants focused on the Sinai peninsula, Egypt's military said on Monday.

It was the first time the military has reported its own casualties since it launched the operation on February 9. The statement did not say where or when the soldiers had died.

The military says it has killed dozens of militants and arrested hundreds of suspected fighters and criminals in the operation, which is taking place ahead of a three-month deadline that President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi set to clear North Sinai of jihadists.

A group of Sinai-based jihadists swore allegiance to Islamic State in 2014. Attacks by the militants have killed hundreds of soldiers and police and scores of civilians.The Israel Railways closed the train line running between Beit Yehoshua and Tel Aviv Savidor Central for infrastructure work starting midnight, leading to heavy traffic Monday morning on roads between Netanya and Tel Aviv, including highways 1, 2, 5, and 20 (Ayalon).

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The train works, which are set to continue 24 hours a day, will end only on Sunday, February 25. In addition to the closed train lines, the number of southbound trains from Nahariya, the Kryot area and Haifa was reduced.

Until then, night trains on the Nahariya-Ben Gurion Airport line will travel until Natanya. Free shuttles are being made available for passengers from the Netanya station to the airport and back. The shuttles will also make a stop at Tel Aviv Savidor Central. In addition, free shuttles will run between Tel Aviv's stations and Beit Yehoshua.

Passengers crowding at Beit Yehoshua as they wait for shuttles (Photo: Ido Erez)

The infrastructure work will include four major changes: changing the Herzliya-Shefayim route and canceling the Kfar Shmaryahu level crossing; connecting the fast route to Jerusalem; infrastructure work on trains in the Sharon area; and making preparations to doubling the coastal train tracks between Tel Aviv and Haifa.

In addition, two other level crossings separating between agricultural areas will be canceled, one in Kfar Shmaryahu and the other in Rishpon.

Infrastructure work (Photo: Israel Railways)

Yaar Amir, who heads a forum for public transportation operators, slammed the Transportation Ministry's priorities, which "lead to half a country coming to a halt this week because the trains are not running, and the economy will lose tens of millions.

"Instead of investing in the cheapest and most common mode of public transportationbusesmassive budgets are funneled to private vehicles and trains. Until priority lanes for buses are enforced; until there's an investment in the necessary infrastructure; and until more bus drivers are recruitedwe will all continue to spend many hours in traffic. This week is just going to be the tip of the iceberg in the national catastrophe public transportation and all of Israel's citizens are facing."KIRKUK - Islamic State militants ambushed a convoy of government-backed militia fighters near the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk late on Sunday, killing at least 25 of them, police and militia commanders said on Monday.

Police and militia commanders had earlier said 12 militia fighters were killed in the ambush and at least 10 were missing, but security forces later found another 13 bodies dumped nearby with multiple gunshot wounds.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack.

A security official said Iraqi security forces were pursuing the Islamic State militants who disguised themselves in police uniforms to carry out the attack.A 64-year-old Israeli man was killed on Sunday in Pattaya, Thailand in a car accident.

The man, identified as Motti Fleishhecker who is survived by his two daughters, was riding with a friend on a motorcycle when he was hit by a vehicle at high speed.

He was left in critical condition and medics were unable to save him after performing emergency treatment for an hour-and-a-half.An Egged Ta'avura bus driver was attacked early Sunday morning while driving a bus from Jerusalem to Kiryat Arba.

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Saleh Abu Jamal, 26, from Jabel Mukaber in east Jerusalem, suffered a head injury and was taken to the Shaare Zedek Medical Center in the capital for treatment.

"In his complaint, the driver said that around 5am, while driving an Egged night bus from Jerusalem to Kiryat Arba, several drunken youths began urging him to get to the settlement (faster). He explained that the weather conditions did not allow that, and they then started swearing at him and hit him in the face," police said.

Saleh Abu Jamal

"At the entrance to Kiryat Arba, (Abu Jamal) stopped the bus and was able to call the police center and report it after another passenger came to his aid and separated between him and the attackers. As a result of the assault, he was lightly bruised in his head and was taken to receive medical treatment. Police forces that arrived at the scene detained for questioning two youths (aged 19 and 21) residents of Kiryat Arba on suspicion of attacking the driver," police added.

Abu Jamal said the passengers began interrupting him during the drive. He asked them to stop, to no avail. "They started swearing at me, told me, 'Keep driving. You Arab, what are you doing here?' I told them to keep quiet, otherwise I wouldn't be able to continue the drive," he said.

"They ignored my request and continued cursing at me for no reason. I called the coordinator and informed him about settlers who were interrupting me. He asked that I go to the Egged parking lot, and that is where I went immediately upon arriving in the city," Abu Jamal recounted.

"As I was turning to head to the parking lot, the settlers told me, 'Where are you going? Keep driving, you have to take us where we want to go.' I told them I couldn't in a situation like this. At that moment, they took the bag that holds the money and several other things and started threatening me. One of them, who claimed he was a soldier, hit me in the head and bruised me. After that I stopped at the parking lot, and I was evacuated to the hospital from there," he said.

Abu Jamal claimed he did not tell the police his attackers were drunk. "I don't know why the police made such a claim. They were acting normally, not under the influence of alcohol. In my opinion, this is a racist act. The swearing and the threatening I experienced point to a racist act," he asserted.

"Now I'm afraid to go back to work on the same line. This time I was lightly wounded, but next time it could end in disaster," Abu Jamal concluded.

The police said its officers will "continue acting with zero tolerance and with determination against those who use violence against service providers and public employees. We will use any means at our disposal to catch the attackers and bring them to justice in order to protect the security and well-being of citizens."

Egged Ta'avura, a subsidiary of Egged, said, "This serious incident is another case in a long line of intolerable incidents in which bus drivers were attacked. We consider any use of violence against drivers to be very grave.

"We turned to the Kiryat Arba council and to law enforcement officials in the area in order to work together to eradicate this phenomenon. We trust the Israel Police and call on passengers to remember that if any complaint arises, they should turn to the company and not break the law."Dozens of activists opposing the governments plan to deport illegal African immigrants and asylum seekers began staging a protest on Monday afternoon outside the Ethiopian Airlines offices in Tel Aviv, demanding that it refuse to continue to fly the asylum seekers from Israel to Rwanda and Uganda. Protesters inflated giant black balloons bearing letters from the activists.When an Irish tourist bought an ornately carved, 15-centimeter tall statue for 60 in Moroccos blue northern town, Chaouen, little did he expect that he acquired an ice age relic made from rhino horn thought to be 25,000-years-old.

The Irish tourist visited Chaouen, a town in the Rif Mountains of northwest Morocco, inland from Tangier, in 2006, and bought the carved figurine in an antiques shop that sold mostly Islamic and Roman items, the Irish Times reported.

The lucky Irishman could become 30,000 richer after scientists in an Oxford laboratory told him, following a radiocarbon dating test, that the cheap antique is made of a prehistoric piece of rhino horn.

The scientists said that the piece was made from the horn of a wooly rhino an extinct species of mammal that flourished during the Ice Age  and was 25,000-years-old.

After taking the figurine to Mealys Auctioneers in Co. Kilkenny, he decided to put it up for auction on March 6. The estimated value of the figurine is believed to be up to 30,000.Mohammed Al-Emadi, the head of Qatar's Gaza reconstruction committee, has announced that his country will be providing $9 million in aid in a bid to alleviate the humanitarian crisis besetting the coastal enclave.

The aid package will divided for hospitals, the purchasing of medicines and the supply of fuel for electricity.The police, in cooperation with Interpol, have arrested a 34-year-old Israeli suspect for two burglary instances in Germany, one of which ended in murder.

The German government is expected to submit a request for his extradition. According to the suspicion, the Israeli, together with another person, broke into a home in Ulm where a 91-year-old woman and her 59-year-old son lived.

The two proceeded to attack the elderly women and her son, and killed the latter after he sustained a serious head injury and suffocated when the attackers covered his mouth.

The suspect will be brought before the The Jerusalem Magistrates Court, which will consider extending his arrest.The Israel Police has sought to take over the Securities Authority's investigation into the alleged quid pro quo relationship between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Bezeq majority shareholder Shaul Elovitch several months ago after realizing the significance of what has been dubbed Case 4000

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"There was a reason we fought for this case," a police official said Sunday following the remand extensions of two close associates of the prime minister and several Bezeq officials.

The Securities Authority and the police, who launched a joint probe this week, suspect Walla! News, which is owned by the telecommunications giant Bezeq, gave the prime minister and his family favorable coverage in return for Netanyahu's help in promoting the companies' financial interests.

Bezeq majority shareholder Shaul Elovitch and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Photo: EPA, Yuval Chen)

Several months ago, the police asked to receive the investigation materials from the Securities Authority and launch an investigation of their own, but their request was declined by the Securities Authority, which sought to complete its financial investigation first.

The Securities Authority's investigation, which began in June 2017, dealt with three different matters: the merger of Bezeq and satellite TV company Yes, which made Elovitch hundreds of millions of shekels; leaks from meetings of impartial board of directors committees discussing the deals with Elovitch; and the promotion of Bezeq's interests in the Communications Ministry.

Over 100 witnesses were questioned during the Securities Authority's investigation, including Or Elovitch, the Bezeq owner's son, who serves as a member of the board of directors; Bezeq CEO Stella Handler; and Amikam Shorer, Elovitch's right-hand man and Bezeq's Strategy & Business Development manager.

As the investigation progressed, it expanded beyond Bezeq, with one of the main suspects being Shlomo Filber, a close associate of Netanyahu's and then the director-general of the Communications Ministry. Filber and Netanyahu were the ones to approve the Bezeq-Yes merger.

Shlomo Filber (Photo: Orel Cohen)

Filber is also suspected of providing Bezeq officials with material from the Communications Ministry and taking steps to benefit the company. As a result of the investigation, Filber was removed from the Communications Ministry.

Netanyahu, who was the communications minister at the time, has not yet been questioned on the case, but inside sources said Sunday police will likely have no choice but to ask him to testify.

The prime minister and his wife Sara have been close friends of Elovitch and his wife for some 20 years. This relationship led Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit to instruct Netanyahu to stop dealing with any issue that could affect Bezeq, and Netanyahu eventually had to appoint a different minister for the Communications Ministry.

While the Securities Authority conducted its investigation, a small team in the police's economic and financial crime investigations unit began gathering material about the main players in the case and identify key players that can be pressed for information.

When the Securities Authority completed its investigation, it submitted its recommendation in November to indict the main suspects. After receiving the approval of the attorney general, investigators from the Securities Authority and the police's economic and financial crime unit began the open investigation in the case.

"When things become clearer, everyone will understand how big this case is," a law enforcement official said.

One of the suspects being brought to court for a remand extension hearing (Photo: Motti Kimchi)

Dr. Zvi Gabbay, the former head of the Enforcement at the Israel Securities Authority, explained to Ynet that "even though the Securities Authority has an excellent investigations unit, it is not a unit that is used to or knows how toand some would say not authorized tohandle government corruption offenses, or bribery, fraud and breach of trust offenses.

"This is why at the end of the investigation, the case was sent to the Tel Aviv District Attorney Office's Taxation and Economics Department, and then it is sent back to complete the investigation. While this case was given a new number, 4000, this isn't a case that's starting from zero."

Dr. Gabbay asserted the police had a state witness, "someone high-ranked. You have to understand that in cases like this, which are circumstantial, the evidence must be beyond reasonable doubt, and a state witness is such evidence. Without such testimony, this would be a very difficult case. That is the challenge the investigators now face."

The state witness can either be one of the suspects or one of Netanyahu's close associates, he said. "This is a dramatic stage of the investigation, and the suspects go through horrible experiences. To them, the sky is falling, and in situations like that they start to think who do they owe what, and what would be the best move for them. The investigators also put a lot of pressure to lead people to these thoughts. It's definitely possible for someone to think: It would be better for me to take care of myself, and say what I know, than maintain loyalty, or a relationship I have with one person or another," Dr. Gabbay explained.

One of the suspects being brought to court for a remand extension hearing (Photo: Motti Kimchi)

Two of Netanyahu's close associates gave their testimony to police on Sundayformer PMO chief of staff David Sharan and former PMO director-general Harel Locker. Past and present officials from Walla! News also provided testimony, including CEO Ilan Yeshua and former editor-in-chief Yinon Magal. None of them are suspects.

Calcalist reported on Monday that the police and the Securities Authorities issued foreclosure orders on the assets of some of the seven suspects arrested on Sundayseveral senior Bezeq officials and two of the prime minister's close associates. The freezing orders include bank accounts, vehicles, and other assets.

Meanwhile, attorney Jack Chen, who provided Netanyahu with legal counsel in Case 1000 and Case 2000, two other investigations against him, has temporarily left the prime minister's defense team due to a conflict of interest, as he also represents Bezeq majority shareholder Shaul Elovitch.Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman confirmed Monday afternoon that the Israel Air Force (IAF) attacked and destroyed a Hamas terror tunnel in the Gaza Strip overnight Sunday near the Kerem Shalom crossing.

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The latest attack in Gaza came after a rocket fired from the strip exploded Sunday evening in an open area in the Shaar HaNegev Regional Council.

The incidents proved that the IDF is ready for any scenario with zero warning, the Yisrael Beytenu party leader said during a faction meeting. It wasnt easy to achieve this kind of capability but the fact is that we have stood up for the tests and we have known how to handle them.

Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman (Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg)

Lieberman said that he wanted to send a message to Israels southern and northern residents. You can continue about your daily routine and we are absolutely ready and are doing everything to ensure that regularity continues without interruptions, he said.

Overnight, the IDF announced that Israeli jets had pounded an underground infrastructure in southern Gaza in response to the rocket emanating from the strip the previous night.

Israeli children duck for cover as Code Red alert blares in southern Israel (Photo: Reut Shimoni)

A statement issued by the IDF Spokespersons Unit shortly after the IAF struck the target said: Hamas is responsible for everything that happens in the Gaza Strip, above and below ground. The army will continue to act to ensure security for the citizens of Israel using all means at its disposal.

Also during the party meeting, Lieberman once again expressed his disapproval of Israels return last week to the Palestinian Authority of a Palestinian who carried out a fatal terror attack in Har Hadar last September which claimed three Israeli lives.

I think this is absurd, something which is absolutely unacceptable. Our hands are tied by High Court of Justice (HCJ) rulings and the Cabinet decided that at the moment we are awaiting an appeal by an expanded panel of the HCJ. Unfortunately, nothing can be done beyond that.

In addition to sporadic rocket fire that has plagued southern Israel in recent months, tensions were further heightened on the border when two soldiers were wounded Saturday afternoon when an explosive device was set off near an IDF patrol around the border fence in the southern Gaza Strip, opposite the Ein HaShlosha kibbutz.PARIS - France reaffirmed its commitment to the Iran nuclear deal on Monday, saying it wanted it to be strictly implemented and was continuing talks with its European and US partners on the program.

The foreign ministry said in a statement France was concerned about Iran's ballistic missiles programme and its activities in the region, mentioning its support for Houthi rebels in Yemen but making no mention of its role in Syria.

Reuters reported on Sunday that the United States is hoping to convince its European alliesBritain, France and Germanyto improve the Iran nuclear deal over time in return for US President Donald Trump keeping the pact alive by renewing US sanctions relief in May.LISBON - United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Monday he was worried about the possibility of a direct confrontation between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah movement.

Guterres said the latest signals from Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah showed the will to not let this happen but "sometimes a spark is enough to unleash this kind of a conflict".

Hezbollah said last week it could act against Israeli oil facilities if necessary in an Lebanon-Israel offshore energy dispute. US diplomats have been mediating between the two countries after a rise in tensions also involving a dispute over a border wall and Hezbollah's growing arsenal.

"I am deeply worried about hard-to-foresee escalations in the whole region," Gutters told reporters in his native Lisbon, also referring to Israel's concerns about various militia groups in Syria approaching its borders.

"The worst nightmare would be if there is a direct confrontation between Israel and Hezbollah...the level of destruction in Lebanon would be absolutely devastating, so there are major points of concern around this situation."Throngs of Gaza civilians attacked the convoy of the Qatari ambassador responsible for the rebuilding of Gaza, Muhammad al-Amadi, accusing his country of deepening the division between Fatah and Hamas. Some of the attackers demanded that the nine million dollars that Qatar announced it was donating to Gazas health infrastructure should be given directly to its citizens.GAZA CITY -- A Qatari envoy said Monday that both Israel and Gaza militants want to contain cross-border violence that has flared in recent days, as he detailed a new emergency fund to aid the blockaded territory..

"We confirm through our relationship with the two sides that they are not interested in escalation or engaging in a confrontation that could ignite the entire region," the Qatari envoy, Mohammed al-Emadi, told reporters in Gaza City.

Al-Emadi, whose country maintains contacts with the Islamic militant group Hamas and has hosted its leaders, coordinates Qatar's relief and reconstruction projects in Gaza. On Monday, he announced details of a $9 million emergency fund for addressing fuel and medicine shortages.

The Qatari grant includes $2 million in medical supplies and $500,000 for fuel to power backup generators in Gaza's public health centers, enough to keep them running for a month.

Trucks loaded with the supplies and decorated with Qatari flags and posters of the oil-rich sheikhdom's rulers could be seen outside Gaza City's main Shifa hospital on Monday, where al-Emadi and UN officials spoke.

Hospital cleaning workers demonstrated their support during the ceremony, holding signs reading "Thank you, Qatar." They have been on a strike for 10 days, demanding payment from the Hamas-run Health Ministry. Hamas and Abbas' Palestinian Authority are locked in a dispute over who is responsible for paying them.ANKARA - Syria's government will face consequences if it reaches an agreement with the Kurdish YPG militia against Turkey's military operation, President Tayyip Erdogan was quoted as telling Russian President Vladimir Putin in a phone call on Monday.

Turkish broadcaster CNN Turk said Erdogan told Putin that Turkey's offensive, dubbed Operation Olive Branch, would continue as planned.

A source in Erdogan's office had said the two leaders had held a phone call earlier on Monday, discussing recent developments in Syria's Idlib and Afrin.Chairman of the Knesset's House Committee MK Miki Zohar (Likud) compared on Haifa Radio Monday the murder of former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and the investigations against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and their attendant media coverage, alleging that Netanyahu had also suffered a form of political assassination.

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The Labor party responded to the Likud MK's comments by saying he "shamed the Likud, the Knesset and the country."

When asked whether Likud members were counting down to the end of Netanyahu's days as premier, Zohar replied, "No. We're not at that point. We're at a point where we see a situation of a political murder of a prime ministerwhich of course includes political persecution. I consider what's been done to the prime minister to be political murder."

The same thing being done to PM Netanyahu (L) was done to slaim fmr. PM Rabin, Likud MK Miki Zohar said (Photo: Moti Milrod, Yaakov Sa'ar/GPO)

"Yes, I'm comparing the Rabin assassination to what's being done to the prime minister. I compare them because what's being done to (Netanyahu) is everything except taking his life. That's what they're doing to show that they've succeeded in deposing a prime minister undemocratically," the MK stated.

Zohar further elucidated on his theory, "What they did to Rabin was a heinous murderer came along and took the prime minister out of office by taking his life. Undemocratically, contemptibly, and he was incarcerated for the rest of his life. That's what they're doing to Prime Minister Netanyahu, except for taking his life. They're doing everything to remove him from office, by any means necessary, which is no less grave to me."

The Likud MK then claimed that, "The Israel Police is biased. When it comes to Netanyahu's investigations, they are not objective. I have theory that (Lahav 433 founder and Yesh Atid member Yoav) Segalovic is friends with the investigators. He worked with them, and commanded some of them, and together with (Yesh Atid chief and key witness against Netanyahu) Yair Lapid they've been conspiring to take out the prime minister undemocratically.

MK Zohar also wondered why Yair Lapid was not being investigated (Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg)

"We saw Yair Lapid was (a central witness). Why isn't he being investigated on Arnon Milchan and the story they're now trying to pin on the prime minister? Because we know Lapid was employed by Milchan. Milchan's daughter, which is the same as Milchan himself, donated a lot of money to his party."

MK Zohar was also asked on the possibility of advising the prime minister to take a leave of absence from the premiership in light of the investigations against him and the police's recommendation to indict him for bribery. "I don't want to say that, because I don't think he should do it. Police are doing a wonderful job in Israel when it comes to law enforcement, handling crime, maintaining public safety. No doubt it," the MK said.

"There's only one thing police can't seem to do, as they fail at doing it time after time, and that's investigating public officials and celebrities. In those cases, the policeeither through the embrace of the media or through the public opinion they wish to win oversimply lose it.

"They arrest people for nothing. They end up releasing them, and never charge them. Erez Wiener Avi Benayahu and many others. It's one of the police's biggest problems and should be examined by a State Investigation Committee."

The Labor party added to their prior comment that, "If anyone still remains in the Likud movement with any kind of statism, they should disavow Zohar's statements and fully and immediately denounce them."Moroccos top tourist attraction, Marrakech, is gradually becoming a key stop on the art markets destinations with the holding of the renowned African art fair, 1:54, the Museum of African Contemporary Art Al Maaden (Macaal) this month, said The Independent.

In an article that highlights facets of the citys art fairs, the paper described the Red City as witnessing a contemporary art revolution that has actually been brewing for years behind the implacable facades of the medina Riads and in the stark, modern buildings of the dusty suburbs.

The paper said that Marrakech is offering a showcase platform of African art. After raising the profile of African artists overseas, our long-term ambition was always to bring the focus back to the continent, so we could create a solid base on African soil, The Independent said quoting Touria El Glaoui, the founder of 1:54, which runs alongside the Frieze art fair in both London and New York.

Marrakech was an important art hub long before Cape Town, partly because it attracted so many creative people like Yves Saint Laurent from Europe. But now we want to attract African artists from our continent, the paper quotes a local art lover as saying.

The British newspaper also shed light on the glittering Musee Yves Saint Laurent, saying that this edifice, which opened late last year, bolsters the colorful contemporary art fairs and exhibitions in the city attracting a new kind of visitors to Marrakech  one that looks beyond the heady, incense-laded souks that speak so heavily of Moroccos past, towards its future as one of the loudest voices in the African art world.A man, aged 34, was arrested in Ashkelon Monday on suspicion of a murder committed in Ulm, Germany last month. The arrest, executed with the assistance of Interpol, was carried out at the behest of German authorities, which are also asking for the suspect's extradition.

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According to German sources, the suspect was involved in two robberies around New Year, one of which culminated in a murder.

The scene of the murder in Ulm

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In the early morning hours of January 6, 2018, the man and an accomplice he met in prison broke into the Ulm apartment of a 91-year-old woman and her son, aged 59.

Location of the murder

The woman's son is said to have awoken during the break-in, and was badly beaten by the burglars due to his resistance. They then dragged him, via the stairs, to another room in the house, where they tied him up and gagged his mouth with tape.

They also attacked the elderly woman, who sustained bruises, took some cash and jewelry and fled the scene.

Despite her condition, the woman managed to call emergency services and the son was taken to the hospital, where he succumbed to head wounds and suffocation.

The suspects fled the country to Italy, where they split up. German police asked the public for help in locating the perpetrators.

The accused returned to Israel and was arrested Monday. He will be remanded at the Jerusalem Magistrates' Court Tuesday.Bezeq majority owner Shaul Elovitch, former media adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Nir Hefetz and former Communications Ministry director-general Shlomo Filber are among those arrested Sunday in the Bezeq corruption affair, it was cleared for publication late Monday.

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Or and Iris Elovitch, the son and wife of Bezeq's owner, and CEO Stella Handler were also arrested.

Suspects are alleged to have either given or received bribes, in a quid pro quo relationship involving actions that benefited Bezeq and Walla! Newsa news site owned by the telecommunications giantin return for flattering coverage of Prime Minister Netanyahu and his family.

L-R: Filber, Elovitch and Hefetz were arrested Sunday (Photo: Motti Kimchi, Orel Cohen)

The prime minister himself is expected to be questioned in the affair in the near future, in fact, as is his wife Sara, who is set to give testimony due to her relationship with Iris Elovitch.

Police investigators have obtained text messages, emails and recordings of some of the people involved, who were arrested Sunday, with their remand extended at the Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court by four to five days.

Police and the Israel Securities Authority hold a highly significant "golden testimony" by one of the suspects involved, according to source with knowledge of the investigation.

Said testimony was presumed to be the reason the suspects' attorneys did not object to the police's requests to remand their clients.

The affair deals with an allegedly reciprocal relationship between Netanyahu and those close to him and senior executives at Bezeq and Walla! Newsand the possibility that favorable coverage was afforded to the Netanyahu family in return for promoting the two companies' economic interests.

Allegedly illicit ties between Bezeq chief Elovitch (L) and PM Netanyahu were probed by police (Photo: EPA, Yuval Chen)

The initial break in the case took place Sunday, when police and the Securities Authority announced the arrests. A gag order was placed on information pertaining to the investigation, however, which has just been lifted.

The police's announcement said that due to evidence collected by the Securities Authority, which raised suspicions that further offenses were committed, a new joint investigation was underway.

The Bezeq affair began as a solo investigation by the Israel Securities Authority, which concluded with the recommendation to indict senior Bezeq executives, including Elovitch and Handler, as well as senior officials at its subsidiary, satellite television provider Yes.

Elovitch financially benefited from approved deals in a manner that may constitute fraud, the summation handed over to the State Attorney's Office showed, whereas then-Communications Ministry director-general Filber worked on Bezeq's behalf while withholding information from professional ranks.

Filber is also said to have leaked to the company classified documents for them to provide their comments and engineer to their own needs.

Questions about Filber's conduct vis-a-vis Bezeq were also raised in the State Comptroller's report this past July. Filber is currently suspended from his position since being questioned under caution at the beginning of the Securities Authority's investigation.

Communications Ministry Director-General Shlomo Filber (Photo: Motti Kimchi)

Several months ago, the police asked to receive the investigation materials from the Securities Authority and launch an investigation of their own, but their request was declined by the Securities Authority, which sought to complete its financial investigation first.

However, the police continued investigating prominent figures in the case such as Elovitch, Filber, Hefetz and Handler even before receiving the materials.

Their investigation found messages that were sent to Elovitch from people close to Netanyahu asking for favorable coverage for the prime minister on Walla! News.

The police team is also said to be on the brink of signing a state witness agreement with one of the suspects, but remained mum on their identity.

While the agreement had not yet been formally finalized, police nevertheless obtained key testimonies, including from some of those involved.

A parade of witnesses

Among those called in to provide testimony on the affair were Walla! News chief executive officer Ilan Yeshua, past and present editors-in-chief of the site, former director-general of the Prime Minister's Office Harel Locker and former Netanyahu bureau chief David Sharan. None of the aforementioned are suspects.

Both Yeshua and Yinon Magal, a former Walla! News editor-in-chief, confirmed to investigators that the site's editorial staff was under pressure to publish articles favorably covering the Netanyahu family.

Fmr. Walla! News editor-in-chief Yinon Magal provided testimony (Photo: Motti Kimchi)

This pressure, police suspect, was the return for the exceedingly lenient terms Elovitch benefited from in regulatory oversight of Bezeq and Yes transactions.

The first to be remanded was Elovitch, who is suspected of offenses relating to the Securities Law, fraud and breach of trust, fraudulently obtaining benefits, money laundering and bribery.

Judge Ronit Poznanski-Katz hinted while the gag order was still in place that a break in the investigation was reached raising suspicions that said offenses were indeed committed by the business mogul.

The judge's statement seemed to corroborate defense attorneys' suspicions that one of the suspects involved provided a detailed account to police and was on the verge of inking a state witness agreement.

Elovitch's attorney, Jack Chen, was on Netanyahu's own defense team for the illicit gifts (Case 1000) and Mozes conversation (Case 2000) investigations, and resigned from the prime minister's defense team due to this conflict of interests.

Earlier Monday, Elovitch commented on developments surrounding the corruption investigation. A statement put out on his behalf said he "unequivocally denied suspicions against him."

"We suggest remaining patient and not jumping to conclusions. We are certain that when things become clearer, it will be proven he had committed no crime," the statement concluded.

Media adviser Nir Hefetz was also remanded until Thursday. Investigators say he allegedly received bribes and committed obstruction of justice. During the hearing, it was revealed Hefetz provided detailed testimony to the Securities Authority this past December, during which he was asked of his ties to Filber and Elovitch.

Media adviser Nir Hefetz (Photo: Motti Kimchi)

Channel 10 News published recordings Sunday in which Hefetz was heard boasting of his good relations with Elovitch. "If you need anything, just say so. It's the closest possible ties," he said in a conversation with another businessman that took place 18 months ago.

Later, Hefetz also reportedly shared plans for the creation of a new television channel.

His attorney said, "Hefetz was called in to testify only six weeks ago at the Securities Authority and answered all of the questions he was asked. Legal proceedings say that it should be made clear to someone under investigation he may become a suspect. The Authority did not do this, which is highly significant to his continued investigation. I'm convinced that the investigation will conclude he is no longer a suspect."

Former Communications Ministry director-general Filber, already arrested during the Securities Authority investigation, is suspected of receiving bribes and obstruction of justice.

Filber is suspected of being the main axis connecting the Netanyahu family and Elovitch's businesses. As director-general, he is suspected of looking after Elovitch's business interests and providing benefits relating to Bezeq, in return for which he was allegedly bribed by Elovitch.

One arrest that came as a surprise to the other suspects was that of Bezeq CEO Handler. She was called in to the Securities Authority early Sunday to provide testimony, and was not initially arrested along with the others.

Bezeq CEO Stella Handler (Photo: Motti Kimchi)

Late Sunday, however, a decision was reached to also detain Handler and she was remanded on suspicion of bribery, among other things.

Her attorney said, "My client is fully cooperative and disavows the suspicions against her. We are of the opinion she should not have been arrested, and hope her freedom will not be denied her further. Mrs. Handler is confident of her innocence."

PM Netanyahu: 'A witch hunt in full swing'

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu commented on the affair Sunday, and said, "This is another false investigation kicked off due to media pressures. The media witch hunt is in full swing. After the air went out of (cases) 1000 and 2000, and it turned out there was no air at all in (case) 3000, the media exerted enormous pressure to create a new balloon4000 (the Bezeq affair). All the air will come out of that as well."

Case 1000 is the police's name for the illicit gifts affair, whereas cases 2000 and 3000 concern Netanyahu's talks with Yedioth Ahronoth owner and publisher Arnon Mozes and a deal to purchase submarines from the German ThyssenKrupp company respectively.

"The Justice Ministry made clear in the State Comptroller's report on Bezeq: 'The prime minister made no controversial decisions. No decision benefited Bezeq specifically and may be said to have been controversial, or affected by a conflict of interests.' This artificial bubble will also burst," the premier concluded.

The investigation's public phase began in June 2017, after it was conducted covertly for a time. During the course of the investigations, suspicions were examined for committing offenses relating to reporting, fraudulently obtaining benefits, fraud, breach of trust in a corporation and obstruction of justice.

Elovitch's son Or (:  )

The investigation related to suspicious conduct by senior officials at Bezeq, satellite TV company Yes and Spacecom, as well as several public officials whoin the course of the administration of their dutiesworked with Bezeq.

This past November, the Securities Authority announced evidential critical mass was reached to indict Shaul Elovitch and Filber. The Authority recommended Elovitch's son Or, Handler, Yes CEO Ron Eilon, yes CFO Micky Neiman and Bezeq secretary Linor Yochelman also be indicted.LONDON - Three police officers were killed on Monday in clashes with protesters in northern Tehran, police spokesman Saeed Montazer al-Mahdi said on state television.

The clashes were between security forces and dervishes of the Gonabadi denomination who had gathered in front of a police station, demanding the release of some members of their Sufi religious order, according to video footage posted on social media.Supreme Court Chief Justice Esther Hayut decreed Monday evening to hold a further hearing in a seven judge panel on the petition seeking to allow the return of terrorists' bodies. Hayut's decision stated the extended panel will convene to discuss the case in June, until which point the return will be temporarily blocked.

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The High Court's original decision said the state was obliged to hand over the terrorists' bodies back to their families.

The verdict, with a majority opinion by Justices Yoram Danziger and George Karra and a minority opinion of Justice Neal Hendel, thus accept appeals by family members of the terrorists whose bodies were held by Israel, and ruled that the country had no authority to hold them for the purpose of negotiations.

File photo of terrorist's funeral. High Court ruled to allow a further hearing on petition seeking bodies' return (Photo: AFP)

The terrorists' families appealed to the court demanding the bodies be returned to them. The petition encompassed nine bodiesseven of which have already been buriedamong which are the bodies of those who carried out attacks in East Talpiot and Kiryat Arba, where the late Hallel Yaffa Ariel was murdered in her home about a year and a half ago.

Chief Justice Hayut assented to the state's request for a further hearing (Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg)

The state refuses to return the bodies on the claim that holding them might help in obtaining a prisoner exchange deal with Hamas, which holds the bodies of late IDF soldiers Lieutenant Hadar Goldin and Staff Sergeant Oron Shaul, who were killed in Operation Protective Edge, and civilians Abera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed.

Two weeks after its previous ruling, the state submitted a request for a further hearing to the court, claiming the original ruling "constituted harm to the state's toolbox and to existing law seeking to promote negotiations to return living civilians and soldiers' bodies."

Enemy combatants' cemetery (Photo: Effi Sharir)

The court's December ruling raised considerable ire among Israel's political ranks, as well as incensed bereaved families . Members of the Security Cabinet made it patently clear then that the bodies will not be returned and that the principles delineated in the justices' majority opinion were unacceptable.

The ministers did, however, say that no further legislation on the matter will be sponsored until such times as the High Court replies to the request for a further hearing, which it has decided to accept Monday.The Education Ministry, together with the Home Front Command and local councils, will stage a missile attack drill at all educational institutions in Israel Tuesday.

At 10:05 the siren will sound. In addition, at several schools, there will be a search and rescue drill between the hours of 10 and 12 and will include emergency services.A Qatari envoy said Monday that both Israel and Gaza terrorists want to contain cross-border violence that has flared in recent days, as he detailed a new emergency fund to aid the blockaded territory.

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"We confirm through our relationship with the two sides that they are not interested in escalation or engaging in a confrontation that could ignite the entire region," the Qatari envoy, Mohammed al-Emadi, told reporters in Gaza City.

Qatari Envoy to Gaza Mohammed al-Emadi both Israel and Hamas were not interested in escalation

Al-Emadi, whose country maintains contacts with the Islamic terrorist group Hamas and has hosted its leaders, coordinates Qatar's relief and reconstruction projects in Gaza. On Monday, he announced details of a $9 million emergency fund for addressing fuel and medicine shortages.

Gaza crisis

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The Qatari grant includes $2 million in medical supplies and $500,000 for fuel to power backup generators in Gaza's public health centers, enough to keep them running for a month.

Trucks loaded with supplies and decorated with Qatari flags and posters of the oil-rich sheikhdom's rulers could be seen outside Gaza City's main Shifa hospital on Monday, where al-Emadi and UN officials spoke.

Hospital cleaning workers demonstrated their support during the ceremony, holding signs reading "Thank you, Qatar." They have been on a strike for 10 days, demanding payment from the Hamas-run Health Ministry. Hamas and President Mahmoud Abbas's Palestinian Authority (PA) are locked in a dispute over who is responsible for paying them.

Angry Gazans attack envoys convoy

Al-Emadis convoy was attacked by throngs of Gaza civilians outside the Shifa Hospital press conference. Attackers, who were repelled by Palestinian security forces, complained that Qatar is only deepening the divide between Hamas and the PA. Angry residents also demanded that aid money should be dispersed directly to the citizens of Gaza instead of to public institutions.

Al-Emadi exits his vehicle among angry Gazans

Last week, al-Emadi surprised many when he announced that in order to deliver aid to Gaza, it was necessary to engage with Israel. He called on the international community to send assistance and warned of dire consequences for the people of Gaza if a new round of fighting broke out.

Al-Emadi told The Associated Press that he hopes that his countrys donation will spur other nations to donate. Although Qatar has no diplomatic relations with Israel, he said that the Arabs have no choice but to engage with Israel, otherwise nothing would get done.

PA security repel angry crowds

Under al-Emadi, Qatar has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in major projects in Gaza including paving highways, rebuilding hospitals and building apartment houses. He himself oversees the projects from up close.

Earlier Monday, Israel's military struck what it said was an underground terror infrastructure site in Gaza in response to rocket fire . The military has struck various targets in Gaza in recent days and killed two Palestinians who tried to infiltrate Israel after a bomb on the border wounded four Israeli soldiers . There were no reports of casualties from the latest strike.

Gaza has been under an Israeli-Egyptian blockade since Hamas wrested control of the territory from the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority in 2007. A dispute over money and revenue collections has stalled a reconciliation deal between Hamas and President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah party, which Egypt brokered in October.

Abbas has since stepped up financial pressure on Gaza. Hamas says the cuts are endangering the functioning of Gaza hospitals.

The Gaza border area has been generally quiet since a 50-day war between Israel and Hamas in 2014. But it has seen an increase in violence since President Donald Trump's announcement in December recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital.Rabbi Adam Scheier, leader of the world's largest Orthodox communityCongregation Shaar Hashomayim in Montreal, Canadaappeared in a hearing of the Knesset's Committee for Immigration, Absorption and Diaspora Affairs, and accused the Chief Rabbinate of causing Chillul Hashem.

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Rabbi Scheier, known to be close to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the personal rabbi of late crooner Leonard Cohen, came to Israel especially to attend the committee's hearing.

Rabbi Scheier's testimony before the Knesset committee

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His community, founded in 1846, is markedly Orthodox and comprises some 1,400 families. In 2016, one of its members arrived to Israel with confirmation that he was both Jewish and single in order to marry through the country's rabbinatebut was turned away.

Prominent Canadian rabbi Adam Scheier appeared before the Knesset to blast the Chief Rabbinate's denial of his credentials (Photo: Aviad Waizman)

Yael Aloni was also not recognized as being Jewish, despite testimony from her rabbi in Michigan's Chabad house, and the fact that her sister married as a Jewish woman. Aloni wanted to assist her own daughter in marrying in Israel, but was afraid to do so in case the Chief Rabbinate questioned her own status, which would endanger her ability to receive a Jewish burial in the future.

Both Aloni and Rabbi Scheier appeared before the committee and shared their stories. The committee convened at the behest of MK Elazar Stern (Yesh Atid), following the rabbinate's failure to push forward with its plan to put together clear criteria for recognizing rabbis abroad.

MK Elazar Stern called for the committee to be convened (Photo: Gil Yohanan)

A special team of experts was put together 18 months ago by the Chief Rabbinate to do just that, but to date it has convened only once.

'Israeli Chief Rabbinate causes Chillul Hashem'

Rabbi Scheier spoke of his deep ties to Israel on the one hand and his disappointment with the country on the other. He said, "We conclude the closing Yom Kippur prayer by singing HaTikva. When members of our congregation wish to marry in Israel, I tell them there's no better place in the world to do so.

"But when I'm asked to marry someone in Israel, I warn I may not be able to do so since I don't have the rabbinate's authorization. It pains me to say this, but the Israeli Chief Rabbinate causes Chillul Hashem."

On his own personal wounds, the rabbi said, "No one ever told me why I was rejected, they only sent me a letter saying I may not be approved Anyone can find my email or social media accounts in a second with Google, and anyone who wishes to find me can easily do so.

"I'm a true rabbi and my certification is legitimate. I was personally offended by the rabbinate's rejection of me and my certification. It harms my ability to serve the Jewish people."

Rabbi Scheier (2nd right) with Canadian PM Trudeau (2nd left) (Photo: The Auschwitz Museum)

The Canadian rabbi added the existing situation engendered mistrust between him, as the leader of a large community, and members of his congregationwho were afraid to make Aliyah and get married in Israel out of the fear they will not be recognized as Jews.

This hurt his standing and reputation to such a degree, he said, that other rabbis recommended to couples to ask him to hold their wedding ceremony.

Scheier then directly addressed the Chief Rabbinate's Director Moshe Dagan, who was present in the hearing, and exclaimed, "Next time before you rule me out, I invite you to visit my synagogue. It will certainly be an educational experience."

'I felt humiliated'

Yael Aloni said that her daughter and her fiance contacted the Jerusalem Rabbinate several months ago in order to open a marriage file, and were told their Judaism needed to be ascertained.

Since both the bride's mother and grandmother did not marry in a Jewish ceremony, the couple presented a letter from a Chabad rabbi in Michigan that attested to the mother's Judaism, but were told that "it could have been created using Photoshop." The couple's claim that the mother's sister married in a Jewish ceremony was to no avail either.

"My daughter ended up getting married, Thank God," Yael said. "But the process was long and exhausting. I felt humiliated. I thought I'd have to go to Poland, where my grandmother's entire family perished in the Holocaust, to get the papers to prove my Judaism. I was afraid to even approach it, (because I feared) they would rule I myself wasn't Jewish and prevent me from being buried in a Jewish cemetery."

Chief Rabbinate Director Dagan said no black lists of overseas rabbis existed (Photo: Yonatan Zindel/Flash 90)

Chief Rabbinate Director Dagan rejected the claims that the rabbinate held a "black list" of overseas rabbis who were personally targeted, and claimed, "This demagogy that a black list was allegedly created is a lie."

He further claimed that both the rabbinate and Jewish courts approved Rabbi Scheier, but were obliged to ascertain the authenticity of the documents presented on his behalf.

Addressing the claim that the Montreal rabbi was never contacted, he explained that the rabbinate was overworked, and said, "The Matrimony and Proselytization Department receives 3,000 approvals a year, and only one employee and two students handle all of the requests."

Dagan added that despite the fact that no such black list existed, he regretted the fact that the rabbis felt slighted. He also noted that the draft list of criteria for overseas rabbis was already put together, and sent out to rabbi organizations worldwide. After they send back their comments, he assured, they will be discussed by the Chief Rabbinate Council and then approved.

'Ivanka's rabbi was also disqualified'

Head of the "ITIM: Resources and Advocacy for Jewish Life" organization Rabbi Dr. Seth Farber, who has been spearheading the public and legal battle on the issue, divulged during the hearing that according to the rabbinate's own information, nearly a quarter of all requests to approve personal status in 2016 were rejected627 of a total of 2,823.

Rabbi Filber said a quarter of all requests for approving status to the rabbinate were rejected

Efrat Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, who also attended the hearing, said, "I want the Chief Rabbinate to be respected abroad, for Israel to be respected broad, for Halakha to be respected abroadand everything is being done here to prevent that from happening. Even the rabbi who converted Ivanka Trump to Judaism was disqualified."

The rabbi who presided over Ivanka Trump's conversion to Judaism was disqualified by the rabbinate, Rabbi Riskin said (Photo: AP)

Rabbi Riskin then went on to note prominent modern Orthodox rabbis were disqualified by the rabbinate and quipped, "I felt bad for not appearing on the black list."

On a more serious note, he said, "I would like to see the Chief Rabbinate's criteria. I'm not sure I could meet them."Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon and the Coordinator for Government Activities in the Territories Major General Yoav Mordechai met the Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah in Ramallah Monday.

Kahlon called on the Palestinians to return to the American brokered negotiating table saying that they are the only reasonable broker available.

The two sides discussed security and financial arrangements including increasing employment and establishing industrial centers.An Israeli energy company on Monday announced a $15 billion deal to supply natural gas to Egypt, in the largest export agreement to date for Israel's nascent natural gas industry.

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Delek Drilling and its US partner Noble Energy signed a deal to sell a total of 64 billion cubic meters of gas over a 10-year period to Egyptian company Dolphinus Holdings. Yossi Abu, chief executive of Delek Drilling, called the deal "great news" for both countries.



He said he expected most of the gas to be used for Egypt's domestic market, but predicted it could pave the way for wider cooperation and help turn Egypt into an export hub for Israeli gas.

One of Israel's offshore gas rigs (Photo: Reuters)

"I think that the main thing is that Egypt is becoming the real gas hub of the region," he said.

Gary Willingham, Noble Energy's executive vice president of operations, said, "These agreements continue to demonstrate the strength of the regional market for our natural gas in the Eastern Mediterranean."

Egypt was the first Arab country to make peace with Israel, in 1979, but past economic agreements have been controversial in Egypt, where support for the Palestinians runs high. There was no immediate comment from Egyptian officials.

The gas will be delivered from Israel's Tamar gas field, which is already operational, and the larger Leviathan field, which is set to go online in late 2019. The gas is expected to begin flowing late next year.

Several routes for shipping the gas are under consideration, with an existing pipeline between Jordan and Egypt a strong contender, Abu said. Israel already delivers gas to Jordan.

Israel has been developing natural gas fields off its Mediterranean coast for the past decade. In 2016, Delek and Noble signed Israel's first export agreement, reaching a $10 billion, 15-year deal to provide 45 billion cubic meters of gas to Jordan.

The gas deals reflect Israel's shared strategic interests with Jordan and Egypt, both of which are important US allies.

Israel maintains quiet security ties with both countries, particularly Egypt, which is battling an Islamic terrorist insurgency in its Sinai desert, near the Israeli border.

Energy Minister Steinitz said the deal marked a 'very important milestone'

Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz called the deal a "very important milestone."

"It is the first time since the signing of the peace agreements with Egypt and Jordan that there are big, significant, serious export deals between Israel and the Arab world," he told Army Radio.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed what he called "the historic agreement," saying it would provide billions of dollars to state coffers as well.

"I welcome the historic agreement that was announced on the export of Israeli gas to Egypt. This will put billions into the state treasury to benefit the education, health and social welfare of Israel's citizens," the prime minister said.

"Many people did not believe in the gas outline. We led it knowing that it would strengthen our security, economy and regional relations, butabove allthat it would strengthen Israel's citizens. This is a joyous day," Netanyahu concluded.In recent times, celebrity marriages in Ghana seem to be hitting the rock and people are wondering what is actually happening.

This brings to mind the likes of Chris Attoh and his ex- Nigerian wife, Damilola Adegbite, Elikem and Pokello, Afia Schwarzenegger, and others.

But of all the break ups, the one that got most tongues wagging is that of Afia Schwarzenegger and her 'ex-husband', Lawrence Abrokwa.

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In November last year, the center couldnt hold in their marriage and the controversies surrounding it were so enormous.

YEN.com.gh brings you 6 revelations by Afia Schwarzenegger that has really gotten a lot of single people scared to even think about marriage.

READ ALSO: I prefer older women to young girls  KIDI reveals

1. Physical abuse: According to Afia Schwarzenegger, Abrokwa had been in the habit of physically and verbally assaulting her before and after their wedding.

The stunning part was when Afia revealed that just three days to their wedding, Abrokwa beat her and her physically challenged mother. But she ignored all these warning signs that Abrokwa was not a good man and went ahead to marry him.

2. Dependence: According to Afia Schwarzenegger, Abrokwa heavily depended her on before and after their marriage. What is more, Afia claims her 'jobless ex-husband' was also stealing from her from time to time.

But anytime she asked him about it, he would deny and sometimes beat her up.

In this time of economic hardship, it would be a very serious thing to marry a man who is jobless and who depends on you for his every need.

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3. Wedding loan: Well, another scary thing Afia Schwarzenegger has revealed about her failed marriage with Abrokwa is the claim that she financed their wedding, not with money she or they both had saved, but interestingly a loan from the bank!

According to the Ghanaian custom and tradition, men are responsible for footing marriage bills. But in this case, Afia took it upon herself to finance the marriage with a borrowed money, and this is a serious thing.

4. Abrokwa burning her house: Another revelation Afia has made is that Lawrence Abrokwa tried to burn down her house on three occasions.

She claims she owns the house all by herself without Abrokwas pesewa. He had threatened and in fact, attempted burning down the house but someway somehow, he failed to do so.

READ ALSO: Ebony's response to her managers when they asked her about her many tattoos

5. Paying off prostitutes: Now this is scarier! According to Afia, she had often paid off some prostitutes Abrokwa patronized but couldnt raise money to pay for their services.

Afias claims mean that Abrokwa was cheating on her, and having extra marital affairs not with ordinary women but with commercial sex workers.

In todays world, which woman would look on as her husband sleeps with with other women, and more seriously prostitutes and later pay them off? It is a serious thing indeed.

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6. 9-month duration of marriage: Well, it is the dream of everyone who marries to live forever with their partners, if that were possible. No one would wish that their marriage lasts a short time.

But in the case of Afia Schwarzenegger, her marriage lasted 9-months, meaning she couldnt even celebrate one year anniversary of marriage.

These revelations by Afia Schwarzenegger are enough to make some people shy away or simply forget about marriage.

READ ALSO: Asamoah Gyan donates items as Ghanaians observe Ebonys one week memorial

She recently launched her foundation The Leave2Live Foundation which has the aim of exposing domestic abuse in marriage and also providing support for victims.

Afia Schwarzenegger has urged women who face spousal abuse to speak up and reach for support.

To her, forsaking an abusive marriage is the best way of regaining ones self-respect and preparing for a better future especially when they are children.

Meanwhile, she is still battling Abrokwa in court over many charges including theft.

READ ALSO: Video of Ebonys brother singing sorrowfully to mourn her would definitely move you to tears

YEN remembers the beautiful life of dancehall diva Ebony Reigns with this video below:

READ ALSO: Kaywa tried to stop her from visiting the North but she ignored him  Ebonys managers

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Source: Yen.com.ghPolisarios warmonger leadership appointed recently Mohamed Ouali Akeik, a perpetrator of terrorist attacks, as its new Prime Minister.

The new Prime Minister of the self-proclaimed SADR was involved in the terrorist attacks that targeted Spanish workers in the phosphate extraction site, known as Phosboucraa, near Laayoune, le360.ma said.

Ouali Akeik was member of a Polisairo commando that took workers in the mining site by surprise killing a Spanish soldier, Angel Del Moral, and kidnapping two other Spanish nationals: an entrepreneur from the Canary Islands, Antonio Martin, and physician Jose Sastre Papiol.

The attack was commanded by the current Polisario leader, Brahim Ghali, who is wanted by the Spanish justice for war crimes.

The Polisairo adopted terrorism as a tactic targeting civilians both Moroccan and Spanish in mining sites. These attacks took place following the Green March, which marked the end of Spains occupation of the Sahara provinces. The completion of the security berm thwarted the hit-and-run tactics peculiar to Polisarios guerrilla warfare.

The Canary Islands Association for Terrorism victims (Acavite) is suing the Polisario for crimes against humanity. It estimates that 300 people, mostly fishermen, were killed by the separatist militia and 50 others were injured, tortured, or kidnapped between 1970 and 1980.

In 2016, the Spanish Interior Ministry acknowledged the existence of 130 cases of victims of the Polisario. The Spanish Law grants these victims the same status as victims of terrorism.

On November 6, 2015, the Spanish Ministry of the Interior recognized the Canary Islands victims of the Polisario terrorism, in a ceremony held at the Canary Islands Government Delegation. Forty-nine victims were decorated, in an act of memory, dignity, justice, and truth.

In January this year, King Felipe VI of Spain received the chairwoman of Acavite, Lucia Jimenez, who briefed him about the terrorist attacks perpetrated by the Polisario in the Sahara during the colonial era and on the victims who are in need of help.

According to Spanish media, King Felipe VI showed interest in learning more about the cases of the victims and their orphans, notably the attacks that targeted workers at Phosboucraa.- Bishop Oyedepo has dismissed claims that he is worth only $150 million

- He said it is insulting for one to say that he is worth $150 million

- He was responding to a Forbes list on rich pastors

Super rich Nigerian pastor, Bishop David Olaniyi Oyedepo, founder of Winners Chapel International, has criticized a Forbes report that says the popular Christian pastor is worth about $150 million.

Responding to the popular financial magazine's publication, Bishop Oyedepo said the fact that Forbes says he is worth $150 million is a insult, and quoted biblical scripture which he feels better represents his net worth.

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He said: "Some fellow said I was worth $150 million, I said that is an insult. That is an insult. I am worth Philipians 4: 19 which says My God shall supply all my needs according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. $150 million is too small. That cant be."

Bishop Oyedepo's comment may seem like arrogant words, but a closer look at his finances, properties, and his church's achievements shows that he may have a point.

Winners Chapel, the mega church which Bishop Oyedepo sits at the helm of, is said to be the biggest church in Africa, and boasts a 50,000 seater auditorium largely considered as the biggest in the world.

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Not only that, Winner's Chapel International, a.k.a. Living Faith Church, has branches in over 45 countries including the United States, and the United Kingdom.

He has also led to the establishment of several popular educational institutions, including two of the most prestigious private universities, Covenant University and Landmark University.

The affluent - and ambitious - man of God is said to have plans on establishing more Universities in other African countries including Ghana, Kenya, ad the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Checkout a video of Oyedepo's reaction below:

READ ALSO: Wanlov names his daughter after Ebony Reigns

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Source: YenSeveral political parties and groups from the civil society Sunday staged a protest march in capital Tunis, calling for the adoption of a bill criminalizing normalization of ties with Israel.

The protest was organized by the National Coordination Committee for the Criminalization of Normalization with the Israeli Occupation.

According to Middle East Monitor (MEMO), some 12 parties, NGOs and associations from all governorates of the North African country participated in the march.

The participants called for the enactment of a law criminalizing the normalization of ties between Tunisia and Israel.

Tunisia, like most Arab countries, has no official diplomatic ties with Israel and the public opinion is pro-Palestinian.

The parliament is expected to vote this week a draft proposed by some parties, including left-wing opposition parties, criminalizing normalization of ties with Israel.

Last week, MP Ammar Amroussia ripped up the Israeli flag after the parliament indefinitely delayed the debate on the draft bill.

According to press reports, the bill did not get the endorsement from President Caid Essebsi.

The protestors on Sunday also condemned US President Donald Trumps decision to declare Jerusalem capital of Israel and his plans to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to the holy city.The Council of European Union has approved the opening of negotiations with Morocco on a new fisheries partnership agreement. The current, 4-year accord sealed with the North African Kingdom, will expire on 14 July 2018.

An independent European evaluation study underlines the positive impact of the current protocol in terms of sustainable fishing and its socioeconomic contributions in both the EU and in Morocco. The evaluation also highlights the clauses supporting economic development and benefiting local population, such as landings in ports and embarkation of local seamen (about 200 seamen being employed on board EU vessels).

About 120 vessels from 11 EU countries (Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, Germany, Lithuania, Latvia, The Netherlands, Ireland, Poland and United Kingdom) are operating in Moroccos waters.

Both the EU and Morocco benefit from the fisheries agreement, the independent evaluation study says. Its findings show that the deal not only promotes sustainable development of the fisheries sector through Halieutis strategy projects but also facilitates jobs for Moroccan sailors and fishermen via 1000 boarding contracts per year.

Moreover, over 75 pc of the socio-economic benefits of the agreement, such as creation of hundreds of new jobs and improvement of working conditions of tens of thousands of people, are enjoyed by people living in Moroccos Southern provinces.

Similarly, the gains of the 11 EU countries operating in Moroccan waters largely exceed the 30m the EU invests for the support of Moroccan sectoral fisheries policy. According to the study, every Euro invested created 2.78 value added for the EU.

Some experts warn against the European Court of Justice (ECJ) attempts to undermine EU international treaties, citing in this regard the non-binding opinion voiced lately by ECJ advisor Melchior Wathelet who claimed that the EU-Morocco fisheries deal violates the rights of people from Western Sahara.

But the European Commission and fisheries professionals across Europe discarded Wathelet opinion, saying they want to renew the fisheries agreement with Morocco.

Both Moroccan and European officials have underscored the strategic importance of their relations and expressed willingness to expand cooperation in all areas of common interest.

The EU has extensive ties with Morocco in trade, political and security matters. Morocco plays a key role in the fight against terrorism and has helped France, Spain, Belgium, Italy and other countries in the fight against terror cells and extremist groups threatening European security.As American as apple pie.

Five days after 17 people were killed in the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, in Parkland, Florida, the White House announced that President Trump would support a currently stalled Senate bill that improves background checks for gun purchases.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement that President Trump had discussed the issue with Republican senator John Cornyn, who had introduced the bill last year with Connecticut Democrat Chris Murphy, one of the most outspoken gun-reform advocates in Congress.

While discussions are ongoing and revisions are being considered, the president is supportive of efforts to improve the federal background check system, Sanders said.

The bill, the Fix NICS Act, does not actually expand background checks or close any loopholes. It merely aims to strengthen the National Instant Criminal Background check system, thus preventing people who have been prohibited from firearm purchases from buying them anyway. Cornyn and other senators introduced the bill after it was revealed that Devin Patrick Kelley, who killed 26 people at a Texas church last year, was able to obtain an assault rifle after the Air Force neglected to report a previous domestic violence conviction.

The bill enjoys bipartisan Senate support, and even the backing of the National Rifle Association  yet it had stalled nonetheless, as often happens with gun legislation. It remains to be seen whether Trumps support will revive it, or whether the more conservative House would jump onboard.

In his past life, Trump had evinced some support for stricter gun laws. But since transforming into a hard-right Republican, he has been an unquestioning supporter of the National Rifle Association, which heavily funded his candidacy.

After the Florida shooting, Trump did not mention gun laws in his initial remarks, focusing instead on mental health. He followed a similar path after the mass shooting in Las Vegas last year.

Following the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012, the Senate came close to passing a major universal background checks law. But the bill collapsed in the face of Republican (and some Democratic) opposition, and it would have faced a steep uphill battle in the House even if it had survived the Senate. Since then, there has been zero movement on any gun legislation at the federal level, though some states have been busy expanding or restricting gun rights.

In the aftermath of the shooting in Parkland, Florida, several surviving students have been extremely vocal in their denunciations of politicians who refuse to consider new gun laws.New Yorks February 19-March 5, 2018 issue cover

On the cover of New York Magazines February 19March 5, 2018, issue, Jill Abramson writes about Clarence Thomas and whether its time to reconsider whether the Supreme Court justice belongs on the bench, given new evidence that he lied to get there.

New York editor Noreen Malone says the idea to run this story originated after listening to a discussion of the #MeToo movement and the history of the Anita Hill hearings between Rebecca Traister and Jane Mayer on Fresh Air last fall. Mayer  who, along with Jill Abramson, published Strange Justice: The Selling of Clarence Thomas, the definitive investigation of that hearing and the claims against Thomas  mentioned that there had been other women whose corroborative testimony had been suppressed at the time. During the segment, both Traister and Mayer called for a reopening of the case.

Though Malone knew certain details of the case, she was stunned to hear the full context and weight of the campaign to smear Hill. Even more stunning to me was Mayers revelation that a woman had come forward in 2016 to say that Clarence Thomas had groped her, while he was a sitting Supreme Court justice, says Malone.

Strange Justice is a pretty amazing feat of reporting, and Jill Abramson was able to build on it with her new reporting to marshal a highly convincing, carefully argued case: that Clarence Thomas had not only sexually harassed Anita Hill and other women who worked for him, but that he had lied about it under oath, says Malone. I hope people do a serious reevaluation of Thomass place on the bench as a result.Police constable Stafford Walusansa is nursing gunshot wounds following a raid on Sofia police post in Busia in eastern Uganda by unknown assailants.

Two thugs reportedly shot and injured Walusansa before making off with his AK-47 rifle and over 30 rounds of ammunition.

The thugs reportedly stormed the police post at around 10:30pm on Sunday night. Walusansa was manning the counter at the time of the attack. He's now admitted at Busia health centre IV.



According to the statements recorded by police from some of the officers who responded to the attack, the two assailants clad in black jackets, entered the police post like any other clients before shooting at Walusansa.



Police spokesperson, Emilian Kayima, says the assailants are suspected to have been from Kenya.



"We suspect that the attackers are from Kenya. They were using a motorcycle with Kenyan number plates," Kayima said.

Busia district borders eastern Uganda and western Kenya. Police recovered a star pistol with four rounds of ammunition believed to have been dropped by the attackers as they were getting away. Police also recovered a cartridge, a ceiling riffle and a watch believed to belong to the suspects.

"Our officers responded to the attack and were able to chase away the attackers," Kayima told URN.

This is the second attack on police officers in less than a week. Barely three days ago, two police officers were killed and their guns stolen in Kizza zone in Kawempe division in Kampala city.



The deceased officers were identified as Mark Habyara and Malcom Otim. Records from Kawempe police station show that the two officers had worked during day and were expected to hand over their guns in the evening but they didn't.If you thought the Mumbai-Pune expressway was the best thing that could ever happen in Maharashtra, prepare to have your expectations completely blown away. Because five to seven years from now, Virgin Group founder Richard Branson plans to inaugurate a hyperloop linking the two cities that will cut down travel time to 25 minutes, or less. The icing on the cake is that you won't have to break a bank for the privilege.

What's a hyperloop? It's a revolutionary train service that envisions loading passengers and cargo into a pod that will accelerate gradually via electric propulsion through a low-pressure tube. According to Sir Richard Branson, Chairman of Virgin Hyperloop One, the company building this system, the pod will then quickly lift above the track using magnetic levitation and glide at airline speeds for long distances due to ultra-low aerodynamic drag. In fact, with speeds 2-3 times faster than high-speed rail, hyperloop can connect far-flung Indian cities as if they were metro stops.

The technology for Hyperloop One is currently in the early stages of the commercialisation phase after the successful completion of the world's first full scale hyperloop systems test at their DevLoop site outside Las Vegas. And, according to The Economic Times, India just might be the first market for Hyperloop One, ahead of the Middle East, Northern Europe and the US, where the company is considering rolling out its service.

"We have always believed that India would be a tremendous market for hyperloop. The Pune-Mumbai route is one of the strongest economic cases we have seen to-date," said Virgin Hyperloop One CEO Rob Lloyd. So, yesterday, on the first day of the Magnetic Maharashtra Convergence 2018-a three-day summit inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Mumbai-Branson signed the Framework Agreement to begin the development of the route, starting with an operational demonstration track.

The proposed hyperloop route will link central Pune, Navi Mumbai International Airport, and Mumbai in 25-minutes, and will eventually support 150 million passenger trips annually, saving more than 90 million hours of travel time, and thus transforming lives. The system, boasting the capability to travel up to 1,000 km per hour, will also have the potential for the rapid movement of palletized freight and light cargo, creating a robust backbone for on-demand deliveries, supply chains, and next-generation logistics.

All in all, Branson claims that based on the team's studies, the hyperloop could result in $55 billion (Rs 3.5 lakh crore) in socio-economic benefits over 30 years of operation. That apart, the 100% electric system could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 150,000 tons annually.

The project will begin with a six-month in-depth feasibility study, which will build upon the findings of the pre-feasibility study signed in November 2017 between the Pune Metropolitan Regional Development Authority and Virgin Hyperloop One and define the route alignment including environmental impact, the regulatory framework, cost and funding model recommendations, etc. Once this is completed, followed by the procurement stage to determine the public-private partnership structure, the construction of the hyperloop route will commence. The demonstration track will be constructed in two to three years and serve as a platform for testing, certifying, and regulating the system for commercial operations. The second phase will target to complete construction of the full Pune-Mumbai route by 2025. Future projects could also extend the route to link central Pune with the New Pune International Airport and Jawaharlal Nehru Port in Mumbai with Pune's industrial economic zones.

Said Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, "The Pune-Mumbai hyperloop route will be an economic catalyst for the region and create tens of thousands of jobs for India's world-class manufacturing, construction, service, and IT sectors and aligns with Make in India initiatives." According to officials, the project will ultimately be executed by a public-private partnership, which will save taxpayer money.

In fact, Branson claims the hyperloop can be set up at much lower cost than a high-speed rail network. "Price point will be at level of any other alternative mode of transportation. We are not pricing this as something only for wealthy, this will be available to the masses," he told the media, adding "I believe Virgin Hyperloop One could have the same impact upon India in the 21st century as trains did in the 20th century."

Actually, the company hopes to eventually set up a network, creating "the largest connected urban area in the world by linking nearly 75 million people across the three metropolitan areas"of the states of Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh". The Memorandums of Understanding signed with the latter states governments last year to conduct feasibility studies were a step in this direction. If things fall in place, travel between Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Visakhapatnam, and Amaravati could take place in under two hours in the next decade.

Incidentally, this was not the only headline-grabbing announcement made at the Magnetic Maharashtra Convergence. Reliance industries chairman Mukesh Ambani, too, announced that his company will set up the first integrated digital area in the state. "It will be a collaborative investment worth Rs 60,000 crore, where 20 global companies will be investing," he added. No wonder Fadnavis felt emboldened to announce plans to become India's first $3 trillion economy by 2025.NRI Nirav Modi's Indian company allotted 750 equity shares of Rs 10 each at an incredible premium of Rs 14,21,702 per share totalling Rs 106 crore. There are some suspicious corporate developments at one of Nirav Modi's companies ANM Enterprises, which indicates some sort of an urgency on the part of fraudster Modi to remit funds into India from overseas.

Why was he pumping back money into India from overseas? Was it the same money that he siphoned off via letter of credit (LoU) and was trying to placate Indian banks by paying the interest or commission portion.

The details are very sketchy. Modi's ANM Enterprises made a hurried private placement through an extraordinary general meeting in November last year for issuing shares at a unbelievable Rs 14,21,702 per share. Yes, the premium per share was Rs 14.21 lakh per share. The company passed a resolution on November 6, 2017, to allot 750 equity shares of Rs 10 each at a premium of Rs 14,21,702 per share totalling Rs 106 crore.

Modi, as an NRI promoter, had 99.91 per cent shareholding in the company.

The valuation done by an outside consultant, Corporate Professional, which is a Sebi registered Category-I merchant banker, has lot to answer. The valuation report, a copy of which is with Business Today, shows that the merchant banker has taken the 'Adjusted Net Value method' to calculate the value of shares. According to valuation report, the shareholders' funds are taken as Rs 26.19 crore and 'appreciation in the value of shares in group company Firestar International was taken as a whopping Rs 1394 crore. Both were added up to arrive at a premium of Rs 14,21,712 per share. There are no details on the valuation report of Firestar International. How did Corporate Professionals arrive at a 'appreciation in the value of investments' in Firestar International?

The resolution also talked about keeping the money received from NRI Modi in a separate account opened with Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC), Cuffe Parade branch. In fact, one of the objects of making a preferential allotment was to repay the loan.

Similarly, Nirav Modi subscribed to some 37,00,000 compulsory convertible debentures (CCD) of value of Rs 100 per debenture. The value was Rs 37 crore. The CCD carried a zero per cent interest with a validity of 10 years.

Similarly, Modi was planning to make a public issue in its Firestar International.

Was he trying to tide over some liquidity crisis as the noose was tightening with banks not ready to advance him more funds for working capital and other term loans?DC orders to strictly enforce the ban on the use of plastics[two articles on CPI(M)s hardline posture that sees the Congress party and the BJP as the same]

scroll.in, 5 February 2018

CPI(M) has proved to be a auseful idiota for BJP by rejecting alliance with Congress

By foreclosing any possibility of a united electoral challenge to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, the communist party only strengthens Hindutva communalism.

by Aniket Alam

One could argue that despite socio-economic conditions in India being conducive for its politics, the Left regularly manages to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Indeed, the manner in which the central committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) recently rejected any possibility of a united electoral front against Narendra Modias Bharatiya Janata Party suggests we are in for a repeat show of that most successful play of the communists: ahistoric blundera .

This time the battle pivots on one word: aunderstandinga . Should there be any room left for electoral understanding between the parties opposed to the BJP so that the anti-Modi vote does not split? Shorn of all verbiage, the majority in the CPI(M)as leadership believes that 15 months before the next general election, the very possibility of such a united front needs to be firmly closed. For any party invested in an electoral battle, or for that matter in any political contest, this does not make sense. The only sensible tactic is to keep all options open until the end and maximise the potential from all possibilities of victory.

There is consensus within the CPI(M) on two points, as indeed within almost any group opposed to the Modi government. One, that the BJP is a clear and present danger to the Indian republic, which is less than perfect but enshrines the ideals of democracy, justice, secularism and socialism for which we strive. Two, that another term for the present dispensation would mean the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the BJPas parent organisation, would push its agenda of Hindu Rashtra a an authoritarian, anti-secular, anti-democratic nation a much further, perhaps irreversibly.

The debate is about how to prevent this. Can there be an understanding with the Congress to prevent opposition votes from splitting and handing the BJP a victory? This happened in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly election in 2017 when the non-communal vote was split and enabled the saffron party to win an unprecedented number of seats. It appears that Prakash Karat, the former general secretary of the CPI(M), has convinced enough of his comrades that irrespective of whether the split in opposition votes hands the BJP victory in 2019, there can be no possibility of aany understandinga with the Congress.

This position has been dressed up in complex argumentation and claims to some form of ideological and political purity among communist parties. In reality, it is merely another version of Arun Shourieas (in)famous line that the BJP is merely Congress plus cow; that there is basically no difference between the two parties. In the language of Indiaas communist parties, these are both aruling class partiesa with little to differentiate them. In other words, tweedledee and tweedledum. Looking at independent Indiaas political history, it is clear that this formulation has only helped the BJP gain respectability. The perception that it is merely a more Hindu version of the Congress has allowed the Hindutva party to regularly divide its opponents and, more dangerously, to ally with non-communal parties in the name of anti-Congressism.

Historic blunder

Interestingly, this aCongress and BJP are the samea formulation did not stop the Left from having an understanding with the Hindutva party to defeat the Congress in 1977 or in 1989; the latter time at the height of the BJPas campaign to demolish the Babri Masjid. Somehow, this equating of the Congress and the BJP has mostly stopped the communists from forming a united front against Hindutva fascists, it has rarely stopped them from coming together with the latter.

In any case, at no point in Indiaas history has this aCongress and BJP are the samea line been reasonable. A comparison with Pakistan, where Muslim communalism a Hindutvaas twin a has been in power since 1947, would show how absurd this equation of the Congress with Hindu nationalism has been. One has led to an imperfect but democratic republic, the other has led to a society deeply divided by religious fundamentalism, oppressed by military rule, and with a weak democracy. An unbending anti-Congress position perhaps made sense for the communists when the Congress was the anatural party of governmenta . It is not any more, and deploying political tactics from 1977 in 2017 is not merely anachronistic and silly, but opens the door for the political consolidation of the most bigoted, authoritarian, criminal and incompetent government independent India has seen.

The record of the previous United Progressive Alliance government, led by the Congress, also belies this false equivalence between the Congress and the BJP. Coming after six years of BJP rule, it delivered massive improvement on every social, political and economic indicator. Despite regular parliamentary obstructions by the BJP, the UPAas decade in power saw some of the most progressive pieces of legislation and policies in the history of independent India put in place. In the given global context, it was a classic social democratic government that empowered people and widened the ambit of rights, while also helping the private sector prosper. This does not mean there were no blemishes, but given all its shortcomings, the UPA was a giant step forward towards a progressive India. The last two Congress presidents, Sonia Gandhi and now Rahul Gandhi, have been consistently pushing a rights-based social democratic agenda.

The Left, in which the CPI(M) was then the largest constituent, played a crucial role in formulating and deepening the UPAas progressive agenda. The UPA is proof that a coming together of the Congress and the Left is not just feasible, it can play a crucial role in shaping a progressive, secular and pro-people agenda to unite the broadest sections of the Indian population to challenge the BJP in the coming general election. To foreclose that possibility is to be a auseful idiota for the Amit Shah-Narendra Modi election machine. History may not forgive this blunder.

Aniket Alam is a historian and journalist who teaches at IIIT-Hyderabad

o o o

Deccan Chronicle, Feb 17, 2018

Thinking Allowed: Comrade Karat and the poverty of philosophy

The erudite Mr Karat had announced that Mr Modias government is not fascist.

by Antara Dev Sen

On Sunday, the CPI(M) faces what may be its biggest battle in a long time. Tripura, the state it has been ruling for 25 years, goes to the polls. And this time the fight wonat be with a dwindling Congress, but with a shrewd, ruthless and well-organised BJP that is steadily gaining ground across the Northeast. Manik Sarkar, the incorruptible, dedicated, dyed-in-the-wool Communist leader has been an outstanding chief minister for a quarter century. But the times are odd. And after its spectacular loss in West Bengal, if the CPI(M) loses Tripura, it may as well forget about being taken seriously as a national party. It must reinvent itself as a godless party in Godas own country. Curiously, the godless grand theorists from Godas own country have surreptitiously been supporting their god-peddling opponents for years. Prakash Karat and his cosy comrades from Kerala have helped the BJP climb into power and are now busy making sure it stays there. Thatas suicidal, of course, for the CPI(M) and for the democratic, secular, egalitarian nation it dreams of. But they developed that trait when they decided to be led by a theorist who couldnat get his nose out of tenets to appreciate urgent practical needs. We saw this suicidal trait of the CPI(M) again last month, when its central committee rejected the suggestion by Mr Karatas successor, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, that it have a tactical understanding with the Congress to form a united Opposition against the BJP for the 2019 general election. Of course, this decision to not join forces will help the BJP, by splitting anti-BJP votes and weakening a united front against the Hindutva brigade.

aBJP wins in central committee by 55 to 31 votes!a lamented disappointed liberals, who had hoped for a strong, united, democratic front that could take on the BJP in 2019. It does seem like the BJP has infiltrated the CPI(M). Because the systematic sabotage of the Oppositionas chances against the Hindutva party defies logic. Donat these erudite Communist ideologues understand the enormous gravity of the situation? This is not the time to seek out differences between possible allies, itas time to put differences aside and build on common, larger ideological goals, to come together to fight the greater enemy that is uprooting pluralism and democratic freedoms and trying to change the very idea of India. This refusal to have even a tactical understanding, let alone an alliance, with the Congress for the Lok Sabha polls is yet another historic blunder by Mr Karat and his friends, one that many in the party and country will regret forever. The CPI(M)as Stalinist authoritarianism has flourished under Mr Karatas stewardship, and has faithfully prioritised its scorn for sundry conceptual enemies above the countryas greater good. So this poll strategy is the latest feather in Mr Karatas jokeras cap. The first was in 1996, when he wouldnat let the party join the Central government, not even with Jyoti Basu as Prime Minister. What spectacular scorn he displayed for parliamentary governance, what stunning arrogance in believing that people would elect them to merely be critics in Parliament. And what spectacular imagination to believe they would step in to rule once they had a majority. So charming. So unworldly.

Since then dear Karat has collected quite a few feathers for his cap. One for not allowing comrade Somnath Chatterjee to become President of India. One for its muscular ejection of Mr Chatterjee from the party for doing his duty as Lok Sabha Speaker and not putting party before country. One for confounding the people by ignoring issues of hunger, price rise, healthcare and governance to focus squarely on the India-US civil nuclear agreement, clearly something that would endear the pro-poor party to its voters in villages and slums. Then another for joining hands with the BJP to pull the plug on the secular UPA government they had helped set up. The UPA government survived, though, but the CPI(M) didnat. From that day in 2008, the CPI(M) has been in free fall. For years the older generation of CPI(M) leaders a like Harkishen Singh Surjeet, E.M.S. Namboodiripad or Jyoti Basu a had worked to get the party to that position of power. Where they had the numbers in Parliament, where they mattered, they could help form government policy. They developed a humanism that was attractive to young idealists dreaming of an equal, just, secular country. The powerful Karat chop squashed all that and took the party back to a fundamentalism that disrespects the democratic process and throttles dissent. It has had disastrous consequences. The Left did terribly in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections a where the UPA won handsomely. And in 2011, it faced the historic defeat of being routed in West Bengal after 34 years of rule. Finally, it weakened the anti-Hindutva bloc that had come together, which helped the BJP come to power.

Instead of carrying on the work started by Surjeet and comrades to find ways of halting the rise of right-wing fascism, Mr Karat and company are busy preserving party tenets as fossilised as flies in amber. With weird logic. They agree that it is crucial to defeat the BJP by bringing together all secular and democratic forces in the Opposition, yet they refuse to befriend the largest, national, pan-Indian, secular Opposition party. This is particularly silly when the CPI(M) has had many close ties with the Congress a from P.V. Narasimha Raoas time, through the Third Front and till Manmohan Singhas first UPA government. Brilliant scholars as they are, they must remember how Stalin joined hands with aimperialist forcesa to fight Hitler. Guess they can only follow suit when the situation is perfectly replicated. The erudite Mr Karat had announced that Mr Modias government is not fascist. Nor is the RSS a itas merely semi-fascist. So any coming together of the CPI(M) with secular democratic forces, including the Congress, must wait till the RSS, and then its political partner BJP are totally fascist. And perhaps reach Nazi proportions?

Antara Dev Sen is Editor of The Little Magazine. She can be contacted at: sen[at]littlemag.comDawn

For a couple of years, Mohammed Hanif followed Asma Jahangir on her annual fact-finding missions to Balochistan.

by Mohammed Hanif

In the lawns of the districtas rest house in Pishin there are more than one hundred men sitting in a circle. They are important men, Pakhtuns, Maliks, Supreme Court lawyers, local lawyers, ulemas, more ulemas from the other party, fathers whose sons have been abducted by intelligence agencies, the chairman of the local town committee, the chairman of the local market committee.

This is what Pakistan looks like outside of big cities. Important men talking to their equals or less important men. Here, Asma Jahangir is chairing the meeting.

She is visiting to find out what is happening in Pishin and the surrounding areas. She is one of the three or four women in the circle. She is smoking a beerri and listening to these men moan about everything under the sky: complaints about the government, about lack of governance, about Taliban setting up a camp in a nearby forest, about madressahs, about lack of madressahs.

She knows some of these men from her previous visits. Some older ones know her from when they used to visit her fatheras house in Lahore. She has supported some of the lawyers in bar elections, she has been trying to trace missing sons. Fathers of missing sons get more time to speak than others. The azaan starts at a nearby mosque, Asma pulls her dupatta over her head and continues to puff on her beerri.

She is like a pir who has come to a village where everyone has a long wish list. For the young and old Baloch lawyers she is an intimate friend and they want to spend every second with her.

They seek career advice, discuss the strategy for the coming bar elections, they also share gossip about their older colleagues. The men in the circle have high expectations from her. The head of the Town Committee asks Asma to areign in ISI and build more public toilets for women in Pishinas bazaars.a

Asma interrupts them mid-conversation to clarify a point, referring one person to a lawyer, another one to the HRCP office, mostly urging them to talk to each other.

The chairman of the town committee says that widows in Pishin should be allowed to marry without interference from elders. There is no law against it, she says. Islam actually encourages widows to re-marry. She waves towards various maulanas, ask them if you donat believe me.

Later, over lunch, people are falling over each other to put food in her plate, others are trying to keep them away by telling them to let her eat in peace. Everyone wants a selfie with her. She is happy to pose and smile. She leaves amidst hugs, hands over her head, prayers and promises to meet in Lahore, in Islamabad, and of course right here next year. Nobody really calls her soobon ki zanjeer [linking chain of the provinces] but for many men here she is their only connection to Lahore, to Islamabad.

Telling stories, saving lives

Her hotel room is full of lawyers, young and old. She sits on her bed and is telling a story about Benazir Bhutto and Zardari and a pompous journalist. She loves telling a good story. She is a professional level mimic and can switch from Urdu to Punjabi to English within the same sentence. In the middle of her story, her phone beeps.

She looks at it, jumps up in her bed like a child at play, bright, and agile, who has suddenly remembered her homework. She excuses herself saying she has to make an important call and goes into the bathroom. She returns 15 minutes later. Who was she on the phone with, someone asks.

During the Zardari years, there was a moratorium on the death penalty in Pakistan. She was proud of having played a role in bringing it about. But freezing the death row involves a lot of paperwork, it involves sending petitions to the Presidentas office, then reminding his staff that there is a moratorium. She was in the bathroom taking care of some death-row prisoneras paperwork that had gone missing.

She forgets the story about the pompous journalist and starts talking about various jails in Pakistan. She is rhapsodising about Haripur prison. She makes it sound like a holiday resort. The only Pakistani prison without gallows, she says.

Apparently the person who donated the land for the prison made the British government promise that no hanging ever be carried out there. The Pakistan government had been honouring that promise. aNext time I am arrested, make sure that I go to Haripur prison,a an old activist requests.

Thatas such a feel-good story. Half the people in the room want to visit Haripur prison.

In 2015, the moratorium would be lifted and the first-ever hanging would be carried out in Haripur prison.

Asmaas is a feel-good story for people who donat have very many feel-good stories.

Dealling with Haters In The Media

aIt was much before Geo and other channels came along,a she recalls during an interlude. aJang Lahore newspaper had launched one of their hate campaigns against me, the usual one that Asma is an Ahmadi. I woke up and read the paper and it was right there on the front page. Idiots. What do I do? I had young children, I also had a busy schedule for the day, office, court hearings. I knew where Jangas owner Mir Shakilur Rehman lived in Lahore. I put my kids in the car, drove to his house and barged in. I said, aLook I have work to do, I have to go to court. I am leaving these kids with you. You have put my life in danger. If anything happens to me, you are responsible. And if something happens to me these kids will be your responsibility.aa

Lecherous Men with Votes

She is never coy when talking about her struggles, her present and past battles. But she is especially proud of her campaign for the election as the president of Supreme Court Bar Association. She talks about her campaign with a passion rare even for her. She is like that politician who is always reliving an epic election campaign.

aSo there is this famous Supreme Court lawyer who holds the key to a group of crucial votes. This is my first election and I canat afford to lose. Izzat da masla [A matter of honour]. And this lawyer hates me, hates my family, basically canat stand me. He is also the most famous tharki [lech] in the bar. So heas sitting in the bar room and I go straight to him. I pat him on his cheek and plonk myself next to him on the sofa. I tell him your sister has come to ask for your help in this election, your Lahori sister, your Kakazai sister. I am sure you wonat say no to your sister. And he didnat.a

The Squirming Effect

Asma Jahangir and Abid Saqi celebrate the victory of their panel in the Lahore High Court Bar Association election

In meetings with Balochistan officials, Asma is not combative. She lets members of her mission ask most of the questions. When she interrupts and asks for a particular detail a video evidence of an abduction, intelligence types who refuse to follow court summons a officials squirm in their seats.

She brings feminism to the centre of the room and then seems to ask, now that you know I am a woman, can we ask you a few questions about national security, because you donat seem to be doing a very good job with that.

There is a video of General Musharrafas press conference after his return from the failed Agra Summit. Asma Jahangir happened to be there and must have said something that annoyed General Musharraf. As soon as a journalist mentioned her name Musharraf squirmed in his seat. His jaws moved but no word came out. For a moment it seemed he was about to have an epileptic fit.

Later I. A. Rehman said that General Musharraf had said during the Agra trip that he wanted to slap Asma Jahangir. Imagine. You are a military dictator at the top of your game, you are being feted by your worst enemies, i.e Indians, you are getting your pictures taken in front of the Taj Mahal. But the one thing you want to do a and cannot do a is to slap Asma.

That is the power of Asma that she brings out the lurking little misogynist in everyone a senior journalists, especially aseniora journalists, competing lawyers, judges, everyone. She makes them feel powerless.

There are many young men and women furiously typing over their phones which most probably their parents bought them: what has she done for Pakistan? Western stooge, Indian agent, beghairat aurat (dishonourable woman), lawyer aurat, kafir aurat, you can choose your own prefix to that word aurat. She made menfolk squirm, and sent them into fits of impotent rage. Powerful men with strong armies at their back and the law waiting like a silent but eager waiter in the room corner, find it hard to stomach that she is in the room and she is listening and she is talking and she is puffing on that beerri.

A Lunch Time *Phadda*

At a Hazara MPAas house in Quetta, a lavish lunch is served. Everyone is sitting on the floor, families of Hazara victims, members of human rights commissions, local politicians.

This is the best lunch in the history of lunches served by survivors of mass violence. Everyone is praising the food. Some local ulemas are also present. As soon as the lunch starts, one aalim [scholar] starts addressing everyone. aWhat a great country Iran is. Letas all pray that Pakistan becomes like Iran.a

Asma puts her naan down and interrupts him. aNo, Iran canat be our role model. There are more political prisoners in Iran than Pakistan. We have barely managed to get rid of a dictator, we donat want to replace it with mullahcracy. a

The aalim keeps talking about about the glories of Islamic rule. Asma keeps interrupting him. There is some talk of leaving lunch and walking out. Asma keeps arguing and keeps eating. Later she sighs and says in Punjabi: aThese maulvis, they donat even let you have lunch in peace.a

Crushing on Straight Talking

Asma Jahangir Portrait by Arif Mahmood

Governor Zulfikar Magsi is in power again and he has invited Asma and her entourage for tea. He seems to be nurturing a massive hangover, he looks bored and is not interested in any questions about missing people, about the rising sectarianism in some Baloch areas.

He keeps throwing back the questions at accompanying journalists. Fed up with the pestering, he says, aWhy are you asking me all these questions? You keep saying I am a tribal. But do you know which is the biggest tribe in Balochistan? The Army.a

Asma laughs the loudest. Later someone suggests she was soft on Magsi. aYou know what I have always thought?a she says.

aHe is the Shah Rukh Khan amongst our politicans,a she says. Shah Rukh Khan from which film? aI donat know,a she says. aI havenat seen a film for a long time.a

aIall Leave Pakistana

Bonded labourers from Hyderabad embrace Asma Jehangir in gratitude

There are rumours that she might be offered the post of caretaker Prime Minister. Senior journalists who hate her guts think finally they can nail her: Asma wants to be the prime minister.

A man a any man, a journalist, a lawyer, a judge, a retired general, a bureaucrat a is proud and honoured when he is offered a public office. But Asma Jahangir becoming caretaker prime minister? See, we told you so. She is power-hungry. Except, she doesnat want to become the prime minister.

When asked, she speaks slowly and clearly so that even morons can get her. aI have never thought of leaving the country, even at the worst of times. But if I found myself tempted by a government post, even an interim one, I would leave Pakistan.a

Asma doesnat want power because she already has it. She has the power that comes from always, and always, standing up to power. A power that comes from seeing off three military dictators, that comes from unshackling peopleas hands and their minds.

Shopping

The fact-finding mission has concluded. Everyone has packed up and is ready to leave. aHave you bought your presents?a she goes around asking.

aLook, I bought these beautiful shawls. Go buy something for your family. We still have a couple of hours.a

The writer is an author and journalist. His new book Red Birds comes out in September 2018The News on Sunday, February 18, 2018

I cannot recall exactly when and how I first met Asma. Did I see her when I was invited to dinner by her father, Malik Ghulam Jilani, to meet Nawab Akbar Bugti, who was staying with him? Not sure. But in the early 1980s I have several images of her in my mind. In one image she is standing between me and Aitzaz Ahsan, whose protAgA she at that time was supposed to be, by the bedside of Mahmud Ali Kasuri. Mian Kasuri sahib was unwell and wanted to discuss with his young friends how to strengthen the Lahore High Court Bar Associationas challenge to the Zia tyranny.

However, I was soon attracted by Asmaas campaign against the Hudood Ordinances and her defence of its victims, especially the visually impaired Safia Bibi, who had been sentenced to imprisonment and flogging for committing zina. She established herself, in my estimation, as a doughty fighter worthy of our respect. This impression was deepened when she was accused of having provided justification for the addition of the blasphemy provision to the Penal Code. I was among the many defenders of civil liberties who rallied to her defence.

Beginning in the 1990s, Asma won an embarrassingly large number of international awards. She took these awards in her stride. She valued her title of Senior Supreme Court Advocate more.

This was a period of great ferment in Lahoreas political circles. The Movement for the Restoration of Democracy (MRD, a name coined by top journalist Nisar Osmani) had been founded in 1981. Ziaul Haq had used the hijacking of a PIA plane to fill the jails with PPP leaders and a large number of leftists, and to proclaim the first Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO). He had also embroiled Pakistan in the Afghan conflict. At the same time the world had started looking at Ziaas arbitrary curtailment of the legal protection to citizens. All these developments influenced Asmaas mind and she decided to broaden her concerns and address human rights.

A distinct image in my mind is that Asma is standing in the door of my small room at Mazhar Ali Khanas brave weekly Viewpoint and I am scribbling something. She says: aRehman sahib, let us set up a Human Rights Commissiona. And I say without lifting my head aAll right, let us do thata. For many years she would repeat this scene to chide me for my casual response to her momentous announcement and to remind me that I had been wasting my time writing in small letters something of little value.

Of course, she had been talking to a lot of people, especially after she had established the Malik Ghulam Jilani Foundation to continue her fatheras work following his sudden death. The Foundation held a convention in Lahore. It was at this gathering that the decision to set up the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) was taken.

The convention had the stamp of Asmaas organisational capacity. Everybody who was doing something for womenas rights, for political prisonersa release and welfare, or for the liberation of bonded labour was invited (Asma had already played a key role in the case of Darshan Masih in which the Supreme Court started the train of events that led to the abolition of bonded labour).

A distinguished guest had brought some posters and other display material to expose the excesses committed by the Bhutto regime. Asma put her foot down. She refused to allow the convention to be marred by unnecessary controversies. The honourable guest was free to walk out.

HRCP was founded in October 1986 and it came at the right time. Martial Law had been withdrawn, Muhammad Khan Junejo had become prime minister after a party-less poll. Benazir Bhutto had returned. MRD had conducted a movement three years earlier and another was only a year away. With Justice Dorab Patel as its head and a governing body full of eminent fighters for basic rights, Asma as Secretary General launched HRCP on a full-throttle drive to defend the peopleas human rights.

The commission had its office in Asmaas law chamber above a shop on Hall Road. For three years it received no donor support and all office-bearers themselves bore their expenses on attending its meetings. The commission started getting financial support in 1990 and it shifted to a flat that Asma had bought for herself in Gulberg.

1998 was a remarkably successful year in Asmaas life. This was the year that Asma gave a dazzling display of her lobbying skills. We were in the midst of a regional human rights conference when we received reports that the National Assembly had passed a bill for the enforcement of the religious code, similar to Ziaul Haqas 9th amendment that had been passed by the National Assembly but had lapsed due to the Junejo governmentas failure to table it in the Senate. Within a few hours Asma persuaded the leaders of all opposition parties to block the measure in the Senate. The last one to fall in line was Akbar Bugti. He was asleep and woke up at midnight and immediately nodded concurrence. The bill was never sent to the Senate. It lapsed.

One other example of Asma Jahangir turning her sole voice into the voice of the majority was the demand for increase in womenas seats in legislatures. A large convention was organised jointly by HRCP and Sustainable Development Policy Institute to discuss the quantum of womenas seats in assemblies. Most organisations present were thinking of 10-12 per cent seats for women. Asma said: aNothing less than 33 per cent.a

A long debate ensued. She was supported by Tahira Mazhar Ali Khan, the then HRCP vice-chair for Punjab, and Aziz Siddiqui, and one or two others. By and by, Asmaas supporters grew and by the end of the convention womenas demand for seats in legislatures had been fixed at 33 per cent.

Beginning in the 1990s, Asma won an embarrassingly large number of international awards, including the King Baudouin Prize for development, which they wished to give to Asma alone but she put HRCP as a co-awardee and gave all the prize money, a substantial amount, to HRCP. She took these awards in her stride and valued only a few, such as the Right to Living Award, said to be an alternative to the Nobel Prize. Four foreign universities gave her honorary doctorates a two Canadian, one Swiss and one American a though she never used the prefix aDra. She especially valued her title of Senior Supreme Court Advocate. There was an unmistakable glint in her eyes when she told me about this. The little girl who had dared to defend Safia Bibi had arrived among the highest category of the countryas lawyers. She had found a place of distinction among her peers.

The most important thing that happened in 1998 was her nomination as the United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions. She decided to consult Aziz Siddiqui and me about whether she should accept the job. She talked about her practice, her work at AGHS Legal Aid Cell, her duties to HRCP. Apparently she wanted us to endorse her entry into the UN system and perhaps an assurance from us that HRCPas work would not suffer. We duly helped her accept the UN offer.

With her work against extra-legal killings Asma took off into the international orbit. Important world leaders a presidents, prime ministers, academics, artists a sought her company and some advice too. She grew up fast. She acquired a deeper understanding of men and matters. She quickly learned to comprehend the problems related to extra-legal killings in various countries and also mastered the art of writing concise reports. She outpaced most of the people who at one stage or another considered themselves as her mentors.

The first UN mandate was renewed after three years and continued till 2004. This was in accordance with the normal practice. A bit unusual was the fact that without any break she was given a second mandate a on Freedom of Religion and Belief a that continued till 2010. This mandate enabled Asma to further refine her thought process and her advocacy skills. She also became more circumspect. The way she carried herself in public changed and she began to care for what she wore. Quite a few things did not change, though. Smoking, for instance. Doctorsa warnings persuaded her to switch over to lighter brands. For some time bidi was the thing. Then back to thin cigarettes.

Also gossip sessions with friends were not given up. The core group comprised friends since childhood a Seema Iftikhar and Nazish Attaullah, followed by Mona Kasuri and Saleema Hashmi. The common factor among them was that all of them, including Asma herself, had themselves made their lives and each one of them had excelled in the area of their choice. Asma would often relate with pride the hard struggles they had to wage before achieving success. She adored her friends and she also admired them.

Her love of having regular meals did not change either. Lunch was usually out of office and she did not care what she ate. But dinners were always elaborate affairs. She liked to cook for guests and especially for her children in foreign lands. She had a special liking for fish and would buy it from a choice shop in Islamabad and Karachi, to be carried home for the family, the bad smell making fellow travellers uncomfortable sometimes. During drives in the interior, especially in Sindh, she would like to stop at the first tikka shop by the roadside. She ate little but enjoyed a fresh tikka to cleanse her palate.

She was a good mother to her children. A good governess helped while the children were small. She gave them full freedom to become whatever they wanted to be and her husband, Tahir Jahangir, played his role quietly. They gave the children opportunities for studying in the best institutions of Canada and the US. If any one of them had a health problem Asma would take the child to any part of the globe where treatment was possible.

Asma loved crowds. Active crowds, and crowds that kept moving forward a Jaloos. She would issue the call whenever the crowd grew to a sizeable number.

We were having a workshop in Mirpurkhas with an unusually large number of correspondents and field workers from all parts of Sindh, around 650 of them. The Commissioner had imposed section 144 but that didnat deter Asma. She asked me about taking out a procession. My view was that a procession could be carried out if the people who had come to listen to the speeches exceeded 3,000. By afternoon the crowd had swelled to more than 3,000 and Asmaas wish could not be denied. With Iqbal Haider jumping up and down in the frontline, the procession marched along the townas roads. The administration struck back by picking up senior activist Akhtar Baloch. But Asma made so much noise that he had to be released after afirst aida treatment only.

Beginning with 2010 when she became the first woman president of the Supreme Court Bar Association she led a more hectic life than even a far stronger body could bear. The long line of litigants at her office grew longer. Even the General who had wanted to slap her wished her to defend her. Constant travelling between Lahore and Islamabad, with frequent breaks for flying visits to London, Geneva, Toronto and New York City, catching bits of sleep in cars and on planes, making notes, checking e-mails in short journey breaks, she took too much liberty with her body. She was a sound manager of time but there is a limit to which hours and minutes could be stretched.

Several times I called on her to slow down, because I saw a thin screen of pain on her face, which many thought was a sign of annoyance. Her remark always was, aI am OKa . She literally worked herself to death.

There were quite a few things she left undone. But any mortal will be proud of what she had done. A little lawyer from Lahore had become the greatest defender of human rights in the subcontinent and one of the bravest voices in the world against injustice, falsehood, autocracy, patriarchy, intolerance and humbug.

What a life, my friend Asma, and what a life to celebrate for a long, long time.

Share !

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I.A. Rehman

The author is a senior columnist and Secretary General Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP). Notable White House personnel development that should help the cause of criminal justice reform | Main | Report that Mueller probe will soon produce another notable conviction and federal sentencing 

The title of this post is the headline of this lengthy New York Times editorial. Here are excerpts:

In the decade or so before Donald Trump became president, Americas approach to criminal justice was changing fast  reckoning with decades of destructive and ineffective policies that had ballooned the prison population and destroyed countless lives. Red and blue states were putting in place smart, sensible reforms like reducing harsh sentencing laws, slashing prison populations and crime rates, and providing more resources for the thousands of people who are released every week.

President Obamas record on the issue was far from perfect, but he and his first attorney general, Eric Holder Jr., took several key steps: weakening racially discriminatory sentencing laws, shortening thousands of absurdly long drug sentences, and pulling back on the prosecution of low-level drug offenders and of federal marijuana offenses in states that have legalized it. This approach reflected state-level efforts and sent a message of encouragement to those still leery of reform.

Within minutes of taking office, Mr. Trump turned back the dial, warning darkly in his Inaugural Address of American carnage, of cities and towns gutted by crime  even though crime rates are at their lowest in decades. Things only got worse with the confirmation of Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who, along with Mr. Trump, appears to be stuck in the 1980s, when politicians exploited the publics fear of rising crime to sell absurdly harsh laws and win themselves re-election. Perhaps thats why both men seem happy to distort, if not outright lie about, crime statistics that no longer support their narrative....

Under Mr. Trump, the Justice Department has pulled back from his predecessors investigations of police abuse and misconduct; resumed the use of private, for-profit prisons; and stopped granting commutations to low-level drug offenders who have spent years or decades behind bars.

Meanwhile, Mr. Sessions, who as a senator was one of the most reliable roadblocks to long-overdue federal sentencing reform, is still throwing wrenches into the works as Congress inches toward a bipartisan deal. Mr. Sessions called the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act, a sweeping bill that would reduce some mandatory-minimum sentences, and that cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday, a grave error. That earned him a rebuke from the committees chairman, Senator Charles Grassley, who pointed out that the attorney general is tasked with enforcing the laws, not writing them. If General Sessions wanted to be involved in marking up this legislation, maybe he should have quit his job and run for the Republican Senate seat in Alabama, Mr. Grassley said.

Mr. Grassley is no ones idea of a justice reformer, but he supports the bill because, he said, it strikes the right balance of improving public safety and ensuring fairness in the criminal justice system.

So what has this administration done right? The list is short and uninspiring. In October, Mr. Trump declared the epidemic of opioid abuse a national emergency, which could be a good step toward addressing it  but hes since done almost nothing to combat a crisis that killed more than 64,000 Americans in 2016.

In his State of the Union address last month, Mr. Trump promised to embark on reforming our prisons to help former inmates who have served their time get a second chance. Its great if he really means that, but its hard to square his assurance with his own attorney generals opposition to a bill that includes recidivism-reduction programs intended to achieve precisely this goal....

The rhetoric from the White House and the Justice Department has emboldened some state and local officials to talk tougher, even if just as ignorantly, about crime. The good news is that its not working as well anymore. In Virginias race for governor last fall, the Republican candidate, Ed Gillespie, attacked his opponent, Ralph Northam, with ads blaming him for violence by the MS-13 gang.

It was a despicable stunt, its fearmongering recalling the racist but effective Willie Horton ad that George H. W. Bush ran on in his successful 1988 presidential campaign. Thankfully, Virginias voters overwhelmingly rejected Mr. Gillespie, another sign that criminal justice reform is an issue with strong support across the political spectrum. In the era of Donald Trump, candidates of both parties should be proud to run as reformers  but particularly Democrats, who can cast the issue not only as a central component of a broader progressive agenda, but as yet another example of just how out of touch with the country Mr. Trump and his administration are. "Donald Trump and the Undoing of Justice Reform" | Main | Is Henry Montgomery of Montgomery v. Louisiana perhaps on the verge of a parole grant? UPDATE: NO by 2-1 vote by parole board 

February 18, 2018

Report that Mueller probe will soon produce another notable conviction and federal sentencing

A couple of month ago, as reported in this post, the investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller produced its first federal conviction when Michael Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI. Now the Los Angeles Times is reporting here that another plea and another notable plea deal is in the works for another figure indicted by Mueller's team. Here are some of the basics (along with some sentencing details and a reminder of how economic issues can impact a defendant's decision-making):

A former top aide to Donald Trump's presidential campaign will plead guilty to fraud-related charges within days  and has made clear to prosecutors that he would testify against Paul Manafort, the lawyer-lobbyist who once managed the campaign. The change of heart by Trump's former deputy campaign manager Richard Gates, who had pleaded not guilty after being indicted in October on charges similar to Manafort's, was described in interviews by people familiar with the case. "Rick Gates is going to change his plea to guilty," said a person with direct knowledge of the new developments, adding that the revised plea will be presented in federal court in Washington "within the next few days." That individual and others who discussed the matter spoke on condition of anonymity, citing a judge's gag order restricting comments about the case to the news media or public. Gates' defense lawyer, Thomas C. Green, did not respond to messages left by phone and email. Peter Carr, a spokesman for special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, declined on Saturday to comment.... The imminent change of Gates' plea follows negotiations over the last several weeks between Green and two of Mueller's prosecutors  senior assistant special counsels Andrew Weissmann and Greg D. Andres. According to a person familiar with those talks, Gates, a longtime political consultant, can expect "a substantial reduction in his sentence'' if he fully cooperates with the investigation. He said Gates is likely to serve about 18 months in prison. The delicate terms reached by the opposing lawyers, he said, will not be specified in writing: Gates "understands that the government may move to reduce his sentence if he substantially cooperates, but it won't be spelled out." One of the final discussion points has centered on exactly how much cash or other valuables  derived from Gates' allegedly illegal activity  that the government will require him to forfeit as part of the guilty plea. Gates, 45, who is married with four children, does not appear to be well positioned financially to sustain a high-powered legal defense. "He can't afford to pay it," said one lawyer who is involved with the investigation. "If you go to trial on this, that's $1 million to $1.5 million. Maybe more, if you need experts" to appear as witnesses. The Oct. 27 indictment showed that prosecutors had amassed substantial documentation to buttress their charges that Manafort and Gates  who were colleagues in political consulting for about a decade  had engaged in a complex series of allegedly illegal transactions rooted in Ukraine. The indictment alleged that both men, who for years were unregistered agents of the Ukrainian government, hid millions of dollars of Ukraine-based payments from U.S. authorities.

In this post after the Rick Gates was indicted along with Paul Manifort, I briefly sketched how guideline calculations could push their possible benchmark sentencing ranges into many years and even decades. Given these realities, I will be very interested to see if and how a plea deal for Gates might set out guideline calculations. As the press report suggests, Gates could and seemingly will be getting his sentence significantly reduced via 5K1.1 of the federal sentencing guidelines by providing "substantial assistance in the investigation or prosecution of another person who has committed an offense." One cannot help but wonder is any person other than Manifort could be the subject of Gates' assistance to federal authorities.

February 18, 2018 at 10:33 PM | Permalink

Comments

Opinion | OP-ED COLUMNIST

Whatever Trump Is Hiding Is Hurting All of Us Now

Thomas L. Friedman FEB. 18, 2018

Our democracy is in serious danger.

President Trump is either totally compromised by the Russians or is a towering fool, or both, but either way he has shown himself unwilling or unable to defend America against a Russian campaign to divide and undermine our democracy.

That is, either Trumps real estate empire has taken large amounts of money from shady oligarchs linked to the Kremlin  so much that they literally own him; or rumors are true that he engaged in sexual misbehavior while he was in Moscow running the Miss Universe contest, which Russian intelligence has on tape and he doesnt want released; or Trump actually believes Russian President Vladimir Putin when he says he is innocent of intervening in our elections  over the explicit findings of Trumps own C.I.A., N.S.A. and F.B.I. chiefs.

In sum, Trump is either hiding something so threatening to himself, or hes criminally incompetent to be commander in chief. It is impossible yet to say which explanation for his behavior is true, but it seems highly likely that one of these scenarios explains Trumps refusal to respond to Russias direct attack on our system  a quiescence that is simply unprecedented for any U.S. president in history. Russia is not our friend. It has acted in a hostile manner. And Trump keeps ignoring it all.

Up to now, Trump has been flouting the norms of the presidency. Now Trumps behavior amounts to a refusal to carry out his oath of office  to protect and defend the Constitution. Heres an imperfect but close analogy: Its as if George W. Bush had said after 9/11: No big deal. I am going golfing over the weekend in Florida and blogging about how its all the Democrats fault  no need to hold a National Security Council meeting.

At a time when the special prosecutor Robert Mueller  leveraging several years of intelligence gathering by the F.B.I., C.I.A and N.S.A.  has brought indictments against 13 Russian nationals and three Russian groups  all linked in some way to the Kremlin  for interfering with the 2016 U.S. elections, America needs a president who will lead our nations defense against this attack on the integrity of our electoral democracy.

What would that look like? He would educate the public on the scale of the problem; he would bring together all the stakeholders  state and local election authorities, the federal government, both parties and all the owners of social networks that the Russians used to carry out their interference  to mount an effective defense; and he would bring together our intelligence and military experts to mount an effective offense against Putin  the best defense of all.

What we have instead is a president vulgarly tweeting that the Russians are laughing their asses off in Moscow for how weve been investigating their interventions  and exploiting the terrible school shooting in Florida  and the failure of the F.B.I. to properly forward to its Miami field office a tip on the killer  to throw the entire F.B.I. under the bus and create a new excuse to shut down the Mueller investigation.

Think for a moment how demented was Trumps Saturday night tweet: Very sad that the FBI missed all of the many signals sent out by the Florida school shooter. This is not acceptable. They are spending too much time trying to prove Russian collusion with the Trump campaign  there is no collusion. Get back to the basics and make us all proud!

To the contrary. Our F.B.I., C.I.A. and N.S.A., working with the special counsel, have done us amazingly proud. Theyve uncovered a Russian program to divide Americans and tilt our last election toward Trump  i.e., to undermine the very core of our democracy  and Trump is telling them to get back to important things like tracking would-be school shooters. Yes, the F.B.I. made a mistake in Florida. But it acted heroically on Russia. What is more basic than protecting American democracy?

It is so obvious what Trump is up to: Again, he is either a total sucker for Putin or, more likely, he is hiding something that he knows the Russians have on him, and he knows that the longer Muellers investigation goes on, the more likely he will be to find and expose it.

Donald, if you are so innocent, why do you go to such extraordinary lengths to try to shut Mueller down? And if you are really the president  not still head of the Trump Organization, who moonlights as president, which is how you so often behave  why dont you actually lead  lead not only a proper cyberdefense of our elections, but also an offense against Putin.

Putin used cyberwarfare to poison American politics, to spread fake news, to help elect a chaos candidate, all in order to weaken our democracy. We should be using our cyber-capabilities to spread the truth about Putin just how much money he has stolen, just how many lies he has spread, just how many rivals he has jailed or made disappear  all to weaken his autocracy. That is what a real president would be doing right now.

My guess is what Trump is hiding has to do with money. Its something about his financial ties to business elites tied to the Kremlin. They may own a big stake in him. Who can forget that quote from his son Donald Trump, Jr. from back in 2008: Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross section of a lot of our assets. They may own our president.

But whatever it is, Trump is either trying so hard to hide it or is so naive about Russia that he is ready to not only resist mounting a proper defense of our democracy, hes actually ready to undermine some of our most important institutions, the F.B.I. and Justice Department, to keep his compromised status hidden.

That must not be tolerated. This is code red. The biggest threat to the integrity of our democracy today is in the Oval Office.

Posted by: anon2 | Feb 19, 2018 2:11:24 AM

The biggest threat to our democracy today are "useful idiots" like anon2, the Clinton News Network, the New York Slimes and the Washington Compost, followed by Bill Otis's beloved DOJ and FIB.

Posted by: albeed | Feb 19, 2018 9:09:29 AM

We all commit 3 felonies a day. So any prosecutor can put us away for a long time if he decides to.

My response would be to do e-discovery on all prosecution electronic devices, to seek bias. If denied by the judge, move for discovery on the judge's electronic devices. Refer all child porn on these devices to the FBI.

Posted by: David Behar | Feb 19, 2018 11:25:18 AM

anon2 cannot be a lawyer. Friedman does not understand the pretextual, political attack nature of the Mueller investigation. Nor does he understand its threat to the constitution. Democrats want to overturn the result of a valid election. That is the bottom line, and their insurrection against the constitution.

Posted by: David Behar | Feb 19, 2018 11:28:04 AM

Mr. Behar, according to the following article, after barely one year, Trump has the singular achievement of being rated the worst President in history--the good news, I suppose, is that he can only go up.

"Barack Obama and Ronald Reagan are up, Bill Clinton is down and Donald Trump is off to a historically bad start  and the greats, meanwhile, remain the greats.

That was the finding of the 2018 Presidents & Executive Politics Presidential Greatness Survey, released Monday by professors Brandon Rottinghaus of the University of Houston and Justin S. Vaughn of Boise State University. The survey results, ranking American presidents from best to worst, were based on responses from 170 current and recent members of the Presidents and Executive Politics section of the American Political Science Association.

Obama moved from 18th in 2014, when the survey was last conducted, to 8th in the current survey. Reagan jumped from 11th to 9th. Bill Clinton, meanwhile, fell from 8th to 13th  perhaps as a result of heightened attention to sexual misconduct in the midst of the #MeToo movement.

Trump came in dead last.

The top seven remained unchanged, with Abraham Lincoln holding the top spot, followed in order by George Washington, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt, Thomas Jefferson, Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower.

Even among self-identified Republicans and conservatives, Trump came in 40th out of 44 (while Trump is officially the 45th president, the survey did not count Grover Clevelands non-consecutive terms separately, so the ranking runs from 1-44).

Franklin Roosevelt, the architect of the New Deal and the father of the modern Democratic Party, continues to enjoy high marks across the political spectrum. Reagan, on the other hand, who ushered in the modern era of small-government conservatism, receives high ranks from conservatives and Republicans but falls in the teens for Democrats and liberals. Obama sees the reverse.

Trump closely follows James Buchanan, Americas 15th president, who presided over the increasingly explosive national debate over slavery, and who saw the Union split apart after the election of his successor, Lincoln."

Posted by: Sam the prosecutor | Feb 19, 2018 3:24:31 PM

Sam. You are a little upset. Trump had the best first year of any President in history. His second year will usher in the explosive economic boom. There will be a massive labor shortage, and rapid wage inflation. Will laugh remembering calls for the $15 minimum. $3 trillion will return to our shores. Guess who will do best? Black males, as illegal aliens will not be able to take their jobs.

The ratings are by left wing historians. I bet they rate Lincoln at the top of the list. He was 2 orders of magnitude worse than any Carter or Obama. He needlessly killed 850,000 fellow Americans, and had race relations stay frozen for 100 years.

Suggestion for you Sam. Take some courses, and get a license to be a high school American History teacher. The criminals are going missing with the opioid overdose crisis. You will be able to chomp donuts, slurp coffee, and chat up the birds in your office close to full time.

Posted by: David Behar | Feb 19, 2018 6:13:45 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.(WB) The civilian head of the U.S. Army said Thursday soldiers are unconcerned about serving alongside transgender people despite President Trump stoking fear about cohesion in his attempt to ban them from the armed forces, according to ABC News.

Army Secretary Mark Esper said transgender military service really hasnt come up as hes traveled to U.S. bases at home and abroad when reporters asked if soldiers expressed concerns about transgender service.

Esper, whos already visited soldiers domestically and abroad in South Korea, Afghanistan and Europe, reportedly said troops are more likely to express concerns about food quality and pay.

The Pentagon is due on Wednesday to submit to President Trump recommendations on transgender service in accordance with his directive in August banning transgender people from the armed forces.

Its unknown what the recommendations will be, or whether Trump will alter his directive after that time. A federal court has issued a document asserting the Justice Department expects to defend a new transgender military policy in court after that time.

Esper, who assumed office as Army secretary in November, said he met with six or seven active-duty trans soldiers in his first 30 days on the job and found their views helpful on the issue.

Additionally, Esper said he talked with mixed-gender infantry and cavalry units on transgender service. Those soldiers, Esper said, told him the issue boiled down to all troops meeting the same standard.

Everybody wants to be treated with a clear set of standards, Esper said, adding, At the end of the day, the Army is a standards-based organization.

Trumps policy banning transgender people from the armed forces is supposed to take effect on March 23. However, multiple courts have issued orders enjoining the military from enforcing Trumps directive as a result of litigation filed by LGBT legal groups.

An estimated 15,500 transgender people are serving in the military, according to the Williams Institute. A 2016 RAND Corp. report estimated a smaller number  between 1,320 and 6,630  are currently on active duty.

One of Trumps earlier choices for the role of Army secretary, Mark Green, expressed a different view of transgender people. Green said being transgender is a disease and as a state legislator in Tennessee spearheaded anti-trans bathroom legislation. Amid outcryfrom LGBT groups, Green withdrew his nomination, but hes now running for Congress.

Espers predecessor in his role, Eric Fanning, served as Army secretary during the Obama administration and was the first senior defense official to come out in favor of transgender military service. Fanning has supported litigation challenging Trumps ban and disputed the notions the U.S. military isnt prepared for transgender service.

 Chris Johnson, Washington Blady courtesy of the National LGBTQ Media Association.An evangelical activist who believes that gay people should repress their sexualities spoke at Harvard University last week.

Jackie Hill-Perry, a speaker who claims she is ex-gay, came to the university on behalf of the spiritual group Harvard College Faith and Action, according to PinkNews. Hill-Perry has previously claimed gay people can be converted by Christianity.

There is not such a thing as being born gay, but there is such a thing as being born broken, broken by sin, she said. The model for how we are to deny ourselves, whether that applies to our greed, to our lust, self-denial is not optional for the Christian.

According to student newspaper the Harvard Crimson, two dozen students and teachers lined up in the back of the Emerson room in protest.

The history of this speaker and the things that she keeps promoting are things that basically alienate and threaten the existence of queer students on campus, Ahmed Ragab, a professor at Harvards Divinity School, said to the Harvard Crimson. I think it is a problem to have a speaker that promotes this kind of discourse.

According to the Crimson, a petition to stop Hill-Perry from speaking on campus was also circulated on google docs in the days up to the protest. The petition had 200 signatures.A Miami Beach dating website is trying to bring together users who want to make American great again, but not if youre gay.

Trump.Dating only asks if you are a straight male or female. There are no options for other LGBT individuals, including those who are gay, lesbian or bisexual.

Were wrecking the dating game and giving like-minded Americans a chance to meet without the awkwardness that comes with the first conversation about politics, the website reads. Wouldnt it be refreshing to already know that your date roots for the same team?

Notably, the website does have options for those who a currently married.

When Political Foundation Is The Same, The Sky Is The Limit, the site reads on its philosophy. We believe that by matching patriotic and political viewpoints as a base foundation of the relationship, it will allow one to focus on what really matters  conversation, commonalities, and if all goes well, courting.

The website is hosted by Friends Worldwide Inc. out of Miami Beach. The Trump.Dating site bears an almost exact resemblance to the companys non-political dating site, other than the Trump theme.

Friends Worldwides regular site also has options for LGBT individuals.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.



Live harness racing returned to Rideau Carleton Raceway on Sunday evening (February 18) for a 12-race program to start the 2018 season during which driver Louis-Philippe Roy teamed up with trainer Yves Tessier and owner Francois Morin to sweep the co-featured Preferred events as part of a five-win performance.

Claimed for $18,750 following back-to-back wins at Woodbine, Upvote Hanover extended his win streak for his new connections with a front-end effort in the $8,100 Not Listed Preferred Handicap Trot. Parked through a :27.3 first quarter after leaving from outside his five rivals, the favoured four-year-old Kadabra gelding cleared to command in front of the grandstand and marched onward through middle splits of :57.3 and 1:27.1 en route to a two and a half length victory in 1:56.2. Ghirardelli Lindy held for second-place off a pocket trip and Jetcrest nabbed the third-place honours in a close finish.

In the $8,250 pacing division, Ufdragons Rocket settled into the pocket spot after an early three-way battle for the lead during the :26.4 opening quarter and followed Wildcat Cam while that foe faced mounting pressure on top through a half in :56.4 and three-quarters in 1:25.1 from favourite Vegas Rocks. However, Ufdragons Rocket fanned three-high off the final turn and drew off to win in 1:53.4. The nine-year-old Dragon Again gelding won by three lengths with Windsun Cheyenne closing from last for the runner-up role ahead of Vegas Rocks.

The top class victories completed a triple on the card for Tessier and Morin, and were also part of a big night in the Ottawa area for Roy, who ended with five driving wins. Meanwhile, driver Guy Gagnon and trainer Jamie Copley, the 2017 Rideau leaders, paired up for three wins with Gagnon adding another victory driving his own trainee After Market for a season-opening grand slam.

The first winners of the year at the capital city oval were the Sharon Christie-trained trotter Raising Richard and driver Darrell Coville.

To view Sunday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Sunday Results - Rideau Carleton Raceway.Come this Sunday night (Feb. 25), the United States Harness Writers Association will host its annual Dan Patch Awards Night and part of the festivities will be the largest silent auction in the history of the event.

Thanks especially to all the donors who came forth with some super items.

"Members from all corners of the harness racing community have really supported our silent auction with donations this year, said Tim Bojarski, president of the USHWA. And as a result, we have a plethora of quality items for everyone to bid on. With a large live crowd expected and with the opportunity for anyone to bid in advance from home, this auction could prove to be one of the most profitable ever.

And all the proceeds will help fund worthy initiatives within the industry, spearheaded by the Harness Horse Youth Foundation and USHWA," Bojarski concluded.

There are 26 unique items in the silent auction, great vacation and racing packages, superb artwork, special collectables, gift certificates, media services and even private handicapping lessons.

The items in the auction are listed below with the donor(s) for each item. For complete information, item descriptions, available photos and bidding instructions, please visit www.ushwa.org or call Steven Wolf at 954-654-3757 or Ellen Taylor at 317-908-0029.

 Rosen Shingle Creek Package (Rosen Shingle Creek)

 2018 Preakness Package (Maryland Jockey Club)

 Phillies/Mets Package (Nick Saponara)

 Batavia Downs Package (Batavia Downs)

 Red Mile Package (Red Mile Sponsorship Team)

 Always B Miki Print (Michelle Hogan)

 Stained Glass Panel (Barbara Dresser & Callie Davies-Gooch)

 Cigar Label Collection (Barry Lefkowitz and Harness Racing Museum)

 Adios Print (Tom Charters)

 Macau Print (Leon Zimmerman)

 Cam Fella Print (The Farm Ventures, Off and Pacing, Ryan Clements, Lanon Mulhall)

 Wine Goblets (Suzanne DAmbrose)

 Bow River Necklace (Bow River Jewelry)

 Ohio Sires Stakes Gift Basket (Ohio Sires Stakes)

 Hoosier Park Gift Basket (Hoosier Park)

 Canadian Horse Racing Gift Basket (Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame, Retromedia Publishing & Melissa Keith)

 Tim Hortons Gift Basket (Melissa Keith)

 Hambletonian/Breeders Crown Gift Bag (Hambletonian Society/Breeders Crown)

 Campbell Collection (Gordon Waterstone, Moira Fanning)

 Meadowlands TV Night (New Meadowlands)

 PR Services (Mark McKelvie & Melissa Keith)

 Handicapping Session (Garnet Barnsdale)

 Off & Pacing Package (The Farm Ventures & Off and Pacing Team)

 Fennells Gift Certificate (R E Fennells Company)

 Red Mile Gift Shop Gift Certificate (Jeremy Wilson)

 Big Dee Gift Certificate (Big Dees Tack & Vet Supply)

(USHWA)If you need information about where to vote in person or need to get other last-minute questions answered, log on to the county's elections site, lavote.net, or call 800-815-2666.Syrian forces to back YPG` in fight against Turkey

The US support for YPG-led SDF forces has infuriated Turkey and created the ongoing diplomatic crisis between the two NATO allies.

Al Jazeera News :

The Kurdish YPG fighters claim they have reached a deal to allow Syrian government troops to enter Afrin in the northwestern part of the border town.

Nuri Mahmoud, a spokesman for the People's Protection Units (YPG), told Al Jazeera on Monday that they are calling on the Syrian government forces "to preserve a united Syria", in a development that could mean regime forces might directly confront Turkish troops in the region.

Turkey and Free Syrian Army (FSA) - an Ankara-backed armed Syrian opposition group - last month launched an air and ground operation into Afrin to push the US-backed YPG fighters out to create a buffer zone on its southern border.

Ankara considers YPG, which controls Afrin, a "terrorist" organisation.

"Syrian soldiers haven't yet arrived. We are calling on the Syrian army to protect Afrin, because we'd love to preserve a unified Syria," Mahmoud told Al Jazeera.

"We are saying this because the international community continues to address the Syrian leadership as sovereign and we call on this authority to protect its territory."

He added that the Syrian government forces are expected to arrive within two days.

No Turkish response yet

Turkish authorities contacted by Al Jazeera refrained from making immediate comments on the Kurdish side's claims, saying that Turkey considers the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), active in Syria, and its armed wing YPG, to be "terrorist groups" with ties to the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

The PKK has waged a decades-long armed fight against the Turkish state that has killed tens of thousands of people.

The PYD/YPG has come to control large swaths of northern Syria, including Afrin, in the course of the Syrian war as it led the US-backed umbrella organisation Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group.

The US support for SDF has infuriated Turkey and created the ongoing diplomatic crisis between the two NATO allies.

The latest development highlights the complex battlefield of northern Syria, which hosts a high number of actors, including the PYD/YPG, the Syrian government, rebel factions, Turkey, the US and Russia.Palestinians stuck in `bad conditions` at Cairo airport

The group of travellers was returning home to the Gaza Strip when Egypt suddenly shut the border crossing.

Al Jazeera News :

Some 160 Palestinians, who are heading back to the Gaza Strip, have been stuck in Cairo's airport for the last 13 days as Egyptian authorities deny them the right to enter the enclave.

According to human rights groups and some travellers, the group is experiencing "horrible" conditions, without access to proper food, a shower or mattresses to sleep on.

The group of travellers was returning home to the Gaza Strip, bordering Egypt, last week when Egyptian security forces told them the border crossing was suddenly closed and demanded that they return to the countries from which they came, they told Al Jazeera.

Egypt announced it would temporarily open the Rafah crossing on February 7 for three days, but suddenly closed it two days later, on February 9.

"We refused because there were people who had completed their studies abroad and were going back home, and others who were abroad for medical care and were also returning," one traveller, who asked to remain anonymous, told Al Jazeera.

"People were just exhausted. We were mentally prepared to return home," the man said, explaining that they were stopped at Balouza checkpoint in Sinai, several kilometres from the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza.

He said the group underwent "six hours of interrogation and humiliation" before being asked to return to Cairo airport.

The Gaza Strip - home to some two million Palestinians - does not have an airport, and has been under an Israeli land, sea and air blockade for over a decade.

Israel controls Gaza's airspace and territorial waters, as well as two of the three border crossing points. The third - Rafah - is controlled by Egypt and is rarely opened.

For the majority of Palestinians who wish to travel, study or seek medical care abroad, they must cross into Egypt before being able to take a flight to their destination.

When the group was forced back to the Cairo airport, an envoy from the Palestinian embassy threatened them, the man who is among the group told Al Jazeera.

"He told us that we either agree to be peacefully detained in this hall with our dignity intact or that he'll bring security forces to detain us with force," the man said.

"Since we are the weaker link, we agreed to go into this hall at our own will. More than 70 percent of us are women - many of whom are pregnant - as well as children, sick and elderly people," he added.

The man also told Al Jazeera that the conditions inside the hall are "appalling", explaining that the group has been sleeping on the floor and on metal chairs for the past 12 days. The hall, he said, only has two bathrooms.

"One hundred and sixty people without a shower for 12 days," he said. "The bathrooms have no soap. It is catastrophic. Animals would not be able to live here."

Many in the group have reportedly contracted skin diseases and one man was left untreated after experiencing heart issues.

The Palestinian embassy in Cairo released a statement late on Sunday saying that the group was brought back to the Cairo airport based on a request from Egyptian security forces.

The embassy said it was "providing full services and care" to the group, as well as offering "food, drink, blankets, items for child care, and medical care".

It added that it has "spared no effort in working with Egyptian authorities" to get the group out of the airport, adding that it is working on issuing visas for students back to the countries they were studying in.

"These are sovereign Egyptian decisions that the embassy is considerate of."

'This is shameful'

Several human rights groups have condemned the situation.

The Arab Organisation for Human Rights in the UK, called on the Palestinian embassy to "carry out its duties and pressure Egyptian authorities to allow [the group] to return to the Gaza Strip or secure temporary accommodation until the crossing is reopened".

"The organisation calls on the Egyptian authorities to comply with international law and to allow those stuck to return".

The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor said "hundreds of other Palestinian citizens are still stranded and held on the Egyptian side" of the Rafah border crossing - unable to enter Gaza or return to Egypt.

It remains unclear when Egypt will decide to reopen the crossing and allow those being held to go back home.

The Palestinian ambassador in Cairo was not immediately available for comment.

"We are extremely exhausted. I called the Palestinian ambassador and told him you have two options: we will call on the Israelis to release us from here or you do something," the man who is among the group, said.

"This is shameful. It is shameful for us to say we have a country or a government. It is shameful for us to say we have a country when they cannot even get 160 people out."



Education in Kuwait

The State of Kuwait is located in the Arabian Gulf and has a population of 26,46,314 people.

Considering the strategic location of Kuwait in the Arabian Gulf, the Government of Kuwait has placed strong emphasis on education. The 1962 constitution which stipulates that education is assured and promoted by the State reflects the belief that education is a fundamental right of all citizens. Therefore, the education policy seeks to provide opportunity to all children, irrespective of their social status including children with special needs. In recognition of the stride Kuwait made in this field, the UNDP in it 2011 report ranked Kuwait 63rd on the Human Development Index.

That the Government attaches special priority to education can be easily understood from the fact that in 2006, the Government allocated 13 percent of all public expenditure to education.

Kuwait is striving to improve the quality of its education at all levels and for all ages.

The Government of Kuwait is now looking for alternative ways to stimulate employment and income generation. Therefore, it is keen to diversify and improve the skills of its labor force. Consequently, the Government has attached high priority in bringing about relevant reforms in the education sector to meet the need of time.

The development of the Kuwaiti educational system may be attributed, to a great extent, to the wealth that oil resources have brought to the country and this complements the pragmatic policy of the Government to provide International standard education to all endeavoring Kuwaitis.

At the turn of the 20th century, there were very few educational facilities in the country. However, since 1939, with the education sector coming under Government control, 17 schools offering quality education, were set up by 1945. By 1960, some 45,000 students including 18000 girls, enrolled in the Kuwaiti educational system. Schooling was made compulsory in 1965 and in 1967, private school system took a foot hold with Government assistance, in the education system. Kuwait Government provides scholarship to all Kuwaiti Students pursuing academic careers in Universities and institutes in the United States, United Kingdom and some other countries.

Since the early 21st century, the Ministry of Education has sought to prepare a general, long-term education goals upto 2025 in the first phase.

The general education system consists of four levels: Kindergarten or Nursery (2 years), Primary (5 years), Intermediate (4 years) and Secondary (3 years). Primary and intermediate level education is compulsory for all students aged between 6-14. All the levels of State Education including higher education are free. The Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Higher Education are entrusted with the responsibility of developing the education sector.

Students are required to spend 4 years at the intermediate level, upto grade 9 after which they move onto the secondary level which is for 3 years. After completing secondary level of education, a student can go for higher education in a University or may enroll in a vocational college for vocational or technical education. The secondary education system is currently being standardized from the present academic or credit system to a single system.

The importance attached to education by the Government may well be comprehended by the fact that the Government allocates about KD 5.6 million per annum into private educational facilities in addition to allotting land for school construction as well as paying for the distribution of books. The Government is also promoting the use of information technology at school level under its 'Education Net' project that connects every Government school and library in Kuwait to a telecommunication data network.

In addition to the regular educational institutes, there are religious institutes that offer a program of general education at the intermediate and secondary levels along with enhanced Islamic and religious studies. As part of the Government policy of providing equal educational opportunities to all, the Ministry of Education has set up 44 special needs institutes.

Post-secondary education comprises technical and vocational courses offered by the Public Authority for Applied Education and Training while degree programs are offered by Kuwait University and a number of private universities.

Post-secondary education include courses at a PAAET technical college lasting for two and a half years after which students are awarded a diploma certificate.

There are four state supported higher education institutions in Kuwait. These are:

1. Kuwait University

2. The College of Basic Education in PAAET

3. Higher Institute for Theater Arts

4. Higher Institute of Music Arts

Kuwait University a co-educational institution, was established in 1966. It comprises of five campuses. It offers a wide range of academic courses.

The Public Authority for Applied Education and Training, established in 1982 to fill the need for vocational and technical training, has two objectives. One is to provide and develop skills of the national labor force to meet the demands of a developing country and the other is to provide training to students to have career beyond the oil industry.

The largest private institute for undergraduate studies is the Arab Open University which accounts for nearly 60% of all private undergraduate students.

There are a number of post-secondary institutes that are recognized by the Ministry of Higher Education. These are:

1. Gulf University for Science and Technology

2. Arab Open University

3. Australian College of Kuwait

4. American University of Kuwait

5. Gulf American College

6. Kuwait-Mastricht Business School

7. Box Hill College Kuwait

8. American University in the Middle East

The Government's aggressive thrust in the education sector has paid off and Kuwait's literacy rate reached 94% in 2005.

Starting with a small number of Quranic schools known as Al-Katatib at the turn of the 20th century, there are now over 1145 schools both public and private spread over 6 districts in Kuwait, at all levels from Kindergarten to Secondary.

Parliamentary Life

His Highness Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, Prime Minister of the State of Kuwait

Democratic practice in Kuwait is imbued in the Kuwaiti entity itself.

His Highness Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Amir of the State of Kuwait, has reaffirmed Kuwait's adherence to democracy when he said that "Democracy is deeply rooted in ourselves and is not imposed on us". The Kuwaiti people have experienced democracy since a long time and it is viewed as a positive development in Kuwait's march to peace and progress.

The institutionalization of democracy is deep rooted in the social structure of Kuwait. Indeed, Kuwait's Parliamentary experience weaved its way through to the present form through gradual and steady development which characterized the growth of the Kuwaiti society and state system since its inception.

The Al-Sabah family, led by its patriarch, Sheikh Sabah 1, always adhered to consultation practice based on tribal traditions in his efforts to shape the destiny of Kuwait, as far back as 1752.

The Kuwaiti tradition encourages consultation and expression of ideas and opinions in Kuwaiti Diwaniyahs among the different segments of the society, irrespective of their social status. What emerged as a consensus had an impact on the formulation of State Policy which reflected popular will. Thus, the Diwaniyas, numerous in number, served as a defacto consultative body in the earlier days.

Historically, elections in Kuwait go back to 1756 when the people of Kuwait unanimously elected Sheikh Sabah the First as the Head of State.

As Kuwait entered the 20th century, the need of the time brought about further development of the democratic institutions. Kuwait has known consultation system as the basis of government since 1920 when the first State Consultative Council, comprising of 21 prominent citizens, was formed during the reign of Sheikh Ahmed Al-Jaber. It was indeed a historical indicator of a serious attempt to create a democratic atmosphere.

This was followed by the Municipal Council comprising of 14 members of which 10 were elected by the people and the rest 4 were appointed. This Council made all types of decisions and recommendations.

In 1938, the first elected Legislative Assembly with 14 members was formed through general elections. This undoubtedly had a tremendous impact on the political life of the Kuwaitis. This was followed by the formation of the State Consultative Council.

After Kuwait gained absolute political independence on 19th. June 1961 through the termination of the January 1899 Friendship and Cooperation Treaty between Kuwait and Great Britain, new parliamentary life was initiated through the election of a Constituent Assembly that was entrusted with the task of framing the State's constitution.

Democratic experience in Kuwait became more mature, conscious and open with the election of the first Kuwaiti National Assembly in 1963.

The Parliamentary experience passed through a process of trial and error with each new experience strengthening the democratic spirit and institution.

An Amiri decree in December 1980 set up 25 constituencies, increasing the number from 10.

A constituent Council set up through an Amiri Decree in 1989 to recommend specific changes in the constitution to suit the need of the time, was in session when the country experienced a brutal aggression on August 1, 1990. Kuwaiti stint with parliamentary practice was a major target of this aggression. Parliamentary life was restored through General Elections held in October 1992 for the Seventh Legislative terms. Kuwait witnessed a democratic festival when Parliamentary elections were held in July 2003 to elect the National Assembly for the 10th Legislative term. Over 130,000 voters went to ballot centres in 25 constituencies across Kuwait to elect their representatives in Parliament.

Institutionalization of democracy in Kuwait was further consolidated when in May 2005, in a land mark development, parliamentary elections based on adult suffrage included women electorates and candidates for the first time. In the last Parliamentary elections in December 2012, three women were elected Members of Parliament. One of them was inducted in the Cabinet as a Minister.

New Elections were held in November 2016 in which the government alliance group retained its majority with 26 seats while the opposition alliance registered an increase in their seats to 24.

A Parliamentary Deputy must be at least 30 years of age on Election Day. Government servants have to relinquish their respective positions prior to their contesting the polls. The technocrat Ministers not elected in the National Assembly are considered members in it by dint of their position in the cabinet. However, they do not participate in committees' work and cannot vote when an interpolation leads to a no-confidence motion against one of the Cabinet Members.

Kuwait is divided into 25 electoral constituencies with each constituency electing 2 representatives in the Assembly. Earlier, a voter could elect four members of his choice. However, in 2013, an Amiri Decree introduced the one man one vote system to institutionalize democracy.

The 50 seat unicameral Legislature is elected for a four year term. Currently, there are five geographically distributed electoral districts. Regular Annual Session is no less than eight months subject to budgetary sanction.

The Assembly sessions are only valid when more than half of its members are present. Decisions are taken by absolute majority of the members present.

Parliamentary representation is on a non-party basis since there are no active political parties in Kuwait. However, there are various groups representing varied interest groups. Elections in Kuwait meet a relatively high standard of fairness. The Government does not interfere or influence the voting mechanism.

His Highness the Amir of the State of Kuwait has the Power to dissolve the Assembly and in such an event, new elections are held within two months.Message from the Ambassador

ASSALAMU ALAIKUM WA RAHMATULLAH WA BARAKATUH

His Excellency Mr. Adel Mohammed A H Hayat Ambassador of the State of Kuwait in Bangladesh

Dear Friends, :

As we step into the 57th Year of our glorious independence it is both a privilege and a pleasure for me to convey my fraternal greetings to the friendly people of Bangladesh. It is an auspicious moment in the annals of Kuwait's history to join the comity of nations through the annulment of the protectorate status in 1962.

I would like to pay special tribute to His Highness Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, the Amir of the State of Kuwait as he steers and guides our beloved country and its people with pragmatism, sagacity and wisdom as we strive to attain socio-economic prosperity.

Indeed, Kuwait's march to progress despite the challenges it encounters both globally and regionally, is a testimony of the astute leadership in Kuwait as well as the resilience of the Kuwaiti populace. Indeed, modern Kuwait is the fruit of the enduring traits of its people, shaped by the confluence of the Arabian Gulf, the romanticism of the desert and the Almighty Allah's endowment of oil resources. This Kuwaiti characteristic is further molded by the strong religious faith and thus we take great pride in the traits of benevolence, empathy, goodwill and humanitarian feelings in the Kuwaitis. His Highness Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Amir of the State of Kuwait has been in the forefront as a humanitarian practioner. As a true leader of his people, he led from the front in endeavoring to mitigate the sufferings of the poverty stricken people irrespective of place, creed, ethnicity and race. His magnanimity and generous patronage has touched the world and the United Nations have rightly honored him with the award of humanitarian leader.

The transition to modern Kuwaiti has its roots as much as in the deep foresight of the leadership as in the perseverance and industry of the endeavoring people. Our forefathers struggled against all adversities, travelled to distant continents and shores for trading. The frequent and intense interaction led to cultural enrichment, garnering of new ideas and accumulation of eclectic knowledge that have put Kuwait in a good stead as it confronted the challenges of balancing socio-economic development with political aspirations of the people. The transition became all the more facile with the contributions of the young Western educated graduates in different sectors of Kuwait.

My Friends, today we honour and salute those sons of the Kuwaiti soil who have sacrificed themselves for a better, peaceful and prosperous Kuwait. Kuwait is rich not because of its oil resources but because of its enduring and enterprising people.

Dear Friends, as we reflect on our excellent relations with all countries irrespective of their status in terns of wealth, size and religious belief, I would like to recall the humanitarian role of the Kuwaiti NGOs and Charitable Organizations in the socio-economic welfare of the marginalized community in the world. Kuwait is an ardent exponent of people to people relationship and it is an integral practice of the Kuwaiti culture to share their wealth with the economically challenged people all around the world. Their conspicuous presence in Bangladesh can be seen in their noble and charitable activities of Kuwaiti NGOs in Bangladesh, especially in the infrastructural development and poverty alleviation of the rural Bangladesh. These NGOs have invested over US $ 600 million and are continuing their effort. I feel proud to see Kuwait as a partner in the development strides of Bangladesh. Kuwait Fund has provided over half a billion dollar as soft loans to Bangladesh to cover some key projects in key sectors of energy, communication, electrification, agriculture and poverty alleviation.

Under the changed circumstances in a world fraught with conflicts, instability and environmental hazards, Kuwait believes that the pursuit of a vigorous socio-economic interaction and connectivity are strong confidence building measures scaffolding bridges of friendship and cooperation.

My Friends, our two countries have a big scope for availing the investment opportunities existing in Kuwait. My Government has liberalized the investment rules and regulations in Kuwait and opened new sectors for investment, making it the most investment friendly country. I see with great admiration the emergence of a strong and aggressive business community in Bangladesh. I call upon these enterprising business leaders to explore the growing market in Kuwait and in the Gulf region using Kuwait as the hub. In the context of expanding and strengthening this bridge of friendly cooperation and economic interaction between our two countries, I would be happy to facilitate the efforts of Bangladeshi entrepreneurs in investing in Kuwait.

Friends, given the shared principles of friendship toward all and Malice toward none, Kuwait and Bangladesh have steadily moved forward toward realizing their common goal of promoting peace, tolerance and amity in the world as envisioned by His Highness Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, our sagacious Amir and the visionary leader of Bangladesh, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. As a reflection of our common perception, both of our friendly countries stress passionately the upholding of the principles of respecting territorial integrity and sovereignty of all countries. This common pursuit has inspired our two countries to take a principled stand against terrorism and violent extremism. Just as Bangladesh pursues a proactive policy in strengthening regional cooperation, Kuwait too pursues a proactive foreign policy as a facilitator and promoter of peace, stability and friendship based on rationality and practicality, particularly in the Arabian Gulf region.

This close bond of friendly cooperation between our two countries have been shaped by the people to people contact and the frequent exchange of visits of leaders and officials of the two countries. I would like to recall here the valuable contribution of the Bangladeshi diaspora, numbering over 200,000 in Kuwait in the development of Kuwait. We have strong defence cooperation between our two countries that is growing steadily.

My Friends, Kuwait, and indeed the world, observes with great admiration the humanitarian stand of Bangladesh in coping with the mass exodus of persecuted Rohingyas fleeing from Myanmar into Bangladesh. Despite its own constraints, Bangladesh opened its door of humanitarian sanctuary to the oppressed Rohingya community. Kuwait stands besides Bangladesh in this principled stand and hour of crisis and fully supports Bangladesh in all its endeavors to resolve the issue amicably.

Friends, while expressing my profound gratitude and appreciation to the friendly people of Bangladesh for the warm hospitality extended to me and my colleagues here, I look forward to the further consolidation of our deep rooted historical friendship.

Long live Kuwait-Bangladesh friendship.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina visited different stalls installed on the occasion of 38th national congregation of Bangladesh Ansar and Village Defence Force at Safipur on Monday. PID photoThink urban for the SDGs

Gregory Scruggs :

As the international community gears up to review global progress toward Sustainable Development Goal 11, the so-called "urban SDG," getting cities right is increasingly seen by many development experts as essential to deliver on the entire 2030 Agenda. That perspective was the message delivered over the past week in the Malaysian capital during the ninth World Urban Forum, the world's largest conference on cities, hosted by UN-Habitat.

In the Kuala Lumpur Declaration, which over 160 countries agreed upon after the seven-day conference that drew 22,000 people, investing in urban development is considered an "accelerator" for delivering on the SDGs with the United Nations recently adopted New Urban Agenda as key roadmap to that approach. Goal 11 will be among the five focus goals at this year's annual SDG review in July.

"Well-planned and well-managed urbanization is a positive tool for development and the effects are felt through villages and townships, in rural as well as urban areas and across regional and country borders," said UN-Habitat's recently appointed executive director, Maimunah Mohd Sharif. "And if we want to have any chance of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, we need to get our cities right."

That focus in turn could create opportunities for development professionals to sharpen their urban bonafides on topics such as land use, transportation, and municipal governance. The United States Agency for International Development's urban program has a $650 million indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity commitment and no lack of interest. "As cities are complex systems, we can achieve better, mutually reinforcing results by integrating and focusing our approach across different development sectors: health, infrastructure, economic growth, etc. Sometimes this means looking beyond individual technical sectors and looking at the connections between different issues," said USAID's Kevin Nelson, who directs the program, in a statement emailed to Devex.

USAID has pioneered the new approach in the Philippines with the Cities Development Program. There, some 60 projects in areas like WASH, health, education, and economic development must justify how they are enhancing the equitable growth of secondary cities in the archipelago nation.

Health projects, for example, have focused on whether people have access to public transportation or safe pedestrian routes to reach clinics, as much as on what happens once they are meeting with a nurse.

One development NGO working on health issues through an urban lens is Vital Strategies, which is currently the implementing partner for the Bloomberg- and World Health Organization-funded Partnership for Healthy Cities. Under the program, 54 cities are funded to pursue the public health intervention of their choice. That's meant promoting helmet use among motorcycle riders in Fortaleza, Brazil, and fighting obesity in Colombia's biggest cities.

"Many of the best public health policies took root in cities - from passing smoke-free laws, to controlling obesity through menu labelling and trans fats bans, to reshaping transportation infrastructure to enable safer roads and physical activity," Nandita Murukutla, vice-president of Vital Strategies' India office, told Devex. "We see this enthusiasm in India from the national and state governments."

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USAID sees this nexus as a way to enforce the kind of silo-busting that is often just talk. When it comes to health, that means drawing on knowledge far beyond medicine in order to achieve health-focused goals such as increasing immunization rates. "Urban issues are cross-cutting across multiple sectors," Nelson said.

Experts want workers in one area to think about others. For example, public health workers should also be thinking about the transportation industry, which has been front and center of GIZ, the German Corporation for International Cooperation's big push into the urban sector. At the Habitat III summit in October 2016, the German development agency announced a 1 billion euro ($1.25 billion) commitment to boost urban mobility in the developing world. Fifteen months later, the agency's Transformative Urban Mobility Initiative is active in over a dozen countries and seeking candidates for pilot projects inspired by apps like Jakarta's motorcycle-hailing tool Go-Jek that will be funded to the tune of 200,000 euros ($250,702) each.

Crucially, Germany's approach to development funding emphasizes that municipal governments should be protagonists, not recipients at the long end of a daisy chain starting with foreign aid to a national government. Ways to empower cities directly was a major theme at the World Urban Forum.

Quito Mayor Mauricio Rodas, for example, is trying to cut through national-level red tape to fund the greening of his city's public transit fleet. "The idea of having a direct relationship with international development banks for financing could be a way to overcome a potential obstacle to reach financing if you have to go through the national government for a guarantee," he said.

That's the kind of approach that Germany hopes to push. "We have the strong conviction that urban development is the key for the sustainability of our world," said Franz Marre of BMZ, the German foreign ministry, which funds GIZ. "We want to support cities as actors for development."

Even under that cities-first rubric, however, there is still plenty of room for traditional development projects with traditional development challenges. In the 1990s, GIZ funded piped water on the outskirts of Kasese, Uganda, as part of efforts to prepare the villages for the eventual outward expansion of the gateway city to Uganda's Queen Elizabeth National Park. Years later, Mayor Godfrey Kabbyanga laments the lack of community buy-in to maintain the water supply.

"The community still calls it the 'German tap' if the water turns off," he said.



(Gregory Scruggs is a journalist based in Seattle. He has a bachelor's degree from Harvard University and a master's degree from Columbia University).We welcome UK`s removal of ban on direct air cargo

THE UK government has fully withdrawn the two-year-long ban on direct cargo flights from Dhaka to London ending the plight of exporters, particularly garment exporters who were facing difficulty to make emergency shipment of samples and other cargo to buyers within the stipulated time. The British government said it is now satisfied with the security arrangements at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA), which were however in place much before and exporters believe the ban could be removed even earlier. Direct cargo flight is now open from Dhaka to London from early this week.



British High Commissioner to Bangladesh Alison Blake made the announcement of the removal of the ban to reporters on Sunday accompanied by Bangladesh Civil Aviation Minister in the capital. Needless to say, Bangladeshi exporters have immediately welcomed the decision who were making heavy business losses over the past two years from the ban. British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson earlier indicated during his visit to Dhaka last week that the ban would go soon. The UK authorities have however called for hiring joint security experts and carry out at least three periodic mandatory safety assessments in a year at Dhaka airport to maintain international safety standard to keep the Dhaka-London cargo flights uninterrupted. Biman had earlier operated four cargo flights a week; in addition to other airlines to keep the country's essential supply chain uninterrupted.



The UK has imposed the ban on direct cargo flight in March 2016 after the Holey Artisan mayhem in Dhaka July 2015. Australia earlier imposed the ban in December 2015 and Germany did it later. The European Union halted direct cargo flight in June last year. All of them used security apprehension at Dhaka airport as the major cause of the ban, although Bangladesh was prompt to effectively curb the militancy and upgrade security measures at Dhaka airport hiring a UK based security consulting firm and implementing such other security guidelines. We can now legitimately hope since the UK government has withdrawn the ban, others would quickly follow the suit.



Bangladesh business leaders feel the ban has been unjustifiably harming the export industry and buyers in those countries. They believe if the question of terror attacks is the main cause behind such ban, all such countries have their own stories of terrorists' attacks; which they are successfully fighting back. The best way is to cooperate instead of isolating the long time business partners at times giving a sense of undue business discrimination.



Bangladesh can now reasonably claim it has successfully destroyed terrorists' hideouts and is a relatively safe place than many other countries. So we hope the countries still maintaining the ban would withdraw it quickly to support Bangladesh's business community's efforts to reach their market freely.





TCB asked to take steps for controlling commodity prices during Ramzan

Business Desk :

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Commerce has recommended taking timely measures by the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) to keep prices of essential commodities, including oil, pulses and gram, under control during the next Ramadan.

The committee made the recommendation at its 25th meeting held at the Jatiya Sangsad on Monday with its chairman Md Tajul Islam Chowdhury in the chair, said a press release.

The meeting was informed that the Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection (DNCRP) has so far fined and realized a total of Tk 17.62 crore through market monitoring under the Consumers' Right Protection Act-2009.

For creating public awareness about the consumers' rights, the DNCRP held 758 public hearings and 2823 view-exchange meetings until January 2018. It also distributed 17.50 lakh posters and leaflets across the country during the same period.

The meeting suggested carrying out regular operations to check various deceitful activities, including food adulteration.6602 killed in clash, violence in 2017

Child killing, torturing, rape incidents increased

Staff Reporter :

At least 6,602 people, including children and women, were reportedly killed and 24,616 injured in different clashes and violence across the country in last year.

Child killing, woman torturing and rape have alarmingly increased in the country, says a press release signed by Advocate Sigma Huda, Chairman of Bangladesh Manabadhikar Bastabayan Sangstha (BMBS).

About 42 kids were murdered by their parents and more than 352 children tortured to death, compared with197 in 2016.

The report says that 330 baby girls were violated, 795 women and children raped in 2017 and 407 in 2016. Even 28 women and children were killed after raped and 117 also gang raped in last year.

Sixty women were tortured by their husbands and their relatives to death for dowry and 62 received severe injuries for the same reason.

At least 407 people, including 293 women, were killed in family clashes focusing angry, land and extra-marital affairs, it said.

The press release reported that 897 people were killed by terrors and miscreants and 592 injured last year.

It also mentions that the terrors uprooted the eyes of a college girl in Dhamrai upazila of Dhaka district in April last year and they also stabbed to death three members of a family in Patuakhali district. At least 149 people were killed in exchange of fire with the law enforcers. Of them, 107 were killed by police, 39 with Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and nine were murdered by other forces, the release added.

About 653 people committed suicide due to mainly sexual harassments, abortive love affairs and family dispute. Of the deceased, 417 were women, 194 males and 42 children, it reports.

Even 171 people died and 5781 got injured focusing social dissatisfaction and lack of dignity last year, it said.

About 33 people were killed and 2177 got hurt in political violence on rivalry clash, establishing supremacy, extortion and tender business.

At least 76 people died for wrong treatment in hospital and clinics while 55 people died taking drug and alcohol last year.

About 51 men were killed in mass beating and 37 also became victims of acid throwing.

More than 117 people, mainly opposition party men, went missing last year and over 5631 were detained by police in the same time.

It also criticized the much-controversial Section 57 of ICT Act and Section 32 of proposed Digital Act.

Question leaks: 4 teachers among 5 held

Members of RAB arrested four teachers along with a social media administrator allegedly involved in SSC question papers leaking from Uttar Khan and Gazipur areas on Monday. This photo was taken from its media centre.

risingbd.com :

Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) personnel detained five persons including 4 teachers from capital's Uttar Khan and Gazipur on charge of question leaks.

The identities of the detainees could not be known immediately.

Commander Mufti Mahmud Khan, legal and media wing director of the RAB said RAB-3 detained them in separate drives yesterday night.

Details will be disclosed later at RAB media center in the capital, he added.Khaleda deprived of lawful facilities in jail: Fakhrul

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Monday alleged that their chairperson Khaleda Zia is being deprived of minimum lawful facilities in jail.

"The government has convicted our leader (Khaleda) unfairly by completely politicising the judiciary. They're now depriving her of minimum lawful facilities in jail," he said. The BNP leader came up with the allegation while speaking at a human chain arranged by Jatiyatabadi Mohila Dal in front of the Jatiya Press Club demanding Khaleda's release. Fakhrul said though a certified copy of the verdict against their chairperson had been possible within five working days, it has not been provided yet. "She (Khaleda) has been kept in solitary confinement in jail violating the country's existing law." Mentioning that Khaleda Zia and democracy are 'interlinked', he called upon people to put in their best efforts to free her from jail. "Let's be vocal demanding her release. We must force the government to free her from jail through a movement."Fakhrul said, the government fears Khaleda and that is why it has sent her to jail in a 'false and fabricated' case to implement its evil design over the next general election. He also came down hard on the government for what he said its failure to check repeated question paper leakage, scams in the finical sector and soaring prices of essentials. To get rid of the current situation of the country and 'misrule', the BNP secretary general said a pro-people government must be established through a fair and credible election under a non-party election-time administration.

"It's the responsibility of all patriots and democracy-loving people to get united to remove the current fascist regime. Democracy must be restored in the country through holding a neutral election under an impartial government," he observed. Fakhrul said the government is repressing and arresting innocent BNP leaders and activists, but not taking any action against those ruling party men who have looted banks, the share market and indulged in widespread corruption. Several hundred leaders and activists of Mohila Dal, BNP's women wing, joined the human chain programme. They chanted various slogans demanding Khaleda's release.Khaleda cannot join polls in present state : CEC

Staff Reporter :

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) A K M Nurul Huda on Monday said that BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia recently jailed for five years in a graft case cannot contest the next general election in the present context.

But if she moves an appeal before the Supreme Court against her conviction and the court permits her to contest the election, she can run the election, the Chief Election Commissioner said.

He was talking to reporters after a courtesy call on Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain at his Supreme Court (SC) office.

The CEC said that he was once a lower court judge and he thinks that Khaleda cannot contest the election.

He said the SC has two separate verdicts over the issue. One judgment said, if anybody is convicted for more than two years by the lower court for moral turpitude, he or she can contest the election until the appeal is not settled by the apex court.

In another judgment, the apex court said, a convict cannot contest the election, the CEC said.

Now, it depends on SC whether she can contest the election, he added.

Judge of the Special Court-5 of Dhaka, Dr Md Akhtaruzzaman, sentenced former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia to five years imprisonment in Zia Orphanage Trust case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) which is dealing a severe blow to BNP ahead of the upcoming national election.

The special court also sentenced Khaleda Zia's eldest son and BNP Senior Vice-Chairman Tarique Rahman, and four others to 10 years' rigorous imprisonment and slapped a fine of Tk 2.10 crore each.Khaleda's lawyer gets certified copy Appeal likely today

Staff Reporter :

BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia's lawyers on Monday received the certified copy of the judgment of the Zia Orphanage Trust case.

Khaleda Zia, who is now in jail, can file an appeal with the High Court against the lower court verdict that sentenced her five years imprisonment and seek bail in the case.

Mokarram Hossain, an assistant of the Special Judge Court-5 of Dhaka, officially supplied the 1,174 pages verdict to a lawyer's team of Khaleda Zia.

Advocate Masud Ahmed Talukder, one of the lawyers for Khaleda Zia, told The New Nation that they had received the certified copy at about 4.30pm yesterday and they were trying to file an appeal with the High Court today (Tuesday).

The lawyer, however, did not able to say anything more about the certified copy as they did not opened the big-size verdict's copy till then. The judge delivered the order portion of the 622 pages verdict. But the court assistant supplied the 1,174 pages verdict to the lawyers.

"The page number of the verdict increased as the supplied copy was typed by a computer," Advocated Masud said.

Pro-BNP Senior lawyers were supposed to sit-in a meeting at last night in the chamber of former Attorney General A J Mohammad Ali to prepare appeal petitions against the verdict of Khaleda Zia and BNP Senior Vice-Chairman Tarique Rahman, who also a convict in this case, said Barrister A K M Ehsanur Rahman, also a lawyer for Khaleda Zia.

Judge of the Special Court-5 of Dhaka, Dr Md Akhtaruzzaman, sentenced former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia to five years imprisonment in Zia Orphanage Trust case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).

The special court also sentenced Khaleda Zia's eldest son and BNP Senior Vice-Chairman Tarique Rahman, and four others to 10 years' rigorous imprisonment and slapped a fine of Tk 2.10 crore each.

The ACC filed the case with Ramna Police Station in July 2008, accusing Khaleda Zia and the five convicts of misappropriating over Tk 2.10 crore that had come from a foreign bank as grants for orphans.

On February 11, the Special Court directed the jail authorities to provide Khaleda Zia with first-class division in line with the jail code as well as allowing her house help to stay with her in jail.

On the night of the same day, she was shifted to one of the four rooms on the first floor of the renovated day-care centre in the jail from the room of a nearby two-stored building once used as office of the Jail Superintendent.Domino effect feared on economy

Kazi Zahidul Hasan :

The current banking crisis could leave a domino effect on various economic sectors lowering GDP growth and accelerating unemployment, said economists.

"A banking crisis means banks run short of money due to reckless lending. Such a lending practice by banks pushed up bad loans to record high sending them to liquidity shortages," economist Dr Zahid Hussain told The New Nation yesterday.

According to the central bank's latest data, the total amount of bad loan in banks is around Tk 1,25,000 crore.

"High exposure of bad loans in the face of governance problem puts the whole banking sector at risk. Many banks are now facing liquidity shortages due to improper credit management. If the banks face liquidity shortages for a prolonged period, it will have a major impact on investment, depositors, business and consumers invariably effecting economic growth and can cause unemployment," said Dr Zahid Hussain.

Bangladesh economy grew by a record 7.28 percent in the 2016-17 fiscal, beating the 7 percent target, based on increased revenue collection, high foreign currency reserves propelled by a spike in export and remittance inflow.

"Bad governance and poor oversight have led the banking sector to an unprecedented crisis. Many banks are facing liquidity crisis as a result of soaring bad debt and loan scams. At least 13 of the 57 banks are now on the central bank's list with bad financial state putting a systematic risk on whole banking sector," said former

Bangladesh Bank (BB) Governor Dr Salehuddin Ahmed.

He said loan scandals at Farmers Bank and NRB Commercial Bank and hostile takeover of several private banks by a Chittagong-based conglomerate have also created chaos in the banking sector.

"The central bank, in a bleated move, reconstituted the Boards of Farmers Bank and NRB Commercial Bank. But no measure is yet to be taken to punish errant directors, "Dr Salehuddin Ahmed, adding, "It should take stringent measure against the offenders for maintaining discipline in the banking sector." He said that the current banking practice would make people shaky to put their deposits in banks. If they fear savings are not safe in a bank, they will switch for alternative investment leading to lower deposits at banks.

"The banking sector is not in good condition after being hit by a number of loan scandals at public and private banks. Loan scams seem never ending in a poor regulatory regime. Even Tk 5,000 crore fresh loan scandal at Janata Bank surfaced in media recently just after the Farmers Bank loan scam reflecting the banking crisis in Bangladesh," economist Dr Ahsan H Monsur told The New Nation.

He said the country's banking sector is undergoing a chaotic situation due to financial irregularities and mismanagement. Defaulted loans remain a major concern as the figure now tops all time high at almost 11 percent of the total outstanding loans.

"All these development is crippling lending ability of the banks which in the long run would affect the overall economy by lowering GDP growth," apprehends Dr Ahsan H Monsur.

He said banks exposed with liquidity crisis could force them to cut back on lending. Therefore, firms and businesses that wish to borrow money to finance investment may find it very difficult to get a satisfactory loan. As a consequence, they will reduce investment and employ fewer workers. If there is a significant fall in investment levels, then this will lead to lower economic growth and higher unemployment.

Dr Ahsan H Monsur said the current liquidity crisis has forced many banks to hunt deposit aggressively. It already pushed up both deposit and lending rates creating a fresh volatility in money market. "High lending rates are expected to impact the overall private investment. A fall in investment level causes lower economic growth," he added.Election as per Constitution: PM

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday said the next national election will be held in time as per the constitution, no matter who are joining it and who are boycotting it. "The election will be held in time as per the constitution, no matter who are joining it and who are boycotting it," she said.

The Prime Minister came up with the remark at a press conference at her official residence Ganobhaban in the afternoon. It was arranged to brief the media about the outcome of her recent official visit to Italy and Vatican City.

Sheikh Hasina said those who have belief in democracy and the voting rights of people and have confidence and trust in people will join the election. "Or else, we've nothing to do."

She mentioned that BNP did not participate in the last general election. "If any party doesn't join it this time as well then what we can do!"

The Prime Minister, also chief of the ruling Awami League, said Bangladesh now has a multiparty democratic system.

"This is absolutely the matter of any particular party whether it'll join the election or not...it's their party decision. But, the election will be held in time and people will cast their votes," she said.

Recalling the mayhem by the BNP-Jamaat clique during the last election, she said they could not resist the election at that time. "They won't be able to resist the election this time, too."

Hasina said participating in an election is the democratic and constitutional right of people.

Talking about the recent stance of BNP that it will not participate in the election without Khaleda Zia, recently convicted in graft case, the prime minister said the verdict was not given by her.

"Court has pronounced the verdict, and the case was filed during the caretaker government," the prime minister said.

Criticising BNP for dropping section seven from its charter and making Tarique Rahman, acting chairman of the party, Hasina wanted to know, "Didn't BNP have any leader except Tarique, who's also convicted in several cases, to make the acting chairman of the party?"

"Tarique Rahman is a convicted fugitive and has been made acting chairman of BNP by dropping section seven from the party constitution before the judgment of the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case," she said.

Hasina also said Tarique left the country during the caretaker government regime giving an undertaking that he would not involve in politics.

Responding to a question regarding repeated question paper leakage in various public examinations, the Prime Minister said there is nothing new in it. "This has been going on in the world for decades...sometimes it gets publicity and sometimes it does not, this is the reality," she said.

In the ongoing SSC examination, she said, question papers are coming out 20 minutes before the start of the examinations. "Perhaps, this is happening when the question paper enveloped are opened before the distribution. Some people probably are taking pictures of the question papers with their mobile phones. What can be done in this situation?" she questioned.

She also mentioned that it is very hard for an examinee to take the benefit of this question leak as there are very few talented students having a photogenic memory.

"Is the minister (Education Minister) going for leaking out the question, or the secretary (Education Secretary). It's neither they nor the teachers are doing this. But of course there is something for which question papers are being leaked out," Hasina told the journalists.

She sought cooperation from all, including the media, in finding out the culprits.

About the ongoing Rohingya issue, Hasina said the problem has been created by the Myanmar government and it is their responsibility to solve it. "From our side, we're holding dialogue with them. We've reached an understanding; we've formed a joint committee."

She said Bangladesh wanted to have a solution through dialogue as Myanmar is a neighbouring country. "We want Myanmar to take back their nationals through negotiations."

But, the Prime Minister said, Myanmar side is delaying the repatriation process showing various excuses. "When the repatriation will start, the Rohingyas will be interested to go back to their homeland."

Hasina also mentioned that it is the matter of big concern what the he Myanmar side will be doing.

In her written speech, the prime minister described her Vatican City and Italy tour has been very successful and fruitful.Publicity officers cannot be journalists

After country's independence, the Associated Press of Pakistan following a government order on January 1, 1972 got a new name - Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS), and journalist Faiz Ahmed was appointed as its Chief Editor.



But the new name and set-up did not change its old character. From the very beginning, there was no long-term pragmatic policy to run the BSS.



All the subsequent governments used it for spreading their propaganda and journalists were used as their 'publicity officers'.



The BSS got the status of national news agency following two martial law proclamations issued on August 20 and November 8 in 1975.



The BSS Ordinance, which was prepared in 1979 to operate the organization, had clearly mentioned the service holders as 'officers' and 'employees'. That means, the persons since then were working as government 'officers' not journalists. Most contradictory is that, it is mandatory for BSS Chief Editor to be a journalist, but he has no freedom for a journalist.



According to the 12(1) of BSS ordinance, the Managing Director shall be appointed by the Government from amongst the journalists having not less than fifteen years experience in journalism on such terms and conditions as may be determined by the Government and he shall also be the Chief Editor of the Sangstha. It also said the Managing Director shall be a whole time officer and Chief Administrative Officer of the Sangstha.



The article 13 (1) elaborates the appointment of other 'officers' saying that: "The Sangstha may, subject to such general or special orders as the Government may give from time to time and subject to such terms and conditions as the Government may determine, appoint such 'officers and other employees' as it considers necessary for the efficient performance of its affairs."



We know, the definition of 'journalist' and 'officer' is not the same. Usually, the journalists-turned-officers of BSS remain full-time busy to serve the government high-ups -- from Prime Minister to lower-grade MPs. As a result, the news agency has turned into a 'publicity machine' of the governments.



Though BSS is a decades-old losing concern, its 'officers and employees' enjoy all the facilities under the latest Journalists Wage Board. Whereas many journalists of the print and electronic media do not get such advantages. Why the Information Ministry overlooks such discrimination?



In several countries including Britain there is even no information ministry. Its only reason is to give the media a suitable working atmosphere so that journalists could do journalism independently without anyone's inference.

Not only that, in many countries the governments do not have ownership of national news agencies also. As an example, the Indian government has not any direct control on Press Trust of India (PTI). Local newspapers of different Indian states are the owners of PTI.



Just after Bangladesh's independence, the number of newspapers was 10. The Pakistan Press Trust's own newspapers Dainik Pakistan (later Dainik Bangla), Morning News and in absence of owner The Pakistan Observer (The Bangladesh Observer), Purbodesh and Chitrali were operated by Newspaper Management Board under direct supervision of Information Ministry.



The government at that time took responsibility to run these newspapers in the changing socio-economic scenario of a war-ravaged country. Now 47 years have gone after the independence. Is there any necessity to run any newspaper or news agency giving subsidy on a regular basis?



The Awami League government in 1997 abolished Times-Bangla Trust cancelling the publication of Dainik Bangla, Bangladesh Times and Weekly Bichitra when it became impossible for the government to bear the brunt of huge financial liabilities. No doubt, it was a wise decision.



At present, the number of unskilled journalists in BSS is several times more than the skilled and experienced journalists. The main reason is that, they all have got appointment under active political consideration.



Some veteran journalists and former BSS Chief Editors are of the view that the media should run independently without interference of the government. There should not be any farcical activities in the name of journalism.

Why these 'publicity officers' would be fed years after years giving millions of taka subsidy from the state exchequer when the rests of the country's print and electronic media are engaged in a tough competition for their survival?



The government should not make BSS a dumping place of partisan amateurs. If government pays subsidy to BSS, then it must give subsidies to other newspapers and news agencies too.

Otherwise, stop the practice.

Bangladesh steps into 4G era

UNB, Dhaka :

Bangladesh has entered an era of digital connectivity as three mobile phone operators rolled out the 4G mobile phone services in the country on Monday night.

They launched the 4G services in the cities of Dhaka, Chittagong, Khulna and Sylhet soon after getting the licences from Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC). BTRC Chairman Shahjahan Mahmood officially handed over the licences to the chief executive officers of four mobile phone operators - Grameenphone, Robi,

Banglalink and Teletalk-at a function organised by Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh (AMTOB) at Dhaka Club. The operators also received the tech neutrality and radio communication apparatus licences at the function. The mobile phone companies will launch the high-speed internet services in other major cities and towns gradually. Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology Minister Mustafa Jabbar was present at the programme as the chief guest.

Earlier on February 13, BTRC held the 4G spectrum auction for allocating new frequencies to mobile operators. The government earned Tk 5268.51 crore in revenue. Banglalink took 10.6 MHz spectrum from different two bands - 2100 and 1800, with a price of Tk. 2558 crore while Grameenphone took 5MHz from 1800 band with a price of Tk. 1284 crore. Robi did not buy any spectrum as it and Airtel have merged into one operator while Teletalk has already enough spectrum to launch the 4G services.

Dispose 139 prisoners' cases within Aug: HC

Staff Reporter :

The High Court (HC) on Monday ordered to dispose of the cases of 139 prisoners within August 2018 who are now detained in 68 jails of the country for more than seven years due to delayed trial.

The HC bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Shahidul Karim passed the order after Supreme Court Legal Aid Committee brought the matter to the attention of the court.

Advocate Cumer Debul De, a member of the committee, appeared in the

court on behalf of the committee. Supreme Court Legal Aid office on November 19, 2017 wrote letters to the authorities of 68 jails of the country seeking information of the prisoners who are in jail for more than seven years for delayed trial.

To response those letters, the jail authorities sent a list of 256 prisoners on December 31, 2017. The Supreme Court Legal Aid Committee brought a short list of 139 prisoners to the attention of the court after scrutiny.

After the court order Advocate Cumer Debul De said that the HC ordered to dispose the cases of the 139 prisoners within August 31, 2018.

As per Legal Aid Committee's list, 44 prisoners are in the jails of Dhaka Division, 43 prisoners in Chittagong Division, 16 prisoners in Rajshahi Division, 12 prisoners in Sylhet Division, 1 prisoner in Barishal Division, 5 prisoners in Khulna Division, 10 in Rangpur Division and 8 in Mymensingh Division.Yes, the decision belongs on the local level

No, no one should be able to dictate whether people wear masks

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